Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/229

 agreements were closed. So intemperate was the indulgence at funerals, more especially in cider and rum, that some testators left instructions in their wills that no liquors were to be distributed on the occasion of their burials.

A supply of spirits was provided for the members of public bodies when they convened. The character of the liquors used depended somewhat on the nature of the assemblage. When Charles Hansford and David Condon, as the executors of the widow of the unfortunate Thomas Hansford, who lost his life on account of his participation in the insurrection of 1676, leased her residence in York to the justices of the peace of that county to serve as a court-house, they bound themselves to furnish not only accommodations for horses, but also a gallon of brandy during each session of the bench. It is not stated whether this brandy was consumed by the honorable justices in the form of the drink which has become so famous in later times in Virginia, the mint julep, but if mint was cultivated in the Colony in that age, it is quite probable that a large part of this gallon was converted into that mixture, the kindly effects of which were certainly not promotive of a harsh disposition in the enforcement of the law by the magistrates of York.