Old Virginia and her neighbours

218 OLD VIRGINIA AND HER NEIGHBOURS.church-rates, on condition that they should abstainfrom all interest, direct or indirect, in the growingof tobacco. But the evil was not cured.^Further disaster came from the fact that tobaccowas a highly speculative crop. The fluctuations inits value were liable to be great and sudpianters'ac- dcu, and they affected the price of everyarticle that was bought and sold throughoutthe colony. No one could estimate from oneyear to another, with any approach to accuracy,what the purchasing power of his income was goingto be. The inevitable results of this were extravagancein living and chronic debt. The planterwas drawn into a situation from which it wasalmost impossible to extricate himself. " Thesystem of keeping open accounts in London wascalculated to encourage extravagance ; and theseaccounts were habitually overdrawn. Many ofthe merchants even made it a ride to encouragethis indebtedness, so as to assure the continuanceof their customers. It gave them a certain advantagein all their dealings with the planters." ^They charged nearly twice as much for their goodssent to Norfolk or Williamsburg as for the samegoods sent to New York.^ In all this they wereaided by the Navigation Act.Extravagance in living was further stimulatedby the regal hospitality for which the great plantersearly became famous. Although the life upon^ Bruce, op. cit. ii. 411-416.2 Ripley, Financial History of Virginia, p. 122 ; cf. Bruce, op,ctt. ii. 368.3 McMaster, History of the People of the United States, i. 273.