"Barito Herrings, aged 40 years or thereabouts, sworne, saith that Peter Godson and Richard Manship, meeting on your petitioner's plantation, Richard Manship asked the said Peter Godson whether he would prove his wife a witch. Peter Godson replied, take notice what I say. I came to your home where your wife layed two straws and the woman in a jesting way said: They say I am a witch, if I am a witch, they say I have not the power to skip over these two straws, and bid the said Peter Godson to skip over them, and about a day after the said Godson said he was lame, and thereupon would maintain his, Manship's, wife to be a witch."

Happily, however, the witch was not put to death on such evidence, and after retractions by Peter Godson the case was dismissed.

No doubt it is from this element in Colonial Maryland that the belief in the power of spells and tokens has descended among the ignorant classes. In the rural districts of Maryland accidents to life and limb are still traced to the enmity of someone who has put a "spell" on the unfortunate victim, but, as Kipling says, that is another story, and will be more fully treated under the head of Maryland folklore in a later edition.

It should be particularly gratifying to all Marylanders to know that the belief in witchcraft did not reach the ruling classes, and that no law exist regarding witches, hence Maryland has the proud and comforting satisfaction of never having tainted her soil with the innocent blood of helpless men and women in the name of religion.

CHAPTER XXXII

THE FIRST THEATRE IN AMERICA

IN VIEW of the general interest in theatres in this country it is worthy of notice that in the year 1752 what is claimed to be the first theatre in America was advertising its attractions at Annapolis by consent of the President of the Council. This bill appeared in the Maryland Gazette on June 18, 1752:

"By permission of His Honor the President at the new theatre in Annapolis, by the company of Comedians from Virginia on Monday next, being the 22d of this instant, will be performed "The Beggars' Opera;" likewise a farce, called "The Lying Valet," to begin precisely at 7 o'clock. Tickets to be had at the printing officeBox 10s; pit, 1s 6d. No person to be admitted behind the scenes."

The company, however, did not confine its performances to farces, as "King Richard III," "Cato" and other historical plays were produced.

Whether this was the first theatre in Annapolis or not it is impossible to say, but it is the earliest of which we find any mention. It was not large enough to long accommodate the increasing population at the capital, which, with its growing wealth and fashion, was fast becoming the "social Athens of America."

Eight years later we find another new theatre advertised in the Gazette to be opened "by permission of his Excellency the Governor."

The opening night witnessed "The Orphans" and was no doubt largely attended. In the year 1771 Eddis, the King's Surveyor of Customs at Annapolis, wrote to a friend in England: "You well know that I have ever been strongly attached to the rational entertainment resulting from theatrical exhibitions. When I bade farewell to England I little expected that my passion for the drama could have been gratified in any tolerable degree at a distance so remote from the great mart of genius, and I brought with me strong prepossessions in behalf of favourite performers whose merits were fully established by the universal sanction of intelligent judges. My pleasure and surprise were therefore excited in proportion on finding performers in this country equal at least to those who sustain the best of the first character in your most celebrated provincial theatres.

"Our Governor, from a strong conviction that the stage, under proper regulations, may be rendered of general utility and made subservient to the great interests of religion and virtue, patronizes the American Company; and, as their present place of exhibition is on a small scale and inconveniently situated, a subscription by his example has been rapidly completed to erect a new theatre on a commodious, if not elegant, plan. The manager is to deliver tickets for two seasons to the amount of respective subscriptions, and it is imagined that the money which will be received at the doors from non-subscribers will enable him to conduct the business without difficulty, and when the limited number of performances is completed the entire property is to be vested in him. This will be a valuable addition to our catalogue of amusements. The building is already in a state of forwardness and the day of opening is anxiously expected."

In November, 1771, the third and commodious theatre was opened in the Ancient City, and the audiences which crowded it during the season are described as of "a fashionable and brilliant appearance."

Again we are indebted to one of Eddis' personal letters for a description of the new theatre, in which he says the structure is not inelegant, but, "in my opinion, on too narrow a scale for its length: the boxes are commodious and neatly decorated; the pit and gallery are calculated to hold a number of people without incommoding each other; the stage is well adapted for dramatic and pantomimical exhibitions, and several of the scenes reflect great credit on the ability of the painter."

"I have before observed that the performers are considerably above mediocrity, therefore little doubt can be entertained of their preserving the public favor and reaping a plenteous harvest."

The names of the American Company were Mr. and Mrs. Hallam, Mr. and Mrs. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Osborne, Mr. and Mrs. Burdett, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Page and Mrs. Malone, Messrs. Jefferson, Dailey, Verling, Spencer, Wall, Morris and Darby.

The names of the Virginian Company of players which have come down to us from the days of the first theatrical performers advertised in 1752 are those of Messrs. Evanson, Herbert, and Kean.

CHAPTER XXXIII

A COLONIAL BUSINESS WOMAN

DINAH NUTHEAD, the first seventeenth century business woman in Maryland, and perhaps in America, received a license from the General Assembly to set up her printing press at Annapolis "to print blanks, bills, bonds, writs, warrants of attorney, letters of administration and other necessary blanks useful for the public offices of this Province." In her petition before the Assembly she had declared her willingness to forfeit her license and her bond and go out of business if she should print anything other than specified.

The Assembly having graciously granted Dinah's humble petition she gave bond for £100 lawful money of England, with Mr. Robert Carville and William Taylard, of St. Mary's County, as her securities, and proceeded to carry on the business which had previously been established by her deceased husband, William Nuthead, public printer for the government.

Curiously enough this energetic and progressive Maryland woman, who was clever enough to conduct this important business could not write her own name.

It is quite evident from this that Dinah had no thought of sticking type with her own fair hands. She merely supplied the money and brains, leaving the mechanical part to her more highly educated employes.

Despite the modern idea that the twentieth century woman is a new species of woman because she has taken