GEORGE, a learned English antiquarian, flourished in the beginning of the 17th century. In the reign of King James I, he was made one of the gentlemen of his majesty's privy-chamber, and knighted: he was also constituted master of the revels. What he mostly distinguished himself by was his writing, 1. The history of the reign of Richard III.; in which he takes great pains to wipe off the bloody stains that have blotted his character, and represents the person and actions of that prince in a much less odious light than other historians have done. He also wrote, 2. A Treatise of the Art of Revels; and, 3. A work entitled The Third University of England.

BUANEER, one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was particularly given to the first French settlers on the island of St Domingo, whose sole employment consisted in hunting bulls or wild boars, in order to fill their hides and flesh. The name has also been applied to those famous piratical adventurers, chiefly English and French, who joined together to make depredations on the Spaniards of America. Of both these we shall give an account.

I. The Buccaneers of St Domingo. The Spaniards had not been long in the possession of the West Indies and the continent of America, when other nations, especially the English and French, began to follow them there. But though the Spaniards were unable to peo- ple such extensive countries themselves, they were resolved that no others should do it for them; and therefore made a most cruel war on all those of any other nation who attempted to settle in any of the Antilles or Caribbee islands. The French, however, were at last lucky enough to acquire some footing in the island of St Christopher's: but by the time they began to found into a regular form of government, the Spaniards found means to dislodge them. Upon this the wretched fugitives, considering at how great a distance they were from their mother-country, and how near to the island of Hispaniola or St Domingo, the northern parts of which were then uninhabited and full of swine and black cattle, immediately resolved to take possession of that country, in conjunction with several other adventurers of their own and the English nation; especially as the Dutch, who now began to appear in these seas, promised to supply them plentifully with all kinds of necessaries they might require, in exchange for the hides and tallow they should procure by hunting.

These new settlers obtained the name of buccaneers, from their custom of bucaning their beef and pork in order to keep it for sale, or for their own consumption, the method of which will be presently described. But some of them soon grew tired of this new way of life, and took to planting; while many more chose to turn pirates, trading to find among those who remained on shore a quick tale for all the plunder they could make at sea. This new body of adventurers were called freebooters, from their making free prey or booty of whatever came in their way.

The colony now began to thrive at a great rate, by the cheap and easy manner in which the freebooters acquired the greatest riches, and the profusion with which they distributed them among their old companions, the buccaneers and planters, for the merest trifles. This brought numbers of settlers from Old France in quality of indentured servants, though they toiled rather like slaves during the three years for which they generally bound themselves. One of these men presuming to represent to his master, who always fixed upon a Sunday for feeding him with skins to the port, that God had forbidden such a practice, when he had declared, "Six days shalt thou labour, and on the seventh day shalt thou rest." "And I replied the brutish buccaneer) say to thee, Six days shalt thou kill bulls, and strip them of their skins, and on the seventh day shalt thou carry their hides to the sea-shore." This command was followed by blows, which sometimes enforce obedience, sometimes disobedience, to the laws of God.

Thus the colony consisted of four classes: buccaneers; freebooters; planters; and indentured servants, who generally remained with the buccaneers or planters. And these four orders composed what they now began to call the body of adventurers. These people lived together in a perfect harmony under a kind of democracy: every freeman had a despotic authority over his own family; and every captain was a sovereign in his own ship, though liable to be discarded at the discretion of the crew.

The planters settled chiefly in the little island of Tortuga on the northern coast of Hispaniola: but it was not long before some of them going to the great island to hunt with the buccaneers, the rest were surprised by the Spaniards; and all, even those who had surrendered at discretion in hopes of mercy, were put to the sword or hanged.

The next care of the Spaniards was to rid the great island of the buccaneers; and for this reason they assembled a body of 500 lance-men, who, by their seldom going fewer than 50 in a company, obtained the name of the Fifteens from their enemies, whose manners and customs we shall now enter upon.

The buccaneers lived in little huts built on some spots of cleared ground, just large enough to dry their skins on, and contain their bucaning houses. These spots they called Boucans, and the huts they dwelt in Ajoupar, a word which they borrowed from the Spaniards, and the Spaniards from the natives. Though these ajoupas lay open on all sides, they were very agreeable to the hardy inhabitants, in a climate where wind and air are to very desirable things. As the buccaneers had neither wife nor child, they associated by pairs, and mutually rendered each other all the services a master could reasonably expect from a servant living together in so perfect a community, that the survivor always succeeded his deceased partner. This kind of union or fellowship they called s'emateletot [inflating], and each other matelet [sailor], whence is derived the custom of giving, at least in some parts of the French Antilles, the name mateletage [sailorage], to any kind of society formed by private persons for their mutual advantage. They behaved to each other with the greatest justice and openness of heart: it would have been a crime to keep any thing under lock and key; but, on the other hand, the least pilfering was unpardonable, and punished with expulsion from the community. And indeed there could be no great temptation to steal, when it was reckoned a point of honour, never to refuse a neighbour what he wanted; and where there was so little property, it was impossible there should be many disputes. If any happened, the common friends of the parties at variance interposed, and soon put an end to the difference.

As to laws, the buccaneers acknowledged none but an odd jumble of conventions made between themselves, which, however, they regarded as the sovereign rule. They silenced all objections by coolly answering, that it was not the custom of the coast; and grounded their right of acting in this manner, on their baptism under the tropic, which freed them, in their opinion, from all obligations antecedent to that marine ceremony. The governor of Tortuga, when that island was again settled, though appointed by the French court, had very little authority over them; they contented themselves with rendering him from time to time some slight homage. They had in a manner entirely shaken off the yoke of religion, and thought they did a great deal in not wholly forgetting the God of their fathers. We are surprised to meet with nations, among whom it is a difficult matter to discover any trace of a religious worship: and yet it is certain, that had the buccaneers of St Domingo been perpetuated on the same footing they subsisted at the time we are speaking of, the third or fourth generation of them would have had as little religion as the Caffres and Hottentots of Africa, or the Topinambous and Cannibals of America.

They even laid aside their surnames, and assumed nick-names, or martial names, most of which have continued Bucaner. tinned in their families to this day. Many, however, on their marrying, which seldom happened till they turned planters, took care to have their real surnames inserted in the French contract; and this practice gave occasion to a proverb, still current in the French Antilles, a man is not to be known till he takes a wife.

Their dress consisted of a filthy greasy shirt, dyed with the blood of the animals they killed; a pair of trousers still more nasty; a thong of leather by way of belt, to which they hung a case containing some Dutch knives, and a kind of very short sabre called manchette; a hat without any brim, except a little flap on the front to take hold of it by; and shoes of hogskin all of a piece. Their guns were four feet and a half in the barrel, and of a bore to carry balls of an ounce. Every man had his contract servants, more or fewer according to his abilities; besides a pack of 20 or 30 dogs, among which there was always a couple of beagles. Their chief employment at first was ox-hunting; and, if at any time they chased a wild hog, it was rather for pastime, or to make provision for a feast, than for any other advantage. But in process of time, some of them took themselves entirely to hunting of hogs, whose flesh they buccanned in the following manner: First, they cut the flesh into long pieces, an inch and a half thick, and sprinkled them with salt, which they rubbed off after 24 hours. Then they dried these pieces in stoves over a fire made of the skin and bones of the beast, till they grew as hard as a board, and assumed a deep brown colour. Pork prepared in this manner will keep in casks a twelvemonth and longer; and when steeped but a little while in lukewarm water, becomes plump and rosy, and yields moreover a most grateful smell, either broiled or boiled, or otherwise dressed, enough to tempt the most languid appetite and please the most delicate palate. Those who hunt the wild boar, have of late been called simply hunters.

In hunting, they set out at day-break, preceded by the beagles, and followed by their servants with the rest of the dogs; and as they made it a point never to balk their beagles, they were often led by them over the most frightful precipices, and through places which any other mortal would have deemed absolutely impassable. As soon as the beagles had roused the game, the rest of the dogs struck up and surrounded the beast, stopping it, and keeping a constant barking till the buccaneer could get near enough to shoot it; in doing this, he commonly aimed at the pit of the breast; when the beast fell, he hamstring it, to prevent its rising again. But it has sometimes happened that the creature, not wounded enough to tumble to the ground, has run furiously at his pursuer, and ripped him open. But, in general, the buccaneer seldom missed his aim; and when he did, was nimble enough to get up the tree behind which he had the precaution to place himself. What is more; some of them have been seen to overtake the beast in chase, and hamstring it without any further ceremony.

As soon as the prey was half-skinned, the master cut out a large bone, and sucked the marrow for breakfast. The rest he left to his servants, one of whom always remained behind to finish the skinning, and bring the skin with a choice piece of meat for the huntmen's dinner. They then continued the chase till they had killed as many beasts as there were heads in the company. The master was the last to return to the boucan, loaded like the rest with a skin and a piece of meat. Here the buccaneers found their tables ready: for every one had his separate table; which was the first thing, any way fit for the purpose, that came in their way, a stone, the trunk of a tree, and the like. No table-cloth, no napkin, no bread or wine, graced their board; not even potatoes or bananas, unless they found them ready to their hand. When this did not happen, the fat and lean of the game, taken alternately, served to supply the place. A little pimento, and the squeeze of an orange, their only sauce; contentment, peace of mind, a good appetite, and abundance of mirth, made everything agreeable. Thus they lived and spent their time, till they had completed the number of hides for which they had agreed with the merchants; which done, they carried them to Tortuga, or some port of the great island.

As the buccaneers used much exercise, and fed only on flesh meat, they generally enjoyed a good state of health. They were indeed subject to fevers, but either such as lasted only a day, and left no sensible impression the day following; or little slow fevers, which did not hinder them from action, and were of course so little regarded, that it was usual with the patient, when asked how he did, to answer, "Very well, nothing ails me but the fever." It was impossible, however, they should not suffer considerably by such fatigues, under a climate to the heat of which few of them had been early enough inured. Hence the most considerate among them, after they had got money enough for that purpose, turned planters. The rest soon spent the fruits of their labour in taverns and tippling-houses; and many had so habituated themselves to this kind of life, as to become incapable of any other. Nay, there have been instances of young men, who having early embarked through necessity in this painful and dangerous profession, persisted in it afterwards, merely through a principle of libertinism, rather than return to France and take possession of the most plentiful fortunes.

Such were the buccaneers of St Domingo, and such their situation, when the Spaniards undertook to extirpate them. And at first they met with great success; for as the buccaneers hunted separately, every one attended by his servants, they were easily surprised. Hence the Spaniards killed numbers, and took many more, whom they condemned to a most cruel slavery. But whenever the buccaneers had time to put themselves into a state of defence, they fought like lions, to avoid falling into the hands of a nation from whom they were sure to receive no quarter; and by this means they often escaped: nay, there are many instances of single men fighting their way through numbers. These dangers, however, and the success of the Spaniards in discovering their boucans, where they used to surprise and cut the throats of them and their servants in their sleep, engaged them to cohabit in greater numbers, and even to act offensively, in hopes that by so doing they might at last induce the Spaniards to let them live in peace. But the fury with which they behaved whenever they met any Spaniards, served only to make their enemies more intent on their destruction; and assistance coming to both parties, the whole island was turned into a slaughter-house, and so much blood spilt on both sides, that many places, on account of the carnage of which