Sir GEORGE, a learned English antiquary, descended of an ancient family in Lincolnshire, and born towards the close of the 16th century. In the reign of James I. he was made one of the gentlemen of his Majesty's privy chamber, and knighted; and was also constituted master of the revels. His greatest claim to distinction is his History of the Reign of Richard III.; in which (as if in anticipation of Horace Walpole) he endeavours to wipe off the bloody stains which have tarnished the character of that prince, and represents his person and actions in a much less odious light than any other historian has done. He also wrote a Treatise of the Art of Revels; and a work entitled the Third Universitie of England. He died in 1623.

BUCCANEER (from the French boucanier), in its primary sense, denotes one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was particularly given to the first French settlers in the island of St Domingo or Hayti, whose principal employment consisted in hunting bulls or wild boars, in order to sell their hides and flesh. The name has also been applied to those famous piratical adventurers, chiefly English and French, who joined together to commit depredations on the Spaniards of America. Of both these we shall give an account.

I. The Buccaneers of St Domingo.—The Spaniards had not long been in possession of the West Indies and of the continent of America, when other nations, especially the English and French, began to seek establishments there. But though the Spaniards were unable to people such extensive countries themselves, they were resolved that no others should do it for them, and therefore waged a 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 Christophers; but by the time they began to subside 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 baccanning their beef and pork in order to keep it for sale or for their own consumption. But some of them soon grew tired of this new way of life, and took to planting; whilst many more chose to turn pirates, trusting to find among those who remained on shore a quick sale 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 amongst their old companions, the buccaneers and planters, for the merest trifles. This brought numbers of settlers from France in quality of indentured servants, though they toiled rather like slaves than servants 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 sending him with skins to the port, that God had forbidden such a practice when he had declared that "six days shalt thou labour, and on the seventh day shalt thou rest," the brutish buccaneer replied, "And I 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 shores;" and this command was followed by blows. 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, who lived together in perfect harmony, under a kind of democracy; every freeman having a despotic authority over his own family, and every captain being sovereign in his ship, though liable to be discarded at the discretion of the crew.

The planters had settled chiefly in the little island of Tortuga, on the northern coast of Hispaniola; but soon afterwards some of them having gone 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 purpose they assembled a body of five hundred lance-men, who, by Buccaneer. their seldom going fewer than fifty in a company, obtained from their enemies the name of the Fifties. But before detailing the particulars of this attack we shall endeavour to give some account of the manners and customs of the people whom it was proposed to extirpate.

The buccaneers lived in little huts built on some spots of cleared ground, just large enough to dry their skins on, and contain their bucanning houses. These spots they called boucans, and the huts they dwelt in ajoupas, 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 a free circulation of air is so desirable. As the buccaneers had neither wives nor children, 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'manetolot (insailing), and each other matelet (sailor), whence is derived the custom of giving, at least in some parts of the French Antilles, the name mateletoge (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 was considered as 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, seeing 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 such 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; and 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 on which they subsisted at the time we are speaking of, the third or fourth generation of them would have possessed as little religion as the Caïres and Hottentots of Africa, or the Cannibals of the South Sea Islands.

They even laid aside their surnames, and assumed nicknames or martial names, most of which afterwards continued in their families. 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, which long remained current in the French Antilles, that 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 short sabre called manchette; a hat without any brim, except a little flap in the front; and shoes of Bacaner, hogskin, all of a piece. Their guns were four feet and a half in the barrel, and of a calibre sufficient to admit balls of an ounce. Every man had his contract servants, more or fewer according to his abilities; besides a pack of twenty or thirty 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 betook themselves entirely to the hunting of hogs, whose flesh they bucanned 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 twenty-four 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 might be kept in casks a twelvemonth and longer; and when steeped a little while in lukewarm water, it became plump and rosy, yielding, either broiled, boiled, or otherwise dressed, a grateful smell, sufficient to tempt the most languid appetite and please the most delicate palate.

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 baulk 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 bucaner could get near enough to shoot it, in doing which he commonly aimed at the pit of the breast; and 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. In general, however, the bucaner seldom missed his aim; and when he did, he was nimble enough to get up the tree behind which he usually had the precaution to place himself; whilst 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; leaving the rest 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 huntsman'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 bucaniers 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 juice of an orange, formed 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 bucaniers used much exercise, and fed only on flesh, they generally enjoyed a good state of health. They were indeed subject to fevers; but these were either such Bucaneer, as lasted only a day, and left no sensible impression the day following; or slight 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, that 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 was their situation when the Spaniards undertook to extirpate them. And at first the assailants 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 the buccaneers 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 they had been the scenes, were described as the hill of the massacre, the plain of the massacre, the valley of the massacre, and so forth.

At length the Spaniards grew tired of this mode of proceeding, and had recourse to their old method of surprise, which, against enemies of more courage than vigilance, was likely to succeed better. This placed the buccaneers under a necessity of never hunting except in large parties, and fixing their boucans in the little islands on the coast, where they retired every evening; an expedient which succeeded very well, and the boucans, by being more fixed, soon acquired the air and consistence of little towns. When the buccaneers had once established themselves, as here related, each boucan sent out scouts every morning to the highest part of the island, in order to reconnoitre the coast, and see if any Spanish parties were abroad. If no enemy appeared, they appointed a place and hour of rendezvous in the evening, and were never absent if not killed or made prisoners. When, therefore, any one of the company was missing, it was not lawful for the rest to hunt again till they had got intelligence of him if taken, or avenged his death if killed. Things continued in this situation for a long time, till the Spaniards made a general hunt over the whole island, and, by destroying the game, forced the buccaneers to betake themselves to another course of life. Some of them turned planters, and thus increased the French settlements on the coast, or formed others; whilst the rest, not relishing so confined and regular a life, entered among the freebooters, who thereby became a very powerful body. France, which had hitherto disclaimed for her subjects these ruffians, whose successes were only temporary, acknowledged them, however, as soon as they formed themselves into settlements, and took proper measures for their government and defense.

II. Buccaneers, the Pirates.—Before the English had effected any settlement in Jamaica, and the French in St Domingo, some pirates of both nations, who were afterwards so much distinguished by the name of Buccaneers, had driven the Spaniards out of the small island of Tortuga; and, fortifying themselves there, had with an amazing intrepidity made excursions against the common enemy. They formed themselves into small companies consisting of fifty, a hundred, or a hundred and fifty men each. A boat, of greater or smaller size, was their only armament. Here they were exposed night and day to all the inclemencies of the weather, having scarce room enough to lie down. A love of absolute independence rendered them averse from those mutual restraints which the members of society impose upon themselves for the common good; and as the authority they had conferred on their captain was confined to his giving orders in battle, they lived in the greatest confusion. Like the savages, having no apprehension of want, nor any care to preserve the necessaries of life, they were constantly exposed to the severest extremities of hunger and thirst; but deriving from their very distresses a courage superior to every danger, the sight of a ship transported them to a degree bordering on frenzy. They never deliberated on the attack, but it was their custom to board the ship as soon as possible. The smallness of their vessels, and the skill they showed in the management of them, screened them from the fire of the larger class of ships; and they presented only the fore part of their little vessels filled with fusiliers, who fired at the port-holes with so much exactness that it entirely confounded the most experienced gunners. As soon as they threw out the grappling, the largest vessels seldom escaped them.

In cases of extreme necessity they attacked the people of every nation, but fell upon the Spaniards at all times. They thought that the cruelties which the latter had exercised on the inhabitants of the new world justified the implacable aversion they had sworn against them. But this was heightened by the mortification they felt in seeing themselves debarred from the privileges of hunting and fishing, which they considered as natural rights. Their principles of justice and religion in no degree interfered with their predatory habits; for whenever they embarked on any expedition, they used to pray to heaven for the success of it; and they never came back from plundering, without returning thanks to God for their victory.

The ships which sailed from Europe to America seldom tempted their avidity, since the merchandise which these contained could not have been easily sold, nor indeed very profitable to those barbarians. They always waited for them on their return, when they were certain they were laden with gold, silver, jewels, and all the valuable productions of the new world. If they met with a single ship they never failed to attack her. As to the fleets, they followed them till they sailed out of the Gulf of Bahama; and as soon as any one of the vessels was separated by accident from the rest, it was taken. The Spaniards, who trembled at the approach of the buccaneers, whom they called devils, immediately surrendered. Quarter was granted if the cargo proved to be a rich one; if not, all the prisoners were thrown into the sea.

The buccaneers, when they had got a considerable booty, at first held their rendezvous at the island of Tortuga, in Bucaneer order to divide the spoil; but afterwards the French went to St Domingo, and the English to Jamaica. Each person, holding up his hand, solemnly protested that he had secreted nothing of what he had taken. If any one among them was convicted of perjury, a case which seldom happened, he was left, as soon as an opportunity offered, upon some desert island, as a traitor unworthy to live in society. Such of their number as had been maimed in any of their expeditions were first provided for. If they had lost a hand, an arm, a leg, or a foot, they received twenty-six pounds; whilst an eye, a finger, or a toe, lost in fight, was valued only at half this sum. The wounded were allowed half a crown per day for two months, to enable them to have their wounds taken care of; and if they had not money enough to answer these several demands, the whole company were obliged to engage in some fresh expedition, and to continue it till they had acquired a sufficient stock to enable them to satisfy these honourable contracts. The remainder of the booty was then divided into as many shares as there were buccaneers. The commander could only lay claim to a single share; but they complimented him with two or three, in proportion as he had acquitted himself to their satisfaction. Favour never had any influence in the division of the booty, for every share was determined by lot. The most rigid justice was extended even to the dead. His share was given to the man who was known to be his companion when alive, and therefore accounted his heir. If the person who had been killed had no intimate, his portion was sent to his relations when they were known; and if there were no friends or relations, it was distributed in charity to the poor, and to the churches, which consented to offer up prayers for the person in whose name these benefactions were given.

When these duties had been complied with, they then indulged themselves in all kinds of profusion. Unbounded licentiousness in gaming, wine, women, and every kind of debauchery, was carried to the utmost pitch of excess, and was stopt only by the want which such profusion brought on. Those who had been enriched with several millions were in an instant totally ruined, and rendered destitute of clothes and provisions. They returned to sea; and the new supplies which they acquired were soon lavished in the same manner as before.

The Spanish colonies, flattering themselves with the hope of seeing an end to their miseries, and reduced almost to despair at finding themselves a perpetual prey to these ruffians, grew weary of navigation. They gave up all the power, conveniences, and fortune, which their connections procured them, and formed themselves into so many distinct and separate associations. They were sensible of the great inconvenience arising from such a conduct, and avowed it; but the dread of falling into the hands of rapacious and savage men had greater influence over them than the dictates of honour, interest, and policy. This gave rise to that spirit of inactivity which continues to the present time, notwithstanding the agitating events of which that quarter of the world has since been the theatre.

The despondency thus produced served only to increase the boldness of the buccaneers. As yet they had only appeared in the Spanish settlements in order to carry off provisions when in want of them. But they no sooner found their captures begin to diminish, than they determined to recover by land what they had lost at sea. The richest and most populous countries of the continent were plundered and laid waste. The culture of lands was as much neglected as navigation; and the Spaniards dared no more appear in their public roads, than sail in the latitudes which belonged to them.

Among the buccaneers who signalized themselves in this new species of freebooting, Montbar, a gentleman of Languedoc, particularly distinguished himself. Having by chance, in his infancy, met with a circumstantial account of the cruelties practised in the conquest of the New World, he conceived an aversion, which he carried to a degree of frenzy, against that nation which had committed such enormities. The enthusiasm which this spirit of humanity worked him up to merged in a ferocity still more cruel than that of the religious fanaticism to which so many victims had been sacrificed. The manes of these unhappy sufferers seemed to rouse him, and call for vengeance. He had heard some account of the buccaneers, who were said to be the most inveterate enemies to the Spanish name; and he therefore embarked, with some others, on board a ship in order to join them.

In the passage they met with a Spanish vessel, attacked, and, as was usual in those times, immediately boarded it. Montbar, with a sabre in his hand, fell upon the enemy, broke through them, and, hurrying twice from one end of the ship to the other, levelled every thing that opposed him. When he had compelled the enemy to surrender, leaving to his companions the happiness of dividing so rich a booty, he contented himself with the savage pleasure of contemplating the dead bodies of the Spaniards, against whom he had sworn a constant and deadly hatred.

Fresh opportunities soon occurred which enabled him to exercise this spirit of revenge without extinguishing it. The ship which conveyed him arrived on the coast of St Domingo, where the buccaneers on land immediately applied to barter provisions for brandy. As the articles they offered were of little value, they alleged in excuse that their enemies had overrun the country, laid waste their settlements, and carried off all their property. "Why?" replied Montbar, "do you tamely suffer such insults?" "Neither do we," answered they; "the Spaniards have experienced what kind of men we are, and have therefore taken advantage of the time when we were engaged in hunting; but we are going to join some of our companions who have been still worse treated than we, and then we shall have warm work." "If you approve of it," answered Montbar, "I will head you, not as your commander, but as the foremost to expose myself to danger." The buccaneers perceiving from his appearance that he was the very man they wanted, cheerfully accepted his offer; and the same day they overtook the enemy, when Montbar attacked them with an impetuosity that astonished the bravest, and scarce one Spaniard escaped the effects of his fury. The remaining part of his life was equally distinguished as this day. The Spaniards suffered so much from him, both by sea and land, that he acquired the name of the Exterminator.

His savage disposition, as well as that of the other buccaneers who attended him, having obliged the Spaniards to confine themselves within their settlements, the freebooters resolved to attack them there. This new method of carrying on the war required superior forces; and their associations in consequence became more numerous. The first considerable one was that formed by L'Olonois, who derived his name from the sands of Olones, the place of his birth. From the abject state of a bondsman, he had gradually raised himself to the command of two canoes, with twenty-two men; and with these he was so successful as to take a Spanish frigate on the coast of Cuba. He then repaired to Port-au-Prince, in which were four ships, fitted out purposely to sail in pursuit of him; but he took them, and threw all the crews into the sea except one man, whom he saved in order to send him with a letter to the governor of the Havana, acquainting him with what he had done, and assuring him that he would treat in the same manner all the Spaniards who should fall into his hands, not excepting the governor himself if he were for-