our Rooms on a Floor, disposed of in the
following manner. Below is a dining Room where we usually sit;
the second is a dining-room for the Children; the third is Mr.
Carters study, and the fourth is a Ball-Room thirty Feet long.
Above stairs, one room is for Mr. & Mrs. Carter; the second for
the young Ladies; & the other two for occasional Company. As this
House is large, and stands on a high piece of Land it may be seen
a considerable distance."

Nor were these houses less elegantly furnished than magnificently
built. Chastellux was astounded at the taste and richness of the
ornaments and permanent fixtures, and declared of the Nelson Home at
Yorktown that "neither European taste nor luxury was excluded; a chimney
piece and some bas-reliefs of very fine marble exquisitely sculptured
were particularly admired." As Fisher says of such mansions, in his
interesting _Men, Women and Manners in Colonial Times:_ "They were
crammed from cellar to garret with all the articles of pleasure and
convenience that were produced in England: Russia leather chairs, Turkey
worked chairs, enormous quantities of damask napkins and table-linen,
silver and pewter ware, candle sticks of brass, silver and pewter,
flagons, dram-cups, beakers, tankards, chafing-dishes, Spanish tables,
Dutch tables, valuable clocks, screens, and escritoires."[156]

_III. Social Activities_

In such an environment a gay social life was eminently fitting, and how
often we may read between the lines of old letters and diaries the story
of such festive occasions. For instance, scan the records of the life of
Eliza Pinckney, and her beautiful daughter, one of the belles of
Charleston, and note such bits of information as the following:

"Governor Lyttelton will wait on the ladies at Belmont" (the home of
Mrs. Pinckney and her daughter); "Mrs. Drayton begs the pleasure of your
company to spend a few days"; "Lord and Lady Charles Montague's Compts
to Mrs. and Miss Pinckney, and if it is agreeable to them shall be glad
of their Company at the Lodge"; "Mrs. Glen presents her Compts to Mrs.
Pinckney and Mrs. Hyrne, hopes they got no Cold, and begs Mrs. Pinckney
will detain Mrs. Hyrne from going home till Monday, and that they
(together with Miss Butler and the 3 young Lady's) will do her the
favour to dine with her on Sunday." (Mr. Pinckney had been dead for
several years.)[157]

And again, in a letter written in her girlhood to he