A very interesting collection of books, maps, prints, and MSS., illustrative of the early history of the West Indies, belonging to Sir Graham Briggs, Mr Audley C. Miles, Mr Henry Stevens, and the writer, were also exhibited, and the following notes on this improvised library, which will certainly never be gathered together again, will doubtless be found of interest, as throwing considerable light on the bygone domestic history of our colonies in the Antilles.
In the eighteenth century their prosperity was at its height, and a surprising amount of luxury and magnificence existed in the capitals of each of our settlements. In 1741, we find the Island of Montserrat considerably exercised (_The Laws of Montserrat from_ 1640 _to_ 1788) by many open "Breaches of the Sabbath," a general neglect of "Public Worship," to the scandalizing of the Protestant religion, and by the encroachments of the "Scarlet Whore of Rome." To remedy this state of affairs, the rites and ceremonies of the Church are, according to the authority mentioned above, to be immediately placed on a footing with those practised in England, and "an able preaching minister is to be maintained, at a cost to the public exchequer of 14,000 lbs. of sugar per annum, or the value thereof in tobacco, cotton, wool, or indigo. Moreover, the said minister can demand not exceeding 100 lbs. of sugar, or the value thereof as above, for the joining together any of the inhabitants of this island in the holy and lawful state of matrimony." Meanwhile, Trinidad and Cuba, on the other hand, were gravely occupied by the question of Protestant encroachments. These islands were still Spanish, and the Inquisition was in full swing, occasionally roasting an unhappy wight suspected of heresy or idolatry.
"The Laws of Montserrat" enlighten us as to the manner in which the negroes were treated in some of the islands. Thus, in 1670, an Act was passed forbidding the negro to enter any plantation save his master's after nightfall, and should any be found, the owner or overseer of such plantation was given full power to punish him as he chose. "And should any negroes harbour or conceal any such loiterers in their cabins, they shall be taken before the next Justice of the Peace, and there his or her owner shall, in the presence of the said Justice, exercise the punishment of forty lashes."