View source for Bradford: Merrymount; Massachusetts, 1626

=="worse practices"==

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About 1626, according to William Bradford, Thomas Morton and the other male settlers at Merrymount (now Quincy), in the Massachusetts Colony, were guilty of "great licentiousness." The men's consorting with Indian women is mentioned, along with "worse practices" associated with ancient Roman feasts.

[[Image:Bradford.jpg|William Bradford (1590-1657)]] 


Bradford said that Morton and his men "set up a maypole,drinking and dancing about it many days together, inviting the Indian women for their consorts, dancing and frisking together like so many fairies, or furies, rather; and worse practices. As if they had anew revived and celebrated the feasts of the Roman goddess Flora, or the beastly practices of the mad Bacchanalians."<ref>Bradford, ''Of Plymouth Plantation'', pp. 204-06.</ref>


It would be interesting to know just what "feasts of the Roman goddess Flora" and "beastly practices of the mad Bacchanalians" Bradford had in mind. With what ancient Roman sources would he have been familiar? <ref>This query is in the notes to {{GAH}} or {{GLA}}, which also cites Oaks, 'Things Fearful,' " p. 269.</ref>


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Return to [[Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin|Age of Sodomitical Sin]] index • Go to [[Legal case: Thomas/sine Hall; Virginia, March 25, 1629|next article]]
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==References==

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Categories

[[Category:The Age of Sodomitical Sin]]
[[Category:American Colonial Era]]
[[Category:Bradford, William]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Colony]]
[[Category:Massachusetts - Merrymount]]
[[Category:Massachusetts - Quincy]]
[[Category:Merrymount - Massachusetts Colony]]
[[Category:Morton, Thoms]]
[[Category:Quincy, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Rome, Ancient]]
[[Category:Stub]]
[[Category:1620-1629]]
[[Category:17th century]]