Jon, a reach, but possibly of use:  in the same work Byrd used the term "enchanted castle" for Spotswood's house at Germanna.  That sounded "literary" to me and I did a phrase search in the Chadwyck-Healey online poetry index--which led me to what I think is a very likely inspiration--a 1711 English "spoof" "translation" of Don Quixote in which "enchanted castle" and "viceroy with his brats and bride" and other phrases sound very like joking pokes at Spotswood.

--all which is to suggest trying some poetry/prose online indices for "portly Esau Saracen" or related words/phrases.

John

John Pearce
Director, James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library
University Liaison for the Enchanted Castle Site at Germanna
University of Mary Washington
908 Charles St.
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
540 654-2112
Cell 540 840-5894
Fax 540 654-1106
Web:  http://www.umw.edu/jamesmonroemuseum/
 
Celebrate the 251st anniversary of the birth of James Monroe, 1758 – 2009, 
and the 101st  anniversary of the University of Mary Washington, 1908 - 2009

________________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jon Kukla [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 4:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] William Byrd adjectives from 1732

VA-HIST query

In his Progress to the Mines narrative, William Byrd II described am October
1732 visit to Studley plantation in Hanover County where me met the widow
Sarah Winston Syme, future wife of John Henry and future mother of Patrick
Henry. Byrd described her as “a portly, handsome dame, of the family of
Esau, and [who] seemed not to pine too much for the death of her husband,
who was of the family of the Saracens.”

Mrs. Syme was not literally Jewish (i.e., "of the family of Esau") nor was
her late husband literally Moslem ("Saracen)." Haven't turned up anything
useful in the OED.  Is anyone aware of any scholarship about whether these
descriptors were idiosyncratic on Byrd’s part? or might they have had a
contemporary context?


--
Jon Kukla
www.JonKukla.com

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