Hast thou so much moisture in the Whitleather hide yet, that thou canst cry?
"The Scornful Lady"
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Interlaced with citations to the ancient charters of Virginia were terms of fury-"detestable Thought", "Ungenerous Insinuation", "despicable Opinion", "slavery", "oppression", terms which suggest the level to which rhetoric had risen even for as rational a man as the moderate burgess from Prince George County, now grown "tough as Whitleather" with "something of the look of musty old Parchments which he handleth and studieth much".
"The Road to Independence: Virginia 1763-1783"
Virginia State Dept. of Education