He makes a Virginia fence: Found in Benjamin Franklin’s “The Drinker’s Dictionary” (1737). And explained in “A 19th Century Slang Dictionary” by Craig Hadley as, “A staggering drunk was said to make this (a zigzagging fence) when he walked. Anyone or anything that meanders. Any fence constructed in this manner.”
DRUNK: The Definitive Drinker’s Dictionary by Paul Dickson