John Spencer Bassett. One volume.
Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1901. Col. Byrd gives an
interesting picture in this work of the life upon the frontier
of the colony in the first quarter of the 18th century. The
style is flowing and easy, and the author shows a literary
talent unusual in colonial writers. The Introduction by the
editor consists of a sketch of the Byrd family. This is ably
written, and the observations made upon Virginia politics and
life show keen insight into the unique conditions that were
moulding the character of the colony. It is, perhaps, a more
valuable contribution to Virginia history than the writings
which it introduces.

Campbell, Charles.--History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of
Virginia. One volume. J.B. Lippincott and Company,
Philadelphia, 1860. In his preface the author says: "Her
(Virginia's) documentary history, lying, much of it, scattered
and fragmentary, in part slumbering in the dusty oblivion of
Trans-Atlantic archives, ought to be collected with pious care,
and embalmed in the perpetuity of print." The partial
accomplishment of this task, so urgently advocated by the
author, has rendered his work incomplete and insufficient for
the present day. Upon numerous periods of Virginia history
barely touched by him, a great light has since been thrown by
the unearthing of manuscripts and pamphlets.

Chastellux, E.J.--Voyages dans l'Amerique Septentrionale. Chez
Prault, Imprimeur du Roi, Paris, 1786. Two volumes. Chastellux
was a Frenchman who visited various parts of America at the time
of the Revolution. His observations upon social life in Virginia
are less prejudiced than those of many of the foreign visitors
to the colony at this period. The work is valuable in that it
gives the impressions made by the higher class in Virginia upon
one used to the refined life of France in the second half of the
18th century.

Cooke, John Esten.--Virginia, a History of the People. Houghton,
Mifflin and Company, Boston, 1884. One volume. So many valuable
documents and pamphlets treating of Virginia history have been
made accessible since this work was published, that it is quite
antiquated. In addition, the author has failed to make the best
use of the material at his hands, and there are numberless
errors for which there can be no ex