he Seventeenth
Century_, 2 vols. (New York, 1895), and his _Institutional History of
Virginia in the Seventeenth Century_, 2 vols. (New York, 1910). Bruce's
work is the indispensable platform upon which political and social
accounts of the period must rest. Morgan Poitiaux Robinson, _Virginia
Counties: Those Resulting from Virginia Legislation_ [Virginia State
Library, Bulletin, IX, Nos. 1-3] (Richmond, 1916), is a carefully
documented study of the growth of Virginia as evidenced by the formation
of its counties. Maps showing the area of settlement at frequent
intervals give a graphic account of the nature and extent of Virginia's
expansion.

There are a number of local histories chronicling the growth of
particular regions in Virginia. An outstanding local history is Fairfax
Harrison, _Landmarks of Old Prince William_ (Richmond, 1924), which
analyzes the growth of settlement in the Potomac River valley. Histories
of the Eastern Shore are numerous: Susie M. Ames, _Studies of the
Virginia Eastern Shore in the Seventeenth Century_ (Richmond, 1940),
Jennings Cropper Wise, _Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke, or the Eastern Shore
of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century_ (Richmond, 1911), and Ralph T.
Whitelaw, _Virginia's Eastern Shore_, 2 vols. (Richmond, 1951).

A reading of but a few works in Virginia history will be enough to show
that the interpretations and conclusions of the authors must be accepted
with extreme caution. There are two conflicting interpretations for
nearly every important event in Virginia's history. History may be
defined as the attempt to state what happened in the past on the basis
of inadequate evidence existing in the present. The reader should keep
always in mind that historical writing is largely a series of guesses
more or less intelligently elaborated.

Much of the original manuscript material upon which an account of the
period must be based has been published in the following sources:
William Waller Hening, _The Statutes at Large; being a Collection of all
the Laws of Virginia_, Vol. I (Richmond, 1809), H. R. McIlwaine,
_Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia,
1622-1632, 1670-1676_ (Richmond, 1924), H. R. McIlwaine, _Journals of
the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1619-1658/59_ (Richmond, 1914), Nell
Marion Nugent, _Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land
Patents and Grants, 1623-1666_ (Richmond, 1934), _Virginia Magazine of
History and Biography_ (Richmond, 1893