Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. One volume. Printed for the author by Whittet and Shepperson, Richmond, Va. In the first portion of this book the author attempts to explain in some detail the origin of the higher planters in the colony. A startling array of individual cases are cited to prove the connection of at least a portion of this class with English families of education and rank. As usual with the author little attention is paid to generalizations and he arrives at his conclusions by induction rather than by deduction. Interesting chapters are devoted to social distinctions, social spirit, popular diversions, public and private occasions and duelling. Burke, John.--The History of Virginia from its First Settlement to the Present Day. Four volumes. Published in 1804. The chief value of this work lies in the fact that it contains a number of documents of great interest to the historian. Chief among these is a series of papers relating to the dispute over the Arlington, Culpeper grant. As a general history of Virginia the work is antiquated. At the time Burke wrote a large part of the documents and pamphlets relating to the colony were inaccessible, and as a result he is compelled to pass over very important periods with the most cursory mention. Burnaby, Andrew.--Travels through the Middle Settlements in North America in the Years 1759 and 1760; with Observations upon the State of the Colonies. Printed for T. Payne, at the Mews-Gate, London, 1798. One volume. Burnaby's criticisms of Virginia society are less accurate than those of others who have written on the same subject because his stay in the colony was so brief. He is by no means sympathetic with the life of the colony, chiefly because he does not understand it. Byrd, William.--The Writings of "Col. William Byrd of Westover in Virginia Esq." Edited by 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.