Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/277

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The close of Governor Yeardley’s administration found every section of the planters, who now numbered two thousand persons,[1] in the full enjoyment of the various fruits of their skill and industry. The plenty of these times, following so closely on the dearth and confusion in which Argoll had plunged the Colony, was long remembered. It is stated by one observer of that age, that no happier people were to be found than the population of Virginia at this particular period, the quantity of provisions of all kinds being so great, that every man gave free entertainment to his friends and to strangers.

  1. Discourse of the Old Company, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. III, No. 40. See also Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. I, p. 159.