Introduction.                 xli



      not more than a hundred pounds of tobacco a month (Archives, LIV, p. 322).
      In cases coming before the Court, four or five men were admitted in forma
      pauperis, but that did not necessarily mean real poverty: two or three of them
      were described as planters.
        The proceedings of the Provincial Court were much more than a record of
      cases coming before it or of actions taken by it. Deeds, wills, land transfers,
      cattle marks, contracts, commissions and appointments to office, oaths taken,
      warrants and letters of attorney by the tens and dozens, and other kinds of
      papers not directly related to cases before the Court, appear here, whether they
      were offered to the Court or only handed to the clerk. The clerk did not mind:
      he got I6 pounds of tobacco for every side he recorded (Archives, II, pp. 137,
      294). If these rather irrelevant papers were put into this record, they were at
      least permanent. Which is, of course, exactly why they were put here.

                           APPENDIX

        In the appendix to this volume appear the Provincial Court proceedings from
      October, 1659, to February, I659/6O. Volume XLI of the Archives contains the
      Court records from 1658 to 1662, but when it went to press, pages 315-340
      were missing from Liber PCR, which is reproduced in volume XLI. Later
      they were found and restored to their proper place. Although they cover only
      twenty-three pages (post, pp. 667-689), they are important enough to justify
      including them here, especially since this volume LXV, like the older one, deals
      with the Provincial Court. The matter of dating these pages proved trouble
      some, and it could be done only partly and by a close comparison with the
      text of the older volume. The last certain date before the gap is October 7,
      1659 (Archives, XLI, p. 339). After the opening of the Court on that day,
      come orders given by it in several cases, records sent up from Calvert and
      St. Mary's County courts, and depositions in the action brought by Walter Hall
      against John Pille for withholding two hogsheads of tobacco belonging to Hall.
      In the midst of that case comes the break (Archives, XLI, p. 343), and the
      first of the recovered pages are so full of holes that they do not reveal much.
      The Court, evidently still sitting, considers two cases and decides them, receives
      a petition which it refers to the General Assembly, and orders an attachment.
      Then the “Court dissolued by ye Gouernor" with no mention of the date of the
      dissolution. However, since the Court rarely, if ever, sat longer than four or
      five days, it was probably October II or possibly October 12. So the recovered
      pages begin some time between October 7 and October 12, I659. The Gov
      ernor, Josias Fendall, in dissolving the session “apoynted ye next Provinciall
      Court to bee held att New Towne on St Maries County on ye last Tuesday in
      ye month of ffebruary following. (Viz) 28th of ffeb.” 1659/60 (post, p. 670).
      Yet rather shortly he changed his mind, for a Provincial Court was “holden att
      ye Resurrection mannor in Caluert County this 12th of Decembr I659” (ibid.,
      p. 6/4). When this December session came to an end is not known, and there
      is no clear inference: on page 683 post, some one demands of the Court a
      warrant against his adversary in an action of debt, and it was issued and
      made returnable “next Prou: Court att New-Towne 28th ffeb. next.” Then