On this drastic premise he went to work.

There was of course continuous friction between him and the House of Burgesses.

Dinwiddie had all a Scot's native talent for sarcasm.

His letters, his addresses, perhaps in particular his addresses to the House, bristled with satirical thrusts at his opponents.

If he had spelled out in full all the words he was so eager to write, he would have been obliged to lessen his output; so he used a shorthand system of his own, peculiar enough to be remarkable even though abbreviations were the rule in that day.