4 Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling, eds., The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1709-1712 (Richmond), 17-20.

5Ibid., 494 (2 Mar. 1712); Susan Irwin, in unpublished research on slave autobiographies, found that the mistress was more commonly feared and hated than the master. A cyclical relationship was obviously at work here. The husband-patriarch treated his wife with something less than equality of esteem. She in her frustration lashed out against those beneath her. Those acts of cruelty in turn brought down upon her the wrath of her husband, and her frustration increased once more.