premise: Black Robe, first published in 1985, is a historical novel by Brian Moore set in New France in the 17th century. Its central theme is the collision of European and Native American cultures soon after first contact. First Nations peoples historically called French Jesuit priests "Black Robes" because of their religious habit.
hypothesis: Black Robe is a novel set in New France in the mid 1600s
reason: It is set in the 17th century, so that could be early 1600s mid or late 1600s, so my statement could be correct or incorrect