PREFACE. THEY who desire correct information of the History of their Country must not limit their reading to the Work of the General Historian exclusively. History, confined to the greater events which it records, is usually certain and true: but in the colouring which writers give it, and which they are proud to call the philosophy of history, it is too frequently erroneous. Characters are drawn by those who could not know the persons they describe: facts are imperceptibly perverted to the uses of party: and events which owe their origin to the simplest, are often traced back to the remotest causes. cumstanced, History, however comprehensive in its view, partakes too much of the embellished nature of Romance. Thus cir To remove doubts, to verify facts, and to form a clear conception of particular events, the reader must seek subsidiary aid, in the dispersed materials of History; of which, ORIGINAL LETTERS of EMINENT PERSONS IN THE STATE form both the largest and the most important portion: and they exist in this Country, in an uninterrupted succession, for more than five Centuries. These bear the impress of their respective times : and, whilst many of them regard affairs in which the writers were actively engaged, all afford a closer and more familiar view of characters, manners, and events, than the pen of the most accomplished compiler of regular history, even if he might be trusted, could supply. They unravel causes of action which without their aid would be impenetrable; and even throw new light upon parts of history which superficial readers suppose to be exhausted. How far the present Selection of Letters may deserve so good a character, the Reader must determine for himself. The Editor has been desirous of producing a Work, which, while it exhibited within reasonable limits a series of historical Pictures, might be considered as A SUPPLEMENT TO OUR HISTORIES. To render it more acceptable, he has, here and there, 4 prefixed Introductions to particular Letters, in which numerous traits and minute anecdotes bearing upon detached topics of history have been compacted and condensed. In the execution of this design the illustration of historical truth has been his sole object : and he believes it will be found that these Introductions, as well as the Letters themselves, throw new light on various passages of our History. Many Readers, it is probable, will think the earlier part of the Series of Letters here presented, of a forbidding aspect, on account of the uncouthness of the language. But to have modernized these Letters would have answered no purpose of utility: it would have been like destroying the external character of an ancient mansion. Such words in them as are really obscure or obsolete, have been explained in glossarial notes. LETTER King Henry Vth to. on the safe keep- ing of the Duke of Orleans, his prisoner.... Archbishop Chichele to King Henry Vth when 3 K. Edward IV. when Earl of Marche, and his brother the Earl of Rutland, to their father Richard Duke of York to the Citizens of Shrewsbury, A. D. 1452; upon his march to- Richard Earl of Warwick to Thomas Rede, one of his Bailiffs, for the repayment of mo- ney borrowed in his distress..... B. Essex to John Say, Esq. A. D. 1462.... King Edward IV. to Dr. Alexander Legh his Almoner, and Ambassador in Scotland, A. D. 1477, respecting some proposed marriages.. King Henry VII. to the Earl of Ormond, upon 18 |