great, would be to deny them the Reverence which they may juftly claim from those whom their Writings have inftructed. May the Shade, at least, of one great English Critic reft without Disturbance; and may no Man prefume to infult his Memory, who wants his Learning, his Reason, or his Wit.

From the vexatious Disappointment of meeting Reproach, where Praife is expected, every Man will certainly defire to be fecured; and therefore that Book will have fome Claim to his Regard, from which he may receive Informations of the Labours of his Predeceffors, such as a Catalogue of the Harleian Library will copioufly afford him.

Nor is the Ufe of Catalogues of lefs Importance to those whom Curiofity has engaged in the Study of Literary Hiftory, and who think the intellectual Revolutions of the World more worthy of their Attention, than the Ravages of Tyrants, the Defolation of Kingdoms, the Rout of Armies, and the Fall of Empires. Those who are pleased with obferving the firft Birth of new Opinions, their Struggles against Oppofition, their filent Progrefs under Perfecution, their general Reception, and their gradual Decline, or fudden Extinction; thofe that amuse themfelves with remarking the different Periods of human Knowledge, and obferve how Darkness and Light fucceed each other; by what Accident the moft gloomy Nights of Ignorance have given Way to the Dawn of Science, and how Learning has languished and decayed, for Want of Patronage and Regard, or been overborne by the Prevalence of fashionable Ignorance, or loft amidst the Tumults of Invafion, and the Storms of Violence. All thofe who defire any Knowledge of the literary Trans-. actions of paft Ages, may find in Catalogues, like this at least, such an Account as is given by Annalifts, and Chronologers of Civil History.

How

How the Knowledge of the Sacred Writings has been diffused, will be obferved from the Catalogue of the various Editions of the Bible, from the first Impreffion by Fuft, in 1462, to the present Time in which will be contained the Polyglot Editions of Spain, France, and England, thofe of the original Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate; with the Verfions which are now used in the remoteft Parts of Europe, in the Country of the Grifons, in Lithuania, Bohemia, Finland, and Iceland.

With regard to the Attempts of the fame Kind made in our own Country, there are few whose Expectations will not be exceeded by the Number of English Bibles, of which not one is forgotten, whether valuable for the Pomp and Beauty of the Impreffion, or for the Notes with which the Text is accompanied, or for any Controversy or Perfecution that it produced, or for the Peculiarity of any fingle Paffage. With the fame Care have the various Editions of the Book of Common-Prayer been selected, from which all the Alterations which have been made in it may be easily remarked.

Amongst a great Number of Roman Miffals and Breviaries, remarkable for the Beauty of their Cuts and Illuminations, will be found the Mofarabic Miffal and Breviary, that raised fuch Commotions in the Kingdom of Spain.

The Controverfial Treatifes written in England, about the Time of the Reformation, have been diligently collected, with a Multitude of remarkable Tracts, fingle Sermons, and small Treatises; which, however worthy to be preferved, are, perhaps, to be found in no other Place.

The Regard which was always paid, by the Collectors of this Library, to that remarkable Period of Time, in which the Art of Printing was invented, determined them to accumulate the ancient Impreffions of the Fathers of the Church; to which the later Additions

Additions are added, left Antiquityshould have seemed more worthy of Efteem than Accuracy,

History has been confidered with the Regard due to that Study by which the Manners are most easily formed, and from which the most efficacious Inftruction is received; nor will the most extenfive Curiofity fail of Gratification in this Library; from which no Writers have been excluded, that relate either the religious or civil Affairs of any Nation.

Not only thofe Authors of Ecclefiaftical History have been procured, that treat of the State of Religion in general, or deliver Accounts of Sects or Nations, but those likewife who have confined themselves to particular Orders of Men in every Church; who have related the Original, and the Rules of every Society, or recounted the Lives of its Founder and its Members; those who have deduced in every Country the Succeffion of Bishops, and those who have employed their Abilities in celebrating the Piety of particular Saints, or Martyrs, or Monks, or Nuns.

The Civil History of all Nations has been amaffed together; nor is it easy to determine which has been thought moft worthy of Curiosity.

Of France, not only the general Histories and ancient Chronicles, the Accounts of celebrated Reigns, and Narratives of remarkable Events, but even the Memorials of fingle Families, the Lives of private Men, the Antiquities of particular Cities, Churches, and Monasteries, the Topography of Provinces, and the Accounts of Laws, Cuftoms, and Prefcriptions, are here to be found.

The feveral States of Italy have, in this Treasury, their particular Hiftorians, whofe Accounts are, perhaps, generally more exact, by being less extenfive; and more interesting, by being more particular.

Nor has lefs Regard been paid to the different Nations of the Germanic Empire, of which neither the Bohemians, nor Hungarians, nor Auftrians, nor Bavarians,

4

varians, have been neglected; nor have their Antiquities, however generally disregarded, been lefs ftudiously fearched, than their prefent State.

The Northern Nations have fupplied this Collection, not only with Hiftory, but Poetry, with Gothic Antiquities, and Runic Infcriptions; which at least have this Claim to Veneration, above the Remains of the Roman Magnificence, that they are the Works of those Heroes, by whom the Roman Empire was destroyed; and which may plead, at least in this Nation, that they ought not to be neglected by those that owe to the Men whofe Memories they preferve, their Constitution, their Properties, and their Liberties.

The Curiofity of thefe Collectors extended equally to all Parts of the World; nor did they forget to add. to the Northern the Southern Writers, or to adorn their Collection with Chronicles of Spain, and the Conqueft of Mexico.

Even of those Nations with which we have lefs Intercourse, whofe Customs are lefs accurately known, and whose History is lefs diftinctly recounted, there are in this Library repofited fuch Accounts as the Europeans have been hitherto able to obtain; nor are the Mogul, the Tartar, the Turk, and the Saracens without their Hiftorians.

: That Perfons fo inquifitive, with Regard to the Tranfactions of other Nations, fhould enquire yet more ardently after the History of their own, may be naturally expected; and, indeed, this Part of the Library is no common Inftance of Diligence and Accuracy. Here are to be found, with the ancient Chronicles, and larger Hiftories of Britain, the Narratives of fingle Reigns, and the Accounts of remarkable Revolutions, the topographical Hiftories of Counties, the Pedigrees of Families, the Antiquities of Churches and Cities, the Proceedings of Parliaments, the Records of Monafteries, and the

Lives of particular Men, whether eminent in the Church or the State, or remarkable in private Life; whether exemplary for their Virtues, or deteftable for their Crimes; whether perfecuted for Religion, or executed for Rebellion.

That memorable Period of the English Hiftory, which begins with the Reign of King Charles the Firft, and ends with the Reftoration, will almost furnish a Library alone, fuch is the Number of Volumes, Pamphlets, and Papers, which were publifhed by either Party; and fuch is the Care with which they have been preserved.

Nor is Hiftory without the neceffary Preparatives and Attendants, Geography and Chronology: Of Geography, the best Writers and Delineators have been procured, and Pomp and Accuracy have both been regarded: The Student of Chronology may here find likewife thofe Authors who fearched the Records of Time, and fixed the Periods of Hiftory.

With the Hiftorians and Geographers may be ranked the Writers of Voyages and Travels, which may be read here in the Latin, English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, and Spanish Languages.

The Laws of different Countries, as they are in themselves equally worthy of Curiofity with their History, have, in this Collection, been justly regarded; and the Rules by which the various Communities of the World are governed, may be here examined and compared. Here are the ancient Editions of the Papal Decretals, and the Commentators on the Civil Law, the Edicts of Spain, and the Statutes of Venice.

But with particular Industry have the various Writers on the Laws of our own Country been _collected, from the moft ancient to the prefent Time, from the Bodies of the Statutes to the minutest Treatife; not only the Reports, Precedents, and Readings of our own Courts, but even the Laws of our VOL. II.

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Weft