viated name), where it appeared useless to disfigure the page in order to point them out. The quotations in the text of the treatises themselves, where they are verbally exact or nearly so, are marked with double commas; where such exactness does not exist, with single commas. The orthography (with the exception of a few words, where it seemed worth while to preserve a peculiar or characteristic mode of spelling) has been throughout modernised (excepting of course in the Letters, mentioned below); as there appeared to be little in it in general either to mark the style of the author or to illustrate the history of the language. The running titles, placed in the outer margin of the page, have been filled up where they appeared deficient (the additions being of course marked as such); so as to make them, as far as possible, a complete abstract of the text. It has seemed worth while, also, to follow the example of a late editor of the Answer to La Milletière in placing the titles in question, with such additions from the text as were needful to adapt them for the purpose, at the head of each treatise, as a table of contents. Prefixed to the treatises themselves will be found, 1, a Life of the Author; 2, a Sermon preached at his funeral by Jeremy Taylor; 3, a Collection of his Letters, with a few other original documents relating to him; and 4, a translation of that part of La Milletière's work (viz., the Dedicatory Epistle at the commencement of it), to which the Answer is a reply. 1. Of the Lives of Bramhall already existing, two only are sufficiently short, to render them admissible into a volume like the present; viz. those of Mr. Harris in his edition of Sir James Ware, and of Mr. Morant in the Biographia Britannica. The latter has been preferred, as being, on d Viz. The words extrinsecal, intrinsecal, accessary, loth, stedfast, which are almost invariably spelt by Bramhall as here marked. He uses also the words interessed, enoil, apostate (as a verb), appliable, substract. In two other cases of a similar kind his mode of spelling has not been retained, viz., connivence for connivance, and mesnage, mesnagery, &c., for manage, managery, &c. the one hand, a more concise abstract of the verbose and tedious Life prefixed by Dr. Vesey to the folio edition, from which both are derived, and, on the other, as comprising a larger range of information drawn from other sources. It has been taken from the second edition of the work, with only so much however of the additional notes of that edition as seemed to be worth reprinting'. It is necessary to add, since the contrary is the case in one instances,—that it is upon the whole a very fair and adequate representation of the original, from which it is abridged. In republishing it, several errors have been corrected, and considerable additions made; especially in the long foot notes (which, for the sake of convenience, have been here thrown into an appendixh), and most especially in the account of Bramhall's Works. For some further and valuable information (which will be found in note n. p. cxiii.) the Editor begs to express his thanks to Dr. Todd, of Dublin, who also, with very great kindness, revised the greater part of the Life itself. 2. It has been thought worth while to reprint likewise the Sermon preached at Bramhall's funeral by Jeremy Taylor, as (besides its own merits) containing a sketch of the Primate's life and character, entirely independent of that drawn by Dr. Vesey. The Oration, pronounced upon the same occasion by Dr. Loftus, would probably have been preferred, had the Editor come into earlier possession of it, as being a tract of great rarity, and more exclusively employed upon its subject, whilst its information and line of thought are, equally with Bishop Taylor's, independent of Dr. Vesey. The Sermon however was in type before the Oration was procured. It is exactly reprinted from the text of Bishop Heber, with the addition of several, although far from all, of the references that are wanting in his edition. 3. The Letters of Dr. Bramhall here collected are sixteen in number, two of which are now for the first time printed. For one of these, No. XI., the Editor is indebted to the kindness of the Provost and Fellows of Queen's College, Oxford, whose Library possesses the MS. of Bishop Barlow containing it; for the other, numbered XVIII., he returns his thanks to Mr. Upcott, in whose extensive collection of letters the original is preserved. The sources whence the remaining letters have been taken will be found stated in the notes upon each. Three other documents are added to the Letters: viz., the Will of Archbishop Bramhall, already printed in the preface to the Rawdon Papers, whence it has been copied; the public and solemn recognition of his services by the Irish Convocation of 1661, never before published, for which the Editor has a second time to thank Dr. Todd; and a Latin inscription to his memory taken from the folio edition of his works. 4. The translation of the Epistle Dedicatory of La Milletière's Victoire de la Vérité originally appeared with Bramhall's Answer in 1653; it was reprinted with considerable alterations in the new edition of the Answer in 1654, and again from that of 1653 in the folio edition of Bramhall's Works. That in the present volume has been corrected by the original French; and, although still far from elegant, will be found, it is hoped, at all events,-what it was not before, accurate and intelligible. Marginal titles have also been added: and the errork corrected, which has hitherto prevailed in the spelling of the author's name. It must be confessed, however, that the error in question appears to have originated with Bramhall himself, and not with the self-appointed editors of his Answer; since it occurs both in the Just Vindication, and wherever in his other works he has occasion to mention the name. The present Editor has ventured to correct it in every case. For the convenience i There is a clause in this letter almost illegible. A different interpretation to the one given in p. cxvii. has been kindly supplied by Mr. Upcott as the more probable of the two, viz., "winds prove clearer," for "leases prove clearer." The words, between which the question lies, are not so unlike as they may at first sight appear to be; nor does the context disagree with either. * See p. cxli. note b. of the printer, the Epistle has been quoted in the margin of the Answer by the marginal, i. e. the folio, paging. It remains to say a few words of the works themselves republished. An examination of the authorities, upon which the arguments of the Just Vindication are founded, has proved most satisfactorily the soundness of the author's positions. It has at the same time brought to light the existence of a few unimportant errors in minor points. In making this acknowledgment, let it in fairness be remembered,-first, that for most of these errors the printer is probably responsible and not the author', the handwriting of the latter being far from easily legible, whilst (as has been seen) he was unable personally to superintend the printing of his work; and secondly, that, where the author is himself responsible, he may still reasonably claim indulgence for what are after all but a very few errors, in a work written under the hardships and uncertainties of poverty and exile m, from recollections and notes of past reading, with but scanty present opportunities of access to books, and in an argument based upon a very large and minute induction. Nor is there reason to do more than thus advert to the subject, since each error has been noticed as it occurs, whilst all taken together do not in the slightest degree tend to invalidate even the minor branches of the argument of the work. One or two isolated points may, perhaps, be too strongly put; but the masterly and comprehensive reasoning, the terse and emphatic statement, the well-marked and consistent system, which are the great merits of Bramhall's writings, rest untouched upon a broad and firm foundation. There is another and an unpleasant subject, referring more particularly to the first of the two treatises, which, though it may seem invidious to notice it, yet must not be passed over in silence. It is impossible to read a sentence of Bram 1 e. g. "four" for "forty," in p. 181. 1. 20, (see p. 181, note g.); "520" for "500" in p. 242. 1. 25, (corrected in this edition.) See the Just Vindication, c. x. p. 276 of this volume. hall's writings without feeling that he is in earnest. He is indeed so entirely bent upon his purpose, as to be neglectful of every thing subordinate and supplemental to it. His language accordingly is always nervous and intelligible, but at the same time, is not seldom unpolished, and occasionally even inaccurate. It is but fair to Bramhall to prepare his reader for occasional homeliness of language: and though, one whose thoughts are so vigorous, might well be excused, if on ordinary topics his expressions should be sometimes harsh; there are subjects where such an excuse is hardly sufficient. But the fault may be truly said to be, in a degree, non hominis sed temporum. In conclusion, the Editor has to express his regret, that an accumulation of unforeseen and unavoidable occupations has so long delayed the completion of an engagement, undertaken originally upon a very hasty calculation, and with a very insufficient conception, of the difficulties of the task. He is sorry to be compelled to acknowledge, that the delay is far from being compensated by any corresponding improvement in the volume itself. March, 1842. A. W. H. |