INTRODUCTION

то THE

NINTH VOLUME.

W

E now prefent to the World Five Volumes more of the Parliamentary History of England; and tho' the general Aim and Intention of this Work is fo fully fet forth in the Preface to the first, that it might feem unneceffary to offer any thing further on the Subject, yet the Interesting Crisis we are now upon demands the Reader's Attention to a few Obfervations on fome of the principal Contemporary Collectors and Hiftorians of that Age.

AND firft, Mr. Rushworth: Whose Miftakes, in the Times we have pafs'd over, have been already taken Notice of; but most of these seem to be owing rather to the Negligence and Ignorance of Tranfcribers, than to any partial Intention of his own, vertheless, in his Collections, almost all the

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Proceedings of the Houfe of Lords, in the Parliament we are now upon, are omitted,

except where they concurr'd with the prevailing Party of the Commons: And upon thofe Authorities it appears, that there were very few Inftances of any Attack upon the Juft and Legal Prerogatives of the Crown, but what food great Debate amongst the Peers; a Negative being put upon many Motions for their Concurrence with the Commons; others carried by a fingle Vote; and Protefts enter'd in Form by the alternate Minorities: And most of these after the Bifhops had either voluntarily abfented themfelves, or were removed from their Seats in Parliament; which Proceedings are here duly entered in their proper Series.

THE next is Dr. Nalfon: Who, in his Collections, feems to have taken as much Pains in detecting the Miftakes of Mr. Rushworth, as Mr. Tyrrel has done thofe of Dr. Brady, in the former Part of this Work; but tho' thefe confift of two large Volumes in Folio,. yet they proceed no farther than January. 1641; and abound so much with Party-Prejudice, as renders a Search through them

very tedious, even though they were lefs voluminous. But as he has been very minute and particular, fo far as he goes, many authentic Circumftances have been borrowed from him, not taken Notice of by others.

IN Mr. Whitlocke's Memorials, the Tranf actions from the 15th of February, 1641, to the Battle of Edgehill, in October 1642, are comprised in seven Pages only: And tho' that Work carries the Face of a Diary, and is, in the main, very exact in ascertaining the Dates of Facts, yet, in the first Part of it, are many Chronological Errors; there being fome Tranfactions, of the Year 1643, enter'd in the Month of May, which did not happen till the December following.

IN Lord Clarendon we find Recitals of fome principal Debates in Parliament, in which he had a very confiderable Share, before the War broke out: But he has alfo made Abundance of Miftakes in point of Chronology; from whence it is probable that his Lordship, as well as Mr. Whitlocke, wrote chiefly from Memory. a 3

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IN Husbands's Collections a great Number of the moft Interefting public Inftruments are wholly omitted, and there are many Mistakes in those he has given us; which is the more extraordinary, as he was the Authoriz'd Printer to the Houfe of Commons. And even several of King Charles's Speeches and Meffages, printed in Royston's Edition of that Monarch's Works, are not without Er

rors.

And

We have, therefore, trufted to none of thefe, where we could be fupplied from the Journals of either Houfe, or the Original and Authentic Editions of the Times. where thofe Authorities are filent, we have always referred to the Collections from whence the refpective Inftruments are taken.

As to the long Declarations and Remonftrances, by way of Altercation between the King and the Parliament, we have endeavoured an Abridgement of them whereever it could be done without Injury to the Matter; (and in thefe Cafes the Reader will always find a Reference to the Original at large) though, in many Inftances, we have

been