Vlll PREFACE. 



And in this way he continued all King William's 

 reign. But soon after the accession of Queen 

 Anne, when he began to have constant access 

 to her, and more business upon his hands, 

 especially while he resided at London, his me- 

 morandums grew more frequent and particular, 

 and he kept, instead of the weekly account, a 

 proper diary or journal^ which, from the year 

 1702 to 1713 (the eleven last years of his life), 

 makes up five volumes 4to. in his own short 

 hand. By which the variety of its contents 

 may be in some measure guessed at. ' 



That great use has been made of it in the 

 following work (and especially in the third and 

 fourth parts of it), will be observed in a great 

 number of particulars, which could not possibly 

 have been remembered, or known so many 

 years after his death, had they not been found 

 under his own hand. But how requisite it was 

 to use the liberty of quoting from thence with 

 caution, will appear from the design he had in 

 keeping such a diary, and the use he himself 

 proposed in doing so. 



Nothing is more manifest from it, than that 



