PREFACE. 



THE contents of the present volume are so very 

 miscellaneous, that it would be a difficult task to 

 give a satisfactory analysis of them within the limits 

 of a few pages. Perhaps it may be sufficient to state 

 that the Editor has endeavoured to form such a collec- 

 tion of early letters on scientific subjects as would be 

 likely to assist any future author of a critical history 

 of English science, and that from the very limited 

 number of such letters which now remain he has at- 

 tempted a selection which he thinks will be consi- 

 dered a valuable addition to the few materials of this 

 class already published. The libraries of the British 

 Museum, Sion College, Lambeth, and Oxford have 

 been found to contain documents suitable for this 

 purpose, and the reader will find that the following 

 volume includes letters from all these depositaries. 



To the cursory reader any illustration of the pro- 

 gress of science in this country during the reign of 

 Elizabeth will be a novelty ; and even those who have 

 paid more particular attention to the subject will, we 

 think, be surprised to find scientific correspondence 



