PEEFACE. 



Eeaders conversant with the historic periods of 

 Charles the First, the Commonwealth, and the restora- 

 tion of monarchical government, cannot fail to have met 

 with frequent notices of Samuel Hartlib : a man uni- 

 versally respected during the period in which he 

 flourished, and one whose activity in spreading know- 

 ledge, and whose zeal in doing good, had their influence 

 in mitigating the severe pressure of those terrible 

 times. His biography off'ers one among the too many 

 examples of the wreck, dispersion, and oblivion conse- 

 quent on civil discord ; like a shattered vase or broken 

 statue the precious fragments become with time but 

 more scattered, and less available for reproduction. 

 The monumental gallery left us, after the ravages of 

 civil commotion, afibrds striking evidences of the 

 savagery of war, and its fearfully brutalizing influence. 

 It is amidst the relics of the past that, in peaceftd 

 times, the biographer has to search for some remnants 

 sacred to the noble spirits of a past age, and to select 

 and arrange as best he can the meagre remains that 



