P R E F J C E. V 



ham,' were part of Mr. Vertue's original 

 plan, which is now compleated by thefe 

 volumes. 



The compiler had made feveral draughts 

 of a beginning, and feveral lives he had 

 written out, but with no order, no connec- 

 tion, no accuracy -, nor was his ftyle clear 

 or corre(5l enough to be offered to the 

 reader in that unpolifhed form. I have been 

 obliged to compofe a-new every article, and 

 have recurred to the original fountains from 

 whence he drew his information ; I mean, 

 where it was taken from books. The indi- 

 gefted method of his coUeftions, regiftered 

 occafionally as he learned every circum- 

 fiance, was an additional trouble, as I was 

 forced to turn over every volume many and 

 many times, as they laid in confufion, to 

 colled the articles 1 wanted ; and for the 

 fecond and third parts, containing between 

 three and four hundred names, I was re- 

 duced to compofe an index myfelf to the 

 forty volumes. One fatisfa(5tion the reader 

 will hive, in the integrity of Mr. Vertue, 

 it exceeded his induftry, which is faying 

 much. No man living, fo bigotted to a 

 vocation, was ever fo incapable of faliliood. 

 He did not deal even in hypothefis, fcarce 

 a 3 in 



