IV PREFACE. 



of parifhes and reglflers of wills for births 

 and deaths, turned over all our own au- 

 thors, and tranflated thofe of other coun- 

 tries which related to his fubjed:. He wrote 

 down every thing he heard, faw, or read. 

 His collections amounted to near forty 

 volumes large and fmall : In one of his 

 pocket-books I found a note of his firil in- 

 tention of compiling fuch a work; it was 

 in 1713; he continued it afTiduoufly to his 

 death in 1757. Thefe MSS. 1 bought of 

 his widow after his deceafe ; and it will per- 

 haps furprize the reader to find how near a 

 compleat work is offered to him, though the 

 refearch was commenced at fo late a period : 

 I call it commenced ; what little had been 

 done before on this fubjedl, was fo far from 

 afTiflance, it was fcarce of ufe. The fketch, 

 called. An Ejfay towards an Englijh Schooly 

 at the end of the tranflation of Depiles, is 

 as fuperficial as pofTible ; nor could a fa6l 

 fcarce be borrowed from it 'till we come 

 to very modern times. In general I have 

 been fcrupulous in acknowledging both 

 Mr. Vertue's debts and my own. The ca- 

 talogues of the works of Hollar and Sim.on, 

 and thofe of the coUedlion of King Charles I. 

 King James IL and the Duke of Bucking- 

 ham, 



