To the Reader. 
^ Hough this Eflay has foeWd to fo much greater a Bulk than 
I ever I expe^ed it could foffibly have done^ that I might well 
have fuferfeded any further addrefs than that o/Dedication; 
yet it being but neceffary to acquaint the Reader with fome matters^ 
that are general^ and will fervefor all other Counties 06 well as this, 
I thought good to put them down briefly m followeth. 
Andfirft^ that though I dare not pretend the Map 0/ Oxford-* 
fliire prejixt to this Effay, is fo accurate as any I fhall mak^ hereafter^ 
yet I dare promife the Reader it far exceeds any we had before ; for 
befide that it contains all the Merest Towns^ and manyF^nil^es 0- 
mitted by Saxton j Speed, &c. it Jhews alfo the Villages, diftinguifi ^ 
ed by a different mark and character, and the Houfes of the Nobili- 
ty rt/2^/Gentry, and others of any magnitude within the County ; 
and all thefe with their bearings to one another^ according to the 
Compafs. 
And as for the diftances, though I dare not promife them Mathe* 
matically exa^ (which by rcafon of the rifings and fallings of the 
ground^ interpofitions 0/ Woods, Rivers, &c. / think, fcarce pof 
fible in many places to be given at all^yet fome few of them are as true ^ 
asa^ual dimenfuration, and mofi of them as the douirin of Trian- 
gles, and the befi information^ all compared together, could direct 
me to put them : So that provided they have not been moved in the 
Graving (as I think, they have but little^ I tak^ them all fented not 
far from the truth. 
As for the fcale of miles, there being three forts in Oxford- 
i\\\xe^ the greater^ leffer^ and middle miles, as almoft every when 
el/e ; it is contrived according to the middle fort of them ; for thefe I 
conceive may be mofi properly called the true Oxford-fliirc miles-, which 
uponaBual dimenfuration at fever al places^ 1 found to contain for 
the mofi part 9 furlongs and a quarter, of which about 60 anfrer a 
Degree : IFhere by the way its but expedient that the Reader take 
notice^ that I intend not that there are 60 of thefe miles in a degree^ 
according to the common account ; for reckoning 5280/eY/, for eight 
b 2 fur- 
