ravages of tyrants, the defolation of kingdoms, the rout of armies, and the fall of empires. Thofe who are pleased with obferving the first birth of new opinions, their ftruggles against oppofition, their filent progrefs under perfecution, their general reception, and their gradual decline, or fudden extinction; those that amuse themselves with remarking the different periods of human knowledge, and obferve how darkness and light fucceed each other; by what accident the most gloomy nights of ignorance have given way in the dawn of fcience, and how learning has languifhed and decayed, for want of patronage and regard, or been overborne by the prevalence of fashionable ignorance, or loft amidst the tumults of invafion, and the ftorms of violence. All thofe who defire any knowledge of the literary transactions of paft ages, may find in catalogues, like this at leaft, fuch an account as is given by annalifts, and chronologers of civil hiftory.

How the knowledge of the facred writings has been diffused, will be obferved from the catalogue of the various editions of the bible, from the firft impreffion by Fuft, in 1462, to the present time; in which will be contained the polyglot editions of Spain, France, and England, thofe of the original Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate; with the verfions which are now used in the remoteft parts of Europe, in the country of the Grifons, in Lithuania, Bohemia, Finland, and Iceland.

With regard to the attempts of the fame kind made in our own country, there are few whofe expectations will not be exceeded by the number of English bibles, of which not one is forgotten, whether valuable for

the

the pomp and beauty of the impreffion, or for the notes with which the text is accompanied, or for any controversy or perfecution that it produced, or for the peculiarity of any fingle paffage. With the fame care have the various editions of the book of commonprayer been selected, from which all the alterations which have been made in it may be eafily remarked.

Amongst a great number of Roman miffals and breviaries, remarkable for the beauty of their cuts and illuminations, will be found the Moforabic miffal and breviary, that raised fuch commotions in the kingdom of Spain.

The controverfial treaties written in England, about the time of the Reformation, have been diligently collected, with a multitude of remarkable tracts, fingle fermons, and fmall treatifes; which, however worthy to be preserved, are, perhaps, to be found in no other place.

The regard which was always paid, by the collectors of this library, to that remarkable period of time, in which the art of printing was invented, determined them to accumulate the ancient impreffions of the fathers of the church; to which the later editions are added, left antiquity fhould have feemed more worthy of esteem than accuracy.

History has been confidered with the regard due to that study by which the manners are most easily formed, and from which the moft efficacious inftruction is received; nor will the moft extenfive curiofity fail of gratification in this library; from which no writers have been excluded, that relate either to the religious or civil affairs of any nation.

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Not only those authors of ecclefiaftical history have been procured, that treat of the state of religion in general, or deliver accounts of fects or nations, but those likewife who have confined themselves to particular orders of men in every church; who have related the original, and the rules of every fociety, or recounted the lives of its founder and its members; those who have deduced in every country the fucceffion of bishops, and those who have employed their abilities in celebrating the piety of particular faints, or martyrs, or monks, or nuns.

The civil hiftory of all nations has been amaffed together; nor is it eafy to determine which has been thought moft worthy of curiofity.

Of France, not only the general hiftories and ancient chronicles, the accounts of celebrated reigns, and narratives of remarkable events, but even the memorials of fingle families, the lives of private men, the antiquities of particular cities, churches, and monafteries, the topography of provinces, and the accounts of laws, customs, and prescriptions, are here to be found.

The several states of Italy have, in this treasury, their particular hiftorians, whofe accounts are, perhaps, generally more exact, by being lefs extenfive; and more interesting, by being more particular.

Nor has lefs regard been paid to the different nations of the Germanic empire, of which neither the Bohemians, nor Hungarians, nor Auftrians, nor Bavarians, have been neglected; nor have their antiquities, however generally difregarded, been lefs ftudiously searched, than their present state.

VOL. II.

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The northern nations have fupplied this collection, not only with hiftory, but poetry, with Gothic antiquities, and Runic infcriptions; which at least have this claim to veneration, above the remains of the Roman magnificence, that they are the works of thofe heroes by whom the Roman empire was deftroyed; and which may plead, at leaft in this nation, that they ought not to be neglected by thofe that owe to the men whofe memories they preferve, their conftitution, their properties, and their liberties.

The curiofity of thefe collectors extends equally to all parts of the world; nor did they forget to add to the northern the fouthern writers, or to adorn their collection with chronicles of Spain, and the conqueft of Mexico.

Even of thofe nations with which we have lefs intercourfe, whofe cuftoms are lefs accurately known, and whofe history is lefs diftinctly recounted, there are in this library repofited fuch accounts as the Europeans have been hitherto able to obtain; nor are the Mogul, the Tartar, the Turk, and the Saracen, without their hiftorians.

That perfons fo inquifitive with regard to the tranfactions of other nations, fhould enquire yet more ardently after the hiftory of their own, may be naturally expected; and, indeed, this part of the library is no common inftance of diligence and accuracy. Here are to be found, with the ancient chronicles, and larger hiftories of Britain, the narratives of fingle reigns, and the accounts of remarkable revolutions, the topographical hiftories of counties, the pedigrees of families, the antiquities of churches and cities, the proceedings

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of parliaments, the records of monasteries, and the lives of particular men, whether eminent in the church or the ftate, or remarkable in private life; whether exemplary for their virtues, or deteftable for their crimes; whether perfecuted for religion, or executed for rebellion.

That memorable period of the English hiftory, which begins with the reign of king Charles the First, and ends with the Reftoration, will almoft furnish a library alone, fuch is the number of volumes, pamphlets, and papers, which were publifhed by either party; and such is the care with which they have been preferved.

Nor is history without the neceffary preparatives and attendants, geography and chronology of geography, the best writers and delineators have been procured, and pomp and accuracy have both been regarded: the student of chronology may here find likewife those authors who fearched the records of time, and fixed the periods of hiftory.

With the hiftorians and geographers may be ranked the writers of voyages and travels, which may be read here in the Latin, English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, and Spanish languages.

The laws of different countries, as they are in themfelves equally worthy of curiofity with their hiftory, have, in this collection, been juftly regarded; and the rules by which the various communities of the world are governed, may be here examined and compared. Here are the ancient editions of the papal decretals, and the commentators on the civil law, the edicts of Spain, and the ftatutes of Venice.