England's WORTHIES . Select LIVES of the most Eminent Persons from Constantine the Great , to the death of Oliver Cromwel late Protector .

By WILLIAM WINSTANLEY , Gent.

London , Printed for Nath. Brooke , at the Sign of the Angel in Cornhill , 1660.

IT may make you the more to admire at my boldness , that in a midnight as not known to you , I shall nevertheless present these more then ordinary respects ; I acknowledge till the Magi of those that rightly knew you had crown'd my tenders with the Laurels of your deserts , I had not laid down this Dedication otherwise , then at the feet of your Eminent Qualifications , as of a proximity to what still remains of the surviving Nobility . Sir , I have plac'd you in the Front of my Heroe's , not disputing after so confirm'd a survey of you by your Friends , that I could not chuse a more fortunate Star to direct these my services , then to your self ; as I am informed with your own Pen you have begun with the life of Adam , the creation of History , give me leave after your Italian Victory , to entertain you with these Brittish Triumphs , which take their rise from the Christian Cross of Constantine the Great , and sit down within the Herodian short-liv'd Protectorships . Sir , as to the undertakings of History , you are not unacquainted that Judgement and a signaliz'd Impartiality eternizes an Historian . That oyl is adjudged the best that hath no taste ; that Authour should be the most preferr'd that hath the least tongue of interested affections , a candour of course being due to him that waves the chiding of the present times , in hopes that after Ages may excuse him . Seamen observe that the waters are the more troubled the nearer they come to the Land , because broken by repercussion from the shore ; I am sensible ( though that I cannot imagine wherefore ) of the same danger , the nearer I approach to the times , and the end of this History , the more subject some will be to censure what they have so little wit as to interpret to themselves . One writes , if he did not invent the words himself , that Machiavel used to say , that he that undertakes to write a History should have no Religion ; if so ( sayes he ) glossing on his own wit , Machiavel himself was the best qualified in his age to be an Historian ; the Gentleman is much mistaken , alas he was but a simple fellow to the Religious Jesuites of our times , as he wanted the Holy Vestments , the Vizards of Scripture to gild over his designs . Some entertain this position , that the History of these present times must not be written by any one alive , which in my opinion is disgraceful to an Historian , and very prejudicial to posterity ; as if they were to write at a distance , that obscurity might protect their mistakes from discovery : others also say , the Truth is not ripe enough to be writ in the Age we live in , which proves too rotten for the next generation faithfully to report : these men are extreamly mistaken , for when Impresses of memorable matters are almost worn out , the History having more of the Authors hand then footsteps of truth therein , must needs suffer ; sure I am that the most informative Histories to posterity , and such as are highly priz'd by the Judicious , have been written by eye-witnesses ; such Historians as live in the Times , not by the Times ; thus Thucidides reports impartially of the Pelopenesian War . Indeed St. Peter followed Christ afar off , so Politicians would not have the Historian to tread on the heels of the times , lest the times tread on his heels ; the truth is , we live in such a warlike tragical Age , best to write of , but not to write in . Sir , if Wit be such a Plant that it scarce receives heat enough to keep it alive in the Summer of our cold Climate , how can it chuse but wither in the so long and sharp a Winter of our Civil Uncivil Discontents . If my endeavors meet with any acceptation in this our English world , it must be from such understanding Persons as your self , as it will remain a perpetual memorial to your name , as first brought forth under the Sphere of your tuition and Goodness . Worthy Sir , together with the respects I tender to your honoured self , I have entertained it as a Case of Conscience to transmit to the next Age some short Intimations of these times , as any wise Historian may justly fear that Records are not so carefully kept in these so many changes , as they have been in former Ages ; as to the breviary of these Lives , I can only apologize , that no wise man can expect to cut and pollish Diamonds with so little pains as we do Marbles ; the chiefest matters contained in Gyant-like Volumes is to be found in this , like a little Watch showing the time of the day as well as a great Clock . Sir , lest having written a Preface in respect of these tedious Lines , you should mistake them for another , I shall end with this short ejaculation , that as Fortune , whom the Poets have so long feign'd blinde , hath opened her eyes to look upon you as to your desires and deserts , so I wish you may enjoy her favours as many more happy Years as there are Lives in this Book . Thus Sir , at the high Altar of my Respects , I lay down this Sacrifice , be pleased to accept the Oblation from the hands of

THere is no treasure so much enriches the minde of man as Learning ; there is no Learning so proper for the direction of the life of man as History ; no History that carries more weight of concernment with it , then that of our own Countrey : In the undertaking of which great enterprize , not a word that the Historian writes but should be laden with the truth of matter ; as Tacitus sayes of Galba , it ought to be Imperatoria brevitate . It hath been critically observed by some , that most Historians speak too much , and say too little ; I doubt others will think , I speak too little , and say too much , so that it will be difficult to please all . My Method shall be , first to discourse of History it self ; next of the rules and directions that are to be observed in the study of it ; then of Epitomies what they are , the admirable use that may be made of them several wayes , more respectively as to the particular Lives of Persons ; afterwards of the use , benefit , and advantages that accrew by the reading of it ; concluding with some other Addresses as to the right understanding of this now at last publisht Work . History , as Sir Walter Raleigh writes , makes us acquainted with our dead Ancestours , delivering us their memory and fame ; out of it we gather a policy , no less otherwise then eternal , by the comparison and application of other mens forepast miseries with our own like errours and ill deservirgs . History , as it were , thus shooting off a warning-piece , from which we have the dear bought experience of former and of latter times ; that in an hour we know what our Predecessours were many years attaining to : It makes a young man to be ancient without wrinkles or gray hairs , principling him with the experiences , the infirmities and inconveniences of old age . Thus we clearly perceive how Empires , Kingdoms , and Commonwealths every where have had their periods , but the History of them remains and lives for the instructions of men , and the glory of God , the chief intent and use of this study being to acknowledge our Creatour , who onely is unchangeable , and to admire his Wisdom and Providence in humane miscarriages . 'T is undeniable that it hath pleased the Divine Disposer of all things to preserve the Arts of reading of men to himself , yet as the fruits tell the name of the tree , so do the outward works of men so far as their agitations are acted , give us to guess at the rest ; no man can lay continual masques , so counterfeit behaviours , the things that are forced for pretences having no ground of truth , cannot long dissemble their own nature , so irresistable is the force of truth , the Divine Providence so powerful , that howsoever the greatest diligence hath been used to carry all in secret , to act with colourable evasions and glosses , like Tumblers that are squint-eyed , looking one way , and aiming another , yet in these our days , we have known the closest of State secrets brought to light , the cunningest consultations and contrivances discovered ; thus we have seen wicked Politicians seldom happy by their baseness , often losing all which either their subtleties , fortune , or other mens labours had cast upon them ; and if they retain their ambitions for a life , non gaudet tertius Haeres . To this purpose one writes excellently , History is the mirrour for us to look in , which represents to us things past as if they were present , and enables us to make a rational conjecture of things to come . For this world affordeth no new accidents , but in the same sense wherein we call a New Moon , which is the old one in another shape , and yet no other then what hath been formerly ; old actions return again furbusht over with some new and different circumstances . The Premises considered , to all wise men History must bear up , be highly esteemed , onely what Pilot in so vaste a Sea is able to steer aright , except he have discovered those Rocks on which others have split , so as to have first rightly poised their errours ; he that is not sufficiently knowing of the slips of some Authors , and the trips that Writers cunningly give one another , will never be so wise as to set up for himself . I acknowledge in these last instances I have digressed , as I would as it were praeire , before I arrived at my directions for the reading of History ; to prepare the Student in the pursuit of which Subject onely , I shall throughout the whole thred of them interweave some unworthy Observations of my own ; yet so as for the main , endeavour to keep close to the scope and sense of a late learned Authour , whose remaining Manuscripts I could wish for the future good of posterity were committed to the Press . The first thing that is to be undertaken in this Enterprize , is to attain to some skill both in Ancient and Modern Geography , without which History is nothing but a Chaos of improbable and indigested tales , as Geography without History is a blank paper ; then to betake ones self to some little Chronicle , not forgetting to shred it into an exact Chronology , for the series of the History , which will both help the understanding and the memory , it being as it were the fractions of time . Read Herodians Lives of the Emperours , Justin , which is a general Compendium of all ; then Plutarchs Lives , an exact Systome of the Greek and Roman Affairs , which of all Nations were season'd with the greatest wisdom ; extract Political Observations , without which History is little worth , and Fables were as good as Histories ; yet under the veil of Fables lies hid all the Divinity and Philosophy of the wise Ancients . That common fault of reading for pleasure , as the idle people do to pass away the time , is to be avoided ; this at the best is but a supine labour . Be diligent to collect from variety of events experience and civil wisdom , by observing both Moral and Political Actions ; the parties , the causes , the state of them , and parallel them with others of the like nature , for it may prove vertue to one , and vice to another ; the doing of an action , wisdom in one , & madness in another , and so continually fortunate or unfortunate ; which might be made good by several examples , which for brevity I shall omit . Here also the Historian amongst other difficulties will meet with these troublesom curiosities , and more then niceties , as they are too usually mistakes ; as touching sums of money , numbers of Souldiers , Ships , the slain in Battle , computation of Time , differences of Names , Titles , &c. wherein Authours agree not ; and it were to be wished that the assured Notes of such particulars were to be had . These things I insert onely as cautions . To proceed , the Student having first in his reading gained forth his remarks , and gleaned his observations into heads , he is next to commit them to paper ; for though the memory be the treasure of knowledge , yet we must not trust it too much , we so often finding our accounts fall short ; therefore the Student should be sure to rank his observations with all possible order , otherwise they will be troublesome and less profitable . The Authority of the Authour is seriously to be regarded , it being the Basis of the whole building ; therefore before reading , the best information ought to be had how he is esteemed , whether suspected of faith or no , whether disinterested in the business he treats of , whether a Native or a Forreigner ; these latter grosly mistaking , as Polydor Virgil doth too often in our History . Philip Comines commonly mentions those from whom he had his relations , it being the way whereby credit is extreamly courted , learned men having had a great account of his writings . In the next place those Authors are to be compared with others of the same subject , that so if it may be possible to reconcile their differences , or to encline to those that bring the most colourable reasons or best authority , this will give you a great light to reading , and be an extraordinary help to your judgement and memory ; and take it for a general Cannon , never to read a Translation if you can understand and procure the Original : translated Books being like removed Plants , degenerating from their excellency and native worth , because Translators though able , and furnisht with the advantages of language , are never able to attain to the Authors own genious : to them joyn the choycest Commentators , that handle the customs , whether Tacticks or Stratagemicks , few Classick Authors having not some , if not all ; the understanding of either of these will mightily augment the life of a Narration .

'T is now high time to descend to some particular directions ; as for the election of some Authors , begin with the shortest , I have already occasionally cited Justin ; I shall now amongst the Romans begin with Lucius Florus , an elegant writer , though somewhat too panegerical : read Veleius Paterculus , an excellent Author , who besides the purity of his stile , slices the time with a diligent calculation , who most accurately Annatomizes the mindes of those great persons who were the chief Authors of those Affairs he treats of . Then you may give essayes to Livy , and Plutarch , Dionyssus Halicarnassus , &c. For the Emperours begin with Tacitus rather then Suetonius , both because he is not so confused , as for the excellent Theorems of his policy , which he hath almost in every line , but alas his rents witness in him the wounds of Barbarisme ; but to remedy that , procure in them what you can to succenturiate in the History diligently , as I have already advised take the thred of time for conduct through the laborynth ; then set your minde to observe the customs and alterations : there are some things ( not to instance them they are so generally known ) that were in the free State of Rome that were not in the Empire ; and on the contrary , that in the latter which was not in the former ; look also into the manners of the people whose ghests you read , and pry as much as you can into the secret humours of the Governours , the inclinations of the people , how when wantonning with success , how when feeling the pinches of fortune ; observing also what nature they borrow from their climes , the Northern being more fruitful , the Southern more subtil , of whom nevertheless the others have gained ground , as the Gothes of the Romans , the English of the French ; as also that mountainous people are ever more hardy then those of the Plains , Husbandmen then Citizens : for the former the Switz may exemplifie , without whose Infantry the French who are excellent Horse-men dare hardly take the Field ; for the other , the Lord Verulam ( in whose admiration I can never satisfie my self , ) giving the reason why we breed so good Foot , sayes , it is because it depends on the yeomanry , the great joysts of a state as well in peace as in War , so nature hath infused into every Nation some particular condition ; in the Romans desire of Glory and Sovereignty , and a great observation of their promises . The Spaniards are reservedly proud , zealous of the honour of their Countrey . The French in the beginning of a Battel more then men , in the prosecution less then women , hot , fiery , and Mercurial spirits , &c. So Herodian observes the Antiochians , apt to any change . Comines , the people of Gaunt in Flanders , loving their Lords before they come into the Government , and then having them , inconstant , seditious , &c. these things will speak themselves , and are commonly the History of the whole Nation epitomized .

To be brief , History hath this preheminency above Oratory and Poetry , that Oratory hath been rejected by the Lacedemonians ; Poetry by Plato , Tertullian , and others , as two pernicious instruments in a Commonwealth , to pervert mens mindes ; but History was never yet rejected by any ; for what can be more profitable then to learn wisdom by other mens follies , to get experience by other mens cost and labours , and to be safe by other mens dangers . History is like a watch-tower , on which we may see dangers afar off , and so avoid them ; and what can be more pleasant then to see a Tragedy acted to the life , which onely is to be seen in History ; for here we shall see the whole world , but as a Stage on which men of all sorts have acted their parts , Princes , Prelates , Peasants of all ages acting the same things , on the same Stage ; who after they have laid aside their discriminating Vizards , and personating Garments , they are all alike , as they were before they put them on : for Kings and Beggars have the same way of coming in , and the same way of going out ; Mors Sceptra ligonibus aequat : Diogenes cannot distinguish King Philips Skull from the rest ; nor is there any difference in Charons boat , between the greatest and the meanest , all must row there alike .

As for my other consideration of Epitomies , what they are , I acknowledge them to be but lively Landskips , such as if naturally drawn , are ex pede Herculem , not to reflect on those common saws , Homers Iliads in a Nut-shell , that life is short , and art is long ; nor to retort at the prolixity and dulness of some Historians , some of which like Tom. Coriat memorize where they last urined ; to instance one for all , Hollingshead , who discourses of tempests , of lightnings , of thunders , and trifling passages , as the burning of Brewers Houses , &c. of whom that learned Historian of our Nation Doctor Heylin writes thus , Volumnious Hollingshead and Stow , full of confusion and commixture of unworthy relations . Without question a great part of the perfection of a Historian consists in the wisdom of epitomizing , in picking out the morrow of larger Histories , they being so often fraught with impertinencies , saucy censures , and too partial adorations ; to read large Volumes young men in the heat of their youthful diversions will not condescend , and Princes have not the leisure . Virgil ( if we may reflect on Tradition , ) after he had written thirty verses in a morning , spent the rest of the day to convert them into three good ones ; like Ben. Johnson , who to one that told him of his oyl and his lamp , the pains he took before his Births , those happy abstracts of the humours and manners of men ; gave this answer , That his were Works , the other printed things for the Stage were but Playes . Dons and Cleavelands Poems , how have they whipt and pedantized the other locusts of Poetry ? thus a true Diamond is to be esteemed above heaps of Bristol stones . To instance further , as to the writing of Lives , Historians that are thus employed , are , or ought to be the most impartial of all other Authors , except by their interests and flatteries they have resolved to render themselves worse then Pimps to posterity ; it being their determined employment and proper duties to pull off the perriwigs and disguises of great men , and to present them in their own colours , as a mans exterior actions are the best indicia of his minde ; some men in their publick actions being meer mimicks , whereas in private they put off their assumed habits and become themselves again . A disinterressed Historian , for what next to God he can discover , paints them to the life ; the general complaint in this particular is of the scarcity of the writers of lives : Indeed I know but few of the modern have laboured this way , for antiquity we have Laertius and Plutarch , you may happily pardon me if I touch at either of them , there is a certain abundance of moral wisdom in Laertius , he is rich in his examples of ancient Sages , is fraught almost in every page with moral instructions . Plutarchs fortune is to have engaged with warlike spirits , yet you may finde in him counsels as well for the Gown as the Sword . I conceive no reason why Bodin and some others should bark at him , and say , his History may well be called Parallels , for they never meet ; truly considering their internal inclinations , by their leave , in my judgement they are admirably well suited , nay , most of their actions concur ; now if one had not the same fortune , as another Countrey rose when the other fell , it makes nothing against him , since chance may help the weak to the Victory .

But lest contrary to my own Intention I should enlarge my self too much , it will now be high time for me to fall on my next particular , what is the use , benefit , and advantages that accrew from the reading of History . From this Study we learn the causes , rises , alterations , revolutions , characters of divers persons , the mutability of Councels , the remarkablenesse of actions , the subtleties of pretensions , the drifts of interests , the secrets of State , the deportments of Princes wisely dissimulating with their people , from whose ambitious pretences Politicians determine that nothing is unlawful to him that hath power , and nothing so unsafe to a Cedar of State , as to be securely innocent . By the assistance of History we finde out the especial Affairs of their Kingdoms , their Treaties , Articles , Letters , Charts , Ordinances , Entertainments , Provisions of Arms , Businesses of Commerce . It is indeed one of the most profitable employments of a mans life to read Histories , which stirs up men to vertue , and deterrs from vice , whilest they read how the one is rewarded , and the other punished ; it makes a man serviceable both to the Church and State ; it is a Study fit for Divines , to illustrate and confirm their Doctrines , whilest they exhort to vertue , and dehort from vice ; it shews them also the encrease and decrease of Religion , with the divers concomitants thereof ; it is fit for the Lawyer , to shew him the original , diversities , and changes of Laws and Governments ; for the same cause it is a fit Study for all Princes , Magistrates , and Politicians , without which their Government will be but lame : and no less necessary is it to Souldiers , especially to Commanders and Captains , where they may see the the divers causes , events , attendants , and stratagems of War . Physicians also , Philosophers and Poets may reap no small benefit by reading Histories . Alexander made himself so expert a Warriour as he was , by reading the Life and Actions of Achilles ; and Caesar was animated to undertake his great exploits by reading the Life of Alexander . Plutarch reports , that Paulus Aemilius who subdued Perses the Macedonian King , attained to his expertness in Souldiery , by his indefatigable Study in History . Selymus the Turk caused the actions of Julius Caesar to be translated ( whereas his Predecessours slighted all Histories as fabulous ) and by reading of these , he became so expert a Souldier , that in a short time he over-run a great part of Africa and Asia-Charles the Great was so affected with Histories , that he usually caused them to be read to him as he sat at dinner and supper . And Alexander Severus never undertook any great action , till he had first consulted with Historians . Innumerable other examples might be produced of the benefit attained by reading of Histories ; now as they received profit from , so were they in ancient times as grateful to Historians . Polybius that wrote the Roman History , and their Wars with the Carthaginians , was honoured with a Statue on high Pillar at Megalopolis . Pompey the Great honoured Theophanes the Historian with the Priviledges of the City of Rome . The Emperour Tacitus commanded the History of Tacitus to be placed in all Libraries , and least it should perish , he caused it every year to be written ten times over . Titus Vespasian bestowed great wealth and honours on Josephus the Jewish Historian , notwithstanding he had before been his deadly enemy , and caused his Statue to be erected at Rome . So did Julian the Apostate upon Aurelius Victor , the Roman Historiographer . We read of Alphonsus King of Arragon , that he commanded the Musicians from his presence , saying , He heard a better Harmony out of Livy . The Egyptians were so careful to preserve their Histories and ancient Monuments , that they slighted the Grecians , accounting them no better then children for their neglect herein . History is the general treasury of times past , present , and a lively pattern of things to come ; and as one rightly terms it , the Work-Mistresse of Experience , and Mother of Prudence : by Prudence we finde that a good Prince that is governed by evil Ministers is in as dangerous a posture of ruine , as if he were evil himself ; we discover by the ruines of some rash great men what Ambition is , torrenti similis , which rises in an instant , and falls in a moment . In the Calamities of a Civil War we may perceive how the Law lies asleep , and how the opinions of the Church are traduced when all things are governed by the Sword , to see one brought a pallio & crepedis from the greatest obscurity to the Purple and Scepter ; another once in the Meridian of Majesty , in a short time set below in the Horizon of contempt ; the sins of the Father visited in the progeny of another Prince , of a Prince in a Nation ; the hand of God guiding this dance , like the Whitel of a Clock , which moving all the rest hath not of its self any sensible motion ; or as we see the Circum-ambulation of the lower Spheres , yet see not the primum mobile , whose Revolution whirles them round about .

Lastly , to consider the great delight of this Study , then which what can be greater then in History , as she reinforces Antiquity from her ruines ; what can be nobler then to make the gray head of time white again ? what more pleasant then to look back on that which is not , to see great Empires more unknown in their Originals then the Fountain head of the Nile , break out with such violent Cataracts that they have either over-run or terrified the amazed world , and then in the height of their glory pulled down by some unexpected and improbable means , and in a manner so annihilated , that they have kept no Tract of their greatness , save what is found in a piece of paper .

To draw to a conclusion to my own Addresses , as to the right understanding of this Volume : I must for my own part freely acknowledge , that it is more then the Work of one man , were he of never so strong forces , to compose a passible contexture of the whole History of England ; indeed somewhat I might say for my self , as it is well known I have spent some years in these Studies , but withal I know quam sit magnum dare aliquid in manus hominum , especially in this kinde , where more is expected then hath been delivered before ; in respect of answering the height of some insatiate curiosities , this I must write for my self , what I may profess in singlenesse of heart , that the ambition of my design hath been to keep close to truth , which to me hath seemed more amiable then all other worldly Interests , to which purpose I have rendred her as she is pictured , naked , without any unnecessary tires and advantages of Wit and Eloquence ; it having been my chiefest endeavour to set down things in an even and quiet order , not quarrelling with the belief of Antiquity , nor obseuring the least particle of truth , which I know needs not , though falshood requires supporters . Thus , as to the Authority of what I have writ , I have bound my self to the truth of History onely , retaining to my self the right of an Authour , my own liberty : As for the Method , Manner , and Phrase of writing , for my Authours I have prefixed a Catologue of them , that my Reader may know that I have not ( like the men of the times ) done things ex tempore ; if every where I have not charged my Book with them , it is because the History for the Impartiality of it is Authour to its self ; onely to avoid too often citations ; where I could not go abroad , as one writes , the rest I have taken in at the window . I acknowledge I had many supplies besides my own some years continued studies , I have conversed with the most knowing persons of unquestionable esteem , interested in most of the late Actions , I have had the use of their Manuscripts , consulted with Records , turned over many Volumes , so that my Reader as to the grand composure of this Work shall finde nothing so loose , though one Life sometimes relates to another , but that with Lipsius his soder he may cement them together in their main position , as they will lead him by the hand into the Escurial of the History . One writes that our Historians are now adayes not crook-back'd , as is reported of the Jews , but crook-sided , warped , and bowed to the right or to the left ; for my part I have declared my self unbyassed , that posterity may know that some durst still write Truth , whilest other mens fancies are more light then their hands . As it is impossible for any man to ground a true History upon the printed Pamphlets of these times , such things as passe the Presse without controul , so lamentable is our condition , that in such a Harvest of Printing we should have so few true Historians ; on the one side being either stifled with Pamphlets , or on the other oppressed with monstrous swelled Volumes , able to wear out the eyes with reading , the hand in turning , or the memory in receiving . I must beg pardon if I have imitated Tacitus , of whom one may say without partiality , that he hath written the most matter with the best conceit , in the fewest words of any Historian . For my own part I am so greedy of well doing , as that nothing suffices the appetite of my care herein ; I had rather be master of a small piece handsomely contrived , then of vast Rooms ill proportioned and unfurnisht . As for this Piece which I have extracted out of divers Historians , and contracted into a brief Epitome , I have endeavoured to set down in it all remarkable passages in as little room as I could , the Compendiousness whereof will be useful and acceptable to most sorts of men ; as first to those who by reason of their other studies and employments in the world have no leasure to read over the many Volumes of Histories which have been written ; in reading of this they shall not need to spend much time , which is but short , and every wise man will be willing to husband it as well as he can . 2. To those who have no patience to dwell too long upon prolix and tedious Histories , from reading of which many are deterred , as growing weary before they be half way , despairing ever to attain the end of their journey . 3. To these also ( Quibus res angusta domi ) who either cannot because of their narrow means , or will not because of their narrow mindes , part with too much money on Books ; in this , they that cannot reach to the price of a long Gown , may buy a short Cloak . Lastly , the benefit will accrew to all men who read this History , that they shall buy at a far cheaper rate the experiences of others recorded here , then they can buy their own ; for they that live long and travel far , pay soundly for their experience ; but they who read Histories enjoy the experience of all that lived before , which is far greater and much cheaper . My onely fear is , lest by essaying or epitomizing , I should trespass too much on the soil of other mens inventions or judgements , as to prejudice truth or the persons whose mutual off-springs they are ; but these things being but by the by , the Reader will not much set by them . I shall therefore come to the main and most important considerations ; this History though it begins with a distance of time , yet the discerning Reader shall finde , that it is not so far off that the foot-steps of time are worne out ; and for those passages that have come nearest to our times , I have in my inquisitions gone betwixt the Bark and the Tree ; what I have mentioned in Letters I know from whose closet they came , they are many of them never before printed , of the Caballa of State , of those of which Sir Robert Naunton sayes , if they could have been procured , would have told pretty tales of the times . If there be any persons living , who though they are not named , will still reflect so far on themselves as to be concerned , such if they rightly understand themselves , cannot be much displeased , since they may imagine what will be said of them in plain truth hereafter : this I am certain of ; I have not intermixed any passion in my relations , to make my self a party , in which some have shewed themselves better Advocates then Historians ; all that I shall pretend to in this work , is no more then a bare narrative of matter of fact , digested into order of time , interposing of my own opinion in the interpretation of actions ; all which traverses , as I have already expressed , I have infused neither Vinegar nor Gall into my ink ; if I mention a charge or impeachment , it relates to the defence that was made by the accused . To be brief , in this small Volume the Reader may see the prosperous and torne estates of Princes and other persons , the declination of the Cleargy , and the affairs of the Souldiery ; in all which transactions , one life will smooth the way for another , that he that considers the one without the other , sees but with one eye ; indeed the chief materials this Volume is built up of , are of the exploits and successes of my own Countreymen , as well in their forreign expeditions , as what was transacted at home . In the composure of this Volume , amongst the lives and draughts of the Worthies , I must acknowledge through the perswasions of friends , who prevailed with my pen. I have inserted some few inferiour Lives , amongst the rest Master Lilburnes , which though not agreeing with the title of my Book , may as I have in his strange life expressed , pass as a Wonder , for some of the Royalists at the latter end of the Volume , except I would have defaced my endeavours , and spoiled the intention of my design , I could not but particularize them ; as otherwise I must have made by themselves two little Volumes of the late King and the Protector , to the improper alteration , if not the spoiling the method of my designs ; as they are successively placed , so their enemies , if they love to read of their own sad triumphs of their former actions , they will appear even to them as so many beauty spots in the face of this Epitome of the English History . There are several other Lives which were never before writ , these as I had no track in History to finde out the series of their transactions , cost me many hours of conversation with their friends and such as best knew them , from whom I received such light , as that together with their own so well known splendours , their more Heroick publick deportments , which to me as also to themselves were their own History , though it hath been my good fortune to represent them in their still surviving pictures , which I question not but this present age as also posterity will be very well pleased with . In the choice of these lives I have not so much tickled my own fancy , as pursued our English History in no ordinary method , but such a one as to my knowledge the like is not extant in our English tongue ; the general way of writing being of the Chronicles of the Kings , which path in my opinion had been too vulgar , and too much trode in : the lives of particular persons being in them either obscured or too lightly toucht on ; whereas giving them their due lustre , these Diamonds , as relating to the Crown , with their splendor illumniate the several Reigns as they fall in their succession of time ; and though every Prince is not inserted as so vulgarly known , nevertheless his story in these Heroes is for the main continued . I shall excuse my omission of these late Princes , Henry the eighth , Edward the sixth , Queen Mary , Queen , Elizabeth , and King James , as the people have from their continued reading their transactions imprinted in their mindes . For those that are still behinde hand , that are not versed in the English History , I thought fit to give them this short advice for the election of their Authors ; Speed may be entertained though his Volume be large , he hath fewer impertinencies then some other more volumnious Historians . Sir Richard Baker is to be honoured for his handsome stile and method ; these two Authors the Student may make use of as intire in themselves , though without dispute our English History hath been rendred best in parts ; the writers having bestowed more pains , and have been more intent upon the Reigns they have undertook . Thus the Readers best way will be to take the admirable Daniel , the most succinct Authour , and the most judicious and notable for his censures , he writes from the beginning of our Story to Richard the Second . Then he must make as good a shift as he can with Trussel , who writes ad rem , though not with so acute a pen ; he goes unto Henry the Seventh , whose Reign above all others read the Lord Verulam . Thence proceed to peruse Bishop Godwin , whose Annals contain Henry the Eighth , Edward the Sixth , and Queen Mary ; the incomparable Cambden goes on with Queen Elizabeth . The parcel Historians that have done excellently in particular Lives , are Sir John Heyward , Sir Robert Cotton , the Lord Herbert , Mr. Habington , Dr. Heylin , Mr. Fuller , Mr. Le-Strange , Squire Sanderson , Mr. Rushworth , and others . But I fear I have already been too tedious , I shall immediately conclude with this request , that for the errours and failings of my pen , as it is a common saying , Humanum est errare , so I submit my pen to the censures of the more learned , entreating them in their better Judgements to correct my unwilling mistakes ; for the oversight of printing I shall onely crave pardon of course , as it is a fate common to Books and Book-men not to be avoided ; whatsoever the faults are ; let them redound to my self , I wish the profit to others , but above all attribute the Glory to God .