ure) to have preserv'd.

It will be obvious to every Reader, that I have taken no great Pains to
write elegantly. What I endeavour at, is as plain a Stile as possible,
which on this Occasion I take to be the best: For since the Instruction
of Mankind ought to be the principal Drift of all Writers (of History
especially); whoever writes to the Capacity of most Readers, in my
Opinion most fully answers the End.

I am not ignorant, how tiresome and difficult a Piece of Work it is to
translate, nor how little valued in the World. My Experience has
convinced me, that 'tis more troublesome and teazing than to write and
invent at once. The Idiom of the Language out of which one translates,
runs so in the Head, that 'tis next to impossible not to fall frequently
into it. And the more bald and incorrect the Stile of the Original is,
the more shall that of the Translation be so too. Many of the Quotations
in this Book are drawn from Priests, Monks, Friars, and Civil Lawyers,
who minded more, in those barbarous Ages, the Substance than the Stile
of their Writings: And I hope those Considerations may atone for several
Faults, which might be found in my Share of this Work.

But I desire not to be misunderstood, as if (whilst I am craving Favour
for my self) I were making any Apology for such a Number of mercenary
Scribblers, Animadverters, and Translators, as pester us in this Age;
who generally spoil the good Books which fall into their Hands, and
hinder others from obliging the Publick, who otherwise would do it to
greater Advantage.

I take this Author to be one of those few, that has had the good Luck to
escape them; and I make use of this Occasion to declare, that the chief
Motive which induces me to send abroad this small Treatise, is a
sincere desire of instructing the only Possessors of true Liberty in the
World, what Right and Title that have to that Liberty; of what a great
Value it is; what Misery follows the Loss of it; how easily, if Care be
taken in time, it may be preserv'd: And if this either opens the Eyes,
or confirms the honourable Resolutions of any of my worthy Countrymen, I
have gained a glorious End; and done that in my Study, which I shou'd
have promoted any other way, had I been called to it. I hope to die with
the Comfort of believing, that _Old England_ will continue to be a free
Country, and _know_ itself to be _such_; that my Friends, Relations and
Children, with their Posterity, will inherit their Sh