are thus especially puzzling; he has attempted however to preserve uniformity, though he has not always been able to do so, and sometimes to identify parties[1]. In some few cases he has departed from the usual mode of spelling names, but in such instances he has chiefly proceeded upon a principle and not from mere caprice and yet he must admit that instances have occurred in which he has not been able to carry out the principle which he had laid down for his own guidance.
The Index, now for the first time furnished to the work, will, it is hoped, be found useful. As it has been prepared solely for the purpose of affording the means of ready reference to any desired name, no attempt has been made to identify any of the persons ; for although in very many cases this could be satisfactorily done, in others an uncertainty prevails, which, as it proceeds from the deficiency or inaccuracy of the original documents, there appears no means of removing. Under these circumstances it has appeared advisable not to attempt what could not be satisfactorily and completely accomplished. For the Index, as also for much useful assistance throughout the progress of the work, the Editor is indebted to Mr. W. E. Flaherty.
The most pleasing part of the Editor's work remains to be performed, that of offering his warmest thanks
- ↑ Dr. Monk (Life of Bentley, vol. ii. pp. 161, 162) gives a curious instance of the difficulty of all inquiry respecting identity in the case of the two Alexander Cunninghams, the one a critic, the other an historian, and this he says may serve as a caution to biographers and antiquaries, who are sometimes led by much slighter circumstances than those he has mentioned, to assign to one person the actions or writings of another.
