of Sir William Strickland, Baronet, of Boynton, in Yorkshire; who was kind enough to furnish me with it: a favour conveyed in the most agreeable manner, as it came unsolicited, and which I have much pleasure in gratefully acknowledging[1].
The first edition of this little book is of great rarity: it bears the date of Paris, 1626, but was probably printed in England. It was then not uncommon for books which favoured Catholic doctrines to have a foreign imprint, even when not printed abroad. It is remarkable that the Life of Sir Thomas More, by his great-grandson, Thomas More, was first printed in the succeeding year.
In 1716, Thomas Hearne, the celebrated antiquary, gave to the world another impression, and boasts of having had the choice of several manuscript copies; he does not however seem to have been fortunate in the one he selected, but he has followed it most scrupulously in every particular, errors and redundancies not excepted. His various readings at the end of the volume offer many emendations, of which he, perhaps with too punctilious accuracy, omitted to avail himself in the construction of his text.
- ↑ Opposite the first page of Sir William Strickland's manuscript, are emblazoned the arms of Leigh and Egerton; beneath them are seven lines referring to the arms, and complimenting the bearer of them: these are signed Fra: Wynne. The manuscript is in the handwriting of the period at which Roper lived.
