Preface.
I. In the year 1809, I published, with the assistance of Mr Walter Scott, a work, in two volumes quarto, entitled "The State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler, Knight Banneret;" to which I prefixed an advertisement, informing the reader, that the original manuscripts, from a copy of which those volumes were printed, had been preserved at Tixall, in Staffordshire, the seat of Thomas Clifford, Esq. my eldest brother. That work has put the public in possession of many very curious, and interesting State Papers; and has rescued from partial obscurity, and restored to its just celebrity, the name of a man, who was one of the wisest, and bravest, one of the most active, and most able, among the many eminent characters in the reigns of Henry VIII. and of Queen Elizabeth.[1] At the con-
- ↑ Of the power, and influence, which Sir Ralph Sadler possessed in the government, during the short reign of Edward VI. no greater proof need be sought, than what is contained in the following passage from Heylin's "History of the Reformation." Having stated, (p. 43, fo. edit.) that Sir Ralph Sadler was appointed Treasurer General for the war; and having given an account of the battle, and defeat of the Scotch, at Musselburgh, where Sir Ralph so greatly distinguished himself, he says, p. 47, "And now it is high time to attend the parliament, which took beginning on the 4th of November, and was
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