CONTENTS. 2. Preface to the first Dublin Edition 3. Preface to the second Dublin Edition 7. Bishop Burnet's Preface to the Life of Rochester 8. Life of John, Earl of Rochester 9. Appendix, from Robert Parsons, M.A. 10. Character of Archbishop Leighton 11. Characters of Messrs. Nairn and Charteris 12. Characters of eminent Clergymen 13. Character of Queen Mary II. This is an honour due to the dead; and a generous debt, to those that shall live, and succeed us.' IZAAK WALTON. INTRODUCTION. In presenting to the British public, for the first time, a complete collection of bishop Burnet's smaller biographical pieces, it seems proper to mention what has been attempted, in it. The life of sir Matthew Hale, with the additions of Richard Baxter; and that of lord Rochester, with an extract from his funeral sermon,.. have, after collating several editions, been carefully reprinted. Some interesting characters,' have been given; originally extracted from Burnet's history of his own times: the Oxford edition, by Dr. Routh, has been consulted; and a few suppressed passages have been thence supplied. The peculiar merits of Robert Boyle, have, in later times, been more praised, than known: canonized, rather, by the discerning few, than justly estimated, by the unreflecting many. His works, indeed, still occupy a space, though seldom frequented, in the collections of the learned; but, even the truly philosophic delineation of his character,.. the ablest, probably, and most finished, of a Burnet's many writings, because, in this instance, peculiarly, the pen that he wrote with, was dipt in his heart,'.. has, in this country, been suffered to remain many years out of print. This, also, is included in the present volume. Bishop Burnet's short, but exquisite, address to posterity,' can never be antiquated. So long as the English language lasts, it will be read, and re-read, with fresh improvement, and delight; and, perhaps, it will be found most instructive and efficacious, when detached from the main body of his history. This closes the volume. And it ends, as such a document should end, with the words of holy writ that port and sabbath of all human contemplations.'* Throughout this reprint, the intrusion of a single phrase not sanctioned by the author, has been religiously avoided: omission, too, has been extremely rare. Not more, probably, than six lines in the entire, have been silently passed by. And these are precisely of that kind, (a tendency quite unsuspected by the excellent author,) which must have offended just moral taste, without conveying a particle of solid information. In pointing the text, and ordering the commencement and close of paragraphs, so much *Lord Bacon. scrupulosity has not been observed. In these technical, but surely not unimportant, though, hitherto, much neglected matters, considerable freedom has been used. The fact is, at the time when Burnet wrote, the principles of punctuation were ill understood, and seldom reduced to practice. And, from that day, to the present, successive publishers have, so far as in them lay, not only perpetuated old errors, but added a fresh, and plentiful growth of their own: while not so much as an effort has, commonly, been made, to attain general correctness. Carelessness in this respect, will not, it is hoped, be imputed to the present edition. And, among other things, the attentive reader is intreated to observe, how distinctly the interlocutors are marked out, in the argumentative portions of lord Rochester's life. This may conduce, in no slight degree, to their being intelligently, and, therefore, profitably read. It is a considerable advantage, to get notice, by frequent breaks, and by transitions visible to the eye, that here we ought to pause, and here to reflect. Some illustrative, and occasional notes have been added: and these, it is hoped, will not be altogether unacceptable. In selecting them, it certainly has been the object, not so much to swell their number, as to weigh their value. And young persons, especially, will pardon the suggestion, that, in no way, |