History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Volume 5 / The Reformation in England

The Project Gutenberg eBook, History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Volume V, by J. H. Merle d'Aubigné, Translated by H. White
PRESIDENT OF THE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL OF GENEVA, AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETE EVANGELIQUE.
TRANSLATED BY H. WHITE, B.A. TRINITY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE, M.A. AND PH. DR. HEIDELBERG. THE TRANSLATION CAREFULLY REVISED BY DR. MERLE D'AUBIGNE. PRINTED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH MESSRS. OLIVER AND BOYD, FROM THE AUTHOR'S OWN ENGLISH EDITION. VOL. V. GLASGOW: WILLIAM COLLINS, PUBLISHER & QUEEN'S PRINTER. 1862.
In the four previous volumes the author has described the origin and essential development of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century on the Continent; he has now to relate the history of the Reformation in England.
The notes will direct the reader to the principal sources whence the author has derived his information. Most of them are well known; others, however, had not been previously explored, among which are the later volumes of the State Papers published by order of Government, by a Commission of which the illustrious Sir Robert Peel was the first president. Three successive Home Secretaries, Sir James Graham, Sir George Grey, and the Honourable Mr. S. H. Walpole, have presented the author with copies of the several volumes of this great and important collection: in some instances they were communicated to him as soon as printed, which was the case in particular with the seventh volume, of which he has made much use. He takes this opportunity of expressing his sincere gratitude to these noble friends of literature.
The History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century was received with cordiality on the Continent; but it has had a far greater number of readers in the British dominions and in the United States. The author looks upon the relations which this work has established between him and many distant Christians, as a precious reward for his labours. Will the present volume be received in those countries as favourably as the others? A foreigner relating to the Anglo-Saxon race the history of their Reformation is at a certain disadvantage; and although the author would rather have referred his readers to works, whether of old or recent date, by native writers, all of them more competent for the task than himself, he did not think it becoming him to shrink from the undertaking.