9

ii PREFACE

from whom I have derived the materials
of this hiftory; and I am ftill convinced
that the apparent oftentation would be
more the compenfated by real ufe. If I
have renounced this idea; if I have declin-
ed an undertaking which had obtained
the approbation of a mafter-artift *,
my excufe may be found in the extreme
difficulty of affigning a proper meafure
to fuch a catalogue. A naked lift of
names and editions would not be fatis-
factory either to myfelf or my readers:
the characters of the principal Authors
of the Roman and Byzantine Hiftory,
have been occafionally connected with
the events which they defcribe; a more
copious and critical enquiry might in-
deed deferve, but it would demand, an
elaborate volume which might fwell by
degrees into a general library of hiftorical
writers. For the prefent I shall content
myfelf with renewing my ferious pro-
teftation, that I have always endeavoured

*See Dr. Robertfon's Preface to his Hiftory of America.