P R E F A C E .

¶ 3

...ling completing "unrolling" from the previous page them, you might be able to know when an author flourished original: "floruerit," a term used to describe an individual's period of highest activity, and usually also when he died; which works were written by him, or at least which ones held the primary place of importance; what authority he commanded in the Republic of Letters original: "Orbe literario," the international community of scholars and intellectuals; whether he was a Plagiarist, and whose book-chests original: "Scrinia," referring to the boxes used to store manuscripts, implying he "raided" another's desk he raided; whether he was forbidden by the List of Prohibited Books original: "Indice Expurgatorio," the Roman Catholic Church’s catalog of books banned or requiring correction for theological reasons; and finally, which is the best Edition of each Author.

You will see all these things at a single glance, if you deign to open this book. It is not my intention to speak of every Author universally—that would be far too tedious—but only of those who are most highly esteemed among the learned. I have taken my beginning from Hermes Trismegistus A legendary figure often associated with ancient Egyptian wisdom and alchemy, considered by many in the 17th century to be a real historical contemporary of the biblical patriarchs; not that fictitious one who is commonly spoken of, but the true and genuine one whom they believe to have been contemporary with Moses; and from there, I descend all the way to our own times. The Authors whom I have cited number nearly six hundred. Each of these occupies a place according to the sequence of Time.

This Method pleased me most, because I thought it would be more gratifying for you to observe the ebbs and flows of learning original: "fluxus & refluxus Doctrinæ" than to run through an Alphabetical Order. The latter would present the appearance of a Dictionary rather than a Literary History.

You will perhaps wonder, Reader, that in such a great abundance of the most distinguished writers who flourished among us in England original: "Anglia", I have touched upon so few here. Yet, if you weigh the matter with a fair scale an idiom for impartial judgment, you will find me fully excused in this regard. For these writers constitute the greatest par—