PREFACE.

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...[so that] you may be able to know when an author flourished, and usually also when he died; which things were written by him, or at least which works held the primary place of importance; what authority he possessed in the Republic of Letters original: "Orbe literario"; whether he was a Plagiarist and whose Writing-Desks original: "Scrinia" — This refers to raiding someone's private book-chests or unpublished works. he compiled from; whether he was prohibited by the Expurgatory Index Index Expurgatorio: A list of books or specific passages that the Catholic Church prohibited its members from reading until they were "purified" or edited.; and finally, which is the best Edition of each Author. You will see all these things at a single glance, if you deign to unroll this book. It is not my intention to speak of all Authors universally, for that would be too tedious; but only of those who are held in the highest esteem among the learned.

I have taken my beginning from Hermes Trismegistus A legendary Hellenistic figure associated with the Egyptian god Thoth; he was traditionally viewed as the author of the Hermetic Corpus and a contemporary of Moses.—not that fictional one who is commonly discussed, but the true and genuine one, whom they think was a contemporary of Moses; and from there I descend even to our own times. The Authors whom I have brought forward are nearly six hundred. Each of these has a place according to the sequence of Time. This Method pleased me most because I thought it would be more agreeable to you to observe the ebbs and flows of Learning rather than to run through an Alphabetical Order; that would present the appearance of a Dictionary rather than a Literary History.

You will perhaps wonder, Reader, that among such a great abundance of most famous Writers who flourished among us in England, I have touched upon so few here. But if you weigh the matter with a fair scale original: "æquâ lance" — a metaphor for impartial judgment., you will hold me entirely excused in this matter. For those Writers make up the greatest par[t]...