THE CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 1628-1660 SELECTED AND EDITED BY SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER, M.A. FELLOW OF ALL SOULS, ETC. ETC. Oxford AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1889 [All rights reserved] PREFACE. THE documents in this volume are intended to serve either as a basis for the study of the Constitutional History of an important period, or as a companion to the Political History of the time. With the exception of four: the Lords' Bill on Church Reform (No. 24), the suggested answer to the Newcastle Propositions (No. 60), the Engagement with the Scots (Nos. 66, 67), and the Constitutional Bill of the first Protectorate Parliament, they are all printed in books which, though commonly to be found in large libraries, are, on account of their size and expense, not readily accessible to students in general. The last-named document only became known to me after the whole of the text was printed off, and has consequently been relegated to an Appendix. The MS., in the handwriting of John Browne, Clerk of the Parliaments, is preserved at Stanford Hall in the possession of Lord Braye, with whose kind permission the copy used in this volume has been taken. It is possible that a great part of the document might have been recovered from the entries of clauses and amendments in the Journals of the House of Commons, but, as far as I know, this is the only complete copy in existence. I have to thank Mr. E. F. Taylor, one of the clerks in the House of Lords, for kindly copying for me the Bill on Church Reform. S. R. G. |