ftory, which is already grown but too Voluminous.

It were now Prepofterous for me to complain of the Difficulties I have met with in the Profecution of this Work, fince I bad fufficiently forefeen them, from my first fetting out, as the inevitable Attendants of faithful Relations of Actions and Paffages, in which Men Living, and in Power, are concern'd. Nor fhall I animadvert on the Malice of fome factious Scriblers: For when the Liberty of the Press is most fcandalously abus'd, by thofe very Men, who moft loudly complain of its Licentioufnefs; When the common Rules of Truth, Honour, Equity, Decency and Good-Manners are violated and defpis'd; When Calumny and Defamation are countenanc'd, as if fome People deSpair'd of any other Means to Jupport their Greatness; When the most ve

nerable

nerable and most respectable Names are branded in the most flagitious manner, bow is it poffible for an Impartial Annalift to escape the Lafb of Prostituted Pens? Neither fhall I take Notice of the ill Treatment I have receiv'd from Some Perfons, but wait for better Opportunity to vindicate my Honefty, and expofe their Ingratitude. In the mean Time their Confciences, if they have any, will do me fufficient Fuftice.

a

The main Design of this Preface is to clear My Self of the Imputation of Unfteddinels and Partiality, which fome have endeavour'd to fix upon Me, on account of the feveral Dedications prefix'd to the preceding Volumes; particularly for my Addreffing the Two laft to Two Peers, whofe Principles, Interests and Views feem to be diametrically oppofite. I do therefore folemnly proteft, that in the Profecution of this Annual Task,

my

my conftant Aim and Study have been to get the best Information I could of Matters of Fact, and to relate them with Candor, without any By-Defign of currying Favour with private Perfons, or a particular Set of Men. I knew long before I begun to write these Annals, that the Names of Whigg and Tory, High and Low Church, and the like, were only popular Diftinctions, induftriously kept up and emprov'd by Crafty Men, in order to lead the unthinking Multitude, and fuch as are Strangers to the Affairs of the World, and make them fubfervient to ambitious Defigns. I was fenfible, at the Same Time, That whoever writes Hiftory, ought to be entirely difin gag'd and unprejudic'd, and therefore,as a Writer, Inever lifted under the Banner of either Party,but ftill lamented the Paffion, Fury, Intoxication and Folly, of the Hot

Men

Men in both; and took all Occafi ans to do every Body Fuftice, without Diftinction. Nor do my feve ral Dedications prove either my Unfteddiness or Partiality; but rather fhew I conftantly maintain'd a perfect Neutrality between the Two Contending Parties, and, at the fame Time, paid a due ReSpect to the Great Men in both. In Truth, my Dedications only, and not my Hiftory, were calculated for my Patrons; But as fome of thefe have, Three or Four Times, chang'd Sides, in the Compas of a few Tears, fo, tho' I still continued the fame, I have had the Misfortune to pass, by Turns, for a Whigg, with fome Tories, and for a Tory with fome Whiggs; because I never went all the Extravagant Lengths of either.

I might eafily enlarge upon this Subject, and fhew that fome Men who appear'd the most forward in the late Revolution, were the first that

that flew in the Face of their Deliverer; That others, on the contra ry, who were against the Prince of Orange's Advancement to the Throne, prov'd the fteddieft Friends to King William; and that fome Perfons who, for many Tears, had profefs'd Nonconformity, and e ven purfu'd Republican Schemes, did afterwards fet up for the Defenders of the Church, and the Affertors of the Prerogatives of the Crown: But the bringing in particular Inftances would be thought invidious on the one band, and altogether needlefs on the other they are fo Notorious.

I fhall conclude with repeating what I faid in my Preface to the First Volume of these Annals, viz. That they are chiefly written for Pofterity, by whom alone, They will be esteem'd according to their Intrinfick Value.

London, May,

27, 1713.

A. Boyer.