9534

MEMORIALS

AND

-2-211

LETTERS

PRINTED BY ROBERT AND ANDREW FOULIS,

PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY,

M.DCC.LXVI.

PREF A C E.

TH

HE publishers of fuch collections, as that which is here offered to the public, are generally confidered as dull tastless men, who seek no farther merit in a paper than that of being old or fcarcely legible: they have, however, their pretenfions to literary fame; and, indeed, thofe pretenfions are so moderate, that it is hard to reject them altogether.

To invention, to accuracy of compofition, or to elegance in style, they can offer no claim; they are not hiftorians, they only prepare materials for history: they chufe out blocks from the quarry, and having, with much patience and toil, brought them above ground, they leave them there to be polished and arranged by more able artists.