Never in the history of this country has literature assumed so prominent a position as it does at the present time; not in one department only, but in the ample circle she travels, each presenting its own peculiar claims to attention and regard, thus catering to the diversified necessities of the human family.

Among the various intellectual viands, none is more generally acceptable than History; and simply for this reason, in other departments or productions of the pen we have abstract principles and theories, which require to be worked out by mental or manual processes ere they assume a form to be capable of appreciation by the general mind. In History truths are progressively elaborated and developed under the immediate influence of time and circumstances, by which their qualities become known, and their value tested and proved.

In the first class we may be said to have presented to us a subtle spirit so ethereal and liable to evaporation as to be difficult of retention to any important purpose, and so versatile as to be susceptible of any form at the will of the operator; in the latter we possess a definite tangible reality, in which we see reflected as in a mirror the principles, feelings, motives, and results, not only of the several actors, but of the times in which they lived, all which become fixed or Daguerreotyped for the benefit of those that come after.The term History is of a general and extensive character, admitting of a very minute subdivision. In the first place it may be simple or compound, pure or mixed, as it embraces persons, times, or things, taken singly or in their combination in the mutual influence they exert. This is the general form in which it is presented. In the next place, it may range as universal, national, provincial, local, or individual. Another division will give us civil, political, ecclesiastical: each of these have their intrinsic value, will materially influence the progress of civilisation, and promote the well-being of society; but to the last, viz., ecclesiastical, there belongs a charm pre-eminently its own, as it closely approximates to eternity.

The following History is of the mixed class, as the Table of Contents will show, so that it is hoped, while it may possess or create a general interest, its specific features will please others; and its ecclesiastical lineaments afford to the devout mind great gratification.

The Author craves the indulgence of his readers, and hopes his efforts will receive a general verdict of approbation.