Angliæ notitia, or The present state of England together with divers reflections upon the antient state thereof.

To the Reader.

IN this small Treatise the Reader may not reasonably expect to have his Fancy much delighted,

(Ornari res ipsa negat, contenta doceri••)

but only to have his Understanding informed; and therefore the Author hath industriously avoided all curious Flowers of Rhetorick, and made it his whole business to feed his Reader with abundant variety of Excellent Fruits.

Here are interspersed some Obser∣vations, which though already known to many English men, yet may be un∣known to most Strangers and Forreign∣ers, for the information of whom

this Book is secondarily intended; and for that end will shortly be translated into the French Tongue; whereby may be extinguisht in some measure the Thirst which Forreigners general∣ly have to know the Present State of this Considerable Monarchy.

Although the main aim is to inform all men of the Present State of this Kingdom, yet divers Reflections are made upon the past State thereof, that so by comparing that with the present, some men may thereby not only be moved to endeavour the Re∣stauration of what was heretofore better, and the abolition of what is now worse; but also in some measure may fore-see without consulting our Astrologers and Apocalytick men, what will be the future state of this Na∣tion: according to that Excellent Say∣ing, Qui respicit praeterita & inspicit praesentia, prospicit etiam & futura.

A good Historian by running back to Ages past, and by standing still and viewing the present times, and com∣paring the one with the other, may then run forward, and give a Verdict of the State almost Prophetick.

In the many Reflections upon the Antient State of England, frequent use is made of divers grave Authors, as of Horn in his Mirror of Justice, of Glanvile, Bracton, Britton, For∣tescue, Linwood, Stamford, Smith, Cosens, Camden, Cook, Spelman, Selden, &c. And for the present State, Consultation was had with several eminently learned Persona∣ges yet living, to the end that the Reader might receive at least some satisfaction in every particular, with∣out the trouble and charges of a great Library. And as the Author doth sometimes use both the Words of the Living and the Writings▪ of the

Dead, without quoting any, to a∣void Ostentation; so he hopes that this ingenuous Confession being made at first, no man will be offend∣ed though he give no notice when the Observation is theirs, and when it is his own; having taken special care that both in theirs and in his own, there should be nothing but the truth: so that although the Reader not perceiving every where by what Authority divers things are averred, may be apt to suspect that some things are gratis dicta, yet if it shall please him to make search, he will find that ge∣nerally they are vere & cum authorita∣te dicta.

However in a Subject so multiform as this, where so many Marks are aimed at, no wonder if in some the Author hath not hit the White; but wheresoever it was missed, it is not perhaps much wide there-from; and

if in any thing by mis-information or mis-observation there be any palpa∣ble mistake (as humanum est errare) it shall in the next Impression be du∣ly corrected, if any Reader will be so cou••teous as to advertise either the Author, the Printer, or Publisher, by Letter or otherwise.

Brevity and a Laconique Stile is aimed at all along, that so there might be Magnum in Parvo, that it might be mole minimus, though Re magnus; that the whole State of England might be seen at once, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or as in a Map; that as it will be a necessary Book for all Englishmen at all times: so every one might without trouble alwayes carry it about with him as a Companion to consult upon all occasions.