Editor's Foreword

Editor's Foreword

The papers calendared in this volume have, in the main, been printed in chronological order; but from page 397 onwards it was not practicable to follow this procedure as the original manuscripts there calendared are either merely dated "1607" (usually on the dorse alone) or are not dated at all.

However in a number of cases internal evidence and subsequent research have made it possible to assign to these manuscripts a more precise or at least a tentative date. It is hoped that the cross-references and explanatory footnotes will help to elucidate problems of dating.

In accordance with previous practice by editors for the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the date preceding the text of a manuscript appears in square brackets in the following circumstances:—

(1) When the original document bears no date except for the endorsement "1607." In such cases this fact is also mentioned in the description of the document.

(2) When the document has been assigned to that year on internal evidence alone.

When it has been possible to attribute a document on internal evidence not merely to 1607 but to a particular day or period of the year, I have enclosed the latter in round brackets.

Thus Salisbury's two undated letters to Lake calendared on pages 463–4 have been dated as follows:—

[1607 (Oct)]

[1607 (Nov 24 ?)].

As is there mentioned, the first letter is endorsed "1607" but the second bears no date at all. Internal evidence shows that, as indicated by the round brackets, they were written in October and November respectively—the exact date of the second letter being probably November 24.

I am glad to express my thanks to Miss Clare Talbot, the Librarian and Archivist at Hatfield House, for much kindness, and to Mrs. E. Duncan-Jones, Professor G. B. Harrison, and Mr. I. A. Shapiro for helpful suggestions regarding the songs printed on pages 490–2 and referred to in the Introduction.

A list of addenda and corrigenda is printed at the end of the Introduction.

D. McN. Lockie.