Abbotsford Club > Historical memoirs of the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a portion of the reign of King James the Sixth

xvi PREFATORY NOTICE.
left to draw his own conclusions from the brief outhue of cir-
cumstances above set down.
With respect to tlic great repository of liistorical Collections
and Records, in which the original MS. of these Memoirs was
deposited by Lord Hcrries, it seems to be but too probable,
indeed it may now be asserted to be absolutely certain, that nearly
the whole of the invaluable MSS., books, «S:c. belonging to the
Scots College at Douay, in Flanders, perished by fire and depre-
dation during the period of the French Revolution. The only
authentic accounts which the Editor has hitherto met with, in
relation to the foundation and endowment of that religious esta-
blishment, are to be found in Dodd's (Roman Catholic) " Church
History of England,"* and in Butler's " Memoirs of English,
Irish, and Scottish (Roman) Catholics, since the Reformation;"!
and to these works the reader is referred. After some pretty
careful and extended research, in relation to the Collections of
MSS. and historical materials which had been amassed at the
Scots Colleges of Douay and Paris, the Editor has at length
satisfied himself (notwithstanding the great obscurity which, it
must be confessed, still necessarily hangs over all details relating
to the plundering and destruction of Records, MSS., &c. during
the fury of the French Revolution, and especially those belonging
to Religious Houses,) that almost the whole collection of MSS. at
Douay irrecoverably perished at that time. The Editor has not
been able to discover, in any of the numerous Continental Me-
* 3 Vols, folio, Brusseh, 1737, I- 14, Sec. This work is of extreme rarit}-. It was in
reality printed at Shorborn, but the printer and author, in dread of prosecution, affixed
the fictitious imprint "Brussels," and the copies were surreptitiously circulated among the
lioman Catholics of that period. The work has been sold for very high prices. In a re-
cent sale catalogue a cojiy is priced at L.17, 17s. There is a fine set of this book in the
Signet Liljrary, Edinburgli. \ 4 Vols. 8vo, London, 18'22, I. 313, S:e.