position; it is, of course, only necessary to say, that I have written from the democratic stand-point of to-day, believing it to be the true one from which to see and judge the past. With no conscious wish to exalt or depress the Puritans, it has been my aim to see them fairly, and represent them truly, while I have not hesitated to praise or blame when truth seemed to demand it. The historian is not a chronologer only, without sympathy for the right, or hatred of the wrong. It seems to me that he ought to feel quickly, and appreciate justly, and to state clearly and positively; for there is great danger that what is written without feeling will be read without interest.
It is altogether possible that I may have failed to give prominence to some important event-and, of course, no writer is above criticism-but the great reading public, I trust, will pardon a slight deviation from the beaten track, in the attempt made to group those events which have a natural and necessary connection, into single chapters, so that a continuous narrative may be presented, rather than a broken record of disconnected events. At the end of the second volume will be found a chronological table, containing many facts which did not fall into place elsewhere.
Many valuable books now challenge the attention of the reader; and I can only ask, that whatever good this work may contain will sooner or later be accepted.