FROM THE FALL OF WOLSEY ΤΟ THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH. BY JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, M.A. LATE FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD. PREFACE. IN laying the present volumes before the world, I desire to express my great obligations to Sir Francis Palgrave. In the course of his employment upon the public Records Sir Francis Palgrave discovered a large number of documents relating to the opening years of the English Reformation, which had not been published, and which did not appear to have been even read. Of these he made copies, and, as he permits me to say, he had proposed to embody them in a history of the time. Circumstances obliged him to give up his intention; and hearing that I was engaged upon the subject, he generously made over his collection to me. It consists of letters, minutes of council, theological tracts, parliamentary petitions, depositions upon trials, and miscellaneous communications upon the state of the country furnished by agents of the government. Many of the papers are highly illustrative and curious; while |