The proper names of persons have usually been retained in their Latinized forms, partly because it is by these that the persons themselves are generally known to English readers; and partly because it was found impossible, in many cases, to give them under any other form, in which the identity of the individual could be recognized. It was long the custom of the literati of Europe to translate their names into Latin or Greek; and many of the most eminent literary men of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are now known to the world by such names only. It would be idle and pedantic in any one to attempt, in the present day, to divest them of these classical designations. Who, for example, that is at all desirous of escaping the charge of literary affectation, would think of calling Erasmus by his original name, Gerard, or of giving to Melanchthon the name of Schwartzerde? In some cases the author of the present work has been guided solely by his ear, as to the retention or rejection of the Latin termination of a name; and when a preference has been given to the Latinized form, on account of its having the sanction of long usage in its favour, or from any other motive, the original name, with few exceptions, has been subjoined in a parenthesis.

The proper names of places the author has generally given, as he found them spelt in geographical dictionaries, maps, and other sources of information of a similar kind. In a few instances, particularly

when the place is an obscure one, or happens not to have been mentioned in any of the authorities which he has consulted, he may possibly have failed in his attempts to discover the true orthography. But no one can imagine the difficulty of this part of his labours, who has not himself been engaged in a similar undertaking.

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As regards the arrangement of the present work, may be proper to state, that the author has taken as his model the "Bibliotheca Antitrinitariorum" of Sandius, to which, and to the "Historia Antitrinitariorum" of Bock, it is indebted for a large portion of its details. The "Bibliotheca Antitrinitariorum" of Sandius was published in 1684, under the editorial superintendence of Benedict Wissowatius, Junior; and the two volumes of Bock's "Historia Antitrinitariorum were completed just a century later. The former has arranged the names of those, of whose lives and writings he gives an account, in chronological order, beginning with the sixteenth century, and bringing the work down to his own times. The latter, who has preferred an alphabetical arrangement, professes to give an account of those Antitrinitarians, who flourished during the two centuries and a half preceding the time at which he wrote. His "Bibliotheca Antitrinitariorum," which forms the first volume of his work, notwithstanding the different mode of arrangement, and the vast quantity of additional matter brought together, may be regarded more in the light

of an enlarged and corrected edition of Sandius, than as a distinct work. Sandius's "Bibliotheca," in fact, formed the nucleus of that of Bock, as it does also of the present work, and must of every future production of the same kind.

The advantages of Sandius's arrangement over that of Bock is too obvious to be dwelt upon. Bock, in giving to the first volume of his work the form of a biographical dictionary, evidently intended to produce a book for occasional consultation only. Sandius, on the other hand, was desirous of exhibiting the lives of those whom he commemorated, as they appeared on the stage of the world; and of shewing the progress of Antitrinitarianism from the time of the Reformation to his own, as deducible from the lives and writings of Antitrinitarians themselves. This also has been the leading aim of the present writer. He is fully aware, however, of the inconveniences, as well as the advantages, of such an arrangement. One unavoidable result of it is, that a single article often extends over a long series of years, and that the current of one man's life often runs into that of several others, so as to defy all attempts at strict classification in the order of time. The chain of events is occasionally broken, or suspended; and incidents, which occurred at long intervals, are sometimes brought into sudden and close contact. Some facts are necessarily anticipated; others are unavoidably delayed. To remedy these inconveniences, a CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

has been framed, which the reader will find at the close of this Preface, and in which most of the leading facts are set down under the year in which they occurred.

The work of Sandius contains accounts of Antitrinitarian authors only. It was at first intended that the present work should, in like manner, be confined to such as had written in defence of the Divine Unity. But it soon became evident, that this would lead to the exclusion of many, who, though they had not advocated the cause of Unitarianism with their pens, had materially aided in its diffusion by their pious zeal and liberal contributions; and not a few, who were restrained from an open profession of it by the operation of persecuting laws, or by the fear of dissolving long-formed and deeply-cherished connexions. The plan of a mere Bibliotheca, therefore, was abandoned; and no one was passed over, from the fact of his not having written a book in defence of his opinions. Still it is not improbable, that the names of some are omitted, of whom the author has not been fortunate enough to meet with an account; for it has been the policy of some writers studiously to conceal the names of those, who have suffered in the cause of heterodoxy, and borne their testimony against the corrupt doctrines of a dominant Church. Of such it may be said, in the words of Cowper,*

The Task, B. v.

They lived unknown,

Till persecution dragged them into fume,

And chased them up to heaven. Their ashes flew --
No marble tells us whither. With their names

No bard embalms and sanctifies his song:

And History, so warm on meaner themes,

Is cold on this.

It long remained a matter of doubt, whether the present work should be bibliographical, as well as biographical. There appeared much to be urged on both sides of this question. It was very clear, that the biographical portion would be imperfect, without a catalogue of the writings of those, of whose lives some account was given. At the same time, it appeared extremely undesirable to transfer to a work, intended principally for the perusal of English readers, the titles of some hundreds of volumes, or treatises of various kinds, in a dead language. As a general rule, therefore, the titles of Latin works written by foreigners are translated into English. In other cases, the author has felt himself at full liberty to give the titles in a translated, or an untranslated form; but has never intentionally left it doubtful, in what language the books themselves were written.

A very large portion of the works of Sandius and Bock is taken up with an account of manuscripts, which have never seen the light. Many of these are supposed, and some are known, to be still contained in private or public libraries on the continent; but as minute accounts of them, except in