mentary Records, and that at no very distant period
measures may be taken for the publication of such of the documents in
your possession as will illustrate the History of England, and of the
City of London.

[Illustration: [signature] E^{d.} Tyrrell.]

London, February 1827.

PREFACE.

The present period is so distinguished for historical research, that
the publication of an English Chronicle, written in the fifteenth
century, will not it is presumed require any other prefatory remarks
to recommend it to attention, than a brief account of the MSS. from
which it has been transcribed. Two copies are extant in the British
Museum; the one in the Harleian MS. 565, the other in the Cottonian
MS. Julius B. I. and the material variations between them are either
alluded to, or inserted in the Notes. The copy in the Harleian MS.
ends with the 22nd year of the reign of Henry the Sixth, Anno 1442,
about which time the volume was evidently written: but the other
transcript, which is in a much later hand, is continued to the death
of Edward the Fourth, Anno 1483, though after the accession of that
monarch the narrative is barren and unsatisfactory. It may therefore
be inferred that the original compiler did not survive the death of
Henry the Sixth, and that the continuation was by another person. With
the events of that period the writer is consequently to be deemed
contemporary; and all which he relates of the reigns of Henry the
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth, are peculiarly deserving of notice; for some
curious facts are mentioned, many of which have never, it is
believed, been so fully detailed, even if they were previously known;
whilst of earlier times his statements are as worthy of credit as
those of other Chroniclers who did not live in the ages of which they
respectively treat.

This volume is called "A CHRONICLE OF LONDON" in the title-page, from
the author having so particularly confined himself to the Metropolis;
and still more, because he has, like his successor Fabian, commenced
each year with the election of the Lord Mayors and Sheriffs of London,
whose names are uniformly recorded, but unfortunately no clue exists
by which the name of the writer can be ascertained.

To the history of England however, no less than to that of London,
this Chronicle will, it is confidently expected, be considered a
valuable addition; and the laudable avidity evinced by the
Corporation, under whose patronage it appears, as wel