rounds, than
heretofore; to teach us to invest her territory, her cities and
villages, her hills and springs, with sacred associations; to
give us an insight into her present historical position in the
course of the Divine Dispensation; to instruct us in the
capabilities of the English character; and to open upon us the
duties and the hopes to which that Church is heir, which was in
former times the Mother of St. Boniface and St. Ethelreda.

Even a selection or specimens of the Hagiology of our country
may suffice for some of these high purposes; and in so wide and
rich a field of research it is almost presumptuous in one
undertaking to aim at more than such a partial exhibition. The
list that follows, though by no means so large as might have
been drawn up, exceeds the limits which the Editor proposes to
his hopes, if not to his wishes; but, whether it is allowed him
to accomplish a larger or smaller portion of it, it will be his
aim to complete such subjects or periods as he begins before
bringing it to a close. It is hardly necessary to observe that
any list that is producible in this stage of the undertaking can
but approximate to correctness and completeness in matters of
detail, and even in the names which are selected to compose it.

He has considered himself at liberty to include in the Series
such saints as have been born in England, though they have lived
and laboured out of it; and such, again, as have been in any
sufficient way connected with our country, though born out of
it; for instance, Missionaries or Preachers in it, or spiritual
or temporal rulers, or founders of religious institutions or
houses.

He has also included in the Series a few eminent or holy
persons, who, though not in the Sacred Catalogue, are
recommended to our religious memory by their fame, learning, or
the benefits they have conferred on posterity. These have been
distinguished from the Saints by printing their names in
italics.

It is proposed to page all the longer Lives separately; the
shorter will be thrown together in one. They will be published
in monthly issues of not more than 128 pages each; and no
regularity, whether of date or of subject, will be observed in
the order of publication. But they will be so numbered as to
admit ultimately of a general chronological ar