by half the English population, would England long enjoy her liberties, would she prosper in her enterprises, and continue to be, without contradiction, the first and most powerful nation of Europe? Can it be imagined that that admirable combination of rights and duties embodied in the constitution, that respect of the Sovereign for the rights of the citizens, and that unaffected love of the people for the Sovereign, which form the real strength and power of Britain, could long be preserved? I need not insist further on this point. I believe, however, I have said enough to shew that, whether any other measures can be taken against this insidious Order or not, the clause in the Emancipation Act concerning the religious communities should be rigorously executed. I am sensible that the above remarks would perhaps have been more appropriate to the Conclusion of the work; but, as they have not a general character, but are considerations more particularly submitted to an English public, I have thought it better to consign them to the Preface, which may be modified, according to place and circumstances, without altering the general features of the work to which it belongs. In the compilation of this work, I have studiously kept my promise not to advance a single fact for which I could not produce unquestionable authority; and, while I expect that my deductions will be impugned, I can safely defy any one to contradict the facts upon which they are based. When I have quoted original authors, on the authority of others, I have never done so without ascertaining, by my own inspection, or by that of friends—when the works were not to be had here—that the quotations were correct. I have entered somewhat minutely into details in the first part of the History, partly, perhaps, a little influenced by the interminable prolixity of the Jesuit authors I consulted, and partly because I deemed it necessary, in order that my readers might form a correct idea of the mechanism, the principles, and the proceedings of the Society. Once persuaded that the reader was acquainted with the acts and ways of the fraternity, I have abandoned detail, and given such broad features of the principal events as might afford instructive lessons. I have endeavoured to reject from the narrative all that is extraneous to the subject. I have overlooked embellishments. I do not claim the merit of being an elegant or eloquent writer, still less in a language which is not my own, and in which I was often at a loss to express my ideas. But I must confess that I have some hope that in the eyes of an indulgent reader the consequences I have deduced from the facts will be found to be logical, the language intelligible, and the work not altogether wanting in order.