For this additional matter, as well as for other help and counsel, I am indebted to Mr. Charles Firth, of Balliol College, Oxford, whose learning is always at the service of his friends, and who stands in no need of the old injunction--"not to be reserved and caitiff in this part of goodness." (5) From a notebook of Bliss's (in MS.) in my possession I have added a few titles of Books of Characters. I have retained in this Appendix the spelling I found. Bliss's text has, with a few exceptions (possibly accidental), the modern spelling. FOOTNOTES: [AH] Dec. 14th, 1627. [At the end, by way of Colophon:] at the top of page 1, in a different hand, "Edw. Blunt Author." This MS. was obviously one of "the _written copies_, passing severally from hand to hand, which grew at length to be a pretty number in a little volume." (See Blount's Preface to the Reader.) [AI] As it appears in Arber's Reprint. [AJ] The "Bright MS." was obviously later than that in the Durham Cathedral Library, since it contained several Characters known to have been added to the first edition. [AK] Joseph Haslewood, Antiquary. One of the founders of the Roxburghe Club. MICROCOSMOGRAPHY; OR A Piece of the World discovered; IN ESSAYS AND CHARACTERS. BY JOHN EARLE, D.D. OF CHRIST-CHURCH AND MERTON COLLEGES, OXFORD, AND BISHOP OF SALISBURY. A NEW EDITION. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, NOTES AND AN APPENDIX, BY PHILIP BLISS, FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. _LONDON:_ PRINTED FOR WHITE AND COCHRANE, FLEET-STREET; AND JOHN HARDING. ST. JAMES'S-STREET. 1811. ADVERTISEMENT. The present edition of Bishop Earle's Characters was undertaken from an idea that they were well worthy of republication, and that the present period, when the productions of our early English writers are sought after with an avidity hitherto unexampled, would be the most favourable for their appearance. The text has been taken from the edition of 1732, collated with the first impression in 1628. The variations from the latter are thus distinguished:--those words or passages which have been added since the first edition are contained between brackets, [and printed in the common type]; those which have received some alteration, are printed in _italic_, and the passages, as they stand in the first edition, are always given in a note. For the Notes, Appendix, and Index, the editor is entirely answerable, and although he is fully aware that many superfluities will be censured, many omissions discovered, and many errors pointed out, he hopes that the merits of the original author will, in a great measure, compensate for the false judgment or neglect of his reviver. _January_ 30, 1811. THE PREFACE [TO THE EDITION OF 1732[AL].]