Ebook The Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution

The documents in this volume are intended to serve either as a basis for the study of the Constitutional History of an important period, or as a companion to the Political History of the time. By far the greater number of them are printed in books which, though commonly to be found in large libraries, are, on account of their size and expense, not readily accessible to students in general. The MS. of the Constitutional Bill of the first Protectorate Parliament, in the handwriting of John Browne, Clerk of the Parliaments, is preserved at Stanford Hall in the possession of Lord Braye, with whoso kind permission the copy used in this volume has been taken. It is possible that a great part of the document might. have been recovered from the entries of clauses and amendments in tho Journals of the House of Commons, but, as far as I know, this is tho only complete copy in existence.

The documents in Part I of the present edition have have been added at the suggestion of Professor Prothero, who very generously placed at my disposal the copies he had made with the intention of adding them to his own Statutes and other Constitutional Documents illustrative of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I (Clarendon Press, 1894). Though the Navigation Act of the Commonwealth has no claim to a place amongst Constitutional Documents, it is of sufficient importance to be printed in tho Appendix.