DIARIES AND LETTERS OF PHILIP HENRY, M.A. OF BROAD OAK, FLINTSHIRE A.D. 1631-1696 EDITED BY MATTHEW HENRY LEE, M.A. VICAR OF HANMER "Bene vixit qui bene latuit " THOMAS À KEMPIS LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1882 PREFACE. It is now nearly sixty years since the Life of Philip Henry -founded upon the account given by his son, Matthew Henry-was written by Sir John Bickerton Williams, F.S.A. It is hoped that the great interest which that volume excited will be extended to the Diaries and Letters, which are now for the first time printed, almost as they stand in the originals. The present phase of public taste is rather to hear what men of note say for themselves, than what others say of them. Philip Henry's motto from Thomas à Kempis, Bene vixit qui bene latuit, will explain why Anthony à Wood does not mention his name; why people often describe him now as Matthew Henry's father; why the late Dr. Wordsworth should, with a wise instinct, have included his life in the first edition of the "Ecclesiastical Biographies," and why Churchmen generally should have called for its removal from that series. It cannot be expected that the charm of the little manuscript volumes—of which a friend wrote that he "felt a wish to devour them "-should be transferred to print. The |