Excerpt from Dodd's Church History of England, Vol. 1: From the Commencement of the Sixteenth Century to the Revolution in 1688; With Notes, Additions, and a Continuation The present volume is the commencement of a series, which, in the first place, will complete the republication of Dodd's Church History, and, in the next, will conduct the narrative to the termination of the eighteenth century. Of the merits of a work, so universally known, and so highly appreciated as that of Dodd, it might almost appear superfluous to speak. Commencing with the period of her first misfortunes in this country, the writer accompanies the ancient Church in all the vicissitudes of her course, during the next two centuries. He marks the origin of the Reformation in the wayward passions of Henry: mourns, with religion, over the ruined altars and desecrated shrines of Edward's reign: watches their alternate rise and fall under the sister sovereigns, Mary and Elizabeth; and, tracing the varied calamities of his Catholic countrymen under the dynasty of the Stuarts, closes his work with the closing fortunes of that unhappy family. But it is not in the extensive range of the history, nor in the interest, thrilling, as it must be, to every Catholic feeling, that the whole merit of Dodd's performance consists. To talents of an eminent order, he added an industry peculiar to himself, a patience of research seldom equalled, and a liberality of mind and expression as admirable as, unfortunately, it is uncommon. "In the compilation of this work," says Mr. Berington, "he spent almost thirty years. It contains much curious matter, collected with great assiduity, and many original records. His style, when the subject admits expression, is pure and unencumbered, - his narrative easy, - his reflections just and liberal. I have seldom known a writer, and that writer a Churchman, so free from prejudice, and the degrading impressions of party zeal." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.