TRANSLATORS' PREFACE. THE TRANSLATORS believe that no apology is needed for offering to the English public the life of a man whose history is so intimately connected with that of the England of his day as was JOHN DE WITT'S. They give it in all its details as related by M. Lefèvre Pontalis, omitting only the many footnotes relating to State papers and other documents which he has so laboriously searched in order to obtain a complete picture of the man and his surroundings. For those who wish to study the whole question in further detail, the notes in the original are useful; but a translation is not intended for the student so much as for the general reader, who will probably be gladly spared the trouble of constantly glancing at the foot of the page to notes which he has no opportunity or intention. of verifying. The references to published works and manuscripts-Dutch, French, and English-are very numerous, and testify that no pains have been spared by the Author to secure accuracy in all points, great or small. The Translators have been careful to verify all quotations from English sources, and have in some instances corrected misapprehensions which occur in the original work with reference to English affairs. |