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THOMAS JOHNES, ESQ. Memoirs of the life of Sir John Froissart

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Sir John Froissart's Chronicles of England, France, Spain and the Ajoining Countries from the latter part of the reign of Edward II to the coronation of Henry IV in 12 volumes 

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THOMAS JOHNES, ESQ.
Memoirs of the life of Sir John Froissart
page 56



indent text, he has thought himfelf juftified In making feme changes. Bur foldy what he has been under the indifpcnfible neceffity of feeklng the aid of better hiftorians, to give a meaning to pafiages which were in want of it-Even in thefe cafes, the only ones in which he has taken the liberty of making any change, he has had fhe precaution to place in the margin the •riginal reading, however defeékive it might be, leaving, by thefe means, to the reader the power of judging of the correâions he had made. With regard to proper names, and the names of places, he has not touched them,. from the impossibility of correéting thenr with fuccefs* The editor addrefles the four volumes of Fraiffert to the conftable do Montmorency, by as many dedicatory epiftles* He tells us in the firft, and by an advertisement to his readers, that the editions he had already given of feveral of our hiftorians were but preparatory to a general hiftory of the Gauls and of the kingdom of France; which he was then employed on. Sauvage promifes nothing relative to his. edition of Froiflart which he-has not faithfully performed, as we may be convinced* by following the notes which he added. I do not fay that he has always chofen well from the different texts he had under his eyes;, but if the corrections he propofes be not all equally juft, there are many which offer a dear and.very probable meaning of paffeges, which, in the old editions, are a colleé&m of word* without connexion and without fenfe. With regard to the language,, hefides his attention- never to change any of the ancient words, he accompanies them with an explanation whenever he thinks them not efficiently intelligible. His zeal in this refpeét is more praifeworthy thaa his intelligence. It is furprifing that, after having pubiifhed feveral of our old authors, he was not better acquainted with their language, and that he. fhould add fuch unnatural explanations and etymologies. As the chronology of Froiflart was fbmetimes deieâive, Sauvage has reformed it in thofe places which appeared to him moft faulty. He has., often recalled to the reader's memory diftant paffeges, in order to reconcile them, or. to fhew thdr contradi&ion ; or, in Ihort, to demonftrate the connexion of. certain fads with each other.; but his attempts m tins part-are fcaccdy worth mentioning. S9


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