--_Quis enim Virtutem amplectitur ipsam?_

Id.

* * * * *

_LONDON_,

Printed for _W. Turner_, at _Lincolns-Inn Back-Gate_; _R. Basset_ in
_Fleetstreet_; and _J. Chantry_, without _Temple Bar_, 1702




INTRODUCTION


Abel Boyer, a Huguenot who settled in London in 1689, devoted himself to
language, history, and literature. As a linguist, he tutored Allen
Bathurst and the Duke of Gloucester in French, prepared a textbook for
English students of French, compiled a French and English dictionary,
and endeavored to promote a better understanding between France and
England by translating works of each nation into the language of the
other. As a historian, he recorded the principal events of English
national life from 1688 to 1729. As a literary figure, he wrote a play
that was approved by Dryden and published two collections of characters.

Coming in on the great flood of character books which reached its crest
in the seventeenth century, Boyer's collections were part of the final