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Correspondence (1716–1725)
Eastern Patriarchs and the Nonjurors, ed. Williams, 1868
d3
The originals of these letters, it is said in a note at the end of the Translations (p. 140), “were brought to, and probably are still lodged at, Lambeth.” I have the assurance of Professor Stubbs, the late Librarian, that they are no longer in the Archiepiscopal Library; nor have I been able to ascertain where they are now deposited. Copies of the most important Papers in Greek are contained in a small 4to. volume, among the Wake Papers in the Library of Christ Church, Oxford; but the bulk of the Correspondence and the Original Letters of the Patriarchs have as yet baffled my search.
I have used three copies of the translation for this edition, which may be called respectively A, B, C. A note at the end of the table of contents indicates which MS. is here followed.
A. Is the private property of the Rev. John Jebb, D.D., Rector of Peterstow, kindly placed at my disposal by the owner. It contains only the most important documents; written in a scholar’s hand of the former half of last century, probably very soon after the close of the Correspondence; and as this appears to be the earliest as well as the most scholarlike of the three, I have followed it in preference to the others, for the documents which it contains. My friend Dr Jebb has kindly communicated to me the following particulars of this MS.
“The document containing the Correspondence between the Oriental Bishops and certain members of the Church of England, together with other papers and letters now in my possession, belongs to me as heir-at-law to the learned Dr Samuel Jebb, the Editor of Justin Martyr and Aristides. It was probably communicated to him by Jeremy Collier, with whom Dr Jebb was acquainted in his youth, and whose confidence he enjoyed. I am not aware that any of the many letters of my relative, from Dr Brett and other non-jurors throw any light on the document in question.”
B. Is a copy of the whole Correspondence clearly written in clerk’s hand of the former half of last century, now the property of Trinity College, Glenalmond; and my best thanks are due to the Warden for having, with the kind consent of the Primus and the Bishops of the Scottish Church, placed this volume at my disposal for the present edition of the Correspondence.
This volume is a foolscap folio of 180 pages, containing, besides the entire Correspondence, the long extract from the Decrees of the Synod of Bethlehem forwarded by the Eastern Patriarchs with their last letter, and a letter which is here placed in the Appendix, as giving some account of the state of the Greek Church taken down from the mouth of Arsenius the Metropolitan of Thebais, although the greater part has no bearing on the Correspondence. The letter has no name subscribed, but is probably the production of Dr Brett.
This volume has been carefully collated for those documents which are common to it and A; and the remainder of the Correspondence has been printed from it.
C. Is a volume in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, which has been kindly collated for me, in part by Alexander Forbes Irvine, Esq., and in part by Hugh J. Rollo, Esq., W.S.
I am indebted to Mr Irvine for the following account of this MS. “In form it is a large folio, half-bound, very clearly and distinctly written in a round hand, not earlier than the middle of last century.
“The document you have printed occupies the first 120 pages; the remainder of the volume contains “Bishop Thomas Brett’s Letters to Bishop Archibald Campbell. This correspondence is not complete; the volume ending at p. 170 in the middle of a letter.”
T. Halkett, Esq., Librarian of the Advocates’ Library, confirms this account, and adds: “On the first page is the following note in a different hand: Rt Rev. W. Falconer, collection. Given by Mr Samuel Falconer his brother to William Rose.”
As the variations in the three MSS. have chiefly to do with orthography, it did not seem necessary to note them; nor has any attempt been made to verify the references. The documents are reproduced as they stand in the copies A and B from which they are printed; with only such variations at the foot of the page as seemed to be important.