I would like to thank all those who have contributed to the preparation of this volume. I am grateful to the Warden and Scholars of New College, Oxford, where the diary is held, for permission to publish it, and to their archive staff, Caroline Dalton and Jennifer Thorp, for their great kindness and helpfulness during my work on transcription. It was Richard Cust, the supervisor of my University of Birmingham PhD thesis, who first grasped the significance of the manuscript and then, with characteristic generosity, passed it to me to work on. I owe him a great debt of gratitude for introducing me to historical research in the first place, and for his generous encouragement and intelligent guidance ever since. It is my great good fortune to have also received every kind of kindly support, and mental stimulation, from another eminent historian, Peter Lake, with whom I have discussed the diary at intervals over the last thirty years. These two have been my main sponsors in the quest to publish the document, and have read and commented on my efforts at all stages. I am grateful to several other friends and contemporaries at the University of Birmingham and at the Institute of Historical Research in London, who discussed aspects of the diary with me at various times. Pauline Croft, Andrew Foster, David Hebb, Nigel Jackson, Ian Palfrey, Victor Stater, and Nicholas Tyacke have all expressed interest and encouragement. I am also grateful to John Morrill, who oversaw the publication of my original article in the Historical Journal. I would like to thank Ken Fincham, Hester Higton, and Ian Archer for their encouragement and patience in preparing the volume, and Ken for his help with Woodford's Latin. Finally, I want to thank Lilian, without whose love and support in very difficult times none of this would have been possible.