It seems expedient that the origin ad scope of this new Series of Biographies should be briefly explained.<br><br>Messrs. A. R. Mowbray and Co. had formed the opinion that Ecclesiastical Biography is apt to lose in attractiveness and interest, by reason of the technical and professional spirit in which it is generally handled. Acting on this opinion, they resolved to publish some short Lives of "Leaders of the Modern Church," written exclusively by laymen. They conceived that a certain freshness might thus be imparted to subjects already more or less familiar, and that a class of readers, who are repelled by the details of ecclesiasticism, might be attracted by a more human, and in some sense a more secular, treatment of religious lives.<br><br>This conception of Ecclesiastical Biography agreed entirely with my own prepossessions; and I gladly acceded to the publishers' request that I would undertake the general superintendence of the series. I am not without the hope that these handy and readable books may be of some service to the English clergy.