Acknowledgements
Having come to the end of my academic studies, I wish to express my deep thankfulness to those who have contributed to the enrichment of my knowledge and to the completion of this dissertation.
With feelings of sincere gratitude I remember the Professors of the University of Amsterdam. Through their teaching and guidance I have been prepared to undertake this study.
My special thanks are due to Professor H. Schreuder of the Free University for his willingness to be my promotor, and for his kind assistance and encouragement during the preparation of this work. I also feel happy to record my obligations to Dr. J. Veldkamp of Hilversum. Though not being their pupil in a narrower sense of the word, I still wish to express my great appreciation for the unstinted way in which they have put their time and resources at my disposal.
Further acknowledgements are due to the staffs of the British Museum, the University Libraries at Amsterdam, Leyden and Utrecht, the Royal Library and the Public Record Office at The Hague, the Municipal Record Offices of Leyden and Culemborg, and the Municipal Library at Haarlem.
Finally I owe my thanks to Mr. Peter King of Cambridge University, who has critically read the typescript and made many valuable suggestions.
To all these benefactors I feel greatly indebted.
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