He was a choice Collector of the Flowers of former Historians from whence and from the Title of his Book he is usually styl'd Florilegus His chief Benefactoris Matthew Paris whom he so accurately transcribes that he cannot be perswaded to leave him even when he warmly treats of the particulars of his own Monastery of St. Albans Nay he sometimes refers in Paris's very words to that Author's Addilamenta as to a Work of his own composure and hence some have concluded that the whole even that part which precedes the Conquest was borrow'd from the same hand But I can hardly agree to that since the same heedless way of writing unbecoming the Accuracy of M. Paris runs through both of ' em Hence Vnde Reges Cantiae usque hodie Aeskynges vocantur with a thousand more of the like 'T is most likely as has been already observ'd that R. de Wendover was a common Parent to both the Matthews and the main of what is publisht under both their Names came from that hand There was an Edition of Westminster's history before that at Francfort but abominably corrupt and imperfect especially after the year 1245. the Author 's punctual Relation of the brisk behaviour of our Kings and Nobility in opposition to the Encroachments of the Roman See being wretchedly mangled and purloynâ—d Upon this bottom John Pits divides the History into two several Works whereof the former he calls Historia ampla which says he is that which was publish'd at London and the other Historiarum Flores The Distinction he had from Bale tho the Application be his own This Report seems to have had some slender Foundation since we are told that amongst my Lord Clarendon's Manuscripts there 's another historical Work which bears the Name of Flores Historiarum which is very different from the Printed Copy and is continu'd near forty years further But the Reader ought to know that there are many anonymous Historians in this Kingdom who beginning at the year 1307 manifestly shew that they chiefly intended to continue the Work of Matthew of Westminster The most eminent indeed of his Continuators was Adam Merimuth Canon Regular of St. Paul's and an eminent Civilian who in the latter end of his days gave himself wholly to the reading and writing of English History He begins his Work at 1302. and his first part reaches only to 1343. which I suppose makes the Enlargement in my Lord Clarendon's Copy but the second continues the Story to in all likelihood the year of his own Death A. D. 1300. 'T is observable that his History commences at Michaelmas and for that reason he always afterwards begins the New Year at that Feast A few more of an inferior Rank may probably be reckoned amongst the Historians of this Age. As 1. John Staffort a Franciscan â—â—iar who is supposed to have written an English History about the year 1800. Tho. Fuller observes very well that the exact time when he wrote or liv'd is not known 〈◊〉 only being a Francisean and that I doubt is not very certainly known neither he must have flourished after the year 1226. when that Order first came into England and being quoted by John Ross must come in before 1400. 2. William de Packington Secretary and Treasurer to the Black Prince in Gascoigne wrote a Cronique in French from the Ninth year of King John down to his own time 1380. out of which several Collections have been made by Leland Stow and others 3. Henry de Knyghton one of the Canons of Leicester whose History may be said to begin at the Conquest since he has only a short Abstract of the Saxon Affairs in his first Book It is continued down to the year 1395. He fairly owns what he transcribes from Ralph Higden whom he imitates also in the Crotchet of making the fifteen first Chapters of his Second Book give his Name in their Initial Letters thus HENRICVS CNITTON 'T is plain that neither Leland Bale nor Pits had ever seen this Work An Encouragement to the industrious Antiquaries of this Age to continue their Enquiries after such Histories as are presum'd to be irrecoverably lost 4. Galf Lingius a Franciscan of Norwich about the year 1390. is also said to have compil'd a History of this Kingdom from the coming in of Brutus down to his own Time 1401. The fifteenth Century was one of the most rude and illiterate Ages and therefore we are not to look for a large Harvest of Historians in a Dearth and Scarcity of Persons eminent in other parts of Learning Sir John Froissart sometime Canon and Treasurer of Chimay in the Diocess of Liege justly deserves to be placed first as having ended his Life and Story about the beginning of it His Work contains a General History of the Affairs of France Spain and other parts of Europe as well as England tho it chiefly insists on those of this Nation The Author was a Frenchman born but was brought up in his Youth in the Court of our King Edward the Third and many years after familiarly conversant in King Richard the Second's He wrote in his own Native Language which was also in his Time the Court-Language of England The Copies that were taken of him in French as well Manuscript as in Print are generally faulty and corrupt in Names and Numbers whereas the Author himself being perfectly acquainted with the English Court and Customs could not well mistake Most of these Errors are corrected in the English Edition which was published by Sir John Bourchier Deputy of Calais at the Command of King Henry the Eighth towards the latter end of his Reign His Account of matters seems to be plain and honest and perhaps none gives a better of the Affairs of Edward the Third and his unfortunate Successor Richard the Second Sleidan epitomiz'd his History in Latin but has not done it with that impartiality and fairness that might have been expected from a Man of his great Name Take the Censure which our learned Humphry Lhuid long since gave of that piece and its Author Dum Gallico Nomini nimium faveret Anglorum Nobilissima Gesta aut Silentio praeteritt aut ab Authore dissentiens aliter quam á Froissardo scriptum est literis commendavit After him follow down to the middle of the Century a set of very ordinary Scriblers such as 1. Tho. Otterburn a Franciscan Friar of some of our English Monasteries about the year 1411. whose MS. History is said to be in our publick Library at Oxford 2. Tho. Radburn Bishop of St. Davids and Câ—ancellor of the University of Oxford A. D. 1420. He is usually quoted by the Name of Radburn â—enior to distinguish him from another little Chronicler of both his Names who was a Monk of St. Swithin's in Winchester and Joh. Ross's great Acquaintance This latter wrote two Books of our General History
the one whereof he stiles Breviarium Chronicorum which begins at Brute and ends A. D. 1234. After the Conquest he copies most from M. Paris and is very unhappy in his Chronological part His Historia Major as he calls his other Work consists of large Collections out of other common Historians save only in what relates to the Church of Winchester 3 John Sherburn a Monk who wrote Chronica Britannorum from the first coming in of the Trojans to the Reign of Henry the Sixth 4. John Henfield a Monk of Battle-Abby who drew an Abstract of our Chronicles down to the same time 5. John Langden Bishop of Rochester who possibly is all one with John Langton another of the same authentic Gentleman's Historians a Carmelite Friar who is said to die at the Council of Basil A. D. 1434. Tho. Walsingham a Benedictine Monk of St. Alban's and very probably Regins Professor of History in that Monastery about the year 1440. made something a better figure than the last mention'd and accordingly both his Historia brevis and his Hypodigma Neustriae have had the honour to be publish'd by Archbishop Parker His short History begins at the Conclusion of Henry the Third's Reign where M. Paris ended his And he might well seem to be Paris's Continuator were his Language answerable to his matter The account he gives is well enough and we are indebted to him for many things not taken notice of by any other Writer of those times Indeed his Reign of King Edward the Second is wholly borrow'd from Sir Thomas de la More His Ypodigma Neustriae as he calls it has a more particular regard to the Affairs of Normandy giving an account at large of that Dukedom from the time it came first into the hands of Rollo and his Danes down to the Sixth year of Henry the Fifth wherein the Reader will find many Occurrences not elsewhere to be met with About the same time wrote John Wethamstede the first Opposer of the story of King Brutus and Nicolas Cantelupus the Cambridge Historiographer who is also reported to have penn'd a General Chronicle of England The next Historian of Note was John Harding a Northern Englishman and an inveterate Enemy to the Scottish Nation against whom he carry'd Arms in several Expeditions He collected out of all our Histories whatever might tend to the proof of the ancient Vassalage of that Kingdom to the Crown of England and hearing there was in Scotland an old Record that put the matter beyond dispute he went with great hazard thither in disguise and with much ado brought it away and shew'd it to Hen. V. Hen. VI. and Edw. IV. To the last of these he dedicated his two Books of Chronicles in English Rhime whereof the curious Reader may have a taste in some of our Modern Writers It appears he was living tho very old in the year 1461. So that Nic. Montacute about that time Master of Eaton-School and a Collector of English History may be reckon'd his Cotemporary as may also Roger Albanus a Carmelite of London who drew up the Genealogies of some of our Kings William Caxton of whose continuation of Trevisa something has been noted already seems to challenge the next place after Harding He was a menial Servant for thirty years together to Margaret Dutchess of Burgundy Sister to our King Edward the Fourth in Flanders He afterwards return'd into England where finding as he says an imperfect History begun by one of the Monks of St. Albans says John Pits very unadvisedly he continu'd it in English giving it only the Latin Title of Fructus Temporum How small a portion of this Work is owing to this Author has been observ'd before but he now usually bears the Name of the whole which begins with the first inhabiting of his Island and ends the last year of Edward the fourth A. D. 1483. The opportunities he had of being acquainted with the Court-Transactions of his own time would encourage his Reader to hope for great matters from him but his fancy seem to have led him into an Undertaking above his strength John Rosse or Rous was a person somewhat better qualify'd to write History being a Man of tolerable Parts and singular Industry He was born at Warwick and bred at Oxford He travell'd over the greatest part of England and having made large Collections out of the Libraries where he came relating to the History and Antiquities of this Kingdom he at last retir'd to Guy's Cliff about a mile from Warwick on the Banks of Avon where he spent the Remainder of his Life and dy'd A. D. 1491. His History of our Kings is still extant wherein are many Collections illustrating the Antiquities of our Universities Hereupon he is frequently quoted by our Oxford-Antriquary who nevertheless will not allow that his Judgment equall'd his Pains 1501. The first Post in the Sixteenth Century is due to Rob. Fabian an eminent Merchant and some time Sheriff of London where he dy'd A. D. 1512. Both Bale and Pits subdivide his historical Writings into a great many several Treatises but I presume that which they call his Historiarum Concordantiae is the sum of all This Chronicle is publisht and does indeed consist of seven parts whereof the six first bring down his Story from Brutus to William the Conqueror and are chiefly taken out of Jeoffry of Monmouth and the Seventh gives an account of our several Kings from the Conquest of Henry the VII He is very particular in the Affairs of London many good things being noted by him which concern the Government of that great City hardly to be had elsewhere He gives the Names of all the Bailiffs Mayors and Sheriffs with the chief Transactions in their several Years but in other matters he is a great Follower of R. Higden He mixes all along the French History with the English but in different Chapters He translates his Authors very literally whence Monmouth's Phrase of Ferro Flamma vastare is render'd to wast with Iron and Fire c. In the beginning of his Seventh part he observes Higden's method of making his Years commence at Michaelmas by which the Reader will understand how William the Conqueror comes to begin his Reign in October 1067. Cardinal Woolsey is said to have procur'd all the Copies of this History that he could meet with to be burn'd because says my Author who is not infallible either in his Reasons or Relations the Church's Patrimony was thereby too plainly discover'd This Cardinal 's Menial Servant John Skuish Squisus or Squisius is reported to have compil'd a notable Epitome of our Chronicles about the Year 1630. but I am not able to direct the Reader where to meet with it Polydore Virgil was the most recomplish'd Writer for Elegancy and clearness of Style that this Age afforded So much the
always protested and we may take his honest word for it that he never was sway'd by Favour or Fear in any of his Writings but that he had impartially to the best of his Knowledge deliver'd the Truth This good Opinion the greatest of our later Historians seem to have of him since even Sir Francis Bacon and Mr. Camden not to mention others of a less Repute have boldly taken several things upon his single Credit and sometimes without being so just as to own their Benefactor Upon his Death the Revising and Continuation of his Book was committed to Ed. Howes who says he bestow'd thirty Years in bringing it into that good Order and Method in which we now see it He is very Unfortunate if after so great Pains he be justly liable to the sharp Sentence that one has pass'd upon him That he 's as far short of Mr. Stow in Goodness as 〈◊〉 Age is of the Integrity and Charity of those that went before it I am abundantly sensible of the Degenetacy of our Age and how Corrupt our Morals are beyond the Precedents of former Times But how applicable this grave Comparison may be to Mr. Howes I know not He does indeed say some great things of King James and King Charles and if that be a Fault in him 't is transgressing with a Multitude Not long after Mr. Stow died R. White Vitus he calls himself Canon of Doway who left nine Books of our English or rather British History in a pretty elegant Latin Style His business is to assert the Rights of the Papacy in this Kingdom and therefore having setled Religion by Augustine the Monk and other Emissaries he ends his Story A. D. 800. Our next Historian of Eminence was Sam. Daniel some time Groom of the Privy-Chamber to Queen Anne He was a Person of great Wit a notable Poet and of an Affable and Winning Conversation His first and second Part of the History 〈◊〉 England fell no lower than the end of Edward the Third's Reign but was penn'd in so accurate and copious a Style that it took mightily and was read with so much Applause that it quickly had several Impressions It was afterwards enlarg'd and continu'd to the end of King Richard the Third's Reign by John Trussel Alderman of Winchester who has not had the Luck to have either his Language Matter or Method so well approv'd as those of Mr. Daniel About the same time Will. Martyn Recorder of Exeter wrote his History and Lives of the Kings of England from William the Conqueror to Henry the Eighth This came recommended to the World by the Author 's own Sons But I cannot learn that any other Family in the Nation could ever discover so much Worth and Beauty in the Book as they pretended to see in it Upon a second Edition it was enlarg'd by R. B. Master of Arts with the Reigns of Edward the Sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth John Speed who 〈◊〉 London A. D. 1619. must be acknowledg'd to have had a Head the best dispos'd towards History of any of our Writers and would certainly have out-done himself as far as he has gone beyond the rest of his Profession if the Advantages of his Education had been answerable to those of his Natural Genius But what could be expected from a Taylor However we may boldly say that his Chronicle is the largest and best we have hitherto Extant It begins with the first Inhabitants of the Island and ends with the Union of the Kingdoms under King James to whom it is Dedicated Tho' some say he spent twice seven years in compiling the whole he himself owns he made more haste than he ought to have done and that he was forced to trust a deal of his Work in the hands of his Friends and Journey-men And the Truth of this honest Acknowledgment and Confession is obvious enough to a discerning Reader who will easily find a mighty Difference in the Style as well as Matter of several of the Reigns Those of King John and Henry the Second were written by Dr. Barcham Dean of Bocking a curious Antiquary who has done them answerably to the good Opinion which Men of Learning had of him Several Remarkables in that of Henry the Fifth were Collected by George Carew Earl of Totnes as was his Catalogue of the Monasteries by Will. Burton c. Sir Richard Baker who died in the Fleet A. D. 1644. was a Person of those Accomplishments in Wit and Language that his Chronicle has been the best Read and Liked of any hitherto publish'd which looks as if almost every Body in the Kingdom as well as himself believ'd it to be Collected with so great Care and Diligence that if all other of our Chronicles were lost this only would be sufficient to inform Posterity of all Passages Memorable or Worthy to be known His Method is New and seems to please the Rabble But Learned Men will be of another Opinion for 't is the same with that of Sueronius which is justly complain'd of by Mr. Dâ—dwell In the first and second Editions we had nothing more than the Author 's own Work containing the History of our Kings from the Roman Government down to the end of King James the First 's Reign But afterwards it was continu'd to the Restoration of Charles the Second by Edward Philips who having the perusal of some of the Duke of Albâ—â—arle's Papers might have set that great Revolution in its true Light had not Ambition and Flattery carry'd him beyond Truth and his Copy Soon after these Additions were publish'd the whole Book was examin'd by Tho. Blount a Barrister of the Inner-Temple who printed his Animadversions upon it and gave the World such a Specimen of its many and gross Errors as ought to have shaken its Credit And yet so little Regard have we for Truth if a Story be but handsomly told the Chronicle has been Reprinted since that Time and Sells as well as ever notwithstanding that no notice is taken of the Animadversions but all the old Faults remain uncorrected Mr. Blount himself spent some Years in writing an English Chronicle which we may believe would at least want those Errors which he had descry'd in the Labours of other Men But where 't is to be had I know not There are some later Histories which are so well known to all that are any thing Curious in these Matters that I need do little more than mention them Such are 1. Sir Winston Churchill's Diâ—i Britannici which gives the Reader a diverting View of the Arms and Exploits of our Kings down to the Restoration in 1660. 2. Fr. Sandford's Genealogical History of the Kings of England and Monarchs of Great Britain from the Norman Conquest to the year 1677. with their several Effigies Seals Tombs Arms c. 3. Let me add Dr. Hoel's Medulla
severest Enemy he had has acknowledg'd of him and on this score alone some have unreasonably extoll'd him But there 's so little of the other more Necessary Qualifications of a good Historian Truth and Fair Dealing in all his Twently-six Books that he has been justly condemn'd by our Criticks and 't is no wonder that some of them have express'd an Indignation suitable to the Abuses put upon their Country Sir Henry Savil is warmer on this occasion than is usual with him Polydorus says he ut homo Italus in rebus nostris Hospes quod Caput est neque in Republicâ versatus nec magni alioqui vel Judicii vel Ingenii pauca ex multis delibans falsa plerumque pro veris complexus Historiam nobis reliquit cùm coetera mendosam tùm exiliter sanè jejunè conscriptam Some have fansy'd that the severe Character which Sir Henry is here pleas'd to give of this Author might chiefly by apply'd to the History of Henry the Eighth And that a great many Passages in that Reign may be darkly or falsly represented by him by reason of his being unacquainted with the English Tongue which could not but very much obstruct his Knowledge in Modern Transactions Other things say they have fallen from him under a borrow'd Light and Colour out of the Respect he had for Queen Mary and his great Inclinations to serve the Interests of that Princess But does not even this Apology carry a deal of Invective in it Sir Henry Savil is far from being singular in the severest part of his Censure Some of our late Writers have agreed to it and his Cotemporary Humph. Lhuyd out-throws him a Bar or two For what think you of these Expressions Nominis Britannici gloriam non solum obfuscare sed etiam Britannos ipsos mendacissimis suis Calumniis infamare totis viribus conatur Homo Ignotus Exterus Vir perfrictae frontis Invidiâ odio tumens Infamis Homunculus Os Impudens Nor ought any thing of this to be attributed to an over-boyling of honest Humphrey's Welsh Blood if the other Matters he 's accus'd on be true He is said to have borrow'd Books out of the publick Library at Oxford without taking any Care to restore them Upon which the University as they had good reason declin'd lending any more till forc'd to it by a Mandate which he made a shift to procure from the King In other places he likewise pillag'd the Libraries at his pleasure and at last sent over a whole Ship-load of Manuscripts to Rome And yet when this Publican himself left England when there was no further occasion for his Collecting the Papal Revenues King Edward the Sixth is said to have dismiss'd him with several handsome Presents Which we are not to look upon as a Reward as a certain late Writer expresses it but rather to consider that the young King being about to take his final leave of the Pope and all that belong'd to him resolv'd to do it as courteously as was possible The other Historians of his Time have been much Eclips'd by the glaring Lustre of this Foreigner insomuch that some of their Writings have hardly ever seen the Light John Rastal a Citizen and Printer in London who marry'd Sir Thomas Meer's Sister and died A. D. 1536. wrote an English Chronicle but I know no more where to find it than another of the same Age written by Richard Turpin a Leicestershire Gentleman and an Officer in the Garrison at Calais which I find quoted by his Countryman Tho. Lanquet who died at London in the twenty-fourth year of his Age A. D. 1545. began an Abbreviation of our Chronicles but brought it no lower than the Birth of our Saviour Its third part which chiefly relates to this Kingdom was written by the Learned Tho. Cowper afterwards Bishop of Winchester and by him published He calls it as justly he may an Epitome of our Chronicles and 't is a Meagre one too far short of the Performances of the same Author on other Subjects The like slender Abstract of our English History was about the same time penn'd by George Lily son of William the Famous Grammarian which together with his short Account of the Wars betwixt the Houses of York and Lancaster and his Genealogy of our Kings has had several Impressions Somewhat bulkier is the Work of Edward Hall who was some time Recorder if I understand my Author right of London where he died A. D. 1547. He wrote a large Account of the foremention'd Wars which in a very flattering Epistle he dedicates to Henry the Eighth If the Reader desires to know what sort of Cloaths were worn in each King's Reign and how the Fashions alter'd this is an Historian for his purpose but in other Matters his Information is not very valuable A great Borrower from this Hall was Rich. Grafton who as Buchanan rightly observes was a very heedless and unskilful Writer and yet he has the Honour done him to be sometimes quoted by Stow and others Of much better Note are the joynt Labours of Will. Harrison and Ra. Holinshead whose Chronicle has been well receiv'd and still bears a good Port among our Books of that kind These Authors are suppos'd to have been both Clergy-men but 't is not certainly known where they spent the most of their days So remarkably careful have they been to benefit the Publick without the Vanity of making their own Story known to Posterity Holinshead frequently owns the great Assistance he had from Fran. Thynne sometime in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Lancaster-Herald and an eminent Antiquary He has been severely treated by Sir Thomas Craig for some Insolencies which that Learned Gentleman suppos'd him guilty of in Relation to the Kingdom of Scotland Whereas in Truth that part of the Book no farther concern'd poor Mr. Holinshead than as the whole was sheltered under his Name In the second Edition the History was continu'd to the year 1586. by John Hooker alias Vowel of whom we shall have occasion to make some further mention hereafter 1601. Industrious John Stow leads the Van in the present Century which is now brought near its Conclusion And he well deserves to be remember'd with Honour He was a Member of the Merchant-Taylors Company in London and as has been already observ'd a special Benefactor to that City in enquiring after and preserving its Antiquities and Records He travell'd on foot through a good part of England in search after the Manuscript Historians in the Libraries of our Cathedral Churches and was very exact and Critical in his Collections Having spent above Forty Years in these Studies he was put upon the Correction and Publishing of Reyne Wolf's Chronicle by Archbishop Whitgift and he had fairly transcrib'd his Work and made it ready for the Press when he died A. D. 1605. He
near Oxford and has been frequently publish'd in English by our general Chroniclers In our Age Sir Henry Carey Lord Viscount Faulkland wrote the History of this unfortunate Prince with choice Political Observations on him and his unhappy Favourites Gaveston and Spencer There was also an Historical Poem written about the same time tho' it appear'd abroad much sooner on the same subject whose Author was Rich. Hobert a younger Brother to Sir Henry who himself made some additional Observations that are of good Vse and Ornament to it Edward the Third reign'd long and prosperously and yet I cannot assuredly inform the Reader of one Writer who has singly treated on those Glories and Successes that attended him I doubt whether Walter Hemmingford's Chronicle of this King be as certainly Extant as that larger History of his which has in part been publish'd by Dr. Gale For tho' Bale and Pits assert it Leland mentions no such thing If it be 't is not likely that it can escape the diligent and curious Enquiry of the foremention'd worthy Person who has encourag'd us to hope for his sending abroad a great many more of our old Manuscript Historians The like Scruples I have upon me as to some other Res Gestae of this King which are said to have been written by Robert Bale sometime Recorder of London And yet John Pits avers that in his time such a Treatise was kept as a choice Rarity by the Citizens of London in their publick Library together with some Historical Pieces of the same Author 's Penning which more immediately related to that City The victorious Atchievements of the Black Prince falling all within the Compass of his Father's Reign make up a good Share of its Story And these were collected and separately treated on in French by Will. Packington who was Secretary and Treasurer to that Hero and constantly attended him in the Wars The English Historian will observe that in this and many of the following Reigns this Kingdom was so constantly engaged against the United Policies and Forces both of France and Scotland that 't will be convenient for him to consult the Accounts given by the Writers of those Nations as well as our own especially since the Testimony of an Enemy if to the Advantage and Honour of our Country is of double value with that of a Friend Richard the Second's good Success in Ireland was so far out-balanc'd by the other more unlucky Adventures of his Reign that I have not heard of any who have thought it worth their while to write his Life except only a poor Knight of John Pits's Creation That Author says That one Sir John Gower a Yorkshire Knight and Cotemporary with the Famous Chaucer died in the Year 1402. leaving behind him a deal of Monuments of his Learning and amongst the rest a Latin Chronicle of King Richard the Second There was indeed one Mr. John Gower a noted Poet who liv'd about the time he mentions This witty Person took the Liberty that has always been allow'd to Men of his Profession to make Free with his Prince and Mr. Stow or his Continuer Howes has done him the Honour to Translate the Elegy he made on this King 's untimely Death which it may be contains the whole Chronicle There 's an Ingenious Treatise lately written and published by Sir Robert Howard which in the Title-page is said to be the History of the Reigns of Edward and Richard the Second But the Author himself seems to have more rightly named it Reflections upon some select Passages in them His Design is to give a Prospect of the Hazard and Madness of a Prince's following the Misguiding Meteor of Arbitrary Power And by comparing the Misadventures of these two unhappy Kings with the Triumphs of their Prosperous Predecessors to shew what Glory and Safety Wise and Vertuous Princes have obtain'd and what Ruin the Cruelty and Folly of others have brought upon Themselves and Subjects This he has done in a Well-penn'd Political Essay which will very much advantage our English Historian in giving him a Right Notion of many otherwise dark Occurrences in those Reigns Henry the Fourth's surprizing and pompous Accession to the Throne was a more proper Subject for a Poet to Descant upon than the Melancholick Reign of his Predecessor And therefore we may the more readily believe what the same Author tells us that the foremention'd Northern Bard wrote his Panegyrick Pits also says that Rob. Mascall Bishop of Hereford was employ'd in several Embassies during the Reigns of this King and his Successor and that dying at Ludlow in the Year 1417. he left among other things a Treatise De suis Legationibus Sir John Hayward King James the First 's Historiographer at Chelsey wrote Henry the Fourth's Life among others and had the Repute in those days of a good clean Pen and smooth Style tho' some have since blamed him for being a little too Dramatical Henry the Fifth was a most Heroick Prince and his single Victory at Agencourt might have afforded Matter for more Volumes than as far as I can yet learn have been written on his whole Reign 'T is said that his Exploits were carefully Recorded by Peter Basset who was of his Bed-chamber and an Attendant on him in all his Triumphs But what the same Person writes of another Anonymous Author who translated Livy's History into English and also wrote the Life of Henry the Fifth is such Stuff as is common with him The Truth is His Life was written at large by one who call'd himself Titus Livius who by that name dedicated it to King Henry the Sixth and is still quoted by Stow and others We have to this day two good Copies of his Work one in Sir John Cotton's Library the other in that of Bennet College Out of these carefully collated a third was prepared for the Press by the worthy Publishers of the Decem Scriptores which with several other Historical Treatises some whereof have been printed was afterwards purchas'd by that Indefatigable Promoter of all sorts of Learning the late Pious Bishop Fell. This Treatise is abundantly quoted by our General Chroniclers But no piece of History relishes so well at the second hand as it does when we have it from its first Author It were therefore to be wish'd that the good Prelate's Executors would do Him and Themselves as well as the Publick so much Right as to Print it together with the like valuable Manuscripts which have thus fallen into their hands What was done by Sir George Carew Earl of Totness has been already observ'd to be remitted into J. Speed's Chronicle where the Reader will meet with some Remarks becoming a Statesman a General and a Scholar Henry the Sixth was as Good as his Father was Great being as Conversant in the Holy Scriptures and Books of Devotion as the other was in Arms and Feats
Work And hardly a private Family of any Consideration in the Kingdom but will here meet with something of its Genealogy and Pedigree He is most scrupulously exact in transcribing the ancient Records So that the bald Latin barbarous Expressions and other Deformities of the Monkish Stile are to be reckon'd Beauties in him By the Catalogue of the Monasteries in the end of the First Volume it appears how far the Industry of this Writer has exceeded that of the People employ'd by Henry VIII to bring in a List of all the Religious Houses in this Nation many being added as more might have been in almost every County to the Schedule by them transmitted into the Exchequer And yet the old Register-Books that are cited in the Monasticon have a deal more in them than is there made use of Sir William Dugdale on second Thoughts transcrib'd many Things into the Additamenta of the latter Tome which both he and Mr. Dodsworth had overlook'd or did not at first think Material enough The Third Volume was publish'd under the sole Name of Sir William though Mr. Wood does not question he says but in this also he was very much indebted to Dodsworth's Collections He seems the rather to suspect such a thing because many Records were communicated by himself which are not duly acknowledg'd as they ought to have been and he verily believes the like good Assistance was given him by Sir Tho. Herbert tho' his Benefaction is also disregarded These Three Tomes were lately Epitomiz'd or Abridg'd by some modest Gentleman or other that did not think fit to put his Name to his Work which might have been of some good use if a little more care had been taken of the Numerals which direct to the Pages in the Monasticon it self and being frequently mistaken do not only render the Book useless but very dangerous Besides we are so far from wanting any Abridgment of these Tomes that we rather complain of their too great Conciseness and could wish there were some more added out of such Leiger-Books and Records as never came to the knowledge of either of the worthy Authors of these Three Towards the furtherance of such an acceptable Service as this we have had an excellent Manual given us by Mr. Tanner whose Notitia Monastica does not only afford us a short History of the Foundation and chief Revolutions of all our Religious Houses but presents us also with a Catalogue of such Writers noting the Places where we may find them as will abundantly furnish us with such further Particulars as we shall have occasion for The foremention'd Compilers of the Monasticon Anglicanum took care to make the like References and to let the World know from whose Hands they had the perusal of the Records of this or the other Monastery But as many new Discoveries have been made since their Time so several of the Books they met with have changed their owners and therefore their Defects are not only here supply'd but the present Proprietors of what they mention much better ascertain'd Some Volumes indeed and several single Charters and other Instruments are still appropriated to their old Masters where 't is not known how or to whom they have been lately transfer'd And this may possibly prove an obliging piece of Service to the Executors Administrators or Legatees of the Persons so mention'd who will be hereby directed and encouraged to make Enquiry after their unknown Chattels and to claim them where-ever they shall find them This industrious Author has superseded some Pains I had long since taken to the like purpose and whereof I should have given the Reader an Account in this Chapter The Informations he has here are beyond what I could have afforded him and I hope upon a second Edition of the Book which I much long for will be yet a great deal fuller 'Till that can be had give me leave to offer a slender Tast of the large Editions we may look for from the Author himself In the Cottonian Library alone there are Histories and Register-Books of the following Monasteries which for want of such a Catalogue as we now have had not come to his Knowledge ABINGDON Julius A. 9. Claudius C. 9. St. ALBANS Otho D. 3. Nero D. 1. 7. Julius D. 3. Claudius D. 1. BARDNEY Vespasian E. 20. BINHAM Claudius D. 13. CANTERBURY Christ's Galba E. 4. St. Augustine's Tiberius A. 9. Otho B. 15. DAVENTRY Claudius D. 12. DELACRES Nero C. 3. DERBY Titus C. 9. DUNSTABLE Tiberius A. 10. St. EDMUNDSBURY Tiberius B. 9. Claudius A. 12. ELY Tiberius A. 6. Vespasianus A. 6. GLASTONBURY Vespas D. 22. HULM Nero D. 2. HUNTINGDON Faustina C. 1. KIRKSTEDE Tiberius C. 8. 〈◊〉 E. 18. LEICESTER Vitellius F. 17. LENTON Otho B. 14. MALMESBURY Faustina B. 8. PARCO-STANLEY Julius C. 11. Vespas E. 26. PIPEWELL Caligula A. 13 14. RAMSEY Vespasian E. 2. READING Vespasian E. 5. 25. Domit. A. 3. ROCHESTER Domitian A. 9. Vespasian A. 22. Faustina C. 5. SELBY Vitellius E. 16. SMITHFIELD Vespasianus B. 9. SOUTHWARK Faustina A. 8. STONE Vespasianus E. 24. WALSINGHAM Nero E. 7. WESTWOOD in Com. WIGORN Vespasian E. 9. These are the most Eminent of those Writers that instruct us in the general History of our Monasteries tho' as a very learn'd Person has observed we still want a more copious Notitia than any of them have hitherto seem'd to have thought on such an one as should give us a just account of the Foundation of those Houses the Men of Learning that flourish'd in them their Rules Interests Contests c. There are others that have taken great Pains in writing Histories of some particular Orders of Monks to which themselves have had some special Relation and these moving in a lesser Circle had leisure to make more nice Enquiries and more ample Discoveries Amongst them the Benedictines may justly claim the Precedence as being so much the Darlings of Saint Dunstan and St. Oswald that perhaps 't is true what one of them asserts that from King Edgar's Reign to the Conquest there was not a Monastery in England but what was Model'd according to this Rule Will. Gillingham of Canterbury about the Year 1390. is said to have written De Illustribus Ordinis sui Scriptoribus and if we could meet with this Treatise we should not much lament the loss of his other De Rebus Cantuariensibus Edward Maihew sometime Scholar to John Pits publish'd a little Book under the Title of Congregationis Anglicanae Ordinis St. Benedicti Trophaea wherein he takes frequent occasion to quote his Master's Manuscript Treatise of the Apostolical Men of England now kept as a pretious Rarity in the Archives of the Church of Liverdune He is commended for his Modesty in the Account he gives of their Writers honestly quitting his Inclinations to serve a Party where he observes Truth to be on the other side The Obits and Characters of the English Benedictines
endear'd themselves to Posterity and to have made their Labours for ever valuable We are extreamly indebted to those pious Princes and generous Heroes that either in the East or Western Parts of the Kingdom have afforded us such noble advantages of Education in all sorts of Learning as no other Nation can pretend to and perhaps we cannot be more injurious to their Memories than by clogging their true Story with Fables Fancies and Forgeries Instead therefore of raking in their Ashes and rifling their Sepulchres to prove them Men of Gigantick Stature instead of refineing upon their History till we have turn'd it into Romance we should pay them more grateful and real Honours if being content with such Remains of them as we know are Genuine we employ'd more of our Time in letting the World see what use has been made of their Benefits how much the several Branches of the unforbidden Tree of Knowledge have thriven under the Influences of their Charity what mighty Numbers of great Doctors and Masters in all Faculties have been fed at their Expence and flourish'd by their Bounty 'T is true our Universities were not always the sole Fountains of good Literature in this Island many of our eminent Writers having had their Education in Monasteries But since St. John of Beverly has been made a Member of that at Oxford and venerable Bede a Student at Cambridge I wish they had rank'd all our antient Men of Knowledge on one Hand or the other provided they had given us full Accounts of their Persons and Labours I think we may without Vanity affirm that hardly any Kingdom in the World has outdone England either in the Number or Goodness of her Authors and that even in the darkest Ages our Lamps shone always as bright as any in our Neighbourhood When School-Divinity was in Fashion we had our Doctores Subtiles Irrefragabiles c. and as Learning grew to a better Ripeness and Stature we had plenty of good Books in other as useful Sciences The first that attempted the History of our Writers was John Boston a Monk of St. Edmundsbury A. D. 1410. who having view'd most of the Libraries in England drew a Catalogue of all the British Authors and gave short censures upon them He could hardly have flourish'd so early as Pits here speaks of if his Progress was as a later Writer informs us in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh But we shall not quarrel with him for such small Mistakes as this He ought indeed to have been a little better vers'd in the Story of his great Grandfather for the three following Johns Leland Bale and Pits handed from one another what was first borrow'd from him Arch-bishop Vsher had the most curious MS. Copy of his Book And our Oxford Antiquary cites another smaller Catalogue of the same Author's Composure Whether Alanus de Linna Prior of a Carmolite Monastery at Lyn in Norfolk A. D. 1420. did enlarge this Catalogue or the other I dare not determine Possibly he only made an Index to them as he did to forty other Volumes in the Library at Norwich The next that thought this Matter worth his consideration was John Leland who was indeed an extraordinary Person having besides his being a great Master in Poetry attain'd to a good share of Knowledge in the Greek Latin Welsh Saxon Italian French and Spanish Languages In the Year 1534. King Henry the Eighth gave him a Commission to Search all the Libraries of England and to make what Collections he thought Good in which Employment he Spent Six whole Years He afterwards turn'd Protestant and was siez'd with a Frenzy losing says my Author very uncharitably his Understanding with his Faith In this Condition he dy'd at London A. D. 1552. leaving a vast number of Historical Treatises behind him Amongst these the most valuable at least that which we are now chiefly concern'd to enquire after is said to have been entitl'd De Illustribus Britanniae Scriptoribus containing the Lives and Characters of most of the eminent Writers of this Kingdom This Work is now in the publick Library at Oxford where it makes the fourth Volume of his Collectanea being 354 Pages in Folio given by Will. Burton to that University John Bale was a Suffolk-Man sometime Scholar in Jesus College in Cambridge and afterwards a Carmelite Friar in Norwich He was as he says converted from Popery by the procurement of Thomas Lord Wentworth tho' in truth his wife Dorothy seems to have had as great Hand in that happy Work In the Year 1552. he was made Bishop of Ossory in Ireland But returning from Exile in Queen Elizabeth's Reign he did not think it advisable to go any more into that Kingdom contenting himself with a Prebend of Canterbury where he dy'd A. D. 1563. His Summarium Illustrium Majoris Britanniae Scriptorum was first presented to King Edward the Sixth and contain'd only five Centuries of Writers To these he afterwards added three more and made several Corrections and Additions throughout the whole Book The Ground-plot of this Work as has been observ'd was borrow'd from Leland and the chief of his own Superstructure is malicious and bitter Invectives against the Papists The Character which a late learned Person gives of him and his Writings is too just Veritas Balaeo Parum curae erat dummodo Romanae Ecclesiae Inimicorum Numerum augere posset And again Clausis plerunque oculis Scriptorum Anglicorum aetates definivit Some have thought his making Books of some little Saxon Epistles excusable and what would admit of an Apology But if we mark him well he 's continually multiplying the Writings of all his Authors at a very unsufferable and unjustifiable rate In Opposition to Bale's hard Treatment of the Romanists came forth J. P's Relat. Histor de rebus Anglicis Tom. 1. c. which is the same Book with that usually quoted by the Name of Pitseus de Scriptoribus This Author Stuy'd in New-College in Oxford and was at last Dean of Liverdune in Lorain where he dy'd A. D. 1616. Tho' he quotes Leland with great Familiarity and Assurance 't is very probable he never saw any such thing as his Collectanea de Scriptoribus but that his only true Author for all he pretends to bring out of that Store-house was John Bale himself His Latin is clean enough and his giving an Account of some eminent Popish Writers that liv'd beyond Sea in the beginning of the Reformation is an acceptable Piece of Service Mr. Wood has taken the pains to Correct a great many of his Mistakes and might have noted some hundreds more He must needs have been too much in hast to write accurately who even in the Catalogue he gives of his own Uncle Nich. Sanders's Writings is guilty of so gross an Error as to reckon the Treatise entitl'd Fidelis Servi subdito infideli responsio
Lambeth was by this Gentleman I should have been able to have enlarg'd this Collection to a much greater bulk whereas for want of such Discoveries some hundreds of Volumes may possibly escape me Sir John Cotton's at VVestminster collected by his Grandfather Sir Robert has heretofore been justly esteem'd to contain more Helps for the composure of a General History of England than all the other Libraries of the Kingdom put together being not only plentifully stock'd with Manuscript Historians Original Grants Patents c. but also abundantly furnish'd with our old Roman British Saxon and Norman Coins Tho-James first publish'd a Catalogue of the MSS. in the Publick Library at Cambridge and of the Private College-Libraries in Oxford out of which last he is reported to have borrow'd several Volumes never hitherto restor'd to their proper Owners Afterwards he did the like for Bodley's which the Reader ought to know has been wonderfully improv'd since that time by the many large Additions that have been made to it chiefly in Manuscripts by Archbishop Laud the Lord Hatton Mr. Selden's and Mr. Junius's Executors c. To which the Musaeum Ashmoleanum makes now a most Noble Appendix as being richly fraught with an excellent Collection of Manuscripts and Coins as well as other Rarities in Art and Nature made by that worthy Person whose Name it deservedly bears Some part of the great Treasure here reposited has been already discover'd to us by Mr. Gibson who has publish'd a Catalogue of Sir VVilliam Dugdale 's Books and we hope the like good Office will be done for Mr. Ashmole by another learned hand Dr. Hickes's Catalogue of such MSS. as relate to the Saxon and Danish Times is the most complete we have in its kind and Mr. Gibson's Account of Tennison's Library founded by His Grace the present Archbishop of Canterbury at St. Martin's in the Fields is highly beneficial and obliging But all these are small shreds and scantlings if compar'd with the Voluminous work of Dr. Bernard who threatens to give us an entire List of all the Manuscripts of this Kingdom of all kinds that either our Publick or Private Libraries will afford 'T is a very Noble and Generous Vndertaking Only a little more caution I think should be observ'd by him in carefully perusing the Catalogues that are sent from some of the most distant Counties especially where the Authority rely'd on for the Truth of the Copies is not very good and staunch Otherwise 't is possible the Reader may be sent some hundreds of Miles to enquire after a Book that has not appear'd in the place referr'd to at any time since the Restoration of King Charles the Second This I am very sure is the Case with some of the Northern Libraries whose Catalogues as he has Printed them were either drawn thirty years ago or else are Prophetically calculated for about thirty years hence Of this latter kind is that of a certain Cathedral Church which neither is nor ever was furnish'd with any one single Manuscript of the several in all Volumes which 't is there said to contain I have some cause to fear that I shall never live to see such Books in that Library as are there mention'd and I am also afraid that most of 'em if they have any being at all are of that modest complexion which becomes a private retirement better than an appearance in publick The Doctor 's Project is certainly very commendable and deserves encouragement and the utmost Assistance that Men of Learning and Acquaintance with Books can give it But then They that pretend to put a helping hand to the Work should be sure to do it effectually They should be scrupulously nice in their Informations take nothing upon Trust and Hear-say send no Transcripts of ancient heretofore Catalogues instead of such as give the present State of their Libraries view the Books themselves be sure they are already in the Classes referr'd to and not only in some distant and uncertain promise c. By these means we might truly discover the dormant Riches of the Nation and the câ—rious might with good assurance apply to such Persons as were undoubtedly able to Answer their Hopes Till these vast Designs are perfected we cannot hope for a full and exact Index of all those Historians that have escaped the common Destruction in the Dissolution of Abbeys and the Outrages of our Civil Wars And 't will be enough for a Man that lives in such an obscure corner of the Earth as my Lot is fallen into to point at the Times wherein the greatest part of 'em flourish'd how they were qualify'd for their several Vndertakings and how well or ill they have acquitted themselves in their Performances This I shall endeavour to do in a Method which I hope the Reader will think Natural enough as agreeing with me that our General Historian ought to enquire for 1. Geographical Chorographical and Topographical Writers of this Nation such as give an Account of its chief Remarkables in Nature Arts and Antiquities And that either 1. In Generaâ— Chap. 1. 2. In Particular Counties Cities and Great Towns Ch. 2. 2. Chronicles and Annals Which are either 1. General Relating to the Times 1. Of the Britains and Romans Chap. 3. 2. Of the Saxons and Danes Ch. 4. 3. Since the Conquest Ch. 5. 2. Particular Lives of our several Kings down from William the Conqueror Ch. 6. 3. Ecclesiastical Historians 1. General As 1. From the first Establishment of Christianity to the Reign of Henry VIII Chap. 7. 2. Since the Reformation Ch. 8. 2. Particular As to the several 1. Bishopricks Ch. 9. 2. Monasteries Ch. 10. 3. Vniversities Ch. 11. 4. Law-Books Records and Papers of State Ch. 12. 5. Biographers Writers of the Lives of our English 1. Saints Ch. 13. 2. Eminent Churchmen and Statesman Ch. 14. 3. Writers Ch. 15. I have not the vanity to imagine that I shall ever be able to run through all these Chapters without being guilty of a deal of very gross Mistakes and therefore I expect to hear of a large Muster-Roll of Errors and Defects in my Book This I shall so little repine at that I do assure Thee Honest Reader 't is what I heartily long for and desire I pretend to little more at present than the drawing of such Lines as may be filld up hereafter into a piece worth the Viewing and I shall be abundantly thankful to have the finishing part done by a better and more Skilful hand than my own I have spent a great deal of time perhaps too much in conversing with some of these old Gentlemen and I cannot but flatter my self into a belief that I have attain'd to something of a more than ordinary Acquaintance with them However the Characters I shall give of 'em are not alwaies mine but are sometimes Censures pass'd by better Judges than my self Where-ever I venture to give my own opinion I hope
made large Collections to that purpose tho he did not live to fit them for the Press Proposals were also long since Publish'd for Printing the Antiquities of Glocestershire by Mr. Abel Wantner who meeting with the Discouragements that are Common in that Case an untoward Recompence for a Gentleman 's twelve years pains and study was content to enjoy the Fruits of his Labour himself the Publick not admitting of his Services The City of Glocester's Military Government has been accounted for by John Corbet and the Laws and Customs of the Miners in the Forest of Dean by an Anonymous Writer HAMPSHIRE The County is yet undescrib'd But a Description of the City of Winchester with an Historical Relation of divers Memorable Occurrences touching the same is said to have been written by John Trussel who was himself sometime Alderman of that City and continu'd S. Daniel's History I guess it to be too Voluminous to appear in Print rather than as Mr. Kennet presumes it too imperfect Something to the same purpose was likewise written by Dr. Bettes whose Book is still in MS. As are also I suppose Mr. Butler's Remarks on the Monuments in this ancient City A General Survey of the Isle of Wight part of this County was written by Sr. Francis Knollis Knight of the Garter and Privy-Counsellour to Queen Elizabeth a Manuscript Copy whereof was in the Library of the late Earl of Anglesey There is also a Fragment of 17. Quarto Pages Entitul'd Antiquitates Insulae Vectae in Bodley's Library among the MSS. of Richard James Fellow of C.C.C. in Oxford an eminent Antiquary who dy'd at Sr. Tho. Cotton's in Westminster A. D. 1638. HARTFORDSHIRE A Chorographical Description of this County was published by John Norden Gentleman whom we shall again meet with in Kent and Middlesex as we have had already occasion to mention him in other Counties But 't is hop'd his Enquiries will be infinitely outdone by Sr. Henry Chauncey Kt. Serjeant at Law whose Antiquities we are greedily expecting to see Publish'd HEREFORDSHIRE Silas Taylor beforemention'd in Essex spent four years in collecting the Antiquities Pedigrees Epitaphs c. of this County and his Papers were lately perhaps now are in the hands of Sr. Edward Harley of Brompton-Brian The Ransack he made during the times of Usurpation in the Libraries of the Cathedral Churches of Hereford and Worcester might furnish him with a greater plenty of Materials than it may be a man will easily meet with at this Day and therefore his Collections are justly recommended as a good Apparatus for any that shall hereafter write on the same Subject HVNTINGDONSHIRE Sr. Robert Cotton is reported to have written that Description which John Speed has publish'd of this County KENT Let this be observ'd for the Honour of Kent says an Ingenious and Learned Gentleman Native of this County that while other Counties and but few of them have met with single Pens to give the History and Description of them ours has had no less than four Writers to celebrate the Glories of it Lambard Somner Kilburn and Philpot He will not I Hope take it ill if we enlarge the Catalogue Both Bale and Pits expressly reckon the Itinerarium Cantiae among John Leland's Composures so that I should think he bestow'd something of more care than ordinary in disposing the Remarks he made on this County W. Lambard's Perambulation of Kent was indeed the first Account which was publish'd and it was not only highly applauded by Camden and other Chief Judges of such Matters but gave the hint to many more Men of Learning to endeavour the like Services for their several Counties 'T was not well approv'd by the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion Reiner particularly censures it as a Work undertaken and carry'd on with a Design to expose the Lewdnesses and Debaucherics of the late Inhabitants of the Monasteries of that County in describing whereof he thinks many things are spitefully misrepresented Mr. Somner it appears fully purpos'd to have given us the Antiquities of the whole County and had certainly made very great Progress towards the completing the Work as appears by his Manuscripts now in the Library of the Cathedral Church of Canterbury 'T is not doubted but he would mightily have enlarg'd W. Lambard's Perambulation and he gives us some Specimen of his Design to correct also his Errors by marking such as came in his way in some of his Treatises already publish'd However we are not wholly depriv'd of this great Work some part of it having been lately publish'd under the Title of A Treatise of the Roman Ports and Forts in Kent wherein and in Mr. Gibson's Notes upon it we have as entire a Discourse as we could wish for on that Subject rectifying a great many mistakes in Camden Lambard Philpot c. and discovering the true Situation of those ancient Places Philpot's Villare Cantianum was not written by Thomas Philpot whose name in bears but by his Father Iohn Somerset Herald who is only own'd to be Author of the Additional History of the High Sheriffs of the County And what Faith a Learned Countreyman of his puts the Question in my Mouth can be given to him that could afford to rob his own Father of the credit of his Book Kilburn's Survey of Kent you may take Mr. Kennet's word for it is all Modern and Superficial Another Survey of the County in proportion to the rest of the same Author 's was drawn by Iohn Norden which none have hitherto thought worth the handing to the Press and few have reckon'd so considerable as to mention it To these I think we may add Iohn Weever's Funeral Monuments a great share of 'em having been collected in the Dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester But let the Reader never forget the Remark made on him by Mr. Wharton that he has most scandalously mistaken the Numeral Letters and Figures in most of the Inscriptions he transcrib'd which makes it hazardous for an Antiquary to rely upon his Authority Both Mr. Somner's Excellent Treatise of Gavelkind and Silas Taylor 's History of the same ought also to be referr'd to the Catalogue of this County's Historians and Antiquaries as explaining an ancient Custom whereof there are now hardly any Remains elsewhere within the King's Dominions The History of the City of Canterbury seems to have been penn'd long since by Will. Gillingham a Benedictine Monk of that place who is said to have written De Rebus Cantuariensibus about the year 1390. Iohn Twyne mentions some Collections that he had made tending to Illustrate the Antiquities of this City But Mr. Somner assures us he could no more meet with them than with those of Tho. Spott mention'd by Bale But it s everlasting Monument is W. Somner's Antiquities of Canterbury or a Survey of that ancient City
has Copy'd from the foremention'd Survey nor is De Laun's pretended Present State of the City much different from what we have there Indeed several new Discoveries and Observations touching its mighty growth and number of its Inhabitants proving that they are more than in Rome Paris and Roan that they are above 696000 People c. have been advanc'd in some Essays in Political Arithmetick by one of the most eminent Mathematicians and Virtuoso's of this Age Sir William Petty who was also the chief Director and Author of a piece publish'd sometime before by one John Graunt and Entitul'd Natural and political Observations on the Bills of Mortality in London The dreadful Fire which hapned in this famous City in the Year 1666. will for ever remain one of its chief Epoche's and of this we have two Historical Narratives One according to the Reports made to a Committee in Parliament and another publish'd by Edward Waterhouse The Epitaphs of our Kings Princes and Nobles that lie bury'd in the Abbey-Church at Westminster were first Collected by John Skelton a famous Poet who for making too bold with Cardinal Woolsey in some of his Satyrs ended his days miserably within the Precincts of the Asylum of that Church A. D. 1529. These were afterwards enlarg'd by Camden and compleated by H. Keep under the name of Monumenta Westmonasteriensia The Monuments of St. Paul's the Cathedral of this Diocese will be treated on elsewhere NORFOLK The Pen was long since drawn in defence of this County by one Iohn de S. Omero or Saintemer a Norfolk-man and Student in Cambridge about the Year 1219. when a certain Monk of Peterborough taking upon him to libel the Inhabitants of that Country in Latin Doggrel was answer'd in his own way by this John The Epitaphs here with some other Antiquities were collected by J. Weever who referrs us for further satisfaction to Sir Hen. Spelman's Iceni which we impatiently hope to see publish'd by Mr. Gibson Something relating to the Natural History of Norfolk may be had from Sir William Dugdale's Imbanking and in a little Treatise entituled Mercurius Centralis or a Discourse of Subterranean Cockle Muscle and Oyster-shells found in digging a Well at Sir William Doylie's in this County 'T is a Letter from one Tho. Lawrence M. A. to Sir Thomas Brown To which may be added the already mention'd Relation of the Damages done by a Tempest on the Coasts of this County and Lincolnshire The City of Norwich was describ'd by Alexander Nevil whose Book is quoted by Sir Henry Spelman We have Sir Tho. Brown's Vrn-Burial or a Discourse of Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk and we expect his Repertorium or an account of the Tombs and Monuments in the Cathedral Church of Norwich It has been promis'd and I know not what occasion Sir Thomas has ever given any body to suspect that ought of his penning should rather fear than deserve an Edition The late Publisher of Camden makes Tho. Fuller the Reporter of Dr. Caius's having written the Antiquities of Norwich but I suspect there 's some mistake in that matter since Fuller in the place where he should especially have noted such a thing says nothing of it Nash's Account of the growth of great Yarmouth the History of the burning of East Derham and Sir R. W.'s Norfolk Furies may possibly contribute some small helps towards the Illustration of the Antiquities of these Parts but seem to be of too great or too little Age to be very valuable NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Will. Vincent Windsor-Herald collected some materials for a Survey and the Antiquities of this County which were lately in the possession of Mr. Wood. He frequently quotes Fran. Tate's Nomina Hydarum in Com. Northampton The State of the Town of Northampton from the beginning of the Fire Sept. 20. 1675. to Nov. 5. following was publish'd in a Letter to a Friend and we had its Fall and Funeral first in a Latin Elegy and afterwards with some Variations and Additions in English NORTHVMBERLAND John Pits says That the Genealogies of the Earls of Northumberland were drawn up by one Tho. Otterburn a Franciscan Friar about the Year 1411 and that John Currar he knows not when drew up a List of Seventy Eight Castles in this County with the Pedigrees of their several Owners These are Uncertainties But we know that Sir Robert Shaftoe and Mr. Clavering both now living have really made large Progresses in its Antiquities and we hope they will be so just to the Publick and themselves as shortly to communicate ' em The Town of Berwick with some other places of Note in this County are describ'd in a MS. in the Earl of Carlisle's Library at Noward But Newcastle still wants a just Description and History For Grey's Chorographical Survey comes short of its present Glory and the Anonymous Author of England's Grievances in Relation to the Coal-Trade c. is too much confin'd in his Subject to answer the Expectations of a Curious Reader NOTTINGHAMSHIRE's Antiquities were first attempted by Serjeant Boun who only transcrib'd what related to this County out of Dooms-day adding some short Notes at every Town This was compleated into a fair Work by his Son-in-law R. Thoroton M. D. at the instance of Sir William Dugdale He owns 't is capable of Improvements out of the Archbishop of York's Registry and other Records in private Hands which he had not an opportunity of consulting But the Work as it is shews a good Industry in its Author who being a Physician of eminent Practice had a free access to the Evidences of most of the considerable Families The Author had not the Curiosity to intermix any Observations relating to the British Roman and Saxon Antiquities writing only after the printed Copy of Mr. Burton's Leicestershire OXFORDSHIRE Vast Collections relating to the Antiquities of this County were made by Randal Catherall who dy'd A. D. 1625. and were sometime in the Custody of Bishop Sanderson But upon the strictest Enquiry that could be made after 'em they are not now to be found Dr. Plot 's Natural History of Oxfordshire was the first Essay made in that kind by its excellent Author who has made us acquainted with so many Physical Discoveries as well as notable Improvements in Trade and Manufactures that the Work has met with an Universal Applause And as this County had the happiness to have its Natural History set by that worthy Person as a Pattern to the rest of the Kingdom so it now affords a new Example of having some of its Parochial Antiquities consider'd in the History of Ambrosden Burcester and other adjacent Towns and Villages by a very Learned Antiquary Mr. White Kennet Some of the Annals of the City of Oxford seem to be drawn up in their Red Book which is quoted by
the Miseries and almost utter Ruine of his Country-men by a People under whose Banners they hop'd for Peace His Life is written at large by Carâ—doc of Lancarvan and by an Anonymous Author publish'd by John à Bosco His lamentable History De Excidio Britanniae is all that 's printed of his Writing and perhaps all that is any where extant Bale Pits and others reckon up some other Matters whereof they make this Gildas Badonicus as they distinguish him to be the Author But Archbishop Vsher is peremptory in it that this is the Vnicum quod restat Opusculum for he makes it and the Epistle to be all one thing It was first Publish'd and Dedicated to Bishop Tunstall by Polydore Virgil whose imperfect and corrupt Copy was Reprinted in the Bibliotheca Patrum Afterwards there was another Edition of it by John Josseline who made use of another Manuscript but not much more correct than the former The latest and best is that we have from Dr. Gale who had the advantage of a more ancient and much better Copy than either of the two former had seen If he did write any thing more 't is now lost Leland is mighty desirous to believâ—â—hat there is somewhere such a Treatise as his Cambreis in Verse that 't was stollen and carry'd into Italy and that the Poet Gildas and the Historian were two several Persons But 't is now fear'd we shall never meet with any other Poetical Treatise bearing his Name save only that which Leland himself calls Gildas fictitius and which Archbishop Vsher frequently quotes by the Name of Pseudo-Gildas His Book De Victoria Ambrosii is of the same base metal out of which have been coin'd John Pits's Regum Britannorum Historia De primis Insulae Incolis Lites Luddi Nennii c. The next British Historian of Note is Nennius The first of this Name that is said to have taken care of the Antiquities of his Country was if we are not impos'd on Son to King Helius and Brother to Ludd and Cassibelane who had the Honour to die of a wound given him by Julius Caesar's own hand 'T was he they say 〈◊〉 first wrote a Book of the British History in his own Tongue which was afterwards translated into Latin by his Namesake Abbot of Bangor This same Abbot Nennius is generally suppos'd to be one of the Fifty Monks that were so wise as to skulk at Chester when 1200 of their Brethren fell a Sacrifice to the Pride of Augustine the first Planter of the Romish Principles and Practices in our Isle and to have flourish'd about the Year 620. Which will not agree with what is attested by himself in the best Copies of his Book that he wrote A. D. 858. Anno 24o. Mervini Regis He is said to have left behind him several Treatises whereof all that 's publish'd is his Historia Britonum This is the same Book that Bale and Pits have register'd under the Style of Eulogium Britanniae and the only piece that must answer for what those Gentlemen mention by the Titles of his Collectiones Historiarum Antiquitates Britannicae Chronicon c. In most of the MS. Copies it is erroneously ascrib'd to Gildas This History says nothing of the other brave Nennius abovemention'd whom later Commentators have 〈◊〉 so great in Story I am of Opinion that the Contrivance of this Hero is one of the best things in all Jeoffrey of Monmouth's Romance It looks like a gratefull Acknowledgment to the Person that had oblig'd him or his Author with the ground-work of his whole Fabrick to whom he could not pay a more decent Complement than by making him Godfather to one of his chief Knights Errant Next after Nennius follow Hoel Dha's Laws which were enacted about the middle of the Tenth Century whereof those that relate to Ecclesiastical Affairs have been publish'd by Sir Henry Spelman Of these there are several Copies both in Welsh and Latin still extant among which a very old one written on Parchment in Jesus College at Oxford The Preface to this last will not allow that King Hoel abrogated as Mr. Camden says he did all the Laws of his Ancestors but expresly tells us that according to the Advice of his Council some of the ancient Laws he retain'd 〈◊〉 he corrected and some he quite disannâ—â—â— appointing others in their stead Dr. Powell will not agree that any new Statutes were ordain'd by this King But that his Commissioners according to the Powers given them retain'd only those ancient Laws that were good and usefull explain'd the Ambiguous and abrogated the Superfluous For we are to know that full fourteen hundred years before Hoel's Time the Britains had a whole Body of Muncipal Laws enacted by King Dunwallo Molmutius which were soon afterwards enlarg'd by Queen Martia All these says Bale were translated into Latin by Gildas and into Saxon by King Aelfred Nay some wise Writers will needs affirm that a certain part of our English Saxon Laws which they call Lex Merciorum had its Denomination from these Leges Martiae and this childish Fancy has been embrac'd by several of our grave and ancient Historians Others think it improbable that so great a Prince as King Aelfred should ever trouble his Head with Translating any of the Laws either of Molmutius or Martia who were only Antiquated Legislators among his Enemies and Heathens But since the Britains as Asserius and others tell us voluntarily submitted to him it seems as wise in Him to give them their own Laws in his Language as 't was in William the Conquerour to grant us the Saxon Laws in French Many of 'em we have already been told were abolish'd even by the Britains themselves after they became Christians But Mr. Sheringham thinks 't is evident from several Law-Terms such as Murder Denizon Rout c. which are purely British that some of them were taken into the Body of our English Laws Hoel's are said to have been first Translated into Latin by a Gentleman with a very hard Name Blegabride Langauride Doctor of Laws and Archdeacon of Landaff in the year 914. which if the British History do not misinform us was about 26 years before that King began his Reign There is lately come to my hands a Latin MS Copy in Parchment of these Laws in the end whereof in a later hand is written Istum Librum Tho Powel Joanni Da. Rhaeso Med. Doctori dono dedit meâ—se Augusto 1600. And these I think are all the British Historical Writers that liv'd before the Norman Conquest whose Books are now to be met with in any of our English Libraries I know not how to direct the Reader to seek for the Histories of Elbodus or Elvodugus for they are both the same Man from whom Nennius is made to borrow a good part of what we now have
under his Name nor for those of Worgresius and Mawornus Abbot and Monk of Glassenbury nor for the Genealogies drawn up by the Famous Bard in King Edgar's daies Saliphilax When these are retriev'd I would have them all carefully bound up with the Deflorationes Historiae Britannicae which as Jo. Caius has learnedly prov'd from Stow and Lanquet were written by King Gurguntius about 370 years before Christ. The Welsh MS. cited frequently in Camden's Britannia by the name of Triades seems not to carry Age enough to come within this Class 'T is the same I suppose which he elsewhere calls the British old Book of Triplicities running all upon the number three as appears from his Quotation out of it Welshmen love Fire Salt and Drink Frenchmen Women Weapons and Horses Englishmen Good cheer Lands and Traffick We are not to expect any such Assistances for the ascertaining the History of these Times as After-Ages afford us from Charters Letters Patents c. And yet 't is too forward an Assertion to say there were no such things in the days of our British Kings if all be true that Leland tells us of King Arthur's Seal But I am not I confess so much in Love with that Venerable Relique as he seems to have been It might indeed be brought as he guesses from Glassenbury where I do believe 't was hung at a forg'd Charter by some Monk who was a better Mechanick than Antiquary The Inscription easily discovers the Cheat PATRICIVS ARTVRIVS BRITANNIAE GALLIAE GERMANIAE DACIAE IMPERATOR He is certainly call'd Patricius here and no where else out of the abundant Respect that Monastery had for their Guardian Saint Patrick and not as Leland fansies upon any Account of a Roman Fashion Another Help is here wanting which exceedingly Conduces towards the Illustrating the Antiquities of other Nations and that is the Light that is often gain'd from the Impresses and Inscriptions upon their old Coins and Medals The money used here in Caesar's Time was nothing more than Iron Rings and shapeless pieces of Brass nor does it well appear that ever afterwards their Kings brought in any of another sort Camden says he could not learn that after their retirement into Wales they had any such thing among them none of the Learned Men of that Principality having yet been able to produce so much as one piece of British Coin found either in Wales or any where else And is it likely that a Royalty of this Nature of so great Benefit to their Subjects as well as Honour to themselves would have been laid aside by the Cambrian Princes if formerly enjoy'd by any of their Ancestors J. Leland tells us he never in all his Travels throughout the whole Kingdom of England could meet with one British Coin among the many Millions of those of the Romans found in this Nation And the Reason he says was because as he proves out of Gildas the Romans would not allow any of our Metal to be stamp'd with any other Image or Superscription save only that of Caesar's that is some of their own Emperours However we now have several ancient Coins in our publick and private Libraries which are generally reputed to be British tho' 't is very hard to determine in what Age of the World they were minted My very Learned and Ingenious Friend Mr. Lwhyd believes that before the coming in of the Romans they had Gold Coins of their own because there have been frequently found both in England and Wales thick pieces of that Metal hollow'd on one side with variety of unintelligible Marks and Characters upon them These he is sure cannot be ascrib'd either to the Romans Saxons or Danes and therefore 't is reasonable we should conclude them to be British And the Reason why he thinks they were coin'd before the Romans came is this If the Britains had learn'd the Art from them they would tho' never so inartificially have endeavour'd to imitate their manner of Coining and in all likelyhood have added Letters and the Head of their Kings Here 's a fair and probable opinion against the express Testimony of Julius Caesar who could hardly be impos'd on in this part of the Account he gives of our Isle Camden rather thinks that after the Arrival of the Romans the Britains first began to imitate them in their Coining of both Gold and Copper But his Stories of Cunobeline and Queen Brundvica are much of a piece with those of Doctor Plott's Prasutagus all of 'em liable to very just and to me unanswerable Objections For my own part I am of Opinion that never any of the British Kings did Coin Money But that even their Tribute-Money like the Dane-Gelt and Peterpence afterwards was the ordinary Current Coin which was brought in or minted here by the Romans themselves as long as this Island continu'd a Province The most if not all of the foremention'd pieces which are not Counterfeits I take to be Amulets whereof Tho. Bartholine gives this sensible Account Habuere Veteres in Paganismo res quasdam portatiles ex Argento vel Auro factas Imaginibus Deorum facie humanâ Expressorum signatas quibus Futurorum Cognitionem explorabant quarum possessione felices se quodam quasi Numinis praesidio tutos judicabant These were in use among the Romans a good while after they came into Britain and the Amula from whence they had their Name was a little drinking Cup most probably of this very Fashion If any man dislikes my Conjecture I am willing Sir John Pettus should Umpire the matter between us and his Supposition that Coin is an Abstract of Coynobeline who first coin'd Money at Malden will for ever decide the Controversie After the Conquest The first man that attempted the Writing of the old British History was Geoffery Archdeacon of Monmouth and he did it to some purpose This Author liv'd under King Stephen about the year 1150. He had a peculiar fancy for Stories surmounting all ordinary Faith which inclin'd him to pitch upon King Arthur's feats of Chivalry and Merlyn's Prophecies as proper subjects for his Pen. But his most famous piece is his Chronicon sive Historia Britonum which has taken so well as to have had several Impressions In this he has given a perfect Genealogy of the Kings of Britain from the Days of Brutus wherein we have an Exact Register of above Seventy glorious Monarchs that rul'd this Island before ever Julius Caesar had the good fortune to be acquainted with it The first stone of this fair Fabrick was laid by Nennius but the Superstructure is all Fire-new and purely his own They that are concern'd for the Credit of this Historian tell us that he had no further hand in the Work than only to translate an ancient Welsh History brought out of Britany in France by Walter Calenius Archdeacon of Oxford who was himself
an eminent Antiquary and added a Supplement to the Book The Translation of the whole he committed to the care of his Friend Geoffry who says Matt. Paris approv'd himself Interpres verus And there I am willing to let the matter rest The Translator might have employ'd his time better yet may be an honest man But the Author whoever he was has basely impos'd upon the World and was certainly something of another Nature The best defence that can be made for it is that which was written by Sir John Prise and is publish'd under the Title of Historiae Britannicae Defensio to which something further is added by Mr. Sheringham if it could be help'd to part with any thing of an old Story that looks gay and is but even tolerably well contriv'd As to the regard says the ingenious Mr. Lhwyd due to this History in general the judicious Reader may consult Dr. Powel's Epistle De Britannicâ Historiâ rectè Intelligendâ and Dr. Davies ' s Preface to his British Lexicon and balance them with the Arguments and Authority of those that wholly reject them I am not for wholly rejecting all that 's contained in that History believing there is somewhat of Truth in it under a mighty heap of Monkish Forgeries But for the main I am of Camden's Judgment and I hope my Friend will allow me to think the Arguments and Authority of that Writer and common Sense to be as weighty in these Matters as those of the two greatest Doctors in Christendom Ponticus Virunnius an Italian Epitomiz'd it and indeed 't is of a Complexion fitter for the Air of Italy than England Cotemporary with this Jeoffrey was Caradocus Monk of Lancarvan who contented himself with the Writing of a History of the Petty Kings of Wales after they were driven into that Corner of the Island by the Saxons This History which was written originally in Latin and brought as low as the Year 1156 by its Author was afterwards translated into English by Humphrey Lhuid and enlarg'd and publish'd by Dr. Powel There are three MSS. of good note mention'd by Archbishop Vsher which seem to reach much higher than Caradocus pretends to go all which I guess to have been written about the same Time The first is in Welsh in Sir John Cotton's Library reported to be the same that was translated by Jeoffrey of Monmouth The Second is in old English by one Lazimon and the Third as I take it in Latin by Geraldus Cornubiensis King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table made so considerable a Figure in the British History that many Learned Men have been at a great deal of Trouble to clear up that Prince's Title and to secure that part of Jeoffrey's Story whatever Fate might attend the Rest. The first Stickler against Will. Neubrigensis c. was one Grey the suppos'd Author of Scalechronicon whom Pits calls John and says he was Bishop of Norwich and Elect of Canterbury and that he dy'd A. D. 1217. Bishop Jewel calls him Thomas About two hundred Years after him Tho. Maâ—ory a Welsh Gentleman wrote King Arthur's Story in English a Book that is in our Days often sold by the Ballad-singers with the like Authentick Records of Guy of Warwick and Bevis of Southampton But about the middle of the last Century his chief Champions appear'd on the Stage in defence of him against Polydore Virgil's fierce attack These were Sir John Prise and Mr. Leland the latter whereof was as able as any Man alive to give the Story all the Light which the Kingdom could afford it And yet his Treatise is the most liable to Exception of any thing he ever publish'd Many of the Authors he quotes are only Jeoffrey of Monmouth's Echoes others come not up to the Question and some are too Modern These and more Objections are rais'd against this History by our most Learned Bishop Stillingfleet who nevertheless confesses that he has sufficiently prov'd that there was such a Prince So that it seems there is something of plain Stuff in the Story whatever Imbroydery may be Introduced by the Spanish vein of Romancing Arth. Kelton's Chronicle of the Brutes and H. Lyte's Records c. are such Whimsical and Imperfect Pieces as not to deserve the being nam'd with the last mention'd Authors tho' they treat much on the same Subject After King Charles the Second's Restoration Mr. Robert Vaughan a Learned Gentleman of Meryonidshire publish'd his British Antiquities Reviv'd wherein are a great many very pretty Remarks and Discoveries The Author it appears was well known to Archbishop Vsher by whom he was much countenanc'd and encourag'd in these Studies In one of his Letters to that renown'd Primate he says he had now finish'd his Annals of Wales which he then sent to be perus'd by his Grace and to receive his Approbation if worthy of it for the Press What became of that Work I cannot tell but it has not yet appear'd so publickly as the Author it seems long since intended it should His Executors owe him and us the Justice of sending abroad whatever they have of his that 's compleat For he left also behind him a large Collection of other Manuscript Papers relating to the same Subject which were sometime in the Possession of Sir William Williams After him came forth Aylet Sammes with his Britannia Antiqua Illustrata wherein he fetches the Original of the British Customs Religion and Laws from the Phoenicians This Conceit which is all that looks new in his Book is wholly borrow'd from Bochartus as is his long Discourse of the Off-spring of the Saxons from Sheringham As for his own part 't is visible he equally understood the Phoenician British Gothick Saxon and Islandic Languages and if left to himself could as easily have brought the Britains from New Spain and the Saxons from Madagascar Upon the first publishing of this Book Mr. Oldenburg Secretary to the Royal Society gave a very obliging Character both of the Work and its Author who by what the Oxford Antiquary has since told us was every way unworthy of such a Complement Whether his Uncle or himself was the true Author of what he was pleas'd to publish under his own Name is not worth our while to enquire But if we believe Mr. Wood that Aylet had never so much as heard of John Leland before the Year 1677 he 's the most unaccountable and ridiculous Plagiary and Buffoon that ever had his Name in the Title Page of any Book whatever For that which he pretends to be his was Printed the Year before and in the Preface to it we are told that 't was John Leland's asserting that the main Body of the Welsh Language consisted of Hebrew and Greek words which first put the Author upon his search into the Stories of the Phoenician Voyages So that it 's
had also as appears from the Saxon Gospels Halfpennies and Farthings which perhaps were of a baser Matter They had also Half Farthings eight to a Penny like the Liards de France which they call'd Sticas Of which kind I take those Brass pices to be which were lately found near Rippon in Yorkshire and by Sir Edward Blackâ—t into whose possession they first came kindly communicated to several curious Antiquaries in that County The rest of their Money-Terms are Names of Accounts and Weight which are thus stated by Camden  l. s. d. 1. Their Shilling was 5 of their Pennies in our Money 0 1 3 2. Their Pound was their 48 s. our 3 0 0 3. Manca Mancusa or Marca about 0 1 0 4. Manca of Gold their 30 d. our 0 7 6 This computation tho not exact comes near the truth and is as much or more than we have occasion for at present Camden here omits their Thrimsa which Sir Henry Spelman takes to have been three Shillings Mr. Selden thinks it was the third part of a Shilling and Mr. Somner modestly owns he knows not what it was As far as I am able to judge King Aethelstan's Laws make the Thrimsa Peninga and Sceat all one thing They tell us a King's Weregild was thirty thousand Thrimsa's that is say they one hundred and twenty pounds Now one of their pounds being allow'd to be about three times the weight of ours this Summ will amount to about three hundred and sixty pounds of our Money and there being eighty six thousand and four hundred pence in our three hundred and sixty Pounds it follows that a Thrimsa is somewhat less than our three pence which is the same with their Peninga or Sceat In several Libraries and in many Register-Books of our oldest Monasteries we have a deal of Charters granted and pretended to be granted by our Saxon Kings but they are very cautiously to be admitted and allow'd on The most ancient that we meet with are those that are said to have been granted by Ethelbert King of Kent about the Year 605. and they have such Marks of Forgery upon them as would make a Man jealous of medling with any others of the like kind The Records of the very Chuch of Canterbury to which these Grants are said to have been made assure us that King Withered who reignâ—d almost a whole Century after Ethelbert was the first that gave out Charters in Writing his Predecessors thinking their bare word sufficient to secure any of their Gifts and Benefactions Nay one of their own Monks acquaints us that his Brethren were eminent Artists at coining of Charters and we have all the reason in the world to take his Word for it The Cheat may commonly be discover'd by a strict Enquiry after and comparing of their Dates and the Times of such Witnesses Bishops Abbots c. as are brought in to attest their Truth Mr. Wharton says he could rarely observe one Saxon Charter penn'd in their own Tongue to have been counterfeited and the reason he assigns is because all the Forgery came in after the Conquest when the hungry Normans put the Monks and others upon proving their Titles to their Lands and Houses or otherwise made bold to seize them into their own hands Now what was written in the Saxon Tongue being generally slighted it was necessary they should produce their Grants in Latin if they expected that their new Masters would everregard or cast an Eye on them Another occasion was afterwards taken of feigning Charters upon William the Conqueror's extraordinary one to his new erected Monastery at Battle-Abbey whereby he exempted the Abbot there and his Monks from all Episcopal Jurisdiction This set the Religious in other parts of the Kingdom upon grasping at the like Immunities and to that end they frequently framed the like Grants from former Kings R. Fabian will tell us that the first Charter the Citizens of London ever had was granted by King William the First which notwithstanding the great Antipathy which he is said to have against it is written in the Saxon Tongue seal'd with green Wax and exprest in eight or nine Lines A great many of their Laws have been publisht and we are not without hopes but that a good deal more which hitherto have lain in private hands will shortly appear abroad The first attempt towards so good a service to the Kingdom was made by A. Nowel who collected all he could find and left them to be translated by his Friend W. Lambard He accordingly made them publick but his Translation is so false and affected that the best Judges of such a performance have not been satisfy'd with it For which reason Mr. Junius recommends the old Translation in John Brompton's History as much more correct and better to be rely'd on Mr. Somner took the pains to review the Book and to correct his Errors adding several Laws omitted by Lambard and giving a double Translation in Latin and English to the whole These are now with what else of that kind was left unpublish'd by that industrious person in the Custody of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Mr. Junius took the like pains with the Book and his Emendations are to be had at Oxford But still there are several Saxon Laws in Manuscript which we have good hopes will e're long be publisht At least those of 'em that relate to the Affairs of the Church will be given us in a better Edition of Sir Henry Spelman's Councils Of which more hereafter By the way I am not satisfy'd with the Opinion of Camden Lambard Spelman and generally all our English Antiquaries and Historians who have treated of these matters that there were in this Kingdom before the Conquest three Codes or Digests of Laws which from the several Countries wherein they first prevail'd were rightly named the West-Saxon Mercian and Danish Laws This conceit is deriv'd down without Contradiction or due Examination from the most early Translators of our Saxon Records who took it for granted that Laga in Westsexena laga Myrcena laga and Dene laga was a word of the same Import and Signification with the Norman Ley. Whereas in truth Laga or Lage is properly a Country or District and so 't is very evident it ought to have been translated in the Laws of Ethelbert Cnute and Edward the Confessor even in those very parts of 'em which have occasion'd all these mistakes It appears there were some Historians who wrote of the Saxon Affairs before Venerable Bede's time and I am inclinable to think that a part of their old Chronicle which has had so much honour of late done to it by Mr. Gibson is of that Age. The first Publisher of this Noble Monument was Ab. Wheloc who translated it and caus'd it to be printed in the end of his Saxon Bede He made use only of
his zealous Management has afforded us some good Remarks of his own and others of the learned Translator and Publisher of his Work Whether St. Neot ever wrote as some have reported the Life of King Aelfred Sir John Spelman justly doubts and I am not able to resolve him unless the next Paragraph will unravel the matter Another piece has been lately pubâ—lisht under the Title of Asserius's Annals by Dr. Gale who tells us that the Manuscript Copy which he used is now in the Library of Trinity College in Cambridge Jo Brompton indeed cites several things relating to the Story of King Offa out of Asserius's Writings which are not in his Life of Aelfred Hence some have concluded that he might possibly have been impos'd upon by those that had given the Name of that Author to such Anonymous Collections as they knew not how truly to Father and the Jealousy may still continue for any thing which this Book discoverâ—â—o the contrary For King Offa is hardly named in it and therefore Brompton must have hit upon a spurious piece how genuine soever this may prove The learned Publisher does not question but 't is the true Off-spring of Asserius and its insisting chiefly on the Fortunes of King Aelfred seems to countenance his Opinion Leland calls it the Chronicle of St. Neot's because he found it in that Monastery Marianus Scotus had also met with it somewhere for he transcribes it by whole Sale The next Saxon Historian now extant is Ethelwerd or Elward Patricius descended as himself attests of the Blood Royal who liv'd till the year 1090 but did not continue his Chronicle so far His work consists of four Books which are publish'd by Sir H. Savil. The whole is a Translation of a very false and imperfect Copy of the Saxon Chronicle and therefore William of Malmesbury has modestly out of Deference to his Family declin'd the giving a Character of this Writer's performance If he had done it truly he ought to have told us that his Style is boisterous and that several parts of his History are not so much as hardly sence It appears from what we have noted above that both Malmesbury and Camden are mistaken when they affirm him to be our most ancient Historian after Bede J. Pits will tell you that we had two other Ethelwerds of the same Royal Extraction who long before this Man's time wrote each of 'em a Chronicle or History of our English Affairs The Elder of these he makes Son to King Aelfred and the other his Grandson Nay and St. Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester was likewise most certainly Senior to this Ethelwerd Patricius dying in the year 984. Now he says the same Author wrote two Books De Regibus c. totius Angliae and De Tempore Regum Britannorum for Copies of both which he sends to the public Library at Cambridge Many things relating to the Civil Government of these Times are dispers'd in some particular Lives of their Saints and Kings the latter whereof may be here mention'd tho the former will fall under another Head The Life of Offa frequently referr'd to by Sir Hen. Spelman has been publisht by Dr. Watts That of King Oswin was somewhere met with by John Leland King Ethelwolph's is said to have been written by VVolstan a famous Monk of VVinchester much commended by VVilliam of Malmesbury Edward the Confessor's written by Abbot Ealred has had several Editions and Queen Emma's Encomium is also made publick After the Conquest J. Pike is said to have written De Regibus Anglo-Saxonum and De Danis in Anglia dominantibus but it seems to be a mistake Upon the same Credit we are assured that John Mercius under the Reign of King Stephen publisht an Historical Account of the Mercian Kings which got him his Surname That Colman the wise John Harding's great Friend wrote most copiously and clearly of the Saxon Heptarchy their uniting afterwards into a Monarchy the Danish Incursions and Cruelties c. And that Gyraldus Cambrensis penn'd the Story of the West Saxon Kings R. Verstegan ' s Restitution of decayed Intelligence in Antiquities does especially relate to the Language Religion Manners and Government of the ancient English Saxons This Writer being of Low Dutch Extraction a Romanist and something of an Artist in Painting had several advantages for the making of some special Discoveries on the Subject whereon he treats which is handled so plausibly and so well illustrated with handsome Cuts that the Book has taken and sold very well But a great many Mistakes have escap'd him Some whereof have been noted by Mr. Sheringham As his fancy of the Vitae being the ancient Inhabitants of the Isle of Wight Of the Saxons being in Germany before they came in the more Northern Countries Of Tuisco's coming from Babel his giving Name to Tuesday c. The rest have been carefully corrected by Mr. Somner who has left large Marginal Notes upon the whole Mr. Selden was a person of vast Industry and his Attainments in most parts of Learning were so extraordinary that every thing that came from him was always highly admir'd and applauded Tho I must confess I cannot think he was that great Man in our English Antiquities which some have taken him to be His Analecta do not so clearly account for the Religion Government and Revolutions of State among our Saxon Ancestors as they are reported to do The Laws he quotes in his Janus Anglorum are as faulty as if his whole Skill in them reach'd no higher than Lambard's Translation and seem to want Will. Somner's Emendations as much as those he has publisht of William the Conqueror in his Spicelegium in Eadmerum The very best performance that I know of relating to the prime Antiquities of the Saxons is Mr. Sheringham's Treatise De Anglorum Gentis Origine Our Civil Wars sent this Author into the Low Countries where he had the Opportunity of coming acquainted with Dr. Marshal and the Dutch Language both inclining him to such Studies as this Book shews him to have delighted in He appears to have been a person of great Modesty as well as Industry and Learning Hence some will conclude him to be too credulous and that several of his Authorities particularly Lazius's Tattle about the Hebrew Inscriptions found at Vienna have not been sufficiently consider'd But his Collections out of the Greek Roman and chiefly the Northern Writers are highly commendable and for the most part very well put together Our Saxon Antiquary ought also to be skill'd in the Writings of those Learned Germans who have made Collections of their old Laws or have written such Glossaries or other Grammatical Discourses as may bring him acquainted with the many ancient Dialects of our Ancestors and Kinsmen in
They buried their Princes and great men as the old Greeks and Romans also did in Hills rais'd sometimes to a considerable heighth surrounded with one row of Stones about the bottom and another near the top and on some pompous occasions having a third row in a square at some distance from the lower of the two former Coronets They likewise anciently burn'd their dead and enclos'd their Ashes in Urns which were reposited in the foremention'd Barrows together with the choicest Jewels Treasure and valuable Accoutrements of the deceas'd The places wherein they fought their Duels were sometimes Squares lined out with rows of Stones sometimes round Pits with convenient Posts at a due distance for the By-standers Thus fought Ubbo with the Sclavonian Their Courts of Judicature which they call'd Tinge were also certain plots of ground either oval or square environ'd with great Stones and having one larger than the rest in the middle Near akin to which were the places assign'd for the Election of their Kings being Circles of such Stones usually twelve in number with the bulkiest in the midst The next Monument of Age is their Edda Islandorum the meaning of which Appellation they that publish the Book hardly pretend to understand As far as I can give the Reader any satisfaction he is to know that Island was first inhabited in the year 874 by a Colony of Norwegians who brought hither the Traditions of their Forefathers in certain metrical Composures which as is usual with Men transplanted into a Foreign Land were here more zealously and carefully preserv'd and kept in memory than by the Men of Norway themselves About 240â—years after this A. D. 1114. their History began to be written by one Saemund surnam'd Frode or the wise who in nine years travel through Italy Germany and England had amass'd together a mighty Collection of Historical Treatises With these he return'd full fraught into Island where he also drew up an account of the affairs of his own Country Many of his Works are now said to be lost But there is still an Edda consisting of several Odes whence I suspect its Name is derived written by many several hands and at as different times which bears his Name The Book is a Collection of Mythological Fables relating to the ancient State and Behaviour of the Great Woden and his Followers in terms poetical and adapted to the Service of those that were employ'd in the composure of their old Rhymes and Sonnets Another Edda publish'd by Resenius was written by Snorro Sturlaesonius who was born A. D. 1179. above a hundred years after Saemund and liv'd to be an eminent Lawyer in his own Country His Work is thought to be only an Epitome of the former but I rather look upon them as two several Collections of Islandic Tales and Ballads out of which may be pick'd a deal of good History and the best View of the Religious Rites of the Northern Nations that is any where extant 'T is plain Saxo had seen many Sonnets that are not touch'd upon in either of these and thence the Report comes of an Elder Edda much larger a thousand times says Bishop Br. Suenonius than both of 'em put together Nor is it indeed improbable but that a thousand times more Songs of this kind might have been had for seeking after whatever Scantiness they may now be reduc'd to Magnus Olaus collected many of 'em for Wormius's which he was also so kind as to translate and explain to him And near twenty years ago I met with a much more perfect Edda than Resenius's in the famous Library of the Duke of Brunswic-Wolfembuttel Whether it was a Copy of Saemund Frode's I am not now able so much as to conjecture but I remember the Library Keeper Mr. Hanisius was so much a stranger to its Contents that he had entitul'd it an old Moscovian MS. To the Edda is always annex'd the Scalda which is the old Danish or Islandic Prosodia teaching how to compose their several sorts of Meter Our Danish Antiquary should be also acquainted with the best Islandic Historians the most ancient whereof is Aras Frode Cotemporary with Saemund He first wrote a Regular History of Island from the first planting of the Country down to his own Time wherein he gives an account also of the Affairs of Norway Denmark and England intermixt with those of his own Nation This fell happily into the hands of Tho. Bartholine who with the assistance of his Friend the Bishop of Scalholt took care to have it published A. D. 1689. Since his time the Islandic Historians have not had any great occasion to meddle with the Transactions in Britain excepting only Arngrim Jonas who touches upon some passages which we have also in others already mentioned And indeed most of 'em are written with so little judgment confounding the true and fabulous Sonnets of their Scaldri that they are not to be read without some Caution and Acquaintance with those Poetical Writers who are own'd to be their chief Authors And the Emulation that daily appears to be betwixt the Antiquaries of the two Neighbouring Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark for the gaining the honour of Precedence to their several Countries seems to threaten us with further Corruptions in the Editions of their Manuscripts A misfortune this is which is too frequently observable tho very highly scandalous in Historians and Learned Men who ought not to be byass'd by any even the most natural Affections There is likewise extant a couple of Norwegian Histories of good Authentic Credit which explain a great many particulars relating to the Exploits of the Danish Kings in Great Britain which our own Historians have either wholly omitted or very darkly recorded The former of these was written soon after the year 1130 by one Theodoric a Monk who acknowledges his whole Fabrick to be built upon Tradition and that the old Northern History is no where now to be had save only ab Istendingorum antiquis Carminibus The other was compil'd by Snorro Sturlaesonius who confesses he drew it out of the Ballads of the Scaldri which he verily believes to contain nothing but what may be firmly rely'd on as most unquestionable Truth And Arngrim Jonas so far concurs with him as to assure us that the Songsters of those days were far from Flattery and knew nothing of the more modern poetical Licence of Fable and Rhodomantade in recording the story of their Princes and Patrons This Book was translated into the Vulgar Danish Language by Pet. Vndallensis and so publish'd by VVormius Nor do I know of any more than two Danish Historians which are necessarily requisite to be in our Antiquary's Library and those are Saxo Grammaticus and his Cotemporary and Fellow-Servant Sueno Aggonis Before Stephanius's excellent Edition Saxo's History had been thrice publisht but very faultily He is commonly reckon'd the most ancient
of it a Man would be tempted to believe he never read it He was a most violent Persecutor of Jeoffrey of Monmouth of whose History he gives this sharp Character that it contains only pro expiandis Britonum maculis ridicula figmenta c. But D. Powel gives the reason of this bitterness of Spirit It appears he says from some of their Histories of good Credit and Antiquity that this William whom those Welsh Historians call Gwilym Bach. i. Gulielmus Parvus put in for the Bishoprick of St. Asaph upon the death of the said Jeoffrey Bishop there about the year 1165. and being disappointed fell into a mad humour of decrying the whole Principality of Wales its History Antiquity and all that belongs to it He is large in his account of the Life Manners c. of Hugh Bishop of Durham His Latin Style is preferr'd to that of M. Paris and equall'd with those of Eadmerus and William of Malmesbury by Dr. VVats 1201. The thirteenth Century begins with Gervase a Monk of Canterbury who is reported to have been a most judicious Antiquary and Methodical Historian and to have made excellent Collections of the British and English Story from the coming in of the Trojans down to the year 1200. 'T were to be wished these dormant Tomes could be discover'd For the Reigns of three Kings which are the only part of our General History of this Author 's penning now extant are done with judgment enough About the same time Nicholas de Fly Bishop of Durham is said to have written and Historical Treatise wherein he relates that memorable passage mentioned also by some other Historians of one Simon Thurvay's forgetting all that he had learned which was to a good pitch of Eminence and turning perfect Blockhead Cotemporary to these two and a much greater Historian than both of 'em join'd was Roger de Hoveden who seems to have been Chaplain for some time to King Henry the Second His History was published by Sir H. Savil But as Sir H. Spelman observes there are many errors in that foreign Edition of this and all our other Historians and therefore he well cautions the English Reader attentively to consider the spelling of such words as are of our own growth as very frequently mistaken by Printers that are Strangers to our Country and Language 'T is a heavy Censure which Leland has given of this Author Qui Scrinia Simeonis suppresso ejus nomine strenue compilavit aliena pro suis Gloriae avidulus supposuit Mr. Selden justifies him against this sharp Sentence and Sir Henry Savil gives a quite different Character of the Man and his Writings Huntingdoniensis Hovedenus says he Authores cuâ—â— primis boni diligentes verissimique superiorum temporum Indices He may possibly have borrowed something from Simeon of Durham But if he did he has improv'd his Story adding the years to many things confusedly related in that Writer After the year 802. he falls indeed a little into confusion himself jumbling a great many things touch'd on before without any manner of Form or Order But after three or four Pages he comes to himself again and goes on regularly enough There are in his Book many Letters Speeches c. relating to Ecclesiastical affairs which are good Materials towards a General Church history of this Kingdom In the year 1291. King Edward the First is said to have caus'd diligent search to be made in all the Libraries in England for Hoveden's History to adjust the Dispute about the Homage due from the Crown of Scotland which says my Author it clears effectually At the same time Joh. Oxfordius Bishop of Norwich is reported to have compil'd an English Chronicle and we may look for some good Remarks from a person employ'd as he was on an Embassy to Rome there truly to represent to his Holiness an account of Archbishop Beâ—ket's Behaviour Hector Boethius pretends to have seen his History and applauds him as a Writer next to his mighty Jeoffrey of Monmouth in Authority as well as Time The next Historian of Note and Figure is Ralph de Diceto or Disseto Dean of London who wrote about the year 1210. He sometimes refers to a Chronological Account of our British Kings of his own Composure which must have reach'd much higher than any thing hitherto published under his Name And such a Work in several parts containing a British Chronicle from Brute to Cadwallador and an English one from Hengist to King Harold the industrious Mr. Wharton says he had seen and perus'd in the Norfolk-Library The two Treatises which concern us at present and are already printed are his Abbreviationes Chronicorum and his Imagines Historiarum The former whereof contains an Abstract of our History but chiefly in Church-matters down to the Conquest and the latter gives the Portraictures of some of our Kings more at length ending with the first years of King John's Reign Mr. Selden is much in the Praises of this Author and his Works tho all that is here remember'd is usually copy'd out of other Writers who are often transcrib'd verbatim Dr. Gale met with a better Copy of his Abbreviations than had fallen into the hands of Sir Roger Twisden and has taken occasion in discoursing upon that subject to shew how mischievously the old Monks of Canterbury us'd to corrupt their Manuscripts Diceto's Talent lay mainly towards Church-history and on that Topick we shall hereafter meet with him more than once If Gyraldus Cambrensis ever wrote any such thing as an English Chronicle it ought to come in the same rank of time with these of Diceto's But I very much suspect the Truth of that Report Hither also must be referr'd the famous Exchequer-man King Henry the Second's Nephew Gervase of Tilbury who besides the Black Book to be remembered when we come to the Twelfth Chapter is said to have written a large historical Commentary upon Jeoffrey of Monmouth under the Title of Illustrationes Galfredi which he dedicated to the Emperor Otho the Fourth Walter Monk of Coventry deserves a more particular Remembrance as perhaps very well meriting the account given of him by Iohn Leland who says the two main Ornaments of an Historian Sincera sides lucidus ordo are to be had in him Upon the strength of this Authority Bale tells us he was Immortali Vir dignus memoria But his three Books of Chronicles and Annals for which these men send us to Bennet College are all one being chiefly Collections out of Jeoffrey of Monmouth R. Hoveden and H. Huntingdon Some few things of Note and Consequence he has which are not to be met with in those Authors He is said to have liv'd in Coventry A. D. 1217. and therefore Alexander Essebiensis's Epitome of our English Annals Peter Henham's history and R. Niger's continued by
his Namesake Ralph Abbot of Coggeshal are of the same date Soon after these appear'd Matthew Paris a Monk of St. Albans one of the most renown'd Historians of this Kingdom His Historia Major contains the Annals at large of Eight of our Kings from the beginning of the Reign of William the First to the conclusion of that of Henry the Third 'T was first publisht at London A. D. 1571. and the Zurich Edition only copy'd from that It was again verbatim reprinted the errors of the Press being only corrected by Dr. Wats who beautify'd it with additions of various Readings the Author 's large Additamenta and his Lives of the Abbots of St. Albans a good Glossary of his own composure c. Among other Reasons that prevailed with him to publish the very words of the former Edition he thought he should hereby effectually stop the Mouths of the Romanists who pretended that the Hereticks had vilely corrupted that Historian when they should see their Case was not better'd by comparing it with all the Manuscript Copies that could be had of it From the year 1259. wherein M. Paris dy'd to King Henry the Third's Death it was continu'd by Will. Rishanger a Monk of the same Fraternity as some inform us Others will needs affirm that Paris himself had a very small hand in the whole having only begun at the year 1235. the rest being done to his hand by one Roger de Windleshore or Windsor the MS. Copy of his History in Cotton's Library calls him Rogerus Wendovre de Wendover prior de Bealvair one of his Predecessors in the same Monastery Before that time they tell us there are only some few Interpolations of M. Paris's who for some reasons best known to himself did not break off at the year 1250. as it appears he design'd but continued writing to his Death The Author whoever he was did certainly begin his Chronicle at the Creation tho we now have lost all that went before the Conquest unless as the Publisher of him guesses that which now goes under the Name of Matthew of Westminster be in reality the true Work of Mat. Paris This undoubtedly is as much the Offspring of Roger de Wendover as that following part now published is the genuine Work of M. Paris as will sufficiently appear to any that shall take the pains to consult the abovementioned Manuscript Copy The whole Book manifests a great deal of Candour and Exactness in its Author who furnishes us with so particular a relation of the brave Repulses given by many of our Princes to the Usurping Power of the Roman See that 't is a wonder how such an heretical history came to survive thus long Quam fuit animo infensissimâ— in Apostolicam Sedem quivis facile potest intelligere says Cardinal Baronius The English whereof is only this he was a Writer of a singular Courage and one that durst maintain the Prerogatives of his Soveraign's Imperial Crown against the Usurpations of the Papal Crosier And yet he is as kind to the Pope as he is either to the King himself or the Abbot of St. Albans for he indiscriminately lasâ—es upon occasion every body that comes in his way The same Author wrote an Abstract of the foremention'd Work to which he gave the Title of Chronica and VV. Lambard first christen'd it Historia Minor It begins as the former with VVilliam the Conqueror and ends A. D. 1250 having in it several Particulars of Note omitted in the larger history The fairest Copy of this Book suppos'd to be written by the Authorâ—s own hand is in the King's Library at St. James's One John Shepshed is supposed to have liv'd at the same time with M. Paris and is by John Stow asserted to be the Author of an English history We may probably bring in also Robert of Glocester for another of his Cotemporaries since Archbishop Vsher and Mr. Camden are both positive that he liv'd some time in the Reign of King Henry the Third His rhyming Chronicle is in English and the Reader may have a Tast 〈◊〉 it as much it may be as ever he 'll desire either from Mr. Selden or Mr. VVood. The Chronicle of Mailros tho its Title may seem to rank it among the Records of another Kingdom yet may justly challenge a place among our English Historians since it chiefly insists upon the affairs of this Nation The Abbot of Prior of Dundrainand in Galloway a Nursery under Mailros is thought to have been the first Compiler of the work which was afterwards continued by several hands down to the year 1270. There 's very little relating to the Northern history of this Kingdom before the year 1142. when the little Convent of Dundrainand was founded save what is borrow'd from Florence of Worcester and Matthew of Westminster So that it must be after that time that the Character which the Publisher gives of this Chronicle exhibet Principum Procerum Episcoporum Abbatum 〈◊〉 Borealibus istis Oris successiones is most agreeable From the year 1262 the Continuator whoever had the turn to be Register at that time is as dull and whimsical as any Monk needs be 'T was his business to draw the Picture of Simon Monfort the famous Earl of Leicester and he has so overdone the matter that he thought himself oblig'd in the Conclusion to instance in a great many Authors of Note that had publish'd some Stories a little Romantick and yet had found the favour to be believ'd The rest of the general Historians of this Age are of a much lower form and less weight than these already mention'd Such were Elias de Evesham and his Namesake Elias de Trickingham who are both said to have flourish'd about the year 1270. There is a Copy of the latter's Chronicle among my Lord Clarendon's Manuscripts which ends A. D. 1268. Peter Ickeham a Kentish Man born and sometime a Student in the University of Paris about the year 1274. collected the British and English Histories from the coming in of Brute and continued them to the Reign of Edward the First This Chronicle is said to have been some time in the possession of Sir Symonds D' Ewes and perhaps is the same Book which Mr. Wharton acquaints us is now at Lambeth John Buriensir Abbot of St. Edmundsbury where he dy'd A. D. 1280. wrote also English Annals wherein he treats at large of the Disputes betwixt Pope Innocent the Fourth and R. Grostest Bishop of Lincoln Possibly this Buriensis may be the same with Burgensis and all one with John Abbot of Peterburgh whos 's MS. Chronicle is quoted by Mr. VVharton And then he should have been reserv'd till the next Century about the middle whereof that Abbot certainly flourish'd 1301. Tho. VVikes call'd by Leland Vicanus by others VVicâ—ius ought to begin the Fourteenth Century tho both Bale and Pits bring him
of Chivalry And yet I do not find that all his strict Piety gain'd so far upon the Monks of his Time as that there was any great struggling among them who should most effectually recommend him to Posterity Archbishop Vsher tells us of one Iohn Blackman a Carthusian who was particularly intimate with him and has left a Collection of the many good things he had taken notice of in the most Secret Passages of his Life Tho. Walsingham who also liv'd in his Time took a Journal of his Reign out of which is composed that which some have entitul'd his Acta Regis Henrici Sexti Had the Pope favour'd the Attempt which was afterwards made at the Enshrining or Sainting of this King 't is very likely that his Legend would have out-grown his History and have been penn'd by more Writers than his Life Since the Roman Saints are commonly most Active after their Decease and the Wonders of their Relicks are usually much greater than those of their Persons Edward the Fourth can hardly be said to have enjoy'd so much Quiet during the Twenty Years of his suppos'd Reign as to have setled the House of York in the Throne So that even the Favourers of Justice and his Cause have not known what Account to give of the Times or how to Form a Regular History out of such a vast Heap of Rubbish and Confusion Mr. Habbington has given us as fair a Draught as the thing would bear At least he has Copy'd this King's Picture as agreeably as could be expected from one standing at so great a distance from the Original Edward the Fifth had the Name of a King for some few Weeks and purchas'd the Complement at far too high a Rate His Accession to the Throne the Tower and the Grave all within the Compass of little more than two Months are largely and elegantly described by the Famous Sir Thomas Moor Lord Chancellor of England who has sufficiently shewn how a short and doleful Tale may be improv'd into a complete History by a Person of good Skill and Judgment This Treatise has met with such a general Acceptance as that it not only finds Admission by whole-sale into all our late Chronicles but has also been separately printed without any other Alteration than a small change of the English Orthography according to the Usage and Mode of the present Age. The short Epitome of this and the three following Reigns that was written and publish'd by Will. Fleetwood Serjeant at Law is so thin a piece and refers so peculiarly to the Transactions in the Courts at Westminster that it has been rather look'd on as a Table or Index to the Year-books of those Times than any Historical Treatise Richard the Third's short and unfortunate Reign had its Tragical History begun by Sir Thomas Moor who did not bring it to such a final Conclusion as he had done that of his Nephew and Predecessor Neither Bale nor Pits take notice of any such thing But Vossius seems to have seen and perus'd it Vt fusè says he persequitur quibus Sceleribus ille ad Regnum pervenerit ita quomodo id gesserit non exponit Ac nec eâ parte quam habemus ultimam manum accepit Praeterea Elegantiâ Latini Sermonis ab aliis ejusce viri operibus longè vincitur Which last words must refer to Sir Thomas's Life of this King and not to that of Edward which indeed might seem to be an Introduction to this and would answer all the former part of Vossius's Story But King Edward's was only written in English whereas Richard's was in both Languages and as appears from Stow's account was more copiously treated on in Latin Great Additions have been since made by a more Candid Composer of his Annals who endeavours to represent him as a Prince of much better Shapes both of Body and Mind than he had been generally esteem'd Various are the Censures which have pass'd upon this Work I shall only trouble the Reader with that of Dr. Fuller His Memory says he speaking of King Richard has met with a Modern Pen who has not only purg'd but prais'd it to the heighth and pity it is that so able an Advocate had not a more meriting Person to his Client Henry the Seventh having most fortunately and wisely united the Houses of York and Lancaster continu'd his Reign as prosperously as it began and is justly esteem'd one of the most Politick Princes that ever sat on the English Throne It appears Sir Thomas Moor had once some faint Thoughts of writing this King's Life whilst he was in hand with those of his immediate Predecessors But I know not whether he ever liv'd or not to digest them Sir James Ware has Industriously Collected and Published such Occurrences of this Reign as relate to the Affairs of Ireland And a Poetical History of the whole has been printed by Ch. Aleyn But this good Work was the most effectually undertaken and compleated by the Incomparable Sir Francis Bacon who has bravely surmounted all those Difficulties and pass'd over those Rocks and Shallows against which he took such Pains to caution other less experienc'd Historians He has perfectly put himself into King Henry's own Garb and Livery giving as spritely a View of the Secrets of his Council as if himself had been President in it No trivial Passages such as are below the Notice of a Statesman are mix'd with his Sage Remarks Nor is any thing of Weight or Moment slubber'd over with that careless Hast and Indifferency which is too common in other Writers No Allowances are given to the Author 's own Conjecture or Invention where a little Pains and Consideration will serve to set the Matter in its proper and true Light No Impertinent Digressions nor fanciful Comments distract his Readers But the whole is written in such a Grave and Uniform Style as becomes both the Subject and the Artificer Henry the Eighth was a Prince of great Vertues and Accomplishments and as great Vices So that the pleasing Varieties that were in his Life and Reign might have temptest many more Writers than we know of to engage in the Composure of so entertaining an History Edmund Campian wrote a Narrative of the most remarkable Passages relating to his Divorce of Queen Katharine which is printed at the end of Nich. Harpesfeild's Church-History and is written with the true Spirit and Heart as well as Eloquence of a Jesuit Fran. Godwin Bishop of Landaff who will be remember'd at large amongst our Ecclesiastical Historians compil'd also the Annals of this and the two following Reigns Whereof one of our Criticks gives this just Character That his Book is penn'd Non mâ—gis succinctâ quà m laudabili brevitate The Author was a perfect Master of the Latin Tongue and wrote in that Language But his Annals were translated into English and so have been
frequently publish'd by his Son Morgan Godwin LL. D. Sir Robert Cotton had drawn together some Notes and Collections as Materials for a future History of this King's Reign But these fell unfinish'd into the hands of John Speed who has taken Care to preserve them as orderly as he could in his Chronicle I suppose that which was written in Greek Verse by George Etheridge sometime Regius Professor of that Language in Oxford and by him presented to Queen Elizabeth was intended only for the Use of Her Majesty and its Author and for that reason has ever continu'd in Manuscript sub Noctibus Atticis Above all Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury may be truly said to have written the Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth having acquitted himself with the like Reputation as the Lord Chancellor Bacon gain'd by that of Henry the Seventh For in the Politick and Martial Part this Honourable Author has been admirably Particular and Exact from the best Records that were Extant Tho' as to the Ecclesiastical he seems to have look'd upon it as a Thing out of his Province and an Undertaking more proper for Men of another Profession The Oxford Antiquary tells us That he had seen four thick Volumes in Folio of Collections which this Lord has furnish'd himself withal as Materials necessary for the firm erecting of so noble a Structure Out of these and other Helps he at last finish'd his excellent History the Original Manuscript whereof he was pleas'd to bestow on the University of Oxford in whose Archives it still remains It has been frequently Printed and the several Impressions as greedily bought up But the last Edition is indeed what is always Pretended the Best and most Correct Edward the Sixth The most Considerable Transactions of this Reign are it may be as well Register'd by the Young King himself as any other Historian in the Diary written with his own hand and still preserv'd in Sir John Cotton's Famous Library from whence our Learned Bishop Burnet transcrib'd and publish'd it There was a Notable Discourse touching the State of the Times in this King's Reign written by a Person admirably well Skill'd in the Antiquities and Laws of England Dr. Gerard Langbaine Provost of Queen's College in Oxford which he publish'd by way of Preface to Sir John Cheek's True Subject to the Rebel As for Sir John Hayward He is the same Man in his Life of Edward the Sixth that we have already observ'd him to be in that of Henry the Fourth Only his Style is here sometimes too Sharp and Pungent especially when he comes to give Characters of the Nobility Ministers of State c. where an Intelligent Historian ought no more to be Clownish than he needs turn Courtier when he Converses with Plowmen Queen Mary's Reign had Blemishes in it which have discourag'd some sort of Writers from attempting its Story tho' I cannot but wonder that others have not thought themselves oblig'd to endeavour to Represent it as Advantageously to Posterity as Art can do it Queen Elizabeth in a long and Prosperous Reign gave the World very ample Proofs of her Sex's being Capable of Government and the most gallant Aâ—chievements Her blasting the longing Hopes of Spain after an Universal Monarchy in Temporals and putting a final Period to that of Rome in Spirituals together with her Personal Endowments were such Extraordinary Glories as tempted a great many Artists to try how fairly they were able to take the Features of such an Original in all Points of Soveraignty Her Establishment of the Reformation and Executing the Laws upon some few Turbulent Persons of the Romish Communion whetted the Style of that Party against her and particularly provok'd Tho. Bourchier a Franciscan Doctor of the Sorbon to write a History of the Martyrdom as he terms it of the Men of his Order The Life and Martyrdom of Mary Queen of Scots was also written by Rob. Turner sometime Scholar to Ed. Campian who was afterwards Doctor of Divinity at Rome and Secretary to Ferdinand Arch-duke of Austria Some of her better Subjects have furnish'd us with more agreeable Accounts of the chief Passages in her Reign Sir Henry Vnton has drawn up a Journal of his Embassy in France giving a full Register of his Commission Instructions Expences c. a Manuscript Copy whereof is now in the Publick Library at Oxford Heyward Towneshend an Eminent Member of the House of Commons preserv'd the Debates in Parliament of her last fourteen Years which long after the Author's Death were publish'd under the Title of Historical Collections c. But this as vast an Undertaking as it seems to be is only a part of that more Comprehensive one of Sir Symonds d'Ewes whose Journal of Both Houses during her whole Reign was soon after given us in Print Her Wars with Spain the several Engagements of her Fleets at Sea with their many Successful Expeditions c. have been well described by Sir William Monson who bore a high Command in most of them and has shewn such a Judgment in Maritime Affairs as well qualify'd him for such Posts of Honour His Book bears the Title of A Particular and Exact Account of the last Seventeen Years of Queen Elizabeth 's Reign both Military and Civil The former kind being the Work of Sir William and the latter Mr. Towneshend's Out of all these and many other good Helps Mr. Camden compos'd his most Exquisite History of this Queen which as Dr. Smith shews in his Life was undertaken by the special Directions and Command of the great Lord Cecil It has had many Editions and in several Languages tho' 't is pity it should be read in any other than its Author 's Polite Original Latin Dr. Fuller observes that one of its English Translations for it had several was done out of French by Abraham Darcy who understood not the Latin and has therefore committed many Mistakes Hugh Holland one of Camden's Scholars at Westminster and a Papist is said to have written this Queen's Life as well as his Master 's But 't is only if it be at all an English Manuscript and very probably not worth the seeking Sir Robert Naunton's Character of her Court and Favourites has been lately publish'd with Sir Francis Walsingham's Arcana Aulica and a short System of her Policies hath been offer'd to our present Soveraign and the late excellent Queen by the Ingenious Edmund Bohun Esq Author of many other Treatises of good Value The End of the First Part. AN INDEX OF THE AUTHORS c. A ABingdon Pag. 67 Adams 16 Aelfred King 100 118 of Beverly 147 Aelfric 103 Agard 21 Albanus 190 Aldhelm 101 Aleyn 223 Anonymi 199 202 Antoninus 2 Aras 136 Asamal 131 Asserius 121 Ashmole 22 25 Aubrey 65 102 B. Bacon 223 Baker 196 Baldoc 165 Bale 46 213 Barcham 193 205 209 Bards 78 Bartholin 146 Basset 217
that either in the North or West had shun'd the Roman Yoke and enjoy'd their Liberty and Traditional Christianity in the Woods and Mountains are generally believed to have been so much unacquainted with Letters as not to have been able to transmit their own Story to Posterity Some Remains there are of those ancient Times and the State of Christianity in them and our Church has not wanted Men of Learning and Industry who even at this distance have successfully imploy'd themselves in gathering up the scatter'd Fragments that no part of so valuable a Treasure might be lost Master Bale tells us there are some that with a deal of probability on their side have guess'd That Joseph of Arimathea wrote several Epistles to the Churches of Great Britain And for the better strengthening of such a Conjecture he assures us 't was usual for the Primitive Fathers to send such Letters to those Churches to which they were some way or other specially related He might as well have told us of some Epistles sent hither by St. Peter or St. Paul since 't is likely that one or both of those Apostles were as instrumental in planting Christianity in this Island as this Joseph himself and we are also very sure that they used to write such Epistles Our next Ecclesiastical Writer is said to be King Lucius who about a hundred Years after Joseph's Death wanted somebody it seems to instruct him in the First Rudiments of Christianity And thereupon sent a Letter to Pope Eleutherius desiring that some Persons in Holy Orders might be sent hither to Baptize Him and his People There is not any Copy of this Epistle now extant and yet I dare not say the Original is lost Not to mention the Inconsistences that are among the several Authors upon whose Credit this whole Story rests 〈◊〉 observable that the pretended Epistle in return from Eleutherius seems to intimate that Lucius's Request was quite of another Nature and that his Enquiry was after the Imperial Civil Law and not after the Precepts of the Gospel So that I know not how we shall be sure of such a Royal Church Historian But in short the Pope's Letter has so many undeniable Marks of Forgery upon it that we cannot think it worth our while to be very inquisitive after the Kings and tho' a genuine Piece of this kind were highly to be prized we do not desire to build upon Shadow and Fable This Story of King Lucius has help'd us to a Couple more of Ecclestiastical Historians Eluanus and Medvinus who forsooth were first imploy'd in the foremention'd Embassy to Rome After their Return Eluanus was made AB of London and wrote a Book De Origine Ecclesiae Britanniae Medvinus had not the luck to mount equally in Preferment with his Fellow-Ambassador but he rival'd him in the publick Services of his Pen having written Fugatii Damiani gesta in Britannia These were Pope Eleutherius's Legates and are by others call'd Faganus and Derwianus The most probable part of this Account is That this latter Book was found in the Rubbish at Glassenbury 'T is no matter whether at the repairing of that Monastery by St. Patrick or at some other time After these we hear no more of the Writers of our British Church-History before the coming in of a more famous and true Legate Augustine the Monk who is believed to have written something of the state of Christianity in these parts even before his own Arrival If we could be assured of this we could not have a better Authority in some of our Modern Disputes with the Court of Rome But 't is more than probable that those Learned Men that assert such a thing mistook the meaning of William of Malmesbury who seems to have been their Informer in that Matter That Historian speaking of something relating to the first Foundation of the Monastery at Glassenbury which he had met with Apud Sanctum Augustinum Anglorum Apostolum his unwary Readers presently concluded that he quoted some latent MS. Work of that Monk Whereas in truth he meant no more than that he had met with such an Account in the Library at St. Augustine's in Canterbury The like Phrase is common with him and in the same Paragraph Apud Sanctum Edmundum is to be English'd in the Library at St. Edmundsbury The Remonstrance of Dinoth Abbot of Bangor against the Pretensions of this Legate Augustine challenging a Supremacy for his Master in this Isle is of some better Credit since even John Pits himself owns that he stoutly opposed such Encroachments and that he has left to Posterity his Thoughts on that Subject having written among other Things two Books entitled Defensorium Jurisdictionis sedis Menevensis and De Conservandis Britannorum Ritibus Both these Treatises have certainly been fram'd out of that Answer of the Abbots which Sir H. Spelman has given us in Welch English and Latin having found it in an old Transcript out of a more ancient Manuscript in the two former Languages and adding a Translation of his own in the last The Critique that our Learn'd Stillingfleet gives upon this Piece and its Publisher is what I dare not add to There is he says all the appearance of Ingenuity and Faithfulness that can be expected and he was a Person of too great Judgment and Sagacity to be easily imposed upon by a Modern Invention or a new-found Schedule I know some Romanists have endeavour'd to persuade the World That this Monument bears no great Age and was probably forg'd since the Reformation But since Venerable Bede himself who was as great a Favourer of Augustine and as profess'd an Enemy to the ancient British Church as they could wish confirms the main of the Story they will not easily persuade us that the whole is improbable I can hear of no more ancient Treatises relating to the Ecclesiastical State of Old Britain save only the Sanctum Graal Which says trusty Iohn Pits was written by an Anonymous Hermit about the Year 720. and gives an ample Account of the Miracles wrought by Joseph of Arimathea Indeed Vincentius of Beauvais mentions such a French Legend which as he observes had the Name of Graal or Gruel because it likewise treated of a Dish of Meat miraculously preserved since our Saviour's last Supper But the Book he confesses was somewhat hard to be met with In this Dish which was to be seen among the sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at Glastonbury they pretended to have part of the true Blood of our Redeemer But whether 't was of that shed on the Cross or of that which was at the said last Supper after Consecration the Historian dares not be positive However from hence the same Person gives the Relick the Name of Sanegreal i.e. Sanguis Realis And from him 't is probable the following Writers gave that Title to the
Legend it self The Learned Reader will pardon me if I give him a further Account of this rare French MS. out of Monsieur Borel's Glossary Which because the Book is not in many of our English Libraries I shall do at large in his own Words Il ya un Romant ancien says he intitule La Conqueste du Saingreal c. du S. Vaisseau ou estoit le Sang de Jesus-Christ qu'il appelle aussi le Sang real c. le Sang royal Et ainsi ces deux choses sont confundues tellement qu'on ne connoist qu'auec peine quand les anciens Romans qui en parlent fort souuent entendent le Vaisseau ou le Sang. Perceual l'explique bien en ces mots Senefioit que li greaus Qui tant est beaux precieux Que le S. Sang glorieux Du Roy des Rois y fu receus Et ailleurs Un greal Trestout descouuert Item Et puis apporta un greaux Tout plein de pierres precieuses R. de Merlin MS. Ne oneques peus ne fust veu au siecle ne du greal ne palle Et apres il dit Et cil Rois pecheors avoit le digne sang Jesus-Christ en guarde D'ou il est manifeste que le R. de Sangreal n'est que du Sang Royal de Jesus-Christ Item Pensa moult a la lance ou graal qu'il avoit veu porter Ce texte monstre que c'estoit un vase Mais en suite le mesinem Autheur parlant du Graal l'appelle un Vaisseau car il parle ainsi Et quand le premier mes fust apportee si issi le Graal fo rs d'une Chambre les dignes Reliques auenc si tot comme Perceualle vit qui moult en avoit grand desir de scavoir si dit Sire je vos prie que vous me diez que l'en sert de cest Vessel que cest vallet porte Et encore il dit ailleurs Et porce laupelon nos Graal qu'il agree as prodes homes En cest Vessel gist le Sang de Jesus-Christ En ce texte il donne une Etymologie differente du Sang Royal a scavoir le Sang agreable aux hommes en ce qu' ils en lavent leurs pechez Et derechef confirmant cela il dit vers le commencement de son Livre Et ils distrent porrons dire du Vesseil que nos veimes coman le clameron nos qui tant nos gree cil qui ly voudront clamer ne metre non a nos esciens le clameront le greal qui tant agree Et quant cil l'oyent si dient bien doit avoir non cist vesseaux graax Et ainsi le nomment Et enfin il dit Ou li Vessel de graal seit C'est le vase on Joseph dit il recueillit le Sang qui sortit des playes de Jesus-Christ lors qu'il lavoit son corps pour l'embaumer a la maniere des Juifs The present Age amongst her many Writers in all parts of Learning has afforded us some that have thought it an Undertaking worth their Pains to search after the Remains of our first British Church and the Discoveries they have made have met with very different Characters and Entertainment according as they have fall'n into the Hands of proper or improper Judges The first of these I suppose was R. Broughton a Secular Priest who was bred at Rheims and sojourn'd sometime in Oxford In this latter Place he collected Materials for his Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain from the Nativity of our Saviour unto the happy Conversion of the Saxons The Account that Mr. Wood gives of this Book is this Tho' 't is a Rapsody and a thing not well digested yet there 's a great deal of Reading shew'd in it 'T is said King James J. was overjoy'd to hear of Sir R. Cotton's Design of writing our Church-History from the first planting of Christianity to the Reformation And so far he carry'd on the Project as to draw together no less than Eight large Volumes of Collections which have long been and still are very serviceable to those that engage in those Studies The like Collections were made about the same time by AB Vsher the most Reverend and Learn'd Primate of Ireland and soon after Commendatory Bishop of Carlisle of whom one that knew him well and was as able as any Man to judge of him gives this Character Vir ob Eruditionis immensitatem morumque Sanctitatem toto Orbi Vener andissimus His Book was first printed at Dublin under the Title De Pâ—imordiis c. and is since publish'd by the Name of Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates 'T was begun by Command of King James I. who gave him Licence under the Great Seal of Ireland to retire from his Bishoprick of Meath to one of our English Universities for the more effectual carrying on of so good a Work And this Grant was had and enjoy'd above a dozen Years before the Book was first published He begins with a Collection of whatever Narratives and old Stories he could meet with about Simon Zelotes Joseph of Arimathea and others first planting Christianity in this Island From whence he proceeds to the Legend of King Lucius and the whole Succession of those Archbishops and Bishops descended from Jeoffrey of Monmouth's Flamines and Archi-Flamines After this we have the Settlement of three Metropolitical Thrones at London York and Caerlion which are afterward removed to Canterbury Dole in Britany and St. Davids Then follows the generous Endowments of Glastonbury and other places by Lucius and Arthur The Martyrdom of St. Alban and his Friend or Cloak Amphibalus with many more of their Fellow-Saints The famous Expedition of Vrsula c. Interwoven with these Reports the Reader will find a deal of excellent Learning and the clearing of many doubts in our British Roman and Saxon Antiquities He also gives a particular Account of the Original and Progress of the Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian Heresies and concludes with the Remains St. Patrick and the ancient Scottish or Irish Church The Author himself modestly calls the Work Ex omni Scriptorum genere promiscue congesta farrago Which Sir Geo. Mackenzie has a little bluntly translated A confused Rabble and a formless Lump of fabulous Nonsense 'T is a more just Account that another gives of this Treasure of our ancient Church-History That all that have written since with any Success on this Subject must own themselves beholding to him for his Elaborate Collections In the late Edition the References which the Author makes to the several parts of his Work are very faulty The Margin of the former Quarto Edition having not always been Corrected The same Year with AB Vsher's Book was publish'd Sir H. Spelman's first Tome of the Councils Ecclesiastical Laws and Constitutions c. of this Kingdom and its Dependencies Whereof we are to give
Cotemporary and whose Treatise is publish'd in the Antwerp Collection This was afterwards epitomiz'd and beautified with a set of new Miracles by Adalard at the Command of St. Elphegus to whom 't is dedicated This is also publish'd with the former Out of these two and some other Helps Osbern a very Learn'd Monk and Precentor of Canterbury about the Year 1074. compos'd a couple of elegant Treatises in one of which he gives us the Life and in the other the Posthumous Miracles of St. Dunstan The former of these was publish'd by Mr. Wharton and both of them by Monsieur Mabillon St. Edmund King of the East-Angles has been celebrated in Saxon by Abbot Aelfric and in old English by Iohn Lydgate Monk of Bury Both Bale and Pits tell us a formal Story of one Burchardus a Dorsetshire Hermit whose Company was much affected by Fremund Son of King Offa whose Life after he was Martyr'd by the Danes he took the Pains to write and Bale pretends to have seen it This very Life is quoted by John Stow who says 't is the Life of St. Edmund and that Burchard was Secretary to King Offa. 'T was also written by Will. Monk of Croyland and more fully penn'd at the Request of King Aethelred and St. Dunstan by the famous Abbo Floriâ—censis about the Year of our Lord 985. And soon after the Conquest another Book of his Miracles was composed by Arch-deacon Herman The two last are bound up in one Volume with several other Pieces relating to the Monasteries of St. Edmundsbary and Ely St. Elphegas AB of Canterbury who was also murder'd by the Danes is indebted to the above-mention'd Osbern whose two Books on his Passion and Translation are still extant St. Ethelbert was slain by King Offa A. D. 793. and had afterwards the Honour of being reputed a Martyr To him the Old Church of Hereford was dedicated and therefore Gyraldus Cambrensis who was sometime Canon there took the pains to write his Life among many others that his teeming Pen has given us St. Ethelreda commonly call'd St. Audry was the famous Virgin Queen to Egbert King of Northumberland and first Founder of a Religious House at Ely Upon this latter score she has her Life largely treated on by Thomas a Monk of that City part whereof has only been publish'd by Mabillon to whom we are likewise indebted for Wulstan's Life of Saint Ethelwold St. George Though neither Tinmouth nor Capgrave mention him amongst our English Saints yet we meet with him in both our old Saxon Legendaries I cannot promise the Reader that he 'll have any great stock of English History in his Life But 't is written at large by Dr. Heylin who design'd to have oblig'd for ever our Knights of the Garter by such a signal Service to the Memory of the great Guardian Saint and Protectour of their Order Out of this Elaborate Book have been stoln two shorter Accounts of his Life which bear the same Title and are sometimes sold amongst Romances and Ballads St. Guthlac the Tutelar Saint of Croyland had his Austerities early discribed by Faelix a Monk of that Place about the Year 730. who has the Honour to be quoted by our Learned Camden as a Poet fortunate enough in his descriptions tho' Bale is pleased to give this harsh Character of him Fictis Narratiunculis immo manifestissimis mendaciis Historiam Monachico more implevit The like was done in Latine Heroics by Will Ramsey who dy'd Abbot of that Monastery A. D. 1180. of whom Leland who was a good Judge of Poetry gives this Account that he was Poeta tam barbaro Saeculo clarus We are told of a third by Aelfric in the Cottonian Library which I guess to be that Saxon Translation of Felix's Book which is mentioned by Archbishop Vsher. We are further assured by Mr. Pits that both Ingulfus and M. Paris wrote of the Life and Miracles of St. Guthlac but I dare hardly rely upon his single Authority St. Frideswide's exemplary Chastity is recommended to Posterity by Philip sometimes Prior of her Monastery in Oxford whereof there 's a fair MS. Copy in the Library of Jesus College in that University St. John of Beverley's History was first written at the request of Aldred Arch-bishop of York by Folcard a Benedictine Monk about the Year 1066. which was enlarg'd by Will Asketel or Chettel Clark of Beverley A. D. 1320. Another draught was taken of him by Alfred Canon and Treasurer of that Church in the beginning of the twelfth Century and a Third or Fourth by an Anonymous Writer about 1373. St. Marcellinus would have been utterly forgotten by our English Historians had not Pits met with him in his Travels beyond Seas and learned from his own printed Works that he was a Dominican Monk of York and one of the twelve Apostles sent by Abbot Egbert A. D. 690. to convert the Pagan Germans The Particulars of their Mission with their Entertainment in Westphalia Frisland c. we have from his own Pen. St. Neot's Life written by Will Ramsey is in the Library at Magdalene College in Oxford 'T is in Verse but of so low a strain that the Author seems to have failed here of that Spirit which Leland observ'd in his Guthlac The Matter is likewise as fulsome as the composure is flat so that 't is not probable we shall ever see it out of Manuscript I suppose this is the same which is quoted by Leland and some of our later Writers St. Oswald Arch-bishop of York merited highly of the Regular Clergy and therefore 't is no wonder that a Manuscript Copy of his Life was to be had in almost every Monastery of the Kingdom That whereof Eadmerus was the Author which seems to have been collected with good Judgment out of some others that had been written before him is lately published as is also another written by an Anonymous Monk of Ramsey A Third more Voluminous than either of these was compos'd by another Nameless Monk of Ramsey which is now amongst the many more valuable Manuscripts in Sir Jo. Cotton's Library There also as I guess the Reader may meet with his Saxon Legend by Abbot Aelfric But where he 'll find either of those that were penn'd by Folcard or Senatus Bravonius I cannot inform him St. Swithun's miracles were recorded by Lamfrid or Lantfred a Benedictine Monk of Winchester about the Year 980. Of whose Book we are told there was a Manuscript Copy in the Lord Lumley's Library and we are sure there now is one in Sir Jo. Cotten's This treats only of the great things he did after his Death but 't is probable there was a former part of the Discourse which seems also to have
to Malmesbury's and 't is done with all the heartiness that becomes a familiar Epistle and a Freedom inclining to Satyr Ralph de Diceto follow'd these with a Catalogue of his own drawing from the coming in of Augustine the Monk to the beginning of King John's Reign But there 's little in it worth the publishing Joh. Eversden a Monk of Bury who dy'd says Pits about the Year 1636. is said to have written de Episcopis Anglìae as well as de Regibus But Mr. Wharton could never meet with any such Treatise He found he says some of Mr. Joceline's Collections out of Eversden's Chronicle So that perhaps he 's the same Man with that Johannes Buriensis whom we have mention'd in the First Part. We are also told of a like Book by one Nicolas Montacute or Manacutius who is believed to have been sometime Master of Eaton School because forsooth most of his Works were in the Library of that College What good Things were heretofore in that Library I know not But upon a late Search nothing could be found that bore this Author's Name save only a pitiful Treatise at Lambeth de Pontificibus Romanis not worth the reading I fancy somebody's quoting this under the Title de Pontificibus simply has given occasion to Bale and Pits who collected and wrote in haste to Naturalize all his Bishops Polydore Virgil's Book or Scrowl of our English Prelates is boasted of in our Seminaries beyond Seas And his great Antagonist John Leland assures us he had taken mighty care to collect their Remains Et majori cura propediem in ordinem redigam He had many other grand Projects in his Head which came to nothing John Pits likewise very gravely refers his Readers in many parts of his Book de Illustribus Angliae Scriptoribus to another of his own composure de Episcopis which we are credibly inform'd is only a poor and silly Abstract of the first and worst Edition of that which falls next under our Thoughts and deserves to be separately consider'd Francis Godwine Son of Tho. Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells was most fortunate in his Commentary as he calls it on this Subject being himself advanced to the Episcopal Order for the good Services that as Queen Elizabeth thought he had done the Church by that Book It was twice published in English equally full of the Authors and Printer's Mistakes The Faults of the latter Edition especially were so very gross that they put him upon the speedy dispatch of another in Latine which came out the next Year The Style of this is very neat and clean and he seems to have taken more Pains in polishing it than in gathering together all the Materials of his History He quotes no Authorities excepting belike that Posterity should acquiesce in his singly without enquiring any further He is particularly ungrateful to the Author of the Antiquitates Britannicae from whom he has borrow'd by the Great his Account of the See of Canterbury varying only the Phrase and that sometimes for the worse The like Carriage he is guilty of towards Bale Camden and others But what is most especially notorious is his transcribing out of Josseline and Mason what he pretends to have had immediately from the Archives and Registraries from the Year 1559 to his own Time He is also frequently guilty of Chronological Mistakes a too confident Reliance on the Authorities of counterfeit Charters in Ingulfus and others an uncertain Calculation of Years beginning some at Michaelmas and others at Christmas c. as his Authors blindly led him and lastly a contenting himself with false and imperfect Catalogues of the Prelates in almost every Diocess These are the Failures where with he stands charg'd by Mr. Wharton who modestly assures us that a better Progress had been made in these Matters by himself within the compass of Eighteen Months than by this Bishop in Twenty Years Our Oxford Antiquary further complains that he Puritanically vilified Popish Bishops with a Design thereby to advance the Credit of those since the Reformation whereby he had given unlucky Advantages to William Prynne the profess'd Enemy of Episcopacy who made ill use of his Book I will not say that either of these Censurers are mistaken but I must observe to the Reader that each of them intended to have furnish'd us with a View of this part of our Ecclesiastical History of his own drawing and therefore like all new Builders they must be allow'd to spy more Faults in the old Fabrick than others can The former has help'd us to a noble Stock of old Writers upon the Affairs of a great many of our Sees from their Foundation in his Anglia Sacra and the latter has given us almost an entire History of our Bishops for the two last Centuries in his Athenae Oxonienses These are good Materials and such as will direct to more of the same kind whereof there are good store in the Bodleian and Cottonian Libraries We long only for a skilful Architect to put them into the Figure we desire And I hear the Work is at last put into the Hands of a Person who wants none of those Helps or Qualifications that are necessary to the Undertaking Hitherto we have mention'd only such as have written the History of our Prelacy with an honest Intent to represent it to the World in its proper and true Colours we have others that have made it their Business to daub it with false Paint endeavouring to give such Pourtraictures of our Bishops as might most effectually defame and prostitute the sacred Order The first of these was one Thomas Gibson a Fanatical Physitian in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign who entitl'done of his Treatises A History of the Treasons of the Bishops since the Norman Conquest Whether this was ever Printed my Author cannot inform me The next was Sir John Harring ton of Kelweston who soon after K. James the First 's arrival in England began to draw together some malicious Remarks upon the Bishops of his Time which he at last finish'd under the Title of A brief view of the state of the Church of England as it stood in Queen Elizabeth 's and King Jame 's Reign to the Year 1608. It was presented by the Author in Manuscript to Prince Henry from whom the Presbyterian Faction expected great Alterations in Church-Government After the downfal of Episcopacy it fell into such Hands as brought it to the Press believing it to be a proper Antidote against the return of the plaguy Hierarchis The last of this Gang was that eternal Scribler Will. Prynne who rak'd together all the Dirt that had been thrown at any of our Bishops by the most inveterate and implacable of all their Enemies and hap'd it into a large Dunghil-Book inscrib'd The Antipathy of the English Lordly Prelacy both to legal Monarchy and civil Vnity Wherein he pretends to give
turn'd into a common Stable by the Rebel Army as it was within ten Years after that into a heap of Rubbish by the dreadful Fire of London NORWICH There are not many Histories of this Diocess All that Mr. Wharton could pick up was out of a couple of General Histories of England written by Bartholomew de Cotton and another anonymous Monk of that Church He quotes indeed a short Chronicle of Norwich in the same Library whence he had the former of these But the late Publisher of the Catalogue of those Manuscripts is mistaken if there be any such Book in the Place referr'd to There is indeed in another Class a piece which bears the Title of Festa synodalia Norwicensis Dioeceseos which begins with St. Foelix the Burgundian their first Bishop The oldest Register-Book which I have yet heard of in this See is that of Bishop Bateman the Magnanimous Founder of Trinity Hall in Cambridge A short Account of the Bishops and Deans of this Church by Tho. Searle A. D. 1659. is among the MSS. of the present worthy Bishop of the Diocess OXFORD is of so late an Erection that it cannot want an absolute and entire History of all its Prelates since its Foundation by Henry the Eighth And we have already observ'd that its Parochial Antiquities preceeding that Time are happily preserv'd by an Ingenious and Learn'd Person who has spar'd no Pains in Collecting out of a vast number of Neighbouring Records and Evidences whatever was worth the Treasuring up and transmitting to Posterity Anth. Wood Collected the Sepulchral and Fenestral Inscriptions of the several Parishes in the County of Oxford which are now amongst those many Papers he left to the University PETERBVRGH was one of the most Rich and Flourishing Monasteries in this Kingdom and was turn'd into one of the poorest Bishopricks by Henry the Eighth The most of those many excellent Histories that concern this Place in its Pristine State have been noted by Mr. Tanner tho' some few have escap'd his great Diligence He has taken no notice of two old Registers given by my Lord Hatton to the Cottonian Library nor of some ancient Grants and Donations to that Monastery He has also omitted Hugh White Abbot of Peterburgh who in Leland's Character is Rerum Petroburgi gestarum luculentus plane Scriptor To these there 's little to be added since the Foundation of the Episcopal See of any great value saving what has been carefully preserv'd in St. Gunton's History which will be this Churches everlasting Monument Some Inscriptions are said indeed to have been defaced before the Survey taken by this Author but those we are told were also to be had amongst the Manuscripts of Franc. Thynne who Collected them in the Year 1592. 'T was happy that Sir William Dugdale and Mr. Gunton drew up their Collections at so seasonable and lucky a time as the Year 1641. For within two years after that in April 1643. this Cathedral was most miserably abused by Cromwell's Regiment who among other shameless outrages broke into the Chapter-House ransack'd the Records broke the Seals tore the Writings and left the floor cover'd over with torn Papers Parchments and Seals ROCHESTER The most venerable Monument of Antiquity that belongs to this Church is the Textus Roffensis which may justly challenge a Respect more than ordinary It was written by Bishop Ernulf who dy'd in the Year 1124. And besides the Affairs of this Cathedral which are accounted for by Mr. Wharton furnishes us with the Laws of four Kentish Kings Ethelbert Hlothere Eadred and Withred omitted by Lambard together with the Saxon Form of Oaths of Fealty and Wager of Law the old Form of cursing by Bell Book and Candle of Ordale c. I suppose this Book was wisely committed to the care of Sir Roger Twisden during the confusions of our late Civil Wars For in his Custody I find it often referr'd to by Sir William Dugdale in a Work which he Compos'd during those Troubles Hadenham and Dene's Histories have been pickt and their choicest Flowers are preserv'd in the Anglia Sacra And the Chronicon Claustri Roffensis is the same with the Textus SALISBVRY Somewhat of the History of the ancient Bishops of Sherburn may be had among L. Noel's Collections and the defects of those down to the Year 1357. may be supply'd from the Chronicle of the Church of Sarum This Chronicle begins at the Creation and has some special Remarks touching the Affairs of our ancient British Church wherein it seems to be singular The Registers also of several of their Bishops as Mortival Wivil Waltham Medford Aiscough and Beauchamp are still extant WINCHESTER There can hardly be any more said of this Ancient and Famous See than what we have from Tho. Rudburn and other Authors lately publish'd out of Sir John Cotton's inexhaustible Treasury Unless for the more modern Times we had that Continuation of the Bishops which was made by John Trussel who brought their History as low as the Sufferings of Bishop Curl and his Order in the beginning of our English Anarchy WORCESTER As this Church was one of the most flourishing in the whole Island under the Government of our Saxon Kings so it had the fortune to preserve its Charters and other Instruments relating to those Times much better than its Neighbours In the Year 1643. Sir William Dugdale drew a Catalogue of no less than 92 such original Donations none whereof fell lower than the Reign of Henry the First To these there have been fifteen more now in the Archives of that Church and not mentioned in the Monasticon added by Dr. Hickes who also believes that among Mr. Lambard's MSS. now in the Archives at Canterbury there are several Saxon Grants belonging to the Church of Worcester After these we are to have recourse to the Anonymous Compilers of the Annals of this Cathedral and the continuation of them by their learn'd Publisher who by the way tells us that Hemming's Book has much more in it than either he or Sir W. Dugdale have given themselves the trouble of transcribing John Rosse the Renown'd Hermit of Guy's Cliff is said to have written a Treatise de Episcopis Wigorniae which I should not much have believed upon the single Credit of my first Author had I not seen the Book it self quoted by our late industrious Naturalist Doctor Plott Some part of Mr. Abingdon's Collection of the Antiquities of Worcestershire mention'd in the former part of this Historical Library is also reported to bear the Title of A History of the Bishops of Worcester which I cannot but once more heartily wish were committed to the Inspection and Care of the Learn'd Dr. Hopkins Prebendary of that Church who we know is throughly versed in the Antiquities of his own
of greatest note since the Reformation were penn'd by Tho. White alias Woodhop a Monk of Doway where he dy'd of the Plague in 1654. A Manuscript Copy of this was in Mr. Wood's possession and I suppose is now among those Books that he Bequeath'd to the University in the Musaeum at Oxford But the chief of our Historians of this Order was Clement Reyner whose elaborate Book is Entitl'd Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia sive Decerptatio Historica de Antiquitate Ordinis Congregationisque Monachorum Nigrorum in Anglia His Business is to prove that the Order was brought hither by Augustine Arch-bishop of Canterbury and he is thought by some of our best Antiquaries to have effectually prov'd his Point and to have fairly Answer'd all the Objections against it He is said to have had great helps from the Collections made by John Jones or Leander de Sancto Martino as he nam'd himself Prior of St. Gregory's and Publick Professor of Divinity at Doway who sojourning sometime in England with his heretofore Chamber-fellow Arch-bishop Laud had frequent access to the Cotton-Library where he transcrib'd whatever he could find that related to the History aâ—d Antiquities of his own Order Others say that the most of the Collections out of this Library which were used by our Author Reyner were made by Augustine Baker another Monk of Doway who left several Volumes in Folio of Select Matters very serviceable towards the Illustrating of this and other parts of our English History However it was Sir Thomas Bodley's Library was thought the most proper Magazine to furnish out Artillery against the Man that had already seiz'd on that of Sir Robert Cotton and to this purpose Father John Barnes a Brother Benedictine but of different Sentiments with Reyner betakes himself to Oxford and there Composes a sharp Refutation of the Apostolatus This was very ill resented by those of the Fraternity and other Members of the Roman Church And they had some reason to be Angry at one of their own Body's using the Book more Scurvily than any of the Protestant Writers had done There are several Learn'd Foreigners in France and Flanders that have lately made very Voluminous Collections of the Acta Benedictinorum in General wherein are some Tracts written by English-Men and such as wholly treat on our own Historical Matters These have been occasionally mention'd in other parts of this Work And my Design will not allow me to consider them any further The Cistercians may be reckon'd one of our own Orders For tho' they came not into this Kingdom 'till almost a Hundred Years after their first Formation they were founded by Robert Harding an English-Man Hugh Kirkstede or rather Kirkstall was a Monk of this Order about the Year 1220. and collected the Memoirs of all the English that had been of it which he Dedicated to John Abbot of Fountains This is attested by Leland who acquaints us further that in the Library at Rippon he saw his Book entitl'd Historia rerum a Monachis Cisterciensibus gestarum Bale tells us that he was greatly assisted in this Work by Serlo Abbat of Fountains about the Year 1160. And because there appears to be a good distance betwixt the reputed Times of these two Writers he assures us that Hugh liv'd very near a hundred Year I am apt to believe that Serlo was the sole Author of another Treatise ascrib'd to this Monk De Origine Fontani Coenobij and that this is the true bottom of Bale's fine Contrivance The Canons Regular of St. Augustine pretend to be Founded by that famous Father and Bishop of Hippo whose Name they bear But they are of no great Antiquity Here all our Historians agreeing in this tho' they disagree about the precise time that they came into England since the Conquest The first of their Historiographers was Jeoffrey Hardib Canon of Leicester and Privy Councellour to King Edward the Third in the Year 1360. who was an eminent Preacher a great Divine and amongst many other things wrote De rebus gestis Ordinis sui The next and the last that I know of was John Capgrave who was sometime Provincial of the Order and he alotted one his many Volumes the Subject De Illustribus Viris Ordinis S. Augustini The Dominicans Franciscans and other Mendicant Friers having had no Lands had no occasion for Leiger-Books But I know not why we should not have better Remains of their History Penn'd by themselves since 't was no part of their Vow that they should so far renounce the World as not to have their good Works had in remembrance The Story of the settlement of the Order of St. Francis in England being confirm'd by Henry the Third in the Year 1224 is written by Tho. Ecleston whose Book De adventu Minorum in Angliam is in several of our Libraries Mr. Pits says he wrote also another Book De Ordinis impugnatione per Dominicanos Which I am afraid is only a part of the former for they had Battail given soon after their first Landing Their History afterwards is pretty well accounted for by Fran. a Sancta Clara and we have a formal Register of that Colony of them that was seated in London with some Fragments of those of other Places The Records of the University of Oxford with those in the Neighbourhood have afforded us a diverting View of their frequent Bickerings with the Dominicans in our publick Schools which for an Age or two make up a good share of the Annals of that Place The Carmelites have likewise had some few of their Fraternity who have taken the pains to enquire into the History of that Order of whom William of Coventry about the Year 1360. wrote de Adventu Carmelitarum in Angliam Bale quotes some of his Words and Writes as if he had seen his Book About a Hundred Years after this Will. Green a Cambridg-Man collected out of the most of the Libraries in England the noted Exploits of the great Men of this Order which he afterwards published under the Title of Hagiologium Carmelitarum And lastly Robert Bale a Carmelite Fryar at Norwich and afterwards Prior of Burnham where he dy'd A. D. 1503. wrote Annales Breves Ordinis sui 'T is much that this Gentleman's name-sake the famous Mr. John Bale never penn'd any thing of this kind For he was also a Carmelite of Norwich and assures us in the Account he gives of his own dear Self in the Tail of his Writers that the Libraries of that Order were the chief Treasury out of which he had his Riches Perhaps he did Write some such Thing but did not afterwards think fit to own the Respects he once had for those Antichristian Locusts as he there most greatefully calls them CHAP. VIII Of the Histories of our Vniversities and Writers WHAT Sir John Marsham says of the old