deplored SECT XV. Where the Course of the Roman Story is to be begun Lucius A. Florus commended The Judgments of Learned Men concerning him That he is not the same with the Epitomizer of Livy His Mistakes excused his Method of Writing By what means in probability Errours crept in The Consulary Fasts of Sigonius and Onuphrius Pighius his Annals commended SECT XVI In what order the Roman History is to be continued Dionysius Halycarnassaeus commended How many years his History contains the Reason given why he is Recommended in the first place and confirm'd from J. Bodinus SECT XVII T. Livius is much and de servedly admir'd in what time he lived How many Books he writ by whom divided into Decads In what order to be Read How the History may be enlarged or supplied The Praise and Elogy of Plutarch SECT XVIII The second Decad of T. Livy that is from the X th to the XXI th Book is lost How and whence that loss may be supplied Appianus Alexandrinus What opinion Learned Men have of him SECT XIX When the remaining XXV Books of Livy are to be read What other Authours may confirm or illustrate the History of the same times The Nine last Decads and half the Tenth are lost From whence they may be supply'd The History of Salustius commended and also Caesar's Commentaries both by the Learned Men of the present and Ancient times SECT XX. Of Dion Cassius and his History How many Books he writ How many perished and how great the loss Vellejus Paterculus to be worthily ranked amongst the best Historians and yet his faults are not dissembled A Transition to the Writers of the Lives of the Caesars SECT XXI Suetonius and Tacitus are first to be read The famous testimonies of the most Learned Men concerning them The Judgments of the most eminent of the Criticks differ that I may not say contest each with other concerning Tacitus Light may be derived both to Suetonius and Tacitus from Dion Cassius SECT XXII How to pass on to the other Writers of the Augustan Story viz. Spartianus Capitolinus Volcatius and the other Authours which are not to be lightly esteemed The Judgment of Justus Lipsius and Casaubon concerning them Herodian is to be read in his place with the rest How far these go in the History And that amongst them Aurelius Victor and Pomponius Laetus deserve to be admitted SECT XXIII After Constantius Chlorus and a little before the History is a little perplex'd especially in the Latin Writers Eusebius Zozimus and Zonaras will render it more easie Of Zozimus and Zonaras and their Writings ' and also of Jornandes Ammianus Marcellinus has his place here The opinion of Lipsius and Balduinus the Civil Lawyer concerning the latter SECT XXIV Diaconus his Miscellane History and that of Jornandes concerning the Goths and of Procopius and Agathias who may be placed here or if you please the Third Tome of Zonaras who is followed by Nicetas Choniates and then Nicephorus Gregoras or if this seems too Prolix after Zozimus Blondius Forolivienfis may be read or else after Vopiscus Sigonius his History of the Western Empire may be admitted and from thence the Reader may pass to the Seventh or Eighth Book of the first Decad of Blondius SECT XXV Johannes Cuspinianus Paulus Jovius and Augustus Thuanus will furnish the Reader with a shorter view of the History of the Roman Emperours from the beginning of the Caesars to our own times SECT XXVI Some Writers of particular Histories that best deserve to be read are enumerated Guicciardine Paulus Aemilius Philippus Commines whose noble Elogies are remembred Meteranus Chromerus and Bembus SECT XXVII A Transition to the British Story How the Reader should prepare himself for the Reading of it In what order he should go on Camden's Britannia and Selden's Analecta are first to be Read and then George Lillies Chronicon The Compendium of the British History SECT XXVIII Gulielmus Malmesburiensis Sir Henry Savil's and Camden's Judgment of him Where he began and ended his History Galfredus Monumethensis why to be omitted The Censures of Neubrigensis John of Withamsted Bales and Jo. Twin upon his History from all which Virunnius dissents H. Huntingdonensis follows Malmesburiensis and Hoveden him SECT XXIX The History of Asser Menivensis is commended in what order to be read with the former as also Eadmerus Matheus Parisiensis Baronius his judgment of him Thomas Walsingham his History The Actions of King Stephen by an unknown Pen. The Life of Edw. II. by Sir Thomas de la Moor is to be taken in in due time SECT XXX Walsingham's Hypodigma Neustria or History of Normandy and the other Writers not to be neglected and amongst them Odoricus Vitalis of Principal note Polidore Virgil has writ the History from Henry the IV th to Richard the IIId concerning whom the Censure of the most noble Sir H. Savil is observable Richard thee IIId was written by Sir Tho. Moor Kt. and Lord Chancellour of England Henry the VII th by the Earl of St. Albans Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th Queen Mary by Francis Godwin Bishop of Landaff by way of Annals As also that of Queen Elizabeth by William Camden SECT XXXI Though we have no intire body of our history in Latin written according to the dignity of the subject yet in English John Speed has writ an excellent Theatre of the British Empire to be in the first place contemplated by the youth of this Nation and especially of those who design to travell The Addition concerning the Histories of Particular Nations ARTICLE I. The design and order of this Appendix In what order we should proceed in the Particular histories The principal historians of the several Nations are to be selected and the historians of the latter times compared with the more ancient ARTICLE II. The historians of the Germans and of all the People from the Alpes to the Baltick Sea and from the Rhine to the Vistula to which the history of the Goths Vandals Huns Heruls Switzers Longobards Polonians Muschovites Danes and Swedes are to be added ARTICLE III. The Austrian historians ARTICLE IV. The historians of the Huns and Hungarians ARTICLE V. The historians of the Goths Danes Sclavonians and Swedes ARTICLE VI. The historians of the Longobards ARTICLE VII The historians of the Borussians and Poles ARTICLE VIII The historians of the Bohemians Switzars and Saxons ARTICLE IX The historians of Celts or Galls and French under which name we include all which are enclosed by the Rhine Pyrenaean Hills the Alpes and the Ocean ARTICLE X. The historians of the Netherlands Dutch and Flandrians ARTICLE XI The Spanish historians ARTICLE XII The historians of the Turks and Arabians who heretofore had the Dominions of Syria Persia Africa and Spain and were commonly call'd Saracens ARTICLE XIII The historians of Aethiopia India almost all Africa and of the New World or America ARTICLE XV. The historians of some great Cities SECT XXXII A Transition
and the first 13 years of Charles the second were added by one Mr. Edward Phillips which ends with the Coronation of that Prince being the 23d of April 1661. The former Sir William Dugdale as is supposed hath writ a short account of the late troubles of England wherein all the proceedings of the Rebellion are excellently laid together James Heath Gent. hath also written the History of the same times very well as it is said to the Restitution of Charles the second continued since to the year 1675 by J. Phillips William Sanderson hath written not onely the Reigns of Queen Mary of Scotland and King James but also another piece which he calls a complete History of the Life and Reign of King Charles the first from his Cradle to his Grave but as this was written and published during our horrid Confusions here in England and before his late Majesty's Restitution so there are many things in it as it is said which will need amendment The truth is there hath been never a good History writ since Camden's Annals of our affairs that ever yet came to my knowledge nor perhaps have the times been such as to bear one that of Tacitus is considerable the prosperous and unfortunate Events of the ancient People of Rome are delivered by great Writers in the times of Augustus there was no want of generous Pens till they were supprest by the rising flattery of the times the accounts of Tiberius Caligula Claudius and Nero whilst these Princes flourished were out of fear false and after they were gone whilst the hatred of men was fresh were as much too sharp from which considerations I resolved saith he to deliver a few and those of the last Actions of Augustus when the flattery he hints at began and then the Reign of Tiberius and the rest without Anger or affection as having by reason of the distance of the time had no concern with any of them I need not make any application nor will the case bear one But yet I should have excepted one Historian and that is Johnstonius but though he did not publish his History in his Life and so by that and putting it into such hands as Printed it beyond the Seas secured his History from all suspicion of a necessitated Compliance yet then he being a Stranger to our English Laws and Constitutions has committed some faults which an English man would have easily avoided and speaks too contemptuously of some of our Greatest Lawyers whom he styles every where Leguleii as if they had been some little snarling Countrey Attornies If now our Reader desires a short course of English History he may begin with Milton first then take Daniel and Trussel and then Sir Francis Bacon's Henry the 7 th and Bishop Godwin's Annals which will bring him down to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth where Camden's Annals such as they now are in English fall in and for the rest he may take his Choice according to his fancy There is an excellent Catalogue of the Historians of England in Baker's Chronicle which the Reader may Consult too if he please MANTISSA OR An Addition Concerning the Historians of particular Nations as well Ancient as Modern by Nicholas Horseman ARTICLE I. The design and method of this Appendix in what order we should proceed in relation to particular Historians the principal Writers of each Countrey are to be selected the Historians of the latter Ages compared with the more Ancient THus far our Authour Mr. Deg. Wheare has proceeded concerning the Civil History and was just now going to lead his Reader to the Church History and yet we will presume to stop him here a small time and I will not despair neither of obtaining an easie pardon for this my unseasonable interposition from those who desire to run through a perfect Collection of Historians especially if they shall be sensible that these Endeavours of ours may in any degree promote their Studies The Roman Empire long since sinking under its own weight and being at last torn in pieces and divided each distinct Nation began to rely upon its own Forces and administred its own affairs both at home and abroad and from thence the particular Histories of particular Nations have sprung up which our Authour hath left untouched and unsaluted the British onely excepted and this Field I will presume to Reap by adding here an Appendix concerning the Histories of those Nations who are now possest of some part of the ancient Roman Empire or were never subject to it in which we will represent or at least inartificially describe those ancient and Modern Writers who have illustrated the affairs and Actions of the more considerable people by their Pens 'T is not indeed our purpose to seek curiously after and name all these Historians as indeed who can pretend to know them or solicitously to digest and accurately treat of them which is a very troublesome business and above our Abilities But I think it reasonable here to advise all the lovers of History in the very entrance of the Work that they should begin with the Antiquities of their own Countries as for instance the Britains with the British and so proceed to those of other Countries and in the first place to those Nations which have had frequent Leagues Wars or Commerce with their own And it will also be very advantageous to chuse some principal Authour who may seem to excell all other in writing the History of that Countrey as in the German History Lambertus Schafnaburgensis in the Austrian History Lazius in the Hungarian Bonfinius in the Gothick Jornandes in the History of Denmark Saxo Grammaticus in the Sclavonian Helmoldus in the Longobardian Paulus Diaconus in the Polonian Chromerus in the Prussian Stella in the Bohemian Aeneas Sylvius in that of Switzars Simlerus in the Burgundian Heuterus in that of Saxony Crantzius in the Bavarian Aventinus in the Flandrian Mejerus in the Dutch Grotius in the French P. Aemylius in the Spanish Mariana and so for the rest But here our Reader of the Barbarian History may be pleased to understand that the Authours for the most part with which he is now to Converse do sink very much beneath the Eloquence of those of the greater Nations the Greeks and Romans and that they are very much inferiour both in Ability and Dignity to those who with their Pens have adorn'd the Stories of those once potent People not onely in many other things but especially in the purity of their Styles for in the darkness of that decrepit Age they use a style which by reason of the Barbarity and harshness of it cannot but offend those whose Ears have been used to a terse and delicate phrase and the Historians of those times which affected Elegance chose to imitate those of the middle Ages Eutropius Paulus Diaconus Orosius and the like who were as remote from the Roman Eloquence as they were from the times in which it flourished rather
delicacy for though that which Sir Henry Savil the great and eternally to be remembred Ornament of our University saith is most certainly true and confirmed not onely by his but by the Testimony also of Mr. John Selden the Lawyer a man not onely excellently versed in History but in all other sorts of ancient Learning that there was never yet any man who hath written an intire body of our History with that fidelity and dignity as became the greatness of the Subject yet the former of these confesseth that we have some particular parts of our History which are not ill written in former Ages and the latter Mr. Selden acknowledgeth and commendeth some others as written exceedingly well in this last Age. But be this as it will I shall with the greatest confidence assert that there are many noble Actions and things that are worthy of our Contemplation and Observation which will occur in the reading of the greatest part of our Histories this then is the order which I should recommend for the reading of our British History to the Studious in it First Let our Student begin with the famous Sir William Camden's Britannia in which besides a most accurate description of the whole Island he will find briefly represented the History of the first Inhabitants and an account given of the Origine of the Name the Manners of the Britains the History of the Romans in Britain and many other things infinitely worth our knowledge collected not out of mere fictions and fables which none but a vain man would write nor any but an ignorant man believe as he expresseth himself but out of the most sincere and uncorrupted Monuments of Antiquity my advice therefore is that this Book or rather treasury should in the very first place be most diligently perused nor will it be amiss here to call in the assistence of Mr. Selden's two Books of Collections of the Antiquities of the Britains and English either of which Books consists of eight Chapters in which he has collected what doth most properly belong to the ancient Civil Administration of that part of Great Britain which is now call'd England and in which he has most excellently described both from Ancient and Modern Writers our publick Transactions both Civil and Sacred and our State Catastrophes to William the Conquerour and then according to the method proposed by us in the beginning of our course of History the Reader may be pleased to reade over George Lilly's Chronicle or short Enumeration of the Kings and Princes who by the changes of Fortune in diverse and succeeding times have been possessed of the Empire of Britain or those Commentaries which J. Theodorus Clain Printed of the affairs of Great Britain in the year MDCIII under the Title of a Compendium of the British History which is Elegantly form'd and written An Addition to the former Section Besides these mentioned by the Authour Daniel Langhorn a Learned Divine now Living in the year 1673 published in Latine a short account of the Antiquities of Albion and the Origine of the Britains Scots Danes and English Saxons to the year 449 in which the English first Arrived in Great Britain with a short Chronicle of the Kings of the Picts in which is an excellent account of those times in which Britain was a part of the Roman Empire The same Authour in the year 1679 Published a Chronicle of the Saxon Kings from Hengist the first King of that Race to the end of the Heptarchy or the year 819 in which he has given an account of all their Actions Wars Civil and Sacred affairs together with a Catalogue of the Kings and their Pedigrees cut in Copper in this History he hath reduced into one body all the ancient Saxon Historians and represented them truly in their own Phrases and then promised also a Continuation of this History which is much desired by Learned men In the year 1670 Robert Sheringham Fellow of Caies College in Cambridge Published an History of the Origine of the English Nation in which their Migrations and various Seats and part also of their Actions are inquired into from the confusion of Tongues and the dispersion of the Nations thereupon till the time of their arrival in Britain in which some things are explain'd also concerning their ancient Religion Sacred Rites and their opinions of the immortality of the Soul after Death with an account of the Origine of the Britains in this piece are many curious Antiquities searched for in the most ancient Saxon German and Danish Authours and an excellent account given of them which will both invite and reward the Reader 's pains Lambertus Silvius a Learned Foreigner in the year 1652 Published in Latine an excellent Compendium of the English History from the arrival of the Saxons to the year 1648 where he ends it with the deplorable Murther of Charles the first he is exceeding short in his accounts of the Saxon Kings but at the Conquest he dilates himself and writes the Lives of our Kings very Elegantly and with great brevity Of more ancient times Gildas Sapiens who is the most ancient Writer of this Island Writ a piece of the Destruction of the Britains by the Saxons which is infinitely worth the reading he Lived in the times of Justinian and he was Born in the year of Christ 493 as Vossius makes it appear from his own Works Mathaeus Westmonasteriensis who flourished about the year of Christ 1376 has left a short Chronicle from the beginning of the World to the year 1037. Florentius Bravonius a Monk of Worcester who Lived about the year of Christ 1119 in the Reign of Henry the first wrote a History from the Creation to the year 1118 which was the year before his Death which is the more to be esteemed because the ancient Anglio Saxon Annals are inserted in it in their proper places as Vossius acquaints us either or both these Authours will very much contribute to the understanding of the History of the Saxon Kings before the Conquest SECT XXVIII Gulielmus Malmesburiensis Savil's judgment of him and also Camden's where he begins and ends his History Galfredus Monumethensis why passed by The censures of William of Newberry John of Withamsted Bales and John Twin Virunnius differs from all these Huntington follows Malmesbury and Hovedaen him BUt if the Reader had rather begin with the more ancient Writers of our History immediately after Camden's Britannia and Selden's Analecta in my judgment William of Malmesbury deserves to be first admitted because the fidelity of his Relations and maturity of his Judgment have set him above all the rest And this is also the Testimony of the Noble and Learned Sir H. Savil concerning him William of Malmesbury saith he was a man exquisitely Learned for the age in which he Lived and hath compiled the History of about seven hundred years with so
as he did of many other written in Latine and Saxon and that he begins where Bede ends as Simeon doth but yet it will appear to any person who shall compare these two together that Hoveden has an innumerable number of things which Simeon hath not and that there are some things again in Simeon which R. Hoveden passed by so that he is not to be esteemed a plagiary in relation to Simeon but rather a very diligent Writer who hath Collected from Simeon and many others who went before him and made out of all a copious single work which is usually done by the best Historians of all Ages When our Authour wrote this method of Reading Histories this Simeon Dunelmensis was not Printed but in the year 1652 this and nine other ancient Historians were first published together and out of Mr. Selden's Prolegomena's to them I have transcribed the passage above which will give the Reader a fuller account of R. Hoveden and at the same time present Simeon Dunelmensis to him as a person worthy of his observation This History begins as the Title tells us after the Death of Bede Anno Domini 732 and it ends Anno Domini 1129 it contains the History of CCCCXXIX years and IV months Joannes Hagustaldensis continued this History XXV years that is from the year 1130 to the year 1154 which was the 19 th and last year of King Stephen's Reign he flourished under Henry the Second and Richard the first he was a very good witness of what he Wrote as Living in or very near those times he represents he was a most excellent and a most diligent Writer as Mr. Selden styles him Richardus Hagustaldensis wrote the IV first years of the Reign of King Stephen which are Printed immediately after the former Ailredus Rievallis Abbas wrote amongst other things a Genealogie of the Kings of England to Henry the Second Radulphus de Diceto Dean of St. Paul's in London wrote an Abbreviation of the Chronicles from the year 589 to the year 1147 where he begins another work which he calls the Images of History which he continues to 1199 or the beginning of King John's Reign Joannes de Brompton wrote a Chronicle from the arrival of Augustine the Monk Anno Christi 588 to the beginning of King John's Reign 1199 which is especially valuable for a Collection and version of the Saxon Laws in Latine made in the time of Edward the third at the least he was an industrious Student as Vossius speaks of him and wrote in the Reign of Edward the third Gervasius Dorobernensis wrote a Chronicle from the year 1112 to the year 1199 which was from the 12 th year of Henry the first to the Death of Richard the first he was made a Monk about the year 1142 he was as Leland saith of him Studious of Antiquities above belief and for that end Collected a vast number of Historians especially of those who accurately handled the British and Saxon affairs till at last he himself entred the Lists and made tryal of his own parts by publishing an excellent Volume in which he deduced the History of the Britains from their Original together with that of the Saxons and the valiant atchievements of the Normans to the Reign of King John thus far Leland of him but whether the beginning of this History is lost I cannot say but we have onely this Printed which I have mentioned of the particular English History Henricus Knighton Leicestrensis wrote a Chronicle of the Events of England as he styles it in his first Book he gives a short account of some Saxon and Norman affairs from the time of Edgar who began his Reign Anno Christi 958 to the Reign of William the Conquerour and then he writes more largely to the year 1395 which was the 19 th year of Richard the Second in whose times this Historian flourished All these Authours were Printed in one body by Cornelius Bee in the year 1652 under the Title of the ten Writers of the English History before which time they were onely Extant in Manuscripts in Libraries and so could not possibly be taken into our Authour's method as I observed before SECT XXIX Asser Menevensis his History commended in what time to be read with the former as also Eadmerus his History Matthew Paris his History Baronius his judgment of him Thomas of Walsingham his Chronicle the actions of King Stephen written by an unknown Authour the Life of Edward the Second by Sir Thomas de la Moore Knight is also to be taken in due time I Must confess those latter Historians do not make any great addition of years to Malmesbury's History yet they will illustrate it and sometimes perhaps make it more full and perfect of this the Reader will have a great Experience if about the year of Christ 849 he take in the Life of Alfred written by Asser Menevensis which History as the famous Camden saith will afford no small pleasure to thy mind nor will it bring less profit than pleasure if whilst the mind is fixed on the Contemplation of those great things you endeavour wholly to conform your self to the imitation and as it were representation of them Asser Menevensis flourished about the year of Christ 910. This great Prince who was the wonder of the age in which he Lived has found many admirers since but none have so well deserved of his Memory as the Learned Sir John Spelman Son of the Great Sir Henry Spelman who wrote the Life of this Alfred King of England in three Books in English which I suppose was never Printed but an Elegant version of it in Latine with very excellent marginal Notes by the Students of Great Hall in Oxon with a great Collection of our Coins and several other great rarities was put out in Folio at the Theatre there in the year 1678 I wish we might yet have the Original English also printed And then if about the year of Christ 1060 the Reader please he may also take in Eadmerus his History which was lately brought to light and illustrated with Notes and excellent Collections by the Learned John Selden a Lawyer of rare Erudition This History contains the Reigns of William the first and second and Henry the first to wit from the year of Christ 1060 to the year 1122 in which time the Authour Lived he was very dear to Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury in those times and died Archbishop of St Andrews in Scotland himself after he had been Abbat of St. Albans in England a preferment in those days of great honour To these the Reader may add that true and faithfull History written by Matthew Paris which beginning with the Coronation of William the Conquerour Anno Christi 1067 is continued by him to the year 1253 and by another as Bale assures us to the year 1273 that is to the Death of Henry
the third what Baronius his opinion of this Authour was appears in these words Any man saith he may easily see how much his mind was exasperated against the Holy Seat except those Reproaches were inserted by the Publisher which if they be taken out or excepted you may call the rest a Golden Commentary it being onely a transcript word for word of the publick Records most admirably put together and consolidated After Matthew Paris I desire Thomas Walsingham his Chronicle may follow he also was a Monk of St. Albans and began his History from Edward the first where the former ends and continues it down to the end of Henry the fifth or the year of Christ 1422. But as whilst we are reading Matthew Paris there is an History of Stephen written by an unknown hand which will amplifie and illustrate the History if taken in so if after the first Book of Walsingham's History about the year 1306 the Life and Death of Edward the Second written by Sir Thomas de la Moore Knight a Servant of that King be also admitted it will enlarge that History As this Authour was dignified with the honour of Knighthood so he deserves no less esteem for his kindness to Posterity express'd by this History which deserves the more credit because he was intimately acquainted with that Prince and served under him in the Wars ADDITIONS As I took in in the end of the last Section an excellent Collection of ancient Latine Historians of the English Nation none of which are mentioned by our Authour so with the Reader 's permission I will here take in another which was printed this year at Oxon under the Title of the first Volume of the ancient Writers of the English affairs The first Authour in it is Ingulfus Croylandensis who though not taken notice of by our Authour was printed before but imperfect he wrote the History of his Monastery and in it relates many things concerning the Kings of England he begins at the year of Christ 626 with Penda King of Mercia and in the former impression it ended with the beginning of the Reign of William the Conquerour but in this latter Edition besides many Gaps in the body of it now supplied from a better Copy his History is continued by himself to the year 1089 which was the third year of William the second or William Rufus as he is commonly called This Authour was the Son of a Courtier of Edward the last King of the Saxon Race and he himself takes notice of some disputes he had in his Infancy with Edgitha the Noble Queen of King Edward he Studied first at Westminster and then at Oxon where he became an excellent Aristotelian Philosopher he was afterwards a Counsellour to William Duke of Normandy by whose good leave he went to Jerusalem in his way at Constantinople he waited upon Alexius the then Emperour and Sophronius the Patriarch returning into Normandy he became a Benedictine Monk and after William Duke of Normandy had Conquered England Ingulfus was made Abbat of Croyland he died in the year 1109 in the time of Henry the first I have transcribed all this out of Vossius onely to shew the Reader how great a man he was and how excellently qualified for an Historian The next Authour in the said Collection is Peter Blesensis his continuation of Ingulfus his History to the year 1117 which was the 17 th year of Henry the first though he mentions some things scatteringly done after that time this continuation is imperfect at the end and therefore the Publisher supposeth it to extend onely to the beginning of the Reign of King Stephen this Authour was not for Learning inferiour to Ingulfus he was first Archdeacon of Bath and afterwards of London and Vicechancellour to the King he wrote about the year 1190 and he died in the year 1200 his Life has been writ by those that published his other Works but this History was never printed before Thus far the Publisher goes in his account of him The next in this new Collection is the Chronicle of Mailros begun as the inscription tells us by the Abbat of Dundraynan from the year 735 and continued by several hands to the year one thousand two hundred and seventy which was the LIV th year of the Reign of Henry the third who this Abbat or who these Continuers were is not certainly known but this Abbie of Mailros from which this Chronicle has its Name was not that ancient Monastery placed upon the Banks of the River Tweed often taken notice of by Venerable Bede which as it seems was destroyed by the Danes who oppressed the Kingdom of Northumberland a great while but of a later date built in the same place by the Scots who under David their King had got possession of it about the year 1136 from whence perhaps a Colony of Monks were sent to Dundraynan in Galloway in Scotland in the year 1152 in which year also that Monastery was founded as this Chronicle bears witness which though for the most part it is very brief yet it affords many things that are worth the knowing especially the Series of the Kings of Scotland as also the Successions of the Princes Nobles Bishop and Abbats in those Northern parts thus far the Publisher In the year 1252 another silly Monk of Mailros began a new Collection in which he would needs bestow an Encomium upon Simon de Montefort the turbulent Earl of Leicester which is not continued for the rest is perhaps done by another hand but concludes with the Death of Henry the third so that there is onely two years added The next is the Chronicle of Burton in the beginning of which with the Reign of King John the Authour who is not known seems to have a design to continue Roger de Hoveden whom yet he calls Hugo and by his example hath collected many of the most memorable passages of that age and though some of them are also set forth by Matthew Paris yet there are many and those not common things which are not to be found either in Paris or any other printed Historian but this and the Authour whoever he was lived in the same time with Matthew Paris and so they two do mutually afford Light each to other and also at the same time bear witness to the same things onely let the Reader take notice we follow the impression of Paris printed at London in 1650 thus far the Publisher it begins Anno 1004 and it ends Anno 1263. The Last which is the continuation of the History of Croyland though in some places imperfect which the Transcriber perhaps observed not yet we saith the Publisher thought fit to add it not onely because the Authour or rather perhaps Authours designed a continuation of Ingulfus and Peter Blesensis but chiefly because the latter end of the Reign of Henry the sixth and the whole Reign of Edward
to the dignity of the Subject yet we have some that have done it very well in English John Speed his Theatre of the British Empire is an Illustrious Work and to be contemplated in the first place by our Youth and especially by those that intend to Travell BUt now if any of our Countreymen who are desirous to Reade the History of England be so delicate that he thinks it a task of too much labour and trouble to undertake the Reading of so many Authours and therefore would rather chuse some one Historian who may serve instead of all the rest and stick to and pursue him alone He must remember as I said before that there is no such Latin Historian extant who hath well described the Affairs of Britain from its first Inhabiting to our Times but yet there are some who in English have commendably attempted to doe this Amongst whom I shall not fear to commend in the first place that famous Man John Speed He having travell'd over all Great Britain read diligently all our own Historians and those of our neighbour Nations together with a diligent search in the Publick Offices Rolls Monuments and Ancient Writings or Charters built up a Splendid and Admired Theatre of the British Empire which with great Expedition and Labour he perfected in XIV years in Ten Scenes or Books in this order In his First Scene he hath most excellently represented the image of this Kingdom with its distinct Counties and Principal Cities and Towns In his IId he Exhibits all the Provinces of Wales In the IIId he gives a Description of the whole Kingdom of Scotland In the IVth he shews the Kingdom of Ireland and all the several parts of it Nor has he onely proposed to our view the naked Images and bare Maps though he has done that too with great exactness and beauty in these Four first Scenes but he hath also by short Narratives adjoin'd to his Maps discovered whatever in each part is Memorable and Worthy to be seen or taken notice of If from thence the Reader turns his Eyes upon the Vth Scene he will see the Situation and Greatness of the British Islands the Ancient Names first Inhabitants Manners Polities with the most Ancient Kings and Governours When he comes to the VIth Scene he will find there the Successions and Actions of those Monarchs and Presidents who flourished during the times in which the Romans were Masters of Britain In the VIIth Scene the Authour doth express the History of the Saxon and English Monarchs and the times of their Reigns In the VIIIth Scene he Commemorates the Origine of the Danes their Expeditions and Incursions into England and all their Actions here which are worth the taking notice of In the IXth he describes the Invasion of the Normans their Conquest and the History of William the Conquerour and all his Successours And lastly in the Xth Scene he hath contained the Joyfull Entrance of James the First the most happy Union of the Two Kingdoms and the Peace established by King James with all the Neighbour Kings and Princes And then as a Corollary the Venerable Authour doth with a Vivid and Unaffected Style which runs through his whole Work most clearly shew that horrible black and never before heard of Design of the Gunpowder-Plot which was by God miraculously discovered and prevented Wherefore I do most earnestly exhort our Young Men and especially those who are of Noble birth and intend to Travell that they would first peruse this beautifull Theatre of Great Britain and run over all the parts of it before they Travell into Foreign Countries or visit strange Nations For though I will not deny that the desire of knowing the various Laws of Countries the searching out the Rites and Customs of many several People and the seeing the Forms of divers Cities is a very commendable affection and which was highly celebrated in Ulysses yet I think it is preposterous if not absurd to desire to see Foreign and far distant things and in the mean time neglect what is nearer and at home to seek out Cities that are Situate abroad and afar off and neither to see nor know those we have at home And this is the more unreasonable because our Britain is one of the most celebrated Islands in the whole World and hath many famous Cities in it many Temples Reverend and August for Religion Venerable for their Antiquity and Conspicuous for their Ornaments and Splendour we have Mountains which are enobled by Fame Fountains that for their use and effects are admir'd Navigable Rivers and safe Ports and many other things which are infinitely worth our perusal and knowledge Therefore let we persuade you Young Men once or more to view and with great attention to run through the four First Scenes of this Theatre I mean the Geographical part I am much deceived if there be any where under Heaven a Countrey that can boast of more Monuments which deserve to be seen Then go through the other Six Scenes and reade the Historical part seriously I will become your Surety that you shall find in every one of these Parts some things that are very well worthy of remembring Nor do I think there is any Countrey under Heaven which has so much reason to Glory in the Illustrious Atchievements of her Children as ours hath To conclude this you may be sure of that which soever of you hath treasured up the greatest number of our domestick affairs and things and does freely communicate them to Foreigners wheresoever he comes which for the most part is desired by most Men he will be the Welcomest Guest and will have the greatest liberty of inquiring as doth become a Traveller into the Manners and Laws of those People he comes amongst and of asking concerning the forms of their Cities their Princes Wars and Accidents or whatever other events are worth the observing and so will return home much the better furnished with the desired fruits of his Travels Hitherto we have discoursed of the Political or Civil Histories and in what Order they are to be read ADDITION As I have before given an account as well as I could and in the ends of the IV foregoing Sections discoursed of the Latine Historians of the English Nation which have been Printed since our Authour wrote so I will here with the Reader ' s leave take the same liberty in relation to the English Historians of our Nation some of which have been Printed since the Authour finished this piece and others perhaps were omitted by him because these Lectures were read in an University and to men generally well acquainted with the Latine Tongue The first that I will take notice of is Mr. Aylet Sammes his Britannia Antiqua Illustrata or the Antiquities of ancient Britain derived from the Phoenicians wherein the Original Trade of this Island is discovered the names of Places Offices Dignities as likewise the Idolatry Language and Customes of the primitive
Inhabitants are clearly demonstrated from that Nation many old Monuments illustrated and the Commerce with that People as well as the Greeks plainly set forth and Collected out of approved Greek and Latine Authours together with a Chronological History of this Kingdom from the first traditional beginning untill the year of our Lord 800 when the Name of BRITAIN was changed into ENGLAND faithfully Collected out of the best Authours and disposed in a better method than hath hitherto been done with the Antiquities of the Saxons as well as Phoenicians Greeks and Romans Printed in Folio in London in the year 1676 Volume the first I know very well some Learned men have taken great exceptions to this Piece and have affirmed many things in it to be fabulous and I will not contest for the truth of the whole and every part of it but then I will presume to say that I have found good Authority for some of those things which some have pretended Mr. Samms invented and if we are to stay for an History which all the World approves of before we reade one our Lives will end with as little knowledge of past times as of those that are to follow us when we are dead I know any ingenious person who shall reade this piece must reap much satisfaction pleasure and delight from it John Milton who was Latine Secretary to Oliver Cromwell a Learned ingenious but a very factious man wrote the History of Britain that part especially that is called England from the first traditional beginning of it to the Norman Conquest Collected out of the ancientest and best Authours as he saith it was printed 1670 and 1671 in Quarto and in 1678 in Octavo The style and composure of this History is delicate short and perspicuous and it is of the greater value because few of our English Writers begin to any purpose before the Norman Conquest passing over all those times that went before it with a slight hand Doctour John Heyward writ the History of the first Norman Kings William the Conquerour William Rufus and Henry the first he lived in the times of King James and was a Civilian and a very candid true and Learned Writer Samuel Daniel writ the Collection of the History of England where in making some short reflexions on the State of Britain and the Succession of the Saxons he descends to William the Conquerour and the Norman Kings and ends with the Reign of Edward the third Anno Domini 1376. It is written with great brevity and Politeness and his Political and Moral Reflexions are very fine usefull and instructive John Trussel continued this History with the like brevity and truth but not with equal Elegance till the end of the Reign of Richard the third Anno Domini 1484. In that Period or interval of time which Daniel hath written there are two Lives writ by two several Pens the first is the Life of Henry the third writ by that Learned wise and ingenious Gentleman Sir Robert Cotton Knight in a Masculine style with great labour and pains and with a Loyal design The Second is a piece which was lately Printed with this Title the History of the Life Reign and Death of Edward the II King of England and Lord of Ireland with the Rise and Fall of his great Favorites Gaveston and the Spencers written by E. F. in the year 1627 and Printed verbatim from the Original in the year 1680. Who this E. F. was I know not but that he was under the Dominion of a mighty Discontent is apparent by his short Preface to the Reader his first words there are these To out-run those weary hours of a deep and sad Passion my melancholy Pen fell accidentally saith he on this Historical Relation which speaks A King our own though one of the most unfortunate and shews the Pride and fall of his inglorious Minions If this Book was really written when pretended it may be probably conjectured this Male-Content had a mighty Spleen against the then Duke of Buckingham who being baited this year by the Commons in Parliament fell a Sacrifice to popular discontent the year following which with some other things to me unknown might occasion the suppressing this History then and it had been as well if it had never been Printed being partial to the highest degree and designed to encourage rather than suppress Rebellion Sedition and Treason and now why it was raked up out of the Dust and Printed when it was I shall leave the World to guess onely I cannot for bear observing the Authour was more ingenuous than the Publisher not onely because he concealed it but also because he had undoubtedly set down the causes of his discontent in the beginning of his Preface which are omitted in the Print for those weary hours must relate to something before exprest to perfect the nse Within this Period of time belonging to Trussel falls in the Life of Henry the IV th written by Dr. Heyward and also the Life of Edward the IV th written very Elegantly and Prudently by William Habington Esquire and the Life of Richard the third written by George Buck Gent. Francis Bioâ—di and Italian Gentleman and of the Privy Chamber to King Charles the first hath written in the Italian Tongue the Civil Wars between the two Houses of Lancaster and York from King Richard the second to King Henry the VIII th translated Elegantly into English saith Sir Richard Baker by Henry Earl of Monmouth Sir Francis Bacon Viscount St. Albans writ the History of Henry the 7 th in a most Elegant style Edward Lord Herbert of Sherbury hath writ the Life of Henry the Eighth with great Exactness and Accuracy as he was a person of great industry and capacity He was put upon this Work by King Charles the first and consulted all our Records Dr. John Heyward wrote the Life of Edward the VIth very Elegantly and as much of that Prince's Reign and that of Queen Mary was spent in matters of Religion so Dr. Peter Heylin in his Ecclesia Anglicana Restaurata has given a very good account of their two Reigns and also Dr. Gilbert Burnet in his History of the Reformation in two Volumes in Folio which is excellently Epitomized by himself in Octavo Though these two chiefly intend the Ecclesiastical History of those times yet they have carefully intermixt the Civil History also especially Burnet who with his History hath published many Original Records of those times which do purely belong to the Civil History Sir William Dugdale one of the Kings of Arms in England hath writ two Books which he styles the Baronage of England being an excellent History of the Successions of all the noble Families of England which is of excellent use to the well understanding of the English History Sir Richard Baker hath written a Chronicle of the Kings of England from the times of the Romans Government unto the Death of King James to which the Reign of Charles the first