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
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
Historiae Anglicanae which tho' only a very concise Epitome of our History is done with that great Judgment that it deserves a place among the best of our Writers on this Subject There have been some Additions made to this Treatise since the Doctor 's death in 1683. which whatever Relish they may have with some Readers are not to be laid to his Charge Others we hear are now engaged in the bold Work of Compiling General Histories of this Kingdom The most considerable of these are Sir John Marsham and James Tyrrel Esq and if the former writes with the true Spirit of his Father and the other with that of Archbishop Vsher his Grandfather we have good cause to hope for great things from them both There are also many Anonymous Historians whose Books are said to remain in several of our publick and private Libraries which ought to be referr'd to in this Chapter 'T is true the Numbers of these might be lessened if they were veiw'd by proper Persons before their Titles were sent abroad in our Catalogues whereas we are now told of Forty Nameless Authors who upon perusal prove only imperfect Copies of Paris Westminster Hoveden c. A few we are sure are not of this kind but appear to be of good value in themselves tho' of an unknown Authority Such are three Manuscripts of good Esteem in the Library at Lambeth sometimes quoted by Mr Wharton a Fourth referred to by Archbishop Vsher a Fifth and Sixth by Mr. Selden a Seventh now in the Possession of my worthy Friend Mr. Thoresby of Leedes in Yorkshire c. To which we might add a large Scrole of those that bear only the Names of such Monasteries as they were penn'd in But these may happen to be remember'd when we come more particularly to treat of the Registers and Records of those Religious Houses CHAP. VI. Of the Writers of Particular Lives of our Kings since the Conquest THE Historians that have been already mention'd in the foregoing Chapter have usually treated most Copiously of the Reigns of those Princes that rul'd in their own Times and are to be most especially consulted in such Transactions as may be suppos'd to have happen'd within the Compass of their own View and Observation Others have confin'd their Pens to the History of this or the other particular Monarch and from them if not manifestly under some Prejudices and Temptations either to Invective or Panegyrick we may expect the best and most comprehensive Account as far as their Subject carries them Of these I shall give the Reader as full a List as I can following the Succession down to the Union of the two Kingdoms William the First 's Conquest or Acquest of this Kingdom was a Revolution that appear'd so Great and Glorious that 't is a Wonder how we come to have so few Writers of his Story whose Labours have continu'd to this day For 't is plain our English-men have been as backward in paying this Complement to this Memory as they were in acknowledging his Title Among those that have done it William of Poictiers Pictaviensis is the largest and tho' a Foreigner and under some seeming Obligations to the King's Interests has so fairly acquitted himself as to find good Credit with the most of our Historians Archbishop Lanfranc is said to have written his Life also and he is observ'd to have been so well affected towards the English Nation tho' a Lombard himself and to have carry'd so even betwixt their New Governour and them that 't is very probable he would likewise approve himself an unbyass'd Author There 's a short Anonymous History of this Reign publish'd by Silas Taylor in the end of his Treatise of Gavel-kind He guesses the Author was a Monk of Battle-Abbey But I see no cogent Reason in the Tract it self to press such a Perswasion 'T is plain the Writer liv'd in the days of Henry the First and so might be sufficiently inform'd of the Truth of all he relates There was some time in the Library of Sir Kenelm Digby a Manuscript History of the Life and Death of the Conqueror said to have been written by Sir Walter Raleigh but my Informer reckons it amongst some other Pieces which he thinks unduly father'd upon that great Man But above all Sir William Temple has lately given us the most excellent and Judicious Account of this King's Reign and Policy the old Laws he preserv'd and the new ones he enacted his good Conduct and Success in his many Wars both in England and France several Instances of his Clemency and Wisdom c. Upon all which he makes such Reflections as become a Statesman and a Person so conversant in the Management of publick Affairs as that Author is known to have been William the Second was more Unfortunate both in his Life and Death than his Father and has also been so Unhappy as to have none to attempt the preserving his Memory in any special History that I have yet heard of Henry the First tho' he reign'd much longer than his Brother and Founded several Religious Houses in this Realm met with the like Treatment Unless we reckon Walter de Mopez's Book De Nâ—gis Curiâ—lluâ— to be something of that â—ind seeing a great many witty things relating to the History of this King are quoteâ— out of it by Mr. Camden That Author was Arch-deacon of Oxford and a Merry Good Fellow in the Reign of Henry the Second King Stephen's Memoirs were collected by Richard Prior of Hexbam whose Book is like to be preserv'd as long as the most durable of our English Records having had the Honour to make a part of the noble Edition of our Decem Scriptores Mr. Selden quotes another Anonymous Writer of his Life who seems to be a voluminous Author Henry the Second's long Contests with the haughty Archbishop Becket gave occasion to vast Numbers of Writers to engage on both sides So that we have several Pictures drawn of this King who is represented sometimes as a God and elsewhere as a Devil according as the Author favour'd the Court of England or Rome Gilbert Folioth Bishop of London who died before the end of this Reign A. D. 1187. was the earliest Stickler for the King against the Archbishop and wrote smartly in Defence of the Prerogative Royal and against the Papal and Prelatical Usurpations of those Times Will. Stephens or Fitz-Stephens the London Antiquary is said to be another Writer of this King's Life but I suspect the Truth of the Story Stow and others quote him sometimes as writing in the Reign of Henry the Second and that 's enough for Pits to conclude that he wrote his Life Prior Richard of Hexham is brought in for another as is also John Oxfordius Bishop of Norwich This last was sometime Dean of Salisbury and was certainly sent by King Henry to Rome to
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
London A. D. 1545. The year following a much greater Man of the profession Sir Thomas Eliot one of King Henry's Ambassadors and Sir Thomas Moor's Friends di'd also and left behind him a learned and judicious Commentary de rebus memorabilibus Angliae This work gain'd him the Repute of a most accomplish'd Antiquary in the opinion of J. Leland who is almost immoderate in his Praises But Humphrey Lhuyd being a little disgusted at his Prytannia could only allow him the modest Character of vir non contemnendae eruditionis Cotemporary with these two was George Lilly Son of William Lilly the famous Grammarian who liv'd sometime at Rome with Cardinal Pool and publish'd the first exact Map that ever was drawn of this Island The chief Ornament of this King's Reign was John Leland his Library-Keeper and Canon of Christ-Church of whom we shall have occasion to speak more largely elsewhere Among the many voluminous Writings he left behind him those that have any relation to the general Description of England are his Itinerary in five Volumes which J. Pits seems to have subdivided into a great many other Treatises and his Cygnea Cantio The latter of these is a Poetical Piece of Flattery or a Panegyrick on King Henry wherein the Author brings his Swan down the River of Thames from Oxford to Greenwich describing as she passes along all the Towns Castles and other places of Note within her view And the ancient Names of these being sometimes different from what the common Herd of Writers had usually given therefore in his Commentary on this Poem he Alphabetically explains his Terms and by the bye brings in a great deal of the ancient Geography of this Island Persons of greatest eminence in this sort of Learning under Queen Elizabeth were Humphrey Lhuyd John Twyne William Harrison and William Camden The first of these was born at Denbigh where he afterwards practis'd Physick and wrote many excellent Treatises He was an intimate Acquaintance of Ortelius whom he assisted in the Edition of his Ancient Geography furnishing him with Maps of England and Wales And because he therein disagreed from the opinions of some former Antiquaries in the Position of several of the old Cities Forts and Rivers he sent him also his Commentarioli Britannicae descriptionis fragmentum which gives reasons for all the uncommon Assertions he had there laid down He shews in it how imperfect all the accounts of this Island are which we have from the Roman Writers and how dark for want of a little skill in the old British Language From thence he derives most of our ancient Names and herein he is much follow'd by Camden as himself in other matters is a great follower of Leland John Twyne Schoolmaster and sometime Mayor of Canterbury was so considerable in Antiquities as to deserve a very high place among J. Leland's Worthies and appears indeed to have been a man of extraordinary Knowledge in the Histories and Antiquities of this Kingdom The only thing of his that 's publish'd is his Treatise de rebus Albionicis Britannicis atque Anglicis but his Grandson Bryan gave several other of his Manuscript Collections to Corpus Christi College in Oxford where they still remain William Harrison Chaplain to Sir William Brook Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports with great Pains and good Judgment collected A Description of the Island of Britain with a brief Rehearsal of the Nature and Qualities of the People of England and such Commodities as are to be found in the same Which in three Books has been several times printed together with R. Holinshead's Chronicle Besides these 't is said George Coryat Rector of Odcombe and Father to Tom. Coryat of famous Memory wrote a Description of England Scotland and Ireland in Latin Verse which he dedicated to Queen Elizabeth But the Glory of this Queen's Reign as well as her Successor's and the Prince of our English Antiquaries was Mr. Camden whose Life has been written at large by Dr. Smith Mr. Wood and Mr. Gibson So that I need not here mention any of its particulars His Britannia is the Book which chiefly respects the Subject of this Chapter and may honestly be styl'd the common Sun whereat our modern Writers have all lighted their little Torches In Latin it had many Editions during the Life of its Author who continually polish'd and improv'd it 'T was first translated into English by Philemon Holland who gave two Editions of it in that Language The former of these appearing while Mr. Camden himself was alive I am apt to believe with Tho. Fuller that many of the Additions and Interpolations which were then charg'd on the Translator might not only come in by the Author 's own Permission and Consent but were also placed there by his Directions and are as truly his proper Work as any other part of the Text. But in the second Holland himself frequently turns Antiquary taking upon him to correct add and explode what he pleases These Corruptions have been all noted in a late English Edition of the Work wherein 't is hoped effectual care has been taken to do the great Author all the Honour and Justice he has merited from his Countrymen Some early Attempts were made by an envious Person one Brook or Brookmonth to blast the deservedly great Reputation of this Book but they perish'd and came to nothing as did likewise the terrible Threats given out by Sir Symonds D. Ewes that he would discover Errors in every Page As little to be regarded is that scurrillous Invective which Fuller has most unworthily inserted into his Church-History a Work wherein if the Author had been capable of any such thing a Man would have expected nothing but what look'd like Truth and Gravity There is now no danger of his Suffering by the Injuries done him by Holland and I think very little from the unskilfull Epitome of the Book drawn by Vitellius a Foreigner and long since publish'd at Amsterdam To this we must here add another Work which is now generally ascribed to Mr. Camden but at first carry'd only in its Title Page the two last Letters M. N. of both his Names This is his Remains concerning Britain its Languages Names Surnames c. After 't was enlarg'd by John Philipot Somerset-Herald it has had many Impressions and has been confidently and without any Scruple father'd upon our great Antiquary There are in it a deal of good Collections touching the Languages Money Surnames and Apparel of our British and Saxon Ancestors but his List of proper Names might be considerably enlarged and corrected by what Scottelius and Mr. Gibson have written on that Subject As for his Allusions Rebus and Anagrams he himself fear'd they would pass for Foolish Fopperies and I do not care for thwarting without very good reason any of his opinions
The conceits in Impresses Apophthegms Poems Epigra msand Epitaphs are endless and therefore hardly worth registring in a Work of this Nature To our late Antiquaries Mr. Camden has been the same thing as Homer was of old to the Poets of Greece They have usually borrow'd or stoln their whole stock from him J. Speed 't is true was a Person of extraordinary Industry and Attainments in the Study of Antiquities and seems not altogether unworthy of the Name of summus eruditus Antiquarius given him by one who was certainly so himself His Maps are extremely well and make a noble Apparatus as they were design'd to his History But his Descriptions of the several Counties are mostly short Abstracts of what Camden had said before him saving only that of Norfolk which he owns tho' he is not always so civil to his chief Benefactor he had from Sir Henry Spelman I am apt to believe he was not much in Sir Henry's Debt since 't is likely the Villare Anglicum afterwards publish'd in Sir Henry's Name and said to be compos'd by him and Mr. Dodesworth was chiefly drawn out of Speed's Alphabetical Tables on the back of his Maps The like must be said of Edw. Leigh's short Treatise of England describ'd c. which is a small handfull of Gleanings out of the same common Field Of the like Complexion is a good share of Fuller's Worthies which pretends to give an account of the Native Commodities Manufactures Buildings Proverbs c. of all the Counties of England and Wales as well as of their great men in Church and State tho' this latter looks like the principal Design and makes up the greatest part of the Volume It was hudled up in hast for the procurement of some moderate profit for the Author tho' he did not live to see it publish'd It corrects many Mistakes in his Ecclesiastical History but makes more new ones in their stead The best things in it are the Catalogues of the Sheriffs and the Lists of the Gentry as they were return'd from the several Counties twelve only excepted in the 12th year of Henry the Sixth His chief Author is Bale for the Lives of his eminent Writers and those of his greatest Heroes are commonly mis-shapen Scraps mix'd with Tattle and Lyes But the boldest Plagiary in the whole pack is R. Blome the pretended Author of the mock Britannia or A Geographical Description of the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland c. a most entire Piece of Theft out of Camden and Speed Besides these Volumes in print there are many vast Bundles of Collections relating to the general Geography and Antiquities of this Nation which still remain in Manuscript and are the peculiar Treasure of our publick and private Libraries Such are those of H. Ferrers Esq a great Friend and Assistant to Mr. Camden one large Volume whereof relating to the Pedigrees of our Nobility and Gentry is now in the Heralds Office at London and others are scatter'd in private hands Many more of the like kind are referr'd to by Sir William Dugdale as those of R. Glover Jo. Hanson S. Kniveton A. Vincent Sir Hen. Spelman Sir R. St. George and others and he has also left a fair number of his own Composure which were kindly deposited by himself in his Son Ashmole's Musaeum at Oxford His Copartner Dodesworth's are in Bodley's Library We are likewise indebted to them that have been at the Expence of making Surveys of the whole Kingdom in order to the affording us more accurate Maps than those which had formerly been drawn at Random After the usefull endeavours of Saxton and Speed great Summs were expended this way by Seller and Morden at whose charges some pilfering Interlopers have set up to vend more correct Maps of England as they call them which are in nothing different from theirs but in some few changes of the Bearings of Towns new Currents of Rivers c. all of the same value and discover'd by the same Art with the Painter's Wife's Island Mr. Adams's large Map with the Contraction of it afterwards must also be acknowledg'd to be done with good Pains Judgment and Exactness 'T were to be wish'd his Index Villaris had no more Errors nor Omissions in it but we are not without hopes but that the mighty Improvements which have been made upon this by the Industrious and Learned Mr. Aubrey may shortly be published The Natural History of England was a thing never dream'd on till the Viscount of St. Albans Sir Francis Bacon began to publish his own Discoveries in Experimental Philosophy and by his great Example and Success set some lesser Heads a working 'T was this great Man who first observed to our English Philosophers that we wanted two parts in three of a just Natural History which he calls Expatiatio Naturae Ars. Under the former he ranks all the uncouth and uncommon Occurrences in Simple Nature and under the other her several Modifications and the many Useful and Instructive Discoveries that are made of Her in Arts Mechanical And yet what is it upon the whole that we have hitherto had on either of these Subjects Dr. Childrey's Britannia Baconica does promise an Historical Account of the Natural Rarities of England Scotland and Wales with Observations and Deductions answerable to the Rules laid down by the Lord Bacon But his Volume not to say a hard thing of him is manifestly too small for the performance Sir Hugh Platt's Jewel House and Dr. Merret's Pinax are also rather short Catalogues of our Natural Curiosities than just Treatises upon 'em For no such thing has yet appear'd We have indeed a pretty good stock of Materials towards the raising of such a Fabrick if we could but meet with a Judicious and Daring Architect The late Honourable and Famous Mr. Boyle has in several of his Tracts made large Discoveries of the Nature of our Frosts Snow Hail and other Meteors Our flying and creeping Insects have been carefully marshall'd and examin'd by Dr. Lister who also has notably inform'd us of the most abstruse Phoenomena in our Springs and Mineral Waters as Dr. Plott likewise has done and has reduced our Land and Sea-shells into the best Classes that are any where extant Our Fowl Fish and Quadrupeds are well Trib'd by Mr. Willughby and Mr. Râ—y. Our Earths Metals and other Fossils have been enquir'd into by Mr. Webster and others Our form'd Stones which have been strangely neglected by the Naturalists of former Ages will we hope shortly be very throughly and satisfactorily treated on by the Ingenious Dr. Woodward who by what he has already publish'd on that Subject has rather rais'd our Expectations than remov'd our Doubts We likewise expect a deal of Information in these amusing Curiosities from the Learned Mr. Edward Lhwyd who has
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
Kynder's Natural History of Derbyshire But 't is only as the Author himself there calls it a short Prolusion to an intended future History and has little in it worth the consulting or looking after P. 34. l. 12. Wantner who meeting with those Discouragements that were suitable to the Man 's busie medling in things beyond his Sphere was content to enjoy c. Nor is Corbet's Book worth the mentioning P. 37. l. 4. County But the late learned Publisher of Sir Robert's Life says 't is only probable from the great store of Collections that he had made out of Doomsday c. to that purpose that he had projected such an History He does not believe that he ever finish'd any thing of that Nature P. 50. l. 19. Spelman and was long since printed with the first Edition of his Treatise de Furoribus Norfolciensium Ketto Duce Sir Symonds D Ewes thought of making a Survey of Norfolk out of Original Deeds but we know not what Advances he had made in it P. 51. l. 9. Mr. Peter le Neve one of the Pursuivants at Arms is now preparing an accurate Description and History of this County which we hope to see published ere long Ibid. l. 10. Augustine Vincent P. 52. l. 20. For the Anonymous Author c. Read Ralph Gardiner in his England's Grievances c. Ibid. In the Notes d 40. Lond. 1655. P. 57. l. 1. Bathoniensibus as did also Dr. William Turner a famous Physician in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign P. 59. l. 12. Oxford A kind Friend of mine could not meet with them there But he tells me what is much better worth the hearing that Dr. Battely the present Arch-deacon of Canterbury has made a good Progress in the History of the Town and Abby of St. Edmondsbury I wish this Discovery of it may be a means to hasten its publishing P. 68. l. 21. The late Recorder of Heddon Mr. Christopher Hildyard which is now enlarging by Mr. Forr a Gentleman of good Industry and Abilities suitable to the Work P. 79. l. ult Historical Ballads Be that Matter as it will we ought here to observe that Sam. Beaulanius or Britannus was as himself owns Scholar to Beaulanus Presbyter who was the Genealogist and that neither of 'em liv'd in the beginning or perhaps any part of the Seventh Century Britannus as we shall see anon did certainly write Notes upon Nennius and therefore must have flourish'd after him 'T is likewise very improbable that he never medled with any of the Saxon Genealogies since in one of those Notes he says expresly Cum inutiles Magistro meo id est Beaulario it should be Beaulano Presbytero visae sunt Genealogiae Saxonum aliarum Genealogiae Gentium nolui ea scribere c. P. 81. l. 2. or nothing The most learned of the British Antiquaries agree that this Myrdhyn ap Morvryn call'd from the Country wherein he liv'd Caledonius and Sylvestris from his Humour of leading a retir'd Life in the Woods wrote a Poem call'd Avalleneu or the Apple-Trees to his Lord Gwendholen ap Keidio who was slain in the Battel of Arderith in the Year 577. Some Fragments of this Poem were found at Hengwrt in Meiriondyshire the last Summer by Mr. Lhwyd who very probably conjectures that from hence he had the Surname of Avalonius If so there 's a happy Discovery made of one of the many foolish Impostures of the old Monks of Glassenbury who to secure this famous Prophet to themselves have made King Arthur's Tomb and their own Monastery to stand in Insulâ Avallonia P. 82. In the Notes d 80. Lond. 1525. Basil. 1541. 120. Lond. 1568. Inter Orthodoxographa Patrum c. Angl. 120. Lond. 1638. P. 84. l. penult Mervini Regis Though here also there seems to be some Mistake For the first Mervin dy'd in the Year 843. and the second did not begin to reign till 885. It 's therefore most probable that the Words ought to be read Anno 828. Anno 40. Mervini Regis P. 85. l. 10. to Gildas John Leland mentions an ancient Copy of this History which he says he borrow'd from his Friend Thomas Solme Secretary for the French Tongue to King Henry the Eighth in the Margin whereof were the Additions of Sam. Beaulanius or Britannus He has transcribed several of these Marginal Annotations which it appears were afterwards inserted in the Body of the History and are so publish'd by Dr. Gale The Doctor indeed in his Notes mentions Samuel as the Scholiast upon his Bennet Copy but Leland has a great many other things as Excerpta out of Beulanius which are not there observ'd to be only in the Scholion There is also in Bodley's Library a MS. of this Nennius which cannot be less than 500 Years old wherein the Prefaces and all those Interpolations which are by Leland said to be this Samuel's are wanting P. 88. l. 11. His Reign It appears indeed from the Preface of this Hoel's Laws in most of the Latin and Welsh Copies that Blegorede or Blegwrt was one of the Commissioners appointed to draw up that Code or Abstract and 't is also probable seeing he was the only Ecclesiastick amongst them that he penn'd it But whether he did it in the Latin or British Tongue is wholly uncertain Ibid. l. 17. Augusto 1600. Sir William Dugdale reckons up seven Manuscript Collections of the old British Laws besides those we have aloeady mention'd As 1. Kyfnerth ap Morgan 2. Gronu vab Moreddig 3. Lhyfr hen y tuy Gwyn 4. Gwair mab Ruon 5. Lhyfr Prawf 6. Prawfyneit a Collection he says out of the four first 7. Lhyfr Kyghawssed The third of these is undoubtedly the same with Howel's Dha's as will easily appear from the Title of those Laws All the rest whereof the fifth and sixth seem to be the same are now at Hengwrt except only the fourth which is suppos'd to be in the hands of Sir William Williams amongst Mr. Maurice's MSS. There we are likewise to enquire for that eminent Antiquary's Dedhf-grawn or Thesaurus Juridicus wherein are the various Readings of above thirty ancient Copies of the British Laws To which we may possibly add the Liber Cardiffe being a Treatise upon the ancient Customs of Wales in the Welsh Language P. 96. l. 6. Sheringham who is always very loath if it c. P. 99. l. ult same Subject J. Bale makes Will. Caxton write King Arthur 's History in no less than One and twenty several Books which if they could have been found might have sav'd Rich. Robinson the trouble of translating Leland 's Assertio into English P. 100. l. ult Williams The foremention'd learned Primate made also some choice Collections in his Retirement at St. Donate 's relating to the British Antiquities which were afterwards in the hands of Dr. Parr his Grace's Chaplain And from the like Helps in the Library at Llantarnam Mr. Percie Enderby
collected his Cambria Triumphans or Ancient and Modern British and Welsh Histories from Brute to Charles the First Nic. Allen's Britanneis ten Books whereof are now in MS. in Bodley's Library comes no lower than the Conquest P. 107. l. 4. from the time of Claudius to that of Valentinian about five hundred he should say four hundred years the c. P. 104. * l. 20. Bodley 's Library But the Transcript of it in eleven Volumes at the Charge of the late pious Bishop Fell is not in the Musaeum Ashmoleanum as Dr. Hickes was inform'd P. 111. l. 20. Laur. Nowel P. 121. l. 19. the matter But I do know that there was a short Life of this great King publish'd by R. Powel a Lawyer who has been at no contemptible Pains to make up a Parallel betwixt Aelfred and Charles the First P. 128. l. 12. put together A short Chronicle of our English-Saxon Kings from Hengist to the end of the Heptarchy was written in Latin by Dan. Langhorn whose chief Authors are those publish'd by Sir Hen. Savil and Sir Roger Twisden He had formerly given us the Antiquities of this Island previous to the Arrival of the Saxons wherein amongst other Remains of those dark Times we have a Catalogue of the Pictish King 'T is said that the Continuation of this History is much desir'd by Learned Men And 't is pity but the Author if yet living should be prevail'd with to gratifie them P. 139. l. 15. Wormius 's use P. 140. l. 14. own Nation Some part of this fell happily into the hands of Tho. Bartholine 's Friend the Bishop of Scalholt who took care to have it printed A. D. 1689. P. 152. l. 23. Galfredi But in this I dare not be positive Leland saw this Author 's entire History which ended Anno 29 Hen. 1. He has made Collections out of it wherein as in some other Passages cited by R. Higden there are several things not found in Jeoffrey Which considering withal that Aelfred may probably be reckon'd as early a Writer as himself is one of the most cogent Arguments as far as I know to prove that this Monmouth was not the first Author of the whole British Story P. 159. l. 17. Judgment enough So much Encouragement we have to look after the whole that we are sure Leland had the perusal of an entire Copy the Prologue whereof he has transcrib'd as likewise many following Passages relating to the Affairs of the Britains and Saxons Ibid. l. ult Blockhead 'T is to be fear'd we shall hardly meet with this History till we find the Historian himself which is more than either Bishop Godwine or Mr. Wharton could do amongst the Bishops of Durham P. 161. l. 3. temporum Indices And indeed Leland himself was afterwards of the like Opinion For in his Book de Scriptoribus he says nothing of his being a Plagiary but gives him this great Character Mortuo Henrico Rege sc. ejus nominis secundo omne studium suum ad Historiam scribendam contulit in quo Negotio si diligentiam si Antiquitatis cognitionem si sanctam fidem spectes non modo quotquot seculis rudibus quidem praecesserunt Scriptores verum etiam seipsum superavit P. 163. l. 3. Library This British Chronicle is probably the same that 's printed by Dr. Gale and seems to be wholly transcrib'd out of the Works of a former Author whom he calls Brome This may be the same with Jo. Bromius or Bramus quoted sometimes by Dr. Caius and Franc. Thynne but must be different from Jo. Bramis the Friar of Gorleston with whom he is confounded by Bale and Pits because the Friar did not flourish till 1440. and the Historian must live before Ralph de Diceto and was moreover as Thynne observes a Monk of Thetford P. 164. l. 19. the Fourth Here likewise notice ought to be taken of Joh. Wallingford's Chronicle publish'd by Dr. Gale if the Abbot of St. Albans of that name who dy'ds in the Year 1214. was as the learned Editor guesses the Author of it But he seems to be a different Person from the Historian who carries down his Work forty years after the Abbot's Death The Doctor indeed makes R. Wendover Author of the latter Part of that History But if he had look'd into the next Treatise to this Chronicle in the Cottonian MS. from whence he had it he would have met with another John Wallingford who was made Monk of St. Alban's in the Year 1231. and so might bring down the History till 1258. without the Assistance of Wendover P. 172. l. 15. flourish'd Or it may be the Chronicle that was written by John de Taxston a Monk of Bury which ends at the Reign of Edw. 3. is the same thing with these Annals John de Oxenedes a Monk of Hulm mention'd by Mr. Wharton liv'd about the same time P. 175. l. 7. Years more 'T is probable the Chronicle of Joh. Londinensis who liv'd about the same time is still extant For 't is quoted in Lambard's Preface to his Archaionomia and among R. James's Collections there are several things extracted out of it P. 184. l. 21. To these we may probably add the Author of the MS. Eulogium who begins his Work at Bruâ—e and ends at the Year 1367. The beginning of the Book 't is likely may be Nennius's but the rest seems to have been penn'd by a Monk of Canterbury by his calling St. Thomas Becket his Patron P. 194. l. 23. the Year 1530. P. 185. * l. 15. their Countrey Bale reports that Sir Brian Tuke wrote a Chronicle purposely to vindicate the Honour of the English Nation against those Aspersions which Virgil had cast upon it in this History P. 190. * l. 2. and others To these we may add two Poetical Historians of this Age Chr. Ocland who wrote Anglorum praelia in Latin Verse and Will. Warner an English Rhimer Author of the Romantick Story of Albion's England in twelve Books containing the Occurrences of our Land from Noah to the 39th of Queen Elizabeth P. 194. * l. 19. Queen Elizabeth Cotemporaries with these were John Clapham Edward Ayscue and Will. Slatyer the first whereof left us the History of Great Britain the second that of the Wars Treaties and Marriages with Scotland and the third his Palae-Albion in ten Books of Latin and English Verse P. 198. l. 9. Arms c. 3. Dr. R. Brady's Complete History of England wherein he endeavours to prove and no Man ever did it more effectually that all our adored Liberties are deriv'd from the Crown and owing to the Concessions of our Princes He shews that the Normans themselves weary of the Tenure of Knight-Service and other Drudgeries of the Feudal Law rais'd all our old Civil Commotions in England And that no ancient Rights and Properties of the Subject were any part of the true
to counterfeit Acts when they have none that are true Mr. Wheloâ— quotes an old Saxon Schedule of the endowments of our ancient Monasteries before the Conquest which he says is in the same Volume with King Aelfred's Paraphrastical version of Bede's History in the Cottonian Library and yet the learned Publisher of the Catalogue of those Manuscripts takes no notice of any such Tract in the place where if at all it ought to have been mention'd We are also told of an Historical Account of the Benedictines in England from King Edgar's time to the Conquest which is as high as that Order could be traced in this Kingdom For whatever may be argued to the contrary 't is very plain that our first Saxon Monks knew nothing of St. Bennet's Rule but lived under the Discipline brought from Ireland which was very much different from what was afterwards introduced by St. Dunstan If Augustine himself was of this Order and planted it at Canterbury which is much questioned by very Learn'd Men 't is demonstrable the Rules were soon forgotten or laid aside even in the southern Parts of the Island and in the North Columbanus and the Men of Hy were the Founders of all our Monastic Schemes After the Norman Invasion we had several Members of particular Monasteries that apply'd themselves to write the Histories of their own Houses but few that had any such concern for the Honour of their Orders in general The first I can hear of was Henry Crump a Cistertian Monk about the Year 1380 and Dr. of Divinity in the University of Oxford who wrote an Account of the Foundation of all the Monasteries of England from the time of St. â—irin the first Bishop of Dorchester down to that of Bishop 〈◊〉 But 't is to be fear'd this is now lost since it could not be found by one whom hardly any thing of that kind could escape After him John Boston a Monk of St. Edmondsbury who will be remember'd hereafter on another Occasion Collected the Histories of the Foundations of his own and some other Religious Orders which I suppose was done in those three Books which bore the Title of Speculum Coenobitarum The next Writer on this Subject was William Buttoner who is also named Buttonius and William of Worcester who is said to have written De Civitatibus Monasteriis Abbatiis deque Longitudine Latitudine eorum which Treatise we are assured is in the Library of Bennet College I am very confident that the Topographical Description of England which has been already mention'd in the first part is the whole of this Gentleman's Labours and that this Treatise has been sub-divided into 〈◊〉 deal of lesser Tracts such as his Itinerary of Bristol History of Osney c. by the same Powers that sliced the Man himself into three several Authors Sir Henry Savile did certainly make a draught of a future History of the English Monasteries but is supposed to have laid aside those Thoughts upon John Speed's intermixing something of that Nature in his General History The Annual Revenues of the Abbies c. in Speed were had from Sir Robert Cotton whose Copy has a double Valuation of computed and clear Profits whereof the former is only given by Speed and the latter by Dugdale The Reason why the former of these Writers is so frequently mistaken in assigning the right Counties to the several Monasteries was because he follow'd the List brought in by Cromwell's Commissioners who were chiefly sollicitous in learning the Value and Income without being too nice in the Topographical part of their Account This is what we have from a very learn'd Pen To which let me add what another worthy Person who has been very happy in his searches into these Matters has further told us That Catalogue he observes was drawn up by William Burton out of Leland's Papers and the Original Book of Valuations which Book differs indeed from that ancient Copy which Sir William Dugdale transcrib'd from the Cottonian Library Nor are these to be reconcil'd by deducting of Reprises as appears from the History of those in Dugdale's Warwickshire where all those common Burthens of Pensions Corrodies Alms c. are summ'd up so that he inclines to the Opinion that there were several Rates taken of our Monasteries upon various Surveys and at different Times especially since he meets with some Valuations in Leland's Notes that will not agree with either of these Richard Broughton who has been once remember'd before wrote a small Book of indigested Tales which he entitl'd Monasticon Britannicum or A Historical Narration of the first Founding and flourishing State of the Ancient Monasteries Religious Rules and Orders of Great Britain in the Times of the Britains and Primitive Church of the Saxons c. This was printed a dozen Years after the Death of the Author by some of his Friends so that 't is probable we have it much more imperfect than he intended and in such an unfinish'd Condition as the mistaken Kindness of Executors too frequently send things abroad The same Year was publish'd the First Volume of the famous Monasticon Anglicanum to which a Second and Third were afterwards added The two former of these were as the Title-Pages will inform us owing to the joint Labours of Sir Will. Dugdale and Mr. Dodsworth who had also the Assistance of a great many other eminent Antiquaries and Well-wishers to our English History These were indeed chiefly the Work of R. Dodsworth whose Father was Register at York and Dugdale had only so much share in it Vt Authoris alterius Titulum optime meritus sit as Sir John Marsham expresses it That is as the Oxford-Antiquary explains it to us He took care in the Methodizing and Publishing of them in Correcting the Sheets at the Press and in Composing very useful Indexes Accordingly tho' Dodsworth was dead before the printing of the First Volume yet he has the glory given him in the Title of the principal Author of both Tomes The former of these gives us the Records of the Benedictine Monasteries and their Off-spring the Cluniacenses Cistertians and Carthusians And the latter affords those of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine Hospitalers Templars Gilbertines Praemanstratenses and the Maturines or Trinitarians We have in them the Remains of all those Orders digested into a good Method without any thing intermix'd either by the Collector or Publisher The Latin Pieces are printed off exactly as they found them and those in Saxon as also Leland's English Notes were translated by Will. Somner The Collector ought to be reckon'd amongst those worthy Benefactors to the Publick that have made it their Business to preserve our ancient Historians such as Twisden Fell Gale c. Great and many are the Advantages which all the several Branches of our History not only in Ecclesiastical but Civil and Martial Occurrences will derive from this