THE ENGLISH Historical Library OR A Short View and Character Of most of the WRITERS Now Extant either in Print or Manuscript Which may be Serviceable to the Undertakers of a General History of this Kingdom By WILLIAM NICOLSON A. M. Arch-Deacon of Carlisle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Lucian de Conscrib Hist. LONDON Printed for Abel Swall and T. Child at the Unicorn in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCVI TO THE Most Reverend Father in God JOHN By Divine Providence Lord Arch-Bishop of YORK Primate and Metropolitan of ENGLAND MY LORD INstead of prefixing so great a Name to the following Papers I had thoughts of craving Your Grace's Patronage for some others which more nearly relate to the Affairs of Your own Province But I know not how these have gotten the start and tho' I may for the present have some Reason to vary my Subject I hope I may be allow'd to put those also under Your Protection hereafter I am deeply sensible of my own Insufficiency to perfect what is here begun without such Assistances as Your Grace above all others can best afford me My great distance from Libraries and the narrowness of my Acquaintance with our English Historians will render my best Performances very scanty and imperfect Yet if the Design be approv'd and meet with acceptance abroad I shall not despair of such helps as will rectify all my mistakes and supply the defects of this first Essay To this purpose I now humbly offer it to Your Grace's View and Censure being very ready to acknowledge all your Corrections as so many Particular Obligations and Honours conferr'd upon MY LORD YOUR GRACE's Most dutiful Son and Servant WILL. NICOLSON THE PREFACE A General History of this Kingdom is what our learned Men begin now so sensibly to want and so earnestly to desire that I do not question but Attempts will be made to gratify the prevailing Humour of the Times Though to me I confess the Prospect is a little discouraging Since the due observance of all the Rules which Lucian Father Le Moyne and others have laid down for the carrying on of such a work require so many Accomplishments that I am very much of the Jesuits opinion that their Historian is a Man not yet born nor will be before the year that discovers the perpetual motion and Philosopher's Stone 'T is not enough they tell us that he be what the Incomparable Translatour of Polybius observes of his Author a Soldier a Statesman and a Philosopher but he must be also a Divine a Lawyer an Oratour a Poet and a downright honest Countrey-Gentleman At least he must be plentifully stock'd with Wit or an Universal Disposition and unbounded Spirit that comprehends all that 's Great and Glorious in the several States and Empires of the whole World To these Intellectual Endowments we must add the great Moral one of his being Philalethes a Person of that just Integrity as not to be byass'd by Passion or Interest A Learned Writer has very lately observ'd That Private Affections ought not to accompany works of such a Publick Nature and yet how difficult a Lesson this is to Flesh and Blood himself has fairly shewn us when in the same Page he sticks not to affirm that his late Patron left more Collections of his own hand-writing than perhaps any Man either of this or the last Age ever did write So that for my share I know not where to look for this fine Person this Nonesuch of a Man who alone it seems is qualify'd to write a General History We have lately indeed had Proposals for the speedy publishing of an entire History of this Nation But I extremely suspect the Author when he appears abroad will not be able to stand this Test. The very Title of his Book which promises to bring down our Story from the Flood looks so like a Iest that I cannot but fear that we shall not have Alloy enough to qualify the mighty strain of Poetry that will run thorough the whole Work What Advances might be made this way by Leland Bale or Josceline I know not but I think all three of 'em have discover'd such frailties in themselves and such defects in their writings as are hardly consistent with the being able to finish an Vndertaking of this kind Nor do I at all believe Dr. Gale's great Mr. Selden to have been a Man of Accomplishments sufficient for such a Performance and I fansie the learned Doctor himself will be of my opinion when he has carefully perus'd his Preface to the Decem Scriptores his Spicilegium to Eadmerus and his Janus Anglorum Camden bewails the rashness and folly of his own Attempting such a Matter and seems to acknowledge that 't was Imprudence and want of thought which in his younger daies had led him into the Sare Mr. Milton and Sir William Temple design'd only to write Abridgments of our English Story and therefore they do not expect that what they have drawn up for a View of the Times before the Conquest should be receiv'd as a Complete General History even for so far as it reaches Their beating through these rough and dark ways of the Journey appears to be done in so much haste and affords so slender a Discovery of the road that it looks like the Tale of a Man in a fright one that has been scared with dismal Apprehensions of meeting with most monstrous Sprites and Hobgoblins in the Shades and Night he had pass'd thorough Before therefore I can have any tolerable hopes of seeing a work of this Grandeur carry'd on with success and to the purpose I must hear of its being undertaken by a Clubb of Men of Parts and Learning some whereof are Masters of our ancient Languages and others of the Modern Some vers'd in the Writings of the old Britains Romans Saxons and Danes and others thoroughly acquainted with the Historians since the Conquest some that know the Geography and others the Law of the Realm some that have been bred at Court and others in the Camp c. Nor would I have this Society to consist of such as the Bookseller only should assure me were Persons of these very Characters but I could wish it might be an Engagement mutually and generously enter'd into by Men of Leisure and Fortune as additional Accomplishments over and above all that we have mention'd Or else let me hope to see a College of Historians as Nobly endow'd here as that of the Antiquaries is in Sweden where the President has a yearly Salary allow'd him of six hundred Crowns and each of his Assessors three hundred When these Gentlemen have agreed on and finish'd their several Tasks they ought to be carefully perus'd by every particular Member of the Society as well as by him whose peculiar Province it shall be to inspect and supervise the whole To serve this imaginary Fraternity I have drawn together the following Papers which give the
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
Cotton Sir Rob. 21. 37 44 210 225. Sir John 21. 23 33. Sir Tho. 35. Mr. 31. Couper Cowper 188. * Cheek 227. Chiswel 29. 〈◊〉 Clarendon 171. 181 182. Craig 151. 190 * Crew 27. S. Cuthbert 102. Darcy 231. Daniel 35. 117 193 * Danish Histories 129. 142. Monuments 134. 135. 144. Davies 77. 96. Devisiensis 157. 205 206 208. Digby 202. Doderidge 21 28 29 62. Dodesworth 16. 55 59 69. Dadwel 104. 196. Doilie 50. Dugdale 15. 16 22 26 44 49 53 63. 23. 24 105. Ealred 124. 154 155. Edda 137. 138 139. Essebiensis 158. 165. Ethelwerd 122 c. Ewes 11. 59 171. S. D' Ewes Fabian 46. 111 192. Fairfax 68. Fell 15. 101 104 218. Florilegus 171. 180. Fox 118. Fresne 106. Fuller 11. 12 14 27 31 32 50 183 192 * 222 231. Gale 16 c. 2. 3 29 83 121 163 173 177 207 212. Gibson 23. 24 39 49 114 116. Gildas 73. 81 c. 85. 87. 16. Grafton 189. * Grey 52. 92 98. Glover 15. Hall 189. * Hanson 15. Harding 125. 189. Harley 36. Harpesfield 225. Harrison 8. 190 * Hatton 23. Hemmingford 18. 176 212. Herald 's Office 21 23. R. of Hexham 203. 204. Heylin 13. Higden 176. 184. Hickes 24. 26 100 101 104. Hobbes 31. Holinshead 32. 190 * Hooker 32. 191 * Howard 14. 215. Howes 192. * 215. Huntingdon 120. 155. Hypercritica 12. James 22. 35. Jessop 20. Ingulfus 24. 148. Johnson 20. 45 57. Jonas 133. 140 142 142. Josseline 8. 12 83 101 103 114. Iscanus 206. 207. Junius 23. 101 103 104 111. 112. Kelton 61. 67 99. Kennet 35. 39 25 54 117. Keurden 41. 42. Kilburn 37. 39. Kniveton 15. Lambard 37. 100 111 112 117 127 168. Lanquet 188. * Laud 23. 114. Lawson 20. Leland 7. 8 37 72 77 78 83 90 91 98 122 124 164 207. Leicester 27 28. Lhuid 8. 20 62 75 80 97 186 186 * Lhwyd 92. 96. Lilie 6. 189 * Lister 18. 20 68. Mackenzy 155. Malmesbury 123. 124 152 177. Malory 98. Manwaring 28. Marianus 122. 148 149 150. Marshal 101. 102 127. Martia 87. Martyn 194. * Medals 90. Middleton 78. Milton 9. Molmutius 81. 87. Monmouth 85. 94 152 158 164. More 189. 211. Morgan 61. 77. Nash 50. 51. Nennius 16 84 85 88 95. Neubrigensis 24. 98 157. Niger 158. 165. Norden 29. 33. 36 39 45. Northcot 31. 32. Nowel 111. Olaus Magnus 139. Oldenburg 101. Oxoniensis 208. Paris 14. 24 165 180. Parker 14. 119. 188. Philpot 12. 37 39. Pettus 94. Pistorius 149. Pits 83. Plot 18. 20 45 53 54 58 93. Powel 60. 86 88 96 97 158. Ptolemy 2. 17. Rastal 188. * Reiner 38. Resenius 138. Rhese 76. 88. Risdon 31. 32. Rishanger 166. 173 211. Ross 64. 183 192. Soemund 137. 138. Saint George 16. Sammes 65. 101. Samothes 81. Sanderson 53. Savil 15. 105 123 155 160 185 * Saxo 131. 139 142 143. Saxton 16. Selden 8. 15 22 23 59 103 126 151 155 163 199. Sheringham 13. 87 96 126 127. Simpson 70. Sleidan 186. Somner 37. 38 40 41 105 106 108 101 103 104 112 116 117 126 127. Speed 13. 16 194 * Spelman 13. 16 49 50 86 106 105 108 112 120 121 124 129 160. Stephens 45. Stillingfleet 80. 99. Stow 46. 47 191 * 215. Sueno 142 143. Surita 17. Sylvius 81. Taylor 33. 36 40 79 202. Temple 9. 99 147 202. Tenison 24. Thynne 190 * Thoresby 69. 199. Tilburiensis 157. 164. Tinmuthensis 178. Todd 30. Towneshend 230. 231. Trussel 35. 194 * Turner 33. 229. Turpin 188. * Twisden 15. 106. 163. Twyne 8. 9 40. Virgil 82. 98 185 * Vincent 16. 23 51. Vinesauf 207 208. Vndallensis 124. Vossius 221. Vsher 15. 82 83 97 100 117 199. Walsingham 14. 119 188 219 231. Wats 106. 124. Waverley 18. Westcot 31. 32. Westminster 14 116. 167 179. Wharton 12. 19 c. 40 61 103 110 116 163 171 172 199 205. Wheloc 21 106 114 116. White 193. * Whitgift 191. * Wikes 118. 172. Williams 73. 77. Wolf 191. * Wood 54. 57 68 102. Woolsey 194. Worcester 14. 116 120 149. Wormius 129. 135 139 142 144. Wyrley 23. 'T is to be noted that in this additional Index References are not only made to the Book it self but also to the Preface which is suppos'd to be Paged from the Title-Page The other Errors and Defects are thus to be corrected and supply'd P. 2. l. 13. Reckoning Nor ought any thing that has been transcrib'd from them by Strabo or Pomponius Mela by Solinius or Pleny to carry any higher Value P. 4. l. 26. Most of them I Leland says he once saw in the Library at St. Paul's a Description of England written in the Saxon Tongue by Coleman who if he be the the same Man with Colemannus Monk of Worcester the Writer of St. Wulstan's Life may justly challenge a Precedence Otherwise Gyraldus c. P. 13. l. 6. This Nature With this fancyful Treatise let me join Mich. Drayton's Poly-Olbion which affords a much truer Account of this Kingdom and the Dominion of Wales than could well be expected from the Pen of a Poet. The first eighteen of these Songs had the Honour to be publish'd with Mr. Selden's Notes the other twelve being hardly capable of such a respect P. 15. l. 11. and Speed Mr. Ogilby design'd a most Noble Description of England in Three Volumes the first whereof which only is publish'd contains an Ichnographical and Historical Account of all our great Roads on 100 large Copper Cuts The second was to have given us the like View of our Cities and the third should have afforded us a Topographical Description of the whole Kingdom P. 16. l. 7. Library Sir John Marsham Junior lately deceas'd took good Pains in writing an Historical List of all the Burroughs in England which send Members to the Parliament This Work was just finish'd upon the Death of its Author and is now ready for the Press in the hands of his Brother Sir Robert Marsham P. 18. l. 8. Performance There are two small Tracts about our English Mastiffs and other extraordinary Animals as well as Plants written by Dr. Caius which are printed with his Treatise de Libris propriis P. 25. l. 13. before mention'd In which Work he told us he design'd a more complete History of these and that he had made Collections in order to it These Collections are now in his Musaeum at Oxford where there are also very considerable Materials of his own gathering for a General History of Berkshire P. 26. l. 5. Kingdom A Catalogue of the indigenous Plants of Cambridgeshire was long since publish'd by the learned Mr. Ray augmented afterwards by Mr. Stone-street and Mr. Dent. There is also a Manuscript-History of this County by Mr. Laire of Shephred near Royston whose Son intends to deposite it in some of the College-Libraries at Cambridge P. 31. l. 13. Jones There 's a MS. in the Musaeum at Oxford which bears the Title of Phil.
finding many Passages in it not touch'd on by other Writers and others differently related had once Thoughts of publishing it with a Translation and Notes of his own But being afterwards acquainted that Dr. Brady had written the Life of this King and knowing that nothing could escape the Diligence of that Historian he lay those Thoughts aside Here rather than it should be wholly forgotten let me put the Reader in mind of the elegant History of our old Civil Wars written in Italian by Sir Francis Biondi of the Bed-Chamber to King Charles the First and translated into English by the Earl of Monmouth Ibid. l. ult too Dramatical This Piece is certainly the least liable to that Censure of any this Author ever wrote being the most elaborate of all his Works and what looks like a part of what he design'd for a just History But the little that 's published should rather be entitl'd the Reign of Richard the Second since it reaches no farther than his Death and the Settlement of his Successor in the Throne P. 218. l. 14. their hands There 's a very fair Ms. in Bodley's Library entitl'd a Translation of Titus Livius 's Life of K. Hen. V. dedicated to Hen. VIII But 't is more truly a History of that Prince's Life compiled out of a French Book call'd Enquerrant which of all the French Chronicles is said to treat most copiously of the Wars betwixt England and France and out of Titus Livius To which Book says the Author or Translator in the Prologue I have added divers Sayings of the English Chronicles and to the same Matter also divers other Opinions that I have read of the Report of a certain Honourable and Ancient Person and that is the Honourable Earl of Ormond There are likewise two several Lives of this King in Cotton's Libary whereof the one was written by Tho. Elmham Prior of Lenton and the other by an Anonymous Author Fran. Thynne in the Conclusion of Holinshead's Chronicle mentions one by Roger Wall a Herald P. 220. l. 10. Original Dr. John Herd was employ'd by the great Lord Burleigh to write the History of England during the Reigns of Edw. IV. V. Rich. III. and Henry VII which he did in Latin Verse and his Book is still extant in several hands P. 222. l. ult his Client They that are dissatisfyd with any Passages in this Book may have recourse to a Copy corrected and amended in every Page P. 223. l. 7. Throne He is mightily extoll'd by Bern. Andreas of Tholouse his Poet Laureat and Historiographer who has written two good Volumes on the most eminent Transactions of his Reign P. 228. l. 20. do it A slender historical Account of Wiat's Rebellion was publish'd by one John Proctor School-Master of Tunbridge who for any thing I have yet learn'd must be look'd upon as the only particular Historian of this Reign P. 232. l. 5. good value There are several other Treatises which will be useful in furnishing out a complete View of her long and prosperous Reign As 1. Eliza or the Life and Troubles of Queen Elizabeth from her Cradle to her Crown by Tho. Heywood 2. Elizabetha or a Panegyrick on the most considerable Occurrences of her Reign in Latin Verse by Chr. Ocland 3. The Felicity of her Time by Sir Francis Bacon 4. Sir Dudley Digge's Compleat Ambassador containing all the Letters Instructions Memoirs c. relating to the French Match with that Queen 5. Some good Materials may be had from the Itinerary of F. Moryson Secretary to the Lord Montjoy General and Governour of Ireland They are given us in that useful Method which is now generally allow'd to be the most pleasing and instructive giving us at large all those Original Evidences whereby the Author justifies his Narrative 6. Sir John Hayward acquaints us likewise that he presented Prince Henry with some Years of this Queen's Reign drawn at length and in full proportion But these I think were never publish'd 7. Dr. Barth Clerke Dean of the Arches was put upon the writing of her History by my Lord Buckhurst and he seems to have been every way fit for the Undertaking But whether he might not afterwards be prevented by Death or Mr. Camden's engaging in the same Design I know not These are the chief of those Errors and Defects that have either been remark'd by others or hitherto observ'd by my self in the former part There are several others of lesser Note which an intelligent Reader will easily correct without my Directions As particularly the frequent References to some following Chapters which are here digested in a different manner than was at first projected They that have any Acquaintance with the Drudgery of preparing Books for the Publick View know very well how apt an Undertaking of this kind is to grow upon the Author's hand and how little 't is we see of our Work when we first begin to engage in it With these I shall need no Apology and the rest must excuse me if I make none I am now in haste And can only stay to tell them that I have as many Papers that treat on our Law-Books Records c. so far as they are serviceable to History all which I once thought to have crowded into a Chapter or two as will furnish out a Third Part if they and the Bookseller think it worth their while to call for it For the present I am resolv'd to keep my self within the Verge of the Church and shall only in this Second Part give the Reader the best Account I can of our Ecclesiastical Historians in the following Chapters 1. Of the Affairs of the British Church 2. Historians of the English-Saxon Church from the coming in of Augustine the Monk to the Conquest 3. Church-Historians from the Conquest to the Reformation 4. Histories of the Reformation and our Church-Affairs to the End of Queen Elizabeth's Reign 5. Accounts of our Bishops in general and their several Sees 6. Lives of particular Bishops and other eminent Church-men 7. Histories Chronicles Cartularies c. of our Ancient Monasteries 8. Histories of our Universities and Writers CHAP. I. Of the Writers of the Affairs of the British Church IF Gildas had cause to complain That in treating of the Civil History of Britain he had no Assistance from any Monuments or Records of his own Country but was forced to seek his whole Information from Forreigners they that take upon them to write the Church-History of the first British Christians will find themselves much more oblig'd to Strangers and must look abroad for their Intelligence 'T was Happiness enough to enjoy the Gospel-Light as long as the Heathen Romans were our Masters without the rejoycing in it so openly as to have had our Publick Notaries registring the Acts of our Councils Convocations and Synods even amongst such of our Ancestors as had at once learn'd to write and to obey And they
Wiltshire was put to death for his Gratitude and Loyalty to his lawful Sovereign and kind Master Richard the Second by Henry the Fourth against whom he conspir'd with the Earl of Northumberland and others His Declaration against the said Henry giving his Reasons why he cannot submit to his Government has been lately Publish'd as is likewise Clement Maydestone's History of his Martyrdom Cardinal Wolsey's purple will give him a rank with the greatest of our Prelates how mean soever the Circumstances of his Birth and Parentage may have been and the Figure that he made in the State as well as the Church during his Rule and Government rather than Ministry in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth very justly challeng'd the pains of a special Historian Such was Cavendish his menial Servant who was also in good esteem with that King He has left us an impartial Account of his Master's Life which has had several Editions Dr. Burnet quotes a MS. Copy different from what we have in Print And so does the Lord Herbert but whether this be not the same with the former I know not We have another History of his Life and Death in elegant Verse by Tho. Storer who was a Student of Christ-Church and dy'd a famous Poet in the Year 1604. They that know how many of our Bishops before the Reformation not to mention other inferiour Dignitaries of the Church bore the grand Offices of Chancellours Treasurers Judges c. will readily believe that most of those left such Memoirs as might easily have been fram'd into very exquisite Histories of their Lives And yet our Monks to whom the Trust of writing all our Historis was usually committed were so much Strangers to Affairs of this Nature that we rarely find any thing among them that looks this way Their Business was to pick up or invent as many amazing Stories as they could of the Exemplary Courage of some choice Prelates in asserting the Papal Usurpations of their extraordinary Sanctity of their Benefactons to some Church or Monastery of their Miracles c. And with such Narratives as these we shall find the Lives of most of the following Prelates are Stuff'd and Glutted That of Gundulf Bishop of Rochester by a Monk of that Church his intimate Acquaintance is the earliest of these and the rebuilding of the Cathedral the Enlargement of the Monastery and the Foundation of the Hospital at Chatham were Acts of Piety that very well deserv'd such a Respect The like was done for Robert de Betun Bishop of Hereford by his Chaplain and Successor in the Priory of Lanthony William de Wycumb who had a very noble Subject for the two Books he has left us if we may believe William of Malmesbury He pretends to have known this Robert very well and assures us that he was the most familiarly entertain'd at the Court of Rome of any of our Bishops of that Age. We have only a Fragment of Gyraldus Cambrensis's Life of Hugh Nonant of Norwich and such as is hardly worth the mentioning He is somewhat more copious in his History of the Six chief Bishops of his own Age to which we may add the Three Books he wrote De rebus a se gestisâ— since he was at least Bishop Elect of St. David's Robert Grostest of Lincoln was a Prelate of great Worth a mighty Stickler against the prevailing Crime of Symony and the modish Appeals to Rome and we have a full History of his Life by Richard a Monk of Barden or Burton in Hartfordshire and another Anonymous Writer We have also a Letter from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's for his Canonization But it appears from many of his own Writings that his Request was not like to be granted notwithstanding the fair Caresses that he had from the Pope who fear'd him more than he lov'd him in his Life-time William of Wickham the great Founder of two famous Colleges in Oxford and Winchester could not avoid the having his Benefits carefully Register'd by some of those that daily tasted of the Sweets of them And indeed there have been several of those who have thus paid their grateful Acknowledgments to his Memory The first of 'em I think was Tho. Chaundler sometime Warden of New-College who wrote the Founder's Life by way of Dialogue in a florid and good Stile This is contracted by the Author himself as is suppos'd into a Couple of Pages together with which is publish'd a piece of his larger Colloquy wherein he touches upon the Life of his Patron Tho. Bekinton Bishop of Bath and Wells He commends this latter Prelate's Skill in the Civil Law but says nothing of what won the Heart of King Henry the Sixth his writing against the Salic Law of France The next Writer of Wickham's Life was Dr. Martyn Chancellour of Winchester under Bishop Gardiner who had the greatest part of his Materials out of Chaundler's Book After him Dr. Johnson sometime Fellow of New-College as well as the two former and afterwards Master of Winchester-School gave a short view of their Founder in Latin Verse which being a small thing of it self has been several times Printed with other Tracts Bishop Godwine is censur'd for having a little unfairly borrow'd the Account he gives us of this Prelate's Life one of the best in his Book from Mr. Josseline without taking any notice of his Benefactor Henry Spencer Bishop of Norwich a more proper Officer for a Camp than a Cathedral had his active Life written by John Capgrave who takes occasion to state the Case how far a Prelate may engage in Military Affairs There 's no doubt but there may be some Junctures wherein 't is not only allowable but a Duty in every Man that is able to bear Arms and this Bishop's Suppressing the Rebellious Insurrection in his own Diocess was so far from being a Crime that 't was highly commendable and becomingly Brave But his Atchievements in Flanders and other Foreign Parts against the express Command of his Sovereign were such extraordinary Efforts of Lay-Gallantry as are not easily to be defended Nor do I see that honest John ever thought of Apologizing for them William of Wainfleet Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellour of England was bred in Wickham's Colleges and did his Founder the Honour to Write very fairly after his Copy His Magdalene may vye with the other 's two St. Maries being Modestly one of the richest Seminaries of Learning in the whole World And his magnificent Charity has been celebrated by the eloquent Pen of Dr. Budden the Writer of Arch-bishop Morton's Life who was a while Reader of Philosophy in that College His Book bears the Title of Guilielmi Pateni cui Waynfleti Agnomen fuit Wintoniensis Ecclesiae Praesulis Coll. Beatae Mariae Magd. apud Oxon. Fundatoris Vita Obitusque A Treatise much applauded by Godwine who nevertheless seems not to have
Lambeth was by this Gentleman I should have been able to have enlarg'd this Collection to a much greater bulk whereas for want of such Discoveries some hundreds of Volumes may possibly escape me Sir John Cotton's at VVestminster collected by his Grandfather Sir Robert has heretofore been justly esteem'd to contain more Helps for the composure of a General History of England than all the other Libraries of the Kingdom put together being not only plentifully stock'd with Manuscript Historians Original Grants Patents c. but also abundantly furnish'd with our old Roman British Saxon and Norman Coins Tho-James first publish'd a Catalogue of the MSS. in the Publick Library at Cambridge and of the Private College-Libraries in Oxford out of which last he is reported to have borrow'd several Volumes never hitherto restor'd to their proper Owners Afterwards he did the like for Bodley's which the Reader ought to know has been wonderfully improv'd since that time by the many large Additions that have been made to it chiefly in Manuscripts by Archbishop Laud the Lord Hatton Mr. Selden's and Mr. Junius's Executors c. To which the Musaeum Ashmoleanum makes now a most Noble Appendix as being richly fraught with an excellent Collection of Manuscripts and Coins as well as other Rarities in Art and Nature made by that worthy Person whose Name it deservedly bears Some part of the great Treasure here reposited has been already discover'd to us by Mr. Gibson who has publish'd a Catalogue of Sir VVilliam Dugdale 's Books and we hope the like good Office will be done for Mr. Ashmole by another learned hand Dr. Hickes's Catalogue of such MSS. as relate to the Saxon and Danish Times is the most complete we have in its kind and Mr. Gibson's Account of Tennison's Library founded by His Grace the present Archbishop of Canterbury at St. Martin's in the Fields is highly beneficial and obliging But all these are small shreds and scantlings if compar'd with the Voluminous work of Dr. Bernard who threatens to give us an entire List of all the Manuscripts of this Kingdom of all kinds that either our Publick or Private Libraries will afford 'T is a very Noble and Generous Vndertaking Only a little more caution I think should be observ'd by him in carefully perusing the Catalogues that are sent from some of the most distant Counties especially where the Authority rely'd on for the Truth of the Copies is not very good and staunch Otherwise 't is possible the Reader may be sent some hundreds of Miles to enquire after a Book that has not appear'd in the place referr'd to at any time since the Restoration of King Charles the Second This I am very sure is the Case with some of the Northern Libraries whose Catalogues as he has Printed them were either drawn thirty years ago or else are Prophetically calculated for about thirty years hence Of this latter kind is that of a certain Cathedral Church which neither is nor ever was furnish'd with any one single Manuscript of the several in all Volumes which 't is there said to contain I have some cause to fear that I shall never live to see such Books in that Library as are there mention'd and I am also afraid that most of 'em if they have any being at all are of that modest complexion which becomes a private retirement better than an appearance in publick The Doctor 's Project is certainly very commendable and deserves encouragement and the utmost Assistance that Men of Learning and Acquaintance with Books can give it But then They that pretend to put a helping hand to the Work should be sure to do it effectually They should be scrupulously nice in their Informations take nothing upon Trust and Hear-say send no Transcripts of ancient heretofore Catalogues instead of such as give the present State of their Libraries view the Books themselves be sure they are already in the Classes referr'd to and not only in some distant and uncertain promise c. By these means we might truly discover the dormant Riches of the Nation and the câ—rious might with good assurance apply to such Persons as were undoubtedly able to Answer their Hopes Till these vast Designs are perfected we cannot hope for a full and exact Index of all those Historians that have escaped the common Destruction in the Dissolution of Abbeys and the Outrages of our Civil Wars And 't will be enough for a Man that lives in such an obscure corner of the Earth as my Lot is fallen into to point at the Times wherein the greatest part of 'em flourish'd how they were qualify'd for their several Vndertakings and how well or ill they have acquitted themselves in their Performances This I shall endeavour to do in a Method which I hope the Reader will think Natural enough as agreeing with me that our General Historian ought to enquire for 1. Geographical Chorographical and Topographical Writers of this Nation such as give an Account of its chief Remarkables in Nature Arts and Antiquities And that either 1. In Generaâ— Chap. 1. 2. In Particular Counties Cities and Great Towns Ch. 2. 2. Chronicles and Annals Which are either 1. General Relating to the Times 1. Of the Britains and Romans Chap. 3. 2. Of the Saxons and Danes Ch. 4. 3. Since the Conquest Ch. 5. 2. Particular Lives of our several Kings down from William the Conqueror Ch. 6. 3. Ecclesiastical Historians 1. General As 1. From the first Establishment of Christianity to the Reign of Henry VIII Chap. 7. 2. Since the Reformation Ch. 8. 2. Particular As to the several 1. Bishopricks Ch. 9. 2. Monasteries Ch. 10. 3. Vniversities Ch. 11. 4. Law-Books Records and Papers of State Ch. 12. 5. Biographers Writers of the Lives of our English 1. Saints Ch. 13. 2. Eminent Churchmen and Statesman Ch. 14. 3. Writers Ch. 15. I have not the vanity to imagine that I shall ever be able to run through all these Chapters without being guilty of a deal of very gross Mistakes and therefore I expect to hear of a large Muster-Roll of Errors and Defects in my Book This I shall so little repine at that I do assure Thee Honest Reader 't is what I heartily long for and desire I pretend to little more at present than the drawing of such Lines as may be filld up hereafter into a piece worth the Viewing and I shall be abundantly thankful to have the finishing part done by a better and more Skilful hand than my own I have spent a great deal of time perhaps too much in conversing with some of these old Gentlemen and I cannot but flatter my self into a belief that I have attain'd to something of a more than ordinary Acquaintance with them However the Characters I shall give of 'em are not alwaies mine but are sometimes Censures pass'd by better Judges than my self Where-ever I venture to give my own opinion I hope
I shall do it with that Sincerity and Caution which becomes an Englishman one that is alwaies ready to put himself upon a Tryal by God and his Countrey as not being conscious of any Offence either against Religion or good Manners And yet where there is Manifest Cause of Complaint where a Writer is either scandalously Ignorant or Impertinent where we have Romance or Buffoonry trump'd upon us for good Sterling-History where a Bankrupt Plagiary sets up upon the borrow'd Stock of an Industrious Author or the like there I hope a moderately keen Resentment will not be Interpreted as a Breach of any Commandment either of the First or Second Table I have but one thing more to Apologize for and that 's the frequent Repetitions the Reader will be apt to observe of the same Word and perhaps Expression and Phrase I have repeated Occasions to take Notice of this and the other Man's Undertaking and Performing Penning and Publishing his several Historical Labours And possibly a nice Critick in the Finery and Cadence of the English Tongue would expect that I should have Collected a good Number of Synonymous Sentences for this Purpose I can only say I never intended my Papers for the View of such Delicate and Curious Judges of Language and Oratory If I had but a Word in readiness that would serve my Turn I never vex'd my Brains in Pumping for another that could only do as well And being to cloath so many People of the very same Size and Shapes it were too severe I think to force me to provide each of 'em with a different Habit and Fashion CHAP. I. Of the General Geography State and Antiquities of England WHatever crime it might be anciently in private Men to be skill'd in Maps and Charts of whole Countries that being thought a Piece of Knowledge proper only for Princes and great Generals 't is now a mighty Defect in the modish Accomplishments of the Age of the otherwise and every Body is so much a Politician States-man and Warriour that there is no conversing in the World without an intimate Acquaintance with all the four Quarters of the Globe 'T is not my business at present to furnish out Instructions for the speedy Attainment of this kind of Learning nor to explain Gazettes and Monthly Mercuries that 's done abundantly by other Hands The sole design of this Chapter is the pointing at such ancient and modern Writers as have describ'd at large and by whole-sale the Lands and Territories Cities and High-ways Natural History Politicks Antiquities c. of this Kingdom Ptolemy liv'd as all agree in the beginning of the second Century and therefore we may safely call him the first Geographer that mention'd any thing of the British Islands For the little florid Accounts which we have from Julius Caesar or Tacitus ought not to come into this reckoning And well he may seem to be so since the Maps which Maginus and others have drawn by his Tables sufficiently shew that when he wrote Geography was but in its Infancy So much of him as relates to us has been lately publish'd by Dr. Gale who has also give us his own learned Notes upon that part of the Book If Antoninus's Itinerary were truly the Composure of that great Emperor whose Name it bears there would be no controversie in placing it next to Ptolemy's Tables but Vossius gives it too severe Language to deserve the Honour it had sometime gain'd in the world and in plain terms calls it a Bastard However let it be written by Antoninus Antonius or Aethicus 't is of an ancient date and shall here keep the Station and Repute it has gotten among as learned and wise Judges as have hitherto condemn'd it That part of his Work which concerns Britain has been amply treated on by three of our own Countrymen Mr. R. Talbot sometime Canon of Norwich whose Manuscript Commentaries much enlarg'd by Dr. Caius are now in the Library at Caius College in Cambridge Mr. William Burton School-master at Kingston upon Thames And Dr. Tho. Gale the present Learned and Worthy Master of St. Paul's School in London The Liber Notitiarum comes next in order and the last mention'd Learned Person has oblig'd us with as much of it as is for our purpose He has also given us what may seem to have any relation to this Country out of an old anonymous Geographer lately publish'd at Paris together with a List of the Hides or Tenements in the several Counties of England in the days of our Saxon Kings And these I think are all the Remains of our old Geography and the Summ of what was penn'd before the Conquest that look'd this way For with what confidence soever J. Pits may report it I do not believe that ever venerable Bede wrote any Book De situ mirabilibus Britanniae or that any such thing is or ever was to be had in the Library of Bennet College His Ecclesiastical History as paraphras'd in the English Saxon Tongue by King Aelfred is indeed there and the first Chapter in it bears a Title which might impose upon the good Man or his Informer who is often guilty of more groundless Mistakes than this From the Conquest down to the Reign of King Henry the Eighth our English Geographers have either been few or the want of Printing has occasion'd the loss of most of them Gyraldus Cambrensis's four Books of the Topography of Britain and his Itinerary both which are said to be in Bennet-Library are the first I can hear off And I doubt I shall only hear of them for they seem to be the same with his Itinerary and Topography of Wales John Leland says he does not question but there was such a Book as the former of these But all his industry could not ferret it out Ralph de Diceto's Treatise de mirabilibus Angliae seems to be as rare a Piece as either of the former and is perhaps laid up with John Horminger's Commendations of England or as Bale calls it de divitiis deliciis Angliae Of the same Stamp I fansie is William Thorn's Chronicle of all the Countries as well as Bishopricks and Abbeys in England John de Trevisa's Description of Britain and William Buttoner's Antiquities collected out of the old Charters Leiger-Books Epitaphs c. of the whole Kingdom Caxton's is the only thing in its kind which I can assuredly say we have as being long since publish'd with his Chronicle or Fructus Temporum Will it be any inducement to the Reader to peruse use this Author's Work to hear him recommended by Bale under the character of vir non omnino stupidus aut ignaviâ torpens Since the beginning of Henry the Eighth's Reign our eldest general Geographer of Antiquary is said to be Tho. Sulmo some call him Sulemanus others Solimountes a Guernsey Man who died at
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
within the foregoing for his History which begins at the Conquest ends at the Death of Edward the First A. D. 1304. The Author was Canon Regular of Osney near Oxford and writes as clearly and full especially in some passages relating to the Baronwars as so compendious a Chronicle as his is would allow him to do We are indebted to Dr. Gale for the publishing of this history together with others of good value that had long laid imprivate hands John Castorius call'd also Fiber and Bever was a Monk of Westminster about this time and wrote a Chronicle still extant in some of our English Libraries Leland commends him as an Historian of good credit and he is also cited with respect by John Stow in his Survey He begins with the coming in of Brute and ends at his own time VV. Rishanger who dy'd very old about the year 1312 has been mentioned already and Rad. Baldoc who dy'd the year following and whose history is quoted by Leland and Archbishop Vsher seems hardly to deserve it Of the like kind is the compendious Chronicle of Tho. 〈◊〉 Canon Regular of Leedes in Kent whom both Bale and Pits have fix'd at the year 1321. But J. Weever from a passage in his Book which gives an account of the Victories of the Black Prince shews that he must have liv'd pretty late in the Reign of Edward the Third if not under his Grandson Richard the Second Of something better value are the Annals of Nicolas Trivet Son of Sir Thomas Trivet Lord Chief Justice who was Prior of a Monastery of Dominican Friars in London where he was bury'd A. D. 1328. An excellent Copy of his history which John Pits subdivides into three several Treatises is now in the Library at Merton College in Oxford whence several of our most eminent Antiquaries have had very remarkable Observations 'T is in French and bears the Title of Les Gestes des Apostoiles or the Popes Empereurs è Rois. Roger â—estrensis who was a Benedictine Monk of St. Werburg's in Chester was Trivet's Cotemporary and wrote a large account of the affairs of this Nation This Work he entitled Polycraticae Temporum and began it with the coming in of the Romans He continu'd it at first no lower than the year 1314. but added afterwards a Supplement of fifteen years more About the same time as Mr. Selden probably conjectures liv'd the Author of that Chronicle which goes under the Name of John Brompton some time Abbot of Joreval or Jorvaulx in the County of York which begins with the coming in of Augustine the Monk A. D. 588. and ends with the Death of Richard the First 1198. 'T is not indeed likely that this History was written by any Member of the Abby of Joreval since it takes no notice of the Foundation of that Monastery c. But only procur'd by Abbot Brompton and by him bestow'd on his Monastery The Author whoever he be is very full in his Collections for the Saxon times but takes no notice of the Chronological part in the whole story of the Heptarchy In this he has not been very inquisitive ending for example Northumberland where Bede's History leaves him He gives the Saxon Laws at large and translates them pretty honestly In what he borrows from the old Chronicle in that Language he is not altogether so correct Otherwise he had never told us such a rare story of one Sumerled a Danish Tyrant who sack'd Reading c. His chief Author is Roger Hoveden Of Walter Hemmingford the Reader needs no further account than what has been already given of him by his worthy Publisher Nor have I any more to say of Richard of Chichester than what John Pits has told me that he was a Monk of Westminster A. D. 1348. that he travell'd to most of the Libraries of England and out of his Collections thence compil'd a notable History of this Kingdom from the coming in of the Saxons down to his own time Ran. Higden Monk of St. VVerburg's in Chester where he dy'd very aged A. D. 1377 was an industrious Historian a great Follower of Florence of VVorcester and others of our best Writers Vnicuique Authorum suorum honorem integrum servans says Bale The Character might be true for any thing perhaps he knew But 't is that Writer's way to give accounts of Men and their Labours at random It is very evident that on the Contrary he falls foul on VVilliam of Malmesbury in many places and yet that person is thought to have deserv'd a Respect and is usually better treated by all our other Historians He is pleas'd to stile his Work Polychronicon And if you spell the first Letters of the several Chapters that begin it you read Praesentem Chronicam conpilavit Ranulphus Monachus Cestrensis What he wrote relating to the times of the Britains and Saxons has been lately publish'd by Dr. Gale who commends him for preserving many Remains out of ancient Chronicles now wholly lost or mislaid I have a Parchment Manuscript of this History which seems to be a better Copy than what the Learned Doctor made use of The rest was first translated into English by John de Trevisa a Cornish Man born and some time Vicar of Berkeley in Glocestershire who illustrated the whole with Annotations of his own says my Author But they that know the matter better have observ'd aright that the many Interpolations and Additions in W. Caxton's English Edition are the Publishers and not Trevisa's And so is also the Continuation down to the year 1460. For Caxton expressly takes it upon himself tho our famous Selden says 't was the Work of Trevisa who if the great Man were not mistaken must have penn'd it near a hundred years after his death John Vicar of Tinmouth whence he is always call'd Tinmuthensis tho he was afterwards Monk of St. Albans A. D. 1366 was a mighty Collector of our English Histories which he has left digested in to three very large Volumes whereof there are now fair Copies in the Libraries at Oxford Lamboth c. This Work he was pleas'd to call Historiâ—◠〈◊〉 and for that reason the Author himself is by Leland named Chrysistoriographus Out of this large Mass many notable Remarks have been made by the learned Men of this Age But because they chiefly relate to the doughty Feats and Miracles of our English Saints as well as his other Works that more professedly treat on that Subject we shall defer the further consideration of him to another place To humour Bale Pits and Vossius we shall here place Matthew a Benedictine Monk of Westminster who they tell us flourish'd in the year 1377. 'T is more probable that he hardly out-liv'd the year 1307. in which he ended his History tho 't was afterwards as we shall see anon continued by other hands
the one whereof he stiles Breviarium Chronicorum which begins at Brute and ends A. D. 1234. After the Conquest he copies most from M. Paris and is very unhappy in his Chronological part His Historia Major as he calls his other Work consists of large Collections out of other common Historians save only in what relates to the Church of Winchester 3 John Sherburn a Monk who wrote Chronica Britannorum from the first coming in of the Trojans to the Reign of Henry the Sixth 4. John Henfield a Monk of Battle-Abby who drew an Abstract of our Chronicles down to the same time 5. John Langden Bishop of Rochester who possibly is all one with John Langton another of the same authentic Gentleman's Historians a Carmelite Friar who is said to die at the Council of Basil A. D. 1434. Tho. Walsingham a Benedictine Monk of St. Alban's and very probably Regins Professor of History in that Monastery about the year 1440. made something a better figure than the last mention'd and accordingly both his Historia brevis and his Hypodigma Neustriae have had the honour to be publish'd by Archbishop Parker His short History begins at the Conclusion of Henry the Third's Reign where M. Paris ended his And he might well seem to be Paris's Continuator were his Language answerable to his matter The account he gives is well enough and we are indebted to him for many things not taken notice of by any other Writer of those times Indeed his Reign of King Edward the Second is wholly borrow'd from Sir Thomas de la More His Ypodigma Neustriae as he calls it has a more particular regard to the Affairs of Normandy giving an account at large of that Dukedom from the time it came first into the hands of Rollo and his Danes down to the Sixth year of Henry the Fifth wherein the Reader will find many Occurrences not elsewhere to be met with About the same time wrote John Wethamstede the first Opposer of the story of King Brutus and Nicolas Cantelupus the Cambridge Historiographer who is also reported to have penn'd a General Chronicle of England The next Historian of Note was John Harding a Northern Englishman and an inveterate Enemy to the Scottish Nation against whom he carry'd Arms in several Expeditions He collected out of all our Histories whatever might tend to the proof of the ancient Vassalage of that Kingdom to the Crown of England and hearing there was in Scotland an old Record that put the matter beyond dispute he went with great hazard thither in disguise and with much ado brought it away and shew'd it to Hen. V. Hen. VI. and Edw. IV. To the last of these he dedicated his two Books of Chronicles in English Rhime whereof the curious Reader may have a taste in some of our Modern Writers It appears he was living tho very old in the year 1461. So that Nic. Montacute about that time Master of Eaton-School and a Collector of English History may be reckon'd his Cotemporary as may also Roger Albanus a Carmelite of London who drew up the Genealogies of some of our Kings William Caxton of whose continuation of Trevisa something has been noted already seems to challenge the next place after Harding He was a menial Servant for thirty years together to Margaret Dutchess of Burgundy Sister to our King Edward the Fourth in Flanders He afterwards return'd into England where finding as he says an imperfect History begun by one of the Monks of St. Albans says John Pits very unadvisedly he continu'd it in English giving it only the Latin Title of Fructus Temporum How small a portion of this Work is owing to this Author has been observ'd before but he now usually bears the Name of the whole which begins with the first inhabiting of his Island and ends the last year of Edward the fourth A. D. 1483. The opportunities he had of being acquainted with the Court-Transactions of his own time would encourage his Reader to hope for great matters from him but his fancy seem to have led him into an Undertaking above his strength John Rosse or Rous was a person somewhat better qualify'd to write History being a Man of tolerable Parts and singular Industry He was born at Warwick and bred at Oxford He travell'd over the greatest part of England and having made large Collections out of the Libraries where he came relating to the History and Antiquities of this Kingdom he at last retir'd to Guy's Cliff about a mile from Warwick on the Banks of Avon where he spent the Remainder of his Life and dy'd A. D. 1491. His History of our Kings is still extant wherein are many Collections illustrating the Antiquities of our Universities Hereupon he is frequently quoted by our Oxford-Antriquary who nevertheless will not allow that his Judgment equall'd his Pains 1501. The first Post in the Sixteenth Century is due to Rob. Fabian an eminent Merchant and some time Sheriff of London where he dy'd A. D. 1512. Both Bale and Pits subdivide his historical Writings into a great many several Treatises but I presume that which they call his Historiarum Concordantiae is the sum of all This Chronicle is publisht and does indeed consist of seven parts whereof the six first bring down his Story from Brutus to William the Conqueror and are chiefly taken out of Jeoffry of Monmouth and the Seventh gives an account of our several Kings from the Conquest of Henry the VII He is very particular in the Affairs of London many good things being noted by him which concern the Government of that great City hardly to be had elsewhere He gives the Names of all the Bailiffs Mayors and Sheriffs with the chief Transactions in their several Years but in other matters he is a great Follower of R. Higden He mixes all along the French History with the English but in different Chapters He translates his Authors very literally whence Monmouth's Phrase of Ferro Flamma vastare is render'd to wast with Iron and Fire c. In the beginning of his Seventh part he observes Higden's method of making his Years commence at Michaelmas by which the Reader will understand how William the Conqueror comes to begin his Reign in October 1067. Cardinal Woolsey is said to have procur'd all the Copies of this History that he could meet with to be burn'd because says my Author who is not infallible either in his Reasons or Relations the Church's Patrimony was thereby too plainly discover'd This Cardinal 's Menial Servant John Skuish Squisus or Squisius is reported to have compil'd a notable Epitome of our Chronicles about the Year 1630. but I am not able to direct the Reader where to meet with it Polydore Virgil was the most recomplish'd Writer for Elegancy and clearness of Style that this Age afforded So much the
always protested and we may take his honest word for it that he never was sway'd by Favour or Fear in any of his Writings but that he had impartially to the best of his Knowledge deliver'd the Truth This good Opinion the greatest of our later Historians seem to have of him since even Sir Francis Bacon and Mr. Camden not to mention others of a less Repute have boldly taken several things upon his single Credit and sometimes without being so just as to own their Benefactor Upon his Death the Revising and Continuation of his Book was committed to Ed. Howes who says he bestow'd thirty Years in bringing it into that good Order and Method in which we now see it He is very Unfortunate if after so great Pains he be justly liable to the sharp Sentence that one has pass'd upon him That he 's as far short of Mr. Stow in Goodness as 〈◊〉 Age is of the Integrity and Charity of those that went before it I am abundantly sensible of the Degenetacy of our Age and how Corrupt our Morals are beyond the Precedents of former Times But how applicable this grave Comparison may be to Mr. Howes I know not He does indeed say some great things of King James and King Charles and if that be a Fault in him 't is transgressing with a Multitude Not long after Mr. Stow died R. White Vitus he calls himself Canon of Doway who left nine Books of our English or rather British History in a pretty elegant Latin Style His business is to assert the Rights of the Papacy in this Kingdom and therefore having setled Religion by Augustine the Monk and other Emissaries he ends his Story A. D. 800. Our next Historian of Eminence was Sam. Daniel some time Groom of the Privy-Chamber to Queen Anne He was a Person of great Wit a notable Poet and of an Affable and Winning Conversation His first and second Part of the History 〈◊〉 England fell no lower than the end of Edward the Third's Reign but was penn'd in so accurate and copious a Style that it took mightily and was read with so much Applause that it quickly had several Impressions It was afterwards enlarg'd and continu'd to the end of King Richard the Third's Reign by John Trussel Alderman of Winchester who has not had the Luck to have either his Language Matter or Method so well approv'd as those of Mr. Daniel About the same time Will. Martyn Recorder of Exeter wrote his History and Lives of the Kings of England from William the Conqueror to Henry the Eighth This came recommended to the World by the Author 's own Sons But I cannot learn that any other Family in the Nation could ever discover so much Worth and Beauty in the Book as they pretended to see in it Upon a second Edition it was enlarg'd by R. B. Master of Arts with the Reigns of Edward the Sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth John Speed who 〈◊〉 London A. D. 1619. must be acknowledg'd to have had a Head the best dispos'd towards History of any of our Writers and would certainly have out-done himself as far as he has gone beyond the rest of his Profession if the Advantages of his Education had been answerable to those of his Natural Genius But what could be expected from a Taylor However we may boldly say that his Chronicle is the largest and best we have hitherto Extant It begins with the first Inhabitants of the Island and ends with the Union of the Kingdoms under King James to whom it is Dedicated Tho' some say he spent twice seven years in compiling the whole he himself owns he made more haste than he ought to have done and that he was forced to trust a deal of his Work in the hands of his Friends and Journey-men And the Truth of this honest Acknowledgment and Confession is obvious enough to a discerning Reader who will easily find a mighty Difference in the Style as well as Matter of several of the Reigns Those of King John and Henry the Second were written by Dr. Barcham Dean of Bocking a curious Antiquary who has done them answerably to the good Opinion which Men of Learning had of him Several Remarkables in that of Henry the Fifth were Collected by George Carew Earl of Totnes as was his Catalogue of the Monasteries by Will. Burton c. Sir Richard Baker who died in the Fleet A. D. 1644. was a Person of those Accomplishments in Wit and Language that his Chronicle has been the best Read and Liked of any hitherto publish'd which looks as if almost every Body in the Kingdom as well as himself believ'd it to be Collected with so great Care and Diligence that if all other of our Chronicles were lost this only would be sufficient to inform Posterity of all Passages Memorable or Worthy to be known His Method is New and seems to please the Rabble But Learned Men will be of another Opinion for 't is the same with that of Sueronius which is justly complain'd of by Mr. Dâ—dwell In the first and second Editions we had nothing more than the Author 's own Work containing the History of our Kings from the Roman Government down to the end of King James the First 's Reign But afterwards it was continu'd to the Restoration of Charles the Second by Edward Philips who having the perusal of some of the Duke of Albâ—â—arle's Papers might have set that great Revolution in its true Light had not Ambition and Flattery carry'd him beyond Truth and his Copy Soon after these Additions were publish'd the whole Book was examin'd by Tho. Blount a Barrister of the Inner-Temple who printed his Animadversions upon it and gave the World such a Specimen of its many and gross Errors as ought to have shaken its Credit And yet so little Regard have we for Truth if a Story be but handsomly told the Chronicle has been Reprinted since that Time and Sells as well as ever notwithstanding that no notice is taken of the Animadversions but all the old Faults remain uncorrected Mr. Blount himself spent some Years in writing an English Chronicle which we may believe would at least want those Errors which he had descry'd in the Labours of other Men But where 't is to be had I know not There are some later Histories which are so well known to all that are any thing Curious in these Matters that I need do little more than mention them Such are 1. Sir Winston Churchill's Diâ—i Britannici which gives the Reader a diverting View of the Arms and Exploits of our Kings down to the Restoration in 1660. 2. Fr. Sandford's Genealogical History of the Kings of England and Monarchs of Great Britain from the Norman Conquest to the year 1677. with their several Effigies Seals Tombs Arms c. 3. Let me add Dr. Hoel's Medulla
14. Thomas Stapleton the Translator of Bede in whose Pair-royal of Thomas's this Gentleman makes as considerable a Figure as either Thomas the Apostle or Thomas Aquinas 15. Laurence Vade or Wade a Benedictine Monk of Canterbury who liv'd and dy'd we know not when or where unless perhaps he be the same Person with 16. An Anonymous Writer of the same Life who appears to have been a Monk of that Church and whose Book is now in Manuscript in the Library at Lambeth 17. Rich. James Nephew to Dr. Tho. James our Bodleyan Library-keeper a very industrious and eminent Antiquary who endeavour'd to overthrow the great Design of the foremention'd Authors in his Decanonizatio Thomae Cantuariensis suorum which with many other MSS. of his Composure is in the Publick Library at Oxford CHAP. IV. Histories of the Reformation and of our Church-Affairs down to the end of Queen Elizabeth's Reign THE first Man that engaged in the History of our Reformation was Mr. John Fox sometime Prebendary of Salisbury who dy'd at London in the Year 1587. His Acts and Monuments were first written in Latin for the Instruction of Foreigners and were so publish'd during his own Exile in the Reign of Queen Mary They afterwards grew into two large English Volumes which have had several Impressions and have at last been publish'd in three with fair Copper-Cuts In behalf of this last Edition the Publishers had well nigh prevail'd with King Charles the Second to revive Queen Elizabeth's Order and AB Parker's Canon for the having a Set of these Volumes in the Common Halls of every Archbishop Bishop Dean Archdeacon c. But that Project fail'd and came to nothing And indeed it would have look'd a little odly to have paid such a respect to the Works of an Author Qui Matri Ecclesiae Anglicanae non per omnia Amicus deprehenditur ut pote qui Puritanis faveret Ritibus Ecclesiae se non Conformem praestiterit The Design of the Author is to discover the Corruptions and Cruelties of the Romish Clergy together with the Sufferings and Constancy of the Reform'd and of the Maintainers of their Doctrins in all Ages of the Church which he has done so throughly that 't is no wonder to find those of the Papal Communion very much gall'd with his Writings Hence the Jesuite Parsons took such Pains to represent him as a Corrupter of Antiquity an impertinent Arguer c. And Nich. Harpsfield treated him as coursely in those six Dialogues of his which were printed beyond Seas in his Friend Alan Cope's Name during their true Author's residing in England It must be confess'd that these Volumes being large and penn'd in haste have some Mistakes in them that are not to be dissembl'd But in the main 't is an Honourable Character that one of the greatest Historians of our Age gives of them That having compared these Acts and Monuments with the Records he had never been able to discover any Errors or Prevarications in them but the utmost Fidelity and Exactness Indeed where his Stories are of a more modern Date and depend on common Reports or such Informations as were sent him from distant parts of the Kingdom the like exactness is not always to be look'd for since the Author 's hasty Zeal against the Papists furnish'd him with a large Stock of Faith and a readiness to avouch any thing that might effectually blacken them and their Religion One unlucky Tale occasion'd a deal of Trouble to a Clergy-man who very innocently reporting from him that one Greenwood had by Perjury taken off a Martyr in Queen Mary's Reign and came afterwards to a shameful End the said Greenwood was it seems present at the Sermon and brought an Action of Scandal against the Preacher However the Judge clear'd him at the Trial as only harmlesly quoting an Author without any malicious intent of slandering his Neighbour Such Slips as these were pretty numerous in some of the first Editions But as many of them as came to the Author's knowledge were rectified by himself and others have been corrected since his Death Several Papists were provok'd to write Counterparts to these Volumes wherein they pretended to set forth the Reformers in as bloody a Dress as Fox had painted Them and to draw up as large Kalendars of their own Martyrs The chief of these were 1. Maurice Chancey by some call'd Chamney and by others Chawney a famous Carthusian Friar in the Monastery of that Order near London who fled upon starting the Question of the King's Supremacy and dy'd in a voluntary Exile A. D. 1581. He wrote a large Account of the Sufferings of Sir Thomas Moor Bishop Fisher and others as also of Eighteen Monks of his own Order This Work bears the Title of Historia aliquot nostri saeculi Martyrum and is falsly subdivided into three several Books by John Pits 2. John Fenn sometime a Civilian of New College in Oxford and afterwards a Member of the University of Lovain who clubb'd with one John Gibbon a Jesuite for such another Martyrology which they publish'd under the Title of Concertatio Ecclesiae Catholicae in Anglia adversus Calvino-Papistas Puritanos This Book was afterwards enlarg'd by John Bridgwater or Aquaepontanus as he stiles himself another Jesuite who having corrected many faulty Particulars and added about a hundred new Martyrs dedicated his Edition to the AB of Triers 3. Thomas Worthington Doctor in Divinity and sometime President of the English College at Doway who dy'd in England A. D. 1626. His Book or Pamphlet for it consists only of Four Sheets bears the Name of Catalogus Martyrum pro Religione Catholica in Anglia occisorum ab Anno 1570. ad Ann. 1612. and is mostly taken out of the Book last mention'd 'T is chiefly valuable upon the Account of a Preliminary Discourse wherein the Author gives the History of our English Seminaries beyond Seas and the Success that has attended several Missions out of them 4. John Musheus sent from Doway into England where he liv'd A. D. 1612. somewhere in his Native County of York He is said to have drawn a Register of the Sufferings of all the Roman-Catholicks in the Northern parts of this Kingdom Nicolas Sanders deserves a peculiar Respect and ought to be consider'd by himself The short of his Story as we have it from his Nephew Pits is this He was born in Surrey Educated at Winchester and New College in Oxford where he was sometime Regius Professor of the Canon-Law He afterwards fled to Rome whence he attended Cardinal Hosius to the Council of Trent as also into Poland Russia c. At last Pope Gregory the 13th sent him as his Nuncio into Ireland where he dy'd about the Year 1580. He was an indefatigable Writer as well as Warrior for the Roman Cause and stuck at nothing that he thought might advance it Amongst
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
Work And hardly a private Family of any Consideration in the Kingdom but will here meet with something of its Genealogy and Pedigree He is most scrupulously exact in transcribing the ancient Records So that the bald Latin barbarous Expressions and other Deformities of the Monkish Stile are to be reckon'd Beauties in him By the Catalogue of the Monasteries in the end of the First Volume it appears how far the Industry of this Writer has exceeded that of the People employ'd by Henry VIII to bring in a List of all the Religious Houses in this Nation many being added as more might have been in almost every County to the Schedule by them transmitted into the Exchequer And yet the old Register-Books that are cited in the Monasticon have a deal more in them than is there made use of Sir William Dugdale on second Thoughts transcrib'd many Things into the Additamenta of the latter Tome which both he and Mr. Dodsworth had overlook'd or did not at first think Material enough The Third Volume was publish'd under the sole Name of Sir William though Mr. Wood does not question he says but in this also he was very much indebted to Dodsworth's Collections He seems the rather to suspect such a thing because many Records were communicated by himself which are not duly acknowledg'd as they ought to have been and he verily believes the like good Assistance was given him by Sir Tho. Herbert tho' his Benefaction is also disregarded These Three Tomes were lately Epitomiz'd or Abridg'd by some modest Gentleman or other that did not think fit to put his Name to his Work which might have been of some good use if a little more care had been taken of the Numerals which direct to the Pages in the Monasticon it self and being frequently mistaken do not only render the Book useless but very dangerous Besides we are so far from wanting any Abridgment of these Tomes that we rather complain of their too great Conciseness and could wish there were some more added out of such Leiger-Books and Records as never came to the knowledge of either of the worthy Authors of these Three Towards the furtherance of such an acceptable Service as this we have had an excellent Manual given us by Mr. Tanner whose Notitia Monastica does not only afford us a short History of the Foundation and chief Revolutions of all our Religious Houses but presents us also with a Catalogue of such Writers noting the Places where we may find them as will abundantly furnish us with such further Particulars as we shall have occasion for The foremention'd Compilers of the Monasticon Anglicanum took care to make the like References and to let the World know from whose Hands they had the perusal of the Records of this or the other Monastery But as many new Discoveries have been made since their Time so several of the Books they met with have changed their owners and therefore their Defects are not only here supply'd but the present Proprietors of what they mention much better ascertain'd Some Volumes indeed and several single Charters and other Instruments are still appropriated to their old Masters where 't is not known how or to whom they have been lately transfer'd And this may possibly prove an obliging piece of Service to the Executors Administrators or Legatees of the Persons so mention'd who will be hereby directed and encouraged to make Enquiry after their unknown Chattels and to claim them where-ever they shall find them This industrious Author has superseded some Pains I had long since taken to the like purpose and whereof I should have given the Reader an Account in this Chapter The Informations he has here are beyond what I could have afforded him and I hope upon a second Edition of the Book which I much long for will be yet a great deal fuller 'Till that can be had give me leave to offer a slender Tast of the large Editions we may look for from the Author himself In the Cottonian Library alone there are Histories and Register-Books of the following Monasteries which for want of such a Catalogue as we now have had not come to his Knowledge ABINGDON Julius A. 9. Claudius C. 9. St. ALBANS Otho D. 3. Nero D. 1. 7. Julius D. 3. Claudius D. 1. BARDNEY Vespasian E. 20. BINHAM Claudius D. 13. CANTERBURY Christ's Galba E. 4. St. Augustine's Tiberius A. 9. Otho B. 15. DAVENTRY Claudius D. 12. DELACRES Nero C. 3. DERBY Titus C. 9. DUNSTABLE Tiberius A. 10. St. EDMUNDSBURY Tiberius B. 9. Claudius A. 12. ELY Tiberius A. 6. Vespasianus A. 6. GLASTONBURY Vespas D. 22. HULM Nero D. 2. HUNTINGDON Faustina C. 1. KIRKSTEDE Tiberius C. 8. 〈◊〉 E. 18. LEICESTER Vitellius F. 17. LENTON Otho B. 14. MALMESBURY Faustina B. 8. PARCO-STANLEY Julius C. 11. Vespas E. 26. PIPEWELL Caligula A. 13 14. RAMSEY Vespasian E. 2. READING Vespasian E. 5. 25. Domit. A. 3. ROCHESTER Domitian A. 9. Vespasian A. 22. Faustina C. 5. SELBY Vitellius E. 16. SMITHFIELD Vespasianus B. 9. SOUTHWARK Faustina A. 8. STONE Vespasianus E. 24. WALSINGHAM Nero E. 7. WESTWOOD in Com. WIGORN Vespasian E. 9. These are the most Eminent of those Writers that instruct us in the general History of our Monasteries tho' as a very learn'd Person has observed we still want a more copious Notitia than any of them have hitherto seem'd to have thought on such an one as should give us a just account of the Foundation of those Houses the Men of Learning that flourish'd in them their Rules Interests Contests c. There are others that have taken great Pains in writing Histories of some particular Orders of Monks to which themselves have had some special Relation and these moving in a lesser Circle had leisure to make more nice Enquiries and more ample Discoveries Amongst them the Benedictines may justly claim the Precedence as being so much the Darlings of Saint Dunstan and St. Oswald that perhaps 't is true what one of them asserts that from King Edgar's Reign to the Conquest there was not a Monastery in England but what was Model'd according to this Rule Will. Gillingham of Canterbury about the Year 1390. is said to have written De Illustribus Ordinis sui Scriptoribus and if we could meet with this Treatise we should not much lament the loss of his other De Rebus Cantuariensibus Edward Maihew sometime Scholar to John Pits publish'd a little Book under the Title of Congregationis Anglicanae Ordinis St. Benedicti Trophaea wherein he takes frequent occasion to quote his Master's Manuscript Treatise of the Apostolical Men of England now kept as a pretious Rarity in the Archives of the Church of Liverdune He is commended for his Modesty in the Account he gives of their Writers honestly quitting his Inclinations to serve a Party where he observes Truth to be on the other side The Obits and Characters of the English Benedictines
of greatest note since the Reformation were penn'd by Tho. White alias Woodhop a Monk of Doway where he dy'd of the Plague in 1654. A Manuscript Copy of this was in Mr. Wood's possession and I suppose is now among those Books that he Bequeath'd to the University in the Musaeum at Oxford But the chief of our Historians of this Order was Clement Reyner whose elaborate Book is Entitl'd Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia sive Decerptatio Historica de Antiquitate Ordinis Congregationisque Monachorum Nigrorum in Anglia His Business is to prove that the Order was brought hither by Augustine Arch-bishop of Canterbury and he is thought by some of our best Antiquaries to have effectually prov'd his Point and to have fairly Answer'd all the Objections against it He is said to have had great helps from the Collections made by John Jones or Leander de Sancto Martino as he nam'd himself Prior of St. Gregory's and Publick Professor of Divinity at Doway who sojourning sometime in England with his heretofore Chamber-fellow Arch-bishop Laud had frequent access to the Cotton-Library where he transcrib'd whatever he could find that related to the History aâ—d Antiquities of his own Order Others say that the most of the Collections out of this Library which were used by our Author Reyner were made by Augustine Baker another Monk of Doway who left several Volumes in Folio of Select Matters very serviceable towards the Illustrating of this and other parts of our English History However it was Sir Thomas Bodley's Library was thought the most proper Magazine to furnish out Artillery against the Man that had already seiz'd on that of Sir Robert Cotton and to this purpose Father John Barnes a Brother Benedictine but of different Sentiments with Reyner betakes himself to Oxford and there Composes a sharp Refutation of the Apostolatus This was very ill resented by those of the Fraternity and other Members of the Roman Church And they had some reason to be Angry at one of their own Body's using the Book more Scurvily than any of the Protestant Writers had done There are several Learn'd Foreigners in France and Flanders that have lately made very Voluminous Collections of the Acta Benedictinorum in General wherein are some Tracts written by English-Men and such as wholly treat on our own Historical Matters These have been occasionally mention'd in other parts of this Work And my Design will not allow me to consider them any further The Cistercians may be reckon'd one of our own Orders For tho' they came not into this Kingdom 'till almost a Hundred Years after their first Formation they were founded by Robert Harding an English-Man Hugh Kirkstede or rather Kirkstall was a Monk of this Order about the Year 1220. and collected the Memoirs of all the English that had been of it which he Dedicated to John Abbot of Fountains This is attested by Leland who acquaints us further that in the Library at Rippon he saw his Book entitl'd Historia rerum a Monachis Cisterciensibus gestarum Bale tells us that he was greatly assisted in this Work by Serlo Abbat of Fountains about the Year 1160. And because there appears to be a good distance betwixt the reputed Times of these two Writers he assures us that Hugh liv'd very near a hundred Year I am apt to believe that Serlo was the sole Author of another Treatise ascrib'd to this Monk De Origine Fontani Coenobij and that this is the true bottom of Bale's fine Contrivance The Canons Regular of St. Augustine pretend to be Founded by that famous Father and Bishop of Hippo whose Name they bear But they are of no great Antiquity Here all our Historians agreeing in this tho' they disagree about the precise time that they came into England since the Conquest The first of their Historiographers was Jeoffrey Hardib Canon of Leicester and Privy Councellour to King Edward the Third in the Year 1360. who was an eminent Preacher a great Divine and amongst many other things wrote De rebus gestis Ordinis sui The next and the last that I know of was John Capgrave who was sometime Provincial of the Order and he alotted one his many Volumes the Subject De Illustribus Viris Ordinis S. Augustini The Dominicans Franciscans and other Mendicant Friers having had no Lands had no occasion for Leiger-Books But I know not why we should not have better Remains of their History Penn'd by themselves since 't was no part of their Vow that they should so far renounce the World as not to have their good Works had in remembrance The Story of the settlement of the Order of St. Francis in England being confirm'd by Henry the Third in the Year 1224 is written by Tho. Ecleston whose Book De adventu Minorum in Angliam is in several of our Libraries Mr. Pits says he wrote also another Book De Ordinis impugnatione per Dominicanos Which I am afraid is only a part of the former for they had Battail given soon after their first Landing Their History afterwards is pretty well accounted for by Fran. a Sancta Clara and we have a formal Register of that Colony of them that was seated in London with some Fragments of those of other Places The Records of the University of Oxford with those in the Neighbourhood have afforded us a diverting View of their frequent Bickerings with the Dominicans in our publick Schools which for an Age or two make up a good share of the Annals of that Place The Carmelites have likewise had some few of their Fraternity who have taken the pains to enquire into the History of that Order of whom William of Coventry about the Year 1360. wrote de Adventu Carmelitarum in Angliam Bale quotes some of his Words and Writes as if he had seen his Book About a Hundred Years after this Will. Green a Cambridg-Man collected out of the most of the Libraries in England the noted Exploits of the great Men of this Order which he afterwards published under the Title of Hagiologium Carmelitarum And lastly Robert Bale a Carmelite Fryar at Norwich and afterwards Prior of Burnham where he dy'd A. D. 1503. wrote Annales Breves Ordinis sui 'T is much that this Gentleman's name-sake the famous Mr. John Bale never penn'd any thing of this kind For he was also a Carmelite of Norwich and assures us in the Account he gives of his own dear Self in the Tail of his Writers that the Libraries of that Order were the chief Treasury out of which he had his Riches Perhaps he did Write some such Thing but did not afterwards think fit to own the Respects he once had for those Antichristian Locusts as he there most greatefully calls them CHAP. VIII Of the Histories of our Vniversities and Writers WHAT Sir John Marsham says of the old
Monks of this Isle may be well apply'd to the Zealous Antiquaries of our two Universities Illos in illustrandis suorum Natalibus Antiquitati plus quam Veritati incubuisse In the days of Henry the Eighth during the Storm against Abbies and Colleges the Controversy was seemly enough For whilst nothing but Ruin was within their view such a concern was as natural as 't is for decaying Families to value themselves on their Pedigrees But in their flourishing condition under Queen Elizabeth it might have been hoped that the Members of both would have found themselves better Employment This the contending Parties in that Reign seem to have been somewhat sensible of and therefore the most violent and fierce of 'em declin'd the owning of their several Brats the affixing their Names to Pleadings and Apologies The Truth is the greatest part of what was offer'd on either side was so aery and vapid that 't was fit only for young Sophisters or Men that had left the School for thirty Years to argue at such a rate whereas the grave and residing Doctors were justly asham'd of such Practices and for some time modestly play'd their Puppets from behind the Curtain What was done for either of these Noble Seminaries by King Sigebert or King Aelfred may possibly endure the Canvasing But when the contesting Antiquaries begin to be so hardy as to launch farther into the vast and dark Ocean of the Times of Iren or Rydychen and Caer-grant I think the wisest Course is to divide the Laurel and to call in King Bladud to be Founder of our first University at Stanford Thus the pitching of our Tents in a third place ends the Controversy and we may quietly and at leisure draw off our Colonies to Oxford or Cambridge as we have occasion Some Writers we have that have behaved themselves with tolerable indifferency in treating of these Matters and have honestly enquir'd into the true History of the gradual Advancement of Learning in this Kingdom recounting whatever remain'd of the ancient State and Condition of it in either of our Universities But the most of those that pretend to write of both without prejudice are too manifestly byass'd in their Affections and seldome fail of giving the Precedence to the place of their own respective Education John Ross the Warwick Antiquary has been already observ'd to mix a deal of this kind of History in that which he wrote of the Kings of England And 't is certain he also design'd a particular Treatise of the Antiquities of our Universities This very Treatise tho' he acknowledges 't was an imperfect Copy that came to his hands is frequently quoted by John Leland and yet Mr. Wood believes 't is now lost as confidently as his Predecessor Brian Twine thought it never had a being I presume his other Tract Contra Historiolam Cantabrigiensem was only a Fragment of this Fragment and therefore if the one be irrecoverably gone there 's little encouragement to look after the other Amongst Master Leland's own Works we have also one that bears the Title De Academiis Britannicis which was once in such forwardness as that himself spoke of it as of a piece that would suddainly appear abroad Quin Grantae gloriam accuratius in Opusculo quod de Academiis Britannicis sum propediem editurus collaudabo I cannot see how this Expression could give any Foundation to one of our Queen Elizabeth's Antiquaries to assert that if this Book were publish'd in that intire Condition in which its Author left it it would infallibly stop the Mouths of those that contend for the Antiquity of Cambridge But I think 't was a sufficient Reply to such a Supposition that If the Sky should fall we should as infallibly catch Larâ—s John Pits prefaced his Account of our Writers with a small History of our Universities which he desir'd might be taken notice of in the Title of that Work inscrib'd by himself De Academiis Illustribus Scriptoribus Angliae There 's nothing in him on the former head but what he has Epitomiz'd out of some of those that wrote on the same Subject a little before his Time from whom he borrows all the new Light he pretends to give De Academiis tam Antiquis Britonum quam recentioribus Anglorum About the same time as I guess liv'd Robert Hare who was an Esquire of good Worship and Wealth and a great lover and preserver of Antiquities He carefully Collected the precious Monuments of both Vniversities caus'd them fairly to be transcrib'd and freely bestow'd a Duplicate or double Copy on each of them This industrious Gentleman was sometimes a Member of Gonvil and Caius College in Cambridge and therefore tho' he pretends to give a fair History of the Priviledges of Oxford yet he inclines too much upon occasion the other way In Howes's Edition of Stow's Chronicle we have an Appendix or Corollary of the Foundations and Descriptions of the three most famous Vniversities of England viz. Cambridge Oxford and London The Story of the two first of these we are told was compiled by John Stow and continu'd by his Publisher and 't is not much that we owe to the pains of either of 'em since the whole is only a lean Tract of half a dozen Pages There 's in the Archives of Bodley's Library a Poetical Piece entitul'd Britannia Scholastica which was written by one Robert Burhil about the beginning of King James the First 's Reign and Treats of the prime Antiquities of our two Universities The zealous stickling for Seniority in the last Age did this Service to both our famous Nurseries of good Learning that many of their most ancient Records were hereupon enquir'd out and carefully preserv'd which may be as beneficial to our English History as some officious Forgeries on the same occasion are injurious to it We have no less than one and twenty several Volumes relating to the Antiquities of the University of Oxford as Charters Orders Statutes Decrees Letters c. the last whereof bears this Title About the Burghesses for the Vniversity and what may be answer'd in case their Right of sitting in Parliament should be impugn'd These are all in Manuscript and are the Fountain whence some of our best Printed Accounts have been deriv'd Amongst the latter kind the Historiola Oxoniensis is look'd upon the most Authentic and as such has had several Impressions 'T is only a short Fragment of a single Page in Octavo wherein we are told that the Britains began an University at Grekelade which the Saxons remov'd to Oxford This is the Summ of that little Narrative which tho' 't is found in some of their Manuscript Statute-Books as old as the Reigns of Edward the Third and Henry the Fourth yet is not much insisted on by Mr. Wood who was sensible that it was Penn'd too carelesly to be of any great use in the grand Controversy John Ross
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