Reader as short and as methodical an Abstract of a great many larger Collections on the same Subject as I could readily furnish him with I know there have been Catalogues of this kind made heretofore by Men of better Acquaintance with our English Libraries and Manuscripts than I can pretend to Such is Joh. Josceline's Commentary cited by Mr. Wharton and the Hypercritica frequently referr'd to by the Oxford Antiquary Tho. Fuller had also composed something of the like Nature under the Title of A Library of British Historians to which he sometimes refers his Readers as a piece wherewith he intended suddainly to bless the Publick P. Heylyn began an Examen Historicum but carry'd it no farther than the works of a couple of his Cotemporaries who very well deserv'd to be lash'd 'T is seldom that the Censures and Remarks of single Men go any greater lengths than this just as far as they are push'd on by private Resentment and Pique Whereas a General Examen a sort of an Vniversal Index Expurgatorius that points at the mistakes and errors of every page in our several Historians is what we chiefly want and what must be the Result of the joynt Labours of a Society of English Antiquaries and Historians as well as the General History it self For most of our Printed Histories have been miserably abused either in transcribing or at the Press besides their native blemishes the falsities and blunders of their Authors tho' some few have had the good fortune to fall into better hands which have sent them abroad beautifull and well dress'd The first Person of my Eminence and Learning that was so kind to this Kingdom as to procure a correct Edition of some of our best Historians was Archbishop Parker who furnish'd us with Matthew of Westminster M. Paris Tho. Walsingham and Asserius Menevensis After him the Lord William Howard of Naworth publish'd Florence of Worcester as did likewise Sir Henry Savile his Scriptores post Bedam and Camden his Anglica Normannica c. These were four very Great Men And what they had begun singly and severally was with like accuracy and success carry'd on by a Confederacy of Learned Worthies Archbishop Usher Sir R. Twisden and Mr. Selden during our late Civil Wars To them we are eternally indebted for the noble Edition they gave us of the Decem Scriptores and they had certainly further oblig'd us had not the Iniquity of the Times and the Inconstancy that attends all humane Affairs prevented them What they left unfinish'd was in a good measure perfected by that mighty Supporter of Learning Dr. John Fell the late excellent Bishop of Oxford who took care to publish some of the Treatises which they had prepared for the Press and had been at a great charge in procuring others of 'em which he did not live to finish Of these a more particular account will be given hereafter in their proper places To repair as much as was possible the inexpressible loss we had by the Death of this worthy Prelate the like good service to the Publick was happily undertaken by the Industrious and Learned Dr. Th. Gale who has kindly obliged us with Twenty of our old Writers in two Volumes The former of these tho' last Printed contains fifteen pieces of our most ancient Historians as Gildas Nennius Asserius c. transcribed out of old Manuscripts with the various Readings where any variety of Copies was to be had To which he has added a large Appendix of such fragments of Antiquity as are justly to be call'd Prime-Primitive out of Ptolemy Antoninus's Itinerary the Notitia Dignitatum c. Vpon some of these he has given us his own excellent Notes together with Surita's upon the Itinerary so far as it relates to Britain It were to be wish'd the Printer had perform'd his part as well But the Doctor 's great Distance from the Press and the usual negligence of Correctors has occasion'd several Errata which yet will be easily rectify'd by an Intelligent Reader In the second Volume we have Five Historians of Note who make us acquainted with many considerable Transactions in the first eight Reigns after the Conquest The Publisher's Design in this part would not allow him to descend any lower than to the Reign of Edward the First and therefore although Wikes and the Annals of Waverley carry him a little beyond his Bounds as ending soon after yet he tells us he has reserv'd a good share of Hemmingford for the more regular Prosecution of his Method in some other Volume which he encourages us to hope for from him hereafter To these as he observes there ought indeed to be added a Third Volume perhaps a Fourth and a Fifth of our MS. Historians from Hen. III. to Hen. VIII And that would complete the Collection which he has with so great Pains and Judgment begun For since Printing came in fashion nothing of History has been penn'd worth the Common View which is not effectually published and easy to be had except only some few choice Papers that are still monopoliz'd by such private men of slow thought as do believe they wrong themselves whenever they communicate these hidden Treasures In both Volumes we have most exact and full Indices which exceedingly add to the value of the Work The like good Services have been done to the Ecclesiastical History of this Kingdom by H. Wharton who has publish'd two Volumes of Writers on that Subject and seems to intimate that some time or other we might have hoped for a Third and Fourth Volume of the same sort of Collections from him Had he improv'd the Opportunities he once had of fitting out all these for the Press before the misfortunes of his Patron had spoil'd both his Design and Prospect his kindness to the Publick would have been doubled and perhaps other occasions might have been offer'd him of communicating his elaborate Notes on the Succession of some of our Bishops His other Ornamental Discourses which seem to have robb'd us of a deal of his Time and Pains might have been spard At least they would have taken no harm if he had kept them within Doors a little longer since some of 'em look as if they were sent abroad too early and before they were come to their full growth and perfection For instance That about the two Aelfrics which he values himself upon as his master-piece is founded on a gross mistake in A. Wheloc's wrong Translating an expression in the Saxon Chronicle which carries no such sense as he puts upon it Some body I fansy had made him sensible of this Error and therefore in his Addenda he endeavours to gain his point by a fresh Argument assuring us that the Codex optimus Cottonianus ends the Chronicle at the year 975. Had the rest of our Libraries been as well search'd as that at
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
118 Osmund 47 Oxenedes xxx Oxoniensis Historiola 208 P. Paris 24 55 64 74 Parker 121 222 Parsons 69 82 134 Paul 164 Philip Monachus 55 Pits 109 194 206 220 Pliny x Pluto 63 Pollini 88 Porter 46 Powel xxiv Proctor xlvi Prynne 112 114 Q. Quadrilogus 79 R. Ramsey 54 56 57 Ray xiii Regina Literata 221 Reyner 195 Ricemarchus 23 26 Rich 74 Rievallensis 28 Ripponensis 59 Rishton 87 Robinson xxiii Rocking 76 Rosse 150 204 209 Rudburn 128 149 S. Saints British 21 Saxon 44 English 73 Salisburiensis 73 78 Salopiensis 29 Sancta Clara 200 Sanders 86 Sansbury 213 Savage 214 Savil 183 Schelstract 20 Schaffhausen 29 Searl 144 Selden xi Serlo 198 Slatyer xxxii Smith 70 131 Solinus x Somner 44 67 120 Speed 183 Spelman 15 40 66 90 Spott 120 Stanyhurst 28 Stapleton 38 79 Stephens 60 77 90 Stillingfleet 17 100 Stokys 222 Stonestreet xiii Storer 166 Stow 207 Strabo x Strype 104 Stubbes 152 T. Tanner 50 116 189 232 Taylor 136 Taxston xxx Teilo 138 Teukesbury 78 79 Textus Roffensis 148 Thorn 120 Thynne 146 Tinmuthensis 30 31 Tood 123 Torr xvii 154 Trokelow xxxvii Trussel 149 Tuke xxxi Turgot 127 Turner xvi Twine 212 Twisden 89 V. Vade 79 Varillas 99 Virgil 109 Vitalis 62 Unwon 24 Vowel 133 Urmston 125 Usher xxiii 12 W. Wade 79 Wake 212 Wall xlv Wallingford xxix Wantner xiv Warner xxxi Wendover xxix Wessington 128 Wharton 111 115 116 142 178 Wheloc 37 38 White 146 194 Whitlock 140 Wilson 45 163 Wintoniensis 107 Wood 111 145 128 215 231 Woodhop 194 Worcester 182 209 Worthington 85 Wulstan 53 58 Wycumb 168 Books Printed for Abel Swall at the Vnicorn in St. Paul's Chuch-Yard CAmden's Britannia newly Translated into English with large Additions and Improvements and Maps of every County engrav'd anew Folio Thesaurus Geographicus a new Body of Geography containing the General Doctrin of that Science and a particular Description Geographical Topographical and Political of all the known Countries of the Earth with Maps engraven in Copper Folio Monsieur L. E. Du Pin's History of Ecclesiastical Writers containing an Account of the Lives and Writings and an Abridgment of the Works of the Primitive Fathers and all Ecclesiastical Writers from the time of our Saviour to the end of the Ninth Century Folio seven Tomes The Evangelical History or the Life of our Saviour Jesus Christ comprehensively and plainly related Adorn'd with Copper Cuts Octavo The Evangelical History Part II. being the Lives and Acts of the Holy Apostles Illustrated with the Effigies of the Apostles and a Map of their Travels engraven in Copper Octavo The Essays or Councils Civil and Moral of Sir Francis Bacon Lord Verulam and Vicount of St. Alban with a Character of Q. Eliz. now added in this Edition Octavo The History of the Revolutions in Sweden occasioned by the Change of Religion and Alteration of Government in that Kingdom Translated from French by J. M. Octavo Travels through Germany Bohemia Swisserland Holland and other parts of Europe describing the most considerable Cities and Palaces of Princes By C. Patin M. D. of Paris English'd and Illustrated with Cuts Octavo C. Jul. Caesaris Comment cum Notis Interpretat Joan. Goduini in usum Delph Octavo P. Ovidij Metamorphosaeon Interpret Notis illustravit D. Crispinus in usum Delph recensuit J. Freind Oxon. Octavo P. Virgilij Opera Notis Interpret illustravit Carol. Ruaeus in usum Delphinij Octavo Eutropij Historiae Romanae Breviar cum Notis Emendationibus Annae Tannaq Fabri Filia in usum Delphini Octavo The English Historical Library Part I. 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 W. Nicolson Octavo Now newly Published Archaeologiae Greciae Or the Antiquities of Greece containing an Account of the Civil Government of Athens The Religion of the Greeks c. By John Potter M. A. and Fellow of Lincoln College Oxon. Illustrated with Sculptures Octavo To be Published by the end of this Month of June 1697. The Lives and Characters of the Ancient Greek Poets By Basil Kennet of C. C. C. Oxon. Adorn'd with their Heads in Sculpture Octavo C. Crispi Sallustij Opera quae Extant D. Crispinus Notis Interpretatione illustravit in usum Delph Octavo FINIS a Le moyne's Art of Writing Hist. p. 224. a Sir H. S. Pref. to Polyb. b Le Moyne p. 21 22 c. a H. Wharton's Pref. to AB Laud's Life p. 10. a J. â—â—â—on's Proposals b T. Gale Praef. ad Script XV. â— 8. c Id. ib. a Camd. Brit. in Norman b Sir W. T.'s Introduct p. 5. a Praef. ad Angl. Sacr. Vol. I. p. 26. b Athen-Oxon Vol. I. p. 452. alibi c Hist. Eccles. lib. I. p. 42. a Edit London 8 o 1659. a London 1570. b London 1571. c Lond. 1574. d Cum priore e Francof 1601. a Francof 1601. b Ib. 1602. c Lond. 1652. d See W. Kennet's Life of Mr. Sâ—â—â—er p. 64 65 66. a Oxon. 1684. b Oxon. 1691. a Oxon. 1687. a Praef. ad Vol. I. p. 5 6. a Anglia Sacra Par. I. II. Lond. 1691. a Cùm adversa Clementissimi Patroni fortuna mihi hujusmodi studiorum subsidia omnium verò praemia infoelici excusserit Praef. ad Par. II. p. 30. a Tot tantisque Argumentis firmata ut non facilè aliis rejicienda fuerit b Ad Antiq. 975. c P. 796. a J. Usser Praef. ad Brit. Eccl. Antiq. p. 2. b Camden and Speed c Praef. ad vit Aelfredi R. Not. ad Tab. IV. d Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabr Lond. 1600. e Athen. Oxon. Vol. I. p. 459. a Oxon. 1605 1620. b See Dr. Plott's Hist. of Staffordsh p. 277. c Oxon. 1692. a Mr. Edw. Lhwyd the worthy Keeper of the Musaeum b Ad finem Instit. Gramm Anglo-Sax c Oxon. 1692. d Librorum MSS. Academiorum Oxoniensis Cantabrigiensis celebrium per Angliam Hiberniamque Bibliothecarum Catalogus c. Ptolemy a H. Lhuyd Fragment fol. 35. a. Jo. Ant. Maginus Pag. 4. c. b Append. ad Hist. Brit. p. 735. 787. Antoninus c De Hist. Lat. in vità Livii a Vide Usserii Hist. Eccles. Brit. p. 42. b M. S. in Coll. Ben. Cantab. Bibl. Cott. de quo vid. Hist. Antiq. Oxon. par II. p. 135. J. Pits p. 737. c Fol. London 1658. d Append. ad Hist. Brit. p. 787. Liber Notitiaâ— rum e Id. ib. p. 744 746 748. a Pag. 136. Since the Conquest a Id. p. 280. b Assert Arthur fol. 33. a. c Pits p. 283. d Id. p. 398. e Id. pag. 529. f Id. pag. 567. g Id. p. 646. h Fol. Lond. 1515. a Edit prim Cent. 8. cap. 43. In Hen Eighth's Reign b J. Pits p. 733. c Id. p. 734. d De Encom virorum illustr p. 18. e Fragment
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