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
yet affirms that the same Man was made a Presbyter seven years after A. D. 1059. But in truth the Gentleman himself is more upon the Blunder than his Author The Phrase of Saeculum reliquit does not as he imagines import the same thing with mortuus est But signifies only as it does in the same Year and on the same Occasion in Matt. of VVestminster and others the Man's leaving the Concerns of this world Secular Affairs to turn Regular and Secluse 'T is a scandalous reproach and not worth the answering which Sir Thomas Craig gives of him That He led his followers into Error like so many Cattle breaking over a Ditch Eadmerus a Monk of Canterbury is our next Historian whose Historia Novorum c. was published by Mr. Selden and contains the story of the two VVilliams and Henry the First from the year 1066 to 1122. 'T is a Work of great Gravity and unquestionable Authority It affords no fooleries of Miracles so very rife in the Writings of other Monks unless perhaps the Story of the B. Virgins Hair have a smack of the Cloister He had Temptations enough being an intimate Acquaintance of Archbishop Anselm to take the Pope's part in the mighty Dispute of his Time about Investituâ—e and yet he approves himself a person of that steady Loyalty to his Country as to give a fair account of the management on both sides and the unanswerable arguments made in Defence of the Regal Power His comparing of our Saviour's Commission to St. Peter and Pope Gregory's to Augustine the Monk for the establishing of the Primacy of Canterbury is notable and either clears that of Canterbury or clouds that of Rome The Character which Selden himself gives of him is that his Style equals that of Malmesbury his Matter and Composure exceeds him His Cotemporary Aelfred Monk and Treasurer of the Church of Beverly seems to be no more than an Epitomizer of Jeoffrey of Monmouth So that all the four general Treatises said to be written by this Author may probably well bear the Name of Deflorationes Galfredi But William Monk and Library-Keeper of Malmesbury was a person of another figure and has had the highest Commendations imaginable given him by some of our best Criticks in English History One calls him an elegant learned and faithful Historian Another says he 's the only Man of his Time that has honestly discharg'd the Trust of such a Writer And the third calls him the chief of all our Historians What falls under our present consideration is his Account De Gestis Regum Anglorum in five Books with an Appendix in two more which he stiles Historiae Novellae In these we have a judicious Collection of whatever he found on Record touching the Affairs of England from the first arrival of the Saxons concluding his Work with the Reign of King Stephen to whom he shews himself as hearty an Enemy as his Patron Robert Earl of Glocester could possibly be We shall have occasion to mention this Author in several of the following Chapters and therefore I shall now only add that I think himself has given an honest account of this part of his Labours when he tells us Privatim ipse mihi sub Ope Christi gratulor quod â—ontinuam Anglorum Historiam ordinaverim post Bedam vel solus vel primus And again Ego enim veram Legem secutus Historiae nihil unquam posui nisi quod a fidelibus Relatoribus vel Scriptoribus addidici Pits says he was epitomiz'd by W. Horman sometime Master of Eaton-School But whether all his Works or some part of 'em only were so contracted he does not tell us Possibly he only transcrib'd what Simeon Dunelmensis had before drawn up to his hand This Simeon and his Cotemporary Ealred Abbot of Rievaulx are our next Historians of Note in this Century and have both deserv'd to be remember'd in several parts of this Treatise The former was Monk and Precentor of Durham A. D. 1164. and might justly be reckon'd one of the most learned Men of his Age. But his two Books De Gestis Regum which alone are now to be mention'd are not his Master-pieces Being only a few indigested Collections chiefly out of Florence of Worcester whose very words he frequently copies Abbot Ealred not of Revesby in Lincolnshire but of Rievaulx in Yorkshire gives us a short Genealogy of our Kings but enlarges chiefly on the Praises of David King of Scots Founder of a great many Abbies for the Cistertians His other Books of the Life of Edward the Confessor c. are treated on elsewhere I doubt Sir George Mackenzy's Baldredus Abbas Rynalis is this very Author Notwithstanding the great pains he is at to distinguish them About the same time flourished Henry Archdeacon of Huntingdon whose eight Books concluding with the Reign of King Stephen were published by Sir Henry Savil. In the Preface he owns himself a Follower of Bede in the main for the time he wrote in But says withal that he added many things met with in old Libraries His first Lines will easily convince the Reader that he does really follow Bede for he Copies him to a word But I am not satisfy'd that he has added any great matters as far as that Author goes He has indeed a great many Lyes out of Jeoffrey of Monmouth which Bede never heard of and which the World might have wanted well enough After Bede's time he has many particulars out of the Saxon Chronicle which had been omitted by our Historians before him He is pleas'd to take notice of one great Truth that he writes very confusedly All the Transactions of the Heptarchy he reduces to the several Reigns of the West-Saxon Kings But has not adjusted them so well as he ought to have done At the same time liv'd John Serlo Abbot of Fountains who as John Pits tells us wrote a Treatise De Bello inter Scotiae Regem Angliae Barones We are not so well assur'd of this as that he wrote a History of the Foundation of his own Monastery for which he shall be remember'd in a proper place The general Histories written by Richard of the Devises and John of Tilbury a London-Divine before the end of this Age are of the same authority and that 's all I have to say concerning either of ' em William of Newburg was so call'd from a Monastery in Yorkshire of that Name whereof he was a Member tho his true Surname was Little whence he sometimes stiles himself Petit or Parvus His History ends at the year 1197. and therefore tho he is said to be alive A. D. 1220. he ought to be reckon'd among the Historians of this Age. John Pits thinks he appears too much a Flatterer of the Grandees at Court to write a true History But by the account he gives of the beginning
had also as appears from the Saxon Gospels Halfpennies and Farthings which perhaps were of a baser Matter They had also Half Farthings eight to a Penny like the Liards de France which they call'd Sticas Of which kind I take those Brass pices to be which were lately found near Rippon in Yorkshire and by Sir Edward Blackâ—t into whose possession they first came kindly communicated to several curious Antiquaries in that County The rest of their Money-Terms are Names of Accounts and Weight which are thus stated by Camden  l. s. d. 1. Their Shilling was 5 of their Pennies in our Money 0 1 3 2. Their Pound was their 48 s. our 3 0 0 3. Manca Mancusa or Marca about 0 1 0 4. Manca of Gold their 30 d. our 0 7 6 This computation tho not exact comes near the truth and is as much or more than we have occasion for at present Camden here omits their Thrimsa which Sir Henry Spelman takes to have been three Shillings Mr. Selden thinks it was the third part of a Shilling and Mr. Somner modestly owns he knows not what it was As far as I am able to judge King Aethelstan's Laws make the Thrimsa Peninga and Sceat all one thing They tell us a King's Weregild was thirty thousand Thrimsa's that is say they one hundred and twenty pounds Now one of their pounds being allow'd to be about three times the weight of ours this Summ will amount to about three hundred and sixty pounds of our Money and there being eighty six thousand and four hundred pence in our three hundred and sixty Pounds it follows that a Thrimsa is somewhat less than our three pence which is the same with their Peninga or Sceat In several Libraries and in many Register-Books of our oldest Monasteries we have a deal of Charters granted and pretended to be granted by our Saxon Kings but they are very cautiously to be admitted and allow'd on The most ancient that we meet with are those that are said to have been granted by Ethelbert King of Kent about the Year 605. and they have such Marks of Forgery upon them as would make a Man jealous of medling with any others of the like kind The Records of the very Chuch of Canterbury to which these Grants are said to have been made assure us that King Withered who reignâ—d almost a whole Century after Ethelbert was the first that gave out Charters in Writing his Predecessors thinking their bare word sufficient to secure any of their Gifts and Benefactions Nay one of their own Monks acquaints us that his Brethren were eminent Artists at coining of Charters and we have all the reason in the world to take his Word for it The Cheat may commonly be discover'd by a strict Enquiry after and comparing of their Dates and the Times of such Witnesses Bishops Abbots c. as are brought in to attest their Truth Mr. Wharton says he could rarely observe one Saxon Charter penn'd in their own Tongue to have been counterfeited and the reason he assigns is because all the Forgery came in after the Conquest when the hungry Normans put the Monks and others upon proving their Titles to their Lands and Houses or otherwise made bold to seize them into their own hands Now what was written in the Saxon Tongue being generally slighted it was necessary they should produce their Grants in Latin if they expected that their new Masters would everregard or cast an Eye on them Another occasion was afterwards taken of feigning Charters upon William the Conqueror's extraordinary one to his new erected Monastery at Battle-Abbey whereby he exempted the Abbot there and his Monks from all Episcopal Jurisdiction This set the Religious in other parts of the Kingdom upon grasping at the like Immunities and to that end they frequently framed the like Grants from former Kings R. Fabian will tell us that the first Charter the Citizens of London ever had was granted by King William the First which notwithstanding the great Antipathy which he is said to have against it is written in the Saxon Tongue seal'd with green Wax and exprest in eight or nine Lines A great many of their Laws have been publisht and we are not without hopes but that a good deal more which hitherto have lain in private hands will shortly appear abroad The first attempt towards so good a service to the Kingdom was made by A. Nowel who collected all he could find and left them to be translated by his Friend W. Lambard He accordingly made them publick but his Translation is so false and affected that the best Judges of such a performance have not been satisfy'd with it For which reason Mr. Junius recommends the old Translation in John Brompton's History as much more correct and better to be rely'd on Mr. Somner took the pains to review the Book and to correct his Errors adding several Laws omitted by Lambard and giving a double Translation in Latin and English to the whole These are now with what else of that kind was left unpublish'd by that industrious person in the Custody of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Mr. Junius took the like pains with the Book and his Emendations are to be had at Oxford But still there are several Saxon Laws in Manuscript which we have good hopes will e're long be publisht At least those of 'em that relate to the Affairs of the Church will be given us in a better Edition of Sir Henry Spelman's Councils Of which more hereafter By the way I am not satisfy'd with the Opinion of Camden Lambard Spelman and generally all our English Antiquaries and Historians who have treated of these matters that there were in this Kingdom before the Conquest three Codes or Digests of Laws which from the several Countries wherein they first prevail'd were rightly named the West-Saxon Mercian and Danish Laws This conceit is deriv'd down without Contradiction or due Examination from the most early Translators of our Saxon Records who took it for granted that Laga in Westsexena laga Myrcena laga and Dene laga was a word of the same Import and Signification with the Norman Ley. Whereas in truth Laga or Lage is properly a Country or District and so 't is very evident it ought to have been translated in the Laws of Ethelbert Cnute and Edward the Confessor even in those very parts of 'em which have occasion'd all these mistakes It appears there were some Historians who wrote of the Saxon Affairs before Venerable Bede's time and I am inclinable to think that a part of their old Chronicle which has had so much honour of late done to it by Mr. Gibson is of that Age. The first Publisher of this Noble Monument was Ab. Wheloc who translated it and caus'd it to be printed in the end of his Saxon Bede He made use only of
severest Enemy he had has acknowledg'd of him and on this score alone some have unreasonably extoll'd him But there 's so little of the other more Necessary Qualifications of a good Historian Truth and Fair Dealing in all his Twently-six Books that he has been justly condemn'd by our Criticks and 't is no wonder that some of them have express'd an Indignation suitable to the Abuses put upon their Country Sir Henry Savil is warmer on this occasion than is usual with him Polydorus says he ut homo Italus in rebus nostris Hospes quod Caput est neque in Republicâ versatus nec magni alioqui vel Judicii vel Ingenii pauca ex multis delibans falsa plerumque pro veris complexus Historiam nobis reliquit cùm coetera mendosam tùm exiliter sanè jejunè conscriptam Some have fansy'd that the severe Character which Sir Henry is here pleas'd to give of this Author might chiefly by apply'd to the History of Henry the Eighth And that a great many Passages in that Reign may be darkly or falsly represented by him by reason of his being unacquainted with the English Tongue which could not but very much obstruct his Knowledge in Modern Transactions Other things say they have fallen from him under a borrow'd Light and Colour out of the Respect he had for Queen Mary and his great Inclinations to serve the Interests of that Princess But does not even this Apology carry a deal of Invective in it Sir Henry Savil is far from being singular in the severest part of his Censure Some of our late Writers have agreed to it and his Cotemporary Humph. Lhuyd out-throws him a Bar or two For what think you of these Expressions Nominis Britannici gloriam non solum obfuscare sed etiam Britannos ipsos mendacissimis suis Calumniis infamare totis viribus conatur Homo Ignotus Exterus Vir perfrictae frontis Invidiâ odio tumens Infamis Homunculus Os Impudens Nor ought any thing of this to be attributed to an over-boyling of honest Humphrey's Welsh Blood if the other Matters he 's accus'd on be true He is said to have borrow'd Books out of the publick Library at Oxford without taking any Care to restore them Upon which the University as they had good reason declin'd lending any more till forc'd to it by a Mandate which he made a shift to procure from the King In other places he likewise pillag'd the Libraries at his pleasure and at last sent over a whole Ship-load of Manuscripts to Rome And yet when this Publican himself left England when there was no further occasion for his Collecting the Papal Revenues King Edward the Sixth is said to have dismiss'd him with several handsome Presents Which we are not to look upon as a Reward as a certain late Writer expresses it but rather to consider that the young King being about to take his final leave of the Pope and all that belong'd to him resolv'd to do it as courteously as was possible The other Historians of his Time have been much Eclips'd by the glaring Lustre of this Foreigner insomuch that some of their Writings have hardly ever seen the Light John Rastal a Citizen and Printer in London who marry'd Sir Thomas Meer's Sister and died A. D. 1536. wrote an English Chronicle but I know no more where to find it than another of the same Age written by Richard Turpin a Leicestershire Gentleman and an Officer in the Garrison at Calais which I find quoted by his Countryman Tho. Lanquet who died at London in the twenty-fourth year of his Age A. D. 1545. began an Abbreviation of our Chronicles but brought it no lower than the Birth of our Saviour Its third part which chiefly relates to this Kingdom was written by the Learned Tho. Cowper afterwards Bishop of Winchester and by him published He calls it as justly he may an Epitome of our Chronicles and 't is a Meagre one too far short of the Performances of the same Author on other Subjects The like slender Abstract of our English History was about the same time penn'd by George Lily son of William the Famous Grammarian which together with his short Account of the Wars betwixt the Houses of York and Lancaster and his Genealogy of our Kings has had several Impressions Somewhat bulkier is the Work of Edward Hall who was some time Recorder if I understand my Author right of London where he died A. D. 1547. He wrote a large Account of the foremention'd Wars which in a very flattering Epistle he dedicates to Henry the Eighth If the Reader desires to know what sort of Cloaths were worn in each King's Reign and how the Fashions alter'd this is an Historian for his purpose but in other Matters his Information is not very valuable A great Borrower from this Hall was Rich. Grafton who as Buchanan rightly observes was a very heedless and unskilful Writer and yet he has the Honour done him to be sometimes quoted by Stow and others Of much better Note are the joynt Labours of Will. Harrison and Ra. Holinshead whose Chronicle has been well receiv'd and still bears a good Port among our Books of that kind These Authors are suppos'd to have been both Clergy-men but 't is not certainly known where they spent the most of their days So remarkably careful have they been to benefit the Publick without the Vanity of making their own Story known to Posterity Holinshead frequently owns the great Assistance he had from Fran. Thynne sometime in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Lancaster-Herald and an eminent Antiquary He has been severely treated by Sir Thomas Craig for some Insolencies which that Learned Gentleman suppos'd him guilty of in Relation to the Kingdom of Scotland Whereas in Truth that part of the Book no farther concern'd poor Mr. Holinshead than as the whole was sheltered under his Name In the second Edition the History was continu'd to the year 1586. by John Hooker alias Vowel of whom we shall have occasion to make some further mention hereafter 1601. Industrious John Stow leads the Van in the present Century which is now brought near its Conclusion And he well deserves to be remember'd with Honour He was a Member of the Merchant-Taylors Company in London and as has been already observ'd a special Benefactor to that City in enquiring after and preserving its Antiquities and Records He travell'd on foot through a good part of England in search after the Manuscript Historians in the Libraries of our Cathedral Churches and was very exact and Critical in his Collections Having spent above Forty Years in these Studies he was put upon the Correction and Publishing of Reyne Wolf's Chronicle by Archbishop Whitgift and he had fairly transcrib'd his Work and made it ready for the Press when he died A. D. 1605. He
without his Vouchers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first that attempted a formal History of our Reformation was Dr. Peter Heylyn who upon the return of Monarchy and Episcopacy publish'd his Book entitl'd Ecclesia Restaurata wherein he pretends to give a punctual account of the rise and progress of that great Work But the first Agitations in Religion as he calls them are very slenderly touch'd his Story beginning at the Year 1537. What he chiefly design'd by it I cannot well apprehend unless 't was to shew K. Charles the Second the Errors and Mistakes of our first Reformers and to direct him how to settle the Church on a better Foundation For he falls foul on all the Princes of those Times without any regard to their good or ill Wishes to the Protestant Interest He represents K. Edward the Sixth as one of ill Principles and Soft and Censures his Mother's Relations with a more than ordinary Freedom He intimates as if the Zwinglian Gospellers would have carri'd all before them had that Prince Liv'd and observes they were far too rife in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reformation when many were rais'd to great Preferments who were too much inclin'd to the Platform of Geneva On the other hand Queen Mary's Bloodiness is no where set off in so lively a Paint as where he tells us She admitted of a Consultation for burning the Body of her Father and cutting off the Head of her Sister 'T is a good Rule which a modern Critick gives his Historian That he should have a Regard to his own Birth and not forget the Respect due to the Memory of those Princes that have Govern'd his native Country As this should restrain a Man from exposing the Failures of such Governours in their own Persons so it ought to caution him against making too free with the Frailties of their Kindred and Councellors He concludes with the Act of Establishing the Government of the Church by Archbishops and Bishops in the Eighth Year of Queen Elizabeth whose famous Court of High Commission he calls the Principal Bulwark and Preservative of the Church of England If the Reader desires any further Character of this Writer and his History 't is given him by one who should be best acquainted with it He wrote says he Smoothly and Handsomly His Method and Style are good and his Work was generally more read than any thing that had appear'd before him But either he was very ill inform'd or very much led by his Passions and being wrought on by some Violent Prejudices against some that were concern'd in that Time he delivers many things in such a manner and so strangely that one would think he had been secretly set on to it by those of the Church of Rome Tho' I doubt not but he was a sincere Protestant but violently carri'd away by some particular Conceits In one thing he is not to be excused That he never vouch'd any Authority for what he wrote which is not to be forgiven any who write of Transactions beyond their own Time and deliver new things not known before The most of his Materials I guess were had from the Transcript which AB Laud caus'd to be made of all that related to the Story of the Reformation out of those eight large Volumes of Collections that are still in the Cottonian Library So that upon what Grounds he wrote a great deal of his Book we can only conjecture and many in their Guesses are not apt to be very favourable to him I know endeavours have been used to blunt the Edge of this Censure by one who has done all that a true Friend could do to place the Doctor and his Writings in a better Light But what would that kind Gentleman have said to a sharper Sentence pass'd by another Learn'd Prelate on this Book How would he have resented the telling the World that Dr. Heylin's representing our first Reformers as Fanaticks was an Angry and Scandalous injury to Truth and our Church This I confess is very hard Language but perhaps it may more easily be digested than refused The Defects of the foremention'd Author were abundantly supply'd in the more compleat History of our Reformation by Dr. Burnet the present Bishop of Salisbury whose first Volume was publish'd in the Year 1679. by Secretary Coventry's Order and Dedicated to K. Charles the Second In the Months of December and January in the Year following 1680. The Historian had the Thanks of both Houses of Parliament for what he had already done and was desired to proceed to the finishing of the whole Work which was done accordingly This History gives a punctual Account of all the Affairs of the Reformation from it 's first beginnings in the Reign of Henry the Eighth till it was finally compleated and setled by Queen Elizabeth A. D. 1559. And the whole is penn'd in such a Masculine Style as becomes an Historian and such as is this Author's Property in all his Writings The Collection of Records which he gives in the conclusion of each Volume are good Vouchers of the Truth of all he delivers as such in the Body of his History and are much more perfect than could reasonably be expected after the Pains taken in Q. Maries days to suppress every thing that carry'd the Marks of the Reformation upon it The Work has had so much Justice done it as to meet with a general Acceptance abroad and to be translated into most of the European Languages insomuch that even the most Picquant of the Author's Enemies allow it to have a Reputation firmly and deservedly establish'd Indeed some of the French Writers have cavill'd at it But the most eminent of them Mr. Varillas and Mr. Le Grand have receiv'd due correction from the Author himself It was no wonder to see some Members of the Roman Communion laying out their best endeavours to raise themselves a Name by so glorious a Service to their Church as the disparagement of this Writer and the disgracing his History might justly have been reckon'd But 't was a little unaccountable that the same Rancour should possess Men within the Pale of our Reform'd English Church and such as desired to be looked upon as Zealous maintainers of Her Honour and the Justice and Honesty of her Reformation The first of these was S. Lowth who pretended only to batter the Erastian Tenets in Mr. Hobbes's Leviathan But took occasion in the conclusion of his Book to Censure the Account Dr. Burnet had given of some of Arch-bishop Cranmer's singular Opinions This Gentleman had the confidence to assert That both our Historian and Dr. Stillingfleet had impos'd upon the World in that Particular and had unfaithfully joyn'd together in their endeavours to lessen Episcopal Ordination I am not now concern'd with his Charge against Dr. Stillingfleet who did him the Honour which he ought not to have hoped for to expose his Folly in a
an Historical Collection of I know not how many Hundreds of exercrable Treasons Conspiracies c. of the British English French Scotch and Irish Bishops against our Kings and Kingdom But 't is time to rid our Hands of this Filth and Nastiness The most ancient Register Books and Records of our several Dioceses and Cathedral Churches will less sully our Fingers S. ASAPH The History of the Bishops and Deans of this Place was composed by the late learned and industrious Mr. Wharton whose Book was publish'd soon after his Death as a Specimen of what his general Work of all the Dioceses in England would have been if he had liv'd to have finish'd it To this Treatise as well as to the other that is prefix'd to it there is an Appendix of Authentic Instruments out of the Register Books c. According to the Method first taught him by Dr. Burnet In the Lives of the Bishops he frequently quotes the Liber ruber Assavensis an old Cartulary of that Church of good Value BANGOR Godwine mentions a Catalogue of the Bishops of this See in the Archives of the Church of Bangor which I suppose was a very Empty one since upon the two first Editions of his Book he had not any thing to say of this Diocese BATH and WELLS What has been lately done for this Diocese is already taken notice of by Mr. Tanner whose Collections and References let it be here observ'd once for all I shall not repeat but shall wish the Reader himself to consult his very useful Book saving only that some of those Authors he barely quotes where I am able to do it shall be set in the truest Light I can give them Let it be here also noted that when ever he refers his Readers as he does in this place to one or the other Volume of Anglia Sacra they are there sure to meet with a good view of such old Writers as have treated of the ancient History of this or that Diocess or else they have at least a composure of Mr. Wharton's very valuable for the Pains that Author took in adjusting the true Chronological succession of our Bishops Dr. Thomas Chandler sometime Warden of New College in Oxford and Chancellour of this Church wrote a Treatise de Laudibus Bathoniae Welliae which I suppose would afford us some such Light as the same learn'd Person has given in those Lives that have been gratefully penn'd by him and will be taken notice of in another place I guess the Historia de tempore Primaevae inchoationis Sedis Episcopalis Wellensis c. which was made ready for the Press by the noble Publishers of the Decem Scriptores is part of what we have had since from Mr. Wharton who also must be thought to have enrich'd his own Notes out of the great Treasure of Collections which was gather'd and communicated to him by the Reverend and Learn'd Dr. Matt. Hutton BRISTOL This See having only been erected by King Henry the Eighth can have no Records of any great Antiquity but 't is hop'd its entire Story may be had out of such Registers as are in the Hands either of the Bishop or Dean and Chapter of the Church CANTERBVRY as in Justice it ought has had the most and best learn'd Preservers of its History and Antiquities of any Diocess in England The first of these was Arch-bishop Deusdedit or Adeodatus who is said to have recorded the Acts of all his Predecessors which was no mighty Undertaking since himself was only the Sixth from Augustine The eldest of those Writers whose Works are now Extant is Gotseline the Monk who besides the Life of Augustine publish'd by Mr. Wharton wrote also those of the Six following Arch-bishops These are now in MS. in Sir Joh. Cotton's Library but being only Collections out of Bede with the enlargement of a few Romantic Miracles they have not hitherto been thought worth the Printing About the same time Osbern was Precentor of Christ-Church and upon the unhappy Fire which destroy'd most of their Records A. D. 1070. took a deal of Pains in recovering the Histories of the Arch-bishops several of whose Lives were written by him besides those we have in Print Gervasius Dorobernensis that is Monk of Canterbury has left three good Treatises on this Subject which bear the following Titles 1. Tractatus de Combustione Reparatione Dorobernensis Ecclesiae 2. Imaginationes de Discordiis inter Monachos Cantuarienses Archiepiscopum Baldewinum 3. Vitae Dorobernensium Archiepiscoporum R. de Diceto's History of these Primates was discover'd in the Norfolk Library after some others amongst whom he should have been rank'd were publish'd And 't would not have been any great loss if we had still wanted it being very short and mostly stuff'd with Matters foreign to the Purpose Mr. Pits sends us to the Library at Bennet College to enquire after a Manuscript Copy of Arch-bishop Langton's Annals of his Predecessors But he that runs on his Errand will find himself mistaken There are indeed in that Library some Collections out of the last mention'd Author's History of our Kings which relate chiefly to the Affairs of this See the transcriber whereof had some thoughts of Copying out St. Langton's History of Richard the First and so prefaced his Work with the Title of Annales Stephani Archiepiscopi But he soon quits that Subject and so imposes upon a careless Catalogue-monger The next in Order of time was Tho. Spott Spottey or Sprott a Benedictine Monk of Canterbury in the Year 1274. whose Book has been vainly enquired after by some of our most Industrious Antiquaries and particularly by one whom hardly any thing on this Subject could escape The Truth is Mr. Somner seems to think 't was rather a Chronicle of the City of Canterbury than of the Arch-bishops and if W. Thorn who was a Monk of the same House in the Year 1380. either Epitomiz'd or Enlarged it it may probably prove only the same with his History of the Abbots of St. Augustines St. Birchington's Performance is largely accounted for by his late Publisher who has assur'd us that nothing that either this Writer or any of the former can afford us has been omitted by the diligent Author of the Antiquitates Britannicae Archbishop Parker was generally reputed the Author of this admired Book till Mr. Selden transferr'd the Honour of it to His Grace's Chaplain Mr. Josseline who has since enjoy'd it I confess I am far from being of AB Bramhal's Opinion That the conclusion of the Preface proves the Acrhbishop himself to have been the Author of that Book But it does fairly intimate that the Composer of it whoever he was did desire the World should believe that most of his Materials were handed to him by that Learn'd Metropolitan who was also he saies the Directer and Overseer of the
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