intellectual refinement. For history has many forms. In its first development, it partakes largely of the character of poetry—it is an exaggerated, and highly painted picture, drawn and coloured, touched and retouched, by the flattering pencil of bards and minstrels. At the time, few or none question the fidelity of such pictures of the past, however questionable. The first change takes place, and its poetical character in great measure disappears, without history becoming much more true, or at all more critical: At this period, the chronicler of recent transactions is either monk or follower, and represents little more than the ignorance, or passions of the writer; while he constructs his narrative of the remoter past either out of what first comes to hand, or from the contradictory statements of contemporaries, with no more trustworthy criterion than prejudice or fancy. When at length historians did begin to look at history critically, and were willing to call in the assistance of the antiquary, the task of their new ally was far from being an easy one; in many instances, the means of correcting error had long perished; in others, they lay hid in old parchments difficult to decipher, in the confusion of neglected libraries, in the dust of record-houses-mixed up with lumber and rubbish, or buried beneath the soil. To bring his means together, and to arrange and make them intelligible, has been the work of the English historical antiquary for the last three centuries. If less has been accomplished than might have been expected, this is, in a great degree, owing to the defective method in which our operations have been too often carried on.

A history of English antiquarianism is consequently not only interesting as showing what has been done down to our own times in this particular: It shows us further what might have been done, and what may and must be done still, if our present archæological ardour is destined to leave behind it memorials worthy of our zeal. At the same time, we must not be unjust to our contemporaries. Much more has been latterly accomplished, both here and in Germany, towards verifying the early histories of Greece and Rome, than was ever done for them by any writers of their own. And what we have achieved for classical antiquity, has also in some degree been secured at home. A powerful light has been already thrown upon the AngloSaxon periods of our history by Sharon Turner, Palgrave, and John Allen; while it appears from the more recent labours of Kemble, Thorpe, Wright and others, and from a Danish work by Worsaac, now under translation, that ample employment is likely to be provided for the sagacity and learning of our children.

John Leland may justly be considered the father of English antiquarianism. The attention of inquirers was naturally first arrested by that class of materials, which offered itself in the most

accessible and most intelligible form. Mediæval manuscripts, in his days, were still scattered over the country; and the accidental circumstances of the time gave a peculiar importance to them. When the English reformers sought historical arguments in their controversy with Popery and Monachism, they found that the ancient literature of their own country was full of evidence in their favour-that the voice of reason had never been entirely silenced by the power of superstition, but had made itself heard in almost every form, in prose and verse, in Latin and English, by Saxon and Norman-that the errors of the medieval church had been preached against, and reasoned against, and satirized so that they had a long-continued protest to produce in proof of the justice of the cause in which they were engaged. In consequence of this, several of the most learned men of the age of the Reformation, threw themselves with avidity upon the study of the historical and literary remains of our forefathers. Repeated editions of Chaucer and Piers Ploughman laid the foundation of a taste for early English literature; the publication of Anglo-Saxon homilies and the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels, which favoured some of the doctrines of the reformers, and proved that the Scriptures had been once read in the vulgar tongue, paved the way for a careful study of the Anglo-Saxon language; while, from the fact, that the most important of the Latin poems on the corrupt state of the Romish church, which were printed on the Continent by Flaccus Illyricus, had been obtained from manuscripts in England, it appears that the Anglo-Latin poetry of the Middle Ages had already begun to attract attention.

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But it was in an historical point of view that the importance of these monuments was felt most deeply; and the complaint of John Bale, in the passage quoted above, is an accurate description of the feelings which drew Leland to the study of English antiquities. Leland held the post of librarian to Henry VIII. and, before the dissolution of monasteries had been decreed, or perhaps contemplated-as early as the year 1533, he obtained a commission from that monarch to visit the monastic libraries in search of historical documents. It is evident, from his own account, that he found these repositories in a state or general neglect and dilapidation: He arrived in time, however, to secure an extensive and valuable collection, much of which is preserved in the old King's Library,' in the British Museum. From his rough notes, since published under the title of his 'Collectanea,' we have the satisfaction of believing that he did not meet with many historical manuscripts of value that are not still extant. His labours were abruptly closed by a cruel malady,

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which rendered useless the latter part of his life: but not until he had brought together a far greater quantity of materials for English history than had ever been collected before. With the one great object at heart, of illustrating the history and antiquities of his country, he had also travelled over every part of England and Wales, to collect local information; and had already begun the project, which was afterwards executed by Camden in his Britannia.' His notes of these travels, or all that remained of them, were long after printed by Hearne, under the title of Leland's Itinerary.' The only one of his treatises on English antiquities of any consequence that has come down to us, that De Scriptoribus Britannicis,' proves him to have been an accomplished scholar, and a man of sound judgment and careful discrimination. In this respect it presents a remarkable contrast to the larger but confused and blundering book on the same subject by Bale-who laments over Leland's turn for poetry, as being derogatory to his character as an antiquary.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and under the fostering care of Archbishop Parker, the taste for the study of English historical antiquities became so general, as to give a character even to the ballad poetry that was hawked about the streets. Historical garlands' were frequently reprinted, and found more purchasers than the other classes of popular literature. Parker himself, in the earlier part of this reign, and Sir Robert Cotton at the end of it, gathered together large collections of manuscripts, which are still preserved at Cambridge and in the British Museum. The choice of the prelate, influenced by the previous partialities of the reformers, was directed chiefly to theological history, and especially to Anglo-Saxon documents; while that of the knight leaned more to legal and constitutional history. The dawn of approaching day, which was now breaking upon every department of science, only made men more desirous of penetrating into the darkness of former times. Some, like the celebrated Dr Dee, occupied themselves with the scientific manuscripts of the Middle Ages; others laboured at uncovering and explaining the still lower strata of our national formation. In accordance with the taste for legal antiquities which was now gradually taking place of the older preference for theology, the homilies (which had been printed chiefly in fragments) were followed in 1568 by the Anglo-Saxon Laws, printed by William Lambarde, the antiquary of Kent. Collections of coins, and of other antiquities found in the country, began to be made during this period; made, however, only to be eventually dispersed, and most of them lost. For, unfortunately, antiquarian excavations were still left to superstitious treasure-seekers: and

the loss, which the sixteenth century sustained from their ignorant depredations, must have been very great. In the meantime, some men appeared, who sought to illustrate the ancient topography of the realm by means of local discoveries of this nature; Robert Talbot, as early as the reign of Henry VIII. wrote upon the British portion of the itinerary which goes under the name of Antoninus; Dr Fulke, one of the luminaries of the university of Cambridge, is said to have made collections with the same object; and William Harrison, who compiled the description of Britain, which was published with Holinshed's Chronicles of 'England,' in 1577, followed in the steps of Leland, and opened the way for Camden. Towards the end of this century were printed some of the earliest and most valuable of our original chronicles. Parker's zeal in this department of literature has excited, or we should rather say extorted, the admiration even of Gibbon; who admits, as if with astonishment, the conjunction for once of apostolical virtues' with a love of learning.' To the archbishop we owe the first impression of Asser and of Walsingham-to Josselyn his secretary an amended text of Gildas-and to the influence of their example the collections of Camden and of Sir Henry Savile.

It was under the patronage of Archbishop Parker, that, in 1572, a small party of scholars, devoted to the study of antiqui ties, joined in the formation of one of the first literary societies, if not actually the first, known in this country. Among the names of members of this society preserved in the papers of Sir Robert Cotton, in whose rooms their meetings were held during nearly twenty years, are those of Sir Robert himself, of William Camden, William Lambarde, John Stowe, Sir William Dethicke (the herald), Francis Thynne (known by his contributions in illustration of Chaucer), and Joseph Holland. At the meetings of this society, questions, previously announced, were discussed, and papers read. Some of these are preserved in the Cottonian library. They were printed by Hearne, in 1720, under the title of A Collection of Curious Discourses,' and again with considerable additions by Sir Joseph Ayloffe in 1771. It is understood that Queen Elizabeth encouraged a design so blameless and even patriotic, as that in which these worthies had embarked. In 1589 a petition was drawn up for a charter of incorporation; but so little is now known of its history, that it appears doubtful if the charter were ever granted, or the petition even presented. Camden was not a man to use titles inconsiderately: Yet, in speaking of it as a Collegium Antiquariorum, he may have been only expressing strongly his consciousness of its deserts. The papers printed by Hearne

and Ayloffe relate to definitions of money and measures, to the divisions of shires, to the origin and use of heralds, and of those great officers of state, the Lord High Steward, the Lord High Constable, and the Earl Marshal, to the history of the Star-Chamber, to the antiquity and privileges of castles and towns, to the history of inns of court and of law terms, and to many other important subjects chiefly connected with legal and constitutional antiquities. They are generally brief; and would lead us, neither by the judgment nor by the research they exhibit, to form any high estimate of the state of antiquarian science at the time; but we ought, perhaps, to regard most of them in the light of those rough notes so often found among the papers of Elizabethan scholars. In one of them, Joseph Holland attempts to illustrate the history of towns by early coins struck in local mints, and instances a British gold coin of Camalodunum in his own possession; while Sir Robert Cotton, in a short paper on the history of castles, gravely commences with the tower of Babel! The former exhibits an important step in English archæology; while the latter shows us how little English antiquaries had as yet learned the necessity of restricting their investigations within the real limits of the subjects before them.

In fact, when we cast a backward glance on the labours of the antiquaries of the sixteenth century, we see that they were rather conservative of the materials on which future antiquaries were to work, than productive of immediate results of any great utility. The labour of seeking and collecting appears to have been too great to have left room for any extensive study of the materials ; and while men of great talent had devoted considerable part of their lives to the recovery and printing of historical documents, historical criticism remained much in the same state as for a century before. Indeed, the laborious compilations of Holinshed and Stowe show little more accuracy, and are distinguished by less comprehensive or philosophical views, than the older work of Polydore Vergil. Even Camden's Britannia,' the chef-d'œuvre of its age, which embodied all the antiquarian knowledge of the sixteenth century, is valuable only for the facts it has recorded. The opinions of the writer can carry no authority with them, except where their truth is self-evident from the nature of the data on which they rest. On the other hand, we are deeply indebted to the antiquaries of the sixteenth century for the preservation of nearly all that now remains of our mediæval manuscripts. But for the interest taken in them by Leland and the first Reformers, and for the activity of a Parker and a Cotton, and the numerous minor collectors of their time, much more of the treasures of the monastic libraries must have perished.