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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2010
page i note * See Burton's MS. as quoted in Nichols's Hist, of Leicestershire, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 538.
page i note † “Habes enim (prout probe scis) Antonium Vergilium proavum nostrum Archetypon, qui medicæ etiam rei ac astrologiæ peritissimus olim apud Gallos, in Lutetia Parisiorum, philosophiam docuit, quam tu Patavii in præsenti publicè profiteris.
“Non est infima utique laus, duos ex Vergiliana familia viros in duobus totius orbis præcipuis gymnasiis, haud longo temporis intervallo, professors bonarum disciplinarum non absque nominis gloria publicitus extitisse. Sed tu qui proavum jam longe relinquis, efficies (spero) ut aliquando posteritas dicat, fuisse olim Polydorum quendam, qui ilium Joannem Matthæum Vergilium a puero bonis moribus atque disciplinis nutrierat. Vale, Londini nonis Decembris, An. M. D. XVII.”
page ii note * Other editions of the “Proverbiorum Libellus “were 4to, Ven. 1506; Argentor. 1510; 8 Basle, 1524, 1532; 12° 1536, and 8vo 1541 and 1550. To the edition of 1536 is subjoined a short commentary upon the Lord's Prayer, afterwards, about 1554, said to have been printed separately.
page ii note † See particularly the letters DCCLX. DCCCXV. DCCCLIV. MCLXXVI. in Erasmi Epist. fol. Lugd. Bat. 1706.
page iii note * “Polydori Vergilii Vrbinatis de Inventoribus Rerum, Libri tres,” 4to. Ven. 1499; reprinted there in 1503. This work was increased to eight books in the Basle edition of 1521, followed by other editions from the same place in 1524, 1545, 1550, 1554, and 1570, in 8vo and 12mo; printed at Leyden in 1544, 8vo; at Amsterdam, 8°, 1571, and by Dan. Elzevir, 12° 1651 and 1662; Rome, 1576, 8°; Lyons, 1586, 12°; Frankfort, 1599; Geneva, 1604; and Argentorat. 1606, 8° and 12°.
page iii note † Two editions of an Italian translation of this work, by Pietro Lauro of Modena, occur, 8° Ven. 1543 and 1545. A Spanish translation by Fr. Thamar Medina, appeared in 8vo 1551.
Wood in his Athenæ Oxonienses, edit. Bliss, vol. iii. col. 435, says, that Bale translated Polydore Vergil's work “de Rerum Inventoribus “in the time of Edward VI. but in rude and old English. He does not say whether this translation was published. Three if not four editions of an Abridgement, however, in English, appeared much about that time; viz. One, “An Abridgemente of the Notable Woorke of Polidore Vergile. Conteining the deuisers and fyrste fynders oute as well of Artes, Ministeries, Feactes, and ciuill ordinaunces, as of the Rites and Ceremonies commonly vsed in the ehurche: and the original beginnyng of the same. Compendiouslye gathered by Thomas Langley.” Dedicated to SirAntonye Denny. “Imprynted at London by Richard Grafton, Printer to the Princes Grace, the xvi. daie of Aprill, the yere of our Lorde M.D.xlvi. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.” Square 12mo. Printed also “xxv. Januarie,” 1546, which stands as a second edition. A third, “Imprinted at London by Richard Grafton, Printer to the Kynges Majestie. Anno 1551. Cum priuilegio,” as before. 12mo. The fourth edition, “Imprinted at London by Jhon Tisdale dwellyng in Knight rider's streate neare to the Queenes Wardrop,” 12°. without date. This is the latest edition of “The Abridgement,” as we know of no work from Tisdale's press earlier than 1550.
Bayle in his Historical and Critical Dictionary says, “The treatise de Inventoribus Rerum contained several things which the Inquisition disliked, wherefore it approved of no edition but that which Gregory XIII. caused to be printed at Rome in 1576, which was purged of all those passages which displeased the Inquisitors. See also the Index Librorum prohibitorum et expurgatorum, p. 850, et seq. 1667, in folio. “Polidori Virgilii de inventoribus rerum Liber, nisi fuerit ex correctis et impressis ab anno 1576.”
page iv note * Harl. MS. 6966. Excerpta ex Reg. Cath. Wellen.
page iv note † See what Burton's MS. says, Nichols's Hist. Leic. ut supr. respecting Guido Duke of Urbino, Polydore Vergil's first patron.
page v note * “1503. Nov. 16. Dominus Polydorus Castellen. jurium, reddituum, et proventium Cameræ apostolicæ in regno Angliæ debitorum Vice Collector generalis, admissus ad Ecclesiam de Langdon Ecclesia in Archidiaconatu Leycestr.” Reg. Smyth Line. Episc.
page v note † “1504. 20 Oct. Hadrianus tit. Sancti Chrysogoni Presb. Cardinal, translatus ab Episcopatu Heref. auctoritate papali inthronizatur (per commissionem ab Archid. Cantuar.) in persona Polidori Virgilii subcollectoris in regno Angl.” Excerpta ex Reg. Cath. Wellen. MS. Harl. 6968, p. 45.
page v note † ” 1507. 13 Apr. Dominus Polidorus Castellen. clericus collat. ad Preb. de Scamlesby in Ecclesia Line, per mortem Magistri Willelmi Elyot.” Reg. Smyth ut supr.
page v note § The Harleian MS. 6966 contains an abridged copy of the instrument: “Whereas Adrian Card, de Chrysogoni and bishop of Bath and Wells hath, by his sufficient writing granted unto us the nomination…. Wherefore we woll that ye confer for this time only the Archdeaconry of Welles unto Mr Polydor Vergill otherwise called Castellen. Geven 6 Jan. 23. regni.” The Cardinal de Chrysogoni resided away. Hence Polydore Vergil was as frequently styled Collector as Sub-Collector of the Peter-Pence.
“1507–8. 6 Feb. Polydorus Vergilius alias Castellen. per procur. install, in Archid. Well, et prebend, de Brent annex, installatur personaliter 10 Sept. prox. sequent.” Ibid.
page vi note * Fasti Oxon. edit. Bliss, 4° Lond. 1815. coll. 8, 9.
page vii note * Erasmi Epist.fol. 1706. Two Letters, one from Polydore to Erasmus, the other from Erasmus to Polydore, will be found in the Appendix, Numm. III. IV.
He had a short friendship too with Gawin Douglas, bishop of Dunkeld. In the third Book of his History, edit. Bas. 1556, pp. 52, 53, noticing the earliest accounts of the Scottish kings, he says, “Nuper enim Gauinus Douglas Doucheldensis episcopus, homo Scotus, virque summa nobilitate et virtute, nescio ob quam causam, in Angliam profectus, ubi audivit dedisse me jampridem ad historiam scribendam, nos convenit: arnicitiam fecimus: postea summe rogavit, ut ne historiam paulo ante a quodam suo Scoto divulgatam sequerer, in rebus Scoticis explicandis, pollicitusque est se intra paucos dies missurum commentariolum de his neutiquam negligendum, id quod et fecit.” He adds, soon after, “Verum non licuit diu uti frui amico, qui eo ipso anno, qui fuit salutis humanse MDXXI, Londini pestilential absumptus est.”
page vii note † Pat. 2 Hen. VIII. p. 1. See the Letters of Naturalization, in Rymer's Fædera, torn. xiii. pp. 290, 291. They were granted, without fine or fee, Oct. 2, 1510.
page vii note † “1513. 11 Junii, Polider Vergil Castellen. coll. ad preb. de Oxgate in Eccl. S. Pauli Lond. per mortem magistri Johannis Pratt.” Reg. Fitzjames Ep. Lond.
“1513. 12 Jul. Magister Oliver Cosen collat. ad preb. de Scamblesby in Eccl. Linc, per resign. Magistri Polydori Vergilii.” Reg. Smyth Linc. Ep.
page viii note * MS. Cotton. Brit. Mus. Vitell. B. II. fol. 76, Letter from Polydore Vergil to Wolsey, dated 20 May 1514, but without the name of place.
page ix note * Another copy of this Letter occurs in the same volume, fol. 127.
page ix note † Polydore Vergil, in his history of the reign of Henry the Seventh, gives the following account of the Cardinal.
“Legarat Innocentius Rom. pontifex Hadrianum Castellensem, hominem Hetruscum natum Corneti, quod veteres Castrum novum vocarant, qui in Scotiam proficisceretur, ad tollendas ipsius autoritate ex illorum principum animis discordias. Is quamvis magnis sit itineribus profectus, tamen cum pervenit in Angliam, cognovit ab Henrico rege, ad quem etiam a pontifice mandata habebat, se tardius venisse quam res requireret, quare ejus monitu, sibi jam pedem referendum, ac ex Anglia non excedendum ratus, vix bidui moram fecerat, cum nuntius cædis Jacobi venit. Mansit deinde Hadrianus in Anglia aliquot menses, in quem à primo Joannes Mortonus Cantuariensis archiepiscopus omnia humanitatis officia conferre studuit, hominis doctrina ac moribus ductus, quippe qui eum in summa etiam apud regem gratia posuit. Atqui Henricus cum hominem sibi a Mortono commendatum videret non minimi esse usus, jam turn mirifice diligere cœpit, ejusque opera cum apud Innocentium, turn apud Alexandrum sextum pontifices, ita deinde usus est, ut primum Herefordensem, et ex eo mox relicto, Bathoniensem et Wellensem episcopatum ei detulerit. Cæterum Hadrianus brevi post tempore Romam reversus, per omnes honoram gradus in Collegium Cardinalium venit: nam Innocentius eum primò Collectorem, id est, Quæstorem pontificium in Anglia, et Protonotarium unum ex septem creavit, postea Alexander pontifex eundem diu secretiorem familiarem habuit, Cardinalemque fecit. Sed quotusquisque est, qui ista, quae ignavis juxta atque Solertibus et dari et auferri possunt, miretur ? Alia nempe Hadriani laus est, et hæc quidem æterna: erant enim in eo plurimæ literæ non vulgares, sed reconditæ, ac summum bonorum delectus judicium, qui memoria nostra primus omnium post illud disertissimum Ciceronis seculum, suis scriptis mortales excitavit, ad perfectas literas de doctissimorum autorum fontibus hauriendas, docuitque modum purè, nitidè, ac luculenter loquendi, sic, ut eo doctore, in præsentia ubique gentium latinitas ab integro renascatur.” Polyd. Verg. Angl. Hist. lib. xxvi. edit. Bas. 1556, pp. 580, 581.
Some of the circumstances of Castello's subsequent life are incidentally alluded to in a later page of Polydore Vergil's History. He was deprived of the bishopric of Bath and Wells, in 1518, at the time of Cardinal Campeggio's approach to England as legate, and while he remained at Calais: undoubtedly to please, if not at the request of, Leo the Tenth.
“Venit in Angliam Laurentius Campegius homo Bononiensis inter jurisconsultos jureconsultissimus, vir paratus meditatusque, cui datus fuit collega Volsæus; is etenim partem Henrici assiduitate petendi rogandique, partim Francisci regis autoritate, à Leone pontifice Romano sub idem tempus legatus Angliæ creatus erat. Atqui Campegium ubi Caletum peryenit, sive casu, sive dedita opera Volsæus monuit oportere eo loci dies aliquot morari, ac interim multa promissa faciendo, hominem tentare cœpit, ut vellet per Literas apud Leonem pontificem agere, quò HADKIANUS CARDINALIS BATHONIENSIS privaretur episcopatu in quern jam ipse paratus erat invadere. Fuit autem in promissis Episcopatus Sarisberiensis, quem non multo post vacantem ipse Campegius assecutus est, eoque uti frui tandiu licuit, quoad non multò post lege sancitum est, ut absentes in Anglia sacerdotia non possiderent.” lib. xxvii. p. 654.
In the next page of Polydore's History we read of the Conspiracy in which Adrian de Castello had previously joined against Leo, and of the vengeance which followed it, of which the deprivation of his English bishopric was no doubt a part.
“Interea Leo non immemor noxiæ, si qua fuerat, Hadrianum et Franciscum [Volaterranum] mulctavit, at non contentus ea præda, ejus satellitum præfectus deinde ad Hadriani ædes qusesitum ivit, si quid intus esset, quod rapi posset. Ejus injuries indignitate Hadrianus valde commotus Venetias se contulit, ubi, sicut ejus moris erat, in divinis atque aliis bonis literis, Leone non invito, jam acquiescebat, cum ecce, inimicorum operatione deturbatur de sui episcopatus possessione, quem Volsseus repente voravit.”
Castello now fled from Venice, and little more was afterwards heard of him. The editor of Chacon, who is followed by Godwin, says, “quo vero tempore Hadrianus hie noster obierit, incertum; circa annum 1518 scribit Ciaconius: die 16 Januarii anni 1526 ilium jam fato cessisse affirmat Contelorius: ferunt in Traciam, Constantinopolim usque, necis metu perterritum fugisse, ibique obscurum ac latentem clausisse diem extremum.”
page xii note * Chalmers, in his Biographical Dictionary, is wrong in representing Polydore Vergil as the last collector of this odious tax in England. He is never subsequently mentioned as returning to the appointment.
Noticing this tribute as established in the Saxon times, Vergil says, “numi illi argentei vocantur vulgo Denarii divi Petri, quos pontificius quaestor, quem non inscienter Collectorem nuncupant, exigit. Nos hanc olim qucesturam aliquot per annos gessimus, ejusque muneris obeundi causa primum in Angliam venimus.” Hist. lib. iv. pp. 89, 90.
page xii note † See these two Letters in the Appendix of Documents, Numm. I. II.
page xii note † Rutland Papers, published by the Camden Society, pp. 91, 94.
page xii note * “Opus novum. Gildas Britannus Monachus cui Sapientis cognomentum est inditum de Calamitate, Excidio, et conquestu Britanniæ, quem Angliam nunc vocant, author vetustus a multis diu desyderatus, et nuper in gratiam D. Cutheberti Tonstalli, Londinen. Episcopi formulis excusus.
“In hoc authore preter multiplicem hie illic Historiarum interpositionem, videre licet gravissimus illius temporis Regum, Principum, Ducum, Eporam, Sacerdotuin, Clericorum, &c. correptiones, vehementi undique spiritus impetu, densis sacrarum literarum testimoniis fortiter armatas.” 12°.
The Preface addressed to Tunstall is dated 8 id. April 1525.
This work was reprinted in the “Opus Historiarum, nostro seculo convenientissimum,” 8° Bas. 1541: and again, by Josceline, in 1568, dedicated to Archbishop Parker, with the restoration of some passages which had been intentionally omitted by Polydore.
page xii note † The preface, addressed to Francis Maria Duke of Urbino, is dated London, 13 cal. August, 1526.
page xiv note * Whether this Translation appeared in print earlier than 1550 the editor is not certain. It was then appended to an improved edition of the “Adagia.” “Polydori Vergilii Urhinatis Adagiorum seque humanorum ut sacrorum opus, per autorem anno isto M.D.L. rursus novissime jam, ac diligentius recognition, et magnifice locupletatum. Item Divi Joannis Chrysostomi de perfecto Monacho maloque Principe Libellus, eodem Polydoro interprete.” 8° Bas. 1550.
Herbert's Ames, i. 342, 388, mentions “A Book conteyning the Commendations of Matrimony, by William Harrington, LL.D.” as “Imprinted at the instance of Polydor Virgil, archdeacon of Wells,” 1528, 4to. with a preface by him in Latin. Herbert quotes as his authority “Mr. Baker's interleaved Maunsell's Catal.”
page xiv note † “Polydori Vergilii Vrbinatis Anglicæ Historiae Libri viginti septem, ab ipso autore postremum jam recogniti, adque amussim, salva tamen historiæ veritate, expoliti.” The following appears as a preface at the back of the title-page to this and the succeeding folio editions.
“ELOGIUM ANGLIæ: HISTORIæ.
“Paucis ante annis, Polydorus Vergilius Vrbinas edidit historiam suam Anglicam, in qua primum arte conficienda, deinde ordine digerenda, dein de oratione vestienda, quanquam et omnium ferineè opinionem expectationemque et atque adeoè seipsum superavit; attamen cuèm ille in suis de rerum Inventoribus libris demonstraverit, nullam olim artem quse futura esset excellentior, intra suum stetisse initium, quoèd nihil propeè sit simul et inventum et perfectum, ex eo voluit earn ipsam historiam regustare, polire, locupletare, id quod biennio poèst, hoc est, anno MD.XXXVI. primum, deinde etiam LIII. naviter fecit, salva tamen ac incolumi ilia prisca integritate majestateque veritatis historiae. Quare optime Lector accipies hoc opus perfectum, quo abhinc sexcentos, ut vetus ille dinumerandi modus usitatus doctis usurpetur, annos, non aliud in eo scribendi genere, haud forsitan temerteè dices, latinius elegantiusque compositum fuisse: atque istuc est tibi testatum, quoè posses meritoè gaudere seculum nostrum tandem aliquando elocutione latina passim pureè emendata plenfeè florere. Quapropter in hac equidem parte vel ipsa Anglia non minus felix censenda est, quod talem rerum suarum gestarum scriptorem primum habuerit.”
page xv note * Burnet's Hist, of the Reformation, fol. edit. i. 436.
page xv note † Ibid. ii. 102, iii. 360.
page xvi note * See the Append. Num. V. Newcourt says he sold the perpetuity of the house at Wells at this time, which belonged to his archdeaconry. Burton assures us he was a benefactor there “in beautifying the choir of the Cathedral Church of Wells with fair arras hangings (which are there at this day, 1636); wherein, in many escocheons, are his Arms; viz. Argent, a laurel tree vert, supported with two crocodiles proper; over which, in a winding label, a scroll is written,
‘Hæc Polydori sunt munera Vergilii;’ underneath, in a strait scroll, ‘Sum Lauras virtutis honos pergrata triumphis.’”
Nichols's Hist. Leic. vol. iii. pt. i. p. 538.
page xvii note * ”1555, 13 Decemb. Magister Johannes Braban clericus collat. ad preb. de Oxgate in Eccles. S. Pauli per mortem Polydori Vergilii” Reg, Edra. Boner. Episc. Lond.
page xviii note * Harl. MS. 6195, p. 16.
page xix note * MS. among the English Ecclesiasticks, commended by Stapleton,” Princ. Doctr. lib. xiii. c. 7. Wharton, Angl. Sacr. vol. i. p. xiv.
page xix note † See it in the Append. Num. VI.
page xix note † MS. Harl. 6989, fol. 149. The same Volume contains an earlier letter of Vergil “Edovardo Leelio, Regis Angliaa apud Cassarem Oratori.” Lond. 19 Oct. 1526.
page xx note * ”Cseterum Livius, Dionysius Halicarnaseus, ac plerique alii qui diligenter de antiquitatibus Romanqrum scripserunt, nunquam hujus Bruti meminere. Neque illud ex Britannorum annalibus prodi potuerat.” Polyd. Verg. ut supr. lib. i. p. 17.
page xx note † ”At contra quidam nostris temporibus, pro expiandis istis Britonnm fmaculis, scriptor emersit, ridicula de eisdem figmenta contexens, eosque longe supra virtutem Macedonum, et Romanorum, impudenti vanitate attollens: Gaufredus hie est dictus, cognomine Arthurus, pro eo, quod multa de Arthuro ex priscis Britonum figmentis sumpta, et ab se aucta, per superductum latini se:monis colorem, honesto historise nomine obtexit. Quinetiam majore ausu, cujusdam Merlini divinationes falsissimas, quibus utique de suo plurimum addidit, dum eas in latinum transferret, tanquam approbatas et immobili veritate subnixas prophetias vulgavit.” Ibid.
page xxi note * Lelandi Collectanea, edit. 1774, vol. v. p. 2.
page xxi note † ”Nam Polydorus, ut homo Italus, et in rebus nostris hospes, et (quod caput est) neque in republica versatus, nee magni alioqui vel judicii vel ingenii, pauca ex multis delibans, et falsa plerumque pro veris amplexus, historiam nobis reliquit cum caetera mendosam turn exiliter sane et jejune conscriptum.” Rerum Anglic. Script, post Bedan. fol. Lond. 1596.
Nicolson gives a comment on this passage, which shews that he had not looked into Polydore's History to form an opinion for himself. “Some,” he says, “have fancied that the severer character which Sir Henry is here pleased to give of this author, might chiefly be applied to the History of Henry VIII. and that a great many passages in that reign may be darkly or falsely 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 borrowed light and colour, out of the respect he had for Queen Mary, and his great inclinations to serve the interests of that princess.” The slightest investigation of Polydore's History of Henry the Eighth's reign, however, will evince the futility of these remarks.
page xxii note * Conscripsit Historias rerum Britannicarum, ea fide ut Scotis et Gallis saepe reclamantibus, alieno potius arbitrio quam suo intexuisse multa in gratiam gentis existimetur, quod in recensendis minorum Ducum nominibus, tanquam gloriae avidis plurimum indulserit.” Pauli Jov. Elog. cap. cxxxv. p. 279.
page xxii note † ”Cum ante paucos annos in Polydori Virgilii Itali, et Hectoris Boethii Scoti historias Britannicas incidissem quorum ille nominis Britannici gloriam non solum obfuscare, sed etiam Britannos ipsos mendacissimis suis calumniis infamare totis viribus conatur: hie vero dum Scotos suos eètenebris eruit, quidquid unquam aut Romani aut Britanni laude dignum in hac insula gessare, hoc totum illis attribuit insulsissimus scriptor.” Lhuyd Descr. Angliæ, fol. 6. Other passages, equally calumnious as relating to Polydore, are quoted from Lhuyd by bishop Nicolson, Hist. Lib. edit-1776, p. 57. Such as “Homoignotus et extents.”—”Vir perfrictze frontis”—”Invidia et odio tumens”—”Infamis homunculus”—”Os impudens”—”Delirans Urbinas.”—Nor ought anything of this, he adds, to be attributed to an over-boiling of honest Humphrey's Welsh blood, if the other matters he is accused of be true. Nicolson evidently, himself, doubted the truth of the charges.
page xxiii note * ”Fama percrebuit, atque etiam cognitum et compertum certo est, tothistorias nostras, vetustas et manuscriptas immani scelere igni commendasse, quot ne plaustrum quidem posset capere el sustinere, arbitratus, ut credo, se ejus generis omnes solum habuisse: aut veritus sibi vitio dari, quod secutus legem jampridem librorum veterum castigatoribus datam (ut ipse de se ait in prasfatione in Gildam) nonnulla resecuerit, quae scriptores prodiderunt.” De Antiq. Cantabr. 4to. Lond. 1574, p. 52.
page xxiii note † La Popliniere, Hist, des Histoires, liv. ix. p. 485.
page xxiv note * This is a mistake for Price. The title of the work is “Histories Brytannicse Defensio, Joanne Priseo Equestris Ordinis Brytanno Authore.” 4to. Lond. 1573.
page xxv note * Bale, De Script. Britann. Centur. xiii. says the same: “licet in pierisque scriptis suis veræ Religioni superstitionem prætulerit, pieè nihilominus Christianorum ministrorum conjugia defendebat, pieèque statuarum cultum damnabat, cum quibusdam aliis Komanensium Rabbinorum imposturis.”
page xxv note † Nichols's Hist, of Leicestersh. vol. iii. pt. i. p. 538.
page xxv note † Gale, Script, xv. fol. Oxon. 1691. Praef. ad lect. “Certe si fames receptae et inveterate credere liceat, unus Polydorus Virgilius quaestor tune apud nos Pontificius, navem istis spoliis onustam a ponte Rhoffensi Romam misit.”
page xxvi note * Nicolson, Engl. Hist. Lib. edit. 1776, p. 58.
page xxvii note * Wood's Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford, edit, by Gutch, 4° Oxf. 1796, vol. ii. p. ii.pp. 918, 919.
page xxviii note * Hist. Reform. Oxford edit. vol. i. pp. 20, 21.
page xxviii note † His Address to the Reader at the end of his History apologizes for the necessity of using a few terms unknown to classical latinity.
“POLYDORUS VERGILIUS LECTORI S.
“MONITUM te, optime Lector, volo permulta verba minus Latina, longo usu, non item ratione, jampridem in consuetudinem quotidiani sermonis venisse, sic, ut velimus nolimus, ea interdum usurpare cogamur: cujusmodi sunt Dux et Comes, olim officii tantum, at summae nunc dignitatis vocabula. Item comitatus, pro regione; cancellarius, pro scribarum; abbas, prior, promonachorum præfecto. Ista paucula (nam caetera facileè declinavimus) cumlegendo in ea incideris, non mihi vitio des, sed atque adeo nostris teniporibus, quæ ita quondam barbara facta sunt, ut nondum ejusmodi nsevis purgari ad unguem potuerint. Vale.”
If the reader can endure another specimen of Polydore's Latin, let him peruse the following short notice of the last moments of Queen Catherine of Arragon, and Ms translation of her letter to the King:
“At Catherina sexto post die graviori morbo affecta, cum animo praesentiret mortem adventare, ancillam non indoctam jussit binas scribere literas eodem exemplo, unas ad regem, alteras ad Eustachium, quas ipsa dictavit, in hæc verba:
‘Domine mi rex marite semper charissime, Salve. Jam advenit hora mortis meæ, in quo temporis puncto, amor facit ut te paucis admoneam de salute animae tuæ, quam debes cunctis mortalibus rebus anteponere, neglecta prae ea omni corporis cura, propter quam et me in multas miserias, et te ipsum in solicitudines plures conjecisti: sed hoc tibi ignosco, ac Deus tibi ignoscat, tam velim, quam precibus piis oro. Quod superest, commendo tibi filiam communem nostram, in quam quaeso, officium illud paterne totum conferas, quod ego a te alias desideravi. Præterea precor summe, uti ancillas meas respicias, easque suo tempore bene locare nuptiis placeat, quod multum non est, cuèm non sint nisi tres, et dare meis ministris stipendium debitum, atque in unum etiam annum ex tua gratia, benignitate, liberalitate futurum, ne deserti vel inopes esse videantur. Postremo unum illud testor. Oculi mei te solum desiderant. Vale.‘”
It is true that we know of no English composition now remaining in Polydore's hand-writing; but, after the reading of this beautiful translation, who will be so bold to assert, or who will believe the assertion, that Poly-r dore Vergil was ignorant of the English tongue ? The length of his residence in this country alone repudiates the supposition: and his History shews it was impossible that he could be ignorant of it.
page xxx note * Even Lhuyd acknowledges the popularity of Polydore's History, “Sed cum in memoriam revocarem, Polydorum Virgilium, cujus opera in omnium manibus sunt.”—p. 69.
page xxx note † Addit. MS. Brit. Mus. 4729.
page xxx note † Dr Birch, in his Life of Henry Prince of Wales, pp. 161–163, says, “The death of John Lord Lumley on the 11th of April 1609, without leaving any issue, gave the King an opportunity of gratifying the Prince's love of books, and making a noble addition to the Royal Library.
“King James I. enriched the Bodleian Library at Oxford at the expense of his own, giving a warrant to Sir Thomas Bodley, under the Privy Seal, for the choice of any books, which that gentleman should like in any of his houses or libraries. But His Majesty very amply supplied the place of them by the purchase of Lord Lumley's library, which contained not only his own collection, but that of his father-in-law, Henry Fitz-Alan Earl of Arundel, who had lived in the reign of King Henry VIII. when, upon the dissolution of the Monasteries, he had great opportunities of collecting manuscripts, many of which, as well as of the printed books in the Royal Library, have the name of Arundel and Lumley written in them.
“King James, having purchased Lord Lumley's library, ordered it, at the suggestion of Mr. Newton, to be reposited, together with that of his predecessors, in the palace of St. James', where the Prince resided, for the use of his Highness; and Mr. Patrick Young, son of Sir Peter Young, his Majesty's tutor, was appointed keeper of it.”
page xxxii note * See pp. 185, 209.