written find any thing not deliver'd according to the Truth, he will not impute the Same to me, who, as the true Rule of History requires, have labour'd fincerely to commit to writing those Things that I collected from the Authority of publick Fame, for the Instruction of Pofterity.

فر

THE

:

THE

Ecclefiaftical History

OF THE

English Nation.

BOOK I.

CHAP. I.

† Of the Situation of Britain and Ireland, and of their ancient Inhabitants.

Ritain, a noted Island in the Ocean, formerly call'd Albion; lies at a confiderable Distance to the North and West from Germany, France and Spain. Being 800 Miles in length towards the North, it is 200 Miles in Breadth, excepting only the greater Distances B 4

of

† Pits very confidently affirms, that Bede wrote a Book, De fitu & mirabilibus Britannia, which, he says, was in the Library of Bennet College in Cambridge: If fuch a Book was ever written, it is no where now to be found; and therefore Bishop Nicholson supposes he mistook it for this first Chapter, or at least the paraphraftical Translation of it by King Alfred into the Saxon Tongue, which he says is in Bennet Library, and which that Writer takes to be a different Piece. Bede in this Description of Britain, follows chiefly Pliny, Solinus, Orofius and Gildas, (or as others say) Dion Caffius, &c.

7

Sandwich.

of feveral Promontories; by which its Compass is made to be 3600 Miles. On the South it has the Belgick Gaul, passing along,

whose nearest Shore there appears the City, * Rutubi call'd, * Rutubi Portus, the which Port is now Portus, or by the English Nation corruptly call'd ReptaReptace- ceftir, the Passage of the Sea from † Gefforiaftir, now Richbo- cum, the nearest Shore of the Nation of the rough, near || Morini being fifty Miles, or as some write 450 Furlongs. On the back, where it opens + Gefforia- to the immenfe Ocean, it has the Islands Orcum, the cades. The Island excels for Grain and Trees, Part of and is fit for feeding of Beasts of Burden and Boulogn in Picardy. Cattle. It alfo produces Vines in fome Places, and has Plenty of Land and Water Fowls of Morini, several forts; and is remarkable for Rivers aformerly so bounding in Fish, and plentiful Springs. It has call'd, the greatest Plenty of Salmon and Eeles, d Seawhich con- Calves are also frequently taken, and Dolphins, of Picardy, as alfo Whales; befides many forts of Shellof Artois Fishes, among which are Muscles, in which and Flan- are often found excellente Pearls of all Colours,

a

that is, reddish, pale, violet and green, but moft white. There is also great Store of Shell-fish, of which the scarlet Dye is made; the which most beautiful Colour never fades with the Heat of the Sun, or the Washing of Rain; but the older it is, the more beautiful it commonly is. It has falt Springs, and hot Springs, and from them Rivers of hot Baths, proper for all Ages and Sexes, in feveral Places; as is requisite for every one. For Water, as St. Bafil says, receives the heating Quality, when it runs along certain Metals, and becomes not only hot, but scalding. Being alfo Produtive of Veins of Metals, as Copper, Iron, Lead and Silver; It has likewife much and excellent Jeat, it is black and sparkling, glittering at the Fire, and being heated, drives away Serpents; being warm'd with rubbing, it holds fast Things apply'd to it like Amber. The Island was formerly embellifh'd with twenty eight most noble Cities, besides innumerable Castles, all the which were also strongly secur'd with Walls, Towers, Gates, and Locks. And, in regard that it lies almost under the North Pole of the World, the Nights

are

Language.

are light in Summer, so that at Midnight the Beholders are often in doubt, whether the Evening Twilight still continues, or that of the Morning is come on; the Night Sun, which is not long under the Earth, returning to the East by the Northern Regions. For which Reason the Days are of a great length in Summer, as on the contrary, the Nights are in Winter, the Sun then withdrawing into the Southern Parts, so that they are eighteen Hours long. Thus the Nights are extraordinary short in Summer, and the Days in Winter, that is, of only fix Equinoctial Hours. Whereas, in Armenia, Macedon, Italy, and other Countries of the same Latitude, the longest Day, or Night extends but to fifteen Hours, and the shortest to nine.

& This Island at present, according to the Number of the Books in which the Divine Law was written in the Languages of five Nations, seeks after and professes one and the same Science of the supreme Truth and true Sublimity; viz. of the English, the Britons, the Scots, the Picts, and the Latins; which last is, by the Study of the Scriptures, become common to all the rest. At first this Island had no other Inhabitants but the Britons, from whom it deriv'd its Name; who coming over into

& The beginning of the Saxon Annals seems to be almost the fame with this Place, but more concise; and whoever of these Writers was first, there is no doubt but the other follow'd him; hey differ only in this, the Saxon Annals has it Armenia for Armorica, a Fault, I suppose made by some of the late Transcribers, mistaking of the Saxonr for n. Bilhop Nicholson imagines the firft Part of the Annals earli er, but Bishop Gibson takes it to be copied from Bede.

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