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

THE

THE

Ecclefiaftical Hiftory

OF THE

English Nation.

BOOK I

Снар. І.

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

B

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

† Pits very confidently affirms, that Bede wrote a Book, De fitu & mirabilibus Britannia, which, he fays, 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 fupposes he miftook it for this first Chapter, or at leaft the paraphraftical Translati on of it by King Alfred into the Saxon Tongue, which he fays is in Bennet Library, and which that Writer takes to be a different Piece. Bede in this Defcription of Britain, follows chiefly Pliny, Solinus, Orofius and Gildas, (or as others fay) Dion Caffius, &c.

7

ftir, now

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

whofe 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 Paffage of the Sea from † GefforiaRichbo- cum, the neareft Shore of the Nation of the rough,near Morini being fifty Miles, or as fome write Sandwich. 450 Furlongs. On the back, where it opens † Gefforia- to the immenfe Ocean, it has the Iflands Orcum, the cades. The Ifland excels for Grain and Trees, Part of and is fit for feeding of Beasts of Burden and Boulogn in Cattle. It alfo produces Vines in fome Places, and has Plenty of Land and Water Fowls of Morini, a Province feveral forts; and is remarkable, for Rivers aformerly fo bounding in Fifh, and plentiful Springs. It has call'd, the greatest Plenty of Salmon and Eeles, d Seawhich con- Calves are alfo frequently taken, and Dolphins, of Picardy, as alfo Whales; befides many forts of Shellof Artois Fishes, among which are Mufcles, in which and Flan- are often found excellente Pearls of all Colours,

Picardy.

tains Port

ders.

that

d Sea-Calves, or Sea-veals, now contractedly call'd Seals. e It appears by feveral Writers that the British Pearls were known and efteem'd even before the Roman Conqueft, and one Reafon Suetonius gives for Cafar's Expedition, was in queft of them: which Pliny feems to confirm, when (in Nat. Hift. 1. 9. c. 35.) he fays, that Julius Cæfar gave a Breaftplate cover'd with British Pearl to Venus Genetrix, and hung it in her Temple at. Rome. Thefe Pliny calls fmall and ill colour'd, and Tacitus,Suffufca ac liventia; but Origen feems to agree with our Bede as to their Colours. They are found in a large black Muscle, defcrib'd by Dr. Lifter, and are common in the River Jut in Cumberland, where not many Years fince a Patent was granted to fish for them, vid Camh, Brit. and Gibfon's Annot. It is plain neverthelefs,that thefe Pearls were illcolour'd, and of little or no Value, and we fee they are not now worth looking after,

J

that is, reddifh, pale, violet and green, but moft white. There is alfo great Store of Shell-fish, of which the fcarlet Dye is made; the which moft 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 requifite for every one. For Water, as St. Bafil fays, receives the heating Quality, when it runs along certain Metals, and becomes not only hot, but fcalding. Being alfo Produ&ive of Veins of Metals, as Copper, Iron, Lead and Silver; It has likewife much and ex cellent Jeat, it is black and sparkling, glittering at the Fire, and being heated, drives away Serpents; being warm'd with rubbing, it holds faft Things apply'd to it like Amber. The Iland was formerly embellish'd with twenty eight most noble Cities, befides innumerable Caftles, all the which were also strongly fecur'd with Walls, Towers, Gates, and Locks. And, in regard that it lies almost under the North Pole of the World, the Nights

f

are

Language.

are light in Summer, fo that at Midnight the Beholders are often in doubt, whether the Evening Twilight ftill continues, or that of the Morning is come on; the Night Sun, which is not long under the Earth, returning to the Eaft 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, fo 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 fame Latitude, the longeft Day, or Night extends but to fifteen Hours, and the shortest to nine.

g This Inland at prefent, according to the Number of the Books in which the Divine Law was written in the Languages of five Nations, fecks after and profeffes one and the fame Science of the fupreme Truth and true. Sublimity; viz. of the English, the Britons, the Scots, the Picts, and the Latins; which laft is, by the Study of the Scriptures, become common to all the reft. At first this Ifland had no other Inhabitants but the Britons, from whom it deriv'd its Name; who coming over

into

The beginning of the Saxon Annals feems to be almost the fame with this Place, but more concife; and whoever of thefe Writers was first, there is no doubt but the other follow'd him; hey differ only in this, the Saxon Annals has ic Armenia for Armorica, a Fault, I fuppofe made by fomé of the lare Tranfcribers, miftaking of the Saxonr for . Bishop Nicholson imagines the first Part of the Annals earli er, but Bishop Gibfan takes it to be copied from Bede.