The Infcription over Bede's Tomb in the Chapel of the Virgin Mary, hanging there in a Table. BEDA Dei famulus & Presbyter qui natus in territorio Monafterii Girwycenfis quod nunc Jarrow dicitur Cum effet annorum feptem datus eft Abbati BenediEto, & deinde Ceolfrido ibidem educandus, cunctumque ex eo vita tempus in ejufdem Monafterii habitatione peragens, omnem meditandis, Scripturis operam dedit atque inter obfervantiam Difciplina regularis & quotidianam cantandi in Ecclefia curam. Semper aut difcere, aut docere, aut fcribere Decimo nono autem vitæ fuæ anno Diaconatum, & tricefimo Presbyteratum, utrumque a JoHANNE BEVERLA CO Archiepifcopo Eborum fufcepit. VIR OMNI LAUDE MAJOR De quo doctiffimi illorum temporum homines hoc Elogium protulerunt Anglum in extremo orbis angulo natum Ingenio fuo univerfum orbem fuperaffe, Quippe qui omnium pene fcientiarum & univerfe Theologie Arcana penetravit, ficut opera ejus & volumina multa orbi Chriftiano notiffima abunde teftantur Qua 1 Que etiam illo adhuc vivente tanti nominis erant & Auctoritatis ut ex ejus Homiliis multa facris lectionibus funt addita, ubique in Ecclefiaftico Officio publice & folenniter recitata. Conftat eum aliquando Difcipulos habuiffe celebratiffimos præclara paulo poft Ecclefic lumina ALCUINUM Caroli magni Regis Præceptorem,CLAUDIUM atque CLEMENTEM qui primi Lutetia decuerunt & Galliam bonis Artibus illuftrarunt. Obiit in Monafterio Girwicenfi, A.D. DCCXXXIIII. Etat. fuæ LIX. Die quo Afcentionis Domini memoria celebratur, & ibidem fepultus fuit: Sed poftea buc Dunelmum primo cum capite Regis In English, thus: BEDE A Servant of God and Prieft, Who was born in the Territories of the Monaftery of Girwy, which is now call'd Farrow. When he was of the Age of feven, he was deliver'd to the Care of the Abbat Benedict, and afterwards to Ceolfrid, there to be educated, and all the Time of his Life after, dwelling in the fame Monaftery, his whole Study he bent to meditate on the Scriptures, b 3 and and the Time between the Obfervance of his regular Difcipline, and the Care of daily finging in the Church, he was wont always either to learn or to teach, or to write. The nineteenth Year of his Life he took the Order of Deacon, and the thirtieth, that of Prieft, both from the Hands of St. John of Beverly, Archbishop of York, a Man fuperior to all Encomium, of whom the learned Men of thofe Times publifh'd this Elogium. An Englishman born in an obfcure Corner of the World, by his Knowledge enlighten'd the whole Univerfe, for he fearch'd the Treafuries of all Divine and Humane Learn-* ing, as thofe voluminous Works of his fo well known to the greatest Part of the Chriftian World, abundantly testifie; which alfo were of fuch Character in his Life-time, that out of his Homilies many facred Readings are added, and every where publickly and folemnly used in the Offices of the Church: He had feveral Scholars of celebrated Characters, and who fhortly after became bright Luminaries of the Church. Alcuinus Preceptor to the Emperor Charles the Great, and Claudius, and Clemens, who first taught at Paris, and enlighten'd France with the Knowledge of useful Literature. He died in the Monaftery of Girwy, An. Dom. DCCXXXIIII, in the LIX Year of his Age, on the Day in which our Lord's Afcenfion is celebrated, and was there buried; but after fome Time his Bones were brought here to Durham, firft with the Head of Ofwald the King, and the Body of St. Cuth Cuthbert, and then plac'd in a Shrine by Hugh the Bishop. His Epitaph is faid to be thus: Hic jacent in fofa Beda venerabilis offa. Here lie ingrav'd the Bones of Reverend Bede. THE THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS. CH BOOK I. t Hap. 1. Of the Situation of Britain and Ireland, and of their Inhabitants. P. 15 Page 7 Chap. 2. Caius Julius Cæfar, the first Roman that came into Britain. Chap. 3. Claudius, the Second of the Romaus, coming into Britain, brought the Iflands Orcades into Subjection to the Roman Empire; and Vefpafian fent by bim, reduc'd the Isle of Wight under their Dominion. P. 18. Chap. 4. That Lucius, King of Britain, writing to Pope Eleutherius, defir'd to be made a Chriftian. P. 20 Chap. |