5 MONIA] A DUNCE-MONK NON-PLUSSED. 191 his epitaph, was non-pluss'd to make that dactyle, which is onely of the quorum in the hexameter, and therefore at night left the verse gaping, Bedae -ossa. hic sunt in fossa till he had consulted with his pillow, to fill up the hiatus. but returning in the morning, an angel (we have often heard of their singing, see now of their poetry) had filled up the chasma with uenerabilis. others, disclaiming this conceit, assign this reason: because Bede's homilies were (as afore10 said) read in all churches in his life-time (flores sanctorum in the life of Bede, page 528); plain Bede was conceived too little, and St Bede too much; because, according to popish (but not St Paul's) principles, saint is too much flattery to be given to any whilest alive; Solon allowing none happy, 15 and this mine authour none, in this degree, holy, before 20 their death. wherefore venerable was found out as an expedient to accommodate the difference, luckily hitting the mark, as a title neither too high nor too low; just even to so good a man, and great a scholar, whilest alive. this is observable in all those who have written the life of Bede; that, whereas such Saxon-saints, as had not the tenth of his sanctity, nor hundredth part of his learning, are said to have wrought miracles ad lectoris nauseam; not one single miracle is reported to have been done by Bede. whereof (under 25 favour) I conceive this the reason: monks, who wrote the lives of many of their saints, knew little more of them then their bare names, and times wherein they lived; which made them historiae uacua miraculis supplere, to plump up the hollownesse of their history with improbable miracles, 30 swelling the bowells of their books with empty wind, in default of sufficient solid food to fill them. whereas Bede's life affording plenty and variety of reall and effectuall matter, the writer thereof (why should a rich man be a thief, 192 A FOREIGNER VISITS BEDA'S TOMB. [TESTI or lyar?) had no temptation (I am sure no need) to farse his book with fond miracles, who might rather leave, then lack of materiall passages therein. One of the last things he did, was the translating of the gospel of St John into English. when death seised on 5 him, one of his devout scholars, whom he used for his secretary, or amanuensis, complained, My beloved master, there remains yet one sentence unwritten. Write it then quickly, replied Bede: and summoning all his spirits together (like the last blaze of a candle going out) he indited 10 it, and expired. thus God's children are immortall, whiles their Father hath any thing for them to do on earth; and death, that beast, cannot overcome and kill them, till first they have finished their testimony: which done, like silk-worms, they willingly die, when their web is ended, and are com- 15 fortably entombed in their own endeavours. nor have I ought else to observe of Bede, save onely this; a forreign embassadour, some two hundred yeares since, coming to Durham, addressed himself first to the high and sumptuous shrine of St Cuthbert, If thou beest a saint, pray for me: 20 then coming to the plain, low, and little tombe of Bede, Because (said he) thou art a saint, good Bede, pray for me. XIX HE was the most general scholar of that age. let a sophister begin with his axioms, a batchelor of art 25 proceed to his metaphysicks, a master to his mathematicks, and a divine conclude with his controversies and comments on scripture, and they shall find him better in all, than any Christian writer in that age, in any of those arts and sciences. he expounded almost all the bible, 30 23 Thomas Fuller the worthies of England, Durham (1662 p 292). MONIA] HENRY WHARTON. 193 5 ΙΟ translated the Psalms and New Testament into English, and lived a comment on those words of the apostle, shining as a light in the world, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. he was no gadder abroad, credible authors avouching that he never went out of his cell; though both Cambridge and Rome pretend to his habitation. yet his corps after his death...took a journey, or rather were removed to Durham and there enshrined. XX [STORVM [Gregorii, Isidori, Maximi cet] commentaria plures eruditi uiri saepius ediderunt, et orbis litteratus edita comprobauit. quidni igitur parilem fauorem Bedae nostrati sperare liceat? certe huic neque doctrina pro saeculi sui captu nec eximia doctrinae fama defuit. uiuen15 tem ecclesia Romana etiam e longinquo uenerata est; et defuncti memoriam sequentia saecula egregiis laudibus hucusque sunt prosecuta; operaque illius theologica homines exteri pluribus tomis expressa semel atque iterum euulgarunt. 20 Certe nobis Anglis fraudi non erit scripta conterranei nostri celeberrimi in lucem emittere: quin potius pudori erit ea tineis blattisque relinquere, quae exteri sedulo conquirunt et e tenebris eripiunt. neque enim de gentis nostrae gloria minus, quam alii, sumus solliciti; nec de 25 Bedae conciuis meritis atque eruditione minus magnifice sentimus. scriptor nuperus Casimirus Oudin nobis in opprobrium uertit, quod omnia Bedae opera e diuersis bibliothecarum nostratium, quibus abdita latent, forulis eruta nondum euulgauerimus; et uir cl Iohannes Mabillonius se 9 Henry Wharton Bedae...opera quaedam... (London 1693 4to f A2 v° A3 ro A4 ro). 194 WHARTON. CEILLIEK. [TESTIcommentarium Bedae in epistulas d Pauli genuinum (qui penes ipsum manet) luce donaturum esse dudum spopondit. ne integra igitur Bedae edendi gloria aliis relinquatur, ista saltem illius commentaria Anglis primum euulgare liceat. In curanda istorum Bedae Egberti et Aldhelmi opus- 5 culorum editione me ecclesiae Anglicanae aeque ac causae litterariae litasse profiteor. grauissimam enim nobis iniuriam faciunt siue exteri pontificii seu indigenae puritani, qui sanctissimos ecclesiae Anglosaxonicae patres summa a nobis ueneratione excipi, maximo honore coli, uel negant 10 uel nolunt. ad amoliendam istiusmodi calumniam illorum scripta eo libentius in lucem edimus, ut tam praeclaro testimonio orbi Christiano constet, nos non aliam ab illis fouere religionem; minime aliam, seu doctrinam seu disciplinam spectes, constituere ecclesiam ; neque aliam in caelis ambire sedem. certe in diptychis suis sacris ecclesia Anglicana Bedae et Aldhelmi memoriam celebrat, quin et utrique dies festos consecrauit. 15 XXI IL L règne dans tous les écrits de Bède un air de candeur, 20 de piété et de modestie, qui les feront toujours goûter de ceux qui aiment le vrai et le solide..........rhéteur et grammairien, Bède aurait pu sans doute être plus pur, plus élégant et plus châtié dans son style; mais cherchant à instruire plus qu'à plaire, il s'est uniquement borné à 25 le rendre simple et clair; en quoi il a réussi. 19 Remi Ceillier histoire générale des auteurs sacrés (Paris 1729, new ed 1862) XII 18. MONIA] WORDSWORTH. LINGARD. 195 5 1Ο 15 XXII BUT what if one, through grove or flowery mead, of a voluptuous indolence, should meet of learning, where thou heard'st the billows beat the recreant soul, that dares to shun the debt of a long life; and, in the hour of death, XXIII AT T its completion it was received by the public with universal applause. succeeding generations preserved it piously as a memorial of the virtue of their ancestors; 20 and Alfred the Great translated it into the Anglo-Saxon tongue for the instruction of those who could not read it in the original. to us it is an invaluable work; for without it we should know nothing of the missionaries who brought to our pagan ancestors the light of the gospel, or the manners 25 of the clergy, or the worship and rites of the infant church. the style is easy and perspicuous; and, though far inferior to that of the great masters of antiquity, may justly claim 1 William Wordsworth ecclesiastical sonnets I 23. 15 He expired dictating the last words of a translation of St John's gospel. 16 John Lingard history and antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon church Lond 1858 II 176 177 (speaking of the church history). |