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All the endeavours of Giraldus to procure the preferment he so much wished for proving fruitless, he retired to Lincoln, where he passed nearly seven years in retirement, pursuing his studies with indefatigable ardour. Once more, however, a vacancy in his favourite See drew him from his pursuits, and he was nominated with three others, to succeed to the Bishopric of St. David; but the all-powerful opposition of Archbishop Hubert impeded his election, and in a letter to the Archbishop, Giraldus thus describes his feelings at his repeated disappointments.

"Hitherto I have unfortunately sacrificed too much time to fruitless ambition: let me, therefore, be allowed to retire and indulge without further molestation my favourite pursuit of books and literature. Let others anxiously covet the high honours attached to a court, as I myself, labouring under the same vice, once did, and became an useless and unprofitable follower of it. Having more than sufficiently experienced the vicissitudes and vexations resulting from an attendance upon the high and mighty, I desire to be in that situation in respect to them, as if I had never been in their service. May the Holy Father and merciful God grant, that far from the cares and ambition of a court, which always wound, and never heal and satisfy the heart; and far from the clamorous bustle of the world, by lamenting and redeeming my heavy loss of time, I may be able to pass the moderate remaining portion of my life in peaceful ease and tranquility."

The wish for complete retirement, which Giraldus here expresses, had not however yet become sufficiently powerful to govern his desires; and we very shortly afterwards find him engaged in an obstinate contest to secure his election, he having been chosen Bishop of St. David's by a convocation assembled for the purpose in June 1199. He now appealed to the Pope, Innocent the Third, in support of his claim, and by persisting in it was involved in a tedious litigation of nearly four years; during which time " he took three successive journies to Rome at a considerable expence, but was at last defeated in his hopes, for the Pope passed a definitive sentence, and declared his election null." Still, his right was deemed so unquestionable by many, that in Wales he was usually styled the Bishop elect; and although he does not appear ever to have assumed that title himself, yet King John issued several mandates and letters against him for presuming to take upon himself that character." During the struggle he was persecuted in various ways, and different attempts were made to frighten him into silence, but all these were rendered abortive

by his determination and firmness. He even sustained temporary alienation of his benefices at Brecknock; yet when the Pope had finally decided against him, he still possessed so much influence, that the chief justiciary consulted him as to the nomination of a proper person to fill the See. Soon afterwards he resigned his archdeaconry and prebend in favour of his nephew Philip de Barri, whose welfare had been recommended to him by his brother, when on his death bed. This was about 1204. The last seventeen years of his life he spent in retirement in Wales, "employed in revising his former literary works, and in composing others." In the midst of these employments, he had the pleasure to receive and the virtue to refuse an offer of that episcopal dignity which had pointed his ambition for so many years. He refused it because the terms on which it was proffered were dishonourable! He died in the seventy-fourth year of his age at St. David's, and was there buried in the Cathedral Church. Sir Richard, with all the partial fondness of an author for the hero of his own writings, has summed up his history with these words.

"Noble in his birth, and comely in his person; mild in his manners, and affable in his conversation; zealous, active, and undaunted in maintaining the rights and dignities of his church; moral in his character, and orthodox in his principles; charitable and disinterested, though ambitious; learned, though superstitious;

SUCH WAS GIRALDUS.

And in whatever point of view we examine the character of this extraordinary man, whether as a scholar, a patriot, or a divine, we may justly consider him as one of the brightest luminaries that adorned the annals of the twelfth century.”—P. xlix.

In his "Introduction to the History of Cambria," Sir Richard has proceeded to a far greater extent than was necessary, when considered in reference to the Itinerary of Giraldus. In themselves, however, his observations are very interesting; though we strongly suspect that the routes which he has traced for the expeditions of Cesar and Ostorius into the interior of the island are liable to various objections. For instance, Durovernum, or Canterbury, however strongly it might have been fortified by art, cannot be said to be fortified by nature," and is therefore a very improper situation to be assigned as that to which the Britons retreated after their first repulse by Cæsar in his second expedition. The most likely spot is now occupied by the castle and woods of Chilham, about five miles south-westward from Canterbury. Cæsar, during his march

towards the territories of Cassivelaunus, had several skirmishes with the Britons, "one of which," says Sir Richard, "was probably at Newington, near London." Now the Newington here meant, is not near London, but full thirtyseven miles distant; we only notice this to prevent its being mistaken for Newington Butts, as in the accompanying plan the name is rightly inserted. The conjectures on the campaign of Plautius are ingenious and most probably correct; but not so we believe the assignment of the station Forum Diana to Dunstable, and that of Cæsaromagus to Chelmsford. It may indeed be justly questioned whether there ever was a station at either of these places. The strong encampment called Maiden-Bower, which if it did not originate with the Romans, was certainly occupied by them, is a full.mile and a half from Dunstable, on the edge of the Chiltern hills, overlooking Totternhoe and the low grounds towards Buckinghamshire. Here, then, was the real site of the Roman station, to which, with Ward, we should rather give the name of Magiovinium than Forum Dianæ, even though the latter be supported by the authority of the Bishop of Cloyne*. The situation of Chelmsford is equally as inappropriate as Dunstable itself for the site of a Roman fortress; and, according to Gough, in his additions to the Britannia, there was not even a road here till Maurice, Bishop of London, had one made in the reign of Henry the First. Before that time the road run through Writtle, a village two miles to the west. The inscription alluding to the conquest of Britain by the Emperor Claudius, of which Sir Richard has given a copy from the original marble in the wall of the courtyard of the Barberini palace at Rome, has been printed already in Wright's Travels. Some years ago, before the French eagles waved their baleful plumes over the glories of the Capitol, this inscription was pointed out to a friend of ours by the Prince himself, with this remarkable comment :"What transitions there are in this world! You that were in those days looked upon as savages placed at the extremity of the globe, are now the first nation on the face of it; and Italy, once its sole mistress, is now among the very lowest of its subdivisions!" That this may be properly understood, it is requisite to repeat the inscription, which is on a stone three feet six inches high, and nearly three feet broad, having a plain border; about half the words have been restored.

• See Lysons's Magna Britannia, vol. I, p. 26, 27.

TI. CLAVDIO.CES

AUGVSTO

PONTIFICI. MAX. TR. P. IX.

COS. V. IMP. XVI. P. P.
SENATVS. POPUL. Q. R. QUOD
REGES. BRITANNIÆ. ABSQ.
VLLA. JACTVRA. DOMVERIT

GENTESQUE. BARBARAS

PRIMUS, INDICIO. SUBEGERIT.

The Roman geography of Britain still wants elucidation, for there are several other stations besides those above mentioned, the real sites of which, as fixed by Sir Richard, we should strongly contend against, if our limits were less circumscribed. The Durolitum of Antonine we should certainly remove from Rumford, and place it at Aldbury, nearly three miles to the north-westward of that town; and the vast earth-works on Lexden Heath are not, in our opinion, sufficient to prove that the British city of Cunobelin stood there rather than at Camalodunum, (now Colchester) which our author conceives to be purely a Roman foundation. Some of those entrenchments were unquestionably raised in the time of the civil wars. We much wish that we could follow Sir Richard in the track which he has assigned for the chain of forts erected by Ostorius Scapula, which, contrary to most other writers, he supposes to have been constructed on the banks of the Nen rather than of the Avon, and that Tacitus mistook the Antona for the -Anfona; the latter appellation, as appears from a passage quoted from Richard of Cirencester, being an ancient name of the Nen river. Yet we dare not indulge this desire, and shall only remark in reference to one of the maps by which Sir Richard has illustrated this part of his work, that from the arguments stated by Mr. Brayley in his Description of Huntingdon*, we are compelled to hesitate in admitting Godmanchester to be the ancient Durolipons: surely that station must have been at Huntingdon itself.

In tracing the operations of the Legio Secunda Augusta, and the Legio Vicesima Valens Victrix, the only two that seem to have any connection with Cambria, Sir Richard has copied and given engravings of all the inscriptions relating to them that are known to exist; his principal authority being the Britannia Romana of Horsley. This part is followed by a condensed general account of the public works of the Romans, and more particularly of the various roads that traversed Wales, of which we find that there were seven principal ones, and

• Vide Beauties of England and Wales, vol. VII.

about as many roads of communication between different stations. A brief account follows of the principal historical events that happened in Cambria from the time of the Romans till the preaching of the Crusade by Archbishop Baldwin in 1188, and the termination of the independence of Wales with the life of the unfortunate Prince Lhewelyn ap Gruffyth in the year 1282, when Edward the First annexed the principality to the Crown of England, and abrogated the laws of Howel Dha.

We now arrive at the Itinerary itself, to which Giraldus has attached two prefaces, both of them addressed to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. In the first, which is but little to the purpose, he characterizes Henry the Second and his successor Richard, as Princes "equal in vice, little skilled in letters, and much engaged in business;" in the second he employs these words:

"Since those things which are known to have been done through a laudable devotion, are not unworthily extolled with due praises: and since the mind when relaxed loses its energy, and the torpor of sloth enervates the understanding, as iron acquires rust for want of use, and stagnant waters become foul; lest my pen should be injured by the rust of idleness, I have thought good to commit to writing the devout visitation which Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, made throughout Wales: and to hand down, as it were in a mirror, through you, illustrious Stephen, to posterity, the difficult places through which we passed, the names of springs and torrents, the witty sayings, the toils and incidents of the journey, the memorable events of ancient and modern times, and the natural history and description of the country; lest my study should perish through idleness, or the praise of these things be lost by silence." P. cxci.

The Itinerary was divided by Giraldus into two Books; the first containing thirteen chapters, the second, fourteen; to each of these Sir Richard has added annotations, besides giving illustrative and explanatory notes on the respective pages; the additions, in many instances, being of greater extent than the original passages. There is scarcely a chapter in Giraldus hut what bears evidence of his strong passion for the marvellous in natural events; and to use an expressive, though colloquial phrase, he seems always to have been upon the hunt after wonders. It is but justice, however, to repeat what Sir Richard says in his defence on this subject.

"Our high opinion of the good sense and judgment of Giraldus must be in some degree lowered, when we recollect the repeated tales of wonder which he relates; his own words however, prove that he did not give implicit credit to all the miracles inserted in his works,

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