370 



all, the MSS. in the Duke of Buckingham's magnificent library, and 

 in the Seabright, Cotton, and Harleian collections. Inquiry must not 

 rest even here, the literary receptacles of foreign states and monaste- 

 ries must be diligently explored ; the repositories of Copenhagen* and 

 JStockholm must be consulted, the libraries of France and Germany? 

 of Italy, particularly that of the Vatican, and of Spain, especially the 

 Escurial, may well be expected to contain abundance of such refugee 

 memorials ; and Toland is sensible of this, when he writes, that " not- 

 withstanding the long state of barbarity in which that nation (Ireland) 

 hath lain, and after all the rebellions and wars with which the king- 

 dom has been harassed, they have incomparably more ancient ma- 

 terials of that kind for their history, to which even their mythology 

 is not unserviceable, than either the English or the French, or any 

 other European nation with whose manuscripts I have any acquain- 

 tance." 



To discover these remains, the inquirer must be clothed with a 

 character that would guarantee to individuals the application and 

 safety of their private collections, and must be accredited with such a 

 sanction as to command the inspection of public repositories, a sanc- 

 tion of royal grace, such as unlocked to the author of the Foedera the 

 first authentic materials of English history. Then commences the 

 labour of the honest historian; what he finds he must diligently copy, 

 himself comparing and decyphering his transcripts with the originals ; 

 he must thoroughly examine the state and circumstances in which he 

 encounters every document ; he must peruse them with acuteness and 



* In (lie reign of Queen Elizabeth, the King of Denmark was anxious to have the Irish 

 MSS. in his possession, and which had been brought from Ireland by his countrymen, trans- 

 lated ; and accordingly he applied to the English queen to send him a j^erson qualified for this 

 task, but for state reasons the proposition was opposed at the council, and ultimately aban- 

 doned. — See Button's Gal way, p. 244. 



