140 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 278. 



(with or without the number of the chapter to 

 which reference is made), " an ancient MS.," " a 

 namelesse old MS." It may seem strange that he 

 should apply these epithets to a MS., which at the 

 time he wrote could not be more than 1 50 years 

 old; yet such is the case. With regard to its 

 authorship, I fear we are likely to remain in the 

 dark : obviously, as Speed was ignorant of the 

 author, it does not seem likely that we shall dis- 

 cover him at this distance of time, except by the 

 merest accident. 



It will be allowed, however, that the MS. de- 

 rives a peculiar value as having been used by 

 Speed : and invested with his authority, and the 

 interest thus attaching to it, we must be content 

 to leave it until some more ancient user of this 

 interesting work can be produced ; or indeed 

 until, by such an accident as sometimes happens, 

 the author is discovered. 



I was led to examine the pages of Speed, after 

 having looked into most of the well-known chro- 

 nicles, from the fact of my family having been 

 connected with the Speeds ; and from our pos- 

 sessing books and MSS. of theirs, one being in 

 the historian's own handwriting, — David's Harp 

 tuned unto Tears. I had not before supposed the 

 book to have belonged to him, since only one his- 

 torical MS. has come down to us through his 

 family : and I could not think that this long- 

 neglected volume was Speed's one possession, as it 

 seems likely to have been. In company with a 

 friend, the Rev. J. Sansom, I compared Speed 

 with the MS., and we found the results to be as 

 I have stated. A few extracts are subjoined : 



o. Speed, edit. 1632, p. 271. : 



" Arthur threatened to have a tribute from Rome : for 

 in his letters to that end, sent unto the Senate, thus in an 

 old MS. we find it indited : ' Understand, among you of 

 Rome, that I am King Arthur of Britaine, and freely it 

 hold and shall hold ; and at Rome hastily will I be, not 

 to give you truage, but to have truage of you : for Con- 

 stantine, that was Helen's sonne, and other of my an- 

 cestors, conquered Rome, and thereof were Emperours ; 

 and that they had and held, I shall have yourz Goddis 

 grace." (In margin, "A namelesse old MS. cap. cliv.") 



' MS. fol. 45 b. (cap. Iviii.) : 



" Understondeth among you of Rome that I am Kyng 

 Artur of Britayne, and frely it holde and shall holde, and 

 at Rome hastily will I be, not to glue ycJu truage, but for 

 to haue truage of you, for Constantyn that was Heleyne's 

 sone, and other of mjm auncestris, con^uerid Rome, and 

 thereof were Emperours ; and that thay hadde and held 

 I shall haue thorous Goddis grace." 



3. Speed, p. 95. Account of the victory of 

 Marins, King of Britain, over Roderic, King of 

 the Picts — his trophy. He "also in an old MS. 

 is called Westmer., cap. xliii." 



MS. fol. 20 b. (cap xxxii.) His victory, trophy. 

 " And at that stoon (trophy) begynneth West- 

 merland, after the name of We Marius." 



7. Speed, p. 104. Eleutherius's letter, sent by 

 Fagan and Damian to Lucius, encouraged him to 

 be baptized. Thirty-one heathen flamens " con- 

 verted into so many Christian bishops, whereof 

 London, Yorke, and Carlein [margin, "Chester, as 

 saith an old MS., chap, xxxiv."], now S. David's, 

 were made metropolitants." 



MS. fol. 22 b. (cap. xxxiv.). Exactly the same 

 story, more circumstantially told ; reference is to 

 "And the setis of the archebisshoppis were in 3gode 

 citeez, that is to say, York, Chestre, and London ; 

 and to thaym 3, the othir 28 bisshops were obe- 

 dient." 



5. Speed, p. 117.: 



" The testimonies of these many writers notwithstand- 

 ing, together with the place and circumstances of his- 

 death (^Antoninus Bassianus Caracalla's), and the person 

 by whom it was committed, the British historians do 

 contradict, reporting him to be slain in Britaine, in bat- 

 tell against the Picts, by one Carauceus, a man of a low 

 and obscure birth." (Margin, " Old MS., cap. cxxxvi.")* 



MS. fol. 23 b. (cap. xxxvi.) : 



" Caraunce come of power kyn .... gadrid he a- 

 great ost of Peightis and Britons, and &ust with Bassian, 

 and slow him," &c. 



6. Speed, 203. Origin of the words Wednesday 

 and Friday ; same given (and referred to in margin) 

 in 



MS. fol. 30. in margin is " No de Wodennesday 

 et Ffriday." 



f. Speed, 268-9. Account of Arthur's birth ; 

 and of Merlin's magic in behalf of liter ; remark- 

 ably agrees with (margin, " an ancient MS.") 



MS. fol. 37. " Merlyn chaunged the kyng in 

 to the likenesse of the Erll Gorlois," &c. 



Such extracts might be multiplied very consider- 

 ably, but these are probably sufficient. 



The earlier part of the MS. agrees remarkably 

 in some points with the " Brut." Unfortunately 

 I have not been able to compare it with Sir F. 

 Madden's valuable edition of the Lajamon : no 

 copy of that work is in the Bodleian Library 

 (though De Lincy's from the Paris MS. is there), 

 and of course it was only Lajamon's " Brut " that 

 our unknown author could have used. But if he 

 did use it, I feel pretty confident that he used it 

 only as he used Geoffry of Monmouth : only as 

 every younger historian must use and have re- 

 course to the works of the older. 



The MS. is a well-written folio, containing' 

 actually 212 folios. Unfortunately there are three 

 gaps in the middle, about 14 folios altogether being 

 lost. The halves of six remain, and the quarters of 

 two have apparently been neatly cut with a knife! 

 The rest is in excellent condition. Thinking this 



• It will be seen that many of the references to the- 

 chapters are incorrect. How to account for this I do not 

 know, unless by the carelessness of those engaged in 

 transcribing, &c. 



