U80 ANNUAL REGISTE R, 1794. 



obligation which mankind look on 

 as sacred. Matthew Paris, how- 

 ever, (who abhorred him) owns, 

 that once, when he was persuaded 

 to deface a splendid tomb erected 

 over an enemy, he chid the adviser, 

 and added, " Would to heaven all 

 my foes were as handsomely en- 

 tombed!" 



jiccount of the famous Ciraldus 

 Camhrensis, from the same. 



IN 1202 or 3, Gerald Barry (bet- 

 ter known as Giraldus Camhren- 

 sis) forsook the world and lived in 

 retirement till his death, the sera of 

 which is not known. He was born 

 in 1146, and had studied with ho- 

 nour at the University of Paris. 

 Returning to England in 1172, he 

 was put in possession of several be- 

 nefices, one of which (that of Bre- 

 chin) he says he obtained by con- 

 victing the old incumbent of keep- 

 ing a concubine. He was a fa- 

 vourite of church and of court ; was 

 a joint preacher of a crusade with 

 the archbishop of Canterbury, and 

 was (as he affirms) inserted by 

 Richard Cceur de Lion in his com- 

 mission for the guardianship of 

 England. 



Gerald was a most entertaining 

 writer, but very credulous and most 

 intolerably conceited. He expati- 

 ates on the exquisite delight which 

 he gave at Oxford in publicly read- 

 ing his books three days successive- 

 ly. First to the poor ; secondly, to 

 the doctors and men of hterature ; 

 and, o:; the third day, to the scholars, 

 soldiers, fee. " A most glorious 

 spectacle (says the honest Gerald), 



which revived the ancient days of 

 the poets." He also speaks of his 

 Latin sermons, which affected and 

 excited to take the cross (for the re- 

 covery of Jerusalem) the honest 

 Welchmen, who knew not a word 

 of Latin, the language in which he 

 had preached. He dwells with 

 transport on his own princely lineage 

 which, he avers, made Henry IL 

 jealous of him and stopt his prefer- 

 ment. He went with prince John 

 to Ireland ; and refused (as he says) 

 twor sees, that he might have time 

 to compose a history of the country. 

 At Chester, he observed that the 

 countess Constance kept a herd of 

 milch-kine, made cheeses of their 

 milk, and presented three of them 

 to his comrade the archbishop of 

 Canterbury. He adds, that he re- 

 marked an animal betweea an ox 

 and a stag ; a woman born without 

 arms, who could sew with her toes 

 as well as others could with fingers; 

 and that he heard of a litter of 

 whelps, begotten by a monkey. 

 How judicious and important our 

 historian's observations sometimes 

 were, may be judged from these 

 extracts J yet, when we smile at 

 his foibles, wc must allow that 

 many curious pieces of intelligence 

 are to be found in his work ; his 

 stories too are frequently interesting 

 though absurd, as the following spe- 

 cimen, perhaps, may prove : A 

 prelate, he affirms, kept a domestic 

 who used to t:ntertain him beyond 

 measure, by a wonderful proficien- 

 cy in science the most abstruse ;%and 

 particularly by reciting passages of 

 sacred liistory perfectly new, and not 

 to be found in the Bible. One dav 



h« 



eaten by them and them only, ' that, incorporated with their glorious bodies, they 

 jjiight beiaised to heaven ; and not go with impious devourers to. the infernal regions,' 



[St. Foix "'• '^*'':i» " 



