July 19. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



41 



He Rebus Hihernicis. — 1. Silvester Giraldus 

 Cambrensis, born in "Wales, a.d. 1145, was the 

 author of numerous works. Can any one furnish 

 a list of them ? 



2. AVhat is the date of the Annals of the Four 

 Masters ? 



3. Who was Tigernach, and when did he live ? 



4. What are the Annals of Ulster, and when 

 were they written ? William E. C. Nourse. 



[1. The printed works, as well as the manuscript 

 collections, of Giraldus, are so numerous, and deposited 

 in so many different libraries, that we must refer our 

 correspondent to Sir 11. C. Hoare's description of thein 

 in his Introduction to the translation of Giraldus' 

 Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, vol. i. 

 pp. liv. — Ixxii. 4to. 1806. 



2. The Annals of Diinagall, otherwise called The 

 Annals of the Four Masters, were compiled between 

 A.D. 163'2 and 1636. From a M.S. in the Duke of 

 Buckingham's library at Stowe, Dr. O'Conor pub- 

 lished the first part of these Annals, extending from 

 the earliest period to a.d. 1172, in his lierum Hiberni- 

 carum Scriptores. The latter portion has since been 

 edited, with a translation and notes, by John O'Donovan, 

 Esq., M. R. 1. A., in 3 vols. 4to. 



3. Tigernach was Abbot of Cliiain-mac-nois, and 

 died A.D. 1088. He wrote the Annals of Ireland, from 

 A.M. S.596 to his own time. 



4. The Annals of Ulster were compiled by Cathald 

 Mac Magnus (Charles Maguire), who died A.n. 1498. 

 They commence with the reign of Feradach Fionn- 

 fachtnach, monarch of Ireland, a.d. 60, and are carried 

 down to the author's own time. They were afterwards 

 continued to the year 1504, by Roderick O'Cassidy, 

 Archdeacon of Clogher. See O'Reilly's Chronological 

 Account of Irish Writers. ] 



Abridgment of the Assizes. — Where can one see, 

 or what is the correct title of the book containing 

 Abridgment of the Assizes, and Iters of Pickring 

 and Lancaster? It is referred to in Manwood on 

 Forest Laws. S. S. 



[Richard Tottle, dwelling at the Hand and Star in 

 Fleet Street, and who was " licensed to print all man- 

 ner of books touching the common laws of England," 

 published in the middle of the sixteenth century the 

 following work: — " The Abridgment of Ihc Booh of 

 Assises, lately perused over and corrected, and now 

 newely imprinted by Richard Tottle, the last day of 

 September, 1555." It is probable that the Iters of 

 Pickring and Lancaster are still in manuscript.] 



Life of Cromioell. — I have in my possession a 

 Life of Cromwell, written by R. B. "without 

 passion or piirtiidity," printed by N. Crouch in 

 the Poultry, 1715. Query, who was this K. B. ? 



PuiLO. 



[The author was Richard or Robert Burton, alias 

 Nathaniel Crouch, who, says Dunton in his Life and 

 Errors, " melted down the best of our Englisli histories 

 into twelve penny books, which are filled with wonders, 



rarities, and curiosities." The first edition of The 

 History of Cromwell was published in 1693, " relating 

 only matters of fact without reflection or observation."] 



WRITTEN SERMONS AND EXTEMPORE PREACHING. 



(Vol. iii., pp. 478. 526.; Vol. iv., p. 8.) 



Your versatile correspondent Mr. Gatty has 

 been led astray by an incorrect assertion of Bing- 

 ham's (magni noininis vir), that Origen was the 

 first who preached extempore. The passage to 

 which Bingham refers us, in Eusebius, asserts 

 nothing of this sort ; but simply that Origen 

 would not suffer his sermons to be taken down by 

 the short-hand writers till he was sixty years old, 

 — a sufficient proof, if any were needed, that the 

 custom of taking down sermons by notaries in the 

 third century was not unusual. 



Some rogue has stolen my Number of the 

 " Notes and Queries " in which the inquiry on 

 the subject of written sermons was made ; but, if 

 I remember rightly, the question was put cor- 

 rectly, it having been asked when written sermons 

 were first preached. As I at one time took some 

 pains to look into this point, and as no one else 

 seems inclined to take it up, perhaps you will 

 allow me space for a few rem.arks. 



1. I suppose no one will be disposed to ques- 

 tion the extreme improbability of the "sermons" 

 in the Apostolic age having been written dis- 

 courses : if, however, this be considered doubtful, 

 I am willing to argue the point, and be set right 

 if I am wrong in thinking it unquestionable. 



2. I believe it is almost as improbable, that in 

 what Professor Blunt calls the "post-Apostolic" 

 times sermons were written, not only from the 

 complete silence of the Apostolic Fathers on the 

 point — for that would really prove next to 

 nothing, — but because it seems quite incredible 

 that no vestige of any such sermon should have 

 come down to us ; no forgery of one, no legend 

 or tradition of the existence of one ; if the prac- 

 tice of writing sermons had prevailed at all. 



3. In the Apologies of Justin and Tertullian 

 [Justin, ed. Otto, i . 270. ; Tertullian, Ap. ch. xxxix.] 

 there is a description of the addresses delivered in 

 the congregations of their times, which appears to 

 me to prove that they knew of no such practice 

 as reading a sermon; and the passage from Origen 

 contra Cels., which De la Cerda gives in his note 

 on Tertullian, though it is only quoted in the 

 Latin, surely shows the same (vol. i. p. 190.). I 

 came across something of the sort in Cyprian 

 about two years ago ; and, if I may dare trust my 

 memory, it appeared to me at the time to be more 

 satisfactory than the passages above referred to; 

 but I made no note of it, — and I was hunting for 

 other game when I met with it. Still, if your 



