72 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SANCROFT. 



active and persevering exertion. *' It w^as 

 shameful," says Mr. Wharton in the dedication 

 of his Anglia Sacra, in July, 1689, " for a young 

 man to be otherwise than diligent in his studies, 

 and to be remiss in doing the greatest possible 

 service to the church, when he saw most un^- 

 wearied diligence, as well in reading as in writ^ 

 ing, in so dignified a prelate, who had long ago 

 exhausted the whole circle of literature, at a 

 time when he was more than seventy years of 

 age, and weighed down with the cares of church 

 and state." " Your other virtues," he proceeds, 

 *' I as a person of far inferior character and 

 condition can only admire; that of diligence 

 and study is the only one which I can imitate," 



Another of those who were acquainted with 

 his private habits, Mr. Roger North, bears a 

 similar testimony.* " It was to me," he says, 

 '^ a wonder to observe the industry of that man. 

 If any presented him, as many did, with dis- 

 courses upon business depending, he would 

 register them in his own books, with his own 

 hands, using his own exquisite orthography and 

 abbreviations, and mending the English, and 

 periodizing in all places, as it. ought to be done ; 

 and he did me the honour to do the like, with 

 all that he received of me," 



He was particularly diligent as a transcriber. 



* See Preface to Miscellanea Curlosa, p. Ix. 



