LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF ENGLAND. 41 



successor, or by Bird himself, to Charnock, another 

 adept, who has left upon record concerning the latest 

 of the Priors that, having wasted his substance in the 

 unprofitable labour, when the Abbey was suppressed, 

 he wandered about the country in blindness and 

 beggary, a living monument of the vanity of his 

 art. [8.] 



A more extensive inquiry among the writers on 

 this subject would, I doubt not, show that Bath is 

 connected with other names which occur in the early 

 history of chemical science ; for the mystery hanging 

 over these waters peculiarly fell in with that spirit 

 of mystery in which they affected to conduct all their 

 inquiries. But I pass to a more pleasing subject. 

 The inhabitants of the monastery of Bath had the 

 benefit of a library, which was richly stored wdth 

 works relating to the science of the middle ages. 

 John de Yillula was a benefactor to it. This library 

 excited the admiration of Leland, who was acquainted 

 with all the great libraries in the kingdom. There 

 were books in it, he says, which must have been 

 precious volumes, the gift of King Athelstan. There 

 were translations from the Arabic, perhaps the work 

 of Adelard himself ; there were poems of the middle 

 ages, the Roman classics, and the writings of the more 

 eminent physicians. There has been a time at Bath 

 when men conspired to abolish the memory of the 



