™~ 
318 
cefter, which is preferved among the 
manufcripts of the College of Arms, and - 
entitled, Lamentatio glorioft regis Ed- 
vardi de Karnarvon quam edidit tempore 
fae incarcerationis. Our authors tranfi- 
tions from profe to verfe, in the courfe 
of a prolix narrative, feem to be made 
with much eaie; and, when he begins 
to verlify, the hiftorian difappears only 
by the addition of rhyme and ftanza. 
Jn the firtt edition ef his Chronicle, by 
way of epilogues to his feven books, he 
has given us ‘ The feven joys of the Blef- 
fed Virgin in Englifh Rime.’ And under 
the year 1825, there is a poem to the 
Virgin ; and another on one Badby, a 
Lollard, under the year 1409. Thefeare 
fupprefied in the later editions. He has 
likewife left a Panegyric on the city of 
London ; but. defpairs of doing juttice to 
fo noble a fubject for verfe, even if he 
had the eloquence of Tully, the morali- 
ty of Seneca, and the harmony of that 
Juire ladieCalliope. Asan hiftorian, (Mr. 
Warton adds) our author is the dulleft of 
compilers. He is equally attentive to 
the jucceifion of the mayors of London, 
and of the monarchs of England: and 
feems to have thought thé dinners at 
Guildhall, and the pageantries of the 
city-companies, more interefting tranf{- 
actions, than our victories in France, 
and our ftruggles for public liberty at 
home. One of Fabian’s hiftorical anec- 
dotes, under the important reign of Hen- 
ry the Fifth, is, that a new weather-cock 
was placed on the crofs of St. Paul’s fteeple. 
It is faid* that Cardinal Wolfey.com- 
manded many copies of this Chronicle 
to be committed to the flames, becaufe 
it made too ample a difcovery of the ex- 
cefive reyenues of the clergy. The 
earlier chapters of thefe childifh annals 
faithtully record all thoie fabulous tradi- 
tions, which generally fupply the place of 
hiftoric monuments in defcribing the ori- 
gin of a great nation.” , 
The following are the corre¢t titles of 
the different editions. 
1. “The Newe Cronycles.of En- 
giande and of France.” Fol. Pynfon. 
1516. ' 
2 “ Fabyans Cronycle newly prynted, 
-xvith the cronycle, actes and dedes done 
in the tyme of the reygne of the mofte 
excellent prynce Kynge Henry the vii.” 
Fol, Raftel. 1533. 
y 
-* Ejus chronicou exemplaria nonnulla Car- 
dinalis Wolfius in fuo furore comburi fecit : 
quod cleri proventus pingues plus fatis detex- 
erit, Bale. Edit. Bafil. p. 642. 
The Antiquary.—No.XIT. 
[May 1, 
3. “ The Cronicle of Fabian, which 
he himfelf nameth the Concordance of 
Hiftoryes now newly prynted, and in. 
many places corrected, as to the diligent 
reader may appere.” Fol. John Raynes. 
1542. 
A>. ———Fol. Boab 
1542. 
5. © The. Chronicle of Fabian 
whiche he nameth the Concordaunce of 
Hiftoryes, newly perufed. And continued 
from the begynnyng of Kyng Henry the 
feventh to thende of Quene Mary.” Fol. 
Kingfton. 1559. 
Of thefe, the firft is by far the rareft. — 
In the Prologue he excufes his perfor- 
mance, begging his readers to correét it 
where it is amifs. 
‘* For by hym that never yet any Ordee toke 
Or Greof Scole, or fought for great cunnynge, 
This werke is gaderyd, with fmall un- 
derftandynge.” 
There-is a copy in the public library at 
Cambridge. 
As a favourable {pecimen of his talents, 
Mr. Ritfon mentions an Elegy on Henry 
the Firit, primted in Mrs. Cooper's Mufes’ 
Library, which was in fa¢t a tranflation 
from a Latin poem by Henry Archdeacon 
of Huntingdon, the contemporary of that 
monarch, inferted along with it, in our 
author’s hiftory.. 
On John king of England, Otho the 
emperor, and Philip of France, he has 
the following lines. 
‘¢ QO quam mirabilia, good Lord, thy workes 
been 
In punyfhment of fynners by thy myght won- 
derfly 
As by old-ftoryes yt is playnely feen. 
One fynner the other hath-correéted vtterly, 
As Alexander, wyth Julius, Pompey, and. 
Tholomy, : 
And many other whych as thy fcourgys were, 
To punyfhe fynners and. theym felf alfo dere, 
“In lyke wyfe nowe reader, yf thou lyfte take 
hyde 
And well reuolve in mynde thys hyftorye 
Of thefe thre prynces, and loke well on theyr 
dede, o 
Thou fhalte conceyve that they dyd wyckydly. 
I meane kynge John, Phylyppe and Ottony 
Whyche vnto fynne made themfelfe fo thrall, 
That of pope Innocent they were accurfyd all. - 
‘© Wherefore god fufteryd that one the other 
to greue, ; 
And warre and chafe wyth dedely hate and 
~ ftryfe. 
Glad that one the other to mifcheue, 
Manaflynge eche other wyth fpere fworde, 
and knyfe, 
Wyth cruell batayll durynge theyr fynfull 
lyfe. 
; Wherefore 
