Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/154

108 which, I believe, his will prove. And as to his integrity, no man can ſuſpect him, unleſs it be for being partial on the court ſide, as being in their pay: but his writings ſhew that he was above that mean conſideration; and though he gives the King a caſt of his office where he can, and relates things to his advantage, yet he has likewiſe done right to the barons, and was a faſter friend to truth than to either of them. And accordingly in King the firſt’s claim to a ſuperiority over the kingdom of Scotland, this very writing is brought as authentic hiſtory concerning what paſſed at York, 35  III. and is cited by the name of The Chronicle of St. Alban’s. In one thing he excels, which is owing to the largeneſs and freedom of his converſe with perſons of the firſt quality, that he not only records barely what was done, but what every body ſaid upon all occaſions, which (as ſays it is) makes it a golden book. For men’s ſpeeches give us great light into the meaning of their actions, which is the very inſide of hiſtory.

this hiſtory of Magna Charta, the hiſtory of the baron’s wars was neceſſarily involved, ſo that in writing one I muſt write both: for, as you ſee, they were wholly undertaken for recovering and maintaining