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LITERATURE

were extremely rare, especialljF in England, is evident from fiede speaking of it as a kind of prodigy, unheard of before in these days. — Whitaker's Cathedral of Comivall.

679. In an extraordinary council, held at Rome, about British aflairs, it was ordained " That lessons out of the divine oracles should be always read for the edification of the churches, during the time of their meals, that the minds of the hearers might be fed with the divine word, even at the very time of their bodily repasts.

690. Nothing more completely proves the tcarcituof books at this period than the bargain which Benedict Biscop, a monk and founder of the Monastery of Wearmouth, concluded a little before his death, in this year, with .^Ifrid, King of Northumberland, by which the king agrees to give an estate of eight hides of land, or as much as eight ploughs could labour, which is said to have been 800 acres for one volume on Cotmography, or the History of the World! .Biscop was obliged to make five journeys to Rome, principally to purchase books for his monastery. This book was given, and the estate received fiy Benedict's successor, the Abbot Ceolfrid. King £lfrid died 24th of December, 705, and was buried at Drifeld.

For the erection of the church, he procured workmen from France, who constructed it of stone, after the Roman fashion; for before that time stone buildings were very rare in Britain. Benedict also brought over .^farter* from France, the ait of glass-making being then unknown in Britain. The walls and roof of the church he adorned with pictures, which he purchased at Rome ; and also added a noble library of rare Greek and Latin works.

692. Ducarel, in his Anglo-Norman Antx- quities, informs us, that in the cloisters of St. Owen, at Rouen, which appeared to be a more ancient building than the church, he " observed some old stone desks stuck to the pillars, and designed to place books upon ;" and adds, " In the Benedictine convents it was anciently a cus- tom for all the monks to assicmble together in the cloisters, at stated times in the day, and there cultivate their studies in common ; some being employed in reading, whilst others were engaged in transcribing Ijooks; and for this purpose it was that these desks were placed in the abbey- cloisters." It may also be remarked, that tfie ancients, prior to the discovery of desks, wrote upon scrolls, placed upon their knees, and it is very questionable whether desks were at all in use before the latter end of this century. See also " Fosbrooke's British Monachism."

693. Withred, King of Kent, in a charter whereby he granted lands to the church or con- vent of St. Mary, at Liminge in that county, acknowledges that being illiterate (proignorantia literarium) he had marked it with the sign of the holy cross. Archbishops and bishops were frequently too illiterate to write their own names, and only made their marAs to the acts of councils. Crosses instead of seals, were used by the eccle- siastics, who introduced the practice of conveying

property by written instruments, and this custom prevailed invariably till the conquest, and for near a century afterwards. In the acts of the councils of lEphesus and Chalcedon, many examples occur where the subscriptions are to be found in this form : I, such an one, have sub- scribed by the hands of such an one, because I cannot write. And such a bishop having said he could not write, I, whose name is under- written, have subscribed fQr him. A celebmted ecclesiastical historian remarks, " Nothing can equal the ignorance and darkness that reigned in this century; the most impartial and accu- rate account of which will appear incredible to those who are unacquainted with the history of this barbarous period." Towards the close of this century, the number of books was so incon- siderable, even in the Papal library at Rome, that Pope Martin requested Sanctamond, bbhop of Maestricht, if possible to supply this defect from the remotest parts of Germany.

705. It is a singular fact, that England was regarded as so excellent a mart for books, that at this early period, many were brought hither for sale. Pepin, king of France, requested some books from the Pontiff, Paul I. and the libraries of Rome could supply nothing more valuable than a few Greek books.

725, August 1. The old English tax, called Peter's pence, was first laudably imposed by Ina, King of the West Saxons, for the support" of an English College at Rome, but afterwards appro-

friated by th^church for very different purposes, t was collected upon this day. Ina, published a code of seventy-nine laws.

Ina was King of Wessex ; he is the other King of the heptarchy, who sustains a character superior to that of Sigebert, even the character of a law-giver. He cannot, indeed, be compared with the celebrated legislators of Grecian an- tiquity ; he was not so profound as Lycurgus, nor so wise as Solon, but surely the first Saxon monarch who composed a body of written laws, is an object worthy of our attention. This work he executed by the advice and with the concxir- rence of his nobles, bishops, and other eminent persons. Some of his institutes related to the church, and some to the state. They continued in force a long time, and at length 1>ecame the foundation of the code established by Alfred. The immense donations of Ina, King of the West Saxons, to the church of Glastonbury, deserves also to be mentioneil, as affording a proof of the veneration for the Holy Gospels. He caused a chapel or case, modelled in the form of a chapel, to be formed of silver and gold, with ornaments and vases equally gold and silver ; and placed it within the great church of Glastonbury, delivering two thousand six hun- dred and forty pounds of gold ; for the chalice and paten, ten pounds of gold ; for the censer twenty-eight mancuses of gold ; for the candle- sticks'twelve pounds and a half of silver ; for the Books of the Gospels, twenty pounds, and sixty mancuses of gold ; for the water vessels, and other vases of the altar, seventeen pounds of gold ; for

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