FOOTNOTES:
[245] "Rediens autem, ubi Viennam pervenit, eruptitios sibi quos apud amicos commendaverat, recepit." p. 26. Vit. Abbat. Wear. 12mo. edit. Ware.
[246] The youngest son of Oswy, or Oswis, king of Northumbria, who succeeded his father in the year 670, Alfred his elder brother being for a time set aside on the grounds of his illegitimacy; yet Alfred was a far more enlightened and talented prince than Ecgfrid, and much praised in Saxon annals for his love of learning.
[247] "Magnâ quidem copiâ voluminum sacrorum; sed non minori sicut et prius sanctorum imaginum numere detatus." Vit. Abb. p. 38.
[248] "Bibliothecam, quam de Roma nobillissimam copiosessimanque advenaret ad instructionem ecclesiæ necessariam sollicite servari integram, nec per incuriam fœdari aut passim dissipari præcepit."
[249] Bede says that he was "learned in Holy Scriptures." Dr. Henry mentions this anecdote in his Hist. of England, vol. ii. p. 287, 8vo. ed. which has led many secondary compilers into a curious blunder, by mistaking the king here alluded to for Alfred the Great: even Didbin, in his Bibliomania, falls into the same error although he suspected some mistake; he calls him our immortal Alfrid, p. 219, and seems puzzled to account for the anachronism, but does not take the trouble to enquire into the matter; Heylin's little Help to History would have set him right, and shown that while Alfrede king of Northumberland reigned in 680, Alfred king of England lived more than two centuries afterwards, pp. 25 and 29.
[250] The reader may perhaps smile at this, but it has long been my custom to carry some 8vo. edition of a monkish writer about me, when time or opportunity allowed me to spend a few hours among the ruins of the olden time. I recall with pleasure the recollection of many such rambles, and especially my last—a visit to Netley Abbey. What a sweet spot for contemplation; surrounded by all that is lovely in nature, it drives our old prejudices away, and touches the heart with piety and awe. Often have I explored its ruins and ascended its crumbling parapets, admiring the taste of those Cistercian monks in choosing so quiet, romantic, and choice a spot, and one so well suited to lead man's thoughts to sacred things above.
[251] Bede, Vit. Abb. Wear. p. 46.
[252] The fine libraries thus assiduously collected were destroyed by the Danes; that of Jarrow in the year 793, and that of Wearmouth in 867.