J. HADDON, PRINTER, CASTLE STREET, FINSBURY.
FOOTNOTES
[1] “Olim enim cum historias lusi, viridioribus annis rerumque lætitiæ congruebat rerum jocunditas. Nunc ætas progressior, et fortuna deterior, aliud dicendi genus expostulant. Quadragenarius sum hodie,” &c. Prol. in expos. Thren. Hierem. MS. Bodl. 868.
[2] “Ista autem avis (struthio) membrorum grandium, pennas quidem habens, sed volatu carens. Qualem in Angliâ vidimus, tempore regis Henrici externorum monstrorum appetentissimi.” Ch. iv. v. 31.
[3] He has afforded another notice of time, but not equally precise. Godfrey is said to have been abbat of Malmesbury from the year 1084 till 1105; and Malmesbury mentions certain transactions which took place in Godfrey’s time as beyond his memory; and others which happened when he was a boy. Anglia Sacra, II. 45–7. If Malmesbury wrote the miracles of St. Andrew, a work which is attributed to him, he was born the 30th of November.
[4] He says he also collected many books for the monastic library: and mentions others which he had seen at Canterbury, Bury St. Edmunds, &c. Gale, tom. iii. pp. 376, 298.
[5] Some notion of his diligence may perhaps be afforded by the following list of his writings.
1. De Gestis Regum. The History of the Kings of England. The first three books were probably written soon after the year 1120. Malmesbury intimates that he then hesitated for a time on the expediency of continuing his history; but at length having determined on prosecuting his design, he dedicated the fourth and fifth books to Robert earl of Gloucester; at whose request he afterwards composed
2. Historiæ Novellæ. The Modern History. This appears to have been begun after the death of Henry I; probably not long before 1140.
3. De Gestis Pontificum. The History of the Prelates of England containing, in four books, an account of the bishops, and of the principal monasteries, from the conversion of the English, by St. Augustine, to 1123; to which he added a fifth