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fian. þeah þe ealh wolde;
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to it, although he alto-
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- ↑ ter. C. H.
- ↑ Subsecuta est de vestigio clades, quæ, &c.. Gregory Turonensis, giving an account of the overflowing of the Tiber, and the Multitude of Serpents, and the great Dragon that lay like some huge Beam in the midst of the Channel, and from thence took its Passage into the
given us in a very agreeable Style and Method by our Learned Ecclesiastical Historian Mr. Collier, lib. 2. But the Learned Benedictines, who made it their business to gather and examine all Notices relating more particularly to the Life of St. Gregory, have accordingly obliged us with a Collection the most complete and accurate upon the Subject. As to the reluctancy of the Roman People to part with a Person of such eminent Virtues and Piety as St. Gregory, this discovers such a noble Christian Zeal and Reverence for good Things and Persons, as has not sufficiently been imitated in all Ages or Places; and the Constancy of their Affection to him, which never ceased till they had placed him in the Papal Chair, nor in any succceding part of his Life, affords an Example that may well upbraid the unstable humor of some Men in after times, who never are pleased with any thing but that which is new, nor affect any Man's Person, who, like Holy Gregory, is so sincere, as not to indulge them in all their Novelties: Which Love of Novelty Mankind should be very cautious in embracing, lest sooner than they imagine it should persuade them that Christianity it self is grown antiquated; They ought certainly to be admonished of this by the too many Instances of those with whom it is already out of date.
