THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
67
i a print Msted into a folio volume entitled
Lt Legende Done, at the bottom of which is inscribed " Schoting, of Nuremberg, 1384." He also adds, that an engraring still more ancient, ispresened in the libraiy of the Vatican.
1290 or 1299. Godefridus de Croyland, who wasd»;ted abbot of Peterborough, during his abbacj entertained Edward I. and silso two car- dinals, to one of whom, named Gaucilinus, he presented a Psalter, curiously written with gold lettars, but the time when it was transcribed is uncertain.
Tedious as was the process of transcription, several of the public libraries of Europe contain copies of the whole or parts of the Scriptures, especially the Psalter, written in this century. Id a copy of the whole Latin Bible, in the Bri- tidi museum, the name of the transcriber, and the date of the transcript, are preserved in Latin, with the year 1254.
1392, June II. Died Roger Bacon, whose extraor^ary abilities gained him the appella- tion of the wonderful doctor, whilst the stupid admiration of the multitude, ascribed his inven- tions to the black art, and lus knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew languages, was re^rded as the medium of intercourse with infernal spirits. He was born at Ilchester, in Somersetshire, in the ^ear 1314. After finishing the elementary studies of grammar and logic, at Oxford, he risited Paris, where he sedulously applied him- self to the study of languages, history, jurispru- dence, the mathematics, medicine, and theology. About the year 1240, having been admitted to the degree of doctor, he returned to England, and assumed the Franciscan habit, and in the letiiement of his cell, prosecuted his studies with tDcieasing ardour. Being chosen to deliver lec- tures to the university of Oxford, he expended immense sums in books, and other means of perfecting his knowledge and discoveries. " In twenty years," says he, " during which time I kare been particularly engaged in the study of wisdom, neglecting all vulgar attention to money, I have expended more than two thousand pounds in books of secrets, in a variety of experiments, and in languages, and instruments and tables, and other^ means of obtaining the friendship of the wise and the good, and instructing the minds of my icarers." Two thousand pounds seems an incredible sum to expend in books, when the in- come of a curate was but £3 &. ^d. ; and the saiaiT of a judge but £40! and consequently equal in efficacy to £30,000 of our money at pRsent We are, indeed, at a loss which to applaud most, his generous friends and patrons, who enabled him to spend so large a sum ; or the disinterestedness of the lecturer himself, who lost sight of his own emolument in the desire for the improvement of others.
Among the discoveries of this luminary of his »ge, may be enumerated, — the discovery of the exact length of the solar year, and a method of correcting all the errors in the calendar ; of the art of making reading gla-sses, the camera obscura, microscopes, telescopes, and various other ma-
thematical and astronomical instruments ; of the composition of gunpowder, and the nature of phosphorus ; of the method of making elixirs, tinctures, solutions, and of performing many other chemical operations; of^the art of com- bining and employing the mechanical powers inthe construction of machines capable of pro- ducing the most extraordinary effects ; and of various remedies in the science of medicine. Such was the prejudice against him by the brethren oi his order, that they refused to admit his works into their libraries, and the general of his order confined him to his cell, and prohibited him from sending any of his writings out of his mo- nastery, except to the pope. He languished in confinement for several years, till Clement IV. to whom he had sent a copy of his Amu Majut, in the year 1366, obtained some mitigation of his Sttfierings, if not his entire liberty. In 1278, on pretence of some suspicious novelties, in his works, he was again imprisoned by Jerome d'Ar- cole, which continued for about eleven or twelve years ; when Jerome, being raised to the pontifical chair, by the name of Nicholas IV. wasprevailed upon by several noblemen to release him from his confinement. Though old and infirm, his love of science and litemture was unabated, and he continued to prosecute his studies, by polish- ing his former works, and composing new ones, until death terminated his sunerings and his labours, in the eighty-first year of his age.
1292. The Livet of the Saints, were denomi- nated Legend** from being statedly read in the churches; and this computation received the epithet Golden, from its extraordinary popu- larity ; or the supposed value of its contents. The library of no monastery was without it. Every private person who was able, purchased it; and for a long time after the invention of printing, no work more frequently issued from the press. It was written by Jacobus de Voraigne, a dominican friar, and archbishop of Genoa, who died in the year 1298.
1294. In an inventory of the goods of John de Pontissara, bishop of Winchester, contained in his capital palace of Wulvesey, all the books whish appear, are nothing more than " Seplen- decetn pecie libraram de direnis Scienciit,
1299. Pontissara, bishop of Winchester, bor- rowed from the convent of St. Swithui, near that city, Biblium bene Gloisatam, that is, the Bible, with marginal annotations, in two large folio volumes ; but gave a bond for the due return of the loan, drawn up with great solemnity. This bible had been bequeathed to the convent the same year, by Pontissara'spredeces.sor, bishop Nicholas de Ely ; and in consideration of so
• Coaccrning legend-makera, tbere is a cotioiu story. Gilbert de Stone, a learned ecclesiastic wlio flourished about the year 1380, was solicited by tiie monks of Holy, weti, in Flintshire, to write the life of their patron saint. Stone applying: to these monks for materials, was answer, ed, that they had none in their monastery, tjpon which he declared, that he could execute the work just as easily without any materials at all ; and that he would write them a most excellent legend, afterthe manner ofThomas k Becket He has the character of an elegant writer.
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