72
LITERATURE.
again, alleging the sentence, " Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding." Prov. xxiii. 22. It is stated that he preferred ta]ung the fees of office in books, rather thtm in money. In 1334, on his being appointed high treasurer of England, he enter- tfuned at his palace at Durham, Edward III.* his queen, and her mother, the ing of Scotland, the two metropolitans, five bishops, seven earls, with their consorts, and all the nohili^ on this side Trent, besides a great number of knights and esquires; also many abbots, priors, and other ' ecclesiastics.
Some idea may be formed of the perseverance and literary attaiuments of this great man, and his enthusiastic ardour in the promulgation of learning, when we are informed that he alone possessed more books than all the bishops of England together, and besides the fixed libraries which he had formed in his several palaces; the floor of his common apartment was so covered with books, that those who entered could not with due reverence approatjh him; he also kept binders, illuminators, and writers, in his palaces. He selected his chaplains on account of their piety and erudition, and many of them rose to the episcopal bench. To his nurture of genius and learning, we are indebted for some of the most eminent prelates and writers this country can boast; among them may be mentioned, Thomas Bradwardine, archbishop of Canterbuiy; Richard Fitz-Ralph, archbishop of Armagh; Richard Benworth, bishop of London; and Wal- ter Segraffe, bishop of Chester; also Walter ButIot, John Mauayt, Robert Holket, Richard de EiUington, and several others, all doctors of theology. His generosity is recorded to have been as unifonn as it was extensive, and we are told that he weekly bestowed eight quarters of wheat made into bread, exclusive of the accus- tomed fragments imm his table, and pecuniary assistance; during a ride from Newcastle to Dur- ham, he distributed £8 in alms, and going from Durham to Stockton £5, besides many more which are minutely enumerated by Chambre.
This excellent prelate died at Auckland, and was buried, says Chambre, before thealtar of Uie Uessed Mary Magdalene, at the southern angle of the cathedral church of Durham, leaving a reputation untarnished by the breatli of calumny.
The account, however, which Richard de Bury
S'ves of the monks before his time, shows us that e old religious transcribers must have been en- dued with sing^ular patience and preseverance, for he says " many wrote them out with their
- That Edward excited all hia Inflaence to promote the
advancement of his tutor, is proved by an Interesting do- etunent recorded in Rymer's Firdtra, and an account of his prefenneDts io the llrst six years of his reign, is preserved by Tanner : Edward presented him to two rectories, six prebendal stalls, the Archdeaconries of Salisbury and Nor- thampton, the Canonry of Weston, and the Deanery of Wells. He was so enriched by ecclesiastical preferment that he was enabled to expend five thousand marks on a Journey to Rome. When be went into the presence of the Pope and Cardinals, he was attended by twenty of his clerks, and thirty six esquires, attired in the most expen- sive and sumptuous garments. — See Dlbdln's Bibliomttma and Warton's Hitt. of Engltth Poctrf.
own hands in the intervals of the canonical bonis, and gave up the time appointed for bodily rest to the fabrication ofvolumes; those sacred treasuries of whose labours, filled with cherubic letten, an at this day resplendent in most monasteries." Erasmus thus describes the Secunda Seemda of Thomas Aquinas, which was a pondetoiH treatise of scholastic divinity then so mndi prized and cherished : " No man can cam- it about, much less get it into his head." The volume thus produced on fair parchment after the labour of years, was covered with immenselj thick lids of wood and leather, studded with large nails and curiously clasped; and being deposited on the shelves of the monastery library, vis kept sacred from all profane eyes. The monb generally laboured for themselves alone, without any desire to difiuse the knowledge which they strove, and properly so to preserve. " The re- splendent volumes, with cherubic letters," bore striking marks not only of the persevering iados- try but of the great ingenuity of the moDb. Ineir initial letters, that is, the letters at the beginning of each chapter or section, were indeed resplendent with gold and the brightest tints of crimson and azure. But the satisfaction to he afforded by these efforts of art was confined to t few. They were not, like the paintings with which churches were subsequently adorned, dis- played before the people to exalt their devotion. They were unclasped only on days of solemoitT, by the mitred abbot or the prior; and then con- veyed like precious jewels to the obscurity of their worm-eaten and dusty cases.
1346. Died, John Bacon, otherwise denomi- nated Baconthorpius, from an obscure village of Norfolk, where he was bom, was distinguished i« the schools by the name of" Doctor Resolutas." He studied first at Oxford; then visited Paris, where he obtained the character of " Averroista- rum Princeps." On his return to London he became provmcial of the Carmelites: afterwartb was invited to Rome, where he gave great offence hy arguing with too much subtilty and freedom in defence of the pope's unlimitea r^t of granting matrimonial dispensations. Th* odium thus excited induced nim to recant his doctrines on this head : and hence he was led to quarrel with the art itself in which he had heen so great a proficient.
1347. Died, William Ockam, who was very celebrated in the annals of scholastic theokrr, and denominated " Doctor Invincibilis." He was a disciple of Scotus, and put himself at the head of the nominalists, he maintained die opinions of that party with great ingenuitj.— Some consider him the founder of a distinct sect, whence he also received the denomination of " Venerabilis Inceptor et Doctor Siugularis." He was an Englishman, but of what part is not known. His works were printed at Paris, by Cssaris and Stol, 1476.
1347, August. The conquest of Calais by Ed- ward III., the warriors and archers on foot received 3d.; the Black Prince £1.; and the Bishop of Durham (with the earls), 6». 8d. p"
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