an interpretation. He insinuates that God assisted his pious endeavours, and relates a saying of some of his auditors, who at the conclusion of his discourse thus addressed him: The Holy Spirit hath this day truely manifested relief in your mouth.' King John is also said to have bitterly reproached Giraldus for draining his county of Pembroke of men, by persuading such numbers to take the cross and repair to the Holy Land. But although thus zealous and successful in preaching the cause of the crusade; yet on the death of king Henry, at whose instance he had taken the cross, he applied to the cardinal legate, John of Anagni, on behalf of himself and Peter de Leia bishop of Saint David's, for absolution from the vows which each had made to go to the Holy Land; and which they obtained on the plea of age and poverty, but on condition that they should attend to the reparation of the cathedral church at Saint David's, and give every assistance in their power to the crusaders who undertook the journey to Jerusalem.'

"To the enthusiastic zeal, that once animated the breast of the archdeacon, we owe the present Itinerary through Wales, of which a translation is now, for the first time, submitted to the public, and which, amidst a multitude of idle stories and monkish legends, contains many curious and interesting particulars relative to the topography and history of that principality.

"During this journey Giraldus gained the good graces of the archbishop that prelate highly praised his works, and strongly recommended him to the king; but Henry persisted in his resolu

tion of not advancing him to any high preferment in the church.

"In the year 1189, Giraldus attended king Henry on his military expedition into France, as did also Baldwin the archbishop, and Ranulph Glanville the justiciary. On his return into England after the death of that monarch, which took place in the same year, the followlowing adventure befel him, which he used frequently to relate when the various fortuitous events that had happened to him became the subject of conversation. Finding, on his arrival at Dieppe, the wind unfavourable for his passage, he agreed with the soldiers, his companions, to leave their baggage behind them at that place, and to hasten their journey towards the sea-coast of Flanders, hoping by that means to effect a more speedy passage. The king, with some of his nobility, and many other persons, had fallen a sacrifice to the unhealthiness of the climate, and all the attendants of the archdeacon (one boy excepted) had either returned home ill, or had died abroad. Leaving this boy with his horses and luggage at Dieppe, he hired a stranger, whom he had never seen before, as his valet, and intrusted him with the care of all his valuables. In the morning, having crossed the river at Dieppe, and ascended a hill from whence they had a prospect of the town and harbour; according to the custom of travellers they began to inquire of each other if they had left nothing behind them; upon which Giraldus found his new servant missing. Having waited for him a long time, but in vain: the archdeacon became uneasy, because, as a stranger, he could place no confidence in him; and he recollected that the man had said, that

if he did not engage in his service, he should go to his brother in Hungary. The soldiers advised Giraldus to go back to Dieppe or Rouen, where he had first seen him; but despairing of ever finding him again if he had absconded, he could not be prevailed upon to return. His companions hearing that besides the sum of forty marks in gold and silver, and a good saddle-horse, the servant had the charge of all the archdeacon's clothes, a bag of important letters from earl Richard, and the unpublished Journal of his Itinerary through Wales, still more strenuously urged his return; but the archdeacon could not be persuaded to leave them. Arriving at the town of Abbeville, Giraldus retired to his apartment, reflecting seriously on the adventure which had happened; and he used to say, that on this occasion he had three motives of regret:

"First-The loss of his money was something, but moderate when compared with his other losses; for money was oftentimes lost, and oftentimes recovered.

"Second-The loss of the earl's letters, and of his own appointment as legate in Wales, was still greater; but as he knew the purport of them, he could by similar letters from the justiciary obtain

some kind of redress.

"Third-The loss of his journals was by far the most severe, and indeed irreparable, the book not being as yet published, non edito, sed edendo.'

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"After many melancholy reflec. tions on the subject, he returned to his companions in the hall, where a boy came running in from the market-place, inquiring what sort of a horse was that of the archdeacon's having gained the neces

sary information, he said that he had seen a person riding such a horse, laden with a large package, in the market-place, and inquiring for the archdeacon's lodgings. He was immediately sent for, and received with general satisfaction. Giraldus asked him, if all was safe?" to which he answered, Yes:' but the soldiers would not suffer him to explain the cause of his delay till after dinner, when he told them, that having crossed the river at Dieppe, he dismounted in order to tighten his luggage, when he found that a bag containing twenty marks or more had dropped, upon which he went back to seek it at the inn from whence he had set out; but his researches not being attended with success, he returned and crossed the river a third time, giving up all hopes of finding the package he had lost; when casting his eyes back on the pebbly shore which he had before passed, to his great surprise and joy he discovered the bag lying amongst the stones, rolled up in the state he had received it from his master, and untouched.

"From this adventure Giraldus draws the following moral: That God oftentimes inflicts with heavy tribulations those whom he loves and guides; and at the moment when they are in the greatest distress, shows himself propitious and near at hand.'

"Arriving safely on the coast of Flanders, they obtained a favourable passage, and the archdeacon hastened his journey to London, where he found the boy whom he had left with his baggage at Dieppe. Having delivered the letters of earl Richard to the justiciary, he immediately proceeded into Wales, where he soon restored tranquillity to a country that had G 3

been

been much agitated by the death of the late king. Shortly after. wards, the earl came to London, and was there crowned king: but his stay in England was not long, for scon after his coronation he returned into Normandy to meet Philip king of France, with whom he was engaged to undertake the crusading expedition to Jerusalem. Richard was so highly satisfied with the zeal and fidelity of Giraldus, that on his departure for the Holy Land, he appointed him coadjutor to William de Long Champ bishop of Ely, in the regency of his kingdom. But Giraldus did not improve this favourable opportunity, for he refused the bishoprics of Bangor in North Wales, and Landaff in South Wales, alleging as a motive for this refusal, his unwillingness to accept any situation that would divert him from his studies; but, by his own avowal, he rather declined these promotions from the hopes of succeeding, on the death of the old and infirm incumbent, to the see of Saint David's. He records an anecdote of himself, alluding to his anxious desire to obtain that see, and to his repeated refusals of other bishoprics which had been offered to him. A priest, who was deranged in his mind, and who, following the court of the justiciary, was accustomed to amuse the young men by ludicrous and ridiculous sayings, feigned a conversation with Giraldus, Master Giraldus, will you accept of the bishopric of Guiseford? No." Will you accept the bishopric of Ossory? No. The bishopric of Leighelin?' 'No.'The archbishopric of Cashel? 'No.' 'But do you choose the bishopric of Saint David's?' then replying, with a loud and clamorous voice, "Yes!' he burst into a fit of laughter. "Finding that all the royal pro

mises of preferment on his attaching himself to the court were inef fectual, and that his services had not met with their due reward, he determined to quit the busy and tumultuous scene of life, and retire to some more tranquil situation, where he might prosecute his literary pursuits without interruption.

"Having collected all his books, he proceeded on another journey to Paris; but hearing, on his arrival at the sea coast, that war had lately been rekindled between Philip king of France and Richard king of England, he altered his plans, and went to Lincoln, to study theology under William de Monte chancellor of that diocese, with whom he had formerly been ac quainted at Paris. There he continued for the space of six years, prosecuting his studies with indefatigable ardour, and composing several of his literary works. During this period he was strongly ad vised (on the death of Peter de Leia, bishop of Saint David's, A. D. 1199,) to solicit from the king, whose family he had most essentially served, the vacant mitre; but, unwilling to abandon the studious mode of life he had now adopted, he replied, "That a bishop should be sought after, not seek; and that, as he had a sufficient competency, he would not, for any consideration, quit his present state of ease and tranquillity.'

"About the same time he gave a conspicuous proof of his charity and disinterestedness in selling his best garments to relieve the neces sities of the poor at Lincoln, who had suffered severely from a scarcity of provisions.

"On the death of Peter de Leia, the archdeacons and canons of St. David's, by the mandate of Hubert archbishop of Canterbury, proceeded

proceeded to nominate such persons as they thought fit to succeed to the vacant see; and they recommended the following :

nock,

"Giraldus, archdeacon of BreckWalter, abbot of Saint Dogmaels,-Peter, abbot of Whitland; and to these they added Reginald Foliot, that they might not appear designedly to exclude an Englishman from the ecclesiastical honour, and concluding at the same time that he had little prospect of success.

"The archbishop positively refused to accept the nomination of Giraldus for the same reasons alleged by king Henry on many former occasions; and partly on the same grounds he rejected the other two, as being natives of Wales. To supply their places, he proposed Martin, a Cistercian monk, and Geoffrey, prior of Lanthoni; but the chapter persisted in their longestablished right of nomination. King Richard was at this time abroad, and hearing of the dispute between the canons of Saint Da. vid's and the archbishop of Canterbury, ordered a deputation of four members of the chapter to appear before him in Normandy, and receive his orders respecting the elec. tion of a bishop: but whilst these matters were in agitation, the king died.

"Letters from the chapter of Saint David's, recommending Giraldus, were presented to his successor king John, and favourably received; so much so, that the king ordered Giraldus to come before him with three or four canons of the church, that he might be duly elected bishop; but, unfortunately for the archdeacon, on the king's return to England, the allpowerful influence of the archbishop

put a stop to the election. In a letter written about this time to Hubert archbishop of Canterbury, Giraldus complains bitterly of the ill treatment and vexation he had suffered from the court, and expresses a wish that he may be allowed to dedicate the remainder of his life to study and retirement.

Hitherto,' says our author,

I have unfortunately sacrificed too much time to fruitless ambition. Let me therefore be allowed to retire and indulge without further molestation my favourite pursuit of books and literature. Let others anxiously covet the high honours attached to a court, as I myself, labouring under the same vice, once did, and became an useless and unprofitable follower of it. Having more than sufficiently experienced the vicissitudes and vexations resulting from an attendance upon the high and mighty, I desire to be in that situation with respect to them, as if I had never been in their service. May the holy Father and merciful God grant, that, far from the cares and ambition of a court, which always wound, and never heal and satisfy the heart; and far also from the clamorous bustle of the world, by lamenting and redeeming my heavy loss of time, I may be able to pass the moderate remaining portion of my life in peaceful case and tranquillity!

"After the repeated disappointments he had received in the attainment of his favourite preferment, and seeing there was little or no prospect of success, he turned his back upon the English court; and, after an absence of many years, revisited Saint David's, where he was received with the greatest joy, both by the clergy and the people. A

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convocation