PREFACE. THIS Volume contains all the other Historical Works, besides the Ecclesiastical History, written by the Venerable Bede. They are as follows: I. DE SEPTEM MUNDI MIRACULIS. OF THE SEVEN - WONDERS OF THE WORLD. This short tract is found in the folio editions of the works [Bas. i. 474. Col. i. 401-7], from which it has been reprinted. Manuscripts of it are either not in existence,or are scarce. It may well be doubted whether it is a genuine work of Bede; indeed, the contrary is by far the most probable. It is retained in this edition, on account of the curious information which it contains. II. MARTYROLOGIUM DE NATALITIIS SANCTORum. This work was first discovered by Henschenius, and published in the Acta Sanctorum [Præf. tom. i. Jan. p. 40. et Proleg. ad Mens. Mart. tom. ii. § 5 seqq.] from six MSS. Henschenius was aware that the Martyrology which occurs in the folio editions is spurious, because Ado and Usuardus both say that Bede's genuine work was left incomplete to a considerable extent. He was consequently better prepared to recognize a fragment of Bede's real production in Queen Christina's library at Rome; and afterwards he found at Dijon the whole work, with additions by a later hand inserted in the parts which Bede was known not to have filled up. Henschenius at first attributed it to Florus, but afterwards to Bede. Smith published it cum Auctario Flori, in his folio edition, and Eckarthus published a continuation to it from a Wirceburg MS. in Comm. de Rebus Franciæ Orientalis et Episcopis Wirceburg. tom. i. p. 829, 830. Wirceb. 1729. See Mabillon, Act. Ben. sec. iii. pt. i. p. 560. and Oudin. Comment. tom. i. p. 1692. The Martyrology published in the folio editions, [Bas. iii. 380-487. Col. iii. 277-360.] and separately Antwerpiæ, 1565, is, as has been before stated, spurious, and is taken from Ado. Bede's second Martyrology, in hexameter verse, found in D'Achery's Spicilegium, tom. x. p. 126, ed. nov. ii. 23. [see also Mabillon, Acta Bened. sec. iii. i. p. 560. and sec. iv. ii. p. 85.] will be found among Bede's poetical works in the first volume of this series. Another Martyrology, forming a sort of almanac, and entitled Ephemeris sive Computus Vulgaris, found in the folio editions [Bas. i. 242–266. Col. i. 191—213] was written by Wandelbertus Prumiensis. See Oudin. Comment. tom. i. p. 1683. Two other tracts, entitled Liber Annalis, and forming a kind of Martyrology, are found in Martene and Durand's Collectio Veterum Scriptorum, vol. vi. ; but they are of no importance, and the editors themselves allow that very little of them can claim to be the production of Bede. III. VITA BEATI FELICIS CONFESSORIS. OF THE HOLY ST. FELIX. -- THE LIFE The Saint and Confessor Felix was a priest of the Church of Nola in the fifth century. His life was first composed by Paullinus in verse, which was turned by Bede into the prose narrative now before us. The work is found in the folio editions [Bas. iii. 255–262. Col. iii. 185-190] and in the Acta Sanctorum ad Jan. 14, tom. i. p. 943, ed. Ant. 1643. It is inserted in Smith's edition, corrected from a careful revision of the two previous editions, but Smith was unable to discover any MS. copies of it. In the Harleian Collection at the British Museum is a splendid Passionale, in three very large volumes, Nos. 2800-2802, of the thirteenth century, in which occurs this life of Felix. It is not found in Stevenson's edition, which relates to English history only. It is here printed from an accurate collation of the texts of Smith, of the Basil edition, and the Harleian Passionale. The variations are given at the end of the volume. IV. VITA SANCTI CUTHBERTI.—THE LIFE OF ST. CUTHBERT. This is in substance the same as the metrical legend De Miraculis Sancti Cuthberti, which will be given among the poetical remains of Bede in the first volume. It is, however, much more valuable than the other. It is dedicated to Eadfrid, bishop of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, who died A.D. 721. It is found in the folio editions, [Bas. iii. 209-254. Col. iii. 152–185.] and in Mabillon's Acta Bened. sec. ii. Smith gives a text based on five MSS. viz. a Benedictine, Harleian, two in the Bodleian, and one in the possession of a friend. Stevenson used Smith's edition, together with two MSS. [Harl. 1117, fol. 2, and Cotton. Vitel. A. xix.] For the present edition a MS. in the Arundel Collection [222] has been collated with the editions of Smith and Stevenson. V. VITA ABBATUM WIREMUTHENSIUM SIUM. ET GIRVEN THE LIVES OF THE ABBOTS OF WEREMOUTH AND JARROW. This very interesting memoir of the abbots of the united monasteries of Weremouth and Jarrow is mentioned by William of Malmesbury, [Gest. R. A. i. 3.] but is not found in either of the folio editions of the works. It was first published by Ware, Dublin, 8vo, 1664, from a MS. in the Cottonian Library. Wharton |