Queens, Nobles, and others in Westminster Abbey, with their Inscriptions; together with an Historical

had a more polished mind, and a more benevolent heart. Distinguished almost equally by his academical, his philosophical, his legislative, and his diplomatical labours, he was the Mecenas of his day. To Speed, in particular, he proved himself, both by his advice and by his donations, a most valuable friend. He knew that the tomb, which recorded the worth of it's occupant, had more honest tears shed upon it, than the mausoleum which spoke only of his pedigree or his possessions. Accordingly, although he had excellent blood flowing in his veins, he sought connexion with the good, rather than with the great; and where he found a cultivated understanding, and an honest heart, thither he carried with him his Lares, and made another's abode his own. (Bibliom.) He was the author of various productions upon several public questions.

He was the twenty-ninth in the long list of Baronets created by James I., upon the institution of that dignity, May 22, 1611; and has been said by some indeed, with a view of enabling his Majesty to "support and repair his estate," to have suggested the order itself. He was subsequently employed by James, to refute the representations of his mother's conduct given by Buchanan and Thuanus; and what he drew up on this subject is supposed to have been interwoven with his Annals of Elizabeth,' or subjoined to his Epistles.' Another task imposed upon him by his Sovereign was, to inquire into the laws enacted for the suppression of Popery, upon which topic he wrote two Tracts. When the Spanish match for Prince Charles was in agitation, he was desired by the House of Commons to furnish an Historical Proof of the bad faith of the House of Austria in all their dealings with England, and of their schemes for Universal Monarchy. He also composed, in 1621, A Relation to prove that the Kings of England have been pleased to consult with their Peers in the great Council, and Commons in Parliament, of Marriage, Peace, and War.' This Tract has been reprinted under the title of, The Antiquity and Dignity of Parliaments.' He drew up, likewise, A Vindication of the Ecclesiastical Constitution of England, against certain Innovations moved by the Puritans,' Other Tracts of his, also, are still extant upon various subjects.

Account of the Foundation of that Church.' The fifth edition of his 'Britannia' also appeared in this year, with a defence against Brooke's animadversions.

He had long formed the plan of writing a civil history of his native country; but it is probable that the change of affairs, upon the death of Queen Elizabeth, prevented his carrying it into execution: as, soon after that event, he sent his valuable manu

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He, farther, meditated writing An Account of the State of Christianity in these Islands, from it's original Reception to the Reformation. The first part of this design was executed by Archbishop Usher, in his Book 'De Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Primordiis,' compiled probably at the request of Sir Robert, who left eight volumes of collections for the continuation of the work.

He was a Member of the first Parliament of Charles I., and joined in the complaints of national grievances, though he wished to owe the redress of them to mild measures. He afterward inculcated upon the King and his Council the sound advice of resorting to Parliament alone for the raising of money, and of gaining it's good will by removing all jealousies concerning liberty and religion. Consulted in 1626 by his infatuated Sovereign upon the unprincipled project of debasing the national coin, in a speech before the Privy Council he powerfully and successfully opposed it. This is printed in the Cottoni Posthuma' published by Mr. James Howell, who in his prefatory address To the knowing Reader,' justly states, that "he was a great zealot to his country; that in all parliaments, where he served so often, his main endeavours were to assert the public liberty, and that prerogative and privilege might run in their due channel; that he would often say, 'that he himself had the least share in himself,' but his country and his friends had the greatest interest in him; and that he might be said to be in a perpetual pursuit after virtue and knowledge." From these proofs of his attachment to the constitution, he was considered as no friend to violent exertions of the royal prerogative; which circumstance, together with the enmity of the prelates Laud and Neile, probably led to the attack made upon him in 1629.

scripts and printed copies of the ancient historians of Britain to Frankfort, where a new edition of these remains was published under his correction with the following title: Anglica, Normannica, Hibernica, Cambrica, a Veteribus descripta; ex quibus Asser Menevensis, Anonymus de vitá Gulielmi Conquæstoris, Thomas Walsingham, Thomas de la More, Gulielmus Genuticensis, Giraldus Giraldus Cambrensis, plerique nunc in lucem editi ex bibliotheca Gulielmi Camdeni.' This judicious collection he dedicated to his constant friend Sir Fulke Greville. In 1605, he published, in 4to. Remains of a greater Work concerning Britain, the Inhabitants thereof, their Languages, Names, Surnames, Empreses, Wise Speeches, Poesies, and Epitaphs.' This curious piece, relating chiefly to the habits, manners, and customs of the ancient Britons and Saxons, is addressed to Sir Robert Cotton, in a dedication subscribed with the final letters of the author's name, M. N.*

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* This caution arose probably out of a consciousness of the trifling nature of it's contents, which he himself in a disparaging preface represents, as "the mere rubbish of a more serious work." Yet upon some occasions he appears to show a paternal fondness for the collection, which in fact went through several editions. It is remarkable, that Camden is one of those, who have designated their writings by the final letters of their names. M. N., as above mentioned, is subscribed to the end of the dedication of his Remaines concerning Britaine.' The same letters were used, on the same principle, by William Wotton. Other instances are R. T. for Peter Pett, N. S. for John Wilkins, H. D. for Seth Ward, S. S. for Thomas Rogers, S. N. for Thomas Vaughan, Y. E. for Henry Stubbe, N. Y. for John Dury, H. T. for Ralph Bathurst, and M. M. for William Needham.

In 1606, beside his epistolary communications on the subject of Great Britain to the learned and excellent President de Thou (Thuanus) we find him, for the first time, employed in the service of a royal patron. James I., desirous to expose to the eyes of Europe the machinations of his Popish enemies, and at the same time to justify the rigorous measures adopted for the subsequent security of his kingdoms, resolved to publish a manifesto in Latin, for the purpose of being circulated at all the courts of the Continent: and Camden, having the reputation of being the most elegant and correct classic in England, was ordered to draw it up. This piece made it's appearance in 1607, and does great honour to it's writer, with respect not only to the stile, but also to the manner in which he has treated his subject. The same year, likewise, he gave to the world the sixth edition of his Britannia in folio, considerably enlarged, and illustrated with maps.

In 1612, he visited Oxford on a mournful occasion, to show the last solemn token of respect to the manes of his deceased friend Sir Thomas Bodley.*

* This gentleman, the founder of the magnificent library called after him The Bodleian,' was the son of an eminent merchant at Exeter, who having embraced the Reformed Religion, and being menaced with persecution on that account, fled with his son to Geneva, and remained there during the turbulent reign of Mary.

Upon the accession of Elizabeth, they returned home with the other Protestant exiles; and young Bodley, having made a considerable progress while abroad in divinity and the learned languages, under the tuition of Calvin and Beza, Cevallerius,

In 1615, he published, in Latin, his Annals

Beroaldus, and Robert Constantine, the lexicographer (who read Homer to him in the house of his medical host, Philibertus Saracenus) was sent by his father to Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1563, at the age of nineteen, he took his degree of B. A.; and in 1564, obtained a fellowship in Merton College. In the following year, by persuasion of some of the fellows, he read a gratuitous Greek lecture in the College-hall, which has continued ever since: and in 1569, was elected into the Proctorship, an office open to public canvas till the year 1629, when the Caroline Cycle' was introduced, which proportioned the claims upon it to the population of the different Colleges, and made the appointment of a more private and domestic nature. For a considerable time, likewise, during a vacancy, he supplied the place of University-Orator. His friends now having in view for him some preferment about the court, in 1576 he made the tour of Europe, in order to perfect himself in the modern languages; being "wholly then addicted (to adopt his own expressions) to employ himself and all his cares in the service of the State." Upon his return, in 1585, he engaged deeply in the study of history and politics; and he was speedily called upon to exert his talents, in stations of considerable dignity and importance. From the office of Gentleman Usher to Elizabeth, he rose to be her Embassador at the courts of Denmark and France, and her representative in the Council of State of the United Provinces in 1588; where he managed her interests with great success till 1597, when all public negociations with the States being happily terminated, he was recalled. Not meeting, however, with that reward of his services which he had a right to expect, in consequence of the declining for tunes of his patron the Earl of Essex, in a fit of disgust he retired from court; and though afterward solicited to serve as Embassador in France, and to negotiate in other very honourable employments, he would never accept any new appointment.

To this retirement, the University of Oxford probably stands indebted for the Bodleian Library, which is justly esteemed one