ecepit."

[249] Bede says that he was "learned in Holy Scriptures." Dr. Henry
mentions this anecdote in his _Hist. of England_, vol. ii. p. 287,
8vo. ed. which has led many secondary compilers into a curious
blunder, by mistaking the king here alluded to for Alfred the Great:
even Didbin, in his Bibliomania, falls into the same error although
he suspected some mistake; he calls him _our immortal Alfrid_, p.
219, and seems puzzled to account for the anachronism, but does not
take the trouble to enquire into the matter; Heylin's little Help to
History would have set him right, and shown that while Alfrede king
of Northumberland reigned in 680, Alfred king of England lived more
than two centuries afterwards, pp. 25 and 29.

[250] The reader may perhaps smile at this, but it has long been my
custom to carry some 8vo. edition of a monkish writer about me, when
time or opportunity allowed me to spend a few hours among the ruins
of the olden time. I recall with pleasure the recollection of many
such rambles, and especially my last--a visit to Netley Abbey. What
a sweet spot for contemplation; surrounded by all that is lovely in
nature, it drives our old prejudices away, and touches the heart
with piety and awe. Often have I explored its ruins and ascended its
crumbling parapets, admiring the taste of those Cistercian monks in
choosing so quiet, romantic, and choice a spot, and one so well
suited to lead man's thoughts to sacred things above.

[251] Bede, _Vit. Abb. Wear._ p. 46.

[252] The fine libraries thus assiduously collected were destroyed
by the Danes; that of Jarrow in the year 793, and that of Wearmouth
in 867.

[253] Emer, Vita. ap. Mab. Act. SS. tom. iii. 199.

[254] Bede's Eccles. Hist. b. iii. c. xxv.

[255] "Idemque vir Dei quatuor Evangelica et Bibliothecam pluresque
libros Novi et Veteris Testamenti cum tabulis tectis auro purissimo
et pretiosis gemmis mirabili artificio fabricatis ad honorem Dei."
Dugdale's Monast. vol. ii. p. 133.

[256] In 665 he was raised to the episcopacy of all Northumbria.

[257] He was deprived of his bishopric in the year 678, and the see
was divided into those of York and Hexham. But for the particulars
of his conduct see _Soame's Anglo. Sax. Church_, p. 63, with _Dr.
Lingard's Ang. Sax. Church_, vol. i. p. 24