ay his hands on. Some of these had
already been printed more or less carelessly; others had never seen the
light since they were written. Such as were printed were extremely
difficult to procure--scarce and costly. Dr. Luard took six years in
bringing out his five volumes--volumes referring to the golden age of
English Monasticism, which threw all sorts of side-light upon Mr.
Riley's 'Chronicles,' while they were in turn continually being
explained and illustrated by them.

While the 'Monastic Annals' were passing through the press, a very
startling announcement was made by no less a person than Sir Frederick
Madden, Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum.
Sir Frederick declared that he had come upon a copy of what was commonly
called the 'Historia Minor' of Matthew Paris, not only written by the
author himself, but actually annotated, corrected, and illustrated with
drawings by his own hand. Such an announcement made by an expert of
European reputation, one who had been handling MSS. all his life,
necessarily created a sensation in the literary world. If it were
accepted and proved true, it was one of the most curious romances in the
history of literature. But was it true? To most critics the antecedent
improbability of the theory put forth by Sir Frederick was so great as
to relegate it to the domain of extravagant paradox; but the name and
fame of its supporter were too high to allow of its being dismissed
without refutation. For two or three years no one ventured to enter the
lists against so formidable a champion who had staked his reputation
upon the issue. At last another great specialist, not a whit less
competent than the other, came forward to controvert the opinions and
theory which had been so confidently maintained by Sir Frederick. In
1871 Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy brought out the third volume of his
_Catalogue_, and it was in the famous Introduction to this volume that
the Madden Hypothesis was first assailed with damaging effect. Sir
Thomas, it must be remembered, was Deputy Keeper of the Records. Sir
Frederick was Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts at the British
Museum. Each was the representative man in his own department, and a
very pretty quarrel arose. Into the merits of that quarrel it is
impossible to enter here; it is a matter for specialists, not for
outsiders, to pronounce upon. This, however, may be said with
confidence, that if we except that school of very able and