odestia praeditum amiserim, virumque cum primis diligentem
et peritum intercidisse tam certum sit quam quod
certissimum. Quamvis enim artes liberales nunquam
didicisset, vi tamen ingenii ductus, eruditus plane evasit;
et, ut quod verum est dicam, incredibile est quam feliciter
res abstrusas in historiis veteribus explicaverit, nodosque
paullo difficiliores ad artis typographicae incunabula
spectantes solverit et expedierit. Expertus novi quod
scribo. Quotiescunque enim ipsum consului (et quidem id
saepissime faciendum erat) perpetuo mihi aliter atque
exspectaveram satisfecit, observationis itidem nonnunquam
tales addens, quales antea neque mihi neque viris longe
doctioribus in mentem venerant. Quidni itaque virum magnum
fuisse pronunciarem, praecipue quum nostra sententia illi
soli magni sint censendi, qui recte agant, et sint vere boni
et virtute praediti?"--_Praef._ pp. xxi., ii. In Hearne's
perface [Transcriber's Note: preface] to _Walter
Hemingford's_ history, Bagford is again briefly introduced:
"At vero in hoc genere fragmenta colligendi omnes quidem
alios (quantum ego existimare possum) facile superavit
JOANNES BAGFORDIUS, de quo apud Hemingum, &c. Incredibile
est, quanta usus sit diligentia in laciniis veteribus
coacervandis. Imo in hoc labore quidem tantum versari
exoptabat quantum potuit, tantum autem re vera versabatur,
quantum ingenio (nam divino sane fruebatur) quantum mediocri
doctrina (nam neque ingenue, neque liberaliter, unquam fuit
educatus) quantum usu valuit," p. ciii. The reader here
finds a reference to what is said of Bagford, in the
_Hemingi Wigornensis Chartularium_; which, though copious,
is really curious and entertaining, and is forthwith
submitted to his consideration. "It was therefore very
laudable in my friend, Mr. J. BAGFORD (who I think was born
in Fetter-lane, London) to employ so much of his time as he
did in collecting remains of antiquity. Indeed he was a man
of a very surprising genius, and had his education (for he
was first a shoe-maker, and afterwards for some time a
book-seller) been equal to his natural genius, he would have
proved a much greater man than he was. And yet, without this
education, he was certainly the greatest man in the world in
his way. I do not hear of any monument