s of Stow, Lambard, Camden, Burton,
Dugdale, and many other antiquaries and historians.
"Leland's Remains," says Bagford, "have been ever since a
standard to all that have any way treated of the Antiquities
of England. Reginald Wolfe intended to have made use of
them, although this was not done 'till after his death by
Harrison, Holinshed, and others concerned in that work.
Harrison transcribed his Itinerary, giving a Description of
England by the rivers, but he did not understand it. They
have likewise been made use of by several in part, but how
much more complete had this been, had it been finished by
himself?" _Collectanea_: Hearne's edit., 1774; vol. i., p.
LXXVII. Polydore Virgil, who had stolen from these Remains
pretty freely, had the insolence to abuse Leland's
memory--calling him "a vain-glorious man;" but what shall we
say to this flippant egotist? who according to Caius's
testimony (_De Antiq. Cantab. Acad._, lib. 1.) "to prevent a
discovery of the many errors of his own History of England,
collected and burnt a greater number of ancient histories
and manuscripts than would have loaded a waggon." There are
some (among whom I could number a most respectable friend
and well qualified judge) who have doubted of the propriety
of thus severely censuring Polydore Virgil; and who are even
sceptical about his malpractices. But Sir Henry Savile, who
was sufficiently contemporaneous to collect the best
evidence upon the subject, thus boldly observes: "Nam
Polydorus, ut homo Italus, et in rebus nostris hospes, et
(quod caput est) neque in republica versatus, nec magni
alioqui vel judicii vel ingenii, pauca ex multis delibans,
et falsa plerumque pro veris amplexus, historiam nobis
reliquit cum caetera mendosam tum exiliter sane et jejune
conscriptam." _Script. post. Bedam._, edit. 1596; pref. "As
for Polydore Virgil, he hath written either nothing or very
little concerning them; and that so little, so false and
misbeseeming the ingenuitie of an historian, that he seemeth
to have aimed at no other end than, by bitter invectives
against Henry VIII., and Cardinal Wolsey, to demerit the
favour of Queen Mary," &c., Godwyn's translation of the
_Annales of England_; edit. 1630, author's Preface. "It is
also remarkable that Polydore V