Tracts written by John Selden of the Inner-Temple, Esquire ; the first entituled, Jani Anglorvm facies altera, rendred into English, with large notes thereupon, by Redman Westcot, Gent. ; the second, England's epinomis ; the third, Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdictions of testaments ; the fourth, Of the disposition or administration of intestates goods ; the three last never before extant.

In the FIRST BOOK.

CHAP. 1.

Pag. 2. lin. 23. Among the Celts and Gauls] Who are reckoned for one and the same people; as for instance, those Gauls, who removed into the Lesser Asia, mixing with the Greeks, were called Gallo-Graeci, but by the Greeks were styled 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, whence by contraction, I suppose 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

L. 41. Bellagines, that is, By-Laws.] From By, that is, a Village, Town or City, and Lagen, which in Gothish is a Law; so that it sig∣nifies such Laws, as Corporations are govern'd by. The Scots call them Burlaws, that is, Borough-Laws. So that Bellagines is put for Bila∣gines or Burlagines. This kind of Laws obtains in Courts Leet and Courts Baron, and in other occasions, where the people of the place make their own Laws.

CHAP. II.

Pag. 4. l. 7. Adrastia, Rhamnusia & Nemesis.] Which is all but Ne∣mesis the Goddess of Revenge, called Adrastria from King Adrastus, who first built her a Temple; and Rhamnusia from Rhamnus a Village in the Athenian Territory, where she was worshipped.

L. 42. Elohim, that is, Gods.] And so Judges are properly called ac∣cording to the original notation of the word, whose Root 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 alah, though in Hebrew it signifie to curse, yet in the Arabick Language, a de∣scendent of the Hebrew, it betokens to judge. Thus 'tis said in the Psalms, God standeth in the Congregation of the Gods, and I have said, Ye are Gods, &c.

L. 45. It subjoins to it the name of God.] To wit, that Name of his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 El, which signifies a mighty God. In this sense the Cedars of God are lofty stately Cedars; and by Moses his being fair to God, is meant, that he was exceeding fair.

Pag. 5. lin. 18. Not only Berecynthia, but also Juno, Cybele.] Why! Cybele is the very same Goddess, who was called Berecynthia from Bere∣cynthus

a Hill of Phrygia (as also Cybelus was another) where she was worshipped. And she had several such Names given her from the places of her worship, as Dindymene, Pessinuntia, Idaea, Phrygia. This then was a slip of our worthy Author's memory or his haste.

CHAP. III.

Pag. 5. lin. 34. Not by the number of dayes, but of nights.] Thus in our common reckoning we say a Sennight, that is, seven nights; septi∣noctium, for what in Latin they say septimana, seven mornings; and a fortnight, that is, fourteen nights. Again for Sundayes and Holy-dayes, the Evening, which concludes the fore-going day, is said to be their Eve, that is, Evening. And the Grecians agree with us in setting the night before the day, in that they call the natural day, which is the space of twenty four hours, comprehending day and night, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Night-day, not Day-night.

CHAP. IV.

Pag. 6. lin. 22. King Phranicus.] It is so ordinary a matter for Histo∣rians, when they treat of things at great distance of time, to devise Fables of their own, or take them up from others, that I doubt not but this Phranicus was designed to give name to France; whereas it was so cal∣led from the Franks, who came to plant there out of Franconia a Coun∣trey of Germany, called East-France.

L. 29. With Corinus one of the chief of his company.] From whom Cornwall had its name, formerly called in Latin Corinia or Cornavia (say some) now Cornubia. And possibly if that were so, Corinium also or Cirencester, a Town in Glocestershire, and Corinus too, the River Churne, that runs by it, owe their appellations to the same Noble person.

L. 31. New Troy, that is, London.] Called also Troynovant, and the people about it called Trinobantes or Trinovantes, from whom also the City it self was styled Augusta Trinobantum, that is, the Royal Seat of the New Trojans.

L. 40. King Belin.] Who gave name to Billinsgate, that is, Be∣lin's Gate, as King Lud to Ludgate.

Pag. 8. lin. 39. Eumerus Messenius.] Some such fabulous Writer as our Sir John Mandevil, who tells us of People and Countreys, that are no where to be found in the World.

CHAP. VI.

Pag. 9. lin. 19. In the time of Brennus and Belinus.] The first of these was General of the Gauls, who were called Senones, and going into Italy with them, sackt Rome. There he built the City Verona, called by his Name Brennona; as he had done Brennoburgum now Bran∣denburg in Germany. From his prowess and famed Exploits, it is sup∣posed that the Britans or Welsh do to this day call a King Brennin. Of the other, viz. Belinus, some mention hath been made already.

CHAP. VII.

Pag. 10. lin. 24. Locrinus, Camber and Albanactus.] From the first of these three Brethren, to wit, Locrinus, it is said, that the Welsh call En∣gland Lhoegr, that falling to the eldest Sons share; from the second Camber, that a Welsh-man is named Cumra, and the Countrey Cam∣bria;

and from the third Albanactus, that Scotland, or at least good part of it retains the term of Albania, a title still belonging to the King of Britain's second Brother, the Duke of York. Though for my part for this last name of Albanactus I am somewhat of opinion, that it might be devised by some smattering Monk purposely in favour of the Trojan Sto∣ry, as much as to say in a mungrel word Alba 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 King of Alba, a City of Italy built by one of Aeneas his Sons.

L. 29. Gavelkind.] From the Saxon gafel or gafol, a Debt or Tri∣bute, and cyn or kynd, the Kindred or Children; or, as Mr. Lambard, gif eal cyn, i. e. given to all who are next of Kin; or, as Vorstegan, give all kind, i. e. give to each Child his part. An ancient custom of the Saxons, whereby the Fathers Estate was equally divided amongst his Sons; as it is still amongst the Daughters, if there be no Sons. It obtains still in several places, especially in Kent by the concessions of the Conqueror.

Pag. 11. lin. 22. The Laws of second Venus.] Not having Plato by me, nor any other means to inform my self better, I imagine that by the first Venus they mean the force of Lust and Beauty, which doth so naturally incline people to a desire of union and copulation; and by the second Venus consequently is intended that prudential reason, by which men according to wholsome and equal Laws easily suffer themselves to be gathered into Societies, and to comply with one another in mutual in∣dearments.

P. 12. lin. 12. Jupiter's Register.] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Greek Proverb, is the skin of that Goat, which nursed him in his Childhood, of which after her Death in honour of her memory, and reward of her services, he made his Register, to enroll therein and set down upon record all the concerns of mankind.

Lin. 15. Of some Aethalides.] He was the Son of Mercury, and had the priviledge allowed him to be one while among the living, another while among the dead, and by that means knew all that was done among either of them. The Moral is plain, that he was a great Scholar, who what with his refin'd meditation and study of Books, which is being among the dead, and what by his conversation with men, had attained great knowledge and prudence: So that Pythagoras himself, as modest as he was to refuse the Title of Wise man, and to content himself with that of a Philosopher, that is, a Lover of Wisdom, yet was fond of the coun∣terfeit reputation of being thought to be He, giving out according to his own Doctrine of Transmigration, that he was the man.

CHAP. IX.

P. 14. lin. 6. What? that those very Letters, &c.] The Authors ex∣pression here may seem somewhat obscure; Wherefore I think fit to set down this by way of explication. He sayes, that the Letters which the Greeks used in Caesar's time, and which we now use, are rather such as the Greeks borrowed from the Gauls than what they had originally of their own. This he proves in the end of this Paragraph by the judge∣ment of several Learned Men. So then, if this were so, Caesar, who without all question was well enough acquainted with the Greek Let∣ters then in use, yet in all likelihood did not so well know what the true old Gallick Letters were, the people being strangers to the Romans, and he having but lately had any converse with them, and so might very probably mistake, in thinking that, because the Letters were the

same, the Gauls might borrow the Greek Letters to make use of; whereas the contrary (to wit, that the Greeks, after the disuse of the Phoenician Letters, which Cadmus had brought over into Greece, took the Gallick in their stead) is averr'd by Lazius, Becanus, &c.

CHAP. X.

Pag. 15. lin. 12. From the sixth Moon.] Whether that were from the sixth Month they began their reckoning, which among the Romans, was August, therefore called formerly Sextilis, as the rest that follow according to order, are styled September, October, &c. or whether it were from the sixth day of the Moon's age, (as they apply by way of Proverb Quartâ Lunâ nati to the unfortunate, Hercules having been born on such a day of the Moon) is none of my business to determine, but to leave it to the Readers own inquiry and judgement.

Lin. 17. Nestor's triple age.] Which if it be reckoned according to this account of Thirty Years to an Age, makes but Ninety years in all. And though that also be a great Age for a man to handle Arms, and to attend the duty and service of War, yet that is not so ex∣traordinary a case, but that others may be found in Story to stand in competition with him. Besides it falls short of that description, which Homer hath given of him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Which implyes, that he had out-lived two Generations (to wit, the Fathers which had been bred up with him, and the Sons which had grown up into his acquaintance) and that now he reigned among the Grand-children, the Third generation, the two former having been swept off the Stage. And in this sense the Latins took it, as appears by Horace, who sayes of him ter Aevo functus, that he had gone through the course of nature, lived out the life of man, three times over; and in that he is styled by another old Poet triseclisenex, that is, the Three hun∣dred years old Gentleman; for as aevum in the one signifies the whole space of humane life, so seculum in the other is constantly taken for a Hundred years.

Pag. 16. lin. 2. Greece, all over Italy.] For all the lower part of Italy was at that time inhabited by the Greeks, and from them called Magna Graecia, or Graecia Major, in opposition, I suppose, only to Sicily the neighbouring Isle, as being alike inhabited by Greeks, but of less extent.

Lin. 18. Voitland.] A Province of Germany, in the Vpper Saxony.

Lin. 21. Having their heads uncovered.] That as they were bare-footed, so they were bare-headed also, perfect Gymnosophists. The Latin is nudis pedibus, capita intectae, Graecanico pallio & cucullato, penulâque, and may be rendred indeed, having their heads covered or muffled. But how? With a Pall hooded and a Satchell. I, but what had the Satchell to do with their heads, that hung at their side, and so they are pictu∣red. But to pass this, Reader, thou art at thy own choice, to take which interpretation of the two thou wilt; for the Latin word intectae, as I said, admits of either.

CHAP. XII.

Pag. 18. lin. 10. The Women carried it for Minerva against Neptune.] There is another account given of this Story, that these two Gods be∣ing in a contest, which of them should be intitled to the Presidence of this City Athens, they did each of them, to oblige the Community in

their favour, by a Miracle cause to rise out of the ground, the one (Neptune) an Horse, to denote Prowess and warlike Courage, the other (Minerva) an Olive-tree loaden with fruit, an Emblem of Peace and Fruitfulness; and that the Citizens preferr'd the latter, as the greater merit and more welcome blessing.

Lin. 26. Juno, Salacia, Proserpina.] Juno was Jove the Thunderer's Consort, as Proserpine was the forc'd Mate of grim Pluto, the infernal Queen. The third, Salacia, Lady of the Sea, was Wife to Neptune, as▪ S. Austin hath it out of some of the old Roman Writers: though among the Poets she generally pass by the name of Amphitrite.

Pag. 19. lin. 25. Amalasincta, Artemisia, Nicaula, &c.] These brave Ladies or She-Heroes are famous upon record, and need not any thing further for their commendation, but their Name. This Artemisia men∣tioned here, was not the Wife of Mausolus, a vertuous and magnificent Woman too, but another who lived in Xerxes's time, a great Com∣mandress, in alliance with him. Nicaula, it seems, though whence he learn't her Name, I cannot tell, for Scripture gives it us not; was she, who is there called the Queen of the South, a great admirer of Solomon's Wisdom.

CHAP. XV.

Pag. 25, 26. The Inscriptions, which are left un-englished, are only brought in, to evidence, that there were several Roman Colonies, beside that at Maldon, called Colonia Victricensis, planted up and down in Britain; to wit, at York, at Chester, at Glocester, and I doubt not but at Colchester too, no less than there was one at Cullen in Germany, as the very name of them both imports, Colonia. And that ours hath an ad∣dition of Chester to it, is usual to some other Cities: Colchester for Colnchester, which in Latin would be Colonia Gastri, or rather Coloniae Castrum, the Castle or Garrison of the Colony.

CHAP. XVI.

Pag. 28. lin. 11. Now you for your part are Gods Vicegerent in the Kingdom.] They are the words of Pope Eleutherius in his Letter to Lucy, the first Christian King, which was in the year of our Lord 183. From whence we may fairly conclude, that in those early dayes, the Pope of Rome according to his own acknowledgement had no such pretensions as now for several Ages since they have made, upon the Rights of Princes, to the great disturbance of the World, and reproach of Christian Religion. And indeed this is the more considerable, in that such was the simplicity of devotion in those early Converts, and such the deference, which Princes who embraced the Christian Faith, especially from the Missionaries of Rome, had for that Holy See, as ap∣pears by this one single instance; that it had been no hard matter, nor could be judged an unreasonable thing, for them to lay claim to a right, and assert a power, which was so voluntarily offered. Further I add, that seeing the Donation of Constantine, besides that it was alwayes look't upon as a piece of forgery, was at best, supposing it true, but an Impe∣rial Grant and Concession, which would not be of authority enough to bear up the Popes Supremacy in all other Kingdoms of the earth; and seeing Pope Boniface, who was the first that with bare face own'd it, his complyance with Phocas was so grosly wicked, that none of their own Writers but are ashamed to make that transaction betwixt those

two, an argument for the Papal pretence: Seeing, I say, it is so, if the Pope be intitled, as their Canonists pretend, to an Universal Dominion by vertue of his Office, and by Commission from Christ and his chief Apostle S. Peter, how came it to pass, that the Bishops of Rome all along till Boniface, were so modest, as not to challenge any such rights or powers; nay, upon occasion to declare against such pre∣tences, as Antichristian; which, if that be true, that the Pope is by his Of∣fice, and by a Divine Commission instated into a Supremacy, was in ef∣fect no less, than to betray the cause of Christ and his Church: how came it to pass, that Eleutherius should neglect such a seasonable and exem∣plary opportunity of maintaining and exercising his right, and should rather chuse to return it in a complement back to the King his Con∣vert? VICARIVS verò DEI estis in Regno, sayes he, You are GOD's VICAR in your Kingdom: which Title now the Pope doth with as much arrogance challenge to himself, as here one of his Pre∣decessors doth with modesty ascribe to the King.

Lin. 32. With the title of Spectabilis.] Towards the declension of the Roman Empire, it was usual so to distinguish great Offices with pe∣culiar Titles, as Spectabilis, Clarissimus, &c. so among the Italians, Mag∣nifico to a Senator of Venice, Illustrissimo to any Gentleman, Eminentissi∣mo to a Cardinal: So with us the term of Highness is given to a Prince of the Blood, Excellence to a Vice-Roy or a Lord Lieutenant and to a General of an Army, Grace to an Arch-bishop and to a Duke, Honour to a Lord, Worship to an Esquire, &c.

CHAP. XVII.

P. 29. lin. 43. Fabius Quaestor Aethelwerd.] Why he calls him Fa∣bius Quaestor, is at present past my understanding. Did he take upon him a Roman name? Was he in any such Office as Quaestor, i. e. Trea∣surer or Receiver General, wherein he behaved himself like a Fabius? or did he intitle his Book by that name? I am to seek.

CHAP. XVIII.

Pag. 31. lin. 19. Whatsoever there was in Pandora of Good and Fair.] She was a Woman made by Jupiter's own order, and designed to be the pattern of female perfection: to which end all the Gods contributed to the making of her several gifts, one Wisdom, another Beauty, a third Eloquence, a fourth Musick, &c.

CHAP. XIX.

P. 32. lin. 27. Wapentakes.] Which in some of our Northern Countreys is the same as we call other-where a Hundred, from the Saxon word waepen, i. e. arms, and tac, i. e. touch; as one should say, a touching or shaking of their Arms. For, as we read it in King Edward's Laws, when any one came to take upon him the Government of a Wapentake, upon a day appointed all that owed suit and service to that Hundred, came to meet their new Governour at the usual place of their Rendezvouz. He upon his arrival, lighting off his Horse, set up his Lance an end (a Custom used also among the Romans by the Praetor at the meetings of the Centumviri) and according to custom took fealty of them. The Ceremony of which was, that all who were present, touch't the Governours Lance with their Lances, in token of a confir∣mation: whereupon that whole meeting was called a Wapentake,

inasmuch as by the mutual touch of one anothers Arms, they had en∣tred into a confederacy and agreement to stand by one another. This fashion, they say, the Saxons took up from the Macedonians their Pro∣genitors. Others will have it from tac to take, and give this account of it, that the Lord of the Hundred at his first entrance upon the place was used to take the Tenants Arms, surrendred and delivered up to him by themselves, in token of subjection by way of Homage. Sir Tho∣mas Smith differs from both these; for he sayes, that at the Hundred meeting, there was a Muster taken of their Weapons or Arms; and that those who could not find sufficient Pledges for their good abear∣ing, had their Weapons taken away; so that in his sense a Wapentake is properly Armilustrium, and so called from taking away their Wea∣pons or Arms, who were found unfit to be trusted with them.

L. 40. For the Ceremony of the Gown.] He alludes to the Roman Custom, with whom the youth, when they arrived at mans estate, were then allowed to wear togam virilem, to put on a Gown, the habit of men; whereas before that, they were obliged to wear a Coat peculiar to the age of Childhood, called Praetexta: whence Papyrius, though yet a Child, being admitted into the Senate-house for his extraordinary se∣crecy and manly constancy, was called Papyrius Praetextatus.

Pag. 33. lin. 9. Morgangheb.] Or Morgingab, from Morgin, which in High Dutch signifies the Morning, and gab, a gift; to wit, that Pre∣sent, which a man makes to his Wife, that morning he marries her.

CHAP. XX.

Pag. 34. lin. 3. Tityus his Liver.] A Gyant, who for ravishing of Latona was adjudged to have his Liver after death prey'd upon conti∣nually by a Vulture, which grew up again as fast as it was wasted. The equity of which punishment lay in this, that the Liver is reputed the source and seat of all lusts and unlawful desires, and doth naturally, as some Physicians hold, receive the first taint of Venereal distempers (the rewards of impure mixtures) according to that of Solomon, speak∣ing of an Adulterer, Till a dart strike thorough his Liver; from whence they gather, that that, which we now call the French Pox, was not un∣know even in that age of the World.

L. 26. Prema and Mutinus.] This latter a Title given to Priapus, much-what such a God, as Baal Peor was; the other a Goddess forsooth much to the same purpose. For the old Romans had Gods and Goddesses, as the present Romans have Saints, for every thing, for every action of life. But their Offices were such, as the modest Reader will easily excuse the want of explaining them.

Lin. 38. Sayes Progne to her Sister Philomel.] Tereus King of Thrace having married Progne Daughter of Pandion King of Athens, when he went to fetch her Sister Philomel, ravished her by the way on Ship∣board; which occasioned a bloody revenge in the murder of his Son Itys. At last they were turned all four into so many several sorts of Birds; Progne into a Swallow, Philomel into a Nightingale, Tereus into a Lapwing, and Itys into a Pheasant.

CHAP. XXI.

Pag. 36. lin. 20. With head-money called Wergild.] A word com∣pounded of the Saxon were, the price or value or worth of a man, and geld or gild, a payment. That is, he that had killed another, was to

buy off his life, by paying the full value of the person slain. The prizes or rates are set down in Ethelstan's Laws, by Thrimsa's, a kind of Coyn, or piece of money, of the value of three shillings, saith Mr. Lam∣bard; which being reduced to our Sterling stand thus.

A Peasant,	40 l. 1 s.
A Thane, or one in Orders,	300 l.
A General, or Chieftain,	600 l.
A Bishop, or Alderman,	1200 l.
An Arch-Bishop, or Peer,	2250 l.
And a King,	4500 l.

Half of which last summ was to go to the Kindred, and the other half to the publick. And these Rates are set, he sayes, by the Common Law of the English. The reason of this pecuniary compensation, was their tenderness of life, that two men might not dye upon the account of the same mischance, according to that saying in an ancient Law, Nulla sit culpa tam gravis, ut vita non concedatur, propter timorem Dei. But yet withal in some cases of premeditated or clandestine murder, they were not excused from making satisfaction with their life; or in case one were not able to pay the were, or Fine, he was punished with death. I called this Head-money, because in Latine it is termed capitis aestimatio, the value or price of a mans head: not in that sense as either Chevage or Poll-money is so called.

CHAP. XXII.

Pag. 37. lin. 42. In the Margin Caxton is quoted, a Book, it seems, rare; of which he saith, That Book, that goes up and down by this name, Mr. War in Townsend of Lincolns-Inn, a Gentleman Noble by his Descent and Learning both, very friendly lent me for my use in a very fair Manuscript; which courtesie of his, I cannot but think it a foul shame for me, not to own and acknowledge with all thankfulness.

Pag. 38. lin. 17, 18. Even now in the time of those that are called the Good. 'Tis William of Malmesbury, whom he quotes; etiam nunc tem∣pore Bonorum. Whether he mean Good Princes, who would have those Laws observed, or Honest Subjects, who would observe them, or whe∣ther there were any sort of men in his time that went by that Chara∣cter of Boni, good men, is more than I have to say. There was at one time a sort of Religious persons, that went by the name of Bon Hommes; but that can have nothing to do in this business.

CHAP. XXIII.

Pag. 39. lin. 14. Every Native home-born lawful man.] In the Latin it is Indigena legalis, in the Saxon Law-term it is Inlaughe or Inlaugh, that is, one that is under the Law, Inlagatus, who is in Frank pledge, or belongs to some Court Leet: as all Males from twelve years old and upwards were obliged to be. So Bracton tells us.

Lin. 27. Decenna.] The same as Decuria, which is generally rendred a Tithing, i.e. a Company of ten men with their families, all of them bound to the King to answer for one anothers good and peaceable be∣haviour. From the Latin word it is called a Dozein, and the people that belong to it are called Deciners or Dozeniers, that is, Decennarii. The chief of them is termed Decurio or Decanus Friburgi, the Tithing-man

or Headborough. And all Males of twelve years age and upwards (except Nobles and Religious persons) were obliged to be of some Dozein or other. But now there are no other Dozeins but Leets, and no other security there given for the Kings Peace, but the persons own Oath.

Lin. 29. Friborgh.] From the Saxon freo, free, and borgh▪ a surety or security: or, as some write it, Fridburgh, from frid, peace, and burgh, a surety. If it be taken for the person, it is the same that a Deciner (we now spoke of;) if for the action, it is their being sure∣ties for one another: if for the company of these mutual ingagers, 'tis the same as Decuria, a Tything, in Saxon tienmannatale, i. e. the num∣ber of ten men. The Normans retained the same custom, but alte∣red the name, calling it Frankpledg, from the French, Frank, i. e. free, and pledg, i. e. surety. And the compass or circuit of this Frankpledg the same as that of Friburg, to wit, the Decenna or Dozein, i. e. ten housholds.

Lin. 40. Manupastus.] Of this Bracton sets down a Rule for Law, that every person, whether free-man or servant, either is or ought to be in frank-pledge or of some bodies mainpast. Now he is of ones Mainpast, saith he, who is allowed Victuals and Clothes, or Victuals only and Wages. And this was the reason, why great men were not obliged to be of any ordinary Dozein, because Bishops, Earls and Ba∣rons, as the same Bracton informs us, ought to have their menial ser∣vants in their own Friborgh, and to answer to the King for their behavi∣our, and to pay what forfeits they should make, if they had not the per∣sons themselves forth-coming. And this, sayes he, is the case of all those who are of any ones Mainpast.

CHAP. XXIV.

P. 41. lin. 16. John Scot Erigena.] A School-man famous for his subtilty, called in Latin, Johannes Duns Scotus. Whether Duns were the Name of his Family, as it might be, Johannes de Dunis, which in English would be John Downs; or whether it were a Nickname given him for his slovenliness and seeming blockishness, from the word Dunce, which in Barbarous Latin is Dunsa, (For so in Camden's Remains we find the Emperour Charles, as I take it, putting that question to him, as he sate at Table over against him, Quid interest inter Scotum & So∣tum, What difference between a Scot and a Sot? to which he as freely replyed, Mensa, the Table, Sir) I shall not determine. But Scotus or Scot, is the name of his Countrey, he being a Scotch-man, and for that reason called also Erigena, that is, Irish born, to wit, a Highlander; for those people were originally Irish, and came out of that Island over into the North parts of Scotland. Now Ireland is by several Authors Greek and Latin called Ierna, and by the Inhabitants themselves Erin.

L. 43. The Goddess Anna Perenna.] The Lady President of the year, Anna ab Anno; to whom they addrest their devotions, that she would pe∣rennare, that is, preserve and continue health and plenty and prosperity from year to year; for which reason she was called Anna Perenna. Now our Author here brings in long-lived Nestor and this Goddess, to shew that those good fellows in quaffing of healths, do wish muchos annos, as the Spaniard saith, many and many a years life to their absent friends, while in the mean time by tossing off so many bowsing Canns, they shorten their own lives.

Pag. 42. lin. 24. Englescyre.] Or Englecerie, that is, the being an English-man. For there was a Law made by King Knute in favour of his Danes (and so afterward it was interpreted in behalf of the Fran∣cigenae, French-men, or whatever foreigners) that if any such were pri∣vily murdered or slain, the Village, where the fact was done, should be amerced in a lusty fine to the King, unless they could prove Engle∣cerie, that is, that the murdered person was an English-man, one born of English Parents, in which case there was no fine levied. So that the Danes and French, when they governed here, provided they might se∣cure themselves from the English, were well enough content to let them destroy one another.

CHAP. XXV.

Pag. 44. lin. 11. An Olympiad.] An account of time used by the Greeks, consisting of four years, so called from the Olympick Games, which were celebrated in honour of Jupiter Olympius every fifth year. This reckoning began first in the year of the World three thousand one hundred seventy four.