glish affairs, but (in the latter part especially) form a history of the events of the then known world. Scotland, Trance, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Constantinople, Asia Minor, and the Holy Land, all come under his notice, and he sometimes treats of their affairs at considerable length. On two occasions* he gives an episodical account of the then existing state of Geographical knowledge respecting the "West and the South of Europe, which, in spite of the lamentably defective state of ihe text, cannot fail to be read with interest. The work is divided into two Parts ; the First of which, professing to be a continuation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, commences in 732 and concludes in 1154. The Second Part commences in 1155, and breaks off in 1201, the third year of the reign of king John. Why this division was made, it is impossible with certainty to say ; but it will readily be perceptible to the reader that events are treated in the First Part with much greater conciseness than in the second. This circumstance would perhaps warrant the conclusion that he marked the beginning of the reign of Henry IL, in 1155, as the commencement of a period the events of which had passed under his own personal notice. In the concluding portion of the work, from the year 1192, his circumstantiality is such that we might almost imagine ourselves reading a newspaper account of events which happened nearly seven hundred years ago.f • By some writers, among whom Bishop Tanner may be mentioned, his style has been considered defective, but it is nevertheless remarkable for its simplicity and freedom from affectation. From his peculiar position there is no doubt that * Under the reign of Richard I. f As a proof of this, we may remark, that while the events of the period from 1155 to 1201 are compressed by Roger of Wendover and Mat-thew Paris into less than 250, the narrative of Hoveden, relative to the same period, extends to more than 800, pages. PREFACE. vii