ations arofe fuch a Love and Harmony among them, that they are call'd but one. Monaftery, tho' plac'd at a great Diftance; however Malmfbury came to mistake, in saying they food oppofite one on each fide the River Were.

The Time of his Birth, is, by most of those who have written his Life, plac'd in the Year of our Lord 677, but Mabillon, with more Reafon, has plac'd it fooner; for Bede finish'd his Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, Anno 731, the fame Year Beritwald, the Archbishop dy'd, as appears at the End of his Epitome,, and foon after, in the fame Place, he tells us, that from the Time of his taking Priest's Orders to his 58 Year of Age, he had continu'd writing, &c. fo that from that, if we look backward 58 Years, it will bring the Time of his Birth to the Year 673, four Years fooner than the common Computation. This hapned in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of Ecgfrid, King of the Northumbrians.

His Parents we have no Account of, tho' Simon Dunelm, from Turgot, tells us, they were of no great Character in the World; but whether they were or no is not material, fince they took care for the Education of their Son in Learning and Piety, which they did by committing him very early, even at the feventh Year of his Age, to the Abbat Benedict or Bifcop beforemention'd, to be brought up in his Monaftery. This Bifcop was a Man of extraordinary Learning and fingular Piety; he was a Man, tho' Noble by Birth, inA 3 defa

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THE

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BEDE

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F the Name of Bede were three remarkable Perfons, the firft a Prieft and Monk of Lindisfarn, or Holy land; of y whom our Hiftorian fpeaks with great re fpect in the 7th Chapter of his: Book of the Life of Cuthbert, the Bishop another a Monk contemporary with Charles the Great between thefe in Time, and fupes rior to either of them in Character, was the great Luminary of our Nation, of whom we are going to write/Tho fome have endeavour d to deprive our Country of the Honour of his Birth, it is with fuch an Air of dire& Falfity A 2

and

and Affurance, that as no Men of Sense, or Learning will come into it, fo it is not worth time to difprove it, fince his own Words dire& us to the very Place, which was the Kingdom of the Northumbrians, now Northumberland, and in that Province of it call'd Bernicia, not Deiray which extends from Tees to Tweed, in which Province, had he been born, Scotland had as little right to claim the Honour of him, as to claim that Province; which (however) fome of their Hiftorians have attempted. In this obfcure Corner of the World, then (to use Malmsbury's Words) this great Man was born, whence he extended his Learning to the whole. The Village which produc'd him, tho' long fince, even long before Turgot's Time, gain'd upon by the Sea, was in the Territories of the Monaftery of St. Peter and St. Paul, which were indeed two, one of them ftanding at Gyrwy, on Lyppum, on the Banks of the River Tine, below the Capra Caput, or Laetrheves of the Saxons, now Gates-head, (oppofite to Newcaftle) and call'd Farrow, which was dedicated to St. Paul, the other at Weremouth or Wiran mouth, near the Mouth of the River Were therefore by Bede call'd, Ad Oftium Vieris, which River runs through the City of Dur ham, it was call'd by the Saxons, þinamuð, and now Monsks weremouth, the Founder of them was one Benedict, furnam'd Bifcop or Bishop and the Order they profefs'd, that of the Bene diclines, as appears by the dying Words of their Founder, that they fhould follow the Rules of the ance great Abbat Benedict; and Alcuinus in his 49 Ep. to the Monks of Were mouth, mentions the fame; from which Injun

C

&ions

&tions arofe fuch a Love and Harmony among them, that they are call'd but one. Monaftery, tho' plac'd at a great Diftance; however Maluf bury came to miitake, in faying they flood oppofite one on each fide the River iree

The Time of his Birth, is, by most of those who have written his Life, plac'd in the Year of our Lord 677, but Mabillon, with more Reafon, has plac'd it fooner; for Bede fiuifh'd his Ecclefiaftical History, Anno 731, the fame Year Berwald, the Archbishop dy'd, as appears at the End of his Epitome, and foon after, in the fame Place, he tells us, that from the Time of his taking Prieft's Orders to his 58 Year of Age, he had continu'd writing, &c. fo that from that, if we look backward 58 Years, it will bring the Time of his Birth to the Year 673, four Years fooner than the common Computation. This hapned in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of Egfrid, King of the Northumbrians,