Cicero's definition of history as “the lamp of truth” can be accepted only when the events of history are recorded accurately. The writer who travesties historical facts poisons the fountain of knowledge, misrepresents the ancients, misleads his contemporaries, and deceives future generations. Mindful of his responsibility the faithful historian is exact in his narrative, avoiding undue panegyric on the one hand, and on the other rash denunciation. He regards history as a science in which truth is dissociated from falsehood; an art by means of which past events are to be recorded so as to produce a present interest.

It is not often that statesmanship, military skill, and earnest piety are found united in the person of a monarch. Yet such was the case with VLADIMIR MONOMACHUS, Grand Prince of Kyjev, a contemporary of our own Norman kings, William Rufus and Henry I. Henry I. of England is indeed said to have possessed a degree of refinement and learning which in that unlettered age spread his renown over Europe, and earned him the honourable surname of “Beauclerc.” But Vladimir, the Russian, has left written remains behind him which many a nation might well envy, and which few, very few, royal pens, always excepting the sweet singer of Israel and his wise successor, have surpassed or even emulated.

In a recently published work the author has presented biographical details of the Poets Laureate of England; the object of this paper is to place before the Royal Historical Society in a concise form all the reliable information he has obtained as to the origin of the office. From the appointment of Chaucer about five hundred years have elapsed, and during that period a long line of poets have held the title of Laureate. For the first two hundred years they were somewhat irregularly appointed, but from the creation of Richard Edwards in 1561, they come down to the present time without interruption.

Having in my last paper endeavoured to trace the influence upon society, manners, and civilization of the Norman conquest through the influence of new blood and the introduction of new customs and modes of living, as also of a system of jurisprudence in many respects different from that which had before prevailed; I shall now proceed to describe the manners and customs and mode of life prevalent in this country at the period following that of the Norman Conquest—embraced by the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries,—and to point out the successive changes which then occurred, and the influences that effected them.

Bedford was occupied by the Romans, but in their time it does not appear to have been a place of much importance. Under the Saxon rule it became of greater consideration, was the scene of many severe conflicts, and was much favoured by Offa, King of the Mercians, who chose it as his place of sepulture. In the Saxon period the town acquired municipal privileges. It was a corporation by prescription till the reign of Henry I., but the earliest charter now extant was granted by Henry II., who confirmed all the liberties and free customs which the burgesses enjoyed in the reign of Henry I.

All matters connected with the Food Supply to the people of a great and progressive nation may be regarded as of historical interest. I do not on the present occasion propose to do more than glance at some of the incidents which are associated with this large question; but even these, it will be seen, take a much wider range than at first sight might seem probable; and my effort has been rather in the direction of limiting than of expanding the scope of the inquiry, except that I have had to make the survey a national one, and not limit it to any one portion of the kingdom. Of course London, as the capital, and as the usual seat of government during the period our inquiry covers, absorbs the chief attention.

The term “deaf and dumb,” as commonly used in this country to include the whole of this unhappy class, is a misnomer, the only persons to whom it could properly apply being those wholly uneducated, or who cannot hear or speak, though educated or partially so. It will be thus seen that for the vast majority of these unhappy ones—for all, indeed, if properly educated—the term should be “deaf,” not “deaf and dumb” for there is no such thing as a child born dumb because deaf. All without exception are born with voice, i.e., can produce vocal sound. It is only because of the want of a proper means of communication between deaf children and hearing persons that the former become dumb. Their brain-power, too, is the same as that of ordinary persons,—in fact, deafness alone makes them to differ.

The paper which is here offered to the Royal Historical Society, following that of the Khita-Peruvian in 1877, and the early English in 1878, brings the results of new investigations to bear on the history of early or Turanian (Turano-African) culture in the world, and its contact with the Assyrians and consequent decline.

Before our own no European army, except that of Alexander, has ever traversed Affghanistan, and some interest naturally attaches to his movements among the passes so well known to us. Hitherto, however, the attempts to trace his progress have not been very satisfactory. My attention was drawn to the question, and reading a paper by Henry L. Long in an old number of the Classical Museum, I was led to believe with him that the theory of Grote and most historians which sends Alexander through Kohistan and the neighbourhood was untenable.

The register here referred to is said to have been found among papers in an empty house, but where or when is not stated. As far as the entries of births, deaths, and marriages are concerned, it seems to have been copied partially into the books now preserved at Knebworth, but there are some odd variations here and there. The church register begins in 1602. That preserved in Dr. Williams' library is headed thus:—

”A book or register conteyninge all Christeninges, marriages, and buiyalls within the parish of Knebworth, from the feaste of St. Mychaell Th'Archangell beinge the xxixth daye of September, in the yeare of oure Lorde God 1596, and in the yeare of the raigne of oure Soveren Ladie Queene Elizabethe xxxvii, as followethe, et., et.”

The titles which have been borne by English sovereigns, in common with those of many other exalted personages, were formerly more remarkable for the splendour of their sound or the curiosities of their historical associations than for the accuracy with which they expressed the rights and powers which belonged to, or were even claimed by, their possessors. The kings of England called themselves kings of Scotland when their whole territory beyond the border consisted of the town of Berwick. They were called Lords of Ireland in times when no English soldier could venture beyond the Pale. They claimed the dignity of King of France when they had not held a foot of French ground for a century; and finally, ever since the time of Henry VIII., they have been styled “Defenders of the Faith”—a title which, taken in its original meaning, declares them to be the defenders of a branch of the Christian faith of which they are the hereditary arch-opponents.

The “Fall of the Western Empire” was a re-gathering of the Roman world under one Head, administering one Law. The Emperor of the West, Valentinian III. (442), after his peace with Genseric, and before the Council of Chalcedon (451), had promulgated the “Theodosian Code” in Europe; so that the reunion of the empire was in many ways more easy than it might otherwise have been (476).

We have accounts of the reappearance of the plague on the continent of Europe, which, if they do not create actual alarm, are at any rate calculated to excite a strong interest about it, more especially as regards the precautionary and other measures which were adopted in this country on the occasion of its former visitations. To some of the official documents recording these proceedings I have been allowed to have access, and I propose now to lay before you a few extracts from them.

In a previous paper I have endeavoured to give a picture of Scotland in the dark period of its history preceding the 9th century, and to describe the constitution of the early Columban clergy who did so much to Christianize and civilize it. I also gave such an account as our frail materials would enable me of the destruction and ravaging of the settlements of the monks by the Norsemen. I now propose to give a parallel picture of the early monks in Ireland and to describe how they also were the victims of the same famous rovers, and I venture to hope that a subject so little explored may not be unwelcome to the Historical Society.

The whole of humanity has developed in two circles,—an ante-Christian circle, which encompassed the Oriental, Greek, and Roman world; and a post-Christian circle, which is in its principal philosophical elements exclusively Teutonic. The different religious systems of the East culminated in Greek idealism; whilst the spiritual movement of Christianity brought us through the theologico-realistic and nominalistic phases to the culture of modern realism.

Robert Fuller, the last of the abbots-regular of Waltham was ousted in 1540, with the entire body of his canons, receiving a yearly pension of. £200. In fond remembrance of the place where he had so long ruled, he gave back £10 of that sum to the abbey, and afterwards presented a chalice of silver, which was sold for £7. In his will he bequeathed certain sums of money to Waltham Abbey, as also to St. Bartholomew's and St Sepulchre's in London, for alterations and other purposes, and for the maintenance of religious services for his soul. The will contains the following interesting clause:—“To my most dere and dred Soveraigne lorde Kinge Henry viij. xl.£ beseeching hym to be good and gracious to myn executors in the execution of this my last will and testament.” This abbot made an attempt, which was unsuccessful, to preserve his position in the abbey by presenting Henry VIII. with the princely estate of Copt Hall.