chiefly relates to à Becket, inserting twenty-eight of his epistles, three of which are not found in Lupus's edition. From Christmas 1169 to 1192, Hoveden either abridges or transcribes Benedictus Abbas, or had access to the same materials. When he abridges, it is by compression, or by changing the order of the transaction, relating the events belonging to the same transaction connectedly ; whereas Benedictus Abbas, by observing a stricter chronological arrangement, frequently separates them. Hoveden, however, has inserted entire many letters and charters which are either omitted or abridged by Benedictus Abbas ; and when he gives the journal of the expedition of Richard the First's fleet to Messina, he appears to have had the original document before him, as his account is fuller than that of Benedictus Abbas. He also speaks in the first person, as if he were transcribing the narrative of one that was present, which is not the case with Benedictus Abbas. Hoveden has also exclusively several particulars relating to Spain, Portugal, and Scotland. Under the year 1192 he gives an account of Bichard the First's captivity and deliverance, with a journal of his transactions from his return to England in March, to his landing in France in the following May. From that period to the conclusion, his History is very diffuse, containing many papal bulls and letters, chiefly Ecclesiastical, relating, as might have been expected, to the province of York, or to the Northern parts of England, Regulations for courts of law, &c. " * Some persons have thought that Hoveden continued his History to the year 1226 ; but this mistake seems grounded on the continuation which has been ascribed to Walter of Coventry, who borrowed both from Hoveden and Benedictus Abbas, and yet refers to Hoveden alone. * This appears in the " Monumenta" as a Note to the above extracts. PREFACE. xi