TRANSLATOR S PRSPACR. •traction from seeing what in those days the most learned men could look upon as matters of sober history. In the reigns of our kings after the Conquest, he is exceedingly minute and careful ; and as such, is constantly referred to by Hume and other historians. His account of the troubles of the reigns of John, and Henry the Third, bears internal marks of accuracy and fidelity ; and in his relation of the wars of Edward, he shows no small power of vivid description. He is said to have formed his work very much upon the plan of that of Matthew Paris, who lived in the preceding century ; and both were largely indebted to Roger of Wendover, as far as his history extended, which was to A.D. 1238. For the last seventy-two years of his work, he appears to have drawn on his own resources and industry. On the whole, there can be no doubt that he is one of the most valuable authorities for the times of which he treats, and well deserving the reputation which he has earned among modern historians.