360 controversy with the Arminians began to wax warm: namely, let Mr. Wesley plead his own cause, and fight his own battles. I am as ready as ever to meet him with the sling of reason and the stone of God's word in my hand. But let him not fight by proxy. Let his coblers keep to their stalls. Let his tinkers mend their brazen vessels. Let his barbers confine themselves to their blocks and basons. Let his bakers stand to their kneading-troughs. Let his blacksmiths blow more suitable coals than those of controversy. Every man in his own order. Should, however, any of Mr. Wesley's life-guardmen, whether gowned or aproned, Swiss or English, step forth to their tottering master's relief, "In squalid legions, swarming from the press, "Like Egypt's insects from the mud of Nile ;" I shall, probably, not so much as give them the reading. Or, if any of them happen to fall under my perusal, and I deem it proper to repress the vanity of the vain, Mr. Wesley himself will still be my mark and I shall, if providence permit, continue to imitate the conduct of that philosopher, who thrashed the master for the ill behaviour of the scholars. Though after all, if Mr. Richard Hill's two masterly pamphlets (one entitled, A Review of the Doctrines taught by Mr. John Wesley, with a Farrago annexed; the other, Logica Wesleiensis, or The Farrago double distilled) make no advantageous impression on the John Goodwin of the present age; he may, from henceforward, be fairly and finally consigned to the hospital of incurables. K -CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND, FROM EGBERT TO HENRY THE EIGHTH. EGBERT, THE sixteenth king of Wessex (comprehending the present counties of Hants, Berks, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall), succeeded Brithric, A. D. 800. He was descended from Cerdic, a Saxon* General, who, resolving to seek his * The old Saxons were, originally, inhabitants of the Cimbrian Chersonesus, now called Jutland: from whence being driven by the Goths, they settled in Germany, and made themselves masters of those tracts of land, lying between the Rhine and the Elbe. Their territories, bounded on the west by the German ocean, extended eastward to the borders of Thuringen: consequently, they were masters of Saxony, Westphalia, and as much of the Low Countries as lies north of the Rhine. As to the very first origin of the Saxons, previous to their possession of Chersonesus, we know nothing at all about it. The numerous conjectures that have been made concerning it, only leaving us, if possible, still more in the dark. Nor is the true etymology of the name Saxon, much less difficult to fix. 1. Some derive it from Seax, a sword, or cutlass: whence those old verses; Quippe brevis gladius apud illos Saxa vocatur; In like manner, the Quirites had their name from quiris, a short spear; and the Scythians, from scytton to shoot from a bow.Add to this, that the arms of Saxony are, at this very day, two short swords in cross. fortune in Britain, arrived here A. D. 495, and, after having founded the kingdom of the West Saxons, and being twice crowned, died in 534, leaving his dominions to his son Cenric. During the reign of Brithric, Egbert had rendered himself extremely popular in Wessex; which Brithric could not observe without jealousy. Egbert perceiving this, found it for his safety to fly into France, where he was kindly received by Charles the Great. Brithric having accidentally tasted some poison, which his wife Edburga had mixed up for some other person, died A. D. 799. Edburga was obliged to fly the kingdom; and a solemn embassy was sent over to Egbert, with an offer of the crown of Wessex, which he accepted. A. D. 809, he totally subdued the Britons of Cornwall. The next year, 810, Andred, king of Northumberland (comprehending the counties of Lancaster, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland, York, and Durham) submitted to Egbert. By the year 829, at farthest, he finished his conquests, and became sovereign of all England *. He was, indeed, only 2. Mr. Camden agrees with those who derive the name of Saxon, from the Sacæ, or Sassones, mentioned by Pliny; a very ancient and considerable nation in Asia; and that the Saxons are, as it were, Sacasons, i. e. sons of the Sacæ; and that out of Scythia, or Sarmatia Asiatica, they came, by little and little, into Europe, along with the Getæ, the Suevi, and the Daci. 3. Scaliger will have them to be descended from the ancient Persians. * But his repose was soon disturbed by the Danes, who, A. D. 833, landed at Charmouth in Dorsetshire; where Egbert, engaging them, was entirely defeated; and, flying, narrowly escaped with life. A. D. 835, they paid him another visit; but he quite defaced the dishonours of his former defeat, by gaining a great victory over them, at Hengston-Hill, in Cornwall. (The Danes had made two descents on England, previous to these: the first, at Portland, in 789; the second, in the Isle of Shephey, A. D. 832.) At the battle of Charmouth, were slain, among others, Hereferth, bishop of Winchester; and Wigferth, bishop of Sherborne. |