I cannot sufficiently acknowledge Sir Thomas Mostyn's kindness, in the
trouble he has taken, of sending up the catalogue of his historical MSS.
and in his obliging offer of communicating them to me. Those which I am
desirous to see more than the rest, are these, viz.--
"The Annals of the Abbey of Chester, to A.D. 1297.
"Beda de Gestis Anglorum, if it be a different work from his Chronicon
and Ecclesiastical History. It is the same.
"History of England, from William the Conqueror to the 6th of Edward the
6th.
"Annales Cambriae ignoti autoris, et Chronica Cambriae; both which seem
to be in the same volume, which begins with a Welsh history of the Kings
of the Britons and Saxons, and Princes of Wales, to the time of Edward
4th.
"A chronology from Vortigern downwards, supposed to be collected by
Robert Vaughan, of Hengwrt, Esquire, which seems to be in the volume
beginning with Sir John Wynne's pedigree of the family of Gwydir.
"Treatises concerning the courts of wards and chancery."
As Sir Thomas proposes to come to town soon, I hope he will be so good as
to bring those MSS. with him (as Sir W. W. Wynne will several others,
that he has found at Llanvorda) because they will be very useful to me as
I conceive, for my first volume.
There are some others I should be glad to look over, but shall have more
time for it. Were I on the spot, I should be very curious to consult the
MS. of Froissart, though that author's history, so favourable to the
English, is printed. My edition of it is that of Paris, 1520, which I
take to be the last of any: but there is a MS. finely wrote and
illuminated of this author, in the monastery called Elizabeth, at
Breslaw, in Silesia, which contains a third part more than any printed
edition. Count Bicklar, a Silesian nobleman, who was at Paris, A.D.
1727, promised me to get a printed edition of Froissart collated with
that MS. but he could find no monk in the monastery, or any about the
place, capable of doing it. I desired him to buy a MS. that seemeth
useless to the convent, at the price of 200 ducats, but my offer made
them fancy it the more valuable, and they would not sell it. I have seen
a MS. in the king's library at Paris, and that of the capuchins at Rouen,
but they contained no more than my edition: I should be glad to know if
Sir Thomas's does. I gave the Benedictine, who has the care of the new
collections of French historians, notice of the MS. at Breslaw, that he
might make use of it in his new edition of Froissart; but I have not
heard whether he has got the MS. collated, and the supplement copied.
Adredus Rievallensis, Robert of Gloucester, Caradoc of Llancarvan, and
Geoffry of Monmouth, are printed; and I have examined several MSS. of the
case in the Cotton, Oxford and Cambridge libraries; so are the MSS. of
Giraldus Cambrensis; but if Sir Thomas's MSS. contain more than the
printed editions, I shall be extremely glad to see them, as also
Trussel's original of cities, and antiquities of Westminster, as also the
digression left out of Milton's history. The tracts of state in the
times of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I. I shall be very glad to
see: but they, as well as some others, I can the better stay for, because
they relate to more modern times.
Pray make my humble service and acknowledgments acceptable to Sir Thomas;
which will oblige me to be more, if possible, than I am,
Dear Sir,
Your affectionate, and obedient servant,
THOS. CARTE.
_Gray's Inn_, _Nov._ 14, 1744.
Mr. Lewis Morris to the Rev. Evan Evans.