[Richard, Abbot of St. Victor, was born in the reign of David I. After
such education as Scotland afforded, in polite literature, the sacred
Scriptures, and mathematics, the principal objects of his early
studies, he went over to Paris. Here the fame of Hugh, Abbot of St.
Victor, induced him to settle in that monastery, to pursue his
theological studies. In 1164, upon the death of Hugh, he was chosen
prior, which office he filled for nine years with great wisdom and
prudence. He died March 10, 1173, and was buried in that monastery. He
was the author of several treatises on subjects of practical divinity,
and on scripture criticism, particularly on the description of
Solomon's temple, Ezekiel's temple, and on the apparent contradictions
in the books of Kings and Chronicles. They were all published at Paris
in 1518 and 1540 in {353} two vols. folio, at Venice in 1692, at
Cologne in 1621, and at Rouen in 1650, which is reckoned the best
edition. A summary account of his works is given in Mackenzie's _Lives
and Characters of Writers of the Scots Nation_, vol i. p. 147., edit.
1708.]
_St. Blase._--In Norwich, every fifty years, the festival of Bishop Blase
is observed with great ceremony. What connexion had he with that city?