John Leland, the father of the English antiquaries, was born in
London, about the end of the reign of Henry VII. He was a pupil to
William Lily, the celebrated grammarian--the first head master of St.
Paul's school; and by the kindness and liberality of a Mr. Myles, he
was sent to Christ's college. Cambridge. From this university he
removed to All Souls, Oxford, where he paid particular attention to
the Greek language. He afterwards went to Paris, where he cultivated
the acquaintance of the principal scholars of the age, and could
probably number among his correspondents the illustrious names of
Buddoeus, Erasmus, the Stephani, Faber, and Turnebus; in this city he
perfected himself in the knowledge of the Latin and Greek tongues,
to which he afterwards added that of several modern languages. On
his return to England he took orders, and was appointed one of the
chaplains to Henry VIII., who gave him the rectory of Popelay, in the
marshes of Calais, appointed him his library keeper, and conferred
on him the title of Royal Antiquary, which no other person in this
kingdom, before, or after possessed. In this character his majesty
in 1533 granted him a commission, empowering him to search after
England's antiquities, and peruse the libraries of all cathedrals,
abbeys, priories, colleges, &c., as also all the places wherein
records, writings, and whatever else was lodged that related to
antiquity. "Before Leland's time," says Hearne, in his preface to the
_Itinerary_, "all the literary monuments of antiquity were totally
disregarded; and the students of Germany apprised of this culpable
indifference, were suffered to enter our libraries unmolested, and to
cut out of the books deposited there whatever passages they thought
proper, which they afterwards published as relics of the ancient
literature of their own country."
In this research Leland was occupied above six years in travelling
through England, and in visiting all the remains of ancient buildings
and monuments of every kind. On its completion, he hastened to the
metropolis, to lay at the feet of his sovereign the result of his
labours, which he presented to Henry, under the title of a "New Year's
Gift,"[4] in which he says, "I have so traviled yn your dominions
booth by the se costes and the midle partes, sparing nother labor nor
costes, by the space of these vi. yeres paste, that there is almoste
nother cape, nor bay, haven, creke or peers, river or confluence of
rivers, breches, watchies, lakes, meres, fenny waters, montagnes,
valleis, mores, hethes, forestes, chases wooddes, cities, burges,
castelles, principale manor placis, monasteries, and colleges, but I
have seene them; and notid yn so doing a hole worlde of thinges very
memorable."
At the dissolution of the monasteries, Leland made application to
Secretary Cromwell, to entreat his assistance in getting the MSS. they
contained sent to the king's library. In 1542 Henry presented him with
the valuable rectory of Hasely, in Oxfordshire; the year following he
preferred him to a canonry of King's college, now Christchurch,
Oxford, and about the same time collated him to a prebend in the
church of Sarum. As his duties in the church did not require much
active service, he retired with his collections to his house in
London, where he sat about digesting them, and preparing the
publication he had promised to the world; but either his intense
application, or some other cause, brought upon him a total derangement
of mind, and after lingering two years in this state, he died on the
18th of April, 1552.
The writings of Leland are numerous; in his lifetime he published
several Latin and Greek poems, and some tracts on antiquarian
subjects. His valuable and voluminous MSS., after passing through many
hands, came into the Bodleian library, furnishing very valuable
materials to Stow, Lambard, Camden, Burton, Dugdale, and many other
antiquaries and historians. Polydore Virgil, who had stolen from them
pretty freely, had the insolence to abuse Leland's memory--calling him
"a vain glorious man." From these collections Hall published, in 1709,
"Commentarii de Scriptoribus Brittanicis." "The Itinerary of John
Leland, Antiquary," was published by the celebrated Hearne, at Oxford,
in nine volumes, 8vo., 1710, of which a second edition was printed in
1745, with considerable improvements and additions. The same editor
published "Joannis Lelandi Antiquarii de Rebus Brittanicis
Collectanea." in six volumes, Oxon. 1716, 8vo.