The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, vol 8 | Page 3

made the aforesayd Abbat. He flourished in the yeere of Christ 1020. under Canutus the Dane.
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The voyages of Swanus one of the sonnes of Earl Godwin vnto Ierusalem, Anno Dom. 1052, recorded by William of Malmsburie lib. 2. de gestis regum Anglorum, Capite 13.
Swanus peruersi ingenij et infidi in regem, multoties a patre et fratre Haroldo desciuit: et pirata factus, pr?dis maritimis virtutes maiorum polluit. Postremò pro conscientia Brunonis cognati interempti, et (vt quidam dicunt) fratris Ierosolimam abijt: indeque rediens, a Saracenis circumuentus, et ad mortem c?sus est.
The same in English.
Swanus being of a peruerse disposition, and faithlesse to the king, often times disagreed with his father and his brother Harold: and afterwards proouing a pirate, he stained the vertues of his ancestours with his robberies vpon the seas. Last of all, being guilty vnto himselfe of the murther of his kinseman Bruno, and (as some do report) of his owne brother, he trauailed vnto Ierusalem: and in his returne home, being taken by the Saracens, was beaten, and wounded vnto death.
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A voyage of three Ambassadours, who in the time of K. Edward the Confessor, and about the yere of our Lord 1056, were sent vnto Constantinople, and from thence vnto Ephesus, together with the occasion of their sending, &c. recorded by William of Malmesburie, lib. 2. de gestis regum Anglorum, capite 13.
Die sancti paschatis ad mensam apud Westmonasterium assederat, diademate fastigatus, et optimatum turma circumuallatus. Cumque alij longam quadragesim? inediam recentibus cibis compensantes, acriter comederent, ille a terrenis reuocato animo, diuinum quiddam speculatus, mentes conuiuantium permouit ampliorem perfusus in risum: nulloque causam l?titi? perquirere pr?sumente, tunc quidem ita tacitum donec edendi satietas obsonijs finem imposuit. Sed remotis mensis, cum in triclinio regalibus exueretur, tres optimates eum prosequuti, quorum vnus erat comes Haroldus, secundus abbas, tertius episcopus, familiaritatis ausu interrogant quid riserat: mirum omnibus nec immeritò videri, quarè in tanta serenitate diei et negòtij, tacentibus c?teris, scurrilem cachinnum ejecerit. Stupenda (inquit) vidi, nec ideo sine causa risi. Tum illi, vt moris est humani ingenij, sciscitari et qu?rere causam ardentiùs, vt supplicibus dignantèr rem impertiatur. Ille multùm cunctatus tandem instantibus mira respondit: septem dormientes in monte C?lio requiescere iam ducentis annis in dextro iacentes latere: sed tunc in hora ipsa risus sui, latus inuertisse sinistrum: futurum vt septuaginta quatuor annis ita iaceant: dirum nimirum miseris mortalibus omen. Nam omnia ventura in his septuaginta quatuor annis, qu? dominus circa finem mundi pr?dixit discipulis suis: gentem contra gentem surrecturam, et regnum aduersus regnum, terr?motus per loca, pestilentiam et famem, terrores de coelo et signa magna, regnorum mutationes, gentilium in Christianos bella, item Christicolarum in paganos victorias. Talia mirantibus inculcans passionem septem dormientium, et habitudines corporum singulorum, quas nulla docet litera, ita promptè disseruit: ac si cum eis quotidiano victitaret contubernio. His auditis, comes militem, episcopus clericum, abbas monachum, ad veritatem verborum exsculpendam, Manicheti Constantinopolitano imperatori misere, adiectis regis sui literis et muneribus. Eos ille benignè secum habitos episcopo Ephesi destinauit, epistola pariter, quam sacram vocant, comitante: vt ostenderentur legatis regis Angli? septem dormientium marturiales exuui?. Factúmque est vt vaticinium regis Edwardì Gr?cis omnibus comprobatum, qui se a patribus accepisse iurarent, super dextrum illos latus quiescere: sed post introitum Anglorum in speluncam, veritatem peregrin? propheti? contubernalibus suis pr?dicarunt. Nec moram festinatio malorum fecit, quin Agareni, et Arabes, et Turci, alien? scilicèt a Christo gentes, Syriam, et Lyciam, et minorem Asiam omnino, et maioris multas vrbes, inter quas et Ephesum, ipsam etiam Hierosolymam depopulati, super Christianos inuaderent.
The same in English.
Vpon Easter day king Edward the Confessor being crowned with his kingly diademe, and accompanied with diuers of his nobles, sate at dinner in his pallace at Westminster. And when others, after their long abstinence in the Lent, refreshed themselves with dainty meats, and fed thereupon very earnestly, he lifting vp his mind from earthly matters and meditating on heauenly visions (to the great admiration of those which were present) brake forth into an exceeding laughter: and no man presuming to enquire the cause of his mirth, they all kept silence til dinner was ended. But after dinner as he was in his bedchamber putting off his solemne roabes, three of his Nobles to wit earle Harold, an Abbot, and a Bishop, being more familiar with him then the residue followed him in and bouldly asked him what was the occasion of his laughter: for it seemed very strange vnto them all, what should moue him at so solemne a time and assembly, while others kept silence, to laugh so excessively. I saw (quoth he) admirable things, and therefore laughed I not without occasion. Then they (as it is the common guise of all men) demaunded and enquired the cause more earnestly, humbly beseeching faith that hee would vouchsafe to impart that secret vnto them. Whereupon musing a