HARDING. JOHN HARDING, armiger, was nobly descended, and born somewhere in the north of England; though the particular time of his birth is not specified by Bale, who is my authority for these few particulars. He first served, in his military capacity, under Robert Umfreville; then under the duke of York, afterwards Edward IV. of England. The precise time of his death seems to be also unknown; but he was living, an old man, about the beginning of Edward's reign, or in 1461. He was author of a metrical history of England, from its fabulous origin to the commencement of the reign of that prince, to whom it was dedicated. His narrative is very succinct to the time of Henry IV. but afterwards becomes more copious. The work was printed by Grafton, in 1543, with a continuation in prose, (whether by himself does not appear,) to the close of the reign of Henry VII. with the following title: "The Chronicle of John Harding, from the first beginning of England, unto the reign of king Edward IV. where he made an end of his Chronicle; and from that time is added a continuation of the story in prose, to this our time. Now first imprinted, gathered out of divers and sundry authors that have written of the affairs of England. Mense Januarii." This Chronicle should perhaps have been arranged in Edward IV.'s reign, in which it seems at least to have been finished, and particularly as I have selected a short extract from the metrical, rather than the prose narrative. But there, it would have somewhat interfered with the books printed by Caxton, and the prose continuation belongs decidedly to this reign. The following brief specimen of this historical versifier, has some antiquarian curiosity, as many readers will be able to connect it with local associations: Chap. 41. Lud, king of Britain, builded from London Stone to Ludgate, and called that part Lud's Town; and after, by process, was called London, by turning of tongues. This son and heir was Lud of much might, His cities all eke his heritage, castles wight And where was worthy his service and homage To him was done, in lands all about With walls fair, and towers fresh about, Between London Stone and Ludgate forthright, When he had reigned by forty year all out, Passing of sight and July fair; Cassibalayn, their uncle, then was king, 0997 The immediate predecessor of Lud, was Hely, who The isle of Hely made; His palace gay that might right well suffice, The continuation commences, (as before observed,) with the reign of Edward IV. and terminates with that of Henry VII. though there are two pages with the title of "Reign of Henry VIII." which speak generally of the principal acts of that prince; and particularly of his dissolving and suppressing all counterfeit sects and false religions;" so that the continuation must have been written late in this reign. Harding had an inveterate enmity to the Scots, against whom he had carried arms in several expeditions. He was anxious to prove their ancient vassalage to the crown of England, and with this view ransacked all the old Chronicles he could meet with. Not content with this, hearing of the existence of an ancient record in Scotland, which placed the mat |