dawn upon his young and ardent mind. Leland
endeavoured to requite the kindness of his benefactor by an
elegant copy of Latin verses, in which he warmly expatiates
on the generosity of his patron, and acknowledges that his
acquaintance with the _Almae Matres_ [for he was of both
Universities] was entirely the result of such beneficence.
While he resided on the continent, he was admitted into the
society of the most eminent Greek and Latin Scholars, and
could probably number among his correspondents the
illustrious names of Budaeus, Erasmus, the Stephani, Faber
and Turnebus. Here, too, he cultivated his natural taste for
poetry; and from inspecting the fine BOOKS which the Italian
and French presses had produced, as well as fired by the
love of Grecian learning, which had fled, on the sacking of
Constantinople, to take shelter in the academic bowers of
the Medici, he seems to have matured his plans for carrying
into effect the great work which had now taken full
possession of his mind. He returned to England, resolved to
institute an inquiry into the state of the LIBRARIES,
Antiquities, Records and Writings then in existence. Having
entered into holy orders, and obtained preferment at the
express interposition of the King, (Henry VIII.), he was
appointed his Antiquary and Library Keeper, and a royal
commission was issued in which Leland was directed to search
after "ENGLAND'S ANTIQUITIES, and peruse the LIBRARIES of
all Cathedrals, Abbies, Priories, Colleges, etc., as also
all the places wherein Records, Writings, and Secrets of
Antiquity were reposited." "Before Leland's time," says
Hearne, in the Preface to the Itinerary, "all the literary
monuments of Antiquity were totally disregarded; and
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."

Leland was occupied, without intermission, in this immense
undertaking, for the space of six years; and, on its
completion, he hastened to the metropolis to lay at the feet
of his Sovereign the result of his researches. This was
presented to Henry under the