E.A.D.

* * * * *

"DEFENDER OF THE FAITH."

(Vol. ii., pp. 442. 481.)

I regret that my Note, inserted in your paper of Nov. 30th, was so
ambiguously written as to elicit such a reply as it has been favoured with
by MR. GIBSON of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

What I meant to say in my last Note was simply this--that two persons, viz.
Messrs. Christopher Wren and Chamberlayne, have asserted that the title
"Defender of the Faith" had been used by our monarchs anterior to 1521; and
in support of their assertions, cite the Black Book of the order of the
garter, and several charters granted to the University of Oxford: that is,
each gives a distinct proof of his allegation.

Had MR. GIBSON understood my Note, as I trust he now will, he will see at
once that the expression "untrue" is totally inapplicable to their
statements, at least upon any showing upon his part; for he does not appear
to me to have consulted either the Black Book or the charters, on which
alone their assertions are based, to which alone we must in common honesty
refer, and by which alone their veracity must be judged.

That their "startling" statements do not appear in Selden, nor in Luder's
brief paper in the 19th vol. of the _Archæologia_, is conceded; but I think
it might have occurred to the mind of one of less acumen than MR. GIBSON,