Professorships at Oxford. But Speed did very good work and has left behind him a great deal that is valuable in his stupendous volumes, _The History of Great Britain_. Hulbert, in his _Cheshire Antiquities_ (1828), states that “he has often been denominated the Elucidator of the Biography and History of Great Britain.” Had he had the advantages of a liberal education he would probably have been as eminent a scholar as his patrons, Sir Fulke Greville and Sir Robert Cotton. By the generous assistance of the former of these he was enabled to withdraw from the drudgery of business, and to devote himself to his favourite pursuit, the study of history. How Speed became known to him we do not know, but that great patron of learning (afterwards Lord Brooke, who was assassinated in 1628) had the discernment to discover and the generosity to encourage talent and genius, however humble in rank or obscure in birth. John Speed must have become acquainted with the literary men of his time, as Bacon, Shakespeare, Raleigh, Spenser, and others, and from his association with them must have learnt a great deal and have acquired that taste which stood him in good stead in the gathering of information. When his origin and early years are taken into account, he stands out as a wonderful example of the acquisition of knowledge under difficulties, and so of patience and perseverance in endeavouring to overcome them. He must have been gifted with great natural talents, and he certainly made a good use of them. He was a notable map-maker, and that at a time when such art must have been rare and hard to acquire. Many old books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries contain maps drawn by him, and these generally were embellished with certain artistic accessories, and were not confined to mere outlines and names. Thus “the ground plan of Chester” has also a view of Chester from the south-west side, the arms of the seven Earls and eight Barons of Chester, and the arms of the city, as also a reduced “mapp of Cheshire.” Similarly the map of “the Countye Palatine of Chester” has also a plan “of that most ancient citye,” the arms of the Earls, and of Speed and his assistant. In the body of the map are trees, hills, windmills, and churches, whilst ships and fishes (of a wonderful order) are to be seen in the estuary. An angel is depicted with one hand on a globe on a table, and the other holding a shield on which are Speed’s coat of arms, and underneath the inscription: “Performed by John Speed assisted by William Smyth. And are to be solde by Roger Rea the Elder and younger at the Golden Crosse in Cornhill against the Exchange.” It will be gathered from this that in the production of his works Speed must have taken the greatest pains, and that he was not content with merely following the ordinary lines. The following quotation from the 37th chapter of his book, dealing with the County Palatine of Chester, may be interesting as showing the style in