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The Dawn of European Literature. 

 * * * * *

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE. 

BY JOHN EARLE, M. A. RECTOR OF SWANSWICK, RAWLINSON PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OFTHE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATIONAPPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTINGCHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 

LONDON:SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W. C. ;43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E. C. ;26, ST. GEORGE'S PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER S. W. BRIGHTON: 133, NORTH STREET. NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 

1884. 

PREFACE. 

The bulk of this little book has been a year or more in type; and, inthe mean time, some important publications have appeared which it wastoo late for me to profit by. Among such I count the "Corpus PoeticumBoreale" by Dr. Gudbrand Vigfusson and Mr. York Powell; the "EpinalGloss" and Alfred's "Orosius" by Mr. Sweet, for the Early English TextSociety; an American edition of the "Beowulf" by Professors Harrison andSharp; Ælfric's translation of "Alcuin upon Genesis, " by Mr. MacLean. Tothese I must add an article in the "Anglia" on the first and last of theRiddles in the Exeter Book, by Dr. Moritz Trautmann. Another recent bookis the translation of Mr. Bernhard Ten Brink's work on "Early EnglishLiterature, " which comprises a description of the Anglo-Saxon period. This book is not new to me, except for the English dress that Mr. Kennedy has given to it. The German original has been often in my hand, and although I am not aware of any particular debt, such as it wouldhave been a duty and a pleasure to acknowledge on the spot, yet I have asentiment that Mr. Ten Brink's sympathising and judicious treatment ofour earliest literature has been not only agreeable to read, but alsoprofitable for my work. 

15, NORHAM ROAD, OXFORD, _March 15th, 1884. _

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE

 I. --A PRELIMINARY VIEW 1

 II. --THE MATERIALS 28

 III. --THE HEATHEN PERIOD 59

 IV. --THE SCHOOLS OF KENT 79

 V. --THE ANGLIAN PERIOD 98

 VI. --THE PRIMARY POETRY 119

 VII. --THE WEST SAXON LAWS 150

VIII. --THE CHRONICLES 169

 IX. --ALFRED'S TRANSLATIONS 186

 X. --ÆLFRIC 207

 XI. --THE SECONDARY POETRY 225

 XII. --THE NORMAN CONQUEST, AND AFTER THAT 243

INDEX 259

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE. 

CHAPTER I. 

A PRELIMINARY VIEW. 

Anglo-Saxon literature is the oldest of the vernacular literatures ofmodern Europe; and it is a consequence of this that its relations withLatin literature have been the closest. All the vernacular literatureshave been influenced by the Latin, but of Anglo-Saxon literature alonecan it be said that it has been subjected to no other influence. Thisliterature was nursed by, and gradually rose out of, Latin culture; andthis is true not only of those portions which were translated orotherwise borrowed from the Latin, but also in some degree even of thenative elements of poetry and laws. These were not, indeed, derived fromLatin sources, but it was through Latin culture that those habits andfacilities were acquired which made their literary production possible. 

In the Anglo-Saxon period there was no other influential literature inthe West except the Latin. Greek literature had long ago retired to theEast. The traces of Greek upon Anglo-Saxon literature are rare andsuperficial. Practically the one external influence with which we shallhave to reckon is that of Latin literature, and as the points of contactwith this literature are numerous, it will be convenient to saysomething of the Latin literature in a preliminary sketch. 

The Latin literature with which we are best acquainted was the result ofstudy and imitation of Greek literature. But the old vernacular Latinwas a homely and simple speech, much more like any modern language inits ways and movements than would be supposed by those who only knowclassical Latin. The old Latin poetry was rhythmical, and fond ofalliteration. Such was the native song of the Italian Camenæ, unlike theæsthetic poetry of the classical age, with its metres borrowed from theGreek Muses. The old Latin poetry was like the Saxon, in so far as itwas rhythmical and not metrical; but unlike it in this, that the Latinalliteration was only a vague pleasure of recurrent sound, and it hadnot become a structural agency like the alliteration of Saxon poetry. The book through which juvenile students usually get some taste of oldLatin is Terence, in whose plays, though they are from Greek originals, something is heard of that rippling movement which has lived through theages and still survives in Italian conversation. Reaching backwards fromTerence we come to Plautus and Ennius, and then to Nævius (B. C. 274-202), who composed an epic on the first Punic war. He lamented evenin his time the Grecising of his mother-tongue. He wrote an epitaph uponhimself, to say that if immortals could weep for mortals, the Camenæmight well weep for Nævius, the last representative of the Latinlanguage. 

The splendour of classical Latin was short-lived. The time of itshighest elevation is called the Golden Age, of which the early period ismarked by the names of Cicero and Cæsar; the latter (the Augustanperiod) by the names of Virgil and Horace. There is a fine forwardmovement in Cicero, who studied the best Greek models; but graduallythere came in a taste for curious felicity suggested by the secondaryGreek literature. This adorned the poetry of Virgil; but when it beganto spread to the prose, though the æsthetic effect might be beautiful ina masterpiece, it was apt to be embarrassing in weaker hands. Æstheticprose appears in its most intense and most perfect form in Tacitus, thegreat historian of the Silver Age. As new tastes and fashions grew, theoldest and purest models were neglected, and, however strange it maysound, Cicero and Cæsar were antiquated long before the end of the firstcentury. 

The extreme limit of the classical period of Latin literature is themiddle of the second century. The life was gone out of it before thattime, but it had still a zealous representative in Fronto, the worthyand honoured preceptor of Marcus Aurelius. After this last of the GoodEmperors had passed away, the reign of barbarism began to manifestitself in art and literature. The accession of Commodus was a tremendouslapse. 

The point here to be observed is that the classical Latin literaturewas not a natural growth, but rather the product of an artificialculture. It presents the most signal example of the great results thatmay spring from the enthusiastic cultivation of a foreign and superiorliterature. And it is of the greatest value to us as an example, becauseit will enable us better to understand the growth and development ofAnglo-Saxon literature. For just as Latin classical literature wasstimulated by the Greek, so also was Anglo-Saxon literature assisted bythe influence of the Latin. And as the classical student seeks todistinguish that which is native from that which is foreign in Latinauthors, so also is the same distinction of essential importance in thestudy of Anglo-Saxon literature. 

The influence of Greek upon Latin literature was so far like that ofLatin upon Anglo-Saxon, that it was single and unmixed. But then theinfluence of Greek upon Latin was altogether an external and invadinginfluence, like the influence of Latin on modern English; whereas in thecase of Anglo Saxon the literary faculty was first acquired throughLatin culture; the Saxons were exercised in Latin literature before theydiscovered the value of their own; they obtained the habits andinstruments of literature through the education that Latin gave them. 

Up to the end of the classical period the Latin had not yet attained, inliterature, the position of a universal language. It was rather thescholastic language of the Roman aristocracy. There was but one field inwhich it occupied the whole area of the Roman world, and that was thefield of law. To this we should add the Latin poetry, which was alsoabsolute in its own domain. In every other subject Latin was a secondand a subject literary language, the supreme language of literaturebeing Greek. Greek was the chief literary language even of the RomanEmpire. Of the two languages, Greek was by far the more convenient forgeneral use. Human thought is naturally serial, and the language that isto be an acceptable medium of general literature must, above all things, possess the art of moving forward. In this art the Greek was far inadvance of the Latin, and the curious culture which produced the Latinclassics had, indeed, been productive of much artistic beauty, but hadwithal entangled the movement. It is not in Latin but in Greek booksthat the knowledge of the ancient world has been preserved. The greatestworks in botany, medicine, geography, astronomy were written not inLatin but in Greek, even in the most flourishing times of the Romanpower. It is sufficient to mention such names as Dioscorides, Galen, Strabo, Ptolemy. The greatest works in history, biography, travel, antiquities, ethics, philosophy were also written in Greek. Such namesas Polybius, Plutarch, Josephus, Pausanias, Dionysius, Epictetus, Lucianwill give the reader means of proof. Fronto could not prevail with aRoman emperor, his old pupil, to prefer Latin to Greek. Marcus Aureliuswrote his "Meditations" in Greek. The language of the infant Church, even in Italy and the West, was not Latin, but Greek. The names of thefirst bishops of Rome are Greek names, the Christian Scriptures are inGreek, and so is the oldest extant Liturgy--the Clementine--which seemsto represent the practice of the West no less than of the East. Not onlythe Canonical Scriptures of the New Testament are in Greek, but alsothose which were partially or for a time received, as the Epistle ofClement, the Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas. And a further set ofwritings beyond these and inferior to these, but ultimately of greatpopularity, were in Greek: I mean the legendary and romantic apocryphalwritings, such as the Acts of Peter and Paul, the Acts of Pilate, andmany others. [1] This latter set was already growing in the secondcentury, and reached their mature form in the time of Gregory the Great. 

It is not clear how early Latin began to be used as the officiallanguage of the Church, but everything points to an important changesoon after the middle of the second century. Before that time, Justin, living at Rome, and writing (A. D. 138), for the Roman people toread, a defence of Christianity, which was addressed to the emperorAntoninus Pius, wrote it in Greek; but before long another apologeticwriter, Minucius Felix, wrote in Latin. This coincides with otherindications to mark a great transition in the latter half of the secondcentury. Up to this time two languages were in literary currency, aforeign scholastic language and an æsthetic vernacular. It was chieflythe wealthy class that sustained these literary languages in Rome. Whenin A. D. 166 the Oriental plague was brought to Italy with thearmy returning from Parthia, cultivated society was wrecked, and theliterary movement was greatly interrupted in both languages. This was ablow to the artificial culture of Greek in Italy, just as the plague of1349 and following years was a blow to the artificial culture of Frenchin England. After A. D. 166 a check was given to progress, whichlasted, in the secular domain, until the sixteenth century. 

Let us spend a moment upon the sequel of the old literature, before wecome to the new, which is our proper subject here. 

Under the altered times that now ensued, the continuity of classicism isseen in two forms of literature--namely, philological criticism andpoetry. The acknowledged model of Latin poetry was Virgil, and hisgreatest imitator was Claudian, who had made himself a Latin scholar bystudy, much as the moderns do. Claudian is commonly called the last ofthe heathen poets. He has also been called the transitional link betweenancient and modern, between heathen and Christian poetry. [2] Onecharacteristic may be mentioned, namely, his personification of moral orpersonal qualities, a sort of allegory destined to flourish for manycenturies, of which the first mature example appears in the "Soul'sFight" of Prudentius, the Christian poet, who was a contemporary ofClaudian. The school study of the classics produced grammars, and twoauthors became chiefly celebrated in this branch, namely, Donatus andPriscian. Their books were standards through the Dark and MiddleAges. [3]

There was one department of prose literature in which Latin wasundisturbed and unsophisticated. This was the department of law andadministration. The legal diction escaped, in a great measure, from theinfluence of classicism; it kept on its even way through the wholeperiod, and as it was an ordinary school subject under the empire, thelanguage of the law books exercised great influence in the formation ofthe prose style that continued through the Middle Ages. 

We now come to the new Latin literature with which we are intimatelyconcerned. 

By the side of this diminished stream of the elder literature thererose, after the middle of the second century, a new series of writings, new in subject, and new also in manner, diction, and spirit. Thephraseology is less literary, and more taken from the colloquial speechand the usage of everyday life. It seems also to be, in some measure, the return-language of a colony: some of the earliest and most importantcontributions come from Africa, where Latin was now the mother-tongue ofa large population, and that country appears to have escaped the ravagesof the plague. 

The first of these books is one that still bears considerable traces ofclassicism. It is entitled "Octavius, " and is an apology forChristianity by Minucius Felix. But immediately after him we come upon achief representative of this new literature, which aimed less at formthan at the conveying of the author's meaning in the readiest and mostfamiliar words. This is strikingly the case with the direct andunstudied Latinity of the first of the Latin fathers, the AfricanTertullian, in whom the contrast with classicism is most pronounced. Inhim the old conventional dignity gives place to the free display ofpersonal characteristics, and no writer (it has been said) affords abetter illustration of the saying of Buffon--"the style is the man. "

Another African writer was Lactantius, to whom has been attributed thatpoem of the Phœnix, which most likely served as pattern to theAnglo-Saxon poet. [4] It consists of 170 lines, hexameters andpentameters; terse, poetical, classical. This old Oriental fable, astold by Ovid, was short and simple: "There is a bird that restores andreproduces itself; the Assyrians call it Phœnix. It feeds on no commonfood, but on the choicest of gums and spices; and after a life ofsecular length, it builds in a high tree with cassia, spikenard, cinnamon, and myrrh, and on this nest it expires in sweetest odours. Ayoung Phœnix rises and grows, and when strong enough it takes up thenest with its deposit and bears it to the City of the Sun, and lays itdown there in front of the sacred portals. " Such is the story in Ovid;and there we know we have a heathen fable. But in the poem ofLactantius, it is so curiously, and, as it were, significantlyelaborated, that we hardly know whether we are reading a Christianallegory or no. Allegory has always been a favourite form with Christianwriters, and more than one cause may be assigned for it. Already therewas, in the taste of the age when the Christian literature arose, atendency to symbolism, which is seen outside the pale of Christianity. Moreover, the long time in which the profession of Christianity wasdangerous, favoured the growth of symbolism as a covert means of mutualintelligence. Then Christian thought had in its own nature somethingwhich invited allegory, partly by its own hidden sympathies with Nature, and partly by its very immensity, for which all direct speech was feltto be inadequate. But what doubtless supplied this taste with continualnutriment was that all-pervading and unspeakable sweetness of Christ'steaching by parables. The Phœnix was used upon Roman coins to expressthe aspiration for renewed vitality in the empire; it was used by earlyChristian writers[5] as an emblem of the Resurrection; and in theAnglo-Saxon poem the allegory is avowed. 

To Lactantius also has been ascribed another book in which we areinterested. This is a collection of a hundred Latin riddles under theobscure name of Symposius, which name has by some editors been setaside in favour of Lactantius for no better reason than because of somesupposed Africanisms. Aldhelm speaks of these riddles under the name ofSymposius. 

A new literature thus rose up by the side of that which was decaying, orhad already decayed. This new literature was the fruit of Christianity;it was more a literature of the masses than any that had been hithertoknown; it was marked by a strong tinge of the vernacular, and it wasseparated in form as well as in matter from the old classical standards. The spirit of this new literature was characterised by a larger and morecomprehensive humanity. It was animated by those principles offellow-feeling, compassion, and hopefulness, which were to prepare theway for the structure of human society upon new foundations. This, rather than the classical, is the Latin literature which we have tofollow; this is the preparation for modern literature, and its coursewill be found to land us in the Saxon period. 

After the triumph of Christianity, this new literature was muchenlarged, and it appropriated to itself something of the grace andelegance of the earlier classics; and whether we speak of its contents, or of its artistic character, we may say it culminated at the end of thefourth and the beginning of the fifth century in the writings ofAugustine. In his time we find that the contrast between profane andsacred literature is already long established: the old literature iscalled by the pagans liberal, but by the Christians secular. 

The removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople had ultimately theeffect of substituting Greek for Latin as the language ofadministration in the East. On the other hand, the growth of the papalpower in the West favoured the establishment of Latin as the solelanguage of the West, to the neglect of Greek. Thus East and West werethen divided in language, and Latin became universal in the West. InAnglo-Saxon, the people of the Eastern Empire are characterised simplyas the Greeks (Crecas). 

The heart of the new Latin literature was in the Scripture translations. Many exercised themselves in translating, especially the New Testament. Augustine says the translations were beyond number. But the central andbest known of these many versions is thought to have been made inAfrica. In A. D. 382, Damasus, the bishop of Rome, inducedJerome to undertake that work of revision which produced the LatinBible, which is the only one now generally known, and which is calledthe Vulgata, that is to say, the received version. Older italicversions, so far as they are extant, are now to us among the mostinteresting of Christian antiquities. In the early centuries, andthroughout the whole Middle Age, the Scriptures took rank above allliterature, and their influence is everywhere felt. 

The sack of Rome (A. D. 410) drew forth from the pagans a freshoutcry against Christianity. They sought to trace the misery of thetimes to the vengeance of the neglected gods. This accusation evokedfrom St. Augustine the greatest of all the apologetic treatises, namely, his "City of God" (De Civitate Dei). This great work exhibits thewriter's mature and final opinions, and it may be said to represent thematurity and culmination of that Latin literature which began afterA. D. 166, and continued to progress until it was half quenchedin barbarian darkness. The "City of God" has been called the firstattempt at a philosophy of history; and, again, it has been called theCyclopædia of the fifth century. It lays out before us a platform ofinstruction on things divine and human, which reigned as a standard forcenturies, even until the theology and philosophy of the school-men hadbeen summed up by Thomas Aquinas. 

To this great work a companion book was written by Orosius, who had beenAugustine's disciple. This was a compendium of Universal History, and itwas designed to exhibit the troubles that had afflicted mankind in theages of heathenism. It became the established manual of history, andcontinued to be so throughout our period; and Orosius was for ages theonly authority for the general course of history. This explains how itcame to be one of the small list of Latin books translated by Alfred. 

We have no sooner reached the culmination of that Christian literaturewhich began after the depression of A. D. 166, than we findourselves in the presence of another great fall. The sack of Rome in 410shook the minds of men as if it were the end of all things. The fifthcentury was a time of ruin, but also it was a time of new beginnings. Three great events are to be noted in this fifth century: 1. The WesternEmpire came to an end; 2. The Franks passed over the Rhine into Gaul, and became Christian; 3. The Saxons passed over the sea to Britain, andremained heathen until the close of the sixth century. These threeevents group together by a natural connection; it was the expiringempire that made room for the Frankish and Saxon conquests, and thesetwo conquests have been, and are, fertile in comparisons and contrasts, and reciprocal action, not only through our period, but till now andonward. 

About A. D. 500, Avitus, bishop of Vienne, wrote a Latin poem onthe mighty acts of Sacred History--(De Spiritalis Historiæ Gestis); andthis book has been regarded as the original source of some passages inCædmon and Milton. [6] The poem is in five books, of which the firstthree--1. On the Creation; 2. The Disobedience; 3. The Sentence ofGod--form a whole in themselves; while the remaining two books, whichare nominally on the Flood and the Red Sea, are really on Baptism andthe Spiritual Restoration of Man. So that the whole work comprises aParadise Lost and a Paradise Regained. 

We now come to a book which, though not by a Christian author, is somanifestly influenced by Christianity, and has been so fully recognisedby the Christian public, that it must be included in our list--viz. , "The Comfort of Philosophy, " by Boethius. Gibbon even called it a goldenvolume, and one which, if we consider the barbarism of the times and thesituation of the author, must be reckoned of almost incomparable merit. It was composed in the prison to which Theodoric had consigned thewisest of the old Roman patriciate; and it is commonly regarded asclosing the canon of Roman literature. It was translated into all thevernaculars, Alfred's translation into English being the first, andNotker's into High German being the second. [7] Other works of Boethiuslived through the Dark and Middle Ages, especially his translations ofAristotle, which were standards for the student in philosophy. 

From this time we see a world fallen back into a wild and savageinfancy, and we shall witness the gradual operation of a spiritual powerreclaiming, educating, transforming it. The subject of Anglo-Saxonliterature derives, perhaps, its greatest interest from the fact that itrepresents one great stage of this process. 

As we approach the Saxon period we must take particular notice of a newagency that now comes on the scene. The institution of monachism was oneof considerable standing before the date at which we are now arrived, but it had never yet found any function of systematic usefulness. Benedict of Nursia is called the father of monks, not because he firstinstituted them, but because he organised and regulated the monasticlife and converted it to a powerful agency for religion andcivilisation. Benedict was born in 480, and he died at Monte Cassino in543. The Benedictine institution is the great historical fact whichdemands our attention in the early part of the sixth century. 

An eminent Benedictine was the Roman Pontiff Gregory, surnamed theGreat. He was born in 540, and died in 604. He designed the conversionof the Saxons. He was a great author, though he was ignorant of Greek. We will here notice three of his works--the "Commentary on Job, " the"Pastoral Care, " and the "Dialogues. "

The first of these is remarkable as a specimen of that mysticalinterpretation of Scripture which characterised the exegesis of theMiddle Ages, and of which manifold examples occur in the Homilies ofÆlfric, who names Gregory as one of his sources. 

The "Pastoral Care" is worthy of its name as a book of direction andadvice from the chief pastor to his subordinates. It is full of gravepractical wisdom, animated by the Christian spirit and the love ofsouls. For prudence it is worthy of the pontiff who solved Augustine'squestions, as we read in Beda's history. In this book we discover thetrue and legitimate source of the power of the clergy, and we verify thewords of Joseph Butler, who said that if conscience had power as it hasauthority, it would govern the world. The power of the clergy issometimes explained as a stratagem; he who reads this book will see adeeper root to that power; he will see that if trickery made that powerto fall, it was something else that caused it to rise. 

A greater contrast than that between the "Pastoral Care" and the"Dialogues" it is hardly possible to conceive. We cannot wonder that theidentity of authorship has been questioned, and that the "Dialogues"have been attributed to another Gregory. The difficulty is, however, lessened if we consider the widely different conditions of the readersaddressed. At a time when an old civilisation and a crude barbarismwere intermingled and living side by side, the one was written for thehighest, the other for the lowest in the intellectual scale. The"Pastoral Care" was addressed to the Roman clergy, with whom, ifanywhere, something of the old culture still lingered. The "Dialogues"were intended for the barbarians. The book is addressed to Theodolinda, the Lombard queen. It is a book full of wonderful, not to say puerile, stories, in which a religious lesson or moral is always conveyed, butnot always one that carries conviction to the mind of the modernChristian. It reflects the policy of converting the barbarians bycondescending to their tastes, and belongs to the same system as thatincrease of pomp and ceremony which was due to the same motive. Thisbook far outran the former in popularity. It was among the earliest ofLatin books to be translated into vernacular languages. Gregory'swritings were very influential on popular religious literaturethroughout the Dark Ages, and nowhere more so than in England, where hewas honoured as a national apostle. There exists an Anglo-Saxontranslation of the "Dialogues, " but it has not yet been edited. 

The time of Gregory the Great was the time in which, to use DeanMilman's words, "the human mind was finally Christianised. " Thistriumph, as usually happens, was overdriven. We see a too jealousexclusion of secular literature, and a too credulous and favourabledisposition towards Christian legends. This was the time when thesecondary apocryphal literature reached its maturity, and was grouped incollections. An active labourer in this pious work was Gregory ofTours. He contributed the "Miracles of St. Andrew, " and possibly otherpieces. This period, from the middle of the sixth into the early part ofthe seventh century, is the period of the greatest literary activity ofthe monasteries of Gaul, and the apocryphal collections seem to havebeen made in some of these[8] If the Christianised Latin literaturereached its highest excellence in the time of Augustine, it discoveredits extremest tendency in the time of the two Gregories. 

There is yet one form of literature that claims our attention. The Greekromances of love and marvellous adventure were probably discountenancedin Christian families, and we may regard the secondary Apocrypha as akind of pious substitute for such entertaining works of fiction. Butthere was one of these old heathen novels that held its ground, that canbe traced in more than one early monastic library, and that wastranslated into every vernacular--Anglo-Saxon first. This was theRomance of Apollonius of Tyre, from which comes the story of thatShakespearean play, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre. "

The books which we have noticed between the second and the seventhcenturies may be allowed to represent that Christianised Latinliterature which is the historical bridge between the ancient classicaland the modern vernacular literatures. The latter had as yet noexistence. In Mœsia, on the shores of the Danube, a Gothic dialect hadbeen immortalised by Scripture translations from the Greek as early asthe fourth century; but nothing of the kind had as yet appeared underthe Latin influence in the West. The Merovingian Franks left novernacular literature; on the contrary, they rapidly lost their nativespeech, and adopted that of the conquered nation. 

The Franks and the Saxons had been neighbours in their native homes, speaking almost the same mother-tongue; but their migrations led theminto new regions in which they again proved neighbours under alteredconditions. Each was to take a leading part in the formation of modernEurope, but they were to be divided in that office, their lots beingseverally cast with the two great constituent factors of moderncivilisation. The one was to lead the Romanesque, the other the Gothicdivision. The Franks became assimilated to the Romanised Gauls, andformed, with them, one Latin-speaking Church; they raised the standardof orthodoxy against the Arianism of the other barbarian powers, and theFrankish king was decorated with the title of Most Christian; thehistory of that Church was written in Latin by Gregory of Tours. Thiswork, upon which he was engaged from A. D. 576 to 592, bearsstrong marks of literary degeneracy. Gregory complained of the low stateof education in the cities of Gaul. He became a historian only from asense of necessity, and for fear lest the memory of important eventsshould perish. He has been called the Herodotus of the Franks, and theHerodotus of barbarism. The history of the Church in Gaul after theabsorption of the Franks is not one of quickened progress but of crimeand torpidity. Gregory the Great justified his mission to the Saxons onthe express ground that the Church of Gaul, whose natural duty it was, had neglected it. The history of the Merovingian Franks stands indisadvantageous contrast with the early vigour of the Saxon Churches. The first great elevation of European culture was to spring, not fromamong the Franks, but in the remoter colonies of the Saxons. 

The English conversion began A. D. 597; and two religiousfoundations were quickly established:--1. The Minster of St. Saviour, afterwards called Christ Church, and now Canterbury Cathedral; 2. TheAbbey of SS. Peter and Paul, outside the walls of Canterbury on theeast, which was afterwards called St. Augustine's. Of the foundation ofschools nothing is heard at this time; but a generation later, A. D. 631, we find the Kentish schools taken as a model forschools to be founded in East Anglia by Felix. [9] It is an interestingquestion whether these were the missionary schools, or whether they wereschools which kept up the traditions of Roman education in a degenerateform like the schools in Gaul. On the ground that our oldest document isa Code of the first converted king, it has been too easily inferred, that before this time the Saxons were wholly destitute of literaryappliances. Were the fact more certain, than it is, the conclusion wouldbe weak. There are in the Chronicles certain archaic annals which havebeen thought to be a possible product of the heathen period. 

The second home of culture was in Northumbria. A wonderful combinationof influences met on this favoured soil. In the extreme province of theempire, there had been a concentration of military force, to keep thePicts in check; the centre of Roman government on the island had been atYork, and here, if anywhere, something of the civilisation of Rome wouldnaturally remain. 

Another important influence was the Irish, or, as it was then called, the Scotian. It is true that the first evangelist in order of time wasPaulinus, who came from Kent, and represented the Roman mission. But thesavour of the Gospel was first received through the teaching of theIrish missionaries, of whom the foremost name is Aidan. Never did anypeople embrace Christianity with such entire heart as the Irish; andmuch of their lofty devotion was communicated to the Angles whom theyconverted. 

Upon this, when they were prepared to profit by it, supervened themission of Theodore and Hadrian, who implanted the seed of learning, with great ability, at an opportune moment, and with the most abundantresults. Under the warmth of a first love, all these advantages weremoulded together, and resulted in making Northumbria for three or fourgenerations the centre of European culture. The seat of this culture wasYork, the old Roman capital, and its culmination was under ArchbishopEgbert (734-766), and his successor Albert. The great writings of thisperiod are in Latin, and the chief names are Aldhelm, Eddi, Winfrid(Bonifacius), Danihel, Beda, Alcuin. Of vernacular prose the chiefremnant is a series of Northern Annals, between A. D. 737 and806, which have been embodied in some of the Southern Chronicles. Butwhat specially characterised this period was a rich development ofsacred poetry, some remnants of which are perhaps extant in our"Cædmon. " But our fullest knowledge of this old poetic strain comes backto us from Old Saxony, where it was propagated by the Anglianmissionaries, and it survives under a thin disguise in the poem calledthe "Heliand. "

In Aldhelm we see that this new learning was not solely ecclesiastical, but that there was something in it which aimed at recovery of classicallearning. He was distinguished for his elaborate study of Latin metres, and his commendation of the pursuit. He wrote poems in Latin hexameters, and among these a Collection of Enigmas, which bore fruit in the laterAnglo-Saxon literature. 

The latter part of the Anglian period produced Alcuin, the distinguishedscholar who was engaged by Charles the Great to organise his newschools. So we see the lamp of culture pass from Anglia into Frankland, shortly before the time when Anglia was overrun by the Danes and almostall the monuments which were destructible perished. 

We may dismiss the Anglian period with the remark, that its achievementsare all the more distinguished from the fact that they belong to a timewhen the whole Continent was in the thickest darkness, that is to say, the seventh and eighth centuries. 

Under Charlemagne a new start was made for the restitution ofliterature. He drew learned men to his court, Alcuin from England, Paulus Diaconus from Italy. Thus he made a new centre for Europeanlearning, and France continued to sustain that character down to thelatter end of the Middle Ages. His chief agent in this great work ofenlightenment was Alcuin, who was educated at York under Egbert, who hadbeen a disciple of Beda. And so we see the torch of learning handed onfrom Northumbria to the Frankish dominions in time to save the traditionof culture from perishing in the desolation that was near. Among thenames that adorn the annals of revived learning under Charles himself, we must mention Smaragdus, because Ælfric acknowledges him as one of hissources. The book referred to would hardly be the "Diadem of Monks, " aselection of pieces from the Fathers with Scripture texts, worked up asit were into a Whole Duty of Man, although Ælfric would be likely toknow this book; but for the composition of his Homilies it is morelikely that Ælfric would have drawn from another book by Smaragdus, namely, his commentary on the Epistles and Gospels for Sundays. 

Men who have left their names in history now followed in the work ofsustaining the revival of learning. We must mention Rabanus Maurus, whose Scripture commentaries were used by the poet of the "Heliand"; andWalahfrid Strabo, who wrote on plants and had a taste for Greeketymologies. 

The revival of secular learning brought in its train a strongdevelopment of speculative theology. The ninth century is marked bycontroversy on the Eucharist, and on Predestination. The former ofthese controversies had an effect upon Anglo-Saxon literature, whichrequires us to record one or two main facts in this place. PaschasiusRadbert, a monk of Corbey, who was for a short while Abbot of thatfamous monastery, wrote a treatise (the first of its kind) on theEucharist, maintaining the change in the elements. The opposite side wastaken by Ratramnus (otherwise called Bertram), a monk of the same house. His views were adopted by Ælfric in the tenth century, and were embodiedin a Homily, which was welcomed by the English reformers of thesixteenth century as an antidote to the doctrine of transubstantiation. Haymo, bishop of Halberstadt, who had studied at Fulda, maintained thedoctrine of the material change in its most extreme form. He was also acommentator upon the Scriptures, and Ælfric used his commentaries, butonly "sometimes. "

The Danish scourge beggared the land, as in all other respects, so inlearning and in all the liberal arts. We who had formerly sentinstructors to other nations, were now suitors for help in ourdestitution. The same national deliverer who rid us of the destroyer, was also the restorer of education. If he cannot be said to haveeffectually restored learning, at least he laboured with so muchearnestness at the task that he may be said to have bespoken an ultimatethough delayed success. Alfred is not more famous for his great battlesthan for his great literary efforts. 

The literary restoration of his time is supported by the Carlovingianschools, and in this we may see a repayment in the ninth century of thathelp which Charles had received from England through Alcuin in theeighth. 

Different in its origin is the remarkable spring of religious andintellectual life in the tenth century. Ever since the synod ofAix-la-Chapelle in 813, the religious spirit in Gaul had manifesteditself in the stricter discipline of the Benedictine monasteries, andthis movement reached us in the middle of the tenth century. TheBenedictines had a famous school on the Loire at a place then calledFloriacum, now Fleury or St. Benoît-sur-Loire, and some leading men inEngland were in active relations with this house. [10] In the eclipsewhich the nominal seat of Christianity was under in the tenth century, the light of the Church shone in France and England. The reforms ofÆðelwold and Dunstan and Odo are the transmission of this movement toour island. 

This great movement has only time to take shape enough to declare itselfwhen it is again interrupted by troublous times, invasions, and wars, and changes of dynasty, and before any length of peace is again allowed, by the decisive and final blow of the Norman Conquest, which broughtwith it more than a change of dynasty. It changed the whole body of thegoverning and influential classes, not from one stratum to anotherwithin the Saxon nation, but by the introduction of a ruling class fromanother nation, speaking another language, and one of a differentfamily. 

The new language thus brought in was no barbarous dialect, but the mostcultivated of the Continental vernaculars. It was the other great factorof European literature. It had begun to be cultivated later than theSaxon, but then it had ages of culture at its back. The strength of thislanguage was in its poetry--just the element which had stagnated inEngland. The French taught not only the English but all Europe inpoetry. All modern European poetry is after the French model. 

After the Conquest Saxon literature had a stronghold in the greatreligious houses, and here it continued to be cultivated until far intothe twelfth century. This was due not only to the patriotic sentiment, but also to the interests of their several foundations. The chiefAnglo-Saxon works that we have from the times after the Conquest areconcerned directly or indirectly with the property or privilege of thereligious house from which the books emanate. This is the time thatproduced the Worcester chartulary, the Rochester chartulary, thePeterborough chronicle which embodies the privileges of the house, andthe Winton chartulary. This diplomatic interest was strong and permanentenough to cause Anglo-Saxon studies to be pursued until late in theMiddle Age, perhaps even down to the time of the Dissolution by HenryVIII. 

But passing from this, which is an artificial continuation of the oldliterature, we may observe that it had a continuation which wasperfectly natural and spontaneous. Examples of this are the latesemi-Saxon Homilies, in which we see the gradual decay of the oldflectional grammar: but the most signal examples are the two greatpoetical works of Layamon and Orm. These are full of French influence, though not in the same manner. Layamon's "Brut" is translated (thoughnot without original episodes) from the French of Robert Wace: and the"Ormulum, " though drawn as to its matter from Latin comments on theGospels, yet is in form deeply imbued with the character of Frenchpoetry. Indeed, the English language became more and more a vehicle forthe reproduction of French literature. This continued to the middle ofthe fourteenth century, when the plague, which altered so many things, altered also this. The supremacy of the French language was broken, thenative language was again heard in legal pleadings, and the poetry ofChaucer laid the permanent foundation of modern English literature. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A translation of these writings is given in Clark's "Ante-NiceneLibrary, " vol. Xvi. Among the "Acts of Pilate" are contained the socalled "Gospel of Nicodemus, " which is the fountain of that favouritemediæval subject, "The Harrowing of Hell. "

[2] North Pinder, "Less Known Latin Poets, " p. 486. 

[3] Donatus was Jerome's teacher. His name grew into a proverb, insomuchthat an elementary treatise of any sort might in the fourteenth centurybe called a "donat. " Priscian was a contemporary of Boethius. Hisgrammar was epitomised by Rabanus Maurus in the ninth century. 

[4] Other Latin poets who touched this subject are--Ovid, "Metam. , " xv. , 402; Martial, "Epigrams, " v. , 7; Claudian's First Idyll, a poem of 110hexameters, is entirely devoted to it. 

[5] Clemens Romanus; Tertullian, "De Resurrectione Carnis, " c. 13. SeeAdolf Ebert, "Christlich-Laternische Literatur, " vol. I. , p. 95. 

[6] Siever's "Der Heliand, " p. 18, and references: Guizot, "Histoire dela Civilisation en France, " 18^e Leçon. 

[7] For the Latin text, and the bibliography, there is an admirablelittle edition by Peiper, Lipsiæ, 1871. 

[8] R. A. Lipsius, "Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten undApostellegenden, " Braunschweig, 1883, p. 170. 

[9] Bede's "Ecclesiastical History, " iii. , 18. 

[10] It was destroyed by the Calvinists in 1562. 

CHAPTER II. 

THE MATERIALS. 

The material of an early Literature is, above all, to be sought inwritten Books and documents. But, besides these, there are otheravailable sources, which may be called in one word the Antiquities ofthe nation; and these are of great value as illustrations, that is tosay, though the information they severally give may be uncertain andinexplicit, yet when they are put side by side with the literature, theygreatly increase its informing power, and often draw, in return, a flowof light upon themselves. Accordingly the present chapter will fall intotwo parts: 1, of writings; 2, of subsidiary sources. 

I. 

There is a famous book that remains in the place where it was depositedin the Saxon period. Leofric, who was the tenth bishop of Crediton, andthe first of Exeter, gave to his new cathedral about sixty books, andthe list of these books is extant in contemporary writing. One of themis thus described:--"I. Mycel englisc boc be gehwilcum thingum on leothwisan geworht. " = One large English book about various things in lay(song) wise wrought--that is to say, a large volume of miscellaneouspoetry in English. This is the valuable, or rather, invaluable, ExeterSong Book, often quoted as "Codex Exoniensis. " It is still where Leofricplaced it in or about 1050, and it is in the keeping of his cathedralchapter. The others are dispersed; but many of them are still wellknown, as the "Leofric Missal, " in the Bodleian; and others are atCambridge. 

The general break-up of monastic institutions between 1530 and 1540caused the dispersion of many old libraries, whose forgotten treasureswere thus restored to air and light. No doubt many valuable books andrecords were irrecoverably lost; as it is reasonable to suppose thatamong the parchments then cast upon the world, there existed materialfor a continuous and complete history of Anglo-Saxon times. Thisreflection may make us the more sensible of our penury, but it will notdiminish the praise of those who saved something from the wreck. 

Matthew Parker, the twentieth archbishop of Canterbury, 1559-1576, hasbeen called a mighty collector of books. He gave commissions forsearching after books in England and Wales, and presented the choicestof his miscellaneous collections to his own college at Cambridge, namely, Benet College (now Corpus Christi), where it still rests. Inthis library are some unique books, such as the oldest Saxon chronicle, which has been thought nearly as old as King Alfred's time. There isalso a fine vellum of the laws of King Alfred, with the elder laws ofKing Ine attached in manner of appendix. 

But the most famous book of this great collection is an illuminatedmanuscript of the Gospels in Latin (No. 286), which Wanley thought tobe probably one of the very books that were sent to Augustine byGregory. Professor Westwood says that the drawings in this manuscriptare the most ancient monuments of Roman pictorial art existing in thiscountry, and he further proceeds to say that, excepting a fourth-centurymanuscript at Vienna, these are the oldest instances of Roman-Christianiconography of which he can find any notice. [11]

Parker had singular opportunities, by the time in which he lived, by theadvantages of his high office and personal character, by his power tocommand the services of other men, and by their general willingness toserve him. There were three distinguished searchers after books who wereof the greatest use to him, viz. , Bale, Joscelin, Leland. 

John Bale, the antiquary, had been a White Friar in Norwich, then, changing his party, he became bishop of Ossory, but lived at length on aprebend he had in the church of Canterbury, where he followed hisstudies. Bale, in his preface to Leland's "New Year's Gift, "[12] saysthat those who purchased the monasteries reserved the books, some toscour their candlesticks, some to rub their boots, some they sold to thegrocers and soap-sellers, and some they sent over sea to thebook-binders, [13] not in small numbers, but at times whole ships full, to the wondering of foreign nations. 

John Leland had a commission under Henry VIII. To travel and collectbooks; his Itinerary is a chief book for English topography. Of Joscelinwe shall have occasion to speak below. 

With all his advantages, however, Parker was weighted with the care ofthe churches, at a time, too, when that care was unusually heavy; and tothis, as in duty bound, he gave his first thought. Though his examplecould not be exceeded, his collections were surpassed, and that by agleaner who came after him. Of all book collectors the greatest wasRobert Bruce Cotton, the founder of the Cottonian Library. He was bornat Denton, in Huntingdonshire, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Cotton's antiquarian tastes declared themselves early; theformation of a library and museum was his life-long pursuit. Not thathis interests were all confined to this. He wrote on the revenue, warnedKing James against the strained exaction of tonnage and poundage, especially in time of peace; and he counselled the creation of an orderof baronets, each to pay the Crown £1, 000 for the honour. In this way hebecame a baronet himself in 1611, having been knighted at the king'saccession. Under Charles I. He was molested for his opinions, because hedared to disapprove of government without parliaments; and he wastouched in his most sensitive part when his own library was sealedagainst him. He died 6th May, 1631, and was buried in Conington Church, where his monument may still be seen. 

His library was further enlarged by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton; and itwas sold to the nation by Sir John Cotton, the fourth baronet, in 1700. It was lodged in Ashburnham House, in 1731, when a disastrous fireconsumed or damaged many valuable books. [14] Annexed by statute to theBritish Museum in 1753, it was moved thither in 1757. 

Among the books that suffered without being destroyed by the fire of1731, is the unique copy of the Beowulf. [15] One of the Saxon chronicleswas almost consumed; only two or three leaves of it are now extant. But, happily, this particular chronicle had been printed by Wheloc, withoutcurtailment or admixture, and so it was the one that could best bespared. This library also contains the Abingdon and Worcesterchronicles, and, indeed, all the known Saxon chronicles except two. Thiscollection is the richest in original Anglo-Saxon deeds and abbeyregisters. 

Among the Cottonian treasures (Vespasian A. I. ) is a glossed psalter, which was edited by Mr. Stevenson for the Surtees Society, in two vols. , 1843-7, as containing a Northumbrian gloss, which is now, however, supposed to be Kentish. [16] A facsimile of this manuscript by thePalæographical Society, part ii. , 18, has a description, from which thefollowing is taken:--"Written about A. D. 700, the gloss at theend of the ninth, or beginning of the tenth, and the later additions inthe eleventh century. It formerly belonged to the Monastery of St. Augustine of Canterbury, and corresponds with Thomas of Elmham'sdescription of one of the two psalters stated to have been acquired fromAugustine; though the character of the ornamentation clearly shows thatit is of English origin. " It is sometimes called the Surtees Psalter;Professor Westwood calls it "The Psalter of St. Augustine. "

The book which, to the eye of the artist and palæographer, forms theglory of the Cottonian Library, is that which is marked, Nero D. Iv. , and is commonly called the Lindisfarne Gospels. Other names which it hasborne, are:--The Durham Book, because it was long preserved in DurhamCathedral, and the Gospels of St. Cuthbert, as having been written inhonour of that saint. It is the most elaborately-ornamented of allAnglo-Saxon manuscripts; it is quite entire, and tells its own originand date. Two entries enable us to fix the date of the original Latinbook about 710; the interlinear Saxon gloss may be of the ninth century. 

Locally connected with the Cottonian is the Harleian collection whichwas formed by Robert Harley (1661-1724), Earl of Oxford; and it waspurchased for the British Museum in 1753. It contains, without name ofauthor (Harl. 3, 859) the most ancient manuscript (tenth century) of that"History of the Britons" which now bears the name of Nennius; a feworiginals or good early copies of Saxon charters; some abbey registers, and some Early-English poetry, especially a manuscript of Chaucer's"Canterbury Tales" (Harley, 7, 334), which some have thought to be theoldest and best. 

A name second only to Cotton is that of Archbishop Laud. He was acollector of old and rare books in many languages, and we are indebtedto his care for some of the most valuable monuments of themother-tongue. He was president of St. John's College, Oxford, and hehad been educated there. Some valuable books he gave to his college, buthis larger donations were to the library of his university, of which hebecame vice-chancellor in 1630. These books rest in the BodleianLibrary. 

THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY

dates from the year 1598; and here we have an admirable guide in the"Annals of the Bodleian Library, " by Rev. W. D. Macray, whose annalisticorder we will follow. 

1601. --The Library bought the copy of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels, fromwhich John Foxe had printed the edition of 1571. [17] It is marked Bod. 441. 

1603. --Some manuscripts were given by Sir Robert Cotton, and one of them(Auct. D. , ii. 14:--Bod. 857) is an ancient volume of Latin Gospels, written probably in the sixth century, which shares with the illuminatedBenet Gospels described above, the traditional reputation of being oneof the books that were sent by Gregory to Augustine. It has nominiatures, but it has rubrication, and it is in a similar style ofwriting with that splendid volume. Thomas Elmham, who was a monk of St. Augustine's at Canterbury, and wrote a history of his monastery, aboutA. D. 1414, gives a list of the books of his house; and thereare two entries of "Textus Evangeliorum, " each being particularlydescribed. Humphrey Wanley (p. 172) identified our two books as thoseknown to Elmham; and Westwood pronounces them to be two of the oldestLatin manuscripts written in pure Roman uncials that exist in thiscountry. 

1635-1640. --In these years Archbishop Laud gave nearly 1, 300manuscripts, among which there is one (E. 2) that enjoys pre-eminentlythe title of "Codex Laudianus. " This is a famous manuscript of the Actsof the Apostles, which has been variously dated from the sixth to theeighth century. It is the only known manuscript that exhibits certainirregular readings, seventy-four in number, which Bede, in his"Retractations on the Acts, " quoted from his copy. Wetstein surmisedthat this was the very book before Bede when he wrote his"Retractations. "[18] At the end is a Latin Creed, written in the sameuncial character, though not by the same hand, and Dr. Heurtley says itis one of the earliest, if not the very earliest, of what he calls the"Manuscript Creeds. " He has given a facsimile of it. [19]

Another of these was the Peterborough chronicle (No. 636), a celebratedmanuscript, containing the most extensive of all the Saxon chronicles. 

1675. --Christopher, Lord Hatton, gave four volumes of Saxon Homilies, written shortly after the Conquest. These are now among the Junian MSS. (Nos. 22, 23, 24, 99), simply because Junius had them on loan. Beingamong his books at the time of his death, they came back to theBodleian, as if part of the Junian bequest. This explains why Hattonmanuscripts, which contain sermons of Ælfric and of Wulfstan, bear thesignatures Jun. 22 and Jun. 99. 

Other Hatton manuscripts, and very precious ones, have retained the nameof their donor, as--

Hatton 20. --King Alfred's Translation of Gregory's "Pastoral Care, " ofwhich the king purposed to send a copy to each cathedral church, andthis is the copy sent by the king to Werfrith, bishop of Worcester. 

Hatton 76. --Translation by Werfrith, bishop of Worcester, of Gregory's"Dialogues, " with King Alfred's Preface (in Wanley this is Hatton 100). 

Hatton 65. --The Gospels in Saxon, written about the time of Henry II. 

1678. --Franciscus Junius died at Windsor. He was born at Heidelberg, in1589, and his vernacular name was Francis Dujon. He lived much inEngland, as librarian to Howard, Earl of Arundel. He bequeathed to theBodleian his Anglo-Saxon and Northern collections. Among these is abeautiful Latin Psalter (Jun. 27) of the tenth century, with grotesqueinitials and interlinear Saxon. This book has been called "CodexVossianus, " because Junius obtained it from his relative, Isaac Voss. Among these also is the unique Cædmon, a MS. Of about A. D. 1000, which had been given to Junius by Archbishop Usher, and of whichthe earlier history is unknown. Usher, a scholar of European celebrity, founded the library of Trinity College, Dublin; and in his enquiriesafter books for his college he picked up this famous manuscript. Itbecame a favourite with Junius, who edited the Editio Princeps, Amsterdam, 1655. Another book (Jun. 121) is a collection of Canons ofthe Anglo-Saxon Church, which belonged to Worcester Cathedral. In thisbook, fol. 101, the writer describes himself: _Me scripsit Wulfgeatusscriptor Wigorniensis_ = Me wrote Wulfgeat of Worcester, a writer. ThisWulfgeat is said by Wanley (p. 141) to have lived about A. D. 1064. Junius 22 seems to be written by the same hand; so does Junius 99. The former contains writings by Ælfric; the latter, some by Ælfric andsome by Wulfstan. Another book of the Junian bequest, hardly lesssingular and unique, is the "Ormulum, " a poetical exposition of theGospels, a work of the thirteenth century, of singular beauty, aspoetry and as English. 

1681. --This is probably the year in which John Rushworth, of Lincoln'sInn, the historian of the Long Parliament, presented to the library thebook (Auct. D. , ii. 19) which is still known as Codex Rushworthianus. Itcontains the Gospels in Latin, written about A. D. 800, by anIrish scribe, who has recorded his name as Macregol, and it is glossedwith an interlinear Anglo-Saxon version by Owun and by Færmen, a priest, at Harewood. It is described by Westwood. 

1755. --Richard Rawlinson was born in 1690, son of Sir Thomas Rawlinson, who was lord mayor of London in 1706; was educated at St. John'sCollege, Oxford, of which he always remained an attached member, and towhich he left by will the bulk of his estate. Though he passed for alayman, he was a bishop among the Nonjurors, having been ordained deaconand priest by Bishop Jeremy Collier in 1716, and consecrated bishop 25thMarch, 1728. He was through life an indefatigable collector; hepurchased historical materials of all kinds, heraldry, genealogy, biography, topography, and log-books. He was a repeated benefactor tothe library during his life, but after his death his books andmanuscripts came in overwhelming quantity, so that the staff of thelibrary could not possibly catalogue them; and it was not until HenryOctavius Coxe became Bodley's librarian that the extent of the Rawlinsoncollection was ascertained. This benefactor founded the Anglo-Saxonprofessorship which bears his name. 

1809. --Richard Gough, the eminent topographer and antiquary, died 20thFebruary; he had bequeathed to the Bodleian all his topographicalcollections, together with all his books relating to Saxon and Northernliterature. The following is from his will:--"Also I give and bequeathto the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars, of the University of Oxford, my printed Books and Manuscripts on Saxon and Northern Literature, mentioned in a Catalogue of the same, for the Use of the Saxon professorin the said University when he shall have occasion to consult them, withliberty to take them to his Apartments on condition of faithfullyreturning them. "

I close these Bodleian notes with the remark that three of the booksabove noticed may be easily seen even by the casual visitor. The latelibrarian, Henry Octavius Coxe, devised the happy plan of exhibitingunder a glass case a chronological series of manuscripts written byEnglish scribes, so as to exhibit the progress of the arts ofcalligraphy and illuminating in England. This case is in the north wing, at the further end from the entrance door. Among the selections for thisseries occur Alfred's gift-book to Worcester, the "Codex Vossianus, " the"Cædmon, " and a fourth book, one that has not yet been described. It isa volume of Latin Gospels in Anglo-Saxon writing, of about the end ofthe tenth century. This book appears, from an entry at the end of it, tohave belonged to the abbey of Barking. [20]

CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD, though not endowed with treasures equal to those of its namesake inCambridge, has a few books of very high quality and value. Among these aSaxon Bede of the tenth century, wanting at the beginning and end, butotherwise in excellent condition. 

A remarkably interesting manuscript of the Rule of St. Benedict, Latinand Saxon, which has never yet been published. [21] Mr. H. O. Coxe, in hiscatalogue of the manuscripts of the colleges, assigned this book to theclose of the tenth century. The interest of the volume is greatlyincreased by some pages of entries, which also tend to fix the date ofthe book with greater precision. It was written for the monastery ofBury St. Edmunds, and it appears to have been still there in thefourteenth century. It was given by William Fulman, who was a fellow ofthis college, to the college library. The same donor gave them their"Piers Plowman" and their famous manuscript of the "Canterbury Tales. "

ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD, has an important manuscript containing (1) Ælfric's Grammar, (2)Glossary, and (3) the Colloquy of Ælfric Bata, in usum puerorum (for theboys). On fol. 202, the writer calls himself, "I Ælfric Bata, " and saysthat his master "Ælfric abbot" was the original author. The writing of(1) and (2) is in the round, strong, professional hand of the tenthcentury; the sequel is in later writing. On the first page is writtenin a hand of the fourteenth century "Liber Sci Cuthberhti de Dunelmo" (abook of St. Cuthbert, of Durham); and next thereto, but in a hand nearlyas old as the MS. Itself, "de armario precentoris, qui alienaverit de eoanathema sit" (is kept in the precentor's chest; whoever alienates ittherefrom, let him be anathema). It was given to the college byChristopher Coles, who took his degree in 1611. The grammar has beenrecently edited by Dr. Zupitza. 

THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AT CAMBRIDGE

possesses the oldest manuscript of the ecclesiastical history of Bede(K. K. 5. 16). It is supposed to have been written shortly after thedeath of the venerable author, which happened in 735. This book cameinto that library in 1715, with the fine collection of 30, 000 volumescollected by Dr. More, bishop of Ely. This collection was purchased byGeorge I. For 6, 000 guineas, and presented to the University by theking. This invaluable book is distinctively called Bishop More'smanuscript. 

In the Cathedral Library at Canterbury there are some valuable Saxoncharters;[22]--many more whose natural home was there are in the BritishMuseum among the Cottonian collections. 

In the library of Lambeth Palace there is an interesting book, whichbelonged to Archbishop Parker, and has been well scored by him: but itis not entered either in the Lambeth catalogue of 1812, or in that ofBenet College. This is the "Gospels of MacDurnan, " in Irish calligraphyof the ninth century, and it contains some valuable Anglo-Saxonentries. [23]

RESEARCH, DISCOVERY, AND RECONSTRUCTION. 

Hitherto we have been describing the collection of material; this it wasthat rescued our early history and literature from hopeless oblivion. The old parchments contained much knowledge that ought to be recoveredand diffused; but this would require preparation and labour. Among thelabourers, Matthew Parker comes first as he does among the collectors. This prelate was an earnest student in the ancient history of thecountry and especially in whatever had relation to the Church. He wasthe first editor of a Saxon Homily. It was printed by John Day, and wasentitled, "A Testimony of Antiquity showing the Ancient Faith of theChurch of England touching the Sacrament, &c. " The interest of thispublication as understood at the time, lay in its witness againsttransubstantiation. It was reprinted at Oxford by Leon Lichfield, 1675. 

In 1571 the Saxon Gospels were published by John Fox, who acknowledgesobligations to Parker in his preface. This book was reprinted at Dort, in 1665, by Marshall, who was afterwards rector of Lincoln College, inOxford. 

In 1574 appeared Parker's edition of Asser's Life of Alfred, and we readin Strype that "of this edition of Asserius there had been greatexpectation among the learned. " We can add, that of this edition theinterest is not yet extinct. 

How far Parker's books were done by himself and how far he was dependenton his literary assistants, is a question of little importance. Nodoubt, a great deal of it was the work of his secretary, Joscelin. Welook at Parker as a master builder, not as a journeyman. The name ofJoscelin meets us often when we are following the footsteps of thosetimes. His writing is seen on many a manuscript, and we have to thankhim for much valuable information. It is chiefly through his annotationsthat we know the external and local relations of our several Saxonchronicles. [24] In August, 1565, he was at St. Augustine's, Canterbury;and there he found the old transcript of the first life of St. Dunstan, which is now in the Cotton Library. [25]

But the chief labourers and reconstructors of the first movement wereWilliam Camden (b. 1551--d. 1623), and Sir Henry Spelman (b. 1562--d. 1641). The name of Camden's "Britannia" is still alive, and is familiaras a household word with all who explore even a little beyond the beatentrack. But it is otherwise with Sir Henry Spelman, whose studies weremore recondite, and to whom Abraham Wheloc looked back as to "the heroof Anglo-Saxon literature. " His "Glossary" was a work of vast compass, and for it he corresponded much with learned men abroad; among otherswith the famous Northern antiquary, Olaus Wormius, the author of"Literatura Runica, " of which he sent Spelman a copy in October, 1636. [26] His son, Sir John Spelman, wrote the "Life of King Alfred. "Before he died, Sir Henry Spelman founded an Anglo-Saxon chair atCambridge; and the first occupant of it was Abraham Wheloc, who editedBede in 1643 and with it that Saxon Chronicle which was burnt in 1731. In 1644 he edited the Anglo-Saxon Laws. His successor was William Somner(b. 1606--d. 1669), who produced the first Anglo-Saxon dictionary. Sothis foundation was not unfruitful. But the chair fell into abeyance, until it was restored by Dr. Bosworth, and filled by Professor Skeat. 

This, the first movement of reconstruction, had its seat in Cambridge, under the shadow of Archbishop Parker's library. The next advance, dating from the middle of the seventeenth century, grew in Oxford, andwas connected with the sojourn of Junius in this place. He was much atthe Bodleian, and he is said to have lodged opposite Lincoln College. Hewas a fellow-labourer with Dr. Marshall, the rector of that college, inthe Mæso-Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels which they printed at Dordrecht, 1665. This Oxford period may be said to have culminated in the work ofGeorge Hickes, Nonjuror and Saxonist (b. 1642--d. 1715), the author ofthe massive "Thesaurus Linguarum Septentrionalium, " Oxford, 1705, amonument of diligence and insight, to which was appended a work of thegreatest utility and necessity, --the idea was Hickes's, as was also muchof the sustaining energy, --Humphrey Wanley's catalogue of Anglo-Saxonmanuscripts. We must not omit Edmund Gibson (b. 1669--d. 1748), who inearly life produced his admirable "Chronicon Saxonicum, " amplifying thework of Wheloc, and embodying for the first time the Peterboroughmanuscript. He was afterwards bishop of London. In 1750 RichardRawlinson gave rents of the yearly value of £87. 16s. 8d. To theUniversity of Oxford, for the maintenance and support of an Anglo-Saxonlecture or professorship for ever. 

Up to this time it might still be said of the collections that they werejust stored in bulk as goods are stored in great magazines; there wasmuch to explore and to learn. Important discoveries still remained to bemade by explorers in these and other collections. Wanley's catalogue hadsomewhat the effect of running a line of road through a fertile butunfrequented land; and Conybeare's "Illustrations of Anglo-SaxonPoetry, " published in 1826, fruit of the Oxford chair, had a greateffect in calling the attention of the educated, and more than any otherbook in the present century has served as the introduction to Saxonstudies. 

It was not until the close of the eighteenth century that the "Beowulf"was discovered. Wanley had catalogued it, but without any idea of thereal nature of the book. Thorkelin was, however, attracted from Denmark;he came and transcribed it, and prepared an edition which was nearlyready in 1808, when his house was burnt in the bombardment ofCopenhagen. But he began again, and lived to see his name to the EditioPrinceps of "Beowulf, " at a time when there were few who knew or caredfor his work. He left two transcripts, which are now our highest sourcein many passages of the poem. The original having been scorched in thefire of 1731, the edges of the leaves went on cracking away, so thatmany words which were near the margins and which are now gone, passedunder the eye of Thorkelin. 

In 1832, a learned German, Dr. Blume, discovered at Vercelli, in NorthItaly, a thick volume containing Anglo-Saxon homilies, and some sacredpoems of great beauty. The poems were copied and printed under the careof Mr. Thorpe, by the Record Commission, in a book known as the"Appendix to Mr. Cooper's Report on the Fœdera, " a book that becamefamous through the complaints that were made because of the long yearsduring which it was kept back. A few privileged persons got copies, andwhen Grimm, in 1840, published the two chief poems of the new find, theAndreas and the Elene, which he had extracted from Lappenberg's copy, hehad a little fling at "die Recorders, " as if they kept the book tothemselves for a rarity to deck their own shelves withal. The poems aresix in number: 1. A Legend of St. Andrew; 2. The Fortunes of the TwelveApostles; 3. The Departed Soul's Address to the Body; 4. A Fragment; 5. A Dream of the Holy Rood; 6. Elene, or The Invention of the Cross. 

In 1851 the first notice of a book of homilies older than Ælfric, --theproperty of the Marquis of Lothian, and preserved in the library ofBlickling Hall, Norfolk, --was made public by Mr. Godwin in thetransactions of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. [27]

In 1860 was discovered the valuable fragment of an epic poem on KingWaldhere, and the manner of the find shall be told in the words ofProfessor George Stephens, which I quote from the Editio Princeps of"Waldhere, " published by him in the same year. "On the 12th of January, 1860, Professor E. C. Werlauff, Chief Librarian of the Great NationalLibrary, Cheapinghaven [Copenhagen], was engaged in sorting some bundlesof papers, parchment leaves, and fragments, mostly taken from books, orbook-backs, which had not hitherto been arranged. While thus occupied, he lighted upon two vellum leaves of great antiquity, and bearing an OldEnglish text. He kindly communicated the discovery to me, and thepresent work is the result. "

II. 

INSCRIPTIONS

of the Anglo-Saxon period exist both in the learned and the vernacularlanguage. It is peculiarly interesting, when an inscription is exhumedthat gives us back a contemporary monument, however slight, of thatAnglian Church which was the first-fruit of Christianity in our nation. About twenty years ago, a stone was found at Wearmouth which had beenburied in the ruins of the monastery ever since the ninth century, andwhich came up fresh and clear in almost every letter, bearing, "Hic insepulcro requiescit corpore Hereberecht prb. [28] (Here in this tombHereberecht presbiter rests in the body). " A fine inscription fromDeerhurst, in Gloucestershire, is now among the Arundel Marbles atOxford. It is printed in Parker's "Glossary of Architecture, " and in mySaxon Chronicles. Often the interest of these Latin inscriptions isenhanced by a strong touch of the vernacular showing through. This isthe case on a fine monumental stone in Mortimer Church. 

OF VERNACULAR INSCRIPTIONS

there is one at Lincoln, in the tower of St. Mary-le-Wigford Church. Into this tower, which is of early date, a Roman pagan monument (DiisManibus, &c. ) is walled, and, on the triangular gable of the stone, aSaxon inscription has been carved. It is imperfect, but the generalsense is clear. It must be read from the lowest and longest line upwardsto the apex. It says: "Eirtig caused me to be made and endowed in honourof Christ and St. Mary. " Perhaps the tower, or even the church, is thespeaker. The founder's name is much defaced: I have adopted the readingof Rev. J. Wordsworth, who has bestowed attention on this stone. 

A fragment of a similar inscription, but much more copious, was found atSt. Mary's, York, and is described in Hübner, No. 175. 

But the most characteristic of the vernacular inscriptions are those onsun-dials. There are no less than three of these in the North Riding ofYorkshire; viz. , at Old Byland, and at Edstow near Pickering, and atKirkdale. [29] The last is fullest and most perfect, and is, moreover, dated. It bears: "+ Orm Gamalson bought the minster of S. Gregory whenit was all to broken and to fallen, and he it let make anew from groundfor Christ and S. Gregory in the days of Edward the King and Tosti theEarl. + and Hawarth wrought me and Brand presbiter. + This is day'ssun-marker, hour by hour. "

The poetical inscription in Runes, on the Ruthwell Cross, is too large asubject for this place. [30]

JEWELLERY. 

The Anglo-Saxons retained an old tradition of decorative art, and theyhad among them skilful jewellers. Several specimens have been found, andare to be seen in museums; but the noblest of all these is that which isknown as the Alfred Jewel. 

The Alfred Jewel was discovered in Newton Park, near Athelney, in theyear 1693, and it found its way to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford by theyear 1718, where it still rests. It consists of an enamelled figureenshrined in a golden frame, with a golden back to it, and with a thickpiece of rock crystal in front to serve as a glass to the picture. Imagine a longitudinal section of a pigeon's egg, and let the goldenplate at the back of our jewel represent the plane of the egg'sdiameter. From this plane, if we measure three-quarters of an inch inthe girth of the egg, and then take another section parallel to the goldplate at the back, we obtain the front surface of the crystal throughwhich the enamelled figure is visible. The smaller end of our ovalsection is prolonged and is fashioned like the head of a boar. The snoutforms a socket, as if to fit on to a peg or dole; a cross-pin, to fixthe socket to the dole, is still in place. Around the sloping rim, whichremains, the following legend is wrought in the fabric: ÆLFRED MEC HEHTGEWYRCEAN (Alfred me commanded to make). The language of the legendagrees perfectly with the age of King Alfred, and it seems to be theunhesitating opinion of all those who have investigated the subject thatit was a personal ornament of the great West Saxon king. As to themanner of wearing it, and as to the signification of the enamelledfigure, there has been the greatest diversity of opinion. Sir FrancisPalgrave suggested that the figure was older than the setting. Perhapsit was a sacred object, and perhaps one of the presents of Pope Marinus, or some other potentate; and that the mounting was intended to adapt itfor fixture in the rim of a helmet or crown over the centre of the royalbrow. By its side, in the same glass case, there lies a gold ornamentof far simpler design, but of like adaptation. 

DRAWING AND ILLUMINATION OF BOOKS. 

This is the branch of Saxon art which is best represented by extantremains. That the specimens are numerous may be gathered from what hasbeen said above in the description of manuscripts. There are twoperiods, and the change takes place with the revival of learning in thereign of Edgar. In the earlier period, the drawings and the decorationsare of the same general type as the Irish illuminated books, and it hasbeen thought that our artists had learnt their art from the Irish; butnow there is a disposition to see in this art a type common to bothislands, and to call it British. The Lindisfarne Gospels (A. D. 710) offer the best example of this kind. In the tenth century, Frankishart was much imitated, and the Saxon style was altered. But the Saxons, in their imitations, displayed originality; and they developed agorgeous form of decoration, which was recognised as a distinct style, and was known on the Continent as English work (_opus Anglicum_). Thetypical specimen of this kind is the Benedictional of Æthelwold (between963 and 970). From the same cause, the character of the penmanship alsopasses through a corresponding change, but more gradually andindistinctly. [31]

ARCHITECTURE. 

Of Saxon architecture there are many traces; we will take but a few. 

The cathedral at Canterbury was an old church, which had been built byChristians under the Romans, and which Augustine, by the king's help, recovered, and consecrated as the Church of St. Saviour;[32] in latertimes it came to be called Christ Church. This building lasted allthrough the Saxon period; it was enlarged by Abbot Odo, about 950, andwas finally pulled down by Lanfranc, in 1070. But there exists a writtendescription of this old church by a man who had seen it, --namely, Eadmerthe Precentor, who was a diligent collector of traditions concerning hiscathedral. What makes his description especially valuable to thearchitectural historian is the fact that he compares it to St. Peter'sat Rome, and he had been to Rome in company with Anselm. Now, althoughthe old Basilica at Rome was destroyed in the sixteenth century, yetplans and drawings which were made before its demolition are preservedin the Vatican: and, with all these data before him, Professor Willisreconstructed the plan of the metropolitan church of the Saxonperiod. [33] In certain features he used, moreover, the evidence of theancient Saxon church at Brixworth. [34]

Not only from models left in Britain by the Romans, but also throughthe frequent visits of our ecclesiastics to Rome, it naturally happenedthat the Saxon architecture was imitated from the Roman. Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxons appear to have developed a style of their own. SirGilbert Scott in his posthumous Essays characterises this early churcharchitecture by two features--the square termination of the east end, and the west end position of the tower. This was quite insular, and notto be found in Roman patterns. In Professor Willis's plan of the firstcathedral at Canterbury the east and west ends are both apsidal, and thetwo towers are placed on the north and south sides of the nave. 

The great discovery, a few years ago, of the Saxon chapel atBradford-on-Avon, and the successful way in which it was cleared anddetached from other buildings by Canon Jones, has not only given us socomplete an example of Saxon church architecture as we had nothing likeit before, but it has also improved our faculty of recognising Saxonwork in fragmentary relics, and, if I may so speak, of pulling them alltogether. A remarkable passage in William of Malmesbury records thatAldhelm built a little church (_ecclesiola_) in this place; and thepossibility that this may be that very church is not rejected by thebest judges. Aldhelm died in 709. 

Of Saxon construction a chief peculiarity is that which is called "longsand shorts. " It occurs in coins of towers, in panelling work, andsometimes in door jambs. [35] Of the latter, a fine example occurs atLaughton, near Maltby, not many miles distant from Sheffield. What makesthis latter instance more peculiarly interesting, is the fact that overthe churchyard wall on the west, in a small grass field, traditionallycalled the Castle Field, there is the well-preserved plan of a Saxonlordly mansion. The circuit of the earthwork is almost complete, and ata point in the enceinte there rises the mound on which was pitched thegarrison of the little castle. I use the term castle, as the habits ofthe language now require, and as it is expressed in the name of thespot. But, indeed, castles were little known in England before theConquest; had it been otherwise, the Conquest would not have been soeasy. [36] The name and the thing came in with the Normans. Yet therewere ancient places of security, and their great feature was an earthenmound, upon which a wooden building was pitched. The Saxon mounds oftenbecame, to borrow a phrase from Mr. Freeman, the kernel of the Normancastle. And there was a traditional method of fortification for thehouses of great men of which Laughton is an example. 

SCULPTURE. 

There are several pieces of Anglo-Saxon sculpture extant; and they arenot hard to recognise, because of the peculiar lines of drawing withwhich we are already familiar in the illuminated manuscripts. In theSaxon chapel at Bradford-on-Avon there are two angels, of life size, orlarger, carved in relief on stone. They appear in the wall high abovethe chancel arch, towards the nave; and it is supposed from the distancebetween them, and from their facing one another, that there was once aholy rood placed between them, towards which they were in attendance. 

In Bristol Cathedral there is a remarkable piece of Saxon sculpture, representing a human figure, life size, apparently the Saviour, delivering a small figure, as it were a soul, out of the mouth of thedragon. This is carved on the upper side of the massive lid of a stonecoffin. It was discovered about forty years ago, and it may be seen inthe vestry within the Norman chapter-house, where it is masoned into thewall over the chimney-piece. 

BURIALS. 

The Saxon graves have yielded many illustrative objects, especiallyweapons and personal ornaments, pottery, and glass. [37]

The Saxon graves were first systematically explored by Bryan Faussett, of Heppington, in Kent (b. 1720--d. 1776); who was called by hiscontemporaries "the British Montfaucon. " He is unequalled for the extentof his excavations, and the distinctness of his well-kept chronicle. After him, in the next generation, came an interpreter, who was also agreat excavator; James Douglas, author of "Nenia Britannica, " 1793. TheFaussett collection is in Liverpool, the Douglas collection (most of it)in Oxford. 

In more recent times the general accuracy of the results has beenestablished by means of comparative researches. The tumuli in the oldmother country of the Saxons have been examined, and their affinity withour Saxon graves has been determined beyond question; while a parallelcomparison has also been instituted between the Frankish graves inFrance, and the ancestral Frankish graves in old Franconia over theRhine. Thus it is well known what interments are really Saxon. 

The chronology of the varieties of interment is not, however, socompletely ascertained. In the boundaries of property from the tenthcentury and onwards we find repeated mention of "heathen burial-places, "and it has perhaps been too readily inferred that all the Saxon gravesin the open country unconnected with churches are older than theConversion. Mr. Kemble investigated this subject, and he came to theconclusion that the cinerary urns were heathen, but that the wholeinterments were Christian. His observations were made chiefly in the oldmother country, which lies between the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Main. Heidentified the change from cremation to inhumation with that fromheathenism to Christianity. 

The tumular relics of different parts of England suggest old tribaldistinctions of costume and apparel. In Kent the fibulæ are circular andhighly ornamented, but these are sparingly found beyond the area of theearliest settlers. From Suffolk to Leicestershire the fibulæ are mostlybridge-shaped. A third variety, the concave or saucer-shaped, is foundin Berkshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire. It is, however, possible that these distinctions may be partly chronological. 

The most splendid fibula known is of the first kind. It was exhumed byBryan Faussett, 5th August, 1771, on Kingston Down in Kent, from a deepgrave containing numerous relics, and such as indicated a lady ofdistinction. The Kingston fibula is circular, entirely of gold, richlyset with garnets and turquoise; it is 3½ inches in diameter, ¼ inchin thickness, and weighs 6 oz. 5 dwt. 18 gr. This is the gem of allSaxon tumular antiquities, and it rests with the other Faussett finds inthe Mayer collection at Liverpool. Near it was found a goldenneck-ornament, weighing 2 dwt. 7 gr. These and other like examples, though less splendid, from the graves of Saxon ladies, are goodillustrations of the poetic epithet "gold-adorned, " which is repeatedlyapplied to women of high degree. 

The Saxon pottery is known to us by the burial urns. These are marked bya local character for the various districts, but still with a genericresemblance, which is based upon the comprehensive fact that althoughthey appear like inferior copies from Roman work, yet they are at thesame time like the urns found in Old Saxony and Franconia. 

The glass drinking-vessels are very peculiar, and they are noticed assuch in the poetry. [38] The hooped buckets that have been found in men'sgraves only, seem also to answer to expressions in convivialdescriptions. 

Of the tumular remains this general remark may be made, that they richlyillustrate the elder poetry. The abundance and variety of the objectswhich remain after so long a time unperished, give a strong impressionof the lavish generosity with which the dead were sent on their way. Answering to these finds there are two descriptions in the "Beowulf, "one in the beginning where the mythic hero Scyld Scefing is (not buriedbut) shipped off to sea; and the other the funeral of Beowulf with whichthe poem closes. 

The graves also afford illustration negative as well as positive. Thecomparative rarity of swords is a fact that has been particularlyremarked. This too agrees with the poetry in which there are swords offame, which are known by their own proper names, and which have anestablished pedigree of illustrious owners at the head of which oftenstands the name of the divine fabricator, Weland. Perhaps it would notbe too much to say that affinity with the tumular deposits is one of thenotes of the primary poetry. 

FOOTNOTES:

[11] "Palæographia Sacra Pictoria. "

[12] "Leland's laboryouse journey and serche for Englandes antiquities, given as a newe years gifte to King Henry VIII. , enlarged by John Bale. "London. 1549. 

[13] This is curiously confirmed by the discovery of Waldhere, describedbelow. 

[14] As this fire is one that the student is only too often reminded of, a few details may be acceptable. A committee was appointed by the Houseof Commons to view the Cotton Library after this disaster, and we learnfrom their Report (1732, folio) that "114 volumes are either lost, burnt, or entirely spoiled, and 98 others damaged so as to be defective;so that the said library at present consists of 746 entire volumes and98 defective ones. " The collection when purchased had contained 958volumes. Of late years great pains have been taken for the preservationof the fragments by careful mounting. 

[15] Photographed by the Early English Text Society, 1883. 

[16] "Die Sprache des Kentischen Psalters, " von Rudolf Zeuner. Halle, 1882. Referring to Mr. Sweet, in Transactions of Philological Society, 1875-6. 

[17] "The Gospels of the fower Evangelistes, translated in the oldeSaxons tyme out of Latin into the vulgare toung of the Saxons, newlycollected out of Auncient Monumentes of the sayd Saxons, and nowpublished for testimonie of the same. " At London. Printed by Iohn Daye, dwelling ouer Aldersgate, 1571. 

[18] See Scrivener, "Introduction to Criticism of New Testament, " ed. 2, p. 147. 

[19] "Harmonia Symbolica, " Oxford, 1858, p. 61. 

[20] Westwood, "Facsimiles, " p. 123. 

[21] It was to have been edited by Professor Buckley for the ÆlfricSociety, but that society closed its career too soon. 

[22] They were arranged by Kemble; and have recently been facsimiled bythe Ordnance Survey, under the editorship of Mr. W. Basevi Sanders. 

[23] Fully described by Mr. W. B. Sanders in the "Annual Report for 1873of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records, " p. 271 ff. 

[24] See the particulars in "Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel. " ClarendonPress, 1865. Introduction, pp. Vii. , xxv. , xxviii. 

[25] Stubbs, "Memorials of Saint Dunstan, " p. Xxx. 

[26] "The Englishman and the Scandinavian, " by Frederick Metcalfe, M. A. , 1880, p. 11. 

[27] In 1880 these Homilies were edited by Dr. Morris, for the EarlyEnglish Text Society, under the name of "The Blickling Homilies. "

[28] Hübner, 197. 

[29] Hübner, 179, 180, 181. 

[30] Kemble, "Archæologia, " Anno 1843; Stephens, "Runic Monuments, " p. 405. 

[31] Westwood, "Palæographia Sacra Pictoria, " and "Facsimiles ofMiniatures from Irish and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts. "

[32] Beda, "Church History, " i. , 33. 

[33] "The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral, " 1845, p. 27. 

[34] "The church at Brixworth has plainly had its walls raised, and aclerestory with windows added, even in the Saxon period; assuming thatmidwall baluster-shafts are to be received as characteristics of thisperiod, for a triple window with such shafts was inserted in the westernwall when the walls were so raised. " _Ibid. _, p. 30. See also Haddan andStubbs, i. , 38. 

[35] Some of the churches in which these features may be observed areDeerhurst in Gloucestershire; Earl's Barton, Northants; Benet church inCambridge; Sompting in Sussex. Figured illustrations may be seen inParker's "Introduction to Gothic Architecture. "

[36] Freeman, N. C. , ii. , 605; "Reign of Rufus" i. , 49. 

[37] These are described and figured in Bryan Faussett's "InventoriumSepulchrale, " ed. Roach Smith; Wylie, "Fairford Graves"; Neville, "SaxonObsequies"; Akerman, "Pagan Saxondom"; Kemble, "Horæ Ferales. "

[38] "The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, " by T. Wright, p. 424. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE HEATHEN PERIOD. 

 For many a petty king ere Arthur came ruled in this isle, and ever waging war each upon other, wasted all the land; and still from time to time the heathen host swarm'd over seas, and harried what was left. And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, wherein the beast was ever more and more, but man was less and less, till Arthur came. For first Aurelius lived and fought and died, and after him king Uther fought and died, but either fail'd to make the kingdom one. And after these king Arthur for a space, and thro' the puissance of his Table round, drew all their petty princedoms under him, their king and head, and made a realm, and reign'd. 

 ALFRED TENNYSON, _The Coming of Arthur_. 

For the first hundred and fifty years of their life in this island ourancestors were heathens. This time has no place in the English memorythrough any legendary or literary tradition that is associated with theSaxons. The legends of this time which retain a place in literature arenot Saxon but British. This is the era of Arthur and the Knights of theRound Table. There is no book or piece of Saxon literature that can inany substantial sense be ascribed to the heathen period; for I cannot gowith those who assign this high antiquity to the "Beowulf. "

There is a book that claims to be a product of this time, but it isneither Saxon nor heathen. It bears the name of Gildas, a Briton, and itis a fervently Christian book, written in Latin. It has two parts, onebeing a Lament of the Ruin of Britain, the other a Denunciation of theconduct of her princes. Its genuineness has been questioned, and it hasalso been ably defended. [39] The strong point in favour of the book is, that it existed and was reputed genuine before the time of Bede, whoused it as an authority, and cited it by the author's name, saying that"Gildas, their [the Britons'] historian, " describes such and such evilsin his "lamentable discourse. "[40] Through Bede the information ofGildas has fallen into the stream of English history, and we cease to beaware of the original source. For example, the familiar tradition of theSaxons coming over in "three keels, " ordinarily ascribed to Bede, istaken from Gildas. The date of this author and his work, as nowgenerally accepted, is this:--That he was born in 520, the year of thebattle of Mons Badonicus, and that he wrote about 564. But this rests onan ill-jointed and uncertain passage, which was misunderstood by Bede, if the modern interpretation is right. 

And when we come to look into that Saxon literature which wassubsequently developed, the traces of the heathen period areunexpectedly scanty, and the very remembrance of heathenism though notabolished seems already wonderfully remote. But notwithstanding allthis, we cannot treat the subject of Anglo-Saxon literature in anysatisfactory manner without some consideration of the heathen period. For, on the one hand, history requires it as a background, and the onlyappropriate background to our story of the subsequent culture; and, onthe other hand, we shall find, by putting the scattered fragmentstogether, that such an impression may be gained as is at leastsufficient for a subsidiary purpose. 

Among the extant Saxon writings there is one and only one book, in whichwe detect some possible work of this period. This is in the Chronicles. Between A. D. 450 and 600 we have a sprinkling of curious annalsthat are naturally calculated to rivet the attention. They are certainlyof a very distinct and peculiar cast, and it has been thought that theymay possibly represent (through much disguise of transcription) somekind of contemporary records of the heathen period, whether the originalshape was that of ballads, or of annals kept in Runes. 

These annals are characterised by an occasional touch of poetic fervour, and by several local details which are stimulating to modern curiosity. A few examples may be useful:--

455. Here[41] Hengest and Horsa fought against Wyrtgeorn, the king, inthe place that is called Agælesthrep; and his brother Horsa was slain;and after that Hengest took to the kingdom, and Æsc, his son. 

457. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Brettas in the place thatis called Crecganford; and there they slew 4, 000 men; and the Brets thenabandoned Kentland, and in great terror fled to Londonbury. 

473. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Walas: and they tookcountless spoil: and the Walas fled the Engles like fire. 

491. Here Ælle and Cissa beset Andredescester, and slew all those thattherein dwelt: there was not so much as one Bret remaining. 

571. Here Cuthwulf fought with the Bretwalas at Bedcanford, and tookfour towns: Lygeanburg and Ægelesburg (Aylesbury), Bænesingtun(Bensington) and Egonesham (Ensham). 

584. Here Ceawlin and Cutha fought against the Brettas, in the placethat is named Fethanleag; and Cutha was slain. And Ceawlin took manytowns and countless spoils; and in wrath he returned thence to his own. 

There is about these entries something remote and primitive, andsomething, too, of a contemporaneous form, that penetrates even throughthe folds of a modern dress. 

If we would gather an idea of the religious sentiments of that heathentime, two sources are open to us:--1. Classical authors, especiallyCæsar and Tacitus; 2. Incidental notices in domestic writings after theestablishment of Christianity. In regard to both these sources we mustregulate our expectations in accordance with the circumstances. 

1. Cæsar and Tacitus wrote of Germany at large, and not of ourparticular tribes in the north-west; yet they naturally touch someleading points which are of interest for us here. As to their religion, Cæsar formed a totally different opinion from Tacitus. According to theformer, the Germans knew only those visible and palpably useful gods, the Sun and the Moon, and Fire; they had never even heard of any othersby report. Tacitus, on the contrary, says, that they worship Herculesand Mars, and, above all, Mercury; that, at the same time, theirreligious sense is eminently spiritual, for they repudiate the thoughtof enshrining the celestials within walls, or representing them by thehuman form; that they venerate groves and forest-glades, and that by thenames of their gods they understand mysterious beings visible only tothe inward and reverential sight. These estimates are diametricallyopposed, and they have been used by an eminent writer to illustrate thedifficulty of getting at the truth about the religion of barbarians. Butit should be remembered that a long interval had elapsed between Cæsarand Tacitus; an interval, moreover, that was likely to work some, if notall, of the changes required to make these estimates compatible with oneanother. 

Tacitus informs us about the god Tuisco, whose name we still keep inTuesday;[42] about the supremacy of Mercurius, [43] that is, of Woden;and about the form of the boar as a sacred symbol, which was worn on theperson for a charm against danger. [44] He also relates the hideousceremony of a goddess Nerthus, or Mother Earth, who makes her occasionalprogresses in a wagon drawn by cows, the attendants being slaves who, when the rite is done, are all drowned in a mysterious lake. [45]

2. From the second source we might have expected more than we find. Knowing that the new religion was not established without struggles anddelays and relapses, we might have expected that the traces of the dyingsuperstition would have been numerous in Anglo-Saxon literature. And ifwe had the domestic writings that were produced in the first Christianardour, such an expectation might have been partially fulfilled. But inany case we should not expect too much from early and unformedliterature. It is the mature fruit of long cultivation to produce aliterature that reflects the present. Almost all early literature isconventional, because the spontaneous is not esteemed and is notpreserved. But whatever might have happened under other conditions, thefact now is that the literature of our first Christian era is almostentirely lost. It perished in the Danish invasions. The works of Bedaare, indeed, preserved, and in one sense they make a large exception tothe general statement, yet the exception is not one that is of greatimport for our immediate purpose. His works, even when he is upon alocal subject, breathe little of local curiosity or interest. His was acloistered life, his view was ever directed through the vista of booksand learned correspondence towards the central heart of Christianity, and he deigned but rarely to cast a look behind him at the oldsuperstitions of his people. His writings, which are all in Latin, contribute something, but it is little, towards our knowledge of Saxonheathendom. We are indebted to him for an explicit statement about themeaning of the word "Easter. " It is as follows:--"_Rhedmonath_ is socalled from their goddess _Rheda_, to whom in that month theysacrificed. . . . With the people of my nation, the old folk of the Angles, the month of April, which is now styled Paschal Month, had formerly thename of _Esturmonath_, after a goddess of theirs who was called_Eostra_, and whose festival is kept in that month; and they stilldesignate the Paschal Season from her name, by force of old religioushabit keeping the same name for the new solemnity. "[46] This is a sampleof what Beda might have told us about the old heathendom, if he had madeit a subject of inquiry. The information is the more valuable because itwas not forthcoming from any other source. The Germans have an obscuretrace of _Retmonat_; and their _ôstarmânoth_, which remains as a Germanname for April (Ostermonat) to the present day, is found as early asEginhard, the biographer of Charlemagne. But of the deities there is noinformation anywhere but in Beda. The name of Easter appears related to"East" and the growing strength of the sun. In the Edda a male being, aspirit of light, bears the name of _Austri_: the German and Saxon tribesseem to have known only a female divinity in this sense. A being withattributes taken from the Dawn and from the Spring of the year, so fullof promise and of blessing, might well be tenaciously remembered andretained for Christian use. 

We will now proceed to notice the sources which preserve some relics ofthe old heathenism. 

THE GENEALOGIES

bear the greatest testimony to the former dignity of Woden's name. Theroyal houses of Kent, Essex, Deira, Bernicia, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, --all trace up to Woden. Some go up far above Woden, who has aseries of mythological progenitors, the oldest of whom appears to beScyld, the name which forms the starting-point of the "Beowulf. "

THE LAWS. 

In the Kentish code of Wihtræd (d. 725) there are penalties set down forthose who sacrifice to devils, meaning heathen gods. 

But, on the whole, it is remarkable how little is found on this subjectin the codes before Alfred. In the Introduction to Alfred's Lawsidolatry is forbidden in two places, not in words of the time, but withthe sanction of Scripture texts. 

In the Laws of Edward and Guthrum heathenism is denounced withpenalties; in the Codes of Æthelred it is forbidden in a hortatory way;but the most explicit prohibition is that of Canute:--

"5. Of Heathenism. And we strictly forbid all heathenism. It isheathenism for a man to worship idols, --that is, to worship heathengods, and the sun or moon, fire or flood, water-wells or stones, or anykind of wood-trees, or practise witchcraft, or contrive murder bysorcery. "

The latter words seem to point to that form of sorcery known as_defixio_, wherein an effigy was maltreated, and incantations were usedto direct the injury against the life or health of some private enemy, whom the image was taken to represent. 

CANONS ECCLESIASTICAL. 

In the Canons of Ælfric, c. 35, priests are not to attend funerealfestivities unless they are invited; and if they are invited, they areto forbid the heathen songs of the lewd men, and their loudcachinnations; and they are not to eat or drink where the corpse isdeposited (thær thæt lic inne lith), lest they be partakers of theheathen rite which is there celebrated. This seems to be illustrated bya prohibition found in the Capitularies of Charlemagne against eatingand drinking over the mounds of the dead; and also by a passage ofBoniface (Epist. 71), who says that the Franks immolated bulls and goatsto the gods, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. It has been supposedthat a number of teeth, of oxen and sheep or goats, which were foundamong heathen Saxon graves at Harnham, near Salisbury, might be evidenceof this practice. [47]

In the "Laws of the Northumbrian Priests, " c. 48, it is enacted:--"Ifthere be a sanctuary (frith-geard) in any one's land, about a stone, ora tree, or a wall, or any such vanity, let him that made it pay a fine(lah-slit), half to Christ, half to the landlord (land-rica); and if thelandlord will not aid in executing the law, then let Christ and the kingreceive the mulct. "

THE POETRY

preserves many traces of heathendom. The unconscious relics of oldmythology that are imbedded in the recurrent formulæ of the heroicdiction is one of our strongest proofs that this diction was alreadymatured in heathen times. A very prominent term is Wyrd = Destiny, Fate;which is the same as the Urðr of the Scandian mythology, one of thethree fates, Urðr, Werðandi, Skuld = Past, Present, Future. In Wyrd, thewhole of the attributes are included under one name; and it counts amongthe marks of affinity between the Heliand and our Anglo-Saxonliterature, that the same thing is observed there also, though in a lessdistinct manner. In the "Beowulf" it is said:--"Wyrd often keeps alivethe man who is not destined to die, if his courage is equal to theoccasion. " Wyrd is said to weave, to prescribe, to ordain, to delude, tohurt. In Cædmon she is wælgrim = bloodthirsty. And the heathenassociation may still be felt, even when the name of Wyrd is displacedby a name of the Christian's God, as in "Beowulf" where we read:--"TheLord gave him webs to speed in war. "[48] In the Heliand the attributesare less varied, the vaticination is wanting, and _Wurð_ seems almostthe same as Death. 

But the old tradition of the three mysterious women lived on in thisisland. It is now best known to us through the German Fairy Tales, wherewe have the three spinning women. In the Middle Ages there was aremembrance of these mysterious visitants in a certain ceremony ofspreading a table for three, whether for protection to the house atnight, or to bring good luck to the children born in that house. In thePenitential of Baldwin, Bishop of Exeter (twelfth century), thissuperstition is noted, and the latter motive assigned. 

The monks of Evesham kept up a tradition which traced the origin oftheir house to a vision of three beautiful maidens, in heavenlygarments, sweetly singing. They were seen by a swineherd in the forest, when he was in search of a lost swine, and he went to Bishop Ecgwine andtold him. The bishop arrived at the place, was favoured with the samevision, and founded the monastery there. The device on the abbey sealrepresented this vision. 

A less pleasing vision of the Three Sisters is narrated by Wulfstan ofWinchester, a poet of the tenth century, who has left us a Latin poem ofthe Miracles of St. Swithun. In it he tells how, coming back one eveningtowards Winchester, he was met by two hideous females, who commanded himto stop, but he ran away in terror; he was then met and stopped by athird, who struck him a blow from which he suffered for the remainder ofhis life; but the three women plunged into the river and disappeared. 

The same three appear in _Macbeth_ as the Weird Sisters; and it isprobably from this connexion that _weird_ has become an adjective forall that savours of heathenism. 

A frequent word for battle and carnage is _wæl_, and the root idea ofthis word is choice, which may be illustrated from the German_wählen_--to choose. The heathen idea was that Woden chose those whoshould fall in battle to dwell with him in Walhalla, the Hall of thechosen. In the exercise of this choice, Woden acted by femalemessengers, called in the Norse mythology _valkyrja_, pl. _valkyrjor_. [49]

All superior works in metal, as swords, coats of mail, jewels, are theproductions of Weland, the smith. His father is called Wudga, and hisson is called Wada; and with this child on his shoulder Weland stridesthrough water nine yards deep. This was matter of popular song down toChaucer's time:--

 He songe, she playede, he told a tale of Wade. 

 "Troylus and Crescyde, " iii. , 615. 

He had by Beadohild another son, in German named Witeche, who inheritedhis father's skill and renown. For his violence to Beadohild, Weland waslamed; but he made for himself a winged garment, wherewith he took hisflight through the air. He is at once the Daidalos and the Hephaistosof the Greeks. The translator of the Boethian Metres has taken occasionto bring in this heathen god, whose cult (it seems) was still tooactive. In Metre ii. , 7, where Boethius has the line--

 Ubi nunc fidelis ossa Fabricii manent?

under colour of _faber_ = smith, which the name Fabricius suggests, Weland is made a fruitful text:--

 Hwær sind nu thæs wisan Welandes ban, thæs goldsmithes the wæs gio mærost? Forthy ic cwæth thæs wisan Welandes ban, forthy ængum ne mæg eorthbuendra, se craft losian the him Crist onlænth. Ne mæg mon æfre thy eth ænne wræccan his craftes beniman the mon oncerran mæg sunnan on swifan and thisne swiftan rodor of his riht ryne rinca ænig. Hwa wat nu thæs wisan Welandes ban, on hwelcum hi hlæwa hrusan theccen?

 Where now are the bones of Weland the wise, that goldsmith so glorious of yore? Why name I the bones of Weland the wise, but to tell you the truth that none upon earth can e'er lose the craft that is lent him by Christ? Vain were it to try, e'en a vagabond man of his craft to bereave; as vain as to turn the sun in his course and the swift wheeling sky from his stated career-- it cannot be done. Who now wots of the bones of Weland the wise, or which is the barrow that banks them?

One of the most striking points of contact between our relics ofmythology and those of the Edda occurs in the "Beowulf, " where mentionis made of the famous necklace of the Brosings (or, as Grimm wouldcorrect, Brisings). 

In the Edda the goddess Freyja is the owner of a precious necklace, called _Brîsinga men_. She had acquired this jewel from the dwarfs, andshe kept it in an inaccessible chamber, but, nevertheless, it was stolenfrom her by Loki. Therefore Loki is _Brîsings thiofr_, the thief of theBrising necklace; and Heimdallr fought with Loki for it. When Freyja isangry the heaving of this ornament betrays her emotion. When Thôrr, toget his hammer back, disguises himself as Freyja, he fails not to put onher famous necklace. From its mention in Anglo-Saxon poetry, Grimm wouldinfer the familiarity of the Saxon race with the whole story. [50]

But what adds vastly to the interest of this legend is that we find itin Homer. It is essentially the same with the belt of Aphrodite (Hymn, l. 88). In Iliad xiv. , 214, Aphrodite takes it off and lends it to Hêrêto charm Zeus withal. When we add that just above in the same context(Iliad xiv. , 165) Hêrê also has a curiously contrived chamber, made forher by Hephaistos (Vulcan), the parallel is too close to be mistaken. 

THE GOSPEL TRANSLATION. 

Of the old heathen theogony we have a remarkable document in the namesof the days of the week; and these names are best preserved to us inthe rubrics of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels. These names are supposed to havecome from the western shores of Asia, and to have pervaded the nationsof Europe, both Roman and barbarian, in the first and second centuries. By a comparison of the sets of names in the two families of nations, wegain certain leading facts about the chief deities of our heathenancestry, which all the rest of the scattered evidence tends to confirm. Thus our Tuesday, A. -S. Tywes-dæg, compared with the French Mardi andits Latin original Martis dies, teaches us that the old god Tiw (who wasalso called Tir) was recognised as the analogue of the Roman Mars, thegod of war. So Wednesday, A. -S. Wodnes-dæg, compared with the FrenchMercredi and its Latin form Mercurii dies, gives us proof that the godWoden answered to the Roman Mercurius. So, too, Thursday, A. -S. Thunres-dæg, compared with French Jeudi and Latin Jovis dies, shows thatThunor (whom the Scandinavians call Thor) is the god of thunder, likethe Latin Jupiter. So again, Friday, A. -S. Frige-dæg, compared withVendredi and Veneris dies, gives us the analogy of Frige with Venus. [51]Saturday, A. -S. Satærnes-dæg, seems like a borrowed name from the LatinSaturnus. 

Kemble maintained the probability that Sætere was a native divinity, andconsidered that the local names of Satterthwaite (Lanc. ), andSatterleigh (Devon), offered some probable evidence in that direction. More distinct are the local namesakes of Woden. Kemble adduces repeatedinstances of Wanborough, formerly Wodnesbrook (Surrey, Wilts, Hants), Woodnesborough (Kent), Wanstrow, formerly Wodnestreow = Woden's tree(Somerset), Wansdike, and others. 

THE HOMILIES

occasionally denounce and describe the prevalent forms of heathenismstill surviving. Thus Ælfric (i. , 474):--"It is not allowed to anyChristian man, that he should recover his health at any stone, or at anytree. " Wulfstan preaches thus:--"From the devil comes every evil, everymisery, and no remedy: where he finds incautious men he sends onthemselves, or sometimes on their cattle, some terrible ailment, andthey proceed to vow alms by the devil's suggestion, either to a well orto a stone, or else to some unlawful things. . . . "[52]

In an alliterative homily of the tenth century, the heathen gods thatare combated are Danish:--[53]

 Thes Jovis is arwurthost ealra thæra goda, The tha hæthenan hæfdon on heora gedwilde, and he hatte Thor betwux sumum theodum; thone tha Deniscan leode lufiath swithost. . . . Sum man was gehaten Mercurius on life, he was swithe facenful and swicol on dedum, and lufode eac stala and leasbrednysse; thone macodon tha hæthenan him to mæran gode, and æt wega gelætum him lac offrodon, and to heagum beorgum him on brohton onsegdnysse. Thes god was arwurthra betwux eallum hæthenum, and he is Othon gehaten othrum naman on Denisc. 

 This Jove is most worshipped of all the gods that the heathens had in their delusion; and he hight Thor some nations among; him the tribes of the Danes especially love. . . . There once lived a man Mercurius hight; he was vastly deceitful and sly in his deeds, eke stealing he loved and lying device; him the heathens they made their majestical god, and at the cross roads they offered him gifts, and to the high hills brought him victims to slay. This god was main worthy all heathens among, and his name when translated in Danish is Odin. 

An interesting example of the methods used to wean our simpleforefathers from their old heathen practices may be seen in a "Spell torestore fertility to land. "[54] The preamble sets forth:--"Here is theremedy whereby thou mayest restore thy fields, if they will not producewell, or where any uncanny thing has befallen them, like magic orwitchcraft. " Four turfs are to be cut before dawn from four corners ofthe land, and these are to be stacked in a heap, and upon them are to bedropped drops of an elaborate preparation whereof one ingredient is holywater; and over them are to be said words of Scripture and Our Father. And then the turfs are taken to church, and prayers are said by thepriest while the green of the turfs is turned altarwards; and then, before sun-down, the turfs are returned to their own original places:but first, four crosses, made of quickbeam, with the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, written on their four ends, are to be put, one in thebottom of each pit, and as each turf is restored to its native spot, andlaid on its particular cross, say thus:--"Crux, Mattheus; Crux, Marcus;Crux, Lucas; Crux, Joannes. "[55] Then the supplicant turns eastward, bows nine times, and says a rhythmic form of prayer, in which someheathen elements are just discernible. Then he turns three times towardsthe sun in its course, and sings Benedicite, Magnificat, and PaterNoster, and makes a gracious vow, in the friendly comprehension of whichall the neighbourhood is included, gentle and simple. 

This being done, strange seed must be procured, and this must be gotfrom poor "almsmen"; and the supplicant must give them a double quantityin return; and then he must collect together all his plough-gear andtackle, and say over them a poetic formula which has fragments that lookvery like the real old heathen charm. It begins with untranslatablewords:--

 Erce, erce, erce, eordan modor. 

 Erce, erce, erce, mother of earth. 

Then go to work with the plough, and open the first furrow, and say:--

 Hál wes thu, folde, fira modor; beo thu growende, on Codes fæthme; fodre gefylled, firum to nytte. 

 Soil I salute thee, mother of souls; be thou growing by God's grace; filled with fodder folks to comfort. 

Then a loaf is to be kneaded and baked, and put into the first furrow, with yet another anthem:--

 Ful æcer fodres fira cinne, beorht-blowende thu gebletsod weorth. 

 A full crop of fodder may the folks see; brightly blossoming, blessed mote thou be. 

Then follows a chaplet of three repetitions, twice repeated, and thislong day's orison is done. 

Here we have a fair example of the artifice used by the clergy intransforming old heathen charms into edifying ceremonies. Men are hereled to pray; to exercise themselves in some of the chief liturgicalformularies of the Catholic Church; to accept Christian versions oftheir old incantations; to profess good will to their neighbours, highand low; and to exercise some bounty towards the poor. Natural means arenot neglected; a change of seed is made a part of the ceremonial. 

Such are some of the traces we can gather from the expiring relics ofheathenism. They all come from the Christian period, as was natural, seeing that the national profession of heathenism ended before ourliterature began, unless the annals mentioned at the beginning of thischapter are exceptions. The facilities of writing must have been verylimited if the only alphabet in use was the Runic. It is, perhaps, alittle too rigid to assume that the use of the Roman alphabet is to bedated strictly from the Conversion. As the use of Runes did not thensuddenly terminate, but gradually receded before the superiorinstrument, so perhaps it is most reasonable to suppose that theadoption of the Roman alphabet was very gradual, and that the Saxons mayhave begun to use it, at least in Kent, before the reign ofÆthelberht. [56]

FOOTNOTES:

[39] T. Wright, "Celt, Roman, and Saxon, " p. 389; J. R. Green, "ShortHistory, " i. , 2. 

[40] "Ecclesiastical History, " i. , 22. 

[41] It is the manner of the Saxon chronicles to attach each annal toits year-date by an adverb of locality--"Here. "

[42] "Germania, " c. 2. 

[43] _Id. _, c. 9. 

[44] _Id. _, c. 45. 

[45] "Germania, " c. 40. 

[46] "De Temporum Ratione, " c. 13. 

[47] "Archæologia, " vol. Xxxv. , p. 259. 

[48] Compare with this the "Spaedom of the Norns, " in Dasent's "BurntNjal"; also Gray's "Fatal Sisters, " which is another version of the sameoriginal, one remove further off, as Gray knew the poem only through theLatin of Torfæus. 

[49] The second part of this compound repeats the idea of the first, namely, choice: it is from the verb to choose, for in certain tensesthis verb changed _s_ to _r_, just as from the verb to _freeze_ we have_frore_ (Milton), and from _lose_ we have a participle _lorn_. TheAnglo-Saxon form is _wælcyrige_. Grimm's "Teutonic Mythol. " tr. Stallybrass, p. 418. Kemble, "Saxons, " i. , 402. 

[50] The same keen discoverer scents an old heathen reminiscence alsowhen the poet of the Heliand makes that holy thing which is not to becast before dogs (Matthew vii. 6) a _hêlag halsmeni_ = holy necklace. 

[51] For the distinct attributes of this goddess, who was the wife ofWoden, the reader may consult Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology, " who quotesPaulus Diaconus (eighth century), saying that the Langobards calledWoden's wife _Frea_, and Saxo, p. 13, saying, "Frigga Othini conjux. "

[52] "Über die Werke des altenglischen Erzbischofs Wulfstan, " von ArthurNapier. Weimar, 1882, p. 33. 

[53] Printed in Kemble's "Solomon and Saturn, " p. 120. 

[54] Printed in Thorpe's "Analecta" (1846), p. 116. 

[55] This recalls the charm that within living memory was used onDartmoor as an evening prayer:--

 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Bless the bed that I lie on; Two to head and two to feet, And four to keep me while I sleep. 

[56] Some Runic alphabets may be seen in my "Philology of the EnglishTongue, " § 96 (ed. 3, 1879). The best collection of Runic monuments isin the two folio volumes of Professor George Stephens. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE SCHOOLS OF KENT. 

§ 1. 

It is a debatable question whether any Roman culture lived through theSaxon conquest. 

The Saxon conquest of Britain was certainly, on the whole, a destructiveone, and it has been justly contrasted with the Frankish conquest ofGaul; where the conquerors quickly assimilated with the conquered. Therelics of Roman civilisation which the Saxons adopted, were indeed few. This is true, as a general statement. But there is some ground forregarding Kent as a case apart. Here all accounts seem to indicate agradual and less violent intrusion of the new race, and to suggest thepossibility that there was not for that area a complete break in thetraditions and customs of life. The capital city itself, Dorobernia(Canterbury), whatever revolution it may have suffered, was at least notdestroyed. There is nothing that requires us to assume the extinction ofthe schools of grammar which existed presumably in Kent as in Gaul. 

The foundation of schools by the Roman mission is not recorded, nor doesBede say anything to imply it when thirty years later he describes thefoundation of schools in East Anglia. These were founded by kingSigberct because he desired to have good institutions such as he hadseen in Gaul, and his wishes were carried into effect by bishop Felix, after the pattern of the schools of Kent. [57] Whether it would bepossible to trace the study of Roman law as a scholastic exercisethrough these obscure times, is very doubtful. [58] But certainly thereis something about the Latinity of our earliest legal documents, thathas a local and even a vernacular aspect. Slight as these traces may be, they are interesting enough to merit consideration. 

In the Kentish laws are preserved our oldest extant relics of ancestralcustom. The first code is that of Æthelberht, with this title:--"This bethe Dooms that Æthelbriht, king, ordained in Augustine's days. " It ismuch concerned with penalties for personal injuries. These are some ofthe "Dooms":--

 Cap. 40. If an ear be smitten off, 6 shillings amends (bôt). 

 " 41. If the ear be pierced through, 3 shillings. 

 " 43. If an eye is lost, 50 shillings. 

 " 44. If mouth or eye be damaged, 12 shillings. 

 " 45. If the nose be pierced, 9 shillings. 

 " 51. For the four front teeth, 6 shillings each; the tooth that stands next, 4 shillings; the next to that, 3 shillings; and thenceforth, each, 1 shilling. 

Penalties for theft are graduated according to the quality of the personinjured, _i. E. _, according to the different orders of men in the bodypolitic, each of whom has a separate value: king, noble, freeman, serf, slave. Such we may suppose to have been the primitive institutes of thetribes in the old mother country on the Continent. But the code isheaded by a captel, in which the property of the Church is valued beyondthat of the king, and the same applies to the higher clergy. "Cap. 1. The property of God and the Church, 12 fold; Bishop's property, 11 fold;Priest's, 9 fold [the same as the King's]; Deacon's, 6 fold; Clerk's, 3fold. " Next follows one that we may well suppose might have been thefirst of the pre-Christian code: "Cap. 2. If the king summon his peopleto him, and one there do them evil--double bôt, and 50 shillings to theking. " Bede mentions (ii. , 5) these laws of Æthelberht, and especiallythis feature of them, that they began with the protection of Churchproperty. He also says, that the king constituted these laws accordingto Roman precedent (_juxta exempla Romanorum_), by which some have beenled to expect that there would be an element of Roman law in them. Theimitation consisted only in committing the laws to writing. 

Æthelberht died in 616, and then came a heathen reaction under his sonEadbald; but he was converted to Christianity in 618 by BishopLaurentius. His son Erconbriht, who succeeded in 640, was the firstking who dared to demolish the heathen fanes. Bede informs us that thisking made a law for the observance of the Lenten fast; but no law of thekind appears until we come to the laws of Wihtred. Ecgbriht succeededhis father in 664, under whom the waning power of Kent reasserted itsformer sway. To him succeeded first Hlothære in 673, and then Eadric. These two reigns were short, and the names of both the kings stand atthe head of the next Kentish code. 

The introductory sentence of this code was this:--"Hlothhære and Eadric, kings of the men of Kent, enlarged the laws which their predecessors hadmade aforetime, with these dooms following":--

 Cap. 8. If one man implead another in a matter, and he cite the man to a 'Methel' or a 'Thing', let the man always give security to the other, and do him such right, as the Kentish judges prescribe to them. 

This code has a little series of laws concerning offences to the senseof honour, and consequent danger to the king's peace:--

 Cap. 11. If in another's house one man calleth another man a perjurer, or assail him offensively with injurious words; let him pay a shilling to the owner of the house, and 6 shillings to the insulted man, and forfeit 12 shillings to the king. 

 Cap. 12. If a man remove another's stoup where men drink without offence, by old right he pays a shilling to him who owns the house, and 6 shillings to him whose stoop was taken away, and 12 shillings to the king. 

 Cap. 13. If weapon be drawn where men drink, and no harm be done; a shilling to the owner of the house, and 12 shillings to the king. 

After a troublous time of encroachment from the side of Wessex, thekingdom of Kent had again a time of honour, if not of absoluteindependence, under king Wihtred (691-725), who, in the preamble to hislaws, is called the most gracious king of the Kentish folk (_se mildestacyning Cantwara_). His laws are mostly ecclesiastical. The rights of theChurch and of her ministers, the keeping of the Sunday, manumission ofslaves at the altar, penalties for heathen rites, these subjects makethe bulk of a code of 28 captels, of which the last four are abouttheft. The closing provision is characteristic of the state of society:

 Cap. 28. If a man from a distance, or a stranger, go off the road, and he neither shout nor blow a horn, as a thief he is liable to be examined, or slain, or redeemed. 

In the preamble this code is precisely dated on the 6th day of August inWihtred's fifth year, which is 696. Also it mentions Berghamstyde, whichseems to mean Berkhamstead (Herts), as the place of enactment, andGybmund, bishop of Rochester, as having been present. Doubts have beencast upon the genuineness of this code, but it is defended in Schmid'sintroduction. This is the last of the laws of Kent. 

The Kentish laws are found in a register of the twelfth century, whichhas a high character for fidelity. No doubt the substance of them isfaithfully preserved. But they are not in the original Kentish dialect;they have been translated into West Saxon. The translation has not, however, obliterated all traces of the original; there are somepeculiarities which survive, and which enable us to see through thepresent form those traces of a higher antiquity, which strengthen thatconfidence which the contents are calculated to inspire. 

The Kentish dialect was the first literary form of the language of ourSaxon ancestors. It has been thought that in the Epinal Gloss, of whicha specimen will be given below, we have the best extant representationof this ancient dialect. Early in the ninth century we have someoriginal documents in the Kentish dialect, and these are our surestguides in judging of other specimens. [59]

The following extract is from a legal document of the year 832. Luba hadmade a deed of gift from her estate to the fraternity of Christ Churchat Canterbury, and the following sanction was appended:

 ✠ Ic luba eaðmod godes ðiwen ðas forecwedenan god ⁊ ðas elmessan gesette ⁊ gefestnie ob minem erfelande et mundlingham ðem hiium to cristes cirican ⁊ ic bidde ⁊ an godes libgendes naman bebiade ðæm men ðe ðis land ⁊ ðis erbe hebbe et mundlingham ðet he ðas god forðleste oð wiaralde ende se man se ðis healdan wille ⁊ lestan ðet ic beboden hebbe an ðisem gewrite se him seald ⁊ gehealden sia hiabenlice bledsung se his ferwerne oððe hit agele se him seald ⁊ gehealden helle wite bute he to fulre bote gecerran wille gode ⁊ mannum uene ualete. 

 I, Luba, the humble handmaid of God, appoint and establish these foresaid benefactions and alms from my heritable land at Mundlingham to the brethren at Christ Church; and I entreat, and in the name of the living God I command, the man who may have this land and this inheritance at Mundlingham, that he continue these benefactions to the world's end. The man who will keep and discharge this that I have commanded in this writing, to him be given and kept the heavenly blessing; he who hinders or neglects it, to him be given and kept the punishment of hell, unless he will repent with full amends to God and to men. Fare ye well. 

§ 2. 

The middle of the seventh century was a very dark period throughout theWest. The lingering rays of ancient culture had grown very faint inFrance, Italy, and Spain. Literary production had ceased in France sinceGregory of Tours and his friend Venantius Fortunatus, the poet; inSpain, soon after Isidore of Seville, the Christian area had beennarrowed by the Moslem invasion; in Italy, though the tradition oflearning was never extinguished, yet no writer of eminence appeared fora long time after Gregory the Great. At such a time it was that the seedof learning found a new and fruitful soil among the Anglo-Saxon people;and they who had been the latest receivers of the civilising element, quickly took the lead in religion and learning. 

In the year 668 three remarkable men came into Britain, These wereTheodore, a Greek of Tarsus, who came as Archbishop of Canterbury;Hadrian, an African monk who had deprecated his own appointment to thatoffice; and Biscop Baducing (called Benedict Biscop), an Angle ofNorthumbria, who had left his retreat in the monastery of Lerins, toguide and accompany the travellers into his native country. 

This had risen out of an unforeseen event, and had almost the appearanceof accident. But the consequences were great and far-reaching. Theodoreorganised the English Church upon lines that proved permanent. A new erawas also inaugurated for literature and art. Literature was representedby Hadrian, who set up education at St. Augustine's upon an improvedplan; and art, especially in relation to religious and educationalinstitutions--books, buildings, ritual--was the province of BenedictBiscop. 

Up to this time education and literature had two rival sources, the oldschools of Kent, and the schools of the Irish teachers. But fromHadrian's coming a new literary era commences. For more than a hundredyears our island was the seat of learning beyond any other country inthe world of the West. Even Greek learning, extinct elsewhere, wasrevived for a time; and Bede, whose childhood had corresponded to theopening of this new activity, looked back on it when he was old as aglorious time, and he put it on record that he had known many scholarsto whom both the Latin and Greek languages were as their mother tongue. 

Of those who were formed in the school of Hadrian, the first and mostconspicuous is Aldhelm. His rudimentary education must have been overbefore he knew Hadrian. The school of Maidulf gave him his boyishtraining at the monastery which was called after the Irish founder, andwhich has given name to the town of Malmesbury (Maidulfes burh). SoAldhelm stands between the two systems, the old Irish and the newKentish. His preference was for the latter, but his works retain thecharacteristics of both. He has a love of grandiloquence which is bothKeltic and Saxon, and a delight in alliteration which is more especiallySaxon. His familiarity with the national poetry looms often through hisLatin. But his proper characteristics, those whereby he fills a positionaltogether his own, are apart from these peculiarities. He is thescholar of the age, the type of that set whom Bede delighted to recall, who knew Latin and Greek like their mother tongue. He is the father ofAnglo-Latin poetry. He made a zealous study of the Latin metres, and hecommended the pursuit to other scholars. His Greek knowledge manifestsitself everywhere: not always with a good effect, according to presenttaste; but in a manner which is of historical value as demonstrating hisreal familiarity with the Greek language. 

Aldhelm's great work, and the work which most conveys his interpretationof the spiritual conditions of his time, is his book, "De LaudeVirginitatis, " in praise of Celibacy. But for the purposes of literaryhistory, his artistic studies are of more importance than those whichare strictly religious and ecclesiastical. Of the greatest interest forus are his Riddles. These are short Latin poems somewhat after the modelof Symphosius, whose work he describes, [60] and whom he seems ambitiousto outstrip. The riddles of Symphosius are uniformly of three hexameterlines, those of Aldhelm vary in length from four lines to sixteen;rarely more. The external structure is that of the Epigram, with theobject speaking in the first person. The riddles both of Symphosius andAldhelm are so closely identified with the vernacular riddles of thefamous Exeter Song Book, that the reader may be glad of a specimen fromeach author. It should be premised that in each collection the subjectstands as a title at the head of each piece. The subject of thesixteenth in Symphosius is the book-moth:--

DE TINEA. 

 Litera me pavit, nec quid sit litera novi, In libris vixi nec sum studiosior inde, Exedi musas nec adhuc tamen ipse profeci. 

 I have fed upon literature, yet know not what it is; I have lived among books, yet am not the more studious for it; I have devoured the Muses, yet up to the present time I have made no progress. 

One of Aldhelm's riddles is on the Alphabet; and this will be a fitspecimen here, as containing something that is germane to the history ofliterature:--

 Nos denæ et septem genitæ sine voce sorores, Sex alias nothas non dicimus adnumerandas, Nascimur ex ferro rursus ferro moribundæ, Necnon et volucris pennâ volitantis ad æthram; Terni nos fratres incertâ matre crearunt; Qui cupit instanter sitiens audire, docemus, Turn cito prompta damus rogitanti verba silenter. 

 We are seventeen sisters voiceless born; six others, half-sisters, we exclude from our set; children of iron by iron we die, but children too of the bird's wing that flies so high; three brethren our sires, be our mother as may; if any one is very eager to hear, we tell him, and quickly give answer without any sound. [61]

Aldhelm is the first of the Anglo-Latin poets, and he was a classicalscholar at a time when to be so was a great distinction. Both in proseand verse, his style has the faults which belong to an age of revivedstudy. His love of learning, his keen appreciation of its beauty and itsvalue, have tended to inflate his sentences with an appearance ofdisplay. His poetic diction is simpler than that of his prose; but here, too, he is habitually over-elevated, whence he becomes sometimesstilted, and oftentimes he drops below pitch with an inadequate anddisappointing close. But we must honour him in the position which heholds. He is the leader of that noble series of English scholars whorepresent the first endeavouring stage of recovery after the greateclipse of European culture. 

There is nothing of his remaining in the vernacular; but that he was anEnglish poet we have testimony which, though late, is not to bedisregarded. William of Malmesbury quotes a book of King Alfred's, whichsaid that Aldhelm had been a peerless writer of English poetry: and headds, moreover, that a popular song, which had been mentioned by Alfredas Aldhelm's, was still commonly sung in his own time--that is, in thetwelfth century. 

Attempts have been made to identify some of our extant Anglo-Saxonliterature with a name so eminent. In 1835 the Anglo-Saxon Psalter ofthe Paris manuscript was first printed at Oxford, and as this book givesa hundred of the Psalms in vernacular poetry, the suggestion that theymight be Aldhelm's, though modernised, had rhetorical attractions forthe editor (Thorpe), and supplied him with material for a few ratheridle sentences of his Latin preface. In 1840 Jacob Grimm edited (fromThorpe's editio princeps) two poems of the Vercelli book, the "Andreas"and the "Elene;" and in his preface he sought to fix this poetry uponAldhelm by a line of argument altogether fallacious, as was afterwardsshown by Mr. Kemble in his edition of the "Andreas" for the ÆlfricSociety. 

That which we have to show for this period in the native Kentish dialectis less ambitious, but it will not be despised by the consideratereader. In the beginnings of learning, when students had not theapparatus of grammars and dictionaries, which now, being common, arealmost as much a matter of course as any gift of nature, it wasnecessary for students to make lists of words and phrases forthemselves, and after a while a few of these would be thrown together, and would be reduced to alphabetical order for facility of reference. Itis to such a process as this that we owe the Glossaries which form aninteresting branch of Anglo-Saxon literature. The Epinal Gloss is theoldest of these, and it is very valuable because of the archaic forms ofmany of the words. A selection is here given by way of specimen:--[62]

EPINAL GLOSS. 

(_Cooper, Appendix B, p. 153. _)

 _Alba spina_, haegu thorn (hawthorn). _Aesculus_, boecae (beech). _Achalantis, luscina_ netigalæ (nightingale). _Acrifolus_, holegn (holly). _Alnus_, alaer (alder). _Abies_, saeppae (fir). _Argella_, laam (loam). _Accitulium_, geacaes surae (sorrel). _Absintium_, uuermod (wormwood). _Alacris_, snel (swift, German _schnell_). _Alveus_, stream rad (stream-road = channel). _Aquilæ_, segnas (military standards). _Anser_, goos (goose). _Beta_, berc, _arbor_ (birch). _Ballena_, hran (whale). _Buculus_, rand beag (buckler). _Berruca_, uueartæ (wart). _Cados_, ambras (casks). _Chaos_, duolma (confusion, error). _Cicuta_, hymblicae (hemlock). _Cofinus_, mand (hamper). _Fulix_, ganot, dop aenid (gannet, dip-chick). _Filix_, fearn (fern). _Fasianus_, uuor hana (pheasant). _Fungus_, suamm (German _schwamm_). _Fragor_, suoeg (swough, sough). _Finiculus_, finugl (fennel). _Follis_, blest baeelg (blast-bellows). _Glarea_, cisil (pebble, cf. Chesil Bank). _Hibiscum_, biscop uuyrt (marsh mallow). _Horodius_, uualh hebuc (foreign hawk). _Hirundo_, sualuuae (swallow). _Intestinum_, thearm (German _Darm_). _Jungetum_, risc thyfil (jungle). _Inprobus_, gimach (troublesome). _Iners_, asolcaen (lazy). _Inter primores_, bituien aeldrum (among the chief men). _Juris periti_, red boran (counsellors). _Invisus_, laath (loath). _Iuuar_ (= _jubar_), leoma, earendil (gleam, beacon, crest). _Ignarium_, al giuueorc (fire-work). _Ibices_, firgen gaett (mountain goats, chamois). _Lunules_, mene scillingas (coins or bracteates on a necklace). _Lucius_, haecid (hake, German _Hecht_). _Lolium_, atae (oats). _Limax_, snel (snail). _Ligustrum_, hunaeg sugae (honeysuckle). _Manipulatim_, threatmelum (in bands). _Manica_, gloob (glove). _Mascus_, grima (mask). _Malva_, cotuc, geormant lab (mallow). _Mars_, Tiig (cf. Tuesday). _Ninguit_, hsniuuith (snoweth). _Nigra spina_, slach thorn (sloe-thorn). _Nanus_, duerg (dwarf). _Olor_, aelbitu (the elk, wild swan). _Piraticum_, uuicing sceadan (pirates). _Pares_, uuyrdae (Fates). _Perna_, flicci (flitch). _Pictus acu_, mið naeðlae sasiuuid (embroidered). _Pronus_, nihol (perpendicular). _Pollux_, thuma (thumb). _Quoquomodo_, aengiþinga (anyhow). _Rumex_, edroc. _Ramnus_, theban (thorn). _Salix_, salch (sallow). _Sturnus_, staer (starling). _Titio_, brand (firebrand). _Tignarius_, hrofuuyrcta (roofwright). _Vadimonium_, borg (pledge, security). 

In this glossary we see the preparation for our modern Latin-Englishdictionaries. Already, as early as the reign of Augustus, the foundationof the Latin dictionary was laid by Verrius Flaccus, but his dictionarywould naturally consist of Latin words with Latin explanations. But inthe seventh century there was a demand for Latin vocabularies, withequivalents in the vernacular languages; and here, in the EpinalGlossary, we have the earliest known example of such a work. At firstsuch glossaries would be merely lists of words formed in the course ofstudying some one or two Latin texts, and in process of time wouldfollow the compilation of several such glossaries into one, until, inthe tenth and eleventh centuries, we find vocabularies of some compass(as Ælfric's), and by the fifteenth century we have such bulkydictionaries as the "Catholicon" and the "Promptorium Parvulorum. "

We will close this chapter with specimens of the "Psalter of St. Augustine, " which received an Anglo-Saxon gloss (dialect Kentish[63])at the end of the ninth, or early in the tenth century. The book hasbeen already described above, p. 33. 

PSALM XLIX. (L. ), 7:--"Hear, O my people, " &c. 

 geher folc min ond sprecu to israhela folce ond 7. Audi populus meus et loquar Israhel et

 ic cythu the thætte god god thin ic eam testificabor tibi quoniam Deus Deus tuus ego sum

 na les ofer onsegdnisse thine ic dregu the onsegdnisse 8. Non super sacrificia tua arguam te holocausta

 soth thine in gesihthe minre sind aa autem tua in conspectu meo sunt semper

 ic ne on foo of huse thinum calferu ne of eowdum 9. Non accipiam de domo tua vitulos neque de gregibus

 thinum buccan tuis hircos

 for thon min sind all wildeor wuda neat in 10. Quoniam meæ sunt omnes feræ silvarum jumenta in

 muntum ond oexen montibus et boves

 ic on cneow all tha flegendan heofenes ond hiow 11. Cognovi omnia volatilia cæli et species

 londes mid mec is agri mecum est

 gif ic hyngriu ne cweothu ic to the min is sothlice 12. Si esuriero non dicam tibi, meus est enim

 ymb hwerft eorthan ond fylnis his orbis terræ et plenitudo ejus

 ah ic eotu flæsc ferra oththe blod 13. Numquid manducabo carnes taurorum aut sanguinem

 buccena ic drinco hircorum potabo

 ageld gode onsegdnisse lofes ond geld tham hestan 14. Immola Deo sacrificium laudis et redde Altissimo

 gehat thin vota tua

 gece mec in dege geswinces thines thæt ic genere 15. Invoca me in die tribulationis tuæ ut eripiam

 thec ond thu miclas mec te et magnificabis me

 D I A P S A L M A. 

 to thæm synfullan sothlice cweth god for hwon thu 16. Peccatori autem dixit Deus Quare tu

 asagas rehtwisnisse mine ond genimes cythnisse mine enarras justitias meas et adsumes testamentum meum

 thorh muth thinne per os tuum

 thu sothlice thu fiodes theodscipe ond thu awurpe 17. Tu vero odisti disciplinam et projecisti

 word min efter the sermones meos post te

 gif thu gesege theof somud thu urne mid hine ond 18. Si videbas furem simul currebas cum eo et

 mid unreht hæmderum dæl thinne thu settes cum adulteris portionem tuam ponebas

 muth thin genihtsumath mid nithe ond tunge thin 19. Os tuum abundavit nequitia et lingua tua

 hleothrade facen concinnavit dolum

 sittende with broether thinum thu teldes ond 20. Sedens adversus fratrem tuum detrahebas et

 with suna moeder thinre thu settes eswic adversus filium matris tuæ ponebas scandalum

 thas thu dydes ond ic swigade thu gewoendes on unrehtwisnisse 21. Hæc fecisti et tacui existimasti iniquitatem

 thæt ic wære the gelic quod ero tibi similis

 ic threu thec ond ic setto tha ongegn onsiene Arguam te et statuam illa contra faciem

 thinre Ongeotath thas alle tha ofer geoteliath tuam (22. ) intelligite hæc omnes qui obliviscimini

 dryhten ne hwonne gereafie ond ne sie se generge Dominum ne quando rapiat et non sit qui eripiat

 onsegdnis lofes gearath mec ond ther 23. Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me et illic

 sithfet is thider ic oteawu him haelu godes iter est in quo ostendam illi salutare Dei

PSALM LXXVI. (LXXVII. )

 Ond smegende ic eam in allum wercum thinum ond 13. Et meditatus sum in omnibus operibus tuis et

 in gehaeldum thinum ic bieode in observationibus tuis exercebor

 god in halgum weg thin hwelc god micel 14. Deus in sancto via tua quis Deus magnus

 swe swe god ur thu earth god thu the doest sicut Deus noster (15. ) tu es Deus qui facis

 wundur ana cuthe thu dydes in folcum megen mirabilia solus notam fecisti in populis virtutem

 thin gefreodes in earme thinum folc thin tuam (16. ) liberasti in brachio tuo populum tuum

 bearn filios Israhel et Joseph

 gesegun thec weter god gesegun thec weter ond 17. Viderunt te aquæ Deus viderunt te aquæ et

 on dreordun gedroefde werun niolnisse mengu timuerunt turbati sunt abyssi (18. ) multitudo

 swoeges wetre stefne saldun wolcen ond sothlice sonitus aquarum Vocem dederunt nubes et enim

 strelas thine thorh leordun stefn thunurrade thinre sagittæ tuæ pertransierunt (19. ) vox tonitrui tui

 in hweole in rota

 in lihton bliccetunge thine eorthan ymbhwyrfte gesaeh Inluxerunt coruscationes tuæ orbi terræ vidit

 ond onstyred wes eorthe et commota est terra

 in sae wegas thine ond stige thine in wetrum miclum 20. In mari viæ tuæ et semitæ tuæ in aquis multis

 ond swethe thine ne bioth oncnawen et vestigia tua non cognoscentur

 thu gelaeddes swe swe scep folc thin in honda 21. Deduxisti sicut oves populum tuum in manu

 mosi ond aaron Moysi et Aaron

These specimens of the Kentish dialect (with the exception of the EpinalGloss) are of much later date than the times which our narrative has yetreached; and they are only offered as a proximate representation of thatwhich was the first of English dialects to receive literary culture. This dialect is peculiarly interesting as being that from which the WestSaxon was developed; in other words, it is the earliest form of thatimperial dialect in which the great body of extant Saxon literature ispreserved. But the Kentish did not ripen into the maturer outlines ofthe West Saxon without the intervention of a third dialect; and in orderto appreciate this it is necessary for us to review that more spaciousculture of which the scene was laid in the country of the NorthernAngles. 

FOOTNOTES:

[57] "Ecclesiastical History, " iii. , 18. 

[58] Aldhelm speaks of the study of Roman law in connexion with otherscholastic studies, as Latin verses and music. But then that was afterthe new start given to education by Theodore and Hadrian. A centurylater, Alcuin described the studies at V York in this order, --grammar, rhetoric, law. --Wharton, "Anglia Sacra, " ii. 6; Alcuin's poem, "DePontificibus &c. "

[59] They are in Kemble, "Codex Diplomaticus, " Nos. 226, 228, 229, 231, 235, 238. 

[60] Aldhelm's "Works, " ed. Giles, p. 228. 

[61] Seventeen consonants and six vowels; made with iron style anderased with the same, or else made with a bird's quill; whatever theinstrument, three fingers are the agents; and we can convey answerwithout delay even in situations where it would be inconvenient tospeak. 

[62] I have given the _th_, or þ, or ð, as in the manuscript. This isdone in the present instance because a peculiar interest attaches to itin the earliest specimens of writing. The frequency of _th_, and therarity of the monograms, is itself a distinguishing feature. Speaking ingeneral terms of Anglo-Saxon literature, as it appears in manuscripts, it might be fairly said that there is no _th_; this sound is representedby ð or þ. And of these two, the modified Roman character, Ð ð, is foundto prevail over the native Rune (þ) in the oldest extant writings. Throughout this little book the _th_ is commonly used, as being mostconvenient for the general reader. 

[63] Transactions of the Philological Society for 1875-6. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE ANGLIAN PERIOD. 

While Canterbury was so important a seminary of learning, there was, inthe Anglian region of Northumbria, a development of religious andintellectual life which makes it natural to regard the whole brilliantera from the later seventh to the early ninth century as "The AnglianPeriod. " Not only did the greatest school of the whole island grow up atYork, but also one that, with its important library, was for the timethe most active and useful in the whole of Western Europe. 

The importance of the Anglian period consists in the fact that itbelongs not merely to one nation, but that Anglia became for a centurythe light-spot of European history; and that here we recognise the firstgreat stage in the revival of learning, and the first movement towardsthe establishment of public order in things temporal and spiritual. Happily, the period stands out in a good historical light, and the chiefelements of its influence are finely exhibited in the persons ofrepresentative men or representative groups. 

There is Paulinus, the fugitive missionary from Kent, who made the firstrapid evangelisation of the northern country; King Edwin and his courtform a well-displayed group between the old darkness and the cominglight, as they consult and compare the two; Oswald, returning from exileto be king, and bringing with him the Scotian type of Christianity;Aidan, the first Scotian bishop of Lindisfarne, and the model ofpastors; Wilfrid, the champion of Roman unity, confronting Colman at thesynod of Whitby before Oswy, the presiding king, on the absorbingquestion of the time; Wilfrid appealing to Rome against Theodore; andyet again, Wilfrid, the first Anglo-Saxon missionary; Biscop Baducing(Benedict Biscop), the founder of abbeys, the traveller, the introducerof arts from abroad; Cædmon, the cowherd, the divinely-inspired singerand the father of a school of English poetry; Cuthberht, theshepherd-boy, abbot, bishop, hermit, and finally the national saint ofNorthumbria; Willebrord and the two Hewalds, and all the glorious bandof missionaries and martyrs; Winfrid (Boniface), the crown of them all, apostle of Germany, and martyr; Beda, the teacher and historian;Ecgberct and Alberct, successively archbishops of York, acknowledgedpresidents of Western learning; Alcuin, the bearer of Anglian learningto the Franks, and the organiser of schools for the future ages. 

After Aldhelm, the first Englishman who appeared as an author was Æddi, better known as Eddius Stephanus. He was the friend and companion ofWilfrid in his contentions and troubles, and, after his death, he wrotea biography of him in Latin. This book is of great value as anauthority, and as illustrating the history of the later seventh andearly eighth century. Wilfrid died in 709, the same year as Aldhelm. 

Wilfrid was the master-spirit of this age. He represented the best aimsof his nation; he understood the needs of the time; he worked for them, and he suffered for them. With an overbearing spirit, fantastic toooften in his conduct, he saw what was needed--he saw the necessity forunity with Rome. This was a necessity, not for one country alone, butfor the whole West at that time. Protestant writers have looked atWilfrid through a distorting medium. Nowhere, perhaps, is there moreneed to allow for difference of times than in estimating Wilfrid. He hadgreat faults; he quarrelled with the best men; but, on the other hand, Theodore, the most important of all his adversaries, soughtreconciliation at last, and accused himself of injustice. Wilfridinitiated the German missions; he impressed on that great field of Saxonactivity the policy of his agitated life, and that policy was evermilitant in Boniface, the chief apostle of Germany, and may be said tohave triumphed when the Roman Empire was renewed in harmony with theHoly See, and Charles was crowned in 800. Wilfrid, more than any otherman, appears as the ideal representative of that varied influence, religious, literary, political, which the Anglo-Saxon Church exercisedupon the Western world. 

The beginning of our vernacular literature, so far as it can be treatedchronologically, lies between the years 658 and 680. For these are theyears of the abbacy of Hild at Whitby, and it was in her time thatCædmon appeared, who had received the gift of divine song in a visionof the night. When this heavenly call was recognised, the herdsmanbecame a brother of the religious fraternity, and devoted his life tothe pursuit of sacred poetry. To the lover of the mother tongue it mustappear a singular felicity that Cædmon's first hymn is preserved in abook that was written not much more than half-a-century after hisdeath. [64]

 Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard, metudæs maecti end his modgidanc; uerc uuldurfadur; sue he uundra gihuaes, eci dryctin, or astelidæ. He aerist scop aelda barnum heben til hrofe, halig scepen; tha middungeard moncynnæs uard, eci dryctin, æfter tiadæ firum foldan frea allmectig. 

 Now shall we glorify the guardian of heaven's realm, the Maker's might and the thought of his mind; the work of the glory-father, how He of every wonder, He the Lord eternal laid the foundation. He shapèd erst for the sons of men, heaven their roof, holy Creator; the middle world he, mankind's sovereign, eternal captain, afterwards created, the land for men Lord Almighty. [65]

BEDA was born in 672, in the neighbourhood of Wearmouth, twoyears before Biscop founded an abbey there. Of this abbey Beda became aninmate in his seventh year, under Abbot Biscop. He was afterwards movedto the sister foundation at Jarrow, under Abbot Ceolfrid, and there helived, with rare absences, the remainder of his life. He was ordaineddeacon at the early age of nineteen; in his thirtieth year he wasordained priest; he died in his sixty-third year, A. D. 735. Hewas a very prolific author, and he has left us, at the end of his mostconsiderable work, a sketch of his life, and a list of his writings, down to the fifty-ninth year of his age, A. D. 731. The bulk ofhis works are theological, chiefly in the form of commentaries, and theyare little more than extracts from the best known of the Fathers. Thiswas adapted to the needs of the time, and Bede's commentaries were heldin great esteem during the whole period. Ælfric, in the tenth century, used them largely for his "Homilies. "

Of all Bede's works, the chronological made the greatest immediateimpression, and was of most general use at the time and for somecenturies afterwards. The computation of Easter was the groundwork ofthe ecclesiastical year, and every church felt the benefit of hisservices. Chronology was then in its early maturity, and the Christianera was not yet a familiar method of reckoning. Bede was the firsthistorian who arranged his materials according to the years from theIncarnation. He had made himself completely master of this subject, andhe left it in such order that nothing more had to be done to it, orcould be improved upon it, for many centuries. 

His fullest and most detailed work on chronology is entitled "DeTemporum Ratione, " and to this is added a chronicle of the world. Onthis elaborate work he was working down to A. D. 726. We have theauthority of Ideler for saying that this is a complete guide to thecalculation of times and festivals. He treats of the several divisionsof time; and under the months, he speaks of the moon's orbit (c. Xvii. ), and its importance for the calendar, and the relation of the moon to thetides (c. Xxix. ); then of the equinoxes and solstices, the varyinglength of the days, the seasons of the year, the intercalary day, thecycle of nineteen years, the reckoning Anno Domini (c. Xlvii. ), indictions, epacts, the determination of Easter. All these things aretaught with theoretical thoroughness, as well as also in their practicalapplication. He also (c. Lxv. ) made a table for Easter from A. D. 532, "when Dionysius began the first cycle, " to A. D. 1063. [66] This isfollowed by the "Chronicle or Six Ages of this World, " altogether a workthat was a growing nucleus, and went on expanding down to the inventionof printing and the revival of classical literature. 

But the works on which his eminence permanently rests, and by which hemade all posterity indebted to him, are his historical and biographicalwritings. He wrote a poem on the miracles of St. Cuthbert, andafterwards he wrote a prose narrative "Of the Life and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne;" and in this, though a new andindependent work, something of the poem is reproduced. It is in thisprose work that we find the call of Cuthbert on the night of Aidan'sdeath, the details of his hermit life on the rocky islet of Farne, towhich he had retired for greater rigour of devotion, from which he wascalled back to be bishop at Lindisfarne, and to which after two years'episcopate he again retired for the remnant of his life. 

He wrote also a prose life of St. Felix, drawing his materials from themetrical life of that saint in hexameters by Paulinus. 

His greatest biographical work is "Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth andJarrow, namely, Benedict, Ceolfrid, Easterwini, Sigfrid, and Hwetbert. "These were the heads of the two sister foundations with which his careerwas identified; and some of them had been his own teachers. The Life ofBenedict is the most interesting, as might be expected, and it fills thelargest part of the book. 

Finally, his greatest work, the work which is a gift for all time, ishis "Church History of the Anglian People. " This was the work of theauthor's mature powers, and some of his earlier writings are made use ofin it. In this history, which is divided into five books, there is, first, a summary of the history of Britain, from the time of JuliusCæsar down to the time of Gregory the Great. This part occupiestwenty-two chapters, and is drawn from Orosius and Gildas andConstantius. The proper narrative of Bede begins at chap. Xxiii. , andthere the conversion and early history of Saxon Christianity is givendown to the time of the restoration of the old church of St. Saviour(Canterbury Cathedral), and the institution of the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul (St. Augustine's). The last chapter is of the decisivebattle of Degsastan, which determined the superiority of the Angles overthe Scotti. The second book begins with the death of Gregory and goesdown to the death of Æduini, King of Northumbria, A. D. 633. Inthis book occurs a remarkable speech made by one of Æduini's nobles, inthe debate about a change of religion:--

"The present life of man in the world, O king, is, by comparison withthat time which is unknown, like as when you are sitting at table withyour aldermen and thanes in the winter season, the fire blazing in themidst, and the hall cheerfully warm, while the whirlwinds rageeverywhere outside and drive the rain or the snow; one of the sparrowscomes in and flies swiftly through the house, entering at one door andout at the other. So long as it is inside, it is sheltered from thestorm, but when the brief momentary calm is past, the bird is in thecold as before, and is no more seen. So this human life is visible for atime: but of what follows or what went before we are utterly ignorant. Wherefore, if this new doctrine should offer anything surer, it seemsworthy to be followed. " (ii. , 13. )

The third book goes down to the appointment of Theodore to be Archbishopof Canterbury, A. D. 665. 

This book contains the decision for Roman unity, and the defeat anddeparture of Colman and his Scotian clergy. Bede was a hearty adherentof the Roman obedience, and his affectionate tribute to the work of theIrish is all the more remarkable. He pauses upon the record of theirdeparture as upon the close of a good time that had been, and to whichhe looks wistfully back. 

"The great frugality and content of him and his predecessors waswitnessed by the very place they ruled; for at their departure therewere very few buildings besides the church; just what civilised lifeabsolutely requires, and no more. Their only capital was their cattle;for if rich men gave them money, they presently gave it to the poor. Offunds and halls for entertaining the worldly great they had no need, assuch personages never came but to pray and hear the word of God. TheKing himself, when occasion required, would come with just five or sixthanes, and after prayer in church would depart; and if it chanced theytook refreshment there, they were content with just the simple every-dayfare of the brothers, and wanted nothing better. For at that time thoseteachers made it their entire business to serve not the world but God, and their whole care to cherish not the belly but the heart. Andconsequently the religious garb was at that time in great veneration; somuch so that, wherever a cleric or a monk arrived, he was joyfullyreceived by all as the servant of God. Even upon the road, if one werefound travelling, they would run to him, and bend the head, and rejoiceif he signed them with the cross, or uttered a blessing; at the sametime they gave careful attention to their words of exhortation. Moreover, on Sundays they would race to the church or the monasteries, not to refresh the body, but to hear God's word; and if one of thepriests happened to come to a village, the villagers were quicklyassembled, and were wanting to hear from him the word of life. And, indeed, the priests on their part or the clerics had no other object ingoing to the villages but for preaching, baptising, visiting the sick, and in a word for the care of souls; being so entirely purged from allinfection of avarice, that none accepted lands and possessions forbuilding monasteries unless compelled to do so by secular lords. Suchconduct was maintained in the Northumbrian churches for some time afterthis date. But I have said enough. " (iii. , 26. )

The fourth book goes down to the death, A. D. 687, of the saintof whom Bede had previously written, both in verse and in prose, theSaint of Northumbria, St. Cuthbert. 

This book contains another passage to show that Bede looked wistfullyback to a blessed time that had been, and for which he was born toolate. He has been speaking of Theodore and Hadrian, and he is about tospeak of Wilfrid and Æddi, when he thus breaks out:--"Never, never, since the Angles came to Britain, were there happier times; brave andChristian kings held all barbarians in awe; the universal ambition wasfor those heavenly joys of which men had recently heard; and all whodesired to be instructed in sacred learning had masters ready to teachthem. " (iv. , 2. )

This book also contains the history of Cædmon, which is perhaps the mostfrequently quoted piece of all Bede's writings:--

"In the monastery of this abbess [Hild], there was a certain brother, eminently distinguished by divine grace, for he was wont to make songsfit for religion and piety, so that, whatever he learnt out of Scriptureby means of interpreters, this he would after a time produce in his own, that is to say, the Angles' tongue, with poetical words, composed withperfect sweetness and feeling. By this man's songs often the minds ofmany were kindled to contempt of the world and desire for the celestiallife. Moreover, others after him in the nation of the Angles tried tomake religious poems, but no one was able to equal him. For he learntthe art of singing not from men, nor through any man's instructions, buthe received the gift of singing unacquired and by divine help. Whereforehe could never make any frivolous or unprofitable poem, but those thingsonly which pertain to religion were fit themes for his religious tongue. During his secular life, which continued up to the time of advanced age, he had never learnt any songs. And, therefore, sometimes at a feast, when for merriment sake it was agreed that all should sing in turn, he, when he saw that the harp was nearing him, would rise from hisunfinished supper and go quietly away to his own home. " (iv. , 24. )

On one occasion, when this had happened, he went, not to his home, butto the cattle sheds, to rest, because it was his turn to do so thatnight. In his sleep one appeared to him and bade him sing. He pleadedinability, but the command was repeated. "What then, " he asked, "must Ising?" He was told he must sing of the beginning of created things. Thenhe sang a Hymn of Creation, and this hymn he remembered when he wasrisen from sleep, and it was the proof of his divine vocation. The hymnwas preserved in Latin as well as in the original; and both have beenquoted above. The poems which he subsequently wrote are thusdescribed:--

"He sang of the creation of the world and the origin of the human race, and the whole story of Genesis, of Israel's departure out of Egypt andentrance into the land of promise, of many other parts of the sacredhistory, of the Lord's Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascensioninto Heaven, of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of theApostles. Likewise of the terror of judgment to come, and the awfulpunishment of hell, and the bliss of the heavenly kingdom, he made manypoems; many others also concerning divine benefits and judgments, in allwhich he sought to wean men from the love of sin, and stimulate them tothe enjoyment and pursuit of good action. "

The fifth and last book contains a survey of the condition of thenational Church down to 731, within about four years of the author'sdeath. 

Books of his on the technicalities of literature are a tract on"Orthography, " another "On the Metric Art, " also a book "On Figures andTropes of Holy Scripture. " Least esteemed have been his poeticalcompositions, some of which have been suffered to perish. The poem onthe "Miracles of St. Cuthberht" is extant, but the "Book of Hymns inVarious Metre or Rhythm" is lost, and so also is his "Book of Epigramsin Heroic or Elegiac Metre. " But we are not left without an authenticspecimen of his hymnody, as he has incorporated in his history the Hymnof Virginity in praise of Queen Ethelthryð, the foundress of Ely. Hisextant poetry proves him to have been an accomplished scholar and a manof cultivated taste rather than of poetic genius. But we could afford tolose many Latin poems in consideration of the slightest vernaculareffort of such a man. 

Many manuscripts of the "Ecclesiastical History" contain a letter by oneCuthbert to his fellow-student Cuthwine, describing the manner of Bede'sdeath. In this letter is contained a pious ditty in the vernacular, which Bede, who was "learned in our native songs, " composed at the timewhen he was contemplating the approach of his own dissolution. 

 Fore there neidfarae nænig ni uurthit thonc snoturra than him tharf sie to ymbhycggannae, aer his him iongae, huaet his gastae godaes aeththa yflaes aefter deothdaege doemid uueorthae. 

 Before the need-journey no one is ever more wise in thought than he ought, to contemplate ere his going hence what to his soul of good or of evil after death-day deemed will be. [67]

Other remains in the Northumbrian dialect are the Runic inscription onthe Ruthwell Cross, for which the reader is referred to ProfessorStephens's "Old Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, "vol. I. , p. 405; also the interlinear glosses in the LindisfarneGospels, and in the Durham Ritual. For fuller information on theseglosses I must refer the reader to Professor Skeat's Gospels "inAnglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions Synoptically Arranged;" and moreespecially to his preface in the concluding volume, which contains thefourth Gospel. The Psalter, which was published by the Surtees Societyas Northumbrian, is now judged to be Kentish; but that volume contains, besides, an "Early English Psalter, " which presents a later phase of theNorthumbrian dialect. 

The poetical works which now bear Cædmon's name received that name fromJunius, the first editor, in 1655, on the ground of the generalagreement of the subjects with Bede's description of Cædmon's works. Inthis book we find a first part containing the most prominent narrativesfrom the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel; and a second partcontaining the Descent of Christ into Hades and the delivery of thepatriarchs from their captivity, according to the apocryphal Gospel ofNicodemus and the constant legend of the Middle Ages. This comprises akind of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Of all this, the part whichhas attracted most notice is a part of which the materials are foundneither in Scripture nor in any known Apocrypha. The nearestapproximation yet indicated is in the hexameters of Avitus, describedabove. [68] This problematical part describes the Fall of Man as thesequel of the Fall of the Angels, substantially running on the samelines as Milton's famous treatment of the same subject. It has oftenbeen surmised that Milton may have known of Cædmon through Junius, andthat this knowledge may have affected the cast of his great poem as wellas suggested some of his most famous touches. [69]

The precipitation is thus described:--

 329 wæron tha befeallene fyre to botme on tha hatan hell thurh hygeleaste and thurh ofermetto. Sohten other land thæt wæs leohtes leas and wæs liges full fyres fær micel. 

 So were they felled to the fiery abyss into the hot hell through heedlessness and through arrogance. They arrived at another land that was void of light and was full of flame fire's horror huge. [70]

When the fallen angel speaks, he begins thus:--

 355 Is thes ænga stede ungelic swithe tham othrum the we ær cuthon heah on heofenrice the me min hearra onlag. 

 This confined place is terribly unlike that other one that we knew before high in heaven's realm which my lord conferred on me. 

Having thus begun with a lamentable cry, he gradually recovers composureand propounds a policy. He observes that God has created a new and happybeing, who is destined to inherit the glory which he and his havelost:--

 394 He hæfth nu gemearcod anne middangeard thær he hæfth mon geworhtne æfter his onlicnesse; mid tham he wile eft gesettan heofena rice, mid hluttrum saulum. We thæs sculon hycgan georne, thæt we on Adame gif we æfre mægen, and on his eafram swa some andan gebetan. 

 He hath now designed a middle world where He man hath made, after His likeness:-- with which He will repeople heaven's realm, with stainless souls. We must thereto give careful heed that we on Adam if we ever may and on his offspring likewise our harm redress. 

The way proposed is by inducing them to displease their Maker, and thenthey will be banished to the same place and become the slaves of Satanand his angels. A messenger is required:--

 409 Gif ic ænigum thegne theoden madmas geara forgeafe thenden we on than godan rice gesælige sæton and hæfdon ure setla geweald, thonne heme na on leofrantid leanum ne meahte mine gife gyldan. Gif his gien wolde minra thegna hwilc gethafa wurthan thæt he up heonon ute mihte cuman thurh thas clustro and hæfde cræft mid him thæt he mid fetherhoman fleogan meahte windan on wolcne thær geworht stondath Adam and Eve on eorth rice mid welan bewunden. And we synd aworpene hider on thas deopan dalo. 

 If I to any thane lordly treasures in former times have given, while we in the good realm all blissful sate, and had sway of our mansions:-- at no more acceptable time could he ever with value my bounty requite. If now for this purpose any one of my thanes would himself volunteer that he from here upward and outward might go, might come through these barriers and strength in him had that with raiment of feather his flight could take to whirl on the welkin where the new work is standing Adam and Eve in the earthly realm with wealth surrounded-- and we are cast away hither into these deep dales!

Satan rages not so much on account of his own loss as for their gain. Ifthey could only be ruined by the wrath of God, he declares he could beat ease even in the midst of woes; and whoever would achieve this hewill reward to his utmost, and give him a seat by his side. Presently wecome to the accoutring of the emissary:--

 442 Angan hine tha gyrwan Godes andsaca fus on frætwum: hæfde fræcne hyge. Hæleth helm on heafod asette and thone full hearde geband, spenn mid spangum. Wiste him spræca fela wora worda. 

 Began him then t' equip th' antagonist of God, prompt in harness:-- he had a guileful mind. A magic helm on head he set, he bound it hard and tight, braced it with buckles. Speeches many wist he well, crooked words. 

He takes wing and rises in air; and then comes a passage like Milton:--

 Swang thæt fyr on twa feondes cræfte. 

 he dashed the fire in two with fiendish craft. [71]

Arrived at the garden he takes the shape of a serpent, and winds himselfround the forbidden tree. The description recalls the familiar pictureso vividly that we cannot doubt the same picture was before the eyes ofchildren in the Saxon period as now. He takes some of the fruit andfinds Adam, and addresses him in a speech. He gives a naïve reason whyhe is sent:--

 507 Brade synd on worulde grene geardas, and God siteth on tham hehstan heofna rice ufan. Alwalda nele tha earfethu sylfa habban that he on thisne sith fare, gumena drihten:-- ac he his gingran sent to thinre spræce. 

 Broad are in the world the green plains, and God sitteth in the highest heavenly realm above. The Almighty will not the trouble himself have, that He should on this journey fare, the Lord of men:-- but He sends his deputy to speak with thee. 

These poems are surrounded by interesting questions which it is barelypossible here to indicate. Upon the top of the discussion about Milton, which is not by any means exhausted, there comes a much larger and widerfield of inquiry as to the relation existing between this Miltonic part(if I may so speak) and the Old Saxon poem of the "Heliand. " Theinvestigation has been admirably started by Mr. Edouard Sievers in alittle book containing this portion of the text, and exhibiting indetail the peculiar intimacy of relation between it and the "Heliand, "in regard to vocabulary, phraseology, and versification. This part ofMr. Sievers' work is complete. Probably no one who has gone through hisproofs will be found to question his conclusion, that there is betweenthe "Heliand" and the Saxon "Paradise Lost" such an identity asisolates those two works from all other literature, and makes itnecessary to trace them to one source. What remains is only to determinethe order of their affiliation. His theory is that our "Cædmon" containsa large insertion which has been borrowed, not, of course, from the"Heliand, " because the "Heliand" is a poem solely on the Gospel history, but from a sister poem to the "Heliand, " a corresponding poem on the OldTestament. Professor George Stephens, of Copenhagen, offered a simplerexplanation. He supposed that our piece is a purely domestic remnant ofthat school of English poetry which Bede described, and that the"Heliand" is a continental offspring of the same school, being amonument of the poetic culture which was planted along the borders ofthe Rhine by the Anglo-Saxon missionaries. 

ALCUIN'S name connects the Anglian period with the greatFrankish revival of literature under Charlemagne. And as he bears aprominent part in the establishment of literature in its next Europeanseat, so also he had the grief of witnessing the earlier stages of thatdevastation which extinguished the light in his own country. This is howhe writes on hearing of the invasion of Lindisfarne by the northernrovers in 793, to Bishop Hugibald and the monks of Lindisfarne:--

"As your beloved society was wont to delight me when I was with you, sodoes the report of your tribulation sadden me continually now that I amabsent from you. How have the heathen defiled the sanctuaries of God, and shed the blood of the saints round about the altar. They have laidwaste the dwelling-place of our hope; they have trodden down the bodiesof the saints in the temple of God like mire in the street. What can Isay? I can only lament in my heart with you before the altar of Christ, and say: Spare, Lord, spare Thy people, and give not Thy heritage to theheathen, lest the pagans say, Where is the God of the Christians? Whatconfidence is there for the churches of Britain if Saint Cuthbert, withso great a company of saints, defends not his own? Either this is thebeginning of a greater sorrow, or the sins of the people have broughtthis upon them. "[72]

Thus we have arrived at the verge of that catastrophe which closes forever the singular greatness of Anglia. Charles brought learning toFrance by drawing from Anglia and from Italy the best plants for his newfield; he inherited the civilising labours of the Saxon missionaries inhis dominions beyond the Rhine; he founded a centre of power and acentre of education together; and France remained the chief seat oflearning throughout the Middle Ages. [73] The glory of a Europeanposition in literature can no longer be claimed for England. Through theremainder of our narrative we must be content with a provincial sphere;and our compensation must be found in the fact that the vernacularelement is all the more freely developed. 

FOOTNOTES:

[64] In the famous manuscript of the "Ecclesiastical History" of Bede, which is commonly known as the Moore manuscript, because it passed withthe library of Bishop Moore (Ely) to the University of Cambridge, is ina hand which is thought to be as old as the time of Bede, who died in735. 

[65] Bede gives the "sense" of this first hymn as follows:--"Nunclaudare debemus auctorem regni caelestis, potentiam creatoris etconsilium illius, facta patris gloriae; quomodo ille, cum sit aeternusdeus, omnium miraculorum auctor extitit, qui primo filiis hominum caelumpro culmine tecti, dehinc terram custos humani generis omnipotenscreavit. "--"Ecclesiastical History, " iv. 24. 

[66] Adolf Ebert's account of Bede in "History of Christian-LatinLiterature, " translated by Mayor and Lumby in their admirable edition ofthe third and fourth books of Bede's "Church History" (Pitt PressSeries), 1878, p. 11. 

[67] The general correctness of our translation is assured by the factthat the Latin text in which it is embodied supplies a Latintranslation, thus:--"quod ita latine sonat: 'ante necessarium exitumprudentior quam opus fuerit nemo existit, ad cogitandum videlicetantequam hinc proficiscatur anima, quid boni vel mali egerit, qualiterpost exitum judicanda fuerit. '"--"Bedæ Hist. Eccl. , " iii. , iv. (Mayorand Lumby), p. 177. 

[68] Page 14. 

[69] There has been a recent discussion of this question by ProfessorWülcker in "Anglia, " with a negative result. But the conclusion rests ontoo slight a basis. 

[70] "Milton has the same idea in a kindred passage, but it is not soterse, so condensed, as Cædmon's:--

 'Yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe. '

"In Job x. 22 we also find a similar idea:--'A land of darkness, asdarkness itself; and of the shadow of death without any order, and wherethe light is as darkness. ' They are all powerful, all dreadful, butCædmon's 'without light, and full of flame, ' is much the strongest. Itis an Inferno in a line. "--ROBERT SPENCE WATSON, "Cædmon, " p. 44. 

[71] "Paradise Lost, " i. , 221:--

 "Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool His mighty stature; on each hand the flames, Driv'n backward, slope their pointing spires, and roll'd In billows, leave i' th' midst a horrid vale. "

[72] Wright, "Biographia Literaria, " Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 353. 

[73] The new start of literature under Charles is briefly andbrilliantly stated in the first paragraph of Adolf Ebert's secondvolume. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE PRIMARY POETRY. 

We have now seen something of a culture that was introduced from abroad, and guided by foreign models. But our people had a native gift of song, and a tradition of poetic lore, which lived in memory, and was sustainedby the profession of minstrelsy. The Christian and literary cultureobtained through the Latin tended strongly to the suppression andextinction of this ancient and national vein of poetry. But happily ithas not all been lost, and it will be the aim of this chapter to presentsome specimens of that poetry which is rooted in the native genius ofthe race, and which we may call the primary poetry. The poetry which ismanifestly of Latin material we will call the secondary poetry. It isnot asserted that we have two sorts of poetry so entirely separate anddistinct the one from the other, that the one is purely native anduntinged with foreign influence, while the other springs from mereimitation. The two sorts are not so utterly contrasted as that. Even thesecondary poetry is not without originality. On the other hand theprimary poetry betrays here and there the Latin culture and theChristian sentiment; and yet if is quite sufficiently distinct andcharacterised to justify the plan of grouping it apart from the generalbody of the poetical remains. 

The chief features of the Saxon poetry may conveniently be arrangedunder three heads: 1. The mechanical formation. 2. The rhetoricalcharacteristics. 3. The imaginative elements. 

1. Of these the first turns on Alliteration, Accent, and Rhythm; andthis part, which is generally held to belong rather to grammar than toliterature, I have described elsewhere. [74]

2. The Rhetorical characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry which is mostprominent, is a certain repetition of the thought with a variation ofepithet or phrase, in a manner which distinctly resembles theparallelism of Hebrew poetry. 

3. The Imaginative element resides chiefly in the metaphor, which isvery pervading and seems to be almost unconscious. It seldom rises tothat conscious form of metaphor which we call the Simile, and when itdoes it is laconically brief, as in the comparison of a ship with a bird(fugle gelicost). The later poetry begins to expand the similes somewhatafter the manner of the Latin poets. In Beowulf we have four briefsimiles and only one that is expanded; namely, that of the sword-hiltmelting like ice in the warm season of spring (line 1, 608). 

We will begin with the "Beowulf, " the largest and in every sense themost important of the remaining Anglo-Saxon poems. It has much in itthat seems like anticipation of the age of chivalry. The story of the"Beowulf" is as follows:[75]--

Hroðgar, king of the Danes, ruled over many nations with imperial sway. It came into his mind to add to his Burg a spacious hall for the greatersplendour of his hospitality and the dispensing of his bounty. This hallwas named Heorot. But all his glory was undone by the nightly visits ofa devouring fiend; Hroðgar's people were either killed, or gone to saferquarters. Heorot, though habitable by day, was abandoned at night; nofaithful band kept watch around the seat of Danish royalty; Hroðgar, theaged king, was in dejection and despair. 

Higelac was king in the neighbouring land of the Geatas, and he hadabout him a young nephew, a sister's son, Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow. Beowulf had great bodily strength, but was otherwise little accountedof. The young man loved adventure, and hearing of Hroðgar's misery, hedetermined to help him. He embarked with fourteen companions, andreached the coast of the Danes, where he was challenged by thecoast-warden in a tone of mistrust. After a parley, that officer spedhim on his way, and Beowulf's company stood before Hroðgar's gate. Askedthe meaning of this armed visit, the leader answers: "We sit atHigelac's table: my name is Beowulf. I will tell mine errand to thymaster, if he will deign that we may greet him. " Hroðgar knew Beowulf'sname, remembered his father Ecgtheow, [76] had the visitor to hispresence, heard his high resolve, was ready to hope for deliverance, andprompt to see in Beowulf a deliverer. Festivity is renewed in thedeserted hall, and tales of old achievements revive forgottenmirth--mirth broken only by the gibes of the eloquent Hunferth, whichgive Beowulf occasion to tell the tale of an old swimming-match when heslew sea-monsters; and all is harmony again. But night descends, andwith it the fears that were now habitual. Beowulf shrinks not from hisadventure; the guests depart, and the king, retiring to his castle, commits to his visitor the night-watch of Heorot. 

 Næfre ic ænegum men ær alyfde, siððan ic hond and rond hebban mihte, thryth ærn Dena:-- buton the nu tha! Hafa nu and geheald husa selest; gemyne mærtho, mægen ellen cyth; waca with wrathum! ne bith the wilna gad, gif thu thæt ellen weorc aldre gedigest. 

 Never I to any man ere now entrusted, (since hand and shield I first could heave) the Guardhouse of the Danes:-- never but now to thee! Have now and hold the sacred house; of glory mindful main and valour prove; watch for the foe! no wish of thine shall fail, if thou the daring work with life canst do. 

Beowulf and his companions have their beds in the hall. 

They sleep; but he watches. It was not long before the depredator of thenight was there, and a lurid gleam stood out of his eyes. While Beowulfcautiously held himself on the alert, the fiend had quickly clutched anddevoured one of the sleepers. But now Grendel--such was the demon'sname--found himself in a grasp unknown before. Long and dire was thestrife. The timbers cracked, the iron-bound benches plied, and workdeemed proof against all but fire was now a wreck. Grendel finding thefoe too strong, thought only of escape. He did escape, and got away tothe moor, but he left an arm in Beowulf's grip. 

Early in the morning men came from far and near to see the hideoustrophy on the gable of the hall: men came to rejoice in the greatdeliverance; for Heorot, they said, was now purged. Great was their joy. Mounted men rode over the moor, tracking Grendel's retreat by his blood;they followed his path to the dismal pool where he had his habitation;then they turn homewards, riding together and conversing as they go. They talk of Beowulf, they liken him with Sigemund, that hero ofgreatest name. When they come to galloping ground, they break away fromthe tales, and race over the turf. In another tale they talk of Heremod;but he was proud and cold, not like Beowulf, who is as genial as he isvaliant. The early riders are back to Heorot in time to see the king andthe queen moving from bower to hall, the king with his guard, the queenwith her maidens. Then follows a noble scene. Hroðgar sees the hideoustrophy on the gable; he stands on the terrace, and utters a thanksgivingto God as stately as it is simple. He reviews the woe and the grief, thedisgrace, the helplessness, and the utter despondency of himself and ofhis people; "and now a boy hath done the deed which we all with ourunited powers could not compass! Verily that woman is blessed that barehim; and if she yet lives, she may well say that God was very graciousto her in her childbearing. Beowulf, I will love thee as a son, and thoushalt lack nothing that it is in my power to give. "

Beowulf spake: "We did our best in a risky tussle; would I could havebrought you the fiend a captive. I could not hold him; he gave me theslip: but he left a limb behind; _that_ will be his death. " Next Heorotis restored and beautified anew. Marvellous gold-embroidered hangingsdrape the walls, the admiration of those who have an eye for suchthings. The whole interior had been a wreck, the roof alone remainedentire. Now, it was straight and fair once more; and now it was to bethe scene of such a profusion of gifts as poet had never sung. 

In honour of his victory Beowulf received a golden banner of quaintdevice, a helmet, and a coat of mail; but what drew all eyes was theancient famous sword now brought forth from the treasure house, andborne up to the hero. Furthermore, at the king's word, eight splendidhorses, cheek-adorned, were led into the hall; and on one of them wasseen the saddle, the well-known saddle of Hroðgar, wherein he, neveraloof in battle-hour, sate when he mingled in the fray of war. "Takethem, " said the king, "take them, Beowulf, both horses and armour; andmy blessing with them. "

The companions of Beowulf were not forgotten: they all receivedappropriate gifts. The festivities proceed, and we have a picture of thecourse of the banquet. The minstrel's tale on that occasion was theFearful Fray in the Castle of Finn, when Danes were there on a visit. The song being ended, Waltheow the queen bears the cup to the king, andbids him be merry and bountiful. Her queenly counsel stops not here. Theking had sons of his own; he should give no hint of any other successionto his seat; while he occupied the throne, he should be large in bountyand encircle himself with grateful champions. Next, with like ceremonyshe honours Beowulf, and hands the cup to him. She also presents herown special gifts to the deliverer:--bracelets, and a rich garment, anda collar surpassing all most famed in story since Hama captured thecollar of the Brosings. The queen addresses Beowulf, wishes him joy ofher gifts, exalts his merits, bids him befriend her son and be loyal tothe king. She took her seat, and the revelry grew. Little deemed they, what next would happen, when the night should be dark, and Hroðgarasleep in his bower!

The hall is made ready as a dormitory for the men-at-arms; the benchesare slewed round, and the floor is spread from end to end with beds andbolsters. Every warrior's shield is set upright at his head, and by thebench-posts stands his spear, supporting helmet and mail. Such was theircustom; they slept as ever ready to rise and do service to their king. Horror is renewed in the night; Grendel's fiendish dam visits the halland kills one of the sleepers, Æschere by name. 

In the morning the king is in great distress. He sends for Beowulf, who, after the purging of Heorot, had occupied a separate bower, like theking. Beowulf arrives, and hopes all is well. Hroðgar spake:--"Ask notof welfare; sorrow is renewed for the Danish folk! My trusty friendÆschere is dead; my comrade tried in battle when the tug was for life, when the fight was foot to foot and helmets kissed:--oh! Æschere waswhat a thane should be! The cruel hag has wreaked on him her vengeance. The country folk said there were two of them, one the semblance of awoman, the other the spectre of a man. Their haunt is in the remoteland, in the crags of the wolf, the wind-beaten cliffs, and untroddenbogs, where the dismal stream plunges into the drear abyss of an awfullake, overhung with a dark and grisly wood rooted down to the water'sedge, where a lurid flame plays nightly on the surface of the flood--andthere lives not the man who knows its depth! So dreadful is the placethat the hunted stag, hard driven by the hounds, will rather die on thebank than find a shelter there. A place of terror! When the wind rises, the waves mingle hurly-burly with the clouds, the air is stifling andrumbles with thunder. To thee alone we look for relief; darest thouexplore the monster's lair, I will reward the adventure with ancienttreasures, with coils of gold if thou return alive!"

Said Beowulf, the son of Ecgtheow:--"Sorrow not, experienced sire!Better avenge a friend than idly deplore him:--each must wait the end oflife, and should work while he may to make him a name--the best thingafter life! Bestir thee, guardian of the folk! let us be quick upon thetrack of Grendel's housemate. I make thee a promise:--not highest cliff, not widest field, not darkest wood, nor deepest flood--go where hewill--shall be his refuge! Bear up for one day, and may thy troubles endaccording to my wish!" The king mounts, and with his retinue conductsBeowulf to the charmed lake: the wildness of the way, and the strangenature of the scenes, are all in keeping. The armed followers sit themdown in a place where they command a view of the dismal water. Monstrouscreatures writhe about the crags; the men shoot some of them. 

Beowulf equips for his adventure. His sword was the famous Hrunting, lent to him by Hunferth, the boastful orator, he who had gibed atBeowulf on the day of his arrival. It was a sword of high repute; ahoarded treasure; its edge was iron; it was damascened with device ofcoiled twigs; it had never failed in fight the hand that dared to wieldit. Now Beowulf spoke, ready for action: "Remember, noble Hroðgar, howthou and I talked together, that if I lost life in thy service thouwouldest be as a father to me departed:--protect my comrades if I amtaken; and the gifts thou gavest me, beloved Hroðgar, send home toHigelac. When he looks on the treasures he will know that I found abounteous master, and enjoyed life while it lasted. And let Hunferð havehis old sword again: I will conquer fame with Hrunting, or diefighting. " Act followed word: he was gone, and the wave had covered him. He was most of the day before he reached the depths of the abyss. Whileyet on the downward way, he was met by the old water-wolf that had dweltthere a hundred years, who had perceived the approach of a humanvisitor. She clutched him and bore him off, till he found himself withhis enemy in a vast chamber which excluded the water and was lighted bysome strange fire-glow. At once the fight began, and Hrunting rang aboutthe demon's head; but against such a being the sword was useless, theedge turned that never had failed before: he flung it from him andtrusted to strength of arm. In his rage he charged so deadly that hefelled the monster to the ground; but she recovered and Beowulf fell. And now the furious wight thought to revenge Grendel; she plunged herknife at Beowulf's breast, and his life had ended there but for the goodservice of his ringed mail-serk. Protected by this armour, and helped byHim who giveth victory, he passed the perilous moment, and was on hisfeet again. And now he espied among the armour in that place an oldelfin sword, such as no other man might carry; this he seized, and withthe force of despair he so smote that the fell hag lay dead:--the swordwas gory, and the boy was fain of his work. With rage unsated, he rangedthrough the place till he came to where Grendel lay lifeless: he smotethe head from the hateful carcase. 

To Hroðgar's men watching on the height the lake appeared as if mingledwith blood, and this seemed to confirm their fears. The day was waning:the old men about Hroðgar took counsel, and, concluding they should seeBeowulf no more, they moved homeward. But Beowulf's followers, thoughsick at heart and with little hope, yet sate on in spite of dejection. 

Meanwhile the huge, gigantic blade had melted marvellously away "likestunto ice, when the Father (he who hath power over times and seasons, that is, the true ruler) looseneth the chain of frost and unwindeth thewave-ropes":--so venomous was the gore of the fiend that had been slaintherewith. Beowulf took the gigantic hilt and the monster's head, and, soaring up through the waters, he stood on the shore to the surprise andjoy of his faithful comrades, who came eagerly about him to ease him ofhis dripping harness. Exulting they return to Heorot, Grendel's headcarried by four men on a pole; they march straight up the hall to greetthe king, and the guests are startled with the ghastly evidence ofBeowulf's complete success. Beowulf tells his story and presents thehilt to Hroðgar. The aged king extols the unparalleled achievements ofBeowulf, and warns him against excessive exaltation of mind by theexample of Heremod. 

Soon after this we have the parting between the old king and the younghero, who declares his readiness to come with a thousand thanes at anytime of Hroðgar's need; while Hroðgar's words are of love and admirationand confidence in his discretion: and so he lets him go not withoutlarge addition of gifts, and embraces, and kisses, and tears. "ThenceBeowulf the warrior, elate with gold, trod the grassy plain, exulting intreasure; the sea-goer that rode at anchor awaited its lord; then asthey went was Hroðgar's liberality often praised. " At the coast they aremet by the coast-warden with an altered and respectful mien: they aresoon afloat, and we hear the whistle of the wind through the rigging asthe gallant craft bears away before the breeze to carry them all merrilyhomewards after well-sped adventure. The welcome is worthy of thework:--Higelac's reception of Beowulf, the joy of getting him back;Beowulf presenting to his liege lord the wealth he had won; oldreminiscences called up and couched in song; an ancient sword broughtout and presented to Beowulf, and with the sword a spacious lordship, anoble mansion, and all seigneurial rights. 

And so he dwelt until such time as he went forth with Higelac on hisfatal expedition against the Frisians, who were backed by a strongalliance of Chauci, and Chattuarii, and Franks; and there Higelac fell, and his army perished. Beowulf, by prodigious swimming, reached his homeagain, where now was a young widowed queen and her infant son. Sheoffered herself and her kingdom to Beowulf; he preferred the office ofthe faithful guardian. At a later time the young king fell in battle, and then Beowulf succeeded. He reigned fifty years a good king, andended life with a supreme act of heroism. He fought and slew a fierydragon which desolated his country, and was himself mortally wounded inthe conflict. One single follower, Wiglaf by name, bolder or morefaithful than the rest, was at his side in danger, though not to help;and he received the hero's dying words:--"I should have given my armourto my son if I had heir of my body. I have held this people fifty years;no neighbour has dared to challenge or molest me. I have lived with menon fair and equal terms; I have done no violence, caused no friends toperish, and that is a comfort to one deadly wounded who is soon toappear before the Ruler of men. Now, beloved Wiglaf, go thou quickly inunder the hoary stone of the dragon's vault, and bring the treasures outinto the daylight, that I may behold the splendour of ancient wealth, and death may be the softer for the sight. " When it was done, and thewondrous heap was before his eyes, the victorious warrior spake:--"Forthe riches on which I look I thank the Lord of all, the king of glory, the everlasting ruler, that I have been able before my death-day toacquire such for my people. Well spent is the remnant of my life to earnsuch a treasure; I charge thee with the care of the people; I can be nolonger here. Order my warriors after the bale-fire to rear a mightymound on the headland over the sea: it shall tower aloft on Hronesnessfor a memorial to my people: that sea-going men in time to come may callit Beowulf's Barrow, when foam-prowed ships drive over the scowlingflood on their distant courses. " Then he removed a golden coil from hisneck and gave it to the young thane; the same he did with his helmetinlaid with gold, the collar, and the mail-coat: he bade him use them ashis own. 

"Thou art the last of our race of the Wægmundings; fate has swept all mykindred off into Eternity; I must follow them. " That was his latestword; his soul went out of his breast into the lot of the just. Reflections and discourses proper to the occasion are spoken by Wiglaf, such as chiding of the timorous who stood aloof, and gloomyanticipations of the future. 

 3, 000 Thæt is sio fæhtho and se feondscipe, wæl nith wera, thæs the ic wen hafo, the us seceath to Sweona leode syððan hie gefricgeath frean userne, ealdorleasne thone the ær geheold with hettendum hord and rice; folc ræd fremede, oððe furthur gen eorlscipe efnde. Nu is ofost betost thæt we theod cyning thær sceawian and thone gebringan, the us beagas geaf, on âd fære. Ne scal anes hwæt meltan mid tham modigan, ac thær is mathma hord, gold unrime grimme geceapod and nu æt sithestan sylfes feore beagas gebohte. Tha sceal brond gretan æled theccean, nalles eorl wegan maððum to gemyndum, ne mægth scyne habban on healse hring weorthunge, ac sceal geomor mod golde bereafod oft nalles æne el land tredan; nu se here wisa hleahtor alegde, gamen and gleo dream. 

 This is the feud and this the foeman's hate the vengeful spite that I expect against us now will bring the Swedish bands; soon as they hear our chieftain high of life bereft-- who held till now 'gainst haters all the hoard and realm; peace framed at home; and further off respect inspired. Now speed is best that we our liege and king go look upon, And him escort, who us adorned, the pile towards. Not things of petty worth shall with the mighty melt, but there a treasure main, uncounted gold costly procured and now at length with his great life jewels dear-bought; them shall flame devour, burning shall bury:-- never a warrior bear jewel of dear memory, nor maiden sheen have on her neck ring-decoration; nay, shall disconsolate gold-unadorned not once but oft tread strangers' land; now the leader in war laughter hath quenched game and all sound of glee. 

And so this noble poem moves on to its close, ending, like the "Iliad, "with a great bale-fire. Two closing lines record like an epitaph thepraise of the dead in superlatives; not as a warrior, but as a man and aruler: how that he was towards men the mildest and most affable, towards his people he was most gracious and most yearning for theiresteem. 

About the structure of this poem the same sort of questions are debatedas those which Wolff raised about Homer--whether it is the work of asingle poet, or a patchwork of older poems. Ludwig Ettmüller, of Zürich, who first gave the study of the "Beowulf" a German basis, regarded thepoem as originally a purely heathen work, or a compilation of smallerheathen poems, upon which the editorial hands of later and Christianpoets had left their manifest traces. In his translation, one of themost vigorous efforts in the whole of Beowulf literature, he hasdistinguished, by a typographical arrangement, the later additions fromwhat he regards as the original poetry. He is guided, however, byconsiderations different from those that affect the Homeric debate. Heis chiefly guided by the relative shades of the heathen and Christianelements. Wherever the touch of the Christian hand is manifest, hearranges such parts as additions and interpolations. [77]

Grein saw in the poem the unity of a single work, and he thought themotive allegorical. He interpreted the assaults of the water-fiend asthe night attacks of sea-robbers. I cannot see any such allegory asthis, but I agree with him as to the unity of the poem, so far as unityis compatible with the traces of older materials. And I see allegorytoo, but in a different sense. 

The material is mythical and heathen; but it is clarified by naturalfiltration through the Christian mind of the poet. Not only are theheathen myths inoffensive, but they are positively favourable to a trainof Christian thought. Beowulf's descent into the abyss to extirpate thescourge is suggestive of that Article in the Apostles' Creed which had apeculiar fascination for the mind of the Dark and Middle Ages; the fightwith the dragon; the victory that cost the victor his life; the onefaithful friend while the rest are fearful--these incidents seem almostlike reflections of evangelical history. Without seeing in the poem anallegorical design, we may imagine that, with the progress ofChristianity, those parts of the old mythology which were most inharmony with Christian doctrines had the best chance of survival; andthat, as a poet puts a new physiognomy on an old story withoutdistorting the tradition, as we have seen in our own day the story ofArthur told again, not with the elaborate allegory of Spenser, but witha spiritual transfiguration which makes the "Idylls of the King" trulyan epic of the nineteenth century, so I conceive that Beowulf was agenuine growth of that junction in time (define it where we may) whenthe heathen tales still kept their traditional interest, and yet thespirit of Christianity had taken full possession of the Saxon mind--atleast, so much of it as was represented by this poetical literature. 

We may not dismiss the "Beowulf" without hazarding an opinion as to thedate of its production. It has been said to be older than the SaxonConquest, and some of the materials are doubtless of this antiquity. Butfor the poem, as we have it, Kemble assigned it to the seventh century;then Ettmüller thought it belonged to the ninth; then Grein went backhalfway to the eighth, and this has been adopted by Mr. Arnold, and mostgenerally followed. I think Ettmüller is the nearest to the mark; and Iwould rather go forward to the tenth than back to the eighth. Apardonable fancy might see the date conveyed in the poem itself. Thedragon watches over an old hoard of gold, and it is distinctly a heathenhoard (hæðnum horde, 2, 217) of heathen gold (hæðen gold, 2, 277). In thesame context we find that the monster had watched over this earth-hiddentreasure for 300 years; and if this may be something more than apoetical number, it may possibly indicate the time elapsed since theheathen age. Three hundred years would bring us to the close of theninth or the beginning of the tenth century, a date which, on everyconsideration, I incline to think the most probable. [78]

All the traces of affinity with, or consciousness of, the "Beowulf" thatwe can discover--and they are very few--are such as to favour this date. The only complete parallel to the fable is found in the Icelandic Sagaof Grettir, who is a kind of northern Hercules. This hero performs manygreat feats, but there are three which belong to the supernatural. Inone of these he wrestles with a fiend called Glam, and kills him; andthough Glam is not the same as Grendel, yet the circumstances of theencounter are so full of parallels as to establish, at least, theliterary affinity of the two stories. The other two supernatural featsare coupled, just in the same way as two of the feats of Beowulf are. Itis two fights, one in a hall and one under a waterfall, with twomonsters of one family. The fight with the troll-wife in the hall is atrue parallel to Beowulf's fight with Grendel; but the fight with thetroll in the cavern under the force is in great essentials and in minutedetails so identical with Beowulf's underwater adventure, that one maycall it a prose version of the same thing under different names. Acertain house was haunted. Men that were there alone by night weremissing, and nothing more was heard of them. Grettir came and lay inthat hall. The troll-wife came and he vanquished her. This he had doneunder an assumed name, but the priest of the district knows he can be noother than Grettir, and he asks Grettir what had become of the men whowere lost. Grettir bids the priest come with him to the river. There wasa waterfall, and a sheer cliff of fifty fathom down to the water, andunder the force was seen the mouth of a cavern. They had a rope withthem. The priest drives down a stake into a cleft of the rock andsecured it with stones, and he sate by it. Grettir said, "I will searchwhat there is in the force, but thou shalt watch the rope. " He put astone in the bight of the rope, and let it sink down in the water. Hemade ready, girt him with a short sword, and had no other weapon. Heleaped off the cliff, and the priest saw the soles of his feet. Grettirdived under the force, and the eddy was so strong that he had to get tothe very bottom before he could get inside the force, where the riverstood off from the cliff. By a jutting rock he reached the cavern'smouth. In the cave there was a fire burning on the hearth. A giant satethere, who at once leaped up and struck at the intruder with a pike madeequally to cut and to thrust. This weapon had a wooden shaft, and mencalled it a hepti-sax. [79] Grettir's sword demolishes this weapon, andthe giant stretched after a sword that hung there in the cave. ThenGrettir smote him and killed him, and his blood ran down with the streampast the rope where the priest sate to watch. The priest concluded thatGrettir was dead, and it being now evening he went home. But Grettirexplored the cave. He found the bones of two men, and put them into askin. He swam to the rope and climbed up by it to the top of the cliff. When the priest came to church next morning he found the bones in thebag, and a rune-stick whereon the event was carved; but Grettir wasgone. 

The identity is so manifest that we have only to ask which people (ifeither) was the borrower, the English or the Danes. And here comes inthe consideration that the geography of the "Beowulf" is Scandinavian. There is no consciousness of Britain or England throughout the poem. Ifthis raises a presumption that the Saxon poet got his story from a Dane, we naturally ask, When is this likely to have happened? and the answermust be that the earliest probable time begins after the Peace ofWedmore in 878. 

In the "Blickling Homilies" there is a passage which recalls thedescription of the mere in "Beowulf. "[80] So far as this coincidenceaffects the question, it makes for the date here assigned. 

Beyond the "Beowulf" we have but small and fragmentary remains of theold heroic poetry. The most important pieces are "The Battle of Finn'sBurgh, " and "The Lay of King Waldhere. " These are now often printed inthe editions of the "Beowulf. "

Ettmüller conjectured that the "Invitation from a True Lover SettledAbroad, " was not a single lyric, but a beautiful incident taken fromsome epic poem. [81] A messenger comes with a token to a lady at home, bywhich she may credit his message; he bids her take ship as soon as shehears the voice of the cuckoo, and go out to him who has all thingsready about him to give her a suitable reception. 

Next we will consider

"THE RUINED CITY. "[82]

The subject of this piece is a city in ruins. There is massive masonry:the place was once handsomely built and decorated and held by warriors, but now all tumbled about; works of art exposed to view and forming astrange contrast with the desolation around; there is a wide pool ofwater, hot without fire; and there are the once-frequented baths. Thisis no vague poetic composition, but the portrait of a definite spot. Itsuits the old Brito-Roman ruin of Akeman after 577; and it suits noother place that I can think of in the habitable world. The old viewthat it was a fortress or castle seems misplaced in time, as well asincompatible with the expressions in the text. [83]

The poem begins:--

 Wrætlic is thes weal stan wyrde gebræcon, Stupendous is this wall of stone, strange the ruin!

The strongholds are bursten, the work of giants decaying, the roofs arefallen, the towers tottering, dwellings unroofed and mouldering, masonryweather-marked, shattered the places of shelter, time-scarred, tempest-marred, undermined of eld. 

 Eorth grap hafath waldend wyrhtan forweorene geleorene heard gripe hrusan oth hund cnea wer theoda gewitan. Oft thes wag gebad ræg har and read fah rice æfter othrum ofstonden under stormum. . . . 

 Earth's grasp holdeth the mighty workmen worn away lorn away in the hard grip of the grave till a hundred ages of men-folk do pass. Oft this wall witnessed (weed-grown and lichen-spotted) one great man after another take shelter out of storms. . . . 

 * * * * *

How did the swift sledge-hammer flash and furiously come down upon therings when the sturdy artizan was rivetting the wall with clamps sowondrously together. Bright were the buildings, the bath-houses many, high-towered the pinnacles, frequent the war-clang, many the mead-halls, of merriment full, till all was overturned by Fate the violent. Thewalls crumbled widely; dismal days came on; death swept off the valiantmen; the arsenals became ruinous foundations; decay sapped the burgh. Pitifully crouched armies to earth. Therefore these halls are a drearyruin, and these pictured gables;[84] the rafter-framed roof sheddeth itstiles; the pavement is crushed with the ruin, it is broken up in heaps;where erewhile many a baron--

 glædmod and goldbeorht gleoma gefrætwed wlonc and wingal wig hyrstum scan; seah on sinc on sylfor on searo gimmas; on ead, on æht, on eorcan stan: on thas beorhtan burg bradan rices. Stan hofu stodan; stream hate wearp widan wylme, weal eal befeng beorhtan bosme; thær tha bathu wæron, hat on hrethre; thæt wes hythelic!

 joyous and gold-bright gaudily jewelled haughty and wine-hot shone in his harness; looked on treasure, on silver, on gems of device; on wealth, on stores, on precious stones; on this bright borough of broad dominion. There stood courts of stone! The stream hotly rushed with eddy wide, (wall all enclosed) with bosom bright, (There the baths were!) not in its nature! That was a boon indeed!

"THE WANDERER" (EARDSTAPA). [85]

In patriarchal or sub-patriarchal times social life was still confinedwithin the family pale; and the man who belonged to no household was awanderer and a vagabond on the face of the earth. Through invasion orwar or other accidents a man who had been the honoured member of awell-found home might live to see that home broken up or pass intostrange hands, and he might be thus like a plant uprooted when he wastoo old to get planted in a fresh connexion. His only chance of anyshare in social life was to wander from house to house, getting perhapsa brief lodging in each; and such a homeless condition might be wellexpressed by the compound eardstapa, one who tramps (_stapa_) from onehabitation (_eard_) to another. In such an outcast plight the speaker inthis piece went to sea, and there he often thought of the old happy daysthat were gone. He would dream of the pleasure of his old access to thegiefstol of his lord, whom he saluted with kiss and head on knee, andthen he would wake a friendless man in the wintry ocean, and his griefwould be the sorer at his heart for the recollections of lost kindredthat the dream had revived. Such a lot is in ready sympathy withold-world ruins, of which there were many in England at that time, andthey raise the anticipation of a time when a like ruin will be the endof all! "It becomes a wise man to know how awful it will be when allthis world's wealth stands waste, as now up and down in the world thereare wind-buffeted walls standing in mouldering decay"--and thedescription which follows is either a reminiscence of "The Ruined City, "or else it shows that the subject of ruins was familiar with theScōpas. [86]

"THE MINSTREL'S CONSOLATION. "[87]

Ettmüller reckoned this the oldest of the Saxon lyrics; influenced, perhaps, by the mythical nature of the contents. But, if we regard theform rather than the material, there is a refinement about theversification which does not look archaic. The poem is cast in irregularstanzas, and it has a refrain. The poet, whose name is Deor, hasexperienced the fallaciousness of early success. His prospects areclouded; once the favourite minstrel of his patron, he is now supersededby a newer Scōp. His consolation is a well-known one; perhaps the oldestand commonest of all the formulæ of consolation. Others have been introuble before him, and have somehow got over it. This is not conveyedas a mere generalisation; it is done poetically through strikingexamples, of which Weland is the first, and Beadohild the second. Aftereach example comes the refrain:--

 thæs ofereode thisses swa mæg!

 That [distress] he overwent, So . I . Can . This!

The failures of life's hopes and ambitions have been so often lamented, that the subject is rather hackneyed and conventional. Here is a pieceout of the beaten track; fresh, though ingenious and artistic. Such apoem is all the more welcome as the subject belongs to an extinctcareer--the career of a court minstrel. 

The Ballads have a peculiar value of their own. There is a sense inwhich they are the best representatives of the native muse. There areseveral extant specimens of various merit, but two are pre-eminent, andthese are, beyond all doubt, preserved in their original and unalteredform. They were manifestly produced in the moment when the sensation ofa great event was yet fresh. They are impassioned and effusive, and theybear good witness to the characteristics of primitive poetry. Onespontaneous element they preserve, which has been quite discarded frommodern poetry, and of which the other traces are few. I mean the poetryof derision. The light and shade of the ballad is glory and scorn. Themost popular subject of this species of poetry is a battle. Whether yourballad is of victory or of disaster, these two elements, not indeed withthe same intensity or the same proportions, but still these two, are theconstituents required. Our best examples are the "Victory of Brunanburh"(937), and the "Disaster of Maldon" (991). 

The battle of Brunanburh was fought by King Athelstan and his brotherEdmund (children of Edward), against the alliance of the Scots underConstantinus with the Danes under Anlaf. 

Various attempts have been made to present in modern English the Balladof Brunanburh, the most successful being that by the Poet Laureate. Ourlanguage is rather out of practice for kindling a poetic fervour aroundthe sentiment of flinging scorn at a vanquished foe; but the followingwill serve to illustrate this heathenish element, or such relics of itas survived in the tenth century. The person first railed at isConstantinus:--

 X. 

 Slender reason had _He_ to be proud of The welcome of war-knives-- He that was reft of his Folk and his friends that had Fallen in conflict, Leaving his son, too, Lost in the carnage, Mangled to morsels, A youngster in war!

 XI. 

 Slender reason had _He_ to be glad of The clash of the war-glaive-- Traitor and trickster And spurner of treaties-- He nor had Anlaf, With armies so broken, A reason for bragging That they had the better In perils of battle On places of slaughter-- The struggle of standards, The rush of the javelins, The crash of the charges, The wielding of weapons-- The play that they played with The children of Edward. 

 ALFRED TENNYSON, "Ballads and Other Poems, " 1880, p. 174. 

The longest of our ballads, though it is imperfect, is that of the"Battle of Maldon. " In the year 991 the Northmen landed in Essex, andexpected to be bought off with great ransom; but Brithnoth, the aldermanof the East Saxons, met them with all his force, and, after fightingbravely, was killed. The lines here quoted occur after the alderman'sdeath:--

 Leofsunu gemælde, and his linde ahof, bord to gebeorge; he tham beorne oncwæth; Ic thæt gehate, thæt ic heonon nelle fleon fotes trym, ac wille furthor gan, wrecan on gewinne mine wine drihten! Ne thurfon me embe Sturmere stede fæste hæleth, wordum ætwitan, nu min wine gecranc, thæt ic hlafordleas ham sithie wende from wige! ac me sceal wæpen niman, ord and iren!

 Then up spake Leveson and his shield uphove, buckler in ward; he the warrior addressed: I make the vow, that I will not hence flee a foot's pace, but will go forward; wreak in the battle my friend and my lord! Never shall about Stourmere, the stalwart fellows, with words me twit now my chief is down, that I lordless homeward go march, turning from war! Nay, weapon shall take me, point and iron. 

Other ballads, or something like ballads, that are embodied in the Saxonchronicles are:--"The Conquest of Mercia" (942); "The Coronation ofEadgar at Bath" (973); "Eadgar's Demise" (975); "The Good Times of KingEadgar" (975); "The Martyr of Corf Gate" (979); "Alfred the InnocentÆtheling" (1036); "The Son of Ironside" (1057); "The Dirge of KingEadward" (1065). 

Others there are of which only brief scraps remain, almost embedded inthe prose of the chronicles:--"The Sack of Canterbury" (1011); "TheWooing of Margaret" (1067); "The Baleful Bride Ale" (1076); "TheHigh-handed Conqueror" (1086). [88]

Our last piece shall be "Widsith, or the Gleeman's Song. "[89] This is astring of reminiscences of travel in the profession of minstrelsy; somepart of which has a genuine air of high antiquity. [90] In the course ofa long tradition it has undergone many changes which cannot now bedistinguished. But, besides these, there are some glaring patches ofliterary interpolation, chiefly from Scriptural sources. I quote theconcluding lines:--

 Swa scrithende gesceapum hweorfath, gleo men gumena geond grunda fela; thearfe secgath thonc word sprecath, simle suth oththe north sumne gemetath, gydda gleawne geofum unhneawne, se the fore duguthe wile dom aræran eorlscipe æfnan; oth thæt eal scaceth leoht and lif somod: Lof se gewyrceth hafath under heofenum heahfæstne dom. 

 So wandering on the world about, glee-men do roam through many lands; they say their needs, they speak their thanks, sure south or north some one to meet, of songs to judge and gifts not grudge, one who by merit hath a mind renown to make earlship to earn; till all goes out light and life together. Laud who attains hath under heaven high built renown. 

FOOTNOTES:

[74] In "A Book for the Beginner in Anglo-Saxon, " Clarendon PressSeries; ed. 2 (1879), p. 70. 

[75] The editions and translations are by Thorkelin, Copenhagen, 1815;Kemble, ed. 1, London, 1833; ed. 2, London, 1835; translation, 1837;Ettmüller, German translation, Zurich, 1840; Schaldemose, with Danishtranslation, Copenhagen, 1851; Thorpe, with English translation, Oxford, 1855; Grundtvig, Copenhagen, 1861; Moritz Heyne, German translation, Paderborn, 1863; Grein, 1867; Arnold, Oxford, 1876; Moritz Heyne, Text, ed. 4, 1879. 

[76]

 Wulfgar then spoke to his own dear lord: "Here are arrived, come from afar Over the sea-waves, men of the Geats; The one most distinguished the warriors brave Beowulf name. They are thy suppliants That they, my prince, may with thee now Greetings exchange; do not thou refuse them Thy converse in turn, friendly Hrothgar! They in their war-weeds seem very worthy Contenders with earls; the chief is renowned Who these war-heroes hither has led. " Hrothgar then spoke, defence of the Scyldings; "I knew him of old when he was a child; His aged father was Ecgtheow named; To him at home gave Hrethel the Geat His only daughter: his son has now Boldly come here, a trusty friend sought. "

This is from Mr. Garnett's translation, which is made line for line. Published by Ginn, Heath, & Co. , Boston, 1882. 

[77] Dr. Karl Müllenhof (papers in Haupt's "Zeitschrift") follows thesame line. His treatment is thus described by Mr. Henry Morley:--"Thework was formed, he thinks, by the combination of several old songs--(1)'The Fight with Grendel, ' complete in itself, and the oldest of thepieces; (2) 'The Fight with Grendel's Mother, ' next added; then (3) thegenealogical introduction to the mention of Hrothgar, forming what isnow the opening of the poem. Then came, according to this theory, apoet, A, who worked over the poem thus produced, interpolated manypassages with skill, and added a continuation, setting forth Beowulf'sreturn home. Last came a theoretical interloper, B, a monk, whointerspersed religious sayings of his own, and added the ancient song ofthe fight with the dragon and the death of Beowulf. The positive criticnot only finds all this, but proceeds to point out which passages areold, older, and oldest, where a few lines are from poet A, and whereother interpolation is from poet B. "--"English Verse and Prose" in"Cassell's Library of English Literature, " p. 11. 

[78] No one needs to be told that the dragon story is of high antiquity. But even of the elements which have most the appearance of history somemay be traced so far back till they seem to fade into legend. ThusHigelac can hardly be any other than that Chochilaicus of whom Gregoryof Tours records that he invaded the Frisian coast from the north, andwas slain in the attempt. In our poem, this recurs with variations noless than four times as a well-known passage in the adventures ofHigelac. But it affords a doubtful basis for argument about the date ofour poem. 

[79] See Dr. Vigfusson's remarks in the Prolegomena to his edition ofthe "Sturlinga Saga, " Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1878. 

[80] See Dr. Morris's Preface to the Blickling Homilies. 

[81] Cod. Exon. , ed. Thorpe, p. 473. 

[82] Cod. Exon. , ed. Thorpe, p. 476; Grein, i. , 248. 

[83] Years ago I discussed this little poem before the Bath Field Club;and my arguments were subsequently printed in the "Proceedings" of thatsociety (1872). Professor Wülcker has since agreed with me that thesubject of the poem is a city, and not a fortress. My identification ofthe ruin with Acemanceaster (Bath) has been approved by Mr. Freeman inhis volume on "Rufus. "

[84] The feeling which pervades this remarkable fragment was strangelyrecalled by the following passage in a recent book that has interestedmany:--"Masses of strange, nameless masonry, of an antiquity datelessand undefined, bedded themselves in the rocks, or overhung the clefts ofthe hills; and out of a great tomb by the wayside, near the arch, aforest of laurel forced its way, amid delicate and graceful frieze-work, moss-covered and stained with age. In this strangely desolate andruinous spot, where the fantastic shapes of nature seem to mourn inweird fellowship with the shattered strength and beauty of the old Paganart-life, there appeared unexpectedly signs of modern dwelling. "--"JohnInglesant, " by J. H. Shorthouse, new edition, 1881, vol. Ii. , p. 320. 

[85] Cod. Exon. , ed. Thorpe, p. 286. 

[86] A translation of this poem in Alexandrines appeared in the_Academy_, May 14, 1881, by E. H. Hickey. 

[87] Cod. Exon. , ed. Thorpe, p. 377. His title is "Deor the Scald'sComplaint. " I have adopted the title from Professor Wülcker, "DesSängers Trost. "

[88] Sometimes a prose passage of unusual energy raises the apprehensionthat it may be a ballad toned down. Dr. Grubitz has suggested this viewof the Annal of 755, in which there is a fight in a Saxon castle (burh). The graphic description of the place, the dramatic order of theincidents, and the life-like dialogue of the parley, might well be thework of a poet. 

[89] Kemble called it "The Traveller's Song;" Thorpe, Cod. Exon. , p. 318, "The Scop or Scald's Tale. "

[90] A valuable testimony is borne to the substantial antiquity of thispoem, by the fact that Schafarik, who is the chief ethnographer forSclavonic literature, regards it as a valuable source on account of theSclavonic names contained in it. I am indebted to Mr. Morfil, of OrielCollege, for this information. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE WEST SAXON LAWS. 

"No other Germanic nation has bequeathed to us out of its earliestexperience so rich a treasure of original legal documents as theAnglo-Saxon nation has. " Such is the sentence of Dr. Reinhold Schmid, who upon the basis of former labours, and particularly those of Mr. Benjamin Thorpe, has given us the most compact and complete edition yetproduced of the Anglo-Saxon laws. [91]

It might seem as if laws were too far removed from the idea ofliterature, to merit more than a passing notice here. Writers on modernEnglish literature generally leave the lawyer's work altogether out oftheir field. But these are among the things that alter with age. Lawsbecome literary matter just as they become old and obsolete. Then thetraces they have left in words and phrases and figures of speech, theirvery contrasts with the laws of the present, makes them materialeminently literary. We know what effective literary use Sir Walter Scotthas made of the antiquities and curiosities of law. 

And to this may be added another remark. When we are engaged inreconstructing an ancient, we might almost say a lost literature, weneed above all things some leading ideas concerning the conditions ofsocial life and opinion and mental development at the period inquestion. Nothing supplies these things so safely as the laws of thetime. 

INE'S LAWS. 

The oldest extant West Saxon laws are those of King Ine, [92] who reignedthirty-eight years, A. D. 688-726. As the West Saxon powergradually absorbed all other rule in this island, we here find ourselvesentering the central stream of history. In the preamble to Ine's Lawsthe name of Erconwald, bishop of London, who died in 693, is among thepersons present at the Gemôt. Consequently these laws must be referredto the first years of Ine's reign, and they must be older than the dateof the Kentish laws of Wihtred. 

The laws of Ine are preserved to us as an appendix of the laws ofAlfred. This is the case in all the manuscripts. Not only does the eldercode follow the younger, but the numbering is continuous as if weldingthe two codes into one. Thorpe follows the manuscripts in thisarrangement, though not in the numbering of the sections, and thestudent who consults his edition is apt to be confused with thischronological inversion, unless he has taken note of the cause. Inereigned over a mixed population of Saxons and Britons, and his code isof a more comprehensive character than that of the Kentish kings. Hisenactments became, through subsequent re-enactments, the basis of thelaws not only of Wessex, but also of all England. Accordingly they seemmore intelligible to the modern reader. [93]

9. If any one take revenge before he sue for justice, let him give upwhat he has seized, and pay for the damage done, and make amends withthirty shillings. 

12. If a thief be taken, let him die, or let his life be redeemedaccording to his "wer. " . . . Thieves we call them up to seven men; fromseven to thirty-five a band (_hloth_); after that it is a troop(_here_). 

32. If a Wylisc-man have a hide of land, his "wer" is 120 shillings; ifhe have half a hide, eighty shillings; if he have none, sixty shillings. 

36. He who takes a thief, or has a captured thief given over to him, andthen lets him go or conceals the theft, let him pay for the thiefaccording to his "wer. " If he be an ealdorman, let him forfeit hisshire, unless the king be pleased to show him mercy. 

39. If any one go from his lord without leave, or steal himself awayinto another shire, and word is brought; let him go where he before was, and pay his lord sixty shillings. 

40. A ceorl's close should be fenced winter and summer. If it beunfenced, and his neighbour's cattle get in through his own gap, he hathno claim on the cattle; let him drive it out and bear the damage. 

43. In case any one burn a tree in a wood, and it come to light who didit, let him pay the full penalty, and give sixty shillings, because fireis a thief. If one fell in a wood ever so many trees, and it be foundout afterwards, let him pay for three trees, each with thirty shillings. He is not required to pay for more of them, however many they might be, because the axe is a reporter and not a thief (_forthon seo æsc bithmelda, nalles theof_). [94]

44. But if a man cut down a tree that thirty swine may stand under, andit is found out, let him pay sixty shillings. 

52. Let him who is accused of secret compositions clear himself of thosecompositions with 120 hides, or pay 120 shillings. [95]

ALFRED'S LAWS. 

Here I will quote from the introductory portion a piece whichillustrates the subject generally, and which is rendered interesting bythe wide diversity of comment which it has elicited from Mr. Kemble andSir H. Maine. The former is almost outrageously angry at Alfred forattributing the system of bôts or compensations to the influence ofChristianity; while in the strong terms wherewith treason against thelord is branded, he can only see "these despotic tendencies of a greatprince, nurtured probably by his exaggerated love for foreignliterature. "[96] It is positively refreshing to come out of this heatand dust into the orderly and consecutive demonstration of Sir H. Maine, who concludes a course of systematic exposition on the history ofCriminal Law, and indeed concludes his entire book on Ancient Law, withan appreciative quotation of this passage from the Laws of Alfred. It isthus introduced:--

"There is a passage in the writings of King Alfred which brings out intoremarkable clearness the struggle of the various ideas that prevailed inhis day as to the origin of criminal jurisdiction. It will be seen thatAlfred attributes it partly to the authority of the Church and partly tothat of the Witan, while he expressly claims for treason against thelord the same immunity from ordinary rules which the Roman Law ofMajestas had assigned to treason against the Cæsar. "

 Siththan thæt tha gelamp, thæt monega theoda Cristes geleafan onfengon, tha wurdon monega seonothas geond ealne middan geard gegaderode, and eac swa geond Angel cyn, siththan hie Cristes geleafan onfengon, haligra biscepa and eac otherra gethungenra witena. Hie tha gesetton for thære mildheortnesse, the Crist lærde, æt mæstra hwelcre misdæde, thæt tha woruld hlafordas moston mid hiora leafan buton synne æt tham forman gylte thære fioh-bote onfon, the hie tha gesettan; buton æt hlaford searwe, tham hie nane mildheortnesse ne dorston gecwæthan, fortham the God Ælmihtig tham nane ne gedemde the hine oferhogodon, ne Crist, Godes sunu, tham nane ne gedemde, the hyne sealde to deathe; and he bebead thone hlaford lufian swa hine selfne. 

 After that it happened that many nations received the faith of Christ, and there were many synods assembled through all parts of the world, and likewise throughout the Angle race after they had received the faith of Christ, of holy bishops and also of other distinguished Witan. They then ordained, out of that compassion which Christ had taught, in the case of almost every misdeed, that the secular lords might, with their leave and without sin, for the first offence accept the money penalty which they then ordained; excepting in the case of treason against a lord, to which they dared not assign any mercy, because God Almighty adjudged none to them that despised Him, nor did Christ, the Son of God, adjudge any to them that sold Him to death; and He commanded that the lord should be loved as Himself. 

 Hie tha on monegum senothum monegra menniscra misdæda bote gesetton, and on monega senoth bec hy writon hwær anne dom hwær otherne. 

 They then in many synods ordained a "bot" for many human misdeeds, and in many a synod-book they wrote, here one decision, there another. 

 Ic tha Ælfred cyning thas togædere gegaderode and awritan het monege thara, the ure foregengan heoldon, tha the me licodon; and manege thara the me ne licodon, ic awearp mid minra witena getheahte, and on othre wisan bebead to healdenne, fortham ic ne dorste gethristlæcan thara minra awuht feala on gewrit settan, fortham me wæs uncuth, hwæt thæs tham lician wolde, the æfter us wæren. Ac tha the ic gemette, awther oththe on Ines dæge, mines mæges, oththe on Offan, Myrcena cyninges, oththe on Æthelbryhtes, the ærest fulluht onfeng on Angel cynne, tha the me ryhtoste thuhton, ic tha her on gegaderode and tha othre forlet. 

 I then, Alfred, king, gathered these together, and I ordered to write out many of those that our forefathers held which to me seemed good; and many of those that to me seemed not good I rejected, with the counsel of my Witan, and in other wise commanded to hold; forasmuch as I durst not venture to set any great quantity of my own in writing, because it was unknown to me what would please those who should be after us. But those things that I found established, either in the days of Ine my kinsman, or in Offa's, king of the Mercians, or in Æthelbryht's, who first received baptism in the Angle race, those which seemed to me rightest, those I have here gathered together, and the others I have rejected. 

 Ic tha Ælfred, West seaxna cyning, eallum minum witum thas geeowde, and hie tha cwædon, thæt him thæt licode eallum to healdenne. 

 I then, Alfred, king of the West Saxons, to all my Witan showed these; and they then said, that it seemed good to them all that they should be holden. 

ALFRED AND GUTHRUM'S PEACE. 

This is a little code which marks a crisis in Alfred's life, and, it maybe added, a crisis also in the life of the nation. When Alfred by hisvictory over the Danes in 878 had brought them to sue for peace, thetreaty was made at Wedmore in Somersetshire. The original text of thepeace between Alfred and Guthrum is among the Anglo-Saxon laws, and wepresent it to the reader in its entire form. The first item is about thefrontier line between the two races which was drawn diagonally throughthe heart of England, cutting Mercia in two, and leaving half of itunder the Danes. The two parts into which the country was thus divided, were designated severally as the "Engla lagu" and the "Dena lagu. "

 _Ælfredes and Guthrumes frith. _

 This is thæt frith, thæt Ælfred cynincg and Gythrum cyning and ealles Angel cynnes witan, and eal seo theod the on East Englum beoth, ealle gecweden habbath, and mid athum gefeostnod, for hy sylfe and for heora gingran, ge for geborene, ge for ungeborene, the Godes miltse recce oththe ure. 

 _Alfred and Guthrum's Peace. _

 This is the peace that king Alfred and king Guthrum and the counsellors of all Angel-kin, and all the people that are in East Anglia, have all decreed and with oaths confirmed for themselves and for their children, both for the born and for the unborn, all who value God's favour or ours. 

 Cap. 1. Ærest ymb ure land-gemæra: up on Temese and thonne up on Ligan, and andlang Ligan oth hire æ wylm, thonne on gerihte to Bedan forda, thonne up on Usan oth Wætlinga stræt. 

 Cap. 1. First about our land-boundaries:--Up the Thames, and then up the Lea, and along the Lea to her source, then straight to Bedford, then up the Ouse to Watling Street. 

 2. Thæt is thonne, gif man ofslagen weorthe, ealle we lætath efen dyrne Engliscne and Deniscne, to VIII healfmarcum asodenes goldes, buton tham ceorle the on gafol lande sit, and heora liesingum, tha syndan eac efen dyre, ægther to CC scill. 

 2. Videlicet, if a person be slain, we all estimate of equal value, the Englishman and the Dane, at eight half-marks of pure gold; except the ceorl who resides on gafol-land, and their [_i. E. _ the Danish] liesings, those also are equally dear, either at two hundred shillings. 

 3. And gif mon cyninges thegn beteo manslihtes, gif he hine ladian dyrre, do he thæt mid XII cininges thegnum. Gif man thone man betyhth, the bith læssa maga thonne se cyninges thegn, ladige he hine mid XI his gelicena and mid anum cyninges thægne. And swa ægehwilcere spræce, the mare sy thonne IIII mancussas. And gyf he ne dyrre, gylde hit thry gylde, swa hit man gewyrthe. 

 3. And if a king's thane be charged with killing a man, if he dare to clear himself, let him do it with twelve king's thanes. If the accused man be of less degree than the king's thane, let him clear himself with eleven of his equals, and with one king's thane. And so in every suit that may be for more than four mancuses. And if he dare not, let him pay threefold, according as it may be valued. 

 _Be getymum. _

 4. And thæt ælc man wite his getyman be mannum and be horsum and be oxum. 

 _Of Warrantors. _

 4. And that every man know his warrantor for men and for horses and for oxen. 

 5. And ealle we cwædon on tham dæge the mon tha athas swor, thæt ne theowe ne freo ne moton in thone here faran butan leafe, ne heora nan the ma to us. Gif thonne gebyrige, thæt for neode heora hwilc with ure bige habban wille, oththe we with heora, mid yrfe and mid æhtum, thæt is to thafianne on tha wisan, thæt man gislas sylle frithe to wedde, and to swutelunge, thæt man wite thæt man clæne bæc hæbbe. 

 5. And we all said on that day when the oaths were sworn, that neither bond nor free should be at liberty to go to the host[97] without leave, nor of them any one by the same rule (come) to us. If, however, it happen, that for business any one of them desires to have dealings with us or we with them, about cattle and about goods, that is to be granted on this wise, that hostages be given for a pledge of peace, and for evidence whereby it may be known that the party has a clean back [_i. E. _, that he has not carried off on his back what is not his own]. 

EADWARD AND GUTHRUM'S LAWS. 

Besides two codes of laws of Eadward, the son of Alfred, we have also acode entitled as above. Of these laws it is said that they were firstmade between Alfred and Guthrum, and afterwards between Eadward andGuthrum. [98] Many of the enactments of this code were transmitted tolater ordinances. 

 This syndon tha domas the Ælfred cyneg and Guthrum cyneg gecuran. 

 These are the dooms that king Alfred and king Guthrum chose. 

 And this is seo gerædnis eac the Ælfred cyng and Guthrum cyng. And eft Eadward cyng and Guthrum cyng. Gecuran and gecwædon. Tha tha Engle and Dene to frithe and to freondscipe fullice fengen. And tha witan eac the syththan wæron eft and unseldan thæt seolfe geniwodon and mid gode gehihtan. 

 And this is the ordinance, also, which king Alfred and king Guthrum, and afterwards king Eadward and king Guthrum, chose and ordained, when the English and Danes fully took to peace and to friendship; and the Witan also, who were afterward, often and repeatedly renewed the same and increased it with good. 

ATHELSTAN'S LAWS. 

Under the name of Athelstan we have five codes, of which the second andthird are mere abstracts in Latin; but the others are in Saxon; andbesides these a substantive ordinance bearing the special title of "TheJudgments of the City of London. " This has been described asfollows:--"The rules of the guild composed of thanes and ceorls(gentlemen and yeomen), under the perpetual presidency of the bishopand portreeve of London. "[99] They combine to protect themselves againstrobbery, and this in two ways: (1) by promoting the action of the lawsagainst robbers; (2) by mutual insurance. 

The determination of this code to the reign of Athelstan is guided bythe mention of the places of enactment, which are Greatley (nearAndover, Hants); Exeter; and Thundersfield (near Horley, Surrey), withwhich places all the previous laws of Athelstan are associated. 

From the fourth of the above-mentioned ordinances I will quote the lawabout the tracking of cattle lost, stolen, or strayed:--

2. "And if any one track cattle within another's land, the owner of thatland is to track it out, if he can; if he cannot, that track is to countas the fore-oath, " _i. E. _, the first legal step in an action to recover. 

A more explicit description of the method of tracking cattle occurs inthe Ordinance of the Dunsæte. 

This ordinance is placed by Thorpe between the laws of Æthelred andthose of Cnut. This little code of nine sections is intended to rule therelations of a border country which, on its home side, is continuouswith Wessex, and on its outer side is next the Welsh. Sir FrancisPalgrave, misled perhaps by a questionable reading in Lambarde (1568), who has the form Deunsætas, took this to be a treaty between the Englishand British inhabitants of Devon, and bestowed on it the succinct titleof the Devonian Compact. But Mr. Thorpe objected to the form "Deun" asgroundless, and he also quoted the text of the code against it; for thelast section speaks thus:--"Formerly the Wentsæte belonged to theDunsæte, but that district more strictly belongs to Wessex, for theyhave to send thither tribute and hostages. " This admits of noexplanation in Devonshire, but in South Wales it does, and we learn fromWilliam of Malmesbury that the river Wye was fixed by King Athelstan asthe boundary between the English and Welsh. On this basis the Wentsætewill be the people of Gwent, and the Dunsæte will be the Welsh of theupland or hill-country. 

One of the most remarkable sections of this Code is the first, whichprescribes the method for tracking stolen cattle. 

The laws concerning theft relate almost entirely to the protection ofcattle, and naturally so, because the chief wealth of the time consistedin flocks and herds. Stolen cattle were tracked by fixed rules. If thetrack led into a given district, the men of that district were bound toshow the track out of their boundary or to be responsible for the lostproperty. We have just seen this in Athelstan's laws; but in theprevious reign a law of Edward, the son of Alfred, directs that everyproprietor of land is to have men ready to dispatch in aid of those whoare following the track of cattle, and that they are not to be divertedfrom this duty by bribes, or inclination, or violence. But the mostexplicit text on this subject is in the first chapter of the Ordinancerespecting the Dunset folk, as above said. It runs thus:--

"If the track of stolen cattle be followed from station to station, thefurther tracking shall be committed to the people of the land, and proofshall be given that the pursuit is genuine. The proprietor of the landshall then take up the pursuit, and he shall have the responsibility, and he shall pay for the cattle by nine days therefrom, or deposit apledge by that date, which is worth half more, and in a further ninedays discharge the pledge with actual payment. If objection be made thatthe track was wrongly pursued, then the tracker must lead to thestation, and there with six unchosen men, who are true men, make oaththat he by folk-right makes claim on the land that the cattle passed upthat way. "

We cannot follow the laws in detail, but must now conclude this subjectwith one or two observations of a general kind. In the above I haverepeatedly used the word "Code"; but this is not to be understood withtechnical exactness. Of late years we have heard much of "codifying" ourlaws; and this expression suggests the idea of a compact and consistentbody of law, which should take the place of partial, occasional, anomalous, and often conflicting legislation. Of "codes" in this sense, there is very little to be found in the whole record of English law. OurKentish and West Saxon laws are little more than statements of custom oramendments of custom; and while Professor Stubbs claims for the laws ofAlfred, Æthelred, Cnut, and those described as Edward the Confessor's, that they aspire to the character of codes, yet "English law (he adds)from its first to its latest phase, has never possessed anauthoritative, constructive, systematic, or approximately exhaustivestatement, such as was attempted by the great compilers of the civil andcanon laws, by Alfonso the Wise or Napoleon Bonaparte. "[100]

There is a prominent characteristic of our laws which they have incommon with all primitive codes. These all differ from maturercollections of laws in their very large proportion of criminal to civillaw. Sir Henry Maine says that, on the whole, all the known collectionsof ancient law are distinguished from systems of mature jurisprudence bythis feature, --that the civil part of the law has trifling dimensions ascompared with the criminal. [101] This is strikingly seen in the Kentishlaws; and even in the West Saxon laws a very little study will enablethe reader to verify this characteristic. 

Our next and last observation shall be based on the absence of somethingwhich the reader might possibly expect to find in the Saxon laws. 

Of all the legal institutions that have claimed a Saxon origin, nonecompares for importance with that of trial by jury. This has been calledthe bulwark of English liberty, and it has been assigned to King Alfredas the general founder of great institutions. But this is only a popularopinion. 

Perhaps there is no single matter in legal antiquities that has been somuch debated as the origin of trial by jury. In the vast literaturewhich the subject has called forth, the most various accounts have beenproposed. It is an English institution, but whence did the English getit? From which of the various sources that have contributed to thecomposite life of the English nation? Was it Anglo-Saxon, or was itAnglo-Norman, or was it Keltic? Was it a process common to all theGermanic family? If it was Norman, from which source--from theirScandinavian ancestors or from their Frankish neighbours? All theseorigins have been maintained, and others besides these. According tosome writers, it is a relic of Roman law; some trace it to the Canonlaw; and champions have not been wanting to vindicate it as originally aSlavonic institution which the Angles borrowed from the Werini ere theyhad left their old mother country. [102]

In all this diversity of view there is one fixed point of commonagreement. It is allowed on all hands that England is the arena of itshistorical career, and the question therefore always takes thisstart, --How did the English acquire it?

The Anglo-Saxon laws have been diligently scanned to see if the practiceor the germ of it could be discovered there. In Æthelred iii. , 3, thereis an ordinance that runs thus:--

 And gan ut tha yldestan XII thegnas, and se gerefa mid, and swerian on tham haligdome, the heom man on hand sylle, thæt hig nellan nænne sacleasan man forsecgan, ne nænne sacne forhelan. 

 Let the XII senior thanes go out, and the reeve with them, and swear on the halidom that is put in their hand, that they will not calumniate any sackless man, nor conceal any guilty one (? suppress any suit). 

This looks like the grand jury examining the bills of indictment beforetrial, and determining _primâ facie_ whether they are true bills whichought to be tried in court. But the progress of modern inquiry has ledto the conclusion, that though there may be rudiments of the principlein Anglo-Saxon and in all Germanic customs, still it was among theFranks in the Carling era that a definite beginning can first berecognised. The Frankish capitularies had a process called Inquisitio, which was adopted into Norman law, and was there called Enquête; this, having passed with the Normans into England, was finally shaped andembodied in the common law among the legal reforms of Henry II. 

Under the Saxon laws, the true men who were sworn to do justice had avery different part to act from that which falls to the lot of ourEnglish jury. The duty of the latter is to deliver a verdict on matterof fact as proved by evidence given in court. The judge charges them toput aside what they may have heard out of court, and let it have noinfluence on their verdict, but to let that verdict be strictly basedupon the evidence of witnesses before the court. 

In Æthelred's time it was different. The sworn men were not to judgetestimony truly, but to bear witness truly. They were to bring intocourt their own knowledge of the case, and of any circumstances thatthrew light upon it, including the general opinion and persuasion of theneighbourhood. There was no attempt to collect evidence piecemeal, andto rise above the level of local rumour, by a patient judicialinvestigation. This provides us with something like a measure of theintellectual stage of the public mind in Saxon times, and will perhapsjustify these remarks if they have seemed like drifting away from ourproper subject. The notion of weighing evidence had not taken its placeamong the institutions of public life. This has now become with usalmost a popular habit. Proficiency and soundness in it may be rare, butthe appreciation of it, the perception of its power and beauty, andwithal a pride and glory in it, is almost universal. How wide a distancedoes this seem to put between us and our Saxon forefathers, only to saythat they had but the most rudimentary notions about the nature ofevidence!

Witnesses came into court, not to speak, one by one, to a matter offact, but to pronounce in a body what they all believed and held. Theycame to testify and uphold the popular opinion. Such testimony is likenothing known to us now, except when witnesses are called to speak togeneral character. These witnesses gave their evidence on oath; but itwould naturally happen sometimes that such sworn testimony was to be hadon both sides of the question. When this was the case, there was but oneresource left, and that was the Ordeal--the appeal to the judgment ofGod. Such are the devices of inexperienced nations, who have no skill insifting out the truth, and are baffled by contending testimony. Nothingcan better illustrate the stage of our national progress in the timeswhich produced the literature which we are now surveying. 

But, withal, it was in such a rude age that the foundations of Englishlaw were laid, and those customs took a definite form which are thegroundwork of our jurisprudence, and in which consists the distinctionbetween our English law and the law of the other nations of WesternEurope, who have all (Scotland included) formed their legal system uponthe civil law of Rome. 

LEGAL DOCUMENTS. 

From the seventh century down to the end of our period we have a seriesof legal documents, such as grants of land, purchases, memorials, written wills, memoranda of nuncupatory wills, royal writs, familyarrangements, interchanges of land. The first thing to be noticed aboutthis whole body of writings is that they, at the beginning of theseries, are entirely in Latin; then a few words of the vulgar tonguecreep in, and then this native element goes on increasing until we haveentire documents in Saxon. Nevertheless, it remained a prevalent habitin the case of transfer of land to have the grant written in Latin, andthe boundaries and other details expressed in Anglo-Saxon. This is alarge body of literature, and it fills six octavo volumes in Kemble's"Codex Diplomaticus. " Being of very various degrees of genuineness--someabsolute originals, some faulty copies, some too carefully amended, downto the veriest forgeries--there is here a good field for the exercise ofcritical discrimination. And there are many curious and interestingdetails to reward the patient student. The following extract is from amemorial addressed to Edward, the son of Alfred, touching matters thathad mostly fallen in his father's time; and it opens a glimpse of Alfredin his bed-chamber receiving a committee that came to report progress. 

 Tha bær mon tha boc forth and rædde hie; tha stod seo hondseten eal thæron. Tha thuhte us eallan the æt thære some wæran thet Helmstan wære athe thæs the near. Tha næs Æthelm na fullice gethafa ær we eodan in to cinge and rædan eall hu we hit reahtan and be hwy we hit reahtan: and Æthelm stod self thær inne mid; and cing stod thwoh his honda æt Weardoran innan thon bure. Tha he thæt gedon hæfde tha ascade he Æthelm hwy hit him ryht ne thuhte thæt we him gereaht hæfdan; cwæth thæt he nan ryhtre gethencan ne meahte thonne he thone ath agifan moste gif he meahte. 

 Then they brought forward the conveyance and read it; there stood the signatures all thereon. Then seemed it to all of us who were at the arbitration, that Helmstan was all the nearer to the oath. Then was not Æthelm fully convinced before we went in to the king and explained everything--how we reported it, and on what grounds we had so reported it: and Æthelm himself stood there in the room with us; and the king stood and washed his hands at Wardour in the chamber. When he had done that, then he asked Æthelm why it seemed to him not right what we had reported to him; he said that he could think of nothing more just than that he might be allowed to discharge the oath if he were able. 

FOOTNOTES:

[91] The Anglo-Saxon laws have been edited by William Lambarde, London, 1568, 4to. ; Abraham Whelock, Cambridge, 1644; Wilkins, London, 1721, folio; Dr. Reinhold Schmid, Leipzig, 1832; Thorpe, 1840; Schmid, ed. 2, 1858. It is Schmid's second edition that is spoken of above. 

[92] Ine is to be pronounced as a word of two syllables. 

[93] Palgrave, "English Commonwealth, " i. , 46. 

[94] Grimm, "Legal Antiquities, " § 10, quotes some widely-scatteredparallels: from Rügen he produces the proverb, "Mit der exe stelt mennicht" (with the axe men steal not); and from Wetterau, "Wan einerhauet, so ruft er" (when one hews, he shouts). He dubs the Anglo-Saxonformula the more poetical (_poetischer_). 

[95] "These secret compositions are forbidden by nearly every early codeof Europe; for by such a proceeding both the judge and the Crown losttheir profits. The "Capitulary" of 593 puts the receiver of a secretcomposition on a level with the thief: 'Qui furtum vult celare, etocculte sine judice compositionem acceperit, latroni similis est. ' Andeven now in common law, the rule is to obtain the sanction of the Courtfor permission 'to speak with the prosecutor, ' and thus terminate thesuit by compounding the affair in private. "--THORPE. The reasonassigned is, however, not the whole reason. 

[96] "Saxons in England, " vol. Ii. , p. 208. 

[97] _I. E. _, go to the Danish camp in East Anglia. 

[98] Here we have to understand two distinct kings of the name ofGuthrum. 

[99] Coote, "The Romans of Britain, " p. 397. 

[100] "Documents Illustrative of English History, " p. 60. 

[101] "Ancient Law, " chap. X. Init. 

[102] Palgrave, "Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth;" Stubbs, "ConstitutionalHistory;" Heinrich Brunner, "Die Entstehung der Schwurgerichte, " Berlin, 1872. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CHRONICLES. 

Of the historical writings that remain from the Anglian period--namely, those of Æddi and Bede, we have already spoken; the subject of thepresent chapter will be the Saxon Chronicles and the Latin historieswhich are more or less related to these Chronicles. 

The habit of putting together annals began to be formed very early. Inour Chronicles there are some entries that may perhaps be older than theconversion of our people. The contributors to Bede's "History" wouldappear to have sent in their parts more or less in the annalistic form. That form is even now but slightly veiled in the grouped arrangementinto which the venerable historian has, with little reconstruction butconsiderable skill, cast his materials. Annal-writing, we may venture tosay, had by his time become a recognised habit in literature, and thereis extant a brief Northumbrian Chronicle which ends soon after Bede'sdeath. [103] Continuous with this we have a series of annals which wereproduced in the north, and which are now imbedded in the West SaxonChronicles; but the traces of their birth are not obliterated. Suchvernacular annals were probably at first designed as little more thannotes and memoranda to serve for a Latin history to be written anotherday; but the Danish wars broke the tradition of Latin learning, and madea wide opening which gave opportunity for the elevation of a vernacularliterature. There is no part of Anglo-Saxon literature morecharacterised by spontaneity than are the Saxon Chronicles. Nowhere canwe better see how the mother-tongue received the devolution of theliterary office in an unexpected way when the learned literature wassuddenly and violently displaced. 

One of the strong features of these Chronicles is the genealogies of thekings, ascending mostly to Woden as their mythical ancestor. The mostcomplete of these is that of the West Saxon kings, which is prefixed tothe Parker manuscript in manner of a preface. This genealogy wasoriginally made for Ecgbryht, who reigned from 800 to 836, --it was madeat his death, and it comprised the accession of his son, Æthelwulf. Subsequently an addition was made, which continued the line of kingsdown to Alfred, and closed with the date of his accession. This, whencombined with the fact that the first hand in this book ends with 891, seems to fix the date of the Winchester Chronicle. This interestingappendix is as follows:--

 Ond tha feng Æthelbald his sunu to rice and heold v gear. Tha feng Æthelbryht his brother to and heold v gear. Tha feng Æthered hiera brothur to rice and heold v gear. Tha feng Ælfred hiera brothur to rice and tha wæs agan his ielde xxiii wintra, and ccc and xcvi wintra thæs the his cyn ærest Wessexana lond on Wealum geodon. 

 And then Æthelbald his son took to the realm and held it 5 years. Then succeeded Æthelbryht his brother, and held 5 years. Then Æthered their brother took to the realm, and held 5 years. Then took Alfred their brother to the realm, and then was agone of his age 23 years; and 396 years from that his race erst took Wessex from the Welsh. 

These Chronicles are remarkable for a certain unconscious ease andhomeliness. Even when, in the course of their progress, they grow morecopious and mature, they hardly discover any consciousness of literarydignity. Of the Latin writings of the Anglo-Saxon period this could notbe said. This _naïveté_ is naturally more observable in the earlierparts, which seem like rescued antiquities, which might have been builtinto their place when, in the latter end of the eighth or beginning ofthe ninth century, the importance of the national and vernacularchronicle began to be realised. 

Some of the brief entries concerning the various settlements on thecoasts and the early contests with the Britons have the appearance oftraditional reminiscences that had been preserved in popular songs. Suchis that of 473, that the Welsh flew the English like fire; 491, thatÆlle and Cissa besieged Andredescester, and slew all those that thereindwelt--there was not so much as one Bret left; 584, how that Ceawlin, in his expedition up the Vale of Severn, where his brother fell, tookmany towns and untold spoils, and, angry, he turned away to his own. 

Mingled with these are entries which, though ingenious, are hardly lessspontaneous. Such are those in which there is a manifest rationalisingupon the names of historical sites, and a fanciful discovery of theirheroes or founders. Thus, in 501, we read that Port landed in Britain atthe place called Portsmouth. Now, we know that the first syllable inPortsmouth is the Latin _portus_, a harbour, and it seems plain thathere we have a name made into a personage. In 534 we read how Cynricgave the Isle of Wight to Stuf and Wihtgar, and how Wihtgar died in 544, and was buried at Wihtgaraburg, also called Wihtgaræsburh. Here theperson of Wihtgar has been made out of the name of the place, becausethat name was understood as meaning Castle of Wihtgar. But it meant theBurgh "of" Wihtgar only in the sense of the Burgh which was calledWihtgar. The last syllable, _gar_, is the British word for burg, fortress, castle, which the Welsh call _Caer_ to this day. And theSaxons, having often to use the word _gar_ in this sense--much as ourreporters of New Zealand affairs have to speak of a _pa_--distinguishedthe _gar_ that was in Wiht, as Wihtgar, and then they added their ownword, _burh_, as the interpretation of _gar_, and after a time thehistorian, finding the name of Wihtgarburh, took Wihtgar for a man, andcalled it Wihtgar's Burg, Wihtgaresburh, a genitive form which stilllives in "Carisbrooke. "

The originals of the Chronicles are preserved in seven different books. They are known by the signatures A, B, C, D, E, F, G. 

A, the famous book in Archbishop Parker's library, preserved in CorpusChristi College, Cambridge. The structure of this book indicates that itwas made in 891, and, indeed, the penmanship of this copy--at least, ofthe compilation--may possibly be as old as the lifetime of King Alfred. It bears the local impress of Winchester, except in the latestcontinuation, 1005-1070, which appears to belong to Canterbury. It seemsto have passed from Canterbury to the place where it is now deposited;but that it was a Winchester book in its basis seems indicated by theregular notices of the bishops of Wessex from 634 to 754, by the dictionof the compilation to 891, and especially by that of the remarkablecontinuation, 893-897. 

B, British Museum, Cotton Library, Tiberius A. Vi. Closes with the year977, and was probably written at St. Augustine's, Canterbury. 

C, British Museum, Cotton Library, Tiberius B. I. The first handwritingstops at 1046, and is probably of that date. Closes with 1066. Apparently a work of the monks of Abingdon. 

D, British Museum, Cotton Library, Tiberius B. Iv. The first hand, whichstops at 1016, may well be of that date. Closes with 1079. This bookcontains strong internal evidence of being a product of Worcester Abbey. 

E, Bodleian Library, Laud, 636. This is the fullest of all extantChronicles; it embodies most of the contents of the others, and it addsthe largest quantity of new and original history. It gives seventy-fiveyears' history beyond any of the others, and closes with the death ofStephen in 1154. The local relations of this book are unmistakable. Thefirst hand ends with 1121, and all the evidence goes to prove that thisbook was prepared at that date in the abbey of Peterborough. On Friday, August 3, 1116, a great fire had occurred at Peterborough which haddestroyed the town and a large part of the abbey, and this book wasapparently undertaken among the acts of restoration. The varying shadesof Saxon which this book contains, both in the compilation and in theseveral continuations, render it of great value for the history of theEnglish language, especially in the obscure period of the twelfthcentury. 

F, British Museum, Cotton Library, Domitian A. Viij. A bilingualChronicle, Latin and Saxon, which, by internal evidence, is assigned toChrist Church, Canterbury. The abrupt ending at 1058 is no indication ofthe book's date: it was written late in the twelfth century. 

G, British Museum, Cotton Library, Otho B. Xi. A late copy of A, madeprobably in the twelfth century. It nearly perished in the fire of 1731, and only three leaves have been rescued; but happily the book had, before this disaster, been published entire and without intermixture byWheloc; and, consequently, his edition is now the chief representativeof this authority. 

Of these books there are three which are distinguished above the restby individuality of character. These are the Parker book (A); theWorcester book (D); and the Peterborough book (E). A Chronicle may havea marked individuality in two ways--that is to say, either in itscompilation or in its continuation. I will give an example of each kind. The first shall be from the Worcester Chronicle, which combines with theformer stock of southern history a valuable body of northern historybetween the years 737 and 806. The following are selected as beingannals which, either wholly or in part, are derived from a northernsource. The new matter is indicated by inverted commas:--

 737. Her Forthhere biscop . And Freothogith cwen ferdon to Rome . "and Ceolwulf cyning feng to Petres scære . And sealde his rice Eadberhte his fæderan sunu . Se ricsade xxi wintra . And Æthelwold biscop . And Acca forthferdon . And Cynwulf man gehalgode to biscop . And thy ilcan gære Æthelbald cyning hergode Northhymbra land. "

 737. Here Forthere bishop (of Sherborne) and Freothogith queen (of Wessex) went to Rome; "and Ceolwulf, king (of Northumbria) received St. Peter's tonsure, and gave his realm to Eadberht, his father's brother's son; who reigned 21 years. And Æthelwold, bishop (of Lindisfarne) and Acca died, and Cynwulf was consecrated bishop. And that same year Æthelbald, king (of Mercia) ravaged the Northumbrians' land. "

 757. "Her Eadberht Northhymbra cyning feng to scære . And Oswulf his sunu feng to tham rice, and ricsade an gær . And hine ofslogon his hiwan . On viii Kl. Augustus. "

 757. "Here Eadberht, king of the Northumbrians, became a monk; and Oswulf, his son, took to the realm, and reigned one year, and him his domestics slew, on July 25. "

 762. Her Ianbryht was gehadod to arcebiscop . On thone XL dæg ofer midne winter . "and Frithuweald biscop æt Hwiterne forthferde . On Nonas Maius. Se wæs gehalgod on Ceastre on xviii Kl. September . Tham vi Ceolwulfes rices . And he wæs biscop xxix wintra. Tha man halgode Pehtwine to biscop æt Ælfet ee on xvi Kl. Agustus . To Hwiterne. "

 762. Here Ianbryht was ordained archbishop (of Canterbury) on the fortieth day after Midwinter (Christmas). "And Frithuweald, bishop of Whitehorne, died on May 7th. He was consecrated at York, on the 15th of August, in the sixth year of Ceolwulf's reign; and he was bishop 29 years. Then was Pehtwine consecrated to be bishop of Whitehorne at Ælfet Island on the 17th of July. "

 777. Her Cynewulf and Offa gefliton ymb Benesingtun . And Offa genom thone tun . "and tha ilcan geare man gehalgode Æthelberht to biscop to Hwiterne in Eoforwic . On xvii Kl. Jul'. "

 777. Here Cynewulf and Offa fought about Bensington (Benson, Oxf. ), and Offa took the town. "And that same year was Æthelberht hallowed for bishop of Whitehorne, at York on the 15th of June. "

 779. Her Ealdseaxe and Francan gefuhton. "and Northhymbra heahgerefan forbærndon Beorn ealdorman on Seletune . On viii Kl. Janr. And Æthelberht arcebiscop forthferde in Cæstre . In thæs steal Eanbald wæs ær gehalgod . And Cynewulf biscop gesæt in Lindisfarna ee. "

 779. Here the Old Saxons and the Franks fought. "And Northumbrian high-reeves burned Beorn the alderman at Silton on the 25th of December. And Æthelberht, the archbishop, died at York, into whose place Eanbald had been previously consecrated; and bishop Cynewulf sate on Lindisfarne island. "

 782. "Her forthferde Werburh . Ceolredes cwen . And Cynewulf biscop on Lindisfarna ee . And seonoth wæs æt Aclæ. "

 782. "Here died Werburh, queen of Ceolred (king of Mercia): and Cynewulf, bishop of Lindisfarne Island. And synod was at Aclea. "

 788. "Her wæs sinoth gegaderad on Northhymbra lande æt Pincanheale . On iiii Non. Septemb. And Aldberht abb . Forthferde in Hripum. "

 788. "Here was a synod gathered in the land of the Northumbrians at Finchale, on 2nd September. And abbot Aldberht died at Ripon. "

 793. "Her wæron rethe forebecna cumene ofer Northhymbra land . And thæt folc earmlice bregdon . Thæt wæron ormete thodenas . And ligræscas . And fyrenne dracan wæron gesewene on tham lifte fleogende. Tham tacnum sona fyligde mycel hunger . And litel æfter tham . Thæs ilcan geares . On vi Id. Janv. Earmlice hæthenra manna hergung adilegode Godes cyrican in Lindisfarna ee . Thurh hreaflac and mansliht . And Sicga forthferde on viii Kl. Martius. "

 793. "Here came dire portents over the land of the Northumbrians, and miserably terrified the people; these were tremendous whirlwinds, and lightning-strokes; and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. Upon these tokens quickly followed a great famine:--and a little thereafter, in that same year, on January 8, pitifully did the invasion of heathen men devastate God's church in Lindisfarne Island, with plundering and manslaughter. And Sicga died on Feb. 22. "

 806. "Her se mona athystrode on Kl. Septemb. And Eardwulf Northhymbra cyning wæs of his rice adrifen . And Eanberht Hagestaldes biscop forthferde. "

 806. "Here the moon eclipsed on Sept. 1; and Eardwulf, king of the Northumbrians, was driven from his realm: and Eanberht, bishop of Hexham, died. "

In these few selections the orthography shows occasional relics of thenorthern dialect; and an expression here and there, such as "Ceaster"for York, indicates the writer's locality. Apart, however, from suchtraces, the contents and the domestic interest would sufficientlydeclare the home of these annals. They are specimens of the vernacularannals of the north, which are now best seen in bulk in Simeon ofDurham's Latin Chronicle. 

Our next example will serve to illustrate the free writing of anoriginal continuation. It is taken from the Winchester Chronicle (A). This Chronicle exhibits, in the annals of 893-897, the firstconsiderable piece of original historical composition that we have inthe vernacular. Indeed, we may say that these pages, on the whole, contain the finest effort of early prose writing that we possess. Thequotation relates how Alfred set to work to construct a navy:--

 Thy ilcan geare drehton tha hergas on East Englum and on Northhymbrum West Seaxna lond swithe be thæm suth stæthe . Mid stæl hergum . Ealra swithust mid thæm æscum the hie fela geara ær timbredon. Tha het Alfred cyng timbran lang scipu ongen tha æscas[104] . Tha wæron fulneah tu swa lange swa tha othru . Sume hæfdon lx ara . Sume ma. Tha wæron ægther ge swiftran ge unwealtran . Ge eac hieran thonne tha othru. Næron nawther ne on Fresisc gescæpene . Ne on Denisc . Bute swa him selfum thuhte thæt hie nytwyrthoste beon meahten. 

 That same year the armies in East Anglia and in Northhymbria distressed the land of the West Saxons very much about the south coast with marauding invasions; most of all with the "æscas" that they had built many years before. Then king Alfred gave orders to build long ships against the "æscas;" those were well-nigh twice as long as the others; some had 60 oars, some more. Those were both swifter and steadier, and also higher than the others. They were not shaped either on the Frisic or on the Danish model, but as he himself considered that they might be most serviceable. 

The most extensive original continuations are in the PeterboroughChronicle (E). From one of these I quote the character of the Conqueror, which accompanies the record of his death in 1086. The passage isremarkable as containing the nearest approach to a discovery ofauthorship that anywhere occurs in these Chronicles:--

 Gif hwa gewilnigeth to gewitane hu gedon mann he wæs . Oththe hwilcne wurthscipe he hæfde . Oththe hu fela lande he wære hlaford . Thonne wille we be him awritan swa swa we hine ageaton . The him onlocodan . And othre hwile on his hirede wunedon. Se cyng Willelm the we embe specath wæs swithe wis man . And swithe rice . And wurthfulre and strengere thonne ænig his foregengra wære . He wæs milde tham godum mannum the God lufedon . And ofer eall gemett stearc tham mannum the withcwædon his willan . On tham ilcan steode the God him geuthe thæt he moste Engleland gegan . He arerde mære mynster . And munecas thær gesætte . And hit wæll gegodade . On his dagan wæs thæt mære mynster on Cantwarbyrig getymbrad . And eac swithe manig other ofer eall Englaland . Eac this land wæs swithe afylled mid munecan . And tha leofodan heora lif æfter sc̃s Benedictus regule . And se Cristendom wæs swilc on his dæge thæt ælc man hwæt his hade to belumpe . Folgade se the wolde. Eac he wæs swythe wurthful . Thriwa he bær his cyne helm ælce geare . Swa oft swa he wæs on Englelande . On Eastron he hine bær on Winceastre . On Pentecosten on Westmynstre . On mide wintre on Gleaweceastre . And thænne wæron mid him ealle tha rice men ofer call Englaland . Arcebiscopas . And leodbiscopas . Abbodas and eorlas . Thegnas and cnihtas . Swilce he wæs eac swythe stearc man and ræthe . Swa thæt man ne dorste nan thing ongean his willan don . He hæfde eorlas on his bendum the dydan ongean his willan. Biscopas he sætte of heora biscoprice . And abbodas of heora abbodrice . And thægnas on cweartern . And æt nextan he ne sparode his agenne brothor Odo het . He wæs swithe rice biscop on Normandige . On Baius wæs his biscopstol . And wæs manna fyrmest to eacan tham cynge. 

 If any one wishes to know what manner of man he was, or what dignity he had, or how many lands he was lord of; then will we write of him as we apprehended him, who were wont to behold him, and at one time were resident at his court. The king William about whom we speak was a very wise man, and very powerful; and more dignified and more authoritative than any one of his predecessors was. He was gentle to those good men who loved God; and beyond all description stern to those men who contradicted his will. On that selfsame spot where God granted him that he might conquer England, he reared a noble monastery, and monks he there enstalled, and well endowed the place. In his days was the splendid minster in Canterbury built, and also a great many others over all England. Also this land was abundantly supplied with monks; and they lived their life after St. Benedict's rule; and the state of Christianity was such in his time, that each man who was so disposed might follow that which appertained to his order. Likewise he was very ceremonious:--three times he wore his crown every year (as often as he was in England); at Easter he wore it in Winchester, at Pentecost in Westminster, at Christmas in Gloucester. And then there were with him all the mighty men over all England; archbishops and suffragan bishops, abbots and earls, thanes and knights. Withal he was moreover a very severe man and a violent; so that any one dared not to do anything against his will. He had earls in his chains who acted against his will. Bishops he put out of their bishoprick, and abbots from their abbacy, and thanes into prison; and at last he spared not his own brother, who was named Odo; who was a very mighty bishop in Normandy; at Baieux was his see, and he was the first of men next to the king. 

These annals being all anonymous, every indication of the date ofwriting excites interest. Under 643 the chronicler of B added a singleword to what he had before him (as we may presume) in his copy. Thatcopy said that the church at Winchester was built by order of KingCenwalh. The chronicler of B says that the "old" church was built byCenwalh. This harmonises excellently with other indications of thisChronicle, by which it is made probable that it was compiled in or about977, when Bishop Æthelwold had built a new church at Winchester. 

In the Peterborough Chronicle, under 1041, the accession of Eadward isaccompanied by a benediction which indicates that the writer wrote nearthe time, or at least before 1065. He says:--Healde tha hwile the himGod unne = May he continue so long as God may be pleased to grant tohim! And the half legible closing sentence of this Chronicle, in 1154, is a prayer of the same kind for a new abbot of Peterborough, of whom itis said that "he hath made a fair beginning. "

The Saxon Chronicles offer one of the best examples of history which hasgrown proximately near to the events, of history written while theimpression made by the events was still fresh. It would be difficult topoint to any texts through which the taste for living history--historyin immediate contact with the events--can better be cultivated. 

The Chronicles stretch over a long period of time. As to their contents, they extend as a body of history from A. D. 449 to 1154--that is, exclusive of the book-made annals that form a long avenue at thebeginning, and start from Julius Cæsar. The period covered by the age ofthe extant manuscripts is hardly less than 300 years, from about A. D. 900 to about A. D. 1200. A large number of hands must have wrought fromtime to time at their production, and, as the work is wholly anonymousand void of all external marks of authorship, the various and severalcontributions can only be determined by internal evidence, and thisoffers a fine arena for the exercise and culture of the criticalfaculty. 

It is no small addition to the charm and value of these Chronicles thatthey are in the mother tongue at several stages of its growth, and forthe most part in the best Anglo-Saxon diction. We have, moreover, thevery soil of the history under our feet, and this study would tend toinvest our native land with all the charm of classic ground. 

The Chronicle form is the foundation of the structure of historicalliterature. We are no longer content to study history now in one or twoadmirable specimens of mature perfection, but rather we seek to knowhistory as a subject. All who have this aim must study Chronicles, andnowhere can this kind of documentary record be found in a formpreferable to that of the Saxon Chronicles. 

The Saxon Chronicles are sometimes said to be meagre; indeed, it hasalmost become usual to speak of them as meagre. When such a term isused, it makes all the difference whether it is made vaguely and atrandom, or with meaning and discrimination. The Saxon Chronicles stretchover seven centuries, from the middle of the fifth to the middle of thetwelfth; and it would indeed be wonderful if in such a series of annalsthere were not some arid tracts. Certainly, there are meagre places, andit makes all the difference whether a writer uses this epithet wisely oras a mere echo. In the following quotation it is justly used:--"For thehistory of England in the latter half of the tenth century we have, except the very meagre notices of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, nocontemporary materials, unless we admit the Lives of the Saints of theBenedictine revival. "[105] In the latter half of the tenth century theChronicles really are meagre, and it is a remarkable fact, seeing thatthe period was one of revived literary activity. 

This account of the Chronicles would be incomplete without the mentionof a small number of Latin histories which are naturally linked withthem. The Latin book of most mark in this connexion is Asser's "Life ofAlfred"--a book that has long lain under a cloud of doubt, from which, however, it seems to be gradually emerging. (A foolish interpolationabout Oxford which marred the second edition--that by Camden--has left astigma on the name. ) It is not easy to answer all the adverse criticismof Mr. T. Wright; but still I venture to think that the internalevidence corresponds to the author's name, that it was written at thetime of, and by such a person as, Alfred's Welsh bishop. The evidentacquaintance with people and with localities, the bits of Welsh, thecalling of the English uniformly "Saxons, " all mark the Welshman who wasat home in England. In the course of this biography, which seems to havebeen left in an unfinished state, there is a considerable extract fromthe Winchester Chronicles translated into Latin. 

But the earliest Latin Chronicle which was founded on the SaxonChronicles is that of Æthelweard. He is apparently the "ealdormanÆthelwerd, " to whom Ælfric addressed certain of his works; and he maybe the "Æthelwerd Dux" who signs charters, 976-998. His Chronicle closeswith the last year of Eadgar's reign. He took much of his material froma Saxon Chronicle, like that of Winchester, but he has also matterpeculiar to himself; and this raises a question whether he took suchmatter from a Saxon Chronicle now lost. He is grandiloquent and turgidto an extent which often obscures his meaning. In him we perceive allthe word-eloquence of Saxon poetry, striving to utter itself through themedium of a Latinity at once crude and ambitious. [106]

The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester terminates with 1117; but acontinuator carried it on to 1141, making use of the PeterboroughChronicle (E). The work of Florence is often identifiable with the SaxonChronicles, especially with that of Worcester (D). But he has goodoriginal insertions of his own, as in his description of the electionand coronation of Harold, on which Mr. Freeman has dwelt, as a recordintended to correct Norman misrepresentation. 

Simeon of Durham made large use of Florence, and he incorporated theNorthumbrian eighth-century Chronicle, of which a specimen has beengiven above. 

Henry of Huntingdon closed his annals at the same date as the latest ofthe Saxon Chronicles, A. D. 1154. He is a historian of secondaryrank, with antiquarian tastes, a fondness for the Saxon Chronicles, anda special fancy for the genealogies and the ballads. To him we owe theearliest known mention of Stonehenge. 

All these, except Asser and Æthelweard, are, as regards our Chronicles, subsequent and derivative rather than collateral. They used thechronicles as translators and compilers merely. The first who attemptedsomething more was William of Malmesbury. This remarkable writer (who in1140 came near to being elected Abbot of Malmesbury) was the first afterBeda who left the annal form, and aimed at a more comprehensivetreatment of the national history. He recognised the value of traditionsfrom the Saxon times, which in his day were still to be gathered, and itis by the incorporation of such elements that his book has in somerespects the character of a supplement to the Saxon Chronicles. 

We cannot but be struck with the isolation of the Saxon Chronicles. Great literary products do not grow up alone; but they have, doubtless, a tendency to create a solitude around them. Professor Stubbs apprehendssuch may have been the case with these Chronicles. He has surmised thatprobably the Chronicles had the same effect upon the previous schemes ofhistory that Higden's "Polychronicon" had in the fourteenth century, that is to say, it would have prevented the writing of new histories, and caused the neglect or destruction of the old. [107]

FOOTNOTES:

[103] Lappenberg, "Geschichte, " Introduction, p. Xlviii. ; referring toHickes' "Thesaurus, " iii. , 288; and the preface to Smith's edition ofBede. That lover of English history, Dr. Reinhold Pauli, in theGöttingen "Gelehrt. Anzeig. " for 1866, p. 1407, suggested that the wholemediæval institution of annal-writing came from Northumbria, and wascarried on the mission-path of the Saxons into Frankland and Germany, and there produced the fine Carlovingian series. 

[104] The "æscas" were the light and speedy galleys of the Danes. 

[105] Professor Stubbs, "Memorials of Saint Dunstan, " Rolls Series, p. Ix. 

[106] Reinhold Pauli, "Life of Alfred, " anno 877, note. 

[107] Preface to "Chronica Rogeri de Hoveden, " Rolls Series, p. Xi. 

CHAPTER IX. 

ALFRED'S TRANSLATIONS. 

Around the great name of Alfred many attributes have gathered andclustered, some of which are true, some exaggerated, some impossible. Itis quite unhistorical that Alfred divided the country into shires andhundreds, or that he instituted trial by jury, or that he founded theUniversity of Oxford. Under the shadow of great names myths are apt tospring, that is to say, unconscious authorless inventions, growing up ofthemselves round any person or thing which happens to be the subject ofmuch talk and little knowledge. Had the conditions been favourable inEngland as they were in France, the myths about Alfred might havegrouped into an epic cycle, as those about Charlemagne did; and, had theeleventh century produced a great heroic poem analogous to the "Chansonde Roland, " it would have formed a graceful and much-needed coping tothe now too disjointed pile of Anglo-Saxon literature. 

But, when we come to Alfred's literary achievements, we find no tendencyto exaggerate or embellish the sober truth. His hand is manifest in theLaws, and strongly surmised in the Chronicles. In both these vernacularproducts we find a new start, a fresh impulse, under Alfred. But thatwhich stamps a peculiar character on his Translations is that here wediscern a new stride in the elevation of the native language toliterary rank. Latin was no longer to be the sole medium of learning andeducation. 

The learned language had almost perished out of the island where it hadonce so eminently flourished. In the north the seats of learning hadbeen demolished; and the monasteries of Wessex, their first use asmission-stations having been discharged, had become secularised in theirhabits, and had not become seats or seminaries of learning. Alfred foundno one in his ancestral kingdom who could aid him in the work ofrevival. Like Charles the Great, he looked everywhere for scholars, anddrew them to his court. In Mercia, the land adjoining scholastic Anglia, he found a few learned men--Werferth, bishop of Worcester; Plegmund, whowas elected (A. D. 890) archbishop of Canterbury, and two ofobscurer name;[108] he drew Grimbald from Gaul, and John from OldSaxony; Asser, from whose pen we know about these scholars, came to himfrom South Wales. With the help of such men Alfred gave a new impulse toliterature, not as Charles had done, in Latin merely, but as much, oreven more, in his own vernacular. 

We must not look upon his translations as if they were only makeshiftsto convey the matter of famous books to those who could not read theoriginals. Alfred deplored the low state of Latin, --but then he couldsubstitute his own language for it, and that not merely because he must, but also because the very scarcity of Latin had favoured the culture ofEnglish. For it was in no dull or stagnant time that Wessex had letLatin wane; it was in that vigorous stage of youth and growth whenWessex was fitting herself to take an imperial place at home and raiseher head among the nations. In almost all the transactions of life, public and private, where Latin was used in other countries, the WestSaxons had for a long time used their own tongue, and hence it came topass that, when Alfred sought to restore education and literature, hefound a language nearer to him than the Latin, and one which was fit, ifnot to supersede the Latin, yet to be coupled along with it in the workof national instruction. 

Of all Alfred's translations, the foremost place is due to that ofGregory's "Pastoral Care. "[109] Both internally and externally it ishonoured with marks of distinction. The translation is executed with apeculiar care, and a copy was to be sent to every See in the kingdom. The very copy that was destined for Worcester is preserved in theBodleian; and there it may be seen by any passing visitor, lying open(under glass) at the page with the Worcester address, and the bishop'sname (Wærferth) inserted in the salutation. The copy that was addressedto Hehstan, bishop of London, is not extant; but a transcript of it, written (in Wanley's opinion) before the Conquest, is in the CottonLibrary, or so much of it as the fire has left. The Public Library atCambridge has a representative of the copy which was addressed toWulfsige, bishop of Sherborne. Another Cotton manuscript, which wasalmost consumed (Tiberius, B. Xi. ), had happily been described by Wanleybefore the fire. In this book the place for the bishop's name was blank;and there was this marginal note on the first leaf: ✠ Plegmundearcebisc'. Is agifen his boc. And Swiðulfe bisc'. ⁊ Werferðe bisc'. , _i. E. _, Plegmund, archbishop, has received his book, and Swithulf, bishop, and Werferth, bishop. [110] This book, therefore, of which onlyfragments now remain, was like the Hatton manuscript in the Bodleian, one of Alfred's originals. 

Thus the Bodleian book (Hatton 20, formerly 88), for originality andintegrity remains unique; and from it we quote the opening part ofAlfred's prefatory epistle:--

 DEOS BOC SCEAL TO WIOGORA CEASTRE. 

 Ælfred Kyning hateth gretan Wærferth biscep his wordum luflice and freondlice; and the cythan hate thæt me com swithe oft on gemynd, hwelce wiotan iu wæron gyond Angelcynn, ægther ge godcundra hada ge woruldcundra; and hu gesæliglica tida tha wæron giond Angelcynn; and hu tha kyningas gas the thone ónwald hæfdon thæs folces on tham dagum Gode and his ærendwrecum hersumedon; and hie ægther ge hiora sibbe ge hiora siodo ge hiora ónweald innanbordes gehioldon, and eac út hiora ethel gerymdon; and hu him tha speow ægther ge mid wige ge mid wisdome; and eac tha godcundan hadas hu giorne hie wæron ægther ge ymb lare ge ymb liornunga, ge ymb ealle tha thiowotdomas the hie Gode scoldon; and hu man utanbordes wisdom and lare hieder ón londe sohte, and hu we hie nu sceoldon ute begietan gif we hie habban sceoldon. Swæ clæne hio wæs othfeallenu ón Angelcynne thæt swithe feawa wæron behionan Humbre the hiora theninga cuthen understondan on Englisc, oththe furthum án ærendgewrit of Lædene on Englisc areccean; and ic wene thæt noht monige begiondan Humbre næren. Swæ feawa hiora wæron thæt ic furthum anne ánlepne ne mæg gethencean besuthan Temese tha tha ic to rice feng. Gode ælmihtegum sie thonc thæt we nu ænigne ón stal habbath lareowa. 

 THIS BOOK IS TO GO TO WORCESTER. 

 Alfred, king, commandeth to greet Wærferth, bishop, with his words in loving and friendly wise: and I would have you informed that it has often come into my remembrance, what wise men there formerly were among the Angle race, both of the sacred orders and the secular: and how happy times those were throughout the Angle race; and how the kings who had the government of the folk in those days obeyed God and his messengers; and they, on the one hand, maintained their peace, and their customs and their authority within their borders, while at the same time they spread their territory outwards; and how it then went well with them both in war and in wisdom; and likewise the sacred orders, how earnest they were, as well as teaching us about learning, and about all the services that they owed to God; and how people from abroad came to this land for wisdom and instruction; and how we now should have to get them abroad if we were going to have them. So clean was it fallen away in the Angle race, that there were very few on this side Humber who would know how to render their services into English; and I ween that not many would be on the other side Humber. So few of them were there that I cannot think of so much as a single one south of Thames when I took to the realm. God Almighty be thanked that we have now any teachers in office. 

The king goes on to say that he remembered how, before the generaldevastation, the churches were well stocked with books, and how therewere plenty, too, of clergy, but they were not able to make much use ofthe books, because the culture of learning had been neglected. Theirpredecessors of a former generation had been learned, but now theclergy had fallen into ignorance. Wherefore, it seemed that there was noremedy but to have the books translated into the language theyunderstood. And this (the king reflected) was according to precedent;for the Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and then the Greeksin their time translated it into their speech, and subsequently theRomans did the like for themselves. And all other Christian nations hadtranslated some Scriptures into their own language. 

 Forthy me thincth betre, gif iow swæ thincth, thæt we eac sumæ bec, tha the niedbethearfostæ sien eallum monnum to wiotonne, thæt we tha on thæt gethiode wenden the we ealle gecnawan mægen, and ge don swæ we swithe eathe magon mid Godes fultume, gif we tha stilnesse habbath, thæt eal sio gioguth the nu is on Angelcynne friora monna, thara the tha speda hæbben thæt hie thæm befeolan mægen, sien to liornunga othfæste, tha hwile the hie to nanre otherre note ne mægen, oth thone first the hie wel cunnen Englisc gewrit arædan: lære mon siththan furthur on Læden gethiode tha the mon furthor læran wille and to hieran hade don wille. Tha ic tha gemunde hu sio lar Læden gethiodes ær thissum afeallen wæs giond Angelcynn, and theah monige cuthon Englisc gewrit arædan, tha ongan ic on gemang othrum mislicum and manigfealdum bisgum thisses kynerices tha boc wendan on Englisc the is genemned on Læden Pastoralis, and on Englisc Hierde boc, hwilum word be worde, hwilum andgit of andgite, swæ swæ ic hie geliornode æt Plegmunde minum ærcebiscepe and æt Assere minum biscepe and æt Grimbolde minum mæsse prioste and æt Johanne minum mæsse prioste. Siththan ic hie tha gelornod hæfde swæ swæ ic hie forstod, and swæ ic hie andgitfullicost areccean meahte, ic hie on Englisc awende; and to ælcum biscepstole on minum rice wille ane onsendan; and on ælcre bith an æstel, se bith on fiftegum mancessa. Ond ic bebiode on Godes naman thæt nan mon thone æstel from thære bec ne do, ne tha boc from thæm mynstre. Uncuth hu longe thær swæ gelærede biscepas sien, swæ swæ nu Gode thonc wel hwær siendon; forthy ic wolde thæt hie ealneg æt thære stowe wæren, buton se biscep hie mid him habban wille oththe hio hwær to læne sie, oththe hwa othre biwrite. 

 Therefore to me it seemeth better, if it seemeth so to you, that we also some books, those that most needful are for all men to be acquainted with, that we turn those into the speech which we all can understand, and that ye do as we very easily may with God's help, if we have the requisite peace, that all the youth which now is in England of free men, of those who have the means to be able to go in for it, be set to learning, while they are fit for no other business, until such time as they can thoroughly read English writing: afterwards further instruction may be given in the Latin language to such as are intended for a more advanced education, and to be prepared for higher office. As I then reflected how the teaching of the Latin language had recently decayed throughout this people of the Angles, and yet many could read English writing, then began I among other various and manifold businesses of this kingdom to turn into English the book that is called "Pastoralis" in Latin, and "Shepherding Book" in English, sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense, just as I learned it of Plegmund, my archbishop, and of Asser, my bishop, and of Grimbald, my priest, and of John, my priest. After that I had learned it, so as I understood it, and as I it with fullest meaning could render, I translated it into English; and to each see in my kingdom I will send one; and in each there is an "æstel, " which is of the value of 50 mancusses. And I command in the name of God that no man remove the "æstel" from the book, nor the book from the minster. No one knows how long such learned bishops may be there, as now, thank God! there are in several places; and therefore I would that they (the books) should always be at the place; unless the bishop should wish to have it with him, or it should be anywhere on loan, or any one should be writing another copy. 

Here we have a direct statement that the "Pastoral" was translated byKing Alfred himself, after a course of study in which he had beenassisted by Plegmund, Asser, Grimbald, and John. His interest in thisbook seems to show that his estimate of it was something like that ofOzanam, who said that Gregory's "Pastoral Care" determined the characterof the Christian hierarchy, and formed the bishops who formed thenations. 

Gregory's "Dialogues, " on the contrary, were translated, not by theking, but by Werferth, bishop of Worcester, as we are informed byAsser. [111] This translation is extant in manuscripts, but it has notyet been edited. It is, perhaps, the most considerable piece ofAnglo-Saxon literature that yet remains to be made public. And it isstriking, though not unaccountable, that a book which was one of themost popular ever written, [112] which retained its popularity forcenturies, and which has left behind it in literature and in popularChristian ethics bold traces of its influence, should, in the modernrevival of Anglo-Saxon, have been so long neglected. As this book ispractically inaccessible, and as it was moreover a book peculiarlygermane and congenial to the average intelligence of these times, itseems to claim a somewhat fuller notice. 

Here, as in other translations, the king wrote a few words of preface. 

 Ic Ælfred gyfendum Criste mid cynehades mærnesse geweorthad hæbbe cuthlice ongiten, and thurh haligra boca rædunge oft gehyred . Thæt us tham God swa micele healicnysse woruld gethingtha forgifen hæfth . Is seo mæste thearf thæt we hwilon ure mod gelithian and gebigian to tham godcundum and gastlicum rihte . Betweoh thas eorthlican carfulnysse . And ic fortham sohte and wilnode to minum getrywum freondum thæt hy me of Godes bocum be haligra manna theawum and wundrum awriton thas æfterfyligendan lare . Thæt ic thurh tha mynegunge and lufe getrymmed on minum mode hwilum gehicge tha heofenlican thing betweoh thas eorthlican gedrefednyssa . Cuthlice we magan nu æt ærestan gehyran hu se eadiga and se apostolica wer Scs Gregorius spræc to his diacone tham wæs nama Petrus . Be haligra manna thæawum and life, to lare and to bysne eallum tham the Godes willan wyrceath . And he be him silfum thisum wordum and thus cwæth:--

 I, Alfred, by the grace of Christ, dignified with the honour of royalty, have distinctly understood, and through the reading of holy books have often heard, that of us to whom God hath given so much eminence of worldly distinction, it is specially required that we from time to time should subdue and bend our minds to the divine and spiritual law, in the midst of this earthly anxiety; and I accordingly sought and requested of my trusty friends that they for me out of pious books about the conversation and miracles of holy men would transcribe the instruction that hereinafter followeth; that I, through the admonition and love being strengthened in my mind, may now and then contemplate the heavenly things in the midst of these earthly troubles. Plainly we can now at first hear how the blessed and apostolic man St. Gregory spake to his deacon whose name was Peter, about the manners and life of holy men for instruction and for example to all those who are working the will of God; and he spake about himself with these words and in this manner:--

 Sumon[113] dæge hit gelamp thæt ic wæs swythe geswenced mid tham geruxlum and uneathnessum sumra woruldlicra ymbhegena . For tham underfenge thyses bisceoplican folgothes . On tham woruld scirum we beoth full oft geneadode thæt we doth tha thing the us is genoh cuth thæt we na ne sceoldon . Tha gelyste me thære diglan stowe the ic ær on wæs on mynstre . Seo is thære gnornunge freond . Fortham man simle mæg his sares and his unrihtes mæst gethencean gif he ana bith on digolnysse . Thær me openlice æt ywde hit sylf eall swa hwæt swa me mislicode be minre agenre wisan . And thær beforan minre heortan eagan swutollice comon ealle tha gedonan unriht the gewunedon thæt hi me sar and sorge ongebrohton. Witodlice tha tha ic thær sæt swithe geswenced and lange sorgende . Tha com me to min se leofesta sunu Petrus diacon se fram frymthe his iugothhades mid freondlicre lufe wæs hiwcuthlice to me getheoded and getogen . And he simle wæs min gefera to smeaunge haligre lare . And he tha lociende on me geseah thæt ic wæs geswenced mid hefigum sare minre heortan . And he thus cwæth to me, "La leof gelamp the ænig thing niwes . For hwan hafast thu maran gnornunge thonne hit ær gewunelic wære?" Tha cwæth ic to him, "Eala Petrus seo gnornung the ic dæghwamlice tholie symle heo is me eald for gewunan . And simle heo is me niwe thurh eacan. "

 On a certain day it happened that I was very much harassed with the contentions and worries of certain secular cares, in the discharge of this episcopal function. In secular offices we are very often compelled to do the things that we well enough know we ought not to do. Then my desire turned towards that retired place where I formerly was in the monastery. That is the friend of sorrow, because a man can always best think over his grief and his wrong, if he is alone in retirement. There everything plainly showed itself to me, whatever disquieted me about my own occupation; and there, before the eyes of my heart distinctly came all the practical wrongs which were wont to bring upon me grief and sorrow. Accordingly, while I was there sitting in great oppression and long silence, there came to me my beloved son Peter the deacon, who, from his early youth, with friendly love was intimately attached and bound to me; and he was ever my companion in the study of sacred lore. And he then looking on me saw that I was oppressed with the heavy grief of my heart, and he thus said to me, "Ah, sire, hath anything new happened to thee, by reason of which thou hast more grief than was formerly thy wont?" Then said I to him, "Alas, Peter, the grief which I daily endure it is to me always old for use and wont; and it is to me always new through the increase of it. "

The edifying stories are sometimes as grotesque as the strangestcarvings about a mediæval edifice:--

A nun, [114] walking in the convent garden, took a fancy to eat a leaf oflettuce, and she ate, without first making the sign of the cross overit. Presently she was found to be possessed. At the approach of theabbot, the fiend protested it was not his fault; that he had beeninnocently sitting on a lettuce, and she ate him. [115]

In the Dialogues we recognise that peculiar ideal of sanctity which weidentify not so much with Christianity as with mediæval Christianity. The bright samples of Christian virtues are too like those types whichhave afforded material to caricature. For example, Æquitius, the goodabbot, whose virtues adorn a series of narratives, practises in thefollowing manner the virtue of humility:--

 Sothlice he wæs swithe waclic on his gewædum and swa forsewenlic thæt, theah hwilc man him ongean come the hine ne cuthon, and he thone mid wordum gegrette, he wæs forsewen thæt he næs ongean gegreted; and swa oft swa he to othrum stowum faran wolde, thonne wæs his theaw thæt he wolde sittan on tham horse the he on tham mynstre forcuthost findan mihte, on tham eac he breac hælftre for bridele, and wethera fella for sadele. 

 Moreover, he was very mean in his clothing, and so abject, that though any one met him (of those who knew him not), and he greeted him with words, he was so despised that he was not greeted in return; and as often as he would travel to other places, then was it his custom to sit on the horse that he could find the most despicable in the abbey, on which, moreover, he used a halter for a bridle, and sheepskins for saddle. 

Constantius was the name of a sacristan who completely despised allworldly goods, and his fame was spread abroad. On one occasion, whenthere was no oil for the lamps, he filled them with water, and they gavelight just as if it had been oil. Visitors were attracted by the reportof his sanctity. Once a countryman came from a distance (com feorran sumceorl) to see a man of whom so much was said. When he came into thechurch, Constantius was on a ladder trimming the lamps. He was anunder-grown, slight-built, shabby figure. The countryman inquired whichwas Constantius; and, being told, was so shocked and disappointed, thathe spoke sneeringly, "I expected to see a fine man, and this is not aman at all!"

 Mid tham the se Godes wer Constantius tha this gehyrde, he sona swithe blithe forlet tha leoht fatu the he behwearf, and hrædlice nyther astah and thone ceorl beclypte and mid swithlicre lufe ongann mid his earmum hinc clyppan and cyssan and him swithe thancian, thæt he swa be him gedemde, and thus cwæth: "Thu ana hæfdest ontynde eagan on me and me mid rihte oncneowe. "

 When Constantius the man of God heard this, he forthwith in great joy left the lamps he was attending to, and nimbly descended and embraced the countryman, and with exceeding love began to hold him in his arms, and kiss him, and heartily thank him, that he had so judged of him; and thus he quoth:--"Thou alone hadst opened eyes upon me, and thou didst rightly know me. "

Our next and last example is a story of a well-known type, and perhapsthe oldest extant instance of it:--

 Eac on othrum timan hit gelamp thæt him to becom for geneosunge thingon swa swa his theaw wæs Servandus se diacon and abbod thæs mynstres the Liberius se ealdormann in getimbrode on suth Langbeardena landes dælum. Witodlice he geneosode Benedictes mynster gelomlice . To tham thæt hi him betwynon gemænelice him on aguton tha swetan lifes word . And thone wynsuman mete thæs heofonlican etheles . Thone hi tha gyta fullfremedlice geblissiende thicgean ne mihton . Huru thinga hi hine geomriende onbyrigdon . For tham the se ylca wer Servandus eac fleow on lare heofonlicre gife. Sothlice tha tha eallunga becom se tima hyra reste and stillnysse . Tha gelogode se arwurtha Benedictus hine sylfne on sumes stypeles upflora . And Servandus se diacon gereste hine on thære nyther flore thæs ylcan stypeles . And wæs on thære ylcan stowe trumstæger mid gewissum stapum fram thære nyther flora to thære up flora. Wæs eac æt foran tham ylcan stypele sum rum hus . On tham hyra begra gingran hi gereston . Tha tha se drihtnes wer Benedictus behogode thone timan his nihtlican gebedes tham brothrum restendum . Tha gestod he thurhwacol æt anum eahthyrle biddende thone ælmihtigan drihten . And tha færinga on tham timan thære nihte stillnysse him ut lociendum geseah he ufan onsended leoht afligean ealle tha nihtlican thystru . And mid swa micelre beorhtnesse scinan thæt thæt leoht the thær lymde betweoh tham thystrum wæs beorhtre thonne dæges leoht. Hwæt tha on thysre sceawunge swythe wundorlic thing æfter fyligde . Swa swa he sylf syththan rehte . Thæt eac eall middaneard swylce under anum sunnan leoman gelogod . Wære be foran his eagan gelæded . Tha tha se arwurtha fæder his eagena atihtan scearpnysse gefæstnode on thære beorhtnesse thæs scinendan leohtes . Tha geseah he englas ferian on fyrenum cliwene in to heofenum Gérmanes sawle . Se wæs bisceop Capuane thære ceastre . He wolde tha gelangian him sylfum sumne gewitan swa miceles wundres. And Servandum thone diacon clypode tuwa and thriwa . And ofthrædlice his naman nemde mid hreames micelnysse. Servandus tha wearth gedrefed for tham ungewunelican hreame swa mæres weres . And he up astah and thider locode . And geseah eallunga lytelne dæl thæs leohtes. Tham diacone tha wafiendum for thus mycelum wundre . Se Godes wer be endebyrdnysse gerehte tha thing the thær gewordene wæron . And on Casino tham stoc wic tham eawfæstan were Theoprobo thær rihte bebead . Thæt he on thære ylcan nihte asende sumne mann to Capuanan thære byri . And gewiste and him eft gecythde hwæt wære geworden be Germane tham bisceope. Tha wæs geworden thæt se the thyder asended wæs gemette eallunga forthferedne thone arwurthan wer Germanum bisceop . And he tha smeathancollice axiende on cneow thæt his forsith wæs on tham ylcan tyman the se drihtnes wer oncneow his upstige to heofenum. 

 Also at another time it happened that there came to him for a visit, as his custom was, Servandus, the deacon and abbot of the monastery that Liberius the patrician had formerly built in South Lombardy (_in Campaniæ partibus_). In fact, he used to visit Benedict's monastery frequently, to the end that in each other's company they might be mutually refreshed with the sweet words of life, and the delectable food of the heavenly country, which they could not, as yet, with perfect bliss enjoy, but at least they did in aspiration taste it, inasmuch as the said Servandus was likewise abounding in the lore of heavenly grace. When, however, at length the time was come for their rest and repose, the venerable Benedict was lodged in the upper floor of a tower, and Servandus the deacon rested in the nether floor of the same tower; and there was in the same place a solid staircase with plain steps, from the nether floor to the upper floor. There was, moreover, in front of the same tower a spacious house, in which slept the disciples of them both. When, now, Benedict, the man of God, was keeping the time of his nightly prayer during the brethren's rest, then stood he all vigilant at a window praying to the Almighty Lord; and then suddenly, in that time of the nocturnal stillness, as he looked out, he saw a light sent from on high disperse all the darkness of the night, and shine with a brightness so great that the light which then gleamed in the midst of the darkness was brighter than the light of day. Lo then, in this sight a very wonderful thing followed next, as he himself afterwards related; that even all the world, as if placed under one ray of the sun, was displayed before his eyes. When, now, the venerable father had fastened the intent observation of his eyes on the brightness of that shining light, then saw he angels conveying in a fiery group into heaven the soul of Germanus, who was bishop of the city Capua. He desired then to secure to himself a witness of so great a wonder, and he called Servandus the deacon twice and thrice; and repeatedly he named his name with a loud exclamation. Servandus then was disturbed at the unusual outcry of the honoured man, and he mounted the stairs and looked as directed, and he saw verily a small portion of that light. And, as the deacon was then amazed for so great a wonder, the man of God related to him in order the things that had there happened; and forthwith he sent orders to the faithful man Theoprobus in Casinum the chief house, that he in the self-same night should send a man to the city of Capua, and should ascertain and report to him what had happened about Germanus the bishop. Then it came to pass that he who was thither sent found that the venerable man, Germanus the bishop had indeed died; and he then cautiously enquiring, discovered that his departure was at that very time that the man of God had witnessed his ascent to heaven. 

 Petrus cwæth: "This is swithe wundorlic thing and thearle to wafienne. " Book ii. , c. 35. 

 Peter said: "This is a very wonderful thing, and greatly to be marvelled at. "

In the translation of the "Comfort of Philosophy, " the translator makeshis greatest effort and exerts the utmost capabilities of his language. He is not bound by any verbal fidelity to his author; he rather adaptsthe book to his own use and mental exercitation. In the original theauthor is visited in affliction by Philosophy, and with this heavenlyvisitant a dialogue ensues, interspersed with choral odes. Alfred sinksthe First Person of the author, and makes the dialogue run betweenHeavenly Wisdom and the Mind (thæt Môd). 

The choral odes (generally called the Metres of Boethius) must have beenvery hard for Alfred to translate, and they are done somewhat vaguely. We have them in two translations, one in prose and the other in verse. There is no doubt that the poetical version was made from the proseversion, without any fresh reference to the Latin. The two are oftenverbally identical, with a little change in the order of words, and somenecessary additions to satisfy the alliteration, or fill out the poeticrhythm. It was long ago observed by Hickes that the style of these poemsdiffered little from prose; but it was Mr. Thomas Wright who firstnoticed that they were, in fact, merely a versified arrangement of theprose translation. 

The same critic gave reasons for thinking that the versified metres wereby some later hand, and not by King Alfred. This has been recently thesubject of a very interesting discussion in the German periodical"Anglia, " it being maintained by Dr. M. Hartmann that they are byAlfred, and the opposite view (that of Mr. T. Wright) being advocated byDr. A. Leicht. 

When the Boethian metres make their appearance in Anglo-Saxon poeticdress, they are considerably expanded. The original prose translation isitself expansive, because the poetry of Boethius is exceedingly terse, and cannot be rendered into readable prose without enlargement. The workof the Saxon versifier is attended with further expansion, because ofthe mechanical exigencies of the poetic form. 

The twentieth metre (iii. 9) offers an extreme case of this kind. Herethe original consists of twenty-six hexameters, and the Anglo-Saxon poemhas 281 long lines. In this case, however, the poetic expansion is notwholly mechanical; the poet has made some real additions to the thought. The chief of these is a new simile, in which the poising of the Earth inspace is illustrated by the yolk of an egg. The prose translation runsthus:--

 Thu gestatholadest eorthan swithe wundorlice and fæstlice thæt he ne helt on nane healfe . Ne on nanum eorthlic thinge ne stent ne nanwuht eorthlices hi ne healt . Thæt hio ne sige . And nis hire thonne ethre to feallanne of dune thonne up. 

 Thou hast established the earth very wondrously and firmly that it does not heel[116] over on any side: and yet it stands not on any earthly thing, nor does anything earthly hold it up that it sink not; and yet it is no easier for it to fall down than up. 

The poetic version enlarges as follows:--

 Thu gestatholadest thurh tha strongan meaht weroda wuldor cyning wunderlice eorthan swa fæste thæt hio on ænige healfe ne heldeth ne mæg hio hider ne thider sigan the swithor the hio symle dyde. Hwæt hi theah eorthlices auht ne haldeth is theah efn ethe up and of dune to feallanne foldan thisse: thæm anlicost the on æge bith geoleca on middan glideth hwæthre æg ymbutan . Swa stent eall weoruld still on tille streamas ymbutan lagufloda gelac lyfte and tungla and sio scire scell scritheth ymbutan dogora gehwilce. Dyde lange swa. 

 Thou didst establish through strong might glorious king of hosts wonderfully the earth so fast that she on any side heeleth not nor can hither or thither any more decline than she ever did. Lo nothing earthly though at all sustains her, it is equally easy upwards and downwards that there should be a fall of this earth: likest to that which we see in an egg; the yolk in the midst and yet gliding free the egg round about. So standeth the world still in its place, while streaming around, water-floods play, welkin and stars, and the shining shell circleth about day by day now as it did long ago. 

The translation of Orosius embodies a considerable piece of originalmatter. Orosius had given, in the opening of his work, a geographicalsketch of Europe and Asia. In the translation a large addition is madeto the geography of Europe, and it was an addition not merely to thisbook, but (so far as appears) to the stock of existing geographicalknowledge. This insertion consists of three parts, 1. A map-likedescription of Central Europe; 2. Narrative of Ohthere, who had voyagedround the North Cape; 3. Voyage of Wulfstan from Denmark along thesouthern and eastern coasts of the Baltic. Ohthere's Narrative isconnected with King Alfred by name:--"Ohthere sæde his hlaforde Ælfredekynincge thæt he ealra Northmanna northmest bude, " _i. E. _, Ohthere saidto his lord, King Alfred, that he of all Northmen had the most northerlyhome. 

The translation of Beda skips lightly over much of the twenty-twopreliminary chapters, giving good measure, however, to the descriptionof Britain and to the martyrdom of St. Alban. All about Gregory andAugustine is full. So also about Eadwine, Oswald, Aidan, Oswy, and St. Chad. (But all that famous section (iii. 25, 26) which describes thecrisis between the churches, the synod of Whitby, and the Scotiandeparture, is omitted altogether). Full measure is given to Theodore, the synod of Hertford, Wilfrid, Queen Ætheldrith, Hilda, and Cædmon. Soalso Cuthbert and John of Hexham. Fully rendered are the failure of theIrish and the success of the Anglian missions to Germany; also thevisions which we may call Dantesque. (The whole section about Adamnan'sinfluence and writings (v. 15, 16, 17) is omitted. ) But about Aldhelmand his writings; also Daniel, bishop of Winchester; the end of Wilfrid;and about Albinus, the successor of Adrian, is fully rendered. 

The Anglo-Saxon Gospels must be mentioned here. This is a book aboutwhich we have no external information, and the manuscripts arecomparatively late. But the diction leads us to place it in or about thetimes of Alfred. 

It is probable that the "Beowulf" is the product of the same reign;while the volume of sacred poetry that is designated by the name of"Cædmon" appears (at least the first part of it) to be either of thistime or possibly older. 

If with the above we embrace in our view the Laws of this reign and theevidence of contemporary work in the Chronicles, we must be struck withthe extent of this great muster of native literature. But we shallhardly do it justice unless we remember that this is the first nationaldisplay of the kind in the progress of modern Europe. Native poetry hadbeen cultivated in the Anglian period, and there had been a vernacularapparatus to assist the study of Latin, but of a varied andcomprehensive literature in English or any other European vernacular, we find no trace until now. We must not look upon Alfred's translationsas mere helps to the Latin. What with the freedom and independence oftreatment, and what with the original additions, they have a large claimto the character of domestic products. The very scheme itself, that ofusing translation as a medium of culture, which is now so familiar tous, was then quite a novel idea. In his preface to the "Pastoral, " theking casts about for precedents, and he finds none but the translationsof Scripture into Greek and into Latin, and these do not, in fact, makea true parallel. But he could hardly have used this argument without aconscious pride that he had in his mother tongue an instrument notunpractised, and not altogether unworthy to be the first of barbarianlanguages to tread in the footsteps of the Greek and Latin. 

This, then (I comprise the matter of three previous chapters and ofthree that are to follow) is the "Anglo-Saxon"[117] literature, properlyso called; for that expression, if used with technical exactness, affords a term of distinction for the later literature of the south asagainst the earlier literature of the north, which has been called theAnglian period. 

FOOTNOTES:

[108] Asser's "Life of Alfred, " in "Monumenta Historica Britannica, "487A. 

[109] It was published for the first time in 1871, being edited by Mr. Sweet for the Early English Text Society. 

[110] Wanley's "Catalogue, " p. 217. 

[111] "Monumenta Historica Britannica, " 486 E. 

[112] "The 'Dialogues' were printed as early as the year 1458. "--T. D. Hardy in Willelmi Malm. "Gesta Regum, " i. , 189. 

[113] Here Gregory begins. The translation sometimes deviates from thetext:--"Quadam die nimis quorundam sæcularium tumultibus depressus, quibus in suis negotiis plerumque cogimur solvere etiam quod nos certumest non debere, secretum locum petii amicum mæroris, ubi omne quod demea mihi occupatione displicebat, se patenter ostenderet, et cuncta quæinfligere dolorem consueverant, congesta ante oculos licenter venirent. Ibi itaque cum afflictus valde et diu tacitus sederem, dilectissimusfilius meus Petrus diaconus adfuit, mihi a primævo juventutis floreamicitiis familiariter obstrictus, atque ad sacri verbi indagationemsocius. Qui gravi excoqui cordis languore me intuens, ait: Num quidnamtibi aliquid accidit, quod plus te solito mæror tenet? Cui inquam:Mæror, Petre, quem quotidie patior, et semper mihi per usum vetus est, et semper per augmentum novus. "

[114] An nunne. This word is of two syllables; there is no silent efinal in Anglo-Saxon. 

[115] Ic sæt me on anum leahtrice, tha com heo and bát me!

[116] See Skeat, "Etym. Dict. , " _v. _ "heel" (2). 

[117] This term appears in charters of the tenth century; also Asserstyles the king "Ælfred Angulsaxonum rex, " "Mon. Hist. Brit. , " 483 C. See Freeman, "Norman Conquest, " vol. I. , Appendix A. 

CHAPTER X. 

ÆLFRIC. 

Alfred died in 901. From this to the Norman Conquest there are 165years, and the middle of this period is characterised by the works ofthe greatest of Anglo-Saxon prose-writers. 

The productions of Alfred and the scholars that surrounded him, are tobe understood as extraordinary efforts, and as beacons to raise men'sminds rather than as specimens of the state of learning in the country, or even as monuments of attainments that were likely soon to becomegeneral. Although the literary movement under Alfred was so farsustained that it did not subsequently die out, yet it would perhaps betoo much to say that he achieved a complete revival of learning. In theinert state of the religious houses, the soil was unprepared. Still, ataste was kindled which continued to propagate itself until the timewhen the religious houses became active seats of education. This did nothappen until the second half of the tenth century, when the reform ofthe monasteries by Æthelwold and Dunstan produced that great educationaland literary movement of which the representative name is Ælfric. 

The impetus which Alfred had imparted did not cease with his life. If welook into the Chronicles, we see that the Alfredian style of work iscontinued down to the death of his son Edward, in 924, and that fromthat point the stream of history dwindles and becomes meagre. This maybe typical of what happened over a wider surface. The impulse given totranslation may be supposed to have continued, and we may specify twotranslations likely to have been made at this time. These are the FourGospels[118] and the poetical Psalter. [119]

A feature of the Gospels is that the name of Jesus is regarded as adescriptive title, and subjected to translation. It never appears in itsoriginal form, but always as "Se Hælend"--that is, The Healer, TheSaviour. 

To this period, the first half of the tenth century, must be assignedsome translations of another sort. There are some considerable remainsof a translating period that gave to the English reader a mass ofapocryphal, romantic, fantastic, and even heretical reading; and thatperiod can hardly be any other than this. I imagine that now as aconsequence of the new literary interest awakened by King Alfred, manyold book-chests were explored, and things came to light which had beenstored in the monasteries of Wessex ever since the seventh and eighthcenturies. These writings claim a manifest affinity with the earlyproducts of the Gaulish monasteries, and from these they would naturallyhave been diffused in southern Britain. But, since the religious life ofGaul had been touched and quickened with the reform of the secondBenedict in the ninth century, some old things would have been condemnedand rejected there, which might still enjoy credit with theold-fashioned clergy of Wessex. 

Of apocryphal materials in Anglo-Saxon literature there are severalvarieties. First, there is the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus. This isfrom a Latin version of the Greek "Acts of Pilate, " and it is ourearliest extant source for that prolific subject, the Harrowing of Hell. The Greek text laid claim to a Hebrew original:--

 --her onginnath tha gedonan thing the be urum Hælende gedone wæron . Eall swa Theodosius se mæra casere hyt funde on Hierusalem on thæs Pontiscan Pilates domerne . Eall swa hyt Nychodemus awrat . Eall mid Ebreiscum stafum on manegum bocum thus awriten:

 --here begin the actual things that were done in connexion with our Saviour, just as Theodosius the illustrious emperor found it in Jerusalem in Pontius Pilate's court-house; according as Nicodemus wrote it down all with Hebrew writing on many leaves as follows. 

The "Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn" belong to a legendary stock thathas sent its branches into all the early vernacular literatures ofEurope. The germ is found in the Bible and in Josephus. In 1 Kings x. 1, we read that, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove him with hard questions. Josephus, in the "JewishAntiquities, " vii. 5, tells a curious story about hard questions passingbetween Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre. From such a root appear to havegrown the multiform legends in various languages which passed under suchnames as the "Controversy of Solomon, " the "Dialogues of Solomon andSaturn, " or of "Solomon and Marculfus. " This became at length a mockingform of literature; often a burlesque and parody of religion. Mr. Kembletraces these legends to Jewish tradition; but of all the examplespreserved he says "the Anglo-Saxon are undoubtedly the oldest. . . . Withthe sole exception of one French version, they are the only forms of thestory remaining in which the subject is seriously and earnestly treated;and, monstrous as the absurdities found in them are, we may be wellassured that the authors were quite unconscious of theirexistence. "[120] There are, however, some places in which one is movedto doubt whether the extravagance is the product of pure simplicity, andwithout the least tinge of drollery. 

But the reader may judge for himself. The fragments preserved are partlypoetical and partly in prose: the poetry is rather insipid; ourquotation shall be from the prose. The subject is the praise and eulogyof the Lord's Prayer, which is personified and anatomised. Saturnusasks, "What manner of head hath the Pater Noster?" And, again, "Whatmanner of heart hath the Pater Noster?" We quote from the answer to thelatter question:--

 Salomon cwæth. His heorte is xii thusendum sitha beohtre thonne ealle thas seofon heofenas the us sindon ofergesette, theah the hi syn ealle mid thy domiscan fyre onæled, and theah the eal theos eorthe him neothan togegnes birne, and heo hæbbe fyrene tungan, and gyldenne hracan, and leohtne muth inneweardne . . . . . . He is rethra and scearpra thonne eal middangeard, theah he sy binnan his feower hwommum fulgedrifen wildeora, and anra gehwylc deor hæbbe synderlice xii hornas irene, and anra gehwylc horn hæbbe xii tindas irene, and anra gehwylc tind hæbbe synderlice xii ordas, and anra gehwylc ord sy xii thusendum sitha scearpra thonne seo an flan the sy fram hundtwelftigum hyrdenna geondhyrded . And theah the seofon middangeardas syn ealle on efn abrædde on thisses anes onlicnesse, and thær sy eal gesomnod thætte heofon oththe hel oththe eorthe æfre acende, ne magon by tha lifes linan on middan ymb fæthmian. And se Pater Noster he mæg anna ealla gesceafta on his thære swithran hand on anes wæxæpples onlienesse gethŷn and gewringan. And his gethoht he is springdra and swiftra thonne xii thusendu haligra gasta, theah the anra gehwylc gast hæbbe synderlice xii fetherhoman, and anra gehwylc fetherhoma hæbbe xii windas, and aura gehwylc wind twelf sigefæstnissa synderlice. --Kemble, pp. 148-152. 

 Solomon said: His heart is 12, 000 times brighter than all the seven heavens that over us are set, though they should be all aflame with the doomsday fire, and though all this earth should blaze up towards them from beneath, and it should have a fiery tongue, and golden throat, and mouth lighted up within . . . . . . He is fiercer and sharper than all the world, though within its four corners it should be driven full of wild deer, and each particular deer have severally twelve horns of iron, and each particular horn have twelve tines of iron, and each particular tine have severally twelve points, and each particular point be 12, 000 times sharper than the arrow which had been hardened by 120 hardeners. And though the seven worlds should be all fairly spread out after the fashion of this one, and everything should be there assembled that heaven or hell or earth ever engendered, they may not encircle the girth of his body at the middle. And the Pater Noster, he can by himself in his right hand grasp and squeeze all creation like a wax-apple. And his thought it is more alert and swifter than 12, 00 angelic spirits, though each particular spirit have severally twelve suits of feathers, and each particular feather-suit have twelve winds, and each particular wind twelve victoriousnesses all to itself. 

I do not undertake to assert that this piece is as old as the first halfof the tenth century; it is placed here only because this seems to bethe most natural place for the group of literature to which it belongs. As I said, the reader must judge for himself whether this is perfectlyserious. I believe that these "Dialogues" are the only part ofAnglo-Saxon literature that can be suspected of mockery. The earliestlaughter of English literature is ridicule; and if this ridicule seemsto touch things sacred, it will, on the whole, I think, be found thatnot the sacred things themselves, but some unreal or spurious use ofthem, is really attacked. So here, if there is any appearance of a slyderision, the thing derided is not the Pater Noster, but the vain andmagical uses which were too often ascribed to the repetition of it. 

Here we must find a place for the translation of "Apollonius of Tyre. "This has all the features of a Greek romance, but it is only known toexist in a Latin text, so that it has been questioned whether thisLatin romance is a translation from a Greek original, or a storyoriginally Latin in imitation of the Greek romancists. With those whohave investigated the subject, the hypothesis of translation is most infavour, and for the following reason. The story presents an appearanceof double stratification, such as might naturally result if a heathenGreek romance had been translated into Latin by a Christian. Althoughthe phenomenon could be equally explained by supposing a Latin heathenoriginal which had been re-written by a Christian editor, yet the formeris the more natural and the more probable hypothesis. [121]

We now come to the Blickling Homilies, a recently-published book ofgreat importance. It is not a homogeneous work, but a motley collectionof sermons of various age and quality. Some of the later sermons are notso very different from those of Ælfric; but these are not the ones thatgive the book its character. The older sort have very distinctcharacteristics of their own, and they furnish a deep background to theHomilies of Ælfric. They are plainly of the age before the great Churchreform of the tenth century, when the line was very dimly drawn betweencanonical and uncanonical, and when quotations, legends, and argumentswere admissible which now surprise us in a sermon. Indeed, one canhardly escape the surmise that the elder discourses may come down fromsome time, and perhaps rather an early time, in the ninth century. Oneof the sermons bears the date of 971 imbedded in its context; and this, which is probably the lowest date of the book, is twenty years beforethe Homilies of Ælfric appeared. Speaking of that frequent topic of thetime, the end of the world, which is to take place in the Sixth Age, thepreacher says:--

 --and thisse is thonne se mæsta dæl agangen, efne nigon hund wintra and lxxi. On thys geare. --P. 119. 

 --and of this is verily the most part already gone, even nine hundred years and seventy-one, in this year. 

Perhaps there is no book which has been published in the presentgeneration that has done so much for the historical knowledge ofAnglo-Saxon literature. Speaking generally, we may say that itrepresents the preaching of the times before Ælfric; that it containsthe sort of preaching that Ælfric sat under in his youth (when not atAbingdon or Winchester); the sort of preaching, too, that Ælfric sethimself to correct and to supersede. It is a book whose value turns notso much upon its own direct communications, as on the light it throwsall around it, showing up the popular standards of the time, andenabling us to recognise the true setting of many a waif and stray ofthe old literature. But it is upon the work of Ælfric that it sheds themost valuable light. There is in Ælfric's Homilies a certain correctiveaim, which was but faintly seen before, and when seen could not bedistinctly explained; but now we have both the aim and the occasion ofit rendered comparatively clear. 

These Homilies supply to those of Ælfric their true historicalintroduction. They support the reasons which Ælfric assigns forproducing homilies. In his preface he speaks of certain English booksto which he designs his sermons as an antidote. He had translated hisdiscourses (he says) out of the Latin, not for pride of learning, "butbecause I had seen much heresy (_gedwild_) in many English books, whichunlearned men in their simplicity thought mighty wise. " Not only do theBlickling Homilies contain enough of unscriptural and apocryphalmaterial to justify the charge of "_gedwild_" in its vaguer sense oferror, but we have also documentary grounds for believing that a carefultheologian of that time, such as Ælfric undoubtedly was, would havebrought them under the indictment of heresy. 

It used to be thought that the oldest extant list of condemned booksproceeded from Pope Gelasius, and was of about A. D. 494; butnow that list is assigned to the eighth or even ninth century. In thisIndex we find sources for much of the literature which we have beenconsidering in this chapter; we find the "Acts of Pilate, " "Journeys ofthe Apostles, " "Acts of Peter, " "Acts of Andrew the Apostle, " "TheContradiction of Solomon, " "The Book Physiologus. "[122] The materialwhich gives the Blickling collection its peculiar character is largelyapocryphal, and, in the light of the above list, heretical. 

A new vitality is imparted to Ælfric's sermons by their contrast withthese older ones. It is plain that there is a common source behind bothsets of sermons; the well-established series of topics for each occasionseems clearly to point to some standard collection of Latin homiliesnow lost. [123] The evident identity of the lines on which the discoursesrun makes comparison the easier and the more satisfactory. In the sermonfor Ascension Day, Ælfric's treatment is in pointed contrast with theolder book. The Blickling is full of the signs and wonders; some, indeed, Scriptural, but far more apocryphal; and it is effusive overthese. Whereas Ælfric teaches that the visible miracles belonged to theinfancy of the Church, and were as artificial watering to anewly-planted tree; but, when the heathen believed, then those miraclesceased. Now (he says) we must look rather for spiritual miracles. TheHomily on St. John Baptist is a good example. According to the old book, John is called "angelus, " because he lived on earth the angelic life, but Ælfric takes it as messenger, and this may hint the difference oftreatment. In the same discourse there is a contrast which touches thechronology. The old Homily says that there are only two Nativities keptsacred by the Church--that of the Lord and that of His forerunner. Ælfric takes up this topic with a difference. He says that there arethree Nativities, which are celebrated annually, adding that of theBlessed Virgin to the previous two. Now, it was precisely in the tenthcentury that this third began to be observed in the churches of theWest;[124] and the change took place in the interval that separatesthese two sets of homilies. 

On the Assumptio St. Mariæ, the elder homily is a jumble of apocryphallegend. Here Ælfric presents a contrast, and manifestly an intentionalone. In the preamble he recalls certain teaching of Jerome, "throughwhich he quashed the misguided narrative which half-taught men had toldabout her departure. " Then, after an exposition of the Gospel for theday, he returns to the Assumption in a passage which, when read in thelight of the elder Homily, is very pointed:--"What shall we say to youmore particularly about this festival, except that Mary was on this daytaken up to heaven from this weary world, to dwell with Him, where sherejoices in eternal life for evermore? If we should say more to youabout this day's festival than we read in those holy books which weregiven by God's inspiration, we should be like those mountebanks who, from their own imaginations or from dreams, have written many falsestories; but the faithful teachers, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, andother such, have in their wisdom rejected them. But still these absurdbooks exist, both in Latin and in English, and misguided men read them. It is enough for believers to read and to relate that which is true; andthere are very few men who can completely study all the holy books thatwere indited by God's Holy Spirit. Let alone those absurd fictions, which lead the unwary to perdition, and read or listen to HolyScripture, which directs us to heaven. "

The Homilies of Ælfric are in two series, of which the first waspublished in 990, and addressed to Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury;the second in 991, after that Danish invasion in which Byrhtnoth fell. These were long ago published by the Ælfric Society. But there isanother set, appropriated to the commemoration of saints, after themanner of the Benedictine hagiographies. [125] These have a Latinpreface, pointedly agreeing with the prefaces to the previous series. Iftheir miraculous narratives sometimes contain what we should not haveexpected from Ælfric, and if this leads us to doubt the authorship, wemay reflect that the contrast is not so great as that between the "CuraPastoralis" and the "Dialogues" of Gregory. 

As a slight specimen of the character of these latter discourses, I willgive a few lines from that on St. Swithun:--

 Eadgar cyning tha æfter thysum tacnum . Wolde thæt se halga wer wurde up gedon . And spræc hit to Athelwolde tham arwurthan bisceope . Thæt he hine upp adyde mid arwurthnysse . Tha se bisceop Athelwold mid abbodum and munecum dyde up thone sanct mid sange wurthlice . And bæron into cyrcan sce Petres huse . Thær he stent mid wurthmynte . And wundra gefremath. 

 King Eadgar then, after these tokens, willed that the holy man should be translated, and spake it to Athelwold, the venerable bishop, that he should translate him with honourable solemnity. Then the bishop Athelwold, with abbots and monks, raised the saint with song solemnly. And they bare him into the church St. Peter's house, where he stands in honoured memory, and worketh wonders. 

 * * * * *

 Seo ealde cyrce wæs eall be hangen mid criccum . And mid créopera sceamelum fram énde oth otherne . On ægtherum wáge . The thær wurdon ge hælede . And man ne mihte swa theah macian hi healfe up. 

 The old church was all hung round with crutches and with stools from one end to the other, on either wall, of cripples who there had been healed: and yet they had not been able to put half of them up. 

Ælfric's place in literature consists in this:--That he is the voice ofthat great Church reform which is the most signal fact in the history ofthe latter half of the tenth century. Of this reform, the first step wasthe restoration of the rule of Benedict in the religious houses. Thegreat movement had begun in Gaul early in the ninth century, and itsextension to our island could hardly be delayed when peaceful times leftroom for attention to learning and religion. Both in Frankland and inEngland the religious revival followed the literary one; only there itfollowed quickly, and here after a long interval. [126]

The chief author of this revival was Odo (died 961), and the chiefconductors of it were Æthelwold, Dunstan, Oswald. The leaders of thismovement were much in communication with the Frankish monasteries, especially with the famous house at Fleury on the Loire. Various kindsof literature were cherished, but that which is most peculiar to thistime is the biographies of Saints. Lanferth, a disciple of Æthelwold, wrote Latin hagiographies, and from his Latin was derived the extanthomily of the miracles of St. Swithun. Wulstan, a monk of Winchester anda disciple of Æthelwold, was a Latin poet, and wrote hagiography inverse; among the rest, he versified the work of Lanferth on St. Swithun. 

Ælfric was an alumnus of Æthelwold at Winchester, and perhaps atAbingdon earlier; from Winchester he was sent to Cernel (Cerne Abbas inDorsetshire), to be the pastor of Æthelweard's house and people, andthere he wrought at his homilies. The highest title that we findassociated with his name is that of abbot; and this probably is inrelation to Egonesham (Eynsham, Oxon), where Æthelweard founded areligious house, and Ælfric superintended it. In Æthelweard theealdorman we have our first example of a great lay patron of literature:much of Ælfric's work was undertaken at the instance of Æthelweard. 

It was at his request that he engaged in the translation of the OldTestament, and when he had done the Pentateuch (with frequentomissions), and some parts of Joshua and Judges, [127] he ceased, anddeclared he would translate no more, having a misgiving lest thenarration of many things unlike Christian morality might confuse thejudgment of the simple. This is the earliest recorded instance of adevout Christian withholding Scripture from the people for their good. And, when we take it in conjunction with the authorised diffusion of theBenedictine hagiographies of the time, we see what was approved placedby the side of that which was mistrusted. 

The so-called "Canons of Ælfric" are a mixed composition, in which somematters of historical and doctrinal instruction are united withdirections and regulations and exhortations for correcting the practicesof the ignorant priests. They were compiled by Ælfric, at the requestof Wulfsige, Bishop of Sherborne (A. D. 992-1001), for thebenefit of his clergy. The reformation of the monasteries had alreadymade considerable progress, and this seems like an extension of the samemovement to embrace the secular clergy. Among the divers matters touchedin the Articles are these:--The relative authority of the councils; thefirst four are to be had in reverence like the four gospels (Tha feowersinothas sind to healdenne swa swa tha feower Cristes bec)--thevestments, the books, and the garb of the priest; the seven orders ofthe Christian ministry; some points of priestly duty as regardsmarriages and funerals; of Baptism and the Eucharist, with rebuke ofsuperstitious practices; the priest to speak the sense of the Gospel tothe people in English on Sundays and high days, as also of the Lord'sPrayer and the Creed; but, withal, the immediate practical aim of thewhole seems, above all things, to be the celibacy of the clergy. [128]

Ælfric was the author of the most important educational books of thistime that have come down to us--namely, his "Latin Grammar, " in English, formed after Donatus and Priscian; his "Glossary of Latin Words"; andhis "Colloquium, " or conversation in Latin, with interlinear Saxon. [129]

But for us, as for the men of the sixteenth century, the most importantof Ælfric's works are his Homilies. The English of these Homilies issplendid; indeed, we may confidently say that here English appears fullyqualified to be the medium of the highest learning. And their interesthas been greatly enhanced of late years by two important additions toour printed Anglo-Saxon library. The first of these was the "BlicklingHomilies, " edited by Dr. Morris, which threw a new light upon Ælfric, and added greatly to the significance of his Homilies. 

The circuit of Anglo-Saxon homiletic literature has again been greatlyenlarged by a more recent publication, namely, that of the "Homilies ofWulfstan. "[130] These homilies are quite distinct in character from allthe preceding. There is nothing of controversy, and little in the shapeof argument: simply the assertion of Christian dogma and the enforcementof Christian duty. The one topic that lies beyond these was morepractical, in the view of that day, than it is in our view--I mean therepeated introduction of Antichrist and the near approach of the end ofthe world. In the quotation the þ and ð (for th) are kept, as in Mr. Napier's text. 

 Uton beon â urum hlaforde holde and getreowe and æfre eallum mihtum his wurðscipe ræran and his willan wyrcan, forðam eall, þet we æfre for rihthlafordhelde doð, eal we hit doð us sylfum to mycelre þearfe, forðam ðam bið witodlice God hold, þe bið his hlaforde rihtlice hold; and eac ah hlaforda gehwylc þæs for micle þearfe, þæt he his men rihtlice healde. And we biddað and beodað, þæt Godes þeowas, þe for urne cynehlaford and for eal cristen folc þingian scylan and be godra manna ælmessan libbað, þæt hy þæs georne earnian, libban heora lif swa swa bec him wisian, and swa swa heora ealdras hym tæcan, and began heora þeowdom georne, þonne mægon hy ægþer ge hym sylfum wel fremian ge eallum cristenum folce . And we biddað and beodað, þæt ælc cild sy binnan þrittigum nihtum gefullad; gif hit þonne dead weorðe butan fulluhte, and hit on preoste gelang sy, þonne ðolige he his hâdes and dædbete georne; gif hit þonne þurh mæga gemeleaste gewyrðe, þonne þolige se, ðe hit on gelang sy, ælcere eardwununge and wræcnige of earde oððon on earde swiðe deope gebete, swa biscop him tæce . Eac we lærað, þæt man ænig ne læte unbiscpod to lange, and witan þa, ðe cildes onfôn, þæt heo hit on rihtan geleafan gebringan and on gôdan þeawan and on þearflican dædan and â forð on hit wisian to ðam þe Gode licige and his sylfes ðearf sy; þonne beoð heo rihtlice ealswa hy genamode beoð, godfæderas, gif by heora godbearn Gode gestrynað. 

 Homily xxiv. 

 Let us be always loyal and true to our Lord, and ever by all means maintain his worship and work his will, because all that ever we do out of sincere loyalty, we do it all for our own great advantage, inasmuch as God will assuredly be gracious to the man who is perfectly loyal to his lord; and likewise it is the bounden duty of every lord, that he his men honourably sustain. And we entreat and command, that God's ministers, who most intercede for our royal lord, and for all Christian folk, and who live by good men's alms, that they accordingly give diligent attention to live their life as the bookes guide them, and so as their superiors direct them, and to discharge their service heartily; then may they do much good both to themselves and to all Christian people. And we entreat and command that every child be baptised within thirty days; if, however, it should die without baptism and it be along of the priest, then let him suffer the loss of his order and do careful penance; if, however, it happen through the relatives' neglect, then let him who was in fault suffer the loss of every habitation, and be ejected from his dwelling, or else in his dwelling undergo very severe penance, as the bishop may direct him. Also we instruct you, that none be left unbishopped too long; and they who are sponsors for a child are to see that they bring it up in right belief, and in good manners and in dutiful conduct, and always continually guide it to that which may be pleasing to God and for his own good; then will they verily be as they are called, "godfathers, " if they train their god-children for God. 

Hitherto Wulfstan has been represented in print by one sermon only, themost remarkable, indeed, of all his discourses--being an address to theEnglish when the Danish ravages were at their worst, A. D. 1012, the year in which Ælfheah, Archbishop of Canterbury, was martyred. Inthis discourse the miseries of the time are ascribed to the vengeance ofGod for national sins; and the coming of Antichrist is said to be near. Wulfstan was Archbishop of York from 1003 to 1023. Beautiful andvaluable as his sermons are in themselves, their value is greatlyincreased by their connexion with the preceding series, and by thecontinuity they give to this branch of our old literature. With the"Blickling Homilies, " in all their variety, and those of Ælfric, andthose of Wulfstan, in our possession, it is hardly too much to say thatwe have a vernacular series of sermons that fairly represents theAnglo-Saxon preaching for a period of one hundred and fifty years. 

FOOTNOTES:

[118] The Anglo-Saxon Version of the Holy Gospels, ed. Thorpe, 1842. 

[119] Edited by Thorpe from the eleventh-century manuscript at Paris;Oxford, 1835. This contains Psalms li. -cl. In poetry; the first fiftyare in prose. Dietrich (in Haupt's "Zeitschrift") pointed out that theprose was eleventh-century work, but the poetical version was mucholder. He surmised that the prose translation had been made for thepurpose of giving completeness to a mutilated book, and that the wholePsalter had once existed in Anglo-Saxon verse. Since then some fragmentsof the missing psalms have been found. See Grein, "Bibliothek derAngelsächs. Poesie, " vol. Ii. , p. 412. 

[120] "The Dialogue of Solomon and Saturnus, with an HistoricalIntroduction. " By John M. Kemble, M. A. Ælfric Society, 1848, p. 2. SeeDean Stanley, "Jewish Church, " ii. 170. 

[121] Rohde, "Der Griechische Roman, " p. 408. 

[122] The list may be seen in the "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities"_v. _ Prohibited Books. 

[123] The series that goes by the name of Eusebius of Emesa has muchgeneral similarity to the required collection. 

[124] "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, " vol. Ii. , p. 1143. 

[125] This third set of Homilies is now for the first time in course ofpublication by the Early English Text Society, under the editorship ofProfessor Skeat. 

[126] In like manner the literary revival of the fifteenth century wasfollowed by the religious revival of the sixteenth. 

[127] "Heptateuchus, " ed. Thwaites, 1698: reprinted by Grein. 

[128] "A Collection of all the Ecclesiastical Laws, Canons, &c. , &c. , ofthe Church of England, from its First Foundation to the Conquest, thathave hitherto been published in the Latin and Saxonic Tongues. And ofall the Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical, made Since the Conquestand Before the Reformation . . . Now first translated into English . . . ByJohn Johnson, M. A. , London, 1720. " A New Edition, by John Baron, ofQueen's College (now Dr. Baron, Rector of Upton Scudamore), Oxford, JohnHenry Parker, 1850. In two volumes, 8vo. Vol. I. , p. 388. 

[129] See above, p. 40. The "Colloquium" is printed in Thorpe's"Analecta. "

[130] Wulfstan, "Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien nebstUntersuchungen über ihre Echtheit: Herausgegeben von Arthur Napier. Erste Abtheilung: Text und Varianten. Berlin 1883. "

CHAPTER XI. 

THE SECONDARY POETRY. 

 How still the legendary lay O'er poet's bosom holds its sway. 

 MARMION. 

Between the Primary and the Secondary Poetry we must acknowledge a wideborderland of transition. Some poetical works lying in this interval wehave already found occasion to notice, and have given them such space aswe could afford. We have spoken of the Cædmon, and of the poeticalPsalter; and with these I must group the "Judith, " a noble fragment, which is found in the Cotton Library in the same manuscript volume withthe Beowulf. This fragment preserves 350 long lines at the close of apoem which appears--by the numbering of the Cantos--to have been ofabout four times that length. This remnant contains what would naturallyhave been the most vigorous and stirring parts of the poem: the riotousdrinking of Holofernes, the trenchant act of Judith, her return with hermaid to Bethulia, their enthusiastic reception, the muster for battle, the anticipation of carnage by the birds and beasts of prey, thedestruction of the invading host. 

The poetry which is distinctly Secondary is contained--the bestspecimens of it--in two famous books, that of Exeter, and that ofVercelli; and in both of these books it is largely connected with thename of a single poet, Cynewulf. Here is at once an indication of thesecondary poetry; not merely that we have a poet's name, for we alsoentitle poems by Cædmon's name; but that the poet himself supplies uswith his name, and has left it--vailed and enigmatic--for posterity todecipher. 

Curiously and fancifully did Cynewulf interweave into the lines of hisverse the Runes which spelt his name; and it needed the skill of Kembleto explain it to us. There are three of the extant poems in which he hasthus left his mark, namely two in the Exeter book and one in theVercelli book. In two cases out of the three this ingenious contrivanceis at the close of the poem. In the Vercelli book it occurs in theElene, the last of the poems in the manuscript, and Mr. Kemble remarkedthat it was "apparently intended as a tail-piece to the wholebook. "[131] This naturally suggests the inference, which indeed isgenerally accepted, that all the poems in the Vercelli book are byCynewulf. 

But when a like inference is drawn for the Exeter book, inasmuch as thesame Runic device is there found in two pieces, that therefore the bookis simply a volume of Cynewulf's poems, there seems less reason toacquiesce. That a large part of the book is Cynewulf's poetry will begenerally thought probable. The first thirty-two leaves of themanuscript, which correspond to the first 103 pages in Thorpe's edition, contain a series of pieces which are really parts of one whole, as wasshown by Professor Dietrich, of Marburg;[132] and, as one of theseconnected pieces has Cynewulf's Runic mark, it seems to follow that thewhole "Christian Epic" is by him. Again in the middle of the volume fromthe 65th to the 75th leaf there is the poem of St. Juliana with theRunes of Cynewulf's name at its close, and this is therefore undoubtedlyhis. This brings us to Mr. Thorpe's 286th page. The four pieces whichlie between the above, more especially two of them, St. Guthlac and thePhœnix, may well be his. But from the close of St. Juliana (Thorpe, p. 286) the pieces become shorter and more miscellaneous, exhibitinggreater diversity both of subject and of quality, being altogether suchas to suggest that they have been collected from various sources and areof different ages. So that on this view the volume might be interpretedas containing (1) Poems by Cynewulf; and (2) a miscellaneous collection. Thus Cynewulf's part would close with "St. Juliana, " which ends with theRunic device, like the Elene closing his poems in the Vercellibook. [133] About the person of this poet nothing is known, beyond whatthe poems themselves may seem to convey. His date has been variouslyestimated from the 8th to the 11th century. The latter is the moreprobable. If we look at his matter, we observe its great affinity withthe hagiology of the tenth century, the high pitch at which the poetryof the Holy Rood has arrived, and the expansion given to the subject ofthe Day of Judgment. If we consider his language and manner, we remarkthe facility and copious flow of his poetic diction, but with asomething that suggests the retentive mind of the student; hiscumulation of old heroic phraseology not unlike the romantic poetry ofScott, joined occasionally with a departure from old poetic usage whichseems like a slip on the part of an accomplished imitator. [134]Occasionally he has a Latin word of novel introduction. 

All these signs forbid an early date, but they agree well with Kemble'sview of the time and person of Cynewulf. He proposed to identify ourpoet with that Kenulphus who in 982 became abbot of Peterborough, and in1006 became (after Ælfheah) bishop of Winchester. To this prelateÆlfric dedicated his Life of St. Æthelwold, and he is praised by HugoCandidus as a great emender of books, a famous teacher, to whom (as toanother Solomon) men of all ranks and orders flocked for instruction, and whom the abbey regretted to lose when after fourteen years of hispresidency he was carried off to the see of Winchester by violencerather than by election. [135]

The Canto in the "Christian Epic" in which the Cynewulf-Runes appear, ison the near approach of Domesday. This piece closes with a prolonged anddetailed Simile, such as occurs only in the later poetry. Life is aperilous voyage, but there is a heavenly port and a heavenly pilot:--

 Nu is thon gelicost swa we on laguflode ofor cald wæter ceolum lithan geond sidne sæ sund hengestum flod wudu fergen. 

 Now it is likest to that as if on liquid flood over cold water in keels we navigated through the vast sea with ocean-horses ferried the floating wood. 

 Is thæt frecne stream ytha ofermæta the we her onlacath geond thas wacan woruld windge holmas ofer deop gelad. 

 A frightful surge it is of waves immense that here we toss upon through this uncertain world-- windy quarters over a deep passage. 

 Wæs se drohtath strong ær thon we to londe geliden hæfdon ofer hreone hrycg-- tha us help bicwom thæt us to hælo hythe gelædde Godes gæst sunu:

 It was discipline strong ere we to the land had sailed (if at all) o'er the rough swell-- when help to us came, so that us into safety portwards did guide God's heavenly Son:

 And us giefe sealde thæt we oncnawan magun ofer ceoles bord hwær we sælan sceolon sund hengestas ealde yth mearas ancrum fæste. 

 And he gave us the gift that we may espy from aboard o' the ship, place where we shall bind the steeds of the sea, old amblers of water, with anchors fast. 

 Utan us to thære hythe hyht stathelian tha us gerymde rodera waldend halge on heahthum the he heofnum astag. 

 Let us in that port our confidence plant, which for us laid open the Lord of the skies, (holy port in the heights) when he went up to heaven. 

The grandest of the allegorical pieces is that on the Phœnix. Of thepedigree of the fable we have already spoken; as also of the Latin poemwhich the Anglo-Saxon poet followed. It is rather an adaptation than atranslation, and it has a second part in which the allegory isexplained. At the close there is a playful alternation of Latin andSaxon half-lines, which does not at all lessen the probability that thepoet may have been the ingenious Cynewulf. 

 Hafað us alysed lucis auctor, þæt we motun her merueri, god dædum begietan gaudia in celo, þær we motun maxima regna secan, and gesittan sedibus altis, lifgan in lisse lucis et pacis, agan eardinga alma letitiæ, brucan blæd daga;-- blandem et mitem geseon sigora frean sine fine, and him lof singan laude perenne, eadge mid englum alleluia. 

 Us hath a-loosed the author of light, that we may here worthily merit, with good deeds obtain delights in the sky, where we may be able magnificent realms to seek, and to sit in heavenly seats, live in fruition of light and of peace, have habitations happy and glad, brook genial days:-- gentle and kind see Victory's Prince for ever and ever, and praise to him sing, perennial praise, happy angels among Alleluia!

Of the other allegorical pieces the Whale was derived from the bookPhysiologus, and probably the Panther also. The whale is used as asimilitude of delusive security. The story reappears in the ArabianNights, where it is the chief incident in the first voyage of Sindbad. The monster lies on the sea like an island, and deludes the unsuspectingmariner. 

 Is þæs hiw gelic hreofum stane, swylce worie bi wædes ofre sond beorgum ymbseald sæ ryrica mæst, [136] swa þæt wenaþ wæg liþende, þæt hy on ealond sum eagum wliten; and þonne gehydaþ heah stefn scipu to þam únlonde oncyr rapum; setlað sæ mearas sundes æt ende. [137]

 In look it is like to a stony land, with the eddying whirl of the waves on the bank, with sandheaps surrounded a mighty sea-reef; so they wearily ween who ride on the wave, that some island it is they see with their eyes; and so they do fasten the high figure-heads to a land that no land is with anchor belayed; sea-horses they settle no farther to sail. 

When they have lighted their fires, and are getting comfortable, thenall goes down. This is an apologue of misplaced confidence in thingsearthly. 

But the great and absorbing subject of poetry in this age isHagiography. We still see the old discredited apocryphal literature inoccasional use, but it retires before the more approved medium ofpopular edification, the Lives and Miracles of the Saints. These offermaterial very apt for poetical treatment. Even the Homilies, when on thelives of Saints, are often clothed in the poetic garb. 

In the Exeter book there are two of this class of poems; St. Guthlac andSt. Juliana. In St. Juliana, a characteristic passage is that in whichthe tempter visits her in the guise of an angel of light, advising herto yield and to sacrifice to the gods. At her prayer, the fiend isreduced to his own shape, reminding us of a famous passage in Milton. St. Guthlac is distressed by fiends, and among the trials to which he isexposed, one is this, that he sees in vision the evil life of adisorderly monastery. When he has endured his trials, and he returns tohis chosen retreat, the welcome of the birds is very charming. 

But the greatest pieces of this sort are the two in the Vercelli book;the Andreas and the Elene. 

In the Andreas we have an ancient legend which is now known only inGreek, but which no doubt lay before the Anglo-Saxon poet in a Latinversion. In this story Matthew is imprisoned in Mirmedonia, and he isencouraged by the hope that Andrew shall come to his aid. Andrew iswonderfully conveyed to Mirmedonia, where he arrives at a time offamine, and he finds the people casting lots who shall be slain for theothers' food. On the intervention of Andrew the devil comes on the sceneand suggests that he is the cause of their troubles. Then follows a longseries of tortures to which the saint is subjected. When his endurancehas been put to extreme proof, the word of deliverance comes to him andhe puts forth miraculous power. He calls for a flood, and it comes andsweeps the cruel persecutors away. But the whole ends in a generalconversion, and the drowned are restored to life. He is escorted to hisship and has a happy voyage back to Achaia like the return of any herocrowned with success. Here we are reminded of the return of Beowulf; andwidely different as the two poems are, they have not only points ofsimilarity but also a certain likeness of type. There is, however, thisgreat dissimilarity, that in the Andreas the poet stops to speak ofhimself and of his inadequate performance, but still he will give us alittle more. The most novel and extraordinary part is the voyage ofAndrew to Mirmedonia. The ship-master is a Divine person, and theinstructive conversation which the saint addresses to him, isexceedingly well managed, for while it verges on the humorous, it isperfectly reverent; a strong contrast with the free use of suchsituations in the later mediæval drama. Another feature which calls fornotice is the sarcasm with which the drowning people are told there isplenty of drink for them now. 

The "Elene" opens with the outbreak of barbarian war, and Constantine incamp on the Danube, frightened at the multitude of the Huns. In a dreamof the night he sees an angel who shows him the Cross, and tells himthat with this "beacon" he shall overcome the foe. II. Comforted by hisdream, he had a cross made like that of the vision, and under thisensign he was victorious. Then he assembles his wise men to inquire ofthem who the god was that this sign belonged to? No one knew, until somechristened folk, who (according to this poet) were then very few, gavethe required information. Constantine is baptised by Silvester. III. Zealous to recover the true Cross, he sends his mother, Elene, with agreat equipment to Judea. IV. She proclaims an assembly, and 3, 000 cometogether, and she requires of them to choose those who can answerwhatever questions she may ask. V. They select 500 for that purpose. When they are come to the queen, she addresses a chiding speech to themabout their blindness in rejecting Him who came according to prophecy;but she does not reveal her aim. Afterwards, the Jews in consternationdiscuss among themselves what the imperial lady can mean. At length oneJudas divines that she wants the Cross which is hidden, and which it isof the greatest consequence to keep from discovery; for his grandfatherZacheus, when a-dying, told his son, the speaker's father, that wheneverthat Cross was found the power of the Jews would end. VI. The speakerfurther said that his father told him the history of the Saviour's life, and how his son Stephen had believed in him and had been stoned. Thespeaker was a boy when his father told him this, and seems to have thuslearnt about his brother Stephen for the first time. [138] VII. When theyare summoned into the imperial presence they all profess to know nothingabout the subject of her inquiry, they had never heard of such a thingbefore! She threatens. Then they select Judas as a wise man who knowsmore than the rest, and they leave him as a hostage. VIII. The queenwill know where the Rood is. Judas pleads that it all happened so longago that he knows nothing about it. She says it was not so long ago asthe Trojan war, and yet people know about that. When he persists, sheorders him to be imprisoned and kept without food. He endures for sixdays, but on the seventh he yields. IX. Released from prison he leadsthe way to Calvary. He utters a fervent supplication in Hebrew, in whichhe pleads that He who in the famous times of old revealed to Moses thebones of Joseph would make known by a sign the place of the Rood, vowingto believe in Christ if his prayer is granted. X. A steam rises from theground. There they dig, and at a depth of twenty feet three crosses arefound. Which is the holy Rood? A dead man is carried by; Judas bringsthe corpse in contact with the crosses one after another, and the touchof the third restores life. XI. Satan laments that he has suffered a newdefeat, which is all the harder as the agent is "Judas, " a name sofriendly to him before! He threatens a persecuting king who shall makethe newly-converted man renounce his faith. Judas returns a spiritedanswer, and Helena rejoices to hear the new convert rise superior to theWicked one. XII. The report spreads, to the joy of Christians and theconfusion of the Jews. The queen sends an embassy to the emperor at Romewith the happy tidings. The greatest curiosity was displayed in thecities on their road. Constantine, in his exaltation, sent them quicklyback to Helena with instructions to build a church in their united nameson the sacred spot of the discovery. The queen gathered from every sidethe most highly-skilled builders for the church; and she caused the holyRood to be studded with gold and jewels, and then firmly secured in achest of silver:--

 Tha seo cwen bebeád cræftum getŷde sundor âsecean tha selestan tha the wrætlicost wyrcan cuthon stân-gefôgum on tham stede-wange girwan Godes tempel swa hire gasta weard reórd of roderum . Heo tha rôde heht golde beweorcean and gimcynnum mid tham æthelestum eorcnanstânum besettan searocræftum; and tha in seolfren fæt locum belûcan . Thær thæt lifes treó sêlest sigebeáma siththan wunode æthelu anbroce . 

 Then the queen bade of craftsmen deft at large to seek the skilfullest, the most curious and cunning to work structures of stone;-- upon that chosen site God's temple to grace as the Guarder of souls gave her rede from on high. She the Rood hight with gold to inlay and the glory of gems, with the most prized of precious stones to set with high art;-- and in a silver chest secure enlock:-- so there the Tree of life dearest of trophies thenceforward dwelt; fabric of honour. 

XIII. Helena sends for Eusebius, "bishop of Rome, " and he, at herbidding, makes Judas bishop in Jerusalem, and changes his name toCyriacus. Then she inquires after the nails of the crucifixion, and, atthe prayer of Cyriacus, their hiding-place is revealed. When the nailswere brought to the queen she wept aloud, and the fountain of her tearsflowed over her cheeks and down upon the jewels of her apparel. XIV. Sheseeks guidance by oracle as to the disposal of the nails. She isdirected to make of them rings for the bridle of the chief of earthlykings. He who rides to war with such a bridle should be invincible; anda prophecy to that effect is quoted! Helena obeys, and sends the bridleover sea to Constantine, --"no contemptible gift!" Helena assembles thechief men of the Jews, bids them submit to Cyriacus, and keep up theanniversary of the Finding of the Cross. Finally, for those who keep theday is proclaimed a benediction so unmeasured and profuse as to leavebehind it an air in which the solemn evaporates in the histrionic. 

Here more than in any other piece of Anglo-Saxon poetry we feel near themediæval drama. Almost every canto is like a scene; and littleadaptation would be required to put it upon the stage. The narrative atthe beginning is like a prologue, and then after the close of the piecewe have an epilogue, in which the author speaks about himself, andweaves his name with Runes into the verses in the manner alreadydescribed. 

The briefest fragment in the Vercelli book is about False Friendship;and it contains a long-drawn simile in which the bee is rather hardlytreated. 

 Anlice beoð swa þa beon berað buton ætsomne; arlicne anleofan and ætterne tægel habbað on hindan; hunig on muðe wynsume wist: hwilum wundiað sare mid swice þonne se sæl cymeð. Swa beoð gelice þa leasan men, þa þe mid tungan treowa gehatað fægerum wordum, facenlice þencað; þonne hie æt nehstan nearwe beswicað: habbað on gehatum hunig smæccas, smeðne sib cwide; and in siofan innan þurh deofles cræft dyrne wunde. 

 Likened they are to the bees who bear both at one time, food for a king's table, and venomous tail have in reserve; honey in mouth, delectable food: in due time they wound sorely and slyly when the season is come. Such are they like, the leasing men, those who with tongue give assurance of troth with fair-spoken words, false in their thought; then do they at length shrewdly betray: in profession they have the perfume of honey, smooth gossip so sweet; and in their souls purpose, with devilish craft, a stab in the dark. 

The "Runic Poem"[139] is a string of epigrams on the characters of theRunic alphabet, beginning with F, U, Þ, O, R, C, according to thatprimitive order, whence that alphabet was called the "Futhorc. " Each ofthese characters has a name with a meaning, mostly of some well-knownfamiliar thing, apt subject for epigram. 

When learned men began to look at the Runes with an eye of eruditecuriosity, they often ranged them in the A, B, C order of the Romanalphabet; hence it gives the Rune poem some air of antiquity that itruns in the old Futhorc order. And, indeed, some of the versicles mayperhaps be ancient; that is, they may possibly date from a time whenRunes were still in practical use. But certainly much of this chaplet ofversicles must be regarded as late and dilettante work. The Rune namesare not all clearly authentic; for example, "Eoh" is rather dubious; butthe poet treats the name as meaning Yew, and gives us an interestinglittle epigram on the Yew-tree:--

 EOH bith utan unsmethe treow heard hrusan fæst hyrde fyres wyrtrumum underwrethed wynan on æthle. 

 YEW is outwardly unpolished tree; hard and ground-fast, guardian of fire; with roots underwattled the home of the Want. [140]

The Riddles are mostly after Simphosius and Aldhelm;[141] but some areaboriginal. The form is mostly that of the epigram, only instead ofhaving the name of the subject at the head of the piece as withepigrams, these little poems end with a question what the subject is. These Riddles are found in the Exeter book in three batches; Grein hasdrawn them all together, and made eighty-nine of them. That on theBook-Moth, of which the Latin has been given above, p. 88, is unriddledby the translator:--

 Moððe word fiæt; me þæt þuhte wrætlicu wyrd þa ic þæt wundor gefrægn; þæt se wyrm forswealg wera gied sumes þeof in þystro þrymfæstne cwide and þæs strangan staðol. Stælgiest ne wæs wihte þy gleawra þe he þam wordum swealg. 

 Moth words devoured; to me it seemed a weird event when I the wonder learnt; that the worm swallowed sentence of man (thief in the dark) document sure, binding and all. The burglar was never a whit the more wise for the words he had gulped. 

Toward the end of the period, the poetic form becomes much diluted. Thepoetic diction wanes, so does the figured style and the parallelstructure; and what remains is an alliterative rhythmical prose, which, from the nature of the subjects treated, appears to have been verytaking for the ear of the people. Of this sort is the Lay of King Abgar, which Professor Stephens assigns to the reign of Cnut. The Abgar legendis in Eusebius (died 340) "History, " i. 13. Abgar, king of Edessa, beingsick, wrote a letter to the Saviour (it being the time of His earthlyministry) praying him to come and heal him, and adding, that if, as hehears, the Jews seek to persecute Him, his city of Edessa, though alittle one, is stately, and sufficient for both. 

 . . . And ic wolde the biddan thæt thu gemedemige the sylfne thæt thu siðige to me and mine untrumnysse gehæle for than the ic eom yfele gahæfd. Me is eac gesæd thæt tha Judeiscan syrwiath and runiath him betwynan hu hi the berædan magon, and ic hæbbe ane burh, the unc bam genihtsumath. 

 . . . And I would thee pray, that thou condescend to come unto me, and my infirmity cure, for I am in evil case. To me is eke said that the Jews are plotting and rowning together how they may destroy thee; and I have a burgh large enough for us both. [142]

The impression which this secondary poetry leaves is, that the oldancestral form could no longer furnish an adequate poetry for thegrowing mind of the nation. In contrast with the expanding prose, itseems to shrink and fade before our eyes. Its only means of enlargementseems to be in forgetting its own traditions and assimilating itself tothe prose. Moreover, we have traces of various tentative sallies; onepoet trying rhymes, [143] another trying hexameters, [144] which remindsus of the efforts and essays of the unsatisfied poetic genius in themiddle of the sixteenth century. The Benedictine revival had drawn offthe interest from the old native themes of song to subjects less fittedfor poetry, or with which the poetry of the time was not yet skilled todeal. The old poetry fitted the old heroic themes with which it hadgrown up; and now it throve better on apocryphal and legendary fablesthan on the verities of the faith which were rather beyond its strength. In the new zeal the old vein of poetry was lost or neglected, and itsplace was not yet appropriately filled. 

For this want a provision was already making in the south. A freshspirit of poetry had risen in the region where Roman and Arabic fancymet, and, after kindling France, was coming to England on the wings ofthe French language. With the new romances came new models of poeticform. A long struggle ensued between the native garb of English poetryand that of the French. Both lived together until the fourteenthcentury, when the victory of the French form was finally determined inChaucer; and France set the fashion in poetry to England, as it didgenerally to modern Europe. 

FOOTNOTES:

[131] In Wright's "Biographia Literaria, " Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 502, _seq. _, these three Runic passages are collected and translated. InBosworth's "Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, " ed. Toller, v. Cynewulf; the Runicpassage is quoted from the Elene, and translated. This poet's Runicdevice affects us somewhat as when, at the end of a volume ofColeridge's poems, we come upon his epitaph, written by himself:--

 "Stop, Christian passer-by!--Stop, child of God! And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod A poet lies, or that which once seem'd he-- Oh, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C. !"

[132] In Haupt's "Zeitschrift, " ix. 

[133] We have already seen in the chapter on the West Saxon laws, that abookmaker of the Saxon period appended the laws of Ine to the laws ofAlfred, as if he found it natural to treat the old material as anappendix to the new. --But there is also something on the other side. Inthe after part of the Exeter book there are three batches of riddles, and the first riddle of the first series (Thorpe, p. 380), is a charadeupon the name of Cynewulf, as was shown by Heinrich Leo. This hasnaturally led to the surmise that Cynewulf has had more to do with theriddles than simply to preface them in his own honour. 

[134] Thus:--"ofer ealne yrmenne grund. " Juliana _init. _; and in thesame poem we find "bealdor" used of a woman!

[135] All this is marred by William of Malmesbury, who represents him ashaving trafficked for this promotion, and as having been cut off beforehe had long enjoyed it. And yet the two pictures are not incompatible. The poetry sets before us a poet of the most splendid gifts, but I knownothing that indicates a superiority of character. Indeed, thecomparison with Solomon suggests a moral type to which the known andsupposed writings of Cynewulf aptly correspond. 

[136] "Dorsum immane mari summo. " Æneid i. 

[137] Milton has set this to his own deep music:--

 "Him haply slumb'ring on the Norway foam, The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff Deeming some island, oft, as seaman tell, With fixed anchor. . . . "

[138] The reader will not stumble at a few historical inaccuracies in anarrative where a speaker in Helena's time is a brother of theprotomartyr. 

[139] Kemble, "Runes of the Anglo-Saxons, " pp. 13-19. Grein, vol. Ii. , p. 351; and literary notice at p. 413. 

[140] It may not be known to all readers, that this is an English word;and historically, perhaps, the best English name, for the mole (talpa). Along the Elbe it appears in a form nearer to that of the text: "Winworp oder Wind-worp, _der Maulwurf_. " Bremisch-NiedersachsischesWörterbuch. 

[141] See Prof. Dietrich in Haupt's "Zeitschrift, " xi. 

[142] Prof. Stephens, "Tvende Olde-Engelske Digte, " Kiobenhavn, 1853. 

[143] "The Riming Poem, " Cod. Exon. Ed. Thorpe, p. 352. 

[144] Stubbs, "St. Dunstan, " Preface. 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND AFTER THAT. 

The first of these chapters took a brief survey of the literature thatpreceded and elevated the Anglo-Saxon literature: this concludingchapter must be still briefer in sketching the manner of its decline. Itwould be true to say that the Norman Conquest dealt a fatal blow toAnglo-Saxon literature; but it would also be true to say that thecultivation of Anglo-Saxon literature never came to an end at all. Iwill presently endeavour to reconcile this seeming contradiction; butfirst I have some little remainder to tell of the main narrative. 

There are two small sets of writings which have not yet been described. These are the liturgical and scientific remains. Of liturgical, we havethe "Benedictionale of Æðelwold, "[145] and we have the so-called "Ritualof Durham, " with its interlinear Northumbrian gloss. But the most famousbook of this kind is that which is called "The Leofric Missal, " becauseLeofric, the first Bishop of Exeter (of Crediton, 1046-1050; of Exeter, 1050-1072) gave it to his cathedral. It is now in the Bodleian Library. "It is one of the only three surviving Missals known to have been usedin the English Church during the Anglo-Saxon period, " the other twobeing the Missal of Robert of Jumièges, Archbishop of Canterbury, now inRouen Library, and the "Rede Boke of Darbye, " in the Parker Library atCambridge. [146]

It may seem almost idle to talk of the "scientific" remains ofAnglo-Saxon times. For Science, in its grandest sense, --the recognitionof constant order in nature and the reign of law, --had not yet dawnedupon the world. Science, in this sense, dates only from the seventeenthcentury, and its patriarchal names are Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. But, nevertheless, the earlier and feebler efforts at the explanation ofphenomena have a real and a lasting value for human history, and whatthey lack in scientific quality has somehow the effect of throwing themall the more into the arms of the literary historian. 

There is, however, one small Anglo-Saxon writing which needs not thisapology, and which may be considered as a real contribution even toscience. I mean the Geography which King Alfred inserted into histranslation of Orosius. All our other scientific relics are butcompilation and translation in the primitive paths of Medicine, andBotany, and Astronomy. 

We have some considerable lists of Anglo-Saxon Botany. The vernacularnames of plants, many of them, seem to indicate a Latin tradition datingfrom Roman times. [147] In the medical treatises we see the practice ofmedicine greatly mingled with superstition. Witchcraft is reckoned amongthe causes of disease, and formulæ are provided for breaking the spell. The "Leech Book" contains a series of prescriptions for divers ailments, with directions for preparation and medical treatment. One batch ofthese prescriptions is said to have been sent to King Alfred by Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem. A very popular book was the Herbarium ofApuleius. It was translated into Anglo-Saxon, and four manuscripts ofthis translation are still extant. [148]

On astronomical and cosmical matters there exists a well-written littletreatise of unknown authorship. It has been attributed to Ælfric, and itis most likely a work of his time. It seems to have been verypopular. [149] It is, as it professes to be in the prologue, a popularabridgment of Beda, "De Natura Rerum. " It begins with a succinctabstract of the creation, the sixth day being thus rendered:--

 On ðam syxtan dæge he gescop eall deor cynn, ⁊ ealle nytena þe on feower fotum gað, ⁊ þa twegen menn Adam ⁊ Efan. 

 On the sixth day he created all animal-kind, and all the beasts that go on four feet, and the two men Adam and Eve. 

The eclipse of the moon is well explained. After saying that Night isthe shade of the earth when the sun goes down under it, before it comesup the other side, --

 Woruldlice uðwitan sædon, {þæt} seo sceadu astihð up oð ðæt heo becymð to þære lyfte ufeweardan, and þonne be yrnð se mona hwiltidum þonne he full byð on ðære sceade ufeweardre, and faggeteð oððe mid ealle asweartað, for þam þe he næfð þære sunnan leoht þa hwile þe he þære sceade ord ofer yrnð oð ðæt þære sunnan leoman hine eft onlihton. 

 Worldly philosophers said, that the shadow mounts up until it arrives at the top of the atmosphere, and then sometimes the moon when he is full runs into the upper part of the shadow, and is darkened or utterly blackened, forasmuch as he hath not the sun's light so long as he traverses the shadow's point until that the sun's rays again enlighten him. 

The Norman Conquest gave the death-blow to our old native literature, inthe sense that the use of the literary Anglo-Saxon in its firstintegrity, as at once a learned language and a spoken language, did notextend beyond the generation that witnessed that great dynastic change. In this strict sense we might point to the close of the WorcesterChronicle in 1079 as the termination of Anglo-Saxon literature. Thereis, indeed, a Saxon Chronicle that was even begun after that date, onewhich comprises the whole Saxon period, and was continued by originalwriters down to 1154, but it is not written in normal Anglo-Saxon. Itrepresents the flectional decay which the living and popular English wasundergoing. 

It exhibits, also, something of that new growth which was to compensatefor the loss of flection. And it already bears marks of that Frenchinfluence which was so largely to affect the whole complexion of thelanguage. I quote from the last Annal in the Saxon Chronicle ofPeterborough:--

 1154. On þis gær wærd þe King Stephan ded and bebyried þer his wif and his sune wæron bebyried æt Faures feld, þet minstre hi makeden . Þa þe King was ded, þa was þe eorl beionde sæ . And ne durste nan man don oþer bute god for þe micel eie of him . Þa he to Engle land com . þa was he under fangen mid micel wurtscipe . And to king bletcæd in Lundene on þe Sunnen dæi be foren midwinter dæi . And held þær micel curt. 

 In this year was King Stephen dead and buried where his wife and his son were buried at Feversham, the minster he made. When the King was dead, then was the earl beyond sea, and no man durst do other than good for the great awe of him. When he came to England, then was he received with great worship, and consecrated king in London on the Sunday before Christmas Day; and he held there a great court. 

Here, then, at the very latest, we must close the canon of Anglo-Saxonliterature. And here our subject branches in two; we have to follow witha brief glance what happened in two divergent lines of succession. Aswhen, in the early mountainous course of some growing river, a brokenhill has fallen across its bed, the old water-way is choked, and thedescending waters make new channels to the right and to the left; so itwas with the fortunes of our native language and literature after theNorman Conquest. The stream of largest volume was the spontaneous andpopular utterance which amused in hall and taught in church; the lesserstream was the artificial maintenance of Anglo-Saxon literature whichwent on in the old seats of religion and learning. 

The Norman Conquest brought in a vast body of romantic literature. Heroic or entertaining tales in a ballad form were at that time highlypopular; and a peculiar talent for this sort of narrative was developedin France and among the Normans. The oldest French romances were thoseof which the central figure was Charles the Great. It was one of these, the "Song of Roland, " that animated the conquering Normans at Senlac. According to high authorities, it was in the next generation after theConquest that the "Chanson de Roland" took that final epic form whichnow it bears, and probably the poet's home was in England. [150] For along time the speech of the upper society was wholly French. The twolanguages quickly met one another in the market, and in all thenecessary business of life; but in respect of literature they long stoodapart. Such was the state of things in this island during the time inwhich the Carling cycle prevailed. With that cycle the English languagenever came into contact at all in its palmy days; and the few Carlingpoems that exist in English are of later date, and are of a mixednature. When at length, towards the close of the twelfth century, aliterary intercourse had sprung up between the two languages, the heroof popular song was no longer Charles, but Arthur. In the English poetryof Layamon (1205), founded upon the French of Robert Wace, we see thestory of Arthur in that early stage where it still purports to behistory rather than romance. Layamon represents the first great stepfrom the old literature to the new; and he is the first to give anEnglish home to that ideal king who was to be the chosen theme ofSpenser and of Tennyson. We will quote the death of Arthur and hisfuneral cortège:--

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. 

Line 28, 582. 

 Tha nas ther na mare, i than fehte to laue, of twa hundred thusend monnen, tha ther leien to-hawen; buten Arthur the king one, and of his cnihtes tweien. Arthur wes forwunded wunderliche swithe. Ther to him com a cnaue, the wes of his cunne; he wes Cadores sune, the eorles of Cornwaile. Constantin hehte the cnaue; he wes than kinge deore. Arthur him lokede on, ther he lai on folden, and thas word seide, mid sorhfulle heorte. Constantin thu art wilcume, thu weore Cadores sune: ich the bitache here, mine kineriche: and wite mine Bruttes, a to thines lifes: and hald heom alle tha laȝen, tha habbeoth istonden a mine daȝen: and alle tha laȝen gode, tha bi Vtheres daȝen stode. And ich wulle uaren to Aualun, to uairest alre maidene; to Argante there quene, aluen swithe sceone: and heo scal mine wunden, maiken all isunde, al hal me makien, mid haleweiȝe drenchen. And seothe ich cumen wulle to mine kineriche: and wunien mid Brutten, mid muchelere wunne. 

 Then was there no more in that fight left alive, out of 200, 000 men, that there lay cut to pieces; but Arthur the King only and two of his knights. Arthur was wounded dangerously much. There to him came a youth who was of his kin; he was son of Cador, the earl of Cornwall. Constantine hight the youth; to the king he was dear. Arthur looked upon him, where he lay on the ground, and these words said, with sorrowful heart. Constantine thou art welcome thou wert Cador's son: I here commit to thee, my kingdom; and guide thou my Britons aye to thy life's cost; and assure them all the laws, that have stood in my days: and all the laws so good, that by Uther's days stood. And I will fare to Avalon, to the fairest of all maidens; to Argante the queen, elf exceeding sheen: and she shall my wounds, make all sound; all whole me make, with healing drinks. And sith return I will, to my kingdom: and dwell with Britons, with mickle joy. 

 Æfne than worden, ther com of se wenden, that wes an sceort bat lithen, sceouen mid vthen: and twa wimmen therinne, wunderliche idihte: and heo nomen Arthur anan, and aneouste hine uereden, and softe hine adun leiden, and forth gunnen hine lithen. 

 Even with these words, lo came from sea wending, that was a short boat moving, driving with the waves: and two women therein, of marvellous aspect: and they took Arthur anon, and straight him bore away and softly down him laid, and forth with him to sea they gan to move away. 

 Tha wes hit iwurthen, that Merlin seide whilen; that weore unimete care, of Arthures forth-fare. 

 Then was it come to pass what Merlin said whilome; that there should be much curious care, when Arthur out of life should fare. 

 Bruttes ileueth ȝete, that he beo on liue, and wunnie in Aualun, mid fairest alre aluen: and lokieth euere Bruttes ȝete, whan Arthur cume lithen. 

 Britons believe yet, that he be alive, and dwelling in Avalon with the fairest of all elves: still look the Britons for the day of Arthur's coming o'er the sea. 

In this poetry there is a new vein of popularity. Since we left theprimary poetry we have been on the track of a literature whose springwas in book-learning. A foreign erudition had thrown the lore of thenative minstrel into the shade. But some relics of domestic materialreappear with the new gush of popular song in the 13th century. Amongthe mass of stories which fill that time, we find here and there an oldEnglish tale, and sometimes it is a translation back from the French. The romance of King Horn is one of these. The names of the personages, and the general course of the plot--the Saracens notwithstanding--areessentially Saxon. There are lines which are almost pure Saxon poetry, and there are incidents that recall the Beowulf. 

The story is as follows:--Horn was the son of the King of Suddene; hewas of matchless beauty, and he had twelve companions, among whom twowere specially dear to him; they were Athulf and Fikenild, the best andthe worst. The land was conquered by Saracens, who slew the king, butsent off Horn and his twelve in a ship to perish at sea. They came to aland where the king was Aylmar, who thus addressed them:--

 Whannes beo ȝe, faire gumes, That her to londe beoth icume, Alle throttene Of bodie swithe kene. 

"Whence be ye, fair gentlemen, that here to land are come? All thirteenof body very keen. By him that made me, so fair a band saw I at no time;say what ye seek?" Horn tells his story, and Aylmar likes him, and bidsAthelbrus, his steward, teach him woodcraft, and the harp and song, andalso to carve and be cupbearer:--

 Bifore me to kerve And of the cupe serve. 

The Princess Rymenhild falls in love with Horn, and this is an occasionto prove the loyalty of Athulf. She orders Athelbrus to send Horn toher; but he, fearing the consequences, and being specially responsiblefor Horn, sends Athulf instead. Athulf finds that the princess has beendeceived, and declares at once that he is not Horn. When at length Horndoes meet Rymenhild, he points out to her the inequality of his rank. She gets her father to knight him. She also gives him a ring, in whichthe stones are of such virtue that if he looks on them and thinks of herhe need fear no wounds:--

 The stones beoth of suche grace That thu ne schalt in none place Of none duntes beon of drad. 

He rides forth in search of adventures to prove his knighthood. He fallsin with a crew of Saracens, slays 100 of them, and brings the head ofthe master Saracen on the point of his sword to the king, where he sitsin hall among his knights, and presents it in acknowledgment of hisdubbing (compare p. 130 above). Fikenild tells Aylmar of Horn's lovefor his daughter, and Aylmar banishes Horn. Departing, he promisesRymenhild to return in seven years or she shall be free to marryanother. He leaves the faithful Athulf behind to look after Rymenhild. 

He arrives at the court of King Thurston, and there he calls himselfCutberd. The land is infested by pagan invaders. Cutberd slays a giantand many of the Saracens who were with him. Thurston offers him hisdaughter and the kingdom with her. Cutberd tells the king that it mustnot be so, but that he will claim his reward when he has relieved theking of all his troubles, which will be at seven years' end (compare p. 131 above). 

Meanwhile, Rymenhild is sought in marriage by King Modi, and the day isfixed. In her distress she sends in all directions to seek Horn; hermessenger finds Horn and delivers his message, but he never returns tothe princess, because he is drowned. Now Horn tells King Thurston hisstory, and entreats his help. He adds that he will provide a worthyhusband for his daughter, namely, Athulf, one of the best and truest ofknights. Thurston assembles his men and they go with Horn. Horn leavesthem under the wood while he goes towards the palace. He meets a palmerand changes clothes with him. In the palace he takes his place with thebeggars, and when Rymenhild rises to offer wine to the guests he getsspeech of her and lets her see the ring she had given him. This leads toa full recognition and the betrothal of Horn with Rymenhild. Such is thetale of King Horn. 

But, of all the old native stories that crop up in this later time, themost remarkable is the "Lay of Havelok the Dane, " a large subject whichwe can only just indicate here. [151]

Of the learned branches a good deal continued unbroken by the Conquest. Such was mostly the case with Homilies and Lives of saints, and Poetryof the allegorical and instructive kind. 

In the Exeter Song-book we saw pieces that had been taken from the oldbook "Physiologus. " This allegorical poetry retained its place throughall the changes. [152] Here is a passage from the "Whale, " in thelanguage of the thirteenth century:--

 Wiles that weder is so ille, the sipes that arn on se fordriven (loth hem is deth, and lef to liven) biloken hem and sen this fis; an eilond he wenen it is. Thereof he aren swithe fagen, and mid here migt tharto he dragen, sipes onfesten, and alle up gangen. Of ston mid stel in the tunder wel to brennen one this wunder, warmen hem wel and heten and drinken; the fir he feleth and doth hem sinken, for sone he diveth dun to grunde, he drepeth hem alle withuten wunde. 

These examples may suffice to represent that new literature which beganto rise after the violent removal of the old. They do not belong to thehistory of Anglo-Saxon literature except indirectly as a foil and acontrast. They show how ready were new forms to take the place of theold. But while the English language was thus following the natural andspontaneous course of its development, there still survived a powerfulinterest in the old classical Englisc. The seat of this literature wasin the old monasteries, which became strongholds of ancient culture andtradition. The old books were perused and re-copied, and a scholarlyknowledge of the old language was made an object of study. This wassustained not only by sentiment, and curiosity, and literary taste, butalso by a sense of corporate interest. The titles of the oldmonasteries to their lands were wholly or very largely contained inSaxon writings, and these grew in importance with the growing habits ofdocumentary legality under Norman rule. A language which was at oncenative and recondite, far more recondite than the Latin of the ordinaryscholar, could not but be impressive as a documentary medium. The numberof extant Saxon books and deeds which were either originally composedafter the Conquest, or at least re-copied and re-edited, is quite enoughto prepare us to receive what Matthew Parker said in the Latin prefaceto his edition (1574) of "Asser":--

 "Furthermore; inasmuch as the medium of many legal documents and venerable memorials and royal charters preserved in archives, dating, some before, some after, the coming of the Normans into England, is Saxon both in language and in writing, I will advise all who study the institutions of this realm, to undergo the slight and insignificant labour which is necessary to make themselves masters of this language. If they will but do this, they will doubtless make discoveries daily, and will bring to light things which now lie hidden and remote; yea, they will without effort clear up the intricacies and perplexities of a great number of things. And in ages past there were societies of religious persons who were ordered by our forefathers for this work, that some among them might be trained in the knowledge of this tongue, and might transmit the same in succession to those who came after. To wit, in Tavistock Abbey, in the county of Devon, and in many other fraternities (within my memory) this was an established thing; to the end, as I suppose, that acquaintance with a literature whose language is antiquated might not perish for lack of use. "

Thus we see that in the centuries between the Conquest and theReformation the old ENGLISC was a recognised subject of study;and that it enjoyed, as the Latin did, the honours of an ancientlanguage which was too much esteemed to be allowed to perish. And, therefore, it was said above that the Anglo-Saxon language andliterature never died out; for the knowledge of it was kept up till thetime when, through the general Revival of learning, new motives weresupplied for its diligent study, and the very man in whom the newmovement is impersonated is he who testifies that the study had lasteddown to a time within his own memory. 

FOOTNOTES:

[145] Written and illustrated with miniatures by order of Æðelwold, Bishop of Winchester, A. D. 963-984. Hexameter verses in asuperior style of penmanship, namely, the old Latin rustic, record thehistory of the book, and give the scribe's name as Godeman, perhaps theAbbot of Thorney, who began A. D. 970. The illuminations areengraved in "Archæologia, " xxiv. 

[146] The "Leofric Missal, " edited by F. E. Warren, B. D. , ClarendonPress, 1883. 

[147] Particulars may be found in my "English Plant Names from the Tenthto the Fifteenth Century, " Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1880. 

[148] The medical treatises have been collected in three volumes (RollsSeries) by Mr. Cockayne, under the title of "Saxon Leechdoms. "

[149] There are four copies of it in the Cotton Library, and one inCambridge University library; some also in other collections. It hasbeen printed from a Cotton manuscript written, the editor says, aboutA. D. 990. "Popular Treatises on Science, " edited by T. Wright, 1841. 

[150] "La Chanson de Roland, " par Léon Gautier, ed. 7 (1880), Introduction. 

[151] This poem, of which there are many external traces, had long beengiven up as lost, was deplored by Tyrwhitt and by Ritson, and wasaccidentally discovered in a Bodleian manuscript, latent amidst legendsof saints. From this unique MS. It was edited by Sir F. Madden; andagain (1868) by the Rev. W. W. Skeat, who says in his preface:--"Therecan be little doubt that the tradition must have existed fromAnglo-Saxon times, but the earliest mention of it is presented to us inthe French version of the Romance. . . . The story is in no way connectedwith France; . . . From every point of view, . . . The story is whollyEnglish, " p. Iv. 

[152] An old English Miscellany, containing a "Bestiary, " &c. , ed. R. Morris (E. E. T. S. ), 1872, p. 17. The "Phisiologus" is quoted in Chaucer, apparently from this very "Bestiary"; and Dr. Morris says that scraps ofit are found even in Elizabethan writers. I add a translation of thepiece quoted:--"Whilst that weather is so bad, the ships that are drivenabout on the sea (death is unwelcome, men love to live) look about themand see this fish; they ween it is an island. They are very glad of it, and with all their might they draw towards it, make the ships fast, andall go ashore. With stone and steel and tinder they make a good fire onthis monster, and warm themselves well, and eat and drink; the whalefeels the fire and makes them sink, for he quickly dives to the bottom, he kills them all without wound. "

INDEX. 

Abgar, Lay of, 241

Abingdon Chronicle, 32, 173

Ælfric, Abbot, 23, 40, 67, 207, 213, 221, 245 Bata, 40

Ælfheah, Archbishop, 224

Æthelberht, 81

Æthelred's Laws, 164

Æthelweard, 183, 220

Æthelwold, Bishop, 25, 51, 181, 207, 219, 243

Aidan, Bishop, 99

Alcuin, 23, 99, 117

Aldhelm, 21, 53, 86

Alfred, 15, 24, 186 ff. , 207, 244

Alfred Jewel, 49

Alfred's Laws, 154 ff. 

Andreas, the, 90, 233 f. 

"Anglo-Saxon, " 206

Apollonius of Tyre, 18, 212

Apuleius, 245

Architecture, 52

Arnold, Thomas, 121, 136

Arthur, 59, 249

Arundel Marbles, 48

Ashburnham House, 32

Ashmolean Museum, 49

Asser, 43, 183, 187, 256

Athelstan's Laws, 159

Augustine, Archbishop, 52

Avitus, Bishop, 14

Ballads, the, 145 ff. 

Baron, Dr. , 221

Beda, 21, 64, 81, 102 ff. , 204, 245

Benedict of Nursia, 15 of Aniane, 209

Beowulf, the, 32, 45, 58, 68, 71, 120 ff. , 225

Biscop, Benedict, 86, 99

Blickling Homilies, 47, 139, 213 ff. 

Blume, Dr. , 46

Bodleian Library, 34

Boethian Metres, 71, 202 ff. 

Boethius, 14, 201 ff. 

Boniface (Winfrid), 21

Bosworth, Dr. , 44, 226

Bradford-on-Avon, 53

Buckley, Professor, 40

Burials, Saxon, 55

Byrhtnoth, 217

Cædmon, 14, 22, 39, 68, 99, 111

Cæsar, 62

Camden, William, 43, 183

Canons of Ælfric, 67, 220

Canterbury, 20, 79, 98

Carling Romances, 248

Cenwalh, 180

Ceolfrid, Abbot, 102

Charles the Great, 187, 248

Chaucer, 27, 242, 254

Chronicles, the, 20, 22, 61, 169 ff. 

Cockayne, Oswald, 245

Colman, Bishop, 99

Conybeare, 45

Cotton Library, 32, 245

Cotton, Sir Robert, 31, 35

Coxe, Henry Octavius, 39, 40

Cuthbert, St. , 99, 104

Cynewulf, 226 ff. 

Danihel, Bishop, 21

Dasent, Sir George, 68

Day, John, 35, 42

Days of the Week, 73

Dialogues, Gregory's, 16, 36, 193 ff. Of Solomon, &c. , 210 ff. 

Dietrich, Professor, 208, 227, 240

Documents, Legal, 167

Dunstan, Archbishop, 25, 43, 207, 219

Durham Ritual, 111, 243

Eadmer, 52

Ebert, Adolf, 103, 118

Edda, the, 65

Eddi, 21, 99

Edwin, King, 98

Egbert, Archbishop, 21, 99

Elene, the, 90, 234 ff. 

Epinal Gloss, 91, 97

Ettmüller, Ludwig, 121, 134

Eusebius of Cæsarea, 241 of Emesa, 216

Evesham, 69

Exeter Book, 29, 88, 225 ff. , 254. 

Eynsham, 220

Felix, Bishop, 80

Florence, 184

Floriacum, 25

Frankish Art, 51 Graves, 56

Freeman, E. A. , 54, 141, 184, 206

Futhorc, the, 239

Gibson, Edmund, 45

Gildas, 60

Glossaries, 90

Godeman, 243

Gospels in A. -S. , 73, 205, 208

Gough, Richard, 39

Gregory the Great, 15, 20, 85 of Tours, 18, 19, 85

Grein, Dr. , 121, 135, 208, 220, 239. 

Grettir, Saga of, 137

Grimbald, 187

Grimm, Jacob, 46, 73, 153

Grundtvig, Dr. , 121

Guthlac, St. , 227, 232

Guthrum, 156, 159

Hadrian, Abbot, 21, 85

Harley, Robert, 34

Hatton, Lord, 36

Havelok the Dane, 254

Heliand, the, 22, 23, 68, 116

Henry of Huntingdon, 184

Heyne, Moritz, 121

Hickes, George, 44

Hickey, E. H. , 144

Higden, 185

Hild, Abbess, 100

Homilies of Ælfric, 74, 102, 214 ff. Of Wulfstan, 222 ff. See Blickling. 

Horn, Romance of, 251 ff. 

Hugo Candidus, 229

Illuminated Books, 51

Ine's Laws, 151

Inscriptions, 47

Irish Teachers, 86

Isidore of Seville, 85

Jarrow, 103

Jerome, 217

Jewellery, 49

John of Saxony, 187

Joscelin, 43

Judith, the, 225

Juliana, St. , 227, 232

Junius, Franciscus, 37, 44, 112

Kemble, J. M. , 90, 121, 154, 210, 226, 228, 239

Kentish Dialect, 84, 90, 97 Laws, 80

Lambarde, William, 150

Lanferth, 219

Lappenberg, J. M. , 46, 169

Laud, Archbishop, 34

Laws, the, 66, 150 ff. 

Layamon, 27, 249

Leofric, Bishop, 28, 244 Missal, 29, 243

Lumby, Professor, 103

Lindisfarne, 117 Gospels, 33, 51, 111

Macray, W. D. , 34

Madden, Sir F. , 254

Maidulf, 86

Maine, Sir H. , 154, 163

Marshall, Dr. , 44

Matthew Parker, 29, 42, 256

Mayor, Professor, 103

Metcalfe, F. , 44

Milton, John, 14, 112, 115, 232

More, Bishop, 41, 101

Morfil, W. R. , 148

Morley, Henry, 134

Morris, Dr. R. , 222, 254

Müllenhof, Dr. Karl, 134

Napier, Arthur, 222

Nicodemus, Gospel of, 209

Northumbria, 21

Northumbrian Dialect, 111

Notker, 15

Odin, 75

Odo, Archbishop, 25, 219

Orm, 27

Orosius, 13, 204

Oswald, Bishop, 219

Palgrave, Sir Francis, 152, 164

Panther, the, 231

Parker, Archbishop, 29, 42, 256

Parker, J. H. , 54

Parker Library, 44, 244

Pastoral Care, the, 16, 36, 188 ff. 

Paulinus, Bishop, 98

Pauli, Reinhold, 169

Paulus Diaconus, 23

Pericles (Shakespeare), 18

Peterborough Chronicle, 26, 36, 178, 181, 184

Phœnix, the, 9, 227, 230

Physiologus, the, 215, 231, 254

Pilate, Acts of, 209

Plegmund, Archbishop, 187

Psalter (Kentish), 94 (Poetical), 90, 208

Rawlinson, Richard, 38, 45

Riddles, 87, 240

Robert of Jumièges, 244

Rochester Book, 26

Ruined City, the, 140

Rule of St. Benedict, 40

Runes, 78, 111, 226, 238

Runic Poem, 239

Rushworth, John, 38

Ruthwell Cross, 111

Sanders, W. Basevi, 41

Schaldemose, 121

Schmid, Reinhold, 150

Scott, Sir Walter, 150, 228

Sculpture, 55

Sievers, Edouard, 116

Sigeric, Archbishop, 217

Simeon of Durham, 177, 184

Simposius, 10, 240 {Transcriber's note: Symposius and Simphosius in text}

Skeat, Professor, 44, 111, 218, 254

Smaragdus, 23

Solomon and Saturn, 209 ff. 

Somner, William, 44

Spell, 75

Spelman, Sir Henry, 43, 44 Sir John, 44

Spenser, Edmund, 136, 249

St. Augustine's, Canterbury, 20, 35

Stallybrass, J. S. , 70

Stephens, Professor George, 47, 111, 117, 241

Stubbs, Professor, 162, 183, 185

Sweet, Mr. , 33

Swithun, St. , 69, 218, 219

Tacitus, 62

Tavistock, 256

Tennyson, Alfred, 136, 147, 249

Theodore, Archbishop, 21, 85, 100

Thorkelin, G. J. , 45, 121

Thorney, 243

Thorpe, Benjamin, 46, 121, 150, 208, 222

Thwaites, Edward, 220

Trial by Jury, 163 ff. 

Vercelli Book, 46, 90, 225, 233 ff. 

Vigfusson, Dr. Gudbrand, 138

Wace, Robert, 27, 249

Walahfrid Strabo, 23

Waldhere (Fragment), 47

Wanley, Humphrey, 45

Warren, F. E. , 244

Watson, R. Spence, 113

Wearmouth, 102

Weland, 58, 70

Werfrith, Bishop, 36, 187, 189, 193

Westwood, Professor, 30, 39, 51

Whale, the, 231, 255

Wheloc, Abraham, 43, 150

Whitby, 99

Widsith, the, 148

Wilfrid, 99, 100

Wilkins, Bishop, 150

Willebrord, 99

William of Malmesbury, 185

Winchester Chronicle, 171, 178

Winfrid (Boniface), 21, 99

Winton Book, 26

Woden, 66

Worcester Chartulary, 26 Chronicle, 32, 173

Wordsworth, Canon, 48

Wright, Thomas, 183, 226, 245

Wülcker, Professor, 112, 140

Wulfstan, Archbishop, 224

Wulstan, Latin poet, 219

York, 21

Zeuner, Rudolf, 33

Zupitza, Julius, 41

THE END. 

 * * * * *

WYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, W. C. 

CORRIGENDA. 

{Transcriber's note: These corrections have been made in the transcribedtext, except the first, which refers to a page heading. }

Page 103, Heading, _for_ "Anglican" _read_ "Anglian. "

 " 115, line 22, _for_ "vora" _read_ "wora. "

 " 150, " 23, _for_ "Lombarde" _read_ "Lambarde. "

 " 154, " 16, _for_ "History" _read_ "history. "

 " 208, " 12, _for_ "translations" _read_ "translation. "