especially of the noun, and consequently making more use of articles and auxiliaries; and, 3. by the introduction of French derivatives. Of these the second alone, I think, can be considered as sufficient to describe a new form of language; and this was brought about so gradually, that we are not relieved of much of our difficulty, whether some compositions shall pass for the latest offspring of the mother, or for the earliest proofs of the fertility of the daughter." The picturesque illustration, so happily employed by Scott in the opening chapter of Ivanhoe, has often been quoted as a good popular exemplification of the mode in which the Saxon and French elements were blended the common animals serving for food to man, while under the charge of Saxon serfs and bondmen, retained their Teutonic appellation; but when served up at the table of the Norman oppressor received a French designation. As examples of this, he cites the parallels Ox and Beef, Swine and Pork, Sheep and Mutton, Calf and Veal. It is curious to see, on examining the grammar and vocabulary of the early English language, as exhibited in the writings of our old poets and chroniclers, how often the primitive Saxon forms continued very gradually to become effaced, while the French orthography and pronunciation of the newly-introduced words have not yet become harmonized, so to speak, with the general character of the new idiom. Thus, in the following lines of Chaucer : "The sleer of himself yet saugh I there, In these verses we see the Saxon grammatical forms combined with a large importation of Norman-French words, which have not yet lost their original accentuation. The old German is found running into, as it were, and overlapping the lately-introduced Gallicism. Such was the state in which Chaucer found the national idiom at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and the admirable genius of that great poet may be said to have put the last touch to the consolidation of the English language. For a considerable period after his time, however, such writings as were addressed to the sympathies of the lower classes continued to retain much of the Saxon characteristics in orthography, grammatical structure and versification; for example, traces of the peculiar alliterative system are perceptible for a period long subsequent to the reign of Richard II., while the elaborate compositions addressed to the still purely Norman nobility retain much of the French spirit in their diction and imagery. § 9. Though it is impossible to assign any exact date to the change of Anglo-Saxon into English, the chief alterations in the language may be arranged approximately under the following erochs : I. Anglo-Saxon, from A.D. 450 to 1150. II. Semi-Saxon, from A.D. 1150 to 1250 (from the reign of Stephen to the middle of the reign of Henry III.), so called because it partakes strongly of the characteristics of both Anglo-Saxon and Old English. III. Old English, from A.D. 1250 to 1350 (from the middle of the reign of Henry III. to the middle of the reign of Edward III.). IV. Middle English, from A.D. 1350 to about 1550 (from the middle of the reign of Edward III. to the reign of Edward VI.). V. Modern English, from A.D. 1550 to the present day.* The three first periods scarcely belong to a history of English literature, and consequently only a brief account of them is given in the Notes and Illustrations appended to the present chapter. The real history of English literature begins with Chaucer, in the brilliant reign of Edward III. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. A.-ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE. A.D. 450-1150. The earliest literature of the AngloSaxons bears the impress of the religious culture under which it was formed. Unlike their brethren, who sung their old heroic lays in their primeval forests, the conquerors of the rich provinces of Britain had sunk from action to contemplation, and their literature was artificial. There was but little difference of time in the development of poetry and prose; and the works produced were, with only three exceptions, the elaborate compositions of educated men, rather than the spontaneous products of genius, inspired by a people's ancient legends. The chief subjects were moral, religious, historical, and didactic. Under the tutelage of the Church, the most lasting monuments of AngloSaxon prose literature were written in Latin; and the vernacular tongue was chiefly employed in translating the learned works of such men as Bede and Alcuin. What value it possesses is chiefly for its matter; for it almost entirely wants that beauty of form, which alone raises literature to an art. I. The VERNACULAR POETRY scarcely retains a trace of that wild epic fire which is seen in the Scandinavian Sagas. (1.) We have only three specimens of old national songs, written in the spirit of the continental Germans, and probably composed, in part at least, before their migration to England. The first of these is the Lay of Beowulf, which is fully described in the text. Its spirit is that of the old heathen Germans. It seems to have been originated at the primitive seat of the Angles, in Schleswig, and to have been brought over to England about the end of the fifth century. The other two are the Traveller's Song, and the Fattle of Finnesburg, the scene of which seems to be on the Continent. It is only in the tenth century that we again meet with compositions of this class, in the patriotic poems on Athelstane's Victory at Brunanburgh (A.D. 937), on the *The writers, who wish to discard the term Anglo-Saxon, call the AngloSaxon First English, the Semi-Saxon Second English, and give the name of Third English to the remaining periods. Coronation (A.D. 958) and the Death of Edgar (A.D. 975), and on the Battle of Maldon (A.D. 994). (2.) Of Religious Poetry, the chief specimen is the so-called Metrical Paraphrase of the Scriptures, which Bede ascribes to CEDMON, a monk of Whitby, in the seventh century. Some modern writers assign the work to a much later date. But whatever be the date, it is a striking poem, and appears to have supplied Milton with some hints. One passage strikingly resembles Milton's soliloquy of Satan in hell. CYNEWULF (in Latin Kenulphus), a monk of Winchester, and abbot of Peterborough in 992, is highly culogized by a local historian; but we have only two short poems which preserve his name in a sort of acrostic of Runic characters. ALDHELM, the great Latin writer mentioned in the next column, wrote poetry in the vernacular and is said to have translated the Book of Psalms into Anglo-Saxon verse. These poems were preserved orally, not only by the minstrels, but as exercises of memory by the monks. Hence the MSS. exhibit very great diversities. II. ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE IN LATIN demands notice before the vernacular prose literature, as the latter was, for the most part, based upon the former. It was the product of foreign ecclesiastical influence. The earliest missionaries were imbued with the learning of the Western Church, and great schools were soon founded in Kent and the South, and afterwards in Northum. bria. In the latter part of the seventh century, THEODORE OF TARSUS became Archbishop of Canterbury, and, with his friend the ABBOT ADRIAN, taught both Greek and Latin literature. In the eighth century, books were so multiplied, that Alcuin complains to Charlemagne of the literary poverty of France as compared with England. He also gives an account of the great library at York, from which and other lists we can see what writers formed the taste of the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries. There was a decided preference for the Greek authors above the Latin. The classical poets were read, but with a religious suspicion, and the works most valued were those of the Fathers and the Christian poets, whose faults are closely imitated in the Latin poetry of the AngloSaxon churchmen. The ecclesiastical taste was strengthened and the literary treasures increased by the habit of visiting Rome, which became frequent in the eighth century. Many women were celebrated for their learning. (1) Anglo-Latin Poetry. ALDHELM, of Sherborne, founder of the abbey of Malmesbury, (b. about A.D. 656, d. A.D. 709), was the most distinguished pupil of Adrian. His poetry is turgid and full of extravagant conceits. He wrote in Hexameters De Laude Virginitatis (besides a prose treatise on the same theme), a book of Aenigmata in imitation of Symposius, and a poem on the Seven Cardinal Virtues. These, with a few letters, are all his extant works. The great prose writer ALCUIN (see below) was also fertile in Latin verse. His style is simpler than Aldhelm's, but less animated. His best poem is an Elegy on the Destruc tion of Lindisfarne by the Danes. The long poem on the Church of York has some good descriptive passages. He also wrote Epigrams, Elegies, and Aenigmata. Columban, Boniface, Bede, and Cuthbert, wrote some Latin verses; and, passing over a few others, the list concludes, in the tenth century, with the Life of St. Wilfred, by FRIDEGODE, and the Life of St. Swithun by WOLSTAN. (2) The Latin Prose Literature of the Anglo-Saxons consists of religious treatises, works on science and education, and histories in which the ecclesiastical element preponderates; but its most interesting remains are the letters of Alcuin and Boniface, for the light they throw on contemporary history and manners. (a) The period opens with some writers, who were not Saxons, but of the old Celtic race, which had preserved British Christlanity, or had learned it anew from Ireland. Passing over the obscure Histories of GILDAS, son of the British King of Alcluyd (Dumbarton), in the sixth century, and NENNIUS, whose work is probably not genuine, in the seventh, we come to ST. COLUMBANUS (lived about A.D. 543615) of Ireland, who, having joined the lately founded monastery at Bangor, set out thence at the head of a mission to the eastern parts of Gaul, Switzerland, and the south-west of Germany. He wrote in Latin several theological treatises, some poems, and five letters. Nearly two cen turies later Ireland sent forth JOHANNES Scorus, surnamed from his native land ERIGENA (d. A.D. 877), who settle in France, and became, by his dialectic skill and his acquaintance with the doctrines of Neo-Platonism, one of the founders of the philosophical sect of the Realists. The story of his coming to England on Alfred's invitation is more than doubtful. (b) The earliest Anglo-Saxon prose writer in Latin is WILFRED (lived A.D. 634-709), Archbishop of York and apostle of Sussex, who succeeded, after a troubled life, in uniting the churches of the AngloSaxon kingdoms. His works are lost; but he deserves mention as the founder of the school of learning at York, which was fostered by Bishop EGBERT (A.D. 678-766), and produced BEDE and ALCUIN, the two great names of the Anglo-Saxon Latin literature. was The course of BEDE (A.D. 672-735), surnamed the "Venerable," is a perfect type of the outward repose and intellectual activity of the monastic life, in its best aspect. At the age of seven he placed under the teaching of Benedict Biscop, in the monastery of Wearmouth; became a deacon at 19, and a priest at 30. Whether he visited Rome is uncertain. He only left his monastery on rare visits to other religious houses; and his dying moments were divided between religious exercises and dictating the last sentences of a work which he just lived to finish. His works embrace the whole compass of the learning of his age. Numbering no less than forty-five, they may be divided into four classes; Theological, consisting chiefly of commentaries on the Scriptures, pervaded by the allegorical method; Scientific Treatises, exhibiting the imperfect knowledge of science, from Pliny to his own time; Grammatical Works, which display much learning; with some correct but lifeless Latin poems; Historical Compositions, which place him in the first rank among writers of the middle ages. The History of his own Monastery and the Life of St. Cuthbert deserve mention; but his great work is the Ecclesiastical History of the Anglo-Saxons from their first settlement in England. He used the aid of the most learned men of his time in collecting the documents and traditions of the various kingdoms, which he relates with scrupulous fidelity and in a very pleasing style. The History was translated into Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred. Bede was surrounded by a body of literary friends, as Acca and others, among whom the most distinguished was EGBERT, Archbishop of York (about A.D. 678-766), the reformer of his diocese, and founder of the splendid library already mentioned. His writings are chiefly on points of discipline, and two of them, the Confessionale and Poenitentiale, were published in Anglo-Saxon as well as in Latin. St. BoNIFACE (Winfrid), a native of Crediton in Devonshire (lived about A.D. 680-755) and the apostle of Western Germany, has left a collection of valuable letters, amounting (with those addressed to him) to a hundred and six. The eighth century closes with the great name of ALCUIN (about A.D. 735804). He was born at York; and, like Bede, was placed in a convent in his infancy. Trained in the school of Archbishop Egbert, he became the favourite pupil of that prelate's kinsman and successor, Albert, on whose appointment to the archbishopric (A.D. 766), the school was entrusted to Alcuin, just ordained a deacon. Eanbald, a pupil of Alcuin, on succeeding to the archbishopric (A.D. 780), sent Alcuin to Rome, and this mission caused his introduction to Charlemagne, at whose court he resided with magnificent appointments, till A.D. 790, and again from A.D. 792 to his death. His works were commentaries, dogmatic and practical treatises, lives of saints, and several very interesting letters. His Latin poems have been already noticed. He is chiefly important in the History of English Literature, as another example, like that of Erigena, of what the Continent gained from the learning of these islands. The name of ASSER, bishop of Sherborne (d. A.D. 910) is connected with a Latin history of King Alfred, of very doubtful authenticity. The renowned DUNSTAN (A.D. 925-988) wrote commentaries on the Benedictine rule, and other works. Of his contemporary ODO (d. 961), we have only a single letter. A few other names might still be mentioned. names. III. The VERNACULAR ANGLO-SAXON PROSE LITERATURE contains few but great Above all shines that of KING ALFRED (A.D. 848-901), the story of whose early training and life-long self-discipline needs not to be recounted here. His early love for the old national poetry, the growing neglect of Latin even by the priests, and the eager desire, of which he himself tells us, that the people might enjoy the treasures of learning collected in the churches for security from the invaders, urged him to the culture of the native tongue for popular instruction. While inviting over learned men to repair the decay of scholarship, the king himself set the example of translating existing works into the vernacular. Having learned Latin only late in life, he did not disdain the help of scholars, such as Bishop Asser, in clearing up grammatical difficulties, while he brought to the work untiring industry, great capacity of comprehending the author's general meaning, and sound judgment upon points needing illustration. His most important translations were those of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, the Ancient History of Orosius, Boëthius de Consolatione Philosophiae, and, for the use of the clergy, the Pastorale of St. Gregory. According to William of Malmesbury, Alfred had commenced an Anglo-Saxon version of the Psalms shortly before his death. Among the works falsely attributed to him are Alfred's Proverbs, a translation of Esop's Fables, and a metrical version of the Metres of Boëthius. Many works were translated by the king's order or after his example; for instance, the Dialogues of St. Gregory, by Werfred, bishop of Worcester. The new intellectual impulse, given by Alfred's policy of calling foreign scholars into the realm, which was followed by other kings down to the eve of the conquest, sustained the revival of Anglo-Saxon literature in ful! activity for some time. As a The great light of the tenth century was ALFRIC, Archbishop of Canterbury, surnamed Grammaticus (d. A.D. 1006) whose opposition to Romish doctrines called attention to his work, and so gave an impulse to Anglo-Saxon studies in modern times. His eighty Homilies are his chief work. He also translated the Books of Moses, and wrote other theological treatises. grammarian he laboured to revive the neglected study of Latin, by his Latin Grammar (from Donatus and Priscian), his Glossary and Colloquium (a conversation book). He appears as a scientific writer in the Manual of Astronomy, if it is rightly assigned to him. He is often confounded with two other Alfrics, the name being common among the AngloSaxons. There was an Alfric, Abbot of Malmesbury (d. A.D. 994), and an Alfric, surnamed Bata, Archbishop of York (d. 1051), a devoted disciple of the great Alfric, whose Grammar and Colloquium he republished, besides writing a life of Bishop Ethelwold (A.D. 925-984). In the eleventh century we need only mention WULFSTAN, Archbishop of York (d. 1023), the author of some homilies. It remains to notice two great monuments of Anglo-Saxon prose literature, the Chronicle and the Laws. The Saxon Chronicle is a record of the history of the people, compiled at first, as is believed, for Alfred, by Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury, who brought it down to A.D. 891. Thence it was continued, as a contemporary record, to the end of the Anglo-Saxon period,. in the middle of the twelfth century. It breaks off abruptly in the first year of Henry II. (A.D. 1154). "It is a dry chronological record noting in the same lifeless tone important and trifling events without the slightest tinge of dramatic colour, of criticism in weighing evidence, or cf judgment in the selection of the facts narrated" (Marsh, Origin and History of the English Language, Lect. iii. p. 103). This want of historical talent, as the same writer observes, prevents our learning from it much of our ancestors' social life, or of the practical working of their institutions. The fragments of the Anglo-Saxon Lau's contain some as early as the reign of Ethelbert, king of Kent, reduced however to the language of a later age. Alfred, who began the work, says that, with the advice of his Witan, he rejected what did not please him, but added little of his own. The work was then submitted to and adopted by the Witan. His chief followers in these labours were Athelstane, Ethelred, and Canute. (See Schmid, Gesetze der AngelSachsen, 2d ed. 1858). B.-ANGLO-NORMAN LITERATURE. A.D. 1066-1350. The Norman Conquest had both a destructive and a reconstructive influence on the literature of the country. The ordinance, forbidding the Saxon clergy to aspire to any ecclesiastical dignity, confined the literary activity that was left to the monasteries, except in the case of those who were willing to adapt themselves to the new state of things. The Anglo-Saxon learning gradually died out by the middle of the twelfth century; its chief work being the completion of the Saxon Chronicle in the monastery of Peterborough. The chief works of learning were composed in Latin; while for lighter compositions the English adopted the language of their conquerors. On the other hand, the Normans introduced a new and most potent element of intellectual activity. The fifty years preceding the Conquest had witnessed a great revival of learning on the Continent, originating from the Arabs, who had themselves become imbued with the Greek learning of the conquered East. Thus the revival of letters in the eleventh century, like the brighter revival in the fifteenth, owed its source to the ancient Greeks; but with this great difference :-while, in the latter case, inspiration was drawn from the great |