when Chaucer rose. The compositions of this age can hardly be divided by any clear line of demarcation; but the first of the two centuries, to the middle of Henry III.'s reign, may be conveniently assigned to the Semi-Saxon period, the second to the Old English. The writers in both dialects were for the most part translators and imitators of the Norman poets; and their works may be assigned to the same four heads. There are, however, a few more original fragments, such as the Song of Canute, as he rowed past Ely, recorded by the monk of Ely, who wrote about A.D. 1166; the Hymn of ST. GODRIC (d. A.D. 1170), and the Prophecy, said by various chroniclers to have been set up at Here (A.D. 1189). But three chief works may be chosen as most characteristic of the language of the Semi-Saxon period.

(1.) LAYAMON'S Brut, or Chronicle of Britain, of which there are two texts, one much earlier than the other. The title of "the English Ennius," formerly applied to Robert of Gloucester, may now fairly be transferred to Layamon. He tells us that he was a priest of Ernley, near Redstone, on the Severn (probably Lower Arley), and that he compiled his work partly from a book in English by St. Bede, which can only mean the translation of the Historia Ecclesiastica ascribed to Alfred, partly from one in Latin by St. Albin and Austin, and partly from one made by a French clerk, named Wace, and presented to Eleanor, queen of Henry II. He seems, however, to have followed only Bede in the story of Pope Gregory and the English slaves at Rome; his second authority appears to be but a confused reference to the Latin text of the Historia Ecclesiastica; and his work was really founded upon the Brut of Wace, already noticed. This he amplified from 15,300 lines to 32,250, partly by paraphrasing, partly by inserting speeches and other compositions, such as the Dream of Arthur, which show much imaginative power, and partly by the addition of many legends, from Welsh and other sources not used by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He makes several allusions to works in English which are now lost. The date of the completion of the work, asually assigned to the latter years of Henry II., should probably be brought below A.D. 1200, after John's accession. The style of the work bears witness to Norman influence, both in the structure of the verse and the manner of the narrative,

been expected from the translator of a French original. The earlier text has not fifty words of French origin, and both texts only about ninety. "We find preserved," says Sir F. Madden, "in many passages of Layamon's poem the spirit and style of the earlier Anglo-Saxon writers. No one can read his description of battles without being reminded of the Ode on Athelstan's victory at Brunanburgh." After noticing resemblances in grammar and languages, he adds, "A foreign scholar and poet (Grundtvig), versed both in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian literature, has found Layamon's beyond comparison the most lofty and animated in its style, at every moment reminding the reader of the splendid phraseology of Anglo-Saxon verse. It may also be added, that the colloquial character of much of the work renders it peculiarly valuable as a monument of the language, since it serves to convey to us, in all probability, the current speech of the writer's time." (Preface, pp. xxiii., xxiv.) His verse also retains the alliterative structure of the Anglo-Saxon poetry, mingled with the rhyming couplets of the French, the former predominating. Besides alliteration, which consists in the sameness of initial consonants, Layamon uses the kindred device of assonance, that is, the concurrence of syllables containing the same vowel. The rhyming couplets are founded (as Dr. Guest has shown, History of English Rhythms, vol. II., pp. 114 foll.) on the Anglo-Saxon rhythms of 4, 5, 6, or 7 accents, those of 5 and 6 being the most frequent. The im portant bearing of Layamon's dialect on the history of the formation of the English language is fully discussed by Sir. F. Madden (Preface, pp. xxv.-Xxxviii.), who concludes that "the dialects of the western, southern, and midland counties contributed together to form the language of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and consequently to lay the foundation of modern English. To the historical student the work is important as the last and fullest form of the old Celtic traditions concerning early British history. (Layamon's Brut, &c., with a Literal Translation, Notes, and a Grammatical Glossary, By Sir Frederick Madden, K.H. Published by the Soc. of Ant., 3 vols., 1847.)

(2.) The Ancren Riwle (the Rule of Female Anchorites, i. e. Nuns), a code of monastic precepts, drawn up in prose by an unknown author, about the end of the twelfth century or beginning of the

thirteenth, and edited for the Camden Society by the Rev. Jas. Morton, 1853, is also most valuable for the history of our language. Its proportion of French words is about four times that of Layamon; the English is rude and the spelling uncouth.

(3.) The Ormulum is so called by its author after his own name, ORM OF ORMIN. It was a series of homilies in verse on the Lessons from the New Testament in the Church Service, on an immense scale. The extant portion contains nearly 10,000 lines (or rather couplets) of 15 syllables, only differing from the "common service metre " by ending with an unaccented syllable, and entirely free from the Anglo-Saxon alliteration. Apart from the peculiar system of spelling, to which the author attaches great importance, and which deserves study, its language differs far less than Layamon's from the English of the present day. Written in the east or north-east (perhaps near Peterborough), the Ormulum occupies in the Anglian literature a place answering to that of the Brut in the Saxon; and it tends to prove that the former dialect was the first to throw off the old inflections. The work only exists in one MS. (in the Bodleian Library), which is thought to be the autograph; its handwriting, ink, and material, seem to assign it to the earlier part of the thirteenth century. The character of the language, and the regular rhythm of the verse, however, lead some to place it decidedly after the middle of the thirteenth century, and therefore in the Old English period.

The versification seems to be modelled on the contemporary Latin poetry. The language has a small admixture of Latin ecclesiastical words, with scarcely a trace of Norman French. "I am much disposed to believe," says Mr. Marsh (Origin and History, &c., p. 179), "that the spelling of the Ormulum constitutes as faithful a representation of the oral English of its time as any one work could be at a period of great confusion of speech." The work has been edited with Notes and a Glossary, by R. M. White, D.D., 2 vols., Oxf. 1852.

Other works in Semi-Saxon that have been printed are the Homily of St. Edmund, in Thorpe's Analecta, the Bestiary and Proverbs falsely ascribed to King Alfred, in the Reliquiae Antiquae, the Address of the Soul to the Body, printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1838, and reprinted by Mr. Singer in 1845; and the Legend of St. Catharine, edited by Mr. Morten for the Abbotsford Club, in 1841.

D.-OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE. A.D. 1250-1350.

By the middle of the reign of Henry III. the language finally lost those inflectional and other peculiarities which distinguish the Anglo-Saxon from the English; but it retains archaisms which sufficiently distinguish it from the language of the pre sent day to justify the title of Old English.

Some regard the short proclamation of Henry III., in A.D. 1258, as the earliest monument of Old English, while others consider it as Semi-Saxon. It is printed and fully discussed by Marsh (Origin and History, &c., pp. 189, foll.). The Surtees Psalter stands also on the line dividing the two periods, being probably not later than A.D. 1250.

Among the chief literary works of this period is the metrical Chronicle of ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER, from the legendary age of Brutus to the close of Henry III.'s reign. The latter part, at all events, must have been written after A.D. 1297. The earlier part closely follows Geoffrey of Monmouth; but the old prose chronicler is more truly poetical than his metrical imitator. The verse is the long line (or couplet) of fourteen syllables, divisible into eight and six; its movement is rough and inharmonious. The Chronicle was printed from incorrect MSS., by Hearne, 2 vols. 8vo., Oxon, 1724; and this edition was reprinted in London, 1810. Short works by Robert of Gloucester, on the Martyrdom of Thomas à Becket and the Life of St. Brandan, were printed by the Percy Society in 1845. A collection of Lives of the Saints is also attributed to this author, whose works, though of small literary merit, are valuable for the light they throw on the progress of the English language.

On a still larger scale is the metrical chronicle of ROBERT MANNYNG, or ROBERT OF BRUNNE, the last considerable work of the Old English period. It is in two parts. The first, translated from the Brut of Wace, reaches to the death of Cadwallader : the second, from the Anglo-Norman of Peter de Langtoft, comes down to the death of Edward I. (A.D. 1307). The second part only has been published, with the editions of Robert of Gloucester mentioned above. The work is evidently an imitation of Robert's, and of about equal literary merit. The language is a step nearer to modern English, the most im

portant changes being the use of s for th in the third person singular, and the introduction of nearly the present forms of the feminine personal pronoun. The verse is smoother than that of Robert of Gloucester. The first part is in the eightsyllable line of Wace; the second is partly in the same metre, and partly in the Alexandrine, the heroic measure of the age.

Far more interesting in themselves are the popular poems of this age, translated or imitated for the most part from the French, and belonging to the same classes of Romances, Fabliaux, and Satires. But there are some ballads and songs of genuine native origin, as early as the middle of the thirteenth century. Such are the story of the Norfolk peasant-boy, Willy Grice; the song beginning "Sumer is i-cumen in," the oldest to which the notes are added, and many of the pieces (including political ballads) printed by Warton, Percy, Ritson, and Wright.

One of the most pleasing of these poems is the Owl and Nightingale, a dispute between the two birds about their powers of song, consisting of about 1800 verses in rhymed octosyllabic metre.

The satirical poem, called the Land of Cockayne, which Warton placed before the reign of Henry II., is at least as late as A.D. 1300, and is clearly traced to a French original. It is somewhat doubtfully ascribed, with other poems, to MICHAEL OF KILDARE, the first Irishman who wrote verses in English. It is a satire upon the monks. That the Metrical

Romances should have been translated from the French, is a natural result of the fact, that French was the language of popular literature for some generations after the Conquest. Many of the legends were, indeed, British and Anglo-Saxon; but this may be accounted for by the affinity of the Britons and Armoricans, and the close connection between the Norman and the later Anglo-Saxon kings. Nor is it probable that the Trouvères should have missed many of these legends. Their poetry at first amused the leisure and enlivened the banquets of the conquerors; but, as the two races became one, and as the Anglo-Saxon tongue died out, they began to be translated into the new-formed language of the English people. The most popular of these, such as Havelok, Sir

Tristram, Sir Gawaine, Kyng Horn, King Alesaunder, and Richard Cœur de Lion, may be referred to the beginning of Edward 1.'s reign. They are followed by a series of poems by unknown authors, far too numerous to mention, down to and considerably below the age of Chaucer, many of which are printed in the collections mentioned below. The change, by which these English Metrical Romances superseded the French originals, may be referred to the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth their popularity, besides being divided with the prose romances, yielded, at least among the educated classes, to the regular poetry of Chaucer and his school; but they only ceased to be generally written after the beginning of the sixteenth. It was not till 300 years later that Sir Walter Scott revived the taste for a kind of poetry, similar in form, but appealing to very different sentiments. Among the Minor Poems, other than Romances, are many imitations of the French Fabliaux, or Tales of Common Life. The Satires, both political and ecclesiastical, undoubtedly helped the progress of freedom under Henry III. and his successors, and prepared the way for Wickliffe, if they do not rather exhibit a state of popular feeling demanding such a teacher.

The chief authorities for these four periods are Wright, Biographia Britannica Literaria. Vol. I. The Anglo-Saxon Period, Lond. 1842; Vol. II. The Anglo-Norman Period, Lond. 1846; Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, first published in 1765; Warton, History of English Poetry, 1774, edited by Price, 3 vols. 8vo., Lond. 1840; Tyrrwhitt, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with Preliminary Essays, 1775; Pinkerton, Scottish Poems, 3 vols. 1792; Herbert, Robert the Devylle, 1798; Ritson, Ancient Songs, and other collections; Ellis, George, Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances, 3 vols. 8vo. 1805; Wright, Political Songs of England from John to Edward II., 1839; the publications of the Roxburghe Club, the Bannatyne, Maitland, Abbotsford, and Camden Societies, the Society of Antiquaries, &c.; Chambers, Cyclopædia of English Literature; Craik, History of English Literature and the English Language, 2 vols, 1861; Marsh, Origin and History of the English Language, 1862.