count from the landing of Cæsar and a detailed relation from the advent of Augustine. It is from this history that we draw the story of Cadmon. But the influence of Bede upon our native literature was an indirect one, since his works, like nearly all the prose of the period, were written in Latin; it is only after Alfred had the IIistory translated into the West Saxon tongue that that book becomes an English classic. fl. 750? The desire to attach to ancient poems an author's name and history, and so in some manner to visualize the poet, is an exceedingly natural one. It was therefore with much satCynewulf, isfaction that in several Old English poems the author's name was discovered spelled out in runes, after the manner of an acrostic. This name was Cynewulf. History has been vainly appealed to for further light. But by ascribing, on various grounds, certain other poems to the same author, and putting together the hints they contain, a story has been made out for him. Cynewulf was in all probability a Northumbrian of the eighth century, and he may well have spent his youth in gaiety as a wondering scop. That he composed any of the numerous Riddles attributed to him is extremely doubtful. Neither can we know that he was the author of the really beautiful allegory of the resurrection of Christ, The Phoenix. The one thing certain is that he composed the three poems known as Crist, Juliana, and Elene, the last-named at a time when, as he laments, his youth had fled and he was smitten with sorrow. These are all religious poems; the two latter are legends of saints. The first is a long poem in three sections, depicting the three * Riddles, often distinctly native in character, though perhaps first imitated from Latin enigmas in hexameter verse, were a curious by-product of our early literature. The following is an example: "Netherward my neb is set, deep inclined I fare; Forward bent he walks, he, the warden at my tail; Through the meadows pushes me, moves me on and presses me, Green upon one side is my ganging on; The answer is: A Plow. (Translation by Stopford Brooke.) comings of Christ-the Nativity, the Ascent into Heaven, and the final Coming to Judgment. "Lo, Thou art the wall-stone which erst the workmen From the work rejected. Beseemeth thee well That Thou shouldst be head of the hall of glory." The Judgment is portrayed in especially vivid language: “The dusky flame shall fare through earth Like a raging warrior. Where once flowed the waters, Shall the sea-fishes burn. Water shall burn as wax. There shall be cry and moan, and strife of the living, The poem is permeated with pure religious fervor and may stand as a type of the Christian poetry which marks the close of the period of literary activity in Northumbria.* *Not till near the time of Dunbar, in 1500, does this North English dialect rise again to literary importance. (See chapter VI., and Appendix.) Then, and thenceforward, the language with its literature is known as Scotch, and to it may be said to belong the still later native dialect poetry of Ramsay and Burns, and even some of the fiction of our own day. Rather curiously, all this Northumbrian literature which we have been describing has come down to us, not in the original Northern, but in the West Saxon, or Southern, dialect. This is due to the southward shifting of power, which, as already stated, took place in the eighth and ninth centuries. As the Danes poured in year after year, overrunning especially the weakened Northumbria, homesteads and churches were burnt, monasteries with their libraries were sacked, and all that had been accomplished in government, art, and literature, threatened to disappear. It was Wessex, already grown to strength under Ecgberht, that finally succeeded in staying for a time this Danish conquest, and the chief credit for it belongs to one man, the grandson of Ecgberht, Elfred, or, as we know him, King Alfred the Great. Alfred the Great, 849-901. Great as a warrior and statesman, Alfred was no less great as a scholar and patron of learning. He came to the throne in 871 and within seven years forced peace from the turbulent and ever encroaching Danes. Then, in such respite as he could snatch from his "various and manifold worldly cares," he addressed himself to the labor of rekindling the dying flame of learning. He gathered about him scholars and founded schools and abbeys; he worked to restore Christian culture, and to rescue the perishing fragments of our literature. For himself he set the task of translating some of the great books of the world into the dialect of his people. In this way we have as the work of his own hand a large body of Old English prose:-the Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory the Great, a manual for the clergy; the Ecclesiastical History* of Bede, English annals, thus brought within reach of all English readers; a History of the World by the Spanish monk Orosius, then the standard text-book of general history; and the Consolation of Philosophy by Boëthius. The last is his greatest legacy; for it is much more than a translation-it is a free paraphrase, containing entire pages of original matter, and revealing everywhere the hand and soul of Alfred the Great. Þæt bid ponne cyninges andweorc and his tol mid to ricsianne, pæt he hæbbe his lond full mannod. He sceal hæbban gebedmen and fyrdmen and weorcmen, etc. "This, then, is a king's materials and his tools to reign STATUE OF ALFRED THE GREAT. with: that he have his land well peopled; he must have prayer-men, Thou knowest that without these tools This is also his materials which he must This is, and soldiers, and workmen. no king can show his craft. have besides the tools: provisions for the three classes. then, their provision: land to inhabit, and gifts, and weapons, and meat, and ale, and clothes, and whatsoever is necessary for the three *It is not quite certain that the translation of this should be attributed to Alfred himself; even if not, it was done under his direction. classes. He cannot without these preserve the tools, nor without the tools accomplish any of those things which he is commanded to perform. Therefore I was desirous of materials wherewith to exercise the power, that my talents and power should not be forgotten and concealed. For every craft and every power soon becomes old, and is passed over in silence, if it be without wisdom; for no man can accomplish any craft without wisdom. Because whatsoever is done through folly, no one can ever reckon for craft. This is now especially to be said: that I wished to live honorably whilst I lived, and after my life to leave to the men who were after me my memory in good works.' Anglo Saxon Chronicle, [60 B.C.-1154 A.D.] 853-891. (Translation by Samuel Fox.) The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a still greater monument of Old English prose, belongs also to Alfred's reign, in the sense that the literary influence of his court at Winchester had doubtless much to do with the compilation of it. In its entirety, however, it was the work of many hands, both before and after his time. Opening with a summary of early English history, it grew minute and copious about the date of Alfred's birth, and in this more regular manner was carried on by contemporary records for two hundred and fifty years after his death, closing with the year 1154. One of the earlier entries, under date of 755, properly 785, is the famous account of the fatal fight of Cynewulf, the West Saxon king (not the Northumbrian poet), with the ætheling (nobleman) Cyneheard. It is both more rude in style and more vivid than the later records, and is considered the oldest connected piece of English prose extant. A portion of it may be quoted, both for its spirit and for the light it throws upon the period: 755. Hér Cynewulf benam Sigebryht his rices ond Westseaxna wiotan for unryhtum dædum, buton Hamtunscire, etc. "In this year Cynewulf and his West Saxon Wise-men took from Sigebryht his kingdom, except Hamptonshire, for unrighteous deeds; that he held, until he slew the alderman [Cumbra] who had longest dwelt with him. Then Cynewulf drove him out into Andred-forest, and he dwelt there until a herdsman stabbed him to death at Privet's |