with the impression that we understand the Anglo-Saxon, because we can write tolerably good English. But a perfect mastery of the latter depends on a careful study of the former. An acquaintance with the dialect of Alfred and of Alfric would enlarge our vocabulary, would amplify the knowledge which we already have; would give significance to terms which we now lazily utter, with but a dim apprehension that they mean any thing; and, in short, would show us how rich our mother dialect is. We need to enliven and enlarge our most current and familiar ideas, lest they should become stagnant and nothing worth.

We may mention, as an additional reason for the want of interest in Saxon studies, the difficulty which has existed, until very recently, of procuring the suitable apparatus of grammars, lexicons, etc. The works of Hickes, Lye, and some others have, indeed, long been found in some of our large libraries. But where these volumes are accessible, scarcely any thing could be more unattractive. They contain treasures of knowledge, but to the beginner exceedingly uncouth and repulsive.

Within a few years, however, this want has been supplied. A new zest for the study of the Anglo-Saxon has been awakened in England. Several individuals, most of them now living, have given us good fruits, as the result of their industrious and well-directed labors. A number of distinguished scholars on the continent have earnestly and successfully co-operated. In the following pages we propose to give a brief account of these labors, or, of the present condition of Anglo-Saxon studies in England. A slight retrospect of its past history may not be unacceptable.*

* A brief article on this subject was inserted in Vol X. of the Bibl. Repos., first series, pp. 386–398. We shall endeavor not to repeat the statements made in that article. Since that was published, however, great advances have been made in Enlgand in Anglo-Saxon studies, and several valuable books have been issued. Among these are Dr. Bosworth's Dictionary, in 930 pages large octavo, and Petheram's Anglo-Saxon Literature in England. We have drawn freely from these volumes, especially from the last named. We have also before us Palgrave's History of the Anglo-Saxons; and several AngloSaxon grammars, Rev. Henry Soames's History of the AngloSaxon Church, the Deutsche Grammatik of Grimm of Gettingen, and the various reviews and notices which have recently

Whether the Saxons, on their invasion of Britain, possessed a knowledge of written language, has been much disputed. Like most of the Teutonic race, they employed Runes to record their events. After the conversion of the Britons to Christianity, the Roman Missionaries taught them to write in the manner to which they had been accustomed. Hence the origin of what we now term the Anglo-Saxon letters; but there are three only which strictly possess that character, and they are derived apparently from the ancient Runes. These are equivalent to our th, dh and w. What we term the Saxon alphabet was that which was in general use in England from the 13th to the 16th century. The first school established in England was at Canterbury, at the beginning of the 7th century. Ethelbert, king of Kent, who assisted Augustine in promoting the conversion of the people, was the author of the first written Anglo-Saxon laws, which have descended to us, or which are known to have been established. Theodore, ordained Archbishop of Canterbury near the close of the 7th century, in conjunction with his friend Adrian, brought over many books from Rome, and zealously diffused knowledge wherever he went. Egbert, who was Archbishop of York in 712, founded a noble library at York. The celebrated and truly venerable Bede, to whom all who speak the English language are so much indebted, began his education at seven years of age, in the monastery of Weremouth. His writings embrace almost every subject of learning then known. By their diffusion a flood of light was poured in on the minds of his countrymen.* Learning was not now confined to ecclesiastics and kings. The Anglo-Saxon women were not only learners but teachers. In the Epistles of Boniface, we find many letters addressed to him by his female pupils, which show their acquisitions in Latin verse as well as prose. About the year 728, Ina, king of the West Saxons, founded a school for the instruction of his countrymen, who chose to be educated at Rome.

In 849, Alfred the Great was born. He conceived the noble

appeared in England on the subject. Our main design in this paper is to communicate information which may be valuable to the American student, and which is not easily accessible.

* His Ecclesiastical History has just been issued from the press, accompanied by a good English translation, in a very handsome volume.

design of founding a vernacular literature, and by his personal exertions he realized very considerably that wise and generous intention. He rendered, from Latin into Anglo-Saxon, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, the Geography of Orosius, Boethius on the Consolation of Philosophy, Pope Gregory's Pastoral, and a selection from the Confessions of Augustine. There is reason also to believe that he made translations from the Fables of Æsop, compiled a book of Proverbs and wrote a treatise on falconry. His versions of Scripture did not, probably, extend beyond such portions as appeared, from time to time, peculiarly suited to his own comfort and instruction. He seems, however, to have been employed on a regular translation of the Psalms when overtaken by a summons to eternity. He died in his 52d year, in A. D. 901.

After Alfred, we may consider Alfric, the abbot, but better known as the grammarian, as the principal creator of Saxon literature. Among his works are treatises on the Trinity and on the Old and New Testaments, a Latin Grammar, a LatinSaxon Glossary, a translation of the Latin Grammar into Anglo-Saxon, a portion of the Saxon Chronicle, etc.

The language, up to the time of the Conquest, was AngloSaxon. From that period to the middle of the 13th century, it has acquired, with doubtful propriety, the name of Semi-Saxon; and from that period to the Reformation, the name of MiddleEnglish. The Norman language was by no means unknown before the times of the Conqueror. Many of the youth of England, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, were sent to the schools of France; and a continued intercourse between the two countries was carried on long before this period. Now, however, Norman-French became the language of the court, and various causes conspired gradually to change the ancient forms of speech. This was especially true in the large commercial towns, and in the great thoroughfares of business. In the agricultural population of the remoter counties, the relics of ancient times are still visible. Thus it is, that the same names of agricultural implements, their uses, the occupations of agriculture, the names and boundaries of fields, the streams which divide one possession from another, and the names of villages, hamlets and towns remain as they were before the Conquest. In the west of England, a language is still spoken in many places which bears no strict, definite relation to any written composition that we find in books. Many of the words are

now obsolete in written compositions. On referring to the Anglo-Saxon writings, we find them. They are seen in the SemiSaxon pages of Layamon, and in those of Robert of Gloucester, There are many reasons for believing that the Saxon language was never extinct in England. Camden tells us that in the Abbey of Tavistock, which had a Saxon founder about 961," there were solemn lectures in the Saxon tongue, even to the time of our fathers, that the knowledge of the language might not fail as it has since well nigh done." William L'Isle, in his preface to the Saxon Monuments, published by him in 1623, thus alludes to the subject: "Thanks be to God, that he that conquered the land, could not so conquer the language, but that, in memory of our fathers, it hath been preserved with common lectures," etc.

Before the year 1525, we find a printing press already erected in the monastery of Tavistock. John Leland, the antiquary of Henry VIII., appears to have been the first individual of the reformed faith who possessed a knowledge of the Saxon language, and collected Saxon MSS. Archbishop Parker, three years after the publication of his book on "priests' marriages," and when the great Bible, which came out in 1572, was in preparation, distributed parts of the Old Testament to different bishops for the purpose of translation, and sent at the same time to all of them, severally, a request, that while making a visitation in their dioceses, they would examine the books in their churches and inform him what they were, and whether there were among them any Saxon authors. The Archbishop also sent out a circular letter, for the same purpose, under the Queen's authority. John Batman incidentally states, that in the space of four years, he procured 6,700 books for Parker. Persons were kept in his family who could imitate any of the old characters to be found in MSS. John Joscelin, his secretary and amanuensis, collected, it is supposed, the materials for Parker's Antiquitates at Britannicæ, published in 1572. Joscelin edited and published the first entire work in the Anglo-Saxon, which ever came from the press. This was a "Testimony of Antiquitie respecting the body and blood of the Lord." Among his works (he was assisted by John, son of the Archbishop) was a Saxon-Latin Dictionary. He also prepared a grammar which has been lost. The third publication in Anglo-Saxon literature, which issued from the press of John Day, was the Gospels, by Fox the Martyrologist.

At the opening of the 17th century, we find almost a blank in

regard to the Saxon language. One individual, William Camden, appears as a promoter of the Saxon tongue. In his "Britanniæ” we have many details of Saxon history; and in the "Remaines concerning Britaine," first published in 1605, we have some chapters which treat of the Saxon tongue, and of the derivation of our names and surnames, as well as names of places, from it. "The ground of our own tongue," he remarks, “ appertaineth to the old Saxon. The Italian is pleasant but without sinews, as a still fleeting water. The French delicate, but even nice as a woman, scarce daring to open her lips for fear of marring her countenance. The Spanish majestical, but fulsome, running too much on the O, and terrible like the divell in a play. The Dutch manlike, but withal very harsh, as one ready at every word to pick a quarrel. Now we, in borrowing from them, give the strength of consonants to the Italian, the full sound of words to the French, the varieties of termination to the Spanish, and the mollifying of more vowels to the Dutch, and so, like bees, gather the honey of their good qualities, and leave the dregs to themselves. How then can the language, which consisteth of all these, sound other than most full of sweetness?”

In 1623, William L'Isle published "a Saxon treatise on the Old and New Testament, written about the time of King Edgar, 700 years ago, by Alfricus Abbas," etc. Various Saxon treatises were appended. He also prepared for publication various portions of Alfric's Saxon translation from the Old Testament, accompanied by an English version. His labors seem to have awakened a new interest in Saxon studies. Sir Henry Spelman settled a Saxon lecture in the university of Cambridge, allowing £20 per annum to Mr. Abraham Whelock, the first incumbent. Spelman published a Glossary of the Saxon tongue, at his own cost. By various other labors, he is entitled to a high rank among the promoters of Anglo-Saxon literature in England. In 1640, Sir John Spelman published the Anglo-Saxon version of the Psalter, with an interlinear Latin translation, and dedicated it to Laud, whom he praises as a preserver of ancient MSS. and a patron of the Saxon tongue. Usher was another promoter of this study. In 1655, Francis Junius, professor at Heidelberg, but for a long time resident in England, where he died, published Caedmon's Metrical Paraphrase, and the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels. He had apparently intended, as early as 1654, to publish an Anglo-Saxon