tian of the fifth century; Bede's Ecclesiastical History, and Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care, are the most important of the translations which Alfred caused to be made. The mark of his own originality is in them all; here he omits a portion of no particular value to his readers, here he adds a passage, sometimes of considerable length, concerning matters of importance with which he is acquainted; the constant purpose to instruct and benefit his people is everywhere evident.

From Alfred's schools went forth many scholars who became teachers noted in their time. Latin continued to be the language used in literary

Aelfric, 955?

1020?

composition, as it remained in large degree the spoken language of the literary class. Near the end of the tenth century, however, Ælfric, Abbot of Ensham, following the example of Alfred, wrote in the native tongue. His most interesting work is a Latin Grammar and a Glossary which supplies the equivalents of many Anglo-Saxon words. He also wrote a collection of Homilies which had wide circulation. Of these there were two series, each containing forty discourses, one series presenting the lives of saints recognized by the Anglo-Saxon Church. A translation of the Pentateuch and the book of Job is included in Ælfric's works.

The

The influence of Alfred the Great appears in very practical form in the compilation of the AnChronicle. glo-Saxon Chronicle. Begun under the direction of Alfred, the record of previous events in the history of Britain, from the period of Roman invasion down to his own time, was compiled from the History of Bede and the works of other chroniclers. The work was then continued contemporaneously down to the death of Stephen in 1154. It is supposed that local records were kept at the several monasteries in different parts of England, which were sent to some official

chronicler who compiled from them a condensed summary of the year's events. These terse annals, trustworthy at least in those portions recorded by contemporary writers, picturesque in spite of their brevity, plain, unadorned, straightforward, constitute the original authority on early English history, and at the same time form our most interesting monument of Anglo-Saxon prose. As we have seen, at rare intervals the historian assumes the gleeman's character, and admits some metrical narrative like those of Brunnanburh and Maldon. For the larger part the Chronicle reads like this:

"871. Now came Alfred, son of Æthelwulf, to the rule of the West Saxons, and in about one month thereafter, Ælfred the king fought against the entire Danish army with a little force of English at Wilton, and for a good part of the day routed them; yet the Danes remained masters of the field. And during this year there were nine battles fought with the enemy in this kingdom south of the Thames; besides which Alfred, the king's brother, and various aldermen and thanes of the king rode on raids, of which no account was kept. And during the year there were slain nine earls and one king; and in this year the West Saxons made peace with the Danes."

IV. THE NATION AND THE LANGUAGE.

Thus far the record of our literary life has dealt with the productions of a strongly individual- The Naized race. Different divisions of the people tion. employed forms that varied in details of pronunciation, in grammatical inflection, and to some extent in vocabulary; but their language was essentially the same. As always happens where a race is divided by sectional lines, there were clearly defined dialects distinguishing the people of the north, the people of the midland, and those of the south; yet the spirit of a single race spoke in the literature of these different sections; the poetry of Northumbria and the prose of Wessex exhibited the characteristics of a single if not a united folk. The literary supremacy of the Angles early fixed the use of the word Englisc, as applied to language and literature, and although, when later that supremacy passed to the Saxons of Wessex along with the political predominance in the kingdom, all that we possess of Northumbrian literature was reproduced in the form of speech peculiar to the West Saxons,1 the words English and England were accepted by the southern folk as identifying their nation and their land.

The Anglo-Saxon speech had not borrowed much A few verbal relics of

The Language.

from foreign sources.

the early Roman occupation have been cited.2 Not many Cymric or Gaelic terms, apparently, were thus early introduced; those now common in our language were almost all absorbed in later association with the Scotch, the Irish, and the Welsh. Geographical names do frequently preserve the more ancient Celtic form: such are Avon and Esk, with the variant forms of Usk, Ux, and Ox, all meaning water, occurring in place-names like Exeter, Uxbridge, and Oxford; Avon and Esk appear as the names of rivers in different parts of England. Pen (mountain) is also common. The suffix comb (hollow, valley) is seen in names like Hascombe and Holcomb. Other Celtic loan-words found in Anglo-Saxon are down

THE LANGUAGE

37

(hill), dun (the color), mattock, and slough. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons brought a great number of Latin words, some of them Greek originally, into the English. The word church (A.-S. cyrice, Grk. kyriakon), together with the large vocabulary connected with the officers and functions of the Church, was thus added to our language. Such, for example, were the words biscop (L. episcopus), muпис (monachus), preost (presbyter), deofol (diabolus), candel (candela), mynstre, (monasterium), martyr (Grk. martyr, a witness), and very many others. From the Danes' speech many words found their way into the spoken language; they came more slowly into literary English. The endings -by, -thorp, -thwaite, -toft, occurring in many names of places like Whitby, Grimsby, Somersby, Althorp, Brathwaite, and Lowestoft, have the meaning of village or town. These names are especially numerous in the eastern part of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, in the region formerly known as the Danelagh, where the Danes had their settlements.1

From now on the language of England develops a more composite character as a new race, that of the Normans, finds a place for itself in this island kingdom; more rapidly than before the English speech absorbs important elements from another people, and we are brought to a new epoch in the history of English literature, passing into what is often called the Middle English Period.

The history of early England has been admirably told by J. R. Green in his Making of England, his Con- Book Notes quest of England, and his Short History of the and Study English People. Freeman's Old English History tions. is an authority, and Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo