purposes. But in course of time came improvement and refinement, and this language, long before a line of modern French, German, Italian, or Spanish existed, became vigorous, expressive, and exact; fit for many of the requirements of literature. Anglo-Saxon was an inflected language. It had forms of declensions, and various terminations of cases, both in nouns and adjectives. For example:In the noun: — eag-e (an eye). Ab. eag-um, with eyes, &c. In the adjective-gód (good). The pronoun Ic (I) was thus declined :— Saxon had also a great power of combination; both by prefix and affix, as well as by the union of roots, &c. for example: fic-treow (fig-tree); snaw-hwit (snow-white); lif-fæstan (to quicken); fore-rynel (forerunner), &c. It also had a regular system of syntax :-Adjec tives governing a case; as, "Wintrum geong," "Etla Young in years; a government of verbs; as, weóld Hunum (dat.), Attila ruled the Huns. Prepositions governing cases; as, “Gá geond wegas and hegas (acc.), Go through the ways and hedges; "Uppon ánum beáme " (dat.), Upon a beam, &c. The inroads made by the Danes on Saxon England, and the eventual establishment of a Danish dynasty in the island, had no very marked effect on the language, as these marauders spoke a cognate language with the Saxon. Their influence in this respect is chiefly observable in the names of the places they occupied. They are known to have given their present names to the towns of Derby, Whitby, Allerby, &c., bij being the Danish form of the word signifying 'town.' The 'bye,' in the word 'bye-laws,' is also referred to a Danish origin. This was the language of England from the middle of the 5th to the middle of the 11th century. The next great change that took place in the language of this country was effected by the Norman conquest of England in the eleventh century. After Gaul was wrested from the Roman Empire, and fell into the hands of various barbarous tribes, the language of that country remained Latin, mixed with the dialects of the barbarians who now occupied the soil; viz., the Franks, Burgundians, and Visigoths. Out of this confusion of tongues there came forth, after a time, two distinct dialects; the Langue d'oc, or Pro vençal, spoken in the South, and the Langue d'oil The river Loire was the in the North, of France. boundary of these two languages. They were also distinguished by the names applied respectively to their poets; those of the South being called Troubadours, and those of the North, Trouvères. The chief difference in character between these two languages was that the Langue d'oc possessed more of the Latin element, and was distinguished by its beauty and softness; whilst the Langue d'oil, being derived from more numerous sources, and possessing a larger proportion of the Germanic element, had greater energy and force, and eventually superseded the Southern language. From this Langue d'oil, or Norman-French, the modern French language has sprung, and it is in this division that we are more particularly interested, as it came in time to form a very considerable part of the English language. The formation of the English language into the condition it afterwards attained, may be dated from this period, viz., 1066. Both our language and literature now take a new direction. Two great streams, the Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon, flow side by side, and yet without mingling together, for more than 200 years; the former used by the conquerors, and the latter by the conquered people. During the Norman, and for a considerable part of the Plantagenet, dynasty, French was spoken by the king and his nobles, and was used in the law-courts; Latin was the language of churchmen; and Saxon, that of the townsmen and peasants, that is, of the great majority of the population. SAXON PERIOD. A.D. 450-1066. The following are specimens of Anglo-Saxon :1. From Cadmon's "Paraphrase of the Scriptures" (7th century.) 1 éce Dryhten, Helm eal of all Her aerest ge-sceóp Rodor a-rærde, and pis wihta, heofon and eordan. creatures, Heaven and earth. (the) Firmament reared, and this rúme land ge-staðelode strangum mihtum, spacious land established with strong powers, The Lord æl-mihtig. Almighty. Fréa 2. From King Alfred's translation of "Boethius." " Se-þe wille wyrcan wæstmbære-lond, a-teó of pám He that will work fruit-ful land, let him pluck of the æcere ærest sona fearn, and þornas, and fyrsas, swá-same field first straightway ferns, and thorns, and furzes, as also 1 Cædmon, a monk of Whitby in Yorkshire, has been called "the Father of English Song." He is the first of whom we possess any metrical composition. His known works are:1. A short ode, or hymn, in praise of the Creator; and 2. A long poem, or metrical paraphrase, of various parts of the Scriptures. Cædmon is supposed to have died about the year 680. A.D. 2 Alfred, the greatest king that ever swayed the English sceptre, was celebrated, not only as a statesman and lawgiver, but also as a scholar and writer. He is the author of ten original works and eight translations; among the latter of which, the best known is that of the "Consolation of Philosophy,” of Boethius. Alfred was born, 849; and died, 901. A.D. weód, þa þe willad wel hwaer derian clænum hwæte; þýlæs weeds, that will every-where hurt (the) clean wheat; lest he ciða-leás licge on pæm lande. it germ-less lie on the land. The Gospels were translated by Elfric into Saxon in the 9th or 10th century; the following is a specimen : 3. St. Matthew xii. 1. &c. ; 1. Se Hælend fór on reste-dæg ofer æceras ; The Saviour journeyed on (the) Sabbath through fields só-líce his leorning-cnihtas hyngrede, and híg ongunnon but his disciples pluccian þa ear, and etan. hungered, and they began (to) pluck the ears, and eat. 2. Sóð-líce þá þa sundor-hálgan þæt gesáwon, hí cwadon is not on Sabbath-days to do. 3. And he cwæd to him: Ne rædde ge hwæt Dauid dyde And he said to them: Have ye not read what David did þa hine hyngrede, and þa þe mid him wron to him hungry, and they that with him were; 4. Hú he in-eóde on Godes hús, and æt þa offringHow he entered into God's house, and ate the offering hláfas þe næron him a-lýfede tó etanne, búton þám loaves which were not (to) him allowed to eat, but to the sacerdum ánum ? &c. priests alone? &c. |