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Of all Alfred's translations, the foremost place is due to that of Gregory's "Pastoral Care."[109] Both internally and externally it is honoured with marks of distinction. The translation is executed with a peculiar care, and a copy was to be sent to every See in the kingdom. The very copy that was destined for Worcester is preserved in the Bodleian; and there it may be seen by any passing visitor, lying open (under glass) at the page with the Worcester address, and the bishop's name (Wrferth) inserted in the salutation. The copy that was addressed to Hehstan, bishop of London, is not extant; but a transcript of it, written (in Wanley's opinion) before the Conquest, is in the Cotton Library, or so much of it as the fire has left. The Public Library at Cambridge has a representative of the copy which was addressed to Wulfsige, bishop of Sherborne. Another Cotton manuscript, which was almost consumed (Tiberius, B. xi.), had happily been described by Wanley before the fire. In this book the place for the bishop's name was blank; and there was this marginal note on the first leaf: {+} Plegmunde arcebisc'. is agifen his boc. and Swiulfe bisc'. {&} Werfere bisc'., i.e., Plegmund, archbishop, has received his book, and Swithulf, bishop, and Werferth, bishop.[110] This book, therefore, of which only fragments now remain, was like the Hatton manuscript in the Bodleian, one of Alfred's originals.
Thus the Bodleian book (Hatton 20, formerly 88), for originality and integrity remains unique; and from it we quote the opening part of Alfred's prefatory epistle:—
DEOS BOC SCEAL TO WIOGORA CEASTRE.
lfred Kyning hateth gretan Wrferth biscep his wordum luflice and freondlice; and the cythan hate tht me com swithe oft on gemynd, hwelce wiotan iu wron gyond Angelcynn, gther ge godcundra hada ge woruldcundra; and hu gesliglica tida tha wron giond Angelcynn; and hu tha kyningas gas the thone nwald hfdon ths folces on tham dagum Gode and his rendwrecum hersumedon; and hie gther ge hiora sibbe ge hiora siodo ge hiora nweald innanbordes gehioldon, and eac t hiora ethel gerymdon; and hu him tha speow gther ge mid wige ge mid wisdome; and eac tha godcundan hadas hu giorne hie wron gther ge ymb lare ge ymb liornunga, ge ymb ealle tha thiowotdomas the hie Gode scoldon; and hu man utanbordes wisdom and lare hieder n londe sohte, and hu we hie nu sceoldon ute begietan gif we hie habban sceoldon. Sw clne hio ws othfeallenu n Angelcynne tht swithe feawa wron behionan Humbre the hiora theninga cuthen understondan on Englisc, oththe furthum n rendgewrit of Ldene on Englisc areccean; and ic wene tht noht monige begiondan Humbre nren. Sw feawa hiora wron tht ic furthum anne nlepne ne mg gethencean besuthan Temese tha tha ic to rice feng. Gode lmihtegum sie thonc tht we nu nigne n stal habbath lareowa.
THIS BOOK IS TO GO TO WORCESTER.
Alfred, king, commandeth to greet Wrferth, bishop, with his words in loving and friendly wise: and I would have you informed that it has often come into my remembrance, what wise men there formerly were among the Angle race, both of the sacred orders and the secular: and how happy times those were throughout the Angle race; and how the kings who had the government of the folk in those days obeyed God and his messengers; and they, on the one hand, maintained their peace, and their customs and their authority within their borders, while at the same time they spread their territory outwards; and how it then went well with them both in war and in wisdom; and likewise the sacred orders, how earnest they were, as well as teaching us about learning, and about all the services that they owed to God; and how people from abroad came to this land for wisdom and instruction; and how we now should have to get them abroad if we were going to have them. So clean was it fallen away in the Angle race, that there were very few on this side Humber who would know how to render their services into English; and I ween that not many would be on the other side Humber. So few of them were there that I cannot think of so much as a single one south of Thames when I took to the realm. God Almighty be thanked that we have now any teachers in office.
The king goes on to say that he remembered how, before the general devastation, the churches were well stocked with books, and how there were plenty, too, of clergy, but they were not able to make much use of the books, because the culture of learning had been neglected. Their predecessors of a former generation had been learned, but now the clergy had fallen into ignorance. Wherefore, it seemed that there was no remedy but to have the books translated into the language they understood. And this (the king reflected) was according to precedent; for the Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and then the Greeks in their time translated it into their speech, and subsequently the Romans did the like for themselves. And all other Christian nations had translated some Scriptures into their own language.
Forthy me thincth betre, gif iow sw thincth, tht we eac sum bec, tha the niedbethearfost sien eallum monnum to wiotonne, tht we tha on tht gethiode wenden the we ealle gecnawan mgen, and ge don sw we swithe eathe magon mid Godes fultume, gif we tha stilnesse habbath, tht eal sio gioguth the nu is on Angelcynne friora monna, thara the tha speda hbben tht hie thm befeolan mgen, sien to liornunga othfste, tha hwile the hie to nanre otherre note ne mgen, oth thone first the hie wel cunnen Englisc gewrit ardan: lre mon siththan furthur on Lden gethiode tha the mon furthor lran wille and to hieran hade don wille. Tha ic tha gemunde hu sio lar Lden gethiodes r thissum afeallen ws giond Angelcynn, and theah monige cuthon Englisc gewrit ardan, tha ongan ic on gemang othrum mislicum and manigfealdum bisgum thisses kynerices tha boc wendan on Englisc the is genemned on Lden Pastoralis, and on Englisc Hierde boc, hwilum word be worde, hwilum andgit of andgite, sw sw ic hie geliornode t Plegmunde minum rcebiscepe and t Assere minum biscepe and t Grimbolde minum msse prioste and t Johanne minum msse prioste. Siththan ic hie tha gelornod hfde sw sw ic hie forstod, and sw ic hie andgitfullicost areccean meahte, ic hie on Englisc awende; and to lcum biscepstole on minum rice wille ane onsendan; and on lcre bith an stel, se bith on fiftegum mancessa. Ond ic bebiode on Godes naman tht nan mon thone stel from thre bec ne do, ne tha boc from thm mynstre. Uncuth hu longe thr sw gelrede biscepas sien, sw sw nu Gode thonc wel hwr siendon; forthy ic wolde tht hie ealneg t thre stowe wren, buton se biscep hie mid him habban wille oththe hio hwr to lne sie, oththe hwa othre biwrite.
Therefore to me it seemeth better, if it seemeth so to you, that we also some books, those that most needful are for all men to be acquainted with, that we turn those into the speech which we all can understand, and that ye do as we very easily may with God's help, if we have the requisite peace, that all the youth which now is in England of free men, of those who have the means to be able to go in for it, be set to learning, while they are fit for no other business, until such time as they can thoroughly read English writing: afterwards further instruction may be given in the Latin language to such as are intended for a more advanced education, and to be prepared for higher office. As I then reflected how the teaching of the Latin language had recently decayed throughout this people of the Angles, and yet many could read English writing, then began I among other various and manifold businesses of this kingdom to turn into English the book that is called "Pastoralis" in Latin, and "Shepherding Book" in English, sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense, just as I learned it of Plegmund, my archbishop, and of Asser, my bishop, and of Grimbald, my priest, and of John, my priest. After that I had learned it, so as I understood it, and as I it with fullest meaning could render, I translated it into English; and to each see in my kingdom I will send one; and in each there is an "stel," which is of the value of 50 mancusses. And I command in the name of God that no man remove the "stel" from the book, nor the book from the minster. No one knows how long such learned bishops may be there, as now, thank God! there are in several places; and therefore I would that they (the books) should always be at the place; unless the bishop should wish to have it with him, or it should be anywhere on loan, or any one should be writing another copy.
Here we have a direct statement that the "Pastoral" was translated by King Alfred himself, after a course of study in which he had been assisted by Plegmund, Asser, Grimbald, and John. His interest in this book seems to show that his estimate of it was something like that of Ozanam, who said that Gregory's "Pastoral Care" determined the character of the Christian hierarchy, and formed the bishops who formed the nations.
Gregory's "Dialogues," on the contrary, were translated, not by the king, but by Werferth, bishop of Worcester, as we are informed by Asser.[111] This translation is extant in manuscripts, but it has not yet been edited. It is, perhaps, the most considerable piece of Anglo-Saxon literature that yet remains to be made public. And it is striking, though not unaccountable, that a book which was one of the most popular ever written,[112] which retained its popularity for centuries, and which has left behind it in literature and in popular Christian ethics bold traces of its influence, should, in the modern revival of Anglo-Saxon, have been so long neglected. As this book is practically inaccessible, and as it was moreover a book peculiarly germane and congenial to the average intelligence of these times, it seems to claim a somewhat fuller notice.
Here, as in other translations, the king wrote a few words of preface.
Ic lfred gyfendum Criste mid cynehades mrnesse geweorthad hbbe cuthlice ongiten, and thurh haligra boca rdunge oft gehyred . tht us tham God swa micele healicnysse woruld gethingtha forgifen hfth . is seo mste thearf tht we hwilon ure mod gelithian and gebigian to tham godcundum and gastlicum rihte . betweoh thas eorthlican carfulnysse . and ic fortham sohte and wilnode to minum getrywum freondum tht hy me of Godes bocum be haligra manna theawum and wundrum awriton thas fterfyligendan lare . tht ic thurh tha mynegunge and lufe getrymmed on minum mode hwilum gehicge tha heofenlican thing betweoh thas eorthlican gedrefednyssa . Cuthlice we magan nu t restan gehyran hu se eadiga and se apostolica wer Scs Gregorius sprc to his diacone tham ws nama Petrus . be haligra manna thawum and life, to lare and to bysne eallum tham the Godes willan wyrceath . and he be him silfum thisum wordum and thus cwth:—
I, Alfred, by the grace of Christ, dignified with the honour of royalty, have distinctly understood, and through the reading of holy books have often heard, that of us to whom God hath given so much eminence of worldly distinction, it is specially required that we from time to time should subdue and bend our minds to the divine and spiritual law, in the midst of this earthly anxiety; and I accordingly sought and requested of my trusty friends that they for me out of pious books about the conversation and miracles of holy men would transcribe the instruction that hereinafter followeth; that I, through the admonition and love being strengthened in my mind, may now and then contemplate the heavenly things in the midst of these earthly troubles. Plainly we can now at first hear how the blessed and apostolic man St. Gregory spake to his deacon whose name was Peter, about the manners and life of holy men for instruction and for example to all those who are working the will of God; and he spake about himself with these words and in this manner:—
Sumon[113] dge hit gelamp tht ic ws swythe geswenced mid tham geruxlum and uneathnessum sumra woruldlicra ymbhegena . for tham underfenge thyses bisceoplican folgothes . On tham woruld scirum we beoth full oft geneadode tht we doth tha thing the us is genoh cuth tht we na ne sceoldon . Tha gelyste me thre diglan stowe the ic r on ws on mynstre . seo is thre gnornunge freond . fortham man simle mg his sares and his unrihtes mst gethencean gif he ana bith on digolnysse . Thr me openlice t ywde hit sylf eall swa hwt swa me mislicode be minre agenre wisan . and thr beforan minre heortan eagan swutollice comon ealle tha gedonan unriht the gewunedon tht hi me sar and sorge ongebrohton. Witodlice tha tha ic thr st swithe geswenced and lange sorgende . tha com me to min se leofesta sunu Petrus diacon se fram frymthe his iugothhades mid freondlicre lufe ws hiwcuthlice to me getheoded and getogen . and he simle ws min gefera to smeaunge haligre lare . and he tha lociende on me geseah tht ic ws geswenced mid hefigum sare minre heortan . and he thus cwth to me, "La leof gelamp the nig thing niwes . for hwan hafast thu maran gnornunge thonne hit r gewunelic wre?" Tha cwth ic to him, "Eala Petrus seo gnornung the ic dghwamlice tholie symle heo is me eald for gewunan . and simle heo is me niwe thurh eacan."
On a certain day it happened that I was very much harassed with the contentions and worries of certain secular cares, in the discharge of this episcopal function. In secular offices we are very often compelled to do the things that we well enough know we ought not to do. Then my desire turned towards that retired place where I formerly was in the monastery. That is the friend of sorrow, because a man can always best think over his grief and his wrong, if he is alone in retirement. There everything plainly showed itself to me, whatever disquieted me about my own occupation; and there, before the eyes of my heart distinctly came all the practical wrongs which were wont to bring upon me grief and sorrow. Accordingly, while I was there sitting in great oppression and long silence, there came to me my beloved son Peter the deacon, who, from his early youth, with friendly love was intimately attached and bound to me; and he was ever my companion in the study of sacred lore. And he then looking on me saw that I was oppressed with the heavy grief of my heart, and he thus said to me, "Ah, sire, hath anything new happened to thee, by reason of which thou hast more grief than was formerly thy wont?" Then said I to him, "Alas, Peter, the grief which I daily endure it is to me always old for use and wont; and it is to me always new through the increase of it."
The edifying stories are sometimes as grotesque as the strangest carvings about a medival edifice:—
A nun,[114] walking in the convent garden, took a fancy to eat a leaf of lettuce, and she ate, without first making the sign of the cross over it. Presently she was found to be possessed. At the approach of the abbot, the fiend protested it was not his fault; that he had been innocently sitting on a lettuce, and she ate him.[115]
In the Dialogues we recognise that peculiar ideal of sanctity which we identify not so much with Christianity as with medival Christianity. The bright samples of Christian virtues are too like those types which have afforded material to caricature. For example, quitius, the good abbot, whose virtues adorn a series of narratives, practises in the following manner the virtue of humility:—
Sothlice he ws swithe waclic on his gewdum and swa forsewenlic tht, theah hwilc man him ongean come the hine ne cuthon, and he thone mid wordum gegrette, he ws forsewen tht he ns ongean gegreted; and swa oft swa he to othrum stowum faran wolde, thonne ws his theaw tht he wolde sittan on tham horse the he on tham mynstre forcuthost findan mihte, on tham eac he breac hlftre for bridele, and wethera fella for sadele.
Moreover, he was very mean in his clothing, and so abject, that though any one met him (of those who knew him not), and he greeted him with words, he was so despised that he was not greeted in return; and as often as he would travel to other places, then was it his custom to sit on the horse that he could find the most despicable in the abbey, on which, moreover, he used a halter for a bridle, and sheepskins for saddle.
Constantius was the name of a sacristan who completely despised all worldly goods, and his fame was spread abroad. On one occasion, when there was no oil for the lamps, he filled them with water, and they gave light just as if it had been oil. Visitors were attracted by the report of his sanctity. Once a countryman came from a distance (com feorran sum ceorl) to see a man of whom so much was said. When he came into the church, Constantius was on a ladder trimming the lamps. He was an under-grown, slight-built, shabby figure. The countryman inquired which was Constantius; and, being told, was so shocked and disappointed, that he spoke sneeringly, "I expected to see a fine man, and this is not a man at all!"
Mid tham the se Godes wer Constantius tha this gehyrde, he sona swithe blithe forlet tha leoht fatu the he behwearf, and hrdlice nyther astah and thone ceorl beclypte and mid swithlicre lufe ongann mid his earmum hinc clyppan and cyssan and him swithe thancian, tht he swa be him gedemde, and thus cwth: "Thu ana hfdest ontynde eagan on me and me mid rihte oncneowe."
When Constantius the man of God heard this, he forthwith in great joy left the lamps he was attending to, and nimbly descended and embraced the countryman, and with exceeding love began to hold him in his arms, and kiss him, and heartily thank him, that he had so judged of him; and thus he quoth:—"Thou alone hadst opened eyes upon me, and thou didst rightly know me."
Our next and last example is a story of a well-known type, and perhaps the oldest extant instance of it:—
Eac on othrum timan hit gelamp tht him to becom for geneosunge thingon swa swa his theaw ws Servandus se diacon and abbod ths mynstres the Liberius se ealdormann in getimbrode on suth Langbeardena landes dlum. Witodlice he geneosode Benedictes mynster gelomlice . to tham tht hi him betwynon gemnelice him on aguton tha swetan lifes word . and thone wynsuman mete ths heofonlican etheles . thone hi tha gyta fullfremedlice geblissiende thicgean ne mihton . huru thinga hi hine geomriende onbyrigdon . for tham the se ylca wer Servandus eac fleow on lare heofonlicre gife. Sothlice tha tha eallunga becom se tima hyra reste and stillnysse . tha gelogode se arwurtha Benedictus hine sylfne on sumes stypeles upflora . and Servandus se diacon gereste hine on thre nyther flore ths ylcan stypeles . and ws on thre ylcan stowe trumstger mid gewissum stapum fram thre nyther flora to thre up flora. Ws eac t foran tham ylcan stypele sum rum hus . on tham hyra begra gingran hi gereston . Tha tha se drihtnes wer Benedictus behogode thone timan his nihtlican gebedes tham brothrum restendum . tha gestod he thurhwacol t anum eahthyrle biddende thone lmihtigan drihten . and tha fringa on tham timan thre nihte stillnysse him ut lociendum geseah he ufan onsended leoht afligean ealle tha nihtlican thystru . and mid swa micelre beorhtnesse scinan tht tht leoht the thr lymde betweoh tham thystrum ws beorhtre thonne dges leoht. Hwt tha on thysre sceawunge swythe wundorlic thing fter fyligde . swa swa he sylf syththan rehte . tht eac eall middaneard swylce under anum sunnan leoman gelogod . wre be foran his eagan gelded . Tha tha se arwurtha fder his eagena atihtan scearpnysse gefstnode on thre beorhtnesse ths scinendan leohtes . tha geseah he englas ferian on fyrenum cliwene in to heofenum Grmanes sawle . se ws bisceop Capuane thre ceastre . He wolde tha gelangian him sylfum sumne gewitan swa miceles wundres. and Servandum thone diacon clypode tuwa and thriwa . and ofthrdlice his naman nemde mid hreames micelnysse. Servandus tha wearth gedrefed for tham ungewunelican hreame swa mres weres . and he up astah and thider locode . and geseah eallunga lytelne dl ths leohtes. Tham diacone tha wafiendum for thus mycelum wundre . se Godes wer be endebyrdnysse gerehte tha thing the thr gewordene wron . and on Casino tham stoc wic tham eawfstan were Theoprobo thr rihte bebead . tht he on thre ylcan nihte asende sumne mann to Capuanan thre byri . and gewiste and him eft gecythde hwt wre geworden be Germane tham bisceope. Tha ws geworden tht se the thyder asended ws gemette eallunga forthferedne thone arwurthan wer Germanum bisceop . and he tha smeathancollice axiende on cneow tht his forsith ws on tham ylcan tyman the se drihtnes wer oncneow his upstige to heofenum.
Also at another time it happened that there came to him for a visit, as his custom was, Servandus, the deacon and abbot of the monastery that Liberius the patrician had formerly built in South Lombardy (in Campani partibus). In fact, he used to visit Benedict's monastery frequently, to the end that in each other's company they might be mutually refreshed with the sweet words of life, and the delectable food of the heavenly country, which they could not, as yet, with perfect bliss enjoy, but at least they did in aspiration taste it, inasmuch as the said Servandus was likewise abounding in the lore of heavenly grace. When, however, at length the time was come for their rest and repose, the venerable Benedict was lodged in the upper floor of a tower, and Servandus the deacon rested in the nether floor of the same tower; and there was in the same place a solid staircase with plain steps, from the nether floor to the upper floor. There was, moreover, in front of the same tower a spacious house, in which slept the disciples of them both. When, now, Benedict, the man of God, was keeping the time of his nightly prayer during the brethren's rest, then stood he all vigilant at a window praying to the Almighty Lord; and then suddenly, in that time of the nocturnal stillness, as he looked out, he saw a light sent from on high disperse all the darkness of the night, and shine with a brightness so great that the light which then gleamed in the midst of the darkness was brighter than the light of day. Lo then, in this sight a very wonderful thing followed next, as he himself afterwards related; that even all the world, as if placed under one ray of the sun, was displayed before his eyes. When, now, the venerable father had fastened the intent observation of his eyes on the brightness of that shining light, then saw he angels conveying in a fiery group into heaven the soul of Germanus, who was bishop of the city Capua. He desired then to secure to himself a witness of so great a wonder, and he called Servandus the deacon twice and thrice; and repeatedly he named his name with a loud exclamation. Servandus then was disturbed at the unusual outcry of the honoured man, and he mounted the stairs and looked as directed, and he saw verily a small portion of that light. And, as the deacon was then amazed for so great a wonder, the man of God related to him in order the things that had there happened; and forthwith he sent orders to the faithful man Theoprobus in Casinum the chief house, that he in the self-same night should send a man to the city of Capua, and should ascertain and report to him what had happened about Germanus the bishop. Then it came to pass that he who was thither sent found that the venerable man, Germanus the bishop had indeed died; and he then cautiously enquiring, discovered that his departure was at that very time that the man of God had witnessed his ascent to heaven.
Petrus cwth: "This is swithe wundorlic thing and thearle to wafienne." Book ii., c. 35.
Peter said: "This is a very wonderful thing, and greatly to be marvelled at."
In the translation of the "Comfort of Philosophy," the translator makes his greatest effort and exerts the utmost capabilities of his language. He is not bound by any verbal fidelity to his author; he rather adapts the book to his own use and mental exercitation. In the original the author is visited in affliction by Philosophy, and with this heavenly visitant a dialogue ensues, interspersed with choral odes. Alfred sinks the First Person of the author, and makes the dialogue run between Heavenly Wisdom and the Mind (tht Md).
The choral odes (generally called the Metres of Boethius) must have been very hard for Alfred to translate, and they are done somewhat vaguely. We have them in two translations, one in prose and the other in verse. There is no doubt that the poetical version was made from the prose version, without any fresh reference to the Latin. The two are often verbally identical, with a little change in the order of words, and some necessary additions to satisfy the alliteration, or fill out the poetic rhythm. It was long ago observed by Hickes that the style of these poems differed little from prose; but it was Mr. Thomas Wright who first noticed that they were, in fact, merely a versified arrangement of the prose translation.
The same critic gave reasons for thinking that the versified metres were by some later hand, and not by King Alfred. This has been recently the subject of a very interesting discussion in the German periodical "Anglia," it being maintained by Dr. M. Hartmann that they are by Alfred, and the opposite view (that of Mr. T. Wright) being advocated by Dr. A. Leicht.
When the Boethian metres make their appearance in Anglo-Saxon poetic dress, they are considerably expanded. The original prose translation is itself expansive, because the poetry of Boethius is exceedingly terse, and cannot be rendered into readable prose without enlargement. The work of the Saxon versifier is attended with further expansion, because of the mechanical exigencies of the poetic form.
The twentieth metre (iii. 9) offers an extreme case of this kind. Here the original consists of twenty-six hexameters, and the Anglo-Saxon poem has 281 long lines. In this case, however, the poetic expansion is not wholly mechanical; the poet has made some real additions to the thought. The chief of these is a new simile, in which the poising of the Earth in space is illustrated by the yolk of an egg. The prose translation runs thus:—
Thu gestatholadest eorthan swithe wundorlice and fstlice tht he ne helt on nane healfe . ne on nanum eorthlic thinge ne stent ne nanwuht eorthlices hi ne healt . tht hio ne sige . and nis hire thonne ethre to feallanne of dune thonne up.
Thou hast established the earth very wondrously and firmly that it does not heel[116] over on any side: and yet it stands not on any earthly thing, nor does anything earthly hold it up that it sink not; and yet it is no easier for it to fall down than up.
The poetic version enlarges as follows:—
Thu gestatholadest thurh tha strongan meaht weroda wuldor cyning wunderlice eorthan swa fste tht hio on nige healfe ne heldeth ne mg hio hider ne thider sigan the swithor the hio symle dyde. Hwt hi theah eorthlices auht ne haldeth is theah efn ethe up and of dune to feallanne foldan thisse: thm anlicost the on ge bith geoleca on middan glideth hwthre g ymbutan . Swa stent eall weoruld still on tille streamas ymbutan lagufloda gelac lyfte and tungla and sio scire scell scritheth ymbutan dogora gehwilce. dyde lange swa.
Thou didst establish through strong might glorious king of hosts wonderfully the earth so fast that she on any side heeleth not nor can hither or thither any more decline than she ever did. Lo nothing earthly though at all sustains her, it is equally easy upwards and downwards that there should be a fall of this earth: likest to that which we see in an egg; the yolk in the midst and yet gliding free the egg round about. So standeth the world still in its place, while streaming around, water-floods play, welkin and stars, and the shining shell circleth about day by day now as it did long ago.
The translation of Orosius embodies a considerable piece of original matter. Orosius had given, in the opening of his work, a geographical sketch of Europe and Asia. In the translation a large addition is made to the geography of Europe, and it was an addition not merely to this book, but (so far as appears) to the stock of existing geographical knowledge. This insertion consists of three parts, 1. A map-like description of Central Europe; 2. Narrative of Ohthere, who had voyaged round the North Cape; 3. Voyage of Wulfstan from Denmark along the southern and eastern coasts of the Baltic. Ohthere's Narrative is connected with King Alfred by name:—"Ohthere sde his hlaforde lfrede kynincge tht he ealra Northmanna northmest bude," i.e., Ohthere said to his lord, King Alfred, that he of all Northmen had the most northerly home.
The translation of Beda skips lightly over much of the twenty-two preliminary chapters, giving good measure, however, to the description of Britain and to the martyrdom of St. Alban. All about Gregory and Augustine is full. So also about Eadwine, Oswald, Aidan, Oswy, and St. Chad. (But all that famous section (iii. 25, 26) which describes the crisis between the churches, the synod of Whitby, and the Scotian departure, is omitted altogether). Full measure is given to Theodore, the synod of Hertford, Wilfrid, Queen theldrith, Hilda, and Cdmon. So also Cuthbert and John of Hexham. Fully rendered are the failure of the Irish and the success of the Anglian missions to Germany; also the visions which we may call Dantesque. (The whole section about Adamnan's influence and writings (v. 15, 16, 17) is omitted.) But about Aldhelm and his writings; also Daniel, bishop of Winchester; the end of Wilfrid; and about Albinus, the successor of Adrian, is fully rendered.
The Anglo-Saxon Gospels must be mentioned here. This is a book about which we have no external information, and the manuscripts are comparatively late. But the diction leads us to place it in or about the times of Alfred.
It is probable that the "Beowulf" is the product of the same reign; while the volume of sacred poetry that is designated by the name of "Cdmon" appears (at least the first part of it) to be either of this time or possibly older.
If with the above we embrace in our view the Laws of this reign and the evidence of contemporary work in the Chronicles, we must be struck with the extent of this great muster of native literature. But we shall hardly do it justice unless we remember that this is the first national display of the kind in the progress of modern Europe. Native poetry had been cultivated in the Anglian period, and there had been a vernacular apparatus to assist the study of Latin, but of a varied and comprehensive literature in English or any other European vernacular, we find no trace until now. We must not look upon Alfred's translations as mere helps to the Latin. What with the freedom and independence of treatment, and what with the original additions, they have a large claim to the character of domestic products. The very scheme itself, that of using translation as a medium of culture, which is now so familiar to us, was then quite a novel idea. In his preface to the "Pastoral," the king casts about for precedents, and he finds none but the translations of Scripture into Greek and into Latin, and these do not, in fact, make a true parallel. But he could hardly have used this argument without a conscious pride that he had in his mother tongue an instrument not unpractised, and not altogether unworthy to be the first of barbarian languages to tread in the footsteps of the Greek and Latin.
This, then (I comprise the matter of three previous chapters and of three that are to follow) is the "Anglo-Saxon"[117] literature, properly so called; for that expression, if used with technical exactness, affords a term of distinction for the later literature of the south as against the earlier literature of the north, which has been called the Anglian period.
FOOTNOTES:
[108] Asser's "Life of Alfred," in "Monumenta Historica Britannica," 487A.
[109] It was published for the first time in 1871, being edited by Mr. Sweet for the Early English Text Society.
[110] Wanley's "Catalogue," p. 217.
[111] "Monumenta Historica Britannica," 486 E.
[112] "The 'Dialogues' were printed as early as the year 1458."—T.D. Hardy in Willelmi Malm. "Gesta Regum," i., 189.
[113] Here Gregory begins. The translation sometimes deviates from the text:—"Quadam die nimis quorundam scularium tumultibus depressus, quibus in suis negotiis plerumque cogimur solvere etiam quod nos certum est non debere, secretum locum petii amicum mroris, ubi omne quod de mea mihi occupatione displicebat, se patenter ostenderet, et cuncta qu infligere dolorem consueverant, congesta ante oculos licenter venirent. Ibi itaque cum afflictus valde et diu tacitus sederem, dilectissimus filius meus Petrus diaconus adfuit, mihi a primvo juventutis flore amicitiis familiariter obstrictus, atque ad sacri verbi indagationem socius. Qui gravi excoqui cordis languore me intuens, ait: Num quidnam tibi aliquid accidit, quod plus te solito mror tenet? Cui inquam: Mror, Petre, quem quotidie patior, et semper mihi per usum vetus est, et semper per augmentum novus."
[114] An nunne. This word is of two syllables; there is no silent e final in Anglo-Saxon.
[115] Ic st me on anum leahtrice, tha com heo and bt me!
[116] See Skeat, "Etym. Dict.," v. "heel" (2).
[117] This term appears in charters of the tenth century; also Asser styles the king "lfred Angulsaxonum rex," "Mon. Hist. Brit.," 483 C. See Freeman, "Norman Conquest," vol. i., Appendix A.
CHAPTER X.
LFRIC.
Alfred died in 901. From this to the Norman Conquest there are 165 years, and the middle of this period is characterised by the works of the greatest of Anglo-Saxon prose-writers.
The productions of Alfred and the scholars that surrounded him, are to be understood as extraordinary efforts, and as beacons to raise men's minds rather than as specimens of the state of learning in the country, or even as monuments of attainments that were likely soon to become general. Although the literary movement under Alfred was so far sustained that it did not subsequently die out, yet it would perhaps be too much to say that he achieved a complete revival of learning. In the inert state of the religious houses, the soil was unprepared. Still, a taste was kindled which continued to propagate itself until the time when the religious houses became active seats of education. This did not happen until the second half of the tenth century, when the reform of the monasteries by thelwold and Dunstan produced that great educational and literary movement of which the representative name is lfric.
The impetus which Alfred had imparted did not cease with his life. If we look into the Chronicles, we see that the Alfredian style of work is continued down to the death of his son Edward, in 924, and that from that point the stream of history dwindles and becomes meagre. This may be typical of what happened over a wider surface. The impulse given to translation may be supposed to have continued, and we may specify two translations likely to have been made at this time. These are the Four Gospels[118] and the poetical Psalter.[119]
A feature of the Gospels is that the name of Jesus is regarded as a descriptive title, and subjected to translation. It never appears in its original form, but always as "Se Hlend"—that is, The Healer, The Saviour.
To this period, the first half of the tenth century, must be assigned some translations of another sort. There are some considerable remains of a translating period that gave to the English reader a mass of apocryphal, romantic, fantastic, and even heretical reading; and that period can hardly be any other than this. I imagine that now as a consequence of the new literary interest awakened by King Alfred, many old book-chests were explored, and things came to light which had been stored in the monasteries of Wessex ever since the seventh and eighth centuries. These writings claim a manifest affinity with the early products of the Gaulish monasteries, and from these they would naturally have been diffused in southern Britain. But, since the religious life of Gaul had been touched and quickened with the reform of the second Benedict in the ninth century, some old things would have been condemned and rejected there, which might still enjoy credit with the old-fashioned clergy of Wessex.
Of apocryphal materials in Anglo-Saxon literature there are several varieties. First, there is the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus. This is from a Latin version of the Greek "Acts of Pilate," and it is our earliest extant source for that prolific subject, the Harrowing of Hell. The Greek text laid claim to a Hebrew original:—
—her onginnath tha gedonan thing the be urum Hlende gedone wron . eall swa Theodosius se mra casere hyt funde on Hierusalem on ths Pontiscan Pilates domerne . eall swa hyt Nychodemus awrat . eall mid Ebreiscum stafum on manegum bocum thus awriten:
—here begin the actual things that were done in connexion with our Saviour, just as Theodosius the illustrious emperor found it in Jerusalem in Pontius Pilate's court-house; according as Nicodemus wrote it down all with Hebrew writing on many leaves as follows.
The "Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn" belong to a legendary stock that has sent its branches into all the early vernacular literatures of Europe. The germ is found in the Bible and in Josephus. In 1 Kings x. 1, we read that, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove him with hard questions. Josephus, in the "Jewish Antiquities," vii. 5, tells a curious story about hard questions passing between Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre. From such a root appear to have grown the multiform legends in various languages which passed under such names as the "Controversy of Solomon," the "Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn," or of "Solomon and Marculfus." This became at length a mocking form of literature; often a burlesque and parody of religion. Mr. Kemble traces these legends to Jewish tradition; but of all the examples preserved he says "the Anglo-Saxon are undoubtedly the oldest.... With the sole exception of one French version, they are the only forms of the story remaining in which the subject is seriously and earnestly treated; and, monstrous as the absurdities found in them are, we may be well assured that the authors were quite unconscious of their existence."[120] There are, however, some places in which one is moved to doubt whether the extravagance is the product of pure simplicity, and without the least tinge of drollery.
But the reader may judge for himself. The fragments preserved are partly poetical and partly in prose: the poetry is rather insipid; our quotation shall be from the prose. The subject is the praise and eulogy of the Lord's Prayer, which is personified and anatomised. Saturnus asks, "What manner of head hath the Pater Noster?" And, again, "What manner of heart hath the Pater Noster?" We quote from the answer to the latter question:—
Salomon cwth. His heorte is xii thusendum sitha beohtre thonne ealle thas seofon heofenas the us sindon ofergesette, theah the hi syn ealle mid thy domiscan fyre onled, and theah the eal theos eorthe him neothan togegnes birne, and heo hbbe fyrene tungan, and gyldenne hracan, and leohtne muth inneweardne ... ... he is rethra and scearpra thonne eal middangeard, theah he sy binnan his feower hwommum fulgedrifen wildeora, and anra gehwylc deor hbbe synderlice xii hornas irene, and anra gehwylc horn hbbe xii tindas irene, and anra gehwylc tind hbbe synderlice xii ordas, and anra gehwylc ord sy xii thusendum sitha scearpra thonne seo an flan the sy fram hundtwelftigum hyrdenna geondhyrded . And theah the seofon middangeardas syn ealle on efn abrdde on thisses anes onlicnesse, and thr sy eal gesomnod thtte heofon oththe hel oththe eorthe fre acende, ne magon by tha lifes linan on middan ymb fthmian. And se Pater Noster he mg anna ealla gesceafta on his thre swithran hand on anes wxpples onlienesse geth{^y}n and gewringan. And his gethoht he is springdra and swiftra thonne xii thusendu haligra gasta, theah the anra gehwylc gast hbbe synderlice xii fetherhoman, and anra gehwylc fetherhoma hbbe xii windas, and aura gehwylc wind twelf sigefstnissa synderlice.—Kemble, pp. 148-152.
Solomon said: His heart is 12,000 times brighter than all the seven heavens that over us are set, though they should be all aflame with the doomsday fire, and though all this earth should blaze up towards them from beneath, and it should have a fiery tongue, and golden throat, and mouth lighted up within ... ... he is fiercer and sharper than all the world, though within its four corners it should be driven full of wild deer, and each particular deer have severally twelve horns of iron, and each particular horn have twelve tines of iron, and each particular tine have severally twelve points, and each particular point be 12,000 times sharper than the arrow which had been hardened by 120 hardeners. And though the seven worlds should be all fairly spread out after the fashion of this one, and everything should be there assembled that heaven or hell or earth ever engendered, they may not encircle the girth of his body at the middle. And the Pater Noster, he can by himself in his right hand grasp and squeeze all creation like a wax-apple. And his thought it is more alert and swifter than 12,00 angelic spirits, though each particular spirit have severally twelve suits of feathers, and each particular feather-suit have twelve winds, and each particular wind twelve victoriousnesses all to itself.
I do not undertake to assert that this piece is as old as the first half of the tenth century; it is placed here only because this seems to be the most natural place for the group of literature to which it belongs. As I said, the reader must judge for himself whether this is perfectly serious. I believe that these "Dialogues" are the only part of Anglo-Saxon literature that can be suspected of mockery. The earliest laughter of English literature is ridicule; and if this ridicule seems to touch things sacred, it will, on the whole, I think, be found that not the sacred things themselves, but some unreal or spurious use of them, is really attacked. So here, if there is any appearance of a sly derision, the thing derided is not the Pater Noster, but the vain and magical uses which were too often ascribed to the repetition of it.
Here we must find a place for the translation of "Apollonius of Tyre." This has all the features of a Greek romance, but it is only known to exist in a Latin text, so that it has been questioned whether this Latin romance is a translation from a Greek original, or a story originally Latin in imitation of the Greek romancists. With those who have investigated the subject, the hypothesis of translation is most in favour, and for the following reason. The story presents an appearance of double stratification, such as might naturally result if a heathen Greek romance had been translated into Latin by a Christian. Although the phenomenon could be equally explained by supposing a Latin heathen original which had been re-written by a Christian editor, yet the former is the more natural and the more probable hypothesis.[121]
We now come to the Blickling Homilies, a recently-published book of great importance. It is not a homogeneous work, but a motley collection of sermons of various age and quality. Some of the later sermons are not so very different from those of lfric; but these are not the ones that give the book its character. The older sort have very distinct characteristics of their own, and they furnish a deep background to the Homilies of lfric. They are plainly of the age before the great Church reform of the tenth century, when the line was very dimly drawn between canonical and uncanonical, and when quotations, legends, and arguments were admissible which now surprise us in a sermon. Indeed, one can hardly escape the surmise that the elder discourses may come down from some time, and perhaps rather an early time, in the ninth century. One of the sermons bears the date of 971 imbedded in its context; and this, which is probably the lowest date of the book, is twenty years before the Homilies of lfric appeared. Speaking of that frequent topic of the time, the end of the world, which is to take place in the Sixth Age, the preacher says:—
—and thisse is thonne se msta dl agangen, efne nigon hund wintra and lxxi. on thys geare.—P. 119.
—and of this is verily the most part already gone, even nine hundred years and seventy-one, in this year.
Perhaps there is no book which has been published in the present generation that has done so much for the historical knowledge of Anglo-Saxon literature. Speaking generally, we may say that it represents the preaching of the times before lfric; that it contains the sort of preaching that lfric sat under in his youth (when not at Abingdon or Winchester); the sort of preaching, too, that lfric set himself to correct and to supersede. It is a book whose value turns not so much upon its own direct communications, as on the light it throws all around it, showing up the popular standards of the time, and enabling us to recognise the true setting of many a waif and stray of the old literature. But it is upon the work of lfric that it sheds the most valuable light. There is in lfric's Homilies a certain corrective aim, which was but faintly seen before, and when seen could not be distinctly explained; but now we have both the aim and the occasion of it rendered comparatively clear.
These Homilies supply to those of lfric their true historical introduction. They support the reasons which lfric assigns for producing homilies. In his preface he speaks of certain English books to which he designs his sermons as an antidote. He had translated his discourses (he says) out of the Latin, not for pride of learning, "but because I had seen much heresy (gedwild) in many English books, which unlearned men in their simplicity thought mighty wise." Not only do the Blickling Homilies contain enough of unscriptural and apocryphal material to justify the charge of "gedwild" in its vaguer sense of error, but we have also documentary grounds for believing that a careful theologian of that time, such as lfric undoubtedly was, would have brought them under the indictment of heresy.
It used to be thought that the oldest extant list of condemned books proceeded from Pope Gelasius, and was of about A.D. 494; but now that list is assigned to the eighth or even ninth century. In this Index we find sources for much of the literature which we have been considering in this chapter; we find the "Acts of Pilate," "Journeys of the Apostles," "Acts of Peter," "Acts of Andrew the Apostle," "The Contradiction of Solomon," "The Book Physiologus."[122] The material which gives the Blickling collection its peculiar character is largely apocryphal, and, in the light of the above list, heretical.
A new vitality is imparted to lfric's sermons by their contrast with these older ones. It is plain that there is a common source behind both sets of sermons; the well-established series of topics for each occasion seems clearly to point to some standard collection of Latin homilies now lost.[123] The evident identity of the lines on which the discourses run makes comparison the easier and the more satisfactory. In the sermon for Ascension Day, lfric's treatment is in pointed contrast with the older book. The Blickling is full of the signs and wonders; some, indeed, Scriptural, but far more apocryphal; and it is effusive over these. Whereas lfric teaches that the visible miracles belonged to the infancy of the Church, and were as artificial watering to a newly-planted tree; but, when the heathen believed, then those miracles ceased. Now (he says) we must look rather for spiritual miracles. The Homily on St. John Baptist is a good example. According to the old book, John is called "angelus," because he lived on earth the angelic life, but lfric takes it as messenger, and this may hint the difference of treatment. In the same discourse there is a contrast which touches the chronology. The old Homily says that there are only two Nativities kept sacred by the Church—that of the Lord and that of His forerunner. lfric takes up this topic with a difference. He says that there are three Nativities, which are celebrated annually, adding that of the Blessed Virgin to the previous two. Now, it was precisely in the tenth century that this third began to be observed in the churches of the West;[124] and the change took place in the interval that separates these two sets of homilies.
On the Assumptio St. Mari, the elder homily is a jumble of apocryphal legend. Here lfric presents a contrast, and manifestly an intentional one. In the preamble he recalls certain teaching of Jerome, "through which he quashed the misguided narrative which half-taught men had told about her departure." Then, after an exposition of the Gospel for the day, he returns to the Assumption in a passage which, when read in the light of the elder Homily, is very pointed:—"What shall we say to you more particularly about this festival, except that Mary was on this day taken up to heaven from this weary world, to dwell with Him, where she rejoices in eternal life for evermore? If we should say more to you about this day's festival than we read in those holy books which were given by God's inspiration, we should be like those mountebanks who, from their own imaginations or from dreams, have written many false stories; but the faithful teachers, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, and other such, have in their wisdom rejected them. But still these absurd books exist, both in Latin and in English, and misguided men read them. It is enough for believers to read and to relate that which is true; and there are very few men who can completely study all the holy books that were indited by God's Holy Spirit. Let alone those absurd fictions, which lead the unwary to perdition, and read or listen to Holy Scripture, which directs us to heaven."
The Homilies of lfric are in two series, of which the first was published in 990, and addressed to Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury; the second in 991, after that Danish invasion in which Byrhtnoth fell. These were long ago published by the lfric Society. But there is another set, appropriated to the commemoration of saints, after the manner of the Benedictine hagiographies.[125] These have a Latin preface, pointedly agreeing with the prefaces to the previous series. If their miraculous narratives sometimes contain what we should not have expected from lfric, and if this leads us to doubt the authorship, we may reflect that the contrast is not so great as that between the "Cura Pastoralis" and the "Dialogues" of Gregory.
As a slight specimen of the character of these latter discourses, I will give a few lines from that on St. Swithun:—
Eadgar cyning tha fter thysum tacnum . wolde tht se halga wer wurde up gedon . and sprc hit to Athelwolde tham arwurthan bisceope . tht he hine upp adyde mid arwurthnysse . Tha se bisceop Athelwold mid abbodum and munecum dyde up thone sanct mid sange wurthlice . and bron into cyrcan sce Petres huse . thr he stent mid wurthmynte . and wundra gefremath.
King Eadgar then, after these tokens, willed that the holy man should be translated, and spake it to Athelwold, the venerable bishop, that he should translate him with honourable solemnity. Then the bishop Athelwold, with abbots and monks, raised the saint with song solemnly. And they bare him into the church St. Peter's house, where he stands in honoured memory, and worketh wonders.
* * * * *
Seo ealde cyrce ws eall be hangen mid criccum . and mid cropera sceamelum fram nde oth otherne . on gtherum wge . the thr wurdon ge hlede . and man ne mihte swa theah macian hi healfe up.
The old church was all hung round with crutches and with stools from one end to the other, on either wall, of cripples who there had been healed: and yet they had not been able to put half of them up.
lfric's place in literature consists in this:—That he is the voice of that great Church reform which is the most signal fact in the history of the latter half of the tenth century. Of this reform, the first step was the restoration of the rule of Benedict in the religious houses. The great movement had begun in Gaul early in the ninth century, and its extension to our island could hardly be delayed when peaceful times left room for attention to learning and religion. Both in Frankland and in England the religious revival followed the literary one; only there it followed quickly, and here after a long interval.[126]
The chief author of this revival was Odo (died 961), and the chief conductors of it were thelwold, Dunstan, Oswald. The leaders of this movement were much in communication with the Frankish monasteries, especially with the famous house at Fleury on the Loire. Various kinds of literature were cherished, but that which is most peculiar to this time is the biographies of Saints. Lanferth, a disciple of thelwold, wrote Latin hagiographies, and from his Latin was derived the extant homily of the miracles of St. Swithun. Wulstan, a monk of Winchester and a disciple of thelwold, was a Latin poet, and wrote hagiography in verse; among the rest, he versified the work of Lanferth on St. Swithun.
lfric was an alumnus of thelwold at Winchester, and perhaps at Abingdon earlier; from Winchester he was sent to Cernel (Cerne Abbas in Dorsetshire), to be the pastor of thelweard's house and people, and there he wrought at his homilies. The highest title that we find associated with his name is that of abbot; and this probably is in relation to Egonesham (Eynsham, Oxon), where thelweard founded a religious house, and lfric superintended it. In thelweard the ealdorman we have our first example of a great lay patron of literature: much of lfric's work was undertaken at the instance of thelweard.
It was at his request that he engaged in the translation of the Old Testament, and when he had done the Pentateuch (with frequent omissions), and some parts of Joshua and Judges,[127] he ceased, and declared he would translate no more, having a misgiving lest the narration of many things unlike Christian morality might confuse the judgment of the simple. This is the earliest recorded instance of a devout Christian withholding Scripture from the people for their good. And, when we take it in conjunction with the authorised diffusion of the Benedictine hagiographies of the time, we see what was approved placed by the side of that which was mistrusted.
The so-called "Canons of lfric" are a mixed composition, in which some matters of historical and doctrinal instruction are united with directions and regulations and exhortations for correcting the practices of the ignorant priests. They were compiled by lfric, at the request of Wulfsige, Bishop of Sherborne (A.D. 992-1001), for the benefit of his clergy. The reformation of the monasteries had already made considerable progress, and this seems like an extension of the same movement to embrace the secular clergy. Among the divers matters touched in the Articles are these:—The relative authority of the councils; the first four are to be had in reverence like the four gospels (Tha feower sinothas sind to healdenne swa swa tha feower Cristes bec)—the vestments, the books, and the garb of the priest; the seven orders of the Christian ministry; some points of priestly duty as regards marriages and funerals; of Baptism and the Eucharist, with rebuke of superstitious practices; the priest to speak the sense of the Gospel to the people in English on Sundays and high days, as also of the Lord's Prayer and the Creed; but, withal, the immediate practical aim of the whole seems, above all things, to be the celibacy of the clergy.[128]
lfric was the author of the most important educational books of this time that have come down to us—namely, his "Latin Grammar," in English, formed after Donatus and Priscian; his "Glossary of Latin Words"; and his "Colloquium," or conversation in Latin, with interlinear Saxon.[129]
But for us, as for the men of the sixteenth century, the most important of lfric's works are his Homilies. The English of these Homilies is splendid; indeed, we may confidently say that here English appears fully qualified to be the medium of the highest learning. And their interest has been greatly enhanced of late years by two important additions to our printed Anglo-Saxon library. The first of these was the "Blickling Homilies," edited by Dr. Morris, which threw a new light upon lfric, and added greatly to the significance of his Homilies.
The circuit of Anglo-Saxon homiletic literature has again been greatly enlarged by a more recent publication, namely, that of the "Homilies of Wulfstan."[130] These homilies are quite distinct in character from all the preceding. There is nothing of controversy, and little in the shape of argument: simply the assertion of Christian dogma and the enforcement of Christian duty. The one topic that lies beyond these was more practical, in the view of that day, than it is in our view—I mean the repeated introduction of Antichrist and the near approach of the end of the world. In the quotation the and (for th) are kept, as in Mr. Napier's text.
Uton beon urum hlaforde holde and getreowe and fre eallum mihtum his wurscipe rran and his willan wyrcan, foram eall, et we fre for rihthlafordhelde do, eal we hit do us sylfum to mycelre earfe, foram am bi witodlice God hold, e bi his hlaforde rihtlice hold; and eac ah hlaforda gehwylc s for micle earfe, t he his men rihtlice healde. And we bidda and beoda, t Godes eowas, e for urne cynehlaford and for eal cristen folc ingian scylan and be godra manna lmessan libba, t hy s georne earnian, libban heora lif swa swa bec him wisian, and swa swa heora ealdras hym tcan, and began heora eowdom georne, onne mgon hy ger ge hym sylfum wel fremian ge eallum cristenum folce . and we bidda and beoda, t lc cild sy binnan rittigum nihtum gefullad; gif hit onne dead weore butan fulluhte, and hit on preoste gelang sy, onne olige he his hdes and ddbete georne; gif hit onne urh mga gemeleaste gewyre, onne olige se, e hit on gelang sy, lcere eardwununge and wrcnige of earde oon on earde swie deope gebete, swa biscop him tce . eac we lra, t man nig ne lte unbiscpod to lange, and witan a, e cildes onfn, t heo hit on rihtan geleafan gebringan and on gdan eawan and on earflican ddan and for on hit wisian to am e Gode licige and his sylfes earf sy; onne beo heo rihtlice ealswa hy genamode beo, godfderas, gif by heora godbearn Gode gestryna.
Homily xxiv.
Let us be always loyal and true to our Lord, and ever by all means maintain his worship and work his will, because all that ever we do out of sincere loyalty, we do it all for our own great advantage, inasmuch as God will assuredly be gracious to the man who is perfectly loyal to his lord; and likewise it is the bounden duty of every lord, that he his men honourably sustain. And we entreat and command, that God's ministers, who most intercede for our royal lord, and for all Christian folk, and who live by good men's alms, that they accordingly give diligent attention to live their life as the bookes guide them, and so as their superiors direct them, and to discharge their service heartily; then may they do much good both to themselves and to all Christian people. And we entreat and command that every child be baptised within thirty days; if, however, it should die without baptism and it be along of the priest, then let him suffer the loss of his order and do careful penance; if, however, it happen through the relatives' neglect, then let him who was in fault suffer the loss of every habitation, and be ejected from his dwelling, or else in his dwelling undergo very severe penance, as the bishop may direct him. Also we instruct you, that none be left unbishopped too long; and they who are sponsors for a child are to see that they bring it up in right belief, and in good manners and in dutiful conduct, and always continually guide it to that which may be pleasing to God and for his own good; then will they verily be as they are called, "godfathers," if they train their god-children for God.
Hitherto Wulfstan has been represented in print by one sermon only, the most remarkable, indeed, of all his discourses—being an address to the English when the Danish ravages were at their worst, A.D. 1012, the year in which lfheah, Archbishop of Canterbury, was martyred. In this discourse the miseries of the time are ascribed to the vengeance of God for national sins; and the coming of Antichrist is said to be near. Wulfstan was Archbishop of York from 1003 to 1023. Beautiful and valuable as his sermons are in themselves, their value is greatly increased by their connexion with the preceding series, and by the continuity they give to this branch of our old literature. With the "Blickling Homilies," in all their variety, and those of lfric, and those of Wulfstan, in our possession, it is hardly too much to say that we have a vernacular series of sermons that fairly represents the Anglo-Saxon preaching for a period of one hundred and fifty years.
FOOTNOTES:
[118] The Anglo-Saxon Version of the Holy Gospels, ed. Thorpe, 1842.
[119] Edited by Thorpe from the eleventh-century manuscript at Paris; Oxford, 1835. This contains Psalms li.-cl. in poetry; the first fifty are in prose. Dietrich (in Haupt's "Zeitschrift") pointed out that the prose was eleventh-century work, but the poetical version was much older. He surmised that the prose translation had been made for the purpose of giving completeness to a mutilated book, and that the whole Psalter had once existed in Anglo-Saxon verse. Since then some fragments of the missing psalms have been found. See Grein, "Bibliothek der Angelschs. Poesie," vol. ii., p. 412.
[120] "The Dialogue of Solomon and Saturnus, with an Historical Introduction." By John M. Kemble, M.A. lfric Society, 1848, p. 2. See Dean Stanley, "Jewish Church," ii. 170.
[121] Rohde, "Der Griechische Roman," p. 408.
[122] The list may be seen in the "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities" v. Prohibited Books.
[123] The series that goes by the name of Eusebius of Emesa has much general similarity to the required collection.
[124] "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," vol. ii., p. 1143.
[125] This third set of Homilies is now for the first time in course of publication by the Early English Text Society, under the editorship of Professor Skeat.
[126] In like manner the literary revival of the fifteenth century was followed by the religious revival of the sixteenth.
[127] "Heptateuchus," ed. Thwaites, 1698: reprinted by Grein.
[128] "A Collection of all the Ecclesiastical Laws, Canons, &c., &c., of the Church of England, from its First Foundation to the Conquest, that have hitherto been published in the Latin and Saxonic Tongues. And of all the Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical, made Since the Conquest and Before the Reformation ... now first translated into English ... by John Johnson, M.A., London, 1720." A New Edition, by John Baron, of Queen's College (now Dr. Baron, Rector of Upton Scudamore), Oxford, John Henry Parker, 1850. In two volumes, 8vo. Vol. i., p. 388.
[129] See above, p. 40. The "Colloquium" is printed in Thorpe's "Analecta."
[130] Wulfstan, "Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien nebst Untersuchungen ber ihre Echtheit: Herausgegeben von Arthur Napier. Erste Abtheilung: Text und Varianten. Berlin 1883."
CHAPTER XI.
THE SECONDARY POETRY.
How still the legendary lay O'er poet's bosom holds its sway.
MARMION.
Between the Primary and the Secondary Poetry we must acknowledge a wide borderland of transition. Some poetical works lying in this interval we have already found occasion to notice, and have given them such space as we could afford. We have spoken of the Cdmon, and of the poetical Psalter; and with these I must group the "Judith," a noble fragment, which is found in the Cotton Library in the same manuscript volume with the Beowulf. This fragment preserves 350 long lines at the close of a poem which appears—by the numbering of the Cantos—to have been of about four times that length. This remnant contains what would naturally have been the most vigorous and stirring parts of the poem: the riotous drinking of Holofernes, the trenchant act of Judith, her return with her maid to Bethulia, their enthusiastic reception, the muster for battle, the anticipation of carnage by the birds and beasts of prey, the destruction of the invading host.
The poetry which is distinctly Secondary is contained—the best specimens of it—in two famous books, that of Exeter, and that of Vercelli; and in both of these books it is largely connected with the name of a single poet, Cynewulf. Here is at once an indication of the secondary poetry; not merely that we have a poet's name, for we also entitle poems by Cdmon's name; but that the poet himself supplies us with his name, and has left it—vailed and enigmatic—for posterity to decipher.
Curiously and fancifully did Cynewulf interweave into the lines of his verse the Runes which spelt his name; and it needed the skill of Kemble to explain it to us. There are three of the extant poems in which he has thus left his mark, namely two in the Exeter book and one in the Vercelli book. In two cases out of the three this ingenious contrivance is at the close of the poem. In the Vercelli book it occurs in the Elene, the last of the poems in the manuscript, and Mr. Kemble remarked that it was "apparently intended as a tail-piece to the whole book."[131] This naturally suggests the inference, which indeed is generally accepted, that all the poems in the Vercelli book are by Cynewulf.
But when a like inference is drawn for the Exeter book, inasmuch as the same Runic device is there found in two pieces, that therefore the book is simply a volume of Cynewulf's poems, there seems less reason to acquiesce. That a large part of the book is Cynewulf's poetry will be generally thought probable. The first thirty-two leaves of the manuscript, which correspond to the first 103 pages in Thorpe's edition, contain a series of pieces which are really parts of one whole, as was shown by Professor Dietrich, of Marburg;[132] and, as one of these connected pieces has Cynewulf's Runic mark, it seems to follow that the whole "Christian Epic" is by him. Again in the middle of the volume from the 65th to the 75th leaf there is the poem of St. Juliana with the Runes of Cynewulf's name at its close, and this is therefore undoubtedly his. This brings us to Mr. Thorpe's 286th page. The four pieces which lie between the above, more especially two of them, St. Guthlac and the Phoenix, may well be his. But from the close of St. Juliana (Thorpe, p. 286) the pieces become shorter and more miscellaneous, exhibiting greater diversity both of subject and of quality, being altogether such as to suggest that they have been collected from various sources and are of different ages. So that on this view the volume might be interpreted as containing (1) Poems by Cynewulf; and (2) a miscellaneous collection. Thus Cynewulf's part would close with "St. Juliana," which ends with the Runic device, like the Elene closing his poems in the Vercelli book.[133] About the person of this poet nothing is known, beyond what the poems themselves may seem to convey. His date has been variously estimated from the 8th to the 11th century. The latter is the more probable. If we look at his matter, we observe its great affinity with the hagiology of the tenth century, the high pitch at which the poetry of the Holy Rood has arrived, and the expansion given to the subject of the Day of Judgment. If we consider his language and manner, we remark the facility and copious flow of his poetic diction, but with a something that suggests the retentive mind of the student; his cumulation of old heroic phraseology not unlike the romantic poetry of Scott, joined occasionally with a departure from old poetic usage which seems like a slip on the part of an accomplished imitator.[134] Occasionally he has a Latin word of novel introduction.
All these signs forbid an early date, but they agree well with Kemble's view of the time and person of Cynewulf. He proposed to identify our poet with that Kenulphus who in 982 became abbot of Peterborough, and in 1006 became (after lfheah) bishop of Winchester. To this prelate lfric dedicated his Life of St. thelwold, and he is praised by Hugo Candidus as a great emender of books, a famous teacher, to whom (as to another Solomon) men of all ranks and orders flocked for instruction, and whom the abbey regretted to lose when after fourteen years of his presidency he was carried off to the see of Winchester by violence rather than by election.[135]
The Canto in the "Christian Epic" in which the Cynewulf-Runes appear, is on the near approach of Domesday. This piece closes with a prolonged and detailed Simile, such as occurs only in the later poetry. Life is a perilous voyage, but there is a heavenly port and a heavenly pilot:—
Nu is thon gelicost swa we on laguflode ofor cald wter ceolum lithan geond sidne s sund hengestum flod wudu fergen.
Now it is likest to that as if on liquid flood over cold water in keels we navigated through the vast sea with ocean-horses ferried the floating wood.
Is tht frecne stream ytha ofermta the we her onlacath geond thas wacan woruld windge holmas ofer deop gelad.
A frightful surge it is of waves immense that here we toss upon through this uncertain world— windy quarters over a deep passage.
Ws se drohtath strong r thon we to londe geliden hfdon ofer hreone hrycg— tha us help bicwom tht us to hlo hythe geldde Godes gst sunu:
It was discipline strong ere we to the land had sailed (if at all) o'er the rough swell— when help to us came, so that us into safety portwards did guide God's heavenly Son:
And us giefe sealde tht we oncnawan magun ofer ceoles bord hwr we slan sceolon sund hengestas ealde yth mearas ancrum fste.
And he gave us the gift that we may espy from aboard o' the ship, place where we shall bind the steeds of the sea, old amblers of water, with anchors fast.
Utan us to thre hythe hyht stathelian tha us gerymde rodera waldend halge on heahthum the he heofnum astag.
Let us in that port our confidence plant, which for us laid open the Lord of the skies, (holy port in the heights) when he went up to heaven.
The grandest of the allegorical pieces is that on the Phoenix. Of the pedigree of the fable we have already spoken; as also of the Latin poem which the Anglo-Saxon poet followed. It is rather an adaptation than a translation, and it has a second part in which the allegory is explained. At the close there is a playful alternation of Latin and Saxon half-lines, which does not at all lessen the probability that the poet may have been the ingenious Cynewulf.
Hafa us alysed lucis auctor, t we motun her merueri, god ddum begietan gaudia in celo, r we motun maxima regna secan, and gesittan sedibus altis, lifgan in lisse lucis et pacis, agan eardinga alma letiti, brucan bld daga;— blandem et mitem geseon sigora frean sine fine, and him lof singan laude perenne, eadge mid englum alleluia.
Us hath a-loosed the author of light, that we may here worthily merit, with good deeds obtain delights in the sky, where we may be able magnificent realms to seek, and to sit in heavenly seats, live in fruition of light and of peace, have habitations happy and glad, brook genial days:— gentle and kind see Victory's Prince for ever and ever, and praise to him sing, perennial praise, happy angels among Alleluia!
Of the other allegorical pieces the Whale was derived from the book Physiologus, and probably the Panther also. The whale is used as a similitude of delusive security. The story reappears in the Arabian Nights, where it is the chief incident in the first voyage of Sindbad. The monster lies on the sea like an island, and deludes the unsuspecting mariner.
Is s hiw gelic hreofum stane, swylce worie bi wdes ofre sond beorgum ymbseald s ryrica mst,[136] swa t wena wg liende, t hy on ealond sum eagum wliten; and onne gehyda heah stefn scipu to am nlonde oncyr rapum; setla s mearas sundes t ende.[137]
In look it is like to a stony land, with the eddying whirl of the waves on the bank, with sandheaps surrounded a mighty sea-reef; so they wearily ween who ride on the wave, that some island it is they see with their eyes; and so they do fasten the high figure-heads to a land that no land is with anchor belayed; sea-horses they settle no farther to sail.
When they have lighted their fires, and are getting comfortable, then all goes down. This is an apologue of misplaced confidence in things earthly.
But the great and absorbing subject of poetry in this age is Hagiography. We still see the old discredited apocryphal literature in occasional use, but it retires before the more approved medium of popular edification, the Lives and Miracles of the Saints. These offer material very apt for poetical treatment. Even the Homilies, when on the lives of Saints, are often clothed in the poetic garb.
In the Exeter book there are two of this class of poems; St. Guthlac and St. Juliana. In St. Juliana, a characteristic passage is that in which the tempter visits her in the guise of an angel of light, advising her to yield and to sacrifice to the gods. At her prayer, the fiend is reduced to his own shape, reminding us of a famous passage in Milton. St. Guthlac is distressed by fiends, and among the trials to which he is exposed, one is this, that he sees in vision the evil life of a disorderly monastery. When he has endured his trials, and he returns to his chosen retreat, the welcome of the birds is very charming.
But the greatest pieces of this sort are the two in the Vercelli book; the Andreas and the Elene.
In the Andreas we have an ancient legend which is now known only in Greek, but which no doubt lay before the Anglo-Saxon poet in a Latin version. In this story Matthew is imprisoned in Mirmedonia, and he is encouraged by the hope that Andrew shall come to his aid. Andrew is wonderfully conveyed to Mirmedonia, where he arrives at a time of famine, and he finds the people casting lots who shall be slain for the others' food. On the intervention of Andrew the devil comes on the scene and suggests that he is the cause of their troubles. Then follows a long series of tortures to which the saint is subjected. When his endurance has been put to extreme proof, the word of deliverance comes to him and he puts forth miraculous power. He calls for a flood, and it comes and sweeps the cruel persecutors away. But the whole ends in a general conversion, and the drowned are restored to life. He is escorted to his ship and has a happy voyage back to Achaia like the return of any hero crowned with success. Here we are reminded of the return of Beowulf; and widely different as the two poems are, they have not only points of similarity but also a certain likeness of type. There is, however, this great dissimilarity, that in the Andreas the poet stops to speak of himself and of his inadequate performance, but still he will give us a little more. The most novel and extraordinary part is the voyage of Andrew to Mirmedonia. The ship-master is a Divine person, and the instructive conversation which the saint addresses to him, is exceedingly well managed, for while it verges on the humorous, it is perfectly reverent; a strong contrast with the free use of such situations in the later medival drama. Another feature which calls for notice is the sarcasm with which the drowning people are told there is plenty of drink for them now.
The "Elene" opens with the outbreak of barbarian war, and Constantine in camp on the Danube, frightened at the multitude of the Huns. In a dream of the night he sees an angel who shows him the Cross, and tells him that with this "beacon" he shall overcome the foe. II. Comforted by his dream, he had a cross made like that of the vision, and under this ensign he was victorious. Then he assembles his wise men to inquire of them who the god was that this sign belonged to? No one knew, until some christened folk, who (according to this poet) were then very few, gave the required information. Constantine is baptised by Silvester. III. Zealous to recover the true Cross, he sends his mother, Elene, with a great equipment to Judea. IV. She proclaims an assembly, and 3,000 come together, and she requires of them to choose those who can answer whatever questions she may ask. V. They select 500 for that purpose. When they are come to the queen, she addresses a chiding speech to them about their blindness in rejecting Him who came according to prophecy; but she does not reveal her aim. Afterwards, the Jews in consternation discuss among themselves what the imperial lady can mean. At length one Judas divines that she wants the Cross which is hidden, and which it is of the greatest consequence to keep from discovery; for his grandfather Zacheus, when a-dying, told his son, the speaker's father, that whenever that Cross was found the power of the Jews would end. VI. The speaker further said that his father told him the history of the Saviour's life, and how his son Stephen had believed in him and had been stoned. The speaker was a boy when his father told him this, and seems to have thus learnt about his brother Stephen for the first time.[138] VII. When they are summoned into the imperial presence they all profess to know nothing about the subject of her inquiry, they had never heard of such a thing before! She threatens. Then they select Judas as a wise man who knows more than the rest, and they leave him as a hostage. VIII. The queen will know where the Rood is. Judas pleads that it all happened so long ago that he knows nothing about it. She says it was not so long ago as the Trojan war, and yet people know about that. When he persists, she orders him to be imprisoned and kept without food. He endures for six days, but on the seventh he yields. IX. Released from prison he leads the way to Calvary. He utters a fervent supplication in Hebrew, in which he pleads that He who in the famous times of old revealed to Moses the bones of Joseph would make known by a sign the place of the Rood, vowing to believe in Christ if his prayer is granted. X. A steam rises from the ground. There they dig, and at a depth of twenty feet three crosses are found. Which is the holy Rood? A dead man is carried by; Judas brings the corpse in contact with the crosses one after another, and the touch of the third restores life. XI. Satan laments that he has suffered a new defeat, which is all the harder as the agent is "Judas," a name so friendly to him before! He threatens a persecuting king who shall make the newly-converted man renounce his faith. Judas returns a spirited answer, and Helena rejoices to hear the new convert rise superior to the Wicked one. XII. The report spreads, to the joy of Christians and the confusion of the Jews. The queen sends an embassy to the emperor at Rome with the happy tidings. The greatest curiosity was displayed in the cities on their road. Constantine, in his exaltation, sent them quickly back to Helena with instructions to build a church in their united names on the sacred spot of the discovery. The queen gathered from every side the most highly-skilled builders for the church; and she caused the holy Rood to be studded with gold and jewels, and then firmly secured in a chest of silver:—
Tha seo cwen bebed crftum get{^y}de sundor secean tha selestan tha the wrtlicost wyrcan cuthon stn-gefgum on tham stede-wange girwan Godes tempel swa hire gasta weard rerd of roderum . Heo tha rde heht golde beweorcean and gimcynnum mid tham thelestum eorcnanstnum besettan searocrftum; and tha in seolfren ft locum belcan . Thr tht lifes tre slest sigebema siththan wunode thelu anbroce .
Then the queen bade of craftsmen deft at large to seek the skilfullest, the most curious and cunning to work structures of stone;— upon that chosen site God's temple to grace as the Guarder of souls gave her rede from on high. She the Rood hight with gold to inlay and the glory of gems, with the most prized of precious stones to set with high art;— and in a silver chest secure enlock:— so there the Tree of life dearest of trophies thenceforward dwelt; fabric of honour.
XIII. Helena sends for Eusebius, "bishop of Rome," and he, at her bidding, makes Judas bishop in Jerusalem, and changes his name to Cyriacus. Then she inquires after the nails of the crucifixion, and, at the prayer of Cyriacus, their hiding-place is revealed. When the nails were brought to the queen she wept aloud, and the fountain of her tears flowed over her cheeks and down upon the jewels of her apparel. XIV. She seeks guidance by oracle as to the disposal of the nails. She is directed to make of them rings for the bridle of the chief of earthly kings. He who rides to war with such a bridle should be invincible; and a prophecy to that effect is quoted! Helena obeys, and sends the bridle over sea to Constantine,—"no contemptible gift!" Helena assembles the chief men of the Jews, bids them submit to Cyriacus, and keep up the anniversary of the Finding of the Cross. Finally, for those who keep the day is proclaimed a benediction so unmeasured and profuse as to leave behind it an air in which the solemn evaporates in the histrionic.
Here more than in any other piece of Anglo-Saxon poetry we feel near the medival drama. Almost every canto is like a scene; and little adaptation would be required to put it upon the stage. The narrative at the beginning is like a prologue, and then after the close of the piece we have an epilogue, in which the author speaks about himself, and weaves his name with Runes into the verses in the manner already described.
The briefest fragment in the Vercelli book is about False Friendship; and it contains a long-drawn simile in which the bee is rather hardly treated.
Anlice beo swa a beon bera buton tsomne; arlicne anleofan and tterne tgel habba on hindan; hunig on mue wynsume wist: hwilum wundia sare mid swice onne se sl cyme. Swa beo gelice a leasan men, a e mid tungan treowa gehata fgerum wordum, facenlice enca; onne hie t nehstan nearwe beswica: habba on gehatum hunig smccas, smene sib cwide; and in siofan innan urh deofles crft dyrne wunde.
Likened they are to the bees who bear both at one time, food for a king's table, and venomous tail have in reserve; honey in mouth, delectable food: in due time they wound sorely and slyly when the season is come. Such are they like, the leasing men, those who with tongue give assurance of troth with fair-spoken words, false in their thought; then do they at length shrewdly betray: in profession they have the perfume of honey, smooth gossip so sweet; and in their souls purpose, with devilish craft, a stab in the dark.
The "Runic Poem"[139] is a string of epigrams on the characters of the Runic alphabet, beginning with F, U, , O, R, C, according to that primitive order, whence that alphabet was called the "Futhorc." Each of these characters has a name with a meaning, mostly of some well-known familiar thing, apt subject for epigram.
When learned men began to look at the Runes with an eye of erudite curiosity, they often ranged them in the A, B, C order of the Roman alphabet; hence it gives the Rune poem some air of antiquity that it runs in the old Futhorc order. And, indeed, some of the versicles may perhaps be ancient; that is, they may possibly date from a time when Runes were still in practical use. But certainly much of this chaplet of versicles must be regarded as late and dilettante work. The Rune names are not all clearly authentic; for example, "Eoh" is rather dubious; but the poet treats the name as meaning Yew, and gives us an interesting little epigram on the Yew-tree:—
EOH bith utan unsmethe treow heard hrusan fst hyrde fyres wyrtrumum underwrethed wynan on thle.
YEW is outwardly unpolished tree; hard and ground-fast, guardian of fire; with roots underwattled the home of the Want.[140]
The Riddles are mostly after Simphosius and Aldhelm;[141] but some are aboriginal. The form is mostly that of the epigram, only instead of having the name of the subject at the head of the piece as with epigrams, these little poems end with a question what the subject is. These Riddles are found in the Exeter book in three batches; Grein has drawn them all together, and made eighty-nine of them. That on the Book-Moth, of which the Latin has been given above, p. 88, is unriddled by the translator:—
Moe word fit; me t uhte wrtlicu wyrd a ic t wundor gefrgn; t se wyrm forswealg wera gied sumes eof in ystro rymfstne cwide and s strangan staol. Stlgiest ne ws wihte y gleawra e he am wordum swealg.
Moth words devoured; to me it seemed a weird event when I the wonder learnt; that the worm swallowed sentence of man (thief in the dark) document sure, binding and all. The burglar was never a whit the more wise for the words he had gulped.
Toward the end of the period, the poetic form becomes much diluted. The poetic diction wanes, so does the figured style and the parallel structure; and what remains is an alliterative rhythmical prose, which, from the nature of the subjects treated, appears to have been very taking for the ear of the people. Of this sort is the Lay of King Abgar, which Professor Stephens assigns to the reign of Cnut. The Abgar legend is in Eusebius (died 340) "History," i. 13. Abgar, king of Edessa, being sick, wrote a letter to the Saviour (it being the time of His earthly ministry) praying him to come and heal him, and adding, that if, as he hears, the Jews seek to persecute Him, his city of Edessa, though a little one, is stately, and sufficient for both.
... and ic wolde the biddan tht thu gemedemige the sylfne tht thu siige to me and mine untrumnysse gehle for than the ic eom yfele gahfd. Me is eac gesd tht tha Judeiscan syrwiath and runiath him betwynan hu hi the berdan magon, and ic hbbe ane burh, the unc bam genihtsumath.
... and I would thee pray, that thou condescend to come unto me, and my infirmity cure, for I am in evil case. To me is eke said that the Jews are plotting and rowning together how they may destroy thee; and I have a burgh large enough for us both.[142]
The impression which this secondary poetry leaves is, that the old ancestral form could no longer furnish an adequate poetry for the growing mind of the nation. In contrast with the expanding prose, it seems to shrink and fade before our eyes. Its only means of enlargement seems to be in forgetting its own traditions and assimilating itself to the prose. Moreover, we have traces of various tentative sallies; one poet trying rhymes,[143] another trying hexameters,[144] which reminds us of the efforts and essays of the unsatisfied poetic genius in the middle of the sixteenth century. The Benedictine revival had drawn off the interest from the old native themes of song to subjects less fitted for poetry, or with which the poetry of the time was not yet skilled to deal. The old poetry fitted the old heroic themes with which it had grown up; and now it throve better on apocryphal and legendary fables than on the verities of the faith which were rather beyond its strength. In the new zeal the old vein of poetry was lost or neglected, and its place was not yet appropriately filled.
For this want a provision was already making in the south. A fresh spirit of poetry had risen in the region where Roman and Arabic fancy met, and, after kindling France, was coming to England on the wings of the French language. With the new romances came new models of poetic form. A long struggle ensued between the native garb of English poetry and that of the French. Both lived together until the fourteenth century, when the victory of the French form was finally determined in Chaucer; and France set the fashion in poetry to England, as it did generally to modern Europe.
FOOTNOTES:
[131] In Wright's "Biographia Literaria," Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 502, seq., these three Runic passages are collected and translated. In Bosworth's "Anglo-Saxon Dictionary," ed. Toller, v. Cynewulf; the Runic passage is quoted from the Elene, and translated. This poet's Runic device affects us somewhat as when, at the end of a volume of Coleridge's poems, we come upon his epitaph, written by himself:—
"Stop, Christian passer-by!—Stop, child of God! And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod A poet lies, or that which once seem'd he— Oh, lift one thought in prayer for S.T.C.!"
[132] In Haupt's "Zeitschrift," ix.
[133] We have already seen in the chapter on the West Saxon laws, that a bookmaker of the Saxon period appended the laws of Ine to the laws of Alfred, as if he found it natural to treat the old material as an appendix to the new.—But there is also something on the other side. In the after part of the Exeter book there are three batches of riddles, and the first riddle of the first series (Thorpe, p. 380), is a charade upon the name of Cynewulf, as was shown by Heinrich Leo. This has naturally led to the surmise that Cynewulf has had more to do with the riddles than simply to preface them in his own honour.
[134] Thus:—"ofer ealne yrmenne grund." Juliana init.; and in the same poem we find "bealdor" used of a woman!
[135] All this is marred by William of Malmesbury, who represents him as having trafficked for this promotion, and as having been cut off before he had long enjoyed it. And yet the two pictures are not incompatible. The poetry sets before us a poet of the most splendid gifts, but I know nothing that indicates a superiority of character. Indeed, the comparison with Solomon suggests a moral type to which the known and supposed writings of Cynewulf aptly correspond.
[136] "Dorsum immane mari summo." neid i.
[137] Milton has set this to his own deep music:—
"Him haply slumb'ring on the Norway foam, The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff Deeming some island, oft, as seaman tell, With fixed anchor...."
[138] The reader will not stumble at a few historical inaccuracies in a narrative where a speaker in Helena's time is a brother of the protomartyr.
[139] Kemble, "Runes of the Anglo-Saxons," pp. 13-19. Grein, vol. ii., p. 351; and literary notice at p. 413.
[140] It may not be known to all readers, that this is an English word; and historically, perhaps, the best English name, for the mole (talpa). Along the Elbe it appears in a form nearer to that of the text: "Win worp oder Wind-worp, der Maulwurf." Bremisch-Niedersachsisches Wrterbuch.
[141] See Prof. Dietrich in Haupt's "Zeitschrift," xi.
[142] Prof. Stephens, "Tvende Olde-Engelske Digte," Kiobenhavn, 1853.
[143] "The Riming Poem," Cod. Exon. ed. Thorpe, p. 352.
[144] Stubbs, "St. Dunstan," Preface.
CHAPTER XII.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND AFTER THAT.
The first of these chapters took a brief survey of the literature that preceded and elevated the Anglo-Saxon literature: this concluding chapter must be still briefer in sketching the manner of its decline. It would be true to say that the Norman Conquest dealt a fatal blow to Anglo-Saxon literature; but it would also be true to say that the cultivation of Anglo-Saxon literature never came to an end at all. I will presently endeavour to reconcile this seeming contradiction; but first I have some little remainder to tell of the main narrative.
There are two small sets of writings which have not yet been described. These are the liturgical and scientific remains. Of liturgical, we have the "Benedictionale of elwold,"[145] and we have the so-called "Ritual of Durham," with its interlinear Northumbrian gloss. But the most famous book of this kind is that which is called "The Leofric Missal," because Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter (of Crediton, 1046-1050; of Exeter, 1050-1072) gave it to his cathedral. It is now in the Bodleian Library. "It is one of the only three surviving Missals known to have been used in the English Church during the Anglo-Saxon period," the other two being the Missal of Robert of Jumiges, Archbishop of Canterbury, now in Rouen Library, and the "Rede Boke of Darbye," in the Parker Library at Cambridge.[146]
It may seem almost idle to talk of the "scientific" remains of Anglo-Saxon times. For Science, in its grandest sense,—the recognition of constant order in nature and the reign of law,—had not yet dawned upon the world. Science, in this sense, dates only from the seventeenth century, and its patriarchal names are Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. But, nevertheless, the earlier and feebler efforts at the explanation of phenomena have a real and a lasting value for human history, and what they lack in scientific quality has somehow the effect of throwing them all the more into the arms of the literary historian.
There is, however, one small Anglo-Saxon writing which needs not this apology, and which may be considered as a real contribution even to science. I mean the Geography which King Alfred inserted into his translation of Orosius. All our other scientific relics are but compilation and translation in the primitive paths of Medicine, and Botany, and Astronomy.
We have some considerable lists of Anglo-Saxon Botany. The vernacular names of plants, many of them, seem to indicate a Latin tradition dating from Roman times.[147] In the medical treatises we see the practice of medicine greatly mingled with superstition. Witchcraft is reckoned among the causes of disease, and formul are provided for breaking the spell. The "Leech Book" contains a series of prescriptions for divers ailments, with directions for preparation and medical treatment. One batch of these prescriptions is said to have been sent to King Alfred by Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem. A very popular book was the Herbarium of Apuleius. It was translated into Anglo-Saxon, and four manuscripts of this translation are still extant.[148]
On astronomical and cosmical matters there exists a well-written little treatise of unknown authorship. It has been attributed to lfric, and it is most likely a work of his time. It seems to have been very popular.[149] It is, as it professes to be in the prologue, a popular abridgment of Beda, "De Natura Rerum." It begins with a succinct abstract of the creation, the sixth day being thus rendered:—
On am syxtan dge he gescop eall deor cynn, {&} ealle nytena e on feower fotum ga, {&} a twegen menn Adam {&} Efan.
On the sixth day he created all animal-kind, and all the beasts that go on four feet, and the two men Adam and Eve.
The eclipse of the moon is well explained. After saying that Night is the shade of the earth when the sun goes down under it, before it comes up the other side,—
Woruldlice uwitan sdon, {t} seo sceadu astih up o t heo becym to re lyfte ufeweardan, and onne be yrn se mona hwiltidum onne he full by on re sceade ufeweardre, and faggete oe mid ealle aswearta, for am e he nf re sunnan leoht a hwile e he re sceade ord ofer yrn o t re sunnan leoman hine eft onlihton.
Worldly philosophers said, that the shadow mounts up until it arrives at the top of the atmosphere, and then sometimes the moon when he is full runs into the upper part of the shadow, and is darkened or utterly blackened, forasmuch as he hath not the sun's light so long as he traverses the shadow's point until that the sun's rays again enlighten him.
The Norman Conquest gave the death-blow to our old native literature, in the sense that the use of the literary Anglo-Saxon in its first integrity, as at once a learned language and a spoken language, did not extend beyond the generation that witnessed that great dynastic change. In this strict sense we might point to the close of the Worcester Chronicle in 1079 as the termination of Anglo-Saxon literature. There is, indeed, a Saxon Chronicle that was even begun after that date, one which comprises the whole Saxon period, and was continued by original writers down to 1154, but it is not written in normal Anglo-Saxon. It represents the flectional decay which the living and popular English was undergoing. |
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