stantly meeting with phraseology and words at the meaning of which he could do little more than guess. Still the seventeenth century gave birth to many zealous promoters of the study of Anglo-Saxon. The Thesaurus of Hickes will always remain a monument of learning and industry.* The same century produced Wheeloc, who gave an edition of Alfred's version of Bede; Junius, the first editor of Cædmon; Spelman, who edited the laws and constitutions; Wanley, who composed a descriptive catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon MSS., which in his time were preserved in public and private libraries; Somner who compiled an Anglo-Saxon dictionary; and Gibson, who edited the Chronicle. During the following century, with one or two exceptions, the language again fell into neglect, and was generally looked upon as a mere virtuoso or antiquarian affair.

It would not be difficult to point out several causes of this neglect. The scholars of the seventeenth century labored zealously, but on a wrong track in consequence of having an opportunity of reading but few books, and meeting with forms and constructions which occurred once only, the dictionaries and grammars which they constructed, though they reflected credit on the industry and often on the acuteness of their authors, were yet so full of errors that they led the student into the greatest of mistakes, even to the mistaking of nouns for verbs, or particles for nouns. Besides, the language existed only in MSS. These bore the strongest marks of having been written by ignorant and careless copyists. The larger part were theological, and of

* Thesaurus Linguarum Veterum Septentrionalium, Oxon. 1705, in five parts, generally in three volumes folio. A copy is in the Boston Athenaeum. The first part consists of Grammatica Anglo-Saxonica et Moesogothica. It unfortunately treats of two of the most dissimilar Teutonic tongues together. The whole work is enriched with numerous engravings of ancient monuments, Runic inscriptions, and the like; also with noble collections of documents, and various specimens of poetry, that are not elsewhere to be found in print. The fourth part contains Dissertatio Epistolaris de Veterum Linguarum Septentrionalium Usu, cum numismatibus Saxonicis, and is also richly furnished with Anglo-Saxon collections, and engravings. The fifth part, H. Wanli Librorum Veterum Septentrionalium Catalogus, is equally valuable and meritorious. Edward Lye's Dictionarium Saxonico et Gothico-Latinum, ed. O. Manning, Lond., 1772, 2 vols. fol., is an uncritical work, though it contains some interesting Anglo-Saxon pieces.

such a kind as to run on a particular class of words, and on a particular style of writing; consequently the person who undertook to reduce its philology into order had a task of no little difficulty. The necessity was soon felt of making a comparison with the other tongues in the same stock of languages; but they who made this comparison did not know exactly what they were doing; they went sometimes to one language to seek a word, sometimes to another, without knowing why that word in that language must be the representative of the same word, or why not.

The lamented professor Rask of Copenhagen did much for Anglo-Saxon, by comparing it with the Icelandic. His Anglo

Saxon Grammar is an excellent book. But he has fallen into some errors by working within too narrow a field, by having compared the Saxon with only one cognate language, and that not the nearest in relationship to itself. It is Dr. James Grimm of Göttingen, who first established a correct and safe system of philology for the Teutonic languages; and it is by an application of this system only that we can proceed in the Anglo-Saxon with any degree of security.* The necessity of this exact and complete knowledge of the different cognate languages must be very apparent. For instance,-if we would know the gender of a noun, a thing very necessary to be ascertained, as it guides us in knowing its inflection, it is frequently the case that it cannot be ascertained from the most complete examination of existing MSS., where it may never occur in that position which

*The students of Anglo-Saxon in England are divided into two schools the Oxford, or the old school, and the Continental or the new school, the former adhering to the old methods of studying the language, and to the old opinions respecting the accents, affinities, etc., while the latter have adopted the views of the Danish and German scholars. Among the adherents of the former are J. J. Coneybeare, J. Ingram, Sharon Turner, Bosworth, Cardale, Fox, etc.; of the latter, J. M. Kemble, B. Thorpe, Price, Madden, etc. The controversy between these two schools has been a merciless one. Though the disciples of the continental are clearly in the right in most of their opinions, yet some of them write with pens dipped in gall. They are real polemics, armed cap-a-pie. The manner in which the venerable Sharon Turner is spoken of by some of the disputants is any thing but honorable. His historical works are, in the view of all impartial men, noble monuments of his industry, learning, and, may we add, which is not any too common in histories, piety.

may determine it; and hence we may be led into the error of confounding one case of the noun with another. Here, then, the scholar is compelled to examine its analogous word in another language of the family. But in this other language, an accurate examination of the analogy of that form of words may, perhaps, in a few instances, still leave some doubt; and we are then driven to seek the analogy in another language of the same stock, which shall give us all we want, and at the same time will explain to us the cause of the doubt in the other, and thus save us from the error which we should have committed by confining it to ourselves.

To know the grammar of a language it is necessary to know the reasons of the grammar. It is not sufficient to know the forms of words, but we ought to know why such forms existed, and why in their place we do not find some other forms. This is the single basis on which is founded what has been termed the new school of Saxon philologists. A system of philology for the language cannot be established solely on the language itself as it exists in manuscripts. We may instance this in the case of the accents; we often find in a MS. in the same page, almost in the same line, the same word occurring twice, accentuated in the one place, and without accent in the other. What is worse, the scribes not only omitted accents, but they often accentuated words wrongly. Mr. Kemble has collected several thousand instances from manuscripts alone, which he has compared most carefully, and he has been forced to the conclusion, that in this case the authority of MSS. can in nowise be depended on. But it is very necessary that we should know which are long vowels and which are short, that is in every word we ought to know the accentuation. For this purpose we compare, according to rules which are now well established, the syllable with the same syllable in the form of the word which the other Teutonic languages give, and all is clear. For instance in our dictionaries hitherto we have had the word God explained God and also good (bonus); and, again, the word man explained by man and evil. But the truth is that God, Deus, and gód, bonus-for the latter should be accentuatedare entirely different words, as are also man, homo, and mán, scelus.*

"In these 98 words" (from Boethius,) "there are 181 accentuations, all authorized by MSS. and their practice; and of these 181,

As to the second difficulty which has been felt by the student in Anglo-Saxon, the want of books, much also has been done lately to supply this want. A most praiseworthy example was set by the Society of Antiquaries. Early in 1831, it was proposed to them to undertake the publication "of the remains of Anglo-Saxon and early English literature existing in manuscript, with the addition of such as have been imperfectly edited, or have become extremely rare." The proposition was accepted by the society, and a committee was appointed for the purpose of carrying it into effect. The proposition originated in Denmark. Dr. Gruntvig of Copenhagen, who was sent to England by the Danish government to examine the MSS. in the libraries, had some concern in proposing it to the society.* Gruntvig subsequently determined himself to undertake the work, but abandoned it after he had issued a prospectus. The Antiquaries commenced their plan with spirit. In 1832 appeared the excellent edition of Cadmon, with a literal version in English, by Benjamin Thorpe, who was, previously, well and favorably

there are just 38 right, and 143 wrong! As it is abundantly obvious that it is nonsense to accentuate every vowel, I take the liberty of requesting the supporters of authority, to inform me how they will set about distinguishing the right from the wrong. The plan adopted by us is sufficiently simple; careful comparison of the various Teutonic dialects has established a law of relation between their vowels, and we accent according to that law." "In order to ascertain the length of the vowel in an Anglo-Saxon word it is therefore necessary to ascertain what vowel corresponds to it in the other principal Teutonic tongues, and by this process alone can we correct the MSS. themselves. In connection with this method, we may use the etymological means afforded us by the verbal scheme, or the system of relation in which the vowels stand to one another, in the present, praet. sing., praet. pl. and past participle, of those twelve conjugations which are the foundation-stones of all Teutonic etymology." Kemble.

*N. F. S. Gruntvig is a very voluminous writer. He lost his benefice at Copenhagen by the violence of his theological writings. He has dedicated himself to the study of Scandinavian antiquities. One of his publications is the "North's Mythology or Symbolical Language." He considers Anglo-Saxon as a Norse, not a German language, and assigns a high rank among the Norse languages and literature to the Anglo-Saxon, as almost the first cultivated. He even ascribes to some of the most esteemed Sagas an Anglo-Saxon origin.

known by his translation of Rask's Anglo-Saxon Grammar.* An adınirable edition of Beowulf by Mr. Kemble soon appeared.† A second volume, we believe, has since been published, containing a literal translation, philological notes, and an excellent glossary. Soon after the appearance of the first edition of Beowulf, was issued Mr. Thorpe's Analecta Anglo-Saxonica, a book long wanted by the student in that language. It consists of a selection of pieces in prose and verse, which have hitherto been unpublished, or published incorrectly, and contains, among other things of value, two or three complete homilies, the prose dialogue of Salamon and Saturn, the colloquy of Ælfric, and the poems of Byrtnoth and Judith, with the History of King Lear, as a Specimen of the two texts of Layamon's Chronicle. The same accompished scholar has since published a neat edition of the Saxon prose version of the Romance of Apollonius of Tyre, which is preserved in a MS. at Cambridge; and he has added to the text an English translation, and a glossary of all the words which are not found in the glossary of the Analecta.

The English universities also have lent their aid to the revival of this language. Cambridge set a noble example, in undertaking the magnificent edition of the Anglo-Saxon gospels, under the joint care of Thorpe and Kemble, which was printed at the Pitt

* Cædmon's Metrical Paraphrase of parts of the Holy Scriptures, in Anglo-Saxon; with an English Translation, Notes, and a Verbal Index. By Benjamin Thorpe, F. S. A., etc. 1832, published by the Society of Antiquaries, London.

The Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, the Traveller's Song, and the Battle of Finnesbush. Edited by John M. Kemble, Esq., M. A, of Trinity College, Cambridge. Second Edition, London, 1835, Pickering.

Glossary to, and Translation of, Beowulf, by John M. Kemble Esq. etc.

§ Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. A Selection in Prose and Verse, from Anglo-Saxon Authors of various ages; with a Glossary. Designed chiefly as a first book for students, by Benjamin Thorpe, London, 1834.

|| Anglo-Saxon version of the Story of Apollonius of Tyre, from a MS. in the library of C. C. C., Cambridge, with a Literal Translation, by Benjamin Thorpe, etc. Lond. 1834.