swa geɣungen1 láreow þa burh eallunge forlete,

and

80 revered (a) teacher the burgh (city) altogether should leave, and swa fyrlen wræcsið genáme.

So distant (a) journey should take.

CONTINUOUS TRANSLATION OF THE ABOVE.

Then it happened at a certain time, as still it often does, that English chapmen brought their wares to Rome; and Gregory went along the street to the Englishmen, looking at their things. Then saw he placed amongst the wares boys for sale, who had white bodies, and fair countenances, and noble heads of hair. Gregory then beheld the beauty of the boys, and asked out of what country they were brought. Then said they to him, that they were from England, and that the race of that land was so beautiful! Again then Gregory inquired, whether the people of that land were Christians or heathens? They told him that they were heathens. Gregory then fetched deep sighs out of his inmost heart, and said, "Alas! alas! that men of so fair a skin should be subjects of the black devil." Again he asked, what the name of that nation that they came from was? It was answered him that they were named Angles. Then said he, "Rightly are they called Angles, for they have the beauty of angels, and it is befitting for such to be companions of angels in heaven." Yet again Gregory inquired, what the name of the division of the country was out of which those boys were brought. They told him that the men of that province were called Dere. Gregory answered, "Well are they called Dere" (i.e. de ira, from wrath), for they are saved from wrath and invited to Christ's mercy." Yet again he inquired, "What is the name of the king of that people?" He was answered that the king was called Ælla. Then Gregory played with his words at the name, and said, "It is befitting that Alleluia be sung in that land, to the praise of the Almighty Creator." Gregory then immediately went to the pope of the apostolic See, and begged him to send some teachers to the English people, to convert them to Christ, and said that he himself was ready, with God's help, to undertake that work, if the pope so pleased. But the pope could not sanction that, though he very much wished it, because the Roman people would not allow that so learned a man and so revered a teacher should leave the city altogether and take so distant a journey.

(1) Gethungen, p.p. of thingan, to have weight; then to have moral weight, be revered.

(2) Gename, subj. mood of geniman, to take; hence the slang term nim, in Shakspere ("Merry Wives of Windsor ").

II. SECOND STAGE.

Very Early English, or Semi-Saxon.

(A.D. 1100-1250.)

SAXON CHRONICLE.

THE SUFFERINGS OF THE ENGLISH IN STEPHEN'S REIGN.

(FROM THE LATTER PART OF "THE SAXON CHRONICLE," WRITTEN PROBABLY ABOUT A.D. 1160.)

swencten1 swide be wrecce2 men

THEY (the Norman nobles) oppressed greatly the wretched men (i.e. the

of pe land mid castelweorces.3

English) of the land with

waren maked," pa fylden1 were made, then filled

castleworks.

Da the castles1 When the castles

hi mid deoules and yuele they (them) with devils and evil

* The language, it will be observed, has gone through a wondrous change since A.D. 990-the date of Elfric's Homilies. It is on its passage from the condition of a synthetic, or inflected, to an analytic, or non-inflected language; and this is, properly speaking, the transition stage. It deserves notice that though a century has passed since the Conquest, the vocabulary is pure English; scarcely a Norman word can be found. See Introd., "Second Stage."

(1) Swencten, fylden. These words would have been in A.S., swencton, fyldon. This change in term. lasted long, and is the usual form in Chaucer, who wrote weren (they were), comen (they came). Suencan passed into the old Eng. form swincen, to toil, and was used even-though as an ancient word-by Milton. "And the swinkt (fatigued) hedger at his supper sat." (Comus.)

(2) Wrecce. The A.S. had, as the Ger. now has, a distinction between the definite and indefinite forms of the adjective, which is already lost in the Sem. Sax., as appears above. Alfred would have written, " Thá wreccan menn."

(3) of the land. This use of a prepos. instead of a case is the sign of a great change. In A.S. it must have been the gen. thes landes. So in A.S., the dat. pl. castel-weorcum must have come after mid.

(4) Castles, for A.S. castelas. See note 11, p. 2.

(5) Maked, for A.S. macod, or gemacod, fr. macian, to make. contraction of maked.

Made is a

men.

Da namen hi pa men the hi wenden þæt ani

men. Then took they those men that they wened (thought) that any

gód hefden, bade be nihtes and be dæies, goods had, both by niglt and by day,

and wimmen, and diden heom in prisun

carl-men1 churl-men (peasant men)

efter gold and and women, and did (put) them in prison after (for their) gold and sylver, and pined2 heom untellendlice pining, for ne silver, and pined (tormented) them (with) unspeakable

torment, for not wæren næure nan martyrs swa pined alse hi wæron. never none (no) martyrs SO tormented as they were.

were

Me3 henged up bi the fét and smoked heom mid fúl Men (they) hanged (them) up by the feet and smoked them with foul

smoke; me henged bi the pumbes, other bi the hefed, smoke, they hanged (them) by the others by the head,

thumbs,

strenges abuton here hæued and

uury ben

Me dide cnotted" They put knotted

to-that it gæde strings about their head and writhed (twisted) till it went

9

to pe hærnes. Hi diden beom in quarterne thar nadres1o They put them in dungeons (?) where adders

to the brain.

(1) Carl-men, fr. A.S. ceorl, a peasant, and hence rustic, rude, &c. So we get the mod. churl and churlish. "Charles's wain" is a corruption of ceorles wæn, peasant's or farmer's waggon.

(2) Pined. To pine is still in the northern dialect, to starve with hunger or cold, or generally to torment and ill-treat.

(3) Me for man, used indefinitely. See note 7, p. 2.

(4) Henged. Very noticeable as not even retaining the term, en of the pl. It is, indeed, the mod. form. The A.S. word to hang, is hón, pret. heng. Out of this pret, the above word seems to have been clumsily formed. They hanged, in pure A.S., would have been hengon.

(5) Hefed and hæved, fr. A.S. heafod, derived, as some think, from heafan, to heave or lift up; hence the head would be the lifted up, or elevated, part.

(6) Bryniges. Some translate this, "coats of mail."

(7) Cnoit d, for A.S. cnottede, the mark of the pl., the final e being omitted. (8) Gæde, pret of gon, as if goed (Scotticé gaed), for A.S. eode, pret. of gán. (9) Hærnes. A word of uncertain origin, not known, it is believed, in A.S.: found afterwards in old Eng. stage, and in Scottish harns.

"And of hys hede did brake the bone.

The harnes lay upon the stone."-MS. quoted by Halliwell.

(10) Nadres, fr. A.S. næddre, an adder. A.S., pl. næddran, not nadres. Analogously with nadder, adder, we have nawl, nale, nonce, newt, and awl, ale, once, ewt or eft.

and snakes and pades1 wæron inne, and drapen heom? in, and destroyed them

and snakes and toads

Swa.

80.

were

Mani pusen hi drapen3 mid hunger. I ne canne, and ne Many thousands they slew with hunger. I not can, and not mai tellen, alle pe wundes, ne all þe pines þæt hi

may tell (reckon up) all the wounds, diden wrecce men on this land. did (to) wretched men in this land,

nor all the pains (torments) that they

And pet lastide pa xix

And that lasted the nineteen

wintre1 wile Stephne was king, and æure it was uuerse winters (years) while Stephen was king, and ever it was worse and uuerse. and worse.

Da was corn dære, and flec" and cæse and

Then was corn dear,

butere; for nan ne was o the land. butter; for none not was in the land.

of hungær. of hunger.

wile

and flesh and cheese and

sturuen6

Wrecce men
Wretched men starved (died)

ieden? on ælmes® þe waren

sum

Sume
Some yode (went) on alms 9 who were (had been) some

rice men. Sum flugen ut

while (a while ago) rich men. Some

fled

of lande. Wes out of (the) land. Waз

(1) Pades, fr. A.S. pad, or pada, a toad; hence paddoch, a large toad, the term. ock denoting increase as well as decrease of size.

(2) Heom, acc. pl. of pron., instead of A S. hi; a great innovation, for in A.S., heom or him is the dat. sing. and pl. Later we find heom becoming hem, and surviving still in 'em, as, "give it 'em well." See the A.S. forms in the Introd.

(3) Drapen, fr. drepen, pret. drap, p.p. dropen, fr. A.S., drepan, to kill or slay, pret. dræp, p.p. drepen.

(4) Wintre. The reckoning by winters instead of years continued in use until late in the 16th century.

(5) Flec, fles, fleis, and flæsc, the last virtually the same as the mod, word, were all in use during the em. Sax. stage.

(6) Sturven, pret. of sterfen, to die, pret. starf, pl. sturven, p.p. storven, fr. A.S. steorfan, pret. starf, pl. sturfon, p.p. storfen. To die of hunger was not the original meaning of the word. Cf. Ger. sterben, to die.

(7) Ide, yede, eode, the last the same as A.S., are all found in Sem. Sax. as pret. of gon, to go.

(8) Elmes, fr. A.S. ælmesse, wh. fr. Gr. èλenuoouvm. This, with castel, deofule, prisun, m tyr, quarterne (of which no account can be found), biscop, abbot, munec, clerek, together with circe and the compound cyrceiærd, are probably the only foreign words in the passage, and four-fifths of them are ecclesiastical, introduced with Christianity.

(9) Ieden on almes, i.e. betook themselves to almıs or begging.

næure gæt mare wreccehed1 on land, ne næure hepen men

never yet more wretchedness in (the) land, nor never heathen men

werse ne diden pan hi diden. For over siden ne For after (a) time not

worse not did than they did.

forbaren hi forbore (spared) they

nouder circe ne cyrceiærd, oc nam al pe neither church nor churchyard, but took all the

gód þæt þar inne was, and brenden? sy þen good (property) that therein was, and

þe burnt afterwards the

cyrce and altega dere. Ne hi ne forbaren biscopes land,

church and all together.

Nor they not forbore (spared) bishop's land,

ne abbotes, ne preostes, ac ræueden3

nor abbot's, nor

clerekes.

clerks (learned men).

priest's, but

reaved (robbed)

muneces and monks and

MARY AND MARTHA.

(FROM "THE ANCREN RIWLE; OR, GUIDE FOR NUNS," WRITTEN ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.)

ON MARY AND MARTHA.

MARIE and Marthe ba (both) were sustren (sisters), ach (but) here (their) life sundres (goes different ways); ge (ye) ancren

This passage is very noticeable on many accounts. It even looks, in some respects, more antique than that from the Saxon Chronicle. It contains, short as it is, three Romance words-that is, words derived, indirectly, from Roman or Latin-baret, mester or meoster, povre. The entire work contains a considerable infusion of such words, amounting, perhaps, to four or five per cent.

(1) Wreccehed. The term. hed, fr. A.S. hád, is the head and hood of mod. Eng., as godhead, childhood, &c., denoting state or condition.

(2) Brenden, pret. of brennen, to burn, fr. A.S. bærnan, pret. bærnde,

(3) Ræueden, fr. ræven, to rob; hence bereave, and also rove, rover, and rob itself, fr. A.S. reáfian, pret. reáfode. Cf. Ger. rauben.

(4) Ancren Riwle, Nuns' Rule or Guide. Ancren is a shortened form of ancrena, gen. pl.

(5) Were, A.S. waron. It is remarkable to find this word without any termination. In old Eng. (Chaucer) we constantly find weren.

(6) Sustren, ancren, thinges, clothes, showing that the pl. term, was unsettled.