author of a valuable work, 'De Regibus Anglorum,' a general history of England from the period of the Saxon invasion to the 26th Henry I. in 1126, and a continuation to 1143, with a history of the church, and other works (this monk of Malmesbury is the most able and original of the early historians); HENRY OF HUNTINGDON (died after 1154) wrote a history of England to the period of Stephen; GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS, OF GERALDDE BARRI (circa 1146-1222), preached the crusade to the Welsh in 1188, and wrote 'Itinerarium Cambriæ and Topographia Hibernia;' ROGERDE HOVEDEN (died after 1202) wrote Annales Rerum Anglicarum,' 732 to 1202; MATTHEW OF PARIS (died about 1259) wrote Historia Angliæ ad ultimum annum Henrici III.;' and MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER, a Benedictine monk who flourished in the fourteenth century, author of 'Flores Historiarum ab exord io Mundi usque ad 1307.' Wace's legendary poem was expanded into 32,250 lines by a monk, LAYAMON, who describes himself as a priest of Ernley, near Redstone, on the Severn. His additions to the work of Wace were made partly from Bede, but chiefly from Welsh and other traditional sources, with passages by Layamon himself. The date of the poem, when completed, is about the year 1205. Sir Frederick Madden, who published an edition of it (1847), says, that in many passages of the poem the spirit and style of the Anglo-Saxon writers have been preserved. It embodied the current language of the time, and has very few Norman words. The versification combines the alliteration characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry with the rhyming couplets of the French. The structure of the verse, however, is by no means regular. Two manuscripts of the poem exist, one twenty or thirty years later than the other, and there is a considerable difference in the text. We subjoin a specimen, with Sir Frederick Madden's translation of the earlier text: Early Text. An preost wes on leoden, and on his mern thouke, æfter than flode the from driltene com, Later Text. A prest was in londe, merie ther him thohte: ther he bokes radde. that he wolde of Engelond There was a priest on earth (or in the land), who was named Layamon; he was son of Leovenath, may the Lord be gracious to him!-he dwelt at Ernley, at a noble church upon Severn's bank-good it there seemed to him-near Radestone, where he books read. It came to him in mind, and in his chief thought, that he would tell the noble deeds of the English, what they were named, and whence they came, who first possessed the English land, after the flood that came from the Lord, that destroyed here all that it found alive. About the same time was produced a metrical work, the ORMULUM, so called after the name of its author, Orm or Ormin. This poem, or rather series of poems, for it consists of homilies and lessons from the New Testament-is also of great length, extending to nearly 10,000 lines, or couplets of fifteen syllables. It has one mark of progress in the language-the alliterative system is abandoned, though this did not become general, and Ormin's English has a more modern air than that of Layamon. He dedicates his work to his brother: Nu, brotherr Wallterr, brotherr min Annd brotherr min i Crisstenddom Now, brother Walter, brother mine A treatise termed 'The Ancren Riwle,' or Female Anchorite s Rule, is referred to the same period-not later than 1205. It is in eight parts, written by an ecclesiastic, on the duties of a monastic life. The work was edited by the Rev. James Morton in 1853, and is attributed by him to a Bishop Poor, who died in 1237. One peculiarity of the work is the great number of the Norman-French words it contains. The writer tells the anchorite: Ye ne schulen eten vleschs ne seim, buten ine muchele secnesse; other hwoso is ever feble eteth potage blitheliche; and wunieth ou to lutel drunch.' (Ye shall not eat flesh nor lard, except in much sickness; but the feeble may eat pottage blithely, and accustom themselves to a little drink.) An English version of Genesis and Exodus,' extending to above 4,000 lines, is about the same date; and an original poem, 'The Owl and the Nightingale' (1250–1260) is ascribed to NICHOLAS DE GUILDFORD. It opens thus: Ich was in one sumere dale, I herd ich holde grete tale Au hule and one nihtingale [strong, That plait was stiff, and starc, and Sum wile soft and lude among. 1 was in one summer dale, In a very secret hollow; I heard each hold great tale An owl and one nightingale [strong, That plain was stiff, and stark, and Of about the same antiquity is the following descriptive little song: Sumer is i-cumen in, Lhude sing cuccu; Groweth sed and bloweth mede, Summer is coming in, Loud sing, cuckoo ! Groweth seed and bloweth mead, Awe bleteth after lomb, Lhouth after calve cu; Wel singes thu cuccu, Ne swik thou nauer nu. Among the old 'romances of pris' Ewe bleateth after lamb, Loweth after calf cow, (price or praise) referred to by Chaucer, is supposed to be the Squire of Low Degree.' The daughter of the King of Hungary had fallen into a state of melancholy from the supposed loss of the squire, her lover, and the king comforts his daughter by promising her many presents and luxuries: To-morrow ye shall in hunting fare; (1) With damask white and azure blue, Pyment (5) also and garnard; The best wild fowl that may be take; to And hart, and hind, and other like. streek, (6) With gosshawk and with gentle falcón, When you come home your menzie Ye shall have revel, dances, and song; With cloth of arras pight to the ground, To see the fishes in pools play, Th' one half of stone, th' other of tree; That hart and hind shall come to you Forty torches burning bright, first. Your disease to drive you fro, At your bridges to bring you light. Your sheets shall be of cloth of Rennes. EARLY ENGLISH WRITERS. The century and a half from 1250 to 1400 has been designated the Early or Old English period of our language. A division into dia * Verteth, goes to harbour among the fern.-WARTON. lects also became more marked. There were the Northern (including the Lowlands of Scotland), the Midland, and the Southern; or as they have been historically termed, the Northumbrian, Mercian, and West Saxon dialects. THOMAS OF ERCILDOUN. The military spirit then abroad, and the chivalrous enthusiasm of the Normans, were displayed in the literature of the day no less than in tournaments or in war and crusades. The mixed English language became a vehicle for romantic metrical tales, derived from the French. The name of one minstrel, THOMAS THE RHYMER, or THOMAS OF ERCILDOUN, is great in traditional story. He was a person of some consideration, owner of an estate, which he transmitted to his son, and he died shortly before 1299. Thomas, besides being a seer or prophet, is supposed to have been the author of our first metrical romance. An English rhyming chronicler, Robert de Brunne, refers to 'Sir Tristrem,' a 'sedgeing tale,' or story for recitation, by Thomas of Ercildoun, which was esteemed above all other tales, if recited as written by the author. Few of the minstrels, however, gave it as it was made, in quaint or difficult English, but corrupted and lowered it in the course of recitation. It was a matter of regret that this genuine version of 'Sir Tristrem' had been lost, and great satisfaction was expressed when Mr. (afterwards Sir) Walter Scott, in 1804, published what he conceived to be a faithful copy of it, though modified in language in passing orally through different generations. This copy is contained in an old collection in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, called, from the name of its donor, the Auchinleck Manuscript, being presented by Lord Auchinleck, father of James Boswell, the biographer of Johnson. The story of Sir Tristrem was familiar to poetical antiquaries. It was one of the ancient British legends taken up by the Norman minstrels. The style of the poem is elliptical and concise. It is divided into three 'fyttes' or cantos, and the following stanza will shew the style and orthography of the Auchinleck Manuscript: Glad a man was he The turnament dede crie, To win the maistrie; Thai seyd that best was he Forthi chosen was he Sir Walter's theory as to the originality and Scottish Origin of the poem has not been generally accepted. It is believed to be the production of some minstrel who had heard Thomas of Ercildoun recite his romance. Mr. Garnet, a high authority on early English dialects, concludes that the present Sir Tristrem' is a modernised copy of an old Northumbrian romance, which was probably written between 1260 and 1300, and derived from a Norman or Anglo-Norman source, but the author may have availed himself of the previous labours of Ercildoun on the same theme. An elaborate work of about 20,000 lines, 'The Romance of King Alexander,' appears to have been written previous to 1300. It has been ascribed, but erroneously, to ADAM DAVIE, marshal of Stratford-leBow, near London. Davie, however, was a voluminous versifier, and wrote Visions,' 'The Battle of Jerusalem,' &c. Two romances, 'Havelok the Dane,' and 'William and the Werwolf,' have been edited (1828 and 1832) by an able antiquary, Sir Frederick Madden. The story of Havelok relates the adventures of an orphan child, son of a Danish king; the author is unknown. Extract from Havelok. Hwan he was hosled (1) and shriuen, And king ben maked of Denmark. When he was housled and shriven, His bequests made and for him given, For from them he would wit. And king be made of Denmark. The 'Geste of King Horn,' the romantic bistory of 'Guy of Warwick' (supposed to have been written about 1292 by a Cornish friar, WALTER OF EXETER), 'Sir Bevis of Southampton,' 'Richard Cœur de Lion,' 'The King of Tars,' 'La Morte Arthur,' 'Sir Eglamour,' and a host of other metrical romances, belong to this period, and most of them were subsequently modernised when the art of printing was introduced. Chaucer, in his Rhime of Sire Thopas,' has parodied the style of these compositions, and made 'mine host' in the Canterbury Tales' abuse all such drafty rhyming' as destitute of mirth or doctrine. · The principal metrical chroniclers were two ecclesiastics-ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER and ROBERT DE BRUNNE. The former was a monk of Gloucester, who lived in the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. His chief work is a rhymed chronicle of England from the legendary age of Brutus to the close of Henry III.'s reign, partly taken from the fabulous history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and written in the long line (or couplet) of fourteen syllables. This monk also wrote poems on the Martyrdom of Thomas á Becket,' and the Life of 1 When he had the sacrament administered to him, and been shriven or confessed. |