-as -a -um

-a

-um

-a

-um

Gen. Dat. & Abl. The as in "wegas" is, it will be seen, the form of the nominative or accusative plural only in masculines of this declension. It is the sole source of the modern English plural in s, though coincidence with the Norman-French plural in s favoured its extension in modern English to nouns of all classes.-Wide, widely. The common use of as an adverbial ending in First English, and the subsequent dropping of the final e, causes many of the homely adverbs from the Teutonic side of the language to be now alike in spelling with the adjectives from which they were made, as "hit him hard," &c.Goond thas wertheóde, among this people. "Geond" = "yond," the 1 being softened before the vowels. A g so modified was afterwards represented by a modified letter, like a 3, and this is the origin of the mistaken use of z in printing MS. so written. Nobody ever intended The modified letter represented a g, to write "ze" or "zour." softened sometimes to the sound of y, sometimes to a sound now represented by gh. "Thas wertheode;' "wer" (= Latin "vir"), man, is used in combination with "-theod," a people; "theod" eding in a consonant is of the second declension, and it is feminine, therefore (see the table given after the word "wegas"), it has an accusative singular in e; "thas," agreeing with its noun, is the accusative singular feminine of "this," a pronoun which was thus infected (the second & in "thisse" and "thissa" being a modified r). M. F. thes theós thises thisse thisum thisne thise

Sing.

Nom. Gen.

Dat.

Acc.

Abl.

N. this

thises

thisse thás thisse

thisum this

thise

thás

a dedication to Queen Elizabeth. There was another edition of them by Dr. Marshall, rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, published in 1665, with the Gothic version given by Francis Junius; and in 1842 they were produced in a handy edition, carefully re-edited from the original manuscripts by Benjamin Thorpe, who was in his day our most helpful worker at First English. Here is from the sixth chapter of Matthew

THE LORD'S PRAYER IN FIRST ENGLISH:

Fæder úre, thú the eart on heofenum, si thin nama gehalgod. To-becume thin rice. Geweorthe thin willa on eorthan, swa swa on heofenum. Urne dæghwamlican hlaf syle us to-dæg. And forgyf ús úre gyltas, swa swa we forgifath úrum gyltendum. And ne gelæde thu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfle: Sothlice.

Alcuin died in the year 804, and between the years 800 and 815, or about the time of the death of Alcuin, John Scotus Erigena was born. Whether born in Ireland, as is probable, or in Ayrshire as some say, he seems to have had in his veins some of that mixture of Celtic blood which gave audacity to thought. He found his way to the court of Charles the Bald, one of the sons of Alcuin's friend Charlemagne, and was there held in high esteem for wit, wisdom, and learning. He translated from Greek into Latin a book on the "Hierarchies of Heaven,"

inflexion re. (See the form already given to explain "thinne.")Healdan móton, may be able to hold firm, or abide. "Healdan," to hold, fasten, &c.; "mót," meaning must, ought, can, was inflected thus in the present: "ic mót, thú móst, he mot; we móton." In the past, "ic móste, . . . we moston."-Folc the andette, let the people (the folk = German "Volk ") acknowledge thee. 'Andetan," to confess; "andetnes," a confession, a creed; "andettan," to confess, acknowledge, thank. - Fal, true, pure. - Gefea, joy, gladness. -Æghwyle, every one. Eg- as a prefix means "ever, always." (It is the word in the phrase "ever and aye"). -hwyle (Scottish "whilk") means which or what.-Folca, of the peoples (see form of the second declension, given to explain "wegas").—Blissian, to rejoice, be glad.-Beald and bald, bold, high-spirited.-Theod being feminine, its nominative plural is in a.-Thas the, for this that; thú, hi, thou, them; "the" here is indeclinable. "He, she, it' " was declined

I thinre hælo, in thy health.

thissa

thisum

"Hælo," or "hælu," is indeclinable. Being feminine the pronoun-inflected like an adjective-takes the

eów

Syllan, to give; athel, noble; wæstm, fruit; egesa, awe; gemæru, boundaries.-As to verbs, it may be added that -ian or -an is the sign of the infinitive present. That the three conjugations are marked by the way of making the past tense, the first by addition of -ode, de, or -te, with or without change of the root-vowel, the second and third by change of the root-vowel always without addition of -de or -te.

ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, who was supposed to have been converted by St. Paul, and afterwards to have become first bishop of the Christians at Athens. Erigena had already incurred suspicion of heresy when he produced his Latin work, in five parts, on "The Division of Nature," a dialogue between pupil and master, which was the startingpoint of a new school of philosophy. In this book he gave mystical interpretations of Scripture, and otherwise excited a very warm antagonism. After the death of Charles the Bald, John Scotus Erigena is said to have come to England, allured by the munificence of King Alfred, and at Malmesbury to have been stabbed to death by the styles of his pupils, about the year 875.

King Alfred had succeeded Ethelred in the year 871, being then twenty-two years old. There was confusion in the land from inroads of the Danes; many monasteries and their schools were broken up, and learning had decayed. When Alfred had cleared the way for labour towards the re-establishment of knowledge and religion, he produced or caused to be produced English versions of books suitable for his purpose. The History of Orosius, which had been the Latin text-book for a history of the world in the monastery schools, he restored to the schools in English, with much abridgment of its theological element, and addition of fresh knowledge. There was added an original detail of the geography of Germany in Alfred's time, and the record of two Alfred coasting voyages in the north of Europe. provided also a translation into English of Bede's For the instruction of the History of England. clergy, he issued an English version of the Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory the Great.

The opening sentences of King Alfred's translation of this book have an interest that has caused them to be often quoted.'

There is a single change of the root-vowel in the second declension, and there is a double change in the third. The past tenses are formed in the first conjugation (a) by adding -ode, (b) by adding -de or -te simply, (c) by adding -de or -te with a change also of the root-vowel. In the second conjugation the root-vowel is changed-as in "eat" to "ate""æ't "-in one of three ways: to (a) œ', (b) e, (c) ó. In the third conjugation it is changed (a) to a with a second change to u, (b) to a with a second change to i, (c) to ea with a second change to u. The second change occurs in the second person singular and whole plural of the indicative and throughout the subjunctive. It is the origin of such double forms as "sang" and "sung." In reading First English aloud pronounce a like the a in "path" or "father;" a like the a in "pat" or "pate" (this mark over a vowel indicates longer and broader sound); pronounce, therefore, Cadmon not Seedman, but Cadmon, and the vowels and letters generally more after the manner of northern than of southern English as now spoken; slightly roughen the aspiration of the h, and sound the r.

1 The standard edition of this work of King Alfred's has been produced by one of the best living First-English scholars, Mr. Henry Sweet, for "the Early English Text Society:" :"-" King Alfred's WestSaxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care. With an English Translation, the Latin Text, Notes, and an Introduction." The passage above quoted is given from the Translation added by Mr. Sweet to his text. A word may here be said of "the Early English Text Society," to which English students are indebted for this and much other valuable work. We owe its existence to the enthusiastic energy of Mr. F. J. Furnivall, who set it up in the year 1864, and has himself edited many interesting texts for it. The self-denial of the editors, and fellowship of many in the work, has enabled this society to secure an unusually large return of valuable publications for the annual guinea of each of its members. In the first ten years of its life the society produced more than 16,000 pages of edited texts. Some of

KING ALFRED'S INTRODUCTION TO HIS TRANSLATION OF POPE GREGORY'S "REGULA PASTORALIS." King Alfred bids greet bishop Wærferth with his words lovingly and with friendship; and I let it be known to thee that it has very often come into my mind, what wise men there formerly were throughout England, both of sacred and secular orders; and how happy times there were then throughout England; and how the kings who had power over the nation in those days obeyed God and his ministers; and they preserved peace, morality, and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their territory abroad; and how they prospered both with war and with wisdom; and also the sacred orders how zealous they were both in teaching and learning, and in all the services they owed God; and how foreigners came to this land in search of wisdom and instruction, and how we should now have to get them from abroad if we were to have them. So general was its decay in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe that there were not many beyond the Humber. There were so few of them that I cannot remember a single one south of the Thames when I came to the throne. Thanks be to God Almighty that we have any teachers among us now. And therefore I command thee to do as I believe thou art willing, to disengage thyself from worldly matters as often as thou canst, that thou mayest apply the wisdom which God has given thee wherever thou canst. Consider what punishments would come upon us on account of this world, if we neither loved it (wisdom) ourselves nor suffered other men to obtain it: we should love the name only of Christian, and very few of the virtues. When I considered all this I remembered also how I saw, before it had been all ravaged and burnt, how the churches throughout the whole of England stood filled with treasures and books, and there was also a great multitude of God's servants, but they had very little knowledge of the books, for they could not understand anything of them, because they were not written in their own language. As if they had said: "Our forefathers, who formerly held these places, loved wisdom, and through it they obtained wealth and bequeathed it to us. In this we can still see their tracks, but we cannot follow them, and therefore we have lost both the wealth and the wisdom, because we would not incline our hearts after their example."

the publications, not in themselves works of genius, are included in the series for help they may give to philological research, some for their lively illustration of manners and customs, or of phases of opinion, but not a few are the only printed editions of texts of the highest literary interest. It is for this society that Mr. Skeat has produced such an edition of several texts of "The Vision of Piers Plowman" as we should have had otherwise no hope of possessing, a study that no German could surpass in thoroughness, and very fruitful indeed in its results. Among other works edited by him are Barbour's "Bruce" and "Havelok" and "William of Palerne." Dr. Richard Morris has not only edited for the Early English Text Society such important works as the thirteenth century poem on the Story of Genesis and Exodus, the "Cursor Mundi," "The Ayenbite of Inwit," &c., but he has been the first to develop in the introductions to such works that more critical study of old English Dialects which now has the attention of all students. Mr. Furnivall has worked indefatigably, and has been particularly happy in his lively illustration of old social conditions, by help of "The Book of Curtasye," ""The Book of Demeanour," Andrew Boorde's "Introduction and Dyetary," &c., besides contributing to a series of editions of the old Arthurian Romances. There is an edition of the Works of Sir David Lindsay, by Mr. J. A. H. Murray, who edits also an interesting poem of the year 1549, "The Complaynt of Scotland." But a chronicle of good work done by "The Early English Text Society" is more than can be here set down in a note. Its publishers are Messrs. Trübner and Co., 57 and 59, Ludgate Hill.

When I remembered all this, I wondered extremely that the good and wise men who were formerly all over England, and had perfectly learnt all the books, did not wish to translate them into their own language. But again I soon answered myself and said: " They did not think that men would ever be so careless, and that learning would so decay; through that desire they abstained from it, and they wished that the wisdom in this land might increase with our knowledge of languages." Then I remembered how the law was first known in Hebrew, and again, when the Greeks had learnt it, they translated the whole of it into their own language, and all other books besides. And again the Romans, when they had learnt it, they translated the whole of it through learned interpreters into their own language. And also all other Christian nations translated a part of them into their own language. Therefore it seems better to me, if ye think so, for us also to translate some books which are most needful for all men to know into the language which we can all understand, and for you to do as we very easily can if we have tranquillity enough, that is, that all the youth now in England of free men, who are rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, until that they are well able to read English writing: and let those be afterwards taught more in the Latin language who are to continue learning and be promoted to a higher rank. When I remembered how the knowledge of Latin had formerly decayed throughout England, and yet many could read English writing, I began, among other various and manifold troubles of this kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called in Latin Pastoralis, and in English Shepherd's Book, sometimes word by word and sometimes according to the sense, as I had learnt it from Plegmund my archbishop, and Asser my bishop, and Grimbold my mass-priest, and John my masspriest. And when I had learnt it as I could best understand it, and as I could most clearly interpret it, I translated it into English; and I will send a copy to every bishopric in my kingdom; and on each there is a clasp worth fifty mancus. And I command in God's name that no man take the clasp from the book or the book from the minster: it is uncertain how long there may be such learned bishops as now, thanks be to God, there are nearly everywhere; therefore I wish them always to remain in their place, unless the bishop wish to take them with him, or they be lent out anywhere, or any one make a copy from them.

Because the monasteries had used (on account of its religious tone) the book on the "Consolation of Philosophy," written in prison by Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boëthius, the last of the old Latin philosophers, King Alfred translated also that. Boëthius, in the prison from which he was taken to execution, about the year 825, imagined himself lamenting the worldly estate from which he had fallen, and visited by Philosophy, who held discourse with him the vanity upon of such regrets, since all substantial good was The of the mind, and beyond reach of fortune. book was philosophical, not Christian; but was in such wide request among the Christians, that they made a saint of its author, by fabling that he died a martyr. Small pieces of Latin versificationMetra were interspersed by Boëthius, and

1 Fifty mancus == 300 shillings. There were thirty pence in a mancus and five pence in a shilling.

these were not given in English verse when Alfred's translation was produced, though extant renderings of the "Metra" of Boëthius into First-English verse have been ascribed to Alfred. In one passage of the prose translation Alfred expanded a short sentence into contemplations of his own upon the duty of a king. The sentence in Boëthius (lib. ii., prosa vii.) is only this:-"Tum ego, Scis, inquam, ipsa minimum nobis ambitionem mortalium rerum fuisse dominatam sed materiam gerendis rebus optavimus, quo ne virtus tacita consenesceret." In Alfred's version two sentences represent this and passage,

they are then amplified by original reflections that seem to have arisen in the king's mind as he thought of his own work and his own ambition in it :—

KING ALFRED ON KING-CRAFT.

The Mind then answered, and thus said: O Reason, indeed thou knowest that covetousness and the greatness of this earthly power never well pleased me, nor did I altogether very much yearn after this earthly authority. But nevertheless I was desirous of materials for the work which I was commanded to perform; that was, that I might honourably and fitly guide and exercise the power which was committed to me. Moreover, thou knowest that no man can show any skill, nor exercise or control any power, without tools and materials. There are of every craft the materials without which man cannot exercise the craft. These, then, are a king's materials and his tools to reign with: that he have his land well peopled; he must have prayer-men, and soldiers, and workmen. Thou knowest that without these tools no king can show his craft. This is also his materials which he must have besides the tools; provisions for the three classes. This is, then, their provision; land to inhabit, and gifts and weapons, and meat, and ale, and clothes, and whatsoever is necessary for the three classes. He cannot without these preserve the tools, nor without the tools accomplish any of those things which he is commanded to perform. Therefore I was desirous of materials wherewith to exercise the power, that my talents and power should not be forgotten and concealed. For every craft and every power soon becomes old, and is passed over in silence, if it be without wisdom for no man can accomplish any craft without wisdom. Because whatsoever is done through folly, no one can ever reckon for craft. This is now especially to be said; that I wished to live honourably whilst I lived, and after my life, to leave to the men who were after me, my memory in good works.

ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, who was supposed to have been converted by St. Paul, and afterwards to have become first bishop of the Christians at Athens. Erigena had already incurred suspicion of heresy when he produced his Latin work, in five parts, on "The Division of Nature," a dialogue between pupil and master, which was the startingpoint of a new school of philosophy. In this book he gave mystical interpretations of Scripture, and otherwise excited a very warm antagonism. After the death of Charles the Bald, John Scotus Erigena is said to have come to England, allured by the munificence of King Alfred, and at Malmesbury to have been stabbed to death by the styles of his pupils, about the year 875.

King Alfred had succeeded Ethelred in the year 871, being then twenty-two years old. There was confusion in the land from inroads of the Danes; many monasteries and their schools were broken up, and learning had decayed. When Alfred had cleared the way for labour towards the re-establishment of knowledge and religion, he produced or caused to be produced English versions of books suitable for his purpose. The History of Orosius, which had been the Latin text-book for a history of the world in the monastery schools, he restored to the schools in English, with much abridgment of its theological element, and addition of fresh knowledge. There was added an original detail of the geography of Germany in Alfred's time, and the record of two Alfred coasting voyages in the north of Europe.

provided also a translation into English of Bede's History of England. For the instruction of the clergy, he issued an English version of the Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory the Great.

The opening sentences of King Alfred's translation of this book have an interest that has caused them to be often quoted.'

There is a single change of the root-vowel in the second declension, and there is a double change in the third. The past tenses are formed in the first conjugation (a) by adding -ode, (b) by adding -de or -te simply, (c) by adding -de or -te with a change also of the root-vowel. In the second conjugation the root-vowel is changed-as in "eat" to "ate"="æ't "-in one of three ways: to (a) œ′, (b) e, (c) ó. In the third conjugation it is changed (a) to a with a second change to u, (b) to á with a second change to i, (c) to ea with a second change to u. The second change occurs in the second person singular and whole plural of the indicative and throughout the subjunctive. It is the origin of such double forms as "sang" and "sung." In reading First English aloud pronounce a like the a in "path or "father;" a like the a in "pat ” or “ pate" (this mark over a vowel indicates longer and broader sound); pronounce, therefore, Cadmon not Seedman, but Cadmon, and the vowels and letters generally more after the manner of northern than of southern English as now spoken; slightly roughen the aspiration of the h, and sound the r.

1 The standard edition of this work of King Alfred's has been produced by one of the best living First-English scholars, Mr. Henry Sweet, for "the Early English Text Society:"-" King Alfred's WestSaxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care. With an English Translation, the Latin Text, Notes, and an Introduction." The passage above quoted is given from the Translation added by Mr. Sweet to his text. A word may here be said of "the Early English Text Society," to which English students are indebted for this and much other valuable work. We owe its existence to the enthusiastic energy of Mr. F. J. Furnivall, who set it up in the year 1864, and has himself edited many interesting texts for it. The self-denial of the editors, and fellowship of many in the work, has enabled this society to secure an unusually large return of valuable publications for the annual guinea of each of its members. In the first ten years of its life the society produced more than 16,000 pages of edited texts. Some of

KING ALFRED'S INTRODUCTION TO HIS TRANSLATION OF POPE GREGORY'S "REGULA PASTORALIS." King Alfred bids greet bishop Wærferth with his words lovingly and with friendship; and I let it be known to thee that it has very often come into my mind, what wise men there formerly were throughout England, both of sacred and secular orders; and how happy times there were then throughout England; and how the kings who had power over the nation in those days obeyed God and his ministers; and they preserved peace, morality, and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their territory abroad; and how they prospered both with war and with wisdom; and also the sacred orders how zealous they were both in teaching and learning, and in all the services they owed God; and how foreigners came to this land in search of wisdom and instruction, and how we should now have to get them from abroad if we were to have them. So general was its decay in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe that there were not many beyond the Humber. There were so few of them that I cannot remember a single one south of the Thames when I came to the throne. Thanks be to God And Almighty that we have any teachers among us now. therefore I command thee to do as I believe thou art willing, to disengage thyself from worldly matters as often as thou canst, that thou mayest apply the wisdom which God has given thee wherever thou canst. Consider what punishments would come upon us on account of this world, if we neither loved it (wisdom) ourselves nor suffered other men to obtain it: we should love the name only of Christian, and very few of the virtues. When I considered all this I remembered also how I saw, before it had been all ravaged and burnt. how the churches throughout the whole of England stood filled with treasures and books, and there was also a great multitude of God's servants, but they had very little knowledge of the books, for they could not understand anything of them, because they were not written in their own language. As if they had said: "Our forefathers, who formerly held these places, loved wisdom, and through it they obtained wealth and bequeathed it to us. In this w can still see their tracks, but we cannot follow them, and therefore we have lost both the wealth and the wisdom because we would not incline our hearts after their example.

T

the publications, not in themselves works of genius, are included i the series for help they may give to philological research, some fo their lively illustration of manners and customs, or of phases opinion, but not a few are the only printed editions of texts of th highest literary interest. It is for this society that Mr. Skeat h produced such an edition of several texts of "The Vision of Pies Plowman " as we should have had otherwise no hope of possessing. study that no German could surpass in thoroughness, and very fru ful indeed in its results. Among other works edited by him a Barbour's "Bruce" and "Havelok" and "William of Palerne.** I Richard Morris has not only edited for the Early English Te Society such important works as the thirteenth century poem the Story of Genesis and Exodus, the "Cursor Mundi," Ayenbite of Inwit," &c., but he has been the first to develop in t introductions to such works that more critical study of old Engi Dialects which now has the attention of all students. Mr. Furniv has worked indefatigably, and has been particularly happy in lively illustration of old social conditions, by help of "The Book Curtasye," "The Book of Demeanour," Andrew Boorde's " 3237 duction and Dyetary," &c., besides contributing to a series of editi of the old Arthurian Romances. There is an edition of the W.. of Sir David Lindsay, by Mr. J. A. H. Murray, who edits als interesting poem of the year 1549, "The Complaynt of Scotlan But a chronicle of good work done by "The Early English "I Society" is more than can be here set down in a note. It " lishers are Messrs. Trübner and Co., 57 and 59, Ludgate Hill.