known Infinity, it is so by way of what the Germans call Verstellung, viz., popular image or representation; and not by way of Begriff, viz., pure or philosophic notion." Cædmon deals with his subject as a Verstellung. He represents, by popular image or representation, the traditional ideas of his day on this subject, and does not attempt to philosophise, or explain in the abstract his notion of the origin of Evil or of Death.

And it is so in Milton. Both, give in the popular imagery of their time, and in poetic form, the current theological traditions of the age. Cædmon reproduces sixth century, Catholic tradition in popular dressing. Milton, with all the theological developments and popular conceits of the Middle Ages behind him, with regard to Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell, presents, in more modern garb, the Protestant tradition of a thousand years later;a tradition which had been evolved, since the socalled Reformation, by the occult principle of Protestant selection.

Cadmon's poem is then an epic, a Verstellung, if we accord these titles to Milton's more ambitious work. It is an epic of the whole of creation; of infinitude in space and in time; and, in common with Paradise Lost, is charming, illogical, and at times incomprehensible.

Although Cædmon's work is not a mere para

phrase, but a grand sacred poem, yet it is to be borne in mind that the intention of the author was not, like Milton, to immortalise himself, but to instruct the people, by giving the clergy and gleemen, and through them the people at large, a poetic version of the traditionally received account of the "Fall of Man," and other sacred narratives.

Whence Cadmon obtained the information which he evidently possessed of Rabbinical learning, it is impossible to say; yet it is beyond doubt that he is indebted to some of the Oriental or Rabbinical commentators, for many an idea which he has made tributary. It is well known, that the Anglo-Saxon Church was in direct touch, ecclesiastically, with the East, and hence, it is perfectly supposable, that Cadmon obtained his rabbinical interpretations directly through Oriental sources. It is more probable, however, to suppose that the apostles of Roman Christianity in England, had carried with them the traditional Eastern exposition of the book of Genesis, and so had established a traditional consensus which formed the basis of the teaching on this subject in every monastery in the land.

In order to understand fully this poem of the monk of Whitby, it is absolutely necessary to picture to the mind the whole scene of the Creation and the

Fall, as conceived by the brilliant brain of the AngloSaxon scop.

The poet begins his sacred song with a description of Heaven or the Empyrean, where the Deity, the

Glory King of Hosts,

sits enthroned in Light, Majesty, and Bliss ineffable, and surrounded by the ten tribes of the celestial hierarchy.

This Heaven or Empyrean, as conceived by Cædmon, is not the "bright framework" of Earth and planets, or of Sun and starry systems, since none of these, as yet, had any existence; but an imaginary sphere of infinite radius,—(the phrase is of course unthinkable),-divided into two concaves, Heaven or the Empyrean and Chaos or the Abyss.

The upper of these concaves of primeval space is to be imagined as a boundless region of Light, Joy and Glory, in the midst of which, the Deity, though omnipresent, has His visible dwelling. Here, He is the Chieftain of an infinitude of intelligences called the Angels, who, though dispersed throughout the ranges of Heaven's boundless domain, yet lead, severally, their mighty lives, performing the behests of Deity, or lost in the abandonment of adoration.

The other half or concave of primeval space, Chaos or the Abyss, is a limitless ocean of universal dark

ness, uselessness, and lifelessness, wherein the primal elements battle unceasingly in blustering confusion; no Angel having ever winged his way down into its repulsive obscurities. The opal floor of the Empyrean divides the two concaves; while beneath, unvisited of Light, Chaos howls and rages and stagnates eternally.

Before we proceed farther, however, in this analysis it may be well to emphasise one most important point in the elucidation of the poem, viz.: that the descriptions and illustrative diagrams which may be introduced in this analysis are not mere fancies of what Cædmon may have conceived in his scheme of the poem, but are actually what he must have had, and did have, in his mind when he began to write

his version of the " Fall of Man," and which he most tenaciously kept in view from first to last.

That such is the case may be conclusively proved from the words of the poem itself; and often from the illuminations of the manuscript, which may be taken as a tenth-century commentary on the original text, by the artist of the Scriptorium, in which the manuscript was written.

In order to bring out this point in the clearest possible light, it will be necessary to adduce, in confirmation, such passages of the poem, and to introduce such of the illuminations of the manuscript, as may have a direct bearing on the views which will be advanced in the present examination of Cædmon's work.

In the opening lines of the narrative the poet tells us that the "Glory-King of Hosts"

ruled the Heavenly concaves, which at first,
By power divine, were stretched out far and wide
Throughout unbounded space, celestial Home
Of those who guard the spirits of the just.

Here, the imagery in the term "Heavenly concaves (A.-S. bósmas, Eng. bosoms), needs no comment, the two equal parts of the sphere being indicated with sufficient distinctness. But this is not all. In the following fac-similes of the illuminations