were edited at the commencement of the present century by Ritson, Richard Rolle, a hermit of the order of St. Augustine, and Robert Langland. The celebrated Vision of Pierce Ploughman by the latter is one of the most important works that appeared in England previous to the invention of printing. It is the popular representative of the doctrines which were silently bringing about the Reformation, and is a much purer specimen of the English language than the poems of Chaucer. "It is in fact," as Mr. Chambers well remarks," both in this peculiarity and in its political character, characteristic of a great literary and political revolution, in which the language as well as the independence of the Anglo-Saxons had at last gained the ascendency over those of the Normans. Pierce is represented as falling asleep; and in describing the visions which he sees he exposes the corruptions of society, but particularly the dissolute lives of the religious orders, with much bitterness." The Vision of Pierce Ploughman is closely allied to a class of works which, in Germany, was at this period much more numerous; satirical poems, the compositions of the most popular minstrels, which were repeated and committed to memory throughout the length and breadth of the land, which were familiar to every ear and heard from every tongue, and which, treating as they did of the venal profligacy of the Papal court, of the false assumption of supremacy by the bishops of Rome, and of the corruptions and errors introduced by them into the Christian doctrine, contributed perhaps more towards preparing the great body of the people for a religious reformation, than all the learned disputations and voluminous writings of a Huss and a Luther. Among such poems are Reineke de Voss, Reinardus, and Fishart's Bienenkorb des heiligen Römischen Immenschwarmes. Of a somewhat different nature are the noble strains of Reinmar von Zweter, and the exquisitely graceful poems of Walther von der Vogelweide; these were equally popular with the former, and treat of the same subjects; only they speak not in the language of satire, but in the sad and earnest tones of heartfelt grief. We have been led into this digression by a desire to show how thoroughly the Anglo-Saxon element still predominated in the spirit and in the language of the people of England, and how entirely it had gained the ascendency over the Nor man. All the specimens which we have as yet seen of the English language have been poetical; for poetry, in the history of every language, is of earlier date than prose. The first prose-writer entitled to any consideration is Sir John Mandeville, who was born in the year 1300, and travelled during many years in Eastern countries. Upon his return to England, he published an account of all that he had seen and heard; his work was originally written in Latin, then translated into French, and finally into English, "that every man of my nacioun may undirstonde it," and contains, as may readily be supposed, much that is romantic and fabulous mixed up with a great deal that is interesting and true. To the extracts given by Mr. Chambers we add one, in the original spelling, which to great force of thought adds considerable beauty of expression. "And I, John Maundeville knyghte aboveseyd (allethough I be unworthi), that departed from our contrees and passed the see, the zeer of grace 1322, that have passed manye londes, and many yles and contrees, and cerched manye fulle straunge places, and have ben in manye a fulle gode honourable companye and at manye a faire dede of armes (alle be it that I dide none myself for myn unable insuffisance), now I am comen hom (mawgree myself) to reste; for gowtes, artetykes, that me distreynen, tho diffynen the ende of my labour, azenst my will (God knowethe). And thus takynge solace in my wretched reste, recordynge the tyme passed, I have fulfilled theise thinges and putte hem wryten in this boke, as it wolde come into my mynde, the zeer of grace 1356, in the 34 zeer that I departede from our contrees. Wherefore I preye to alle the rederes and hereres of this boke, zif it plese hem, that thei wolde preyen to God for me: and I schalle preye for hem. And alle tho that seyn for me a Pater noster, with an Ave Maria, that God forzeve me my synnes, I make hem partneres, and graunte em part of alle the gode pilgrymages and of alle the gode dedes that I hav don, zif ony be to his plesance: and noghte only of tho, but of alle that evere I schalle do unto my lyfes ende. And I beseche Almyghty God, fro whom alle goodnesse and grace comethe fro, that he vouchesaf, of his excellent mercy and abundant grace, to fulle fylle hire soules with inspiracioun of the Holy Gost, in makynge defence of alle hire gostly enemyes here in erthe, to hire salvacioun, both of body and soule; to worshipe and thankynge of him, that is three and on, withouten begynnynge and withouten endynge; that is withouten qualitee good, and withouten quantytee gret; that in alle places is present, and alle thinges contenynge; the which that no goodnesse may amende, ne non evelle empeyne; that in perfeyte trynytee lyvethe and regnethe God, be alle worldes, and be alle tymes. Amen." It will be observed, that this extract contains a great many Romance words and phrases; but this will not create surprise, when we remember that the author had travelled for thirty-four years in countries where the Latin language must have been his sole medium of communication, and more especially that his book was composed in Latin, and translated into French, before the English version was made. The next prose author of whom we must make mention is John Wickliffe, professor of theology in the University of Oxford, the translator of the Bible, and the reformer of the faith of his countrymen. As a specimen of his style, we subjoin his version of the Lord's prayer, which may be advantageously compared with those of a somewhat earlier period, given above. It dates from the year 1370. "Our fadyr that art in heavenes, Halloed by thy name, Thy kingdome come to, Be thy will done in erthe as in heavene; Gove to us this day our bread over other substance; And forgif to us our dettis, as we forgeven to our detters; And leed us not into temptatioun; But deliver us from evel. Amen." In the year 1328 was born Geoffrey Chaucer, who is generally termed the father of English poetry; he was, however, preceded by John Gower. Mr. Chambers places Gower after Chaucer, though he says that the former is supposed osed to have been a few years older; he should, we think, have noticed that Gower himself, in his Confession of a Lover, calls Chaucer his disciple. But they were before the public at the same time, and it is probably owing to the immense superiority of his contemporary in all the true qualifications of a poet, that the reputation of Gower has never been very great. Chaucer has always had his ardent admirers, and ample justice is rendered to him in the work before us. "His early pieces have much of the frigid conceit and pedantry of his age, when the passion of love was erected into a sort of court, governed by statutes, and a system of chivalrous my thology (such as the poetical worship of the rose and the daisy) supplanted the stateliness of the old romance. In time he threw off these conceits,— 'He stooped to truth, and moralized his song.' When about sixty, in the calm evening of a busy life, he composed his Canterbury Tales, simple and varied as nature itself, imbued with the results of extensive experience and close observation, and colored with the genial lights of a happy temperament, that had looked on the world without austerity, and passed through its changing scenes without losing the freshness and vivacity of youthful feeling and imagination." As a poet, Chaucer certainly deserves all the praise which has been so liberally bestowed on him; but there have not been wanting those who charge him with having exerted a baneful influence upon the subsequent fate of the English language. He had visited France and Italy, and one at least of his tales is taken from the Italian of Petrarch. Skinner somewhat harshly blames him for having vitiated his native speech "by whole cartloads of foreign words." Two Scottish writers, John Barbour, archdeacon of Aberdeen, and Andrew Wyntoun, prior of St. Serf's monastery in Lochleven, the former the author of The Bruce, the latter of a metrical "Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland," complete the first period of the literature of England, ending with the year 1400; but we think that mention ought to have been made of Lydgate, a monk of Bury, who was nearly contemporary with Chaucer. A single stanza from his Fall of Princes will show that he lays no claim to great poetical powers, and will at the same time form a fit conclusion to our series of quotations illustrating the progress of the English language. "I meane as thus I haue no fresh licour Nor through Clio in rhethorike no floure In my labour for to refresh me; Nor of the sisters in number thrise three, Which with Cithera on Parnaso dwell, They neuer me gaue drinke once of their wel." This, then, was the appearance which our language wore at the commencement of the fifteenth century. The works which we have described had meanwhile given an importance to the popular language which more than sufficed to counterbalance the advantage that the Norman-French possessed as the language of the court, of legal documents, and of education. In 1362, Edward the Third found himself compelled to substitute the use of English for that of French in judicial proceedings; and "in the same reign, schoolmasters, for the first time, caused their pupils to construe the classical tongues into the vernacular." In Parliament, on the other hand, the French maintained its place until the year 1483; but before that time, it was often found necessary in public documents to add the English translation of many French words. Thus we read, "Notre dit soverain seignur le Roi ad ordeigne qe null merchant, amesne maunde ne convoie ascuns de cestes wares desoutz escritez: laces, corses, ribans, frenges de soie, aundirons, gridirnes, marteus vulgarement nommez hamers, pinsons, firetonges, drepyngpannes, dises (dice), tenys balles, daggers, vodeknyves, botkyns, sheres pour taillours, cisours, rasors, shethes, agules pour sacs vulgarement nommez paknedles, &c." It must strike an observant reader of more modern English works, that there is a considerable difference between one author and another, with respect to the proportion of Germanic and Romance words which they employ. An examination of some passages taken indiscriminately from their writings proves, that for one hundred words of Germanic origin the translators of the Bible use four of French; Shakspeare and Cowley, fifteen; Spenser, Milton, Thomson, and Addison, twenty-two; Locke and Young, twenty-seven ; while Robertson employs more than forty; Pope, fifty; and Hume and Gibbon nearly sixty. Swift, on the other hand, has scarcely as many as Shakspeare. It is evident that the more energetic and forcible, and the more popular writers, those, in fact, whose books are in the hands of the people, use more Germanic words than those who have written for scholars and men of science, and whose style is classical and refined. The greater part of the vocabulary which we make use of in common conversation we have received from our Saxon ancestors; for the subjects of common talk are generally material substances, which are mostly designated by Germanic words. The heavenly bodies, as sun, moon, and stars; the elements, earth, fire, and water; the divisions of |