Vocabulary, and a Latin Colloquy. His third series of homilies, on the lives of the saints, followed about 997. He is also credited with three translations of Alcuin's Interrogationes Sigewulfi Presbyteri in Genesin, of St. Basil's Hexameron, and of Bede's De Temporibus. He next, c. 998, made a homiletic paraphrase of the first seven books of the Bible, and three others on the Books of Job, Esther, and Judith ; and about the same time he composed a pastoral for Wulfsige, Bishop of Sherborne, and a translation of St. Basil's Advice to a Spiritual Son. A homily, On the Sevenfold Gifts of the Holy Ghost, may also be by Ælfric. He now left Wessex to be abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Eynsham, in Mercia (Oxfordshire), where, in 1005, he wrote in Latin a Letter to the Monks of Eynsham; soon afterwards (c. 1006), his Vita Æthelwoldi; and a letter in English to Wulfgeat, a thane at Ilmington. Perhaps in 1009 he wrote his treatise De Veteri et de Novo Testamento, and a letter to Sigferth. Between 1014 and 1016 belongs his pastoral letter, written in Latin for Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, and translated by himself soon afterwards. He died c. 1020.

Elfric's Character and Work. His character was lofty, charitable, and of a singular attractiveness. He loved England, and sought earnestly the good of the Church, the king, and the people. Believing that learning was the handmaiden of religion and morality, he was not only a zealous Churchman, but a devoted teacher. He was not an original thinker; but he was keenly interested in Western theology and Continental learning generally, and made it available to his own country. He was the greatest English writer on theology between the 10th and the 15th centuries. In the reformed monasteries not only theology but mathematics, medical science, and natural philosophy were studied. His work made easier the labours of the great Churchmen of the succeeding century.

Ælfric's Style.-Elfric's is a more finished literary prose than that of Alfred or the earlier homilists. He avoids the Latin constructions so common amongst the homilists, his simpler and clearer style being due to his earnest desire to be understood by the people; in his later manner he became more rhetorical, but this alliterative and rhythmical prose was also due to his desire to reach their ears. Everywhere we feel the persuasiveness of the zealous teacher.

Wulfstan. Next in importance to Elfric amongst the homilists is Wulfstan, whose more pointed and strenuous style reflects the more active and practical part he took in affairs. He was Bishop of Worcester, and also (1002) Archbishop of York. He died in 1023. A large number of homilies have been ascribed to him, but only five are certainly his. Of these, the Address to the English is famous; in it he tells of the Danish invasions, lays the blame upon the wickedness and cowardice of the English, and threatens them with the fate of the Britons. It is a passionate call to repentance.

Byrhtferth. Another homilist is Byrhtferth (c. 980), a monk of Canterbury, who also wrote in Latin commentaries on Bede, some essays, and a life of Dunstan, as well as divers mathematical works. There exist isolated homilies by unknown writers, some of which are supposed to be Ælfric's.

The Gospels.-There are three English versions of the Gospels belonging to the 10th century. Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne, wrote, c. 700, the extant beautiful MS. of the Lindisfarne Gospels. This Latin text was interlineated with a Northumbrian gloss by Aldred, a priest of Chester-le-Street, c. 950. The Rushworth Gospels, 8th century, were similarly interlineated between 950 and 1000, partly in North-Mercian by a priest near Leeds, and partly in South-Northumbrian by a scribe of that district. The third version is in West-Saxon of the late 10th century. Amongst the Old English prose of the time are versions of certain sacred legends -of the Holy Rood, of a letter sent from Heaven on the observance of Sunday; and others of a secular character-Letter from Alexander to Aristotle from India, Wonders of the East, and Apollonius of Tyre,-tales from the East foreshadowing the mediæval romances. The scientific works include a Leech Book, the Herbarium Apuleii, and the Medicina de Quadrupedibus.

Old English Prose. In these works may be seen the development of English prose. It is at first abrupt and rugged, though at its best dramatic and telling; it becomes a clear, straightforward, simple, unadorned style, capable of weight, dignity, and great force, in the hands of a man of Alfred's personality; and Ælfric made it lighter, more harmonious, more flexible. As might be expected when the matter is so largely taken from Latin, we get certain elements of Latin style, though on the whole our early prose is not an imitation, but a native product.

The Norman Conquest.-There had been no literature in Europe to equal the Anglo-Saxon in the 8th and 9th centuries; and in the 10th, when literature had almost perished from the Continent, Dunstan and Ælfric and their followers had kept it alive in England. With the Norman Conquest there occurs an abrupt change. There is a break in continuity; and when the vernacular literature again appears it is transformed both in matter and spirit.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING LIST

Texts. Cook and TINKER: Translations from Old English Poetry (Ginn, 1902); Translations from Old English Prose (Ginn, 1908).—Beowulf, ed. R. W. Chambers and A. J. Wyatt (Cambridge University Press, 1914); translated by J. R. Clerk Hall (Sonnenschein, 1901).-GREIN-WÜLCKER: Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie (Kassel, 2nd ed., 4 vols., 1883-95).—GOLLANCZ, Sir I.: Exeter Book (E.E.T.S. 1895, etc.).—WYATT, A. J.: Anglo-Saxon Reader (Cambridge University Press, 1919).—Sedgefield, W. J.: An Anglo-Saxon Verse-Book (Manchester University Press, 1922).-CEDMON: Exodus and Daniel, ed. F. A. Blackburn (Belles Lettres Series, Heath, 1908); The Poems of Cadmon, trans. Kennedy

(Routledge, 1916).—CYNEWULF: Crist, ed. A. S. Cook (Boston, 1900); Dream of the Rood (Clarendon Press, 1905); ed. A. S. Cook (Boston, 1905); The Poems of Cynewulf, trans. Kennedy (Routledge, 1910); The Old English Elene, Phoenix, and Physiologus, ed. A. S. Cook (Yale University Press, 1919); Cynewulf's Crist, ed. Sir I. Gollancz (Nutt, 1892); Andreas and Fates of the Apostles, ed. G. P. Krapp (Boston, 1896).— BEDE: Opera Historica, ed. C. Plummer (2 vols., Clarendon Press, 1896); Old English Version. of Bede (2 parts, E.E.T.S., 1890-8); trans. Scudder (Everyman, Dent, 1903).—ALFRED: Gregory's Pastoral Care (E.E.T.S., 1871); Orosius (E.E.T.S., 1883); Asser's Life of King Alfred, ed. W. H. Stevenson (Clarendon Press, 1904).-Blickling Homilies, ed. R. Morris (E.E.T.S., 1874-80).-Selections from Elfric's Homilies, ed. H. Sweet (Clarendon Press, 1896).—PLUMMER, C.: Two of the Saxon Chronicles parallel (Clarendon Press, 1892-9).-Judith, ed. A. S. Cook (Harrap, 1904).—Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. R. Morris (E.E.T.S., 1871).

Studies.-TRAILL, H. D. : Social England, Vol. I. (Cassell, 1898).-BROOKE, STOPFORD A.: Early English Literature (Macmillan, 1892); English Literature to the Norman Conquest (Macmillan, 1898).—EARLE, J.: Anglo-Saxon Literature (S.P.C.K., 1884).-TEN BRINK, B.: Early English Literature (3 vols., Bell, 1883).-KER, W. P.: The Dark Ages (Blackwood, 1904).—MORLEY, H.: English Writers, Vols. I., II. (Cassell, 1887-8).-PLUMMER, C.: Life and Times of Alfred the Great (Clarendon Press, 1902).—Chambers, R. W. Widsith (Cambridge University Press, 1912).

CHAPTER 6. THE LANGUAGE-OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

(c. 700-1100)

Old English Dialects-The Oldest Texts-The Alphabet, Pronunciation, and General
Characteristics

The earliest extant specimens of English date from the end of the 7th century, about 200 years after the spoken language was introduced. Three linguistic periods of Old English may thus be distinguished: (1) Prehistoric; (2) Early Historic, from the earliest records to c. 900; (3) Late Historic, c. 900-1100.

Old English Dialects. The area over which the Anglian dialects of Northumbrian and Mercian were spoken was originally co-extensive with the old kingdoms of Northumbria (from the Humber to the Forth) and Mercia (from the Humber to the Thames), but after Alfred's victories over the Danes, the southern dialect of West-Saxon was extended north of the Thames to Watling Street, and included London. Kentish was spoken in the south-east, including part of Surrey. Dialectal differences are found in the oldest texts, and increase in significance during the period. The Anglian dialects had various distinctive characteristics in common, some of which were shared by Kentish, and it is probable that some differences already existed before the Angles and Saxons left the Continent. No literary records of East Anglian are extant, but divergences may be traced between North and South Northumbrian, and between literary West-Saxon and the Saxon patois of the Blickling Homilies; and the subsequent Middle English development shows that literary and spoken West-Saxon were not identical.

Old English Texts.-The bulk of the older poetic literature, Beowulf, Widsith, the so-called Elegies and Lyrics, the Riddles, and the works attributed to Cædmon and Cynewulf, though not of West-Saxon origin, has been preserved in late WestSaxon copies and a partly normalized dialect. The prose and later poetry are almost entirely West-Saxon, and information as to the other dialects is gleaned from texts of lesser literary importance.

NORTHUMBRIAN: Early (8th century). on Ruthwell Cross. Late (10th century). Ritual (Interlinear versions in Latin MSS.).

Cædmon's Hymn, Bede's Death-Song. Inscription
Lindisfarne and Rushworth Gospels. Durham

MERCIAN: Early. Épinal Glosses (c. 700). Corpus Glosses (c. 750). Charters (from 8th century). Vespasian Psalter and Hymns (9th century). Late (10th century). St. Matthew in Rushworth Gospels.

WEST-SAXON: Early. Charters (from before 700). 9th century. Works of Alfred and AngloSaxon Chronicle. Late (10th and 11th centuries). Works of Ælfric.

KENTISH: Early. Charters from 8th and 9th centuries. Late. Kentish Psalm and Hymn. Kentish Glosses.

Old English Alphabet and Character. - The Old Germanic Runic character, adapted from the Roman for cutting in wood, stone, or metal, was still used for inscriptions of this kind in England, as on the Bewcastle and Ruthwell Crosses and the Franks Casket. Runes were also occasionally used for abbreviations or acrostical devices in MSS., as in the Rune Song, or Cynewulf's signature of his name in four poems.

Cynewulf's signature.- ▲ (Cēn) ★ (Yr) ★ (Nyd) M (Epel) P (Wen) ǹ (Ur) ▲ (Lagu) (Feoh).

The usual Anglo-Saxon character is the Irish form of the Roman script which was introduced in the northern monasteries, and replaced the earlier type in use at Canterbury.

Modifications of the Roman Alphabet.—The runic characters þ (thorn) and p (wen) were used for th (as in thick) and w, and ỡ (properly dd) for th (as in then); g had a special Anglo-Saxon form 3; 9, %, and v were represented respectively by cw, s, and ƒ, and k by c (rarely k); y was used for the modified u (German ü), and the digraph æ for the vowel-sounds in that and être (Eng. there approximately). Vowel-length was sometimes indicated by doubling the vowel.

Pronunciation.-Old English spelling is mainly phonetic. The vowels a, e, i, o, u, had the present Continental values, and diphthongs were stressed on the first element (falling stress). Several consonants had more than one sound-value:

f, s, þ had (a) the sounds in face, soon, thin in the initial and final position and next to s or t, (b) those in of, as, the medially next to vowels; g and c had (a) the sounds in go, come, (b) sounds approximating to those in yet, edge, chin; h had (a) the sound in home, and (b) that in Scotch loch or German nacht.

Various important changes in pronunciation (the sound-changes of Umlaut, Breaking, Palatal diphthongization, etc.) took place in the Old English vowelsystem in prehistoric times, and there were considerable modifications in historic times, of which the most important in its effect on the development of English was the gradual reducing of unstressed vowels in inflectional syllables and endings to the unstressed -e, thus giving rise to the levelled endings of Middle English.

General Characteristics of Old English. (a) Inflection. Old English was still a fully inflected language, though many of the Old Germanic inflectional distinctions had already disappeared. Nouns were still differentiated according to their stem into two main groups, vocalic and consonantal stems, often called "strong" and "weak" (this ignores a few minor consonant groups) from their general correspondence with the German strong and weak declensions. The three original classes of masculine and neuter vocalic stems (a, i, and u declensions) and some minor consonantal groups were already tending to fall together under one type, which by the end of the period was declined as follows:

Nom. Acc. stan, G. stānes, D. ståne; Nom. Acc. Pl. stānas (-es), G. stāna (-e), D. stānum (-en), with difference only in the frequent retention of the old uninflected Nom. Acc. Pl. of the Neuter (cf. Modern English plurals sheep, deer, etc.).