THE ANGLIAN PERIOD.
While Canterbury was so important a seminary of learning, there was, in
the Anglian region of Northumbria, a development of religious and
intellectual life which makes it natural to regard the whole brilliant
era from the later seventh to the early ninth century as "The Anglian
Period." Not only did the greatest school of the whole island grow up at
York, but also one that, with its important library, was for the time
the most active and useful in the whole of Western Europe.
The importance of the Anglian period consists in the fact that it
belongs not merely to one nation, but that Anglia became for a century
the light-spot of European history; and that here we recognise the first
great stage in the revival of learning, and the first movement towards
the establishment of public order in things temporal and spiritual.
Happily, the period stands out in a good historical light, and the chief
elements of its influence are finely exhibited in the persons of
representative men or representative groups.
There is Paulinus, the fugitive missionary from Kent, who made the first
rapid evangelisation of the northern country; King Edwin and his court
form a well-displayed group between the old darkness and the coming
light, as they consult and compare the two; Oswald, returning from exile
to be king, and bringing with him the Scotian type of Christianity;
Aidan, the first Scotian bishop of Lindisfarne, and the model of
pastors; Wilfrid, the champion of Roman unity, confronting Colman at the
synod of Whitby before Oswy, the presiding king, on the absorbing
question of the time; Wilfrid appealing to Rome against Theodore; and
yet again, Wilfrid, the first Anglo-Saxon missionary; Biscop Baducing
(Benedict Biscop), the founder of abbeys, the traveller, the introducer
of arts from abroad; Cædmon, the cowherd, the divinely-inspired singer
and the father of a school of English poetry; Cuthberht, the
shepherd-boy, abbot, bishop, hermit, and finally the national saint of
Northumbria; Willebrord and the two Hewalds, and all the glorious band
of missionaries and martyrs; Winfrid (Boniface), the crown of them all,
apostle of Germany, and martyr; Beda, the teacher and historian;
Ecgberct and Alberct, successively archbishops of York, acknowledged
presidents of Western learning; Alcuin, the bearer of Anglian learning
to the Franks, and the organiser of schools for the future ages.
After Aldhelm, the first Englishman who appeared as an author was Æddi,
better known as Eddius Stephanus. He was the friend and companion of
Wilfrid in his contentions and troubles, and, after his death, he wrote
a biography of him in Latin. This book is of great value as an
authority, and as illustrating the history of the later seventh and
early eighth century. Wilfrid died in 709, the same year as Aldhelm.
Wilfrid was the master-spirit of this age. He represented the best aims
of his nation; he understood the needs of the time; he worked for them,
and he suffered for them. With an overbearing spirit, fantastic too
often in his conduct, he saw what was needed--he saw the necessity for
unity with Rome. This was a necessity, not for one country alone, but
for the whole West at that time. Protestant writers have looked at
Wilfrid through a distorting medium. Nowhere, perhaps, is there more
need to allow for difference of times than in estimating Wilfrid. He had
great faults; he quarrelled with the best men; but, on the other hand,
Theodore, the most important of all his adversaries, sought
reconciliation at last, and accused himself of injustice. Wilfrid
initiated the German missions; he impressed on that great field of Saxon
activity the policy of his agitated life, and that policy was ever
militant in Boniface, the chief apostle of Germany, and may be said to
have triumphed when the Roman Empire was renewed in harmony with the
Holy See, and Charles was crowned in 800. Wilfrid, more than any other
man, appears as the ideal representative of that varied influence,
religious, literary, political, which the Anglo-Saxon Church exercised
upon the Western world.
The beginning of our vernacular literature, so far as it can be treated
chronologically, lies between the years 658 and 680. For these are the
years of the abbacy of Hild at Whitby, and it was in her time that
Cædmon appeared, who had received the gift of divine song in a vision
of the night. When this heavenly call was recognised, the herdsman
became a brother of the religious fraternity, and devoted his life to
the pursuit of sacred poetry. To the lover of the mother tongue it must
appear a singular felicity that Cædmon's first hymn is preserved in a
book that was written not much more than half-a-century after his
death.[64]
Nu scylun hergan
hefaenricaes uard,
metudæs maecti
end his modgidanc;
uerc uuldurfadur;
sue he uundra gihuaes,
eci dryctin,
or astelidæ.
He aerist scop
aelda barnum
heben til hrofe,
halig scepen;
tha middungeard
moncynnæs uard,
eci dryctin,
æfter tiadæ
firum foldan
frea allmectig.
Now shall we glorify
the guardian of heaven's realm,
the Maker's might
and the thought of his mind;
the work of the glory-father,
how He of every wonder,
He the Lord eternal
laid the foundation.
He shapèd erst
for the sons of men,
heaven their roof,
holy Creator;
the middle world he,
mankind's sovereign,
eternal captain,
afterwards created,
the land for men
Lord Almighty.[65]
BEDA was born in 672, in the neighbourhood of Wearmouth, two
years before Biscop founded an abbey there. Of this abbey Beda became an
inmate in his seventh year, under Abbot Biscop. He was afterwards moved
to the sister foundation at Jarrow, under Abbot Ceolfrid, and there he
lived, with rare absences, the remainder of his life. He was ordained
deacon at the early age of nineteen; in his thirtieth year he was
ordained priest; he died in his sixty-third year, A.D. 735. He
was a very prolific author, and he has left us, at the end of his most
considerable work, a sketch of his life, and a list of his writings,
down to the fifty-ninth year of his age, A.D. 731. The bulk of
his works are theological, chiefly in the form of commentaries, and they
are little more than extracts from the best known of the Fathers. This
was adapted to the needs of the time, and Bede's commentaries were held
in great esteem during the whole period. Ælfric, in the tenth century,
used them largely for his "Homilies."
Of all Bede's works, the chronological made the greatest immediate
impression, and was of most general use at the time and for some
centuries afterwards. The computation of Easter was the groundwork of
the ecclesiastical year, and every church felt the benefit of his
services. Chronology was then in its early maturity, and the Christian
era was not yet a familiar method of reckoning. Bede was the first
historian who arranged his materials according to the years from the
Incarnation. He had made himself completely master of this subject, and
he left it in such order that nothing more had to be done to it, or
could be improved upon it, for many centuries.
His fullest and most detailed work on chronology is entitled "De
Temporum Ratione," and to this is added a chronicle of the world. On
this elaborate work he was working down to A.D. 726. We have the
authority of Ideler for saying that this is a complete guide to the
calculation of times and festivals. He treats of the several divisions
of time; and under the months, he speaks of the moon's orbit (c. xvii.),
and its importance for the calendar, and the relation of the moon to the
tides (c. xxix.); then of the equinoxes and solstices, the varying
length of the days, the seasons of the year, the intercalary day, the
cycle of nineteen years, the reckoning Anno Domini (c. xlvii.),
indictions, epacts, the determination of Easter. All these things are
taught with theoretical thoroughness, as well as also in their practical
application. He also (c. lxv.) made a table for Easter from A.D. 532,
"when Dionysius began the first cycle," to A.D. 1063.[66] This is
followed by the "Chronicle or Six Ages of this World," altogether a work
that was a growing nucleus, and went on expanding down to the invention
of printing and the revival of classical literature.
But the works on which his eminence permanently rests, and by which he
made all posterity indebted to him, are his historical and biographical
writings. He wrote a poem on the miracles of St. Cuthbert, and
afterwards he wrote a prose narrative "Of the Life and Miracles of St.
Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne;" and in this, though a new and
independent work, something of the poem is reproduced. It is in this
prose work that we find the call of Cuthbert on the night of Aidan's
death, the details of his hermit life on the rocky islet of Farne, to
which he had retired for greater rigour of devotion, from which he was
called back to be bishop at Lindisfarne, and to which after two years'
episcopate he again retired for the remnant of his life.
He wrote also a prose life of St. Felix, drawing his materials from the
metrical life of that saint in hexameters by Paulinus.
His greatest biographical work is "Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and
Jarrow, namely, Benedict, Ceolfrid, Easterwini, Sigfrid, and Hwetbert."
These were the heads of the two sister foundations with which his career
was identified; and some of them had been his own teachers. The Life of
Benedict is the most interesting, as might be expected, and it fills the
largest part of the book.
Finally, his greatest work, the work which is a gift for all time, is
his "Church History of the Anglian People." This was the work of the
author's mature powers, and some of his earlier writings are made use of
in it. In this history, which is divided into five books, there is,
first, a summary of the history of Britain, from the time of Julius
Cæsar down to the time of Gregory the Great. This part occupies
twenty-two chapters, and is drawn from Orosius and Gildas and
Constantius. The proper narrative of Bede begins at chap. xxiii., and
there the conversion and early history of Saxon Christianity is given
down to the time of the restoration of the old church of St. Saviour
(Canterbury Cathedral), and the institution of the monastery of SS.
Peter and Paul (St. Augustine's). The last chapter is of the decisive
battle of Degsastan, which determined the superiority of the Angles over
the Scotti. The second book begins with the death of Gregory and goes
down to the death of Æduini, King of Northumbria, A.D. 633. In
this book occurs a remarkable speech made by one of Æduini's nobles, in
the debate about a change of religion:--
"The present life of man in the world, O king, is, by comparison with
that time which is unknown, like as when you are sitting at table with
your aldermen and thanes in the winter season, the fire blazing in the
midst, and the hall cheerfully warm, while the whirlwinds rage
everywhere outside and drive the rain or the snow; one of the sparrows
comes in and flies swiftly through the house, entering at one door and
out at the other. So long as it is inside, it is sheltered from the
storm, but when the brief momentary calm is past, the bird is in the
cold as before, and is no more seen. So this human life is visible for a
time: but of what follows or what went before we are utterly ignorant.
Wherefore, if this new doctrine should offer anything surer, it seems
worthy to be followed." (ii., 13.)
The third book goes down to the appointment of Theodore to be Archbishop
of Canterbury, A.D. 665.
This book contains the decision for Roman unity, and the defeat and
departure of Colman and his Scotian clergy. Bede was a hearty adherent
of the Roman obedience, and his affectionate tribute to the work of the
Irish is all the more remarkable. He pauses upon the record of their
departure as upon the close of a good time that had been, and to which
he looks wistfully back.
"The great frugality and content of him and his predecessors was
witnessed by the very place they ruled; for at their departure there
were very few buildings besides the church; just what civilised life
absolutely requires, and no more. Their only capital was their cattle;
for if rich men gave them money, they presently gave it to the poor. Of
funds and halls for entertaining the worldly great they had no need, as
such personages never came but to pray and hear the word of God. The
King himself, when occasion required, would come with just five or six
thanes, and after prayer in church would depart; and if it chanced they
took refreshment there, they were content with just the simple every-day
fare of the brothers, and wanted nothing better. For at that time those
teachers made it their entire business to serve not the world but God,
and their whole care to cherish not the belly but the heart. And
consequently the religious garb was at that time in great veneration; so
much so that, wherever a cleric or a monk arrived, he was joyfully
received by all as the servant of God. Even upon the road, if one were
found travelling, they would run to him, and bend the head, and rejoice
if he signed them with the cross, or uttered a blessing; at the same
time they gave careful attention to their words of exhortation.
Moreover, on Sundays they would race to the church or the monasteries,
not to refresh the body, but to hear God's word; and if one of the
priests happened to come to a village, the villagers were quickly
assembled, and were wanting to hear from him the word of life. And,
indeed, the priests on their part or the clerics had no other object in
going to the villages but for preaching, baptising, visiting the sick,
and in a word for the care of souls; being so entirely purged from all
infection of avarice, that none accepted lands and possessions for
building monasteries unless compelled to do so by secular lords. Such
conduct was maintained in the Northumbrian churches for some time after
this date. But I have said enough." (iii., 26.)
The fourth book goes down to the death, A.D. 687, of the saint
of whom Bede had previously written, both in verse and in prose, the
Saint of Northumbria, St. Cuthbert.
This book contains another passage to show that Bede looked wistfully
back to a blessed time that had been, and for which he was born too
late. He has been speaking of Theodore and Hadrian, and he is about to
speak of Wilfrid and Æddi, when he thus breaks out:--"Never, never,
since the Angles came to Britain, were there happier times; brave and
Christian kings held all barbarians in awe; the universal ambition was
for those heavenly joys of which men had recently heard; and all who
desired to be instructed in sacred learning had masters ready to teach
them." (iv., 2.)
This book also contains the history of Cædmon, which is perhaps the most
frequently quoted piece of all Bede's writings:--
"In the monastery of this abbess [Hild], there was a certain brother,
eminently distinguished by divine grace, for he was wont to make songs
fit for religion and piety, so that, whatever he learnt out of Scripture
by means of interpreters, this he would after a time produce in his own,
that is to say, the Angles' tongue, with poetical words, composed with
perfect sweetness and feeling. By this man's songs often the minds of
many were kindled to contempt of the world and desire for the celestial
life. Moreover, others after him in the nation of the Angles tried to
make religious poems, but no one was able to equal him. For he learnt
the art of singing not from men, nor through any man's instructions, but
he received the gift of singing unacquired and by divine help. Wherefore
he could never make any frivolous or unprofitable poem, but those things
only which pertain to religion were fit themes for his religious tongue.
During his secular life, which continued up to the time of advanced age,
he had never learnt any songs. And, therefore, sometimes at a feast,
when for merriment sake it was agreed that all should sing in turn, he,
when he saw that the harp was nearing him, would rise from his
unfinished supper and go quietly away to his own home." (iv., 24.)
On one occasion, when this had happened, he went, not to his home, but
to the cattle sheds, to rest, because it was his turn to do so that
night. In his sleep one appeared to him and bade him sing. He pleaded
inability, but the command was repeated. "What then," he asked, "must I
sing?" He was told he must sing of the beginning of created things. Then
he sang a Hymn of Creation, and this hymn he remembered when he was
risen from sleep, and it was the proof of his divine vocation. The hymn
was preserved in Latin as well as in the original; and both have been
quoted above. The poems which he subsequently wrote are thus
described:--
"He sang of the creation of the world and the origin of the human race,
and the whole story of Genesis, of Israel's departure out of Egypt and
entrance into the land of promise, of many other parts of the sacred
history, of the Lord's Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension
into Heaven, of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of the
Apostles. Likewise of the terror of judgment to come, and the awful
punishment of hell, and the bliss of the heavenly kingdom, he made many
poems; many others also concerning divine benefits and judgments, in all
which he sought to wean men from the love of sin, and stimulate them to
the enjoyment and pursuit of good action."
The fifth and last book contains a survey of the condition of the
national Church down to 731, within about four years of the author's
death.
Books of his on the technicalities of literature are a tract on
"Orthography," another "On the Metric Art," also a book "On Figures and
Tropes of Holy Scripture." Least esteemed have been his poetical
compositions, some of which have been suffered to perish. The poem on
the "Miracles of St. Cuthberht" is extant, but the "Book of Hymns in
Various Metre or Rhythm" is lost, and so also is his "Book of Epigrams
in Heroic or Elegiac Metre." But we are not left without an authentic
specimen of his hymnody, as he has incorporated in his history the Hymn
of Virginity in praise of Queen Ethelthryð, the foundress of Ely. His
extant poetry proves him to have been an accomplished scholar and a man
of cultivated taste rather than of poetic genius. But we could afford to
lose many Latin poems in consideration of the slightest vernacular
effort of such a man.
Many manuscripts of the "Ecclesiastical History" contain a letter by one
Cuthbert to his fellow-student Cuthwine, describing the manner of Bede's
death. In this letter is contained a pious ditty in the vernacular,
which Bede, who was "learned in our native songs," composed at the time
when he was contemplating the approach of his own dissolution.
Fore there neidfarae
nænig ni uurthit
thonc snoturra
than him tharf sie
to ymbhycggannae,
aer his him iongae,
huaet his gastae
godaes aeththa yflaes
aefter deothdaege
doemid uueorthae.
Before the need-journey
no one is ever
more wise in thought
than he ought,
to contemplate
ere his going hence
what to his soul
of good or of evil
after death-day
deemed will be.[67]
Other remains in the Northumbrian dialect are the Runic inscription on
the Ruthwell Cross, for which the reader is referred to Professor
Stephens's "Old Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England,"
vol. i., p. 405; also the interlinear glosses in the Lindisfarne
Gospels, and in the Durham Ritual. For fuller information on these
glosses I must refer the reader to Professor Skeat's Gospels "in
Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions Synoptically Arranged;" and more
especially to his preface in the concluding volume, which contains the
fourth Gospel. The Psalter, which was published by the Surtees Society
as Northumbrian, is now judged to be Kentish; but that volume contains,
besides, an "Early English Psalter," which presents a later phase of the
Northumbrian dialect.
The poetical works which now bear Cædmon's name received that name from
Junius, the first editor, in 1655, on the ground of the general
agreement of the subjects with Bede's description of Cædmon's works. In
this book we find a first part containing the most prominent narratives
from the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel; and a second part
containing the Descent of Christ into Hades and the delivery of the
patriarchs from their captivity, according to the apocryphal Gospel of
Nicodemus and the constant legend of the Middle Ages. This comprises a
kind of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Of all this, the part which
has attracted most notice is a part of which the materials are found
neither in Scripture nor in any known Apocrypha. The nearest
approximation yet indicated is in the hexameters of Avitus, described
above.[68] This problematical part describes the Fall of Man as the
sequel of the Fall of the Angels, substantially running on the same
lines as Milton's famous treatment of the same subject. It has often
been surmised that Milton may have known of Cædmon through Junius, and
that this knowledge may have affected the cast of his great poem as well
as suggested some of his most famous touches.[69]
The precipitation is thus described:--
329 wæron tha befeallene
fyre to botme
on tha hatan hell
thurh hygeleaste
and thurh ofermetto.
Sohten other land
thæt wæs leohtes leas
and wæs liges full
fyres fær micel.
So were they felled
to the fiery abyss
into the hot hell
through heedlessness
and through arrogance.
They arrived at another land
that was void of light
and was full of flame
fire's horror huge.[70]
When the fallen angel speaks, he begins thus:--
355 Is thes ænga stede
ungelic swithe
tham othrum
the we ær cuthon
heah on heofenrice
the me min hearra onlag.
This confined place
is terribly unlike
that other one
that we knew before
high in heaven's realm
which my lord conferred on me.
Having thus begun with a lamentable cry, he gradually recovers composure
and propounds a policy. He observes that God has created a new and happy
being, who is destined to inherit the glory which he and his have
lost:--
394 He hæfth nu gemearcod anne middangeard
thær he hæfth mon geworhtne
æfter his onlicnesse;
mid tham he wile eft gesettan
heofena rice, mid hluttrum saulum.
We thæs sculon hycgan georne,
thæt we on Adame
gif we æfre mægen,
and on his eafram swa some
andan gebetan.
He hath now designed a middle world
where He man hath made,
after His likeness:--
with which He will repeople
heaven's realm, with stainless souls.
We must thereto give careful heed
that we on Adam
if we ever may
and on his offspring likewise
our harm redress.
The way proposed is by inducing them to displease their Maker, and then
they will be banished to the same place and become the slaves of Satan
and his angels. A messenger is required:--
409 Gif ic ænigum thegne
theoden madmas
geara forgeafe
thenden we on than godan rice
gesælige sæton
and hæfdon ure setla geweald,
thonne heme na on leofrantid
leanum ne meahte
mine gife gyldan.
Gif his gien wolde
minra thegna hwilc
gethafa wurthan
thæt he up heonon
ute mihte
cuman thurh thas clustro
and hæfde cræft mid him
thæt he mid fetherhoman
fleogan meahte
windan on wolcne
thær geworht stondath
Adam and Eve
on eorth rice
mid welan bewunden.
and we synd aworpene hider
on thas deopan dalo.
If I to any thane
lordly treasures
in former times have given,
while we in the good realm
all blissful sate,
and had sway of our mansions:--
at no more acceptable time
could he ever with value
my bounty requite.
If now for this purpose
any one of my thanes
would himself volunteer
that he from here upward
and outward might go,
might come through these barriers
and strength in him had
that with raiment of feather
his flight could take
to whirl on the welkin
where the new work is standing
Adam and Eve
in the earthly realm
with wealth surrounded--
and we are cast away hither
into these deep dales!
Satan rages not so much on account of his own loss as for their gain. If
they could only be ruined by the wrath of God, he declares he could be
at ease even in the midst of woes; and whoever would achieve this he
will reward to his utmost, and give him a seat by his side. Presently we
come to the accoutring of the emissary:--
442 Angan hine tha gyrwan
Godes andsaca
fus on frætwum:
hæfde fræcne hyge.
Hæleth helm on heafod asette
and thone full hearde geband,
spenn mid spangum.
Wiste him spræca fela
wora worda.
Began him then t' equip
th' antagonist of God,
prompt in harness:--
he had a guileful mind.
A magic helm on head he set,
he bound it hard and tight,
braced it with buckles.
Speeches many wist he well,
crooked words.
He takes wing and rises in air; and then comes a passage like Milton:--
Swang thæt fyr on twa
feondes cræfte.
he dashed the fire in two
with fiendish craft.[71]
Arrived at the garden he takes the shape of a serpent, and winds himself
round the forbidden tree. The description recalls the familiar picture
so vividly that we cannot doubt the same picture was before the eyes of
children in the Saxon period as now. He takes some of the fruit and
finds Adam, and addresses him in a speech. He gives a naïve reason why
he is sent:--
507 Brade synd on worulde
grene geardas,
and God siteth
on tham hehstan
heofna rice
ufan. Alwalda
nele tha earfethu
sylfa habban
that he on thisne sith fare,
gumena drihten:--
ac he his gingran sent
to thinre spræce.
Broad are in the world
the green plains,
and God sitteth
in the highest
heavenly realm
above. The Almighty
will not the trouble
himself have,
that He should on this journey fare,
the Lord of men:--
but He sends his deputy
to speak with thee.
These poems are surrounded by interesting questions which it is barely
possible here to indicate. Upon the top of the discussion about Milton,
which is not by any means exhausted, there comes a much larger and wider
field of inquiry as to the relation existing between this Miltonic part
(if I may so speak) and the Old Saxon poem of the "Heliand." The
investigation has been admirably started by Mr. Edouard Sievers in a
little book containing this portion of the text, and exhibiting in
detail the peculiar intimacy of relation between it and the "Heliand,"
in regard to vocabulary, phraseology, and versification. This part of
Mr. Sievers' work is complete. Probably no one who has gone through his
proofs will be found to question his conclusion, that there is between
the "Heliand" and the Saxon "Paradise Lost" such an identity as
isolates those two works from all other literature, and makes it
necessary to trace them to one source. What remains is only to determine
the order of their affiliation. His theory is that our "Cædmon" contains
a large insertion which has been borrowed, not, of course, from the
"Heliand," because the "Heliand" is a poem solely on the Gospel history,
but from a sister poem to the "Heliand," a corresponding poem on the Old
Testament. Professor George Stephens, of Copenhagen, offered a simpler
explanation. He supposed that our piece is a purely domestic remnant of
that school of English poetry which Bede described, and that the
"Heliand" is a continental offspring of the same school, being a
monument of the poetic culture which was planted along the borders of
the Rhine by the Anglo-Saxon missionaries.
ALCUIN'S name connects the Anglian period with the great
Frankish revival of literature under Charlemagne. And as he bears a
prominent part in the establishment of literature in its next European
seat, so also he had the grief of witnessing the earlier stages of that
devastation which extinguished the light in his own country. This is how
he writes on hearing of the invasion of Lindisfarne by the northern
rovers in 793, to Bishop Hugibald and the monks of Lindisfarne:--
"As your beloved society was wont to delight me when I was with you, so
does the report of your tribulation sadden me continually now that I am
absent from you. How have the heathen defiled the sanctuaries of God,
and shed the blood of the saints round about the altar. They have laid
waste the dwelling-place of our hope; they have trodden down the bodies
of the saints in the temple of God like mire in the street. What can I
say? I can only lament in my heart with you before the altar of Christ,
and say: Spare, Lord, spare Thy people, and give not Thy heritage to the
heathen, lest the pagans say, Where is the God of the Christians? What
confidence is there for the churches of Britain if Saint Cuthbert, with
so great a company of saints, defends not his own? Either this is the
beginning of a greater sorrow, or the sins of the people have brought
this upon them."[72]
Thus we have arrived at the verge of that catastrophe which closes for
ever the singular greatness of Anglia. Charles brought learning to
France by drawing from Anglia and from Italy the best plants for his new
field; he inherited the civilising labours of the Saxon missionaries in
his dominions beyond the Rhine; he founded a centre of power and a
centre of education together; and France remained the chief seat of
learning throughout the Middle Ages.[73] The glory of a European
position in literature can no longer be claimed for England. Through the
remainder of our narrative we must be content with a provincial sphere;
and our compensation must be found in the fact that the vernacular
element is all the more freely developed.
FOOTNOTES:
[64] In the famous manuscript of the "Ecclesiastical History" of Bede,
which is commonly known as the Moore manuscript, because it passed with
the library of Bishop Moore (Ely) to the University of Cambridge, is in
a hand which is thought to be as old as the time of Bede, who died in
735.
[65] Bede gives the "sense" of this first hymn as follows:--"Nunc
laudare debemus auctorem regni caelestis, potentiam creatoris et
consilium illius, facta patris gloriae; quomodo ille, cum sit aeternus
deus, omnium miraculorum auctor extitit, qui primo filiis hominum caelum
pro culmine tecti, dehinc terram custos humani generis omnipotens
creavit."--"Ecclesiastical History," iv. 24.
[66] Adolf Ebert's account of Bede in "History of Christian-Latin
Literature," translated by Mayor and Lumby in their admirable edition of
the third and fourth books of Bede's "Church History" (Pitt Press
Series), 1878, p. 11.
[67] The general correctness of our translation is assured by the fact
that the Latin text in which it is embodied supplies a Latin
translation, thus:--"quod ita latine sonat: 'ante necessarium exitum
prudentior quam opus fuerit nemo existit, ad cogitandum videlicet
antequam hinc proficiscatur anima, quid boni vel mali egerit, qualiter
post exitum judicanda fuerit.'"--"Bedæ Hist. Eccl.," iii., iv. (Mayor
and Lumby), p. 177.
[68] Page 14.
[69] There has been a recent discussion of this question by Professor
Wülcker in "Anglia," with a negative result. But the conclusion rests on
too slight a basis.
[70] "Milton has the same idea in a kindred passage, but it is not so
terse, so condensed, as Cædmon's:--
'Yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe.'
"In Job x. 22 we also find a similar idea:--'A land of darkness, as
darkness itself; and of the shadow of death without any order, and where
the light is as darkness.' They are all powerful, all dreadful, but
Cædmon's 'without light, and full of flame,' is much the strongest. It
is an Inferno in a line."--ROBERT SPENCE WATSON, "Cædmon," p. 44.
[71] "Paradise Lost," i., 221:--
"Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty stature; on each hand the flames,
Driv'n backward, slope their pointing spires, and roll'd
In billows, leave i' th' midst a horrid vale."
[72] Wright, "Biographia Literaria," Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 353.
[73] The new start of literature under Charles is briefly and
brilliantly stated in the first paragraph of Adolf Ebert's second
volume.