ÆLFRIC.
Alfred died in 901. From this to the Norman Conquest there are 165
years, and the middle of this period is characterised by the works of
the greatest of Anglo-Saxon prose-writers.
The productions of Alfred and the scholars that surrounded him, are to
be understood as extraordinary efforts, and as beacons to raise men's
minds rather than as specimens of the state of learning in the country,
or even as monuments of attainments that were likely soon to become
general. Although the literary movement under Alfred was so far
sustained that it did not subsequently die out, yet it would perhaps be
too much to say that he achieved a complete revival of learning. In the
inert state of the religious houses, the soil was unprepared. Still, a
taste was kindled which continued to propagate itself until the time
when the religious houses became active seats of education. This did not
happen until the second half of the tenth century, when the reform of
the monasteries by Æthelwold and Dunstan produced that great educational
and literary movement of which the representative name is Ælfric.
The impetus which Alfred had imparted did not cease with his life. If we
look into the Chronicles, we see that the Alfredian style of work is
continued down to the death of his son Edward, in 924, and that from
that point the stream of history dwindles and becomes meagre. This may
be typical of what happened over a wider surface. The impulse given to
translation may be supposed to have continued, and we may specify two
translations likely to have been made at this time. These are the Four
Gospels[118] and the poetical Psalter.[119]
A feature of the Gospels is that the name of Jesus is regarded as a
descriptive title, and subjected to translation. It never appears in its
original form, but always as "Se Hælend"--that is, The Healer, The
Saviour.
To this period, the first half of the tenth century, must be assigned
some translations of another sort. There are some considerable remains
of a translating period that gave to the English reader a mass of
apocryphal, romantic, fantastic, and even heretical reading; and that
period can hardly be any other than this. I imagine that now as a
consequence of the new literary interest awakened by King Alfred, many
old book-chests were explored, and things came to light which had been
stored in the monasteries of Wessex ever since the seventh and eighth
centuries. These writings claim a manifest affinity with the early
products of the Gaulish monasteries, and from these they would naturally
have been diffused in southern Britain. But, since the religious life of
Gaul had been touched and quickened with the reform of the second
Benedict in the ninth century, some old things would have been condemned
and rejected there, which might still enjoy credit with the
old-fashioned clergy of Wessex.
Of apocryphal materials in Anglo-Saxon literature there are several
varieties. First, there is the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus. This is
from a Latin version of the Greek "Acts of Pilate," and it is our
earliest extant source for that prolific subject, the Harrowing of Hell.
The Greek text laid claim to a Hebrew original:--
--her onginnath tha gedonan thing the be urum Hælende
gedone wæron . eall swa Theodosius se mæra casere hyt funde
on Hierusalem on thæs Pontiscan Pilates domerne . eall swa
hyt Nychodemus awrat . eall mid Ebreiscum stafum on manegum
bocum thus awriten:
--here begin the actual things that were done in connexion
with our Saviour, just as Theodosius the illustrious
emperor found it in Jerusalem in Pontius Pilate's
court-house; according as Nicodemus wrote it down all with
Hebrew writing on many leaves as follows.
The "Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn" belong to a legendary stock that
has sent its branches into all the early vernacular literatures of
Europe. The germ is found in the Bible and in Josephus. In 1 Kings x.
1, we read that, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon,
she came to prove him with hard questions. Josephus, in the "Jewish
Antiquities," vii. 5, tells a curious story about hard questions passing
between Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre. From such a root appear to have
grown the multiform legends in various languages which passed under such
names as the "Controversy of Solomon," the "Dialogues of Solomon and
Saturn," or of "Solomon and Marculfus." This became at length a mocking
form of literature; often a burlesque and parody of religion. Mr. Kemble
traces these legends to Jewish tradition; but of all the examples
preserved he says "the Anglo-Saxon are undoubtedly the oldest.... With
the sole exception of one French version, they are the only forms of the
story remaining in which the subject is seriously and earnestly treated;
and, monstrous as the absurdities found in them are, we may be well
assured that the authors were quite unconscious of their
existence."[120] There are, however, some places in which one is moved
to doubt whether the extravagance is the product of pure simplicity, and
without the least tinge of drollery.
But the reader may judge for himself. The fragments preserved are partly
poetical and partly in prose: the poetry is rather insipid; our
quotation shall be from the prose. The subject is the praise and eulogy
of the Lord's Prayer, which is personified and anatomised. Saturnus
asks, "What manner of head hath the Pater Noster?" And, again, "What
manner of heart hath the Pater Noster?" We quote from the answer to the
latter question:--
Salomon cwæth. His heorte is xii thusendum sitha beohtre
thonne ealle thas seofon heofenas the us sindon
ofergesette, theah the hi syn ealle mid thy domiscan fyre
onæled, and theah the eal theos eorthe him neothan togegnes
birne, and heo hæbbe fyrene tungan, and gyldenne hracan,
and leohtne muth inneweardne ... ... he is rethra and
scearpra thonne eal middangeard, theah he sy binnan his
feower hwommum fulgedrifen wildeora, and anra gehwylc deor
hæbbe synderlice xii hornas irene, and anra gehwylc horn
hæbbe xii tindas irene, and anra gehwylc tind hæbbe
synderlice xii ordas, and anra gehwylc ord sy xii thusendum
sitha scearpra thonne seo an flan the sy fram
hundtwelftigum hyrdenna geondhyrded . And theah the seofon
middangeardas syn ealle on efn abrædde on thisses anes
onlicnesse, and thær sy eal gesomnod thætte heofon oththe
hel oththe eorthe æfre acende, ne magon by tha lifes linan
on middan ymb fæthmian. And se Pater Noster he mæg anna
ealla gesceafta on his thære swithran hand on anes
wæxæpples onlienesse gethŷn and gewringan. And his gethoht
he is springdra and swiftra thonne xii thusendu haligra
gasta, theah the anra gehwylc gast hæbbe synderlice xii
fetherhoman, and anra gehwylc fetherhoma hæbbe xii windas,
and aura gehwylc wind twelf sigefæstnissa
synderlice.--Kemble, pp. 148-152.
Solomon said: His heart is 12,000 times brighter than all
the seven heavens that over us are set, though they should
be all aflame with the doomsday fire, and though all this
earth should blaze up towards them from beneath, and it
should have a fiery tongue, and golden throat, and mouth
lighted up within ... ... he is fiercer and sharper than
all the world, though within its four corners it should be
driven full of wild deer, and each particular deer have
severally twelve horns of iron, and each particular horn
have twelve tines of iron, and each particular tine have
severally twelve points, and each particular point be
12,000 times sharper than the arrow which had been hardened
by 120 hardeners. And though the seven worlds should be all
fairly spread out after the fashion of this one, and
everything should be there assembled that heaven or hell or
earth ever engendered, they may not encircle the girth of
his body at the middle. And the Pater Noster, he can by
himself in his right hand grasp and squeeze all creation
like a wax-apple. And his thought it is more alert and
swifter than 12,00 angelic spirits, though each particular
spirit have severally twelve suits of feathers, and each
particular feather-suit have twelve winds, and each
particular wind twelve victoriousnesses all to itself.
I do not undertake to assert that this piece is as old as the first half
of the tenth century; it is placed here only because this seems to be
the most natural place for the group of literature to which it belongs.
As I said, the reader must judge for himself whether this is perfectly
serious. I believe that these "Dialogues" are the only part of
Anglo-Saxon literature that can be suspected of mockery. The earliest
laughter of English literature is ridicule; and if this ridicule seems
to touch things sacred, it will, on the whole, I think, be found that
not the sacred things themselves, but some unreal or spurious use of
them, is really attacked. So here, if there is any appearance of a sly
derision, the thing derided is not the Pater Noster, but the vain and
magical uses which were too often ascribed to the repetition of it.
Here we must find a place for the translation of "Apollonius of Tyre."
This has all the features of a Greek romance, but it is only known to
exist in a Latin text, so that it has been questioned whether this
Latin romance is a translation from a Greek original, or a story
originally Latin in imitation of the Greek romancists. With those who
have investigated the subject, the hypothesis of translation is most in
favour, and for the following reason. The story presents an appearance
of double stratification, such as might naturally result if a heathen
Greek romance had been translated into Latin by a Christian. Although
the phenomenon could be equally explained by supposing a Latin heathen
original which had been re-written by a Christian editor, yet the former
is the more natural and the more probable hypothesis.[121]
We now come to the Blickling Homilies, a recently-published book of
great importance. It is not a homogeneous work, but a motley collection
of sermons of various age and quality. Some of the later sermons are not
so very different from those of Ælfric; but these are not the ones that
give the book its character. The older sort have very distinct
characteristics of their own, and they furnish a deep background to the
Homilies of Ælfric. They are plainly of the age before the great Church
reform of the tenth century, when the line was very dimly drawn between
canonical and uncanonical, and when quotations, legends, and arguments
were admissible which now surprise us in a sermon. Indeed, one can
hardly escape the surmise that the elder discourses may come down from
some time, and perhaps rather an early time, in the ninth century. One
of the sermons bears the date of 971 imbedded in its context; and this,
which is probably the lowest date of the book, is twenty years before
the Homilies of Ælfric appeared. Speaking of that frequent topic of the
time, the end of the world, which is to take place in the Sixth Age, the
preacher says:--
--and thisse is thonne se mæsta dæl agangen, efne nigon
hund wintra and lxxi. on thys geare.--P. 119.
--and of this is verily the most part already gone, even
nine hundred years and seventy-one, in this year.
Perhaps there is no book which has been published in the present
generation that has done so much for the historical knowledge of
Anglo-Saxon literature. Speaking generally, we may say that it
represents the preaching of the times before Ælfric; that it contains
the sort of preaching that Ælfric sat under in his youth (when not at
Abingdon or Winchester); the sort of preaching, too, that Ælfric set
himself to correct and to supersede. It is a book whose value turns not
so much upon its own direct communications, as on the light it throws
all around it, showing up the popular standards of the time, and
enabling us to recognise the true setting of many a waif and stray of
the old literature. But it is upon the work of Ælfric that it sheds the
most valuable light. There is in Ælfric's Homilies a certain corrective
aim, which was but faintly seen before, and when seen could not be
distinctly explained; but now we have both the aim and the occasion of
it rendered comparatively clear.
These Homilies supply to those of Ælfric their true historical
introduction. They support the reasons which Ælfric assigns for
producing homilies. In his preface he speaks of certain English books
to which he designs his sermons as an antidote. He had translated his
discourses (he says) out of the Latin, not for pride of learning, "but
because I had seen much heresy (_gedwild_) in many English books, which
unlearned men in their simplicity thought mighty wise." Not only do the
Blickling Homilies contain enough of unscriptural and apocryphal
material to justify the charge of "_gedwild_" in its vaguer sense of
error, but we have also documentary grounds for believing that a careful
theologian of that time, such as Ælfric undoubtedly was, would have
brought them under the indictment of heresy.
It used to be thought that the oldest extant list of condemned books
proceeded from Pope Gelasius, and was of about A.D. 494; but
now that list is assigned to the eighth or even ninth century. In this
Index we find sources for much of the literature which we have been
considering in this chapter; we find the "Acts of Pilate," "Journeys of
the Apostles," "Acts of Peter," "Acts of Andrew the Apostle," "The
Contradiction of Solomon," "The Book Physiologus."[122] The material
which gives the Blickling collection its peculiar character is largely
apocryphal, and, in the light of the above list, heretical.
A new vitality is imparted to Ælfric's sermons by their contrast with
these older ones. It is plain that there is a common source behind both
sets of sermons; the well-established series of topics for each occasion
seems clearly to point to some standard collection of Latin homilies
now lost.[123] The evident identity of the lines on which the discourses
run makes comparison the easier and the more satisfactory. In the sermon
for Ascension Day, Ælfric's treatment is in pointed contrast with the
older book. The Blickling is full of the signs and wonders; some,
indeed, Scriptural, but far more apocryphal; and it is effusive over
these. Whereas Ælfric teaches that the visible miracles belonged to the
infancy of the Church, and were as artificial watering to a
newly-planted tree; but, when the heathen believed, then those miracles
ceased. Now (he says) we must look rather for spiritual miracles. The
Homily on St. John Baptist is a good example. According to the old book,
John is called "angelus," because he lived on earth the angelic life,
but Ælfric takes it as messenger, and this may hint the difference of
treatment. In the same discourse there is a contrast which touches the
chronology. The old Homily says that there are only two Nativities kept
sacred by the Church--that of the Lord and that of His forerunner.
Ælfric takes up this topic with a difference. He says that there are
three Nativities, which are celebrated annually, adding that of the
Blessed Virgin to the previous two. Now, it was precisely in the tenth
century that this third began to be observed in the churches of the
West;[124] and the change took place in the interval that separates
these two sets of homilies.
On the Assumptio St. Mariæ, the elder homily is a jumble of apocryphal
legend. Here Ælfric presents a contrast, and manifestly an intentional
one. In the preamble he recalls certain teaching of Jerome, "through
which he quashed the misguided narrative which half-taught men had told
about her departure." Then, after an exposition of the Gospel for the
day, he returns to the Assumption in a passage which, when read in the
light of the elder Homily, is very pointed:--"What shall we say to you
more particularly about this festival, except that Mary was on this day
taken up to heaven from this weary world, to dwell with Him, where she
rejoices in eternal life for evermore? If we should say more to you
about this day's festival than we read in those holy books which were
given by God's inspiration, we should be like those mountebanks who,
from their own imaginations or from dreams, have written many false
stories; but the faithful teachers, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, and
other such, have in their wisdom rejected them. But still these absurd
books exist, both in Latin and in English, and misguided men read them.
It is enough for believers to read and to relate that which is true; and
there are very few men who can completely study all the holy books that
were indited by God's Holy Spirit. Let alone those absurd fictions,
which lead the unwary to perdition, and read or listen to Holy
Scripture, which directs us to heaven."
The Homilies of Ælfric are in two series, of which the first was
published in 990, and addressed to Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury;
the second in 991, after that Danish invasion in which Byrhtnoth fell.
These were long ago published by the Ælfric Society. But there is
another set, appropriated to the commemoration of saints, after the
manner of the Benedictine hagiographies.[125] These have a Latin
preface, pointedly agreeing with the prefaces to the previous series. If
their miraculous narratives sometimes contain what we should not have
expected from Ælfric, and if this leads us to doubt the authorship, we
may reflect that the contrast is not so great as that between the "Cura
Pastoralis" and the "Dialogues" of Gregory.
As a slight specimen of the character of these latter discourses, I will
give a few lines from that on St. Swithun:--
Eadgar cyning tha æfter thysum tacnum . wolde thæt se halga
wer wurde up gedon . and spræc hit to Athelwolde tham
arwurthan bisceope . thæt he hine upp adyde mid
arwurthnysse . Tha se bisceop Athelwold mid abbodum and
munecum dyde up thone sanct mid sange wurthlice . and bæron
into cyrcan sce Petres huse . thær he stent mid wurthmynte
. and wundra gefremath.
King Eadgar then, after these tokens, willed that the holy
man should be translated, and spake it to Athelwold, the
venerable bishop, that he should translate him with
honourable solemnity. Then the bishop Athelwold, with
abbots and monks, raised the saint with song solemnly. And
they bare him into the church St. Peter's house, where he
stands in honoured memory, and worketh wonders.
* * * * *
Seo ealde cyrce wæs eall be hangen mid criccum . and mid
créopera sceamelum fram énde oth otherne . on ægtherum
wáge . the thær wurdon ge hælede . and man ne mihte swa
theah macian hi healfe up.
The old church was all hung round with crutches and with
stools from one end to the other, on either wall, of
cripples who there had been healed: and yet they had not
been able to put half of them up.
Ælfric's place in literature consists in this:--That he is the voice of
that great Church reform which is the most signal fact in the history of
the latter half of the tenth century. Of this reform, the first step was
the restoration of the rule of Benedict in the religious houses. The
great movement had begun in Gaul early in the ninth century, and its
extension to our island could hardly be delayed when peaceful times left
room for attention to learning and religion. Both in Frankland and in
England the religious revival followed the literary one; only there it
followed quickly, and here after a long interval.[126]
The chief author of this revival was Odo (died 961), and the chief
conductors of it were Æthelwold, Dunstan, Oswald. The leaders of this
movement were much in communication with the Frankish monasteries,
especially with the famous house at Fleury on the Loire. Various kinds
of literature were cherished, but that which is most peculiar to this
time is the biographies of Saints. Lanferth, a disciple of Æthelwold,
wrote Latin hagiographies, and from his Latin was derived the extant
homily of the miracles of St. Swithun. Wulstan, a monk of Winchester and
a disciple of Æthelwold, was a Latin poet, and wrote hagiography in
verse; among the rest, he versified the work of Lanferth on St. Swithun.
Ælfric was an alumnus of Æthelwold at Winchester, and perhaps at
Abingdon earlier; from Winchester he was sent to Cernel (Cerne Abbas in
Dorsetshire), to be the pastor of Æthelweard's house and people, and
there he wrought at his homilies. The highest title that we find
associated with his name is that of abbot; and this probably is in
relation to Egonesham (Eynsham, Oxon), where Æthelweard founded a
religious house, and Ælfric superintended it. In Æthelweard the
ealdorman we have our first example of a great lay patron of literature:
much of Ælfric's work was undertaken at the instance of Æthelweard.
It was at his request that he engaged in the translation of the Old
Testament, and when he had done the Pentateuch (with frequent
omissions), and some parts of Joshua and Judges,[127] he ceased, and
declared he would translate no more, having a misgiving lest the
narration of many things unlike Christian morality might confuse the
judgment of the simple. This is the earliest recorded instance of a
devout Christian withholding Scripture from the people for their good.
And, when we take it in conjunction with the authorised diffusion of the
Benedictine hagiographies of the time, we see what was approved placed
by the side of that which was mistrusted.
The so-called "Canons of Ælfric" are a mixed composition, in which some
matters of historical and doctrinal instruction are united with
directions and regulations and exhortations for correcting the practices
of the ignorant priests. They were compiled by Ælfric, at the request
of Wulfsige, Bishop of Sherborne (A.D. 992-1001), for the
benefit of his clergy. The reformation of the monasteries had already
made considerable progress, and this seems like an extension of the same
movement to embrace the secular clergy. Among the divers matters touched
in the Articles are these:--The relative authority of the councils; the
first four are to be had in reverence like the four gospels (Tha feower
sinothas sind to healdenne swa swa tha feower Cristes bec)--the
vestments, the books, and the garb of the priest; the seven orders of
the Christian ministry; some points of priestly duty as regards
marriages and funerals; of Baptism and the Eucharist, with rebuke of
superstitious practices; the priest to speak the sense of the Gospel to
the people in English on Sundays and high days, as also of the Lord's
Prayer and the Creed; but, withal, the immediate practical aim of the
whole seems, above all things, to be the celibacy of the clergy.[128]
Ælfric was the author of the most important educational books of this
time that have come down to us--namely, his "Latin Grammar," in English,
formed after Donatus and Priscian; his "Glossary of Latin Words"; and
his "Colloquium," or conversation in Latin, with interlinear Saxon.[129]
But for us, as for the men of the sixteenth century, the most important
of Ælfric's works are his Homilies. The English of these Homilies is
splendid; indeed, we may confidently say that here English appears fully
qualified to be the medium of the highest learning. And their interest
has been greatly enhanced of late years by two important additions to
our printed Anglo-Saxon library. The first of these was the "Blickling
Homilies," edited by Dr. Morris, which threw a new light upon Ælfric,
and added greatly to the significance of his Homilies.
The circuit of Anglo-Saxon homiletic literature has again been greatly
enlarged by a more recent publication, namely, that of the "Homilies of
Wulfstan."[130] These homilies are quite distinct in character from all
the preceding. There is nothing of controversy, and little in the shape
of argument: simply the assertion of Christian dogma and the enforcement
of Christian duty. The one topic that lies beyond these was more
practical, in the view of that day, than it is in our view--I mean the
repeated introduction of Antichrist and the near approach of the end of
the world. In the quotation the þ and ð (for th) are kept, as in Mr.
Napier's text.
Uton beon â urum hlaforde holde and getreowe and æfre
eallum mihtum his wurðscipe ræran and his willan wyrcan,
forðam eall, þet we æfre for rihthlafordhelde doð, eal we
hit doð us sylfum to mycelre þearfe, forðam ðam bið
witodlice God hold, þe bið his hlaforde rihtlice hold; and
eac ah hlaforda gehwylc þæs for micle þearfe, þæt he his
men rihtlice healde. And we biddað and beodað, þæt Godes
þeowas, þe for urne cynehlaford and for eal cristen folc
þingian scylan and be godra manna ælmessan libbað, þæt hy
þæs georne earnian, libban heora lif swa swa bec him
wisian, and swa swa heora ealdras hym tæcan, and began
heora þeowdom georne, þonne mægon hy ægþer ge hym sylfum
wel fremian ge eallum cristenum folce . and we biddað and
beodað, þæt ælc cild sy binnan þrittigum nihtum gefullad;
gif hit þonne dead weorðe butan fulluhte, and hit on
preoste gelang sy, þonne ðolige he his hâdes and dædbete
georne; gif hit þonne þurh mæga gemeleaste gewyrðe, þonne
þolige se, ðe hit on gelang sy, ælcere eardwununge and
wræcnige of earde oððon on earde swiðe deope gebete, swa
biscop him tæce . eac we lærað, þæt man ænig ne læte
unbiscpod to lange, and witan þa, ðe cildes onfôn, þæt heo
hit on rihtan geleafan gebringan and on gôdan þeawan and on
þearflican dædan and â forð on hit wisian to ðam þe Gode
licige and his sylfes ðearf sy; þonne beoð heo rihtlice
ealswa hy genamode beoð, godfæderas, gif by heora godbearn
Gode gestrynað.
Homily xxiv.
Let us be always loyal and true to our Lord, and ever by
all means maintain his worship and work his will, because
all that ever we do out of sincere loyalty, we do it all
for our own great advantage, inasmuch as God will assuredly
be gracious to the man who is perfectly loyal to his lord;
and likewise it is the bounden duty of every lord, that he
his men honourably sustain. And we entreat and command,
that God's ministers, who most intercede for our royal
lord, and for all Christian folk, and who live by good
men's alms, that they accordingly give diligent attention
to live their life as the bookes guide them, and so as
their superiors direct them, and to discharge their service
heartily; then may they do much good both to themselves and
to all Christian people. And we entreat and command that
every child be baptised within thirty days; if, however, it
should die without baptism and it be along of the priest,
then let him suffer the loss of his order and do careful
penance; if, however, it happen through the relatives'
neglect, then let him who was in fault suffer the loss of
every habitation, and be ejected from his dwelling, or else
in his dwelling undergo very severe penance, as the bishop
may direct him. Also we instruct you, that none be left
unbishopped too long; and they who are sponsors for a child
are to see that they bring it up in right belief, and in
good manners and in dutiful conduct, and always continually
guide it to that which may be pleasing to God and for his
own good; then will they verily be as they are called,
"godfathers," if they train their god-children for God.
Hitherto Wulfstan has been represented in print by one sermon only, the
most remarkable, indeed, of all his discourses--being an address to the
English when the Danish ravages were at their worst, A.D. 1012,
the year in which Ælfheah, Archbishop of Canterbury, was martyred. In
this discourse the miseries of the time are ascribed to the vengeance of
God for national sins; and the coming of Antichrist is said to be near.
Wulfstan was Archbishop of York from 1003 to 1023. Beautiful and
valuable as his sermons are in themselves, their value is greatly
increased by their connexion with the preceding series, and by the
continuity they give to this branch of our old literature. With the
"Blickling Homilies," in all their variety, and those of Ælfric, and
those of Wulfstan, in our possession, it is hardly too much to say that
we have a vernacular series of sermons that fairly represents the
Anglo-Saxon preaching for a period of one hundred and fifty years.
FOOTNOTES:
[118] The Anglo-Saxon Version of the Holy Gospels, ed. Thorpe, 1842.
[119] Edited by Thorpe from the eleventh-century manuscript at Paris;
Oxford, 1835. This contains Psalms li.-cl. in poetry; the first fifty
are in prose. Dietrich (in Haupt's "Zeitschrift") pointed out that the
prose was eleventh-century work, but the poetical version was much
older. He surmised that the prose translation had been made for the
purpose of giving completeness to a mutilated book, and that the whole
Psalter had once existed in Anglo-Saxon verse. Since then some fragments
of the missing psalms have been found. See Grein, "Bibliothek der
Angelsächs. Poesie," vol. ii., p. 412.
[120] "The Dialogue of Solomon and Saturnus, with an Historical
Introduction." By John M. Kemble, M.A. Ælfric Society, 1848, p. 2. See
Dean Stanley, "Jewish Church," ii. 170.
[121] Rohde, "Der Griechische Roman," p. 408.
[122] The list may be seen in the "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities"
_v._ Prohibited Books.
[123] The series that goes by the name of Eusebius of Emesa has much
general similarity to the required collection.
[124] "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," vol. ii., p. 1143.
[125] This third set of Homilies is now for the first time in course of
publication by the Early English Text Society, under the editorship of
Professor Skeat.
[126] In like manner the literary revival of the fifteenth century was
followed by the religious revival of the sixteenth.
[127] "Heptateuchus," ed. Thwaites, 1698: reprinted by Grein.
[128] "A Collection of all the Ecclesiastical Laws, Canons, &c., &c., of
the Church of England, from its First Foundation to the Conquest, that
have hitherto been published in the Latin and Saxonic Tongues. And of
all the Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical, made Since the Conquest
and Before the Reformation ... now first translated into English ... by
John Johnson, M.A., London, 1720." A New Edition, by John Baron, of
Queen's College (now Dr. Baron, Rector of Upton Scudamore), Oxford, John
Henry Parker, 1850. In two volumes, 8vo. Vol. i., p. 388.
[129] See above, p. 40. The "Colloquium" is printed in Thorpe's
"Analecta."
[130] Wulfstan, "Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien nebst
Untersuchungen über ihre Echtheit: Herausgegeben von Arthur Napier.
Erste Abtheilung: Text und Varianten. Berlin 1883."