OTHER DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS. JOHN DE WYCLIFFE. -1324?-1384. Celebrated English reformer. Author of "Trialogus" and many other Latin works, and the first English version of the whole Bible. JOHN GOWER. 66 1325?-1408. Poet-friend of Chaucer, but of far less renown. "Speculum Meditantis" in French (no copy preserved), Vox Clamantis in Latin, and "Confessio Amantis" principally in English; the last two preserved. KING JAMES I. of Scotland.-1394-1437. "The King's Quhair" (Quire), a poem of about fourteen hundred lines, inspired by his love for Joan Beaufort; and other shorter poems. LAURENCE MINOT. According to Dr. Craik, the earliest writer of English verse deserving the name of poet. Ten poems are preserved, celebrating the battles of Edward III. ROBERT LANGLANDE. Ploughman " and and the times. 1300? Author of "The Vision of Piers (Peter) "Pierce Plowman's Crede," two poems, satirical, of the clergy A few lines from "Piers Ploughman" will illustrate the alliterative form of poetry, having the initial instead of the terminal assonance: JOHN BARBOUR. In a somer seson, Whan softe was the sonne, I shoop' me into shroudes As I a sheep weere; In habite as an heremite Wente wide in this world Ac on a May Morwenynge, I slombred into a slepyng, It sweyed so murye. Born 1316, or 1330. "The Bruce," a Scottish epic. ANDREW WYNTOUN.-1350? "An Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland," from the creation to 1408. THOMAS OCCLEVE. - Writer of multitudinous verses, to be "judged by quantity rather than quality." JOHN LYDGATE. - "History of Thebes," "Fall of Princes," and " the Siege of Troy." History of BLIND HARRY.-"The Wallace," an epic of twelve thousand lines. JOHN DE TREVISA. — Translated, about 1387, "The Polychronicon other Latin works. " and Sir JOHN FORTESCUE. Celebrated author of "De Laudibus Legum Angliæ" and of "The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy." 1 Shaped. 2 Shepherd. 3 And. 4 Wonder. 5 Stream. 6 Pleasant. LATIN, SAXON-ENGLISH, AND NORMANFRENCH WRITERS. 1066-1307. "The Saxon Chronicle" is continued to 1154; but the two principal works of the Saxon-English literature are LAYAMON'S translation or imitation of WACE's Brut," and "The Ormulum," written by ORM, or ORMIN, a metrical paraphrase of Scripture. WACE, who died about 1184, is the most celebrated of the Norman-French poets. His principal poems are "Brut d'Angleterre " and Roman de Rou," a translation of Geoffrey's History of Britain" into verse, and a history of the dukes of Normandy to Henry II. GEOFFREY GAIMAR wrote the "History of the Angles," in Norman-French. The Norman-French was the parent of the modern French tongue. Its poets, called Trouvères, or Trouveurs, were the authors of the poems called "Fabliaux "and the Anglo-Norinan romances, of which the most remarkable are those relating to King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, of whom we learn something in "The Idylls of the King." But Latin was the language of the Church and the learned, and of the prose and poetry of the age. แ JOSEPHUS ISCANUS, or JOSEPH OF EXETER, wrote two epic poems,-"Antiocheis," a story of the third crusade, almost entirely lost; and "The Trojan War," which is said to be remarkable for its pure and harmonious Latin. The Confession of Golias," a drinking-song in rhyming Latin, satirical against the clergy, was written by Walter Mopes. ORDENCUS VILATIS. "Valuable Church History, from the Creation to 1141." WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY. History of the English Kings, from the Saxons to 1142." GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. of the Celts. 66 "History of the Britons," with its celebrated legends GERALD BARRY, BENEDICT, ROGER DE HOVEDEN, HENRY OF HUNTINGDON, GERVASE OF TILBURY, and MATTHEW PARIS, were historians and chroniclers. There is no end to the wonderful fictions of this period. The most remarkable collection, perhaps, is the "Gesta Romanorum," the great source of inspiration of the earlier poets. The story of the caskets, pound of flesh, and evasion of payment, in The Merchant of Venice," are found in the "Gesta;" also the specter-legend of Scott's "Marmion," of "The Three Black Crows," and other well-known jests. LATIN, CELTIC, AND ANGLO-SAXON 449-1066. IN the fifth century, there were four languages used in the British isles: 1. Latin, the language of the Church and the learned. 2. The Erse, or Gaelic, from which the Scottish and Irish. 3. The Cymric, the language of the Ancient Britons, preserved in the Welsh. 4. The Anglo-Saxon, the backbone of the English. The poetic legends and heroic deeds of the Saxons were sung in camp, and at the festive board, in alliterative verse, a style borrowed from the Northmen, - by the Gleeman, or Minstrel. The romance of" Beowulf," a poem of six thousand lines, relates the incredible exploits and dangers of a Danish soldier. The "Paraphrase" of CEDMON, who was inspired in a dream to sing (about 680), is regarded as one of the oldest specimens of Anglo-Saxon existing, especially the story of the Creation and Fall. "The Battle of Finsborough," "The Traveler's Song," "Judith," and "Athelstane's Song of Victory," in "The Chronicle" of 938, are other Anglo-Saxon remains. KING ALFRED, born 848, is the most distinguished writer of Anglo-Saxon prose. He gave his people translations, with additions of his own thought and knowledge, of Bede's "Church History," Pope Gregory's "Duties of the Clergy," Orosius' "Ancient History," Boethius "On the Consolation of Philosophy," and some of the "Soliloquies" of St. Augustine of Hippo. ALFRIC (died 1006) wrote eighty "Homilies" for the common people, "Latin Grammar," "Glossary," and "Book of Conversation." "The Saxon Chronicle " is supposed to have been commenced by PLEGMUND, primate of Alfred's time, written in the monasteries, bearing different dates, closing with 1154. King Alfred's Will, some homilies, and a few other works, are all that remain of Anglo-Saxon prose. The most important of the Latin authors and their numerous works are, · verse. - Author of a book of riddles, and much poor Latin prose and BEDE. The celebrated author of "The History of the Anglo-Saxon Church," and forty other theological and scientific works; also translation of John's Gospel into Anglo-Saxon. ALCUIN. The learned friend and companion of Charlemagne. Wrote much on theology and church history. ERIGENA (John Scotus). - An Irishman, the Irish being called Scots until about 1600, when the name was transferred to the North Britons. Was one of the most learned men of his time. Author of works on "Predestination," "The Eucharist," and "On the Division of Nature." DUNSTAN. The famous Archbishop of Canterbury: wrote many learned theological works. 66 Of the Celtic writers, GILDAS, NENNIUS, and ST. COLUMBANUS, wrote also in Latin. In Wales, the poems of TALIESIN, MERLIN, and other bards of the sixth century, are extant. Of the Scottish Gaelic, the poems of OSSIAN Fingal" and "Temora " are considered forgeries, committed by the pretended translator, JAMES MACPHERSON, about 1760. But Ireland claims the oldest specimens of all literature in modern Europe. "The Annals," scraps of contemporary history in Irish verse from the fifth century, "The Psalter of Cashel," and The Annals of Tigernach and of the Four Masters of Ulster," belong to the ninth and eleventh centuries. SIR JOHN DE MANDEVILLE. 1300?-1372. Was the earliest writer of an English prose-work that has been preserved. He wrote a narrative of his travels, in Latin; afterwards translated by himself into French, then into English. He was a traveler the most of his life; and his narrative abounds in marvelous stories. We give a short extract from — THE PROLOGUE. AND for als moche as it is longe tyme passed, that ther was no generalle Passage ne Vyage over the See; and many Men desiren for to here speke of the holy Lond, and han1 thereof gret Solace and Comfort; I John Maundevylle, Knyght, alle be it I be not worthi, that was born in Englond, in the Town of Seynt Albones, passed the See, in the Zeer of our Lord Jesu Crist MCCCXXII, in the Day of Seynt Michelle; and hidre to have been longe tyme over the See, and have seyn and gon thorghe manye dyverse Londes, and many Provynces and Kingdomes and Iles, and have passed thorghe Tartarye, Percye, Ermonye3 the litylle and the grete; thorghe Lybye, Caldee and a gret partie of Ethiope; thorghe Amazoyne, Inde the lasse and the more, a gret partie; and thorghe out many othere Iles, that ben abouten Inde; where dwellen many dyverse Folkes, and of dyverse Maneres and Lawes, and of dyverse Schappes of men. Of whiche Londes and Iles, I schalle speke more pleynly hereaftre. And I schalle devise zou sum partie of thinges that there ben, whan time schalle ben, aftre it may best come to my mynde; and specyally for hem, that wylle and are in purpos for to visite the Holy Citee of Jerusalem, and the holy Places that are thereaboute. And I schalle telle the Weye, that thei schulle holden thidre. For I have often tymes passed and ryden the way, with gode Companye of many Lordes: God be thonked. And zee schulle undirstonde, that I have put this Boke out of Latyn into Frensche, and translated it azen out of Frensche into Englyssche, that every Man of my Nacioun may undirstonde it. But Lordes and Knyghtes and othere noble and worthi Men, that conne Latyn but litylle, and han ben bezonde the See, knowen and undirstonden, zif I erre in devisynge, or forzetynge, or elles; that thei mowe1 redresse it and amende it. For thinges passed out of longe tyme from a Mannes mynde or from his syght, turnen sone in forzetynge: Because that Mynde of Manne may not ben comprehended ne witheholden, for the Freeltee of Mankynde. SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. MODERN English, in the formation of its words and grammatical structure of its sentences, dates from about A.D. 1500. Its vocabulary, of course, has been constantly increasing, from the adoption of foreign words and the growth of old and new sciences. 1 Have. 2 Hitherto. 8 Armenia. 4 May. The limits of this work will not allow any reference to modern speculations and theories of the formation of language, nor of comparative philology, nor of the progress of written language from rude picture-writing and Egyptian hieroglyphics to its present character. For all these, the student must consult the prefaces of the large dictionaries, and the works of modern philologists, grammars, and encyclopædias.* GRAMMAR. ENGLISH grammar, as to its system of etymology and syntax, is Anglo-Saxon in its distinctive characteristics. It is simpler than the Anglo-Saxon, from having lost several inflectional terminations of words; and its syntax could be reduced still more by abolishing case altogether, regarding all possessives as adjectives. "Our chief peculiarities of structure and of idiom are essentially Anglo-Saxon; while almost all the classes of words which it is the office of grammar to investigate are derived from that language. Thus the few inflections we have are all Anglo-Saxon. The English genitive, the general modes of forming the plural of nouns, and the terminations by which we express the comparative and superlative of adjectives (-er and -est); the inflections of the pronouns; those of the second and third persons, present and imperfect, of the verbs; the inflections of the preterites and participles of the verbs, whether regular or irregular; and the most frequent termination of our adverbs (-ly), — are all AngloSaxon. The nouns, too, derived from Latin and Greek, receive the Anglo-Saxon terminations of the genitive and plural; while the preterites and participles of verbs derived from the same sources take the Anglo-Saxon inflections. As to the parts of speech, those which occur most frequently, and are individually of most importance, are almost wholly Saxon. Such are our articles and definitives generally, as 'a, an, the, this, that, these, those, many, few, some, one, none;' the adjectives whose comparatives and superlatives are irregularly formed; the separate words 'more' and 'most,' by which we express comparison as often as by distinct terminations; all our pronouns, personal, possessive, relative, and interrogative; nearly every one of our socalled irregular verbs, including all the auxiliaries, have, be, shall, will, may, can, must,' by which we express the force of the *Webster's, Worcester's, Richardson's, Walker's, and Johnson's Dictionaries; Chambers', Rees', Edinburgh, and Metropolitan Encyclopædias; Lectures of Max Müller and of G. P. Marsh. Latham's English Language; " "Diversions of Purley," by Tooke; "Study of Words," by Trench; Crabb's "Synonyms;" Prof. Craik's Works; Rask's "Anglo-Saxon Grammar." |