than this." In the north, St. Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop imitated the example of Theodore. The venerable Bede, the great luminary of the nation, and the most learned man in Western Europe, contributed in a degree beyond any other individual who ever lived, to the same object. Archbishop Egbert trod in their steps. At York he founded a library probably superior to that founded by St. Augustine at Canterbury, and augmented by St. Theodore. To Alcuin, who presided over the celebrated school of that city, the archbishop left the care of his books,—his caras super omnia gazas. That it was not inconsiderable, may be inferred from that imperfect catalogue by that writer :— "Illic invenies veterum vestigia Patrum, Alcuinus de Pontificibus et Sanctis Eccl. Ebor. a few names That this was but an imperfect list, among many,- is undoubted: it does not contain the many others who, like the saints Isidore, Gregory of Tours, Avitus, and Cesarius, were familiar to the Saxon ecclesiastics. Yet even this list is so considerable, that any clergyman, even in our days, who should be acquainted with them, would be no mean theologian, or even scholar. That England was noted for her literary treasures,- for the care with which she caused MSS. to be transcribed is evident from the same author, who, in the view of regenerating France, caused scribes to be sent into this island for copies of these works. In every royal monastery throughout England, one scribe was employed to chronicle events as they occurred,—a foresight to which we owe the knowledge of our ancient history; and to transcribe the books already written was a part of education. Even the nuns entered the wild field of learning. For the use of the abbess Hildelita* and her community, Aldhelm wrote his poem De Laudibus Virginitatis, which required no mean proficiency in the language to understand; and to the abbess Eadburga †, St. Boniface addressed his Latin epistle relative to the damnation of king Ceolred. These two facts would prove that the knowledge of Latin was no uncommon qualification in the sisterhood; but we have still stronger evidence to prove the fact. The lives of two saints, Willibald and Wunebald, were written by an English nun. The epistles of St. Boniface contain several from English ladies. In some of them we find claims to the classical poets of antiquity; and in one are some verses written by another young nun, who was at that time learning the metrical art from the abbess Eadburga. It is but fair to observe, that the nuns of other countries were, perhaps, equally learned. Thus, St. Radegund, a nun of Poictiers, was, according to the undeniable testimony of Fortunatus, bishop of that see, in the habit of reading, not only the fathers of the church, but the Christian historians and poets; nor is her case mentioned as a peculiar one on the contrary, we infer from the same + Ibid. p. 227. *See Vol. III. p. 217. See Vol. II. p. 219. prelate that such reading was a common accomplishment. We have before related* that St. Cesarius of Arles rendered two hours' daily reading at least obligatory on the nuns. And that Germany in this respect was not behind France, may be inferred from the example of the nun Hrosvitha, whose comedies" in imitation of Terence" are well known to European scholars. In the Anglo-Saxon church, as in every other at that period, theology was the favourite study, the one to which all other knowledge was subordinate ; grammar and rhetoric, and even science, were valued only as tending to facilitate or to illustrate this most important pursuit. Yet their writings, especially their letters, contain frequent allusions to the classic writers of Greece and Rome. But their learning was superior alike to their genius and their taste. It is surprising to see how anxious they were to have authority for every thing they uttered, at least in their treatises of devotion, or their scripture commentaries. For every sentence they had recourse to some father of the church, and their most elaborate works on theology are but short passages, profusely heaped on one another, from the great lights of the church. Of scholastic learning they were wholly ignorant: they had no conception of that bold and vigorous spirit of enquiry which began from the eleventh century to agitate the church universal,—of that philosophical spirit, that logical precision, that subtlety of intellect, which was hereafter to distinguish the theologians of Europe. And their judgment was not superior to their originality. The experience of mankind shows that it is perfectly possible to be conversant with the greatest models of composition, yet to remain barbarous: though some of the Anglo-Saxons were familiar with the most correct writers of antiquity, they could never attain even a tolerable style. Some were simple even to meanness, others turgid and bombastic: these looked merely at the sense, indifferent as to the mode of expression, * Vol. II. p. 219. those regarded expression as every thing. Of this fact we shall have illustrations enough in the following pages. From these general observations we proceed to examine in detail a few of the chief Anglo-Saxon writers, accompanying our strictures with such remarks as may serve to impress the reader with the intellectual character of the times.* The Latin historians of the Anglo-Saxon period are so few as scarcely to merit notice; the Saxon chronicle, which some writers would assure us was a contemporary record of the times, and continued from year to year with as much punctuality as a merchant's ledger, does not appear to have commenced earlier than the close of the tenth, or the beginning of the eleventh century. It is a dry record of events, occasionally interspersed with a few scraps of what should be poetry, but which few in our days will acknowledge to have had any claim to the distinction: it is, however, after all, a venerable monument of antiquity, and valuable, as containing, sterile as its language, more facts and dates than all our ancient authorities together. Our earliest account of England after the Roman domination is from a Briton,- from Gildas, a monk of Bangor, who evidently lived about the middle of the sixth century. It is remarkable that his Liber Querulus de Excidio Brittannico, which closes with the first ravages of theSaxons, contains none of those romantic incidents which later writers have interwoven into the national history. It is, however, not a safe authority; its declamation must make us suspicious of its accuracy in all cases except one, the notorious worthlessness of the native Britons. Nennius, abbot of the same monastery about the middle of the ninth century, wrote a history of a different character, since it contains the germs of the fruitful * Lingard, Antiquities, passim. Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Anglorum, lib. iv. cap. 1. and 2.; necnon Vitæ Abbatum Woremulhensium, p. 295, &c. Eddius, Vita S. Wilfridi. Alcuinus, de Pontificibus et Sanctis Eboracensis Ecclesiæ, v. 1536, &c. Epistolæ S. Bonifacii, passim. Mabillon, Acta SS. Ord. S. Ben. Præfatio ad partem i. sæculi iii. p. 29. Wilhelmus Malmesburiensis, de Regibus, fol. 12.; necnon de Pontificibus, lib. v. Aldhelmus, de Laudibus Virginitatis (in Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. viii.)... harvest of fable which Geoffrey of Monmouth and subsequent historians of the country have so plentifully reaped. This change in the opinions of the times from the sixth to the ninth century is very striking. In the time of Nennius the Britons were still independent of the Saxons; they still virtually possessed the whole western region from Cornwall to the Clyde, and they appear still to have indulged the hope, that they should ultimately, if not speedily, regain the whole country. Tradition was at no loss to magnify the ancient glory of the nation. It was manifest, indeed, that the nation must have been conquered, since it was driven successively from its eastern possessions into the barren mountainous districts of the west. To divest this fact of its more mortifying features, and to gratify their patrons, the chieftains and kinglings, the bards, who doubtless existed in Wales, as in England, long before Nennius, were eager to throw the blame on treachery or accident, or even magic; hence the romance of Rowena, the perfidy of the Saxons, and the other fables which from this time disfigured the sober hue of history. As a sample of the abbot's manner, who evidently followed the songs and traditions of his time, we shall relate one of the fables respecting Vortigern. That prince was weak no doubt, and wicked enough; but that he married his own daughter and had a son by her; that the daughter laid the child to the charge of St. Germanus, is sufficiently absurd. What had he done with his Saxon bride, the daughter of Hengist, for whom he had incautiously sacrificed the independence of his country? When the Saxons were in possession of the southern and western coasts, and too powerful to be expelled, Vortigern, says the abbot, convoked his nobles, and asked them what he should do? They advised him to build a fortress where he might defy the assaults of the enemy. Accompanied by his magicians, he hastened into the west to discover a suitable site for his fortress: none seemed so well adapted as Snowdon, which his |