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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature
+of Pre-Conquest Days, by Emily Hickey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature of Pre-Conquest Days
+
+Author: Emily Hickey
+
+Release Date: October 1, 2005 [EBook #16785]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR CATHOLIC HERITAGE IN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Kathryn Lybarger and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+OUR CATHOLIC HERITAGE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE OF PRE-CONQUEST DAYS
+
+Transcriber's Note: The author's inconsistent chapter descriptions
+and spelling of proper names have been preserved.
+
+[Illustration: DEATH OF ST BEDE. (From the Original Picture at St
+Cuthbert's College, Ushaw.) [_Frontispiece_]
+
+
+OUR
+CATHOLIC HERITAGE
+IN
+ENGLISH LITERATURE
+
+BY
+EMILY HICKEY
+
+WITH FRONTISPIECE IN COLOUR
+AND FOUR FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+London
+SANDS & CO.
+15 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN
+AND EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW
+
+1910
+
+
+To
+
+THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER
+
+THIS LITTLE BOOK IS INSCRIBED
+BY HIS GRACE'S KIND AND
+VALUED PERMISSION.
+
+_June, 1910._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The beginnings of Literature in England. Two poets of the best period of
+    our old poetry, Caedmon and Cynewulf. The language they wrote in.
+    The monastery at Whitby. The story of Caedmon's gift of song.
+                                                                 page 15
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Caedmon and his influence. Poem, "Genesis." "The Fall of the Angels."
+    "Exodus." English a war-loving race. Destruction of the Egyptians.
+    Fate and the Lord of Fate.                                        24
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Allegory. Principle of comparison important in life, language,
+    literature. Early use of symbolism; suggested reasons for this. Poem
+    of the Phoenix. Allegorical interpretation of the story. Celtic
+    influence on English poetry. Gifts of colour, fervour, glow. Various
+    gifts of various nations enriching one another.                   31
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Prose-writing. St Bede the Venerable. His love of truth. His industry
+    and carefulness. Cuthbert's account of his last days. "Bede whom God
+    loved".                                                           42
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+King Alfred, first layman to be a great power in literature; man of
+    action; of thought; of endurance. Freedom first great possession;
+    afterwards learning and culture. Alfred a loyal Son of the Church.
+    Founder of English prose. Earliest literature of a nation in verse;
+    why. Influence of Rome on Alfred.                                 48
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Decay of learning in England. Revival under Alfred. His translations.
+    Edits English Chronicle. His helpers. Some of his sayings.
+    Missionary spirit. "Alfred commanded to make me".                 55
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Some of greatest pre-Conquest poetry associated with name of Cynewulf.
+    Guesses about him. Little known. Probably North-countryman, eighth
+    century, an educated man. Finding of the Cross. Elene, story of St
+    Helena's mission. Constantine goes to fight invaders. Vision of the
+    Cross. Victory. Journey of St Helena, and search for the Cross. The
+    Finding.                                                          64
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Poet's love of the Cross: how he saw it in a double aspect. The
+    dream of the Holy Rood. The Ruthwell Cross.                       73
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"Judith," a great poem founded on Scripture story. Authorship uncertain.
+    Part of it lost. Quotations from it. Description of Holofernes'
+    banquet as a Saxon feast. Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage
+    resistance to Danes and Northmen.                                 83
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal
+    to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight.                              90
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The literature of one people owes a debt to that of others.
+    Help-bringers. Great work of Benedictine monks. Our debt to Ireland.
+    The English Chronicle's account of the Martyrdom of St Ælfeah.    97
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Abbot Ælfric, writer of Homilies, Lives of Saints, and other works.
+    Wulfstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.                              104
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Love of books is love of part of God's world. In books we commune with
+    the spirit of their writers. The Church the mother of all Christian
+    art and literature. Catholic literature saturated with Holy
+    Scripture.                                                       110
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Scattering of our old MSS. in Sixteenth Century. Some now in Public
+    Libraries. Collections, Exeter book and Vercelli Book.           114
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Runes. An early love poem.                                           118
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+DEATH OF SAINT BEDE      _Frontispiece_
+
+WHITBY ABBEY             _Page_ 19
+
+KING ALFRED THE GREAT                48
+
+THE RUTHWELL CROSS                   80
+
+THE ALFRED JEWEL                    114
+
+A SAXON SHIP                        114
+
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORDS
+
+
+This little book makes no claim to be a history of pre-Conquest
+Literature. It is an attempt to increase the interest which Catholics
+may well feel in this part of the great 'inheritance of their fathers.'
+It is not meant to be a formal course of reading, but a sort of talk, as
+it were, about beautiful things said and sung in old days: things which
+to have learned to love is to have incurred a great and living debt. I
+have tried to clothe some of these in the nearest approach I could find
+to the native garb in which their makers had sent them forth, with the
+humblest acknowledgement that nothing comes up to that native garb
+itself. In writing the book I have naturally incurred debt in various
+directions; debt of which the source would be difficult always to trace.
+I may mention my obligations to the work of Professor Morley, Professor
+Earle, Professor Ten Brink, and Professor Albert S. Cook: also to the
+writers of Chapters I-VII of "The Cambridge History of English
+Literature," vol. i.
+
+If this little book in any way fulfils the wishes of those Catholic
+teachers who have asked me to print some thoughts of mine about English
+Literature, I shall be glad indeed.
+
+EMILY HICKEY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The beginnings of Literature in England. Two poets of the best period of
+    our old poetry, Caedmon and Cynewulf. The language they wrote in.
+    The monastery at Whitby. The story of Caedmon's gift of song.
+
+
+How many of us I wonder, realise in anything like its full extent the
+beauty and the glory of our Catholic heritage. Do we think how the Great
+Mother, the keeper of truth, the guardian of beauty, the muse of
+learning, the fosterer of progress, has given us gifts in munificent
+generosity, gifts that sprang from her holy bosom, to enlighten, to
+cheer, to guide and to help; gifts that she, large, liberal, glorious,
+could not but give, for she, like her Lord, is giver and bestower; and
+to be of her children is to be of the givers and bestowers. The Catholic
+Church is the source of fine literature, of true art, as of noble speech
+and noble deed.
+
+We are going to look at a small portion of that part of our Catholic
+heritage which consists of our early literature; we are going to think
+about the beginning of Christian work of this kind in the form of poetry
+and prose in England. When I say Christian poetry and prose, I am using
+the word Christian as opposed to pagan, and inclusive of secular as well
+as religious verse, though the amount of secular verse is, in the
+earliest time, comparatively very small. Some of the pagan work was
+retouched by Christians who cared for the truth and strength and beauty
+of it. The ideal of the English heathen poet was, in many respects, a
+fine one. He loved valour and generosity and loyalty, and all these
+things are found, for instance, in the poem "Béowulf," a poem full of
+interest of various kinds; full, too, as Professor Harrison says, "of
+evidences of having been fumigated here and there by a Christian
+incense-bearer." But "the poem is a heathen poem, just 'fumigated' here
+and there by its editor." There is a vast difference between
+"fumigating" a heathen work and adapting it to blessedly changed belief,
+seeing in old story the potential vessel of Christian thought and
+Christian teaching. To fumigate with incense is one thing--to use that
+incense in the work of dedication and consecration is another. For
+instance, the old story of the "Quest of the Graal," best known to
+modern readers through Tennyson's "Idylls of the King," has been
+Christianised and consecrated. And so it was with some fine old English
+(or Anglo-Saxon) poetry. But, just now, we are going to listen to
+Catholic poets and teachers only.
+
+We begin with the work of poets. Out of all those who wrote in what was
+the best period of our old poetry, a period that lasted some hundred and
+fifty or seventy-five years, we know the names of two only, Caedmon and
+Cynewulf.
+
+And here may I say that scholars agree that the names are to be
+pronounced _Kadmon_ and _Kun-e-wolf_; in the second name we sound the
+_y_ like a French _u_, make a syllable of the _e_, not sounding it as
+_ee_, but short, and make the last syllable just what we now pronounce
+as _wolf_.
+
+Both of these poets deserve our love and our praise, as singers and
+inspirers of other singers, but we know much more about Caedmon's life
+than we know about his share in the poetry that has been attributed to
+him; that is the poetry which has gone under his name. That he did
+write much fine verse we know. On the other hand, we know a good deal as
+to the authenticity of Cynewulf's poetry, and nothing about his life.
+
+Both of these poets wrote in the language spoken in England before the
+period of French influence. That influence upon English at first seemed
+to be disastrous; the language became broken up and spoilt: but this was
+only for a time; and by and by, out of roughness and chaotic grammar
+there grew up a beautiful and stately speech meet for great poets to
+sing in, and great men and women to use. So it is that what for a time
+seems to be disastrous may one day be realised as benign and beautiful.
+
+This pre-Conquest language has to be learned as we learn a foreign
+tongue. It is much easier to learn than Latin or German, but still it
+has to be learned; so we shall have to listen to the thought of these
+poets in the language of our own day, allowing ourselves now and then
+the use of words or expressions which it is fair to employ in rendering
+old poetry or prose, though we do not use them in ordinary speech or
+writing.
+
+We shall sometimes use translations, and sometimes I will tell you
+about the poetry, giving the gist of it as best I can.
+
+[Illustration: WHITBY ABBEY]
+
+At Whitby you may see the ruins of what must have been a very beautiful
+monastery, built high on a hill, swept by brisk and health-giving winds
+with the strength and freshness of moorland and sea. This monastery,
+part of which was for monks, and part for nuns, was ruled by Abbess
+Hild.[A] This seems strange to us, but it was because the Celtic usage
+prevailed in the government of the Abbey.
+
+[Footnote A: Hilda is the Latinised form, which it is a pity to use
+instead of the English one.]
+
+We must never forget the work of the Celtic missionaries who brought
+Christianity from the Western Islands to the North of England: and, of
+course, their "ways" as well as their message were impressed on the
+converts. Later on, as we know, the Roman usage was established all over
+the country.
+
+Among the monks of Streoneshalh, as Whitby was then called, the Danes
+having given it its present name, there was, as St Bede the Venerable
+tells us, "a brother specially renowned and honoured by Divine grace,
+because it was his wont to make fitting songs appertaining to piety and
+virtue; so that whatever he learned from scholars about the Divine
+Writings, that did he, in a short time, with the greatest sweetness and
+fervour, adorn with the language of poetry, and bring forth in the
+English speech. And because of his poems the hearts of many men were
+brought to despise the world, and were inspired with desire for the
+fellowship of the heavenly life.... He was a layman until he was far
+advanced in years, and he had never learnt any songs. It was then the
+custom that, when there was a feast on some occasion of rejoicing, all
+present should sing to the harp in turn. And when Caedmon saw the harp
+coming near him, he would get up, feeling ashamed, and go home to his
+house. Now once upon a time he had done this and had left the house
+where they were feasting, and gone to the stall where the cattle were,
+which it was his duty that night to attend to. There, when his work was
+done, he lay down and slept, and in a dream he saw a man standing by
+him, who hailed him and greeted him and called him by his name, saying:
+'Caedmon, sing me something.' And Caedmon answered and said, 'I can sing
+nothing, and therefore did I go from this feast, and depart hither,
+because I could not.' And again he that was speaking with him, said:
+'Nevertheless, thou must sing for me.'"
+
+Then Caedmon understood, and he said in the same spirit that prompted
+Our Lady's "Be it done unto me according to thy word," "What shall I
+sing?" And the guest of his dream said, "Sing the Creation for me."
+
+As soon as Caedmon had received this answer, he at once began to sing to
+the praise of God the Creator verses and words which he had never heard.
+St Bede quotes a few lines in the Northern dialect, which may be
+rendered thus:
+
+"Now shall we praise the Guardian of the Kingdom of Heaven, the might of
+the Creator and the thought of His mind, the works of the Father of
+glory; how He made the beginning of all wonders, the everlasting Lord.
+First did He shape for the children of men Heaven for a roof, the holy
+Shaper. Then the mid-world the Guardian of Mankind, the Eternal Lord,
+the King Almighty, created thereafter, the earth for men."
+
+When Caedmon awoke the gift remained with him, and he went on composing
+more poetry. He told the town-reeve about the gift he had received, and
+the town-reeve took him to the Abbess and showed her all the matter.
+Abbess Hild called together all the most learned men and the students,
+and by her desire the dream was told to them, and the songs sung to them
+that they might all judge what this might be and whence the gift had
+come. And they were all sure that a divine gift had been bestowed on
+Caedmon by God Himself. They gave him a holy story and words of divine
+lore, and bad him sing them if he could, putting them into the measure
+of verse. In the morning he came back, having set them in most beautiful
+poetry. And after that the Abbess had him instructed, and he left the
+life in the world for the religious life. We are told by St Bede that he
+made much beautiful verse, being taught much holy lore and making songs
+so winsome to hear that his teachers themselves learned at his mouth.
+
+"He sang of the creation of earth and the making of man, and the history
+of Genesis, and the going out of the Israelites from the land of the
+Egyptians, and their entering into the Land of Promise, and many other
+stories told in the Books of the Canon. He also sang concerning the
+Humanity of Christ and about His Passion and His Ascension, and about
+the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the teaching of the Apostles. And he
+sang also of the Judgement to come and of the sweetness of the Kingdom
+of Heaven. About these things he made many songs, as well as about the
+Divine goodness and judgment. And this poet always had before him the
+desire to draw men away from the love of sin and of evil doing, and to
+make them earnestly desire to do good deeds."
+
+At last a fair end was set upon his life when, glad of heart, full of
+love to those around him, he received Holy Viaticum, and prayed and
+signed himself with the Holy Sign, and entered sweetly into his rest.
+
+This is the story told for the most part, as it is best to tell it in
+the way in which St Bede recorded it; and Alfred rendered it into the
+English of his day, from which English I have now taken it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Caedmon and his influence. Poem, "Genesis." "The Fall of The Angels."
+    "Exodus," English a war-loving race. Destruction of the Egyptians,
+    Fate and the Lord of Fate.
+
+
+We possess poems on the subjects which St Bede tells us that Caedmon
+wrote upon, but we cannot be sure that any of these are actually that
+poet's work. St Bede tells us that many others after him wrote noble
+songs, but he sets Caedmon's work above that of all those others as
+having been the product of a gift direct from God. In any case he must
+have influenced those who wrote later than he. All our work whether we
+are poets, thinkers, fighters, craftsmen, servants, tradesfolk,
+teachers, must be only partly in what we do directly. This can to some
+extent be measured. We can tell how many hours' work we have done in a
+day; how many books we have written in a life's working-time; how much
+faithful service we have consciously offered. But by far the larger part
+of our work we cannot know. We cannot know how much we may have
+influenced others for good, we cannot calculate the effect that we have
+had upon them, and, through them, upon others. And to apply this thought
+specially to a poet, we may say that what he has done for others by
+suggesting, by stimulating, by inspiring, is not only a most valuable
+part of his work, but also an immeasurable part. A poet may inspire
+another poet simply to sing; or he may inspire him to sing on subjects
+akin to those dearest to himself; and the second poet, or the third or
+fourth, as it may be, may sing better than the first. But all the same,
+he owes it to the first poet, and, in a sense, the work of the latter
+poet is a part of the work of the earlier.
+
+The poem "Genesis" is known to be the work of at least two people: part
+of it is a version of an old Saxon paraphrase of the Old Testament, and
+must have been written later than Caedmon's time. It is always
+interesting to know who it was that wrote work we care for, but it is a
+more important matter to possess the work itself. People in old times
+did not seem to care much whether their names were known or not. The
+author, for example, of the book which for so long has been read and
+studied and cherished as one of the Church's most treasured
+possessions, the "Imitation of Christ," remained for a long time
+unknown; and this is by no means a solitary instance. The interest in
+literary fame is mostly a modern thing. Besides in these old times
+people worked in a different sort of way from now. We must remember that
+the art of song went hand in hand with the art of verse-making. All
+sorts of people sang the words they had heard, changing, adding, as it
+might be; adding to, or taking from the beauty and force of what they
+were dealing with, in proportion to the strength of their memory, or the
+quality of their imagination.
+
+The story of the "Fall of the Angels" forms part of the "Genesis," and
+it is well worth while to consider whether a very great poet of much
+later days, John Milton, may not have owed something when writing
+"Paradise Lost" to his early forerunner.
+
+"Ten angel-tribes had the Guardian of all, the Holy Lord, created by the
+might of His hand, whom He well trusted to work His will in full
+allegiance to Him, for He had given them understanding and made them
+with His hands, the Lord Most Holy.
+
+"He had set them in such blessedness. One thereof had He made so strong,
+so mighty in his intellect; to him did He grant great sway, next to
+Himself in the Kingdom of Heaven. So bright had He made him, so
+beautiful was his form in Heaven that was given him by the Lord of
+Hosts. He was like unto the stars of light. His duty was to praise the
+Lord, to laud Him because of his share of the gift of light. Dear was he
+to our Lord."
+
+But it could not be hidden from God how pride had taken hold of His
+angel. And Satan resolves in that pride not to serve God. Bright and
+beautiful in his form, he will not obey the Almighty. He thinks within
+himself that he has more might and strength than the Holy God could find
+among his fellows. "Why should I toil, seeing there is no need that I
+should have a lord? With my hands I can work marvels as many as He.
+Great power have I to make ready a goodlier throne, a higher one in
+Heaven. Why must I serve Him in liegedom, bow to Him in service? I am
+able to be God even as He. Strong comrades stand by me, who will not
+fail me in the strife; stout-hearted heroes."
+
+And so does Satan resolve to be the foe of God.
+
+Surely we must be reminded of Milton's great poem when we read how
+Satan, ruined and cast into hell, speaks to his comrades, lost with him.
+He compares the "narrow place" with the seat he had once known in
+Heaven, and denies the right doing of the Almighty in casting him down.
+He says too that the chief of his sorrows is that Adam, made out of
+earth, shall possess the strong throne that once was his; Adam, made
+after God's likeness, from whom Heaven will be peopled with pure souls.
+And he plans revenge on God by striving to destroy Adam and his
+offspring.
+
+All this, and the appeal to one of his followers to go upward where Adam
+and Eve are, and bring about that they should forsake God's teaching and
+break His Commandments, so that weal might depart from them and
+punishment await them, may be compared with "Paradise Lost," Books I,
+II.
+
+It is needless to say that the English were a war-like race. They loved
+the clash of swords, the whizzing of the arrow in its flight, the fierce
+combat, the struggle to keep the battle-stead, as they phrased the
+gaining of a victory. We shall see more of this by and by. And this
+spirit comes out in their poetry written after they had received
+Christianity. They delight in the story of struggle, of brave combat,
+of victory. They saw in the hosts of Pharaoh the old Teuton warriors,
+with the bright-shining bucklers, and the voice of the trumpets and the
+waving of banners. Over the doomed host the poet of "Exodus" saw the
+vultures soaring in circles, hungry for the fight, when the doomed
+warriors should be their prey, and heard the wolves howling their
+direful evensong, deeming their food nigh them. Here is the description
+of the Destruction of the Egyptians. The translation is by Henry S.
+Canby:--
+
+    Then with blood-clots was the blue sky blotted;
+    Then the resounding ocean, that road of seamen,
+    Threatened bloody horror, till by Moses' hand
+    The great Lord of Fate freed the mad waters.
+    Wide the sea drove, swept with its death-grip,
+    Foamed all the deluge, the doomed ones yielded,
+    Seas fell on that track, all the sky was troubled,
+    Fell those steadfast ramparts, down crashed the floods.
+    Melted were these sea-towers, when the mighty One,
+    Lord of Heaven's realm, smote with holy hand
+    These heroes strong as pines, that people proud....
+    The yawning sea was mad,
+    Up it drew, down swirled; dread stood about them,
+    Forth welled the sea-wounds. On those war-troops fell,
+    As from the heaven high, that handiwork of God.
+    Thus swept He down the sea-wall, foamy-billowed,
+    The sea that never shelters, struck by His ancient sword,
+    Till, by its dint[B] of death, slept the doughty ones;
+    An army of sinners, fast surrounded there,
+    The sea-pale, sodden warriors their souls up-yielded
+    Then the dark upsweltering, of haughty waves the greatest,
+    Over them spread; all the host sank deep.
+    And thus were drowned the doughtiest of Egypt,
+    Pharaoh with his folk. That foe to God,
+    Full soon he saw, yea, e'en as he sank,
+    That mightier than he was the Master of the waters,
+    With His death-grip, determined to end the battle,
+    Angered and awful.
+
+[Footnote B: blow.]
+
+How fine a conception it is. Let us notice how far had been travelled
+from the old pagan "Fate goeth even as it will" to "the Lord of Fate."
+How great is the thought of the vision of God's might, the power of the
+Master of the waves, brought before the eyes of Pharaoh before he sinks
+in the death-grip that will not let him go!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Allegory. Principle of comparison important in life, language,
+    literature. Early use of symbolism; suggested reasons for this. Poem
+    of the Phoenix. Allegorical interpretation of the story. Celtic
+    influence on English poetry. Gifts of colour, fervour, glow. Various
+    gifts of various nations enriching one another.
+
+
+In these papers we are not going through anything like a course of older
+English literature. We are looking at some of the work which our early
+writers have left, from the point of view of its being our Catholic
+Heritage, and we want to pay special attention to special works, not to
+go through a long list of names. It is hoped that the bringing forward
+of what is so good and strong in interest may be found really helpful by
+those who have little or no time to go to the originals. That it may be
+so is alike the desire of writer and publisher.
+
+To-day we are going to consider a poem of a different kind from what we
+have had before, an old poem called "The Phoenix."
+
+Literature is full of allusions to the fable of the phoenix; it is
+one of those stories which have caught hold of people and fired their
+imagination; and the reason is, we may well suppose, because it has
+suggested so many comparisons, some of them great and beautiful and
+holy. There are some stories which lend themselves easily to an
+allegorical interpretation; stories quite true, and yet suggesting
+things beyond their own actual scope. I dwell on this before passing on
+to the poem, because I want to bring before you the remembrance of what
+a tremendous factor in literature, as in thought and in the whole of
+life is the principle of comparison, or, as we might put it, the
+principle of similitude or likeness. We learn about a thing we do not
+know through its likeness, as a whole or in some parts, to a thing we do
+know. Our little children can understand most easily something of the
+love of Our Father who is in Heaven through the love of their father on
+earth: they learn of their Redeemer's Mother, their own dear Mother of
+Grace, through their earthly mother, who is ever ready to supply their
+wants and give them joy and comfort.
+
+In devotion what do we most need to pray for? Is it not for likeness to
+the holy ones and to the holiest of all creatures, Our Lady; and
+highest of all, to the Lord, Our Saviour and Example? And is it not the
+fairest of promises that one day "we shall be like to Him, for we shall
+see Him as He is"? (St John iii.)
+
+So in literature we have, springing from this principle of comparison,
+the forms fable, parable, and allegory; and in language the figures of
+speech which we know as simile and metaphor.
+
+Ovid, a Roman poet who lived before the Incarnation, tells the old
+Eastern fable thus:
+
+"There is a bird that restores and reproduces itself; the Assyrians call
+it the Phoenix. It feeds on no common food, but on the choicest of
+gums and spices; and after a life of secular length (_i.e._, a hundred
+years) it builds in a high tree with cassia, spikenard, cinnamon, and
+myrrh, and on this nest it expires in sweetest odours. A young Phoenix
+rises and grows, and when strong enough it takes up the nest with its
+deposit and bears it to the City of the Sun, and lays it down there in
+front of the sacred portals."
+
+It was a much later and a much longer version of the story that our
+English poet was debtor to. It was written in Latin by Lactantius, and
+the fable there, Professor Earle says, "is so curiously and, as it
+were, significantly elaborated, that we hardly know whether we are
+reading a Christian allegory or no."
+
+He goes on to say that Allegory has always been a favourite form with
+Christian writers, and finds more than one reason for it. There was a
+tendency towards symbolism in literature outside Christianity when the
+Christian literature arose. Another reason was that the early Christians
+used it to convey what it would probably have endangered their lives to
+set in plain words; besides this--here I must give the Professor's own
+beautiful words--"Christian thought had in its own nature something
+which invited allegory, partly by its own hidden sympathies with nature,
+and partly by its very immensity, for which all direct speech was felt
+to be inadequate." One more reason he suggests, and that is "the
+all-pervading and unspeakable sweetness of Christ's teaching by
+parables."
+
+The Romans used the representation of the phoenix on coins to signify
+the desire for fresh life and vigour, and Christian writers used the
+phoenix as an emblem of the Resurrection.
+
+Many scholars think that it was Cynewulf who wrote the Anglo-Saxon poem
+of "The Phoenix." We are, however, uncertain as to its authorship and
+as to its date. Whoever wrote it probably took some hints as to the
+allegorical interpretation of the story from both St Ambrose and St
+Bede. And this poet, too, gives us much more brightness and colour than
+we find in Caedmonic poetry. I use the word "Caedmonic" to cover the
+poetry which used to be attributed to Caedmon, and which was probably
+written under his influence. That he did write much I have shown in
+Chapter I.
+
+I cannot give the poem at full length, but in parts quote from it, and
+in part give the gist of it. It begins with a description of the Happy
+Land which is the home of the Phoenix. Far away in the East it lies,
+that noblest of lands, renowned among men. Not to many of the
+earth-owners is it given to have access to that country. God's power
+sets it far from the workers of evil. Beautiful is that plain, with joys
+endowed and with the sweetest smells of earth. Peerless is the island,
+set there by its noble Maker. Oft is the door of Heaven opened for the
+blessed ones and the joy of its music known of them. Winsome is the
+plain with its wide green woods. And there is neither rain nor snow,
+nor breath of frost nor flame of fire, nor the rush of hail, nor the
+falling of rime, nor burning heat of the sun, nor everlasting cold, but
+blessed and wholesome standeth the plain, and full is the noble country
+of the blowing of blossoms.
+
+The glorious land is higher than earth's highest towering mountain,
+lying serene in its sunny wooded fairness. Ever and always the trees are
+hung with fruits, and never comes the withering of the leaf. No foes may
+enter that land, and there is no weeping nor any sorrow, nor losing of
+life, nor sin, nor strife, nor age, nor care, nor poverty. When the
+Flood covered the earth, this Paradise was shielded from the rush of
+angry waters, happy through God's grace and inviolate; and so shall it
+remain even to the day of the coming of the Judgement of the Lord.
+
+In this fair country there abides a bird of wondrous beauty and strong
+of wing. For him there shall be no death while the world shall last.
+Ever he watches the course of the sun, eagerly looks for the radiant
+rising over ocean of the noblest of stars, the first work of the Father,
+the glowing token of God. At the coming of the sun he flies swift-winged
+toward it, singing more wondrously than any son of man hath heard since
+the making of heaven and earth. Never was human voice nor sound of any
+instrument of music like unto the song. And so twelve times by day he
+marks the hours, as twelve times by night he has marked them by his bath
+in the glorious fountain, and his drink of its cool clear water.
+
+A thousand years go on, and the burden of years is upon him, and he
+flies to a spacious lonely realm and there abides alone. He is lord over
+all the birds, and dwells with them in the wilderness. He flies
+westward, attended by a great throng, till he gains the country of the
+Syrians. Then he sends away his retinue, and stays alone in a grove,
+hidden from human eyes. Here is a lofty tree, blossoming bright above
+all other trees, and on this tree the Phoenix builds his nest, on a
+windless day, when the holy jewel of heaven shines clear. For he is fain
+by the activity of his mind to convert old age into life, and thus renew
+his youth. He gathers from far and near the sweetest and most
+delightsome plants and leaves, and the sweetest perfumes that the Father
+of all beginnings has made. On the lofty top of the tree he builds his
+house fair and winsome, and sets round his body holy spices and noble
+boughs. Then, in the great sheen of mid-day, the Phoenix sits, looking
+out on the world and enduring his fate. Suddenly his house is set on
+fire by the radiant sun, and amid the glowing spices and sweet odours,
+bird and nest burn together in the fierce heat. The life of him, the
+soul, escapes when the flame of the funeral pile sears flesh and bone.
+
+Then comes the resurrection of the Phoenix, who rises from the ashes
+of his old body, young and wondrously beautiful. Fed on the honey-dew
+that oft descends at midnight, he remains a while before his return to
+his own dwelling-place, his home of yore.
+
+When he goes he is accompanied by a great retinue of the bird-folk, who
+proclaim him their leader. Ere he reaches his own country he outstrips
+them all, and comes home alone in his splendour and his might. And the
+next thousand years go on, and again comes the change to this creature
+who has no dread of death, since he is ever assured of new life after
+the fury of the flame.
+
+And so it is that every blessed soul will choose for himself to enter
+into everlasting life through the dark portals of death. Much of a like
+kind does this bird's nature shadow forth concerning the chosen
+followers of Christ, how they may possess pure happiness here, and
+secure exalted bliss hereafter.
+
+The allegorical significance is explained by the old poet at
+considerable length. The main thought is, of course, the great
+Resurrection in which, day by day, we all profess our belief; the
+Resurrection through the fire that "shall be astir, and shall consume
+iniquities"; the Resurrection at the Day of Judgement, when the just
+shall be once more young and comely in the glory of joy and praise,
+singing in adoration of the peerless King: "Peace and wisdom and
+blessing for these Thy gifts, and for every good, be unto Thee, the true
+God, throned in majesty. Infinite, high, and holy is the power of Thy
+might. The heavens on high with the angels, are full of the glory, O
+Father Almighty, Lord of all gods, and the earth also. Defend us, Author
+of Creation. Thou art the Father Almighty in the highest, the Lord of
+Heaven."
+
+How familiarly these words ring! For our heritage of praise has come to
+us from afar and from of old.
+
+And again rises the chant triumphant, to the endless honour of the
+Eternal Son, whose coming into the world and birth and death are all
+typified by the mystical Phoenix.
+
+I have dwelt at considerable length upon this poem for various reasons.
+One is that it is of a special kind, the allegorical; another is that,
+as I have pointed out, it is full of a richness and colour and love of
+nature, which is not found in the earlier poetry. Where does it come
+from? It is most probably part of the Celtic influence which has set its
+magic touch upon English poetry and given to it that "light that never
+was on sea or land." It has done far more than give a sense of colour
+and beauty and nature-love. More than the love of nature in its beauty
+is the sense of fellowship between man and nature, the sense that makes
+man see his own joy and sorrow reflected in the mighty heart of Nature.
+This is a very big subject, and can only be touched on here. The
+beginning of this influence, which came also from Wales and France, is
+due to Ireland. We must never forget how great a debt England owes to
+Ireland. May we say that it was from the Irish missionaries whose feet
+hallowed the soil of Iona that the English north country caught that
+intense glowing love of the Holy Faith, which even still, in a measure,
+differentiates the north of England from the south?[C] We must value
+very greatly the solid foundation of strength, sincerity, what we call
+_grit_, directness of expression, simplicity, to be found in early
+English work; all these being great things, yet capable of receiving
+into their fellowship and above it and beyond it, that which should give
+what we look for in a great literature; the power of appeal to various
+kinds of people, to "all sorts and conditions of men." And to Celtic
+influence, Irish, British, French, we look for that which turns grey,
+however fair a grey, to green, and purest pallor to the glory of
+whiteness. It is beautiful, is it not, to think how various kinds of men
+and women can help to complete one another by giving and taking what
+each has to give, and each needs to take? It is the same with nations:
+each has its own gifts, its own needs; and for a great and noble
+world-literature we need the gifts of all.
+
+[Footnote C: I have not, of course, forgotten the mission of St
+Paulinus; but, as history shows, this does not affect the question here.
+Glow and fervour permeate life, and literature being its outcome could
+not but keep the mark of what had been set upon that life.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Prose-writing. St Bede the Venerable. His love of truth. His industry
+    and carefulness. Cuthbert's account of his last days. "Bede whom God
+    loved."
+
+
+We leave our poets now for a time, and go to the writers of prose in
+early days. We want first to think about a beautiful-souled religious,
+who gave us the first great historical work done in England. We know him
+as St Bede, the Venerable Bede, as he has been called from the epithet
+inscribed on his tomb in Durham Cathedral, which bears the words
+
+    Hac sunt in fossa
+    Bedæ Venerabilis ossa.
+
+"In this grave are the bones of Venerable Bede." We know the old story
+how the pupil who was writing his dear master's epitaph could not find
+the right word, as it has happened to many a one for the time being; and
+how he slept and awoke to find the word supplied by the gracious angel
+hand.
+
+In his Benedictine cell at Jarrow, St Bede read and thought and wrote;
+and all that he wrote was done in noble sincerity of purpose, springing
+from the dedication of his whole soul to Him who is truth itself. He
+told as history what he believed to be true, and collected his materials
+from sources acknowledged to be trustworthy; and he is always careful to
+tell us when he gives a story on evidence only hearsay.
+
+St Bede refused to be Abbot of Jarrow, because "the office demands
+household care, and household care brings with it distraction of mind,
+which hinders the pursuit of learning."
+
+He wrote many things, and it has been said that his writings form nearly
+a complete encyclopædia of the knowledge of his day; but the work of St
+Bede by which he is best known is the "Church History of the English
+Race." It is of greater value than we can tell, and has been used for
+many generations for knowledge and help.
+
+The history of England was in St Bede's time inseparable from the
+history of her Church, as we pray that one day it may again come to be.
+
+The book begins with a short account of Britain before the coming of St
+Augustine. St Bede used old writers for this, and he was much helped by
+two of his friends, Albinus and Northelm. Northelm used to make
+researches for him at Rome, and brought him copies of letters written by
+St Gregory the Great, and other Popes, bearing on the Church history of
+Britain. From other sources also he took the information which has come
+down through him to us, a heritage for which we cannot be too grateful.
+Our two great early histories are the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," and
+Bede's "Church History of the English Race." Without these, what could
+our historians have done?
+
+This great book of St Bede's was, like almost all his work, written in
+Latin; the grand old tongue in which our priests say their daily Office
+and minister at God's altar. It was King Alfred who gave us a free
+translation of it in English. But although it was written in Latin, it
+belongs absolutely to our Catholic Heritage in English Literature.
+
+Bede was the first historian to date from the Incarnation of Our Lord,
+the form which we have always used. The History comes down to A.D. 731,
+a short time before its author went to his rest. We can never think of
+St Bede as a mere bookman, a purely "literary man." His own character,
+truth-loving, wise, devoted, cheerful, has been felt through his work; a
+character that has made people love him and stretch out hands of
+affection to him across the heaping-up of the years. How glad are we to
+say, we, students, workers, all of us, "St Bede, pray for us."
+
+There is a lovely account of St Bede's last days handed down to us in a
+letter written by his pupil Cuthbert, to another of his pupils, Cuthwin.
+Cuthwin had written, telling Cuthbert how he was diligently saying
+Masses, and praying for their "father and master, Bede, whom God loved,"
+and Cuthbert is glad to answer his fellow-student's enquiries as to the
+departure of that "dear father and master."
+
+His death-illness began "a fortnight before the day of Our Lord's
+Resurrection," and lasted till Holy Thursday. All the time he was full
+of joy and thanksgiving. Cuthbert says he has never seen any man "so
+earnest in giving thanks to the living God."
+
+He made a little poem in English about the absolute importance of
+everybody considering, before his departure, what good or ill he has
+done, and how his soul is to be judged after death. "He also sang
+antiphons," says Cuthbert, "according to our custom and use." Cuthbert
+gives one of them, which is the lovely antiphon to the "Magnificat" at
+second Vespers on Ascension Day.
+
+His work went on during his illness. He was making a translation of part
+of St John's Gospel into English, "for the benefit of the Church," and
+was working at "Some collections out of the 'Book of Notes' of Bishop
+Isodorus, saying, 'I will not have my pupils read a falsehood, nor
+labour therein without profit after my death.'" As the time went on his
+difficulty of breathing increased, and last symptoms began to appear;
+but he dictated cheerfully, anxious to do all that he could. On the
+Wednesday he ordered them to write with all speed what he had begun; and
+then "we walked till the third hour with the relics of saints, according
+to the custom of that day."
+
+Then one of them said, "Most dear Master, there is still one chapter
+wanting: do you think it troublesome to be asked any more questions?" He
+answered, "It is no trouble. Take your pen, and make ready, and write
+fast."
+
+After this he distributed little gifts to the priests, and spoke to
+all, asking that Masses and prayers might be said for him. His desire
+was, like St Paul's, to die and be with Christ: Christ Whom he had so
+loved, and at Whose feet he had laid all his gifts and all his learning.
+
+"One sentence more," said the boy, was yet to be written. The Master bad
+him write quickly. "The sentence is now written," said the boy. And the
+dear Saint knew that the end was come, and asked them to receive his
+head into their hands. And there sitting, facing the holy place where he
+had been used to pray, he sang his last song of praise, "Glory be to the
+Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost," and "when he named the
+Holy Ghost he breathed his last and so departed to the Heavenly
+Kingdom."
+
+St Bede was buried at Jarrow, but his relics were afterwards taken to
+Durham by a priest named Elfrid, and laid by St Cuthbert's side. In the
+twelfth century a glorious shrine was built over these relics by the
+Bishop of Durham, Hugh Pudsey: a shrine that, like many another, was
+destroyed in the sixteenth century uprising of the king of the country
+against the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+King Alfred, first layman to be a great power in literature; man of
+    action; of thought; of endurance. Freedom first great possession;
+    afterwards learning and culture. Alfred a loyal Son of the Church.
+    Founder of English prose. Earliest literature of a nation in verse;
+    why. Influence of Rome on Alfred.
+
+
+"Let us praise the men of renown," says Holy Scripture (Ecclesiasticus,
+44), "and our fathers in their generations.... Such as have borne rule
+in their dominions, men of great power and endued with their wisdom ...
+ruling over the present people, and by the strength of wisdom
+instructing the people in most holy words."
+
+We have to think now of a man of renown who bore rule in his dominions;
+a man of great power, and endued with wisdom; who by strength and wisdom
+instructed his people in most holy words. We have hitherto spoken of
+work done in the dedicated life of religion: to-day we direct our
+attention to the work of a great layman; the first English layman whom
+we know to have been a great power in literature; less as a "maker,"
+poet or proseman, than as an opener out to "makers" of precious store; a
+helper and encourager; a fellow-student; a learner and a teacher of whom
+it could be said, as Chaucer says of his Clerk of Oxford, "gladly would
+he learn and gladly teach."
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF KING ALFRED, BY H. THORNEYCROFT, R.A. [_Page 48_]
+
+It would not, I think, be possible for English people to over-estimate
+the value of the gift God gave them in KING AELFRED. That is really the
+right way to spell his name, but as to most people it looks unfamiliar,
+we will adopt the more usual spelling and write of him as Alfred.
+
+We think of him in various aspects: first as the strong, brave man who
+did so much toward making noble history for time to come, by his own
+action, guided by his piety and devotion. His earliest work was to fight
+for the gaining of freedom and unity for his people, and this work went
+over many years. When there was an interval of peace, and when a more
+settled peace had been won, he worked hard to gain for them the freedom
+of the mind which can never exist where ignorance is reigning. Freedom
+is the first great possession; afterwards we seek for learning and
+culture. People who may be called away at any moment to fight for life
+or liberty cannot do much in the way of quiet study; and while the
+Danes were not yet finally repulsed or bound by treaty, the great work
+of Alfred in civilizing England had to remain in suspense.
+
+We love to think that Alfred's wars were not to greaten himself, but to
+set his country free. Then, as later on, if I may quote what I have
+elsewhere said, the English
+
+   Had fought for their God-given birthright, their country to have and to hold,
+   And not for the lust of conquest, and not for the hunger of gold.
+
+There is another aspect in which we may look at this great King; we
+think of him not only as a doer but as a sufferer; and not only as an
+endurer of disappointment, a bearer of toil, difficulty, trouble, but as
+one who bore in his body a "white martyrdom" of great pain, perhaps even
+anguish; and this for some twenty years.
+
+Alfred was always a loyal son of the Church. His father, Æthelwulf, sent
+him to Rome when he was quite a little boy, and Pope Leo IV was
+godfather to him at his Confirmation, and, on hearing the report of
+Æthelwulf's death, consecrated him as king, as he had been asked to do.
+But Æthelwulf did not die for a little time after, and took Alfred for
+a second visit to Rome. Each of Alfred's three brothers reigned a short
+time before he became King of Wessex in 871. In that same year he fought
+no fewer than nine battles against the Danes, besides making sundry
+raids upon them. It is well to be a good fighting man where need is, and
+it is well to use the qualities that go to the making up of the good
+fighting man to meet the difficulties that beset the path of duty and
+the way of progress. Courage, strength, generosity, perseverance, these
+are needed for all work alike in peace and war.
+
+Alfred was familiar in his youth with English songs, and most probably
+knew the old Norse sagas; but he had to learn Latin in his later life.
+We must remember that most of the literature which Alfred could get at
+was locked up in Latin; even the invaluable Church History of St Bede
+needed a translator's key; and it was Alfred who first applied this key
+to it.
+
+When we think of the prose written in England in early days, we are
+thinking of the work of scholars, in a grand language that had done
+growing; a language that was to be in Western Christendom the language
+of religion, the language of the altar, for how long a time who can
+know? the language that gave birth to other languages, as its
+literature so powerfully influenced both theirs and that of others not
+descended from it. Not yet was the time for a great prose literature in
+England, such as grew up many a year ago, and is going on in our own
+days.
+
+The earliest literature of a people is almost invariably in verse: the
+literature that comes from the heart of a people, and is not the
+production of a few learned folk. In early days, there was little
+reading or writing, except in the shelter of the great monasteries. The
+common folk-literature, which is a very precious thing, is preserved, in
+such times as we are thinking of, in people's memories, and circulated
+by recitation, this recitation being accompanied by music or by
+rhythmical movements of the body. We all know how much easier it is to
+remember a page of verse than a page of prose. Thus, the form that could
+most easily be carried in the memory and recited, would naturally be the
+first to flourish.
+
+We have seen something of early English religious poetry in Caedmon's
+work and that of his followers; and next we shall come back to poetry
+with Cynewulf, who made great and holy verse.
+
+But beside such work as these poems which were written by cultivated
+men, many poems and fragments of verse were floating about the land,
+come over from the old native country with the first Angles and Saxons
+who made their home in Britain. These were dear to the people and dear,
+as we shall see, to the greatest among their kings, Alfred, who was, we
+may say, the founder of English prose. It was not English prose as we
+know English prose, because the language was then more like German than
+anything else; but it was prose in the native tongue, and this was a
+good and great thing to begin.
+
+In our gratitude to Alfred, we must not forget our gratitude to the
+English scholars of older days, none of whom had put us under so great a
+debt as our dear old Benedictine of Jarrow.
+
+A later writer than St Bede, though not so great as he, was Alcuin of
+York, who was invited by no less a man than Charlemagne to teach his
+children, and who became, as it has been phrased, a sort of Minister of
+Public Education in his empire.
+
+Alcuin was good as well as great, and I will give you a little instance
+of the rightness of his thought. In a Dialogue which he wrote, in his
+teaching days, he supposes Prince Pepin to ask the question, "What is
+the liberty of man?" and the answer is, "Innocence."
+
+But the evil days of invasion and war and trouble had swept learning
+from its northern home; and Alfred's work was to bring it back to
+another part of England.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Decay of learning in England. Revival under Alfred. His translations.
+    Edits English Chronicle. His helpers. Some of his sayings.
+    Missionary spirit. "Alfred commanded to make me."
+
+
+We cannot forget the impression that must have been made upon Alfred by
+his stay in Rome, young as he was at the time, he being in the centre of
+royal state while there, and also being himself a royal child to whom
+much would be told and under whose notice much would be brought; and
+who, from his position, would be expected to mark and remember much.
+Long afterwards, he would recall the magnificence he had seen, and
+associate it with the glories of the double history of Rome; Rome pagan
+and Rome Christian: Rome, the great conqueror and law-giver, spiritual
+as well as temporal. Very often, after Alfred was king, he sent over
+embassies and gifts to Rome, loving her, and reverencing her as it was
+meet he should. The Holy Father granted him certain privileges for the
+English school at Rome, and sent him a piece of the wood of the Holy
+Cross.
+
+There is a pretty story told of Alfred's early learning to read English
+verse. Even if it is not true, it points to his love of English, as well
+as learning; a love which never left him. He wanted English to be taught
+in schools, and he loved the old poems. We owe to him the translation of
+the account of the first English poet, Caedmon, from which I have quoted
+in my first chapter. But rightly, he felt the very great importance of
+learning Latin, and so he learned it himself, and made others learn it
+too.
+
+When Alfred came to the throne, he tells us, learning had fallen away so
+utterly in England that there were very few of the clergy, on the south
+side of the Humber, who could understand the Latin of their Mass-books,
+and he thinks not many beyond the Humber. This state of things was very
+different from that of old times when the clergy were "so keen about
+both teaching and learning and all the services they owed to God": very
+different from St Bede's time, and the days when Northumbria was a
+centre of learning and culture. Alfred was to create a new centre, not
+in the North but in Wessex. Later on, the centre of learning and
+cultivation was shifted to the East Midlands, whose dialect became the
+language of England, and whose great poet, Chaucer, was the greatest
+English poet before Spenser and Shakespere.
+
+In his studies Alfred was helped by various friends, the chief of whom
+was a Welsh Bishop, named Asser. So greatly did Alfred value Asser that
+he wanted him to live altogether at Court; but Asser felt, it is to be
+supposed, that this would not be right, and arranged to spend half his
+time in Wales and half with the King. From him we learn a great deal
+about Alfred.
+
+One of the Latin books translated by Alfred--perhaps the first--was
+called the "Pastoral Care" ("Cura Pastoralis"). It was written by St
+Gregory the Great, and was intended for the clergy as a guide to their
+duties. The king had a copy sent to every bishopric. He called it the
+Herdsman's Book, or Shepherd's Book. Sending all these copies made of
+course a great deal of work for scribes or "bookers," as we may render
+the old "bóceras," the copyists who had to write out all their books by
+hand.
+
+As various books had been turned into the "own tongue" of various
+nations, so would Alfred give to his people in their "own tongue" books
+of help, of knowledge, of wisdom. This is how Alfred tells us he worked.
+
+"I began to turn into English the book which in Latin is named
+'Pastoralis,' and in English 'Shepherd's Book'; sometimes word for word,
+sometimes meaning for meaning, as I had learned it from Plegmund, my
+Archbishop, and Asser my Bishop, and from Grimbold, my Mass-priest, and
+from John, my Mass-priest."
+
+At the end of the translation, Alfred put some little verses of his own.
+
+Alfred as we have seen, translated St Bede's History, omitting many
+chapters which contained things he may be supposed to have thought were
+not of general interest. He also edited the English, usually called the
+Anglo-Saxon, Chronicle, which begins with the invasion of Julius Caesar,
+and ends with the accession of Henry II. There are a good many MSS. of
+it, the earliest of which ends with the year 855. We owe this work, as
+we owe so much beside, to the care of the monks who wrote it, adding to
+it probably, year by year, sometimes giving poetry as well as prose. It
+contains several poems, among them the vigorous lay of the Battle of
+Brunanburh, fought in 937 by Athelstane against the Scots and Danes.
+You will find a rendering of it among Tennyson's poems, made by him from
+a prose translation of his son's. This editing of the A.S. Chronicle was
+very important work, work that has helped generations of history-writers
+and students. Where should we be without these Histories? How much of it
+Alfred actually did himself we do not know: we may suppose he had a good
+deal to do with the chronicling of the events of his own reign. I wonder
+whether it was he that wrote how three bold Irishmen came over from
+Ireland in a boat without any rudder, having stolen away from their
+country, "because they desired for the love of God to be in a state of
+pilgrimage, they recked not where." They had a boat made of "two hides
+and a half," and provisions for a week. They got to Cornwall on the
+seventh day, and soon after went to Alfred. We have no account of their
+visit to the King, but I think he would have welcomed them right warmly,
+and loved to hear how big souls ride in little cockleshells. We know
+their names at least: Dubslane, Macbeth, and Maclinnuim. And immediately
+after this record we are told something that must also in a different
+way have greatly interested Alfred. "And Swifneh, the best teacher
+among the Scots (Irish) died."
+
+Another book that Alfred translated was the History written by a Spanish
+priest called Orosius, a disciple of St Augustine's (of Hippo), which
+"was looked upon as a standard book of universal history." Alfred by no
+means gave a literal translation, but used great freedom, and omitted
+some things and put in others which he judged of greater interest and
+importance for Englishmen. Alfred enlarged the account of Northern
+Europe, which he knew a great deal of. He also added the accounts of the
+voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, the former of whom got round the north
+of Scandinavia and explored the White Sea. Wulfstan's voyage also was of
+importance. Both these men told Alfred their stories, and he
+incorporated them in the History. They came to see him, and Ohthere gave
+him teeth of the walrus, and no doubt Alfred listened to all they told
+him, with the keenest interest.
+
+"The account of Ohthere's voyage holds a unique position as the first
+attempt to give expression to the spirit of discovery."
+
+Alfred knew how to use helpers. All who understand the "ought to be"
+take help as well as give it. The good King encouraged others, and the
+office of encourager is no mean part of the office of helper. We cannot
+do our work in the world alone: God meant us to work with others, and
+man's best work as an individual can never be independent of the work of
+others, those who are living or those who have gone before.
+
+Another of the books translated by Alfred was the "Consolations of
+Philosophy," by a good and thoughtful Consul of Rome, who was put to
+death by Theodoric, the Arian King of the East Goths. He wrote the book
+in prison, and there was so much in it that was felt to be in accord
+with Christian teaching that some people thought Boethius must have
+belonged to the body of Holy Church.
+
+A Christian writer, finding a book seeming to possess much of the spirit
+of Christianity, would naturally study it and frequently use it; and
+Boethius's book, with more or less adaptation, grew to be a great
+favourite with Christians. Its influence can be traced in the work of
+the greatest Catholic poet, Dante, and in that of the great English
+poet, Chaucer, who rendered it into the English of his day.
+
+Alfred made the translation definitely Christian. For instance, he
+writes of "God" and "Christ" where Boethius says "love" or "the good";
+and he writes of "angels" instead of "divine substance."
+
+I will give you one or two specimens of the additions to Boethius with
+which Alfred is credited.
+
+"He that will have eternal riches, let him build the house of his mind
+on the footstone of lowliness; not on the highest hill where the raging
+wind of trouble blows, or the rain of measureless anxiety."
+
+"Power is never a good unless he be good who has it."
+
+Here is what he has to say of being well-born:
+
+"Art thou more fair for other men's fairness? A man will not be the
+better because he had a well-born father, if he himself is nought. The
+only thing which is good in noble descent is this, that it makes men
+ashamed of being worse than their elders, and strive to do better than
+they."
+
+And here is his standard of self-respect:
+
+"We under-worth ourselves when we love that which is lower than
+ourselves."[D]
+
+[Footnote D: Translation by Miss Kate Warren.]
+
+These sayings are worth copying into a little book such as Alfred kept
+to note down things he wanted to keep track of. Asser tells us this,
+and he tells us of the "Handbook" which grew to a great size, from this
+collecting habit of Alfred's. The book was unfortunately lost.
+
+By no means have we exhausted the interest of Alfred's story. It would
+be indeed difficult to do so; but we must now bid him good-bye.
+
+We love to think how, amidst all his cares and work for his kingdom, he
+had the true Catholic Missionary spirit; for he sent embassies to India,
+with alms for "the Christians of St Thomas and St Bartholomew."
+
+There is a valuable thing which we possess, known as the "Alfred Jewel":
+it has on it an inscription which we can truly say applies to far more
+than this work of art. Its application to Alfred's work is indeed a very
+wide one:
+
+    Alfred commanded to make me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Some of greatest pre-Conquest poetry associated with name of Cynewulf.
+    Guesses about him. Little known. Probably North-countryman, eighth
+    century, an educated man. Finding of the Cross. Elene, story of St
+    Helena's mission. Constantine goes to fight invaders. Vision of the
+    Cross. Victory. Journey of St Helena, and search for the Cross. The
+    Finding.
+
+
+We are going now to consider some of the greatest poetry written before
+the Conquest. It associates itself with the name of Cynewulf, a name
+with which certain poems are signed in runes. By-and-by we shall hear
+something about runes and the old writing; and something also about
+where our old treasures of literature, part of our dear Catholic
+heritage, are found in their original form.
+
+As I have said, certain poems are signed with Cynewulf's name; and there
+are others which are with more or less probability of rightness
+attributed to him on grounds of likeness of subject, likeness of style,
+similar greatness of treatment.
+
+About Cynewulf himself we know, I may say, nothing except what we
+gather from his work. Various guesses have been made, and various
+theories formed, identifying him with one or other of the men about whom
+we know something; but for the present, at all events, we must be
+content to think that he probably lived in the eighth century, and that
+he probably was a North-countryman. All his writings have come to us in
+the dialect of Wessex, except some parts of a poem known as the "Dream
+of the Holy Rood." These are carved on an old cross, which I will speak
+of by-and-by, and they are in the Northumbrian dialect; but the
+manuscript of the entire poem is in West Saxon.
+
+Scholars are working upon old materials and discoveries are being made
+and theories formed which are at variance with what used to be set down
+as certainty. The main thing is that we have these poems, and that we
+want to know about them and learn to prize them. If we want to know them
+thoroughly and prize them as they deserve, we must take the trouble to
+learn the language they are written in. But many of us have not time for
+this, and so must be content, for the present, at least, with making
+their acquaintance through translations.
+
+Perhaps Cynewulf was a poet who lived as one of the household of some
+great lord, and wrote more at his ease than if he had been merely an
+itinerant singer, a "gleeman," who sang his songs as he went about. He
+appears, at any rate, to have been an educated man, and I think no one
+can read his poetry without feeling that he was a man of deep and
+fervent piety.
+
+There are four poems signed by Cynewulf, and these are named "Christ,"
+"Juliana," "The Fates of the Apostles," and "Elene." Certain "Riddles"
+have also been attributed to him.
+
+The poems I am going to bring before you now are the "Elene" and a poem
+on the Holy Cross, which has been attributed to Cynewulf, and which I
+for one--and I am not by any means alone in this--love to believe that
+he must have written. The "Phoenix," about which we thought in a
+former chapter, has by some been supposed to be his. Then there is the
+"Judith," of which we possess enough to make us recognise it as indeed
+one of our great possessions; but to-day the two poems I have named will
+give us enough to think of. To adapt a lovely Scriptural phrase (Judith
+vii, 7), there are springs whereof we refresh ourselves a little rather
+than drink our fill. Let us drink, if not our fill, at least a draught
+long and deep.
+
+We have a church festival, instituted many hundred years ago, the
+Festival of the Finding of the Cross. Let us hear something of what our
+old poet sings concerning this in the poem named after the heroine of
+the finding, St Helena; the poem known as "Elene."
+
+Cynewulf is one of the poets of the Cross. His poetry is literally
+stamped with the mark of the Holy Rood. Read over the grand Church
+hymns, the "Vexilla Regis," the "Pange lingua gloriosi lauream
+certaminis," or recall them in your memory--their Passiontide echoes
+sound under the triumphant pealing of the bells of Easter--and then be
+glad that one of your own poets has also sent down the ages the song of
+his love and his reverence.
+
+Cynewulf knew well the story of Constantine's vision of the Cross of
+Victory whereby he was to conquer. He would also have had in mind the
+story, not so far remote from his own day, of the English King, St
+Oswald, who reared a cross to God's honour before he fought with
+Cadwalla, the pagan Welsh king. He would remember how the Saint had
+called upon his comrades at Heavenfield to fall down with him before the
+Cross and pray Almighty God for salvation from the mighty foe. He would
+recall the great victory and the cross-shaped church built to
+commemorate it. He knew well the honour of the Cross. He had often knelt
+to adore what it symbolised, when he saw it raised on high, lifted up on
+the Church's Festival. And he loved the Cross with a great and fervid
+love.
+
+The poem of his making tells us how the great army of the Huns and
+Goths[E] came against Constantine; how the warriors marched on, having
+raised the standard of war with shoutings and the clashing of shields.
+Bright shone their darts and their coats of linked mail. The wolf in the
+wood howled out the song of war; he kept not the secret of the
+slaughter. The dewy-feathered eagle raised a song on the track of the
+foe.
+
+[Footnote E: This, of course, is unhistorical.]
+
+The King of the Romans was sorrow-smitten when he saw the countless host
+of the foreign men upon the river-bank. In his sleep that night came the
+vision of one in the likeness of a man, white and bright of hue. The
+messenger named him by his name. The helmet of night glided apart. The
+behest was given to look up to Heaven to find help, a token of victory.
+The Emperor's heart was opened and he looked up as the angel, the
+lovely weaver of peace, had bidden him. Above the roof of clouds he saw
+the Tree of Glory with its words of promise. The great battle came, when
+the Holy Sign was borne forth. Loud sang the trumpets. The raven was
+glad thereof, and the dewy-feathered eagle looked on at the march, and
+the wolf lifted up his howling. The terror of war was there, the clash
+of shields and the mingling of men, and the heavy sword-swing and the
+felling of warriors.
+
+When the standard was raised, the Holy Tree, the foe was scattered far
+and wide. From break of day till eventide the flying foe was pursued;
+his number was indeed made small. It was but a few of the best of the
+Huns that went home again.
+
+How the old fighting spirit delights in the "pomp and circumstance of
+glorious war"! How it loves to have the clash of spear and shield strike
+upon the ear, and to hear how the voice of the eagle and the raven, and
+the howl of the wolf, proclaim the place of slaughter, the reek of
+battle!
+
+Cynewulf calls the angel who stood by Constantine in his vision a
+"weaver of peace"; but the peace was to be woven after conflict, and the
+wearer of the victor's palm had first to wield the fighter's sword.
+
+When Constantine had learned about the Cross from the few Christians he
+could find, he believed and was baptized, says the poet. (In reality his
+baptism took place just before his death, several years later.)
+
+The thought of the Tree was ever with Constantine, and when he had
+returned he sent his mother with a multitude of warriors to Jerusalem,
+on the quest of the Holy Rood that was hidden underground. Helena was
+soon ready for her willing journey, and set forth with her escort.
+
+                           The steeds of the sea
+    Round the shore of the ocean ready were standing,
+    Cabled sea-horses, at rest on the water.
+    Then they let o'er the billows the foamy ones go,
+    The high wave-rushers. The hull oft received
+    O'er the mingling of waters the blows of the waves.
+    The sea resounded.
+
+What delight there is to the poet in the sea and its ships!
+
+When they come to Jerusalem, after much enquiry of the wisest men, and
+great difficulty, the Queen is conducted to the Mount of Crucifixion, by
+one Judas who knows the story of Redemption, and who the Queen insists
+shall point out the resting place of the Holy Rood. It is found by the
+winsome smoke that rises at the prayer of Judas, who forthwith makes
+full confession of his belief in Him who hung upon that Cross. The
+three crosses are together, buried far down in the earth, and Judas digs
+deep and brings them up, and they are laid before the knees of the
+Queen. Glad of heart she asks on which of them the Son of the Ruling One
+had suffered. The Lord's Cross is revealed by its power to raise a dead
+man who is brought to the place.
+
+Satan assaults Judas, angry and bitter, for again his power has been
+brought low. One Judas has made him joyful: the second Judas has humbled
+him. He is boldly answered when he pours out threats and foretells that
+another king than Constantine will arise to persecute. (Probably the
+allusion is to Julian the Apostate.) But Judas answers boldly, and
+Helena rejoices at the wisdom with which in so short a time he has been
+gifted.
+
+Far and near the glorious news is spread, and word is sent the Emperor
+how the Victorious Token has been found. Then comes the building of a
+church by his mother, at his desire; and the adorning of the Rood with
+gold and jewels fair and splendid, and its enclosure in a silver chest.
+Judas is baptized, and becomes Bishop of Jerusalem under the new name of
+Cyriacus.
+
+The holy nails of the Passion have yet to be found, and again the earth
+yields up her treasure. A man great in wisdom tells Elene to bid the
+noblest of the kings of the earth to put them on his bridle, make
+thereof his horse's bit. This shall bring him good speed in war, and
+blessing and honour and greatness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Poet's love of the Cross: how he saw it in a double aspect. The
+    dream of the Holy Rood. The Ruthwell Cross.
+
+
+Now let us read what our poet says about the Festival of the Finding of
+the Cross.[F]
+
+[Footnote F: The phrase "Invention of the Cross" means the finding of
+it; the word invention in English does not now translate the Latin
+"inventio."]
+
+                          To each of these men
+    Be hell's door shut, heaven's unclosed,
+    Eternally opened the kingdom of angels,
+    Joy without end, and their portion appointed
+    Along with Mary, who takes into mind
+    The one most dear of festal days
+    Of that rood under heaven.
+
+The poet wrote about the Holy Cross, not just because it was a
+picturesque subject, capable of picturesque treatment, one that would
+make a fine poem; but because, as he tells us, Holy Wisdom had revealed
+to him "wider knowledge through her glorious power over the thoughts of
+the mind." He tells us how the fetters of sin had bound him in their
+bitter bondage, and how, stained and sorrowful, light came to him, and
+the Mighty King bestowed on him His bountiful grace, and gave him light
+and liberty, opening his heart and setting free for him the gift of
+song, that gift which, he says, he has used in the world joyfully and
+with a good will.
+
+Not once alone, he says, did he meditate upon the Tree of Glory, but
+over and over again. He thought upon it until all his soul was saturated
+with it, and hallowed and consecrated for ever.
+
+He may have venerated the Cross in public on the anniversary of the
+Lord's Crucifixion. Certainly, many a time he had venerated it in
+private. Perhaps, like Alcuin, his habit was to bow toward the Cross
+whenever he saw it, and whisper the prayer "Tuam crucem adoramus,
+Domine, et Tuam gloriosam recolimus passionem."[G]
+
+[Footnote G: The Veneration of the Cross, or Creeping to the Cross, was
+known in Anglo-Saxon times, but whether as early as Cynewulf's day,
+seems uncertain.]
+
+He was old, he tells us, when he "wove word-craft, made his poem,
+framing it wondrously, pondering and sifting his thoughts in the
+night-time."
+
+The Cross had brought him light and healing, and at the foot of the
+Cross he laid his gift of song.
+
+It is a moot point whether the "Elene" or the "Dream of the Holy Rood"
+came first. The poetry of the "Dream" is as fine as the conception is
+grand, and, at whatever time it was written, it must be classed as being
+at the high-water mark of the poet's work.
+
+Wonderful things have been given to us "under the similitude of a
+dream"; things beautiful and terrible, things wise and strange. There
+have been Dreamers of Dreams into whose souls have sunk the sight and
+the hearing of deep things, high things and precious, of comfort and of
+warning, of sweetest help and of gravest and most earnest exhortation.
+
+The speech of these Dreamers has sounded in our ears, and has left the
+vibrations to go on and on for our lifetime: this we call remembering.
+
+In English literature we have some great tellings "under the similitude
+of a dream." We have the nineteenth-century "Dream of Gerontius," our
+great Cardinal's drama of the soul in its parting and after. We have the
+seventeenth-century dream from the darkness of Bedford Gaol, whence John
+Bunyan saw the pilgrims on their way, through dangers and trials, on to
+the river that must be crossed before they could come to the Celestial
+City. We have the fourteenth-century dream of the gaunt, sad-souled
+William Langley, the dreamer of the Malvern Hills. And, earlier by many
+a century, we have the dream of the dreamer at the depth of midnight,
+the midnight whose heart was bright with the splendour of the glorious
+vesting and gem-adorning of the Cross of Jesus Christ, and dark with the
+moisture of the Sacred Blood that oozed therefrom.
+
+We have first the simple, quiet prelude.
+
+    Lo, I will tell of the best of dreams, I dreamed at the deep midnight,
+    When all men lay at rest.
+
+Then comes the description of the Cross in its glory. It is uplift and
+girt with light, flooded with gold and set with precious gems. This is
+followed by the seeing through the glory, the seeing of the anguish. The
+hues are shifted from dark to bright; the light of gold lights it, and
+yet anon it is wet, defiled with Blood. Here are the two sides of the
+Passion: the veiled glory, and the illumined anguish: the supreme might,
+and the absolute weakness: the darkness of the grave, and the light of
+the Resurrection.
+
+While time shall be, the Cross is to us all the Book where we may read
+all we choose to read, all God sends us grace to read. Cynewulf chose to
+read, and with Cynewulf was the grace of God.
+
+The poet lies beholding the wondrous sight: the sight that all God's
+fair angels beheld, and all the universe, and men of mortal breath.
+
+The Rood speaks to Cynewulf. To us, with every look upon the Cross,
+should come, would come, were we alive all through with keen, sweet,
+spiritual life, the voice telling of the Passion, of the victory, of the
+glory. Cynewulf heard the Rood tell how long ago it was hewn down,
+ordained to lift up the evil-doers, to bear the law-breakers.
+
+    They bore me on their shoulders then, on hill they set me high,
+    And made me fast, a many foes. Then mankind's Lord drew nigh,
+    With Mighty courage hasting Him to mount on me and die.
+    Though all earth shook, I durst not bend or break without His word;
+    Firm I must stand, nor fall and crush the gazing foes abhorred.
+    Then the young Hero dighted Him: Almighty God was He:
+    Steadfast and very stout of heart mounted the shameful tree,
+    Brave in the sight of many there, when man He fain would free.
+    I trembled when He clasped me round, yet groundward durst not bend,
+    I must not fall to lap of earth, but stand fast to the end.
+
+We notice the obedience of the Cross. In its absolute sympathy with its
+Creator's agony, its indignation at the horrible crime of His enemies,
+it would fain have fallen and crushed the gazing foes abhorred. But this
+was not to be, any more than fire was to come down from heaven at the
+Boanerges' call when they were fain to avenge the insult put upon their
+Master, whom the people of the Samaritan city would not receive (Luke
+ix, 52, etc.).
+
+The Great King is lifted up, and the Rood dare not even stoop: the dark
+nails pierce the Cross, and it stands, companion of its Maker's agony
+and shame.
+
+    Oh, many were the grievous things upon that hill I bare:
+    I saw the God of Hosts Himself stretched in His anguish there:
+    The darkness veiled its Maker's corpse with clouds; the shades did weigh
+    The bright light down with evil weight, wan under sky that day.
+    Then did the whole creation weep and the King's death bemoan;
+    Christ was upon the Rood.
+
+How great is the poet's insight! How deeply must he have entered into
+the fellowship of that supreme suffering! He knows that throughout
+creation that cup is being drunk from, as even yet it is in the groaning
+and travailing of every creature, waiting for the adoption of the sons
+of God, to wit, the redemption of the body (Romans viii, 22, 3).
+
+The Descent from the Cross and the Burial come next. Tenderly, after the
+telling of the anguish, comes the telling of the rest.
+
+    They lifted down Almighty God, after that torment dread,
+    They left me standing, drenched with blood, with arrows sore wounded;
+    They laid Him down, limb-weary One, and stood about His head;
+    Gazed on Heaven's Lord, who, weary now, after that mighty fight,
+    Rested Him there a little while. Then in the murderer's sight,
+    The brave ones made a tomb for Him, of white stone carved it fair,
+    And laid the Lord of Victory within the sepulchre.
+
+The bitter weeping goes up. The fair Body waxes chill. Then, in a very
+few words the story told in "Elene" is condensed.
+
+    Then did they fell us to the ground....
+    In the deep pit they sank us down; yet the Lord's servants, they,
+    His friends did hear of me and seek, and find me on a day,
+    And decked with silver and with gold, in beautiful array.
+
+The glory comes after the shame, and we hear of the healing power of the
+Cross, and the honour given to it. Even as Almighty God honoured His
+Mother above all womankind, the poet says, so this tree is set high
+above all trees of the forest.
+
+The command is laid upon the poet to make known his vision. There is a
+compulsion whereby a poet as it were has to send abroad the fair thought
+and knowledge wherewith he has been graced. To this poet is the task
+assigned to tell of the Crucifixion, of the Resurrection, and the
+Ascension, and of the Second Coming to judge the world.
+
+    Where is the man, the Lord will ask before that multitude,
+    Would for His name taste bitter death, as He upon the Rood?
+
+By the love of His name, by the love that means martyrdom in will if not
+in deed also, shall men be judged.
+
+The comfort of his life has come to the poet. The greatest of all great
+things is his.
+
+    The Rood my trust shall be.
+
+I cannot close this chapter without saying something about the great
+stone rood known as the Ruthwell Cross, because it bears upon it part of
+this poem engraved in runes. The cross is at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire.
+It is very old, probably dating from the tenth or eleventh century.
+There are carvings upon it of various events in the life of Our Lord, on
+the north and south sides. On the top-stone, north, is a
+representation of St John with the eagle, and on the top-stone,
+south, is St John with the Agnus Dei. On the east and west is carved a
+vine in fruit, with animals feeding, and at each side of the
+vine-tracery the runes are carved, which give the words taken from the
+poem, in the Northumbrian dialect.
+
+[Illustration: RUTHWELL CROSS [_Page 80_]
+
+This cross used to stand in the church at Ruthwell; it escaped injury at
+the time of general destruction in the sixteenth century, but the
+General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ordered the "many idolatrous
+monuments erected and made for religious worship" to be "taken down,
+demolished, and destroyed." It was not till two years later, however,
+that the cross was taken down when an Act was passed "anent the
+Idolatrous Monuments in Ruthwell." It was shattered, and some of the
+carved emblems were nearly obliterated, and in this state the rood was
+left where it had fallen, in the altarless church, and was used, it
+appears, as a bench to sit upon. Later on it was removed from the church
+and left out in the churchyard. But after many years, a good old
+minister (God rest his soul!) collected all the pieces he could find,
+and put them together, adding two new crossbeams (the original ones
+were lost), and having gaps filled in with little pieces of stone.
+
+By-and-by there was a waking up to the importance of preserving ancient
+monuments (idolatrous! or not), and so the dear, beautiful old rood that
+had been so near to destruction, and been indeed so greatly injured, was
+brought into the church again, and set up near its old place. But, alas!
+for its old surroundings!
+
+It is a sad story, is it not?
+
+Shall we not pray that, one day, our old crosses may be, to all, more
+than "ancient monuments"?
+
+"This stone which I have set up ... shall be called the house of God"
+(Gen. xxviii, 22).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"Judith," a great poem founded on Scripture story. Authorship uncertain.
+    Part of it lost. Quotations from it. Description of Holofernes'
+    banquet as of a Saxon feast. Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage
+    resistance to Danes and Northmen.
+
+
+To-day we shall think about some more of the great poetry that was made
+before the Norman Conquest, and we shall first take one of the finest
+and most characteristic poems which remain to us, a poem founded on
+Bible story; the great poem, of which we have unfortunately only a part,
+the "Judith."
+
+It is not certain who wrote this poem: it may have been Cynewulf; but we
+do not know.
+
+The story of Judith is a well-known one; the story of the Hebrew lady
+who is described in the foreword to the Book of Judith as "that
+illustrous woman, by whose virtue and fortitude, and armed with prayer,
+the children of Israel were preserved from the destruction threatened
+them by Holofernes and his great army."
+
+The earlier part of the poem is lost, so we can only guess how the poet
+told of the ravage wrought by the general of King Nabuchodonoser in the
+countries close to Palestine, and how submission was as vain as
+resistance to a power which, for the time being, was allowed to be so
+terribly great.
+
+The poem, as we have it, begins where Judith has come, in the splendour
+of her beauty, and the might of her purity, and the power of her faith,
+to destroy the destroyer and set her people free.
+
+    The Prince of Glory gave her the shield of His hand in the place
+    Where she stood in her uttermost need of the highest Doomer's grace
+    To save her in peril extreme; and the Ruler of all things made,
+    The glorious Father in Heaven, He granted the prayer she prayed,
+    And, because of the might of her faith, He gave His help and His aid.
+    I have heard how his word went forth, how Holofernes bad
+    His men to the drinking of wine, and the splendid feast he had.
+    The prince he called his thanes and the shielded warriors best,
+    And the folk-leaders came to the mighty, all fain for the doing his best.
+    And now, since the coming of Judith, three days and three nights had been,
+    The woman wise in her heart, and fair as the elf-folk sheen.
+
+We have the description of the banquet, with the deep bowls and
+well-filled cups and pitchers borne to the sitters along the floor--just
+the description of the old Saxon banquet which the poet knew of. We have
+the drunken glee of Holofernes, his right noisy laughter and the stormy
+mirth that could be heard from afar; and his call to the henchmen to
+quit them as warriors ought, till at last they lie in their drunken
+sleep, powerless, and as though stricken of death.
+
+Then comes the night, and the sending for Judith, the wise-hearted one,
+to Holofernes' tent. Holofernes lies in his drunken sleep, and the
+Lord's handmaid draws from the sheath the keen-edged glittering sword,
+and prays,
+
+    O God of all created, I pray my prayer to Thee!
+    O Spirit of Comfort! O Son Almighty! I bow my knee,
+    For Thy mercy to me who need Thee, most glorious Trinity!
+    Now is my heart waxed hot, exceeding hot in me,
+    And my soul afflicted sore, and sorrowful grievously.
+    Give victory, Prince of Heaven, to me, and steadfast faith,
+    That so with this sword I slay this dealer of wrong and death.
+    O, grant me Thy salvation, most mighty Folk-prince, Thou,
+    For ne'er have I needed Thy mercy with greater need than now.
+    Avenge, O mighty Lord, the thing whereof I wot,
+    Which is anger in my soul, and in my breast burns hot.
+    Then the Judge most high He gave her the courage she prayed Him for,
+    As yet to each He giveth, who seeketh Him, as of yore,
+    With faith and understanding, his help for evermore.
+
+And then,
+
+    Enlarged was the woman's soul, the holy one's hope sprang new.
+
+And she smites the evil general with the strength she had prayed for,
+and goes forth victorious with her handmaiden, to bear the tidings to
+her people of the deliverance wrought for them, ascribing the glory to
+God and His might. Judith leaves the camp of the Assyrians, with her
+waiting-woman, who carries the head of Holofernes in a bag. Men and
+women in great multitudes flock to the fortress-gate, pressing and
+running to meet God's handmaid, glad of heart to know of her
+home-coming. They let her in reverently, and the trophy she has brought
+is shown them. Judith beseeches them to go forth to the fight, as soon
+as the Maker of the beginning of all things, the King of high honour,
+hath sent the bright light from the East; to go forth bearing shield and
+buckler and the bright helmet, to meet the thronging foemen, and fell
+the folk-leaders, the doomed spear-bearers. Their foes are doomed to
+death, and they shall have glory and honour in battle. Then follows a
+great battle, with full victory to Israel.
+
+The poet has varied from the Biblical story, in representing the
+officers of Holofernes' army as drunk; and also in telling of a battle
+after the return of Judith to Bethulia. It also may seem strange that
+Judith should address the Holy Trinity and each separate Person thereof.
+The old Christian poet carried his belief along with him, and the
+handmaid of God, the brave Judith, was to him a follower of Our Lord.
+The brave Judith, yes! St Dominic's Third Order was at first, as we
+know, called "The militia of Jesus Christ." How Judith would have loved
+the name! And we may think, may we not? how, looking from her place
+among the glorified, she smiled on the great warrior Maiden Saint who
+went in the might of the Lord, to deliver her country from the rule of
+the stranger.
+
+The story of Judith would especially appeal to people living at a time
+when incursions of foreigners were well known, and later on, still
+unforgotten. Abbot Ælfric, about whose work I have to tell you something
+presently, in writing a short account of the Old Testament with its
+various books, says that the Book of Judith "is put into English in our
+manner as an example to you men, that you should defend your country
+with weapons against an invading army"--the word which he uses, "here,"
+always meaning in old English the army of the Danes. Ælfric also wrote
+"a homily on Judith to teach the English the virtues of resistance to
+the Danes."
+
+It is interesting likewise to think that the poet of "Judith" may have
+had in his mind some great Englishwoman concerning whom he wished in a
+veiled way to convey well-deserved praise. Perhaps he was inspired to
+tell of Judith, by the deeds of King Alfred's daughter, Æthelflaed,
+known as the Lady of the Mercians, and sought to do honour to her as
+well as to the great Hebrew lady.
+
+Æthelflaed fortified Chester and other towns, and, along with King
+Edward, built fortresses, "chiefly along the line of frontier exposed to
+the Danes, as at Bridgenorth, Tamworth, Warwick, Hertford, Witham in
+Essex, and other places." Of course it is uncertain whether our poet was
+thinking of Æthelflaed. We should be able to say whether it were
+impossible if we knew the date of "Judith," as, if the poem were
+composed before Æthelflaed's time, she could not have entered into the
+poet's mind.
+
+The Church has paid a splendid tribute to Judith by applying to her who
+is pre-eminently the strong or valiant woman (mulier fortis) full of
+the strength that always wore the exquisite veil of humility, the words
+spoken to this valiant woman of the Hebrews by her countrymen, as they
+adored the Lord, who had given her the victory. See the lesson read on
+the Feast of Our Lady's Seven Sorrows.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal
+    to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight.
+
+
+We have in the "Battle of Maldon" a great patriotic poem, written about
+the "ealdorman"[H] of the East Angles, Byrthnoth, or Brihtnoth, who
+stood so valiantly against the Danes. It was he who was so good to the
+monks, helping to defend them against the "ealdorman" of the Mercians,
+and others who were turning them out: he also helped to found the Abbey
+of Ely. He was buried there, we are glad to know. Anlaf, known as Olaf
+Tryggvesson, afterwards King of Norway, came with two other Northmen,
+and harried Ipswich and other places, and then sailed up the Pant or
+Blackwater to Maldon, where the river divides into two parts. The
+beginning and end of the poem have been lost, and, as we have it now, it
+opens with the command of Byrhtnoth that every man should let his horse
+go, and march afoot to meet the enemy and strive with him hand to hand.
+
+[Footnote H: "Alderman" is the modern form, but it does not mean the
+same thing.]
+
+    Then Byrthnoth 'gan array his men; he rode and gave the rede,
+    He shewed the fighters how to stand and keep the place at need,
+    Fast with their hands to hold the shields, nor be afraid indeed.
+
+He took his place among his own bodymen, his immediate followers. On the
+other side of the stream the herald of the vikings (or pirates) stood,
+and with a loud voice gave the scornful message of the sea-folk to the
+English leader. If Byrhtnoth would be in safety he must quickly send
+treasure to the foe.
+
+    "And better 'tis for you buy off this onset of the spear
+    With tribute than that we should deal so sore a combat here;
+    We need not spill each other's lives if ye make fast aright
+    A peace with us; if thou agree, thou, here the most of might,
+    Thy folk to ransom, and to give the seamen what shall be
+    Right in our eyes, and take our peace, make peace with told money.
+    We'll haste to ship, we'll keep that peace, and go upon the sea."
+
+This was Brythnoth's answer:
+
+    Dost hear, thou dweller on the sea, what this my people saith!
+    Their tribute is the spear, the sword, the arrow tipt with death;
+    War-harness that for you in fight full little profiteth.
+
+Not he. He stood for his own soil, his prince's earth, the people and
+the land. We may compare with this St Ælfeah's (Alphege) splendid stand
+even to death against unjust payment of tribute.
+
+Byrthtnoth ordered his men to march on till they all stood on the bank
+of the river. The flood flowed in after the ebb, and the hostile armies
+could not reach each other, and it seemed too long to wait for the water
+to let them meet. Wulfstan, by race a warrior bold, held the bridge for
+his chief, and Ælfhere and Maccus with him, the undaunted mighty twain.
+The Danes begged to be allowed to overpass the ford, and Byrhtnoth in
+his scorn allowed this.
+
+    Too much the earl in his disdain to that ill folk gave heed.
+    The wolves of slaughter strode along, nor for the water cared;
+    The host of vikings westward there across the Pante fared.
+
+Byrhtnoth was awaiting them, and the fight began.
+
+    Then rose a cry as round and round the ravens wheeled in air,
+    The erne all greedy for his prey. A mighty din was there.
+    Oh, bitter was the battle-rush, the rush of war that day,
+    Then fell the men; on either hand the gallant young men lay.
+
+The battle-rage grew stronger and keener; the din of war grew louder
+and louder. Byrhtnoth fought hand to hand with a strong viking, and with
+yet another, dealing death to both.
+
+    The blither was the earl for that, out laughed the warrior grim,
+    Thanked God because of that day's work which God had given to him.
+
+But the brave man's time was come, and a dart pierced him, and he fell;
+and as he lay on the ground a young lad, a boy who stood beside him,
+drew the spear from his lord's body and cast it back to pierce the foe
+who had sorely hit his lord. An armed man came to the death-stricken
+leader of the English to rob him of his jewels and his warrior's gear
+and fretted sword of fame. The dying man struck him on the corslet, but
+
+    Too soon a seaman hindered him; that good arm's strength he marred.
+
+The leader drops his gold hilted sword, no longer able to wield the
+weapon, powerless to hold the keen-edged falchion. No more deeds of
+valour for him; only to urge on his men, and to commend his soul to God.
+
+    Yet spake the word that warrior hoar, the young men's hearts he cheered,
+    Bad the good comrades forward go, nor ever be afeard.
+    No longer could he firmly stand on's feet; to heaven looked he--
+    "Thanks, Lord of hosts, for these world-joys Thou here didst give to me.
+    Now, merciful Creator, now, I stand in deepest need
+    That Thou shouldst grant my spirit good, that thus my soul indeed
+    Fare forth to Thee, travel with peace, O King of Angels, so:
+    I pray Thee that the hell-spoilers nor work her hurt nor woe."
+    The heathen varlets smote him down, and those that stood him by,
+    Ælfnoth and Wulfmaer, by the side of him in death did lie.
+
+Then, alas! came the shameful flight of some whom he had loved and
+trusted, and graced with noble gifts. One Godric, to whom he had given
+many a goodly steed, leapt upon the horse in his trappings which his
+lord had owned, and his two brothers fled with him.
+
+    And with them more than had behoved if these had thought upon
+    The gifts and goods so free bestowed by him, their mighty one.
+
+But there were but few cowards and mean. Of his own hearth-comrades
+there went forth men, hasting eagerly,
+
+    One of two things their heart's desire, to avenge their lord or die.
+
+Young Ælfwine heartened them with noble words, and gave them the
+example of noble deeds. And Offa, and Leofsunu, and Dunnere, the old
+man, fought stubbornly. And a hostage from among the Northumbrian folk,
+a man come of gallant kin, helped them; and Edward the Long, and many
+another.
+
+    Then Bryhtwold spake, that comrade old, he raised the shield on high
+    He shook the ashwood spear, he taught the men unfearingly:
+    "The braver must our spirit be, our hearts the stronger far,
+    The greater must our courage wax, the fewer that we are.
+    Here lies our prince all pierced and hewn, the good one in the clay;
+    Aye may he mourn who thinketh now to leave this battle-play.
+    I am old in life; I will not hence; I think to lay me here,
+    The rather by my chieftain's side, a man so lief and dear."
+
+And the men grew bold in heart at his words and fought on. Godric full
+often sent the spear flying among the vikings, and fought till he too
+was laid low in the battle.
+
+    'Twas not that Godric who had turned his back upon the fight,
+
+says the poet--and the end is lost! It will help us in appreciating this
+poem to remember that the battle of Maldon took place in the reign of
+that poor weak king Æthelred, known as the "Unready," or the Man of no
+Counsel. As Freeman the historian says, "No doubt he had to struggle
+with very hard times, but the times now were no harder than the times
+which Ælfred had to struggle against, and we know how much he could
+do."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The literature of one people owes a debt to that of others.
+    Help-bringers. Great work of Benedictine monks. Our debt to Ireland.
+    The English Chronicle's account of the Martyrdom of St Ælfeah.
+
+
+The literature of a country is not merely what the men and women born in
+it have written. The thought of one people is fed, or enlarged, or in
+some way strengthened by the thought of other peoples; and the
+literature of the times we are speaking of could not have been what it
+was, had it not had other sources than these purely English to draw
+from. And, of all kinds of help-bringers, we owe much to the monks, and
+chiefly the great Benedictine order. King Alfred had to do his work at a
+time when things were at a low ebb in the English monasteries. You will
+remember how he bewailed the poor state of learning in England, and the
+ignorance of the clergy; a state very different indeed from that of the
+old days of St Bede and Alcuin. After Alfred's time there came a
+revival--and revival in life means revival in work. So we get much good
+prose literature, and, through the monks, note well, we have it, fed
+from whatever old lore was then to be got at.
+
+I have reminded you of England's great debt to Ireland through St Aidan
+and others. I must tell you of a record of St Bede's, which shows how
+gladly Ireland in old days, as ever, shared the priceless gift which she
+of all countries, received with the most passionate entireness and held
+with the most unswerving steadfastness. It was in the year 664 that
+there was a great pestilence, raging both in England and Ireland. At the
+time there were many Englishmen in Ireland who had gone there, "either
+for the sake of divine studies, or of a more continent life"; some of
+them, he says, became monks, and others devoted themselves to study,
+"going about from one master's cell to another." "The Scots (that is the
+Irish) willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with
+food, as also to furnish them with books to read, and their teaching,
+gratis."
+
+Where should we be but for the work done in the monasteries? How can we
+be grateful enough for what went on there in the way of thought,
+research and the collecting of materials, in addition to the work of
+teaching: all fed by the life of prayer and praise and self-denial? Let
+us try to think about the quiet, patient work of scholars and students;
+about their noting of so many facts and detailing of them. Let us think
+of the beginnings of English history and literature; of the writing of
+precious manuscripts; the careful copying of them; each of them taking
+so much time to complete and being so costly in production, especially
+when there was added to care and skill the artistic beauty of decoration
+and illumination.
+
+From these quiet abodes of the piety that transfused itself through
+loving toil and discipline, light streamed forth to go on shining and
+shining, on through the long centuries to come.
+
+We must now have a look into the pages of the great English Chronicle
+which we should not possess had it not been for these good monks, and we
+will take the account of the martyrdom of Archbishop Ælfeah, whom you
+know best under the Latinized form of his name, Alphege. His heavenly
+birthday was the 19th of April. The king who is spoken of was Æthelred
+who was called the Unready, which word means without counsel, and then
+of ill-counsel. You know how we talk of "ill-advised" conduct or speech.
+There is a fourteenth century poem which speaks of Richard the Second as
+"redeless." And, because there is no such thing as being neutral;
+because, if we are not good, we are bad, the word got the meaning of
+foolish or worse. Freeman, the great historian says that Æthelred "was
+perhaps the only thoroughly bad king among all the Kings of the English
+of the West Saxon line; he seems to have been weak, cowardly, cruel, and
+bad altogether."
+
+As long as St Dunstan lived, Æthelred was not so bad as he afterwards
+became. We must remember what a bad mother Æthelred had in Ælfthryth, or
+Elfrida, who was an evil wife to her first husband, and most probably
+caused the murder of the king her step-son, the son of King Edgar, who
+was her second husband. This was the Edward known as St Edward the
+Martyr.
+
+The story of Ælfeah comes under the year A.D. 1011. "In this year sent
+the king and his witan to the (Danish) army, and desired peace, and
+promised them tribute and food on condition that they ceased from their
+harrying. They had then overrun East Anglia, and Essex, and Middlesex,
+and Oxfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire; and south of
+Thames, all Kent and Sussex, and Hastings, and Surrey, and Berkshire,
+and Hampshire, and much of Wiltshire. All these misfortunes befell us
+through ill counsel, that they were not in time (either) offered tribute
+or fought against, but when they had done the greatest ill, then peace
+and truce were made with them. And nevertheless for all the truce and
+tribute, they went flockmeal everywhere and harried and robbed and slew
+our poor folk. And then, in this year, between the nativity of St Mary
+and St Michael's Mass, they sat round Canterbury and came into it
+through treachery, because Ælfmaer betrayed it, whose life the
+Archbishop Ælfeah had before saved. And there they took the Archbishop
+Ælfeah, and Ælfweard, the king's reeve, and Abbot Ælfmaer, and Bishop
+Godwin. And Abbot Ælfmaer they let go away. And they took there within
+all the clergy, and men and women: it was untellable to any man how much
+of the folk there was. And they were afterwards in the town as long as
+they would. And when they had thoroughly surveyed the city then went
+they to their ships and led the Archbishop with them. Then was he a
+captive who erewhile had been the head of the English race and of
+Christendom.[I] There might then be seen misery there where oft erewhile
+men had seen bliss, in that wretched city whence had first come to us
+Christendom and bliss before God and before the world.
+
+[Footnote I: _i.e._ of English Christianity.]
+
+"And they kept the archbishop with them as long as to the time when they
+martyred him.
+
+"A.D. 1012. In this year came Eadric the ealdorman, and all the chief
+witan, religious and lay, of the English folk of London, before Easter:
+Easterday was then on the date of the Ides of April (13th April). And
+they were there then so long as until all the tribute was paid, after
+Easter; that was eight and forty thousand pounds. Then on the Saturday
+(19th April) was the (Danish) army greatly stirred up against the
+bishop, because he would not promise them any money; but he forbad that
+anything should be given for him. They were also very drunken, because
+wine had been brought there from the south. Then took they the bishop,
+led him to their husting on the eve of Sunday, the octave of the Pasch;
+and there they then shamefully killed him: they pelted him with bones
+and the heads of oxen, and then one of them struck him with an axe-iron
+on the head, so that with the blow he sank down; and his holy blood fell
+on the earth, and that his holy soul be sent to God's kingdom."
+
+A sorrowful story of evil folly and treachery: a splendid story of
+steadfastness to the end: of glorious martyrdom. The refusal to allow
+himself to be ransomed at his pillaged people's cost; the greed of the
+Danes; the death-stroke given him, we are told, in another chronicle, in
+mercy, to put an end to his sufferings, given him by a newly-made
+convert of his. And see how the Church has shown us, in her canonisation
+as a martyr saint, of this man, who died not directly to testify to the
+truth of the religion of Jesus, but for the sake of justice, that
+justice is the outcome of Christianity, and that he who dies for justice
+sake dies for God.
+
+It was said by Lanfrane that Æfeah was not a martyr, because he had not
+died for the Faith; but St Anselm said he was a true martyr, because he
+died for justice and charity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Abbot Ælfric, writer of Homilies, Lives of Saints, and other works.
+    Wulfstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.
+
+
+The greatest of English prose-writers before the Conquest was Ælfric,
+who was educated at the school at Winchester which Æthelwold, a pupil of
+St Dunstan, had founded. His works are very numerous. He wrote Homilies,
+or Sermons, on Scriptural subjects, and Lives of the Saints. I have
+quoted a passage about "Judith," which occurs in the summary of the
+books of the Old Testament, written for a friend of his, one Sigeweard,
+who had often asked him for English writings, which he had delayed
+giving him until after he had, at Sigeweard's earnest request, come to
+his house, and then Sigeweard had complained to him that he could not
+get at his writings. This little incident reminds us how differently
+from now people had to arrange about books and writings, and how much
+more dependent they were on teaching through the ear and the eye.
+
+I must give you a little specimen of Ælfric's writing, a piece taken
+from his beautiful homily on Holy Innocents' Day. It is in very simple,
+direct language, and I think you will say it is not without a touch of
+that lovely thing which it is easy to feel and hard to define--poetry. I
+should like to have heard the sermon, and I hope you will feel somewhat
+as I do!
+
+"Christ despised not His young soldiers, although he was not present in
+body at their slaughter. Blessed were they born that they might for His
+sake suffer death. Happy is that their (tender) age, which was not yet
+able to confess Christ, and was allowed to suffer for Christ. They were
+the Saviour's witnesses, although as yet they knew Him not. They were
+not ripe for the slaughter, but yet did they blessedly die to live!
+Blessed was their birth, for they found eternal life on the threshold of
+this present life. They were snatched from mother-breasts, but they were
+straightway given into the keeping of angel-bosoms. The cruel persecutor
+(Herod) could with no service benefit those little ones so greatly as he
+benefited them with the hatred of his cruel persecution. They are called
+martyrs' blossoms because they were as blossoms upspringing in the cold
+of earth's unbelief, thus withered with the frost of persecution.
+Blessed are the wombs that bare them, and the breasts which suckled such
+as these. The mothers indeed suffered in the martyrdom of their
+children; the sword which pierced the children's limbs pierced to the
+mothers' hearts: and it must needs be that they be sharers of the
+eternal reward, when they were companions in the suffering."
+
+I will now tell you about a very different kind of sermon from
+Ælfric's--one of the sermons preached by Wulfstan, Archbishop of York,
+who was not, like Ælfric, leading a quiet life in an abbey, but throwing
+himself into the struggles and needs of a most disastrous time. He saw
+how the Danish inroads had terribly demoralised the English people, and
+he spoke out as God's preacher, who comes face to face with wrong, must
+speak.
+
+He begins by telling his "beloved men" how evil will go on increasing
+till Antichrist's coming; and then will it be awful, and terrible all
+through the world. "Too greatly has the devil for many years led this
+folk astray, and little faithfulness has there been among men, albeit
+they spake well; and wrongs too many have ruled in the land; and not
+always were there many who thought earnestly about the remedy as they
+should; but day by day they added one evil upon another and they reared
+up wrong, and many evil laws all throughout this nation. And therefore
+have we suffered many losses and shames: and if we shall await any cure
+then must we deserve it from God better than heretofore have we done.
+For with great earning have we earned the miseries that oppress us, and
+with great earning must we obtain the remedy from God if from henceforth
+it is to grow better." He tells them how in heathen lands they dare not
+withhold what has been devoted to the worship of idols: "and here we
+withhold the rights of God. And everywhere in heathen lands none dare
+injure or lessen within or without any of the things offered to idols:
+and we have robbed God's houses within and without." And so he goes on
+pouring out from his very soul the fiery words that tell of the warning
+of God's laws, and the worsening of folk-laws; and how the Sanctuaries
+are unprotected, and God's houses are robbed and stripped of their
+property, and holy orders are despised, and widows forced wrongfully to
+marry, and too many are made poor and humbled, and poor men are sorely
+betrayed and cruelly plotted against; and far and wide innocent people
+are given into the power of foreigners, and cradle-children made slaves
+through cruel evil laws for a little theft: and freeman's right taken
+away, and thrall's right narrowed, and alms' right diminished. It goes
+on and on, the terrible list of wrongs that have brought God's wrath on
+the land. The sermon is not for the building-up of faithful ones, but
+for the rousing and stirring up of those whose baptismal vow has been
+terribly and shamefully broken, His words are clashed out as he brings
+men face to face with their sin.
+
+And then comes the preaching of the true penance. "Let us do what is
+needful, bow to the right, and in somewise forsake the wrong, and mend
+where we have broken." And the preacher's voice now takes the tender
+tone of entreaty. "Let us creep to Christ and with trembling heart often
+call upon Him, and deserve His mercy; and let us love God, and obey His
+laws, and fulfil what we promised when we received baptism; or what
+those promised who were our sponsors at baptism. And let us rightly
+order word and work, and earnestly cleanse the thoughts of our hearts,
+and carefully keep oath and pledge and have honesty among us without
+weakness, and let us often understand the great judgement which we all
+must meet, and earnestly protect ourselves against the burning fire of
+the punishment of hell, and earn for ourselves the glories and the joys
+which God has prepared for them that do His will in the world. God help
+us. Amen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Love of books is love of part of God's world. In books we commune with
+    the spirit of their writers. The Church the mother of all art and
+    all literature. Catholic literature saturated with Holy Scripture.
+
+
+A man who made many a man and woman love literature and helped them to
+study it, the late Professor Henry Morley, has said that one who thinks
+that a bookroom is not a part of the world; one who thinks that, in
+leaving his books and going forth to commune with nature he is, as it
+were, passing from death to life, is one who has not yet learned to
+read. The good Professor saw that books have souls in them, so to speak,
+and that to love a book really and truly is to hold communion with that
+which is living and is a part of the great, beautiful scheme of God's
+great, beautiful world. To love one part of what Our Father has given us
+should never lead us to despise, or even undervalue, other parts. And we
+must remember, too, must we not? how one thing helps us to understand
+another; how great painters and great poets help us to understand the
+beauty of nature as we might not have understood it without them, just
+as they help us also to know men and women, and help us to know better
+some of the fair things in our great and glorious religion; things which
+God can and does teach without their help when He chooses, though He
+graciously and lovingly often uses their help--the help He has given
+them the power of giving--to teach others of His children. Our Father,
+being _Our_ Father, not just _your_ Father and _my_ Father and _his_
+Father and _her_ Father, but _Our_ Father, the Father of us all as one
+big family of His, brothers and sisters in Him, wills that we all help
+one another with the gifts He has given us; and the more we can realise
+that all separate gifts are parts of one great harmonious whole, the
+more fully we shall live and feel and enjoy.
+
+There is, of course, a delight in exquisite typography, and hand-made
+paper, and binding into which the soul of a true artist has gone. People
+may be willing to give large sums for these things, independently of the
+value of what is under them; or people may value books for their age, or
+because they are rare, or because they are records of facts which it is
+well to know and good to be able to verify.
+
+But there is a better way of love than all of these. One may love the
+book through which one holds communion with the spirit of its writer,
+being ready to learn from him by direct learning, or by the learning
+received through suggestion, or through the rousing of the spirit of
+enquiry, or the spirit of opposition. Is not this the best kind of love,
+the love by which the thought of man is used by man, the spirit of man
+holds communion with the spirit of man?
+
+All through the ages, great things have been handed down by written
+words, and people of all nations have shared one another's national
+heritage of written thought, and in that sharing made it larger and
+greater. We are now considering the earlier story of English Catholic
+literature, and it is surely well that people should know something of
+what things were said and sung in the olden time; the time when all art,
+all literature was fed by the great Mother of all Christian art and all
+Christian literature, the Holy Catholic Church.
+
+You will find our Catholic literature saturated with sacred lore and
+knowledge of Holy Scripture. Before printing was invented people could
+not multiply copies of the Sacred Books as they can now, but they knew
+them probably much better than many of those who can easily now buy them
+for a few pence. We have translations of various parts of the Bible in
+these early times. You will remember how in St Bede's last days he
+finished his translation of part of St John's Gospel. We have lovely
+manuscripts, such as that of the Lindisfarne Gospels, written in fine
+clear writing, which can be seen at the British Museum; and facsimiles
+of parts of them can be had for a small sum. It is simply an uneducated
+error to suppose that the heretical editing, as I may call it, of Holy
+Scripture in the mother-tongue of English people, made by Tyndale and
+Coverdale, was the first attempt to put the Bible into English. We
+should have had plenty of printed copies of Holy Scripture in the
+mother-tongue of English people, had these versions never been made and
+circulated to attack and injure Holy Church, without whom the originals
+could never have existed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Scattering of our old MSS. in Sixteenth Century. Same now in public
+    libraries. Collections. Exeter Book and Vercelli Book.
+
+
+Where are all our old manuscripts, our treasures from days of yore, the
+work of the cunning scribe, the pages whereon so many of our religious
+spent hour after hour, in patient and loving toil? They were scattered
+abroad in the sixteenth century by wholesale. Many of them found their
+way into private collections, and the collectors often generously gave
+them to college libraries. Matthew Parker, the Protestant Archbishop of
+Canterbury, was a great book-collector, and gave a good many volumes to
+Corpus Christi College at Cambridge. Among these is the oldest copy of
+the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. John Bale, once a friar, afterwards, alas! a
+Protestant Bishop, says that some of the books from the monasteries were
+used to scour candlesticks or to rub boots; some were sold to grocers
+and soap-vendors; and whole ships-full went abroad.
+
+[Illustrations:
+SAXON SHIP
+As used by our Forefathers in the time of King Alfred
+
+THE ALFRED JEWEL
+[_Page 114_]
+
+Robert Bruce Cotton was another great book-collector. His library was
+sold to the nation about seventy years after his death. Many books and
+MSS. belonging to it were destroyed or injured by a fire that broke out
+where it had been placed; among those injured was the only copy of the
+old poem of Béowulf, which I have not talked about because it is
+apparently outside our _Catholic_ Heritage in literature. The reduced
+library is now at the British Museum. It includes the beautiful
+Lindisfarne Gospels, or Durham Book, which once belonged to Durham
+Cathedral.
+
+There is another collection which was bought for the British Museum,
+made by Harley, Earl of Oxford.
+
+William Laud, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in Charles the First's
+time, and, like him, died on the scaffold, was also greatly interested
+in collecting books. He gave generously to Oxford University, and his
+books are in the Bodleian Library, with many other valuable literary
+treasures.
+
+Francis Junius collected Anglo-Saxon literature, and other books. He
+left them to the Bodleian Library. Among them is the unique "Caedmon"
+Manuscript, given him by Archbishop Usher, who founded the library of
+Trinity College, Dublin. People are now alive to the value of these
+great possessions, and we must be glad that scholars have worked at
+them, and published many of them, and so made their contents accessible
+to everyone. But we must never forget our debt to the earliest writers,
+and chiefly to the monks who wrote and who copied, much and long and
+well. As we trust, they have their reward.
+
+There are two specially interesting collections of manuscript
+Anglo-Saxon poems, known respectively as the Exeter Book and the
+Vercelli Book. The Exeter Book is one of some sixty volumes acquired by
+Leófric, Bishop of Crediton, when he was making his library for the
+cathedral of his new bishopric at Exeter. It is described as "a large
+English book of many things wrought in verse." It is one of the few of
+Leófric's books that remain at Exeter, where it has been over eight
+hundred years. It contains various poems by Cynewulf and others. Several
+leaves are missing, and ink has been spilt over part of one page. This
+Exeter library was scattered at the "Reformation." Some of its treasures
+are in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, or at Corpus Christi College, at
+Cambrige.
+
+The Vercelli Book is so called because it was discovered in its home in
+the cathedral library at Vercelli in Italy a good many years ago. It
+contains twenty-two sermons in Anglo-Saxon, and six poems, among which
+is our beautiful "Dream of the Holy Rood." Perhaps some English pilgrim
+or pilgrims, on the way to Rome, left this book as a gift, or through
+inadvertence, at the hospice where hospitality had been received. Or
+perhaps Cardinal Guala, who was over here in the days of John and of
+Henry III, bought the book for his library at Vercelli. Or perhaps it
+was one of the books of which John Bale tells us whole ships-full went
+abroad. We have to be very grateful to the scholars whose researches
+have recovered for us so much of our old heritage, and to those who have
+made their contents in various ways so easy to get at.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Runes. An early love-poem
+
+
+I said I would tell you a little about runes, which I have had more than
+once occasion to mention. The runes were the alphabet used by the
+Teutonic tribes, to which the English belonged. This alphabet is very
+old, and it is not certain where it originally came from. The word
+"rune" means secret or mystery. To "round" in a person's ear means to
+whisper, so that what is said is a "secret" or a "mystery." The word
+comes from "rune." When we use the word to "write" we think of setting
+down words on paper with a pen or a pencil. But the old meaning of
+"write" is to incise, or to cut, or engrave. Probably the runes were at
+first cut in wood. A wooden tablet was called "bóc," from beechwood
+being used for it. When we talk of a book we are away from the first
+idea of a book a good distance. Runes were also carved, or incised, in
+metal and in bone. They were associated, not only with secrecy or
+mystery, but with magic, and were supposed to possess power for good or
+evil. People thought that "runes could raise the dead from their graves;
+they could preserve life or take it, they could heal the sick or bring
+on lingering disease; they could call forth the soft rain or the violent
+hailstorm; they could break chains and shackles, or bind more closely
+than bonds or fetters; they could make the warrior invincible and cause
+his sword to inflict none but mortal wounds; they could produce frenzy
+and madness, or defend from the deceit of a false friend."
+
+There is a story in an old Norse book telling that Odin, the
+Scandinavian god, learned them and used them. St Bede tells in his
+"Church History" a story which proves that the belief in the magic power
+of runes lingered on in England after Christianity had become the
+professed religion of the people. It takes a good while to lose
+superstition that has been with people for a long, long time. Because
+Christianity condemns anything like magic, the use of the runes,
+associated with it, gradually went out. The Irish missionaries in the
+North of England taught the people there a beautiful kind of handwriting
+from which the English handwriting of later times was formed. The
+"Lindisfarne Gospels" are written in the earlier Irish rounded
+characters. In a copy of St Bede's "Church History" written after
+A.D. 730, a more pointed hand is used. If we want to write fast, we do
+not write so round as when we write slowly. Afterwards, in the tenth
+century, the English began to use the French style of writing.
+
+The runes were sometimes used as ordinary letters, without any thought
+of the old connection with magic. So the great Christian poet, Cynewulf,
+wrote his name in runes, which is how we know him to be the author of
+some of the poems we have been considering.
+
+The portions of the "Dream of the Holy Rood" which are on the Ruthwell
+Cross (see Chapter IV) are carved in runes. There is a small sword in
+the British Museum with runes on it, which was found in the Thames.
+
+In connection with the runes I want to tell you of two old poems, which
+may be related to each other. One is known as "The Wife's Complaint,"
+the other as, "The Husband's Message." The first of them is apparently
+spoken by a woman who laments her hard fate, her husband having gone
+over the sea, away from her. She is imprisoned in an old earthen
+dwelling under an oak; she has no friends near, and she tells how vain
+were the vows of love exchanged between her and her husband. Now the
+second poem, "The Husband's Message," may be written for this wife; we
+do not know; at any rate it conveys a message from an absent husband to
+a wife; and I will give it to you as an early love-letter. It consists
+of two parts, one of which has been thought to be a riddle, but they
+have been put together by a learned Professor, and if they do belong to
+each other, the arrangement is as interesting as it is beautiful. The
+message is given by the letter itself--the slip of bark or wood on which
+it was carved--and this wood speaks. First it tells us about itself. It
+had dwelt on the beach near the sea-shore: there were few to behold its
+home in the solitude, but every morning the brown wave encircled it with
+a watery embrace. Then it little thought that even, though itself
+mouthless, it should speak among the mead-drinkers and utter words.
+
+                          A great marvel it is,
+    Strange in the mouth that knoweth it not,
+    How the point of the knife and the right hand,
+    The thought of a man, and his blade therewith,
+    Shaped me with skill, that boldly I might
+    So deliver a message to thee
+    In the presence of us two alone,
+    That to other men our talk
+    May not make it more widely known.
+
+The letter then tells how it had come in the keeled vessel, and how the
+lady would now know how in her heart she may think of the love of her
+lord. "I dare maintain," says the letter, "that there thou wilt find
+true loyalty." He that carved the characters on the wood, bad it pray
+her, the lady decked with jewels, to remember the vows they twain had
+often made when they dwelt together in their home in the same land.
+
+                         Force drove him
+    Out of the land. Now hath he bidden me
+    Earnestly to urge thee to sail the sea
+    When thou hast heard on the brow of the hill
+    The mournful cuckoo call in the wood.
+    Then let no living man keep thee
+    From the journey, or hinder thy going.
+    Betake thee to the sea, the home of the mew,
+    Seat thee in the boat, that southward from here
+    Beyond the road of the sea thou mayest find the man
+    Where waits thy prince in hope of thee.
+
+We hope the lady betook herself to the sea-mew's home, and found her
+beloved at the end of the journey! Her beloved had no thought of any
+greater joy than the granting of Almighty God that together they should
+be givers of treasure to men. The beloved has enough of beaten gold and
+wealth, and a fair home among the strangers, the noble warriors that
+obey him. Banished from home, gone forth a homeless one, in the
+stranger-land good has come to him; he has no lack of anything but of
+her, who had with him come under an old threat, and had been parted from
+him. He vows to fulfil his pledge and love-troth, and he writes in runes
+some message, which she, as it appears, would understand, and she alone.
+
+The old, old story, written fair and full.
+
+You will have noticed in the literature we have been considering the
+absence of certain elements which are an integral part of our modern
+literature. This poem, for instance, is, as far as I know, the only love
+poem before the Conquest which has come down to us. There is no romance
+either, and there is, we may say, no humour. Life is a very serious
+thing, so often lying close to the sword-edge; and the duties of life
+are simple. There is to be a great, very great enlargement of the
+borders of English literature later on. Prose and poetry are to have new
+developments. Romances are to show us heroic ideals. Lyrics of joy, of
+sorrow, of passion, of emotion natural and spiritual, are to be sung.
+The sense of beauty is to grow. The drama is to arise from beginnings to
+be but faintly traced in early days. Epic poetry is to take a great
+place. Character modified, enriched by foreign strains, is to mould a
+noble literature--noble through many and many a gift and grace. A great
+poet is to arise with sympathies large and wide, to show us, in verse
+most musical, in words full meaning, with that grace of humour which is
+a fresh light upon life, how men and women lived: and to be the great
+precursor of a greater than he. Geoffrey Chaucer is to come to us. After
+him William Shakespere.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+THE MERCAT PRESS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Catholic Heritage in English
+Literature of Pre-Conquest Days, by Emily Hickey
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Our Catholic Heritage, by Emily Hickey.
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature
+of Pre-Conquest Days, by Emily Hickey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature of Pre-Conquest Days
+
+Author: Emily Hickey
+
+Release Date: October 1, 2005 [EBook #16785]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR CATHOLIC HERITAGE IN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Kathryn Lybarger and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<h1>OUR CATHOLIC HERITAGE
+IN ENGLISH LITERATURE
+OF PRE-CONQUEST DAYS</h1>
+    <div class="trans-note">
+        Transcriber's Note: Footnotes can be found at the end of the text.
+        The author's inconsistent chapter descriptions and spelling of proper names
+        have been preserved.
+    </div>
+
+<p><a name="fig-frontis" id="fig-frontis"></a></p>
+    <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;">
+        <a href="images/frontis.jpg">
+        <img src="images/frontis_th.jpg" alt="DEATH OF ST BEDE." /></a><br />
+        <p><span class="smcap">Death of St Bede.</span> (From the Original Picture at St
+Cuthbert's College, Ushaw.)</p>
+    </div>
+
+<h2>OUR</h2>
+<h1>CATHOLIC HERITAGE</h1>
+<h2>IN</h2>
+<h1>ENGLISH LITERATURE</h1>
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>EMILY HICKEY</h2>
+
+<h4>WITH FRONTISPIECE IN COLOUR<br />
+AND FOUR FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.</h4>
+
+<h6>London<br />
+SANDS &amp; CO.<br />
+15 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN<br />
+AND EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW<br />
+</h6>
+<h5>1910</h5>
+
+<hr />
+<h4>To</h4>
+<h3>THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER</h3>
+<h5>
+THIS LITTLE BOOK IS INSCRIBED<br />
+BY HIS GRACE'S KIND AND<br />
+VALUED PERMISSION.<br /><br />
+<i>June, 1910.</i><br />
+</h5>
+<hr />
+<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS">ILLUSTRATIONS</a></div>
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#FOREWORDS"><b>FOREWORDS</b></a></div>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">The beginnings of Literature in England. Two poets of the best period of
+our old poetry, Caedmon and Cynewulf. The language they wrote in.
+The monastery at Whitby. The story of Caedmon's gift of song.
+<span class="tocpage">page 15</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Caedmon and his influence. Poem, &quot;Genesis.&quot; &quot;The Fall of the Angels.&quot;
+&quot;Exodus.&quot; English a war-loving race. Destruction of the Egyptians.
+Fate and the Lord of Fate.
+<span class="tocpage">24</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Allegory. Principle of comparison important in life, language,
+literature. Early use of symbolism; suggested reasons for this. Poem
+of the Ph&oelig;nix. Allegorical interpretation of the story. Celtic
+influence on English poetry. Gifts of colour, fervour, glow. Various
+gifts of various nations enriching one another.
+<span class="tocpage">31</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Prose-writing. St Bede the Venerable. His love of truth. His industry
+and carefulness. Cuthbert's account of his last days. &quot;Bede whom God
+loved&quot;.
+<span class="tocpage">42</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">King Alfred, first layman to be a great power in literature; man of
+action; of thought; of endurance. Freedom first great possession;
+afterwards learning and culture. Alfred a loyal Son of the Church.
+Founder of English prose. Earliest literature of a nation in verse;
+why. Influence of Rome on Alfred.
+<span class="tocpage">48</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Decay of learning in England. Revival under Alfred. His translations.
+Edits English Chronicle. His helpers. Some of his sayings.
+Missionary spirit. &quot;Alfred commanded to make me&quot;.
+<span class="tocpage">55</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Some of greatest pre-Conquest poetry associated with name of Cynewulf.
+Guesses about him. Little known. Probably North-countryman, eighth
+century, an educated man. Finding of the Cross. Elene, story of St
+Helena's mission. Constantine goes to fight invaders. Vision of the
+Cross. Victory. Journey of St Helena, and search for the Cross. The
+Finding.<span class="tocpage">64</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">The Poet's love of the Cross: how he saw it in a double aspect. The
+dream of the Holy Rood. The Ruthwell Cross.
+<span class="tocpage">73</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">&quot;Judith,&quot; a great poem founded on Scripture story. Authorship uncertain.
+Part of it lost. Quotations from it. Description of Holofernes'
+banquet as a Saxon feast. Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage
+resistance to Danes and Northmen.
+<span class="tocpage">83</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal
+to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight.
+<span class="tocpage">90</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">The literature of one people owes a debt to that of others.
+Help-bringers. Great work of Benedictine monks. Our debt to Ireland.
+The English Chronicle's account of the Martyrdom of St &AElig;lfeah.
+<span class="tocpage">97</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Abbot &AElig;lfric, writer of Homilies, Lives of Saints, and other works.
+Wulfstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.
+<span class="tocpage">104</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Love of books is love of part of God's world. In books we commune with
+the spirit of their writers. The Church the mother of all Christian
+art and literature. Catholic literature saturated with Holy
+Scripture.
+<span class="tocpage">110</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Scattering of our old MSS. in Sixteenth Century. Some now in Public
+Libraries. Collections, Exeter book and Vercelli Book.
+<span class="tocpage">114</span></p>
+
+<div class="toclink"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></div>
+<p class="hangindent">Runes. An early love poem.
+<span class="tocpage">118</span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+<table summary="Illustrations" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;">
+<tr><td class="smcap">
+  <a href="#fig-frontis">
+  Death Of Saint Bede</a>
+  </td><td colspan="2"><i>Frontispiece</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="smcap">
+  <a href="#gs19">
+  Whitby Abbey</a>
+  </td><td align="center"><i>Page</i></td><td align="right">19</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="smcap">
+  <a href="#gs48">
+  King Alfred the Great</a>
+  </td><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">48</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="smcap">
+  <a href="#gs80">
+  The Ruthwell Cross</a>
+  </td><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">80</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="smcap">
+  <a href="#gs114-2">
+  The Alfred Jewel</a>
+  </td><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">114</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="smcap">
+  <a href="#gs114-1">
+  A Saxon Ship</a>
+  </td><td align="center">"</td><td align="right">114</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="FOREWORDS"></a>FOREWORDS</h2>
+
+<p>This little book makes no claim to be a history of pre-Conquest
+Literature. It is an attempt to increase the interest which Catholics
+may well feel in this part of the great 'inheritance of their fathers.'
+It is not meant to be a formal course of reading, but a sort of talk, as
+it were, about beautiful things said and sung in old days: things which
+to have learned to love is to have incurred a great and living debt. I
+have tried to clothe some of these in the nearest approach I could find
+to the native garb in which their makers had sent them forth, with the
+humblest acknowledgement that nothing comes up to that native garb
+itself. In writing the book I have naturally incurred debt in various
+directions; debt of which the source would be difficult always to trace.
+I may mention my obligations to the work of Professor Morley, Professor
+Earle, Professor Ten Brink, and Professor Albert S. Cook: also to the
+writers of Chapters I-VII of &quot;The Cambridge History of English
+Literature,&quot; vol. i.</p>
+
+<p>If this little book in any way fulfils the wishes of those Catholic
+teachers who have asked me to print some thoughts of mine about English
+Literature, I shall be glad indeed.</p>
+
+<p class="author">Emily Hickey.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">The beginnings of Literature in England. Two poets of the best period of
+our old poetry, Caedmon and Cynewulf. The language they wrote in.
+The monastery at Whitby. The story of Caedmon's gift of song.</div>
+
+<p>How many of us I wonder, realise in anything like its full extent the
+beauty and the glory of our Catholic heritage. Do we think how the Great
+Mother, the keeper of truth, the guardian of beauty, the muse of
+learning, the fosterer of progress, has given us gifts in munificent
+generosity, gifts that sprang from her holy bosom, to enlighten, to
+cheer, to guide and to help; gifts that she, large, liberal, glorious,
+could not but give, for she, like her Lord, is giver and bestower; and
+to be of her children is to be of the givers and bestowers. The Catholic
+Church is the source of fine literature, of true art, as of noble speech
+and noble deed.</p>
+
+<p>We are going to look at a small portion of that part of our Catholic
+heritage which consists of our early literature; we are going to think
+about the beginning of Christian work of this kind in the form of poetry
+and prose in England. When I say Christian poetry and prose, I am using
+the word Christian as opposed to pagan, and inclusive of secular as well
+as religious verse, though the amount of secular verse is, in the
+earliest time, comparatively very small. Some of the pagan work was
+retouched by Christians who cared for the truth and strength and beauty
+of it. The ideal of the English heathen poet was, in many respects, a
+fine one. He loved valour and generosity and loyalty, and all these
+things are found, for instance, in the poem &quot;B&eacute;owulf,&quot; a poem full of
+interest of various kinds; full, too, as Professor Harrison says, &quot;of
+evidences of having been fumigated here and there by a Christian
+incense-bearer.&quot; But &quot;the poem is a heathen poem, just 'fumigated' here
+and there by its editor.&quot; There is a vast difference between
+&quot;fumigating&quot; a heathen work and adapting it to blessedly changed belief,
+seeing in old story the potential vessel of Christian thought and
+Christian teaching. To fumigate with incense is one thing&mdash;to use that
+incense in the work of dedication and consecration is another. For
+instance, the old story of the &quot;Quest of the Graal,&quot; best known to
+modern readers through Tennyson's &quot;Idylls of the King,&quot; has been
+Christianised and consecrated. And so it was with some fine old English
+(or Anglo-Saxon) poetry. But, just now, we are going to listen to
+Catholic poets and teachers only.</p>
+
+<p>We begin with the work of poets. Out of all those who wrote in what was
+the best period of our old poetry, a period that lasted some hundred and
+fifty or seventy-five years, we know the names of two only, Caedmon and
+Cynewulf.</p>
+
+<p>And here may I say that scholars agree that the names are to be
+pronounced <i>Kadmon</i> and <i>Kun-e-wolf</i>; in the second name we sound the
+<i>y</i> like a French <i>u</i>, make a syllable of the <i>e</i>, not sounding it as
+<i>ee</i>, but short, and make the last syllable just what we now pronounce
+as <i>wolf</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Both of these poets deserve our love and our praise, as singers and
+inspirers of other singers, but we know much more about Caedmon's life
+than we know about his share in the poetry that has been attributed to
+him; that is the poetry which has gone under his name. That he did
+write much fine verse we know. On the other hand, we know a good deal as
+to the authenticity of Cynewulf's poetry, and nothing about his life.</p>
+
+<p>Both of these poets wrote in the language spoken in England before the
+period of French influence. That influence upon English at first seemed
+to be disastrous; the language became broken up and spoilt: but this was
+only for a time; and by and by, out of roughness and chaotic grammar
+there grew up a beautiful and stately speech meet for great poets to
+sing in, and great men and women to use. So it is that what for a time
+seems to be disastrous may one day be realised as benign and beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>This pre-Conquest language has to be learned as we learn a foreign
+tongue. It is much easier to learn than Latin or German, but still it
+has to be learned; so we shall have to listen to the thought of these
+poets in the language of our own day, allowing ourselves now and then
+the use of words or expressions which it is fair to employ in rendering
+old poetry or prose, though we do not use them in ordinary speech or
+writing.</p>
+
+<p>We shall sometimes use translations, and sometimes I will tell you
+about the poetry, giving the gist of it as best I can.</p>
+
+<p><a name="gs19" id="gs19"></a></p>
+    <div class="figcenter"
+         style="width:100%;">
+             <a href="images/gs19.jpg">
+             <img src="images/gs19_th.jpg" alt="WHITBY ABBEY." /></a><br />
+         <p><span class="smcap">WHITBY ABBEY.</span></p>
+    </div>
+
+<p>At Whitby you may see the ruins of what must have been a very beautiful
+monastery, built high on a hill, swept by brisk and health-giving winds
+with the strength and freshness of moorland and sea. This monastery,
+part of which was for monks, and part for nuns, was ruled by Abbess
+Hild.<a name="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1"><sup>[A]</sup></a> This seems strange to us, but it was because the Celtic usage
+prevailed in the government of the Abbey.</p>
+
+<p>We must never forget the work of the Celtic missionaries who brought
+Christianity from the Western Islands to the North of England: and, of
+course, their &quot;ways&quot; as well as their message were impressed on the
+converts. Later on, as we know, the Roman usage was established all over
+the country.</p>
+
+<p>Among the monks of Streoneshalh, as Whitby was then called, the Danes
+having given it its present name, there was, as St Bede the Venerable
+tells us, &quot;a brother specially renowned and honoured by Divine grace,
+because it was his wont to make fitting songs appertaining to piety and
+virtue; so that whatever he learned from scholars about the Divine
+Writings, that did he, in a short time, with the greatest sweetness and
+fervour, adorn with the language of poetry, and bring forth in the
+English speech. And because of his poems the hearts of many men were
+brought to despise the world, and were inspired with desire for the
+fellowship of the heavenly life.... He was a layman until he was far
+advanced in years, and he had never learnt any songs. It was then the
+custom that, when there was a feast on some occasion of rejoicing, all
+present should sing to the harp in turn. And when Caedmon saw the harp
+coming near him, he would get up, feeling ashamed, and go home to his
+house. Now once upon a time he had done this and had left the house
+where they were feasting, and gone to the stall where the cattle were,
+which it was his duty that night to attend to. There, when his work was
+done, he lay down and slept, and in a dream he saw a man standing by
+him, who hailed him and greeted him and called him by his name, saying:
+'Caedmon, sing me something.' And Caedmon answered and said, 'I can sing
+nothing, and therefore did I go from this feast, and depart hither,
+because I could not.' And again he that was speaking with him, said:
+'Nevertheless, thou must sing for me.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Caedmon understood, and he said in the same spirit that prompted
+Our Lady's &quot;Be it done unto me according to thy word,&quot; &quot;What shall I
+sing?&quot; And the guest of his dream said, &quot;Sing the Creation for me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Caedmon had received this answer, he at once began to sing to
+the praise of God the Creator verses and words which he had never heard.
+St Bede quotes a few lines in the Northern dialect, which may be
+rendered thus:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now shall we praise the Guardian of the Kingdom of Heaven, the might of
+the Creator and the thought of His mind, the works of the Father of
+glory; how He made the beginning of all wonders, the everlasting Lord.
+First did He shape for the children of men Heaven for a roof, the holy
+Shaper. Then the mid-world the Guardian of Mankind, the Eternal Lord,
+the King Almighty, created thereafter, the earth for men.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When Caedmon awoke the gift remained with him, and he went on composing
+more poetry. He told the town-reeve about the gift he had received, and
+the town-reeve took him to the Abbess and showed her all the matter.
+Abbess Hild called together all the most learned men and the students,
+and by her desire the dream was told to them, and the songs sung to them
+that they might all judge what this might be and whence the gift had
+come. And they were all sure that a divine gift had been bestowed on
+Caedmon by God Himself. They gave him a holy story and words of divine
+lore, and bad him sing them if he could, putting them into the measure
+of verse. In the morning he came back, having set them in most beautiful
+poetry. And after that the Abbess had him instructed, and he left the
+life in the world for the religious life. We are told by St Bede that he
+made much beautiful verse, being taught much holy lore and making songs
+so winsome to hear that his teachers themselves learned at his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He sang of the creation of earth and the making of man, and the history
+of Genesis, and the going out of the Israelites from the land of the
+Egyptians, and their entering into the Land of Promise, and many other
+stories told in the Books of the Canon. He also sang concerning the
+Humanity of Christ and about His Passion and His Ascension, and about
+the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the teaching of the Apostles. And he
+sang also of the Judgement to come and of the sweetness of the Kingdom
+of Heaven. About these things he made many songs, as well as about the
+Divine goodness and judgment. And this poet always had before him the
+desire to draw men away from the love of sin and of evil doing, and to
+make them earnestly desire to do good deeds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At last a fair end was set upon his life when, glad of heart, full of
+love to those around him, he received Holy Viaticum, and prayed and
+signed himself with the Holy Sign, and entered sweetly into his rest.</p>
+
+<p>This is the story told for the most part, as it is best to tell it in
+the way in which St Bede recorded it; and Alfred rendered it into the
+English of his day, from which English I have now taken it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Caedmon and his influence. Poem, &quot;Genesis.&quot; &quot;The Fall of The Angels.&quot;
+&quot;Exodus,&quot; English a war-loving race. Destruction of the Egyptians,
+Fate and the Lord of Fate.</div>
+
+<p>We possess poems on the subjects which St Bede tells us that Caedmon
+wrote upon, but we cannot be sure that any of these are actually that
+poet's work. St Bede tells us that many others after him wrote noble
+songs, but he sets Caedmon's work above that of all those others as
+having been the product of a gift direct from God. In any case he must
+have influenced those who wrote later than he. All our work whether we
+are poets, thinkers, fighters, craftsmen, servants, tradesfolk,
+teachers, must be only partly in what we do directly. This can to some
+extent be measured. We can tell how many hours' work we have done in a
+day; how many books we have written in a life's working-time; how much
+faithful service we have consciously offered. But by far the larger part
+of our work we cannot know. We cannot know how much we may have
+influenced others for good, we cannot calculate the effect that we have
+had upon them, and, through them, upon others. And to apply this thought
+specially to a poet, we may say that what he has done for others by
+suggesting, by stimulating, by inspiring, is not only a most valuable
+part of his work, but also an immeasurable part. A poet may inspire
+another poet simply to sing; or he may inspire him to sing on subjects
+akin to those dearest to himself; and the second poet, or the third or
+fourth, as it may be, may sing better than the first. But all the same,
+he owes it to the first poet, and, in a sense, the work of the latter
+poet is a part of the work of the earlier.</p>
+
+<p>The poem &quot;Genesis&quot; is known to be the work of at least two people: part
+of it is a version of an old Saxon paraphrase of the Old Testament, and
+must have been written later than Caedmon's time. It is always
+interesting to know who it was that wrote work we care for, but it is a
+more important matter to possess the work itself. People in old times
+did not seem to care much whether their names were known or not. The
+author, for example, of the book which for so long has been read and
+studied and cherished as one of the Church's most treasured
+possessions, the &quot;Imitation of Christ,&quot; remained for a long time
+unknown; and this is by no means a solitary instance. The interest in
+literary fame is mostly a modern thing. Besides in these old times
+people worked in a different sort of way from now. We must remember that
+the art of song went hand in hand with the art of verse-making. All
+sorts of people sang the words they had heard, changing, adding, as it
+might be; adding to, or taking from the beauty and force of what they
+were dealing with, in proportion to the strength of their memory, or the
+quality of their imagination.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the &quot;Fall of the Angels&quot; forms part of the &quot;Genesis,&quot; and
+it is well worth while to consider whether a very great poet of much
+later days, John Milton, may not have owed something when writing
+&quot;Paradise Lost&quot; to his early forerunner.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ten angel-tribes had the Guardian of all, the Holy Lord, created by the
+might of His hand, whom He well trusted to work His will in full
+allegiance to Him, for He had given them understanding and made them
+with His hands, the Lord Most Holy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He had set them in such blessedness. One thereof had He made so strong,
+so mighty in his intellect; to him did He grant great sway, next to
+Himself in the Kingdom of Heaven. So bright had He made him, so
+beautiful was his form in Heaven that was given him by the Lord of
+Hosts. He was like unto the stars of light. His duty was to praise the
+Lord, to laud Him because of his share of the gift of light. Dear was he
+to our Lord.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But it could not be hidden from God how pride had taken hold of His
+angel. And Satan resolves in that pride not to serve God. Bright and
+beautiful in his form, he will not obey the Almighty. He thinks within
+himself that he has more might and strength than the Holy God could find
+among his fellows. &quot;Why should I toil, seeing there is no need that I
+should have a lord? With my hands I can work marvels as many as He.
+Great power have I to make ready a goodlier throne, a higher one in
+Heaven. Why must I serve Him in liegedom, bow to Him in service? I am
+able to be God even as He. Strong comrades stand by me, who will not
+fail me in the strife; stout-hearted heroes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And so does Satan resolve to be the foe of God.</p>
+
+<p>Surely we must be reminded of Milton's great poem when we read how
+Satan, ruined and cast into hell, speaks to his comrades, lost with him.
+He compares the &quot;narrow place&quot; with the seat he had once known in
+Heaven, and denies the right doing of the Almighty in casting him down.
+He says too that the chief of his sorrows is that Adam, made out of
+earth, shall possess the strong throne that once was his; Adam, made
+after God's likeness, from whom Heaven will be peopled with pure souls.
+And he plans revenge on God by striving to destroy Adam and his
+offspring.</p>
+
+<p>All this, and the appeal to one of his followers to go upward where Adam
+and Eve are, and bring about that they should forsake God's teaching and
+break His Commandments, so that weal might depart from them and
+punishment await them, may be compared with &quot;Paradise Lost,&quot; Books I,
+II.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that the English were a war-like race. They loved
+the clash of swords, the whizzing of the arrow in its flight, the fierce
+combat, the struggle to keep the battle-stead, as they phrased the
+gaining of a victory. We shall see more of this by and by. And this
+spirit comes out in their poetry written after they had received
+Christianity. They delight in the story of struggle, of brave combat,
+of victory. They saw in the hosts of Pharaoh the old Teuton warriors,
+with the bright-shining bucklers, and the voice of the trumpets and the
+waving of banners. Over the doomed host the poet of &quot;Exodus&quot; saw the
+vultures soaring in circles, hungry for the fight, when the doomed
+warriors should be their prey, and heard the wolves howling their
+direful evensong, deeming their food nigh them. Here is the description
+of the Destruction of the Egyptians. The translation is by Henry S.
+Canby:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then with blood-clots was the blue sky blotted;<br /></span>
+<span>Then the resounding ocean, that road of seamen,<br /></span>
+<span>Threatened bloody horror, till by Moses' hand<br /></span>
+<span>The great Lord of Fate freed the mad waters.<br /></span>
+<span>Wide the sea drove, swept with its death-grip,<br /></span>
+<span>Foamed all the deluge, the doomed ones yielded,<br /></span>
+<span>Seas fell on that track, all the sky was troubled,<br /></span>
+<span>Fell those steadfast ramparts, down crashed the floods.<br /></span>
+<span>Melted were these sea-towers, when the mighty One,<br /></span>
+<span>Lord of Heaven's realm, smote with holy hand<br /></span>
+<span>These heroes strong as pines, that people proud....<br /></span>
+<span>The yawning sea was mad,<br /></span>
+<span>Up it drew, down swirled; dread stood about them,<br /></span>
+<span>Forth welled the sea-wounds. On those war-troops fell,<br /></span>
+<span>As from the heaven high, that handiwork of God.<br /></span>
+<span>Thus swept He down the sea-wall, foamy-billowed,<br /></span>
+<span>The sea that never shelters, struck by His ancient sword,<br /></span>
+<span>Till, by its dint<a name="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2"><sup>[B]</sup></a> of death, slept the doughty ones;<br /></span>
+<span>An army of sinners, fast surrounded there,<br /></span>
+<span>The sea-pale, sodden warriors their souls up-yielded<br /></span>
+<span>Then the dark upsweltering, of haughty waves the greatest,<br /></span>
+<span>Over them spread; all the host sank deep.<br /></span>
+<span>And thus were drowned the doughtiest of Egypt,<br /></span>
+<span>Pharaoh with his folk. That foe to God,<br /></span>
+<span>Full soon he saw, yea, e'en as he sank,<br /></span>
+<span>That mightier than he was the Master of the waters,<br /></span>
+<span>With His death-grip, determined to end the battle,<br /></span>
+<span>Angered and awful.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>How fine a conception it is. Let us notice how far had been travelled
+from the old pagan &quot;Fate goeth even as it will&quot; to &quot;the Lord of Fate.&quot;
+How great is the thought of the vision of God's might, the power of the
+Master of the waves, brought before the eyes of Pharaoh before he sinks
+in the death-grip that will not let him go!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">
+Allegory. Principle of comparison important in life, language,
+literature. Early use of symbolism; suggested reasons for this. Poem
+of the Ph&oelig;nix. Allegorical interpretation of the story. Celtic
+influence on English poetry. Gifts of colour, fervour, glow. Various
+gifts of various nations enriching one another.
+</div>
+
+<p>In these papers we are not going through anything like a course of older
+English literature. We are looking at some of the work which our early
+writers have left, from the point of view of its being our Catholic
+Heritage, and we want to pay special attention to special works, not to
+go through a long list of names. It is hoped that the bringing forward
+of what is so good and strong in interest may be found really helpful by
+those who have little or no time to go to the originals. That it may be
+so is alike the desire of writer and publisher.</p>
+
+<p>To-day we are going to consider a poem of a different kind from what we
+have had before, an old poem called &quot;The Ph&oelig;nix.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Literature is full of allusions to the fable of the ph&oelig;nix; it is
+one of those stories which have caught hold of people and fired their
+imagination; and the reason is, we may well suppose, because it has
+suggested so many comparisons, some of them great and beautiful and
+holy. There are some stories which lend themselves easily to an
+allegorical interpretation; stories quite true, and yet suggesting
+things beyond their own actual scope. I dwell on this before passing on
+to the poem, because I want to bring before you the remembrance of what
+a tremendous factor in literature, as in thought and in the whole of
+life is the principle of comparison, or, as we might put it, the
+principle of similitude or likeness. We learn about a thing we do not
+know through its likeness, as a whole or in some parts, to a thing we do
+know. Our little children can understand most easily something of the
+love of Our Father who is in Heaven through the love of their father on
+earth: they learn of their Redeemer's Mother, their own dear Mother of
+Grace, through their earthly mother, who is ever ready to supply their
+wants and give them joy and comfort.</p>
+
+<p>In devotion what do we most need to pray for? Is it not for likeness to
+the holy ones and to the holiest of all creatures, Our Lady; and
+highest of all, to the Lord, Our Saviour and Example? And is it not the
+fairest of promises that one day &quot;we shall be like to Him, for we shall
+see Him as He is&quot;? (St John iii.)</p>
+
+<p>So in literature we have, springing from this principle of comparison,
+the forms fable, parable, and allegory; and in language the figures of
+speech which we know as simile and metaphor.</p>
+
+<p>Ovid, a Roman poet who lived before the Incarnation, tells the old
+Eastern fable thus:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is a bird that restores and reproduces itself; the Assyrians call
+it the Ph&oelig;nix. It feeds on no common food, but on the choicest of
+gums and spices; and after a life of secular length (<i>i.e.</i>, a hundred
+years) it builds in a high tree with cassia, spikenard, cinnamon, and
+myrrh, and on this nest it expires in sweetest odours. A young Ph&oelig;nix
+rises and grows, and when strong enough it takes up the nest with its
+deposit and bears it to the City of the Sun, and lays it down there in
+front of the sacred portals.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was a much later and a much longer version of the story that our
+English poet was debtor to. It was written in Latin by Lactantius, and
+the fable there, Professor Earle says, &quot;is so curiously and, as it
+were, significantly elaborated, that we hardly know whether we are
+reading a Christian allegory or no.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He goes on to say that Allegory has always been a favourite form with
+Christian writers, and finds more than one reason for it. There was a
+tendency towards symbolism in literature outside Christianity when the
+Christian literature arose. Another reason was that the early Christians
+used it to convey what it would probably have endangered their lives to
+set in plain words; besides this&mdash;here I must give the Professor's own
+beautiful words&mdash;&quot;Christian thought had in its own nature something
+which invited allegory, partly by its own hidden sympathies with nature,
+and partly by its very immensity, for which all direct speech was felt
+to be inadequate.&quot; One more reason he suggests, and that is &quot;the
+all-pervading and unspeakable sweetness of Christ's teaching by
+parables.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Romans used the representation of the ph&oelig;nix on coins to signify
+the desire for fresh life and vigour, and Christian writers used the
+ph&oelig;nix as an emblem of the Resurrection.</p>
+
+<p>Many scholars think that it was Cynewulf who wrote the Anglo-Saxon poem
+of &quot;The Ph&oelig;nix.&quot; We are, however, uncertain as to its authorship and
+as to its date. Whoever wrote it probably took some hints as to the
+allegorical interpretation of the story from both St Ambrose and St
+Bede. And this poet, too, gives us much more brightness and colour than
+we find in Caedmonic poetry. I use the word &quot;Caedmonic&quot; to cover the
+poetry which used to be attributed to Caedmon, and which was probably
+written under his influence. That he did write much I have shown in
+Chapter I.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot give the poem at full length, but in parts quote from it, and
+in part give the gist of it. It begins with a description of the Happy
+Land which is the home of the Ph&oelig;nix. Far away in the East it lies,
+that noblest of lands, renowned among men. Not to many of the
+earth-owners is it given to have access to that country. God's power
+sets it far from the workers of evil. Beautiful is that plain, with joys
+endowed and with the sweetest smells of earth. Peerless is the island,
+set there by its noble Maker. Oft is the door of Heaven opened for the
+blessed ones and the joy of its music known of them. Winsome is the
+plain with its wide green woods. And there is neither rain nor snow,
+nor breath of frost nor flame of fire, nor the rush of hail, nor the
+falling of rime, nor burning heat of the sun, nor everlasting cold, but
+blessed and wholesome standeth the plain, and full is the noble country
+of the blowing of blossoms.</p>
+
+<p>The glorious land is higher than earth's highest towering mountain,
+lying serene in its sunny wooded fairness. Ever and always the trees are
+hung with fruits, and never comes the withering of the leaf. No foes may
+enter that land, and there is no weeping nor any sorrow, nor losing of
+life, nor sin, nor strife, nor age, nor care, nor poverty. When the
+Flood covered the earth, this Paradise was shielded from the rush of
+angry waters, happy through God's grace and inviolate; and so shall it
+remain even to the day of the coming of the Judgement of the Lord.</p>
+
+<p>In this fair country there abides a bird of wondrous beauty and strong
+of wing. For him there shall be no death while the world shall last.
+Ever he watches the course of the sun, eagerly looks for the radiant
+rising over ocean of the noblest of stars, the first work of the Father,
+the glowing token of God. At the coming of the sun he flies swift-winged
+toward it, singing more wondrously than any son of man hath heard since
+the making of heaven and earth. Never was human voice nor sound of any
+instrument of music like unto the song. And so twelve times by day he
+marks the hours, as twelve times by night he has marked them by his bath
+in the glorious fountain, and his drink of its cool clear water.</p>
+
+<p>A thousand years go on, and the burden of years is upon him, and he
+flies to a spacious lonely realm and there abides alone. He is lord over
+all the birds, and dwells with them in the wilderness. He flies
+westward, attended by a great throng, till he gains the country of the
+Syrians. Then he sends away his retinue, and stays alone in a grove,
+hidden from human eyes. Here is a lofty tree, blossoming bright above
+all other trees, and on this tree the Ph&oelig;nix builds his nest, on a
+windless day, when the holy jewel of heaven shines clear. For he is fain
+by the activity of his mind to convert old age into life, and thus renew
+his youth. He gathers from far and near the sweetest and most
+delightsome plants and leaves, and the sweetest perfumes that the Father
+of all beginnings has made. On the lofty top of the tree he builds his
+house fair and winsome, and sets round his body holy spices and noble
+boughs. Then, in the great sheen of mid-day, the Ph&oelig;nix sits, looking
+out on the world and enduring his fate. Suddenly his house is set on
+fire by the radiant sun, and amid the glowing spices and sweet odours,
+bird and nest burn together in the fierce heat. The life of him, the
+soul, escapes when the flame of the funeral pile sears flesh and bone.</p>
+
+<p>Then comes the resurrection of the Ph&oelig;nix, who rises from the ashes
+of his old body, young and wondrously beautiful. Fed on the honey-dew
+that oft descends at midnight, he remains a while before his return to
+his own dwelling-place, his home of yore.</p>
+
+<p>When he goes he is accompanied by a great retinue of the bird-folk, who
+proclaim him their leader. Ere he reaches his own country he outstrips
+them all, and comes home alone in his splendour and his might. And the
+next thousand years go on, and again comes the change to this creature
+who has no dread of death, since he is ever assured of new life after
+the fury of the flame.</p>
+
+<p>And so it is that every blessed soul will choose for himself to enter
+into everlasting life through the dark portals of death. Much of a like
+kind does this bird's nature shadow forth concerning the chosen
+followers of Christ, how they may possess pure happiness here, and
+secure exalted bliss hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>The allegorical significance is explained by the old poet at
+considerable length. The main thought is, of course, the great
+Resurrection in which, day by day, we all profess our belief; the
+Resurrection through the fire that &quot;shall be astir, and shall consume
+iniquities&quot;; the Resurrection at the Day of Judgement, when the just
+shall be once more young and comely in the glory of joy and praise,
+singing in adoration of the peerless King: &quot;Peace and wisdom and
+blessing for these Thy gifts, and for every good, be unto Thee, the true
+God, throned in majesty. Infinite, high, and holy is the power of Thy
+might. The heavens on high with the angels, are full of the glory, O
+Father Almighty, Lord of all gods, and the earth also. Defend us, Author
+of Creation. Thou art the Father Almighty in the highest, the Lord of
+Heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>How familiarly these words ring! For our heritage of praise has come to
+us from afar and from of old.</p>
+
+<p>And again rises the chant triumphant, to the endless honour of the
+Eternal Son, whose coming into the world and birth and death are all
+typified by the mystical Ph&oelig;nix.</p>
+
+<p>I have dwelt at considerable length upon this poem for various reasons.
+One is that it is of a special kind, the allegorical; another is that,
+as I have pointed out, it is full of a richness and colour and love of
+nature, which is not found in the earlier poetry. Where does it come
+from? It is most probably part of the Celtic influence which has set its
+magic touch upon English poetry and given to it that &quot;light that never
+was on sea or land.&quot; It has done far more than give a sense of colour
+and beauty and nature-love. More than the love of nature in its beauty
+is the sense of fellowship between man and nature, the sense that makes
+man see his own joy and sorrow reflected in the mighty heart of Nature.
+This is a very big subject, and can only be touched on here. The
+beginning of this influence, which came also from Wales and France, is
+due to Ireland. We must never forget how great a debt England owes to
+Ireland. May we say that it was from the Irish missionaries whose feet
+hallowed the soil of Iona that the English north country caught that
+intense glowing love of the Holy Faith, which even still, in a measure,
+differentiates the north of England from the south?<a name="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3"><sup>[C]</sup></a> We must value
+very greatly the solid foundation of strength, sincerity, what we call
+<i>grit</i>, directness of expression, simplicity, to be found in early
+English work; all these being great things, yet capable of receiving
+into their fellowship and above it and beyond it, that which should give
+what we look for in a great literature; the power of appeal to various
+kinds of people, to &quot;all sorts and conditions of men.&quot; And to Celtic
+influence, Irish, British, French, we look for that which turns grey,
+however fair a grey, to green, and purest pallor to the glory of
+whiteness. It is beautiful, is it not, to think how various kinds of men
+and women can help to complete one another by giving and taking what
+each has to give, and each needs to take? It is the same with nations:
+each has its own gifts, its own needs; and for a great and noble
+world-literature we need the gifts of all.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Prose-writing. St Bede the Venerable. His love of truth. His industry
+and carefulness. Cuthbert's account of his last days. &quot;Bede whom God
+loved.&quot;
+</div>
+
+<p>We leave our poets now for a time, and go to the writers of prose in
+early days. We want first to think about a beautiful-souled religious,
+who gave us the first great historical work done in England. We know him
+as St Bede, the Venerable Bede, as he has been called from the epithet
+inscribed on his tomb in Durham Cathedral, which bears the words</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Hac sunt in fossa<br /></span>
+<span>Bed&aelig; Venerabilis ossa.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;In this grave are the bones of Venerable Bede.&quot; We know the old story
+how the pupil who was writing his dear master's epitaph could not find
+the right word, as it has happened to many a one for the time being; and
+how he slept and awoke to find the word supplied by the gracious angel
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>In his Benedictine cell at Jarrow, St Bede read and thought and wrote;
+and all that he wrote was done in noble sincerity of purpose, springing
+from the dedication of his whole soul to Him who is truth itself. He
+told as history what he believed to be true, and collected his materials
+from sources acknowledged to be trustworthy; and he is always careful to
+tell us when he gives a story on evidence only hearsay.</p>
+
+<p>St Bede refused to be Abbot of Jarrow, because &quot;the office demands
+household care, and household care brings with it distraction of mind,
+which hinders the pursuit of learning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He wrote many things, and it has been said that his writings form nearly
+a complete encyclop&aelig;dia of the knowledge of his day; but the work of St
+Bede by which he is best known is the &quot;Church History of the English
+Race.&quot; It is of greater value than we can tell, and has been used for
+many generations for knowledge and help.</p>
+
+<p>The history of England was in St Bede's time inseparable from the
+history of her Church, as we pray that one day it may again come to be.</p>
+
+<p>The book begins with a short account of Britain before the coming of St
+Augustine. St Bede used old writers for this, and he was much helped by
+two of his friends, Albinus and Northelm. Northelm used to make
+researches for him at Rome, and brought him copies of letters written by
+St Gregory the Great, and other Popes, bearing on the Church history of
+Britain. From other sources also he took the information which has come
+down through him to us, a heritage for which we cannot be too grateful.
+Our two great early histories are the &quot;Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,&quot; and
+Bede's &quot;Church History of the English Race.&quot; Without these, what could
+our historians have done?</p>
+
+<p>This great book of St Bede's was, like almost all his work, written in
+Latin; the grand old tongue in which our priests say their daily Office
+and minister at God's altar. It was King Alfred who gave us a free
+translation of it in English. But although it was written in Latin, it
+belongs absolutely to our Catholic Heritage in English Literature.</p>
+
+<p>Bede was the first historian to date from the Incarnation of Our Lord,
+the form which we have always used. The History comes down to
+<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 731, a short time before its author went to his rest. We
+can never think of St Bede as a mere bookman, a purely &quot;literary man.&quot;
+His own character, truth-loving, wise, devoted, cheerful, has been felt
+through his work; a character that has made people love him and stretch
+out hands of affection to him across the heaping-up of the years. How
+glad are we to say, we, students, workers, all of us, &quot;St Bede, pray for
+us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There is a lovely account of St Bede's last days handed down to us in a
+letter written by his pupil Cuthbert, to another of his pupils, Cuthwin.
+Cuthwin had written, telling Cuthbert how he was diligently saying
+Masses, and praying for their &quot;father and master, Bede, whom God loved,&quot;
+and Cuthbert is glad to answer his fellow-student's enquiries as to the
+departure of that &quot;dear father and master.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His death-illness began &quot;a fortnight before the day of Our Lord's
+Resurrection,&quot; and lasted till Holy Thursday. All the time he was full
+of joy and thanksgiving. Cuthbert says he has never seen any man &quot;so
+earnest in giving thanks to the living God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He made a little poem in English about the absolute importance of
+everybody considering, before his departure, what good or ill he has
+done, and how his soul is to be judged after death. &quot;He also sang
+antiphons,&quot; says Cuthbert, &quot;according to our custom and use.&quot; Cuthbert
+gives one of them, which is the lovely antiphon to the &quot;Magnificat&quot; at
+second Vespers on Ascension Day.</p>
+
+<p>His work went on during his illness. He was making a translation of part
+of St John's Gospel into English, &quot;for the benefit of the Church,&quot; and
+was working at &quot;Some collections out of the 'Book of Notes' of Bishop
+Isodorus, saying, 'I will not have my pupils read a falsehood, nor
+labour therein without profit after my death.'&quot; As the time went on his
+difficulty of breathing increased, and last symptoms began to appear;
+but he dictated cheerfully, anxious to do all that he could. On the
+Wednesday he ordered them to write with all speed what he had begun; and
+then &quot;we walked till the third hour with the relics of saints, according
+to the custom of that day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then one of them said, &quot;Most dear Master, there is still one chapter
+wanting: do you think it troublesome to be asked any more questions?&quot; He
+answered, &quot;It is no trouble. Take your pen, and make ready, and write
+fast.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After this he distributed little gifts to the priests, and spoke to
+all, asking that Masses and prayers might be said for him. His desire
+was, like St Paul's, to die and be with Christ: Christ Whom he had so
+loved, and at Whose feet he had laid all his gifts and all his learning.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;One sentence more,&quot; said the boy, was yet to be written. The Master bad
+him write quickly. &quot;The sentence is now written,&quot; said the boy. And the
+dear Saint knew that the end was come, and asked them to receive his
+head into their hands. And there sitting, facing the holy place where he
+had been used to pray, he sang his last song of praise, &quot;Glory be to the
+Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost,&quot; and &quot;when he named the
+Holy Ghost he breathed his last and so departed to the Heavenly
+Kingdom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>St Bede was buried at Jarrow, but his relics were afterwards taken to
+Durham by a priest named Elfrid, and laid by St Cuthbert's side. In the
+twelfth century a glorious shrine was built over these relics by the
+Bishop of Durham, Hugh Pudsey: a shrine that, like many another, was
+destroyed in the sixteenth century uprising of the king of the country
+against the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">King Alfred, first layman to be a great power in literature; man of
+action; of thought; of endurance. Freedom first great possession;
+afterwards learning and culture. Alfred a loyal Son of the Church.
+Founder of English prose. Earliest literature of a nation in verse;
+why. Influence of Rome on Alfred.
+</div>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us praise the men of renown,&quot; says Holy Scripture (Ecclesiasticus,
+44), &quot;and our fathers in their generations.... Such as have borne rule
+in their dominions, men of great power and endued with their wisdom ...
+ruling over the present people, and by the strength of wisdom
+instructing the people in most holy words.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>We have to think now of a man of renown who bore rule in his dominions;
+a man of great power, and endued with wisdom; who by strength and wisdom
+instructed his people in most holy words. We have hitherto spoken of
+work done in the dedicated life of religion: to-day we direct our
+attention to the work of a great layman; the first English layman whom
+we know to have been a great power in literature; less as a &quot;maker,&quot;
+poet or proseman, than as an opener out to &quot;makers&quot; of precious store; a
+helper and encourager; a fellow-student; a learner and a teacher of whom
+it could be said, as Chaucer says of his Clerk of Oxford, &quot;gladly would
+he learn and gladly teach.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="gs48" id="gs48"></a></p>
+    <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;">
+         <a href="images/gs48.jpg">
+         <img src="images/gs48_th.jpg" alt="STATUE OF KING ALFRED" /></a><br />
+         <p>STATUE OF KING ALFRED, BY H. THORNEYCROFT, R.A.</p>
+    </div>
+
+<p>It would not, I think, be possible for English people to over-estimate
+the value of the gift God gave them in <span class="smcap">King Aelfred</span>. That is
+really the right way to spell his name, but as to most people it looks
+unfamiliar, we will adopt the more usual spelling and write of him as
+Alfred.</p>
+
+<p>We think of him in various aspects: first as the strong, brave man who
+did so much toward making noble history for time to come, by his own
+action, guided by his piety and devotion. His earliest work was to fight
+for the gaining of freedom and unity for his people, and this work went
+over many years. When there was an interval of peace, and when a more
+settled peace had been won, he worked hard to gain for them the freedom
+of the mind which can never exist where ignorance is reigning. Freedom
+is the first great possession; afterwards we seek for learning and
+culture. People who may be called away at any moment to fight for life
+or liberty cannot do much in the way of quiet study; and while the
+Danes were not yet finally repulsed or bound by treaty, the great work
+of Alfred in civilizing England had to remain in suspense.</p>
+
+<p>We love to think that Alfred's wars were not to greaten himself, but to
+set his country free. Then, as later on, if I may quote what I have
+elsewhere said, the English</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Had fought for their God-given birthright, their country to have and to hold,<br /></span>
+<span>And not for the lust of conquest, and not for the hunger of gold.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>There is another aspect in which we may look at this great King; we
+think of him not only as a doer but as a sufferer; and not only as an
+endurer of disappointment, a bearer of toil, difficulty, trouble, but as
+one who bore in his body a &quot;white martyrdom&quot; of great pain, perhaps even
+anguish; and this for some twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>Alfred was always a loyal son of the Church. His father, &AElig;thelwulf, sent
+him to Rome when he was quite a little boy, and Pope Leo IV was
+godfather to him at his Confirmation, and, on hearing the report of
+&AElig;thelwulf's death, consecrated him as king, as he had been asked to do.
+But &AElig;thelwulf did not die for a little time after, and took Alfred for
+a second visit to Rome. Each of Alfred's three brothers reigned a short
+time before he became King of Wessex in 871. In that same year he fought
+no fewer than nine battles against the Danes, besides making sundry
+raids upon them. It is well to be a good fighting man where need is, and
+it is well to use the qualities that go to the making up of the good
+fighting man to meet the difficulties that beset the path of duty and
+the way of progress. Courage, strength, generosity, perseverance, these
+are needed for all work alike in peace and war.</p>
+
+<p>Alfred was familiar in his youth with English songs, and most probably
+knew the old Norse sagas; but he had to learn Latin in his later life.
+We must remember that most of the literature which Alfred could get at
+was locked up in Latin; even the invaluable Church History of St Bede
+needed a translator's key; and it was Alfred who first applied this key
+to it.</p>
+
+<p>When we think of the prose written in England in early days, we are
+thinking of the work of scholars, in a grand language that had done
+growing; a language that was to be in Western Christendom the language
+of religion, the language of the altar, for how long a time who can
+know? the language that gave birth to other languages, as its
+literature so powerfully influenced both theirs and that of others not
+descended from it. Not yet was the time for a great prose literature in
+England, such as grew up many a year ago, and is going on in our own
+days.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest literature of a people is almost invariably in verse: the
+literature that comes from the heart of a people, and is not the
+production of a few learned folk. In early days, there was little
+reading or writing, except in the shelter of the great monasteries. The
+common folk-literature, which is a very precious thing, is preserved, in
+such times as we are thinking of, in people's memories, and circulated
+by recitation, this recitation being accompanied by music or by
+rhythmical movements of the body. We all know how much easier it is to
+remember a page of verse than a page of prose. Thus, the form that could
+most easily be carried in the memory and recited, would naturally be the
+first to flourish.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen something of early English religious poetry in Caedmon's
+work and that of his followers; and next we shall come back to poetry
+with Cynewulf, who made great and holy verse.</p>
+
+<p>But beside such work as these poems which were written by cultivated
+men, many poems and fragments of verse were floating about the land,
+come over from the old native country with the first Angles and Saxons
+who made their home in Britain. These were dear to the people and dear,
+as we shall see, to the greatest among their kings, Alfred, who was, we
+may say, the founder of English prose. It was not English prose as we
+know English prose, because the language was then more like German than
+anything else; but it was prose in the native tongue, and this was a
+good and great thing to begin.</p>
+
+<p>In our gratitude to Alfred, we must not forget our gratitude to the
+English scholars of older days, none of whom had put us under so great a
+debt as our dear old Benedictine of Jarrow.</p>
+
+<p>A later writer than St Bede, though not so great as he, was Alcuin of
+York, who was invited by no less a man than Charlemagne to teach his
+children, and who became, as it has been phrased, a sort of Minister of
+Public Education in his empire.</p>
+
+<p>Alcuin was good as well as great, and I will give you a little instance
+of the rightness of his thought. In a Dialogue which he wrote, in his
+teaching days, he supposes Prince Pepin to ask the question, &quot;What is
+the liberty of man?&quot; and the answer is, &quot;Innocence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the evil days of invasion and war and trouble had swept learning
+from its northern home; and Alfred's work was to bring it back to
+another part of England.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Decay of learning in England. Revival under Alfred. His translations.
+Edits English Chronicle. His helpers. Some of his sayings.
+Missionary spirit. &quot;Alfred commanded to make me.&quot;
+</div>
+
+<p>We cannot forget the impression that must have been made upon Alfred by
+his stay in Rome, young as he was at the time, he being in the centre of
+royal state while there, and also being himself a royal child to whom
+much would be told and under whose notice much would be brought; and
+who, from his position, would be expected to mark and remember much.
+Long afterwards, he would recall the magnificence he had seen, and
+associate it with the glories of the double history of Rome; Rome pagan
+and Rome Christian: Rome, the great conqueror and law-giver, spiritual
+as well as temporal. Very often, after Alfred was king, he sent over
+embassies and gifts to Rome, loving her, and reverencing her as it was
+meet he should. The Holy Father granted him certain privileges for the
+English school at Rome, and sent him a piece of the wood of the Holy
+Cross.</p>
+
+<p>There is a pretty story told of Alfred's early learning to read English
+verse. Even if it is not true, it points to his love of English, as well
+as learning; a love which never left him. He wanted English to be taught
+in schools, and he loved the old poems. We owe to him the translation of
+the account of the first English poet, Caedmon, from which I have quoted
+in my first chapter. But rightly, he felt the very great importance of
+learning Latin, and so he learned it himself, and made others learn it
+too.</p>
+
+<p>When Alfred came to the throne, he tells us, learning had fallen away so
+utterly in England that there were very few of the clergy, on the south
+side of the Humber, who could understand the Latin of their Mass-books,
+and he thinks not many beyond the Humber. This state of things was very
+different from that of old times when the clergy were &quot;so keen about
+both teaching and learning and all the services they owed to God&quot;: very
+different from St Bede's time, and the days when Northumbria was a
+centre of learning and culture. Alfred was to create a new centre, not
+in the North but in Wessex. Later on, the centre of learning and
+cultivation was shifted to the East Midlands, whose dialect became the
+language of England, and whose great poet, Chaucer, was the greatest
+English poet before Spenser and Shakespere.</p>
+
+<p>In his studies Alfred was helped by various friends, the chief of whom
+was a Welsh Bishop, named Asser. So greatly did Alfred value Asser that
+he wanted him to live altogether at Court; but Asser felt, it is to be
+supposed, that this would not be right, and arranged to spend half his
+time in Wales and half with the King. From him we learn a great deal
+about Alfred.</p>
+
+<p>One of the Latin books translated by Alfred&mdash;perhaps the first&mdash;was
+called the &quot;Pastoral Care&quot; (&quot;Cura Pastoralis&quot;). It was written by St
+Gregory the Great, and was intended for the clergy as a guide to their
+duties. The king had a copy sent to every bishopric. He called it the
+Herdsman's Book, or Shepherd's Book. Sending all these copies made of
+course a great deal of work for scribes or &quot;bookers,&quot; as we may render
+the old &quot;b&oacute;ceras,&quot; the copyists who had to write out all their books by
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>As various books had been turned into the &quot;own tongue&quot; of various
+nations, so would Alfred give to his people in their &quot;own tongue&quot; books
+of help, of knowledge, of wisdom. This is how Alfred tells us he worked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I began to turn into English the book which in Latin is named
+'Pastoralis,' and in English 'Shepherd's Book'; sometimes word for word,
+sometimes meaning for meaning, as I had learned it from Plegmund, my
+Archbishop, and Asser my Bishop, and from Grimbold, my Mass-priest, and
+from John, my Mass-priest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the translation, Alfred put some little verses of his own.</p>
+
+<p>Alfred as we have seen, translated St Bede's History, omitting many
+chapters which contained things he may be supposed to have thought were
+not of general interest. He also edited the English, usually called the
+Anglo-Saxon, Chronicle, which begins with the invasion of Julius Caesar,
+and ends with the accession of Henry II. There are a good many MSS. of
+it, the earliest of which ends with the year 855. We owe this work, as
+we owe so much beside, to the care of the monks who wrote it, adding to
+it probably, year by year, sometimes giving poetry as well as prose. It
+contains several poems, among them the vigorous lay of the Battle of
+Brunanburh, fought in 937 by Athelstane against the Scots and Danes.
+You will find a rendering of it among Tennyson's poems, made by him from
+a prose translation of his son's. This editing of the A.S. Chronicle was
+very important work, work that has helped generations of history-writers
+and students. Where should we be without these Histories? How much of it
+Alfred actually did himself we do not know: we may suppose he had a good
+deal to do with the chronicling of the events of his own reign. I wonder
+whether it was he that wrote how three bold Irishmen came over from
+Ireland in a boat without any rudder, having stolen away from their
+country, &quot;because they desired for the love of God to be in a state of
+pilgrimage, they recked not where.&quot; They had a boat made of &quot;two hides
+and a half,&quot; and provisions for a week. They got to Cornwall on the
+seventh day, and soon after went to Alfred. We have no account of their
+visit to the King, but I think he would have welcomed them right warmly,
+and loved to hear how big souls ride in little cockleshells. We know
+their names at least: Dubslane, Macbeth, and Maclinnuim. And immediately
+after this record we are told something that must also in a different
+way have greatly interested Alfred. &quot;And Swifneh, the best teacher
+among the Scots (Irish) died.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Another book that Alfred translated was the History written by a Spanish
+priest called Orosius, a disciple of St Augustine's (of Hippo), which
+&quot;was looked upon as a standard book of universal history.&quot; Alfred by no
+means gave a literal translation, but used great freedom, and omitted
+some things and put in others which he judged of greater interest and
+importance for Englishmen. Alfred enlarged the account of Northern
+Europe, which he knew a great deal of. He also added the accounts of the
+voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, the former of whom got round the north
+of Scandinavia and explored the White Sea. Wulfstan's voyage also was of
+importance. Both these men told Alfred their stories, and he
+incorporated them in the History. They came to see him, and Ohthere gave
+him teeth of the walrus, and no doubt Alfred listened to all they told
+him, with the keenest interest.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The account of Ohthere's voyage holds a unique position as the first
+attempt to give expression to the spirit of discovery.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Alfred knew how to use helpers. All who understand the &quot;ought to be&quot;
+take help as well as give it. The good King encouraged others, and the
+office of encourager is no mean part of the office of helper. We cannot
+do our work in the world alone: God meant us to work with others, and
+man's best work as an individual can never be independent of the work of
+others, those who are living or those who have gone before.</p>
+
+<p>Another of the books translated by Alfred was the &quot;Consolations of
+Philosophy,&quot; by a good and thoughtful Consul of Rome, who was put to
+death by Theodoric, the Arian King of the East Goths. He wrote the book
+in prison, and there was so much in it that was felt to be in accord
+with Christian teaching that some people thought Boethius must have
+belonged to the body of Holy Church.</p>
+
+<p>A Christian writer, finding a book seeming to possess much of the spirit
+of Christianity, would naturally study it and frequently use it; and
+Boethius's book, with more or less adaptation, grew to be a great
+favourite with Christians. Its influence can be traced in the work of
+the greatest Catholic poet, Dante, and in that of the great English
+poet, Chaucer, who rendered it into the English of his day.</p>
+
+<p>Alfred made the translation definitely Christian. For instance, he
+writes of &quot;God&quot; and &quot;Christ&quot; where Boethius says &quot;love&quot; or &quot;the good&quot;;
+and he writes of &quot;angels&quot; instead of &quot;divine substance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I will give you one or two specimens of the additions to Boethius with
+which Alfred is credited.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He that will have eternal riches, let him build the house of his mind
+on the footstone of lowliness; not on the highest hill where the raging
+wind of trouble blows, or the rain of measureless anxiety.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Power is never a good unless he be good who has it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Here is what he has to say of being well-born:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Art thou more fair for other men's fairness? A man will not be the
+better because he had a well-born father, if he himself is nought. The
+only thing which is good in noble descent is this, that it makes men
+ashamed of being worse than their elders, and strive to do better than
+they.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And here is his standard of self-respect:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We under-worth ourselves when we love that which is lower than
+ourselves.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4"><sup>[D]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>These sayings are worth copying into a little book such as Alfred kept
+to note down things he wanted to keep track of. Asser tells us this,
+and he tells us of the &quot;Handbook&quot; which grew to a great size, from this
+collecting habit of Alfred's. The book was unfortunately lost.</p>
+
+<p>By no means have we exhausted the interest of Alfred's story. It would
+be indeed difficult to do so; but we must now bid him good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>We love to think how, amidst all his cares and work for his kingdom, he
+had the true Catholic Missionary spirit; for he sent embassies to India,
+with alms for &quot;the Christians of St Thomas and St Bartholomew.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There is a valuable thing which we possess, known as the &quot;Alfred Jewel&quot;:
+it has on it an inscription which we can truly say applies to far more
+than this work of art. Its application to Alfred's work is indeed a very
+wide one:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Alfred commanded to make me.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name="gs114-2" id="gs114-2"></a></p>
+    <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;">
+         <a href="images/gs114-2.jpg">
+         <img src="images/gs114-2_th.jpg" alt="THE ALFRED JEWEL" /></a><br />
+         <p>THE ALFRED JEWEL</p>
+    </div>
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Some of greatest pre-Conquest poetry associated with name of Cynewulf.
+Guesses about him. Little known. Probably North-countryman, eighth
+century, an educated man. Finding of the Cross. Elene, story of St
+Helena's mission. Constantine goes to fight invaders. Vision of the
+Cross. Victory. Journey of St Helena, and search for the Cross. The
+Finding.
+</div>
+
+<p>We are going now to consider some of the greatest poetry written before
+the Conquest. It associates itself with the name of Cynewulf, a name
+with which certain poems are signed in runes. By-and-by we shall hear
+something about runes and the old writing; and something also about
+where our old treasures of literature, part of our dear Catholic
+heritage, are found in their original form.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, certain poems are signed with Cynewulf's name; and there
+are others which are with more or less probability of rightness
+attributed to him on grounds of likeness of subject, likeness of style,
+similar greatness of treatment.</p>
+
+<p>About Cynewulf himself we know, I may say, nothing except what we
+gather from his work. Various guesses have been made, and various
+theories formed, identifying him with one or other of the men about whom
+we know something; but for the present, at all events, we must be
+content to think that he probably lived in the eighth century, and that
+he probably was a North-countryman. All his writings have come to us in
+the dialect of Wessex, except some parts of a poem known as the &quot;Dream
+of the Holy Rood.&quot; These are carved on an old cross, which I will speak
+of by-and-by, and they are in the Northumbrian dialect; but the
+manuscript of the entire poem is in West Saxon.</p>
+
+<p>Scholars are working upon old materials and discoveries are being made
+and theories formed which are at variance with what used to be set down
+as certainty. The main thing is that we have these poems, and that we
+want to know about them and learn to prize them. If we want to know them
+thoroughly and prize them as they deserve, we must take the trouble to
+learn the language they are written in. But many of us have not time for
+this, and so must be content, for the present, at least, with making
+their acquaintance through translations.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Cynewulf was a poet who lived as one of the household of some
+great lord, and wrote more at his ease than if he had been merely an
+itinerant singer, a &quot;gleeman,&quot; who sang his songs as he went about. He
+appears, at any rate, to have been an educated man, and I think no one
+can read his poetry without feeling that he was a man of deep and
+fervent piety.</p>
+
+<p>There are four poems signed by Cynewulf, and these are named &quot;Christ,&quot;
+&quot;Juliana,&quot; &quot;The Fates of the Apostles,&quot; and &quot;Elene.&quot; Certain &quot;Riddles&quot;
+have also been attributed to him.</p>
+
+<p>The poems I am going to bring before you now are the &quot;Elene&quot; and a poem
+on the Holy Cross, which has been attributed to Cynewulf, and which I
+for one&mdash;and I am not by any means alone in this&mdash;love to believe that
+he must have written. The &quot;Ph&oelig;nix,&quot; about which we thought in a
+former chapter, has by some been supposed to be his. Then there is the
+&quot;Judith,&quot; of which we possess enough to make us recognise it as indeed
+one of our great possessions; but to-day the two poems I have named will
+give us enough to think of. To adapt a lovely Scriptural phrase (Judith
+vii, 7), there are springs whereof we refresh ourselves a little rather
+than drink our fill. Let us drink, if not our fill, at least a draught
+long and deep.</p>
+
+<p>We have a church festival, instituted many hundred years ago, the
+Festival of the Finding of the Cross. Let us hear something of what our
+old poet sings concerning this in the poem named after the heroine of
+the finding, St Helena; the poem known as &quot;Elene.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Cynewulf is one of the poets of the Cross. His poetry is literally
+stamped with the mark of the Holy Rood. Read over the grand Church
+hymns, the &quot;Vexilla Regis,&quot; the &quot;Pange lingua gloriosi lauream
+certaminis,&quot; or recall them in your memory&mdash;their Passiontide echoes
+sound under the triumphant pealing of the bells of Easter&mdash;and then be
+glad that one of your own poets has also sent down the ages the song of
+his love and his reverence.</p>
+
+<p>Cynewulf knew well the story of Constantine's vision of the Cross of
+Victory whereby he was to conquer. He would also have had in mind the
+story, not so far remote from his own day, of the English King, St
+Oswald, who reared a cross to God's honour before he fought with
+Cadwalla, the pagan Welsh king. He would remember how the Saint had
+called upon his comrades at Heavenfield to fall down with him before the
+Cross and pray Almighty God for salvation from the mighty foe. He would
+recall the great victory and the cross-shaped church built to
+commemorate it. He knew well the honour of the Cross. He had often knelt
+to adore what it symbolised, when he saw it raised on high, lifted up on
+the Church's Festival. And he loved the Cross with a great and fervid
+love.</p>
+
+<p>The poem of his making tells us how the great army of the Huns and
+Goths<a name="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5"><sup>[E]</sup></a> came against Constantine; how the warriors marched on, having
+raised the standard of war with shoutings and the clashing of shields.
+Bright shone their darts and their coats of linked mail. The wolf in the
+wood howled out the song of war; he kept not the secret of the
+slaughter. The dewy-feathered eagle raised a song on the track of the
+foe.</p>
+
+<p>The King of the Romans was sorrow-smitten when he saw the countless host
+of the foreign men upon the river-bank. In his sleep that night came the
+vision of one in the likeness of a man, white and bright of hue. The
+messenger named him by his name. The helmet of night glided apart. The
+behest was given to look up to Heaven to find help, a token of victory.
+The Emperor's heart was opened and he looked up as the angel, the
+lovely weaver of peace, had bidden him. Above the roof of clouds he saw
+the Tree of Glory with its words of promise. The great battle came, when
+the Holy Sign was borne forth. Loud sang the trumpets. The raven was
+glad thereof, and the dewy-feathered eagle looked on at the march, and
+the wolf lifted up his howling. The terror of war was there, the clash
+of shields and the mingling of men, and the heavy sword-swing and the
+felling of warriors.</p>
+
+<p>When the standard was raised, the Holy Tree, the foe was scattered far
+and wide. From break of day till eventide the flying foe was pursued;
+his number was indeed made small. It was but a few of the best of the
+Huns that went home again.</p>
+
+<p>How the old fighting spirit delights in the &quot;pomp and circumstance of
+glorious war&quot;! How it loves to have the clash of spear and shield strike
+upon the ear, and to hear how the voice of the eagle and the raven, and
+the howl of the wolf, proclaim the place of slaughter, the reek of
+battle!</p>
+
+<p>Cynewulf calls the angel who stood by Constantine in his vision a
+&quot;weaver of peace&quot;; but the peace was to be woven after conflict, and the
+wearer of the victor's palm had first to wield the fighter's sword.</p>
+
+<p>When Constantine had learned about the Cross from the few Christians he
+could find, he believed and was baptized, says the poet. (In reality his
+baptism took place just before his death, several years later.)</p>
+
+<p>The thought of the Tree was ever with Constantine, and when he had
+returned he sent his mother with a multitude of warriors to Jerusalem,
+on the quest of the Holy Rood that was hidden underground. Helena was
+soon ready for her willing journey, and set forth with her escort.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">The steeds of the sea<br /></span>
+<span>Round the shore of the ocean ready were standing,<br /></span>
+<span>Cabled sea-horses, at rest on the water.<br /></span>
+<span>Then they let o'er the billows the foamy ones go,<br /></span>
+<span>The high wave-rushers. The hull oft received<br /></span>
+<span>O'er the mingling of waters the blows of the waves.<br /></span>
+<span>The sea resounded.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>What delight there is to the poet in the sea and its ships!</p>
+
+<p>When they come to Jerusalem, after much enquiry of the wisest men, and
+great difficulty, the Queen is conducted to the Mount of Crucifixion, by
+one Judas who knows the story of Redemption, and who the Queen insists
+shall point out the resting place of the Holy Rood. It is found by the
+winsome smoke that rises at the prayer of Judas, who forthwith makes
+full confession of his belief in Him who hung upon that Cross. The
+three crosses are together, buried far down in the earth, and Judas digs
+deep and brings them up, and they are laid before the knees of the
+Queen. Glad of heart she asks on which of them the Son of the Ruling One
+had suffered. The Lord's Cross is revealed by its power to raise a dead
+man who is brought to the place.</p>
+
+<p>Satan assaults Judas, angry and bitter, for again his power has been
+brought low. One Judas has made him joyful: the second Judas has humbled
+him. He is boldly answered when he pours out threats and foretells that
+another king than Constantine will arise to persecute. (Probably the
+allusion is to Julian the Apostate.) But Judas answers boldly, and
+Helena rejoices at the wisdom with which in so short a time he has been
+gifted.</p>
+
+<p>Far and near the glorious news is spread, and word is sent the Emperor
+how the Victorious Token has been found. Then comes the building of a
+church by his mother, at his desire; and the adorning of the Rood with
+gold and jewels fair and splendid, and its enclosure in a silver chest.
+Judas is baptized, and becomes Bishop of Jerusalem under the new name of
+Cyriacus.</p>
+
+<p>The holy nails of the Passion have yet to be found, and again the earth
+yields up her treasure. A man great in wisdom tells Elene to bid the
+noblest of the kings of the earth to put them on his bridle, make
+thereof his horse's bit. This shall bring him good speed in war, and
+blessing and honour and greatness.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">The Poet's love of the Cross: how he saw it in a double aspect. The
+dream of the Holy Rood. The Ruthwell Cross.
+</div>
+
+<p>Now let us read what our poet says about the Festival of the Finding of
+the Cross.<a name="FNanchor_F_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_6"><sup>[F]</sup></a></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i10">To each of these men<br /></span>
+<span>Be hell's door shut, heaven's unclosed,<br /></span>
+<span>Eternally opened the kingdom of angels,<br /></span>
+<span>Joy without end, and their portion appointed<br /></span>
+<span>Along with Mary, who takes into mind<br /></span>
+<span>The one most dear of festal days<br /></span>
+<span>Of that rood under heaven.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The poet wrote about the Holy Cross, not just because it was a
+picturesque subject, capable of picturesque treatment, one that would
+make a fine poem; but because, as he tells us, Holy Wisdom had revealed
+to him &quot;wider knowledge through her glorious power over the thoughts of
+the mind.&quot; He tells us how the fetters of sin had bound him in their
+bitter bondage, and how, stained and sorrowful, light came to him, and
+the Mighty King bestowed on him His bountiful grace, and gave him light
+and liberty, opening his heart and setting free for him the gift of
+song, that gift which, he says, he has used in the world joyfully and
+with a good will.</p>
+
+<p>Not once alone, he says, did he meditate upon the Tree of Glory, but
+over and over again. He thought upon it until all his soul was saturated
+with it, and hallowed and consecrated for ever.</p>
+
+<p>He may have venerated the Cross in public on the anniversary of the
+Lord's Crucifixion. Certainly, many a time he had venerated it in
+private. Perhaps, like Alcuin, his habit was to bow toward the Cross
+whenever he saw it, and whisper the prayer &quot;Tuam crucem adoramus,
+Domine, et Tuam gloriosam recolimus passionem.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_G_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_7"><sup>[G]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>He was old, he tells us, when he &quot;wove word-craft, made his poem,
+framing it wondrously, pondering and sifting his thoughts in the
+night-time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Cross had brought him light and healing, and at the foot of the
+Cross he laid his gift of song.</p>
+
+<p>It is a moot point whether the &quot;Elene&quot; or the &quot;Dream of the Holy Rood&quot;
+came first. The poetry of the &quot;Dream&quot; is as fine as the conception is
+grand, and, at whatever time it was written, it must be classed as being
+at the high-water mark of the poet's work.</p>
+
+<p>Wonderful things have been given to us &quot;under the similitude of a
+dream&quot;; things beautiful and terrible, things wise and strange. There
+have been Dreamers of Dreams into whose souls have sunk the sight and
+the hearing of deep things, high things and precious, of comfort and of
+warning, of sweetest help and of gravest and most earnest exhortation.</p>
+
+<p>The speech of these Dreamers has sounded in our ears, and has left the
+vibrations to go on and on for our lifetime: this we call remembering.</p>
+
+<p>In English literature we have some great tellings &quot;under the similitude
+of a dream.&quot; We have the nineteenth-century &quot;Dream of Gerontius,&quot; our
+great Cardinal's drama of the soul in its parting and after. We have the
+seventeenth-century dream from the darkness of Bedford Gaol, whence John
+Bunyan saw the pilgrims on their way, through dangers and trials, on to
+the river that must be crossed before they could come to the Celestial
+City. We have the fourteenth-century dream of the gaunt, sad-souled
+William Langley, the dreamer of the Malvern Hills. And, earlier by many
+a century, we have the dream of the dreamer at the depth of midnight,
+the midnight whose heart was bright with the splendour of the glorious
+vesting and gem-adorning of the Cross of Jesus Christ, and dark with the
+moisture of the Sacred Blood that oozed therefrom.</p>
+
+<p>We have first the simple, quiet prelude.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Lo, I will tell of the best of dreams, I dreamed at the deep midnight,<br /></span>
+<span>When all men lay at rest.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then comes the description of the Cross in its glory. It is uplift and
+girt with light, flooded with gold and set with precious gems. This is
+followed by the seeing through the glory, the seeing of the anguish. The
+hues are shifted from dark to bright; the light of gold lights it, and
+yet anon it is wet, defiled with Blood. Here are the two sides of the
+Passion: the veiled glory, and the illumined anguish: the supreme might,
+and the absolute weakness: the darkness of the grave, and the light of
+the Resurrection.</p>
+
+<p>While time shall be, the Cross is to us all the Book where we may read
+all we choose to read, all God sends us grace to read. Cynewulf chose to
+read, and with Cynewulf was the grace of God.</p>
+
+<p>The poet lies beholding the wondrous sight: the sight that all God's
+fair angels beheld, and all the universe, and men of mortal breath.</p>
+
+<p>The Rood speaks to Cynewulf. To us, with every look upon the Cross,
+should come, would come, were we alive all through with keen, sweet,
+spiritual life, the voice telling of the Passion, of the victory, of the
+glory. Cynewulf heard the Rood tell how long ago it was hewn down,
+ordained to lift up the evil-doers, to bear the law-breakers.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>They bore me on their shoulders then, on hill they set me high,<br /></span>
+<span>And made me fast, a many foes. Then mankind's Lord drew nigh,<br /></span>
+<span>With Mighty courage hasting Him to mount on me and die.<br /></span>
+<span>Though all earth shook, I durst not bend or break without His word;<br /></span>
+<span>Firm I must stand, nor fall and crush the gazing foes abhorred.<br /></span>
+<span>Then the young Hero dighted Him: Almighty God was He:<br /></span>
+<span>Steadfast and very stout of heart mounted the shameful tree,<br /></span>
+<span>Brave in the sight of many there, when man He fain would free.<br /></span>
+<span>I trembled when He clasped me round, yet groundward durst not bend,<br /></span>
+<span>I must not fall to lap of earth, but stand fast to the end.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>We notice the obedience of the Cross. In its absolute sympathy with its
+Creator's agony, its indignation at the horrible crime of His enemies,
+it would fain have fallen and crushed the gazing foes abhorred. But this
+was not to be, any more than fire was to come down from heaven at the
+Boanerges' call when they were fain to avenge the insult put upon their
+Master, whom the people of the Samaritan city would not receive (Luke
+ix, 52, etc.).</p>
+
+<p>The Great King is lifted up, and the Rood dare not even stoop: the dark
+nails pierce the Cross, and it stands, companion of its Maker's agony
+and shame.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Oh, many were the grievous things upon that hill I bare:<br /></span>
+<span>I saw the God of Hosts Himself stretched in His anguish there:<br /></span>
+<span>The darkness veiled its Maker's corpse with clouds; the shades did weigh<br /></span>
+<span>The bright light down with evil weight, wan under sky that day.<br /></span>
+<span>Then did the whole creation weep and the King's death bemoan;<br /></span>
+<span>Christ was upon the Rood.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>How great is the poet's insight! How deeply must he have entered into
+the fellowship of that supreme suffering! He knows that throughout
+creation that cup is being drunk from, as even yet it is in the groaning
+and travailing of every creature, waiting for the adoption of the sons
+of God, to wit, the redemption of the body (Romans viii, 22, 3).</p>
+
+<p>The Descent from the Cross and the Burial come next. Tenderly, after the
+telling of the anguish, comes the telling of the rest.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>They lifted down Almighty God, after that torment dread,<br /></span>
+<span>They left me standing, drenched with blood, with arrows sore wounded;<br /></span>
+<span>They laid Him down, limb-weary One, and stood about His head;<br /></span>
+<span>Gazed on Heaven's Lord, who, weary now, after that mighty fight,<br /></span>
+<span>Rested Him there a little while. Then in the murderer's sight,<br /></span>
+<span>The brave ones made a tomb for Him, of white stone carved it fair,<br /></span>
+<span>And laid the Lord of Victory within the sepulchre.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The bitter weeping goes up. The fair Body waxes chill. Then, in a very
+few words the story told in &quot;Elene&quot; is condensed.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then did they fell us to the ground....<br /></span>
+<span>In the deep pit they sank us down; yet the Lord's servants, they,<br /></span>
+<span>His friends did hear of me and seek, and find me on a day,<br /></span>
+<span>And decked with silver and with gold, in beautiful array.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The glory comes after the shame, and we hear of the healing power of the
+Cross, and the honour given to it. Even as Almighty God honoured His
+Mother above all womankind, the poet says, so this tree is set high
+above all trees of the forest.</p>
+
+<p>The command is laid upon the poet to make known his vision. There is a
+compulsion whereby a poet as it were has to send abroad the fair thought
+and knowledge wherewith he has been graced. To this poet is the task
+assigned to tell of the Crucifixion, of the Resurrection, and the
+Ascension, and of the Second Coming to judge the world.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Where is the man, the Lord will ask before that multitude,<br /></span>
+<span>Would for His name taste bitter death, as He upon the Rood?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>By the love of His name, by the love that means martyrdom in will if not
+in deed also, shall men be judged.</p>
+
+<p>The comfort of his life has come to the poet. The greatest of all great
+things is his.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>The Rood my trust shall be.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I cannot close this chapter without saying something about the great
+stone rood known as the Ruthwell Cross, because it bears upon it part of
+this poem engraved in runes. The cross is at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire.
+It is very old, probably dating from the tenth or eleventh century.
+There are carvings upon it of various events in the life of Our Lord, on
+the north and south sides. On the top-stone, north, is a
+representation of St John with the eagle, and on the top-stone,
+south, is St John with the Agnus Dei. On the east and west is carved a
+vine in fruit, with animals feeding, and at each side of the
+vine-tracery the runes are carved, which give the words taken from the
+poem, in the Northumbrian dialect.</p>
+
+<p><a name="gs80" id="gs80"></a></p>
+    <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;">
+         <a href="images/gs80.jpg">
+         <img src="images/gs80_th.jpg" alt="RUTHWELL CROSS" /></a><br />
+         <p>RUTHWELL CROSS</p>
+    </div>
+
+<p>This cross used to stand in the church at Ruthwell; it escaped injury at
+the time of general destruction in the sixteenth century, but the
+General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ordered the &quot;many idolatrous
+monuments erected and made for religious worship&quot; to be &quot;taken down,
+demolished, and destroyed.&quot; It was not till two years later, however,
+that the cross was taken down when an Act was passed &quot;anent the
+Idolatrous Monuments in Ruthwell.&quot; It was shattered, and some of the
+carved emblems were nearly obliterated, and in this state the rood was
+left where it had fallen, in the altarless church, and was used, it
+appears, as a bench to sit upon. Later on it was removed from the church
+and left out in the churchyard. But after many years, a good old
+minister (God rest his soul!) collected all the pieces he could find,
+and put them together, adding two new crossbeams (the original ones
+were lost), and having gaps filled in with little pieces of stone.</p>
+
+<p>By-and-by there was a waking up to the importance of preserving ancient
+monuments (idolatrous! or not), and so the dear, beautiful old rood that
+had been so near to destruction, and been indeed so greatly injured, was
+brought into the church again, and set up near its old place. But, alas!
+for its old surroundings!</p>
+
+<p>It is a sad story, is it not?</p>
+
+<p>Shall we not pray that, one day, our old crosses may be, to all, more
+than &quot;ancient monuments&quot;?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This stone which I have set up ... shall be called the house of God&quot;
+(Gen. xxviii, 22).</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">&quot;Judith,&quot; a great poem founded on Scripture story. Authorship uncertain.
+Part of it lost. Quotations from it. Description of Holofernes'
+banquet as of a Saxon feast. Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage
+resistance to Danes and Northmen.
+</div>
+
+<p>To-day we shall think about some more of the great poetry that was made
+before the Norman Conquest, and we shall first take one of the finest
+and most characteristic poems which remain to us, a poem founded on
+Bible story; the great poem, of which we have unfortunately only a part,
+the &quot;Judith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It is not certain who wrote this poem: it may have been Cynewulf; but we
+do not know.</p>
+
+<p>The story of Judith is a well-known one; the story of the Hebrew lady
+who is described in the foreword to the Book of Judith as &quot;that
+illustrous woman, by whose virtue and fortitude, and armed with prayer,
+the children of Israel were preserved from the destruction threatened
+them by Holofernes and his great army.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The earlier part of the poem is lost, so we can only guess how the poet
+told of the ravage wrought by the general of King Nabuchodonoser in the
+countries close to Palestine, and how submission was as vain as
+resistance to a power which, for the time being, was allowed to be so
+terribly great.</p>
+
+<p>The poem, as we have it, begins where Judith has come, in the splendour
+of her beauty, and the might of her purity, and the power of her faith,
+to destroy the destroyer and set her people free.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>The Prince of Glory gave her the shield of His hand in the place<br /></span>
+<span>Where she stood in her uttermost need of the highest Doomer's grace<br /></span>
+<span>To save her in peril extreme; and the Ruler of all things made,<br /></span>
+<span>The glorious Father in Heaven, He granted the prayer she prayed,<br /></span>
+<span>And, because of the might of her faith, He gave His help and His aid.<br /></span>
+<span>I have heard how his word went forth, how Holofernes bad<br /></span>
+<span>His men to the drinking of wine, and the splendid feast he had.<br /></span>
+<span>The prince he called his thanes and the shielded warriors best,<br /></span>
+<span>And the folk-leaders came to the mighty, all fain for the doing his best.<br /></span>
+<span>And now, since the coming of Judith, three days and three nights had been,<br /></span>
+<span>The woman wise in her heart, and fair as the elf-folk sheen.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>We have the description of the banquet, with the deep bowls and
+well-filled cups and pitchers borne to the sitters along the floor&mdash;just
+the description of the old Saxon banquet which the poet knew of. We have
+the drunken glee of Holofernes, his right noisy laughter and the stormy
+mirth that could be heard from afar; and his call to the henchmen to
+quit them as warriors ought, till at last they lie in their drunken
+sleep, powerless, and as though stricken of death.</p>
+
+<p>Then comes the night, and the sending for Judith, the wise-hearted one,
+to Holofernes' tent. Holofernes lies in his drunken sleep, and the
+Lord's handmaid draws from the sheath the keen-edged glittering sword,
+and prays,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>O God of all created, I pray my prayer to Thee!<br /></span>
+<span>O Spirit of Comfort! O Son Almighty! I bow my knee,<br /></span>
+<span>For Thy mercy to me who need Thee, most glorious Trinity!<br /></span>
+<span>Now is my heart waxed hot, exceeding hot in me,<br /></span>
+<span>And my soul afflicted sore, and sorrowful grievously.<br /></span>
+<span>Give victory, Prince of Heaven, to me, and steadfast faith,<br /></span>
+<span>That so with this sword I slay this dealer of wrong and death.<br /></span>
+<span>O, grant me Thy salvation, most mighty Folk-prince, Thou,<br /></span>
+<span>For ne'er have I needed Thy mercy with greater need than now.<br /></span>
+<span>Avenge, O mighty Lord, the thing whereof I wot,<br /></span>
+<span>Which is anger in my soul, and in my breast burns hot.<br /></span>
+<span>Then the Judge most high He gave her the courage she prayed Him for,<br /></span>
+<span>As yet to each He giveth, who seeketh Him, as of yore,<br /></span>
+<span>With faith and understanding, his help for evermore.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And then,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Enlarged was the woman's soul, the holy one's hope sprang new.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And she smites the evil general with the strength she had prayed for,
+and goes forth victorious with her handmaiden, to bear the tidings to
+her people of the deliverance wrought for them, ascribing the glory to
+God and His might. Judith leaves the camp of the Assyrians, with her
+waiting-woman, who carries the head of Holofernes in a bag. Men and
+women in great multitudes flock to the fortress-gate, pressing and
+running to meet God's handmaid, glad of heart to know of her
+home-coming. They let her in reverently, and the trophy she has brought
+is shown them. Judith beseeches them to go forth to the fight, as soon
+as the Maker of the beginning of all things, the King of high honour,
+hath sent the bright light from the East; to go forth bearing shield and
+buckler and the bright helmet, to meet the thronging foemen, and fell
+the folk-leaders, the doomed spear-bearers. Their foes are doomed to
+death, and they shall have glory and honour in battle. Then follows a
+great battle, with full victory to Israel.</p>
+
+<p>The poet has varied from the Biblical story, in representing the
+officers of Holofernes' army as drunk; and also in telling of a battle
+after the return of Judith to Bethulia. It also may seem strange that
+Judith should address the Holy Trinity and each separate Person thereof.
+The old Christian poet carried his belief along with him, and the
+handmaid of God, the brave Judith, was to him a follower of Our Lord.
+The brave Judith, yes! St Dominic's Third Order was at first, as we
+know, called &quot;The militia of Jesus Christ.&quot; How Judith would have loved
+the name! And we may think, may we not? how, looking from her place
+among the glorified, she smiled on the great warrior Maiden Saint who
+went in the might of the Lord, to deliver her country from the rule of
+the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>The story of Judith would especially appeal to people living at a time
+when incursions of foreigners were well known, and later on, still
+unforgotten. Abbot &AElig;lfric, about whose work I have to tell you something
+presently, in writing a short account of the Old Testament with its
+various books, says that the Book of Judith &quot;is put into English in our
+manner as an example to you men, that you should defend your country
+with weapons against an invading army&quot;&mdash;the word which he uses, &quot;here,&quot;
+always meaning in old English the army of the Danes. &AElig;lfric also wrote
+&quot;a homily on Judith to teach the English the virtues of resistance to
+the Danes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting likewise to think that the poet of &quot;Judith&quot; may have
+had in his mind some great Englishwoman concerning whom he wished in a
+veiled way to convey well-deserved praise. Perhaps he was inspired to
+tell of Judith, by the deeds of King Alfred's daughter, &AElig;thelflaed,
+known as the Lady of the Mercians, and sought to do honour to her as
+well as to the great Hebrew lady.</p>
+
+<p>&AElig;thelflaed fortified Chester and other towns, and, along with King
+Edward, built fortresses, &quot;chiefly along the line of frontier exposed to
+the Danes, as at Bridgenorth, Tamworth, Warwick, Hertford, Witham in
+Essex, and other places.&quot; Of course it is uncertain whether our poet was
+thinking of &AElig;thelflaed. We should be able to say whether it were
+impossible if we knew the date of &quot;Judith,&quot; as, if the poem were
+composed before &AElig;thelflaed's time, she could not have entered into the
+poet's mind.</p>
+
+<p>The Church has paid a splendid tribute to Judith by applying to her who
+is pre-eminently the strong or valiant woman (mulier fortis) full of
+the strength that always wore the exquisite veil of humility, the words
+spoken to this valiant woman of the Hebrews by her countrymen, as they
+adored the Lord, who had given her the victory. See the lesson read on
+the Feast of Our Lady's Seven Sorrows.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal
+to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight.
+</div>
+
+<p>We have in the &quot;Battle of Maldon&quot; a great patriotic poem, written about
+the &quot;ealdorman&quot;<a name="FNanchor_H_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_8"><sup>[H]</sup></a> of the East Angles, Byrthnoth, or Brihtnoth, who
+stood so valiantly against the Danes. It was he who was so good to the
+monks, helping to defend them against the &quot;ealdorman&quot; of the Mercians,
+and others who were turning them out: he also helped to found the Abbey
+of Ely. He was buried there, we are glad to know. Anlaf, known as Olaf
+Tryggvesson, afterwards King of Norway, came with two other Northmen,
+and harried Ipswich and other places, and then sailed up the Pant or
+Blackwater to Maldon, where the river divides into two parts. The
+beginning and end of the poem have been lost, and, as we have it now, it
+opens with the command of Byrhtnoth that every man should let his horse
+go, and march afoot to meet the enemy and strive with him hand to hand.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then Byrthnoth 'gan array his men; he rode and gave the rede,<br /></span>
+<span>He shewed the fighters how to stand and keep the place at need,<br /></span>
+<span>Fast with their hands to hold the shields, nor be afraid indeed.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He took his place among his own bodymen, his immediate followers. On the
+other side of the stream the herald of the vikings (or pirates) stood,
+and with a loud voice gave the scornful message of the sea-folk to the
+English leader. If Byrhtnoth would be in safety he must quickly send
+treasure to the foe.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;And better 'tis for you buy off this onset of the spear<br /></span>
+<span>With tribute than that we should deal so sore a combat here;<br /></span>
+<span>We need not spill each other's lives if ye make fast aright<br /></span>
+<span>A peace with us; if thou agree, thou, here the most of might,<br /></span>
+<span>Thy folk to ransom, and to give the seamen what shall be<br /></span>
+<span>Right in our eyes, and take our peace, make peace with told money.<br /></span>
+<span>We'll haste to ship, we'll keep that peace, and go upon the sea.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This was Brythnoth's answer:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Dost hear, thou dweller on the sea, what this my people saith!<br /></span>
+<span>Their tribute is the spear, the sword, the arrow tipt with death;<br /></span>
+<span>War-harness that for you in fight full little profiteth.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Not he. He stood for his own soil, his prince's earth, the people and
+the land. We may compare with this St &AElig;lfeah's (Alphege) splendid stand
+even to death against unjust payment of tribute.</p>
+
+<p>Byrthtnoth ordered his men to march on till they all stood on the bank
+of the river. The flood flowed in after the ebb, and the hostile armies
+could not reach each other, and it seemed too long to wait for the water
+to let them meet. Wulfstan, by race a warrior bold, held the bridge for
+his chief, and &AElig;lfhere and Maccus with him, the undaunted mighty twain.
+The Danes begged to be allowed to overpass the ford, and Byrhtnoth in
+his scorn allowed this.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Too much the earl in his disdain to that ill folk gave heed.<br /></span>
+<span>The wolves of slaughter strode along, nor for the water cared;<br /></span>
+<span>The host of vikings westward there across the Pante fared.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Byrhtnoth was awaiting them, and the fight began.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then rose a cry as round and round the ravens wheeled in air,<br /></span>
+<span>The erne all greedy for his prey. A mighty din was there.<br /></span>
+<span>Oh, bitter was the battle-rush, the rush of war that day,<br /></span>
+<span>Then fell the men; on either hand the gallant young men lay.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The battle-rage grew stronger and keener; the din of war grew louder
+and louder. Byrhtnoth fought hand to hand with a strong viking, and with
+yet another, dealing death to both.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>The blither was the earl for that, out laughed the warrior grim,<br /></span>
+<span>Thanked God because of that day's work which God had given to him.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But the brave man's time was come, and a dart pierced him, and he fell;
+and as he lay on the ground a young lad, a boy who stood beside him,
+drew the spear from his lord's body and cast it back to pierce the foe
+who had sorely hit his lord. An armed man came to the death-stricken
+leader of the English to rob him of his jewels and his warrior's gear
+and fretted sword of fame. The dying man struck him on the corslet, but</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Too soon a seaman hindered him; that good arm's strength he marred.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The leader drops his gold hilted sword, no longer able to wield the
+weapon, powerless to hold the keen-edged falchion. No more deeds of
+valour for him; only to urge on his men, and to commend his soul to God.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Yet spake the word that warrior hoar, the young men's hearts he cheered,<br /></span>
+<span>Bad the good comrades forward go, nor ever be afeard.<br /></span>
+<span>No longer could he firmly stand on's feet; to heaven looked he&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>&quot;Thanks, Lord of hosts, for these world-joys Thou here didst give to me.<br /></span>
+<span>Now, merciful Creator, now, I stand in deepest need<br /></span>
+<span>That Thou shouldst grant my spirit good, that thus my soul indeed<br /></span>
+<span>Fare forth to Thee, travel with peace, O King of Angels, so:<br /></span>
+<span>I pray Thee that the hell-spoilers nor work her hurt nor woe.&quot;<br /></span>
+<span>The heathen varlets smote him down, and those that stood him by,<br /></span>
+<span>&AElig;lfnoth and Wulfmaer, by the side of him in death did lie.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then, alas! came the shameful flight of some whom he had loved and
+trusted, and graced with noble gifts. One Godric, to whom he had given
+many a goodly steed, leapt upon the horse in his trappings which his
+lord had owned, and his two brothers fled with him.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>And with them more than had behoved if these had thought upon<br /></span>
+<span>The gifts and goods so free bestowed by him, their mighty one.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But there were but few cowards and mean. Of his own hearth-comrades
+there went forth men, hasting eagerly,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>One of two things their heart's desire, to avenge their lord or die.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Young &AElig;lfwine heartened them with noble words, and gave them the
+example of noble deeds. And Offa, and Leofsunu, and Dunnere, the old
+man, fought stubbornly. And a hostage from among the Northumbrian folk,
+a man come of gallant kin, helped them; and Edward the Long, and many
+another.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then Bryhtwold spake, that comrade old, he raised the shield on high<br /></span>
+<span>He shook the ashwood spear, he taught the men unfearingly:<br /></span>
+<span>&quot;The braver must our spirit be, our hearts the stronger far,<br /></span>
+<span>The greater must our courage wax, the fewer that we are.<br /></span>
+<span>Here lies our prince all pierced and hewn, the good one in the clay;<br /></span>
+<span>Aye may he mourn who thinketh now to leave this battle-play.<br /></span>
+<span>I am old in life; I will not hence; I think to lay me here,<br /></span>
+<span>The rather by my chieftain's side, a man so lief and dear.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And the men grew bold in heart at his words and fought on. Godric full
+often sent the spear flying among the vikings, and fought till he too
+was laid low in the battle.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>'Twas not that Godric who had turned his back upon the fight,<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>says the poet&mdash;and the end is lost! It will help us in appreciating this
+poem to remember that the battle of Maldon took place in the reign of
+that poor weak king &AElig;thelred, known as the &quot;Unready,&quot; or the Man of no
+Counsel. As Freeman the historian says, &quot;No doubt he had to struggle
+with very hard times, but the times now were no harder than the times
+which &AElig;lfred had to struggle against, and we know how much he could
+do.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">The literature of one people owes a debt to that of others.
+Help-bringers. Great work of Benedictine monks. Our debt to Ireland.
+The English Chronicle's account of the Martyrdom of St &AElig;lfeah.
+</div>
+
+<p>The literature of a country is not merely what the men and women born in
+it have written. The thought of one people is fed, or enlarged, or in
+some way strengthened by the thought of other peoples; and the
+literature of the times we are speaking of could not have been what it
+was, had it not had other sources than these purely English to draw
+from. And, of all kinds of help-bringers, we owe much to the monks, and
+chiefly the great Benedictine order. King Alfred had to do his work at a
+time when things were at a low ebb in the English monasteries. You will
+remember how he bewailed the poor state of learning in England, and the
+ignorance of the clergy; a state very different indeed from that of the
+old days of St Bede and Alcuin. After Alfred's time there came a
+revival&mdash;and revival in life means revival in work. So we get much good
+prose literature, and, through the monks, note well, we have it, fed
+from whatever old lore was then to be got at.</p>
+
+<p>I have reminded you of England's great debt to Ireland through St Aidan
+and others. I must tell you of a record of St Bede's, which shows how
+gladly Ireland in old days, as ever, shared the priceless gift which she
+of all countries, received with the most passionate entireness and held
+with the most unswerving steadfastness. It was in the year 664 that
+there was a great pestilence, raging both in England and Ireland. At the
+time there were many Englishmen in Ireland who had gone there, &quot;either
+for the sake of divine studies, or of a more continent life&quot;; some of
+them, he says, became monks, and others devoted themselves to study,
+&quot;going about from one master's cell to another.&quot; &quot;The Scots (that is the
+Irish) willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with
+food, as also to furnish them with books to read, and their teaching,
+gratis.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Where should we be but for the work done in the monasteries? How can we
+be grateful enough for what went on there in the way of thought,
+research and the collecting of materials, in addition to the work of
+teaching: all fed by the life of prayer and praise and self-denial? Let
+us try to think about the quiet, patient work of scholars and students;
+about their noting of so many facts and detailing of them. Let us think
+of the beginnings of English history and literature; of the writing of
+precious manuscripts; the careful copying of them; each of them taking
+so much time to complete and being so costly in production, especially
+when there was added to care and skill the artistic beauty of decoration
+and illumination.</p>
+
+<p>From these quiet abodes of the piety that transfused itself through
+loving toil and discipline, light streamed forth to go on shining and
+shining, on through the long centuries to come.</p>
+
+<p>We must now have a look into the pages of the great English Chronicle
+which we should not possess had it not been for these good monks, and we
+will take the account of the martyrdom of Archbishop &AElig;lfeah, whom you
+know best under the Latinized form of his name, Alphege. His heavenly
+birthday was the 19th of April. The king who is spoken of was &AElig;thelred
+who was called the Unready, which word means without counsel, and then
+of ill-counsel. You know how we talk of &quot;ill-advised&quot; conduct or speech.
+There is a fourteenth century poem which speaks of Richard the Second as
+&quot;redeless.&quot; And, because there is no such thing as being neutral;
+because, if we are not good, we are bad, the word got the meaning of
+foolish or worse. Freeman, the great historian says that &AElig;thelred &quot;was
+perhaps the only thoroughly bad king among all the Kings of the English
+of the West Saxon line; he seems to have been weak, cowardly, cruel, and
+bad altogether.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As long as St Dunstan lived, &AElig;thelred was not so bad as he afterwards
+became. We must remember what a bad mother &AElig;thelred had in &AElig;lfthryth, or
+Elfrida, who was an evil wife to her first husband, and most probably
+caused the murder of the king her step-son, the son of King Edgar, who
+was her second husband. This was the Edward known as St Edward the
+Martyr.</p>
+
+<p>The story of &AElig;lfeah comes under the year <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1011. &quot;In this
+year sent the king and his witan to the (Danish) army, and desired
+peace, and promised them tribute and food on condition that they ceased
+from their harrying. They had then overrun East Anglia, and Essex, and
+Middlesex, and Oxfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire; and
+south of Thames, all Kent and Sussex, and Hastings, and Surrey, and
+Berkshire, and Hampshire, and much of Wiltshire. All these misfortunes
+befell us through ill counsel, that they were not in time (either)
+offered tribute or fought against, but when they had done the greatest
+ill, then peace and truce were made with them. And nevertheless for all
+the truce and tribute, they went flockmeal everywhere and harried and
+robbed and slew our poor folk. And then, in this year, between the
+nativity of St Mary and St Michael's Mass, they sat round Canterbury and
+came into it through treachery, because &AElig;lfmaer betrayed it, whose life
+the Archbishop &AElig;lfeah had before saved. And there they took the
+Archbishop &AElig;lfeah, and &AElig;lfweard, the king's reeve, and Abbot &AElig;lfmaer,
+and Bishop Godwin. And Abbot &AElig;lfmaer they let go away. And they took
+there within all the clergy, and men and women: it was untellable to any
+man how much of the folk there was. And they were afterwards in the town
+as long as they would. And when they had thoroughly surveyed the city
+then went they to their ships and led the Archbishop with them. Then
+was he a captive who erewhile had been the head of the English race and
+of Christendom.<a name="FNanchor_I_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_9"><sup>[I]</sup></a> There might then be seen misery there where oft
+erewhile men had seen bliss, in that wretched city whence had first come
+to us Christendom and bliss before God and before the world.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And they kept the archbishop with them as long as to the time when they
+martyred him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1012. In this year came Eadric the ealdorman, and all the
+chief witan, religious and lay, of the English folk of London, before
+Easter: Easterday was then on the date of the Ides of April (13th
+April). And they were there then so long as until all the tribute was
+paid, after Easter; that was eight and forty thousand pounds. Then on
+the Saturday (19th April) was the (Danish) army greatly stirred up
+against the bishop, because he would not promise them any money; but he
+forbad that anything should be given for him. They were also very
+drunken, because wine had been brought there from the south. Then took
+they the bishop, led him to their husting on the eve of Sunday, the
+octave of the Pasch; and there they then shamefully killed him: they
+pelted him with bones and the heads of oxen, and then one of them struck
+him with an axe-iron on the head, so that with the blow he sank down;
+and his holy blood fell on the earth, and that his holy soul be sent to
+God's kingdom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A sorrowful story of evil folly and treachery: a splendid story of
+steadfastness to the end: of glorious martyrdom. The refusal to allow
+himself to be ransomed at his pillaged people's cost; the greed of the
+Danes; the death-stroke given him, we are told, in another chronicle, in
+mercy, to put an end to his sufferings, given him by a newly-made
+convert of his. And see how the Church has shown us, in her canonisation
+as a martyr saint, of this man, who died not directly to testify to the
+truth of the religion of Jesus, but for the sake of justice, that
+justice is the outcome of Christianity, and that he who dies for justice
+sake dies for God.</p>
+
+<p>It was said by Lanfrane that &AElig;feah was not a martyr, because he had not
+died for the Faith; but St Anselm said he was a true martyr, because he
+died for justice and charity.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Abbot &AElig;lfric, writer of Homilies, Lives of Saints, and other works.
+Wulfstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.
+</div>
+
+<p>The greatest of English prose-writers before the Conquest was &AElig;lfric,
+who was educated at the school at Winchester which &AElig;thelwold, a pupil of
+St Dunstan, had founded. His works are very numerous. He wrote Homilies,
+or Sermons, on Scriptural subjects, and Lives of the Saints. I have
+quoted a passage about &quot;Judith,&quot; which occurs in the summary of the
+books of the Old Testament, written for a friend of his, one Sigeweard,
+who had often asked him for English writings, which he had delayed
+giving him until after he had, at Sigeweard's earnest request, come to
+his house, and then Sigeweard had complained to him that he could not
+get at his writings. This little incident reminds us how differently
+from now people had to arrange about books and writings, and how much
+more dependent they were on teaching through the ear and the eye.</p>
+
+<p>I must give you a little specimen of &AElig;lfric's writing, a piece taken
+from his beautiful homily on Holy Innocents' Day. It is in very simple,
+direct language, and I think you will say it is not without a touch of
+that lovely thing which it is easy to feel and hard to define&mdash;poetry. I
+should like to have heard the sermon, and I hope you will feel somewhat
+as I do!</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Christ despised not His young soldiers, although he was not present in
+body at their slaughter. Blessed were they born that they might for His
+sake suffer death. Happy is that their (tender) age, which was not yet
+able to confess Christ, and was allowed to suffer for Christ. They were
+the Saviour's witnesses, although as yet they knew Him not. They were
+not ripe for the slaughter, but yet did they blessedly die to live!
+Blessed was their birth, for they found eternal life on the threshold of
+this present life. They were snatched from mother-breasts, but they were
+straightway given into the keeping of angel-bosoms. The cruel persecutor
+(Herod) could with no service benefit those little ones so greatly as he
+benefited them with the hatred of his cruel persecution. They are called
+martyrs' blossoms because they were as blossoms upspringing in the cold
+of earth's unbelief, thus withered with the frost of persecution.
+Blessed are the wombs that bare them, and the breasts which suckled such
+as these. The mothers indeed suffered in the martyrdom of their
+children; the sword which pierced the children's limbs pierced to the
+mothers' hearts: and it must needs be that they be sharers of the
+eternal reward, when they were companions in the suffering.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I will now tell you about a very different kind of sermon from
+&AElig;lfric's&mdash;one of the sermons preached by Wulfstan, Archbishop of York,
+who was not, like &AElig;lfric, leading a quiet life in an abbey, but throwing
+himself into the struggles and needs of a most disastrous time. He saw
+how the Danish inroads had terribly demoralised the English people, and
+he spoke out as God's preacher, who comes face to face with wrong, must
+speak.</p>
+
+<p>He begins by telling his &quot;beloved men&quot; how evil will go on increasing
+till Antichrist's coming; and then will it be awful, and terrible all
+through the world. &quot;Too greatly has the devil for many years led this
+folk astray, and little faithfulness has there been among men, albeit
+they spake well; and wrongs too many have ruled in the land; and not
+always were there many who thought earnestly about the remedy as they
+should; but day by day they added one evil upon another and they reared
+up wrong, and many evil laws all throughout this nation. And therefore
+have we suffered many losses and shames: and if we shall await any cure
+then must we deserve it from God better than heretofore have we done.
+For with great earning have we earned the miseries that oppress us, and
+with great earning must we obtain the remedy from God if from henceforth
+it is to grow better.&quot; He tells them how in heathen lands they dare not
+withhold what has been devoted to the worship of idols: &quot;and here we
+withhold the rights of God. And everywhere in heathen lands none dare
+injure or lessen within or without any of the things offered to idols:
+and we have robbed God's houses within and without.&quot; And so he goes on
+pouring out from his very soul the fiery words that tell of the warning
+of God's laws, and the worsening of folk-laws; and how the Sanctuaries
+are unprotected, and God's houses are robbed and stripped of their
+property, and holy orders are despised, and widows forced wrongfully to
+marry, and too many are made poor and humbled, and poor men are sorely
+betrayed and cruelly plotted against; and far and wide innocent people
+are given into the power of foreigners, and cradle-children made slaves
+through cruel evil laws for a little theft: and freeman's right taken
+away, and thrall's right narrowed, and alms' right diminished. It goes
+on and on, the terrible list of wrongs that have brought God's wrath on
+the land. The sermon is not for the building-up of faithful ones, but
+for the rousing and stirring up of those whose baptismal vow has been
+terribly and shamefully broken, His words are clashed out as he brings
+men face to face with their sin.</p>
+
+<p>And then comes the preaching of the true penance. &quot;Let us do what is
+needful, bow to the right, and in somewise forsake the wrong, and mend
+where we have broken.&quot; And the preacher's voice now takes the tender
+tone of entreaty. &quot;Let us creep to Christ and with trembling heart often
+call upon Him, and deserve His mercy; and let us love God, and obey His
+laws, and fulfil what we promised when we received baptism; or what
+those promised who were our sponsors at baptism. And let us rightly
+order word and work, and earnestly cleanse the thoughts of our hearts,
+and carefully keep oath and pledge and have honesty among us without
+weakness, and let us often understand the great judgement which we all
+must meet, and earnestly protect ourselves against the burning fire of
+the punishment of hell, and earn for ourselves the glories and the joys
+which God has prepared for them that do His will in the world. God help
+us. Amen.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Love of books is love of part of God's world. In books we commune with
+the spirit of their writers. The Church the mother of all art and
+all literature. Catholic literature saturated with Holy Scripture.
+</div>
+
+<p>A man who made many a man and woman love literature and helped them to
+study it, the late Professor Henry Morley, has said that one who thinks
+that a bookroom is not a part of the world; one who thinks that, in
+leaving his books and going forth to commune with nature he is, as it
+were, passing from death to life, is one who has not yet learned to
+read. The good Professor saw that books have souls in them, so to speak,
+and that to love a book really and truly is to hold communion with that
+which is living and is a part of the great, beautiful scheme of God's
+great, beautiful world. To love one part of what Our Father has given us
+should never lead us to despise, or even undervalue, other parts. And we
+must remember, too, must we not? how one thing helps us to understand
+another; how great painters and great poets help us to understand the
+beauty of nature as we might not have understood it without them, just
+as they help us also to know men and women, and help us to know better
+some of the fair things in our great and glorious religion; things which
+God can and does teach without their help when He chooses, though He
+graciously and lovingly often uses their help&mdash;the help He has given
+them the power of giving&mdash;to teach others of His children. Our Father,
+being <i>Our</i> Father, not just <i>your</i> Father and <i>my</i> Father and <i>his</i>
+Father and <i>her</i> Father, but <i>Our</i> Father, the Father of us all as one
+big family of His, brothers and sisters in Him, wills that we all help
+one another with the gifts He has given us; and the more we can realise
+that all separate gifts are parts of one great harmonious whole, the
+more fully we shall live and feel and enjoy.</p>
+
+<p>There is, of course, a delight in exquisite typography, and hand-made
+paper, and binding into which the soul of a true artist has gone. People
+may be willing to give large sums for these things, independently of the
+value of what is under them; or people may value books for their age, or
+because they are rare, or because they are records of facts which it is
+well to know and good to be able to verify.</p>
+
+<p>But there is a better way of love than all of these. One may love the
+book through which one holds communion with the spirit of its writer,
+being ready to learn from him by direct learning, or by the learning
+received through suggestion, or through the rousing of the spirit of
+enquiry, or the spirit of opposition. Is not this the best kind of love,
+the love by which the thought of man is used by man, the spirit of man
+holds communion with the spirit of man?</p>
+
+<p>All through the ages, great things have been handed down by written
+words, and people of all nations have shared one another's national
+heritage of written thought, and in that sharing made it larger and
+greater. We are now considering the earlier story of English Catholic
+literature, and it is surely well that people should know something of
+what things were said and sung in the olden time; the time when all art,
+all literature was fed by the great Mother of all Christian art and all
+Christian literature, the Holy Catholic Church.</p>
+
+<p>You will find our Catholic literature saturated with sacred lore and
+knowledge of Holy Scripture. Before printing was invented people could
+not multiply copies of the Sacred Books as they can now, but they knew
+them probably much better than many of those who can easily now buy them
+for a few pence. We have translations of various parts of the Bible in
+these early times. You will remember how in St Bede's last days he
+finished his translation of part of St John's Gospel. We have lovely
+manuscripts, such as that of the Lindisfarne Gospels, written in fine
+clear writing, which can be seen at the British Museum; and facsimiles
+of parts of them can be had for a small sum. It is simply an uneducated
+error to suppose that the heretical editing, as I may call it, of Holy
+Scripture in the mother-tongue of English people, made by Tyndale and
+Coverdale, was the first attempt to put the Bible into English. We
+should have had plenty of printed copies of Holy Scripture in the
+mother-tongue of English people, had these versions never been made and
+circulated to attack and injure Holy Church, without whom the originals
+could never have existed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Scattering of our old MSS. in Sixteenth Century. Same now in public
+libraries. Collections. Exeter Book and Vercelli Book.
+</div>
+
+<p>Where are all our old manuscripts, our treasures from days of yore, the
+work of the cunning scribe, the pages whereon so many of our religious
+spent hour after hour, in patient and loving toil? They were scattered
+abroad in the sixteenth century by wholesale. Many of them found their
+way into private collections, and the collectors often generously gave
+them to college libraries. Matthew Parker, the Protestant Archbishop of
+Canterbury, was a great book-collector, and gave a good many volumes to
+Corpus Christi College at Cambridge. Among these is the oldest copy of
+the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. John Bale, once a friar, afterwards, alas! a
+Protestant Bishop, says that some of the books from the monasteries were
+used to scour candlesticks or to rub boots; some were sold to grocers
+and soap-vendors; and whole ships-full went abroad.</p>
+
+<p><a name="gs114-1" id="gs114-1"></a></p>
+    <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;">
+         <a href="images/gs114-1.jpg">
+         <img src="images/gs114-1_th.jpg" alt="SAXON SHIP" /></a><br />
+         <p>SAXON SHIP<br />
+As used by our Forefathers in the time of King Alfred</p>
+    </div>
+
+<p>Robert Bruce Cotton was another great book-collector. His library was
+sold to the nation about seventy years after his death. Many books and
+MSS. belonging to it were destroyed or injured by a fire that broke out
+where it had been placed; among those injured was the only copy of the
+old poem of B&eacute;owulf, which I have not talked about because it is
+apparently outside our <i>Catholic</i> Heritage in literature. The reduced
+library is now at the British Museum. It includes the beautiful
+Lindisfarne Gospels, or Durham Book, which once belonged to Durham
+Cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>There is another collection which was bought for the British Museum,
+made by Harley, Earl of Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>William Laud, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in Charles the First's
+time, and, like him, died on the scaffold, was also greatly interested
+in collecting books. He gave generously to Oxford University, and his
+books are in the Bodleian Library, with many other valuable literary
+treasures.</p>
+
+<p>Francis Junius collected Anglo-Saxon literature, and other books. He
+left them to the Bodleian Library. Among them is the unique &quot;Caedmon&quot;
+Manuscript, given him by Archbishop Usher, who founded the library of
+Trinity College, Dublin. People are now alive to the value of these
+great possessions, and we must be glad that scholars have worked at
+them, and published many of them, and so made their contents accessible
+to everyone. But we must never forget our debt to the earliest writers,
+and chiefly to the monks who wrote and who copied, much and long and
+well. As we trust, they have their reward.</p>
+
+<p>There are two specially interesting collections of manuscript
+Anglo-Saxon poems, known respectively as the Exeter Book and the
+Vercelli Book. The Exeter Book is one of some sixty volumes acquired by
+Le&oacute;fric, Bishop of Crediton, when he was making his library for the
+cathedral of his new bishopric at Exeter. It is described as &quot;a large
+English book of many things wrought in verse.&quot; It is one of the few of
+Le&oacute;fric's books that remain at Exeter, where it has been over eight
+hundred years. It contains various poems by Cynewulf and others. Several
+leaves are missing, and ink has been spilt over part of one page. This
+Exeter library was scattered at the &quot;Reformation.&quot; Some of its treasures
+are in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, or at Corpus Christi College, at
+Cambrige.</p>
+
+<p>The Vercelli Book is so called because it was discovered in its home in
+the cathedral library at Vercelli in Italy a good many years ago. It
+contains twenty-two sermons in Anglo-Saxon, and six poems, among which
+is our beautiful &quot;Dream of the Holy Rood.&quot; Perhaps some English pilgrim
+or pilgrims, on the way to Rome, left this book as a gift, or through
+inadvertence, at the hospice where hospitality had been received. Or
+perhaps Cardinal Guala, who was over here in the days of John and of
+Henry III, bought the book for his library at Vercelli. Or perhaps it
+was one of the books of which John Bale tells us whole ships-full went
+abroad. We have to be very grateful to the scholars whose researches
+have recovered for us so much of our old heritage, and to those who have
+made their contents in various ways so easy to get at.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<div class="chapdesc">Runes. An early love-poem.</div>
+
+<p>I said I would tell you a little about runes, which I have had more than
+once occasion to mention. The runes were the alphabet used by the
+Teutonic tribes, to which the English belonged. This alphabet is very
+old, and it is not certain where it originally came from. The word
+&quot;rune&quot; means secret or mystery. To &quot;round&quot; in a person's ear means to
+whisper, so that what is said is a &quot;secret&quot; or a &quot;mystery.&quot; The word
+comes from &quot;rune.&quot; When we use the word to &quot;write&quot; we think of setting
+down words on paper with a pen or a pencil. But the old meaning of
+&quot;write&quot; is to incise, or to cut, or engrave. Probably the runes were at
+first cut in wood. A wooden tablet was called &quot;b&oacute;c,&quot; from beechwood
+being used for it. When we talk of a book we are away from the first
+idea of a book a good distance. Runes were also carved, or incised, in
+metal and in bone. They were associated, not only with secrecy or
+mystery, but with magic, and were supposed to possess power for good or
+evil. People thought that &quot;runes could raise the dead from their graves;
+they could preserve life or take it, they could heal the sick or bring
+on lingering disease; they could call forth the soft rain or the violent
+hailstorm; they could break chains and shackles, or bind more closely
+than bonds or fetters; they could make the warrior invincible and cause
+his sword to inflict none but mortal wounds; they could produce frenzy
+and madness, or defend from the deceit of a false friend.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There is a story in an old Norse book telling that Odin, the
+Scandinavian god, learned them and used them. St Bede tells in his
+&quot;Church History&quot; a story which proves that the belief in the magic power
+of runes lingered on in England after Christianity had become the
+professed religion of the people. It takes a good while to lose
+superstition that has been with people for a long, long time. Because
+Christianity condemns anything like magic, the use of the runes,
+associated with it, gradually went out. The Irish missionaries in the
+North of England taught the people there a beautiful kind of handwriting
+from which the English handwriting of later times was formed. The
+&quot;Lindisfarne Gospels&quot; are written in the earlier Irish rounded
+characters. In a copy of St Bede's &quot;Church History&quot; written after
+<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 730, a more pointed hand is used. If we want to write
+fast, we do not write so round as when we write slowly. Afterwards, in
+the tenth century, the English began to use the French style of writing.</p>
+
+<p>The runes were sometimes used as ordinary letters, without any thought
+of the old connection with magic. So the great Christian poet, Cynewulf,
+wrote his name in runes, which is how we know him to be the author of
+some of the poems we have been considering.</p>
+
+<p>The portions of the &quot;Dream of the Holy Rood&quot; which are on the Ruthwell
+Cross (see Chapter IV) are carved in runes. There is a small sword in
+the British Museum with runes on it, which was found in the Thames.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with the runes I want to tell you of two old poems, which
+may be related to each other. One is known as &quot;The Wife's Complaint,&quot;
+the other as, &quot;The Husband's Message.&quot; The first of them is apparently
+spoken by a woman who laments her hard fate, her husband having gone
+over the sea, away from her. She is imprisoned in an old earthen
+dwelling under an oak; she has no friends near, and she tells how vain
+were the vows of love exchanged between her and her husband. Now the
+second poem, &quot;The Husband's Message,&quot; may be written for this wife; we
+do not know; at any rate it conveys a message from an absent husband to
+a wife; and I will give it to you as an early love-letter. It consists
+of two parts, one of which has been thought to be a riddle, but they
+have been put together by a learned Professor, and if they do belong to
+each other, the arrangement is as interesting as it is beautiful. The
+message is given by the letter itself&mdash;the slip of bark or wood on which
+it was carved&mdash;and this wood speaks. First it tells us about itself. It
+had dwelt on the beach near the sea-shore: there were few to behold its
+home in the solitude, but every morning the brown wave encircled it with
+a watery embrace. Then it little thought that even, though itself
+mouthless, it should speak among the mead-drinkers and utter words.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i10">A great marvel it is,<br /></span>
+<span>Strange in the mouth that knoweth it not,<br /></span>
+<span>How the point of the knife and the right hand,<br /></span>
+<span>The thought of a man, and his blade therewith,<br /></span>
+<span>Shaped me with skill, that boldly I might<br /></span>
+<span>So deliver a message to thee<br /></span>
+<span>In the presence of us two alone,<br /></span>
+<span>That to other men our talk<br /></span>
+<span>May not make it more widely known.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The letter then tells how it had come in the keeled vessel, and how the
+lady would now know how in her heart she may think of the love of her
+lord. &quot;I dare maintain,&quot; says the letter, &quot;that there thou wilt find
+true loyalty.&quot; He that carved the characters on the wood, bad it pray
+her, the lady decked with jewels, to remember the vows they twain had
+often made when they dwelt together in their home in the same land.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i9">Force drove him<br /></span>
+<span>Out of the land. Now hath he bidden me<br /></span>
+<span>Earnestly to urge thee to sail the sea<br /></span>
+<span>When thou hast heard on the brow of the hill<br /></span>
+<span>The mournful cuckoo call in the wood.<br /></span>
+<span>Then let no living man keep thee<br /></span>
+<span>From the journey, or hinder thy going.<br /></span>
+<span>Betake thee to the sea, the home of the mew,<br /></span>
+<span>Seat thee in the boat, that southward from here<br /></span>
+<span>Beyond the road of the sea thou mayest find the man<br /></span>
+<span>Where waits thy prince in hope of thee.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>We hope the lady betook herself to the sea-mew's home, and found her
+beloved at the end of the journey! Her beloved had no thought of any
+greater joy than the granting of Almighty God that together they should
+be givers of treasure to men. The beloved has enough of beaten gold and
+wealth, and a fair home among the strangers, the noble warriors that
+obey him. Banished from home, gone forth a homeless one, in the
+stranger-land good has come to him; he has no lack of anything but of
+her, who had with him come under an old threat, and had been parted from
+him. He vows to fulfil his pledge and love-troth, and he writes in runes
+some message, which she, as it appears, would understand, and she alone.</p>
+
+<p>The old, old story, written fair and full.</p>
+
+<p>You will have noticed in the literature we have been considering the
+absence of certain elements which are an integral part of our modern
+literature. This poem, for instance, is, as far as I know, the only love
+poem before the Conquest which has come down to us. There is no romance
+either, and there is, we may say, no humour. Life is a very serious
+thing, so often lying close to the sword-edge; and the duties of life
+are simple. There is to be a great, very great enlargement of the
+borders of English literature later on. Prose and poetry are to have new
+developments. Romances are to show us heroic ideals. Lyrics of joy, of
+sorrow, of passion, of emotion natural and spiritual, are to be sung.
+The sense of beauty is to grow. The drama is to arise from beginnings to
+be but faintly traced in early days. Epic poetry is to take a great
+place. Character modified, enriched by foreign strains, is to mould a
+noble literature&mdash;noble through many and many a gift and grace. A great
+poet is to arise with sympathies large and wide, to show us, in verse
+most musical, in words full meaning, with that grace of humour which is
+a fresh light upon life, how men and women lived: and to be the great
+precursor of a greater than he. Geoffrey Chaucer is to come to us. After
+him William Shakespere.</p>
+
+<h2>THE END</h2>
+
+<h6>THE MERCAT PRESS, EDINBURGH.</h6>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a>
+<p>Hilda is the Latinised form, which it is a pity to use
+instead of the English one.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a>
+<p>blow.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a>
+<p>I have not, of course, forgotten the mission of St
+Paulinus; but, as history shows, this does not affect the question here.
+Glow and fervour permeate life, and literature being its outcome could
+not but keep the mark of what had been set upon that life.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a>
+<p>Translation by Miss Kate Warren.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a>
+<p>This, of course, is unhistorical.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_F_6" id="Footnote_F_6"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_F_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a>
+<p>The phrase &quot;Invention of the Cross&quot; means the finding of
+it; the word invention in English does not now translate the Latin
+&quot;inventio.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_G_7" id="Footnote_G_7"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_G_7"><span class="label">[G]</span></a>
+<p>The Veneration of the Cross, or Creeping to the Cross, was
+known in Anglo-Saxon times, but whether as early as Cynewulf's day,
+seems uncertain.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_H_8" id="Footnote_H_8"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_H_8"><span class="label">[H]</span></a>
+<p>&quot;Alderman&quot; is the modern form, but it does not mean the
+same thing.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_I_9" id="Footnote_I_9"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_I_9"><span class="label">[I]</span></a>
+<p><i>i.e.</i> of English Christianity.</p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Catholic Heritage in English
+Literature of Pre-Conquest Days, by Emily Hickey
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature
+of Pre-Conquest Days, by Emily Hickey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature of Pre-Conquest Days
+
+Author: Emily Hickey
+
+Release Date: October 1, 2005 [EBook #16785]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR CATHOLIC HERITAGE IN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Kathryn Lybarger and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+OUR CATHOLIC HERITAGE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE OF PRE-CONQUEST DAYS
+
+Transcriber's Note: The author's inconsistent chapter descriptions
+and spelling of proper names have been preserved.
+
+[Illustration: DEATH OF ST BEDE. (From the Original Picture at St
+Cuthbert's College, Ushaw.) [_Frontispiece_]
+
+
+OUR
+CATHOLIC HERITAGE
+IN
+ENGLISH LITERATURE
+
+BY
+EMILY HICKEY
+
+WITH FRONTISPIECE IN COLOUR
+AND FOUR FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+London
+SANDS & CO.
+15 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN
+AND EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW
+
+1910
+
+
+To
+
+THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER
+
+THIS LITTLE BOOK IS INSCRIBED
+BY HIS GRACE'S KIND AND
+VALUED PERMISSION.
+
+_June, 1910._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The beginnings of Literature in England. Two poets of the best period of
+    our old poetry, Caedmon and Cynewulf. The language they wrote in.
+    The monastery at Whitby. The story of Caedmon's gift of song.
+                                                                 page 15
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Caedmon and his influence. Poem, "Genesis." "The Fall of the Angels."
+    "Exodus." English a war-loving race. Destruction of the Egyptians.
+    Fate and the Lord of Fate.                                        24
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Allegory. Principle of comparison important in life, language,
+    literature. Early use of symbolism; suggested reasons for this. Poem
+    of the Phoenix. Allegorical interpretation of the story. Celtic
+    influence on English poetry. Gifts of colour, fervour, glow. Various
+    gifts of various nations enriching one another.                   31
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Prose-writing. St Bede the Venerable. His love of truth. His industry
+    and carefulness. Cuthbert's account of his last days. "Bede whom God
+    loved".                                                           42
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+King Alfred, first layman to be a great power in literature; man of
+    action; of thought; of endurance. Freedom first great possession;
+    afterwards learning and culture. Alfred a loyal Son of the Church.
+    Founder of English prose. Earliest literature of a nation in verse;
+    why. Influence of Rome on Alfred.                                 48
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Decay of learning in England. Revival under Alfred. His translations.
+    Edits English Chronicle. His helpers. Some of his sayings.
+    Missionary spirit. "Alfred commanded to make me".                 55
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Some of greatest pre-Conquest poetry associated with name of Cynewulf.
+    Guesses about him. Little known. Probably North-countryman, eighth
+    century, an educated man. Finding of the Cross. Elene, story of St
+    Helena's mission. Constantine goes to fight invaders. Vision of the
+    Cross. Victory. Journey of St Helena, and search for the Cross. The
+    Finding.                                                          64
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Poet's love of the Cross: how he saw it in a double aspect. The
+    dream of the Holy Rood. The Ruthwell Cross.                       73
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"Judith," a great poem founded on Scripture story. Authorship uncertain.
+    Part of it lost. Quotations from it. Description of Holofernes'
+    banquet as a Saxon feast. Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage
+    resistance to Danes and Northmen.                                 83
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal
+    to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight.                              90
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The literature of one people owes a debt to that of others.
+    Help-bringers. Great work of Benedictine monks. Our debt to Ireland.
+    The English Chronicle's account of the Martyrdom of St AElfeah.    97
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Abbot AElfric, writer of Homilies, Lives of Saints, and other works.
+    Wulfstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.                              104
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Love of books is love of part of God's world. In books we commune with
+    the spirit of their writers. The Church the mother of all Christian
+    art and literature. Catholic literature saturated with Holy
+    Scripture.                                                       110
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Scattering of our old MSS. in Sixteenth Century. Some now in Public
+    Libraries. Collections, Exeter book and Vercelli Book.           114
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Runes. An early love poem.                                           118
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+DEATH OF SAINT BEDE      _Frontispiece_
+
+WHITBY ABBEY             _Page_ 19
+
+KING ALFRED THE GREAT                48
+
+THE RUTHWELL CROSS                   80
+
+THE ALFRED JEWEL                    114
+
+A SAXON SHIP                        114
+
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORDS
+
+
+This little book makes no claim to be a history of pre-Conquest
+Literature. It is an attempt to increase the interest which Catholics
+may well feel in this part of the great 'inheritance of their fathers.'
+It is not meant to be a formal course of reading, but a sort of talk, as
+it were, about beautiful things said and sung in old days: things which
+to have learned to love is to have incurred a great and living debt. I
+have tried to clothe some of these in the nearest approach I could find
+to the native garb in which their makers had sent them forth, with the
+humblest acknowledgement that nothing comes up to that native garb
+itself. In writing the book I have naturally incurred debt in various
+directions; debt of which the source would be difficult always to trace.
+I may mention my obligations to the work of Professor Morley, Professor
+Earle, Professor Ten Brink, and Professor Albert S. Cook: also to the
+writers of Chapters I-VII of "The Cambridge History of English
+Literature," vol. i.
+
+If this little book in any way fulfils the wishes of those Catholic
+teachers who have asked me to print some thoughts of mine about English
+Literature, I shall be glad indeed.
+
+EMILY HICKEY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The beginnings of Literature in England. Two poets of the best period of
+    our old poetry, Caedmon and Cynewulf. The language they wrote in.
+    The monastery at Whitby. The story of Caedmon's gift of song.
+
+
+How many of us I wonder, realise in anything like its full extent the
+beauty and the glory of our Catholic heritage. Do we think how the Great
+Mother, the keeper of truth, the guardian of beauty, the muse of
+learning, the fosterer of progress, has given us gifts in munificent
+generosity, gifts that sprang from her holy bosom, to enlighten, to
+cheer, to guide and to help; gifts that she, large, liberal, glorious,
+could not but give, for she, like her Lord, is giver and bestower; and
+to be of her children is to be of the givers and bestowers. The Catholic
+Church is the source of fine literature, of true art, as of noble speech
+and noble deed.
+
+We are going to look at a small portion of that part of our Catholic
+heritage which consists of our early literature; we are going to think
+about the beginning of Christian work of this kind in the form of poetry
+and prose in England. When I say Christian poetry and prose, I am using
+the word Christian as opposed to pagan, and inclusive of secular as well
+as religious verse, though the amount of secular verse is, in the
+earliest time, comparatively very small. Some of the pagan work was
+retouched by Christians who cared for the truth and strength and beauty
+of it. The ideal of the English heathen poet was, in many respects, a
+fine one. He loved valour and generosity and loyalty, and all these
+things are found, for instance, in the poem "Beowulf," a poem full of
+interest of various kinds; full, too, as Professor Harrison says, "of
+evidences of having been fumigated here and there by a Christian
+incense-bearer." But "the poem is a heathen poem, just 'fumigated' here
+and there by its editor." There is a vast difference between
+"fumigating" a heathen work and adapting it to blessedly changed belief,
+seeing in old story the potential vessel of Christian thought and
+Christian teaching. To fumigate with incense is one thing--to use that
+incense in the work of dedication and consecration is another. For
+instance, the old story of the "Quest of the Graal," best known to
+modern readers through Tennyson's "Idylls of the King," has been
+Christianised and consecrated. And so it was with some fine old English
+(or Anglo-Saxon) poetry. But, just now, we are going to listen to
+Catholic poets and teachers only.
+
+We begin with the work of poets. Out of all those who wrote in what was
+the best period of our old poetry, a period that lasted some hundred and
+fifty or seventy-five years, we know the names of two only, Caedmon and
+Cynewulf.
+
+And here may I say that scholars agree that the names are to be
+pronounced _Kadmon_ and _Kun-e-wolf_; in the second name we sound the
+_y_ like a French _u_, make a syllable of the _e_, not sounding it as
+_ee_, but short, and make the last syllable just what we now pronounce
+as _wolf_.
+
+Both of these poets deserve our love and our praise, as singers and
+inspirers of other singers, but we know much more about Caedmon's life
+than we know about his share in the poetry that has been attributed to
+him; that is the poetry which has gone under his name. That he did
+write much fine verse we know. On the other hand, we know a good deal as
+to the authenticity of Cynewulf's poetry, and nothing about his life.
+
+Both of these poets wrote in the language spoken in England before the
+period of French influence. That influence upon English at first seemed
+to be disastrous; the language became broken up and spoilt: but this was
+only for a time; and by and by, out of roughness and chaotic grammar
+there grew up a beautiful and stately speech meet for great poets to
+sing in, and great men and women to use. So it is that what for a time
+seems to be disastrous may one day be realised as benign and beautiful.
+
+This pre-Conquest language has to be learned as we learn a foreign
+tongue. It is much easier to learn than Latin or German, but still it
+has to be learned; so we shall have to listen to the thought of these
+poets in the language of our own day, allowing ourselves now and then
+the use of words or expressions which it is fair to employ in rendering
+old poetry or prose, though we do not use them in ordinary speech or
+writing.
+
+We shall sometimes use translations, and sometimes I will tell you
+about the poetry, giving the gist of it as best I can.
+
+[Illustration: WHITBY ABBEY]
+
+At Whitby you may see the ruins of what must have been a very beautiful
+monastery, built high on a hill, swept by brisk and health-giving winds
+with the strength and freshness of moorland and sea. This monastery,
+part of which was for monks, and part for nuns, was ruled by Abbess
+Hild.[A] This seems strange to us, but it was because the Celtic usage
+prevailed in the government of the Abbey.
+
+[Footnote A: Hilda is the Latinised form, which it is a pity to use
+instead of the English one.]
+
+We must never forget the work of the Celtic missionaries who brought
+Christianity from the Western Islands to the North of England: and, of
+course, their "ways" as well as their message were impressed on the
+converts. Later on, as we know, the Roman usage was established all over
+the country.
+
+Among the monks of Streoneshalh, as Whitby was then called, the Danes
+having given it its present name, there was, as St Bede the Venerable
+tells us, "a brother specially renowned and honoured by Divine grace,
+because it was his wont to make fitting songs appertaining to piety and
+virtue; so that whatever he learned from scholars about the Divine
+Writings, that did he, in a short time, with the greatest sweetness and
+fervour, adorn with the language of poetry, and bring forth in the
+English speech. And because of his poems the hearts of many men were
+brought to despise the world, and were inspired with desire for the
+fellowship of the heavenly life.... He was a layman until he was far
+advanced in years, and he had never learnt any songs. It was then the
+custom that, when there was a feast on some occasion of rejoicing, all
+present should sing to the harp in turn. And when Caedmon saw the harp
+coming near him, he would get up, feeling ashamed, and go home to his
+house. Now once upon a time he had done this and had left the house
+where they were feasting, and gone to the stall where the cattle were,
+which it was his duty that night to attend to. There, when his work was
+done, he lay down and slept, and in a dream he saw a man standing by
+him, who hailed him and greeted him and called him by his name, saying:
+'Caedmon, sing me something.' And Caedmon answered and said, 'I can sing
+nothing, and therefore did I go from this feast, and depart hither,
+because I could not.' And again he that was speaking with him, said:
+'Nevertheless, thou must sing for me.'"
+
+Then Caedmon understood, and he said in the same spirit that prompted
+Our Lady's "Be it done unto me according to thy word," "What shall I
+sing?" And the guest of his dream said, "Sing the Creation for me."
+
+As soon as Caedmon had received this answer, he at once began to sing to
+the praise of God the Creator verses and words which he had never heard.
+St Bede quotes a few lines in the Northern dialect, which may be
+rendered thus:
+
+"Now shall we praise the Guardian of the Kingdom of Heaven, the might of
+the Creator and the thought of His mind, the works of the Father of
+glory; how He made the beginning of all wonders, the everlasting Lord.
+First did He shape for the children of men Heaven for a roof, the holy
+Shaper. Then the mid-world the Guardian of Mankind, the Eternal Lord,
+the King Almighty, created thereafter, the earth for men."
+
+When Caedmon awoke the gift remained with him, and he went on composing
+more poetry. He told the town-reeve about the gift he had received, and
+the town-reeve took him to the Abbess and showed her all the matter.
+Abbess Hild called together all the most learned men and the students,
+and by her desire the dream was told to them, and the songs sung to them
+that they might all judge what this might be and whence the gift had
+come. And they were all sure that a divine gift had been bestowed on
+Caedmon by God Himself. They gave him a holy story and words of divine
+lore, and bad him sing them if he could, putting them into the measure
+of verse. In the morning he came back, having set them in most beautiful
+poetry. And after that the Abbess had him instructed, and he left the
+life in the world for the religious life. We are told by St Bede that he
+made much beautiful verse, being taught much holy lore and making songs
+so winsome to hear that his teachers themselves learned at his mouth.
+
+"He sang of the creation of earth and the making of man, and the history
+of Genesis, and the going out of the Israelites from the land of the
+Egyptians, and their entering into the Land of Promise, and many other
+stories told in the Books of the Canon. He also sang concerning the
+Humanity of Christ and about His Passion and His Ascension, and about
+the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the teaching of the Apostles. And he
+sang also of the Judgement to come and of the sweetness of the Kingdom
+of Heaven. About these things he made many songs, as well as about the
+Divine goodness and judgment. And this poet always had before him the
+desire to draw men away from the love of sin and of evil doing, and to
+make them earnestly desire to do good deeds."
+
+At last a fair end was set upon his life when, glad of heart, full of
+love to those around him, he received Holy Viaticum, and prayed and
+signed himself with the Holy Sign, and entered sweetly into his rest.
+
+This is the story told for the most part, as it is best to tell it in
+the way in which St Bede recorded it; and Alfred rendered it into the
+English of his day, from which English I have now taken it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Caedmon and his influence. Poem, "Genesis." "The Fall of The Angels."
+    "Exodus," English a war-loving race. Destruction of the Egyptians,
+    Fate and the Lord of Fate.
+
+
+We possess poems on the subjects which St Bede tells us that Caedmon
+wrote upon, but we cannot be sure that any of these are actually that
+poet's work. St Bede tells us that many others after him wrote noble
+songs, but he sets Caedmon's work above that of all those others as
+having been the product of a gift direct from God. In any case he must
+have influenced those who wrote later than he. All our work whether we
+are poets, thinkers, fighters, craftsmen, servants, tradesfolk,
+teachers, must be only partly in what we do directly. This can to some
+extent be measured. We can tell how many hours' work we have done in a
+day; how many books we have written in a life's working-time; how much
+faithful service we have consciously offered. But by far the larger part
+of our work we cannot know. We cannot know how much we may have
+influenced others for good, we cannot calculate the effect that we have
+had upon them, and, through them, upon others. And to apply this thought
+specially to a poet, we may say that what he has done for others by
+suggesting, by stimulating, by inspiring, is not only a most valuable
+part of his work, but also an immeasurable part. A poet may inspire
+another poet simply to sing; or he may inspire him to sing on subjects
+akin to those dearest to himself; and the second poet, or the third or
+fourth, as it may be, may sing better than the first. But all the same,
+he owes it to the first poet, and, in a sense, the work of the latter
+poet is a part of the work of the earlier.
+
+The poem "Genesis" is known to be the work of at least two people: part
+of it is a version of an old Saxon paraphrase of the Old Testament, and
+must have been written later than Caedmon's time. It is always
+interesting to know who it was that wrote work we care for, but it is a
+more important matter to possess the work itself. People in old times
+did not seem to care much whether their names were known or not. The
+author, for example, of the book which for so long has been read and
+studied and cherished as one of the Church's most treasured
+possessions, the "Imitation of Christ," remained for a long time
+unknown; and this is by no means a solitary instance. The interest in
+literary fame is mostly a modern thing. Besides in these old times
+people worked in a different sort of way from now. We must remember that
+the art of song went hand in hand with the art of verse-making. All
+sorts of people sang the words they had heard, changing, adding, as it
+might be; adding to, or taking from the beauty and force of what they
+were dealing with, in proportion to the strength of their memory, or the
+quality of their imagination.
+
+The story of the "Fall of the Angels" forms part of the "Genesis," and
+it is well worth while to consider whether a very great poet of much
+later days, John Milton, may not have owed something when writing
+"Paradise Lost" to his early forerunner.
+
+"Ten angel-tribes had the Guardian of all, the Holy Lord, created by the
+might of His hand, whom He well trusted to work His will in full
+allegiance to Him, for He had given them understanding and made them
+with His hands, the Lord Most Holy.
+
+"He had set them in such blessedness. One thereof had He made so strong,
+so mighty in his intellect; to him did He grant great sway, next to
+Himself in the Kingdom of Heaven. So bright had He made him, so
+beautiful was his form in Heaven that was given him by the Lord of
+Hosts. He was like unto the stars of light. His duty was to praise the
+Lord, to laud Him because of his share of the gift of light. Dear was he
+to our Lord."
+
+But it could not be hidden from God how pride had taken hold of His
+angel. And Satan resolves in that pride not to serve God. Bright and
+beautiful in his form, he will not obey the Almighty. He thinks within
+himself that he has more might and strength than the Holy God could find
+among his fellows. "Why should I toil, seeing there is no need that I
+should have a lord? With my hands I can work marvels as many as He.
+Great power have I to make ready a goodlier throne, a higher one in
+Heaven. Why must I serve Him in liegedom, bow to Him in service? I am
+able to be God even as He. Strong comrades stand by me, who will not
+fail me in the strife; stout-hearted heroes."
+
+And so does Satan resolve to be the foe of God.
+
+Surely we must be reminded of Milton's great poem when we read how
+Satan, ruined and cast into hell, speaks to his comrades, lost with him.
+He compares the "narrow place" with the seat he had once known in
+Heaven, and denies the right doing of the Almighty in casting him down.
+He says too that the chief of his sorrows is that Adam, made out of
+earth, shall possess the strong throne that once was his; Adam, made
+after God's likeness, from whom Heaven will be peopled with pure souls.
+And he plans revenge on God by striving to destroy Adam and his
+offspring.
+
+All this, and the appeal to one of his followers to go upward where Adam
+and Eve are, and bring about that they should forsake God's teaching and
+break His Commandments, so that weal might depart from them and
+punishment await them, may be compared with "Paradise Lost," Books I,
+II.
+
+It is needless to say that the English were a war-like race. They loved
+the clash of swords, the whizzing of the arrow in its flight, the fierce
+combat, the struggle to keep the battle-stead, as they phrased the
+gaining of a victory. We shall see more of this by and by. And this
+spirit comes out in their poetry written after they had received
+Christianity. They delight in the story of struggle, of brave combat,
+of victory. They saw in the hosts of Pharaoh the old Teuton warriors,
+with the bright-shining bucklers, and the voice of the trumpets and the
+waving of banners. Over the doomed host the poet of "Exodus" saw the
+vultures soaring in circles, hungry for the fight, when the doomed
+warriors should be their prey, and heard the wolves howling their
+direful evensong, deeming their food nigh them. Here is the description
+of the Destruction of the Egyptians. The translation is by Henry S.
+Canby:--
+
+    Then with blood-clots was the blue sky blotted;
+    Then the resounding ocean, that road of seamen,
+    Threatened bloody horror, till by Moses' hand
+    The great Lord of Fate freed the mad waters.
+    Wide the sea drove, swept with its death-grip,
+    Foamed all the deluge, the doomed ones yielded,
+    Seas fell on that track, all the sky was troubled,
+    Fell those steadfast ramparts, down crashed the floods.
+    Melted were these sea-towers, when the mighty One,
+    Lord of Heaven's realm, smote with holy hand
+    These heroes strong as pines, that people proud....
+    The yawning sea was mad,
+    Up it drew, down swirled; dread stood about them,
+    Forth welled the sea-wounds. On those war-troops fell,
+    As from the heaven high, that handiwork of God.
+    Thus swept He down the sea-wall, foamy-billowed,
+    The sea that never shelters, struck by His ancient sword,
+    Till, by its dint[B] of death, slept the doughty ones;
+    An army of sinners, fast surrounded there,
+    The sea-pale, sodden warriors their souls up-yielded
+    Then the dark upsweltering, of haughty waves the greatest,
+    Over them spread; all the host sank deep.
+    And thus were drowned the doughtiest of Egypt,
+    Pharaoh with his folk. That foe to God,
+    Full soon he saw, yea, e'en as he sank,
+    That mightier than he was the Master of the waters,
+    With His death-grip, determined to end the battle,
+    Angered and awful.
+
+[Footnote B: blow.]
+
+How fine a conception it is. Let us notice how far had been travelled
+from the old pagan "Fate goeth even as it will" to "the Lord of Fate."
+How great is the thought of the vision of God's might, the power of the
+Master of the waves, brought before the eyes of Pharaoh before he sinks
+in the death-grip that will not let him go!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Allegory. Principle of comparison important in life, language,
+    literature. Early use of symbolism; suggested reasons for this. Poem
+    of the Phoenix. Allegorical interpretation of the story. Celtic
+    influence on English poetry. Gifts of colour, fervour, glow. Various
+    gifts of various nations enriching one another.
+
+
+In these papers we are not going through anything like a course of older
+English literature. We are looking at some of the work which our early
+writers have left, from the point of view of its being our Catholic
+Heritage, and we want to pay special attention to special works, not to
+go through a long list of names. It is hoped that the bringing forward
+of what is so good and strong in interest may be found really helpful by
+those who have little or no time to go to the originals. That it may be
+so is alike the desire of writer and publisher.
+
+To-day we are going to consider a poem of a different kind from what we
+have had before, an old poem called "The Phoenix."
+
+Literature is full of allusions to the fable of the phoenix; it is
+one of those stories which have caught hold of people and fired their
+imagination; and the reason is, we may well suppose, because it has
+suggested so many comparisons, some of them great and beautiful and
+holy. There are some stories which lend themselves easily to an
+allegorical interpretation; stories quite true, and yet suggesting
+things beyond their own actual scope. I dwell on this before passing on
+to the poem, because I want to bring before you the remembrance of what
+a tremendous factor in literature, as in thought and in the whole of
+life is the principle of comparison, or, as we might put it, the
+principle of similitude or likeness. We learn about a thing we do not
+know through its likeness, as a whole or in some parts, to a thing we do
+know. Our little children can understand most easily something of the
+love of Our Father who is in Heaven through the love of their father on
+earth: they learn of their Redeemer's Mother, their own dear Mother of
+Grace, through their earthly mother, who is ever ready to supply their
+wants and give them joy and comfort.
+
+In devotion what do we most need to pray for? Is it not for likeness to
+the holy ones and to the holiest of all creatures, Our Lady; and
+highest of all, to the Lord, Our Saviour and Example? And is it not the
+fairest of promises that one day "we shall be like to Him, for we shall
+see Him as He is"? (St John iii.)
+
+So in literature we have, springing from this principle of comparison,
+the forms fable, parable, and allegory; and in language the figures of
+speech which we know as simile and metaphor.
+
+Ovid, a Roman poet who lived before the Incarnation, tells the old
+Eastern fable thus:
+
+"There is a bird that restores and reproduces itself; the Assyrians call
+it the Phoenix. It feeds on no common food, but on the choicest of
+gums and spices; and after a life of secular length (_i.e._, a hundred
+years) it builds in a high tree with cassia, spikenard, cinnamon, and
+myrrh, and on this nest it expires in sweetest odours. A young Phoenix
+rises and grows, and when strong enough it takes up the nest with its
+deposit and bears it to the City of the Sun, and lays it down there in
+front of the sacred portals."
+
+It was a much later and a much longer version of the story that our
+English poet was debtor to. It was written in Latin by Lactantius, and
+the fable there, Professor Earle says, "is so curiously and, as it
+were, significantly elaborated, that we hardly know whether we are
+reading a Christian allegory or no."
+
+He goes on to say that Allegory has always been a favourite form with
+Christian writers, and finds more than one reason for it. There was a
+tendency towards symbolism in literature outside Christianity when the
+Christian literature arose. Another reason was that the early Christians
+used it to convey what it would probably have endangered their lives to
+set in plain words; besides this--here I must give the Professor's own
+beautiful words--"Christian thought had in its own nature something
+which invited allegory, partly by its own hidden sympathies with nature,
+and partly by its very immensity, for which all direct speech was felt
+to be inadequate." One more reason he suggests, and that is "the
+all-pervading and unspeakable sweetness of Christ's teaching by
+parables."
+
+The Romans used the representation of the phoenix on coins to signify
+the desire for fresh life and vigour, and Christian writers used the
+phoenix as an emblem of the Resurrection.
+
+Many scholars think that it was Cynewulf who wrote the Anglo-Saxon poem
+of "The Phoenix." We are, however, uncertain as to its authorship and
+as to its date. Whoever wrote it probably took some hints as to the
+allegorical interpretation of the story from both St Ambrose and St
+Bede. And this poet, too, gives us much more brightness and colour than
+we find in Caedmonic poetry. I use the word "Caedmonic" to cover the
+poetry which used to be attributed to Caedmon, and which was probably
+written under his influence. That he did write much I have shown in
+Chapter I.
+
+I cannot give the poem at full length, but in parts quote from it, and
+in part give the gist of it. It begins with a description of the Happy
+Land which is the home of the Phoenix. Far away in the East it lies,
+that noblest of lands, renowned among men. Not to many of the
+earth-owners is it given to have access to that country. God's power
+sets it far from the workers of evil. Beautiful is that plain, with joys
+endowed and with the sweetest smells of earth. Peerless is the island,
+set there by its noble Maker. Oft is the door of Heaven opened for the
+blessed ones and the joy of its music known of them. Winsome is the
+plain with its wide green woods. And there is neither rain nor snow,
+nor breath of frost nor flame of fire, nor the rush of hail, nor the
+falling of rime, nor burning heat of the sun, nor everlasting cold, but
+blessed and wholesome standeth the plain, and full is the noble country
+of the blowing of blossoms.
+
+The glorious land is higher than earth's highest towering mountain,
+lying serene in its sunny wooded fairness. Ever and always the trees are
+hung with fruits, and never comes the withering of the leaf. No foes may
+enter that land, and there is no weeping nor any sorrow, nor losing of
+life, nor sin, nor strife, nor age, nor care, nor poverty. When the
+Flood covered the earth, this Paradise was shielded from the rush of
+angry waters, happy through God's grace and inviolate; and so shall it
+remain even to the day of the coming of the Judgement of the Lord.
+
+In this fair country there abides a bird of wondrous beauty and strong
+of wing. For him there shall be no death while the world shall last.
+Ever he watches the course of the sun, eagerly looks for the radiant
+rising over ocean of the noblest of stars, the first work of the Father,
+the glowing token of God. At the coming of the sun he flies swift-winged
+toward it, singing more wondrously than any son of man hath heard since
+the making of heaven and earth. Never was human voice nor sound of any
+instrument of music like unto the song. And so twelve times by day he
+marks the hours, as twelve times by night he has marked them by his bath
+in the glorious fountain, and his drink of its cool clear water.
+
+A thousand years go on, and the burden of years is upon him, and he
+flies to a spacious lonely realm and there abides alone. He is lord over
+all the birds, and dwells with them in the wilderness. He flies
+westward, attended by a great throng, till he gains the country of the
+Syrians. Then he sends away his retinue, and stays alone in a grove,
+hidden from human eyes. Here is a lofty tree, blossoming bright above
+all other trees, and on this tree the Phoenix builds his nest, on a
+windless day, when the holy jewel of heaven shines clear. For he is fain
+by the activity of his mind to convert old age into life, and thus renew
+his youth. He gathers from far and near the sweetest and most
+delightsome plants and leaves, and the sweetest perfumes that the Father
+of all beginnings has made. On the lofty top of the tree he builds his
+house fair and winsome, and sets round his body holy spices and noble
+boughs. Then, in the great sheen of mid-day, the Phoenix sits, looking
+out on the world and enduring his fate. Suddenly his house is set on
+fire by the radiant sun, and amid the glowing spices and sweet odours,
+bird and nest burn together in the fierce heat. The life of him, the
+soul, escapes when the flame of the funeral pile sears flesh and bone.
+
+Then comes the resurrection of the Phoenix, who rises from the ashes
+of his old body, young and wondrously beautiful. Fed on the honey-dew
+that oft descends at midnight, he remains a while before his return to
+his own dwelling-place, his home of yore.
+
+When he goes he is accompanied by a great retinue of the bird-folk, who
+proclaim him their leader. Ere he reaches his own country he outstrips
+them all, and comes home alone in his splendour and his might. And the
+next thousand years go on, and again comes the change to this creature
+who has no dread of death, since he is ever assured of new life after
+the fury of the flame.
+
+And so it is that every blessed soul will choose for himself to enter
+into everlasting life through the dark portals of death. Much of a like
+kind does this bird's nature shadow forth concerning the chosen
+followers of Christ, how they may possess pure happiness here, and
+secure exalted bliss hereafter.
+
+The allegorical significance is explained by the old poet at
+considerable length. The main thought is, of course, the great
+Resurrection in which, day by day, we all profess our belief; the
+Resurrection through the fire that "shall be astir, and shall consume
+iniquities"; the Resurrection at the Day of Judgement, when the just
+shall be once more young and comely in the glory of joy and praise,
+singing in adoration of the peerless King: "Peace and wisdom and
+blessing for these Thy gifts, and for every good, be unto Thee, the true
+God, throned in majesty. Infinite, high, and holy is the power of Thy
+might. The heavens on high with the angels, are full of the glory, O
+Father Almighty, Lord of all gods, and the earth also. Defend us, Author
+of Creation. Thou art the Father Almighty in the highest, the Lord of
+Heaven."
+
+How familiarly these words ring! For our heritage of praise has come to
+us from afar and from of old.
+
+And again rises the chant triumphant, to the endless honour of the
+Eternal Son, whose coming into the world and birth and death are all
+typified by the mystical Phoenix.
+
+I have dwelt at considerable length upon this poem for various reasons.
+One is that it is of a special kind, the allegorical; another is that,
+as I have pointed out, it is full of a richness and colour and love of
+nature, which is not found in the earlier poetry. Where does it come
+from? It is most probably part of the Celtic influence which has set its
+magic touch upon English poetry and given to it that "light that never
+was on sea or land." It has done far more than give a sense of colour
+and beauty and nature-love. More than the love of nature in its beauty
+is the sense of fellowship between man and nature, the sense that makes
+man see his own joy and sorrow reflected in the mighty heart of Nature.
+This is a very big subject, and can only be touched on here. The
+beginning of this influence, which came also from Wales and France, is
+due to Ireland. We must never forget how great a debt England owes to
+Ireland. May we say that it was from the Irish missionaries whose feet
+hallowed the soil of Iona that the English north country caught that
+intense glowing love of the Holy Faith, which even still, in a measure,
+differentiates the north of England from the south?[C] We must value
+very greatly the solid foundation of strength, sincerity, what we call
+_grit_, directness of expression, simplicity, to be found in early
+English work; all these being great things, yet capable of receiving
+into their fellowship and above it and beyond it, that which should give
+what we look for in a great literature; the power of appeal to various
+kinds of people, to "all sorts and conditions of men." And to Celtic
+influence, Irish, British, French, we look for that which turns grey,
+however fair a grey, to green, and purest pallor to the glory of
+whiteness. It is beautiful, is it not, to think how various kinds of men
+and women can help to complete one another by giving and taking what
+each has to give, and each needs to take? It is the same with nations:
+each has its own gifts, its own needs; and for a great and noble
+world-literature we need the gifts of all.
+
+[Footnote C: I have not, of course, forgotten the mission of St
+Paulinus; but, as history shows, this does not affect the question here.
+Glow and fervour permeate life, and literature being its outcome could
+not but keep the mark of what had been set upon that life.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Prose-writing. St Bede the Venerable. His love of truth. His industry
+    and carefulness. Cuthbert's account of his last days. "Bede whom God
+    loved."
+
+
+We leave our poets now for a time, and go to the writers of prose in
+early days. We want first to think about a beautiful-souled religious,
+who gave us the first great historical work done in England. We know him
+as St Bede, the Venerable Bede, as he has been called from the epithet
+inscribed on his tomb in Durham Cathedral, which bears the words
+
+    Hac sunt in fossa
+    Bedae Venerabilis ossa.
+
+"In this grave are the bones of Venerable Bede." We know the old story
+how the pupil who was writing his dear master's epitaph could not find
+the right word, as it has happened to many a one for the time being; and
+how he slept and awoke to find the word supplied by the gracious angel
+hand.
+
+In his Benedictine cell at Jarrow, St Bede read and thought and wrote;
+and all that he wrote was done in noble sincerity of purpose, springing
+from the dedication of his whole soul to Him who is truth itself. He
+told as history what he believed to be true, and collected his materials
+from sources acknowledged to be trustworthy; and he is always careful to
+tell us when he gives a story on evidence only hearsay.
+
+St Bede refused to be Abbot of Jarrow, because "the office demands
+household care, and household care brings with it distraction of mind,
+which hinders the pursuit of learning."
+
+He wrote many things, and it has been said that his writings form nearly
+a complete encyclopaedia of the knowledge of his day; but the work of St
+Bede by which he is best known is the "Church History of the English
+Race." It is of greater value than we can tell, and has been used for
+many generations for knowledge and help.
+
+The history of England was in St Bede's time inseparable from the
+history of her Church, as we pray that one day it may again come to be.
+
+The book begins with a short account of Britain before the coming of St
+Augustine. St Bede used old writers for this, and he was much helped by
+two of his friends, Albinus and Northelm. Northelm used to make
+researches for him at Rome, and brought him copies of letters written by
+St Gregory the Great, and other Popes, bearing on the Church history of
+Britain. From other sources also he took the information which has come
+down through him to us, a heritage for which we cannot be too grateful.
+Our two great early histories are the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," and
+Bede's "Church History of the English Race." Without these, what could
+our historians have done?
+
+This great book of St Bede's was, like almost all his work, written in
+Latin; the grand old tongue in which our priests say their daily Office
+and minister at God's altar. It was King Alfred who gave us a free
+translation of it in English. But although it was written in Latin, it
+belongs absolutely to our Catholic Heritage in English Literature.
+
+Bede was the first historian to date from the Incarnation of Our Lord,
+the form which we have always used. The History comes down to A.D. 731,
+a short time before its author went to his rest. We can never think of
+St Bede as a mere bookman, a purely "literary man." His own character,
+truth-loving, wise, devoted, cheerful, has been felt through his work; a
+character that has made people love him and stretch out hands of
+affection to him across the heaping-up of the years. How glad are we to
+say, we, students, workers, all of us, "St Bede, pray for us."
+
+There is a lovely account of St Bede's last days handed down to us in a
+letter written by his pupil Cuthbert, to another of his pupils, Cuthwin.
+Cuthwin had written, telling Cuthbert how he was diligently saying
+Masses, and praying for their "father and master, Bede, whom God loved,"
+and Cuthbert is glad to answer his fellow-student's enquiries as to the
+departure of that "dear father and master."
+
+His death-illness began "a fortnight before the day of Our Lord's
+Resurrection," and lasted till Holy Thursday. All the time he was full
+of joy and thanksgiving. Cuthbert says he has never seen any man "so
+earnest in giving thanks to the living God."
+
+He made a little poem in English about the absolute importance of
+everybody considering, before his departure, what good or ill he has
+done, and how his soul is to be judged after death. "He also sang
+antiphons," says Cuthbert, "according to our custom and use." Cuthbert
+gives one of them, which is the lovely antiphon to the "Magnificat" at
+second Vespers on Ascension Day.
+
+His work went on during his illness. He was making a translation of part
+of St John's Gospel into English, "for the benefit of the Church," and
+was working at "Some collections out of the 'Book of Notes' of Bishop
+Isodorus, saying, 'I will not have my pupils read a falsehood, nor
+labour therein without profit after my death.'" As the time went on his
+difficulty of breathing increased, and last symptoms began to appear;
+but he dictated cheerfully, anxious to do all that he could. On the
+Wednesday he ordered them to write with all speed what he had begun; and
+then "we walked till the third hour with the relics of saints, according
+to the custom of that day."
+
+Then one of them said, "Most dear Master, there is still one chapter
+wanting: do you think it troublesome to be asked any more questions?" He
+answered, "It is no trouble. Take your pen, and make ready, and write
+fast."
+
+After this he distributed little gifts to the priests, and spoke to
+all, asking that Masses and prayers might be said for him. His desire
+was, like St Paul's, to die and be with Christ: Christ Whom he had so
+loved, and at Whose feet he had laid all his gifts and all his learning.
+
+"One sentence more," said the boy, was yet to be written. The Master bad
+him write quickly. "The sentence is now written," said the boy. And the
+dear Saint knew that the end was come, and asked them to receive his
+head into their hands. And there sitting, facing the holy place where he
+had been used to pray, he sang his last song of praise, "Glory be to the
+Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost," and "when he named the
+Holy Ghost he breathed his last and so departed to the Heavenly
+Kingdom."
+
+St Bede was buried at Jarrow, but his relics were afterwards taken to
+Durham by a priest named Elfrid, and laid by St Cuthbert's side. In the
+twelfth century a glorious shrine was built over these relics by the
+Bishop of Durham, Hugh Pudsey: a shrine that, like many another, was
+destroyed in the sixteenth century uprising of the king of the country
+against the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+King Alfred, first layman to be a great power in literature; man of
+    action; of thought; of endurance. Freedom first great possession;
+    afterwards learning and culture. Alfred a loyal Son of the Church.
+    Founder of English prose. Earliest literature of a nation in verse;
+    why. Influence of Rome on Alfred.
+
+
+"Let us praise the men of renown," says Holy Scripture (Ecclesiasticus,
+44), "and our fathers in their generations.... Such as have borne rule
+in their dominions, men of great power and endued with their wisdom ...
+ruling over the present people, and by the strength of wisdom
+instructing the people in most holy words."
+
+We have to think now of a man of renown who bore rule in his dominions;
+a man of great power, and endued with wisdom; who by strength and wisdom
+instructed his people in most holy words. We have hitherto spoken of
+work done in the dedicated life of religion: to-day we direct our
+attention to the work of a great layman; the first English layman whom
+we know to have been a great power in literature; less as a "maker,"
+poet or proseman, than as an opener out to "makers" of precious store; a
+helper and encourager; a fellow-student; a learner and a teacher of whom
+it could be said, as Chaucer says of his Clerk of Oxford, "gladly would
+he learn and gladly teach."
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF KING ALFRED, BY H. THORNEYCROFT, R.A. [_Page 48_]
+
+It would not, I think, be possible for English people to over-estimate
+the value of the gift God gave them in KING AELFRED. That is really the
+right way to spell his name, but as to most people it looks unfamiliar,
+we will adopt the more usual spelling and write of him as Alfred.
+
+We think of him in various aspects: first as the strong, brave man who
+did so much toward making noble history for time to come, by his own
+action, guided by his piety and devotion. His earliest work was to fight
+for the gaining of freedom and unity for his people, and this work went
+over many years. When there was an interval of peace, and when a more
+settled peace had been won, he worked hard to gain for them the freedom
+of the mind which can never exist where ignorance is reigning. Freedom
+is the first great possession; afterwards we seek for learning and
+culture. People who may be called away at any moment to fight for life
+or liberty cannot do much in the way of quiet study; and while the
+Danes were not yet finally repulsed or bound by treaty, the great work
+of Alfred in civilizing England had to remain in suspense.
+
+We love to think that Alfred's wars were not to greaten himself, but to
+set his country free. Then, as later on, if I may quote what I have
+elsewhere said, the English
+
+   Had fought for their God-given birthright, their country to have and to hold,
+   And not for the lust of conquest, and not for the hunger of gold.
+
+There is another aspect in which we may look at this great King; we
+think of him not only as a doer but as a sufferer; and not only as an
+endurer of disappointment, a bearer of toil, difficulty, trouble, but as
+one who bore in his body a "white martyrdom" of great pain, perhaps even
+anguish; and this for some twenty years.
+
+Alfred was always a loyal son of the Church. His father, AEthelwulf, sent
+him to Rome when he was quite a little boy, and Pope Leo IV was
+godfather to him at his Confirmation, and, on hearing the report of
+AEthelwulf's death, consecrated him as king, as he had been asked to do.
+But AEthelwulf did not die for a little time after, and took Alfred for
+a second visit to Rome. Each of Alfred's three brothers reigned a short
+time before he became King of Wessex in 871. In that same year he fought
+no fewer than nine battles against the Danes, besides making sundry
+raids upon them. It is well to be a good fighting man where need is, and
+it is well to use the qualities that go to the making up of the good
+fighting man to meet the difficulties that beset the path of duty and
+the way of progress. Courage, strength, generosity, perseverance, these
+are needed for all work alike in peace and war.
+
+Alfred was familiar in his youth with English songs, and most probably
+knew the old Norse sagas; but he had to learn Latin in his later life.
+We must remember that most of the literature which Alfred could get at
+was locked up in Latin; even the invaluable Church History of St Bede
+needed a translator's key; and it was Alfred who first applied this key
+to it.
+
+When we think of the prose written in England in early days, we are
+thinking of the work of scholars, in a grand language that had done
+growing; a language that was to be in Western Christendom the language
+of religion, the language of the altar, for how long a time who can
+know? the language that gave birth to other languages, as its
+literature so powerfully influenced both theirs and that of others not
+descended from it. Not yet was the time for a great prose literature in
+England, such as grew up many a year ago, and is going on in our own
+days.
+
+The earliest literature of a people is almost invariably in verse: the
+literature that comes from the heart of a people, and is not the
+production of a few learned folk. In early days, there was little
+reading or writing, except in the shelter of the great monasteries. The
+common folk-literature, which is a very precious thing, is preserved, in
+such times as we are thinking of, in people's memories, and circulated
+by recitation, this recitation being accompanied by music or by
+rhythmical movements of the body. We all know how much easier it is to
+remember a page of verse than a page of prose. Thus, the form that could
+most easily be carried in the memory and recited, would naturally be the
+first to flourish.
+
+We have seen something of early English religious poetry in Caedmon's
+work and that of his followers; and next we shall come back to poetry
+with Cynewulf, who made great and holy verse.
+
+But beside such work as these poems which were written by cultivated
+men, many poems and fragments of verse were floating about the land,
+come over from the old native country with the first Angles and Saxons
+who made their home in Britain. These were dear to the people and dear,
+as we shall see, to the greatest among their kings, Alfred, who was, we
+may say, the founder of English prose. It was not English prose as we
+know English prose, because the language was then more like German than
+anything else; but it was prose in the native tongue, and this was a
+good and great thing to begin.
+
+In our gratitude to Alfred, we must not forget our gratitude to the
+English scholars of older days, none of whom had put us under so great a
+debt as our dear old Benedictine of Jarrow.
+
+A later writer than St Bede, though not so great as he, was Alcuin of
+York, who was invited by no less a man than Charlemagne to teach his
+children, and who became, as it has been phrased, a sort of Minister of
+Public Education in his empire.
+
+Alcuin was good as well as great, and I will give you a little instance
+of the rightness of his thought. In a Dialogue which he wrote, in his
+teaching days, he supposes Prince Pepin to ask the question, "What is
+the liberty of man?" and the answer is, "Innocence."
+
+But the evil days of invasion and war and trouble had swept learning
+from its northern home; and Alfred's work was to bring it back to
+another part of England.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Decay of learning in England. Revival under Alfred. His translations.
+    Edits English Chronicle. His helpers. Some of his sayings.
+    Missionary spirit. "Alfred commanded to make me."
+
+
+We cannot forget the impression that must have been made upon Alfred by
+his stay in Rome, young as he was at the time, he being in the centre of
+royal state while there, and also being himself a royal child to whom
+much would be told and under whose notice much would be brought; and
+who, from his position, would be expected to mark and remember much.
+Long afterwards, he would recall the magnificence he had seen, and
+associate it with the glories of the double history of Rome; Rome pagan
+and Rome Christian: Rome, the great conqueror and law-giver, spiritual
+as well as temporal. Very often, after Alfred was king, he sent over
+embassies and gifts to Rome, loving her, and reverencing her as it was
+meet he should. The Holy Father granted him certain privileges for the
+English school at Rome, and sent him a piece of the wood of the Holy
+Cross.
+
+There is a pretty story told of Alfred's early learning to read English
+verse. Even if it is not true, it points to his love of English, as well
+as learning; a love which never left him. He wanted English to be taught
+in schools, and he loved the old poems. We owe to him the translation of
+the account of the first English poet, Caedmon, from which I have quoted
+in my first chapter. But rightly, he felt the very great importance of
+learning Latin, and so he learned it himself, and made others learn it
+too.
+
+When Alfred came to the throne, he tells us, learning had fallen away so
+utterly in England that there were very few of the clergy, on the south
+side of the Humber, who could understand the Latin of their Mass-books,
+and he thinks not many beyond the Humber. This state of things was very
+different from that of old times when the clergy were "so keen about
+both teaching and learning and all the services they owed to God": very
+different from St Bede's time, and the days when Northumbria was a
+centre of learning and culture. Alfred was to create a new centre, not
+in the North but in Wessex. Later on, the centre of learning and
+cultivation was shifted to the East Midlands, whose dialect became the
+language of England, and whose great poet, Chaucer, was the greatest
+English poet before Spenser and Shakespere.
+
+In his studies Alfred was helped by various friends, the chief of whom
+was a Welsh Bishop, named Asser. So greatly did Alfred value Asser that
+he wanted him to live altogether at Court; but Asser felt, it is to be
+supposed, that this would not be right, and arranged to spend half his
+time in Wales and half with the King. From him we learn a great deal
+about Alfred.
+
+One of the Latin books translated by Alfred--perhaps the first--was
+called the "Pastoral Care" ("Cura Pastoralis"). It was written by St
+Gregory the Great, and was intended for the clergy as a guide to their
+duties. The king had a copy sent to every bishopric. He called it the
+Herdsman's Book, or Shepherd's Book. Sending all these copies made of
+course a great deal of work for scribes or "bookers," as we may render
+the old "boceras," the copyists who had to write out all their books by
+hand.
+
+As various books had been turned into the "own tongue" of various
+nations, so would Alfred give to his people in their "own tongue" books
+of help, of knowledge, of wisdom. This is how Alfred tells us he worked.
+
+"I began to turn into English the book which in Latin is named
+'Pastoralis,' and in English 'Shepherd's Book'; sometimes word for word,
+sometimes meaning for meaning, as I had learned it from Plegmund, my
+Archbishop, and Asser my Bishop, and from Grimbold, my Mass-priest, and
+from John, my Mass-priest."
+
+At the end of the translation, Alfred put some little verses of his own.
+
+Alfred as we have seen, translated St Bede's History, omitting many
+chapters which contained things he may be supposed to have thought were
+not of general interest. He also edited the English, usually called the
+Anglo-Saxon, Chronicle, which begins with the invasion of Julius Caesar,
+and ends with the accession of Henry II. There are a good many MSS. of
+it, the earliest of which ends with the year 855. We owe this work, as
+we owe so much beside, to the care of the monks who wrote it, adding to
+it probably, year by year, sometimes giving poetry as well as prose. It
+contains several poems, among them the vigorous lay of the Battle of
+Brunanburh, fought in 937 by Athelstane against the Scots and Danes.
+You will find a rendering of it among Tennyson's poems, made by him from
+a prose translation of his son's. This editing of the A.S. Chronicle was
+very important work, work that has helped generations of history-writers
+and students. Where should we be without these Histories? How much of it
+Alfred actually did himself we do not know: we may suppose he had a good
+deal to do with the chronicling of the events of his own reign. I wonder
+whether it was he that wrote how three bold Irishmen came over from
+Ireland in a boat without any rudder, having stolen away from their
+country, "because they desired for the love of God to be in a state of
+pilgrimage, they recked not where." They had a boat made of "two hides
+and a half," and provisions for a week. They got to Cornwall on the
+seventh day, and soon after went to Alfred. We have no account of their
+visit to the King, but I think he would have welcomed them right warmly,
+and loved to hear how big souls ride in little cockleshells. We know
+their names at least: Dubslane, Macbeth, and Maclinnuim. And immediately
+after this record we are told something that must also in a different
+way have greatly interested Alfred. "And Swifneh, the best teacher
+among the Scots (Irish) died."
+
+Another book that Alfred translated was the History written by a Spanish
+priest called Orosius, a disciple of St Augustine's (of Hippo), which
+"was looked upon as a standard book of universal history." Alfred by no
+means gave a literal translation, but used great freedom, and omitted
+some things and put in others which he judged of greater interest and
+importance for Englishmen. Alfred enlarged the account of Northern
+Europe, which he knew a great deal of. He also added the accounts of the
+voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, the former of whom got round the north
+of Scandinavia and explored the White Sea. Wulfstan's voyage also was of
+importance. Both these men told Alfred their stories, and he
+incorporated them in the History. They came to see him, and Ohthere gave
+him teeth of the walrus, and no doubt Alfred listened to all they told
+him, with the keenest interest.
+
+"The account of Ohthere's voyage holds a unique position as the first
+attempt to give expression to the spirit of discovery."
+
+Alfred knew how to use helpers. All who understand the "ought to be"
+take help as well as give it. The good King encouraged others, and the
+office of encourager is no mean part of the office of helper. We cannot
+do our work in the world alone: God meant us to work with others, and
+man's best work as an individual can never be independent of the work of
+others, those who are living or those who have gone before.
+
+Another of the books translated by Alfred was the "Consolations of
+Philosophy," by a good and thoughtful Consul of Rome, who was put to
+death by Theodoric, the Arian King of the East Goths. He wrote the book
+in prison, and there was so much in it that was felt to be in accord
+with Christian teaching that some people thought Boethius must have
+belonged to the body of Holy Church.
+
+A Christian writer, finding a book seeming to possess much of the spirit
+of Christianity, would naturally study it and frequently use it; and
+Boethius's book, with more or less adaptation, grew to be a great
+favourite with Christians. Its influence can be traced in the work of
+the greatest Catholic poet, Dante, and in that of the great English
+poet, Chaucer, who rendered it into the English of his day.
+
+Alfred made the translation definitely Christian. For instance, he
+writes of "God" and "Christ" where Boethius says "love" or "the good";
+and he writes of "angels" instead of "divine substance."
+
+I will give you one or two specimens of the additions to Boethius with
+which Alfred is credited.
+
+"He that will have eternal riches, let him build the house of his mind
+on the footstone of lowliness; not on the highest hill where the raging
+wind of trouble blows, or the rain of measureless anxiety."
+
+"Power is never a good unless he be good who has it."
+
+Here is what he has to say of being well-born:
+
+"Art thou more fair for other men's fairness? A man will not be the
+better because he had a well-born father, if he himself is nought. The
+only thing which is good in noble descent is this, that it makes men
+ashamed of being worse than their elders, and strive to do better than
+they."
+
+And here is his standard of self-respect:
+
+"We under-worth ourselves when we love that which is lower than
+ourselves."[D]
+
+[Footnote D: Translation by Miss Kate Warren.]
+
+These sayings are worth copying into a little book such as Alfred kept
+to note down things he wanted to keep track of. Asser tells us this,
+and he tells us of the "Handbook" which grew to a great size, from this
+collecting habit of Alfred's. The book was unfortunately lost.
+
+By no means have we exhausted the interest of Alfred's story. It would
+be indeed difficult to do so; but we must now bid him good-bye.
+
+We love to think how, amidst all his cares and work for his kingdom, he
+had the true Catholic Missionary spirit; for he sent embassies to India,
+with alms for "the Christians of St Thomas and St Bartholomew."
+
+There is a valuable thing which we possess, known as the "Alfred Jewel":
+it has on it an inscription which we can truly say applies to far more
+than this work of art. Its application to Alfred's work is indeed a very
+wide one:
+
+    Alfred commanded to make me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Some of greatest pre-Conquest poetry associated with name of Cynewulf.
+    Guesses about him. Little known. Probably North-countryman, eighth
+    century, an educated man. Finding of the Cross. Elene, story of St
+    Helena's mission. Constantine goes to fight invaders. Vision of the
+    Cross. Victory. Journey of St Helena, and search for the Cross. The
+    Finding.
+
+
+We are going now to consider some of the greatest poetry written before
+the Conquest. It associates itself with the name of Cynewulf, a name
+with which certain poems are signed in runes. By-and-by we shall hear
+something about runes and the old writing; and something also about
+where our old treasures of literature, part of our dear Catholic
+heritage, are found in their original form.
+
+As I have said, certain poems are signed with Cynewulf's name; and there
+are others which are with more or less probability of rightness
+attributed to him on grounds of likeness of subject, likeness of style,
+similar greatness of treatment.
+
+About Cynewulf himself we know, I may say, nothing except what we
+gather from his work. Various guesses have been made, and various
+theories formed, identifying him with one or other of the men about whom
+we know something; but for the present, at all events, we must be
+content to think that he probably lived in the eighth century, and that
+he probably was a North-countryman. All his writings have come to us in
+the dialect of Wessex, except some parts of a poem known as the "Dream
+of the Holy Rood." These are carved on an old cross, which I will speak
+of by-and-by, and they are in the Northumbrian dialect; but the
+manuscript of the entire poem is in West Saxon.
+
+Scholars are working upon old materials and discoveries are being made
+and theories formed which are at variance with what used to be set down
+as certainty. The main thing is that we have these poems, and that we
+want to know about them and learn to prize them. If we want to know them
+thoroughly and prize them as they deserve, we must take the trouble to
+learn the language they are written in. But many of us have not time for
+this, and so must be content, for the present, at least, with making
+their acquaintance through translations.
+
+Perhaps Cynewulf was a poet who lived as one of the household of some
+great lord, and wrote more at his ease than if he had been merely an
+itinerant singer, a "gleeman," who sang his songs as he went about. He
+appears, at any rate, to have been an educated man, and I think no one
+can read his poetry without feeling that he was a man of deep and
+fervent piety.
+
+There are four poems signed by Cynewulf, and these are named "Christ,"
+"Juliana," "The Fates of the Apostles," and "Elene." Certain "Riddles"
+have also been attributed to him.
+
+The poems I am going to bring before you now are the "Elene" and a poem
+on the Holy Cross, which has been attributed to Cynewulf, and which I
+for one--and I am not by any means alone in this--love to believe that
+he must have written. The "Phoenix," about which we thought in a
+former chapter, has by some been supposed to be his. Then there is the
+"Judith," of which we possess enough to make us recognise it as indeed
+one of our great possessions; but to-day the two poems I have named will
+give us enough to think of. To adapt a lovely Scriptural phrase (Judith
+vii, 7), there are springs whereof we refresh ourselves a little rather
+than drink our fill. Let us drink, if not our fill, at least a draught
+long and deep.
+
+We have a church festival, instituted many hundred years ago, the
+Festival of the Finding of the Cross. Let us hear something of what our
+old poet sings concerning this in the poem named after the heroine of
+the finding, St Helena; the poem known as "Elene."
+
+Cynewulf is one of the poets of the Cross. His poetry is literally
+stamped with the mark of the Holy Rood. Read over the grand Church
+hymns, the "Vexilla Regis," the "Pange lingua gloriosi lauream
+certaminis," or recall them in your memory--their Passiontide echoes
+sound under the triumphant pealing of the bells of Easter--and then be
+glad that one of your own poets has also sent down the ages the song of
+his love and his reverence.
+
+Cynewulf knew well the story of Constantine's vision of the Cross of
+Victory whereby he was to conquer. He would also have had in mind the
+story, not so far remote from his own day, of the English King, St
+Oswald, who reared a cross to God's honour before he fought with
+Cadwalla, the pagan Welsh king. He would remember how the Saint had
+called upon his comrades at Heavenfield to fall down with him before the
+Cross and pray Almighty God for salvation from the mighty foe. He would
+recall the great victory and the cross-shaped church built to
+commemorate it. He knew well the honour of the Cross. He had often knelt
+to adore what it symbolised, when he saw it raised on high, lifted up on
+the Church's Festival. And he loved the Cross with a great and fervid
+love.
+
+The poem of his making tells us how the great army of the Huns and
+Goths[E] came against Constantine; how the warriors marched on, having
+raised the standard of war with shoutings and the clashing of shields.
+Bright shone their darts and their coats of linked mail. The wolf in the
+wood howled out the song of war; he kept not the secret of the
+slaughter. The dewy-feathered eagle raised a song on the track of the
+foe.
+
+[Footnote E: This, of course, is unhistorical.]
+
+The King of the Romans was sorrow-smitten when he saw the countless host
+of the foreign men upon the river-bank. In his sleep that night came the
+vision of one in the likeness of a man, white and bright of hue. The
+messenger named him by his name. The helmet of night glided apart. The
+behest was given to look up to Heaven to find help, a token of victory.
+The Emperor's heart was opened and he looked up as the angel, the
+lovely weaver of peace, had bidden him. Above the roof of clouds he saw
+the Tree of Glory with its words of promise. The great battle came, when
+the Holy Sign was borne forth. Loud sang the trumpets. The raven was
+glad thereof, and the dewy-feathered eagle looked on at the march, and
+the wolf lifted up his howling. The terror of war was there, the clash
+of shields and the mingling of men, and the heavy sword-swing and the
+felling of warriors.
+
+When the standard was raised, the Holy Tree, the foe was scattered far
+and wide. From break of day till eventide the flying foe was pursued;
+his number was indeed made small. It was but a few of the best of the
+Huns that went home again.
+
+How the old fighting spirit delights in the "pomp and circumstance of
+glorious war"! How it loves to have the clash of spear and shield strike
+upon the ear, and to hear how the voice of the eagle and the raven, and
+the howl of the wolf, proclaim the place of slaughter, the reek of
+battle!
+
+Cynewulf calls the angel who stood by Constantine in his vision a
+"weaver of peace"; but the peace was to be woven after conflict, and the
+wearer of the victor's palm had first to wield the fighter's sword.
+
+When Constantine had learned about the Cross from the few Christians he
+could find, he believed and was baptized, says the poet. (In reality his
+baptism took place just before his death, several years later.)
+
+The thought of the Tree was ever with Constantine, and when he had
+returned he sent his mother with a multitude of warriors to Jerusalem,
+on the quest of the Holy Rood that was hidden underground. Helena was
+soon ready for her willing journey, and set forth with her escort.
+
+                           The steeds of the sea
+    Round the shore of the ocean ready were standing,
+    Cabled sea-horses, at rest on the water.
+    Then they let o'er the billows the foamy ones go,
+    The high wave-rushers. The hull oft received
+    O'er the mingling of waters the blows of the waves.
+    The sea resounded.
+
+What delight there is to the poet in the sea and its ships!
+
+When they come to Jerusalem, after much enquiry of the wisest men, and
+great difficulty, the Queen is conducted to the Mount of Crucifixion, by
+one Judas who knows the story of Redemption, and who the Queen insists
+shall point out the resting place of the Holy Rood. It is found by the
+winsome smoke that rises at the prayer of Judas, who forthwith makes
+full confession of his belief in Him who hung upon that Cross. The
+three crosses are together, buried far down in the earth, and Judas digs
+deep and brings them up, and they are laid before the knees of the
+Queen. Glad of heart she asks on which of them the Son of the Ruling One
+had suffered. The Lord's Cross is revealed by its power to raise a dead
+man who is brought to the place.
+
+Satan assaults Judas, angry and bitter, for again his power has been
+brought low. One Judas has made him joyful: the second Judas has humbled
+him. He is boldly answered when he pours out threats and foretells that
+another king than Constantine will arise to persecute. (Probably the
+allusion is to Julian the Apostate.) But Judas answers boldly, and
+Helena rejoices at the wisdom with which in so short a time he has been
+gifted.
+
+Far and near the glorious news is spread, and word is sent the Emperor
+how the Victorious Token has been found. Then comes the building of a
+church by his mother, at his desire; and the adorning of the Rood with
+gold and jewels fair and splendid, and its enclosure in a silver chest.
+Judas is baptized, and becomes Bishop of Jerusalem under the new name of
+Cyriacus.
+
+The holy nails of the Passion have yet to be found, and again the earth
+yields up her treasure. A man great in wisdom tells Elene to bid the
+noblest of the kings of the earth to put them on his bridle, make
+thereof his horse's bit. This shall bring him good speed in war, and
+blessing and honour and greatness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Poet's love of the Cross: how he saw it in a double aspect. The
+    dream of the Holy Rood. The Ruthwell Cross.
+
+
+Now let us read what our poet says about the Festival of the Finding of
+the Cross.[F]
+
+[Footnote F: The phrase "Invention of the Cross" means the finding of
+it; the word invention in English does not now translate the Latin
+"inventio."]
+
+                          To each of these men
+    Be hell's door shut, heaven's unclosed,
+    Eternally opened the kingdom of angels,
+    Joy without end, and their portion appointed
+    Along with Mary, who takes into mind
+    The one most dear of festal days
+    Of that rood under heaven.
+
+The poet wrote about the Holy Cross, not just because it was a
+picturesque subject, capable of picturesque treatment, one that would
+make a fine poem; but because, as he tells us, Holy Wisdom had revealed
+to him "wider knowledge through her glorious power over the thoughts of
+the mind." He tells us how the fetters of sin had bound him in their
+bitter bondage, and how, stained and sorrowful, light came to him, and
+the Mighty King bestowed on him His bountiful grace, and gave him light
+and liberty, opening his heart and setting free for him the gift of
+song, that gift which, he says, he has used in the world joyfully and
+with a good will.
+
+Not once alone, he says, did he meditate upon the Tree of Glory, but
+over and over again. He thought upon it until all his soul was saturated
+with it, and hallowed and consecrated for ever.
+
+He may have venerated the Cross in public on the anniversary of the
+Lord's Crucifixion. Certainly, many a time he had venerated it in
+private. Perhaps, like Alcuin, his habit was to bow toward the Cross
+whenever he saw it, and whisper the prayer "Tuam crucem adoramus,
+Domine, et Tuam gloriosam recolimus passionem."[G]
+
+[Footnote G: The Veneration of the Cross, or Creeping to the Cross, was
+known in Anglo-Saxon times, but whether as early as Cynewulf's day,
+seems uncertain.]
+
+He was old, he tells us, when he "wove word-craft, made his poem,
+framing it wondrously, pondering and sifting his thoughts in the
+night-time."
+
+The Cross had brought him light and healing, and at the foot of the
+Cross he laid his gift of song.
+
+It is a moot point whether the "Elene" or the "Dream of the Holy Rood"
+came first. The poetry of the "Dream" is as fine as the conception is
+grand, and, at whatever time it was written, it must be classed as being
+at the high-water mark of the poet's work.
+
+Wonderful things have been given to us "under the similitude of a
+dream"; things beautiful and terrible, things wise and strange. There
+have been Dreamers of Dreams into whose souls have sunk the sight and
+the hearing of deep things, high things and precious, of comfort and of
+warning, of sweetest help and of gravest and most earnest exhortation.
+
+The speech of these Dreamers has sounded in our ears, and has left the
+vibrations to go on and on for our lifetime: this we call remembering.
+
+In English literature we have some great tellings "under the similitude
+of a dream." We have the nineteenth-century "Dream of Gerontius," our
+great Cardinal's drama of the soul in its parting and after. We have the
+seventeenth-century dream from the darkness of Bedford Gaol, whence John
+Bunyan saw the pilgrims on their way, through dangers and trials, on to
+the river that must be crossed before they could come to the Celestial
+City. We have the fourteenth-century dream of the gaunt, sad-souled
+William Langley, the dreamer of the Malvern Hills. And, earlier by many
+a century, we have the dream of the dreamer at the depth of midnight,
+the midnight whose heart was bright with the splendour of the glorious
+vesting and gem-adorning of the Cross of Jesus Christ, and dark with the
+moisture of the Sacred Blood that oozed therefrom.
+
+We have first the simple, quiet prelude.
+
+    Lo, I will tell of the best of dreams, I dreamed at the deep midnight,
+    When all men lay at rest.
+
+Then comes the description of the Cross in its glory. It is uplift and
+girt with light, flooded with gold and set with precious gems. This is
+followed by the seeing through the glory, the seeing of the anguish. The
+hues are shifted from dark to bright; the light of gold lights it, and
+yet anon it is wet, defiled with Blood. Here are the two sides of the
+Passion: the veiled glory, and the illumined anguish: the supreme might,
+and the absolute weakness: the darkness of the grave, and the light of
+the Resurrection.
+
+While time shall be, the Cross is to us all the Book where we may read
+all we choose to read, all God sends us grace to read. Cynewulf chose to
+read, and with Cynewulf was the grace of God.
+
+The poet lies beholding the wondrous sight: the sight that all God's
+fair angels beheld, and all the universe, and men of mortal breath.
+
+The Rood speaks to Cynewulf. To us, with every look upon the Cross,
+should come, would come, were we alive all through with keen, sweet,
+spiritual life, the voice telling of the Passion, of the victory, of the
+glory. Cynewulf heard the Rood tell how long ago it was hewn down,
+ordained to lift up the evil-doers, to bear the law-breakers.
+
+    They bore me on their shoulders then, on hill they set me high,
+    And made me fast, a many foes. Then mankind's Lord drew nigh,
+    With Mighty courage hasting Him to mount on me and die.
+    Though all earth shook, I durst not bend or break without His word;
+    Firm I must stand, nor fall and crush the gazing foes abhorred.
+    Then the young Hero dighted Him: Almighty God was He:
+    Steadfast and very stout of heart mounted the shameful tree,
+    Brave in the sight of many there, when man He fain would free.
+    I trembled when He clasped me round, yet groundward durst not bend,
+    I must not fall to lap of earth, but stand fast to the end.
+
+We notice the obedience of the Cross. In its absolute sympathy with its
+Creator's agony, its indignation at the horrible crime of His enemies,
+it would fain have fallen and crushed the gazing foes abhorred. But this
+was not to be, any more than fire was to come down from heaven at the
+Boanerges' call when they were fain to avenge the insult put upon their
+Master, whom the people of the Samaritan city would not receive (Luke
+ix, 52, etc.).
+
+The Great King is lifted up, and the Rood dare not even stoop: the dark
+nails pierce the Cross, and it stands, companion of its Maker's agony
+and shame.
+
+    Oh, many were the grievous things upon that hill I bare:
+    I saw the God of Hosts Himself stretched in His anguish there:
+    The darkness veiled its Maker's corpse with clouds; the shades did weigh
+    The bright light down with evil weight, wan under sky that day.
+    Then did the whole creation weep and the King's death bemoan;
+    Christ was upon the Rood.
+
+How great is the poet's insight! How deeply must he have entered into
+the fellowship of that supreme suffering! He knows that throughout
+creation that cup is being drunk from, as even yet it is in the groaning
+and travailing of every creature, waiting for the adoption of the sons
+of God, to wit, the redemption of the body (Romans viii, 22, 3).
+
+The Descent from the Cross and the Burial come next. Tenderly, after the
+telling of the anguish, comes the telling of the rest.
+
+    They lifted down Almighty God, after that torment dread,
+    They left me standing, drenched with blood, with arrows sore wounded;
+    They laid Him down, limb-weary One, and stood about His head;
+    Gazed on Heaven's Lord, who, weary now, after that mighty fight,
+    Rested Him there a little while. Then in the murderer's sight,
+    The brave ones made a tomb for Him, of white stone carved it fair,
+    And laid the Lord of Victory within the sepulchre.
+
+The bitter weeping goes up. The fair Body waxes chill. Then, in a very
+few words the story told in "Elene" is condensed.
+
+    Then did they fell us to the ground....
+    In the deep pit they sank us down; yet the Lord's servants, they,
+    His friends did hear of me and seek, and find me on a day,
+    And decked with silver and with gold, in beautiful array.
+
+The glory comes after the shame, and we hear of the healing power of the
+Cross, and the honour given to it. Even as Almighty God honoured His
+Mother above all womankind, the poet says, so this tree is set high
+above all trees of the forest.
+
+The command is laid upon the poet to make known his vision. There is a
+compulsion whereby a poet as it were has to send abroad the fair thought
+and knowledge wherewith he has been graced. To this poet is the task
+assigned to tell of the Crucifixion, of the Resurrection, and the
+Ascension, and of the Second Coming to judge the world.
+
+    Where is the man, the Lord will ask before that multitude,
+    Would for His name taste bitter death, as He upon the Rood?
+
+By the love of His name, by the love that means martyrdom in will if not
+in deed also, shall men be judged.
+
+The comfort of his life has come to the poet. The greatest of all great
+things is his.
+
+    The Rood my trust shall be.
+
+I cannot close this chapter without saying something about the great
+stone rood known as the Ruthwell Cross, because it bears upon it part of
+this poem engraved in runes. The cross is at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire.
+It is very old, probably dating from the tenth or eleventh century.
+There are carvings upon it of various events in the life of Our Lord, on
+the north and south sides. On the top-stone, north, is a
+representation of St John with the eagle, and on the top-stone,
+south, is St John with the Agnus Dei. On the east and west is carved a
+vine in fruit, with animals feeding, and at each side of the
+vine-tracery the runes are carved, which give the words taken from the
+poem, in the Northumbrian dialect.
+
+[Illustration: RUTHWELL CROSS [_Page 80_]
+
+This cross used to stand in the church at Ruthwell; it escaped injury at
+the time of general destruction in the sixteenth century, but the
+General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ordered the "many idolatrous
+monuments erected and made for religious worship" to be "taken down,
+demolished, and destroyed." It was not till two years later, however,
+that the cross was taken down when an Act was passed "anent the
+Idolatrous Monuments in Ruthwell." It was shattered, and some of the
+carved emblems were nearly obliterated, and in this state the rood was
+left where it had fallen, in the altarless church, and was used, it
+appears, as a bench to sit upon. Later on it was removed from the church
+and left out in the churchyard. But after many years, a good old
+minister (God rest his soul!) collected all the pieces he could find,
+and put them together, adding two new crossbeams (the original ones
+were lost), and having gaps filled in with little pieces of stone.
+
+By-and-by there was a waking up to the importance of preserving ancient
+monuments (idolatrous! or not), and so the dear, beautiful old rood that
+had been so near to destruction, and been indeed so greatly injured, was
+brought into the church again, and set up near its old place. But, alas!
+for its old surroundings!
+
+It is a sad story, is it not?
+
+Shall we not pray that, one day, our old crosses may be, to all, more
+than "ancient monuments"?
+
+"This stone which I have set up ... shall be called the house of God"
+(Gen. xxviii, 22).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+"Judith," a great poem founded on Scripture story. Authorship uncertain.
+    Part of it lost. Quotations from it. Description of Holofernes'
+    banquet as of a Saxon feast. Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage
+    resistance to Danes and Northmen.
+
+
+To-day we shall think about some more of the great poetry that was made
+before the Norman Conquest, and we shall first take one of the finest
+and most characteristic poems which remain to us, a poem founded on
+Bible story; the great poem, of which we have unfortunately only a part,
+the "Judith."
+
+It is not certain who wrote this poem: it may have been Cynewulf; but we
+do not know.
+
+The story of Judith is a well-known one; the story of the Hebrew lady
+who is described in the foreword to the Book of Judith as "that
+illustrous woman, by whose virtue and fortitude, and armed with prayer,
+the children of Israel were preserved from the destruction threatened
+them by Holofernes and his great army."
+
+The earlier part of the poem is lost, so we can only guess how the poet
+told of the ravage wrought by the general of King Nabuchodonoser in the
+countries close to Palestine, and how submission was as vain as
+resistance to a power which, for the time being, was allowed to be so
+terribly great.
+
+The poem, as we have it, begins where Judith has come, in the splendour
+of her beauty, and the might of her purity, and the power of her faith,
+to destroy the destroyer and set her people free.
+
+    The Prince of Glory gave her the shield of His hand in the place
+    Where she stood in her uttermost need of the highest Doomer's grace
+    To save her in peril extreme; and the Ruler of all things made,
+    The glorious Father in Heaven, He granted the prayer she prayed,
+    And, because of the might of her faith, He gave His help and His aid.
+    I have heard how his word went forth, how Holofernes bad
+    His men to the drinking of wine, and the splendid feast he had.
+    The prince he called his thanes and the shielded warriors best,
+    And the folk-leaders came to the mighty, all fain for the doing his best.
+    And now, since the coming of Judith, three days and three nights had been,
+    The woman wise in her heart, and fair as the elf-folk sheen.
+
+We have the description of the banquet, with the deep bowls and
+well-filled cups and pitchers borne to the sitters along the floor--just
+the description of the old Saxon banquet which the poet knew of. We have
+the drunken glee of Holofernes, his right noisy laughter and the stormy
+mirth that could be heard from afar; and his call to the henchmen to
+quit them as warriors ought, till at last they lie in their drunken
+sleep, powerless, and as though stricken of death.
+
+Then comes the night, and the sending for Judith, the wise-hearted one,
+to Holofernes' tent. Holofernes lies in his drunken sleep, and the
+Lord's handmaid draws from the sheath the keen-edged glittering sword,
+and prays,
+
+    O God of all created, I pray my prayer to Thee!
+    O Spirit of Comfort! O Son Almighty! I bow my knee,
+    For Thy mercy to me who need Thee, most glorious Trinity!
+    Now is my heart waxed hot, exceeding hot in me,
+    And my soul afflicted sore, and sorrowful grievously.
+    Give victory, Prince of Heaven, to me, and steadfast faith,
+    That so with this sword I slay this dealer of wrong and death.
+    O, grant me Thy salvation, most mighty Folk-prince, Thou,
+    For ne'er have I needed Thy mercy with greater need than now.
+    Avenge, O mighty Lord, the thing whereof I wot,
+    Which is anger in my soul, and in my breast burns hot.
+    Then the Judge most high He gave her the courage she prayed Him for,
+    As yet to each He giveth, who seeketh Him, as of yore,
+    With faith and understanding, his help for evermore.
+
+And then,
+
+    Enlarged was the woman's soul, the holy one's hope sprang new.
+
+And she smites the evil general with the strength she had prayed for,
+and goes forth victorious with her handmaiden, to bear the tidings to
+her people of the deliverance wrought for them, ascribing the glory to
+God and His might. Judith leaves the camp of the Assyrians, with her
+waiting-woman, who carries the head of Holofernes in a bag. Men and
+women in great multitudes flock to the fortress-gate, pressing and
+running to meet God's handmaid, glad of heart to know of her
+home-coming. They let her in reverently, and the trophy she has brought
+is shown them. Judith beseeches them to go forth to the fight, as soon
+as the Maker of the beginning of all things, the King of high honour,
+hath sent the bright light from the East; to go forth bearing shield and
+buckler and the bright helmet, to meet the thronging foemen, and fell
+the folk-leaders, the doomed spear-bearers. Their foes are doomed to
+death, and they shall have glory and honour in battle. Then follows a
+great battle, with full victory to Israel.
+
+The poet has varied from the Biblical story, in representing the
+officers of Holofernes' army as drunk; and also in telling of a battle
+after the return of Judith to Bethulia. It also may seem strange that
+Judith should address the Holy Trinity and each separate Person thereof.
+The old Christian poet carried his belief along with him, and the
+handmaid of God, the brave Judith, was to him a follower of Our Lord.
+The brave Judith, yes! St Dominic's Third Order was at first, as we
+know, called "The militia of Jesus Christ." How Judith would have loved
+the name! And we may think, may we not? how, looking from her place
+among the glorified, she smiled on the great warrior Maiden Saint who
+went in the might of the Lord, to deliver her country from the rule of
+the stranger.
+
+The story of Judith would especially appeal to people living at a time
+when incursions of foreigners were well known, and later on, still
+unforgotten. Abbot AElfric, about whose work I have to tell you something
+presently, in writing a short account of the Old Testament with its
+various books, says that the Book of Judith "is put into English in our
+manner as an example to you men, that you should defend your country
+with weapons against an invading army"--the word which he uses, "here,"
+always meaning in old English the army of the Danes. AElfric also wrote
+"a homily on Judith to teach the English the virtues of resistance to
+the Danes."
+
+It is interesting likewise to think that the poet of "Judith" may have
+had in his mind some great Englishwoman concerning whom he wished in a
+veiled way to convey well-deserved praise. Perhaps he was inspired to
+tell of Judith, by the deeds of King Alfred's daughter, AEthelflaed,
+known as the Lady of the Mercians, and sought to do honour to her as
+well as to the great Hebrew lady.
+
+AEthelflaed fortified Chester and other towns, and, along with King
+Edward, built fortresses, "chiefly along the line of frontier exposed to
+the Danes, as at Bridgenorth, Tamworth, Warwick, Hertford, Witham in
+Essex, and other places." Of course it is uncertain whether our poet was
+thinking of AEthelflaed. We should be able to say whether it were
+impossible if we knew the date of "Judith," as, if the poem were
+composed before AEthelflaed's time, she could not have entered into the
+poet's mind.
+
+The Church has paid a splendid tribute to Judith by applying to her who
+is pre-eminently the strong or valiant woman (mulier fortis) full of
+the strength that always wore the exquisite veil of humility, the words
+spoken to this valiant woman of the Hebrews by her countrymen, as they
+adored the Lord, who had given her the victory. See the lesson read on
+the Feast of Our Lady's Seven Sorrows.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal
+    to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight.
+
+
+We have in the "Battle of Maldon" a great patriotic poem, written about
+the "ealdorman"[H] of the East Angles, Byrthnoth, or Brihtnoth, who
+stood so valiantly against the Danes. It was he who was so good to the
+monks, helping to defend them against the "ealdorman" of the Mercians,
+and others who were turning them out: he also helped to found the Abbey
+of Ely. He was buried there, we are glad to know. Anlaf, known as Olaf
+Tryggvesson, afterwards King of Norway, came with two other Northmen,
+and harried Ipswich and other places, and then sailed up the Pant or
+Blackwater to Maldon, where the river divides into two parts. The
+beginning and end of the poem have been lost, and, as we have it now, it
+opens with the command of Byrhtnoth that every man should let his horse
+go, and march afoot to meet the enemy and strive with him hand to hand.
+
+[Footnote H: "Alderman" is the modern form, but it does not mean the
+same thing.]
+
+    Then Byrthnoth 'gan array his men; he rode and gave the rede,
+    He shewed the fighters how to stand and keep the place at need,
+    Fast with their hands to hold the shields, nor be afraid indeed.
+
+He took his place among his own bodymen, his immediate followers. On the
+other side of the stream the herald of the vikings (or pirates) stood,
+and with a loud voice gave the scornful message of the sea-folk to the
+English leader. If Byrhtnoth would be in safety he must quickly send
+treasure to the foe.
+
+    "And better 'tis for you buy off this onset of the spear
+    With tribute than that we should deal so sore a combat here;
+    We need not spill each other's lives if ye make fast aright
+    A peace with us; if thou agree, thou, here the most of might,
+    Thy folk to ransom, and to give the seamen what shall be
+    Right in our eyes, and take our peace, make peace with told money.
+    We'll haste to ship, we'll keep that peace, and go upon the sea."
+
+This was Brythnoth's answer:
+
+    Dost hear, thou dweller on the sea, what this my people saith!
+    Their tribute is the spear, the sword, the arrow tipt with death;
+    War-harness that for you in fight full little profiteth.
+
+Not he. He stood for his own soil, his prince's earth, the people and
+the land. We may compare with this St AElfeah's (Alphege) splendid stand
+even to death against unjust payment of tribute.
+
+Byrthtnoth ordered his men to march on till they all stood on the bank
+of the river. The flood flowed in after the ebb, and the hostile armies
+could not reach each other, and it seemed too long to wait for the water
+to let them meet. Wulfstan, by race a warrior bold, held the bridge for
+his chief, and AElfhere and Maccus with him, the undaunted mighty twain.
+The Danes begged to be allowed to overpass the ford, and Byrhtnoth in
+his scorn allowed this.
+
+    Too much the earl in his disdain to that ill folk gave heed.
+    The wolves of slaughter strode along, nor for the water cared;
+    The host of vikings westward there across the Pante fared.
+
+Byrhtnoth was awaiting them, and the fight began.
+
+    Then rose a cry as round and round the ravens wheeled in air,
+    The erne all greedy for his prey. A mighty din was there.
+    Oh, bitter was the battle-rush, the rush of war that day,
+    Then fell the men; on either hand the gallant young men lay.
+
+The battle-rage grew stronger and keener; the din of war grew louder
+and louder. Byrhtnoth fought hand to hand with a strong viking, and with
+yet another, dealing death to both.
+
+    The blither was the earl for that, out laughed the warrior grim,
+    Thanked God because of that day's work which God had given to him.
+
+But the brave man's time was come, and a dart pierced him, and he fell;
+and as he lay on the ground a young lad, a boy who stood beside him,
+drew the spear from his lord's body and cast it back to pierce the foe
+who had sorely hit his lord. An armed man came to the death-stricken
+leader of the English to rob him of his jewels and his warrior's gear
+and fretted sword of fame. The dying man struck him on the corslet, but
+
+    Too soon a seaman hindered him; that good arm's strength he marred.
+
+The leader drops his gold hilted sword, no longer able to wield the
+weapon, powerless to hold the keen-edged falchion. No more deeds of
+valour for him; only to urge on his men, and to commend his soul to God.
+
+    Yet spake the word that warrior hoar, the young men's hearts he cheered,
+    Bad the good comrades forward go, nor ever be afeard.
+    No longer could he firmly stand on's feet; to heaven looked he--
+    "Thanks, Lord of hosts, for these world-joys Thou here didst give to me.
+    Now, merciful Creator, now, I stand in deepest need
+    That Thou shouldst grant my spirit good, that thus my soul indeed
+    Fare forth to Thee, travel with peace, O King of Angels, so:
+    I pray Thee that the hell-spoilers nor work her hurt nor woe."
+    The heathen varlets smote him down, and those that stood him by,
+    AElfnoth and Wulfmaer, by the side of him in death did lie.
+
+Then, alas! came the shameful flight of some whom he had loved and
+trusted, and graced with noble gifts. One Godric, to whom he had given
+many a goodly steed, leapt upon the horse in his trappings which his
+lord had owned, and his two brothers fled with him.
+
+    And with them more than had behoved if these had thought upon
+    The gifts and goods so free bestowed by him, their mighty one.
+
+But there were but few cowards and mean. Of his own hearth-comrades
+there went forth men, hasting eagerly,
+
+    One of two things their heart's desire, to avenge their lord or die.
+
+Young AElfwine heartened them with noble words, and gave them the
+example of noble deeds. And Offa, and Leofsunu, and Dunnere, the old
+man, fought stubbornly. And a hostage from among the Northumbrian folk,
+a man come of gallant kin, helped them; and Edward the Long, and many
+another.
+
+    Then Bryhtwold spake, that comrade old, he raised the shield on high
+    He shook the ashwood spear, he taught the men unfearingly:
+    "The braver must our spirit be, our hearts the stronger far,
+    The greater must our courage wax, the fewer that we are.
+    Here lies our prince all pierced and hewn, the good one in the clay;
+    Aye may he mourn who thinketh now to leave this battle-play.
+    I am old in life; I will not hence; I think to lay me here,
+    The rather by my chieftain's side, a man so lief and dear."
+
+And the men grew bold in heart at his words and fought on. Godric full
+often sent the spear flying among the vikings, and fought till he too
+was laid low in the battle.
+
+    'Twas not that Godric who had turned his back upon the fight,
+
+says the poet--and the end is lost! It will help us in appreciating this
+poem to remember that the battle of Maldon took place in the reign of
+that poor weak king AEthelred, known as the "Unready," or the Man of no
+Counsel. As Freeman the historian says, "No doubt he had to struggle
+with very hard times, but the times now were no harder than the times
+which AElfred had to struggle against, and we know how much he could
+do."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The literature of one people owes a debt to that of others.
+    Help-bringers. Great work of Benedictine monks. Our debt to Ireland.
+    The English Chronicle's account of the Martyrdom of St AElfeah.
+
+
+The literature of a country is not merely what the men and women born in
+it have written. The thought of one people is fed, or enlarged, or in
+some way strengthened by the thought of other peoples; and the
+literature of the times we are speaking of could not have been what it
+was, had it not had other sources than these purely English to draw
+from. And, of all kinds of help-bringers, we owe much to the monks, and
+chiefly the great Benedictine order. King Alfred had to do his work at a
+time when things were at a low ebb in the English monasteries. You will
+remember how he bewailed the poor state of learning in England, and the
+ignorance of the clergy; a state very different indeed from that of the
+old days of St Bede and Alcuin. After Alfred's time there came a
+revival--and revival in life means revival in work. So we get much good
+prose literature, and, through the monks, note well, we have it, fed
+from whatever old lore was then to be got at.
+
+I have reminded you of England's great debt to Ireland through St Aidan
+and others. I must tell you of a record of St Bede's, which shows how
+gladly Ireland in old days, as ever, shared the priceless gift which she
+of all countries, received with the most passionate entireness and held
+with the most unswerving steadfastness. It was in the year 664 that
+there was a great pestilence, raging both in England and Ireland. At the
+time there were many Englishmen in Ireland who had gone there, "either
+for the sake of divine studies, or of a more continent life"; some of
+them, he says, became monks, and others devoted themselves to study,
+"going about from one master's cell to another." "The Scots (that is the
+Irish) willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with
+food, as also to furnish them with books to read, and their teaching,
+gratis."
+
+Where should we be but for the work done in the monasteries? How can we
+be grateful enough for what went on there in the way of thought,
+research and the collecting of materials, in addition to the work of
+teaching: all fed by the life of prayer and praise and self-denial? Let
+us try to think about the quiet, patient work of scholars and students;
+about their noting of so many facts and detailing of them. Let us think
+of the beginnings of English history and literature; of the writing of
+precious manuscripts; the careful copying of them; each of them taking
+so much time to complete and being so costly in production, especially
+when there was added to care and skill the artistic beauty of decoration
+and illumination.
+
+From these quiet abodes of the piety that transfused itself through
+loving toil and discipline, light streamed forth to go on shining and
+shining, on through the long centuries to come.
+
+We must now have a look into the pages of the great English Chronicle
+which we should not possess had it not been for these good monks, and we
+will take the account of the martyrdom of Archbishop AElfeah, whom you
+know best under the Latinized form of his name, Alphege. His heavenly
+birthday was the 19th of April. The king who is spoken of was AEthelred
+who was called the Unready, which word means without counsel, and then
+of ill-counsel. You know how we talk of "ill-advised" conduct or speech.
+There is a fourteenth century poem which speaks of Richard the Second as
+"redeless." And, because there is no such thing as being neutral;
+because, if we are not good, we are bad, the word got the meaning of
+foolish or worse. Freeman, the great historian says that AEthelred "was
+perhaps the only thoroughly bad king among all the Kings of the English
+of the West Saxon line; he seems to have been weak, cowardly, cruel, and
+bad altogether."
+
+As long as St Dunstan lived, AEthelred was not so bad as he afterwards
+became. We must remember what a bad mother AEthelred had in AElfthryth, or
+Elfrida, who was an evil wife to her first husband, and most probably
+caused the murder of the king her step-son, the son of King Edgar, who
+was her second husband. This was the Edward known as St Edward the
+Martyr.
+
+The story of AElfeah comes under the year A.D. 1011. "In this year sent
+the king and his witan to the (Danish) army, and desired peace, and
+promised them tribute and food on condition that they ceased from their
+harrying. They had then overrun East Anglia, and Essex, and Middlesex,
+and Oxfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire; and south of
+Thames, all Kent and Sussex, and Hastings, and Surrey, and Berkshire,
+and Hampshire, and much of Wiltshire. All these misfortunes befell us
+through ill counsel, that they were not in time (either) offered tribute
+or fought against, but when they had done the greatest ill, then peace
+and truce were made with them. And nevertheless for all the truce and
+tribute, they went flockmeal everywhere and harried and robbed and slew
+our poor folk. And then, in this year, between the nativity of St Mary
+and St Michael's Mass, they sat round Canterbury and came into it
+through treachery, because AElfmaer betrayed it, whose life the
+Archbishop AElfeah had before saved. And there they took the Archbishop
+AElfeah, and AElfweard, the king's reeve, and Abbot AElfmaer, and Bishop
+Godwin. And Abbot AElfmaer they let go away. And they took there within
+all the clergy, and men and women: it was untellable to any man how much
+of the folk there was. And they were afterwards in the town as long as
+they would. And when they had thoroughly surveyed the city then went
+they to their ships and led the Archbishop with them. Then was he a
+captive who erewhile had been the head of the English race and of
+Christendom.[I] There might then be seen misery there where oft erewhile
+men had seen bliss, in that wretched city whence had first come to us
+Christendom and bliss before God and before the world.
+
+[Footnote I: _i.e._ of English Christianity.]
+
+"And they kept the archbishop with them as long as to the time when they
+martyred him.
+
+"A.D. 1012. In this year came Eadric the ealdorman, and all the chief
+witan, religious and lay, of the English folk of London, before Easter:
+Easterday was then on the date of the Ides of April (13th April). And
+they were there then so long as until all the tribute was paid, after
+Easter; that was eight and forty thousand pounds. Then on the Saturday
+(19th April) was the (Danish) army greatly stirred up against the
+bishop, because he would not promise them any money; but he forbad that
+anything should be given for him. They were also very drunken, because
+wine had been brought there from the south. Then took they the bishop,
+led him to their husting on the eve of Sunday, the octave of the Pasch;
+and there they then shamefully killed him: they pelted him with bones
+and the heads of oxen, and then one of them struck him with an axe-iron
+on the head, so that with the blow he sank down; and his holy blood fell
+on the earth, and that his holy soul be sent to God's kingdom."
+
+A sorrowful story of evil folly and treachery: a splendid story of
+steadfastness to the end: of glorious martyrdom. The refusal to allow
+himself to be ransomed at his pillaged people's cost; the greed of the
+Danes; the death-stroke given him, we are told, in another chronicle, in
+mercy, to put an end to his sufferings, given him by a newly-made
+convert of his. And see how the Church has shown us, in her canonisation
+as a martyr saint, of this man, who died not directly to testify to the
+truth of the religion of Jesus, but for the sake of justice, that
+justice is the outcome of Christianity, and that he who dies for justice
+sake dies for God.
+
+It was said by Lanfrane that AEfeah was not a martyr, because he had not
+died for the Faith; but St Anselm said he was a true martyr, because he
+died for justice and charity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Abbot AElfric, writer of Homilies, Lives of Saints, and other works.
+    Wulfstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.
+
+
+The greatest of English prose-writers before the Conquest was AElfric,
+who was educated at the school at Winchester which AEthelwold, a pupil of
+St Dunstan, had founded. His works are very numerous. He wrote Homilies,
+or Sermons, on Scriptural subjects, and Lives of the Saints. I have
+quoted a passage about "Judith," which occurs in the summary of the
+books of the Old Testament, written for a friend of his, one Sigeweard,
+who had often asked him for English writings, which he had delayed
+giving him until after he had, at Sigeweard's earnest request, come to
+his house, and then Sigeweard had complained to him that he could not
+get at his writings. This little incident reminds us how differently
+from now people had to arrange about books and writings, and how much
+more dependent they were on teaching through the ear and the eye.
+
+I must give you a little specimen of AElfric's writing, a piece taken
+from his beautiful homily on Holy Innocents' Day. It is in very simple,
+direct language, and I think you will say it is not without a touch of
+that lovely thing which it is easy to feel and hard to define--poetry. I
+should like to have heard the sermon, and I hope you will feel somewhat
+as I do!
+
+"Christ despised not His young soldiers, although he was not present in
+body at their slaughter. Blessed were they born that they might for His
+sake suffer death. Happy is that their (tender) age, which was not yet
+able to confess Christ, and was allowed to suffer for Christ. They were
+the Saviour's witnesses, although as yet they knew Him not. They were
+not ripe for the slaughter, but yet did they blessedly die to live!
+Blessed was their birth, for they found eternal life on the threshold of
+this present life. They were snatched from mother-breasts, but they were
+straightway given into the keeping of angel-bosoms. The cruel persecutor
+(Herod) could with no service benefit those little ones so greatly as he
+benefited them with the hatred of his cruel persecution. They are called
+martyrs' blossoms because they were as blossoms upspringing in the cold
+of earth's unbelief, thus withered with the frost of persecution.
+Blessed are the wombs that bare them, and the breasts which suckled such
+as these. The mothers indeed suffered in the martyrdom of their
+children; the sword which pierced the children's limbs pierced to the
+mothers' hearts: and it must needs be that they be sharers of the
+eternal reward, when they were companions in the suffering."
+
+I will now tell you about a very different kind of sermon from
+AElfric's--one of the sermons preached by Wulfstan, Archbishop of York,
+who was not, like AElfric, leading a quiet life in an abbey, but throwing
+himself into the struggles and needs of a most disastrous time. He saw
+how the Danish inroads had terribly demoralised the English people, and
+he spoke out as God's preacher, who comes face to face with wrong, must
+speak.
+
+He begins by telling his "beloved men" how evil will go on increasing
+till Antichrist's coming; and then will it be awful, and terrible all
+through the world. "Too greatly has the devil for many years led this
+folk astray, and little faithfulness has there been among men, albeit
+they spake well; and wrongs too many have ruled in the land; and not
+always were there many who thought earnestly about the remedy as they
+should; but day by day they added one evil upon another and they reared
+up wrong, and many evil laws all throughout this nation. And therefore
+have we suffered many losses and shames: and if we shall await any cure
+then must we deserve it from God better than heretofore have we done.
+For with great earning have we earned the miseries that oppress us, and
+with great earning must we obtain the remedy from God if from henceforth
+it is to grow better." He tells them how in heathen lands they dare not
+withhold what has been devoted to the worship of idols: "and here we
+withhold the rights of God. And everywhere in heathen lands none dare
+injure or lessen within or without any of the things offered to idols:
+and we have robbed God's houses within and without." And so he goes on
+pouring out from his very soul the fiery words that tell of the warning
+of God's laws, and the worsening of folk-laws; and how the Sanctuaries
+are unprotected, and God's houses are robbed and stripped of their
+property, and holy orders are despised, and widows forced wrongfully to
+marry, and too many are made poor and humbled, and poor men are sorely
+betrayed and cruelly plotted against; and far and wide innocent people
+are given into the power of foreigners, and cradle-children made slaves
+through cruel evil laws for a little theft: and freeman's right taken
+away, and thrall's right narrowed, and alms' right diminished. It goes
+on and on, the terrible list of wrongs that have brought God's wrath on
+the land. The sermon is not for the building-up of faithful ones, but
+for the rousing and stirring up of those whose baptismal vow has been
+terribly and shamefully broken, His words are clashed out as he brings
+men face to face with their sin.
+
+And then comes the preaching of the true penance. "Let us do what is
+needful, bow to the right, and in somewise forsake the wrong, and mend
+where we have broken." And the preacher's voice now takes the tender
+tone of entreaty. "Let us creep to Christ and with trembling heart often
+call upon Him, and deserve His mercy; and let us love God, and obey His
+laws, and fulfil what we promised when we received baptism; or what
+those promised who were our sponsors at baptism. And let us rightly
+order word and work, and earnestly cleanse the thoughts of our hearts,
+and carefully keep oath and pledge and have honesty among us without
+weakness, and let us often understand the great judgement which we all
+must meet, and earnestly protect ourselves against the burning fire of
+the punishment of hell, and earn for ourselves the glories and the joys
+which God has prepared for them that do His will in the world. God help
+us. Amen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Love of books is love of part of God's world. In books we commune with
+    the spirit of their writers. The Church the mother of all art and
+    all literature. Catholic literature saturated with Holy Scripture.
+
+
+A man who made many a man and woman love literature and helped them to
+study it, the late Professor Henry Morley, has said that one who thinks
+that a bookroom is not a part of the world; one who thinks that, in
+leaving his books and going forth to commune with nature he is, as it
+were, passing from death to life, is one who has not yet learned to
+read. The good Professor saw that books have souls in them, so to speak,
+and that to love a book really and truly is to hold communion with that
+which is living and is a part of the great, beautiful scheme of God's
+great, beautiful world. To love one part of what Our Father has given us
+should never lead us to despise, or even undervalue, other parts. And we
+must remember, too, must we not? how one thing helps us to understand
+another; how great painters and great poets help us to understand the
+beauty of nature as we might not have understood it without them, just
+as they help us also to know men and women, and help us to know better
+some of the fair things in our great and glorious religion; things which
+God can and does teach without their help when He chooses, though He
+graciously and lovingly often uses their help--the help He has given
+them the power of giving--to teach others of His children. Our Father,
+being _Our_ Father, not just _your_ Father and _my_ Father and _his_
+Father and _her_ Father, but _Our_ Father, the Father of us all as one
+big family of His, brothers and sisters in Him, wills that we all help
+one another with the gifts He has given us; and the more we can realise
+that all separate gifts are parts of one great harmonious whole, the
+more fully we shall live and feel and enjoy.
+
+There is, of course, a delight in exquisite typography, and hand-made
+paper, and binding into which the soul of a true artist has gone. People
+may be willing to give large sums for these things, independently of the
+value of what is under them; or people may value books for their age, or
+because they are rare, or because they are records of facts which it is
+well to know and good to be able to verify.
+
+But there is a better way of love than all of these. One may love the
+book through which one holds communion with the spirit of its writer,
+being ready to learn from him by direct learning, or by the learning
+received through suggestion, or through the rousing of the spirit of
+enquiry, or the spirit of opposition. Is not this the best kind of love,
+the love by which the thought of man is used by man, the spirit of man
+holds communion with the spirit of man?
+
+All through the ages, great things have been handed down by written
+words, and people of all nations have shared one another's national
+heritage of written thought, and in that sharing made it larger and
+greater. We are now considering the earlier story of English Catholic
+literature, and it is surely well that people should know something of
+what things were said and sung in the olden time; the time when all art,
+all literature was fed by the great Mother of all Christian art and all
+Christian literature, the Holy Catholic Church.
+
+You will find our Catholic literature saturated with sacred lore and
+knowledge of Holy Scripture. Before printing was invented people could
+not multiply copies of the Sacred Books as they can now, but they knew
+them probably much better than many of those who can easily now buy them
+for a few pence. We have translations of various parts of the Bible in
+these early times. You will remember how in St Bede's last days he
+finished his translation of part of St John's Gospel. We have lovely
+manuscripts, such as that of the Lindisfarne Gospels, written in fine
+clear writing, which can be seen at the British Museum; and facsimiles
+of parts of them can be had for a small sum. It is simply an uneducated
+error to suppose that the heretical editing, as I may call it, of Holy
+Scripture in the mother-tongue of English people, made by Tyndale and
+Coverdale, was the first attempt to put the Bible into English. We
+should have had plenty of printed copies of Holy Scripture in the
+mother-tongue of English people, had these versions never been made and
+circulated to attack and injure Holy Church, without whom the originals
+could never have existed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Scattering of our old MSS. in Sixteenth Century. Same now in public
+    libraries. Collections. Exeter Book and Vercelli Book.
+
+
+Where are all our old manuscripts, our treasures from days of yore, the
+work of the cunning scribe, the pages whereon so many of our religious
+spent hour after hour, in patient and loving toil? They were scattered
+abroad in the sixteenth century by wholesale. Many of them found their
+way into private collections, and the collectors often generously gave
+them to college libraries. Matthew Parker, the Protestant Archbishop of
+Canterbury, was a great book-collector, and gave a good many volumes to
+Corpus Christi College at Cambridge. Among these is the oldest copy of
+the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. John Bale, once a friar, afterwards, alas! a
+Protestant Bishop, says that some of the books from the monasteries were
+used to scour candlesticks or to rub boots; some were sold to grocers
+and soap-vendors; and whole ships-full went abroad.
+
+[Illustrations:
+SAXON SHIP
+As used by our Forefathers in the time of King Alfred
+
+THE ALFRED JEWEL
+[_Page 114_]
+
+Robert Bruce Cotton was another great book-collector. His library was
+sold to the nation about seventy years after his death. Many books and
+MSS. belonging to it were destroyed or injured by a fire that broke out
+where it had been placed; among those injured was the only copy of the
+old poem of Beowulf, which I have not talked about because it is
+apparently outside our _Catholic_ Heritage in literature. The reduced
+library is now at the British Museum. It includes the beautiful
+Lindisfarne Gospels, or Durham Book, which once belonged to Durham
+Cathedral.
+
+There is another collection which was bought for the British Museum,
+made by Harley, Earl of Oxford.
+
+William Laud, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in Charles the First's
+time, and, like him, died on the scaffold, was also greatly interested
+in collecting books. He gave generously to Oxford University, and his
+books are in the Bodleian Library, with many other valuable literary
+treasures.
+
+Francis Junius collected Anglo-Saxon literature, and other books. He
+left them to the Bodleian Library. Among them is the unique "Caedmon"
+Manuscript, given him by Archbishop Usher, who founded the library of
+Trinity College, Dublin. People are now alive to the value of these
+great possessions, and we must be glad that scholars have worked at
+them, and published many of them, and so made their contents accessible
+to everyone. But we must never forget our debt to the earliest writers,
+and chiefly to the monks who wrote and who copied, much and long and
+well. As we trust, they have their reward.
+
+There are two specially interesting collections of manuscript
+Anglo-Saxon poems, known respectively as the Exeter Book and the
+Vercelli Book. The Exeter Book is one of some sixty volumes acquired by
+Leofric, Bishop of Crediton, when he was making his library for the
+cathedral of his new bishopric at Exeter. It is described as "a large
+English book of many things wrought in verse." It is one of the few of
+Leofric's books that remain at Exeter, where it has been over eight
+hundred years. It contains various poems by Cynewulf and others. Several
+leaves are missing, and ink has been spilt over part of one page. This
+Exeter library was scattered at the "Reformation." Some of its treasures
+are in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, or at Corpus Christi College, at
+Cambrige.
+
+The Vercelli Book is so called because it was discovered in its home in
+the cathedral library at Vercelli in Italy a good many years ago. It
+contains twenty-two sermons in Anglo-Saxon, and six poems, among which
+is our beautiful "Dream of the Holy Rood." Perhaps some English pilgrim
+or pilgrims, on the way to Rome, left this book as a gift, or through
+inadvertence, at the hospice where hospitality had been received. Or
+perhaps Cardinal Guala, who was over here in the days of John and of
+Henry III, bought the book for his library at Vercelli. Or perhaps it
+was one of the books of which John Bale tells us whole ships-full went
+abroad. We have to be very grateful to the scholars whose researches
+have recovered for us so much of our old heritage, and to those who have
+made their contents in various ways so easy to get at.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Runes. An early love-poem
+
+
+I said I would tell you a little about runes, which I have had more than
+once occasion to mention. The runes were the alphabet used by the
+Teutonic tribes, to which the English belonged. This alphabet is very
+old, and it is not certain where it originally came from. The word
+"rune" means secret or mystery. To "round" in a person's ear means to
+whisper, so that what is said is a "secret" or a "mystery." The word
+comes from "rune." When we use the word to "write" we think of setting
+down words on paper with a pen or a pencil. But the old meaning of
+"write" is to incise, or to cut, or engrave. Probably the runes were at
+first cut in wood. A wooden tablet was called "boc," from beechwood
+being used for it. When we talk of a book we are away from the first
+idea of a book a good distance. Runes were also carved, or incised, in
+metal and in bone. They were associated, not only with secrecy or
+mystery, but with magic, and were supposed to possess power for good or
+evil. People thought that "runes could raise the dead from their graves;
+they could preserve life or take it, they could heal the sick or bring
+on lingering disease; they could call forth the soft rain or the violent
+hailstorm; they could break chains and shackles, or bind more closely
+than bonds or fetters; they could make the warrior invincible and cause
+his sword to inflict none but mortal wounds; they could produce frenzy
+and madness, or defend from the deceit of a false friend."
+
+There is a story in an old Norse book telling that Odin, the
+Scandinavian god, learned them and used them. St Bede tells in his
+"Church History" a story which proves that the belief in the magic power
+of runes lingered on in England after Christianity had become the
+professed religion of the people. It takes a good while to lose
+superstition that has been with people for a long, long time. Because
+Christianity condemns anything like magic, the use of the runes,
+associated with it, gradually went out. The Irish missionaries in the
+North of England taught the people there a beautiful kind of handwriting
+from which the English handwriting of later times was formed. The
+"Lindisfarne Gospels" are written in the earlier Irish rounded
+characters. In a copy of St Bede's "Church History" written after
+A.D. 730, a more pointed hand is used. If we want to write fast, we do
+not write so round as when we write slowly. Afterwards, in the tenth
+century, the English began to use the French style of writing.
+
+The runes were sometimes used as ordinary letters, without any thought
+of the old connection with magic. So the great Christian poet, Cynewulf,
+wrote his name in runes, which is how we know him to be the author of
+some of the poems we have been considering.
+
+The portions of the "Dream of the Holy Rood" which are on the Ruthwell
+Cross (see Chapter IV) are carved in runes. There is a small sword in
+the British Museum with runes on it, which was found in the Thames.
+
+In connection with the runes I want to tell you of two old poems, which
+may be related to each other. One is known as "The Wife's Complaint,"
+the other as, "The Husband's Message." The first of them is apparently
+spoken by a woman who laments her hard fate, her husband having gone
+over the sea, away from her. She is imprisoned in an old earthen
+dwelling under an oak; she has no friends near, and she tells how vain
+were the vows of love exchanged between her and her husband. Now the
+second poem, "The Husband's Message," may be written for this wife; we
+do not know; at any rate it conveys a message from an absent husband to
+a wife; and I will give it to you as an early love-letter. It consists
+of two parts, one of which has been thought to be a riddle, but they
+have been put together by a learned Professor, and if they do belong to
+each other, the arrangement is as interesting as it is beautiful. The
+message is given by the letter itself--the slip of bark or wood on which
+it was carved--and this wood speaks. First it tells us about itself. It
+had dwelt on the beach near the sea-shore: there were few to behold its
+home in the solitude, but every morning the brown wave encircled it with
+a watery embrace. Then it little thought that even, though itself
+mouthless, it should speak among the mead-drinkers and utter words.
+
+                          A great marvel it is,
+    Strange in the mouth that knoweth it not,
+    How the point of the knife and the right hand,
+    The thought of a man, and his blade therewith,
+    Shaped me with skill, that boldly I might
+    So deliver a message to thee
+    In the presence of us two alone,
+    That to other men our talk
+    May not make it more widely known.
+
+The letter then tells how it had come in the keeled vessel, and how the
+lady would now know how in her heart she may think of the love of her
+lord. "I dare maintain," says the letter, "that there thou wilt find
+true loyalty." He that carved the characters on the wood, bad it pray
+her, the lady decked with jewels, to remember the vows they twain had
+often made when they dwelt together in their home in the same land.
+
+                         Force drove him
+    Out of the land. Now hath he bidden me
+    Earnestly to urge thee to sail the sea
+    When thou hast heard on the brow of the hill
+    The mournful cuckoo call in the wood.
+    Then let no living man keep thee
+    From the journey, or hinder thy going.
+    Betake thee to the sea, the home of the mew,
+    Seat thee in the boat, that southward from here
+    Beyond the road of the sea thou mayest find the man
+    Where waits thy prince in hope of thee.
+
+We hope the lady betook herself to the sea-mew's home, and found her
+beloved at the end of the journey! Her beloved had no thought of any
+greater joy than the granting of Almighty God that together they should
+be givers of treasure to men. The beloved has enough of beaten gold and
+wealth, and a fair home among the strangers, the noble warriors that
+obey him. Banished from home, gone forth a homeless one, in the
+stranger-land good has come to him; he has no lack of anything but of
+her, who had with him come under an old threat, and had been parted from
+him. He vows to fulfil his pledge and love-troth, and he writes in runes
+some message, which she, as it appears, would understand, and she alone.
+
+The old, old story, written fair and full.
+
+You will have noticed in the literature we have been considering the
+absence of certain elements which are an integral part of our modern
+literature. This poem, for instance, is, as far as I know, the only love
+poem before the Conquest which has come down to us. There is no romance
+either, and there is, we may say, no humour. Life is a very serious
+thing, so often lying close to the sword-edge; and the duties of life
+are simple. There is to be a great, very great enlargement of the
+borders of English literature later on. Prose and poetry are to have new
+developments. Romances are to show us heroic ideals. Lyrics of joy, of
+sorrow, of passion, of emotion natural and spiritual, are to be sung.
+The sense of beauty is to grow. The drama is to arise from beginnings to
+be but faintly traced in early days. Epic poetry is to take a great
+place. Character modified, enriched by foreign strains, is to mould a
+noble literature--noble through many and many a gift and grace. A great
+poet is to arise with sympathies large and wide, to show us, in verse
+most musical, in words full meaning, with that grace of humour which is
+a fresh light upon life, how men and women lived: and to be the great
+precursor of a greater than he. Geoffrey Chaucer is to come to us. After
+him William Shakespere.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+THE MERCAT PRESS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Catholic Heritage in English
+Literature of Pre-Conquest Days, by Emily Hickey
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