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The Dawn of European Literature.

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE.

BY JOHN EARLE, M.A.

RECTOR OF SWANSWICK,
RAWLINSON PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,

NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.;

43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.;
26, ST. GEORGE’s PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER S.W.

BRIGHTON: 133, NORTH STREET.
New York: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.

1884.

vPREFACE.

The bulk of this little book has been a year or more in type; and, inthe mean time, some important publications have appeared which it wastoo late for me to profit by. Among such I count the “Corpus PoeticumBoreale” by Dr. Gudbrand Vigfusson and Mr. York Powell; the “EpinalGloss” and Alfred’s “Orosius” by Mr. Sweet, for the Early English TextSociety; an American edition of the “Beowulf” by Professors Harrison andSharp; Ælfric’s translation of “Alcuin upon Genesis,” by Mr. MacLean. Tothese I must add an article in the “Anglia” on the first and last of theRiddles in the Exeter Book, by Dr. Moritz Trautmann. Another recent bookis the translation of Mr. Bernhard Ten Brink’s work on “Early EnglishLiterature,” which comprises a description of thevi Anglo-Saxon period.This book is not new to me, except for the English dress that Mr.Kennedy has given to it. The German original has been often in my hand,and although I am not aware of any particular debt, such as it wouldhave been a duty and a pleasure to acknowledge on the spot, yet I have asentiment that Mr. Ten Brink’s sympathising and judicious treatment ofour earliest literature has been not only agreeable to read, but alsoprofitable for my work.

15, Norham Road, Oxford,
March 15th, 1884.

viiCONTENTS.

1ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE.

CHAPTER I.