We may remark, in pursuing our subject, that it will be unnecessary for us to enter here into any historical details of the writers we shall mention; as those of any importance will be treated of in the body of this work.

theological and other treatises to this author. So far | under the superintendence of the Council of the are we removed from certainty on these questions, Royal Society of Literature. To these works we that whilst some contend for two of the name, others have been largely indebted for our notices of the deny that Gildas is any thing more than a fabulous writers of this early age, and have had so much conpersonage. fidence in Mr. Wright's accuracy, that we have incorporated large portions of his sketches of eminent authors, as Bede, Alfred, Neckham, &c., into our work, without notice of other authorities upon the same subjects. This is the only case in which we have so closely followed our authority; of course credit has been given to Mr. Wright at the conclusion of the articles, for the matter thus borrowed. We shall increase our obligations to this learned gentleman by presenting the reader with the following tables of the writers of the Anglo-Saxon and AngloNorman periods, extracted from the Biog. Brit. Lit.:

The reader should carefully peruse the Biographia Britannica Literaria, Anglo-Saxon Period, 1 vol., Lon., 1842; Anglo-Norman Period, 1 vol., Lon., 1846, by that eminent scholar, Thomas Wright, A. M., Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,) published

A. D.

fl. 956. Fridegode.

984. Ethelwold.

988. Dunstan.

992. Oswald.
974. Aio.

988. Fulbertus.
Bricstan.

fl. 980. Lantfredus.

fl. 990. Wolstan.

fl. 980. Bridferth.
fl. 990. Alfric of Malmsbury.
1006. Alfric of Canterbury.
Adalard.

1051. Alfric Bata.

1008. Cynewulf, or Kenulf. 1023. Wulfstan.

f. 1010. Oswald,

1038. Ethelnoth, f. 1020. Haymo of York, 1054. Haymo of Canterbury,

1047. Withman.

fl. 1066. Folchard.

1077. Hereman.
1086. Giso.

1098. Gotselin.
fl. 1090. Ethelward.
1095. Wulstan.

fl. 1100. Lucian of Chester.
1102. Sæwulf.
1108. Gundulf.

MINOR WRITERS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.

Hemming, sub-prior of
Worcester.

Hammelinus of Veru-
lam.

1113. Colman.

Alwin, or Ailwin.

Minor writers.

1108. Gerard, archbishop of York.

1117. Faritius.

Leofric of Brun.

Warnier, or Garnier.

Johannes Grammaticus.

MINOR WRITERS OF THE REIGN OF HENRY II.

20

A. D.

1199. King Richard Coeur de Lion.

f. 1175. Guernes du Pont de St. Maxence.

Bozun, or Boson.

Herman.

Hugh de Rutland.

Thomas.

Philip de Reimes.

A. D.

f. 1192. Richard of Devizes.
William Fitz-Stephen.
1202. Alan of Tewkesbury.
Roger of Croyland.

after 1198. Peter of Blois.

1223. Giraldus Cambrensis.
Geoffrey de Vinsauf.
Joseph of Exeter.

bef. 1136. William of Newbury.

Maurice and Peter de after 1201. Roger de Hoveden.

Craom.

Renaud de Hoilande.
Simon du Fresne.

f. 1186. Nigellus Wireker.

1193. Benedict of Peterbo

rough.

f. 1193. John of Brompton.

Radulph de Diceto.
fl. 1200. Richard the Canon.
1207. Walter de Coutances.
Gulielmus Peregrinus.
Hugh de Hoveden.

A. D.

f. 1174. Gervase of Canterbury. Radulph Niger.

William of Ramsey.

William the Clerk.

Thomas de Bailleul.

Orm.

Nicholas de Guildford.
Layamon.

1228. Stephen de Langton.
1228. Gervase, bishop of Seez.
1217. Alexander Neckham.
fl. 1200. Joscelin de Brakelonde.
f. 1210. Gilbertus Anglicus.
1213. William du Mont.
William the trouvere.

MINOR WRITERS DURING THE REIGNS OF RICHARD I. AND JOHN.

fl. 1214. Geoffrey of Coldingham. Girard of Cornwall.

A. 1193. Nicholas de Walking

ton.

Maurice of Wales.

Maurice of Ford.

John de St. Omer.

Adam of Dore.
Adam of Einesham.

Robert de Beaufey.

1220. Alexander le Partiger. f. 1172. John Cumyn.

John, abbot of Forde. 1199. Hugh de Nonant.

The following remarks are interesting in this connection:

"The poetry of the Anglo-Saxons was neither modulated according to foot-measure, like that of the Greeks and Romans, nor written with rhymes, like that of many modern languages. Its chief and universal characteristic was a very regular alliteration, so arranged that, in every couplet there should be two principal words in the first line beginning with the same letter, which letter must also be

the initial of the first word on which the stress of the voice

falls in the second line. The only approach to a metrical

system yet discovered is that two risings and two fallings of the voice seem necessary to each perfect line.

Richard the Prémon-
strensian.

John of Tilbury.
Samson, abbot of Bury.
John of Wallingford,
abbot of St. Alban's.

Round Table. . . . . It will be seen by this briof review of the literature of the Anglo-Norman language during the twelfth century, that, until the close of the century, it has no great attraction beyond a few historical productions which might as well have been written in Latin, and one or two metrical romances. . . . . It would be in vain to attempt a history of English literature in the twelfth century, because every thing connected with it is vague and uncertain."-See Introduction to Biog. Brit. Lit.

The reader will refer to the articles, CADMON, the monk (died about 680); BEDE (died 735); King ALFRED (died 901); ALFRIC of Canterbury (died 1006); CYNEW, Bishop of Winchester (died 1008); WULFSTAN, Bishop of Worcester, Archbishop of York (died 1023), &c.—for notices of some of the principal wri

ters from the death of Gildas to the termination of the Saxon Chronicle.

The Saxon Chronicle, the production of a number of authors, professes to give a history of English affairs from A. D. 1-1150, at which date it abruptly concluded.

About 1180? we have Layamon's mètrical translation of the Brut d'Angleterre, of Wace, written about

"The popular literature of the Normans in France and England previous to the twelfth century is totally unknown to us..... However, as most of the popular literature of this period was confined to the jongleurs, who were at the same time authors and minstrels, and as it was proba-1160, and itself a translation from Geoffrey of Monbly seldom or never committed to writing, we have no difficulty in accounting for its loss. We know that there were jongleurs in Normandy at an early period, and that they followed their patrons to England. But we only become acquainted with their compositions at a later period. In literature, the Anglo-Norman language first makes its appearance in poems of a religious and serious character; and it seems to have first found a distinguished patron in Adelaide of Louvaine, queen of Henry I. . . . . Most of this religious and serious poetry consisted in mere translations or paraphrases from the Latin, and the writers make no further pretension. . . . . . . The only known English writers of Anglo-Saxon prose are Walter Mapes, Robert de Borron, and Luces de Gast, the authors of some of the most popular romances of the cycle of the

mouth. This ingenious monk obliges us with a his-
tory of British occurrences from Brutus of Troy,
who is placed long before the Christian era, to
Cadwallader, A. D. 689. Layamon seems to know
the original history only through the version of Mais-
Upon the same history principally, is
ter Wace.
founded the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester,
(temp. Henry III. and Edward I.) who professes to
narrate the history of England from the time of Bru-
tus to the death of Sir Henry of Almaine.

"The orations with which he occasionally diversifies the thread of his story, are, in general, appropriate and dramatic, and not only prove his good sense, but exhibit no

tion of the first crusade, he seems to change his usual character, and becomes not only entertaining, but even animated."-ELLIS.

unfavourable specimens of his eloquence. In his descrip- | feats of dexterity: throwing his lance into the air as if it were a small stick; catching it by the point before he cast it against the enemy; and repeating the same operation with his sword, so that they who beheld him considered him as a conjuror

This Chronicle consists of more than ten thousand lines, and Alexandrines at that! The Bodleian, Cottonian, and Harleian MSS. of it are considered the best. There is also one in the Library of the Heralds' College.

The next of the Rhyming Chronicles is Robert Manning, or Robert de Brunne, (temp. Edward I. and II.) the translator of Manuel des Pèches and Peter de Langtoft's Chronicle. This verse is shorter than that of Robert of Gloucester, approaching the octosyllabic stanza of a later period.

L'un dit à l'altre ki coveit,
Ke co esteit enchantement,
Ke cil fesait devant la gent,
Quant, &c.

Now, unless it could be proved that the Normans adopted the profession of minstrelsy from the French, of which there is no evidence, it must follow that they carried it with them from Denmark; and as Bishop Percy has shown that a character nearly analogous existed among the Danes, as well as the Anglo-Saxons the derivation of the minstrels from the Scalds and Glee-men of the North, as established in the Essay prefixed to the 'Reliques of Ancient Poetry,' seems to rest upon as fair historical testimony as can be required in confirmation of such an opinion."-Introduction to the Rise and Progress of Romantic Composition, &c.; also peruse the Essay prefixed to Percy's Reliques.

The

The reader will find some specimens of the changes of language in the periods which have now been referred to in an excellent work accessible to all-W. & R. Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature. Some valuable dissertations in the introductions to Shaw's and Spalding's Histories of English Litera- | ture should also be carefully perused. For a history About the middle of the thirteenth century, the apof the English Metrical Romances, the period of plication of poetry-heretofore confined to, 1. Chroniwhich we may assume to be 1300-1500, Warton's cles, 2. Romances-to general subjects, manners, History of English Poetry, and Halliwell's and Percy's morals, descriptive essays, &c., came into use. Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, should be con- reader must procure for a view of the essays of this sulted. The literature of this character was almost period, Mr. Thomas Wright's Political Songs and Speexclusively composed of versions from French origi- cimens of Lyric Poetry, composed in England in the nals. The theory of Sir Walter Scott respecting reign of Edward I.: Reliquiæ Antiquæ, 2 vols. LauSir Tristem, and Mr. Warton's ascription of Therence Minot, in secular, and Richard Rolle, in theoloLife of Alexander the Great to Adam Davie, are per-gical poetry, are two of the prominent names of the haps hardly tenable in the present day. Among the best known compositions of this period may be mentioned, SIR GUY, THE SQUIRE OF Low DEGREE, SIR DEGORE, KING ROBERT OF SICILY, THE KING of Tars, Impomedon, La Mort ArtUR, SIR THOPAS, SIR BEVIS, SIR ISENBRAS, SIR LIBIUS, and GAWAN AND GALOGRAS. Let the reader carefully peruse Ellis's Historical Introduction on the Rise and Progress of Romantic Composition in France and England; prefixed to the Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances. Of this valuable work a new edition has been published, under the editorial care of the eminent antiquary, philologist, and enthusiastic philomath, J. Orchard Halliwell, Esq., F. R. S. (Bohn's Antiquarian Library, Lon., 1848: also procure The Chronicles of the Crusades; indeed all of the volumes of this valuable series should be in the hands of the curious student.)

fourteenth century. About 1360 was completed the Vision of Piers Plowman, the composition of a secular priest named Robert Langlande. The poet sets forth by allegorical representations the corruptions prevailing among the ecclesiastics, and predicts a severe punishment as the consequences of such disorder. We have in this singular allegory the characters of Mercy, Truth, Conscience, Pride, Sir In-witt, See-well, Saywell, Hear-well, Work-well, Go-well, &c. The reader will not be surprised that such similarity of characters has led some critics to compare this ancient poem with the Pilgrim's Progress.

It was about this period, say 1350, that the character styled Black-Letter, or Old English, was first used.

We have now reached a most important landmark, at which we may properly conclude our synopsisthe name of the Great Father of English Poetry, The following remarks are not without interest in GEOFFREY CHAUCER, born between 1328 and 1846. this connection:

We need hardly remark that the inscription on his

"That a class of men who cultivated the arts of amuse-tomb, stating him to have died in the year 1400, at ment as a profession, were known and esteemed by the the age of 72, is not based upon any known authority, Normans of the time of the Conquest, is undeniably proved having been placed where it is, about 150 years after by the evidence of Domesday-book; in which we find a his death. However, these are matters which are certain Bedric possessed of a large tract of land in Glouces-discussed in the following pages, and therefore biotershire, under the title of joculator regis. The register, of course, does not explain the talents of this joculator, or jongleur; but it may be fairly assumed that they were similar to those of the minstrel Taillefer, who, as Wace informs us, 'moult bien chantont,'. and who preceded the Duke of Normandy at the battle of Hastings, singing about Charlemagne, and Rolland, and Olivier, and the vassals who died at Roncesvalles.' We are further informed by Gaimar, that he performed many marvellous

graphical details respecting individuals, and bibliographical and critical information regarding their works, will not be expected here. We may now appropriately introduce from the tables in the Companion to the British Almanac, as improved in George P. Putnam's World's Progress, New York, 1851, a Chronological Table of some of the principal British Authors and their works, A. D. 500-1850.

IMAGINATION.

FACT.

SPECULATIVE AND SCIENTIFIC.

A. D.

500

600 Cædmon, Saxon Poems. Aldhelme, d. 709, Latin Poems.

700

700 Bede, 673-735, Eccl. History of 700 Alcuin, d. 804, Theology, HistoEngland.

ry, Poetry.

900 Ethelwerd, History of Great 900
Britain.

1000 Ingulphus, 1030-1109, History 1000
of Croyland.

Eadmer, Chronicle.

1100 Order. Vitalis, 1075-1132, His- 1100
tory of England.

Florence of Worcester, d. 1118,

Chron. of England.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, History

of Britain.

William of Malmsbury, d. 1143,

History of Britain.

Henry of Huntingdon, Chro-
nicles of England.
Simeon of Durham, Chronicles
of England.

John of Salisbury, d. 1181, 'Life
of Becket,' &c.

G. Cambrensis, Conq. of Ireland,
Itin. of Wales.
Wm. of Newbury, b. 1136, Chron.
of England.

1200 Roger Hoveden, Chron. of Eng-
land.

1300

Gervase of Canterbury, Histo-
ry of England.

Roger of Wendover, Hist. of
England.

Mathew Paris, d. 1259, History
of England.
William Rishanger, History of
England.

Nicholas Triveth, d. 1328, Hist.
Physic, Theology.
Richard of Chichester, Chron.
of England.

Ralph Higden, d. 1360, Chron.
of England.

Henry Knighton, d. 1370, Chron.
of England.
Matthew of Westminster, Flow-
ers of History.'

John Maundeville, d. 1372, Tra-
vels.

John Fordun, Chron. of Scot-
land.

1200

1300 Albricus, Theology.

1400 Andrew of Wyntoun, History of 1400
Scotland.

T. Walsingham, d. 1440, Histo

ry of Normandy.

Duns Scotus, d. 1308, Philoso-
phy.

Walter Burleigh, Philosophy.
Gilb. Anglicus, Medicine.
R. Aungerville, 1281-1345, Phi-
lobiblion.

J. Wicliffe, 1324-1384, Theology, Translation of the Bible.

H. de Bracton, Law.