§ 80. In the Anglo-Saxon, number, case, and person are distinguished by a change in the vowel of the final syllable; in the Old English these vowels are all confounded; and in our modern English they are lost. Prepositions did the work of the lost inflections. "The only sure test by which we can distinguish an Old English from an Anglo-Saxon MS., is a confounding of the vowels of the final syllable, which is not done in AngloSaxon."-EDWIN GUEST, London Philological Society.

The following extract is from the proclamation of Henry III. to the people of Huntingdonshire, A.D. 1258. It currently passes for the earliest specimen of English, i. e., Old English :

"Henry, thurg Godes fultome, King on Engleneloande, Lhoaurd on Yrloand, Duke on Normand, on Acquitain, Eorl on Anjou, send I greting to alle hise holde, ilaerde & ilewerde, on Huntingdonschiere. That witen ge well alle, thaet we willen & unnen (grant) thaet ure raedesmen alle other, the moare del of heom, thaet beoth ichosen thurg us and thurg thaet loandes-folk on ure Kuneriche, habbith idon, and schullen don, in the worthnes of God and ure threowthe, for the freme of the loande, thurg the besigte of than toforen iseide raedesmen, beo stede fæst and ilestinde in all thinge a butan ænde."

Literal Translation.-"Henry, through God's support, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, of Aquitaine, Earl of Anjou, sends greeting to all his subjects, learned and unlearned, of Huntingdonshire. This know ye well all, that we will and grant what our counselors all, or the more part of them, that be chosen through us and through the land folk of our kingdom, have done, and shall do, to the honor of God, and our allegiance, for the good of the land, through the determination of the aforesaid counselors, be steadfast and permanent in all things without end."

The following is from Robert of Gloucester, who lived in the

times of Henry III. and Edward I., in the latter part of the thirteenth century:

Thus come lo! Englond into Normannes honde;

And the Normans ne couthe speke tho bote her owe speche,

And speke French as dude atom ond here chyldren dude al so teche;

So that heyman of thys lond that of her blod come,

Holdeth alle thulke speche that hii of hem nome;

Vor bote a mon couthe French, me tolth of hym well lute;

Ac low men holdeth to Englyss ond to her kund speche zute.

Ich wene ther ne be mon in world contreyes none,

That ne holdeth to her kund speche, bote Engelond one;

Ac wel me wol vorto conne bothe well yt ys,

Vor the more that a man con, the more he ys.

SPECIMENS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH.

§ 81. In Chaucer, and Mandeville, and other writers of that age, we have a transition from Old to what has been called Middle English. The last characteristic of a grammar different from that of the present English is the plural form in -en: We tellen, Ye tellen, They tellen. As this disappears, which it does in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Middle English may be said to pass into the New or Modern English.

Beside that isle of Mistorak, upon the left side, nigh to the river Phison, is a marvelous thing. There is a vale between the mountains that dureth near a four mile. And some clepen it the vale enchanted, some clepen it the vale of devils, and some clepen it the vale perilous. This vale is full of devils, and hath been always. And men say there that it is one of the entries of hell. In that vale is plenty of gold and silver; wherefore many misbelieving men, and many Christian men also, gon in oftentime, for to have of the treasure that there is, but few comen again; and namely of the misbelieving men, ne of the Christian men nouther for they ben anon strangled of devils.

And Marye seyde mi soule magnyfieth the lord. And my spirit hath gladid in God myn helthe. For he hath behulden the mekeness of his handmaiden; for lo for this alle generaciouns schulen seye that I am blessid; for he that is mighti hath don to me greet thingis, and his name is holi, and his merci is fro kynrede into kynredis; to men that dreden hym.

Till at the last, among the bowes glade
Of adventure, I caught a pleasant shade;
Full smooth, and plain, and lusty for to seen,
And soft as velvet was the yonge green:
Where from my horse I did alight as fast,
And on the bow aloft his reine cast.
So faint and mate of weariness I was,
That I me laid adoun upon the grass,
Upon a brinke, shortly for to tell,
Beside the river of a crystal well;
And the water as I reherse can,

Like quickesilver in his streams yran,

Of which the gravel and the brighte stone,

As any gold, against the sun y-shone.

SIR JOHN FORTESCUE. 1430-1470.

It is cowardise and lack of hartes and corage that kepith the Frenchemen from rysyng, and not povertye; which corage no Frencheman hath like to the English man. It hath ben often seen in England that iij or ij theves, for povertie hath sett upon vij or viij true men, and robbed them al. But it hath not been seen in Fraunce that vij or viij theves have ben hardy to robbe iij or iv true men. Wherfor it is right seld that Frenchemen be hangyd for robberye, for that they have no hertys to do so terrible an acte. There be therefor mo men hangyd in England in a yere for robberye and manslaughter than ther be hangyd in Fraunce for such cause of "crime in vij yers, &c.

GAVIN DOUGLASS. 1474-1522.

Dame Nature's minstrals, on that other part,
Their blissful lay, intoning every art,
And all small fowlis singis on the spray,
Welcome the lord of licht and lampe of day,
Welcome fosterer of tender herbes green,
Welcome quickener of flourist flowers sheen,
Welcome support of every rute and vein,
Welcome comfort of all kind fruit and grain,
Welcome the birdis beild upon the brier,
Welcome master and ruler of the year,
Welcome weelfare of husbands at the plews,
Welcome repairer of woods, trees, and bews,
Welcome depainter of the bloomit meads
Welcome the life of every thing that spreads,
Welcome storer of all kind bestial,

Welcome be thy bright beamis gladdand all.

WILLIAM CAXTON.

In 1471 he printed the first book in the English language. In a note to this publication, Caxton says: "For as much as age creepeth on me daily and feebleth all the bodie, and also because I have promised divers gentlemen, and to my friends, to address to them, as hastily as I might, this said book; therefore I have practised and learned, at my great charge and dispence, to ordain this said book in print, after the manner and form as ye may here see, and is not written with pen and ink, as other books ben, to the end that all men may have them at once; for all the books of this story, named The Recule of the Historeys of Troyes, thus emprinted, as ye here see, were begun in one day and also finished in one day,"

EARL OF SURREY. 1516–47.

Martial, the things that do attain

The happy life, be these I find,
The riches left, not got with gain,

The fruitful ground, the quiet mind.

The equal friend; no grudge, no strife,
No charge of rule or governance,
Without disease, the healthful life,
The household of continuance.

The mean diet, no delicate fare,

True wisdom joined with simpleness;

The night discharged of all care,

Where wine the wit may not oppress.

Mistress Alice, in my most hearty wise I recommend me to you. And whereas I am informed by my son Heron of the loss of our barns and our neighbors' also, with all the corn that was therein; albeit (saving God's pleasure) it were great pity of so much good corn lost; yet since it has liked him to send us such a good chance, we must, and are bounden not only to be content, but are also glad of his visitation. He sent us all that we have lost; and since he hath by such a chance taken it away again, his pleasure be fulfilled! Let us never grudge thereat, but take it in good worth, and thank him heartily as well for adversity as for prosperity. And peradventure we have more cause to thank him for our loss than for our winning, for his wisdom better seeth what is good for us than we do ourselves. Therefore I pray you, be of good cheer, and take all the household with you to church, and there thank God, both for that he has given us, and for that which he has taken from us, and for that he hath left us; which, if it please him, he can increase when he will, and if it please him to leave us yet less, at his pleasure be it.

He, making speedy way through spersed ayre,
And through the world of waters wide and deepe,
To Morpheus' house doth hastily repaire,
Amid the bowels of the earth full steepe;

And low, where dawning day doth never peepe,

His dwelling is, there Tethys his wet bed

Doth ever wash, and Cynthia still doth steepe

In silver deaw his ever drouping hed,

Whiles sad Night over him her mantle black doth spred.

Whose double gates he findeth locked fast,

The one fayre fram'd of burnished yvory,

The other all with silver overcast;

And wakeful dogges before them farre doe lye,

Watching to banish care their enimy,

Who oft is wont to trouble gentle sleep.

By them the sprite doth pass in quietly,

And unto Morpheus comes, whom drouned deepe,
In drowsie fit he findes; of nothing he takes keepe.