built houses and cities, extinguished tribal antagonisms, and administered justice.

As early as the fourth century B.C. the Saxons began to invade England, first as merciless pirates and later as home seekers. They appear to have come from the coast of the continent all the way from the northern part of what is now Denmark to as far south and west as into what is now the country of Holland. They brought with them the Jutes from Jutland or northern Denmark, and the Angles from what is now Schleswig-Holstein.

The Jutes subdued southeastern England and the Isle of Wight, the Angles subdued most of the east coast, and the Saxons the greater part of the interior of the island. After the conquest of the Britons the three groups of conquerors were known by the Britons as Saxons, though they gradually came to call themselves English, a name originally equivalent to Angle. From these various facts it is easy to see why we call the inhabitants of England Anglo-Saxons, down until the time of the Norman conquest in the eleventh century.

Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, literature began in the days when the English were still upon the continent and the islands about the northwestern shore of the continent of Europe. In fact, it began at a time so remote from us that the epic poem of Beowulf in its original form could not have been written by any one who had more than the slightest acquaintance with ideas, either pagan or Christian, from southern Europe. Both the language and the ideas of Beowulf in the original form of the poem were of the ancient Teutonic world alone.

The divisions of Anglo-Saxon literature. - Anglo-Saxon literature may be divided into two parts: that which was brought from the continent to Great Britain, and that which was produced in England itself.

1. On the Continent

We do not know how much of written song and story was brought into the land of the Britons by the Angles and Saxons in the days of the Wandering of the Nations into the confines of the Roman Empire. But the poem of Beowulf and one other poem called Widsith, the Far-Wanderer, are the most important which have survived from among those brought at the time of the migration. The first of these is the greater, and will require the more notice. The second of the two, Widsith, is a summary of the heroic poetry of the land the Romans called "Germania." It is probably a century or two older than Beowulf.

Beowulf. The ancient epic of Beowulf must have been written later than the early years of the sixth century A.D., because one of its characters was a great northern chieftain of that time. The poem has often been overestimated, for no other apparent reason than that it is old. Many books retain their places upon our library shelves chiefly because of reputation, and not because any one cares nowadays to read them. This epic, however, is still read with interest by those who are attracted by tales of wonder and by those interested to see that the characteristic types of men to-day have had their counterparts in olden times. The strong, stirring movement of the rhythm of the poem, the tone of tragic melancholy, the pictures of the grim and somber scenery of far northern Europe and the fascination of stormy seas, are also features which hold the interest of its readers. Furthermore, its story is a thrilling story of fighting; the bold and courageous sea barons of Beowulf are among the heroes of all time.

Beowulf was a Geat (probably a Swede), a thane of King Hygelac. He hears that Hrothgar, king of the Danes, has for

twelve years been harassed by a moor monster, called Grendel, who comes by night and takes away as many as thirty thanes at a time. He sails to defend the Danes. Hrothgar and his men are persuaded to withdraw from the hall or palace, leaving Beowulf with thirteen chosen Geats to await Grendel's next attack. Grendel arrives in due course of time and at once kills one of the Geats. Then, reaching for Beowulf, he quickly finds his match. In the struggle to free himself from Beowulf's grasp, Grendel loses one hand, arm, and shoulder. But this does not end the matter. Though Hrothgar returns with feasting and gladness to the hall, Grendel's mother, a monster of the fens and the deep waters, rouses herself to revenge. She comes and seizes the favorite attendant of the Danish chieftain. Beowulf is not present, but is quickly summoned. He comes with his famous sword, Hrunting, a weapon that thus far has never failed the man who has grasped it. He pursues Grendel's mother into her watery lair, but there finds that the great sword is useless. He sees near by an antique sword, keen-edged, giantforged, and, grasping it, slays the monster," She collapsed on the floor, the sword was blood-stained, the warrior rejoiced in his work." Beowulf then discovers the lifeless body of Grendel, shears off the head and carries it to Hrothgar. Beowulf leaves Golden-hilt, the giant-forged sword, with Hrothgar, and returns to the court of Hygelac.

The second part of the poem shows Beowulf, the great swimmer and fighter, now fighting with human enemies, after having been fifty years a king. Beowulf wins all combats, until one day he goes to do battle with a dragon who for three hundred years has guarded a treasure in a cave near the " seasurge." King Beowulf and one retainer, Wiglaf, face the firebreathing dragon and dispatch him with sword and dagger; but Beowulf is mortally wounded. Even in his death the great

hero brings benefits to his people, for the wonderful treasure is now theirs.

A book is great which adequately reflects, and by such reflection influences, the abiding characteristics and course of human life. The epic of Beowulf has some elements of greatness. It reveals that the early English were of the same imaginative and tumultuous temperament, the same mixture of joy and somberness, as the English of much later date, and it has by its importance helped to continue these traits of temperament to our own day,— for literature that is worth while is not only a reflection of life but also an inspiration to life. And yet these traits in the mind and mood of the early English are revealed in this epic only by the fact that the writer of the poem and, we must infer, his audience were deeply in sympathy with the people who then possessed these traits; for the characters in the poem were not English, but belonged to tribes living farther north than the English lived even when they were upon the continent of Europe.

We should not think of the author of Beowulf as an English Homer. And yet the poem is not unlike the Odyssey because it deals with the life of the aristocratic in the political and social realm, and because its ideas are those of noblemen, not only in the sense of rank, but in the sense of manhood as well. It is evident that this poem could not have been written in an age of utter barbarism. Many complex social situations and much refinement in thought are represented in it; and this could not have been unless its author had been acquainted with an advanced degree of civilization and gentle culture. The inhabitants of Great Britain had become rather well Romanized under the rule of the Cæsars, and they thought that the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who conquered them were dreadful savages. On the other hand, the Latin writer, Tacitus, praised very highly, in exaggerated terms, the fine qualities of the civilization of the

inhabitants of Germania. But an examination of the remains which have come down from the Bronze and the early Iron Age, and a study of the ancient poetry produced among the English while they were still upon the continent, shows that a middle ground between the opinions of the Britons and of Tacitus is the safe one to take, the ground that among the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were many of the elements of civilization and culture. 2. In England

The Christian epics. There are a few Christian sentiments in Beowulf, but they were, apparently, introduced by the copyist of the main body of the poem as it has come down to us. But when we turn to the Anglo-Saxon literature produced in England itself, we find at least three Christian epics which were produced in Old English and which are worthy of mention. These three Christian epic poems are Juliana, Elene (Helena the mother of Constantine the Great, and finder of the true cross), and Andreas. Juliana and Elene were the works of Cynewulf, probably a Northumbrian, that is, a man from north of the Humber River. It is not so certain that Andreas was written by Cynewulf, though its spirited narrative and its ornamented style are very like those of Cynewulf. Andreas is the most interesting of the three epics, being a story of the adventurous voyage of St. Andrew for the purpose of rescuing St. Matthew from the hands of cannibals.

The Old English scholars. When the English in Northumbria were converted to Christianity, Latin literature began to affect the progress of English literature. The schools and teachers of the part of England north of the Humber River quickly became the equals of any upon the continent. Yet thoughtfulness and skill and imagination were not confined to the learned in the schools. A simple cowherd named Cædmon