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bishop of Rochester, who succeeded to that see in 693"-two hundred years after the commencement of the Saxon era; and Bertwald, who succeeded to the illustrious Theodore of Tarsus, was, says our authority, the first English or Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury.

"A. D. 690. This year Archbishop Theodore, who had been bishop twenty-two winters, departed this life, and was buried within the city of Canterbury. Beorhtwald, who before was Abbot of Reculver, on the calends of July succeeded him in the see; which was ere this filled by Romish bishops, but thenceforth by English."

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"From this period, consequently," Mr. Ingram observes, we may date that cultivation of the vernacular tongue, which would lead to a composition of brief chronicles, &c. The first chronicles were perhaps those of Kent or Wessex; which seem to have been regularly continued, at intervals, by the archbishops of Canterbury, or by their direction, at least as far as the year 1001, or even 1070." There can be little doubt, however, that many of the materials, though not regularly arranged, might be traced to a much higher source: or, at least, that such more ancient documents must have been at his time in existence. The venerable Bede, indeed, who seems to have availed himself of his labours, speaks of the former of these ecclesiastics," as not only furnished with an ample store of Greek and Latin literature, but skilled also in the Saxon language and erudition;" a phrase which necessarily supposes the prior existence of some literature in our primitive language; and there is evidently good reason to believe, that some preceding records, in the shape perhaps of Anglo-Saxon annals, were extant even before the age of Nennius-who is supposed to have flourished in the seventh century. At any rate, it may confidently be said, that the series of contemporary records preserved in the Saxon Chronicle goes back to a period of very high antiquity; almost, though not entirely, coeval with the first establishment of our northern ancestors in this island; and the boast is apparently not without foundation that, philosophically considered, this ancient record is the second great phenomenon in the history of mankind. For, if we except the sacred annals of the Jews, contained in the several books of the Old Testament, there is no other work extant, ancient or modern, which exhibits at one view a regular and chronological panorama of a people, described in rapid succession by different writers, through so many ages, in their own vernacular language." And it is equally true, that the attentive reader "may here find many interesting facts relative to our architecture, our agriculture, our coinage, our commerce, our naval and military glory, our laws, our liberty, and our re

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ligion:" with specimens also (and some of them far from despicable) of our ancient Saxon poetry. The Saxon Chronicle, in short, " may safely be considered, not only as the primæval source from which all subsequent historians of English affairs have”—(or in some instances perhaps we may say ought to have)" principally derived their materials:"-(assuredly, by which they may frequently correct whatever they may have erroneously derived from other sources,)" and consequently the criterion by which they are to be judged; but also as the faithful depository of our national idiom: affording, at the same time, to the scientific investigator of the human mind, a very interesting and extraordinary example of the changes incident to a language, as well as a nation, in its progress from rudeness to refinement."

Nor will it fail to be among the recommendations, or to be regarded among the attestations to the fidelity of some of the earlier portions of this history, that parts of it seem to have been collected or revised, if not by the hand, at least under the superintendence of our immortal Alfred; that the essential facts which it narrates are closely followed, in full reliance upon their authenticity, by his illustrious descendant Ethelwerd, in the compressed compilation written by him, towards the end of the tenth century, for the instruction of the Princess Matilda, the daughter of Otho the Great, Emperor of Germany, by his first empress, Eadgitha, or Editha, sister of King Athelstan ;* and that the diligent research of the judicious and venerable Bede, who seems industriously to have collected the documents and preceding record, corroborates the facts preserved in these Saxon annals.†

* Ethelwerd informs us, in his epistle to Matilda, that Athelstan sent two sisters, in order that the emperor might take his choice. This alliance with so mighty a continental potentate, is not an instance of solitary import among the facts that might be adduced to shew that England was not a country of such slight importance during the Saxon epoch, as the idolizers of Norman descent and Norman institutions would endeavour to persuade us. Even before the union under one dominion, several of the princes of the respective states of the Heptarchy were of consequence enough to have their alliances and their intercourses with the most potent sovereigns of the continent. Egbert, (who afterwards succeeded to the West Saxon throne) during the twelve years that he was exiled by the jealousy of his predecessor Bertric, was honourably received in the court of Charlemagne; and seems to have laid under his auspices the foundations of that superiority of character, which ultimately raised him to such distinguished power and greatness.

+ Some antiquaries would indeed persuade us, that the earlier

The reader, however, who is habituated to look in history for the entertainment of a connected narrative, embellished by the style and the imagination of the historian, in which facts and illustrations arise out of each other, like the incidents and episodes of a novel, will derive but little either of amusement or information from the work before us. It presents neither flourishing periods nor amplifying disquisitions. It affects not to define the spirit, or describe the influences of institutions, to detail the forms or explain the theories of government. He who would benefit by the perusal of such works, must bring to them a comparing and inductive mind; and be satisfied with finding in them the materials of thinking; not the readymade notions that are to save him from the trouble of thought. The facts present themselves, isolated as it were; generally in brief paragraphs and chronological order; rarely in connexion and detail and not unfrequently it happens, that what is most amplified is that which to the readers of the present day will appear least interesting. Thus, while the important events of upwards of two hundred years, from the first arrival of Hengist and Horsa,—including the establishment, the conflicts, and the revolutions of seven kingdoms,-are compressed into the brief compass of little more than five hundred lines, more than a hundred of which are devoted to genealogical details, we have, immediately after, considerably more than three fourths of the same space occupied by the consecration of the abbey of Medeshamstede (Peterborough), and the successive endowments thereof in the years 655, 656, and 675, by the successive kings of Wessex, Peada, Wulfhere, and Ethelred. It is to be observed, however, that the whole of these monkish details are evidently of a later date, and to be ascribed to the Norman interpolators. The old Saxon chroniclers seem to have treated with equal brevity the affairs of the church and of the state. Brief, however, as their statements are, they are frequently pregnant with conclusions that may correct the mis-statements

parts of the Chronicle are copied from the ecclesiastical history of Bede. But not to dwell upon the satisfactory evidence by which this hypothesis is overthrown, it may suffice to say, that this would not at all affect the authenticity of the record. The sedateness and fidelity of Bede are universally acknowledged; and he has been particularly careful to inform us of the sources from which he derived his intelligence;-many of them by name; and there seems every reason to believe, that among "the preceding records (scriptis priorum)" to which he occasionally refers, and whose existence had been acknowledged by his historical predecessor, Nennius, are to be reckoned the Anglo-Saxon Annals, or early Chronicles of Wessex, of Kent, and other provinces of the Heptarchy.

of more specious historians, and elucidate the character, the condition, and the institutions of those early ages, in which the foundations were laid of every thing that constitutes the glory and happiness of the English name.

As we travel onward, the notices of more important occurrences become progressively more circumstantial. From the time of Alfred, in particular, whose pervading mind gave impulse and direction to every thing that was connected with the intellect, as well as the political welfare of his country, history begins to assume a more intelligent aspect. It seems likely, as we have already suggested, that even his own hand may occasionally be traced in the record. The authenticity of the facts related of him in the Chronicle is, at least, corroborated by the testimony of his contemporary biographer, Bishop Asser.

From this time to the death of Harold, and through the four succeeding Norman reigns, an increasing flood of light continues to be poured in these annals, which may enable us, much better than the glossing pages of more popular historians, not only to comprehend the circumstances that prepared the way for the great change in the dynasty and the destinies of the nation, but to appreciate the comparative merits of the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman periods.

It is not, however, to be supposed, that in a compilation of the labours of a series of successive annalists, many of whom must be referred to periods of such high antiquity, every species of information it affects to transmit should be equally accurate. The Chronicle, as it now stands, commences with a brief description, copied from the venerable Bede, of the island of Britain which is said (in conformity, however, with Pliny and all the best authorities of those times) to be "eight hundred miles long, and two hundred broad;" while modern admeasurement has ascertained its length to be but about five hundred and fifty, and its breadth, at the widest part, to be about two hundred and ninety miles. The want of statistical knowledge in this particular, however, does not invalidate the tradition which follows-though the Caledonian antiquary may perhaps not be satisfied with so ancient an authority, which treats the Highland Scots as a colony from Ireland, instead of the Irish as a colony from them.

"The first inhabitants were the Britons, who came from Armenia [De tractu Armoricano, says Bede: and so also says Elfred], and first peopled Britain." [Geoffrey of Monmouth, and, after him historians who should have looked for better authorities, derive the Britons of Armorica from our island Britons.] "Then happened it, that the Picts came south from Scythia, with long ships, not many; and, landing first in the northern part of Ireland, they told the Scots that

they must dwell there. But they would not give them leave; for the Scots told them that they could not all dwell there together; But,' said the Scots,' we can nevertheless give you advice. We know another island here to the east. There you may dwell, if you will; and whosoever withstandeth you, we will assist you, that you may gain it.' Then went the Picts and entered this land northward. Southward the Britons possessed it, as we before said. And the Picts obtained wives of the Scots, [of Ireland,] on condition that they chose their kings always on the female side; which they have continued to do, so long since. And it happened, in the run of years, that some party of Scots went from Ireland into Britain, and acquired some portion of this land. Their leader was called Reoda, from whom they are named Dalreodi (or Dalreathians.)"-Dalreadingas, Elfred calls them -that is, holders of the portion of Reada.

It then proceeds to give us a brief account of the two expeditions of Cæsar against this island; the former of which, at least, may seem not entirely to discountenance the suggestion of Pope

"Ask why from Britain Cæsar made retreat?

Cæsar perhaps might tell you, he was beat."

"Sixty winters ere that Christ was born, Caius Julius, Emperor of the Romans, with eighty ships, sought Britain. There he was first beaten in a dreadful fight, and lost a great part of his army. Then he let his army abide with the Scots, and went south into Gaul. There he gathered six hundred ships, with which he went back into Britain. When they first rushed together, Cæsar's tribune, whose name was Labienus, was slain. Then took the Welsh sharp piles, and drove them with great clubs into the water, at a certain ford of the river, called Thames. When the Romans found that, they would not go over the ford. Then fled the Britons to the fastnesses of the woods; and Cæsar, having after much fighting gained many of the chief towns, went back into Gaul."

From this time to the invitation of the Saxons, or more properly the Jutes and Angles, by Wyrtgeorne (or Vortigern) we have brief chronological notices of some of the principal events of general history, with an occasional seasoning of legendary marvels and miracles, for which no scribe of the days of our pagan ancestors will, of course, be regarded as responsible: such, for example, as

"A. D. 448. This year John the Baptist shewed his head to two monks, who came from the eastern country to Jerusalem for the sake of prayer, in the place that whilom was the palace of Herod."

Nor did the chroniclers, in succeeding centuries, forego, all

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