Among the Saxon works which appeared in England in 1839 and 1840, were a History of English Rhythms, by Edwin Guest; Music and the Anglo-Saxons, by F. D. Wackerbarth; Principia Saxonica, or an Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Reading, by L. Langley; Reliquiæ Antiquæ, a work published in numbers, and designed to collect together such pieces from ancient inedited MSS., illustrative of the literature and language of the Middle Ages, as are not of sufficient extent to form books by themselves; and, lastly, the work of Mr. Petheram, to which we are indebted for many of the facts in this brief sketch, and which we cordially recommend to our readers for its research, impartiality, copiousness and accuracy.

The formation of the Camden and British Historical Societies may be looked upon as animating signs of the times. The Royal Society of Literature has determined on the publication. of a Biographia Britannica Literaria, in chronological order. An introduction to the first section has appeared, under the title of "An Essay on the State of Literature and Learning under the Anglo-Saxons, by Thomas Wright." The Historical Society have recently issued a volume of Charters relating to the Anglo-Saxon period, edited by Mr. Kemble, who has prefixed an introduction of great interest and value, in which he has discussed the question respecting the authenticity of the AngloSaxon charters. An edition of the Anglo-Saxon Laws, under the care of Mr. Thorpe, will soon be published. An elaborate work by Mr. Petrie, entitled, "Materials for the History of Great Britain," is in a course of preparation.

On the continent a gradually increasing attention has been given to Anglo-Saxon literature. The first edition of Grimm's "Deutsche Grammatik" was published in a single volume, in 1812. The first volume of a second edition was published in 1822, at Göttingen; the second volume followed in 1826, the third, in 1831, and the last in 1837.* "The system of this

ation which his laborious, learned and accurate work so amply deserves. The spirit which reigns throughout is eminently such as becomes a scholar and a Christian.

* We have several volumes of this edition. It is printed, particularly the first volume, on most wretched paper, hardly fit for spelling-books or wrapping-paper. It is a shame that such a noble work should not come out in an attractive form. Other important works on the general subject of the German

scholar," says Mr. Kemble," which can henceforth alone form the basis of any philosophical study of the Teutonic tongues, rests upon two propositions. 1. That the roots of these languages, their methods of declension, conjugation and derivation are common to them all. Time may have rendered some of them obsolete; but still there they are, under some form or other, in some one or other of their derivatives. 2. That each language, according to fixed laws of its own, differences the common element. The knowledge of the roots themselves, their modifications and gradual restrictions of meaning, must be sought in all the languages combined. The nature of each tongue determines the particular form that each root shall have in that tongue; hence we may sometimes, when at a loss for the meaning of a word, gain light upon the subject, by transferring the form in Anglo-Saxon to its equivalent in Gothic, Old Norse, or Old High Dutch. The only evil attendant on this work is its vast extent; but however it may terrify the idle, or baffle the dull, it is the most magnificent present ever made to Teutonic scholars; and as I have good reason to know, the AngloSaxon Grammar is beyond comparison the most philosophical and complete that has ever yet appeared in Europe." In 1815, Prof. Thorlekin of Copenhagen printed the poem of Beowulf with a Latin translation. In 1817, an Anglo-Saxon Grammar was printed at Stockholm by Prof. Rask of Copenhagen. The second edition, enlarged and improved by the author, was translated from the Danish by Benjamin Thorpe, and published at Copenhagen in 1830. The grammar is preceded by a preface of 60 pages, which is chiefly occupied by a comparison of the Anglo-Saxon with the Icelandic. The last part contains a clear account of Anglo-Saxon versification, and a selection of reading lessons.* In 1820, Dr. Grundtvig published at Copenand its cognate languages, are Bopp's Vocalismus oder Sprachvergleichende Kritiken über J. Grimm's Deutsche Grammatik, etc.; Schmitthenner's kurzes Deutsches Wörterbuch, 1834; and Dr. Becker's Die Deutsche Wortbildung, 1826. See Bo worth's Dictionary, Preface p. 167.

"Mr. Turner's and Sir F. Palgrave's important works must be carefully read by every Anglo-Saxon student. These for history, and Rask and Grimm for philosophy are rich sources of information for those who are interested in the Anglo-Saxon language and literature." Bosworth. To these we ought now to add Dr. Bosworth's Dictionary.

hagen a Danish paraphrase of Beowulf. A valuable commentary on the Anglo-Saxon Laws was published by Phillips at Göttingen in 1826. The Laws of Canute appeared at Copenhagen the same year, in Latin, with various readings and the Anglo-Saxon text; and in 1830, came out Dr. Mone's Materials and Researches for a History of the German Literature and Language, in which will be found several Anglo-Saxon interlinear glosses. Dr. J. A. Schmeller of Munich published in the same year, "The Heliand, or History of our Saviour's Life." 1836, a series of works on Anglo-Saxon literature by MM. de Larenaudière and Michel was commenced in Paris. The second volume of the collection came out in 1837 entitled: "Bibliothèque Anglo-Saxonne, par Francisque Michel." Though not without value, it would seem to be a work of more pretension than its merits justify. Prefixed to the work is a letter by Mr. J. M. Kemble, in English, which extends to upwards of 60 pages, giving a brief sketch of Anglo-Saxon literature in England and on the Continent.

In

We have now completed the brief sketch which we designed. The subject is one of great interest to all who speak the English language. A writer, in a late number of the Edinburgh Review, has endeavored to analyze the nature of those words for which the modern language is indebted to the more ancient. The words in the English language he estimates at 38,000, and of those derived from the Saxon, as five-eighths, or about 23,000; but those derived from the latter are of that character that their recurrence, from their very nature, oftener takes place than others, and hence the language partakes, in a still greater degree, of the older forms. English grammar is almost exclusively occupied with what is of Anglo-Saxon origin; the names of the greater part of objects of sense; those words which are expressive of our earliest and dearest connections, and the strongest principles of our nature, are mostly of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is asserted, also, that some of our best modern writers have been returning to a similar model, and, by necessity, the disuse of many words from the Greek and Latin, has introduced those of Saxon origin. Nearly all our national proverbs, those homely lessons of wisdom, in which so much thrift and carefulness shine out, are derived from the same tongue. To the Anglo-Saxon Wills, we must look for information

*

* See Petheram, p. 175, and Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1839.

respecting the law of real property, the descent and liabilities of lands, the nature of tenure and service, the power of the popular councils, a reasonable account of household arrangements, and disposition of real and personal estate.

In the actual and prospective spread of the English tongue, we find a new motive to study it fundamentally. The language of the venerable Bede is spoken at the sources of the Mississippi and the Indus. The institutions of Alfred are the defence and glory of states and empires, compared with which the kingdoms of Essex, Kent and East-Anglia were but insignificant villages. Anglo-American energy is peopling a continent with those who revere and love the great names that live in British story. English armies and navies are carrying the Ante-Norman dialect into the vale of Cashinire, over the wall of China, into the cannibal islands of the southern ocean. The descendants of a few wild but stout-hearted Angles, who left the woods of Germany 1400 years ago, are now thundering in the track of the crusaders, dictating the terms of their future intercourse with an empire of 400,000,000, casting into the shade the victories of Alexander, even on the identical ground which he traversed; in the same year tracing the long sought passage between North America and Asia, and discovering at the opposite pole a new continent. What is better still, the children of those whose light shone so brightly in the writings of Bede, Alfred and Alfric are now carrying the light of life back to the regions where it was first enkindled, and to other realms which Scandinavian enterprise had not then reached. Happy are we who enjoy the language, the liberties and the religion for which so many generations have toiled and bled; happier still, if we prove worthy descendants of such sires, good stewards of God's manifold gifts.

ARTICLE X.

REVIEW OF COLEMAN'S ANTIQUITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

By Ralph Emerson, D. D., Prof. of Eccl. Hist., Theol. Sem., Andover, Mass.

The Antiquities of the Christian Church. Translated and Compiled from the Works of Augusti, with numerous Additions from Rheinwald, Siegel and others. By Rev. Lyman Coleman. Andover & New-York: Gould, Newman & Saxton. Boston: Tappan & Dennett; Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. Philadelphia: Henry Perkins. 1841. pp. 557.

AMONG the bright features in the present aspect of the Protestant world, we may safely reckon the increasing attention that is paid to the early history of the Christian Church. For were it only the indulgence of curiosity, it would be one of the most rational and harmless indulgences of that knowledgeseeking faculty, which can be imagined;—far safer than the direction into which the serpent beguiled the same noble but perilous endowment of our first parents;-and far safer, we may add, than any of those directions into which he now beguiles unstable souls. To ponder veritable history of any kind is much better than to listen to the most enchanting fictions. And to the child of God, what can be more congenial than to study the record of the early struggles, perils and triumphs of that cause to which his heart is now devoted for eternity, and on which the heart of his Saviour was fixed from eternity;-to muse, too, on the infant efforts of the Church towards the systematic development of Christian doctrine, and then, on its childlike application of the doctrine itself, whether wisely or not, in the early formation of Christian life and Christian institutions? No employment, we say, of human curiosity is more harmless or more rational; and none, we may further say, is of better omen or brighter promise. It argues well for the single mind that spontaneously takes such a direction, and very well for that community which is brought, in any way, to receive such a direction.

It is not, however, nor can it be, the mere indulgence of curiosity. Good will come of it, and much every way. For,