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Title: The Story of Genesis and Exodus
       An Early English Song, about 1250 A.D.

Author: Unknown

Editor: Richard Morris

Release Date: December 13, 2015 [EBook #50685]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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The

Story of Genesis and Exodus,

AN EARLY ENGLISH SONG,

ABOUT A.D. 1250.

EDITED

FROM A UNIQUE MS. IN THE LIBRARY OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,

WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND GLOSSARY,

BY THE

REV. RICHARD MORRIS, LL.D.,

AUTHOR OF "HISTORICAL OUTLINES OF ENGLISH ACCIDENCE;"
EDITOR OF "HAMPOLE'S PRICKS OF CONSCIENCE;" "EARLY ENGLISH ALLITERATIVE POEMS,"
ETC. ETC.;
ONE OF THE VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

[Second and Revised Edition, 1873.]

LONDON:

PUBLISHED FOR THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY,

BY N. TRÜBNER & CO., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL.

MDCCCLXV.

PREFACE.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPT, ETC.

The Editor of the present valuable and interesting record of our old English speech will, no doubt, both astonish and alarm his readers by informing them that he has never seen the manuscript from which the work he professes to edit has been transcribed.

But, while the truth must be told, the reader need not entertain the slightest doubt or distrust as to the accuracy and faithfulness of the present edition; for, in the first place, the text was copied by Mr F. J. Furnivall, an experienced editor and a zealous lover of Old English lore; and, secondly, the proof sheets have been most carefully read with the manuscript by the Rev. W. W. Skeat, who has spared no pains to render the text an accurate copy of the original.^[1] I have not been satisfied with merely the general accuracy of the text, but all doubtful or difficult passages have been most carefully referred to, and compared with the manuscript, so that the more questionable a word may appear, either as regards its form or meaning, the more may the reader rest assured of its correctness, so that he may be under no apprehension that he is perplexed by any typographical error, but {vi}feel confident that he is dealing with the reading of the original copy.

The editorial portion of the present work includes the punctuation, marginal analysis, conjectural readings, a somewhat large body of annotations on the text of the poem, and a Glossarial Index, which, it is hoped, will be found to be complete, as well as useful for reference.

The Corpus manuscript^[2] is a small volume (about 8 in. × 4½ in.), bound in vellum, written on parchment in a hand of about 1300 A.D., with several final long ſ's, and consisting of eighty-one leaves. Genesis ends on fol. 49b; Exodus has the last two lines at the top of fol. 81a.

The writing is clear and regular; the letters are large, but the words are often very close together. Every initial letter has a little dab of red on it, and they are mostly capitals, except the b, the f, the ð, and sometimes other letters. Very rarely, however, B, F, and Ð are found as initial letters.

The illuminated letters are simply large vermilion letters without ornament, and are of an earlier form than the writing of the rest of the manuscript. Every line ends with a full stop (or metrical point), except, very rarely, when omitted by accident. Whenever this stop occurs in the middle of a line it has been marked thus (.) in the text.

DESCRIPTION OF THE POEM.

Our author, of whom, unfortunately, we know nothing, introduces his subject to his readers by telling them that they ought to love a rhyming story which teaches the "layman" (though he be learned in no books) how to love and serve God, and to live peaceably and amicably with his fellow {vii}Christians. His poem, or "song," as he calls it, is, he says, turned out of Latin into English speech; and as birds are joyful to see the dawning, so ought Christians to rejoice to hear the "true tale" of man's fall and subsequent redemption related in the vulgar tongue ("land's speech"), and in easy language ("small words").

So eschewing a "high style" and all profane subjects, he declares that he will undertake to sing no other song, although his present task should prove unsuccessful.^[3] Our poet next invokes the aid of the Deity for his song in the following terms:—

Then follows the Bible narrative of Genesis and Exodus, here and there varied by the introduction of a few of those sacred legends so common in the mediæval ages, but in the use of which, however, our author is far less bold than many subsequent writers, who, seeking to make their works attractive to the "lewed," did not scruple to mix up with the sacred history the most absurd and childish stories, which must have rendered such compilations more amusing than instructive. It seems to have been the object of the author of the present work to present to his readers, in as few words as possible, the most important facts contained in the Books of Genesis and Exodus without any elaboration or comment, and he has, therefore, omitted such facts as were not {viii}essentially necessary to the completeness of his narrative;^[5] while, on the other hand, he has included certain portions of the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy,^[6] so as to present to his readers a complete history of the wanderings of the Israelites, and the life of Moses their leader.

In order to excite the reader's curiosity, we subjoin a few passages, with a literal translation:—

LAMECH'S BIGAMY.

DEATH OF CAIN.

HOW THE CHILD MOSES BEHAVED BEFORE PHARAOH.

HOW MOSES DEFEATED THE ETHIOPIANS.

THE PLAGUE OF FROGS.

The reader must not be disappointed if he fails to find many traces in this work of our pious author's poetic skill; he must consider that the interest attaching to so early an English version of Old Testament History, as well as the philological value of the poem, fully compensates him for the absence of great literary merit, which is hardly to be expected in a work of this kind. And, moreover, we must recollect that it is to the patriotism, as well as piety, of such men as our author, that we owe the preservation of our noble language. The number of religious treatises written in English during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries proves that the dialect of religion approached more closely to the speech of the people than did the language of history or romance. And it is a curious fact that the most valuable monuments of our language are mostly theological, composed for the lewed and unlearned, who knew no other language than the one spoken by their forefathers, and who clung most tenaciously to their mother tongue, notwithstanding the changes consequent upon the Norman invasion, and the oppression of Norman rule, which, inasmuch as it fostered and kept up a patriotic spirit, exercised a most important and beneficial influence upon Early English literary culture and civilization.

DATE AND DIALECT OF THE POEM.

The mere examination of an Early English work with respect to its vocabulary and grammatical forms, will not enable us (as Price asserts) to settle satisfactorily the date at which it was written. The place of composition must also be taken into consideration, and a comparison, if possible, must be made with other works in the same dialect, the date of which is known with some degree of certainty. The date of the text before us must not, therefore, be confounded with that of the manuscript, which is, perhaps, a few years earlier {xiv}than A.D. 1300. A careful comparison of the poem with the Bestiary, written in the same dialect, and most probably by the same author^[9] (and printed by Mr Wright in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, p. 208, and by myself in an Old English Miscellany), leads me to think that the present poem is not later than A.D. 1250.^[10]

The vocabulary, which contains very few words of Romance origin,^[11] is not that of Robert of Gloucester, or of Robert of Brunne, but such as is found in Laȝamon's Brut, or Orm's paraphrases, and other works illustrating the second period of our language, i.e. the twelfth and earlier part of the thirteenth centuries.

The employment of a dual for the pronouns of the first and second persons marks an early date (certainly not much later than the time of Henry III.) even in works composed in the Southern dialect, which, it is well known, retained to a comparatively late period those Anglo-Saxon inflections that had long previously been disused in more Northern dialects.

The Corpus manuscript is evidently the work of a scribe, to whom the language was more or less archaic, which accounts for such blunders as ðrosing for ðrosem, waspene for wastme, lage for vn-lage, insile for vn-sile, grauen for ðrauen, etc.

The original copy of Genesis most probably terminated with ll. 2521-4:

The concluding lines, in which both the author and scribe are mentioned, seem to me to be the work of a subsequent transcriber:

The Ormulum is the earliest^[12] printed Early English work which has come down to us that exhibits the uniform employment of the termination -en (-n) as the inflection of the plural number, present tense, indicative mood; or, in other words, it is the earliest printed example we have of a Midland dialect. I say a Midland dialect, because the work of Orm is, after all, only a specimen of one variety of the Midland speech, most probably of that spoken in the northern part of the eastern counties of England, including what is commonly called the district of East Anglia.

Next in antiquity to the Ormulum come the Bestiary, already mentioned, and the present poem, both of which uniformly employ the Midland affix -en, to the exclusion of all others, as the inflection of the present plural indicative.

There are other peculiarities which these works have in common; and a careful comparison of them with the Ormulum induces me to assign them to the East Midland area; but there are certain peculiarities, to be noticed hereafter, which induce me to believe that the work of Orm represents {xvi}a dialect spoken in the northern part of this district, while the Story of Genesis and Exodus, together with the Bestiary, exhibits the speech of the more southern counties of the East Midland district.^[13] Thus, if the former be in the dialect of Lincoln, the latter is in that of Suffolk.^[14]

The chief points in which the present poem and the Bestiary agree with the Ormulum are the following:—

I. The absence of compound vowels.

In the Southern dialects we find the compound vowels ue, eo, ie, ea (yea). In the Ormulum eo occurs, but with the sound of e, and ea in Genesis and Exodus is written for e.

II. The change of an initial ð (th) into t after words ending in d, t, n, s, that is to say, after a dental or a sibilant.^[15]

This practice is much more frequent in the Bestiary, which is a proof, perhaps, that the present poem has suffered somewhat in the course of transcription.

III. Simplicity of grammatical structure and construction of sentences.^[16]

1. The neglect of gender and number in nouns.

2. The genitive singular of substantives end in -es in all genders.^[17]

3. The absence of the gen. pl. of substantives in -ene.

4. The employment of an uninflected article.^[18]

5. The use of ðat (that) as a demonstrative adjective, and not as the neuter of the article. The form ðas (those), common enough in the fourteenth century, does not occur in this poem or in the Ormulum.

6. No inflection of the adjective in the accusative singular. The phrase 'godun dai,' good day, in l. 1430, p. 41, contains a solitary instance of the accusative of the adjective, but it is, no doubt, a mere remnant of the older speech, just like our 'for the nonce' (= for then once), and is no proof that the writer or his readers employed it as a common inflection. The form godun is a corruption of godne, as it is more properly written in works in the Southern dialects as late as the middle of the fourteenth century.

7. Adjectives and adverbs with the termination -like.

The Southern form is, for adjectives, -lich (sing.), -liche {xviii}(pl.); for adverbs -liche. Thus the adoption of this affix really (though at first it appears a matter of no importance) marks a stage in the language when the distinction between the sing. and pl. form of adjectives was not very strictly observed, and was, moreover, a step towards our modern -ly, which is adjectival as well as adverbial.

Even in this poem adjectives occur in -li, as reuli = piteous, which is the earliest example I have met with. Orm employs double forms in -like and -liȝȝ (= ly?). -ly has arisen not out of -lich or -liche (which would have become lidge or litch), but out of some such softened form as liȝ.

8. The tendency to drop the initial y, i (A.S. ge) of the passive participles of strong verbs.

The Ormulum has two or three examples of this prefixal element, and in our poem it occurs but seldom.

IV. A tendency to drop the t of the second person of verbs, as as, hast; beas, beëst; findes, findest.

Examples of this practice are very common in the Bestiary and Genesis and Exodus, but it occurs only four times in the Ormulum.^[19] It was very common for the West-Midland to drop the -e of 2nd person in strong verbs. See Preface to O.E. Homilies, 1st Series.

V. The use of arn, aren, for ben of the Midland dialect, or beð of the Southern dialect.^[20]

VI. The employment of the adverbs thethen, hethen, quethen (of Scandinavian origin),^[21] instead of the Southern thenne (thennen), thence; henne (hennen), hence; whanne (whanene), whence.

VII. The use of oc, ok (also, and), a form which does not occur in any specimen of a Southern, West-Midland, or Northern dialect that has come under my notice. The use of {xix}on, o, for the Southern an or a, as onlike, olike, alike, on-rum, apart, on-sunder, asunder, is also worth noticing.

VIII. The coalition of the pronoun it with pronouns and verbs, as get (Bestiary) = she it (ȝhöt in Ormulum; cf. þüt = thu itt, thou it); tellet = tell it; wuldet = would it; ist = is it, is there; wast, was it, was there, etc. þit = þe + hit = who it, occurs in O.E. Homilies, 2nd Series.

The Ormulum, the Bestiary, and Genesis and Exodus have some few other points of agreement which will be found noticed in the Grammatical Details and Glossary. There are, however, grammatical forms in the latter works which do not present themselves in the former, and which, in my opinion, seem to indicate a more Southern origin. (See Preface to O.E. Homilies, 2nd Series.)

I. Plurals in n.

I do not recollect any examples of plurals in n in the Ormulum, except ehne, eyes; in this poem we have colen, coals; deden, deeds; fon, foes; siðen, sides; son, shoes; steden, places; sunen, sons; tren, trees; teten, teats; wunen, laws, abilities, etc. (see p. xxii.)

II. The pronoun is (es) = them.^[22] In the fourteenth century we only find this form is (hise) in pure Southern writers.^[23]

Our author, however, employs this curious pronoun in a way quite peculiar to himself, for he constantly joins it to a pronoun or a verb,^[28] and the compound was at first rather perplexing. Hes = he + is, he, them; wes = we + is, we, them;^[29] caldes, called them; dedis, did (placed) them; settes, set them; wroutis, wrought them, etc.

In the Kentish Ayenbite of 1340 he never coalesces with hise (them), e.g.:—

In Old Kentish Sermons (Old Eng. Miscell p. 28) has = ha + es = he them.

III. The pronoun he, they (Southern hii, heo; Northumbrian thay). Orm uses þeȝȝ, as well as þeȝȝer (their), þeȝȝm (them).^[36]

IV. hine, hin, in = him. This form occurs as late as 1340, and still exists under the form en, un, in the modern dialects of the South of England, but is not employed by Orm; nor do we find any traces of whan (whom), another very common example of the -n accusative inflection, either in the Ormulum or the present work.

V. The substitution of n for a vowel-ending in nouns. Dr Guest has noticed this peculiarity, but he confines this substitution to the nominative case of nouns of the n declension,^[37] and to the definite form of the adjective, which has, no doubt, given rise to the O.E. himseluen, etc., bothen (both), as well as, perhaps, to ouren (ours), heren (theirs), etc.

In the present poem, however, the n seems added to the vowel-ending of all cases except the possessive, in order to rhyme with a verb in the infinitive, a passive participle, or an adverb terminating in -en, and is not always limited to nouns of the -n declension, but represents in A.S. an a or e: 'on boken,'^[38] on book, l. 4; 'on soðe-sagen,' on sooth-saw, l. 14; meten, (acc.) meat, l. 2255, (nom.) 2079; sunen, (nom.) son, l. 1656; 'of luuen,' of love, 635; 'after ðe wunen' (after the custom), l. 688; steden, (nom.) place, 1114; 'for on-sagen,' for reproach, 2045; wliten, (nom.) face, 3614, (acc.) 2289; 'wið answeren,' in answer, 2673; bileuen, (acc.) remainder, 3154; uuerslagen, (acc.) lintel, 3155.

Dr Guest considers this curious nunnation to be a {xxii}Northern peculiarity, but as we do not meet with it (as far as I know) in any Northumbrian work, his statement is rather doubtful. On the other hand, it is well known that the plurals bretheren (broðeren^[39] in Shoreham), calveren^[40] (calves), children,^[41] doren (doors),^[42] eyren (eggs),^[43] honden (hands),^[44] kine,^[45] lambren (lambs),^[46] soulen (souls)—very common forms in the Southern dialects in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries—are examples of the substitution of n for, or in addition to, the vowel-ending, and were unknown in the Northern dialect.

The Southern dialect could drop or retain, at pleasure, the n final in the past participles, the preterite plurals, and infinitive mood of verbs.

VI. A very small Norse element in the vocabulary.

The only words of undoubtedly Norse element that occur in the present poem, and were unknown to Southern English, are—fro (from), ille (bad), for-sweðen (to burn), flitten (to remove), laðe (barn), lowe (flame), mirk (dark), ransaken (to search), swaðe (flame), til (to), uglike (horrible), werre (worse).^[47]

The Ormulum, being more Northern, contains a larger number of words that must be referred to one of the Scandinavian idioms:^[48]—afell (strength), afledd (begotten), beȝȝsc (bitter), *blunnt (blunt, dull), bracc (noise), *braþ (angry), *braþþe (anger), *brodd (shoot), brodden (to sprout), broþþfall (fit), *bun (ready, bound), *clake (accusation), *croc (device), *derf (bold), *dill (sluggish), *eggenn (to urge, egg on), *egginng (urging), *ettle, *flittenn (to remove, flit), *flitting {xxiii}(change, removal), *forrgart (opposed, condemned), *forrgloppned (disturbed with fear, astonishment), *gate (way), gowesst (watchest), *haȝherr (dexterous), haȝherleȝȝc (skill), *haȝherrlike (fitly), hof (moderation), hofelæs (immoderately), *ille (bad), *immess (variously), *kinndlenn (to kindle), *lasst (crime, fault), leȝhe (hire, pay), *leȝȝtenn (O.E. layte, inquire, seek), o-loft (aloft), *loȝhe (fire), *mune (must, will), naþe (grace), nowwt (cattle, O.N. naut; the Southern form is neet, nete, A.S. neát), *ploh (plough), *radd (afraid), *ros (praise), *rosen (to boast), *rosinng (boast), rowwst (voice), *scaldess (poets, O.E. scald, a great talker, boaster, E. scold), *sit (pain), *sket (quickly), *skirpeþþ (rejecteth), *sloþ (track, path), smikerr (beautiful, Eng. smug), sowwþess (sheep), stoffnedd (generated, O.E. stoven, trunk, stem), *summ (as), *till (to), *tór (hard, difficult), *trigg (true), uppbrixle (object of reproach, O.E. brixle, reproach), usell (wretched), *wand (rod), *wandraþ, O.E. wandreth (trouble), *werre (worse).

As most, if not all, of the words in the foregoing list are not found in works written in the Southern dialect,—so far as we at present know them—we may reasonably suppose that they indicate fairly the Danish element in the English literature of the 12th and 13th centuries. In the Northumbrian, and the West, and East-Midland productions of a century later this element prevails to a much larger extent, and Herbert Coleridge's list of such words may be largely increased (Phil. Soc. Trans., 1859, p. 26-30).

GRAMMATICAL DETAILS.

I. Nouns.

1. Number.—The plural is generally formed by adding -es to the singular. Some few nouns make the plural in -en, as feren^[49] (companions), fon (foes), goren (spears), loten (features), {xxiv}sunen (sons), teten (teats), tren (trees), weden (garments), wunen (laws). The plurals of brother and child are brethere and childere. Der (deer), erf, orf (cattle), got (goat), neat (oxen), sep (sheep), scrud (garbs), wrim (reptiles), of the neuter gender, are uninflected in the plural. Winter, ger (year), and nigt (night), are plural as in Anglo-Saxon.

2. Gender.—As a general rule the names of inanimate things are of the neuter gender. The names of towns, however, are considered as masculine.

3. Case.—The genitive singular and plural of masculine and feminine nouns end in -es. Occasionally proper nouns form the genitive in -is. The means or instrument occasionally stands in the genitive without the preposition: 'deades driuen,' influenced by death; 'swerdes slagen,' slain of the sword; 'teres wet,' wet with tears. Cf. 'floures bred,' bread made with flour; 'bredes mel,' meal consisting of bread; 'wines drinc,' drink consisting of wine.

Corresponding to the modern word kinsmen we have such forms as 'daiges-ligt' (daylight), 'hines-folk' (servants), 'wifeskin' (women). The genitive is used adverbially, as newes, anew; liues, alive.

We have a few traces of the genitive in -e in the following examples: 'helle nigt,' l. 89 (hell's night); 'helle bale,' l. 2525 (hell's bale); 'sterre name,' l. 134 (star's name); 'safte same,' l. 349 (shame of form); 'werlde nigt,' l. 1318 (world's night).^[50]

The genitive of fader and moder is, as is very seldom the case in Early English writers, fadres and modres.

An n is often added to the final -e (representing an A.Sax. {xxv}vowel-ending) in the nom., dat., and acc. of nouns. For examples, see p. xxi.

II. Adjectives.

1. Adjectives have a definite and an indefinite form; the former is used when the adjective is preceded by the definite article, a demonstrative adjective, or possessive pronoun.

2. Number.—The plural is formed by the addition of e to the singular.

But the -e (pl.) is seldom added to the past participle of irregular verbs. This forms the plurals thes (oblique cases these), this (thise). Tho is the plural of that.

Cases.—One makes the genitive ones; as, 'ones bles,' of one colour. The gen. pl. -re occurs in ald-re (= alre), of all; as, 'hure aldre bale,' the bale of us all; 'here aldre heuedes,' the heads of them all.

Degrees of comparison.—The comparative ends in -ere (-er), the superlative in -este (est).^[51] Very few irregular forms occur in the present poem.

POSITIVE.	COMPARATIVE.	SUPERLATIVE.
ille,	werre.	——
lite,	lesse,	leist.
long,	leng, lengere,	——
mikel,	mo, mor,	moste.
neg,	——	neste.
old,	eldere,	eldeste.

Numerals.—The Northumbrian forms in -nde have superseded the Southern ones in -the; as, seuende (seventh), egtende (eighth), tende (tenth).^[52]

III. Pronouns.

1. The first personal pronoun Ic is never found softened into Ich as in Laȝamon's Brut, the Ancren Riwle, and other Southern works. I is found only once or twice throughout the poem.

2. The first and second personal pronouns have a dual as well as a plural number; as, wit, we two; unc, us two; gunc, you two; gunker, of you two.

3. Hine (hin, in) (acc.) occasionally occurs, but more frequently him (dat.) does duty for it.

4. Ge, ghe,^[53] she, represents the A.Sax. héo (O.E. heo, ho, and hi). The curious form sge (= sye), as well as sche, occurs for she, the earliest instance of which is scæ in the A.Sax. Chronicle.

5. The neuter pronoun is written it and not hit, and is frequently used as a plural. It coalesces with the pronoun ge, ghe^[54] (she), and with the preterite of verbs terminating in -de or -te,^[55] and with some few irregular verbs; as, sagt (saw there), p. 37, l. 1301. The curious form negt (in l. 3964, p. 112) = neg + it = nigh it.

6. The A.Sax. hi (they) is represented by he = hie.^[56] He is common enough in the Romance of Havelok the Dane.^[57]

The pronouns, as has already been shown, coalesce with the plural (acc.) is (them), and give us the compounds hes, he + them; wes, we + them;^[58] mes = me + hes = one + them.^[59]

Not satisfied with joining he (they) to the pronoun is, the author of this poem occasionally employs the more perplexing combination hem = he + hem, he, them.

In l. 2673 hem seems to stand for he + hem, they + them.

The Southern me, one (Fr. on), is absent from this poem as well as from the Ormulum; its place is supplied by man and men^[61] used with a verb in the singular number. ðe is frequently used as a relative pronoun as well as ðat, but uninflected; quo (who), quat (what), are interrogative; whether signifies which of two.

TABLE OF PRONOUNS.

	DUAL.	PLURAL.	DUAL.	PLURAL.
Nom.	wit	we	——	ge
Gen.	——	ure	gunker	gure
Dat.	——	us	——	gu
Acc.	unc	us	gunc	gu

		SINGULAR.
Nom.	He	ge, ghe (sge, sche)	It
Gen.	His	Hire	Is, His
Dat.	Him	Hire	It
Acc.	Hin Him	Hire	It

		PLURAL.
	Masc.	Neut.	Interrogative.
Nom.	He	It	Quo
Gen.	Here	Here	Quase Was
Dat.	Hem	It	——
Acc.	Hem	It	Quam

The third personal pronoun is occasionally used reflexively; as him = himself. Self is used adjectively in the sense of own, very, and the form selven (from the A.Sax. sylfa) is joined to the personal pronouns; as ðeselven, himselven, etc.

The independent possessives are min, ðin, his (hise), hire (hers), ure (ours), gure (yours), here (theirs).^[62]

IV. Verbs.

Infinitive Mood.—The infinitive terminates in -en, which is seldom dropped.

There are no infinitives in -y or -ie, as in Southern English writers, nor do we find them in the Ormulum, or in Robert of Brunne's "Handlyng Synne," and they were, most probably, wholly unknown to the East Midland district.

The t in the 2nd pers. sing. pres. is occasionally dropped, as beas (= best), art, betes, beatest, findes, findest, etc.; but not in the preterite of regular verbs.

There are no instances of the 3rd pers. sing. present in -es in this poem.

The final e of the first and third persons (sing.) of the preterite tense is often dropped before a vowel or an h,^[63] and, in a few cases, through the carelessness of the scribe,^[64] it is unwritten before a consonant, where we should expect to, and do, find it in the majority of instances.

Some few strong verbs have become weak, as grapte (grasped, felt), gette (poured), smette (smote).

Imperative Mood.—Verbs forming the past tense in de or te take no inflexion in the 2nd pers. sing. imperative.

Participles.—1. The active or imperfect participle ends in -ende or -ande, the former being the Midland and the latter the Northumbrian form. The Southern affix is -inde, from which we have the modern -ing (O.E. -inge).

Our author rhymes specande with lockende, and in the Bestiary we find that the participle in -ande rhymes with an infinitive in -en,^[65] and this accounts for such forms as stinken = stinkende, brennen = brennende, in the present poem.

2. The passive or perfect participle of regular or weak verbs terminates in -ed; of irregular or strong verbs in -en. In bigote (begotten), funde (found), geue (given), the absence of the n is probably an error of the scribe.

3. The prefix i- or y- (A.S. ge-) is not of frequent {xxx}occurrence either in this poem or in the Bestiary; in the former we have i-wreken (avenged), i-wrogt (wrought), ybiried (buried), y-oten (called); and in the latter we find i-digt (arranged).

There are two conjugations of verbs, regular (weak) and irregular (strong). The regular verbs form their past tense in -ede, -de, or -te; the past participle ends in -ed, -d, or -t. Irregular verbs form their past tense by a change of vowel, and the past participle terminates in -en.

CONJUGATION OF REGULAR VERBS.

I. Class. Infinitive Mood—Loven, love.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

PARTICIPLES.

PRESENT OR ACTIVE.	PAST OR PASSIVE.
lovande,  lovende,	loved.

II. Class. Infinitive Mood—Heren, hear.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

PARTICIPLES.

PRESENT.	PAST.
herande herende	herd.

III. Class. Infinitive Mood—Seken, seek.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

PARTICIPLES.

PRESENT.	PAST.
sekande sekende	sogt.

CONJUGATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS.

A. (no change of vowel in the plural preterite.)

Infinitive Mood—Holden, hold.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

PARTICIPLES.

PRESENT.	PAST.
holdande holdand	holden.

B. (change of vowel in the preterite plural.)

Infinitive Mood—Helpen, help; singen, sing.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

PRESENT TENSE.
Singular.			Plural.
1. helpe,	singe,		helpen,	singen.
2. helpest,	singest,
3. helpeð.	singeð.

PAST.
Singular.			Plural.
1. halp,	sang,		holpen,	sungen.
2. holpe,[69]	sunge,[69]
3. halp.	sang.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

PARTICIPLES.

PRESENT.			PAST.
helpande,	singande,		holpen,	sungen.
helpende,	singende,

TABLE OF VERBS.

A.—Regular.

B.—IRREGULAR VERBS.

DIVISION I.

Class I. (a)	Beren (bear),	bar, bor,	boren.
	Bidden (bid),	bad,	beden.
	Bi-speken (speak),	bi-spac,	bi-speken.
	Bigeten (beget),	bigat,	bigeten. bigoten.
	Breken (break),	brac,	broken.
	Cumen (come),	cam,	cumen. comen.
	Eten (eat),	at,	eten.
	Forgeten (forget),	forgat,	forgeten.
	Giuen (give),	gaf,	geven. given.
	Nimen (take, go),	nam,	nomen. numen.
	Seren (shear),	——	soren.
	Stelen (steal),	stal,	stolen.
	Sweren (swear),	swor,	sworen.
	Beten (beat),	bet,	beten.
Class II.	Bidden (ask, entreat),	bed,	boden.
	Biheten Heten (promise),	bihet, het,	bihoten. hoten.
	Drepen (slay),	——	dropen.
	Fallen (fall),	fel,	fallen.
	Forhelen (hide),	——	forholen.
	Hingen (hang),	heng,	hangen.
{xxxv}	Holden (hold),	held,	holden.
	Lepen (leap),	lep,	lopen.
	Leten (leave),	let,	leten.
	Slepen (sleep),	slep,	slepen.
	Wepen (weep),	wep,	wepen.
	Wassen (wash),	weis,	wassen.
	Waxen (wax),	wex,	waxen.
	Wreken (avenge),	wrek,	wroken. wreken.
Class III.	Dragen (draw),	drog, drug,	dragen. drogen.
	Faren (go),	for,	faren.
	Forsaken (forsake),	forsoc,	forsaken.
	Graven (bury),	——	graven.
	Slon (slay),	slog, slug,	slagen.
	Standen (stand),	stod,	standen.
	Taken (take),	toc,	taken.
	Waken (wake),	woc,	waken.

DIVISION II.

Class I.	At-winden (depart),	at-wond.	——
	Abreden (awake),	abraid.	——
	Bergen (protect),	barg,	borgen. borwen.
	Binden (bind),	bond,	bunden.
	Bresten (burst),	brast,	brusten. brosten.
	Biginnen (begin),	bigan,	bigunnen.
	Delven (buy),	dalf,	dolven.
	Drinken (drink),	dranc,	drunken.
	Figten (fight),	fagt,	fogten.
	Finden (find),	fand, fond,	funden.
{xxxvi}	Gelden (requite),	gald, geald,	golden. gulden.
	Helpen (help),	halp,	holpen.
	Melten (melt),	malt,	molten.
	Scriðen (invite),	scroð.	——
	Singen (sing),	sang,	sungen.
	Sinken (sink),	sanc,	sunken.
	Springen (spring),	sprong,	sprungen.
	Sterfen (die),	starf,	storven.
	Stingen (sting),	stong,	stungen.
	Wergen (defend),	warg.	——
	Werpen (throw),	warp,	worpen.
	Ðresten (thrust),	ðrast.	——
Class II.	At-witen (go, depart),	atwot.	——
	Biten (bite),	bot,	biten.
	Driven (drive),	drof,	driven.
	Gliden (glide),	glod,	gliden.
	Risen (rise),	ros,	risen.
	Sinen (shine),	son,	sinen.
	Smiten (smite),	smot,	smiten.
	Writen (write),	wrot,	writen.
Class III.	Beden (offer),	bed, bead,	boden.
	Crepen (creep),	crep,	cropen.
	Chesen (choose),	ches,	chosen.
	Dregen (suffer),	dreg,	drogen.
	Flegen (fly),	fleg, flew,	flogen.
	Fleten (float),	flet,	floten.
	Forlese (lose),	forles, forleas,	forloren.
	Scheten (shoot),	schet.	——
	Segen (see),	seg, sag,	sogen. sowen.
{xxxvii}	Seðen (boil),	seð,	soden.
	Stigen (ascend),	steg,	stigen.
	Ten (go),	teg,	togen.
	Ðen (thrive),	ðeg,	ðogen.

Anomalous Verbs.

Cunen (can), 3 pers. sing. can, pl. cunen, pret. cuðe, p.p. cuð.

Daren (dare), pres. pl. duren, pret. durste.

Mogen (may), 3 pers. sing. mai, pl. mogen, mowen, pret. migte (2 pers. pret. migt).

Mot (may), pret. muste.

Ogen (owe, ought), 3 pers. sing. og, pl. ogen, pret. ogte.

Sal (shall), 2 pers. sing. salt, pl. sulen, pret. sulde, pret. pl. sulden.

Witen (know), 3 pers. sing. wot, pret. wiste.

Wilen (will), pret. wulde; nile = will not; nolde = would not.

The verb ben, 'to be,' is conjugated after the following manner:—

INDICATIVE MOOD.

PRESENT.
Singular.		Plural.
1. am, 2. art, beas, best, 3. is, beð,		ben, arn[70] (aren).
PAST.
Singular.		Plural.
1. was, 2. wore, 3. was,		weren, worn (woren, wore).

V. Adverbs.

The adverbs hence, thence, whence, do not occur, being superseded by the Norse forms heðen, ðeðen, queðen.

Adverbial Terminations.—Adverbs are formed from adjectives by the addition of e; as long (adj.), longe (adv.).

-um (dative) occurs in whilum and seldum.

-es (gen.) in lives, alive, newes, anew.

-en in abouten, aboven, binnen, biforen (foren), bisiden, uten, wiðouten.

VI. Prepositions.

Fro (Northumbrian fra) takes the place of the Southern fram (from), and til (unknown to Southern writers) occurs frequently for to.

THE METRE OF THE POEM.

The essence of the system of versification which the poet has adopted is, briefly, that every line shall have four accented syllables in it; the unaccented syllables being left in some measure, as it were, to take care of themselves.

The words which Coleridge prefixed to his poem of "Christabel" are by no means inapplicable here. He says, "I have only to add, that the metre of the 'Christabel' is not, properly speaking, irregular, though it may seem to be so from its being founded on a new (?) principle: namely, that of counting in each line the accents, not the syllables. Though the latter may vary from seven to twelve, yet in each line the accents will be found to be only four."

The normal form of the line of the present poem is that simple one of eight syllables, consisting of four (so-called) iambics, which is so common in English poetry. But it should be remembered that this line is at all times convertible with one of seven syllables, generally described as consisting of three trochees and a long syllable. This is easily exemplified by taking the first two lines of the Conclusion to the Second Part of Coleridge's "Christabel."

A	lit	|	tle	child	|	a	lim	|	ber	elf	||
Singing		|	dancing		|	to	it	|	self	||

This is adopting the common form of scansion given in English prosodies, which is far from being a very correct method; since to make trochaic and iambic metres convertible is to introduce all sorts of confusion.

The fact is, that the seven-syllable line, though trochaic to the ear, is really an iambic line, of which the first syllable is deficient, i.e., supplied by a pause; and the truer scansion is,

At any rate, to adopt this latter method (of beginning to mark off the feet from the end, instead of from the beginning of the line) will be found to be far more convenient in practice; since the accented {xl}syllables, instead of drifting about, will thus always be placed at the end of a foot. We should thus, for instance, introduce the same marking off of syllables in the line,

as we have in the line,

Examples of couplets containing a line of each kind are not uncommon; thus, ll. 29, 30:—

Also lines 289, 290.

See also ll. 309, 310; 439, 440, etc.

The introduction of these seven-syllable lines, far from being a defect, is a natural and agreeable variation, adopted by all our best poets.

The next chief variation to be noted is that two very rapid syllables are often (as in other English metres) substituted for an unaccented one, as in l. 88:—

Again, in l. 93:—

and in l. 474:—

See also ll. 321, 503, 505, 656, etc.; and compare the line from "Christabel:"

The syllables thus most frequently slurred over—the term elided is but weak and improper, explaining nothing—are the final syllables -en, -er, -et, etc., as in ll. 96 and 116:—

Some lines—and these sound rather harshly—require a little forcing to make them conform to the strict type; as, e.g., l. 66, which, to make it agree with the rest, must be written,

A poet's business is, in fact, to take care that the syllables which are to be rapidly pronounced are such as easily can be so; and that the syllables which are to be heavily accented are naturally those that ought to be. If he gives attention to this it does not much matter whether each foot has two or three syllables in it.

A man is master of his art when he can write—

With respect to the final -en, it should be further noted—

(1) That it is sometimes fully pronounced, as in ll. 87 and 91—

(2) That it is sometimes rapidly slurred over, as in l. 96, already cited; and

(3) That (especially after an r) it is often so pronounced as to be incorporated with the syllable preceding it, so that the whole word, supposing it a dissyllable in appearance, becomes monosyllabic in pronunciation; as in l. 514—

and, again, in l. 655—

Thus, we may find the same word written and pronounced as a dissyllable—

and, in another place, written and pronounced as a monosyllable—

Thus, the n must have been very slightly touched, as is shewn also by the riming of e and en. Examples, ll. 11, 12; 363, 364, etc.

As to the final -e, it may be observed that it is most frequently pronounced just when it is most essential, viz., when it marks a grammatical inflexion, or an adverbial form, as, e.g.:—

and,

In the second place, it is very liable to be slurred over before a vowel following, as in l. 148—

and, thirdly, it is frequently added to words without cause, and is therefore mute, as in l. 60—

It seems to be sometimes mute after -ed, when -ede forms part of a verb. See ll. 1396, 1433, etc.

Attention to the metre may detect errors in the text. Thus, in l. 75, the word dais is missing:—

See l. 113, which proves the point.

In l. 1846 the definite form of the adjective is required, and strong should be stronge—

It has been noted that the first foot of a line sometimes consists of one syllable only, and that one accented. By a bolder license, this is sometimes the case not only with the first foot, but with other feet, e.g. with the third foot. Line 2572:—

Again, with the last foot, as in l. 3580, unless we read duste:—

Very many other curious variations occur, which the reader will probably observe for himself with some interest. Thus, in l. 60, just above cited, the question arises whether or not the r in werld was pronounced with so strong a burr as to render the word dissyllabic, as is often the case in Scotch poetry with words containing rl, rn, etc.

CONTRACTIONS USED IN THE GLOSSARY.

THE STORY OF GENESIS AND EXODUS, ETC.

GOD MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH BY HIS WORD.

THE DEVIL'S FALL FROM HEAVEN. THE FIRST LIGHT DAWNS.

THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH ARE PARTED.

THE STARS ARE SET, AND FOWL AND FISH ARE MADE.

CATTLE ARE MADE FOR MAN'S SERVICE. ADAM IS CREATED.

OF PARADISE AND THE CREATION OF EVE.

THE SEVENTH DAY IS MADE A DAY OF REST.

LUCIFER IS CAST INTO HELL, AND THERE PLOTS MAN'S FALL.

EVE AND ADAM EAT THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT.

GOD'S CURSE ON ADAM AND EVE, AND THE ADDER.

EVE BEGETS CAIN AND ABEL, AND OTHER CHILDREN.

CAIN BUILDS ENO. LAMECH BEGINS BIGAMY.

LAMECH KILLS CAIN AND HIS OWN SERVANT.

OF SETH, ENOCH, METHUSELAH, AND NOAH.

OF THE WORLD'S CORRUPTION AND NOAH'S FLOOD.

THE BUILDING OF THE ARK. THE FLOOD.

THE ARK STOOD IN ARMENIA.

THE RAINBOW APPEARS IN THE WELKIN.

CONFUSION OF TONGUES. ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY.

ABRAM LEAVES MESOPOTAMIA.

ABRAM REACHES CANAAN. HE GOES TO EGYPT.

PHARAOH TAKES AWAY SARAI, AND IS PUNISHED BY A PLAGUE.

ABRAM DWELLS AT MAMRE. LOT IN SODOM.

THE BATTLE OF FOUR KINGS AGAINST FIVE.

ABRAM RESCUES LOT. MELCHIZEDEK BLESSES HIM.

ABRAM COMPLAINS FOR WANT OF AN HEIR.

SARAI BEING BARREN GIVES HAGAR TO ABRAM.