SELECTIONS FOR READING.
[ PROSE.]
Introductory.
I. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
This famous work, a series of progressive annals by unknown hands, embraces a period extending from Cæsar’s invasion of England to 1154. It is not known when or where these annals began to be recorded in English.
“The annals from the year 866—that of Ethelred’s ascent of the throne—to the year 887 seem to be the work of one mind. Not a single year is passed over, and to several is granted considerable space, especially to the years 871, 878, and 885. The whole has gained a certain roundness and fulness, because the events—nearly all of them episodes in the ever-recurring conflict with the Danes—are taken in their connection, and the thread dropped in one year is resumed in the next. Not only is the style in itself concise; it has a sort of nervous severity and pithy rigor. The construction is often antiquated, and suggests at times the freedom of poetry; though this purely historical prose is far removed from poetry in profusion of language.” (Ten Brink, Early Eng. Lit., I.)
II. The Translations of Alfred.
Alfred’s reign (871-901) may be divided into four periods. The first, the period of Danish invasion, extends from 871 to 881; the second, the period of comparative quiet, from 881 to 893; the third, the period of renewed strife (beginning with the incursions of Hasting), from 893 to 897; the fourth, the period of peace, from 897 to 901. His literary work probably falls in the second period.[*]
The works translated by Alfred from Latin into the vernacular were (1) Consolation of Philosophy (De Consolatione Philosophiae) by Boëthius (475-525), (2) Compendious History of the World (Historiarum Libri VII) by Orosius (c. 418), (3) Ecclesiastical History of the English (Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum) by Bede (672-735), and (4) Pastoral Care (De Cura Pastorali) by Pope Gregory the Great (540-604).