| in lihton | bliccetunge | thine | eorthan | ymbhwyrfte | gesaeh | ond | onstyred | wes | eorthe |
| Inluxerunt | coruscationes | tuæ | orbi | terræ | vidit | et | commota | est | terra |
| in | sae | wegas | thine | ond | stige | thine | in | wetrum | miclum | ond | swethe | thine | ne | bioth oncnawen | |
| 20. | In | mari | viæ | tuæ | et | semitæ | tuæ | in | aquis | multis | et | vestigia | tua | non | cognoscentur |
| thu gelaeddes | swe swe | scep | folc | thin | in | honda | mosi | ond | aaron | |
| 21. | Deduxisti | sicut | oves | populum | tuum | in | manu | Moysi | et | Aaron |
These specimens of the Kentish dialect (with the exception of the Epinal Gloss) are of much later date than the times which our narrative has yet reached; and they are only offered as a proximate representation of that which was the first of English dialects to receive literary culture. This dialect is peculiarly interesting as being that from which the West Saxon was developed; in other words, it is the earliest form of that imperial dialect in which the great body of extant Saxon literature is preserved. But the Kentish did not ripen into the maturer outlines of the West Saxon without the intervention of a third dialect; and in order to appreciate this it is necessary for us to review that more spacious culture of which the scene was laid in the country of the Northern Angles.
[57] “Ecclesiastical History,” iii., 18.
[58] Aldhelm speaks of the study of Roman law in connexion with other scholastic studies, as Latin verses and music. But then that was after the new start given to education by Theodore and Hadrian. A century later, Alcuin described the studies at V York in this order,—grammar, rhetoric, law.—Wharton, “Anglia Sacra,” ii. 6; Alcuin’s poem, “De Pontificibus &c.”
[59] They are in Kemble, “Codex Diplomaticus,” Nos. 226, 228, 229, 231, 235, 238.
[60] Aldhelm’s “Works,” ed. Giles, p. 228.
[61] Seventeen consonants and six vowels; made with iron style and erased with the same, or else made with a bird’s quill; whatever the instrument, three fingers are the agents; and we can convey answer without delay even in situations where it would be inconvenient to speak.
[62] I have given the th, or þ, or ð, as in the manuscript. This is done in the present instance because a peculiar interest attaches to it in the earliest specimens of writing. The frequency of th, and the rarity of the monograms, is itself a distinguishing feature. Speaking in general terms of Anglo-Saxon literature, as it appears in manuscripts, it might be fairly said that there is no th; this sound is represented by ð or þ. And of these two, the modified Roman character, Ð ð, is found to prevail over the native Rune (þ) in the oldest extant writings. Throughout this little book the th is commonly used, as being most convenient for the general reader.