XXI. We may call the First Century after the Norman Conquest the Infancy of the English Language (as distinct from Saxon); the Second its Childhood; the Third its Boyhood; the Fourth and Fifth its Youth, or Adolescence; and the time that has since elapsed its Manhood. Its Infancy and Childhood will thus correspond with what has before been designated the Period of Saxon and Semi-Saxon; its Boyhood with that of Early English; its Youth with that of Middle English; its Manhood with that of Modern English.

THE entire history that has been gone over may be exhibited in a tabular form as follows:

*

*The dates in the Table are accommodated to the Kings' reigns; but the Periods and Ages may be most conveniently considered as extending from about the middle of one century to the middle of another, and as therefore consisting in each case of one or more centuries.

But, of course, as in the case of the human being to whom it has been compared, the language was making progress during or within each of the stages into which its history has been divided as much as in passing from one to another of them.

ILLUSTRATIVE SPECIMENS.

I. Saxon and Semi-Saxon Period; A.D. 1066-1250.

1. From the latter portion of the Saxon Chronicle:about 1100.

A.D. 1087.- Dhissum thus gedone, se cyng Willelm cearde ongean to Normandige. . . He swealt on Normandige on thone nextan daeg aefter natiuitas Sce Marie; and man begyrgede hine on Cathum aet Sce [Sci?] Stephanes mynstre. . . Gif hwa gewilniged to gewitane hu gedon man he was, odhdhe hwilcne wurdhscipe he haefde, odhdhe hu fela lande he waere hlaford, thonne wille we be him awritan swa swa we hine ageaton; we him onlocodan, and odhre hwile on his hirede wunedon. . . He saette mycel deorfridh, and he laegde laga thaer widh ;-thaet [swa?] hwa swa sloge heort odhdhe hinde-thaet hine man sceold blendian (blinde?). (Swa?) he forbead tha heortas,-swylce eac tha baras. -Swa swidhe he lufode tha heodeorswylce he waere heora faeder.-Eac he saette be tham haran -thaet hi mosten freo faran.-His rice men hit

-ac he

maendon, and tha earme men hit beceorodan ;waes swa stidh-thaet he ne rohte heora eallra nidh.

...

[This thus done, the King William turned again to Normandy. He died in Normandy on the next day after (the) nativity of St. Mary (Nativitas Sanctæ Mariæ); and man (Ger. man, Fr. on, anciently homme) buried him in Caen, at St. Stephen's minster... If any may wish to know how to do man (what kind of man) he was, or what worship he had, or of how many lands he was lord, then will we by (in regard to) him write so as we him knew: we him beheld, and other while in his household wonned (dwelt)... He set much deer free-ground (he made many deer-parks),—and he laid (down) laws therewith; -that whoso slew hare or hind-that him man should blind.—As he forbade (to slay) the harts,—so also the boars.—So much he loved the high-deer-as he were their father.-Also he set by (appointed regarding) the hares-that they must free fare.-His rich men it moaned, and the poor men it lamented;—but he was so stern,—that he recked not the hatred of them all.]

The latter part of this passage is probably in rhyme, though that is not indicated in the MSS. Dr. Ingram (Saxon Chronicle, with an English Translation, 4to. Lond. 1823) has proposed the division of the lines which is here shown, including the substitution of blinde for blendian in the fourth line. Apparently, the swa which should have cmomenced the fifth line has got by mistake into the third. Dr. Ingram reads, " And he forbead.”

The element here printed dh is to be sounded as the th in this. It is represented in the Saxon MSS., and in the common Saxon printing, by one character; as the th heard in thin is by another. But there is by no means a perfect correspondence, as to this matter, between the old language and our present English; nor, indeed, are the two characters distinguished with any uniformity of usage in the Saxon MSS.