PREFACE.


The bulk of this little book has been a year or more in type; and, in
the mean time, some important publications have appeared which it was
too late for me to profit by. Among such I count the "Corpus Poeticum
Boreale" by Dr. Gudbrand Vigfusson and Mr. York Powell; the "Epinal
Gloss" and Alfred's "Orosius" by Mr. Sweet, for the Early English Text
Society; an American edition of the "Beowulf" by Professors Harrison and
Sharp; Ælfric's translation of "Alcuin upon Genesis," by Mr. MacLean. To
these I must add an article in the "Anglia" on the first and last of the
Riddles in the Exeter Book, by Dr. Moritz Trautmann. Another recent book
is the translation of Mr. Bernhard Ten Brink's work on "Early English
Literature," which comprises a description of the Anglo-Saxon period.
This book is not new to me, except for the English dress that Mr.
Kennedy has given to it. The German original has been often in my hand,
and although I am not aware of any particular debt, such as it would
have been a duty and a pleasure to acknowledge on the spot, yet I have a
sentiment that Mr. Ten Brink's sympathising and judicious treatment of
our earliest literature has been not only agreeable to read, but also
profitable for my work.

15, NORHAM ROAD, OXFORD,
_March 15th, 1884._




CONTENTS.