Anglo-Saxon thought and action.

THE CAEDMONIAN CYCLE

Caedmon.--In 597 St. Augustine began to teach the Christian religion
to the Anglo-Saxons. The results of this teaching were shown in the
subsequent literature. In what is known as Caedmon's _Paraphrase_, the
next great Anglo-Saxon epic, there is no decrease in the warlike
spirit. Instead of Grendel, we have Satan as the arch-enemy against
whom the battle rages.

Caedmon, who died in 680, was until middle life a layman attached to
the monastery at Whitby, on the northeast coast of Yorkshire. Since
the _Paraphrase_ has been attributed to Caedmon on the authority of
the Saxon historian Bede, born in 673, we shall quote Bede himself on
the subject, from his famous _Ecclesiastical History_:--

"Caedmon, having lived in a secular habit until he was well advanced
in years, had never learned anything of versifying; for which
reason, being sometimes at entertainments, where it was agreed for
the sake of mirth that all present should sing in their turns, when
he saw the instrument come toward him, he rose from table and
returned home.

"Having done so at a certain time, and gone out of the house where
the entertainment was, to the stable, where he had to take care of
the horses that night, he there composed himself to rest at the
proper time; a person appeared to him in his sleep, and, saluting
him by his name, said, 'Caedmon, sing some song to me.' He answered,
'I cannot sing; for that was the reason why I left the entertainment