the contrary opinion. Hickes led the way, by maintaining that the language of the work published by Junius was full of Dano-Saxon peculiarities, and therefore could not be referred to so early a date as the seventh century. But he did not succeed in establishing the fact of these peculiarities; and even if they existed, there is no reason why they should not be laid to the charge of some later transcriber, rather than of the author. Rask, however, the learned Dane to whom Anglo-Saxon scholars owe so much, was decidedly of opinion that the work was not written by Beda's Cadmon; he always speaks of its author as the 'pseudo-Cadmon.' This also seems to be the general opinion in Germany. On the other hand, Thorpe1 and Guest 2 are disposed to uphold the correctness of the designation assigned by Junius. 13. If there were no means of trying the question, other than a comparison of Junius's poem with the meagre description of Cadmon given by Beda will furnish, I do not see why we should not hold with considerable confidence the opinion that the two are identical. But the reader shall judge for himself. Beda writes of Cadmon thus:-' He sang of the creation of the world and the origin of the human race, and the whole history as found in Genesis, concerning the going forth of Israel out of Egypt, and their entrance into the land of promise; of very many other narratives in Holy Scripture, of the Incarnation of our Lord, his Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven; of the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the teaching of the Apostles. He also composed many verses concerning the terror of the judgment to come, and the fearfulness of the punishments of hell, and the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom; besides a great many others on the loving-kindnesses and judgments of God; and in all his compositions he strove to wean men from the love of vice, and stimulate them to the love and right understanding of virtue.' 14. The following rough notes of the contents of the 'Paraphrase,' as printed by Mr. Thorpe, were made without any reference to the passage in Beda :— 15. 'Book I.—The Creation; Revolt of the Angels; they are hurled into hell; the Fall; Expulsion from Eden (pp. 1–59). From Cain and Abel to the Flood (pp. 59-93). From the Flood to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and thence regularly on to the Sacrifice of Isaac (pp. 94-177). Here is a break; Canto xlii. makes a fresh start on the subject of 1 Thorpe's Cadmon, Edited for the Society of Antiquaries, 1832. “Moyses dómas,” the Statutes of Moses; but the story of Moses is told very concisely down to the passage of the Red Sea, on which the writer descants lengthily. The passage from page 200 to page 206 reads like an interpolation of later date; it goes back again to Noah and Abraham's sacrifice. At page 207 the narrative of the passage of the Red Sea resumes, and continues to page 216. The remainder of the first book (pp. 216– 263) is a paraphrase of parts of the Book of Daniel; the Three Children in the Fiery Furnace; their Song; Daniel's Dream-wisdom; Belshazzar. 16. Book II.-The complaints of the fallen angels and other inhabitants of hell; the descent of Christ; his intercourse with the twelve before the Ascension; his Ascension; description of the Last Judgment. (pp. 264–313.)’ 6 17. From this analysis it is manifest that the contents of the MS. printed by Junius and Thorpe correspond very well as far as they go, allowing for gaps and omissions, with Beda's description of the writings of Cadmon. There is, however, one other piece of evidence producible, which bears, though perhaps with no great force, the other way. Beda professes to give the substance, in Latin, of the opening of Cadmon's poem. After speaking of the manner in which the verses were, so to speak, given to him, he continues, 'quorum iste est sensus :—Ñunc laudare debemus auctorem regni cœlestis, potentiam Creatoris, et consilium illius, facta patris gloriæ. Quomodo ille, cum sit eternus Deus, omnium miraculorum auctor extitit; qui primo filiis hominum cœlum pro culmine tecti, dehinc terram custos humani generis omnipotens creavit. Hic est sensus,' be continues, non autem ordo ipse verborum, quæ dormiens ille canebat ; neque enim possunt carmina, quamvis optime composita, ex alia in aliam linguam, ad verbum, sine detrimento sui decoris ac dignitatis, transferri.' In King Alfred's translation of Beda, a metrical rendering of the above Latin version of Cadmon's opening is given, introduced by the words, para endebyrdnes is pis, 'their order is this.' At the close of his version, Alfred, who, though he omits much, generally adheres closely to his original in the parts which he translates, forbears to translate the passage from 'Hic est sensus to transferri.' This he would naturally do, if the lines which he had just written down were really known by him to have been taken from the actual work of Cadmon; for in that case he had given the 'ordo ipse verborum'; and it would seem absurd to insert in his translation words importing the exact contrary. But if the lines inserted were, as some suppose, his own composition-not the ipsissima verba of Cadmon at all, but a more metrical rendering of Beda's Latin-would he not have felt himself bound to append to them, though not the exact expressions of Beda, yet some analogous explanatory or justificatory statement? Again, the substitution of their order is this,' as introductory words, instead of their meaning is this' (quorum iste est sensus), taken in connection with Beda's disclaimer of having given the ordo ipse,' certainly agrees better with the supposition that Alfred was quoting the very words of Cadmon, and knew it, than with any other. And yet, if we adopt this conclusion, how can we any longer identify Cadmon with the Paraphrast? For the version of the opening of the poem, as given by Alfred, stands very far apart from that in the Paraphrase, though with a general agreement in tenor. The following is a literal translation of Alfred's version: 'Now must we praise the warden of the heavenly kingdom, the might of the Creator, and his purpose, the work of the Father of glory; how he, the eternal Lord, established the beginning of each one of his marvels. He first, the holy Creator, framed for the children of earth heaven to be their roof; then afterwards he, the eternal Lord, the King almighty, guardian of mankind, formed the earth, a home for men.' 18. On the other hand the opening of the Paraphrase runs as follows: 'For us it is very right that we praise with our words, love in our souls, the warden of the heavens, the glorious king of hosts; he is of powers the essence, head of all high creations, the Ruler Almighty. There was never for him first beginning, nor cometh now end for the eternal Lord; but he is in his kingdom above heaven-thrones, in high majesty, sooth-fast and very firm.' 19. To this it may be added, that in a very ancient and valuable MS. of the Historia Ecclesiastica, written in the eighth century, preserved in the University library at Cambridge, something like positive evidence to the genuineness of Alfred's version is on record. At the end of the history, on the back of the last leaf of the MS., occur, without any preface, some AngloSaxon lines, written in an eighth-century hand. They commence, Nu scylun hergean hefaen-ricaes ward,' and end, 'firum foldu frea allmaectig.' Then come the words, Primo cantavit Cædmon istud carmen' (Cædmon first sang this song, or poem). On comparing the lines with Alfred's version of the opening of Cadmon, we find that they exactly agree with it, the only difference being that this is in the Northumbrian, Alfred's in the West-Saxon dialect. It certainly looks as if the writer of these lines had Cadmon's poem before him, or was setting them 6 down from memory. But it is very unfortunate that he stops just where Beda stops; one more line of Anglo-Saxon, followed by the Latin note quoted above, would have left it out of doubt that we were reading Cadmon's own words. As it is, there is just the possibility that this writer, and Alfred also, were only translating from Beda; but I think that the probability lies the other way. 20. Andreas and Elene constitute the principal portion of the poetry of the Codex Vercellensis, a manuscript discovered by Blume in the library at Vercelli, in the year 1836, printed in the appendix to the report of the Record Commission in 1837, published with an excellent introduction and notes by Jacob Grimm, at Cassel, in 1840, and edited by J. M. Kemble, for the Elfric Society, in 1853. The two poems are, though in the same handwriting, quite unconnected with one another. Andreas, containing 1722 lines, is a narrative of some of the remarkable adventures of the apostle St. Andrew, in aid of the evangelist St. Matthew, who had fallen into the hands of a tribe of idolatrous cannibals in the land of Mermedonia. The Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti, published by Fabricius, contains a brief abstract of this legend; but a Greek MS. at Paris, entitled Πράξεις ̓Ανδρέου καὶ Ματθαίου, furnishes a narrative approaching very closely to that of the Anglo-Saxon poem. 21. The chief incidents of the poem are as follows. St. Andrew, while preaching in Achaia, is warned by a voice from heaven to go to the aid of his fellow-labourer and friend St. Matthew, who was in Mermedonia, and in great danger. He comes down to the shore, and embarks in a boat in which the Deity himself and two angels are the rowers. A storm arises, and gives occasion to much edifying talk between the boatmen and the passengers. Andrew and his friends fall asleep, and next morning find themselves lying on the beach in Mermedonia. Unseen, Andrew walks up to the castle where the prisoner is confined; the seven guards before the prison-door fall down dead; the door flies open; the friends embrace. St. Matthew and his fellow-prisoners depart immediately; Andrew returns to the city. About this time the Mermedonians send for a fat prisoner to the jail, and their disappointment upon discovering that the birds have flown is inconsolable. But a breakfast must be had, so they at length resolve upon casting lots amongst themselves, to determine who shall be sacrificed to the appetites of the rest. The lot falls on a young man ; but, at the prayer of Andrew, all weapons lifted against him become like wax. The devil now appears, and reveals the presence of the saint; Andrew is seized, and dragged all day over the hard roads and rocks, drogon deormode æfter dunscræfum, This lingering martyrdom is renewed during several days, the saint being healed of his wounds each night, and strengthened to endurance by his Almighty protector. At length, after various astounding miracles, the persecutors are all overawed into baptism, and the saint, after appointing a pious bishop over them, named Plato, commits them to the grace of God, and departs, to their infinite sorrow, for his own country. 22. The subject of Elene, that is, Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, is the finding of the true cross at Jerusalem. The well-known story is adhered to pretty closely in its main features, though with much amplification in details. The discovery of the holy nails used in the Crucifixion receives especial prominence; indeed, it almost throws the Invention of the Cross into the shade. The poem contains 1,321 lines. 23. Both stories, then, in substance and in details, are taken from church tradition; yet the spirit of the time and the people is manifest, perhaps, in the very choice of the subjects, especially in that of Elene. A Teuton loved before all things to hear of war and fighting; now Constantine in the story only embraces Christianity because it has brought him victory in war; nor is the cross on the sacred Labarum sufficient for him-out of the holy nails must be fashioned a bit for his bridle, which victory ever waits upon. In Andreas there is indeed no fighting; but there is a striking picture of a solemn Volks-thing, or national assembly; and in the account of the divine ferryman, we cannot but trace the sagas about the Saxon Woden, according to which he was wont, in the disguise of a ferryman, to transport and deliver men from danger. The patient, almost monotonous, endurance of the saint, is indeed a purely Christian feature; but when we find him with all the wounds and bruises of the day miraculously healed before the morning, we are reminded of the fact that the sagas attribute the same marvel to the 'Hiadningar,' the ancient heroes of the north, though indeed with this difference, that the latter have fought valiantly, and not got more hard blows than they have given. 1 They dragged the beloved one among the mountain dens, the strongsouled round the rocky summits, even as wide as ways lay, the old work of giants within the burgh, in the street paved with stones of many colours. A storm arose at the castle court, no small clamour of the heathen host.' |