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For I have oft an angler seen,
With over-haste, lose all again;
When, if the fool had longer stay'd,
The harmless fish had been betray'd.

Ancient Song.

[From Dryden's Collection. Vol. vi. 341, ed. 1716.]

A SILLY shepherd woo'd, but wist not
How he might his mistress' favour gain.
On a time they met, but kiss'd not :-
Ever after that he sued in vain.
Blame her not, alas, though she said nay
To him that might, but fled away.

Time perpetually is changing;

Every moment alteration brings; Love and beauty still estranging; Women, are, alas, but wanton things! He that will his mistress' favour gain, Must take her in a merry vein.

A woman's fancy's like a fever,

Or an ague, that doth come by fits;
Hot and cold, but constant never,
Even as the pleasant humour hits.
Sick, and well again, and well, and sick,
In love it is a woman's trick.

Now she will, and then she will not;

Put her to the trial, if once she smile : Silly youth, thy fortunes spill not; Lingering labours oft themselves beguile. He that knocks, and can't get in, His pick-lock is not worth a pin.

A woman's nay is no denial;

Silly youths of love are served so; Put her to a further trial;

Haply she'll take it, and say no. For 'tis a trick which women use, What they love they will refuse.

Silly youth, why dost thou dally?

Having got time and season fit;

Then never stand "Sweet, shall I ? shall I?"
Nor too much commend an after-wit ;
For, he that will not when he may,

When he will he shall have nay.

CONCLUSION.

As it was a principal object of this Miscellany, to collect such a series of early poetry as should exhibit specimens of our language through all its gradations, it may, perhaps, be convenient to the reader to bring into one point of view the various conclusions or conjectures which these specimens have suggested. These are dispersed through the first volume of the work, so as to form a succinct and intelligible, if not a satisfactory history of the formation and early progress of the English language.

The Saxon conquerors of this country, having been converted to Christianity towards the close of the sixth century, appear to have engaged in the pursuit of learning with the usual eagerness of proselytes. Great numbers of them, travelling to Rome in quest of religious truth, distinguished themselves by their zeal and industry, and, returning to their own country, brought with them considerable stores of such learning as that age could furnish. At a time when single books were estimated so highly, as to form no trifling part of a valuable patrimony, large libraries were founded at Weremouth, in Northumberland, at Hexham, at York, and other places: and the writings of Venerable Bede, of Alcuinus, and many other scholars who issued from these seminaries, excited universal and merited admiration.

But the scholars of the eighth century, communicating only with each other, and taking little interest in the

VOL. III.

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concerns of such of their fellow-creatures as were unable to express their happiness or misery in Greek or Latin, do not seem to have produced very extensive benefits to mankind. So much of life was wasted in acquiring erudition, that little remained for the application of it; and, as nature seldom produces a long succession of prodigies, learning expired with its first professors. Alfred is said to have lamented that, in his youth, very few priests south of the Humber understood the ordinary service of the church; and that he knew none south of the Thames who were capable of turning a piece of Latin into Saxon.

It may, perhaps, have been matter of regret to this great monarch that he was unable to naturalize among his subjects the languages of Greece and Rome, which he considered as the depositories of much useful information; but, by translating into Saxon the most valuable works of antiquity that could then be procured, he accomplished his purpose more effectually. He at the same time enriched and polished his native language; which, being already the organ of the laws, and becoming, during his reign, the vehicle of religion, of science, and of the arts, acquired a copiousness and elegance, superior to that of any of the Teutonic or Romance dialects then spoken in Europe.

This era of pure Saxon literature was, however, of short duration. The incessant invasions, and ultimate subjugation of the country by the Danes, a nation of kindred origin, but far inferior to the Saxons in civilization, not only checked the progress of improvement, but nearly replunged our language into its pristine barbarism. Its subsequent recovery was prevented, first by the conduct of Edward the Confessor and his courtiers, who took a miserable pride in adopting a foreign idiom, instead of attempting to restore the energy of their own, and, soon afterwards, by the Norman Conquest.

The establishment of our present mixed language, and

indeed every link in the chain of its history, may, perhaps, be traced to this important event, as to its remote cause and origin. But the mode of its operation has not been, I think, satisfactorily explained; too much having been attributed to the supposed prejudices, and imaginary designs of the Conqueror, while the general circumstances in which he was placed, and the obvious tendency of his general policy, have been too much overlooked.

In the first place it seems evident, that if the Normans, after completing their conquest, had readily mingled with the native inhabitants of the country, they could have effected only a very slight and temporary alteration in the Saxon language. Their numbers were too small. For this reason, the ancestors of these very Normans who established themselves in Neustria, produced no sensible change in the Romance dialect of that province. If some few corruptions had been introduced by the first admixture, they probably would have disappeared after one or two generations; and the purity of the written language would have been preserved, by means of the almost innumerable models of composition which then existed, and of which considerable remains are still preserved.

But the general disaffection and spirit of revolt, excited among the English by the evident partiality of the Conqueror to the partners of his victory, compelled him to adopt a system of defence for his newly-acquired dominions, which had a necessary tendency to produce the changes that afterwards took place in the language of his subjects.

It has been observed by all our historians, that the Saxons, though a brave and warlike people, had made little progress in the art of fortification, and that to this circumstance the Danes were indebted for the almost constant success of their piratical incursions. The Normans, on the contrary, surpassed all the nations of Europe in this branch of tactics; and William, availing himself of

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