take it to be, is that the Norman soldiers did not so much concern themselves with pastures, parks, pens, and other places where these creatures were kept and looked after, which therefore preserved their ancient names, as with markets, kitchens, feasts, and entertainments, where the food was either sold, or prepared, or eaten, whence it received its new names."

Walter Scott describes the same thing, in his sprightly way, in Ivanhoe.

"Why, how call you those grunting brutes running about on their four legs?' demanded Wamba.

"Swine, fool, swine,' said the herd; every fool knows that.'

"And swine is good Saxon,' said the Jester; but how call you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and hung by the heels like a traitor?'

"Pork,' answered the swineherd.

"I am very glad every fool knows that too,' said Wamba; 'and pork, I think, is good Norman-French; and so when the brute lives, and is in charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes a Norman, and is called pork, when she is carried to the castle hall to feast among the nobles. What dost thou think of this doctrine, Friend Gurth, ha?'

"It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, however it got into thy fool's pate.'

"Nay, I can tell you more,' said Wamba, in the same tone. There is old Alderman Ox continues to hold his Saxon epithet while he is under the charge of serfs and bondmen such as thou, but becomes beef, a fiery French gallant, when he arrives before the worshipful jaws that are destined to consume him. "Mynheer Calf," too, becomes "Monsieur de Veau" in the like manner. He is Saxon when he requires tendance, and takes a Norman name when he becomes matter of enjoyment.'"-Ivanhoe, chap. i.

"Had the Plantagenets, as at one time seemed likely, succeeded in uniting all France under their government, it is probable that England would never have had an independent existence. The noble language of Milton and Burke would

have remained a rustic dialect, without a literature, a fixed grammar, or a fixed orthography, and would have been contemptuously abandoned to the use of boors. No man of English extraction would have risen to eminence except by becoming, in speech and habits, a Frenchman."-Macaulay's History of England, p. 14.

As exemplifying the profound ignorance of the English kings respecting the language of the larger portion of their subjects, we have the following anecdote: Henry II., who ascended the throne in 1154, having been addressed by a number of his subjects during a journey into Pembrokeshire, in a speech commencing with the words "Good olde Kynge!" asked of his attendants an interpretation of these words!

"The influence of the Norman Conquest upon the language of England was like that of a great inundation, which at first buries the face of the landscape under its waters, but which, at last subsiding, leaves behind it the elements of new beauty and fertility. Its first effect was to degrade the Saxon tongue to the exclusive use of the inferior orders; and by the transference of estates, ecclesiastical benefices, and civil dignities to Norman possessors, to give the French language, which had begun to prevail at court, from the time of Edward the Confessor, a more complete predominance among the higher classes of society. The native gentry of England were either driven into exile, or depressed into a state of dependence on their conqueror, which habituated them to speak his language. On the other hand, we received from the Normans the first germs of romantic poetry; and our language was ultimately indebted to them for a wealth and compass of expression which it probably would not otherwise have possessed."-Thomas Campbell's Essay on English Poetry, p.

MISCELLANEOUS ELEMENTS.

4.

§ 30. As by conquest, by travel, and extensively by commerce, those who speak the English language have come in contact with other nations, they have introduced into it many words which may be comprehended under the general term Miscellaneous elements. These are of two sorts: those that are incorporated into our language and are currently under

stood; as the Spanish word Sherry, the Arabic word Alkali, and the Persian word Turban, the Russian word Czar, and those that, even among the educated, are considered as strangers. Of this latter kind are such as the Oriental words Hummum, Kaftan, Gul, Bulbul, Nankeen.

THE RELATIONS OF THE

MESO-GOTHIC.

§31. The ancient Goths occupied the island of Gothland and the southern shores of the Baltic, and were in contact with the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, who emigrated to Britain, and spoke the same or a similar language. Early in the Christian era, a portion of them, leaving their ancient seats, established themselves on the coasts of the Black Sea. A section of these, called the Visigoths, or West Goths, being oppressed by the Huns, induced Ulphilas, their bishop, to implore the protection of the Roman Emperor Valens, in A.D. 376. He pleaded their cause so successfully, that they were permitted to cross the Danube and occupy the country of Masia. They were hence called Meso-Goths. Their bishop, having thus secured for them the peaceful possession of that country, that he might lead them to the fountain of Christian truth, translated for them, between A.D. 360 and 380, the Bible into the Gothic language. This language is, in fact, the pure German of that period, which the Goths had carried into Mosia. This is the earliest German dialect now in existence. The most famous of the remaining fragments of this translation is the Codex Argenteus, or Silver Book, so called from being transmitted to us in letters of a silver hue. The words appear to be formed on vellum by metallic characters heated, and then impressed on silver foil, which is attached to the vellum by some glutinous substance, somewhat in the manner in which bookbinders now letter and ornament their books. This document, containing parts of the four Gospels, is supposed to be of the fifth century, and made in Italy. It throws much light on the kindred language of the Anglo-Saxons.

Declension of a Weak Substantive; namely, one ending in a vowel, in Meso-Gothic. Masculine nom., Manna. (a man); acc., Mannan; dat., Mannin; gen., Mannins; pl.

nom., Mannans; acc., Mannans; dat., Mannam; gen., Man

nanê.

Declension of a Strong Substantive; namely, one ending in a consonant, in Maso-Gothic. Masculine nom., Fisks (a fish); acc., Fisk; dat., Fiska; gen., Fiskis; pl. nom., Fiskôs; acc., Fiskans; dat., Fiskam; gen., Fiskê.

Declension of Weak (or Definite) Adjectives in Mœso

The Conjugation of the Substantive Verb in Maso-Gothic

THE

Inf. Visan and Sijan (to be).

Part. Visands (being).

RELATIONS OF THE FRISIAN.

§ 32. The FRISIANS occupied a territory immediately south and west of the country of the Anglo-Saxons, and probably spoke nearly the same dialect. Encompassed on one side by the sea, and on the other by the Saxons, their ancient dialect they have retained to a remarkable degree; so that in the opinion of that distinguished scholar, Francis Junius, who spent two years in those parts of Frisia noted for their te

nacity of old manners and language, none of the German tongues approach so closely to the Anglo-Saxon as the Frisian. A careful comparison of the two languages, whether in the grammar or the lexicon, will lead us to the same conclusion. a, in Frisian, corresponds to ea in AngloSaxon; as, Dad, rad, las, stram, bam, cap, are, hap, Frisian; Dead, read, leas, stream, beam, ceap, eare, heap, AngloSaxon; Dead, red, loose, stream, tree (boom), bargain (cheap, chapman), ear, heap, English. These are specimens of an extensive correspondence in the three languages.