538 ' 8 
We cannot take leave of this very en- 
tertaining and masterly performance, 
without expressing ‘our regret at not 
finding, in this volume, the history of 
Border-poetry, which, if we mistake not, 
the editor had in his former volumes 
given us reason to expect. We trust 
POETRY. reg 
that he has not forgotten his promise, 
but has reserved the performance for cne 
of the works which we see announced as 
nearly ready for publication; viz. The 
lay of the last Minstrel, and an edition of 
Sir Tristram, as written in the thirteenth 
century by Thomas of Erceldoune. 
Art. IV. Specimens of the early English Poets ; to which is prefixed, an Historical Sketch 
of the Rise and Progress of English Poctry and Language. By G. Exuis, Esq. 
&d edit. corrected. 3 vols. 8vo. 
WE take advantage of the re-appear- 
ance of this work, to express our sense of 
its excellence. : 
The Historical Sketch, as it is modest- 
ty called, which comes down to the reign 
of Henry VIH. contains more of perti- 
nent matter than is to be found in the 
volumes of Warton; nothing irrelevant 
is introduced, and no labour of research 
has been spared to obtain whatever infor- 
mation appertained>to the subject. _ 
After some preliminary observations 
on the language of our ancestors, Mr. 
Ellis gives, as a specimen of Anglo- 
Saxon poetry, the’ ode on Athelstan’s 
victory, with a literal-translation, and 
tikewise a metrica} version, in the style 
aid lingitage of the 4th century. The 
List was written by the present ambassa- 
dor at Madrid, then un Eton school-boy, 
and is certainly the most wonderful in- 
stance of critical imitation, in one so 
young, that has ever fallen within our 
knowledge. ‘ 
The origin of rhyme is next consider- 
ed: on this subject some light has been 
thrown by Mr. ‘lurner’s essay in the 
Archeologia. An abstract of M. de la 
Ruc’s very curious dissertations is then 
given, and his decisive opinion adduced 
to prove the important fact, that @ was 
from Exgland and Normandy that the French 
‘received the frst Works which dese rve to be. 
cited in their Language. ‘Lhe section is 
concluded thus ; 
« But it is not sufficient that the mines of 
literature contained in our public libraries 
should be distinctly pointed out, unless some 
steps are taken to render them generally use- 
ful. All the information that can be obtained 
from the professed historians of the middle 
ages has been collected by the successive 
labour of our antiquaries, whose activity, 
acuteness,; and perseverance, do them thc 
highest honour: and their ingenuity has of-. 
ten been successful in deteeting, and extort- 
ing by comparative criticism, mapy particu- 
lars réspecting the. state of society, and the 
progress of arts and manners, the direct com- 
rnunication of which would have been ‘con- 
sidered by the monkish annalists as degrad- 
ing to the dignity of their narrative. Bus 
these details, which are neglected by the 
historian, form the principal materials of the 
poet. His business is minute and particular 
description ; he must seize on every thing 
that passes before his eyes ; and the dress, 
the customs, the occupations, the amuse- 
ments, a3 well as the arts and learning of the 
day, are necessary, either to the embellish- 
ment or the illastration of his subject. An 
edition of the works of the Norman poets, 
ox at least of a copious and well selected series, 
of extracts from them, would be a most va- 
luable present to the public; and, indeed, it 
is only inthis shape that they can be very 
generally useful: because the difficulty of 
the old manuscript characters is a permanent 
tax on the ingennity of cach successive stu- 
dent ; it is in every case a delay to the grati+ 
fication of his curiosity ; Be | the talent of 
deevphering obsolete characters is not neces- 
sarily attached to the power of profiting by 
the information which is concealed under 
them. Besides, a scarce and valuable manu- 
seg.pt cannot possibly be put into general 
circulation ; and many learned men are nes 
cessarily debarred, either by distance, or by 
infirmity, or by the pressure and variety of 
their occupations, from spending much time 
in those public repositories of learning, to. 
which the access has indeed been rendered 
easy, but could not be made convenient, by 
the liberality of their founders.” "ay 
A specimen is given of Layamon’s 
version of Wace, probably the last effort. 
of the Saxon language. The progress 
of our tongue is then traced, from iis 
earliest origin, with a brevity spited to 
the size of the work, and with such eru- 
dition and judgment, as must excite a 
wish in every reader that Mr. Ellis’s vo- 
lumes had been upon a larger scale. 
The following remarks are made upon 
the language of Chaucer, a subject 
which should have been investigated by 
his late biographer. y 
‘©The researches of Mr. Tyrwhitt have 
proved what Dryden denied, viz. that Chau- 
cer's versification, wherever his genuine text 
is preserved, was uniformly correct; although 
the harmony ef his ines has in many instances 
