542 
Porsy '—thou sweet’st content 
That e'er heaven to mortals lent. 
Tho’ they as a trifle leave thee 
Whose dull thoughts can not conceive thee, 
Tho’ thou be to them a scorn 
‘That to nought but earth are born ; 
Let my life no longer be 
‘Than I am in love with thee. - 
Though our wise ones call thee madness, 
Let me never taste of gladness 
If L love not thy maddest fits 
More than all their greatest wits. 
And tho’ some too seeming holy 
Do account thy raptures folly, 
Thou dost teach me to contemn 
What makes knaves and fools of them.” 
In the remarks upon our language 
which form the conclusion of this work, 
Mr. Ellis advances an opinion that it ra- 
ther supplanted the Saxon, than succeed- 
ed to it as it were by legitimate inheri- 
tance. 
» & 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 ac- 
quired dominions, which had a necessary 
tendency to produce the changes that after- 
wards took place in the language of his sub- 
jects, 
«© Tt has been observed by all our histo- 
rians, that the Saxons, thongh a brave and 
warlike people, had made little progress in 
the art of fortification, and that to this cir- 
cumstance the Danes were indebted for the 
almost constant success of their piratical in- 
cursions. The Normans, on the contrary, 
surpassed all the nations of Europe in this 
branch of tactics; and William, availing 
himself of this superiority, erected numerous 
citadels, which, being filled with Norman 
garrisons, secured and over-awed all the 
towns in the kingdom, and afforded him the 
means of assembling his army with safety 
and expedition. 
«+ Tt is evident that each of these garrisons 
bore a much higher proportion to the num- 
ber of inhabitants in the neighbouring cities, 
at whose expence they were from the first 
supported, than that of the whole body of 
. Nornvans to the aggregate population of the 
kingdom. | It was necessary, therefore, that 
some mercantile jargon should be adopted 
as a medium of communication between the 
foreigners and the natives; and although 
such’a jargon, being only employed for oeca- 
sional purposes by each, could not immediate- 
ly displace and Lecomed substitute for the 
estabiished language of either: though the 
Normans were, during @ very considerable 
length of time, completely separated from 
their English neighbours by the strongest op- 
position of passions and prejudices: though 
‘even Sheir commercial intercourse was yery 
POETRY. 
limited: it may be doubted whether thes 
circumstances had not the effect, of ulti- 
mately rendering more complete that altera=_ 
tion of language, which they certainly con- 
tributed, in the first instance, to retard. 
“« Tn fact, the most striking peculiarity in 
the establishment of our vulgar English is, 
that it appears to have very suddenly super- 
seded the pure and Jegitimate Saxon, from 
which its elements were principally derived; 
instead of becoming its successor, as gene- 
rally has been supposed, by a slow and im- 
perceptible process. ‘The Saxon, certainly 
never ceased to be cultivated duiing more 
than a century after the Conquest, because 
the conclusion of the Saxon Chronicle; 
which relates the death of Stephen, cannot 
have been written before the following reign ; 
and the translation of Wace by Layamon is 
not likely to have been composed much be- 
fore the year 1180. From this period, I be- 
lieve, the Ianguage began to decline, but it 
did not cease till much later ; for we have a 
Saxon charter dated in the 43d year of Henry 
Ill. that is to say, in 1258. It has been 
often printed, particularly by Lord Lyttel- 
ton and Dr. Henry, both of whom ‘have 
thought it necessary to add an English trans- 
lation. On the other hand, we possess some 
English specimens, which, in the opinion of 
all our antiquaries, cannot be referred to a 
later period than 1250: it follows therefore 
. that, during several years after the establish- 
ment of our present mixed language, the 
Saxon continued to be the only form of 
speech known to a large portion of the inha- 
bitants of this country. 
‘© Now, if we consider that the Saxon, 
however it might have degenerated from its 
former elegance, still retained the advantage 
of aregular and established grammar, while 
the construction of the Anglo-Norman, or 
English, was extremely fluctuating and bas- 
barous; it will, probably, be thought that 
the latter could only have acquired the supe- 
riority over its parent language by means of 
the predominant wealth and influence of that 
part of the community by whom it was ex- 
clusively cultivated.” 
This work has been materially im- 
proved since its first appearances We 
still miss a few authors of merit or cele- 
brity : Hobbes, Chamberlayne, Chalk- 
hill, Cleaveland, Stanihurst, Abraham 
Fraunce. A second series of specimens 
selected from our early metrical ro- 
mances, to complete the sketch of our 
poetical antiquities, is nearly ready for 
the press. ‘The lovers of English litera- 
ture wili rejoice at this intelligence: 
unlike most antiquarians, Mr. Ellis pos- 
sesses not only the knowledge and the 
patience necessary to collect materials, 
but also the judgment to select, and the 
taste to arrange them. 
