118 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



For since A L, A F, A M are radii of the same circle, they are 

 9,11 equal (Def. 15) ; therefore AL = AM. But by construction 

 of Euc. 1. 9, AD=AE ; therefore, by Axiom 3, the remainders D L, 

 E M are equal. Also, by Euc. I. 5, the angles on the other side the 

 base of an isosceles triangle are equal ; therefore the angle L D E 

 = angle DEM. Therefore, since L D = E M, and D E is common 

 to the two triangles L D E, DEM, therefore base L E = base D M. 

 Q- a D. 



Corollary. It is obvious by symmetry that LE, DM will 

 intersect on A r, since A F bisects the angle B A c. 



Our next article will extend as far as Euc. I. 24 ; and we 

 shall, deduce proofs of the following propositions : 



PROPOSITION XIII. In a triangle A B c, if B o, c o bisecting 

 the angles ABC, EGA, and 

 meeting in O, be equal, then 

 shal} ;A B be equal to A C. 



PROPOSITION XIV. In a 

 triangle ABC, if BO, c o bisect- 

 ing the angles A B c, B c A, and 

 meeting in O, be equal, then 

 shall o A bisect the angle ABC. 



PROPOSITION XV. In the 

 figure of Euc. I. 1, if the cir- 

 cles cut again in F, and c A pro- 

 duced meet the circle again in 

 H, then C H is greater than c F. 



PROPOSITION XVI. In the figure of Euc. I. 5, prove that 

 B G must be greater than B c. 



PROPOSITION XVII. In the figure of Euc. I. 16, if E c 

 be equal to E F, the angle ABC will be equal to the angle 



BCT. 



PROPOSITION XVIII. In the figure of Euc. I. 22, if the 

 circles cut again in L, then shall D K be equal to D L. 



PROPOSITION XIX. At a given point in a given straight 

 line, to make an angle equal to a given rectilineal angle. 



* # * Another solution of Euc. I. 23. 



PROPOSITION XX. In the figure of Euc. I. 15, if E F, E G 

 be drawn at right angles respectively to A B and c D, the angle 

 F EG 13 equal to the angle B E D or A E c. 



Fig. 12. 



WESSONS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. II. 



LITERATURE IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE AGE OF 



CHAUCER. 



As we have chosen the age of Chaucer as that at which to < 

 commence the history of English Literature, it would be i 

 inappropriate to attempt any minute or elaborate account of 

 those remains which have come down to us of earlier forma 

 of literature. But in order that the student may understand 

 how great the change was which took place in the latter part 

 of the fourteenth century, and how much English literature 

 owes to the great writers of that period, it is necessary that he 

 should know something of those who preceded them. 



THE PERIOD BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 



From our knowledge of the character, habits, and pursuits of 

 the Saxon invaders of England, it would not be difficult to guess 

 what would prove to be the character of the compositions 

 brought by them from their German home, or produced among 

 them during the earlier days of their contest with the Britons. 

 These " hosts of heathen swarming over northern seas," and 

 overrunning helpless Britain, were wild, fierce, and uncivilised ; 

 their life was wholly made up of war and adventure ; their gods 

 were gods of battles, and their national heroes were warriors ; 

 their conquest of Britain itself displayed energy and courage in 

 abundance, and the most relentless cruelty in no less degree ; and 

 their literature (if we may be allowed to stretch a point, and 

 apply the word to compositions which were not generally written, 

 but handed down from mouth to mouth) consisted of songs of 

 war and adventure, the achievements of heroes related in verse. 

 By far the most important specimen of the poetry of this period 

 is the " Lay of Beowulf." The date of the poem is doubtful. 

 It may have been brought (as some think) by the Saxons from 

 Germany to their new home in England ; or it may have been 

 composed in England. The scene of the poem, too, is doubtful, 

 whether it be Sweden, or Denmark, or England, or mere dream- 

 land. But it is clear that it was composed by and for Saxona 

 during, if not before, the early years of their settlement in 



England ; and it is therefore a good representative of the class 

 of which we are speaking. It relates with much energy and 

 freshness how Hrothgar, King of Heorut, and his thanes were 

 persecuted by a monster, Grendel, who dwelt in the fens, and 

 used to come by night and carry off the thanes as they slept in 

 the hall after the feast ; how Beowulf, a thane of Hygelac, King 

 of the Goths, heard of their distress, and came by sea to their 

 aid ; how he slew the monster Grendel, and afterwards its 

 mother, who sought to avenge her son ; how he subsequently 

 became a great king, but was ultimately killed in fight with a 

 formidable dragon. The poem is long, and is full of pictures of 

 the life and manners of the period. It is written in the allitera- 

 tive metre characteristic of the older Saxon poetry a metre in 

 which the poetic form consists mainly in the recurrence at 

 certain intervals of syllables beginning with the same letter ; 

 a metre of which we shall speak more fully and give some 

 examples hereafter. 



To what extent poetry of this character was cultivated among 

 the earlier Saxon settlers it is impossible to tell, for the remains 

 that have come down to us are extremely scanty. But from 

 the importance attached at all times to the songs of the Gleemen, 

 who were both poets and musicians, composing songs as well as 

 singing them, we may well suppose that there must at one timo 

 have been very many of such poems in existence. 



But the character of the Saxon people, and therefore of their 

 literature, soon underwent a great change. From invaders they 

 became rulers ; from a series of armies obeying their military 

 chiefs, a nation with political institutions. And, more important 

 still, from heathen they became Christian. The consequence 

 of these changes is at once seen in the literature of the people. 

 It becomes essentially Christian and religious. The monasteries 

 were the repositories of learning and the centres of intellectual 

 life ; the literature consisted of religious treatises, and of 

 histories with a strong theological tinge. And the language of 

 the church, Latin, became for a time the language used in the 

 most important literary productions in England. For the same 

 reason, too, it was but natural that the Celtic race, which had 

 become Christian during tho period of the Roman occupation, 

 and among whom Christian learning had never wholly died out, 

 should for a long period take the lead in literature, especially 

 since the communication with Ireland, at that time holding a 

 prominent place in the race of learning, exercised a strong 

 influence over Great Britain. Gildas, the supposed author of 

 a history of the Saxon conquest of Britain which is probably 

 not the work of Gildas, but is certainly of great antiquity 

 was a Briton of Strath Clyde that is, of the British kingdom 

 remaining in the valley of Clyde, of which Dumbarton was the 

 capital. Nennius, the supposed author of the History of the 

 Britons, was also of British race. In Ireland were born St. 

 Columba, the apostle of Scotland ; St. Columbanus, one of the 

 greatest theologians of the age ; and St. Gall, his pupil, who 

 carried Christianity into Switzerland. 



The first great name among the Christian Saxons is that of 

 Bode, surnamed the Venerable. He was born about 672. In 

 early childhood he entered the monastery of Wearmouth, after- 

 wards removing to that of Jarrow, and in due time received the 

 orders of deacon and priest. In the monastery hia whole life 

 was spent in a close devotion to science and literature in all 

 their then known branches. His works, which are in Latin, 

 are very numerous, including treatises on various branches of 

 natural science, on grammar, Latin orthography and prosody, 

 numerous theological treatises, and commentaries on various 

 portions of the Holy Scriptures. But to posterity his most 

 valuable works are his histories, and among these by far the 

 most important is his Ecclesiastical History of England. This 

 is a work of great diligence and research, and remains to this 

 day the most important authority upon Anglo-Saxon history. 

 Bede died in the year 735, but his influence by no means died 

 with him. Not only did his books remain behind as storehouses 

 of knowledge, but his own example and personal influence had 

 attracted around him a school of learned men who did much to 

 extend the effect of his labours. At the end of the same century 

 flourished Alcuin, also a native of the north of England, one of 

 the most distinguished of that group of learned men who adorned 

 the court of Charlemagne. 



In the meantime, several prominent writers in the vernacular 

 Saxon had appeared, their works being either intended to 

 popularise the truths of Christianity for the benefit of the 



