tinctions between higher and lower law, to the infinite detriment of moral character, but all her laws shall be emanations from the infinite source of justice. Marshalling thus all her forces on the Lord's side, she may inscribe, without mockery, on her silver and gold, "In God we trust." She may hope for purity in her homes, and honesty in her councils. She may see her growing grandeur without misgiving, knowing that it comes not by earthly might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts; and the only voice of her victory, the song of her thanksgiving, and her watchword to the nations shall be, "Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, good-will toward men."

XXV.

A RAMBLE IN THE OLD PATHS.

T

HE earliest known inhabitants of Great Britain were the Britons, or Celts. The literature which they left is comprised in a few words, chiefly names of lakes, rivers, and mountains.

About 55 B. C., the Romans, under Julius Cæsar, invaded and occupied England. They preserved their own nationality, and did not coalesce with the Britons. They built excellent military roads, still represented by the chief roads of England, and substantial military stations, where stand now some of the most important towns. They also left a few names and terminations of names.

About 449 A. D., the Angles and the Saxons, with other Gothic tribes from Central Northern Europe, now Germany, took possession of England in what, if they were not our ancestors, we should call a decidedly piratical manner. But as they gave up their piratical craft after they had landed,

and took kindly to what civilization the Romans had left in Britain, let bygones be bygones. The Romans, and for the greater part the Britons, disappeared; the Angles, who gave her name to England, the Saxons, and perhaps the Scandinavians or Danes, intermingled, are generally considered to be the chief founders of the present English nation, although its early history is involved in obscurity.

The conversion of the islanders to Christianity had been attempted and professedly accomplished, in the first century; but we find Augustine beginning at the beginning again, in the sixth or seventh century. Literature advanced hand in hand with Christianity, but it was chiefly in possession of the clergy, and written in the Latin language. The Anglo-Saxon was not supposed to be dignified enough for writing. The "Venerable Bede " translated a part of the Bible into Anglo-Saxon, and wrote a valuable Ecclesiastical History of England. He, with Alcuin, his pupil, the friend and tutor of Charlemagne, Aldhelm, Johannes Erigena, and others, less distinguished, wrote Commentaries on the Bible, Homilies, Lives of the Saints, treatises on Grammar, Music, Orthography, the Body and Blood of our Lord, and other themes little known to modern readers.

A few Anglo-Saxon poems remain to us, the most interesting of which is a narrative poem by Caedmon, from which Milton is supposed to have

borrowed some of the ideas of "Paradise Lost." Literature received inestimable advantages from the patronage and active exertions of King Alfred the Great, who lived in the ninth century. Suffering constantly from painful disease, he wrote books of his own, translated those of others, encouraged literary men, fought his country's battles, and left, as he desired, to the men that lived after him, his remembrance in good works.

In 1066, England was conquered again by the Normans. Norman-speech (French) affected the language somewhat, but the English of to-day is, in its structure, Saxon. The Normans held themselves a superior race to the Saxons, and made French the fashionable language. But if the Normans were proud, the Saxons were steadfast, as they generally are, and finally carried their point, as they generally do. The English aristocracy traces its descent chiefly from the Normans, but English literature has a Saxon framework. The twelfth century devoted itself mostly to the classics, and may be summarily dismissed. The thirteenth gave to Englishmen and Americans the Great Charter of their liberties. The Gesta Romanorum, a motley collection of fables, legends, parables, and anecdotes, written in Latin, came into somewhat general circulation at this time, particularly among the monks. Shakespeare, Parnell, and others, owe to the Gesta sundry of their plots and incidents. The Fabliaux, and Chivalrous

Romances, wherein figure King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, and the Holy Grail, were translated into English and England, during this century. Some of them are supposed to have originated in England, but to have been written in French to give them the court stamp, and insure their reception by "the best society." One of them, "Havelok," is the story of the orphan child of a Danish king, whose faithless guardian sets him adrift on the open sea. He drifts to some purpose, however, as he is finally picked up on the eastern coast of England, by a fisherman named Grim. After he is grown up, the wicked guardians of a beautiful princess, supposing him to be nothing but a fisherman, force her to marry him, that she may become nothing but a fisherman's wife, and they obtain her kingdom. After the marriage, Havelok informs her that she has not made so bad a match after all, recovers both kingdoms by battle, and lives happily ever after; which was doubtless very satisfactory to them, but not so interesting to us as the fact that General Havelock of the Sepoy rebellion immortality descended in a direct line from this valiant soldier, and the white linen things which our soldiers wear on their heads, to do the work which their hats ought to do, descended from him. If any one does not believe this story, he can go to England and visit the very town Grimsby, or he can go to Washington and see the soldiers under their Havelocks.