The descent and relations of the English language will be seen at once from the accompanying tree :—

2. Both in its Vocabulary and its Grammar the English language is mainly Anglo-Saxon. Of the 38,000 words, which our English dictionaries are said to contain, (and no dictionary that we possess gives all or nearly all the words of the language,) fully three-fifths are of Anglo-Saxon origin. A large share of the remainder is drawn from the Classical tongues, either directly from the Latin, or indirectly through the French; and many, especially scientific words, come from the Greek. Besides, our world-wide Commerce has brought us words from almost every tongue spoken on earth; for, when we import an article of merchandise, we generally at the same time adopt its name.

3. The history of a Language, and the history of the Nation that speak it, go hand in hand. Every great change

in the Nation produces a corresponding change in the Language. Every new invading tribe or people that poured upon the shore of Britain from those various seabords of the Continent, which face our island with a concave curve, brought a new element into our speech; and those great transition throes, through which the nation passed, especially during some centuries after the Norman Conquest, have left abiding imprints on our speech.

4. The Celtic Element.-Before the Roman invasion of 55, B.C., Celtic languages formed the national speech in Britain. These have left very slight traces on the English language. Some words of Celtic origin are :—

1. A few names of things in common household or

2. Some names of Physical Geography-rivers, hills,

&c.; as, Thames, Esk, Avon, &c.

3. A few words of late introduction into English :

Celtic in various forms is still spoken in the wilder and more mountainous parts of the British Isles. Its principal forms are :

Welsh or Cymric, in Wales.

Gaelic, in the Highlands of Scotland.

Irish or Erse, in the West and South of Ireland.

5. The Roman Influence.-Previous to the year 800, A.D., which may be taken as a convenient date to mark the beginning of a time during which Anglo-Saxon was the national speech, two distinct sets of Latin words were introduced into England.

(1.) The Roman soldiers, who occupied the southern part of the island from 43, A.D., to 410, A.D., left traces of their warlike presence in the names of camps and colonies. we have :

Thus

Their stone-paved roads-strata-have given us the word To these may be probably added cheese, from caseus ; and mount, from mons.

street.

(2.) Augustine and his missionary monks, coming to England in 597, A.D., brought into use a number of ecclesiastical Latin words. For example:

Camel, elephant, pepper, purple, fig, parsley (petroselinum) are some miscellaneous Latin words, whose introduction is ascribed to the early Saxon time.

chiefs named

6. The Early Teutonic Settlements.-A legend says that in 449, A.D., three keels or ships carried Hengist and Horsa to the shore of Kent.

One ship con

tained Angles; the second, Saxons; the third, Jutes. For nearly 150 years Teutonic emigrants continued to abandon the shores between the Eyder and the Rhine for settlements in the eastern and southern and midland parts of the lower island. Eight kingdoms were formed. War and time fused these into one-originally Wessex, but afterwards Angle-land, or England. The process, which fused the several bands of Teutonic invaders into one nation, fused their several dialects into one speech, called Anglo-Saxon by modern scholars, but known to those who spoke it as English.

That there were Teutonic settlers in England before the alleged invasion of 449, A.D., has been concluded from the fact that a certain naval officer of the Roman time was called Count of the Saxon Shore.

In Angeln, a small district of Schleswig-Saxony, a kingdom of Germany-and Jutland, the northern part of the Danish peninsula-we find surviving geographical names that remind us of the three tribes, alleged to have taken part in the Teutonic invasion of England.

THE FIVE PERIODS OR STAGES OF OUR LANGUAGE.

Anglo-Saxon, from the Accession of Egbert, 800, A.D., to the Norman Conquest, 1066, A.D.

Semi-Saxon, from the Norman Conquest, 1066, A.D., to Henry the Third's Proclamation in 1258, a.d.

Early English, from Henry the Third's Proclamation in 1258, A.D., to the Act of 1362, a.d.

Middle English, from the Act of 1362, A.D., to the Accession of Elizabeth, 1558, A.D.

Modern English, from the Accession of Elizabeth, 1558, A.D., to the present time.

I. ANGLO-SAXON.

(800, A.D.-1066, a.d.)

The Anglo-Saxon language reached its fullest development-became classical-in the ninth century, when King Alfred lived.

Anglo-Saxon Literature.-The chief works in AngloSaxon poetry, now existing, are :—

Beowulf, an anonymous epic.

The Paraphrase, a sacred poem by Caedmon.

The chief works in Anglo-Saxon prose, now existing, are :— Translations from Bede and Boethius, by Alfred. Eighty Homilies,

The Saxon Chronicle (earlier part,)

Alfric.

Various.

Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary.-The following are the most noteworthy points regarding the stock of words in AngloSaxon :

1. The Vocabulary, being mixed as to origin, was therefore very copious.

2. It was fitted rather to express the inner than the
outer life; since it had a host of words expressive of
emotions, passions, thoughts, &c. It was not so pic-
turesque or so capable of variety in poetical utter-
ance as the Icelandic, which had one hundred terms
for a sword, and a great number also for a ship. "Ice-
landic paints; Anglo-Saxon describes and philoso-
phises."

3. Its roots were very fruitful in derivatives.
4. It was largely a monosyllabic tongue.

This was

increased by its fondness for the strong form of conjugation. Thus, instead of leaded, for example, a past tense would be formed like led.