The works of Columbanus, which have always found the greatest number of readers, and have been most frequently printed, are his poems. Yet they are few in number, and of no great importance. His style is simple, and not incorrect; but there is little spirit or vigour in his versification. He frequently imitates the later poets; and, like them, is too partial to dactylic measures—a fault which strikes us in his hexame. ters, most of which have a dactyl for their base. He also possesses another fault in common with all the poets of the middle ages, the frequent use of unnecessary particles, inserted only to help the verse. The subject of Columbanus's poetry never varies; all his pieces are designed to convey to his friends his exhortations to quit the vanities and vexations of the world, which he seems to have thought would be longer retained in their memory if expressed in metre.'

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We pass over the illustrations of the rude, alliterative, and punning imitations of the classics by Alcuin and Aldhelm-the Ænigmata of Tatwine,' who died A.D. 734, the second in point of date of the Anglo-Latin poets-the industrious versification of Bede, and the unknown poems said to have passed as those of his friend Bishop Acca of Hexham-Archbishop Cuthbert's poor epigrams, most of which have been lost-the superior literary remains of Boniface-Ethelwolf's Metrical Account of the Abbots, &c., of his Monastery, Lindasferne '-Fridegode, the monk of Dovor's Life of Saint Wilfred,' in heroic verse, so filled with Greek words as to need translation-Bricstan's Elegy on the Destruction of Croyland Abbey,' of which only a few lines have been preserved-and Wolstan's Miracles of St Swithun,' about the last and best of these Saxon Latinists. Respecting the second class to whom we have alluded, we shall only quote a few remarks from Mr Wright. Of Cadmon he says

• While men of higher rank and education were labouring to introduce among their countrymen the language and literature of Rome, we find a person rising out of the common orders of the people, under remark... able circumstances, to Christianize and refine the vernacular poetry. No name has of late years excited more interest among scholars than that of Cædmon, yet he is not mentioned by any early writer except Bede.'

The Cowherd of Streaneshalch' (now Whitby) furnishes a romantic history; and he was much imitated in his religious poetry, though so little of the imitations have survived the ravages of time. Of Aldhelm's Anglo-Saxon compositions we have no remains; and of Cynewulf, who lived at the commencement of the eleventh century, above 300 years after Cædmon, we learn that his identity, as an Anglo-Saxon poet, has only recently been discovered by the name, concealed in a playful Runic device, among the poems in the Exeter and Vercelli manuscripts. But the chief and peculiar interest created by a view of all these writings, and the general statements respecting the men of the Anglo

Saxon period, whose deeds and productions have reached us in story, is owing to their possessing so much of modern feeling and sentiment, and even, in some degree, of literary character. How extraordinary to contemplate the reflections of the mirror of a thousand years!-to see how many of the features bear a strong resemblance-how much of the family likeness is preserved! To draw out the parallels would be a delightful task; but it would require a large volume, and we are near the close of a limited article.

We may, however, remark, what these biographies show, that the Anglo-Saxons cultivated almost every branch of literature and science, and that they even endeavoured to solve questions which still puzzle the scientific world. What would the patentee of the Aerial say to their speculating on the possibility of making a machine to fly? The inventor of the Eolian harp was forestalled by St Dunstan. He was accused of magic for making an enchanted harp, which performed tunes, without the agency of fingers, whilst it hung against the wall.

The biography of Bridferth has some curious and interesting references to the educational works of our Saxon ancestors, and those perused in their schools. Bridferth (who flourished A. D. 980) was one of the most eminent teachers of the school of Ramsey, and commentator on the scientific treatises of Bede. He is said to have been a disciple of Abbo of Fleury, and called by some Thorneganus, perhaps from being a monk of Thorney.

'It has not,' says Mr Wright, hitherto been observed, that Bridferth had pursued his studies in France; though in his Commentary on Bede, De Temporum Ratione, he mentions an observation which he had himself made at Thionville. Bale says that Bridferth flourished about A.D. 980. All the known allusions to him, seem to concur in pointing him out as the most eminent English mathematician of the latter part of the tenth century.

'Bridferth's Commentaries on the two treatises of Bede, De Natura Rerum and De Temporum Ratione, are extremely valuable for the light they throw on the method of teaching in the Anglo-Saxon schools. They are probably nothing more than notes of the lectures delivered in the school at Ramsey. Bede's Treatises were still the text-books of the Anglo-Saxon scholars. In commenting upon them, Bridferth adduced various kinds of illustrations. Sometimes he supports the statements of. Bede by slight numerical calculations. In some instances he explains the meaning of the text, where the words of the original appeared to him not sufficiently clear,'-and sometimes his Commentaries become mere explanations and derivations of words. In his Commentaries, he

quotes the authorities of the fathers of the Church, as Clemens, Augustine, Ambrose, Eusebius, Jerome, Isidore, &c.; with those also of Latin writers of a different class, such as Pliny, Macrobius, Marcus Varro, Terentianus, Priscian, Hyginus, and Marcianus Capella; and he

frequently cites the Latin poets Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, Terence, and Lucan, as writers well known to his readers.'

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In a general point of view, the Biographia' exhibits the greatness and energy of the Anglo-Saxon character. The labours of Wilfred, the first great patron of architecture, as manifested at York and Ripon to bring in the Papal authority, and cause it to be servilely obeyed, may be instanced as a proof of this; and so may the wanderings of Benedict Biscop to seek ornaments and treasures for his church and monastery of Wearmouth. Among other valuables, he imported vast quantities of books for the library; had foreign glaziers to adorn them with glass windows; and introduced, through the archicantor of St Peter's, the Roman choral service into Wearmouth, whence it soon spread over the island. The library was doomed to perish amid the depredations of the Danes; and the loss is the more to be deplored, since, from references and allusions in the writings of his disciple Bede, it is evident that it must have contained, together with works of other kinds, a rare collection of Greek and Latin authors. With the same view, we might appeal to the daring missionary adventures of Wilbrord and Boniface to convert the German tribes; to the travels of Willibald (born 700, died 786) to the Holy Land, combined with King Alfred's sending 'alms' to the Christians of St Thomas and St Bartholomew, in the remote regions of India, whence his messengers, Sighelm and Athelstan, brought back numerous rich gems and other costly commodities; and lastly, to the struggles for the introduction of monachism under Ethelwald, Dunstan, and Oswald. From all their biographies, facts strongly illustrating their perseverance and energy of character might easily be adduced.

We may remark, that notwithstanding the general and comprehensive title of the work, Biographia Britannica Literaria,' the author has (and we think wisely) omitted the numerous class of early but very doubtful writers enumerated by the Welsh and Irish bibliographers; inserting only such Welsh and Irish writers as can be proved to have been known to the AngloSaxons, and their productions to have had a wide circulation in that period of our literary history. Such were Columbanus, the geographer Dicuil, and the pseudo Gildas. Welsh and Irish literary history, in its earlier ages, is full of obscurities and difficulties; and as yet, little, we fear, has been done towards separating the false from the true. This is not, however, a task connected with the volume before us. To conclude: We think the work, of which it may be regarded as the first portion, singularly appropriate to the Society from which it has ́emanated ; and that portion is certainly creditable to the care, research,

and scholarship of Mr Wright. We trust that the sequel will contain at least an equally interesting history of the Anglo-Norman period which followed, and which is so full of varied matter, connected with all that has since been done.

Of the other volume mentioned at the head of this article, we must fairly say, that though we have seen nothing from any English institution which could pretend to rival the Continental archeologists on its chosen ground, yet in Greek and Egyptian antiquities, it may compete with the best publications of France, Germany, and Italy; while, as a commencement, it may, on the whole, be allowed to be alike honourable to the Body and to our national literature.

ART.

The Past and Present State of Dramatic Art and Literature addressed to Authors, Actors, and Managers. 8vo. Second Edition. By F. G. TOMLINS. London: 1840.

THAT

effects

HAT the present state of the Drama is matter of regret to all lovers of the art, and ruinous to all managers of theatres, are facts known to every one. Plans of reform, and remedies for the existing evils, are daily promulgated, without any resulting. We mean, in this paper, to endeavour to unfold the causes of these evils, and to point out what seems a promising mode of removing them. In doing so, we may be obliged sometimes to use language not very classical, but well known to all lovers of the Drama and frequenters of the Theatre, and very necessary to our purposes.

The monopoly possessed by the patent theatres is certainly one cause of the evils in question. The enormous size and concomitant expenses is another. To counterbalance this, the managers are forced to call in the aid of spectacle, opera, ballet, melodrame, and farce. They eagerly snatch at any and every species of amusement, from Taglioni to the lions of Mysore, whereby they may hope to fill the treasury: unfortunately, they only make the ruin more complete. They are, in fact, forced to incur the expense of supporting what is equivalent to three or four companies;-one for tragedy, another for comedy and fare, a third for opera, and a fourth for ballet, melodrame, pantomime, and so forth. Whenever any one species of performance, whether legitimate or not, becomes successful, it is almost impossible that it should profit the management; because it has to suppor

ART. II.-1. An Introduction to English Antiquities, intended as a Companion to the History of England. By JAMES ECCLESTON, B.A. 8vo. London: 1847.

2. An Archæological Index to Remains of Antiquity of the Celtic, Romano-British, and Anglo-Saxon periods. By JOHN YONGE AKERMAN, F.S.A., &c. &c. 8vo. London : 1847.

3. Archæologia: or, Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, published by the Society of Antiquaries of London. Vol. XXXII. Part 1. 4to: 1847.

4. The Journal of the British Archæological Association, established 1843, for the Encouragement and Prosecution of Researches into the Arts and Monuments of the Early and Middle Ages. Vol. II. 8vo: 1847.

5. The Archæological Journal, published under the direction of the Central Committee of the Archeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. III. 8vo: 1847.

IT

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T is now just three centuries since John Bale bitterly complained, that among all the nacions in whome I have wandered, for the knowledge of thynges, I have founde none so 'negligent and untoward, as I have found England, in the due 'serch of theyr auncyent hystoryes, to the syngulare fame and 'bewtye therof. Thys have I (as it were) wyth a wofulnesse of hert, sens my tendre youthe bewayled; and so muche the 6 more, for that I have not, accordinge to the naturall zele whyche I beare to my contreye, ben able to redresse it, for ungentyll poverte.'

Thus spake one of the most zealous of our early religious reformers. The same complaint has been often repeated: but it was in that instance suggested by a great political change, which was overthrowing old institutions and old systems, and which sought in the investigation of the past that truth which it is the particular province of history to exhibit. A long period had elapsed, during which the materials for this investigation had been rapidly disappearing; and the little which remained was scattered abroad in every nook and corner; and when brought forth in the piecemeal form in which it was found, it required profound study, and comparison, and discrimination, before it could be rendered of any real utility.

There was a decided spirit of antiquarian research attendant upon the Reformation, arising from the new liberty of thought, and the love of critical discussion, which accompanied it; and which was not a little encouraged by the progress of classical learning in the sixteenth century. But, antiquarianism, as a science allied to history, belongs to a more advanced state of