, 1870-12-04

eout acd with Tan1, lie Apostle. 4bo1ired fra
eeh'unts h fore. pluitca, 10 runs anothet
.,sEcId, presented himeelf before ons OF tho
nrrestchs, nd stated his mission. Thsma.-
veg Haa referred to the chief Of tbs hslthen
priests ''Nxn's toul." said The old rnAu, ais
9Es fras1oN, which files frlm the cold and
d.11Ecsa into The warm aud lighted ronm
were re Fit rejoicing and then. after brief
,sn!, fits ont again iuto tic darkross.; Wa
5noW not WheEoe 1t conaea OF whittier It goca-
M tim. Mhtrenpon, 60 r1ns the legend. Pau-
nnus Fpnke; the tearcYs woge convinced, aud
re th1ong, The chief priest leading. ruahed
oIi, ncrns their idol, and wcrn baptized ~
However much or little there mar 10 OF
The Ea1ona Of England ~ero speedily con-
Fcrtcd TO Christianity. Austin, the Dcus-
d.ctiDa monk, tecame the arst Archbishop OF
Canterbury, end Metropolitan Of al England;
ard for we'll nigh txelye ctn.usies his sueces-
sor has been first Peer Of tho realm. ranktns
rext to The sovereign whom he crowns. The
Cathedral of Canterbury vas gradually built
s1d enlarged through six centuries, having
1en fnishsd, as it uow stands, about 100 A.
D. Tie present Archbishop has two msgnsd
cent pa!ncee, led Is patron OF : hrIdzoa and
TIE earjy missionaries get themselves, in
uaby ways. ca1res.}y to their work. Not the
lczst Of This vas to reduce the fsngdags Of the
AIE.es TO wiring, They found the alphabet
sIaeh the Greeks had borrowed from the
phnsi:isrs. ard tho Latins from tbs Greeks,
in The main inadequate fer the purpose. Tho
a1ihatct which they adopted contested OF
iaenty. four letter.. or these. nineteen wcrc
that (our a in for), wss made different from
finn q (ouE a in carel; that our assays had
lhe sound Of K; and j, q. ., were omitted,
F1l tEo sounds Of frequent occurrence they
found no Latin equivalents: the Asrirated {,
orr n In thin and u. For these ;hey iuycut-
cd cba1netese~ The forms Of the other 1ctseIs,
1e written, were tho same as used Tor l4.t!n
Of tho day. At first they we're Dear1y Whist We
Dy tue middle OF the eighth cortusr, tho
language Of Britain had assumed ting1e
form, and waH styled Engli5c, the. same Which
we now call Aeklo-Ssxop. Thi. language sx-
jeted a. spoken and written tonGua for more
than three centuries, its golden period being
eu1ipe the rcigr OF the great Alfred a. D.
61Q-9CQ). Shortly af:erxarl it began to be
corrupted BY the influence OF the Norm1ns,
1ad after tie conquest BY William it ditap-
ptn1ed ae a written language ard As spoken
ty the upper classes, but 1t muet have lived
in the common heart and upon the Common
tcEgue.
who built magnificent temple, upon the
eoId grsnite dootwty Ct which he CARED
his own n.nc. This inscription lo coEcsea
with q coating Of plaster, On which he en.
for \ time, the temple puEoorsed to 10 tue
work Of the Krg. But in the couEss OF ages
tie rlaster, viii its 1dulstors inscription,
peeled oil, and the nane OF tho long-forgot-
tcn architect lesppe,rsd, carved in enduring m
caro- Of Arglo-Norman 4nd the Auglo-Sa1on
| Languages. Tie elisht Norman over1ay fell
away, aud the enduring Saxon rc2ppeared,
eom. what mas1ed by time aud change: The
language SPOKEN by the Saxon Alfred Is TO-
Norman lechafd Of the 1ion-he,rt. And
| when Wsc!ifre IA D. 1852 completed his
tra1 Station Of the Bible into English, his yer.
| s;on-qnire intGlliglble to us, but which would
! have been understood By few readers Who
lived In A. D. 1,2o0-woutd have been per
fectly intcliribls to tho Venerable Dede, Whs
While we cannot too strongly express oui
debt to The ereat Hellenic and Lati1n wzi!ert
for the thoughts embodied by them Ia theil
o4n tongues, the Obligations OF the EnSliss
language, a. language. to those Of Grcect
and Rome, is far 'ess than is generally imas
ircd, ard thoso to the Anglo-Saxon proper
tit nately greater. In structure, our speech i
Saxon; OF, 1Ather, as We are Eow taught byFe
cent research, it belongs to that commo.
speech from which al! the Anglo -Enropes'
Isngusgea have sp1uEg- Where tho HELENE
| 4nd l1t-20e uaSe oetlAtea !rUA tola cudau1u1
speech, We have not followed them but the=
aey1ations from tho parent speech are les
wide than a, first appears. Nothing remain
10 tell us precisely what that parent speccl
we, But as tho sanshit was fixed by sr't;n
centuries before the Greek had Al alphab.'
we may aesume that it closuly correspond
With the original Jaretic tongue.
The truth il, that By far tho greater nun
her OF wor6s in common use in al 1ndo-E.
1orean languages sro but slightly uaotide
forms Of tEoeo which belonged to that parer
speech which now exists only III her cl.lllre,
The manner in which theso notifications hay
teeu made IL a very interesting branch {
comparative Elsilolcgy, and is very ful
treated by Mr.. March.