about heaven's kingdom,

if I had the power of my hands.He hath now marked out

a middle region;

where he hath made man

after his likeness.

From him he will

again settle

the kingdom of heaven
with pure souls.

We should to this end
diligently labour,
that we on Adam,
if we ever may,
and on his offspring,
work some revenge."

After explaining his plan of seducing Adam to disobedience, he

From these poems, of Beowulf, Judith, and Cædmon, it is clear that the Anglo-Saxons had begun to compose long narrative poems, rising at times, both to fancy and feeling, and making some pretensions to the name of heroic poems. From whence did this taste originate?

The epic poems of antiquity seem to me to be the legitimate parents of all the narrative poetry of Europe, and the progress of the descent may be sufficiently traced.

The Romans derived this species of composition from the Greeks, and cultivated it with varying success. Their epic poetry established a taste for narrative poems, wherever their language spread. This appears from the poems of this sort which the writers of the various countries of Europe under their influence, attempted to compose, and some of which may be briefly enumerated.

In the fourth century we have a narrative poem, in Latin hexameter verse, written by VICTORINUS, an African rhetorician, on the slaughter of the Maccabees. It is not much above four hundred lines in length.*

In the same century, JUVENCUS, a Spaniard, wrote a narrative poem, in hexameter verse, on the history of Christ, which contains four books, and above three thousand lines. The narration is carefully carried on, but the poetry is of an humble cast.

One of the most remarkable poems of AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS, a Spaniard of consular dignity, is the Psychomachia. This is an allegorical poem, in eight books, on the virtues and vices of the mind, in a sort of heroic narration. It is partly the same subject which our Spenser has combined with a chivalric story. In Prudentius, every virtue, and every vice come out as persons, armed or dressed appropriately to their different qualities, and harangue and fight. It consists of one thousand and twenty-two hexameter lines.

In the fifth century, SEDULIUS, an Irishman, went to France, Italy, and Asia; and on his return from Achaia, settled at Rome. He has written a narrative poem on the miracles of Christ, which he calls his Paschale Opus. It is in five books, containing about two thousand hexameter lines. It is almost wholly narration and description, seldom enlivened by dialogue; but his style of verse is much superior to that of the preceding authors, and has somewhat of the air of Statius.h

CLAUDIUS MARIUS VICTOR, a rhetorician of Marseilles, lived in the same century. His poetical commentary on Genesis is a narrative poem on the creation, the fall of man, and the subsequent history, including that of Abraham. In the part of his poem which concerns "Paradise Lost," the most original incidents are these: while Adam is addressing the Deity in a long penitential speech, they see the serpent gliding before them. Eve counsels his destruction. She immediately pursues him with stones, in which Adam joins, till one of them, striking a flint, elicits a spark, which instantly kindles a flame and sets the woods in a blaze. The unexpected sight of this new element of fire terrifies our parents into a hasty flight. The poem contains about eighteen hundred lines.i

The poems of SIDONIUS on the emperor, his friend, contain a sort of heroic fable. In the panegyric on Avitus, the emperor speaks as do others; and Jupiter likewise harangues. The life of St. Martin, by PAULINUS, a senator of Aquitain, afterwards a bishop, in hexameter verse, must be also considered as a narrative poem of considerable length. It is in six books, and contains about three thousand seven hundred hexameter lines. Though it abounds with fiction it is very dull.k

In the sixth century ALCIMUS AVITUS, the archbishop of Vienne,

f Bib. Mag. tom. viii. p. 629-657.

h Ib. p. 658-678.

j Sid. Apoll.

Ib. p. 463-471.

Ib. p. 580-595.

k Bib. Mag. tom. viii. p. 852-882.

composed a narrative poem on the Jewish history, from the creation to Exodus, in five books, comprising above two thousand lines. The first book is on the creation, the second on the fall, the third on the expulsion from Paradise, the fifth on the flood, and the sixth on the passage of the Red Sea. It is more remarkable for its antiquity than for its poetry. But it must be ranked much above the lowest in the list of the leaden goddess.'

ARATOR, a Roman sub-deacon, in the same century, wrote a narrative poem on the apostolic history, in two books, and about two thousand four hundred lines. It is more entitled to be enumerated than read. Its purpose is much better than its versification.

FORTUNATUS, a loquacious poet, bishop of Poitou, devoted four books, and about two thousand lines, to a narrative poem of the life of St. Martin. As it is full of his miracles, it is full of invention; but as the poets whom he enumerates, in his proemium, as his models, are those whom we have just mentioned, it may be expected that the pupil has not obscured his tutors either by his taste or his genius."

In the seventh century, we have the heroic poem of PETRUS APOLLONIUS, an Italian, on the destruction of Jerusalem, in above two thousand hexameters. It obviously emulates the style and the manner of the best models. It attempts epic machinery and dramatic effect, though the success of the effort is not always equal to its ambition. One part of its machinery is, the sending the angel Raphael to the Tartarian abodes, to command one of the demons to go and persuade the Jewish leaders to revolt from the Romans, that they may bring their punishment on themselves."

In the eighth century, we have BEDE'S Life of Saint Cuthbert, of which a specimen will be given in the chapter on the Latin poetry of the Anglo-Saxons. It is, indeed, a romance in Latin verse. The incidents are fanciful tales of Cuthbert's miraculous adventures. They are narrated in a dramatic form, as the specimen hereafter given will show. It consists of nine hundred and seventy-nine lines.

All these poems are obviously the offspring of the Roman Epopeas; and show, that by them the taste for narrative poetry was excited in France, in Spain, Italy, and Britain. From the epic poems of antiquity, and their imitations, the Anglo-Saxons, as well as the Franks, and the Goths in Spain, learnt the art of constructing and carrying on an epic fable. The first imitations were in Latin, by those who knew the language and loved its poetry. But that men arose who cultivated poetry in their native tongue, as well as in the Latin language, we learn from the example of Aldhelm. His Latin poetry will be noticed in the 1 Bib. Mag. tom. viii. p. 596-618. m Ib. p. 682-700. n Ib. p. 753-772.

Bib. Mag. tom. viii. p. 731-752.

next chapter; and we have already remarked, from the information of Alfred, that he took great pains to compose poems for the instruction of his countrymen in their vernacular tongue.

The first narrative poems were probably composed by the ecclesiastics. The poems of Cadmon and on Judith are obviously religious; and some passages of Beowulf have that air. Such men, from their learning, would be best skilled in the art of narration; and from them it probably descended to the scop, or professional poet.

That the ecclesiastics of those ages greatly cultivated the art of narrative invention, and were successful in their efforts, we see from their legends. The miraculous stories in Gregory's dialogues, in Bede's history, and in other writers of that time, are in fact so many fanciful tales, much more poetical in their invention and narration than any of those works which then passed as poetry.

That the legends and lives of saints were translated from Latin into Anglo-Saxon, we know to be a fact. Alfred caused Gregory's dialogues to be translated, which are nothing but legends or tales of the miraculous actions of the Italian saints, but so numerous as to fill one hundred and sixteen folio pages. It is as complete a specimen of fictitious narration as any book of fairy tales which has been published. Every nation of Europe, after the fall of the Roman empire, had some such narratives of supernatural agency; and therefore we must consider the monks as the great inventors of narrative fiction. So numerous were their creations, that the lives of the saints, which have been collected and published, amount, in the last edition, to above a hundred thick folio volumes, written chiefly in the early and middle ages of Europe, and all abounding with tales of supernatural agency. Some display very striking imagery and rich invention, others are dull. The ancient lives of the Irish saints are so extravagant in their imputed miracles, that the editors, who believe the truth of all the others, have felt it decorous to caution the reader that the fancy of these biographers has been too ardent, and their credulity too indiscriminate.

The lives of the saints which still exist in the Anglo-Saxon language, show that they were diffused among the people; and the fact, that some ecclesiastics, like Aldhelm, chose to compose poems in their native language, to improve the people, makes it probable that many of the legends were put into Anglo-Saxon poetry.

For these reasons, we may consider the Roman epic poems as the parents of the narrative poetry of modern Europe, and the ecclesiastics who had a poetical taste, as the first composers of narrative poems in our vernacular languages, and more particularly in the Anglo-Saxon.

Of their lyric, or miscellaneous poetry, one of the oldest and best specimens is Alfred's poetical translation of the poetry in Boetius, which has been already noticed.

To the already copious specimens of the Anglo-Saxon poetry, we will add the following Ode, which is appended to the menology. It is a very singular and curious composition:

PA Thyrs was among the Northerns a giant, or wild mountain savage, a sort of evil being somewhat supernatural.