III.

IN the less valuable pursuits of hunting, CHA P. falconry, hawking, and coursing, he was also distinguished. 54

workmanship is said to be excellent. The inscription expresses, that it was made by Alfred's orders.

54 Asser, 43.

BOOK
V.

CHAP. IV.

ALFRED'S Poetical Composition.

To the other accomplishments of his mind

Alfred endeavoured to add that of poetry. Fond of Saxon poems from his infancy, he found a pleasure in attempting to compose them; and the metrums of Boetius afforded him the opportunity of practising his powers of language in this interesting art.

THE great characteristic of Saxon versification was the position of a few words in short lines, with a rythmical effect. As far as we can now discern, there were no rules of artificial prosody to be observed; but the ear was to be gratified by a rythm or musical effect in the pronunciation; and any brief sequence of syllables that would produce this pleasure was used and permitted.

It would be presumptuous, now that the AngloSaxon has so long ceased to be spoken, to decide peremptorily on the merit of Alfred's versification, which must have depended so much on the colloquial tones and cadences of his day. But as far as can be judged from a comparison of it with the compositions of Cedmon, the odes in the Saxon Chronicle, and the poem on Beowulf, it has not their general strength and fulness of rythm. Though at times sufficiently successful, it is weaker and less elevated than their style, and is not often much more musical than his own prose. Of its poetical feeling and mind we can better judge, as he has translated the metrums also into prose; and may be said, without injustice, that his verse has

it

IV.

less intellectual energy than his prose. The dic- CHAP. tion is amplified to admit of is being made nearer to poetry, but it is rather diluted than improved. Here and there a few expressions of greater vigour occur, but, in general, the prose is not only more concise, but also more spirited and more clear.

YET it is only in comparison with his own prose that the merit of Alfred's poetry is thus questioned. His superior intellect in imitating and emulating, and sometimes passing beyond his original, has given it a value of thought and feeling, an infusion of moral mind, and a graceful ease of diction, which we shall look for in vain, to the same degree and effect, among the other remains of the Anglo-Saxon poetry.

THE reader who compares the description of the Golden Age, and the stories of Eurydice and Circe, inserted before from Alfred's prose, with his translations of the same into verse, will perceive that his poetry has not increased their interest. They are too long to be inserted here. But it will be a just respect to his memory to insert some of his other versifications of the metrums of Boetius, as specimens of the usual style of his poetical diction. He has so amplified and varied his originals as to make much of them his own compositions. The amount of the poetry of the king's mind will best appear from comparing the following effusions with the originals in Boetius, which are also given:

BOOK

Alfred.

V.

Of those that behind cities

Boetius.

Shine the brightest,

That if before them wan

The atmosphere should hang,
They cannot then

Send forth the beams of their
light

While the thick mist prevails.

So often the mild sea,
Clear as grey glass,
The southern wind
Grimly disturbs;
Then mingle

The mighty waves:
The great whales rear up.
Then rough that becomes,
which before serene
Was to the sight.

So often a spring

wells up from a hoary cliff,
Cool and clear,

And flows spaciously right on.
It runneth over the earth
Till it gets within it.

Great stones from the moun

tains fall,

And in the midst of it

Lie, trundled

From the rock.

In two parts afterwards

It becomes divided.

The transparent is disturbed;
The streams mingle;

The brook is turned aside
From its right course,
Flowing into rivers.

So now the darkness

Of thy heart
Will of my light
The doctrine withstand,
And thy mind's thoughts

If the rolling sea the turbid south wind should mingle, the wave, before glassy and serene, sordid with diffused mud, would obstruct the sight. Ibid.

As wandering from the lofty mountains, the devious river is often resisted by the obstructing stone, loosened from the rock, Lib. i. met. 7.

If thou also wilt, with a clear

light, behold the truth, in the right path direct your steps: drive away joys; drive away fear; chase hope. Ibid.

С Н А Р. IV.