Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/alfredjewelhistoOOearl_0 The Alfred Jewel J. EARLE Henry Frowdc, M.A. Publisher to the University of Oxford London, Edinburgh, and New York i Al An Hi Rector of Swanswick, Prob* Rawlimonian Pro&**or of A nftfo- J3MA*3 With Illustrations am: but as a well-founded and abundantly supported proba- bility. I have no desire that this conclusion should be admitted without a complete and rigid scrutiny. In the carrying out of this undertaking I have received welcome and much-needed help from many quarters. The subject is one that calls for illustration by maps and drawings ; and I desire to express my sincere acknowledge- ments to Mr. Alfred A. Clarke of Wells for his four drawings, among which I will particu- larly mention his characteristic landscape of the Isle of Athelney. The map of Athelney and the lands adjacent is very ingeniously devised for exhibiting the contrast between the low level of the moorland and the contours of the rising country around ; it is expressive and intelligible at a glance : and for this excellent illustration my acknowledge- ments are due to Mr. Bernhard V. Darbishire. My hearty thanks are due to Mr. Charles H. Read of the British Museum for the ample in- formation he kindly afforded me concerning the gold rings of the Saxon period which are in his department. Also for the permission which he gave (as Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries) to transfer to these pages their engraving from the Book of Kells, and also their three figures of the gold ring of queen Ethels with. To those gentlemen of Somerset who have aided me with local information and hospitality Treface ix and personal guidance, I have good cause to be always grateful. Major Barrett, junior, of Moredon, the owner of the Isle of Athelney, took me over the ground in a manner that is very agreeable to remember, and caused me to see the historical sites of his country with every advantage. It was under his auspices that I first realized the full import of Alfred's fort at Borough Bridge, and what a speaking object- lesson it certainly is. I had seen it in i8ytf, but I had not adequately appreciated it. From Mr. Cely Trevelian of Midelney Place I learnt much that was useful to me concern- ing the history and present conditions of the moorlands of Somerset. He was my hospit- able friend and companion over the country on either side of the Parrett in the circle of Lang- port, and from that to Borough Bridge. Under his guidance I revisited Aller (pronounced Oiler), and renewed acquaintance with its sacred associations, after an interval of forty-four years. In 1 8 ?6 I was conducted by an old Oriel friend x Treface who was my host, the Rev. James Coleman, then Curate of the parish in which Athelney is situated ; he subsequently became Vicar of Cheddar and Prebendary of Wells. When I entered upon the present work, after so long an interval, it was with Mr. Coleman that I began to make enquiries for local in- formation. To Sir Alexander Acland Hood I am indebted for genealogical and topographical information, and particularly for some new light on the history of the Jewel, now for the first time made public. The statement in the manuscript of Mr. Thomas Palmer, which is preserved at Fair- field, that the Jewel was 4 dug up, ? is a new item in the circumstances of the discovery, to which I attach important evidential weight. I have also to thank Sir Cuthbert Slade of Maunsel, for his courtesy in answering my enquiries, genealogical and territorial, con- cerning the Slade family. On Mr. C. F. Bell, the Assistant Keeper of the Treface xi Ashmolean Museum J I chiefly depended for help in that part of my subject where I was most wanting, namely in the technicalities of ancient art, and especially concerning enamels. To my friend Dr. Shadwell my obligations are not the less but the greater for that they are somewhat indefinable. He has redd through the proofs, and has given me valuable sugges- tions, and he has always been ready to help when I needed advice. For me this trinket has assumed the propor- tions of a serious historical problem, and its investigation has been rewarded with new light in many directions, and I do not think I shall regret the time spent upon it, even though my conclusions should hereafter be modified or even refuted. I hold that, apart from the con- clusions, the investigation itself was worth the while, but when I say this I am not to be understood as admitting that I have little confidence in my conclusions. In putting forth this Essay, I desire to xii Treface convince the reader only as fully as I am convinced myself, that is to say, with a con- viction which makes no claim to finality, but lies open to correction in case of new light or better use of old data ; yet which nevertheless, in the mean time and for the main issues of the enquiry, reaches a degree of probability whereby all doubt and uncertainty is practically excluded. J. E. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Description of the Alfred Jewel . 1-9 The place of its deposit ..... I Structural details of the Jewel .... a The name of Alfred upon it . . . . 4. Question what this name imports .... id. Other persons bearing this name . . . .5 The perfection of the Jewel suggested doubt . . 7 The firm judgement of Dr. George Hickes . . 8 Nevertheless, the question must be kept in view throughout this Essay 9 CHAPTER II The Epigraph or Legend . The forms of the lettering The Syntax of the Sentence : (1) as to collocation . (1) usage of words 1 0—2 1 . 10 12 • 13 . id. XIV Contents PAGE (3) flexional construction . . . . .15 (4) active and passive structure . . . .16 Other time-indications in the Epigraph . . .17 Quotation from Alfred's Prologue to his Pastoralis . 19 Similarity between the Prologue and the Epigraph . 21 CHAPTER III Early Speculations about its Design and Manner of Use 22-30 The Epoch of the Discovery — The Royal Society . 22 The persons who first were conversant with the new- found object — Colonel Nathaniel Palmer . . 23 Dr. Hans Sloane — The British Museum . . 24. Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford . . . id. First published notice of the Jewel — Dr. William Musgrave ........ 25 Hickes's Thesaurus .id. Variety of opinions about the Jewel . . . id. Francis Wise — Samuel Pegge . . . . 27 Mr. Philip Duncan 28 St. Neot and St. Cuthbert 29 Abortiveness of these attempts . . . . 30 Contents XV CHAPTER IV Bishop Clifford's Theory Bishop Clifford .... The handle of a choir-master's wand Identical with the c aestel ' ? . Given by Alfred to Athelney Abbey and to Henry VIIPs time This theory inapplicable to the Jewel But perhaps applicable to the c aestel 3 Theory of sceptre-tip PAGE 31-43 • 31 • 3* • 34 there kept 3T 37 4 1 4* CHAPTER V fEWEL IN THE CROWN . 44-70 Form convenient for erection in the helmet . • 44 Transforms the helmet into a Coronet . • 4? The minor jewel from Minster Lovel . 4* Dr. Wilson and Dr. Griffiths . 48 Quotations from Beowulf and La^amon . • 49 The Crown of Queen Victoria . 5-0 XVI Contents CHAPTER VI PAGE The Boar's Head yi-tfo Diversity of opinion about the animal's head . . 5 1 Testimony undesigned 5*2. The wild boar in the helmet . . . . . id. Quotations from the Beowulf . . . 73 ff. The Boar's Head at Queen's College, Oxford . • 57 Religious origin of the Boar's Head as a Crest . 5*5) CHAPTER VII The Figure in Enamel and the Engraved Plate at the back of it . . . tfi-91 Our Chief Problem is c A figure hard to characterize ' 61 Division of this Chapter 6z Enamelling as an artistic industry .... id. Enamel cloisonnee 6" 3 Chief extant specimens according to M. Labarte 6\ ff. The Enamelled Ouche of Mr. Roach Smith . . 62, Enamel champlevee id. Contents xvii PAGE Obscurity of the history of enamelling . . .69 Philostratus ........ 70 Enamelled horse-gear 71 The Symbolism of the icuncula and its Source . . 74 The Book ofKells j6f. Relations of Alfred with Irish travellers . . 78 The Tufa 79 Evidence for the Enamel's being an insular product 80 Allegorical engraving on the back-plate . .81 Dualistic theory of Sir Francis Palgrave . .83 The brothers John and Philip Duncan . . .84 Unity of thought in the Jewel . . . .86 Alfred's Epilogue to his Pastor ails . . . 87 fE Summary of this Chapter . . . , .90 CHAPTER VIII lfred in Somerset beyond Pedrida . 92-132 The central episode of Alfred's career . . . 91 Suddenness of the surprize at Chippenham . . 94. Apprehension of attack on north coast of Wealcyn 9? Alhstan, bishop of Sherborne . . . .96 Meditations of king Alfred id. b x viii Contents PAGE Danish invasion of Wessex 97 Placable temper of the West Welsh . . . 98 Hostility of the ' North Welsh ' . . . . id. Alfred's disguise 99 f . The Jewel must be buried 100 Selwood . . . . . . . 101 Story of Denewulf id. Hingston Down 102 The Danes in Exeter id. The Danes at Cynwit . . . . . 103 The political import of Pedrida . . , 104*'. Selwoodshire 105 The Transpedridan dialect 106 The Devonian c u 3 ...... 107 The Pixies 108 Somerset in Alfred's day 109 Subsidence of the land . . . . . nof. Elm-trees 111 Red Deer 113 Leland's Itinerary II? Etymology of c Pedrida ' 117 British policy of Wessex . . . . . id. f. Aldhelm's letter to Gerontius . . . . 1 19 His little church at Bradford-on- Avon . . .110 Associations of Glastonbury .... id. ff. Asser's Life of Alfred . . . . . .114 The Fort at Athelney 118 Brixton Deveril up Contents xix PAGE The buried Jewel not recovered . . . .130 The Peiwar Kotal (1878) 131 c What follows is like a dream ' . . . .132, CHAPTER IX Newton Park and Fairfield House 133-147 c Newton Park ' 133 jElfric, archbishop of Canterbury . . . . 134. The Forest of North Petherton . . . . id. Three co-heiresses 135; The Perambulation of the Forests .... id. Gefferey Chaucer . 136 The improvements of Sir Thomas Wrothe . .137 A surmise about the Manor of Newton . . .138 Petherton Park 139 The parish of Stogursey . . . . .id. Fairfield House 140 c Always a Vernai at Fairfield ' 142 The Palmer family id. Nathaniel Palmer 144 Thomas Palmer ....... id. Two co-heiresses ....... 14? b 2 XX Contents CHAPTER X PAGE Gold Rings contemporaneous . 146-1 56 The Enamelled Ouche of Mr. Roach Smith . . 146 The Ring of Alhstan 14.7 The place of its discovery 14.8 The Ring of Alfred's father . 149 The place and manner of its discovery . . . iyo The Ring of Alfred's sister 151 The manner of its discovery . . . . . 153 The Ring of ^Ethred 1 54 Runes intermixed with Roman lettering . . 155: The artist bears a Saxon name . . . . 156 CHAPTER XI Some Closing Reflections . . 15-7-174 Fine workmanship no longer an objection . .157 Early cumulation of evidence . . . .158 Evidence added since ...... id. Rejected theories 1 ?9 The Cynehelm theory . . . . .id. The unity of the work makes for Alfred of Wessex 160 Outline of the Symbolism id. Contents XXI PAGE My surprize at the latent meanings . . .161 The fondness of king Alfred for imagery . id. ft'. The Simile of the Waggon 163 The Jewel illustrated by the Writings of king Alfred 16$ The Jewel probably records a Crisis . . .166 At what Epoch designed ? id. Double process of investigation . . . . 167 Date of Alfred's return from Rome . . 1 70 f. The nature of Probable Evidence . . . 172 fF. Conclusions from the above data . . . . 1 74. APPENDICES Appendix A. The First published Notice of the Alfred Jewel (to pp. 2? and 144) ..... 175 Appendix B. St. Neot and St. Cuthbert (to pp. 29 and 74) 177 Appendix C. The Two-sceptred Figure in the Book of Kells (to p. 78) 18 r Appendix D. The British Origin of the Enamelled Figure (to p. 91) .184 Appendix E. Athelney Abbey (to p. 115*) . . .189 Appendix F. North Newton Church (to p. 139) . .192 Appendix G. The Presentation of the Alfred Jewel to the University of Oxford (to pp. 140 and 145) . 194 xxii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Alfred Jewel in four aspects, with separate Figure of Enamel ...... Frontispiece The Inscription on the Jewel I The Minster Lovel Jewel .... to face M Illumination from the Book of Kells •)■> 11 The Isle of Athelney ■>•> 9 z Fairfield House 141 Inscription on the Ring of iEthelwulf . H9 The Ring of jEthelwulf .... 15-0 The Ring of Queen ^Ethelswith, the bezil if* Inscription within the Ring of Queen jEthelswith The Ring of Queen ^Ethelswith showing niello i*3 Inscription on y£$red's Ring The Jewel, Front and Back .... to face J 74 Sculptured Bosses found at Athelney Abbey . ■ i*9, 191 Tower of North Newton Church . to face i 9 z Map of the Isle of Athelney .... At end THE ALFRED JEWEL CHAPTER I DESCRIPTION OF THE ALFRED JEWEL THE subject of this Essay is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum ? which has been its home for a period of time now approaching two hundred years. It is there installed under 1 glass in such a manner that every side of it is plainly exhibited to the eye of the visitor. It bears an inscription in conspicuous lettering which sets forth that by Alfred's order it was B x The Alfred Jewel made, and this is the ground upon which it is known as The Alfred Jewel. The Alfred Jewel has been compared to a battledore, not untruly for the matter of shape; but the wide diversity of size makes the comparison seem incongruous. The extreme length of the Jewel is a very small fraction under two inches and a half ; its greatest width is just one inch and a fifth ; its thickness barely half an inch. It contains a sitting Figure enamelled on a plate of gold which is protected in front by a slab of rock crystal, and at the back by a gold plate engraved; the whole enshrined in a golden frame of delicately executed filigree work. The picture is visible through the rock crystal, making the obverse of the Jewel ; while the reverse is formed by the gold plate which is at the back of the enamelled plate. Upon this gold plate is engraved an alle- gorical design. Both these surfaces (obverse and reverse) are flat, but in every other part of the Jewel the surface is rounded. The rounded contours may be likened to those of a pigeon's egg. If we imagine a longi- Description of the Alfred yew el 3 tudinal section of a pigeon's egg, the engraved plate at the back of the picture will correspond to the plane of the egg's diameter. From this plane, if we measure three-quarters of an inch in the girth of the egg, and then take another section parallel to the gold plate at the back, we obtain the front surface of the crystal, through which the Enamel is visible. The effect of this arrangement is, that the sides all round the Jewel are curved and sloping, and that the obverse is of more contracted area than the reverse, and also that the measurement of the sloping side exceeds that of the thickness. The head of the sitting Figure occupies the broad end of the oval section ; the smaller end is pro- longed, and is fashioned like the head of a wild boar on the obverse, but the reverse of this head is flat and covered with fish-like scales. The snout is projected in the form of a socket adapted to receive a peg or stem ; athwart this socket is a cross-pin, having a head at one of its ends, while the other end is riveted. This indicates that the Jewel was furnished with a stem which has perished, and which, therefore, was not metallic, but of some organic material, B Z 4 The Alfred Jewel perhaps walrus ivory. Around the sloping sides runs a legend : >%< AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYREAN Alfred me ordered make and this legend starts from the narrowest point of the oval, beginning on the right-hand side and running round to the corresponding point on the left, so that it encircles the oval com- pletely, running in the contrary direction to that with which we are familiar in our coins, which are redd from left to right, as indeed were also the coins of the ninth century. Some have doubted whether the owner of the Jewel was the famous Alfred of Wessex. It has been urged that the name of Alfred in the Epigraph is not of itself adequate proof of the fact, and it must be admitted that this is literally true. And it is not superfluous to point out the inconsequence of such reasoning, for it has actually been advanced in serious argument. Samuel Pegge, an antiquary of re- pute, wrote in Archteologia ii as if there had been but one eminent person of the name of Alfred : — c There is no doubt but this KeiixrjXiov was Description of the Alfred Jewel $ once the property of the great King iElfred, notwithstanding the goodness of the work which has been an objection to its authenticity; for the king's name is expressly mentioned in the inscription.' There were many persons of that name in the course of the Saxon period, and the name was not confined to men born after his time, for there were persons of this name who were men of mark among his contemporaries, one of whom (to say the least) was certainly his senior. When Swithun died, in 862 (in Alfred's fourteenth year), his successor in the See of Winchester was named Alfred. A contemporary of position and intelligence and of great wealth was that Alfred who re- deemed from heathen hands a noble volume of the Gospels, and conveyed it by a solemn deed of gift in his own name and that of his wife to the brotherhood of Christ Church, Can- terbury \ That volume is the Codex Jureus^which. 1 This remarkable document begins thus : — >J« In nomine domini nostri Ihesu Christi. Ic Alfred aldormon and Werburg min gefera begetan $as bee set haeftnum herge mid uncre clasne feo ^set "Soune wses mid clsene golde, and ftset wit deodan for Godes lufan and for uncre saule Searf ond 6 The Alfred Jewel is now in the Royal Library at Stockholm. The Will of this Alfred, who in the course of that document styles himself c Elfred dux/ is one of the most precious relics of Saxon antiquity K A few years after the king's death, the Chronicle records, in ootf, the death of an Alfred, who was Reeve of Bath. It has been argued that with such facts before us the ownership of the Alfred Jewel must be a matter of uncertainty, for we only know that it was ordered by a person of the name of Alfred. Such arguments may sometimes be heard from persons whose opinions are entitled to respect, but I am not aware that any one has under- taken to reason out and maintain this view in a published writing. And perhaps if we attend well to the whole of the evidence, we shall see forSon -Se wit noldan $set ftas halgan beoc lencg in ftaere hae-Senesse wunaden. c >J« In the name of our Lord Jesu Christ. I Alfred alderman and Werburg my consort pur- chased these books at a heathen host with our clean money, that is to say with clean gold ; and that we two did for God's love and for the benefit of our souls, and for that we would not that these holy books should longer lie in hethenesse/ Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum, No. 634.. 1 Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, No. 317; Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum^ No. 558 ; Earle, L.and Charters^ p. 15:1. Description of the Alfred Jewel 7 no cause to marvel at the unanimity of authors in accepting this Jewel as a personal possession of king Alfred's, and (in some measure, diversely estimated) as a product of his own artistic design. It is not the name by itself, but this name taken in connexion with the richness and costli- ness of the work, with the thoughtful ingenuity of its device and composition, and with the symbolic meanings which must be assigned to certain parts of the structure ; — such evidences as these, again combined with certain external evidences, namely, the locality in which the Jewel was found, and any affinities apparent in the above data with the career or exploits of the king, or with his character and tastes, — when the ownership is questioned, we find our- selves face to face with an accumulation of evi- dence varying in quality and requiring to be judged by the delicate and sensitive standard of probability. In presence of such a problem we should not neglect the impressions and ex- pressed opinions of persons whose instincts have been cultivated in the sphere of such proba- bilities. 8 The Alfred Jewel George Hickes, in 1 705-, mentions some doubt- ing critics, whose difficulty lay in the beauty and perfection of the work. They could not understand how such artistic work could proceed from Anglo-Saxon artists in the ninth century. But for himself, he added, the mere sight of the Jewel had been enough, and that from his first view of it he had never doubted that it was a personal possession of the great king Alfred K When an elaborate piece of workmanship like the Alfred Jewel is presented to the experienced mind and practised eye of a man like Hickes, the evidence is rapidly, almost unconsciously, sifted, and the probabilities converge to a focus, so as to produce a conviction which seems like a simple apprehension of the senses. I welcome Hickes's expression of confidence as a confirma- tion of that which I have experienced myself. But while I am entirely free from uncertainty I quite recognize the reasonableness of the doubt, and I know that (logically speaking) the 1 c Quoad opificium autern, tarn elegans quidem id est et perfectum 3 ut eius antiquitatem in dubium vocandi doctis nonnullis occasionem dederit, etsi JElfredi regis hoc olim fuisse peculium, ex quo primum vidi ? nunquam dubitavi. 5 Unguarum Veterum SeptentrlonaUum Thesaurus^ vol. i 5 p. 144. 'Description of the Alfred Jewel 9 uncertainty is there. And I know also that many of my readers will entertain it and will look more or less dubiously upon the assumption of certainty in this matter. And, indeed, there is a certain advantage in having to reckon with this sceptical attitude of mind, insomuch as the presence of doubt has a stimulating effect in furnishing the discourse with a determinate aim and direction. It will set me on the alert, that I may not miss any incidental chance of a reflection tending to assure those who would be gratified to think that we do indeed possess a relic intimately associated with the person, and with the mind, of Alfred, king of Wessex. CHAPTER II THE EPIGRAPH OR LEGEND We must now consider and see what we can learn from the Epigraph. This was the cue whereby Hickes introduced the Jewel into the argument of his Dissertatio Epistolaris^ and there gave us the cream of the discussions which had been developed in the space of twelve years from the discovery. Observing that in a Saxon inscription which Dr. Hans Sloane had commu- nicated to the Philosophical 'Transactions (No. 247) only two letters of Anglo-Saxon form occurred, the C and the G, he proceeded to describe and discuss the Jewel in all the points of view which up to that time had occupied the attention of the curious. The forms to which he adverted were the angular C and G, which however are rather Epigraphic than Saxonic forms. These The Epigraph or Legend n square letters occur (as Mr. Falconer Madan informs me) in the inscriptions of the sixth and seventh centuries in Gaul, Spain, and Britain. Hickes added that all the other letters of the Epigraph were in ordinary Roman characters 1 : AELFRED MEL HEHT DEWYRLAN In fact there was only one place where a dis- tinctly Saxon character might have come in, namely in the place of the W, which instead of the Runic Wen (p) is composed of two Roman Vs. There is no place for the Runic Thorn (J?). He had been pursuing an argument, of which the aim was to show that from the time of Alfred the characteristic features of Anglo- Saxon writing were less used, being superseded by Gallic or Italic forms. He attributes the change to the teachers which the king had drawn from Gaul. That such a change was taking place in Alfred's time is quite manifest, but its 1 'Saxonici ductus duas tantum literas habet, E et IV Thesaurus^ vol. i, p. 14/1. ix The Alfred Jewel beginnings were further back; the taste for Frankish fashions having been introduced by his grandfather Ecgberht, who had passed years of exile at the Court of Charlemagne. Doubt- less the movement grew under the influence of Alfred, who not only had visited Rome, but in all probability had resided there for some years. If now passing from the alphabetic characters we consider the syntax of this sentence, we shall find that it varies so widely from our habits of speech at the present time as to furnish some- thing like a measure of the intervening period, and as it were to render some account of the lapse of a thousand years. Let us begin by translating the sentence verbally with the minimum of change, retaining the selfsame words in their modern guise. On this plan the sentence will run thus: c Alfred me hight work;' where the baldness of the diction exhibits roughly the gulf there is between this Epigraph and our present usage. Each word is English, but the sentence is far from being so. This great contrast is the result of a combination of causes, and it may be resolved into four chief The Epigraph or Legend 13 movements which have slowly operated during the long interval. (1) A change has taken place in the collocation of words in forming a sentence. The governed pronoun stands in a place where it is now inadmissible : the present habit of the language requires that the pronoun c me> should come in after its governing verb. If we make this change, we shall see that the sentence will become a trifle more like English, thus : 4 Alfred hight work me.' (2) Another movement is that which in process of time takes place in the usage of words. There is a fashion in the choice of words for the clothing of our ideas, and that fashion changes sometimes capriciously and fitfully, but for the most part so slowly and gradually that it takes an era of time to make the change conspicuous. Words are liable to this kind of alteration in various degrees, and this inequality of change is observable even in a sentence of four words. The verb heht, hight^ has under- gone so great a change of sense that to the general reader it is apt to be unintelligible 1 . 1 This is briefly explained in my English Philology, § ijo. 14 The Alfred Jewel But while this verb has altered greatly, the verb 'work' has altered little. Still, it has altered, and it is no longer the right word for its place. The remaining two words have in usage un- dergone no change at all. The pronoun mec has suffered alteration in form by dropping a consonant, but it is absolutely unchanged in its application. Indeed, it may be stated as a general law, that pronouns as a class are among the slowest of words to admit semantic change. Nevertheless there is a group of words which are still more unchangeable in signification, and these are the Proper Nouns. External changes of form they do admit, but not the internal change of sense. The name Alfred is the form prevalent on the coinage of his reign, but there are variations, thus : Alfred, ^lbred, el fred, elfered ; and there is the form Alfred, which has become established in modern English in consequence of the fact that our earliest popular histories of the king were derived from Latin books, in which language his name was commonly spelt alfredus. But The Epigraph or Legend 15- whatever changes may pass over the visible representation of the word, there is no alteration possible in the relation between this word and the memory of that royal person whose proper name it was. If now we remove the words that have suffered a semantic change, and substitute those which at the present time seem most natural, the sentence will take this form: 'Alfred ordered make me;' and thus it approaches another step towards the present manner of our speech. (3) The third movement to be noticed is that from the flexional to the phrasal method of syntax. The word gewyrcan is a flexional verb, the last syllable, -an, being the sign of the infinitive mood, and indicating the syntactical function of that word in the sentence. By slow degrees this method of syntax fell out of use, and another way came up of expressing the same function. Instead of the syllable -an at the end of the verb, a little word, c to, ? was set before the verb, with the same effect of ex- pressing the infinitive mood. If now we add this change to the other modifications of our 16 The Alfred Jewel sentence, we shall bring it considerably nearer to current speech, thus : c Alfred ordered to make me.' But still it wants something to reduce it into the shape which we can recognize as modern English. (4) The fourth and last change which we must note in the habits of our speech is the great extension of the passive verb, and particularly in the infinitive mood. Many infinitive phrases which were once cast in the Active have been changed to the Passive, and a lingering survival of the active formula may be observed to have a peculiar and exceptional air. We feel this in the phrase, 'The reason is not far to seek.' A more familiar example may be seen on the boards of the house agents. Some of these boards say 'House to let,' while others prefer 'House to be let, 5 — the one is homely and native English, the other is modish and reminds us of the schoolmaster. The same authority will guide us to bring our Legend up to date, and stamp our version with the mint of the nine- teenth century, thus : c Alfred ordered me to be made.' In the above analysis it has been necessary The Epigraph or Legend 17 to depart in some measure from the course of nature by exhibiting in succession a group of changes which are due to processes more or less simultaneous. This accumulation of gradual changes furnishes a measure, partly scientific, partly sentimental, of the wide interval that separates us from the time when this Epigraph was curiously woven in golden filigree by the lucky artist who executed the design of the ingenious prince. But the Epigraph has time-indications which are closer and more definite. There are features which, besides telling of the lapse of time, do also in some sense indicate the point of time; features in virtue of which this Legend may be said to suggest proximately its own date. The two words