MARY, an Anglo-Norman Poetefs. 59

i . The filence of hiftorians, and efpecially the hiftorians of Al- fred. 2. The works falfely attributed to that prince, of which Spelman has given fome account [q]. 3. The great number of expreffions, and many of the morals to the fables, which imply a feudal government in its greateft vigour, and which, therefore, de- monftrate that this Englifh tranflation could not have been of the time of Alfred. 4. This prince began his reign in 871, and died in 901 ; now is it credible that an Anglo-Saxon verfion of the 9th century could have been intelligible to Mary, who had only learned the Englifh of the I3th? Had not the lapfe of time, and the de- fcents of the Danes and Normans in the nth century, contributed, in the firft place, to alter the Anglo-Saxon ; and afterwards, during the isth, the reft of the people from the northern and weftern pro- vinces of France, having become dependant upon England, did not they, likewife, by their commerce, and refidence in that coun- try, introduce a confiderable change into its language ? I know not if I miftake, but I can never believe that Mary could have under- ftood the language of the time of Alfred. This difficulty may, per- haps, be removed by a comparifon of works. The poems of Robert of Gloucefter, who wrote in Englifh at the time Mary lived, are flill remaining, and if examined with the Anglo-Saxon pieces of king Alfred, will at once point out the changes in the Englim lan- guage between the 9th and I3th centuries. To accomplim this, it is neceflary to poiTefs an intimate acquaintance with the language of both periods, and coiifcquently my powers arc inadequate to the tails:. Yet, if it were undertaken by fome competent judge, I be- lieve all would concur in the opinion of the learned Dr. Jolmfon. who agrees that before the middle of the 12th century the Anglo- Saxon language was already much changed, aud that in the i^th [q~ Spelman : Vita Alfrecli. pp. 93 and 98. I 2 Robert