existence of the Anglo-Saxons as a separate people subsequent to the reign of William the Second; yet the great national distinctions betwixt them and their conquerors, the recollection of what they had formerly been, and to what they were now reduced, continued down to the reign of Edward the Third, to keep open the wounds which the Conquest had inflicted, and to maintain a line of separation betwixt the descendants of the victor1 Normans and the vanquished 2 Saxons.

SECOND READING.

THE sun was setting upon one of the rich glassy glades of that forest which we have mentioned in the beginning of the chapter. Hundreds of broad-headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched oaks, which had witnessed perhaps the stately march of the Roman soldiery, flung their gnarled arms over a thick carpet of the most delicious greensward; in some places they were intermingled with beeches, hollies, and copsewood of various descriptions, so closely as totally to intercept the level beams of the sinking sun; in others, they receded from each other, forming those long sweeping vistas,5 in the intricacy of which the eye delights to lose itself, while imagination considers them as the paths to yet wilder scenes of sylvan solitude.

1 victor. See Glossary.

2 vanquished: from the same root as victor.

3 glassy glades. Note the alliteration; define "glades."

4 march of... soldiery. When was this?

5 vista. See Glossary.

6 imagination... solitude. Cbserve the personification.

1

Here the red rays of the sun shot a broken and discolored light, that partially hung upon the shattered boughs and mossy trunks of the trees, and there they illuminated in brilliant patches the portions of turf to which they made their way. A considerable open space, in the midst of this glade, seemed formerly to have been dedicated to the rites of Druidical superstition; for on the summit of a hillock, so regular as to seem artificial, there still remained part of a circle of rough unhewn 2 stones, of large dimensions. Seven stood upright; the rest had been dislodged from their places, probably by the zeal of some convert to Christianity, and lay, some prostrate near their former site, and others on the side of the hill. One large stone only had found its way to the bottom, and in stopping the course of a small brook, which glided smoothly round the foot of the eminence, gave, by its opposition, a feeble voice of murmur to the placid and elsewhere silent streamlet.

The human figures which completed this landscape were in number two, partaking, in their dress and appearance, of that wild and rustic character which belonged to the woodlands of the West-Riding of Yorkshire at the early period. The eldest of these men had a stern, savage, and wild aspect. His garment was of the simplest form imaginable, being a close jacket with

1 Druidical superstition: that 2 unhewn. What is the force of is, the superstition of the Druids, the prefix? respecting which the pupil will find many interesting details in Thorpe's History of the Anglo-Sax

ons.

3 completed, filled out the picture.

4 stern ... wild. Is there any redundancy here?

sleeves, composed of the tanned skin of some animal, on which the hair had been originally left, but which had been worn off in so many places that it would have been difficult to distinguish, from the patches that remained, to what creature the fur had belonged.

This primeval1 vestment reached from the throat to the knees, and served at once all the usual purposes of body-clothing; there was no wider opening at the collar than was necessary to admit the passage of the head, from which it may be inferred that it was put on by slipping it over the head and shoulders, in the manner of a modern shirt, or ancient hauberk.2 Sandals, bound with thongs made of boar's hide, protected the feet; and a roll of thin leather was twined artificially around the legs, and, ascending above the calf, left the knees bare like those of a Scottish Highlander. To make the jacket sit yet more close to the body, it was gathered at the middle by a broad leathern belt, secured by a brass buckle; to one side of which was attached a sort of scrip, and to the other a ram's horn, accoutered1 with a mouthpiece, for the purpose of blowing.

In the same belt was stuck one of those long, broad, sharp-pointed, and two-edged knives, with a buck'shorn handle, which were fabricated in the neighborhood, and bore, even at this early period, the name of a Sheffield whittle. The man had no covering upon

1 primeval, primitive, rude.

2 hauberk, a shirt of mail formed of small steel rings interwoven. 3 scrip, a small bag or wallet. 4 accoutered. Is this a common meaning of the term?

5 a Sheffield whittle. For what branch of manufacture is Sheffield, England, noted? For etymology of "whittle," see Webster.

6 covering. Give the principal parts of this verb.

his head, which was only defended by his own thick hair, matted and twisted together, and scorched by the influence of the sun into a rusty dark-red color, forming a contrast with the overgrown beard upon his cheeks, which was rather of a yellow or amber hue.

One part of his dress only remains, but it is too remarkable to be suppressed.1 It was a brass ring, resembling a dog's collar, but without any opening, and soldered fast round his neck, so loose as to form no impediment to his breathing, yet so tight as to be incapable of being removed excepting by the use of the file. On this singular gorget was engraved, in Saxon characters, an inscription of the following purport: "Gurth, the son of Beowulph, is the born thrall 3 of Cedric of Rotherwood."

2

Beside the swineherd, for such was Gurth's occupation, was seated, upon one of the fallen Druidical monuments, a person about ten years younger in appearance, and whose dress, though resembling his companion's in form, was of better materials, and of a more fantastic appearance. His jacket had been stained of a bright purple hue, upon which there had been some attempt to paint grotesque ornaments in different colors. To the jacket he added a short cloak, which scarcely reached half-way down his thigh; it was of crimson cloth, though a good deal soiled, lined

6

1 suppressed. Give a synonym. 2 gorget (from French gorge, the throat), a piece of armor for defending the throat or neck.

thrall, a slave, a bondman.

4 Druidical monuments, stone pillars set up by the Druids, the priests of the ancient Britons. 5 grotesque. See Glossary. 6 crimson. See Glossary.

with bright yellow; and as he could transfer it from one shoulder to the other, or at his pleasure draw it all around him, its width, contrasted with its want of longitude,1 formed a fantastic piece of drapery. He had thin silver bracelets upon his arms, and on his neck a collar of the same metal, bearing the inscription: "Wamba, the son of Witless, is the thrall of Cedric of Rotherwood."

This personage had the same sort of sandals with 2 his companion; but instead of the roll of leather thong, his legs were cased in a sort of gaiters, of which one was red and the other yellow. He was provided also with a cap, having around it more than one bell, about the size of those attached to hawks, which jingled as he turned his head to one side or other; and as he seldom remained a minute in the same posture, the sound might be considered as incessant. Around the edge of this cap was a stiff bandeau of leather, cut at the top into open-work, resembling a coronet, while a prolonged bag arose from within it, and fell down on one shoulder like on old-fashioned night-cap, or a jelly-bag, or the head-gear of a modern hussar.

It was to this part of the cap that the bells were attached; which circumstance, as well as the shape of his head-dress, and his own half-crazed, half-cunning expression of countenance, sufficiently pointed him out as belonging to the race of domestic clowns 5 or jesters,