letter. It may be remarked, however, that in the Cottonian MS. of this work, the adjective god is generally spelt good.

Note 28, p. 82, line 2.-ofdælpe; more prone. -The Bodleian MS. gives orðælpe, and the Cottonian gives ortælpe, as the reading of this word; but these being unintelligible, Junius proposed to substitute ordælpe, in which he was followed by Mr. Cardale, and the Editor's opinion coincides with their view.-See Rawlinson's Boethius, p. 167.

Note 29, p. 86, 1. 4.—oþep is substituted by Mr. Cardale for heopa, and makes the passage clearer.

Note 30, p. 90, 1. 4.—mate is here used impersonally, and reflectively: literally, as if it dream you.

Note 31, p. 90, 1. 24.-Da andƒpopode Boetiur. Then answered Boethius.-Alfred occasionally forgets that he is writing in the character of Boethius, and names him in the third person.

.....

.....

Note 32, p. 92, 1. 34.—hingɲige . . byrrte. cale. These verbs are all in the singular number, and are used impersonally-a circumstance which frequently occurs in Anglo-Saxon.

Note 33, p. 96, 1. 6.—re Lavulur pær heɲetoga on Rome. Catulus was a consul in Rome.-Catulus was a Roman consul, but it was Catullus, the poet, who was indignant that Nonius should sit in a chair of state. The two are here confounded.

Note 34, p. 102, 1. 28.—This refers to Damocles and Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily.

Note 35, p. 104, 1. 19.-Seneca, who is called the "foster-father" of Nero, had the misfortune to be appointed tutor to that cruel tyrant; and having incurred the displeasure of his former pupil, he was put to death by bleeding, which was accelerated by a bath.

Note 36, p. 104, 1. 24.-Papinian, the celebrated jurist, was a prefect under the Emperor Severus, and it is said that the emperor, on his death, commended his two sons, Antoninus Caracalla and Geta, to the care of Papinian. But soon after his father's death, Caracalla dismissed Papinian from his office, murdered his brother Geta, and then gave orders for the execution of his former guardian, which was shortly afterwards carried into effect. Boethius could scarcely have selected two more fitting examples for illustrating his argument.

Note 37, p. 106, 1. 23.—Thýle. Thule.—An island in the German Ocean, which, from its great distance from the continent of Europe, received from the ancients the epithet of "ultima." Its situation was never ascertained; and there are still different opinions about it. Some suppose that it was the island now called Iceland, or else part of Greenland; while others consider it to be the Shetland Isles.

Note 38, p. 106, 1. 31.—“rum rceop;" "a certain poet."-This was Euripides; and the passage alluded to is Andromacha, 1. 320, Ed. Matth. Note 39, p. 110, 1. 16.-unæþelne; unnoble.-It was necessary to coin a word to express the meaning of the original. Ignoble would convey a very false idea of what is meant by unæþel, both in this and many other passages.

Note 40, p. 112, 1. 15.-Œdipus is here alluded to, who, in ignorance, is said to have slain his father Laius, King of Thebes. Note 41, p. 130, 1. 18.. opcuman is evidently a contraction of ofercuman, to overcome, like o'ercome in English.

Note 42, p. 132, 1. 36.-brist is here used for bepert.

Note 43, p. 142, 1. 17.-beapro is here used for þeapft.

Note 44, p. 146, 1. 3.-r10 beophtner þæpe runnan reiman je þær æp ner to metanne, &c.-This, which is the reading in the Bodleian MS., is evidently a mistake, and unfortunately there is no other MS. to correct it, inasmuch as those portions of Boethius which are metrical are entirely different in the Bodleian and Cottonian MSS. The Bodleian contains the metres in a prosaic form, and the Cottonian has them in verse. E. Thomson, Esq., has kindly suggested to the Editor that þær æn ner should be þærτæpner, or rather beorzæpner, darkness; and this alteration is in some measure confirmed by the parallel passage in the metrical version, viz. :

bonne pile he recgan,
þær þæpe runnan rie,
beophtner biostro,
beopna gephpýlcum,

to metanne.

There can, therefore, be no impropriety in thus altering the reading of the Bod. MS., and substituting for it a word which, while it gives clearness to the passage, is in harmony with the Cott. MS.

Note 45, p. 160, 1. 22.-The word "he" is redundant here, and makes tiohhige have the force of a reflective verb; a mode of expression very common in this work. It may here be remarked, that there are many redundancies which did not seem to require any remark in the notes.

Note 46, p. 162, 1. 4.-Ic pat, &c.-The fable of the giants and the history of the Tower of Babel are introduced by Alfred in consequence of a passing allusion in Boethius; and it may be noticed how carefully Alfred guards against making a direct assertion with regard to these fabulous histories, by employing the expression, "rceolde beon."

Note 47, p. 162, 1. 20.-Deipa. Dura.-Daniel, c. iii. 1.

Note 48, p. 166, 1. 8.-Parmenider. Parmenides. -Parmenides was a Greek philosopher, and flourished about the same time as Socrates; and, like other philosophers of that period, expressed his opinions in verse. The poem from which the quotation is made is entitled, "On Nature."

Note 49, p. 166, 1. 18.-bær piran Platoner lapa ruma.-The passage here alluded to was the remark made by Plato in his Timæus, viz. that discourses, in those matters of which they are the interpreters, should always have a certain relationship to the subject.

Note 50, p. 170, 1. 3.-Tyzier.-The reading of this word is evidently different in the Cott. MS., but from the illegible state of this part of the MS. it is impossible to say what the reading is.

Note 51, p. 184, 1. 18.-re Platoner cpide.-The saying of Plato, to which reference is made, is in his "Gorgias and Alcibiades," b. i.

Note 52, p. 194, 1. 4.-Ulysses is called by Boethius, Neritius dux, this name being derived from Neritos, a mountain in Ithaca. Alfred evidently mistook his author's meaning, and considered Retia, or Neritia, as a distinct country, over which Ulysses ruled.

Note 53, p. 194, 1. 11-pendel ræ; the Wendel Sea. This was either the whole of the Mediterranean Sea, or that part of it which is called the Adriatic.-See Alfred's Orosius, b. i. c. i.

Note 54, p. 194, 1. 32.-Sume hi rædon hio sceolde foprceoppan to leon. Conne reo rceolde гppecan. bonne pynde hio. Some, they said, she-i.e. Circe-should transform to lions, and when they should speak, then they roared.-Literally, some they said she should transform into a lion, and when she should speak then she roared. She, of course, refers to leon, which is a feminine noun in Anglo-Saxon.

Note 55, p. 220, 1. 27.-Spa pa on pæner eaxe hpeaprab ba hpeol. As on the axle-tree of a waggon the wheel turns.-The whole of this section is King Alfred's original production. The simile of the wheel is, perhaps, pursued rather too far, and occasionally is not very intelligible; bypb, which occurs a few words after, is for bepeð.

Note 56, p. 228, 1. 10.-See Psalm xvii. 8; Keep me as the apple of an eye.

Note 57, p. 236, 1. 17.—In the Cott. MS., after Da cpæd he, the following words are inserted, "eall bro good † te nýt bið. þa cyæðic is soð. þa cpæð he." 810, &c. Having chiefly followed the Bodleian text, it did not appear necessary to disturb that arrangement by incorporating these words in the text of this edition.

Note 58, p. 242, 1. 2.-See Aristotelis Physica, lib. ii. c. v.

Note 59, p. 244, 1. 6.—The passage alluded to appears to be in Iliad iii. 1. 277:

Ἠελιός θ', ὃς πάντ' ἐφορᾶς, καὶ πάντ ̓ ἐπακούεις.

Note 60, p. 246, 1. 26.-Cicero was named Marcus Tullius Cicero. See also c. xviii. § 2.

Note 61, p. 248, 1. 3.-In the Cott. MS. the following words are inserted after rppæcon, before pit: "þa cpæð ic hpær hæbbe ic forgiven þær þe pit æn spræcon. þa cp he." pit, &c. For the reason before given, in note 57, they are not incorporated in the present text.

Note 62, p. 252, 1. 20.-gepir andgit is rendered "intelligence," in conformity with the Latin. By intelligentia, Boethius meant the highest degree of knowledge.

Note 63, p. 255, 1. 15.-By the expression "prone cattle," which is the translation of "hɲopa nýtenu," those animals are meant which have their faces turned towards the ground.

Note 64, p. 256, 1. 1, c. xlii.-Fop by pe sceoldon, &c. "Therefore we ought," &c.-This, which is the last chapter of King Alfred's translation of Boethius, and which is very interesting, is almost entirely the royal author's own.

Note 65, p. 260, 1. 1 -Drihten ælmihtiga Lod, &c. "O Lord God, Almighty," &c.-This prayer, which is added at the end of the Bodleian MS. in a later hand, was not appended to the Cottonian MS.

Note 66, p. 263, 1. 1.—Ður Ælfped ur.-This introduction, which was prefixed to the Cottonian MS., was scarcely the production of King Alfred himself, although it is an additional proof, if any were wanting, that he was the translator of Boethius, and the author of the metrical version. What is usually called the prose version of Boethius, contains the metres, but the translation is not in verse, although from the nature of the subject it nearly approaches poetry. King Alfred, it is supposed, wrote the prose when harassed with those "various and manifold worldly occupations which often busied him both in mind and in body," of which he so feel

ingly complains; and when he had overcome the difficulties which beset him, he reduced the translation of the metres to that form in which they have been handed down to us, being at once a monument of royal industry, and a pure specimen of the poetry of the Anglo-Saxons.

Note 67, p. 264.-Metre I.-What is here termed Metre I. is rather an original introduction of King Alfred to the subsequent poem. The work of Boethius commences with a metre relative to his misfortunes, without alluding to the cause of them:

"Carmina qui quondam studio florente peregi,

Flebilis, heu, mæstos cogor inire modos."

As the whole of the Anglo-Saxon metres are too paraphrastic to be strictly called translations, it appears to be the simplest arrangement to number them from this.

Note 68, p. 264, 1. 25.-Lind-pigende.-Literally, fighting under shields made of the linden, or lime-tree. Lind in its primary signification is the linden, or lime-tree, Tilia arbor; and in its secondary, or metaphorical sense, it is a standard, or banner, as well as a shield. A similar metaphorical use is made of the word arc, an ash-tree. It often signifies a spear or javelin; i.e. a weapon made of ash.

Note 69, p. 270, 1. 1.—Æala þu rcıppend.-This metre, which contains an address to the Deity, is a happy production of King Alfred's muse. With regard to Mr. Turner's observation, that King Alfred's prose translation of the metres of Boethius has more intellectual energy than his verse, it may be remarked, that this is not singular. We usually find much greater energy in blank verse than in poetry, which is fettered with rhyme. This may be exemplified by taking one of the poems ascribed to Ossian, and reducing it to the regular laws of verse. Mr. Turner, however, does justice to our author, by saying, "There is an infusion of moral mind and a graceful ease of diction in the writings of Alfred, which we shall look for in vain to the same degree and effect among the other remains of Anglo-Saxon poetry."-History of the Anglo-Saxons, b. v. ch. iv.

Note 70, p. 307, 1. 1.-Єala min Duhten.-This metre contains another address to the Deity, which, like the former one, is extremely beautiful. The Latin metre, beginning, O qui perpetuâ mundum ratione gubernas, is so amplified, that the Anglo-Saxon version of it may be considered an original composition.

Note 71, p. 348, 1. 4.—ær domer dæge; before dome's day.-Dome's day signifies the day of judgment: being derived from deman, to judge. From hence also is derived our English verb, to deem, i.e. to form a judg ment or opinion.

Abpecan, to break, to spoil, to take Ærten-genga, a successor