through the union with the Normans, England was brought to take a great deal more interest and a much larger share in the affairs of the rest of Europe than she would most likely ever have done otherwise. 24. The English at that time appear to have lost all spirit of enterprise; they had settled down into a quiet kind of farmer's life, and did not care for much beyond holding their own and keeping off their enemies. The Normans were very different from this; they were restless, and full of ambition and aspiration. They could not be contented to stay at home; wherever there were adventures, wherever there was fighting to be had, some of the Normans would be sure to be there. Some of them went to Spain, some to Greece, some to Sicily and to Italy. Wherever they went they made themselves famous, and in some places they founded great and splendid kingdoms. 25. Now in the present day the people who wander and spread themselves over the whole world in the most wonderful way are the English; so that a traveller can hardly go to any, the most remote, little place in Africa or America without finding an Englishman there; to say nothing of our great empire in India, and our vast colonies in Canada, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and other places. We probably owe a great deal of this to the Norman fire and energy, which at that time joined itself to the Teuton perseverance and plodding industry. It was like putting the swift spirit of an eagle into the strong body of an ox. We do not now go about marauding and seizing on other men's lands and kingdoms; and when we have subject nations to govern, we honestly strive to govern them for their own good and greater happiness. But we certainly do and shall overspread the earth. The two languages. 26. Now about our language. For a long time the two languages were quite distinct, but when both races began to speak the same, English was wonderfully improved from what it had been before. It was still English, and not French, as the nation was still English, and not French. But as the nation had acquired many good qualities, many arts, and talents, and refinements, and had left off some of its old clumsiness, through the union with the French, so had the language gained many new and beautiful words, and left off some of its unnecessary and lumbering forms. 27. A very learned German (Grimm) has said about the English language as it is now that "it possesses a power of expression such as perhaps neve: stood at the command of any other language of men." And he thinks its perfection is the result "of a surprisingly intimate union of the two noblest languages in modern Europe, the Teutonic and the Romance." 28. You are aware that our forefathers were Teutons, the same family as the Germans, that our language is much like the German still, and that many of our commonest words are the very same or only a little differently pronounced. Almost all our little useful words, our pronouns, adverbs, and prepositions, come to us also from the old German tongue. But we have besides all these a great many delightful and expressive words which the Germans have not, words which come originally from the Latin, and which the French gave to us. (Not that all our Latin words came to us through the French, for we took some ourselves at first hand, but the greater part the French brought with them.) 29. We will now take two very familiar English verses, and notice which words in them belonged to our old Teutonic forefathers, and which we learned from the Romance or French language of the Normans. "All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice; "God save our gracious Queen, Long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen. Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, God save the Queen." The words in italics are the Romance or French words, and though there are very few of them compared with the old English or German ones, we must surely all feel that we could not spare what there are-such beautiful words as "rejoice," "gracious," "glorious," &c. Our language would have been a sort of heavy homespun without them. 30. Another result of this blending is that in a great many cases we have two words for the same idea: one homely for every-day use as it were, and another rather grand and ornate for special occasions. The every-day one is the old Anglo-Saxon, the ornate one we learnt from the Normans. We feel in a moment which of those words was German and which French, and we feel how rich and varied it makes our language that they are now all English. History in words. So are the 31. One other and very curious thing about this change must be mentioned. The Frenchmen coming in as conquerors and lords, nearly all the lordly words belong to the French, such as sovereign, sceptre, throne, royalty, homage, duke, count, palace, castle. Though the highest of all, king and queen, are true old English words. words we love better than palace and castle-home and hearth. 32. Even down to very common and every-day matters we can learn, from the words of our language, which were masters and which were servants; even from the names we give to our food. It is a singular thing that the live animals in England have one set of names; but their flesh when killed and prepared for eating has another. We talk of sheep and oxen in the fields, but we do not talk of eating sheep and oxen; they are mutton and beef when they come to table. It is the same with calf and veal, deer and venison, pig and pork. Now in the times of the Norman conquest, and long after, the poor English had very little to do with the animals, except when they were alive. They had to keep the sheep, and to feed the oxen and calves, but they very seldom got any to eat; so the live creatures kept their old English names. But the Frenchmen were the people to eat them; therefore, when they were going to be eaten they took French names. Beef, mutton, pork, veal, and venison are all French words. Bacon is an old English word, and that was almost the only sort of meat the poor people could get. Now that we are not two, but one nation, all this has passed away. Poor men often eat beef, and rich men often eat bacon; but this little instance shows how much history lies written in very common words, if we know how to read it there. 33. We have now passed over more than 1100 years since the first beginning of our written history. In those years we have seen a great many different people casting longing eyes on dear old England, coming and coming again, but very seldom willing to go away. The Norman Conquest The English was the last great change which has taken place in Nation. the nation. It was the last time a fresh people came and settled down in the country. 34. What we are now has grown gradually from what we became then; and it will be well to take note of the various races who, at different times, have joined in making the English people. 1st. There were the people mentioned in the first lecture, of whom we have no written history, but of whom we know something by the things they left behind them: their tools, clothes, graves, skeletons, &c.-the bronze people. These were almost certainly short, small, dark men, and no doubt many of us are partly descended from them. We have not one word of their language left; though some people in the north-west of Spain, on the shores of the Bay of Biscay, are still believed to speak it. 2nd. The Celts or ancient Britons, of whom we have written accounts, whose descendants still live in Wales, Ireland, and other places, speaking their own language. Most likely we have also some of their blood in us; and we have a few, though a very few, of their words in our language (basket, cradle, clan, kilt are Celtic words); a good many names of places, as Kent, London, and Leeds; and of rivers, as Avon, Ouse, and Derwent. 3rd. The Romans, who went away of their own accord, leaving roads and other remains, and having taught the Britons Christianity, but from whom we do not seem to have received much more, except a few words, such as "street," which comes from their name for a paved road (strata via); and the names, or half the names, of some cities, as Manchester, the last part of which is a Latin word. 4th. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who are the real groundwork of the nation, and whom I have generally called the English, and their language the English language. 5th. The Danes, who were near relations to the English, and soon became one with them; whose language was very much like English, though not quite the same, and from whom also we received a few words (as ugly, weak, cat, dairy); and some names of places, as Derby, Grimsby. 6th. The Normans, whose contributions to our language and character have been just spoken of. Since that time there have been a few settlements of foreigners here and there, sometimes Flemings, sometimes French, but they were not large enough to produce any important difference in the English people. LECTURE XVI.-THE CONQUEROR. The foreigners in England. The feudal system. The castles. Risings of the English. Devastation of Northumberland. The New Forest. Appointments in the Church. Resistance to Papal encroachment. Death of the Conqueror. 1. THIS new king of England was a very remarkable man; had he not been so, indeed, he never would have been king of England at all. His character has been very carefully and graphically described by the writer of the 'Chronicle' 1066. at this period, who tells us that he had seen him, and had even lived in his court for a time. And William of Malmesbury, who has been quoted before, and whose father was one of the Frenchmen who came to England at or soon after the Conquest, gives us his opinion of him too; but he frankly owns that, though he wishes to speak the truth, he shall make much of his good points, and pass lightly over his bad ones. No doubt it was rather dangerous to speak out plainly about the fierce and powerful kings, whose sons or grandsons might be still living. 2. As to his appearance, William says, "he was of just stature, extraordinary corpulence, and fierce countenance. He was majestic, whether sitting or standing." He was so strong, no one but himself could draw his bow. William the Conqueror. The chronicler tells us, "He was a very wise man, and very powerful; more dignified and strong than any who went before him were. He also says, "He was mild to the good men who loved God;" but it really appears that he only meant by those good men "monks and churchmen, for it is not easy to find a trace of his ever being mild to any one else. And in the very same breath he goes on to say, "He was over all measure severe to the men who gainsaid his will. He was a very rigid and cruel man, so that no man durst do anything against his will. He had earls in his bonds who had acted against his will; bishops he cast from their bishoprics, and abbots from their abbeys; and thanes he kept in prison; and at last he spared not his own brother." L |