380 On English Prceterites. say the language between the eleventh and fourteenth cen- turies, to say a few words respecting the new forms of the vowels which were then introduced. For even as the Ando- Saxon differs in appearance from the Gothic, so does the English of that period from the Anglo-Saxon, and when once the corresponding sounds have been ascertained, it will be seen that it changes its system just as little. Yet before we step from the hard, and as it were iron- bound system of the Anglo-Saxons, into what at first sight appears a chaos of indigested and capricious variations, a word or two may be not impertinent, with regard to our authorities, when treating of what we consider a new lan- guage. It is no doubt matter of bitter regret to all whose love for the deep pursuits of etymology, has led them to trace downwards the progress of the English tongue, that so few documents have been supplied to them, in aid of their too-often wearisome task ; they cannot but have heard it whispered that in our collegiate and public libraries, a vast and complete series of materials exists, which if once ar- ranged, and given to the light, would furnish a history of every variation, and bridge over every gulph which now starts up beneath their feet, perplexing and amazing them. And knowing this, they must feel that the example of Ger- many, France, and Denmark, might worthily have been followed by ourselves, if leaving the consideration of mere every-day profit, we had bestowed some little pains upon the reproduction of these national treasures. For History, for Theology, for Art, vast stores are yet lurking in the con- cealment of ancient manuscripts, difficult in themselves to be decyphered, known by name to the curious, and as the world judges, the idle only, and too often shut with a jealous care from the gaze of those who would unroll them before their countrymen, whose true and most sure records they are in times which the self-satisfied indifference of the day, brands with the name of barbarous. To such students as these I think I shall be rendering a service by noting some of the documents which from the nature of their contents, will be useful in forming a systematic history of our tongue. The first deflection from the pure Anglo-Saxon, may be said to occur in the later years of the Saxon Chronicle, from the year 1100
