dialects the arrangement in columns cannot be otherwise than useful and welcome. The foregoing considerations will, it is hoped, be deemed a sufficient apology for the plan here adopted.
Of the translation the text is formed from those of the original which, coinciding in matter, are susceptible of collation; all deviations from which are placed beneath the line, with an indication at foot of the manuscript whence such discrepant or additional matter is derived.
A few words here may not be out of place respecting the pronunciation of the Anglo-Saxon letters, in the proper names of persons and places occurring in the Chronicle. J has the sound of the English y, as in all the Germanic tongues, and in Italian; c is pronounced like k; though, when the language, owing apparently to foreign influence, had lost its purity, with respect both to its pronunciation and vocabulary, this sound of k before e and i degenerated into ch, like the Italian ce and ci; when ceap, ceorl, cinne, cirice, became our cheap, churl, chin, church, Scotice kirk. In later times, too, the þ (ð) in proper names of persons beginning with Æthel, is often found changed to g, as Ægelred for Æþelred, Ægelward for Æþelward, etc. The Saxon g, as in German, was always hard, as in our give, begin, and in general before e and i, in all English words derived from the Saxon.
The Indexes have been framed on the model of my predecessors, Bishop Gibson and Dr. Ingram, to whose praiseworthy labours in that department I have made some additions. Of such Anglo-Saxon terms as are necessarily retained in the translation, a short Glossary is given at the end of the second volume. For ampler explanation of these terms, recourse may be had to the late Mr. Kemble's "Saxons in England," Hallam's "State of Europe during the Middle Ages" Spelman's "Glossarium Archæologicum," etc.
