Whelock in 1644. Junius is out of the question, being only nine years old in 1598. Wm. Lambarde, a pupil of Laurence Nowell, a contemporary of Hakluyt for forty-eight years, was one of the most eminent Anglo-Saxon scholars of that age, and most likely to be the translator of these voyages. He had published his 'Apxaιovoμía or the Anglo-Saxon Laws in 1568, thirty years before the translation of Ohthere's voyages appeared, and was, therefore, one of the most competent scholars for the task. Being in London, he had ready access to the Cotton MS. of Orosius, in which he made marginal and interlinear notes, as stated by Elstob, who, in his transcript of Orosius, quoting one of these notes on Angle, i. e." Anglia in Germania," distinctly states, that it was-" manu recenti Lambardi," thus shewing Lambarde's intimate acquaintance with this part of the MS. Mr. Hampson, a man of close investigation, speaking of Ohthere's voyages in Hakluyt, adds,-"The English version and notes are said to have been written by Lambarde "."

I asked his authority for this statement, and in his answer, alluding to the identity of some of the notes in Lambarde's handwriting on the MS. and those on the margin of Hakluyt, he says—“ I have the fact, that Lambarde translated these voyages, from the margin of the old Ed. of IIakluyt's Voyages, vol I, in the British Museum." There can, therefore, be little doubt that Lambarde was the translator of Ohthere and Wulfstan's voyages, first published by Hakluyt.

SOMNER in 1659 published the latter part of Wulfstan's voyage, which had been omitted by Hakluyt [§ 21—23]. 21-23]. It is given in Anglo-Saxon, with a Latin translation, under the word Gedrync in his

Dictionarivm Saxonico-Latino-Anglicum, etc. Opera et studio Guliel. Somneri Cantuariensis. Fol. Oxonii, Anno Dom. M.DC.LIX.

His extract begins with-and þær is mid Estum deaw... and ends,-hy wyrcað pone cyle hine on.-Orientalibus etiam mos est. a frigore in eos inducto. Somner omits the last sentence [p 23, 8 e-10 e.]

Somner has the honour of being the first to publish a part of

5 Elstob's transcript of Orosius, p 13, on the right hand margin.

6 Mr. Hampson's Essay on King Alfred's Geography and northern voyages of Ohthere,

these voyages in the original Anglo-Saxon, though that was only the latter half of Wulfstan's voyage in the Baltic.

ALUMNI OXONIENSES 1678. We are indebted for their publication in the original Anglo-Saxon, with a Latin translation, to the Rev. Obadiah Walker, D.D., Master of University College from 1676 to 1688, and to the Fellows of the same college, who have given them entire from the Cotton MS. in the appendix to their splendid folio bearing this title,

Ælfredi Magni Anglorum Regis invictissimi vita tribus Libris comprehensa, a clarissimo Dno. Johanne Spelman, Henrici F. primum Anglice conscripta, dein Latine reddita, et annotationibus illustrata ab Elfredi in Collegio Magnæ Aula Universitatis Oxoniensis Alumnis 7. Fol. Oxonii M.DC.LXXVIII.

In the Appendix VI, we have these voyages, occupying four pages [205—208], with this title,

"In Præfatione ad Traductionem Orosii ab Ælfredo Rege in Linguam Saxonicam." In Præfatione is a mistake, as Alfred did not write a preface to Orosius, as he did to Gregory's Pastoral, quoted in Appendix III, p 196, 197, by these Alumni, but the narrative of these voyages was naturally introduced into the first chapter of Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of Orosius, when the king was giving his own description of the north of Europe; and these voyages are taken from this first chapter. They are, for the first time, here printed entire from the Cotton MS.

There are two columns in a page. The left column contains the text, in what is called the Anglo-Saxon character, as below; and, in the parallel column on the right, there is a Latin translation. The very brief Latin notes are printed below across the page.

The Appendix begins —

Htherus dixit Domino suo Ælfredo'

thane ræde hir hlafonde Ælfpese Regi; se omnium Northmannorum

Kynineze pæt he ealpa Nopomanna
Nonomest bude; p 205.

It ends

peah man arette tpezen fætels full ealað oððe pærerer hy zedod. p open bið ofen fɲopen ram hit rý summon ram pinter p 208.

locis maxime septentrionalibus habitare.

Et si quis ponat duo vascula cerevisiæ vel aquæ, efficere possunt, ut utrumque glacietur, sive sit æstas sive hyems.

The Anglo-Saxon text is so incorrectly printed, as to lead to the conclusion, that the sheets could not have been seen by any one in the least acquainted with Anglo-Saxon :-p th and p w, are very frequently and absurdly used, one for the other: thus, we find tep for tep, pa for þa, scopum for stopum. Other letters

7 “ALUMNI, i.e. Magister et Socii Collegii Magne Aula Universitatis Oxoniensis.”— Wanley's Catal. p 70.

are interchanged, p th and p; pw and pr; 8 d and d dh; as,-papum for papum; þæp for pæp; hatad for hatað, deop for deop. The last letter of one word is prefixed to the next, as bi don for bid on, etc. The first word Ohthæpe should be Ohthene.

This is a very handsome volume, with several well engraved portraits of Alfred, and five folio plates of coins. It is an evidence of what may be done by a College, under the influence of an energetic head. We are told by Thomas Hearne, that the translation was made by Christopher Wase, the Esquire Bedel of Law in the University, and the notes written by the learned Obadiah Walker, Master of the College. Though he was the chief writer, he must have been assisted by some of the Fellows, who were less acquainted with the subject than the Master. In a note these voyages are properly said to have been taken from the first chapter of Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version, but in the table of contents and in the Appendix' they are carelessly referred to the Preface, which does not exist. The translation follows Sir John Spelman, who has only extracted from Hakluyt the first part of Ohthere's voyage, but the editors have, with great judgment, given the entire voyages in an Appendix. As Alfred used the English of his day, and Sir John Spelman wrote the king's life in English, some regret that it was first published in a Latin version, and not in its original English. Latin was then the current language of the Literati in Europe, and this life, with the specimen of Alfred's prose composition in Anglo-Saxon, or primitive English, made known to the world, that Alfred was not only great as a King, but as a writer. The attention of Europe was thus called to the earliest form of the English tongue, in the Anglo-Saxon, and the learning of the best Scandinavian and German scholars was exercised in the explanation and illustration of these voyages. The important assistance that we have derived from the generous aid of foreigners will be most clearly shewn by the following brief account of the chief editions published by them. These are given in their chronological order. Before we speak of the editions of Bussæus, and Langebek,

8 See the extract from Hearne, in the following notice of his ed. of Alfred's life, p xlvi. 9 In capite primo Orosii, Note a, p 113.

1 In Præfatione ad traductionem Orosii ab Ælfredo rege in Linguam Saxonicam. Appendix V1, p 205.

Y

founded on the Appendix to the Oxford folio, the original English Ed. by Sir John Spelman must be mentioned, as it has priority in date.

SPELMAN 1709.-We have seen that Hakluyt first published these voyages in an English translation in 1598, and that the attention of foreigners was little excited till 1678, nearly a century afterwards, when the original Anglo-Saxon and the Latin translation were published by the Master and Fellows of University College. While foreigners availed themselves of these and the Latin version of Alfred's life, we, as Englishmen, could not be satisfied without possessing

"The Life of Ælfred the Great, by Sir John Spelman Kt. from the original Manuscript in the Bodlejan Library: with considerable additions, and several historical remarks, by the publisher Thomas Hearne, M.A. 8vo. Oxford, 1709."

Mr. Hearne will give the best account of his editorial labours,"I have printed this History of Alfred the Great, which I have faithfully transcrib'd from the Original in the... Bodleian Library. ... This Life was several years since [1678] translated into Latin by the ingenious Mr. Christopher Wase, Superior Beadle of the Civil Law in Oxford, and publish'd from the Theater Press in a thin Folio, with a Commentary, by the Reverend and Learned Mr. Obadiah Walker, Master of University College; but some Persons having been of opinion that more Justice would be done to the Author's Memory to have it publish'd in the same Language in which it was written, in complyance to their Sentiments, I have accordingly sent it abroad in it's own Natural Dress, not doubting but that 'twill meet with a Reception worthy of it's admirable Author." P 225.

...

Sir John Spelman speaks of Alfred and the voyage of Ohthere in these terms :

"And to shew the Latitude of the King's Mind and Genius, in all Dimensions truly Royal and August, there is (as I have been informed) in Sir Thomas Cotton's Library an old Memorial of a Voyage of one Octher a Dane, [? Norwegian] performed at King Ælfred's Procurement, for the discovery of some North-East-Passage. This I attended sometime to have seen, but it being no more than two or three Leaves, and, upon some Removal of Books and Papers, displaced, and not readily to be found, I had no hope of obtaining it before a general Review and sorting of the Papers. What that Record it self is, I know not, but to imagine the least, and to judge it to be no more than that which is published concerning Octher by Mr. Hakluyt, and Mr. Purchas, in their Collections of Discoveries and Voyages, it yet affordeth thus much, that Ælfred, among the several Sorts of People that he sought out and procured, entertained one that

was expert and industrious in Navigation, whom least we should think to be but accidentally brought unto the King, (only to relate his own Fortunes, in which the King had no hand at all) we may observe, that that Relation speaketh of Octher's Coming as of an Act of his own Will and Purpose, and not a casual Thing. And to shew that his Intent and End of Coming was to offer his Service to the King, as assured to find him forward in Entertaining Men of his Condition, and ready to further his Addiction, whether to Discovery general, or to the particular of Whale-Fishing, it not only mentioneth Elfred, as Octher's Lord and Master, but sheweth, that, upon his Return from his late Discovery, he brought some of the Horse-Whales Teeth as a present unto the King. Neither is there mention of any casual occasion of his coming, nor is it likely in those Times there should have been so particular a setting down of the Relation that a Stranger made (for the Original is in Saxon) if some particular Purpose of the King's and his Desire or Commands had not given Occasion to it. The Relation, for so much as concerns our purpose, as it is translated by the Publishers, is as followeth." Octher saith, that the Country, &c. He then quotes from Hakluyt [§ 13-15]; and ends "every man payeth," &c. Spelman's life of Alfred, p 152, § 81.-156, § 87.

In the beginning of this extract Spelman mentions the Library of Sir Thomas Cotton, who succeeded to the Baronetcy and the Library, on the demise of his father, Sir Robert, in 1631. Sir John Spelman died in 1643, this extract must, therefore, have been written some time in the twelve years intervening between 1631 and 1643.-It may be observed that the country of Ohthere was Halgoland, on the north coast of Norway, he was, therefore, a Norwegian and not a Dane.-Whether Sir John has sufficient reason, for supposing that Alfred engaged Octher [Ohthere] to make these voyages, must be left for the reader to decide.

BUSSEUS, 1733.-This edition is a very inaccurate reprint of the Anglo-Saxon text and the Latin translation from the Oxford folio of 1678. It is given as an Appendix to Arius Polyhistor, and follows Lexicon vocum antiqvarum Arii Polyhistoris, with a separate paging. It has the following ample title, given verbatim et literatim,

Periplus Ohtheri, Halgolando-Norvegi, ut et Wulfstani, Angli, secundum narrationes eorundem de suis, unius in ultimam plagam septentrionalem; utriusqve autem in mari Balthico Navigationibus, jussu Elfredi Magni, Anglorum regis, seculô à Nativitate Christi nonô factis; ab ipso rege Anglo-Saxonicâ lingvâ descriptus; demum à Collegii Magnae Aula Universitatis Oxoniensis Alumnis, Latinè versus et, unà cum Joh. Spelmanni vita Ælfredi Magni, è veteri codice manuscripto Bibliothecæ Cottonianæ editus; jam verò, ob antiqvitatem et