B L HARVARD COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY TROW'S PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK INTRODUCTION. THE origins of English Verse are to be sought in various directions, recondite as well as obvious; for while there is no difficulty in following it from Chaucer down, we must remember that when it reached Chaucer it was not a rill but a river,-a river whose volume had been increased by many affluents, each with a spring or well-head of its own. The first singers were the minstrels, or glee-men, who chanted at feasts and festivals and accompanied themselves on the harp. Who they were and what they sung we have to conjecture, for their names and their songs have alike perWe only know that their profession was a rec ished. ognized one, and that grave dignitaries of the Church thought it an honor to be skilled therein. The first poet whose name has reached us is Cædmon. There is a touch of the marvellous in his story as it is related by Bede, and a touch of the romantic as it is related by Morley. What lived in the seventh century, and was a tenant on some appears to be authentic in it is that he ed than his equals, Wright tells us, that he had not even learned any poetry, and when the harp was |