n what is known as Caedmon's _Paraphrase_, the
next great Anglo-Saxon epic, there is no decrease in the warlike
spirit. Instead of Grendel, we have Satan as the arch-enemy against
whom the battle rages.

Caedmon, who died in 680, was until middle life a layman attached to
the monastery at Whitby, on the northeast coast of Yorkshire. Since
the _Paraphrase_ has been attributed to Caedmon on the authority of
the Saxon historian Bede, born in 673, we shall quote Bede himself on
the subject, from his famous _Ecclesiastical History_:--

"Caedmon, having lived in a secular habit until he was well advanced
in years, had never learned anything of versifying; for which
reason, being sometimes at entertainments, where it was agreed for
the sake of mirth that all present should sing in their turns, when
he saw the instrument come toward him, he rose from table and
returned home.

"Having done so at a certain time, and gone out of the house where
the entertainment was, to the stable, where he had to take care of
the horses that night, he there composed himself to rest at the
proper time; a person appeared to him in his sleep, and, saluting
him by his name, said, 'Caedmon, sing some song to me.' He answered,
'I cannot sing; for that was the reason why I left the entertainment
and retired to this place, because I could not sing.' The other who
talked to him replied, 'However, you shall sing.' 'What shall I
sing?' rejoined he. 'Sing the beginning of created beings,' said the
other. Hereupon he presently began to sing verses to the praise of
God."

Caedmon remembered the poetry that he had composed in his dreams, and
repeated it in the morning to the inmates of the monastery. They
concluded that the gift of song was divinely given and invited him to
enter the monastery and devote his time to poetry.

Of Caedmon's work Bede says:--

"He sang the creation of the world, the origin of man, and all the
history of Genesis: and made many verses on the departure of the
children of Israel out of Egypt, and their entering into the land of
promise, with many other histories from Holy Writ; the incarnation,
passion, resurrection of our Lord, and his ascension into heaven;
the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the preaching of the Apostles;
also the terror of future judgment, the horror of the pains of hell,
and the delights of heaven."

The Authorship and Subject Matter of the Caedmonian Cycle.