its original, it
loses wholly its aesthetic qualities.

In my diction I have sought after simple and idiomatic English,
studying the noble archaism of the King James Bible, rather than
affecting the Wardour Street dialect of William Morris or Professor
Earle, which is often utterly unintelligible to any but the special
student of Middle English. My translation is faithful, but not
literal; I have not hesitated to make a passive construction active,
or to translate a compound adjective by a phrase. To quote from King
Alfred's preface to his translation of Boethius, I have "at times
translated word by word, and at times sense by sense, in whatsoever
way I might most clearly and intelligibly interpret it."

The text followed is that of Grein-Wuelker in the _Bibliothek der
Angelsaechsischen Poesie_ (Leipzig, 1894), and the lines of my
translation are numbered according to that edition. I have not,
however, felt obliged to follow his punctuation. Where it has seemed
best to adopt other readings, I have mentioned the fact in my notes.

I have compared my translation with those of Kemble and Grein
(_Dichtungen der Angelsaechsen_), and am occasionally indebted to them
for a word or a phrase.

It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Frank
H. Chase, who has very carefully read my translation in manuscript;
and to Professor Albert S. Cook, who has given me his help and advice
at all stages of my work from its inception to its publication. To Mr.
Charles G. Osgood, Jr., I am also indebted for valuable criticism.

ROBERT KILBURN ROOT.

YALE UNIVERSITY,
April 7, 1899.

INTRODUCTION

[Sidenote: _The Manuscript_.]

While traveling in Italy during the year 1832, Dr. Blume, a German
scholar, discovered in the cathedral library at Vercelli an Old
English manuscript containing both poetry and prose. The longest and
the best of the poems is the _Andreas_, or _Legend of St. Andrew_.

How did this manuscript find its way across the Alps into a country
where its language was wholly unintelligible? Several theories have
been advanced, the most plausible being that advocated by Cook.[1]
According to this view it was carried thither by Cardinal Guala, who
during the reign of Henry III was prior of St. Andrew's, Chester. On
his return to Italy he built the monastery of St. Andrew in Vercelli,
strongly English in its architecture. Since the manuscript contained
a poem about St. Andrew, it would