ments of an old Saxon poem on the story of Genesis. The first of these
fragments includes the original of 28 lines of the interpolated passage of
the Old English _Genesis_. The Old Saxon Biblical poetry belongs to the
middle of the 9th century; the Old English translation of a portion of it
is consequently later than this.

As the _Genesis_ begins with a line identical in meaning, though not in
wording, with the opening of Caedmon's _Hymn_, we may perhaps infer that the
writer knew and used Caedmon's genuine poems. Some of the more poetical
passages may possibly echo Caedmon's expressions; but when, after treating
of the creation of the angels and the revolt of Lucifer, the paraphrast
comes to the Biblical part of the story, he follows the sacred text with
servile fidelity, omitting no detail, however prosaic. The ages of the
antediluvian patriarchs, for instance, are accurately rendered into verse.
In all probability the _Genesis_ is of Northumbrian origin. The names
assigned to the wives of Noah and his three sons (Phercoba, Olla, Olliua,
Olliuani[2]) have been traced to an Irish source, and this fact seems to
point to the influence of the Irish missionaries in Northumbria.

The _Exodus_ is a fine poem, strangely unlike anything else in Old English
literature. It is full of martial spirit, yet makes no use of the phrases
of the heathen epic, which Cynewulf and other Christian poets were
accustomed to borrow freely, often with little appropriateness. The
condensation of the style and the peculiar vocabulary make the _Exodus_
somewhat obscure in many places. It is probably of southern origin, and can
hardly be supposed to be even an imitation of Caedmon.

The _Daniel_ is often unjustly depreciated. It is not a great poem but the
narration is lucid and interesting. The author has borrowed some 70 lines
from the beginning of a poetical rendering of the Prayer of Azarias and the
Song of the Three Children, of which there is a copy in the Exeter Book.
The borrowed portion ends with verse 3 of the canticle, the remainder of
which follows in a version for the most part independent, though containing
here and there a line from _Azarias_. Except in inserting the prayer and
the _Benedicite_, the paraphrast draws only from the canonical part of the
book of Daniel. The poem is obviously the work of a scholar, though the
Bible is the only source used.

The three other poems, designated as "Book II" in the Junius MS., are
characte