ce the English at that
time possessed, and what advances they had made. That work of Beda which
is the best known and most esteemed is the Ecclesiastical History of the
English nation. Disgraced by a want of choice and frequently by a
confused ill disposition of his matter, and blemished with a degree of
credulity next to infantine, it is still a valuable, and for the time a
surprising performance. The book opens with a description of this island
which would not have disgraced a classical author; and he has prefixed
to it a chronological abridgment of sacred and profane history
connected, from the beginning of the world, which, though not critically
adapted to his main design, is of far more intrinsic value, and indeed
displays a vast fund of historical erudition. On the whole, though this
father of the English learning seems to have been but a genius of the
middle class, neither elevated nor subtile, and one who wrote in a low
style, simple, but not elegant, yet, when we reflect upon the time in
which he lived, the place in which he spent his whole life, within the
walls of a monastery, in so remote and wild a country, it is impossible
to refuse him the praise of an incredible industry and a generous thirst
of knowledge.

That a nation who not fifty years before had but just begun to emerge
from a barbarism so perfect that they were unfurnished even with an
alphabet should in so short a time have established so flourishing a
seminary of learning, and have produced so eminent a teacher, is a
circumstance which I imagine no other nation besides England can boast.

Hitherto we have spoken only of their Latin and Greek literature. They
cultivated also their native language, which, according to the opinions
of the most adequate judges, was deficient neither in energy nor beauty,
and was possessed of such an happy flexibility as to be capable of
expressing with grace and effect every new technical idea introduced
either by theology or science. They were fond of poetry; they sung at
all their feasts; and it was counted extremely disgraceful not to be
able to take a part in these performances, even when they challenged
each other to a sudden exertion of the poetic spirit. Caedmon, afterwards
one of the most eminent of their poets, was disgraced in this manner
into an exertion of a latent genius. He was desired in his turn to sing,
but, being ignorant and full of natural sensibility, retired in
confusion from the company, and