in consequence of the progress of our language.
Many of these words derived from the French express new ideas, as
admiral, astronomy, baron, mantel, &c. "The language of Layamon," says
Sir Frederick Madden, "belongs to that transition period in which the
groundwork of Anglo-Saxon phraseology and grammar still existed,
although gradually yielding to the influence of the popular forms of
speech. We find in it, as in the later portion of the Saxon Chronicle,
marked indications of a tendency to adopt those terminations and sounds
which characterize a language in a state of change, and which are
apparent also in some other branches of the Teutonic tongue. The use of
_a_ as an article--the change of the Anglo-Saxon terminations _a_ and
_an_ into _e_ and _en_, as well as the disregard of inflections and
genders--the masculine forms given to neuter nouns in the plural--the
neglect of the feminine terminations of adjectives and pronouns, and
confusion between the definite and indefinite declensions--the
introduction of the preposition _to_ before infinitives, and occasional
use of weak preterites of verbs and participles instead of strong--the
constant recurrence of _er_ for _or_ in the plurals of verbs--together
with the uncertainty of the rule for the government of prepositions--all
these variations, more or less visible in the two texts of Layamon,
combined with the vowel-changes, which are numerous, though not
altogether arbitrary, will show at once the progress made in two
centuries, in departing from the ancient and purer grammatical forms, as
found in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts." Preface, p. xxviii.]

[889] Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, Ellis's Specimens.

[890] This conjecture of Scott has not been favourably received by later
critics.

[891] Warton printed copious extracts from some of these. Ritson gave
several of them entire to the press. And Mr. Ellis has adopted the only
plan which could render them palatable, by intermingling short passages,
where the original is rather above its usual mediocrity, with his own
lively analysis.

[892] The evidences of this general employment and gradual disuse of
French in conversation and writing are collected by Tyrwhitt, in a
dissertation on the ancient English language, prefixed to the fourth
volume of his edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; and by Ritson, in
the preface to his Metrical Romances, vol. i. p. 70.

[893] Rymer, t. v. p. 490; t. vi. p. 642, et alibi.

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