ABSTRACT
The narrative which follows is, like the two preceding ones, taken from the contemporary Parker MSS. The handwriting of this part of the MS. bears a close resemblance to that of the Lauderdale Orosius, and the same may be said of the language itself, which is clearly that of the end of Alfred's reign. Besides its great historical value, this piece deserves the most careful study as a perfect model of Old English prose. Mr. Earle justly says (Introd. p. xvi.): ‘This is the most remarkable piece of writing in the whole series of Chronicles. It is a warm, vigorous, earnest narrative, free from the rigidity of the other annals, full of life and originality. Compared with this passage, every other piece of prose, not in these Chronicles merely, but throughout the whole range of extant Saxon literature, must assume a secondary rank.’
