161. Junius. From The Letter to his Grace the Duke of Bedford' 228 SMALLER SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. CHAPTER I. OLD AND MIDDLE ENGLISH. A.-OLD ENGLISH. (-1154). 1. The Saxon Chronicle. (History, p. 11.) ON the 18th of March, 979, King Edward, afterwards known as "the Martyr," was assassinated at "Corfes-geat," in Dorsetshire. The Peterborough chronicler vents his indignant sorrow in the following terms :- 1 Corfes geat, as Mr. Earle has well pointed out, is not the gate of Corfe Castle--which, indeed, was not built until long afterwards-but "a singular cut or cleft in the line of chalk hills" in Dorsetshire, near which the present castle stands. SPECS. ENG. LIT. B |