has also a place in the Anglo-Saxon Ritual of the Church of Durham,' published by the Surtees Society, and assignable to the beginning of the ninth century.* A still older channel by which

gebæed and pus cwæð, Hælend Cryst, onfoh mynum gaste; and ic pe bydde pat swa hwyle man swa myn gemynd on eorðan do, þonn afyrr fram þæs mannes huse ælce untrumnysse, ne hym feond ne scere ne hunger ne man-cwealm; and gif man mynne nama næmeð on ænigre frecednysse oððe on sæ oððe on oðrum syð sæte, ponne fylge se þynre myld-heortnysse'. Pa com stæfen of heofenum and cwæð, Cum pu geblotsode, and swa hwylc man swa on ænigre stowe and frecednysse mynne naman þurh þe cygð, ic hyne gehyre.' And sydðan þyses halgan weres mihta wæron oft mycele gecyded. Pa mæg on-gytan seðe ræðed sancte Arculfes boc, pat se man was stranglice gewytnod, sede geunarode sancte Georius anlycnysse, and se was wy hys feondum gescyld betweox mycelre frecednysse sede hym þam anlycnysse to þyngunge gesohte." In p. 15, there is a commemoration of Alexandra, who is mentioned in some legends of St. George as the queen of Datianus.

*

p. 52. The prayer runs thus: God, dv de vsig eadges Georg drovres dines earnvngv]

the Anglo-Saxon Church might have become acquainted with St. George, is the Gregorian Sacramentary, once very generally used in our island. It is true, questions have been raised touching the genuineness of the Preface,' where St. George is commemorated by name; but other evidence is not wanting to prove that he was already known to Gregory the Great, and therefore to the Roman missionaries, who took part in the conversion of the Saxons. For among the letters of St. Gregory, there is one in which he gives orders for the repair of a church dedicated in honour of St. George.*

*

But all doubts as to his early introduction among our Anglo-Saxon forefathers are removed by the testimony of Adamnan, whose treatise 'de Situ Terræ Sanctæ' (ed. Ingolstadt, 1619) supplies the following curious information. It appears that Arculf, the early traveller, on his return to his bishopric in France, was carried by adverse winds to Iona (A.D. 701). At his own dictation, a narrative was made of his interesting pilgrimage; and among other particulars we are

Singvnge gigladias, gilef rvmlice, pte da de his vel-fremnis' ve givgað, gefe giselenisne gefes ve gifylga."

* Lib. ix, Indict. iv, ep. lxviii.

told (lib. iii, c. 4): "Aliam quoque de Georgio martyre certam relationem nobis S. Arculfus intimavit, quam expertis quibusdam satis idoneis narratoribus in Constantinopoli urbe indubitanter didicit." In proof of the sanctity of the martyr, he subjoins a most singular story touching a man who vowed his horse to St. George, as he was proceeding on some perilous expedition. Having returned in safety, he wished to commute the offering by the payment of a sum of money. Whereupon the saint showed his deep displeasure by causing the animal to become restive, when his rider had mounted for his departure; and after several ineffectual attempts, and the promise of some extra shillings, the vow was at length literally fulfilled by leaving the horse behind. The moral which this story inculcated on the AngloSaxons is then stated by Adamnan: "Hinc manifeste colligitur, quodcumque Domino consecratur, sive homo erit sive animal (juxta id quod in Levitico scriptum est) nullo modo posse redimi aut mutari."

From the same source Bede most probably derived the information contained in his Martyrology, for he was well acquainted both with the travels of Arculf* and the book of Adamnan,

*Hist. Eccl., lib. v, c. 15-17.

which latter, indeed, he has epitomised. The notice at ix Kalend. Maii, is as follows: "Natale S. Georgii martyris, qui sub Datiano, rege Persarum potentissimo qui dominabatur super septuaginta reges, multis miraculis claruit, plurimosque convertit ad fidem Christi, simul et Alexandram uxorem ipsius Datiani usque ad martyrium confortavit. Ipse vero novissime decollatus martyrium explevit, quamvis gesta passionis ejus inter apocryphas connumerentur scripturas."

This last clause will throw light upon the language at the opening of the Anglo-Saxon Passion. It is there stated that heretical accounts of St. George were not uncommon in the Western Church; and that the compiler of the present legend undertook it with the hope of preserving the faithful from all further imposition. In what the heresy of those legends consisted we are unable to ascertain precisely, for the first mention of them, which occurs in a catalogue of spurious writings drawn up at Rome in 495, does no more than enumerate one relating to St. George. It may however be conjectured, with considerable probability, that the ground of condemnation was an allusion respecting St. Athanasius, who appears to have been foisted into the narrative at a very early period. As in our own legend, he is made to play the part of a magician in aid of the tyrant

Datianus; and since his adversaries were in the habit of taxing him with sorcery, there is reason to suspect that the corruption of the legend is due to Arian malice. This at least has been the opinion of many writers who have investigated the story of St. George, including Baronius, Heylin, and the Bollandists. They also maintain, that the confusion of our saint with the Cappadocian George, who lived nearly a century later, has resulted from similar interpolations.* However this may be, it is clear that the author of the legend from which our Anglo-Saxon text has been derived, reproduced several of the Arian elements, notwithstanding his zeal to vindicate the saint from all heretical misconstructions. This feature of the Passion will be found not the least curious.

I may add, in conclusion, that the accompapanying version claims no merit beyond that

66

* The main channel by which this corruption was perpetuated, seems to be a manuscript written in Lombardic characters, and referred to the seventh century. Baronius speaks of that legend of St. George as "multis procul dubio repertam mendaciis", and the Bollandists as non tantum fide sed etiam lectione indignissima." They affirm, however, that the basis of the legend was historical, and that it was subsequently expurgated by collation with the purer accounts of the Eastern Church.