Excerpt from Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, 1854, Vol. 4 Several of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors composed glossarial notes on older writers or more formal grammatical treatises: for instance, Bede and Alcuin have a place among the Grammatici Latini. But of extant works more strictly belonging to our subject the earliest is that which bears the name of AElfric "the Grammarian." Whether this AElfric can be identified with either of the archbishops (of Canterbury or York) who bore the name, has been a vexed question since the days of Ussher and Henry Wharton; but it seems now to be established that Canterbury must content itself with claiming the chief restorer of Anglo-Saxon scholarship, Matthew Parker; resigning to York or to some inferior see the most voluminous, and for philological purposes the most useful, of Saxon authors. It is also acknowledged that AElfric the preacher is one and the same person with AElfric the grammarian; in the one class of writings as in the other we trace the scholar's catholic spirit, which cannot reserve knowledge as the exclusive privilege of a caste, but holds with St. Augustine, "melius est reprehendant nos Grammatici, quam non intelligant populi." "I, AElfric," thus begins the Latin Preface to his homilies, "the pupil of the gentle and venerable prelate AEthelwold, to the Lord Archbishop Sigeric desire health in the Lord. However rash or presumptuous it may seem, yet I have rendered this volume from the books of the Latins, that is, of Divine Scripture (Theology), into our common speech, for the edification of the simple, who know no other language, whether by reading or hearing. For the same reason I have used no hard words, but plain English, that it may the more readily reach the heart of such as read or hear, for the good of their souls, because they cannot be instructed in any other tongue, than that wherein they were born." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."