=-fy= denotes to make (from _facio_), magnify, terrify, qualify, signify. =-ish=; nourish, perish, cherish, finish, flourish, banish, punish. =-ite=, =-ete=, =-t=; expedite, delete, perfect, conduct, reflect, connect. 6. =GREEK.= =Noun Suffixes.= =-et=, =-t=, =-ete=, =-ate=, denote the agent; poet, prophet, athlete, comet, planet, apostate, æsthete(?), patriot. =-isk= has diminutive signification; asterisk, obelisk. =-ism= denotes the result of an action; deism, fatalism, egotism, criticism, aneurism. =-ist= denotes the agent; baptist, sophist, evangelist. =-ma=, =-em=, =-me=, =-m=, denote the result of an action; diorama, drama, dogma, system, scheme, theme, diadem, phlegm, enema. =-sis=, =-sy=, =-se=, denote action; crisis, poesy, phase, genesis, emphasis, paralysis, hypocrisy, ellipse, phrensy. =-ter=, =-tre=, denote the instrument; metre, centre. =Verb Suffixes.= =-ise= signifies to do; criticise, baptise, eulogise. _LITERATURE._ I. =Outline of Our Early Literature= (WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE EARLY LANGUAGE). 1. =THE BEOWULF.=--The _Beowulf_ is a poem which recounts the life and death of a hero of that name, who slays a monster called _Grendel_. It was a poetic legend brought from the Continent by our Teutonic ancestors. It does not seem to have been written down, or committed to paper, till the seventh century; and it was probably preserved in the memory of different generations, by its being taught by fathers to their sons, and by the habit of chanting portions of it at the banquets of kings and warriors. It is a poem which in substance belongs to the Continental Teutons as much as to the English; and it marks the point at which their literatures and languages begin to branch off. The scene is laid in the north of Denmark; so that the poem is Northern, and not Southern, Teutonic. Its present form is due to a Christian writer of Northumbria. In literary form, therefore, it is English; and is one of the earliest monuments of our literature. The poem consists of 6350 short lines, and is written throughout in head-rhymes,[15] or alliterative rhymes. 2. =CÆDMON.=--But the first true English poem was the work of a Northumbrian called CÆDMON, who was a servant to the monks of the abbey of Hilda, in Whitby. It was written about the year 670. It is a paraphrase of the history given in the Old and the New Testament. It sings of the creation of the world, of the history of Israel, of the life of Christ, of death, judgment, purgatory, heaven, and hell.