So clean (completely) it was ruined (had ruin fallen) on the English folk (kin), that very few were on this side Humber who their service could understand in English, or out (forth) an epistle (errand-writing) from Latin into English declare (= translate); and I wene that not many beyond Humber were (who could do this). 5. =THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE.=--This chronicle was written chiefly by monks, and was, in its earliest forms, a dry register or record of events--of the births and deaths of kings, bishops, earls, and other distinguished persons. In Alfred’s time, it became more of a history; and even war-songs and battle odes are quoted in it. It was continued down to the death of King Stephen in 1154; and the last portions of it were composed and transcribed by the monks of Peterborough. 6. =ARCHBISHOP ÆLFRIC.=--Ælfric was Archbishop of Canterbury in the early part of the eleventh century; and he translated the first seven books of the Bible, and part of Job, into the oldest form of English, which is generally called _Anglo-Saxon_. The following is a specimen: 1. On anginnë gesceôp God heofenan and eordan. In beginning shaped God heaven and earth. 4. God geseah thâ, thaet hit gôd vaes, and he gedaeldë thaet leóht fram thâm theóstrum. God saw then, that it good was, and he dealed (divided) the light from the darkness. 7. =ANGLO-SAXON GOSPELS.=--This translation of the four gospels forms another land-mark in the history of our English tongue. This translation was made before the Norman Conquest--before French words had come into our language, and therefore before the inflections of English had dropped off from the words.