Bladud hafde ene sune, Bladud hadde one sone, Leir was ihaten; Leir was ihote, Efter his fader daie, After his fader he held this lond, He heold this drihlice lond, In his owene hond, Somed an his live, Ilaste his lif-dages, Sixti winter. Sixti winter. He makade ane riche burh, He makede on riche borh, Thurh radfulle his crafte, Thorh wisemenne reade, And he heo lette nemnen, And hine lette nemni, Efter him seolvan; After him seolve; Kaer-Leir hehte the burh. Kair-Leir hehte the borh. Leof heo wes than kinge, Leof he was than kinge; Tha we, an ure leod-quide, The we, on ure speche, Leir-chestre clepiad, Leth-chestre cleopieth, Geare a than holde dawon. In than eolde daiye. The Grave, a poetical fragment, the latter part of the Saxon Chronicle, a Homily for St. Edmund's Day (given in the Analecta), and above all the printed extracts of the poem of Layamon, are the more accessible specimens of the Semi-Saxon. The Ormulum, although in many points English rather than Saxon, retains the dual number of the Anglo-Saxon pronouns. However, lest too much stress be laid upon this circumstance, the epistolary character of the Ormulum must be borne in mind. It is very evident that if, even in the present day, there were spoken in some remote district the language of Alfred and Aelfric, such a mode of speech would be called, not Modern English, but Anglo-Saxon. This teaches us that the stage of language is to be measured, not by its date, but by its structure. Hence, Saxon ends and Semi-Saxon begins, not at a given year, A.D., but at that time {119} (whenever it be) when certain grammatical inflections disappear, and certain characters of a more advanced stage are introduced. Some amongst others, of the earlier changes of the standard Anglo-Saxon are, 1. The substitution of -_an_ for -_as_, in the plural of substantives, _munucan_ for _munucas_ (monks); and, conversely, the substitution of -_s_ for -_n_, as _steorres_ for _steorran_ (stars). The use of -_s_, as the sign of the plural, without respect to gender, or declension, may be one of those changes that the Norman Conquest forwarded; -_s_ being the sign of the plural in Anglo-Norman. 2. The ejection or shortening of final vowels, _thaet ylc_ for _thaet ylce_; _sone_ for _sunu_; _name_ for _nama_; _dages_ for _dagas_. 3. The substitution of -_n_ for -_m_ in the dative case, _hwilon_ for _hwilum_. 4. The ejection of the -_n_ of the infinitive mood, _cumme_ for _cuman_ (_to come_), _nemne_ for _nemnen_ (_to name_). 5. The ejection of -_en_ in the participle passive, _I-hote_ for _gehaten_ (_called_, _hight_). 6. The gerundial termination -_enne_, superseded by the infinitive termination -_en_; as _to lufian_ for _to lufienne_, or _lufigenne_.