m _Beowulf_ has eight syllables:--

"N=ipende niht, and norethan wind."
Noisome night, and northern wind.

Vowel alliteration is less common. Where this is employed, the vowels
are generally different, as is shown in the principal words of the
following line:--

"On =ead, on =aeht, on eorcan st=an."
On wealth, on goods, on precious stone.

End rime is uncommon, but we must beware of thinking that there is no
rhythm, for that is a pronounced characteristic.

Anglo-Saxon verse was intended to be sung, and hence rhythm and accent
or stress are important. Stress and the length of the line are varied;
but we usually find that the four most important words, two in each
half of the line, are stressed on their most important syllable.
Alliteration usually shows where to place three stresses. A fourth
stress generally falls on a word presenting an emphatic idea near the
end of the line.

[Illustration: EXETER CATHEDRAL.]

The Manuscripts that have handed down Anglo-Saxon Literature.--The
earliest Anglo-Saxon poetry was transmitted by the memories of men.
Finally, with the slow growth of learning, a few acquired the art of
writing, and transcribed on parchment a small portion of the current
songs. The introduction of Christianity ushered in prose translations
and a few original compositions, which were taken down on parchment
and kept in the monasteries.

The study of Anglo-Saxon literature is comparatively recent, for its
treasures have not been long accessible. Its most famous poem,
_Beowulf_, was not printed until the dawn of the nineteenth century.
In 1822 Dr. Blume, a German professor of law, happened to find in a
monastery at Vercelli, Italy, a large volume of Anglo-Saxon
manuscript, containing a number of fine poems and twenty-two sermons.
This is now known as the _Vercelli Book_. No one knows how it happened
to reach Italy. Another large parchment volume of poems and miscellany
was deposited by Bishop Leofric at the cathedral of Exeter in
Devonshire, about 1050 A.D. This collection, one of the prized
treasures of that cathedral, is now called the _Exeter Book_.

Many valuable manuscripts were destroyed at the dissolution of the
monasteries in the time of Henry VIII., between 1535 and 1540. John
Bale, a contemporary writer, says that "those who purchased the
monasteries reserved the books, some to scour their candlesticks, some
to rub their boots, some they sold to the grocers and soap sellers,
and som