XXXI. Further Observations on the Poetry of our Anglo-Saxon Ancestors, by the Rev. J.J. Conybeare, M.A. Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford; addressed in a second Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary

Extract

In the last communication, which I had the honor of submitting through your kindness to the Society, I endeavoured to prove that the poetical compositions of the Anglo-Saxons were distinguished from their prose by the continual use of a certain definite rhythm, and to investigate, as far as I was able, the metrical structure of those venerable and interesting remains. I now proceed to add such further remarks on their peculiar characteristics, as have been suggested to me by an attentive though partial examination of the principal works of this description preserved either in print or in manuscript.