Page:King Alfred's Old English version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies - Hargrove - 1902.djvu/37

 '''IV. Relation of Alfred's Version of the Soliloquies to his Other Works.'''

1. Authorship. - Folio 56b of the manuscript reads: Hær endiað ða cwidas þe Alfred Kining ales of pcere bee, we hatad on... After these words there occurs a break in the parchment. Trusting in the authenticity of this final statement, most critics had confidently ascribed the translation to Alfred, until in 1851 Pauli, the well-known biographer of the king, cast doubt on the case by advancing the following reasons against Alfred as author:

1. We do not here find Alfred naming himself as author in the introduction, a thing it is his custom to do in his other translations.

2. The translation of the Soliloquies is not listed among Alfred's works by other writers.

3. The work is written in an impure Saxon, probably the attempt of a late and obscure writer to foist this version on the public as genuine.

By far the most noteworthy contribution toward establishing the genuineness of Alfred's authorship was made by Wülker in 1877. This masterly article was published in Vol. IV of Paul and Braune's Beiträge. The following is a summary of his argument:

Against Pauli's arguments he shows that

1. Alfred does not always in the preface name himself as author, Orosius and Bede being cited as proofs; besides, the first part of the Soliloquies is lost.

2. William of Malmesbury names this work as one of Alfred's.