The poem continues for some length, and thus CHAP. concludes :

III.

Se this world gescop:

He made this world : Godæs Gæst-sunu !

The Spirit Son of God! And us giefe sealde

And to us gave as a gift, Uppe mid englum

Above with angels Ece stathelas.

Eternal stations. And eac monig fealde

And also manifold Modes snyttru

Excellencies of mind Seow and sette

He sowed and set Geond sefan monna.

Over the intellect of men. Sumum word lathe

With some master-words Wise sendeth

He sendest to the wise
On his modes gemynd,

In his mind's memory,
Thurh his muthes gæst, Thro' the spirit of his mouth,
Æthele ongiet.

A noble understanding. 24
The poet here introduces his picture of the

“Lo! I have set thee on earth's stubborn soil

With grief and stern necessity to strive;
To wear thy days in unavailing toil,

The ceaseless sport of tort'ring fiends to live.
Thence to thy dust to turn, the worms' repast,
And dwell where penal flames thro' endless ages last.”

Thrice Holy He,

The Spirit Son of Deity!
He called from nothing into birth
Each fair production of the teeming earth ;
He bids the faithful and the just aspire
To join in endless bliss Heaven's angel choir.
His love bestows on human kind
Each varied excellence of mind.
To some his Spirit-gift affords
The power and mastery of words :
So may the wiser sons of earth proclaim,
In speech and measured song, the glories of his name.

J. Conyb. Illust. 220.
24 Mr. J. Cony beare remarks on this part; “ It will doubtless re-
mind the classical reader of the exquisite choral song of Sophocles in
his Antigone, commencing Iloiala ocuva; and the fine moral reflection
with which it terminates would not have disgraced the composition
even of the most philosophic poet of antiquity."
VOL. III.

z

BOOK pursuits of mankind, which, from his

interesting :

IX.

CHAP.

III.

Ealle gefyllan

Wholly fill Gæstes snyttru,

With the wisdom of his Spirit, Thy læs him gielp scethe. Lest pride should injure him.25

We are also indebted to Mr. J. Conybeare for bringing to notice a fragment of later Saxon poetry, from a MS. in the Bodleian. It occurs towards the conclusion of a MS. volume of homilies. It is a speech of death on the last home of man

The turn of thought is singular, and is more connected with the imagination than Saxon poems usually are. I transcribe Mr. Conybeare's literal translation : 25

the grave.

26

DEATH SPEAKS.
For thee was a house built Its height is not determined,
Ere thou wert born,

Nor its depth measured,
For thee was a mould shapen

Nor is it closed up Ere thou of thy) mother (However long it may be) camest.

Until I thee bring

Some the tuneful hand may ply,
And loud before the list'ning throng,

Wake the glad harp to harmony,
Or bid the trump of joy its swelling note prolong.
To these he gave Heav'n's righteous laws to scan,

Or trace the courses of the starry host,
To these the writer's learned toil to plan,

To these the battle's pride and victor's boast ;
Where in the well-fought field the war-troop pour
Full on the wall of shields the arrows flickering shower.

Some can speed the dart afar,
Some forge the steelly blade of war,
Some o'er Ocean's stormy tide
The swift-wing'd ship can fearless guide.
Some in sweet and solemn lays

The full-toned voice of melody can raise.
So heav'n's high Lord each gift of strength or sense
Vouchsafes to man, impartial to dispense.
And of the power that from his Spirit flows
On each a share, on none the whole bestows.
Lest favoured thus beyond their mortal state,

Their pride involve them in the sinner's fate. Illust. 222.
26 See the Saxon with a Latin translation, Arch. vol. xvii. p. 174.

BOOK
IX.

After these copious specimens of the AngloSaxon poetry, we will merely notice, from its peculiarity, one more of Saxon, intermingled with Latin, with five Greek terms. It occurs at the end of a very ancient MS. of Aldhelm, as a concluding addition :

Symle was Euthenia.

Oftor en fylste
Æne en ethle.

Ec thon the se is
Yfol ongesæd
Etiam nusquam
Ne sceal ladigan
Labor quem tenet
Encratea.

Ac he ealne sceal

Boethia biddan georne,
Thurh his modes gemind
Micro in cosmo ;

That him Drihten gyfe

Dinamis en eorthan,
Fortis factor;
That he forth simle.

What always has been pros-
perity.

Often his aid

When alone in his country.

And then this that is
Imposed as evil
Also never

Shall oppress him
Whom labor holds
And moderation.
But he shall all help
Diligently implore,

Thro' his mind's reflection
In his little world;

That to him the Lord would
give

Power on earth,

The mighty maker;

That he should live for ever.

THE following poem exemplifies all the peculiarities of the Anglo-Saxon poetry, with that intermixture of Latin which gratified the age of Edgar:

Thænne gemiltsath the;
Mundum qui regit,
Theoda Thrym Cyninge,
Thronum sedentem,
Abutan ende:

Sæle wine,

Geunne the on life:

Auctor paces;

Sibbe gesæltha.
Salus mundi,
Metod se mæra,
Magná virtute,
And se soth fæsta
Summi Filius,
Fo on fultum ;
Factor cosmi,

Then may He pity thee;
He who rules the world,
The glorious King of nations,
Sitting on his throne,
Without end:

A happy soul,

May he give thee in life:
The author of peace;

Peace and prosperity.

May the salvation of the world,

The Great Creator,
With his mighty strength,
And the true and constant
Son of the Highest,
Take thee under his aid;
The framer of the universe,

CHAP.

III.