assail us, nor dread the approach of the shadow of death or its evils. 10

CHAP.

IV.

“Lord! strong and mighty ! Lord of the virtues ! King of Glory! cleanse our heart from every sin: keep our hands guiltless; and separate our souls from all vanity, that we may be fit to receive in thy holy place blessings from thee, O Lord, our God.” 11

“O Lord, our King! who continueth for ever ; to whom all the earth is deservedly resounding with the voices of praise, and singing thy glory and honour; grant, we beseech thee, strength to thy people, against the evils of the present day, that we may enjoy prosperity here, and trust in thine eternal promises hereafter, through,” &c. 12

ord, our Redeemer ! O God of truth! who hast redeemed mankind, sold to sin, not by silver or gold, but by the blood of thy precious Son, be our protector, and look down upon our lowliness; and because great is the multitude of thy kindnesses, oh, raise our desires always to partake them, and excite our minds to explore them, through," &c.13

“O Lord! who hast become our refuge before the moun. tains were made, or the dry land was formed: Author of time, yet without any limit of time thyself! In thy nature there is no past. To thee the future is never new. There everlasting virtue is always present. There immutable truth endures for

ever."14

“ For thy name's sake, O Lord I extend to us thy mercy. What is sweeter than that by which thou hast freed us from death, and made us thine associates in immortality! By which thou suppliest our helplessness, and grantest to us to continue in the fulness of holiness. May it now render us acceptable to thee, as it has already reconciled thee to us when alienated from thee.” 15

“O Lord! who dwellest in the loftiest space ; whose ineffable Godhead is confined to no created circuit, nor can be de. scribed by any mortal breath ; look down, we implore thee, on thy humble servants, both in heaven and on earth. May no pride creep into our thoughts or actions which can avert from us the eyes of thy mercy! May that sincere humility and sub

10 Spelman's Anglo-Saxon Psalter, addit. to psalm xxxii.
11 Ibid. ps. xxiii.

518

HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS.

BOOK
IV.

mission be within us, which may make us worthy of thy regard, and raise us to the reward of thy future glorification.” 16

“O God of heaven and earth 1 whose all-seeing providence is everlasting! O God, by whose death even Tartarus was illuminated; by whose resurrection the multitude of thy holy ones was gladdened; at whose ascension the host of angels exulted; we implore the excelling virtue of thy glory, that directed by thee into the way of eternal life, we may be defended by that arm, under whose protection those who are honoured by thy favour magnify thee in heaven.” 17

“ Purify, O Lord, our God! our heart and reins by the fire of the Holy Spirit, that we may serve thee in chastity of heart and body. Free us from all vice, and have mercy upon us, whom thou hast redeemed by thine inestimable inter

course.

"18

The prayer of the 49th Psalm concludes thus :

“ Despise not our contrite and humble heart; and by the ineffable power of the Trinity, may there be the testimony of the One Divinity that, strengthened by the Father, renewed by the Son, and guarded by the Holy Spirit, we may rejoice in

PREFACE.

The genuineness of these poems has been publicly impeached by Mr Pinkerton in his preface to Babour, and in a Review (not distinguished by the urbanity of its style, or the correctness of its criticism,) of my Anglo-Saxon History, published in the Critical Review for January, 1800. Mr. Malcolm Laing has also attacked them in a note to his Dissertation on Ossian's poems, and some other gentlemen in private societies have occasionally depreciated them.

The hostility of men, respectable for their literary talents, could not be continued against these poems, without much injury to their credit. It was, therefore, necessary to abandon them to undeserved neglect, or to vindicate them from the objections of their enemies, by a series of legitimate reasoning.

Having quoted them in the first volume of the AngloSaxon History, I was charged with gross credulity for accrediting them. Thus, unexpectedly involved in the controversy, I hope to be pardoned for intruding on the public with a publication on the subject. As I am an Englishman, I have no patriotic prejudice in their favour; but as an amateur of literature, I think them deserving of attention; and for the reasons which I shall proceed to state, I believe those to which I have alluded to be genuine.

London, 1803.