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BOOK Hig cythath wide
IX. Ofer ealle world,

Ece standath
Godes hand geweorc.
Groweth swa thu hete.

Ealle the heriath
Halige dreamas,
Clænre stefne,
And Cristene bec,
Eal middan eard ;
And we men cwethath,
On grunde her,
Gode lof and thanc,
Ece willa,
And thin agen dom.

They widely declare
Over all the world,
Eternally will stand
God's hand-work.
It grows as Thou hast com-

manded.
All praise Thee
With holy joy,
With pure voice,
And Christian book,
In all this middle earth;
And we then express,
On the ground here,
Good praise and thanks,
With everlasting will

,
And by thine own decree.

World without end.

And en worulda world

And in the world for ever
Wunath and rixath

Will dwell and rule
Cyninc innan wuldre, The King in glory,
And his tha gecorenan

And his chosen
Heah thrymnesse;

In exalted dignity;
Halige gastas,

Holy Spirits,
Wlitige englas;

Beauteous angels;
And wuldor gife,

And in grace and glory,
Sothe sibbe,

In true peace,
Sawla thancung,

With thanksgiving of souls,
Modes mildse.

And pitying mind.
Thar in seo mæste

There is the greatest one.
Lufu haligdomes.

Of love of holyness,
Heofonas syndon,

The heavens are
Thurh thine ecan word, Thro' thine eternal word,
Æghwer fulle.

Every where full,
Swa synd thine mihta, So are thy mighty powers,
Ofer middan eard,

Over this middle earth,
Swutole and gesyne,

Manifest and seen,
Thæt thu hig silf worhtest. Which thou Thyself exertest.

Amen.

We that sothlice secgath,
Ealle thurh clæne gecynd,

We this truly say,
All thro' a purified nature,

CHAP
III.

Thu eart cyninc on riht, Thou art the righteous king,
Clæne and cræftig;

Pure and skilful;
Thu gecyddest that,

Thou didst declare, Tha Thu, mihtig God,

That Thou, mighty God, Man geworhtest;

Wouldest make man; And him ondydest

And to him thou didst infuse
Orth and sawle ;

Breath and soul;
Sealdest word and gewitt, Thou gavest him language and

wit, And wästma gecynd;

And natural fertility; Cyddest thine cræftas; Thou didst declare thy skill ; Swilc is Christes miht. Such is the power of Christ. :8

MSS. Cap. x. Cantab. and Wanley, p. 146–148.

28 It is among the MSS. of the college of Corpus Christi at Cambridge; and see Wanley's Catalogue, p. 110. For more information on the Anglo-Saxon poetry, I refer the reader with great pleasure to Mr. J. J. Conybeare's Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, collected and published since his death by his brother. I do not coincide in all the translations, but I feel the value of the researches, and the talent in both the brothers which the work displays.

Mr. W. Conybeare has added an arranged catalogue of all the extant relics of Anglo. Saxon poetry under the following heads :- 1. Narrative poetry derived from historical or traditional sources. This comprizes the Beowulf; the fragment on the battle of Finsburgh, first published by Hickes, and the frrgment on the death of Beorhtnoth, printed by Hearne in his Johan. Glaston. Chron. Mr. J. J. Conybeare's translations of these are inserted. — II. Narrative poetry de. rived from scriptural sources, as Judith; and Cædmon's paraphrase. - III. Narrative poetry derived from the lives of saints, comprizing the life and passion of St. Juliana, and the visions of the hermit Guthlac, both in the Exeter MS. but never published. — IV. Hymns, and other sacred poems which he enumerates. – V. The odes and epitaphs in the Saxon chronicle. - VI. Elegiac poetry, of which the editor mentions only one specimen, in the Song of the Exile, besides what may be ranked as of this kind in Alfred's Boetius. — VII. Moral and didactic poetry, in which the latter work takes the lead. — VIII. Miscellaneous. The specimens which Mr. J.J. Conybeare and his brother have brought to light from the Exeter MS., as already noticed, are important and interesting ; and the value of some has been enhanced by the poetical paraphrases which accompany their Latin translations.

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CHAP. IV.

On the ANGLO-Saxon Versification.

IX.

BOOK The best Saxon scholars have confessed that the

versification of the vernacular poetry of our ancestors was modelled by rules which have not been fully explored. But the passage before quoted from Bede', shows that it had really no other rule than the poet's ear.

To combine his words into a rythmical cadence was all he aimed at. A few specimens will enable the reader to see what this cadence usually was.

In Alfred's Boetius, part of the specimens be-
fore translated stand thus :-
Eala thu scippend

Spýlce seo sunne
Scippa tungla

Speartra nihta
Defones and eorthan

Thiostro aspæsceth
Thu on heah setle

Thuph thine meht
Ecum picsast

Blacun leoth
And thu ealne hræthe Beophte steopran
Defon Ýmbhpearrest

Mona zemetyath
And thuph thine

Thuph thinpa meahta sped
Dalize miht

Dpilum eac tha sunnan
Tunzlu zenedest

Sines berearath
Thæt he the to herath Beophtan leohtes.

Bæt. 154.

The little poem which was cited from the Saxon
Chronicle is the following :-

Tha pearth eac abræfeb Ofa ýtha gepealc
Đeormod hælerh

Ofer zano tes bæth
Orlac of earde

Lamol feax hæleth

| See before, p. 264.

СНАР.
IV.

Wis ans pors snottor

Ofer hpæles æthel Ofer þætera zethping Dama bepeafos.

The next lines may be cited because of their rhiming tendency: That pearth ætypes

Patath pide Uppe on poderum

Cometa be naman Steopra ou stathole

Craft gleape men Thohe stith pæphthe

Wire rothboran.2 Dæleth hige zleape

The versification of Cædmon's paraphrase translated in p. 315., has a similar cadence. It begins Us is piht micel

De is mægna spes Thæt pe podepa pears Deafoo calpa Wereba puldor cýning

Deah gesceafta Wordum herigen

Frea Ælmightıy. modum lucien

Cæd. p. 1.

a

In Judith the versification is of the same species, which is taken from the description of the battle: - see the English before, p. 313. :

: Tha peapth snellpa pero Wulf in palde Snude zegearepos

And se panna hrefn Cenpa to campe

Wæl gifpe fugel Stopon cỳnerofe

Weftan bezen Secgas and zesithar

Tha him tha theob zuman Bæpon thufar

Tholiton tilian Fopon to yereohte

Fylle on vægum
Forth on zepihte

Ac him pleah on last
Dæleth under helmum Earn ætes georn
Of thäre hahizan býpig Upig fethera
On thæt bægre

Salopig pada
Sýlf dýnedan sculoas

Sang hilde leoth plude hluinnon

Dýrned nebba. Thæs se hlanca gereah

Jud. p. 24. The description of Beowulf's sailing and landing is thus given :

2 Sax. Chron. 123,

BOOK Cpærh he Luthcýning

Fugle zelicost
IX.
Ofer span pade

Oth tha įmb an tid
Se cean polde

Othjes dozores
Mæpne theoden

Wunden stefna
Tha hım pæs manna theapf Lepada hærde.
Thone sithfæt him

Tha tha lidhende
Snotere ceoplar

Land zerapon
Lýt hpon logon

Brım clifu blıcan
Thæm the him leof pære.-

Beopgar steape
Secy Fisade

81de fæ næsrar: -
Lagu cræftig mon

Thanon up hrathe
Land gemýrcu

Wedera leode
Fyrst forth yepat plota On pang stizon
Wæs on ýthum

Sæ pudu sælton
Bat under beorge

Sýrcon hrýsedon
Beornar gearpe

Luth zepædo
On jtejn ftizon streamar.- Lode thanceson

Trepat tha ofer pæz holm Thæs the hım ythlade
Wmde zefysed

Eathe pupson.
Flota fann heals

It appears to me that the only rule, or rather habit, of the Saxon versification which we can now discover is, that the words are placed in that peculiar rythm or cadence which is observable in all the preceding extracts. This rythm will be felt by every one who reads the following lines :Thohton tilian

Modum lupien
Fylle on fætum

Peafod ealna
Unig fæthepa

Deah yesceasta
Salopı3 pada —

Frea Ælmıhtıy. -
Wordum herigen

To produce this rythm seems to have been the perfection of their versification. But, happily for the strength of their poetry, they extended their rythm sometimes into a more dignified cadence, as

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