Constantine of Scotland. The following are parts only of the poem. See p. 11, and p. 181, s. 119.] 'Hettend crungun Sceotta leoda and scipflotan fæge feollan. Feld dænnede secgas hwate si ban sunne up on morgen tid. mære tungol glad ofer grundas Godes condel beorht eces Drihtnes o sio apele gesceaft sah to setle.' 'Gewitan him þa Norpmen nægled cnearrum. Letan him behindan hræ bryttian and bane hasewan padan beforan pissum. The foes lay low, the Scots' people, and the shipmen death-doom'd fell. The field stream'd with warriors' blood [or sweat], what time the sun up, at morning tide, until the noble creature 'Departed then the Northmen in their nail'd barks, the darts' gory leaving, on the roaring sea,* o'er the deep water, Dublin to seek, Ireland once more, in mind abash'd. Likewise the brothers, both together, king and ætheling,t their country sought, the West Saxons' land, in war exulting. They left behind them, the carcases to share, with pallid coat, the swart raven, with horned neb, and him of goodly coat, the eagle [or erne] white behind, the carrion to devour, the greedy war-hawk, and that grey beast, the wolf in the weald. No slaughter has been greater in this island ever yet of folk laid low, before this, by the sword's edges, from what books tell us, old chroniclers, ealde uowitan⚫ *This is stated by the Translator to be a conjectural rendering of 'on dynges mere.' † Athelstane and Edmund. sippan eastan hider Engle and Seaxe up becoman⚫ ofer brad brimu Brytene sohtan⚫ wlance wigsmipas Wealles ofercoman corlas arhwate eard begeatan.'* since hither from the east Angles and Saxons came to land, [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1861, i. 202-8, ii. 86-8; Thorpe's Translation, Rolls Collection.] THE GRAVE. [The Speaker is Death. See p. 13.] 'De wes bold gebyld Er du iboren were ; De wes mold imynt Er du of moder come. De hit nes no idiht, Ne Seo deopnes imeten; Nes til iloced, Hu long hi de were, Nu me de bringæ Wer du beon scealt, Nu me sceal de meten And a mold seorda: Ne bi no dine hus Healice itimbred, Hit bið unheh and lah; Donne du bist derinne, De helewages beoð lage, Sidwages unhege. De rof bid ybild Deie brost full neh, Swa du scealt in mold Winnen ful cald, Dimme and deorcæ. Det clen fulæt on hod. Durelæs is æt hus, And deorc hit is wiðinnen; Dær Su bin fest bidyte, And Dæð hefð da cæge. Laɣlic is æt eord hus, And grim inne to wunien. Der Su scalt wunien, And wurmes de to-deler. 'For thee was a house built Ere thou wast born, (However long it may be) Where thou shalt remain, Thy breast full nigh ; Doorless is that house, * The Saxon text is that of the folio belonging to the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (C.LXXIII.). [Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, by J. J. Conybeare, 1826, pp. 271-3.] CLOSE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE.' [See p. 14.] 'MILLESIMO. C.XXXVII. Dis gære for be k. Steph. ofer sæ to Normandi. and þer wes underfangen. fordi þ hi uuenden he sculde ben alsuic alse be eom wæs. and for he hadde get his tresor. ac he todeld it and scatered sotlice. Micel hadde Henri k. gadered gold and syluer. and na god ne dide me for his saule tharof. pa þe king S. to Englal. com þa macod he his gadering æt Oxeneford. and þar he nam þ Roger of Sereberi, and Alex. of Lincol. and te Canceler Roger hise neues. and dide ælle in prisun. til hi iafen up here castles. pa be suikes undergæton he milde man was. and softe. and god. and na justise ne dide. þa diden hi alle wunder. He hadden him manred maked, and athes suoren. ac hi nan treuthe ne heolden. alle hi wæron forsworen. and here treothes forloren. for æuric rice man his castles makede and agænes him heolden. and fylden þe land ful of castles.' 'Nu we willen sægen sum del wat belamp on Stephne kinges time. On his time be Iudeus of Noruuic bohton an Xristen cild beforen Estren. and pineden him alle be ilce pining pure Drihten was pined. and on Lang Fredæi him on rode hengen. for ure Drihtines luue. and sythen byrieden him. Wenden þit sculde ben forholen. oc ure Drihten 'AN. MC.XXXVII. In this year king Stephen went over sea to Normandy, and was there received; because they imagined that he would be such as his uncle was, and because he had got his treasure: but he distributed it and scattered it foolishly. Much had king Henry gathered of gold and silver, and no good was done for his soul thereof. When king Stephen came to England (a. 1139), he held an assembly at Oxford, and there he took the bishop Roger of Salisbury, and Alexander bishop of Lincoln, and the chancellor Roger, his nephew, and put them all into prison, till they gave up their castles. When the traitors perceived that he was a mild man, and soft, and good, and did no justice, then did they all wonder. They had done homage to him, and sworn oaths, but had held no faith; they were all forsworn, and forfeited their troth; for every powerful man made his castles, and held them against him; and they filled the land full of castles.' 'Now we will say a part of what befel in king Stephen's time. In his time the Jews of Norwich bought a Christian child before Easter, and tortured him with all the same torture with which our Lord was tortured; and on Longfriday (i.e. Good Friday) hanged him on a rood, in love [? hatred] to our atywede he was hali martyr. and te munekes him namen, and bebyried him heglice in be minstre. and he maket þur ure Drihtin wunderlice and manifældlice miracles, and hatte he S. Willelm.' Lord, and afterwards buried him. They imagined that it would be concealed, but our Lord showed that he was a holy martyr. And the monks took him and buried him honourably in the monastery; and through our Lord he makes wonderful and manifold miracles, and he is called St. William.' [Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1861, i., 382–3; ii., 230-2; Thorpe's Translation, Rolls Collection.] THE DREAM OF BRUTUS. By LAYAMON. [Brutus, great-grandson of Æneas, is banished from Italy for slaying his father Silvius. In the Island of Leogice (conjectured, without much probability, to be Leucadia or Lycia) he has a dream of Albion, in which he ultimately settles, and builds New Troy, or Trinovant, called afterwards Kaerlud by his successor Lud, and then Lunden or Lundres. See p. 25.] pa puhte him on his swefne : Bi-gende France i bet west: ALBION hatte bat lond: ah leode ne beoð þar nane. Then seemed it to him in his dream, that his lady Diana and thus to him said, 'Beyond France, in the west, there is wood, there is water; the land is most winsome Eotens [giants] most strong kine-bearn arisen. and scal þin mære kun : wælden þus londes. geond ba weorld beon ihæged: and bu beo hæl and isund. pæ awoc Brutus: wel was hi on life. He boute of his swefne : and hou be laefdi him sæide. mid muchelere lufe: he seide hit his leoden. hu him imette: and þa læfdi hine igrette. royal progeny arise, and thy powerful kin shall rule this land; over the world they shall be cèlebrated, and thou be whole and sound.'— Then awoke Brutus ; well was he alive! He thought of his dream, he told it to his people, how he had dreamt and the lady greeted him. [Layamon's Brut; or, Chronicle of Britain (MS. Cott. Calig. A. Ix., v. 1222-61), by Sir Frederic Madden, 1847, i., 52-4.] EXTRACT VII. A.D. 1250 (?) THE FINDING OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE. By ORM, or ORMIN. & tegg þa wenndenn efft onngan batt dere child to sekenn, & comenn efft till gerrsalæm To sekenn himm þær binnenn. & tegg him o be bridde dagg þær fundenn i be temmple Bitwenenn þait Judisskenn flocc batt læredd wass o boke; & tære he satt to fraggnenn hemm Off þeggre bokess lare, & alle batt himm herrdenn þær, Hemm þuhhte mikell wunnderr Off batt he wass full gæp & wis To swarenn & to fraggenn. & Sannte Marge comm till himm & seggde himm þuss wipp worde Whi didesst tu, lef sune, buss Wibb uss, for uss to swennkenn? Witt hafenn sohht te widewhar Icc & ti faderr babe Wipp serrhfull herrte & sarig mod, Whi didesst tu biss dede? & tanne seggde Jesu Crist Till babe buss wibb worde What wass guw swa to sekenn me, Whatt was guw swa to serrghenn? [See p. 25.] 'And they then turned back again that dear child to seek, and came again to Jerusalem. to seek him there within. and they him on the third day there found in the temple among the Jewish flock that learned was in book; and there he sat to ask them of their book's lore, and all that him heard there, them thought much wonder of that he was full shrewd and wise to answer and to ask. and Saint Mary came to him and said [to] him thus with word, Why didst thou, dear son, thus with us, for us to trouble? we-two have sought thee wide.where I and thy father both with sorrowful heart and sorry mcod, why didst thou this deed? and then said Jesus Christ, to both thus with word, what was [there to] you so to seek me, what was [there to] you so to sorrow? |