To these he gave Heaven'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 steely blade of war,
Some o'er ocean's stormy tide

The swift-winged ship can fearless guide,

Some in sweet and solemn lays

The full-toned voice of melody can raise.

So Heaven'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.

CONYBEARE'S Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, p. 222,

7. The Phoenix.

A paraphrase of the Carmen de Phonice, ascribed to Lactantius. The paraphrast uses the old fable as a symbol of the resurrection, and gives a striking account of Heaven. From the Codex Exoniensis.

Smylte is se sige-wong,
Sun-bearo lixeth,
Wudu-holt, wynlic;
Wæstmas ne dreósath
Beorhte bláeda,
Ac thá beámas á
Gréne standath
Swá him God bebeád;
Wintres and sumeres
Wudu bíth gelíce
Blaedum gehongen
Naefre brosniath
Leaf under lyfte
Ne him líg scétheth
Aefre tó ealdre,
Aer-thón edwendung

Calm is that glorious plain,
The sunny bower glitters,
The woody holt, joyous;
The fruits fall not,
Bright products,
But the trees ever
Stand green,

As them God hath bidden
In winter and in summer
The forest is alike
With fruits hung;
Never fade

The leaves under the sky
Nor them will flame scathe
Ever throughout ages,
Ere that destruction

Ac tháer lagu-streámas

Wundrum wrætlice

Wyllan onspringath,
Faegrum fold-wylmum;
Foldan leccath
Waetru wynsumu
Of thaes wudu midle;
Thá montha gehwám,
Of tháere moldan tyrf
Brim-calde brecath
Bearo ealne geond-farath
Thragum thrymlice.

But there water-streams

Wonderfully curious,

Wells spring forth,
With earth-bubblings fair
Moisten the fields,

Winsome waters

From the midst of the forest;
Which every month,

From the turf of the earth
Sea-cold burst,

All the high-grove pervade
At seasons gloriously.

KLIPSTEIN'S Analecta Anglo-Saxon, ii., 386.

8. The Battle of Maldon. Death of the Ealderman Byrhtnoth. (Ilandbook, par. 7.)

A Fragment. Preserved by THOMAS HEARNE. The only known MS. having perished in the fire at the Cottonian Library in 1731. The scene is laid in A.D. 993.

Elfric abbod gret freondlice

Introduction to the Old Testament.

Abbot Elfric greeteth friendly

Sigwerd at east Heolon. Ic secge

Sigwerd at East Heolon. I tell

þe tosoðan se bið swipe wis
sebe mid weorcum sprico. And
se hæfð forðgang for Gode and for
woruldesebe mid godum weorcum
hine sylfne geglengd. And † is
swipe geswutelod on halgum
gesetnissun pa halgan weras
be gode weorc le eodon hi
wurðfulle wæron on pissere
worulde and nu halige sindon on
heofenan rices mirhþe and heora
ge mynd þurh wunað nu ato
worulde for heora anrædnisse
and heora trywoe wið God. Da
gimeleasan men þe heora lif
adrugon on ealie idelnisse and
swa geendodon heora gemynd
is forgiten on halgum gewritum
buton secgað þa ealdan gesetnissa
heora yfelan dæda and hig

fordemde sindon. Du bæde me
for oft englisera gewritena. And

ic þe ne getiðode ealles swa
timlice ær dam þe bu mid
weorcum þæs ge wilnodest æt me
paða pa me bade for Godes lufon
georne pic be æt ham ææt þinum
huse ge spræce. And þuða swiðe
mændest papa ic mid þe was

þu mine gewrita begitan ne mihtest. Nu wille icpu hæbbe huru pis litle nu de wisdom gelicað. And þu hine habban wilt

þu ealles ne beo minra boca be dæled. God luvað þ godan weorce and he wyle hig habban æt us.

thee truly that he be very wise
who speaketh by his works. And
well goeth he with God and with
the world who with good works
furnisheth himself. And that is
very plain in the holy
institutes, that holy men,
employed in good work, they
were held in good reputation in this
world, and now as saints are in
heaven's kingdom mirthful, and the
remembrance of them continueth for
ever, for their consent with God
and their trust in him. Careless
men who their life

lead on in all idleness and

so end it, the memory of thein
is forgotten in holy writ,
saving that the Old Testament
tells of their evil deeds, and how they
therefore were condemned. Thou
hast oft entreated me for English
Scripture, and

I gave it thee not so soon,
but thou first with

deeds hast importuned me thereto;
at what time thou didst so earnestly
pray me for God's love that I should
speak to thee at thy house at home,
and when I was with thee great
moan thou madest that thou couldst
get none of my writings. Now wil
I that thou have at least this little,
sith knowledge is so acceptable unto
thee; and thou wilt have it rather
than be altogether without my
books. God loveth good deeds and
will have them at our hands [of us].

From Divers Ancient Monuments in the Saxon Tongue. Published by W. L'ISLE, Lond., 1638.

Colloquium.

To Elfric the Saxons were indebted for a translation of the Latin Grammar. He also used interlinear versions, after the fashion of the Hamiltonian system of the present day. A good specimen of the common mode of instruction may be seen in Thorpe's Analecta. The following is a colloquy between master and scholar-written by Elfric and finished by Elfric Bata, his follower.

D. We cildru biddath thế, eálá Láreow, thaet thú taece us sprecan Nos pueri rogamus te Magister, ut doceas nos loqui on Ledene rihte, forthám ungeláerede we syndon, and gewaemmodlice Latialiter recte, quia idiotæ at corrupte

we sprecath.

loquimur.

M. Hwaet ville ge sprecan?

Quid vollis loqui?

sumus

D. Hwaet rece we hwaet we sprecon, búton hit riht spraec sý, and Quid curamus quid loquamur nisi recta locutio sit et

beliéfe, naes ídel oththe fracod?

utilis non anilis aut turpis?

M. Wille ge beón beswungen on leornunge?

Vultis flagellari in discendo?

D. Léofre ys us beón beswungen for láre, thonne hit ne cunnan; ac Carius est nobis flagellari pro doctrinâ quam

nescire; sed we witon the bile-witne wesan, and nellan on-beláedan swingla us, búton scimus te mansuetum esse et nolle inferre plagas nobis nisi thú beó tó-genṛdd fram us.

cogaris à nobis.

KLIPSTEIN, vol. i., p. 195.

10. Cynewulf, d. 1008.

The present Anglo-Saxon letters are, with three exceptions (th, dh, and w), roman. The Saxons had, however, letters of their own, called runes, which were regarded as having magical power. In some poems still extant, these runic characters form an acrostic, giving the name of the author. Each letter had a meaning, and was used to complete the sense. a specimen; the runes are C. Y. N. E. W. U. L. F. :Epilogue to the Discovery of the Cross.

A was sæc oth that
Cnyssed cear-welmum

The following is

Ever till then was the man

tossed with the waves of care,