262 



high forest of pinnacles, 



■War-clang frequent, 



mead-halls many, 



merriment frequenting; 



till all was overwhelmed 



by Fate the unrelenting. 



Breaches wide hrake the walls, 



haleful days came on, 



death swept off 



the valiant men, 



their arsenals became 



waste habitations ; 



slow decay sapped the town. 



Pitifully shrunk 



the brave to their grave. 



Therefore these halls are a dreary ruin, 



and these pictured gables : 



the tiles are tumbling 



from the roof with its crown of rafters : 



ruinous masses have wrecked the pavement, 



heah homgestreon, 



here sweg micel, 46 



meddoheall monig, 



man dreama full : 48 



ot5<5set tSast onwende 



Wyrd seo 8wy<5e. 50 



Crungon walo wide, 



cwoman wol dagas : 51 



swylt eal fornom 



secg rof wera ; 54 



wurdon hyra wig steal 



westen staSolas, 56 



brosnade burg steal. 



Betend crungon 58 



hergas to hrusan. 



Forfjon {jas hofu dreorgaS, 60 



and tias teafor geapu : 



tigelum sceadefj 62 



hrost beages hrof : 



hryre wong gecrong, 64 



54. Grein renders this hesitatingly, thefloiver of the men. Perhaps we ought 

 to accept Ettmiiller's correction secg rofe weras, the soldierly men. 



61. In King Alft-ed's Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care, $ xxi., there is a 

 quotation from the fourth chapter of Ezekiel, which begins thus : 

 rPHOU also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon 

 -*- it the city, even Jerusalem : 



2 And laj' siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it ; 

 set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. 

 The word which in our Bible is rendered pourtray, is expressed in the Saxon 

 by the simple word write : Nim sume tiglan and lege be foran <5e and writ on 

 hiere ia, burg Hierusalem. But when he comes to the exposition of the 

 symbolic act, he uses another term. 



' Holy teachers take a tile when they undertake the charge of teaching earthly men's 

 hearts. They lay the tile, on which they were commanded to draw the city of 

 Jerusalem, before them, when they behold all the thoughts of their minds, and with 

 zealous care instruct worldly hearts, and shew them what the sight of exalted peace 

 is, &c. . . . Holy teachers beset the tile, whereon is drawn the city of Jerusalem, 

 when they shew the human mind, which yet seeks exalted life, how many dangerous 

 vices oppose and fight against it,' <Scc. (Translation by Henry Sweet, Esq., Early 

 English Text Society.) 



In the latter instance the Saxon participle for drawn or pourtrayed is atiefred : 

 " Da halgan lareowas ymbsittaS Sa tieglan, <Se sio burg Hierusalem on 

 atiefred bi<5, &c." Here we have the teafor in which we are now interested, 

 used verbally for pourtrayal. 

 63. rof, MS. 



