112 THE GIANT AND THE MAYPOLE OF CERNE. 



colebatur deus Helith. Sed praedicans ibidem verbum Dei, 

 Sanctus Augustinus vidit mentis oculi divinam adesse 

 praesentiam hilarisque factus, ait ' Cerno Deum qui nobis 

 suam retribuet gratiam.' Eventus vel potius verbum Kernel- 

 liiensi loco indidit vocabulum ut vocatur Kernel, ex duobus 

 verbis Hebraico et Latino, quod Hel Deus dicatur Hebraice." 



James of Voragine, the author of Legenda Aurea, of the XIII. 

 century (35), declares that "St. Augustine came to a certeyn 

 towne inhabited by wicked people, who refused hys doctryne and 

 prechyng uterly, and drof hym oat of the towne, castyng on hym 

 the tayles of thornback, or lyke fysshes ; wheriore he besought 

 Almighty God to shewe hys jugement on them ; and God sent 

 to them a shamefull token, for the chyldren that were born after 

 in the place had tayles, as it is sayd, tyll they had repented 

 them." 



William of Malmesbury was a careful and truthful historian. 

 He professes to have written " non ut scientiam meam pro- 

 ponerem, sed ut res absconditas quae in strue vetustatis latebant 

 convellerem in lucem ; quapropter opiniones volaticas despuens, 

 Chronica longe lateque corrogavi " (36). In other words, he 

 sought out ancient records, not to display his own knowledge, 

 but to bring the truth to light. His account of the Cerne 

 incident, written near the year 1140 (37), may now be compared 

 with other versions. 



" In Dorsatensi pago sunt abbatiae Cerneliensis, Middeltunen- 

 sis irorum, Sceftoniensis feminarum, praeter aliquas quae vel 

 omnino destructae vel multum imminutae sunt. 



" Cerneliensis exordium ita accepimus Augustinus primus 

 doctor Anglorum post Cantiam Cristo subditam reliquas Anglorum 

 provintias pervagabatur, quantum Ethelbrihti regis imperium 

 protendebatur. Habebat enim ut alias diximus, sibi subjectum 



(35) Printed by Caxton in 1483. 

 (36) Gesta Regum, Lib. II. prologus. 



(37) Willelmi Malmesbirieusis Monachi, DC Gcstis Pontificum Anylorum, 

 Lib. II., s. 84. 



