Then called Arthur, noblest [boldest] of kings: Where be ye, my Britons, my bold thanes [knights]? The day it forth goeth; this folk against us standeth. Cause we to glide to them sharp darts enow, and teach them to ride the way towards Rome!' Even with the words that Arthur [then] said he [they] sprang forth on steed [upon steeds], as spark doth of fire. Fifty thousand were following him.

47. In the second specimen, which is from the elder text, th has been substituted for þ and ð, to accommodate the unpractised reader.

THE PASSING OF ARTHUR,
Line 28582.

Tha nas ther na mare,

i than fehte to laue,

of twa hundred thusend monnen,

tha ther leien to-hawen; buten Arthur the king one, and of his cnihtes tweien. Arthur wes forwunded wunderliche swithe.

Ther to him com a cnaue, the wes of his cunne; he wes Cadores sune, the eorles of Cornwaile. Constantin hehte the cnaue; he wes than kinge deore. Arthur him lokede on, ther he lai on folden, and thas word seide, mid sorhfulle heorte. Constantin thu art wilcume, thu weore Cadores sune: ich the bitache here,

mine kineriche:

and wite mine Bruttes,

a to thines lifes:

and hald heom alle tha lazen,

tha habbeoth istonden a mine dazen:
and alle tha lazen gode,
tha bi Vtheres dazen stode.
And ich wulle uaren to Aualun,
to uairest alre maidene;
to Argante there quene,
aluen swithe sceone:
and heo scal mine wunden,
makien alle isunde,

Then was there no more
in that fight left alive,
out of 200,000 men,
that there lay cut to pieces;
but Arthur the King only
and two of his knights.
Arthur was wounded
dangerously much.

There to him came a youth
who was of his kin;
he was son of Cador,
the earl of Cornwall.
Constantin hight the youth;
to the king he was dear.
Arthur looked upon him,
where he lay on the ground,
and these words said,
with sorrowful heart.
Constantine thou art welcome,
thou wert Cador's son:

I here commit to thee,

my kingdom:

and guide thou my Britons
aye to thy life's cost:

and assure them all the laws,
that have stood in my days:
and all the laws so good,
that by Uther's days stood.
And I will fare to Avalon,
to the fairest of all maidens;
to Argante the queen,
elf exceeding sheen:
and she shall my wounds,
make all sound,

al hal me makien,

mid haleweige drenchen.

And seothe ich cumen wulle

to mine kineriche:

and wunien mid Brutten, mid muchelere wunne.

Æfne than worden, ther com of se wenden,

that wes an sceort bat lithen,
sceouen mid vthen:
and twa wimmen therinne,
wunderliche idihte:

and heo nomen Arthur anan,
and aneouste hine uereden,
and softe hine adun leiden,
and forth gunnen hine lithen.

Tha wes hit iwurthen, that Merlin seide whilen; that weore unimete care, of Arthures forth fare. Bruttes ileueth zete, that he beo on liue, and wunnie in Aualun

mid fairest alre aluen:

and lokieth euere Bruttes zete, whan Arthur cume lithen.

48. A third specimen shall be taken from near the close of this voluminous work, where the elder text only is preserved.

A BRITISH VIEW OF ATHELSTAN'S REIGN.

and hu he sette moting,
& hu he sette husting;
and hu he sette sciren,
and makede frid of decren;
& hu he sette halimot,
& hu he sette hundred;
and þa nomen of pan tunen,
on Sexisce runen:
and Sexis he gan kennen,
pa nomen of pan monnen:
and al me him talde,

pa tiden of pisse londe.
Wa wes Cadwaladere,

þat he wes on liue.

and how he set mote-ting,
and how he set hus-ting;
and how he set shires,
and made law for game;
and how he set synod
and how he set hundred;
and the names of the towns
in Saxon runes!

and in Saxish gan he ken,
the names of [British] men:
and so they told him all
the tidings of this land!
Wo was to Cadwalader,
that he was alive.

49. The Ormulum may be proximately dated at A.D. 1215. This is a versified narrative of the Gospels, addressed by Ormin or Orm to his brother Walter, and after his own name called by the author 'Ormulum'; by which designation it is commonly known.

Icc patt tiss Ennglish hafe sett

Ennglisshe men to lare,
Icc wass þær þær I cristnedd wass
Orrmin bi name nemmedd.

piss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum Forrpi þatt Orrm itt wroghte.

I that this English have set
English men to lore,

I was there-where I christened was
Ormin by name named.

This book is named Ormulum
Because that Orm it wrought.

In this poem we find for the first time the word 'English' in the mature form. Layamon has the forms englisc, englis, anglis, anglisce; but Orm has enngliss, and still more frequently the fully developed form ennglissh. The author is lavish of his consonants.

50. This is a constant feature of the Ormulum. For Orm was one of Nature's philologers, and a spellingreformer. He carefully puts the double consonant after the short vowel. Had his orthography been generally adopted, we should have had in English not only the mm and nn with which German is studded, but many other double consonants which we do not now possess. How

great a study Orm had made of this subject we are not left to gather from observation of his spelling, for he has emphatically called attention to it in the opening of his work.

51. There is another point of orthography which is (almost) peculiar to this author. When words beginning with follow words ending in d or t, he generally (with but a few, and those definite exceptions) alters the initial to t. Where (for example) he has the three words patt and patt and be succeeding one another continuously, he writes, not hatt þatt be, but hatt tatt te. One important exception to this rule is where the word ending with the d or t is severed from the word beginning with by a metrical pause; in that case the change does not take place, as―

agg affter pe Goddspell stannt patt tatt te Goddspell menepþ.

and aye after the Gospel standeth that which the Gospel meaneth.

Here the stannt does not change the initial of the next word, because of the metrical division that separates them. Other examples of these peculiarities may be seen in the following.

extract.

CHARACTER OF A GOOD MONK.

Forr himm birrp beon full clene mann, and all wipputenn ahhte,

Buttan þatt mann himm findenn shall
unnorne mete and wæde.
And tær iss all batt eorplig þing

þatt minnstremann birrp aghenn
Wipputenn cnif and shape and camb
and nedle, giff he't geornepp.
And all piss shall mann findenn himm
and wel himm birrp itt gemenn;
For birrp himm nowwperr don þæroff,
ne gifenn itt ne sellenn.

And himm birrp æfre standenn inn

to lofenn Godd and wurrpen, And agg himm birrp beon fressh perto bi daggess and by nihhtess;

And tat iss harrd and strang and tor and hefig lif to ledenn,

And forbi birrp wel clawwstremann onnfangenn mikell mede,

Att hiss Drih htin Allwældennd Godd, forr whamm he mikell swinnkeþþ. And all hiss herrte and all hiss lusst birrp agg beon towarrd heoffne, And himm birrp geornenn agg þatt an hiss Drihhtin wel to cwemenn, Wipp daggsang and wipp uhhtennsang wipp messess and wipp beness, &c.

TRANSLATION.

For he ought to be a very pure man and altogether without property, Except that he shall be found in simple meat and clothes.

And that is all the earthly thing

that minster-man should own, Except a knife and sheath and comb and needle, if he want it.

And all this shall they find for him, and it is his duty to take care of it,

For he may neither do with it,

neither give it nor sell.

And he must ever stand in (vigorously) to praise and worship God,

And aye must he be fresh thereto

by daytime and by nights;

And that's a hard and stiff and rough