Page:Blickling Homilies - Morris.djvu/9

vi find a more archaic vocabulary agreeing with that of the older English of the 9th century, and the sentences are complex, though loosely connected by conjunctions that express the relation of subordination somewhat indefinitely.

The Blickling Homilies contain many words that are not found in Ælfric, though they occur in the later poetical literature, which we well know is more archaic than the prose of the same period. The prose in some parts of the present Homilies is more or less poetical. In the first Sermon, the 'Annunciation of St. Mary,' there is a good illustration in the address of the Angel to Mary: 'The redness of the rose glittereth in thee, and the whiteness of the lily shineth in thee,' &c. (p. 7); and on p. 105 Christ is called 'se goldbloma,' 'the golden blossom.' There is, too, a somewhat remarkable poetical passage on p. 209 in the story of the Dedication of St. Michael's Church, which seems out of place in a religious discourse, and is evidently borrowed from an older source:—

^ Swa Sanctus Paulus wses geseonde on norlSanweardne 'piene middangeard, pssr ealle wffitero ni'Sergewita'S, & he )>8er geseah ofer ^Saem wsetere sumne h&rne st&n; & weeron norS of ISsem stane awexene swiSe hrimige beanoas, & ISaer wseron )?ystro-genipo, & under )>8em st&ne waes niccra eardung & wearga. & he geseah "psst on ISsem clife hangodan on -Ssem isgan^ bearwum manige swearte saula be heora handum gebundne; & }>a fynd }>ara

' As St. Paul was looking towards the northern region of the earth, from whence all waters pass down, he saw above the water a hoary stone; and north of the stone had grown woods very rimy. And there were dark mists ; and under the stone was the dwelling place of monsters and execrable creatures. And he saw that on the cliff there hung on the icy woods many black souls with their hands bound ; and the devils in likeness of monsters

^ MS. 18 gean.