Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/249

240 GREGORY'S PASTORAL. [Cotton MSS. leasunga, ge furðum ðara scylda þe openlice bioð gesewena, hie wilniað ðæt hie scylen hie beladian swæ georne ðætte oft se se þe wilnað hiera unðeawas arasian, bið openlice beswicen & ablend mid ðæm miste ðara leasunga, swæ ðæt him fulneah ðyncð ðætte his nan wuht swæ ne sie swæ swæ he ær witodlice be him wende. Be ðæm ryhtlice be Iudeum wæs gecweden ðurh Gone witgan ymb ðæt synnfulle mod þe hit symle wile ladian, he cwæð ðæt ðær se iil hæfde se holh. Se iil getacnað ða twyfealdnesse ðæs unclænan modes ðæt hit simle lytiglice ladað, swæ swæ se iil, ærðæm he gefangen weorðe, mon mæg gesion ægðer ge his fet ge his heafud ge eac eal ðæt bodig, ac sona swæ hiene mon gefehð, swæ gewint he to anum cliwene, & tihð his fet swæ he inmest mæg, & gehyt his heafod, swæ ðætte betweoh hondum ðu nast hwær him aðer cymð, oððe fet oððe heafod, & ær, ær ðu his ó onhrine, ðu meahtes gesion ægðer ge fet ge heafod. Swæ doð ða lytegan & ða unclænan mod : ðonne him bið sum unðeaw an onfunden, ðonne bið ðæs iiles heafod gesewen ; ðonne mon mæg ongietan of hwam hit ærest com, & for hwæm. And ðonne bioð ða fet gesewene, ðonne mon ongiet mid hwelcum stæpum ðæt nauht wæs ðurhtogen, ac ðeah ðæt unclæne mod swiðe hrædlice fehð on ða ladunga, & mid ðære behele his fet & ða stæpas his unnyttan weorces. Đonne he tihð his heafod in to him, ðonne he mid wunderlicre ladunge ætiewð ðæt he furðum næfre ðæt yfel ne ongunne, swæ he hit hæfð mid his lotwrencium bewunden oninnan him selfum, swelce se lareow hæbbe an cliwen on his honda swide nearwe & swite smealice gefealden, & nyte hwær se ende sie, swæ feor & swæ fæste hit bið

desire to clear themselves so eagerly, that often he who desires to rebuke their faults is openly deceived and blinded with the mist of falsehood, so that it almost seems to him that they are not at all like what he formerly supposed them really to be. Therefore it was very rightly said about the Jews through the proj cor the sinful heart which always tries to excuse itself; he said that the hedgehog had his hole there. The hedgehog signifies the duplicity of the impure mind, which is always making cunning excuses, like the hedgehog, whose feet and head and whole body can be seen before he is caught; but as soon as he is cauglit, he curls up into a clew, drawing in his feet as far as he can, and hiding his head, so that when you have him