English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day | Page 6

in Latin. This was the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, or the Church History of the Anglian People. The writer was Beda, better known as "the Venerable Bede," who was born near Wearmouth (Durham) in 672, and lived for the greater part of his life at Jarrow, where he died in 735. He wrote several other works, also in Latin, most of which Professor Earle enumerates. It is said of Beda himself that he was "learned in our native songs," and it is probable that he wrote many things in his native Northumbrian or Durham dialect; but they have all perished, with the exception of one precious fragment of five lines, printed by Dr Sweet (at p. 149) from the St Gall MS. No. 254, of the ninth century. It is usually called Beda's Death-song, and is here given:
Fore there neidfaerae naenig uuiurthit thonc-snotturra than him thar[f] sie, to ymbhycggannae, aer his hin-iong[a]e, huaet his gastae, godaes aeththa yflaes, aefter deoth-daege doemid uueorth[a]e.
Literally translated, this runs as follows:
Before the need-journey no one becomes more wise in thought than he ought to be, (in order) to contemplate, ere his going hence, what for his spirit, (either) of good or of evil, after (his) death-day, will be adjudged.
It is from Beda's Church History, Book IV, chap. 24 (or 22), that we learn the story of C?dmon, the famous Northumbrian poet, who was a herdsman and lay brother in the abbey of Whitby, in the days of the abbess Hild, who died in 680, near the close of the seventh century. He received the gift of divine song in a vision of the night; and after the recognition by the abbess and others of his heavenly call, became a member of the religious fraternity, and devoted the rest of his life to the composition of sacred poetry.
He sang (says Beda) the Creation of the world, the origin of the human race, and all the history of Genesis; the departure of Israel out of Egypt and their entrance into the land of promise, with many other histories from holy writ; the incarnation, passion, and resurrection of our Lord, and His ascension into heaven; the coming of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the Apostles. Likewise of the terror of the future judgement, the horror of punishment in hell, and the bliss of the heavenly kingdom he made many poems; and moreover, many others concerning divine benefits and judgements; in all which he sought to wean men from the love of sin, and to stimulate them to the enjoyment and pursuit of good action.
It happens that we still possess some poems which answer more or less to this description; but they are all of later date and are only known from copies written in the Southern dialect of Wessex; and, as the original Northumbrian text has unfortunately perished, we have no means of knowing to what extent they represent C?dmon's work. It is possible that they preserve some of it in a more or less close form of translation, but we cannot verify this possibility. It has been ascertained, on the other hand, that a certain portion (but by no means all) of these poems is adapted, with but slight change, from an original poem written in the Old Saxon of the continent.
Nevertheless, it so happens that a short hymn of nine lines has been preserved nearly in the original form, as C?dmon dictated it; and it corresponds closely with Beda's Latin version. It is found at the end of the Cambridge MS. of Beda's Historia Ecclesiastica in the following form:
Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard, metud?s maecti end his modgidanc, uerc uuldurfadur; sue he uundra gihuaes, eci Dryctin, or astelid?. He aerist scop aelda barnum heben til hrofe, haleg scepen[d]. Tha middungeard moncynn?s uard, eci Dryctin, ?fter tiad? firum fold[u], frea allmectig.
I here subjoin a literal translation.
Now ought we to praise the warden of heaven's realm, the Creator's might and His mind's thought, the works of the Father of glory; (even) as He, of every wonder, (being) eternal Ruler, established the beginning. He first (of all) shaped, for the sons of men, heaven as (their) roof, (He) the holy Creator. The middle world (He), mankind's warden, eternal Ruler, afterwards prepared, the world for men--(being the) Almighty Lord.
The locality of these lines is easily settled, as we may assign them to Whitby. Similarly, Beda's Death-song may be assigned to the county of Durham.
A third poem, extending to fourteen lines, may be called the "Northumbrian Riddle." It is called by Dr Sweet the "Leiden Riddle," because the MS. that contains it is now at Leyden, in Holland. The locality is unknown, but we may assign it to Yorkshire or Durham without going far wrong. There is another copy in a Southern dialect. These three brief poems, viz.