Page:Elizabeth Elstob - An English-Saxon homily on the birth-day of St. Gregory.djvu/94

wyrde. Wæl hi syndon Deiri
gehatene. Forðam þe hi
synd fram graman gene-
rode & to Cristes mildhe-
ortnesse gecygede჻ Gyt

swer'd, Well they are
called Deiri, because
they are delivered from
Wrath and called to the
Mercy of Christ. Yet

took its Name from the Woods which gave them shelter. These Woods, in all probability, extended from the Humber to the Derwent, which empties it self into the Tine, taking in Deorwald and Deorham in its way, which all of them bear some affinity with the Name. The latter of which lies beyond the Tees, betwixt it and the Derwent: And there is a Description of it agreeable enough to our Conjecture, given in that elegant Saxon Poem, which was first printed in Simeon Dunelm. X. Script. p. 76. and again in the last Page at the End of the Glossary; but since much more correctly in Dr. Hickes's Learned and most Complete Thesaurus, with a Latin Translation and Notes of the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Carlisle.

And þere gewexen
Wuda festern mycel.
Wuniaþ in þem wicum
Wilda deor manige.
In deopa dalum
Deora ungerim჻

Ibique crescit
Silvarum Saltus ingens;
Sinus possident
Feræ quamplurimæ;
In vallibus profundis
Damarum turba innumera.

And there likewise grows
A woody large Defence;
In the Thickets dwell
Of wild Beasts great store;
In the Vallies deep
Herds numberless of Deer.

And now if I have given the Deiri too large an extent of Dominion, the justly celebrated Character of the Learned and Judicious Editor of the Saxon Chron. who carries it farther, will stand between me and Censure. He agrees in the Derivation of the Word from Deor Fera; but to the Kingdom of Deira he alots all that lies between Humber and Twede, and includes by Name Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Northumberland, and Bishoprick of Durham: To the Beornicas he assigns all that lies between the Twede and the Frith of Eden-