Page:King Alfred's Old English version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies - Hargrove - 1902.djvu/65

King Alfred's Version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies.

King Alfred's Preface.

Gaderode mē þonne kigclas, and stuþansceaftas,^[1] and lōhsceaftas, and hylfa tō ǣlcum þāra tōla þe ic mid wircan cūðe, and bōhtimbru and bolttimbru tō ǣlcum þāra weorca þe ic wyrcan cūðe, þā wlitegostan trēowo be þām dēle ðe ic āberan meihte. Nē cōm ic nāþer mid ānre byrðene hām,^[2] þe mē ne lyste ealne þane wude hām brengan, gif ic hyne ealne āberan meihte. On ǣlcum trēowo ic geseah hwæthwugu þæs þe ic æt hām beþorfte. Forþām ic lǣre ǣlcne ðāra þe maga sī, and manigne wǣn hæbbe, þæt^[3] hē menige tō þām ilcan wuda þār ic ðās stuðansceaftas cearf, fetige hym þār mā, and gefeðrige hys wǣnas mid fegrum gerdum, þat hē mage windan manigne smicerne wāh, and manig ǣnlic hūs settan and fegerne tūn timbrian þāra,^[4] and þǣr murge and sōfte mid mæge on eardian ǣgðer ge wintras ge sumeras, swā-swā ic nū ne gȳt ne dyde. Ac sē þe mē lǣrde, þām se wuðu līcode, sē mæg gedon þæt ic sōftor eardian ǣgðer ge on þisum lǣnan stōclīfe be þīs wæge ðā whīle þe ic on þisse weorulde bēo, ge ēac on þām ēcan^[5] hāme ðe hē ūs gehāten hefð þurh Sanctus Augustinus and Sanctus Gregorius and Sanctus Ieronimus,^[6] and þurh manege oððre hālie fædras; swā ic gelȳfe^[7] ēac þæt hē gedō for heora ealra earnunge

1. The abrupt beginning points to a loss of the first þart of MS.; the MS. ⁊ has been changed throughout, as here, to and; in MS. the u of stuþansceaftas is torn away.
2. MS. naþr; hā, so repeatedly; likewise other words ending in -m are, in MS., found abbreviated thus: ælcū (for ælcum)
3. In manigne the -ne of MS. not distinct; ꝥ throughout has been changed, as here, to þæt.
4. ⁊ þara.
5. he^can.
6. scanctus augustinus and sc̃s gregorius. and scanctus Ieronimus.
7. gely, with the upper part of an f following y still legible. Between gelyf and eac a word of two or three syllables erased.