Saxon Treatise Concerning the Old and New Testament Written abovt the Time of King Edgar (700 yeares agoe) by Aelfricvs Aebas, thought to be the same that was afterward Archbishop of Canterbvrie. Whereby appeares what was the Canon of holy Scripture here then receiued, and that the Church of England had it so long agoe in her Mother tongue. Now First Pvblished in Print with English of our times, by William Lisle ... The Originall remaining still to be seene in Sr Robert Cottons Librarie, at the end of his lesser Copie of the Saxon Pentatevch. And herevnto is added ovt of the Homilies and Epistles of the fore-said Aefricvs, a second Edition of A Testimonie of Antiquite, &c. touching the Sacrament of the Bodie and Bloud of the Lord, here publikely preached and receiued in the Saxons time, &c |
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 | Saxon Treatise Concerning the Old and New Testament |  |
[The Prince his Emblem shal the man conuince]
The Prince his Emblem shal the man conuince,Who blames my Dedication to the Prince.
That Word still Saxon, shewes he doth protect
From throat of time our ancient Dialect;
And, as the Sense is, sith He serues his Father,
O let vs all him serue so much the rather!
TO THE PRINCE HIS HIGHNES, WELCOME-HOME AND DEDICATION, by way of Eclogue, imitating the fourth of Virgil.
1
Yee Nine that leaue twi-pointed Pernas hill,To dwell on double-trenched Gogmagog,
Into my soule your honie-dew distill;
And lest remembrance of my crosses clog,
With heauy thoughts my now aspiring minde,
O cast them out as farre as th' Eastern Inde:
2
Or cease their cause, while I that Worthy sing,In whom Great Brittaine happiest of lands,
Shall most triumph; let Sheppard wandering
In barren soyle, along the Southern sands,
Fore-shew the rising of a Northern Starre,
That all the fixed ouer-shineth farre.
3
A greater Subiect then for Sheppards pipe;As some men think, who mark but their owne times;
And sing of nought aboue the haw or hipe,
And such low matters match with lowly rimes:
But ancient Heard-men heretofore did vse
Sometime the high notes of their Cornamuse.
4
Nor all in Shrubs and Bushes take delight;But some to sing of Heau'n-assaulting hils,
And stately woods; and such as watch by night
Their bleating charge, while others sleep their fils,
Behold and sing of all the flaming boules,
That guild the seats of th' euer-happy soules.
5
The like and brighter this Starre is I seeBy North arising on our Hemisphere:
And whom els can it signifie, but thee,
Fore-told by th' Eagle (past now many a yeare)
To come of Brute, regaine his ancient throne,
And ioyne the foure great Nations all in one?
6
The Norman, th' English, and Dardaniane(O royall Impe) are ioyned by thy Sire;
And thou fro mothers side draw'st bloud of Dane,
That in this Ile commanded many a Shire:
And who so like to pierce the golden vain
Of East and West, and mid-commanding Spain?
7
Th' old world of Time is past, and at thy birthBegan the new; now comes the maid again,
That last of heau'nly kinde forsook this earth;
And Saturn shall anew begin to raign.
The Sphears returning to their former course
Of Brittains royall bloud renew the sourse.
8
This Land had whilome happy peace with Spain,And long it held; vntill at deadly fewd
A third them set: but thou (High Prince) again
(Though they with bloud haue land and sea embrewd)
By strange aduenture maist procure the peace,
That while this world endures shall neuer cease.
9
See, see how Cynthia glaunceth from aboueHer light on thee her new Endymion,
Deseruing more the tokens of her loue,
Then he of whom that ancient tale hath gon:
For vnder thee shall end this iron Age,
And finest mettall shine on worldly stage.
10
The mightie Pan, our hope once, now our hold,With matchlesse wisdom hath prepar'd the waies,
That lead vnto this comming Age of Gold,
And qualifide the furie of our daies;
By staying wars, and countermanding vices,
And crushing th' egges vnhatch't of Cockatrices.
11
For happy he no sooner gan to guideWith golden crosier flocks of Britten shore;
But peace straight from aboue gan softly slide,
And dwels since with vs surer then before.
Before (I grant) no sword made on vs road:
Now nor at home, nor any hurts abroad.
12
The martiall noise of sharp-accented fife,The shriking trump, and thunder-thumping drum,
Deuis'd to make men prodigall of life,
Haue not been heard, nor shall, for time to come,
In all his raign; no roaring brasen throat
Shall belch out iron boules at land or float.
13
When Hell it selfe thought once to shake his seat,And bring thereon eternall desolation
From vnder ground; did he not soon defeat
With heau'nly wisdom diu'lish machination?
And euer since hath Quiet been his Page,
To bring on vs the new Saturnian Age.
14
If after him (yet God long grant him raign!)Be vnder thee such homage-breakers found;
If any Relikes of old ill remain;
Thou shalt with sword so hew them to the ground,
They ne'r preuaile; thou shalt our cheek from tears,
And all the world deliuer from their fears.
15
For thou, commanding pow'r of forrain States,Shalt far and neere the round worlds scepter sway,
(Most happy Prince) and ending all debates
Extend thy fame fro Set to Spring of day;
And so content all gouerne for their good,
By Vertue met in both-side Royall blood.
16
The golden both and Crimsin Lillies sprongAmid thy Cradl'; and there thee to defend
Stood passant lions three, and no lesse strong
A Rampant single prest thy foes to rend:
Thy time of birth was happiest of how'rs,
With Lions guarded so, and deck't with flow'rs.
17
And yet more happy may thy marriage bee;Or ioyning to these blessings of thy birth
The fairest fruit of sweet Pomgranat tree;
The sweetest fruit that growes on face of earth:
Or, if so faire, or, if so sweet as shee,
Be elsewhere any; loe, for her and thee,
18
How this three-cornerd Ile on eu'ry side,Vnfens'd, vndelu'd, vngardined, vnset,
By Nature selfe sets-out her beauties pride,
To please your sense, and deck your coronet:
Yea wholsome herbs to fat your sheppards flocks,
Who stand no morein feare of wolfe or fox.
19
Behold our goats, shaghair'd as soft as silke,Some great with kid, and some with twins attripping,
They all come home with bags top-full of milke;
And so our ewes, with lambs together skipping;
No rot's among them, no ill herbe there growes,
But euery where thy Lilly and thy Rose.
20
Though time will come, and must ere long begin,When greater thoughts thy high mind shall possesse;
By reading th' Acts of all thy crowned Kin;
And thinking how of thee be wrote no lesse:
Then selfe-sown Wheat shall grow and ripen afeild,
And sweatie vent of oke pure honie yeild.
21
Then shall we need no more to plant vs vines,Nor them to prop, to spread, to prune, to rub;
Nor send beyond seas for outlandish wines;
But in our fields, about each humble shrub,
The selfe-set Imp shall winde, and load the same
With purple clusters, all of deerest name.
22
Here shalt thou finde what euer Spaine affourds,And growing here perhaps in greater store;
Her Limons, Oranges, Pomgranats, Gourds;
Yea Weathers furr'd with her owne Toyson d'Ore:
For thee and thine shall nothing be to deere
Whence-e're it comes; but what, what is not heere?
23
Yet may remaine some grudge of old disease,Which will enforce vs fortifie our townes;
And skoure the steele, and brush the foamy seas,
And for an armies victuall plough the downes:
So shall w'haue plentie of eu'ry thing we need,
Our peace at home, and warr's abroad to feed.
24
But when my Lord is growne to perfect strength,The feare of him shall make our trauaile cease;
Nor shall we passe a line of bredth or length,
To send-out, or bring-in, for warre, or peace:
All shall be quiet; not a Ship need steere;
But wares of all sort shall grow eu'ry where.
25
No Plough shall rase our great grand-mothers brest;No pruning knife shall set our Vines a bleeding;
Our greater cattaile shall enioy a rest,
And draw no more, but spend their time in feeding.
Our sheepe shall feare no Wolfe, or suddaine storme;
But goe and come all safe in vniforme.
26
Nor shall we more with artificiall hewInfect our fells, by teaching them to faine
What Nature gaue not; Greene, Red, Yellow, Blew,
Of sundry blee; more sad, or light, in graine:
Our wooll shall grow, eu'n on the Weathers back,
Of eu'ry colour that (we thinke) we lack.
27
So charge the Destinies their spindle runne:Then, O Prince, Lyon-like thy selfe vp-rouse;
And hauing thus with inbent heau'n begunne,
See how this bulked world vnto thee bowes,
At Sea and Land; how of all things the summe
Shewes ioy in thee, for present and to come.
28
O might I liue to register and singThe famous deeds of thy victorious hand!
No brauer Verses vnto light should bring
Or Linus, though his Father with him stand;
Or Orphey-selfe, albeit his mother grudge;
Or any else, but such as must be iudge.
29
But, wheth'r I liue, or be first laid on herse,Grow thou apace (O most heroike Spirit!)
And loue the Muses, and their followers;
Who may eternize thy surpassing merit.
Disharmed had they been (O) long, long since;
But for their hope in such a King, and Prince.
30
Yea Princesse eke that shall be; Heau'n her blesse,Her ioyne with Phœbus and the Sonne of May,
Minerua-like to be their Patronesse:
This may them raise againe, and make them play,
And sing to praise of your so louely name,
As well them sits, eternising the same.
31
Faile you them not, and they shall neuer faile you;But studie, search, deuise, perswade, procure,
And spend their liues for all that may auaile you,
To make this Empire in your line endure.
As long as foams about your sheep this gulfe,
This watry wall to keep them from the Wolfe:
32
As long as Brittaine bears you Shepherds stout,As well for warre, if need be, as to keepe
Your flocks within, and beasts of rauine out;
As long as wooll grows on the backs of sheepe;
As Corn, Salt, Lead, Tin, Hides, Cloth, Silu'r & Woad,
Your Kingdoms loaden at home discharge abroad.
33
As long as Castles built of Pitch and Wood,Shall Delos-like about your Iland float,
To bring-in, and beare-out what seemes you good;
Though nothing bring they but we might forgo't,
Tobacco, Puppets, Hobby-horses, Silke;
When your Autarkes flowes with Honie and Milke;
34
When Syd'r in Kent is, Pyrrie in Wostersheere,Good-ale in Darbie; Metheglen in Wales,
Most holesome Wines; your Forests breed you Deere,
Your Marests Fowle, Sheep your downes, Neat your dales;
When Forth, Taw, Cluyd, Tems, Seuerne, Humber, Trent,
And foure great Seas, your Larders be for Lent.
35
As long as these, and Riuers all else-where,Their moulten Crystall poure by crooked strayes
Into the Maine, from whence I read whilere
The Springs are soaked thorow spongy waies;
As long as Bees loue thyme, as Larkes loue day,
As Men loue Women, Women to goe gay:
36
Shall nere be wisht a change of royall lineFrom that is now, and shall of you descend,
To rule these Ilands; grant the powers Diuine
A happy: match, and issue thence to send!
Which all we pray; and so bid welcome home,
Without the Bride, the most expected Groome.
37
For though thy vertues through all danger thrust;And though thy loue doe flame with lasting fuell;
Who would the Sea, that hideous Monster trust
In Winter season with so rare a Iewell?
But let sweet Spring attend her Excellence;
And softly draw the weightie Consequence.
38
Meane while; in signe of deepe-conceiued ioyesFor thy returne so safe, and in this wise,
From wracke of Sea and Land; harke, harke what noise
The Shepheards make; What sports they now deuise
With Treble and Drone, and Bonfiers, and Bels,
And Song, and dance, and all that meet is els.
39
But I, that littl' haue els, held onely best,Whereby to shew my ioy and loyaltie,
This little Booke; whereon, as on the rest,
Vouchsafe (High Prince) to cast a gracious eie:
And grant me leaue to dedicate the same,
With all submission, to your sacred Name.
Your Graces daily and most humble Beadsman, William L'isle.
| Saxon Treatise Concerning the Old and New Testament | |