Moder of milte and maidin Mari,
mercy
help us at ure hending, for þi merci
þat suete Jhesu þat born was of þe,
þu give us in is godhed him to se.
Jhesu for þi moder luve and for þin hali wndis,
þu leise us of þe sinnes þat we are inne bunde.
‘Hi true in God, fader hal-michttende, þat makede heven and herdeþe, and in Jhesu Krist, is anelepi sone, hure laverd, þat was bigotin of þe hali gast, and born of the mainden Marie, pinid under Punce Pilate, festened to the rode, ded and dulvun, licht in til helle, þe þride dai up ras fra dede to live, stegh intil hevenne, sitis on is fadir richt hand, fadir alwaldand, he þen sal cume to deme þe quike an þe dede. Hy troue hy þeli gast, and hely kirke, þe samninge of halghes, forgifnes of sinnes, uprisigen of fleyes, and life with-hutin bend. Amen.’[1]
THE CONTRAST TO THE EAST MIDLAND.
(A.D. 1250.)
psalm viii.
Laverd, oure Laverd, hou selkouth is
Name þine in alle land þis.
For upe-hoven es þi mykelhede
Oyer hevens þat ere brade;
- ↑ We find the old genitive still uncorrupted, as hevene king, fadir hand. We still say hell fire, Lady day. It is most strange that such words as fanding, stegh, and samninge should ever have dropped out of our speech, since they must have been in the mouths of all Englishmen who knew the simplest truths of religion.
