Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/226

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The Rise of the New English.
197


He answerede hym on þys manere,
Why he helde þe harper so dere:
‘Þe veitu of þe harpe, þurghe skylle and ryʓt,
Wyl destroye þe fendes myʓt,
And to þe croys by gode skylle
Ys þe harpe lykenede weyle.d d well
Anoþer poynt cumforteþ me,
Þat God haþ sent unto a tre
So moche joye to here wyþ eere;
Moche þan more joye ys þere
Wyþ God hym selfe þere he wonys,e e dwells
Þe harpe þerof me ofte mones,f f reminds
Of þe joye and of þe blys
Where Gode hym self wonys and ys.
Þare for, gode men, ʓe shul lere,g g learn
Whan ʓe any glemen here,
To wurschep Gode at ʓoure powere,
As Davyde seyþ yn þe sautere,
Yn harpe, yn thabour, and symphan gle,
Wurschepe Gode, yn troumpes and sautre,
Yn cordys, an organes, and bellys ryngyng,
Yn al þese, wurschepe ʓe hevene kyng.’

Page 222.

Se now what seynt Poule seys
Yn a pystyl, þe same weys, —
‘Þoghe y speke as weyl wyþ tung
As any man or aungel haþ song,
And y lyve nat wyþ charyte,
No þyng avayleþ hyt to me.
For y do þan ryʓt a as þe bras, a just
And as þe tympan, þat bete b was; b beaten
Þe bras to oþer ʓyveþ grete sown.
And bet hym self up and down.
And þoghe y speke al yn prephecye.
And have þe kunnyng of every maystrye,c c knowledge