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APPENDIX F.
and totally extinguish, every heathenism ; and forbid well-worship-
pings, and necromancies, and divinations, and enchantments, and
man-worshippings, and the vain practices which are carried on with
various spells, and with ‘ frithsplots,’ and with elders, and also
with various other trees, and with stones, and with many various
delusions, with which men do much of what they should not.”
Many of these heathen practices still continue to subsist, at
least in the memory and traditions of the peasantry in remote parts
of England. Devonshire, for example, still offers an unexhausted
field for the collecter both of popular superstitions and popular
tales, counterparts of which arc current in Germany. The Anglo-
saxon horbals ɪ furnish various evidences of heathendom connected
with plants, but I pass over these in order to give one or two de-
tailed Saxon spells, which are of the utmost value, as bearing un-
mistakeable marks of Anglosaxon paganism. The following spells
are taken from a MS. in the Harleian collection, No. 585.
1. “ Wib CyrneL Ncogonc w⅛ran Nobpæs swcostcr, pit wurdon
ba nygono to viii. ɔ pa viii. to vii. ɜ pa vii. to vi. 1 pa vi. to v. 4
pa v. to iiii. cJ pa iiii. to iii. 1 pa iii. to ii. ∙j pa ii. to i. ɜ pa i. to
nιlnum. pis pe Iibbo Cyrnnolos *j scrofellef ,j weormep *j Sfeghwylces
yfelcs. Sing benodicite nygon sipuɪn2.”
2 “ Se wɪfman so hire cild tifédan ne m⅛g, gange to gewitenes
mannes birgenno stæppe bonne priwa ofcr ba byrgenne, lj ewebe
bonne priwa bas word : Dis me to bote b½re Liban Imtbyrde : Dis
Iicwiglunga ^j Iiwata ∙j galdra ∙j IiianweoriSunga ∙j <5.ι geɪiɪearli Йе man drifts
on mislicum gewiglunguιιι, -j on frιβsplottuuι, ∙j oɪiellenunɪ, -j eae ou <i<Srum
Uiislioum treowum, -j on stιiuuuι, ∙j on manegum mislicum gedwimerum Be
mon OndreogatS fela Sais iSe hi uà ne scoldon.”
A various reading adds :—“ IreowwurtSuuga -j StiiuwurtSunga ŋ tSone deofles
eræft tSæ'r man tSa cild purlι 15a eoιiS.ιu tihβ, ∙j Sa gemear Se man drihδ on
gearesniht—“tree-worshippings and Btone-Worshippiugs, and that devil's
craft, whereby children are drawn through the earth, and the vaiu practices
which are carried on on the night of the year.” Tlie f>∙i‰j>lot was a patch or
plot of ground sanctified, gefrtf&od, by some heathen ceremony, a kind of Taboo.
1 Edited by the Rev. T. O. Cockayue for the Master of the Rolls’ Series,
1864-18(>6, under the title of “ Leechdoms, Wortcuuning and Starcraft of
Early England.” 2 Fol. 1УЗ.
HEATHENDOM.
629
me to b∣'>te Stere swæran swært byrde : Dia me to Mte Stere IdSan
Iambyrde. And Sonne Sæt wit' seo mid bearne, 3 heo to hire
hldforde on reste gd, Sonne cwoSe heo :
“ Up ic gouge,
ofer Se stæppe,
mid cwican cilde,
nalæs mid Cwellendum,
mid fulborenum,
naɪæs mid f½gan.
And Sonne seo moder gefélc Sæt Sæt beam ai cwic, g& Sonne t6
cyrican, 3 Sonne heo toforan Siin weofode oume, cweSe Sonne :
“ Criste ic stede
Sia geeked.”
3. “Sc wɪfman so hyre beam ιifedan ne mæge, genime heoaylf
hyre ιigenes cildcs gebyrgenne dæl, prʃ æftor ‰n on bldce wulle,
ɔ bebicge to cepemannum, 3 cwe⅞>e ‰nne :
“ Ic hit bebicge
ge hit bebicgan,
SIs sweartan wulle
and Sissc sorgo corn.”
4. “ Se [wif]man se Se [ne] mæge beam tifédan, nime Sonne dnes
bleos cu meoluc on hyre handæ, 3 gesüpe Sonne mid hyre muSe, 3
gange ⅞∣onne to yrnendum wætere, 3 spiwe Ster in Sa meolc, 3 hldde
Sonne mid Stere ylcan hand Sæs wæteres muS fulne 3 forswelge.
CweSe Sonne Sas word : Gehwer fordo ic me Sone mteran maga
pihtan, mid Sj sse mteran mete J>ihtan, Sonne ic me wille habban 3
hιim gιin. Donne heo to Siin broce gd, ‰ιme né beseo heo no, né
eft Sonne heo Sanan gd, 3 Sonne gd heo in oSer hiιs oSer heo ût
ofeodc, 3 S⅛r gebyrge metea1.”
5. “ WiS hors oman 3 mannes, sing Sis Jiriwa nygan siSan on
æfen 3 on morgen, on Sæs mannes heafod ûfan, 3 horse on Sæt
l MS. Hart 585. fol. 196. 196 b.
VOL. I. 2 M