“sse, mine leoue sustren, ne schulen habben no best bute kat one... sse schulen beon i-dodded four siethen, iethe ssere, uorto lihten ower heaued...  Of idelnesse awakeneeth muchel flesshes fondunge...  Iren ethet lieth stille gedereeth sone rust.”

Ye, my beloved sisters, shall have no beast but one cat...  Ye shall be cropped four times in the year for to lighten your head...  Of idleness ariseth much temptation of the flesh...  Iron that lieth still soon gathereth rust.

The keynote of the work is the renunciation of self.  Few productions of modern literature contain finer pictures of the divine love and sympathy.  The following simile affords an instance of this quality in the work:—­

“De sixte kunfort is ethet ure Louerd, hwon he ietholeth ethet we beoeth itented, he plaieeth mid us, ase ethe moder mid hire ssunge deorlinge; vliheth from him, and hut hire, and let hit sitten one, and loken sseorne abuten, and cleopien Dame! dame! and weopen one hwule; and etheonne mid ispredde ermes leapeeth lauhwinde voreth, and cluppeeth and cusseeth and wipeeth his eien.  Riht so ure Louerd let us one iwurethen oether hwules, and wiethdraweeth his grace and his kunfort, ethet we ne ivindeeth swetnesse in none ethinge ethet we wel doeth, ne savor of heorte; and ethauh, iethet ilke point ne luveeth he us ure leove veder never ethe lesce, auh he deeth hit for muchel luve ethet he haveeth to us.”

The sixth comfort is that our Lord, when he suffers that we be tempted, he plays with us, as the mother with her young darling; she flees from it, and hides herself, and lets it sit alone and look anxiously about and cry “Dame! dame!” and weep awhile; and then with outspread arms leaps laughing forth and clasps and kisses it and wipes its eyes.  Exactly so our Lord leaves us alone once in a while and withdraws his grace and his comfort, that we find sweetness in nothing that we do well, no relish of heart; and notwithstanding, at the same time, he, our dear Father, loves us nevertheless, but he does it for the great love that he has for us.

Professor Sweet calls the Ancren Riwle “one of the most perfect models of simple, natural, eloquent prose in our language.”  For its introduction of French words, this work occupies a prominent place in the development of the English language.  Among the words of French origin found in it, we may instance:  “dainty,” “cruelty,” “vestments,” “comfort,” “journey,” “mercer.”

Lyrical Poetry.—­A famous British Museum manuscript, known as Harleian MS., No. 2253. which was transcribed about 1310, contains a fine anthology of English lyrics, some of which may have been composed early in the thirteenth century.  The best of these are love lyrics, but they are less remarkable for an expression of the tender passion than for a genuine appreciation of nature.  Some of them are full of the joy of birds and flowers and warm spring days.