“Oba Karl then eid, then er sinemo bruodher Ludhuuuige gesuor, geleistit, indi Ludhuuuige min herro then er imo gesuor forbrihchit, ob ih inan es iruuenden ne mag: noh ih no thero nohhein, then ih es iruuenden mag, uuidhar Karle imo ce follusti ne uuirdhit.” [Illustration: PLATE X The _abrenuntiatio diaboli_ of Archbishop Boniface. _To face p. 295._] An example of language nearly a hundred years earlier than this is found in the renunciation of the devil and the declaration of belief in God which our own Boniface required of his converts from paganism. The form is found attached to the decrees of a Council[281] held by Boniface, probably in the year 743. It exists in a Vatican manuscript (Vat. Palat, nro. 577, fol. 6, 7), which Pertz and other scholars believe to be of contemporary date. The form is of such extreme interest that I have had that part of it which is at the foot of folio 6 photographed, by the kind help of a friend in the Vatican Library; see figure 10, the four lowest lines. This is the form:— “Forsachistu diobolae? Ec forsacho diabolae. End allum diobolgelde? End ec forsacho allum diobolgeldae. End allum dioboles uuercum? End ec forsacho allum dioboles uuercum and uuordum thunaer ende uuoden ende saxnote ende allum them unholdum the hira genotas sint. Gelobistu in Got alamehtigen fadaer? Ec gelobo in Got alamechtigen fadaer. Gelobistu in Crist Godes suno? Ec gelobo in Crist Godes suno. Gelobistu in halogen Gast? Ec gelobo in halogen Gast.” An isolated piece of early “Saxon” is found in one of the letters contained in vol. iii of the _Epistolae_ of the _Monumenta Germaniae Historica_, the volume containing _Epistolae Meròwingici et Karolini Aevi_ (Berlin, 1892). The letter is No. 146 of the “letters of Boniface and Lull”. It is written by a poor and humble monk to a personage described as _reverentissimus atque sanctissimus_, who would appear to have had the reputation of not carrying out his purposes. The proverb looks like the eighth century; Brandl thinks that it is pre-Christian. The dialect is probably Northumbrian, varied by a West-Saxon or a German scribe. “I hear of thee that thou proposest to make a journey: I exhort thee not to fail. Do what thou hast begun. Remember the Saxon saying Oft daedlata dôme foreldit Sigisitha gahuem suuyltit thi âna”. That is, Often the tardy man (deed-late) loses glory, some victory; thus he dies solitary. The suggested date of the letter is A.D. 757-786.