Sume hine weriað on gewitlocan Some warily keep in memory’s ward wisdomes stream welerum wisdom’s stream with closed gehæftað lips ðæt he on unnyt so that it fruitlessly ût ne to fleoweð: flows not away: ac se wæl wunað but the brooklet bideth ón weres breostum in the man’s breast ðurh Dryhtnes giefe through divine grace diop and stille. deep and still. Sume hine lætað Some let it at large ofer landscare over the land riðum torinnan. in rillets wide-running. Nis ðæt rædlic ðing, Good rede is it not gif swa hlutor wæter if water so lucid hlud and undiop run shallow and loud tofloweð æfter foldum flowing free over fields oð hit to fenne werð. and turning to fen. Ac hladað iow nu drincan But draw now for your drinking nu iow Dryhten now that your Lord geaf ðæt iow Gregorius Gregorius to you gave, gegiered hafað and he hath guided to durum iowrum to your doors Dryhtnes welle. the spring divine. Fylle nu his fætels, Fill each man now his vessel, se ðe fæstne heder if sound it be, kylle brohte: the pail he brought: cume eft hræðe. come back for more anon. Gif her ðegna hwelc If any lording here ðyrelne kylle a leaky pail brohte to ðys burnan, brought to this burn, bête hine georne, make boot with zealous fear, ðylæs he forsceade lest he should spill scirost wætra, the sparkling water, oððe him lifes drync or of life’s drink forloren weorðe. depart forlorn. The diction of alliterative poetry has fallen out of use, and consequently this illustration must labour under the disadvantage of being in a form unfamiliar to the general reader. Nevertheless, with a little attention, the essential point will become plain. The royal translator had been refreshed and invigorated with the lucid stream of Gregory’s discourse, and at the moment of parting with a beloved task he sought to relieve his full-fraught soul with a grateful burst of eulogy. Out of all the topics that were appropriate to the occasion he chose the perennial water of life promised at the well of Samaria, and upon this noble theme he expatiated with a fertility of invention which makes it the easier for us to attribute to him the rich symbolism of the Alfred Jewel.