firum fold[u], frea allmectig.

I here subjoin a literal translation.

Now ought we to praise the warden of heaven's realm,
the Creator's might and His mind's thought,
the works of the Father of glory; (even) as He, of every wonder,
(being) eternal Ruler, established the beginning.
He first (of all) shaped, for the sons of men,
heaven as (their) roof, (He) the holy Creator.
The middle world (He), mankind's warden,
eternal Ruler, afterwards prepared,
the world for men--(being the) Almighty Lord.

The locality of these lines is easily settled, as we may assign
them to Whitby. Similarly, Beda's Death-song may be assigned to the
county of Durham.

A third poem, extending to fourteen lines, may be called the
"Northumbrian Riddle." It is called by Dr Sweet the "Leiden Riddle,"
because the MS. that contains it is now at Leyden, in Holland. The
locality is unknown, but we may assign it to Yorkshire or Durham
without going far wrong. There is another copy in a Southern dialect.
These three brief poems, viz. Beda's Death-song, Cædmon's Hymn, and
the Riddle, are all printed, accessibly, in Sweet's _Anglo-Saxon
Reader_.

There is another relic of Old Northumbrian, apparently belonging to
the middle of the eighth century, which is too remarkable to be passed
over. I refer to the famous Ruthwell cross, situate not far to the