He unlocked his treasure Of wife words. "We are of the race CHAP. Of the Jute people, And Higelac's Hearth-Geneat Was my father, To the world known: Of noble origin, Ecgtheow called. He remained a number of winters Before he departed away, Old with years. Him promptly well knew Each of the Witan, wide over the earth. We from faithful mind Thy lord, the son of Healfden, Come to feek We have to him A much greater errand To the lord of the Danes, Nor fhall this Το any be hidden. This, I think, That thou knowest if it be, As we have heard fay, That with the Scyldingi Some devil deeds of hate Teach counsel how the wife God Conquers his enemies." THE warder answered him; Beowulf anchored his fhips, and advanced; and a meffenger went to carry the tidings to Hrothgar. STONY was the way; The enemy knew the path; The mail of battle fhone hard BOOK VI. Clofed by hands. The sheer iron Rung upon the warlike inftruments Then they to the manfion-house, In all their terrors, Were delighted to go. On his advancing again one of Hrothgar's party addreffed them : "WHERE do you carry Your thick fhields, Your grey vefts, And grim helms, And a heap of the shafts of war? So many strangers I think your fplendid hoft, HIM then answered Of the wealthy weather people, The ruler under his helmet, With a word after the fpeech. "We are Higelac's table geneats. I will speak to the fon of Healfdan, My errand, If he will permit us." WULFGAR then addreffed them. He was of the Wendil people. His mind-thoughts were told to many With wit and wisdom. About thy way? THUS then answered The other to fay; Be that to me As God thinketh to give." He turned then speedily WULFGAR addreffed His beloved lord: "Here are men, Come from afar Over the fea, Inhabitants of the Jute region. The chief of the family They call Beowulf, They are petitioners That they, my king, With thee may exchange words. THE above quotations are taken from the five firft fections. The fixth fection exhibits Hrothgar's conversation with his nobles, and Beowulf's introduction and addrefs to him. The feventh section opens with Hrothgar's anfwer to him, who endea vours to explain the circumftance of the provocation. In the eighth fection a new fpeaker appears, who is introduced, as almost all the perfonages in the poem are mentioned, with fome account of his parentage and character, à c BOOK VI. HUNFERTHE fpoke The fon of Ecglafe; Who had fat at the foot Of the lord of the Scyldingi Among the band of the battle mystery, Was to him a great pride; He was zealous That to him it should be granted Was esteemed greater in the world Under the heavens than himself, "ART thou Beowulf He that with fuch profit Dwells in the expansive sea, Amid the contests of the ocean? There yet for riches go! You try for deceitful glory In deep waters. Nor can any man, Whether dear or odious, Restrain you from the forrowful path... There yet with eye-streams To the miferable you flourish: You meet in the fea-street; You opprefs with your hands; You glide over the ocean's waves; Yet on the watery domain Seven nights have ye toiled." IT would occupy too much room in the prefent volume to give a further account of this interefting poem, which well deferves to be fubmitted to the public, with a tranflation and with ample notes. There are forty-two fections of it in the Cotton MS., and it ends there imperfectly. It is perhaps the oldest poem of an epic form in the vernacular language of Europe which now exifts. 10 THE CHAP. V. On the Anglo-Saxon Verfification. HE beft Saxon fcholars have confeffed that the verfification of the vernacular poetry of our ancestors was modelled by rules which we have not explored. Our ignorance of the principles of their verse still continues, and therefore all that can be done on this topic is to give fome fpecimens of the different forms which have furvived to us. IN Alfred's Boethius, part of the specimens that we have tranflated in the last chapter stands thus ; EALA thu fcippend Scirra tungla Hefones and eorthan And thu ealne hræthe Hefon ymbhwearfeft Halige miht Tunglu genedeft That he the to herath Swylce feo funne Sweartra nihta Thioftro adwæfceth Thurh thine meht Blacun leoht Beorhte fteorran Mona gemetgath Thurh thinra meahta sped Hwilum eac tha funnan Beorhtan leohtes, С НА Р. V. |