‘After Hunferthe, another character is introduced:
Dear to his people,
of the land of the Brondingi;
the Lord of fair cities,
where he had people,
barks, and bracelets,
Ealwith, the son of Beandane,
the faithful companion
menaced.
“Then I think
worse things will be to thee,
thou noble one!
Every where the rush
of grim battle will be made.
If thou darest the grendles,
the time of a long night
will be near to thee.”’
_Third Edition._
‘Hunferth, “the son of Ecglaf, who sat at the feet of the lord of the
Scyldingi.” He is described as jealous of Beowulf’s reputation, and as
refusing to any man more celebrity than himself. He is represented as
taunting Beowulf on his exploits as a sea-king or vikingr.
“Art thou Beowulf,
he that with such profit
labours on the wide sea,
amid the contests of the ocean?
There you for riches,
and for deceitful glory,
explore its bays
in the deep waters,
till you sleep with your elders.
Nor can any man restrain you,
whether dear or odious to you,
from this sorrowful path.
There you rush on the wave;
there on the water streams:
from the miserable you flourish.
You place yourselves in the sea-street;
you oppress with your hands;
you glide over the ocean
through the waves of its seas.
The fury of the winter rages,
yet on the watery domain
seven nights have ye toiled.”’
_Criticism of the Extracts._
Detailed criticism of the extracts is unnecessary. They are, of course,
utterly useless to-day. Sufficient general criticism of the work is
found in the preceding sections devoted to a discussion of the author
and his knowledge of Old English and of the _Beowulf_.
In the third edition the author presents some criticisms of Thorkelin’s
text; but his own work is quite as faulty as the Icelander’s, and his
‘corrections’ are often misleading.
Turner is to be censured for allowing an account of _Beowulf_ so full of
inaccuracy to be reprinted year after year with no attempt at its
improvement or even a warning to the public that it had been superseded
by later and more scholarly studies.
[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 7.] [[Preliminary Remarks]]
[Footnote 2: See infra, p. 15.] [[Thorkelin]]
[Footnote 3: See the Life of Turner by Thomas Seccombe, _Dict.
Nat. Biog._]
[Footnote 4: Wanley, Catal. Saxon MS., p. 218.]
[Footnote 5: Second edition--
Ever acquired under heaven
more of the world’s glory
than himself.]
[Footnote 6: Second edition--ye.]
[Footnote 7: Second edition adds--
Ye sleep not with your ancestors.]
[Footnote 8: Second edition omits.]
[Footnote 9: Second edition reads--
You glide over the ocean
on the waves of the sea.]