Popular Romances of the Middle Ages. By George W. Cox, M.A., and Eustace
Hinton Jones. London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1871. 8vo, _Beowulf_ (by
E. H. Jones), pp. 382-398.
*Second edition, in one volume (containing, in addition to the romances
in the first edition, those formerly published under the title ‘Tales of
the Teutonic Lands’). C. Kegan Paul & Company: London, 1880 (1879).
A Paraphrase for General Readers.
_Aim of the Volume._
‘The thought that these old romances may be presented to
Englishmen of the present day in a form which shall retain their
real vigour without the repulsive characteristics impressed on
them by a comparatively rude and ignorant age may not, perhaps, be
regarded as inexcusably presumptuous. With greater confidence it
may be affirmed that, if we turn to these old legends or romances
at all, it should be for the purpose of learning what they really
were, and not with any wish of seeing them through a glass which
shall reflect chiefly our own thoughts about them and throw over
them a colouring borrowed from the sentiment of the nineteenth
century.
‘These two conditions have, it is hoped, been strictly observed in
the versions here given of some of the great romances of mediæval
Europe. While special care has been taken to guard against the
introduction even of phrases not in harmony with the original
narratives, not less pains have been bestowed on the task of
preserving all that is essential in the narrative; and thus it may
perhaps be safely said that the readers of this volume will obtain
from it an adequate knowledge of these time-honoured stories,
without having their attention and their patience overtaxed by a
multiplicity of superfluous and therefore utterly irksome
details.’ --Preface, pp. vi, vii.
_Nature of the Paraphrase._
The poem is relieved of all the episodes except the prolog and King
Hrothgar’s discourse. Sometimes these omissions seem unnecessary. It is
certainly a mistake to sacrifice the swimming-match, lively in its
narrative, dramatic in setting.
On the other hand, the author makes an attempt to preserve as much as
possible of the original style. So anxious is he to save every
picturesque word of the original, that he sometimes transfers
expressions from the passages which he is obliged to drop and inserts
them in other parts of the story.