The History Of Manners, Landed Property, Government, Laws, Poetry, Literature, Religion, and Language of the Anglo-Saxons. 1805 [pages 398-408 in the first edition of volume IV of a 4-volume set]. ISBN: none. Buy this book used at: ABEBooks.com AddALL.com Alibris.com ABAA.org
	The History Of The Anglo-Saxons -- From The Earliest Period To The Norman Conquest. 1852 [pages 251-269 in the seventh edition of volume III of a 3-volume set]. ISBN: none. Buy this book used at: ABEBooks.com AddALL.com Alibris.com ABAA.org

1st edition (1805) description of Beowulf:
7th edition (1852) description of Beowulf:
Preface to the 1st edition (1805):
Preface to the 3rd edition (1820):
Preface to the 5th edition (1827):
Preface to the 7th edition (1852):
1st edition (1805) Table of Contents from Volume IV:
7th edition (1852) Table of Contents from Volume I:
7th edition (1852) Table of Contents from Volume II:
7th edition (1852) Table of Contents from Volume III:

	Beowulf Sails to Denmark [lines 194-224a in section III and 8th line from the bottom of folio 134r to 4th line from the bottom of folio 134v on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD] Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here.     {Beowulf hears about Grendel and decides to travel from his home in Geatland (southern Sweden) to Heorot (in northeast Denmark) to see if he can help out. } 1805: After stating the crime of Hrothgar which produce the fœthe, the poem narrates the preparations of Beowulf and his failing: The war king said, That over the swan's road He would seek the great chief. That he had need of men For that expedition Prudent Ceorles Awhile should attend it. Those that to him were dear -- The good Jute Had to fail   Chosen soldiers Of those that the bravest He might find Some fifteen Sought the wood of the ocean; The warrior taught To the sea-crafty men The land marks. Soon the fleet departed. Then was on the waves The ship under the mountains. The warriors ready at his voice Descended the streams.--   He then departed Over the sea-way, Hastened by the winds. Their streamer floated Like the neck of a bird, Till they had gone The space of another day.--   Then the sailors Beheld the land, The sea-cliffs, The steep shining mountains, The ample sea promontory.-- 1852: He said: "The battle-king over the road of the swans will seek the great sovereign, as he has need of men. This expedition, for him, prudent Ceorles shall soon provide." His companions assembled at his request, and Sought the wood of the sea, the warrior directed the sea-skilled men to the boundary of the shore. The vessel was under the rock, the heroes ready, at his voice went down; they waded thro' the streams of the sea: on the sands the warriors bore into the empty bosom the bright ornaments, the instruments of battle, of the Jute-like men. The adventurers drew out, for their voluntary journey, the well-bound timber. Their voyage is then stated. Their sailing is described to be like the fanning of the neck of a fowl, till They saw land; the cliffs of the ocean; the shining hills; the steep wide promontories: there their voyage ended.

	Beowulf Fights Grendel [lines 791-819a in section XII and 8th line from the top of folio 147r to 13th line from the top of folio 147v on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD] Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here.     {At this moment Beowulf and Grendel are fighting and Grendel is howling and screaming and wishing to escape but Beowulf has grabbed Grendel's arm and is using his incredible hand-strength to hold on to him. } 1805: Sharon Turner's 1805 version of the story ends around line 517, in the middle of Unferth's initial challenge to Beowulf. After line 517, all we get from the 1805 edition is this:      It would occupy too much room in the present volume to give a further account of this interesting poem, which well deserves to be submitted to the public, with a translation and with ample notes. There are forty-two sections 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 exists. 1852: Beowulf awakes as the Grendel is about to destroy him; a fierce contest ensues between them, which is described at some length; and the issue of it is the flight and escape of Grendel without effecting his full purpose.

	Beowulf Fights Grendel's Mother [lines 1537-1569 in sections XXII and XXIII and 5th line from the bottom of folio 163v, through folio 164r to 4th line from the top of folio 164v on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD] Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here. Note: there is a discussion of the word eaxle in line 1537a on my page on Shoulder Grabbing vs. Hair Pulling     {At this moment Beowulf has just failed to hurt Grendel's mother with the sword Hrunting and he tries to wrestle her as he had done with Grendel. } 1805: Sharon Turner's 1805 version of the story ends around line 517, in the middle of Unferth's initial challenge to Beowulf. After line 517, all we get from the 1805 edition is this:      It would occupy too much room in the present volume to give a further account of this interesting poem, which well deserves to be submitted to the public, with a translation and with ample notes. There are forty-two sections 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 exists. 1852:      He then proceeds to the adventure, and begins it by a combat with the mother of Grendel, who attacks him like a sea-wolf. He fights valiantly, but he finds the famous sword of no use. She is not impressible by its edge; her strength and fury begin to overpower him: she throws him down, and is proceeding to destroy him, when an enchanted sword, a weapon of the ancient giants, and of their fabrication, comes within his reach: he strikes her with it, and she dies under his blow.

	Beowulf Cuts off Grendel's Head [lines 1584b-1590 in section XXIII and 7th line from the bottom of folio 164v to first half of the last line of folio 164v on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD] Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here.     {At this moment Beowulf has just discovered Grendel's lifeless body lying in the cave. } 1805: Sharon Turner's 1805 version of the story ends around line 517, in the middle of Unferth's initial challenge to Beowulf. After line 517, all we get from the 1805 edition is this:      It would occupy too much room in the present volume to give a further account of this interesting poem, which well deserves to be submitted to the public, with a translation and with ample notes. There are forty-two sections 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 exists. 1852: Note that Sharon Turner makes no mention here of the fact that Grendel is already dead when Beowulf cuts off his head. It seems that he probably didn't completely understand the manuscript on this point. The text below comes immediately after the description of the fight with Grendel's mother in Sharon Turner's description of the story (without an intervening sentence about a brightening light, as appears in the other translations). This success is followed by a victory over Grendel himself, whom he also destroys, and whose head he carries off and presents to Hrothgar.

	Beowulf and Wiglaf Kill the Dragon [lines 2672b-2708a in sections XXXVI and XXXVII and 8th line from the bottom of folio 189A197r, through folio 189A197v to 3rd line from the top of folio 189r on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD] Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here.     {At this moment, Wiglaf has just run into the flames to be by Beowulf's side and the dragon has charged at them both, incinerating Wiglaf's shield. } 1805: Sharon Turner's 1805 version of the story ends around line 517, in the middle of Unferth's initial challenge to Beowulf. After line 517, all we get from the 1805 edition is this:      It would occupy too much room in the present volume to give a further account of this interesting poem, which well deserves to be submitted to the public, with a translation and with ample notes. There are forty-two sections 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 exists. 1852: In Sharon Turner's 1852 version of the story, the entire second half of Beowulf is summarized in the following paragraph:      The poem proceeds to describe Beowulf's return to Higelac. He engages in some further adventures, which are not of equal interest with the former. He succeeds Higelac in his kingdom; builds a city; fights thirty battles; and dies after a reign of fifty years. Such is the substance of this curious poem, which is quite Anglo-Saxon in the manners it describes, and corroborates several of those features, which in the preceding pages have been delineated. It seems to be the oldest poem, in an epic form, that now exists in any of the vernacular languages of modern Europe. Other Saxon poems still exist which deserve the student's notice.

Page 252:

There is only one MS. of it now existing, which is in the Cotton Library, Vitellius, A. 15.; and our antiquarian patriotism may be blamed that, when so much labour and money have been applied to print, at the public expence, so many ancient remains, and some of such little utility,¹ we should have left this curious relic of our ancenstors to have been first printed by a foreigner, and in a foreign country².

     The MS. of this poem was injured by the fire in the British Museum in 1731. It seems to have been written in the tenth century³ Its author, in several places, speaks as if he had been a contemporary of the events he describes; but this may be considered as a poetical license, especially if it be historically true that Beowulf fell in Jutland in the year 340.⁴ The following analysis of the poem will give the reader of this history a general notion of its contents, and the extracts will be selected with a view to show the manners it describes.

Here are some of the footnotes:

¹ Under the commission for printing the public records of the kingdom much has been printed which deserves the thanks of the community; but I should have rejoiced to have seen the Anglo-Saxon remains substituted for some of the volumes which have perhaps never been twice opened since their publication, and will never be molested even by antiquaries again. Would not a more enlarged principle of selection have been more advantagious to our most valuable MSS?

² Ten years after the first edition of this part of the Anglo-Saxon history, Dr. G. J. Thorkelin, in the year 1815, printed this work at Copenhagen, which he addressed to the Lord John de Bulow, as his Mæcenas optime! by whose private munificence, he says, he had been enabled to bring into his country a monument of literature which was above a thousand years old. But he is not entitled to claim it as a Danish poem; it is pure Anglo-Saxon; and though I grant that the Anglo-Saxon language is very like that of the old Icelandic poetry which has survived, yet it is a similarity with great idiomatical and verbal differences. It is by no means identity.

³ So the late Mr. Astle thought, and the writing has all the appearance of being of that age.

⁴ Dr. Thorkelin mentions this on the authority of Suhn, in his Geschichte der Danen. I can neither deny nor confirm the chronology.

⁷ Thorkelin's first translation of this poem was burnt in our bombardment of Copenhagen [Perhaps in 1807. Syd.]. At the request of his patron, Bulow, he made another translation in Latin, which he has published. As I very often differ with him in the construction of the original, I have attempted to convey the ideas of the poet in a version of my own, in the passages inserted in this work. Yet, as a first translation of a very difficult composition, I ascribe great merit to Dr. Thorkelin for that which he has published; and cordially thank him for the courage and ingenuity of his undertaking.

²¹ I observe that Mr. W. D. Conybeare, in his publication of his brother's "Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry," in 1826, has remarked that I had represented Beowulf as the enemy of Hrothgar instead of assisting him, p. 31. But his friendly censure arises from his having only consulted my early quarto edition. The truth is, that the poem had remained untouched and unnoticed both here and abroad until I observed its curious contents, and in 1805 announced it to the public. I could then give it only a hasty perusal, and from the MS. having a leaf interposed near its commencement, which belonged to a subsequent part, and from the peculiar obscurity which sometimes attends to Saxon poetry, I did not at that time sufficiently comprehend it, and had not leisure to apply a closer attention. But in the year 1818 I took it up again, as I was preparing my third edition, and then made that more correct analysis which was inserted in that and the subsequent edition, and which is also exhibited in the present. If Mr. W. Conybeare had seen the later editions, he would have found that there was no difference between us; but that the view of the poem which these present is that which his brother afterwards adopted, and which he has expressed in his interesting publications, -- a truly fraternal memorial to the merits of an ardent and elegant scholar.

⁶⁴ I do not pretend to give this sketch of Beowulf as a perfect outline, nor will presume it to be without some imperfections. It is many years since I have been able to inspect the ancient MS. of it, [He may have last inspected it in 1818, according to his footnote 21 on page 257. Syd.] and I could not then, in the time that I was able to give it, decypher every part to my own satisfaction. I am not sure that every line can be now correctly read or transcribed, but I have no doubt that the talents and patient attention of other students will supply what I am compelled to leave in a state more deficient than I would have done, if my young health and strength had still continued to me, -- "Non omnis possumus omnes."