fromum feoh-giftum on fäder wine, pät hine on ylde eft gewunigen wil-gesidas, ponne wig cume,

leöde gelæsten: lof-dœdum sceal

in magda gehweære man gepeõn. Comp. M. Heyne.

Translation. Indeed! We heard tell the glory of the native kings of the Spear- Danes(gained) in the days of antiquity, how the princes showed(performed) heroic strength. Often Scyld Scéfing with bands of damagers(enemies) took away from many kinsmen the mead-seat. The Earl(suffered) horrors, since first he was found miserable: for which(cala- mities) he proved comfort, grew till under the clouds, throve by worthiness, until everybody of(the princes) residing about must obey him over the whale-road,(must) pay tribute: that was(a) good king! to him afterwards a young son was born in the residences, whom God sent(to be) a comfort to the nation, who had perceived the misery(inflicted) by hostile way- laying, that they had formerly lived a long time without a sovereign. For this the Lord of. Life, the Lord of Glory gave them worldly honour; Beöwulf was renowned,(glory spread wide), the son of Scyld, in the territories of Sceden-ig(Schonen). So shall a young man with good deeds and large estate-gifts deal with his father's friends that in old age again obedient companions may attend him, when war comes,(and) furnish soldiers: by deeds worth of praise man ought to thrive in every affinity.

The system of rhyming versification did not come into general use in England until after the Norman Conquest. Chaucer's(1328) celebrated Canterbury Tales are likewise written in rhyming verse, consisting of so-called heroic couplets, or lines, containing five accents, and ten(or eleven and occasionally nine) syllables:

«Whan that Aprillé with his schowres swooté The draught of Marche hath percöd to the rooté

Chaucer's Prologue init.

Besides this rhyming decasyllable verse, we soon find an unrhymed, or what is called blank verse with the same number of syllables, the very verse in which the plays of Shakspeare are all composed, with the exception only of occasional couplets. On both verses, the rhyming or heroic, and unrhymed decasyllable verse and their struggle for life, we quote the following most significant passage from Professor Schipper. Unter allen Versarten, die in der eng- lischen Poesie zur Verwendung gelangt sind, muss unzweifelhaft dem fünftaktigen, jambischen Verse die erste Stelle eingeräumt werden.“«Dasselbe Verhältniss blieb auch in der Folge- zeit bestehen, nur erhält das fünftaktige Reimpaar— heroic couplet oder heroic verse von den Engländern benannt— c. 180 Jahre später einen übermächtigen Concurrenten an dem fünftaktigen, reimlosen Verse, dem sogenannten blank verse, der im vierten Jahrzehnt des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts etwa vom ELarl of Surrey(14142— 1547) mit seiner Uebersetzung des 2. und 4. Buches der Aeneide in die englische Poesie eingeführt wurde und im selben Jahr- hundert noch in der mächtig aufstrebenden dramatischen Poesie zur alleinigen unbestrittenen Herrschaft gelangte*).

*) See Craik, Prolegomena, page 31st: GIt was first employed in dramatic writing by Thomas Sackville (afterwards Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset) in his Gorboduc(or Ferrex and Porrex), produced in 1561, 2*