Early anon

They bound to the shores the barks of the athelings,
Eighteen beautiful birds of the water,

Close by the coast, cabled them tightly,

Fastened them firmly. lest the flood of the tide
Should sweep out to seaward the swans of the ocean,

Or the shattering shoals should shiver and crush the
Barks that had brought their brethren and comrades

Safe o'er the sea-deeps.

But the general result is not as good as this, for, beyond the monotony of effect that arises from the repetition of this kind of verse, there are lines continually recurring which are nothing but prose (though apparently modelled after an Old English verse pattern), such as:

Etheldrith came in to the wine-hall,

while in passages which may be recognised as verse we are often pulled up by a line quite out of metrical harmony with its surroundings. It is like jolting over stones on a road. Here are some examples;

Eastward of Kent

Off in the ocean is the island of Thanet,

The loveliest of lands that are lapped by the billows
Winsomest of isles of all engirdled

In the wash of the waves, water encircled,

Fairest of places. This fain, gratefully,

We'll grant you to hold as homeland and country

For ever and ever, excellent-mooded

Lords of the Saxons.

And sailed o'er the currents, till they came to a land of

Fruits and of flowers and foliage so green

As never was seen, whither Saxon rovers

Thronged in thousands, thinking to capture

That land so lovely.

The jolting effect that we have alluded to is most frequently produced by the "juxtaposition of two emphatic syllables", a usage avoided by Professor Hall in his translation of Beowulf, to the advantage, there, of the melody of his verse. On the whole, then, the experiment in this volume gives us an assurance that old English metres cannot be, in full exactness, reproduced with good effect in modern English.

The result of such an experiment is no better, in another way, than the English hexameters of Gabriel Harvey and his followers. But this conclusion does not imply that some adap

tation of Old English metre such as Tennyson made in his translation of Brunanburh may not, in certain cases, be a good form for modern English verse. There is, however, even then, great danger of monotony in the verse, a monotony not felt in the Old English time when all poems were chanted to the harp. Tennyson was sensitive to this danger and skilfully avoided it; Lowell and Longfellow, Watson and Henley, poets so far below the highest, have not escaped it in their reproductions of Teutonic metre. Yet all these writers seem to recognise that they are but experimenting in these attempts, and as a rule, do not repeat their experiment. The final conclusion seems to be that in the hands of a master-poet Old English metre may be skilfully adapted to the use of modern verse, but even then it will not bear too frequent usage, since such rhythm may easily become wearisome to the modern ear.

But apart from the question of metre, the experiment here made by Professor Hall of reproducing the phraseology of Old English poetry in a modern poem makes clear to us how comparatively small was the vocabulary used by the early poets, and how stereotyped their phrases soon became. No attempt at detailed description either of scenery or of emotion is possible within the limits of the Old English vocabulary. To express the extreme of winter Professor Hall finds himself forced to use again and again the one term "icicle-laden"; and to describe the appearance of the vessel under full sail "foam-throated"

a fine

phrase in itself does very frequent duty. This quality of reserve and terseness in the vocabulary, amounting almost to poverty of expression, does not much trouble us in the original Old English poems. There it seems befitting to the genius of the time, but in an original poem in modern English, as here in these Idyls, it appears forced and unnatural.

Another matter is suggested by Professor Hall's long, halfdescriptive, half-moralising wanderings over Old English themes, and that is that the Old English poetic genius was not at its best in narrative poetry. Its tendency to repetition of thought, its overslowness of movement, its frequent heaviness are all evident in narrative. The sluggishness of the Teutonic temperament is too much seen. The narrative form, therefore, in Old English is not the best to select for imitation if we wish to interest ordinary readers in our early literature. It is in the shorter poems,

Early anon

They bound to the shores the barks of the athelings,

Eighteen beautiful birds of the water,

Close by the coast, cabled them tightly,

Fastened them firmly. lest the flood of the tide
Should sweep out to seaward the swans of the oce
Or the shattering shoals should shiver and crush t
Barks that had brought their brethren and comra
Safe o'er the sea-deeps.

But the general result is not as good as th the monotony of effect that arises from the repe of verse, there are lines continually recurring w but prose (though apparently modelled after an pattern), such as:

Etheldrith came in to the wine-hall while in passages which may be recognised as pulled up by a line quite out of metrical ha roundings. It is like jolting over stones or some examples;

Eastward of Kent

Off in the ocean is the island of Thanet,
The loveliest of lands that are lapped by
Winsomest of isles of all engirdled

In the wash of the waves, water encircle
Fairest of places. This fain, gratefully,
We'll grant you to hold as homeland an
For ever and ever, excellent-mooded
Lords of the Saxons.

And sailed o'er the currents, till they c
Fruits and of flowers and foliage so gr
As never was seen, whither Saxon rove
Thronged in thousands, thinking to ca
That land so lovely.

The jolting effect that we have allu produced by the "juxtaposition of two er avoided by Professor Hall in his tran advantage, there, of the melody of his the experiment in this volume gives English metres cannot be, in full ex good effect in modern English.

The result of such an experime way, than the English hexameters followers. But this conclusion does

des

such as an elegy like the Wanderer, or the Riddles, or special descriptive or lyrical passages imbedded in the longer poems, that we find the Old English poetic power at its highest. These might be imitated with more success than the others. At the same time we doubt whether any imitation, save in the hands of a great poet, will ever give us real satisfaction.

London, May 1900.

Kate M. Warren.

Legenda Aurea

Légende Dorte Golden Legend. A study of Caxton's Golden Legend with special reference to its relations to the earlier English prose translation. By Pierce Butler. Diss. Baltimore 1899. VI + 155 ss.

Der zweck dieses buches ist "in the main to show the sources and the method of composition of Caxton's Golden Legende . .”", aber "the many fascinating subsidiary questions connected with the Legenda Aurea could not be passed by in silence," fährt der verfasser fort und greift darum auf die Legenda Aurea zurück, Diese behandlungsweise hat, so berechtigt und erwünscht sie an sich ist, hier aber ihre kehrseite. Qui trop embrasse, mal étreint, ist man versucht zu sagen, wenn man die einzelnen kapitel näher ins auge fasst. Vielerlei fragen werden berührt, aber nicht erschöpfend behandelt; denn überall heisst es: wir haben noch einen weiten weg vor uns, also nur nicht lange gerastet. Das ist zum teil gerade deshalb zu bedauern, weil der verfasser überall handschriftliche quellen benutzt und ausbeutet, die nur verhältnismässig wenigen zugänglich sind und sein werden. Er verweist zwar bisweilen auf den umfang, den seine untersuchung bei eingehender behandlung annehmen könnte, aber das ist für eine wissenschaftliche abhandlung kein stichhaltiger grund. Doch soll uns dieser einwurf die freude an dem, was Butler's arbeit thatsächlich bringt, nicht verkümmern. Ein buch, das in seinen wesentlichen bestandteilen ganz auf handschriftliches material gegründet ist, das wertvolle mitteilungen aus englischen und französischen manuskripten, aus London, Oxford, Paris bringt und zahlreiche thatsächliche berichtigungen früherer angaben enthält, wird auf entschiedene be achtung und anerkennung zählen dürfen.

Butler gruppiert seinen Stoff in 6 kapitel, von denen kap. I und II die einleitung, kap. V und VI die nähere begründung des