Part 4 (1/2)

[Footnote 6: See _Beowulfs Beorh_, p. xix.]

CONYBEARE'S EXTRACTS

Ill.u.s.trations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry. By John Josias Conybeare, M.A., &c.

Edited, together with additional notes, introductory notices, &c., by his brother, William Daniel Conybeare, M.A., &c. London: printed for Harding and Lepard, Pall Mall East, 1826. 8vo, pp. (viii), xcvi, 287.

Anglo-Saxon Poem concerning the Exploits of Beowulf the Dane, pp.

30-167.

Translation of extracts into English blank verse, with the original text of the extracts, and a literal translation of them into Latin prose.

_Circ.u.mstances of Publication._

The volume had its origin in the Terminal Lectures which the author gave as Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Poetry at Oxford from 1809 to 1812[1].

We know from an autobiographical note printed in the Introduction[2]

that the _Beowulf_ was finished in October, 1820. But the book did not appear until two years after the author's death, and the material which it contains is of a slightly earlier date than the t.i.tle-page would seem to indicate--e.g. the volume really antedates the third edition of Turner's History discussed above[3].

_Conybeare, and the Progress of the Interpretation of the Poem._

Conybeare did not edit the entire poem, and apparently never had any intention of so doing. The selections which he translates are based on Thorkelin's text. He revises this text, however, in making his translations, and even incorporates a collation of Thorkelin's text with the MS. (pp. 137-55). This collation, though not complete or accurate, was serviceable, and kept Conybeare from falling into some of the errors that the Icelander had made. He distinguished by an asterisk the MS.

readings which were of material importance in giving the sense of a pa.s.sage, and, in fact, constructed for himself a text that was practically new.

'The text has been throughout carefully collated with the original Ma.n.u.script, and the translation of Thorkelin revised with all the diligence of which the editor is capable.' --Page 32.

'Any attempt to restore the metre, and to correct the version throughout, would have exceeded the bounds, and involved much discussion foreign to the purpose of the present work. This must be left to the labours of the Saxon scholar. It is evident, however, that without a more correct text than that of Thorkelin, those labours must be hopeless. The wish of supplying that deficiency, may perhaps apologize for the occupying, by this Collation, so large a s.p.a.ce of a work strictly dedicated to other purposes.' --Page 137, footnote.

How much Conybeare improved the text may be seen by comparing his text and Latin translation with those of Thorkelin. The first six lines of the Prolog follow:--

CONYBEARE. THORKELIN.

Hwaet we Gar-Dena Hwaet wegar Dena In ?ear-dagum In geardagum eod cyninga eod cyninga rym ?efrunon, rym gefrunon Hu a aeelingas Hu a aeelingas Ellen fremodon. --Page 82. Ellen fremodon. --Page 3.

The translations are even more interesting:--

Aliquid nos _de_ Bellicorum Danorum Quomodo Danorum In diebus antiquis In principio Popularium regum Populus Regum Gloria accepimus, Gloriam auxerit, Quomodo tunc principes Quomodo principes Virtute valuerint. Virtute promoverit.

It will be seen that in these lines Conybeare has at almost every point the advantage over Thorkelin, and is indeed very nearly in accord with modern texts and translations. But the poem yet awaited a complete understanding, for Conybeare could say: 'The Introduction is occupied by the praises of Scefing ... and of his son and successor Beowulf. The embarkation of the former on a piratical expedition is then detailed at some length. In this expedition (if I rightly understand the text) himself and his companions were taken or lost at sea' (p. 35). And, in general, he misses the same points of the story as Thorkelin, although he craftily refrains from translating the obscurer pa.s.sages.

Conybeare apparently knew nothing of the critical work of Grundtvig.

This is not surprising when we remember that _Kjbenhavns Skilderie_ was probably not known outside of Denmark[4]. Moreover, it is to be remembered that Conybeare's extracts from the _Beowulf_ are not really later than Grundtvig's translation, since they were made in the same year, 1820[5].

_Aim of the Volume, and Nature of the Translations._