y, and
_aenig_, any, show how existing English has softened the final _g_ into a
_y_. But the main difference which separates the modern passage from its
ancient prototype is the consistent dropping of the grammatical
inflexions in _hlaforde_, _AElfrede_, _ealra_, _feawum_, and _fandian_,
where we now say, _to his lord_, _of all_, _in few_, and _to enquire_.

The next passage, from the old English epic of _Beowulf_, shows the
language in another aspect. Here, as in all poetry, archaic forms
abound, and the syntax is intentionally involved. It is written in the
old alliterative rhythm, described in the next chapter:--

Beowulf mathelode bearn Ecgtheowes;
Hwaet! we the thas sae-lac sunu Healfdenes
Leod Scyldinga lustum brohton,
Tires to tacne, the thu her to-locast.
Ic thaet un-softe ealdre gedigde
Wigge under waetere, weore genethde
Earfothlice; aet rihte waes
Guth getwaefed nymthe mec god scylde.

* * * * *

Beowulf spake, the son of Ecgtheow:
See! We to thee this sea-gift, son of Healfdene,
Prince of the Scyldings, joyfully have brought,
For a token of glory, that thou here lookest on.
That I unsoftly, gloriously accomplished,
In war under water: the work I dared,
With much labour: rightly was
The battle divided, but that a god shielded me.

Or, to translate more prosaically:--

"Beowulf, the son of Ecgtheow, addressed the meeting. See, son of
Healfdene, Prince of the Scyldings; we have joyfully brought thee this
gift from the sea which thou beholdest, for a proof of our valour. I
obtained it with difficulty, gloriously, fighting beneath the waves: I
dared the task with great toil. Evenly was the battle decreed, but that
a god afforded me his protection."

In this short passage, many of the words are now obsolete: for example,
_mathelian_, to address an assembly (_concionari_); _lac_, a gift;
_wig_, war; _guth_, battle; and _leod_, a prince. _Ge-digde_,
_ge-nethde_, and _ge-twaefed_ have the now obsolete particle _ge_-, which
bears much the same sense as in High German. On the other hand, _bearn_,
a bairn; _sunu_, a son; _sae_, sea; _tacen_, a token; _waeter_, water; and
_weorc_, work, still survive: as do the