“Gentlest, most gracious, most keen to win glory.”
And if, in time, the great deeds of a mighty king of the Goths have become more like fairy tale than solid history, this at least we know, that whether it is in Saeland or on the Yorkshire coast—where
“High on the sea-cliff ledges
The white gulls are trooping and crying”
—the barrow of Beowulf covers a very valiant hero, a very perfect gentleman.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Shakespeare (Julius Cæsar).
[10] Goddess of Fate.