[717]. The first Bishop of Whiterne in Galloway, who died in 737. Any one who desires to learn more of the miserable superstitions which Beda could recommend, may see the account of Fursæus (H. E. iii. 19), and the MS. lives of the saint of which Mr. Stevenson has given a notice in his edition of Beda, pp. 197, 199, notes.
[718]. That is, the Paternoster.
[719]. Sal. Sat. pp. 143, 144.
[720]. Ibid. p. 149.
[721]. Beówulf, passim.
[722]. The fisherman in Ælfric’s dialogue disclaims any intention of whale-fishing, on account of its dangers. Thorpe, Anal. p. 24.
[723]. Odyssey, book xi.
[724]. This is so completely familiar to the student of antiquity, that I shall not multiply examples: they may be found in Bartholinus. But one instance I may be excused for citing, inasmuch as it proves how long the heathen spirit survived despite the peaceful hope and promise of Christianity. Henry of Huntingdon, in the sixth book of his history, relates of Sigeweard the great duke of Northumberland, that hearing of the loss of his son in battle, he exclaimed, “Recepitne vulnus lethale in anteriori vel posteriori corporis parte? Dixerunt nuntii: In anteriori. At ille: Gaudeo plane, non enim alio me, vel filium meum digner funere.” In 1055 however, oppressed with sickness, he found that his desire was not to be fulfilled. “Siwardus, consul rigidissimus, profluvio ventris ductus, mortem sensit imminere, dixitque: Quantus pudor me tot in bellis mori non potuisse, ut vaccarum morti cum dedecore reservarer! Induite me saltem lorica mea impenetrabili, praecingite gladio, sublimate galea: scutum in laeva, securim auratam mihi ponite in dextra, ut militum fortissimus modo militis moriar. Dixerat, et, ut dixerat, armatus honorifice spiritum exhalavit.” Through every word of this passage breathes the old heathen spirit of Haralldr Hilditavn, and one feels that to Christianity alone it was owing, that Sigeweard did not prevent an inglorious by a voluntary violent death.
[725]. So the Greeks:
Πῶς ἔτλης Ἄϊδόσδε κατελθέμεν, ἔνθα τε νεκροὶ