l. 452. Rönning (after Grimm) personifies Hild.—Beovulfs Kvadet, l. 59. Hildr is the name of one of the Scandinavian Walkyries, or battle-maidens, who transport the spirits of the slain to Walhalla. Cf. Kent's Elene, l. 18, etc.
l. 455. "The war-smiths, especially as forgers of the sword, were garmented with legend, and made into divine personages. Of these Weland is the type, husband of a swan maiden, and afterwards almost a god."— Br., p. 120. Cf. A. J. C. Hare's account of "Wayland Smith's sword with which Henry II. was knighted," and which hung in Westminster Abbey to a late date.—Walks in London, ii. 228.
l. 455. This is the ælces mannes wyrd of Boethius (Sw., p. 44) and the wyrd bið swîðost of Gnomic Verses, 5. There are about a dozen references to it in Beówulf.
l. 455. E. compares the fatalism of this concluding hemistich with the Christian tone of [l. 685] seq.
ll. 457, 458. B. reads wære-ryhtum ( = from the obligations of clientage).
l. 480. Cf. [l. 1231], where the same sense, "flown with wine," occurs.
l. 488. "The duguð, the mature and ripe warriors, the aristocracy of the nation, are the support of the throne."—E. The M. E. form of the word, douth, occurs often. Associated with geogoð, [ll. 160] and [622].
l. 489. Kl. omits comma after meoto and reads (with B.) sige-hrêð-secgum, = disclose thy thought to the victor-heroes. Others, as Körner, convert meoto into an imperative and divide on sæl = think upon happiness. But cf. onband beadu-rûne, [l. 501]. B. supposes onsæl meoto =speak courteous words. Tidskr. viii. 292; Haupts Zeitschr. xi. 411; Eng. Stud. ii. 251.
l. 489. Cf. the invitation at [l. 1783].
l. 494. Cf. Grimm's Andreas, l. 1097, for deal, =proud, elated, exulting; Phoenix (Bright), l. 266.