considers
this a technical description of improvised
alliterative verse, suggested by and wrought out on the spur of the moment.
Beowulf
558.
l. 865. Cf. _Voyage of Ōhthere and Wulfstān_ for an account of funeral
horse-racing, Sweet's Read., p. 22.
l. 868. See Ha., p. 31, for a variant translation.
l. 871 _seq._ R. considers
this a technical description of improvised
alliterative verse, suggested by and wrought out on the spur of the moment.
l. 872. R. and B. propose secg[an], = _rehearse_, for secg, which suits the
verbs in the next two lines.
ll. 878-98. "It pleases me to think that it is in English literature we
possess the first sketch of that mighty saga [the Volsunga Saga = Wælsinges
gewin] which has for so many centuries engaged all the arts, and at last in
the hands of Wagner the art of music."--Br., p. 63. Cf. _Nibelung. Lied_,
l. 739.
