Endnotes + 

The date of the above lecture was Wednesday, February 12th, 1913, the date on which our morning newspapers printed the first telegrams giving particulars of the fate of Captain Scott’s heroic conquest of the South Pole, and still more glorious, though defeated, return. The first brief message concerning Captain Oates, ran as follows:⁠— + 

“From the records found in the tent where the bodies were discovered it appeared that Captain Oates’s feet and hands were badly frostbitten, and, although he struggled on heroically, his comrades knew on March 16 that his end was approaching. He had borne intense suffering for weeks without complaint, and he did not give up hope to the very end. + 

“ ‘He was a brave soul. He slept through the night hoping not to wake; but he awoke in the morning. + 

“ ‘It was blowing a blizzard. Oates said: “I am just going outside, and I may be some time.” He went out into the blizzard, and we have not seen him since. + 

“ ‘We knew that Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman.’ ” + 

↩ + 

“Therefore I can sing and tell a tale, recount in the Mead Hall, how men of high race gave rich gifts to me. I was with Huns and with Hreth Goths, with the Swedes, and with the Geats, and with the South Danes; I was with the Wenlas, and with the Waernas, and with the Vikings; I was with the Gefthas and with the Winedae.⁠ ⁠…” ↩ + 

Note the abstract terms. ↩ + 

Here we first come on the concrete: and beautiful it is. ↩ + 

Say “nay,” say “nay”; and don’t say, “the answer is in the negative.” ↩ + 

Thought for to take + 

Is not my mind; + 

But to forsake + 

This Principal of the Glasgow College of the United Free Church of Scotland⁠— + 

Farewell unkiss’d! + 

↩ + 

I append the following specimen translations of the famous passage in St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians 15:51 sqq. I choose this because (1) it is an important passage; (2) it touches a high moment of philosophising; (3) the comparison seems to me to represent with great fairness to Tyndale the extent of the forty-seven’s debt to him; (4) it shows that they meant exactly what they said in their Preface; and (5) it illustrates, towards the close, their genius for improvement. From the Greek, Wyclif translates:⁠— + 

Lo, I seie to you pryvyte of holi thingis | and alle we schulen rise agen | but not alle we schuln be chaungid | in a moment in the twynkelynge of an yë, in the last trumpe | for the trumpe schal sowne: and deed men schulen rise agen with out corrupcion, and we schuln be changid | for it bihoveth this corruptible thing to clothe uncorropcion and this deedly thing to putte aweye undeedlynesse. But whanne this deedli thing schal clothe undeedlynesse | thanne schal the word be don that is written | deeth is sopun up in victorie | deeth, where is thi victorie? deeth, where is thi pricke? + 

Tyndale:⁠— + 

Beholde I showe you a mystery. We shall not all slepe: but we shall all be chaunged | and that in a moment | and in the twinclinge of an eye | at the sounde of the last trompe. For the trompe shall blowe, and the deed shall ryse incorruptible and we shalbe chaunged. For this corruptible must put on incorruptibilite: and this mortall must put on immortalite. When this corruptible hath put on incorruptibilite | and this mortall hath put on immortalite: than shalbe brought to pass the saying that is written, “Deeth is consumed in to victory.” Deeth, where is thy stynge? Hell, where is thy victory? + 

The Authorised Version:⁠— + 

Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleepe, but wee shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinckling of an eye, at the last trumpe, (for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed). For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortall must put on immortalitie. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortall shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? + 

↩ + 

I E O : I O E + 

Ĭ O : E OU A + 

“As musing slow I hail + 

Thy genial loved return.” + 

—⁠Collins, “Ode to Evening” + 

↩ + 

I quote from a translation by Mr. E. J. Watson, recently published by Messrs. J. W. Arrowsmith, of Bristol. ↩ + 

Hrothgar spake, helm of the Scyldings: “Ask not after good tidings. Sorrow is renewed among the Dane-folk. Dead is Æschere, Yrmenlaf’s elder brother, who read me rune and bore me rede; comrade at shoulder when we fended our heads in war and the boar-helms rang. Even so should we each be an atheling passing good, as Æschere was.” ↩ + 

From A History of Oxfordshire, by Mr. J. Meade Falkner, author of Murray’s excellent Handbook of Oxfordshire. ↩ + 

Conington’s translation. ↩ + 

De Bello Gothico, II, 6. ↩ + 

“What English Poetry may still learn from Greek”: a paper read before the English Association on Nov. 17, 1911. ↩ + 

See Mr. E. K. Chambers’ Medieval Stage, Dr. Courthope’s History of English Poetry, and Professor W. P. Ker’s The Dark Ages. ↩ + 

Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, vol. II, p. 684, from documents printed in Fournier’s collection. ↩ + 

Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. III, p. 213. ↩ + 

Walter de la Mare. ↩ + 

“An oration,” says Quintilian, “may find room for almost any word saving a few indecent ones (quae sunt parum verecunda).” He adds that writers of the Old Comedy were often commended even for these: “but it is enough for us to mind our present business⁠—sed nobis nostrum opus intueri sat est.” ↩ + 