Violently threw at the Vikings his war-spear, So that first among the folk he fought to the end; Hewed down and hacked, till the hated ones killed him-- 325 Not that Godric who fled in disgrace from the fight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. _Offa's kinsman_ is not named. Offa himself is mentioned in line 286. 8. Is the fact that the earl is amusing himself with a falcon just before the battle to be taken as a sign of contempt for the enemy? 65. "The _Panta_, or Blackwater as it is now called, opens at Maldon into a large estuary, where a strong tide runs."--Sedgefield. 70. The approaches to the bridge were covered with water at high tide; hence the Norsemen feared to cross at high tide and asked for a truce. 140. The soldier is Byrhtnoth. 151. This refers to Byrhtnoth. 271. The two halves of the line rime in the original. 287. _Offa_: "the kinsman of Gad" in the original. The reference is to Offa and we have avoided confusion by translating the phrase by the name of the man meant. APPENDIX--SELECTIONS FROM OLD ENGLISH PROSE ACCOUNT OF THE POET CAEDMON [From the Anglo-Saxon version of Bede's _Ecclesiastical History_. Text used: Bright's _Anglo-Saxon Reader_, pp. 8 ff.] In the monastery of this abbess [Hild] was a certain brother especially distinguished and gifted with the grace of God, because he was in the habit of making poems filled with piety and virtue. Whatever he learned _5_ of holy writ through interpreters he gave forth in a very short time in poetical language with the greatest of sweetness and inspiration, well wrought in the English tongue. Because of his songs the minds of many men were turned from the thoughts of this world and _10_ incited toward a contemplation of the heavenly life. There were, to be sure, others after him among the Angles who tried to compose sacred poetry, but none of them could equal him; because his instruction in poetry was not at all from men, nor through the aid of _15_ any man, but it was through divine inspiration and as a gift from God that he received the power of song. For that reason he was never able to compose poetry of a light or idle nature, but only the one kind that pertained to religion and was fitted to the tongue of a _20_ godly singer such as he.