Gewiton him þâ fêran Forth on the march they fared —flota stille bâd, —the floater reposing, seomode on sæ̂le, wearing on her cable, sîd-fæðmed scip, the wide-bosomed ship, on ancre fæst. at anchor fast. Eoferlic scionon Boar-figures shone ofer hleor-bergan; over the cheek-plates; gehroden golde as chequered with gold fâh and fŷr-heard defiant and fire-hard ferh wearde heold. the farrow kept ward. The second passage occurs in the course of the Lay of Hnæf, which is inserted among the festivities that follow Beowulf’s success against Grendel, as being sung by the minstrel in Hrothgar’s hall. In the story of the Lay there is a fight, and that is followed by the burning of the dead, and here the poet notices the arms which are consumed with their owners. In the short quotation which follows, the coat of mail is called a sark, and the helmet is indicated by its crest, which was a boar of hard iron plated with gold: 1111 1111 æt þæm âde wæs At the place of the pile êð-gesŷne was plain to behold swât-fâh syrce, the sark blood-stained, swîn eal-gylden, the gilded swine-crest, eofer îren-heard. the boar of hard iron. The third passage presents us with an incidental description of the terrors of a hand-to-hand fight between armed champions, and it pictures a trial of strength between the tough steel of the flashing sword and the hard iron of the boar on the helmet: 1286 1286 þonne heoru bunden When the hafted halberd hamere geþuren, hammer-toughened, sweord swâte fâh, the sword battle-spotted, swîn ofer helme at the swine on the helmet ecgum dyhtig with urgent edge andweard scîreð. smites importunate. The first success of Beowulf having left an avenger alive, it becomes necessary for the hero, in pursuance of his pledged war against the monster brood, to dive all-armed to the bottom of an awful mere. In our fourth quotation he is seen arming himself and preparing to plunge into the abyss; the main pieces of his armour are described, and of his helmet it is said as follows:— 1449 1449