_Beowulf_, as we now have it. The poem was probably a long time in
process of evolution, and many different _scops_ doubtless added new
episodes to the song, altering it by expansion and contraction under
the inspiration of different times and places. Finally, it seems
probable that some one English poet gave the work its present form,
making it a more unified whole, and incorporating in it Christian
opinions.

We do not know when the first _scop_ sang of Beowulf's exploits; but
he probably began before the ancestors of the English came to England.
We are unable to ascertain how long _Beowulf_ was in process of
evolution; but there is internal evidence for thinking that part of
the poem could not have been composed before 500 A.D. Ten Brink, a
great German authority, thinks that Beowulf was given its present form
not far from 700 A.D. The unique manuscript in the British Museum is
written in the West Saxon dialect of Alfred the Great's time
(849-901).

The characters, scenery, and action of _Beowulf_ belong to the older
Angle-land on the continent of Europe; but the poem is essentially
English, even though the chief action is laid in what is now known as
Denmark and the southern part of Sweden. Hrothgar's hall, near which
the hero performed two of his great exploits, was probably on the
island of Seeland.

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF BEGINNING OF COTTON MS. OF BEOWULF.]

TRANSLATION

Lo! we, of the Gar-Danes in distant days,