Modern Language Notes - Volume 31-32 Author:Johns Hopkins University This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916. Excerpt: ... with that which Tamburlane attributes to himself in Part II, Act IV, Scene 3. Orlando's discovery of "great Babylon" (Act III, Scene 2),... more » and his overweening confidence on that occasion, are evidently due to his predecessor; so is his proposed expedition "to hell to fight with Cerberus--and find out Medor there" (Act II, Scene 1; with which compare Tamburlane; Part II, Act II, Scene 4, and Part II, Act V, Scene 1); his threat to "drink up overflowing Euphrates" (Act IV, Scene 2) makes him the comrade of Orcanes' valiant men (Tamburlane; Part II, Act III, Scene 1). These lines, and a few others like them, are unmistakable allusions to Tamburlane; as for the others in the play--with the possible exception of Sacripant's self-flattery at the beginning, and the certain exception of his dying speech at the end--I cannot see that they are allusions at all; and I do not believe that they were meant to be, for the very pungency of the burlesque when it is recognizable convinces me that it is not feeble but absent elsewhere. Charles W. Lemmi. University of Pittsburgh. Wioerjyld Of Beowulf, 2051 I beg to suggest the possibility of strengthening the identity of WiSeryld, mentioned in the Ingeld-Freawaru episode, (Beowulf, 2051 by recognizing in him the father of the young Heathobard whom the old warrior is attempting to excite by pointing out his father's sword in the possession of a Dane (11. 2041-2056). This is the only reference to WiSerjyld in Beowulf. The name appears once in Widsith.2 Professor Chambers sees no necessary connection between these two appearances. The use of the name of a dead hero, otherwise unknown, in the connection in which it here appears, has a sufficient dramatic warrant, if such relationship with the young warrior as is suggested can be s...« less