166 ANGLING LITERATURE IN 



poem, which reaches to the twenty-eighth canto; the 

 latter part of which, with the whole of the twenty-ninth 

 and the beginning of the thirtieth, appear to have perished 

 by mutilation of the manuscript. Afterwards we have a 

 new story ; that of the last expedition of Beowulf, now 

 old and monarch over his people, against a fire-drake 

 which molested them, and of his death in the encounter. 5 

 In the poetical writings of the Anglo-Norman Trou- 

 veres, we have a class of the same stories, relative to 

 heroic exploits with monstrous fish of the sea, that had 

 the singular power of coming on land, and doing incre- 

 dible mischief to the human family. " The Voyage of 

 St. Brandan" is one of these mediaeval productions. He 

 was an Irish saint, and is supposed to have flourished in 

 the fifth or sixth century. His voyage had for its object 

 the discovery of the land of Paradise, from whence Adam 

 was expelled. St. Brandan sets sail with a number of 

 monks, and the party meet with the most singular ad- 

 ventures. Among the number was one that describes 

 their landing on an island where there was nothing but 

 sheep, of prodigious size. 



" Sheep with fleece of snowy white, 



And much they marvelled at their height, 



For each one was as large to see 



As are the stags of our countrie." 



The party were anxious, in such a suitable locality, to 

 hold their Paschal feast ; and they took one of the huge 



5 On Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Fraser, 1835. 



