Page images
PDF
EPUB

Ere the ruddy sun be set,

Pikes must shiver, javelins sing, Blade with clattering buckler meet, Hauberk crash, and helmet ring.

(Weave the crimson web of war!)
Let us go, and let us fly
Where our friends the conflict share,

Where they triumph, where they die.

As the paths of Fate we tread,

25

Wading through th' ensanguined field, Gondula and Geira, spread

30

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

1761.

Mortal, thou that hear'st the tale,
Learn the tenor of our song.
Scotland, through each winding vale
Far and wide the notes prolong.

Sisters, hence with spurs of speed;

Each her thundering falchion wield;
Each bestride her sable steed.

Hurry, hurry to the field!

THE DESCENT OF ODIN

Uprose the King of Men with speed,

And saddled straight his coal-black steed;

Down the yawning steep he rode,

That leads to Hela's drear abode.
Him the Dog of Darkness spied:

His shaggy throat he opened wide,

While from his jaws, with carnage filled,
Foam and human gore distilled;
Hoarse he bays with hideous din,

1768.

60

5

Eyes that glow and fangs that grin,

ΙΟ

And long pursues with fruitless yell

The Father of the powerful spell.

Onward still his way he takes

(The groaning earth beneath him shakes),
Till full before his fearless eyes

15

[blocks in formation]

Prophetess. What call unknown, what charms, pre

sume

To break the quiet of the tomb?

Who thus afflicts my troubled sprite,

And drags me from the realms of night?

30

Long on these mould'ring bones have beat
The winter's snow, the summer's heat,
The drenching dews, and driving rain:
Let me, let me sleep again!
Who is he, with voice unblest,
That calls me from the bed of rest?

Is he that calls, a warrior's son.

35

Odin. A traveller, to thee unknown,

[blocks in formation]

Odin. Prophetess, my spell obey:

Once again arise, and say

Who th' avenger of his guilt,

By whom shall Hoder's blood be spilt?
Prophetess. In the caverns of the west,
By Odin's fierce embrace comprest,
A wondrous boy shall Rinda bear;
Who ne'er shall comb his raven hair,

60

65

[blocks in formation]

That never shall enquirer come

To break my iron sleep again,

Till Lok has burst his tenfold chain;

85

Prophetess. Hie thee hence, and boast at home

90

[blocks in formation]

SKETCH OF HIS OWN CHARACTER

Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune,

He had not the method of making a fortune;

Could love and could hate, so was thought somewhat odd; No very great wit, he believed in a God;

A place or a pension he did not desire,

5

But left church and state to Charles Townshend and Squire.

1761.

1775

MARK AKENSIDE

FROM

THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION

Say, why was man so eminently raised
Amid the vast creation, why ordained
Through lite and death to dart his piercing eye,
With thoughts beyond the limit of his frame,
But that th' Omnipotent might send him forth,
In sight of mortal and immortal pow'rs,

As on a boundless theatre, to run
The great career of justice; to exalt
His gen'rous aim to all diviner deeds;
To chase each partial purpose from his breast;
And through the mists of passion and of sense,

[merged small][ocr errors]

And through the tossing tide of chance and pain,

To hold his course unfalt'ring, while the voice
Of Truth and Virtue, up the steep ascent

Of Nature, calls him to his high reward

15

Th' applauding smile of Heav'n? Else wherefore burns
In mortal bosoms this unquenched hope,

That breathes from day to day sublimer things,

And mocks possession? wherefore darts the mind
With such resistless ardour to embrace

20

Majestic forms, impatient to be free,

Spurning the gross control of wilful might,
Proud of the strong contention of her toils,
Proud to be daring? Who but rather turns
To heav'n's broad fire his unconstrainèd view
Than to the glimm'ring of a waxen flame?

25

Who that, from Alpine heights, his lab'ring eye
Shoots round the wide horizon, to survey

[blocks in formation]

That murmurs at his feet? The high-born soul

Disdains to rest her heav'n-aspiring wing

Beneath its native quarry. Tired of earth

35

« PreviousContinue »