Page images
PDF
EPUB

A wond'rous boy shall Rinda bear, -
Who ne'er shall comb his raven hair,
Nor wash his visage in the stream,
Nor see the sun's departing beam,
Till he on Hoder's corse shall smile
Flaming on the fun'ral pile.
Now my weary lips I close:
Leave me, leave me to repose.

ODIN.

Yet a while my call obey: Prophetess, awake, and say,

What virgins these, in speechless woe,

Var. V. 65. Wond'rous] Giant.

V. 74. Awake] Arise. MS.

MS.

65

70

75

Herbert. Iceland Translat. p. 39. In the Dying Song of Asbiorn, p. 52:

"Know, gentle mother, know,

Thou wilt not comb my flowing hair,

When summer sweets return,

In Denmark's vallies, Svanvhide fair!"

V. 75. "It is not certain," says Mr. Herbert, "what Odin means by the question concerning the weeping virgins; but it has been supposed that it alludes to the embassy afterwards sent by Frigga to try to redeem Balder from the infernal regions, and that Odin betrays his divinity by mentioning what had not yet happened." Iceland. Translat. p. 48.. The object of this embassy was frustrated by the perfidy of Loke, who, having assumed (as was supposed) the shape of an old woman, refused to join in the general petition. "I Lok (she said) will weep with dry eyes the funeral of Balder. Let all things, living or dead, weep if they will, but let Hela keep her prey." After this, Loke hid himself, built a house among the mountains, and made a net. Odin, however, found out his hiding-place, and the gods assembled to take him. He, seeing this, burnt his net, and changed himself into a salmon. After some trouble, Thor caught him by the tail; and this is the reason why salmons, ever after, have had their tails so fine

That bend to earth their solemn brow,
That their flaxen tresses tear,

And snowy veils that float in air?
Tell me whence their sorrows rose:
Then I leave thee to repose.

PROPHETESS.

Ha! no traveller art thou,
King of men, I know thee now;
Mightiest of a mighty line

ODIN.

No boding maid of skill divine

Var. V. 77. That, flaxen] Who, flowing. MS.
V. 79. Say from whence. MS.

V. 83. The mightiest of the mighty line. Ms.

80

and thin. They bound him with chains, and suspended the serpent Skada over his head, whose venom falls upon his face drop by drop. His wife Siguna sits by his side, catches the drops as they fall from his face in a basin, which she empties as often as it is filled. He will remain in chains till the end of the world, or, as the Icelanders call it, the Twilight of the Gods. To this the prophetess alludes in the last stanza. See Butler. Hor. Bibl. ii. 194.

V. 76. This and the following verse are not in the Latin translation.

V. 82. "Great Love! I know thee now,

Eldest of the Gods, art thou."

Dryden. K. Arth. Rogers. V. 86. In the Latin, "mater trium gigantum: " probably Angerbode, who from her name seems to be "no prophetess of good; " and who bore to Loke, as the Edda says, three children, the wolf Fenris, the great serpent of Midgard, and Hela, all of them called giants in that system of mythology. Mason. Sams. Agon. 1247, "I dread him not, nor all his giant-brood. Luke.

V. 88. In the original, this and the three following lines are represented by this couplet:

Art thou, nor prophetess of good;
But mother of the giant brood!

PROPHETESS.

Hie thee hence, and boast at home,
That never shall enquirer come
To break my iron-sleep again;

Till Lok has burst his tenfold chain;
Never, till substantial night

Has reassum'd her ancient right;
Till wrapt in flames, in ruin hurl'd,
Sinks the fabric of the world.

Var. V. 87. Hie thee, Odin, boast MS.

V. 90. Has] Have. MS.

V. 92. Has reassum'd] Reassumes her. MS.

"Et deorum crepusculum
Dissolventes aderint."

85

90

W. Herbert has published a translation of the introductory lines of this poem, and also much curious information illustrating several passages in the text. See his Select Iceland. Poetry, p. 43. He mentions some little amplifications in Gray, tending to convey notions of the Icelandic mythology, not warranted by the original, as "Coal-black steed; " Ravenhair; "Thrice he trac'd the Runic rhyme; "The portals nine of hell; "Foam and human gore."

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

دو

V. 89. " χάλκεος ύπνος,” Hom. "Ferreus somnus," Virg. En. xii. 309. "Iron sleep," Dryaen. And "An iron slumber shuts my sleeping eyes," Dryden. Georg. iv. 717.

V. 90. Lok is the evil being, who continues in chains till the twilight of the gods approaches: when he shall break his bonds, the human race, the stars, and sun, shall disappear; the earth sink in the seas, and fire consume the skies: even Odin himself and his kindred deities shall perish. For a further explanation of this mythology, see "Introd. à l'Hist. de Dannemarc par Mallet," 1755, quarto; or rather a translation of it published in 1770, and entitled "Northern Antiquities; in which some mistakes in the original are judiciously corrected. Mason.

THE TRIUMPHS OF OWEN.*

A FRAGMENT. FROM THE WELSH.

[From Evans. Spec. of the Welsh Poetry, 1764, quarto, p. 25, where is a Prose version of this Poem, and p. 127. Owen succeeded his father Griffith app Cynan in the principality of N. Wales, A.D. 1137. This battle was fought in the year 1157. Jones. Relics, vol. ii. p. 36.]

OWEN's praise demands my song,
Owen swift, and Owen strong;
Fairest flower of Roderic's stem,
Gwyneth's shield, and Britain's gem,
He nor heaps his brooded stores,
Nor on all profusely pours;
Lord of every regal art,

Liberal hand, and open heart.

5

Compare with this poem, " Hermode's Journey to Hell," in Dr. Percy's Translation of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 149. See Beronii Diss. de Eddis Island. p. 153. Mundi credita έкπúρwσ in qua solem nigrescere, tellurem in mari submersam iri, stellas de cœlo lapsuras, ignem in vetustam orbis molem et fabricam disævituram, v. Sibyll. Velusp. Stroph. liii.

*The original Welsh of the above poem was the composition of Gwalchmai the son of Melir, immediately after Prince Owen Gwynedd had defeated the combined fleets of Iceland, Denmark, and Norway, which had invaded his territory on the coast of Anglesea. There is likewise another poem which describes this famous battle, written by Prince Howel, the son of Owen Gwynedd; a literal translation of which may be seen in Jones. Relics, vol. ii. p. 36. In Mason's edition, and in all the subsequent editions, it is said that Owen succeeded his

Big with hosts of mighty name,
Squadrons three against him came;
This the force of Eirin hiding,
Side by side as proudly riding,
On her shadow long and gay
Lochlin plows the wat❜ry way;
There the Norman sails afar
Catch the winds and join the war:
Black and huge along they sweep,
Burdens of the angry deep.

Dauntless on his native sands
The dragon-son of Mona stands;
In glitt'ring arms and glory drest,
High he rears his ruby crest.
There the thund'ring strokes begin,
There the press, and there the din;

10

15

20

father, A.D. 1120. The date I have altered, agreeably to the text of Mr. Jones, to A.D. 1137.

V. 4. Gwyneth] North Wales.

V. 8. "With open heart and bounteous hand."

Swift. Cad. and Van.

V. 10. "A battle round of squadrons three they shew." Fairfax. Tasso, xviii. 96.

V. 13. "And on her shadow rides in floating gold."
Dryden. A. Mir. G. Steevens.

V. 14. Lochlin] Denmark.

"Watery way," Dryden. Æn. iii. 330. Rogers.

V. 20. The red dragon is the device of Cadwallader, which all his descendants bore on their banners. Mason.

V. 23. "It seems (says Dr. Evans, p. 26,) that the fleet landed in some part of the frith of Menai, and that it was a kind of mixt engagement, some fighting from the shore, others from the ships; and probably the great slaughter was owing

« PreviousContinue »