THE DESCENT OF ODIN. AN O D E. (From the NORSE-TONGUE,) In BARTHOLINUS, de caufis contemnendæ mortis; HAFNIE, 1689, Quarto. UPREIS ODINN ALL DA GAUIR, &c. PROSE the King of Men with speed, And faddled ftrait his coal-black fteed; Down the yawning steep he rode, Hoarse he bays with hideous din, Eyes that glow, and fangs that grin; **Niflheimr, the hell of the Gothic nations, confifted of nine worlds, to which were devoted all fuch as died of ficknefs, old-age, or by any other means than in Lattle: Over it prefided Hela, the Goddess of Death. Onward Onward still his way he takes, (The groaning earth beneath him shakes,) Till full before his fearless eyes The portals nine of hell arife. Right against the eastern gate, Thrice he trac'd the Runic rhyme; Thrice pronounç'd, in accents dread, Slowly breath'd a fullen found, PR. What call unknown, what charms presume To break the quiet of the tomb?.. Who thus afflicts my troubled fprite, And drags me from the realms of night ? Who is he with voice unbleft, That calls me from the bed of rest? O. A traveller, to thee unknown, Is he that calls, a warrior's fon. For whom yon glittering board is spread, Dreft for whom yon golden bed. PR. Mantling PR. Mantling in the goblet, fee O. Once again my call obey. Who the author of his fate? PR. In Hoder's hand the hero's doom: His brother fends him to the tomb. Now my weary lips I clofe : Leave me, leave me, to repofe. O. Prophetess, my fpell obey. 'O. Yet O. Yet a while my call obey. What virgins thefe, in fpeechlefs woe, And fnowy veils, that float in air. PR. Ha! no traveller art thou O. No boding maid of skill divine Art thou, nor prophetess of good; But mother of the giant-brood! PR. Hie thee hence, and boast at home, That never shall enquirer come To break my iron-sleep again; Till Lok has burft his tenfold chain. Never, till fubftantial night Has reaffum'd her ancient right; Till wrap'd in flames, in ruin hurl'd, Sinks the fabric of the world. *Lok is the Evil Being, who continues in chains till the twilight of the gods approaches, when he fhall break his bonds; the human race, the ftars, and fun, fhall difappear; the earth fink in the feas, and fire confume the skies: even Odin himself and his kindred deities fhall perish. For a farther explanation of this mythology, fee Mallet's Introduction to the Hiftory of Denmark, 1755, Quarto. THE THE TRIUMPHS OF OWEN *. A FRAGMENT. FROM Mr. EVANS's Specimens of the Welsh Poetry a LONDON, 1764, Quarto. Ο WEN'S praife demands my fong, Faircft flower of Roderic's ftem,, + Gwyneth's fhield, and Britain's gem. Lord of every regal art, Big with hofts of mighty name, On her fhadow long and gay Lochlin plows the watery way; *Owen fucceeded his father Griffin in the principa lity of North-Wales, A. D. 1120. fought near forty years afterwards. North-Wales. This battle was Denmark. |