Tell me whence their sorrows rose: Pr. Ha! no Traveller art thou, O. No boding Maid of skill divine Pr. 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 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 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 farther explanation of this mythology, see "Introduction à l'Histoire de Dannemarc, par Mons. 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. ODE X. THE TRIUMPHS OF OWEN*. From the Welch. OWEN's praise demands my song, Owen swift, and Owen strong; Fairest flower of Roderic's stem, + Gwyneth's shield, and Britain's gem. Nor on all profusely pours; Lord of every regal art, Liberal hand, and open heart. * From Mr. EVANS's specimens of the Welch Poetry; London, 1764, Quarto. Owen succeeded his Father Griffin in the principality of North Wales, A. D. 1120. This battle was fought near forty years afterwards. + North Wales. VOL. I. Big with hosts of mighty name, Side by side as proudly riding, Catch the winds, and join the war: Dauntless on his native sands + The Dragon-Son of Mona stands; There the thund'ring strokes begin, There the press, and there the din; Talymalfra's rocky shore Echoing to the battle's roar. Check'd by the torrent-tide of blood Backward Meinai rolls his flood; * Denmark.. + The red Dragon is the device of Cadwallader, which all his descendants bore on their banners. This and the three following lines are not in the former Editions, but are now added from the author's MS. 3. While, heap'd his master's feet around, Prostrate Warriors gnaw the ground. Where his glowing eye-balls turn, Thousand Banners round him burn. Where he points his purple spear, ODE XI. THE DEATH OF HOEL. From the Welch*. HAD I but the torrent's might, With headlong rage and wild affright To rush, and sweep them from the world! Too, too secure in youthful pride He ask'd no heaps of hoarded gold; * Of Aneurim, styled the Monarch of the Bards. He flourished about the time of Taliessin, A. D. 570. This Ode is extracted from the Gododin, (See Mr. Evans's Specimens, p. 71 and 73) and now first published. |