A wondrous boy shall Rinda bear, ODIN. Yet a while my call obey; What virgins these, in speechless woe her pouch full of magical instruments. Her buskins were of rough calf-skin, bound on with thongs studded with knobs of brass, and her gloves of white cat-skin, the fur turned inwards," &c. They were also called Fiolkyngi, or Fiolkunnug, i. e. Multiscia; and Visindakona, i. e. Oraculorum Mulier; Nornir, i. e. l'arcæ. GRAY. Ver. 66. Who ne'er shall comb his raven hair] King Harold made (according to the singular custom of his time) a solemn vow never to clip or comb his hair, till he should have extended his sway over the whole country. Herbert's Iceland. Translat. p. 39. Ver. 75. What virgins these, in speechless woe] "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 That their flaxen tresses tear, PROPHETESS. Ha! no traveller art thou, ODIN. No boding maid of skill divine PROPHETESS. Hie the hence, and boast at home, 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. Ver. 86. But mother of the giant brood] In the Latin "mater trium gigantum: " probably Angerbode, who from her name seems to be "no prophetess of good;" and who bore to Lok, 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. To break my iron sleep again, Till Lok has burst his tenfold chain Has reassumed her ancient right; THE TRIUMPHS OF OWEN*. A FRAGMENT. From Mr. Evans's Specimens of the Welsh Poetry : London, 1764, quarto, p. 25, and page 127. Ower. succeeded his father, Griffith app Cynan, in the principality of North Wales, A.D. 1137. This battle was fought in the year 1157. Jones's Relics, vol. ii. p. 36. OWEN's praise demands my song, Ver. 90. Till Lok has burst his tenfold chain] 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 fre corsume the skies: even Odin himself and his kindred deities shall perish. MASON. *The original Welsh of the above poem was the composition of Gwalchmai the son of Melir, minediately after Prince Owen Gwynedd had defeated Fairest flower of Roderic's stem, Big with hosts of mighty name, Dauntless on his native sands the combined fleets of Iceland, Denmark, and Norway, which had invaded his territory on the coast of Anglesea. Ver. 4. Gwyneth] North Wales. Ver. 14. Lochlin] Denmark. Ver. 20. The dragon son of Mona stands] The red Dragon is the device of Cadwallader, which all his descendants bore on their banners. MASON. There the thundering strokes begin, Echoing to the battle's roar. Check'd by the torrent tide of blood, Where his glowing eyeballs turn, Ver. 23. There the thundering strokes begin] "It scems (says Dr. Evans, p. 26,) that the fleet landed in some part of the Firth of Menai, and that it was a kind of mixed engagement, some fighting from the shore, others from the ships and probably the great slaughter was owing to its being low water, and that they could not sail. : |