V. 11. Dr. Warton, in his Notes on Pope (vol. ii. p. 227), has compared this passage of Gray to some lines in the Thebais of Statius, i. 720.

V. 17. The names of the Sisters, in the original, are Hilda, Hiorthrimula, Sangrida, and Swipula.

Where our friends the conflict share,
Where they triumph, where they die.

the paths of fate we tread,

Wading through th' ensanguin'd field, 30 ondula, and Geira, spread

O'er the youthful king your shield.

e the reins to slaughter give, Ours to kill, and ours to spare: pite of danger he shall live.

(Weave the crimson web of war.)

ney, whom once the desert-beach
Pent within its bleak domain,
on their ample sway shall stretch
O'er the plenty of the plain.

-w the dauntless earl is laid,

Gor'd with many a gaping wound : te demands a nobler head;

Soon a king shall bite the ground.

ng his loss shall Eirin weep, Ne'er again his likeness see;

35

40

45

31. Gondula, and Geira] Gunna, and Gondula. MS. 44. Shall] Must. Ms.

"Insult the plenty of the vales below."

Essay on the Alliance, &c. Luke.

(Shall bite the ground) « θνητοι ὀδαξ ἐλον Hom..

Eirin] Ireland.

V. 49. This stanza, as it appears in the original, Mr. Herbert has translated without the insertion or omission of

a word:

""Tis horrid now to gaze around,

While clouds thro' heaven gore-dropping sail;

Air must be stain'd with blood of men,

Ere all our oracles shall fail."

Select Icelandic Poetry, p. 50.

V. 59. This and the following line are not in the original. Indeed, this poem is not so much a translation, as a loose, though highly-spirited paraphrase; and, as Herbert tbserves, inferior to the "Descent of Odin."

V. 61. "Bear me hence on wheels of speed."

V. Philips. (Pind. 1. Æn. 3.)

Ode is much more literally translated than the The original title I have restored from Gray's first five stanzas of this Ode are omitted; in der, one of the sons of Odin, was informed that soon die. Upon his communication of his dream, gods, finding it true, by consulting the oracles, ward off the approaching danger, and sent Frigga an oath from every thing not to injure Balder. ver, overlooked the Misletoe, with a branch of was afterwards slain by Hoder, at the instigation fter the execution of this commission, Odin, still

The

Faci

Thri

10

Thri

The

Till

Slo

Vali,

alarmed for the life of his son, called another council; and
hearing nothing but divided opinions among the gods, to
consult the Prophetess, he up-rose with speed."
or Ali, the son of Rinda, afterwards avenged the death of
Balder, by slaying Hoder, and is called a "wondrous boy,
because he killed his enemy, before he was a day old; be-
fore he had washed his face, combed his hair, or seen one
setting-sun." See Herbert's Icelandic Translations, p. 45;
to which I am indebted for part of this note.
Edda of Saemund, translated by Cottle. See also the in-
troduction to the Descent of Frea, in Sayer. Dramatic
Sketches of H. Mythology, 1792.

And the

V. 1. "When straight uprose the king of men."

Chapman. Homer. Il. xiii. p. 43. V. 2. Sleipner was the horse of Odin, which had eight legs. Vide Edda. Mason. "And coal black steeds yborne of hellish brood." Spens. F. Q. I.'v. xx. Luke. V. 4. Vid. Cottle's Edda. Song of Vafthrudnes," p. 29. Note. Niflheliar, the hell of the Gothic nations, consisted of nine worlds, to which were devoted all such