Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

"With me life's ills will soon be past,
More blissful scenes I view;
Life's vital stream is ebbing fast,
My Edwin dear, adieu!"

She paused-his inmost soul was moved--
She in the arms of death

Then sweetly smil'd, and him she loved
Blest with her latest breath.

And now, amidst yon sylvan scene
Where rural nature reigns,

Where yonder village tower* is seen,
Repose her lorn remains.

A

Oft have I seen, at close of day,
The sorrowing Edwin there
Muse o'er her grave, and weeping pay
The tribute of a tear.

For can affliction e'er forget
Past scenes, or e'er refrain
To heave the sigh of fond regret
While memory holds her reign?
And oft the muse, to Virtue dear,
Will o'er her grave recline;
Nor blush to shed a sacred tear
To deck her hallow'd shrine.

Feb. 12th, 1818.

BENEVOLUS.

GENIUS.

OH GENIUS! wheresoe'er thou pour'st thy light
All things become more beautiful and bright,
And what at first but mean and trivial seems,
Looks lovely in the splendour of thy beams.
So when the sun, unfailing source of day,
Bending towards western worlds his rapid way,
Thro' fields of azure rolls his flaming car,
Fragments of glass and bits of broken spar
Catch the rich lustre of his dazzling rays,
And rival e'en the diamond in its blaze.
Bristol, June 11th, 1818.

JACOB PLAYER,

* St. Laurence Church, Thanet.

J. Arliss, Printer, London..

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

THE ROMANCE OF THE NORTH;
Or, THE HISTORY OF ODIN.

Resumed from page 28.

ODIN had naturally a mind formed to conceive the most vast projects, and he was capable of taking measures to carry them into effect, with as much wisdom as boldness. The country in which he was born, the nation over which he ruled, was too confined for his genius: Mimer, by what he had told him, seemed to have drawn a curtain from before his eyes, and shewed him a new universe, of which he might become the master. From that moment Odin meditated those immense designs which no single mortal could execute, but which, several centuries after, were accomplished by his posterity.

When he had thoroughly reflected on the subject, and consulted with Freya, he assembled his warriors, introduced Mimer to them, to tell the story of his embassy, and seconded the narrative by a mysterious dream, which Freya pretended to have had, and which she herself related to the assembled nation. The martial eloquence of the chief, the argumentative discourse of the philosopher, the empire of beauty, and that of superstition, all conspired to win the barbarians, and excited in them a desire of making distant conquests. They consented to traverse the deserts and forests which separated them from the country of VOL. II. No. II.

G

the Sarmatians, and they accordingly abandoned their ancient habitations, leaving behind them nothing more than some old persons, and some children. The whole horde reached the Palus Meotis, near the mouth of the river Tanaïs, by the road which Mithradates had pointed out to Mimer, and which the latter had traversed on his return. Arrived at this spot, Odin dispatched Mimer to bear the news to Mithradates; and, while he waited for the re-appearance of this wise and faithful messenger, the Scythian chief amused his followers with the hope of their effecting the conquest of Rome. But, alas! the sight of a solitary vessel coming back to him, seemed to compel him to relinquish that cherished hope. Mimer was on board of that vessel, and he brought the too certain intelligence of the entire defeat of the Pontic monarch. Again vanquished by Pompey, and betrayed by his son Pharnaces, the Scythian envoy had found Mithradates without resources, without hope, and under the necessity of putting an end to his existence. He had been so early accustomed to poisons, and to the antidotes against their baneful effects, that he now tried in vain to avail himself of the most deadly drugs: they could not procure for him that death which he sought. Mimer came, and the monarch implored his assistance to shorten a life which was become odious to him, since he had lost all hopes of triumphing over the Romans. Such a resolution was, of course, regarded with as little dread as admiration by a barbarian philosopher. Mimer approved of it, and willingly promised his aid. "Take my sword," said Mithradates to him," and when thou hast plunged it into my bosom, embark in the same vessel which brought thee hither, return to the shores of the Tanais, and put this falchion into the hand of Odin. If he should not use it himself, to punish the ambition of the Romans, let him transmit it to his posterity. The prophetic spirit which inspires dying heroes, tells me that soon, conqueror of all the regions of the north, Odin will establish there a vast empire; and that the warriors who will issue from it, under the conduct of the sons of Odin, are destined to reduce all Europe beneath their sway. I see too, in the distance, even the realms of

the east subjugated! The glory of Odin will have no limits! Strike!"

Mimer obeyed, and then bore to Odin the bloody sword and the predictions of Mithradates. The first feeling of the Scythian hero was vexation at the sinister news which was brought him; the second was, to turn to advantage the last words which had been uttered by the enemy of the Romans. He harangued his warriors, and impressed them strongly with the magnificent omens which were to be drawn from the narrative of their compatriot. The result was a general resolution to march to the north, and to peuetrate into those icy regions, which an order, looked upon by them as divine, prescribed to them to subdue in the first place, that they might subsequently extend their reign over more delightful lands.

Odin therefore marched from the banks of the Tanaïs to those of the Borysthenes, and, ascending this latter river to its source, reached the country of the Troglodytes, and soon after entered that of the Estes and Gothones, who dwelt on the coast of the Suevic, now the Baltic sea. It was not without efforts, which would have seemed impossible to any other than Odin, and the strong, brave, and ferocious nation which he commanded, that they accomplished this long and painful journey across realms uncultivated, and frequently uninhabited; and where, from time to time, they met only with some bands of savages, still less disciplined than the Scythians of Odin. In subjugating these hordes, the Scythian chief artfully contrived that their destruction should be rendered useful to his own nation, and should contribute to increase its strength. After having attacked these savages, and made among them, in the combat, that slaughter which is authorized by the unjust laws of war, he assembled the prisoners of both sexes, and of all ages; and, making from these wretched slaves a cruel choice of the oldest and weakest men and women, he gave to his people a splendid banquet, which was preceded by the horrible sacrifice of the unfortunate beings who had been selected as victims. He caused their blood to be shed, and pretended to draw conjectures as to the future, from the manner in which they expired under

the steel of the beautiful and cruel Freya, who, acting as high priestess, plunged the sacred knife into their bosoms with her own hand. She then delivered oracles in the name of a severe and terrible deity, whom she described as a lover of carnage, and the giver of victory. This deity, who was not represented by any image, and of whom the idea could afford pleasure only to a nation as ignorant as ferocious, was declared, at the close of these barbarous sacrifices, to have become propitious. Then Odin, speaking in its name, announced that it extended mercy to the remains of the vanquished tribe, and consented that the young men, the young women, and the children, should be adopted by the victorious nation. He obliged them to take an oath to have no other chief than himself, and to consider as their brothers only the Scythians who had come with him from the shores of the Caspian, and those people whom the Scythians had already adopted. The ancient Scythian families now received into their society the newly-vanquished, and thus supplied the loss of those who had perished in battle, or by the fatigues of the journey. The handsomest of the females were then given as wives, to those who had the most distinguished themselves in the recent battles. They were the recompence of valour. In the feast which followed this ceremony, Odin ordered the guests to be plentifully furnished with hydromel, that enchanting and invigorating liquor, of which he may be said to have been the inventor. While traversing the Sarmatian forests he found, in the hollows of the oaks, the wild honey which the bees had gathered. His warriors at first preserved it, to use as a refreshment on their journey, and to render more palatable the acorns, chesnuts, roots, herbs and fruits, which were their common food! But, perceiving that in these frozen climates this sort of nourishment did not give strength enough to endure violent fatigue, nor inspire that lively and noisy gaiety which raises the sinking spirits, Odin hit upon the plan of fermenting the honey, and producing from it a strong and delicious drink, which combined in itself the properties of beer and of wine. The Scythians not only became accustomed to this sort of liquor, but even acquired an

« ElőzőTovább »