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THE

ELOGIUM OF HACON.

AN ODE.

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HE Goddesses of Destiny. who preside over battles, come, sent forth by Odin. They "go to chuse, among the princes of the illustrious "race of Yngvon, him who is to perish, and' go to "dwell in the palace of the Gods *.

* Eight stanzas are here omitted, which the Reader may see at large in the FIVE PIECES OF

« Gondula,

RUN. POET. p. 63, et seq.-One of them presents a fine picture of a youthful Chieftain.

"The leader of the people had just before cast aside his armour; he had put off his coat of mail: he had thrown them down in the field a little before the beginning of the battle. He was playing with the sons of renowned men when he was called forth to defend his kingdom. The gallant king now stood under his golden helmet.”

N.B. The Translator has borrowed here and there a word or two from that version, which he hath inclosed between two inverted commas C '; he hath also distinguished by the same marks,

some passages, which M. Mallet seems to have superadded to the original without sufficient foundation. Let the curious Reader compare the two Versions. T.

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"Gondula, one of these Goddesses,' leaned on "the end of her lance, and thus bespake her com"panions: The assembly of the Gods is going to be "increased: the enemies of Hacon* come to in"vite this prince, with his numerous host, to enter the "palace of Odin.

"Thus spake these beautiful nymphs of war: who 66 were seated on their horses; who were covered "with their shields and helmets, and appeared full of 66 some great thought.

"Hacon heard their discourse: Why, said he to "one of them, why hast thou thus disposed of the "battle? Were we not worthy to have obtained "from the Gods a more perfect victory? It is we, "she replied, who have given it to thee: it is we "who have put thine enemies to flight.

"Now, proceeded she, let us urge forward our "horses across those green and verdant worlds which are the residence of the Gods. Let us go tell Odin that the king is coming to visit him in his palace.

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* Rather, "The Gods invite of inviting them to their eternal "Hacon." Our Author seems to abode. We have seen it establishhave here departed from the ori- ed as a sacred truth in the EDDA, ginal without necessity. The dy-"Odin is called the Father of ing a violent death was so far "Battles, because he adopts for from being considered as "an evil "his children all those who are by the ancient Scandinavians, or "slain with their swords' in their as the act of an enemy, that the "hands:" i. e. in battle. See FAGods could not do them a greater BLE X. p. 44. T. favour, than to take that method

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"When the father of the Gods hears this news, he says, Hermode and Brago, my sons, go to meet the "king: A king, admired by all men for his valour, "now approacheth to our hall...

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At length king Hacon approaches, and, arriving « from the battle, is still all besprinkled and running "down with blood. At the sight of Odin he cries "out, Ah! How severe and terrible doth this God ap። pear to me!

"The God Brago replies; Come, thou that wast "the terror of the most illustrious warriors: Come « hither, and rejoin thine eight brethren : the heroes "who reside here, shall cultivate peace with thee. "Go drink ALE therefore in the full circle of the ،، Gods.

"But this brave king cries out: I will still retain my arms: a hero ought carefully to preserve his "mail and helmet: it is dangerous to be a moment ، without the sword * in one's hand.

"Then was fully seen how religiously this king had "sacrificed ever to the Gods: since the great celestial e council, and all the inferior Gods, received him "among them with respectful salutations.

"Happy is the day on which that king is born, who thus gains to himself such favour from the Gods. "The age in which he hath lived, shall remain among 46 men in happy remembrance.

« The wolf Fenris shall burst his fetters, and dart <with rage upon his enemies, before so good a king << shall

* Or lance.

"shall again appear upon the earth; which is now "reduced to a desolate state of widowhood by his ❝loss.

"Riches perish; relations die; the countries are "laid waste; but king Hacon will dwell for ever "with the Gods; while his people give themselves up " to sorrow."

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SHALL only produce one piece more, but one much more considerable than any of the preceding, and which, by the many little circumstantial strokes it abounds with, will give us a still deeper insight into the manners and genius of the times we wish to know. It is extracted from a Collection of ancient historical Monuments of the North, published by Mr. E. J. BIORNER, a learned Swede, under the title of "Nordiska Kámpedater," &c. i. e. "The "Exploits of the northern Kings and Heroes, &c. "Stockholm, 1737." This Author published the following piece from a manuscript preserved in the Archives of the College of Antiquities in Sweden, and accompanied it with a Swedish and Latin Version. I have been as much assisted by the former, as I have been careful to keep at a distance from the latter: for Mr. Biorner, who had faithfully followed his original in the one, hath employed so many rhetorical flourishes in the other, or, to say the truth, a style throughout so puffy and inflated, that instead of an ancient northern Scald, one would think one was hearing a boy newly come from studying his rhetoric. This loose and faithless manner of translating, cannot, in my opinion, be too much condemned, especially in works of genuine antiquity; of which the principal. merit consists in the simplicity and original spirit of the composition.

It would be a frivolous objection to urge, that, as this piece rather belongs to the antiquities of Sweden, than to those of Denmark, it therefore ought not to be inserted in the present work. Those who know the two nations, are not to learn, that anciently the manners and customs of them both were so much the same, that the compositions of the one kingdom might easily be attributed to the other, without causing any

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