'Vitt er orpit
Fyrir valfalli.'
ADVERTISEMENT.--The author once had thoughts (in concert with a friend)
of giving a history of English poetry. In the introduction to it he
meant to have produced some specimens of the style that reigned in
ancient times among the neighbouring nations, or those who had subdued
the greater part of this island, and were our progenitors: the
following three imitations made a part of them. He afterwards dropped
his design; especially after he had heard that it was already in the
hands of a person[2] well qualified to do it justice both by his taste
and his researches into antiquity.
PREFACE.--In the eleventh century, Sigurd, Earl of the Orkney Islands,
went with a fleet of ships, and a considerable body of troops, into
Ireland, to the assistance of Sigtryg with the Silken Beard, who was
then making war on his father-in-law, Brian, King of Dublin. The Earl
and all his forces were cut to pieces, and Sigtryg was in danger of a
total defeat; but the enemy had a greater loss by the death of Brian,
their king, who fell in the action. On Christmas-day (the day of the
battle) a native of Caithness, in Scotland, saw, at a distance, a
number of persons on horseback riding full speed towards a hill, and
seeming to enter into it. Curiosity led him to follow them, till,
looking through an opening in the rocks, he saw twelve gigantic
figures,[3] resembling women: they were all employed about a loom; and
as they wove they sung the following dreadful song, which, when they
had finished, they tore the web into twelve pieces, and each taking
her portion, galloped six to the north, and as many to the south.
1 Now the storm begins to lower,
(Haste, the loom of Hell prepare!)
Iron-sleet of arrowy shower
Hurtles in the darken'd air.
2 Glittering lances are the loom
Where the dusky warp we strain,
Weaving many a soldier's doom,
Orkney's woe and Randver's bane.
3 See the grisly texture grow,
('Tis of human entrails made,)
And the weights that play below,
Each a gasping warrior's head.
4 Shafts for shuttles, dipp'd in gore,
Shoot the trembling cords along:
Sword, that once a monarch bore,
Keep the tissue close and strong.
5 Mista, black, terrific maid!
Sangrida and Hilda see,
Join the wayward work to aid:
'Tis the woof of victory.
6 Ere the ruddy sun be set,
Pikes must shiver, javelins sing,
Blade with clattering buckler meet,
Hauberk crash, and helmet ring.
7 (Weave the crimson web of war)
Let us go, and let us fly,
Where our friends the conflict share,
Where they triumph, where they die.
8 As the paths of Fate we tread,
Wading through th' ensanguined field,
Gondula and Geira spread
O'er the youthful king your shield.
9 We the reins to Slaughter give,
Ours to kill and ours to spare:
Spite of danger he shall live;
(Weave the crimson web of war.)
10 They whom once the desert beach
Pent within its bleak domain,
Soon their ample sway shall stretch
O'er the plenty of the plain.
11 Low the dauntless earl is laid,
Gored with many a gaping wound:
Fate demands a nobler head;
Soon a king shall bite the ground.
12 Long his loss shall Eirin[4] weep,
Ne'er again his likeness see;
Long her strains in sorrow steep,
Strains of immortality!
13 Horror covers all the heath,
Clouds of carnage blot the sun:
Sisters! weave the web of death:
Sisters! cease; the work is done.
14 Hail the task and hail the hands!
Songs of joy and triumph sing!
Joy to the victorious bands,
Triumph to the younger king!
15 Mortal! thou that hear'st the tale,
Learn the tenor of our song;
Scotland! through each winding vale
Far and wide the notes prolong.
16 Sisters! hence with spurs of speed;
Each her thundering falchion wield;
Each bestride her sable steed:
Hurry, hurry, to the field.
[Footnote 1: 'Norse tongue:' to be found in the Orcades of Thormodus
Torfaeus, Hafniae, 1697, folio; and also in Bartholinus.]
[Footnote 2: 'Person:' Percy, author of 'Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry.']
[Footnote 3: 'Figures:' the Valkyriur were female divinities, servants
of Odin (or Woden) in the Gothic mythology. Their name signifies
'Choosers of the Slain.' They were mounted on swift horses, with drawn
swords in their hands, and in the throng of battle selected such as
were destined to slaughter, and conducted them to Valkalla, (the Hall
of Odin, or Paradise of the Brave), where they attended the banquet,
and served the departed heroes with horns of mead and ale.]
[Footnote 4: 'Eirin:' Ireland.]
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