The remaining books, ten or fourteen in number, will be occupied with a
detail of the long and various war waged by Gustavus against Christiern,
and the poem will conclude with his coronation. Many events afford great
scope for poetry; such as the hero's constancy under his defeat by
Trolle, his subsequent victory over that prelate, the adventures of
Steen Sture's widow, the death of Gustavus's mother and sister, the
burning of Norbi's fleet, the coronation of Gustavus, &c.
NOTES ON THE _OTHER POEMS_.
1. Where, in the midst of vast infinitude, &c.
This is the conclusion of the 9th hook of the Messiah, where Obaddon, or
Sevenfold Revenge, one of the angels of death, carries the Soul of Judas
Iscariot to hell.
---- Where, in the midst, &c.
Orig. "Where God has set bounds to infinitude:" an expression authorized
by Milton: "stood vast Infinitude confined."
2. From Ida's peak high Jove beheld, &c.
An intelligent person suggested to the author, that to compose a new
version of Homer, in the style and measure of Scott's Marmion, would be
a feasible idea. He observed, that Scott's style, and his circumstantial
descriptions, bore much resemblance to those of Homer and that the
rapid flow of Scott's verse was happily accommodated to the swift
succession of events, and fiery impetuosity of the Iliad; corresponding
with the dactylic hexameter of the old poet. These hints induced the
author to attempt the above translation.
3. Through these fair scenes, &c.
This description has been preferred to that of the fountain of Narcissus
in Ovid. Crucius, Lives of the Roman Poets.
4. Quid nos Immeritâ, &c.
An ironical defence of piracy.
5. D. Pauli Conversio, 94. Quin etiam, ut perbibent, &c.
Alluding to his transportation into the third heaven.
---- 142. Æterni vulnera leti.
The scripture phrase "eternal death."
---- 178. Britannia.
He is said by some to have passed into Britain.
---- 184. Pacatusque.
Alluding to the miracle on the coast of Melita.
THE END.
J.G. BARNARD, SKINNER-STREET, LONDON.