THE

DESCENT OF ODIN.

AN O D E.

(From the NORSE TONGUE.)

To be found in BARTHOLINUS, de caufus contemnendæ mortis; HAFNIÆ, 1689, Quarto.

UPREIS ODINN ALLDA GAUTR, &c.

I 3

THE

DESCENT OF ODIN.

AN O D E.

UPROSE the King of men with speed,

And faddled ftrait his coal-black fleed:

Down the yawning steep he rode,

That leads to HELA's drear abode.

Him the dog of darkness fpied;

His fhaggy throat he opened wide,

* Niflheimr, the hell of the Gothic nations, confifted of nine worlds, to which were devoted all fuch as died of ficknefs, old age, or by any other means than in battle. Over it prefided HELA, the Goddess of Death.

While from his jaws, with carnage fill'd,

Foam and human gore diftill'd.

Hoarse he bays with hideous din,

Eyes that glow, and fangs that grin ;

And long pursues, with fruitless yell,
The father of the powerful fpell.

Onward still his way he takes,

(The groaning earth beneath him shakes,)

Till full before his fearless eyes

The portals nine of hell arife,

Right against the eastern gate,

By the mofs-grown pile he fat,
Where long of yore to fleep was laid
The duft of the prophetic Maid.

Facing to the northern clime,

Thrice he trac'd the Runic rhyme;

Thrice pronounc'd, in accents dread,

The thrilling verfe that wakes the dead;

Till from out the hollow ground

Slowly breath'd a fullen found.

PROPHETES S.

What call unknown, what charms, prefume

To break the quiet of the tomb?

Who thus afflicts my troubled fprite,

And drags me from the realms of night Long on these mould'ring bones have beat The winter's fnow, the fummer's heat,

The drenching dews, and driving rain!

Let me, let me fleep again.

Who is he, with voice unbleft,

That calls me from the bed of reft?

ODIN.