Yet awhile my call obey,

Prophetess, awake, and say

What virgins these, in speechless woe,

That bend to earth their solemn brow;

That their flaxen tresses tear,

And snowy veils that float in air.
Tell me whence their sorrows rose:
Then I leave thee to repose.

1 Odin was anxious about the fate of his son Balder, who had dreamed he was soon to die. He was killed

by Odin's other son, Hoder. Hoder himself was afterwards slain by Vali, son of Odin and Rinda.

Prophetess.

Ha! no traveller art thou,

King of Men, I know thee now,
Mightiest of a mighty line.

Odin.

No boding maid of skill divine
Art thou, nor prophetess of good;
But mother of the giant-brood!

Prophetess.

Hie thee hence, and boast at home
That never shall inquirer come
To break my iron-sleep again;
Till Lok has burst his tenfold chain.
Never, till substantial Night

Has re-assumed her ancient right;
Till wrapped in flames, in ruin hurled,
Sinks the fabric of the world.

ODE VIII.

THE TRIUMPHS OF OWEN.

(FROM THE WELSH.)

Owen's praise demands my song,
Owen swift, and Owen strong;
Fairest flower of Roderic's2 stem,
Gwyneth's shield, and Britain's gem;
He nor heaps his brooded stores,
Nor on all profusely pours;
Lord of every regal art,
Liberal hand, and open heart.

Big with hosts of mighty name,
Squadrons three against him came;
This the force of Eirin1 hiding,

1 Lok is the evil being who continues in chains till the twilight of the gods approaches; when he shall break his bonds; the human race, the sun and stars shall disappear; the earth sink in the sea, and fire consume the skies. (See Mallet's Northern Antiquities.)

2 Roderic II. (the Great), Prince of N. Wales, reigned from 843 to 877 A.D. Owen succeeded his father Griffin, A.D. 1120.

3 North Wales.
4 Ireland.

Side by side as proudly riding,
On her shadow long and gay
Lochlin1 ploughs the watery way;
There the Norman sails afar
Catch the winds, and join the war:
Black and huge along they sweep,
Burthens of the angry deep.

Dauntless, on his native sands,
The dragon-son 2 of Mona3 stands ;
In glittering arms and glory drest,
High he rears his ruby crest.
There the thundering strokes begin,
There the press, and there the din
Talymalfra's rocky shore

Echoing to the battle's roar.

Checked by the torrent-tide of blood
Backward Menai rolls his flood;

While, heaped his master's feet around,
Prostrate warriors gnaw the ground.
Where his glowing eye-balls turn,
Thousand banners round him burn
Where he points his purple spear.
Hasty, hasty Rout is there,
Marking with indignant eye,
Fear to stop, and shame to fly.
There Confusion, Terror's child,
Conflict fierce, and ruin wild;
Agony, that pants for breath,
Despair and honourable death.

*

ODE IX.

*

Upon Deïra's1 squadrons hurled,

To rush, and sweep them from the world!

Too, too secure in youthful pride
By them my friend, my Hoel, died,
Great Cian's son: of Madoc old
He asked no heaps of hoarded gold;
Alone in Nature's wealth arrayed,
He asked, and had the lovely maid..

To Cattraëth's vale 2 in glittering row
Twice two hundred warriors go;
Every warrior's manly neck
Chains of regal honour deck,
Wreathed in many a golden link:
From the golden cup they drink
Nectar, that the bees produce,
Or the grape's ecstatic juice.

Flushed with mirth and hope they burn:
But none from Cattraëth's vale return,
Save Aëron brave and Conan strong
(Bursting through the bloody throng),
And I, the meanest of them all,
That live to weep, and sing their fall.

EXAMINATION ON GRAY'S ODES.

1. Which of these odes may be considered the finest ?

2. Define Lyric poetry.

3. Who founded Eton College?

4. What does the term "Pindaric" mean, as applied to an ode?

5. Quote some examples of personification from Ode IV.

6. Scan the first stanza of Ode V. (the Bard).

7. Who was the greatest Lyric poet of antiquity?

8. Explain the historical allusions in Ode V.

9. What is meant by the expression "buskined measures?

10. What means the term "fasces?"

11. Who was Odin, and to what mythology does he belong?

12. What is meant by "Runic?"

13. What is the general character of the "Ode?"

1 The kingdom of Deïra included 2 On the eastern coast of Yorkthe counties of Yorkshire, Durham, shire.

Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cum

berland.

WILLIAM COLLINS.

ODES.

TO PITY.

O thou, the friend of man assigned,
With balmy hands his wounds to bind,
And charm his frantic woe:

When first Distress, with dagger keen,
Broke forth to waste his destined scene,
His wild unsated foe!

By Pella's bard', a magic name,

By all the griefs his thought could frame,
Receive my humble rite:
Long, Pity, let the nations view
Thy sky-worn robes of tenderest blue,
And eyes of dewy light!

But wherefore need I wander wide
To old Ilissus' 2 distant side,

Deserted stream, and mute?

Wild Arun3, too, has heard thy strains;
And Echo, midst my native plains,
Been soothed by Pity's lute.

To him thy cell was shown;
And while he sung the female heart,
With youth's soft notes unspoiled by art,
Thy turtles mixed their own.

Come, Pity, come; by Fancy's aid,

E'en now my thoughts, relenting maid,

1 Euripides.

2 See note 3, p. 327.

5 The river Arun, in Sussex, flows

close to the village where Otway was born.

4 An English poet; the author of "Venice preserved."