When heaving to the winds. Her radiant eyes Like two bright fiars, exulting as they rife, O'er the dark tumult of a ftormy night, And gladd'ning heav'n, with their majeftic light. In nought is Odin to the maid unkind Her form scarce equals her exalted The chace fhe lov'd; when morn, with doubtful beam Came dimly wandering o'er the Bothnic ftream, On Sevo's founding fides, fhe bent the bow, And rouz'd his forefts to his head of fnow. Nor mov'd the maid alone; etc. 1 One of the chief improvements, in this edition, is the care taken, in arranging the Poems in the order of time; so as to form a kind of regular hiftory of the age to which they relate. The Writer has now refigned them for ever to their fate. That they have been well received by the Pu blic, appears from an extensive sale; that they shall continue to be well received, he may venture to prophe cy without the gift of that inspiration, to which poets lay claim. Through the medium of verfion upon verfion, they retain, in foreign languages, their native character of fimplicity and energy. Genuine poetry, like gold, lofes little, when properly transfused; but when a compofition cannot bear the teft of a literal verfion, it is a counterfeit which ought not to país current. The operation muft, however be performed with skilful hands. A Tranflator, who cannot equal his original, is incapable of expreffing its beauties. LONDON, |
