He looks abroad from the lofty deck As the hills of his home appear, "God grant me to rescue the land of my birth, "Or sink in the billows here!" They reach the stream at the midnight hour, And they talk with glee of the coming fight,— To the shores they are hurrying fast. "Now, speed thee, thou herald !" the young king shouts, "To my foeman hasten away, And tell him that Sverka returns to his home And bears him in battle to day !" Full swiftly he rides to Sir Maneskiold, "Thy chieftain's tongue, Sir knight, is bold, "The weight of the weapon, the stripling shall know, "That drank of the blood of his sire. The vulture shrieks on the mountain top, The raven is croaking there,- The wife ascend the turret's height, All bloody and wild the steed comes home, There was wailing and wo, over Denmark's land, And sorrowing deep and lore, For the thousands who sped from their homes away, To die on a distant shore. But the themes which occupy the most of these works, and which present us with incidents of the most interesting stamp, are of a more familiar and domestic character. They abound in tales of wild adventure, chivalrous enterprise, and romantic love. The subject of the following has afforded the great poet of Denmark, Oehlenschlager, the material for one of his finest tragedies. 66 HAFBUR AND SIGNA. Of Hafbur and of Signa fair, a tale there is to tell.- There sat the royal maidens and a goodly sight were they. "God shield ye well, fair sisters all, a message here I bring, For the royal princess Signa the young daughter of your King." Then spake the matchless Signa "Lo that princess here you see ;”— "The young Prince Hafbur sent thee? thou art welcome to the hall, I'll sing thee songs of other days, and thou shalt learn them all. " Apart they sat together in the lofty tower above. Then spake he thus, "fair sister, is there ne'er a knight you love? My virgin heart, is Hafbur's own, but that availeth nought? 116 It is thy Hafbur, blessed one, who kneeleth by thy side!" "Art thou my Hafbur "cried the maid, “why com'st thou secret here? "Why com'st thou not to woo me with thine armour, steed and spear?" -"With goodly steed and armour bright, I came to thee thismorn, Thy father met me at the gate and heard my words in scorn.” They sat apart together and they deem'd no one was nigh. But in before King Sivard's throne a messenger doth hie. "Arouse thee King! arouse thee King! within thy daughter's tow'r The youthful traitor Hafbur lurks and plots with her this hour." With wondering ear the monarch heard and wrathful wax'd he then, He starteth up and summons from their sleep his trusty men. "Arouse my warriors from the couch, King Sivard on ye calls! A traitor and an enemy hath stol'n within my walls." They light the torch and search the tower with keen-edg'd sword and spear, "Ha! traitor have we found thee! say, what doth Prince Hafbur here ?" King Sivard turn'd his flashing eye, and to the castle gaz'd- It would exceed the limits of this article to offer a specimen of every different kind of poem in this collection. The Kiempeviser present us with images of true northern grandeur and wildness, but we must content ourselves with a single additional translation, relating to those superstitions which are not yet rooted out from the belief of the common people. ELVEHOI. On Elvehoi's bank in the distan twood, The shadows of evening came o'er me,- One smote on my cheek with her lily-white hand, Whisper'd "Waken! and join with our revelling band "Awaken and mingle thy steps in the ring, With the elves of the moonlight, and featly Then a troop of those sprites gaily murmur'd an air, The nymphs of the streamlet, far deep in the wave, "Mortal youth! mortal youth! from thy slumbers arise! The wonders of earth will we ope to thine eyes, "And thou, by their magic instructed, shalt hold, The dragon terrific that broods over gold, Then danc'd they a measure-that light-footed band, My weapon was grasp'd in my powerless hand, "Arouse from thy sleep! but because sullen wight, Then dread thou this dagger all sharpen'd and bright, How I tremble with fear as before them I lay! SIR, TO THE EDITOR OF THE LYCEUM. Having noticed an article in your publication containing strictures on the North American Review, I beg leave through the same channel to correct some of the errors into which your correspondent has fallen, and to offer some remarks in proof of the correctness of the opinion expressed in the notice of Dr Comstock's mineralogy contained in the 55th No. of that Review. It is said by your correspondent that "the critic was apparently swayed by a spirit of hostility which led him into error and misrepresentation." As to the charge of hostility, it is altogether unfounded. Had Dr Comstock's book been moderately free from errors it would have been heartily welcomed. It was due to the mineralogists of our country that, should a copy of the book find its way across the Atlantic, it should not be adduced as an evidence of the state of the science here, that a work like this had appeared and had been received as faultless. It is said by the writer in the Lyceum that the "literary notices in the North American Review are so marked with caprice and partiality as to affect the confidence to be reposed in them." There is, it must be confessed, some truth in this remark, as far as Comstock's mineralogy is concerned. A formal review of the book instead of a short notice was really more than it merited. It would have savoured less of "partiality,' and a desire to pass over "mistakes and blunders" it is true, had the notice contained numerous quotations. But then there would have been the necessity of referring to pages which could VOL. II.-No. 3. 6 |