Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray, and Smollett - With Memoirs, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes by Thomas Gray;Thomas Parnell;Tobias George Smollett;Samuel Johnson
page 209 of 295 (70%)
page 209 of 295 (70%)
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veneration, among his countrymen.]
[Footnote 24: 'A voice:' Milton.] [Footnote 25: 'Warblings:' the succession of poets after Milton's time.] * * * * * VII.--THE FATAL SISTERS. FROM THE NORSE TONGUE.[1] 'Vitt er orpit Fyrir valfalli.' ADVERTISEMENT.--The author once had thoughts (in concert with a friend) of giving a history of English poetry. In the introduction to it he meant to have produced some specimens of the style that reigned in ancient times among the neighbouring nations, or those who had subdued the greater part of this island, and were our progenitors: the following three imitations made a part of them. He afterwards dropped his design; especially after he had heard that it was already in the hands of a person[2] well qualified to do it justice both by his taste and his researches into antiquity. PREFACE.--In the eleventh century, Sigurd, Earl of the Orkney Islands, went with a fleet of ships, and a considerable body of troops, into Ireland, to the assistance of Sigtryg with the Silken Beard, who was |
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