Note to Chapter XXXI

Note G.---Ulrica’s Death song.

It will readily occur to the antiquary, that these verses are intended to imitate the antique poetry of the Scalds---the minstrels of the old Scandinavians---the race, as the Laureate so happily terms them,

"Stern to inflict, and stubborn to endure,
Who smiled in death."

The poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, after their civilisation and conversion, was of a different and softer character; but in the circumstances of Ulrica, she may be not unnaturally supposed to return to the wild strains which animated her forefathers during the time of Paganism and untamed ferocity.