Esaias Tegnér, Bishop of Wexiö, the greatest of Swedish poets,
was born in 1782, and after a distinguished academical as well as pro-
fessional career, died in 1846. His most celebrated work is Frithiofs
Saga, which has been made accessible to the English-speaking public
by five or six translations, none of them, however, by any means satis-
factory. But his reputation was first established by several lyrical
pieces, by the Children of the Supper, so finely rendered by Long-
fellow, and by Axel, a version of which is here given in the metre of
the original. When the present translation was made, the author of
it was not aware that Axel had ever appeared in an English dress, but
she has recently seen parts of a version by Latham, and a complete
one by Bethune. The former of these would not have deterred her
from undertaking another, and she hopes that the one here offered
may not be found inferior even to the latter in closeness of conformity
to the spirit and letter of the original.
The olden time is dear to me,
The olden time of Charles's glory,
Gladsome as conscience pure, its story,
And spirited as victory.
In Northern lands, its reflex even
