Summary: Written at London not later than the beginning of May 1761, based largely on a Latin translation of the original poem preserved in the late 13th-century Njáls Saga, ch. 157. This untitled Old Norse poem is a prophetic account of the Battle of Clontarf, fought on Good Friday 1014. First published in Poems (1768).
Alternate Form:
Facsimile, showing the last seven lines and the note, on page six of the MS Instructions, the upper three-fourths of which are reproduced, in Smith (ed.), Index (1989), no. 5, following p. xvii, where it is described
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 51, 84; Heist, Michael, "RE: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, vol.52, Robert H. Taylor Collection". E-mail to the editor, 11 January 2007
Contents: Autograph fair copy, untitled but numbered 7. and identified from the table of contents as "7. The Fatal Sisters (from the Norse-tongue)", and headed "From the Orcades of Thormodus Torfaeus. Hafniae. 1697. Fol: Vitt er orpit Fyrir valfalli &c:", preceded by a "Prefix", followed by a note on the Valkyriur, and, elsewhere in the MS (p. 9) an advertisement and two notes, in MS Instructions to Beattie for the 1768Glasgow edition, originally sent in a letter, 1 February 1768.
Separated Material: The letter in which these instructions were originally sent is now at Historic Collections, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.