which Dr. Percy has translated into English from Mallet's French translation, (b) Braga-rædur, or the conversation of Bragi with Ægir.

Second-The Kenningar, a collection of epithets and metaphors employed by the Scalds, illustrated by fragments from their compositions and from the Elder Edda.

Third-The Scalda, or Poet's book, containing three treatises: (a) On the Icelandic characters and alphabet; (b) on grammatical, rhetorical, and poetical figures; (c) on prosody.30

30 The above account of the two Eddas is taken from Professor Finn Magnussen's translation of the Poetic Edda.

SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.

ANCIENT Mythology has been considered by some as a mere collection of extravagant and, now, unmeaning fables, and as such unworthy of serious attention on the other hand, it has been de scribed, as the medium by which the history and philosophy of mighty nations, long since passed away, the opinions held by the earliest heathen legislators, respecting God, Providence, and the Universe, have been handed down, allegorically, to later generations. Lord Bacon has compared the fabulous portion of history "to a veil interposed between the present and the first ages of the world;"2 and that curiosity can scarcely merit the

1 Heyne.

2 De Sapientiâ veterûm.

B

reproach of idleness, or tend otherwise than to enlarge and elevate the mind, which leads us to inquire concerning the nature of doctrines, which, however erroneous, have exercised a powerful and enduring influence on the destinies of mankind. But such inquiry assumes a far higher importance when we reflect on the striking resemblance that, amid the variety of extravagant fictions in which the undirected imagination of these primitive philosophers indulged, has been found to pervade the Mythologies of all the great heathen nations: a resemblance, remarks Sir W. Jones, "too strong to be accidental," and which extends to the religions of Greece, Italy, India, Egypt, Persia, China, Phrygia, Phoenicia, Syria, the gothic nations of Northern Europe, and even to those of the American continent. "The conclusion to be drawn from this unquestionable fact," adds the same gifted writer, " is inevitable, viz. that a general affinity must have existed between the most distinguished inhabitants of the primitive world, when they first deviated from the worship of the only true God."3 Some writers, indeed, have laboured with mistaken zeal, to prove that whatever is to be found good or elevated in the religious doctrines of the heathen nations, has been

3 Anniversary Discourse on the Hindus.

derived from the Jewish or Christian religions: thereby falling into the precise error of the Jews themselves, who presumptuously conclude that the miraculous dispensation by which they were so long separated from the rest of mankind was in consequence "of a peculiar fondness of the Almighty" (to use the words of Bishop Warburton *) for their race, and not to preserve the memory of the one God in the midst of an idolatrous world. That all divine truth was not limited to the revelations vouchsafed to the Jewish people has been sufficiently shewn by Bishops Warburton,5 Horsley,6 and others, and the prophecies of Job and of Balaam afford alone sufficient proof, that God's warning voice was not at all times confined to the children of Israel.

Thus much is certain, that hitherto no community of men has been discovered, in any age, or however uncivilized, entirely devoid of traditions, more or less obscure, respecting the origin of the world; and of a belief, more or less distinct, in a state of existence after death. History teaches us, moreover, that all the principal nations of anti

+ Divine Leg. of Moses, book v. sec. 2.

5 Div. Leg. book ii.

6 Dissertation on the prophecies of the Messiah dispersed among the heathen.

quity had their peculiar theories respecting the creation, which formed the principal subject of their mysteries, and were the foundation of their popular worship. The cosmogonies of many of these nations have been preserved to the present time, some in obscure fragments, some nearly entire, and afford an interesting subject of comparison. The following is an abridged account of the Cosmogony of the Scandinavians, as contained in the Eddas:

"In the beginning there existed nothing save one vast abyss, called Ginnungagap, (chaotic pit), which was wholly void. One side of this abyss, called Muspell, faced towards the south, and was warm; the other, Niffl-heim, faced northwards, and was cold. Out of Niffl-heim there rose a spring, Hvergelmer, which existed before anything else was created. It was full of poisons, and its waters flowed by means of several great rivers into the abyss. The largest of these rivers was called Elivagar (the cold stormy waters), which penetrated farther than the others, but in proportion as it receded from its source flowed with a weaker current, until on reaching the centre its waters became so sluggish, that they could no longer resist the cold, and thus became ice. Still,

7 Div. Leg. Book ii, sec. 4.