men would long fince have forgotten that fo foolish an opinion had ever existed, if foreign mariners, who were not disabused like them, did not often come to buy their wind of them, and pay them money for being the objects of their ridicule. The Miffionaries and first Bishops, were early in their endeavours to root out this pernicious weed from the foil where they wifhed to plant the Gofpel. They attacked the Pagan religion with all forts of weapons. As they were often fo credulous as to believe the falfe miracles of Paganism, they were weak enough to oppofe them with others, that were no whit better, except in the purity of the intention. In an old Icelandic Chronicle *, we meet with a bishop laying a storm with Holy-water, and fome other ceremonies. But to proceed on with the discourse of Odin : "When I fee, fays he, Magicians tra"velling through the air, I disconcert "them by a fingle look, and force them "to abandon their enterprize." He had before spoken of these aerial travellers. "If I fee a man dead, and hanging ❝ aloft on a tree, I engrave Runic charac * K. Oloff Trygguason Saga, c. 33. "ters "ters fo wonderful, that the man immediately defcends and converfes with "me." By the operation of thefe Characters, and at other times by Verfes, Odin had frequently raised the dead. There is a very ancient Ode preserved to us by Bartholin * wherein this Deity caufes a Prophetess, whom he wanted to confult, to rife from her tomb. The beginning of this Ode may serve to give us an idea what kind of Magic Poetry it was, which the northern † nations were heretofore poffeffed of. "ODIN, the fovereign of men arises: be faddles his horse SLEIPNER; be mounts, and is conveyed to the fubterraneous abode of Hela (i. e. Death.) "The DOG who guards the gates of DEATH meets him. His breast and his jaws are ftained with blood; he opens his voracious mouth to bite, and barks a long time at the father of Magic. * Lib. III. cap. 2. p. 632.The original in Bartholin confifts of Fourteen Stanzas, of which M. Mallet has here produced only five. In the following Verfion, the Latin of Bartholin has been confulted. + Tous les Peuples Celtes. Fr. Orig. T. "Odin purfues his way; his horfe caufes the infernal caverns to refound and tremble: at length be reaches the deep abode of DEATH, and Stops near to the eastern gate, where ftands the tomb of the Prophetess. "He fings to her verfes adapted to call up the dead. He looks towards the north; be engraves Runic characters on her tomb; he utters myfterious words; he demands an anfwer: until the Prophetess is constrained to arife, and thus utters the words of the dead. “WHO is this unknown that dares dif"turb my repofe, and drag me from my grave, wherein I have lien dead fo long, "all covered with fnow, and moistened with "the rains, &c." The other prodigies, which Odin in the Runic Chapter boafts he has the power of performing, are not of less importance. «* IF I will that a man should neither "fall in battle, nor perish by the fword, I "fprinkle him over with water at the inftant "of his birth." We may here recollect what I have faid in the former Volume concerning the baptifm of the people of the north, while they were yet Pagans †. * Barthol. p. 348. + Pag. 335. " If I will, I can explain the nature of "all the different fpecies of Men, of Genii, " and of Gods. None but the wife can "know all their differences. "* If I aspire to the love and the fa"vour of the chafteft virgin, I can bend "the mind of the fnowy-armed maiden, "and make her yield wholly to my de❝ fires. "I know a fecret, which I will never lofe; it is to render myself always be" loved by my mistress. "But I know one which I will never impart to any female, except my own "fifter, or to her whom I hold in my "arms. Whatever is known only to one's "felf, is always of very great value." After this, the Author concludes with exclamations on the beauty of the things he has been describing. "NOW, fays he, have I fung in my august abode, my fublime verfes; which "are both neceffary to the fons of men, " and useless to the fons of men. Barthol. p. 658. Bleffed I be |