explanatory of the expreffions contained in the Poetical Dictionary. He gave this abridgment the form of a Dialogue, whether in imitation of the ancient northern poets, who have ever chofen this moft natural kind of composition, or whether from fome ancient tradition of a converfation fimilar to that which is the fubject of the Edda.

This name of EDDA hath frequently exercised the penetration of the etymologists. The most probable conjectures are, that it is derived from an old Gothic word fignifying GRANDMOTHER. In the figurative language of the old poets, this term was, doubtless, thought proper to express an ancient doctrine. The Edda is preceded by a Preface *, of greater or less extent, accord→ ing to the different Original Copies, but equally useless and ridiculous in all †. Some people have attributed it to Snorro, and he might perhaps have written that part which contains the fame facts that are found in the beginning of his Chronicle; but the reft has certainly been added by fome scholar un

known to him; nor do we find it in the manuscript at Upfal, which is one of the moft ancient.

I have not tranflated this abfurd piece, and shall only say, that we are there carried back to the Creation and the Deluge, and thence paffing on to the Affyrian Empire, we at length arrive at Troy; where, among other ftrange circumftances, we find in the heroes of that famous city, the ancestors of Odin, and of the other Princes of the north. We know it has ever been the folly of the western nations to endeavour to derive their origin from the Trojans *. The fame of the fiege of Troy did not only spread itself over the neighbouring countries; it extended alfo to the ancient Celts and Goths.' The Germans and Franks had probably traditions of it handed down in their hiftorical fongs, fince their earliest writers deduce from the Trojans the original of their own nations. We owe doubtless to the fame caufe, the invention of Antenor's voyage to the country of the Vineti +; and of Æneas's arrival in Italy, and the origin of Rome.

This converfation, (defcribed by SNORRO) which a Swedish King is fuppofed to

Timagines quoted by Ammianus Marcellinus, refers the origin of the Celts to the Trojans.

+ Vid. Liv. i. I.

T.

have held in the court of the Gods, is the first and most interesting part of the EDDA. The leading tenets of the ancient Gothic ** Mythology are there delivered, not as maintained by their Philofophers, but (which makes an important distinction) by their SCALDS or Poets. By reading it with care, we discover, through the rude and fimple ftile in which it is compofed, more of art and method than could be expected; and fuch a chain and connection, that I know not whether it can be equalled by any book of Greek or Roman Mythology. It is this part only of the EDDA that I have endeavoured to tranflate with accuracy, and to elucidate with Remarks. The SECOND PART is likewife in the dialogue form, but carried on between other fpeakers, and is only a detail of different events transacted among the Divinities. Amidft thefe Fables, none of which contain any important point of the Gothic' Religion though they are all drawn from that fource, I have only felected fuch as appear to contain fome ingenuity, or are expreffive of manners. the fame time, I have only given a very general idea of them. Let me beg of fuch as regret this omiffion, to confider, that what I fupprefs, would afford them no in

* Celtique.. Orig.

At

formation,

formation, and that pleasure alone can plead for a fubject devoid of utility.

In regard to the Poctical Treatife at the end of the EDDA, what I can fay of it is confined to fome Remarks. and Examples felected from among the few articles which are capable of being tranflated. The three pieces remaining of the more ancient EDDA of SorMUND deferve our close attention, both on account of their antiquity and their contents. The firft, ftiled VOLUSPA, or "Oracles of the Prophetefs," appears to be the Text, on which the EDDA is the Comment. In the fecond, called HAVAMAAL, or "the Sublime Difcourfe," are found lectures on morality, supposed to have been given by Odin himself. The third is the "Runic Chapter," which contains a fhort fyftem of ancient Magic, and efpecially of the enchantments wrought by the operation of Runic characters. At the end of the EDDA will be found fome account of these three Tracts; it would have been very difficult to have been more diffufe about them.

* Maal or Mael, figninifies SPEECH in the old Icelandic; nor is the word unknown in the other dialects of the Gothic lan

guage. "MELL, vet.

Collocutio. A. S. Mæ"lan. . ad maela. "quæ refpondent Goth. "MATHLJAN. Huc "pertinent Lat. Barb. "Mailus & Mallare."

Ang. Loqui. Mellynge, Lye apud Jun. Etym.

Some

Some people have maintained that all the Fables of the EDDA were nothing but the offspring of the Author's fancy. This even seems to have been the opinion of the famous HUET. We cannot pardon this learned man for the peremptory air he affumes in treating on a fubject he so little understood as the antiquities of the north. All he has faid upon this subject is full of inaccuracies * To fuppofe that Snorre invented the Fables of the EDDA, plainly proves the maintainer of fuch an opinion, neither to have read that work, nor the ancient hiftorians of the north, of Germany or of England. It fhows him to be ignorant of this great truth, which all the ancient monuments and records of these countries; which all the Greek and Roman writers fince the fixth century; which the Runic infcriptions, univerfal tradition, the popular fuperftitions, the names of the days, and many modes of fpeech still in

*See his book De l'Origine des Romans, p. 116. What is most aftonishing is, that he pretends to have himself feen in Denmark, the ancient hiftories of that country, written in Runic characters on the rocks. Another author, Mr. DESLANDES, in his

Hiftory of Philofophy, affirms, that one finds engraven on thofe ftones the myfteries of the ancient Religion. This fhows how little one can rely upon the accounts given of one country in another that lies remote from it.

ufe,