When we consider the rapid conquests of the nations which may be comprehended under the common name of Scythians, and not only those conducted by Odin, but by Attila, Theodoric, and Genseric, we cannot ascribe such successes to brutal courage only. To say that some of these irresistible conquerors made war on a luxurious, effeminate, and enervated people, is a plausible and easy mode of accounting for their conquests: but this reason will not operate with equal force in the histories of Genghizcan and Tamerlane, who destroyed mighty empires founded on arms and military discipline, and who baffled the efforts of the ablest leaders. Their science and genius in war, such as it then was, cannot therefore be doubted: that they were not deficient in the arts of peace, I have already hinted, and now proceed to produce more particular proofs. Innumerable and very fundamental errors have crept into our reasonings and systems about savage life, resulting merely from those strong and undistinguishing notions of barbarism, which our prejudices have hastily formed concerning the character of all rude nations'.

Among other arts which Odin's Goths planted in Scandinavia, their skill in poetry, to which they were addicted in a peculiar manner, and which they cultivated with a wonderful enthusiasm, seems to be most worthy our regard, and especially in our present inquiry.

As the principal heroes of their expedition into the north were honourably distinguished from the Europeans, or original Scandinavians, under the name of ASE, or Asiatics, so the verses or language, of this people, were denominated Asamal, or ASIATIC Speech. Their poetry contained not only the praises of their heroes, but their popular traditions and their religious rites; and was filled with those fictions which the most exaggerated pagan superstition would naturally implant in the wild imaginations of an Asiatic people. And from this principle

See this argument pursued in the second DISSERTATION.

k 6 Linguam Danicam antiquam, cujus in rythmis usus fuit, veteres appellarunt ASAMAL, id est Asiaticam, vel ASA

RUM SERMONEM; quod eum ex Asia Odinus secum in Daniam, Norwegiam, Sueciam, aliasque regiones septentrionales, invexerit." Steph. Stephan. Præfat. ad Saxon. Grammat. Hist.

alone, I mean of their Asiatic origin, some critics would at once account for a certain capricious spirit of extravagance, and those bold eccentric conceptions, which so strongly distinguish the old northern poetry'. Nor is this fantastic imagery the only mark of Asiaticism which appears in the Runic odes. They have a certain sublime and figurative cast of diction, which is indeed one of their predominant characteristicsTM. I am very sensible that all rude nations are naturally apt to cloathe their sentiments in this style. A propensity to this mode of expression is necessarily occasioned by the poverty of their language, which obliges them frequently to substitute similitudes and circumlocutions: it arises in great measure from feelings undisguised and unrestrained by custom or art, and from the genuine efforts of nature working more at large in uncultivated minds. In the infancy of society, the passions and the imagination are alike uncontrouled. But another cause seems to have concurred in producing the effect here mentioned. When obvious terms and phrases evidently occurred, the Runic poets are fond of departing from the common and established diction. They appear to use circumlocution and comparisons not as a matter of necessity, but of choice and skill: nor are these metaphorical colourings so much the result of want of words, as of warmth of fancy".

A most ingenious critic observes, that "what we have been long accustomed to call the ORIENTAL VEIN of poetry, because some of the EARLIEST poetical productions have come to us from the east, is probably no more ORIENTAL than OCCIDENTAL. "Blair's Crit. Diss. on Ossian, vol. ii. p. 317. But all the LATER Oriental writers through all ages have been particularly distinguished for this VEIN. Hence it is here characteristical of a country, not of an age. I will allow, on this writer's very just and penetrating principles, that an early northern ode shall be as sublime as an eastern one. Yet the sublimity of the latter shall have a different character; it will be more inflated and gigantic.

m Thus, a rainbow is called, the bridge

of the gods. Poetry, the mead of Odin. The earth, the vessel that floats on ages. A ship, the horse of the waves. Ice, the vast bridge. Herbs, the fleece of the earth. A battle, a bath of blood, the hail of Odin, the shock of bucklers. A tongue, the sword of words. Night, the veil of cares. Rocks, the bones of the earth. Arrows, the hailstones of helmets, &c. &c.

"In a strict geographical sense, the original country of these Asiatic Goths might not be so situated as physically to have produced these effects. Yet it is to be observed, that intercourse and vicinity are in this case sometimes equivalent to climate. The Persian traditions and superstitions were current even in the northern parts of Tartary. Georgia, however, may be fairly considered as a

Their warmth of fancy, however, if supposed to have proceeded from the principles above suggested, in a few generations after this migration into Scandinavia, must have lost much of its natural heat and genuine force. Yet ideas and sentiments, especially of this sort, once imbibed, are long remembered and retained, in savage life. Their religion, among other causes, might have contributed to keep this spirit alive; and to preserve their original stock of images, and native mode of expression, unchanged and unabated by climate or country. In the mean time we may suppose, that the new situation of these people in Scandinavia, might have added a darker shade and a more savage complexion to their former fictions and superstitions; and that the formidable objects of nature to which they became familiarised in those northern solitudes, the piny precipices, the frozen mountains, and the gloomy forests, acted on their imaginations, and gave a tincture of horror to their imagery.

A skill in poetry seems in some measure to have been a national science among the Scandinavians, and to have been familiar to almost every order and degree. Their kings and warriors partook of this epidemic enthusiasm, and on frequent occasions are represented as breaking forth into spontaneous songs and verses°. But the exercise of the poetical talent was

part of Persia. It is equal in fertility to any of the eastern Turkish provinces in Asia. It affords the richest wines, and other luxuries of life, in the greatest abundance. The most beautiful virgins for the seraglio are fetched from this province. In the mean time, thus much at least may be said of a warm climate, exclusive of its supposed immediate physical influence on the human mind and temperament. It exhibits all the productions of nature in their highest perfection and beauty: while the excessive heat of the sun, and the fewer incite. ments to labour and industry, dispose the inhabitants to indolence, and to living much abroad in scenes of nature. These circumstances are favourable to the operations of fancy.

composed sixteen songs of his expedition into Africa. Asbiorn Pruda, a Danish champion, described his past life in nine strophes, while his enemy Bruce, a giant, was tearing out his bowels. "i. Tell my mother Suanhita in Denmark, that she will not this summer comb the hair of her son. I had promised her to return, but now my side shall feel the edge of the sword. ii. It was far otherwise, when we sate at home in mirth, chearing ourselves with the drink of ale; and coming from Hordeland passed the gulf in our ships; when we quaffed mead, and conversed of liberty. Now I alone am fallen into the narrow prisons of the giants. iii. It was far otherwise," &c. Every stanza is introduced with the same choral burden. Bartholin. Antiquit. Danic. L. i. cap. • Harold Hardraade, king of Norway, 10. p. 153. edit. 1689. [Asbiorn

properly confined to a stated profession: and with their poetry the Goths imported into Europe a species of poets or singers, whom they called SCALDS or POLISHERS of LANGUAGE. This order of men, as we shall see more distinctly below, was held in the highest honour and veneration: they received the most liberal rewards for their verses, attended the festivals of heroic chiefs, accompanied them in battle, and celebrated their victories P.

These Scandinavian bards appear to have been esteemed and Pruda lived at the close of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh century. But his Saga, which abounds in the most marvellous adventures, and this celebrated death-song, were fabricated in the fourteenth century. See Suhm's History of Denmark, vol. iii. p. 294.-EDIT.] The noble epicedium of Regner Lodbrog is more commonly known. The champion Orvar-Odd, after his expeditions into various countries, sung, on his death-bed, the most memorable events of his life in metre. [Orvar-Odd's Saga, from which Torfæus (Hist. Norv. P. i. p. 263-284) has extracted the more sober parts of the narrative, is a romantic composition of the fourteenth or fifteenth century. It is even very uncertain whether such a person ever existed.-EDIT.] Hallmund, being mortally wounded, commanded his daughter to listen to a poem which he was about to deliver, containing histories of his victories, and to engrave it on tablets of wood. Bartholin. ibid. p. 162. Saxo Grammaticus gives us a regular ode, uttered by the son of a king of Norway, who by mistake had been buried alive, and was discovered and awakened by a party of soldiers digging for treasure. Sax. Grammat. L. 5. p. 50. There are instances recorded of their speaking in metre on the most common occurrences.

P The Sogdians were a people who lived eastward of the Caspian sea, not far from the country of Odin's Goths. Quintus Curtius relates, that when some of that people were condemned to death by Alexander on account of a revolt, they rejoiced greatly, and testified their joy by SINGING VERSES and dancing. When the king enquired the reason of their joy, they answered, "that being soon to be RESTORED TO THEIR ANCESTORS

VOL. 1.

by so great a conqueror, they could not help celebrating so honourable a death, which was the wISH of all brave men, in their own ACCUSTOMED SONGS. Lib. vii. c. 8. I am obliged to doctor Percy for pointing out this passage. From the correspondence of manners and principles it holds forth between the Scandinavians and the Sogdians, it contains a striking proof of Odin's migration from the east to the north: first, in the spontaneous exercise of the poetical talent; and secondly, in the opinion, that a glorious or warlike death, which admitted them to the company of their friends and parents in another world, was to be embraced with the most eager alacrity, and the highest sensations of pleasure. This is the doctrine of the Edda. In the same spirit, RIDENS MORIAR is the triumphant close of Regner Lodbrog's dying ode. [See Keysler, ubi infr. p. 154.] I cannot help adding here another stroke from this ode, which seems also to be founded on eastern manners. He speaks with great rapture of drinking, ex concavis crateribus craniorum. The inhabitants of the island of Ceylon to this day carouse at their feasts, from cups or bowls made of the sculls of their deceased ancestors. Ives's VOYAGE TO INDIA, ch. 5. p. 62. Lond. 1773. 4to. This practice these islanders undoubtedly received from the neighbouring continent. Compare Keysler, Antiquitat. Sel. Septentr. p. 362. seq.

66

[Silius Italicus charges the Celts with indulging in a similar practice: At Celta vacui capitis circundare gau

dent

Ossa (nefas) auro et mensis ea pocula

servant.

And the Longobardic and Bavarian his

C

entertained in other countries besides their own, and by that means to have probably communicated their fictions to various parts of Europe. I will give my reasons for this supposition.

In the early ages of Europe, before many regular governments took place, revolutions, emigrations, and invasions, were frequent and almost universal. Nations were alternately destroyed or formed; and the want of political security exposed the inhabitants of every country to a state of eternal fluctuation. That Britain was originally peopled from Gaul, a nation of the Celts, is allowed: but that many colonies from the northern parts of Europe were afterwards successively planted in Britain and the neighbouring islands, is an hypothesis equally rational, and not altogether destitute of historical evidence. Nor was any nation more likely than the Scandinavian Goths, I mean in their early periods, to make descents on Britain. They possessed the spirit of adventure in an eminent degree. They were habituated to dangerous enterprises. They were acquainted with distant coasts, exercised in navigation, and fond of making expeditions, in hopes of conquest, and in search of new acquisitions. As to Scotland and Ireland, there is the highest probability, that the Scutes, who conquered both those countries, and possessed them under the names of Albin Scutes and Irin Scutes, were a people of Norway. The Caledonians are expressly called by many judicious antiquaries a Scandinavian colony. The names of places and persons, over all that part of Scotland which the Picts inhabited, are of Scandinavian extraction. A simple catalogue of them only, would immediately convince us, that they are not of Celtic, or British origin. Flaherty reports it as a received opinion, and a general doctrine, that the Picts migrated into

tories record single examples of its occurrence for the gratification of personal revenge. But except the passage quoted by Warton, there is no authority for the existence of such a custom in the North as a national habit; and in this a violent and far-fetched metaphor has been erroneously translated, to be made the basis of an imputation equally revolting and absurd. The original Islandic text stands thus:

Britain and Ireland from

Dresckom bíor at bragdi
Ur biug-vidom hausa.

Instantly we shall drink ale

From the skull's winding trees.