Thefe Gods? Har replied: To relate this is no trivial matter. They dragged the body of Ymir into the middle of the abyfs, and of it formed the earth. The water and the fea were compofed of his blood; the mountains of his bones; the rocks of his teeth; and of his hollow bones, mingled with the blood that ran from his wounds, they made the vaft ocean; in the midst of which they infixed the earth (c). Then having formed the heavens of his fcull, they made them reft on all fides upon the earth: they divided them into four quarters, and placed a dwarf at each corner to fuftain it. dwarfs are called EAST, WEST, SOUTH, and NORTH. After this they went and feized upon fires in Mufpelfheim, (that flaming world in the fouth,) and placed them in the abyss, in the upper and lower parts of the fky, to enlighten the earth. Every fire had its affigned refidence. Hence the days were diftinguished, and the years reduced to calculation. For this reafon it is faid in the poem of VOLUSPA, "For"merly the fun knew not its palace, the "moon was ignorant of its powers, and "the ftars knew not the stations they were to occupy (D)." Thefe, cried out Gangler, were grand performances indeed! moft ftupendous undertakings! Har goes on, and fays, The earth is round, and about C 4 about it is placed the deep fea; the fhores of which were given for a dwelling to the Giants. But higher up, in a place equally diftant on all fides from the fea, the Gods built upon earth a fortress against the Giants (E), the circumference of which furrounds the world. The materials they employed for this work, were the eyebrows of Ymir; and they called the place Midgard, or the Middle Manfion. They afterwards toffed his brains into the air, and they became the clouds: for thus it is defcribed in the following verfes. " Of "the flesh of Ymir was formed the earth; of his fweat, the feas; of his bones, the "mountains; of his hair, the herbs of "the field; and of his head, the heavens: "but the merciful Gods built of his eye"brows the city of Midgard, for the chil"dren of men; and of his brains were "formed the noxious clouds." where. The ancient priefts of the north ** affirmed themselves to be defcended of the family of Bore; and in this, they might the more eafily obtain credit, becaufe among the Celts, as among the Jews, the priest hood defcended from father to fon. (B) "This.. Giant "was faved.. on board "his bark." We difcover here evident traces of the hiftory of the deluge. That all the nations of Afia, and even thofe of America, had preferved fome remembrance of it, was generally known but that the fame prevailed among our northern ancestors, the Goths and' Celts, has never I believe been remarked before. (c)" "They infixed the "earth."] The reader will remember that nothing existed as yet, but the Flaming World towards the fouth, wherein refided evil Genii; and thofe maffes of Ice towards the north, which were formed by the rivers of hell. Between thefe was a void space, called the ABYSS. This is the place into which the Gods threw the body of the Giant. This monftrous fiction probably at first contained fome important doctrine but as at prefent little regard is paid to profound and learned conjectures, 1 fhall not give myfelf the trouble to fathom the meaning of fo ftrange an allegory. Whatever was couched under it, it hath been a fruitful fource of poetic figures and expreffions; of. which the ancient SCALDS inceffantly availed themfelves. Poets have in allages been fond of appearing to fpeak the language of the Gods, by ufing thefe forts of phrafes; as by this means they could conceal their own want of invention, and poverty of genius. Of all the ancient Theogonies, I find only that of the Chaldees, which has any refemblance to this of the EDDA., Berofus, cited by Syncellus, informs us that that peo Fr. Des Celtes. ple, 1 ple, one of the moft ancient in the world, believed that in the beginning there was only Water and Darkness; that this Water and Darkness contained in them divers monftrous animals, different in form and fize, which were all reprefented in the temple of Bel; that a female, named Omorca, was the mistress of the Universe; that the God Bel put to death all the monfters, deftroyed Omorca herself, and dividing her in two, formed of the one half of her the Earth, and of the other the Heavens: to which another tradition adds, that men were formed out of her head; whence Berofus concludes, that this occafioned man to be endowed with intellectual powers. I do not pretend to aver, that the Chaldeans and northern nations borrowed all these chimæras of each other, although this is not impoffible. These ancient nations had as yet but a few ideas, and their imaginations, however fruitful, being confined within narrow limits, could not at first give their inven tions that prodigious variety, which was difplayed in fucceeding ages. (D) The ftars knew not, &c." The matter of the fun and stars exifted long before the formation of those bodies; this matter was theÆther, the Luminous World. One cannot but remark in this Fable, the remains of the Mofaic doctrine; according to which the creation of a luminous fubftance, in like manner, preceeded that of the fun and moon. And what indicates one common origin of both accounts, is what Mofes adds in the fame place, And God faid, Let "there be lights in the "firmament of heaven, "to divide the day from "the night; and let "them be for figns of "feafons, and of days "and of years, &c." Gen. c. i. ver. 14. wifh ill to men, and hurt them whenever it is in their power. The Heroes have no employment fo dear and fo glorious as that of making war upon those Genii. At this very day they are fuppofed to be banished among the rocks of Caucafus, or Imaus, ever fince Tabmu ras, fur-named Divbend (he who fubdued the Dives) vanquished and put them to flight. Mahometifm has not been fo fevere as Christianity, in eradicating these ancient fuperftitions, and therefore the inhabitants of Perfia are ftill very much infatuated with them. THE |