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every brave warrior, it was but right that the Goddess of Love should have the charge of rewarding one half, at least, of those who had died with their swords in their hands.

(A) " I am not at all " surprized, &c."] The people settled in Scandinavia, before the arrival of Odin, were a very simple race, and easily astonished. This conqueror subdued them as much by impofing on their minds, as by vanquishing their arms. Amazed at those successes, which their own ig

norance had occafioned, and was not able to account for; they very wisely sent to Odin himself, to inquire the cause. We have seen that this was the end, which GANGLER, or the king who affumed that name, proposed to himself. Here he learned fo many new circumstances concerning the functions of the several Gods, and the worship to be paid them in order to secure their favour, that he thought he had discovered the mystery, and was now in a condition to cope with his rival.

THE

THE FOURTEENTH FABLE.

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Of the God Tyr.

AR answered, There is the God TYR, who is the most bold and intrepid of all the Gods. 'Tis he who difpenses victories in war; and therefore warriors do well to pay their addresses to him. It hath become proverbial to say, of a man who furpasses others in valour, that he is as BRAVE AS TYR. Let me give you a proof of his intrepidity. The Gods one day would fain have perfuaded the wolf FENRIS, their enemy, to permit himself to be chained up; but he, fearing left they should never afterwards unloose him, persisted in his refusal, till Tyr put his hand, by way of pledge, into the mouth of this monster. The Gods not judging it proper to redeem the pledge by unchaining the wolf, he bit off the God's hand, severing it at that part, which has been ever fince called 'Uffithr, 'or' THE WOLF'S JOINT. From that time this God hath had but one hand. His remarkable prudence has given occafion to this form of expreffion, such a one is "fa

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gacious as Tyr:" but it is believed, that he does not love to see men live in peace.

There is another God, named BRAGE, who is celebrated for his wisdom, eloquence and majestic air. He is not only eminently skilled in poetry, but the art itself is called from his name Brager, and the most distinguished poets receive their names from him. His wife is called Iduna. She keeps in a box certain apples, which 'the Gods taste of, whenever they feel old age approaching; for these apples have the virtue of restoring youth to all who eat them: it is by this means that the Gods will fubfift till the darkness of the last times. Hereupon Gangler cried out, Certainly the Gods have committed a great treasure to the guardianship and good faith of Iduna. Har smiling, says to him, And hence it happened, that they once ran the greatest risk in the world; as I shall have occafion to tell you, when you have learnt the names of the other Gods.

REMARKS ON THE FOURTEENTH FABLE.

TYR was fome inferior divinity, who prefided particularly over battles.

I do not believe that mention is made of him any where elfe, except in the

EDDA

EDDA and other Icelandic monuments. And yet it is certain that this God hath been adored by all the northern nations; fince in all the different dialects of this people, the name of the third day of the week, which the Romans confecrated to Mars (Dies Martis) hath been formed from the name of Tyr. This day is called Tyrfdag in Danish and Swedish: and in the other dialects by a fomewhat fofter modulation, Thisdag, Distag, Tufdag, TUESDAY. (See Vol. I. pag. 99.) Tacitus, here, as almost every where else, perfectly agrees with our monuments. He renders the name Tyr, by that of Mars, and makes him

a subaltern, and inferior divinity to the God ODIN, whom he describes under the name of Mercury.

As to the God BRAGE, we know nothing more of him than what we learn from the EDDA; and yet the Gauls had likewise a God of eloquence, named by the Romans Herculus Ogmius; but whether he was the fame with Brage does not appear. The apples of Iduna are a very agreeable fiction. In' this part of the story we again discover the favourite system of the Celtes, respecting the insensible and continual decay of nature, and of the Gods, who were united to it, and depended upon it.

VOL. II.

G

THE

THE FIFTEENTH FABLE.

Of Heimdall, and fome other Gods.

THE Deither

HERE is another very facred and is called HEIM

DALL.

He is the son of nine Virgins, who are fisters. He is likewise called the "God with the Golden Teeth," because his teeth are of that metal. He dwells at the end of the bridge Bifrost, or the RAINBow, in a castle called "the Celestial "Fort." He is the sentinel or watchman of the Gods. The post assigned him is to abide at the entry into heaven, to prevent the Giants from forcing their way over the bridge. He fleeps less than a bird; and fees by night, as well as by day, more than a hundred leagues around him. So acute is his ear, that he hears the grass growing on the earth, and the wool on the sheep's back; nor doth the smallest sound escape him. Besides all this, he hath a trumpet, which is heard through all the worlds.

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