! that this ODIN, with his brothers, ruleth both heaven and earth, that O IN is his true name, and that he is the power ful of all the Gods (A). REMARKS ON THE THIRD FABLE, In all likelihood this fable is only an allegory; but whatever right my privilege of commentator may give me to explain it, I shall decline the attempt. There is, however, a very important remark to be made here. A powerful Being had with his breath animated the drops out of which the first Giant was formed. This Being, whom the EDDA affects not to name, was intirely distinct from Odin, who had his birth long after the formation of Ymir. One may conjecture, therefore, (fince we know that the Druids never revealed their mysteries, but by degrees, and with great precaution) that the hidden philofophy of the Celts*, * It is sufficient just to hint to the reader, that our ingenious author goes here upon the hypothesis of M. Pelloutier, that the Goths and Celts were the fame people, and that the doctrine of the Druids was also that of the Scandinavian Scales: an hypothefis which I take to be extremely erroneous, meant to inculcate that the fupreme, eternal, invisible and incorruptible God, whom they durst not name out of fear and reverence, had appointed inferior divinities for the government of the world: and that it was those divinities who, at the last day, were to yield to the efforts of powerful enemies, and be involved in the ruins of the universe: and that then the fupreme God, ever existing, and placed above the reach of all revolution and change, would arise from his repose, to make a new world out of the ruins of the old, and begin a new period, which should in its turn give place to another; and so on through all eternity. The same was the system of the Sto т. ics; who, as well as the philosophers of the north*, supposed that the world, after it had been consumed by flames, should be renewed; and that the inferior Deities should be destroyed at the fame time. What confirms all this, is, that this God, fupe- rior to Odin himself, and of whom the vulgar among this people had scarce any idea, is represented in the Icelandic poems as making a second appearance, after the death of all the Gods, in order to diftribute juftice, and establish a new order of things. See the Icelandic odes, cited in the antiquities of Bartholin, 1. 2. c. 14. (A) "The most pow" erful of all the Gods.") 'Tis not undeserving of notice, that all the ancient nations of Europe + defcribe their origin with the fame circumstances. Tacitus says, that the Germans, in their verses, celebrated a God born of the earth, named Tuiston (that is, the fon of Tis, or Tuis, the fupreme God.) This • Fr. Les Coltes. Tuiston had a fon named Mannus, whose three fons were the original anceftors of the three principal nations of Germany. The Scythians, according to Herodotus, lib. 4. c. 6. & 10. faid that Targytaus (i. e. the GoodTaus) the founder of their nation, had three fons, Leipoxain, Anpoxain and Kolaxain. A tradition received by the Romans, imported (according to Appian, Illyr. Lib.) that the Cyclop POLYPHEME had by Galatea three fons, named Celtus, Illyrius, and Gallus. SATURN, the father of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, might very well come from thesame source; as well as the three fons whom Hefiod makes to spring from the marriage of HEAVEN and EARTH, Coltus, Briareus, and Gyges. A tradition so ancient and so general, must have certainly had its foundation in some real fact, though I pretend not to decide with Cluverius, that this fact is what the Scripture tells us of NOAH and his fons; yet one cannot deny, that there is fome † Fr. Tous les Peuples Celtes. | i 66 other evil, whom love at last united. But I leave the pleasure of making this research, to those who are fond of disquifitions of this kind. Let me only invite them to read, upon this subject, the pretended prophesy of Enoch, cited in Syncellus, p. 11, & feq. and Lactantius's Origin of Errors. They will find there many furprizing conformities with the above doctrines of the EDDA. ... * The common versions of the passage referred to by our author, run as follows: " The fons of God "saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. "There were GIANTS in the earth in those days; " namely, after that the fons of God came in unto "the daughters of Men, and they bare children to "them: the fame became mighty men; which were " of old men of renown, &c." Gen. vi. 2, 4. It is however but justice to the sacred writer, to observe, that it is only from a misinterpretation of the original words, that the wild traditions mentioned by our author could have any countenance from the above passage: For, by "the fons of God," the best commentators understand the virtuous race of Seth; and by "the daughters of men," the vicious offspring of Cain: and the fruits of this marriage were נפלים Nephilim, (not GIANTS, but) Men of Violence, from נפלruit, irruit, &c. т. THE FOURTH FABLE. How the fons of Bore made heaven and earth. W AS there, proceeded Gangler, any kind of equality, or any degree of good understanding between those two different races? Har answers him; Far from it: the fons of Bore (A) flew the Giant. Ymir, and there ran so much blood from his wounds, that all the families of the Giants of the Frost were drowned in it, except one fingle Giant, who saved himfelf, with all his household. He is called Bergelmer. He escaped by happening to be aboard his bark; and by him was preferved the race of the Giants of the Froft. This is confirmed by the following verses. Many winters before the earth was fashioned, was Bergelmer born; and well I " know that this fage Giant was faved and " preserved on board his bark (B)." Gangler demands, What then became of the fons of Fore, whom you look upon as Gods? Gods? Har replied: To relate this is no trivial matter. They dragged the body of Ymir into the middle of the abyss, and of it formed the earth. The water and the fea were composed 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 vast ocean; in the midst of which they infixed the earth (c). Then having formed the heavens of his scull, they made them rest on all fides upon the earth: they divided them into four quarters, and placed a dwarf at each corner to sustain it. These dwarfs are called EAST, WEST, SOUTH, and NORTH. After this they went and feized upon fires in Muspelsheim, (that flaming world in the fouth,) and placed them in the abyss, in the upper and lower parts of the sky, to enlighten the earth. Every fire had its affigned residence. Hence the days were distinguished, and the years reduced to calculation. For this reason it is faid in the poem of VOLUSPA, "For" merly the fun knew not its palace, the 66 moon was ignorant of its powers, and "the stars knew not the stations they were "to occupy (D)." These, cried out Gangler, were grand performances indeed! most stupendous undertakings! Har goes on, and fays, The earth is round, and about C |