modifications and distinctions are found out to clear up the difficulty. But there was no great need of any here; for the Goths and' Celtes regarded war as a very facred occupation. It furnished, according to them, opportunities for displaying courage; and of fulfilling the views of providence; which was to place us here as in a field of battle; and only to grant its favours as the peculiar rewards of fortitude and valour. (B) " It was the great " variety of languages."] This reasoning upon the names of Odin, may contain something of truth in it. The text recounts a great number of these names, which I have suppressed, out of regard to those ears which are not accustomed to Gothic founds. 'Tis certain that almost all the names a scribed to the Supreme Deity, are either epithets taken from the qualities attributed to him, or the places where he was worshiped, or from the actions he had performed, &c. This diversity of names hath often misled those of the learned, who have applied themselves to the study of the Celtic) religion, just in the same manner as hath happened to those, who applied themselves to the Greek or Roman mythology. In the ancient Icelandic poetry, we find the Supreme God denominated in more than a hundred and twenty-fix different phrafes. They are all enumerated in the Scalda, or Poetic Dictionary. It would therefore (as Gangler observes) require some application, to give the reafons of all these different denominations, many of which allude to particular vents.. ! 1 THE : THE ELEVENTH FABLE H Of the God Thor, the Son of Odin. EREUPON Gangler demanded, What are the names of the other Gods? What are their functions, and what have they done for the advancement of their glory? Har says to him, The most illustrious among them is THOR. He is called Afa-Thor, or the Lord Thor; and Ake-Thor, or the Active Thor. He is the strongest and bravest of Gods and Men (A). His kingdom is named Thrudwanger. He possesses there a palace, in which are five hundred and forty Halls. It is the largest house that is known; according as we find mentioned in the poem of Grimnis. "There " are five hundred and forty Halls in the " Winding Palace of the God Thor; and " I believe there is no where a greater fa- "bric, than this of the eldest of fons." The Chariot of Thor is drawn by two He-Goats. It is in that Chariot that he goes into the country of the Giants; and VOL. II. thence F thence they call him the rapid Thor. He likewife poffeffes three very precious things. The first is a Mace, or Club, called Miolner, which the Giants of the Frost, and those of the Mountains, know to their cost, when they fee it hurled against them in the air: and no wonder; for with that Mace has this God often bruised the heads of their fathers and kindred. The second jewel he possesses, is called the Belt of Prowess; when he puts it on, he becomes as strong again as he was before. The third, which is also very precious, are his Gauntlets, or Gloves of Iron, which he always wears when he would lay hold of the handle of his Mace. There is no perfon of so much learning, as to be able to relate all his marvellous exploits; I myself could tell you so many, that day would end much fooner, than the recital of what immediately occur to me. Then says Gangler to him, I would rather hear something about the other Sons of Odin. To this Har answered in these words: THE fecond REMARKS ON THE ELEVENTH FABLE. (A) "Thor is the "strongest of Gods and Men."] The reader will recollect here, what I have faid a little higher concerning this divinity of of the northern nations *. The function ascribed to him of launching the thunder, made him pass for the most warlike and formidable of all the Gods. It was also Thor who reigned in the air, distributed the seasons, and raised or allayed tempests. THOR, fays "Adam of Bremen, is "the God who, accord ८८ 66 ing to these people, governs the thunder, "the winds, the rains, "the fair weather, and " harvest." (See Hift. Ecclef.) This Mace or Club, which he hurled against the Giants, and with which he crushed their heads, is doubtless the Thunder, which most frequently falls upon elevated places. He was in general regarded as a divinity favourable to mankind; as he who guarded them from the attacks of Giants and wicked Genii; whom he never ceafed to encounter and persue. The name of his palace signifies, in Gothic, "The place of refuge from Terrour." As he was the first-born 66 of the Supreme God; of to speak in the language of the EDDA, The "Eldest of Sons;" the first and principal intelligence proceeding from the union of the Deity with Matter; they have made him a middle divinity, a mediator between God and Men. It is probable that a great many people venerated him also, as the intelligence who animated the Sun and Fire. The worship of the Persians had in this respect, as in a great many others, the most exact resemblance to that of this people. The Persians held, that the most illustrious of all created intelligences was what they paid homage to under the symbol of Fire or the Sun, wherein the intelligence resided. They called it Mithr-as, or the Mediator Lord. (The word As still fignifies Lord, in Perfian.) They, as well as the Scandinavians, kept a perpetual and sacred fire, in confequence of this perfuafion. The Scythians, according to Herodotus and He 1 : fychius, adored this divi- This was a feast at the winter fol- * This is giving a Celtic derivation of a Gothic word, (two languages 1 Our ingenious author, however, is certainly right as to the origin and defign of the YULE-FEAST: the Greenlanders at this day keep a SUN-FEAST at the winter folstice, about Dec. 22. to rejoice at the return of the Sun, and the expected renewal of the Hunting season, &c. Which custom they may possibly have learnt of the Norvegian Colony formerly fettled in Greenland. See an account of this festival in Dav. Crantz's Hift. of Greenland, 2 Vols. 8vo. 1767. Vol. I. p. 176. т. The |