wild frenzies of the Egyptians, Syrians and Greeks in religious matters; and hence that chaos of extravagances, in some respects ingenious, known by the name of mythology; through which we can hardly discover any traces of the ancient doctrines. And yet we do discover them, and can make it appear, that those first doctrines, which the southern nations so much disguised, were the very same that were preserved in the north without any material alteration. There the rigour of the climate necessarily locks up the capricious desires, confines the imagination, lessens the number of the passions, as well as abates their violence, and by yielding only to painful and unremitted labour, wholly confines to material objects that activity of mind which produces among men levity and disquiet.

But whether these causes have not always operated with the same efficacy, or whether others more powerful have prevailed over them; the greatest part of these nations, after having, for some time, continued inviolably attached to the religion of their first fathers, suffered it at length to be corrupted by an intermixture of ceremonies, some of them ridiculous, others cruel; in which, by little and little, as it commonly happens, they came to place the whole essence of religion. It is not easy to mark the precise time when this alteration happened, as well for want of ancient monuments, as because it was introduced by imperceptible degrees, and at different times among different nations: but it is not therefore the less certain, that we ought to distinguish two different epochs or ages in this religion, and in each of these we should be careful not to confound the opinions of the sages with the fables or mythology of the poets. Without these distinctions it is difficult to reconcile the different accounts, often in appearance contradictory, which we find in ancient authors. Yet I cannot promise to mark out precisely, what belongs to each of these classes in particular. The lights which guide us at intervals through these dark ages, are barely sufficient to show us some of the more striking objects; but the finer links which connect and join them together will generally escape us.

Let us first of all examine this religion in its purity. It taught the being of 66 a supreme God, master of the universe, to whom all things were submissive and obedient." Such,

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according to Tacitus, was the supreme God of the Germans. The ancient Icelandic mythology calls him "the author of every thing that existeth; the eternal, the ancient, the living and awful Being, the searcher into concealed things, the Being that never changeth.". This religion attributed to the Supreme Deity "an infinite power, a boundless knowledge, an incorruptible justice," and forbade its followers to represent him under any corporeal form. They were not even to think of confining him within the enclosure of walls, but were taught that it was only within woods and consecrated forests that they could serve him properly. There he seemed to reign in silence, and to make himself felt by the respect which he inspired. It was an injurious extravagance to attribute to this deity a human figure, to erect statues to him, to suppose him of any sex, or to represent him by images. From this supreme God were sprung (as it were emanations of his divinity) an infinite number of subaltern deities and genii, of which every part of the visible world was the seat and temple. These intelligences did not barely reside in each part of nature; they directed its operations, it was the organ or instrument of their love or liberality to mankind. Each element was under the guidance of some being peculiar to it. The earth, the water, the fire, the air, the sun, moon, and stars had each their respective divinity. The trees, forests, rivers, mountains, rocks, winds, thunder and tempests had the same; and merited on that score a religious worship, which, at first, could not be directed to the visible object, but to the intelligence with which it was animated. The motive of this worship was the fear of a deity irritated by the sins of men, but who, at the same time, was merciful, and capable of being appeased by prayer and repentance. They looked up to him. as to the active principle, which, by uniting with the earth or passive principle, had produced men, animals, plants, and all visible beings; they even believed that he was the only agent in nature, who preserves the several beings, and disposes of all events. To serve this divinity with sacrifices and prayers, to do no wrong to others, and to be brave and intrepid in themselves, were all the moral consequences they derived from these doctrines. Lastly, the belief of a future state cemented and completed the whole building. Cruel tortures were there reserved for such as despised these three funda

mental precepts of morality, and joys without number and without end awaited every religious, just, and valiant man.

To un

These are the principal heads of that ancient religion which probably prevailed for many ages through the greatest part of the north of Europe, and doubtless among several nations of Asia. When it began to lose the most beautiful features of its original purity, and whether this change must be attributed to the natural inconstancy of mankind and their invincible proneness to whatever is marvellous, and strikes the senses, or was brought about by violence and conquest, is difficult to decide. The eye is lost and bewildered, when it endeavours to trace out events so remote and obscure. ravel and distinguish the several causes, and to mark exactly the distinct influence of each, is what we can hardly do in the history of such ages as are the most enlightened and best known to us. Let us then confine ourselves within more narrow limits, and endeavour to sketch out a new picture of this same religion, as it was afterwards altered, and like a piece of cloth so profusely overcharged with false ornaments, as hardly to show the least glimpse of the original groundwork. This picture will take in a space of seven or eight centuries, which intervened between the time of Odin and the conversion of Denmark to the Christian faith. The Icelandic Edda, and some ancient pieces of poetry, wherein the same mythology is taught, are the sources whence I shall draw my information.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE RELIGION WHICH PREVAILED IN THE NORTH, AND PARTICULARLY IN SCANDINAVIA, AFTER THE PRIMITIVE WORSHIP HAD BEEN ALTERED.

THE most striking alteration in the doctrines of the primitive religion, was in the number of the gods who were to be worshipped. A capital point in the ancient dogmas, was that preeminence, I have been describing, of one only all-powerful and perfect being over all the other intelligences with which universal nature was peopled. But men becoming in all appearance

weary of this simplicity of religion, associated to the supreme God many of those genii or subaltern divinities who had been always subordinate to him. As these differed rather in degree of power, than in essence, the transition was very easy to a people who were not very refined and subtle. To this another reason also contributed. As each of these inferior divinities governed with absolute power every thing within his respective sphere; fear, desire, all their wants and passions, inclined a rude people to have recourse to them, as to a more present, speedy and more accessible help in time of need, rather than to the supreme God, whose name alone imprinted so much respect and terror. It is an inevitable mistake of the human mind to carry the imperfections of its own nature into the idea it forms of the Deity. The deep conviction we have every moment of our own weakness, prevents us from conceiving how it is possible for one single being to move and support all parts of the universe. This is, especially, inconceivable to an ignorant people who have never suspected that there is any connection between the several parts of nature, and that a general mechanism can produce so many different phenomena. Accordingly, all barbarous nations have ever substituted, instead of the simple and uniform laws of nature, which were unknown to them, the operation of spirits, genii and divinities of all kinds, and have given them as assistants to the Supreme Being in the moral and physical government of the world. If they have paid to any of them greater honours than to others, it has usually been to those whose dominion extended over such things as were most dear to them, or appeared most worthy of admiration. This was what happened in Scandinavia. In process of time that Supreme Being, the idea of whom takes in all existence, was restrained to one particular province, and passed among the generality of the inhabitants for the God of War. No object, in their opinion, could be more worthy his attention, nor more proper to show forth his power. Hence those pictures which are left us of him in the Icelandic mythology, where he is always meant under the name of Odin. He is there called “The terrible and severe God; the father of slaughter; he who giveth victory, and reviveth courage in the conflict; who nameth those that are to be slain." The warriors who went to battle made a vow to send

him a certain number of souls, which they consecrated to him; these souls were Odin's right, he received them in Valhalla, his ordinary place of residence, where he rewarded all such as died sword in hand. There it was that he distributed to them praises and delight; there he received them at his table, where in a continual feast, as we shall see hereafter, the pleasure of these heroes consisted. The assistance of this Deity was implored in every war that was undertaken; to him the vows of both parties were addressed; and it was believed that he often descended to intermix in the conflict himself, to inflame the fury of the combatants, to strike those who were to perish, and to carry their souls to his celestial abodes.

This terrible deity, who took such pleasure in shedding the blood of men, was at the same time, according to the Icelandic mythology, their father and creator. So easily do gross and prejudiced minds reconcile the most glaring contradictions: this same god, according to the Edda, "liveth and governeth during the ages, he directeth every thing which is high, and every thing which is low, whatever is great and whatever is small; he hath made the heaven, the air, and man, who is to live for ever; and before the heaven and the earth existed, this god lived already with the giants." The principal strokes of this picture are found many times repeated in the same work. They have been frequently used by other northern poets. Nor were they peculiar to the inhabitants of Scandinavia. Many ancient people, the Germans for example, attributed in like manner to the supreme God a superintendence over war. They drew their gods by their own character, who loved nothing so much themselves as to display their strength and power in battle, and to signalize their vengeance upon their enemies by slaughter and desolation. There remains to this day some traces of the worship paid to Odin in the name given by almost all the people of the north to the fourth day of the week, which was formerly consecrated to him. It is called by a name which signifies Odin's day *.

* Old Norse, Odinsdagr; Swe. and Danish, Onsdag.; Ang. Sax. Wodenesdæg, Wodnesdæg; Eng. Wednesday; Dutch, Woensdag. As Odin or Wodan was supposed to correspond to the Mercury of the Greeks and Romans, the name of this day was expressed in Latin Dies Mercurii.