could be between the two fexes, and these two different forts of wood. (B) "Where dwell the Gods " and their families."] ASGARD is literally the Court of the Gods. Some manuscripts add, that AsGARD is Troy; but this can be no other than the marginal note of some copyist, crept by mistake into the text. The Gods, being continually threatened with attacks by the Giants, built in the middle a large inclosure, named MIDGARD, or the Middle-Abode, one of the ftrongest of citadels. This is the Olympus of Homer; as the Giants are his Titans. I fhall once for all obferve, that the Gothic and' Celtic nations, as well as the Greeks, derived all thefe fables from the inexhaustible fource of eastern traditions. But the people of the north preserved them nearly the fame as they received them, for above two thousand years; whereas the fame fables found in Greece fo favourable a foil, that in a fhort time they multiplied a hundred fold. (c) "The EARTH is his daugh« ter and wife, &c."] This fable proves that the ancient Scalds understood by the name Frigga, the fpoufe of the Supreme God; and that, at the fame time, this Frigga was the Earth. This doctrine is of very great antiquity, and hath been in general received by all the Gothic and' Celtic nations. Their philofophers taught, that the Eu2 preme God, Teut, or Wodan, was the active principle, the foul of the world, which uniting itself with matter, had thereby put it into a condition to produce the Intelligencies, or Inferior Gods, and Men, and all other creatures. This is what the poets exprefs figuratively, when they say that Odin efpoufed Frigga, or Frea, that is, the LADY, by way of eminence. One cannot doubt, after having read this paffage of the EDDA, but it was this fame Goddefs, to whom the Germans, according to Tacitus, confecrated one of the Danish islands, worshipping her under the name of Herthus, or the Earth: (the English word Earth, as well as the German Erde, being evidently the fame with that, to which Tacitus has only given a Latin termination.) As to the worship that was paid her, fee it defcribed by Pelloutier in his Hift. des Celtes, Vol. II. c. 8. Though it was by the concur rence of the Supreme God and Matter, that this Univerfe was produced; yet the ancient philofophers of the north ** allowed a great Fr. Les Celtes. 1 Laftly, from this mystical marriage, was born the God THOR. Afa-Thor means THE LORD THOR. He was the first-born of the Supreme God, and the greatest and moft powerful of all the inferior divinities, or intelligences that were born from the union of the two principles. One cannot doubt but it was he, who had the charge of launching the thunder. In the languages of the north, the name given to this God is ftill that of the Thunder. When they adopt ed the Roman Calendar, that day which was confecrated to Jupiter, or the Master of the Thunder, was affigned to Thor; and is called at this day Thorsdag, Thurse DAY, or the day of THOR. (See Vol. I. pag. 81.) To conclude, Adam of Bremen, an author of the eleventh century, and a missionary in those countries, infinuates that this was the idea which the Scandinavians had formed of him. "Thor cum fceptro Jovem exprimere "videtur, &c." Hift. Ecclef. c. 223. There is not the least doubt, but it was the Jupiter of the Gauls who had, according to Cæfar, "the empire of things celestial;" as alfo the Taran, whom Lucan reprefents as having been adored by the fame people, Pharsal. 1. I V. 444. Taran, fignifies "Thun"der," in the Welsh language at this day. THE THE SIXTH FABLE. Of the Giant Nor. or Giants-Land.' HE Giant Nor was the first who inhabited the country of Jotunheim (A), He had a daughter, named NIGHT; who is of a dark "complexion, as are all her family. She was at first married to a man called Naglefara, and had by him a fon, named Auder. Then fhe efpoufed Onar; and the daughter of this marriage was the Earth. At laft fhe was wedded to Daglingar, who is of the family of the Gods. Between them they produced DAY, a child beautiful and fhining, as are all his father's family (E). Then the Univerfal Father took NIGHT and Day, and placed them in heaven; and gave them two horfes and two cars, that they might travel fucceffively, one after the other, round the world. NIGHT goes first, upon her horfe, named Rimfaxe, (or Froftymane), who, every morning when he begins his courfe, bedews the earth with the foam that drops from his bit; this is the Dew. The horse made use of by Day, is named Skinfaxa, (or Shining-mane); and by his radiant mane, he illuminates the air and the earth (c). Then Gangler afked, How the Day regulates the courfe of the Sun and the Moon. Har anfwers, There was formerly a man, named Mundilfara, who had two children fo beautiful and wellfhaped, that he called the male Mane, or the MoON; and the female Sunna, or the SUN (D). She married a man called Glener. But the Gods, angry at their prefumption prefumption in taking upon them fuch fublime names, carried them up to heaven, and obliged the daughter to guide the car of the Sun, which the Gods, to illuminate the earth, had compofed of the fires that iffued from Mufpelsheim, or the flaming world. At the fame time, the Gods placed under each horfe two fkins filled with air, to cool and refresh them; and hence, according to the most ancient accounts, comes the Freshness of the morning. As for Mane, he was fet to regulate the courfe of the Moon, and its different quarters. One day he carried off two children, named Bil and Hiuke, as they were returning from a fountain, carrying between them a pitcher suspended on a stick. These two children always accompany the. Moon, as one may obferve eafily even from the earth. But, interrupted Gangler, The Sun runs very fwiftly, as if he were afraid fome one fhould overtake her. So the well may, replied Har; for there are very near her two Wolves, ready to devour her. One of them clofely purfues the Sun, who is afraid of him, because he fhall one day fwallow her up. The other as eagerly follows the Moon, and will make him one day or other undergo the fame fate. Gangler faid, Whence come these Wolves? Har replied, There was at the eaft of MIDGARD a Giantefs, who dwelt in the foreft of Farnvid, (or IRON-WOOD), all the trees of which are of iron. The Gianteffes of that place derive their names from her. This old forcerefs is the mother of many Giants, who are all of them shaped like favage beafts. From her alfo fprung thefe two Wolves. One in particular of that race is faid to be the most formidable of all; he is called Managarmer; a monfter that fattens himself with the fubftances of men who draw near to their end. Sometimes he swallows up the Moon, and ftains the heaven and the air with blood (E). Then the Sun is also darkened, as it is faid in thefe verfes of VOLUSPA: "Near the rifing of VOL. II. D the "the Sun, dwelleth the old witch of the forest of "Farnvid. There she brings forth the fons fhe hath 66 by Fenris. One of thefe is become the most pow"erful of all. He feeds himself with the lives of "those who approach to their end. Cloathed with "the fpoils of the other Giants, he will one day stain "with blood the army of the Gods: the following "Summer the fight of the Sun shall be extinguished. "Noxious winds fhall blow from all quarters. Do "not you comprehend this faying?" REMARKS ON THE SIXTH FABLE. ceed to the neceflity of explaining what was obfcure, by what was ftill more obfcure. That was a method very well fuited, and entirely analogous to the turn of the human mind, whofe curiofity is very voracious, but yet is easily fatisfied, and often as well with words as ideas. - NIGHT being thus the mother of DAY, they thought themselves obliged, in their computation of time, to prefer the name of the Mother to that of the Son. Befides, as they reckoned by months purely lunar, it was natural for them to compute the civil day fron fun-fet, and from the time when the Moon appears above the horizon. It will not be amifs here briefly to take notice of the univerfality of this cuftom; it was obferved by the Gauls, |