II.-MYTHOLOGY AND POETRY OF THE CELTES,

[From the Monthly Review, 1757. On "Remains of the Mythology and Poetry of the Celtes, particularly of Scandinavic, designed as a Supplement and Proof of the Introduction to the History of Denmark. By P. H. Mallet,(1) Copenhagen, 1756. 4to.]

If all the brilliancy of sentiment which so dry a subject may require to its support, and all the laborious assiduity which may be necessary in the solution of its intricacies, demand applause, Professor Mallet must deserve it, who has so happily united both. The learned on this side the Alps have long laboured at the antiquities of Greece and Rome, but almost totally neglected their own; like conquerors who, while they have made inroads into the territories of their neighbours, have left their own natural dominions to desolation.

The cause of this our author ascribes; first, to the disadvantageous idea we have conceived of the Celtes in general, an idea entirely groundless, and which offers no reason for not studying those antiquities to which our manners, our government, our laws, are continually calling us back. Secondly, to the few monuments of Celtic mythology which have reached our times. "To draw this subject from obscurity, we ought in some measure to give new life to those poetical mythologists, our ancestors; we should consult them, and attend, in the frightful gloom of

(1) [Paul Henry Mallet was born at Geneva in 1731. He was for some time professor of history in his native city, and became afterwards professor royal of the Belles- Lettres at Copenhagen, a member of the academies of Upsal, Lyons, Cassel, and of the Celtic Academy at Paris. An excellent translation, by Bishop Percy, of his "Northern Antiquities, including the Edda," was published in 1770. He died in 1807.]

their forests, to those mysterious incantations in which is concealed the whole system of their religion and morality."

In France, Spain, and England, the ravages of time, or of more destructive zeal, have left few remains of this sacred poesy. The countries of the north, who were more slowly converted from superstition, still preserve those valuable monuments. Here is to be found the " EDDA," (1) first written in Iceland after the abolition of the Celtic religion there. This was a work designed for the use of those young Icelanders who intended to become Scaldes or poets. Odin and Friga, genii and fairies, served as machinery to northern poetry then, as Grecian mythology does to ours now; and though they had abandoned the religion, yet the poets found it necessary to retain the knowledge of these fabulous divinities. The author of the Edda, therefore, has given his countrymen an abridgment of this mythology, with a poetical dictionary to explain words or metaphors that may be too sublime. A translation of this work M. Mallet now lays before the public. There were two books of this name the first was composed by Sæmund Sigfusson, born in Iceland, about the year 1057; (2) but being too voluminous and obscure in many respects, Snoro Sturleson, (3) about a hundred and twenty years after, abstracted from the collection of Sæmund a system of poetical mythology, both easy and intelligible. The Celtic religion, as our

(1) ["This name of Edda hath frequently exercised the penetration of the etymologist. The most probable conjectures are, that it is derived from an old Gothic word signifying grandmother. In the figurative language of the old poets, this term was, doubtless, thought proper to express an ancient doctrine."-Mallet, Northern Antiq. vol. ii. p. 24.]

(2) [Sæmund was born in 1056. He studied at Cologne, and travelled in Italy and Germany. On his return to Iceland, he took holy orders. Not long before his death, which took place about the year 1134, he wrote a History of Norway.-Nouv. Dict. Hist.]

(3) [A nobleman of ancient family, who twice, in 1215 and 1222, filled the high post of chief judge of Iceland. He was assassinated, in 1241, by Gyssarus, the chief of an opposite faction.—Ibid.]

author clearly evinces in the work preceding this, was at first extremely simple; yet even this did not long hold its simplicity. Though nothing can be more express than some passages in the Edda concerning the supreme government of ONE God, yet those intelligencers who are supposed to act by his commands receive in it too much veneration; their assistance seems nearer than that of a Deity, whose very name calls to our imagination the immense distance between him and his creatures: yet must we still remember (says M. Mallet), that the Edda is but a poetical mythology, in which the real opinions of those times are set off with all the luxuriance of a heated imagination.

A King of Sweden, says the Edda, named Gylfe, astonished at the respect his subjects paid to some people who had newly come from Asia, was resolved to travel to Asgard, habited like an old man, and under the fictitious name of Gangler, with intention to improve by the journey.

On his arrival there, he was introduced into a magnificent palace, where he had a long conference with three kings, Har, Jafnar, and Thredi, whom he found seated on thrones in one of the inner apartments. These conferences are comprised in thirty-three fables, of which the first part of the Edda is composed. There we see those remarkable passages already hinted at with relation to the Supreme Being. Gangler demands, "Who is the supreme of the gods?" Har replies, "Him whom we call Alfader, that is, Father of all." Gangler again asks, “What has he done to make his glory appear?" Har replies, " He lives eternally. He governs his dominions, and things great and little, with great care." Jafnar adds, "He has made the heaven, the earth, and the air.”—“ He has done more than making an heaven, or an earth," continues Thredi; "He has made man, and infused into him a living soul, which,

even after the body is reduced to dust and ashes, shall continue to live for ever.”

The three first fables abound in allegories, as extraordinary as an imagination the most fruitful of wonders could possibly conceive, on the formation of the earth, and the creation of man. Here may be perceived, however, striking resemblances of the doctrine of Moses, with respect to the luminous matter before that of the sun and moon; as also of the deluge, and the history of the giants spoken of in Genesis. Our author, in his notes, takes care to point out these similitudes; and remarks, that of all the known systems, that of the ancient Persians most approaches the mythology of the Edda: an observation which greatly serves to confirm what several learned men have advanced, that anciently there was no difference between the Persians and Celtes.

The fourth fable describes Odin as father of gods and men, and who by his virtue has produced all things. Friga (or the earth) is his daughter, and wife, on whom he begat his son Thor. This doctrine of the union of the Deity with the earth, is of great antiquity. It has been generally received in all the Celtic nations; nay, the Greeks themselves adopted the same sentiments, as appears by the history of Saturn and Rhea. And here our author ingeniously remarks, that thougo in this mythology the concourse of Deity and matter produced the universe, yet there is a vast difference, according to the Celtes, in these two principles. The Supreme God was eternal. By him matter was made, and consequently had a beginning. The name also of Thor, their son, signifies, in the language of the north, thunder; and our Thursday even now is called by the Flemish, donderday, or the day of thunder.

Nothing, however, can be more ridiculous than the system of physics that runs through the whole Edda, particu

larly the sixth fable. A horse with his shining mane scatters light, and illuminates the earth and air. Two little children, with a pitcher suspended at the end of a stick, accompany the moon, and occasion its eclipses. The sun runs very swiftly; for two wolves, ready to devour him, continually follow. In this fable we have the origin of a custom received among us, the source of which seems to have been forgotten. The Edda gives the night pre-eminence over the day; it precedes, and out of it the day is produced. Hence we say, 'this day se'nnight', for seventh night; 'fortnight', for fourteenth night. Thus customs taken from forgotten opinions are often erroneously attributed to the effects of chance or caprice.

The eighth fable takes for its title, The Holy City, or the Residence of the Gods. In it we hear of Odin demanding a draught of the Fountain of Wisdom, but obliged to pawn one of his eyes for the grant. Thus, we see the father of heaven wanting an eye, which Mimis keeps as a pledge in his own possession, and every morning bathes it with hydromel. A strange allegory this; and, what is worse, we want the key for its solution. In this fable also we find a complete theory of Fairyism. "Three virgins whose names, as in the Celtic language, are past, present, and future, as fates, dispense the periods of man's life; but there are several who assist at his birth, and decide his future fortune." Fairies, according to the conjectures of our author, were deified prophetesses, for the Celtic women excelled in every sort of superstition, particularly in augury; and perhaps those who were most distinguished in this art, were raised to the rank of gods. The ninth fable treats of Thor, son to the father of the universe, who conquered the giants, who performed many wonderful exploits, and whose palace was called an asylum against fear. He too, like the Persian Mithras, was the symbol of fire, and like him a merciful divinity, a mediator between God and man.