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INTRODUCTION.
cautious method of writing; for while we contend that the easterns furnished the ground-work, and fix the date, Mr. Dunlop may tell us, be it when it may, that it was subsequent to the period in which the Runic fable nourished in its native purity. Let us examine, however, how far his bold assertion may be maintained, respecting the poetical machinery adopted by the ancient Scalds. Let us revert to the Edda[1], a monument "tout-à-fait unique en son espece," as Monsieur Mallet assures us[2], and try whether there be not, in fact, almost the whole of what he has rejected.
- ↑ "The Edda was compiled, undoubtedly with many additions and interpolations, from fictions and traditions in the old Runic poems, by Soemund Sigfusson, surnamed the Learned, about the year 1057."—Warton. But Warton has not proved his undoubtedly; and though I do not deny the probability of interpolations, I shall not relinquish the Giants, &c. without further proof.
- ↑ "Monumens de la Mythol. et de la Poesie des Celtes," &c. p. 13. Pref.
