PREFACE xi 



new materials, new fields of literary and archaeological wealth 

 unfolded themselves incessantly. Thus carried away by 

 enthusiasm and the love of the task I had undertaken, I have 

 been able to labour for eight years and a half on the present 

 work, with some interruptions from exhaustion and impaired 

 health. May I, then, ask the indulgence of a public, which has 

 always been kind to me, for all the shortcomings of my work ? 

 I have received valuable assistance from many friends, but 

 I desire especially to express my thanks to Mr. Bruun, the 

 Chief Librarian of the Eoyal Library of Denmark, for his 

 great kindness in allowing me so many privileges during the 

 years I have worked in Copenhagen ; to Mr. Birket Smith, of 

 the University Library of Copenhagen ; and Mr. Kaalund, 

 Keeper of the Arna Magntean Collection of Manuscripts, for 

 the uniform courtesy they have shown me ; among anti- 

 quarians, to my friend Professor George Stephens, author of 

 the magnificent work, ' Northern Runic Monuments,' for his 

 readiness in giving me all the information and help I needed, 

 which sometimes occupied much of his valuable time (several 

 illustrations of the runic stones, etc., in these volumes are 

 taken from his work) ; to Mr. Vedel, Vice-President of the 

 Koyal Society of Antiquarians ; to Messrs. Herbst, Sophus 

 Miiller, and Petersen, of the Eoyal Museum of Northern 

 Antiquities, for their great courtesy; I am also indebted to 

 the works of the following distinguished antiquarians which 

 have been invaluable to me in my researches and which have 

 furnished me with many of the illustrations for my book : Ole 

 Eygh, Bugge, Engelhart, Nicolaysen, Sehested, Steenstrup, 

 Madsen, Save, Montelius, Holmberg, Jorgensen, Baltzer, and 

 Lorange ; also to the works of the historians, Keyser, Geijer, 

 Munch, Eafn, Yigfusson. My sincere thanks are also due to my 

 young friend Jon Stefansson, an Icelandic student, for his con- 

 stant help in rendering the translations of the Sagas as accurate 

 and literal as possible ; and to my old friend Mr. Rasmus 1 . 

 Anderson, late American Minister to Denmark, and translator 

 of the ' Later Edda,' etc. ; in England, to Messrs. A. S. Murray, 

 Franks, and Read, of the British Museum ; to Dr. Warre, 

 the head master of Eton, and to General Pitt Rivers, author 

 of a valuable work on the excavations in Cranborne Chase, 



