ee aS 
On Genius. 409 
The gay and laughing literature of the South 
is strikingly contrasted with the gloomy and 
awful legends, which nourished the wild 
songs of our Scandinavian forefathers in 
the forests of the North. There is indeed an 
occasional grandeur and sublimity in these 
Runic strains, suited to the stern, heroic, cha 
racter—the robust and firm-knit frame—of 
the people, by whom they were sung: yet if 
may be doubted, whether of themselves they 
would ever have led to the formation of a li- 
terature, distinguished by the variety and bril- 
liancy of its inventions, or by any of those 
qualities which we are accustomed to consider 
as peculiarly characteristic of Genius. What, 
for example, did the Anglo-Saxon Muse 
produce, before her alliance with the liter- 
ature of France? Certain it is, that to the 
influence of the rich and glowing fictions of 
the South, and a devoted admiration of the 
splendid models of Greek and Roman Ge- 
nius, we owe the stimulus, which first awa- 
kened the dormant energies of our national 
spirit, and prompted all that is most impas- 
sioned in our eloquence, most enchanting in 
our poetry, and most brilliant in our works 
of art. So that in those countries, where the 
human frame seems endowed with the most 
delicate and susceptible organization, we 
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