209 
SKETCH OF THE STATE OF LITERATURE AND 
EDUCATION IN DENMARK,* 
PREVIOUSLY TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY; 
WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Tue Icelandic is the source of all the northern poetry: the Ice- 
landie tongue once prevailed in Denmark, Sweden and: Norway : 
it is the language of the Scaldic tales,t of the Saga legends, and of 
the Runic inscriptions. There came a time, however, when this 
sister of the German dialect, this queen of the Scandinavian regions, 
gradually abandoned the land over which she reigned without a 
rival, and retired to the school of Skalholt,{ like a recluse carrying 
* Mr. X. Marmier made a Report on this interesting subject to “ Le 
Ministre de (Instruction Publique,” at Paris: it was dated at Copenhagen, 
January, 1838, and published in the “ Revue des Deux Mondes,” p. 507-522, 
for the February following. 
+ In the Scaldatal, or list of the Scalds of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, 
no less than two hundred and nine names are enumerated. This list is in- 
serted in Snorro Sturleson’s Heimskringla, or Chronica Regum Septentriona- 
lium seu Norvegicorum, danicé versa, a Petro Claudii pastore quondam 
Undalino primario, denuo in multorum gratiam revisa, continuata et prelo 
subjecta; 4to, Hafnie, 1633. It also has a place in the Dissertation of Olaus 
Wormius de Priscé Danorum Poési which is appended to his Literatura 
Danica antiquissima, vulgé Gothica dicta; 4to, Hafnie, 1636, et folio, Ib. 
1651. The same curious document is preserved by N. P. Sibbern in his 
Bibliotheca Historica Dano-Norvegica, sive de scriptoribus rerum Dano- 
Norvegicarum commentarius historico-literarius: 8vo, Hamburgh, 1716. 
The saga legends, to the number of thirty-eight, are preserved in the poetic 
Edda of Saemundr the Sage, who was a native of Odde in Iceland, and after- 
wards priest of that parish. He was descended of a noble origin, and died 
in A.D. mexxx1i1: his life was long, laborious and useful, and his memory 
is cherished by the Icelanders with extraordinary veneration. 
t+ Naddod a naval adventurer was driven on the coast of Iceland in the 
year poccLx1, by a storm ; and, in consequence of this incident, he discovered 
an island which, in A.D. pecc.xxv, furnished an asylum for the noblest fa- 
milies in Norway; which afterwards became a venerable seat of learning, 
where the songs and tales of the North were faithfully preserved; and 
which, for the long space ot three centuries, continued to be a hallowed re- 
treat of freedom and philosophy. While the island was yet being peopled, 
Skalholt rose to be its metropolitan city, and long enjoyed a high distinction 
as a seminary of education. 
VOL, IX., NO. XXVII. 27 
