M Y T II O L (> G Y. 
ciple; or, which is the mod common cafe, the two have 
been united, and the parts of the material univerfe have 
been worfhipped as rr.anifeftations and indruments of 
thefe feveral principles. The analyfis of the ^Egyptian, 
Indian, Perfian, Phrygian, and Phoenician, theologies, 
always bring us back to this idea, whatever difficulties 
there may be in the interpretation of particular portions. 
Thefe powers of nature are almod always perfonified in 
the human form, from a principle in our minds which it 
is difficult to refid, and which is indeed connected with 
the very imperfeflion of our intellectual faculties. Still, 
among all the divinities of the Ead, this human form was 
merely an acceflory, the neceffary medium for giving a 
fenfible reprefentation to an abflraft idea ; and therefore 
all thefe nations l'crupled not to vary from and disfigure 
the human form, when they thought that by fo doing 
they could make their fymbol more driking or more ex- 
preffive. The Indian gave his gods twenty arms, the 
Phrygian furnifhed his Diana with as many breads, and 
the Egyptian placed the heads of animals on human 
bodies; neglecting in all thefe indances the propriety of 
the emblem conlldered in itfelf, in order to give greater 
didin&nefs to its fymbolical import. As the Greeks re¬ 
ceived mod if not all of their divinities from drangers, 
and efpecially from the Ead, it was natural that they 
fhould adopt thefe fymbolical forms ; and the higher we 
trace their mythology, the more drongly do we find their 
gods partaking of this character. It cannot efcape ob- 
fervation in Hefiod, and it even difcovers itfelf in the 
Homeric mythology. That Hefiod’s Jupiter is the aether, 
his Juno the atmolphere, and his Phcebus-Apollo the fun, 
is plain from fome of his narratives concerning them : yet 
it is not lefs certain that this fymbolical meaning is by no 
means the predominant one; that his Jupiter is chiefly 
characterized as the ruler of Gods and men, and his Juno 
as the queen of Olympus. It is the peculiarity of the 
popular religion of Greece, that it conffantly dropped 
more and more of the fymbolical reprefentations, and 
fubdituted in their place a fyflem of gods partaking 
the qualities and actuated by the paffions and motives 
of men. Hceren's Ideas on the JSations of the Ancient 
World; 1815. 
The mythology of the Northern Nations, i. e. of 
the Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, Icelanders, &c. is un¬ 
commonly curious and entertaining. The Edda and 
V-olufpa contain a complete collection of fables which 
have not the fmallefl affinity with thofe of the Greeks 
and Romans. They are wholly of an oriental complexion, 
and feem aimofl congenial with the tales of the Periians 
above defcribed. The Edda was compiled in Iceland in 
the 13th century. It is a kind of fyflem of the Scan¬ 
dinavian mythology: and has been reckoned, and we 
believe juflly, a commentary on the Volufpa, which w'as 
the Bible of the northern nations. Odin or Othin, Woden 
or Waden, was the fupreme divinity of thofe people. 
His exploits and adventures furnifli the far greated part 
of their mythological creed. That hero is fuppofed to 
have emigrated from the Ead; but from what country or 
at what period is not certainly known. His achieve¬ 
ments are magnified beyond all credibility. He is repre- 
fented as the god of battles, and as flaughtering thoufands 
at a blow. His palace is called Valhal; it is fituated in 
the city of Midgard, where, according to the fable, the 
fouls of heroes who had bravely fallen in battle enjoy 
fupreme felicity. They fpend the day in mimic hunting- 
matches, or imaginary combats. At night they affemble 
in the palace of Valhalla, where they feafl on the mod 
delicious viands, dreffedand ferved up by the Valkyriee, 
virgins adorned with celeflial charms, and fluffied with 
the bloom of everlading youth. They folace themfelves 
with drinking mead out of the Ikulls of their enemies 
whom they killed in their days of nature. Mead, it feems, 
was the mCtarof the Scandinavian heroes. 
487 
We have mentioned Odin and Woden as one and the 
fame perfonage. But the ted which Charlemagne inl- 
pofed on the conquered Saxons, when he compelled them, 
under pain of death, to undergo baptifm, has been put 
on record, and runs thus: Ech forfacho Diabolce , ende 
T/tunaer, ends Vnoden, ende Soxen Oto, ende allem them 
un/ioldim the hirer genoles find; “ I forlake the Devil 
and Thor, and Woclen, and the Saxon Odin, and all the 
unhallowed ones who are their comrades.” From this 
formulary of renunciation it refults plainly, that the pro¬ 
phet Odin is a different perfonage from the god Woden, 
and was fo conlldered by his mod zealous votaries. 
Sleepner, the borle of Odin, is celebrated along with 
his mafler. Hela, the hell of the Scandinavians, affords 
a variety of fables equally (hocking and heterogeneous. 
Loke, the evil genus or devil of the northern people, 
nearly refembles the Typho.n of the Egyptians. Signa 
or Sinna is the confort of Loke : from this name die 
Engliih word Jin is derived. The giants Weymur, Fer- 
banter, Belupher, and Hellunda, perform a variety of 
exploits, and are exhibited in the mod frightful attitudes. 
One would be tempted to imagine that they perform the 
exaCt counterpart of the giants of the Greek and Roman 
mythologids. Indead of glancing at thefe ridiculous and 
unintereffingfables, which is all that the limits prefcribed 
us would permit, we (hall take the liberty to lay before our 
readers a brief account of the contents of the Volufpa, 
which is indeed the text of the Scandinavian mythology! 
The word VoluJ'pa imports, “ the Prophecy of Vola & or 
Fola.” This was perhaps a general name for the pro¬ 
phetic ladies of the north, as Sibyl was appropriated to 
women endowed with the like faculty in the louth. 
Certain it is, that the ancients generally connected mad- 
nefs with the prophetic faculty. Of this we have two 
celebrated examples: the one in Lycophron’s Alexandra, 
and the other in the Sibyl of the Roman poet. The word 
vo!a fignifies “ mad or fooliffi ;” whence the Englifli words 
fool, foolijh, folly. Spa, the latter part of the compofi- 
tion, fignffies “ to prophefy,” and is dill current among 
the common people of Scotland in the word Spae , which 
has nearly the fame fignification. 
The Volufpa confids of between 200 and 300 lines. 
The prophetefs, having impofed lilence on all intelligent 
beings, declares that die is about to reveal the works of 
the Father of Nature, the aCtions and operations of the 
gods, which no mortal ever knew before herfelf. She 
begins with a defcription of the chaos; and then pro¬ 
ceeds to the formation of the world, the creation of the 
different fpecies of its inhabitants, giants, men, and 
dwarfs. She then explains the employments of the fairies 
or dedinies, whom the northern people call nornies ; the 
functions of the deities, their mod memorable adventures 
their difputes with Loke, and the vengeance that enfued. 
She at lad concludes with a long and indeed animated 
defcription of the final date of the univerfe, and its diffo- 
lution by a general conflagration. In this catadrophe, 
Odin and all the rabble of the pagan divinities, are to 
be confounded in the general ruin, no more to appear on 
the dage of the univerfe. Out of the ruins of the former 
world, according to the Volufpa, a new one ffiall fpring 
up, arrayed in all the bloom of celedial beauty. Such is 
the doCtrine exhibited in the fabulous Volufpa. So con¬ 
genial are lome of the details therein delivered, efpecially 
thofe relating to the final dilfolution of the prefent fyflem, 
and the fucceffion of a new heaven and a new earth, that 
we find ourfelves drongly inclined to fuf’peCt, that the 
original fabricator of the work was a femi-pagan writer, 
much of the fame complexion with the authors of the 
Sibylline oracles, and of fome other apocryphal pieces 
which appeared in the world during the fird ages of 
Chriffianity, 
The 
