liaw made the early literature of Iceland
the particular object of their studies; and
Steingrim Jonas of Bessested ; the Rector
Hialmarson, who formerly conducted the
school at Holum ; and Arnes Helgeson, the
driest of Vatnsfiord, who have distinguished
themselves in classical knowledge. Assessor
Benedict Grondal, a judge in the high court
of justice, is mentioned as the most eminent
among the poets, although his performances
are almost wholly confined to odes, epitaphs,
and other detached pieces, among which are
many excellent translations from Theocritus,
Anacreon, and Horace. Finnur Magnusen
is likewise celebrated for the facility, with
which he composes in the Latin and Danish
languages, and for the extreme accuracy
of his Icelandic style*. Jonas Thorlaksen,
the Translator of Milton, has composed many
original poems of great merit. Sigurdar
Petersen of Reikevig, has written, among
other things,, a poem, in six cantos, called
Stella, in which, under a fictitious form, the
* I have before alluded to his poem, inserted in the
Appendix of the second volume of this Tour, and, at
p. 39 of this volume, is noticed a translation of the
Georgies of Iceland, into Danish verse.
manners and habits of the Icelanders are
minutely described. Magnus Stephensen,
the Etatsroed, is justly entitled to the first
rank among the historical writers; and, in a
list of his works, no less than twenty, on various
subjects, are enumerated by Dr. Holland
: many of them, however, are published
for the use of a literary society, of which
Mr. Stephensen is president. Numerous
works on divinity have appeared since the
time of the reformation; but, happily for
Iceland, metaphysics do not appear to have
occupied the attention of the Icelanders in a
great degree. The sciences, strictly so
called, Dr. Holland goes on to observe, engage
but few votaries. In natural history *
the Enarrationes Historicce de Natura et
Constitutions Islandice of Eggart Olafsen
deserve notice; as do the Travels in Iceland,
published by the same gentleman, in conjunction
with his companion Paulsen; a work con-
* The authors o f the Voyage en Islande make
mention o f a Latin work published one hundred and
fifty years ago, entitled Theairum Viventium, and
they speak of Jon Olafsen, who flourished about the
middle of the seventeenth century, and had made natural
history his particular study. He travelled much
in Europe and in the East Indies, and wrote an account
of his life and travels.
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