hf Ï l I G il '■ 'ii t ’
G ’ f
poetical and hiilorical producllons, în
particular, have bid defiance to time,
even when ignorance was again beginning
to refume her empire. It
would be an eafy matter to mention a
number of poets who diftinguiihed
themfelves, not only in Iceland and
the Orkneys, but likewife at the Swe-
difh, Daniili, Norwegian, and Englifli
courts, as xhe Skald art al (or lift of
poets) contains no lefs than 240 : but
it would be fuperfluous to mention here
any more than the three principal
ones ; viz. Snorre Sturlefon, who was
beheaded in the year 1241, in the
63d year o f his age, at Reikholt in
Iceland ; Olafr Huitaikald, who died
in 1259; Sturla Thordfon, who
ended his life in 1 284. Some extraéis
o f the works o f thefe authors are inferted
in printed as well as manufcript
chronicles.
O f much greater importance are
their fayings or hiilories, the utility
and authenticity o f which have caufed
fo many difputes : for i f they have
been conftdered by fome as fure and
irrefragable fupports of the hiftory
of
of our forefathers, they have been
looked upon by others as abfurd inventions
and falilioods, and belong to
the fame clais as the hiftory of the
knight Finke, Fortunatus, the horned
Siegfried, and other old womens
tales. This lail opinion is no left un-
reafonable, than an exceft o f veneration
paid to them would be inconiide-
rate and rafli. When they are con-
fiilted with circumfpedlion and judgment,
they are undoubtedly o f great
ufe, ib much the more, as they are
the only remaining monuments o f the
antient northern hiftory ; and indeed
fome o f them are written with great
judgment and perfpicuity.
The Arse Erodes Sched^e were written
iince 1122, and are the moil
antient Icelandic accounts extant.
The writings o f Sturlefon, Gunlaug,
Odde, and feveral others, are
all o f them works that will never
be loil or hurt by time ; and I do
not find any thing therein that iliould
induce us to deny them the fame
credit that We fo implicitly give to
the writings of Tacitus and Livy.
L 2 Np
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