2. Vatnsfiar.dar Annals is a fupple-
nient that extends to 1660.
3. Skallholt.
4. Hoi a.
5» Odda.
6. Biurns a Skardzaa to 1645, of
which,
7. HeJls Annalsy that continues down
to the year 1718, is a fupplement.
Hrafnagils Annal begins where the laft
leaves off, and continues to 1754»
8. Odds Ejrikfonar a fitium to 1 680.
9. Annales Regii, that reach to the
year 1341.
10. Hirdfidra.
I r . Eaiigmanna.
12. Biskupa.
Annales antiqui.
Annales vetuftiores reach to
the end o f the 13th century. Bjarne
HalldorfoFs Annals, as I have been
informed, begin about the rniddle
o f the 7th century, and reach quite
to 1772.
But even here the fciences have been
fubjecl to the fame revolutions that
they have experienced every where
I elfe,
13*
14.
elfe. The luftre in which they had
maintained themfelves fo long, was
fucceeded by the moil profound obfcurity.
To give a clearer idea of
this, I fliall borrow the expreffions o f
the learned bifliop o f Skallholt, Dr.
Finiieus, on this occafion, who compares
the ftate o f the fciences in Iceland
to the four ftages of human life,
in his well-wrote Hift. Eccl. Iftandise.
The infancy extended to the year
1056, when the introduélion of the
Chriftian religion produced the firil
dawn o f light. Their youth till 1 1 00,
when fchools were firft eilabliilied,
and the education and inftruélion o f
youth began to be more attended to
than before. Their manly age lafted
till about the middle of the fourteenth
century, when Iceland produced the
greateft number of learned men. Old
age appeared towards the end o f this
fame fourteenth century, when the
fciences gradually decreafed, and
were almoft entirely extinél, no work
of any merit appearing. Hiftory now
drooped her head, poetry had no re-
liili, and all the other fciences were
L 4 enr:
V
. I'ij'