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irum : the fécond, kennîngar, is a mere
Ærarium poeticum ; and the third,
Hods grcinevy contains the Icelandic
profody, &c. &c. The fo-called
dæjîiifagornc, are for the moil part
tranflated into the Swedifli language
by Goranfon, but the tranflation is
very incorrecl. Refenius lias likewife
publiflied them together with the Ken-
ningarnc in Latin. But the third part,
that deferves no lefs attention, has not
yet appeared in print; and it is much
to be wiilied that Chevalier Ihre would
give it to the public, as there are fo
few befides himfelf capable o f doing it
juftice.
The various conjedtires that have
been formed coiiccrniilg the true
author o f the Edda, have been no
lefs erroneous than thoie relating to
the fubjed of the book itfelf It has
generally been thought that Samundr
Sigfufon, who died in 1133, wrote
a very ample work, intituled. The
Edda, which treated o f maiiy ini-
portant fubjeds, and was in a manner
a magazine o f all human knowledge
; o f this however fcarce one
3 third
third has ever been preferved, and
tranfniitted to us in the prefent Edda.
But Chevalier Hire aflerts, that the
Edda we are now in pofTeftion of, has
not been extraded from any one more
antient, but that is was originally com-
pofed by Snorre Sturlefon.
The difficulties and objedions that
have been made againft this opinion
by the learned Arnas Magnaus, and
afterwards by profeflbr Sclilofern, can
eafily be removed ; for moft probably
Sturleibn’s Edda has been continued
by the monk Gunlaug, as Bjorn o f
Skardlaa fuppofes, or rather by Olafr
Hvitaikald. It is therefore not iurpriz-
ing, that fomething in praife o f Sturle-
foD fliould be inferted; and it may
cafily be explained from hence, why
the anther called Waldemar, king o f
Denmark, Ills mafter.
it is difficuii to determine the true
nature of the antient Icelandic poetry;
hovvever, to give you fome idea of it,
I will fay fomething of the verfification
iiioit frequently ufed among them,
and
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