j j i ' f
'■ : -fí ‘
Schedis, or Iflandiga hok, and feveral
others.
It is more difficult to determine
fomething concluiive concerning the
third appendix, or Skaldetai, I have
always been o f opinion, that it was
begun by Snorre, as it commonly
follows the Edda, and that it was
afterwards augmented by one or more
perfons : Wormins did the fame by a
poem written by Saxo Hiarne, who obtained
by that compoiition the regal
dignity in Denmark, though as a Dane
he was not properly intitled to be
placed in the lift of Icelandic poets.
That this catalogue was the work of
feveral hands may in my opinion be
perceived by more than one indication :
immediately in the beginning it is laid,
that Starkotter was tlie firft o f the
Skalds, wliofe verfes the people had
learned by heart ; and in the end a
certain Ulfver hin Oar ge is cited as the
firft, who, according to Mr. Schöning,
lived in the fecond century,
and confequently muft have been feveral
centuries older than the above-
mentioned Starkotter. Thefe two
g accounts
accounts can hardly be fuppofed to
proceed from one and the fame author.
It is befides incontrovertible, that
what is faid of the laft Norwegian
kings correfponds not with the time
of Snorre. It would be of eifential
fervice i f a man o f Mr. Suhm’s merit
and abilities would critically examine
this Skaldetai, and compare it with
Wormius’s lift o f poets, that differs fo
widely from it in feveral points.
This at leail may be perceived by
every one, that the Skalds therein mentioned
have not all lived in the thirteenth
century ; but that a great part
of them exifted in the tenth, eleventh,
and twelfth centuries. The 230
Skalds, who, according to Mr. Schlo-
zer^s reckoning, lived in the thirteenth
century, may be confiderably
reduced in number, by one and the
fame Skald being mentioned in three
or four different places, as i f he had
been in the fervice o f as many mailers.
It is very remarkable that fome o f
thefe Skalds, as Oitar Svarte, Sigvatur
Thordarfon, and others, have been
received
i f äd
miW'k
ill"'
f
II