a system of the ancient Icelandic or Runic mythology, containing many curious particulars of the theology, philosophy, and manners of the northern nations of Europe; or of the Scandinavians who had migrated from Asia, and from whom our Saxon ancestors were descended. Mallet was of opinion that it was originally compiled soon after the Pagan religion was abolished, as a course of poetical lectures, for the use of such young Icelanders as devoted themselves to the profession of scald or poet. It consists of two principal parts; the first containing a brief system of mythology, properly called the Edda; and the second being a kind of art of poetry, and called Scalda or poetica. The most ancient Edda was compiled by Soemund Sigfusson, surnamed the Learned, who was born in Iceland about 1057. This was abridged, and rendered more easy and intelligible, about 120 years afterwards, by Snorro Sturluson, who was supreme judge of Iceland from 1215 to 1222; and it was published in the form of a dialogue. The latter added also the second part in the form of a dialogue, which is a detail of different events connected with the heathen divinities. The only three pieces which are known to remain of the more ancient Edda of Soemund are the Volupsa, the Havamaal, and the Runic chapter. The Volupsa, or prophecy of Vula, or Fola, appears to be the text on which the Edda is the comment. It contains, in two or three hundred lines, the whole system of mythology disclosed in the Edda; and may be compared to the Sibylline verses, on account of its laconic yet bold style, and its imagery and obscurity. It is professedly a revelation of the decrees of the father of nature, and the actions and operations of the gods. It describes the chaos, the formation of the world with its various inhabitants, the functions of the gods, their most signal adventures, their quarrels with Loke their great adversary, and the vengeance that ensued; and it concludes with a long description of the final state of the universe, its dissolution and conflagration, the battle of the inferior deities and the evil beings, the renovation of the world, the happy lot of the good, and the punishment of the wicked. The Havamaal, or Sublime Discourse, is attributed to the god Odin, or Woden, who is supposed to have given these precepts of wisdom to mankind. It is comprised in about 120 stanzas, and resembles the book of Proverbs. Mallet has given several extracts from this treatise in his Northern Antiquities. The Runic chapter contains a short system of ancient magic, especially of the enchantments wrought by the operation of Runic characters, of which a specimen is also given. A manuscript copy of the Edda of Snorro is preserved in the library of the university of Upsal; the first part of it was published with a Swedish and Latin version by M. Goranson. The Latin version is printed as a supplement to Mallet's Northern Antiquities. The first edition of the Edda was published by Resenius, professor at Copenhagen, in the year 1665, in a large quarto volume, containing the text of the Edda, a Latin translation by an Icelandic priest, a Danish version, and various readings from different manuscripts. Mallet has also given an English translation of the first part, accompanied with remarks; from which we learn, that the Edla teaches the doctrine of the Supreme, called the Universal Father, and Odin, who lives for ever, governs all his kingdom, and directs the great things as well as the small; who formed the heaven, earth, and air; who made man, and gave him a spirit or soul, which will live after the body shall have mouldered away: then all the just shall dwell with him in a place called Gimle or Vingolf, the palace of friendship; but wicked men shall go to Hela, or death, and thence to Niflheim, or the abode of the wicked, which is below in the ninth world. It inculcates also the belief of several interior gods and goddesses, the chief of whom is Friga or Freya, that is, lady, meaning thereby the earth, who was the spouse of Odin or the Supreme God; and hence we may infer that, according to the opinion of these ancient philosophers, this Odin was the active principle or soul of the world, which, uniting itself with matter, had thereby put it in a condition to produce the intelligences or inferior gods, and men, with all other creatures. The Edda likewise teaches the existence of an evil being called Loke, the calumniator of the gods, and the artificer of fraud, who surpasses all other beings in cunning and perfidy. It teaches the creation of all things out of an abyss or chaos; the final destruction of the world by fire; the absorption of the inferior divinities, both good and bad, into the bosom of the grand divinity, from whom all things proceeded as emanations of his essence, and who will survive all things; and, lastly, the renovation of the earth in an improved state.