%.
N THE CUSTODY OF ThE
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY.
SHELF N°
^ ADAMS
THE
HISTORY
O F
ENGLISH POETRY,
F R O M T H E
CLOSE of the ELEVENTH
TO THE
COMMENCEMENT of the EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED
TWO DISSERTATIONS.
I. On the Origin of ROMANTIC FICTION in EUROPE.
II. On the Introduction of LEARNING into ENGLAND.
THE SECOND EDITION.
V O L. I.
By THOMAS W A R T O N, B. D.
Fellow of Trinity College Oxford, and of the Society of Antiquaries, and
late Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford.
LONDON:
Printed for, and fold by, J. Dodsley, Pall-Mall; J. Walter, Charing-Crofs ; T. Beckett,
Strand; J. Roeson, New Bond-Street; G. Robinson, and J. Bew, Pater-nofler-Row ;
and Meflis. Fletcher, at OxyoRD. M.ucc.lxxv.
ADAMS
M>\
TO HIS GRACE
GEORGE
DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH,
MAR QJJ IS OF BLANDFORD,
KNIGHT OF THE
MOST NOBLE ORDER of the GARTER,
A JUDGE AND A PATRON
OF THE
P O L I T E A R T S,
THIS WORK IS MOST HUMBLY INSCRIBED,
By his Grace's mofl: obliged,
And mofi: obedient Servant,
THOMAS WARTON.
PREFACE.
N an age advanced to the higheft degree of re-
finement, that fpecies of curiofity commences,,
which is bufied in contemplating the progrefs of
focial hfe, in difplaying the gradations of fcience,
and in tracing the tranfitions from barbarifm to
civiHt3\
That thefe fpeculations fhould become the fa-
vourite purfuits, and the fafhionable topics, of fuch
a period, is extremely natural. We look back on
the favage condition of our anceflors with the
triumph of fuperiorlty ; we are pleafed to mark the
fieps by which we have been raifed from rudenefs to
elegance : and our reflebut it confifts of petrified earth, fand, and
fhells, which compofe a fubftance of great
folidity. It has been chiefly deftroyed by
the neighbouring inhabitants, for the fake
of its materials : and moft of the adjacent
towns and villages are built out of its
ruins. Bentink's Notes on Abulgazi, p,
722. Eng. edit. See Chardin's Travels,
p. 176. And Struys's Voyage, B. iii. c
20. p. 226. Olearius's Travels of the
Holftein Ambaftiad. B. vii. p. 403. Geo-
graph. Nubienf. vi. c. 9. And Aft. Pe-
tropolit. vol. i. p. 405. By the way,
this work probably preceded the time of
Alexander : it does not appear, from the
courfe of his vidlories, that he ever came
near the Cafpian gates. The firft and fa-
bulous hiftory of the eaftern nations, will
perhaps be found to begin with the exploits
of this Grecian hero.
mancc
DISSERTATION I.
mance, which oppofed the landing of Brutus in Britain, was
Goemagat. He was twelve cubits high, and would unroot
an oak as eafily as an hazel wand : but after a mofl obfli-
nate encounter with Corineus, he was tumbled into the fea
from the fummit of a fteep cliff on the rocky fhores of Corn-
wall, and dafhed in pieces againft the huge crags of the de-
clivity. The place where he fell, adds our hiflorian, taking
its name from the giant's fall, is called Lam-Goemagot, or
Goemagot's Leap, to this day ^ A no lefs monflrous giant,
whom king Arthur flew on Saint Michael's Mount in Corn-
wall, is faid by this fabler to have come from Spain. Here
the origin of thefe flories is evidently betrayed^. The Ara-
bians, or Saracens, as I have hinted above, had conquered
Spain, and were fettled there. Arthur having killed this
redoubted giant, declares, that he had combated with none
of equal flrength and prowefs, fmce he overcame the mighty
giant Ritho, on the mountain Arabius, who had made himfelf
a robe of the beards of the kings whom he had killed. This
tale is in Spenfer's Faerie Queene. A magician brought
from Spain is called to the afliflance of Edwin, a prince of
Northumberland '', educated under Solomon king of the
Armoricans '. In the prophecy of Merlin, delivered to Vorti-^
gern after the battle of the dragons, forged perhaps- by the
tranflator Geoffrey, yet apparently in the fpirit and manner
of the refl, we have the Arabians named, and their fitua--
tions in Spain and Africa. " From Conau fhall come forth
**■ a wild boar, whofe tufks fhall deflroy the oaks- of the fo-
" refls of France. The Arabians and Africans fliall
" dread him ; and he fhall continue his rapid courfe into^
" the mofl diflant parts of Spain \" This is king Arthur,.
In the fame prophecy, mention is made of the " Woods of
' Lib. i. c. 16. were ftrongly allied to the Welfh and'
8 L. X. c. 3^ Cornifh.
^ The Cumbrian and Northumbrian Bri- ' Lib. xii. c. 1,4, 5, 6.
tons, as powerful opponents of the Saxons, '' Lib. vii. c. 3.
*' Africa."
P I S S E R T A T I O N X
'' Africa;* In another place Gormund king of the Africans
occurs '. In a battle which Arthur fights againft the Ro-
mans, fome of the principal leaders in the Roman army are
Alifantinam king of Spain, Pandrafus king of Egypt, Boccus
king of the Medes, Evander king of Syria, Micipfa king of
Babylon, and a duke of Phrygia". It is obvious to fuppofe
how thefe countries became fo familiar to the bard of our
chronicle. The old fi6lions about Stonehenge were derived
from the fame inexhauftible fource of extravagant imagina-
tion. We are told in this romance, that the giants con-
veyed the ftones which compofe this miraculous monument
from the fartheft coafts of Africa, Every one of thefc
flones is fuppofed to be myftical, and to contain a medicinal
virtue : an idea drawn from the medical fkill of the Arabians",
and more particularly from the Arabian do6lriQe of attri-
buting healing qualities, and other occult properties, to
ftones °. Merlin's transformation of Uther into Gorlois, and
of Ulfin into Bricel, by the power of fome medical pre-
paration, is a fpecies of Arabian magic, which profefTed to
work the moft wonderful deceptions of this kind» and is men-
tioned at large hereafter, in tracing the inventions of Chaucer's
poetry. The attribution of prophetical language to birds
was common among the orientals : and an eagle is fuppofed
to fpeak at building the walls of the city of Paladur, now
Shaftefbury ^ The Arabians cultivated the ftudy of philo-
' Lib. xil. 2. XI- 8. I a.
"" Lib. X. c. 5. S. 10.
" Seeinfr. Sect. i. p. 10. And Sect.
xiii. p. 378. infr.
° This chronicle was evidently compiled
to do honour to the Britons and their
affairs, and efpecially in oppofition to the
Saxons. Now the importance with which
thefe romancers feem to fpeak of Stone-
henge, and the many beautiful fidlions with
which they have been fo Itudious to em-
bellifh its origin, and to aggrandife its
"hiftory, appear to me ftrongly to favour the
hypothefis, that Stonehenge is a Britifh
monument ; and indeed to prove, that it was
really erefled in memory of the three hun-
dred British nobles maflacred by the Saxon
Hengill. See Sect. ii. infr. p. 52. No
D R u I D I c A L monument, of which fo many
remains were common, engaged their at-
tention or interefted them fo much, as this
NATIONAL memorial appears to have
done.
p Lib, ii. c. 9. See Sect. inf. xv. p.
413-
fophy
DISSERTATION I.
fophy, particularly aflronomy, with amazing ardour". Hence
arofe the tradition, reported by our hiftorian, that in king
Arthur's reign, there fubfifted at Caer-leon in Glamorgan-
fhire a college of two hundred philofophers, who ftudied
aflronomy and other fciences j and who were particularly
employed in watching the courfes of the ftars, and predicting
events to the king from their obfervations ^. Edwin's Spanifh
magician above-mentioned, by his knowledge of the flight
of birds, and the courfes of the ftars, is faid to foretell
future difafters. In the fame ftrain Merlin, prognofticates
Uther's fuccefs in battle by the appearance of a comet \
The fame enchanter's nioonderful Jkill in mechanical powers^ by
which he removes the giant's Dance, or Stonehenge, from
Ireland into England, and the notion that this ftupendous
ftru6ture was raifed by a profound philosophical know-
ledge OF THE MECHANICAL ARTS, are founded on the Arabic
literature '. To which we may add king Bladud's magical
operations '. Dragons are a fure mark of ©rientalifm. One
of thefe in our romance is a '' terrible dragon flying from
*^ the weft, breathing fire, and illuminating all the country
" with the brightnefs of his eyes *." In another place we
have a giant mounted on a winged dragon : the dragon
ere6ls his fcaly tail, and wafts his rider to the clouds with
great rapidity ",
Arthur and Charlemagne are the firft and original heroes of
romance. And as Geoff"rey's hiftory is the grand repofitory of
the a6ts of Arthur, fo a fabulous hiftory afcribed to Turpin is
the ground work of all the chimerical legends which have
been related concerning the conquefts of Charlemagne and
his twelve peers. Its fubje6l is the expulfion of the Sara-
•SeeDiss.ii. And5ECT.xv. inf. p.402. * L. il. 10,
^ L, viii. c. 15. « L. X. c. 2.
P Lib. ix. c. 12. ■" L, vii. c.4.
' L. viii. c. 10, See infr. Sect, xv,
paffim.
Vol. I. c cens
DISSERTATION
T.
cens from Spain : and it is filled with fi£lions evidently
eogenial with thofe which charafterife Geoffrey's hiftory ^,
Some fuppofe, as I have hinted above, this romance to
have been written by Turpin, a monk of the eighth century ;
who, for his knowledge of the Latin language, his fanftity,
and gallant exploits againft the Spanifh Saracens, was pre-
ferred to the archbiihoprick of Rheims by Charlemagne.
Others believe it to have been forged under archbilhop
Turpin's name about that time. Others very foon after-
wards, in the reign of Charles the Bald"* That is, about
the year 870 ^.
Voltaire, a writer of much deeper refearch than is ima-
gined, and the firft who has difplayed the literature and^
cuftoms of the dark ages with any degree of penetration
and comprehenfion, fpeaking of the fi6litious tales concern-
ing Charlemagne, has remarked, " Ces fables qu'un moine
" ecrivit au onzieme fiecle, fous le nom de I'archeveque
** Turpin *." And it might eafily be fhewn that juft before.
the commencement of the thirteenth century, romantic
ftories about Charlemagne were more fafhionable than ever
among the French minftrels. That is, on the recent pub-
lication of this fabulous hiftory of Charlemagne. Hiftorical
evidence concurs with numerous internal arguments to prove,
that it muft have been compiled after the crufades. In the
twentieth chapter, a pretended pilgrimage of Charlemagne
to the holy fepulchi'e at Jerufalem is recorded : a forgery
■^ I win mention' only one among many
Others. The chriftians under Charlemagne
are faid to have foand in Spain a golden
idol, or image of Mahomet, as high as a
bird can fly. It was framed by Mahomet
himfelf of the pureft metal, who by his
knowledge in necromancy had fealed up
within it a legion of diabolical' fpirits.
It held in its hand a prodigious club ;: and
the Saracens had a prophetic tradition, that
this club fhould fall from the hand of the
image in that year when a certain king;
Ihould be born in France, &c. J. Turpini
Hift. de Vit. Carol.. Magn. et Rolandi.
cap. iv. f. 2. a.
" See Hift. Acad, des Infcript. &c. vii..
293. edit. 4to.
y See Catel, Mem. de I'Hift. du Lan-
guedoc. pag. 545.
^ " Hitt. Gen. ch. viii. Oeuvr. tom. i...
p. 84. edit. Genev. 1756.
feemingly
DISSERTATION I
feemingly contrived with a defign to give an importance to
thofe wild expeditions, and which would eafily be believed
when thus authenticated by an archbifhop *.
There is another flrong internal proof that this romance
was written long after the time of Charlemagne. Our hif-
torian is fpeaking of the numerous chiefs and kings who
came with their armies to aflift his hero : among the reft he
mentions earl Oell, and adds, " Of this man there is a fong
*' commonly fung among the minftrels even to this day \"
Nor will I believe, that the European art of war, in the
eighth century, could bring into the field fuch a prodigious
parade of battering rams and wooden caftles, as thofe with
which Charlemagne is faid to have befieged the city Agen-
Hum "" : the crufades feem to have made thefe huge military
machines common in the European armies. However we
may fufpe6i: it appeared before, yet not long before, Geof-
frey's romance ; who mentions Charlemagne's Twelve
Peers, fo lavifhly celebrated in Turpin's book, as prefent
at king Arthur's imaginary coronation at Caer-leon. Al-
though the twelve peers of France occur in chronicles of
the tenth century **,; and they might befides have been fug-
gefted to Geoffrey's original author, from popular traditions
and fongs of minftrels. We are fure it was extant before
the year 1 1 22, for Calixtus the fecond in that year, by papal
* See InFr. Sect. ui. p. 124.
'' ** De hoc canitur in Cantilena ufque ed
** hodiernum diem." cap. xi. f. 4. b. edit.
Schard, Francof. 1566. fol. Chronograph.
'Quat.
' Ibid. cap. ix. f. 3. b. The writer adds,
*' Q^ttn((\^Q artifciis ad capiendumy Sec"
See alfp cap. x. ibid. Compare Sect. iv.
infr. p. 160, In one of Charlemagne's
battles, the Saracens advance with horrible
vifors bearded and horned, and with drums
or cymbals. ■" Tenentefque fmguli tvm-
*' PAN A, quse manibus for:iter percutie-
"^^ bant." The unufual fpeftacle and found
terrified the horfes of the chriftian army,
and threw them into confufion. In a fe-
cond engagement.Charlemagne commanded
the eyes of the horfes to be covered, and
their ears to be flopped. Turpin. cap. xviii.
f. 7. b. The latter expedient is copied in.
the Romance of Richard thb first,
written about the eleventh century. See
Sect. iv. infr. p. 165. See alfo what ie
faid of the Saracen drums, ibid. p. 167.
"^ Flodoard of Rheims firft mentions
them, whofe chronicle comes down to 966.
C 2
authority
DISSERTATION
i:
authority, pronounced this hiftbry to be genuine ",. Mon-
fieur Ailard affirms, that it was written, and in the eleventh
century, at Vienna by a monk of Saint Andrew's ^ This
monk was probably nothing more than fome Latin tran-
flator : but a learned French antiquary is of opinion, that
it was originally compofed in Latin ; and moreover, that the
moft antient romances, even thofe of the Round Table,,
were originally written in that language ^ Oienhart, and
with the greateft probability, fuppofes it to be the work of
a Spaniard. He quotes an authentic manufcript to prove,
that it was brought out of Spain into France before: the
clofe of the twelfth century *" j and that the miraculous
exploits performed in Spain by Charlemagne and earl Roland,
recorded in this romantic hiftory, were unknown among
the French before that period : except only that fome few of
them were obfcurely and imperfe6lly fketched in the metrical
tales of thofe who fung heroic adventures *. Oienhart's fup-
pofition that this hiftory was compiled in Spain, the centre
of oriental fabling in Europe, at once accounts for the na-
ture and extravagance of its fiftions, and immediately pointa
to their Arabian origin ". As to the French manufcript of
* Magn. Chron. Belgic. pag. 150. fub
ann. Compare J. Long. Bibl, Hift. Gall,
num. 6671. And Lamoec. ii. p. 333.
^ Bibl. de Dauphine. p. 224.
2 See infr. Sect. viii. p. 464.
" See infr. Sect. iii. p. 135.
^ Arnoldi Oicnharti Notit. utriufque
Vafconiae, edit. Parif. 1638. 410. pag.
397. lib. iii. c. 3. Such was Roland's
fong, fung at the battle of Haftings. But
fee this romance, cap. xx. f. 8. b. Where
Turpin feems to refer to fome other fa-
bulous material's or hiftory concerning
Charlemagne. Particularly about Galafar
and Braiamant, which make fuch a figure
Ifl Boyardo and Ariofto.
" ^ Innumerable romantic ftories, of Ara-
bian growth, are to this day current among
the common people of Spain, which they
call CujEKTOS DE ViEjAS. I Will re-
late one from that lively pifture of the
Spaniards, Relation du Voyage d'Eft
PAGNE, by Madamoifelle Danois. With-
in the antient caftle of Toledo, they fay^
there was a vafl cavern whofe entrance was
ftrongly barricadoed. It was univerfally
believed, that if any perfon entered this
cavern, the moft fatal difafters would hap-
pen to the Spaniards. Thus it remained
clofely Ihut and unentered for many agcsi
At length king Roderigo, having lefs cre-
dulity but more courage and curiofity than
his anceftors, commanded this formidable
recefs to be opened-. At entering, he
began to fufpeft^ the traditions of the peo-
ple to be true : a terrible tcmpeft arofe, and
all the elements feemed united to embai-
rafs him. Neverthelefs, he ventured for-
wards into the cave, where he difcerned by.
the light of his torches certain figures or. fla«-
mesi
DISSERTATION h
this hiftory, it is a tranflation from Turpin's Latin, made
by Michel de Harnes- in the year 1207 '. And, by the way^
from the tranflator's declaration, that there was a great im-
propriety in tranflating Latin profe into verfe, we may con-
clude,, that at the commencement of the thirteenth century
the French generally made their tranflations into verfe.
In thefe two fabulous chronicles the foundations of romance
feem to be laid. The principal chara6lers, the leading fub-
j-ecls, and the fundamental fi6lions, which have fupplied
fuch ample matter to this fingular fpecies of compofition,
are here firil difplayed. And although the long continuance
of the crufades imported innumerable inventions of a fimilar
complexion, and fubftituted the atchievements of new cham-
pions and the wonders of other countries, yet the tales of
Arthur and of Charlemagne, diverfified indeed, or enlarged
with additional embeilifhments, ftill continued to prevail,,
and to be the favourite topics : and this, partly from their
early popularity, partly from the quantity and the beauty,
of the fi6lions with which they were at firft fupported, and
efpecially becaufe the defign of the crufades had made thofe
fubje6ls fo fafbionable in which chriftians fought with infi-
dels. In a word, thefe volumes, are the firil. fpecimens.
ties of men, whofe habiliments and arms
were ftrange and' uncouth. One of them
had a fword of Ihinlng- brafs, on which it
was written in Arabic charaders, that the
time approached when the Spanifh nation
fhould be deftroyed, and that it would not
be long before the warriors, whofe images
were placed there, fhould arrive in Spain.
The writer adds, '* Je n'ai jamais ete en
** aucun endroit, ou Ton faffe plus de
** CAS des coNTES FABULEUx qu'en
*' Efpagne." Edit, a la Haye, 1691.
torn. iii. p. 158. 159. i2mo. See infr.
SiCT. iii. p. 112., And the Life of
Cervantes, by Don Gregorfo Mayans.
' See Du Chefne, torn. v. p. 60. And
Mem. Lit. xvii. 737. feq. It Is in the
royal library at Paris, Num. 8190. Pro-
bably the French Turpin^ in the British.
Mufeum is the fame. Cod. MSS. Harl.
273. 23. f. 86. See infr. Sect. iii. p.
135. See inftances of the Englifh tran-
flating profe Latin books into Englifh, and
fometimes French, verfe. Sect. ii. infr;
pafTim.
In the king's library at Paris, there is a
tranflation of Dares Phrygius into French
rhymes by Godfrey of Waterford an Irifh.
Jacobin, a writer not mentioned by Tanner,
in the thirteenth century. Mem. Litt. tomi
xvii. p. 736. Compare Sect, iii.» infr^
p. 125. In the Notes.
CLXta!S;t
D I S S E R t A T I O N t
extant in this mode of writing. No European hiftory
before thefe has mentioned giants, enchanters, dragons, and
the like monftrous and arbitrary fiflions. And the reafon is
obvious : they were written at a time when a new and
unnatural mode of thinking took place in Europe, intro-
duced by our communication with the eaft.
Hitherto I have confidered the Saracens either at their
immigration into Spain about the ninth century, or at the
time of the crufades, as the firft authors of romantic
fabling among the Europeans. But a late ingenious critic
has advanced an hypothecs, which afligns a new fource,
and a much earlier date, to thefe fi6lions. I will cite his
opinion of this matter in his own words. " Our old
' romances of chivalry may be derived in a lineal des-
* CENT from the antient hiftorical fongs of the Gothic
' bards and fcalds. — Many of thofe fongs are ftill preferved
' in the north, which exhibit all the feeds of chivalry
* before it became a foiemn inftitution. — Even the com-
* mon arbitrary fi61:ions of romance were moft of thera
* familiar to the antient fcalds of the north, long before
* the time of the crufades. They believed the exiftence of
* giants and dwarfs, they had fome notion of fairies, they
* were flrongly pofi'efTed with the belief of fpells and in-
* chantment, and were fond of inventing combats with
' dragons and monfters "." Monfieur Mallet, a very able
and elegant inquirer into the genius and antiquities of the
northern nations, mantains the fame do6lrine. He feems to
think, that many of the opinions and pra6lices of the Goths^
however obfolete, ftill obfcurely fubfift. He adds, " May
" we not rank among thefe, for example, that love and
*' admiration for the profeflion of arms which prevailed
*^ among our anceftors even to fanaticifm, mad as it were
^* through fyftem, and bravt from a point of honour ? —
*» Percy, on Awtxezjt Metr. Rom. i. p. 3. 4. edit. 1767.
Can
DISSERTATION I,
•' Can we not explain from the Gothic religion, how judl-
** ciary combats, and proofs by the ordeal, to the aftonifh-
" ment of poflerity, were admitted by the legiflature of all
«« Europe " : and how, even to the prefent age, the people
*« are ftill infatuated with a belief of the power of magi-
<« cians, witches, fpirits, and genii, concealed under the earth
«* or in the waters ? — Do we not difcover in thefe religious
«* opinions, that fource of the marvellous with which our
" anceftors filled their romances ; in which we fee dwarfs
*' and giants, fairies and demons," &c °. And in another
place. " The fortrefies of the Goths were only rude caftles
« iituated on the fummits of rocks, and rendered inacceffible
«^ by thick misfhapen walls. As thefe walls ran winding
^« round the caflles, they often called them by a name which
** fignified Serpents or Dragons ; and in thefe they ufually
" fecured the women and young virgins of diflin6lion, who
" were feldom fafe at a time when fo many enterprifnig
" heroes were rambling up and down in fearch of adven-
" tures. It was this cuftom which gave occafion to antient
" romancers, who knew not how to defcribe any thing
" fimply, to invent fo many fables concerning princefTes of
** great beauty guarded by dragons, and afterwards delivered
" by invincible champions ^.
" For the judiciary combats, as alfo for Worm. p. 63. In favour of this barbaroiK
common athletic exercifes, they formed an inftitution it ought to be remembered, that
amphitheatrical circus of rude ftones. "Qus- the practice of th!23 marking out the place
•* dam [faxa] ciRCOs claudebant, in qui- of battle muft have prevented much blood-
*' bus gigantes et pugiles duello ftrenue fhed, and faved many innocent lives : for
" decertabant." Worm. p. 62. And again, if either combatant was by any accident
** Nee mora, CIRC UATUR campus, milite forced ont of the circus, he was to lofe his
" CIRCUS ftipatur, concurrunt pugiles." caufe, or to pay three marks of pure filver
p. 65. It is remarkable, that circs of the as a redemption for his life. Worm. p.
fame fort are ftill to be feen in Cornwall,- 68, 69. In the year 987, the ordeal was
& famous at this day for the athletic art : fubftituted in Denmark inftead of the duel ;
in which alfo they fometimes exhibited a mode of decifion, at leaft in a political
their fcriptural interludes. See infr. Sect. fenfe, lefs abfurd, as it promoted military
vi. p. 237, Frotho the Great, king of fltill.
Denmark, in the Jirft century, is faid to ° Mallet, Introduftion a 1' Hifloirfi ds
have been the firft who commanded all Dannemarc, Sec. torn. ii. p. 9.
ccniroverfies to be decided by the fword. * lb. ch» Lx. p^zA^. torn. ii.
I do:-
Dissertation i.
I do not mean entirely to reje6i this hypothecs : but I
v/ill endeavour to fliew how far I think it is true, and in
what manner or degree it may be reconciled with the fyftem
delivered above.
A few years before the birth of Chrift, foon after Mithri-
dates had been overthrown by Pompey, a nation of Afiatic
Goths, who pofleffed that region of Aiia which is now called
Georgia, and is connedled on the fouth with Perfia, alarmed
at the progreflive encroachments of the Roman armies, re-
tired in vaft multitudes under the condudl of their leader
Odin, or Woden, into the northern parts of Europe, not
fubje6l to the Roman government, and fettled in Denmark,
Norway, Sweden, and other diftri6ls of the Scandinavian terri-
tory \ As they brought with them many ufeful arts, parti-
cularly the knowledge of letters, which Odin is faid to have
invented ', they were hofpitably received by the natives.
'i " Unicam gentium Afiatlcarum Im-
*• migrationem,'m orbem Arftoum faftam,
" noftrse antiquitates commemorant. Sed
*' -earn tamen non primam. Verum circa
** anrrum tandem vicefimum quartum ante
*' natum Chriftum, Romanis exercitibus
*' aufpiciis Pompeii Magni in Afias parte,
** Phrygia Minore, graflantibus. Ilia enim
*' epocha ad hanc rem chronologi noftri
*' utuntur. In cujus (Gylvi Sueci^
" regis) tempora incidit Odinus, Afiaticae
*' immigrationis, fadlas anno 24 ante na-
*' tum Chriftum, antefignanus." Grymo-
gsea, Arngrim. Jon. lib. i. cap. 4. p. 30.
31. edit. Hamburg. 1609. See alio Bar-
tholin. Antiquitat. Dan. Lib. ii. cap. 8.
p. 407. iii. c. 2. p. 652. edit. 1689.
Lazius, de Gent. Migrat. L. x. fol. 573.
30. edit. fol. 1600. Compare Ol. Rud-
beck. cap. v. feft. 2. p. 95. xiv. feft. 2.
p. 67. There is a memoir on this fubjedl
lately publiflied in the Peterfburgh Tranf-
aftions, but I chufe to refer to original au-
thorities. See tom v. p. 297. edit. 1738.
f " Odino etiam et aliis, qui ex Afia hue
** devenere, tribuunt multi antiquitatum
*' Iflandicarum perifi ; unde et Odinus
*' RuNHOFDi feu Runarum {i. e. Litera-
" rum) auftor vocatur." Ol. Worm. Li-
ter. Runic, cap. 20. edit. Hafn. 1651.
Some writers refer the origin of the Gre-
cian language, fcicnces, and religion to
the Scythians, who were conneded to-
wards the foutli with Odin's Goths. lean-
not bring a greater authority than that of
Salmafms, " Satis certum ex his coUigi
*' poteft linguam, ut gentem, Helleni-
*' CAM, a feptentrione et Scythia origi-
*< nem traxifTe, non a meridie. Inde li-
" TER^ "Gr^corum, inde MuSi^ Pi-
•*' ERiDEs, inde facrorum initia." Sal-
maf. de Hellenift. p. 400. As a further
proof I fhall obferve, that the antient poet
Thamyris was fo much efteemed by the Scy-
thians, on account of his poetry, xk9apw^a,
that they chofe him their king. Conon.
Narrat. Poet. cap. vii. edit. Gal. But
Thamyris was a Thracian : and a late in-
genious antiquarian endeavours to prove,
that the Goths were defcended from the
Thracians, and that the Greeks and Thra-
cians were only different clans of the fame
people.Clarke's Connexion, &c.ch.ii.p. 65.
and
DISSERTATION I,
and by degrees acquired a fafe and peaceable eftablifhment
in the new country, which feems to have adopted their lan-
guage, laws, and religion. Odin is faid to have been ftiled
a god by the Scandinavians ; an appellation which the fupe-
riour addrefs and fpecious abilities of this Afiatic chi,ef eafily
extorted from a more favage and uncivilifed people.
This migration is confirmed by the concurrent teftimo-
nies of various hiftorians : but there is no better evidence of
it, than that confpicuous fimilarity fublifting at this day
between feveral cuftoms of the Georgians, as defcribed by
Chardin, and thofe of certain cantons of Norway and Swe-
den, which have preferved their antient manners in the
pureft degree *. Not that other ftriking implicit and in-
ternal proofs, which often carry more convi6lion than
dire6l hiftorical aflertions, are wanting to point out this
migration. The antient inhabitants of Denmark and Nor-
way infcribed the exploits of their kings and heroes on
rocks, in chara6lers called Runic j and of this pra6tice many-
marks are faid ftill to remain in thofe countries '. This art
or cuflom of writing on rocks is Afiatic ". Modern travel-
lers report, that there are Runic infcriptions now exifting
in the deferts of Tartary ". The written mountains of
the Jews are an inflance that this fafliion was oriental.
Antiently, when one of thefe northern chiefs fell honourably
in battle, his weapons, his war-horfe, and his wife, were
confumed with himfelf on the fame funeral pile ^. I need
* See Pontoppidan. Nat. Hift. Norway,
torn. ii. c. lo. §. 1.2.3.
' See Saxo Grammat. Praef. ad Hift.
Dan. And Hiil. lib. vii. See alfo Ol.
Worm. Monum. Dan. lib. iii.
" Paulus Jovius, a writer indeed not of
the beft credit, fays, that Annibal engraved
charafters on the Alpine rocks, as a tefti-
mony of his paffage over them, and that
they were remaining there two centuries
ago. Hift. lib. XV. p. 163.
Vol I.
^ See Voyage par Strahlembcrg, &c.
A Defcription of the norihern and eafttrn
Parts of Europe and Jfa. Schroder fays,
from Olaus Rudbeckius, that runes, or
letters, were invented by Magog the Scy-
thian, and communicated to Tuifco the
celebrated German chieftain, in the year
of the world 1799. Praef. ad Lexicon La-
tino-Scandic.
y See Keyfler, p. 147, Two funeral
ceremonies, one of burning, the other
d of
DISSERTATION
I.
not remind my readers how religioufly this horrible cere-
mony of facrificing the wife to the dead hulband is at prefent
obferved in the eafl. There is a very remarkable corre-
fpondence, in numberlefs important and fundamental points,
between the Druidical and the Perfian fuperllitions : and
notwithftanding the evidence of Cefar, who fpeaks only
from popular report, and without precifion, on a fubje6l
which he cared little about, it is the opinion of the learned.
Banier, that the Druids were formed on the model of the
Magi ^. In this hypothecs he is fcconded by a modern anti-=
quary; who further fuppofes, that Odin's followers im-
ported this eftablifhment into Scandinavia, from the con-
fines of Perfia \ The Scandinavians attributed divine virtue
to mifletoe; it is mentioned in their Edda, or fyflem of
religious do6lrines, where it is faid to grow on the well
fide of Val-hall, or Odin's elyfuim ^. That Druidical rites
exilled among the Scandinavians we are informed from many
antient Erfe poems, which fay that the Britifli Druids, in
the extremity of their affairs, follicited and obtained aid
from Scandinavia \ The Gothic hell exa6lly refembles that
which we find in the religious fyflems of the Perfians, the
moft abounding in fuperftition of all the eaflern nations.
One of the circumftances is, and an oriental idea, that it is
full of fcorpions and ferpents \ The doftrines of Zeno,
who borrowed mofl of his opinions from the Perfian philo-
fophers, are not uncommon in the Edda. Lok^ the evil
vf BURYING their dead, at different times
prevailed in the north ; and have diftin-
guiftied two eras in the old northern hiftory .
I'he firft was called the Age of Fire,
the fecond the Age of Hills.
■* Mytholog. Expliq. ii. p. 628. 4to.
^^ M. Mallet. Hill. Dannem. i. p. 56.
See alfo Keyfler, p. 152.
*» Edd. IsL. fab. xxviii. Compare Key-
:fler, Antiquit. Sel. Sept. p. 304. feq. The
43crmans, a Teutonic tribe, call it to this
day ** the Branch of Speftres." But fee
Dr. Percy's ingenious note on this pafTage
in the Edda. Northern Antiqui-
ties, vol. ii. p. 143.
= Offian's Works. Cathlin, ii, p.
216. Not. edit. 1765. vol. ii. They add,
that among the auxiliaries came many ma-
gicians.
^ Sec Hyde, Relig. Vet. Perf. p. 399.
404. But compare what is faid of the
Edda, towards the clofe of thisDifcourfe.
deity
DISSERTATION I.
deity of the Goths, is probably the Arimanius of the Per-
fians. In feme of the moft antient Iflandic chronicles,
the Turks are mentioned as belonging to the jurifdi(5lion of
the Scandinavians. Mahomet, not fo great an inventor as
is imagined, adopted into his religion many favourite no-
tions and fuperftitions from the bordering nations which
were the offspring of the Scythians, and efpecially from the
Turks. Accordingly, we find the Alcoran agreeing with the
Runic theology in various inftances. I will mention only
one. It is one of the beatitudes of the Mahometan paradife,
that blooming virgins fhall adminifter the moft lufcious
wines. Thus in Odin's Val-hall, or the Gothic elyfium,
the departed heroes received cups of the ftrongefl mead and
ale from the hands of the virgin-goddefTes called Valkyres %
Alfred, in his Saxon account of the northern feas, taken
from the mouth of Ohther, a Norwegian, who had been
fent by that monarch to difcover a north-eaft paiTage into
the Indies, conftantly calls thefe nations the Orientals^
And as thefe eaftern tribes brought with them into the north
a certain degree of refinement, of luxury and fplendor,
which appeared fmgular and prodigious among barbarians j
one of their early hiflorians defcribes a perfon better drefled
than ufual, by faying, " he was fo well cloathed, that you
" might have taken him for one of the Afiatics ^" Wor-
mius mentions a Runic incantation, in which an Afiatic
inchantrefs is invoked \ Various other inftances might here
* Odin only, drank wine in Valhall. Neiu the magicians of Egypt, they alfo did
Edd. Myth, xxxiv. See Keyfler, p. 152. in like manner ivith their enchavtments,
' See Preface to Alfred's Saxon Orofius, Exod. vii. 11. See alfo vii. 18, 19. ix.
publiflied by Spelman. Vit. ^lfredi. 11, &c. When the people of Ifrael had
Spelm, Append, vi. over-run the country of Balak, he invites
5 Landnama-Saga. See Mallet. Hifl. Baalam a neighbouring prince to
