PREFACE.
to them: and that is, an amazing fondness for poetry. It will be thought a paradox, that the same people, whose furious ravages destroyed the last poor remains of expiring genius among the Romans, should cherish it with all possible care among their own countrymen: yet so it was. At least this was the case among the ancient Danes, and from the similarity of their religion, manners, and customs, is equally credible of the other nations of Teutonic race.
The ancient inhabitants of Sweden, Denmark and Norway retained their original manners and customs longer than any other of the Gothic tribes, and brought them down nearer to our own times. The remoteness of their situation rendered access to them slow and difficult: nor was it till the tenth and eleventh centuries thatchrist-
