xx.
the fabulous, that it is very difficult at this distance of time to speak with certainty either about himself or his writings.
Concerning the Edda, which is ascribed to Sæmund, it is necessary to observe, that for several ages it remained undiscovered; but was at last found by one Bryniolfus Suenonius in the year 1639. It was then written on parchment, in a very obscure character; but by the labors of the learned discoverer, its meaning was fully ascertained, and an exact transcript of it taken. He it was who first called it the Edda of Sæmund. Thormadus Torfæus obtained the manuscript of Bryniolfus. He was Historiographer to the King of Norway, and a great Antiquarian. For a long time it was preserved in his Museum, and shown only as a curiosity to the
