xxi.
learned. Resenius at last obtained the manuscript from Torfæus. Beside this, there were several writings which could challenge as great, if not greater antiquity than the manuscript of Bryniolfus. They were all, however, connected together, and mutually threw light upon each other.
There are two opinions concerning the title given to these Odes. One is of Olaus, who in his notes to the Voluspa, asserts that Sæmund, wishing to rescue from oblivion the Mythology of his ancestors, which in his time was chiefly traditionary, composed those odes in the Icelandic language which bear his name, and having completed them, gave them the name of Edda. Opposite to this is the opinion of Gudmundus; according to whom Sæmund was the first person who introduced the knowledge of the
