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is overwhelmed with such a redundance of wretched verses."
AFTER this remarkable fiction, there
are many Fables in the Edda which have
little or no relation to Mythology. These
are historical strokes, blended with fictions,
which are neither important for their
instruction, nor agreeable for their invention.
I shall therefore proceed, without farther
delay, to say something of the Scalda, or
“Poetical Dictionary,” which I have
before mentioned in the Introduction to this
Volume.
We have already seen that it was compiled by Snorro, for the use of such Icelanders as applied themselves to the profession of Scald or Poet. As this Author wrote in the thirteenth century, he hath not only given the Epithets belonging to the ancient Poetry, but also such as were become necessary, in consequence of the new religion, and new sources of knowlege that had been introduced into the north. The work begins with the Names of the Twelve Gods, which Snorro produces afresh, in order to range under each their several epithets and synonymous appellations. Odin alone has one hundred and twenty-six; whence we may judge of the number of ancient Poems which had been written to celebrate this Deity. I shall present the Reader with a
