SWEDEN (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) 511 called. Throughout the verbs the singular is the same in all three persons ; in the plural the first and third are alike, and the second ends in en. Among the best grammars of the lan- guage are those of Rydqvist, Svenska Sprdlcets Lagar (4 vols., Stockholm, 1850-73) ; Strom- borg, Svensk Sprdklara (Stockholm, 1858); Funk, Praktischer Lehrgang zur schnellen und leichten Erlernung der schwedischen Sprache (Leipsic, 1872); and May, "A Practical Gram- mar of the Swedish Language " (4th ed., Stock- holm, 1873). Among the best lexicons are Dalin's (2 vols., Stockholm, 1850-'54), and es- pecially Kindblad's (3 vols., Stockholm, 1840- '73). LITERATURE. The literary history of Sweden has been very conveniently divided into six periods. I. 1250 to 1520. The ear- liest writings extant in the Swedish language are the ancient provincial laws, of which the oldest compilation, that of the province of Westergotland, was probably made about the middle of the 13th century. The poetical spirit of the nation was first developed in the Kdmpamsor, or heroic ballads, and a lit- tle later in the Riddarvisor, or chivalric bal- lads. Of these several collections have been edited; a few of them may perhaps be as- cribed to the latter part of the 13th century, but the greater part of them belong to the 14th and 15th centuries. Of greater influence upon the written language were the romances of chivalry, mostly translations and imitations of those then popular in central Europe. As many of them were translated between 1300 and 1312 by order of Euphemia, queen of Norway, they are collectively called Drott- ning Euphemias Visor, " Queen Euphemia's Songs," though many are in prose. The only noteworthy productions of the 14th cen- . tury are De stora och de gamla Kronilcarna, "The Great and the Old Chronicles," narra- ting the leading events of Swedish history ; a translation of the life of St. Anscarius, and a "Legend of the Nun Elisif," by Bishop Her- manni ; some lyrics composed by Bishop Thomas; the "Revelations" of St. Brigitta, abbess of Wadstena, and her daughter's Sjel- lina Trost, " Soul's Trust," a paraphrase of a Latin treatise. The literary monuments of the 15th century are principally the Codex Vad- stenensis, a collection of legends, essays, let- ters, and diaries, made by the nuns and monks of Wadstena ; an anonymous judicial treatise, Domarereglorna, "Rules for Judges;" and a curious political work, Om Konunga- och Hqf- dinga-styrelsen, " On the Government of Kings and Rulers," based upon the book of an ob- scure Latin author, ^Egidius Romanus. Print- ing was introduced into Stockholm in 1483, the first book printed being a collection of fables styled Dialogus Creaturarum Moralisa- tus. II. 1520 to 1600. The religious contests of the 16th century gave a theological or rather polemical character to almost the entire litera- ture. Two brothers, Olaus Petri (1497-1552) and Laurentius Petri (1499-1573), are almost 773 VOL. xv. 33 the only literary representatives of this period ; they made translations of the Bible, wrote chronicles, and composed verses. A liturgy known as Rddboken, the "Red Book," and other minor Roman Catholic productions, called forth a mass of unimportant polemical writings. All the prose and poetry of this period deserv- ing of mention are some chronicles of the reign of Gustavus Vasa by R. Ludviksson (died 1594), P. Svart (died 1562), and S. Elofsson ; a few hymns translated from the German, and some popular ballads ; a dull religious drama, Judas Redimvus, by Rondelitius ; some hymns and a love song by King Eric XIV. ; and a Visa, or lay, by J. af Hoja (died 1535). III. 1600 to 1718. The learned foreigners who flocked to the court of Christina, among them Descartes, Bochart, the younger Heinsius, Gro- novius, Pufendorf, and Scheffer, gave an im- petus to higher culture in Sweden ; but as they wrote in Latin, they did little for the de- velopment of the vernacular literature. The investigations of the Icelandic literary monu- ments by 01 of Verelius (1618-'82), Olof Rud- beck (1630-1702), and Johan Peringskjold (1654-1720), causing the publication of Icelan- dic texts, principally the Eddas, were of more importance in this respect. The historical wri- tings of Eric Tegel (died 1638), A. Girs (died 1639), Widekindi (1620-'97), Werwing (died 1697), and Adlerfeldt (1671-1709) exhibit a con- siderable improvement in the use of language, though they can hardly claim to be much more than heavy compilations of facts and materials. The continued religious controver- sies, at this time between Lutheranism and Calvinism, called into the field but few theo- logians who wrote in any language but Latin. The exegetical works and ecclesiastical his- tories, among which those of Paulinus (died 1646), Rudbeckius (1581-1646), and Winstrup (died 1679) stand prominent for theological learning, were also written in Latin, as well as the works that appeared on other subjects of scientific research. In jurisprudence the names of M. Vexionius and J. Stjernhok (1596-1675) are well known; in geography and travels, Count E. Dahlberg (1625-1703) published a Svecia Antigua et Hodierna, with 353 maps and engravings of Swedish towns and castles ; in classical philology, Gezelius, Lagerlof, and Freinshemius distinguished themselves ; and in botany, Rudbeckius paved the way for Lin- na3us. But the progress made in the literary use of the vernacular is almost wholly due to the few who attempted romance and poetry. In poetry Georg Stjernhjelm (1598-1672) held the foremost place. His most complete poeti- cal work is Hercules, a sort of didactic epic in hexameters, exhibiting large imaginative power and much poetic skill. Of his masques the best is Denfangne Cupido, "The Captive Cu- pid." Stjernhjelm was the first writer of son- nets in Swedish. The drama consisted gener- ally of dull imitations of Olaus Petri and Ron- delitius, the chief writers being the historian
