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THE KNICKERBOCKER.

    VOL. X.     SEPTEMBER, 1837.      NO. 3.




SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE AND ANTIQUITIES.

NUMBER ONE.


THE predominant taste for the study of ancient literature, and the
investigation of antiquity, has been the means of bringing to light
a vast quantity of matter, which, if written in modern times, would
hardly be regarded of sufficient value to preserve beyond the age in
which it was written. Elegance of style and composition is not the
distinguishing trait in _all_ the Grecian and Roman authors which
have come down to us; nor are the subjects of sufficient importance
to merit a preservation of twenty centuries; although it may be safe
to say, that these qualities in general constitute the beauty and
value of these writings; for we know that the ancients appreciated
the works of their great men, as well as we; and to this we must
owe their preservation. The philosophy of Plato and Socrates--the
histories of Herodotus and Livy--the poetry of Homer and Virgil--the
metaphysics of Aristotle--the geometry of Euclid, and the eloquence
of Cicero and Demosthenes, are not regarded now with more esteem
than they were in the period in which they were produced, although
the great mass of the people were far behind us in knowledge. Poetry
and eloquence are as attractive to the senses of a savage, as to him
who is civilized; and to this circumstance must be attributed the
preservation and transmission of many poems, of people who have left
no other memento of their existence.

The wisdom of the ancient writers above named, was in advance
of the age in which they lived, yet they were appreciated; and
although kingdoms have risen and fallen, nations have been scattered
and annihilated, and language itself become corrupted or lost,
these memorials of learning and genius have been preserved, amid
the general devastation, and still appear in all their original
beauty and grandeur, more imperishable than the sculptured column
or trophied urn; models for nations yet unborn, and drawing forth
the admiration of the most accomplished scholars and profound
philosophers.

In addition to these, we possess many valuable histories, learned
dissertations, poetical effusions, specimens of the early drama,
etc., which, although they may rank lower in their style of
composition, are valuable from the light they throw upon the manners
and customs of the age in which they were penned, and make us better
acquainted with the private life, the tastes and occupations, of the
ancients.

Thus much may be said of the Greek and Roman people. Their origin,
their history, and their literature, are known in all civilized parts
of the world; and from the downfall of their respective kingdoms to
the present time, we are tolerably well acquainted with the leading
events of the history of their descendants, in the modern nations
of the south of Europe. Not so with the Teutonic people, who occupy
the middle and northern parts of that continent. The glory of their
ancestors has never been immortalized; no poet or historian arose
to transmit to posterity an account of their origin, or the fame
of their deeds, as letters were first known to the Goths in A. D.,
360. It is not the intention, in the present essay, to illustrate
the literature of the Germanic nations, but to take up that portion
embraced in the general term of _Scandinavian_, which embraces the
literature of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland. It is also known
by the term _Old-Northern_ or _Norse_, and as _Icelandic literature_.
It is embodied in the Eddas and Historical Sagas as they are called,
in the countries of the north. The former consists of collections of
Icelandic poems, written upon parchment, or skins, in the language of
that country; and the latter, which include the most important part,
are relations of historical events which have occurred in Iceland and
other countries of the north, including Great Britain and Ireland.
They also extend to the affairs of Greenland, which we know was
colonized by the Scandinavians at an early period, and to accounts of
voyages made by them to an unknown land, called Vinland--supposed to
be America--and to various parts of Europe.

Such are the sources of Scandinavian literature. But before we
attempt to examine these treasures, which form the subject of our
remarks, it may be well to ask the question, which naturally arises
here: Who were this ancient people, who, from the earliest period,
have occupied the north of Europe? Whence came they? And to what
nation of more remote antiquity is their origin to be traced?

To answer these questions satisfactorily, would be a task as easily
accomplished, as that of stating with accuracy the origin of the
Egyptians. Several learned writers, of ancient as well as modern
times, have investigated the subject, without arriving at conclusions
which would agree in the most important points; and strange as it
may appear, it is not the less true, that we are better able, after
a lapse of ten or fifteen centuries, to determine the origin of
the people by whom Europe was populated, about the period of the
commencement of the Christian era, than writers were who flourished
ten centuries ago. At that period, the most noble of inventions had
not been brought to light, to treasure up passing events, and what
had been preserved by tradition. Letters were not cultivated in
Europe, and the intercourse between nations of kindred origin was not
sufficiently close, to have promoted such an inquiry.

The cultivation and advancement of the science of philology, or
system of universal grammar, has furnished us with a more unerring
guide by which to trace the origin of the nations of antiquity,
where sufficient of their languages remain, than history itself; for
the latter, being in a great degree traditionary, cannot be relied
upon, when treating of the origin of nations. The primitive history
of the Scandinavians, Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, and Hindoos, are
so interwoven with their mythology, that it is extremely difficult
to separate truth from fiction. In analyzing the various European
languages, on the principles adopted by philologists, we are enabled
to trace the affinities existing between them; and by a similarity
of grammatical structure, correspondence of words and phrases, and
analogies in the conjugations of verbs and declensions of nouns, to
classify the various languages, and ascertain from what family or
stock they are derived. All the living languages of Europe, with
the exception of the Biscayan, or Basque, and the Gaelic, have been
traced to Asia, and to languages which were spoken by the most
ancient people of which we have any record. It is now conceded,
that the Celts were one, if not the principal, of the primitive
nations of Europe, distinguished by different names in different
countries. The earliest historians of Europe agree, that they were,
in a remote period, settled in various parts of that continent--in
the mountainous regions of the Alps, and throughout Gaul, whence
they migrated to Great Britain and Ireland, and to the central and
western regions of Spain. At a later period, they inundated Italy,
Thrace, and Asia Minor. 'The Hibernians,' says Malte Brun, 'are an
old branch of the same people; and, according to some authors, the
Highlanders of Scotland are a colony of the native Irish. The _Erse_,
or Gaelic, is the only authentic monument of the Celtic language; but
it may be readily admitted, that a nation so widely extended must
have been incorporated with many states whose dialects are at present
extinct.'[1]

Another primitive nation was the ancestors of the Basques, a people
now dwindled to a few thousands, and confined to the western base of
the Pyrenees. They were closely allied to the Iberians, who occupied
eastern and southern Spain, and a part of Gaul. In the remnant of
this people is preserved one of the most remarkable languages that
philologists have ever yet investigated, exhibiting undoubted marks
of originality. 'It is preserved in a corner of Europe, the sole
remaining fragment of perhaps a hundred dialects, constructed on the
same plan, which probably existed, and were universally spoken, at a
remote period, in that quarter of the