must be for a reafon very different from that now mentioned. The males in Lapland, who are great cowards, have no reafon to despise the females for their timidity; and in every country where the women equal the men, mutual esteem and affection naturally take place. Two Lapland odes communicated to us by the author mentioned, leave no doubt of this fact, being full of the tenderest fentiments that love can infpire. The following is a literal transla

And my defire,

Wing'd with impatient fire,

My rain-deer, let us hafte.

IV.

So fhall we quickly end our pleasing pain: Behold my mistress there,

With decent motion walking o'er the plain. Kulnafatz my rain-deer,

Look yonder, where

She washes in the lake:

See while fhe fwims,

The waters from her purer limbs

New clearness take.

SECOND O D E.

I.

With brightest beams let the fun fhine
On Orra moor:

Could I be fure

That from the top o' th' lofty pine
I Orra moor might fee,

I to its highest bow would climb,

And with industrious labour try

Thence to defcry

My mistress, if that there fhe be.

II.

Could I but know, amid what flowers,

Or in what shade she stays,

The gaudy bowers,

With all their verdant pride,

Their bloffoms and their sprays,

Which make my mistress disappear,

And her in envious darkness hide,

I from the roots and bed of earth would tear.

III.

Upon the raft of clouds I'd ride,

Which unto Orra fly :

O' th' ravens I would borrow wings,

And all the feather'd inmates of the sky:

But wings, alas, are me deny'd,

The ftork and fwan their pinions will not lend, There's none who unto Orra brings,

Or will by that kind conduct me befriend.

IV.

Enough, enough! thou haft delay'd

So many fummer's days,

The best of days that crown the year,
Which light upon the eye-lids dart,
And melting joy upon the heart:
But fince that thou fo long haft ftay'd,
They in unwelcome darkness disappear.
Yet vainly doft thou me forsake ;
I will pursue and overtake.

V.

What stronger is than bolts of steel?

What can more surely bind?

Love is stronger far than it ;

Upon the head in triumph fhe doth fit;
Fetters the mind,

And doth control

The thought and foul.

prince, who made a figure in the middle of the eleventh century, traversed all the feas of the north, and made piratical incurfions even upon the coafts of the Mediterranean. In this ode he complains, that the glory he had acquired made no impreffion on E"I have made the liffir, daughter to Jariflas, King of Russia.

tour of Sicily. My brown veffel, full of mariners, made a swift progrefs. My courfe I thought would never flacken - and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me. The troops of Drontheim, “which I attacked in my youth, exceeded ours in number. Ter"rible was the conflict: I left their young king dead on the field – and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me. Eight exercises I can perform: I fight valiantly: firm is my feat on horseback: in"ured I am to swimming: fwift is my motion on fcates: I dart "the lance: I am fkilful at the oar — and yet a Ruffian maiden "fcorns me. Can fhe deny, this young and lovely maiden, that near a city in the fouth I joined battle, and left behind me laft"ing monuments of my exploits?—and yet a Ruffian maiden "fcorns me. My birth was in the high country of Norway, famous for archers: but fhips were my delight; and, far from "the habitations of men, I have traversed the feas from north to "fouth and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me.' In the very ancient poem of Havamaal, mentioned above, there are many expreffions of love to the fair fex. "He who would gain the love "of a maiden, must address her with fmooth fpeeches, and fhowy

gifts. It requires good fenfe to be a fkilful lover." Again, "If I afpire to the love of the chastest virgin, I can bend her "mind, and make her yield to my defires." The ancient Scandinavian chronicles prefent often to our view young warriors endeavouring to acquire the favour of their mistresses, by boasting of their accomplishments, fuch as their dexterity in swimming and fcating, their talent in poetry, their skill in chefs, and their knowing all the ftars by name. Mallet, in the introduction to his

history

history of Denmark, mentions many ancient Scandinavian novels that turn upon love and heroifm. These may be justly held as authentic evidence of the manners of the people: it is common to invent facts; but it is not common to attempt the inventing man

ners.

It is an additional proof of the great regard paid to women in Scandinavia, that in Edda, the Scandinavian Bible, female deities make as great a figure as male deities.

Agreeable to the manners described, we find it univerfally admitted among the ancient Scandinavians, that beauty ought to be the reward of courage and military skill. A warrior was thought intitled to demand in marriage any young woman, even of the highest rank, if he overcame his rivals in fingle combat: nor was it thought any hardship on the young lady to be yielded to the victor. The ladies were not always of that opinion; for the ftoutest fighter is not always the handsomest fellow, nor the most engaging. And in the hiftories of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, many instances are related, of men generously interpofing to refcue young beauties from brutes, destitute of every accomplishment but ftrength and boldnefs. Such ftories have a fabulous air; and many of them probably are mere fables. Some of them however have a strong appearance of truth: men are introduced who make a figure in the real hiftory of the country; and many circumftances are related that make links in the chain of that hiftory. Take the following fpecimen. The ambaffadors of Frotho, King of Denmark, commiflioned to demind in marriage the daughter of a King of the Hunns, were feafted for three days, as the custom was in ancient times; and being admitted to the young Princefs, the rejected the offer; "Because," fays fhe, " your King has acquired no reputation in war, but paffes his time ef"feminately at home." In Biornei tion of ancient hifterical monuments, mentioned above, there is the following nitory.

Cha.la