NO. LV. provinces to the south of that river, the affirmative yes was expressed by the word oc, in the north it was called oil (oui) and hence Dante has named the southern language langue d'oc, and the northern langue d'oil. The latter, which was carried into England, Sicily, &c. by the Normans, and is the origin of the present French, may be called French Romane, and the former Provençal or Provencial Romane, because it was spoken by the subjects of Ramond Count of Provence, who were known in the European armies during the Crusades, by the general name of Provençals or Provencials.*

The utmost disparity existed between these two dialects; while the southern was all softness and polish, the northern expressed, with energy and vigour, the various passions of the soul; while the one was entirely absorbed in Sirventes (satirical pieces), love-songs, and in the gallantry of what was called the gay science, the other was eagerly employed in chaunting the vast, the wild and marvellous

Vide Ellis's Preface to Way's Translation of the Fableaux of Le Grand, page 24.

story, the comic fableaux, or the romantic legend of chivalry. Though the Troubadours formed a numerous body, and their poetry was cultivated in the south of France, as an accomplishment necessary to the first. orders of society, yet were they so occupied by the follies and fopperies of love, that only four narrative pieces are attributed to them, and these only legends of devotion, whereas the Trouveurs have furnished us, in the Norman French, with above a hundred romance writers; for, having deserted the standard of the chiefs of Scandinavia, they not only adopted the Christian warriors Arthur, Charlemagne and Richard, but seized, with avidity, on the classical heroes of Greece, and Hercules, Theseus, Jason, Hector and Alexander, enjoyed a reputation for chivalric adventure and prowess, that could only be ri valled by the Orlando of Ariosto.

That something was added to the Scandinavian system of fabling, through the medium of the Crusades, and through the introduction of Arabian literature into Spain, cannot rationally be doubted, but that the great outlines of romantic fiction had been

previously chalked out in Europe by the northern Scalds, and that to their literature, mythology and poetry, we may trace the origin of Romance, appears too obvious to be denied.

Poetry, to the ancient Scandinavians, was a necessary adjunct to government, war and and festivity; it was the vehicle of laws, religion and politics; it inflamed the courage and excited the ambition of the warrior, and it was an essential part of the public or pri vate festival. When Christianity overturned the deities of the Edda, it assumed a milder and more varied form, and gave birth to a species of composition, which, under the name of Romance, not only afforded amusement to, but likewise greatly influenced the morals, manners and customs, of the Euro. pean world.

NUMBER LVI.

It hath been thro' all ages ever seen,

That, with the praise of arms and chivalry, The prize of beauty still hath joined been; And that for reason's special privity:

For either doth on other much rely;

For He mee seems most fit the fair to serve,
That can her best defend from villany;
And She most fit his service doth deserve,

That fairest is, and from her faith will never swerve.

SPENSER.

THOUGH the principal intention of the Edda seems to be to inflame the martial propensities, and to inculcate a spirit even bordering upon ferocity, yet are the divinities who preside over the milder affections of the heart, by no means forgotten. Among these LOVE, though nursed amid regions of perpetual frost, has performed a more important part than in the luxurious and apparently

more propitious countries of the East, where little beyond the mere physical effects of appetite is felt, and where consequently little operation is perceived on society and manners through the influence of female beauty or power. On the contrary, we shall find in the wilds of Scandinavia the whole polity, sentiments and manners of the people moulded by their deference and attention to their women; a mode of conduct which has given rise to the modern system of gallantry, and which has added to what was anteriorly deemed a mere object for sensual gratification, the invaluable titles of companion, friend and counsellor.

As, however, Love and War were inseparably connected in the mind of the Scandinavian, the Venus of the North, who is known in the Edda under the appellation of FREA, is represented as being ever present where battles are fought, and as asserting her right to one half of the slain. In other respects her character has the softness and attributes generally ascribed to the Divinity of Love. Her genealogy and birth, as detailed in the northern mythology, are very