memory at least, that immortality which they well knew they could not naturally possess.

Thirty years before the commencement of our era, Odin convoked a complete national assembly at Odiusee, a sort of city, where he held his court, in the island of Funen. There he and Freya called round them all their children, with the exception of Scotus, the youngest, who was then in Hibernia.

Seven of Odin's sons, and as many of his sons-in-law, formed a circle in this barbarian but august assembly. The king and queen were raised, on a royal seat of stone, above their children; and the latter above the rest of the warriors and people. Gilded arms and long hair were the marks of the dignity of the princes; the king and queen wore golden crowns, but no other superfluous ornament.

Having commanded silence, Odin addressed to his children and people this harangue, which the poet and historian, Snorro, has preserved in the book called the Edda, written in Icelandic, a language from which are derived the greatest part of those that are spoken in the north. It has been published in Latin, by Reselius, with an ample commentary. This precious monument of the Scythian eloquence of Odin is intituled the Sublime Oration, and we are of opinion that, in reality, it will be found worthy of the epithet, as it not only displays to us a king giving fundamental laws to an empire which became the source of so many others, and to a people from whom arose the conquerors of all Europe; but also this same king dividing among his children the hope of one day ruling over the finest part of the globe. That which is the most astonishing is, that this hope was realized.

Haramaa!, that is to say, The Sublime Oration of Odin, translated from the ancient icelandic language.

"Listen, my children, and you, my people, to the last lessons which Odin gives, the last laws which he prescribes. Observe them, in whatever country you may be; trace them on the rocks of Fionia and Scania; let them be written there in those Runic characters which I have myself invented for the purpose of transmitting my words to future ages; but, if the letter of my laws

should ever be forgotten, let the spirit of them be perpetuated to your latest posterity.

"At the moment when you were born you became responsible for the performance of two great duties-that of defending your conquests, and that of increasing your family and the number of your compatriots.When, like me, you have long performed those duties, you will be permitted to go and repose in those delicious realms which your fathers formerly inhabited. I am on the eve of setting you the example. To-morrow, Freya and I return to Asgard. There we shall eagerly receive, in our golden palace of Valhalla, the old warriors of our nation, who, like us, have wished to return, and the young warriors who have expired with their weapons in their hands. Freya and her companions will present them with ale and hydromel, in cups of gold; and I shall supply them with good horses and excellent arms. But the spirits of those who have neither served their country themselves, nor by the means of their children, shall be doomed to remain wandering amidst the ice of this sea, or amidst the eternal snows which cover the summits of yonder distant mountains.

"At whatever time death may happen to you, receive it without weakness; and, if your death can be useful to your country, rush laughing to meet it. Transmit to your latest descendants this important maxim-the best wish that can be made for a newly-born child is, that he may one day die for his country.

"Mimer formerly told me that there are some civilized nations whose language has no words to express certain crimes which they never commit. So, let our language have none to express the feelings of weakness and of fear.

"Injury and dishonour done to a warrior can never be effaced but by shedding the blood of the offender. This maxim, which you must carefully treasure up, far from inciting you to destroy each other, will preserve peace and mutual respect among you. He who knows that he cannot with impunity insult his fellow citizen, behaves decorously towards him, without explaining why he does so.

"Be hospitable to all those who throw themselves on your kindness without any sinister design; from the

moment that they have received on your part assurances of protection and friendship, let them become sacred in your eyes; let the word of honour of one of Odin's warriors be to him that which the names of all the gods of other nations are, or ought to be, to them.

"O, my children! as terrible as you ought to be to your enemies, so tender and indulgent ought you to be to others.

"Hydromel, ale, and other delicious drinks, sometimes occasion an intoxication which disturbs the reason; but the principles of honour, deeply engraven in the heart, will prevent the intoxication from reaching the mind of the warrior. Nothing can make him lose sight of those principles. On the contrary, intoxication reveals the truth, and the feelings of honour are manifested in those moments when all dissimulation has ceased to exist.

"Honour that enchanting sex, without which you can neither give life, nor taste the delights of that life which you yourselves enjoy. Look upon women as your only visible divinities; let them be the oracles, as they are the images, of the deities whom you cannot see; let their love be the prize of noble deeds, and commit to them the care of punishing those actions which are criminal. When, O my children! they no longer shed the blood of the guilty, their contempt will at least be regarded as one of the heaviest of punishments."

When Odin had finished this sublime oration, Freya began to speak. "People!" said she, "it is now my task, as depositary and interpreter of the will of the gods, to disclose to you what, after our retiring into Scythia, will be the fate of our children, and of the many nations who are to be subject to them. Hearken to me, my sons, and you, the husbands of my daughters! You, Sciols, you will reign over the islands where we now are, and the neighbouring peninsula. The country of the Danes, that of the Jutes (Jutland), and that of the Cimbrians, will be under your sway. For awhile your posterity will be removed from the centre of its states, but it will soon return to give laws there, and I see, at no distant period, the princes of Holsatia (Holstein) and Sleswick, filling all the thrones of the north.

"Gylphe, my second son, put yourself at the head of the Suessones (the Swedes), and establish the centre of your empire at Sigtuna (Stockholm); from thence, on the side of the north, extend your dominion to the extremity of the earth. The nation which you are to govern, will be fertile in heroes and great men.

"Semungus, my third son, depart for the cold Norway. It will acknowledge thy laws, as will Iceland also; and the posterity of Odin shall never cease to reign there.

"Separate from thy brother Sciols, brave Hengist, put thyself at the head of the Angies, traverse those seas over which thy brother Scotus has already led the way, and subjugate the great island of Britain. Thy posterity will not remain tranquilly there; more than one other northern tribe will come to disturb its possessions; but, though different branches of our descendants will contend for the country which thou art to inhabit, though they will successively occupy its throne, though that throne will, perhaps, be less respected than it ought to be, it will be the destiny of Great Britain to be always governed by the posterity of Odin, and to preserve our favourite principles, liberty, honour, and contempt of life.

"Return towards the east, Suorlami, and reduce under thy sceptre the Roxolani (the Russians). The glory of thy people will not shine forth till after many ages; it will be at its height when the posterity of Odin shall resume the sceptre of the Roxolanian empire. The beautiful country of Asgard will form a part of that empire, which will even extend to a far greater distance.

"Sigga, my sixth son, thou shalt subjugate Franconia, the Salians, and the Sicambrians. What a glorious destiny is that of the Franks, led by thy descendants. Its splendor dazzles me; nor can the people to whom I address myself as yet comprehend all the advantages of the fate which is reserved for them.

"Take my sword, formidable Odoacer; it is that which Mimer plunged into the bosom of Mithradates, by order of that implacable foe of the Romans. It was remitted to me with the hope and the promise that it should be employed in the destruction of their empire. Be the avenger of their insatiable ambition. If thy posterity, at the head of the Goths and Herules, do not

S

reap all the fruits of this brilliant conquest, at least they will have the principal honour of it.

Young warriors who, by your exploits, rendered yourselves worthy to obtain the hands of my daughters, the nations of the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Sarmatians, the Getæ, the Huns, and the Germans, will acknowledge you as their sires. Your offspring will be the offspring of Odin and Freya, and their renown will equal that of our other descendants. They will contribute to the downfal of the Roman empire, and will partake in the honour of re-establishing it. Happy and splendid posterity! at the moment when I am preparing to join them, the gods reveal to me your glory!"

Freya now ceased, and Odin once more spoke to the assembled multitude. "To-morrow, my people," said he, "is the day appointed for this great sacrifice, of which you will be the witnesses. But I forbid my children, and all those warriors who are yet able to serve their country, from henceforth taking, to revisit Asgard, the same road which we are about to take. Combats or old age will open to them the road; and the countries which you are to inhabit, or to vanquish, will have sufficient charms to retain you."

Admiration and fear held the audience silent, and no one dared either to interrupt the great Odin and the divine Freya, or to reply to them. The day ended with a festival, in which the king and queen displayed more greatness of soul, openness of mind, gaiety, and tenderness for their people, than they had ever before done. They promised to all, that, on some future day, they would meet them again in Asgard.

On the morrow the throne of the two sovereigns was seen raised over a large and deep excavation, on the brink of which were placed the small number of old men, whom their chief had permitted to accompany him. Odin was magnificently armed; but without his breast-plate. Freya was adorned with the ornaments of royalty; but her bosom was uncovered. appointed signal, Odin and Freya exclaimed aloud, "Dear children! dear subjects! be always happy and glorious as we are!" At that instant they mutually pierced each other's heart. The old men, who had been selected, did the same; and all these victims, pre

At the