to have had at the bottom fo much of truth as to ferve for the bafis of more regular annals. At least fucceeding hiftorians have taken up with the relations of these rude men, and for want of more authentic records. have agreed to allow them the credit of true hiftory (d). After letters began to prevail, and history affumed a more stable form, by being committed to plain fimple profe; thefe Songs of the Scalds or Bards began to be more amufing, than ufeful. And in proportion as it became their bufinefs chiefly to entertain and delight, they gave more and more into embellishment, and fet off their recitals with fuch marvelous fictions, as were calculated to captivate grofs and ignorant minds. Thus began ftories of adventures with Giants and Dragons, and Witches and Enchanters, and all the monstrous extravagances of wild imagination, unguided by judgment, and uncorrected by art (e.)

THIS is the true origin of that fpecies of Romance, which fo long celebrated feats of Chivalry, and which at first in metre and afterwards in profe, was the entertainment of our ancestors, in common with their contemporaries on the continent, till the fatire of Cervantes, or rather the increase of knowledge and claffical literature, drove them off the ftage, to make room for a more refined fpecies of fiction, under the name of French Romances, copied from the Greek (ƒ).

That our old Romances of Chivalry may be derived in a lineal descent from the ancient hiftorical fongs of the Gothic bards and Scalds, will be shown below, and indecd appears the more evident as many of those Songs are still preferved in the north, which exhibit all.

b 2

the

(d) See "A Defcription of the Manners, Customs, &c. of the "ancient Danes and other northern nations, tranflated from the Fr. " of M. Mallet." 8vo. vol. 1. p. 49. &c.

(e) Vid. infra, p. iv, v, &c..

(ƒ) Viz. ASTRæa, Cassandra, CLELIA, &C,

the feeds of Chivalry before it became a folemn inftitu→→ tion (g). "CHIVALRY, as a diftin&t military order, con"ferred in the way of inveftiture, and accompanied with "the folemnity of an oath, and other ceremonies," was of later date, and fprung out of the feudal conftitution,. as an elegant writer has lately fhown (h). But the ideas of Chivalry prevailed long before in all the Gothic nations, and may be difcovered as in embrio in the cuftoms, manners, and opinions, of every branch of that people (i). That fondnefs of going in queft of adventures, that fpirit of challenging to fingle combat, and that refpectful complaifance fhewn to the fair fex, (fo different from the manners of the Greeks and Romans), all are of Gothic origin, and may be traced up to the earliest times among all the northern nations (k.) Thefe exifted long before the feudal ages, tho' they were called forth and strengthened in a peculiar manner under that conftitution, and at length arrived to their full maturity in the times of the Crufades, fo replete with romantic adventures (1).

EVEN the common arbitrary fictions of Romance were (as is hinted above) most of them familiar to the

ancient

(g) Mallet. vid. Defcript of the Manners, &c. of the Danes. vol. 1. p. 318, &c. vol. 2. p. 234. &c.

(b) Letters concerning Chivalry. 8vo. 1763.

(i) Mallet. paffim.

(k) Mallet. paffim.

(1) They could not owe their rife either to the feudal system or to the Crufades, because they exifted long before either. Neither were the Romances of Chivalry tranfmitted to other nations from the Spaniards; who have been fuppofed to borrow them from the Moors, and thefe to have brought them from the east. Had this been the cafe, the first French Romances in verfe would have been upon the fame fubjects of thofe of the Spaniards: whereas the most ancient metrical Romances in Spanish have nothing in common with those of the French, English, &c. being altogether on Moorish fubjects; and the Spanish Romances on the subjects of Charlemagne, Arthur, &c. are chiefly in profe and of later date, being evidently borrowed from the

French.

ancient Scalds of the north, long before the time of the Crufades. They believed the existence of Giants and Dwarfs (m), they had fome notion of Fairies (n), they were strongly poffeffed with the belief of fpells and inchantment (o), and were fond of inventing combats with Dragons and Monsters (p).

We have a striking inftance of their turn for Chivalry and Romance, in the hiftory of King Regner Lodbrog, a celebrated warrior and pirate, who reigned in Denmark about the year 800 (q). This hero fignalized his youth by an exploit of gallantry. A Swedish prince had a beautiful daughter, whom he intrufted (probably during fome expedition) to the care of one of his officers, affigning a ftrong caftle for their defence. The Officer fell in love with his ward, and detained her in his castle, spite of all the efforts of her father. Upon this he published a proclamation through all the neighbouring countries, that whoever would conquer the ravisher and refcue the Lady fhould have her in marriage. Of all that undertook the adventure, Regner alone was fo happy as to atchieve it: he delivered the fair captive, and obtained her for his prize. It happened that the name of this difcourteous officer was ORME, which in the Iflandic language fignifies SERPENT: Wherefore the Scalds, to give the more poetical turn to the adventure, represent the Lady as detained from her father by a dreadful Dragon, and that Regner b 3 flew

French. Not but the Spaniards, like the other nations of Gothic race, had ab origine a turn for chivalry, which prepared them to receive and improve the Songs of the Moors, as well as thofe of the French, &c.

(m) Mallet. Defcript. of the Danes. vol. 1. p. 36. vol. 2. paffim.

(n) Olaus Verel. ad Hervarer Saga. p. 44. 45. Hickes's Thefaur. v. 2. p. 311. Defcript. of the Ancient Danes, vol. 2. paffim.

1

(0) Ibid. vol. 1. p. 69, 374, &c. vol. 2. p. 216, &c.

(p) Rollofs Saga. Cap. 35. &c.

flew the monfter to fet her at liberty. Even Regner himself, who was a celebrated poet, gives this fabulous account of the exploit in a poem of his own writing that is ftill extant, and which records all the valiant atchievements of his life (r).

WITH marvelous embellishments of this kind the Scalds early began to decorate their narratives: and they were the more lavish of thefe, in proportion as they departed from their original inftitution, but it was a long time before they thought of delivering a set of perfonages and adventures wholly feigned. Of the great multitude of romantic tales ftill preserved in the libraries of the North, moft of them are supposed to have had fome foundation in truth, and the more ancient they are the more they are believed to be connected with true hiftory ().

It was not probably till after the hiftorian and the bard had been long difunited, that the latter ventured at pure fiction, At length when their bufinefs was no longer to inftru&t or inform, but merely to amufe, it was no longer needful for them to adhere to truth. Then began fabulous and romantic fongs which for a long time prevailed in France and England before they had books of Chivalry in profe. Yet in both thefe countries the Minstrels ftill retained fo much of their original inftitution, as frequently to make true events the fubject of their Songs (t); and indeed, as during the barbarous ages, the regular hiftories were almoft all written in Latin by the Monks, the memory of events was preferved and propagated among the ig

norant

(r) See a Tranflation of this poem, among the "Five pieces of "Runic Poetry," &c.

(S) Vid. Mallet. Descript. of the Manners, &c. of the Danes, paffim.

(t) The Editor's MS. contains a multitude of poems of this latter kind. It was from this cuftom of the Minstrels that fome of our first Hiftorians wrote their Chronicles in veríe, as Rob. of Gloucefter, Harding, &e.

norant laity by scarce any other means than the popular Songs of the Minstrels.

II. THE inhabitants of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, being the latest converts to Chriftianity, retained their original manners and opinions longer than the other nations of Gothic race: and therefore they have preferved more of the genuine compofitions of their ancient poets, than their fouthern neighbours. Among these the progrefs from poetical hiftory to poetical fiction is very difcernible: they have some of the latter kind, that are in effect complete Romances of Chivalry(u). They have alfo a multitude of SAGAS(x) or hiftories on romantic fubjects, containing a mixture of profe and verfe, of various dates, fome of them written fince the times of the Crufades, others long before: but their narratives in verfe only are esteemed the more ancient.

Now as the irruption of the NOR MANS (y) into France under Rollo did not take place till towards the beginning of the tenth century, at which time the Scaldic art was arrived to the highest pitch in Rollo's native country, we can eafily trace the defcent of the French and English Romances of Chivalry from the Northern Sagas. That conqueror doubtless carried many SCALDS" with him from the north, who tranfmitted their skill to their children and fucceffors. These adopting the religion, opinions, and language of the new country, fubflituted the heroes of Christendom instead of thofe of their Pagan ancestors, and began to celebrate the feats of Charlemagne, Roland, and Oliver; whofe b4

true

(u) See a Specimen in 2d Vol, of Defeript. of the Manners of the Danes, &c. p. 248, &c.

(x) Eccardi Hift. Stud. Etym. 1711. p. 179, &c. Hickes's Thefaur. Vol. 2. p. 314,

(y) i. e. NORTHERN MIN: being chiefly Emigrants from Nexway, Denmark, &c.