charms, and everlasting youth. They drank mead, (the nectar of Scandinavia) out of the sculls of their enemies whoin they had killed. Sleepner, the horse of Odin, is also honoured, as well as his master. Loke, or Lok, the evil spirit or genius of the North, resembles the Typhon of Egypt. Signa, or Sinna is Loke's consort: hence the derivation of our word sin. The most frightful attitudes are given to their giants, Weymur, Ferbanter, Belupher, and Hellunda. The accounts of their various exploits, are more ridiculous and uninteresting than those furnished by the Greek and Roman mythology. The principal deity after Odin, was Frigga, or Frea, his wife; she was called the mother of earth, and of the gods, and was the Tautes and Astarte of the Phenicians. Thor was their next deity; he presided over the winds and seasons, and particularly over Thunder; he carried a mace, or club, which as often as he discharged it, returned spontaneously to his hand; he grasped it with gauntlets of iron, and could renew his strength at pleasure: he was considered the avenger and defender of the gods. Niord, the Neptune of the North, reigned over the sea and winds. Balder, the son of Odin, was wise, eloquent, and endowed with such majesty, that his very glances were bright and shining. Tyr, was also a warrior-deity, and the protector of champions and brave men. Brage, presided over eloquence and poetry. His wife named Iduna, had the care of certain apples, which the gods tasted, when they found themselves grow old, and which had the power of instantly restoring them to youth. Heimdal was their porter. The gods had made a bridge between heaven and earth: this bridge is the rainbow. Heimdal was employed to watch at one of the extremities, to prevent the giants from getting into heaven. It was difficult to suprise him, for he had the faculty of sleeping more lightly than a bird, and of disco See the grisely texture grow, Shafts for shuttles, dipt in gore vering objects by day or night, at the distance of a hundred leagues. He had an ear so fine, that he could hear the grass grow in the meadows, and the wool on the backs of the sheep. He carried a sword in one hand, and in the other a trumpet, whose sound could be heard through all the worlds. Loke, before named, had several children. the wolf Fenris, the serpent Midgard, and Hela, or death, owe their birth to him: all three are enemies to the gods: who, after various struggles, have chained this wolf till the last day, when he is to break loose, and devour the sun. The serpent has been cast into the sea, where he is to remain till he is conquered by the god Thor. And Hela, or death, is banished into the lower regions, where she governs nine worlds, into which she distributes those who are sent to her. This place was called Niflheim, and was reserved for those who died of disease or old age. Hela, or death, here exercised her despotic power; her palace was Anguish; her table, Famine; her waiters, were Expectation and Delay; the threshold of her door, was Precipice; her bed, Leanness; she was livid and ghastly;her very looks inspired horror.* Every man has a destiny appropriated to himself, who determined the duration and events of his life. The three principal destinies were, Urd, the past; Werandi, the present; and Sculde, the future. The meaning of the word Voluspa is, a prophecy of Vola, or Fola, a name synonimous with Sybil, and consequently used to designate a female, endowed with the gift of prophecy. It is very antient, and contains an abstract of all the Northern mythology. This book gives a description of the chaos; the formation of the world; the crea The entrance to Niflheim, the dreadful abode of Hela, is thus described by Gray, in his descent of Odin': Down the yawning steep he rode While from his jaws, with carnage filled, The father of the pow'rful spell. tion of giants, men, and dwarfs, who were the different species of its inhabitants; and details the employment of the faeries, or destinies, who are called nornies. The functions of the deities, and their most memorable exploits, are next recorded. The work concludes with a long and animated description of the final state of the universe, and its dissolution by fire. Odin, and all the pagan deities are to be confounded in this general ruin; and a new world is to spring up, arrayed in all the bloom of celestial beauty. All these different systems of mythology which we have, but cursorily, passed in review before us, are replete with confusion and folly. It may be asked, perhaps, Why the nations of antiquity should have given their celestial he roes, such vile and licentious characters. The reason is obvious. The individuals of those nations were buried in sin, and committed every species of vice, with pleasure and with greediness. Their deities, then, would be like themselves,-guilty of every enormity. The light of Christianity however, has in this, and many other countries, long since dispelled the dark cloud of paganism. How grate ful should we be, then, that we live in an age where genuine religion, and the worship of the true Gop are daily inculcated and practised! Select Books on Mythology. Bryant's Mythology, 6 vols. 8vo. Potter's Antiquities of Greece, vols. 8vo. Adam's Roman Antiquities, 8vo. Sir William Jones Essays in the Asiatic Researches. Mallet's Northern Antiquities, 2 vols. 8vo. But some of these books are expensive and difficult of access. As far as regards the mythology of Greece and Rome, for young persons, we would recommend Tindal's Abridgment of Spence's Polymetis, 12mo. the Dictionary of Polite Literature, 2 vols. 24mo, or Hort's Ladies' Mythology, 12mo. E 72 + PART II.-Geography. CHAP. I.—PROGRESS OF GEOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY is that science which teaches and explains the nature and properties of the earth, as to its figure, place, magnitude, motions, celestial appearances, &c. together with the various lines, real and imaginary, on its surface. Geography is distinguished from Cosmography, as a part from the whole; this latter considering the whole visible world, both heaven and earth. From Topography and Chorography it is distinguished, as the whole from a part; topography comprehending a description of particular places, while chorography discusses particular regions. 1. According to the different objects it embraces, geogra phy is divided into mathematical, physical, and political. Mathematical geography has for its object the earth, considered as a mensurable body: it is the province of physical geography to examine the natural or physical constitution of the earth; while political geography displays the various divisions of the earth, made by man, luto countries, states, and provinces. This science is further distinguished, with respect to the periods it comprises, into antient geography, that of the middle ages, and modern geography. ove 2. Antient Geography describes the old world, the antient state of the earth, and the political divisions which have subsisted therein, from the most remote periods until the subversion of the Roman empire in the west. Of the writings of the antient geographers, a few only have been transmitted to the present time: the principal of these Strabo, Ptolemy, Pomponius Mela, and Stephan tinus. Among the moderns, who have illustrated antient geography in general, are Cluverius, Cellarius, D'Anville, Gosselin, and Major Rennell, whose researches have shed a torrent of light on the geography of the classic historians. 1 3. The geography of the middle age embraces the poli tical divisions of the nations, who figured in the middle age, that is, from the fifth to the commencement of the sixteenth century, inclusive. Of this period, we have no geographical work extant, that can afford any just idea of the new order of things introduced into Europe by the different people of Germany, after the subversion of the Roman em pire in the fifth century. 4. Modern Geography exhibits the state of the earth and its political divisions, from the sixteenth century to the present time: this period has been illustrated by the la bours of numerous able writers. Sebastian Munster may be considered as the restorer of the study of geography, who published a very voluminous cosmographical work in 1550. Since the revival of literature, Ortelius, Gerard Mercator, Varenius, Janson, Blaen, and Vischer, among the Dutch and Flemish, have distinguished themselves by their maps and other geographical works. To these may be added, Sanson, De Lisle, Cassini, D'Anville, Zannoni, Buache, Mentelle, Busching, and Chauchard, among the French and Germans. And lastly, though the study of this important science has only been of late years peculiar ly cultivated in Britain, yet the geographical works and maps of Arrowsmith, Rennell, Pinkerton, and Playfair have reflected equal credit on their country, and on the subject they have illustrated. To the extension of geographical knowledge, nothing has more effectually contributed, than the different voyages of discovery that have been undertaken within the last hundred years, under the patronage of the different governments of Europe and America. Among these, the voyages and travels of Lord Anson, Captains Cook, Byron, Wallis, and Carteret,-of Bougainville, Dixou, Meares, Vancouver, Perouse, Mungo Park, Huniboldt and Bonpland, Lord Valentia, Mackenzie, Weld, and Colonel Pike, hold a distinguished rank. 5. Geographical inquiries are not more easy and diverting, than they are important to the student. Without some skill in geography, it will be impossible to read history with any tolerable advantage. Chronology and geography have been regarded as the two eyes of history; if these shine dim, history must be very obscure entertainment; without these helps, it lies in confusion, is only a heap of |