THE SOURCES OF GRAY’S KNOWLEDGE.

It has already been said that only antiquarians had knowledge of things Icelandic in Gray’s time.  Most of this knowledge was in Latin, of course, in ponderous tomes with wonderful, long titles; and the list of them is awe-inspiring.  In all likelihood Gray did not use them all, but he met references to them in the books he did consult.  Professor Kittredge mentions them in the paper already quoted, but they are here arranged in the order of publication, and the list is lengthened to include some books that were inspired by the interest in Gray’s experiments.

=1636= and =1651=.  Wormius. Seu Danica literatura antiquissima, vulgo Gothica dicta, luci reddita opera Olai Wormii.  Cui accessit de prisca Danorum Poesi Dissertatio. Hafniae. 1636.  Edit.  II. 1651.

The essay on poetry contains interlinear Latin translations of the Epicedium of Ragnar Loethbrok, and of the Drapa of Egill Skallagrimsson.  Bound with the second edition of 1651, and bearing the date 1650, is:  Specimen Lexici runici, obscuriorum quarundam vocum, quae in priscis occurrunt historiis et poetis Danicis enodationem exhibens.  Collectum a Magno Olavio pastore Laufasiensi, ... nunc in ordinem redactum, auctum et locupletatum ab Olao Wormio.  Hafniae.

This glossary adduces illustrations from the great poems of Icelandic literature.  Thus early the names and forms of the ancient literature were known.

=1665.= Resenius. Edda Islandorum an.  Chr.  MCCXV islandice conscripta per Snorronem Sturlae Islandiae.  Nomophylacem nunc primum islandice, danice et latine ...  Petri Johannis Resenii ...  Havniae. 1665.

A second part contains a disquisition on the philosophy of the Voeluspa and the Havamal.

=1670.= Sheringham. De Anglorum Gentis Origine Disceptatio.  Qua eorum migrationes, variae sedes, et ex parte res gestae, a confusione Linguarum, et dispersione Gentium, usque ad adventum eorum in Britanniam investigantur; quaedam de veterum Anglorum religione, Deorum cultu, eorumque opinionibus de statu animae post hanc vitam, explicantur. Authore Roberto Sheringhamo.  Cantabrigiae. 1670.

Chapter XII contains an account of Odin extracted from the Edda, Snorri Sturluson and others.

=1679-92.= Temple.  Two essays:  “Of Heroic Virtue,” “Of Poetry,” contained in The Works of Sir William Temple.  London. 1757.  Vol. 3, pp. 304-429.

=1689.= Bartholinus. Thomae Bartholini Antiquitatum Danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri III ex vetustis codicibus et monumentis hactenus ineditis congestae. Hafniae. 1689.

The pages of this book are filled, with extracts from Old Norse sagas and poetry which are translated into Latin.  No student of the book could fail to get a considerable knowledge of the spirit and the form of the ancient literature.