north, and even many among the moderns, Scandinavia was peopled only with giants in thofe remote ages, which precede the epoque of hiftory. The Icelandic mytho- logy, which I fhall have more than once occafion to quote, relates very exactly all the engagements, which the giants had with thofe Scythians, whom Odin brought with him out of Afia.
They pretend that this monftrous race fubfifted for a long time in the mountains and forefts of Norway, where they con- tinued even down to the ninth century; that they fled from the open day, and re- nounced all commerce with men, living only with thofe of their own fpecies in the folitudes and cliffs of the rocks; that they fed on human flesh, and clothed themfelves in the raw fkins of wild beafts; that they were fo fkilled in magic, as to be able to faf- cinate the eyes of men, and prevent them from feeing the objects before them; yet were at the fame time fuch religious obfervers of their word, that their fidelity hath paffed into a proverb[1]; that in process of time, they intermixed with the women of our fpecies, and produced demi-giants, who approaching nearer and nearer to the hu- man race, at length became mere men, like
- ↑ Trollorum Fides.
