CHAPTER IV.
Of Odin, his arrival in the North, his conquests, and the changes which he made.
BEFORE I describe the state of ancient Scandinavia, I must stop one moment. A celebrated tradition, confirmed by the poems of all the northern nations, by their chronicles, by institutions and customs, some of which subsist to this day, informs us, that an extraordinary person named Odin, formerly reigned in the north: that he made great changes in the government, manners and religion of those countries; that he enjoyed there great authority, and had even divine honours paid him. All these are facts, which cannot be contested. As to what regards the original of this man, the country whence he came, the time in which he lived, and the other circumstances of his life and death, they are so uncertain, that the most profound researches, the most ingenious conjectures about them, discover nothing to
