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condemned, especially in works of genuine antiquity; of which the principal merit consists in the simplicity and original spirit of the composition.
It would be a frivolous objection to urge, that, as this piece rather belongs to the antiquities of Sweden, than to those of Denmark, it therefore ought not to be inserted in the present work. Those who know the two nations, are not to learn that anciently the manners and customs of them both were so much the same, that the compositions of the one kingdom might easily be attributed to the other, without causing any material error or mistake. Besides, the Poem in question hath been claimed in their turn by the Danish Literati, as a production of their own country: and it hath even been printed nearly the same as it is given here, in a collection of ancient Danish Songs[1]. For my part, I am inclined to think that it was sung indifferently throughout all Scandinavia, and that each people placed the scene of action among themselves, in order to have the honour of those prodigious feats of valour, which are so largely described in it. Examples of
- ↑ See N. 20. in Centur. Cant. Danic. prior Part. prim. ab And. Velleio compil. & edit. Ann. 1695. cum cent. sec. a Pet. Syvio.
