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worked off at first, and the greatest part of them were consumed in the fire which, in the year 1728, destroyed a part of Copenhagen. M. Goranson’s edition, as it is but little known out of Sweden, and is incompleat, hath not prevented the Edda of Resenius from being still much sought after; and this may justify the present undertaking.
Without doubt, this task should have been assigned to other hands than mine. There are in Denmark many learned men, from whom the public might have expected it, and who would have acquitted themselves much better than I can. I dissemble not, when I avow, that it is not without fear and reluctance, that I have begun and finished this work, under the attentive eyes of so many critical and observing judges: But I flatter myself that the motives which prompted me to the enterprize, will abate some part of their severity. Whatever opinion may be formed of these Fables and of these Poems, it is evident they do honour to the nation that has produced them; they are not void of genius or imagination. Strangers who shall read them, will be obliged to soften some of those dark colours in which they have usually painted our Scandinavian ancestors. Nothing does so much honour to a people as strength of genius and
