Copy 1, Volume 1

Northern antiquities: or a description of the manners, customs, religion and laws of the ancient Danes, including ... our own Saxon ancestors ... With a translation of the Edda, etc. ... Translated [by Bishop Percy] ... from "L'introduction à l'histoire de Dannemarc, &c., par Mons. Mallet." With additional notes by the English translator, and Goranson's Latin version of the Edda ... / [Paul Henri Mallet].

Paul Henri Mallet

Date:: 1809

Credit: Northern antiquities: or a description of the manners, customs, religion and laws of the ancient Danes, including ... our own Saxon ancestors ... With a translation of the Edda, etc. ... Translated [by Bishop Percy] ... from "L'introduction à l'histoire de Dannemarc, &c., par Mons. Mallet." With additional notes by the English translator, and Goranson's Latin version of the Edda ... / [Paul Henri Mallet]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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elevated, called the Boundlefs. In this lafl; we think the citj of Gimle muft be feated, but it is at prefent inhabited onlj by the luminous Genii, REMARKS ON THE NINTH FABLÉi (a) “ In a clty named Àlf- heim.”] Alfhelm lignifies in Go- thic, tlie abode ©f the Genii, that l's, of the Pairies of the male fex. We may obferve, that they are of different charaélers, Good and Bad ; for there is no probability, that any one good quality could be afcribed to créatures blacker than pitch. It is needlefs to ob- ferve, that ail the ‘ Gothic and’ Celtic nations hâve had thefe Ge- nii. The romances of Chivalry are full of allufions to this ima- ginary fyftem. The famé opini- ons prevaiJed among the Perfians. In many places of High Germany, the people hâve ftill a notion, that thefe Genii corne by night, and lay themfelves on thofe they find fleeping on their backs ; and thus producc that kind of fuffocation which^ we call the Night Mare. (See Keyfler, Antiq. Sept. p. 500.) In the famé manner they account- cd for thofe luxurious and im- modeft allufions, fo common in dreams; hencc arc derivcd the fables of Incuhufes and Subeubufes ; and that general opinion that there were Genii or Sylphs of both fexes, who did not difdain the embraces of mortals. With one finale fieSUon, fo fruitful as this, they might hâve run through the whole world of nature, and not hâve left a fingle phænome- non unaccounted for. To do this there was only occafîon for Good and Bad Genii, as we hâve feen above. With regard to the Bad, they were particularly dreaded at the hour of noon ; and in fome places they ftill make it a point of duty to keep company at that hour with women in childbed, for fear the Démon of Nooii fhould attack them, if left alone. This fuperftition hath prevailed no lefs in France, than elfewhere ; though it came from the eaft. St. Bafil recommends us to pray to God fometime before noon, to vert this danger. The Celtes with the famé view, ofiered fa- crifices. One fays pleafantly, the triie

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