manner of the Edda,

accounts for the invention of fire, and for the mortality of man. Nor is there in all the Edda one more childish, or more diftant from any appearance of a rational meaning. It is handled however by our philofopher, with much folemn gravity, as if every fource of wisdom were locked up in it. The explanation he gives, being too long to be copied here, fhall be reduced to a few particulars. After an elogium upon fire, his Lordship proceeds thus. "The manner wherein Prometheus "stole his fire, is properly defcribed from the nature of the thing; he being faid to have done it by applying a rod of "birch to the chariot of the fun: for birch is used in ftriking "and beating; which clearly denotes fire to proceed from vio"lent percuffions and collifions of bodies, whereby the matters "ftruck are fubtilized, rarefied, put into motion, and fo prepa"red to receive the heat of the celeftial bodies. And accordingly they, in a clandeftine and fecret manner, fnatch fire, as it were by ftealth, from the chariot of the fun." He goes on as follows. "The next is a remarkable part of the fable; which "reprefents, that men, instead of gratitude, accufed both Pro"metheus and his fire to Jupiter: and yet the accufation proved "fo pleasant to Jupiter, that he not only indulged mankind the "ufe of fire, but conferred upon them perpetual youth. Here it <6 may feem ftrange, that the fin of ingratitude fhould meet with approbation or reward. But the allegory has another view; "and denotes, that the accufation both of human nature and human art, proceeds from a noble and laudable temper of mind, "viz. modefty; and alfo tends to a very good purpofe, viz. to "ftir up fresh industry and new difcoveries." Can any thing be more wire-drawn?

Vulcan, attempting the chastity of Minerva, had recourfe to force. In the ftruggle, his femen, falling upon the ground, produced Ericthonius; whofe body from the middle upward was

comely

comely and well proportioned, his thighs and legs fmall and deformed like an eel. Confcious of that defect, he was the inventer of chariots; which fhowed the graceful part of his body, and concealed what was deformed. Listen to the explanation of this ridiculous fable. "Art, by the various ufes it makes of fire, is here represented by Vulcan: and Nature is represented by Minerva, because of the industry employ'd in her works. Art, "when it offers violence to Nature in order to bend her to its purpose, feldom attains the end propofed. Yet, upon great struggle and application, there proceed certain imperfect births, or lame abortive works; which however, with great pomp and "deceitful appearances, are triumphantly carried about, and "fhown by impoftors." I admit the ingenuity of that forc'd meaning; but had the inventer of that fable any latent meaning? If he had, why did he conceal it? The ingenious meaning would have merited praise; the fable itself none at all.

I fhall add but one other inftance, for they grow tiresome. Sphinx was a monfter, having the face and voice of a virgin, the wings of a bird, and the talons of a gryphin. She resided on the fummit of a mountain, near the city Thebes.

Her manner was, riddles which she

to lie in ambush for travellers, to propofe dark received from the Muses, and to tear those to pieces who could not folve them. The Thebans having offered their kingdom to the man who should interpret these riddles, Oedipus prefented himself before the monster, and he was required to explain the following riddle, viz. What creature is that, which being born four-footed, becomes afterwards two-footed, then three-footed, and lastly four-footed again. Oedipus anfwered, It was man, who in his infancy crawls upon his hands and feet, then walks upright upon his two feet, walks in old age with a stick, and at laft lies four-footed in bed. Oedipus having thus obtained the victory, flew the monster; and laying the carcafe upon an afs, carried

VOL. II.

U

carried it off in triumph. Now for the explanation.

66

66

"This is

an elegant and instructive fable, invented to represent science: "for Science may be called a monster, being ftrangely gazed at "and admired by the ignorant. Her figure and form is various, "by reason of the vast variety of fubjects that science confiders. "Her voice and countenance are reprefented female, by reason of her gay appearance, and volubility of speech. Wings are "added, because the sciences and their inventions fly about in a moment; for knowledge, like light communicated from "torch to torch, is prefently catched, and copiously diffused. Sharp and hooked talons are elegantly attributed to her; be"cause the axioms and arguments of fcience fix down the "mind, and keep it from moving or flipping away." Again: "All fcience feems placed on high, as it were on the tops of "mountains that are hard to climb; for fcience is juftly imagi"ned a fublime and lofty thing, looking down upon ignorance, " and at the fame time taking an extensive view on all fides, as "is ufual on the tops of mountains. Sphinx is faid to propofe "difficult questions and riddles, which fhe received from the "Mufes. These questions, while they remain with the Mufes, may be pleasant, as contemplation and enquiry are when know"ledge is their only aim: but after they are delivered to Sphinx, "that is, to practice, which impels to action, choice, and deter"nination; then it is that they become fevere and torturing; " and unless folved, strangely perplex the human mind, and tear "it to pieces. It is with the utmost elegance added in the fable, "that the carcafs of Sphinx was laid upon an afs; for there is "nothing fo fubtile and abstruse, but after being made plain, may "be conceived by the flowest capacity." According to fuch latitude of interpretation, there is nothing more eafy than to make quidlibet ex quolibet.

"Who

"Who would not laugh if such a man there be?
"Who would not weep if Atticus were he?"

I will detain the reader but a moment longer, to hear what our author fays in justification of fuch mysterious meaning. Out of many reasons, I felect the two following. "It may pafs for a "farther indication of a concealed and fecret meaning, that fome of these fables are so abfurd and idle in their narration, as to proclaim an allegory even afar off. A fable that carries proba"bility with it, may be fuppofed invented for pleasure, or in "imitation of history; but what could never be conceived or re"lated in this way, must surely have a different use. For ex

ample, what a monstrous fiction is this, That Jupiter should "take Metis to wife; and as foon as he found her pregnant eat "her up; whereby he also conceived, and out of his head brought "forth Pallas armed! Certainly no mortal could, but for the "fake of the moral it couches, invent fuch an abfurd dream as

this, fo much out of the road of thought." At that rate, the more ridiculous or abfurd a fable is, the more instructive it must be. This opinion resembles that of the ancient Germans with refpect to mad women, who were held to be fo wife, as that every thing they uttered was prophetic. Did it never once occur to our author, that in the infancy of the reafoning faculty, the imagination is fuffered to range without control, as in a dream; and that the vulgar in all ages are delighted with wonderful stories the more out of nature, the more to their taste ?

We proceed to the other reason. "The argument of most weight with me is, That many of these fables appear not to "have been invented by the perfons who relate and divulge "them, whether Homer, Hefiod, or others; for if I were affu"red they first flowed from those later times and authors, I should never expect any thing fingularly great or noble from fuch an

66

"origin. But whoever attentively confiders the thing, will find, "that these fables are delivered down by thofe writers, not as matters then first invented, but as received and embraced in "earlier ages. And this principally raifes my esteem of those "fables; which I receive, not as the product of the age, or in"vention of the poets, but as facred relics, gentle whispers, and

the breath of better times, that from the traditions of more "ancient nations, came at length into the flutes and trumpets "of the Greeks." Was it our author's real opinion, that the farther back we trace the hiftory of man, the more of science and knowledge is found; and confequently that favages are the most learned of all men?

The following fable of the favage Canadians ought to be mysterious, if either of the reafons urged above be conclufive. "There were in the beginning but fix men in the world, (from whence sprung is not faid): one of these ascended to heaven in quest of a woman named Atahentsic, and had carnal knowledge of her. "She being thrown headlong from the height of the empyrean, was received on the back of a tortoife, and delivered of two "children, one of whom flew the other." This fable is fo abfurd, that it must have a latent meaning; and one needs but copy our author to pump a deep mystery out of it, however little intended by the inventer of the fable. And if either abfurdity or antiquity entitle fables to be held facred relics, gentle whifpers, and the breath of better times, the following Japanese fables are well entitled to thefe diftinguishing epithets. "Bunfio, in wedlock, having had no children for many years, addreffed her prayers to the gods, was heard, and was delivered of 500 eggs. Fearing that the eggs might produce monfters, fhe packed them up in a box, and threw them into the river. An old fisherman finding the box, hatched the eggs in an oven, every one of which produced a child. The children were fed with boiled rice and mugwortleaves;