The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature | Page 8

work he published, in 1755, an _Introduction a l'Histoire
de Dannemarc où l'on traite de la Réligion, des Lois, des Moeurs et des
Usages des Anciens Danois_, and, in 1756, the work in the list on a
previous page. In this second book was the first translation into a
modern tongue of the _Edda_, and this volume, in consequence,
attracted much attention. The great English antiquarian, Thomas Percy,
afterward Bishop of Dromore, was early drawn to this work, and with
the aid of friends he accomplished a translation of it, which was
published in 1770.
Mallet's work was very bad in its account of the racial affinities of the
nations commonly referred to as the barbarians that overturned the
Roman empire and culture. Percy, who had failed to edit the ballad
MSS. so as to please Ritson, was wise enough to see Mallet's error, and
to insist that Celtic and Gothic antiquities must not be confounded.
Mallet's translation of the Edda was imperfect, too, because he had
followed the Latin version of Resenius, which was notoriously poor.
Percy's Edda was no better, because it was only an English version of
Mallet. But we are not concerned with these critical considerations here;
and so it will be enough to record the fact that with the publication of
Percy's _Northern Antiquities_--the English name of Mallet's work--in
1770, knowledge of Icelandic literature passed from the exclusive
control of learned antiquarians. More and more, as time went on, men
went to the Icelandic originals, and translations of poems and sagas
came from the press in increasing numbers. In the course of time came
original works that were inspired by Old Norse stories and Old Norse
conceptions.

We have already noted that Gray's poems on Icelandic themes, though
written in 1761, were not published until 1768. Another delayed work
on similar themes was Percy's _Five Pieces of Runic Poetry_, which,
the author tells us, was prepared for the press in 1761, but, through an
accident, was not published until 1763. The preface has this interesting
sentence: "It would be as vain to deny, as it is perhaps impolitic to
mention, that this attempt is owing to the success of the Erse
fragments." The book has an appendix containing the Icelandic
originals of the poems translated, and that portion of the book shows
that a scholar's hand and interest made the volume. So, too, does the
close of the preface: "That the study of ancient northern literature hath
its important uses has been often evinced by able writers: and that it is
not dry or unamusive this little work it is hoped will demonstrate. Its
aim at least is to shew, that if those kind of studies are not always
employed on works of taste or classic elegance, they serve at least to
unlock the treasures of native genius; they present us with frequent
sallies of bold imagination, and constantly afford matter for
philosophical reflection by showing the workings of the human mind in
its almost original state of nature."
That original state was certainly one of original sin, if these poems are
to be believed. Every page in this volume is drenched with blood, and
from this book, as from Gray's poems and the other Old Norse
imitations of the time, a picture of fierceness and fearfulness was the
only one possible. Percy intimates in his preface that Icelandic poetry
has other tales to tell besides the "Incantation of Hervor," the "Dying
Ode of Regner Lodbrog," the "Ransome of Egill the Scald," and the
"Funeral Song of Hacon," which are here set down; he offers the
"Complaint of Harold" as a slight indication that the old poets left
"behind them many pieces on the gentler subjects of love or
friendship." But the time had not come for the presentation of those
pieces.
All of these translations were from the Latin versions extant in Percy's
time. This volume copied Hickes's translation of "Hervor's Incantation"
modified in a few particulars, and like that one, the other translations in
this volume were in prose. The work is done as well as possible, and it
remained for later scholars to point out errors in translation. The
negative contractions in Icelandic were as yet unfamiliar, and so, as

Walter Scott pointed out (in _Edin. Rev._, Oct., 1806), Percy made
Regner Lodbrog say, "The pleasure of that day (of battle, p. 34 in this
_Five Pieces_) was like having a fair virgin placed beside one in the
bed," and "The pleasure of that day was like kissing a young widow at
the highest seat of the table," when the poet really made the contrary
statement.
Of course, the value of this book depends upon the view that is taken of
it. Intrinsically, as literature, it is well-nigh valueless. It indicates to us,
however,