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Scandinavica for the 18th-century Common Reader 245
thought it regrettable that none of these concerned the
translations from the Norse. Their subject and their
superior merit would have deserved such annotations, and
much light could have been thrown on them "from two
very valuable, curious and entertaining works ...
Bartholinus de Causis . . . and the Introduction to the
History of Denmark, translated with considerable additions
and improvements, by the ingenious Dr Percy".
The critic makes the interesting point that even so correct
a writer as Mr Gray was inaccurate in the line,
'Tis the drink of Balder bold,
for "in the Northern mythology, Balder is always distinguished
by the epithet of good ... (for) none of his
qualifications were of a warlike nature" - he was mild,
beautiful and eloquent. "It is scarcely requisite to say
that the epithet used in the translation is unwarranted by
the originals."
And yet Baldr was also thought of as a warrior, and
his very name possibly justifies Gray.:" Did Saxo
Grammaticus preserve the original version of the legend
after all? Verse 37 of Lokasenna supports such a reading
of Baldr's character - Frigg wants a fighter to deal
with Loki.:"
The less common reader was informed where he could
obtain information about Icelandic writers by the
Critical'e" account of Finni ]ohannaei Episcopi Dioceseos,
Skalholtinae in Islandia, Historia Ecclesiastica
Islandiae .. which contained anecdotes of such men of
learning as Ari, Ssemundr, Snorri, "Olvf Hvitaskald",
Brother Eysteinn, Torfteus, Ami Magnseus, Brynj6Ifr
Sveinsson.
More remote information occasionally appeared. The
29 See Alexander j ohannesson, lsldndisches etymologisches Worterbuch.
(I956),626.
30 Cf. the discussion of the dualitv in the character of Baldr hv G.
TurviIle-Petre, Myth and Religion of ihe North (I964), roo ff.
31 Critical Review 44 (I777). 225-7.