office an influence, which cannot be derived from any difference of external circumstances. The pastor must undergo the same labours and hardships as the meanest of his flock: he enjoys few additional comforts or refinements of life; and but for the superiority of his intellectual attainments, would speedily lose that station in society, which it is so necessary he should retain. It forms, too, an important part of his duty to superintend the business of domestic education in the families placed under his pastoral care. This office is not, indeed, strictly required by the ecclesiastical statutes of the country; but it is founded upon usage, and ultimately upon a sense of the necessity for such a superintendance, where the public means of education are so greatly limited by the poverty of the people, and the dispersion of their numbers. An interesting example of the attention with which this duty is sometimes ex ercised has been given in the journal; and the instance of the parish priest of Saurbar is by no means singular among the ministers of religion in Iceland. Their poverty, indeed, rather increases than lessens the influence of these exertions, by associating them more intimately with their parishioners, and promoting that free and unreserved communication, which a more refined state of society has so much tendency to preclude.

By this superintendence of the priests, and the long-established habits of the people, a regular system of domestic education is maintained; in the benefits of which, even the lowest ranks of

the community partake. With the exception of those who inhabit the coast, in the vicinity of the great fishing stations, it is a rare thing to meet with an Icelander who is unable to read and write, or who does not possess considerable intelligence on all subjects to which his situation allows him access. The instruction of his children forms one of his stated occupations; and, while the little earthen hut which he inhabits is almost buried by the snows of winter, and darkness and desolation are spread universally around, the light of an oil lamp illumines the page, from which he reads to his family the lessons of knowledge, religion, and virtue. The importance of these domestic habits has been well understood by the Icelanders themselves. In the ecclesiastical code of the country, an article is extant, singular perhaps in its nature, but admirable in its design, which gives to the Bishop, or even the inferior clergy, the power of preventing any marriage where the female is unable to read. This law, which provides so powerful a pledge for the instruction of the rising generation, is still occasionally acted upon, though probably not with so much strictness as in former times. The books in the possession of the lower classes are chiefly of a religious nature; a great number of these works having been printed in Iceland during the last two or three centuries and very generally circulated through the country. In many parishes there is a small collection of books belonging to the church; from which, under the superintendence of the priest,

each family in the district may derive some little addition to its means of instruction and improve

ment.

The historical and poetical writings which the early literature of Iceland produced, are by no means generally known among the Icelanders of the present time; such studies being principally confined to the priests, and to those of the higher classes. The calamities which oppressed the island during the 15th century, and which entirely extinguished the celebrity, and almost even the name of the people, interposed a sort of barrier between the ancient Icelanders and their posterity. Learning was restored under an altered form; the works of former genius were only partially revived; and these circumstances, together with the changes progressively taking place in the language of the country, have removed from the possession of the present race of people all the more striking evidences of the ancient condition of their community. A great number of manuscripts are still to be found in the churches, and in the houses of the priests and principal inhabitants; but, with few exceptions, they are all of modern date, and are merely the representatives of works which were intended for publication, but which the poverty of their writers, or other circumstances, have unavoidably suppressed. The greater proportion of the Icelandic manuscripts which derive value from their antiquity, have been gradually transferred to Copenhagen, and deposited in the public or private libraries of that metropolis. Here they have been carefully col.

lated, with a view to the publication of those which were found most remarkable or important; and it is principally through this channel that the earlier writings of the Icelanders are known to the present inhabitants of the country. The valuable editions of these writings printed at Copenhagen, have come into the possession of all who bear a literary character among the Icelanders; and a few editions of the works of this period, which have been printed in the island, have given a further diffusion to this branch of knowledge among the people. It is, however, by no means general; the tales and traditions which now prevail in the country relating for the most part to more recent times, and being in few instances derived from the Sagas and poems, in which the events of antiquity are described.

Among those individuals of the present day who have made the early literature of Iceland an object of study, the name of Finnur Magnuson may particularly be mentioned. This young man, who holds the situation of public pleader in the courts of law at Reikiavik, and is distinguished by his classical acquirements, has bestowed very great attention upon the early writings, and especially upon the ancient poetry of his country; and is considered to have a more intimate knowledge of them than any other person in the island. He has likewise been enabled, from his residence on the spot, and from his family connections with several eminent Icelanders, to collect some manuscripts of considerable value from their age and

rarity. The industry and success of Professor Thorkelin in the same pursuits are more generally known: but the long absence of this gentleman from Iceland has ·lessened, in some degree, his connection with the modern literature of the country.

In describing the state of knowledge among the present race of Icelanders, their attainments in languages and in classical literature must particularly be noticed. This is one of the first of those circumstances which engage the attention and admiration of the stranger, in visiting the island. He sees men whose habitations bespeak a condition little removed from the savage state; who suffer an almost entire privation of every comfort or refinement of life; and who, amid the storms of the surrounding sea, seek, in their little boats, the provision upon which alone their families can scarcely depend. Among these very men, he finds an intimate knowledge of the classical writings of antiquity; a taste formed upon the purest models of Greece and Rome; and á susceptibility to all the beauties which these models disclose. While traversing the country, he is often attended by guides who can communicate with him in Latin; and, arriving at his place of nightly rest, he not unfrequently draws forth from the labours of his little smithy, a man who addresses himin this language with the utmost fluency and ele gance. This cultivation of the ancient languages has been common among the Icelanders from an early period in their history; and it will be seen from the Preliminary Dissertation, that many

of the principal works which distinguish their literature, and especially those of the historical kind, have been composed in Latin. At the present time, this language forms a part of the education of the priests, and of all the principal inhabitants of the island. It is still very frequently the vehicle of their writings; and a great number of inedited Latin books, both in poetry and prose, may be found throughout the country, destined for ever to remain in the obscurity which gave them birth. Epigrams and short descriptive poems in the same language are exceedingly common; and, through this medium, the Icelanders often indulge that tendency to personal satire, which it formerly required even the operation of the laws to restrain.

The study of Greek, as might be expected, is by no means equally general; but there are notwithstanding, several very excellent Grecian scholars, who now do credit to the literature of the island. In the first place among these is the present Bishop, Geir Vidalin; a man whose acquirements in every department of literary pursuit, would do honour to any country, or condition of society. To classical studies he has devoted peculiar attention; and, in his colloquial Latin, he displays a facility and correctness of style, and a richness and propriety of quotation, which evince the most intimate acquaintance with the writers of the best ages of Rome. In Grecian literature, his reading has been almost equally extensive: and he is said to be a very excellent Hebrew scholar. Among the other Ice

landers of the present time, who have distinguished themselves in classical literature, are, Steingrim Jonson, of Bessestad; the Rector Hialmarson, who formerly conducted the school at Hoolum; and Arnas Helgeson, the priest of Vatnsfiord, at the most northerly extremity of the island. Few translations from the classics have been published in the Icelandic language, though it is probable that many manuscripts of this kind exist in the country. The Transactions of the Icelandic Society, a work afterwards to be mentioned, contain translations of the Idylls of Theocritus, which possess very great merit; and, in the same work, there is a translation of Plutarch's Paidagogia, by the Assessor Einarson. The Fables of Æsop, and many of the Odes of Horace, have likewise been given to the Icelanders in their native verse.

It may be proper to notice here the great attention to the studies of philology and criticism which has existed among the learned men of Iceland during the last two centuries. Many valuable works connected with this department of literature, have been already published, either in the island or at Copenhagen; and numerous writings of the same kind are still to be found in manuscript, in different parts of Iceland.

In the study of the modern languages, the proficiency of the Icelanders is as great as can be expected from their limited intercourse with the continental nations. With the Danish language all the higher class of inhabitants are perfectly familiar; the German is understood by many; and of late years the English has been VOL. LIII.

cultivated by a few individuals with much success. All these languages, as is well known, originate from the same root; and the resemblance still retained between the Icelandic and Danish, or still more the Norwegian, is such, that the natives of each country can, without much difficulty, make themselves mutually understood. Through these different channels, the Icelanders have acquired considerable information respecting the modern literature of Europe, particularly that of Germany and Denmark; and they possess not only the originals, but translations of many of the works which have acquired reputation in these countries in later times. Their knowledge of English literature is obtained chiefly through the medium of the Danish and German; in which languages the works of Addison, Pope, Richardson, and Young, are known and admired by many individuals in the island. They possess likewise a few translations of English works into their native language. Twenty or thirty years ago, the whole of Milton's Paradise Lost was translated into Icelandic verse by Jonas Thorlakson, a priest at Backa, in the northern part of the island; of which translation two books were published in the Acts of the Icelandic Society; the remainder are yet in manuscript. The merits of the poetry in this translation are spoken of in terms of high eulogium by the Bishop, who is, however, unacquainted with the original. The same Jonas Thorlakson has also translated Pope's Essay on Man, of which a considerable edition was printed at Leira in 1798, in a duodecimo form.

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The cultivation of poetry in Iceland, though by no means so general as in ancient times, still forms a striking feature in the literature of the country. Among those of the natives who enjoy the reputation of talents or learning, there are few who have not occasionally tempted the Muse; and where such efforts have been seconded by the true inspiration of genius, the poet has received his reward in the unlimited applause and admiration of his fellow-citizens. The days indeed are past, when the bard poured forth his unpremeditated lay' to the assembled and admiring multitude; but in exchange for these rapid and irregular effusions of fancy, a more classical style has been acquired, and greater scope is given to the exercise of selection and taste in poetical compositions. A few only can be mentioned of those individuals who still adorn this branch of Icelandic literature. One of the most eminent is the Assessor Benedict Grondal, a judge in the higher court of justice, and a man of an elegant and cultivated mind. His published poems, which are regarded as the best modern specimens of the Icelandic language, are not, however, either very numerous or considerable in length; consisting chiefly of odes, epitaphs, and other detached pieces; among which are many excellent translations from Theocritus, Anacreon, and Horace. A translation of Pope's Temple of Fame, which was published some years ago, is greatly esteemed by the best judges of Icelandic poetry. He has composed also several poetical satires: in which, according to the information of the

Bishop, there is much successful ridicule, after the manner of Horace, of the follies and vices of his countrymen; but these satires, in consequence of the express prohibitory article in the laws of the island, he has not ventured to publish. The general style of his poetry is described to be terse, pointed, and elegant. Finnur Magnuson is another of the Icelandic writers of the present day; who has acquired much credit from the facility with which he composes in the Latin and Danish languages, and for the extreme accuracy of his Icelandic style. He has translated into Danish verse, the poem of his uncle Eggert Olasson, on the rustic life of the Icelander, and published also several smaller pieces. Jonas Thorlakson, the venerable translator of Milton, is still living in a remote part of the Island, and has composed many original poems of great merit; of which, however, nearly all are unpublished. Another individual, possessing some reputation, is Sigurdar Peturson of Reikiavik, who has written, among other works, a poem in six books, called Stella; in which, under a fictitious form, the manners and habits of the Icelanders are minutely described; this poem is likewise unpublished, and will probably ever remain in obscurity. The poverty and other circumstances of the Icelanders, offer indeed, such multiplied obstacles to their literary progress, that it is impossible not to admire the ardour and industry which in pursuits of this nature they continue to display. In the department of poetry more especially, the number of manuscript works, doomed,