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See the man, who is informed of some severe and unexpected misfortune, who is deprived of a wife whom he loves, or of a child whom paternal affection had made the object of the fondest wishes. In an instant, his ideas take a new course. The world around him is overspread with gloom. Every thing lends itself to his grief. The cheerful sunshine, which soon may pass away, brings a mournful recollection to his soul; and he sighs, in contemplating the bloom of youth, which has lately flourished, and which must shortly fade. For him there is no joy in scenes of festivity and mirth; no allurement in the attractions of society; and no interest in the pursuits of ambition. He hears not the voice of consolation: he indulges and encourages his sorrow. It is not, until some sentiment, secretly approved, has whispered to him, that he may yet find solace in the pleasures of the world, that he discovers grief to be unavailing, and solitude to be irksome: he yields to the impulse of sentiment, and vaunts the exercise of reason. Drummond's Academical Questions.

Thrasea was a stoic philosopher, condemned by Nero for his inflexible virtue. When his veins were opened, he sprinkled the blood on the ground, as a libation to Liberating Jupiter. Libemus, inquit, Jovi Liberatori.

Horatius.

After the fatal battle of Cannæ, when the noblest of the Romans meditated to forsake their country, and offer their services to some foreign king, Scipio rushed, with a few followers, into the council, which was held with this design; and drawing his sword in the assembly, declared, that he would neither desert the republic, nor suffer any other citizen to desert it; and that whosoever should refuse to swear implicit conformity to this patriotic resolution, might know that against him that sword was drawn. Ex mei animi sententia, inquit, ut ego rempublicam populi Romani non deseram, neque alium civem Romanum deserere patiar. Si sciens fallo, tum me, Jupiter optime maxime, domum, familiam, remque meam, pessimo leto adficias. In hœc verba, L. Cœcili, jures postulo, ceterique, qui adestis: qui non juraverit, in se hunc gladium strictum esse sciat. The oath was unanimously taken, and the republic was preserved by Scipio in its most dreadful extremity.

Till the end of the eleventh century, a celebrated temple subsisted at Upsal, the most considerable town of the Swedes and Goths. It was enriched with the gold which the Scandinavians had acquired in their piratical adventures, and sanctified by the uncouth representations of the three principal deities, the god of war, the goddess of generation, and the god of thunder. In the general festival, that was solemnized every ninth year, nine animals of every species (without excepting the human) were sacrificed, and their bleeding bodies suspended in the sacred grove, adjacent to the temple. The only traces that now subsist of this barbaric superstition are contained in the Edda, a system of mythology, compiled in Iceland about the thirteenth century, and studied by the learned of Denmark and Sweden, as the most valuable remains of their ancient traditions.

Notwithstanding the mysterious obscurity of the Edda, we can easily distinguish two persons confounded under the name of Odin, the god of war, and the great legislator of Scandinavia. The latter, the Mahomet of the north, instituted a religion adapted to the climate, and to the people. Numerous tribes on either side of the Baltic were subdued by the invincible valor of Odin, by his persuasive eloquence, and by the fame, which he acquired, of a most skilful magician. The faith that he had propagated, during a long and prosperous life, he confirmed by a voluntary death. Apprehensive of the ignominious approach of disease and infirmity, he resolved to expire as became a warrior. In a solemn assembly of the Swedes and Goths, he wounded himself in nine mortal places, hastening away (as he asserted with his dying voice) to prepare the feast of heroes in the palace of the god of war. The native and proper habitation of Odin is distinguished by the appellation of Asgard. The happy resemblance of that name with As-burg, or As-of, words of a similar signification, has given rise to an historical system of so pleasing a contexture, that we could almost wish to persuade ourselves of its truth. It is supposed that Odin was the chief of a tribe of barbarians, which dwelt on the banks of the lake Mæotis, till the fall of Mithridates and the arms of Pompey menaced the north with servitude. That Odin, yielding with indignant fury to a power which he was unable to resist, conducted his tribe from the frontiers of the Asiatic Sarmatia into Sweden, with the great design of forming, in that inaccessible retreat of freedom, a religion and a people, which in some remote age might be subservient to his immortal revenge; when his invincible Goths, armed with martial fanaticism, should issue in numerous swarms from the neighbourhood of the Polar circle, to chastise the oppressors of mankind.

Tasso.

The following illustrations of this passage are extracted from different parts of the Edda and the Northern Antiquities.

The way from earth to heaven is over the bridge Bifrost, which men call the rain-bow. It is of three colors, is extremely solid, and constructed with more art than any work in the world. It will nevertheless be broken in pieces, when the genii of fire sally forth to war.

Asgard is the city, and Valhalla the hall of Odin, where he receives the souls of heroes who perish in battle. Their beverage is beer and mead; their cups the skulls of enemies whom they have slain. Valhalla has one hundred and forty gates, through every one of which eight heroes may march abreast.

Heimdaller is a very sacred and powerful deity. He dwells at the end of the bridge Bifrost, in a castle called the celestial fort. He is the centinel, or watchman, of the gods. The post assigned him is at the entry into heaven, to prevent the giants from forcing their way over the bridge. He sleeps less than a bird. He sees by night, as well as by day, more than a hundred leagues around him. The smallest sound does not escape him; and he has a trumpet, which is heard through all the worlds.

Thor is the most valiant of the sons of Odin, the most warlike and formidable of the gods. His weapon is the mace Miolner, which he grasps with gauntlets of iron. He governs the thunder, the winds, the rains, the fair weather, and the harvest.

Hilda is one of the Valkyræ. These goddesses officiate in Valhalla, pouring out ale and mead for the heroes. Odin sends them into the field of battle, to make choice of those who are to be slain, and to bestow the victory.

Nilflhil is a place consisting of nine worlds, reserved for those who die of disease or old age. Hela, or Death, there exercises her despotic power. She is livid and ghastly pale: the threshold of her door is Precipice; her palace Anguish; her table Famine; and her attendants Expectation and Delay.

Surtur is the prince of the genii of fire. In the twilight of the gods, the army of these genii will pass on horseback over the bridge of heaven, and break it in pieces. Heimdaller will then rise up, and violently sound his trumpet, to call the gods and heroes to battle.

Ομηρος.

Orpheus: Fragm. vi.

It is pleasing to compare this sublime enunciation of the system of the 'ΕΝ ΤΟ ΠΑΝ, with the equally sublime enunciation of the dualistic system in the sixth Æneid, and the impressive inscription on the pedestal of the veiled image in an Indian temple: I am all that is, all that was, and all that will be; and the veil which conceals me has never been raised by man.

Orpheus: Argonautica, v. 15.

The old reading, ΠΑΤΕΡΑ, is so manifestly shewn to be corrupt by the epithet αειγνητης, (see Herman's note,) that it is surprising Mr. Bryant should treat it as genuine, and speak of it as contradicting the notion of Aristophanes; who, ridiculously enough, represents Night laying an egg, from the shell of which, in due season, bursts the golden-winged Love. It is not only in the monstrous mythology of the Hindus, that we meet with oviparous deities.