Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/51

Rh  of the gothic Scalders had already planted; and produced that extraordinary species of composition which has been called ." In another place, indeed, he admits that there were "but few" of these monsters in the poetry of the most ancient Scalds; but that few is quite sufficient for the argument.

So that, one would think, Warton supplies no testimony in support of a doctrine, which I cannot help fancying may be proved altogether groundless. "Allowing the early Scaldic odes to be genuine," says Mr. Dunlop, " we find in them no dragons, giants, magic rings, or enchanted castles. These are only to be met with in the compositions of the bards who flourished after the native vein of Runic fabling had been enriched by the tales of the Arabians ." This is an extremely