Literary Hours (Volume 3) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1804. Excerpt: ... NUMBER LVII. A few grey stones Now mark the spot where Odin's-temple stood, And there the traveller seeks with busy eye His altar green with moss. SOUTHEY. When Odin corrupted the simplicity of that religious faith which had existed for so many centuries among his ancestors, ha taught his deluded followers to worship with peculiar rites and ceremonies the deities of Valhalla. Sensible of the vast influence which superstition holds over the uncultivated. mind, and of its utility in supporting that awe and mystic dread with which he endeavoured to envelope his own character and his assumption of divinity, he taught his credulous warriors not only to repose implicit confidence in the theology he had dictated, but to worship his own person as the first deity of the system. Relinquishing, therefore, the simple but rational rites of Scythia as too pure and abstract for his purpose, he introduced the erection of temples, the officiation of Priests and Priestesses, animal sacrifices, oracles, and as we shall presently see, an entire system of magic and demonism. The religious structures of the Scandinavians were, as might be supposed, at first rude and inartificial, but, in process of time, owing to their intercourse and connection with other European countries, and their necessary progress in art and civilization, these, a century or two previous to the introduction of Christianity, became more stately and elaborate, and were sometimes highly rich and magnificent. Norway, Denmark and Sweden vied with each other in the erection of these holy fabrics. To enumerate these would be tedious and superfluous, we shall therefore content ourselves with noticing their most celebrated building, the Temple of Upsal, in Sweden, the description of whose rites and ceremonies wi...