Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 2

290 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION
ticus, a Danlfli Hiftorian of confiderable note
who flourlflicd in the thirteenth century, in-
forms us that very many of thefe fongs, contain-
nor upon metrical feet, or quantity of fyllables, but chiefly
upon the number of the fyllables, and the difpofition of the
letters. In every ftanza was an equal number of lines : in
every line fix fyllables. In each dillich, it was requifite that
three words fhould begin with the fame letter ; two of the cor-
refponding words placed in the firfl line of the djftich, the
third, in the fecond line. In each line were alfo required two
fyllables, but never the final ones, formed either of the fame
confonants, or fame vowels. As an example of this rrieafure,
Olaus gives us thefe two Latin lines conftruded exadly accord-
ing to the above rules of Runic verfe ;
Ghriflus caput noftrum
Coronet te bonis.
'JThe initial letters of Chriftus, Caput, and Coronet, make the
three ccrrefpor.ding letters of the dilHch. In the firll line, the
firll fyllables of Chrillus and of noftrum ; in the fecond line,
the on in coronet and in bonis make the requifite corrcfpon-
dence of fyllables. Frequent inverfions and tranfpofitions
were permitted in this poetry; which- would naturally follow
from fuch laborious attention to the collocation of words.
The curious on this fuhjed may confult likewife Dr. Hicks's
Thefaurus Lingnarum Septentrionalium; particularly the 2d;
chapter of his Grammatica Anglo Saxonica & Maefo Go-
thica; where they will find a full account of the ftrufture of
the Anglo Saxon verfe, which nearly refemblcd the Gothic.
They will find alfo fome fpecimens both of Gothic and Saxon
poetry. An extraft, which Dr. Kicks has given from the-'
work of one of the Danifn Scaldcfs, entitled, Hervarer Saga,-
containing an evocation from the dead, may be found in th&
^th volume of Mifcellany Poems, publi-'hed by Mr. Dryden.
ing.