ure.

The other work by Carlyle dealing directly with Old Norse material is
_The Early Kings of Norway_. Here he digests _Heimskringla_, which was
obtainable through Laing's translation, in a way to stir the blood. The
story, as he tells it, is breathlessly interesting, and it is a pity
that readers of Carlyle so often stop short of this work. As in the
_Hero-Worship_, he shows this Teutonic bias, and the religious training
that minified Greek literature.

Snorri's work elicits from him repeated applause. Here, for instance, in
Chap. X: "It has, all of it, the description (and we see clearly the
fact itself had), a kind of pathetic grandeur, simplicity, and rude
nobleness; something Epic or Homeric, without the metre or the singing
of Homer, but with all the sincerity, rugged truth to nature, and much
more of piety, devoutness, reverence for what is ever high in this
universe, than meets us in those old Greek Ballad-mongers."

SAMUEL LAING (1780-1868).

It was the work of Samuel Laing that gave Carlyle the material for this
last-mentioned book.[18] Laing's translation of _Heimskringla_ bears the
date 1844, and although Mr. Dasent's quaint version of the _Prose Edda_
preceded it by two years, _The Sagas of the Norse Kings_ was the
"epoch-making" book. It is true that a later version has superseded it
in literary and scholarly finish, but Laing's work was a pioneer of
sterling intrinsic value, and many there be that do it homage still.
Laing had the laudable ambition--so seldom found in these days--"to give
a plain, faithful translation into English of the _Heimskringla_,
unencumbered with antiquarian research, and suited to the plain English
reader."[19] With this work, then, Icelandic lore passes out of the
hands of the antiquarian into the hands of common readers. It matters
little that the audience is even still fit and few; from this time on he
that runs may read.

For our purpose it will not be necessary to characterize the
translation. Laing commanded an excellent style, and he was enthusiastic
over his work. Indeed, the commonest criticism passed on the
"Preliminary Dissertation" was that the author's zeal had run away with
his good sense. Be that as it may, Laing called the attention of his
readers to the neglect of a literature and a history which should be
England's pride, as Anglo-Saxon literature and history even then were.
The reviews of the time made it appear as if another Battle of the Books
were im