was Greek and what was Gothic," should have entered so fully into the
spirit and letter of Old Norse poetry is little short of marvelous. If
Professor G.L. Kittredge had not gone so minutely into the question of
Gray's knowledge of Old Norse,[3] we might be pardoned for still
believing with Gosse[4] that the poet learned Icelandic in his later
life. Even after reading Professor Kittredge's essay, we cannot
understand how Gray could catch the metrical lilt of the Old Norse with
only a Latin version to transliterate the parallel Icelandic. We suspect
that Gray's knowledge was fuller than Professor Kittredge will allow,
although we must admit that superficial knowledge may coexist with a
fine interpretative spirit. Matthew Arnold's knowledge of Celtic
literature was meagre, yet he wrote memorably and beautifully on that
subject, as Celts themselves will acknowledge.[5]


THE SOURCES OF GRAY'S KNOWLEDGE.

It has already been said that only antiquarians had knowledge of things
Icelandic in Gray's time. Most of this knowledge was in Latin, of
course, in ponderous tomes with wonderful, long titles; and the list of
them is awe-inspiring. In all likelihood Gray did not use them all, but
he met references to them in the books he did consult. Professor
Kittredge mentions them in the paper already quoted, but they are here
arranged in the order of publication, and the list is lengthened to
include some books that were inspired by the interest in Gray's
experiments.

=1636= and =1651=. Wormius. _Seu Danica literatura antiquissima,
vulgo Gothica dicta, luci reddita opera Olai Wormii. Cui accessit de
prisca Danorum Poesi Dissertatio._ Hafniæ. 1636. Edit. II. 1651.