appeare that they antiently therein intended the day of the God of Thunder; and in some of our old Saron bookes I find it to have been written Chunres-Deag: —So as it seemeth that the name of Thor, or Thur, was abbreviated of Thunre, which we now write Thunder." Verstegan.

The Laplanders were the last who retained the worship of this tremendous idol: They represented him by a stump of a tree, rudely formed like the head of a man, in which they stuck pieces of steel and flint, that he might strike fire when he pleased, and placed a hammer near him, which they fancied he used against evil spirits, as well as his bow and arrows; attributing to him sovereign authority over all the mischievous and malevolent spirits which inhabit the air, mountains, lakes, &c.

The Northern nations used to hold a high festival at the winter solstice, in honour of this powerful Deity, under the appellation of Juul, or Yuul (see Longest Day and Christmas Day,) to supplicate for a propitious year, which, from the elements having been considered under his controul, he alone could grant; and at this festival, as at that of the Saturnalia of the Romans, every excess of extravagant and dissolute pleasure was authorised, as not only admissible, but requisite. Descended from their supreme Deity, and esteemed “The eldest of his sons," he partook of the presumed attributes of his father on the one side; and, springing from Frega or the Earth, he was considered as more immediately

connected with matter. Hence he became the principal mediator for mankind; and hence was regarded as the one who, " as the son of din and the Earth," could most effectually promote and secure their welfare.

The Romans called Thursday Dies Jovis, feria quinta; and the great resemblance between the alleged powers of the Thunderer Jupiter, and the Thunderer Thor, has given occasion to their being considered as the same idol under different titles.-The French nation retain in their Jeudi, the old appellation of Dies Jovis, and in the Cornish language that day was called De-Jeu; an evident corruption of the Latin origin, or a reverse mode of expressing the French Jeu-Di, or the English Joves-day.

Friday,

the sixth day of the week, took its appellation from FREA, FRIGA, or FRIGGA, the wife of Odin or Woden; FRIGEDAG, Sax.; FRIGDAG, Dan.; FREITAG, or FREYTAG, Teut.; FRYDAG, Belg.; FRIGA'S DEG, Sax.

This pagan divinity was held in the highest esteem and veneration for her power of procuring easy child-birth, and bestowing every felicity connected with the softer endearments of life: She was thought to have been the mother, as Odin was the father, of all the other pagan divi

nities of the Northern nations; though it would appear doubtful whether FRIGA had not usurped the honours originally mentioned in the Northern mythology, as belonging to Herthus, or the Earth, or "Mother Earth," as she is termed, and also "Mother of the Gods;" according to the opinion entertained by Heathens of all countries, that the supreme Deity had united with the Earth, and thereby given origin to all their other gods.

VERSTEGAN alleges that this Idol "repres sented both seres, as well man as woman, Ec. In her right hand she held a drawne sword, and in her left a bow; signifying thereby that women, as well as men, should in time of need be ready to fight. Some honoured her for a God, and some for a Goddesse, but she was ordinarily taken rather for a Goddesse than a God, and was reputed the giver of peace and plenty, as also the causer and maker of love and amity.'

The Romans dedicated this day to VENUS, whence its name among them of Dies Veneris, feria sexta; and that goddess having possessed many of the attributes for which FRIGA was most celebrated, several authors have supposed them originally to have been the same divinity. It is, however, to be remarked, that an attendant upon FRIGA, called by the Northern nations Freya, agrees best in her alleged attributes with the Roman Venus; for although by degrees the whole of the powers and qualities of the two Saxon idols became concentrated in Friga, her attendant was originally worshipped "as the Goddess of Love," and "as the kind and liberal Goddess;" while Friga herself was adored as "the queen of the Gods," and consequently more resembled the Roman Juno than their Venus.

Saturday,

SEATER DÆG, Saxon; the seventh or last day in the week, received its name from the idol eater, or Crodo, worshipped by our Saxon forefathers: the latter title, however, is seldom to be found in any other author than VERSTEGAN, from whom is extracted the following emblem and description of his attributes: