↩ The poetical merit of the songs of the ►Edda has, perhaps, been commonly over-estimated; but, on the other hand, a standard has been sometimes applied to them which would sink them far beneath their real value. It is certain, that at a time anterior to the colonization of 📌Iceland, a race of Norse poets existed whose writings were natural, vivid, and popular. The few fragments that remain, and especially the elegy of 👤Eivird Skalderspilder upon 452👤Hakon, the foster-son of 👤Athelstane, are indisputable evidence of this. Of the ►Edda songs, the descriptions of battle are the most remarkable passages.