Note 21 — SCENE II.—

In this Ode is contained all the use which our poet made of his knowledge of the Saxon manners, gleaned from Bede and Bochart. It is certain, that the Saxons, like the other Northmen, used the horrible superstition of human sacrifices. Woden, Freya or Frigga his wife, and Thor the god of war, were worshipped by the Saxons with probably the same attributes ascribed to them as in Denmark and Sweden. The casting of lots is mentioned by Alfred in his version of Bede, pluton mid tanum, "they cast lots with twigs." Much, and most extensive learning, has been displayed on the subject, by Mr Turner, in the fourth volume of his Anglo-Saxon History.