011 642 653 5 \ ^x^ 7 f *^ ^-c-<^^ LETTER OF ERASMUS RASK TO HENRY WHEATON. Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for April, 1880. ^ ■-^f^"^ * 'X> \ 7 ) Mr. G. Dextee. communicated a letter from Professor Erasmus Rask to the Hon. Henry Wheaton, saying : — I have found lately among some papers of the late Henry Wheaton, for many years the diplomatic representative of this country at the courts of Copenhagen and Berlin, an inter- esting letter written to him in 1831 by Erasmus Rask on the subject of the discovery of America by the Northmen. Mr. Rask is recognized as one of tlie great philological scholars of his time, and he was particuhirly well acquainted with the Icelandic language and literature, on which he wrote several treatises. Mr. Wheaton, at the date of this letter, had just published in London his history of the Northmen. He had made due mention in this of their visits to America, and as it was a matter in which he took great interest, he was now perhaps seeking more information from his friend. I do not forget that this letter of Mr. Rask was written before the publication of Professor Rafn's great work, the " Antiquitates Ameiicana?," which appeared in 1837. Nor am I unaware that Mr. Wheaton himself, in the French trans- 1880.1 TT^Stk-CKS BY :mr. g. dexter. 19 y. lation of \n^ history, publislied in 18-14, which was substan- tially a revised edition of the original work, adojDted Mr. Rafn's views.* Bat the " Antiqnitates Americanse " was as it were a new departure in these Northern studies. For the first time the sagas were given to the world, carefully edited and translated into a language read by the learned of all countries. Tiie completeness and splendor of the manner of publication of the book, the ability of the editors, and, above all, their earnest enthusiasm, seemed to carry all before them for a time. Nearly every one was disposed to accept the narra- tives of the sagas, and to agree with the plausildy argued conclusions of the Danish editors. Tliere was perhaps also a feeling of patriotic pride among the Northern scholars, tiiat tlieir ancestors had jDreceded Columbus in the discoverj^ of the new world. Certainly no attempt was made in Denmark to refute Rafn's arguments, and the Royal Society of North- ern Antiquaries at once appointed a committee on the ante- Columbian discovery of America, and established an American section of the Museum, in which supposed traces of the North- men's visits were to be preserved. To-day, however, while the visits of these Northmen to some parts of the American continent are perhaps generally admitted by careful historians, scholars have grown very cautious in accepting the details of the narratives, and reluc- tant to receive Professor Rafn's identification of the places visited by Leif and Thorvald. Dighton Rock and the old mill at Newport, on which so much argument was built, have been abandoned. There exist no known works of the Northmen in the United States. Mr. Schoolcraft and Dr. Palfrey have settled that point. The lapse of forty years since the appearance of Mr. Rafn's laboi-s has made it evident also that another of his conclusions may be doubted. He and his coadjutor, Professor Finn ]\Iagnusen, have endeavored in learned arguments to show that the pre- cise latitude of " Leifsbudir " can be deduced from the state- ment in the saga of the length of the Avinter's day. The testimony of the exact scholar whose letter I have brought * Mr. Paul Guillot, the translator of Mr. Wlieaton's history, calls liis book on the titlepage, " edition revue et auguientee p:ir I'auteur, avec cartes, inscrip- tions, et alpliabet runiques." And in his j)reface he states that the book is " moins une traduction qu'une nouvellc edition, enriciii des notes et des rcciierciics que I'autcur roservait pour une secoiule ))ublication." An appendi.K of new matter, of about one liundred pages, is taken from Rafn's " Antiqnitates American£e." Tlie summary of Fimi Magnusen's argument about the lengtii of the winter day is given on p. 83 n. 20 MASSACHUSETrs HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [April, here to-day may be of value on that point. And I may recall the fact that Mr. Gudbrand Vigfussen, the editor of Cleasby's Icelandic Dictionary, the latest authority, states that the editor of the " Antiquitates Americanie " is mistaken in this matter. Mr. Rask's letter, admirabl}^ expressed when we remember that he writes in a tongue not his native one, is as follows: — K