Note 042 May we not suspect that superstition was the parent of despotism? The descendants of Odin (whose race was not extinct till the year l060) are said to have reigned in Sweden above a thousand years. The temple of Upsal was the ancient seat of religion and empire. In the year 1153 I find a singular law, prohibiting the use and profession of arms to any except the king's guards. Is it not probable that it was coloured by the pretence of reviving an old institution? Dalling's History of Sweden in the Bibliotheque Raisonnee, xl. xlv.

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Note to Chapter 9 of DECLINE and FALL by Gibbon