he took her younger half-sister, without asking the king's leave, the princess Astrid having, in modern phrase, eloped to Norway, under the protection of the Earl Rognvald. King Olaf bestirred himself to put all things in order to receive his runaway bride; and here we have another glance of domestic life.

There were all sorts of liquors of the best that could be got, and all other preparations of the same quality. Many people of consequence were summoned in from their residences. When the earl arrived with his retinue, the king received him particularly well; and the earl was shown to a large, good, and remarkably well-furnished house for his lodging; and serving-men and others were appointed to wait on him; and nothing was wanting, in any respect, that could grace a feast. Now when the entertainment had lasted some days, the king, the earl, and Astrid had a conference together; and the result of it was, that Earl Rognvald contracted Astrid, daughter of the Swedish King Olaf, to Olaf King of Norway, with the same dowry which had before been settled that her sister Ingigerd should have from home. King Olaf, on his part, should give Astrid the same bride-gift that had been intended for her sister Ingigerd. Thereupon an eke was made to the feast, and King Olaf and Queen Astrid's wedding was drunk in great festivity.

King Olaf had now leisure to begin to Christianize his pagan subjects, which he attempted, principally by abolishing their heathenish festivals and solemnities. The bonders pretended that these sacrifices were merely social and convivial meetings; and Olver of Egge, an able and powerful man, of high family connexions, boldly defended

them.

"We had," said he, "Yule feasts and drinking feasts wide around in the districts; and the bonders do not prepare their feasts so sparingly, sire, that there is not much left over, which people consume long afterwards. At Mære there is a great farm, with a large house on it, and a great neighbourhood all around it, and it is the great delight of the people to drink many together in company." The king said little in reply, but looked angry, as he thought he knew the truth of the matter better than it was now represented. He ordered the bonders to return home. "I shall some time or other," says he, "come to the truth of what you are now concealing, and in such a way that ye shall not be able to contradict it. But, however that may be, do not try such things again.' The bonders returned home, and told the result of their journey, and that the king was altogether enraged.

and built and consecrated churches. The king let Olver lie without fine paid for his bloodshed, and all that he possessed was adjudged to the king; and of the men he judged the most guilty, some he ordered to be executed, some he maimed, some he drove out of the country, and took fines from others. The king then returned to Nidaros.

And thus Saint Olaf propagated the gospel, but not without resistance, of which many brave things are related by Snorro. At one place, where the heathen bonders had given a bold defiance to the new faith, a Thing was summoned.

The king watched all night in prayer; and when day dawned the king went to mass, then to table, and from thence to the Thing. The weather was such as Gudbrand desired. Now the bishop stood up in his choir-robes, with bishop's coif upon his head, and bishop's staff in his hands. He spoke to the bonders of the true faith, told the many wonderful acts of God, and concluded his speech well.

Thord Istromaga replies, "Many things we are told of by this horned man with the staff in his hand crooked at the top like a ram's horn; but since ye say, comrades, that your god is so powerful, and can do so many wonders, tell him to make it clear sunshine to-morrow forenoon, and then we shall meet here again, and do one of two things, either agree with you about this business, or fight you." And they separated for the day.

On the following day, when mass was ended, and the Thing assembled, Gudbrand demanded of the Christians where was their God.

The king now whispers to Kolbein Sterki, without the bonders perceiving it, “If it come so in the course of my speech that the bonders look another way than towards their idol, strike him as hard as thou canst with thy club."

The king then stood up and spoke. "Much hast thou talked to us this morning, and greatly hast thou won dered that thou canst not see our God; but we expect that he will soon come to us. Thou wouldst frighten us with thy god, who is both blind and deaf, and can neither save himself nor others, and cannot even move about without being carried; but now I expect it will be bet a short time before he meets his fate: for turn your eyes towards the east,-behold our God advancing in great light."

The sun was rising, and all turned to look. At that moment Kolbein gave their god a stroke, so that the idol burst asunder; and there ran out of it mice as big almost as cats, and reptiles, and adders. The bonders were so terrified that some fled to their ships; but when they sprang out upon them they filled with water, and could not get away. Others ran to their horses, but could not find them. The king then ordered the bonders to be called together, saying he wanted to speak with them; on which the bonders came back, and the Thing was again seated.

and silver, and brought meat and provisions to. Ye see now that the protecting powers who used it were the mice and adders, reptiles and paddocks; and they do ill who trust to such, and will not abandon this folly. Take now your gold and ornaments that are lying strewed about on the grass, and give them to your wives and daughters; but never hang them hereafter upon stock or stone. Here are now two conditions between us to choose upon, either accept Christianity, or fight this very day; and the victory be to them to whom the God we worship gives it."

Olaf shortly discovered that nearly all the people in the interior of Drontheim were still Pagans, and sacrificed to Odin and other heathen gods, and The king rose up and said, "I do not understand that Olver was to preside at the next feast at what your noise and running mean. Ye see yourselves Mære; upon which the zealous Christian King—what your god can do,-the idol ye adorned with gold Came in the night time to Mære, and immediately surrounded the house with a ring of armed men. Olver was taken, and the king ordered him to be put to death, and many other men besides. Then the king took all the provision for the feast, and had it brought to his ships; and also all the goods, both furniture, clothes, and valuables, which the people had brought there, and divided the booty among his men. The king also let all the bonders he thought had the greatest part in the business be plundered by his men-at-arms. Some were taken prisoners and laid in irons, some ran away, and many were robbed of their goods. Thereafter the bonders were summoned to a Thing; but because he had taken many powerful men prisoners, and held them in his power, their friends and relations resolved to promise obedience to the king, so that there was no insurrection against the king on this occasion. He thus brought the whole people back to the right faith, gave them teachers,

Then Dale Gudbrand stood up and said, "We have sustained great damage upon our god; but since he will not help us, we will believe in the God thou believest in." Then all received Christianity. The bishop baptized Gudbrand and his son.

By plundering and burning, King Olaf succeeded in making other districts Christian, though some

times they gave him trouble. King Olaf the Saint was exceedingly attentive to his religious duties; and above all, never neglected mass, though not quite perfect in some lesser points of the law. His scalds seem to have been as good believers as himself, as we thus learn,

There was a girl whose name was Alfhild, and who was usually called the king's slave-woman, although she was of good descent. She was a remarkably handsome girl, and lived in King Olaf's court. It was reported this spring that Alfhild was with child, and the king's confidential friends knew that he was father of the child. It happened one night that Alfhild was taken ill, and only few people were at hand; namely, some women, priests, Sigvat the scald, and a few others. Alfhild was so ill that she was nearly dead; and when she was delivered of a man-child, it was some time before they could discover whether the child was in life. But when the infant drew breath, although very weak, the priest told Sigvat to hasten to the king, and tell him

of the event.

He replies, "I dare not on any account waken the king; for he has forbid that any man should break his sleep until he awakens of himself."

The priest replies, "It is of necessity that this child be immediately baptized, for it appears to me there is but little life in it."

gave two gold rings, each weighing two marks, and besides a sword inlaid with gold.

King Olaf summoned his head-men and a great force in the summer, under the apprehension of Canute's visit, and sought an alliance with his brother-in-law, Onund, the new King of Sweden. Swedish King and King Olaf had a friendly meetCanute, also, courted Onund's neutrality; but the ing, and in due time Sigvat the Scald raised the song, in honour of the foray which King Olaf made into Canute's Danish dominions. "Canute is on the sea!"

The news is told,

And the Norsemen bold
Repeat it with great glee.

And it runs from mouth to mouth-
'On a lucky day

We came away

From Drontheim to the south.'
Across the cold East sea,

The Swedish king
His host did bring,

To gain great victory," &c.

Canute made ready to oppose King Olaf, and in his fleet had a Dragon ship, surpassing the Norwegians' Long Serpent, of which we read above. The kings met at the battle of Helge, where Sigvat said, "I would rather venture to take upon me to let thee baptize the child, than to awaken the Canute was the victor, though this was not deking; and I will take it upon myself if any thing becisive of the dispute between them. amiss, and will give the child a name."

They did so; and the child was baptized, and got the name of Magnus. The next morning, when the king awoke and had dressed himself, the circumstance was told him. He ordered Sigvat to be called, and said, "How camest thou to be so bold as to have my child baptized before I knew any thing about it?"

66

Sigvat replies, " Because I would rather give two men to God than one to the devil."

The king-"What meanest thou?" Sigvat "The child was near death, and must have been the devil's if it had died as a heathen, and now it is God's. And I knew besides that if thou shouldst be so angry on this account that it affected my life, I would

be God's also."

The Nor

wegians were at all times unstable and fickle in their allegiance. They looked more to their own immediate interests, than to the abstract principle of loyalty to any dynasty. When Canute afterwards invaded Norway with a great force, he was chosen king at a Thing held in Drontheim, and liberally rewarded his friends. His relative, Earl Hakon, was left as governor of the kingdom, and taking many hostages, Canute departed for Denmark. It was now when dethroned and driven to defend himself, in lonely wanderings in the mountains, that the miraculous powers of Saint Olaf were first manifested. He one day came to an impass

The king asked, "But why didst thou call him Mag-able place in a valley, which he wished to get

Bus, which is not a name of our race?"

Sigvat "I called him after King Carl Magnus, who, I knew, had been the best man in the world." This child was afterwards King of Norway. The Saga of Olaf the Saint is of great length, as many extraneous incidents and contemporary memoirs are interwoven with it. One of these is the history of Canute the Great, who was the son of Swend Forked-Beard, King of Denmark. This is, however, closely connected with the history of Norway, as Canute, in his pride of power, sent ambassadors ordering King Olaf to hold Norway as a fief of him. King Olaf replied with kingly spirit to this

insolent message.

through with wagons, as his followers were short of provisions.

The man who had charge of the king's kitchen came, and said there were only two carcasses of young cattle remaining of provision: "although you, sire, have 300 men, and there are 100 bonders besides." Then the king ordered that he should set all the kettles on the fire, and put a little bit of meat in each kettle, which was done. Then the king went there, and made the sign of the cross over each kettle, and told them to make ready the meat. The king then went to the steep slope called Sessur, where a road should be cleared. When the king came all his people were sitting down, quite worn out with the hard labour. Bruse said, "I told you, sire, but you would not believe me, that we could make nothing of this steep." The king laid aside his cloak, and told them to go to work once more at the steep slope. They did so, and now twenty men could handle stones which before 100 men could not move from the place; and thus before mid-day the road was cleared so well, that it was as passable for men and for horses with packs, as a road in the plain fields. The king, after this, went down again to where the meat was, which place is still called Olaf's Hillock. At the hillock is a spring, at which Olaf washed himself; and therefore at the present day, when the cattle in the valley are sick, their illness is made better by their drinkSigvating at this well. Thereafter the king sat down to table with all the others; and when he was satisfied he asked if there was any other sheeling on the other side of the steep, and near the mountains, where they could pass

It has since come so far that King Canute rules over Denmark and England, and has conquered for himself a great part of Scotland. Now he claims also my paternal heritage, and will then show some moderation in his covetousness. Does he wish to rule over all the countries of the North? Will he eat up all the kail in England? He shall do so, and reduce that country to a desert, before I lay my head in his hands, or show him any other kind of vassalage. Now ye shall tell him these my words,-I will defend Norway with battleaxe and sword as long as life is given me, and will pay seatt to no man for my kingdom.

the scald had been with King Canute, who had given him a gold ring that weighed half a mark. The scald Birse Thorfeson was also there, and to him King Canute

We may not inaptly leave off with this snatch of song, composed, not by an ordinary Scald, but by the Sigurd who is the hero of the 15th Saga, and who flourished in the early part of the 12th century. He was at the time a fugitive in the caverns of a fiord. The Laplanders were constructing boats for him, on which the sinews of deer were used instead of nails, and willow twigs instead of knees, while he merrily sung,

ca, or what is there called Vinland, which must | whom we owe our free institutions and the spirit have been written nearly a century before Colum- to maintain them. bus repaired to Iceland, to obtain the nautical information which encouraged him to undertake his first voyage of discovery. This is certainly not the least interesting portion of the Chronicle, though it forms no part of the Sagas of Snorro; yet we cannot enter upon it, nor yet on the different campaigns of Magnus Barefoot in Ireland, where he fell in battle, and in the Scottish Islands, though this saga is one of peculiar interest. Not less so are the adventures of the conquering Northmen in Spain, and of Sigurd the Crusader in Palestine. We might go on through the whole of these really fascinating volumes without knowing when to stop we are constrained to rein up somewhat abruptly, heartily thanking Mr. Laing for an addition to popular literature, which delightfully fulfils the highest use of books, by telling men what men have done; and communities, how jealous and watchful of their rulers, and of their laws and liberties, were those glorious old Northmen, to

In the Lapland tent,
Brave days we spent,
Under the grey birch tree;
In bed or on bank,
We knew no rank,
And a merry crew were we.

Good ale went round,
As we sat on the ground,
Under the grey birch tree;
And up with the smoke
Flew laugh and joke,
And a merry crew were we.

THE NORSEMEN.

Suggested by the perusal of an article on the Heimskringla, in the May Number of Tait's Magazine.

On! wild and Runic legendry,

Thou breath'st a living fire,

As storm-winds to wild melody
Had woke the minstrel's lyre.
A sound, as if deep ocean's waves
With midnight's breezes sung,

This chant'st thou o'er the heroes' graves
Whose knells the Past hath rung.

We read of fell Berserker rage,
And feel our fibres glow

With sympathetic ire to wage
Like conflict with the foe.
We long to roam the stormy main,
Wild Norseman-King, with thee,
And, scorning every dastard-chain,
To live for ever free.

Oh! Rolf, thou monarch stern and bold,
Who Normandy didst claim,

My sires, if legends truth have told,
With thee were heirs of fame :

The chivalric De Gournay race,
To knightly minstrels dear,

These joined in Rolf's wild ocean-chase,
Dark harbingers of fear.

Oh! in thy tales, thou War-Age grim,
Such spells of magic lie,

As nerve to strength each manly limb,
And fire each youthful eye;
And gazing on the glorious strife,
That hour we all forget,

Which came, with death and anguish rife,
When battle's sun had set.

Then weakness gasped its all away,

And youth its freshness lost,

And fierce despair, 'neath starlight's ray,

Its arms to heaven uptost;
And beauty in its anguish wild
Above the dying bent,

And fiends in fearful gladness smiled,
And horrible content.

Oh! think we but on scenes like these,
A change comes o'er the soul;
We hate these monarchs of the seas,

And long for battle's goal:
To meet them in their tyrant ire,
And guarding the oppress'd,
To cope their eager fire with fire,
And breast oppose to breast.
Yes, 'twas a passing thought alone
Could make us wish as they
To triumph in each victim's moan,
And weaker brethren slay.

Thanks be to heav'n! the Christian Faith,
A nobler goal hath given:

The lightning blast may rend and scathe,
But incense soars to heaven.

So may our thoughts, and words, and deeds,
To that blest clime aspire;

And shrink we like to bending reeds,

From hate, and rage, and ire!
Yet should the oppressor dare to blast
The weak with tyrant powers,
Then rush we to the strife at last,

Then Norsemen's strength be ours!—A. G,

THECKLA'S SONG.-FROM SCHILLER.

THE clouds sweep onward, the forests roar,
The maiden roams by the Ocean's shore;
The billows they tumble and dash with might,
She weeps, as she sings to the darksome night,
And the flash of the forked levin.

VOL. XI.-NO. CXXVI.

"The world it is dreary-the heart is dead,
Its hopes are all wither'd, its bloom all fled,
Oh, Mary Mother, thy child recall,

I have lived and have loved. I have tasted all
Earth's joys,-take me hence to thy heaven !"
2 H

LIFE OF BEAU BRUMMELL.*

Captain

THE eccentric coxcomb who, in his time, adorned | have "compromised many families." many a tale, is here before the world pointing a Jesse statesmoral: a grave and sad one. We opened these volumes, as many will do, under the impression that nothing satisfactory could be made of their empty and frivolous, if not worthless, subject. This was a mistaken notion: there is matter of grave instruction, as well as of warning, in the life and death of poor Beau Brummell-the dethroned, exiled, idiotic pauper, who for twenty years, unchallenged, wielded the sceptre of the empire of fashion in its most exclusive periods, and was a finer gentleman than his early patron "the first gentleman in Europe." Folly will probably, in its many future flights, never again arise in English society in the fantastic shape it assumed in the inventor of the starched neckcloth and the creator of the peerless tie. But if bucks, beaux, and macaronies, like dandies and exquisites, should become obsolete, there is, we fear, no doubt of the re-appearance of the same character in essentials; even though disguised in the neat, if somewhat prim, attire and garniture of Young England. And what an advance is this same "Young England," even in its most conceited and pragmatical aspects, upon the Brummell period: the age of eau sucré, rubrics and missals, and collarless coats and quaint hats, upon that of faro, Roman punch, starch, and patent blacking! The difference may, indeed, be more apparent than substantial; but that there is a difference in favour of our own times, admits not of a doubt. The middle and lower classes have forced the upper ranks to reform their morals and improve their manners. There is not only greater external decorum to be found among them than was seen in the era of the old Duke of Queensberry, the Prince of Wales, the Marquis of Hertford, Selwyn, and Brummell, but more virtue. That " glass of fashion and mould of form," Beau Brummell, was, we think, far from being the worst specimen of the school. His sensuality was not of the grossest type, nor his selfishness of the malignant kind. He wanted force of character to be even a good hater, though, like other gnats and small reptiles, he carried a sting, and could promptly use it, whether for self-defence or annoyance. To view Brummell carelessly, one might fancy that there was not a manly element in his composition; yet, if we may implicitly receive the information which Captain Jesse has collected with singular industry, Brummell had some redeeming qualities. He had, for example, in his possession, when in very great pecuniary difficulties, letters of the Royal Family, of Lord Byron, and many others, and a world of private information, which was worth gold to those publishers who cater for the prurient curiosity of the virtuous public; and yet, take Brummell's own word for it, he would not part with them, because their publication would

Mr. Leleux, his landlord at Calais, also informed me, that a London publisher had offered his lodger a thousand pounds if he would give up his memoirs: "When this proposition was made to Mr. Brummell," said Mr. Leleux," he was in great distress, and I frequently asked him why he did not accept it? To this he usually made some frivolous excuse; but on one occasion, when pressed hard for his real reason, he said, I promised the Duchess of York that I would not publish any notes of mine during the life-time of George the Fourth or his brothers; and I am under so many obligations to her, and have such a deep respect for her generous and amiable conduct to me in our early friendship, and since, that I would rather go to jail than forfeit my word. She is the only link that binds me in this matter."

Brummell is believed to have kept a journal at one time, or to have written his reminiscences; and it is not absolutely impossible that some of his private papers, and the letters which he received, may still be in existence; but he never put them to sale. Captain Jesse's information regarding the individual, who cannot have been altogether insignificant, as his sayings and doings have so often been carefully described in prose and verse by Moore and Bulwer, and twenty more, was procured either from Brummell's most intimate early friends, or is the result of his own personal observation, or of those of the individuals who saw most of him in his latter years in Calais or at Caen. Of all the portraits of him which have appeared in fiction, the Beau, and he was no bad judge, considered Trebeck, in Mr. Lister's novel, Granby, as the most successful. But as Captain Jesse's delineation is of the true man, we shall lose no more time with the shadowy beaux.-Brummell, like everyone else possessed of little original strength of character, was in a great measure the creature of circumstances. Had he been so fortunate as, like most of his early noble associates, to have been born to a good entailed estate, he might in venerable age have gone down to the grave in as much peace and respect as the great majority of them. But the fate of a man who, for his means, was of the most extravagant habits, who was too careless and insolent or fond of his joke, to retain royal favour, and without it, had small chance of ever tasting the fat of official patronage,-who possessed no useful quality whatever, and had nothing better to depend on than the assistance of fashionable friends,was not ill to foresee. It is also, we think, questionable if his influence in his own frivolous circle ever was so great as has been represented. His diverting impertinences, and the dauntless effrontery by which his pretensions were supported, appear to have been submitted to for the amusement they afforded. He obtained the run of several noble houses as a buffoon of a quite new species; who was, moreover, unexceptionable in manners, endowed with several small accomplishments, and a perfect dresser. With all his real vogue and alleged influence, he never was able to achieve an advanta

*The Life of George Brummell, Esq., commonly called Beau Brummell. By Captain Jesse, author of "Notes of a HalfPay in Search of Health," &c. &c. 2 vols. 8vo, with Por-geous match, though it is said he made repeated matrait. Saunders & Otley.

trimonial attempts. In short, the last of the beaux