Northern Antiquities: an Historical Account of the Manners, Customs, Religion, and Laws, Maritime Expeditions and Discoveries, Language and Literature, of the Ancient Scandinavians, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and Icelanders. With Incidental Notices respecting our Saxon Ancestors. Translated from the French of M. Mallet, by Bishop Percy. New edition, revised throughout, and considerably enlarged. With a Translation from the Prose Edda, from the Original Old Norse Text, and Notes Critical and Explanatory. By J. A. Blackwell, Esq. To which is added, an Abstract of the Eyrbyggja Saga, by Sir Walter Scott. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden.

THE above is the full title of the second volume of Mr. Bohn's invaluable series of re-publications, known as the "Antiquarian Library." Bishop Percy's original translation has now become exceedingly scarce; besides, increased knowledge has thrown light on much that was in his time imperfectly understood. The work Mr. Bohn has now brought out, has been edited by a gentleman thoroughly fitted for his task, and in a manner that renders the volume invaluable to all. We purpose to avail ourselves of the information here conveyed, and glance at the men whose hot blood yet courses in our veins.

THE NORTHMEN.

In the dawn of the world's history, Asia appears to have been the home from which went forth the sons of men to colonize the world. From its high central lands, they followed one another as wave succeeds to wave. In Europe, we find the Celtic race preceding the Slavonic, and the latter the Teutonic. Norway and Sweden became the seat of the Scandinavian branch of the Teutonic family. Here, as it were beyond the pale of that European civilization, which from Rome extended to every clime and race, they dwelt, cherishing the faith and practising the rites their fathers held. It was long before the Hebrew creed penetrated the frozen North. The fourth century witnessed the conversion of the Goths, the Franks were converted in the fifth, the Anglo-Saxons in the sixth, the Germans, generally, in the seventh and eighth, the Saxons in the ninth; but it was not till the eleventh century, that Scandinavia embraced the religion of the Cross. Fortunately for the historical student, while our Anglo-Saxon fathers were writing homilies, or singing psalms, the skalds and vikings of the North were celebrating, in their rough-strung verse, a heroism and

hardihood which, happily for us, no longer exist. These lays, in the long winter nights, were said and sung by many a fire-side, to many a sympathetic group. The deeds of Ragnar Lodbrok, the tearless sorrows of Guthrum-tales of daring and revenge; how Thor wrestled, how Loki plotted; in such lore was the Scandinavian nursed from his youth, and in the spirit that lore sustained, the mild genius of Christianity long found its most inveterate foe.

As antiquarians, we are indebted more to Iceland, than to Norway or Sweden: that Ultima Thule had been discovered by a celebrated rover, named Naddod, who had been driven by a violent storm on its eastern coast, about the year 860. Four Four years afterwards, a Swede, Gardar Suafarson, driven thither also by a storm, circumnavigated the island. Ferki, a famous sea rover, excited by the account Suafarson gave, went out with cattle, with the intention of settling there, but the winter being unusually severe, he returned in the summer to Norway, giving it the name of Iceland, as it was, he declared, uninhabitable, either for man or beast.

In 874, Ingolf, a Norwegian chieftain, discontented with Harald Fairhead's usurpation of supreme power, and, as some say, apprehensive of punishment for a murder he had committed, led forth a colony of noble families, who preferred savage independence to order and peace at home. As soon as they discovered Iceland at a distance, Ingolf, as was the general custom, threw the sacred columns of his temple into the sea, determining to land where the gods should direct. The waves, however, were stronger than the gods. The sacred pillars were carried out of sight, and after a fruitless search for them, Ingolf and his companions were compelled to disembark in a gulf, towards the south part of the island, which still bears his name. Ingolf's expedition attracted other families, eager to fly to Iceland as a place of refuge,—thence a colony sprang up, with a violent hatred of arbitrary power, jealous of their liberty, sensitively alive to the encroachments of neighbouring despotism. It was full four hundred years before this republic became subject to Norway, along with which it was afterwards united to the crown of Denmark.

It seems strange that this small isle in the ocean's midst, with its sterile soil, with its people secluded and poor, with its unpropitious climate, should have acquired for itself a literary renown to which Norway, Sweden, or Denmark, can lay. no claim. Such, however, is the fact. Iceland was the nursery of skalds, and consequently of heroes; for it was the fashion in those days for the ambitious warrior to rush into danger, merely that his prowess might be witnessed and commemorated by some faithful skald. He was always placed in the midst of the scene of action. Olaf, King of Norway, it is said, taking three with him to the field of battle, called out to them, "You shall not relate what you have only heard, but what you are eye-witnesses of yourselves." Hakon, November, 1847.-VOL. L.-NO. cxcix.

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Earl of Norway, had five along with him, in that celebrated battle, when the warriors of Jomsburg were defeated. Harald, the Fairhaired, awarded them the best seats at his feasts. Golden rings, glittering arms, and rich apparel, were their usual rewards. The songs thus composed were sung by the blazing fire in the chieftain's hall, while the cup was quaffed, and the hot blood of the Norseman was on fire. According to Tacitus, these songs were the only annals these warriors possessed. Honour then was given to the skald. The office was one the clever adventurer, poor in purse, would desire to fill:-in Iceland there were many such. An ancient manuscript has preserved a list of all such as distinguished themselves in the three northern kingdoms, from the reign of Ragnar Lodbrok to that of Valdemar the Second. Of the two hundred and thirty of whom that list is composed, the greatest part are natives of Iceland. For a reason to which we have already referred, this is what we might expect.

From the Sagas of the Skalds we get a glimpse of Scandinavian manners, more true, but not so flattering, as that Tacitus has left in immortal prose. He wrote for a degenerate age and race, and was anxious to compare the simplicity of northern virtues with the complicated vices of the south, that his countrymen might repent and reform. According to him, the golden age of innocence still reigned on the shores of the Baltic. The men were brave, and the women chaste. According to M. Mallet, this was true of the Norsemen in the tenth century. Unfortunately, the Saga man has dispelled this pleasing delusion. His well authenticated facts display a state of society much like what we might expect to find where men, nursed in savage independence, love to congregate. The Sagas tell us, it is true, nothing of polygamy; but the husband frequently kept his frilla, or concubine. Marriages appear to have been not uncommon, for the purpose of saving a lady's reputation. Mr. Blackwell quotes from one, which tells how, "When Uni, a Danish trader, during a winter he passed in Iceland, was the guest of Seidolf Kappa, with whose daughter, Thorunna, he contracted a very intimate acquaintance; so much so, that when Uni left, in the spring, to get his vessel ready for the home voyage, Seidolf discovered that Thorunna would, ere long, present him with a grand-child. Accordingly, he went with his retainers to the Danish vessel, where an altercation ensued, ending with the loss of several lives. Uni was obliged to return with Seidolf, who told him that, provided he would marry Thorunna, and remain in Iceland, he should possess the family estates. Uni tacitly consented to this proposal, but shortly afterwards left his bride, and made off for the coast. Seidolf pursued him in hot haste, and Uni and his Danes fell victims to the Icelander's revenge. Marriages were celebrated without any religious ceremony. We only read of banquets given to the friends and relatives, pro

longed according to the opulence of the parties. At the marriage of a wealthy person, the feasting would be prolonged for several days, till a grand quarrel terminated the proceedings in bloodshed. Occasionally men would exchange their wives. Illugi the Red exchanges with Holm Starri estate, live-stock, and wife; but a wife might easily emancipate herself from marital authority, by a divorce. She had only to tell her husband that from that day they ceased to be man and wife, and her marriage was de facto and de jure dissolved.

"The following story," says Mr. Blackwell, "from the Laxdæla Saga, will serve to show in what light marriage was regarded in Iceland, and in what a very equivocal manner a mater familias sometimes exercised her authority. Olaf, the son of Hoskuld and Melkorka, was accompanied, on his return from Norway, where he had been to purchase timber, by one of his old sea roving friends, named Geirmund, at whose house he passed the winter. Geirmund, in his turn, became the winter guest of Olaf, in Iceland, and soon fell in love with the chieftain's daughter, the beautiful Thurida. Olaf, although he was very fond of his friend, would not hear talk of a marriage. Geirmund, seeing that he had no chance with the young lady's father, began to flatter her mother, Thorgerda, and by dint of entreaties and costly presents, at length obtained her consent. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp, Olaf inviting his numerous friends and dependants to a sumptuous feast, in a large banqueting hall he had recently erected, the walls of which were hung with tapestry, representing the story of Baldur and the prowess of Thor. When Geirmund had passed three years in the married state, he began to get tired of his wife, and Thorgerda was at length obliged to tell her husband that she had ascertained that their son-in-law intended to return to Norway, leaving Thurida and her daughter Groa behind him, without making any provision for their support. Olaf said the marriage was her doing, and not his, and instead of showing any sign of displeasure, he was more friendly than usual with Geirmund, and even made him a present of a fine trading vessel, being probably very glad to get rid of him. Geirmund went on board this vessel, and was only waiting for a favourable wind, when, one morning at break of day, Thurida entered the cabin, when he was asleep, placed her child in his bed, and taking a splendid sword, which she knew he set a great value on, got into her boat, and told her men to row off again. Geirmund awoke at the moment, and becoming aware of what had happened, called on his wife to come back, and take Groa and return him his sword, for which he offered to give her any sum she might think proper to demand. Thurida told him she would do no such thing, that he had acted dishonourably towardsher, and that they were no longer man and wife, and accordingly returned home, and gave her husband's sword to her cousin Bolli.

Thurida, after this proceeding, could of course re-marry; and we presume that in those days the want of maternal affection she had evinced, by exchanging her only child for a sword, would not have prevented her from finding a second husband."

In the Grágás, we find some curious enactments for the preservation of female virtue. A man was liable to exile, for taking an unmarried woman without her consent, or a married woman either with or without her consent, out of the island, or even out of her own province; and for a similar elopement with an unmarried woman, she consenting, to exclusion. A man was liable to the same punishment for kissing an unmarried woman, under legal guardianship, without her consent; and even if she consented, the law required that every kiss should be atoned for by a fine of three marks; nevertheless, the virtue of these northern dames was by no means of too ascetic a character. The Sagas tell tales, how the ladies, whose charms they sang, were not only fair, but frail. In illustration, we give the rough outline of a story Mr. Blackwell has given at some length.

In the northern part of the island, dwelt an old sea ranger, who at his death left his estate to his two sons, Kormak and Thorgils. Kormak was handsome,-had dark, dangerous eyes, black hair, and a fair complexion. He was, moreover, a good swordsman, and a skilful skald. Not far distant lived the beautiful Steingerda, with whom Kormak fell violently in love. With some difficulty, after the murder of two antagonists, he is accepted by the father as a suitor for the daughter's hand.

For some cause or other not explained, Kormak suffered the day appointed for their nuptials to go by, and the contract was consequently broken. The lady's family were of course incensed by this neglect. A family council was called, and it was agreed that the best revenge would be, not to split open the young skald's head, according to custom, but to marry the damsel to some better man at once. In the western province of the island lived a wealthy and valiant gentleman, for his pugnacious propensities termed Holmgang, or Duelling Bersi. Accordingly a plan was laid by which the worthy gentleman was fairly limed. The contracting parties were mutually satisfied with each other, and Steingerda was betrothed. She trusted that ere the marriage would take place Kormak would own his fault, and become reconciled to her family; "But if he allow Bersi to become my husband," said she, "well, I will then strive to forget that Kormak was once my lover, and he will one day repent him of his conduct. And after all, Bersi is not much amiss. Is he not acknowledged to be the most valiant man of the district? Who can wield a battle-axe like Holmgang Bersi?" Nevertheless the young lady sent a messenger to inform Kormak of her probable fate; but alas! the messenger was detained by cousin Vigi, watchful lest Steingerda