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Thordiso, the daughter of the celebrated historian, Snorro Sturleson, in the year 1224, and gave many gifts to the church of Vatnisfiord in Iceland, from whence this lion was sent to the Copenhagen museum. Thorvald died in the year 1229, consequently the lion was presented to this church during the five years that preceded this date. From this stock is descended the celebrated Thorsaldsen, whose glorious creations in marble are so well known to the world of art.

No. 1526 of the catalogue affords an interesting notice of ancient Catholic practice. It is a horn of gilt metal which formerly belonged to the church of Aarhuus. Here, and in many other of the northern churches, the last scenes of our blessed Saviour's life were represented on Good Friday afternoon, as in a sacred tragedy, to impress more deeply on the awe-stricken multitude, the inexpressible desolation of their Redeemer's sacrifice. And when the figure of the crucified Jesus was raised high in air before his people, while in solemn silence, and prostrate on the ground, they worshipped their expiring Lord, then broke forth from the roof of the choir a deep despairing voice, as it were the voice of Judas the Iscariot, and in hollow tones it cried, "I did ill to betray innocent blood." Jeg giörde ilde at jeg forraadede uskyldig blod. And from the opposite side of the roof there cried many voices, "Accursed be Judas, the traitor." The horn, abovementioned, is said to have been used by the monk who personated Judas, for the purpose of increasing the deep and solemn tones of his voice.

In the great cathedral of Drontheim, the corbel heads in the choir are the mouths of tubes which run directly from thence out upon the roof of the building. Can they have been destined to serve on this solemn occasion? Protestant antiquaries might be tempted to assert that these heads were to be used to convey oracles to deceive the credulous multitude. It is strange that no record of such juggleries has come down to our times.

But we dare not pursue further the tempting extracts that now lie before us from these volumes. For the general reader we have perhaps already said too much; the Catholic however will, we are sure, pardon us the fond affection with which we cling to the records of our glorious Faith.

We trust that these brief notices may turn the steps

VOL. XXIII.-NO. XLVI.

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of some Catholic archæologist towards the hitherto neglected North, may induce him to follow the traces of our belief through the sombre forests of Sweden, or along the rude sea-girt coasts of Norway. We know few subjects of enquiry more full of interest, than a comparison of these remains with the relics of Catholic Ireland, preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, in that of Trinity College, Dublin, and in some of our private collections. It were a holy thought too, to pray where good religious once sang the praises of God; it is good to rescue from oblivion all that yet remains of once Catholic Scandinavia. May that land, now so abjectly sunk in Lutheran darkness and indifference, be once more enlightened, and may her desecrated altars be again sanctified by that holy sacrifice, which was once offered throughout the length and breadth of that wild region, in the presence of a faithful and believing people.

ART. III.-History of the Conquest of Peru, with a Preliminary View of the Civilization of the Incas. By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. In Two Volumes. London, Bentley, 1847.,

MR.

R. Prescott is already favourably known to the republic of letters, as the author of some historical works and essays, which have at least the merit of being agrecable, if they cannot be called profound. His history of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella is eminently amusing, and was a desirable addition to circulating libraries and reading rooms; that of The Conquest of Mexico met with a kind reception from the leading literary arbiters of criticism, and has, we believe, already reached to a third edition, as we presume we may rely upon the title pages of Bentley. Both are just the sort of volumes we should expect to prosper and sell in an age of superficial literature like the present; for, as we said before, they are eminently amusing, and written in a light, pleasant, easy style, not unfrequently picturesque. To depth or profundity, to manliness or vigour, to accurate delineation of character, or originality of thought, or classic elegance of idea, to statesmanlike reflection, or philosophical observation they

make no pretension, and appear to us to possess no claim.

We are not disposed to be severe on Mr. Prescott. As a general rule, we would rather praise than censure. It would be more consonant to our own feelings to find in this gentleman's volumes materials for eulogy rather than for that "faint applause" which is perhaps the bitterest and most injurious kind of attack to which an author can be exposed. But as just and honest critics we must tell him, that his present volumes come before us with no claim to the first; and that the very slight and questionable merit of having not unskilfully put together a mass of facts which every body well knew before, is all that he can reasonably ask at our hands. There is in this history scarcely anything new-anything which an ordinary knowledge of Herrera, Humboldt, Stevenson, and Robertson, did not already supply. We have a fault also to find with the style of this work, which, in spite of Mr. Folson's "imprimatur," contains some Americanisms and many inaccuracies, of which we have given a few examples in a note.*

The first European who ever received an authentic account of the existence of Peru, was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the discoverer of the South Seas-a man like all the other adventurers of those days, of indifferent character, and whose pretended devotion to God and our blessed Lady, was secondary certainly to his extreme fondness

* We intended to have noticed these errors at the end of our paper, but we find we shall not have space. We content ourselves therefore with merely pointing out a few in this note. They are selected from a great many. In vol. i. page 150, Mr. Prescott talks of crossing an "interval." This, we submit, is not English. The entire of page 169 is badly written. Page 208, "he steered in the tract of his comrade," this is not a misprint for it is repeated; it should be track. Page 212, last sentence-very careless composition. Page 230, he talks of “ mangrove trees with their complicated roots snarled! into coils." We suppose he means gnarled. Page 411, "the shoes of their horses were used up." This is an Americanism. Vol. ii. page 108, "as bold a cavalier as ever crossed to the shores of America." This may be colloquial English, but it is not correct. What did he cross? In page 258, there is what we call in Ireland, a regular "bull." Mr. Prescott tells us magistrates took counsel of Vaca de Castro," while "he maintained a discreet silence.”

"the

for American women, and pesos d' oro. A young barbarian who was present at a squabble which took place between Nunez and some of his followers, for a quantity of gold which they were weighing, struck the scales with his fist, and scattering the glittering metal around the apartment, exclaimed: "If this is what you prize so much that you are willing to leave your distant homes, and risk even life itself for it, I can tell you of a land where they eat and drink out of golden vessels, and gold is as cheap as iron is with you.' This information, as may be surmised, greatly excited the cupidity of Nunez, who did not rest, till, having surmounted the rocky rampart of the Isthmus which divides the two mighty oceans, he rushed with sword and shield into the waters of the Pacific, and cried out like another Quixote, that "he claimed this unknown sea, with all that it contained, for the sovereign of Castile, and that he would make good the claim against all, Christian or infidel, who dared to gainsay it." A magnificent vaunt truly, and one, of which Nunez did not comprehend the full import-nor live to accomplish. This unknown sea, with all that it contained, was not explored for many years after the death of Nunez.

In the year 1471, as near as can be computed, for unluckily no record of the interesting event was made, a low amour, between an infantry officer, one Gonzalo Pizarro, and a servant maid, or worse, in the miserable village of Truxillo, produced the conqueror of Peru. So little did his gentle mother occupy her thoughts about young Francis, that he was suckled, as tradition relates, by a compassionate sow, and as soon as he was able to walk and cry out, he was promoted to the honourable condition of a swineherd. This condition of life not suiting him, he ran away to sea; but at what age, with what companions, or on what expedition, whether piratical or commercial, is not known; history, luckily perhaps for him, being altogether silent of his achievements until the year 1510, when he was full forty years old. In what sort of vagabond existence he passed his time up to this period it would be impossible to say; but he rose in the world; for in this year we find him a lieutenant, although without a 、maravedi in his pocket. No better off was he in 1522 when we again hear of him, concerting with another adventurer like himself, named Almagro, and an enterprising clerk, named Lieque, the subjugation of Peru. These

three gentlemen, having pledged whatever furniture and small credit they possessed, for the raising of funds, and having gathered together as many desperate ragamuffins as they could procure, fitted up a ship, which set sail from the little port of Panamà, in November 1524, carrying Pizarro as commander-in-chief, and which was to be speedily followed by a second caravel bearing an equally precious freight of outlaws under the tutelary protection of Lieutenant Almagro. The clerk prudently remained at home.

This first expedition to the South was anything but propitious. Heavy tempests, the sea lashed into frightful billows that threatened to swallow up his little ship, sinking hearts and a miserable scarcity of food, rendered it on the whole as disagreeable a voyage as possible. His companions murmured loudly, and had half resolved to return to Panamà, careless of the ridicule and the jails (for threefourths of them were runaway debtors) which there awaited them; but Pizarro, by dint of persuasion and command, induced them to remain a little longer with him, and they took up their quarters at an island where they fared so badly, that, on quitting it for the wide ocean, they branded it with the name of the Port of Famine. They sailed on from this place encountering bad weather as usual, a tribe of man-eaters, several towns, large and small, which they conscientiously plundered of whatever of either food or gold they could find, and after three or four skirmishes, in which they had but indifferent success, they returned to Panamà.

Their second expedition was not one whit less disastrous than the first. It was brightened only by the discovery of Peru by Pizarro's pilot, Ruiz. But they were in too disabled a condition from tempest, famine, and discontent, to reap any advantage from this brilliant piece of fortune. Almagro was again despatched to Panamà for reinforcements, and for fresh provisions, while Pizarro awaited his return on the desolate island of Jallo, where he and his men endured hardships that might have shattered the courage of the bravest. To add to his misfortunes, the governor of Panamà, who had little or no sympathy for either the objects of, or the individuals engaged in what seemed a wild goose expedition, sent a ship manned with soldiers to the island, to bring away by force or persuasion the misguided men, who still cherished dreams of golden.

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