66 Why, now that I think of it, I did n't see him today," he replied; "I thought he was mendin' the slap at the Three-Acres. I'll thry if he's in the barn." And he went accordingly to find him. "I'm afraid, father" said he, on his return, "that Bartle's a bad boy, an' a dangerous one; he's not in the barn, an' it appears, from the bed, that he did n't sleep there last night. The thruth is, he's gone; at laste he has brought all his clothes, his box, an' everything with him; an' what's more, I suspect the rason of it; he thinks he has let out too much to me; an' dhar ma chorp, it 'ill go hard but I'll make him let out more." The servant-maid, Biddy, now entered and informed them that four men, evidently strangers, were approaching the house from the rear, and ere she could add anything further on the subject, two of them walked in, and seizing Connor informed him that he was their prisoner. 66 Your prisoner!" exclaimed his mother, getting pale; "why what could our poor boy do to make him your pri soner? He never did hurt or harm to the child unborn." Fardorougha's keen grey eye rested sharply upon them for a moment; it then turned to Honour, afterwards to Connor, and again gleamed bitterly at the intruders What is this," said he, starting up; "what is this? you don't mane to rob us?" "I think," said the son, “you must be undher a mistake; you surely can have no business with me. It's very likely you want some one else." "What is your name?" enquired he who appeared to be the principal of them. Then you are the very man we came for," said the querist, so you had better prepare to accompany us; in the mean time you must excuse us if we search your room. This is unpleasant, I grant, but we have no discretion, and must perform our duty." "What do you want in this room?" said Fardorougha ; "it's robbery you're on for-it's robbery you're on for-in open day-light, too; but you're late; I lodged the last penny yestherday; that's one comfort; you're late—you're late." "What did my boy do," exclaimed the affrighted mother; "what did he do that you come to drag him away from us ?" This question she put to the other constable, the first having entered her son's bed-room. "I am afraid, ma'am, you'll know it too soon," replied the man; "it's a heavy charge, if it proves to be true." As he spoke, his companion re-entered the apartment, with Connor's Sunday coat in his hand, from the pocket of which he drew a steel and tinderbox. I'm sorry for this," he observed; "it corroborates what has been sworn against you by your accomplice, and here I fear comes additional proof." At the same moment the other two holding in his hand the shoes which made their appearance, one of them which he wore on the night of the Connor had lent to Flanagan, and conflagration. On seeing this, and comparing the two circumstances together, a fearful light broke on the unfortunate young man, who had already felt conscious of the snare into which he had fallen. With an air of sorrow and manly resignation he thus addressed his pa rents : He is charged by Bartle Flanagan," replied one of the constables, with burning Bodagh Buie O'Brien's haggard, because he refused him his daughter. He must now come with us to gaol." "I see the whole plot," said Connor, "and a deep one it is; the villain will do his worst; still I can't but have dependance upon justice and my own innocence. I can't but have dependance upon God, who knows my heart." LAING'S RESIDENCE IN NORWAY.* THE kingdom of Norway and its inhabitants have long been objects of considerable interest to ns; and, to judge by the number of works that have been published concerning them within the last few years, we are far from being singular in our feelings in this respect. Nor is it at all strange, that such should be the case, as the subject is one which claims attention on many accounts. Independently of the attractions the country itself presents, as well to the student of natural history in its various departments, as to the admirer of sublime and romantic scenery, the political philosopher may there behold the spectacle of a free and happy people, living "under ancient laws and social arrangements totally different in principle from those which regulate society and property in the feudally constituted countries;" while we must all feel desirous to be acquainted with as many particulars as possible respecting a nation whose inhabitants formerly played such a conspicuous part in the history of the British Isles. For, it must be kept in mind that, though the name of Danes is more familiar to the ears of both English and Irish, as connected with the early invasions alluded to, the inhabitants of Norway constituted a considerable portion of the people so designated, forming with them and the Swedes the body more properly styled Northmen; and that the Normans, the subsequent invaders, were themselves derived directly from the same stock. Again, the philologist finds a most useful and attractive subject of investigation in the ancient language of Norway, which has had more influence on our own, than is generally supposed; while the records which still exist in it surpass in interest, authenticity, and extent, those of any other European nation of the same period. The value of these records, as illustrative of our own history, and corroborative or corrective of our own annals, is now beginning to be more generally felt; and we are happy to find that the Royal Northern Antiquarian Society (of Copenhagen) is about to publish under the title of Antiquitates Britannica et Hibernica, a work which is to contain all the Sagas or parts of Sagas relating to Great Britain and Ireland, and which, being accompanied by a Latin translation, and illustrated with notes and maps, will be generally accessible to the learned. A remarkable instance of this illustration of our annals by the Northern may here be adduced. Every one is familiar with that spirited ode of Gray's, entitled "The Fatal Sisters," paraphrased from a poem quoted by Torfæus and Bartholinus from the Niala Saga; and there is no one who has not heard of the Battle of Clontarf; and yet how few are aware that the battle predicted in that poem is no other than this very battle! We do not of course mean to say that the legend of the vision of the inhabitant of Caithness is not fabulous ; but it does not therefore follow that the event to which it refers is fabulous also; on the contrary, the very introduction of this supernatural machinery proves the strong impression which an actual occurrence made on the minds of those living at the time. The real historical fact we learn from the Saga is, that the invaders with whom the Irish then * Journal of a Residence in Norway, during the years 1834, 1835, and 1836; made with a view to inquire into the moral and political economy of that country, and the condition of its inhabitants. By Samuel Laing, Esq. London, 1836. 1 vol. 8vo. On + Gray's Introduction or Preface to the ode is as follows:- "In the eleventh century, Sigurd, Earl of the Orkney islands, went with a fleet of ships and a considerable body of troops into Ireland, to the assistance of Sictryg with the silken beard, who was then making war on his father-in-law Brian, king of Dublin; the earl and all his forces were cut to pieces, and Sictryg was in danger of a total defeat; but the enemy had a greater loss by the death of Brian their king, who fell in the action. Christmas day, (the day of the battle,) a native of Caithness in Scotland, of the name of Darrud, saw at a distance a number of persons on horseback riding at full speed towards a hill, and seeming to enter it. Curiosity led him to follow them, till looking through an opening in the rocks, he saw twelve gigantic figures resembling woThey were all employed about a loom; and as they wove, they sung the following dreadful song; which when they had finished, they tore the web into twelve pieces, and, each taking her portion, galloped six to the north, and as many men. fought were not from Denmark, as is generally supposed, but from the Orkneys; and when we consider that the inhabitants of the latter, in language, manners, and appearance, differed not from the Danes, and that they came apparently by the same route, we need not be surprised that they were called by the same name, to which, indeed, as being immediately of Scandinavian origin, they were fairly entitled. The Orkneyinga Saga, or history of the inhabitants of the Orkneys, confirms this statement. In the last named Saga there is an account of a remarkable pirate who lived formerly in one of the Orkney Islands, which deserves mention here, as well from the subject of it being in some degree connected with our own history, as from the singular picture it presents of the state of society at the period to which it relates; while the recollection of the well-known tale of Scott's, in which the scene of action and the avocation of the hero are the same, will serve still more to enhance its interest. We shall avail ourselves of an abstract of parts of it given by Mr. Laing: : "Swein, the proprietor of the little island Gareksay, now called Gairsay, situated opposite to, and about four miles north of the Bay of Kirkwall, appears to have been in his day (he lived about 1120) one of the most daring and renowned of the northern sea kings. His various exploits, related in the [Orkneyinga] Saga at some length, are very interesting. When he had finished the sowing of his bear-seed, an operation which, it may be inferred from the Saga, he performed with his own hands, he went out upon his regular summer cruize, sometimes at the head of six or eight ships; and came back in autumn to reap his crop in Gairsay, and to divide the booty he had collected on his expedition, The coasts of England and Ireland, and to the south."-Now, besides there being no mention made of Clontarf, there are va- How a merchant ship. He ordered them to sail close to a headland in the island of Rousay, upon which he had observed people walking about; and to hail them and ask the news, and what they were doing. The people replied, that they were attendants of the Jarl, who had gone to the other side of the headland to hunt seals; and ordered the crew to bring their vessel to the shore, and give an account of their cargo to the Jarl. As soon as the vessel was so close under the rock that it was out of sight of the people standing upon the slope of the promontory, Swein altered his course, went round to where the Jarl was seal-hunting, slew all his followers, took him on board a prisoner, and made sail for Scotland. Sigurd of Westness, whose guest the Jarl was on this hunting expedition, found the dead bodies of the hunting party, and missing that of the Jarl, declared that Swein must be alive, and have done the deed. The place, near to Westness in the island of Rousay, is still called Sweindroog. The Jarl was never heard of again. He was carried to Athol, and thrust into a monastery. Swein was reconciled to the Jarl's successor, returned to his little isle of Gairsay, and for a long series of years was one of the most successful and renowned sea kings, or pirates, of his age. * He was killed in the trenches of the city of Dublin, in the year 1159. He had sailed from Orkney upon the last expedition which, on account of his age, he intended to make. He attacked and carried the city of Dublin; and the ransom, or Dane-Geld, was to be paid next day. Next day the inhabitants, seeing the small number of their invaders contained in six vessels, rose and overcame them. Ware, in his history of Ireland, states, from Irish records, the fact of an attack of the Danes on the city of Dublin, and of their defeat on the second day, with the loss of their prince, in the trenches of the city, on the same day, and in the same year, 1159, as that which the more home-spun Saga gives as the date of the defeat and death of this laird of the isle of Gairsay."† present but one edition, and that faulty in many respects. We are, therefore, glad to find that an improved edition of it, according to the best MSS. is to be given in the work already mentioned as projected by the Royal Northern Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen. latter, without adding, which we do We cannot dismiss the subject of the with no small degree of pride, that the kind was made by a countryman of our first attempt at a publication of the resided for some years at Copenhagen, own, the Rev. James Johnstone, who as chaplain to the British Embassy, and whose Antiquitates Celto-Scandica, and other works, exhibit considerable learning and research, and are still in good estimation. A very high authority, Professor Rafn, has spoken in most favourable terms of his edition of Lodbrog's Death-song, which is, indeed, inferior only to the Professor's own. But it is now time to turn our attention to the book which has given occasion to these remarks. The object of Mr. Laing's residence in Norway has been already mentioned ;‡ and we have no hesitation in saying that he appears to have fully succeeded in it, and that in his communication of the results to the public, he has done good service. Accordingly, while the volumes of his immediate predecessors, Inglis and Barrow, may perhaps be sometimes more entertaining as light reading, that before us may claim a far higher rank, as a standard work, containing a fund of information on the statistics, polity, and domestic and agricultural economy of the country to which it relates. Mr. Laing gives also some brief notices on the literature and ancient history of Norway, as well as occasional sketches of society there, which are very pleasing. As it is not our intention at present to follow him in his details and speculations on the graver subjects above mentioned-any Of the Orkneyinga Saga there is at of which, indeed, to do it justice, would * Mr. Laing here confounds sea-kings with vikings. The terms are perfectly distinct; the latter meaning pirates, and the former, as the name itself intimates, chieftains, or leaders of vikings. † This abstract, though answering well enough for the purpose for which it is here quoted, is very carelessly written. For instance, the jarl or earl who was captured while seal-hunting was quite a different individual from the one whom Swein eluded by retreating into the cave; and the last-mentioned adventure moreover, was posterior to the other by twenty-one years. We could point out some other inaccuracies were it worth while. Generally speaking, indeed, Mr. Laing has been less happy in his observations on the literature of Norway, than in any other part of the work. + See title in page 443. almost require an article to itself-we shall confine ourselves to such as will be likely to prove instructive and entertaining to our readers in general, referring those who wish for information on the others, to the work itself. Most of our readers are, we suppose, by this time well acquainted with the nature of the Norwegian Fiords, or narrow gulphs, running up, sometimes to an immense extent, into the main land. Mr. Laing, however, has given us an account of a new and pleasing feature to be observed in some of them, or at least in one, that of Drontheim. "The hills of primary rock in some places run out into promontories, which dip into the fiord. To scramble up and down these is not work for an alderman; when one does, however, get over the keel of such a ridge, he sees a quiet, beautiful scene below. The little landlocked bay is so shut in with rocks and woods, that it resembles a small mountain lake. The entrance is hid by trees; and the mark of high water on the white beach at the head of the cove is the only indication that it belongs to the ocean. There is generally room at his head for one fishing farmer, with his house at the foot of the rocks, a green spot for his cows and goats, and his little skiff at anchor before his door; where the lucky fellow, without ever knowing what a seastorm is, or going out of sight of his own chimney smoke, catches in his sheltered creek the finest sea-fish beneath the shadow of the rocky forest that surrounds him. When the traveller drops suddenly upon one of these nooks, his toil is repaid." The following description of winter and its attendant pleasures, is lively und agreeable. The author appears in some of the passages to have felt a portion of the zest with which Washington Irving describes Christmas revels in England. "November 14.-Winter is come: the snow falls incredibly fast. The whole cloud seems to come down at once upon the land; and in a few hours every thing but trees and houses and precipices seems brought to one common level. Sledges are jingling in all directions; the horses have bells on the harness, such as are used on waggon harness in the west of England. All the world seems gay, and enjoying the sledge-driving, as if it were a novelty to them. There is some peculiar pleasure in the uniform smooth motion of sledging, skating, sailing, swinging, or moving in any way over a smooth surface. We see sailor boys, by The snow skates themselves, enjoy the pleasure of this motion in a sailing boat on smooth water: the novelty can make no part of the pleasure to them; and parrots and monkeys appear to have pleasure in swinging. Sledging is horse-power applied to skates. Of our English or Dutch skates I see very little use made, even by the children; and the nature of the country, with the quantity of snow, must make our kind of skating an amusement not generally enjoyed. But snow skating is going on briskly, at every farm-house, with young and old. are slips of light thin wood, about the breadth of one's foot, and about six feet long, gently curving upwards at each end. There is a loop in the middle into which the foot is slipped. On flat ground the skater shuffles along pretty well, much better than he could walk, as his feet do not sink in the snow. Up hill he has slow and fatiguing work, and on hard snow and steep ground would slip backward, but for the resistance of the hair of a piece of hide which is bound under the skate in climbing steep ascents. Down the mountain he flies like an arrow. He has only to guide his flight with a pole, so as not to run over a precipice. It seems to require great dexterity and practice to run well on these snow skates. On a road with the ordinary variety of surface, a good skater will beat a horse in a sledge." "January, 1835.—The fair was quickly followed by Christmas, or Yule, as it is called here, as well as by the Scottish peasantry, which was kept in great style for fourteen days. Every family is in busy preparation for three weeks before, baking, brewing, and distilling, and the fourteen days of Yule are passed in feasting merriment, giving and receiving entertainments. In this neighbourhood station, office, or education, form the there are about thirty families, who from upper class of society. In this hospitable and amiable circle, I have received during the winter such attentions as a stranger, without letters of introduction, would only receive in Norway. I was fairly knocked up in Yule by a succession of parties, which seldom ended before five or six next morning. "There is something indelicate, and perhaps not very honourable, in deseribing minutely private societies and modes of living of families in a foreign country, where the stranger is invited in the kindest spirit of hospitality, and not that he should make his remarks, however flattering they may be to his entertainers. This difficulty, however, need not be felt here, because the mode of living is so |