tenebris, imprimis esse migrandum. Ante autem quam destinatus possit locus accipi, navigationem quatriduo pertinaci remigio pertrahendam. Illic visendum fore Ugarthilocum tetros horrendosq; specus sordidâ mansione complexum. Thorkillus magnopere stupens, quod et longa et periculosa navigatio imperabatur, spe tamen dubiâ præsentem metum vincente, foculum expetivit. Et gigas, si ignem, inquit, desideras, necesse est alias tres sententias similibus proverbiis edas. Tum Thorkillus, consilio tametsi exilis id auctor ediderit, obsequendum est. Item, eo temeritatis processi, ut si regredi quivero, salutem meam nulli magis quam pedibus debeam. Rursum, si impræsentiarum recessu liberè fruerer, ulterius a reditu temperandum curarem.

"Inde perlato ad socios igne, auræ indulgentiam nactus, quarto die ad propositum portum appulit, aggressusq; cum sociis terram, apud quam continuæ noctis facies alterni luminis vicissitudinem frustrabatur, ægrè prospectum capientibus oculis, inusitatæ molis scopulum conspicit. Cujus perlustrandi cupidus, a comitibus foris stationem peragentibus, extusum silicibus ignem, opportunum contra dæmones tutamentum, in aditu jussit accendi. Post hæc prælato per alios lumine, arctis cavernæ faucibus corpus subjiciens inter crebros serpentum allapsus ferreorum undiq; sedilium frequentiam contemplatur. Inde placidior aquæ moles, subjectoq; sabulo molliter influens, conspectui observata est. Quâ transitâ, paulo devexiorem situ speluncam aggreditur. Ex quâ item atrum obscœnumque conclave visentibus aperitur. Intra quod Ugarthilocus manus pedesq; immensis catenarum molibus oneratus aspicitur; cujus olentes pili tam magnitudine quam rigore corneas æquaverant hastas. Quorum unum Thorkillus adnitentibus sociis mento patientis excussum, quo promptior fides suis haberetur operibus asservavit ; statimq; tanta fœtoris vis ad circumstantes manavit, ut, nisi repressis amiculo naribus, respirare nequirent. Vixq; egressu potiti, ab involantibus undiq; colubris conspuuntur. Quinque dun

taxat Thorkilli comitum, cæteris veneno consumptis, navigium cum ductore conscendunt. Imminent efferi dæmones, et in subjectos venenata passim sputa conjiciunt. At nautæ prætentis coriorum umbraculis illapsum respuere virus. His cujusdam forte prospicere cupientis tactum veneno caput, perinde ac ferro recisum cervici exemptum est. Alius ocellos umbraculis exerens, sub eâdem vacuos luminum orbes retulit. Alius exertâ manu tegimen explicans, ejusdem tabis vi truncum ad se brachium revocavit. Igitur cæteris propensiora sibi numina nequicquam deprecantibus. Thorkillus Universitatis Deum votis aggressus eiq; cum precibus libamenta defundens, mox prioris cœli usum ac perspicua rerum elementa prosperâ navigatione collegit.

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Jamq; alium sibi orbem, atq; ipsum rerum humanarum aditum perspicere videbantur. Tandem ad Germaniam Christianis tunc sacris initiatam appulsus, apud ejus populum divini cultûs rudimenta percepit. Ubi sociorum manu ob inusitatam aeris haustum propemodum consumptâ, duobus tantum, quos sors ultima præterierat, comitatus, reditum ad patriam habuit. Verum illitus ore marcor ita habitum corporis, ac pristina forma lineamenta confudit, ut ne ab amicis quidem potuisset agnosci. At ubi detersâ illuvie, notitiam sui visentibus reddidit, eximiam Regi cognoscendæ legationis aviditatem ingessit. Sed necdum æmulorum obtrectatione supitâ, fuêre qui Regem, cognitis, quæ Thorkillus afferret, subito decessurum astruerent. Auxit affirmationis fidem, ejusdem rei falsâ somnii prædictione suggesta credulitas. Igitur qui noctu Thorkillum opprimerent, Regis imperio subornantur. Cujus ille rei utcunq; indicium nactus, clam cunctis relicto cubili, magni ponderis lignum subjecit; eoq; facto, subornatis truncum cædentibus, regiæ fraudis commentum elusit. Die postero Regem corpus curantem aggressus, Ignosco, inquit, sævitiæ tuæ, erroriq; veniam tribuo, qui prosperum legationis nuncium afferenti pœnam pro gratiâ decrevisti. Itaq; te solum,

pro quo caput tot ærumnis devovi, tot periculis contudi, quemq; operum meorum gratissimum pensatorem speravi, acerrimum virtutis punitorem inveni, verum ultionis partibus prætermissis, interno animi tui rubore (si tamen ullus ingratos pudor afficit) læsionis meæ vindice sum contentus. Nec immeritò te omnem dæmonum rabiem, aut belluarum sævitiam superare conjecto, quod tot monstrorum insidiis erutus à tuis immunis esse non potui. Rex cuncta ex ipso cognoscere cupiens, fatisq; arduum obstare judicans, eventuum ordinem exponere jubet. Cumq; per cætera avidis referentem auribus excepisset, postremo recensitam numinis sui mentionem sinistrâ opinione colligi passus non est. Exprobratam enim Ugarthiloci fœditatem exaudire non sustinens, adeò indignitatis ejus vicem doluit, ut impatientem dictorum spiritum inter ipsa narrantis recitamenta deponeret. Itaq; dum vani numinis cultum cupidè fovit, ubinam verus esset miseriarum carcer agnovit. Crinis quoq; oliditas, quem Thorkillus perinde atque operum suorum magnitudinem testaturum capillitio gigantis excerpserat, in circumstantes effusa compluribus exitio fuit."-Saxo Grammaticus, lib. 8.

et fulgore mirabiliter coruscantibus, quiq; totus veluti ardens incredibili splendore micabat, et jactis quoquo versus radiis, ambientem aerem, luce nullis fere oculis tolerabili, latissimè complebat. Erat et in eo mirabile, quod terræ impatientissimus, si cooperiretur, suâ sponte, et vi facto impetu, confestim evolabat in sublime; contineri verò includive ullo loco angusto nullâ hominum arte poterat, sed ampla liberaq; loca duntaxat amare videbatur. Summa in eo puritas, eximius nitor, nullâ sorde aut labe coinquinatus; figuræ species nulla ei certa, sed inconstans et momento commutabilis ; cumq; esset aspectu longe pulcherrimus, contrectari tamen sese impune non patiebatur, et diutius contra adnitentibus, aut obstinatius cum eo agentibus, incommodum afferebat, quod multi, multis spectantibus, sunt experti. Si quid fortassis ex eo enixius conando detrahebatur (nam durus admodum non erat) nihilo minor fiebat."-JACOBUS AUGUSTUS THUANUS, 1. 6. apud STEPH. STEPHAN. in loc.

Ugarthilocus.

"UGARTHILOCI hujus mentionem quoque facit Edda, quæ et omnia fere attribuit cuidam Achuthoro, seu Asathoro, quæ Saxo noster de Torkillo hic commemorat. Sunt autem nonnulli qui narrationem hanc, fabulæ tantum non affinem, exponunt de itinere à Torkillo, jussu Gormonis regis, suscepto vel in extremam Bjarmiam, cujus incolæ olim non idololatræ solum erant pertinacissimi, sed et magi ac venefici malis artibus ad fascinandos homines instructissimi; unde etiam ab iis tot præstigiæ, quarum meminit Saxo, Torkillo sociisq; objectæ fuerunt vel etiam in aliam quandam insulam longe dissitam, forte Islandiam vel Gronlandium, ubi tale Ugarthiloci Idolum colebatur. Alii existimant latere sub hâc Mythologiâ veram historiam religionis primum in has terras per Torkillum introducta; quippe qui per varias regiones, Ethnicismi tenebris densâq; caligine adhuc oppressas, longinquâ peregrinatione suscep

:

tâ, tandem in Germaniam, Christianis tunc sacris initiatam, ut ait Saxo, appulit, et apud ejus populum divini cultus rudimenta percepit. Quam mox domum reversus, in patriâ propagavit."-STEPH. STEPHANIUS.

Descent of Hidingus.

"SIQUIDEM Cœnante eo (Hadingo) fœmina cicutarum gerula, propter foculum humo caput extulisse conspecta, porrectoque sinu percunctari visa, quâ mundi parte tam recentia gramina brumali tempore fuissent exorta. Cujus cognoscendi cupidum Regem proprio obvolutum amiculo, refuga secum sub terras abduxit, credo Diis infernalibus ita destinantibus, ut in ea loca vivus adduceretur, quæ morienti petenda fuerant. Primum igitur vapidæ cujusdam caliginis nubilum penetrantes, perq; callem diuturnis adesum meatibus incedentes, quosdam prætextatos, amictosq; ostro proceres conspicantur; quibus præteritis loca demum aprica subeunt, quæ delata à fœminâ gramina protulerunt. Progressiq; præcipitis lapsus ac liventis aquæ fluvium diversi generis tela rapido volumine detorquentem, eundemq; ponte meabilem factum offendunt. Quo pertransito, binas acies mutuis viribus concurrere contemplantur; quarum conditionem à fœminâ percunctate Hadingo; ii sunt, inquit, qui ferro in necem acti cladis suæ speciem continuo protestantur exemplo, præsentique spectaculo præteritæ vitæ facinus æmulantur. Prodeuntibus murus aditu transcensuq; difficilis obsistebat; quem fœmina nequicquam transilire conata, cum ne corrugati quidem corporis exilitate proficeret, galli caput, quem secum forte deferebat, abruptum, ultra manium supra jactavit, statimq; redivivus ales resumpti fidem spiraculi claro testabatur accentu."-Saxo Grammaticus, l. 1.

Carving the Eagle.

"APUD Anglos, Danos, aliasq; nationes Boreales, victor ignominiâ summâ debella

เ

tum adversarium affecturus, gladium circa scapulas ad spinam dorsi adigebat, costasq; amplissimo per corporis longitudinem facto vulnere, utrinque a spinâ separabat ; quæ ad latera deductæ alas repræsentabant Aquilinas. Hoc genus mortis vocabant

Aquilam in dorso alicujus delineare.' Glossarium Islandicum MSS. ejusmodi vulnus sive plagam testatur. In Jarlasagu

tunc Comes Einarus in dorso Halfdani

Aquilinam excitavit plagam, ita ut gladium dorso adigeret, omnesq; costas a spinâ separaret, usq; ad lumbos, indeque pulmones extraxit.' In Drmsagu Ormerus evaginato gladio in dorso Brusi Aquilinam inflixit plagam, separatis a dorso costis, et pulmonibus exemptis." - STEP. STEPHANIUS.1

Thus Halla was executed in revenge for the death of Regner Lothbrog.

Oh pleasant place! "I had been well con

tent

To seek no other earthly home beside!"

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Divination by a Torrent, or Taghairm. "A WILD species of magic was practised in the district of Trotterness (Skie), that was attended with a horrible solemnity. A family who pretended to oracular knowledge, practised these ceremonies. In this country is a vast cataract, whose waters, falling from a high rock, jet so far as to form a dry hollow beneath, between them and the precipice. One of these impostors was sewed up in the hide of an ox, and to add terror to the ceremony, was placed in this concavity: the trembling enquirer was brought to the place, where the shade and the roaring of the waters increased the dread of the occasion. The question is put, and the person in the hide delivers his answer; and so ends this species of divination styled Taghairm."-PENNANT'S Hebrides.

Old Age of an American Savage. AT the Chapter Coffee House Club, to which I accompanied Carr and Barbauld, Thursday, February 9, 1797, Morgan (a man of noisy and boisterous abilities) related the following story, to prove that the age of the American savage is not destitute and miserable.

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An European met with an aged Indian on the banks of a lake. He had lived more than eighty years. The European asked him if he was not weary of life. 'No, stranger!" he replied, our God comes over the great water once in every year; and I hope he may come and return many times before he takes me with him. In summer I can yet provide for myself by fishing. In winter the young men give me share of their provisions, and I sit with them around the fire, and hear them tell the stories of the chase, and I love to hear them."

Dolwyddelan Castle.

"SEATED in a rocky valley, sprinkled over with stunted trees, and watered by the Lleder. The boundaries are rude and barren mountains; and among others, the great bending mountain Scabod, often conspicuous from most distant places. The castle is placed on a high rock, precipitous on

one side, and insulated: it consists of two square towers, one forty feet by twentyfive, the other thirty-two by twenty. Each had formerly three floors. The materials of this fortress are the shattery stone of the country; yet well squared, the masonry good, and the mortar hard. The castle yard lay between the towers."

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Llewelyn the Great ap Jorwerth Drwndwn was born here."-PENNANT's Snowdon, with a print.

Llys Bradwen.

"Ar some distance beyond these (the two pools called Llynian Cregenan, in the neighbourhood of Cader Idris), near the river Kregennan, I saw the remains of Llys Bradwen, the court or palace of Ednowain, chief of one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales, either in the reign of Gryffydd ap Cynan, or soon after. The reliques are about thirty yards square: the entrance about seven feet wide, with a large upright stone on each side, by way of door case: the walls with large stones, uncemented by any mortar. In short, the structure of this palace shows the very low state of architecture in these times; it may be paralleled only by the artless fabric of a cattle house."—Ibid.

was equal in magnificence to that of Ednowain ap Bradwen. Those of inferior gentry were formed of wattles, like Indian wigwams, or Highland hovels; without gardens or orchard, and formed for removal from place to place, for the sake of new pasture, or a greater plenty of game. The furniture was correspondent; there were neither tables, nor cloths, nor napkins; but this is less wonderful, since we find, that even so late as the time of Edward II. straw was used in the royal apartment. Notwithstanding this, the utmost hospitality was preserved. Every house was open, even to the poorest person. When a stranger entered, his arms were taken from him and laid by ; and, after the scriptural custom, water was brought to wash his feet. The fare was simple: the meal did not consist of an elegant variety, but of numbers of things put together in a large dish: the bread was thin oat cakes, such as are common in our mountainous parts at this time. The family waited on the guests, and never touched anything till they had done, when it took up with what was left. Music, and the free conversation of the young women, formed the amusements of the time, for jealousy was unknown among us. Bands of young men, who knew no profession but that of arms, often entered the houses, and were welcome guests; for they were considered as the voluntary defenders of the liberties of their country. They mixed with the female part of the family, joined their voices to the melody of the harp, and consumed the day with the most animated festivity. At length, sunk into repose, not under rich testers, or on downy beds, but along the sides of the room, on a thin covering of dried reeds, placed round the great fire, which was placed in the centre, they lay down promiscuously, covered only by a coarse home-made cloth, called Brychan or plaid, the same with the more ancient Bracha; and kept one another warm by lying

1 See Celtic Dict. in v. Breacan.' Hence Gallia Braccata. SPELMAN in v. "Bracha."

J. W. W.

close together, or should one side lose its genial heat, they turn about and give the chilly side to the fire. (See Giraldus Cambrensis, Descr. Walliæ, p. 888.)

"Some vein of the antient minstrelsie is still to be met with in these mountainous countries. Numbers of persons of both sexes assemble, and sit around the harp, singing alternately Pennylls,2 or stanzas of ancient or modern poetry. The young people usually begin the night with dancing, and when they are tired, sit down, and assume this species of relaxation. Oftentimes, like the modern improvisatore of Italy, they will sing extempore verses. A person conversant in this art, will produce a Pennyll apposite to the last which was sung; the subjects produce a great deal of mirth; for they are sometimes jocular, at others satyrical, and many amorous. They will continue singing without intermission, and never repeat the same stanza; for that would occasion the loss of the honour of being held first of the song. The audience usually call for the tune: sometimes only a few can sing to it; and in many cases the whole company: but when a party of capital singers assemble, they rarely call for a tune, for it is indifferent to them what tune the harper plays. Parishes often contend against parishes, and every hill is vocal with the chorus."-PENNANT's Snowdon.

Birth of Sommona Codom. "SOMMONA-CODOM, the Siamese deity, was born of a virgin, who conceived by the prolific influence of the sun. The innocent virgin, ashamed to find herself with child, flew to a solitary desert, in order to conceal herself from the eyes of mankind. She was

2 "Pennill," an epigram, a staff of a poem or of a song, consisting of two, three, four, or more lines. RICHARDS in v. In 1823 I spent a night in a small cottage at the foot of Carnedd Llewelin, and in the heart of Snowdonia, with an old and valued friend,-and there we heard the Welsh improvisatore's verse in per fection.-J. W. W.