in the totally different manner in which it manifested itself we can hardly fail to recognise the influence of Nature.

It must, however, be borne in mind that in every nation, except those situated at the Poles or under the Line, where Nature exerts an almost irresistible and overwhelming force, this influence manifests itself very differently, according to their different degrees of development. In the infancy of a people, and so long as their immediate wants render them entirely dependent on Nature, whose unexplained phenomena appear to them as those of some foreign and unknown power, her influence on their life is naturally strongest. The effect is the same as that which education and the companions with whom he associates produce on an individual. But as nations gradually become more enlightened and refined, they obtain a mastery over Nature, whose influence thus grows weaker and weaker, and at last almost vanishes. It is, indeed, one of the most marked steps in the progress of human development, when man becomes Nature's master, and makes her obedient to his power. Thus when Englishmen, Frenchmen, and others who belong to a people of defined character and perfectly-developed nationality, settle in foreign parts, the influence of Nature, even at the Poles, or under the Line, is scarcely strong enough to produce any great change in their character. And upon the whole, to whatever degree civilization may be carried, most nations will never entirely lose that character which Nature has impressed upon them in the lands which gave them birth.

The influence of Nature upon the Scandinavian people may be traced throughout their history, even down to the present times. In their sanguinary internal wars, the Danes and Norwegians generally gained the victory over the Swedes at sea. Under able leaders they have sometimes been victorious on land also; but here the Swedes have in general been superior. Christian IV. made no progress in the Thirty Years' War. On that occasion he

proved himself inferior to Gustavus Adolphus, who, when fighting on land, was in his true element. At sea, on the other hand, Christian IV. signally defeated the Swedish fleet. The chief heroes of the Swedish nation, and those who live most in the memory of the people, are, Gustavus Adolphus, Charles X., and particularly Charles XII.; although that monarch, by his rash wars in Russia, Poland, and Germany, inflicted deep wounds upon Sweden, which took a long time to heal. But the favourite heroes of the Danes and Norwegians are seamen; as Christian IV., Niels Juel, Hvitfeld, and especially Tordenskjold, who, singularly enough, was contemporary with Charles XII. The difference between the people is clearly expressed in the opening lines of two of the most favourite national songs. The Danish-formerly the Norwegian also-runs thus:

"Kong Christian stod ved höien Mast
I Rög og Damp,"

("King Christian stood by the high mast, enveloped in mist and smoke"), where there is an allusion to a fight at sea. But the Swedish lines,

"Kung Karl den unge hjelte
Han stod i rök och dam,"

("King Charles the young hero, stood in smoke and dust"), allude to battle and victory on land. Even to the present day it may with good reason be asserted that the Danes and Norwegians feel more inclination than the Swedes for a seafaring life. But as the battle in Copenhagen Roads (April 2, 1801) maintained the ancient reputation of the Danes at sea, so also recent events have shown, that both the Danes and Norwegians of the present day can fight on land with distinguished bravery.

SECTION II.

The Great Memorials of Sweden in their Relation to those of Denmark and Norway.-Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the British Isles.

RUSSIA, Poland, and particularly Germany, were, as we have seen, the theatre of the greatest victories of Sweden. The glory of Denmark and Norway, on the contrary, was founded in the West, over the sea, in America, Iceland, the British Isles, and France. Denmark's conquests of the southern and eastern coasts of the Baltic in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, under the Waldemars, terminate, however, the times of the Vikings. The victories of Sweden are of a modern date, and since the last two centuries; but those of Denmark are of the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries. The remembrance of the Swedish sabre-cut yet remains fresh among the Russians, Poles, and Germans; nay, in some places, the Swedish name is still a terror to the common people.

It is often made a subject of complaint against the great achievements of Denmark and Norway that they are of such remote antiquity; and that, instead of promoting the freedom and spiritual advancement of mankind, like Sweden's struggles in the Thirty Years' War, they rather caused an immense retrograde step in civilization, since the heathen Vikings acted with unbridled ferocity, burnt and destroyed churches and convents, and rudely trampled upon everything that bore the mark of a higher intellectual development. Thus foreigners, and particularly the German historians, usually assert, for instance, that the Danish and Norwegian Vikings brought nothing but misfortune upon the British Isles; whilst, on the contrary, everything great and good in England is mainly attributable to the Saxons, or Germans. This, however, is not to be wondered at, since these critics were obliged to judge of situations for whose right estimation they were entirely without

the necessary knowledge, namely, that of the more ancient history of the North.

It would certainly not be gratifying to the national feelings of the Danes and Norwegians if the progress and settlements of the Vikings in foreign lands were marked only by acts of violence, murder, and incendiarism. Nor would it be a whit more pleasing or refreshing if it were necessary to dig up as it were out of the earth the memorials of those deeds, after they had lain for centuries in oblivion, or if we were obliged carefully to revive them and procure their acknowledgment in the countries which were once compelled to bow before the power of the northern warriors.

But what if the Danish name, and the remembrance of the exploits of the Danes and Norwegians, in spite of the many centuries that have passed since they were performed, still live as fresh in the memory of the people of the western lands as the Swedish name in Germany, nay, perhaps even fresher? What if we found that, by means of monuments, the popular character, public institutions, and other traits, a constant powerful and beneficial influence could be traced from the expeditions of the Vikings or Northmen, so that the natives of the lands which they subdued accounted it an honour to descend from the bold natives of the North? Would not the Northman in that case have a double right to be proud of his forefathers? Or would he, upon the whole, any longer have reason to complain?

It is the object of the following pages to convey, partly in the form of travelling impressions, a picture of the memorials of the Danes and Norwegians, as they exist in the monuments and among the people of those countries which in former times most frequently witnessed the victories of the Danes and Normans-namely, the British Islands. It is, however, by no means the exclusive, or even special, design of them, to present to scholars and persons of science detailed and critical observations on

every individual ancient monument in those islands, which may be said to be of Danish or Norwegian origin. Their aim rather is to describe the more general, and consequently more appreciable, features of actually existing Scandinavian monuments; in doing which a distinction will, as far as possible, be drawn between the Danish and the Norwegian memorials; and in general between the influence of the Danes in England, and of the Norwegians in Scotland and Ireland.