"of Grymer filled the heart of her hero with un

fading joy."

According to the rude manners of those times, a lover did not always wait for the consent of his mistress. Joannes Magnus, Archbishop of Upsal, observes, in his history of the Goths, that ravishing of women was of old no less frequent among the Scandinavians than among the Greeks. He relates, that Gram, son to the King of Denmark, carried off the King of Sweden's daughter, whose beauty was celebrated in verses remembered even in his time. Another instance he gives, of Nicolaus King of Denmark *, who courted Uluilda, a noble and beautiful Norvegian lady, and obtained her consent. Nothing remained but the celebration of the nuptials, when she was carried off by Suercher, King of Sweden. We have the authority of Saxo Grammaticus, that Skiold, one of the first Kings of Denmark, fought a duel for a beautiful young woman, and obtained her for a wife. That author relates many duels of the same kind. It was indeed common among the Scandinavians, before they became Christians, to fight for a wife, and to carry off the desired object by force of arms. No cause of war between neighbouring kings was more frequent. Fridlevus King of Denmark sent a solemn embassy to Hasmundus King of Norway, to demand in marriage his daughter. Hasmundus had a rooted aversion to the Danes, who had done much

Book 18.

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much mischief in his country. "Go," says he to the ambassadors, "and demand a wife where you are less hated than in Norway." The young lady, who had no aversion to the match, intreated leave to speak. "You seem," said she, "not to "consult the good of your kingdom in rejecting so potent a son-in-law, who can carry by force "what he is now applying for by intreaties." The father continuing obstinate, dismissed the ambassadors. Fridlevus sent other ambassadors, redoub. ling his intreaties for a favourable answer. Hasmundus said, that one refusal might be thought sufficient; and in a fit of passion put the ambassadors to death. Fridlevus invaded Norway with a potent army; and, after a desperate battle, carried off the lady in triumph.

The figure that women made in the north of Europe by their courage, their beauty, and their chastity, could not fail to produce mutual esteem and love between the sexes: nor could that love fail to be purified into the most tender affection, when their rough manners were smoothed in the progress of society. If love between the sexes prevail in Lapland as much as any where, which is vouched by Scheffer in his history of that country, it must be for a reason very different from that now mentioned. The males in Lapland, who are great cowards, have no reason to despise the females for their timidity; and in every country where the women equal the men, mutual esteem and af

fection

fection naturally take place. Two Lapland odes communicated to us by the author mentioned, leave no doubt of this fact, being full of the tenderest sentiments that love can inspire. The following is a literal translation.

So shall we quickly end our pleasing pain :
Behold my mistress there,

VOL. I.

B b

With

With decent motion walking o'er the plain.
Kuloasatz my rein-deer,,
Look yonder, where

She washes in the lake:

See while she swims,

Could I but know, amid what flowers,

Or in what shade she stays,

The gaudy bowers,

With all their verdant pride,

Their blossoms and their sprays,

Which make my mistress disappear,

And her envious darkness hide,

I from the roots and bed of earth would tear.

III.

Upon the raft of clouds I'd ride,

Which unto Orra fly :

O' th' ravens I would borrow wings,

And all the feather'd inmates of the sky:

But wings, alas, are me deny'd,

The stork and swan their pinions will not lend,

There's

There's none who unto Orra brings,

Or will by that kind conduct me befriend.

IV.

Enough, enough! thou hast delay'd
So many summers days

The best of days that crown the year,
Which light upon the eye lids dart,
And melting joy upon the heart:
But since that thou so long hast stay'd,
They in unwelcome darkness disappear.
Yet vainly dost thou me forsake;
I will pursue and overtake.

What stronger

V.

is than bolts of steel?

What can more surely bind?

Love is stronger far than it;

Upon the head in triumph she doth sit;
Fetters the mind,

And doth control

The thought and soul.

VI.

A youth's desire is the desire of wind;

All his essays

Are long delays:

No issue can they find.

Away fond counsellors, away,

No more advice obtrude:

I'll rather prove

The guidance of blind love;

To follow yon is certainly to stray:

One single counsel, though unwise, is good.

In the Scandinavian manners here discribed, is discovered a striking resemblance to those described by Ossian. And as such were the manners of