to the common law of destruction, and had to drain the cup of bitterness to the very dregs.

The history of the Byzantine Empire ought to be a lesson of great price for modern States. It is a lesson in especial which ought to be before the eyes of my fellow countrymen. They love to take the antient past as their only rule and their only model, but to apply the lessons of that epoch of glory is a task less practical than to profit by those of the Middle Ages. It is true, that it is the aim of the Greek world of to-day to purify itself from everything foreign, to fall back upon its own resources and to keep its eyes constantly fixed upon its own origin, with small heed to the twenty centuries which separate it from the time of Perikles or of Alexander. But it has been precisely in these centuries that has been formed the Hellenic world which exists today, the new, the Christian Hellas. The Byzantine Empire also was reared upon the Christianized Hellenism, and it is by carefully observing what were the causes which produced the rise, the greatness, the decline, and the fall of that Empire that we shall see how to steer clear of the rocks upon which it made shipwreck. Thank God, it cannot be asserted that the decline and fall of the Greek Empire were due to any fault in the people. The people lacked no quality which creates the greatness of States. The fall of the Empire was the result of causes within, which hindered the due exercise of the virtues of the people, and of attacks from without, which it met manfully as long as it had strength left to stand, but before which it fell at last exhausted, conquered, but not dishonoured, not like a slave offering his neck to the hangman, but like a soldier who dies upon the field of battle with his sword in his hand and his face to the enemy.

ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ ΒΙΚΕΛΑΣ.

(79)

ART. IV. ST. MAGNUS OF THE ORKNEYS.

RAISE, glory, and reverent honour be unto God Al

PRAIS

mighty, our Maker and Redeemer, for His manifold goodness and mercy, which He hath granted unto us, who dwell in the uttermost parts of earth, and, as the learned have written that it seemeth unto them, as though we were gone out of the world. But though it be so, it hath pleased God to show forth His goodness upon us in this thing most excellently, that He hath suffered us to come unto the knowledge of His Blessed Name and hath given unto us thereafter those who were strong pillars, the holy standard-bearers of His Church, with whose sanctity the whole North, both afar off and near at hand, is lighted up and shineth. These are holy King Olaf, and his august kinsman Halward, who adorn Norway with their sacred relics; Magnus, the illustrious Earl of the Isles who enlighteneth the Orkneys with his holy power, and to whose honour this history here following hath been written; with whom are numbered the blessed Bishops, John and Thorlac, who have illuminated Iceland with the glory of their famous and worthy acts. Whence it is manifest that albeit our dwelling in this world be set far apart from other nations, we are not far from the mercy of God; and unto them we owe thanks, honour, and reverence all the days of our lives.'

Such is the commencement of the Greater of the two Sagas which record the life of the martyred Earl of the Orkneys. His name is still a familiar one in his native land, and the magnificent pile raised in veneration of his memory strikes and impresses the eye of every traveller who approaches Kirkwall. The Cathedral of St. Magnus is indeed one of the architectural glories of Scotland, and possesses a special and mournful interest as being one of the two Cathedral Churches which alone remain entire in their original grace and beauty; but, by too many, little is known of the Saint in whose honour this glorious fabric was raised by his loyal and grateful people.

Until lately, the history of the Martyr was little known save

to the readers of Torfæus-not as numerous a body as even that author, especially in the absence of better authorities, might well have found. The Greater Magnus Saga-an Icelandic text which is in great part a translation of the life written in Latin by Master Robert twenty years after the martyrdom, on the occasion of the enshrinement of the relics, was again translated into Latin and published at Copenhagen in 1780, and was republished in London by Pinkerton in his Vita Sanctorum Scotia in 1789. The public has since been indebted to Messrs. Hjaltalin and Goudie for their learned and interesting translation of the Orkneyinga Saga, edited by Dr. Joseph Anderson in 1875; and another most valuable addition will, it is to be hoped, shortly be made to English literature by the publication of Sir George Dasent's new translation of the same Saga, and also of both the Greater and Lesser Magnus Sagas, with Appendices, containing, among other things, a collection of the liturgical monuments connected with the martyred Earl. It is to the personal courtesy of the eminent scholar last mentioned that the present writer is indebted for the use of the materials upon which the following pages are mainly founded. The keen pleasure which the perusal of only this small portion of Sir George's labours has afforded conveys a lively idea of the whole which awaits us, and personal thanks for the kindness shewn must be largely mingled with the gratitude with which every member of the public will have cause to greet the appearance of the entire work.

In order to follow the story of St. Magnus and to gain more knowledge of the country he ruled, we must first glance briefly at some of the chief events in the history of the Northern Islands. Up to the middle of the Sixth Century, but very little is known of them. Classical writers, it is true, mention their existence, but their allusions only serve to show that hardly anything else was known about them. Julius Solinus, in the First Century of the Christian Era, remarks that they are uninhabited. It is supposed that the wave of Celtic population which swept over the North of Scotland gradually extended to them, and this theory is corroborated by the similarity of weapons and other remains found in the Orkneys and

Shetlands to those discovered on the mainland of Scotland. If the language of the poet Claudian is to be taken seriously, there was also a Saxon occupation of them, at least temporarily, in the middle of the Fourth Century, but Nennius records that an hundred years later they were harried by the Teutonic pirates Octa and Ebissa.

Although it appears probable that the Northern Archipelago was evangelised at a very early date by Irish missionaries, we have no record of this fact, and it is in Adamnan's Life of St. Columba that we first find distinct mention of the Orkneys, and of the mission of Cormac and his fellow-monks to these Islands. They were at that time subject to the suzerainty of the King of the Picts, from whom Columba besought protection for the missionaries. From this date up to the time of the Norse conquest in 872, it seems certain that a great portion at least of the inhabitants embraced the Christian faith. The evidences of this are fourfold-1. The dedication of the early ecclesiastical foundations; 2. The discovery of monumental stones, sculptured in the style peculiar to the earliest Christian monuments of the North of Scotland, and inscribed with the Ogham character; 3. The bells found in the Islands, of the square form belonging to the early ages of the Church; 4. The names that occur in the local topography, and which bear witness to a previous Celtic Christian settlement-for example, in Rinansey (St. Ninian's Isle), Daminsey (St. Adamnan's Isle), in the Orkneys; St. Ninian's Island in the Shetlands; and in the constant recurrence of the name Papa in different places. That the memory of St. Columba was fresh in the hearts of the people. may be inferred from the fact that in the south parish of South Ronaldsey alone-the spot where probably his monks first landed, there were three chapels dedicated to the Saint. From the scanty records that have survived, we gather that the Islands remained under the alternate sway of the Pictish and Dalriadic Kings from the time at least of St. Columba, until the Norse invasion. In 872, with Harald Harfagri and his Northmen, a flood of heathenism swept over them, and for more than a hundred years Christianity was banished from

their shores. At length, about the year 994, Earl Sigurd— fourth in succession to that Sigurd on whom Harald bestowed the Earldom of the Islands-was converted by Olaf Tryggvisson, King of Norway, and his people with him. Although it would appear from the history of this event that their conversion was at first due to policy rather than to conviction, yet after some years the faith was firmly re-established.

The first Church known to have been built in the Orkneys after the Norse conquest is Christ Church, Birsay, hereafter to be mentioned as the first burial place of St. Magnus. This church, of which some existing foundations are possibly the remains, was erected by the Saint's grandfather, Earl Thorfinn, one of tho most famous of the Earls in the Norse line. He reigned, according to the Saga, for 70 winters,' and about the year 1050 made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It is supposed that the Church was built after his return from Palestine. Earl Thorfinn died in 1064, and was succeeded by his sons Paul and Erlend as joint rulers of the Earldom. Earl Paul and his wife Ingibiörg had but one son, Hakon, while Erlend and his wife Thora were the parents of four children, St. Magnus, Erling, and two daughters. Paul and Erlend ruled peaceably for many years, and were brotherly and well agreed in the joint exercise of their power, until their sons grew up. Then troubles began. Hakon and Erling were turbulent, overbearing youths; and Hakon, in especial, showed early signs of the havoc his proud selfish nature was to cause in after days. right of his mother's royal descent, he considered himself superior to his cousins in rank, and strove to rule over them.* In consequence, dissensions arose not only between the cousins, but also among the people, as Erlend's many friends could not bear to see his children despised. At length Paul and Erlend interfered to settle matters between the disputants, and a meeting was held in order that peace might be made, but it soon appeared that, as was natural, each Earl supported his own son's interests, and they could not agree, but parted in anger. The

In

* Earl Paul's wife was a grand-daughter of King Magnus, the son of St. Olaf.