shows that delicate 'damask-work' of this kind was quite new to the courtiers of Theodoric, and gives an incidental support to Mr. Du Chaillu's independent judgment on the matter. There is more doubt as to the origin of the ornaments on the horses' bits and trappings which may be described as being made of a rude 'cloisonné enamel.' Mr. Du Chaillu claims a Scandinavian origin for the art. He refers to a passage of Philostratus describing the picture of a boar-hunt in a gallery at Naples.* The painter has ornamented the horses' bits with silver and their bronze cheek-pieces with colours like those of embroidery; and Philostratus remarks that the barbarians in the ocean pour

Bronze enamelled bowl, 2 in. high, 4 in. broad, found in a bog at Maltboek, in Jutland. The enamel in the serpentine line is red.

these colours upon red-hot bronze,' and that the material 'hardens into stone.' The passage is vaguely expressed, and might refer to a Northern people; but we must remember that the existence of the art among the Celtic tribes is proved by the finding of 'cloisonné work' at Beuvray and in some of the Gaulish tombs, as well as by the occurrence of many British ornaments of the same kind in excavations along Offa's Dyke and at the Victoria Cave in Yorkshire. It should be observed that horse-trappings of the kind mentioned by Philostratus have been dug up in the sland of Fyen and in the Swedish province of North Upland,

and

and that there is a passage in one version of St. Olaf's Saga where one of the kings is said to have used a gilded saddle and a bridle gilt all over and set with melted stones.'

The same Saga describes the simplicity of the King's ordinary costume. He wore a blue kirtle and hose, a grey cloak and hat, and laced-up shoes; but for holidays he had boots of Cordovan leather and a fine scarlet cloak. Another great man wore a brown kirtle, and shoes made of the skins of sheeps' legs,' and a red cloak with folded skirts. The readers of Longfellow will remember how King Olaf and his marshal stood up in their red cloaks before they plunged into the sea:

'Two shields raised high in the air,
Two flashes of golden hair,

Two scarlet meteors' glare,

And both have leaped from the ship.'

The discoveries in the peat-bogs of Jutland have enabled us to form an accurate idea of the dress of the Northern warriors in the 3rd and 4th centuries after Christ. Dr. Montelius has given us a picture in his work on the Civilization of Ancient Sweden,' every line of which is true to history; the clothes, weapons, and ornaments being all copied from what was actually found. The clothes, he tells us, were made of wool, woven in a check-pattern: the long jacket had sleeves reaching to the wrists the breeches and hose were sewn together, and a woollen mantle with a long fringe was thrown over the shoulders. One of these cloaks, discovered in a peat-moss at Thorsbjerg, had preserved its original colours; it is still green in the centre, with a border of a darker shade mixed with a yellow pattern. Mr. Du Chaillu gives us the designs found upon other fragments of cloth and embroidered silk, which were ornamented with figures of lions and leopards or human faces, and in one case with the symbol of the 'Swastika.' The women's dress seems to have differed little from that which is still worn by the farmers' wives. There was a tight gown with a jacket and apron, and a kerchief on the neck fastened by pin-brooches on the shoulders. The richer women wore loose dresses with trains and long sleeves. The lady described in the 'Rig's-màl' wears a low bodice with linen sleeves: the housewife sat and looked at her arms, smoothed her linen and pleated her sleeves'; she has a great brooch and a trailing sash; her brow was brighter, her breast was lighter, her neck whiter than driven snow.' Hallgerd, in the Njal's Saga, has a blue mantle, and a scarlet gown with a silver belt: her hair reached down to her waist on both sides, and she tucked it under the belt.' The Vol. 170.-No. 340. prophetese

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prophetess of the Erik's Saga, mentioned by Gray in a note to his Descent of Odin,' wore a blue vest spangled with jewels, and a cap of black lamb's wool, lined like her gauntlets with white cat's skin; her buskins were of rough calf's hide; she leaned on a staff adorned with brass and set with stones, and was girt with a Hunlandish belt, at which hung her pouch full of magical instruments.'

6

The latter part of Mr. Du Chaillu's work is taken from the biographical Sagas, which contain many interesting traditions about great men, though they are too much coloured by romance to be accepted as genuine history. We find ourselves among familiar friends when we reach the figures of Ganger Rolf, and King Athelstane at Brunanburh, and Sweyn of the Forkedbeard, sailing from Wendland.' We are shown Canute the Great, tall and strong, with keen eyes and long fair hair: a very handsome man, except that his nose was thin, prominent, low, and somewhat crooked.' We are shown Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, a tall man with a blue kirtle and a fine helmet,' and Harold of England offering him seven feet of English ground: a great man is he, and of stately appearance, but I think that his luck has left him.' The earlier Sagas have no appearance of historical accuracy. The story of Ragnar Lodbrog is an example of the blending of actual events with myths and folk-tales as old as the 'Niebelungen Lied.' We have no doubt that the old Viking was wrecked and murdered in Northumbria, though one may suspect the details of his death in the 'snake-pit,' where he chanted the famous 'deathsong.' His fate was well avenged by the bloodthirsty princes, who killed St. Edmund, and afterwards enjoyed the 'exquisite delight' of torturing the cruel King of Northumbria. But the Saga-writer would have us believe that Ivar the Boneless' remained in England as ruler of the country which his remote forefathers had conquered. On his death-bed, we are told, he chose a place on the sea-shore for his barrow, where he lived for ages, like a vampire, and kept off all invaders. Harold Hardrada landed on that spot, and was slain; but when William the Conqueror came ashore, he broke up Ivar's mound, and saw that the body had not decayed: then he had a large pyre made and burned Ivar upon it, and thereupon he landed and got the victory.' Mr. Du Chaillu has exposed many of the anachronisms with which this Saga is deformed. It seems to have been made up in great part from myths as old as the Volsung Lay, with which several of its characters are connected. Ragnar, as transformed by the poet, like Perseus, slays a monster, to save 'Thora, the fairest of women'; he took to his throne

a beggar

a beggar-maid, 'driving the goats in a coal-black gown,' who turns out to be a great princess, the daughter of Siegfried and Brunhilda. His father was the old King Hring, the conqueror in a battle of giants at Bravalla, which was to the Northern poets what the siege of Troy had been to the Greeks. A sovereignty over England and almost all the North is attributed to King Hring and others of his shadowy line; and it seems probable that the fabulous story was put together in order to exalt the family of Harold Fair-hair, in whose time the history of Norway begins to be authentic. His consolidation of the petty kingdoms into one imperial dominion was the first great blow against the power of the Vikings. He sought them out in their pirate lairs, and drove them to seek new homes in the Arctic countries::

'King Harold heard that far and wide in the midst of the land ravaged the Vikings, who in winter dwelt by the western sea. He had a levy out every summer, and searched the islands and outskerries; but, as soon as the Vikings became aware of his host, they all fled, and mostly out to sea. The king got tired of this, and one summer sailed with his host westward. He first came to Shetland, and there slew all the Vikings who did not flee. Then he sailed southward to the Orkneys, and cleared them of Vikings. After this he went as far as the Hebrides, and ravaged there, killing many Vikings who before had ruled over warriors. He fought many battles, and was always victorious.'

It was this expedition, says Mr. Vigfússon, that drove the Scandinavian rovers from Caithness and the Western Islands to their new settlement in Iceland. We have not space to deal with the interesting story of the colonization of Greenland and the discovery of America in the voyages to 'Markland' and Vineland the Fair.' The subject of Mr. Du Chaillu's work is vast in extent and full of perplexing difficulties. We have shown that its author has collected a store of valuable information, a great part of which has hitherto been inaccessible to English readers. His critics in this country will hardly agree with some of his suggestions on points of ethnology and classical scholarship; but they will admit that his enthusiasm will have a very useful effect if it leads the people of this country to study and admire the ancient civilization and the splendid literature of our Scandinavian kinsmen.

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ART. IV.—Essays upon Heredity and kindred Biological Problems By Dr. August Weismann. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1889.

ONE

NE noteworthy characteristic of the latter half of the present century has been the increasing interest taken by the general public in the deeper problems which underlie the natural history of living organisms. At its commencement, the veteran anatomist, Sir Richard Owen, facile princeps of his class, had drawn the attention of many thoughtful minds to questions of biology. He had done so by his skilful restoration of the extinct, gigantic birds of New Zealand; his elaborate monographs on the man-like apes-especially the gorilla-and his fascinating theories concerning the archetypal principles of our own bodily structure, and the essential nature of the processes of generation and repair. We recollect a brilliant lecture given at the College of Surgeons to a distinguished audience-whereof one of the most interested was the then Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Wilberforce-wherein were expounded certain far-reaching suggestions concerning the then little known lucina sine concubitu -a process termed Parthenogenesis by the learned Hunterian Professor of that day. But however industriously and well Professor Owen may have prepared the way for him who was to follow, it was Charles Darwin who first compelled attention to biology by the efforts he called forth from opponents, as well as by the admiration he excited amongst his followers and disciples. The interest thus forcibly aroused has never been allowed to drop, and it has been recently intensified by the writings of Professor Weismann of Freiburg, upon whom the mantle of Darwin is declared to have fallen by not a few admirers. Strange to say, the subject about which the Freiburg Professor has aroused men's minds of late, is mainly the very same as that about which our own Hunterian Professor discoursed so learnedly some forty years ago. A great injustice has been unwittingly committed by those amongst us who, while lauding or criticising Professor Weismann, have failed to make any reference to the work of their aged and illustrious compatriot," who in many respects actually anticipated the ideas of the Freiburg Professor himself. The theories of Professor Weismann, which are now the subject of such earnest discussion amongst our leading men of science, deal especially with what concerns both the beginning and the end of life. Although they do not mainly refer to human life and death, yet the progress

* See his work on 'Parthenogenesis.' London, 1848.

of