Sketches of the History of Man. Lord Kames (Henry Home)

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^(a), 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, <489> 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 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, redoubling<490> 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 affection 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<491> that love can inspire. The following is a literal translation.

      FIRST ODE

      I

      Kulnasatz my rain-deer,

      We have a long journey to go;

      The moors are vast,

      And we must haste;

      Our strength, I fear,

      Will fail if we are slow;

      And so

      Our songs will do.

      II

      Kaigé, the watery moor,

      Is pleasant unto me,

      Though long it be;

      Since it doth to my mistress lead,

      Whom I adore:

      The Kilwa moor

      I ne’er again will tread.

      III

      Thoughts fill’d my mind

      Whilst I thro’ Kaigé past

      Swift as the wind,

      And my desire,

      Wing’d with impatient fire,

      My rain-deer let us haste.

      IV

      So shall we quickly end our pleasing pain:

      Behold my mistress there,

      With decent motion walking o’er the plain.

      Kulnasatz my rain-deer, <492>

      Look yonder, where

      She washes in the lake:

      See while she swims,

      The waters from her purer limbs

      New clearness take.

      SECOND ODE

      I

      With brightest beams let the sun shine

      On Orra moor

      Could I be sure

      That from the top o’ th’ lofty pine

      I Orra moor might see,

      I to its highest bow would climb,

      And with industrious labour try

      Thence to descry

      My mistress, if that there she be.

      II

      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 in 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, <493>

      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.

      V

      What stronger 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 you is certainly to stray:

      One single counsel, tho’ unwise, is good.

      In the Scandinavian manners here described, is discovered a striking resem-<494>blance to those described