death; the enthusiastic Simeon perceives his plight, and bringing his horse alongside of him, unfastens his own helmet and forces it on his chief. In the hurry Cromwell places it reversed on his head, and thus armed, fights on more fiercely than before. Does no secret sympathy tell him he is battling over his very grave ?-not to-day, bold unswerving man; not till thou hast fulfilled thy destiny, and, to use thine own language, hast 'purged the threshing-floor and trodden out the wine-press,' shalt thou lie down on Naseby Field to take thy rest!

In the dead of night, in secresy and apprehension, shall he be brought here again who was once more than a king; and the man who ruled for years the destinies of England shall be buried in shame and sorrow, like some obscure malefactor, on the spot where the grass grows thick and tangled, because of the crimson rain that fell so heavily on the field of his greatest victory. And Simeon, bareheaded and maddened, fights fiercely on. His devotion costs him dear. The goodly headpiece would have saved him from that swinging sabre-stroke that lays open cheek and temple, and deluges neck and shoulder with the hot red stream. His arm flies aimlessly up, and the sword drops from his grasp. The battle swims before his eyes ere they seem to darken and fill with blood; he reels in his saddle; he is down

amongst the wounded and the dying, and his horse gallops masterless out

of the mêlée.

And now Charles sees with his own eyes that all is lost. His right is scattered and disordered. Rupert is returning with but the shattered remnants of his glorious force. His left is swept from the field and flying in hopeless confusion nearly to Leicester. His centre is broken and dismayed; his very baggage unprotected and at the mercy of the enemy. The blood of a king rises for the effort; he will put himself at the head of his reserve and make one desperate struggle for his crown, or die like a Stuart in his harness. He has drawn his royal sword, and waves his last devoted remnant on.

'Od's heart, sire!' exclaims the

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Scottish Earl of Carnewath; 'will ye go upon your death in an instant?' and turns the King's bridle out of the press. Degenerate earl! it was not thus thy steel-clad ancestor backed his father's greatgrandsire at Flodden! But the deed is done! the King turns round; the rout becomes a flight, and, save the wounded and the dead, the helpless women and the dogged prisoners, not a Royalist is left upon the field.

Effingham's regiment of Pikes has ere this moved to the very centre of the plain. When Fairfax saw and seized the opportunity to advance his whole line, the Colonel moved with the rest of the infantry in support of a large cavalry reserve, and thus reached the spot the King had so recently quitted, where the fight had been deadliest and the carnage most severe. Marching in close column, and still keeping Sir Giles and the sorrel in the centre of his Pikes, Effingham took up a position where the dead lay thick in heaps, and at the spot from whence the track of the distant flight might be marked by the rising dust and the occasional shots fired by the pursuers, he placed Sir Giles once more upon his horse, and bade him escape in the confusion.

The old Cavalier grasped him heartily by the hand. I wouldn't have believed it of thee, lad,' said Sir Giles. 'I never thought much of thee after thou changed sides; but faith! thou'rt a good lad still, I see, though thou be'st on the winning side, and a murrain to it! Well, well, I've lived long enough when I've seen the coil of to-day. I wouldn't care to be there with many an honest fellow,' pointing to a heap of corpses, were't not for Grace's sake.'

'It is for Grace's sake,' answered Effingham, and squeezing him by the hand, bade him ride for his life.

Sir Giles turned his horse's head, but checked him for one last word. 'I think I could have broken in, too, lad, if I'd come up at a gallop,' said he, argumentatively.

In another minute he was striding away amongst pursuers and pursued over the plain.

A deep groan caused Effingham to start as he looked down. Simeon

however, had been to the Tana, and little was known with certainty of that mysterious river. In fact, the Fjeld along the whole length of Norland and Finmark presents a barrier which effectually separates the Norsemen of the western coast, with its network of islands and inlets, from the inhabitants, mostly wandering Lapps, of those vast tracts which slope east and southwards to the Gulf of Bothnia. As there are no roads the travelling is done entirely in the winter, when the universal snow smooths over all inequalities, and enables the Finn to drive with his rein-deer and sledge to the several fairs and markets at which his fur-goods can be disposed of to the Norwegian and Russian merchants.

It was now near the end of July, and the weather was intensely hot. There are few things that give a ruder shock to one's geographical preconceptions than the climate of Finmark. That compact theory which would make it colder by regular stages the further you go from the equator, has much to answer for, in belying the genial spring and warm summer of this most distant province of Norway. We found fields of grass and grain, moors covered with a thick carpet of moss and berries, currants and strawberries growing untended in the woods, and wild flowers that might be the envy of many a sunny southern slope. The Fjords never freeze, except those to the eastward of Varanger, Vadsö being the last harbour that remains open all the winter, and on that account said to be greatly coveted by Russia. This mildness is attributed to the thawing influence of the Gulf Stream, which brings drift-wood and warm water from the Gulf of Mexico as far as the dreary strand of Spitzbergen.

The Finn guide, David-pray call it Dahveed, for the mincing meagreness of the English vowels would by no means give an adequate idea of his importance-had been waiting about the house several hours. He had been summoned the previous day from his summer retreat among the neighbouring mountains. A few pounds of smoked salmon, stowed away with some chips of

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rein-deer meat and a couple of black loaves in the capacious bosom of his dress, comprised his provision for the journey. He was a grotesque little fellow, between forty and fifty years old, with the swagger of a youthful giant, and clothed, after his kind, in a Pesk. This is a garment reaching to the knee, made of rein-deer skin, with the hair outside. It is put on by slipping it over the head, and then bound round the waist by a broad leather girdle, from which dangles a knife of allwork. When once on it is seldom taken off again, as it serves equally well for walking, sleeping, and driving; and although the accumulation of dirt and smell in a Pesk of advanced age is considerable, this is not looked upon as an unbearable evil by the uncivilized or natural man. A fur-rimmed cap, with a four-cornered baggy top of scarlet cloth, was thrust down upon his unkempt hair; his legs were encased in skin leggings, bald with use; and his feet were shod with kamargas. These are a kind of mocassin, turning up in a peak at the toe, constructed, as all the rest of the dress is, of rein-deer skin. Instead of stockings, the kamarga is stuffed with senegræs (Nardus stricta), which gives to each foot the appearance of a pudding in a bag, somewhat swelled in the boiling; but being warm and soft to the sole, they increase the endurance without retarding the pace of the itinerant Edipus. They are fastened by gaily coloured bands, wound half a dozen times round the ankle, and terminating in a jaunty tassel. Among both Lapps and Finns the costume of the two sexes is alike, except that instead of the cushioned cap, the head of the female is adorned with a red cloth cap of tinsel border, fitting tight to the skull, tied beneath the chin, and surmounted by a curved crest, which gives it a resemblance to the helmet of Achilles. Knowing the sinister fame of the Fjeld-folk for sorcery, I propitiated our future leader by a bottle of pale ale, with which he seemed much softened, and continued afterwards to address me as ' dear man,' or 'dear friend,' especially when he had a favour to ask.

The rest of the force took a longer

time to get ready. We had hired three horses to carry the baggage, and these had to be caught before they could be used. One required shoeing, an operation which he seemed inclined to resent. Like all other foreigners, the Norwegians consider two men necessary to the shoeing of one horse-the first to hold his foot, the second to hammer the nails, while six are not too many to look on. But the grand business of the day was the packing. The Norsemen are justly fond of their good-tempered active little ponies, and their tenderness to the animal is only exceeded by their clumsiness in loading him. A great parade was made of dividing the luggage into small parcels, of weighing them separately and collectively, and adjusting them with sage impartiality in the frames of open wickerwork which hung on each side of the horse's back. Yet after all, the most business-like of our packages was the pair of canvas saddle-bags which we had conveyed with us from England. The first beast of burden being declared ready, was launched accordingly, and within ten yards contrived to run foul of a stack of timber and successfully capsize his freight. I know he did it on purpose, and a far-sighted manœuvre it was, for on re-inspecting our stock and retrenching wherever it was possible-we had bound each other beforehand to a limited number of articles of clothing, there being a great temptation to smuggle in a white shirt or twothe vote was passed to have an additional horse. After a time the steed was caught, brought, and loaded, and about two in the afternoon we started with all our impedimenta. The train fell directly into Indian file or the póẞara fashion of marching, I and my comrade bringing up the rear.

The first two miles lay through a forest, whose roof protected us from the sun, while its long arcades were filled with the rich incense of fir and pine. Of these trees we do not find many further north, birch and willow being the only species that thrive in a higher latitude. On the left hand were spread out the shining levels of the Alten Fjord, alive with acres of sey or coal-fish, whose ranks

were so crowded that they seemed to be pushing the topmost layer out of water. Above them hovered a perfect snowstorm of sea-birds, one of which would swoop down from time to time on the ill-starred fish, amid the screams and cheers and wrangling of its companions. As far as Alten Gaard, the residence of the Roman-catholic priest, there is a very good road which terminates abruptly in the river.

After

It was rather soon to unpack, but there was no help for it, as the slender barks, in shape between a canoe and a Shannon-cot, that lay drawn up on the beach, were not capable of carrying a horse. While the unloading went on, a Quain man and two damsels emerged from a neighbouring hut, one of whom ferried us across. Behind us we towed a couple of horses, sneezing and looking half frightened and half pleased at the fun: however, they made straight for the grass on landing, and began to eat as if the bath had whetted their appetite. A second boat brought David and the other quadrupeds, and two trips more landed the luggage. leaving the river we entered a birch wood, and following the windings of a narrow path, reached a torrent spanned by a bridge of timber. A Norwegian cottage, with a mill, stood on the other side in a nook sheltered by overhanging rocks. This was the last sætter or outlying farmhouse, and being now about to leave the haunts of men, we gratefully accepted the hospitality of the Bonde's wife, who brought us milk and cakes and other delicacies. The cattle in the mean time were making the most of the halt, by cropping the rich grass and laying in a store for the journey. Refreshment over, the cases that would draggle were rearranged, the proper balance was restored between the ham on one side and the keg of biscuits on the other, and means taken to preserve unanimity between the camp-kettle and the powder magazine.

Amid cries of lykkelig reise,' pleasant journey to you,' from the family at the farm, we set out again, and commenced ascending at once. The path soon disappeared, and we had to make our way over stones of most inconvenient shape and size,

cemented together with moss which concealed the most dangerous ankletraps. Frequently large trees lay across our course, but after a time we conceived a just contempt for those phantom barricades, as we found that they generally crumbled like mummies at the touch. The tough live birches were a much greater annoyance, as they seldom let the loads go by without endeavouring to detain them, especially the boxes containing the fishingrods, for which possibly they had a feeling of kindred. As we ascended the ground became more precipitous and the scenery more extensive. From one rocky brow we could trace the windings of the Tver Elv for many miles along a wooded valley from whence it first issued from the clefts of the hills. Beneath us on many levels still lakes lay glistening on some of the nearer ones could be descried the wake of waterfowl, but at too great a distance to make out their species. Behind we saw the green strip through which we had climbed, the low lands about the mouth of the Alten which still looked provokingly near, the firclothed promontory ending at Elv bakken, and the Fjord stretching northwest by walls of rock and grey craggy headlands towards the open waters of the ocean. High above in the deep blue was poised an eagle, so motionless that he must have been making observations requiring the greatest nicety on the country which lay like a map beneath him. He was too far up for us to disturb his serene contemplation, and so we passed on. The trees now became more scattered, and winding around a cliff we came upon the first patch of snow. After the uphill work this was a most refreshing sight.

'Why shouldn't we have some iced punch?' exclaimed Harry, wiping his brow.

Oh, by all means, if you can make it with snow, Irish.'

'I can easily get at the cognac, the lemons, and the sugar,' pursued my sanguine friend, 'and what more is wanted for a brew ?'

The ingredients were produced and the beverage made, which proved excellent, and had none of the illeffects that might have ensued from recklessly imbibing neat snow.

VOL. LX. NO. CCCLVI.

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We had seen the last of the Western sea; we had scaled the barrier and entered on the lone region of the Fjeld. Viewed by imaginative dwellers in the low lands, this mountain rampart concealed a fairy land behind it. Mellowed by distance it seemed the wall of Paradise; but if so, I can venture to say the Eden lies not on the upper side. Fold upon fold of dreary brown moorland stretched away beneath a low sky before and around, until there seemed to be no end to it; and far, far away rose a line of blue hills streaked and capped with white, but never a tree, and the grass dry and reedy, lean blades that grew by sufferance. And this was really the chosen realm of Asathor and Odin, the home of Trolds and Elves and Ogres, and all the gruesome spectres named in the dark mythology of Scandinavia. They need have been of sterner mood than that other dynasty who boasted to be from Jove and had Olympian houses, albeit both alike showed a divine indifference to comfort and cultivation. Our trusty Finn, swinging along at his imperturbable three miles an hour, was a fitting Mercury to this land of fable. After all, it wasn't such bad travelling, and now that all was bare to the horizon, we could venture to stray a little in search of the ventriloquist plover that were calling from all quarters. After missing a couple, I began to join in the misgiving of the poet that they, like the cuckoo, were not indeed birds, but only a wandering voice: their wailing was sad enough for souls in pain; but the third shot reproved my scepticism and helped to make provision for the larder.

How in the world do those Finn fellows find their way across these idle deserts ?' I was tempted to ask on seeing our train wheeling off at a sharp angle without any perceptible

reason.

'Well, the features of the landskip are somewhat monotonous,' said my companion, scanning the expanse. 'I suppose, however, they have some landmarks. Perhaps those great boulders to the right serve in the humble capacity of signposts: they don't appear to be useful for much else up here.'

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