"The strong-limbed pair laughed in their horrible mirth; it were a deed pleasant to their pitiless hearts, and back they strode to heap on huge faggots, and heat sevenfold the execution flames.

"The page, bidden by the huntsman with a ghastly smile, went forth to meet his master. Fridolin,' said the Count,' away to the wood, and ask the smiths if they have done your lord's bidding.'

"The youth was on his way, when he bethought him he would return to the lady and learn if she had message also for him upon his road.

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Yes,' said the Countess, 'I must tarry by my sick child's bed, or I would fain kneel before the Altar to pray a blessing on this house; but go thou, my boy, for me, and hear the holy Mass.'

"Fridolin had reached the hamlet, which lay below the castle; the church bell rang clear on the quiet autumn air; the gleaners were in the harvest field, woman and child earing the golden grain after the reaper and the scythe there was none to serve the Priest. 'Ah," thought the boy, 'the foot that turns aside for heaven makes no halt:' he entered the dim porch, the tapers were kindled on the Altar, but the thurible and bell lay without a hand to raise them; quickly he puts on the server's surplice, and about the Priest hangs vestment and stole the holy service is sung, and the crowd having knelt to receive the parting benediction, passes out, and with them, murmuring a prayer, goes Fridolin. He reached the forge; 'How fare ye, friends ?' was his cheery greeting to the smiths, who leant against the trees, panting in the fervid heat that issued from the open furnace, have ye done my lord's bidding?' 'Ha, ha,' shouted the men, well and surely, sir page;' and they pointed to the flames curdling over something that lay within their blaze. Swiftly he ran, but ere he reached the gates of the fortress, the eyes of the Castellan perceived him-wondering and distrusting the sight. 'From

whence comest thou, boy ?' he cried. From the furnace.' "Thou hast loitered.' 'Yea, my lord, but only while I did the Countess' bidding; I tarried in the Church by the wood, to say a prayer for thee and thine.'

'What answer gave thee they at the forge ?' 'Well, and surely we have done it,' said they; for my lord's praise and his vassal's desert.' And Robert'-asked the Count,-shuddering with fear, 'you passed him? I sent him to the wood.' 'Not in wood, nor in field did I meet Robert; not a sign of the huntsman have I seen on my way.' Like a dead man's was Count Savern's face, low and hollow was his speech,-“ Thy 1 might, O GOD of heaven, has adjudged the right.'

"And Fridolin? dear brother," asked another fond listener older than the last. "Fridolin, dear one, was ever after the Count's friend; he was preserved, for he sought heaven before man, and GOD and His mighty hosts watched over him.

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"Now, dearest mother," said the Clergyman, turning to the lady who sat beside him; many a tale and song have you taught me; your store is not exhausted, I am sure. Is it not so ?" added he, turning to his father. "No memory better than hers," was the reply, "to tell the last best story of a Christmas night," and the speaker's eye kindled with pride and pleasure. "Then," said the lady, answering the kindly glance, with a meaning smile, "Mine shall be the true story of a good brave man."

"It was a high day in the ancient city of Aix-laChapelle; King Rudolph keeps his coronation feast: the Palatine of the Rhine is his server, the representative of the royal master of Bohemia his cup-bearer; the seven Electors of the empire sit around the throne of him, who has earned the name of the living law;' a better title than that of Conqueror: and in gallery and traverse throng the crowd proclaiming the worthy heir of the orown of Charlemagne, and celebrating with ten thousand joyful cries the restoration of peace after disastrous wars. King Rudolph filled the brimming goblet, and holding it aloft said, 'All welcome, noble sirs, to this proud feast; my heart beats glad to see you here; but where is the sweet singer, who shall stir my soul with songs? I loved the gentle craft as a knight, and as a kaisar it shall be mine.' Then stood forth a bard, with silver hair and flowing robe, and prayed the king to choose the theme

of his lay. Nay,' answered the monarch, a mightier than I shall be your master, the impulse of the hour.' And thus the minstrel sung. A hero-knight was riding in the greenwood, his squire behind him with horn and shaft, chasing the chamois deer, when he heard the sound of a soft bell, borne by a lowly Priest, who, unbinding his sandals, prepared to ford a brawling mountain torrent that crossed the meadow. What wouldest thou?' inquired the Count. I go,' answered the holy man, 'to a sick man's bed, bringing the blessed elements; the bridge has been swept away, and drifts yonder; but barefoot I fear not to cross the waters, if I may only cheer the parting soul.'

"The Count, leaping from his steed, set the Priest thereon; and mounting his squire's horse, rode forth to the hunting field. Next morning the Priest stood at his gates, and would restore his loan. GOD forbid,' said the knight, that ever mailed limb should bestride the horse that once bore the symbols of a SAVIOUR's love; be it a tribute to Him, from Whom, as fiefs, I hold honour, name, and wealth, life, yea, and all things I possess."

"The bard swept the chords with a joyful hand, and as to a triumphal strain he closed his lay: May He, Whom thou hast honoured, honour thee; thy generous heart, thy good right hand, all of German tongue acknowledge: six daughters, wearing crowns, shall prolong thy race, beloved of men.' The Kaisar's heart beat loud; the days of his youth came back; it was his own deed that he heard, the bard was the holy Priest; the whole of that great company arose, revering him, who had reverenced high heaven; and in his purple robe he hid his manly tears."

Gentle reader, good night: may you love and be beloved as truly as that Christmas company. M. E. C. W.

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THE CHURCH IN NORWAY.1

ONE reason why the fishermen were so anxious to reach Soberud was, that the next day was Sunday, and they wanted a day of rest, and a church to go to: and that was not to be met with, on the Torjedahl, nearer than Christiansand itself. Hitherto, their church had been a remarkably tall fir-tree, which had, somehow or other, been overlooked by the wood-cutters, and stood some little way within the forest. It had been chosen on account of its fancied resemblance to a church spire, as it towered above the rest of the foliage: and the lower branches having been cut away, and the space round its trunk enclosed and decorated with green boughs, as all Swedish churches used to be decorated on high days, before a Royal ordinance was passed which forbade it, and the ground strewed with fresh juniper and marsh-marigolds, as church floors are to this day, it did make a very fair forest church for fine weather; and, as all the party could sing, more or less, the service was performed a good deal more ecclesiastically than it is in some of our English cathedrals.

Norway is not in communion with England; indeed, strictly speaking, neither Norway nor Denmark are Churches at all,-they are merely Establishments. Sweden may, by some stretch of imagination, and a little implicit faith in its history, be considered a Church,— and is so considered by the Bishop of London, who has authorised the Bishop of Gothenborg to Confirm for him. But though neither the Englishmen, nor even the Swedes, considered themselves at liberty to communicate in the church of Soberud, there was no reason whatever against their joining in either the Ottesang or the Aftensang (Morning or Evening Service,) or even against their being present at the Högmässe, or Communion itself. The men, who had no very accurate ideas of theology,

1 From "Forest Life, or a Fisherman's Sketches in Norway and Sweden, by the Rev. H. Newland," reviewed in our last number.

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had joined in the English service very readily; and, indeed, had taken a good deal of pains in decorating the forest church for both Tom and Torkel could read English as well as they could speak it, and Jacob pretended to do so. They were, however, all of them, extremely pleased at having the opportunity of going to a consecrated church.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable features of the country, is the respect and reverence which all classes pay to their churches, combined with the very little effect which religion has on their conduct. Norwegians will face all sorts of weather, in order to be present at the Högmässe of Sunday. Large sums of money-that is to say, large in comparison with the wealth of the parishes. are spent upon their churches; which are always in perfect repair, and always most carefully swept, and trimmed with rushes or green sprigs. A man would lose his character at once, and would be shunned by his acquaintance as a hopeless reprobate, if he neglected Confirmation, or the LORD's Supper. Nothing, indeed, is more common than to see, as an advertisement"Wanted, a confirmed cook or housemaid;" which advertisement in no way relates to the capacities of the servant, but simply to her age, it being taken for granted that a person of a certain age must have been confirmed. Indeed, the legislature interferes with this: few offices can be held by unconfirmed people, or by those who are not communicants; and the legislature is only the interpreter of public opinion. No man is at present molested for any religious opinions he may please to hold: he simply loses his civil rights by seceding from the national religion. In fact, Norway is the most complete illustration of the establishment principle which exists in the world.

At the same time, education as it is popularly called— that is to say, secular instruction-is almost universal. No one ever meets with a Norwegian unable to read and write. It may fairly be said that there is no country in the world in which the standard of popular education is so high, and the standard of popular morality so low,— where the respect for religion is so very great, and the