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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 129
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
» 'The Story Of Burnt Njal. Translated F...
notor sha as truthfull pe ious , and matter y centred , and of faithfull local round history y _! N , " jal as , could that But it ever was it is handed not be the on _Njala down case with alone from that father y public we to have son or
. the relating to rel actors y for to our in evidence same period are of its inc , and identall genuineness hande mentioned d . down There in b like are name many manner and other , in in which which sagas _,
in the deeds and recorded our annals saga of the them latter are being corroborated y the earliest . They written y are mentioned , records which also
songs , bered belong from to the the histor construction y of the island of the , while verse the . Much former passes were for mor history e easily remem other
lands or . even on in far , Clarendon slighter grounds or Hume , and is many believed a stor on y evidence in Thucy not dicles one , or -tenth Tacitus part ,
so trustworthy as that , which supports , the narratives of these Icelandic storytellers of the eleventh century . "
So much . thenfor the truthfulness of the story , none the less probable because , so , _ixtterly unlike anything we can conceive in the
present of the day , and The dealing story itself so largel is of y two in the famil cruelties y fends and arising superstitions * the one
out of the age other . and intricately interwoven with a number , of minor ones all ending , in bloodshed and violence , but evidently founded
on one perverted principle of justice—the principle of revenge for a murdered relative—existingas it does more or lessin all
patri-, , archal states of society , and dating from the decree , " Whoso sheddeth man ' s blood , by man shall his blood be shed ; " and when
contemplating the deadly vengeance which ever pursued the mandispensation ment slayer made , we cannot by there Him but . should who admire had be passed the cities wisdom the of decree refuge and mercy , that appointed in of the the Levitical arrange for him
" who slew his brother _unawares . duced This into story the deals island with and the a period curiou at which s account Christianit is y iven was of intro the - g
who way , which after fi it ghting was first for ; broug the ri very ht ght in , , and each testing side havin it by g ordeal a champ , finall ion y ,
decided to refer it to the old speaker of the law—a heathen priest named Thorgeir—which ( to quote from the saga ) _" was all most that hazard day
ous counselsince he was an Iieathen . Thorgeir lay on with the ground him ; , but and the spread day a after cloak men over went his head to the so that Hill no of Laws man spoke , and
Thorgeir bade them be silent and listen , and spoke thus : ' It seems not to me all as to thoug have h one our and matters the same were law come for to if a there dead be lock a , sundering if we are
of the laws there will be a sundering ; of the peace , and we shall never be able to live in the land . Now , I will ask "both Christian
men and heathens whether they will hold to those laws which I utter oath ? of ' them They and all said led they that would they . would He said hol he d wished to them to and take they an
all beg said inning ' Yea of , to that laws p ; / ges so he he said took ' that pledges all from men them shall . be This , Christian is the s
iere in the lan our dand believe in , one God *—the Father , the Son , and ,
ihe Holy Ghost—leave off all idol worship , not expose children to
Notices Of Books. 129
NOTICES OF BOOKS . 129
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1861, page 129, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101861/page/57/
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