countering a violent storm, they arrived in sight of the batteries and stupendous cliffs that guarded the realm of Lochlin. After a well-sustained conflict on both sides, Fingal succeeded in landing his men, and a severe engagement took place on the shore, but the troops of Morven were victorious. Many of the Lochlin troops did not oppose the progress of Fingal with their usual bravery. They held the king of Morven to be injured, and secretly applauded the mea=sures he had taken to retaliate his wrongs. In vain the king of Lochlin attempted to rally his men, and renew the combat; they fled in wild confusion and dismay. Starno rushed among the victorious troops, and his sword opposed that of Fingal; but he wielded his gleaming steel with ineffectual fury. The king of Morven wrested the furious sword from his uplifted arm. "Ye men of Albion," he cried, "and ye of Lochlin, now bear witness, that to your king no revengeful hate I bear; nor ever injured him. There was a time when Starno loved me, and it grieves me sore that evil tongues should have seduced his credence from the conviction of my true esteem.-Tell Agandecca!" Here his throbbing breast heaved, but in vain, for utterance. Both hosts, amazed, beheld the labour of the stranger's breast, where love and honour strove, in gallant contest, to bend his mighty mind. Both hosts observed the struggling tear, while turning half aside behind his lifted shield, he sought to quell the tumult of his heart. Scant time for parley was then permitted; swift from either side the chieftains, with waving helms and couchant spears, eagerly rushed, and plied the gloomy Starno with urgency so powerful, though arrayed in courteous semblance, as to mock denial. They bade him combat his untoward wrath, and yield his daughter to the noble Fingal. Pensive awhile, the king of Lochlin paused. Then waved his hand, imposing silence, and thus addressed the royal Fingal. "Take, then, my only child, my Agandecca; rich with a parent's bless ing. May the tie that binds thee to our house in holy wedlock, unite our kingdom in perpetual peace!" Fingal answered, in a strain of winning cordiality, "Ye spirits of my forefathers, who have your palaces in golden clouds, borne on the pinions of the rapid wings; who oft descend to me in radiant dreams, and comfort my full soul when fraught with woe: by you I swear, my willing arm shall never trespass against the weal and peace of Lochlin." Starno proffered him his hand, and thus expressed his faith. "Great spirit of tremendous Odin! who, clothed with lightning, from thy hall of thunder descendest on the rainbow, and in wrath, and with thy flaming brand, hewest down the ranks that impiously defy thy sovereign power; by thee, I swear, if thou approve to bide by the conditions of this solemn league." The two monarchs embraced each other; and then Fingal hastened to the palace, eager to calm the apprehensions of the tender Agandecca. For he well knew what the peerless fair one must feel while the conflict was doubtful in which a lover and a father fought as foes. He was received by the queen and princess with unfeigned joy; and nought but the presence of Starno was wanting to complete their happiness, every eye beaming with the sweet consciousness of restored felicity. In the meanwhile, the faithless king of Lochlin, whose professions of regard and reconciliation were only made to dissemble the rancour of his vengeful heart, and to lure the artless, unsuspecting Fingal completely into the snare which his prolific brain had conceived against his reconciled foe, could not forget that he had been vanquished by a very youth in the sight of his own subjects; and he considered it as giving him another, and a deadlier cause of hate. He, therefore, repaired to the temple, and sought the conference of the high priest, whom it has already been stated 66 was no friend to Fingal. The king of Lochlin was received by the pontiff with loud greetings, for he doubted not but that Starno had gained a complete victory over the enemy of their gods. He heard the monarch's account of his defeat with mingled contempt and irony. "War," said the high priest " is ever of doubtful issue. Gallant heroes have oft deplored the fickleness of fortune. Yet, routed and cast down, still they have cherished within their breasts a spark of great revenge. But you, if public murmur err not, trace a different course; and cherish gentle virtues ! patience, and meek forgiveness. Mighty Starno, ere while the terror of audacious foes hath doffed his warlike nature, gives his rival the pledge of friendship, and candidly acknowledges himself inferior to a presuming boy, a roaming fugitive!" "Pontiff, you wrong me,' replied the king of Lochlin. May perdition confound this peopled orb; shake and convulse the rocks that rib the embodied earth, and plunge them in the main, whose billows dash yon western sky, that bends to their rude greeting; or, with giant gripe, tear from his sapphire throne the lord of day, nor ever let usurping night be chased from our dominion, rather than my soul mate with disgrace; stoop, by compulsion, stoop to insult; nor my burning thirst of vengeance slake, but in the life-spring of the caitiff's blood." "By heaven it glads my soul," returned the high priest, "that bold Starno glows with undiminished ire; and that this spoiler shall rue his impious rashness. Yet must caution direct thee, and restrain thy passions. For his valour has enticed the admiration of thy warriors and subjects; and the love of Agandecca rivets their esteem." "How like a viper's fang," returned the treacherous king of Lochlin," it stings my heart to think I must dissemble, and conceal my deadly hate; nor boldly dare, with the avowal of my wrath, to plant my faulchion in his breast!" "My sovereign," rejoined the unfeeling priest of Odin, "the princess, too, must be estranged from him. She must hold her lover base and hostile to her people: for her virtues are throned in their regard, and her opinion must wean them from the aspiring Fingal." "Starno remarked that he was well aware of the prudence of this remark, and had taken his measures accordingly. He acquainted the pontiff, that, before he had entered the temple, he had sent a messenger to the princess, to command her to meet him, without delay, under the sacred roof." Her nature," said the cruel father, I know to be affectionate and mild. She cannot, sure, resist my entreaties, nor revolt against a parent's will. But should she refuse to bend unto my purpose to tear this beloved Fingal from her heart, and to defy my power, 'tis fit you interpose, and, by the terrors of awful adjuration, and priestly mysteries, root out this baneful passion, and force her to submit. But if I read aright the tenor of my daughter's thoughts, and misconceive not her submissive meekness, the task need not be painful. I would probe; for so the feverish temper of the times, and threatened danger dictates; but not afflict with too much severity my darl ing child, and fairest hopes of Lochlin. But see, she comes. Retire my good father, and prepare against I summons thee into our presence." Agandecca entered the temple with that kind of pleasing awe that holy places are sure to impress on the feeling and energetic mind; but yet that sensation was mixed with wonder at what commands Starno could have to give, that required a retreat so sacred for the disclosure. After some tender greetings, and a mysterious preamble, artfully suited to his purpose, he thus addressed the trembling Agandecca. "My child, thy filial tenderness and gentle virtues, must minister to me the balm of comfort. Thy father's life, my very days, are numbered on the verge of fate I totter at this instant. Thou Agandecca, art my rampart of defence. Thou art destined to redeem thy people from destruction, and achieve deeds of immortal fame. When female virtue and heroism shall become the theme of honoured commendation, men will say, "Who ever equalled Lochlin's princess, who, to preserve her father, and to save her people from oppression, in the prime of youth and beauty, sacrificed her love ?” Poor Agandecca, starting with convulsive horror, re-echoed the words, "Her love!" and assured the king she would freely die to serve him; but never could give up her love. In vain Starno endeavoured to persuade the wretched fair one that Fingal was his foe, and hiding, beneath a smiling courtesy, a spirit rank with ambition and deceit ; and secretly, and successfully, conspiring to bereave him of his life. In vain he tried to extort from her a vow, that she would bear a deadly note to Morven's king. She was still inflexible; still held Fingal virtuous, and her father's friend. Starno, by a pre-concerted signal, contrived to convey to the high priest the ill success of this conference with Agandecca. On a sudden, a deep and awful gloom pervaded the temple, and pealing thunders (the vile artifice of the Pagan priests, who dared to imitate those dread-inspiring sounds of the omniscient Creator, to terrify the hapless victims of their power into compliance with their will,) shook the pillars to their foundation. The high priest entered trembling, muttering broken sounds, strange accents, faltering and uncouth; and his stedfast gaze was fixed on Agandecca. "Almighty powers, save and defend me!" said the affrighted princess. The high priest, in a solemn tone, adjured her to save her native land, her father, and people, from destruction; to repent of her folly, and to purge her bosom from intended guilt, and baseness of an ill-judged passion. Agandecca replied, that, with conscious will, she never had incensed the celestial powers: yet, if either by reckless word, or inconsiderate act, or by omission of the sacred duties, she had incurred their wrath, she intreated the high priest, to interpose, and save her by his pious orisons and intercessions. "'Tis true," replied the priest of Odin," I can chain the winds, and from her sphere call down the troubled moon: I can arrest reluctant in his course the star of day; can, by the potency of magic spells, shake the vast mountain, heave the solid earth from her foundation, and with wild uproar, drive the affrighted ocean to the deeps. I can unbind the fetters of the grave, and from the dust call forth the shivering ghost, gasping with faltering accent to reveal the horror of his doom. I with a breath can blast thee, Lochlin's princess in thy livid veins congeal the Howing current, and thy frame condensed, change to a mass of marble. Hear me: Odin claims the life of him whose lawless arm would seize the sceptre of our kingdom, and requires thee to resign him to his destined dole: nor to reveal what thou hast seen or heard; but act as we command, till vengeance has her fill.” "Ha!" exclaimed the Maid of Lochlin, "can I move and breathe! I've suffered change; I'm fashioned new by thy volition; a mere passive engine, doomed to perform thy pleasure. Yet, ye powers who rule the destiny of human life, if ye require me to defile my soul with perfidy, and base inhuman guilt, I will not deem ye powerful, but compelled yourselves by dire necessity." "Hold," said the priest; "beware, rash maid, of impious utterance. Thou wert born to be Lochlin's ruin, to overwhelm thy father with despair, whose dying breath will curse thee. Yet thou mightest have proved the prop of our domain, and have risen the guardian of Odin's worship." He then addressed the tyrant. "Advance, thou most afflicted, ill-requited father; and, to preserve thy nation and thyself from woes unutterable, here, at the altar's foot, pronounce a solemn ban on thy rebellious child."-" Forbear, my honoured father, O forbear!" shrieked the hap less maid. "Ye holy ministers of heaven, that cleave the sky with vivid lightning, pierce this bosom before my father tears me from his heart. O, I am modelled to move by your direction; I am berieved of reason, will, and inclination. O that I was bereft of sense! but I obey." The high priest, after some incantation at Odin's shrine, advanced, and declared the covenant to be enrolled in Fate's immutable and eternal record. Just at that moment the queen of Lochlin entered, to announce Fingal's impatience to celebrate the nuptials. The king gently bid her retire, and lead Agandecca thence. The tender mother now perceived that her child was overwhelmed in deep affliction, and eagerly inquired the cause. Agandecca, in a seeming stupor, replied, "Mother, thou hast a child no longer. I am no more; my form is adamant, and a pillar that must upheld the globe. Perhaps thou deemest this arm, thus laced with azure veins, a limb fashioned like thine-but 'tis of solid marble, and Odin's throne rests on it." Here the high priest interrupted Agandecca, by observing that she was on the point of transgressing her oath, and condign vengeance would follow. The princess started, and exclaimed, "Heard ye that awful voice? Away! away! my mother, my indulgent parent, thou wilt not, like my father, sternly chide, and with unkindness rend my bleeding heart!" The queen and Agandecca then retired, and left Starno and the priest in conference, when the former expressed his fears that he had urged the gentle princess to an undue excess. But the priest comforted him by the assurance that he foresaw this resistance and flow of anguish would soon yield to calm content and dutiful submission. Starno then expressed his satisfaction at what he had done, "I hold," said he, "that Agandecca's seeming will, and even her full concurrence in the deed, are needful; else may disaffection rouse the phrensy of sedition. Thus it is expedient that you bind her struggling spirit, and keep it in fetters of obedience. I will in the mean time entice our vaunting foe into the adjacent forest, and there entangle him in deadly. danger." Rather with royal splendour and parade prepare the bridal pomp," interrupted the high priest," Summon the priests of Odin in magnificent array, and rank of long procession, to attend, and solemnize the rite, while proud Fingal receives in triumph his affianced bride; who, unaware and harmless of the event, not with delightful rapture, but with throes of anguish, shall behold her lover seized-behold him fall a victim to thy revenge and our insulted worship!" The priests of Odin, at the command of their Pontiff, repaired to a magnificent chapel in the palace of Starno. As soon as they were assembled in due order, the high priest thus addressed them, "This day an offering shall be made, and rites performed with mystic import, that shall bring Odin and Thor, and their celestial train, down from their shining palace to rejoice with mortal men on earth. "Here lay the garland, and that mysterious cup, inlaid with gems, upon the altar. That garland wove with beauteous flowers, and twined with rare device, the bridegroom to the bride shall give, as a symbol of the honor she derives from this renowned alliance; and the cup, mingling and sparkling with delicious juices, in soft requital by the bride presented, shall typify the lenient joy, the tender solace, he shall gain from faithful wedlock. These nuptial rites shall henceforth be observed as a memorial by our northern princes. And now retire a little space, and note our further bidding, while with royal Starno I hold some private parley." The king of Lochlin now entered the chapel, and informed the priest, that he had, with due array, marshalled his warlike troops, to grace the seeming nuptials, and was come to learn the further progress of his sage design. The priest bid him observe the sparkling chalice, which contained the salutary potion which the princess should proffer to her lord; informing him, that whoever tasted of that envenomed cup, it would shoot through the mazes of his azure veins, arrest with strange compulsion the retiring spirit, and shake and convulse the shattered frame till life become a exhausted ruin. So even there he should behold the blasphemer of immortal power perish before him. Fingal, with Ullim, who was a sage friend and counsellor, and other attendants now entered the chapel, and the high priest retired towards the others; while the dissembling Starno thus addressed the king of Morven : "Welcome, illustrious monarch! In fair array behold that altar, and the hallowed chalice. Observe these holy men in sacred vesture, with various ornaments of mystic meaning, prepared, with orisons and solemn rites of sage mysterious import, to confirm thy plighted vows."-" Away with your mystic rites," exclaimed the Christian king, your shews of outward seeming, that adorn not truth; for truth needs not a specious garb; but with their false presentment would disguise designs that dread detection." "Unfold thy meaning," said the incensed Starno; "nor with haughty insult vent thine unprincely and unkind surmises." Fingal replied that he meant not to insult. But he felt his wrongs by Agandecca's tears and piteous grief. The alarmed Starno exclaimed, Hath she then dared-" But on recollection, checked himself from proceeding. But the king of Morven caught the words, and demanded of Starno if his daughter's compliance was feigned, and that she came to his arms an unwilling bride; bidding him inform her that he was not that rude spoiler, who would, regardless of her free consent, force her reluctantly to a hateful unión. Starno assured the youthful warrior of Agandecca's love, and ascribed her grief to maiden modesty and timid coyness. "Would maiden modesty," replied the afflicted Fingal, convulse her frame with speechless anguish, force her to smite her snowy bosom, and to shed a deluge of afflicting tears? No; she would rather blush, and falter, and hesitate !-with most alluring sweetness would tremble, and would yield. I am not so blind to the ingenuous nature and winning gracefulness of female weakness. This morning, when, with free consent of Starno, again I offered her my plighted faith, with what sweet confusion, what roseate blushes, and unbidden smiles, she fired my soul ! How, when, with fond impatience, I sought again my Agandecca, what words can figure my amazement? I beheld her racked with frantic grief, and weeping with bitter anguish. Lost in the transport of her piteous mood, she heeded not my entrance. But when her roving eye fastened on me, she uttered a piercing shriek, and fled my presence. Was this complacency and love from a betrothed bride ?" Starno, and the high priest, endeavoured, by the most persuasive and deceitful rhetoric, to calm Fingal's apprehensions and distressing doubts; and the monarch retired to lead Agandecca to the nuptial ceremony. He soon returned with the beauteous, but still sorrowing bride, the queen, and attendant nobles of the court. The king of Lochlin gave his daughter's hand to Fingal, praying the gods to smile on their alliance, and bidding Fingal lead her to the altar. As soon as the nuptial ceremony was concluded between the youthful pair, the high priest thus addressed them. "Illustrious pair! Morven and Lochlin's pride, may Odin, with his heavenly host, regard this covenant with complacency, and shower celestial blessings on your alliance. Fingal, to thy betrothed bride present that garland, as an emblem meet of honour and esteem. Thou, royal virgin, to thy consort present this cup, in token of thy |