of old, received half
of Norway from Magnus, and on the death of his nephew the whole of that
kingdom passed to his sway. A king so wise and so wealthy, so bold and
so dread, had never yet been known in the north. And this was the king
to whom came Tostig the Earl, with the offer of England's crown.

It was one of the glorious nights of the north, and winter had already
begun to melt into early spring, when two men sate under a kind of rustic
porch of rough pine-logs, not very unlike those seen now in Switzerland
and the Tyrol. This porch was constructed before a private door, to the
rear of a long, low, irregular building of wood which enclosed two or
more courtyards, and covering an immense space of ground. This private
door seemed placed for the purpose of immediate descent to the sea; for
the ledge of the rock over which the log-porch spread its rude roof,
jutted over the ocean; and from it a rugged stair, cut through the crag,
descended to the beach. The shore, with bold, strange, grotesque slab,
and peak, and splinter, curved into a large creek; and close under the
cliff were moored seven warships, high and tall, with prows and sterns
all gorgeous with gilding in the light of the splendid moon. And that
rude timber house, which seemed but a chain of barbarian huts linked into
one, was a land palace of Hardrada of Norway; but the true halls of his
royalty, the true seats of his empire, were the decks of those lofty
war-ships.

Through the small lattice-work of the windows of the loghouse, lights
blazed; from the roof-top smoke curled; from the hall on the other side
of the dwelling, came the din of tumultuous wassail, but the intense
stillness of the outer air, hushed in frost, and luminous with stars,
contrasted and seemed to rebuke the gross sounds of human revel. And
that northern night seemed almost as bright as (but how much more
augustly calm, than) the noon of the golden south!

On a table within the ample porch was an immense bowl of birchwood,
mounted in silver, and filled with potent drink, and two huge horns, of
size suiting the mighty wassailers of the age. The two men seemed to
care nought for the stern air of the cold night--true that they were
wrapped in furs reft from the Polar bear. But each had hot thoughts
within, that gave greater warmth to the veins than the bowl or the
bearskin.

They were host and guest; and as if with the restlessness of his
thoughts, the host arose from his sea