e earlier; and so, while Scotch
antiquaries of no mean standing can say almost nothing about the
expedition or death-bed of Haco, even the humbler Icelanders, taught
from their Sagas in the long winter nights, can tell how, harassed by
anxiety and fatigue, the monarch sickened, and recovered, and sickened
again; and how, dying in the bishop's palace, his body was interred for
a winter in the Cathedral, and then borne in spring to the burying-place
of his ancestors in Norway. The only clear vista on the death of Haco
which now exists is that presented by an Icelandic chronicler: to which,
as it seems so little known even in Orkney that the burying-place of the
monarch is still occasionally sought for in the Cathedral, I must
introduce the reader. I quote from an extract containing the account of
Haco's expedition against Scotland, which was translated from the
original Icelandic by the Rev. James Johnstone, chaplain to his
Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary at the court of Denmark, and
appeared in the "Edinburgh Magazine" for 1787.

"King Haco," says the chronicler, "now in the seven and fortieth year of
his reign, had spent the summer in watchfulness and anxiety. Being often
called to deliberate with his captains, he had enjoyed little rest; and
when he arrived at Kirkwall, he was confined to his bed by his disorder.
Having lain for some nights, the illness abated, and he was on foot for
three days. On the first day he walked about in his apartments; on the
second he attended at the bishop's chapel to hear mass; and on the third
he went to Magnus Church, and walked round the shrine of St. Magnus,
Earl of Orkney. He then ordered a bath to be prepared, and got himself
shaved. Some nights after, he relapsed, and took again to his bed.
During his sickness he ordered the Bible and Latin authors to be read to
him. But finding his spirits were too much fatigued by reflecting on
what he had heard, he desired Norwegian books might be read to him night
and day: first the lives of saints; and, when they were ended, he made
his attendants read the Chronicles of our Kings, from Holden the Black,
and so of all the Norwegian monarchs in succession, one after the other.
The king still found his disorder increasing. He therefore took into
consideration the pay to be given to his troops, and commanded that a
merk of fine silver should be given to each courtier, and half a merk to
each of the masters of the lights, chamberlain, and ot