Superlatives are always dangerous. There are much finer buildings and there is far finer scenery in Europe than anything that Visby has to show. But the real feature of the place is very much its own. One meets the influences of many lands. One beholds an epitome of half the history of the North. One gets a hint of the architectural features of remote places of Christendom. Of no town of equal importance perhaps may the ruins be so pleasantly surveyed. Midst all the charms of low limestone hills and peaceful fields by the sea, midst all the delights of wide gardens fragrant with the scent of roses, midst all the picturesqueness of a delightful little country town, may be studied in crumbling ruin, yet lovingly preserved, the uniquely interesting churches and stoutly buttressed walls of a city that once dominated the Mediterranean of the North. [Illustration] CHAPTER VIII UPSALA In Upsal's stately minster, before the altar, stands The Swedish King, brave Eric, with high uplifted hands; His royal robes are round him, the crown upon his head, And thus, before his people, right sovranly he said-- "God! whoso trusteth in Thee will never rue his trust: If God the Lord be with us, our foes shall flee like dust." He spake: from priest and people rose up the answering cry-- "If God the Lord be with us, all danger we defy!" Scarce through the aisles is dying their mingled voices' din, A pallid slave, disordered, comes rushing wildly in. "Now God us aid!--Skalater, the Dane, has come again, Fast pouring down the mountains with seven hundred men!" * * * * * King Eric's glance grew prouder; he grasped the golden Rood-- He held it high to heaven, as on Skalater strode: Lo! from each wound, the seven, pour forth a thousand rays, And down to earth Skalater sinks, dazzled by the blaze. They're prostrate on their foreheads, the seven hundred Danes, Praying to God to spare them Who guards the Christian fanes; But Eric and his people lift up the joyful cry-- "Our God, the Lord, has conquered; all praise to Him on high!" _Swedish Ballad_, translated by LADY WILDE. Of all the relics of primitive man none are so permanent, few so impressive, as large earthworks. Such to most of us at least convey no small part of the pleasure that we derive from the South Downs or so-called Salisbury Plain. Where the delights of Nature are comparatively few, on a wide, flat plain, distantly walled by low-looking hills, there has stood since the very twilight of Swedish history the town of Upsala--Lofty Halls. Of its early days we learn from Snorri Sturluson in the opening chapters of his great history, called from its first word, the _Heimskringla_, "That is the Round World, whereas manfolk dwell, much sheared apart by bights so that great seas go from ocean's river far into the land."