By the death of Swegdir, _Vanland_ became the acknowledged head of the Swiones. He was the first of Odin’s descendants who exhibited a warlike character, or rather the first that actually went to war. In the infancy of this theocratic state, when, through weakness, it was compelled to cultivate the good will of its neighbours, of conquest there was no dream; but when the young lion had gained strength, its natural character was unfolded. His conquests, however, have not been recorded; and we can only conjecture that they were chiefly in the provinces bounding on Upland. Nor do we know that it was a warlike expedition that led him into Finland. That country, however, was to him a fatal as well as a romantic one, While there he married the daughter of an old Swede established among the Finns. Her he soon left, with the promise of returning in three years; but ten having elapsed without any tidings of him, she sent Visbur, their son, to his palace at Upsal. Still, as he showed no disposition to visit her, she took counsel with Hulda, a famous witch,—and Finland was full of them,—how she might compel him to return. The witch readily undertook to bring him, or, if she failed, to destroy him. Her secret charms were immediately exerted, and Vanland, though enthroned at Upsal with the attributes of a demi-god, felt their power. On a sudden his heart was drawn towards Finland; the impulse to return was scarcely resistible: but his friends and counsellors dissuaded him from the voyage, assuring him that he was merely under the temporary influence of magic. Sleep now overcame him; but scarcely was he laid on his couch than he cried out that he was oppressed by that mysterious demon, the nightmare. His attendants hastened to assist him, but in vain: the power of the demon was resistless; and, after violent distortions of his limbs, he was suffocated. His body was burned; on the banks of the Skuta his mighty cairn was erected; and _Visbur_ became the monarch of the Swedes. This prince was not more faithful, as a husband, than his father had been. Having married a lady by whom he had two sons, he unceremoniously dismissed her and them to her father, and took another to his bed. The offspring of this second marriage was Domald, whom his nurse, foreseeing that dangers menaced him, endeavoured to protect by incantations. In the mean time, Gisle and Ondur, sons of the repudiated queen, applied to Visbur for the restoration of their mother’s dowry, especially of a magnificent golden necklace; on his refusal, they prayed that the ornament might be his destruction, and that of his offspring. To effect this object, they had recourse to magic; and Hulda, who had destroyed the father, boasted that she would destroy him, and leave this doom to the whole of the Ynglings,—that either their arms should always be turned against one another, or they should perish tragically by some other means. The operations of magic,