The impartial mind which rises above the prejudice of nationality must acknowledge that no country will leave a more glorious impress upon the history of the world than England. Her work cannot be undone; should she to-day sink beneath the seas which bathe her shores, her record will for ever stand brilliantly illuminated on the page of history. The great states which she has founded, which have inherited her tongue, and which are destined to play a most important part in the future of civilisation, will be witnesses of the mighty work she has accomplished. They will look back with pride to the progenitors of their race who lived in the glorious and never-to-be-forgotten countries of the North, the birthplace of a new epoch in the history of mankind. As ages roll on, England, the mother of nations, cannot escape the fate that awaits all; for on the scroll of time this everlasting truth is written—birth, growth, maturity, decay;—and how difficult for us to realise the fact when in the fulness of power, strength, and pride! Where is or where has been the nation that can or could exclaim, “This saying does not apply to me; I was born great from the beginning; I am so now, and will continue to be powerful to the end of time.” The ruined and deserted cities; the scanty records of history, which tell us of dead civilisations, the fragmentary traditions of religious beliefs, the wrecks of empires, and the forgotten graves, are the pathetic and silent witnesses of the great past, and a sad suggestion of the inevitable fate in store for all. The materials used in these volumes, in describing the cosmogony and mythology, the life, religion, laws and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations of to-day, are mainly derived from records found in Iceland. These parchments, upon which the history of the North is written, and which are begrimed by the smoke of the Icelandic cabin, and worn by the centuries which have passed over them, recount to us the history and the glorious deeds of the race. No land has bequeathed to us a literature, giving so minute and comprehensive an account of the life of a people. These _Sagas_ (or “say”) record the leading events of a man’s life, or family history, and date from a period even anterior to the first settlement of Iceland (about 870 A.D.). Some Sagas bear evident traces of having been derived, or even copied, from earlier documents now lost: in some cases definite quotations are given; others are evidently of a fabulous character, and have to be treated with great caution; but even these may be used as illustrating the customs of the times at which they were written. Occasionally great confusion is caused by the blending of the similar names of persons living at different periods. My method of putting together the series of descriptions which will be found in the ‘Viking Age’ has been as follows:—