Two books by the late Mr. J. Fulford Vicary, author
of that charming story, "A Danish Parsonage," may be mentioned together,—Saga Time (Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co.), and 0/air the King, and Mao, King and Martyr (W. H. Allen and Co.)—Mr. Vicary was an expert in Scandinavian matters, past and present, and these contributions to the history of the Northmen are valuable. Saga Time is a very careful and even minute account of the manners and customs of the Northmen, their life and literature, their religion, their social habits. It also gives a general account
of the writers of the Sagas, and a special description and analysis of the Volsungasaga. In the second book (which, indeed, was published before the other), a historical subject of some little difficulty is handled in an interesting monograph. Olav the King fell in the Battle of Svold, in fight with the Danes under Svend Forkbeard, the Swedes under Oluf Svensker, and the Norwegian following of Erik Jan. He jumped from the deck of his ship, when the fight went against him, and was never seen again. Olav the Saint fell at Sticklestead thirty years after.
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