sented by an eagle. Mehelainen is a beneficent bird, small and frail as the humming-bird, but ever bearing on its tiny wings the balm and antidote for sickness, sufferings, and the spells of evil. Besides these there are numerous other gods, and every lake, stream, or valley-in fact, all animate and inanimate things-have their good and evil spirits. On this account everything is personified in their mythic poetry; the boat laments upon the shore; the lonely tree, isolated in the clearing, mourns and complains; the road converses with the god; the iron in the furnace has a voice, and in its uses a volition; but besides these passages, full of originality and beauty, we find the witch of Pohja, whose spells can baffle the gods, sweeping up the dust upon their floor into a brazen pan." From the same work we extract a specimen of the Kalevalla: "Then Wainamoinen, the venerable and the valiant, laves his thumbs and purifies his fingers; he sits him down by the sea-shore upon the stone of joy, upon the silvery hill on the summit of the golden mountain, and taking up the instrument, he says-Let those who have never known the joy of the Runes, nor the melody of the instruments, let them draw near and listen.' "And the old Wainamoinen begins to sing, and his voice rises clear and liquid; his fingers play lightly over the strings of the chantal; joy answers joy; the song responds unto the song. There is no beast in the forest, no living thing in the air, which does not hasten up to the singer of Runes, to listen to his melodious voice, to revel in the harmony of his song. "The wolf quits the sedges in which he was prowling; the bear emerges from his den in the roots of an overturned pine-tree; they climb a hedge, the hedge is borne down by their weight; the one ascends the trunk of the pine, the other climbs a birch-tree, whilst Wainamoinen sings and gives birth to joy; the eagle descends from the clouds, the falcon swoops through the air, the sea-gull wings its way from the sullen marsh, the swan from the bosom of the limpid water, the lively linnet, the swiftwinged lark, and the merry goldfinch come to perch on the shoulders of the god-hero; the beauteous virgins of the air, the sun dazzling in splendour, the soft-rayed moon, have alike paused to listen at the further end of a long light cloud in the luminous vault of heaven. There they were weaving the wonderful texture of the skies with a golden shuttle and a silver comb, when, astonished by a strange voice and the melodious accents of the hero's song, the comb of silver fell from their hands, the golden shuttle, breaking the thread of the woof, escaped from their fingers. "All the living things of the water, all the fishes waving at once their myriad fins, swam up to hear the voice of Wainamoinen, to listen to the harmony of his song; Ahto, the king of the waves, the old man with the green beard of weeds, rises up on a water-lily to the surface of the deep." Other dwellers in the sea, the forest, and all habitable places, come also to hear the song, but we must hasten away to other themes. In more recent times, the simple joys and sorrows of the peasantry find voice in the songs of the numerous rural improvisatori, one of whom at least is to be found in every village. The national language of the Finns, nearly every word of which ends in a vowel, and which is soft as the Italian and copious as the German, has no doubt assisted in developing this passionate and universal love of poetry. Their rustic instru ment, the kandala, the Finnish lyre, is of very ancient use; it has five strings, adapted to the five notes peculiar to Finnish music. A collection of these songs has been made, entitled "The Kanteleter." We subjoin the translation, given in the before-mentioned work, of one in which, while we are interested in the ardour of the swain, we must highly commend the prudence of the maiden: THE LOVERS. "Wilt thou come with me, oh my beloved, wilt thou come and be happy with me?" "What happiness canst thou offer me? Thy hands are empty, thy pockets are empty." "But with these empty hands I can bear thee off into the forest shade, into the silent glens far from the world and its envious eye, and there watch tenderly over thee." "But whither shall we go, and where wilt thou build our dwelling?" "There is still room enough in our own Finland. Wilt thou come with me into the uninhabited fields? Wilt thou follow me into the forest like a joyous bird? There will I raise thee up a dwelling where the winds shall rock thee, and where I will delight thee with my song. I will build thee a bower of fruit-trees, a bed of ash, and my song shall nurse thee to a slumber of sweet dreams." One of the best sources from which a knowledge of the history of Finland may be derived, is the Swedish history of Eric Geijer, professor of history at Upsal. From this we learn that several Finnic tribes, especially the Permians and Tarfinns, are mentioned in old accounts of the North. An inroad of the Kures and Quens into Sweden in the time of Segurd, proves that the Quens were spread over a large space, as shown by the circumstance that the whole Northern Sea was once called the Quen Sea, and all Finland, Quenland, though the latter name was also applied to a much smaller district. It comprehended at one time the inland territory upon both sides of the Gulf of Bothnia. The Swedish settlers displaced the Quens, first from West, and afterwards from East Bothnia. The Quens carried their small, light boats overland to the great lakes that lie among the hill-tops, and made predatory inroads upon the Norsemen, as these did upon them. Another bold race, addicted to war and piracy, the Karelians, appear sometimes at war, at other times in league with the Quens. The Tavestrians dwelled more in the south. The occupants of Finland were not mentioned in heathen ages by any distinctive appellation, but were designated by the general name of Finns ; and in their present dwelling-places are at least as old as the remotest period to which the history of the North extends. To this southern portion the term Finland is applied in distinction to the more savage Finmark of the north. About the middle of the twelfth century, St. Eric undertook a crusade against the heathens of Finland, whose piracies harassed the Swedish coast, and by introducing Christianity, and probably by transplanting Swedish colonists thither, laid the foundation of the connexion which so long subsided between the countries. St. Henry, the missionary Bishop of Upsal, accompanied the king on this expedition; he was the first apostle of the Finns, and in his blood, which they shed, planted the seeds of their church. More than a century later, Thorkel Cannutsen, King of Sweden, completed the work begun by St. Eric-Christianity and Swedish dominion was carried to the eastern part of the country, whence the wicked Karelians continued to issue in their predatory excursions, which were marked by hideous cruelty. In a crusade undertaken against them in 1293, they were subdued, made tributary, and compelled to adopt Christianity, at least in name. Viborg was founded to secure this conquest, and the Swedes were brought into immediate contact and collision with Russia. Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, Charles Canutson Bondé obtained the infeudation of Finland, and being summoned to Stockholm by Christopher, King of Sweden, he repaired thither with ten ships and five hundred knights and squires. He was required to surrender some of the principal towns of his territory, but escaped with the sacrifice of Abo, for which he received Viborg as compensation. Charles Canutson was the most honoured and admired of the nobles of Sweden, became first high marshal, and afterwards king of that country. In 1495 a war with Russia, some time carried on, became formidable by the invasion of Finland. Viborg was defended with admirable courage, and was besieged by the Russians during three months. Sleno Slure assembled an army of more than forty thousand men, the greatest which Sweden had at that time ever led into the field, and placed himself at its head, under the banner of St. Eric; but here ended his exploits. Domestic broils, of which Russia well knew how to avail herself, kept the Swedish general inert towards the enemies of his country: the Russians devastated Finland. During the middle ages commercial towns arose along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, and the trade of Finland greatly increased. Finnish troops were regularly enrolled in the Swedish army, and were reckoned amongst its most expert bowmen. In 1521 Finland became the theatre of war between Gustavus Vasa and Christian II., sovereign of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. During the course of the next year the principal castles of the country fell into the hands of Gustavus, or were razed to the ground by the infuriated peasantry. Abo, however, stood firm, and the king's party being reinforced, the principal adherents of Gustavus were compelled to flee. In this disastrous plight many noble persons perished at sea. In the subsequent reign of Gustavus Vasa, the Lutheran form of religion was introduced into Sweden and Finland. This alteration of national faith was effected without bloodshed or persecution on the part of the adherents of either the old or the new creed, and the revenues of the church were not diminished by the change. The liberality of the first archbishop in maintaining, at his own expense, fifty students at Upsal, and of a contemporary Bishop of Abo supporting a smaller number at foreign seminaries, is deservedly celebrated. Gustavus regarded Finland with paternal solicitude. To Michael Agricola, a Finn by birth, the pupil of Luther and Melancthon, appointed by Gustavus, Bishop of Abo, they owed the possession of the Bible, the Prayer Book, and the Catechism, in their own language; and they needed much all that religious instruction could do for them. A rebellion of the Tavestrians at this time was marked by peculiar crime and cruelty, especially on the part of the nobles. Although there had been an interval of peace between the crowns of Sweden and Russia, the indefiniteness of the boundaries gave frequent occasion for strife between the subordinates on the frontier; this strife at last broke into open war, and the grand master of the Livonian knights and the King of Poland promised their aid against the Czar Ivan Vaselowitch the Second. Gustavus went in person to the defence of Finland: the war ended after mutual devastation, in which Finland suffered severely. The Russians besieged Viborg without success, but carried off a large number of prisoners. The Swedish soldiery were wasted by disease; the expense of the war was very great; the promised aid did not come, and first an armistice and then peace was concluded. In the next campaign, fortune awhile favoured the Russians, but afterwards crowned with glory and victory the arms of Sweden. In 1593, Finland, under the auspices of the celebrated Clas Fleming, enjoyed a temporary independence, which was, however, greatly interrupted by intestine division and the horrors of civil strife. The peasants, exasperated by the cruelty of Fleming's troopers, rose in revolt; they bravely wielded their only weapons-their clubs-which gave name to the war, and in this fierce contest eleven thousand were slain. Fleming's widow held for some time the castle of Abo after his death; but the Finns were routed, Viborg and Abo retaken, and the country again passed under Swedish dominion. In 1612, the Regent, afterwards Charles IX., on visiting Finland, found that the Finnish peasants were greatly oppressed by the owners of estates, who enriched themselves at the expense both of the poorer classes and the crown. He equalised the condition of the peasants with that of their happier fellow-subjects in Sweden, raised their privileges, and restricted the power of the nobles, whom he compelled to contribute more largely to the expenses of the state and the church. At this time the plague made great havoc in Finland. In 1616, the king held a separate diet with the estates of Finland. In 1628, Finland, which before possessed an academy at Viborg, obtained, from the liberality of Gustavus Adolphus, another at Abo, which was subsequently erected into a university by Queen Christina. The war between Gustavus and Russia was mainly waged in and on account of Finland, which was, on both sides, rightly felt to be an all-important possession to whichsoever power it might belong. During the reign of Gustavus, Swedish ascendancy was preserved inviolate. In the German and Polish campaigns of the Swedish hero, Finnish troops and reinforcements are frequently mentioned. Peter the Great kept a steady eye on Finland, from which the multifarious plans of Charles XII. had diverted his attention and his troops. The close of Charles's reign found a Russian foot planted in this part of his dominions, which henceforward became a prominent object in European history; while in the annals of Sweden it occupies a conspicuous part. It is probably owing to the southern views of the rulers of Russia, who have had little to fear from Swedish ascendancy under the weaker characters that have filled the throne of Gustavus and Charles, that more vigorous attempts were not sooner made to annex Finland to Russia. In 1808, the desire for Finnish conquest rekindled in Russia; and in 1809, not in battle, but by surrender, Finland became a Russian province. As such it is opposed to us in the present war, and to arm Finland against us was one of the last decrees of the departed Nicholas, Emperor of All the Russias. THE CARILLON OF ANTWERP CATHEDRAL. IN the pleasant land of Belgium, Through that grand old town of Antwerp, Where the monk is at his vigil, Even across the parting ocean, Is the ceaseless dole of mercy, |