And in such dim
glimmer of wavering twilight, the question whether these of Loncarty
were refitted Jomsburgers or not, must be left hanging. Loncarty is
now the biggest bleach-field in Queen Victoria's dominions; no village
or hamlet there, only the huge bleaching-house and a beautiful field,
some six or seven miles northwest of Perth, bordered by the beautiful
Tay river on the one side, and by its beautiful tributary Almond on
the other; a Loncarty fitted either for bleaching linen, or for a bit
of fair duel between nations, in those simple times.
Whether our refitted Jomsburgers had the least thing to do with it is
only matter of fancy, but if it were they who here again got a good
beating, fancy would be glad to find herself fact. The old piratical
kings of Denmark had been at the founding of Jomsburg, and to Svein of
the Forked Beard it was still vitally important, but not so to the
great Knut, or any king that followed; all of whom had better business
than mere thieving; and it was Magnus the Good, of Norway, a man of
still higher anti-anarchic qualities, that annihilated it, about a
century later.
Hakon Jarl, his chief labors in the world being over, is said to have
become very dissolute in his elder days, especially in the matter of
women; the wretched old fool, led away by idleness and fulness of
bread, which to all of us are well said to be the parents of mischief.
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