eson was clamorously invited by the Bonders to step in there,
enlighten his eyes, and partake of the sacred rites. Instead of which
he rushed into the temple with his armed men; smashed down, with his own
battle-axe, the god Thor, prostrate on the ground at one stroke, to set
an example; and, in a few minutes, had the whole Hakon Pantheon wrecked;
packing up meanwhile all the gold and preciosities accumulated there
(not forgetting Thor's illustrious gold collar, of which we shall hear
again), and victoriously took the plunder home with him for his own
royal uses and behoof of the state. In other cases, though a friend to
strong measures, he had to hold in, and await the favorable moment. Thus
once, in beginning a parliamentary address, so soon as he came to touch
upon Christianity, the Bonders rose in murmurs, in vociferations and
jingling of arms, which quite drowned the royal voice; declared, they
had taken arms against king Hakon the Good to compel him to desist from
his Christian proposals; and they did not think King Olaf a higher man
than him (Hakon the Good). The king then said, "He purposed coming to
them next Yule to their great sacrificial feast, to see for himself
what their customs were," which pacified the Bonders for this time. The
appointed place of meeting was again a Hakon-Jarl Temple, not yet done
to ruin; chief shrine in those Trondhjem parts, I believe: there should
Tryggveson appear at Yule. Well, but before Yule came, Tryggveson made a
great banquet in his palace at Trondhjem, and invited far and wide, all
manner of important persons out of the district as guests there. Banquet
hardly done, Tryggveson gave some slight signal, upon which armed men
strode in, seized eleven of these principal persons, and the king said:
"Since he himself was to become a heathen again, and do sacrifice, it
was his purpose to do it in the highest form, namely, that of Human
Sacrifice; and this time not of slaves and malefactors, but of the best
men in the country!" In which stringent circumstances the eleven seized
persons, and company at large, gave unanimous consent to baptism;
straightway received the same, and abjured their idols; but were not
permitted to go home till they had left, in sons, brothers, and other
precious relatives, sufficient hostages in the king's hands.

By unwearied industry of this and better kinds, Tryggveson had trampled
down idolatry, so far as form went,--how far in substance may be greatly
d