A FEMININE FOIBLE. 
101 
a moment in a dark, deep, brimming pool, hemmed in 
by a circle of ruined rocks; to this pool, in ancient 
times, all women convicted of capital crimes were im¬ 
mediately taken, and drowned. Witchcraft seems to 
have been the principal weakness of ladies in those 
days, throughout the Scandinavian countries. For a 
long period no disgrace was attached to its profession. 
Odin himself, we are expressly told, was a great adept, 
and always found himself very much exhausted at 
the end of his performance; which leads me to think 
that perhaps he dabbled in electro-biology. At last, 
the advent of Christianity threw discredit on the 
practice; severe punishments were denounced against 
all who indulged in it; and, in the end, its mysteries 
became the monopoly of the Laplanders. 
All criminals, men and women, were tried by juries; 
and that the accused had the power of challenging the 
jurymen empanneled to try them, appears from the fol¬ 
lowing extract from the Book of Laws :—“ The judges 
shall go out on Washday, i. e. Saturday, and continue 
out for challenges, until the sun comes on Thingvalla 
on the Lord’s-day.” And again, “ the power of 
challenging shall cease as soon as the sun can no 
