scarcely one in a hundred of the pilgrims escaped.

Italy was, in consequence, depopulated anew; and those who
returned, spread poison and corruption of morals in all
directions. It is therefore the less apparent how that Pope, who
was in general so wise and considerate, and who knew how to pursue
the path of reason and humanity under the most difficult
circumstances, should have been led to adopt a measure so
injurious; since he himself was so convinced of the salutary
effect of seclusion, that during the plague in Avignon he kept up
constant fires, and suffered no one to approach him; and in other
respects gave such orders as averted, or alleviated, much misery.

The changes which occurred about this period in the north of
Europe are sufficiently memorable to claim a few moments'
attention. In Sweden two princes died--Haken and Knut, half-
brothers of King Magnus; and in Westgothland alone, 466 priests.
The inhabitants of Iceland and Greenland found in the coldness of
their inhospitable climate no protection against the southern
enemy who had penetrated to them from happier countries. The
plague caused great havoc among them. Nature made no allowance
for their constant warfare with the elements, and the parsimony
with which she had meted out to them the enjoyments of life. In
Denmark and Norway, however, people were so occupied with their
own misery, that the accustomed voyages to Greenland ceased.
Towering icebergs formed at the same time on the coast of East
Greenland, in consequence of the general concussion of the earth's
organism; and no mortal, from that time forward, has ever seen
that shore or its inhabitants.