THE HEATHEN PERIOD.
For many a petty king ere Arthur came
ruled in this isle, and ever waging war
each upon other, wasted all the land;
and still from time to time the heathen host
swarm'd over seas, and harried what was left.
And so there grew great tracts of wilderness,
wherein the beast was ever more and more,
but man was less and less, till Arthur came.
For first Aurelius lived and fought and died,
and after him king Uther fought and died,
but either fail'd to make the kingdom one.
And after these king Arthur for a space,
and thro' the puissance of his Table round,
drew all their petty princedoms under him,
their king and head, and made a realm, and reign'd.
ALFRED TENNYSON, _The Coming of Arthur_.
For the first hundred and fifty years of their life in this island our
ancestors were heathens. This time has no place in the English memory
through any legendary or literary tradition that is associated with the
Saxons. The legends of this time which retain a place in literature are
not Saxon but British. This is the era of Arthur and the Knights of the
Round Table. There is no book or piece of Saxon literature that can in
any substantial sense be ascribed to the heathen period; for I cannot go
with those who assign this high antiquity to the "Beowulf."
There is a book that claims to be a product of this time, but it is
neither Saxon nor heathen. It bears the name of Gildas, a Briton, and it
is a fervently Christian book, written in Latin. It has two parts, one
being a Lament of the Ruin of Britain, the other a Denunciation of the
conduct of her princes. Its genuineness has been questioned, and it has
also been ably defended.[39] The strong point in favour of the book is,
that it existed and was reputed genuine before the time of Bede, who
used it as an authority, and cited it by the author's name, saying that
"Gildas, their [the Britons'] historian," describes such and such evils
in his "lamentable discourse."[40] Through Bede the information of
Gildas has fallen into the stream of English history, and we cease to be
aware of the original source. For example, the familiar tradition of the
Saxons coming over in "three keels," ordinarily ascribed to Bede, is
taken from Gildas. The date of this author and his work, as now
generally accepted, is this:--That he was born in 520, the year of the
battle of Mons Badonicus, and that he wrote about 564. But this rests on
an ill-jointed and uncertain passage, which was misunderstood by Bede,
if the modern interpretation is right.
And when we come to look into that Saxon literature which was
subsequently developed, the traces of the heathen period are
unexpectedly scanty, and the very remembrance of heathenism though not
abolished seems already wonderfully remote. But notwithstanding all
this, we cannot treat the subject of Anglo-Saxon literature in any
satisfactory manner without some consideration of the heathen period.
For, on the one hand, history requires it as a background, and the only
appropriate background to our story of the subsequent culture; and, on
the other hand, we shall find, by putting the scattered fragments
together, that such an impression may be gained as is at least
sufficient for a subsidiary purpose.
Among the extant Saxon writings there is one and only one book, in which
we detect some possible work of this period. This is in the Chronicles.
Between A.D. 450 and 600 we have a sprinkling of curious annals
that are naturally calculated to rivet the attention. They are certainly
of a very distinct and peculiar cast, and it has been thought that they
may possibly represent (through much disguise of transcription) some
kind of contemporary records of the heathen period, whether the original
shape was that of ballads, or of annals kept in Runes.
These annals are characterised by an occasional touch of poetic fervour,
and by several local details which are stimulating to modern curiosity.
A few examples may be useful:--
455. Here[41] Hengest and Horsa fought against Wyrtgeorn, the king, in
the place that is called Agælesthrep; and his brother Horsa was slain;
and after that Hengest took to the kingdom, and Æsc, his son.
457. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Brettas in the place that
is called Crecganford; and there they slew 4,000 men; and the Brets then
abandoned Kentland, and in great terror fled to Londonbury.
473. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Walas: and they took
countless spoil: and the Walas fled the Engles like fire.
491. Here Ælle and Cissa beset Andredescester, and slew all those that
therein dwelt: there was not so much as one Bret remaining.
571. Here Cuthwulf fought with the Bretwalas at Bedcanford, and took
four towns: Lygeanburg and Ægelesburg (Aylesbury), Bænesingtun
(Bensington) and Egonesham (Ensham).
584. Here Ceawlin and Cutha fought against the Brettas, in the place
that is named Fethanleag; and Cutha was slain. And Ceawlin took many
towns and countless spoils; and in wrath he returned thence to his own.
There is about these entries something remote and primitive, and
something, too, of a contemporaneous form, that penetrates even through
the folds of a modern dress.
If we would gather an idea of the religious sentiments of that heathen
time, two sources are open to us:--1. Classical authors, especially
Cæsar and Tacitus; 2. Incidental notices in domestic writings after the
establishment of Christianity. In regard to both these sources we must
regulate our expectations in accordance with the circumstances.
1. Cæsar and Tacitus wrote of Germany at large, and not of our
particular tribes in the north-west; yet they naturally touch some
leading points which are of interest for us here. As to their religion,
Cæsar formed a totally different opinion from Tacitus. According to the
former, the Germans knew only those visible and palpably useful gods,
the Sun and the Moon, and Fire; they had never even heard of any others
by report. Tacitus, on the contrary, says, that they worship Hercules
and Mars, and, above all, Mercury; that, at the same time, their
religious sense is eminently spiritual, for they repudiate the thought
of enshrining the celestials within walls, or representing them by the
human form; that they venerate groves and forest-glades, and that by the
names of their gods they understand mysterious beings visible only to
the inward and reverential sight. These estimates are diametrically
opposed, and they have been used by an eminent writer to illustrate the
difficulty of getting at the truth about the religion of barbarians. But
it should be remembered that a long interval had elapsed between Cæsar
and Tacitus; an interval, moreover, that was likely to work some, if not
all, of the changes required to make these estimates compatible with one
another.
Tacitus informs us about the god Tuisco, whose name we still keep in
Tuesday;[42] about the supremacy of Mercurius,[43] that is, of Woden;
and about the form of the boar as a sacred symbol, which was worn on the
person for a charm against danger.[44] He also relates the hideous
ceremony of a goddess Nerthus, or Mother Earth, who makes her occasional
progresses in a wagon drawn by cows, the attendants being slaves who,
when the rite is done, are all drowned in a mysterious lake.[45]
2. From the second source we might have expected more than we find.
Knowing that the new religion was not established without struggles and
delays and relapses, we might have expected that the traces of the dying
superstition would have been numerous in Anglo-Saxon literature. And if
we had the domestic writings that were produced in the first Christian
ardour, such an expectation might have been partially fulfilled. But in
any case we should not expect too much from early and unformed
literature. It is the mature fruit of long cultivation to produce a
literature that reflects the present. Almost all early literature is
conventional, because the spontaneous is not esteemed and is not
preserved. But whatever might have happened under other conditions, the
fact now is that the literature of our first Christian era is almost
entirely lost. It perished in the Danish invasions. The works of Beda
are, indeed, preserved, and in one sense they make a large exception to
the general statement, yet the exception is not one that is of great
import for our immediate purpose. His works, even when he is upon a
local subject, breathe little of local curiosity or interest. His was a
cloistered life, his view was ever directed through the vista of books
and learned correspondence towards the central heart of Christianity,
and he deigned but rarely to cast a look behind him at the old
superstitions of his people. His writings, which are all in Latin,
contribute something, but it is little, towards our knowledge of Saxon
heathendom. We are indebted to him for an explicit statement about the
meaning of the word "Easter." It is as follows:--"_Rhedmonath_ is so
called from their goddess _Rheda_, to whom in that month they
sacrificed.... With the people of my nation, the old folk of the Angles,
the month of April, which is now styled Paschal Month, had formerly the
name of _Esturmonath_, after a goddess of theirs who was called
_Eostra_, and whose festival is kept in that month; and they still
designate the Paschal Season from her name, by force of old religious
habit keeping the same name for the new solemnity."[46] This is a sample
of what Beda might have told us about the old heathendom, if he had made
it a subject of inquiry. The information is the more valuable because it
was not forthcoming from any other source. The Germans have an obscure
trace of _Retmonat_; and their _ôstarmânoth_, which remains as a German
name for April (Ostermonat) to the present day, is found as early as
Eginhard, the biographer of Charlemagne. But of the deities there is no
information anywhere but in Beda. The name of Easter appears related to
"East" and the growing strength of the sun. In the Edda a male being, a
spirit of light, bears the name of _Austri_: the German and Saxon tribes
seem to have known only a female divinity in this sense. A being with
attributes taken from the Dawn and from the Spring of the year, so full
of promise and of blessing, might well be tenaciously remembered and
retained for Christian use.
We will now proceed to notice the sources which preserve some relics of
the old heathenism.
THE GENEALOGIES
bear the greatest testimony to the former dignity of Woden's name. The
royal houses of Kent, Essex, Deira, Bernicia, Wessex, East Anglia,
Mercia,--all trace up to Woden. Some go up far above Woden, who has a
series of mythological progenitors, the oldest of whom appears to be
Scyld, the name which forms the starting-point of the "Beowulf."
THE LAWS.
In the Kentish code of Wihtræd (d. 725) there are penalties set down for
those who sacrifice to devils, meaning heathen gods.
But, on the whole, it is remarkable how little is found on this subject
in the codes before Alfred. In the Introduction to Alfred's Laws
idolatry is forbidden in two places, not in words of the time, but with
the sanction of Scripture texts.
In the Laws of Edward and Guthrum heathenism is denounced with
penalties; in the Codes of Æthelred it is forbidden in a hortatory way;
but the most explicit prohibition is that of Canute:--
"5. Of Heathenism. And we strictly forbid all heathenism. It is
heathenism for a man to worship idols,--that is, to worship heathen
gods, and the sun or moon, fire or flood, water-wells or stones, or any
kind of wood-trees, or practise witchcraft, or contrive murder by
sorcery."
The latter words seem to point to that form of sorcery known as
_defixio_, wherein an effigy was maltreated, and incantations were used
to direct the injury against the life or health of some private enemy,
whom the image was taken to represent.
CANONS ECCLESIASTICAL.
In the Canons of Ælfric, c. 35, priests are not to attend funereal
festivities unless they are invited; and if they are invited, they are
to forbid the heathen songs of the lewd men, and their loud
cachinnations; and they are not to eat or drink where the corpse is
deposited (thær thæt lic inne lith), lest they be partakers of the
heathen rite which is there celebrated. This seems to be illustrated by
a prohibition found in the Capitularies of Charlemagne against eating
and drinking over the mounds of the dead; and also by a passage of
Boniface (Epist. 71), who says that the Franks immolated bulls and goats
to the gods, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. It has been supposed
that a number of teeth, of oxen and sheep or goats, which were found
among heathen Saxon graves at Harnham, near Salisbury, might be evidence
of this practice.[47]
In the "Laws of the Northumbrian Priests," c. 48, it is enacted:--"If
there be a sanctuary (frith-geard) in any one's land, about a stone, or
a tree, or a wall, or any such vanity, let him that made it pay a fine
(lah-slit), half to Christ, half to the landlord (land-rica); and if the
landlord will not aid in executing the law, then let Christ and the king
receive the mulct."
THE POETRY
preserves many traces of heathendom. The unconscious relics of old
mythology that are imbedded in the recurrent formulæ of the heroic
diction is one of our strongest proofs that this diction was already
matured in heathen times. A very prominent term is Wyrd = Destiny, Fate;
which is the same as the Urðr of the Scandian mythology, one of the
three fates, Urðr, Werðandi, Skuld = Past, Present, Future. In Wyrd, the
whole of the attributes are included under one name; and it counts among
the marks of affinity between the Heliand and our Anglo-Saxon
literature, that the same thing is observed there also, though in a less
distinct manner. In the "Beowulf" it is said:--"Wyrd often keeps alive
the man who is not destined to die, if his courage is equal to the
occasion." Wyrd is said to weave, to prescribe, to ordain, to delude, to
hurt. In Cædmon she is wælgrim = bloodthirsty. And the heathen
association may still be felt, even when the name of Wyrd is displaced
by a name of the Christian's God, as in "Beowulf" where we read:--"The
Lord gave him webs to speed in war."[48] In the Heliand the attributes
are less varied, the vaticination is wanting, and _Wurð_ seems almost
the same as Death.
But the old tradition of the three mysterious women lived on in this
island. It is now best known to us through the German Fairy Tales, where
we have the three spinning women. In the Middle Ages there was a
remembrance of these mysterious visitants in a certain ceremony of
spreading a table for three, whether for protection to the house at
night, or to bring good luck to the children born in that house. In the
Penitential of Baldwin, Bishop of Exeter (twelfth century), this
superstition is noted, and the latter motive assigned.
The monks of Evesham kept up a tradition which traced the origin of
their house to a vision of three beautiful maidens, in heavenly
garments, sweetly singing. They were seen by a swineherd in the forest,
when he was in search of a lost swine, and he went to Bishop Ecgwine and
told him. The bishop arrived at the place, was favoured with the same
vision, and founded the monastery there. The device on the abbey seal
represented this vision.
A less pleasing vision of the Three Sisters is narrated by Wulfstan of
Winchester, a poet of the tenth century, who has left us a Latin poem of
the Miracles of St. Swithun. In it he tells how, coming back one evening
towards Winchester, he was met by two hideous females, who commanded him
to stop, but he ran away in terror; he was then met and stopped by a
third, who struck him a blow from which he suffered for the remainder of
his life; but the three women plunged into the river and disappeared.
The same three appear in _Macbeth_ as the Weird Sisters; and it is
probably from this connexion that _weird_ has become an adjective for
all that savours of heathenism.
A frequent word for battle and carnage is _wæl_, and the root idea of
this word is choice, which may be illustrated from the German
_wählen_--to choose. The heathen idea was that Woden chose those who
should fall in battle to dwell with him in Walhalla, the Hall of the
chosen. In the exercise of this choice, Woden acted by female
messengers, called in the Norse mythology _valkyrja_, pl.
_valkyrjor_.[49]
All superior works in metal, as swords, coats of mail, jewels, are the
productions of Weland, the smith. His father is called Wudga, and his
son is called Wada; and with this child on his shoulder Weland strides
through water nine yards deep. This was matter of popular song down to
Chaucer's time:--
He songe, she playede, he told a tale of Wade.
"Troylus and Crescyde," iii., 615.
He had by Beadohild another son, in German named Witeche, who inherited
his father's skill and renown. For his violence to Beadohild, Weland was
lamed; but he made for himself a winged garment, wherewith he took his
flight through the air. He is at once the Daidalos and the Hephaistos
of the Greeks. The translator of the Boethian Metres has taken occasion
to bring in this heathen god, whose cult (it seems) was still too
active. In Metre ii., 7, where Boethius has the line--
Ubi nunc fidelis ossa Fabricii manent?
under colour of _faber_ = smith, which the name Fabricius suggests,
Weland is made a fruitful text:--
Hwær sind nu thæs wisan
Welandes ban,
thæs goldsmithes
the wæs gio mærost?
Forthy ic cwæth thæs wisan
Welandes ban,
forthy ængum ne mæg
eorthbuendra,
se craft losian
the him Crist onlænth.
Ne mæg mon æfre
thy eth ænne wræccan
his craftes beniman
the mon oncerran mæg
sunnan on swifan
and thisne swiftan rodor
of his riht ryne
rinca ænig.
Hwa wat nu thæs wisan
Welandes ban,
on hwelcum hi hlæwa
hrusan theccen?
Where now are the bones
of Weland the wise,
that goldsmith
so glorious of yore?
Why name I the bones
of Weland the wise,
but to tell you the truth
that none upon earth
can e'er lose the craft
that is lent him by Christ?
Vain were it to try,
e'en a vagabond man
of his craft to bereave;
as vain as to turn
the sun in his course
and the swift wheeling sky
from his stated career--
it cannot be done.
Who now wots of the bones
of Weland the wise,
or which is the barrow
that banks them?
One of the most striking points of contact between our relics of
mythology and those of the Edda occurs in the "Beowulf," where mention
is made of the famous necklace of the Brosings (or, as Grimm would
correct, Brisings).
In the Edda the goddess Freyja is the owner of a precious necklace,
called _Brîsinga men_. She had acquired this jewel from the dwarfs, and
she kept it in an inaccessible chamber, but, nevertheless, it was stolen
from her by Loki. Therefore Loki is _Brîsings thiofr_, the thief of the
Brising necklace; and Heimdallr fought with Loki for it. When Freyja is
angry the heaving of this ornament betrays her emotion. When Thôrr, to
get his hammer back, disguises himself as Freyja, he fails not to put on
her famous necklace. From its mention in Anglo-Saxon poetry, Grimm would
infer the familiarity of the Saxon race with the whole story.[50]
But what adds vastly to the interest of this legend is that we find it
in Homer. It is essentially the same with the belt of Aphrodite (Hymn,
l. 88). In Iliad xiv., 214, Aphrodite takes it off and lends it to Hêrê
to charm Zeus withal. When we add that just above in the same context
(Iliad xiv., 165) Hêrê also has a curiously contrived chamber, made for
her by Hephaistos (Vulcan), the parallel is too close to be mistaken.
THE GOSPEL TRANSLATION.
Of the old heathen theogony we have a remarkable document in the names
of the days of the week; and these names are best preserved to us in
the rubrics of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels. These names are supposed to have
come from the western shores of Asia, and to have pervaded the nations
of Europe, both Roman and barbarian, in the first and second centuries.
By a comparison of the sets of names in the two families of nations, we
gain certain leading facts about the chief deities of our heathen
ancestry, which all the rest of the scattered evidence tends to confirm.
Thus our Tuesday, A.-S. Tywes-dæg, compared with the French Mardi and
its Latin original Martis dies, teaches us that the old god Tiw (who was
also called Tir) was recognised as the analogue of the Roman Mars, the
god of war. So Wednesday, A.-S. Wodnes-dæg, compared with the French
Mercredi and its Latin form Mercurii dies, gives us proof that the god
Woden answered to the Roman Mercurius. So, too, Thursday, A.-S.
Thunres-dæg, compared with French Jeudi and Latin Jovis dies, shows that
Thunor (whom the Scandinavians call Thor) is the god of thunder, like
the Latin Jupiter. So again, Friday, A.-S. Frige-dæg, compared with
Vendredi and Veneris dies, gives us the analogy of Frige with Venus.[51]
Saturday, A.-S. Satærnes-dæg, seems like a borrowed name from the Latin
Saturnus.
Kemble maintained the probability that Sætere was a native divinity, and
considered that the local names of Satterthwaite (Lanc.), and
Satterleigh (Devon), offered some probable evidence in that direction.
More distinct are the local namesakes of Woden. Kemble adduces repeated
instances of Wanborough, formerly Wodnesbrook (Surrey, Wilts, Hants),
Woodnesborough (Kent), Wanstrow, formerly Wodnestreow = Woden's tree
(Somerset), Wansdike, and others.
THE HOMILIES
occasionally denounce and describe the prevalent forms of heathenism
still surviving. Thus Ælfric (i., 474):--"It is not allowed to any
Christian man, that he should recover his health at any stone, or at any
tree." Wulfstan preaches thus:--"From the devil comes every evil, every
misery, and no remedy: where he finds incautious men he sends on
themselves, or sometimes on their cattle, some terrible ailment, and
they proceed to vow alms by the devil's suggestion, either to a well or
to a stone, or else to some unlawful things...."[52]
In an alliterative homily of the tenth century, the heathen gods that
are combated are Danish:--[53]
Thes Jovis is arwurthost
ealra thæra goda,
The tha hæthenan hæfdon
on heora gedwilde,
and he hatte Thor
betwux sumum theodum;
thone tha Deniscan leode
lufiath swithost.
...
Sum man was gehaten
Mercurius on life,
he was swithe facenful
and swicol on dedum,
and lufode eac stala
and leasbrednysse;
thone macodon tha hæthenan
him to mæran gode,
and æt wega gelætum
him lac offrodon,
and to heagum beorgum
him on brohton onsegdnysse.
Thes god was arwurthra
betwux eallum hæthenum,
and he is Othon gehaten
othrum naman on Denisc.
This Jove is most worshipped
of all the gods
that the heathens had
in their delusion;
and he hight Thor
some nations among;
him the tribes of the Danes
especially love.
...
There once lived a man
Mercurius hight;
he was vastly deceitful
and sly in his deeds,
eke stealing he loved
and lying device;
him the heathens they made
their majestical god,
and at the cross roads
they offered him gifts,
and to the high hills
brought him victims to slay.
This god was main worthy
all heathens among,
and his name when translated
in Danish is Odin.
An interesting example of the methods used to wean our simple
forefathers from their old heathen practices may be seen in a "Spell to
restore fertility to land."[54] The preamble sets forth:--"Here is the
remedy whereby thou mayest restore thy fields, if they will not produce
well, or where any uncanny thing has befallen them, like magic or
witchcraft." Four turfs are to be cut before dawn from four corners of
the land, and these are to be stacked in a heap, and upon them are to be
dropped drops of an elaborate preparation whereof one ingredient is holy
water; and over them are to be said words of Scripture and Our Father.
And then the turfs are taken to church, and prayers are said by the
priest while the green of the turfs is turned altarwards; and then,
before sun-down, the turfs are returned to their own original places:
but first, four crosses, made of quickbeam, with the names Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, written on their four ends, are to be put, one in the
bottom of each pit, and as each turf is restored to its native spot, and
laid on its particular cross, say thus:--"Crux, Mattheus; Crux, Marcus;
Crux, Lucas; Crux, Joannes."[55] Then the supplicant turns eastward,
bows nine times, and says a rhythmic form of prayer, in which some
heathen elements are just discernible. Then he turns three times towards
the sun in its course, and sings Benedicite, Magnificat, and Pater
Noster, and makes a gracious vow, in the friendly comprehension of which
all the neighbourhood is included, gentle and simple.
This being done, strange seed must be procured, and this must be got
from poor "almsmen"; and the supplicant must give them a double quantity
in return; and then he must collect together all his plough-gear and
tackle, and say over them a poetic formula which has fragments that look
very like the real old heathen charm. It begins with untranslatable
words:--
Erce, erce, erce,
eordan modor.
Erce, erce, erce,
mother of earth.
Then go to work with the plough, and open the first furrow, and say:--
Hál wes thu, folde,
fira modor;
beo thu growende,
on Codes fæthme;
fodre gefylled,
firum to nytte.
Soil I salute thee,
mother of souls;
be thou growing
by God's grace;
filled with fodder
folks to comfort.
Then a loaf is to be kneaded and baked, and put into the first furrow,
with yet another anthem:--
Ful æcer fodres
fira cinne,
beorht-blowende
thu gebletsod weorth.
A full crop of fodder
may the folks see;
brightly blossoming,
blessed mote thou be.
Then follows a chaplet of three repetitions, twice repeated, and this
long day's orison is done.
Here we have a fair example of the artifice used by the clergy in
transforming old heathen charms into edifying ceremonies. Men are here
led to pray; to exercise themselves in some of the chief liturgical
formularies of the Catholic Church; to accept Christian versions of
their old incantations; to profess good will to their neighbours, high
and low; and to exercise some bounty towards the poor. Natural means are
not neglected; a change of seed is made a part of the ceremonial.
Such are some of the traces we can gather from the expiring relics of
heathenism. They all come from the Christian period, as was natural,
seeing that the national profession of heathenism ended before our
literature began, unless the annals mentioned at the beginning of this
chapter are exceptions. The facilities of writing must have been very
limited if the only alphabet in use was the Runic. It is, perhaps, a
little too rigid to assume that the use of the Roman alphabet is to be
dated strictly from the Conversion. As the use of Runes did not then
suddenly terminate, but gradually receded before the superior
instrument, so perhaps it is most reasonable to suppose that the
adoption of the Roman alphabet was very gradual, and that the Saxons may
have begun to use it, at least in Kent, before the reign of
Æthelberht.[56]
FOOTNOTES:
[39] T. Wright, "Celt, Roman, and Saxon," p. 389; J.R. Green, "Short
History," i., 2.
[40] "Ecclesiastical History," i., 22.
[41] It is the manner of the Saxon chronicles to attach each annal to
its year-date by an adverb of locality--"Here."
[42] "Germania," c. 2.
[43] _Id._, c. 9.
[44] _Id._, c. 45.
[45] "Germania," c. 40.
[46] "De Temporum Ratione," c. 13.
[47] "Archæologia," vol. xxxv., p. 259.
[48] Compare with this the "Spaedom of the Norns," in Dasent's "Burnt
Njal"; also Gray's "Fatal Sisters," which is another version of the same
original, one remove further off, as Gray knew the poem only through the
Latin of Torfæus.
[49] The second part of this compound repeats the idea of the first,
namely, choice: it is from the verb to choose, for in certain tenses
this verb changed _s_ to _r_, just as from the verb to _freeze_ we have
_frore_ (Milton), and from _lose_ we have a participle _lorn_. The
Anglo-Saxon form is _wælcyrige_. Grimm's "Teutonic Mythol." tr.
Stallybrass, p. 418. Kemble, "Saxons," i., 402.
[50] The same keen discoverer scents an old heathen reminiscence also
when the poet of the Heliand makes that holy thing which is not to be
cast before dogs (Matthew vii. 6) a _hêlag halsmeni_ = holy necklace.
[51] For the distinct attributes of this goddess, who was the wife of
Woden, the reader may consult Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," who quotes
Paulus Diaconus (eighth century), saying that the Langobards called
Woden's wife _Frea_, and Saxo, p. 13, saying, "Frigga Othini conjux."
[52] "Über die Werke des altenglischen Erzbischofs Wulfstan," von Arthur
Napier. Weimar, 1882, p. 33.
[53] Printed in Kemble's "Solomon and Saturn," p. 120.
[54] Printed in Thorpe's "Analecta" (1846), p. 116.
[55] This recalls the charm that within living memory was used on
Dartmoor as an evening prayer:--
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on;
Two to head and two to feet,
And four to keep me while I sleep.
[56] Some Runic alphabets may be seen in my "Philology of the English
Tongue," § 96 (ed. 3, 1879). The best collection of Runic monuments is
in the two folio volumes of Professor George Stephens.