Archaic England Part 44

If one takes into account such casualties of time as weathering, was.h.i.+ng away of subsoil, upcrop of undergrowth, subsidence, and other accidents, the preceding figures are somewhat presumptive that each of the monuments in question was originally designed to stand 11 feet high.

Frequently a circle of stones is designated The Nine Maids, or The Virgin Sisters, or The Merry Maidens. The Nine Maidens is suggestive of the Nine Muses, and of the nine notorious Druidesses, which dwelt upon the Island of Sein in Brittany. The Merry Maidens may be equated with the Fairy or Peri Maidens, and that this phairy theory holds good likewise in Spain is probable from the fact that at Pau there is a circle of nine stones called La Naou _Peyros_.[628]

"When we inquired," says Keightley, "after the fairy system in Spain, we were told that there was no such thing for that the Inquisition had long since eradicated such ideas." He adds, however, "we must express our doubt of the truth of this charge": I concur that not even the Inquisition was capable of carrying out such fundamental destruction as the obliteration of all peyros. Probably the old plural for peri or fairy was _peren_ or _feren_, in which case the great Fernacre circle in the parish of St. Breward, Cornwall, was presumably the sacred eye or hoop of some considerable neighbourhood. About 160 feet eastward of Fernacre (which is one of the largest circles in Cornwall), and in line with the summit of _Brown_ w.i.l.l.y (the highest hill in Cornwall) is a small erect stone. The neighbouring Row Tor (_Roi_ Tor or _Rey_ Tor?) rises due north of Fernacre circle, and as the editors of _Cornwall_ point out: "If as might appear probable this very exact alignment north and south, east and west, was intentional, and part of a plan where Fernacre was the pivot of the whole, it is a curious feature that the three circles mentioned should have been so effectively hidden from each other by intervening hills".[629]

The major portion of this district is the property of an Onslow family; there is an Onslow Gardens near Alvastone Place in Kensington, and there is a probability that every Alvastone, Elphinstone, or _On_slow neighbourhood was believed to be inhabited by _Elven_ or _Anges_: it is indeed due to this superst.i.tion that the relatively few megalithic monuments which still exist have escaped d.a.m.nation, the destruction where it has actually occurred having been sometimes due to a deliberate and bigoted determination, "to brave ridiculous legends and superst.i.tions".[630] Naturally the prevalent and protective superst.i.tions were fostered and encouraged by prehistoric thinkers for the reasons doubtless quite rightly surmised by an eighteenth century archaeologist who wrote: "But the truth of the story is, it was a burying place of the Britons before the calling in of the heathen s.e.xton (_sic_ query _Saxon_) into this Kingdom. And this fable invented by the Britons was to prevent the ripping up of the bones of their ancestors." The demise of similar fables under the corrosive influence of modern kultur, has involved the destruction of countless other stone-monuments, so that even of Cornwall, their natural home, Mr. T. Quiller Couch was constrained to write: "Within my remembrance the cromlech, the holy well, the way-side cross and inscribed stone, have gone before the utilitarian greed of the farmer and the road man, and the undeserved neglect of that hateful being, the _cui bono_ man".

Parish Councils of to-day do not fear to commit vandalisms which private individuals in the past shrank from perpetrating.[631] A Welsh "Stonehenge" at Eithbed, Pembrokes.h.i.+re, shown on large-scale Ordinance maps issued last century, has disappeared from the latest maps of the district, and a few years ago an archaeologist who visited the site reported that the age-worn stones had been broken up to build ugly houses close by--"veritable monuments of shame".

In the Isle of _Pur_beck near _Bourne_mouth, _Brank_sea, _Bronks_ea (Bronk's _ea_ or island) _Branks_ome and numerous other _Bron_ place-names which imply that the district was once haunted by Oberon, is a barrow called Puckstone, and on the top of this barrow, now thrown down, is a megalith said to measure 10 feet 8 inches. In all probability this was once 11 feet long, and was the Puckstone or Elphinstone of that neighbourhood: near Anglesea at Llandudno is a famous longstone which again is _eleven_ feet high.

In Glamorgans.h.i.+re there is a village known as Angel Town, and in Pembroke is Angle or Nangle: Ad.a.m.nan, in his _Life of Columba_, records that the saint opened his books and "read them on the Hill of the Angels, where once on a time the citizens of the Heavenly Country were seen to descend to hold conversation with the blessed man". Upon this his editor comments: "this is the knoll called 'great fairies hill'. Not far away is the 'little fairies hill'. The fairies hills of pagan mythology became angels hills in the minds of the early Christian saints."[632] One may be permitted to question whether this metamorphosis really occurred, and whether the idea of Anges or Angles is not actually older than even the Onslows or _ange_ lows. The Irish trinity of St. Patrick, St. Bride, and St. Columba, are said all to lie buried in one spot at Dunence, and the place-name _Dunence_ seemingly implies that that site was an _on's low_, or _dun ange_. The term _angel_ is now understood to mean radically a messenger, but the primary sense must have been deeper than this: in English _ingle_--as in inglenook--meant _fire_, and according to Skeat it also meant a darling or a paramour. Obviously _ingle_ is here the same word as _angel_, and presumably the more primitive Englishman tactfully addressed his consort as "mine ingle". The Gaelic and the Irish for fire is _aingeal_; we have seen that the burnebee or ladybird was connected with fire, and that similarly St. Barneby's Day was a.s.sociated with Barnebee _Bright_: hence the festival held at _Engle_wood, or _Ingle_wood (c.u.mberland) yearly on the day of St. Barnabas would appear to have been a primitive fire or _aingeal_ ceremony. It is described as follows: "At Hesket in c.u.mberland yearly on St. Barnabas Day by the highway side under a Thorn tree according to the very ancient manner of holding a.s.semblies in the open air, is kept the Court for the whole Forest of Englewood, the 'Englyssh wood' of the ballad of Adam Bel".[633]

Stonehenge used to be ent.i.tled Stonehengels, which may be modernised into the _Stone Angels_,[634] each stone presumably standing as a representative of one or other of the angelic hierarchy. When the Saxons met the British in friendly conference at Stonehenge--apparently even then the national centre--each Saxon chieftain treacherously carried a knife which at a given signal he plunged into the body of his unarmed, unsuspecting neighbour; subsequently, it is said, hanging the corpses of the British royalties on the cross rocks of Stonehenge: hence ever after this exhibition of Teutonic _realpolitik_ Stonehenge has been a.s.sumed to mean the Hanging Stones, or Gallow Stones.[635] We find, however, that Stonehenge was known as Sta_hengues_ or Est_anges_, a plural form which may be connoted with Hengesdun or Hengston Hill in Cornwall: Stonehenge also appears under the form Senhange, which may have meant either _Old Ange_ or _San Ange_, and as the priests of ancient cults almost invariably a.s.sumed the character and t.i.tles of their divinity it is probable that the Druids were once known as _Anges_. In Irish the word _aonge_ is said to have meant _magician_ or _sorcerer_, which is precisely the character a.s.signed by popular opinion to the Druids. In _Rode hengenne_, another t.i.tle of Stonehenge,[636] we have apparently the older plural hen_gen_ with the adjectival _rood_ or _ruddy_, whence Stonehenge would seem to have been a shrine of the Red Rood Anges.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 336.--Stonehenge. From _The Celtic Druids_ (Higgens, G.).]

As this monument was without doubt a national centre it is probable that as I have elsewhere suggested Stonehenge meant also the _Stone Hinge_: the word _cardinal_ means radically hinge; the original Roman cardinals whose round red hats probably typified the ruddy sun, were the priests of Ja.n.u.s, who was ent.i.tled the Hinge, and there is no reason to suppose that the same idea was not equally current in England.

That the people of CARDIA a.s.sociated their _angel_ or _ange_ with _cardo_, a _hinge_ or _angle_ is manifest from the coin ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 336.

According to Prof. Weekley, "_Ing_, the name of a demi-G.o.d, seems to have been early confused with the Christian _angel_ in the prefix _Engel_ common in German names, _e.g._, Engelhardt anglicised as _Engleheart_. In Anglo-Saxon we find both _Ing_ and _Ingel_. The modern name Ingoll represents Ingweald (Ingold) and _Inglett_ is a diminutive of similar origin. The cheerful _Inglebright_ is from Inglebeort. The simple _Ing_ has given through Norse Ingwar the Scottish _Ivor_."[637]

But is it not possible that Ivor never came through Ingwar, but was radically a synonym--_fairy_ = _Ing_, or _fire_ = _ingle_? Inga is a Scandinavian maiden-name, and if the Inge family--of gloomy repute--are unable to trace any cheerier origin it may be suggested that they came from the Isle of Man where the folk claim to be the descendants of fairies or anges: "The Manks confidently a.s.sert that the first inhabitants of their island were fairies, and that these little people have still their residence amongst them. They call them the 'Good people,' and say they live in wilds and forests, and mountains, and shun great cities because of the wickedness acted therein."[638]

As there is no known etymology for _inch_ and _ounce_ it is not improbable that these diminutive measures were connected with the popular idea of the _ange's_ size and weight: Queen Mab, according to Shakespeare, was "no bigger than an agate stone on the forefinger of an alderman," and she weighed certainly not more than an ounce. The origin of Queen Mab is supposedly Habundia, or La Dame Abonde, discussed in a preceding chapter, and there connoted with Eubonia, Hobany, and Hob: in Welsh Mab means _baby boy_, and the priests of this little king were known as the Mabinogi, whence the _Mabinogion_, or books of the Mabinogi.

Whether there is any reason to connect the three places in Ireland ent.i.tled Inchequin with the _Ange Queen_, or the Inchlaw (a hill in Fifes.h.i.+re) with the Inch Queen Mab I have had no opportunity of inquiring.

The surnames Inch, Ince, and Ennis, are all usually connoted with _enys_ or _ins_, the Celtic and evidently more primitive form of _in_sula, an island, _ea_ or _Eye_.

The Inge family may possibly have come from the Channel Islands or _insulae_, where as we have seen the Ange Queen, presumably the Lady of the Isles or _inces_, was represented on the coinage, and the Lord of the Channel Isles seems to have been Pixtil or _Pixy tall_. That this _Pixy tall_ was alternatively _ange tall_ is possibly implied by the name Anchetil, borne by the Vicomte du Bessin who owned one of the two fiefs into which Guernsey was anciently divided. It will be remembered that in the ceremony of the Chevauchee de St. Michel, _eleven_ Vava.s.seurs functioned in the festival; further, that the lance-bearer carried a wand 11-1/4 feet long. The Welsh form of the name _Michael_ is _Mihangel_, and as Michael was the Leader of all angels, the _mi_ of this British mihangel may be equated with the Irish _mo_ which, as previously noted, meant _greatest_.

As Albion or _albi en_, is the equivalent to Elphin or _elven_, it is obvious that England--or _Inghil_terra, as some nations term it--is a synonym for Albion, in both cases the meaning being Land of the Elves or Angels. For some reason--possibly the Masonic idea of the right angle, rect.i.tude, and square dealing--_angle_ was connected with _angel_, and in the coin here ill.u.s.trated the angel has her head fixed in a photographic pose by an angle. In Germany and Scandinavia, Engelland means the mystic land of unborn souls, and that the Angles who inhabited the banks of the _Elbe_ (Latin _Alva_) believed not only in the existence of this spiritual Engelland, but also in the living existence of Alps, Elves, Anges, or Angels is a well-recognised fact.

The Scandinavians traced their origin to a primal pair named Lif and Lifthraser: according to Rydberg it was the creed of the Teuton that on arriving with a good record at "the green worlds of the G.o.ds"; "Here he finds not only those with whom he became personally acquainted while on earth, but he may also visit and converse with ancestors from the beginning of time, and he may hear the history of his race, nay, the history of all past generations told by persons who were eye-witnesses".[639] The fate of the evil-living Teuton was believed to be far different, nevertheless, in sharp distinction to the Christian doctrine that all unbaptised children are lost souls, and that infants scarce a span in size might be seen crawling on the fiery floor of h.e.l.l, even the "dull and creeping Saxon" held that every one who died in tender years was received into the care of a Being friendly to the young, who introduced them into the happy groves of immortality.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 336.--Greek. From Barthelemy.]

The suggestion that the land of the Angels derived its t.i.tle from the angelic superst.i.tions of the inhabitants, may be connoted with seemingly a parallel case in Sweden, _i.e._, the province of Elfland. According to Walter Scott this district "had probably its name from some remnant of ancient superst.i.tion":[640] during the witch-finding mania of the sixteenth century at one village alone in Elfland, upwards of 300 children "were found more or less perfect in a tale as full of impossible absurdities as ever was told round a nursery fire". Fifteen of these hapless little visionaries were led to death, and thirty-six were lashed weekly at the church doors for a whole year: an unprofitable "conspiracy" for the poor little "plotters"!

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 337.--From _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_ (Wright, T.).]

There figures in Teutonic mythology not only Lif the first parent, but also a divinity named Alf who is described as young, but of a fine exterior, and of such remarkably white splendour that rays of light seemed to issue from his silvery locks. Whether the Anglo-Saxons, like the Germans, attributed any significance to _eleven_ I do not know: if they did not the grave here ill.u.s.trated which was found in the white chalk of Adisham, Kent, must be a.s.signed to some other race. It is described by its excavator as follows: "The grave which was cut very neatly out of the rock chalk was full 5 feet deep; it was of the exact shape of a cross whose legs pointed very minutely to the four cardinal points of the compa.s.s; and _it was every way eleven feet long_ and about 4 feet broad. At each extremity was a little cover or arched hole each about 12 inches broad, and about 14 inches high, all very neatly cut like so many little fireplaces for about a foot beyond the grave into the chalk."[641] It would seem possible that these crescentic corner holes were actually ingle nooks, and one may surmise a primitive lying-in-state with corner fires in lieu of candles. As the Saxons of the fifth and sixth centuries were notoriously in need of conversion to the Cross it is difficult to a.s.sign this crucial sepulchre to any of their tribes.

Whether Albion was ever known as Inghilterra or Ingland before the advent of the Angles from the Elbe need not be here discussed, but, at any rate, it seems highly unlikely that Anglesea, the sanctuary or Holyhead of British Druidism, derived its name from Teutonic invaders who can hardly have penetrated into that remote corner for long after their first friendly arrival. At the end of the second century Tertullian made the surprising and very puzzling statement: "Places in Britain hitherto unvisited by the Romans were subjected to Christianity":[642] that the cross was not introduced by the Romans is obvious from the apparition of this emblem on our coinage one to two hundred years before the Roman invasion; the famous megalithic monument at Lewis in the Hebrides is cruciform, and the equally famed pyramid at New Grange is tunnelled in the form of a cross.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 338.--_Plan an Guare_, St. Just. From _Cornwall_ (Borlase).]

According to Pownal, New Grange was constructed by the Magi "or _Gaurs_ as they were sometimes called":[643] Stonehenge or Stonehengels is referred to by the British Bards as Choir _Gawr_, a term which is of questioned origin: the largest stone circle in Ireland is that by Lough _Gur_; the amphitheatre at St. Just is known as Plan an Guare or _Plain of Guare_, and the place-name _Gor_hambury or Verulam, where are the remains of a very perfect amphitheatre, suggests that this circle, as also that at Lough Gur, and Choir Gawr, was, like Bangor, a home, seat, or Gorsedd of the Gaurs or Aonges. Doubtless the _gaurs_ of Britain like the _guru_ or holy men of India, and the _augurs_ of Rome, indulged in augury: in Hebrew _gor_ means a congregation, and that the ancients congregated in and around stone circles choiring, and gyrating in a _gyre_ or wheel, is evident from the statement of Diodorus Siculus, which is now very generally accepted as referring to Stonehenge or Choir Gawr. "The inhabitants [of Hyperborea] are great wors.h.i.+ppers of Apollo to whom they sing many many hymns. To this G.o.d they have consecrated a large territory in the midst of which they have a magnificent round temple replenished with the richest offerings. Their very city is dedicated to him, and is full of musicians and players on various instruments who every day celebrate his benefits and perfections."

Among the superst.i.tions of the British was the idyll that the music of the Druids' harps wafted the soul of the deceased into heaven: these harps were constructed with the same mysterious regard to the number three as characterised the whole of the magic or Druidic philosophy: the British harp was triangular, its strings were three, and its tuning keys were three-armed: it was thus essentially a harp of Tara. That the British were most admirable songsters and musicians is vouched for in numerous directions, and that Stonehenge was the Hinge of the national religion is evident from the fact that it is mentioned in a Welsh Triad as one of the "Three Great _Cors_ of Britain in which there were 2400 saints, that is, there were 100 for every hour of the day and night, in rotation perpetuating the praise of G.o.d without intermission".[644] That similar _choirs_ existed among the _gaurs_ of ancient Ireland would appear from an incident recorded in the life of St. Columba: the popularity of this saint was, we are told, so great, even among the pagan Magi, that 1200 poets who were in Convention brought with them a poem in his praise: they sang this panegyric with music and chorus, "and a surpa.s.sing music it was"; indeed, so impressive was the effect that the saint felt a sudden emotion of complacency and gave way to temporary vanity.

The circle of St. Just was not only known as _Plan an guare_, but also as _Guirimir_, which has been a.s.sumed to be a contraction of _Guiri mirkl_, signifying in Cornish a _mirkl_ or _miracle_ play.[645]

Doubtless not only Miracle Plays, but sports and interludes of every description were centred in the circles: that the Druids were competent and attractive entertainers is probable in view of the fact that the Arch Druid of Tara is shown as a leaping juggler with golden ear-clasps, and a speckled coat: he tosses swords and b.a.l.l.s into the air "and like the buzzing of bees on a beautiful day is the motion of each pa.s.sing the other".[646]

The circles were similarly the sites of athletic sports, duels, and other "martial challenges": the prize fight of yesterday was fought in a ring, and the ring still retains its popular hold. The Celts customarily banquetted in a circle with the most valiant chieftain occupying the post of honour in the centre.

We know from Caesar that the Gauls who were "extremely devoted to superst.i.tious rites," sent their young men to Britain for instruction in Druidic philosophy: we also know that it was customary when a war was declared to vow all captured treasures to the G.o.ds: "In many states you may see piles of these things heaped up in their consecrated spots, nor does it often happen that anyone disregarding the sanct.i.ty of the case dares either to secrete in his house things captured or take away those deposited: and the most severe punishment with torture has been established for such a deed".[647] As British customs "did not differ much" from those of Gaul it is thus almost a certainty that Stonehenge was for long periods a vast national treasure-house and Valhalla.

Notwithstanding the abundance of barrows, earthworks, and other evidences of prehistoric population it is probable that Salisbury Plain was always a green spot, and we are safe in a.s.suming that Choir Gawr was the seat of Gorsedds. By immemorial law and custom the Gorsedd had always to be held on a green spot, in a conspicuous place in full view and hearing of country and aristocracy, in the face of the sun, the Eye of Light, and under the expansive freedom of the sky that all might see and hear. As _sedum_ is the Latin for _seat_, and there seems to be some uncertainty as to what the term Gorsedd really meant, I may be permitted to throw out the suggestion that it was a Session, Seat, or Sitting of the Gaurs or Augurs: by Matthew Arnold the British Gorsedd is described as the "oldest educational inst.i.tution in Europe," and moreover as an inst.i.tution not known out of Britain.

Slightly over a mile from Stonehenge or Choir Gawr is the nearest village now known as Amesbury, originally written Ambrosbury or Ambresbury: here was the meeting-place of Synods even in historic times, and here was a monastery which is believed to have taken its name from Ambrosius Aurelius, a British chief. It is more probable that the monastery and the town were alike dedicated to the "Saint" Ambrose, particulars of whose life may be found in De Voragine's _Golden Legend_.

According to this authority the name Ambrose may be said "of _ambor_ in Greek which is to say as father of light, and _soir_ that is a little child, that is a father of many sons by spiritual generations, clear and full of light". Or, says De Voragine, "Ambrose is said of a stone named _ambra_ which is much sweet, oderant, and precious, and also it is much precious in the church". That amber was likewise precious in the eyes of the heathen is obvious from its frequent presence in prehistoric tombs, and from the vast estimation in which it was held by the Druids. Not only was the golden amber esteemed as an emblem of the golden sun, but its magical magnetic properties caused it to be valued by the ancients as even more precious than gold. There was also a poetic notion connecting amber and Apollo, thus expressed by a Greek poet:--

The Celtic sages a tradition hold That every drop of amber was a tear Shed by Apollo when he fled from heaven For sorely did he weep and sorrowing pa.s.sed Through many a doleful region till he reached The sacred Hyperboreans.[648]

It will be remembered that Salisbury Plain was sometimes known as Ellendown, with which name may be connoted the statement of Pausanias that Olen the Hyperborean was the first prophet of Delphi.[649]

On turning to _The Golden Legend_ we seem to get a memory of the Tears of Apollo in the statement that St. Ambrose was of such great compa.s.sion "that when any confessed to him his sin he wept so bitterly that he would make the sinner to weep". The sympathies of St. Ambrose, and his astonis.h.i.+ng tendency to dissolve into tears, are again emphasised by the statement that he wept sore even when he heard of the demise of any bishop, "and when it was demanded of him why he wept for the death of good men for he ought better to make joy, because they went to Heaven,"

Ambrose made answer that he shed tears because it was so difficult to find any man to do well in such offices. The legend continues, "He was of so great stedfastness and so established in his purpose that he would not leave for dread nor for grief that might be done to him". In connection with this proverbial _constancy_ it may be noted that at the village of _Constantine_ there is a Longstone--the largest in Cornwall--measuring 20 feet high and known as Maen Amber, or the Amber Stone: this was apparently known also as Men _Perhen_, and was broken up into gateposts in 1764. In the same parish is a shaped stone which Borlase describes as "like the Greek letter omega, somewhat resembling a cap": from the ill.u.s.tration furnished by Borlase it is evident that this monument is a _k.n.o.b_ very carefully modelled and the measurements recorded, 30 feet in girth, _eleven_ feet high,[650] imply that it was imminently an Elphinstone, Perhenstone, or Bryanstone. With this constantly recurrent combination of 30 and 11 feet, may here be connoted the measurements of the walls of Richborough or Rutupiae: according to the locally-published _Short Account_ "the north wall is the most perfect of the three that remain, 10 feet 8 inches in thickness and nearly 30 feet in height; the winding courses of tiles to the outer facing are in nearly their original state".[651] The winding courses here mentioned consists of five rows of a red brick, and if one allows for inevitable _detritus_ the original measurements of the quadrangle walls may reasonably be a.s.sumed as having been 30 11 feet: the solid ma.s.s of masonry upon which Rutupiae's cross is superimposed reaches "downward about 30 feet from the surface". Four or five hundred yards from the castle and upon the very summit of the hill are the remains of an amphitheatre in the form of an egg measuring 200 160 feet. To this, the first _walled_ amphitheatre discovered in the country, there were three entrances upon inclined planes, North, South, and West.

The first miracle recorded of St. Ambrose is to the effect that when an infant lying in the cradle a swarm of bees descended on his mouth; then they departed and flew up in the air so high that they might not be seen. Greek mythology relates that the infant Zeus was fed by bees in his cradle upon Mount Ida, and a variant of the same fairy-tale represents Zeus as feeding daily in Ambrosia--

The blessed G.o.ds those rooks Erratic call.

Birds cannot pa.s.s them safe, no, not the doves Which his ambrosia bear to Father Jove.[652]

Ambrosia, the fabled food of the G.o.ds, appears to have been honey: it is said that the Amber stones were anointed with Ambrosia, hence it is significant to find in immediate proximity to each other the place-names Honeycrock and Amberstone in Suss.e.x. The Russians have an extraordinary idea that Ambrosia emanated from horses' heads,[653] and as there is a "Horse Eye Level" closely adjacent to the Suss.e.x Honeycrock and Amberstone we may a.s.sume that the neighbouring Hailsham, supposed to mean "Home of Aela or Eile," was originally an Ellie or Elphin Home. Layamon refers to Stonehenge, "a plain that was pleasant besides Ambresbury," as Aelenge, which probably meant Ellie or Elphin meadow, for _ing_ or _inge_ was a synonym for meadow. The correct a.s.sumption may possibly be that all flowery meads were the recognised haunts of the anges or ingles: the fairy rings are usually found in meadows, and the poets feigned Proserpine in a meadow gathering flowers ere she was ravished below by Pluto: as late as 1788 an English poet expressed the current belief, "'Tis said the fairy people meet beneath the bracken shade on _mead_ and hill".

Across the Suss.e.x mead known as Horse Eye Level runs a "Snapsons Drove": Snap is a curious parental name and is here perhaps connected with Snave, a Kentish village, presumably a.s.sociated with _San Aphe_ or _San Ap_.[654] Not only was the hipha or hobby horse decorated with a knop or k.n.o.b, but a radical feature of its performance seems to have been movable jaws with which by means of a string the actor snapped at all and sundry: were these snappers, I wonder, the origin of the Snapes and Snapsons? In view of the fact that the surname Leaper is authoritatively connoted with an entry in a fifteenth century account-book: "To one that _leped_ at Chestre 6s. 8d.," the suggestion may possibly be worth consideration.

In Suss.e.x there are two Ambershams and an Amberley: in Hants is Amberwood. St. Ambrose is recorded to have been born in Rome, whence it is probable that he was the ancient divinity of _Umbria_: in Derbys.h.i.+re there is a river Amber, and in Yorks.h.i.+re a Humber, which the authorities regard as probably an aspirated form of _c.u.mber_, "confluence". The magnetic properties of _amber_, which certainly cause a _humber_ or confluence, may have originated this meaning; in any case _c.u.mber_ and _umber_ are radically the same word. Probably Humberstones and Amberstones will be found on further inquiry to be as plentiful as Prestons or Peri stones: there is a Humberstone in Lincolns.h.i.+re, another at Leicester, near Bicester is Ambrosden, and at Epping Forest is Ambresbury. This Epping Ambresbury, known alternatively as Ambers'

Banks, is admittedly a British _oppidum_: the remains cover 12 acres of ground and are situated on the highest plateau in the forest. As there is an Ambergate near _Bux_ton it is noteworthy that Ambers' Banks in Epping are adjacent to Beak Hill, Buckhurst Hill, and High Beech Green.

I have already connoted Puck or Bogie with the beech tree, and it is probable that Fairmead Plain by High Beech Green was the Fairy mead where once the pixies gathered: close by is Bury Wood, and there is no doubt the neighbourhood of Epping and Upton was always very British.

In old English _amber_ or _omber_ meant a pitcher--query a honey-crock[655]--whence the authorities translate the various Amberleys as _meadow of the pitcher_, and Ambergate, near Buxton, as "probably pitcher road". The Amber Hill near Boston, we are told, "will be from Old English _amber_ from its shape," but as it is extremely unusual to find hills in the form of a pitcher this etymology seems questionable. At the Wilts.h.i.+re Ambresbury there is a Mount Ambrosius at the foot of which, according to local tradition, used to exist a college of Druidesses,[656] in which connection it is noteworthy that just as Silbury Hill is distant about a mile from the Avebury Circle, so Mount Ambrosius is equally distant from Choir Gawr.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 339.--A Persian King, adorned with a Pyramidal Flamboyant Nimbus. Persian Ma.n.u.script, Bibliotheque Royale. From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

To Amber may be a.s.signed the words _umpire_ and _empire_; Oberon, the lovely child, is haply described as the _Emperor_ of Fairyland, whence also no doubt he was the lord and master of the _Empyrean_. When dealing elsewhere with the word _amber_ I suggested that it meant radically _Sun Father_,[657] and there are episodes in the life of St. Ambrose which support this interpretation, _e.g._, "it happened that an enchanter called devils to him and sent them to St. Ambrose for to annoy and grieve him, but the devils returned and said that they might not approach to his gate because there was a great fire all about his house". Among the Persians it was customary to halo their divinities, not with a circle but with a pyre or pyramid of fire, and in all probability to the _auburn_ Auberon the Emperor of the Empyrean may be a.s.signed not only _burn_ and _brand_, but also _bran_ in the sense of bran new. That St. Ambrose was Barnaby Bright or the White G.o.d of day is implied by the anecdote "a fire in the manner of a s.h.i.+eld covered his head, and entered into his mouth: then became his face as white as any snow, and anon it came again to his first form".[658] The basis of this story would seem to have been a picture representing Ambrose with fire not entering into, but _emerging from_, his mouth and forming a surrounding halo "in the manner of a s.h.i.+eld". _Embers_ now mean ashes, and the Ember Days of Christianity probably trace backward to the immemorial times of prehistoric fire-wors.h.i.+p. At Parton, near Salisbury, one meets with the curious surname G.o.dber: and doubtless inquiry would establish a connection between this G.o.dber of Parton and G.o.dfrey.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 340.--The Divine Triplicity, Contained within the Unity. From a German Engraving of the XVI. Cent. From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

The weekly fair at Ambresbury used to be held on _Fri_day; the maid Freya, to whom Friday owes its name, was evidently _Fire Eye_; the Latin _feriae_ were the hey-days or holidays dedicated to some fairy. Fairs were held customarily on the festival of the local saint, frequently even to-day within ancient earthworks: the most famous Midsummer Fair used to be that held at _Barnwell_: Feronia, the ancient Italian divinity at whose festival a great fair was held, and the first-fruits of the field offered, is, as has been shown, equivalent to Beronia or Oberon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 341.--G.o.d, Beardless, either the Son or the Father. French Miniature of the XI. Cent. From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 342.--British. From Evans.]

According to Borlase there is in Anglesea "a horse-shoe 22 paces in diameter called Brangwyn or Supreme court; it lies in a place called Tre'r Drew or Druids' Town".[659] Stonehenge consists of a circle enclosing a horse-shoe or hoof--the footprint and sign of Hipha the White Mare, or Ephialtes the Night Mare, and a variant of this idea is expressed in the circle enclosing a triangle as exhibited in the Christian emblem on p. 571. That Christianity did not always conceive the All Father as the Ancient of Days is evident from Fig. 341, where the central Power is depicted within the _writhings_ of what is seemingly an acanthus _wreath_: the CUn.o.b fairy on the British coin ill.u.s.trated _ante_, page 528, is extending what is either a ball of fire or else a wreath. The word _wraith_, meaning apparition, is connoted by Skeat with an Icelandic term meaning "a pile of stones to warn a wayfarer," hence this _heap_ may be connoted with _rath_ the Irish, and _rhaith_ the Welsh, for a fairy dun or hill. Skeat further connotes _wraith_ with the Norwegian word _vardyvle_, meaning "a guardian or attendant spirit seen to follow or precede one," and he suggests that _vardyvle_ meant _ward evil_. Certainly the _wraiths_ who haunted the raths were supposed to ward off evil, and the giant Wreath,[660] who was popularly a.s.sociated with Port_reath_ near _Redruth_, was in all probability the same _wraith_ that originated the place-name Cape Wrath. In Welsh a speech is called _ar raith_ or on the mound, hence we may link _rhe_toric to this idea, and a.s.sume that the raths were the seats of public eloquence as we know they were.