Archaic England Part 53

[727] Huyshe, W., _Life of Columba_, p. 129.

[728] _De Bello Gallico_, p. 121.

[729] See Appendix B, p. 873.

[730] _Cf._ Courtney, Miss M. E., _Cornish Feasts and Folklore_, p.

105.

[731] Wilson, J., _Imperial Gazetteer_, i., 1042.

[732] Rydberg, V., _Teutonic Mythology_, p. 361.

[733] Windle, Sir B. C. A., _Life in Early Britain_, p. 63.

[734] The _cul_ of _culver_ or _culfre_ and _columba_ was probably the Irish _Kil_: hence the _umba_ of _columba_ may be connoted with _imp_.

[735] Rig-Veda (mandala X, 90).

[736] _Golden Legend_, v., 235.

[737] _Golden Legend_, v., 236.

[738] Mykenae, p. 267.

[739] Stoughton, Dr. J., _Golden Legends of the Olden Time_, p. 9.

[740] Wilson and Warren, _The Recovery of Jerusalem_, i., 166.

[741] Noah, Shem, Ham, j.a.phet, and their respective wives.

[742] Gogmagog is also found at Uriconium, now Wroxeter, in Shrops.h.i.+re. Since suggesting a connection between Gog and Coggeshall in Ess.e.x, I find that Coggeshall was traditionally a.s.sociated with a giant whose remains were said to have been found. _Cf._ Hardwick, C., _Traditions, Superst.i.tions and Folklore_, p. 205.

[743] Thornbury, W., _Old and New London_, i., 386.

[744] _Sepulchres of Ancient Etruria_, p. 16.

[745] The civic giant of Salisbury is named Christopher.

[746] _Archaeologia_, from _The Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. i., p.

124.

[747] _Brittany_, p. 232.

[748] Aynsley, Mrs. Murray, _Symbolism of the East and West_, p.

87.

[749] I have elsewhere reproduced examples of the double axe crossed into the form of an ex (X). Sir Walter Scott observes that in North Britain "it was no unusual thing to see females, from respect to their supposed views into futurity, and the degree of divine inspiration which was vouchsafed to them, arise to the degree of HAXA, or chief priestess, from which comes the word _Hexe_, now universally used for a witch". He adds: "It may be worth while to notice that the word Haxa is still used in Scotland in its sense of a druidess, or chief priestess, to distinguish the places where such females exercised their ritual. There is a species of small intrenchment on the western descent of the Eildon hills, which Mr. Milne, in his account of the parish of Melrose, drawn up about eighty years ago, says, was denominated _Bourjo_, a word of unknown derivation, by which the place is still known. Here a universal and subsisting tradition bore that human sacrifices were of yore offered, while the people a.s.sisting could behold the ceremony from the elevation of the glacis which slopes inward. With this place of sacrifice communicated a path, still discernible, called the _Haxellgate_, leading to a small glen or narrow valley called the _Haxellcleuch_--both which words are probably derived from the Haxa or chief priestess of the pagans"

(_Letters on Demonology_). It may be suggested that the mysterious _bourjo_ was an _abri_ of pere Jo or Jupiter. The Scotch _jo_ as in "John Anderson my Jo," now signifying _sweetheart_, presumably meant joy.

[750] _Cf._ McKenzie, Donald A., _Myths of Babylonia_, p. 18.

[751] Mary Ambree Who marched so free, To the siege of Gaunt, And death could not daunt As the ballad doth vaunt.

[752] In Kirtlington Park (Oxon) was a Johnny Gaunt's pond in which his spirit was supposed to dwell. A large ash tree was also there known as Johnny Gaunt's tree.

[753] Herbert, A., _Cyclops_, p. 202.

[754] _Life of Columba_, p. 40.

[755] _Cf._ Mackenzie, D. A., _Myths of Babylonia_, p. 86.

[756] There is a London church ent.i.tled "St. Nicholas Olave".

[757] _Cf._ Morien, _Light of Britannia_, p. 67.

[758] Skeat connotes _naughty_ with "_na_ not, _wiht_ a whit, see no and whit": it would thus seem to have been equivalent to _no white_, which is black or nocturnal.

[759] Hardwick, C., _Traditions, Superst.i.tions, and Folklore_, p.

254.

[760] The _seven_ hours in skirmish are suggestive of the Fair maid with gold upon her toe:--

The _seven_ bright gold wires And the bugles they do s.h.i.+ne,

_ante_, p. 650.

[761] Presumably Billingham River in Durham was a home of the Billings: there is a Billingley in Darfield parish, Yorks.h.i.+re, a Billingsley in Bridgenorth, Salop: Billingbear in Berks is the seat of Lord Braybrook: Billingford _or Pirleston_ belonged to a family named Burley: at Billington in Bradley parish, Staffs, is a commanding British camp known as Billington Bury. Billinge Hill, near Wigan, has a beacon on the top and commands a view of Ingleborough.

[762] _Teutonic Mythology_.

[763] _A New Description of England_, 1724, p. 61.

[764] An _ouche_ is a _bugle_: "the bugles they do s.h.i.+ne".

[765] Quoted from _Ad.a.m.nan's Life of Columba_ (Huyshe, W.).

CHAPTER XII.

PETER'S ORCHARDS.

"But all the beauty of the pleasaunce drew its being from the song of the bird; for from his chant flowed love which gives its shadow to the tree, its healing to the simple, and its colour to the flower. Without that song the fountain would have ceased to spring, and the green garden become a little dry dust, for in its sweetness lay all their virtue."--_Provencal Fairy Tale_.

Among the relics preserved at the monastery of St. Nicholas of Bari is a club with which the saint, who is said to have become a friar at the age of _eleven_, was beaten by the devil: a club was the customary symbol of Hercules; the Celtic Hercules was, as has been seen, depicted as a baldhead leading a rout of laughter-loving followers by golden chains fastened to their ears, and as it was the habit of St.

Nicholas-of-the-Club to wander abroad singing after the ancient fas.h.i.+on, one may be sure that Father Christmas is the lineal descendant of the British Ogmios or Mighty Muse, _alias_ the Wandering Jew or Joy. That Bride "the gentle" was at times similarly equipped is obvious from a ceremony which in Scotland and the North of England used to prevail at Candlemas: "the mistress and servants of each family take a sheaf of oats and dress it up in woman's apparel, put it in a large basket and lay a wooden club by it, and this they call "Briid's Bed," and then the mistress and servants cry three times: "Briid is come, Briid is welcome"! This they do just before going to bed": another version of this custom records the cry as--"Bridget, Bridget, come is; thy bed is ready".