Chapter 15

Fig.191.—FromThe Cross: Heathen and Christian(Brock, M.).

It will be remarked that Barbarie is represented by apair, which is suggestive of the Dioscuri or Heavenly Twins, and on referring to the life of St. Barbara we find her recorded as the daughter of Dioscorus, and as having been born at Heliopolis, or the city of the sun. The Dioscuri—those far-famed heroes Castor and Pollux—were said to have been born out of an egg laid by Leda the Swan: elsewhere the Dioscuri were known as the Cabiri, a term which is radicallyabiri. It is probable that St. Barbara was once represented with the emblems of the two Dioscuri or Cabiri, for one of her “tortures” is said to have been that she should be hanged between two forked trees. These two trees were doubtless two sprigs such as shown in Fig. 191 or two flowering pillars between which theVirgin was extended Andrew-wise in benediction. The next torture recorded of St. Barbara was the scorching of her sides with burning lamps, from which we may deduce that the Virgin was once depicted with two great lights on either side. Next, St. Barbara’s oppressors made her strongly to be beaten, “and hurted her head with a mallet”: the Slav deity Peroon was always depicted with a mallet, and the hammer or axe was practically a universal symbol ofPower. As already noted, Peroon, the God with a mallet, has been equated by some scholars with Varuna of India; in Etruria the God of Death was generally represented with a great hammer, and the mallet with which St. Barbara was “hurted” may be further equated with the celebrated Hammer of Thor.

The gigantic hammer cut into the hillside at Tours, and associated in popular estimation with Charles Martel, in view of the name Tours is far more likely to have been the hammer of Thor, who, as we have seen, was assigned to Troy.

We are told that St. Barbara’s father imprisoned his daughter within a high and strongtour,tor, ortower, that no man should see her because of her great beauty: this incident is common alike to fairy-tale—notably at Tory Island—and hagiology, and one meets persistently with the peerless princess imprisoned in a peel, broch, or tower. In Fig. 192 is represented a so-called Trinity of Evil, but in all probability this is a faithful reproduction of the Iberian Aber or Aubrey,i.e., the trindod seated upon his symbolictor,tower, orbroch. The strokes at the toes, like the more accentuated lines from the fingers of Fig. 193, denoted the streaming light, and when we read that one of the exquisite tortures inflicted upon St. George was thethrusting of poisoned thorns into his finger-nails it is a reasonable conclusion that St. George was likewise represented with rayed fingers. The feast of St. Ibar in Hibernia is held upon 23rd April orAperil, which is also St. George’s Day.

Fig.192.—The Trinity of Evil. From a French Miniature of the XIII. Cent.Fig.193.—God the Father Wearing a Lozenge-Shaped Nimbus. Miniature of the XIV. Cent. Italian Manuscript in the Bibliotheque Royale.FromChristian Iconography(Didron).

Fig.192.—The Trinity of Evil. From a French Miniature of the XIII. Cent.

Fig.193.—God the Father Wearing a Lozenge-Shaped Nimbus. Miniature of the XIV. Cent. Italian Manuscript in the Bibliotheque Royale.

FromChristian Iconography(Didron).

St. Barbara, we are told, was marvellously carried on a stone into a high mountain, on whichtwoshepherds kept their sheep, “the which saw her fly”; and it is apparent in all directions that Barbara was peculiarly identified with the Two-One Twain or Pair. Barbara is popularly contracted into Babs or Bab, and the little Barbara or Babette may probably be identified with the Babchild of Kent. The coin here illustrated was unearthed at thevillage of Babchild, known also as Bacchild, and its centre evidently represents the worldpap, Pope,paab, orbaba: in Christian Art the All Father is represented as a Pope, and as twin Popes, and likewise as a two-faced Person.

Fig.194.—British. From Akerman.

Fig.195.—God the Father, the Creator, as an Old Man and a Pope. From a French stained glass window of the XVI. cent. FromChristian Iconography(Didron).

There is little doubt that the pre-Christian Pope was sometimes represented as a mother and child, and it was probably the discovery of one of these images or pictures that started the horrible scandal of Pope Joan or Papesse Jeanne. It is said that this accomplished but unhappy lady occupied the papal-chair for a period of two years five months under the title of John theEighth, but having publicly become the mother of a little son her life ended in infamy and ill odour. To commemorate this shocking and incredible event a monument representing the Papess with her baby was, we are told, erected on the actual spot which was accordingly declared accursed to all ages: but as the incident thus memorised occurred as long ago as the ninth century, it is more probable that the statue was the source of the story and notvice versa. According to some accounts Joan was baptised Hagnes which is the feminine form of Hagon or Acon: others said her name was Margaret, and that she was the daughter of an English missionary who had left England to preach to the Saxons. At the time of the Reformation Germany seized with avidity upon the scandal as being useful for propaganda purposes, and with that delicacy of touch for which theLutherans were distinguished, embroidered the tale with characteristic embellishments. According to Baring-Gould the stout Germans, not relishing the notion of Joan being a daughter of the Fatherland, palmed her off on England, but “I have little doubt myself,” he adds, “that Pope Joan is an impersonification of the great whore of Babylonseated on the Seven Hills”:[372]on the contrary, I think she was more probably a personification of the Consort of St. Peter the Rock, and the Keeper of the Keys of Heaven’s Gate. Among Joan’s sobriquets was Jutt, which is believed to have been “a nickname surely!”: more seemingly Jutt was a Latinised form of Kud, Ked, Kate, or Chad, and Engelheim, orAngel Home, the alleged birth-place of Jutt,was either entirely mystical, or perhaps Anglesea, if not Engel Land.

Fig.196.—The Divine Persons Distinct. A French Miniature of the XVI. Cent. FromChristian Iconography(Didron).

Fig.197.—The Three Divine Persons Fused One into the Other. From a Spanish Miniature of the XIII. Cent. FromChristian Iconography(Didron).

Fig.198.—FromAn Essay on Ancient Coins, Medals, and Gems(Walsh, R.).

Fig.199.—FromThe Gnostics and their Remains(King, C. W.).

The father of Jutt’s child was said to have been Satan himself, who, on the occasion of the birth, was seen and heard fluttering overhead, crowing and chanting in an unmusical voice:—

Papa pater patrum, Papissae pandito partumEt tibi tunc eadem de corpore quando recedam.

Papa pater patrum, Papissae pandito partum

Et tibi tunc eadem de corpore quando recedam.

This description would seem to have been derived from some ancient picture in which the Papa was represented either as a fluttering or chanting cock, or as cockheaded. Such representations were common among the Gnostics, and the legend,papa-pater-patrum, Father, Father of Fathers, is curiously suggestive of Barbara or Varvary: in the Gnostic emblem here reproduced is the counterpart to thecock-headed deity, and the reverse is obviously Vera, Una, or the naked Truth.

Gretchen, the German for Margaret, beingGreat Jane, will account for Pope Joan, and Gerberta, another of her names is radically Berta: Bertha, or Peratha, among the Germans is equated with Perchta, and translated “Bright One,” or the “Shining One”: the same roots are found in St. Cuthbert, orCudbrightas he becomes in Kirkcudbrightshire.

The child of Papesse Jeanne, Gerberta, Hagnes or Jutt was deemed to be Antichrist: according to other accounts the mother of the feared and anticipated Antichrist was a very aged woman, of race unknown, called Fort Juda. Fort Juda was probablyStrong Judy, Judy, the wife of Punch, being evidently a form of the very aged wife of Pan, the goat-headed symbol of Gott.[373]As Peter was the Janitor of the Gate, so Kate or Ked was similarly connected with theGatewhich is the same word as Gott or Goat: the GnosticGodhere represented is a seven-goat solar wheel.

The horns and head of the goat still figure in representations of Old Nick, and there is no doubt that the horns of the crescent moon, under the form of Io, the heifer, were particularly worshipped at Byzantium: this City of the Golden Horn, now known as Constantinople, to which it will be remembered the British Chronicles assign our origin, was founded by a colony of Greeks from Megara, and in Scandinavia it is still known as Megalopolis, or the City of Michael; its ancient name Byzantium will probably prove to have been connected withbyzanorbosen, the bosses or paps, and Pera, the Christian district which borders the Bosphorus, may be connoted with Epeur.

Fig. 200, reproduced from a Byzantine bronze pound weight, is supposed to represent “two military saints,” but it more probably portrays the celestial pair, Micah and Maggie. Their bucklers are designed in the form of marguerites or marigolds; the A under the right hand figure is Alpha, whence we may perhaps equate this saint with Alpha, the consort of Noah. The spear-head under the other Invictus is the “Broad” arrow of Britain, and the meaning of this spear-head or arrow of Broad will be subsequently considered. It will be noticed that the stars which form the background are the triple dots, and the five-fruited tree is in all probability the Tree of Alpha, Aleph, orLife. Whyfivewas identified withviforvive,i.e., life, I am unable to surmise, but that it was thus connected will become apparent as we proceed.

Fig.200.—From the British Museum’sGuide to Early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities.

Fig.201.—British. FromThe Silver Coins of England(Hawkins, E.).

Fig.202.—Bronze Reliquary Cross, XII. Cent. (No. 559).From the British Museum’sGuide to Early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities.Fig.203.—FromA Collection of 500 Facsimiles of the Watermarks used by Early Papermakers(1840).

Fig.202.—Bronze Reliquary Cross, XII. Cent. (No. 559).From the British Museum’sGuide to Early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities.

Fig.203.—FromA Collection of 500 Facsimiles of the Watermarks used by Early Papermakers(1840).

The Arabic form of Constantinople is Kustantiniya, which compares curiously with Kystennyns, one of the old variants of the Cornish village named Constantine. There is a markedly Byzantine style about the group of British coins here reproduced, and Nos. 45 and 46 manifestly illustrate the Dioscuri, Twins, or Cabiri. The Greek word forbrothersor twins isadelphi, and as according to Bryant the Semiticadoradameant first we may translateadelphiinto First Elphi or First Fay-ther. The head of No. 49, which is obviously an heraldic or symbolic figure, consists of the three circles, intricate symbolism underlies the Byzantine reliquary cross here illustrated, and the same fantastic system is behind the Gnostic paper-markrepresented on Fig. 203. In this it will be noted the eyes are represented by what are seemingly two feathers: the feather was a symbol of the Father, and will be noted in the Alephant emblem illustrated onpage 160.

Fig.204.—The Trinity, in Combat with Behemoth and Leviathan. FromChristian Iconography(Didron).

In Fig. 204 the Celestial Invictus is depicted as a Trinity; three feathers are the emblem of the British Prince of Wales, and there is evidently some recondite meaning in the legend that St. Barbara insisted upon her father making three windows in a certain building on the grounds that “threewindows lighten all the world and all creatures”. Upon Dioscorus inquiring of his daughter why she had upset his arrangements for two windows, Barbara’s reply is reported to have been: “These threefenestras or windows betoken clearly the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the which be three persons and One Very God”. The wordpersonis radically the same asappearandappearance, and the portrayal of the Supreme Power as One, Two, or Three seems evidently to have been merely a matter of inclination: Queen Vera or Virtue may be regarded as One or as the Three Graces or Virtues. The mythic mother of St. David is said to have been Gwen of the Three Paps, and this St. Gwen Tierbron, or Queen of the Three Breasts, may be equated with the Lady Triamour, and with the patron of Llandrindod or St.triune dadWells. On the horse ornament illustratedante(No. 14, Fig. 134,p. 286), three hearts are represented: on Fig. 205 three circles, together with a palm branch,[374]associated with the national horse.

Fig.205.—British. From Barthelemy.Fig.206.—Decoration on British chalk drum. FromA Guide to Antiquities of Bronze Age(B.M.).

Fig.205.—British. From Barthelemy.

Fig.206.—Decoration on British chalk drum. FromA Guide to Antiquities of Bronze Age(B.M.).

The emblems onpage 499depict two flying wheels, and likewise Three-in-One: near St. Just in Cornwall used tobe three interlaced stone circles, and the phenomenon of three circles is noticeable elsewhere; there is little doubt, says Westropp, that in the three rings of Dunainy on the Knockainy Hill the triad of gods, Eogabal, Feri, and Aine, were supposed to dwell.[375]

Fig.207.—Temple at Abury. FromThe Celtic Druids(Higgens, G.).

Avebury consists of two circles within one, and that “Avereberie” was regarded as the great periphery may be concluded from the nameAvereberiewhich is equivalent to periphery, Varvary, or Barbara. The bird emblem existing atFarris suggestive that the county of Forfar was once inhabited by worshippers of Varvara, Barbara, the Fair of Fairs, or Fire of Fires.

Having set his labourers to work, the legend continuesthat Barbara’s father departed thence and went into a far country, where he long sojourned: the Greeks used the wordbarbaroito mean not ruffians but those who lived or came fromabroad; the same sense is born by the Hebrew wordobr, and it is to this root that anthropologists assign the nameHebrewwhich they interpret as meaning men who came fromabroad.

Fig.208.—Temple at Abury.FromThe Celtic Druids(Higgens, G.).

It is noteworthy that, according to Herodotus, the messengers of the Hyperboreans who came from abroad,i.e.,barbaroi, were entitled by the Delians, “Perpherees” and held in great honour:[376]the inverted commas are original, whence it would seem thatperphereewas a local pronunciation ofhyperboreæ.

The general impression is that the Hebrew, orEbreaas the Italians spell it, derived his title fromAbraham whose name means Father of a Multitude. AtHebronAbraham, the son of Terah, entertained three Elves or Angels: “He saw three and worshipped one”:[377]at Hebron Abram bought a piece of land from a merchant named Ephron,[378]and I cannot believe that Ephron really meant, as we are told,of a calf; it is more probable that he derived his title from Hebron where Ephron was evidently a landowner. Tacitus records a tradition that the Hebrews were originally “natives of the Isle of Crete,”[379]and my suggestion that the Jews were the Jous gains somewhat from the fact that York—a notorious seat of ancient Jewry—was originally known as Eboracum or Eboracon. Our chroniclers state that York was founded by a King Ebrauc, the Archbishop of York signs himself to-day “Ebor,” and the river Eure used at one time to be known as the Ebor: the Spanish river Ebro was sometimes referred to as the Iber.[380]

Fig.209.—FromThe Everyday Book(Hone, W.).

An interesting example of the Cabiri or Adelphi once existed at the Kentish village of Biddenden where the embossed seven-spiked ladies here illustrated, known as the Biddenden Maids, used to be impressed on cakes which were distributed in the village church on Easter Sunday. This custom was connected with a charity consisting of “twenty acres of land called the Bread and Cheese Land lying infivepieces given by persons unknown, the rent to be distributed among the poor of this parish”. The nameof the two maidens is stated to have been Preston, and that this was alternatively a name for Biddenden is somewhat confirmed by an adjacent Broadstone, Fairbourne, and Bardinlea. Whether it is permissible here to read Bardinlea as Bard’s meadow I do not know, but considered in connection with the local charity from five pieces of land it is curious to find that according to the laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud, the different functionaries of the Bardic Gorsedd had a right each tofiveacres of land in virtue of their office, were entitled to maintenance wherever they went, had freedom from taxes, no person was to wear a naked weapon in their presence, and their word was always paramount.[381]In view of this ordinance it almost looks as though the charitable five acres at Biddenden were the survival of some such privileged survival.

As Biddy is a familiar form of Bridget or Bride, Biddenden may be understood as the dun or den of the Biddys, and the modern sense of our adjectivebadis, it is to be feared, an implication either that the followers of the Biddy’s fell from grace, or that at any rate newer comers deemed them to have done so. The German forbothisbeide, but thatboththeBiddenden maidens were bad is unlikely: the brace of chickabiddies[382]illustrated overleaf may perhaps have fallen a little short of the designer’s ideals, yet they were undoubtedly deemed fit and good, otherwise they would not have survived. That their admirers, while seeing Both or Twain, worshipped Ane is obviously possible from the popular “Heathen chant” here quoted from Miss Eckenstein’sComparative Study of Nursery Rhymes:—

1. We will a’ gae sing, boys,Where will we begin, boys?We’ll begin the way we should,And we’ll begin at ane, boys.O, what will be our ane, boys?O, what will be our ane, boys?—My only ane she walks alane,And evermair has dune, boys.2. Now we will a’ gae sing, boys;Where will we begin, boys?We’ll begin where we left aff,And we’ll begin at twa, boys.What will be our twa, boys?—Twa’s the lily and the roseThat shine baith red and green, boys,My only ane she walks alane,And evermair has dune, boys.

1. We will a’ gae sing, boys,Where will we begin, boys?We’ll begin the way we should,And we’ll begin at ane, boys.

1. We will a’ gae sing, boys,

Where will we begin, boys?

We’ll begin the way we should,

And we’ll begin at ane, boys.

O, what will be our ane, boys?O, what will be our ane, boys?—My only ane she walks alane,And evermair has dune, boys.

O, what will be our ane, boys?

—My only ane she walks alane,

And evermair has dune, boys.

2. Now we will a’ gae sing, boys;Where will we begin, boys?We’ll begin where we left aff,And we’ll begin at twa, boys.

2. Now we will a’ gae sing, boys;

Where will we begin, boys?

We’ll begin where we left aff,

And we’ll begin at twa, boys.

What will be our twa, boys?—Twa’s the lily and the roseThat shine baith red and green, boys,My only ane she walks alane,And evermair has dune, boys.

What will be our twa, boys?

—Twa’s the lily and the rose

That shine baith red and green, boys,

My only ane she walks alane,

And evermair has dune, boys.

In the near neighbourhood of Biddenden are Peckham, Buckman’s Green, Buckhill, and Buggles, or Boglesden: the two bogles now under consideration were possibly responsible for the neighbouring Duesden,i.e.the Dieu’s den or the Two’s den. According to Skeat the wordbad, mediævalbadde, is formed from the Anglo-Saxonbaeddel, meaning an hermaphrodite; all ancient deities seem to have been regarded as hermaphrodites, and it is impossible to tell from the Britannia, Bride, or Biddy figures on p. 120 whether Bru or Brut was a man or a maid. Apollo was occasionally represented in a skirt; Venus was sometimes represented with a beard; the beard on the obverse of No. 46, on p. 364, is highly accentuated, and that this feature was a peculiarity of Cumbrian belief is to be inferred from the life of Saint Uncumber. St. Uncumber, orOld Queen Ber, was one of the seven daughters born at a birth to the King of Portugal, and the story runs that her father wantingher to marry the prince of Sicily, she grew whiskers, “which so enraged him that he had her crucified”.[383]

One may infer that the fabricator of this pious story concocted it from some picture of a bearded virgin extended like Andrew on the Solar wheel: close to Biddenden is Old Surrender, perhaps originally a den or shrine of OldSireAnder.[384]

At Broadstone, by Biddenden, we find Judge House, and doubtless the villagejugeonce administered justice at that broad stone. In Kent the paps are known colloquially asbubsorbubbies: by Biddenden is a Pope’s Hall, and a Bubhurst or Bubwood, which further permit the equation of the Preston Maids with Babs, Babby, or Barbara. St. Barbara was not only born at Heliopolis, but her tomb is described by Maundeville as being at Babylon, by which he means not Babylon in Chaldea, but Heliopolis in Egypt. InThe Welsh PeopleSir J. Morris Jones establishes many remarkable relationships between the language of Wales and the Hamitic language of early Egypt; in 1881 Gerald Massey published a list of upwards of 3000 similarities between British and Egyptian words[385]; andIn Malta and the Mediterranean Race, Mr. R. N. Bradley prints the following extraordinary statement from Col. W. G. MacPherson of the Army Medical Service: “When I was in Morocco City, in 1896, I met a Gaelic-speaking missionary doctor who had come out there and went into the Sus country (Trans-atlas), where ‘Shluh’ is the languagespoken, just as it is the language of the Berber tribes in the Cis-atlas country. He told me that the words seemed familiar to him, and, after listening to the natives speaking among themselves, found they were speaking a Gaelic dialect, much of which he could follow. This confirmed my own observation regarding the names of the Berber tribes I myself had come across, namely, the Bini M’Tir, the Bini M’Touga, and the Bini M’Ghil. The ‘Bini’ is simply the Arabic for ‘Children of,’ and is tacked on by the Arabs to the ‘M’ of the Berbers, which means ‘sons of’ and is exactly the same as the Irish ‘M,’ or Gaelic ‘Mac’. Hence the M’Tir, M’Touga, and M’Ghil, become in our country MacTiers, the MacDougalls, and the MacGills. I prepared a paper on this subject which was read by my friend Dr. George Mackay of Edinburgh, at the Pan-Celtic Congress there in 1907, I think, or it may have been 1908. It caused a leading article to be written in theScotsman, I believe, but otherwise it does not appear to have received much attention.”

As it is an axiom of modern etymology to ignore any statements which cannot be squared with historical documents it is hardly a matter of surprise that Col. MacPherson’s statements have hitherto received no consideration. But apart from the fact that certain Berber tribes still speak Gaelic, the Berbers are a highly interesting people: they extend all over the North of Africa, and the country between Upper Egypt and Abyssinia is known as Barbara or Barba. The wordAfricawas also writtenAparica, and the Berbers, apart from founding the Old Kingdom ofBornouand the city of Timbuctoo, had an important seat atBerryan. They had in the past magnificent and stately temples, used the Arabic alphabet, andthe Touriacks—the purest, proudest, most numerous, and most lordly family of the Berbers—have an alphabet of their own for which they claim great antiquity: they have also a considerable native literature.[386]The Touriack alphabet is almost identical with that used by the Tyrians in later times, and the name Touriack is thus probably connected with Tyre and Troy. In 1821, a traveller described the Touriacks as “the finest race of men I ever saw—tall, straight, and handsome, with a certain air of independence and pride that is very imposing. They are generally white, that is to say, comparatively so, the dark brown of their complexion being occasioned only by the heat of the climate. Their arms and bodies, where constantly covered, are as white as those of many Europeans.”[387]

To Britons the Berbers should be peculiarly interesting, as anthropologists have already declared that the primitive Scotch race were formed from “the great Iberian family, the same stock as the Berbers of North Africa”: Laing and Huxley further affirm that among these Scotch aborigines they recognise the existence of men “of a verysuperior character”.[388]It will probably prove that the “St. Barbe” of Gaul—a name connected with the megalithic monuments at Carnac—originated from Barba, or Berber influences: with this Gaulish St. Barbe may be connoted the fact that the pastors of the heretical Albigenses, whose headquarters were at the town of Albi, were for some unknown reason entitledbarbes.

A traveller in 1845 describes the Berbers or Touriacks as very white, always clothed, and wearing pantaloons like Europeans. The wordpantalooncomes from Venice where the patron saint is St. Pantaleone, but the British for pantaloons isbreeksorbreeches. It was a distinction of the British to wear breeks: Sir John Rhys attributes the word Briton to “cloth and its congeners,” and when,circa500B.C., the celebrated Abaris visited Athens his hosts were evidently impressed by his attire: “He came, not clad in skins like a Scythian, but with a bow in his hand, a quiver hanging on his shoulders, a plaid wrapped about his body, a gilded belt encircling his loins, and trousers reaching from the waist down to the soles of his feet. He was easy in his address; affable and pleasant in his conversation; active in his despatch, and secret in his management of great affairs; quick in judging of present accuracies; and ready to take his part in any sudden emergency; provident withal in guarding against futurity; diligent in the quest of wisdom; fond of friendship; trusting very little to fortune, yet having the entire confidence of others, and trusted with everything for his prudence. He spoke Greek with fluency, and whenever he moved histongue you would imagine him to be some one out of the midst of the academy or very Lyceum.”[389]

I have suggested that Abaris or Abharas was a generic term for Druid or Chief Druid, and it is likely that the celebrated Arabian philosopher Averrhoes, who was born in SpainA.D.1126, was entitled Averroes (his real name seems to have been Ibn Roshd) in respect of his famous philosophy: it is noteworthy that the Berbers were known alternatively as Barabbras.[390]

In No. 41, onp. 364, two small brethren are like Romulus and Remus sucking nourishment from a wolf. This animal is the supposed ancestor of all the dog-tribe: the wordwolfiseu olf, and the termbitch, applied to all females of the wolf tribe, is radicallypige,peggy, orPuck. The Bitch-nourished Brethren are radicallybre, for the-therofbrotheris the same adjective as occurs in father, mother, and sister.

Taliesin, the mystic title of the Welsh Chief Druid of the West, is translated as having meantradiant brow: the brow is the covering of the brain, and in No. 2, on p. 120, Britannia is pointing to her brow. In No. 3 of the same plate she is represented in the remarkable and unusual attitude of gazing up to Heaven: it will be remembered that, according to Cæsar, Britain was the cradle of the Druidic Philosophy, and that those wishing to perfect themselves in the system visited this country; that the Britons prided themselves on their brains is possibly the true inference to be drawn from the two curious coins now under consideration.

The President of Celtic poetry and bardic music is saidto have been a being of gigantic height named Bran: it is to Bran the Blessed that tradition assigns the introduction of the Cross into Britain, and when Bran died his head is stated to have been deposited under the White Tower of London, where it acted as a talisman against foreign aggression. One of the disastrous blunders alleged against King Arthur was the declaration that he disdained to hold the realm of England, except in virtue of his own prowess,[391]and Romance affirms that he disinterred the magic head of the Blessed Bran, thereby bringing untold woes upon the land. As a parallel to this story may be connoted the historic fact that when the Romans in 390B.C.inquired the name of the barbaric general who had led the Celts victoriously against them, the Celtic officer replied by giving the name of the God to whom he attributed the success of his arms, and whom he figured to himself as seated invisible in a chariot, a javelin in his hand, while he guided the victorious host over the bodies of its enemies.[392]Now the name of this invisible chief under whom the Gaulish conquerors of Rome and Delphi claimed to fight, was Brennos, whom De Jubainville equates with Brian, the First of the Three divine Sons of Dana, or Brigit, theBona Deaof Britain. The highest town in France, and the principal arsenal and depot of the French Alps is entitled Briancon, and as this place was known to the Romans as Brigantium, we may connote Briancon with King Brian. Brigan may probably be equated with the fabulous Bregon of Hibernia, with Bergion of Iberia, and with St. Brychan of Wales, who is said to have been the parent of fifty sons and daughters, “all saints”. TheHibernian super-King, entitled Brian Boru, had his seat at Tara, and from him may be said to have descended all the O’Briens, the Brownes, and the Byrons. The name Burgoyne is assigned to Burgundy, and it is probable that inquiry would prove a close connection between the Burgundii and giant Burgion of Iberia. In the Triads the Welsh prince Brychan is designated as sprung from one of the three holy families of Prydain: through Breconshire, or Brecknock, runs the river Bran; and that Awbrey was a family name in Brecon is implied by the existence in the priory church of St. John, or Holyrood, of tombs to the Awbreys.

Fig.210.—Idols of the Bona Dea found at Troy. FromIlios(Schliemann).

Figs.211 to 213.—From British “chalk drums,” illustrated in British Museum’sGuide to Antiquities of Bronze Age.Figs.214 to 219.—Mediæval Papermarks fromLes Filigranes(Briquet, C. M.).

Figs.211 to 213.—From British “chalk drums,” illustrated in British Museum’sGuide to Antiquities of Bronze Age.

Figs.214 to 219.—Mediæval Papermarks fromLes Filigranes(Briquet, C. M.).

Fig.220.—FromHistory of Paganism in Caledonia(Wise, T. A.).

Fig.221.—The Creator, under the Form of Jesus Christ. Italian Miniature of the close of the XII. Cent. FromChristian Iconography(Didron).

When the head of the beneficent and blessed Bran was deposited at London it is said to have rested there for a long time with the eyes looking towards France. One ofthe most remarkable and mysterious of the Pictish symbols, found alike in Picardy and Pictland generally, is the so-called butterfly design of which three typical examples are here illustrated. What it seems to represent isBrowenor theBrows, but it is also an excellent bird, butterfly, orpapillon: or as we speak familiarly of using our brains, and as the grey matter of the brain actually consists of two divisions, which scientists entitle thecerebrumand thecerebellum, the two-browed butterfly might not illogically be designated the brains. Both Canon Greenwell and Sir Arthur Evans have drawn attention to similar representations of the human face on early objects from Troy and the Ægean; the same symbol is found on sculptured menhirs of the Marne and Gard valleys in France, while clay vesselswith this ornament, belonging to the early age of metal, have been found in Spain. The “butterfly” is seen on gold roundels from the earliest (shaft) graves at Mycenæ, and as Sir Hercules Read has rightly said, “everythingpoints to the transmission of that influence to the British Isles by way of Spain”.[393]

Fig.222.—The Trinity in One God, Supporting the World. Fresco of the Campo Santo of Pisa, XIV. Cent. FromChristian Iconography(Didron).

The Scandinavians assigned three eyes to Thor, and Thor, as has been seen, was attributed by them to Troy. On the stone illustrated on p. 381, now built into the church at Dingwall—a name which meanscourt hill—three circles are on one side and two upon the other: some of the Trojan idols are three-eyed and some are “butterflies”. Is it possible that this Elphin little face, orpapillon, was the precursor of the modern cherub or Amoretto, and that it was the Puck of the Iberian Picts, who conceived their Babchild or Bacchild as peeping,prying, touting, andpeering perpetually upon mankind? The ancients imagined that every worthy soul became a star, whence it is possible that the small blue flower we call a periwinkle was, like the daisy, a symbol of the fairy, phairy, or periperiscope. In Devonshire the speedwell (Veronica +chamædrys) is known as Angels’ Eyes; in Wales it is entitled the Eye of Christ:[394]the wordperiwinklemay be connoted with the phairies Periwinkle, and Perriwiggen, who figure in the court of Oberon.

In the magnificent emblem here illustrated the Pillar of the Universe, “to Whom all thoughts and desires are known, from Whom no secrets are hid,” is supporting a great universe zoned round and round by Eyes, Cherubs, or Amoretti, and the earth within is represented by a cone or berg. In Fig. 221 the Creator is depicted as animating nine choirs of Amoretti by means of three rays orbreaths, and as will be shown subsequently the creation of the worldby means of three rays or beams of light from heaven was an elemental feature of British philosophy.

The periwinkle, known in some districts as the cockle, may, I think, be regarded as a prehistoric symbol of the world-without-end query:—

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,How I wonder what you are.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.

The term cockle was applied not only to the periwinkle and the poppy, but likewise to the burdock, whose pricklyburrsare obviously a very perfect emblem of the Central Pyre, Fire, Burn, or Brand. In Italy the barberry, or berberis, is known as the Holy Thorn, as it is supposed that from this bush ofpricksand prickles was woven Christ’s crown of thorns. As a home of the spooks thebrakesorbrackenrivalled the hawthorn,[395]and it was generally believed that by eating fern or bracken seed one became invisible. Witches were supposed to detest bracken, because it bears on its root the character C, the initial of the holy name Christ, “which may be plainly seen on cutting the root horizontally”. Commenting on this belief the author ofFlowers and Folkloreremarks: “A friend suggests, however, that the letter intended is not the English C, but the Greek X (Chi), the initial letter of the wordChristoswhich really resembles the marks on the root of the bracken.”[396]

In Cornishbrochdenoted the yew tree, the sanctity of which is implied by the frequency with which a brace orpair of yews are found in churchyards. The yew is probably the longest living of all trees, accredited instances occurring of its antiquity to the extent of 1400 years, and at Fortingal inPerthshire there is a famous yew tree which has been estimated to be 3000 years of age. This is deemed to be the most venerable specimen of living European vegetation, but atBrabourne, in Kent, used to be a superannuated yew which claimed precedence in point of age even over that of Perthshire. A third claimant (2000 years) is that at Hensor (theancient sire?) in Buckinghamshire, and a fourth exists at Buckland near Dover.[397]

Fig.223.—Iberian. From Akerman.

Theyew(Irisheo), named in all probability after Io, or Hu the Jupiter,[398]or Ancient Sire of Britain, is found growing profusely in company with the box on the white chalky brow of Boxhill overlooking Juniper Hall. The foot of this slope around which creeps the placid little river Mole is now entitledBurford Bridge, but before the first bridge was here built, the site was seemingly known as Bur ford. The neighbouring Dorking, through which runs the Pipbrook, is equivalent to Tor King, Tarchon, or Troy King, and there is a likelihood that the Perseus who redeemed Andromeda, theAncient Troy Maid, was a member of the same family. In the Iberian coin herewith inscribed Ho, which is ascribed to Ilipa or Ilipala, one may perhaps trace Hu,i.e.,Hughthemindorbrainin transit to these islands.

To the yews on Boxhill one may legitimately apply the lines which Sir William Watson penned at the neighbouring Newlands or the lands of the self-renewing Ancient Yew:—

Old Emperor Yew, fantastic sire,Girt with thy guard of dotard Kings,What ages hast thou seen retireInto the dusk of alien things?

Old Emperor Yew, fantastic sire,

Girt with thy guard of dotard Kings,

What ages hast thou seen retire

Into the dusk of alien things?

From Newlands Corner where the yews—the self-seeded descendants of immemorial ancestors—are thickly dotted, is a prospect unsurpassed in England.

The beech trees which are also a feature in the neighbourhood of Boxhill irresistibly turn one’s mind to the immortal beeches atBurnham in Bucks. Bucks supposedly derives its name from the patronymic Bucca or Bucco, and this district was thus presumably a seat of the Bucca, Pukka, or Puck King,aliasAuberon, to whom at Burnham thebeechorbocwould appear to have been peculiarly dedicated. There is a Burnham near Brightlingsea; a Burnby near Pocklington, a Burnham on the river Brue, a Burn in Brayton parish, Yorks; a river Burn or Brun in Lancashire, a river Burry in Glamorganshire, and in Norfolk a Burnham-Ulph. In Brancaster Bay are what are termed “Burnham Grounds”; hereabouts are Burnham Westgate, Burnham Deepdale, Burnham Overy, etc., and the local fishermen maintain “there are three other Burnhams under Brancaster Bay”.[399]Doubtless the sea has claimed large tracts of Oberon’s empire, but from Brean Down, Brown Willy, and Perran Round in the West to the famous Birrenswerk in Annandale, and the equally famous Bran Ditch in Cambridgeshire, the nameof the Tall Man is ubiquitous. Among the innumerable Brandons or Branhills, Brandon Hill in Suffolk, where the flint knappers have continued their chipping uninterruptedly since old Neolithic times, may claim an honourable pre-eminence.

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