FOOTNOTES:

Aeon hath seen age after age in long succession,But like a serpent which has cast its skin,Rose to new life in youthful vigour strong.

Aeon hath seen age after age in long succession,

But like a serpent which has cast its skin,

Rose to new life in youthful vigour strong.

In Calmet’sBiblical Dictionarythere is illustrated a medal of ancient Corinth representing an old man in a state of decrepitude entering a whale, but on the same medal the old man renewed is shown to have come out of the same fish in a state of infancy.

Among the Greeks Apollo or the Sun was represented asriding on a dolphin’s back: the worddolphinis connected withdelphus, the womb, and doubtless also withDelphi, the great centre of Apollo worship and the legendary navel of the Universe. Alpha has been noted as the British name of Noah’s wife, and it is probable that Delphi meant at one time the Divine Alpha or Elf: in the Iberian coin here illustrated (origin uncertain) the little Elf or spriggan is equipped with a cross; in the coin of Carteia (Spain) the inscriptionXiddprobably corresponds to the name which the British Bards wrote—“Ked”.

Figs.411 and 412.—Iberian. From Akermann.

In India the Ark or Leviathan of Life is represented as half horse or half mare, and among the Phœnicians the wordhiphadenoted bothmareandship: in Britain theMagna Mater, Ked, was figured as the combination of an old giantess, a hen, a mare, and as a ship which set sail, lifted the Bard from the earth and swelled out like a ship upon the waters. Davies observes: “And that the ancient Britons actually did portray this character in the grotesque manner suggested by our Bard appears by several ancient British coins where we find a figure compounded of a bird, a boat, and a mare”. The coin to which Davies here refers is that illustrated on page 596, Fig. 356: that the Babylonians built their ships in the combined form of a mare and fish is clear from the illustration overleaf.

The most universal and generally understood emblem ofpeace is a dove bearing in its beak an olive-branch,[756]or sprig, and this emblem is intimately associated with the Ark: among the poems of the Welsh Bard Aneurin is the expectation—

The crowned Babe will come like IonaOut of the belly of the whale; great will be his dignity.He will place every one according to his merits,He is the principal strong tower of the Kingdom.[757]

The crowned Babe will come like Iona

Out of the belly of the whale; great will be his dignity.

He will place every one according to his merits,

He is the principal strong tower of the Kingdom.[757]

Fig.413.—A Galley (Khorsabad). FromNineveh(Layard).

Figs.414 and 415.—British (Channel Islands). From Barthelemy.

As Iona means dove, the culver on the hackney’s back (Fig. 415) is evidently St. Columba, and the crowned Babe in Fig. 414 is in all probability that same “spriggan on Dowdy’s back,” or Elphin, as the British Bards speak so persistently and mysteriously of “liberating”. In Egypt the spright is portrayed rising from a maculate or spotted beast, and in all these and parallel instances the emblem probably denoted rejuvenescence or new birth; either SpringexWinter, ChangeexTime, the Seen from the Unseen, AmorexNox, Visible from Invisible, or New from Old.

Fig.416.—FromThe Correspondences of Egypt(Odhler).Fig.416.—FromThe Correspondences of Egypt(Odhler).Fig.417.—Mediæval Papermark. FromLes Filigranes(Briquet, C. M.)

Fig.416.—FromThe Correspondences of Egypt(Odhler).Fig.416.—FromThe Correspondences of Egypt(Odhler).

Fig.417.—Mediæval Papermark. FromLes Filigranes(Briquet, C. M.)

The eight parents from the Ark may be connoted with Aught from Naught, foreightis the same word asaughtandnaughtis the same word asnight,nuit, ornot:naughtymeans evil, whence the legend of Amor being born from Nox or Night might perhaps have been sublimated into the idea of Good emerging even from things noxious ornugatory.[758]Yet in the Cox and Box like rule of Night and Day the all-conquering Nikky was no doubt regarded asunique: “Shining and vanishing in the beauteous circle of the Hours, dwelling at one time in gloomy Tartarus, at another elevating himself to Olympus giving ripeness to the fruits”: it is not unlikely that the ruddynectarinewas assigned to him, and similarlynectarthe celestial drink of the gods, orambrosiain a liquid form.

Of the universally recognised Dualism the black and white magpie was evidently an emblem, and the superstitions in connection with this bird are still potent. The Magpie is sometimes called Magot-pie, and Maggoty-pie, and for this etymology Skeat offers the following explanation: “Mag is short for Magot—FrenchMargot, a familiar form ofMarguerite, also used to denote a Magpie. This is from LatinMargarita, GreekMargarites, a pearl.” There is no material connection between a pearl and a Magpie, but both objects were alike emblems of the same spiritual Power or Pair: between Margot and Istar the same equation is here found, for in Kent magpies were known popularly ashaggisters.[759]Although I have deemedhagto meanhighit will be remembered that in Greekhagiameant holy, whence haggister may well have been understood asholy ister.

Layamon in hisBrutmentions that the Britons at the time of Hengist’s invasion “Oft speak stilly and discourse with whispers of two young men that dwell far hence; the one hight Uther the other Ambrosie”. Of these fabulousTwain—the not altogether forgotten Two Kings of their ancestors—we may equate Uther with theuteror womb of Night and Aurelie Ambrosie with Aurora the Golden Sunburst.

It is probable that the Emporiae, some of whose elphin horse coins were reproduced onpage 281, were worshippers of Aurelie Ambrosie or “St. Ambrose” of whom it will be remembered: “some said that they saw a star upon his body”: it is also not unlikely that our Mary Ambree or Fair Ambree was the daughter of Amber, the divine Umpire and the Emperor of the Empyrean. The ballad recalls:—

There was none ever like Mary Ambree,Shee led upp her souldiers in battaile array’Gainst three times theyr number by breake of the day;Seven howers in skirmish continued shee,Was not this a brave bonny lasse, Mary Ambree?[760]

There was none ever like Mary Ambree,

Shee led upp her souldiers in battaile array

’Gainst three times theyr number by breake of the day;

Seven howers in skirmish continued shee,

Was not this a brave bonny lasse, Mary Ambree?[760]

The sex of this braw Maiden was disguised under a knight’s panoply, and it was only when the fight was finished that her personality was revealed.

No captain of England; behold in your sightTwo breasts in my bosome, and therefore no knight,No knight, sons of England, nor captain you see,But a poor simple lass called Mary Ambree.

No captain of England; behold in your sight

Two breasts in my bosome, and therefore no knight,

No knight, sons of England, nor captain you see,

But a poor simple lass called Mary Ambree.

If the reader will turn back to the Virago coins illustratedante,p. 596, which I think representKedin the aspect ofHecate—the names are no doubt cognate—he will notice the pastoral crook of the little Shepherdess or Bishop of all souls, and there is little doubt that these figures depictwhat a Welsh Bard termed “the winged genius of the splendid crosier”.

Although Long Meg of Westminster was said to be a Virago, and was connected in popular opinion with “Bulloigne,” it is not unlikely that Bulloigne was a misconception of Bulinga; the ornamental water of what is now St. James’ Park is a reconstruction of what was originally known as Bulinga Fen, and in that swamp it is probable that Kitty-with-her-canstick,aliasBelinga theBeautiful Angel, was supposed to dwell. The name Bolingbroke implies the existence somewhere of a Bolinga’s brook where Belle Inga might also probably have been seen “dancing to the cadence of the stream”; in Shropshire is an earthwork known as Billings Ring, and at Truro there is a Bolingey which is surmised to have meant “isle of the Bollings”. These Bollings were presumably related to the Billings of Billingsgate and elsewhere,[761]and the Bellinge or Billing families were almost certainly connected with Billing, the race-hero of the Angles and Varnians. According to Rydberg the celestial Billing “represents the evening and the glow of twilight, and he is ruler of those regions of the world where the divinities of light find rest and peace”: Billing was the divine defender of the Varnians or Varinians, which word, says Rydberg, “means ‘defenders’ and the protection here referred to can be none other than that given to the journeying divinities of light when they have reached the Western horizon”.[762]

Fig418.—Adapted from the Salisbury Chapter Seal. FromThe Cross: Christian and Pagan(Brock, M.).

That Billing and the Ingles were connected with Barkshire, the county of the Vale of the White Horse or Brok, is implied by place-names such as Billingbare by Inglemeer Pond in the East, by Inkpen Beacon—originally Ingepenne or Hingepenne—in the South, and by Inglesham near Fearnham and Farringdon in the West. Near Inglemeer is Shinfield and slightly westward is Sunning, which must once have been a place of uncanny sanctity for “it is amazing that so inconsiderable a village should have been the See ofeightBishops translated afterwards to Sherborn and at last to Salisbury.”[763]The seal of Salisbury represents the Maiden of the Sun and Moon, and it is probable that the place-name Maidenhead, originally Madenheith, near Marlow (Domesday Merlawe—Mary low or hill?) did not, as Skeat so aggressively assumes, mean ahytheor landing place for maidens, but Maidenheath, a heath or mead sacred to the braw Maiden.

With the Farens and the Varenians may be connoted the Cornish village of Trevarren or the abode of Varren: this is in the parish of St. Columb, where Columba the Dove is commemorated not as a man but as a Virgin Martyr. Many, if not all, Cornish villages had their so-called “Sentry field” and the Broad Sanctuary at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, no doubt marks the site of some such sanctuary or city of refuge as will be considered in a following chapter. That St. Margaret the Meek or Long Meg was theBrideof the adjacent St. Peter is a reasonable inference, and it is probable that “Broad Sanctuary” was originally hers. According toThe Golden Legend: “Margaret is Maid of a precious gem or ouche[764]that is named a Margaret. So the blessed Margaret was white by virginity, little by humility, and virtuous by operation. The virtue of this stone is said to be against effusion of blood, against passion of the heart, and to comfortation of the spirit.” I am unable to trace any immediate connection between St. Margaret and the Dove, but an original relation is implied by the epithets which are bestowed by the Gaels to St. Columbkille of Iona who is entitled “The Precious Gem,” “The Royal Bright Star,” “The Meek,” “The Wise,” and “The Divine Branch who was in the yoke of the Pure Mysteries of God”. These are titles older than the worthy monk whose biography was written by Adamnan: theybelong to the archetypal Columba or Culver. There is a river Columb in Devonshire upon which stands the town of Cullompton: in Kent is Reculver once a Royal town of which “the root is unknown, but the present form has been influenced by old Englishculfre,culfer, a culver-dove or wood-pigeon”.

That St. Columba of Iona was both the White and the Black Culver is implied by his two names of Colum (dove) and Crimthain (wolf): that the great Night-dog or wolf was for some reason connected with thenutrix(videthe coin illustrated onpage 364, and the Etrurian Romulus and Remus legend) is obvious, apart from the significance of the wordwolfwhich is radicallyolf. Columbas’ mother, we are told, was a certain royal Ethne, theeleventhin descent from Cathair Mor, a King of Leinster: Leinster was astadr,ster, or place of the Laginenses, and that Columba was a personification of Young Lagin or the LittleHoly Kingof Yule is implied (apart from much other evidence) in the story that one of his visitors “could by no means look upon his face, suffused as it was with a marvellous glow, and he immediately fled in great fear”.

Among the Gaels the Little Holy King of Tir an Og, or the Land of the Young, was Angus Og or Angus the youthful: when discussing Angus (excellent virtue) in connection with the ancient goose and the cain goose I was unaware that the Greek for goose isken. In the far-away Hebrides the men, women, and children of Barra and South Uist (or Aust?) still hold to a primitive faith in St. Columba, St. Bride, or St. Mary, and as a shealing hymn they sing the following astonishingly beautiful folk-song:—

Thou, gentle Michael of the white steed,Who subdued the Dragon of blood,For love of God and the Son of MarySpread over us thy wing, shield us all!Spread over us thy wing, shield us all!Mary, beloved! Mother of the White LambProtect us, thou Virgin of nobleness,Queen of Beauty! Shepherdess of the flocks!Keep our cattle, surround us together,Keep our cattle, surround us together.Thou Columkille, the friendly, the kind,In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit Holy,Through the Three-in-One, through the Three,Encompass us, guard our procession,Encompass us, guard our procession.Thou Father! Thou Son! Thou Spirit Holy!Be the Three-One with us day and night,On the Machair plain, on the mountain ridge,The Three-One is with us, with His arm around our head,The Three-One is with us, with His arm around our head.

Thou, gentle Michael of the white steed,Who subdued the Dragon of blood,For love of God and the Son of MarySpread over us thy wing, shield us all!Spread over us thy wing, shield us all!

Thou, gentle Michael of the white steed,

Who subdued the Dragon of blood,

For love of God and the Son of Mary

Spread over us thy wing, shield us all!

Mary, beloved! Mother of the White LambProtect us, thou Virgin of nobleness,Queen of Beauty! Shepherdess of the flocks!Keep our cattle, surround us together,Keep our cattle, surround us together.

Mary, beloved! Mother of the White Lamb

Protect us, thou Virgin of nobleness,

Queen of Beauty! Shepherdess of the flocks!

Keep our cattle, surround us together,

Keep our cattle, surround us together.

Thou Columkille, the friendly, the kind,In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit Holy,Through the Three-in-One, through the Three,Encompass us, guard our procession,Encompass us, guard our procession.

Thou Columkille, the friendly, the kind,

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit Holy,

Through the Three-in-One, through the Three,

Encompass us, guard our procession,

Encompass us, guard our procession.

Thou Father! Thou Son! Thou Spirit Holy!Be the Three-One with us day and night,On the Machair plain, on the mountain ridge,The Three-One is with us, with His arm around our head,The Three-One is with us, with His arm around our head.

Thou Father! Thou Son! Thou Spirit Holy!

Be the Three-One with us day and night,

On the Machair plain, on the mountain ridge,

The Three-One is with us, with His arm around our head,

The Three-One is with us, with His arm around our head.

But the Boatmen of Barray sing for the last verse:—

Thou Father! Thou Son! Thou Spirit Holy!Be the Three-One with us day and night,And on the crested wave, or on the mountain side,Our Mother is there, and Her arm is under our head,Our Mother is there, and Her arm is under our head.[765]

Thou Father! Thou Son! Thou Spirit Holy!

Be the Three-One with us day and night,

And on the crested wave, or on the mountain side,

Our Mother is there, and Her arm is under our head,

Our Mother is there, and Her arm is under our head.[765]

FOOTNOTES:[692]The Evening Standard, 12th Nov., 1918.[693]Ibid.[694]Ancient Britain, p. 283.[695]Cf.Stoughton, Rev. J.,Golden Legends of the Olden Time, p. 9.[696]Cf.Stoughton, Rev. J.,Golden Legends of the Olden Time, p. 5.[697]Wright, T.,Travels in the East, p. 39.[698]Windle, Sir B. C. A.,Life in Early Britain, p. 116.[699]Mitton, G. E.,Clerkenwell, p. 79.[700]B.M.,Guide to Antiquities of Stone Age, p. 26.[701]Holy Wells of Cornwall.[702]Mitton, G. E.,Mayfair, p. 1.[703]Walford, E.,Greater London.[704]Bonwick, E.,Irish Druids, p. 208.[705]Hardwick, C.,Traditions, Superstitions, and Folklore, p. 34.[706]The surname Brinsmoad still survives in the Primrose Hill neighbourhood.[707]Faiths and Folklore, ii., 401.[708]Herbert, A.,Cyclops Christianus, p. 114.[709]Ibid., p. 114.[710]Travels in the East, p. 28.[711]Donnelly, I.,Atlantis, p. 428.[712]Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes, p. 82.[713]Walford, E.,Greater London, ii., 305.[714]iii., 226.[715]A New Description of England, p. 112.[716]A New Description of England, p. 118.[717]Walford, E.,Greater London, i., 77.[718]Golden Legend, iv., p. 235.[719]Cornish Feasts and Folklore, p. 114.[720]Stow, p. 217.[721]In some parts this ceremony was known as “crying the Mare”: in Wales the horse of the guise or goose dancers was known as Mari Lhwyd.[722]Mrs. George of Sennen Cove.[723]Irvine, C.,St. Brighid and her Times, p. 6.[724]Greater London, l., p. 40.[725]Quoted,St. Brighid and Her Times, p. 7.[726]Keightley, I.,F. M., pp. 139-49.[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]Theculofculverorculfreandcolumbawas probably the IrishKil: hence theumbaofcolumbamay be connoted withimp.[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, Japhet, and their respective wives.[742]Gogmagog is also found at Uriconium, now Wroxeter, in Shropshire. Since suggesting a connection between Gog and Coggeshall in Essex, I find that Coggeshall was traditionally associated with a giant whose remains were said to have been found.Cf.Hardwick, C.,Traditions, Superstitions 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]Archæologia, fromThe 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 ofHaxa, or chief priestess, from which comes the wordHexe, 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 denominatedBourjo, 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 assisting could behold the ceremony from the elevation of the glacis which slopes inward. With this place of sacrifice communicated a path, still discernible, called theHaxellgate, leading to a small glen or narrow valley called theHaxellcleuch—both which words are probably derived from the Haxa or chief priestess of the pagans” (Letters on Demonology). It may be suggested that the mysteriousbourjowas anabriof pere Jo or Jupiter. The Scotchjoas in “John Anderson my Jo,” now signifyingsweetheart, presumably meant joy.[750]Cf.McKenzie, Donald A.,Myths of Babylonia, p. 18.[751]Mary AmbreeWho marched so free,To the siege of Gaunt,And death could not dauntAs 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 entitled “St. Nicholas Olave”.[757]Cf.Morien,Light of Britannia, p. 67.[758]Skeat connotesnaughtywith “nanot,wihta whit, see no and whit”: it would thus seem to have been equivalent tono white, which is black or nocturnal.[759]Hardwick, C.,Traditions, Superstitions, and Folklore, p. 254.[760]Thesevenhours in skirmish are suggestive of the Fair maid with gold upon her toe:—Thesevenbright gold wiresAnd the bugles they do shine,ante,p. 650.[761]Presumably Billingham River in Durham was a home of the Billings: there is a Billingley in Darfield parish, Yorkshire, a Billingsley in Bridgenorth, Salop: Billingbear in Berks is the seat of Lord Braybrook: Billingfordor Pirlestonbelonged 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]Anoucheis abugle: “the bugles they do shine”.[765]Quoted fromAdamnan’s Life of Columba(Huyshe, W.).

[692]The Evening Standard, 12th Nov., 1918.

[693]Ibid.

[694]Ancient Britain, p. 283.

[695]Cf.Stoughton, Rev. J.,Golden Legends of the Olden Time, p. 9.

[696]Cf.Stoughton, Rev. J.,Golden Legends of the Olden Time, p. 5.

[697]Wright, T.,Travels in the East, p. 39.

[698]Windle, Sir B. C. A.,Life in Early Britain, p. 116.

[699]Mitton, G. E.,Clerkenwell, p. 79.

[700]B.M.,Guide to Antiquities of Stone Age, p. 26.

[701]Holy Wells of Cornwall.

[702]Mitton, G. E.,Mayfair, p. 1.

[703]Walford, E.,Greater London.

[704]Bonwick, E.,Irish Druids, p. 208.

[705]Hardwick, C.,Traditions, Superstitions, and Folklore, p. 34.

[706]The surname Brinsmoad still survives in the Primrose Hill neighbourhood.

[707]Faiths and Folklore, ii., 401.

[708]Herbert, A.,Cyclops Christianus, p. 114.

[709]Ibid., p. 114.

[710]Travels in the East, p. 28.

[711]Donnelly, I.,Atlantis, p. 428.

[712]Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes, p. 82.

[713]Walford, E.,Greater London, ii., 305.

[714]iii., 226.

[715]A New Description of England, p. 112.

[716]A New Description of England, p. 118.

[717]Walford, E.,Greater London, i., 77.

[718]Golden Legend, iv., p. 235.

[719]Cornish Feasts and Folklore, p. 114.

[720]Stow, p. 217.

[721]In some parts this ceremony was known as “crying the Mare”: in Wales the horse of the guise or goose dancers was known as Mari Lhwyd.

[722]Mrs. George of Sennen Cove.

[723]Irvine, C.,St. Brighid and her Times, p. 6.

[724]Greater London, l., p. 40.

[725]Quoted,St. Brighid and Her Times, p. 7.

[726]Keightley, I.,F. M., pp. 139-49.

[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]Theculofculverorculfreandcolumbawas probably the IrishKil: hence theumbaofcolumbamay be connoted withimp.

[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, Japhet, and their respective wives.

[742]Gogmagog is also found at Uriconium, now Wroxeter, in Shropshire. Since suggesting a connection between Gog and Coggeshall in Essex, I find that Coggeshall was traditionally associated with a giant whose remains were said to have been found.Cf.Hardwick, C.,Traditions, Superstitions 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]Archæologia, fromThe 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 ofHaxa, or chief priestess, from which comes the wordHexe, 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 denominatedBourjo, 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 assisting could behold the ceremony from the elevation of the glacis which slopes inward. With this place of sacrifice communicated a path, still discernible, called theHaxellgate, leading to a small glen or narrow valley called theHaxellcleuch—both which words are probably derived from the Haxa or chief priestess of the pagans” (Letters on Demonology). It may be suggested that the mysteriousbourjowas anabriof pere Jo or Jupiter. The Scotchjoas in “John Anderson my Jo,” now signifyingsweetheart, presumably meant joy.

[750]Cf.McKenzie, Donald A.,Myths of Babylonia, p. 18.

[751]Mary AmbreeWho marched so free,To the siege of Gaunt,And death could not dauntAs the ballad doth vaunt.

[751]

Mary AmbreeWho marched so free,To the siege of Gaunt,And death could not dauntAs the ballad doth vaunt.

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 entitled “St. Nicholas Olave”.

[757]Cf.Morien,Light of Britannia, p. 67.

[758]Skeat connotesnaughtywith “nanot,wihta whit, see no and whit”: it would thus seem to have been equivalent tono white, which is black or nocturnal.

[759]Hardwick, C.,Traditions, Superstitions, and Folklore, p. 254.

[760]Thesevenhours in skirmish are suggestive of the Fair maid with gold upon her toe:—Thesevenbright gold wiresAnd the bugles they do shine,ante,p. 650.

[760]Thesevenhours in skirmish are suggestive of the Fair maid with gold upon her toe:—

Thesevenbright gold wiresAnd the bugles they do shine,

Thesevenbright gold wires

And the bugles they do shine,

ante,p. 650.

[761]Presumably Billingham River in Durham was a home of the Billings: there is a Billingley in Darfield parish, Yorkshire, a Billingsley in Bridgenorth, Salop: Billingbear in Berks is the seat of Lord Braybrook: Billingfordor Pirlestonbelonged 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]Anoucheis abugle: “the bugles they do shine”.

[765]Quoted fromAdamnan’s Life of Columba(Huyshe, W.).

“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.”—Provençal 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 ofeleven, 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 fashion, one may be sure that Father Christmas is the lineal descendant of the British Ogmios or Mighty Muse,aliasthe 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 themistress 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”.

In an earlier chapter we connected Iupiter or Jupiter with Aubrey or Oberon, and that this roving Emperor of Phairie Land was familiar to the people of ancient Berkshire is implied not only by a river in that county termed the Auborn, but also by adjacent place-names such as Aberfield, Burfield, Purley, and Bray. Skeat connotes Bray (by Maidenhead) with “Old Englishbraw, Mercianbreg, an eyebrow,” but what sensible or likely connection is supposed to exist between the town of Bray and an eyebrow I am unable to surmise: we have, however, considered the prehistoric “butterfly” or eyebrows, and it is not impossible that Bray was identified with this mysterious Epeur (Cupid) or Amoretto. The claims to ubiquity and antiquity put by the British poet into the mouth of Taliesin orRadiant Brow—the mystic child of Nine constituents[766]—is paralleled by the claims of Irish Ameurgin, likewise by the claims of Solomonic “Wisdom,” and there is little doubt that the symbolic forms of the “Teacher to all Intelligences” are beyond all computation.

That Berkshire, the shire of the White Horse, was a seat of beroc or El Borak the White Horse is further implied by the name Berkshire: according to Camden this originated “some say from Beroc, a certain wood where box grew in great plenty”; according to others from a disbarked oak [i.e., abare oak!] to which when the state was in more than ordinary danger the inhabitants were wont to resort in ancient times to consult about their public affairs”.[767]Overlooking Brockley in Kent is an Oak of Honor Hill, and probably around that ancient and possibly bare Oak the natives of old Brockley or Brock Meadow met in many a consultation.[768]At Coventry is Berkswell: Berkeleys are numerous, and that these sites wereabrisor sanctuaries is implied by the official definition of Great Berkhamstead,i.e., “Sheltered, home place, or fortified farm”.

At St. Breock in Cornwall there is a pair of Longstones, one measuring 12 feet 4 inches, the other 8 feet, and in all probability at some time or other these pierres or petras were symbols of the phairy Pair who were the Parents and Protectors of the district. At St. Columb in Cornwall there is a Longstone known as “The Old Man”: now measuring 7 feet 6 inches, in all probability this stone was originally 8 feet high; it was also “once apparently surrounded by a small circle”.

Fig. 419.—British. From Akerman.

In the British coin here illustrated the Old Man jogging along with a club is probablyCunthe Great One, or the Aged One. The brow of Honor Oak ridge is known as Canonbie Lea, which may be resolved into the “meadow of the abode of King On”: from this commanding height one may contemplate all London lying in the valley; facing it are the highlands of Cuneburn, Kenwood, Caenwood, and St. John’s Wood. London stone is situated in what is now termed Cannon Street—a supposed corruption of Candlewick Street: the greater probability is that the name is connected with the ancient Kenning or Watch Tower, known as aburkenning, which once occupied thesite now marked by Tower Royal in Cannon Street: the ancient Cenyng Street by Mikelgate at York, or Eboracum—a city attributed to a King Ebrauc who will probably prove to be identical with Saint Breock—marked in all likelihood the site of a similar broch, burgkenning, barbican, or watch tower. One may account for ancient Candlewick by the supposition that this district was once occupied by a candle factory, or that it was the property of a supposititious Kendal, who was identical with the Brook, Brick, or Broken of the neighbouring Brook’s wharf, Brickhill, and Broken wharf. At Kendal in Westmorland, situated on the river Can or Kent, around which we find Barnside, the river Burrow or Borrow, and Preston Hall, we find also a Birbeck, and the memories of a Lord Parr: this district was supposedly the home of the Concanni. The present site of Highbury Barn Tavern by Canonbury (London) was once occupied by a “camp” in what was known as Little St. John’s Wood,[769]and as this part of London is not conspicuously “high,” it is not improbable that Highbury was once anabri: in the immediate neighbourhood still exists Paradise Road, Paradise Passage, Aubert Park and a Calabria Road which may possibly mark the site of an original Kil abria. At Highbury is Canonbury Tower, whence tradition says an underground passage once extended to theprioryof St. John’s in Clerkenwell: from Highbury to the Angel at Islington there runs an Upper Street:upperis the Greekhypermeaningover(Germanuber), and that the celebrated “Angel” was originally a fairy or Bellinga, is somewhat implied by the neighbouring Fairbank Street—once a fairy bank?—and by Bookham Street—once a home of Bogie or Puck?From Canonbie Lea at Honor Oak, Brockley (London), one overlooks Peckham, Bickley, Beckenham, and Bellingham, the last named being decoded by the authorities intohome of Belling.

We have noted the tradition at Brentford of Two Kings “united yet divided twain at once,” yet there is also an extant ballad which commences—

The noble king of BrentfordWas old and very sick.

The noble king of Brentford

Was old and very sick.

The Cornish hill of Godolphin was also known as Godolcan, and in view of the connection between Nicolas and eleven it may be assumed that this site was sacred either to Elphin, theelven, the Holy King, or the Old King. At Highbury is an Old Cock Tavern, and in Upper Street an Old Parr Inn: not improbably Old Parr was once the deity of “Upper” Street or “Highbury,” and it is also not unlikely that the St. Peter of Westminster was similarly Old Parr, for according toThe History of Signboards—“‘TheOld Man,’ Market Place, Westminster, was probably intended for Old Parr, who was celebrated in ballads as ‘The Olde, Olde, Very Olde Manne’. The token represents a bearded bust in profile, with a bare head.[770]In the reign of James I. it was the name of a tavern in the Strand,otherwise called the Hercules Tavern, and in the eighteenth century there were two coffee-houses, the one called ‘theOld Man’s,’ the other ‘theYoung Man’s’ Coffee-house.”[771]

If the Old, Old, Very Old Man were Peter the white-haired warden of the walls of Heaven it is obvious that the Young Man would be Pierrot: it is not by accident that white-faced Pierrot, or Peterkin, or Pedrolino, is garbedin white and wears a conical white cap, the legend that accounts for this curious costume being to the effect that years and years ago St. Peter and St. Joseph were once watching (from a burkenning?) over a wintry plain from the walls of Paradise, when they beheld what seemed a pink rose peering out from beneath the snow; but instead of being a rose it proved to be the face of a child, who St. Peter picked up in his arms, whereupon the snow and rime were transformed into an exquisite white garment. It was intended that the little Peter should remain unsullied, but, as it happened, the Boy, having wandered from Paradise, started playing Ring-o-Roses on a village green where a little girl tempted him to talk: then the trouble began, for Pierrot speckled his robe, and St. Peter was unable to allow him in again; but he gave him big black buttons and a merry heart, and there the story ends.[772]

In Pantomime—which has admittedly an ancestry of august antiquity—the counterpart to Pierrot is Columbine, or the Little Dove; doubtless the same Maiden as the Virgin Martyr of St. Columb, Cornwall: this parish is situated in what was termed “The Hundred ofPydar”; in Welsh Bibles Peter is renderedPedr, and one of the Welsh bards refers to Stonehenge as “the melodious quaternion of Pedyr”: in Cornwall there is also a Padstow or Petroxstowe, and there is no doubt that Peter, like Patrick, was the Supreme Padre or Parent. According to the native ancient ecclesiastical records of Wales known as the Iolo MSS., the native name of St. Patrick was Maenwyn, which meansstone sacred: hence one may assume that the island of Battersea or Patrixeye was the abode of the padres who ministered at the neighbouringshrine of St. Peter or petra, the Rock upon which the church of Christ is traditionally built.

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