Notes and Queries, Number 17, February 23, 1850

Notes and Queries, Number 17, February 23, 1850
Various

Various

Notes and Queries, Number 17, February 23, 1850

NOTES

KING ALFRED'S GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE

The sketch of Europe, which our illustrious Alfred has inserted in his translation of Orosius, is justly considered, both here and on the Continent, as a valuable fragment of antiquity[1 - "La précieuse géographie d'Alfred, roi d'Angleterre."—Le Comte J. Gräberg. La Scandinavie Vengée, p. 36.]; and I am sorry that I can commend little more than the pains taken by his translators, the celebrated Daines Barrington and Dr. Ingram, to make it available to ordinary readers. The learned judge had very good intentions, but his knowledge of Anglo-Saxon was not equal to the task. Dr. Ingram professedly applied himself to correct both Alfred's text and Barrington's version, so far as relates to the description of Europe; but in two instances, occurring in one passage, he has adopted the judge's mistake of proper names for common nouns. I do not call attention to the circumstance merely as a literary curiosity, but to preserve the royal geographer from liability to imputations of extraordinary ignorance of his subject, and also to show the accuracy of his delineation of Europe at that interesting epoch, whence the principal states of Europe must date their establishment.

King Alfred, mentioning the seat of the Obotriti, or Obotritæ, as they are sometimes named, a Venedic nation, who, in the 9th century, occupied what is now the duchy of Mecklenburg, calls them Apdrede, and says—"Be nor than him is apdrede, and cast north wylte the man æfeldan hæt."[2 - Cotton MSS., Tiberius, b. i. fol. 12b.]

Barrington translates the words thus:—"To the north is Aprede, and to the north east the wolds which are called Æfeldan."[3 - Transl. of Orosius, p. 8.]

Dr. Ingram has the following variation:—"And to the east north are the wolds which are called Heath Wolds."[4 - Inaugural Lecture, p. 72.] To the word wolds he appends a note:—"Wylte. See on this word a note hereafter." Very well; the promised note is to justify the metamorphosis of the warlike tribe, known in the annals and chronicles of the 9th century as the Wilti, Wilzi, Weleti, and Welatibi, into heaths and wolds. Thirty pages further on there is a note by J. Reinhold Forster, the naturalist and navigator, who wrote it for Barrington in full confidence that the translation was correct:—"The Æfeldan," he says, "are, as king Alfred calls them, wolds; there are at present in the middle part of Jutland, large tracts of high moors, covered with heath only."

Of wylte, Dr. Ingram writes:—"This word has never been correctly explained; its original signification is the same, whether written felds, fields, velts, welds, wilds, wylte, wealds, walds, walz, wolds, &c. &c." And on heath, he says:—"Mr. Forster seems to have read Hæfeldan (or Hæthfeldan), which indeed, I find in the Junian MS. inserted as a various reading by Dr. Marshall (MSS. Jun. 15.). It also occurs, further on in the MS., without any various reading. I have therefore inserted it in the text."

Dr. Marshall seems to have understood the passage. What King Alfred says and means is this:—"On the north are the Apdrede (Obotritæ), and on the north east of them are the Wylte, who are called Hæfeldi."

The anonymous Saxon Poet, who wrote the life of Charlemagne, gives the same situation as Alfred to the Wilti:—

"Gens est Slavorum Wilti cognomine dicta,
Proxima litoribus quæ possidet arva supremis
Jungit ubi oceano proprios Germania fines."[5 - Vita Karoli Magni, ann. 789.]

Helmold says that they inhabited the part of the coast opposite to the island of Rugen; and hereabouts Adam of Bremen places the Heveldi, and many other Slavonic tribes.[6 - "Sunt et alii Slavorum populi qui inter Albiam et Oderam degunt, sicut Heveldi, qui juxta Haliolam fluvium, et Doxani, Liubuzzi, Wilini, et Stoderani, cum multis aliis."—Hist. Eccl. p. 47, 48.] I am not aware that any other author than Alfred says, that the Wilti and Heveldi were the same people; but the fact is probable. The Heveldi are of rare occurrence, but not so the Wilti.[7 - Annales Sangall. Brev., ann. 789.—Ann. Lauresham, &c.] Ptolemy calls them Βελται—Veltæ or Weltæ—and places them in Prussian Pomerania, between the Vistula and Niemen. Eginhard says that "they are Slavonians who, in our manner, are called Wilsi, but in their own language, Welatibi."[8 - Vit. Kar. Mag. and Annal. Francor., ann. 822.] Their country was called Wilcia,[9 - Annal. Petav., ann 789.] and, as a branch of them were settled in Batavia about 560, it does not seem very improbable that from them were derived the Wilsæton of the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, meaning the Wilts seated, or settlers in Wilts-shire. The name, as Eginhard has noticed, is Slavic, and is an adoption of welot or weolot, a giant, to denote the strength and fierceness which rendered them formidable neighbours. Heveldi seems to be the same word made emphatic with a foreign addition.

Two other names have been given much trouble to the translators, as well as to Mr. Forster. These are, Mægtha Land and Horiti or Horithi, for both occur, and the latter is not written with the letter thorn, but with a distinct t and h. Alfred has, unquestionably, met with the Slavic gorod, which so frequesntly occurs as the termination of the names of cities in the region where he indicates the seat of his Horiti to be. It signifies a city, and is an etymological equivalent of Goth. gards, a house, Lat. cors, cortis; O.N. gardr, a district, A.-Sax. geard, whence our yard. The Polish form is grodz, and the Sorabic, hrodz. He places the Horiti to the east of the Slavi Dalamanti, who occupied the district north east of Moravia, with the Surpe, that is, Serbi, Servi, on their north, and the Sisle, Slusli, another Slavonic people, on the west. This appears to be the site possessed by the Hunnic founders of Kiow. In Helmold, Chunigord, the city or station of the Huns, is the name of the part of Russia containing Kiow.[10 - Chron. Slavorum, l. i, c. 2.]

To the north of Horiti, says Alfred, is Mægtha Land.—A Finnic tribe, called Magyar, were settled in the 9th century in Mazovia, whence a part of them descended into Hungary. According to Mr. Forster, Mazovia has been called Magan Land; but I can find no trace of that name. I can easily conceive, however, that Magyar and Land might become, in Saxon copying, Mægtha Land, for the country of the Magyar. Elsewhere, Alfred uses Mægtha Land, the land of the Medes, for Persia.

Is there any other printed copy of the Saxon Orosius than Barrington's? for that forbids confidence by a number of needless and unauthorised alterations in most of the pages.

    R.T. HAMPSON

FOLK LORE

Omens from Cattle.—I forward to you a Note, which, many years ago, I inserted in my interleaved Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 519. 4to., in the hope that, as the subject interested me then, it may not prove uninteresting to some now:—

"A bad omen seems to be drawn from an ox or cow breaking into a garden. Though I laugh at the superstition, the omen was painfully fulfilled in my case.

"About the middle of March, 1843, some cattle were driven close to my house; and, the back door being open, three got into our little bit of garden, and trampled it. When our school-drudge came in the afternoon, and asked the cause of the confusion, she expressed great sorrow and apprehension on being told—said it was a bad sign—and that we should hear of three deaths within the next six months. Alas! in April, we heard of dear J–'s murder; a fortnight after, A– died; and to-morrow, August 10th, I am to attend the funeral of my excellent son-in-law.

"I have just heard of the same omen from another quarter."

This was added the next day:—

"But what is still more remarkable is, that when I went down to Mr. –'s burial, and was mentioning the superstition, they told me that, while he was lying ill, a cow got into the front garden, and was driven out with great difficulty."

    L.S.

The Horse's Head—Rush-bearings.—The account of the Welch custom of the "Grey Mare" in a late Number reminded me of something very similar in Cheshire. In the parish of Lynn it is customary, for a week or ten days before the 5th of November, for the skeleton of a horse's head, dressed up with ribbons, &c., having glass eyes inserted in the sockets, and mounted on a short pole by way of handle, to be carried by a man underneath, covered with a horse-cloth. There is generally a chain attached to the nose, which is held by a second man, and they are attended by several others. In houses to which they can gain access, they go through some kind of performance, the man with the chain telling the horse to rear, open its mouth, &c. Their object, of course, is to obtain money. The horse will sometimes seize persons, and hold them fast till they pay for being set free; but he is generally very peaceable,—for in case of resistance being offered, his companions frequently take flight, and leave the poor horse to fight it out. I could never learn the origin of this strange custom. I remember, when very young, having a perfect horror of meeting this animal in the dark.

Another custom, which I suppose prevails in some other places, is the "Rush-bearing." At the annual Wakes a large quantity of rushes are collected together, and loaded on a cart, almost to the height of a load of hay. They are bound on the cart, and cut evenly at each end. On the Saturday evening a number of men sit on the top of the rushes, holding garlands of artificial flowers, tinsel, &c. The cart is drawn round the parish by three or four spirited horses, decked out with ribbons,—the collars being surrounded with small bells. It is attended by morris-dancers, dressed in strange style,—men in women's clothes, &c. One big man in woman's clothes, with his face blacked, has a belt round his waist, to which is attached a large bell, and carries a ladle, in which he collects money from the spectators. The company stop and dance at the principal public-houses in their route, and then proceed to the parish church(!), where the rushes are deposited, and the garlands hung up very conspicuously, to remain till the next year. I believe a custom somewhat similar exists in the adjoining parish of Warburton, but not carried out in such grand style.

It would be very interesting if your correspondents in different parts of the country would send accounts of these relics of the barbarous ages.

    JULIUS.

Runcorn, Feb. 13. 1850.

ON AUTHORS AND BOOKS, NO. 5

As a writer of dedications, Samuel Johnson was the giant of his time. He once said to Boswell, the subject arising at a dinner-party, "Why, I have dedicated to the royal family all round,"—and the honest chronicler proves that he spoke advisedly.

Compositions of this nature admit much variety of character. A dedication may be the pure homage which we owe to merit, or the expression of gratitude for favours received, or a memorial of cherished friendship; and such dedications, in point of motive, are beyond the reach of censure—I may fairly assert, are very commendable. Nevertheless, Johnson left no compositions of either class: "the loftiness of his mind," as Boswell gravely states, "prevented him from ever dedicating in his own person."

A more equivocal sort of dedication also prevailed. A book was supposed to require the prefix of some eminent name as its patron, in order to ensure its success. Now the author, though very capable of writing with propriety on his chosen theme, might be unequal to the courtly style which dedicators were wont to display, and as the complement was to be returned substantially, he might be tempted to employ a superior artist on the occasion. It was chiefly under such circumstances that the powers of Johnson were called into action. By what arguments the stern moralist would have endeavoured to justify the deception, for it deserves no better name, is more than I can undertake to decide, and I submit the query to his enthusiastic admirers.

To the dedications enumerated by the faithful Boswell, and by his sharp-sighted editors, Malone and Croker, I have to announce on internal evidence, a gorgeous addition! It is the dedication to Edward Augustus, Duke of York, of An Introduction to Geometry, by William Payne, London: T. Payne, at the Mews Gate, 1767. 4º., 1768. 8º. I transcribe it literatim. It wants no comment:—

"TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF YORK.

"SIR,

"They who are permitted to prefix the names of princes to treatises of science generally enjoy the protection of a patron, without fearing the censure of a judge.

"The honour of approaching your royal highness has given me many opportunities of knowing, that the work which I now presume to offer will not partake of the usual security. For as the knowledge which your royal highness has already acquired of GEOMETRY extends beyond the limits of an introduction. I expect not to inform you; I shall be happy if I merit your approbation.

"An address to such a patron admits no recommendation of the science. It is superfluous to tell your royal highness that GEOMETRY is the primary and fundamental art of life; that its effects are extended through the principal operations of human skill; that it conducts the soldier in the field, and the seaman in the ocean; that it gives strength to the fortress, and elegance to the palace. To your royal highness all this is already known; GEOMETRY is secure of your regard, and your opinion of its usefulness and value has sufficiently appeared, by the condescension in which you have been pleased to honour one who has so little pretension to the notice of princes, as

    "Sir,
    "Your royal highnesses [sic]'
    "Most obliged,
    "Most obedient,
    "And most humble servant,
    "WILLIAM PAYNE."

A short preface follows, which bears marks of reparation. It may have received some touches from the same masterly hand.

The external evidence in favour of the ascription of the above piece to Johnson, if slight in itself, is not devoid of significance. He had dedicated a book for the same author, which book was also published by Mr. Thomas Payne, who was his brother, in 1756.

    BOLTON CORNEY.

PLAGIARISMS, OR PARALLEL PASSAGES. No. 2