LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1873.

CONTENTS.-No. 48.

MISCELLANEA:-Our Scandinavian Ancestors, 49.

the language itself has been shown by Dean Trench, who states that, of a hundred English words, sixty come from the Scandinavian, thirty from the Latin, five from the Greek, and five from other sources.

In Scotland many more Norse words, which sound quite foreign to an English ear, yet linger amongst the common NOTES:-Cæsar's Landing Place, 51-"The Lords of Mysrewle," or people; while, as in England, the original Celtic inhabi"King of Christmas"-Iron Implements at Kings Sedgemoor-tants were driven to the west before the Northmen, who Ornamental Sculptures from Mar's Work," Stirling-Destiny of the Sovereigns of France-Poems on Affairs of State. landed on the east. In certain districts of the Orkneys a QUERIES:-Forfarshire Ballad, 54- Drunkard's Revel corrupt dialect of Norse was spoken till recently, and the Sempill Family Run and Ride Livings-Author of the "Rise of Scandinavian type of features is there often to be met with. Canada"-Leith Sugar Refining Company-Heraldic Supporters The Norse language is still understood and frequently REPLIES: Surnames: Scots Ballad, 56-Roger of that Ilk-Book- spoken in Shetland, where the stalwart, manly forms of the Inscriptions-Tirling at the Pin-Reid of Pitfoddels-Folk Lore fishermen, the characteristic prevalence of blue eyes and Lairg, Largs, Largo Herefordshire New Year Customs-Title light flaxen hair, the universal observance of the Norse "Very Reverend" National Monumental Brasses Ready Reckoners-Curious Means of Love Correspondence. Yule, and many other old-world customs, together with the oriental, and almost affecting regard paid to the sacred rites of hospitality on the part of the islanders, all plainly tell their origin. The language of the Faroe islanders is a dialect of the Norse, approaching Danish, and peculiar to themselves. It is called Faroese. The peaceful inhabitants not only resemble, but are Northmen.

FACTS AND JOTTINGS, 57.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, 58.

OBITUARY, 59.

NOTICES OF Books, 59.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS, 60.

Miscellanea.

-

OUR SCANDINAVIAN ANCESTORS. THE subjoined article was printed in No. 18, of the first volume of Good Words. Should you deem it of sufficient interest, I shall be glad if you will give it a place in the Antiquary.

I. C. S. Few subjects possess greater interest for the British race than the Scandinavian North, with its iron-bound rampart of wave-lashed rocks, its deeply-indented fiords, bold cliffs, rocky promontories, abrupt headlands, wild skerries, crags, rock-ledges and caves-all alive with gulls, puffins, and kittiwakes; and, in short, the general and striking picturesqueness of its scenery, to say nothing of the higher human interest of its stirring history, and the rich treasures of its grand old literature.

The British race has been called Anglo-Saxon; made up, however, as it is, of many elements-ancient Briton, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Dane, Norman, and Scandinavian-the latter predominates so largely over the others, as to prove by evidence, external and internal, and not to be gainsaid, that the Scandinavians are our true progenitors.

The Germans are a separate branch of the same great Gothic family, industrious, but very unlike us in many respects. The degree of resemblance and affinity may be settled by styling them honest, but unenterprising, inland friends, whose ancestors and ours were first cousins upwards of a thousand years ago.

In Iceland we have pure Norse, as imported from Norway in the ninth century, the lone northern sea having guarded it, and many other interesting_features, from those modifications to which the Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish have been subjected by neighbouring Teutonic or German influences. This language, the parent, or, at least, the oldest and purest form of the various Scandinavian dialects with which we are acquainted, has been at different times named Dönsk, Tunga, Norraena, or Norse, but latterly it has been simply called Icelandic, because peculiar to that

island.

The language, history, and literature of our ancestors having been thus preserved in the north, we are thereby enabled to revisit the past, read it in the light of the present, and make both subservient for good in the future.

Our first authentic particulars regarding the ancient Britons are derived from Julius Cæsar, whose landing on the southern portion of our island, and hard-won battles, were but transient and doubtful successes. The original inhabi tants were Celts from France and Spain; but, as we learn from him, these had long before been driven into the interior and western portion of the island by Belgians, who crossed the sea, made good their footing, settled on the east and south-eastern shores of England, and were now known as Britons. With these Cæsar had to do. The intrepid bravery of the well-trained and regularly-disciplined British warriors commanded respect, and left his soldiers but little to boast of. The Roman legions never felt safe unless within their entrenchments, and, even there, were sometimes surprised.

Our British institutions and national characteristics were not adopted from any quarter, completely moulded and finished, as it were, but exhibit everywhere the vitality of growth and progress, slow but sure. Each new element or useful suggestion, from whatever source derived, has been tested and modified before being allowed to take root and form part of the constitution. The germs have been developed in our own soil.

To the old Northmen, hailing from the sea-board of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, may be traced the germs of all that is most characteristic of the modern Briton, whether personal, social, or national. The configuration of the land, and the numerous arms of the sea with which the Thus to the Romans we can trace our municipal institunorth-west of Europe is indented, necessitated boats and tions-subjection to a central authority, controlling the seamanship. From these coasts the Northmen-whether rights of individuals. To the Scandinavians we can as bent on piratical plundering expeditions, or peacefully seek-distinctly trace that principle of personal liberty which ing refuge from tyrannical oppression at home-sallied forth in their frail barques or skiffs, which could live in the wildest sea, visiting and settling in many lands. We here mention, in geographical order, Normandy, England, Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, Faroe, and Iceland. Wherever they have been, they have left indelible traces behind them, these ever getting more numerous and distinct as we go northwards.

The preponderance of the direct Scandinavian element in

resists absolute control, and sets limits-such as Magna Charta-to the undue exercise of authority in governors. These two opposite tendencies, when unitied, like the centripedal and centrifugal forces, keep society revolving peacefully and securely in its orbit around the sun of truth. When severed, tyranny, on the one hand, or democratic licence, on the other-both alike removed from freedom-must result, sooner or later, in instability, confusion, and anarchy. France affords us an example of the one, and America of

the other. London is not Britain in the sense that Paris is encountering the stormy blasts of the North Sea, to lower the France; while Washington has degenerated into a mere lug-sail on the approach of every billow, so as to ride its cockpit for North and South. crest with bare mast, and to raise it again as the skiff descends into the more sheltered trough of the wave. By such constant manœuvering, safety is secured and progress made. When boats are lost-and such tragedies frequently occur, sometimes leaving poor widows lonely, and at one fell swoop bereft of husband, father, and brothers, for the crews are generally made up of relatives-it is generally when, mastered by strong currents between the islands, which neither oar nor sail can stem, they are carried among skerries and rocks. Such losses are always on the coasts— never at sea.

From the feudal system of the Normans, notwithstanding its abuses, we have derived the safe tenure and transmission of land, with protection and security for all kinds of property. British law has been the growth of a thousand years, and has been held in so much respect that even our revolutions have been legally conducted, and presided over by the staid majesty of justice. Were more evidences wanting to show that the Scandinavian element is actually the backbone of the British race-contributing its superiority, physical and moral, its indomitable strength and energy of character-we would simply mention a few traits of resemblance which incontestably prove that "the child is father to the man."

The old Scandinavian possessed an innate love of truth; much earnestness; respect and honour for woman; love of personal freedom; reverence, up to the light that was in him, for sacred things; great self-reliance, combined with energy of will to dare and do; perseverance in overcoming obstacles, whether by sea or land; much self-denial, and great powers of endurance under given circumstances. These qualities, however, existed along with a pagan thirst for war and contempt of death, which was courted on the battle-field that the warrior might rise thence to Valhalla. To illustrate the love of freedom, even in thought, which characterizes the race, it can be shown that, while the Celtic nations fell an easy prey to the degrading yoke of Romish superstition, spreading abroad its deadly miasma from the south, the Scandinavian nations, even when for a time acknowledging its sway, were never bound hand and foot by it, but had minds of their own, and sooner or later broke their fetters.

Perhaps the two most striking outward resemblances between Britons and Scandinavians may be found in their maritime skill, and in their powers of planting colonies, and governing themselves by free institutions, representative parliaments, and trial by jury.

The Norse rover-bred to the sea, matchless in skill, daring, loving adventure and discovery, and with any amount of pluck-is the true type of the British tar. In light crafts, the Northmen could run into shallow creeks, cross the North Sea, or boldly push off to face the storms of the open Atlantic. These old Vikings were seasoned "salts" from their very childhood-" creatures native and imbued unto the element; neither in peace nor war, on land nor sea, did they fear anything but fear. In them we see the forerunners of the buccaneers, and the ancestors of those naval heroes, voyagers, and discoverers-those Drakes and Dampiers, Nelsons and Dundonalds, Cooks and Franklins, who have won for Britain the proud title of sovereign of the seas-a title which she is still ready to uphold against all comers.

Of the Scandinavian powers of colonizing: there is ample evidence of their having settled in Shetland, Orkney, and on our coasts, long before those great outgoings of which we have authentic historical records. To several of these latter we shall briefly advert, viz., the English, Russian, Icelandic, American, and Norman.

We may first mention that, in remote ages, this race swept across Europe from the neighbourhood of the region now called Circassia, lying between the Black Sea and the Caspian, to the shores of the Baltic, settling on the northwest coast of Europe. Their traditions, and numerous Eastern customs, allied to the Persians and the inhabitants of the plains of Asia Minor in old Homeric days, which they brought along with them, all go to confirm their Eastern origin. Nor did they rest here, but, thirsting for adventure in these grim, warrior ages, sallied forth as pirates or settlers, sometimes both, and, as we shall now see, made their power and influence felt in every country of Europe, from Lapland to the Mediterranean.

The

They invaded England, and founded the kingdoms of South, West, and East Seaxe, East Anglia, Mercia, Deira, and Bernicia; thus overrunning and fixing themselves in the land, from Devonshire to north of the Humber. From the mixture of these, with the previous Belgian settlers and original inhabitants, we have the Anglo-Saxon_race. Jutes who settled in Kent were from Jutland. In A.D. 787, the Danes ravaged the coast, beginning with Dorsetshire; and, continuing to swarm across the sea, soon spread themselves over the whole country. They had nearly mastered it all, when Alfred ascended the throne in 871. At length, in A.D. 1017, Canute, after much hard fighting, did master it, and England had Danish kings from that period till the Saxon line was restored in 1042.

In the year A.D. 862, the Scandinavian Northmen established the Russian empire, and played a very important part in the management of its affairs even after the subsequent infusion of the Sclavonic element. In the "Mémoires de la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord," published at Copenhagen, we find that, of the fifty names of those composing Ingor's embassy to the Greek Emperor at Constantinople, in the year A.D 994, only three were Sclavic and the rest Northmen-names that occur in the Sagas, such as Ivar, Vigfast, Eylff, Grim, Ulf, Frode, Asbrand, &c. The Greeks called them Russians, and Frankish writers simply Northmen.

In the year A.D. 863, Naddodr, a Norwegian, discovered Iceland.

In Shetland, we still find the same skilled seamanship, and the same light open boat, like a Norwegian yawl; indeed, planks for building skiffs are generally all imported from Norway, prepared and ready put together. There the peace-loving fishermen, in pursuit of their perilous calling, sometimes venture sixty miles off to sea, losing sight of all land, except perhaps the highest peak of their island homes In A.D. 874, Ingolf with his followers, many of whom left dimly peering just above the horizon-line. Sometimes were related to the first families in Norway, fleeing from the they are actually driven, by stress of weather, within sight tyranny of Harold Harfagra, began its colonization, which of the coast of Norway, and yet the loss of a skiff in the was completed during a space of sixty years. They estaopen sea, however high the waves run, is a thing quite un-blished a flourishing republic, appointed magistrates, and known to the skilled Shetlander. The buoyancy of the skiff held their Althing, or national annual assembly, at Thing(from this word we have ship and skipper) is something wonderful. Its high bow and stern enable it to ride and rise over the waves like a sea-duck, although its chance of living seems almost as little and as perilous as that of the dancing shallop or mussel-shell we see whelmed in the ripple. Its preservation, to the onlooker from the deck of a large vessel, often seems miraculous. It is the practice, in

valla. Thus, in this distant volcanic island of the Northern Sea, the old Danish language was preserved unchanged for centuries: while, in the various eddas, were embodied those folk songs and folk myths, and, in the sagas, those historical tales and legends of an age at once heroic and romantic, together with that folk lore which still forms the staple of all our old favourite nursery tales, and was brought

with them from Europe and the East by the first settlers.* All these, as well as the productions of the Icelanders themselves, are of great historical and literary value. They have been carefully edited and published, at Copenhagen, by eminent Icelandic, Danish, and other antiquaries. We would refer to the writings of Müller, Magnuson, Rafn, Rask, Eyricksson, Torfaeus, and others. Laing has translated The Heimskringla," the great historical saga of Snorre Sturleson, into English. Various other translations and accounts of these singularly interesting eddas, sagas, and ballads, handed down by the Scalds and Sagamen are to be met with; but by far the best analysis, with translated specimens, is that contained in Howitt's "Literature of the North of Europe." We would call attention, in passing, to the edda, consisting of the original series of tragic poems from which the German "Niebelungenlied" has been derived, as a marvellous production, absolutely unparalleled in ancient or modern literature, for power, simplicity, and heroic grandeur.

Christianity was established in Iceland in the year 1000. Fifty-seven years later, Isleif, Bishop of Skalholt, first introduced the art of writing the Roman alphabet, thus enabling them to fix oral lessons of history and song; for the Runic characters previously in use were chiefly employed for monuments and memorial inscriptions, and were carved on wood-staves, on stone or metal. On analysis, these rude letters will be found to be crude forms and abridgments of the Greek or Roman alphabet. We have identified them all, with the exception of a few letters, and are quite satisfied on this point, so simple and obvious is it, although we have not previously had our attention directed

to the fact.

Snorre Sturleson was perhaps one of the most learned and remarkable men that Iceland has produced.

In 1264, through fear and fraud, the island submitted to the rule of Haco, King of Norway--he who died at Kirkwall, after his forces were routed by the Scots at the battle of Largs. In 1387, along with Norway, it became subject to Denmark. In 1529 a printing press was established; and in 1550 the Lutheran Reformation was introduced into the island-the form of worship which is still retained.

True to the instinct of race, the early settlers in Iceland did not remain inactive, but looked westward, and found scope for their hereditary maritime skill in the discovery and colonizing of Greenland. They also discovered Helluland (Newfoundland), Markland (Nova Scotia), and Vineland (New England). They were also acquainted with American land, which they called Hvitramannaland (the land of the white men), thought to have been North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. We have read authentic records of these various voyages, extending from A.D. 877 to A.D. 1347. The names of the principal navigators are Gunnbiorn, Eric the Red, Biarne, Leif, Thorwald, &c. But the most distinguished of these American discoverers is Thorfinn Karlsefne, an Icelander, "whose genealogy," says Rafn, is carried back, in the old northern annals, to Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Scottish and Irish ancestors, some of them of royal blood." With singular interest we also read that, "in A.D. 1266, some priests at Gardar, in Greenland, set on foot a voyage of discovery to the Arctic regions of America. An astonomical observation proves that this took place through Lancaster Sound and Barrow's Strait to the latitude of Wellington's Channel"

When Columbus visited Iceland, in A.D. 1467, he may have obtained confirmation of his theories as to the existence of a great continent in the west; for these authentic records prove the discovery and colonization of America by the Northmen from Iceland upwards of five hundred years before he rediscovered it.

The Norman outgoing is the last we shall here allude to. In A.D. 876 the Northmen, under Rollo, wrested Normandy from the Franks; and from thence, in A.D. 1065, William, sprung from the same stock, landed at Hastings, vanquished Harold, and is known to this day as the Conqueror of England. It was a contest of Northmen with Northmen.

To Scandinavia we must look for the germs of that spirit of enterprise which has peopled America, raised an Indian empire, and colonized Australia, and which has bound together as one, dominions on which the sun never sets; all, too, either speaking, or fast acquiring, a noble language, which bids fair one day to become universal.

For these last we would refer to Thorpe's "Yuletide Stories," Dasent's" Popular Tales from the Norse," and to our own nursery

lore.

Notes.

CESAR'S LANDING-PLACE.
(VOL. iii. 5.)

I READ Sir G. B. Airy's essays in the Archæologia (v. xxxiv.
& xxxix.) in July, and trusting to my memory and a few
note-book jottings and references in writing the above, late in
December, fell into the grave error of imagining difference
as to the time of high-water at Dover between Sir George
and the almanacs; for which carelessness I beg pardon
of Sir George, and the Editor and readers of the Antiquary.
The law of tidal flux and reflux, in relation to the times of
high and low water, off the north and east coast of Thanet,
which I observe in the autumn differing somewhat from
that which obtains at Dover, misled me. At Margate, the
tide, when low and rising, sets towards London; and soon
after high water on shore sets the other way, towards the
North Foreland. At Ramsgate, the tide after rising about
three hours sets north-east, towards Broadstairs, and con-
tinues in that direction from six to seven hours; then, about
three hours after it has begun to fall, it turns and flows
towards Deal. Cæsar, then, had he come first to the Rams.
gate coast, would have beencarried by the tide, about 3 p.m.,
on the third or fourth day before full moon, towards Deal,
if all Sir George's premises be correct. But he assumes
that by "cestum secundum," Cæsar meant a tide that carried
him along to his landing-place. Mr. Long says, it means
only high water sufficient to float off his ships; he might
have added, to enable them, on a rock-bound coast, to
approach the shore with safety. "Of the stream he could
know nothing;" and even recent observers, with far more
scientific knowledge than Caesar, have erred with regard to
the tide. "Dr. Cardwell, who appears to have paid much
attention to the tides off Folkstone, thought he had good
grounds for maintaining that near shore the flood-tide would
make as early as three o'clock, and might very well have
carried Cæsar eastwards towards Deal; and Dr. Guest's
own observations at Folkstone strongly corroborate those of
Dr. Cardwell. (Archæol. Journal, xxi. 233.) Halley, an
able astronomer, "was confident the tide would carry Cæsar
towards Deal." The deceased emperor, Napoleon III. with,
it may be presumed, the best French marine lights to steer
by, struck on the same rock: arguing that the current of the
rising tide must have carried Cæsar's fleet towards Deal.
"Historie de Jules César," tom. ii. 154 (4o ed. Paris, 1865).
"On sait que la mer produit dans la Manche en s'élevant
ou s'abissant deux courants alternatifs, l'un dirigè de l'ouest
à l'est appels flot, ou courant de la marée montante, l'autre
dirigé de l'est à l'ouest, nommè jusant, ou courant de la
marée descendante," and Cæsar's fleet on the sixth day
before full moon, starting somewhat later in the afternoon
than usually supposed, was "poussée depuis Douvres par le
courant de la marée montante," which, "en obligeant à
chercher le point de debarquement au nord de Douvres,
constitue la plus forte présomption théorique en faveur de
Deal." Cæsar then, who knew nothing about tidal streams,

not in the tide, at least in the inshore currents.

SO

the day of Cæsar's landing the tide carried him away from
Deal? that for him to have first attempted Dover, and then
to have landed at Walmer or Deal is absolutely impossible?
I, for one, cannot think so, and trust the question will not
be considered as already settled, but will be fairly discussed
in the pages of the Antiquary.
FRANCIS J. LEACHMAN, M.A.
20, Compton Terrace, Highbury, N.
January 21.

P.S. Captain Maury, in the "Physical Geography of the Sea," mentions numerous rotatory streams in the English Channel, which occur mostly between the outer extremities of the channel-tide, and the stream of the oceanic or parentwave; and which are to be accounted for by streams acting obliquely upon each other; of which Admiral Beechey has given illustrative diagrams. (Phil. Trans. 1851, pt. ii. p. 703.) Observation of the effect of these cross currents, and of that of the winds upon the surface water, and apparent flow of the tide, might be made by any who will be visiting the coast in the summer, and taken just before new or full moon would help to determine the question whether the tide must have carried Cæsar westward.

MAS."-The account of this old Christmas custom being "THE LORDS OF MYSREWLE," OR "KING OF CHRISTstill kept up at St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, is very interesting, and I think many of your readers, as well as myself, would be gratified if your correspondent would kindly give of the Grey Friars," a book which is not in everyone's posthe full description of this old pageant from the "Chronicle

session.

was probably mistaken if he thought that the stream was in the same direction as the wind. The latter affects the surface water, at Dover especially, owing to local causes. "Winds," says Admiral Beechey, "greatly affect the time of turn of the stream." And in Calver's report of observations, reduced by Admiral Smyth, I read, "The maximum velocity of the flood-tide varies greatly, from 7200 to 12,000 feet per hour." "The duration of the flood-stream is very variable. The time of turning depends somewhat on locality. This degree of precision is all that can be obtained, since the prevailing winds are known to have great influence on the surface-water, from local peculiarities. It also appears that the turn is sooner to the east of Dover than to the west, still, not differing more than an hour in that confined gorge of the Channel." My own belief, based, however, on experience not very recent, in sailing and rowing in the Channel, is that the direction of the tide may be overlooked in a fair or moderately strong wind. Again, Dr. Guest, in the able essay in the Archæol. Journal (xxi. 220-242), which all interested in this question should read carefully, argues that the immense changes on the coasts of Sussex and Kent since Cæsar's time, which are probably such that the line of coast is considerably altered, and where now there is land, as over 50,000 acres in Romney Marshes, there then was sea; and where now there is deep sea, as in the Downs, there may have been land; and the estuary of the Wantsum being closed up, may probably have produced changes, if Mr. Airy assures us that he has taken all these suspected causes of change of the tidal hours into account; but if the tide is uniformly regular as he supposes, and is not affected by form of coast and of sea-bottom, which latter also may have changed greatly in 2000 years, how can the remarkable differences in the turn of tide at different points of the coast be accounted for? At Dover, there is very little difference between the time of the turn of the tide to the west close in shore and some miles out; but close in shore off Hastings the stream turns to the west two hours earlier than at five miles out. The crossing of tides from the Atlantic and North seas, the continued prevalence of high winds, changes of atmospheric temperature and pressure, may all produce temporary changes in the tide. ("Atlas of Physical Geog." by Petermann and Milner, p. 39.). The tide is supposed to flow generally one way on both sides of the Channel, yet a remarkable exception is mentioned by Napoleon :-"Le courant qui du côté de l'Angleterre entraîne un batiment vers l'est, sur la côté de Boulogne l'entraîne au contraire vers la Somme." And an eminent French astronomer, Arago, after remarking that the rise of the tide at Acapulco is only a fourth of the rise at the Madeleine, that there are differences of 21 and 4 hours between the times of high water at ports only a short distance from each other, and that, too, on a coast, the western coast of America, where the ocean stretches out in full freedom, where there are not many narrow arms of the sea, and that an interval of three hours elapses between the time of high water at Payta and that at Callao, declares, "on ne pourra soutenir que la question des marées soit épuisée, malgré les beaux travaux des géomètres dont nous avons rendu compte. Il faut encore expliquer de quelle manière des obstacles invisibles, les inégalités du fond de la mer agissent sur la vitesse des vagues, et sur leur hauteur." ("Astronomic Pop." tom. iv. p. 113.) And Dr. Guest says, after summarizing the enormous changes on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, What effect these changes would have on the inshore cur-Pro apparatu in comedia Andriæ rents I believe no one can tell. The laws which regulate Pro prandis Principis Natalicii eodem tempores these currents are to the last degree perplexing. They Pro refectione præfectorum et doctorum majis evidently depend on complex causes, and cannot be treated illustrium cum Bursariis prandentium temas mere corollaries to the law which regulates the great pore comadia iv oo vii tide-drift in mid-channel. No one, by the mere aid of calculation, can say for how long a time the tide will run on a That is to say, for dresses and scenes in acting Terence's given day, at a given place, on the coast of the English Andria; for the dinner of the Christmas Prince, and for Channel." the entertainment of the heads of the Colleges, and the most eminent doctors dining with the bursars or treasurers at the

46

Can it then be affirmed with absolute certainty that on

an account of the manner in which it was there kept up in It was formerly a custom much in vogue at Oxford, and scribes it at Merton College, where the last who was elected some of the colleges is interesting. Antony à Wood deto the office of King of Christmas, or Lord of Misrule, was Mr. Jasper Heywood, in the reign of Queen Mary. He says, "that custom had been as ancient, for aught that I know, as the college itself, and the election of them after St. Edmund, king and martyr, letters under Seal were this manner. On the 19th of November, being the vigil of pretended to have been brought from some place beyond sea for the election of a King of Christmas, or Misrule, sometimes called with us of the aforesaid college (Merton) Rex faborum. The said letter being put into the hands of the bachelor fellows, they brought them into the hall that night, and standing, sometimes walking round the fire, there readthat had not yet borne that office, whether he was a doctor ing the contents of them, would choose the senior fellow of divinity, law, or physic, and being so elected, had power put into his hands of punishing all misdemeanours done in the time of Christmas, either by imposing exercises on the juniors, or putting into the stocks at the end of the hall any of the servants, with other punishments that were sometimes very ridiculous. He had always a chair provided for him, and would sit in great state when any speeches were spoken or justice to be executed, and so this his authority would continue till Candlemas, or much about the time that the Ignis Regentium was celebrated in that college" (Wood's Annals. Vol. ii. p. 136).

Warton, in his "History of English Poetry," thus refers to the same custom as prevailing at Trinity College, Oxford. "In an audit book of Trinity College, I think for the year 1559, I find the following disbursement :-

...

£ s. d. vii ix iv xiii ix

since, my attention was called to the circumstance of a

number of horseshoes having been dug up on the borders James VI. of Scotland and First of England. The other