shire and East Anglia, have preserved most old Saxon customs and old words, and all these our author takes for Danish.

Mr. Worsaae's book is arranged in three divisions, the first treating of "the Danes in England;" the second, of "the Norwegians in Scotland;" and the third, of "the Norwegians in Ireland." The first of these divisions is more liable to our criticism than the others. In Scotland, and especially in the islands, the Danish influence is strongly perceptible, and the Highlanders have traditional stories of the sanguinary feuds with their Scandinavian foes, whose barrows still remain piled over the bones of their chiefs. Mr. Worsaae tells us that

"The memory of the conquests and predatory incursions of the Norwegians, or Danes,' is still preserved in a remarkable degree among the poorer classes in Sutherland, as well as in the rest of the Scottish Highlands. Numberless tradiditions are in circulation respecting the levying of provisions by the Danes; and barrows, or cairns, are not unfrequently pointed out, in which a Scandinavian prince, or king's son, killed by the natives whilst on some viking expedition, is said to be buried. Besides the usual cruelties

ascribed to the Danes in the traditions of the Lowlands, and of England, they are here accused, into the bargain, of having burnt the forests, and thus caused that want of wood which acts so injuriously on the climate of the Highlands. In proof of this it is adduced that roots and trunks of trees, sometimes perceptibly scorched, are discovered in the turf-bogs of the Highlands. It is not considered that similar discoveries are very common in other countries, as, for instance, in Denmark itself; where trunks of trees, especially firs, have been dug up, precisely as in the Scotch Highlands. They are the produce of vegetative processes in the pre-historical times; and the apparent scorching has been produced either by accidental fires, or, more probably, by the simple mode of felling trees in use among the aboriginal inhabitants of Europe; who, like certain savage tribes at the present day, for want of metal tools, were obliged to burn the trunks of trees which they wished to fell."

We believe this burning, or charring, of the wood, was the result of a natural process, the same which, in a much greater length of time, produced our

coal-fields. Our author proceeds to inform us that,

"Having employed myself in examining, among other things, the many so-called 'Danish' or Pictish towers on the west and north-west coast of Sutherland, the common people were led to believe that the Danes wished to regain possession of the country, and with that view intended to rebuild the ruined castles on the coasts. The report spread very rapidly, and was soon magnified into the news that the rocks near the shore, and that I was merely Danish fleet was lying outside the sunken round about; nay, that I was actually the sent beforehand to survey the country Danish King's son himself, and had secretly landed. This report, which preceded me very rapidly, had, among other effects, that of making the poorer classes avoid, with the greatest care, mentioning any traditions connected with defeats of the Danes, and especially with the killing of any Dane in the district, lest they should occasion a sanguinary vengeance when the Danish army landed. Their fears were carried so far that my guide was often stopped by the natives, who earnestly reing hand to the enemies of the country by quested him in Gaelic not to lend a helpshowing them the way; nor would they let him go till he distinctly assured them indicating old castles in the district which that I was in possession of maps correctly he himself had not previously known. This, of course, did not contribute to allay their fears; and it is literally true, that in several of the Gaelic villages, particularly near the firths of Loch Inver and Kyle-Sku, we saw on our departure old folks wring their hands in despair at the thought of the terrible misfortunes which the Danes would now bring on their hitherto peaceful country."

Mr. Worsaae's account of the Scandinavian remains in Scotland are especially interesting. His account of Caithness is perhaps as good an example as we could select of his general style of treating the subject.

"The two most northern counties of Scotland," says Mr. Worsaae, "both of which united originally bore the Gaelic name of Catuibh, are still called after the original Norwegian forms, 'Caithness' (Old N. Katanes,' the naze of Catuibh) and Sutherland' (Old N. Suðrland'), or the land in the south; that is, as regards the Orkneys. It would be perfectly inexplicable, in any other way, why the north-western part of Scotland should be called the south land, or Sutherland. It

is, moreover, a remarkable proof of the Norwegian origin of these names, that even the present Gaelic inhabitants do not adopt them, but always call Sutherland, after the old fashion,Catuibh.' For the sake of distinction, however, they call Caithness Gallaibh,' or the stranger's land, because so many Norwegians immigrated to, and settled in, that county in preference to Sutherland.

"The district of Caithness, or, as it was often called in ancient times, Næsset,' forms a real naze, shooting out into the sea in a north-eastern direction. Its farthest point towards the north-east is called Duncansby Head (formerly 'Dungalsnýpa'), from the neighbouring Duncansby (formerly Dungalsboer '). The broadest bay on the north coast trends in between the promontories of Dunnet Head and Holburn Head; the latter of which, by protecting Thurso Bay from western and north-western gales, renders it a tolerably good harbour, in a place where good harbours are scarce on this northern coast. Supposing, now, that we land in the Bay of Thurso, by the town of that name, we soon discover the outlet of the rivulet called Thurso Water (Old N., pórsá,' or Thorsaa, Thor's rivulet), which has given the easily-recognised Scandinavian name both to the town and bay. The town and its immediate environs afford a great number of Norwegian memorials. The Norwegian king Eistein imprisoned the Orkney jarl Harald Maddadsön in Thurso itself. Close to the eastern side of the town stands a more recent monument, Harald's Tower,' erected over the body of Jarl Harald, who fell there in a battle in 1190. Not far from thence is the mansion called Murkle (formerly Myrkhóll'), where, in the tenth century, Ragnhilde, the daughter of Erik Blodöxe. and of Gunhilde, caused her husband, Jarl Arnfin, to be murdered. Immediately to the west of the town, near Scrabster (Skarabólstaðr'), are to be seen the ruins of the palace formerly inhabited by the bishops of Caithness and Sutherland. In the twelfth century Bishop Ion was blinded and mutilated there, at the instigation of Jarl Harald. Five miles west of Scrabster, and close by a foaming waterfall, stands the mansion of Forss,' by the river Forss Water. The rivulet called Thorsaa runs through a valley in ancient times called Thorsdal (pórsdalr'), adjoining another valley Kálfadalr,' or Calf-dale (either the present Calder or Cuildal), in which Jarl Ragnvald was attacked and killed by Thorbjörn Klærk. In the Dales of Caithness' (probably near Dale and Westdale, by Thurso

Water) a battle was fought in the tenth century between Jarls Ljot and Skule, in which the latter fell.

"Similar memorials present themselves everywhere on the promontory, with the exception, however, of the most western and more mountainous part, adjoining the frontiers of Sutherland. This district is still inhabited by a Gaelic population, the remnant of the ancient inhabitants, as is sufficiently testified both by the Gaelic names of places and the Gaelic language of the people. In Caithness, as well as everywhere else in the British Isles, it has been the fate of the Gaels or Celts to be driven to the poor and mountainous districts, whilst more fortunate strangers have taken possession of the fertile plains. The whole of the northern and eastern part of Caithness is a rather flat and open country, over which the sea wind sweeps freely without being intercepted by woods. Fertile and well-cultivated arable land is mingled with heaths, marshes, and small lakes. Wherever the soil is capable of cultivation, both on the coasts and in the interior, a great number of undoubted Norwegian names of places are still found scattered about, of the selfsame form as those in Orkney and the Shetland Isles: as, for instance, those ending in toft (as Aschantoft, Thurdystoft, formerly porðarþupt'), seter (setr'), busta, buster, or best (originally bolstaðr "); but particularly in ster (star). The bays, which are mostly small and narrow, are generally called goe (from 'gjá,' an opening). The larger ones are called wick (Viig); whence the town of Wick, the most important hamlet in Caithness, derives its name; but they are never called, as in the islands lately mentioned, wall (Vágr,' or 'Vaag'). Here and there a mighty barrow lifts its head, and sometimes-as, for instance, near Barrowston, parish of Reay-so extremely near the coast of Pentland Firth, that the spray washes over it. In general we shall not be mistaken in imagining that we have found in such barrows the last resting-places of the daring Vikings, who not even in death could endure to be far separated from the foaming maelstrom.

"At times the common people dig up in these mounds pieces of swords and various kinds of ornaments, especially the peculiar bowl-formed brooches, of a sort of brass, which are very frequently discovered in the Scandinavian North, and particularly in the Norwegian and Swedish graves of the times of the Vikings. These are never found in England; and in Scotland they are discovered only in the Orkneys and Sutherland, as well as in some of

"Tall bauta stones are to be seen in several places in Caithness, to which some legend about the Danes' is generally attached; they now stand in a leaning position, as if mourning over the departed times of the heroic age. A monument of a somewhat later period, according to tradition that of a Danish princess, who suffered shipwreck on the coast, was also formerly to be found in a churchyard near Ulbster. Danish fortifications, consisting partly of square towers, once existed along the coast, principally near the navigable inlets; but these also have now, for the most part, disappeared."

We could wish that Mr. Worsaae had collected more of the monumental remains of the Danish invaders, and given us a manual of the Danish antiquities of this island. The cut given above is the representative of a class of brooches found not unfrequently in the Scottish islands, and, we believe, in Ireland, in Danish burial places. Many other Scandinavian arms, personal ornaments, and other relics, have been found in Scotland and Ireland, and a few in the north of England, which Mr. Worsaae would be able to explain by comparing them with those found in the original country of those who owned them. Among these not the least remarkable are the crosses with runic inscriptions, found chiefly in the Isle of Man.

"The antiquary is much surprised to find on Man not merely one, but several of those runic stones, with genuine Scandinavian inscriptions, which he may have sought for in vain in England and Scotland. The different districts of the island contain altogether about thirty ancient sculptured monuments or sepulchral crosses; and of these at least thirteen have once had runic inscriptions, which in great part are still preserved. It is remarkable enough that these runic inscriptions are found exclusively in the more northern half of the island (at Kirk Andreas, two; at Kirk Michael, four; at

southern part of the island for himself and his followers; but the before-mentioned runic stones are certainly older than

"At the end of the inscription is carved the figure of a man (probably Joalf), with a shield on his arm and a lance in his hand. (See the annexed cut.)

treaty concluded between an Irish king and the Scandinavian king Canute.

"The language of the inscriptions, as well as the Scandinavian names which appear in them, as Thorlaf, Arnbjörg, Frida, and particularly the names compounded after the genuine Scandinavian fashion, as Sandulf the Swarthy, and Thorolf the Red, -sufficiently prove that these monuments were erected by Northmen, or Norwegians, to their relatives who had died in the Isle of Man."

"By the kindness of Mr. C. F. Herbst, of Copenhagen, I have been enabled to give a woodcut of this silver coin, the only one of its kind, and never before copied. The drawing was made from a cast taken in Dresden. If the preceding explanation, which is certainly by no means farfetched, be the right one, we shall consequently have a proof that other Scandinavian kings, besides Olaf the White, the firstmentioned in the Sagas, reigned at a very early period in Dublin, if only for a short time. But all the rest of the Norwegian coins minted in Ireland are of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries. They are of silver, and undoubtedly coined in various towns of Ireland besides Dublin, as in Limerick, Cork, Waterford, and several other towns where the Ostmen had settled.

In Ireland we meet with a new class of antiquities connected with the Scandinavian settlers, their coins, which appear to be the first that were ever struck in that country:

"That the Norwegians and Danes must really have possessed themselves of the Irish trade, and given it a new impulse, clearly appears from the circumstance that the Norwegian kings in Ireland were the first who caused coins to be minted there. One of these coins, which formerly belonged to the Timms collection in Copenhagen, but which is now in the collection of M. von Römer, in Dresden, seems (according to the opinion of that distinguished numismatologist C. J. Thomsen, of Copenhagen) to have been minted by a Scandinavian king of Dublin, as early as the eighth or ninth century. It is an imitation of the ancient Merovingian coins, and has a remarkable inscription on the obverse, half in runes and half in Latin letters, but which can scarcely be read otherwise than Cunut u Dieflio,' or, Canute in Dublin.

"The most remarkable of all are the Dublin coins, especially those with the legend Sihtric rex Dyf,' or, Sigtryg king of Dublin. It is true that there were several kings of Dublin of this name in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries: but the coins alluded to, to judge from the impressions, all of which are imitations of contemporary Anglo-Saxon dies, and especially of those of King Ethelred the Second, must for the most part have belonged to Sigtryg, surnamed Silkbeard,' who reigned in Dublin at the close of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh century, and who was one of those who fought the battle of Clontarf against Brian Boru. It is very remarkable that on Sigtryg's coins, as well as on several of the Danish coins minted in the north of England, we find not only the Latin title Rex,' but also the Scandinavian 'Cununc' (king), as, for instance, on the annexed coin (in Mr. C. F. Herbst's collection), which has never before been copied :

"The Old Northmen call Dublin' Dýflin,' whence the surrounding district also obtained the name of Dýflinarskiri,' as appears in the Sagas. This legible inscription encircles the bust of a royal warrior, clad in scale armour. On the reverse are seen the letters ENAE, and under them two figures, both turning their faces upwards in the same direction, and each extending a very large hand, whilst in their other hands, joined together, they hold a ring, as if they were taking an oath on the holy ring. They are, besides, represented as standing before, or sitting on, an elevated platform (perhaps an altar?), under which is a mark like the letter S placed on its side. These figures probably contain an allusion to some

"On the obverse is the legend 'Sihtric cunuic dyn,' or Sigtryg king of Dublin; and on the reverse, Byrhhtmer mo on Vin;' whence we see that the coiner had an Anglo-Saxon name, and was certainly an Anglo-Saxon, particularly since he is said to have been on Vin,' that is, of Winchester. Among the coiners' names on the Norwegian-Irish coins, we meet, indeed, with several Scandinavian names,