XIV. HAIGH'S SECOND ACCOUNT, 1861. [This is taken from Haigh's Conquest of Britain by the Saxons, PP. 37, 39-41. The runes at the end are from Plate II, at the beginning of the volume.] [37] Two of them are of particular interest, as being of greater length than others, and presenting us with specimens of the Anglian dialect, as spoken in Northumbria in the seventh century. The first, on the western face of the cross at Bewcastle in Cumberland, is simply a memorial of Alcfrid, who was associated by his father Oswiu with himself in the kingdom of Northumbria, and died probably in A. D. 664.1 It gives us (Pl. I. fig. 2) three couplets of alliterative verse, thus3: THIS SIGBECUN SETTE HWETRED EM GÆRFÆ BOLDU ÆFTER BARE YMB CYNING ALCFRIDÆ GICEGÆD HEOSUM SAWLUM This memorial and carved this monument after the King Alcfrid, pray for their souls. Other inscriptions on the same monument present merely names of some of Alcfrid's kindred, in which, however, some additional characters occur. The second inscription, on two sides of a similar cross at Ruthwell, in Annandale, which may possibly have been brought from Bewcastle, and once have stood at the other end of Alcfrid's grave, consists, etc. . . . 4 [39] The poem of which these are fragments was probably one of those which Cadmon, who was living at the time when these monuments were erected, composed. That they belong to the seventh century cannot be doubted; they contain forms of the language which are evidently earlier even than those which occur in the contemporary version of Bæda's verses in i a MS. at S. Gallen, and the copy of Cadmon's first song at the end of the MS. of the 'Historia Ecclesiastica,' which was completed two years after its author's death. Thus hifun (ana[40]logous to the Gothic sibun for seofen) is certainly an earlier form than hefaen and heben, which we find in the latter of these little poems. Em in the Bewcastle inscription is efen contracted. Boldu,1 galgu, and dalgu, present a form of nouns which later would be monosyllabic. Heosum,1 the dative plural of the possessive pronoun of the third person, regularly formed, like usum, from the genitive of the personal, (hire, úre), occurs only in the Bewcastle inscription; ungcet, the dual of the first personal pronoun, only in that at Ruthwell. Gærtæ1 is a strange instance of a strong verb [41] taking an additional syllable in the præterite; but it seems to be warranted by scopa in Cadmon's song, and even by ahofe in the Durham ritual; and the analogy of the Sanscrit præterite (tutôpa, tutôpa), and the Greek (TÉTUYA, TÉTUYE), shows that such forms as these, not only for the third person, but for the first also, are more ancient than cearf, scóp, and ahóf. NOTES [The references are to page and note. Date signifies The Date of the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses (Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts and Sciences 17. 213-361), which may be consulted for photographs of the crosses, as well as the discussion of details.] 11. Buechastell. For the derivation and various spellings of this name, see Date, pp. 96-8; and compare instances below. 12. Hubert de Vaux received the barony of Gil(le)sland from Henry II in 1158 (Date, p. 100). His son, Robert de Vaux, founded the priory of Lanercost in 1169 (Date, p. 98). The inscription must have been that now read as Cynnburug (Date, p. 26). 18. The 'checky coate' in the panel of chequers (Date, p. 26), thought of as a coat of arms. 14. Does 'other' here mean the south face? 15. B and R are much alike in Runic and Roman. By beginning at the B of CYNNBURUG (as commonly read), taking the first U as a somewhat angular o (see Date, Fig. 26), and the second U as a battered A, one might possibly, considering the defaced condition of the final letter, arrive at BORAX; the E would occasion more difficulty, and one would have to disregard the previous letters. As for VAUX, one might take the first U for Roman v, regard the R as A, deal boldly with the second U, and again take the final letter as x; HUBERT DE would require more conjuring. (A convenient table of 'commoner Anglian runes' may be found in Wyatt's Old English Riddles, opposite p. xxviii.) 21. Vaulx. It seems as though Camden had adopted Roscarrock's suggestion (see p. 1). See note on p. 148. 31. untoward part. Cf. pp. 12, 23, and Date, pp. 147-8. If we may believe Hutchinson (Hist. Cumb. 1. 78), Bewcastle was not always a tiny hamlet: 'Bewcastle seems to have |