2nd s. No 40., Oct. 4. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIED 



277 



Battle of Brunnanhurg (2°i S. li. 229.) —Be- 

 sides the statement by Sharon Turner, alluded to 

 by your correspondent, that Anlaff, the Nor- 

 wegian, "entered the Humber, with a fleet of 

 615 ships," immediately previous to the battle of 

 Brunnanburg, he makes another statement, a few 

 pages further on, under date 941, that Anlaff re- 

 newed his attack in that year, and " landed at the 

 White Wells, where the broad stream of the Hum- 

 ber flowed." This seems to give an additional 

 probability to his having sailed up that river in 

 934. Turner supposes that the battle of Brun- 

 nanhurg was fought in Northumbria, and Thierry 

 fixes the locality at Bamborough. The editor of 

 the new edition of William of Malmsbury says, 

 " it is called Brumby in the Saxon Chronicle, and 

 was probably not far from the Humber." Ethel- 

 wercTs Chronicle says, " it was fought at Brunan- 

 dune" which a late editor says was at Brumby, in 

 Lincolnshire, It is admitted that the people of 

 Mercia were engaged in this conflict, and that 

 North-humberland and North Mercia are often 

 mistaken one for the other. A note in the new 

 edition of Ingulphus says, " Brunenburgh near the 

 banks of the Humber. Ingulphus calls it Brun- 

 ford. There is good reason to suppose that Burn- 

 ham, in the parish of Thornton Curtis, near the 

 Humber, was the scene of this battle. A work 

 now preparing for the press, relative to Barton- 

 on-the-Humber and its neighbourhood will pro- 

 bably throw much light upon the subject. 



PisHEY Thompson. 



" A Peep nt the Wiltshire Assizes " (2"'i S. ii. 

 229.) — In reply to the Query of R. H. B. I trou- 

 ble you to acquaint him that somewhere about 

 thirty-three years ago, a lady lent me the book of 

 which he speaks ; and she told me it was given to 

 her by the author, whom she knew intimately, and 

 who was an attorney at Salisbury, and that his 

 name was But. Or it might probably have been 

 spelled with double t, but of that I do not know, 

 nor do I recollect his Christian name, although 

 she told me. T. L. Mobbitt. 



Maidstone. 



Mr. Leeming's Picture at Hereford Cathedral 

 (2"'^ S. i. 354.) — Mr. Leeming came to Hereford 

 as a portrait painter, was very successful, and 

 personally mucli respected; he married a Here- 

 ford lady, and died early. The picture repre- 

 sented the Saviour bearing his Cross ; the restora- 

 tion of the cathedral made its removal necessary, 

 and your correspondent will find it put aside in 

 the chapter room, and. If I mistake not, in some 

 jeopardy of being injured, llunning the same 

 risk in the same lumber-room (for, though the 

 chapter-room, it is now little better), is a most 

 curious map of the world drawn before America 

 was discovered, and having Jerusalem in the 

 centre. This misinterpretation of Ezekiel v. 5. is 



referred to in Mills' Crusades, but I cannot novr 

 lay my hand upon the book. 



I need hardly say that here, as in other in» 

 stances, heathen mythology has drawn from Scrip* 

 ture truth, and made it folly. Hence the tradition 

 as to Delphi : 



" irAp /m^o-ov oii^aK6v." — PJncl. Pi/th., iv. 74, ; Coll. Ad. 

 Tyr., 893. ; Eur. Ion., 231. ; Ov, Met, x. 167. 



Effigies. 

 Stamford. 



Merry England (2"'^ S. ii. 3. 219.) — Mb. 

 Keightley's attention is called to the Illustrations 

 of the Lives and Writings of Gower and Chaucer, 

 by the Rev. H. J. Todd (1810), in the concluding, 

 notes to which will be found an ingenious and 

 elaborate criticism on the word " merry," by " the 

 learned Master of Caius College, Cambridge," 

 He quotes many passages from Chaucer, and other 

 old English poets ; he also refers to Psalm Ixxxi. 

 2., "the pleasant harp" (Bible version), "the 

 merry harp " (Prayer book version) ; and comes 

 to the conclusion since formed by Mb. Keighti,ey, 

 that " merry " was used in the sense of " pleasant, 

 cheerful, agreeable." 



In an article by me called " Is the Nightingale's 

 song merry or melancholy ? " and published in 

 Sharpens Magazine, vol. ii. New Series, p. 281., 

 will be found (as a foot note) the substance of the 

 lengthy disquisition on the word merry by the 

 Rev. H. J. Todd, and "the Master of Caius," 

 whose name I did not then know : it was the Rev. 

 Dr. Davy. Cuthbeet Bede. 



English Words terminating in " -iV (2"'^ S. ii. 

 47. 119.) — Besides those already mentioned by 

 T. J. P], and E. C. H., four such words occur to 

 me, viz. fusil, pasquil, instil, and distil. E. H, A. 



Superstition about Human Hair (2""^ S. ii. .386, 

 387.) —In The Pirate (vol. ii. pp. 135, 136., Ca- 

 dell's edit., Edinburgh, 1831, Noma of the Fitful 

 Head sings to the Spirit of the Winds : 



" To appease thee, see, I tear 

 This full grasp of grizzled hair ; 

 Oft thy breath I'lath through it sung, 

 Softening to my magic tongue, — 

 Now, His thine to bid it fly 

 Through the wide expanse of sky, 

 'Mid the countless swarms to sail, 

 Of wild-fowl wheeling on thy gale ; 

 Take thy portion and rejoice, — 

 Spirit, thou hast heard my voice ! " 

 " Noma accompanied these words with the action 

 which they described, tearing a handful of hair with 

 vehemence from her head, and strewing it upon the wind 

 as she continued her recitation. She then shut the case- 

 ment," &c. 



Here the sacrifice of human hair is used by 

 Noma after she fails to find the heart-formed 

 piece of lead, the object of her incantation, and to 

 appease the Spirit of the Storm. The superstition 



