Runic Inscriptions 247 



1250, and sporadically even later. Since the dual of the first and 

 second personal pronouns is thus recognized for about two hundred 

 years after the Norman Conquest, it is not surprising that a dual 

 form should occur on the Rutliwell Cross at a late period ; and, as 

 we have seen above, the evidence favors a late period rather than an 

 earlier, (1) because the only other occurrence of the word is in a text 

 with late spellings, (2) because -et, the ending in both examples of the 

 word, seems late, as if due to lack of stress, and (3) because the sculptor 

 makes two blunders in the one word, showing perhaps that it was 

 specially unfamiliar when he worked. 



From The Dream of the Rood is taken a much briefer inscription, 

 occurring on a reliquary at Brussels, reputed to contain a fragment 

 of the True Cross. The inscription was engraved on a strip of silver 

 which formerly encircled the reliquary, and which was found when the 

 latter was taken to pieces at the instance of Professor Logeman.^ 

 In order to understand its relation to the corresponding fragments 

 on the Ruthwell Cross, I give first the adapted lines of The Dream 

 of the Rood (42 (beginning), 44, 45, 48) : 



Bifode ic. . . . 



Rod wass ic ara^red ; tlhof ic ricne Cyning, 

 heofona Hlaford ; hyldan me ne dorste. 



Bysmeredon hie unc butu aetgaedere. Eall ic waes mid blode 

 bestemed. 



Here the Ruthwell Cross has (Victor's readings) : 



ic riicnai Kyning, 

 heafunaes Hlafard ; haelda ic ni dorstas. 

 Bismsersedu ungget^ men ba 3etgad[r]e. 

 Ic . . . . mi{D blodae bistemid. 



It is evident that the monumental inscription omits lines and 

 hemistichs, and substitutes one word or form for another. 



The Brussels inscription is not continuous on the silver plate of 

 the reliquary, but divided as follows : 



1 See his brochure, U Inscription Anglo-Saxonne du Reliquaire de In 

 Vraie Croix, 1891, pp 3, 6. 

 ^ Victor, ungket ; see p. 34, above. 



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