14 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 



II. 



Domesday Book gives the following, under " Abbatia Middel- 

 tunensis " : Ipsa ^Ecclesia tenet Widecome. T.R.E. geldabat pro 

 VI. hidis. Terra (cultivated land) est VI. carucatarum (a hide or 

 carucate is about 100 acres). De ea sunt dominio IV. hidae, et ibi I. 

 car. et II. servi (bondmen) et VII. villani (laborers) et V. bordarii 

 (cottagers) cum III. car. Ibi V. acrse prati, et pastura XIII. quarenten. 

 long, et II. quarenten. lat. (a quarentena is 40 perches, and one perch 

 is 20 feet). 

 Valet IV libras et X solidos. 



It may be well, in a POSTSCRIPT, to call attention to a 

 font (fig. E) in the church of St. John the Baptist at 

 Stone, near Aylesbury. The sculpture has been said to 

 represent the Three Persons of the Christian Godhead ; but 

 who can seriously contend that a Ravenous Bird is the 

 Holy Ghost, or that an Undraped Warrior, with a bitten 

 hand, is the All Father ? 



On a Golden Horn, of the IV. Century, found in North 

 Jutland, are similar nude persons, who wield precisely 

 similar swords, and who are surrounded by similar snakes 

 and fishes.* 



The legend on this Christian font is a pagan overlap. In 

 the centre of the sculptured group stands the god Tyr, or 

 Tew, whose name is preserved in our " Tuesday." A son 

 of Odin, he was the most daring and intrepid of all his fellows. 

 He was the inspirer and protector of brave men, and was 

 called " the one-handed god of War." 



We read in Snorre's Edda how Fenris-w r olf was bound. 

 The gods craftily promised, when called upon, to loose his 

 fetters. But he said " First let one of you lay his hand in 

 my mouth, as a pledge that you are not deceiving me." 

 And Tyr was the only one who had the courage to do so. 

 Then Fenris-wolf struggled in vain to get free, and all the 



* Stephens' Handbook of Runic Monuments, p. 85 



