^Bdock 

 ■nVe an 



15, 1888] 



NA TURE 



51 



ock Legend" (p. 121) appeared in Hone's " Table 

 ," 1838, ii. p. 638, signed "T. C." 

 e are compelled to pass over much interesting 

 matter, such as the legend of the submerged town in 

 Semerwater (for which see also Barker, " Wensleydale,' 

 1856, p. 239), which is also told of Gormire Lake, of 

 Lough Neagh, and is one of the legends of the Rhine, 

 (iormire Lake is formed on the back of a landslip. 

 I !ie original version of the pretty ballad on the legend of 

 Troller's Gill (p. 127) and of Billy B.'s adventure 

 130) is given in Hone's "Table Book," 1838. The 

 article is signed " T. Q. M.," the nom de plume of the 

 late Dr. J. H. Dixon in the " Table Book." Also our 

 author's " Wise Woman of Littondalc " (p. 134), from the 

 " Table Book," ii. p. 775, signed " T. O. M.," is one of 

 Dr. Dixon's productions. With regard to the probable 

 site of " Stoknmore " (p. 162) a local tradition identifies 

 the erect column of stone, 1 1 feet high, known as the 

 " Long Stoop," on Yeadon Moor, as the subject of Mother 

 5hipton's prophecy " then will ravens sit on the cross, and 

 h|Mc as much blood of the nobles as of the commons." 

 ^^Bith reference to the Handale legend (p. 168), the 

 ^^Mon there given is taken from the Leisure Hour ior May 

 ^^^p^ but that, in its turn, is almost word for word taken 

 m^ Ord's " History of Cleveland,'' 1846, p. 283, as 

 related by Mr. Marr, then tenant of Handale farm. 

 Another original version obtained by the present writer 

 n Mr. Robert D. Watson, of Loftus-in-Cleveland, 

 cribes the hero as "a shoemaker of the name of 

 hcaw" [O.N. Skor, a shoe'\ who "had a suit of clothes 

 made into which he had by some means stitched all over 

 it razor-blades edge outwards," an item which is iden- 

 tical with that given by our author (p. 171) of the slayer 

 of '* the dragon of Loschy Wood." Though our author 

 s not include Beowulf among his legends of Yorkshire, 

 ' are of opinion that the able demonstration of Mr. 

 Haigh, in his "Anglo-Saxon Sagas," 1861 (which can 

 now be supported by additional facts, overlooked by him, 

 h as the two coins of " Haereth," found in North- 

 Ijriaand engraved in Hickes's "Thesaurus," 1705, iii. 

 p. 168), that Cleveland was the scene of the principal 

 e\ent recorded in Beowulf, remains unshaken by the 

 -mierous foreign and English commentaries that have 

 c appeared on the subject. We cannot doubt that 

 c "Grendel" destroyed by Beowulf was a religious 

 house at " Grendale, afterwards Handale," as appears by 

 a charter, anno 11 33 (Charlton, p. 90), but space forbids 

 doing more than noting the omission. There are some 

 grievous misprints, e.g. "bretwalder" for "Bretwalda" 

 (p. II), " Worsaal " for " Worsaae" (p. 221), " Upsalier" 

 for " Upsalir" (p. 222). 



Among the miscellaneous legends is one called " Swine 

 Harrie" (p. 219) apparently belonging to deer-stealing 

 I days, and found in various forms. It appeared in Hone's 

 "Table Book," 1838, ii. p. 722. The thief in carrying 

 his burden home slips in crossing a rock or wall, and is 

 hung by the cord. It should, however, be observed that 

 " Hanging "is a common epithet in the Pennine Hills, 

 e.g. " Hanging Stones." Apropos of this legend "there 

 is a crag on Embsay Moor called ' Deer Gallows,' and it 

 is said a deer was once hanged there. There is a deep 

 crevasse in the rock becoming narrower toward the 

 bottom, and— the story goes— a deer once fell down and 



caught with its horns across, and so was hanged " (J. J. 

 Wilkinson). " Gallas ". or "gallowses" in the dialect 

 means "braces." The name "hanging" as applied to 

 rocks alludes to some physical feature, but may have 

 localized the legend. 



Among the excluded legends we may mention the 

 pretty legend of the " Walling in the Cuckoo," by 

 " t' Hoastik Carles" (the Austwick Carles) and " the funny 

 one of Wengby," " Meal Ark Spring," " Hobthrush Hall," 

 " Simon Amingus," and many others. The legend of 

 " Wallin' in t' Cuckoo " has a wide range, and is told of 

 various villages in the Northern counties. We have 

 heard it in Borrowdale. It is told of Austwick, near 

 Settle, that, seeing a cuckoo in a tree, the carles began to 

 build a wall round it to keep it, and its consequent, 

 the summer, always there, and they were very much 

 astonished when it flew away. 



There is another legend of Austwick : — 



" T' Austwick Carles cried 'Whittle ta t' tree,' 

 Lifted t' bull ower t' yet, an t' pig inta t' stee." 



" There was only one ' whittle ' or butcher's knife in Aust- 

 wick, and when anyone wanted it he went to the tree in 

 the middle of the village in which it was kept stuck. If it 

 were not there, he cried ' Whittle ta t' tree ! ' three times, 

 and whoever had it was bound to bring it." In the glossary 

 to " Studies in Nidderdale," 18S2, p. 291, occurs the article 

 " Wittaled. ' Ah've gittan fas'en'd ta t'sod, if ah aint 

 gittan wittaled ta t'tree.'— M'fl'. Al., 1880. Wei. Gwydaw, 

 to grow woody ; gwyden, a t)-ee ; gwyddawl, rudimental ; 

 so ' wittaled ' means rooted to the tree so as to form part 

 of its wood, grafted." Here, the legend evidently takes 

 its origin in the similarity of sound of the two words 

 " whittle," a butcher's knife, a familiar word, and " wit- 

 taled," grafted, a forgotten word preserved in the phrase 

 " wittaled ta t'tree." As to lifting the bull over the gate, 

 they were too simple to know that the gate was meant to 

 open (J. J. Wilkinson). These are samples of the excluded 

 but most interesting legends, which will, we hope, find a 

 place in our author's promised second series. 



Joseph Lucas. 



FOREIGN BIOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 

 Translations of Foreign Biological Memoirs. Vol. I. 

 Memoirs on the Physiology of Nerve, of Muscle, and 

 of the Electrical Organ. Edited by J. Burdon- 

 Sanderson, M.D., F.R.SS.L. and E. (Oxford: 

 Clarendon Press, 1887.) 



THIS volume is the firstfruits of a scheme which was 

 started some years ago. The original intention was 

 to translate and put before English readers as soon as 

 possible after their publication the most important foreign 

 papers on various biological subjects. Owing to various 

 difficulties, the original scheme had to be altered, with 

 the result that the first volume of the proposed series has 

 taken the form of the present book. 



Prof. Burdon-Sanderson has in this volume confined 

 himself to that subject in which he himself is especially 

 interested— viz. the physiology of nerve, muscle, and the 

 electrical organ— and has collected and edited the trans- 

 lations of the most important papers which have appeared 

 in the German language during the last five years on this 



