XXXll PIIEFACE. 



and ]Juii would he, thus : — 



•//// //////. 7///// 



Some of the first letters in the specimens before us 

 have no dot, and may perhaps be reckoned from the 

 beginning;, A. 



Another method employed a line of dots instead of 

 upstrokes, so that Oxa appeared, if the groups of 

 letters remained the same, thus : — 



and Dun thus 



In his Thesaurus, Hickes and his associate Wanley give 

 other methods employed by the Saxons, of which a 

 common one was to employ the next following letter 

 to that meant, so that Oxa would be Pyb, and Dun, 

 Evvo. These devices, which have in them something 

 of the quality of riddles and conundrums, were as 

 amusing to the idle mind in old times as they are 

 now. When among the varied accomplishments with 

 which men are gifted, we read in the Codex Exoniensis, 



yum bi]? life lienbij to apjiitanne popb jejij^no, 

 (hie is cunning handy to awrite ivord mysteries, 



we have an allusion to this art of secret writinsr, or 

 to its kindred riddle puzzles. 



There is but little encouragement to unravel these 

 marginal marks of the Leechbook, since the two speci- 

 mens afford us but a very scant basis for inductive 

 reasoning. But, doubtless, when laid before the inqui- 

 sitive eyes of restless men, they may naturally give 

 rise to some unhappy conjectures. 



Norse clement. Perhaps in dissecting the curious mosaic work of 

 this Leechbook, we may be as much struck by the 

 Old Dansk, or as people now sa^'^, Norse element in 

 the words Torbegete, Rudniolin, 0ns woi'm, and the 



