TUBBER TURNER. 341 



there, where he caught his fish, and he will 

 tell you, on the Danish eel-weir, meaning 

 simply the disused or ruined eel-weir. The 

 name is all that remains to tradition ; but 

 it is itself a tradition of those wild and stir- 

 ring times, when — 



1 The hardy Norseman's house of yore 

 Was on the foaming wave, 

 And there he gathered bright renown, 

 The bravest of the brave.' " 



u You do not, then, imagine these raths to 

 have been really the work of the Danes ?" 

 said the Squire. 



" No more than I imagine the Danish eel- 

 weirs to have been reallv the work of the 

 Danes. These coasts lay peculiarly open and 

 exposed to the incursions of the sea-rovers ; 

 and no doubt, i in winning for themselves a gal- 

 lant name,' as the song says, they did deeds 

 here which caused that name to be remem- 

 bered for many a long day. Now and then 

 we can trace a custom or two that is derived 

 from them, — the Beal Fires, for instance, 

 gleam as merrily here on St. John's Eve as 

 ever they do on the Scandinavian headlands ; 

 but I doubt whether the sea-rovers ever 

 settled here: we trace none of their Ian- 



