NOVEMBER 213 



was given in expiation for the devastation of Ashla- 

 fardhal, i.e. the vale of Ashlafr. As if to put the 

 translation beyond all doubt, ' there is preserved/ says 

 the New Statistical Account of Dumfriesshire, ' along 

 with the column, an ornamental circular stone,' no 

 doubt the ' vessel of Christ,' or baptismal font alluded 

 to. Great was the throwing up of hats in antiquarian 

 circles at this easy reading of the riddle by the erudite 

 Repp. Nobody, it is true, had ever heard of the 

 Therfusian fathers ; but there were plenty of places in 

 broad Scotland which could easily be identified with 

 Ashlafardhal, the only difficulty was to decide upon 

 which. But the jealousy of girls is as milk and honey 

 compared to the rivalry of philologers, and here is 

 Professor Finn Magnusen comes me cranking in, pro- 

 nouncing Repp a reprobate, and giving a totally different 

 rendering to the Runes. He agrees, truly, that the 

 language is Old Norse ; no one with any reputation to 

 lose could question that; but he shows that what is 

 commemorated is not 'a devastation' at all, but a 

 marriage ! Moreover, deceived by the Roman characters 

 inserted among the Runes by Dr. Duncan, he pro- 

 nounced the ' Therfusian fathers ' to exist only in the 

 diseased imagination of the despicable Repp, and that 

 these words really meant ' Ofa, the descendant of 

 Toda, caused it (the stone) to be cut.' 



There was a bit of a stir, not altogether harmonious, 

 among those who had been so effusively grateful to 

 Repp ; but, in time, unanimity was restored by adopting 

 the reading of Magnusen. 



