40 FEBRUARY 



title they gave to March Hreth monath, the fierce 

 month. As for the other months, December was 

 Se serra Geola, the former Yule, as January was Se 

 aeftera Geola, the latter Yule ; April was Easter 

 monath, taking its name, according to Bede, from 

 Eostre, a Teutonic deity of Spring. It is curious 

 that neither Easter nor Lent derive their names 

 from Christian sources. Lent is the old English 

 name for Spring, from the Anglo-Saxon kncten. 

 May was Thrimylce, because the cows might then 

 be milked thrice a day. June and July were Se 

 serra and Se seftera Litha, the earlier and the later 

 warmth; August was Weod monath, the weed 

 month; October was Winter-fylleth, probably the 

 winter fall; and November Blot monath or blood 

 month, from the slaying of beasts. 



If the native names for days of the week have 

 worn so well in use, what cause had our people to 

 distrust those for the months ? 



XV 



A wide, dark plain, without a single tree or even 



The river a kush * n s ^g nt f r miles, swept by a 



ofThor cease l esS) bitter wind, lashed by fierce 



blasts of snow, and overhead a stooping canopy of 



