264 NOVEMBER 



Scotland which could easily be identified with Ash- 

 lafardhal, 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 crank- 

 ing in, pronouncing Kepp 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 ' devasta- 

 tion' at all, but a marriage! Moreover, deceived 

 by the Roman characters inserted among the Eunes 

 by Dr. Duncan, he pronounced 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 harmo- 

 nious, among those who had been so effusively 

 grateful to Repp; but, in time, unanimity was 

 restored by adopting the reading of Magnusen. 



But there are always some people with no reputa- 

 tion to lose, who never learn the wisdom of leaving 

 things alone. Of these, was one Mr. John Kemble, 

 a young student of Anglo-Saxon, to whom it occurred 



