34 Dr. Wilson on Linton and its Let/ends. 



His neck is great as any sommere ; 



He runneth as swift as any destrere. 



Paws he hath as a lion, 



All that he toucheth he slayeth dead down ; 



Great wings he hath to flight, 



There is no man that bar him might." 



In the "Reis van Sente Brandaen," a Flemish poem of the 

 12th century, the Draken, as well as the Lijntworme, is repre- 

 sented as vomiting forth fire : — 



" Draken groet gruwelijc, 

 Ende lijntworme vreselijc, 

 Die worpen t' alien stonden, 

 Dat vier uten monden *." 



Even the gods were not always destined to withstand powers 

 so tremendous. At the end of the world, Thor is to slay the 

 famous Midgards-wurm ; but he is himself to fall, at nine paces 

 from it, destroyed by its poison. 



As to the precise dimensions of the monster, though its gene- 

 ral vastness is often dwelt upon in terms sufficiently extravagant, 

 the narrators rarely descend to any exact measurement. We 

 have seen, however, that the subject of the prowess of John de 

 Somerville reached only some ten feet in length ; but the timi- 

 dity of the modern fabricator has evidently embarrassed him in 

 his description. Sir Degore, in the romance of that name, beat 

 out the brains of one with a club, which was 



' ' Twenty-two foot, withouten fail, 

 Full of fire, and also venym." 



In the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf, which probably dates 

 towards the end of the fifth century, the hero encounters a 

 dragon, and succeeds in destroying it, but perishes soon after 

 from the injuries received in the conflict. It measured fifty feet 

 in length, when extended : — 



" se wses fiftiges 

 fot-ge mearces 

 lang on legere." 



But the descriptions of the dragon often imply dimensions far 

 beyond these ; and its strength was represented to be such, that 

 its writhings shook the ground under which it lay, or the surface 

 was deeply indented by the lashing of its tail. Its retreat was 

 usually chosen in some secluded valley or glen. 



A monster, portrayed with attributes so terrible, could not 

 fail to take a strong hold of the popular imagination, at a time 

 when every hearth had its goblin, and every stream its nixy, and 

 when credulity was sure to people the unknown gloom with still 



* Blommaert, Oudvlaemsche Gedichten, der xii e . xiii e . en xiv e . Eeuwen. 

 — D. i. p. 114. 



