ArcJiceologia. 235 



ness, and has not been, as Dr. Cortis thought, an inscription of 

 importance. He conjectures that Filey Bay was the EuAi/ievos 

 Ko/Wos of Ptolemy, which Richard of Cirencester, merely translat- 

 ing Ptolemy's name, calls Portus Felix. The next promontory, 

 now called Filey Brigg, is identified by Dr. Cortis with the Brigan- 

 tium extremum of the same writer, the extreme southern point of 

 the country of the Brigantes on this side, and the boundary between 

 them and the Parisi ; and he believes that the remains described 

 above mark the site of the Preetoriura of the Romans. 



On the subject of our recent remarks on the use of the term 

 feith-geard we have been favoured with some observations by our 

 correspondent J. C, which hardly bear relation to what we had 

 said. If our correspondent will turn again to our article he will see 

 that our remarks applied to Anglo-Saxon words, and the practices 

 of the Anglian population of JSTorthumbria, and not to Cornish 

 words or customs. However, his notes on the latter seem to us 

 sufficiently interesting to deserve publication, and we give them 

 gladly. He says : — 



"At the present time, in Cornwall, there are numerous words in 

 daily use which have their proper meaning in the more ancient 

 language of our island, long before the Saxons found an entrance 

 into it ; to which also may be joined ordinary practices and opinions ; 

 and among the former these two words find a place, as does the 

 thing also that is signified by the former of them. With us of tie 

 West a freith signifies the very opposite of a circle of stones, or of 

 stones in any other manner of arrangement ; and it can be only 

 remotely connected with a circle of any sort. It refers, in the first 

 instance, to the materials of which the erection is formed, and then 

 to the manner in which they are intertwined together, while the 

 object kept in view maybe of several sorts ; but easiness of formations 

 constitutes an important particular. It is, in fact, a wattled work, 

 made of interlaced twigs and branches of trees, supported by posts 

 driven into the ground, and the whole forms a fence to prevent the 

 passage of man or beast. It may serve the purpose of its erection 

 for a considerable time, but of course is less substantial and endur- 

 ing than a stone wall ; but it has the advantage that, when repair is 

 required, it is soon and easily accomplished by those who might find 

 it difficult to repair a substantial wall, and it is also speedily removed 

 when necessary. The geard, or, as it is now even sometimes expressed, 

 a gaard, is only remotely a yard, but it always signifies a defence ; 

 and certainly there was a time when the word was applied to a 

 castle, as well as to any inferior enclosure intended for protection. 

 It is probably the root or parent of our modern terms, to guard and 

 gird ; and for some purposes a freith or wattled erection might be 

 as effectual as if it were constructed of more solid materials. 



T. W. 



