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Leader (1850-1860), 29th November 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 18, 1146 THE "LEADER. [No. 349, S^ttoday ^

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      Romance For Old And Touna. The Story Of ...

      to-there necessarily venerable in the admiration of brightly-decorated leaves f l of vellum , or black-letter folios " in charactery dim , " or moss-embroidered lar aretes , missals , urns , traceried roofs , armour ,, damascened jewels , goblets , vc ¦ chalices and rings ? Are not such researches carried on in the native iar ieslon of romance—the legend-haunted centuries , the vaults and galleries of lar abbeys and castles , and ruin-sprinkled islands now desolate ? In proof of tni the human and popular interest that attaches to archaeology , the writer of an 4 these presents'narrates ten ingenious stories , supposed to be told by cer- rei tain archcBologists at their friendly meetings . The incidents have generally tto a tinge of historical truth , much scientific lore being mixed up , in a light ui though informing manner , with the narrations . There is a tale connected ac with the lost books of Livy . The discovery of gold in Australia , the intro- m ; Auction of the Fuschia Coccinea into England , some adventures in the th Harouu-al-Raschid style attributed to Commodus and commemorated by to medals , Queen Fredegonda ' s jealousy , the figures iu antique tapestries , and . Other kindred subjects , are taken as suggestions of stories , which are told in & an agreeable fashion . Occasionally the archaeologist falls into pedantry , tu his verbal elaborations being , at times , excessive . This is his way of pic- tt tnring the first bloorn of a fuschia in England : — ^ ^ That morning ' s Bun , at the little upper window , had performed one of the myriad & miracles of light and heat . Yes , one of the buds had expanded ; the crimson calyx * had unloosed the hinges of its four elliptic segments , gracefully pointing downwards , C ( which like opening portals of carved coral , partially disclosed the magnificent regal ai purple of the soft and lovely petals , folded ia spiral layers like a miniature roll of it priceless velvet , from the centre of which was suspended the elegant tassel-like mass c < of ailkan filaments , tipped with , their rich anthers , glistening like garnets , beyond a Which , depended , with an elegant curve , the slender style , brightly tipped aa with ti another Kern . ¦ . ' ¦ _ ¦ ¦ larl land the and real the mi the to the ¦ '

      . Jonathan OldaTcet <; -or , Leaves from the Tiiary of a Commercial Traveller * a By J . Crawford Wilson . ( Bentley . )—We have met with some of these n Sketches in the pages of a magazine . They were then called The Adventures ^ 8 i of Benjamin Bobbin , but have been so much altered that little of the original fc iissue romains . Jonathan Oldaker is a commercial traveller , and as travellers t of that class see a good deal of life on a certain level , it may be supposed fl that he has many reminiscences to dilate upon , anecdotes to tell , portraits v to draw . ' ? The great commercial body , in whose proverbial integrity , un- 6 equalled energy , indomitable perseverance , and laudable determination to i achieve excellence the vital principle of manufacturing England is em- bodied '—as Mr . Crawford Wilson says with bathetic fervour--will pro- « bably recognize some familiar faces , and remember a variety of the roa 4 ? . t « ide and coffee-room traditions here set forth . The volume is described by t it * author as containing * a tale , ' but consists , in . reality , of a number of 1 episodes loosely put together . It is not to our taste ; but there may be a l public to appreciate the comedy and tragedy of Mr . Oldaker ' s career . ] Saxelford : a Story for the Young . By E . J . May . ( lloutledge and Co . ) f — 'Saxelford'is a story of boys and girls , naughty and other , the incidents i ireing rather simple than heroic . The stealing and restitution of an em- i broidexed collar constitute the mystery and the climax of the drama , Miss May contriving to make a profitable use of literary diluents in the form of i nursery dialogues and play-ground puerilities , in order to . 'fill three hundred and seventy-five pages . As a child ' s book , Saxelford is very weak and dull . ; The Young Yagers , or A Narrative of Hunting Adventures in Southern Africa . By Captain Mayne Reid . ( Bogue . )—Captain Mayne Reid-writes admirably for boys . His style is dashing , yet familiar and intelligible . He knows how to dress up a compilation on natural history in all the attractions of a wild romance . It is nothing to his readers that the mythical Groot Wilhem is a rococo Gordon Cumming , or that the adventures with pythons , hippopotami , lions , and camelopards have been told before in an octavo or quarto shape . His object is to prepare for Christmas firesides a thoroughly thrilling hunters' story , and he succeeds excellently well . We can imagine how , in December , 1857 , copies of The Young Yagers will lie on school-room shelves , tattered , torn , and black from incessant use . The volume is prettily illustrated by Hervey . Snowflakes and Sunbeams ; or , The Young Fur Traders : a Tale of the Far North . By R . M . Ballantyne . ( Nelson and Sons . )—This belongs to the came class as The Young Yagers , but is marked by more originality and variety . Mr . Ballantyne ' fl boy adventurers encounter many perils from atorms , from the wild beasts of the forest , and from Indians , and likewise perform many feats of strength and skill , of which several arc illustrated in engravings by the author . The story is sure to amuse the young and the credulous , to whom it is addressed , while even ' the old and incredible' may be interested in Mr . Ballantyne's pictures of the Far North and the Fur Trader ' s Life . ! r \ : » '¦ I " > ¦ - " >¦ f f & ) s t- is > f d 1 . n ; s ! e is it .

      1146 The "Leader. [No. 349, S^Ttoday ^

      1146 THE "LEADER . [ No . 349 , S ^ ttoday ^

      The Northmen In Cumberland And Westmorel...

      THE NORTHMEN IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORELANDThe Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland . By Robert Ferguson . . . * longmaa and Co . A glakcb at any of our etymological dictionaries will at once reveal to us how unsatisfactory is the state of the knowledge we possess respecting the origin of many of the words in the English language . Some are loft without a paternity , as ait , an island ; others are fathered upon originals to which they bear no resemblance ; whilst the derivations of not a few are glaring and inadmissible , and obviously palmed upon us by the presumption or ignorance of editors . The Anglo-Saxon is the grand basis , the fundamental element of the language , the French only introducing the softer phraseology of the old Norman feudal noblessei ; the Latin furnishing a mongrel cojpia verborum ; and tho Greek lending its pliant and easily cornbinoble nouns to make up a scientific jargon . But do not there exist in various districts traces of a dialect more extensively diffused at one time , than has hitherto been recognized ? And might not an examination into , and * study of this dialect , lead to a clear and reasonable solution of the origin of many words , to which at present we can assign none or only a very dubious origin ? Mr , Ferguson answers in the affirmative , and informs us that in Cumberland the remains of the Norwegian or Scandinavian dialect are very distinct , so distinct that he seems inclined to blame the oversight of those i , . , > i , p i - i , 1 a a e

      : \ . ! who , in treating of the subject of language , have not noticed more particuy this element . ' Does'it not seem a great anomaly to r « fer to dialects vhioh are merely cognate , aa the German and the Dutch , and to ignore the language of a people who actually colonized a considerable portion of Eng-, and for many a century wrestled with the Saxon for the dominion of whole ? " The likeness between the Dano-Saxon and the Anglo-Saxon the difficulty of distinguishing the one from the other , has been the reason why our lexicographers have troubled themselves so little about I Scandinavian origin of words . " It is not sufficient ti > prove a word I Danish ; you must also prove that it is not Anglo-Saxon , " is the rule laid I down by Latham . It is true that a great part of the words in question I ght be derived from either of the two , yet because tho Scandinavian is in I minority , it is no reason why it should be entirely voiceless nor allowed I claim any share in the formation of the language . _ ' ¦ It appears , historically , that the Saxon Edmund ,. in league with Leoline , I King of South Wales , marched against the Cumberland Britons , defeated I them in a battle fought on the pass between Grassmere and Keswick , laid I country waste , and carried oft * and extirpated the inhabitants , so that it I was entirely depopulated . It is further supposed that the Danes ^ vlio had I already possession of the Isle of Man and a few places on the coast of North I Wales , or perhaps other Danes more recent emigrants from the mother- I country , wandering about to find a new settlement , landed in this district , I and took peaceable possession of the devastated hills . Here , then , is the I immigration , and the comparative silence of historians about it is easily ao- I counted for , since our old chroniclers delight to record only the struggles I and conflicts of nations , and think a quiet , peaceable event , however impoi- I tant maybe its future influence , unworthy of note . I If we examine closely into the subject of the Northmen , in Cumberland I and Westmoreland , Mr . Ferguson very clearly shows usi ' tliat wo shall find I many traces of their Pagan worship and of their legislative and judicial in « I stitutions existing in the etymology of words and local traditions . We I have , for example , Thorsby , a village near Carlisle , evidently derived from I the words by , a village , and I ^ or , the principal god of tlio Norwegians ; I again , near the same village is another called Wiggonby , or " theholy I village , " from the Scandinavian word viga , to consecrate , and by , as before I said , a village . Thing was the name of the great national council of the I Northmen , and in JPoriiiigscale we have reference probably to the wooden I booths erected for the convenience of those attending the thing , the prefix I port" signifying in old Norse the gate of a fortified place . If we considec I the dwellings and settlements of the immigrants , -we have , in the Scandi- I navian , a , land % earthy thicaite , ridding , side , skew , ray , signifying possession or I location ; as Ulphcc on the River Duddon ,. the territory or possession of I Ulf ; BurntAwaite , the property of Bibrn ; Kettleside , or the settlement of ¦ Ketil ; and Blleray , " the corner among the alders , " the seat of the late Pro . I fessor Wilson on the Windermere . Gill a . small ravine , Grain a division , Band I a boundary , Mel a measure , Heim , Thorp , Toft , Garth , Bota , Scale , converted I into " shield" or " shiel" in Nortliumberland ; Jiooth , Cut , Biggen , Steai , I Bacrey Seat , Sel % Gale , Gate , Street , Sktins , StocKWark , all which words enter I into the composition of tlie names of places in the north , and are of purelj I Scandinavian origin . Saxon and Scandinavian words are wely combined ; I so rarely , indeed , that we must doubt the soundness of out derivation if-we I are obliged to attribute one part of a word to Saxou and another to I Danish origin . Yet a curious instance occurs in " Ravenswortb , " in West- ¦ moreland , the word worth being Saxon . Yet , according to Nicholson and I Burns , the common people call it " llayenside , " that is , " the property ot I Kafn , " thus rendering it entirely Scandinavian . I jb

      Without inquiring what inference maybe drawn irom tue sepiucmai - mains of the Northmen or from the undecipherable Bunic inscriptions which have been recently found , we may pursue the subject of n nines still iurtlier ¦; I and if we come to the mountains , lakes , and rivers of Cumberland , -we snail find traces of the Scandinavian dialect still more strong . Ibis , however , we must leave for the present , only noticing n few of the most prominent , such as " fells" which have the same name us those of Norway , lhe laise district produces Blea Fell , Mell Fell , Stake Fell , Roman Fell , and othora . Norway also has its She Fjeld , Mel Fjcld , Staka FjcUl , and homm l < jeM > Berd is from the old Norse Berg , Burg , and the word at present in use in the north of England is burgh . Kennel , observes Mr . Ferguson , renuerg " barge" a horseway up a steep hill . This is also the meaning given dv Bay to " bargh" as a Yorkshire word ; but it signifies properly not tlio roaa up the hill , but the hill itself . Hence , probably , tho origin of » 1 ^ 8 ° : ^ . --the name given to Ascension-day in Newcastle—from the lull-wlncU our Lord ascended with his disciples , or from the general sense of nsuendiug . Some curious illustrations arc given in the pages of the present work to ehow how letters are changed by cUilerent races , and , from the factitUat ejeu clings insensibly to its own national habit , how their origin may ^ bci tiacw back . The resemblance which the dialect of Cumberland and Westnww land beats to tho language of the Scandinavian North is striking , , espwjww in the tendency of the people to harden the sounds . ILus th- is ciiangt into * as » fodder" for " father , " " siniddy" for « smithy ; " eh and * * nto * . as « kurn" for " churn , " " skift" for " shift , " kirk" tor " church , wg for " mash , " to infuse , applied to tea is another peculiarity o the ™\ 0 frequently heard from persons who cannot be said to . fipealc propouj Cumberland dialect . This property has nlso been noticed of . the' P *» inhabitants of Normandy , who for " . ohien" nay « kien . ^^^ SKatation of letters in tho north is that of v into 6 , aa Whitehebbon » f . W bw haven , aad / into # ., us " Jwosop" for " Joseph . " SomtU * old No » o wettw ¦ » lopf' for " loft ^ an upper room ; opt , modern Danish ofte , o " j O - J thotinase-af ple-ace , " resembles particularly tho dialect of tut pw « inhabitants of Jutland , . . ¦ . i « , ord » In an examination of this kind , care has to be taken tjat ^ dividual W be not allowed to have unduo weight \ but when we find the namea , i district , and a mountainous district , which is universally more c ° n 8 JFv " , in names , habits , and traditiona , than lowland districts well <« JJ "J u e deunite basia for investigation has been established . In the wuow « - a of hia book , Mr , Fergiwon has kept thia idea in view , and feeling tuo gi »

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 29, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29111856/page/18/