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    & there necessarily venerable in the admiration of brightly-decorated leaves of vellum , or black-letter folios " in . chara . ct . ery dim , " or moss-embroidered wcb . es , missals , urns , traceried roofs , armour ,, damascened jewels , goblets , cbalices , and rings ? Are not such researches carried on in the native region 6 f romance—the legend-haunted centuries , the vaults and galleries of abbey 3 and castles , and ruin-sprinkled islands now desolate ? In . proof of the human and popular interest that attaches to archaeology , the writer of * these presents' narrates ten ingenious stories , supposed to be told by

    certain archaeologists at their friendly meetings . The incidents have generally a tinge of historical truth , much scientific lore being mixed up , in a light though informing manner , with the narrations . There is a tale connected with the lost books of Livy . The discovery of gold in Australia , the introduction of the Fuschia Coccinea into England , some adventures in the Harouu-al-Raschid style attributed to Commodus and coinmetnorated by medals , Queen Fredegonda ' s jealousy , the figures in antique tapestries , and Other kindred subjects , are taken as suggestions * . of stories , which are told in an agreeable fashion . Occasionally tue archaeologist falls into pedantry , his verbal elaborations being , at times , excessive . This is his way of picturing the first bloom of a fuschia in England : —

    That morning's aun , 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 , which , like opening portals of carved coral , partially disclosed the magnificent regal purple of the sof t and lovely petals , folded in spiral layers like a miniature roll of priceless velvet , from the centre of which was suspended the elegant tassel-like mass of silken , filaments , tipped with , their lich anthers , glistening like garnets , fceyond which , depended , with an elegant curve , the slender style , brightly tipped aa with another gem .

    Jonathan Oldaker ; or , Leaves from tlie Diary of a Commercial Traveller . By J . Crawford Wilson . ( Bentley . )— -We have met with some of these sketches in . the pages of a magazine . They were then called The Adventures ojF Benjamin Bobbin , but have been so much altered that little of the original tissue remains . Jonathan Oldaker is a commercial traveller , and as travellers « C that class see a good deal of life on a certain level , it may be supposed that he has many reminiscences to dilate upon , anecdotes to tell , portraits to draw . ' ? The great commercial body , in whose proverbial integrity ,

    unequalled , energy , indomitable perseverance , and laudable determination to achieve excellence the vital principle of manufacturing England is embodied '—as Mr . Crawford Wilson says with bathetic fervour—will probably recognize some familiar faces , and remember a variety of the roadside and coffee-room ^ traditions here set forth . The volume is described by its author as containing ' a tale , 'but consists , in reality , of a number of episodes loosely put together . It is not to our taste ; but there may be a public to appreciate the comedy aitd tragedy of Mr . Oldaker ' s career .

    Saxelford : a Story for the Young . By E . J . May . ( lloutledge and Co . ) ' — 'Saxelford is a story of boys and girls , naughty and other , the incidents ijeing rather simple than heroic . The stealing and restitution of an embroidered collar constitute the mystery and the climax of the dramas Miss May contriving to make a profitable use of literary diluents in the form of 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 Tounff Yagers i 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 Gordon

    a rococo 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 bow , 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 . Snow-flakes and Sunbeams ; or , The Young Fur Traders : a Tale of the Far JVbrt / i . By R . M . Ballantyne . ( Nelson and Sons . )—This belongs to the same class as The Young Yagers , but is marked by more originality and variety . Mr . Ballantyne ' e 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 suro to amuse the young and the credulous , to whom it is addressed , while even ' the old and incredible' may be interested in Mr . Ballantyne ^ pictures of the Far North and the Fui Trader ' s Life .

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    who , in treating of the subject of language , have not noticed more rartw ! larly this element . "Doea it not seem a great anomaly to r « fer to S ^~ whioh are merely cognate , aa the German and the Dutch , and to SnnSl language of a people who actually colonized a considerable portion of V * land , and for many a century wrestled with the Saxon for tlio , !„ , „; ¦ Sthe whole ? " The likeness between the Dano-Saxor !^ and the AnST ° and the difficulty of distinguishing the one from the other , has b < 5 f !? real reason why our lexicographers have troubled themselves so little « w the Scandinavian origin of words . " It is not sufficient ti > prove awn j Danish ; you must also prove that it is not Anglo-Saxon , " is the rule 1 " 2 down by Latham . It is true that a great part of the words in cueRtian might be derived from either of the two , yet because the Scandinavian is 5 n the minority , it is no reason why it should be entirely voiceless nor allow d to claim any share in the formation of the language . It appears , historically , that the Saxon Edmund , in league with Leolinft King of South Wales , marched against the Cumberland Britons defeated them in a battle fought on the pass between Grassmere and Keswick lad the country waste , and carried oft * and extirpated the inhabitants so tW 2

    was entirely depopulated . It is further supposed that the Danes ^ vlio had already possession of the Isle of Man and a few places on the coast of North Wales , or perhaps other Danes more recent emigrants from the mothercountry , wandering about to find a new settlement , landed in this district and took peaceable possession of the devastated hills . Mere , then is the immigration , and the comparative silence of historians about it is easily accounted for , since our old chroniclers delight to record only the struggles and conflicts of nations , and think a quiet , peaceable event , however impoitant maybe its future influence , unworthy of note . If we examine closely into the subject of the Northmeu in Cumberland aud Westmoreland , Mr . Ferguson very clearly shows us that wo sh all find many traces of their Pagan worship and of their legislative and iudicial in .

    etitutions existing in the etymology of words and local traditions . We have , for example , Thorsbjf , a village near Carlisle , evidently derived from the words iy + a village , and Thor , the principal god of tlio ¦ Norwegians - again , near the same village is another called Wiggonby , or " theholy village , " from the Scandinavian word vigci , to consecrate , and by , as before said , a village . TMngyras the name of the great national council of the Northmen , and in JPortuigscale we have reference probably to the wooden booths erected for the convenience of those attending the thing , the prefix " port" signifying in old Norse the gate of a fortified place . If we consider the dwellings and settlements of the immigrants , we have , in the Scandinavian , a , landtearth % thwaite , ridding , side , skew , myy signifying possession or location * , as Uljtha on the River D uddon ,. the territory or possession of Ulf ; Burnthteaite ^ the property of Biom ; Kettleside , or the settlement of Ketil ; and Bllerav % " the corner among the alders , " the seat of the late Pro

    fessor Wilson on the Windermere . Gill a small ravine , Grain a . division , Band a boundary , Mel a measure , Heim % Thorp , Toft , GarthyBow , Scale , converted into ' * shield " or ¦ " shiel" in Northumberland ; Booth , Cut , Biggen , Stead , pacre , Seat , Selt Gale \ Gate , Streety Skans , Stock , Wark , all which words enter into the composition of the names of places iii the north , and are of purelj Scandinavian origin . Saxon and Scandinavian words are rarel y combined } so rarely , indeed , that we must doubt the soundness of out derivation if we are obliged to attribute one part of a word to Saxon and another to Danish origin . "Yet a curious instance occurs in " Ravensworth , " in Westmoreland , the word worth being Saxon . Yet , according to Nicholson and Burns , the common people call it " llayenside , " that is , " the property of Rafn , " thus rendering it entirely Scandinavian .

    Without inquiring what inference may be drawn from the sepulchral remains of the Northmen or from the undecipherable Runic inscriptions which have been recently found , we rnay pursue the subject of mimes still further ; and if we come to the mountains , lakes , and rivers of Cumberland , we shall find traces of the Scandinavian dialect still more strong . This , however , we must leave for the present , only noticing n few of the most prominent , such as " fells" which have the same name iis those of Norway . The lake district produces Blea Fell , Mell Fell , Stake Fell , Roman Fell , and others . Norway also has its Blee Fjeld , Mel Fjeld , Staka Fjeld , Roimoi Fjdd Berg 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 , renders " barge" a horseway up a steep hill . This is also the meaning given by Bay to " bargh" as a Yorkshire word ; but it signifies properly not the road up the hill , but the hill itself . Hence , probably , tho origin of" Barge-daj ' •—the name given to Ascension-day in Newcastle—from the hill which our Lord ascended with his disciples , or from the general sense of nsiiendiug .

    Some curious illustrations are given in the pages of the present wori to show how letters are changed by diilerent races , and , from the fitet that each clings insensibly to its own national habit , how their origin may be traced back . The resemblance which the dialect of Cumberland and Westnioroland bears to the language of the Scandinavian North is striking , especially in the tendency of the people to harden the , sounds . U'lius th is changed into d , as " fadder" for " father , " " smiddy" for " smithy ; " ch and sh into * as « kurn" for " churn , " " skift" for " shift , " " kirk" for " church , " "must for " mash , " to infuse , applied to tea is another peculiarity of the same kiau frequently heard from persons who cannot be said to / speak properly the

    element of the language , the French only introducing the softer phraseology of the old Norman feudal noblesu i the Latia furnishing a { Wffel cojaiaverborum s and tho Greek lending its pliant and easily cornomabie nouns to make up a scientific jargon . But do not there exist in ? onoiw dwtnets traces of a dialect more extensively diffused at one time , . T ^ ,, 1 J ^ u- 61 !? l ) eeix recognized ? And might not an examination into , and ™™/™ J } ? dialeot , lead to a clear and reasonable solution of the origin of i » H . * ¦ £ ? ' to _ whujh at present we can assign nono or only a very dubious ffiwi 5 / M | JIU - annwora in the affirmative , and informs tis that in SSf ^ S- ° TT * L tho Norwegian or Scandinavian dialect are very 4 wtonot , ao distinct that ho aeenas inclined to blame the oversight of those

    damental THE NORTHMEN IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORELANDThe Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland . By Robert Ferguson . Xongmaa and Co . A olakcb 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 left 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 , tho

    fun-Cumberland dialect . This property has nlso been noticed of the prosent inhabitants of Normandy , who for " chien" nay " kien . " Another transmutation of letters in tho north is that of v into b , as Whitehebbon for White * haven , and / into p , as " Jwosep" for » Joseph . " So in tho old Norso we ujT ° " lopt" for " loft" an upper room ; oj ) i , modern Danish qftet often . W that in a se-at ple-ace , " resembles particularly the dialect of the present inhabitants of Jutland . , In an examination of this kind , care has to be taken that individual "WOW * bo not allowed to have unduo weight ; but when we find tho names ia » district , and a mountainous district , which is universally more conservative in names , habits , and traditions , than lowland districts wall classiuodt » definite basia for investigation has been established . In the whole course of his book , Mr , Fergiwoa has kept thia idea in view , and feeling tho grouw *

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    * 3 A 6 THE LEADER . [ No . 349 , Saturday ^ JIJI ^ B ^^^ P ^^^^^^ B ^^^^^^^ Bi ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ r

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 29, 1856, page 1146, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2169/page/18/