Old Scan., pró), made use of to cross over to the opposite shore. These trows, or troughs, are two small boats, originally trunks of trees hollowed out, and held together by a cross-pole. He who wishes to pass over places a foot in each trough or boat, and rows himself forward with the help of an oar. It is said that Edmund Ironsides and Canute the Great rowed over to the Isle of Olney (in the river Severn) in such boats at the time when they concluded an agreement to divide England between them. The original inhabitants of Europe undoubtedly passed the great rivers in the same simple manner.

Amongst the words in the popular language that still remind one of ancient Scandinavian customs, those of yuletide, yuling (Christmas), yule-candles (Dan., Julelys), and yule-cakes (Dan., Julekager), deserve particular notice. Christmas was certainly kept as a solemn feast among the Anglo-Saxons, but it does not appear to have had that importance with them which it had with the Scandinavians; of which this is a proof, that the old name of Christmas (Yule) is preserved only in those districts in the north that were more especially colonized by the Northmen. Yule, or the mid-winter feast, was, in the olden times, as it still partly is, the greatest festival in the countries of Scandinavia. Yule bonfires were kindled round about as festival-fires to scare witches and wizards; offerings were made to the gods; the boar dedicated to Freyr (Dan., Sonegalte) was placed on the table, and over it the warriors vowed to perform great deeds. Pork, mead, and ale abounded, and yuletide passed merrily away with games, gymnastics, and mirth of all kinds. It is singular enough that even to the present day it is not only the custom in several parts of England to bring a garnished boar's head to table at Christmas, but that the descendants of the Northmen, in Yorkshire and the ancient Northumberland, do not even now neglect to place a large piece of wood on the fire on Christmas Eve, which is by some called the yule-block, by others yule-clog, or yule-log (per

haps from the old Scandinavian lág, log, a felled tree; Norwegian, laag). Superstitious persons do not, however, allow the whole log to be consumed, but take it out of the fire again in order to preserve it until the following year. Exactly similar observances of Christmas customs still exist in the Scandinavian North. At Smaaland, in Sweden, a boar's-head, called julhös (from hös, the skull), is set on the table at Christmas; and in East Gothland a large loaf, called juhlegalt, is seen on table throughout the festival, of which, however, nothing is eaten. Juhlhös and juhlegalt, as well as the boar's-head in the north of England before alluded to, owe their origin unmistakeably to the expiatory barrow-pig, or "Galt," offered up by the old Northmen to Freyr. The remembrance of the games of the Northmen is also preserved in England in the Scandinavian word lake (to play), which is heard only in the ancient Danish districts.

To enumerate all the Scandinavian words in the English popular tongue would, from their quantity, be both a tedious and a superfluous labour. The following selection of a hundred of the most common of them will surely be regarded as sufficient clearly to prove in what a highly remarkable manner "the Danish tongue" has imprinted itself on the north of England, in comparison with other countries occupied by the Normans, as, for example, Normandy; where the Scandinavian language, notwithstanding the very considerable immigrations from Scandinavia, has disappeared to such a degree that but very few traces of it now remain.

A HUNDRED DANISH WORDS, SELECTED FROM THE VULGAR TONGUE, OR COMMON LANGUAGE, NORTH OF WATLINGA STRÆT.

These numerous and striking Danish terms, still existing in the north of England almost a thousand years after the destruction of the Danish power there, and after an almost equally protracted struggle with the constant progress of the English language, show that the Scandinavian tongue must possess no mean degree of durability. These Scandinavian words, moreover, taken in conjunction with the unusually numerous Scandinavian names of places in England, put it beyond all doubt that a Scandinavian population must have been far more diffused, and have taken much deeper root there, than in any other foreign land.

The popular language of the north of England is particularly remarkable for its agreement with the dialects found in the peninsula of Jutland. Several words which are common to the north of England and Jutland, are not to be found elsewhere. For instance, in the north of England, the shafts of the carts used there are called limmers, a word clearly of the same origin as the Jutlandish liem, a broom; both being derived from the old Scandinavian limi, which signifies boughs, branches. But it is the broad pronunciation in particular that makes the resemblance so surprising. Thus, for instance, we have in the north of England, sty'an (Dan., Steen; Eng., a stone), yen (Dan., een; Eng., one), welt (Dan., vælte; Eng., to upset), swelt (Dan., vansmægte; Eng., overcome with heat and exercise), maw (Dan., Mave; Eng., stomach), lowe (Dan., Lue; Eng., flame), donse (Dan., dandse; Eng., dance), fey (Dan., feie; Eng., to sweep), ouse (Dan., Oxe; Eng., ox), roun (Dan, Rogn; Eng., spawn or roe of fishes), war and war (Dan., værre og værre; Eng., worse and worse); with many others of the same kind, which are pure Jutlandish.

On the whole, of all the Danish dialects the Jutland approaches nearest to the English. The West Jutlander uses the article a before words like the English "the," although the Danish language in other provinces does not