358
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
gehroden golde,
fah and fÿrheard
Ierhwearde heold.
adorned with gold,
various and hardened in the fire
it held the guard of life *.
And again :
ac se hwɪta helm
hafelan werede,
since geweorðad,
befongen freawrasnum,
swa hine fyrndagum
worhte wæpna smiβ,
Wundrum teode,
besette swmlɪeum,
<5æt hine вуддап no
brond né beadomecas
bɪtan ne meahton.
but the white helmet
guarded the head,
adorned with treasure,
set about with lordly signs,
as it in days of yore
the armourer made,
Wondrously produced,
set it about with shapes of boars,
that afterwards neither
brand nor warknife
might penetrate it2.
Grimm citing this passage goes so far as even to
render “frea wrasnum” by Frothonis signis, and thus
connects it at once with Frea3 ; and we may admit
at all events the great plausibility of the sugges-
tion. But though distinct proof of Frea’s worship
in England cannot be supplied during the Saxon
period, we have very clear evidence of its still sub-
sisting in the thirteenth céntury. The following
extraordinary story is found -in the Chronicle of
Lanercost4, an. 1268. “Pro fidei divinae integri-
tate servanda recelât lector quod, cum hoc anno
in Laodonia pestis grassaretur in pecudes armenti,
quam vocant usitate Lungessouth, quidam bestiales,
1 Beôw. 1. 604 seq.
2 Ibid. 1. 289δ. 3 Mythoi, p. 195.
4 Edited in 1839 by the Rev. J. Stevenson' for the members of the
Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs.
CH. XH-J
HEATHENDOM. FREA'.
36»
habita claustrales non animo, docebant idiotas pa-
triae ignem Confrictione de Iignis educere et simu-
Iachruna Priapi statuere, et per haec bestiis suc-
currere. Quod cum unus Iaicus Cisterciencis apud
Fentone fecisset ante atrium aulae, ac intinctis
testiculis canis in aquam benedictam super ani-
malia sparsisset, ac pro invento facinbre idola-
triae dominus villae a quodam fideli argueretur,
ille pro sua innocentia obtendebat, quod ipso ne-
sciente et absente fuerant haec omnia perpetrate,
et adiecit, et cum ad usque hunc mensem Junium
aliorum animalia Ianguerent et deficerent, mea
semper sana erant, nunc vero quotidie mihi mori-
untur duo vel tria, ita quod agricultui pauca super-
sunt.”
Fourteen years later a similar fact is stated to
have occurred in a neighbouring district, at Inver-
keithing, in the present county of Fife.
“ Insuper hoc tempore apud Inverchethin, in
hebdomada paschae [_Mar. 29—Ap. 5], sacerdos
parochialis, nomine Johannes, Priapi prophana pa-
rans, congregatis ex villa puellulis, cogebat eas,
choreis factis, Libero patri circuire ; ut ille feminas
in exercitu habuit, sic iste, procacitatis causa, mem-
bra humana virtuti seminariae servientia super as-
serem artificiata ante talem choream praeferebat,
et ipse tripudians cum cantantibus motu mimico
omnes inspectantes et verbo impudico ad Iuxuriam
ι∏citabat. Hi, qui honesto matrimonio honorem
deferebant, tarn insolente officio, licet reverentur
personam, Scandalizabant propter gradus eminen-
tιam. Si quis ei seorsum ex amore Correptionis