[381] _Barddas_, p. xxx. [382] _Vide_ inscription _Chuck_hurst? [383] Dawson, L. H., _A Book of the Saints_, p. 221. [384] Skeat considers that _Sirrah_ is "a contemptuous extension of _sire_, perhaps by addition of _ah!_ or _ha!_ (so Minsheu); Old French _sire_, Provencial _sira_". [385] _A Book of the Beginnings._ [386] "The Berbers, their language, and their books ought to be fully explored and studied. Archæology and linguistic science have lavished enthusiastic and toilsome study on subjects much less worthy of attention, for these Berbers present the remains of a great civilisation, much older than Rome or Hellas, and of one of the most important peoples of antiquity. Here are 'ruins' more promising, and, in certain respects, more important, than the buried ruins of Nineveh; but they have failed to get proper attention, partly because a false chronology has made it impossible to see their meaning and comprehend their importance. The Berbers represent ancient communities whose importance was beginning to decline before Rome appeared, and which were probably contemporary with ancient Chaldea and the old monarchy of Egypt."--Baldwin, J. D., _Prehistoric Nations_, p. 340. [387] _Ibid._, p. 342. [388] Laing, S., and Huxley, T. H., _The Prehistoric Remains of Caithness_, pp. 70, 71. [389] Quoted from Higgens, G., _Celtic Druids_. [390] Latham, R. G., _The Varieties of Man_, p. 500. [391] "Thy prowess I allow, yet this remember is the gift of Heaven."--Homer. [392] De Jubainville, _Irish Myth. Cycle_, p. 84. [393] _A Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age_ (B. M.). [394] Wright, E. M., _Rustic Speech and Folklore_, p. 334. [395] Rev. Hilderic Friend. This gentleman adds: "Interesting as the study proves, we shall none of us regret that the English nation is daily becoming more and more intelligent and enlightened, and is leaving such follies to the heathen and the past" (vol. ii., 568). [396] As bracken is the plural of brake, fern was once presumably the plural of _pher_. [397] See Johnson, W., _Byways in British Archæology_, 375-7. [398] Since writing I find that Didron, in vol. ii. of _Christian Iconography_, p. 180, illustrates a drawing of Jupiter upon which he comments, "a crown of yew leaves surrounds his head". [399] Guest, Dr., _Origines Celticæ_, i., 12. CHAPTER VIII SCOURING THE WHITE HORSE