[494] The oldest church in Ireland (the Oratory of Gallerus) is described as exactly like an upturned boat, and the _nave_ or _ship_ of every modern sanctuary perpetuates both in form and name the ancient notion of Noah's Ark, or the Ark of Safety. The ruins of Newark Priory, near Woking, are situated in a marshy mead amid seven branches of the river Wey which even now at times turn the site into a swamp. There is a Newark in Leicestershire and a Newark in St. John's Parish, Peterborough; here the land is flat and mostly arable. At Newark, in Notts, the situation was seemingly once just such a wilderness of waters as surrounded Newark Priory, in Send Parish, Woking. The ship of Isis, symbolizing the fecund Ark of Nature, figured prominently in popular custom, and the subject demands a chapter at the very least. [495] _Keffil_ meaning _horse_ is still used in Worcestershire, and Herefordshire. "This is a pure Welsh word nor need one feel much surprised at finding it in use in counties where the Saxon and the Brython must have had many dealings in horse flesh. But what is significant is the manner in which it is used, for it is employed only for horses of the poorest type, or as a word of abuse from one person to another as when one says--'you great keffil,' meaning you clumsy idiot."--Windle, B. C. A., _Life in Early Britain_, p. 209. [496] "The Icenians took up arms, a brave and warlike people."--Tacitus, _Annals_. [497] Windle, B. C. A., _Life in Early Britain_, p. 210. [498] Quoted in _The Daily Express_, 9th October, 1918, from _Der Rheinisch Westfalische Zeitung_. [499] _Cf._ Johnson, W., _Folk Memory_, p. 326. [500] The Cornish for _corn_ was _izik_. [501] _Cf._ Fig. 358, p. 596. [502] Evans, Sir J., _Ancient British Coins_, p. 404. [503] "Under any circumstances the legend CAC on the reverse would have still to be explained."--_Ibid._, p. 353. [504] Skeat, p. 212. [505] Huyshe, W., _Adamnan's Life of St. Columba_, p. 173. CHAPTER IX BRIDE'S BAIRNS "But, I do not know how it comes to pass, it is the unhappy fashion of our age to derive everything curious and valuable, whether the works of art or nature, from foreign countries: as if Providence had denied us both the genius and materials of art, and sent us everything that was precious, comfortable, and convenient, at second-hand only, and, as it were, by accident, from charity of our neighbours."--BORLASE (1754).