[Sidenote: A.D. 787.] In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle we find the following notices:--"This year King Beorhtric took to wife Eadburg, King Offa's daughter; and in his days first came three ships of Northmen, out of Hæretha-land. And then the reeve rode to the place, and would have driven them to the king's town, because he knew not who they were; and they there slew him. These were the first ships of Danish-men which sought the land of the English race." Again:-- [Sidenote: A.D. 793.] "This year dire forewarnings came over the land of the North-humbrians, and miserably terrified the people; these were excessive whirlwinds, and lightnings; and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine soon followed these tokens: and a little after that, in the same year, on the 6th of the Ides of January, the ravaging of heathen men lamentably destroyed God's church at Lindisfarn, through rapine and slaughter. And Siega died on the 8th of the Kalends of March." After this the notices of the formidable Danes become numerous and important. But it is not in the pages of history that the influence of their invasions is to be found. The provincial dialects of the British Isles, the local names in the map of Europe, the traditions and (in some cases) the pedigrees of the older families are the best sources. If we study the local names of Germany and Scandinavia, we shall find that when we get North of the Eyder a change takes place. In Sleswick the compound names of places begin to end in -_gaard_, -_skov_, and -_by_; in -_by_ most especially, as Oster-_by_, Wis-_by_, Gammel-_by_, Nor-_by_, &c. In Jutland the forms in -_by_ attain their _maximum_. They prevail in the islands. They prevail in Sweden. They are rare (a fact of great importance) in Norway. In Germany they are either non-existent or accidental. In respect to its meaning, _by_=_town_, _village_, _settlement_; and _By-en_=_the town_, is a term by which Christiania or Copenhagen--the metropoles of Norway and Denmark--are designated. Such forms as Kir-_ton_, Nor-_ton_, and New-_ton_ in German would, in Danish, be Kir-_by_, Nor-_by_, New-_by_. Now the distribution of the forms in -_by_ over the British Isles has the same import as its distribution in Germany and Scandinavia. It indicates a Danish as opposed to a German occupancy. Again--the Anglo-Saxon forms are _Church_ and _Ship_, as in Dun-_church_ and _Ship_-ton; whereas the Danish are _Kirk_ and _Skip_, as in Orms-_kirk_ and _Skip_-ton. The distribution of these forms over the British Isles closely coincides with that of the compounds in -_by_.