Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/336

 '262, PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OF Kent, and she was the means uf induchig him to embrace Christianity," and thns to become the firet Christian king of Xorthumbedaud. Their ihiughter Eanflcda maviied O^-wy, King of Dcira, and they had a danghtor, Kltieda. (.•.swy niade a vow that if he con(iucred Penda, King of Mercia, he wonld dedicate his daughter to a monastic life, and grant a number of manoi-s for the sujiport of religious itistitntions. He conijuered IVnda, and gave six manors to found Whitliy Abbey, and phiced his (Uuightcr under the care of St. Hilda, the daughter of Hereric, a prince of Northiunlicrland, and niece of King Kdwin, and who had already established a nunnery at South Shields, and was then Abbess of llartlept'ol. She then removed to Whitl)y and bec;une the fii*st Abbess of Whitby Abbey, which was founded in G-")7, and died in G^>0, when she was succeeded l>y l%llleda. Eanfleda, after Oswy's death, spent her widowhood in Whitby Abbey, ami slie, Oswy her Inisband, Kdwin her father, and Elfleda her daughter, were buric-il at Whitby, and so was St. lliUla;' and tiiough it is not known where Kthelburga was buried, the prob;d)ility is that she was also buried at Whitby. Here, then, are four illustrious hidics connected with Whitby Abbey, and when the beautiful regularity of the saw-cut teeth of this eomb and the sujieriority of its workmanship are considered, it is easy to conceive that, jicradventure, it may have been an appliance of the toilet, or may have adorned the head of one of these illustrious ladies. Possibly it may have been preserved by being buried with one of them, as the Saxons were accnstomed to bury conibs with their dead.' And here may be mentioned what is at least a remarkable coincidence. Kdwin was cln-istencil in St. Peter's Church, York, on I'^aster-day, tiie ll'th of April, Gl'7 ; two yeai-s before that time, Boniface the Pope wrote a letter to his " glorious daughter, Queen Ethelbcrga," which is preserved in Beda.' In this he praises her jiicty, bitterly regrets that her glorious liusband still serves abominalde idols, autl strongly lU'ges her to use every endeavour to convert him, and concludes with presenting Kthel- burga with a silver mirn>r and a gilt ivory comb (pectiuem eboreum inam-alum). '•Mr. llaigh raises the (|uestit)n whether this may not be the very comb so given liy J'ope B<'nil"ace. 'J'hat the inscrij)tion is of the time of Kdwin, .Mr. Haigh has no doubt, and he asks whether, in the inseriptiou, we may not have the expression of Kthelbnrga's anxiety for her husband's conversion i Several points seem here to arise. The inscription is plainly Anglo-Saxon. Is it jirobablu that anyone was at that time in Konic who knew Anglo-Saxon? or that there wasan engraver there capable of engrav- ing this inscription i On the contrary, is not the probaliility greater that the whole was executce ; but wonld not any gilding have wholly obscuri-il tln•^o hleiider Knnes ? unless, indeed, it only covered other parts of t|jo comb. 'I'iie origin of Pinies is as iiiuch shnjiided in the mists of aniiipiity a.s their reputed iiiti(>ducer, Woden ; but it is known that they were very conunonly used in spells and cnciiantmcnts, and hence they incurred the enmity of the Chinch. ' Hume, IIiHt. Kn^Innd, 42, •13. providnl fi.r Holoinn nxium, xviii. 874. » ItohiiiKoii'ii Vhit»»y, :»r<. Cliurch of mir KuUuth, v<>I. i. 122. IV. 177; xviii. 77. A comb w.vi nbvnyH
 * Arcli. Joiitn, V"l. xiv, 17, 27.1. 27i]; * Mb. 2, cxi.