Page:Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race.djvu/166

152 son was nearly always preferred in the common law of Scotland, and the Scotch along the east and south-east coasts are largely descended from Anglians and Norse. The eldest son had a preference by the common custom of inheritance in the Isle of Man, which was peopled by Norse colonists; and there, by the common law of the island, the eldest daughter, in default of brothers, succeeded to the inheritance. Similarly, over a great part of Cumberland, which was colonized by the Norse, in default of sons the eldest daughter succeeded to the paternal estate. Primogeniture was the rural custom of Normandy before the conquest of England. Bede tells us that in his time the eldest son had some preference or birthright in Northambria, and, considering that Northumbria was occupied by Anglians, Frisians, and Norwegians, this is not surprising, for all these instances of rustic primogeniture point to Norway and the Scandian land as one of its homes. The Normans of Normandy originally came from these northern lands, and the Manx and Cumberland men came from Norway; where the custom of preferring the eldest daughter in default of sons is an ancient one of the country. The evidence of south-eastern Scotland also points to Norway and the earlier Anglian lands, as does that additional evidence derived from isolated districts or manors in England in which, in default of sons, the eldest daughter succeeds to the paternal estate. The evidence of this eldest daughter custom is so strong that we shall probably be right in locating a Norwegian settlement in places where it prevails or has prevailed. It existed in Surrey at Chertsey, Beaumond, Farnham, Worplestn, and Pirbright; in Buckinghamshire at West Wycombe; in Berkshire at