Page:Runic and heroic poems of the old Teutonic peoples.djvu/20

4 score (principally in the North of England) bearing inscriptions in the English Runic character. The most notable of these are the elaborately carved crosses at Ruthwell (Dumfries)—with verses abridged from the Dream of the Cross—and Bewcastle (Cumberland), the grave slab with inscriptions both in Roman uncials and Runic characters from Falstone (Northumberland), and the three stones from Thornhill (Yorks.). Cf. Thornhill III. Gilsuiþ arærde æfter Berhtsuiþe becun on ''bergi. Gebiddaþ þær saule.'' (Gilswith erected to the memory of Berhtswith a monument on the tomb. Pray for her soul.) The earliest date probably from the seventh century; while the latest contain forms which point to about the middle of the ninth. There seems no reason, however, for supposing that for this purpose the English Runic alphabet remained longer in use than for coins. At all events there is no evidence that it survived the great Danish invasion of 866, which swept away the upper classes in the greater part of Northern England. After this time we find only MS. Runic alphabets, doubtless preserved as antiquarian curiosities, except for the letters wyn and þorn, which had been adopted into the Anglo-Saxon book-hand, and eðel, dæg and man, which were occasionally used as shorthand in the

From the sixth century, however, the alphabet had developed on totally different lines in Scandinavia and England. To the original 24 letters the English eventually added six, æsc, ac, yr, ear, calc, gar, if not a seventh ior. The Scandinavian alphabet, on the other hand, continually reduced the number of letters, until by the ninth century no more than sixteen were left. How incapable they were of representing the sounds of the language can be seen from the greater Jællinge stone set up by Harold Bluetooth, king of Denmark (c. 940-986):

(King Harold ordered this monument to be made to the