Page:Surrey Archaeological Collections Volume 1.djvu/104

 or brethren. In the Code of the Ripuarians,the duodecimal noun, and its multiples and divisions, form a principal feature; for a contested matter of from 3 to 100 sous, six jurors were necessary; for one from 100 to 200, twelve; for 300, thirty-six; and for the large amount of 600 sous, nothing less than 72 deciders was thought satisfactory. This number entered largely into the calculations of romance; the twelve Paladins of Charlemagne, the twelve sons of Aymon; and in our country, the twelve Knights of Arthur's Round Table, are but a few specimens, where even the ingenuity and finesse of fiction conformed itself to the popular numeration. If I did not feel that this part of my subject was running into exuberance, I might here, after Grimm and Lappenberg, show how this duodecimal numeration, in its divisions and multiples, had a remarkable influence in governing the Saxon annalists in fixing the dates of the Saxon events. That these uniformly occur in the reiteration of the multiples of four, must tend to cast serious doubt upon their general authenticity; for nature, and the natural course of events, are too various and free to be confined by such artificial rules; but fiction is continually reproducing itself. If the reader take in hand the Anglo-Saxon annals, he will find the following remarkable coincidences, among many, to bear out the assertion. In the eighth year (4 × 2) after the arrival of the Germans,the Britons led four large armies, under four leaders, to Crawford, in Kent, against Hengist and Osc, his son. Eight years later, in 465, Hengist and Osc collected an unconquerable army, which was drawn up in twelve (3 × 4) noble lines, against the whole force of Britain. After eight years more, Hengist and Osc achieved a new victory over the Britons. On the fortieth (10 × 4) year after his arrival, and the sixteenth (4 × 4)