Chapter VII: Oberon (1)

"O queen, whom Jove hath willed
To found this new-born city, here to reign,
And stubborn tribes with justice to refrain,
We, Troy's poor fugitives, implore thy grace,
Storm-tost and wandering over every main,--
Forbid the flames our vessels to deface,
Mark our afflicted plight, and spare a pious race.

"We come not hither with the sword to rend
Your Libyan homes, and shoreward drive the prey.
Nay, no such violence our thoughts intend."
--VIRGIL, _Æneid_, I., lxix., 57.

The old Welsh poets commemorate what they term Three National Pillars of the Island of Britain, to wit: "First--Hu, the vast of size, first brought the nation of the Cymry to the Isle of Britain; and from the summer land called Deffrobani they came (namely, the place where Constantinople now is), and through Mor Tawch, the placid or pacific sea, they came up to the Isle of Britain and Armorica, where they remained. Second--Prydain, son of Aedd the Great, first erected a government and a kingdom over Ynys Prydain, and previous to that time there was but little gentleness and ordinance, save a superiority of oppression. Third--Dyfnwal Moelmud--and he was the first that made a discrimination of mutual rights and statute law, and customs, and privileges of land and nation, and on account of these things were they called the three pillars of the Cymry."[323]

The Kymbri of Cambria claim themselves to be of the same race as the Kimmeroi, from whom the Crimea takes its name, also that Cumberland is likewise a land of the Cumbers. The authorities now usually explain the term Kymbri as meaning _fellow countrymen_, and when occurring in place-names such as Kemper, Quimper, Comber, Kember, Cymner, etc., it is invariably expounded to mean _confluence_: the word would thus seem to have had imposed upon it precisely the same meaning as _synagogue_, _i.e._, a coming together or congregation, and it remains to inquire why this was so.

The _Kym_bri were also known as _Cyn_bro, and the interchangeability of _kym_ and _kin_ is seemingly universal: the _Khan_ of Tartary was synonymously the _Cham_ of Tartary; our _Cam_bridge is still academically _Can_tabrigia, a _com_pact is a _con_tract, and the identity between _cum_ and _con_ might be demonstrated by innumerable instances. This being so, it is highly likely that the Kymbri were followers of _King Bri_, otherwise King Aubrey, of the Iberii or Iberian race. In Celtic _aber_ or _ebyr_--as at _Aber_deen, _Aber_ystwith, etc.--meant a place of confluence of streams, burns, or brooks; and _aber_ seems thus to have been synonymous with _cam_ber.

Ireland, or _Iber_nia, as it figures in old maps, now _Hiber_nia, traces its title to a certain Heber, and until the time of Henry VII., when the custom was prohibited, the Hibernians used to rush into battle with perfervid cries of _Aber!_[324] It is a recognised peculiarity of the Gaelic language to stress the first of any two syllables, whereas in Welsh the accent falls invariably upon the second: given therefore one and the same word "Aubrey," a Welshman should theoretically pronounce it 'Brey, and an Irishman Aubr'; that is precisely what seems to have happened, whence there is a probability that the Heber and "St. Ibar" of Hibernia and the Bri of Cambria are references to one and the same immigrants.

Having "cambred" Heber with Bri, or Bru, and finding them both assigned traditionally to the Ægean, it is permissible to read the preliminary vowels of Heber or Huber, as the Greek _eu_, and to assume that Aubrey was the soft, gentle, pleasing, and propitious Brey. _Bri_tain is the Welsh _Pry_dain, Hu was pronounced He, and it is thus not improbable that _Pry_ was originally _Pere He_, or Father Hu, and that the traditions of Hu and Bru referred originally to the same race.

_Hyper_, the Greek for _upper_, is radically the same word as Iupiter or _Iu pere_, and if it be true that the French _pere_ is a phonetically decayed form of _pater_, then again, 'Pry or 'Bru may be regarded as a corrosion of Iupiter.

Hu the Mighty, the National Pillar or ded, who has survived as the "I'll be _He_" of children's games, was indubitably the Jupiter of Great Britain, and he was probably the "Hooper" of Hooper's Blind, or Blind Man's Buff. According to the Triads, Hu obtained his dominion over Britain not by war or bloodshed, but by justice and peace: he instructed his people in the art of agriculture; divided them into federated tribes as a first step towards civil government, and laid the foundations of literature and history by the institution of Bardism.[325] In Celtic, _barra_ meant a Court of Justice, in which sense it has survived in London, at Loth_bury_ and Alderman_bury_. The pious Trojans claimed "the stubborn tribes with justice to refrain," and it is possible that _barri_ the Cornish for _divide_ or separate also owes its origin to Bri or _pere He_, who was the first to divide them into federated tribes. Among the Iberians _berri_ meant a _city_, and this word is no doubt akin to our _borough_.

In Hibernia, the Land of Heber, Aubrey or Oberon, it is said that every parish has its green and thorn, where the little people are believed to hold their merry meetings, and to dance in frolic rounds.[326] A _pari_sh, Greek _paroika_, is an orderly division, and as often as not the civic centre was a fairy stone: according to Sir Laurence Gomme, who made a special study of the primitive communities, when and where a village was established a stone was ceremoniously set up, and to this _pierre_ the headman of the village made an offering once a year.[327]

Situated in Fore Street, Totnes, there stands to-day the so-called Brutus Stone, from which the Mayor of Totnes still reads official proclamations. At Brightlingsea we have noted the existence of a _Broad_moot: there is a _Brad_stone in Devon, a Bradeston in Norfolk, and elsewhere these Brude or Brutus stones were evidently known as _pre_ stones. The innumerable "Prestons" of this country were originally, I am convinced, not as is supposed "Priests Towns," but _Pre Stones i.e._, Perry or Fairy Stones. King James in his book on _Demonology_ spells fairy--Phairy; in Kent the cirrhus cloudlets of a summer day are termed the "Perry Dancers," and the _phairies_ of Britain probably differed but slightly, if at all, from the _per_ii or _per_is of _Per_sia.[328]

Among the Greeks every town and village had its so-called "Luck," or protecting Goddess who specially controlled its fortunes, and by Pindar this Presiding Care is entitled _pherepolis_, _i.e._, the peri or phairy of the city.

The various Purleys and Purtons of England are assigned by the authorities to _peru_ a pear, and supposed to have been pear-tree meadows or pear-tree hills, but I question whether pear-growing was ever the national industry that the persistent prevalence of _peru_ in place-names would thus imply.

Around the _pre-stones_ of each village our forerunners indubitably used to _pray_, and in the memoirs of a certain St. Sampson we have an interesting account of an interrupted Pray-meeting--"Now it came to pass, on a certain day as he journeyed through a certain district which they call Tricurius (the hundred of Trigg), he heard, on his left hand to be exact, men worshipping (at) a certain shrine, after the custom of the Bacchantes, by means of a play in honour of an image. Thereupon he beckoned to his brothers that they should stand still and be silent while he himself, quietly descending from his chariot to the ground, and standing upon his feet and observing those who worshipped the idol, saw in front of them, resting on the summit of a certain hill an abominable image. On this hill I myself have been, and have adored, and with my hand have traced the sign of the cross which St. Sampson, with his own hand, carved by means of an iron instrument on a _standing stone_. When St. Sampson saw it (the image), selecting two only of the brothers to be with him, he hastened quickly towards them, their chief, Guedianus, standing at their head, and gently admonished them that they ought not to forsake the one God who created all things and worship an idol. And when they pleaded as an excuse that it was not wrong to keep the festival of their progenitors in a play, some being furious, some mocking, but some being of saner mind strongly urging him to go away, straightway the power of God was made clearly manifest. For a certain boy driving horses at full speed fell from a swift horse to the ground, and twisting his head under him as he fell headlong, remained, just as he was flung, little else than a lifeless corpse." The "corpse" was seemingly but a severe stun, for an hour or so later, St. Sampson by the power of prayer successfully restored the patient to life, in view of which miracle Guedianus and all his tribe prostrated themselves at St. Sampson's feet, and "utterly destroyed the idol".[329]

The idol here mentioned if not itself a standing stone, was admittedly associated with one, and happily many of these Aubrey or Bryanstones are still standing. One of the most celebrated antiquities of Cornwall is the so-named _men scryfa_ or "inscribed rock," and the inscription running from top to bottom reads--RIALOBRAN CUNOVAL FIL.

As history knows nothing of any "Rialobran, son of Cunoval," one may suggest that Rialobran was the _Ryall_ or _Royal Obran_, _Obreon_ or _Oberon_, the _bren_ or Prince of Phairyland who figures so largely in the Romance of mediæval Europe. The Rialobran stone of Cornwall may be connoted with the ceremonial _perron du roy_ still standing in the Channel Islands, and with the numerous _Browny_ stones of Scotland. In Cornwall the phairy _brownies_ seem to have been as familiar as in Scotland[330]: in the Hebrides--and as the Saint of this neighbourhood is St. Bride, the word Hebrides may perhaps be rendered _eu Bride_--every family of any importance once possessed a most obliging household Browny. Martin, writing in the eighteenth century, says: "A spirit by the country people called Browny was frequently seen in all the most considerable families in these Isles and North of Scotland in the shape of a tall man, but within these twenty or thirty years past he is seen but rarely." As the cromlechs of Brittany are termed _poukelays_ or "puck stones," it is possible that the _dolmens_ or _tolmens_ of there and elsewhere were associated with the fairy _tall man_. Still speaking of the Hebrides Martin goes on to say: "Below the chapels there is a flat thin stone called Brownie's stone, upon which the ancient inhabitants offered a cow's milk every Sunday, but this custom is now quite abolished". The official interpretation of dolmen is _daul_ or _table stone_, but it is quite likely that the word _tolmen_ is capable of more than one correct explanation.

The Cornish Rialobran was in all probability originally the same as the local St. Perran or St. Piran, whose sanctuary was marked by the parish of Lan_bron_ or Lam_borne_. There is a Cornish circle known as Perran Round and the celebrated Saint who figures as, Perran, Piran, Bron, and Borne,[331] is probably the same as Perun the Slav Jupiter. From a stone held in the hand of Perun's image the sacred fire used annually to be struck and endeavours have been made to equate this Western Jupiter with the Indian Varuna. That there was a large Perran family is obvious from the statement that "till within the last fifty years the registers of the parish from the earliest period bear the Christian name of 'Perran,' which was transmitted from father to son; but now the custom has ceased".[332] Thus possibly St. Perran was not only the original of the modern Perrin family, but also of the far larger Byrons and Brownes. Further inquiry will probably permit the equation of Rialobran or St. Bron or Borne with St. Bruno, and as Oberon figures in the traditions of Kensington it is possible that the Bryanstone Square in that district, into which leads Brawn Street, marks the site of another Brownie or Rialobran stone. This Bryanstone district was the home of the Byron family, and the surname Brinsmead implies the existence here or elsewhere a Brin's mead or meadow.

The Brownies are occasionally known as "knockers," whence the "knocking stone" which still stands in Brahan Wood, Dingwall, might no doubt be rightly entitled a Brahan, Bryan, or Brownie Stone.[333]

Legend at Kensington--in which neighbourhood is not only Bryanstone Square but also on the summit of Campden Hill an Aubrey Walk--relates that Kenna, the fairy princess of Kensington Gardens, was beloved by Albion the Son of Oberon; hence we may probably relate young Kenna with Morgana the Fay, or _big Gana_, the alleged Mother of Oberon.[334] Mediæval tales represent the radiant Oberon not only as splendid, as a meteor, and as a raiser of storms, but likewise as the childlike God of Love and beauteous as an angel newly born.

At once the storm is fled; serenely mild
Heav'n smiles around, bright rays the sky adorn
While beauteous as an angel newly born
Beams in the roseate day spring, glow'd _the child_
A lily stalk his graceful limbs, sustain'd
Round his smooth neck an ivory horn was chain'd
Yet lovely as he was on all around
Strange horror stole, for stern the fairy frown'd.[335]

It is not unlikely that the Princess Kenna was Ken _new_ or the Crescent Moon, and the consociation at Kensington of Kenna with Oberon, permits not only the connotation of Oberon with his Fay mother Morgana, but also permits the supposition that Cuneval, the parent of Rialobran, was either _Cune strong_ or _valiant_. It is obvious that the most valiant and most valorous would inevitably become rulers, whence perhaps why in Celtic _bren_ became a generic term for _prince_: the words _bren_ and _prince_ are radically the same, and stand in the same relation to one another as St. Bron to his variant St. Piran.

Oberon or Obreon, the leader of the Brownies, Elves, or Alpes, may I think be further traced in Cornwall at Carn Galva, for this Carn of Galva, _Mighty_ Elf or Alva, was, it is said, once the seat of a benignant giant named Holi_burn_. The existence of Alva or Ellie-stones is implied by the fairly common surnames Alvastone, Allistone, and Ellistone, and it is probable that Livingstone was originally the same name as Elphinstone.

From the Aubry, Obrean, Peron stones, or Brownlows were probably promulgated the celebrated _Brehon_ laws:[336] as is well known the primitive Prince or Baron sat or stood in the centre of his _barrow_, _burra_, or _bury_, and ranged around him each at his particular stone stood the subordinate _peers_, _brehons_ (lawyers), and _barons_ of the realm. A _peer_ means an equal, and it is therefore quite likely that the _Pre_stons of Britain mark circles where the village peers held their parish or parochial meetings.

With the English Preston the Rev. J. B. Johnston connotes Presteign, and he adds: "In Welsh Presteign is Llanandras, or Church of St. Andrews".[337] This illuminating fact enables us to connect the Perry stones with the cross of St. Andrew or _Ancient Troy_, and as Troy was an offshoot of Khandia we may reasonably accept Crete as the starting-point of Aubrey's worldwide tours. That Candia was the home of the gentle magna mater is implied by the ubiquitous dove: in Hibernia the name Caindea is translated as being Gaelic for _gentle goddess_, and we shall later connect this lady with "Kate Kennedy," whose festival is still commemorated at St. Andrews.

To the East of Cape Khondhro in Crete, and directly opposite the town of Candia or Herakleion, lies the islet of Dhia: in Celtic _dia_, _dieu_, or _duw_ meant God,[338] and as in Celtic _Hugh_ meant _mind_, we may translate _dieu_ as having primarily implied _good Hu_, the good Mind or _Brain_. In a personal sense the Brain is the Lord of Wits, whence perhaps why _Obreon_--as Keightley spells Oberon--was said to be the Emperor of Fairyland, attended by a court and special courtiers, among whom are mentioned _Perri_wiggen, _Perri_winkle, and Puck.

At the south-eastern extremity of Dhia is a colossal spike, peak, or _pier_, entitled Cape Apiri, and we may connote Apiri with the Iberian town named Ipareo. The coinage of Ipareo pourtrays "a sphinx walking to the left," at other times it depicted the Trinacria or walking legs of Sicily and the Isle of Man. The Three Legs of Sicily were represented with the face of Apollo, as the hub or _bogel_, and the ancient name of Sicily was _Hyper_eia. On the Feast Day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Sicilians or Hypereians hold what they still term the "Festival of the _Bara_". An immense machine of about 50 feet high is constructed, designing to represent heaven; and in the midst is placed a young female personating the Virgin, with an image of Jesus on her right hand; round the Virgin twelve little children turn vertically, representing so many seraphim, and below them twelve more children turn horizontally, as cherubim; lower down in the machine a sun turns vertically, with a child at the extremity of each of the four principal radii of his circle, who ascend and descend with his rotation, yet always in an erect posture; and still lower, reaching within about 7 feet of the ground, are placed twelve boys who turn horizontally without intermission around the principal figure, designing thereby to exhibit the twelve apostles, who were collected from all corners of the earth, to be present at the decease of the Virgin, and witness her miraculous assumption. This huge machine is drawn about the principal streets by sturdy monks, and it is regarded as a particular favour to any family to admit their children in this divine exhibition, although the poor infants themselves do not seem long to enjoy the honours they receive as seraphim, cherubim, and apostles; the constant twirling they receive in the air making some of them fall asleep, many of them sick, and others more grievously ill.[339]

Not only this Hypereian Feast but the machine itself is termed the _Bara_, whence it is evident that, like St. Michael, _Aubrey_ or Aber the Confluence, was regarded as the Camber, Synagogue, Yule or Holy Whole, and the fact that the Sicilian Bara is held upon the day of St. Alipius indicates some intimate connection with St. Alf or Alpi. The Walking Sphinx of the Iparean coins is identified by M. Lenormant as the Phoenician deity Aion, and according to Akerman the type was doubtless chosen in compliment to Albinus, who was born at Hadrumetum, a town not far from Carthage.[340] What was the precise connection between this Aion and Albinus I am unaware.

Among the coins of Iberia some bear the inscriptions ILIBERI, ILIBEREKEN, and ILIBERINEKEN, which accord with Pliny's reference to the Iliberi or Liberini. Liber was the Latin title of the God of Plenty, whence _liberal_, _liberty_, _labour_, etc., and seemingly the _Elibers_ or Liberins deified these virtues as attributes of the Holy Aubrey or the Holy Brain-King.

Directly opposite Albania, the country of the _Epirotes_--known anciently as _Epirus_--is _Cantabria_ at the heel of Italy, and we meet again with the Cantabares in Iberia where they occupied Cantabria which comprised Alava. It may be noted in passing that in Epirus the olive was a supersacred tree: according to Miss Harrison--some of whose words I have italicised--this Moria, or Fate Tree, was the _very life_ of Athens; the _life_ of the _olive_ which fed her and lighted her was the _very life_ of the city. When the Persian host sacked the Acropolis they burnt the holy olive, and it seemed that all was over. But next day it put forth a new shoot and the people knew that the city's life still _lived_. Sophocles sang of the glory of the wondrous _life-tree_ of Athens:--

The untended, the self-planted, self-defended from the foe,
Sea-grey, children-nurturing olive tree that here delights to grow,
None may take nor touch nor harm it, headstrong youth nor age grown bold
For the round of Morian Zeus has been its watcher from of old;
He beholds it, and, Athene, thy own sea-grey eyes behold.

From _Epirus_ one is attracted to the river _Iberus_ or _Ebro_ which is bounded by the _Pyrenees_, and had the town of _Hibera_ towards its mouth. Of the Iberian people in general Dr. Lardner states: "They are represented as tenacious of freedom, but those who inhabited the coasts were probably still more so of gain". I am at a loss to know why this offensive suggestion is gratuitously put forward, as the Iberians are said to have been remarkably slender and active and to have held corpulency in much abhorrence.[341] Of the Spanish Cantabres we are told that the consciousness of their strength gave them an air of calm dignity and a decision in their purposes not found in any other people of the Peninsula. "Their loud wailings at funerals, and many other of their customs strongly resemble those of the Irish."[342]

_Pere_ and _parent_ are radically the same word, and that the Iberians reverenced their _peres_ is obvious from the fact that _parricides_ were conducted beyond the bounds of the Kingdom and there slain; their very bones being considered too polluted to repose in their native soil.[343]

Lardner refers to the unbending resolution, persevering energy, and native grandeur of the Cantabrians, but he contemptuously rejects Strabo's "precious information" that some of the Spanish tribes had for 6000 years possessed writing, metrical poems, and even laws. In view of the superior number of Druidical remains which are found in certain parts of Spain it is not improbable that the Barduti of Iberia corresponded with the Bards or Boreadæ of Britain.

There are many references in the classics to certain so-called Hyperboreans, in particular the oft-quoted passage from Diodorus of Sicily or Hypereia: "Hecataeus and some other ancient writers report that there is an island about the bigness of Sicily, situated in the ocean, opposite to the northern coast of Celtica (Gaul), inhabited by a people called Hyperboreans, because they are 'beyond the north wind'. The climate is excellent, and the soil is fertile, yielding double crops. The inhabitants are great worshippers of Apollo, to whom they sing many, many hymns. To this god they have consecrated a large territory, in the midst of which they have a magnificent round temple, replenished with the richest offerings. Their very city is dedicated to him, and is full of musicians and players on various instruments, who every day celebrate his benefits and perfections."

Claims to being the original Hyperborea have been put in by scholars from time to time on behalf of Stonehenge, the Hebrides, Hibernia, Scythia, Tartary, and Muscovy, "stretching quite to Scandinavia or Sweden and Norway": the locality is still unsettled and will probably remain so, for there is some reason to suppose that the Hyperboreans were a sect or order akin perhaps to the Albigenses, Cathari, Bridge Builders, Comacine Masters, Templars, and other Gnostic organizations of the Dark Ages.

The chief Primary Bard of the West was entitled Taliesin, which Welsh scholars translate into _Radiant Brow_: the _brow_ is the seat of the _brain_, and the two words stand to each other in the same relation as Aubrey to Auberon.

Commenting upon the Elphin _bairn_, illustrated in Fig. 162, Akerman observes that it is supposed to illustrate the Gaulish myth of the Druid Abaris to whom Apollo is said to have given an arrow on which he travelled magically through the air. It is an historic fact that a physical Abaris visited Athens where he created a most favourable impression; it is likewise a fact that Irish literature possesses the account of a person called Abhras, which perfectly agrees with the description of the Hyperborean Abaris of Diodorus and Himerius. The classic Abaris went to Greece to whip up subscriptions for a temple: the Irish Abhras is said to have gone to distant parts in quest of knowledge, returning by way of Scotland where he remained seven years and founded a new system of religion. In Irish Abar means "God the first Cause," and as in Ireland _cad_ (which is our _good_) meant _holy_, the magic word Abracadabra may be reasonably resolved into _Abra, Good Abra_. As already mentioned the Irish cried _Aber!_ when rushing into battle, and the word was no doubt used likewise at peaceful feasts and festivals. The inference would thus seem that the title of Abaris was assumed by the chief Druid or High Priest who personified during his tenure of office the archetypal Abaris. It is well known that the priest or king enacted in his own person the mysteries of the faith; and it is not improbable that chief Guedianus, whose sacred play was so rudely disturbed by St. Sampson, was personifying at the time the _Good Janus_ or Genius.

If my suggestion that Taliesin or _Radiant Brow_ was a generic title assumed by every Primary-Chief-Bard in Britain for the time being be correct, it is likely that the same principle applied elsewhere than in Wales. The first bard mentioned in Ireland was Amergin, which resolves into _Love King_, and may thus be equated with Homer the blind old man of Chios. The supposedly staid and gloomy Etrurians attributed all their laws and wisdom to an elphin child who was unexpectedly thrown up from the soil by a plough. As the Etrurian name for Cupid was Epeur, in all probability the aged child on Fig. 171 represents this elphin high-brow, and with _Epeur_ may be connoted the Etrurian _Per_ugia--probably the same word as Phrygia. The local saint of Peru_gia_, the _land of Peru_ (_?_) was known as Good John of Perugia: in Hibernia St. Ibar is mentioned as being "like John the Baptist".[344]

It was the custom in Etruria to represent _good genii_ as birds: birds sporting amid foliage are even to-day accepted and understood as symbolic of good genii in Paradise, and birds or _brids_, as we used to spell them, are of course Nature's little singing men, _i.e._, _bards_ or _boreadæ_. A percipient observer of the Pictish inscriptions found in Scotland has recently pointed out that, "With the exception of the eagle which conveys a special meaning, shown in many early Scottish stones, the image of a bird is a sign of good omen. Winged creatures, indeed, almost always stand for angelic and spiritual things, whether in pagan or Christian times. The bird symbol involved the conception of ethereality or spirituality. The bird _motif_ occurs in the decoration of metallic objects in the British Islands during the early centuries in this era. I have found in Wigtownshire the image of a bird in bronze. It belongs to a time early in this era. It occurs within the pentacle symbol engraved on a pebble from the Broch of Burrian, Orkney. Birds are shown within the pedestal of a cross at Farr. Birds with a similar symbolism are found on the Shandwick stone, and on a stone at St. Vigeans. They are of frequent occurrence in foliageous work, often with the three-berried branch or with the three-lobed leaf, as at Closeburn. The pagan conception, absorbed into the early Christian ideas, was that the bird represented the disembodied spirit which was reputed to voyage here and there with a lightning celerity, like the flash of a swallow on the wing."[345]

The Bards of Britain attributed the foundation of their order to Hu the First Pillar of the Island, and to unravel the personality of the early Bards will no doubt prove as impracticable as the disclosure of Homer, Amergin, Old Moore, and Old Parr.

No bird has ever uttered note
That was not in some first bird's throat,
Since Eden's freshness and man's fall
No rose has been original.

As St. Bride, whose name may be connoted with _brid_ or _bird_, was the goddess of eloquence and poetry, the Welsh term Prydain is no doubt cognate with _prydu_ the Welsh for "to compose poetry". Probably _prate_, mediæval _praten_, meant originally to _preach_ in a fervid, voluble, and sententious manner, but in any case it is impossible to agree with Skeat that _prate_ was "of imitative origin". Imitative of what--a _parrot_?

The _hyper_ of Hyperborean is our word _upper_; _over_, German _uber_, means _aloft_, which is radically _alof_, and _exuberant_ and _exhuberance_ resolve into, _from or out of Auberon_: the _bryony_ is a creeper of notoriously exuberant growth, in Greek _bruein_ means to teem or grow luxuriantly.

With the river Ebro may be connoted the South Spanish town of Ebora or Epora which is within a few miles of Andura. The coins of this city are inscribed EPORA, AIPORA, and IIPORA, and the "bare bearded head to the right within a laurel garland" may here no doubt be identified with Hyperion, the father of Helios the Sun. In Homer, Helios himself is alluded to as Hyperion, which is the same name as our Auberon: the coins of the Tarragonensian town of Pria, which has been sometimes confused with Baria, in the south of Spain, figure a bull and are inscribed Prianen.

There are in existence certain coins figuring an ear of corn, a pellet, a crescent, the head of Hercules, and a club, inscribed ABRA: the site of this city is unknown, but is believed to have been near Cadiz.

On the banks of the Tagus there was a city named Libora and its coins pourtrayed a horse: in the opinion of Akerman the unbridled horse was the symbol of _liberty_, and it is quite likely that among other interpretations this was one, for it is beyond question that symbolism was never fettered into one solitary and stereotyped form.

The ancient Libora is now known as Talavera la Reyna which may seemingly be modernised into _Tall Vera, the Queen_. The Tarraconensian town of Barea--whose emblem was the thistle--is now known as Vera: the old Portuguese Ebora is now Evora, _uber_ is the German for _over_; Varvara is the Cretan form of Barbara, and it is quite obvious that in various directions Vera and Bera with their derivatives were synonymous terms.

It would seem that Aubrey or Avery toured with his cross into _Helvetia_, planting it particularly at _Ginevra_, now Geneva, and there for the moment we may leave him amid the _Alpine_ Oberland at Berne.

The ancient town of Berne memorises in its museum a famed St. Bernard dog named "Barry," which saved the lives of forty travellers: this "Barry" associated with Oberthal may be connoted with "Perro," a shepherd's dog in Wales, whose curious name Borrow was surprised to find corresponded with _perro_, the generic term for _dog_ in Spain.[346]

_Berne_ still maintains its erstwhile sacred Bruin or _bears_ in their bear-pit, but the Gaulish Eburs or Iburii seemingly reverenced not Bruin but the _boar_, _vide_ the EBUR coin here illustrated. The capital of the ancient Eburii is now Evreux, and they seem, no doubt for some excellent reason, to have been confused with the Cenomani, a people seemingly akin to our British Cenomagni, Iceni, or Cantii.

Fig. 174, bearing the inscription EBURO, is a coin of the Eburones who inhabited the neighbourhood of Liége. It is a noteworthy fact that the people of Liége are admittedly conspicuous as the most courteous and charming of all Belgians. Their coins were inscribed EBUR, EBURO, and sometimes COM--a curious and unexplained legend which occurs frequently upon the tokens of Britain.

The Celtiberian town of Cunbaria is now known as La Maria, the Kimmeroi were synonymously the Kymbri, and it is not improbable that these dual terms have survived in the _compère_ and _commère_ of modern France. The _pères_ or priests of France, like the parsons, priests, and presbyters of Britain, assign to infants at Baptism a God-Father and a God-Mother, which the French term respectively _parrain_ and _marrain_. _Compère_ and _commère_ figure not only in the Church but also in the Theatre, and it is more than likely that the _commère_ and _compère_ of the modern Revue are the direct descendants of the patriarchal _Abaris_, _Abhras_, _Priest_, and _Presbyter_ of prehistoric times.

On the Sierra de _Elvira_ near Granada used to stand Ilibiris whose coins are inscribed ILIBERI, ILBRS, ILIBERRIS, LIBER, ILBERNEN, ILBRNAKN, ILBREKN, and these legends may be connoted with the famous Irish Leprechaun, Lobaircin, or Lubarkin who figures less prominently in England as the Lubrican or Lubberkin. Sometimes the Irish knock off the _holy_ and refer simply to "_a little prechaun_," but the more usual form is Lubarkin:[347] this most remarkable of the fairy tribe in Ireland is supposed to be peculiar to that island, but one would probably have once met with him at Brecon, or Brychain at Brecknock, at Brechin in Forfarshire, at Birchington in Kent, at Barking near London, and in many more directions. In connection with Iberia in the West there occur references to a giant Bergyon, who may be connoted with Burchun of the Asiatic Buratys. The religion of these Buratys was, said Bell, downright paganism of the grossest kind: he adds the information, "they talk, indeed, of an Almighty and Good Being who created all things, whom they call Burchun; but seem bewildered in obscure and fabulous notions concerning His nature and government".[348] Inquiries may prove that these Burchun-worshipping Buratys were of the Asiatic Iberian race which Strabo supposed were descendants of the Western Iberi.[349]

In addition to Barking near London (Domesday _Berchinges_) there is a Birchin Lane, and buried away in obscurity, opposite the Old Bailey in London, there is standing to-day a small open court entitled Prujean Square. In connection with this may be connoted the tradition that the origin of the societies of the inns of court is to be found in the law schools existing in the city: the first of these legal institutions entitled Johnstone's Inn,[350] was situated in Newgate; and the vulgarity of the name Johnstone raises a suspicion that Johnstones were as plentiful in Scotland as Prestons in England, both alike being Aubry or Bryanstones, where the Brehon laws were enunciated and administered. Whether the present Prujean Square marks the site of the original Johnstone, whence Johnstone's Inn, is a matter which may possibly be settled by future inquiry, but the word Prujean, which is _père John_, renders it extremely likely that the original Johnstone of Johnstone's Inn, Newgate, was alternatively _père_ Johnstone. If this were so, Prujean Square marks the primary Law Court of the Old Bailey, and at some remote period the officers of the Law merely stepped across the road into more commodious premises.

The Governors of Gray's Inn, another most ancient Law School, are entitled "the Ancients"; _equity_ is radically the same word as _equus_, a horse; and the Mayors, or Mares, of Britain and Brittany seemingly represented the mare-headed Demeter or Good Mother. _Juge_ is _geegee_, our judges still wear _horse_-hair wigs of office, and the figure on the British coin here illustrated looks singularly like a _brehon_ or _barrister_ who has been called to the Bar.

It is common knowledge that the primitive _Bar_ was a _barrow_, from the summit of which the Druid, King, or Abaris administered justice, and around which presumably were ranged each at his stone the prehistoric barristers or _abaristers_? Even until the eighteenth century the lawyers were assigned each a pillar in St. Paul's Church, and at their respective pillars the Men of Law administered advice. On the summit of Prestonbury Rings in Devonshire evidently once stood a phairie stone, and the name of Prestonpans in Scotland suggests that Prestons were not unknown in Albany.

The laws of Greece were admittedly derived from Crete, and such was the reputation of King Minos that the mythologists made him the Judge of the Under-world. Lycurgus, the Cretan, would not permit his Code to be committed to writing, deeming it more permanent if engraved upon the brain: the Brehon laws of Ireland were enunciated in rhymed triplets termed Celestial Judgments, and the most ancient Law Codes of all nations are assigned without exception to Bards and a divine origin.

Not only were laws enunciated from barrows, but the dead were buried in a barrow, and the knees of the deceased were tucked up under his chin so that the body assumed the position of an unborn child: in Welsh _bru_ meant the belly or matrix, in Cornish _bry_ meant breast, and the notion seems to have been that the body of the deceased was restored as it were into Abraham's bosom whence it had sprung.[351]

It is a remarkable fact that neither in the Greek nor Latin language is there any equivalent to the word _barrow_, whence it would seem, judging also from the immense number of round and oval barrows found in Britain, that these islands were pre-eminently the home of the barrow, and that the barrow was essentially a British institution.

Connected with _barrow_ is the civic _borough_, also the _berg_ or hill: in Cornish _bre_, _bar_, or _per_ meant hill,[352] and _bar_ meant top or summit; _birua_ is the Basque for head, and in Gaelic _barra_ meant supposedly _mount of the circle_.[353]

In Cornish _bron_ meant breast or pap, and one of the most popular heroines of Welsh Romance is the beautiful Bronwen or Branwen, a name which the authorities translate as meaning _Bosom White_. In old English _bosom_ was written _bosen_, and as _en_ was our ancient plural, as in brethr_en_, childr_en_, etc., it is probable that not only did _bosen_ mean the bosses but that _bron_ or breast was originally _bru en_, _bre en_ or _bar en_, _i.e._, the tops or hills. This symbol of the Great Mother was represented frequently by two hills--from the Paps of Anu down to twin barrows, and it was also represented mathematically by two circles.

In Celtic _bryn_ meant hillock or hill, in Cornish _bern_ meant a hayrick, and that the _mows_ or hayricks were made in the form of _bron_, the breast, may be implied from ancient Inn Signs of the Barley Mow. _Bara_ was Cornish for _bread_; in the same language _barn_ meant to judge, _barner_ a judge, and there is good reason to suppose that the tithe barns connected with Monasteries and Churches served originally not merely as store-houses, but as Courts of Justice, theatres, and centres of religion. In Cornish _bronter_ meant priest, _priest_ is the same word as _breast_, and the notion of _par_sons being pastors, feeders, or fathers is commemorated in the words themselves. In Cornish _brein_ or _brenn_ meant royal and supreme; the sacred centre stone of King's County in Ireland was situated at Birr, and _birua_ has already been noted as being the Basque for _head_. The probability of these words being connected is strengthened by Keightley's observation: "There must by the way some time or other have been an intimate connection between Spain and England, so many of our familiar words seem to have a Spanish origin".[354]

In addition to the famous earthwork at _Abury_ in Wilts there is a less familiar one at _Eubury_ in Gloucestershire: at Redbourne in Herts is a "camp" known as "_Aubrey's_" or "_Aubury_," whence it would seem that _abri_, the generic term for a shelter or refuge, might also have originated in Britain.[355] The colossal _abri_ at Abury, or Aubrey, consisted of two circles within a greater one, and at the head of the avenue facing due east it will be noticed that Aubrey, the seventeenth-century antiquary, records twin barrows situated on what is now _Over_ton Hill.

Lying in the sea a mile or so off the Cornish town of St. Just are a _pair_ of conical _ber_gs or _pyr_amids known as the Brisons, and opposite these is a little bay named Priest's Cove. There is no known etymology for Brisons, but it has been suggested that these remarkable burgs were once used as prisons: probably they were, for the stocks were frequently placed at the church door, and without doubt the ancient holy places served on necessity as prisons as well as Courts of St. Just. In the vicarage garden at St. Just was found a small bronze bull, and as the Phoenicians have been washed out of reckoning we may assign this idol either to the Britons who, until recently wassailed under the guise of a bull termed "the Broad,"[356] or to the Bronze-age Cretans, among whom the Bull or Minotaur was sacred. Perhaps instead of "Cretans" it would be more just to say Hellenes, for the headland opposite the Brisons was known originally as Cape Helenus, and there are the ruins of St. Hellen's Chapel still upon it.

Hellen, the mythical ancestor from whom the Hellenes attributed their national descent, may possibly be recognised not only as the Long Man or Lanky Man of country superstition but also in Parth_olon_ or Barth_olon_, the alleged son of Terah (Troy?), who is said to have landed with an expedition at Imber Scene in Ireland within 300 years after the Flood. Partholon, _Father Good Holon_ (?) or _Pure Good Holon_ (?) is said to have had three sons "whose names having been conferred on localities where they are still extant their memories have been thus perpetuated so that they seem still to live among us". This passage, quoted from Silvester Giraldus,[357] who was surnamed Cambrensis because he was a Welshman, permits the assumption that a similar practice prevailed also elsewhere, and if in the time of Giraldus (1146) place-names had survived since the Flood, there is no reason to suppose that they have since ceased to exist.

Hellen was the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, who correspond to the Noah and Alpha of our British mythology: after floating for nine days during the Flood the world was said to have been re-peopled by these twain, _two-one_, giant or _joint_ pair, who created men by casting stones over their shoulders. In the Christian emblem here illustrated the divine Père or Parent, is being assisted by an angel, _peri_, or phairy, and it is possible that the Prestons of Britain were at one time Pyrrha stones. As the syllable _zance_ of Penzance is always understood as _san_, holy, possibly the two Brisons may be translated into _Pair Holy_: with the Greek Pyrrha-Flood story may be connoted Peirun the name of the Chinese Noah.

The church of St. Just was originally known as Lafroodha, which is understood to have meant _laf_ church and _rhooda_,[358] "a corruption of the Saxon word rood or cross". Rhooda is, however, much older than Saxon, _rhoda_ is the Greek for rose, and the Rhodian Greeks used the rose as their national symbol. The immediate surroundings of the Dane John at Durovernum are known to this day as Rodau's Town, and we shall consider Rhoda at greater length in subsequent chapters.

In the church of Roodha or St. Just there is standing a so-called "Silus stone" which was discovered in 1834, during alterations to the chancel: this object has carved upon it SILUS HIC JACET, the Greek letters [Greek: Ch.R.], and a crosier, whence it has been surmised that Silus was a priest or pastor. Mr. J. Harris Stone inquires: "Who was Silus? No one has yet discovered," and he adds: "It is a reasonable conjecture that he was one of those early British bishops who preached the Gospel before the mission of Augustine."

I agree that he was British, but I am inclined to place him still farther back, and to assign his name at any rate to the Selli, under which title the priests of Epirus were known. The Selli were pre-eminently the custodians at Dodona, whence Homer's reference:--

Great King, Dodona's Lord, Pelasgian Jove,
Who dwell'st on high, and rul'st with sov'reign sway,
Dodona's wintry heights; where dwell around
Thy Sellian priests, men of unwashen feet,
That on the bare ground sleep.

The Spartan courage and simplicity of the British papas is sufficiently exemplified by their voyages to Iceland and to the storm-tossed islands of the Hebrides, where they have left names such as Papa Stour, Papa Westray, etc. One may assume that the _selli_ of Dodona--as probably also the _salii_ or augurs of Etruria--lived originally in _cells_ either single or in clusters which became the foundations of later monasteries: Silus may thus be connoted with _solus_, and the word _celibate_ suggests that the _selli_ led _soli_tary lives.

Close to Perry Court, in Kent, is Selgrove, and the numerous Selstons, Seldens, Selsdens, Selwoods, and Selhursts, were in all probability hills, woods, denes, and groves where the Selli congregated, and celebrated the benefits and perfections of the Solus or Alone. Near Birmingham is Selly Oak, which may be connoted with _allon_, the Hebrew for oak, and with the fact that the oak groves of the _selli_ at Dodona were universally renowned. The Scilly Islands and Selsea or Sels Island in Hampshire may be connoted with Selby or Selebi, the abode of the _selli_ (_?_), in Yorkshire, now Selby Abbey. In Devonshire is _Zeal_ Monachorum, and judging by what was accomplished we may define the _selli_ as _zeal_ous and celestial-minded souls. In Welsh _celli_ means a _grove_; in Latin _sylva_ means a _wood_; it is notorious that the Druids worshipped in groves, and it is not unlikely that Silbury Hill was particularly the selli's hill or barrow. On the other hand the pervasiveness of _Bury_ at Abury as exemplified in the immediately adjacent _Bar_bury Castle, _Bore_ham Downs, _Brad_enstoke, _Over_ton Hill, and Oli_vers_ Castle, makes it likely that the _Sil_ of Silbury may have been the Sol of Solway and Salisbury Crags.

In Ireland our soft _cell_ is _kil_, whence Kilkenny, Kilbride, and upwards of 1400 place-names, all meaning _cell of_, or _holy to_ so and so. The enormous prevalence of this hard _kil_ in Ireland renders it probable that the word carried the same meaning in many other directions, notably at Cal_abria_ in Etruria: the wandering priests of Asia Minor and the near East were known as Calanders, a word probably equivalent to Santander, and as has been seen every Welsh Preston was a Llanandras or church of Andrew.

At Haverfordwest there is a place named Berea, upon which the Rev. J. B. Johnston comments: "Welsh Non-conformists love to name their chapels and villages around them so": among the Hebrew Pharisees there existed a mystic _haburah_ or _fellowship_;[359] and the Welsh word _Berea_, probably connected with _abri_, meaning a sanctuary, is associated by Mr. Johnston with the passage in Acts xvii., _i.e._: "And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and _Silas_ by night into Berea". That Paul preached from an _abri_, or Mount Pleasant, is implied by the statement that he stood in the midst of Mars Hill, whence he admonished his listeners against their altars to the Unknown God. It was traditionally believed that St. Paul preached not only to the people of Cornwall, but also to Londoners from Parliament Hill, where a prehistoric stone still stands.

That Hellen was once a familiar name at Abury is implied by _Lans_down, _Lyn_ham, and perhaps Calne or _uch alne_ the _Great Alone_. Both the river Colne in Lancashire and the village of Calne near Abury are attributed as possibly to _calon_, the Welsh for heart or centre: the word _centre_ is radically San Troy, as also is _saintuary_ or _sanctuary_. Stukeley speaks particularly of Overton Hill as being the sanctuary, but the entire district was traditionally sacrosanct, and it was popularly supposed that reptiles died on entering the precincts: of the Hyperboreans, Diodorus expressly records they had consecrated a large territory.

The village of Abury was occasionally spelled Avereberie, at other times Albury, and with this latter form may be connoted Alberich,[360] the German equivalent to Auberon. Chilperic, a variant of Alberich, is stated by Camden to be due to a German custom of prefacing certain names with _ch_ or _k_, a contracted form of _king_: I was unaware of this fact when first formulating my theory that an initial _K_ meant _great_.

It is considered that Alberich meant _Elf rich_, and the official supposition is that the French Alberon, or Auberon, was made in Germany: according to Keightley, the German Albs or Elves have fallen from the popular creed, but in most of the traditions respecting them we recognise benevolence as one of the principal traits of their character.[361]

Alberich may, as is generally supposed, have meant Albe_rich_, or _Albe wealthy_, but _brich_, _brick_, _brook_, etc., are fundamental terms and are radically _ber uch_. Brightlingsea--of which there are 193 variants of spelling--is pronounced by the natives Bricklesea, and there are innumerable British Brockleas, Brixtons, Brixhams, Brockhursts, etc.

Among the many unsolved problems of archæology are the Hebridean _brochs_, which are hollow towers of dry built masonry formed like truncated cones. These erections, peculiar to Scotland, are found mainly in the Hebrides, and there is a surprising uniformity in their design and construction. Among the most notable brochs are those situated at Burray, Borrowston, Burrafirth, Burraness, Birstane, Burgar, Brindister, Birsay and in _Ber_wickshire, at Cockburnlaw, and the remarkable recurrence of _Bur_, or _Burra_, in these place-names is obviously due to something more than chance.

At _Brook_land Church in Kent--within a few miles of Camber Castle--a triplex conical belfrey or _berg_ of wooden construction is standing, not on the tower, but on the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the sacred edifice. The amazing cone-tomb illustrated on page 237 is that of Lars Porsenna, which means Lord Porsenna, and the bergs or conical pair of _Brison_ rocks lying off Priest's Cove at St. Just may be connoted not only with the word parson but with Parsons and Porsenna. Malory, in _Morte d'Arthur_, mentions an eminent Dame Brisen, adding that: "This Brisen was one of the greatest enchantresses that was at that time in the world living."[362]

There is a famous broch at Burrian in the Orkneys; near St. Just are the parishes of St. Buryan and St. Veryan, both of which are identified with an ancient Eglosberrie, _i.e._, the _eglise_, close, or cloister of Berrie. A berry is a diminutive egg, and in some parts of the country gooseberries are known as deberries.[363] _De berry_ seemingly means _good_ or _divine_ berry, and the _pick_ly character of the gooseberry bush no doubt added to the sanctity: from the word goosegog _gog_ was seemingly once a term equivalent to _berry_; a goose is often termed a _barn_acle, and the phantom dog--sometimes a bear--entitled the _bargeist_ or _barguest_ was no doubt a popular degradation of the Hound of Heaven. Two hounds in leash are known as a _brache_, which is the same word as brace, meaning pair: in connection with the supposition that the Brisons were originally prisons may be noted that barnacles were primarily a pair of curbs or handcuffs.

From the typical ground plan of two brochs here given it will be seen that their form was that of a wheel, and it is possible that the flanged spokes of these essential _abris_ were based upon the svastika notion of a rolling, running trinacria such as that of Hyperea and of the Isle of Man. Brochs are in some directions known as _peels_, and at Peel Castle, in the Isle of Man, legend points to a grave 30 yards long as being that of Eubonia's first king: a curious tradition, says Squire, credits him with three legs, and it is these limbs arranged like the spokes of a wheel that appear on the arms of the Island.[364]

In connection with the giant's grave at Peel may be connoted the legend in Rome that St. Paul was there beheaded "at the Three Fountains". The exact spot is there shown where the milk spouted from his apostolic arteries, and where moreover his head, after it had done preaching, took three jumps to the honour of the Holy Trinity, and at each spot on which it jumped there instantly sprang up a spring of living water which retains to this day a plain and distinct taste of milk.[365] This story of three jumps is paralleled in Leicester by a legend of Giant Bell who took three mighty leaps and is said to be buried at Belgrave:[366] Bell is the same word as Paul and Peel.

The Lord of the Isle of Man is said to have swept swift as the spring wind over land and sea upon a horse named Splendid Mane: the Mahommedans tell of a milk-white steed named _Al Borak_, each of whose strides were equal to the furthest range of human vision: in Chaucer's time English carmen addressed their steeds as _brok_, and in Arabic _el boraka_ means _the blessing_. _Broch_ is the same word as _brooch_, and upon ancient brooches a _brok_, as in Fig. 187, was sometimes represented: the magnificent ancestral brooches of the Highland families will be found on investigation frequently to be replete with ancient symbolism, the centre jewel representing the All-seeing Eye. _Broch_ or _broca_ means a pin or spike, and _prick_ means dot or speck: _prick_, like _brok_, also meant horse, and every one is familiar with the gallant knight who "pricks," _i.e._, rides on horseback o'er the plain. _Prick_ and _brok_ thus obviously stand in the same relation to each other as Chil_peric_ and Al_beric_.

The phairy first king of the Isle of Man was regarded as the special patron of sea-faring men, by whom he was invoked as "Lord of Headlands," and in this connection Berry Head at Brixham, Barras Head at Tintagel, and Barham or Barenham Down in Kent are interesting. The southern coast of Wales is sprinkled liberally with _Bru_ place-names from St. Bride's Bay wherein is Ramsey Island, known anciently as _ynis y Bru_, the Isle of Bru, to Burry river and Barry Isle next Sulli Isle (the _selli_ isle?).