the castle was finished, its inhabitants tyrannised over the whole country, until the time arrived when the Danes were finally expelled from Ireland. Ballyportree Castle held out to the last, but at length it was taken after a fierce resistance, only three of the garrison being found alive, who proved to be a father and his two sons; the infuriated conquerors were about to kill them also, when one of then proposed that their lives should be spared, and a free passage to their own country given them, on condition that they taught the Irishmen how to brew the famous ale from the heather—that secret so eagerly coveted by the Irish, and so zealously guarded by the Danes. At first neither promises nor threats had any effect on the prisoners, but at length the elder warrior consented to tell the secret on condition that his two sons should first be put to death before his eyes, alleging his fear, that when he returned to his own country, they might cause him to be put to death for betraying the secret. Though somewhat surprised at his request, the Irish chieftains immediately complied with it, and the young men were slain. Then the old warrior exclaimed, "Fools! I saw that your threats and your promises were beginning to influence my sons; for they were but boys, and might have yielded: but now the secret is safe, your threats or your promises have no effect on me!" Enraged at their disappointment, the Irish soldiers hewed the stern northman in pieces, and the coveted secret is still unrevealed.

In the South of Scotland a legend, almost word for word the same as the above, is told of an old castle there, with the exception that, instead of Danes, the old warrior and his sons are called Pechts. After the slaughter of his sons the old man's eyes are put out, and he is left to drag on a miserable existence: he lives to an immense old age, and one day, when all the generation that fought with him have passed away, he hears the young men celebrating the feats of strength performed by one of their number; the old Pecht asks for the victor, and requests him to let him feel his wrist; the young man feigns compliance with his request, but places an iron crow-bar in the old man's hand instead of his wrist; the old Pecht snaps the bar of iron in two with his fingers, remarking quietly to the astounded spectators, that "it is a gey bit gristle, and has not much pith in it yet." The story is told in the second volume of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, first series, I think; but I have not the volume at hand to refer to. The similarity between the two legends is curious and interesting.

Francis Robert Davies.

ARCHAIC WORDS.

(Vol. vii., p. 400., &c.)

The following list of words, which do not appear in Mr. Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words, may form some contribution, however small, to the enlargement of that and of some of our more comprehensive English dictionaries. It falls in with the desire already expressed in "N. & Q.;" and, if the present paper seem worth inserting, may be followed by another. In some few cases, though the word does appear in Mr. Halliwell's columns, an authority is deficient; instances having as it were turned up, and in rather uncommon sources, which seemed occasionally worth supplying. It must be observed that the explanations given are, in some instances, mere conjectures, and await more certain and accurate interpretation.

Aege, age. The Festyvall, fol. cxii. recto, edit. 1528.

Advyse, to view attentively. Strype's Memorials, under Mary, ch. xxviii. p. 234., folio, or vol. iv. p. 384. edit. 1816.

Apause, to check. Foxe, Acts and Monuments, vii. 647.; and Merchant's Second Tale, 2093.

Assemble, to resemble. Bale's Image of both Churches, Part II. p. 378., edit. 1849.

Beclepe, to embrace. The Festyvall, fol. xxxvi. recto, edit. 1528: "The ymage—becleped the knyght about the necke, and kyssed hym."

Bluck, ...(?) "So the true men shall be hunted and blucked."—The Festyvall, fol. xxvi. recto.

Boystously, roughly. "Salome—boystously handled our Lady."—The Festyvall, fol. lxvii. verso.

Brince, to introduce, hand out, propino. "Luther first brinced to Germany the poisoned cup of his heresies."—Harding in Bishop Jewel's Works, vol. iv. p. 335., edit. Oxford, 1848.

Bussing. "Without the blind bussings of a Papist, may no sin be solved."—Bishop Bale's Image of both Churches on the Revelation, ch. xiii. p. 431., edit. Cambridge, 1849.

Croked. A curious application of this word occurs in The Festyvall, fol. cxxviii. recto: "A croked countenance."

Daying, arbitration. Jewel's Works, i. 387. See Dr. Jelf's note, in loc.

Dedeful, operative? "This vertue is dedefull to all Chrysten People."—The Festyvall, fol. clxxii. recto.

Do, to do forth; meaning, to proceed with, to go on with, occurs in The Festyvall. fol. viii. verso.

Domageable, injurious. The Festyvall, fol. cxi. recto: "How domageable it is to them which use for to saye in theyr bargens and marchaundyses, makynge to the prejudyce—of their soules."

Dyssclaunderer, a calumniator. "To stone hym (Stephen) to deth as for a dyssclaunderer."—The Festyvall, fol. lxx. verso.

Enclense, to make clean. The Festyvall, fol. lxxxviii. recto.

Enforcement, effort? Erasmus' Enchiridion, 1533, Rule IV. ch. xii.

Engrease, to overfeed. "Riches, wherewithal they are fatted and engreased like swine."—Foxe's Acts and Monuments, v. 615. edit. 1843.

Ensignement, ... (?) The Festyvall, fol. cliv. recto: "And whan all the people come so togyder at this ensignement."

Entrecounter, to oppose. Brook's Sermon, 1553, quoted in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. viii. p. 782.

Fele. An application of this word may be quoted, partaking of a Grecism, unless we mistake: "And whan the people felte the smell therof."—The Festyvall, fol. c. recto.

Flytterynge: "lyghtnynge, and not flytterynge."—The Festyvall, fol. xliv. verso, edit. 1528.

Novus.