In the late MS. it is the cross that is wounded by arrows; whereas
in the runic inscription it seems to be implied that it was Christ
Himself that was so wounded. The allusion is in any case very obscure;
but the latter notion makes the better sense, and is capable of being
explained by the Norse legend of Balder, who was frequently shot at by
the other gods in sport, as he was supposed to be invulnerable; but he
was slain thus one day by a shaft made of mistletoe, which alone had
power to harm him.

There is also extant a considerable number of very brief inscriptions,
such as that on a column at Bewcastle, in Cumberland; but they
contribute little to our knowledge except the forms of proper names.
The _Liber Vitæ_ of Durham, written in the ninth century, contains
between three and four thousand such names, but nothing else.

Coming down to the tenth century, we meet with three valuable
documents, all of which are connected with Durham, generally known
as the Durham Ritual and the Northumbrian Gospels.

The Durham Ritual was edited for the Surtees Society in 1840 by the
Rev. J. Stevenson. The MS. is in the Cathedral library at Durham, and
contains three distinct Latin service-books, with Northumbrian glosses
in various later hands, besides a number of unglossed Latin additions.
A small portion of the MS. has been misplaced by the binder; the Latin
prose on pp. 138-145 should follow that on p. 162. Mr Stevenson's
edition exhibits a rather large number of misreadings, most of which
(I fear not quite all) are noted in my "Collation of the Durham Ritual"
printed in the _Philological Society's Transactions_, 1877-9, Appendix
II. I give, by way of specimen, a curious passage (at p. 192), which
tells us all about the eight pounds of material that went to make up