ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS and ornament inlaid in plaited gold and silver wire (see fig. 7). It was recovered from the Thames in 1857, and though not of the finest workman- ship is one of the most important documents for the study of runes. It was pointed out by Rev. Daniel Haigh that the order of the futhorc (not an alphabet in the strict sense, as the first letters are F, C7, TH, O, R, C) is incorrect after the nineteenth character.^* Among the scramasaxes of medium size may be mentioned one measuring I5'6 in. that has on both faces a band of damascening running parallel to ihe back in the position usually occupied by grooving. This feature connects them with the swords on which this kind of decoration is frequent at this period, while the inlaying of brass and other metals brings the scramasax into relation with some peculiar stirrups of Viking origin. Specimens from Battersea and the Witham at Lincoln are so inlaid with brass, in a scroll- pattern strongly reminiscent of that seen on the Smithfield buckle already described, but there was perhaps a difference in date of three or four centuries between these two London relics, and the survival, if such it be, is difficult to explain. The typical Anglo-Saxon sword, as represented in graves of the pagan period, is an ill-balanced weapon about 3 ft. long from point to pommel, the 7. — Iron Sword-knife inlaio with Runes, Thames {D Fig. 8. — Iron Sword from the Thames (J) blade having parallel edges till within a short distance of the rather blunt point, and being too long in proportion to the length and weight of the grip. That the handle was generally of wood is clear from the fact that, with very rare exceptions, the guard, grip, and pommel have disappeared, leaving only the iron tang and iron core of the pommel ; but the original form is well illustrated by a jewelled specimen in the national collection from Cumberland, which has a short straight guard and pommel, with transverse grooves on the grip. How long these weapons continued in use after the population became Christian and ceased to bury weapons with their dead warriors is at present doubtful, but it is probable that, at least under Alfred, a lesson was learnt from the successful Danish inroads, and a more handy weapon devised. The specimen here represented (fig. 8) may be a transition form, for while the blade is shorter and tapers slightly from the broad base to the point, the guard was apparently of wood, not of bronze, as on the Scandinavian swords next to be noticed. The diminutive iron pommel, too, is in the old style, but well preserved, and would have prevented a metal guard from being lost. The broad, shallow channel down each face of the blade is, on the other hand, characteristic of Scandinavian weapons ; and this specimen from the Thames may represent a half-hearted attempt to adopt the enemy's pattern. " Arch.Cantiana,fn, 235 ; WAcl!iyoi,The Alphabet, 210-15 5 Stephens, iJawV Mfl»»wn//, i, 124-30. I 153 20
