I cannot close this chapter without saying something about the great stone rood known as the Ruthwell Cross, because it bears upon it part of this poem engraved in runes.  The cross is at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire.  It is very old, probably dating from the tenth or eleventh century.  There are carvings upon it of various events in the life of Our Lord, on the north and south sides.  On the top-stone, north, is a representation of St John with the eagle, and on the top-stone, south, is St John with the Agnus Dei.  On the east and west is carved a vine in fruit, with animals feeding, and at each side of the vine-tracery the runes are carved, which give the words taken from the poem, in the Northumbrian dialect.

[Illustration:  RUTHWELL CROSS [Page 80]

This cross used to stand in the church at Ruthwell; it escaped injury at the time of general destruction in the sixteenth century, but the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ordered the “many idolatrous monuments erected and made for religious worship” to be “taken down, demolished, and destroyed.”  It was not till two years later, however, that the cross was taken down when an Act was passed “anent the Idolatrous Monuments in Ruthwell.”  It was shattered, and some of the carved emblems were nearly obliterated, and in this state the rood was left where it had fallen, in the altarless church, and was used, it appears, as a bench to sit upon.  Later on it was removed from the church and left out in the churchyard.  But after many years, a good old minister (God rest his soul!) collected all the pieces he could find, and put them together, adding two new crossbeams (the original ones were lost), and having gaps filled in with little pieces of stone.

By-and-by there was a waking up to the importance of preserving ancient monuments (idolatrous! or not), and so the dear, beautiful old rood that had been so near to destruction, and been indeed so greatly injured, was brought into the church again, and set up near its old place.  But, alas! for its old surroundings!

It is a sad story, is it not?

Shall we not pray that, one day, our old crosses may be, to all, more than “ancient monuments”?

“This stone which I have set up ... shall be called the house of God” (Gen. xxviii, 22).

CHAPTER IX

“Judith,” a great poem founded on Scripture story.  Authorship uncertain.  Part of it lost.  Quotations from it.  Description of Holofernes’ banquet as of a Saxon feast.  Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage resistance to Danes and Northmen.

To-day we shall think about some more of the great poetry that was made before the Norman Conquest, and we shall first take one of the finest and most characteristic poems which remain to us, a poem founded on Bible story; the great poem, of which we have unfortunately only a part, the “Judith.”

It is not certain who wrote this poem:  it may have been Cynewulf; but we do not know.