Again, it has been thought that a _lion_
was the ensign of Northumbria; in which case we may, perhaps, conclude
that the lions which now grace the shield of the city of York have
descended from Anglo-Saxon times. The memory of the Danish standard of
the _Raven_, described by Asser and other Anglo-Saxon chroniclers, still
remains; but whether, when Northumbria and East Anglia fell under Danish
power, this device supplanted previous Anglo-Saxon devices, is a curious
question for antiquarian research. The famous Norwegian standard--the
Landeyda, or ravager of the world--under which Harold Hardrada triumphed
at Fulford, near York, but to fall a few days later at Stanford Bridge,
is well known; but who can inform us as to the device which it bore?
These early traces of heraldic usage appear to deserve more notice than
I believe they have received.
O.
_Burning the Dead._--Can any of your readers, who may have attended
particularly to the funeral customs of different peoples, inform me
whether the practice of burning the dead has ever been in vogue amongst
any people excepting inhabitants of Europe and Asia? I incline to the
opinion that this practice has been limited to people of Indo-Germanic
or Japetic race, and I shall be obliged by any references in favour of
or opposed to this view.
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