Note 92 — Chapter II · THE REGALIA, OR RIGHTS OF ROYALTY.
Reading edition
“Partim sepultis thesauris, quorum plerique in hac aetate defodiuntur, Romam ad petendas suppetias ire intendunt.” Gest. Reg. i. § 3. It is well worth the consideration of our antiquarians who have devoted pains and money to the opening of barrows, how far the notorious searches which have been made for treasure in these repositories, by successive generations of Saxons, Danes and Normans, may have interfered with the original disposition of sepulchral mounds, cairns and cromlechs. The legend of Gúðlác supplies a Saxon instance of the highest antiquity. “Wæs ðǽr on ðám ealande sum hláw mycel ofer eorðan geworht, ðone ylcan men iúgeara for feos wilnunga gedulfon and brǽcon: ðá was ðǽr on óðre sídan ðæs hláwes gedolfen swylíc mycel wæterseáð wǽre.” Cap. 4. Godw. Ed. p. 26.