_St. Alkald._--Upon looking over a sheet of the Ordnance Map lately published, on which part of the parish of Giggleswick is laid down, I find that the patron saint, to whom the church is dedicated, is St. Alkald. No calendar that I have access to mentions any such saint. I shall be obliged by any of your correspondents giving me some account of him, or referring me to any book where I may read his history.
[In _The Calendar of the Anglican Church Illustrated_, published by Parker of Oxford, p. 181., our querist will find
"_S. Alkald_ or _Alkilda_ was commemorated March 28. The church of Giggleswick, Yorkshire, is named in honour of this saint, and the Collegiate Church of Middleham in the same county in the joint names of SS. Mary and Alkald."]
I am not going to enter into the controversy respecting the antiquity of the _Highland_ kilt and tartans, nor when and where they were invented. But in reference to these questions, I beg leave to cite a passage, which may be found in the second book of the _History_ of Tacitus, in which is designated a garb having a very distinct analogy to the _trews_ and tartans of the Highland chiefs.
In lib. ii. sec. xx. the return of Cæcina from Germany into Italy is thus described:--
"At Cæcina, velut relictâ post Alpes sævitiâ ac licentiâ, modesto agmine per Italiam incessit. Ornatum ipsius, municipia et coloniæ in superbiam trahebant, quod _versicolore sagulo, bruccas_ tegmen barbarum, indutus, togatos adloqueretur."
Cæcina and Valens had been the Imperial "Legati" in Upper Germany, and the former is thus described in lib. i. sec. liii.:--
"At in superiore Germaniâ, Cæcina decorâ juventâ, corpore ingens, animi immodicus, scito sermone, erecto incessu studia militum inlexerat."
So it seems that this handsome Roman, "great in stature," and "graceful in youth," thought (like many of our modern fine gentlemen when they get among the hills) the partycoloured plaid and barbarian clothing so extremely becoming, that he was determined to set the fashion of wearing it in Italy, and actually was intrepid enough to appear like a male Bloomer before the astonished eyes of the "Togati," and to answer the addresses of the "Municipia" and "Coloniæ" clad in this outlandish costume.