E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Norna of the Fitful Head.
A character in Sir Walter Scott’s l’irate, to illustrate that singular kind of insanity which is ingenious in self-imposition, as those who fancy a lunatic asylum their own palace, the employés thereof their retinue, and the porridge provided a banquet fit for the gods. Norna’s real name was Ulla Troil, but after her amour with Basil Mertoun (Vaughan), and the birth of a son, named Clement Cleveland, she changed her name out of shame. Towards the end of the novel she gradually recovered her right mind.
