SCOTLAND IN EAELY CHEISTIAN TIMES [SECOXD SERIES.) Printed by R. &= R. Clark FOR DAVID DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH. LONDON . . . HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. CAMBRIDGE . . MACMILLAN AND CO. GLASGOW . . JAMES MACLEHOSE .'■»Mtiiimir,i,^Bitai.iiiifiiii;!t:'i.-j -X!)- ! -WUl II •II^Wite#llll!il^€ll AT HILTON OF OADBOLL. SCOTLAND IN EAELY CHEISTIAN TIMES (SECOND SERIES) THE RHIND LECTURES IN ARCHEOLOGY FOR l88o By JOSEPH ANDEKSON, KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE ANTIQUAEIES OF SCOTLAND EDINBUEGH: DAVID DOUGLAS 1881 A II rights reserved. PKEFATOEY NOTE. In the previous volume, comprising the Rliind Lectures for 1879, I have described the structural remains and relics of the Early Christian Time in Scotland which are exclusively ecclesiastical in their origin and use. In this volume, comprising the Lectures delivered in 1880, the subject is continued and brought to a conclusion by the description of objects which, though not strictly ecclesiastical in origin or use, are yet closely connected with those that are so, either by the character of their art or by their associations. The second series of Lectures is therefore the necessary complement and continuation of the first, completing the description and classification of the various types of existing relics which give testimony to the nature and quality of the art and culture developed and brought to maturity in con- nection with the civilisation of Early Christian Times in Scotland. If I have succeeded in demonstrating the exist- ence of a series of art-relics, and directing attention to the remains of an early culture hitherto but little known and less regarded, I trust that they will lose no portion of their interest if I have also shown that 64491U VI PREFATOKY NOTE. tliey are for tlie most part of indigenous types, and therefore peculiar to the area which History and Archaeology alike must always recognise as Celtic Scotland. I have not attempted to exhaust the subject. My aim has rather been to present briefly, but in a popular form, a general statement of the aspects in which the Early Christian Art of Scotland may be regarded by the Archaeologist seeking to utilise those remnants of ancient culture which disclose the exist- ence of a Celtic School of Decorative x\rt, and claim for themselves a place in the history of Art. I have again to acknowledge my obligations to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for the use of a number of their woodcuts ; to Rev. J. B. Mackenzie, Kenmore, for Photographs of the Monuments at Nigg, Cadboll, and Killoran ; and to Mr. Hutchison of Car- lowrie, for Photographs of the Dunfallandy Monu- ment, taken for him by Mr. Jackson, Perth. I have thought it necessary that some examples should be represented with that absolute truthfulness which is only attained by Photography, and have therefore preferred the rugged realism of these reproductions to illustrations more picturesque and artistic in character. J. A. 14 Gillespie Crescent, Edinburgh October 1881. CONTENTS, LECTUEE I. DECORATIVE METAL-WORK BROOCHES, ETC. The Hunterstoii brooch — Its form and ornament — Eelation of its art to the art of the Celtic manuscripts of the Gospels — The technical skill of its workmanship — Its inscriptions — Its typical form — Silver brooches found at Rogart in Sutherlandshire — The character of their art — Bronze brooches found in Mull — Silver Ijrooch with gold filigree -work found at Dunbeath, Caithness — Its story — Its character as a work of art — Silver brooches found near Perth — Their decoration and workmanship — Silver brooch found near Croy, Inverness — Its period given by a coin of Coenwulf found -with it— Typical form of the brooch of the Early Christian Period in Scotland, Penannular — Area of the typical form — The Scandinavian form — Brooches decorated with Celtic Christian art found among the furnishings of heathen grave-mounds in Norway — Difference between Celtic and Scandinavian art — Area of the typical forms sufficiently defined by the art alone — Intense Celticism of the art of the metal-work of the period — The so- called "Silver Armour" of Norrie's Law, in Fife — The Law a Pagan grave-mound — The story of the discovery and destruction of " the Silver Armour " — Its art the same as that of the Celtic MSS. of the Gospels — Its symbols the same as those of the Sculp- tured Stones — The same symbols on silver chains found in Scot- land — The description of a multitude of examples of artistic workmanship in one style, and from one area, is the disclosure of a National School of Decorati^'e Art . . Pa^es 1-48 Vlll CONTENTS. LECTUEE 11. DECORATIVE STONEWOEK MONUMENTS. The St. Vigeans group of monuments — Their form and ornament — Their pictorial representations and conventional symbols — Typical form of the Celtic cross — The Celtic tonsure — Number and special importance of the monuments of this group — The Aber- lemno group — Their form and characteristics — Eelation to the St. Vigeans group — The Kirriemuir group — The group at Glamis — The monument at Dunfallandy — The Meigle group — Their number and character — General features common to all these groujis — Intense Celticism of their decoration — Transition from purity of Celtic art to twelfth century types — Special features of the pure Celtic type — The area of the type — Its remarkably restricted range — A ruder type associated with it — The incised symbol-stones — Area of this type — Eelative sequence of the two types — Their association with a third type — The free-standing crosses — Two varieties, earlier and later — The crosses at lona — The cross at Kildalton — Intense Celticism of its art — Sub-variety of Celtic type in Galloway and Man — Degradation of the type — The West High- land crosses — General sequence of typical forms in Eastern and Western Scotland — Exceptional groups — The Burghead bull-stones — St. Columba's pillow-stone — Correlation of Scottish and Irish monumental slabs and crosses . . . Pages 49-96 LECTUEE III. THE ART OF THE MONUMENTS. Decoration, figure subjects, and symbols — Decoration their special feature — The prevailing forms of ornament — Relation of their art to that of the Celtic MSS. of the Gospels — The art analysed — Interlaced work — Fretwork — Its Celtic forms — The Celtic spiral — General character of Celtic decoration — Implies culture of imagination and refinement of taste — The process of its develop- CONTENTS. IX ment and story of its growth — Its latest phase most fully developed ill Scotland — Interlacing designs not indigenous to the Celtic area — Extensive range of these and other elements of Celtic art in space and time — What constitutes the Celticism of the art of the Scottish monuments — Comparison with the Welsh, Devonian, and Irish groups — Decoration of the symbols — Art of the pictorial representations — Their value as illustrative materials of unwritten history — Art characteristics of the incised symbol-bearing type — Of the free-standing crosses — Sequence of the types of monuments established by their art characteristics — The Scottish monuments differ from all others everywhere — No pre-existing Pagan monu- ments of these types — The Pagan art and the art of Christian times contrasted — Number and importance of the Early Christian monuments of Scotland — Their value and utility as art materials — Their formation into a Gallery of Scottish Sculpture would restore to our national art the original elements of an indigenous system of design .... Pages 97-135 LECTUEE IV. THE SYMBOLISM OF THE MONUMENTS. The subject more easily approached from the point of view of our own times — Symbolism in a country churchyard — Survival of Pagan forms — Early Christian symbolism — Its origin in the Catacombs of Rome — Its diffusion through the empire — Its degradation — The symbolism of the Scottish monuments — Partly a derived and partly an original system — Intermixture of Pagan and Christian forms — Its pictorial representations — The temptation of our First Parents — Daniel and the Lions — Jonah and the Whale — The rais- ing of Lazarus — The destruction of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea — The ascension of Elijah — Conventional treatment of Scripture scenes — Pictorial subjects on monuments at St. Andrews, lona, Dunkeld, Meigle, Forres, Farnell, etc. — Symbolism of the stag hunt and the ship — Association of beasts and monsters with symbols of Christian faith and life — Such representations not inappropriate — X CONTENTS. Their symbolic significance disclosed in the Divine Bestiaries of the early Middle Ages — Natural History spiritualised in sculpture — The unexplained symbols of the original system — Question of their Pagan origin — Principles on which the scientific investigation of the system must proceed — The range and application of the unknown symbols — The sciilptured caves — Their ecclesiastical character and associations — The mysterious symbols on metal- work — Their place in the general system of Christian sym- bolism ..... Pages 136-189 LECTUEE V. INSCEIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. Inscriptions at lona in the Celtic langi^age, and ordinary characters of the Celtic manuscripts — The St. Vigeans inscription — Its type and character — Its legibility — Professor Simpson's reading — Considera- tions which prevent the acceptance of a possible identity as a proved one — St. Drostan — The character of the inscription agrees with the character of the art of the monument — Inscriptions not written in any of the literary alphabets of historic antiquity — The Ogham inscribed monuments at Scoonie, Aboyne, Logie, Golspie, and in Orkney and Shetland — The typical character of these epigraphs — Associated with certain types of monuments — With purer forms of Celtic art — With early forms of the symbol of the cross — The area of this type of inscription — Demon- stration of the inscriptional character of Ogham epigraphs — Oghams in manuscripts — Their varieties — Construction of a key to their transliteration — Bilingual inscriptions — The Bilingual texts of the Newton Stone — Its fylfot or ' swastika ' a form of the Christian symbol of the cross — Area of the Bilingi;al type — Its importance for the scientific study of the oldest remains of the Celtic lan- ' guage — The inscribed monuments of the whole Celtic area must be studied as one group . . . Pages 190-225 CONTENTS. XI LECTUEE VI. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN RUNIC AND ROMAN LETTERS. Runic monuments — Their excej^tional character and restricted range in Scotland — All stragglers from the Scandinavian group — Their literary type Scandinavian — Their art Celtic — The Orkney and Shetland group — The Kilbar monument — The Manx group — The Ruthwell cross — Its destruction as a monument of idolatry — Its restoration — Description of the monument — Its Scripture scenes and texts — Its legendary scenes and inscriptions — The character of its art — Its Bilingual character — Its runic inscription — The story of its decipherment — The " Dream of the Holy Rood " — The North Anglian version of the poem graven on the cross — The South Anglian version discovered in a manuscript — Its authorship — This cross a unique moniunent of early culture — Monuments inscribed in debased Roman characters — The Catstone near Edin- burgh — Special features of its inscription — Its type not Pagan but Christian — The associations of the monument — Christian type of the burials around it — The Catstone an early Christian monu- ment standing in an ancient Christian cemetery — The Yarrow Kirk monument — Special features of its inscription — The stone of the Apostle Peter at Whithorn — The types of its cross and its in- scription — The monuments at Kirkmadrine — The types of their crosses and inscriptions — The line of inscribed monuments ends at a point where another step would enter the period of the Roman domination in Scotland . . . Pages 226-256 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. ON SEPAKATE PAGES. PAOE The Monument, formerly at Hilton of Cadboll, now at Inver- gordon Castle. From a Photograph by Rev. J. B. Mac- kenzie ..... Frontisinece. ScULrTURED Font from Kilmolruy, Loch Eynort, Skye Vignette. The Monument at Dunfallandy, Perthshire (Obverse and Reverse). Two Plates. From Photographs by Mr. Magnus Jackson, Perth . . . . • .66 The Monument at Nigg, Ross-shire (Obverse and Reverse). Two Plates. From Photographs by Rev. J. B. Mackenzie, Kenmore .,..•• 106 IN THE TEXT. The Hunterston Brooch (Front View) ... Edges of the Hunterston Brooch, and Panels hid by the pin Back of the Hunterston Brooch Brooch of Silver, plated with gold, found at Rogart, Sutherland- shire ...... Bird's Head Ornament on the Rogart Brooch . Brooch of Silver, with Gilt Ornament, found at Rogart . Brooch of Bronze, found at Rogart Brooch of Bronze, with Zoomorphic Ornament, found in Mull Brooch of Bronze, with Interlaced Ornamentation, found in Mull Brooch of Bronze, plain, found in Mull Fragment of Silver Brooch found at Dunbeath, Caithness The Tara Brooch (Front View) 2 3 4 7 8 10 10 12 14 15 16 18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Xlii PAGE 19 The Tara Brooch (Back View) Brooch of Silver, inlaid with gold, found near Pertli Brooch of Silver, with Chased Ornamentation, found near Perth Brooch of Silver found at Croy, near Inverness Balance-beam of Bronze found at Croy Hollow Band of Knitted Silver Wire found at Croy Silver Penny of Ccenwtilf, King of Mercia Brooch of Silver found at Dunipace Brooch of Bronze, Glasgow .... Brooch of Bronze of Celtic type from a Viking grave in Westray 29 Brooch of Silver of Celtic Form and Ornamentation dug i;p in Norway ...... Brooch of Silver found at Norrie's Law, Largo . Leaf- shaped Plate of Silver, with Symbols, found at Norrie'; Law, Largo ..... Pin of Silver, with ornamented Head, found at Norrie's Law Largo ...... Disc of Silver, with Ornamention of spiral and trumpet-shaped Scrolls, found at Norrie's Law, Largo Band of Silver, with peculiar Ornamentation, found at Norrie' Law, Largo ..... Silver Chain of Massive Double Links found in making the Caledonian Canal, near Inverness . Silver Chain of Massive Double Links found at Parkhill, Aber deenshire ...... Terminal Penannular Ring or Clasp of Silver Chain found at Parkhill ...... Terminal Pennanular Ring or Clasp of Silver Chain found at Whitecleuch, Lanarkshire .... Obverse of Bronze Plate found at Laws, Monifieth Reverse of Bronze Plate found at Laws, Monifieth Sculptured Monument at Aberlemno (Obverse) Sculptured Monument at Aberlemno (Reverse) Monument at Aberlemno, with incised Symbols Sculptured Monument at Kirriemuir (Obverse) Sculptured Monument at Kirriemuir (Reverse) 21 22 23 23 23 24 24 26 31 37 38 39 40 41 43 43 44 44 45 46 56 57 59 61 62 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. Sculptured Monument at Cflamis (Obverse) Sculptured Monument at Glamis (Keverse) Sculptured Monument at Meigle (Obverse) Sculptured Monument at Meigle (Reverse) Recumbent Monument at Inchcolm Monument, with Incised Sjanbols, at Logie, in the Garioch Monument, with Incised Symbol, at Lynchurn, Speyside Symbols on a Monumental Slab from Strome Shunamal, Ben becula ••.... Sculptured Moniunent at Migvie (Obverse) Sculptured Monument at Migvie (Reverse) Stone (broken), with Incised Figure of a Bull, at Burghead Stone, with Incised Figure of a Bull, at Burghead Stone, with Cross, in the Churchyard of Coldstone, Aberdeen shire ...... Stone, with Cross, at lona, Cladh-an-Diseart Stone, with Incised Cross, at Ford, Argyllshire Stones, with Incised Crosses, at Laggangarn, "Wigtonshire Stone, with Incised Cross, from Mull of Sunnoness, Wigton shire ...... Stone, with Incised Cross, at Daltallachan, Kircudbrightshire Stone, with Incised Cross, at Rathe, Midlothian Stone, with Incised Cross, at Hawkhill, Alloa . Stone, with Cross and Interlaced Work, from Glenluce . Stone, with Incised Crosses and Books, at Arbirlot Stone, with Incised Cross, at Mid-Clyth, Caithness Sculptured Monument at Rossie Priory (Obverse) Sculptured Monument at Rossie Priory (Reverse) Sculptured Monument at Invergowrie (Obverse) Panel of Interlaced Work, Meigle ... Panel of Interlaced Zoomorphic Ornament, Rosemarkie Panel of Fretwork and Spirals, Rosemarkie Panel of Fretwork, Inchcolm . Panel of Fretwork, Keils Panel of Fretwork, Jordanhill . Spiral Ornament, Drainie 64 65 70 71 72 75 75 76 77 77 85 85 86 86 88 89 90 91 91 92 93 94 94 98 99 100 101 101 102 103 103 103 103 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV PAQE Sculptured Monument, IVronifietli (Oljverse) . . .104 Sculptured Monument, Moniiieth (Eeverse) • . . .104 Panel of Spiral Ornament, Hilton of Cadboll . . .105 Sculptured Monument at Monifietli (Obverse) . . .106 Sculptured Monument at Monifietli (Reverse) . . .106 Panel of Sjiiral Ornament, Shandwick . . . .116 Symbol of the Double Disc at Ulbster . . .119 Symbol of the Beast with the Long Jaws and Scroll -like Feet, Brodie 120 Cross, with Human Face, at Killoran, Colonsay . .121 Stone, with Incised Figure of a Stag, from Knock-an-Fruich, Grantown . . . . . . .122 Figures seated on Chairs, from the stone at Dunfallandy . 1 24 Cross at Kilmartin, Argyllshire (Obverse) . . .128 Cross at Kilmartin, Argyllshire (Reverse) . . .128 Cross at Oransay . . . . . .129 Temptation of Adam and Eve by the Serpent, and Noah in the Ark, on a sarcophagus at Velletri . . .144 Noah in the Ark, from the High Cross at Kells . .144 Daniel in the Den of Lion, on a sarcophagus at Ravenna . 145 Vessel of Glass of Fifth Century, with representations of Scrip- tural subjects, from Podgoritza in Albania . . .146 Belt-clasp of Bronze, with representation of Daniel in the Den of Lions, from a Burgundian grave at Dailleus . .147 Adam and Eve at the Tree ; the Sacrifice of Isaac ; and Daniel in the Den of Lions, on the Moone Abbey Cross . .149 Daniel in the Den of Lions, on a stone at St. Vigeans . .149 Daniel in the Den of Lions, on the Cross called St. Martin's at lona . . . . . . .150 Daniel in the Den of Lions, and Jonah and the Whale, on a sar- cophagus at Velletri . . . . .151 Jonah and the Whale (the Whale represented as a quadruped), from the Vatican Codex . . . . .153 Jonah and the Whale (the Whale represented as a quadruped), on the stone at Woodwray (now at Abbotsford) . .154 The Raising of Lazarus, on a sarcophagus at Ravenna . .155 The Raising of Lazarus, on a cross-shaft at St. Andrews . 155 XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host in the Red Sea, on a frag ment of a sarcophagus at Aries The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host, on a stone at Dunkehl The Ascension of Elijah, and the Bear tearing the Children that mocked Elisha, on a stone at Meigle The Ascension of Elijah, from the Vatican Codex The Monument at Farnell (Obverse and Reverse) The Tigress and the Mirror, on a stone at Newbiggin of Leslie Aberdeenshire ..... Symbol of the Double Disc, at Logie in the Garioch Symbol of the Double Disc, with the Bent Rod, at Insch, Aber deenshire ..... Symbol of the House-like form, with the Bent Rod, at Arudilly Symbol of the Lily-like form at Dunnichen Mirror and Comb, on the Maiden Stone, Garioch Serpent, with the Bent Rod, at Newton in the Garioch Stone, with Symbols, used as the cover of a cist at Dunrobin Sutherlandshire ..... Figures of Animals in Jonathan's Cave, East Wemyss, Fife Crosses, Figures of Birds, and Symbols in the Doo Cave, East Wemyss, Fife . . Symbol, on a stone at Kintradwell, Sutherlandshire Symbol of the Beast with the Long Jaws and Scroll-like Feet in the Doo Cave, East Wemyss, Fife Figure of a Fish in Jonathan's Cave, East Wemyss, Fife Symbol of the Double Disc, with the Bent Rod, in the Doo Cave East Wemyss, Fife .... Lily-like figure in the Doo Cave, East Wemyss, Fife Inscribed Monument at St. Vigeans, Forfarshire (Obverse and Reverse) ... . . Edge of the Monument at St. Vigeans . Edge of the Monument at St. Vigeans, with Inscription The Inscription on the St. Vigeans Monument . Inscribed Monument at Logie in the Garioch . Edge of the St. Ninian's Stone, Shetland Inscribed Monument from Bressay, Shetland (Reverse) . 156 157 158 159 161 170 176 176 177 177 178 179 181 184 185 185 185 185 186 186 193 194 195 197 203 205 206 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XVll Inscribed Monument from Bressay, Shetland (Obverse) . Inscribed Monument from Lunnasting, Shetland The Ogham Key, from the Book of Leinster . Inscription on the Newton Stone, Aberdeenshire The Newton Stone, Aberdeenshire Rune-inscribed Stone from Cunningsburgh, Shetland . Rune-inscribed Monument from Kilbar, Barra (Obverse and Reverse) ...... Edges and Obverse of Rune-inscribed Cross at Kirk Braddan Isle of Man ..... Obverse of the Shaft of the Ruth well Cross Reverse of the Shaft of the Ruth well Cross Edge of the Ruthwell Cross, inscrilDed ^\'ith Runes Edge of the Ruthwell Cross, inscribed with Runes The Catstone, Kirkliston .... Inscribed Monument at Yarrow-Kirk, Selkirkshire Inscribed Monument at Whithorn Inscribed Monuments at Kirkmadrine, Wigtonshire rAc;E 207 20!) 216 218 219 227 229 232 234 235 238 239 248 251 252 254 LECTURE I. (4th October 1880.) DECORATIVE METAL-WOEK, BROOCHES, ETC. In the autumu of 1826 a shepherd jDassing along the hill- side of Huuterston, about six miles from Largs, picked up a flattened ring of metal which he observed partially protrud- ing from the soil. A square-headed pin, broken at the point, was attached to the ring by a loop at the back. The article was thus evidently a brooch, but it was remarkable for its unusual size, its peculiar form, and the excessive richness and beauty of its ornamentation. Having passed into the possession of Mr. Hunter of Hunterston, the brooch of Hun- terston is now recognised as an example of artistic work in gold and silver which has few equals of its kind. Its size is unusual. It measures 4| inches in its shortest and 4f inches in its longest diameter, and the pin, though broken, is 5| inches in length. Its form (Fig. 1) is peculiar. It is a flattened ring of silver, half-an-inch in width, expanding from both sides sym- metrically to two inches in width at the widest part ; and an a])parent separation of the whole form into two symmetrical portions is indicated by the median line of the brooch. The narrow part of the ring, and its expansions are bordered by raised margins, and their surfaces are also divided into panels or sunk spaces of different shapes and sizes, arranged symmetrically. The expanded head of the pin is simi- B % SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. . .brly treated. Circular settings of amber are inserted at the '''- .'cbmetfeoi' tHe tri?-i,igular spaces, and the smaller panels of rectangular form are also filled with settings of aniLer. Fig. 1. — The Hunterstoii Broocli — Front view {4f inches diameter). The decorative metal-M^ork of the brooch is i:)eculiar, both in its workmanship and in tlie character of its art. It is a species of filigree liaving the appearance of granulated work implanted on gold plates. The character of the art is zoo- morphic, the patterns consisting chiefly of serpentine and DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 3 lacertine creatures, twisted and interlaced in the manner so characteristic of that school of Celtic art which produced the illuminated decorations of the manuscripts of the Gospels. Besides this zoomorphic decoration of the front of the brooch, ^m. Fig. 2. — Edges of the Hunterston Brooch, and panels liid by the pin. there are panels of simple interlaced work on the edges (Fig. 2), and panels on the back (Fig. 3), decorated with that pecu- liar form of the diverging spiral and trumpet pattern which is characteristic of no art but Celtic art. There is thus no feature of design in the decoration of tliis brooch which is not also found in the decoration of the Celtic manuscripts of the Gos- pels. Its art is therefore the Celtic art of the Christian period. But there is more to be said of it than this. The ele- gance of its designs is almost equal to that of the best manuscripts. The skill of its workmanship is such tliat it is questionable whether it could be greatly surpassed by the most skilful art workmanship of the present day. It is only when its details are examined with a magnifying glass that the fitness and beauty of their minutest rendering becomes fully apparent. Whether we consider it in its relation to this peculiar school of art, or in relation to the knowledge of technical processes and the delicacy and skill of its workman- ship, we must regard it as a work of art of no common merit. It is true that it may not commend itself to existing tastes as an article of dress. But its qualities as a work of art are to be judged by the rules of art, and not by the freaks SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. wliich mould the fleeting forms of fashion. Its design, its oniamcutation, and its workmanship, all alike tell of a time wlien there was a feeling for art so pure, and a capacity for art-workmanship so high, that if it be difficult to estimate Fig. 3. — Back of tlic Huiiterston Brooch (4 inches diameter). their cuniparativ^e relation to those of the present day, it is at least impossible to say of their manifestations that they are weak, ineffective, or contemptible. On the contrary, it is l")ossible to say of them, with confidence, that they possess DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCIIE.S, ETC. 5 the special qualities which give excellence alike to art and to workmanship. It is even possible to go farther, and say- that he would now be considered an artist of eminence who should produce a design of equal merit, and he a workman of uncommon skill who should render it with equal delicacy and effectiveness. There is still another point of high interest connected with this brooch. It bears on the plain portion of the back of the flattened ring the autographs of two of its former owners, scratched with a point in the surface of the silver (Fig. 3). Both inscriptions are in the later and more local variety of the Eunic alphabet, which is known as Scandinavian, and is thus distinguished from the earlier and more widely diffused variety known as Old Xortliern. It can even be said of these letters tlius scratched on the back of the Ijrooch, that they belong to a special variety of the Scandinavian Eunes, which was confined to an area so circumscribed as to comprehend only the islands of the west coast of Scotland.^ The inscriptions themselves are simple. They are mere markings of ownership, \vhich have been read as follows : — (1), Maelbritha owns THIS BROOCH ; and (2), Olfriti owns THIS BROOCH. The inscriptions are Scandinavian in cha- racter,^ but the name of the first owner, Maelbritha, is Celtic, 1 The rune which here stands for the letter b is the rune which usually, in all other inscriptions, except those found on the west coast of Scotland, stands for the letter o. This use of o for b, says Professor Munch, ' ' is espe- cially characteristic, and altogether peculiar to this class of inscriptions," which he has called the Sodor group, because it is a constant characteristic of the inscriptions in the Isle of Man. — Meiiioircs de la Soc. des Antiq. du Nord, 1845-49, p. 194. ^ There are various readings of these rudely-scratched inscription.s, and their decipherment has been made the subject of several papers, e.g. — Finn Magnusen in the Aniuilcr for JVordisk Oldkindyghcd og Historie, 1846, pp. 323, 399 ; P. A. Munch in the Memairesde la Societedcs Antiqiutires du Nord, 1845-49, p. 202 ; Dr. Wilson in the Prehistoric Annals of Scotland (second edition), 1863, vol. ii. pp. 267-277 ; Professor Dr. George Stephens in TJtc 6 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. and both the names are such as were common among the Gallgael, or mixed population of the Norwegian kingdom of the Western Isles. The forms of the Ptunes indicate a date for the inscriptions of somewhere about the tenth century, and this would agi^ee with the period when Celtic art- workmanship was rising towards its highest expression. The art of the brooch, as I have shown, is Celtic, and the inscriptions are such as would be carved by natives of that restricted area, whose population was partly of Norwegian and partly of Celtic origin. It is possible that in this mixed area a Norwegian or Scandinavian form of brooch might be decorated with Celtic art. This brooch presents a very special form, and the next point in our inquiry will there- fore be, whether that special form is Celtic or Scandinavian — in other words, whether it is a form which is typical. The answer to this inquiry will be furnished by the examination of a series of brooches, decorated with the same art, which have been found from time to time in various parts of Scotland. In the course of the formation of the Sutherland Eailway through the parish of Eogart in 1868, a large earth -fast boulder was blasted, and in clearing away the fragments one Old Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, voL ii. pp. 589-599. In this magnificent work Professor Stephens has taken pains to give the brooch the prominence which it deserves, by full-sized illustrations in the colours of the original, and a copious discussion of the critical character and details of the inscriptions. These illustrations were subsequently repro- duced in the Proceedings of the Society of AntiqiMrics of Scotland, vol. vii., 1870, and in the Archceological and Historical Collections relating to the Counties of Ayr and Wigton, issued by the Ayr- and Wigton Archaeological Association, 1878, accompanied in both cases by an abridgment of Professor Stephens's remarks on the brooch and its inscriptions. As I am not dealing critically with the inscriptions, these references to accessible sources of infor- mation on the subject will sufiice. I am indebted to the learned Professor for permission to reproduce his engi'avings of the brooch. DECORATIVE METAL-WOKK, DltOOCIlES, ETC. 7 of the workmen found in the soil underneath the bouhler a hoard of brooches. He immediately left his work and disap- peared. The number of the brooches was never ascertained ; but in his progress southwards the man left two of them with a shopkeeper in Alness, and these two are now in the posses- sion of Mr. Macleod of Cadboll, by whom they were exhibited to the Society in 1870.^ A third passed into the possession of the Duke of Sutherland, and is now in the museum at Dunrobin. Fig. 4. — Brooch of Silver, plated with gold, found at Rogart, Sutherlandshire (42 inches diameter). Of the two which are now called the Cadboll brooches, the largest (Fig. 4) measures 4| inches in diameter, the pin being 7f inches in length. The body of the brooch, which is a flattened band of silver, three-quarters of an inch in width, ^ Proceedings of tJic Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. \\\\. p. 305. 8 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. bent into a circular or slightly horse-slioe shape, terminates at each of the two extremities in an expansion of circular form. Round this expansion are placed four semicircular compartments, separated from each other and from the central circular compartment by raised borders. The circular compartment has an amber setting in the centre. Eound this central setting is a space of an inch in diameter, enclosed within a plain raised border, and intersected by four parti- tions dividing it into four equal compartments. Each of these compartments is filled by a thin plate of gold, on the surface of which is a tooled pattern of interlaced work of great beauty and delicacy. From each of the four semi- circular spaces arranged around the circumference of the central circle there rises part of the body and neck of a (Actual size.) broad-biUcd bird (Fig. 5). The eyes have been set with green glass. The neck bends grace- fully, and the long flattened bill dips into the interior of the en- Fig. 5. -Bird's head ornament closcd circlc. These birds' heads on tiie Broocii. ^^^ g^^^j^ sccured by a central rivet passing through the body of the brooch. They are plain on the upper part, but ornamented towards the base with parallel lines arranged in triangular spaces. On the central portion of the semicircular band forming the body of the brooch there is a similarly enclosed circular space, with a setting of amber in the centre. This enclosed circular space is also divided into four segments filled with gold plates, ornamented with similar patterns of interlaced work, and surmounted on either side by similar heads of broad-billed birds. The parts of the ring of the brooch intervening between this central portion and the expanded extremities are both traversed by a raised partition parallel to the raised borders of tlie band, and intersected also in tlie middle of their length by a cross DECOKATIVK METAL-WOltlv, 15U0UC1IKS, ETC. partition. Each side of the ring of the brooch is tlius divided into four sunk panels, which are filled alternately by similar and symmetrical panels of interlaced work. The pin of the brooch expands at the head into an oval containing a central setting, and round it a pattern of intricately worked inter- lacements, which are continued in different varieties of pattern down the front of the pin. The brooch thus presents twenty-one different panels of interlaced work in gold, ten panels occupied l)y birds' heads, and twenty-four settings of amber and glass. It differs from the Hunterston broocli in being more markedly penannular in its form. It presents distinctly the opening between the expanded ends, which was merely indicated in the Hunter- ston brooch. It differs also in the character of its ornamenta- tion, which consists of simple interlacements forming regular patterns symmetrically arranged. It differs besides in pre- senting a bolder ornament of free-standing birds' heads — an ornament which, though present on the edges of the Hunterston brooch, is there used in a subordinate manner. Yet, with all these differences of style, it is manifest that the art of both these brooches is of the same school. In point of fact, when the comparison is made, it becomes evident that there is no feature of the art of either brooch that is not found in the illuminated pages of the Celtic manuscripts of the Gospels. The second of the CadboU brooches (Fig. 6) is smaller and simpler in character than the first. It is, however, of the same variety of form, a penannular band of silver,^ expanding at the extremities into a circular compart- ment, which is not quartered as in the larger speci- 1 Dr. Stevenson Macadam, who analysed the metal of which these lirooches are composinl, states that they are made of silver alloyed with copper, the proportion of the latter metal Leing rather higher than in the sterling or coin silver of our own time, while the plating and inlaying of the ornamental parts is of gold. — Proc. Soc. Anliq. Scot., vol. viii. ji. 308. 10 SCOTLAND IN EAIILY CHRISTIAN TIMES. men, but surrounded by three compartments of semi- circular form, with a small circular setting at each of the three intersections. The ornamentation of these circular Fig. 6. — Silver Brooch with gilt ornament found at Rogart (3 inches in diameter). and semicircular spaces consists of delicately executed inter- laced work, in patterns of great beauty and intricacy, richly gilt or plated with gold. The central portion of the band forming the body of the brooch is similarly ornamented ; but the intervening spaces on either side are plain, and the band itself, instead of being flat and having sunk panels filled with patterns in gold, has a rounded surface of burnished silver. The contrast thus presented is pleasing and effective, and the art -workmanship is even more delicately exe- Fiii 7. — Bronze Brooch found at Rogai't (If inches diameter). cuted than in the larger brooch. The third of the Sutherlandshire brooches (Fig. 7) is smaller and plainer, but neither ineffective nor inelegant in DECORATIVE METAL-WOllK, BROOCHES, ETC. 1 1 design. It is of the same variety of form as the other two, but differs from them both in its material and in the charac- ter of its ornamentation. It is of bronze, plated witli silver. The expanded ends of the penannular band of the brooch are ornamented with bosses, and the pin is simply decorated with sunk spaces filled with engraved parallel lines. Looking now for a moment at the general characteristics of these Sutherland brooches, we see that they are no less remarkable for their specialty of form than for the character of their decoration. They present varieties of ornament which difiter in certain features of style and treatment from those of the Hunterston brooch ; but like it they present only such patterns and character of design as we have seen con- stantly exhibited in the decorative art of the Celtic manu- scripts. They therefore disclose the existence of a class of ornamental metal-work not necessarily ecclesiastical in origin or use, the decoration of which is pervaded by the spirit of the school of art wliich produced these manuscripts. These three brooches are all that are now known to exist of the hoard that was found under the boulder at Eogart. The rest have probably been melted as bullion. Nothing can arrest the continued destruction of similar objects but the wide dissemination of the knowledge that their mere metallic value is far exceeded by their interest and value as works of art ; that they reveal to us a lost style of art which it may be to the ultimate advantage of the decorative artificer of modern times to study and to imitate ; and that they show us how effectively the simplest materials and the simplest modes of decoration may be associated with beauty of form and purity of design. But they possess a still stronger interest — not of a technical kind, and therefore not neces- sarily confined to a single class of individuals — an interest arising from the fact that they disclose to us the existence in Scotland of an art-faculty of which without them we could 12 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. have had no conception, and therefore an interest whicli must Fig. 8.— Bronze Broocli found in Mull (4| inches diameter). necessarily diffuse itself as widely as the existence of culture and taste in the community. I now proceed to notice other specimens of the same DECORATIVE METAL-AVOItK, BROOCHES, ETC. 1 'A description of ornamental metal -work, some of which are equally high, and others perhaps even higher in character, although, from their general resemblance to those that liave been already examined, it is not necessary to describe them with such minuteness of detaih A bronze brooch (Fig. 8) found some years ago in the Island of ]\Iull, and now deposited in the IMuseuni by Professor Duns, exhibits the same character of decoration.-^ It is of the same penanmilar form, consisting of a flattened band of metal which expands towards the extremities. As in the Hunterston broocli, animals' heads are introduced as marginal ornaments at the junction of the ring with the expanded por- tions. The decoration of these portions consists of zoomorphic ornament in the central panel, and simple interlaced work in the others. The pin, which is seven inches in length, has a square head, in the centre of which there has been a circular setting, which forms the centre ornament of a lozenge- shaped space with curved edges, the four ends of which are also ornamented with circular settings ; the quadrants formed by this figure intersecting the square are filled with panels of interlaced work. The junction of the pin with its expanded head is ornamented by the figure of an animal's head. Two large circular settings are placed in the angles of the expanded ends of the brooch, and the angles at the ends facing each other are ornamented by groups of three rect- angular settings. There are thus seventeen panels of inter- laced patterns, four of zoomorphic patterns, and nineteen settings on the face of this brooch. Like the Hunterston brooch the back is also ornamented, though not so profusely. The ornamentation of the back of the brooch (shown in the small figure below the brooch) (Fig. 8) consists of two ptinels of zoomorphic patterns on the expanded portion, surrounded ^ These Mull brooches have been described by I'rotcssor Duns in the Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. i., New Series, p. 67. 14 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CIIRISTLVN TIMES. by engraved patterns of interlaced work. The whole of the designs on the front of the brooch are in high relief, plated with gold. On this account, as well as in conseqvience of the metal being bronze, this brooch has not the elegance or Fig. 9. — Bronze Brooch found in Mull (actual size). the delicacy of workmanship of those that are executed in silver. But notwithstanding this, it is still a very beautiful example of this peculiar style ; and when the metal retained the original lustre of its surface, and the coloured settings DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 15 were in their places, it must have had an appearance of gorgeous magnificence which the refinement and delicacy of the silver brooches would fail to convey. Another bronze brooch of the same character (Fig. 9), but less elaborate in its decoration, was also found in Mull some time previous to 1854, It consists of a flat penannular ring with expanded ends ; the opening between the expanded ends of the ring is partially closed by a square socket for a setting, and there are circular settings at the junction of the expanded portions with the ring of the brooch. The triangular compartments of the expanded parts are plain, but may have been filled by the insertion of decorated plates of thin gold as in other examples. The panels bordering these triangular spaces are filled with interlaced patterns, and the narrower part of the ring is divided into three panels, also filled with interlaced work. The pin is round and plain. A third brooch of bronze, found in Mull (Fig. 10), is of the same penannular form, with expanded ends. It differs, however, from tlie others, inasmuch as it is almost destitute of sur- face decoration. The ring, which is rounded instead of being flat, terminates at its junction with the expanded and flattened portions in a zoomorphic ending, simulating the head of an animal. Fig. 10. —Bronze Brooch found in Mull (2^ inches diameter). 16 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTLVN TIMES. A man digging- a drain between liis own dwelling and the public road at Dunbeath in Caith- ness, in 1860, brought up a circular ring of metal on the point of his pick. It was broken by the pick, and he handed a fragment of it (Fig. 11) to a bystander, who put it in his pocket as a curiosity, and afterwards de- posited it in the trunk in which he kept his general possessions. Some time afterwards he removed to Edinburgh, and the thing lay toss- ing about in the trunk for eighteen years, till one evening, when search- ing for some papers in the presence of a friend, he came across the frag- ment, and showed it to his friend, Fi.s;. 11.— Fragment of Silver who happened to know Something Brooch, inlaid with gold, found n , -, i mi i, at Dunbeath, Caithness (actual 0^ metal -work. The result was ^^^'^^- that it was shown to Mr. John Marshall, who brought it to me, and allowed me to acquire it for the Museum. It was, without exception, the most beau- tifully-executed specimen of Celtic goldsmith's work that I had ever seen in Scotland, although unfortunately but a mere fragment of a brooch. Having obtained its story, I wrote to the finder, inquiring whether the rest of the brooch could not be recovered.^ It was obvious from his reply that he had ^ His reply was decisive, but at the same time so characteristic that I am tempted to give it. He says : — "I received your letter concerning the old brooch that was found here this long time back. I have to inform you that I have got none of this old brooch, and I don't know of any one in this place that has got any of this old stuff you speak about. The time is so long since it was got, that everything about it is out of sight and mind here. As far as I recollect I will give you all the information I can about the way this old brooch was got. I got it in a drain or sink that I was making out from the DECORATIVE METAL- WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 17 examined the brooch with care, and that its unusual charac- teristics had impressed themselves strongly upon his memory ; but it was equally obvious that the idea of its being a work of art, and worthy of being preserved on that account, had never entered his mind. He naturally felt surprise at the inquiry ; but he was quite unconscious that a little special knowledge was all that was needed to make this apparently worthless object the most precious thing he had ever pos- sessed. Intrinsically it was worth only a few shillings, but as an example of Celtic art, and a specimen of exquisitely beautiful art-workmanship, it would have been difficult to estimate its value. Judging from the fragment wliich has thus been preserved by the strangest of accidents, it could have had few competitors in the market of the world. The highest efforts of Greek and Eoman art, as applied to the precious metals, are comparatively common, but the highest efforts of Celtic art are excessively rare. The Tara brooch (Figs. 12 and 13), the finest specimen of its kind, though originally sold by the finder to a watchmaker for a few pence, is now price- less.^ The silver chalice decorated with Celtic ornament of house. The pick that I had working the dram came at it, and disfigured the whole apparatus out of its form. The brooch looked to me as it was placed on a fine sash of leather or cloth, because I got an imitation of this about it. All the dices in the circle, there was a fine stone in the heart of them all, of every colour. As soon as it was touched they all fell out of their sockets and places. There was something similar to a Roman Catholic cross in the middle of this old brooch, and a great deal of other articles attached to it. The whole of it was watered with gold, or some stuff or other. The whole of it was made up as this corner you have got, only there was a cross coming through the centre of it, and all the dices a fine stone of every colour in every one of them. This is all the information I can give about this old brooch." ^ The following paragi-ajih occurs in the account of the Tara Brooch, given by the Messrs. Waterhouse, jewellers, Dublin: — "On the 24th of August 1850, a poor woman, who stated that her children had picked up this brooch near the sea, offered it for sale to the proprietor of an old iron shop in Drogheda, who refused to purchase so light and insignificant an article. It was subsequently bought by a watchmaker in the town, who, after cleaning C 18 SCOTLAND IX EARLY CIIPJSTIAN TIMES. Fig. 12. — The Tara Brooch — Front view (actual size). DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, r.ROOCIIE^^, ETC. 10 Fig. 13. — The Tara Broocli — Back view (actual size). 20 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES similar character, which was dug up in a potato plot at Ardagh, though intrinsically worth only its weight in silver, was recently purchased by the Government for £700, that it might be placed in the Museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy as an instructive specimen of high-class native art. It is improper to foster among those that are incapable of ap- preciating artistic qualities the blind cupidity which ascribes a fabulous value to what it does not understand ; but it is necessary to make it widely known that high art, wherever it exists, wiU always be valued in proportion to its excellence and rarity ; and that this value can only be obtained where the knowledge exists of what constitutes excellence and rarity. Mr. Andrew Heiton, Architect, Perth, has exhibited in the Museum two brooches which were found somewhere in that neighbourhood. Both are of silver, and one (Fig. 14) is orna- mented in the style of the Sutherlandshire brooches. It bears a marked resemblance to the larger of the three found under the boulder at Eogart, alike in its form and in having raised orna- ments of animals' heads arranged round the central circular panels of the expanded terminations of the penannular ring of the brooch. The small semicircular panels at the junction of the ring with the expanded part are filled with thin gold plates, of which the ornamentation is zoomorphic, consisting of intertwined serpentine or lacertine creatures, in beaded or granulated work. The ornaments of the thin gold plates of the circular panels are similar in character and similarly pro- and examining it, proceeded to Dublin, and disposed of it to us for nearly as many pounds as he had given pence for it ; and after having exhibited it at the International Exliibitions in London, Paris, and Dublin, we sold it a short time ago to the Koyal Irish Academy for £200, on the express condition that it should never be allowed to leave Ireland ; otherwise we could have disposed of it for a much larger sum. — Antique Irish Brooches, by AVaterhouse and Co. Dublin, 1872, p. 7. I am indebted to Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt for the illustra- tions of this beautiful brooch. DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 21 diiced. The "work, however, is inferior in delicacy to that of the Sutherland hrooches, but the ornamentation of the ring by a series of pointed bosses, closely set on either side of the Fig. 14.— Silver Brooch, inlaid with gold, found near Perth (5A inches in length). central moulding, is extremely effective. Mr. Helton's other brooch (Fig. 15), is wholly of silver, ornamented with bold designs in chased work, partly of a zoomorphic character. In May 1875 a girl, planting potatoes in a field at Croy, Inverness-shire, found among the earth of the drills turned up by the plough a silver brooch of this penannular form 22 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. (Fig. IG)} The body of the brooch is plain, 3 inches in diameter, the ends expanding in the form of circular discs, in which are amber settings, surrounded by a double rope-like moulding. Fig. 15. — Silver Brooch fonud near Perth {8\ inches in length). The ends of the circular ring or body of the brooch are finished witli a zoomorphic feeling as of the head of an animal liolding the disc in its widely extended jaws. The centre of the ring forming the upper part of the brooch has ^ Tliroiigh the good offices of Rev. Thomas Fraser, Minister of Croy, this brooch and the objects found with it were obtained for the Museum. They were described by me in the Proceedings of the Society, vol. ix. p. 588. DECORATIVE METAL--\VOI!K, BltOOCHES, ETC. 23 au oblong sunk panel, uith a circular amber setting, and interlaced ornaments on either side. The brooch was broken, Fig. 16.— Silver Brooch found at Croy (3 inches in diameter). and the pin was not found. But along with it there were found a number of other articles, indicating that it had formed part Fig. 17. — Bronze Balance-beam (broken) found at Croy, Inverness-shire. of a hoard of valuables deposited in the earth. These other articles were, — (1) part of the bronze balance-beam of a small pair of scales (Fig. 17), a common equipment of the travelling merchant at a time when the country possessed no coinage of its own, and all barter was by bullion weight of the precious metals ; (2) a portion of a hollow band of silver wire'(Fig. 18), the wire being of the thickness of a fine thread, and the chain or band about half an inch dia- Fig. 18.— Hollow Band of i • i t t Knitted Silver-wire found meter, and knitted With the ordinary at Croy (6 inches long). stocking-stitch; (3) a number of beads, of which four were preserved, two being of glass with spots 24 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CIIllISTIAN TIMES. of coloured enamels, and two of amber ; and (4) two silver coins, of which only one (Fig. 19) Avas preserved. It is a penny of Coenwulf, King of Mercia, who reigned from A.D. 795 to 818. The time when this hoard was deposited was there- fore subsequent to the close of the eighth century, and this gives us an approximate indication of Fig. 19. — Silver Penny of Coenwulf, found at Croy (Obverse and Reverse). the period of the type of these penannular brooches. Itis notice- able that the art of this brooch does not possess the special cha- racter of the art of the manu- scripts. The inference is, that in the Croy brooch w^e have an ex- ample of the style of the earlier portion of the period of the type of these penannular brooches, before the characteristic decora- tion of that period had been fully developed. In the examples which follow we shall find indications of a decadence of style, characteristic of the later portion of the period of the type. A smaller brooch (Fig. 20), found in the neighbourhood of Dunipace, Stirlingshire, is ornamented with interlaced work in panels on the body of the brooch, and zoomorphic patterns Fig. 20. — Silver Brooch, with set- tings of amber, found at Duni- pace, Stirlingshire (actual size). DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 25 on the expanded part. It differs in some respects from those previously described. The pin is longer in proportion to the size of the brooch, and is hinged upon a constriction of the ring of the brooch. This last feature, which is not present in the larger brooches of fine workmanship, is constant in the later form of brooch known as the Highland plaid brooch, which is quite circular instead of penannular in shape, and presents, as the prevailing form of its ornamentation, an exceedingly debased style of interlaced work, associated with foliageous scrolls.^ It will be also observed that this brooch, though symmetrically penannular in form, has the opening closed by a lenticular setting of amber, and the large central setting has the rude irregularity characteristic of late work. The hinging of the head of the pin upon a constriction of the riiig, the closing of the opening between the ends of the pen- annular ring, and the rude character of the central setting, are all features that are departures from the purity of the penannular type in the direction of the type which succeeded it, circular in form and debased in the style of its ornamenta- tion. The same characteristics of decadence in style are appa- rent in the case of another small brooch (Fig. 21), also in the Museum, which was rescued from among old brass in a brazier's shop in Glasgow. Instead of interlaced work, the ring of this brooch is decorated with a rope-like pattern, and the zoo- morphic ornaments of the expanded ends have lost the conventional Celticism that distinguished the art in its best efforts. Like the previous brooch, the open centre is filled ^ When ^ye come to examine the mode in which the beautiful interlaced work so characteristic of the earlier phase of Celtic art, as manifested in the sculpture of the stone monuments, became debased and iinally died out, we shall see it passing through the same change of expression, taking a more and more foliageous character, and ultimately giving way to a series of designs that are simple wavy scrolls of conventional foliage. 26 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. with au ornament which in this case consists of a triquetra- like form, with three small settings in the angles. Another specimen in the Museum combines the ordinary form of penannular brooch with an encircled cross decorated with interlaced work of feebly Celtic character. It has a liinge and catch at the back for the pin, and thus belongs to the later group, retaining the typi- cal form and ornamentation, with a distinct transitional character. I have now described all the examples of this form of brooch that are known to exist in Scotland, except one. To that one I shall refer in a special connection. In the meantime I desire to direct attention to the fact which these descrip- tions have disclosed — that we have been dealing with a kind of brooch which possesses a marked individuality of charac- ter, l3oth as regards its form and its style of ornament. Its form is no less peculiar than the style of ornament with which it is associated. It is not a disc, like the Anglo- Saxon brooches, nor oval and Fig. 21. — Bronze Brooch, Glasgow , , , i ti >i o t (actual size). Dowi-shaped like the Scandi- DECORATIVE METAL-WOKK, BROOCHES, ETC. 27 navian brooches/ nor a llattencd circular ring like the later Highland brooches. It is penannular, that is, it is a ring which is not continuous, but has an opening, real or appa- rent, between its two ends. This is the special feature which makes this peculiar form of brooch a typical form. Even when the two ends of the ring are joined, as in the Hunterston brooch, the expanded ends are treated with reference to their ornament, not as if they formed part of a continuous rmg, but as if they were two symmetrical endings which did not require to be joined. It thus appears that the typical form of the brooch with which we have been dealing is a form that is penannular, with flattened and expanded ends. It is further apparent, from the descriptions that have been given of the style of their decoration, that this typical form is associated with a style of ornament which is also typical. In my former Lectures I have shown that this style of ornament is cha- racteristic of the manuscripts of the Gospels, and of their cumdachs or covers, decorated with engraved or filigree or repousse work in gold and silver, as well as of the bell- shrines, crosiers, and reliquaries of the early Celtic Church. I have also shown that this style of art, which is thus cha- racteristic of these objects of Christian use and Christian time, is a style which is Celtic, and Celtic exclusively. It has been demonstrated, therefore, that the ornament of these brooches is Celtic ornament in the style of the Christian time. ' — But we have still to determine the area of their typical form. That form is distinctly defined. It does not merge into other forms, so as to raise questions of where the type begins and ends. The eye that has once caught it cannot 1 The form and the character of the art of the Scandinavian oval bowl- shaped brooches found in Scotland in A'iking gi-aves will be fully discussed in a subsequent Lecture in connection with other relics of the Viking period. 28 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. mistake it for any other. When we examine the records of its occurrence, we find that it is widely distributed over Scotland, and plentiful in Ireland. A few sporadic examples occur in England, all, so far as known, derived from ' the northern districts. I know of no example in the museums of France or Germany or Denmark, The form is therefore characteristic of the Celtic area. But it also occurs in certain special associations within and beyond that area, which demand our attention because they are associations which the Celtic origin of the form and the Christian character of the decoration would fail to explain. It is, therefore, necessary to describe these exceptional associations, and to determine their significance. There was presented to the Museum in 1851 by Mr. William Kendall, surgeon at Pierowall, in the island of Wes- tray, Orkney, a bronze oval bowl-shaped brooch, a penannular brooch, and various iron relics, including a hatchet, a spear- head, and a portion of the iron boss of a shield, " all found in one of a remarkable group of graves in the links there." These graves are called remarkable because they present phenomena that were then unfamiliar to the Scottish archae- ologists. Such plienomena are exceptional in this country, and they are now known to be confined to certain limited areas of the north and west, chiefly in the islands of Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides. It is now also known that these phenomena owe their remarkable character to the fact that the graves in which they are present are stragglers from a parent group wliicli has its home on a foreign soil, and that the reason why they differ so widely in character from aU other graves in Scotland is that they are not Scottish but Norwegian. The forms of tlie axe, the boss of the shield, the spear-head of iron, and the bowl-shaped brooch of bronze, found in this grave in Westray, are all forms which only occur exceptionally in Scotland and in Ireland ; but they are DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 29 forms wliicli occur constantly in Norway. In tlie extensive collections in that country derived from the graves of their heathen Viking time, they are the prevailing features, and instances of their occurrence may be numbered by hundreds. But in this Westray grave there was associated with this heathen manner of burial, and with these exclusively Nor- Fig. 22. — Celtic Broocli of Bronze from a Viking grave in Westray. wegian types of objects, a brooch (Fig. 22) of the special form and character of art which I have shown to be Celtic and of Christian time. It is penannular in form, with flattened and expanded ends, decorated with interlaced work in panels, and with settings of blue glass. The pin is long, flat, swelling at the head and loosely looped on the ring of the brooch, as is the case with most of the specimens which I have described. This is not a solitary instance of this apparently incongruous association, though it is the only one known in Scotland. In the Museum at Christiania there is a beautiful brooch of this type (Fig. 23) — as beautiful as any of those we have in this country. It was dug up in the glebe of the parish of Snaasen, in North Trondheim, before 1836, along with a pair 30 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. of the oval bowl-shaped brooches, peculiar to the Scandi- navian Vildng time.-^ It is presumed that the deposit was from a grave-mound, but the research was not then made with the precision requisite for scientific purposes ; and we cannot therefore do more in this case than cite tlie fact of such a brooch having been found in the soil of Norway along with brooches that are distinctively Norwegian and of the Vikmg time. But there are other cases in which tlie testi- mony is more distinct. For instance, in a grave-mound opened in 1847 at Vambheim,^ among ashes and burnt bones, and associated with a group of objects like those of the Westray grave — the usual accompaniments of Viking burial — there was found a penannular brooch of bronze, with expanded ends, decorated with interlaced work, and having a panel of interlaced work also in the middle of the ring. It shows how characteristic are the form and the orna- mentation, that Mr. Lorange, in his Catalogue of the Bergen Museum, is able to say of it : " This brooch is undoubtedly of Scottish or Irish origin." In like manner. Professor Eygh, describing the beautiful brooch of this form (Fig. 23), to which I have referred as found in association with bowl-shaped brooches of the Viking period, has no difficulty in pronounc- ing it Celtic. In fact, so different is Celtic art from Scandi- navian art, and so true is it that such separate areas as Scandmavia and Britain have each their own typical forms, that there is never the least hesitation amongj Scandinavian archa3ologists in a case of this kind. They are so familiar with the art and the forms of their own area, that they recognise at once every such straggler from a foreign group as a stranger from a strange land. Even when the object bears a form which is less local than that of a brooch, the character ' Nicolaysen's Norske Fornlevningcr, Christiania, 1866, p. 659. 2 Samlingcn af Korslcc Oldsager i Bergen's Museuvi, ved A. Lorange, Bergen, 1876, p. 152. DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 31 of its art suffices to indicate its extraction. Thus, in 1846, in a sepulchral cairn at Berdal, in Norway,^ along with the usual accompaniments of a heathen burial, consisting of a clay urn, an iron spear-liead, two oval bowl-shaped brooches, Fig. 23. — Silver Brooch of Celtic form and ornamentation dug up in Norv.-ay. (From Professor Eygh's Norske Oldsager. — Actual size). and other articles of Scandinavian type, there was also found a bronze cross,- gilt and ornamented with interlaced work, which is described by Mr. Lorange as " undoubtedly of Irish or Scottish origin." Even when the object possesses no typical form, its art suffices to indicate the area from which it has come. Thus, an obloncj mountino; of bronze, found in ' Lorange, Samlingoi af Norske Oldsager % Bcrgmh Museum, Boi-gen, 1876, p. 152. " Figured in Urdu, vol. iii. pi. i. fig. 2. 32 SCOTLAND IN EAELY CHRISTIAN TIMES. a grave-mound at Hof, in Norway/ along with a quantity of other things of the usual Scandinavian types, declares itself unmistakably by the character of its ornamentation to be of Celtic origin and Christian time, though found in association with a form of burial which is clearly heathen and Scandi- navian. The grave-mound had been heaped over a Vilcing ship. By the stern-post sat the skeleton of a man, and close by his feet lay the bones of a dog and an iron porringer. Outside the ship sat another skeleton, apparently a woman's, propped up by stones. At its right side lay an iron knife, a weaver's rubbing-bone, and spatha of whalebone, an iron cooking -pan, and other odds and ends of household use. Near the breast were two brooches of Scandinavian type, and a gilt bronze plaque, which must have been the mounting of some Celtic shrine or coffer, taken for its beauty to serve as a personal ornament. A similar mounting, ornamented with twining serpents, radiating from bosses, was found in a grave-mound at Vaaren, in Norway, in 1872,^ along with an iron sword of the Viking form, and a quantity of smith's tools, which had been deposited with the burnt remains of a man and a horse. These objects, with this peculiar orna- mentation, are thus found on the west coast of Norway, deposited among the grave-goods of men that were heathens, and were buried after the manner that prevailed in the heathendom of Scandinavia, in cairns, or sitting in their ships in great mounds of earth, or burned to ashes with their horses and their war-gear. Yet, notwithstanding this, if the principles which I have enunciated are permitted to control the results of the investigation, it follows that these brooches, that cross, and these bronze mountings, though thus found among the furnishings of heathen grave-mounds, are decorated ^ Lorange, Op. cit., p. 176. - Forcningcn til NorsJce Fortidsmiiidesmaerkers Bcvaring, Aarsberetning, 1872, p. 92. DECORATIVE METAL-AVORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 33 with Christian art. Though found in Norway, they are Celtic, and though it must be more than nine centuries since they "were taken from their own area, and deposited in a foreign soil, they still reveal their nationality by their special characteristics. As the manuscripts which were the subject of a former Lecture, though found in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, disclose their Celtic origin by the intense Celticism of their art, so these objects in metal also tell their origin by their art. It speaks with a voice that can neither be misinterpreted nor misunderstood ; and even if we had no means of knowing how it was possible for these things of Christian Celtic orioin to become thus associated with heathen burial in a far-off land, we should still be obhged to believe the testimony of the art, that they are Christian and Celtic. But their presence in this strange association is fully explained by the historical record, which tells that Norway was a heathen country for fully four cen- turies after Christianity had been propagated in Scotland by the followers of St. Columba, and that for fully half of that long period hosts of returning Vikings were continually carrying their plunder across the North Sea. I am not now discussing the subject of pagan burial in any of its various forms. That will fall to be dealt with in its own time and place. I merely notice these instances in this connection because it was necessary to show, by suitable examples, that the forms and the art of the Scandinavian area, even though mingled with the Celtic forms and Celtic art in the same graves, are capable of being distinguished, the one from the other. I desu'e, also, to bring out the fact that the commixture of the two types, and the two styles of art, in the Scottish area and in the Scandinavian area, when we come to deal with it, is in reality a crucial test of the truth of the general principle that special areas are characterised by special archaeological types. D 34 SCOTLAND IX EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. Ill tlie meantime, the outcome of the present examination is — (1) that there is a special form of brooch, which is Celtic and of the Christian time ; (2) that this special form is pen- annular, with expanded ends, having a long pin loosely looped over the ring of the brooch; (3) that this form occurs abund- antly within the Celtic area, rarely outside of it, and then only in circumstances which show that these outlying speci- mens are stragglers from the principal group ; and (4) that while the area of the type includes both Scotland and Ireland, the special variety of the type with which we have been deal- ing is more Scottish than Irish. In the course of this examina- tion it has also become apparent that the art which usually decorates this type of brooch is the Celtic art of the Christian time — the same art which we have found to be the dis- tinguishing characteristic of the manuscripts and shrines of the early Celtic Church, and with which we have still to make acquaintance as the distinguishing characteristic of the sculptured monuments, which form such a remarkable fea- ture in the history of Christian art, as associated with our country. I now pass to the consideration of another group of objects in metal, characterised by the same art, but exhibit- ing a different phase of its development, and disclosing their connection with the system of symbolism, which is at once the most prominent feature and the profoundest mystery of the class of monumental sculptures with wliicli we have to deal in subsequent Lectures. On the estate of Largo, in Fife, and about three miles from the coast, and to the northward of the bay of the same name, there is an artificial mound known as Norrie's Law. It is a tumulus, remarkable alike for size and situation. It crowns tlie summit of a natural elevation, which forms the highest point of a ridge commanding an extensive view. It was DECORATIVE METAL-WOEK, BROOCHES, ETC. 35 evidently constructed, as many of these Pagan grave-mounds were, " to be seen afar, of all the passers-by on land or sea." The mound itself is 53 feet in diameter. Its base is sur- rounded by a circular trench 16 feet wide, inside of which is a rude wall of boulder stones, and inside that again a second and concentric walling of stones, the space between being filled with earth. Within the second wall the body of the mound was found to be a cairn of stones. In the centre of this cairn there was a cist of small size, composed of four slabs set on edge, and covered by a larger slab. Nothing was found in the central cist, but in two jjlaces in the cairn, nearer to the outside, there were smaller cists less regularly constructed. Burnt bones were observed in one of these, and a small urn was found in the other, but the examinations were made at different times and by different people, and the record is as defective in precision and completeness as the research, For our purpose, however, these facts suffice. The cairn or tumulus of Norrie's Law was a grave-mound of the Pagan time, containing interments after the Pagan manner of burning the body before committing it to the grave. I have described it thus circumstantially, because it is neces- sary for the clear understanding of what is to folloAV that we should be aware that it is a Pagan grave-mound which occupies the summit of this ridge. Bearing this fact in mind, and reverting also to the fact that this Pagan grave-mound stands upon a natural hillock of sand and gravel, it is further to be noticed that in a sand-pit excavated at its base there was made a most remarkable dis- covery of silver articles, decorated in the style which I have indicated. Unfortunately we only know the nature of this singular hoard by a few fragments which escaped the notice of the original finder, and hence the evidence regarding its character and artistic value is incomplete. The original discov- ery was made about the year 1819. The precise manner in which 36 SCOTLAND IN EAKLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. it occurred is unknown, but the person into whose possession the articles passed was a hawker, who kept the secret to him- self, and disposed of them as he found opportunity. He sold a quantity to Mr. Eobertson, a jeweller in Cupar, by whom the articles were melted down ; and about twenty years after- wards, when Mr. Buist of Cupar wrote his account of the find, Mr. Eobertson estimated that between what he had bought himself, and what he said he knew to have been dis- posed of in Edinburgh, there must have been fully 400 ounces of pure silver. The late Dr. Stuart, to whom every- thing relating to his favourite subject was possessed of an intense interest, made every attempt to get at the details of the discovery. The results of his inquiries present them- selves partly as statements of fact and partly as inferences from the facts. The statements vary in detail, but when they are compared, it is seen that they agree on one point, viz. — that the relics were found in the sand-pit when digging for sand. This is the outcome of the several statements of the fact. It is true that the statements go farther than this, and say that the relics were found in a stone coffin. But this is clearly an inference founded on the fact that stone cists were found in the grave-mound on the summit of the natural hillock of sand in which the sand-pit was excavated, and strengthened by the impression which then prevailed, that such things ought to be found in connection wdtli ancient burials. But none of the parties making the statement w^ere eye-witnesses of the discovery, and there is no averment of the presence of bones, burnt or unburnt, in association with the relics. We now know that it is contrary to experience that such hoards of silver articles should be found in connec- tion with such burials. This will appear from the various descriptions of discoveries of silver hoards that have taken place in Scotland when that general question comes to be considered. It is possible that the articles may have been DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 37 protected by a construction of flat stones resembling a cist, as we have already seen that the buried bell of Birsay was protected. It is probable that the sandy knoll at the base of the grave-mound of Norrie's Law was selected as the place of their concealment, as being a spot whose traditional repute rendered it less likely to be disturbed. Some time after the original discovery. General Durham of Largo, to whose ears the report had come, employed men to search in the sand-pit, and in the course of their operations they discovered the following objects : — 1. A silver brooch (Fig. 24), 5f inches in diameter, pen- Fig. 24.— Silver Brooch found at Nome's Law, Largo (5f inches diameter). annular in form, with flattened and expanded ends, and the ring spirally twisted. 2. A similar brooch of precisely the same form, but slightly smaller, being only 5 J inches in diameter. 38 SCOTLAND IN EAELY CIIIIISTIAN TIMES. 3. A leaf-shaped plate of solid silver (Fig, 25), 3J inches in length, having a raised boss at one end ornamented with spirally-divergent lines. The centre of the plate is occupied by a device consisting of two equal circles placed half their own diameter apart, and united by a neck formed of two incurved lines. Across the middle of this neck there passes, nearly at right angles, the middle part of a rod, which is suddenly bent to right and left, and terminates in both directions with conventional floriations. This device, wdiich re- presents no production of nature or actually existing object of man's fabrication, must be termed a symbol, if for no other reason than the very cogent one that we are completely ignorant of what it was intended to represent. The circles are filled with ornament in the style of art of the Celtic manu- scripts and metal -work of the Christian period. Underneath them is the representation of an animal's head executed wdth a peculiar Fig. 25. — Silver Leaf-shaped Plate ,. ,. , . , . -, found at Norrie's Law, Largo Conventionalism, wliich IS also (actual size). recoguisablc in the Celtic manu- scripts, but is more characteristic of the sculptured stone monuments of Scotland. 4. Another leaf-shaped plate, precisely similar in size and ornamentation, except that the marginal line is scarcely perceptible, and presents the appearance of having been burnished out. The reverse of both plates is plain and slightly concave. DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 39 5. A pin or bodkin (Fig. 26), 6 1 inches in length, of peculiar form. The head of the pin bears, on the ob- verse, a figure of the cross, within a circular panel — that is, the precise form of equal-armed cross, with ex- panding ends placed within a circle, which is the pecu- liar characteristic of the early monuments of Chris- tian times. Underneath it is a semicircular panel of enamelled ornament, in the style so frequently referred to as intensely Celtic. I have said the obverse of this ornamented head of the pin bears the figure of the cross. It is significant that the reverse bears a variation of the double disc, or spec- tacle-like object, crossed by the zigzag rod with flori- ated ends. I remark this specially, because when we come to deal with the monuments we shall find this arrangement occurring so often that it becomes among them a typical fea- ture — the obverse present- ing the cross, the reverse 40 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. this spectacle -like device, or some other symbol or sym- bols. 6. A pin or bodkin, almost precisely similar in form, size, and ornamentation to the last, except that it wants the engraved symbol on the reverse of the ornamental head. 7. A portion of a similar pin of smaller size, now only 1| inches in length. The central stud appears to have had a setting of some kind. 8. A disc of beaten plate, 3 inches diameter, with a raised circular margin and a central boss nearly half an inch diameter. 9. A portion of a disc of beaten plate (Fig. 27), 4| inches Fig. 27. — Disc of Silver (ii iuches diameter). diameter, which has been cut round, and an irregular portion cut out of the centre from one side. It bears three spirally shaped ornaments in very high relief, hollow, and beaten up from the back, projecting fully | inch from the surface of the plate. The two contiguous spirals are combined with a peculiar variety of trumpet-shaped spiral, which is specially Celtic in character. 10. Two portions apparently of an arm-band or bracelet. DECOEATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 41 hammered so that the inner side is hollow, the outer convex ; the extremities hammered flat and rounded off at the points. 11. Portions of an ornamented band of silver of a peculiar pattern (Fig 28). Fig. 28. — Omameuted Baud of Silver, found at Nome's Law, Largo, Fifeshire (actual size). 12. A spiral finger ring, | inch in diameter, formed of a band of metal, flat on the inner side, convex on the outer, tapering to both extremities from the centre, serrated along the inner edge towards either end, and rolled together spirally. 13. A thin riband, half an inch wide and fully 3 feet long, of beaten silver, 14. A small fragment of a chain of fine silver wire. The other fragments are chiefly clippings and broken portions of thin silver plate, mostly unornamented. Some bear a border of repousse work, and others show portions of engraved lines ; but there is nothing to add to the indications of the character of the art supplied by the larger objects already described. Nor can we satisfactorily reconstruct the articles, whether of use or of ornament, of which these are the mutilated fragments. The popular notion of a " warrior buried in his silver armour" (though generally accepted), rests upon no basis of evidence, or even probability. Apart from the fact that armour of plate is a comparatively modern adaptation of defensive expedients, it is plain that many of the objects in the hoard have quite another character. The only articles of which the use can be determined with cer- tainty are the two brooches, the three pins, and the finger- ring ; and these are simply objects of personal decoration, not 42 SCOTLAND IN EAELY CHRISTIAN TIMES, necessarily implying any connection either with war or burial. Had the whole of the objects been extant, it might have been possible to draw closer conclusions as to their character and purpose. But dealing with the materials as they have come to us, there is still sufficient evidence to warrant these con- clusions, viz. — (1), That the hoard was deposited in the sandy soil at the base of the Pagan grave-mound ; and (2), That the art which they exhibit is the same art which we have now traced upon the manuscripts, the book-covers, the bell-shrines, the crosiers and reliquaries, and lastly on the brooches and personal ornaments of the early Christian time in Scotland.^ There are other objects in silver and bronze which exhibit this art, but less prominently, such as the massive silver chains of circular double links, which bear upon their penannular terminal links symbols of peculiar character, occasionally filled with enamel. Five of these chains are known in Scotland, all of which are at present in the ^ It is also stated that there were coins found with the objects first dis- covered at Norrie's Law. Two silver coins were found along with the other relics discovered during General Durham's examination of the sand-pit. They were lost, but Dr. Stuart states that from sketches of them preserved by Mr. Skene, they appear to have been coins of the Emperors Valens and Constantius II. (from A.D. 360 to 380). Two brass coins are stated to have been found by a labourer in the same sand-pit, along with some silver coins. The silver coins were sold, and have not been identified, but the brass coins were given to Miss Dundas. One was a second brass of Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony, who died a.d. 38; the other was a greatly defaced coin of the Byzantine series, assigned by Mr. George Sim to about the period of Tiberius Constantine, who died A.D. 682. "When coins are associated with undated objects, the presumption is that the latest coin indicates a limit beyond which the age of the deposit cannot be extended. The association here is not estab- lished by the evidence, but the seventh century is perhaps the extreme limit which can be assigned for the possible age of the objects, judging by the style of their art. There is some probability that they may have been consider- ably later in date than the close of the seventh century, though there is no doubt that thej^ belong to the earlier and not to the later period of the style of art of which they exhibit such characteristic examples. DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 43 Museiira. The largest (Fig. 29) is a cliaiii of IG pairs of circular links, and a single link at one end. Each link is a Fig. 29. — Silver Chain found in making the Caledonian Canal, Invemess-shire, in 1809 (18 inches in length). solid bar of silver, hammered round, and bent circularly till the ends come close together. When stretched, it measures 18 inches in length. Its weight is 92 J ounces. The terminal links are slightly larger than the rest, which are of uniform size. It was found in 1809, two feet deep in gravel, in the course of the excavation of the Caledonian Canal near its junction with the north end of Loch Ness. Another chain of Fig. 30. — Silver Chain found at Parkhill, Aberdeenshire (l?^ inches in length). the same character (Fig. 30), formed of somewhat smaller links, was found in 1864 at Parkhill, in the parish of New Machar, Aberdeenshire. It consists of 23 pairs of circular links and a penannular link, measures 17| inches in length, and weighs nearly 40 ounces. Like the larger chain, the terminal links are slightly larger than the others, but this chain has also a terminal penannular link of peculiar shape, 44 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. which is not present in the larger chain. On the external surface of this penanuular link (Fig. 31) are twice repeated grou]Ds of three dots, or circular holIoAvs, on either side of a peculiarly- curved figure or symbol, which sometimes appears incised on the Scottish sculptured monuments. Fig. 31. — Terminal Penannular Ring or Clasp of Siver Chain, showing incised ornaments,! There are triangular SUnk found at Parkhill (actual size). -, j_ • t , n spaces and a triplet of dots on the corresponding part of the ring on the opposite side of the penannular opening. All these sunk spaces have been filled with red enamel. A third chain, found at Whitecleuch, in the parish of Crawfordjohn, Lanarkshire, consists of 22 pairs of circular links and a penannular terminal link, the whole mea- suring 18 inches in length, and weighing 62 i ounces. On its Fig. 32. -Terminal Penanuular Ring of Silver Chain found at Whitecleuch, Lanarkshire. penannular link (Fig. 32) are incised two symbols of peculiar character, which we shall frequently meet with in connection with the ornamentation of sculptured stone monuments in Scotland ; so frequently indeed, that they may be said to be specially characteristic of these monuments. A fourth chain, precisely similar, but with the penannular ring plain, was lately found at Hordwell, Berwickshire ; and a fifth (smaller and wanting the penanuular ring) was found at Haddington. No example is known out of Scotland. Whatever may have DECORATIVE JIETAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 45 been the purpose of these chains, they v,-eve undoubtedly of such importance and value that it is difficult to understand why they should all have been found isolated and l>uried in the earth. Their art interest, however, is subordinate to their special interest, as bearing these peculiar symbols — an interest which will only be fully disclosed when the whole question of the symbols has emerged from the examination of the sculptured monuments. Before entering on that examination, there is one record of an object in metal which claims attention from the singularity of its character. Unfortunately the thing itself is Fig. 33. — Obverse of Bronze Plate foTiud at Laws. not now known to exist, and all the information which we possess regarding it is derived from a drawing made in 1796, which is still preserved, and was communicated (at my re- quest) to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by Mr. J. C. Eoger, in April 1880. The drawing was made by his father, the late Mr. Charles Eoger of Dundee, and bears a memo- randum made at the time to the effect that the original was dug up at the Laws, Monifieth. It represents both sides of a 46 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. bronze crescent-shaped plate 4-| inches in length, and elabo- rately ornamented. The obverse (Fig. 33) bears in the centre a symbol of the same peculiar form as that engraved on the leaf-shaped silver plate found at Norrie's Law, but somewhat differently treated. In this case, also, the symbol is accom- panied by a beast's head of a specially conventional form, but bearing a strong resemblance to the beast's head on the Norrie's Law plate and to other figures of beasts' heads, which (as we shall subsequently see) are found accompanying this special symbol of the double disc, crossed by the doubly de- flected and floriated rod when it appears on sculptured monu- ments of Celtic character in Scotland. The reverse (Fig. 34), Fig. 34. — Reverse of Bronze Plate, found at Laws. shows a crescent filled with a diapered pattern of geometric ornament, and crossed by a V-shaped rod with floriated ends. This peculiar symbol of a crescent, combined with such a floriated rod (as we shall subsequently see), occurs with the greatest frequency on the sculptured monuments. The other varieties of ornament exhibited by this singular object are a species of fret, and double reversing scroll, both of which are DECORATIVE METAL-WORK, BROOCHES, ETC. 47 common elements of Celtic decoration. But in the bonier underneath the crescent the drawing shows part of a very dis- tinct and legible inscription in Scandinavian runes. It is defective at the beginning and end, but the eight letters of which it consists do not admit of doubt— MKITIL : THA. The first word is apparently part of a man's name, GRIMKITIL, followed by two divisional points ; the second cannot be cer- tainly determined, as only two letters remain. But the legibility or illegibility of the inscription is not in itself a question of much moment. Its character is sufQciently dis- tinct, and if we admit the drawing to be a faithful copy, we must admit the inscription to be undoubtedly Scandinavian. The care and fidelity of the drawing can be tested by a scrutiny of the manner in which the artist has rendered the style of the ornament ; and no one who is familiar with the style of Celtic ornament, and the peculiar treatment of its details, will fail to recognise its distinctive features. The ornament, as rendered in the drawing, is as unmistakably Celtic as the inscription is Scandinavian in character. After what has been already said with reference to the Hunter- ston brooch, this association of a Scandinavian inscription with a work of Celtic art need not surprise us. So much of these Lectures has been devoted to the de- scription of objects which exhibit true artistic feeling in form and decoration, and so much more must necessarily be devoted to the same purpose in connection with the subject of the monuments (to which we next proceed), that it may become possible for those who peruse them to perceive that the logical outcome of all this description of decorated manuscripts, decorated metal-work, and decorated stone-work, can be nothing less than the disclosure of a national school of decorative art, presenting qualities and characteristics which are by no means destitute of merit and suggestiveness, and 48 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. may therefore possess a higher value and wider utility than mere curiosities in the history of art. As this becomes more and more apparent in the progress of the investigation, it will also become equally apparent that such manifestations are indications of a quality and diffusion of culture, which could only be produced in conjunction with a civilisation possess- ing a complexity of organisation which sufficed to make culture possible, and exerting a vital energy sufficient to cause its diffusion, and raise it to excellence. DECORATIVE STONE-WOKK MONUMENTS. 49 LECTURE 11. (7th October 1880.) DECORATIVE STONE WORK — MONUMENTS. On the right bank of the small stream which gives its name to the town of Aberbrothock in Angus, and about a mile from its mouth, there is a picturesque knoll, crowned by a quaint old church. The original ecclesiastical foundation appears to have been dedicated to St. Fechin of Fore,^ the founder of the eremitical establishment on the little island of Ardoileau off the coast of Galway, which I described in my second Lecture. The earliest church of which we have record on this site was erected before the great Abbey of Aberbrothock, to which it was gifted by King AVilliam the Lion. It was a church of some importance in the twelfth century, and to that period some portions of the yet existing fabric are to be referred. In the course of repeated alterations, and latterly of a very extensive reconstruction of the fabric of the church, it was found that the twelfth-century builders had utilised a large quantity of fragments of sculptured monuments as building materials.^ These I now proceed to examine and describe, so 1 The name of the patron saint of the parish is now knowTi as St. Vigean, a corruption of the Latinised name Vigianus into whicli Fecliin is convertible, and until the change of style the annual fair was held on the 20th January, St Fechin's day. - The fragments thus discovered were first described by Rev. William E 50 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. far as they are available for the purpose of determining the typical character of a series of monuments, which were con- sidered so antiquated in tlie twelfth century as to admit of- their being used without scruple or challenge as mere materials of construction. The first, which is in two pieces, discovered in different parts of the fabric at different times, is a finely sculptured slab, 6 feet long, 21 inches wide, and 7 inches thick. It bears on the obverse (see Fig. 123) an elaborately sculptured cross, in the middle of a sunk panel which occupies the entire length and width of the stone, with the exception of the narrow border or raised edo-ino; which runs all round it. The spaces between the cross and the border are filled with figures of nondescript animals, mostly arranged pictorially, and not forming component parts of symmetrical patterns or designs. One lacertine creature has its tail twisted and knotted into an interlacement with a serpent, and two serpents in the corner on the other side of the stone are symmetrically inter- twisted in a kind of pattern, but the rest of the creatures are pictorially treated. The cross is filled with a regular pattern of interlacements of precisely the same character as those with which we have become familiar in the art of the manu- scripts and the metal- work of the Celtic School. The general character of the decoration on the reverse of the stone (Fig. 124) is also pictorial. At the bottom an archer is fitting an arrow to his bow against a wild boar. Above this Duke, M.A., tlie minister of the parish, in an elaborate paper communicated to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and printed with numerous illustra- tions in their Proceedings, vol. ix. pp. 481-498. They were subsequently described and figured in The History of Arbroath (Arbroath, 4to, 1876), by George Hay. The monuments previously known at St. Vigeans have been figured and described in The Sculptured Stones of Ancjus and Mearns, by the late Patrick Chalmers of Aldbar, published for the Maitland Clul) in 1848, and in The SculjJturcd Stones of Scotland (2 vols, folio), edited for the Siialding Club by the late Dr. John Stuart in 1856 and 1SG7. DECORATIVE STONE- WORK JIONUMENTS. 51 group is an animal wliicli has no close resemblance to any kno^vn quadruped, and in front of it a bird of prey with a fish in its talons. Above this again is a bear-like beast ; another that might pass for a hound ; and in front of these a hind suckling its calf. Over these is a representation of a mirror of the early metallic form — a circular disc with an ornamental handle, and beside it a comb. The third object on this level is roughly crescent-shaped, and ornamented with spirals of a specially Celtic type. Above this is the curious symbol which we have already found on the silver leaf-shaped plate from the hoard at Norrie's Law (Fig. 25), on the terminal link of the silver chain found in Lanarkshire (Fig. 32), and on the bronze crescent- shaped plate found at the Laws (Fig. 33). It is here on a much larger scale, but its form is the same, two discs connected by a narrow neck, and crossed obliquely by a rod with floriated ends, which bend to right and left. The discs are filled with a pattern of interlaced work. Above this is the broken part of the stone, showing a portion of the figure of an ox-like animal, and tlie whole series is surmounted by a very spirited representation of a stag pursued by dogs. Both edges of the stone are filled with sculpture as well as the sides. One edge (Fig. 125) bears in a sunk panel a run- ning scroll of foliageous ornament, with lanceolate leaves and a triplet of fruit alternately repeated on either side of the wavy stem. The other edge (Fig. 126) has a pattern of inter- laced work, differing from that which forms the ornamentation of the cross, but presenting the same general character. The upper part of this edge of the stone is wanting ; but the lower part, underneath the interlaced work, presents the remarkable feature of an inscription in the Celtic language (Fig. 127), graven in the debased Roman minuscule letters which became the distinguishing character of the Celtic manuscripts. Let us now group tlie features of this remarkable monu- 52 SCOTLAND IN EAELY CHRISTIAN TIMES. ment. It bears the cross on the obverse ; symbols and figure subjects, pictorially treated, on the reverse. The cross is long-shafted, of the full length of the stone. It is also peculiarly formed. The long-shafted cross is often called the Latin cross in contradistinction to the cross with four arms of equal length, which was the common Eastern or Greek form. But the lines of the Latin cross always make angles at the intersections of the arms. This cross is not of the usual form of the Latin cross in this respect ; it has semi- circular hollows or curves at the intersections of the arms with the shaft and summit. This is a peculiarity which is specially Celtic. The cross on this stone, while it is thus a Latin cross, is nevertheless of a distinctively Celtic form, and its ornament of interlaced work closely resembles many of the patterns presented in the decorated pages of the Celtic manuscripts, while it precisely resembles them in feeling and character. The stone also bears an inscription in the Celtic language, written in the alphabet used in Celtic manuscripts. It presents pictorial representations wliich include the human figure and a variety of animal forms, some of which are true to nature, while others are wholly imaginary. It presents pictorial representations of objects, such as the mirror and the comb, which are true to the reality ; and it presents con- ventional representations of objects, such as the double disc and crescent, which we shall find frequently recurring with a remarkable persistency of form on other monuments, although we are utterly unable to give them names or tell their signi- ficance. Apart from the purely decorative work, consisting of symmetrical patterns or designs, we have therefore two phases of art exemplified on this monument, — a pictorial, which follows nature and reality, and a conventional, which follows arbitrary rules unknown to us. It thus becomes apparent from an examination of the prominent features of this monument, that in certain aspects of its character it DECORATIVE STONE-WORK MONUMENTS. 53 stands apart from all connectiou with existing customs and visages. To the ordinary observer its art is unfamiliar, its symbolism impenetrable, its inscription illegible. The ideas which found expression and currency through the medium of its art or symbolism have passed away with the culture that produced them. Traces of the Celtic language still survive in a small proportion of the place - names of the parish ; but not one in a hundred of those to whom these / names are familiar has any suspicion of their Celtic origin, and this inscription is now the only surviving witness of the fact that the Celtic alphabet, as well as the Celtic speech, was once known and used in the lowlands of Angus. But ^ if in these aspects of its character it stands thus apart from all connection with existing customs and usages, it will also become apparent as the investigation proceeds, that by these prominent features it is closely associated (1) with the history of art and the development of a national art-culture which it clearly reveals ; (2) with the development of a system of early Christian symbolism, which it no less clearly exemplifies ; and (3) with the literary history of the national language as spoken and written among the men of Angus, at a time when theu' speech, their art, and their institutions were wholly Celtic. Among the other fragments at St. Vigeans there is one of large size, sadly mutilated, which must have been even a more imposing monument than that which I have described. In its present state it measures about 5 feet and a half in length and 3 feet in breadth. It is incomplete at top and bottom, and much mutilated at the sides. It bears in the centre a cross of Celtic form, extending the full length of the stone, and elaborately ornamented with interlaced work, spirals, and fretwork, in the Celtic manner. On one side of the cross at the bottom of the stone are two figures in ecclesiastical costume, and tonsured after the Eoman fashion 54 SCOTLAND IN EAllLY CHKISTIAN TIMES. ■ — not after tlie Celtic fashion. The tonsure of the Celtic Church was from ear to ear in a semicircle over the frontal portion of the head, and this was one of the points in which the Church of our forefathers differed from the prevailing- custom of European Christendom. The Celtic Church, how- ever, adopted the coronal tonsure of the European Church in the first half of the eighth century ; and a knowledge of this historical fact enables us to say that this monument, which bears two examples of the coronal tonsure, is in all proba- bility subsequent to this period. Above these ecclesiastical figures there are other two of which the upper parts have been cut away, and between them is the figure of a bearded man placed with his head downwards. On the other side of the cross is the figure of a calf upon a pedestal, before which a man is kneeling. He holds a rod in his hand witli which he touches the animal's neck, and a scroll issues from his mouth. Above this there are two figures seated on chairs, and holding a globe between them. The reverse of the stone has been carved, but its ornament is now entirely effaced. There is a third monument, which must have been also of large size and considerable merit as a work of art. What remains of it is a slab about 4 feet by 2|. It seems to have been split lengthwise, as it is thin in proportion to its size, and is sculptured only on one side. It bears in the middle a cross shaft, decorated with interlaced work, diverging spirals, and the peculiar diagonal fret so characteristic of Celtic art. On one side of the shaft is a circular mirror, with ornamental handle, like that on the monument first described. On the other side are the figures of a griffin- like creature, and a serpent intertwisted with the doubly- bent rod.^ The remaining fragments of sculptured monuments that ^ Casts of these three nioiiuments are to be seen in the Museum. DECOKATIVE STONE-WORK MONUMENTS. 55 have been recovered from the walls of this twelfth-century church consist of portions of cross-slabs, and free-standin-?stro3'ed or forgotten. INSCKIBED MONUMENTS — IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 191 Among two thousand inscriptions collected from grave- yards in the north-eastern districts of Scotland, the late Mr. Jervise only found one which he could assign with pro- bability to the twelfth century. It is a recumbent slab in the churchyard of Insch, Aberdeenshire, measuring 6 feet by 18 inches, and bearing an inscription in Latin, to which is prefixed a small Maltese cross^ORATE pro anima Eadulfi SACEEDOTis. Unfortunately the lettering has been tampered with, but the use of the small equal-armed cross as a siglum at the commencement of the inscription, and the character of the formula " Pray for the soul of Eadulf the priest " agree with tlie general type of late twelfth-century inscriptions both in England and France. But its precise date is of little moment. The fact which is of interest to us is that it is one of the oldest of existing examples in Scotland possessing what I may call the European character of incised slab, laid flat on the grave, and bearing the formula " Pray for the soul of " preceded by the siglum of the cross, and followed by the name and profession of the deceased. At lona there are a few inscribed monuments which are undated. The language of the inscriptions is Gaelic, and the lettering the ordinary Celtic character of the period. One of these stones bears the inscription — " Or do Mael- fataric " — pray for Maelpatrick.^ Like the Latin inscription on the monument of Eadulf the priest, this Celtic inscription has prefixed to it the siglum of a small equal-armed cross of the same size as the letters of the inscription. This is also a common feature of the epigraphs on our oldest seals and coins, which do not reach beyond the twelfth century. The ^ This has been conjectured to be the tombstone of Maelpatrick O'Banain. Bishop of Connor and Dah-iada, who died in lona in 1174, and is thus com- memorated under that year in the Annals of tlie Four Masters : — Maolpatrick O'Banain, Bishop of Connor and Dal-Ariada, a man to be venerated and full of sanctity of life, gentleness and purity of heart, died in a good old age in Hy of Columcille. " 192 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. inscriptiou on the stone of Maelpatrick, therefore, falls in with the ordinary type of inscriptions known to be of the twelfth century, and we have thus established points of departure on two lines — one being a line of Celtic inscriptions in the Celtic language and character, and the other a line of Latin inscrip- tions in the Eoman language and character. The other inscribed slabs differ from the one last described inasmuch as they bear an incised cross as a principal subject, and not as a siglmn prefixed to the inscription. The first is a slab about 4 feet 9 inches in length and 18 inches in breadth, undressed, but roughly rectangular in shape, and water or weather worn on the edges. The cross which occupies the centre of the slab, extending nearly the whole leno'th of the stone, is of Celtic form, hollowed or recessed semicircularly at the intersections of the arms with the shaft and summit, and having the arms connected by a circle. The inscription is placed alongside the cross, reading from top to bottom, in the Celtic language and character — " Or ar ANMIN EoGAiN " — Pray for the soul of Eogain. An enclosure close by the wall of the cloister of the monastery is paved with tombstones. Among them lie the other monuments, bearing similar inscriptions. They are plain in character and undecorated, save by the figure of the cross, which exhibits the same Celtic form as the monument previously described. The inscriptions are placed on them in the same manner as in the former case, running down the spaces between the shaft of the cross and the side of the stone. The names of the persons commemorated are mostly illegible, but there is still sufficient distinctness in the rest of the inscriptions to show that the formula is — " Pray for the soul of ." In these monuments we have the transition from the European form of the twelfth century to the Celtic form which preceded it. Following up the line of inscriptions graven in the Ii\SCRIBED MONUMENTS IX CELTIC AND OGHAMS. li); Fig. 123.— At St. Vigeaus. Obverse (6 feet in height). Fig. 124. — At St. Vigeans. Reverse (6 feet in height). 194 .SCOTLAND IN EARLY CIIKISTIAN TIMES. \1 ordinary character of the Celtic manii- cripts we find that in all Scotland there exists but one example out of lona. It occurs at St Vigeans, in Forfarshire, upon the remarkable monument which has been already described so far as its sculptures are concerned.^ It is a monument of the type which is a shaped slab standing erect and bearing the cross on the obverse, and figure- subjects and symbols on the reverse, as shown in Figs. 123 and 124 The edges of the slab are also filled with sculpture. One bears a foliageous scroll with lanceolate leaves, and a triplet of fruit alternately on either side of the wavy stem (Fig. 125). The other is filled with a pattern of interlaced work. At the bottom of this interlaced work (Fig. 126) is a small panel bearing the inscription. The lettering of this in- scription is in a minuscule character, bearing a general resemblance to the writing of such manuscripts as the Book of Kells, and the Gospels of Mac Eegol and St. Chad, but more closely resem- bling the forms of the letters found on inscribed monumental slabs in Ireland. The form of the letter D (see Fig. 127), as it occurs in the St. Vigeans inscription, is not found in the Book of Deer, nor do any of its other letters precisely resemble those of that manuscript. But ^ In Leetuic II. jip. 50, 61. INSCKIBED MONUMENTS — IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 19.1 on tlie other hand, every one of them may be quite closely matched Ly comparing them with the letters cut on the inscribed slabs of the great Irish cemetery of Clonmacnoise. "When this group of Irish inscriptions is closely scrutinised it is seen that the character of the lettering varies greatly throughout the series, and that those that come nearest to the forms of the St. Vigeans inscrij^tion are asso- ciated with a peculiar form of cross placed within a parallelogram — a form which may be most readily described as resemblinsj a window-frame having two smaller panes above, and two large ones below. In the series of monu- ments bearing this form of cross and this style of lettering, there are two which bear the names of persons whose deaths are recorded in the annals in 888 and 895. If it had occurred in Ireland, therefore, the St. Vigeans inscription would have been referred by its palseographical peculiarities to a period not far distant from the close of the ninth century. But it possesses no features which enable us to deter- mine its date with greater precision, and all that we can say of it on the strength of its paheographical charac- ter is, that when compared with other ancient inscriptions, its letters are Celtic in type and late in character, because they come nearer in their ll tbr^ cur 196 SCOTLAND IN EA.ELY CimiSTIAN TIMES. forms to those of tlie slabs at Clonmacnoise than to the writing of the manuscripts, and most closely resemble the later forms of these inscriptions, ranging from about the end of the ninth to the eleventh century. The type and character of the inscription being thus determined, we have next to consider its legibility. It consists of twenty-four letters, supposing that there are no contractions, but they are not divided into words. There is a collocation in lines, and at the end of the first line there are three points placed in the form of a triangle. This arrangement of three points in early inscriptions and manu- scripts written in Britain, says Mr. Westwood, usually indi- cated a full stop. This use of the three points is found in the Psalter of St. Augustine and the Gospels of St. Chad, both written in the eighth century. If these three points should thus indicate a break in the continuity of the inscription or in the sense, the first line must be the concluding part of a sentence, and the previous part of the inscription may have been written on another panel above the ornament at the top of the stone, as this is written on a panel below the ornament at its base. Unfortunately, the upper part of this side of the stone is wanting. The inscription (Fig. 127) now com- mences with the word Dkosten — a word with which we have already become familiar, as the name given in the Book of Deer to tlie nephew of St. Columba, and first Abbot of Deer. The name also occurs in the Annals of Tighearnach as Drostain, and in the Annals of the Four Masters as Drostan. In an inscription which is not divided into words it is usually easier to get the first word and the last than any of the intervening words. lieferring, therefore, to the conclu- sion of the inscription, we find the last word to be Foecus, a common spelling of the name now known as Fergus. It occurs on one of the monuments at Clonmacnoise as Forces, and it occurs in this very form of Forcus as the name of one of the INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 197 two sons of ]\Iac Ere in Adamnan's Life. The inscription, therefore, apparently consists of two parts — a part in which something is written concerning Drosten, and a part in which something is written concerning Fergus. If what was written concerning Drosten was not on an upper panel, seeing that a full stop follows the word, the rest of the sentence must have been understood, and hence it has been suggested that we ought to regard Drosten as the genitive case of Drost, and the formula to mean this is The stone of Drost. But whether w^e are to understand it as the monument of Drost or of Fig. 127. — The Inscription at St. Vigeans. Drosten, the difficulty wdth regard to the rest of the inscrip- tion remains, and is increased by the fact that it seems to contain, at least, one other proper name. In the second line there are five letters which give the name Voeet, This, it has been suggested, may be the same as the Ferot or Pherath of the lists of Pictish kings given in the Pictish Chronicle ; and it so happens that in the later chronicles there is a 198 SCOTLAND IN EAULY CHRISTIAN TIMES. Drost, son of Ferat, who is said to have reigned three years, and to have been sLain by the Scots about 850. Mr. Skene says that the three short reigns introduced by these Later chronicles immediately before Kenneth Macalpin rest upon authority which cannot be considered trustworthy. Ad- mitting the justness of this criticism as regards the reigns, however, does not necessarily prevent us from concluding that the persons may have existed at the time indicated, and may have been pretenders to the kingdom, though not actu- ally kings. But it is impossible to go farther and to assume that this stone w^as erected as the monument of Drost, son of Ferat, who was killed by the Scots in 850, because there is no evidence to show that the Drost whose name is on the stone was the son of Ferat, if the three points after his name are to be regarded as a full stop. In that case it is obvious that though there may be some relationship indi- cated between Ferat and Fergus, there can be none between Drost and Ferat. I have been led into these remarks because they are necessary to justify my non-acceptance of the reading of this inscription proposed by the late Sir James Simpson, and supported with all the ingenuity and acumen of his varied erudition and research. The points on which he founds his reading are as follow : — (1.) The inscription is in all proba- bility in the Pictish tongue, because it contains three well- known rictish names, Drost, Ferat, and Fergus. (2.) The special Drost, whom this elaborately sculptured monument commemorates was evidently a person of high rank. (3.) In the Pictish Annals ten kings of the name of Drost are re- corded. (4.) The expression of the inscription Drosten ipe VoRET is in all likelihood the common formula Drost, son of Voret ; because the Gaelic, Cymric, and Cornish word for son — Mac, Map, or Mab — has, in one of these dialects, been transformed into ap by dropping the initial M, and if this INSCEIBED MONUMENTS L\ CELTIC AND OGIIAxM.S. 199 Iiapponed in one Celtic tongue, it miglit happen in another, and pass into ipe in Pictish, as it has passed into ap in Welsli. (5.) But the formula is probably in the genitive case, as most of the many olden post-Eoman inscriptions usually are — signifying stone of Drost, son of Voret. (6.) The word elt, which precedes Forcus, is probably from the old Celtic word for offspring or family, and thus the whole inscription should read : — DROSTEN'.- ipe voret elt forcus — The stone of Drost, son of Voret, of the race of Fergus. Lastly, he identifies this Drost, son of Voret, with the Drust named in the following entry in the Annals of Tighearnach, under the year 729 : " The battle of Drumderg Blathmig, between the Piccardach, between Drust and Angus, king of the Piccardach ; and Drust was slain on the 12th day of the month of August," Drum- derg Blathmig, or the red ridge of Blathmig, he says, may be identified with Kinblethmont, some three miles distant from the site of the stone. All this is so very ingenious, and fits together so like what it may be supposed the truth ought to be, that in re- jecting it one feels as if he were rejecting what may be truth. But, on the other hand, there are considerations which must prevent the acceptance of a possible identity in place of a proved one. In the first place, there is no evidence that the Drosten of the monument was a king. Drostan and Fergus were both names of saints that M-ere highly venerated in Angus. Their lives are connected in legend, and they are both represented as having settled finally in localities not far removed from the site of the stone. St. Drostan, accord- ing to the Breviary of Aberdeen, retired to Glenesk to lead the life of a hermit, while St. Fergus chose Glamis as the place of his rest. There is no evidence that this monument was the tombstone of Drost, or Ferat, or Fergus, or of the three together. It was customary to inscribe monumental crosses to venerated saints centuries after their death. One 200 SCOTLAND IN EAKLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. such monument in Ireland is inscribed as the cross of Patrick and Columba. It was a cross reared in their honour and to promote their veneration — not a sepulchral memorial placed over a grave which contained their remains. There is thus a possibility that the St. Vigeans monument may be something different from the gravestone of a Pictish king of the eighth century. I know nothing against its being the work of the tenth or eleventh century, and purely com- memorative of men, not because they were buried there, but because they were venerated there.-"^ But I do not attempt to determine its date or its purpose more closely than this. I have shown that the letters of the inscription are the minuscule characters of the Celtic manuscripts ; that in their forms they approach more nearly to the later inscriptions in that character than to the earlier, and closely resemble the style of the Clonmacnoise inscriptions of ninth to eleventh centuries ; and that the names commemorated by the monu- ment are Celtic. The testimony of the inscription is thus to the same effect as the testimony of the art of the monument, and it is further important as connecting the series of monu- ments of this type of symbolism and ornament with a time when the alphabetical writing in this peculiar character was in use. No monument bearing these symbols and this peculiar style of Celtic ornament presents an inscription in the Ptoman alphabet written in the Eoman style. That (as we shall hereafter see) was characteristic of an earlier class of monument, which bore none of these peculiar symbols, and no Celtic ornament. But before we come to them we have to consider another variety of Celtic inscription, which is not written in any of the literary alphabets of historic antiquity, ^ Rhj's suggests as the likely reading drosten, ipevoret, ett forcus, whiuli would make the stone commemorative of tliree individuals. — Archcco- logia Cambrensis (Fourth Series), vol. v. p. 248. INSCKIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 201 but by an mialphabetic system of combination and arrange- ment of digits npon a stem-line. This mode of giving visible expression to the sounds indicated in other European languages by alphabetic characters was peculiar to the Celtic people, and we find it associated in Scotland with the same type of monument as this at St. Vigeans, bearing the cross on the obverse, and figure subjects and symbols on the reverse. I therefore proceed to describe the stones bearing these peculiar inscriptions (or Oghams, as they are called) in the order of locality in which they occur from the southern border of their area northwards. The first example, lying farthest to the south, occurs at Scoonie, in Fifeshire, associated with a church which appears in record in the latter half of the eleventh century as having been given to St. Andrews by Duncan, Earl of Fife, and subsequently granted to the Culdees of Lochleven by Tuathal, Bishop of St. Andrews.^ The stone, which is now in the Museum, is a broad, thick slab of sandstone, with undressed, but roughly squared edges. It is sculptured on both sides. On the obverse it bears the figure of the cross, of the Celtic form, hollowed into semicircles at the intersections of the arms with the shaft and summit. The cross, w^hich extends the whole length of the stone, is ornamented with interlaced work. The panels on either side have been filled with interlaced work, and fretwork, now partially defaced. The stone is broken at the top, and the upper part of the figure of a beast with a scroll-like ending is broken away. On the reverse of the stone are figure subjects and a symbolic subject. The upper part shows the symbolic beast with the long jaws and scroll- like feet. Below it is the chase of a stag, very spiritedly rendered. The w^ounded animal, with head thrown back, and a javelin sticking in its side, is followed by two dogs and ^ The Church of Scoonie appears to have been dedicated to St. Mo- nenna. 202 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRLSTIAN TIMES. three horsemen. Down the edge of the stone, and crossing the muzzle and the forefoot of the stag, is incised an inscrip- tion, the strokes or digits of which are arranged upon a stem- line. The characters, though rudely cut, are -well marked, but not separated from each other by spaces, or divided into groups which might seem to represent words. Hence the reading is doubtful, though the marks are clear. There may be eight or ten characters, but with so small a number of letters, which are themselves indeterminable with certainty, it is manifestly impossible to extract an intelligible result from the inscription.^ The next in order of locality proceeding northwards is a fragment of a sculptured stone discovered some years ago in the churchyard of Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire. The stone, as it now exists, is but a fragment of one side of what must have been a large and elaborately sculptured monument. It is now only 30 inches in length, by about 15 in breadth. It bears a portion of an elaborate design in interlaced work, and the iigure of a mirror of the usual circular form. The inscription is in two lines, one incised on the face of the sunk panel from which the mirror stands in relief, and the other also incised along the marginal edging or moulding which borders the panel, and probably also formed the edging of the slab. The one contains fifteen, the other nineteen characters, all consisting of short notches or digits 1 Mr. Brasli remarks that the fornr of the cross, and the oraamentatioii on this stone, indicate Irish work or design. But it is evident that the work and the designs thoroughly agree in character Anth the group of sculptured monuments peculiar to the eastern districts of Scotland, and differ greatly from the general character of the Irish monuments. He states that the Ogham inscription is "quite distinct from the Welsh and Irish examples in the formation of the letters." The transliteration which he gives makes it read from bottom to top — doceiososn ; but he adds that the values which he has attached to the groups of scores are in some cases conjectural. — Tlic Ogam Inscribed Monuments of the Gaedhil, p. 35i. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 203 nrmngecl upon a stem-lino, placed vertically, and parallel to the edge of tlie stone.^ Fig. 128. — At Logic, in the Garioch (4 feet higli). At Logie, in the Garioch, there is another of these singu- lar inscriptions. The stone on which it occurs (Fig. 128) is said ^ Mr. W. F. Skene has given the following transliteration of this inscrip- tion, reading from bottom to top : — MAQQOITALLUORRH NEAHHTLAROBBAITCEANNEFF Mr. G. M. Atkinson, editor of Mr. Brash's work, says, "Some of the Ogam characters are faint and veiy difRcnlt to determine, tiie right hand line being on a kind of rounded edge." His reading is but slightly different from Mr. Skene's, however. The interpretation given by IMr. Skene; identifies 204 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. to have formed part of a circle of standing stones on tlie moor of Garden, but there is no sufficient evidence of this. It is a rough undressed boulder of gneiss, slightly over 4 feet in height and 2 feet in breadth, broader in the centre than at the base, and tapering almost to a point at the top. It is sculptured only on one side, and all its sculp- turings are merely incised — not in relief The principal sculpturings are two of the unexplained symbols, the double circle or spectacle-like figure with the zigzag rod or scejitre, and the crescent with the double rod or sceptre. Above these, and near the top of the stone, is the inscription, consisting apparently of six characters arranged on a stem-line ; but as the two ends of the stem-line are bent round so that the whole line forms a complete circle,^ the inscription has no apparent beginning or end, and is therefore illegible. The next example is found at Golspie, in Sutherlandshire. It occurs on a stone now in the Duke of Sutherland's Museum at Dunrobin, which was discovered in the old churchyard of Craigton, about three miles distant. In the same churchyard there were two other stones, bearing the peculiar symbols so often referred to in the previous Lectures. The monument which bears the inscription is an erect slab 5| feet high by 2| broad. It is dressed to shape, and has a slightly rounded edging. It bears on the obverse a cross of Celtic form, the intersections of the arms with the TALLUORH witli Talorc or Talorcen, a name which occurs in the lists of the Pictish kings; MAQQOI is the usual formula for "son of;" NEAHHTLA is apparently a proper name, and a local form of Nechtan ; ROBBAIT occurs in the sense of immolavit in the Book of Deer ; CEANNEF is Kinneff, a church in the Mearns. Mr. Haigh, on the other hand, thinks that it ought to be translated, "... daughter of Talluorh ; she was joined to (married into) the tribe of Ceanneff. " — Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. x. p. 602 ; Ogam Inscribed Monuments of the Gaedhil, p. 364 ; Haigh's " Earliest Inscribed Monuments " in Proc. Roy. Irish Academy, vol. i. (Second Series) p. 454. ^ An Ogham scale written on concentric circles is given in the ancient treatise on Ogham writing in the Book of Ballymote. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 205 shaft and summit hollowed into semicircles. The cross extends the whole length of the stone, and is elaborately ornamented with interlaced w^ork. The spaces between the vertical limbs of the cross and the side edges of the stone are filled with panels of interlaced work, divergent spirals, and fretwork. The reverse is occupied with figure-subjects and symbols which are merely incised. The inscription is incised along the raised and slightly rounded edging of tlie top and left side of the reverse. It differs from those previously described, inasmuch as its digits are not arranged upon a stem-line, but placed on either side of the corner or ridge of the edging, which is thus substituted for the stem- line. The characters are nearly thirty in number, but there are difficulties in connection with the manner of their ar- rangement which render their determination uncertain. These four examples are all that are known to occur on the mainland of Scotland, with one exception, which I do not notice now, because it forms a link in the demonstration of the inscriptional character of these carvings which follows the detailed description of them. But before this demonstra- tion can be entered on, it is necessary to determine the typical character of the series, as well as the range or area of the type, and its relationship to other types of monumental sculpture. In Orkney and Shetland there are seven examples, giving in the aggregate uj? wards of 150 characters. A brief descrip- tion of them will suffice. The style of inscription which is characteristic of the Fig. 129.— Edge of the St. Ninian'.s stone (2 feet 7h inches in length). mainland becomes strongly differentiated in these islands, in a direction which indicates contact with foreign influence. 20G SCOTLAND Ii\ EAliLY CIIEISTIAN TIMES. Fig. lao.— At Culbinsgartli, Bressay, Shetland. Reverse (3 ft. 9 in. hjgl,). INSCRIBED MONUMENTS— IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 207 Fig. 131.— At Culbiusgartli, in Bressay, Slietlaiul. Obverse (3 ft. 9 in. liigli). 208 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTLVN TIMES. The usual character of the mainland inscriptions, however, is seen in the fragment (Fig. 129), found at St. Ninian's, in Dunrossness.^ The inscription presents the peculiarity of being written on a stem -line drawn down the centre of the edge of the stone. The characters are too few to give any intelligible result, but they are plainly of the same nature as those of the Scoonie, Aboyne, and Golspie examples. The longest of these northern inscriptions occurs on a stone which was discovered at Culbinsgarth, on the east side of the island of Bressay, in Shetland, in reclaiming some waste land close to the old church of Culbinsburgh, and is now in the Museum. It is a thin slab of chlorite slate, 3 feet 9 inches high and 16 inches broad. It is sculptured on both sides, and bears an inscription on both edges. The obverse of the stone (Fig. 130) bears the figure of an equal- armed cross within a circle, and below it two ecclesiastics, with crosiers of the Celtic form in their hands ; below them figures of animals in the style we have met with so commonly on the sculptured monuments of the mainland of Scotland. The reverse pre- sents (Fig. 131) across-like figure within a circle, surrounded wdth a border of interlaced work ; below it two animals and two ecclesiastics with crosiers. The inscription is written down both edges of the stone, and is divided into words by colon-like points. The digits are arranged upon a stem-line, which keeps the centre of the width of the edge of the stone.^ ^ This stone is described and figured by its discoverer, Mr. G. Goudic, in the Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xii. p. 24. " This inscription has been read with but slight variations in the trans- literation by Rev. Dr. Graves, Dr. Petrie, and Mr. Brash : — CRROSCC : NAHHTFFDDADDS : DATTRR : ANN BENNRES : MECCUDDROI : ANN In its peculiarity of being divided into words by double points, one placed on each side of the stem-line, it resembles Runic inscriptions. The language also seems mixed Scandinavian and Celtic. The sense of the inscription appears to be :— INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 209 Shet- A man digging peats in a moss at Lunnasting, in land, comes at a depth of five feet upon a long fiat stone, hard, close - grained, and smooth of surface. Peat is more valuable there than stone, and he tumbles it out of his way and goes on dig- ging peats, thinking no more about it. Weeks after he comes to carry home his peats. The stone is still there, and when looking at it he remem- bers that he wants a lintel, and here is one admirably suited for the purpose. So he conveys it home, and stands it up against the wall of his steading till wanted. There the rains wash its " The cross of Naddodd's daughter here Benres the sou of the Druid here." Dr. Graves points out that Naddodd, according to the Landnamabok, was a famous Viking of the Faroes, who being on a voyage between them and Norway in a.d. 861, was driven out of his course by a storm, and thus discovered Iceland. He had a grand- son named Benir, who would thus be the Benres of the monument, the person commemorated in the first part of the inscription being liis mother. The name Moccudruidis occurs in Adamnan's Life of St. Cohmiba as the Yig. 132.— At Lunnasting, Shetland (3 patronymic of Ere of Colonsay. feet 8 inches iu length). P 210 SCOTLAND IN EAKLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. smooth surface clean, and a passer-by wlio has seen but one Ogham inscription in his life, happens to cast his eye on the rain -washed surface, and detects the most characteristic example of this northern gronjD of inscriptions yet known. To such accidents we owe all our treasures. The Lunnasting stone (Fig. 132), which was presented to the Museum by the Eev. J. C. Eoger, the gentleman who thus detected its cha- racter, and rescued it from its impending fate, is a slab of sandstone, 3 feet 8 inches long, and 13 inches wide, tapering somewhat towards one end. Its inscription is carved down the centre of its flat face, the digits being arranged upon a stem-line. They are divided into groups (as in the Bressay inscription) by colon-like points, and they present the further peculiarity that each of the elemental parts of these col- located groups forming a separate character, has the digits of which it is composed tied or ligatured by a line drawn across their outer ends parallel to the stem-line. This peculiarity of tied groups of digits is not known to occur l)eyond the area of the Orkney and Shetland Isles. It is obvious that this definition of the digits composing each separate cliaracter, by tying their free ends together by a shorter line parallel to the stem-line, and tlie further separa- tion of the groups of characters into words by divisional points, are expedients which belong to the maturity and not to the infancy of the system, and must tend greatly to increase the legibility of the inscriptions. Yet, although the characters of the Lunnasting inscription are as clear and sharply defined as if cut in type, it has been found impos- sible to read it intelligibly, as it presents no vowels, and the dialect is unknown.^ ^ Near the top of the stone, to the left of the line of inscription, there is a peculiar incised figure consisting of a vertical line terminating in three short lines, and crossed by another at right angles. Snch a triplet of short lines, with a prolongation of the median line, occurs in the Ogham inscriptions on IXSCRIBED MOXUMEXTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 211 The only example yet found in Orkney is that discovered by Dr. W. Traill in the Broch of Burrian, in North Ronald- say, and now also in the Museum. It is a tliin slab of clay- slate, 27 inches in length, and 15 inches in width, bearing on its Hat surface an incised cross of Celtic form, having the inter- sections of the arms with the shaft and summit hollowed into semicircles, and below it the symbolic representation of a fish, which occurs repeatedly on the sculptured monuments of the mainland of Scotland. The inscription, which is but faintly scratched with a point on the surface of the stone, extends down one side of the space between the cross and the edge of the stone. It contains about thirty characters, the digits of which are tied at the outer ends, and arranged on a stem- line.^ the back of the silver brooch found at BaUyspellan, County Mayo, and is there obviously used to show the commencement of the inscriptions, though tliat can scarcely be its use here. Mr. Haigh says that although the Lun- uasting inscription has the advantage of being divided into words, he does not venture to supply the suppressed vowels, " especially as it is clear that we have to do with a dialect other than Irish." He suggests Adamnan and Nechtan, however, as two names whose equivalent consonants are present in the inscription. Mr. G. Goudie has given a transliteration of the inscription, with a general notice of the northern groups, in a paper read to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, communicating the discovery of the monument, and its presentation to the Museum.- — Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xii. p. 20 ; Froc. Soy. Irish Academy, vol. i. (Second Series) p. 456. ^ Sir Samuel Ferguson observes that the text of this inscription pi'esents combinations not found in any other lapidary inscription, or in any Irish or .other written text, and that it is, therefore, a vain attempt to assign values to these on any other theory than the apparent needs of the context. The following, he thinks, may be suggested as a possible but provisional and con- jectural reading : — MABGORARMANN WRACT THETTS KRROCQS, the sense being apparently that some person whose name is indicated by the first portion of the inscription, "wrought this cross." Mr. Brash reads the first group of letters as lALELRARBAN, but agrees as to the words UNGRRACT and CAAROCCS. Mr. Haigh says "The reading is easy : "— lULELRBRONN UNGRRACT PEFF CEAROCCS. This he translates, " lulerbron, physician (his) grave-cross." 212 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. From these descriptions the typical character of this series of epigraphs is clear. They differ from the epigraphs on all other monuments everywhere, inasmuch as they are not written in any variety of any of the literary alphabets of historic antiquity. The basis of the epigraph is a stem-line on which other short lines or digits are arranged in four re- lative positions, to right, to left, across at right angles, or across at an oblique angle. On closer examination of the digits placed in these relative positions it is seen that they sometimes occur singly, at other times in collocated groups of twos, threes, fours, and fives, but never in any number exceeding five. It is thus obvious that a phonetic value assigned to each of these five collocations of short lines placed in each of these four positions relatively to the stem- line would give twenty letters of an alphabet. Scrutinising the various inscriptions more closely, it is found that there are other five sigla of different forms which occur occasionally. Adding these to the twenty formed by the short, straight digits, it is obvious that an alphabet of twenty-five letters or phonetic values is thus represented. It is therefore possible that in this series of epigraphs we may be dealing with collocations of signs which are capable of transliteration into vocables, representing the ancient speech of tlie men who carved them. Whatever that speech was, it extended over the area ranging along the east coast from Fife to Shetland, — that is, its area was conterminous with the area of the sculp- tured monuments described in previous lectures, bearing the cross on the obverse, and figure subjects and mysterious sym- bols on the reverse. This type of inscription is associated with the earlier types of these monuments, not with the more recent free-standing crosses. It is associated with the style of art which is pure Celtic, not with the more recent, which is characterised by the prevalence of foliageous scrolls. It is associated with the form of cross which I have called Celtic, INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 213 because it is tlie most common form in association with tlie peculiar art of Celtic origin as it presents itself on the monu- ments of Eastern Scotland, But it is associated in Shetland with a form of cross which we shall find occurring on monu- ments of earlier character than any of those which bear the highly developed forms and style of the Celtic art — the cross within the circle, which is the earliest of all the forms of the sacred symbol. In Shetland, also, where we find these inscriptions associated with this earlier form of cross, we find them occasionally occurring on monuments which bear no cross and no art decoration of any kind. They are thus associated with the purer forms of Celtic art, as well as with the earlier form of the Christian symbol — a form which appears on monuments that bear no other art decoration. In other words, they appear with the dawning of Christian monu- mental art in this country, and they continue until that art has reached its highest development in its purely Celtic form ; but they are not carried down with it through any of the stages of degradation by which it passed into the purely foliageous scroll work, after it had lost its distinctively Celtic character. Their art associations on the monuments are thus entirely Celtic. If, therefore, these monumental inscriptions of this peculiar class are really Celtic, as their association with Celtic art implies, it is probable that, like the art itself, the type may be widely distributed over the Celtic area. Extending our ex- amination with the view of ascertaining this, we find in point of fact that their distribution is widely extended. Upwards of a hundred monuments bearing this peculiar type of in- scription occur in Ireland,^ twenty-five in Wales, and two in Devonshire. But outside of the Celtic area there is not one. * It is a noticeable fact that liut few of the Irish examples bear the symbol of the cross. Most frequently they are merely rude unshaped stones bearing an inscription on the angle, and destitute of any other carving. 214 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. No single example of sucli a monumental inscription is known in France or Scandinavia, or Central or Southern Europe. The inference from this is decisive. They are Celtic, and Celtic exclusively. Nevertheless, although the typical characteristics over the whole of this extended area are the same, yet each of the different provinces or subdivisions of the great area is characterised by a different variety of the general type. The Scottish group, as I have already shown, differs in certain characteristics from the Orkney and Shetland group, which is distinguished by the tied digits, and both differ from the Irish group, which again differs in certain characteristics from the Welsh group. I make these remarks because they illustrate the principle to which I have so often adverted, that special areas have special types, and because they show that the element of area must always control the application of the deductions of archaeology. Up to this point it has been assumed that these epigraphs are inscriptions in the ordinary sense of the term, and it has been shown how it is possible that they may have an inscrip- tional character. Before leaving the subject, however, it is necessary to demonstrate the fact that although they are not expressed in any of the literary alphabets of historic antiquity, they really represent vocables embodying certain monumental formula?, which were capable of being expressed, and have in many instances been expressed, in other languages, and written in other characters. The first and most important point in this demonstration is that this peculiar form of writing by groups of digits arranged upon a stem-line is not exclusively monumental. It occurs occasionally in manuscripts and on metal work.^ It was thus written with the pen as well as graven in metal ' Tliere are four lines of an Ogliam inscription engraved on tlie back of a silver brooch found at Ballysiiellan, County Mayo, now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. INSCEIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND (JGIIAMS. 215 and sculptured on stone. It is, therefore, as truly a form of writing as any other method which is common to these materials. In the manuscript copy of Priscian, now preserved at St. Gall, but which hears internal evidence of having been written in Ireland towards the close of the ninth century, eight of the glosses are written in this peculiar style. They form part of the regular series of glosses extending throughout the volume, and were evidently written at the same time and by the same hand as the rest of the series, which are written in the ordinary Irish script of the period. Examples of the same peculiar form of writing occur also in the manuscript of the Senchus Mor, now in the Library of the British Museum ; in the manuscript of the Annals of Innisfallen, now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford ; in the manuscripts of the Stowe Missal, and the Book of Fermoy. These are for the most part mere casual notanda, forming no necessary part of the treatises in which they occur. But in the Book of Ballymote, a compilation from various ancient manuscripts written at Ballymote, in Sligo, in 1391, there is a treatise on the alphabets of the ancient Irish, in which the invention of this peculiar form of writing is ascribed to Ogma, son of Elathan, who, " being a man much skilled in dialects and poetry," invented the system of Ogham writing " for signs of secret speech, known only to the learned," and thus it was called Ogham, from Ogma, its inventor. I cite this passage because it is the earliest written authority for the name Ogham as applied to the system of writing which I have described. The legend of Ogma, son of Elathan, is of no im- portance in our inquiry. In this treatise in the Book of Ballymote the Ogham alphabet is given with its key, contain- ing the equivalents of its sigla in the ordinary Irish script. But the perplexing copiousness of the explanation becomes bewildering to the student, when he finds that within the compass of four images, no fewer than sixty different varieties 216 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. of Ogham writing are enumerated, illustrated, and explained — the explanation in most cases being fully as obscure as the text itself. The Book of Leinster, written in the twelfth century, and the Book of Lecan, written in the fifteenth, also give transliterated Ogham alphabets, the key (Fig. 133) being i m ii .imi i u '" ' " "" '"" I li IIIMI l ai ! I li 111 i i - BLFSNHDTC Q MGNGSTR AGUE I. Fig 133.— The Ogham Key. the same as that of the Book of Ballymote. There is thus abundant evidence that these epigraphs on the monuments are really inscriptional, and that the form of writing which they present was a form which was also used in manu- scripts. But until recently there was no evidence that the key thus furnished by the scribes of the manuscripts was appli- cable to the monumental inscriptions ; and as no progress had been made in deciphering them by means of the manu- script key, Bishop Graves applied himself to the task of constructing a key from the monuments themselves. He reasoned that in every given language, or group of cognate languages, there is a preference for particular sounds and par- ticular sequences of sounds, and hence, by analysing a written passage of definite length, it is possible to construct a table giving the average frequency with which each letter of the alphabet combines with each of the other letters. The lan- guage of the Ogham inscriptions in Ireland being assumed to be old Irish, Dr. Graves constructed such tables from the Irish texts in the Book of Armagh, written in the ninth century ; and having also prepared similar tables for the letters of the Ogham alphabet from a collection of the texts of all the monuments then known, he found, first, that five of these signs corresponded with the vowels in his tables from the INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 2l7 Book of Armagh in the frequency with which they combined with other letters ; and he inferred from this that two of these, by their superior readiness to enter into combinations, cor- responded witli a and i of the Irish texts. But still more, to his astonishment, he found that the whole five thus proving themselves independently to be vowels were the same five that were called vowels in the keys given by the manuscripts. In short, the complete result of the investigation was to establish the correctness of the manuscript key, and hence he inferred that the failure to determine the sense of the in- scriptions must be accounted for on other grounds than the incorrectness of the key. The liability to error in the reading is increased by the indeterminate nature of the carving, the want of indications of the division into words, and the want of knowledge of the phonetic forms and rules of the language at that early date. But the correctness of the key given by the manuscripts, as thus tested by Bishop Graves, is demonstrated beyond all doubt by another line of investigation, which deals with a still more remarkable and interesting class of monuments, of which we have only one example in Scotland. This solitary specimen of its type is a rude unshapen pillar of a dark blue stone, which is granitic in its nature, and exceedingly hard and close in texture. It stands now at Newton of Insch, in the Garioch, Aberdeenshire, but it originally stood on the moor of Pitmachie, about a mile from its present site, and it is recorded tliat a cluster of graves was found in its neigh- bourhood when the ground was trenched. It is an oblong boulder, with rounded corners and undressed surface, 6 feet high by 2 feet wide, and about the same in thickness. On its flattest side it bears an inscription (Fig. 134) in characters so rudely formed tliat it requires some familiarity with the forms assumed by the Eoman letters on early Christian monuments in other parts of Britain to recognise them as 218 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CIIEISTIAN TIMES. debased Eoman miiiuscular forms. The inscription consists of six horizontal lines of unequal length, comprising forty-four distinct characters.^ In the midst of the inscription is a cross of a peculiar form, equal-armed, and having the extremities of its arms bent over to the right. No other form of the Christian symbol appears on the stone. It has been often said that this is a Pagan symbol. It is not necessary to deny H^ ^^©sM'ovns Fig. 134. — Inscrii^tion on the face of the Newton Stone. this, but it is necessary to show that, admitting the fact that the fylfot (as it is called) is a Pagan symbol does not neces- sarily imply the inference that this is a Pagan monument. The fylfot was not always and everywhere Pagan. It began to be used as a Christian symbol in the catacombs in the third and fourth centuries. It occurs in the ornamented pages of the Gospels of Lindisfarne. It occurs twice on a monumental stone in the Killeen of Aglish, County Kerry, ' The following is the reading of the inscription suggested by Mr. Whitley Stokes : — fortrenvs digolovocevs nesi filivs siloqouni r[equie.scit]. INSCrxIBED MONUMENTS — IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 219 M'liicli also bears the symbol of tlic cross witliin a circle, and y I Fig. 135.— The Newton Stone (6 feet in height). an inscription in the Ogham character. It occurs on other monuments of Christian time, inscribed and uninscribed.^ 1 It occurs on a slab, with rudely inciseil crosses, from Craignarget, Wig- tonsliire. It occurs on an Ogham monument found on the Blasket Islands. It occurs twice on the edges of a monument at Glencar, County of Kerry, on the front and back of which are Latin crosses. It occurs both in its rectilinear 220 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. It frequently appears as an ornament on the vestments of priests on the monumental brasses of England down to the fifteenth century. It has thus been a Christian symbol from the fourth to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and there- fore no argument for the Pagan character of this monument can be based on its presence in this inscription. But the special character of this monument is that it bears two inscriptions in two alphabets, and presumably also in two languages. On the edge of the stone (Fig. 135) there is an Ogham inscription extending from the top to near the bottom of the monument.-^ From the top downwards the digits are arranged upon the corner of the stone without a stem-line, the angle coming in place of that line. But within a short distance of the bottom it forsakes the angle, makes a turn round, and runs upwards on the face of the stone, and here it is necessarily written upon a stem-line. "We have thus in this monument an illustration of the two methods of writing a monumental Ogham inscription, either by using the corner of the stone as a stem-line, and placing the digits to right or to left, or across it, as the case might require, or by drawing a stem-line and arranging the digits with reference to it. But the typical characteristics of the monument are — (1) that it bears two inscriptions, one of which is written in Eoman minuscular letters of an exceedingly debased form, and the other in the ordinary digits of the Ogham alphabet ; and (2) that it bears also the siglum of the cross in a form and curvilinear forms on another stone from the same locality on each face of the monument underneath a Latin cross. ^ Mr. Brash remarks ' ' that this inscription is of such a complex and diffi- cult character that the most experienced Ogamist may fail in even making a correct copy, or rather in ascribing to the existing characters the values origin- ally intended." He gives a transliteration which he does not attempt to subdivide into words or to translate. Readings of both the inscriptions on the Newton Stone will be found in the Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. v. pp. 284 and 289 ; vol. vii. p. 11 ; vol. x. p. 134. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 221 which was not unfrequeutly used on Christian monuments, although it is not exclusively Celtic. The monument, as I have said, is the single example of its type in Scotland, but the area of the type is not limited to Scotland alone. Among the Christian inscriptions of the eariiest types in Ireland^ there is a class of monuments which, though few in number, are distinguished from the other types common to the country by the presence on the face of the monument of an inscription in Eoman letters ; and there is one example of these, which bears on the edge of the stone an inscription in Oghams arranged on the corner of the stone instead of a stem-line. In Wales there are eleven monuments of this special character, bearing inscriptions in debased Eoman minuscular letters on the face of the stone, and inscriptions in Ogham digits on the edge." Many of these inscriptions on the faces of the monuments present forms of the Eoman letters quite as debased as those on the Newton Stone ; the difference being that every letter in the Scottish example is exceedingly de- based, while in the Welsh examples some are less debased than others. Hence there is usually not the same difficulty in read- ing them that presents itself in the case of the Newton Stone. ^ The series of monumental inscriptions in Ireland is fully illustrated and described in a work entitled Christian Inscriptions in Ireland, by Miss M. Stokes, printed for the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 2 vols. 4to, 1879. The Ogham monuments are specially dealt with in the work (often quoted in these footnotes) entitled The Ogmn Inscribed Monuments of tlie Gaedhil in the British Islands, by the late Richard Rolt Brash, M.R.I. A., edited by George M. Atkinson, London, 1879 ; and also in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxv. , in which photo-prints of the inscriptions from paper-casts are given, with transliterations by Sir Samuel Ferguson. 2 The Welsh monuments are described and figured in a work entitled Lapidarium Wallice, the early inscribed and sculptured stones of Wales, delineated and described by J. 0. Westwood, M.A. ; printed for the Cambrian Archffiological Association, Oxford, 4to, 1879. 222 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. Taking one of these monuments, in which both inscrip- tions are distinct, such as that at St, Dogmaels, Cardigan, we find the inscription on the face of the stone reading plainly SAGEANI FiLi CVNOTAMI. Applying the ordinary Ogham key of the manuscripts to the Ogham inscription on the edge of the stone, it reads as clearly sagramni maqi cvnatami. There can be no doubt whatever that this is not a chance colloca- tion of strokes or lines, but a proper inscription. The letter A is five times repeated, and the same character which the key gives for A occurs in the proper place each of the five times. The letter m is three times repeated, and the letter N twice, with the same result. The characters are as constant in their forms as those of any modern variety of alphabetic writing. It is also clear that if sagrani fili cvnotami meant to those who could read the Eoman characters that this stone was the monument of Sagranus, the son of Cunotamus, the sagramni maqi cvnatami of the Ogham legend had the same meaning to those who could read it. Tlie monument is therefore bilingual, bearing the same record in two lanouages, written in two different alphabets. It is obvious that the Latin of the inscription is debased and provincial, as well as the characters in which it is written. Similarly we find on the Cilgerran Stone, in Pembrokeshire, the inscription in Eoman characters on the face of the stone reading trenegvssi fili macvtreni hic jacit, and the Ogham, on the edge of the stone, reading, trenagvssi maqi maqitreni. Again, on the Fardel Stone, in South Devon, we have the Eoman inscrip- tion on one face giving fanoni maqvirini, and the Ogham on one edge fanoni maqvirini ; while on the other face of the stone is another Eoman inscription, sagramni, and its answer- ing Ogham on the other edge, sagranni. In the whole Celtic area, comprehending Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall, there are fifteen monuments bearing bilingual inscrip)tions, viz. one in Scotland, one in Ireland, INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 223 eleven in Wales, and two in Cornwall or South Devon. It thus appears that Wales is the jn-incipal area of the type, which is therefore British rather than Scottish. It also appears that the fourteen bilinguals that are known (for they are all capable of being read in both characters except the Scottish one) invariably consist of an inscription in the Latin language, and debased Eoman characters on the face of the stone, with an answering inscription in the Celtic language, and Ogham character on the edge of the stone. As this is the invariable character of all that are known, it would be contrary to all experience to conclude that the nature of the one that is still undeciphered should differ from all that are of the same general type. The ISTewton Stone, therefore, though unique in Scotland, is one of a class of monuments that are widely scattered over the Celtic area, but do not extend beyond it — a class which bear bilingual inscriptions, and thus form an intermediate link between the types which are characterised by Celtic in- scriptions and Celtic art, and those which are characterised by Eoman inscriptions, and bear no traces of Celtic art. It may seem strange to some that while dealing thus minutely with the Scottish monuments I have not attempted to transliterate or to give independent readings of their in- scriptions.^ But it is sufficient for the purpose of my investi- gation that I have determined their typical relations and established the place of the monuments that bear them in the general series of Christian monumental art. It is true that almost every one who has dealt with them hitherto has felt constrained to attack the individual inscriptions. I not only refrain from doing so, but I go farther and say that the ^ The measure of success which has followed such attempts may be judged from the different transliterations and translations published in the Proceed- ings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and elsewhere, cited in the foot- notes to previous pages of this volume. 224 SCOTLAND IN EAELY CHRISTIAN TIMES. interpretation of the individual inscriptions is not a necessary part of the function of the archaeologist in Ids dealings with them. It is a separate inquiry conducted by special methods, demanding special knowledge derived from the study of special materials. To follow out this special inquiry to its final results, it is not necessary that the inquirer should even be an archaeologist in the general sense of the term. But he must be a specialist. He must have given his life, or a large portion of it, to the study of the laws of language, and he must be specially familiar with the application of these laws to the forms of Celtic speech as they existed prior to the twelfth century. The materials for obtaining this knowledge are widely scattered, in great part still unpublished, and therefore not generally accessible ; and no man who accom- plishes the task of qualifying himself for the scientific study of the texts of Ogham monuments, whatever may be his native endowments or enthusiasm, will do it easily or speedily. It is in this monumental form of Ogham writing that the oldest specimens of the oldest written dialects of the Celtic tongue have been preserved. They are not all of equal antiquity, but no manuscript approaches the age of the oldest of them, or equals in interest the materials they have pre- served for the study of linguistic science. The Scottish, Irish, Welsh, and Devonian groups are merely local expres- sions of one common type, differentiated by distance, but exhibiting a close resemblance in dialect and monumental customs. It is easy to disparage the study of these scanty remains of a literary language which, though it be not dead, is more of an unknown tongue to our modern men of letters than almost any other. But no one now decries the import- ance of the scientific study of cuneiform inscriptions or hieroglyphic monuments, and the memorials which I have described stand in precisely the same relation to the language, literature, and history of Scotland that these bear to the INSCRIBED MONUMENTS — IN CELTIC AND OGHAMS. 225 language, literature, and history of Assyria and Egypt. It seems not therefore unreasonable to indulge the hope that the joer/ervidum ingenium Scotorum, stimulated by the estab- lishment of a Celtic chair in the chief university of the country, may yet accomplish for the legends of these Ogham monuments what Zeuss did for the language of the manu- scripts. For it must necessarily be one of its most legitimate aims, as it will certainly be one of its most important results, to awaken an intelligent interest in all such questions, and give a specially scientific direction to the course of all future study of the literary remains of the Celtic people. My task is accomplished when I have shown that the type of these monuments is one which is peculiar to the Celtic area, and that their inscriptions present the oldest forms of a native language still possessing the remains of a literature older than any literature in Europe excepting those of Greece and Eome. 22 G SCOTLAND IN EAELY CHRISTIAN TIMES. LECTUEE VI. (21.ST October 1880.) INSCRIBED MONUMENTS — IN RUNES AND ROMAN LETTERS. In the previous Lecture I described tliree classes of inscribed monuments, the first bearing inscriptions in the Celtic lan- fuafTe graven in the ordinary minuscular character used in the Celtic manuscripts from the seventh to the twelfth cen- tury ; the second bearing inscriptions also in the Celtic language, but graven in the Ogham character, composed of digits arranged upon a stem-line ; and the third of bilingual character bearing an inscription in Latin, graven in debased Eoman characters on the face of the stone, and its answering inscription in Celtic, graven in the Ogham character on the edge of the stone. In this Lecture I have again to deal with three classes of inscribed monuments, viz. — (1) Inscribed with Runes ; (2) Inscribed with Eunes and Eoman letters ; and (3) Inscribed in Eoman letters alone. Eunic monuments^ are those which bear inscriptions in the Old Northern language and character, just as Ogham monuments are those which are inscribed in the Celtic lan- guage written in that peculiar character. They are restricted 1 It was once common to call all the sculptured monuments of Scotland "Runic," and the purely Celtic forms of ornament with which they are decorated is still absurdly styled "Runic knot-work," by writers who per- petuate the errors of an uncritical age. Runes are a special variety of alpha- betic characters, and "Runic" of course can have no proper or intelligible application to any form of ornament. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN EUNES. 227 in Scotland to the area, wliicli was conquered and colonised by the Norsemen in the eighth and ninth centuries, compre- hending the Isles of Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, and Man. ^.:jci.^: ^^\ A few fragments only have been noticed in the Northern Isles,^ and they do little more than certii'y the historical fact of the Norse domination there. One of these (Fig, 136) which was found built into the enclosing wall of the churchyard of Cunuingsburgh, in the mainland of Shetland, by Eev. George Clark, is now in the Museum. It is a portion of a partially dressed slab 3 feet 4 inches in length, perfectly plain on the broad faces, but bearing an inscription on one edge. The commencement of the epigraph is broken away, and what re- mains gives the fornnila . . . . " raised this stone after his father " — in the usual style of the early Christian inscriptions of Scandinavia, but with some local peculiarities of lettering which ally it with the western group of monumental inscriptions in Fames peculiar to the Norwegian settlements in the Scottish Isles. One complete monument only is known in the Hebrides. It stood in the churchyard of Kilbar, in the island of Barra, and has been recently placed in the Museum. It is about 4 feet 1 These have been figured and described by Mr. Gill)ert Goudie in the Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xii. p. 143, in a paper "On Knne-inscribed Norse Relics in Shetland." Fi g. 136. — Rime inscribed Stone from Cunniugs- burgh, Shetland (3 feet 4 inches in lengtli). 228 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. high and 16 inches broad. It bears on the obverse (Fig. 137) a cross of Celtic form, nearly of the whole length of the stone, hollowed into three-quarter circles at the inter- sections of the arms and summit. The spaces on either side of the cross are occupied with fretwork and double spirals. This is, more or less, the character of all the decorated monu- ments in Scotland, which correspond most closely in their style of art to the decorated pages of Celtic manuscripts, and no stone monument in Scandinavia bears either a cross of this form or a mingled decoration of interlaced work, spirals, and fretwork of this special character. The art of the monu- ment is therefore unequivocally Celtic. But the inscription on the reverse (Fig. 138) is as unequivocally Scandinavian. It consists of three lines placed vertically, and reading from top to bottom of the stone. According to Professor Stephens'^ the inscription states that " Ur and Thur erected this stone after Easkur, Christ rest his soul." It is not surprising that there should be a mixture of Celtic art and Scandinavian language within an area like that of the Hebrides, where there was a mixed population for three or four centuries after the first Scandinavian immigration. The topography of the area exhibits a similar mixture of Celtic and Scandinavian elements, and it would be surprising if the monuments did not. But what I wish specially to point out in this connec- tion is the fact that the Celtic art held its ground, while the language failed. This is certainly a remarkable phenomenon. No more striking testimony could be given of the intensity of its character and the power of its absolute individuality. The same phenomenon is observable in the remarkable group ^ The Kilbar monument is described by Professor Stephens in the Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. (New Series), vol. iii. , p. 33, and will also be included in the forthcoming third volume of his great work on the Old Northern Runic Monurnents of Scandinavia and England, of which two volumes are already published, Copenhagen, folio, 1868. INSCEIBED MONUMENTS IN KUNES. 229 of monuments that exists in the Island of Man, which was the Fig. 137. — From Kilbcir, ])arra. Obverse (i feet high). Fig. 138. — From Kilbar, Barra. Keverse (4 feet high). seat of the Norse kingdom of Man and the Isles, called in the Sagas the kingdom of the Sudreys, from 976 to 1275, 230 .SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. The monument which comes nearest in character to the one from Kilbar is a slab at Kirkmichael, in Man, about 8 feet high by o^ wide, and tapering slightly from top to bottom. On the obverse it bears a cross of Celtic form, finely ornamented with interlaced work, arranged in separate devices as if in panels, though there are no divisions between the panels. The space on one side of the cross-shaft is filled by a representation of a stag-hunt, and on the other side by two human figures, one of which is represented as playing on a harp. The reverse of the stone bears no cross, no figures, and no decoration — nothing but the letters of the inscription. So far, then, as the art of this monument is concerned, its features are Celtic. The form of the cross is Celtic, and all that I have said of the figure-subjects and the decoration of the stone might have been said of many monuments in the area of the sculptured monuments of Scotland. But the reverse of the stone is as Scandinavian in character as the obverse is Celtic. Like the Kilbar Stone the inscription in Euues is written vertically. It states, according to the reading of Professor Munch,^ that " Mai Lumcun reared this cross after Malmura his foster-mother, daughter of Dugal, and wife of Athisl." Another slab at Kirkmichael of the same character bears on the obverse a cross of the Celtic form decorated with interlaced work, and on the edge of the stone an inscription in Eunes, which states that " Malbrigd, son of Athacan the smith, erected this cross for his soul ; but his kinsman Gaut made it and all in Man." '^ The Manx nioiiuments are figured and described in a work entitled The Hunic and other Momimental Remains of the Isle of Ifan, by Rev. J. G. Cumining, M.A., 4to, London, 18.^)7. Professor Muncli's readings of the inscriiitions are given in his edition of The Chronicle of Man and the Sudreys (Christiania, 1860), and also in the later edition of the same chronicle by the ]\lanx Society. Professor Stephens has included some of the inscriptions in his Old Northern Runic Monuments. As I am not dealing critically with the texts of the inscriptions, it may be sufficient to give the references to the principal sources of information regarding them. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IX KUNES. 231 Another cross-bearing slab of similar type at Kirk Andreas has part of its inscription effaced. What remains of it gives the full name of Gaut the cross-maker : — " . . . erected this cross after Ufaig his father, but Gaut Bjornsou made it." At the same place there is a slab carved with crosses having their shafts filled with rude interlaced work, and the vacant spaces occupied with a stag hunt and figures of animals, while the edge bears an inscription in Eunes, recording that " Sandulf the Swart raised this cross after Arinbjorg his wife." Again, at Kirkmichael we have a slab of large size, over 7 feet high and 2 feet wide, bearing on obverse and reverse crosses of Celtic form filled with interlaced work and ter- minating in spiral scrolls, the side spaces bearing a stag hunt and figures of animals and men on horseback. One side of the slab also bears the triquetra four times repeated, a specially Celtic device, which does not appear once on any of the Eunic monuments of Scandinavia so far as these are figured in the great work of Professor Stephens. But it is specially notice- able that although the figure-subjects, beasts, and stag hunts of these Manx monuments are similar to those of the monu- ments of Eastern Scotland, no single example of any of the mysterious symbols occurs among them. The inscription on the edge of this monument states that " Ulf, son of Thorolf the Eed, raised this cross after Frida his mother." All the family names in this case are Norwegian, and the inscription is in the Norse language and character, while the art of the stone is essentially Celtic in style. The last of this group of monuments that I shall notice is a free-standing cross in the churchyard of Kirk Braddan in the Isle of Man (Fig. 139). It is 4 feet 6 inches in height, and has a long slender shaft, bearing a circular, equal-armed cross-head, one-half of which is broken away. The faces and sides of the shaft are bordered with a raised rope-like edging, and both faces of the shaft and one edge are filled with zoomorphic patterns of animals 232 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. treated in a style that is more Scandinavian than Celtic. Their bodies are covered with scale-like markings, and the interlacingsand convo- lutions of their limbs, tails, and crests, ex- hibit a tendency to break off into ex- pansions that are but one degree removed from foliageous scrolls. These characteristics are observed to some extent in the later Irish manuscripts, and they are conspicuous in the early Christian art of Scandinavia, which was contemporary with the last or decaying period of Celtic art. On one edge of the shaft of the cross is a Kunic inscription, stating that "Thorlaf Neaki raised this cross after Fiacc, his son;" the rest is doubtful. At Euthwell, in An- nandale, within eight miles of Dumfries, there stands a very re- markable monument. Its form is that of a tall free - standing cross. Fig. 139. — Edges and Obverse of Cross at Kirk Braddaii (4 feet 6 inches high). INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN RUNES. 233 As it stands at present the cross is reconstructed. It was found in fragments and pieced together by the late Dr. Henry Duncan, the minister of the parish, who wrote an elaborate account of it in the Transactions of the Society. The whole height of the cross is about 17| feet, the shaft being 2 feet in breadth at the base, and 15 inches in thickness. The material is sandstone. It stood in the old church of Euthwell till 1642, when the General Assembly, which met at St. Andrews on 27th July of that year, issued an order for its destruction as a monument of idolatry. It seems to have been simply thrown down, and to have lain in the floor of the church close to the former site of the altar. When Pennant visited the place in 1772 it was still lying there, but was soon afterwards ejected in consequence of the reseating of the church. In 1802 Dr. Duncan, finding that it was exposed to injury in the churchyard, which was unenclosed, removed it to the garden of the old manse, where it still remains. Previous to this, however, a portion of the top of the cross had been accidentally exhumed in digging a grave to an unusual depth ; but the transverse arms are still wanting, those now on the monument having been supplied by Dr. Duncan in 1823. The monument is sculptured with figure-subjects on its broad faces, and on its sides with scroll-work, representing a vine, with birds and beasts lodging in the convolutions of its branches, and eating of its fruit. This was a common represen- tation on Christian monuments, and examples occur at Jed- burgh, and on the elaborately sculptured monuments of Celtic character at Hilton of CadboU, and Tarbet, in Ptoss. The figure- subjects on the broad faces of the cross are arranged in panels surrounded with flat borders, on which are incised the inscrip- tions which give to this monument its special interest. They are in two languages and two alphabets, one set being carved in Koman capitals, and the other in liunes. The inscriptions 234 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. B in tlie Eoraan letters demand our first attention, because tlieyliave been placed upon the monument in connection witli the figure-subjects that are sculptured on it, and in fact explain them. Beginning at the base of the monu- ment on one of its broad faces (Fig. 140), the first panel contains a simple cross of plain Latin form.-^ Above this (that is, in the lowest panel of the accompany- ing engraving) are two figures, both nimbed, one with hands joined on the breast in attitude of adoration, the other with the right hand raised in the atti- tude of benediction. Over this panel are the words ingressvs angelvs [ad EAM DIXIT, AVE GRATIA PLENA, DOMINVS] TE[CVM] BE[NEDICTA TV IN MVLIERIBVS] " And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women." Two things are to be observed with reference to the panel containing this representation. The first is that the j)ersonages represented on it both bear the nimbus — a feature which, unless in one or two doubtful t0 T-f Fig 140.— Obverse of Shatt of Ruthwell Cioss. 1 The loAver part of the cross, which is so de- faced that its sculpturing is scarcely visible, is not shown in the engravings, and the upper part, which is partially modern, is also suppressed. By thus reducing the length of the portion engraved, the figures are shown to a larger scale and with greater distinctness than would have been pos- sible otherwise. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN ROMAN LETTERS. instances does not occur on any of the monumental figure-subjects of the Cel- tic monuments in Scotland north of the Forth. The second is that we have here the conventional representation of the Scriptural scene known as the Saluta- tion of the Virgin, vouched for directly by the accompanying inscription. Above this is a panel with two figures, one of which has a cruciferous nimbus, and must therefore represent the Lord. On tlie border is the in- scription, again from the Vulgate text — etpeeteriensvidi[thomine.mcoecvm] A natibitate et s[anavit evm a]b in- firmita[te] — " and going forth, he saw a man blind from his birth, and healed him from his infirmity." In this panel, therefore, we have the conventional re- presentation of the miracle of healing the blind. Above this there is a standing figure, again bearing the cruciferous nimbus, having a book in the left hand, and the right upraised in attitude of bene- diction. At his feet there is a crouch- ing figure so defaced that the form is indistinct, but the subject is made clear by the surrounding inscription — attvlit al[ab]astrvm vxgventi et stans retrosecvs pedes eivs lacrimis COEPIT RIGARE pedes EIVS ET CAl'ILLIS CAPITIS svi tergebat — " She took an alabaster box of ointment, and standing ' 1 '4- //v.^ Fig. 141. — Reverse of Sliaft of Ruthwell Cross. 236 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. behind him, began to wash his feet with her tears, and to wipe them with the hairs of her head." This panel therefore gives the conventional representation of St. Mary Magdalene anointing the feet of Christ. Above this are two figures embracing each other. The inscription round this panel is now illegible, but the subject is apparently the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, which was always rendered in this conventional manner. Over this is an archer with a bow, and above him is the top of the cross (not shown in the engraving), which contains a human figure along with the figure of a bird.^ These I take to be representations of St. John and his symbol of the eagle, because the inscription round the panel bears the opening words of his Gospel — in peincipio erat verbvm — " In the beginning was the Word." On the opposite face of the cross (Fig. 141), beginning again from the bottom, the lower panel contains a repre- sentation of the flight into Egypt, the Virgin riding on an ass, and bearing the child in her arms. The inscription round the panel is nearly effaced, but enough remains to indicate the subject — maria et io [seph]. Above this are two figures face to face, holding a disc jointly in their hands. Without the help of the inscription round this panel, it would never have been imagined that the round disc was a loaf of bread, and the figures those of St Paul and St. Anthony. The inscription reads — scs pavlvs ET antonivs fregervnt panem in deserto — St. Paul and St. Anthony broke their loaf of bread in the desert. The refer- ence is to a miraculous incident in the legendary life of St. Anthony, related by St. Jerome, in which it is stated that for sixty years a raven daily brought a loaf to St. Anthony in the desert, and on the occasion of St. Paul's visit they shared the loaf, breaking it between them. ^ The transverse arms of the cross are modern. The summit which con- tains tliis figure is part of the original monument. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN ROMAN LETTERS. 237 Above this is the figure of our Lord with a cruciferous nimbus. He is represented as trampling on two swine, bearing a scroll in the left hand, and the right hand raised in the attitude of benediction. The inscription round the panel, which is taken from the apocryphal Gospel of the Nativity- reads — IHS XRS IVDEX AEQVITATIS SERTO SALVATOREM MVNDI BESTIAE ET DRACONES COGNOVERVNT IN DE[SERT0] ^ — " JeSUS Christ the Judge of Eighteousness ; Beasts and dragons knew the Saviour of the world in the desert, and came and worshipped him." Above this is a panel containing a figure standing on two globes, bearing the Agnus Dei on the breast, supporting it with his left hand, and pointing to it with his right. This is the usual method of representing John the Baptist, of whom we have a very characteristic image in the Museum, almost precisely similar. Dr. Duncan speaks admiringly of the sculpture of the monument, and adds his opinion that its boldness, freedom, and beauty would not have disgraced a classic age. I have merely described the groups of figures as they occur on the monument, without entering on the question of the quality of their art, and I have described them in this connection in a Lecture on Inscribed Monuments, because it is their presence on the monument that has caused the presence of the ex- planatory inscriptions. In other words, if the sculptures had not been there, the inscriptions would not have been there ; and the presence of the inscriptions explaining the meaning of the sculptures, which we should otherwise have had great difficulty in understanding, becomes exceedingly valuable in connection with the explanation of groups of sculptures on other monuments which bear no explanatory inscriptions. But in the meantime we proceed to the examination of 1 The part of the word deserto here placed within brackets has been misplaced by the carver of the inscription. 238 SCOTLAND IX EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. :^J.K t^ I I'll . 142.— Edge of the Rutliwell Cross. the sculptures and incised inscriptions on the two narrow sides of the monument. I have already stated that the sculptures on these narrow sides, instead of being figure-subjects in panels, as on the broad faces of the cross, are running scrolls, each representing a vine with its branches alternately recurved, and bearing grapes in symmetrical clusters, a bird or beast lodging in each of the branches and feed- ing on the fruit. The vine is the most ancient subject of Christian art. It ap- pears in the catacombs, treated with all the grace and freedom of classic naturalism both in painting and sculpture. The Byzantine formalism reduced it to a mere running scroll, and in this conventional form it always appears on the monuments of this country, sometimes with and sometimes without the adjuncts of the birds and beasts lodging in the branches. On the raised borders enclosing the two panels of scrollwork (Figs. 142, 143) is incised the other set of inscriptions. They are not in Eoman letters but in Eunes, that is, in the alphabetical character used by the Teutonic nations of the Con- tinent before they adopted the letters of the Eoman alphabet. The Celts had their Oghams, the Teutons their Eunes.^ These 1 These Fames, says Professor Stephens, meet us on grave - stones, in churches and monasteries, and on fonts, and bells, and crosses, and censers, and chairs, and all sorts of domestic furniture in all parts of Scandinavia down to the Reformation. They can INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN RUNES. 239 Piunes were the original Old Northern alphabet. Their home was in Northern Europe, and they therefore appear in this country as wanderers and strangers to the soil. But this alphabet exhibits two varieties — an older variety, which consists of over 30 letters, and a younger and more provincial variety, in which the number of letters is reduced to 16. In- scriptions in the older variety or Old Northern Eunes are few in number ; while in the later, more provincial, or Scandi- navian variety over 2000 inscriptions are known. The one we have to deal with on this Euthwell Cross belongs to the earlier class. The inscription is arranged in vertical columns on either side of the panel of scroll-work extending from the top to the bottom of the narrow sides of the shaft of the cross, with the exception of the first line, which runs horizontally across the top of the panel. Consequently it reads from left to right, across the first line, in the usual way, then continues in a vertical line down the whole of the right hand border, returning to the top of the left hand border, and reading vertically again to the base. As the lower part of the cross is more wasted than the upper, there are be traced back to the Early Iron Age of these north- ern countries, but in Britain they only appear after the Romans had departed, and the colonisation by the Anglic tribes had filled the land with relics of Scandinavian types iwirais . 143.— Edge of the Rutliwell Cross. 240 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. places where the reading fails towards the bottom of each border, thus making four gaps in the continuity of the inscription. The story of its complete decipherment is in the highest degree interesting and instructive. Assuming that the Eunes were Scandinavian, and the language one or other of the dia- lects of the Old Northern tongue, Mr. Eepp transliterated the inscription, and extracted from it a singularly distinct and coherent record of the donation of a baptismal font of eleven pounds weight, with its ornaments, by the authority of the Therfusian Fathers, in expiation for the devastation of the fields and the spoliation of thirteen cows in the vale of Ashlafar. Strange to say, he read the letters in most cases correctly enough; but as the inscription is not divided into words, he was at liberty to make his own vocables, and extract his own meaning from them, and he obtained this singular result by assuming the existence of linguistic forms which the inscrip- tion was not intended to represent. Other interpretations fol- lowed, all equally wide of the mark, and it was not till 1840, when the attention of the late Mr. J. M. Kemble had been turned to its decipherment, that its true import was ascer- tained. Demonstrating that the language of the inscription was Anglo-Saxon, and its construction rhythmical, he succeeded in producing an intelligible and consistent reading, unbroken in sense and continuity, except where the letters were defaced. He showed that the inscription on one side of the cross com- menced with the words, " Christ was on the Eood," and hence that, being rhythmical, the whole inscription was a poetical description of the passion of our Lord. Having deciphered the whole, he found that the four columns arranged them- selves in consecutive order, with blanks between each, result- ing from the failure of the reading at the portions defaced at the bottom of each column.^ ^ A transliteration of the Kunes, with a critical version and translation INSCRIBED MONUMENTS — IN RUNES. 241 In the first column he found tlie runes forming words .of which the following is a free translation : — " Prepared liiiuself God Aliuiglity, When he would the cross ascend Courageous before all men : Bow " [durst not I]. Then in the second column the cross itself takes up the narrative and says : — " I raised the mighty King, Heaven's great Lord ; Fall down I dared not — • They reviled us two Both together, I with blood stained Poured from." Here the inscription is again effaced, and, returning to the top of the third column on the other side of the monimient, the narrative proceeds, — " Chinst was on the Bood. Lo ! thither hastening From afar came Nobles to him in misery — I that all beheld ; I was with the wound of sorrow Stricken." . . . of the inscription, and comparative views of it and the parallel passages from the Vercelli Codex, with a full translation of the whole poem, are given in the learned and exhaustive treatise on the Ruthwell Cross by Professor Stephens in his Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, vol. i. pp. 405-448. Mr. Kemble's readings of the inscription on the cross, and his account of the Vercelli Codex, are printed in the Archa'ologia, vol. xxviii. p. 327, and vol. xxx. p. 31. Zupitza [Alt und Mittelenglisches Uhungshuch, 2d Ed. Wien, 1881) gives the Runic text, with varying readings and translitera- tion, also the parallel passages from the poem of the Holy Rood, and the literature of the subject. R 242 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES, And again, on the foiirtli column, — " Witli sliafts all wounded They laid him down limb-weary, They stood by him at his corpse's head, Beholding [the Lord] of Heaven." Here the reading again fails, but there is sufficient in what has been deciphered to show that this is a monument of no common character. But the remarkable confirmation which Mr. Kemble's read- ing of the inscription subsequently received invests it with an interest that is almost unparalleled in the history of liter- ary discoveries. Long after he had thus deciphered the inscription, in turning over the leaves of a book bearing the unpromising title of A2)2)C7idix B to Mr. Cooper s Hcport on Focdera, Mr. Kemble's eye was arrested by certain lines in an Anglo-Saxon poem, which, on comparison, he found to be identical with those on the Piuthwell Cross. Their appear- ance in the book so titled is explained as follows : — In the course of a literary pilgrimage in the north of Italy in 1823, Professor Blume had found in the old Conventual Library at Vercelli an ancient manuscript on parchment in the South Anglian or Wessex dialect of the tenth century. It contained a number of homilies, and six poetical pieces, some of which were of considerable length. The then existing Eecord Commission sent Mr. Thorpe to copy them, but before they were ready for publication the Commission lapsed, and after a series of years they were printed in an appendix to Mr. Cooper's report, of which, until recently, only a few copies were issued. Among these poems there was one in 314 lines, entitled " The Dream of the Holy Piood." It represents the Christian falling asleep, and seeing, as in a vision, the instru- ment of man's salvation appearing in the sky, surrounded with angels, and revealing in various ways its sympathy with the passion and glory of the Eedeemer. At length, receiving INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN EUNES. 243 the power of speech, it breaks forth in impassioned but dignified language, rehearsing the story of its experience on the day of the crucifixion. Parts of the poem are translated as follows : — " 'Twas many a year ago, I yet remember it, That I was he-\\Ti down At tlie wood's end. There men bare me upon their shoulders Until they set me down upon a hill. Tlien saw I tremble The whole extent of earth But yet I stood fast. Then the young hero ■prepared himself, That was Almighty God, Strong and firm of mood He mounted the lofty cross Courageously in sight of many} I trembled when he embraced me Yet dared I not to bow earthwards — Fall to the bosom of the ground, But I was compelled to stand fast. A cross was I reared, / raised the powerful king, The Lord of the heavens, I dared not fall down. They pierced me with dark nails. They reviled tis both together, I was all stained ivith hlood Poured from the man's side. 1 The ijassages in italics are those which correspond with the inscription on the cross. This version of the " Dream " has been attributed to Cynewulf. — Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader, 1st Ed. p. 169. 244 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. The shadow went foi'th Wan under the welkin, All creation wept, They mourned the fall of their king. Christ was on the cross, And thither hastening Men came from afar Unto the noble one — I that all beliehl With sorroio I loas stricken. The warriors left me there Standing defiled with gore, With shafts all wounded. They laid him doivn limh-weary, They stood at the cor2)se's head Beholding the Lord of Heaven, And he rested himself there awhile, Weary after the mighty contest." Here we have a manuscript version in a South Anglian dialect, of a comjolete poem written before the tenth century, and containing the very passages which are carved in a North Anglian dialect on the two sides of the Euthwell Cross, If we judge by the wide area over which it has thus been traced, it must have been a poem which was popular and highly esteemed. The manuscript gives no clue to its authorship ; but according to Professor Stephens the cross does. On the upper part, over the commencement of the inscription, he reads the words, CAEDMON ME MADE,— and reads them not as of the cross, but of the poem.^ ^ The late D. H. Haigh, in an article on the inscriptions of the crosses at Ruth well and Bewcastle, says: — " I submit to the judgment of others this conjecture, based upon these grounds — viz. that on this monument, erected about A.D. 665, we have fragments of a religious poem of very high character, and that there was but one man living in England at the time worthy to be named as a religious poet, and that was Caedmon." — Archceologia ^^liana, vol. i. (N.S.),p. 173. " This bold supposition," says Professor Stephens, "has now received an unexpected confirmation. By the help of the casts since taken INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN RUNES. 245 This, then, is the story of the decipherment of the llimes on the liuthwell Cross, I know nothing in the whole range of monumental history that surpasses it in interest. It makes us regard the monument not only as a fingerpost in the history of Christian art, but as a landmark in tlie history of English literature. In its sculj)tured decorations it pre- serves to us the style and quality of a very peculiar phase of early Christian art. In its associated inscriptions in the Latin language and character, it preserves to us the key which gives the explanation of other sculptured groups that have no associated inscriptions. In them, also, it preserves to us the very words of the texts of Scripture, of the passages from the Apocryphal Gospels and the legendary lives of the saints that were thus chosen for sculptured representation. Above all, in its Eunic inscription it has preserved a frag- ment of one of the earliest known specimens of Old English literature — a poem undoubtedly of very unusual merit. No literary monument graven on stone of such a character, or of greater importance in the history of literature, exists any- where else. It is a monument of culture in the highest sense of the term. It is a monument unique of its kind, bearing Mdtness to the existence of an artistic culture which for its age was high, and of a literary culture which but few of the succeeding ages have greatly surpassed. It is, there- fore, a monument of which the nation of whose history it forms a conspicuous part might well be proud. Yet, look at its pitiable story. Demolished, broken, buried ; restored, and reconstructed by private enterprise ; deciphered, and demonstrated to be of national interest and importance by Mr. Haigh, and of the Vercelli Codex, I have not only been enabled to amend the text and add some words to the carving, but I have also found the name of the immortal bard Caedmon." — Fainic Monutacnts of ScandiTuivia and England, vol. i. p. 411. Caedmon, who died about 680, has been regarded as a genius of the class headed by Bums — a poet of nature's making, sprung from the bosom of the common people— and is well known as the father of English poetical literature, the first composer in the vernacular speech of the people 246 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. as a literary and historic monument, — and yet left to weather and decay ! Had it been covered with Asian bilinguals or African hieroglyphics it might at least have had the chance of being acquired at great expense and brought to this country in trivimph, with much public rejoicing over its acquisition. For it can still be said of us, that while we acquire and preserve the monuments of other nations, and grudge no outlay which helps to illustrate the history of literature and art in many lands, we consign the few that time has spared to us in our own land to oblivion and decay. It is true that we acquire and preserve these monuments of ancient but alien races because we are an educated people, and because our education enables us to perceive their relations to all that underlies the present culture, which has grown out of the products of the literature and art of the past. But is it not also true that when we fail to do this for the ancient products of the culture and art of Scotland, it must be because our education fails to show us the relations in which they stand to the ripening culture of which they were the early blossom and far-off promise ? Having followed the line of Celtic inscriptions in the previous Lecture up to a point at which they become bilingual, and thus indicate the meeting of the two currents of Celtic and Eoman literary influence, and having now found the Eoman current in one direction meeting with another current of Anglian influence, and forming another kind of bilingual, we next proceed to follow the line of Eoman inscriptions in a direction still farther removed from these influences. As we trace this line backwards we shall find the Eoman character of the record less and less modified by local influence, but yet so modified as to be appreciably different from the purely Eoman style. In other words, the more nearly we approach to the purely Eoman j)eriod, the more purely Eoman becomes the style and character of the inscription, the less INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN ROMAN LETTERS. 247 debased are its grammar, its idiom, and its letters, and the more perfectly legible its iindefaced texts. Perhaps the most remarkable of the inscribed monuments in the partially debased style of the Roman alphabet is that known as the Catstone, which stands on the south bank of the Almond, three miles above its confluence with the Forth, and not over six miles from the city of Edinburgh.^ It stands on a slightly elevated ridge on the triangular space formed by the junction of the Gogar and the Almond. It is a massive boulder of greenstone, irregular in shape, unhewn, but rounded in all its angles by the action of water, or of w^eather, or of both combined. It is a large stone, being nearly twelve feet in circumference, over four feet in width and three feet in thickness, its height above ground being about four feet and a half. It bears on its flattest side (Fig. 144) an inscription in partially debased Roman capitals, arranged in four lines, without points or other indications of the separa- tion of the words of which it is composed. It is quite legible, however, — in oc tvmvlo iacit vetta f[ilivs] victi — " In this tumulus lies Vetta, son of Victus." The lettering offers few peculiarities calling for special notice. The use of 00 for hoc, the reversed N, the compound letters NV, and the rustic form of the L, are characteristics that are well known in inscrip- tions of this class over the wide range of the Roman pro- vinces. Yet they are not characteristics that are found in Roman inscriptions of the heathen time. If this is true of the lettering it is equally true of the form of the inscription. It presents three special features which we shall find to be characteristic of Christian inscriptions alone. They are (1), The use of the formula in hoc tvmvlo; (2) The use of the for- mula iacit ; and (3) The use of the formula giving the name 1 An elaborate paper on the Catstone, in wliicli it is attempted to be identified as the tombstone of the gi'andfather of Hengist and Horsa, will be found in the Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot, vol. iv. pp. 119-165, by the late Sir J. Y. Simpson. See also Stephens's Bunic Monuments, vol. i. p. 59. 248 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. and patronymic of the deceased. All these are features which are not found on Eoman monuments of lieathen origin. Among 1300 inscriptions of the Eoman time in Britain, pre- Fig. 144. — The Catstoue, Kirkliston (4.^ feet iu heiglit). vious to the prevalence of Christianity, collected by Hubner, there is not one that presents the formula Hie jacct or In hoc tumulo jacet, or even Jacct. On the other hand, among the Christian inscriptions in Wales, iu the debased Eoman INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN EOMAN LETTERS. ' 249 character, the formula which is of most frequent occurrence is some modification of the liic jacet, frequently combined with the further amplification in tuiiiulo or in hoc tmnulo. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the special formula which we thus find graven on this monument is a formula which is distinctively Christian. No Pagan monument in Britain bears it. In fact, it is so distinctively Christian that Hubner ^ remarks that the Christian monuments of Britain whose inscriptions are in the Eoman character, have almost without exception but one formula, the hie jacet, occasionally with the addition of in hoc tumvlo, or the like. The inscription is therefore typical, and the type is not Pagan but Christian. Having thus examined the characteristic features and the typical relations of the inscription on this monument, let us turn for a moment to the collateral indications afforded by its local associations. The area on which the monument stands was carefully examined in 1865 by Mr. Hutchison of Carlowrie, from whose account of it ^ I draw the facts neces- sary to establish my deductions. He found that the monu- ment stands within the area of an ancient cemetery, enclosed by a rude wall, which was still in some parts two feet high along the north side of the area. The stones were undressed, and the wall rudely constructed without cement. Within its area there were found no fewer than fifty-one graves, arranged in rows, the heads to the west and the feet to the east. The graves were lined along the bottom of the sides and ends with rough flat stones set on edge, across which a covering of similar flat and undressed stones was laid, thus forming a kind of rude stone coflEin with a bottom of earth. It has been customary to speak of them as cists, but they are in reality stone-lined graves. The longest of them was 6 feet 9 inches, and the shortest 4 feet 8 inches. They are, therefore, full- length graves, and the typical feature of the burials was that ^ Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. vi. p. 184. 250 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. they were placed in rows with the heads to the west and the feet to the east. This orientation and regularity are features that are distinctively Christian,^ as opposed to the absence of such characteristics in groups of burials that are of Pagan time. It is therefore clear that the special features which are present in these burials are features which are character- istic of a Christian and not of a Pagan type of interment. On the other hand, the absence of Pagan characteristics is equally significant. Heathen burials in this country, when they are enclosed in cists, present features which differ from these entirely. When they occur in groups they are not oriented, they are not regularly placed in rows, and they are not full length. The cists of the Pagan time differ also from these stone-lined graves in their constructional character. They are more massive, wider and deeper in proportion to their length, and usually have the sides, ends, and covers, each composed of a single stone. Occasionally they contain no- thing but the skeleton, but usually they also contain an urn, or the ornaments, implements, or weapons of the dead. But here there were fifty-one graves, and Mr. Hutchison tells us that though careful search was made, no urn, trinket, or weapon of any kind was found in or around any of the graves, nor did they present the slightest appearance of having ever been previously disturbed. Thus all the indications of character, position, construc- tion, orientation, that are present in this singular cemetery, accord with the indications of the inscription on the solitary monument that stands above ground among them ; and the conclusion to which I come, in view of the whole evidence, is that we have here an ancient Christian cemetery and an early ^ The orientation of Christian burial is alluded to by most of the liturgical writers of the Middle Ages, and the explanation of the custom, as given by Durandus, is that the dead when they rise in the resurrection may face their Lord as He comes from the East. INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN ROMAN LETTERS. 251 r\ Christian monument still retaining its original position within its area. No other monument of that early time is known in Scot- land still standing like the Catstone in the midst of its graves. Another of the same class (Fig, 145) bearing six lines of an inscription, so defaced as to be illegible in its continuity, exists at a place called Yar- row Kirk,^ in Selkirkshire. It is a rough slab, unsquared and undressed, 7 feet long and 3 feet in greatest width, tapering irregularly to about 2 feet at the smaller end. It was discovered by the plough coming in contact with it underground, and it is uncertain whether it then lay on its original site. A cast of the stone is in the Museum. The first line reads hic memor iacet. In the fourth line the name Dumnogenus is legible, and a second inscription below begins with hic iacent in tvmvlo dvo fili , . , liberali. This, again, is a Christian record agreeing in character with the early Christian inscriptions in other parts of Britain. The debased character of the Eoman letters is the same, the formula iiic iacit is the same, and the names Dumnogenus and Liberalis are of Chiistian time. On the high ground above the town of Whithorn, there stands a monument (Fig. 146) of very unusual charac- 1 Described by Dr. J. A.Smith, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vols. ii. p. 484, and iv. p. 524, Fig. 145.- -At Yarrow Kirk, Selkirksliire (7 feet in length). 252 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CIIPJSTLVN TIMES. ter. It is a stone of aLout 4 feet high and 2 feet broad, bearing on one of its faces a cross of peculiar character placed within a circle, and underneath it an inscription of three lines. The cross is formed by the intersection of four arcs of circles. This form of cross is rare on stone monu- ments in Scotland, and in Ire- land it is regarded as one of the very oldest — if not the oldest — of all the forms which the symbol of Christianity has assumed in that country. That it is one of the oldest types in Scotland is proved by the fact that in this instance it has attached to the left upper corner of the summit the sign which distinouishes the Chrisma or the conventional form of the monogram known as the Cross of Constantine.^ The first appearance of ^ Described and figured by Dr. Arthur Mitchell, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. ix. p. 578. ^ The monogram called the chrisma occurs frecj^uently in the catacombs enclosed within a circle, which is thus explained by an inscription found at Milan : — Circulus hie siimnii comprendit nomina regis Quern sine priiicijiio et sine fine vides. It continued to be used on sarcophagi till about the end of the seventh century. It appears along with the A et w on the tomb of Archbishoj) Theodore at Eavenna, about 688. It occurs fourteen times in Britain. There are three examples at Kirkmadrine. It occurs on the stone above men- tioned at "Whithorn. It stands at the commencement of the dedicatory inscription of the church of St. Paul at Jarrow. It stands for the first syllable of the word Christianus in the remarkable epitaph of Porius at Llech Idris, in Merionethshire : — Porius hie in him ulojacet, liomo [Christ]iamisfuit. It occurs frmmm*, Fig. 146.— At Whithorn (4 feet high). S'-^ssJ^-i'/, ',"' ^^>^^- jifif/^ IMSCKIBED MO^•UiMENTS IN ROMAN LETTERS. 253 this mouogram on monuments in the catacombs of Eome is about the commencement of the fourth century. In France it occurs on dated monuments from a.d. 377 to 540. The symbols and formulae of Christian monuments appear in Ivonie about a century earlier than in Gaul, and the natural inference is that if they are a century later in Gaul than in Eome they will be still later in Britain, assuming of necessity that their progress westwards continued to be gradual. We can therefore say with something like certainty that this monument bearing the chrisma cannot be earlier than the end of the fourth, and that it may be as late as the latter part of the sixth, century. The inscription underneath the cross is in Eoman capitals of rustic form, and its letters stand singly, without being tied or ligatured. Both these features indicate lateness of date for a Eoman inscription. No monu- ment executed during the Eoman occupation of Britain ex- hibits these features. The inscription, simple and legible as it is, may be susceptible of a variety of readings. One of these, which is also one of the most obvious, would make it LOCI [s]ti petei apvstolt, the stone of St. Peter the Apostle, and consequently not a sepulchral monument at all.^ But, as I have already shown, the raising of memorial crosses in honour of saints was a common custom in the early Church, and whatever doubt there may be as to the actual nature of on a fragment of a cross at St. Helms, Cornwall, and on a stone now placed in the wall of the church at Phillack. It occurs also on an inscribed stone at St. Just, near Land's End, which bears an incomplete name and the formula Hiejacet. It occurs also on a tesselated pavement at Frampton. It has been found on a silver vase at Corbridge, Northumberland, on some brazen frag- ments at York, and on two oval-shaped masses of lead found in the Thames near Battersea Bridge. In one of these the word spes is placed round it, and in the other it is associated with the A et w. The chrisma does not occur in Ireland. ^ Fordun mentions the finding of a "raaguificent and venerable" cross at Peebles, in the year 1261, which bore tlie inscription locvs sancti nholai EPISCOPI. 254 SCOTLAND IN EAELY CHEISTIAN TIMES. the memorial-stone, there can be none as to its typical cha- racter and relations. At Kirkmadriue, in the parish of Stoneykirk, also in H!C!ACEIT SCIETPRAE "^"RVIS'ACE'^ DOTESIDE5'' /fr/vWOPIVS Fig. 147.— At Kirkmadriue (5 feet liigh). Wigtonshire, there are two very remarkable monuments (Fig. 147), performing, or till quite lately performing, the humble duty of gateposts to a disused burying -ground.^ ^ Tlie true character of these remarkable monuments was first recomised INSCRIBED MONUMENTS IN ROMAN LETTERS, 255 They are long narrow flat slabs, standing about 5 feet liigli, and about 18 inches broad. One bears on the obverse the incised monogram of the chrisina or Cross of Constantine, standing free within a circle, and over it the formula A et co} Underneath there is an inscription in six lines, in lloman capitals, but slightly debased. There are no spaces or divi- sions between the words, and many of the letters are tied or ligatured. The inscription is so legible that its purport scarcely admits of doubt : — HIC lACENT SCI ET PRAE Here he tlie holy CIPVI SACER and excellent priests, DOTES ID EST to wit, Viventius VIVENTIVS and Maiorius. ET MAIORIVS. The chrisma is repeated on the reverse of the stone. The other monument is precisely similar in form. It bears also the Chrisma, but without the Alpha and Omega, and under- neath are three lines of an inscription, of which the only parts legible are the two words et florentivs. There was a third stone, but it is now gone, and we owe our knowledge of it to a drawing recovered by Dr. Mitchell.- It also bore the chrisma within a circle, and underneath it the words INITIVM ET FINIS. This group of monuments is therefore characterised by the presence of a peculiar form of the symbol of the cross, by Dr. Arthur Mitchell, who brought them under the notice of the late Dr. Stuart, when engaged in the preparation of his great work on the Sculptured Stones of Scotland. ^ The formula aet w appears on Christian monuments in Gaul, assignable to dates ranging, according to Le Blant, from a.d. 377 to A.D. 547. It occurs twice on the tombstones found on the supposed site of St. Hilda's monastery at Hartlepool, which are assigned to the seventh and eighth cen- turies. It does not occur in Ireland. 2 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. ix. p. 568. 256 SCOTLAND IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES. consisting of the clirisma placed within a circle — a form which rarely occurs in Britain, and which, when it does occur, is always found in such associations as are suggestive of a period which at the latest cannot be far distant from the time of the Eoman occupation. The character of the in- scriptions also affords similar indications of earliness of date. The letters are still Roman capitals, as was customary in Roman inscriptions, and they are not greatly debased from the pure Roman forms. With this type of monument, presenting no indications of Celtic art, and inscribed in Roman chai'acters which are but slightly debased, the line of Christian inscriptions in Scot- land ends. We have traced it back to a point at which another step would bring us within the period of the Roman domination, and among forms that are no longer Christian but Pagan, and purely Roman in character. INDEX. Abbotsfoed, sculptured monument at, 106, 154. Aberbrothock, abbey of, 49. Aberlemuo, sculptured monuments at, 57, 74, 75, 106, 172, 179. Abernetliy, 75. Aboyne, inscribed monument at, 202, 208. Adam and Eve, representations of the temptation of, 138, 144, 146, 149, 161, 166. Aglish, the killeen of, 218. Agnus Dei, the, 237. Aldbar, sculptured monument at, 81, 123. Allen, J. Eomilly, 89. Alloa, cross-bearing monument at, 92. Alness, 7. Alphabet, Runic, Scandinavian variety of, 5. Old Northern variety of, 5. Amber, settings of, in Celtic brooches, 2, 8, 16, 21, 23, 24. Amiens, cathedral of, 145. Analysis of C'adboll brooches, 9. Andromeda, the dragon guarding, 139. Angels, representations of, on the Scot- tish monuments, 59, 121, 137. Angus, King of the Piccardach, 199. Animals, sculptured representations of, 51, 62. Annals of Innisfallen, 215. of Tigheamach, 196, 199. of the Four Masters, 196. Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony, 42. Arbirlot, sculptured monument at, 93. Arboe, cross at, 162. Arbroath (Aberbrothock), 49, 50. Archers, sculptured representations of, 51. Ardoilean, 49. Ark of Noah, representations of the, in the Catacombs, 143. on sarcophagi, 144. Ark of Noah, representation of the, on the cross at Kells, 144. Aries, monuments at, 156, 157. Armagh, the book of, 216, 217. Arndilly, Aberdeenshire, sculptured stone at, 76, 177. Art, Celtic, elements of, 110. difference of Celtic and Scandina- vian, 30, 33. of the Scottish monuments, ele- ments of, 100. of the Celtic manuscripts identical with that of the monuments of eastern Scotland, 108. Ballutheron, sculptured stone at, 179. Ballymote, the book of, 215. Ballyspellan, inscribed silver brooch found at, 211, 214. Barra, inscribed monument at Kilbar in, 227. Basilisk, the, 171. Bear, the, sculptured representations of, 69, 158. Benbecula, 76. Benvie, sculptured monument at, 81. Berdal, Norway, bronze cross with Celtic ornamentation found at, 31. Bergen, museum at, 30. Bestiaries of the Middle Ages, the, 121, 165, 168, 183. Birnie, sculptured monument at, 76. Birsay, the buried bell of, 37. Bjornson, Gaut, maker of crosses, 231. Blasket Islands, the, 219. Boars, wild, representations of, 121. Boat-of-Garten, 74. Bourtie, sculptured monument at, 76. Brasses, monumental, the fylfot on, 220. Brechin, sculptured monument at, 156. Bressay, Shetland, inscribed monument at, 208. S 258 INDEX. Breviary, the Aberdeen, 187. Bridles, representatioDs of, VIS. Brodie, sculptured raonunieut at, 119. Bronze balauce-beam found at Croy, 22. brooches of, 10, 12, 14, 15, 26, 29. crescent-shaped plate found at Laws, Mouifieth, 45, 51. cross of, with Celtic ornamenta- tion, found at Berdal, in Nor- way, 31. Brooch found among old brass in Glas- gow, 26. of Hunterston, the, 1 penannular form of the Celtic, 26. the later form of the Highland, 25, 27. Brooches, Anglo-Saxon, 26. bowl-shaped, of the Viking period, 30. found at Eogart, Sutherlandshire, 6. found near Perth, 20. not represented by symbols, 182. of Celtic form and ornamenta- tion, 1. Scandinavian, 27. Buist, Mr., account of the hoard of silver ornaments at Norrie's Law, by, 36. Bulls, representations of, 121. Burghead, group of monuments at, 84. Burial, Iron Age, 181. Burrian, the brooch of, 211. Cadboll brooches, the, 7. Hilton of, 104, 119, 123. R. B. ^. Macleod of, 7. Caedmon, 244. Cairn at Linlathen, 181. Caithness, 74. Campbelton, cross at, 131. Cape Wrath, 74. Caplachy (Caiplie in Fife), 186. Capua, church of St. Mary of, 112. Camuston, Forfarshire, cross at, 156. Carsphairn, incised cross at, 92. Carthage, 166. Casale, 112. Catacombs, subjects represented on the frescoes of the, 142. Catstone, the, 247. Caves in Fife, sculptures in, 184. Cemetery, an early Christian, near Kirkliston, 249. Centaurs, sculptured representations of, 64, 65, 71, 121, 171. Chairs, sculptured representations of, 62, 124. Chalmers, Patrick, 50. Chapel cave, the, 186. Chapel of Garioch, 74. Cliariots, sculptured representations of, 69, 123, 125, 158, 159. Cherubim and seraphim, rejireseuta- tions of, 137. Chrisma, the, 252. Christiania, Museum at, 29. Chronicle, the Pictish, 197. Chur, in Switzerland, church of, 112. Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire, 222. Cist, ornamented cover of, 133. Cladh an Diseart, 86. Clark, Rev. George, 227. Clatt, Aberdeenshire, 75. Clonmacnoise, 95. inscribed monuments at, 195, 196. Clyde, the river, 74. Clyne, Sutherlandshire, 76. Clyth, Caithness, 93. Coenwulf, King of Mercia, silver penny of, found with silver brooch, etc., at Croy, 24. Coins, Roman, said to have been found with the silver ornaments at Norrie's Law, 42. Coldstone, Aberdeenshire, 86. Colonsay, 120. Ere of, 209. Comb of St. Cuthbert, 178. of Queen Theodelinda, 178. of ivory sent with the Pope's bless- ing to Queen Ethelburga, 178. Congask, sculptured monument at, 76. Constantine, the Emperor, 42. Cornwall, monuments of, 74, 117. Cossins, sculptured monunrent at, 74, 123, 165. Costume, old Celtic, representations of, 122. Craignarget, Wigtonshire, 219. Craill, cross with human feet at, 120, 150. Cremona, 166. Crichie, Aberdeensliire, 75. Crieff, sculjitured monument at, 106. Crosier, Celtic form of, 208. of -St. Fillan, 130. Cross-bearing slabs, 51, 73. Cross-bow, the, 123. Cross, the Celtic form of the sjonbol of the, 52, 120. Latin and Greek forms of, 52. with human feet, at Craill, 120. with human head, at Killoran, 120. Crosses, freestanding, 78, 81. of Ireland, 95. Scriptural subjects sculp- tured on the, 163. INDEX. 259 Crosses of the West Highlands, charac- teristics of, 130. Croy, near Inverness, brooch found at, 21. Crucifixion, representations of the, 83, 120. Culbinsgarth, Bressay, 206, 208. Culdees of Lochleveii, 201. Gumming, Rev. J. G., 230. Cunningsburgh, Shetland, 227. Dailleus, 148. Daltallachan, incised cross at, 91. Daniel in the den of lions, representa- tions of, on churches in Italy, 166. on a holy water vessel from a Merovingian grave, 148. on belt- clasps from Burgundian graves, 147. on glass vessels, 146. on Irish crosses, 149. on Scottish monuments, 149, 150. ■ • on sarcophagi, 151. on the frescoes of the Catacombs, 143. David rending the jaws of the lion, re- presentations of, 154. Daviot, sculptured monument at, 75. Deer, representations of, 121. Deer, the book of, 194. Devonshire, inscribed monuments of, 214, 222, 224. Djemila, 166. Docton, cross at, 78. Dogs, representations of, 121. Domnach Airgid, the, 130. Doo cave, the, 184. Drainie, sculptured monuments at, 78, 103. Drimmies, sculptured stone at, 184. Drogheda, 17. Dromore, 91. Drost, son of Voret, 199. Drosten, first abbot of Deer, 196. Drumderg Blathmig, 199. Duke, Rev. William, 50. Dunbeath, Caithness, silver brooch found at, 16. Duncan, Dr. Henry, 233. Dunfallandy, sculptured monument at, 66, 74, 124, 153, 170. Dunipace, Stirlingshire, silver brooch found at, 24. Dunkeld, sculptured monument at, 157. Dunnichen, Forfarshire, sculptured monument at, 75, 177. Dunrobin, museum at, 7. Duns, Professor, brooch found in Mull deposited in the museum by, 13. Dupplin, cross at, 78, 123. Durham, General, of Largo, 37. Durham, sculptured monuments at, 130. Dysart, caves at, 183, 187. Eassie, sculptured monument at, 74. Ecclesiastics, representations of, 123. EdJerton, sculptured monument at, 76. Edinburgh, 75. Egypt, the flight into, 236. Elgin, sculptured monument at, 74. Elijah, the ascension of, 139, 158, 159. Elphinstone, Bishop, 187. Enamel on silver chains, 42, 44. Evans, John, 140. Fardel, South Devon, 222. Farnell, sculptured monument at, 81, 160, 161, 179. Ferguson, Sir Samuel, 211. Fermoy, the book of, 215. Ferot, a Pictish king, 197. Findlay, J. R., 92. Finlarig, 76. Fish, sculptured representations of, 51, 55, 121. symbol of the, 181, 182, 185. Ford, Argyllshire, 88. Fordoun, 74, 78. Forres, monument at, 81, 123, 163. Forth, the river, 74. Fowlis, Wester, 74, 106. Eraser, Rev. Thomas, 22. Frescoes of the Catacombs, subjects represented in the, 142. Fretwork, diagonal, 114. Fylfot or Swastika, the, 218, 219, 220. Gallgael, the, 6. Galloway, 81. Gask, sculptured monument at, 74, 78, 167, 179. Glamis, sculptured monuments at, 64, 81, 172, 199. Glencar, County Kerry, 219. Glenesk, 199. Gold objects found at Mycenae, 114. Golspie, inscribed monument at, 74, 76, 204, 208. Gospels, the apocryphal, 173. Goudie, Gilbert, 211, 227. Govan, group of monuments at, 72. Grave-mound of Pagan time at Norrie's Law, 35. Grave-mounds of Viking time in Nor- way, 31, 32. of Viking type in Westray, 29. Graves, Rev. Dr., Bishop of Limerick, 216. 260 INDEX. Griffin, the, 171. Grossen-Linden, sculptured doorway of, 173. Habbakuk associated with Daniel and the lions, 145, 148. Haddington, silver chain found at, 44. Haigh, D. H., on the Euthwell inscrip- tions, 211, 244. Harness, representations of, 123. Hay, George, 50. Hebrides, Norwegian kingdom in the, 61. Runic monuments in the, 227. Heiton, Andrew, silver brooches ex- hibited in the national museum by, 20. Hengist and Horsa, 247. Hexham, sculptured monuments at, 130. Hippeau, M. C., 168. Hof, in Norway, grave-mound at, 32. Hordwell, Berwickshire, silver chain found at, 44. Horsemen, costume of, 123. Horses, rej)resentations of, 121. Hunterston, brooch of, 1. Huntsmen, representations of, 123. Hutchison, Robert, 249. [lluminations of Celtic manuscripts, character of the art of the, 3. Inchl)rayock, sculptured monument at, 81, 104. Inchcolm, monument at, 72, 103. Inchinnan, 167. Innisfallen, annals of, 215. Insch, sculptured monument at, 75, 176, 179, 191. Inscriptions in the Celtic character, 52, 191. in the Ogham character, 83. in Roman letters, 232. in runes, 47, 226. Inverary, cross at, 131. Invergowrie, sculptured monument at, 81, 100, 102. Inverury, Aberdeenshire, 75, 179. lona, 79, 106, 156, 160. inscribed monuments at, 191. ornament on crosses at, 117. Ireland, early Christian monuments of, 118. inscribed monuments of, 213, 221, 224. monuments and manuscripts of the early Christian time in, 109. Iron age, ornamentation of the, 114. Isaac, representation of the sacrifice of, 138, 146, 149, 162, 172. Islay, 80, 106. Jarrow, church of St. Paul at, 252. Jervise, Andrew, 191. Jewitt, Llewellyn, 20. Joass, Rev. Dr. James, 88. Jonah and the whale, 139, 146, 150, 152, 153, 167, 172. Jonathan's cave, 184. Joppa, 139. Jordan, the, represented as a river-god, 152. Keithhall, Aberdeenshire, 76. Kells, the book of, 68, 115, 194. Kemble, Mr. J. M., 114, 240. Kilbar, island of Barra, inscribed monu- ment at, 227. Kildalton, Islay, cross at, 80, 106, 117, 156. Kildonan, 88. Kilkerran, 131. Kilmartin, cross at, 128. Kilrenny, 186. Kinblethmont, 199. Kinellar, Aberdeenshire, 75. Kingoldrum, sculptured monuments at, 74, 81, 104. Kintore, Aberdeenshire, 75. Kintradwell, Sutherlandshire, 184. Kirk Andreas, inscribed monument at, 231. Kirk Braddan, inscribed cross at, 231. Kirkmaiden, 91. Kirkmadrine, inscribed monuments at, 91, 254. Kirkmichael, inscribed monument at, 230. Kirriemuir, sculptured monuments at, 60, 74, 81, 104, 121, 123. Knockando, 76, 179. Kraus, Dr. F. X., 165. Kurtea d'Argysch, church of, 112. Laggangarn, cross slabs at, 89, 91. Landnamabok, the, 209. Largo, Fife, silver ornaments found at, 34. Lavigny, 147. Laws, Monifieth, bronze crescent-shaped plate found at, 45, 51. Lazarus, the raising of, 155. Learaboll, Sutherlandshire, 88. Leslie, Newbiggin of, 170. Lincoln, 145. INDEX. 261 Lindisfarne, the gospels of, 115, 116, 218. Lindores, monument with symbols at, 75, 119. Linlathen, cairn at, 181. Lion breathing on its young, representa- tions of, as described in the Bestiaries, 169, 172. David rending the jaws of the, 154. the, described in the Divine Bes- tiary, 169. Lions, Daniel in the den of, 143, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 167. Llech Idris, Merionethshire, 252. Lochleven, Culdees of, 201. Logie-Coldstone, 76. Logie in the Garioch, sculptured monu- ments at, 74, 75, 176, 203. Logierait, representations of Scripture scenes on tombstones at, 138, 162, 179. Lunnasting, Shetland, inscribed monu- ment at, 209. Lynchurn, sculptured monument at, 74. Macadam, Dr. Stevenson, analysis of Cadboll brooches by, 9. Macalpin, Kenneth, 198. Mac Ere, Fergus, 197. M'Diarmid, W. R., 92. Maelbritha, 5. Maelpatrick O'Banain, 191. Mac Regol, the gospels of, 194. Magi, the, 160. Magnusen, Finn, 5. Man, Isle of, monuments in, 5, 81. and the Isles, Norse kingdom of, 229. Manuscripts, Celtic, identity of the art of, with that of the monuments, 108. May, Isle of, 186. M'Eachern, Colin, 131. Meander or fret ornament, 113. Meigle, sculptured monuments at, 67, 74, 81, 101, 104, 158. Mermaid, the, 171. Metal work, decorative, 1. Miannay, 148. Migvie, Aberdeenshire, 76. Mirror and comb, sculptured represen- tations of, 51, 62, 68, 178, 181, 182. Missal, the Stowe, 130, 215. Mitchell, Dr. Arthur, 74, 93, 255. Moccudruidis, Ere, of Colonsay, 209. Mongifi, 147. Monifieth, sculptured monuments at, 74, 78, 104, 123. Monikie, 78. Montillier, 147. Monuments, gi'oups of sculptured, 49, 57. of eastern area of Scotland, pic- torial representations on, 118. identity of the art of, with that of the Celtic manu- scripts, 108. symbols on, 118. inscribed in Celtic, 190. inscribed in Roman letters, 162. • inscribed in Runes, 226. of the West Highlands, 130. the art of the, 97. the symbolism of the, 136. types of, in eastern and western Scotland, 84. Moone Abbey cross, the, 149. Mosaics, 83, 112, 165, 166. Moses striking the rock, 146. rearing the brazen serpent, 172. Mugdrum, cross at, 78. Mull, bronze brooches found in, 13. Munch, Professor P. A., 230. on the Sodor group of Runic in- scriptions, 5. Museum at Christiania, 29. at Bergen, 30. Duke of Sutherland's, at Dun- robin, 7, 204. ofRoyal Irish Academy, Dublin, 20. the Lateran, 158. Music, representations of instruments of, 123. Mycense, gold objects found at, 114. Naddod, a Viking of the Faroes, 209. Namur, 166. Newton of Insch, bilingual monument at, 217. Nig?, sculptured monument at, 79, 81, 104, 106, 107, 117. Noah in the ark, as represented in the Catacombs, 143, 160. Normandy, sculptures on churches of, 174. Norrie's Law, Largo, 34, 51, 68, 185. Norway, brooches of Celtic type found in, 30. Paganism of, in Scotland, 181. Viking grave-mounds in, 32. Ogham alphabet, the key to the, 216. inscriptions, 201, 202, etc. writing, invention of, 215. Ogma, son of Elathan, 215. Olfriti, 5. Oransay, cross at, 129. Orkney, inscribed monument in, 211. Orkney and Shetland, exceptional phe- 262 INDEX. nomena of burials of Scandinavian type in, 28. Ornament, Celtic, special varieties of, 114. Ornamentation of urns, 132. Orpheus charming the beasts, 139. Paganism, the later, of tlie North of Scotland, 181. Panther, the, described in the Divine Bestiary, 169. Parkhill, Aberdeenshire, silver chain found at, 43. Peebles, cross found at, in thirteenth century, 253. Perth, silver brooches found near, 20. Peter, the apostle, monstrance of the rib of, 166. Pharaoh, destruction of the host of, 156, 157. Phoenix, the, 171. Pierowall, Westray, Orkney, bronze brooch found at, 28. Pilgrims, representations of, 123. Pitmachie, Aberdeenshire, 217. Pitra, J. B., 171. Podgoritza, Albania, glass vessel found at, 146. Porius, epitaph of, 252. Priscian, manuscript copy of, at St. Gall, 215. E.ADULF, the priest, 191. Ratho, cross-slab at, 91. Ravenna, 112, 145, 155, 252. Red Sea, 156. Regensburg (Ratisbou), sculptured door- way at, 173. Remagen, sculptured portal at, 173. Rendall, William, 28. Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, 75. Riskbuie, cross from, now at Killoran, 120. Robertson, Mr., jeweller, Cupar, silver ornaments from Norrie's Law, pur- chased by, 36. Rogart, brooches found at, 6. Roger, Charles, 45. J. C, 45. Rev. J. C, 209. Rogslosa, church of, 166. Rome, the cradle of Christian art and symbolism, 139. Ronaldsay, North, 211. Rood, the dream of the Holy, 242. Rosemarkie, sculptured monument at, 74, 101, 102, 104, 116, 119. Rossie Priory, sculptui'ed monument at, 74, 98, 101. Runes, old Northern and Scandinavian, 239. on a bronze plate found at Laws, Monifieth, 47. on monuments, 226. on the Hunterston brooch, 5. Ruthwell, inscribed cross at, 232. decipherment of the inscrijDtions on the, 240. San Clemente, 112. San Zeno, 112. San Zenone, church of, 166. Sarcophagus, sculptured, at Govan, 72. Schliemann, Dr. Henry, 114. Scoouie, inscribed monument at, 74, 201, 208. Scrollwork, foliageous, 130. Senchus Mor, Oghams in the manuscript of the, 215. Serpent, symbolic and pictorial repre- sentations of, 121, 179. Shandwick, sculptured monument at, 74, 79, 104, 116, 119, 169. Shears, symbolic significance of, 178. Shetland, inscribed monuments in, 205. Ships, representations of, 123, 125. the, as a symbol of the Church, 165. Silver, brooches of, 1, 6, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 31. chains of massive links found in Scotland, 42, 177. hollow band of knitted wire of, found at Croy, 22. ornaments found at Norrie's Law, Largo, 36. Sim, George, date of defaced Byzantine coin found at Norrie's Law, assigned by, 42. Simpson, Sir James Y., his reading of the St. Vigeans inscription, 198. Siren, the, 171. Snaasen, North Trondheim, Celtic brooch dug up at, 29. South Ronaldsay, 76.' Spirals, ornamentation of double, 114. Spoleto, 165. St. Adrian, 186. St. Andrews, sculptured monuments at, 78, 79, 104, 106, 155, 201. St. Augustine, 167. psalter of, 196. St. Anthony in the desert, legend of, 236. St. Bernard, 174. St. Chad, the gospels of, 194, 196, 200. St. Columba, 33, 181. St. CjTiacus, 176. INDEX. 263 St. Dogmaels, Cardigan, 222. St. Drostan, 199. St. Fechin, 49. St. Fergus, 199. St. Fillan, crosier of, 130. St. Gall, manuscript copy of Priscian at, 215. St. Helen's, Cornwall, 253. St. Hippolj-tus, 167. St. Isidore, 167. St. Jerome, 167. St. John the Baptist, image of, 237. St. Just, near Land's End, 253. St. Madoes, 74, 106, 173. St. Martin's Cross, lona, 156. St. MeUto, Bishop of Sardis, 171. St. Monenna, 201. St. NU, 173. St. Ninian's, Dunrossness, 205, 208. St. Oran's Chapel, 131. St. Paul and St. Anthonj', legend of, 236. St. Paul, church of, at Jarrow, 252. St. Serf, 187. St. Vigeans, group of sculptured monu- ments at, 49, 50, 52, 74, 106, 119, 136, 167, 172, 179, 193. Stag-hunt, representations of, 51, 59, 63, 164. significance of, 165. Stephens, Professor George, 5, 228, 230, 244. Stokes, Miss Margaret, 83, 95, 113. Stokes, Whitley, 218. Stone-work, decorative, 49. Strasbourg, 167, 172. Strathmartiu, sculi^tured monuments at, 75, 78. Strome Shunamal, 76. Struan, 75. Stuart, Dr. John, 36, 181. Sudreys, Norse kingdom of the, 229. Sunnoness, Mull of, 90. Sutherland, brooches found at Eogart in, 6, 11. Symbol of the beast -n-ith long jaws and scrolldike feet, 120. the crescent-shajjed, 120. the double-disc, 119, 176. the house-like, 120. the serpent, 120. Symbols incised on silver chains, 44. question of the Pagan origin of the, 180. sculptured representations of, 52. Tara brooch, the, 17. Tarbet, interlaced ribbon-work at, 116. Thierry, William, Abbot of, 174. Tighearnach, annals of, 196, 199. Tigress, the, described in the Divine Bestiary, 170. Tonsure, the Celtic, 54. Trade emblems on tombstones, 137. Traill, Dr. W., 211. Tyrie, Aberdeenshire, 76. Ulbster, Caithness, 74, 119, 179. Unicorn, the, 171. Urns of Pagan time, 132. Vaaren, in Norway, Viking grave- mound at, 32. Valens, the Emperor, 42. Vatican Codex, the, 153. Velletri, 144, 150. VerceUi Codex, the, 242. Verona, 112, 166. Viking graves at Westray, Orkney, 28. Viking period, bowl-shaped brooches of the, 30. Vine, the, in Christian art, 238. Virgin and child, representations of, 156. Wales, monuments of, 74, 117. inscribed monuments of, 213, 221, 222, 224. Warriors, representations of, 123. Waterhouse, Messrs., account of the Tara brooch bj', 17. Weapons, representations of, 122. Wemyss, caves at East, 184. Westraj', Orkney, Viking graves in, 29. Whale of Jonah, the, its form derived from the dragon of Andromeda, 139. represented as a quadruped, 153. Whitecleuch, Lanarkshire, silver chain found at, 44, 51, 177. Whithorn, inscribed monument at, 93, 252. Wilson, Dr. Daniel, 5. Wilson, Rev. George, 90. Woodwray, 106. WjTitoun's Cronykill, 186. Wyvern, the, 171. Yarrow kirk, inscribed monument at, 251. ZiLLis, paintings in the church of, 173. Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh. 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