«*1M>«^T'T^»«* a,,«j^> a. r I'^'&MAiMUiMJttwdnlMnni^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library CN960 .F35 Ogham inscriptions in Ireland, Wales, an olin 3 1924 029 795 469 The original of tinis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924029795469 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND BY THE LATE SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON FHESIDEKT OF THE ROyAL IKISH ACADEMY; DKPUTT KKEPEJt OF THE ItECOlEDS OF lltELAND; LL.D. DUBLIN AND KDINBUKGHj ETC., ETC. EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS 18 8 7 44^7V^7 PBINTED BY PETEB BOB, MABBOT-STBEET, DUBLIN PREFACE. In the autumn of 18iS4, Sir Samuel Ferguson, President of the Eoyal Irish Academy, delivered in Edinburgh the Rhind Lectures on Archasology, and at the request of the committee he selected for his subject " Ogham Inscriptions.'' He had for many years taken a keen mterest in this form of writing, which consists of notches of various lengths cut on the edge or arris of suitable stones, generally unheAvn, and frequently standing piUars of striking dimensions. These are found in certain districts of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, including the islands of Orkney and Shetland, and in a few instances in south- western England, and in the Isle of Man. The Ogham bears a certain resemblance to the Scandinavian Rune. Both seem designedly obscure, although in ancient Irish manuscripts a key to the interpretation of Ogham is given. In some cases, as in South Wales for instance, epigraphs in Roman characters occupy the face of the stone, while Ogham-writing on the edges has been found to contain an echo of the same. It will readily be understood that the value of these bi-hngual examples, as a test of correct rendering of the Ogham, is very great. The stones are generally to be met with in remote and im- cultivated districts, not unfrequently in disused churchyards reserved for the burial of unbaptized children and suicides. On land more valuable for agriculture they have been broken up, or removed for safety to the vicinity of the nearest chmxh, or set up in private demesnes. In Ireland many of these in- scribed stones are found on the summits of lofty mountains or on lonely moors ; they abound on the rugged storm-swept promontories which, on the south and west of the island, are washed by the Atlantic. Again, others are found on the ele- vated tracts of comparatively barren land Avliich form the w PREFACE. "water-sTieds of tlie Southern rivers and divide their basins, notably those of the Blackwater, Lee, and Bandon. For many years it had been the habit of Sir Samuel Ferguson to spend his summer hoHday in visiting these monu- ments. His time and energies for the rest of the year were devoted to his professional or official duties, but his annual vacation was consecrated to the pursuit of poetry, Hterature, or antiquities. The sedentary Hfe of the city was then laid aside, and the long summer days were passed driving about the country, in search of these and kindred objects of interest. The rough accommodation and homely fare which these excursions often entailed, were not without their attraction for him ; his genial natm-e was happy in simple intercourse with his fellow-man, while the varied beauties of the external world ever gave to him deep and keen dehght. Year after year every nook and corner of Ireland and Wales was thus explored. In his earlier expeditions, Sir Samuel had to content him- self with rubbings and careful copies of the Ogham inscrip- tions, which were afterwards carried home and studied at leisure ; but in these there were elements of uncertainty and error which made them far from satisfactory. On more than one occasion, finding the reading doubtful, Sir Samuel has taken the night train and started oiF from his home to the distant spot where the stone was to be found, in order to verify a single letter. Later he adopted a method of making paper casts, which obviated these uncertainties, and secured an entirely accurate facsimile of the stone with all its markings. The process is simple, and may be described for the benefit of others. The stone to be operated upon is first cleared of lichen and washed clean with water. Then a sheet of unsized paper (good thick blotting paper leaves nothing to be desired) is laid over the inscription, and shghtly moistened with a sponge. A soft brush — an old hat brush is best — is then applied to the paper. It is patted gently till it sinks into every crevice and marking of the stone. Should the indentation be so deep as to break the surface of the paper, a fragment suit- alile in size must be torn off a fresh sheet, freed from any margin, applied to the broken surface, wetted, and duly PREFACE. VU patted with the brush until it becomes amalgamated with the pulp-like paper. Then a coat of paste must be lightly brushed over the entire surface of the paper covering the inscription, a second sheet of blotting paper laid on, and the process of slightly moistening and patting repeated. This must be per- mitted, as far as practicable, to dry upon the stone ; hence the advisabihty of making the paper as little moist as possible. This cast, when dry, becomes as firm as cardboard, and can be easily hfted and removed. It retains every marking in intaglio and in reKef, according as it is studied from the inside or the outside. One day — typical of many others — at the close of a hoHday spent by Sir Samuel Ferguson and his wife in exploring the antiquities of Kerry, Dunmore Head was visited. This is a noble moimtain on the extreme western verge of the island, which, as well as its neighbour mountain, Brandon Head, bears on its smnmit a fine Ogham-inscribed pillar stone. A long drive from Dingle brought the Kttle party to the base of the moun- tain. Here they dismounted and ascended on foot, while the driver led the horse over the grassy slopes as far as it was possible for a vehicle to travel. At the homestead of a farmer on the mountain side, a halt was called. With kindly grace both horse and man were here made welcome to a rest, while the sons of the house shouldered the box which contained the preparations for cast-taking, and led the way up the steep precipitous path, over crags and boulders, until the sununit was gained- The prospect which lay before the eye was of a beauty never to be forgotten. The Blasket Islands lay below, fringed with the white foam of Atlantic waves — the broad, boundless, heaving floor of ocean stretching beyond, un- broken by any land nearer than America. On one of the bold headlands of the Dingle Peninsula, not far distant, stood Smerwick Fort, where the hapless Spanish garrison, hemmed in by the overwhelming forces of Queen Ehzabeth's Deputy, Lord Grey,* was obliged to capitulate, in the summer of 1580, only to meet in cold blood their wretched fate. Looking inland from Dunmore lay the picturesque region ( if * AmoiiRSt Lord Gi'cy's troojis were many names dear to fame — Sir Walter Haleigli, Eilmiind Spenser, &c. vm PREFACE. Corkagiiiny, studded with those mysterious monuments of a remote past which had attracted Sir Samuel Ferguson hither, and amongst which he had spent some previous weeks.* After some dihgent work a fine cast of the pillar-stone on Dunmore Head was taken, but before it was yet dry enough to remove, a furious gale arose, accompanied by torrents of rain. The stone was quickly enveloped in watei-proof and great coat, whilst their owners, denuded of them, and regardless of the storm, stood close, so as still further to protect the precious cast. By and by the storm abated, but not until the day was already far spent, and the deepening shadows threatened to benight the party in their dangerous position on the wild mountain. Cautiously the cast was loosened — the protecting waterproof still held over it, — but it was moist and pulpy. At last, at the most critical moment, when about to be trans- ferred to the box, a sudden gust of wind got under, and in an instant it was carried aloft. The toilers stood dismayed, watching its gyrations in upper air until the precious thing, torn to pieces, was whirled into the Atlantic ! Weary, wet, and disappointed, they descended the mountain to the house, where horse and car were waiting ; here the travellers found a hospitable meal of tea and eggs prepared, for which their kindly hosts would receive no payment ; warmed and fed they continued their way, returning on the following day, when, under bright sun and fair skies, a wholly successful cast of the stone was made, and carried off in safety. The spoils of a summer hohday were the material for a winter's work. Dtiring the last months of Sir Samuel's hfe, when health had given way, and he was no longer able to move about as of old, he would have the casts brought to his bedside, and with feeble hands he would turn and examine them, and endeavour to unravel their true significance. As long as he could hold a pen, he contiaued to add to and correct the proofs of these Lectures. Those on Irish Oghams were revised by him, but the chapters on Welsh and Scottish inscribed-stones had not been fully annotated when he died. * This group contains tlie singular Christian edifice of Gallerus. Also a beautiful church probably erected in tlie twelfth century, containing exquisite decorative orna- ment. This ruined church of Kilmalkedar is a fine example of the Irish Eomanesc[ue. PREFACE. ix Siuce liis death, three friends whom he loved and esteemed in hfe have been good enough to read the sheets of these Lectures — Dr. Ingram, LL.D., Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy, S.F.T.C.D. ; Dr. Anderson, Keeper of the National Museum of the Antiquaries of Scotland ; and, as regards two chapters. Dr. Whitley Stokes, D.C.L. To these gentlemen, friends and scholars, the warmest thanks are due, and are here tendered. Sir Samuel Ferguson had not personally examined the monuments of Scotland. He knew them only from rubbings and casts made by others. The latter portion of this book must, therefore, be deemed comparatively imperfect. Indeed he would himself have been the first to acknowledge the tentative character of the work, and probably have con- sidered that the data are as yet too hmited to justify scholars in formulating absolute conclusions. He claims only the " credit of having supphed their researches with approxi- mately authentic data in the texts presented." He might justly have laid claim to more than this, for he made with his own hands casts of nearly all the Oghams in Ireland, England, and Wales. One hundred and sixty-three of these casts have been photographed under his superintendence for the Royal Irish Academy, and of these, some twenty-one have already been pubhshed in the 27th volume of their Transactions. Whenever the Academy completes the series, scholars will have before them, for reference, indisputable facsimiles of these Ogham-inscribed stones as they now exist. No one could be more candid, modest, or free from dogma- tism than was Sir Samuel Ferguson. In all his instincts he was disinterested, true, generous, and noble. He died as he had Hved, revered and beloved, and enjoying in full measure that which should accompany old age — " Honour, love, obedience, troops of friends." M. C. F. 2(1 NoBTH Gbbat Geoege's-street, Dublin, Decembeb, lHK(i. A 2 CONTENTS. CHAPTEK I. Ogham luscriptioiis in Great Britain and Ireland — Those verified from casts repre- sented in Roman capital letters ; those less certain, in Italic — The Ogham of the same family with the Runic alphabet — According to the Irish tradition introduced from Northern Europe by the Tuatha de Dauaan colonists — Difficulties in reading these Inscriptions — Labours of Petrie, O'Douoran, Windele, Brash, Horgan, Graves, Hitchcock, DuNoyer, Haigh, Atkinson, Ehys — Necessity of authentic texts — Paper casts easily photographed — The main question dealt with. Whether the Ogham is of Pagan or Christian origin? &c. - Pages 1-18 CHAPTEE II. Ogham-inscribed Monuments of Ireland in the County of Kerry, Barony of Corkaguiny — Rath-cave, Rathmalode — Colonel Lane Fox's description of Rath-cave of Roovesmore — Lougher Lintel Stone — Stone Cross, Rallynahunt : Ogham under- ground — -Leabhar-na-h-Uidhre ; identification of the burial place of Eochaid Argthec — Inscriptions at Ballynahunt — Ballinvoher — Brackloon — Ballintarmon — GortneguUanagh — Lugnagappul — Aglish — Aghacarrible — Cave materials brought from cemeteries called Killeens ; used only for the burials of unbaptised children and suicides — Inscriptions at Kinard — Trabeg — Ballintaggart — Ballyne- steenig — Emlagh West — Buruham House — Kilfountain — Jlaumanorigh — Cahir- ua-gat — Temple Ma uahan — Tyvoria— Duumore, or Clogher Head Pages 19-J;1 CHAPTER III. Ogham inscriptions at Ballyneanig, Balliurannig, Burnham — The church, and Ogham- inscribed tombstone at Kilmalkedar — Dry-stone church at Gallerus — Kills and Killeens sepulchral — Leges Barbarorum — Ogham-inscribed stone on Brandon Mountain, and at Clonsharagh, fllartramane, Camp — Slieve Misb, with its fort of Cahir-Conree— Story of Blanaid — Dividing line between the Oghamic and non- Oghamic districts of Ireland coincident with the limits of the Patrician mission- Oghams of Kerry, Limerick, and Clare — Knockfierna inscription — Ogham on Callau Mountain — Memorial pillar at Knockastoolery — Monuments at Clonmac- nois — Rath Croghan ; its associations with Queen Maeve — Oghams at Brestagh, Topped, Castlederg, Aghascnbba — Monument on Knock Many, or Hill of Bani ; supposed sepulchre of Queen Bani, wife of Teuthal Techtmar, whose death and burial on Knock Many is recorded in the Annals under the year a.d. Ill - Pages 42-63 CHAPTER IV. Ai'magli, chief seat of the Patrician church — Inscribed dolmen at Lennan — Mulloeh Ogham — Sepulchral cairns at Slieve-na-Calliagh; Tailten the Irish Olympia, cele- brated for its games, &o. — The Boyne tumuli ; New Grange — Castletimon CONTENTS. XI Ogham — Douard ; one of the three Christian churclics founileJ by Palladius a.d. 430-1 — Killeeu Cormac : its connection with Duftach Macculugar, companion of St. Patriclr : the burying place of his sept— The Hy-Lugair and Hy-Cormaic, descendants of Cucorb, King of Leinster, slain A D. 119 — Ogham-inscribed stones at Killeen Cormac, Gowran, Claragh, Dunbell, Ballyboodan, Windgap, Bally- vooney, Island, Drumlohan ; cave under its Killeen containing several Ogham legends — Kilgrovau — Ardmore ; its Round Tower — Saint Declan's Bed, his pedigree - Pages (J-l-Hl CHAPTER V. Monument at Kiltera — Old Church of Seskinan — Ogham-inscribed stones — Salter Bridge, Glenawillen, Knockboy, Burntfort, Greenhill, Bweeng, Monataggart — Allusions to Ogham cited by tlie Bishop of Limerick from the Brehon Laws — Ogham-inscribed stone, Kilcullen — Imposing megalithic monument at Barrachauran — Aghabulloge ; St. Olan's pillar stone : identification of St. Olan with the " institutor " of St. Finbarr, of Cork; who died a.d. 821 — Oghams at Knockrour, Liads, Glounaglogh, Tulligmore, Ballyhauk, Roovesmore, Garranes, Cooldorrihy, Knockouran — Ogham-iuscribed pillar-stone selected by Mr. Windele for his own monument — Shanacloon, Coomliath, Kilcaskan, Ballycrovane, Cappagh, Lomanagh, Gortnacaree ; pillar stone now at Adare Manor — Derrygur- rane, Dromkeare, Killogrone ; now transferred to Cahirciveen, Killeenadreena — " Galeotas " inscribed stone among the mountains near Lough Carra — Killeen at Kilcolaght — Ogham stone at Kilg.jbinet — Whitefield — Cave at Dunloe — Ruined church of Kilbonane ; monument removed to Adare Manor — Rath cave Tiunahally — Pillar stones Ardywanig — Rath-cave at Keel: pillar removed to Corkaboy - Pages 85-112 CHAPTER VI. The British Oghams frequently accompanied by Roman epigraphs— The Laughar Ogham in Wales, inscribed on base of Roman altar — Bi-lingual inscriptions at Cwm Gloyn, Usk Park, Treffgarn — PUlar stones at St. Dogmael's, Llanfechau, Clydai, Cilgen*an, Ruthin — Ogham-inscribed stones in Devon — That at Tavistock brought from Roborough Down, near Buckland-Monachorum — Fardel stone now in British Museum^Welsh Oghams atLlandawke, Tralloug, Dugoed, Llanwinio, now at Middleton Hall — -Bi-lingual stone on Caldey Island — Pillar stones at Bridell, Keufigg, near Pyle — Sculptured figure on Llywell stone, now in British Museum, compared with that on the Maen Achwnfaen, near Mostyn, in Flint- shure - - Pages 113-132 CHAPTER VII. Scottish Oghams difi'er from those in Ireland, Wales, and England — Shetland Oghams ; Lunnasting : St. Niuian's : Bressay — Orkney ; Burrian, Aberdeen- shire ; Newton : Logic : Aboyne — Scoonie stone in Fifeshire — Golspie in Sutherland Pages 133-154 Index to Ogham Li;oend9 Page 155 Index Page 158 CHAPTER I. Ogliam Inscriptions in Great Britain and Ireland — Those verified from casts repre- sented in Roman capital letters ; tlioae less certain, in Italic— The Ogliam of the same family with tile Runic alphabet — According to the Irisli tradition introduced from Northern Europe by the Tiiatha de Danaaii colonists — Difficulties in reading these Inscriptions— Labours of Petrie, O'Donovan, Windele, Brash, Horgan, Graves, Hitchcock, Du Noyer, Haigh, Atkinson, Ehys — Necessity of authentic texts — Paper casts easily photographed — ^The main question dealt with, Whether the Ogham is of Pagan or Christian origin ? &c. 1. Thk only Celtic Monumental Inscriptions in tliese islands, which can at the present day be said to need further elucida- tion, are those conceived in the Ogham form of writing. Oghaminscrip- Further study and inquiry may contribute some additions and '"""* corrections, but, that anything substantial remains to be done for a satisfactory general acquaintance with Scottish, Welsh, or Irish inscriptional antiquities of the ordinary alphabetic kind, seems unlikely. We shall, therefore, be concerned in the present inquiry with the Ogham variety, and such topics as legitimately associate themselves with it. To present perfect pictures of Ogham inscriptions would require the reproduc- tion of photographs taken from casts of the originals. A from casts fasciculus of twenty-five such reproductions has been printed by the Royal Irish Academy as part of its 27th volume of Transactions, not yet pubHshed. Instead of these costly illus- trations, the readers of the present work will, I hope, be content with the reproduction in Roman print of those examples represented in which I can personally vouch for from casts mostly in my i^"™^" i'""' ; possession. In the primary transHteration of these, the Roman capital will be employed for such characters as are certain, the Itahcised capital for such as are presumable from remain- ing indications, and the Roman minuscule where the indica- tions have wholly disappeared, and the lacunw are filled up hypothetically. Where alternative powers have to be repre- sented, the several letters will be arranged vertically, the 2 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS not from casts, more probable above. For such examples as I cannot so vouch, Italicised minuscules will be employed. 2. Monuments so inscribed exist to the number of nearly two hundred in Ireland. There are eighteen in Wales, two in South England, at least six on the mainland of Scotland, Key preserved, and four in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. The general key to the reading has been traditionally preserved in Ireland ; and could be re-constructed, if necessary, from the Roman epigraphs which accompany and echo the Oghams on the biliteral monuments of Wales. The subjects of the texts are almost exclusively proper names connected by the word Maqi, accepted as meaning " son of." Although a series of proper names is not calculated to excite much interest in the abstract, there are historical and palseographic considerations which give these monuments a claim on the attention of British archseologists not much inferior to that of the Rune for Scandi- navian scholars. Belated to the 3. Tile Ogham is to this extent of the same family with the ""^' Rune, that the characteristic of both kinds of writing is the em- ployment of straight strokes easily carved on wood or stone for forming the alphabetic letters. The original Runic alphabet, however, is not, like the Ogham, of a cryptic nature; but it is the foundation on which the cryptic Tree-Runes, having several points of resemblance to the Ogham, are founded. Rune, in tlie northern languages as well as in the Celtic, signifies something secret, but the Futhorc or Scandinavian alphabet cannot be said to be more secret or mysterious than any other, and, if it bore the name of Kune in its original state, it probably was because alphabetic writing of any kind was deemed a mystery by the northern populations to whom it was first imparted, or by those amongst whom it may have been Trec-Ruiie first invented. The Tree-Rune, however, founded on it, is a designedly secret and highly artificial kind of writing. The Futhorc (so called from commencing with F, U, Th, O, R, C) consists of sixteen letters, represented, in the Tree-Rune, by an equal number of characters formed in this way. The formed on Futliorc is arranged in three divisions — the first of six letters. Futhorc alpha- ^^ ^^^^^ . ^j^^ ^^^ ^^^ j ^^ g^^^ j^^ -^^ I, A, S ; and the third of five, T, B, L, M, Y. Tliese divisions or categories are known IN IRELAND, WjU^ES, xVND SCOTLAND. 3 as Frey's Aett (sort or kind), Hagel's Aett, and Tyr's Aett. The corresponding cryptic diaracters are conceived in tlie form of trees or upriglit stems with brandies. The brandies issuing from the side of the stem to the spectator's left, which may be called tiie inilex side, indicate the number of the yl« tli n ' Here we see the same guiding principles of numerical and local relation determining the values both of the Ogham and of the Tree-Rune, although with differences in their appli- cation which make it difficult, notwithstanding the other points of resemblance, to say that either system is derived from the other, although both might well be thought to have originated in some older common parentage. If either is to be deemed a IN IRELAND, WiVLES, AND SCOTLAND. 5 derivative, it is, most probably, the Tree-Rune, of which, 1 believe, no examples have been found older than those of Mffishow, belonging to the period of the Jerusalem pilgrimages. 5, But the Irish Bethluisnion does not exist, as the Futhorc No oriRinai does, in the form of a lettered original alphabet. None but i^etiiiuisiuou 1 alphabet. Roman and Ogham letters have, as yet, been found on the Celtic monuments of these islands. The Bethluisnion is only a vocabulary of letter-names adaptable to the letter-signs either of the Roman alphabet or of the fuller and, it is thought, the older form of the Futhorc. If the Futhorc and Tree-Rune be excluded, we should conclude that the Ogham has been founded on the Roman alphabet, re-named and marshalled into the Bethluisnion sequence. The account, however, which ogbam alleged the Irish themselves give of it is, that it was brought in by the '" '"^ of nonii- *^ 6rii orif^iii, early half-mythical colony of the Tuatha de Danaan, whom they bring from the northern parts of the world through Scotland. 6. There is one feature in the Ogham which seems to establish that its framers were of the Latin rather than the Teutonic branch of the European family. The ' h ' qicme (h, d, t, c, q) is apparently an anagram drawn from the partly ana- initial letters of the cardinal numbers, one, two, three, four, sriiuuiatic, five — that is, in insular Celtic speech, h'wn, da, tri, cathar, cuig. Whether it was an original lost Irish alphabet, a Futhorc of the longer sort, or the Latin alphabet of the Romans that formed the foundation for the Ogham, it must be recognised that the people who adjusted it to its fourfold division and locative values in tlie Oghamic system did not express their numerals "four" or "five" with an initial p, as Teutonic or not Teutonic Cymric speakers probably would have done. A fifth division "'' *-'i™"°- of five further signs for the shorter expression of the diphthongs has been added, at a later date. It is called the Forfeada or The Fvrftada. " over-trees," as being supplementary, and tloes not enter into the older examples. X ' ^ >X( The first and third of these are the only ones I have found in lapidary use. 7. If derived from the Rune, its framers have not b OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Its disailvan- succeeded in improving on the original, either in perspicuous- p'li^ed witT"tiie "®*^ °^ fitness for monumental use. The Ogham is very much itiine, more cumbrous than the Futliorc, and, notwithstanding the apparent simplicity of its arrangement, has an inherent element of uncertainty, unknown. I believe, in any other alphabet. The distinctive shapes of the letters of the Futhorc, and the slope of the Tree-Rune branches, always assure us against reading the letter-band upside down, or, in the Futliorc, in an order reverse to that intended by the carver. But the iincertaiTity nature of the Ogham is such, that a digit or group of digits versibie'iaiues which, looked at from one side, appears below the line, will appear above it, and express a different letter, if looked at from the other; and that, unless there be some sign, as in old Ogham there never is, to indicate from which end of the legend the reading is to commence, a trial reading must be made from each end as well as each side. For example, in the syllable man. — ^^nnn it is obvious that the legend will read man, nam, maq, or qam, according as it is regarded from below or above, or read from either end. This difficulty, of course, disappears where a known group of letters catches the eye and rectifies the situation, but in the absence of such catch-words error often arises. 8. The reading which generally gives the right translite- ration proceeds from left to I'ight ; but this implies that the legend is first put in readable po.sition ; for there might equally well be a reading from left to right from the other end, if tlie reader changed his place to the opposite side. These confusions, however, are lessened by the practice of the early Jrish Ogham carvers of utilising the continuous edges or arrises ot standing stones, or of stones to be placed in a standing ])osition, for their common stem-lines. In such situations an Ogham legend generally begins from below on that angle of the stone to the left hand of the spectator regarding it from tlie front; but if carried over the head of the stone and down the op])osite angle, it will sometimes be uncertain whether the tn shift of carver intended his reader to retain his position or to shift it reader's poai- „.jj|, ^jjj, gliifting stem-line, and in this way a true and valuable IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 7 reading in its beginning may be discredited by an unintelligible ending. The Mount Brandon inscription, in the same district of Kerry, which gives along the northern arris of its west face the word Cruimthir, the old Irish equivalent of Presbyter — in the Oghamic form Qrrimitir, — where carried over the head of the stone and returned down the southern arris seems to make this Presbyter the son of Somogaq — a name unlike any- thing likely to be authentic, but which, as pointed out by the Bishop of Limerick, is really the well-known name Comogan in the altered adjustment due to a change of the reader's position. Thus, though an Ogham digit or group of digits has nothing per se to show which is top or which bottom, the right position and sequences of such a legend can generally, after a little experience, be ascertained. 9. An example of a legend conceived throughout in retro- grade sequence is afforded by a very fine Ogham pillar-stone now in the Lapidary Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. It is one of a group of similar monuments dug up from a cave at Monataggart, in the parish of Donoughmore, in tlie northern to retrograde part of East Cork. Head upward from below, with its inscribed sequence, angle facing the spectator's left, it yields the impracticable sequence — tenrenmonoigduqdeggef, but, on being read from the opposite side of the arris with inverse values, it gives the legend — feqreq moqoi glunlegget, being in commemoration of some Fiachra (genitive Feqreq), to whom the designations Mocoi and Glunlegget, the latter probably signifying the " Kneeler," seem to be ascribed; and so of several other retroverse and inverted readings of the same kind. 10. Again, -where the Rune-Smith could fall into no con- fusion of letter-forms unless he desired to exhibit a deliberate ligature or siglum where one character should have the force of several letters, the Ogham carver, in engraving some of his groups, had to encounter the difficulty of accurate spacing, lest, in writing, let us say, two B's or two D's or two M's, he should OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS ^ / V/i i iii i II "" to inexact not make them so close as to appear I, c, or g, respectively ; as, spaciiigs, £^^ example, in the Lunnasting Ogham in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, it is doubtful whether the reading should be agofest or ammofest; owing to the indecision of the carver in the spacing of these two stem crossing digits which make mm or g according to the greater or less distance between them. This source of error is even more troublesome in long vocalic groups, where points which make several vowels succeed one another, without distinctions of space. A fine Ogham pillar from Kerry, noAV in the Museum of Trinity College, Dubhn, exemplifies this and another source of ambiguity in Ogham writing originating in the carelessness or caprice of the scribe. The arrises of the pillar are rounded, and the value ol the characters depends on their relation to the general Kne of convexity. Two groups, each of seven equally-spaced digits, occur in the text, and some others are so ambiguously placed in relation to the medial ridge as to leave it doubtful whether we are to read the diphthongs oi, io, eu, or in some other of the various combinations of which they are capable ; and whether, having regard to the relations of the other groups to the ridge, we are to read them eedduiui or seddacini. to Uie use of 11. But the practice of using the natural stem line of the arris has led to even greater difficulties of decipherment than these inherent uncertainties of the system. In every cubical block it is the arris that first gets chipped and abraded. In blocks of laminated rock the adjacent faces on either side of the line disintegrate unequally, and one half of a stem-crossinor digit may sometimes disappear, while the other half is plainly visible; as in the first proposed example now represented vertically as it would appear on the arris of an upright pillar — arris for stem' line Here the loss of the half-digit to the left of, or above, the hue, IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 9 ■would leave the letters forming ban, — of the half-digit to the right, or below the line, those forming Jian. Or, weathering and to weatheiing, erosion may wholly obliterate a digit, and in many such cases call into existence a new letter, as, if one digit be taken from the con- cluding N, the remainder makes S, and one from S makes F, and one from F leaves L. There exists a very grand and imposing block of conglomerate at Ballyquin, near Carrick-on-Suir, in tiie County of Waterford, which appears to have once borne, in largely-proportioned shallow digits, the legend — Catabar rnoqo Firiquorr{b). But the final groups are only visible in a favourable light, and some of the digits retain their outlines more distinctly about the middle point of their length, and so might in some lights and to some eyes appear as vowels. The terminal group has so come to be read as if Cathbar were the son of Firiqongo, where the name commemorated is that of Cathbar the son of Fercorb. The cross fractures, again, to which such monuments are subject, may take away some digits '- culture before the introduction of Christianity, they regarded their Oghamic discoveries as so many Orphic fragments from which primaBval learning would, sooner or later, in some Tneasure, be reconstructed ; and contested, with an ardour far too hot, every opinion which did not tend to advance their views and aspirations. This heat belonged to their period and local tone of society ; and, if it must now be allowed to have been unsuitable for the search after historical truth, we may also make some allowance for the excesses of an ardour which had nothing dishonest or uncandid in it. But there is no pursuit in which more room should exist for distrust of one's own obser- 14 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS vation or gentleness in dissentinff from the observations of others, than this researcli in a field where so many accidents of liglit and position conduce to varieties of impression on different eyes, and to conflicts of statement among eye-witnesses. " 'Tis green, 'tis green, sir, I assure you." "Green ?" cries the otlier in a fury; " Why, sir, d'ye think I've lost my eyes ? " — The Southern school had, indeed, no toleration for anyone wlio would not see with their eyes both sensibly and in the way of ratiocination ; and much of the efficiency which, in such a pursuit, flows from co-operation and mutual encouragement, has been lost to Oijhamic research in Ireland in consequence. 16. While the Southern antiquaries were adding to the number of their discoveries, but not advancing in the use of Graves accurate transcripts or reliable inductions, the Rev. Dr. Charles Graves (afterwards President of the Royal Irish Academy, now Bishop of Limerick) subjected the Ogham texts, so far as he could be assured of them, to the process which may be termed the cypher-test, assuming them to be written in the Irish of our oldest manuscripts. The proportionate percentage of each letter in the known text identifies the corresponding letter in tests the key. the Cypher. On this principle it appeared that the traditional key was in substantial accordance with the theoretic values of tlie letters so deduced, and Dr. Graves entered on further Oghamic inquiry with the assurance that he proceeded on firm ground. Shortly afterwards he was rewarded by the discovery of the biliteral monument at St. Dogmael's, in Wales, where the Sagramni fill Cunotami of the Latin is echoed by the Oghamic Sagrani Magi Cunatami, putting the equivalence of Maqi to ' son of out of the way of doubt or question. Speedily other discoveries followed. It was ascertained that the Scottish Newton Stone, besides its seemingly Romanesque epigraph, bore a long Ogham legend, and that other Ogham inscrip- tions existed both in Wales and Scotland. One from Bressay, in the mainland of Shetland, was submitted to Dr. Graves who found that the language was Norse, and that it seemed to connnemorate a daughter and grandson of a known Scandi- navian personage of the ninth century. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 15 17. Considerable collections of Ogham transcripts had now accumulated at the Royal Irish Academy. Mr. Richard Hitch- Hitchcock, cock had sent up numerous copies, distinguished by care and substantial accuracy. He observed that upwards of thirty such monuments in Kerry and West Cork were marked with the sign of the cross. The Munster antiquaries, however, maintained that these crosses formed no part of the original design, but were the additions of Christian zealots who took this method of sanctifying Pagan remains; and, as often as cross-signed monu- Cross-signed ments hearing Ogham legends have since been discovered, have ^^^ "lo""- adhered with the utmost tenacity to this opinion, for which neither evidence nor the least presumption of probability exists. Mr. George Du Noyer also presented the Academy with several Du Noyer. volumes of admirably-executed drawings of various objects of antiquity throughout the country, including many transcripts of Ogham legends. Although a very accomplished draftsman, his texts are not to be relied on. He has a fine drawing of the Ballyquin monolith, but makes its legend Catabar moco festiquar. 18. Frequent communications now began to be made to the Royal Irish Academy, in some of which Bishop Graves contri- Graves's buted valuable results of his views on particular legends and ^^^^^'^' on the general subject. It was understood that he had for some time been engaged on a larger treatise, in which all the Irish tracts on Ogham writing would be discussed ; but that expectation has not yet been fulfilled, although he still continues from time to time to enrich the Publications of the Academy with short, but singularly curious and elegant treatises on various branches of the subject. 19. The late Rev. Daniel Haigh, of Erdington, near Birming- iiaigU ham, had applied himself with great learning and assiduity to British and old English antiquities, historical and monumental. He analysed (Proc, R. I. Academy) whatever Irish Ogham Us essay. texts were accessible to him in 1876, and compared them critically with the Oghams and Brito-Roman epigraphs of Wales and South England. The conclusion which appears to have impressed itself on his mind was in favour of their very high antiquity, extending back through the early Christian into the Pagan period. His death has been a sensible loss to early 16 OGHAJI INSCRIPTIONS Atkinson. Brash's con- clusions not accepted. Ehys Lectures. Investigation still tentati\e. English literature, which he had enriched from Norse and Anglo-Saxon sources, and possibly, if he had lived, would have further illustrated from our little-used Irish material. 20. Brash, also, I grieve to say, is no longer with us. On his death, it appeared that he had devoted the later years of his life to the compilation of a considerable work on the ceneral subject of Ogham inscriptions. His papers were put into the hands of Mr. G. M. Atkinson, of the Department of Science and Art, and, under his editorship, in 1879, appeared in a hand- some and indeed a highly-interesting quarto volume, entitled " The Ogham-insciribed Monuments of the Gaedil in the British Islands." 21. Mr. Brash was a good draftsman, and his copious illus- trations have been supplemented by Mr. Atkinson in several facsimiles and drawings, most of which are of remarkable fidelity. The work is written in accordance with the views of the Munster school. I am obliged to withhold my assent from many of the readings, and, I may say, from almost all the con- clusions. It contains, however, much curious matter on col-, lateral subjects, and in the further course of these investiga- tions I shall thankfully make use of information drawn from it. 22. Another impulse to the inquiry has been given by the foundation, at Oxford, of a Professorship of Celtic. Professor Rhys, who fills that chair, besides being a scientific and general philologist, takes a particular interest in the old language and lapidary writing both of Wales and Ireland, and has travelled through both countries in search especially of Ogham inscrip- tions, on which he has already given us much valuable infor- mation and many helps to study in his published Lectures. 23. It would be premature, and, indeed, arrogant to pretend that any definite analysis of Ogham texts can be made in the present state of our knowledge. The only way in which the subject can be presented is as inviting to induc- tion rather than as expounding inductive results. The whole of the material, so far as it can be authentically procured, must first be passed in review ; and, from what has been seen of the extraordinary liability of these texts to errors of tran- scription, it is obvious that some kind of automatic reproduc- tion of the objects themselves ought to be before us, if we IN IRELAXD, WALES, AXD SCOTLAND. 17 woiild 1)0 assnved that our labour shall not be lost in the pursuit of phantoms, -wrliorc the mistake of a digit ov a notch may have altured the whole basis of our reasoning, and turned Avhat ought to be fruitful investigation into mere illusion and reverie. 24. Such reproductions can be attained without the labour of transporting heavy masses of plaster of Paris, by means of Paper casts. This kind of cast has the advantage that it can Puiier casts, be conveniently held in the hand and presented to the Kght in varying degrees of incidence — an important means of getting at the traces of worn inscriptions of all kinds. The Paper cast has the further advantage of phabihty, so that an inscription extending to two surfaces which could not be seen on one plane reflected from a sohd model, can easily be exposed on the flat to the photographer's lens. I have, therefore, from time to time procured Paper casts of most of the Oghams I shall refer to. 25. True texts being secured, the next requisite towards gettiag at the meaning is a right transliteration. There Transliteration being no word-divisions, save in a few exceptional cases, the verbatim, if I may so say, depends in a large degree on the knowledge and sagacity of the reader. I can here no longer speak with the same confidence. In what I shall propose iu the way of reducing transhterations to words, and in giving to these words their Enghsh equivalents, I by no means claim for myself the same degree of certainty as in liable tu errors, the assignment of the continuous values. If, hereafter, laws, grammatical or constructional, should appear to be legiti- mately deduced — and the probabihty of a large addition to the present material gives reasonable hope that such laws may yet be established, — a tone of authority may become justifiable ; but at present the study is exploratory rather than demonstrative ; and he who speaks vrith most modesty is the more Ukely to obtain an intelhgent hearing from men of judgment. 26. The main questions agitated are : Whether the Ogham Questions is of Pagan or Christian origin ; Whether, if of Pagan origin, any '''"^" ""''• of the monuments are Christian ; Whether the ^^^elsh imparted it to the Irish, or vice versa ; and. Whether its forms belong c 18 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS. to a vernacular or to an artificialised and teclmical language. Minor questions relate to the meaning of particular phrases or formulas which, from the frequency of their occurrence, seem to be removed from the category of proper names. I shall not be able definitively to clear up the meaning either oiMaqi mucoi or of Maqi decedda; and I shall have to leave the question of Irish or British, as well as of Pagan or Christian origin, dependent on the question of language, which I do not profess to solve. I shall often have to say " perhaps," and often present alternative conclusions. These my readers wiU. have to judge of for themselves ; not that I shall withhold the expression of any opinion I may think myself capable of forming ; but because my judgment in such cases will be of little more weight than that of any intelhgent bystander. I shall be able, however, I think, to show reasonable grounds for beheving that the bulk, if not all, of our Ogham monu- ments are Christian ; that some of them represent, perhaps, as old a Christianity as has ever been claimed for the Church in either island ; and that the " Scoti in Christo C7'edentes," to whom Palladius was sent by Pope Celestine in the fifth cen- tury, were, especially in the south of Ireland, a more numerous and better organised community than has generally been Conclusions supposed. I shall, I think, bring Irish Pagan and British Christian monumental usage into actual contact in Wales ; and contribute something towards the further elucidation, as Christian monuments, of the Sculptured Stones of Scotland. The bulk of the material, however, lying here, it is proposed to proceed, first, with a survey of the Ogham-inscribed monu- ments of Ireland. drawn. CHAPTER II. Ogham-inscribed Monuments of Ireland in tlie County of Kerry, Barony of Corkaguiny — Eath-cave, Ratlimalode — Colonel Lane Fox's description of Eath-cave of Eoovesmore — Lougher Lintel Stone — Stone Cross, Ballynahunt : Ogham under- ground — Leahhar-na-h-Uidhre : identification of the burial place of Eochaid Argthec — Inscriptions at Ballynahunt — Ballinvoher — Brackloon — Ballintarmon — Gortnegullanagh — Lugnagappul — Aglish — Aghacarrible — Cave materials brought from cemeteries called KiUrens ; used only for the burials of unbaptised children and suicides — Inscriptions at Kinard — Trabeg — Ballintaggart — Bally- nesteenig — Emlagh West — Burnham House — KUfountaiu — iMaumanorigh — Cahur-na-gat— Temple Mouahan — Tyvoria— Duiimore, or Clogher Head. 27. -A- SCRVEY of the Ogham-inscribed monuments of Ireland Keeuy may be conveniently commenced in the district where they (^orkagumy). first attracted learned attention, that is, the Barony of Corka- guiny, in the County of Kerry. It is conterminous with the Peninsula of long peninsula which, reaching out more than thirty miles tiorkagumy. westward into the Atlantic, separates the Bay of Tralee on the north from the Bay of Dingle on the south. At the point where it juts from the mainland rises the lofty mountain group of Slieve Mish, overlooking the town of Tralee to the north. A prolongation of the Slieve Mish group, lower, but more varied in outline, runs along the . medial line of the peninsula through about two-thirds of its length, and there, turning northward, unites itself with the outlying mass of Mount Brandon, which rises over the sea at the northern side. Dingle, situated on a creek on the southern side of the peninsula, in the more open country lying westward of these mountains, was formerly approached from Tralee by a highroad crossing the ridge which connects Brandon with the mountain chain first mentioned. The Tralee road now avoids this difficult pass by being carried obliquely through a depression in the medial mountain chain debouching at Annascaul on the southern line of coast road which leads to Dingle from Castlemaine and Killarney. Entering the district by this avenue, as from 20 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Keuby (^Corkaguiny). Rathmalode. Oril. Map,. Kerry. 45 «. c* Eatli cave. Castlemaine, Oghamic sites and monuments may be observed numerous on either hand as we proceed westwards. 28. After passing the ravine which se])arates Slieve Mish — witli its ruined barbaric fortress of Cahir Conree on its western extremity, — from the lower eminences, we enter the parish of Ballinvoher, a rough, lonely country, but abound- ins towards the sea in remains of circular huts and other dry stone constructions, indicating a former ill-civilized but numerous population. Here, some distance up the mountain acclivity to the right, in the townland of Rathmalode, there formerly existed a Rath or earthen fort, and in it a cave, the lintel over the entrance to which, having on it a cross and an Ogham inscription, was transferred to the adjoining townland of Louglier, where it served the same purpose over the door of a farmer's dwelling until removed to the Royal Irish Academy, in Dublin, where it now is. We shall have occasion to notice many Rath-caves hereafter, and I may at once cite tlie compendious and interesting account of these constructions given by Colonel Lane Fox in his description of the Ogham-inscribed monuments found in the Rath-cave of Roovesmore, in the County of Cork : " They (the forts or Eaths) vary from 30 to 100 and 200 feet in diameter. The largest I know of in the south of Ireland, called Lis- na-raha, has a diameter of 280 feet, with a ditch 13 feet deep, and 30 in width at the outside The interior space of the rath is almost invariably undermined by a set of chambers, the entrance to which is usually by an opening so small as barely to admit the body of a man creeping on the belly. These chambers vary m size, but average 9 feet in length by 3 to 4 in height, and the same in width. Similar narrow openings communicate onwards to the other chambers ; and sometimes these underground galleries diverge into two or more strings of chambers, occupying the whole interior space within the circuit of the intrenchments. The main entrance is frequently in the ditch of the rath, and is not unusually the smallest. When the nature of the ground admits it, they are often excavated in the natural earth, and domed over without any artificial support ; but others are * Each slieet of the Ordnance Map of Ireland contains six square feet. To lighten the labour of searching so large a snrface, the refereiici-s are reduced to areas of a toot each ; as ti. L vpper lell. II. 1-. vppcr ceiitrul. n. r. iippir lifjht. I. /. luwer left, I. IS. loircr central, I, j . lower rinht. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 21 lined in the inside with undressed and uncemented stones, the sides Kehhy converging towards the top, which is usually flagged over with large C-'orkagumy). and heavj' slabs of stone, serving to roof the chamber, and, at the same time, by their weight, to prevent the sides from falling in ; at other times, though rarely, they are formed by upright jambs of unhewn stone like the crypt at Roovesmore." 45 29. The inscription on the Lougher lintel is imperfect, but Lougher enough remains to introduce us to one notable phrase in Ogham sepulchral legends. It reads — CURCnUQIMDCOIF * * and may obviously be divided curci maqi mucoi f * * that is, according to our present lights, (the stone) of Cure son of Mucoi F * * . The meaning of Mucoi is still subject of speculation. Haigh has taken it to mean ' dauu-hter,' and would say that in this case before us ' Cure ' should be regarded as 'son of the daughter of F * ■)«■,' according to the alleged Pictish system of tracing descent through the mother. Brash has thought it a noun descriptive of the calling of the person designated, as svvine-herd. The late learned and ingenious Mr. Herbert, if he had been aware that a word suggestive of porcine meaning occurs in so old an inscriptional monument, would have recognised traces of that Early British Church organization in which, he thought, one of the grades was porcus Christi. Others have taken mucoi to mean " pure," " holy," " virgin." 30. Westward of Lougher, higher up in the recesses of the mountaizi, we come to a monument marked " Stone Cross '' on Baih/iiiihiiiu the Ordnance Map, at a farmstead in the townland of Ballyna- huiit. It stands attached to the ga'jle of one of the farm build- ings, whither, I understand, it had been brought from a holy well higher up the mountain to the east. The cross which gives it its name on the map is of considerable size, of the Latin form, incised on the broader end of the stone. An Ogham inscription has occupied both arrises and the top of the narrower end. Were the stone set up, so as to exhibit the cross, the Ogham would be concealed in the earth. This, however, is what we ORimm umUr might be led to expect if we looked to our oldest written S"'""'"'- 40 22 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Kf.rby (Corkaguinj'), Story of Mongan. evidences for information regarding tiie form of such monu- ments, and the arrangement of Ogham legends on them. There exists a remarkable romance — and a romance inci- dentally referring to such a matter is as good evidence as a treatise — touching this subject, in our oldest Irish secular manuscript, the Leabhar-na-h-Uidhre, compiled in the eleventh century. The story turns on the identification of the burial- place of Eocliaid Argthec, a personage of third-century date. In evidence of his having been buried at a particular place, one of tlie actors in the piece is introduced as saying, " Take up the stone that stands there. It bears his name. And the Ogham that is vi'ritten on the end of the stone that is in the earth is this: Eocliaid Argthec innso, Eochaid Argthec here." It may be that the Ballynahunt inscription exemplifies this supposed practice of hiding the sepulchral epigraph under ground; but such is not found to have been the general practice. Other examples, however, are not wanting of Ogham-inscribed flag- stones laid flat on the surface, and this may very probably have been one of that class. Whatever its age, the Ballynahunt stone, I make no doubt, is a Christian monument, not only evidently by its cross — for I put aside the idea of Christian crosses having been superadded to Pagan sepulchral monu- ments as resting on no evidence or reasonable presumption, — but not impi'obably by the terms of the inscription itself. The reading appears to be — DDGENNGGELMAQiEeDDoS. U which I would divide — Dugennggel maqi reddos. One digit only of what I suppose to be I remains at the top ; and, unless the character be I, the explanation of this strange sequence of syllables which presented itself to my mind at the time when I first examined the monument, must be discarded. Dispaitition of I thought, then, the name might possibly beDugreddos divided Proper Namrs. ^^ ^^iq interjected words Ennggel maqi, " apostle of the son," and not Dugenngge or Dugennggub, " son of Reddos," as it has by others been taken to be. Several examples of this kind of word-intercalation, on the possibility of which I have here Monument Cliristiim. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 23 speculated, are found in early Irish ; as the verses improvised Kehbt by Columbkille on the death of Longarad of Killgarad (Fel. (Co'^i"'g"!"y)- iEng., cxlii.) — Is marh Ion do chill garad, mor in don Dead is Lon (of Cill) garad — great the evil ! where " do cill " is interposed between the constituent parts of Longarad's name ; and in the names of Cuchulain and Ferdiad, Cu dan comainm Culand ; and Indar limsa Fer dil diad in the Tain poems in the Book of Leinster. If other monu- ments shall appear to suggest something of the same kind of dispartition of proper names, it will be well to bear the Ballyna- hunt legend in our recollection. 31. Near Annascaul, in the townland of Rathduff, lies the Ballinvoher parish graveyard. A standing stone here bears the BaiHiwoher remains of Ogham characters now reported to be illegible. It ,*^ also bears a triple cross, incised. There seem to be no traces of a church. 32. To the left of the highway, some distance from Anna- scaul, within the bounds of the parish of Ballinacourty, the door lintel of a farmer's dwelling on the townland of Brackloon, Bmckioon if my memory serves me, bears another inscription, which Mr. ^^, Brash (239) reads Ercaficca maqi c. * * The remainder is lost or possibly hidden in the masonry of the wall. Not possessing a cast, and having mislaid my drawing, it is with some misgiving I state my impression that the termi- nation of the principal name isficcas. It appears to be one of a numerous class ending in fee, fie, and peculiar to the Counties of Cork and Kerry. 33. At Ballintarmon, another townland in the same parish, BaiUntarmon is an Ogham-inscribed pillar, an account of which has been ^'' published in Vallancey's " Collectanea," vol. vi., p. 224. A copy of the text by Mr. Windele is published in Mr. Brash's work, p. 200; but appears illegible. It bears a cross. I have not seen it. 2i OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Kebky (Coikayuinj), Gortnc(]}iUa- VfHfh 44 I.e. Liignagnjipul 54 U. u. 34. Entering on the parish of Minard, the general character of the country remains the same — a strip of two or three miles breadth between the mountains and the sea, rough, picturesque, and along the coast full of rude stone remains of old inhabi- tation. To the left of the highroad lies the townland of Gort- negullanagh, from which one of the inscribed Ogham monu- ment's now in the Academy's collection was removed many years ago. It formed a lintel over the doorway of one of the rude stoije cloghans referred to. The stone is engraved on two angles, a boldly-cut cross between. One side reads MAQQIDECKDDA. Maqqi Decedda. The other, imperfect at the end — MAQQlCATTUFic. Maqqi Cattufic. I do not find any other characters. Reading these as " the son of Decedd " on one side, and " the son of Catufic" on the other, the question naturally presents itself. How comes it that the persons intended to be commemorated are not themselves named, but only their fathers ? If there be no other answer than that such was a common style of epitaph in Oghamic times, as we shall see it was by frequent examples, it must be owned that our first entrance into the inquiry supplies us with a kind of sepulchral formula not easy to reconcile with the object of preserving individuals in monumental memory. We have no example of anything so vague in sepulchral tituli elsewhere, and may note the anomaly, especially in regard to the maqqi decedda, for future reference. 35. A highway to the coast, striking off from the main road at GortneguUanMgh, conducts to the adjoining townland of Lugnagappul. Here, on the left hand of the road, at a place called Parknafulla, or the Field of Blood, is a low cairn once surrounded with standing stones, four of which remain, two being inscribed. I shall borrow Mr. Brash's description of the place and reading of the inscriptions, which I have not myself seen : — " I . . found a low cairn 30 ft. by 20 ft., of an irregular rectangular «haiie, composed of earth and stones, and from 2 ft. to 3 ft. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 25 above the general level of the field. The two inscribed stones are on Keuby the eastern side of the cairn. No. 1 is a beautifully-formed pillar, oval (Corkaguiny). in section and perfectly smooth, with a rounded top perfectly conical. Bouiidedpillar. It is in length 4 ft. 2 in., its diameter being 1 ft. 5 in. and 1 ft. 3 in. The inscription runs lengthwise on the centre of the stone, without any stem line ; nevertheless, from the regularity and distinct- ness of the characters, it is quite easy to recognise their values. It commences at 1 ft. 9 in. from the bottom, and runs round the head — Gossucttias. No 2 stands on the same side of the cairn : it is a flatter and more irregularly-shaped pillar than No. 1, being 4 ft. in length, 1 ft. 3 in. in breadth, and 9 in. in thickness. The inscription is on the rounded face near the centre running lengthwise upwards, and occupying 1 ft. 10 in. in length, as follows — Sticunas.'' — (Og. Mon., 197-8.) 36. A sketch of Mr. Windele in his MS. which he entitles " lar Mumhain" (Lib. R.I.A.) resolves the st into gcmi, making gamicimas, apparently a more likely-looking combination. 37. The rounded pillar here described belongs to a type of which we shall presently have many examples. Whether these are artificially-shaped blocks or great rolled sea pebbles, I cannot say. I do not know of their existence anywhere else than in this immediate district, save in one instance where a fragment of an inscribed pillar of the same kind was found on tiie seacoast of Wexford, near Hook Point. The absence of a stem-line is compensated by greater care in preserving the Line of con- symmetry of the spacing, the vowels being shown by short fexuy for digits rather than notches, and the over-line and under-line groups placed well apart from the middle convexity. 38. Proceeding from Lugnagappul towards the west, we reach the townland and ruined church of Aglish, the cemetery Agiisk of which has furnished to the Lapidary Museum of the Royal ^* Irish Academy its much-canvassed Apilogdo inscription. Chris- tian times are emphatically written on this stone by a Maltese cross in a circle supported on a stem, at either side of which may be discovered a filfot, a form of cross in Pagan as well as 26 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Keeky Christian use, but here made collateral and ancillary to the all- (Corkaguiny). reconciling emblem. The Ogham characters at one side, if we may take them as complete, read MAQIMAQ4 Maqi Maqa, where we may again ask, What son ? and who is Maqa, if that be the ending of this part of the legend ? At the other side, reading in like manner downward, we have GD APILOGGO ST where great embarrassment arises from the presence of an injured group of four stem-crossing digits, capable of many transliterations. I at one time entertained the idea that, like the duplicate Cellach of the cypher, which reads both ways outward from a common centre, so, possibly, this legend is intended to be read both ways inward from the ends to the Xi making Apostoli ; but this solution is far from satisfactory. Mr. Brash made, I think, a better guess in suggesting Abilogus, a well-known name both in Irish and Welsh annals. But the Bishop of Limerick has, perhaps, set us both right in seeking to identify the name as Aedloga, conceiving that it may be the record of Aedloga, son of Maeltuile, a petty king of the neigh- bouring territory, whose date would be sixth or seventh century. In making out the equivalence of these names, the Bishop treats the X character as having a third power, on the ground of p, v, and dh, passing into one another in numerous examples; and I am far from saying that he has not made a persuasive argument. In the same churchyard of Aglish still stands another Ogham-inscribed pillar. It does not appear to be now legible. Aghacarrlble 39. From Aglish, in Minard, we cross the hill westward into •^* the parish of Kinard, and reach the townland of Aghacarrible. This, in the other provinces of Ireland, would be called Agha- carble or Aghacarvil. The introduced vowel before b or m following r is still noticeable throughout Munster, and must be respected in such words as storm, form, farm, if we would not dislocate the prosody of the provincial poets. Even as late as the reign of Elizabeth, Carbery is spelt in official documents IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 27 Corribrie. Aghacarrible is regarded as a rath, rather than a Kerry killeen or burial-place, and it has a cave, similar to those (Coikagomy). described by Col. Lane Fox. What raises a doubt of its character as a rath is that just outside its circular ditch lies a great flagstone, apparently cast down from an erect position, covered with ring and cup decoration, arguing a monumental character. Taking it, however, as a rath, its cave may now Cave. claim our attention. It is but a few feet below the surface, about 5 ft. wide and A^ ft. high. It consists of an outer and an inner chamber, walled at the sides with standing stones, and covered above with others laid across. Two of these wall jghamn-ible. stones bear Ogham legends — one, which I did not examine, is said to read Maqi Bacos; the other reads, LADDIGNIMAQQIMUCCOIANJ. * * Laddigni maqqi muccoi ana. * * where the remainder of the legend probably continues down the back arris, now inaccessible in the recesses of the wall. It is palpable that many of the supporting stones of such caves have been already inscribed with their Ogham legends before being built into their places ; indeed in some of them the con- cealed characters can be felt with the hand. To read these legends fully, the roofing stones should be removed and the sup- porting wall stones exposed all round ; but as yet, save at Dunloe, none have been more than very partially uncovered, and their legends remain in most cases to a great extent inaccessible. The patronymic name in this epigraph of Laddignus or Laddignos appears to begin with Ana, which, if so, would cor- respond with other seemingly classical names we shall meet with having the same prefix. The inference which commends Cave materials itself most to the mind in contemplating such an interior is, i'™"g'it.f''<"» that the materials already inscribed with their monumental epi- graphs have been brought from some neighbouring cemetery ; and this gives rise to a consideration of no little interest and curiosity. The cemeteries which are found adjoining such caves, and from which the materials of the caves have presum- ably been brought, are generally of that class of burial-places 28 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS ivEniiY called killeens or cealluraghs. These are very numerous in the Kiiieens"'°^ soutli and west of Ireland. They are not used for the inter- Not now used ment of Christian adults. In most of them the burials are of Christhui" confined to unbaptised infants. Mr. Brash has given a highly adults. curious and valuable account of them in his posthumous volume : — " These cemeteries are to be distinguished from the ordinary burial- grounds of the country at present in use, and which are invariably connected with ancient churches or remains of a known Christian character. The keel is unconnected with Christian churches or associ- ations of any kind, and, where still made use of, it is solely for the interment of unbaptized children and suicides They are usually circular areas of varying diameter, distinguished from the rath by having but one rampart without any ditch : the entrance is a cut through the fence In some instances the keel is en- closed by a circle of upright stones In some examples they are low circular or oval cairns, without any fence In many cases the mound and fence have been entirely erased, but .... the site has been left to nature ; and, while the field around it has been a hundred times broken up and cultivated, nothing will induce the peasant to push a spade in or drive a plough through the keel. In some instances, in valuable land, the keel has been, from time to time, encroached on ; the cupidity of the farmer, getting the better of his superstitious fears, leads him to push his tillage, yard by yard, on the outward rim of the weird circle. The operation is quite evident at Kilcolaght in Kerry, and Kilgrovane in Waterford ; both bare circular, unenclosed and untilled spots in rich fields ; the Ogham-inscribed stones being huddled together in the centres." — (Og. Mon., 88.) They are extraordinarily numerous in the Counties of Waterford, Cork, and Kerry. In the latter county, Mr. Brash enumerates under the denominations of KiU, Kyle, KiUeen, Cealuragh, and Children's Burial-grounds, one hundred and thirteen examples, besides one hundred and four old burial- grounds not now connected vsdth any church. They are also numerous in the County of Antrim, in one parish of which, Culfeightrim, " Dr. Keeves has identified nine of those keels, independent of the graveyards still in use." — {lb., 80.) Mr. Brash concludes his very interesting notice of these IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 29 ccnietories, which he regards as wholly Pagan, by the state- Kerby lueut— (Corkaguiny). " In conversing with the peasantry of the south and west of Ireland, I have never yet heard them use the word kil to designate a church : the word Teampuil is that invariably used by them, while the word keel is always applied to the burial-grounds." — (lb., 93.) How shall we account for the semi-sacred yet not quite holy character of these cemeteries ? The writers who assert a Pagan origin for Ogham writing regard them as the burying- places of the old Pagan population, and on this ground account for the want of reverence for their gravestones shown by those who plundered so many of them to obtain materials for the construction of their rath-caves. In support of this view it is alleged that the Ogham inscriptions found in rath- caves never bear the Christian emblem. And this is generally true. We have seen, however, that the cross on the,,Gort- neguUanagh stone did not protect it from being used as a lintel over the doorway of the cloghan there ; and, in fact, in this cave of Aghacarrible one of the wall stones, although not Aghacarrihie Ogham-inscribed, bears two incised crosses, and has presumably, as well as the others, been brought from some killeen or disused cemetery in the neighbourhood. The theory assumes a total disuse of the Pagan cemeteries by the early Christians, save for the interment of the unbaptised, which is not consistent with the course of the social transition from Gentilism to the Faith elsewhere. Pagans and Christians repose in the adjoining loculi of the Catacombs. The repugnance indicated may have sprung from another source, to which a wider survey of the evidence may lead us further on. 40. Leaving Aghacarrible with its many hints to reflection, we proceed to the townland of Kinard East, with its ruined Khmrd church and regular cemetery, containing two Ogham-inscribed ^^ monuments. One bears the name MARIANI, with what appears an Oghamic alphabetic diagram annexed, and an incised cross. The other lies, as it seems designed to have lain, on the surface of the ground. It is inscribed alono- 30 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Kerry the whole of One arris, over tlie head and down part of tlie agumy). ^^^j^ opposite, and reads ACUECiTiFiNDDIiORaS D O Acurc^t^ Finddiioras d c which might be read findiloras or, allowing for the trans- position sometimes attending on the change from one arris to the other, findidorac. The name Curcitt will be sufficiently familiar to our eyes presently to induce the inquiry. What can be signified by the initial a? A sign of contraction (""""") appears incised over it, and gives to this inscription the most modern aspect of any yet noticed. It possibly stands for an initial formula anm, of which we shall have many examples. So little did I regard it as part of the inscription when at Kinard in the commencement of these studies, that it has not been included in my cast, and its relevancy has only since become apparent to me. Note also the form of the inscription, importing that it is the memorial not of Curcitt son of Findi- loras or dorac, but in the possessive, of Curcitt's Findilora, or whatever the second name may be. Kinard 4i_ _^t Kinard we overlook the creek of Trabeg lying to the west, and, if it be low water, may see the lac Sheeoaun na.geela, '" 53 as the Trabeg Ogham stone is popularly called, on the opposite «■ ^- beach. The Bruscos stone is a handsome pillar which formerly stood erect on the Garfinny or Dingle side of Trabeg, but now lies on the strand, where it is washed over at high water. The characters adjusted to one arris of the stone are easily legible, save towards the end of the inscription, where the carver has had to crowd his work somewhat to keep it from overrunning his space. Notwithstanding, some of the notches of his final group reach partly over the head of the stone. I made a careful cast of the whole in 1^70, the photograph from which is preserved; but the light needed to bring the characters along the side into relief falling directly on the top, gives no shadow there, and, the cast having been lost or mislaid, I can only vouch my own recollection for the existence of the terminal i of the legend. It reads BRUSC0SMAQICAL7JCI &c. Bruscos Maqi Cah'aci, 53 IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 31 or Caluoci, according as the notches following the I are regarded Kerky as six or five in number. If five, the apparent hiatus in the (t'o>''»i{'»iiy)- group divides it into u and o. But the seeming hiatus to my eye betrays the remains of an abraded sixth notch, and the reading results, as in Divitiacus, Caliaci, which seems most probably a statelier presentation of the ordinary name Cellach. 42. This creek of Trabeg is the first indentation in the long coast-line from Slieve Mish. It is followed by the land- locked sheet of Dingle harbour, two miles west ; and this again, at a less interval, by the equally capacious and sheltered harbour of Ventry. About the centre of the peninsula, between Trabeg and the harbour of Dingle, on a byroad to the left, stands the Killeen of Ballintaggart or Priesttown. The church BaiiMaggari and regular cemetery are at a little distance. It is a rough circle about 60 ft. in diameter, surrounded by a ditched fence. The access is by a gap on the north. On entering, one perceives no fewer than eight of those rounded pebble-like blocks of which some account has been given at Lugnagappul, laid on the surface round the margin of the enclosure. They do not appear ever to have stood upright, but the tops and bottoms, alike rounded and still in some degree polished, are distinguishable by the direction of their legends, which occupy the sides and tops only. These oblate flattened stone spheroids are most difficult to cast in paper. The mould must be made in several parts ; otherwise it will not come off without tearing, and the junctures of these pieces where the loss or duplication of a digit may work transformations so extensive, is a business of excessive nicety. Add to this the incidents of windy or rainy weather and the awkwardness of inexperienced hands, and it will not be matter of surprise that the casts of these pulvinarian cope- stones, taken by myself and the late Mr. Burchett, exhibit many imperfections. The sharpness of the casts, indeed, has in many cases been blurred by the necessity of carrying them in a wet state to where they could be dried at a fire. Were the work to do again, I would advise the employment of plaster of Paris, from which paper casts might be taken at leisure under cover; for the plaster cast cannot be turned to the light or examined with at all as profitable a scrutiny as the light and easily-handled piece of papier mache. Still, with their help, I 32 OGHAM IN'SCRIPTIOXS KEnnY tliink I can answer for the transliteration of these eight (Corkaguiny). Iggg^ds. BalUiitnggnH ^g^ Beginning with the first stone to the left, one is struck with the peculiar tridental form of the ends of the arms and stem of the cross, incised on its smooth upper convexity. The digits of the accompanying inscription are broad and symmetri- cal. On the north or right side, beginning from below, is the same name lately noticed at Kinard, CUECITTI. On the opposite side, beginning also from below and rounding the top, the legend reads TRIAMAQAMAILAGNI Tria Maqa Mailagni. Here we have an example of Maqa uncomplicated by any doubt as to the finality of the a. Nothing is disputed save whether Mailagni should not be read Meolagni. The undivided six notches might be read either way, or they might be read mm, or uoa, or in various other combinations if the form of the name so required. But the question for more serious consideration is whether the maqa here is a feminine, in agreement with Tria, and the same with the seeming Maqa of the Aglish stone ? Then, Tria, is it a personal name or a numeral, a singular or a plural ? I wish I could answer, or even hold out the hope that materials for an answer may be expected in our further course of investigation. But, copious as the general material is, it, as yet, supplies no further example of similar endings in a, and I abstain from conjecture. BaUMangart 44. The secoud of this Strange group of monuments supplies, (S) if not a new word, a new phonetic element in nomenclature, which will often recur. The legend, beginning at the bottom lefthand side of the stone, runs continuously over the top and down the other side, having a plain cross on the space between. Its reading is complicated by the presence of the X character, to which, so far, we have seen, two values are generally allowed to be assignable — the diphthong in e, as ea, eo, &c., and p. It is plain, from the concurrence of vowels flanking the X, that it cannot be the diphthong here; and, by giving to IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 33 it Its p value, this is the transliteration which appears to kekry result— tUoik.guiny). NETTALMINACCAPUIMAQQiMuCOIDOros KA &c. Nettal minaccajoui maqqi mucoi Do{tos). We easily segregate the now familiar maqqi mucoi; but the netta or nettal and t\\& pur are new. Whether the netta is to be taken "uMuI" as parcel of a proper name, or as an independent vocable, or to be read as ettal preceded possibly by the article an, are questions as hard to solve as any we are likely to encounter. I had first no doubt that it formed part of a proper name, Nettalami, but the cast refuses to admit an a after the Z, and compels us to read ettal minacca, which certainly calls up the idea of Italian monachism. The poi or pui stands independently in the place '>«'" where we might expect the copula in the sentence, and presents tlie welcome feature of something predicative, it is, in fact, the verb substantive in the past tense. We shall often meet it in the form poi, corresponding to the Irish boi, that is fuit, "was" or " who was." I make no doubt that the Bishop of Limerick is quite well grounded in this discovery, and that whether it be an Italiau religious who is here commemorated or some one called Netlam (Nitida ManusJ, the legend asserts he or she "was" Maqqi Mucoi Do(rosJ, whatever that may, mean. 45. The third of the group, giving its p force to the second BaU'niin,i MAQIDECCEDA Maqi Decceda. The word Decced is not anywhere found in the nominative in these monuments, which may excite some doubt whether it is a proper name. The inscription on the opposite side, beginning from below and rounding over the head of the stone, presents what seems to be a pair of names conceived in the possessive formula A's B, as on Curcitt's stone at Kinard. The traces on the top of the stone are extremely faint, but along the side are strongly cut and almost all certain — OLUSSESICONAS, or, if taken in the reverse sequence, CAQOSICECCUDO(ros?) Caqosi ceccudo(ros), and must be regarded as preserving names very singular in their apparent meanings. 51. A ninth Ogham-inscribed monument lies outside the BaUiniagijart Killeen to the south. It is of the arrised class, very rugged, (^) and in some places hard to transliterate, but appears to read — COLUMMAQQIFIC(ias) B Colum maqqi Fic(i«6). 36 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Kerby Here, unless we suppose the m to play a double part, the read- (Corka-iiiny). -^^^ ^yould be Columbaqqific (&c.), but the upper half of the h digit may well be supposed to have been lost. Baih/vesteeiug 52. Returning to the main road which conducts from Lispole 4.1 Bridge at the head of the Creek of Trabeg to the town of b^ Dingle, about two miles out of the town, close to the highroad on the left, in the townland of Bally nesteenig, is seen another, and the last, as it is also the largest, of the lenticular class of monument which we have still to notice. It remains nearly in the same place where it lay when seen by Mr. Pelham early in this century. It was then whole, a rounded pillar-like block with semi-spheroidal ends of about 7^ ft. in length. It has since been broken in two by kindling a fire against it, but the fracture has not injured the inscription, which is boldly incised along the medial convexity — M 01 N ENA JI AQIOLACON Moinena maqi olacon. It was early pointed out by the Bishop of Limerick that INloinc'iia is a well-known name borne by several ecclesiastics, and Olacon, the genitive of Olcliu, an equally well-known proper name. He went further, and showed that an Olchu was grandfather of St Brendan, and that a Moinena who died in the year 571, was the bishop attached to St. Brendan's monastery at Clonfert. That he should have been interred in Brendan's ancestral district seems not improbable, and certainly no one can reasonably, in presence of such facts, question the appro- priateness of the cross which accompanies the inscription. Emhqh West 53. Just on the outskirts of Dingle a laneway to the left ^"^ leads through the townland of Emlagli West, where stands the fragment of a pillar bearing the legend — TALAGNIMAQ C Talagni maq(i). Talagni, like the Laddigni of Aghacarrible and Mailagni of Ballintaggart, seems to be the genitive of a proper name. We shall find many examples of similar forms. They appear to imply Oghamic nominatives in os. It seems agreed on that the representatives of those in cujni at the present day would be forms in an, such as TalMn, Bonan, &c. IN lUELAXU, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. '.'>7 54. Tlie country around Dingle offers a marked contrast to Kerry tlie rugged tract tlu-ough whicli it has been approaclied. Across (^"'■''"•g"'"?)- tile lalve-like liarbour is seen tlie lofty residence of Lord Ventry at Burnliam. LordVentry has assembled here a co\- Bimihum lection of Ogham-inscribed monuments, which I purpose to "'""' describe in connection with their places of origin ; proceeding at once to the rich Oghamic tract which lies to the north and west. 55. Two miles north-west from Dingle on the Kilmalkedar KUfouninin road, to the left, is the Killeen and ruined church of Kil- y*' fountain, with its monumental pillar. Mr. Brash states that what remains of the church is in dry-stone masonry. Tliere are many Fintans, generally spelled Fionntain in the Irish Calendars ; but the name as it appears on this monument in Roman characters is Finten. It is inscribed under a character- istic Celtic cross, accompanied by singular and not inelegant ornamentation ; and there are, adjoining it, along the arris of the stone, three Ogham characters, ins, wanting only o, whicli may have been there to make the inso we have been in search of. It is one of the rare instances in which a Killeen is found in connection with existing ruins of a church, and with an evidently Christian monument erected in it. Being Christian and presumably consecrated, why, it may be asked, is the cemetery now regarded as unfit for adult Christian burial ? and why and when did it come to be so regarded ? Whether any answer can be given to these questions must depend on a fuller survey of the remaining evidences; but enough has been seen already to give these Killeens a wider interest than they may at first have appeared to possess. 56. From Kilfountain, a by-road leading westward conducts Maumnuotiijh to the townland of Maumanorigh, where will be found another *- children's burial-place, and in it the foundations of a ruined church and a stone monument bearing an Ogham legend of a more complex, and, so far, a novel character. That it is a Christian monument is attested by two Maltese crosses, one of them supported on a stem, as on the Aglish example. The inscription is carried round the face of the stone, which is a boulder apparently in situ, on an artificially cut stem-line, and 38 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Kebby at first sight appears to present the following singular succes- (Corkaguinj). ^-^^^ ^^ syllables— ANMCOLOLOMBNALILTER L anm Cololomb nalilter. Maumaiiorit/h The introductory anm occurs on so many other examples that it is easily separable from what seems the principal name beginning with col. I at one time thought the anm and col were to be read both ways, outward from c, as in the puzzle- cypher of cellach, yielding the name Colman, to which I was encouraged by the fact of the adjoining townland, which might have included Maumanorigh as a sub-denomination, being called Kilcolman, and of there being no church or burial ground there ; and taking the name to be Colman, there seemed good reason for recognising in the terminal groups, slightly altered, the word ailitir, " pilgrim." I had, however, to abandon this ancillary use of anm, on finding that combina- tion of letters to be, as it is, a common formula prefixed to many other Ogham inscriptions, and the great difficulty of the intermediate cololol still remained. A closer scrutiny, however, of the text seemed to restore Colman in anotlier form; for what at first sight seemed the terminal I before nalilter, having part of its first digit above the stem, might resolve itself into mb, making Cololomb, and the interjected syllable ol only re- mained to be dealt with. In this stage of the investigation my friend. Dr. Whitley Stokes, threw upon it the light which is only to be had from very rare learning and research in manuscript originals. He found in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin (H 2, 15), in the handwriting of Dudley MacFirbis, a tract called Dull Laitiine. Dull Laithne, containing a class of words fabricated by a process called formolad, from ordinary Irish words, either by inserting certain meaningless syllables, or by substituting certain letters for others. The inserted syllables, of which the Duil Laithne affords examples, are osc, anc, inc, unc, nro, ucull, ros, es or os, air, aur, ur, and oil, as collwnac, " power," formed on the Irish cumac ; colluicen, " kitchen," formed on the Irish cuicenn ; just as here, by the same process, the sculptor of the Maumanorigh Ogham appears to have engi-aved Cololomb for the Irish Colomb. The I in the nalilter I would suppose to be a super- IN IRELAND, WiVLES, AND SCOTLAND. 39 fetation of the same kind, and conclude that " Columb the Kekuy pilgrim " is the person in whose epitaph these pains have been ('^"'■'"'guniy). taken to disguise his name and manifest his Christian labours. We will not be surprised, after this, to learn that the Uraicapt, or what is called the Primer of the Bards, enumerates no fewer than eight bearla or forms of speech, one Muumammijh of which, the bearla tobaid, seems to be formed by additions of some and droppings of other letters. All this sounds very fanciful and unKkely to have existed in practice among a people having the ordinary occasions for the use of language. But in an isolated community with various castes and orders of society such a thing may be conceived of; and we may not altogether discredit the story of King Conor MacNessa, who, having heard his judges debate a question in language unintelUgible to him and the bystanders, enacted that in the administration of justice for the future the language used should be the vernacular of the day. 57. Columb appears to have been a favourite name among the religious of Corkaguiny. Petrie has given a drawing of the stone of another Columb not far from Maimianorigh, in his essay. I cite it here for the sake of its monogram of Maria, which it exhibits in conjunction with what seems to be the almost obliterated name of Colum, son of Mai , in Roman characters. 58. Two miles distant, to the north-west, near the Dunurhn Cahinwgai road, in the townland of Ballywiheen, we come on a way-side /^^ pile of stones called Cahir-na-gat or Cats' Castle, surmounted by a pillar found in an adjoining Killeen. Its legend is almost unique in its completeness and the certainty of all its digits — TOGITTACCMAQISAGARETTOS Togittacc maqi Sagarettos. If maqi be a genitive, as we have hitherto accepted it, then it cannot be in agreement with the nominative Togittacc, and the reading must be Togittaccus Sacerdos Fihi, a highly Christian and doctrinal meaning, quite in accordance with what has been seen respecting the names in os already observed on. But if any doubt whether maqi be not neces- sarily genitive have arisen, this, for its solution, will await 40 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Kerry oui' arrival at the next monument but two remaining between (co.kas„i„yV ^g ^^^ ^j^g Atlantic. Temple Mana- gQ. At a short distance, north, in the same townland are "" ^2 the Cedlluragh, cell, and monumental pillar of Temple I- c. Manahan. This also is a children's burial-place, and it contains one of those dry-stone cells or oratories with which Petrie has made us familiar in his essay on Irish ecclesiastical architecture. A rude causeway leads to the door of this little structure. To the right of the causeway stands Saint Manchan's pillar, in- scribed with two crosses and its Ogham legend. A fracture at the top has carried away some digits and notches, but you -will readily supply the remainder of the lost formula. What remains reads — QENELOCTMAQIMAQTAINIAMUCOI T Qeneloci maqi maqi ainia mucoi. What may have followed Mucoi must remain unknown, but it looks as if it were the end of the legend. If this be Manchan's epitaph, he is presented to us by his secular name, which might be surmised to have been Cennloc, Cennlogha, or something similar. He is made son of the son of Ainia, a name not known to me elsewhere. The crosses may sufficiently testify to his having been a Christian. Why, then, the question will recur, should his cemetery now, like his neighbour Fintan's, be dis- paraged by the faithful and reserved for the unbaptised ? Tyrcina gQ. The intermediate monument referred to stands near the high road at Tyvoria, in the townland of Teeravona. It does not bear an Ogham inscription of the ordinary kind ; but is noticed on account of its monogi-am corresponding to that on the Colomb stone, accompanied with a device some- what resembhng the one at Kinard, and probably an Oghamic bihteral echo of Maria. ciMjher Head 61. At Tyvoiia we are near the sea-shore, and, taking the or Diurmorc ^.^j^g^ j-q^^ southward, reach Dunmore Head. On the ridge /. /. of the promontory, in a conspicuous position over the Atlantic, stands a pillar-stone beaiing the Ogham legend, on one anis— ^ Q EECMAQIERCIAS Ere maqi Ercias. 42 1.1. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 41 and on the other, after intermediate characters not now Kerby legible, the name, already noticed elsewhere, (Corkaguiny). DOFINIAS. A Up almost to this point we have regarded maqi as a genitive. The suiExed i has been considered inflectional and equivalent to the infixed i of maic, the more modern geni- tive of mac. Here it appears indisputably to be in agreement " Maqi" seem- with the nominative Ere, and excites renewed doubts as to ^o^Jn'-native! these Oghamic forms being governed by ordinary grammatical laws. The ias genitive for nouns ending in c and n is again exemplified in this inscription, which, rugged and weather- worn as it is, must be considered one of the most valuable for philological use, or warning, as the case may be, hitherto noticed. CHAPTER III. Ogham inscriptions at Ballyneanig, ballinrannig, Burnham — The church, and Ogham- inscribed tombstone at Kilmalkedar — Dry-stone church at Gallerus — Kills and Killeens sepulchral — Leges Barbarorum — Ogham-inscribed stone on Brandon Mountain, and at Clonsharagli, Martramane, Camp — Slieve Misb, with its fort of Cahir-Conree — Story of Blanaid — Dividing line between the Oghamic and non- Ogbamic districts of Ireland coincident with the limits of the Patrician mission- Oghams of Kerry, Limerick, and Clare — Knockiierna iuscription — Ogham on Callan Mountain — Memorial pillar at Knockastoolery — Monuments at Clonmac- nois — Rath Croghan ; its associations with Queen Maeve — Oghams at Brestagh, Topped, Castlederg, Aghascribba — Monument on Knock Many, or Hill of Bani ; supposed sepulchre of Queen Bani, wife of Teuthal Techtmar, whose death and burial on Knock Many is recorded in the Annals under the year a.d. 111. kkrhy. 62. Turning back from Dunmore Head, and proceeding Ballyveamg -^^ ^j^^ direction of Smerwick Bay and the heights of Brandon, H. (.-. we pass the lands of Ballyneanig, which have supplied one of the Ogham examples at the Academy. It is imperfect, but, I think, accepting in part Mr. Brash's correction of a former reading of my own, may be rendered — 165 LUGIQEITTIMA(QI). Qritti. Lucrit would not strike the eye as an abnormal form of an Irish name ; and it may be, here, it is presented in state-dress. 63. We are here in sight of the harbour of Smerwick lying between us and the acclivities of Mount Brandon. Its shores are barren and solitary. A broad sandy beach curves round its inland margin. On a low promontory about the middle Balliiiraniiig of this bcach, in the townland of Balhnrannig, formerly stood ^'\ seven Ogham-inscribed monumental pillars. Whether the site was a cealluragh or a cemetery attached to a church cannot now be determined, the blowing sands have so overspread it. Mr. Windele visited the place in 1838, and made a highly characteristic sketch of it as it then appeared. Of the seven pillars, one only remains in situ, now prostrate and concealed U. L'. OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS. 43 iu the sand. I have not seen it. Transcripts by various Kerry. hands make it — Cunas maqqi Corli maqqi — and Cona maqqi Corbbi maqqi — I adduce it here partly on account of the name Cunas or Cona, which may find an echo further on, but chiefly as introduc- tory to a peculiar class of proper names, of which we shall have frequent examples. Having regard to these, I would observe that Corb appears more likely to be an Ogham proper name than Corl, as having a meaning " bad," " wicked," the relevancy of which will now receive some illustration. The pillar which, in 1838, occupied the summit of the knoll, is now, I beHeve, at Burnham, having been removed from Lough, Bum/mm near BaUintaggart, where I saw it in 1870. It bears, ^' distinctly cut, the name BROINIUNAS, Broiniunas, where the as genitive instead of the ias of other examples may invite the attention of the gramxnarian, Broinion, as a proper name, seems to import, hke Corb, personal depreciation. We are here, I think, on the track of an explanation of other apparently hrmiOiatory designations, the siagularity of which made us pause for a moment over one of the BalKntaggart group. One of the most ciuious contributions to inscriptional criticism of om: day is a paper by M. Edmond Le Blant in the Revue Archceologique (N.S. x. 5), entitled " Sur quelques noms bizarres adoptes par les premiers Chretiens," in which he treats of certain names of self-depreciation and reproach assumed by Christian devotees from the fourth to the eighth century. Amongst others he enumerates — ContumeHosus Foedulus Injuriosus Mahciosus Importunus Molesta Malus Pecus Exitiosus Fimus Calumniosus Stercus Insapieutia Stercorius 44 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Kerry. Hence it may appear that the Irish lexicographer MacCurtin, when he wrote the following paragraph of his treatise on Oghamic writing annexed to his Dictionary, was not alto- gether without foundation for his statement, however puerile in the way he puts it, that matters to the disparagement of the deceased were often contained in their Ogham epitaphs. " It was penal," he says, " for any but those that were sworn Antiquaries to study or read the same. For in these characters those sworn Antiquaries wrote all the evil actions and other vicious practices of their monarchs and other great personages, both male and female, that it might not be known to any but themselves, being sworn Antiquaries, as aforesaid." Hence, also, a probable cause may be surmised for the frequent obliteration of parts of Ogham legends, leaving the Maqis and Mucois untouched. Burnlinm 64. Three other of the original pillars are also at Bumham. ^^' On one of those I thought I traced the remains of the name Gillamurra or Gillamurras in continuation of Maqi Tenac — on the opposite angle MAQQITENAC GiLLAMUREas. The Christian form of Gillamurras excited much controversy. It still seems to me the likeliest reconstruction of the text, w^hich notably illustrates what has ah'eady been said of the inherent ambiguities of this kind of writing ; for it depends altogether on whether the second digit of what otherwise would be an i of five notches has not extended on both sides of the arris, turning i into amu. The digit in question is shorter than that which, taken as m, helped us over the puzzle of Colomb at Maumanorigh ; and both are under the usual length of that letter, although distinctly crossing the arris. Bimiiuim 65. Another follows the example of the Gortnegullanagh (C) example, giving apparently only the patronymics — MAQQICDNITTI. MAQQI QITTI. The third is imperfect at foot, but preserves the form — ^EAFICASMAQIMUCOI. (g)raficas maqi mucoi, IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 45 where we see again the genitive in as instead of ias of other Kebby. examples, and may note the terminal mucoi for future refer- gen. in as mucui terminal euce. 66. Of the Cliute Hall group I cannot speak from personal knowledge. I have seen several readings of one made by gentlemen of skill and experience, but greatly discrepant, and do not reproduce it. Of the other, all the copies I have seen agree — Ccicamini maqqi caltini, Cucuimne is the name of an Irish person recorded in the Liber Hymnorum, and, if I might be so bold, I would submit that Cicamin gives a more probable foundation for the name of the Broch, Z^itm-OTcamin, than the local circumstance which has been suggested to account for it. 67. Leaving the cakn of Cill- Vickallane, or " the Grave- yard of the Sons," as this sohtary spot is still called, amid its waste of sand and water, we may now direct our steps to Kilmalkedar, from the road to which place we began so long a divergence when tm-ning westward at Kilfountain. Kilmalkedar Here we find a comparatively large Christian church of that Hibemo-Romanesque style which Petrie has endeavom-ed to show was earher developed in Irish than in British examples. Surrounding it is a regular church cemetery crowded with the gravestones of perhaps thirty generations, under no popular interdict, and where the uubaptised and suicide would not be admitted. Among the other standing- stones marking the graves of the Faithful, is one pillar Ogham- inscribed, and which, when I first examined it, appeared to confirm my impression of the tenor of the BaUinahunt legend. It seemed to read " angel " before the principal name, but too obscurely to justify me in a pubhshed transhteration. On the cast it is seen that an and what may be two ms or a widely-spaced g, with room for a considerable number of abraded vowel points, precede the letter I in the introductory part of the legend. This may be the frequent initial formula anm followed by Mael or Maoil inbiric, with an interjected X after Maoil ; or it may be " angeil " followed by X. I have to thank Mr. Brash, for suggesting the former reading, wliich now seems to mo the preferable one. But what shall wo u.l. 46 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Kebby. make of the X ? In none of the values hitherto given it, will it fall in with the context, and must, I imagine, be regarded as a non-vocable symbol thrown in out of a superfluous piety among the constituents of the name, as on Norse bracteates and Anglo-Saxon coins of the later middle ages. The whole legend, then, would now appear to run, including what may be considered doubtful in brackets — Right arris— AN'^J^^'^f LiNBiRic. Left „ MACIBEOCANiaS. Anmmaoiluibirpc] maci brocani[as]. The Brocani or Brocanias, as I think it was engraved, might be expected in the form Brocagni, and possibly we have here a transition from an older to a more modern inflexional form, a conjecture countenanced by the substitution of c for q in maci. 68. Before leaving this Kilmalkedar district we may observe Gaiicriis the remarkable cell or primitive dry-stone church at Gallerus. It is a small edifice with sloping sides rounding into a Gothic arched roof sm-mounted by a crest or barge-course of masonry ; and exactly corresponds in outhne with one of the Roman miniature cellse preserved at Nancy, which I am about to refer to. We must have been struck with the fact that, save at Kilmalkedar and Kinard, all the cemeteries, kills, Mlleens, and cealluraglis so far noticed are either without any trace of churches or, in exceptional cases, as at Kilfoimtain and St. Manchan's, are associated with edifices little removed from the rude cloghans of the country. In regard to these churchless burying places, it might be thought that wooden churches may have stood in or near them formerly, and may have been consumed by Time. But this is an exceptionally stone building district. From Ventry west the seacoast is covered with the drystone ruins of what is called " the city of Fahan," and the whole tract thence to Kil- malkedar is full of stone monuments. The existence, how- ever, of cemeteries without churches need excite no surprise. If these were, as seems most probable. Pagan places of burial originally, there would be no ground for expecting annexed buildings of either wood or of stone. What is surprising in 42 u. I. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 47 connection with them is how they came to be called kill and KEnny. killeen, equivalent to "church," and "little church," or "chapel." In the Irish of the middle ages the kill of topography is cell, the equivalent of — I do not at all say derived from — the Latin cella. Cella is primarily a cellar or place of deposit ; in its secondary sense the cell or shrine of a temple, the separate dwelling of a monk, &c. It is not used in the meaning of a Kill nnd sepulchre in any literary record, so far as I know, but in early ^'"'''■" Chnstian symbohc sculpture it is so represented. Lazarus in the catacombs and on the sarcophagi always issues from the portico of a little cell or temple-like structure, sometimes ridge-roofed, sometime domed hke a Byzantine basihca. What indicates the connection this seems to have with the kills and killeens of Corcaguiny comes not inappropriately from the Leges Barharorum, In the Salique Law of Graves — " If anyone throw down or plunder the porticulus set up over a dead person ; " " If anyone shall pillage the house made in the form of a basilica over a dead person ; " " If anyone burn a basilica over a dead person," let him pay a fine of so much. Down to later than medieval times the representative of these FranMsh porticuU and basilicce in Provence were called chapels, and appear to have been of wood. In Pagan times they had been of stone. There is an assemblage of such objects in stone in the Burgundian Museum at Nancy. They are miniature ^diculce of 2 or 3 ft. in height, bearing Roman inscriptions with D. M. prefixed, and exhibit all the character- istic forms of the stone cells and early stone churches, as well as of the sepulchral stone vaiilts, of these southern and western Irish places of burial. The name of the cell-hke structure over the sepulchre passing to the burial-place, might account for these Irish kills having been so called, although without associated churches. There is some authority for the suggestion. Feretrum, a bier, in the Origines of Isidore, is " the place to which the dead are borne," and it is not improbable that the Irish " feart" in its sense of a " grave," may be of the same origin. I read some curiously corroborative matter in Colonel Forbes Leslie's " Ancient Races of Scotland." He points out that several stone cii-cles and remains of burying places, apart from any place of 48 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS KEnBY. worship, continue to be known by the names " church," " Kirk " in " Mrk," and " chapel " ; and I may add that the MacMahon Scotlaud burial vault, at Inniskeen, in Monaghan, bears an inscription purporting that " this chapel " was erected by, &c. We may consequently conclude that we have up to the present been mainly among the traces of a Christian church, which, as, regards places of worship, was churchless, or, at least to some extent, a church of catacomb organisation. It is now time to resume the survey which next leads eastward over Brandon mountain. Mount Brandon 69. On the westem shoulder of Mount Brandon, which rises 25 precipitously from the sea, there is a comparatively level plateau forming a terrace between the verge of the cliff and the central summit of the mountain further south. Here in the townland of Arragien, at a height of upwards of 2,000 ft., stands the " ciTiimthir " piUar. Excepting the foundation of a modem signal tower, there is no trace of habitation within miles, save the iTiined hermitage of St. Brendan, 1,000 ft. higher on the ridge behind. Two crosses, one on the front, the other, a Maltese cross in a circle, on the back of the pillar, sufficiently attest its Christian character. Up the seaward arris of the westem front runs an Ogham legend, about which, save its last latter, there is no difference of judgment. QRIMITIEROS, whether the last letter be s or w is doubtful. If n, it will read, in continuation, as part of the proper name Ronan Maq Comogann on the anis opposite. If s, which I cannot help taldng it to be, the legend would run — QRIMITJEUOS AN MAQ COMOGANN, certainly not so satisfactory as Haigh's reading, which yields the name Ronan as that of the crmnthir. Ctunxhnrngh 70. Proceeding along the seaward face of the mountain, we reach a stream on its eastern dechvity, crossed by Tier Bridge, and descending towards the coast village of Cloghane, in the townland of Clonsharagh, come on three great gallauns or standing stones. They stand in line, and measure 7 ft., 10 ft., and 12 ft. above ground respectively. Their aspect is certainly not such as our present information would lead us to expect ;t5 u.l. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 49 in Christian monuments. A fomih, now prostrate, has Kerry. formerly stood to the left. The rude, massive character of the stones, and the sternness and solitude of the situation, make a profound impression on the mind. Ogham digits exist on the side and top arris of the gi-eat block in the centre of the standing group. They are scattered, and not legible ; but if Christianity be plainly written in Ogham on the Arraglen piUar, the same certainly cannot be said of this Ogham- marked Gallaun of Clonsharagh. 71. We now leave Brandon mountain, which at this side presents a vast grassy concavity, smmounted by a wall of rock under Brendan's hermitage, and proceed eastward to Castlegregory, ia KUlaney parish. Here, in the townland of Martramane, built into the chimney-breast of a farmer's Martramane cottage, formerly existed an inscribed stone, said to have been '^^ brought from one of the Magheree Islands in the offing, now in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. Its legend, imperfect at the end, wiU recall the Qeniloci of St. Manchan's. QENILOCGNIMAQID Qenilocgni maqi d . 72. There remains but one other Ogham inscription, so far as my knowledge goes, in Corkaguiny. We reach it about five miles further eastward, in the townland of Camp, near Gump where the Castlegregory road is met by the hne from Anas- ;j^^ caul. We are here again under the western dechvity of SUeve Mish. If we ascended the vaUey, which at this side skirts the foot of the mountain, we would find the ruined barbaric fortress of Cahir Conree at the summit. This means the fort of Curoi (making conree in the genitive) son of Dari, a name famous in Irish romance, the contemporary and rival of CuchulHn, by whom he was slain in his mountain stronghold, through the treachery of the faithless Blanaid. She milked the fatal white cows with the red ears, which Cuchullin and Conall Carnach had plundered from Eochy Eachbeol, King of Scotland, into the stream running down hither, which was the signal for the attack. Here, to the east of the Anascaul-road, on the surface of the ground, is seen a great flattish block, like the covering stone of a cromlech roimd which the soil had accumulated. It bears a 50 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Keeey. cross and an inscription in Roman characters, as well as an Ogham legend on the edge remote from the road. Read from left to right ia the usual manner, it yields the transHteration — SOQUQCEAPFMGNISOQUEI, and remained unexplained until the present Bishop of Limerick (then Rev. Dr. Charles Graves) perceived that the characters are inverted, and that the reading really is — Conuneatt maqi Conuri, or, it may be, Conun eattmaqi Conuri. The cross and the Roman letters forbid our thinking of the son of Dari, but it is difficult to dissociate the name from that of Curoi, Conuri, in the very locahty Avhich his exploits and betrayal have made so famous. The accompanying inscrip- tion, in Roman mixed minuscules, seems to spell Fecununi. There is a vertical dash over what has been taken for the c, which may affect the reading. One cannot help suspecting that it is a i inverted, and that the reading is — Feet Cununi. " the tomb of Cunun," recalling the eonuneatt of the main legend. 73. We have thus travelled through a country more thickly enriched with Ogham remains than any other district of equal extent elsewhere ; and perhaps it may be a rehef to look northward and eastward as far as the eye can reach from the summit of Sheve Mish, and learn that throughout all North Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, and even beyond the visible horizon in Queen's County, King's County, Longford, Leitrim, and Westmeath, no Ogham legend is known to exist ; nor has any been heard of, save, by doubtful report, near Tarbert, in North Kerry, and at Rathkeale and Knockfierna, in Limerick, respectively. If, indeed, we looked down in the opposite direction on the plain of Magonihy, the old Moy O'Conqin, the site of Ptolemy's Concani, extending southward from Sheve Mish to the Reeks, we shoiild contemplate a field of abundant material for such matter as has occupied us up to the present. To this field we shall return in completing the IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. ,51 circuit of the island which is now before us, and which will kbery, be made " desiul " with the left hand to the sea. And here, ^■;'""-«"^'^> in the northern boundary of the Oghamic district of Corka- guiny, it will not be out of place to observe that we are on the dividing hne between those parts of Ireland which Saint Patrick is recorded to have visited, and the regions lying south of the Galtee and Knockmeldown mountains from hence to the confluence of the Suir and Barrow, into which no apostle of the Patrician name appears, at any time, to have penetrated. 74. I have referred to an inscribed stone near Tarbert, in North Kerry. From Mr. Windele's drawing of it I would suppose it to be one of the Ogham monuments now in the Lane Fox collection in London. It is imperfect, but seems to yield the name BABROCI. Babroci. 75. Of the example from near Rathkeale, in Limerick, I Limebick. have no trace ; but a drawing by Mr. Windele of the Knock- fierna example has been preserved by Mr. Brash (Og. Mon., 293), and is here copied from his work — d qma maqi bogagaffecc. The maqi determines the course of reading, and the bogagaffecc following — however uncouth-looking — will be found to have its substantial counterpart in other legends better authenti- cated, to be hereafter noticed. 76. In North Limerick, at Adare, the Earl of Dimraven has assembled a collection of Ogham monuments at Adare Manor, the description of which ought properly to be in connection with their places of origin. One, drawn by Mr. Du Noyer (Lib. R.I.A.), reads, up one side, round the head, and down the opposite side, without change of position, Corbagni maqi bifiti. Another will be found under Gortmacaree, further on. 77. Northward of the Shannon, in Clare, we hear of Clare. only one Oghamic inscription, but this is a monmnent in many ways worthy of note. The south-west of Clare, and up the wide alluvial valley of the Fergus as far as the 52 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Clabb. county town, Ennis, is a well-tilled country. Between Ennis and the sea tlie character of the scene changes, and near Miltown Malbay becomes rough and mountainous. Slieve Callan, the highest eminence in this tract, though not a lofty mountain, is a conspicuous feature from great distances all round. The leading road from Ennis westward traverses it at nearly its greatest height, having the summit and a Httle mountain tarn on the right hand. On one slope of the ridge, rising from the lake, stands a fine cromlech ; on the opposite slope, further from the road on the peaty, heathy surface, Mount Gaii-an lies the much-discussed Mount Callan inscription. It is SI ^ ,._ a flagstone of about 9 ft. by 2^ ft, fractured at one end, and bearing an Ogham legend which at once strikes the eye ' as belonging to a school of inscriptional work different from anything we have so far observed, and strongly recalling the Scholastic style and appearance of what may be called the Scholastic ^ *™i3 Oghams of the books. Examples of these are found in manu- scripts ranging from the ninth to the seventeenth century. Their characteristics are, a pen-drawn stem line, and vertical stem-crossing vowels as distinguished from obhque stem- crossing consonants. They are generally trivial notes or aphorisms designed, one would say, for the purpose of showing off the scribe's accompHshment. Thus in a MS. of the Annals of Innisfallen, in the Bodleian Library, we read — Nemun (for nemo) sine numo honoratur nullus amatur. None Avithout money honored ; yea, and none Loved, but has got some money of his own. And in a British Museum MS. of the Brehon Laws — JBeithmaidne mar each ais a locht So tis fom, cosaib ha hi an comairchi. As other ages ours : you, people, go Under my feet : have law's protection so. But the series of characters, however long, is still, like all the Words divided legends we have yet noticed, without any kind of word- in Callan in- (jivision. Here on the Callan Monument not only are the scnptioii and . . "^ vowels stem- words divided by pomts over and under an incised stem-line, crossing. ^^^ ^ ^j^g vowels formed by stem-crossing digits, but the IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 53 whole legend is set in an incised frame or cartouclie, giving Clahe. at first sight to those acquainted only with ordinary Ogham an unexampled and questionable aspect. But Irish anti- quaries, famihar -with the word-separations of Scottish Ogham legends, no longer look on these points with suspicion ; and the surmises of fraud and forgery which at one time discredited this monument may now be regarded as altogether displaced. What chiefly excited the disposition to question its genuine- ness was an ambitious attempt of an Irish scholar patronised by General VaUancey, Theophilus O'Flanagan, to translate it in fourfold sequence, so as to produce, in modem Irish, a sense appropriate to sepulchral commemoration whether read from left to right or vice versa, or from one side of the stem- line or the other. Besides, he made it the epitaph of Conan Maoil, the contemporary of Finn Mac Coole, although, indeed, he did not find the name Conan there, but only CoUas or Conas, which he took as Conaf ; and in his fourfold exposition, had not only to supplement some digits and retrench others, but was obHged, after his first excursus from left to right, to altogether disregard the Kmitations of the word-divisions, refusing — as they did — to fall in with his new syllabic necessities ; so that when it was suggested that he himself had forged the inscrip- tion to play on the creduhty of his patron, men's common sense at once perceived the incongruity of a forger devising a fabri- cated text which would not lend itself to the exigencies of his intended elucidation. But in truth no one can look on the faint, weather-worn digits, hardly distinguishable from the w rink led surface on which they have been picked out, without a strong persuasion that the inscription is many centuries old, and, of whatever age, a genuine piece of work. But its tenor is quite different from that of any other Oghamic sepulchral legend. The word-divisions indicate the necessary course of reading. If they be observed, the transHteration will run — Fan : ha : do hca : co,,as : colgac : cos : obad ^11' " Beneath this stone," although a formula foreign to Oghamic sepulchral language, need not necessarily be more modem than the " sub hoc congeries lapidum" of the Carausius monument in Wales, adjudged by competent scholars to some 54: OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Olake, . King's Co. Knocka- stuulcry 8 /. I. KlKO'S t.'OUKTY. Clunmaniois f) I. I. tinie before the eighth century. I presume that do lica means " jacet," though I am unable to explain the use of the sign of the past tense ; which is hard to reconcile with monumental language. No such name as Conas, so far as I know, is found in Irish nomenclatm-e. Even were it Conan Maoil, as the country people have always assumed it to be, the excessive antiquity demanded would be discredited by the modern aspect of the legend. One conjecture may reconcile us to these dis- crepancies, and that is that the true reading may he hid under some of the cypher systems contained in the books which have evidently supphed the form of the characters and the style of their aiTangement; but, as yet, no success has attended the effort to extract by such means anything more intelhgible than that rendering which prima facie presents itself, however suspicious its appearance, " under this stone lies CoUas (or Cosas) (the) sword-accomphshed, the (fleet) footed." 78. Whatever be the nature or interpretation of the Mount Callan inscription, no question of forgery can arise respectmg a memorial pillar on the summit of the eminence called Knockastoolery, near Doolen Bay, on the coast road from Lisdoonvarna, in the north of the same county : but the cha- racters, though, I think, Oghamic, are illegible. 79- Neither has Galway, the next county to the north, nor South Mayo, anything in the Ogham kind legible, though traces, I am told, exist at Ross HiU, near Cong, and on the "long stone" at Kilmaine, near Ballinrobe. 80. If we cross the Shannon, however, out of Galway east- ward, we come, at Clonmacnois, in the King's County, on the left bank of the river, on an unimpeached legend of what I have called the Scholastic variety of Ogham. It is a httle flagstone bearing the name Colman in. Roman letters, with the annexed digits, to be read backwards : — III I Mil . . I That is " Colman hocht " or Colman pauper, a designation of humihty quite consistent with what we have seen in Keny, hut, so far as being in Ogham, not countenanced by any of the other numerou.s inscribed monuments found at Clonmac- IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 55 nois, these being exclusively in the Roman character, and King's Co., in the usual and regular sepulchral formula of the Irish Roscommon. Patrician, as of the Scottish Columban Church, Oroit do or Patricinn Bendact do, " a prayer for " or " a blessing on " the deceased. "'J'^'^"'^'^"-' There is nothing of this kind in Ogham, unless the anm, which Not followed is found in about a dozen instances, stand for anima, and "^ Ogham, imply a prayer for the soul. The distraction in the vast nmnber of cases is absolute and, as between Christians, imports the existence either of independent or, what seems more probable, of successive organisations. 81. As regards Cohnan Bocht, let me notice something which is calculated to mislead, in old Irish written references to Ogham. The word, as used, seems equally apphcable to an Ogham, a Rime, or any monumental tiiulus. Thus, Core, son of Lugaidh, banished from Munster, seeking shelter with Feradach, King of Alba, bears letters of BeUerophon inscribed on his shield in Ogham, " If the bearer come by day, cut off his head before night ; if he come by night, cut off his head before day." The King of Lochlann brings to Ireland an Ogham in the hilt of his sword, obviously a Rune. The nobles and clerics of Leth Quin (Con's half of Ireland) are interred at Clonmacnois — The nobles of the Clann Cuin he Beneath the flagged, brown, sloping cemetery, A knot or branch over each body, And an accurate Ogham name. Where what is meant is obviously a Roman-letter-written name ; for of the inscribed tombstones from Clonmacnois, collected by Petrie, and edited with a care and learning not unworthy of his name by Miss Stokes, not one, save this of Colman Bocht, exhibits any trace of Ogham influence ; but all are inscribed in the same Hiberno-Roman character, of which the Kihnalkedar alphabet stone may be taken as one of the earhest examples. 82. Leaving this famous seat of the Patrician Christianity Eatha-nphan of Leth Quin, with its round towers, sculptured crosses, and ;~J elegantly inscribed little flagstones — for every personal memorial of its dead shows forth the humihty which ^ve mav 56 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS EoscoMMOH. beKeve adorned them living, — let us ascend and, recrossing the Shannon into Roscommon, proceed towards what Ptolemy has designated the " other Royal town " of the island, which may with reasonable certainty be taken to be at Rathcroghan. The earthworks of this old residence of the Connaught Provincial Kings still stand ten miles south from Elphin, in the centre of the vast tract of grass land stretching from Boyle to Castlereagh. As Emania, the first " Regia " of Ptolemy, the remains of which still exist near Armagh, was the residence of the Ulster Kings and of Conor Mac Nessa, the most famous sovereign of their hne, so Rath- croghan was the seat of Conor's divorced Queen, Meave, and her second-taken husband Aihll, King of the Olnegmacht, in whom we may without much difficulty recognise Ptolemy's Nagnatse, or, as in another and probably a better manuscript of his geography, Nagmatse. We are here in one focus of the great cycle of heroic story which revolves around Conor and Meave, and preserves the renown of Cuchullin, ConaU Carnach, Ferdiad, and the other champions of the two provinces who fought in their wars. We can hardly doubt that such persons existed; and certainly barbaric history presents no better marked characters than Conor and Meave : he, learned, vahant, astute, amorous, cruel, unscrupulous : she, ambitious, magnificent, reckless in the pursuit of power and vengeance. Her name stiU fives in the topography of the country, although contemporary in the annals with that of Augustus. It is impossible to walk over the green plain about the Rath which she inhabited without being trans- ported in imagination to these ancient times, and among the actors in her war with Conor which forms the subject of the great Irish epic, the Tain lo Cuailnge. The circular stone wall surrounding the Relig na ree, or royal cemetery, where the Pagan Cormacian kings and nobles he interred, is stUl traceable. About 30 yards westward is a smaller disused and churchless cemetery, also circular, within the area of which are the entrances to what is traditionally known as " Queen Meave's treasure-house." It is a fissure in the limestone rock which runs westward about 50 yards outside the circular boundary, and here an identical name has been preserved in IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 57 Ogtam. The roof of the cave is formed by long stones laid Robcommon. across the top of the cleft, and covered by the grassy surfape. A Hntel over the direct entrance, which opens to the east, is Sathcrogitan Ogham-inscribed. It exhibits an example of one of the ^^^ subsidiary group of diphthongal forms not included in the original Ogham paradigm. This is the under-Hne curve standing for ui, and possibly for u in its other vowel combi- 6. nations. All the characters are well cut, but whether the terminal group is meant as three digits on, or under, the natural stem line formed by the convexity of the stone, is uncertain. If on, it is M, and the legend wiU read — QEAGUISM^ Qraguismu, if under — Qraguismf, when probably Qragui may detach itself as a proper name, and the rest of the legend remain to be regarded as a siglum or ,, monogram not yet interpretable. 83. The entrance to the cave from the south offers some- Eathcroghan thing more definite and of extreme interest. The Hntel, which ^^^ crosses it at the hne of junction with the other approach, bears on its outer arris a name beginning with FB and ending CCI with six vowel points between. There is nothing to iadicate how these vowel equivalents are to be divided. They are capable of very numerous combinations, but the associated ly^ consonants suggest the most probable reading — Fraicci or Freocci, Fraic or Freoc being a proper name, which in the Tain bo Fraich has local associations with Rathcroghan. 84. The legend on the inner arris is even more remarkable — MAQIMEDFFI Maqi Medffi. The over-line digits forming the D and the under-line digits forming the first F are in some degree apposited, and might 13. be taken as GB, Megbfi, 58 OGHAM INSCRIPTIOXS EoBcoMMON, but I make no doubt but this slight overlap indicates no real *™* modiiication of the text, and that the first reading is the true one. The name of Medif, here ia her own pecuhar crypt, is even harder to dissociate from an historical identity than was that of Conuri read under the shadow of Cahir Conree. But, if it be indeed the name of the Amazonian queen, there is nothing to tell US how long after her death it may have been borne by others, and Kke some other vocables already noticed, Medff may be mascuhne as well as feminine. We are impressed, perhaps awe-struck, with the possible presence of a memorial of the Helen and Semiramis of Irish epic romance, but I must be content to leave Rathcroghan with a sceptical mind, knowing what awaits us at the tomb of another queen later in date. It may help to some more definite idea of the uses of many caves which have and will come under notice, to refer to a statement in several of the Lives of Saint Patrick, regarding a subterranean apartment in the district beyond Boyle, on the borders of Shgo. He had need for vessels for his office, and, prompted by a dream, at a place not identified, called SHeve Grada, or " Orders Hill," found a cave, and in it an altar, and on the altar four glass chaHces, with which he served his occasion. Mayo. 85. With one exception, from Rathcroghan to the Atlantic, throughout southern and central Mayo, there appear to be no remains of any Ogham monument. Proceeding westward into the northern parts of Mayo, one reaches, at five miles beyond Killala, the village of Mullaghnacross, within a short Brcastagh distance of wMch, on the lands of Breastagh, stands a very '^ fine Ogham-inscribed pillar. Its dimensions are nearly 12 ft. by 2i ft. by 2 ft. Two of its arrises have originally been occupied by Ogham lettering : part of the inscription on one being buried in the earth when the stone was set upright. What is chiefly remarkable, as regards its situation, is its gi-eat distance from other monuments of the Ogham class, and the singtilarly Patrician character of its local surround- ings. It is on the immediate confines of the district of Foghill, the site of the wood oiFocluth, from which St. Patrick, in liis di-eam, thought he heard the voices of the Irish calHng him to his mission. In the immediate vicinity is Rathban, a IN IRELAND, WiMiES, AND SCOTLAND. 59 residence of that Auley son of Fiachra, the contemporary and jiayo, convert of Patrick, from whom the barony takes its name, Fr-nnANAGH. Fiersad Tresi, in which Tresi wife of Auley was drowned ; Ross-Erc, the foundation of his daughter Sere ; Kilcummin, that of his grandson Cummin Foda ; and Dunfinne, the scene of the capture of the murderers of his grandnephew Bishop Ceallagh, are all within a radius of six miles. Auley's name is variously spelled Amalgaid, Amolugid, and Amlongad. In the last form it appears to survive on the Breastagh pillar. The inscription purports to commemorate some descendant of ■a Coirbre, son of Auley. The early part of it, occupying the western arris, is defective at both beginning and end. If read upward normally from the right, it yields — * * SDULENGESCAD * In another reading downward the word ENGEL emerges ; but there is nothing definite to guide the course ot the transhter- ation. On the opposite or northern arris of this face of the pillar a clue exists in a distinct maq — MAQCOEEBRIMAQAMMLLO[NGI]TT Maq Corrbri Maq Ammllo[ngi]tt. 86- SKgo, also, if one group of two or three characters on Church Island in Lough Gill be excepted, has no Oghams. Neither are such inscriptions known ia Longford or Leitrim ; but bounding these counties on the north, Fermanagh Fermanagh. possesses several. These all he to the north of Lough Erne on the side of Tyrone. For the discovery of them we are indebted to Mr. Wakeman, a worthy pupil in Irish archseology of his former master, Petrie. In a sepulchral cairn on Topped Topped Mountain, exhibiting no trace of Christianity beyond a ques- ^'* tionable cross incised on one of its loose stones, he found the legend — A^ettaeu, which may decide us to regard the Netta rather as the com- ponent of a proper name than as an independent vocable. Another fine piQar observed by Mr. Wakeman near the Irvines- town Station on the railway to Ballyshannon, had the ill fate to be dressed for inspection by a stonecutter, whose restored digits cannot be rehed on. 60 OGHAM INSCKIPTIONS TTBOlfB. Castlederg, Aghascrihha 19 87. Further north, a cromlech at Castlederg, in Tyrone, was some time ago an object of much antiquarian interest, not as exhibiting Oghams of the Mnd we have been examin- ing, but as presenting one of the very few examples of incised scorings hitherto found in that class of rude stone monuments. I say was, because I hear it has been destroyed by the farmer on whose land it stood. Fortunately a cast of the scorings exists, and a careful drawing of the structure as it stood. There can be no doubt that the scorings preceded the imposition of the cap-stone, but I do not think they could ever have had a phonetic significance. They belong, how- ever, to a well-marked and widely-extended class of sculptur- ings, which may be designated pseudo Oghams, seemingly imitated from true Oghamic examples by persons ignorant of phonetic characters, but impressed with the value and mystery of writing. 88. A very fine and interesting monument of the true Ogham type, brought to hght by Mr. Wakeman, stands at Aghascribba, near the centre of Tyrone, in that district of the country approached from Pomeroy. It is a high, rough, but not solitary region. At the time of the Ulster Plantation the native Irish expelled from the fertile lowlands of Tyrone were fain to take up their abode in these recesses of the Munter Loney mountains. Here they continue to speak their old native language, and preserve their traditional courtesy and friendly manners, under circumstances which might well have barbarised a people of less generous attributes. They look on their monuments with reverence not untinged with superstition. The Ogham-bearing piUar was, at one time, thrown down by the farmer on whose ground it stood. " He had the floods in his byre," they say, " within the week," and was glad to set it up again. The fairies, they teU you, make their cavalcades about the great standing-stone in the next field, and a deep and prolonged musical note is sometimes heard from the detached stone standing eastward of the circle, which they call Crucan aiha na boithie, or the Mount of the Ford or Field of the Bothie, higher up the hiU. This Httle circle seems the remains either of a cairn or of a stone-built Bothie or bee-hive cell. There is nothing on the inscribed IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 61 pillar to indicate whether it be a Christian or Pagan monu- Tybosb. ment. All that is legible of the legend is composed of over- line characters — DOTeCTaMQI * * * * The under-hne digits which expressed the patronymic, being on the adjoining face exposed to the north, are almost wholly obhterated and illegible. The name is not found in Irish records so far as known to me, unless it be the Totect of the Book of Invasions, where it is ascribed to one of a pre- MUesian race, being, I would imagine, an earHer form of the Tudida of Adamnan and Toddadac of the Dunbell Ogham. The name Aghascribba seems to signify the Field of the Writing, and presumably carries back the existence of the monument to the first imposition of townland names — an indefinite retrospect. To whatever age it may belong, one cannot look around on the wide tracts of moor and craggy waste intervening between its site and the nearest ecclesiastical foundation (at Lower Bodoney, seven miles further down the valley) without a sense of wonder at the art of writing having so early penetrated into such a wilderness. Bodoney is the Both domnach or Domus dominica of the Patrician estabhsh- ment. Both, a house, is pecuHar to this region, as Bovevagh (Both Medhbha, the House of Meave), Boydafea (Both da fiach, the House of the two Ravens), Raphoe (Rath-both, the Fort-house) ; but, elsewhere through Ireland, the equivalent word employed in similar compositions is Tech, tectum. 89. We are here near the watershed between Lough Foyle Knocic Many and Lough Neagh, and, returning southward over the high ^^ tableland of central Tyrone, come at its verge on the head- waters of the Blackwater River, running into the latter basin. The valley of the upper Blackwater, about Augher and Clogher, known locally in Irish records as the Clossagh, is a fertile and beautiful region, sheltered on the north by a range of mountain, one outlying eminence of which over- looking the rich tract about Augher, interposes between that plain and the secluded valley where Carleton, our Irish Ettrick Shepherd, was born and educated. This is Knock Many, so called as being the Hill of Bani, wife of Teuthal Techtmar and mother of Felimy Rechtmar, royal names famiUar in the 62 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Tybone. pedigrees of all the great Highland and Island famihes of Scotland. It was in Scotland Teuthal spent his early man- hood during his exile, consequent on the Attacottic rebelhon, when the unfree or tributary tribes (Aitheach Tuatha) revolted against their Milesian or Scotic conquerors. In Scotland probably he married Bani, daughter of a king, it is said, of Finland. Assembhng his forces here, Teuthal returned to Ireland, where, after making great havoc of the servile tribes, he reinstated himself securely on the throne, and in the year of our era 111, if we may accept the testimony of our Annals, lost his queen who, it is added, on the same authority, was buried on Knock Many, in the Qossagh. The sides of the mountain are thickly wooded ; the summit is bare, and on the summit are the remains of a great sepulchral tumulus of several chambers, still partly covered by the remains of their cairn, but for the most part open to the sky. The stones of one of these chambers only remain. Two of them are covered with barbaric designs of the same general style and character as that at New Grange and the monuments on the Boyne and at Sheve-na-Calhagh, another great assemblage of sepulchral tumuU near Oldcastle, on the borders of Meath and Cavan. 90. The general feehng of all these efforts at sculp- tural decoration is the same, and they all have a striking resemblance to the ornamentation seen in the Mani-Nelud and Gavr-inis monuments in Brittany. On the eastern flank- ing stone of the principal cell these concentric rings and parallel zig-zags exhibit a certain degree of regularity. Un- dulating lines form part of what looks Kke a work having some significance. Groups of these in definite numbers flow parallel to one another from other hnes on which they abut. Other groups of straight hnes stand on or depend from these. The whole aspect of the sculpture gives the idea of some kind of writing invested in a masquerade of barbaric flourishes and hizarreries. The same idea is conveyed by straight digit-like indentations cut across the edge of a walling slab at the opposite side, which recall at fijst sight very vividly one Ogham-Hke species of Rune. The Rune, it will be remembered, is either ordinary alphabetic, or cryptic, Rune. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 63 The cryptic Rune may be iudicated, either by branched stems, Tyb or by longer and shorter digits arranged across a band ; the shorter ones indicating the ait or category to which the letter belongs, the longer ones its sub-number in the ait. Jli If it could be said that the digits which cross the band formed by the edge of the slab, here, had definite distinctions ia length or otherwise, we would look with the keenest interest for the three of one Irind and the two of the other which should yield us the B of Bani ; but if Bani's name be here, it is concealed under some other device ; for the hues are only nine in number, and are too obscure in their terminations to enable one to say whether they vary in length or other- wise on any system. They look like a pseudo-Rune, just as the flourished Hues with which they are associated look like pseudo-Oghams imitated without understanding, as we see the straight strokes surrounding the head in a northern bracteate representuig the Byzantine name illegible to the artist. If, then, this be the tomb of Bani, which, on the evi- dence, we can hardly doubt, Ave must either conclude that at the beginning of the second century, an ordinary Ogham legend was not procurable even for the wife of the monarch, or else that the ordinary Ogham was in her case elaborated and invested wdth aesthetical mystery, just as we see plain writing disguised in our own days in the affected alphabetic singularities of addresses and architectural plans. Our minds, however, will be better not made up to either conclusion till the whole subject shall have undergone a much fuller exami- nation, and at more competent hands than mine. CHAPTER IV. Armagh, chief seat of the Patrician church — Inscribed dolmen at Lennan — Mulloch Ogham — Sepulchral cairns at Slieve-na-Calliagh ; Tailten the Irish Olympia, cele- brated for its games, &c. — The Boyne tumuli ; New Grange — Castletimon Ogham — Donard ; one of the three Christian churches founded by Palladius a.d. 430-1— Killeen Cormac : its connection with Duftach Macculugar, companion of St. Patrick : the burying place of his sept —The Hy-Lugair and Hy-Cormaio, descendants of Cucorb, King of Leinster, slain a d. 119 — Ogham-inscribed stones at Killeen Cormac, Gowran, Claragh, Dunbell, Ballyboodan, Windgap, Bally- vooney, Island, Drumlohan ; cave under its Killeen containing several Ogham legends— Kilgrovan — Ardmore ; its Bound Tower — Saint Declan's Bed, his pedigree. Abmioh, UOKAGBAir. HONAQHAK, Jjcnnaii 19 91. With the exception of some doubtful scorings at Corrody, ia the County of Derry, and Mr. Wakeman's report of a supposed Ogham cave in Donegal, 1 know of nothing Oghamic in the northern parts of Ulster. But the neighbour- hood of Armagh, the chief place of the Patrician church, furnishes one example. It comes from the vicinity of Pagan Emania, but bears a cross, described by Dr. Reeves, Bishop of Down and Connor. 92. Southward from Armagh Ues the County of Monaghan. In its hilly and rough division, to the north of Ballybay, in the parish of Tullycorbet, at a place called Lennan, we encounter a cromlech inscribed with characters. They are not inde- terminate scorings as at Castlederg, but characters, some of which look hke Runes, and one which resembles a Scholastic variety of Ogham. They were regarded by O'Donovan, when he examined the monument in 1834, as a forgery. I do not think that opinion wiU be entertained after an inspection of the cast. O'Donovan failed to observe a very significant sculpture above these characters. It looks Hke a galley, as galleys are represented on the sculptured monuments of Brittany and Scandinavia. Save the scorings on this and the Castlederg cromlech, and channel-hke inden- tations on the upper side of the covering stone at Brennans- IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. ()") town, near Dublin, I know of no other inscribed dohucns in Monaohan, Ireland. ^,^"''' Meath, 93. ^Vhere the hilly country of Monaghan and Cavan Cavan. subsides into the rich plain b( >rdering Meath, we again meet with a regular Ogham at Mulloch, near Virginia Water. It Muiimh stands in the churchyard beside the parish church, and is i ^ legible up one arris — OSBARR, or, possibly, Osbarrn, a name looldng to historic times, and, although unaccompanied by any Christian symbol, very un- hkely to be Pagan. 94. Advancing into Meath, a hue of green bare heights Me hh. rising from the wooded plain is visible along the western boundary of the valley of the Blackwater. For a distance of two miles these Sheve-na-Calhagh hills, as they are called, consti- SUcve-na- tute a vast cemetery of scattered sepulchral cairns. The group ""^^^ reaches to within eight miles of that part of the Blackwater c. where Telltown is at this day thought to preserve the name and site of Taltin, the old Lish Olympia, famous for its triennial fairs, races, and games, and celebrated also as one of the great cemeteries of the country " before the faith." Hence it has been supposed that in these Slieve-na-Calliagh cairns we have the remains of Irish Pagan interments ; and they do, in ah respects, present an appearance in accordance with that idea. The cairn contains its central domed chamber, approached by a narrow adit, as at Maeshow or New Grange on the Boyne. The chamber is the vestibule to inner cells, on whose floors rest shallow stone sarcophagi. The walls and roofing slabs are covered with carved devices, more wild and fantastic even than those of the Bani monument. Circles, zig-zags, pittings, fringes of straight hues, maggot- like objects, and others somewhat resembling boats with vertical lines for the crews, are scattered over the surface, apparently without design or connection. The nearest resem- blance found to these freaks of the graver, out of Ireland, is on the Coilsford stone in AjTshire. A possible chariot pre- ceded by a diapered fantasy Avhich may have been ■ intended for horses, is one of the feAv instances of an apparent atteinjJt at representation of any known object. The on]}- exci;])ti(iu 66 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS JIeath. to this fantastic sort of figuring is found on the hntel of the southern cell of the central cairn. Here are what have very generally been supposed to be Ogham digits, some of them crossing the arris ; but the greater number on the flat, and independent of that or any other stem-hne. They much resemble the Knock Many scorings. They have all the appearance of being contemporaneous. They have, no doubt, a pui-pose, and, possibly, a phonetic meaning. Certainly, if the Ogham be a development of any earher system, we are here among its roots and first manifestations, and the nature of that other system, if it existed, will have to be investigated on the assumption that some relation holds between these figures and the numbers of their fines, and the undiscovered aicmes and sub-numbers of some primitive alphabet. Ornameniaiioii QQ, Jn these cairns have been found considerable (III hone objects n,- pi i • , pi-ii • • i futiiid in caves, collcctions 01 Done ODjects, some 01 which bear mcised designs of interlaced ornamentation, as if intended as matrices for metal-work. Were we to accept these as records of the builders, we should conclude that the fantastic figuring of the cell walls was executed by those who could have covered them with elegant and regular pattern work if they had pleased, but who adopted the barbaric design, or seeming want of design, as something perhaps traditionary and possibly hieratic. The same may be said of most of the caves which have yielded engraved bones elsewhere. The etchings on the bones contrast strongly -with the barbarous rudeness of their surroundings. I see no way of escaping the conclusion that a higher art co-existed with the use of traditionary ' barbarisms in sepulchral monuments, unless we suppose these rifled canns and tumuh to have been used as hiding-places and workshops by Wayland Smiths of a later period ; and, in this view, it may be worth remarking that in Irish tradition such caves are regarded as the haunts of musicians and artificers of the old Tuatha de Danaan race, Avho first brought in the knowledge of the arts, and, on their conquest by the Milesians, hid themselves underground. 96. From the SUeve-na-Calhagh cairns to those of the Boyne is a distance of about twenty miles. The Boyne tumuli and their chambers are too well known to require any length- IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. f)7 ened description. I would but call attention to the sculpturing Meath, of a slab from New Grange, which it wiU be seen offers in its {^"^"[^q,,, general design a great similarity to the Bani monument. Neiv Grange There are the same flowing zig-zags and concentric circles, ^ ^ but none of the wilder grotesques, either of the Bani stone or of the intermediate group. It would be hard to conceive of anything phonetic lying hid under these forms. One device, however, does exist on the headstone of the western ceU at New Grange, which certainly has a monogrammatic and in some degree an Oghamic appearance. It will recall very vividly the discontinuous cross hnes of the Tyvoria example. It can hardly be but that, after what has been seen, some systematic examination of these devices ou the Irish Pagan monuments of Tyrone and Meath will be undertaken by competent observers, who may be able to say definitively whether these are merely insensible ornamentation or phonetic elements fantastically disguised. Any traces Meath may retain are, I beheve, illegible, or quasi Oghamic. 97. Neither does Dubhn, save in one illegible example at Dublin. Portmarnock, afford local examples. Those assembled at the Portmnnovk Royal Irish Academy have been in part, and will be, for the "^ remainder, noticed in connection with their places of origin, so far as these can now be ascertained. There are two of them which I have been unable to ascertain whence they come, further than that I beheve them to be from Kerry, probably sent up by Mr. Hitchcock. Lest this supposition should be erroneous, I think it better to notice them here. The first presents another example of the name Gusacht, already noticed ; it is an old and well-known name in Irish hagiology. The first bishop of Ardagh was Gusact son of Milchu, Saint Patrick's pagan bondmaster. The inscription is well preserved and complete. Its difficulties arise from the absence of the usual Maqi, or perhaps from the absence of Maqi in its usual spelHng — p goSqCTj,^^smosacma];;^ini &c. The word-division will depend on whether Gosucti be taken as the genitive, or Gosucteas, which is more in accordance U, c. 68 OGHAM mSCEEPTIONS DnBLiiJ, WlCKLOW. ■\VlCKLOW. Castleitmon 3(i with the Corkaguiny example. If the first, we have Gosucti smosac, seemingly a term of humiliation, followed by majn (the equivalent of Maqi) Ni. Maqini and Maqi Ne are found elsewhere, Ni being apparently the genitive of the name No, also found further on. If read Gosucteas, the second name should be taken as one of the numerous class formed in mo, "my," probably Mosocma. Grounds have been thought to exist for reading this Mosocra, the name of a saint in Irish hagiology ; but I think there has been a mistake of fact. If read either of the latter ways, the X character should not be taken as a vocable, and the residue be read as ini, " here." It seems to me that fewer difficulties attend the reading first suggested — Gosucti smosac m,api Ni. The stone of " Gusact Mucosus son of No." Conf. Spumosus ( ). The second Academy stone of uncertain origin bears the legend — MUCOTU^^A^-'^AC where the resemblance of the vocables Tuddaddac to a proper name found on one of the Kilkenny monuments, noticed further on, seems to detach Muco as possibly an equivalent of Maqi in some secondary stage of filiation, — a matter worthy of consideration in connection with Mucoi. I do not take Mu as equivalent to the " mo " of Mocatoc, whose name has been thought to be recorded here. 98. ^A^icklow County now takes up the chain of connection, the Hnks of which will become closer as we return towards the south. At Castletimon, in Dunganstown parish, between the remains of a cromlech and the sea, at the side of the high road, hes a large boulder-Hke block, which may have better served the purpose of a coped grave-stone than a pillar monument, bearing very legibly along its rounded ariis — NETACARINETACAGNI. What ^^dU first strike us is that here are two names conceived in the A's B formula, and that neta enters as a component into both, like the netta of earher observed examples. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. (3i> " Netacar's Netacag " has certainly an odd aspect, and Wicklow. induces a suspicion that some other name is concealed under adventitious syllables, as in the formolacl process already referred to. Carantoc would be the name most hkely to be so hidden, and neta merely a sufFarcination and disguise. 99. Behind us, in the mountain country dividing Wicklow Gicndaimgh from Kildare, are the ruins of St. Kevin's ecclesiastical Gty of ^^^ '^.^ Glendalough, another centre of Patrician teaching and dis- ciphne ; but neither here do we find any trace of Oghamic writing. 100. If we cross the mountain, however, towards Kildare, Donard and descend on Donard, lying at its western base, we are ^ ^ again in a well-marked Ogham district, including the remark- able cemetery of Killeen Cormac, which contains four examples. In the stone fences about Donard fragments of Ogham monu- ments are numerous, and the names of the farmers who broke them up are remembered. A short mile from the village on the south-west stands the Ogham-inscribed pillar called the Piper's Stone. The common tradition of profane dancers Piper's stone. and musicians being turned into stone exists here as in most other districts abounding in stone monuments. The Piper's Stone is excessively rugged, and its legend most difficult to decipher. It shows the X character, and seems to read — INIGI. 101. Donard is and always has been accepted as one of the three Christian churches founded by Palladius during his short mission to the Irish in A.D. 430-1. The authority is of vene- rable, not to say respectable, antiquity. The three chm-ches designated are — Killfinte, Tech na Romanach, and Domnach Arda. Killfinte has, on plausible grounds, been supposed to be Killeen Cormac. There is no question that the House of the Eomans is the present Tigi-oney, near Wicklow, nor that Domnach Arda — Dominica doinus alta — is Donard. Although Tigroney ofi^ers no Ogham remains, yet their existence at the other two sites must detract from the force of what has previously been said respecting their absence from Glen- dalough and the other seats of that Patrician Christianity which followed on the mission of Palladius. It is more pro- bable, however, that the Ogham use spread hither from a 70 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS KlLDABE Killcen Cormac 32 l.r. centre further south, towards which its evidences extend in an unbroken connection and increasing numbers from hence to the great Oghamic tract of South Munster. 102. Killeen Cormac hes beyond Dunlavin, six miles to the west, in the lands of Cobbinstown, in a detached portion of the parish of Davidstown, in the County of Kildare. It is still used as a regular burial place, although without any remains of an associated church. It is a mound of considerable dimen- sions, piled up by successive interments from the ground level. Were the upper strata removed and the superficial sepulchi-al constructions laid bare, it would, judging from what can be seen of these round the under margin, present much the same appearance as a denuded cemetery of apparently the Pagan period near GlencolumMU, in the County of Donegal. Each interment is in its own stone-built cist, and these are of large dimensions. The entrances are seen to two such sepulchral cellce of the second storey, if I may so say, of this exuvial edifice, divided by a stone-pillar, which bears traces of Ogham on its top, and has down each side a groove for the reception of the closing stone. 103. At the foot of this most ancient and remarkable grave mound, near the entrance to the level surrounding enclosure. Lies a fine pillar-stone inscribed in Roman and in Ogham characters. There can be no question that the word "Druides" forms part of the Roman epigraph, and this being the only instance of the mention of Druids on any known lapidary monument anywhere, the double inscription cannot but be regarded with extraordinary interest. It seems to me to be in part at least bihngual and bihteral. The Roman epigraph may read — IWENEDHVIDES Jvvene druides, or, owing to a flaw making it doubtful if the fifth letter be R or N— IVVEEEDRVIDES Jvvere druides, or, by an allowable use of the two fii-st characters in their numerical value — IV (that is Quatuor) vere druides. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 71 Thus, it may signify the stone of " the Druid Youths," or the Kildabb. stone " of Juvan the Druid " (for the es genitive need not, in view of the Welsh examples, embarrass us), or the stone " of the Four true Druids." At this stage let us examine the associ- ated Ogham and see which construction it may favour. The obvious regular-marked digits read — UFANOSAFIEFEATTOS. Ufanosa/lefrattos. Taking it as Ufano safi, and considering that saei is the Various read- modern and middle Irish for sage, wise man, sophos, it "'^f °f "'■" *-^ . Ogham on appears not an unlikely echo of Juvan the Druid. But where juveneVruides is the 3°i It has no regular equivalent in Ogham; and we *'"""• may ask is not the s necessary to complete Ufanos, whether it be nominative or genitive ? If so, we should be left to utilise the second word as afi, accepting Stokes and Rhys's version of it as the early Celtic for " descendant of." Then we should enquire for the patronymic. The reading has hitherto been Sahattos, but the plaster cast taken from the paper mould shows distinctly, though faintly, what the stone itself, overshadowed by trees as it is, could never reveal, that the reading is Efrattos ; and " Ufan of the descendants of Efratt," would be a better sequence than " Ufan the sage," with " Efratt " standing by itself. But there are some scorings or characters, besides, which must also be taken into account. An imperfect d, not in parallehsm with the vertical digits we have been discussing, precedes the Ufan. I call it imperfect because one digit is boldly and the other very slenderly incised, and over the last digit of the / a deKcately carved very minute t, stands just above the hne. Here the Quatuor vere druides reading begins to receive some countenance. As we omit or bring in these supernumerary characters, we may have Ufan or Dufan or Duftan, or were it allowable to take ji for its opposite, Duftaq, and so the efforts of my learned friend, Hev. J. Shmr- the Rev. Mr. Shearman, who has long laboured to connect ™«« ™"""'« KUleen Cormac with Duftac Macculugar, the companion of Gormac with St. Patrick, would be rewarded. I cannot take upon me ^'^/'■'^'^ '^'"''~ ^ cinvgaVj com- to do that Violence to this text, though I am aware ih&tpnimmofM. scholars of eminence do not shrink from such changes when '''"''""■*■ the exigencies of other inscriptions seem to require it. The 72 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS KiLDARE. minuscular tis a very small object, but not more minute than some OgKam characters, whicli I cannot decipher, occurring on a twin pillar lying beside. A very faint and rudely- outlined head of the Saviomr is picked in on the upper face of this monument, and on the arris to the left these Oghams are incised. Whatever we may say of Duftac himself, the Kilken connection of the place with Duftach's sept of the Hy-Lugair, ^"™""' ,';''"" is well made out. The bounds of the sept, as laid down Bii/tarh's in the old Irish books, embrace it. It is the only topo- •^^1' ^"/.""' -^^2/- graphical KiUeen ia the Diocese of Glendalough, and a Killeen ulugair, " on the other side of the mountain," is enumerated among the possessions of that see in A.D. 1183. Then, Duftach himself is recorded, with many other eminent ecclesiastics, to have been buried in. the dinnlacha or marsh- hillocks of the Hy-Lugair, which, from the peculiarity of the position, can hardly mean any other place. Next, as regards Ciicorb, King the name Killeen Cormaic. The Hy-Lugair were a branch of "{ ^"'ad iia ^^'^ ■'^y Cormaic, both septs being descendants of Cormac, son ancestor uf the of Cucorb, King of Leinster, who was slain A.D. 119, by Felimy Hn-Cormaic j^echtmar. Eighth in descent from this Cormac was Saiat and Hy- ... . . , . . Lugair. Abban, whose designation ia old Irish genealogical description would be Maccu Cormaic. On the death of this holy person Saint Abban : & contention for his rehcs sprang up between the men of North contentiun/or Xjgi^gter where he died, and those of South Leinster, where lus relics. ... he had chiefly ministered. The feud was composed by the appearance of two wains drawn by miraculously sent oxen — a common device in such cases, — each carrying the seeming remains of the saint, which, taking different directions, led the combatants oif the field, and after the entombment, vanished in the fords of neighbouring rivers. Now, the local tradition at Killeen Cormaic is that the Cormac buried there, and from whom the place has its name, was a king whose remains were brought thither by certain oxen, which, after a hound accompanying them had indicated the spot for the entombment, by leaving the impress of his paw on the head of a standing-stone, Avent ofi" and vanished in the River G-reise. King Arthur's hound, which left the track of his paw in Buieth to serve as one of Nennius's wonders of Britain, may have suggested that part of the story relating to the dog's paw still IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 73 shown at the Killeen, but the rest of the tradition has such a Kildaee. hkeiiess to the story of the descendant of Cormac, son of Cucorb, as may lead to the probable conclusion that his are the obsequies referred to. Let it be observed further that the son of Cormac, from whom the two tribes or Finne of the Hy-Cormaic and the Hy-Lugair sprang, was Labraid, and in reference to Labraid, which happens to correspond with the third person singular of the present tense of labraim, " I speak," let me recall the story of Labraid Longseach told siorfof by Keating. " Does the comer by sea (Longseach) speak f" j^.^^)"' ""^' asked the druid of the supposed dumb exile, who had returned with his Gaulish auxiharies to take vengeance on his enemies. " Labraid " — he speaks — was the reply, and so Labraid, the Speaker, the eloquent, became a noted name. K we have rightly identified the hillocks in the Hy-Lugair marshes, it vrill not be Duftach Maccu-Lugau-, and Abban Maccu Cormaic alone, \yhose sepulchres we may expect to find here, but those also of several other eminent descendants of this Labraid ; including three sons of Duftach and a female saint of groat celebrity, Cuach or Coningen, all of whom are recorded to he together in the same " Dinnlacha." Supposing then, the true reading to be quatuor vere druides, Mr. Shearman may be well excused for his persistence in beheving that at least under their " Ogham names," if not ostensibly, Duftach himself and some of the three others are not only interred here, but montunentally commemorated in the inscription under con- sideration ; for four persons being indicated, and afi taken as meaning " descendant of," it is plain that the same descent, from some one hero called by his Ogham name of Efrattos, is predicated for each of them ; and Efrattos, it must be owned, has all the appearance of a Greekish equivalent of Labraid, the speaker. If this be so, we may see that whether the reading be luvene Dt-uides, reflected in the Ufanos afi. efrattos of the Ogham, or Quatuor vere Druides reflected in the fourfold reading suggested by the supplemental and minus- cular digits, it would bo equally true of all to designate him or them as de nepotibus Labradii. 104. But it Avill have occurred to you to ask, How could these groat grandsons of Labraid, who was but fom-th in 74 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS KlLDABE, Kilkenny. Killern Cormac *' decedda '' stone. Kilkenny. Gowran 20 /. T. descent from Cucorb, have possibly lived in the fifth century? Abban was seventh only from Cucorb, which, at thirty years to the generation, places him (A.D. 119 + 210 = 329) more than a century before the commission of Palladius. It may be that some generations have dropped out of the pedigree ; but if the discrepancy could have been explained on that suggestion, the old Irish hagiologists would not have had occasion to allege, as they do, that this Abban lived three hundred and sixteen years, being the time necessary from the presumable date of his birth to bring him into chronological conformity with the Annals. We stand, indeed, amazed at the vision of possible pre-Palladian times, which seems to rise before us in contemplating this mortuary hiUock in the Hy-Lugair marshes. 105. Half way round the mount to the right of the " Druides" stone hes, or formerly lay, another displaced block, inscribed in Ogham round both arrises and the top — maqiddeccedamaqimaein. Maqi ddecceda maqi Marin, We recognise the decedda, but Marin, seemingly complete, is new, and, unless n be separable, not easily reconcilable to other forms. 106. Beyond the " decedda " stone half way round to the right, stands a pillar bearing digits in a new arrangement. Here one digit is made to serve as stem-Hue for others, in a kind of sub-virgular dependence, obviously contrived for cryptic purposes. Another example of the same device will occur further on. It seems to be a kind of rebus for doftos. 107. Tinning westward and southward fromKilleen Cormac, we cross the rich garden of Carlow into the Coimty of Kilkenny, where at Gowran Abbey we find another cross-signed fiag- stone which has once borne a long Ogham legend, now much mutilated as well as the cross. The crutched heads of the arms of the cross have been chipped off, as it would seem, to form the arrises on which the remains of the Ogham text are found, an apparent evidence of the prior existence of the cross, quite contrary to what has often been advanced regard- ing the supposed earher inscription of the Ogham in such cases. The frequent Maqi Mucoi is recognisable on one arris. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 75 On the other, remaiiiB of what may have been the name Kilkenny. Laserian ui the inflated form — LASICARl'UGNI. 108. At Tulloherin, in the same neighbourhood, distinct Tuiioiwrm I. I.e. but illegible remains of another Ogham exist on a truncated '■^^ pillar near the base of the round tower in the parish grave- yard ; and at the ruined church of Claragh, built into the ciarayh wall over the western doorway, a long stone is seen having ^'^ the legend — TASEGAGNI MUCOI MAQE * ■* -X- 4f the masonry conceahng the rest of the patronymic. Here is "Mucoi" without a maqi preceding, used apparently as designating the status or character of Tascen, the person commemorated. Haigh's mucoi, " daughter," would suit the context, but so to conclude would be premature. 109. In the adjoining parish of DunbeU to the west there Dutibeii are traces of excavations from wliich two very fine Ogham piUars, now in the Museum of the Royal Historical and Archse- ological Association at Kilkenny, were extracted, many years ago. The site does not appear to have been ecclesiastical. The stones were broken in numerous fragments by the farmer for more convenient removal ofi' the land, but were fortu- nately discovered by the Rev. James Graves and Mr. Prim, two active officers of the Society, in time to prevent their conversion to sordid uses. Reconstructed, by fitting their fragments together, they are both legible, and read — BEAN^TTySMAQID^E^DDA (recalhng the possible "Dugreddos'' of the Balljmahunt example), and SAFFIQEGITT f/™ATTAC where the double d may be a c, and the name a form of Toichthec, as reflected in the Cahir-na-gat legend, where we read Togittacc. Saffiqeg seems a strange appellation, but we meet it again in its less dignified form Sfaccuc, stiU a very odd-sounding collocation of vocables, and suggestive of some trick of hteral antithesis such as may have more than once occurred to our minds in (ither cases. 76 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Waterford. Wiiidgap Kilkenny, HO. Ballyboodan, in Knocktopher parish, more to the ^^™j™^°'^ south, has furnished its last acquisition to the Kilkenny 31 Lapidary Museum. It is a fine pillar, still legible enough to '• '• show that it records the name of Corbi poi maqi labridd (a). " Corb, that was son of Labraid," the "poi" being expressed by X with its attendant vowels. Labrid may be of any antiquity, but Corb, "wicked," "lewd," "accursed," sounds in self-deprecation and savours of the cell. Another recent addition to the Kilkenny Museum is noticed by Mr. Atkinson. Not having seen it, I abstain from reproducing the suggested reading. 111. Crossing the Suir from Kilkenny through Tipperary into Waterford at Carrick-on-Suir, we have in front and on the right the rugged group of the Commeragh Mountains ; on the left, the woods and far-spreading glades of Curraghmore. A road leading to Rathgormuc passes, at about two miles from Carrick, through the lands of Windgap, where in. a cave in a circular earth fort, locally called Rath-Coohiamuck, a boldly cut flagstone preserves the legend — • MODDAGNI MAQI GATIGNI MDCOI LUGONI. " Of Modan, son of Gatia Mucoi of Lugon." It may seem to you that it continues to favour the hypothesis of Haigh, that " mucoi " signifies daughter. 112. Takitig the high road towards Curraghmore and Kilmacthomas, we come, at SJ miles from Carrick, on a tract abounding in stone monuments at Ballyquin, where the great stone which appears to have borne the legend Catahar moco Jiriqorrh stands at the right side of the high-road, ser%dng as a massive and lofty gate-post. There are few more imposing monuments, or more Hke what we might be inclined to suppose survivals from Pagan times, in Ireland. Cromlechs exist near it, and a double-chambered cave, probably sepulchral. Crom- lechs, however, need not be regarded as all pre-Christian. At Balhna, in Mayo, the lac na tri maoil is a perfect cromlech though raised over persons put to death in the seventh cen- tury ; and the moco of Cathbar's family name may appear to Ballyquin 3 l.r. IN IRELAND, WiVLES, AND SCOTLAXD. 77 readers of Adamnan's life of Columba less antique than the Waterford. more frequent maqi. 113. If we proceed southward from Kilmacthomas we reacli Baiiyvooney the sea coast near the picturesque httle town of Stradbally. ^"^ About half a mile to the east at Baiiyvooney, in a secluded glen running down to the sea shore, is a holy well coverLMl over by stone slabs, all sadly bemu-ed and broken, but two of them bearing Ogham-inscribed names of novelty and interest. The first— Netafroqi maqi qit. (A) The qit, as a proper name, need not revolt us. Cam Kit is the tomb of Cath, the slayer of Queen Mcave in Roscommon. Netafroq may be readily recognised as Natfraic in its state dress. We continue to find Neta entering into name-com- position, and begin to reconcile our minds to reje(;ting the idea of its being a separate vocable. The fragments of the second, put together, yield the epigraph, Qrita o maqi lohat, (B) with the elegant associated names — AJinia, GracoUni. One naturally asks. Were these the names in religion of Qritt and Lobat respectively ? and whence came the classical taste which so long ago brought these non-Celtic sounds into a pastoral recess of the Waterford sea-coast ? 114. I must crave your patience to refer to some of the monuments of early Irish church history. The name of ^Engus the Culdee, who flourished in the reign of Aid Ornighe, jBnffus the A.D. 793 to 817, is known as that of the author of two very '-^"^dte. venerable rehgious compositions — one, which has been edited by Dr. Whitley Stokes, a surprising monument of palaso- graphic and philological accomplishment, as it is also a splenchd example of hterary purity and elegance in the use of our language, the Fehre or Fasti of the Saints, especially Hh " Fdire •• those of Ireland ; and the other which still awaits the hand ''''"'.'^ h J^r. of the modern scholar, his Litany, partly pubhshed by Petrie Stoktl. in his Essay on Irish Ecclesiastical Architecture. In the Litany ^Engus invokes various holy persons and companies of His " Litamj: 78 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS 95 Watebford. religious men and women, Romans, Italians, Gauls, Britons, Saxons, who had flocked to Ireland in primitive Christian times ia search of the happiness afforded by the ascetic hfe. Doubtless we are here, at Tuhber Kill Eilte, near the site of some Latin ccenobium of these early times, and truly no place could be found better fitted for a tranquil and contemplative hfe. Island 115. Another remarkable legend exists at a place called Island, near the sea, on the opposite side of Stradbally. On one side of the stone is inscribed — CONETaSMA[Q]IGU^ and on the other, reading upward — Qomagecafec, or, read reversely — netasegemon. I acknowledge my inabihty to determine which is right. We shall find an equally perplexing choice set before us in the principal inscription at Ardmore, of which presently. 116. The rath-cave of Drumlohan is the next poiat to which we shall proceed ; but I must here speak from my own drawings, in which I recognise the same habihty to error as ia the drawings of others. Drumlohan hes two miles north from Stradbally, a rough boggy country, through which runs the drum or ridge of arable land giving it its name. Within a wide circular earthen fort, exists an entirely disused Killeen. In removing part of the circular embankment, a cave was found extending under it and partaking of its curve. The stones forming the side walls and roof almost all bear Ogham legends, but, having been inscribed before they were turned to this use, have for the most part portions of their texts concealed. Imperfect, however, as many of them are, they introduce us to further new and characteristic local names, and possibly to something new in the monotonous vocabulary hitherto employed. The Hntel stone over the entrance seems to me to read along one arris and round the head — (A) manumagu nogati mo (coi), Dnimlohan 24 c. Killeen with cave. IN IRELAND, WiVLES, AND SCOTLAND. 79 and along the opposite arris, Wateefohd. Macarh. Mac Arh, we learn from tlie Brehon Laws, is the designation of one who has graduated in poetry. 117. The fourth roofing slab presents the name, Dnmiohan Calunofiq maqi mucoi, (B) with following characters which Mr. Brash reads, I believe rightly, litof, so far as they are visible. We have here the first example of a class of early Munster names in fie, which we shall often meet with. 118. The sixth roofing slab on one arris has what I take to C^' be the name in the nominative, Lafic, and on the other, Maqini. If Ni be the patronymic, we might suppose it to be the genitive of some such form as Na, which we shall meet with hereafter ; and here again we find ourselves intro- duced to a monosyllabic nomenclature somewhat strange to the eye, but corroborated by many names of the like kind in the older records, such as Al, En, Un, Id, Ith, &c. 119. The seventh roofing stone is inscribed on all its angles. (D) The cave being near the surface, it is easily stripped, and when exposed exhibits a continuous and nearly perfect legend — Cunalegea maqi c ( ) I ar Celuufiq feci (o ?). Remembering the Qeniloci of St. Manchan's, and the Qeniloegni of Martramane, we recognise the principal name which probably was in its local form Culoc or Cenlogha, son of someone whose name seems to have begun with C, and to have ended with 1. We also have sufiicient examples to familiarise us with Celufic as a personal name ; but the particle " ar " between is new. " Ar," whether in modern or ancient Irish, so far as my little knowledge extends, when used as a preposition means " on," " at," " for," and if this be its employment and meaning here, it is the first equivalent yet 80 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Wateefobd. met with of the " at " and " after" of Runic sepulchral legends. Thorsteia set this stone " at " his father Thorkill. Sweno let raise this stone "after" his mother. Such is the Norse epitaph in its simplest form. But it puts our Celtic " A son of B," or even this, " A son of B for C," — as I take it, so far, to mean — to some discredit in point of expressiveness ; and when it goes beyond the simple formula, though still con- cise, it is full, predicative, biographic, and even picturesque to an extent not matched by the epitaphs of any other people. If I have read the legend aright, another word of necessary significance to complete the statement remains after Culufic — feci, offering to us, if we be wilHng to accept a Latin formula in Irish company, the complete meaning : " I, Cunalegea, son (or daughter, we may probably be disposed to say) of C, have made this for Celufic." Two faint indentations follow, which may be o. It would, perhaps, extend your complais- ance too far were I to suggest opus or ojfficium, although authority might be found for both, but in non-Celtic associ- ation. My reading, however, not being supported by a cast, must be taken for what it is worth, considering that Mr. Brash (275) has read the characters — Cunalegea maqicetai desradcq feci. 120. The last legend exhibited by the cross-laid Hntels of the roof yields the very archaic-looking names — (E) Igu maqi dag, and I am imable at this time to say whether the text is complete, though I have no doubt it is rightly transliterated. 121. The wall stone to the left at the entrance has the legend — (F) Bir maqi mucoi rottais. It may be Bir, son of " Mucoi " Rottais ; but, if so, we have here a genitive ia ais not countenanced by any other example. Bir is not found as a proper name in the books, so far as I know, although among such names as have been lately enumerated it need not be considered very singular. But birrotais has a meaning, and if foimd by itself would IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 81 readily, after what we have seen, be taken as a name of dis- Watebfohd. paragement. Here again Maqi Mucoi, if not a step in pedi- gree, could not be other than an interjection. 122. The third walling stone is inscribed on the face — Maqini. (G) What may be at the back cannot be ascertained. 123. The fifth waUing stone shows the names Odafe maqi Denafe, ,-^^\ both new, and for both of which I rely on the accuracy of Mr. Brash. 124. On the right, or western, side of the cave is only one inscription. It occurs on the block fifth from the entrance. I read it Digos maqi muco(i), (i) with probably an Tinseen continuation behind. 125. That these stones have come ready inscribed from the adjoining Killeen, or, as it is called in this part of the country, Killeena, seems highly probable, but the construction of the cave has exhausted the supply. Looking at the remains as they exist, one would be disposed to say, The Killeen was first, the encircling Rath next, and the Rath-cave made from the spoil of the dismantled cemetery. Returning to the coast, as we approach Dungarvan, xilgm van another deserted, but not wholly dismantled Killeena is '■^^' reached at Kilgrovan. The place is open and arable. A Httle spot is left untilled overlooking the sea. Four rude flag- stones were here set up as pillars when I first visited it : one only is standing now. The impression given is that they have been brought together out of a larger area. They are all inscribed. One bears excessively coarse and now illegible indentations, but evidently Oghamic. Another reads — Olni mucoi cunuu. (A) 82 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Watebjoed. The third pillar bears the legend — ]NAMAQILUGUDECAMUCO[i]MATONI. Na maqi lugudeca muco (i) matoni. 115. If na be not hke No, per se a proper name, Namaton might be taken to be the true titulus with the matter ending mucoi intei-jected. Lugudeca we shall find elsewhere as Lugudeccas in the genitive, an evidence either of the imfixed grammar used by the Ogham writers, or of linguistic changes implying long lapse of time. (^) 126. The fourth KUgrovan pillar offers some features giving rise to a consideration of more distinct interest. We have seen that the characters of the supplementary aiame in the Ogham alphabet stand for the respective vowels in their diphthongal combinations, as X for ea, ei, &c. If they had not this wider capacity for sound-expression, the object of adding them to the original alphabet would not be inteUigible, because the separate characters are there already. So in the case of the group representing st, these letters already exist outside it, and it may fairly be said the group would be superfluous if it did not afford some additional faciKty as by expressing not only st but s in aU its consonantal, as X expresses e in its vocaHc, combiuations, as st, sc, sg, &c. The legend runs — Left — NISIGN^MAQEg^O ^^^ Eight— Bi Nisignu maq estobi. There does not appear any name Estob, but if the z group, as it is called, have the force of sc or sg, then Maq esgobi, Jilius episcopi, has a literary meaning and an historic significance, which in the general dearth of tangible matter must be highly acceptable. 127. We are here near Dungarvan, formerly the place of residence of Mr. William WiOiams, now deceased. He was an eager iaquirer after Ogham remains, and has left copies, made by himself, of several such inscriptions on monuments no longer forthcoming; but I refrain from using or com- menting on copies not capable of verification. Mr. Wilhams was the discoverer of the Oghams in the cave of Drumlohan, u. c. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 83 and of many other examples, including an inscribed stone waterfohd. built into the wall of the old church of Kilrush, a mile west of Dungarvan ; I have not seen it, but give Mr. Williams's reading, as corrected by Mr. Brash (Og. Mon., 271). The digits are engraved on artificial stem-Unes incised on the surface, not, as usual, on the arrises. Left hne — Forgere, Right „ acmaglumusor, which Mr. Brash reads as the monument of Forgereac son of Lumusor. If so, mag should be deemed equivalent to maq and maqi. The sequence Maglu, however, may suggest doubts as to the right segregation of mag. 128. From Dungarvan, the high road leads to YoughaU, Ardmore with a detour to Ardmore, intermediate on the sea-coast. *" Ardmore is a place of high ecclesiastical antiquity, formerly the see of a bishop, retaining what must be regarded as the most complete of the numerous ecclesiastical Round Towers Round Tower. in Ireland. In the cathedral churchyard, near the tower, stands an ancient oratory called Ledba Deglain, or the Bed oi Saint Dedan's Declan, the reputed first bishop. It is one of the stone "''' oratories of the Island MacDara type, made known to archi- tectural antiquaries by Petrie, and reproduces the outlines of some of the sepulchral ceLl^ of the Burgundian Musexmi. In its eastern waU there was formerly bmlt in as part of the masonry a stone now preserved within the unroofed walls of the cathedral, Ogham-iuscribed on three of its angles. One (A) arris bears a legend singularly like that at old Island — CAQOMAGECAFEQIOp Caqomageca feqi of. Another — LUGUDECCASMAQI Lugudeccas Maqi. And the third, which bears a seemingly Latin aspect, as I read it — OE DGLATIBIGAISGOBI &c. Dolati bigoesgobi. 84 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS. Wateepord. (B) Pedigree of St. Declaii. Xhgretmn or Graiiqe. ';i8 129. Another Ogham inscription preserved at Ardmore reads amadu, insipiens, and a third, in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, is a fragment reading — ANACIMAQI[ Anaci Maqi Lugdec and Anac are both names in Declan's pedigree. He was of the southern Desi, originally a Meath tribe. His pedigree is traced to that Felemy Rechtmar, whose mother Queen Bani's tomb lately engaged our notice. Having regard to the number of descents in it, there is some difficulty in putting Declan far enough back to be even a contemporary of St. Patrick, but there exists a great body of tradition to the effect that not only did he precede Patrick in his apostleship, but that on Patrick's approach to the south, he with Eeran and Ibar, two other pre-Patrician bishops, contested the authority of the new comer, and effected a compromise based on the recogni- tion of Declan's ecclesiastical supremacy in his own diocese. Dr. Todd has learnedly shown the incompatibihty of these statements with the annalistic chronology ; but the Life of Declan, which Colgan regarded as of the eighth century, could hardly have been written if, during the Patrician or Palladian period, there had not been a Christian organisation in Munster, whether represented by Declan or not, sufficiently strong to assert a local independence, which might not un- naturally cause it to be afterwards discountenanced, when the new mission had suificiently estabUshed itself. 130. North from Ardmore, on the main road from Dun- garvan to Youghall, about five miles from the latter place, at the old cemetery of Grange or Lisgrenan, there has lately been recovered a biuied monument, inscribed on two arrises. I have not seen it, and take the text from the Rev. E. Barry's letter to Mr. Atkinson (Brash, 414) — Left arris- Right „ d- ansaloti. — maqi mucoi. The ansaloti is preceded by an initial mark, >-, which seems to make the mucoi of the right arris necessarily terminal. CHAPTER V. Monument at Kiltera — Old Church of Seskinan — Ogham-inscribed stones — Salter Bridge, Glenawillen, Knockhoy, Burntfort, GreenhiU, Bweeng, Monataggart — Allusions to Ogham cited by the Bishop of Limerick from the Brehon Laws — Ogham-inscribed stone, KilcuUen — Imposing megalithic monument at Barrachauran — Aghabulloge ; St. Olan's pillar stone : identification of St. Olan with the " institutor " of St. Finbarr, of Cork; who died a.d. ti21 — Oghams at Knockrour, Liads, Glounaglogh, Tulligmore, Ballyhank, Hoovesmore, Garranes, Cooldorrihy, Knockouran — Ogham-inscribed pillar-stone selected by Mr. Windeie for his own monument — Shanacloon, Coomliath, Kilcaskau, Ballycrovane, Cappagh, Lomanagb, Gortnacaree ; pillar stone now at Adare IVIanor — Derrygur- rane, Dronikeare, Killogroue ; now transferred to Cahirciveen, Killeenadreena — "Galeotas" inscribed stone among the mountains near Lough Carra — Killeen at Kilcolaght — Ogham stone at Kilgobinet — Whitefield — Cave at Dunloe — Euined church of Kilbonane ; monument removed to Adare Manor — Eath cave Tinnahally — Pillar stones Ardywanig — Eath-cave at Keel : pillar removed to Corkaboy. 131. At Youghall we come on the emboucliure of the River waterfob Blackwater, ascending -which to Villierstown, a station on the '^'"''™ left bank, we reach, about a mile south of that point, the /. e. Killeen of Kiltera, in the parish of Aghsh and townland of Dromore. One of a group of stones here, seemingly the remains of a cist or sepulchral cell, bears the inscription read by Mr. Brash — Collahot muco I (imperfect). The reading is supported by another example of the same name from Laharan, in the Coimty of Kerry. 132. We are here on the opposite side of the Commeragh or Seskinan Monavoullagh moimtains, from that by which we entered ^^ Waterford county ; and, if we proceed in their direction to the north-east, enter the parish of Seskinan. The old parish church, now dismantled, stands in a rough but fertile tract of country, sloping westward from Monavoullagh. To provide its window sills and lintels, a neighbouring cemetery appears to have been ransacked of its headstones. Mr. 86 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Wateeford, Cork. 39. 21 Brash has fuimd this site ia the remains of a Killeen partly included Mdthin the bounds of the present graveyard. As might be expected, several of these sills and lintels are Ogham-inscribed. In very few instances, however, can the whole of the legend be seen. One remarkable name, Sartigum, appears on the hntel of the lower window of the west gable, Cafic, Corb, and Cir maqi muc (oi) are legible on others. The church cannot be older than the fifteenth century — a singular evidence of the continuing disposition to regard the Killeen as a lawful quarry. 133. Returning westward by Cappoquin at the point where the Blackwater, which up to this part of its course runs from west to east along the base of the Knockmeldown and Galtee Mountains, takes its southern direction to the sea at Youghall, we meet with two new names on a broken Ogham Salter Bridge piUar preserved in the demesne of Salter Bridge. The legend reads — Omongadias maqi mad bite, or maci biti. The fracture leaves it doubtful if the first be mongadias, but the probability is that the two digits making the belong to some longer antecedent group. Mongad, however, appears to be son of Macibit, or son of a son of Bit or Ibit. 134. Ascending the valley of the Blackwater to Lismore, formerly a great ecclesiastical school of the Patrician estab- hshment, we find many remains of old Hibemo- Roman inscriptions, but, as in other like cases already noted, nothing Oghamic ; and the same observation will apply to Qoyne, the ecclesiastical capital of the rich tract between YottghaU and Cork, south of the Blackwater. Nearly central in this tract, however, and thence reaching westwards, begins an almost continuous succession of Ogham sites and monuments extend- ing to Kerry and the Atlantic. At GlenawiUen, near Midleton, in the parish of Templenacarriga, in an erased rath-cave were found two stones, now in the Royal Cork Institution, one of which (A) bears the name Colomagni "Colman" with some undeciphered additions — 7U. Cork. Glenavillcn 05 COLOMAGNiFeroMaGi IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 87 Feromag, the nearest reduction to which I can bring the Cobk. remains of the second name, may be Feramag, Fermoy, or Fermac, a man's name in Oghamic disguise; but so many letters must be guessed at, that I can only afErm its initial to be F, and its terminal letter to be G followed by vowel notches. And the other, as I beheve, is the same, of which the cast (B) shows the name Scottolini. 135. North-west from Templenacarriga we enter the large Xiwckboy and for the most part upland parish of Dunbulloge. In that ,^^ portion which slopes down to the valley of the Lee at Bealaghamire, in the townland of Knockboy, once stood a very remarkable assemblage of stone monuments and primi- tive constructions. A square rath enclosed a cairn, two caves, at one side, four great pillar-stones, two of them ia- scribed ; and at the opposite side two other smaller pillars, one inscribed. A third cave existed outside the square enclosure. On visiting the place in 1868, Mr. Brash "was dismayed to find that the great monument had been almost obliterated by the tenant." One pillar, too massive for easy demohtion, remained. It bears inscriptions on two angles. One of these Mr. Brash reads — Artagni. At Gormlee, in the northern part of the parish, are two other piUar-stones, Ogham-inscribed, but too much worn by weather and the rubbing of cattle, for transhteration. 136, In the direction of Mallow, the adjoining parish of Burn/fort Moume Abbey contributes two examples. The first, found ,*^. in a rath-cave in the townland of Burntfort, was, many years ago, deposited in the Royal Cork Institution. It has since disappeared, appropriated, it is supposed, by the masons employed in building the Cork Athenssum (Brash, Og. Mon., 118, n.), but was, about 1849, the subject of much discussion in which aU parties were agreed respecting the characters — Sagittari. Sagittarius is a known Latinization of proper names signi- fying bowman or archer. FearLogha, the Irish name, having the same meaning, will probably be regarded as concealed under this classical disguise. OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS COEK. Qreenhill 4a Bweeng l.v. 137. The other monument stands at GreenHll. It is a fine pillar, 8 ft. high. The initial characters have been found difficult to decipher (Brash, Og. Mon., 137), By the aid of a cast of this part of the inscription Mndly made for me by the Eev. Thomas Olden, BaUyclough, I am satisfied that the initial characters are Tr, and see no reason to doubt that the entire legend reads — Trenu or Treni maqi mucoi qritti. 138. Kilshannig parish, also lying north of Donoughmore, suppHes one example. It is apparently a low gravestone close to the Roman CathoKc church of Bweeng. It is notice- able for its vowels, formed by stem-crossing digits, and for its Latin termination. Mr. Brash reads it (Og. Mon., 144) — Monffus. The n and g are distinct characters, whence it might be inferred that examples in the more compendious form — i^-i- are of more recent times. Monataqgart 61 /// 138a. At the Hoyal Cork Institution there is a considerable collection of Ogham-inscribed stones, the description of all save one of which will be found in connection with their places of origin. The one of uncertain origin, but no doubt nearly local, is much abraded and very rough and difficult of decipherment. I make out — SCOTTALiaNiSCOTToL * * * 139. South from Kilshannig, Hes the large upland parish of Donoughmore. It occupies the watershed dividing the valleys of the Blackwater and the Lee, its tributary to the former being the Clyda running northward to Mallow, and to the latter, the Dripsey running southward to Coachford. The Dripsey, near Brew Bridge, runs below the slopes of a high-lying farm called Monataggart. On this farm, several years ago, the occupier, in ploughing, found some great stones under the surface, forming a kind of chamber, or rather pit, which contained black earth and ashes interspersed with broken pottery. The stones on being removed were found to bear long and unusually perfect Ogham inscriptions. At first the presence of the ashes and pottery suggested the IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 89 idea of sepulchral cremation ; but these objects might also cohk. indicate a boundary mark. The Roman Agrimensores were not the only functionaries who marked boundaries of land by the deposit of ashes and potsherds. Martin, in his memoir of the Western Islands, has noticed the practice in several places where Roman customs could hardly be supposed to have penetrated. The object was, no doubt, to leave some- thiag indestructible as a memorial, and the practice is probably old European rather than Roman. Here, then, if anywhere, we might look for evidences confirmatory of the allusions to the use of Ogham ia the Brehon Laws. The Bishop of Limerick has lately collected them. " How many ever- Allusions to burning candles are there by which perpetual ownership of Ogham in the 1 1 ■ 1 -tr -ici TT- • f A • Brehon Laws, land IS secmred ? Memorials of the Historians, of Ancient collected hy Writings, in Ancient Mounds." " The ioiat Memorial of two '''f -^"'f? "-f Temtones, i.e.. The Ogam m the GaUan (piUar-stone), or it might be the evidence of two neighbours." Again, " To decide by the recital of a rock, i.e., that the name of the man who bought [the land] be in the bond of Ogam, i.e., that the Ogam of the purchase be in the flag of a mound." Nothing, iadeed, indicating purchase or territorial designation has as yet been found on any of the buried Ogham-iascribed stones hitherto ofiered to notice ; but if the ashes deposited in this pit really indicate a boundary mark, one could hardly look on the names recorded on the stones contained in it as other than those of proprietors taking this method of per- petuating the evidence of their titles. The forms of the inscriptions, however, do not encourage this idea. Three of them are now in the collection of the Royal tish Academy. One of these (A) is in the simplest "A son of B " form — Dalagni maqi dali. (A) 140. The other two have more of the rehgious aspect. The Camp inscription afibrds the key to one. It must be read from 72. left to right inversely, giving each character the value of its opposite in the Ogham scale — Feqreq moqoi glunlegget, (B) that is, the stone of " Fiachra, son (or of the sons) of Glun- legget." Observe the departure from the hitherto constant 90 OGHAM INSCRIPTIOXS CoEK. form of Maqi, and note the approacli to something like pre- dication ia the apparent meaning of Glunlegget, " the Kneeler." Possibly also I might not misinterpret what may be in some of my readers' minds, if I queried whether this means the Son of the Kneeler, or the Kneeler or Penitent of the Son. It will doubtless have been observed that, up to the present, there has been no direct mention in any of these legends, however Christian and religious in their general aspect, of the name of our Lord ; and that Maqi, in some of its numerous contexts, can hardly be referred on any inteUigible principles to the person commemorated. (C) 141. The third monument from Monataggart now in the Academy is in the " qui fuit " form, and savours of the ascetic fashion of self-hum il i ation. It reads in the usual way — 44. Broenienas poi netattrenalugos. It also seems to predicate of Broenienas that he was " neta," if that be a separate vocable, and whatever meaning it may have, of some one called Trenloc — champion of Tenloc, for instance, — or, if "neta" be part of a longer name, that Broenienas (before taking that name in rehgion) had been secularly, Netatrenloc. These two latter monuments are fine pillar-stones of about 8 ft. in length, and obviously intended to be set up on end. 142. A fom-th inscribed pillar remains at Monataggart built into the fence of the road leading into the farmyard. It is not inscribed on the arris, neither has it any actual stem-line, but depends for its iaterpretation on the adjustment of its digits to an imaginary line. It is the most delicately-incised of all 103. the examples so far observed. Some of the digits are even shorter than the minuscules of KiUeen-Cormac, and all are cut with extreme fineness. ,g^ FERGOSOMACI^g^OMyyNACCA. The dimensions of the pit are stated to have been about 5 ft. long, 3^ ft. broad, and 3 ft. deep. It is now fiUed up, and the site restored to agriculture. Whence the stones came from, or why deposited there, are questions hard to answer. There is a disused burial-ground on the opposite IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 91 bank of the Dripsey a little higher up, at Kilcullen, where Cork. one pillar-stone, stated to bear the legend Lugu decces maqi KUcuUen ott, is still standing. I saw it in an Tinfavourable hght, which „ ^ may account for my being unable either to verify or correct the reading ; but the spot is evidently one of the Killeen class 80 often noticed and to be noticed. To drag the Monataggart pillars across the deep valley and bed of the river, would have been a very difficult operation. The most reasonable solution would, perhaps, be that the place — as its name, "Priests' Marsh," imports— had possessed some kind of Christian ceU before its conversion to farming ptu-poses, and that the stones of its cemetery had been utOised for the construction of this Kist-vaen, which need not necessarily be supposed to have been either agrimensorial or sepulchral in its character, or of any great antiquity. 143. Westward of Kilcullen, the country becomes more bare and lonely, until, at a place called Barrachauran, we Barrachmiran find ourselves in presence of very imposing megahthic mixed ^'f^^ with smaller stone remains. Many great stones have been broken up, some lie prostrate, and some are still standing. One group of these, three in number, makes a very imposing imposing and even solenm feature in the wide green upland. The ""'J"''""^ highest, which I judge to be about 14 ft. above the ground, bears the remains of a much-efiaced Ogham on one of its angles, now almost obhterated by the rubbing of cattle. It is undoubtedly an Ogham of the regular digit and notch kind, but of what purport it is impossible now to say. If sepulchral, one would hesitate to suppose it Christian. If a territorial landmark, it might be expected to stand alone. The impression produced by the view of the place is that it has been a cemetery in which, whether Pagan or Christian in its origin, the megaHth has been associated with the humbler grave-stone. A neighbouring rath-cave has supphed one of these smaller memorials, now in the Royal Cork Institution — CARETTACCGAQIMQcCAGMa. Carrtaccgaqi Muc [agma ?] — an example of the difficulty of distinguishing the g from m m. But I take it to be as first given, and equivalent to the British caractac. 10. 92 OGHAM mSGRIPTIONS CoEK. 144. To the west of Donoughinore we enter the parish of AghabuUoge. It is still the same upland country, sloping upward to the north towards the watershed between the valleys of the Blackwater and Lee, and to the west towards ihe Boggra Mountains. About the middle St. oian-s of tjie parish is the church of St. Olan. In the churchyard, I, I. set up among modern graves, stands what is regarded as St. Olan's pillar - stone, although the legend which it bears does not commemorate him by that name. It is an object of great veneration, and ever since it was first noticed has been crowned with a separate cap-stone. The old cap- stone has disappeared, and a modern one has been recently substituted. The behef regarding it is, that to whatever distance it may be removed it will be found next day in its old place. The same behef exists respecting several other supposed sacred stones in Ireland. It is a very widespread superstition, and not without example among the Greeks. The pillar is inscribed nearly from end to end, and has to be raised to get at the beginning of the legend. This comprises two of the X formed characters, and begins with the letters anm already noticed as an initial formula. No real difficulty exists in any of the following characters, save ra one group of two digits which, with certain vowel notches, precede the second X. The group as it presents itself on the worn surface would read hm, which might be the result of the upper half of one digit of an original g having disappeared through abrasion or other accident. In the b combination it will not assunilate with what goes either before or after in any vocaHsable combination. But if we be content to assume that the group is a ^ of which the upper half of the first digit has been lost, and to suppose the space following to be occupied with vowel notches equivalent to its length, makiag a probable u, then the reading becomes intelhgible and relevant — P e G a P ANMCOEREAMAQFUIUDalSilfuEATT &c. &c. Anm Corpimaq fuidd (e)g(u)ptt. The digits forming the terminal t have a cross-bar, intimating 40,119. a contraction. We have had a suspicion of the employment of IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 93 Latin in feci at Drumloghan. We are already familiar with cohk. poi as the equivalent of qui fuit. Fuit, in old Irish spelhng would be fuid, as, under delg, " a pin," in Cormac's Glossary " deleg, ex quo legid (a Hgat) duas partes togse." The inscription then would be read as if qui fuit followed the name Cormac, here shown in its inflated form of Corpimaq, " who was" — whatever the last word ot the legend predicates of him. The last word seems to complete the sentence not doubtfully, " Who was the Egyptian." But why expect to Litany of find Egyptians in Ireland % The answer must again be ;^''S« drawn from the Litany of ^ngus, where, amongst other visi- monk$ in Ire- tants, he enumerates " the seven Egyptian monks who he in "" ' Disert Ulad." I do not suppose that St. Olan's is Disert Ulad ; but, amid such a concourse of foreigners, it will not surprise us if we find an ecclesiastic of the Egyptian rule, even here in AghabuUoge ia Cork, as we already had some ground for recognising the record of an Itahan one among the rounded cope-stones of Ballintaggart in Kerry. But that an Egyptian, 44. or a monk of the Egyptian rule should be called Cormac, will, no doubt, appear strange. There were, however, so many names of origin, of endearment, of personal traits, of personal incidents, as weU as names in rehgion in use among these early Irish monks and clerics, that Corpimaq as a nomen adoptivum need cause no sense of incongruity. Clan, how- ever, is the name which has traditionally clung to the patron of AghabuUoge, whether in connection with his pillar-stone, his church, or his holy well. And so far everything points to the Corpmac of the inscription as an alias of this holy person. Could we distinctly identify him, we might have a reason- able assurance of standing on firmer ground than any we have yet felt under us. And this identification has, I think, really been demonstrated. The Book of Leinster records Eolang as venerated at AghabuUoge. Under the name of Evolengus the Bishop of Limerick finds him commemorated as " institutor," which may mean " tutor " or " initiator," of St. Finbarr, of Cork ; and further, that he had the alias name of MaaCorhius. In the Irish life of St. Finbarr his baptiser is a bishop caXled Mac Cuirb. Finbarr died A.D. 62L Taken altogether, the identification seems complete, and puts the 94 OGHAM INSCRIPTIOXS CoKK. momimeiit of Corpmac back to some time in the latter part of tlie sixth century. If, then, prior to A.D. 600, Ogham writing had passed into its secondary stage, time for an antecedent course of development should be found, for which the inter- mediate period from PaUadius might hardly seem sufficient. St. oian's well 145. Olan's or Evolengus's holy well, stands eastward at a I i_ Kttle distance from the cemetery. It is stone-domed, and overshadowed by a venerable tree. A great slab, which formerly served as a foot bridge over a stream at the opposite side of the church, has been set up beside the well. It bears the rudely-cut Ogham inscription — 97. No maqi dego. The tree, the stone vault, the trickling stream, and the stand- ing stone make an agreeable feature in the bare surrounding country. 146. The neighbourhood has formerly been fuU of raths, rath-caves, and those deserted burying grounds, of which so much has aheady been said. Of the numerous inscriptions supplied by this lettered moorland, one is from a Killeen in Knockrour the townland of Knockrour, now in the possession of Colonel Lane Fox. It has been read — 60 1. 1. 60 I. , MUDDOSSAM(A)QQ'^T ; Muddossa maqqa at ; but the singularity of the names suggests, as preferable, the reverse inverted reading, also countenanced by the fact that the stone is fractured at the terminal digits. f^ 1 6 onn mac collimi. ■■ o n 147, From the neighbouring lands of Deehsh, in a similar Liads burying-place called Liads, another example has been trans- ferred to the Royal Cork Institution, inscribed on two angles — Left arris otmaqimaqieite. ot maqi maqi rite. Right „ ]COICOEIBIRI. coi coribiri. IN IRELAND, W.VLES, AND SCOTLAND. 95 The reading is not continuous. Each arris is read upward. Cork. Coi may be portion of mucoi, or it may have a separate mean- ing. Coribiri is another example of the use of the union vowel in inflating such proper names as Corbri. 148. In the northern part of the parish where it slopes up to the Machera mountain, in the townland of Glounaglogh, ohunogiogh formerly stood a circle of pillar-stones. One of these is *" inscribed. It is now in the Royal Cork Institution. The inscription is broken off at top. u GUNAGVSSOSEMA[ I The name, here and elsewhere, seems an inflated form of Congus, Cungus. Whether the uma is a separate vocable or part of some other combination, cannot be determined. The ma, perhaps, is part of a lost inaqi, in which case it might be thought that m is a quahfying particle, used as ot and o ia other instances. There are many remaioing examples from this fruitful field, but they are fragmentary and uncertain. 149. Between AghabuUoge and the Lee intervenes the parish of Magourney. A rude pillar inscribed on two natural ridges of one face from Tulligmore in this parish is also at the Tuiiigmore Cork Institution. Mr. Brash (Og. Mon., 29) reads it— /^^ Maqi Laseg. Ot Maqi He. Whether ot be a proper name or a quahfyiag adjunct of Maqi, may be questionable. I have not a cast of this legend, and speak with reserve. I could not determine the fii-st name, and for He my drawing, possibly erroneous, has De. 150. Let us now pass from the table-land dividing the waters of the Blackwater and Lee, and crossing the Lee southward, enter on the corresponding upland forming the watershed between the Lee and the Bandon. In this ex- tensive tract are four rath-caves, in the construction of which Ogham-inscribed monuments have been employed. Killeens and Cealuraghs adjoin them aU, and, no doubt, have supplied the stones. The first is situate ia. the BaUijhank parish of Kilnaglory, sis miles east from Cork City. Its ^^' 96 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS CoKK. various chambers extend tliroiigli a length of 52 ft., and it has yielded six Ogham examples. One of them was pre- sented to the Royal Irish Academy ; the remaining five were acquired by the late Mr. Wiadele ; but, since his death, the entire collection has been reunited ia the Academy's Lapidary Museum. Two other monuments of the same class, of imcertain history, were among the Windele collection, and have also been acquired by the Academy. All, save the first, are extremely rude. None of them bears any symbol of Christianity, though the legends are characteristic of ascetic fashion, olc and corb, " bad," " wicked," entering into four of the names. The BaUyhank group read respectively — SACATTINI ULCCAGNI CoEBAGNI [COICOKotaNI CoRBA "i &c. In this last, stem-crossing digits are exceptionally used for vowels. 151. The sixth example yields the more predicative legend — Maqi elliaci o Maqi Ni, 97. with another line, now illegible, running up the face of the pniar, which is of extraordinary coarseness and ruggedness. I am unable to say what the o before maqi may mean. The characters are capable of being read o maniqi, being partly on the head and partly carved down the arris of the stone. 152. The other of uncertaia origia cannot be said to bear any inscription, but is covered with lines and digits sculptured possibly in imitation of Oghams or Runes, or, it may be, in a quasi Ogham still unexplained. There is a great abundance of such pseudo Oghams in the south of Ireland, but it would not be possible here to notice them in detail. 153. The BaUyhank monument, however, of most interest, is the one mentioned to have been first acquired by the Academy. It is a small, smooth slab, which has been en- iiaigh. His graved with care and dehcacy, and preserves a remarkable Hhioryofihe ^^ Forrtigurn. It had quite a fascination for the rmnd stuiie. 01 the late Rev. Darnel Haigh, who conceived this to be the 46. 41. Eev. D. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 97 name of the British king Vortigern, the inviter of the Saxons, coek. Vortigern was an ally of the Irish Scots. After the loss of his kingdom and the denunciations of Saint German, he dis- appeared — some say burnt by &e from heaven ; others, swallowed up by the earth ; others, in exile. His son Pascent continued the struggle, and resorted for aid to Ireland, whence he returned with the Irish Gillamorus as his ally. Ireland was, at that time, the ordinary place of refuge for dethroned British princes and- unsuccessful British insur- gents. Pascent was also accompanied by Eopa or Eobba, who served him by carrying off his competitor by poison. Digits which, among other readings, might yield the name hioba, are carved in very smaU minuscular Ogham on the opposite arris of the stone. It is a remarkable name, Vor/igcm, unique, I beheve, in Ogham records, and, if Mr. Haigh's -f "."' ."^ ,. , 1- , , . , , . , ,. JMIaiii, /nllur reading be the true one, gives a good countenance to his behef o/Saiut that it was this Eobba who caused the monument to be en- -f"'"*''"- graved. But to whose memory engraved, is the difficulty. Vortigern had a daughter, the mother, by his own incest, of Saint Faustus; and they perished or disappeared together. The word which introduces the patronymic is not maqi, but moqi, which Mr. Haigh takes to mean " daughter." The name of Vortigern's daughter has never been divulged in history, so that its non-appearance here need not excite surprise. But there is the appearance of some suppression or obscuration of some name going before moqi. There are five underline digits preceded by the vowel a. Normally they would read n, but the central one is distinguished from the pairs flanking it by being very dehcately, while they are strongly, cut. Reading up to this digit we would have alb, and, resihng thence and commencing anew as if all were normal, we would complete Alban, which at one time I thought might be the meaning. But I now rather imagine the slender line to be what in Runic writing is called an " elegance " or caprice of the engraver, and that the legend should be read — ANMOQIFOEaETlGURN. an moqi Forrtigurn. An map, in Welsh, intimates bastardy, or something worse, H 98 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Cork. Epoch of Vortigurn, Hif> son Pascent. Roovesmore 72 I. I. and the use of its equivalent here is quite consistent with Mr. Haigh's theory. Vortigern's epoch has generally been fixed in relation to that of St. Germanus of Auxerre, which would put the closing events of his reign in the post-Palladian period. But there is a difficulty in bringiag him down to so late a date. He had been son-in-law of Maxim us, who died A.D. 389, and the wild, mystical, and romantic inci- dents of his story are better suited to a struggle with some British ecclesiastic than with the great bishop of Auxerre, whose biographer and immediate successor, Constans, does not so much as mention Vortigern's name. K his son Pascent procured the aid of an Irish Mng whose name sounds in Christianity, he could hardly have been sought for ia the eastern or northern parts of the island : but if there were then a Christian community in Munster, the British narrative in this respect would be consistent. In any case, the BaUy- hank " Fortigem " stone will probably be considered one of the most interesting and possibly most precious monuments of the early existence of an Irish and British connection. 154, Eight miles further we stwardwe reach Rooer's Bridge on the Lee, adjoining which, ia the townland of Roovesmore, parish of Eglish, there existed some years ago a cave in the remains of a rath, which the farmer, desiriag to utiLLse the land, has since erased. The cave contained three Ogham- inscribed stones of the same general character as those at Ballyhank and Drumloghan. They are now deposited in the British Museum, and have been described with remarkable accuracy, both ia the particulars of their deposit and of the legends inscribed on them, by Colonel Lane Fox. They are all engraved on both arrises. One reads — Maqi falamni. Maqi Ercias. The one name being new ia its formation mn, where hitherto we have been accustomed to gn ; the other an echo, in name and formation, of the Dunmore Head example. 155. The second legend is marked by several peculiarities. Digits crossing the Hue are employed for vowels ; ia some IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SC(JTLANl). 'JD places large and wide apart, in others very small and closely Cohk. spaced. Colonel Lane Fox's drawing reads — tabira mocoi sug fedacu. The latter name, if read inversely to the opposite characters, would be usale — a known name in archaic pedigrees, where it is written usalec (Pedigree of Brendan). I know of no name in old Irish hterature beginning with Sug, save one Siugmall which occurs in the Archaic pedigrees of the Book of Invasions. The initial Ta of the first name is not on my cast, which possibly arises from oversight in not placing it low enough on the stone ; and the only points on which I express a doubt are, whether the name has a terminal a, and whether an a do not precede the imperfect terminal Sog, or whatever letter the terminal digits may be part of. In any case the feminine-looking bira tends to confirm Mr. Haigh's theory of the meaning of mocoi. 156. The third Roovesmore stone is a shapely pillar 7 ft. high, with what would be a continuous inscription but for a fracture at top, in which, however, I beHeve one vowel point only has been lost — anaflamattias muco (i) eluri aji a (x) eras ; or, if the reader shift his position on coming to the second arris — anaflamattias muco (i) eduriati a (x) erac. The flanking vowels make it impossible that (X) here should have the power of ea, and neither aperas nor aperac seems to offer anything normal. The Bishop of Limerick has lately suggested for X the third power of dli, which no one acquainted with the varying forces given to Runic letters will consider unprecedented. If extended to th, it might help us to more hkely-looking results both in this and other examples which remain to be noticed. 157. Southward from Roovesmore, in the parish of Temple- martin, six miles northward from Bandon, at Garranes, Mr. Gan-a>ics Brash notices the remarkable legend — C(a)ssitt(ajs inaqi miicoi Calliti. 39. 84 100 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS CoBK The stone bearing it appears to have come from a rath-cave, and in the near neighbourhood is a Killeen (Og. Mon., 158). 158- At about an equal distance south-west from Bandon, Aghaiiskey at AghaKskcy, in the parish of Kilmaloda, another rath-cave, „_ ,._ originally explored by Mr. Windele, is described by Mr. Brash. He reads on the fourth roofing lintel from the entrance the legend — Girognq, where analogy would lead us to expfect i instead of q : but Mr. Brash states his impression that the inscription was origi- nally longer (Og. Mon., 146). 159. On the seventh lintel from the entrance, on two raised ridges of the under face, he reads — Qunagusos Maqi mucoi F , remarking that the stone has been built in without regard to the course of reading, which, as the stone Hes, seems to be from right to left {ib. 146). 160. These legends on the roofing stones were known to the original explorers. Mr. Brash discovered another on a supporting pillar. " The upright pillar is 4 ft. 3 in. in length, and 13 in. by 6 in. at the centre, and of somewhat lesser dimensions at the top and bottom. To my extreme dehght I found it to bear a perfect inscription cut with the greatest accuracy and care, and looking as fresh as if engraved yesterday. The letter-scores are the smallest I have yet seen, being short, and finely but deeply cut. They appear not to have been punched, but formed by rubbing with a sharp tool and water Its (the stone's) position in the cave, with the inscribed angle turned to the wall, preserved it from injury through the long round of centuries it must have lain here concealed. The inscription is as foUows : — Coi hagni maqi mucoi. It commences 2 ft. 3 in. from the bottom, and occupies but 1 ft. 9 in. of the angle."— (Og. Mon., 147.) From these statements we should regard the coi as a distinct vocable and not as the termination of a mutilated mucoi ; unless, indeed, the five digits of the i be stem-crossing =^ r, which would give the famihar Corbagni. As regards the IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 101 fully-expressed mucoi, if this be the only inscription on the cork. pillar, it must certainly be taken as an instance of mucoi terminal, with such inferences respecting its grammatical relation to 3Iagi as may foUow from that consideration. 161. Another rath-cave, which had long been closed, at Cooldorrihy, in the parish of Kihnichael, about midway cooUorrihy between Bandon and Macroom, was reopened, in 1870, for ^^ Mr. Brash. He found the supporting piUar of one of the roofing Untels inscribed with a legend, which he reads — Feqoanai maqi Eaqod. The Ea is represented by X ; the terminal character question- able (Og. Mon., 160). 162' In the same parish, on the lands of Knockouran, or Mount Music Mount Music, formerly stood the pillar selected by Mr. ^^ Windele for his own monument, and now, I beheve, erected Ogimm. in the garden of his former residence at Blairs HiU, Cork. It ^''uiarlLie ' bears a deeply-incised Maltese cross with the legend — seiccudbt/ Mr. Windele for ANNACCA^,^,.IMA*;JlAILLITTi?. '"' T" """'"■ The alternative readings are caused, first, by a doubt whether the groups following annaca are of four or five digits each ; next, by faint but visible protractions downward of the five outhne digits forming prima facie the Q of Maqi ; and, lastly, by the ambiguous relation of the final group to the hue of arris, some of its digits distinctly, and others not at all appearing to cross the angle ; but to my eye forming R rather than N. K the legend be taken as in the ordinary formula of " A son of B," it would read, disregarding the protractions — Annaca ' i maqi Aillitt(a)n. The last vocable being a proper name. But if it be, as I suppose it is, Aillittr, a "pilgrim," there arises a strong pre- sumption that a double reading of maqi is intended — Annacassi maqi Mari aillittr. 163. About twelve miles westward from Macroom, in the Skanadmn ^parish of Ballyvourney, at Shanacloon, is a pillar bearing a ^^^ 102 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS COIIK. CoomVmh 1/. r. Kilcaskan 1(13 l.r. BaUycrnvane 102 Ohdisk 25 ft. in length. legend, read by Mr. Brash, omitting initial characters im- perfect. * * Bir Maqi. (Og. Mon., 153.) 164. In the mountainous country between Ballyvoumey and Bantry, at CoomKah East, in the parish of Kilmocamogue, stands an inscribed pillar now mutilated. Its legend was transcribed by Mr. Windele while it was still entire. It appears by this copy (Og. Mon.) to have terminated with the syllable grac. The preceding characters are not legible. 165. South of Bantry, that portion of the peninsula sepa- rating Bantry Bay from the estuary of Kenmare, contains two examples. The first stands near Inchintaghn Bridge on the north side of the Adrigoole river, beside the old church of Kilcaskan. Mr. Brash reads the principal name Luguqrit, and makes the whole legend, which is much defaced, Luguqrit maqi qritti. 166. The other example is found on the western shore of the peninsula, on the margin of the Kenmare river at Bally- crovane, ia the parish of Kilcashmore. We have passed in review many great Ogham-inscribed pillar-stones, but this is by much the grandest example of such a monument in Ireland. It is reaUy a fine obehsk, 25 ft. ia total length, and of graceful proportions, although, hke all monuments of its class, untouched by the stonecutter. I have not seen it, but take its dimensions from Mr. Brash, and what I say of its site and appearance, from a characteristic drawing by Mr. Windele. Its inscription, from the agreement of almost all the transcripts, is, I have no doubt, as given by Mr. Brash in the sequence — Maqideceddasajitoranias. If read decedda, the name of the person commemorated would be Safitoran (Hke Saffigeg) ; if read deceddas, it would be aji = grandson of Toran. In either case, Decedda should be taken as a proper name ; and it seems a likely Oghamic form of Deagad, from whom a widespread family of the Hy-Deagaid, inhabit- ing this region, descended. We have had many examples of IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 103 it in conjunction with Maqi in widely-separated districts of Kebbt. Ireland, and two others elsewhere have still to be mentioned — both in Roman characters, though the monuments are Celtic, — one in Anglesea, hie jacet Maccudeceti ; and one in Devon, Sarini filii Maccodecheti. I think we may be quite assured that the Clan Deagaid had its original seats in Munster, and that if it spread to Anglesea and' Devon, and commemorated itself monumentally there as well as in Kildare and Kerry, the Irish claim to a colony in Britain capable of found- ing a school of Ogham writing would be very cogently evidenced. But it seems highly improbable that an individual proper name should be so widely diffused ; and we cannot forget that in the first example we had of the same formula, it was accompanied by the Christian cross. These considera- tions raise a question not to be lightly dismissed : Whether, in this as in other cases, maqi means "son" in ordinary pedigree, or " the " Son in theology, the formula in the latter view designating some office or relation to our Lord'' If that were so, the megahthio character of other monuments would present no objection to their having been raised in Christian times. 167. Ascending the estuary to Kenmare, there is fotmd at a place called Cappagh, in the towuland of Dromatouk, a Dromatouk Killeen or disused burial-place marked by several standing ^^ stones, one of which is inscribed. Mr. Brash reads it — aiim otunilocid maqi Alott. The anm is easily separable, as are the maqi and alott, the last being an archaic name of frequent occurrence in this region. As to otunilocid, whether it be one proper name or divisible, Mr. Brash expresses no opinion (Og. Mon., 221). 168. Eastward from Kenmare, in the parish of Kilgarvan, Lomanagh at Lomanagh, the name Ottin, apparently the first member of "^ the vocables last mentioned, is read by Mr. Brash on a fine pillar-stone in this connection — Ottinn m,aqi Fecm. 169. Half a mile south from Lomanagh, in a Killeen sur- rounded by a stone circle, at Gortmacaree, formerly stood a Oortmncarre pillar, now at Adare Manor, which Mr. Brash reads — j^^ Near or Nur inaqi Farudran. 104 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Keri.y. 170. Retracing the line of the Kenmare estuary, on the northern side, in Templenoe parish, an inscribed pillar is Derryginrane found within a stone Circle at Derrygurrane South. Mr. Brash transliterates it — i)2 V. I. Drom/i-t'arc i)8 Killogrone I. I. Anm Crunan magi Luqisma. (Og. Mon., 194.) The Bishop of Limerick makes it — Anm Crunan macu lucuin. (Proc. R. I. A., 1 s. s., 157.) If the former be correct, it might, in its terminal syllable, offer some analogy to the first legend at Rath Croghan. 171. Proceeding westward, at Dromkeare, in Dromod parish, near Loch Currane, a much-abraded inscription is read doubt- fully- Tudenn magi menlenn. (Og. Mon., 215.) 172. At Killogrone, parish of Caher, in a Killeen, formerly stood a cross-signed, inscribed pillar, now transferred to the grounds of the Convent of Christian Brothers at Cahirciveen. The legend exhibits several examples of the employment of those sigla from the Forfeada which stand respectively for o and e in their diphthongal combinations. It has been examined and read by the Bishop of Limerick — Anm Moeleagoemir admaci Feacimean. (Proc. R. L A., 1 s. s., 157.) Bishop Graves refers to many examples to justify his accept- ance of anm as an abbreviated eqmvalent of anima, or, it may be, of oratio pro anima, giving to the legend the meaning of (a prayer for the soul of) Maeladhamar misbom son of Feacimean (or Feacim) ; and observes that the admaci alhes itself with the otmagi of one of the monuments in the Royal Cork Institution already mentioned; intimating, at the same time, his opinion that it imphes something to the dis- credit of the deceased, for which reason, he suggests, the inscription has been carved on the end of the stone remote from the cross, and so presumably intended to be hidden in IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 105 the ground. He also remarks that the pillar stood, at Killo- Residue of grone, at the heading of a grave, and that a lower stone '^''"^' marked the foot with an elaborate cross and a dove engraved upon it in a very pecuKar manner. Moeleagoemir appears to be characteristically Christian, and Feacimean to be a more dignified presentation of the patronymic found at Lomanagh. 173. Bishop Graves also appears to have examined the inscribed stone at Killeenadreena, in the Island of Valentia, KUhenadreena which Mr. Brash reads as on his authority — Logoqi maqi erenan. 174. In the direction of the Lakes of Killarney, on a site among the mountains near Lough Carra, another inscribed stone has lately been discovered. The Bishop of Limerick describes it as expressing the single name — galeotas. 175. Further east, in the direction of Killorghn, the Finglass Kiver, descending from the Reeks, rims under the slope of a green eminence ia the towmland of Ealcolaght East, the site Eiicoiaf/ht of another KiUeen, now marked by one standing pillar and ^^ several prostrate fragments of others, all Ogham-inscribed. The standing pillar is ioscribed on all its four angles. On one face (south) it presents the legend — QKIGIFIQQ Qrigifiqq, ('^) or, read reversely, nnitigern ; but I take it to be a variety of the Cattufiq and KeRufic type. On the opposite angle what remains exhibits some appearance of that kind of double reading noticed in connection with the Mount Music example. There seem to be remains of SIGANGNG^LMARI, but the digits of the n are protracted in fainter fines on the upper edge, as if possibly intended also to yield the name Mari. This, however, may be the effect of weathering, not design. On the north face it shows a legend beginning anmfir . . . ., but the remainder is tu me illegible. 106 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Residue of Another fragment shows — Kerkv. R (B) ]OCCMAQILONGRIp[ ocG maqi logri(n), recalUng the British Locrin. Ajaother — (C) urg, which may have been a Pictish Urgust, or its cognate Furgas. Another — (D) ]GGOMAQIGILg[ aggo maqi agill, or, perhaps, gill, suggestive of a Christian designation in gilla. And a fifth, more complete, yields an additional example of these strange names vnfic, already observed on — ,g, RITTUFFECOMAQiMaFjj^DDONQS Rittuffecc maqi f — ddonas. All marks of a surrounding enclosure have disappeared, but the site is still respected. The scene is touching and impres- sive ; and one asks again and again. Why should the remains of these Qrigifics and Rittufics be deemed unworthy to mingle with baptised clay ? 176- Proceeding in the direction of Whitefield, the seat of The Macgillicuddy, one reaches, at a ford and stepping-stones on the Glasheen Cockmuck stream, descending from the KUf/ohinei Reeks, the poor hamlet and ruined church of Kilgobinet. In the " street " of the eastern part of the village is a roundish stone lying flat, bearing in Ogham the inscription — ANNAFEN. In an adjoining meadow to the north is another with a longer legend, which, owing to an accident to the cast, I cannot answer for. I failed to find here the pillar stone alleged on the authority of a sketch by Mr. Windele to bear the seem- ingly abnormal name, Dugunnggunns. A Eolleen adjoins the village. 05 U. u. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 107 177- -A-t Whitefield there was formerly assembled a col- Ebsidhe of lection of Ogham monuments from the adjoining district. K""""- Two of these are now in the Museum of the Royal Irish wiMefidd Academy. The first inscribed on two angles, not con- ^''^. tinuously — Nocati maqi maqi rette. " Nocat, son of the son of Rett " ; and Maqi mucoi uddami, nearly the last of the many examples of this obscure formula. The second AVhitefield example furnishes something more tangible — Alatto cell hattigni. It was customary, and after the sixth century, for pious persons to designate themselves as celi, or devotees of certain saints, and of God, as the celide. Alatto, — the genitive appa- rently of the archaic name Alott, — is here the celi of Battignus. There are many Boithins, saints in the Irish Calendar. We have then here an Ogham record presumably of a late date, and eminently Christian, though without cross or other symbol. 178. Between the Reeks and the Laune, near where the 65. river is crossed by Beaufort Bridge, is the well-known "' ' Cave of Dunloe. It is roofed with Ogham-inscribed slabs, Cave at Dun- and internally propped by an Ogham-inscribed pillar. The '*"' pillar bears on one angle the name of Ptolemaic note in the district, Cunacena. Of the inscribed roofing stones the outer one only, owing to the ends of the others being inserted in the masonry of the walls, is fully legible. It exhibits the X character in a context which rejects the ea value, and, with the p value, yields a vocable so odd as a proper name, toicap, that one is disposed to look with favour on the sug- gestion of a third value dh, which I would venture to extend to th, and so read — dego maqi mocoi toicatlii. Inside, we find the names of Rittiq, Tal, Forgos, but in incomplete contexts. The cave, I beheve, was stripped many years ago by the Bishop of Limerick, from whom I trust, while he is stiU spared to the world of learning, we may some day expect full readings. 108 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Residue of J^g. Crossing Beaiifort Bridge, and proceeding a short KUbuiiane distance in tlie direction of MiHtown, we come on tlie ruined 87 cliurcL. of Kilbonane, giving name to tlie parish which embraces both banks of the Latme, and, along the river on both banks, presents much sylvan and pastoral beauty. The Ruined Church chnrch is in the open country behind. It seems a thirteenth oj I ohune. ^^ fourteenth century building. At the north side of the altar is a grave covered in with a long flag of red sandstone, broken across the middle. The arrises and flat of the slab are occupied vsdth hues of Ogham, there being three lines on the flat, independent of those on the two arrises. Looking where the commencement of the inscription should be, the surface is uninscribed. Finrther on it seems to begin Agni Maqi, followed by a string of names in the Latin genitive form. Seeking for the earher portion of the principal name, one observes, at a considerable distance preceding the agni, a b associated vwth five digits, collateral to and as it were in- sistent on itself, quite in the manner of what has been noticed, as the sub-virgular Ogham at Killeen Cormac. The digits, however, seem to me to be natural rugce of the surface to which the h has been accommodated. Here we perceive a httle lapidary rebus of 5 " o " (from) «, which, vdth the agni following, make up the name of Bonagnus, Bonan, the founder and giver of its name to the original church. The rest of the legend appears to be Bonan's pedigree to his great, great, great grandfather, omitting the intermediate maqi's. I would read it as Bonan, son of Adlon, son of Nireman, son of Esscu, son of Lamidan, son of Dangon, terminating with Maqi Mucoi. But the modest names enumerated present a much more pompous appearance in their amplified Oghamic forms — B[ON]AGNiMA[Q]IHADDIL^NA NIEeJINAQAGNIESSICONlDDALA NG°NIMD°OI LAIIITqIDAGNI b(o)>iagni maqi haddilona niremnaqagni essiconi ddalangoni mucoi lamitaidagni, Zoitr/esf In- scription in being, I beheve, the longest inscription in legible Ogham letters Oghamjound " i mi • ■ i ii i , i i as yet. yet lound. i he maqi mucoi at tne end appears to show that 57 u, I. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 1()9 these words here, ae in previous examples, are not part of the Residue of pedigree, but something extrinsic and formal. If they be so i^'"""'- here, it is difficult to see why they should not be so considered where iaterjected into other legends. I cannot but think that, as I imagine is the case in the maqi decceda example also, the words relate to our Lord, and correspond to pious formulas thrown in at the end of other inscriptional legends, as in the biliteral Roman and Runic carviug at Vinge, West Gothland, where, between the Latin at one side, and its Norse echo at the other, are interjected the words Ave Maria Gratia. But this is only my guess,, and must be taken for what it may hereafter appear to be worth. 180. In the same parish, from a rath-cave in the townland of Laharan, two inscribed pillar-stones were many years ago Lahm-an dug up, and utihsed in the walls of a neighbouring dwelhng. They have been removed thence, and now form part of the Earl of Dunraven's collection at Adare Manor. The first is read by Mr. Brash — Maqi ritta maqi colabot. (A) The second, inscribed on two arrises, appears to repeat the last name, which, it vsdll be remembered, Mr. Brash also finds at Kiltera, in Waterford — Left arris — Coillahottas mqi corbi. (B) Right „ Maqi mucoi qcooi. (Og. Mom, 222.) 181. At Adare Manor, probably derived from this region, is another monument bearing the legend in Ogham, according to Mr. Du Noyer's drawing (MS., R.I.A.), confirmed by Lord Dimraven ia the " Memorials of Adare " — Corhagni maqi hifata. (C) 182. An open, cheerful country extends from Kilbonane, westward to the sea. Overlooking the sands of the Bay of Castlemaine, about midway between Killorglin and MiUtown, are the lands of Tinnahally, with their rath and its cave, TinnahaUy which has furnished two very fine examples of Ogham to ^^. the Museum of the Academy. The first, a huge rude block, 110 OGHAM IXSCRIPTIONS Eesiuub of Kekiiy. Tiimahally (B) 162. Ardywaiiig 47 I.,. presents X, evidently in its ea power, as coming between consonants, in the legend — Anm teagan maqi deglen, where all signs of inflection have disappeared, argxnng com- paratively a late date. It is the last anm which we meet with. The formula is pecuKar to the south and south-west of Ireland. I would, with Haigh, imagine it practically equivalent to the " titulus " or " jacet " of the Welsh Roman- esque inscriptions, and that, Hterahy, it means "the name of" the person commemorated. The Bishop of Limerick conceives that it is a contraction for " pro anima," and equivalent to the Patrician formula oroit do, "a prayer for the soul of." 183. The second is a very fine obehscal pillar, exhibiting a marked example of that kind of double reading already noticed. It has the tenor — Anmcfaruddrann Maqi (with strong digits over, very dehcately protracted under, the line) — do ligeinn. Son of Reading is an Irishism for scholar, or man of learning. Son of two Readings, if this were so rendered, might signify a doctor in both laws. Son of Dohgen seems strange to the eye as a patronymic ; and, if the early church in this region possessed formulas so pecuhar in sepulchral composition, its colleges probably had equally pecuhar designations for their grades in learning. However this may be, the q, beyond question, is made to serve as a double element in Maqi and Mari. 184. Between Milltown and Castlemaine, at Ardywanig, in the parish of Kilnanare, stands a fine piUar-stone, which in Mr. Windele's time bore an Ogham legend, read by him — Coftat. The whole of the inscription has since been split ofi" by the imprudent Mndhng of a fire against the stone. The addition of one digit to Mr. Windele's sketch would yield the more probable reversed reading — Festos. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. Ill This appears to be the Ardovenagh monument on which Jlr. Hesidde op Windele found, besides the above inscriptiou, a cross inscribed ^"'"'' in a circle (Og. Mon., 111). 185. Crossing the Castlemaine river and turning westward under the decKvities of SHeve Mish, we reach the site of another rath and rath cave at Keel, in the parish of Killgarry- lander. The cave contained a fine inscribed pillar, now at the neighbouring residence of Mr. Rea, at Corkaboy. It is Oorkabni/ inscribed on two angles, one legend terminating and the ^ ^ other beginning on the top where they overlap. The first is — CATTUFFIQQMAQIEITTE Cattuffiqq maqi ritte. The beginning of the second is obscure ; it proceeds down the alternate arris — [iafi]CASMUCGIALLATO cas mucoi allato, in reference to which last name, and, indeed, to many of the names with which we have had to deal in this region, I may observe that they are not found in other parts, either of Ireland or Britain, and indicate the presence of a very peculiar and isolated community. Here, at Corkaboy, we are again under the precipitous sides of Cahir Conree, whence we set out on the Oghamic circuit of Ireland now completed ; and, looking back on all that has been, so far, observed, may pause on some of the more obvious generahsations. First, then, we will, I think, be impressed with the gene- rally Christian character of these monuments ; next, with the distinctive character of that Chi-istianity which they represent ; and, thirdly, with the evidences of a popular repugnance towards it, taking its rise sometime after the sixth century and manifesting itself down to the present time. We will be inclined, I think, to ascribe more weight to the Irish tradition of a pre-Patrician church than has latterly been accorded to it ; and, while regarding Declan, Ibar, Ailbe, and Ciaran, as chronologically following rather than preceding Patrick, will not be indisposed to regard them as representatives rather than 112 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS. Eesidde of creators of the body of Christians who dwelt south of Sheve Cua, and into whose bounds neither Palladius, nor Patrick son of Calphum, ever penetrated. A review of what remains in Ogham lapidary work in Britain may perhaps enable us to take clearer, as they will be wider, views ; and I propose in my next lecture to take up the subject in Wales and South England. CHAPTER VI. The British Oghams frequently accompanied by Eoman epigraphs — The Laugliar Ogham in Wales, inscribed on base of Roman altar— Bi-lingual inscriptions at Cwm Gloyn, Usk Parle, Treifgarn — Pillar stones at St. Dogmael's, Llanfechan, Clydai, Cilgen-an, Ruthin — Ogbam-inscribed stones in Devon — That at Tavistock brought from Roborough Down, near Buckland-Monachorum— Fardel stone now in British Museum — Welsh Oghams atLlandawke,Trallong, Dugoed, Llanwinio, now at Middleton Hall — Bi-liugual stone on Caldey Island — Pillar stones at Bridell, Kenfigg, near Pyle — Sculptured figure on Llywell stone, now in British Museum, compared with that on the ftlaen Achwnfaen, near Mostyn, in Flint- ehire. 186. The Oghams of Britain, although much less numerous Wales. than those of Ireland, have, in almost every instance, the The Oghanu nf great advantage of being accompanied by Roman epigraphs J^l'^'°Jl!^ of which they generally are found to be echoes. It may, by Roman epi- therefore, be aiSrmed that they belong to a period subsequent ^™^ "" to B.O. 56, and some of them, at least, may, on reasonable grounds, be referred to the period of Roman occupation ending in A.D. 410. Of these latter, the most remarkable is that inscribed on one angle of the base of the Roman altar preserved at Laughar, ia Glamorganshire. There is no doubt Laugliar. of the genuine character of the altar. Neither can there be any question that the characters are true Ogham, although the letters I and c, with indistinct traces of some vowel notches, are aU that can now be recognised. K a contem- porary inscription, it puts the use of Ogham in Britain back into the time of surviving Paganism, and greatly impairs the argument for its Christian origin ; and it would be a some- what forced assumption to say that it has been added by a later hand. Conjectures of this kind have been employed to rebut the presumption that Oghamic monuments marked with the cross belong to Christian times. If these be, as I con- ceive they are, inadmissible, much more so would be the em- ployment, as here, of a legend not having any Christian significance to sanctify a rehc of Pagan worship. The 114 OGHAM INSCRDPTIOXS Wales. Laugliar altar would, therefore, in any large examination of the question, he provisionally regarded as a self-evidencing Oghamic relic of the Pagan period. It is also, with one exception, the only British Ogham unaccompanied by a Roman context. 187. These contexts vary in their style of writing from well-shaped Roman capitals to mixed capitals and minuscules of the most corrupt forms. The comparative age of the monuments has usually been estimated as proportionate to the less or greater rudeness of the lettering. Imperfection, however, is incident to the beginnings of imitation of newly- set examples, as well as to the withdrawal of their supply ; and where other indicia exist from which reasonable inferences may be drawn, the pal^ographic argument may have to be accormnodated to them. 188. Such indicia are afforded very persuasively by what is Cwm Gioiii. called the Vitahanus inscription at Cwm Gloyn, near Nevern, Pembrokeshire. The Ogham merely expresses the name Fitaliani. The Roman epigraph is Vitaliani Emerito, importing, it seems to me, however ungrammatically, that Vitahan was an emeritus or retired mihtary servant of the Empire. XJsk Park. IgQ. The Same may be said of the Usk Park inscription, Crickhowel, Breconshire. It is conceived in a Latin taste quite different from the crude Christian Oghamic formula — Turpilli ic iacit pueri triluni dunocati, echoed in part by the Ogham which employs X for the exceptional p, Turpili, and after a long lacuna two n'.s. I take " triluni " to have reference to the child's hfe of three months. If a proper name, the epigraph would lose some- thing of its Latin aspect, but the p of Turpili and the " pueri " would still distinguish it from the other bihterals of what may be called mere British origin, and point to a dominant Roman influence in the composition. Nevertheless, it is to be observed that Turpili is put in the genitive, as in the Irish example, though, perhaps, the following ic iacit may be meant to be taken in the concrete, corresponding to a sup- pressed lapis or titulus. Trefijarn. 190. The Hogticis inscription at Little Treffgarn, soiith of IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAXI). 11;> Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, may also, I would suppose, be Wales. referred to the same period. The Latin legend is — Hogtivis filius Demeti. The H is used as in regular Latinity, not for JV, as in later examples. That the name is Hogtivis (seemingly a British comiption of Octavius), is manifested by the accompanying Ogham, which, however, carries it a step further away from the original by presenting it in the coarse form HUGTIFFS. All the Roman characters are capitals, although of very rude execution. 191. Were we to judge solely by the form of the letters and their less or greater departure from the Roman model, we might refer to about the same period the pillar-stone at St. Dogmael's, near Cardigan, vouched in all dissertations on St. Liym,i,;rs Oghamic writing, as the primary evidence for the equivalency of Maqi to the Latin Filii. It is a monument of some elegance, considering that, hke all the class, it is untouched by any other tool but the graver. It is also the first, so far noticed in this section, which stands in an ecclesiastical cemetery, and may reasonably be taken as Christian, although not having any distinctive emblem. The Sagrani fill Cunotami of the Latin, running down the face of the stone, is echoed with some small variations, iu Sagramni maqi Cunatami of the Ogham running up its angle, in the usual course. Sagran and Cunotam (doubtless the Welsh Cyndaf) I would imagine to be, both, British names. 192. A more rudely-executed legend, marked also by a debased form of the Latin G, although still employing the regular E instead of the Hiberno-Saxon form of that letter, from the church of Llan Vaughan or Llanfechan, in Car- Liaiift-chan. marthenshire, may belong to the same category. It com- memorates Trengad, son of Maclan, as these names would 116 OGHAM IXSCRIPTIONS Wales. Newcastle Unilyn. Cili/eiran. probably appear to us if presented in their secular imdress. The Latin text is Trenacatus ic iacitfilius maglagni. The Ogham accompaniment, very clearly cut, expresses only Trenaccattlo, where lo remains, so far as I understand, unexplained, if it be not the early British representation of the GauHsh loga. 193. The transition from the regular Roman R to the form now regarded as the Irish and Hiberno-Saxon variety appears to have begun at the date of the next monument to be noticed. This also stands in consecrated ground in the churchyard of Clydai, near Newcastle Emlyn, in Cardigan- shire. Although the top of the pillar has been cut off to form the seat for a sim-dial, the whole of the Latin and enough of the associated Ogham to show that it was an echo, remains ; eterni jili victor ETTERN TOE together expressing the name of Ettern, son of Victor. The name Ettern, Eddem, Edeyrn, is Brito-Latin, as Victor is purely so, and both may weU be taken as of, or soon after, the Occupation period. A most attractive theory regarding this inscription has been put forward by Haigh. He took it for a monument raised by the Emperor Flavins Victor to his uncle Eternalis, both well-evidenced historic persons. But the obstacle of the fill seems to be insuperable. 194. In the same district, at Cilgerran, on the Teivy, in the parish cemetery, stands the pillar of Trengus. Its Latin legend is Trenegussi fill Macutreni hie iacit. It bears a double cross, but apparently not of contempo- raneous execution or design. An Ogham has once existed down all the length of one arris, seemingly, from what remains, expressing the names Trengus and Maqitreni. 195. So far all these indeterminate Welsh monuments, of which it can only be predicated that they are of Roman but not demonstrably of Christian times, are foimd in South IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 1 17 Wales. One Ogham inscribed monument only has been Wales, Devon. hitherto found in North Wales, and it belongs to the same category. It stands in Pool Park near Ruthin, Monmouthshire, Pool Park. and bears, in well-shaped, though greatly worn, Roman characters, what seems to be the name AmiHni with his designation Tovisaci (W. tywysog, Ir. " Toisech " or chief) superadded, and this is echoed by an Ogham on the face of the stone where Tosech takes the form tojisac. 196. Besides these, are still two other British examples found, not in Wales, but in South England, belonging to the same category. Both come from the district of Devonshire, border- ing on Exmoor. The first, now preserved at the Rectory, Tavistock, Tavistock, originally stood on Roborough Down, near Buck- ^'-'^'"'■ land Monachorum. Like the Tovisaci example, it adds to the name of the person commemorated his designation or calling. Dohuni fahri fili Enaharri, on the flat, echoed by Enabarr in Ogham characters, now much worn but stiU legible, along the edge of the stone. Enbar would appear as Celtic a form of name as Finbar or Cathbar ; and its occurrence so far eastward of Wales and Cornwall cannot but be historically interesting. 197. From the same region, north of Ivybridge, comes the Fardel, now better known Fardel monument, now in the British Museum. '" -S/'«is/i Museum, The Fanoni Maquirini of its Roman epigraph is accompanied by an Ogham express- ing the singular sounds SFAQQ°QA^ MAQIQICI. Sfaqqucci Maqi Qici. We have, however, met Sfaqqucci before in the less repul- sive form of Saffiqegi of the DunbeU, Kilkenny, monument. It and Qici probably designate Fanon and Quirin by their equivalents in Ogham nomenclature. The coarseness of the sounds grates on ears accustomed to the ordinary harmonies of our language. Those uncouth designations may. 118 CKiUAil IXSCRIPTIOXS Devon, Wales, however, have been adopted as evidence of self-disparage- ment by some Christian ascetic. The Celtic sounding Sagran in its ceremonial form Sagramni appears on the back of the stone. The letters are more in the Irish or Hiberno-Saxon taste than on the other examples above noticed ; and altogether the aspect of the monument is suggestive of Irish and Christian associations. 198. A strong savour of Chi-istian times and Irish association LUmi/au-ke. also distinguishes a Welsh Ogham monument at Llandawke Church, near Lougharne, in Pembrokeshire, although not marked with any sjinbol. The Latin inscription on the flat reads Barrivendi Filius Venduhari, and on one edge Hie iacif, all in not unshapely capitals, save that the s of Fihus is reversed. On both edges there are Oghams, which, read in the ordinary reverse coiuse to the Latin, j-ield at one side HUMELEDONAp and at the other 3Iaqi M(ncoi}. A fracture of the top of the stone leaves us uncertain of what should foUow ; but the space which has been occupied suggests the formula Mucoi. Here again, we may reasonably conjecture that Humeldons is the Oghamic alias of Barrfind, son of Findbar, as the subject of the memorial would, I imagine, have been called in the vernacular of his day, and may add this as a fm-ther example of Mucoi terminal. 199. So far, however probable the Christian origin of the monuments enumerated, or some of them, may be, we have nothing amounting to demonstrative proof. But when the cross forms part of the composition, the presumption of its Chi-istian origin cannot be rejected. The cross-signed Ogham monuments of Wales are hardly less numerous than those not so distinguished, and in the palaeographic point of Trailuiiij. view may claim an equal antiquity. At TraUong, between Ciickhowel and Brecon, there is preserved in connection with the parish church one of these obviously Christian memorials, remarkable for the comparative elegance of its Roman lettering, and for the clean-cut indisputable complete- ness of the accompanying Ogham ; and for a phrase of the Ogham formula still imexplained. The Latia legend is IN IRELAND, WALES, AXD SCOTLAND. 11!) Cumocenni Filius Cunoceni Hie iacit, and the Ogliam Cunacenna Wales. fiilffeto. Cunocenn or Cunacenn, has become Cyngen, as in Ireland it formerly was Concon. It is obviously the patron- nymic from which the Concani of Ptolemy took their tribe- name, and it need be no surprise to find it anywhere in Celtic Western Europe at any time from the earliest ages. This Cyngen or Concon will be readily recognised as one of the earher British Christians ; but we cannot so readily see how the Ogham fill ffeto corresponds as it ought to do to the filius hie jacet of the Latin. Fiil m.Ajhefili, transposed by oversight or pedantry of the carver ; but Ffeto, as an equivalent for ;ac«^, introduces us to a new verb, which, in Ogham, is more than the discovery of a new species, or even a genus in Natural History. 200. The same neighbourhood which yields the Etterni stone, suppHes another cross-signed Ogham monument at the farm of Dugoed. It is a Maltese cross in a chcle, having a Dugoed. double line below, which appears to have served at once as a support to the cross and a stem-hne for Ogham characters. Besides these there is an Ogham inscription along the arris, which reads D(JFTqC*^^'s and gives the key to the proper name Dob [ ] filius Evolengi in the Roman epigraph. Here we are reminded of Corpmac, otherwise Evolengus, the Eolang and Olan of Aghabulloge. A singularly - comphcated hgature following the Dob — and taking in some members of the Fihus — may contain all the letters for completing Dobtageos; and digits, which formerly existed along the hne of the cross's stem, may have completed the Ogham echo of both names. But between what remains of the Roman and of the Oghamic lettering, each supplanting the other, Duftae, son of Evoleng, has, on this stone, had his name and his faith commemorated as long, perhaps, as any other British or Irish Christian. 201. From Llanwinio, on the borders of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, there has been brought to Middleton m,idhton Hall, near Llandeilo, a cross-signed bi-hteral monument oi """■ 120 OGHAM IXSCRIPTIOXS Wales. exceptional interest, on account of the form taken by the Ogham equivalent for the Latin avi, used seenungly in the sense of " descendant of," Kke the Irish uaibh, " de nepotibus," now the common patronymical 0. The Llanwinio stone offers a singular example of Roman characters more diiEcult to read than their accompanying Oghams. This arises from the employment of hgatures, and also, I imagine, from a tamper- ing with one letter. The first hne, containing the principal name, has hitherto been read BIAD — . The cast shows a Hgature of the A, thus V^, equivalent to LVA. The supposed B I take to be S. The cast also shows the supposed D as H with its lower section rounded into D. H is the Irish form of N in Welsh inscriptions. Taking it so, the abnormal-looking Biadi disappears, and its place is taken by the more recog- nisable Silvani. Then foUows AVIBOGIBEVE, where a singularly-shaped G might leave us in further doubt, were it not that the accompanying Ogham reads plainly affi, bod at one side, and BEFf E at the other. It omits the principal name ; otherwise Silvanus would have been earher detected. The value of the text lies in the AVI, which both here and in the Irish examples appears to signify " grandson" — but of whom ? Bogibeve is not a hkely name. Mr. Haigh, in the essay referred to, by a careful analysis of all the Welsh inscriptional formulas, shows good ground for taking Bogus as the grandfather and Beve as the name of the person erecting the monument. The Ogham confirms his reasoning, showing affiboci and befe separately and in reverse courses of reading. A cross in- scribed in an oval occupies the head of the stone. 202. In all these cases the cross forms an integral part of the design ; but there is one cross-signed Oghamic monument on which the Ogham certainly appears to have existed before its Latin legend and sculptured crosses. This is the Caldey Caidcy Island, inscription. It is now deposited in the church on Caldey island, Pembrokeshire. It bears the well-known Latin inscription beseeching of the passers-by a prayer for the soul of Catuocon, which, if it be not an early Cadogan, may, like the Olacon of Ballynesturig, stand for some Cathcu who had carried that warlike name to this peaceful hermitage off the rocks of Tenby. The lettering is very Irish in all its characteristics. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 121 But, what is strange, it commences with ef, as if in continua- Wales. tion of something preceding ; and, while the stone was built into the wall of the church porch, antiquaries hoped for the missing sentences on the back, and speculated on the traces of Ogham digits near the top as probably being in continua- tion of others on the concealed arrises. The removal of the stone has shown these speculations to be groundless. The Ogham is merely a fragment, the top having been broken off, and quite illegible. But what is worthy of note is, that while the Latin letters are deep-cut and sharp in every outline, the Ogham digits and notches are so worn and abraded that no one looldng at the monument could suppose them contem- poraneous, and the engraver of Catuocon's prayer has evidently regarded them as immaterial, two of his crosses on the upper sides of the slab being cut through and over the attenuated traces of some of them. It is indeed a paHm- psest in stone ; but the original, which it is hard to think even of the early (Christian period, is irrecoverable. They have been read as yielding a sequence of vocables, but I am imable to follow it, and offer no transliteration. 203. Reverting to the rich Oghamic tract of Cardiganshire, which has already furnished the dydai and Dugoed examples, I would now refer to the neighbouring parish of Bridell. Brideli stone. Here a great pillar of stone, worthy to compare with some of the Irish examples, stands in the churchyard. It bears a quatrefoil cross in a circle on one side, and an unusually long Ogham legend along the angle. It, however, possesses no other inecription by which the transhteration or construing of its Ogham might be helped ; and the disintegration of its Kchen-covered surface makes the determination of their values extremely difficult. The legend begias near the bottom with the group Netta Sagri, or Nettasagruma. The difference depends on whether one indentation is a vowel notch or a natural flaw. In any case we recognise the Irish Netta. Then follows Maqi Mucoi greci or breci, depending on whether six or seven scores have been employed at the top. I have no doubt there are seven, and all cross the line. Whether it be breci or greci, the matter of chief interest is the occurrence here of the frequent Irish formula Maqi mucoi. It is to Mr. 1-2-2 OGH±\.M IXSCRIPTIOXS Wales. Brash I am indebted for correcting an erroneous reading of my own in this group of digits, which I had imagined con- tained the name of a Bishop Oudoc. The only criterion for the age of the monument is the style of the Ogham lettering, which employs both short digits and notches for vowels, and may, I think, be therefore regarded as among the latest of the Welsh Ogham monuments. 204. StilL, what should be deemed late, and what early, rests ia the utmost vagueness, unless some time can be fixed before or after which there may be reasonable ground for supposing some of those inscriptions to have been exe- cuted, and there remain two of them which may, I think, justify some speculation more or less confident in that Kenficig sione direction. Thcse are the Kenfigg and the LlyweU monu- airi/ e. ments. The Kenfigg stone, standing by the high-road from Pyle to Mar gam, in Glamorganshire, bears a Roman inscrip- tion down its face, with Ogham characters on its adjoining side arrises. The top arris I would say, from careful exami- nation, has never borne any inscription. The surface, with its natural pittings and rugosities, bears no appearance of having anywhere been smoothed or abraded, and is free from the least trace of artificial sculpture. The Latin epigraph, it is agreed on all hands, is Pampeius Carantorius. The e is of the Irish or Hiberno-Saxon form, e, beiag, with one exception, the only instance in which the Roman epi- graphs associated with these Welsh Oghams exhibit the late Irish influence. Its presence would seem to me to denote a period when personages bearing Roman names of distiaction were no longer resident in Britain, and to show that Ogham writing and the word maqi for "son" Hngered in Britain at least until after the Irish character had been partly adopted into lapidary writing. The Bishop of Limerick, I would think, has hardly allowed time for its adoption iato British lapidary writing when he seeks to find here the name of Saiat Carentoc of the sixth century, though he was the son of Pompa ; and Pompa, in the form Popa, may possibly be spelled in one section of the Ogham. It would be a very welcome standing-ground for this AYelsh exploration if one could accept this identification IN IRELAXD, WALKS, AXD SCOTLAND. 12;) as uuresei-vedly as that of St. Olan. But I confess I regard Wales. the characters taken as jp jo in the Ogham group to the right as symbols, not letters. They are tri-radial groups corres- ponding to the alleged old AVelsh sj^mbol of the Trinity. The received opinion of late years has been that the symbol is of modern origin. I am bound to say I do not think so. If I do not deceive myself, it exists on the Hayle inscription in Cornwall, associated -with a Roman in pace- Everything at this side I take to be synibohcal, and beheve it a fair question whether, -with their accompanying groups of vowels, there be not here three such tri-radial characters ; and, regarding these associated vowels, I will further own that 1 do not consider the statement of there having been a vocahc equivalent for the tri-radial symbol as by any means a bardic imposture. One hmb of one of these symbols is protracted across the hne, and, if it stood alone, would form m. On the opposite side — and we may remember the examples of detached initials, abeady noticed — are the remains of a lengthy Ogham inscription, extending from the top to the ground. We can recognise erl and, after abraded vowel places, digits which may be the remains of ng, followed, after other abrasions, by n maqi II, and this, after a further lacuna, by na, all which contain in their proper sequence the essential parts of the legend — (M)erl(i)ng(i a)nmaq(i)ll(ia)na. Merlingi anmaqi lliana. The designation of Merhn in Welsh tradition is an map lliana, or the misborn son of the nun. He was the child without a father of the legend of Vortigern, as old at least as the tenth century, and the very head of Welsh esoteric mystical doctrine. I do not suppose that this is his grave, but I submit that the monument is later than the story of the son of the Nun of Carmarthen who confounded the Druids of Vortigern, and that we must consider Ogham writing and the formula maqi to have survived in Wales down at least to some time after his era. 205. At the other terminus of the inquiry, the Llywell LhiwiU stone. stone will supply matter for a good deal of reflection. It 124 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Wales. was found, I believe, at a place near Trecastle, in Brecon- ehire, called Pant y Cadno, and is now in the British MTiseum, and is charged, face, back, and one arris, "with inscriptional "work. A Roman legend runs up the back, echoed by an Ogham one running do"wn the arris, and the face of the stone is covered do"wn to the ground-hne "with ornamentation and barbaric imagery, and possibly something more. The Roman characters are sHghtly debased capitals. The only uncertain- ties are whether the first letter is M or V, and whether the sixth letter from the bottom is a C or a debased G. To my eye the initial is V and the other G, yielding the reading — Vaccutreniimaqisaligiduni. It is the only instance of a Latin maqi, and appears to com- memorate Maccutren son of Salgin or Sulgen, and is echoed by the shorter Ogham — Maqitrenii salicidni. Maccutrenus is already familiar to us, and may be Irish or British-Celtic. Sulgen is Welsh, and, I would suppose, may equally be Iiish. Let us now turn to the face. It is some- what "wider at top. Horizontal hues di"vide it into four panels, under the lowermost of which the surface is left untouched, for insertion in the ground. Being so inserted, the first section of the Roman and the concluding section of the Ogham inscription are buried out of sight, lea"mig the panelled face in full "view. The first thing that strikes one is, that here is a Idnd of barbaric ornamentation very much in the style of the Irish Pagan monuments. But that the work is Christian is e"VLticed by crosses introduced at either side of a figure represented as trampling on a serpent in the third panel. The extraordinary rudeness of this figure — which consists merely of a circle "with dots for the head, two lines diverging below for the Hmbs and feet, and two for the Figure on the arms, there being no body — would make one hesitate in Lhjweii stone, ascribing any inteUigible meaning to it, were it not that the one on the figure on the lower front panel of the sculptured cross called Maen Jchwn- j.^q Macn Achwnfacn, near Mostyn, in Flintshire, engaged in Jaen, a sculp- . .-, . . i , ,i i , , • j ,• mi tared cross near snmlax actiou, givcs a key to the sculptors mtention. ihe Mostyn. Flintshire figure itself is barbarous in a high degree, but IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 125 exhibits a body and limbs contained within outhnes, and Wales. expresses, with a good deal of spirit, trampling action. It is vmnecessary here to inquire whether it be a spear it grasps in one hand or the tail of the serpent. It mnst be accepted as a remarkable instance of the possible combination of very- good art in ornamentation (for this is one of the most elabo- rately-designed and decorated of all the British crosses) with extremely low ideas in the drawing of the human figure. The being who tramples on the serpent, however, in the Flintshire- example, is well pictured in comparison with the corresponding figure on this Breconshire pillar-stone. Another attempt to represent a bishop with his pastoral staff on the panel below is equally infantile and excessively grotesque. A dotted circle for the head, two Unes, divergent below, for the Hmbs and feet ; two hues, one of them branching in three at the extremity, for the arms and a hand ; and another for the curved-headed crozier, constitute this second figure, the general effect of which is singularly Hke the barbaric imagery of some of the Loughcrew monuments. The accessories are altogether in the taste of the Irish Pagan monuments — flowing zig-zags, concentric curves, and rows of short parallel straight fines insistent on and dependent from others. A third inti- mation of a human figure appears at one side of the top, having near it a shield-Eke object, inscribed with a St. Andrew's cross. The next panel below, charged with a complication of curves and reticulations, is traversed by a strongly-incised tri-radial device issuing from above. In this it is difficult not to recognise the same object employed on the Kenfigg monument. It is followed, on the panel below, by a catena of ten lunette-shaped characters resembling the four Coll Ogham digits which stand for the vowel e in the Kilbonane legend. There are ten of these, which, as Oghams, would yield the vowels o, i, u. It was intimated in comment- ing on the Kenfigg stone, that certain vowel groups have been alleged to have a known relation to this tri-radial figure. They express, according to modem Welsh bardism, the mystery of the Trinity and the Divine name. In the language of the Barddas, the voice in which God declared Himself " had in it the utterance of the three notes corresponding to 12(5 OGIIAM IXSCRIPTI0X8 Walls. the three rays Thus was the voice that was heard placed on record in the symbol. — The sense of was given to the first colunm, the sense of I to the second or middle column, and the sense of V to the third — It was thus that God declared His name and existence, * ." The writer vouches no authority for what he alleges older than that of Welsh mystical writers of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the tri-radial symbol and its vocalic exponent have been generally rejected by modern scholars, as late and dis- honest inventions. These lapidary evidences, however, give the subject a new aspect, and it may be worth while in their presence to recur to the words of one of the Welsh writers, vouched by Ab Ithel, Davydd Nanmor, who died A.D. 1460, in reference to our Lord — 0. i. ag W. yu ag Oen. He is 0. I. & W., and a Lamb. To which it may be added that the same authorities allege the original 0. I. V. (which would be Oghami- cally) was prior to the time of Tahesin written, as ten Coll Oghams are capable of being sounded, 0. I. 0. — (Barddas, p. 65.) This catena is followed by the remains of what appear to have been alphabetic characters, and by digits in all respects similar to those which, on Breton and Norse rock carvings have hitherto been taken for boats with their crews, here inverted. They are identical with the objects seen on the sculptured sepulchral slabs of the Irish Pagan tumuh at Loughcrew. If they be real hnks between the digit and notch Ogham of this class of monuments, and the fantastic sculpturings of the Pagan tombs of Ireland, the field of inscriptional inquiry would acquire vastly-enlarged bounds, and a new and extraordinary hterary interest ; but everything is so wild and disorderly on the Irish Pagan sculptures, that the prospect of eHciting material for any tangible comparison is extremely remote. One cannot, how- ever, look on these survivals of the Pagan taste, interminghng with the first efforts of art in Christian symbohsm, without a strong conviction that the monument belongs to the veiy IN IRELAXD, WALES, AND SCOTLAXlt. li!7 earKest age of Christianity in Britain, and that the much- Wales. discredited date of the end of the second century for the mission of Fagan and Duhric looks less improbable in the hght of this lapidary record from the country of the Silures. 206. During this examination of Welsh monuments, ranging probably from the third or fourth, and coming down, it may be, to the sixth or seventh centiu-y, a statement in. Cormac's Glossary respecting the Welshmen who accompanied Patrick to Ireland, already referred to in connection with Irish examples supplementing the ordinary Ogham alphabet with an excep- tional character for the letter P, will often have recurred to the mind : — " Cbuimthek, i.e., the Gaelic oi pi-esbi/ter. In Welsh it is premier- : prem, ' worm,' in the Welsh is criiim in the Gaelic. Cruimther, then, is not a correct change of presbyter : but it is a correct change of prenUer. The Britons, then, who were in attendance on Patrick when }ireai;hiag were they who made the change, and it is primter that they changed ; and accordingly the literati of the Britons explained it, i.e. as the worm is bare, sic decet presbyterum, who is bare of sins and quite naked of the world, &c., secundum eum qui di.x;it ego [autem] sum vermis [Ps. xxii. 6 : ataimse oonad cruim me 7 nach duiue B], &c." If this mac was map, it is difEcult to understand how it comes that the formulas in use in these inscriptions are maqi, maccu, and that so many of the proper names are Irish in aspect, unless on the theory of an Irish Celtic occupation of those parts of Wales and South Britain in which the monuments are foiuid. The fact of some kind of occupation by Irish Celts, whether by conquest or friendly settlement, during the second or thu'd century, and thenceforward till their expulsion about the close of the sixth, is very strongly attested both by Welsh and Irish authority of a high antiquity. Whether Nennius, or the continuator of Nennius, be the author, an Irish settle- ment of the sons of Liathan in South Wales is one of the oldest British historical events on native record. The Irish annahsts allege an extended dominion over Britain, by which probably we are to understand, Wales and CornwaU, in and subsequent to the reign of Criffan, son of Fidach, A.D. 360. Cormac's Glossary carries back the Welsh and South British intercoiu'se to an earlier period. The hiRt(jriG gi-7uiineness of 128 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS WiLEs. the tradition may be inferred from its being given in the Glossary as incidental to a comparatively trivial story of the importation of the first lap dog into Ireland. Testimonies given thus undesignedly are free from the suspicion of being fabricated for an historical purpose. The entry under the heading Mug eime, slave of the hilt, is as follows : — " Mug-Eime, that is the name of the first lapdog that was in Ireland. Cairbre Muse, son of Conaire (1) brought it from the east from Britain ; for when great was the power of the Gael on Britain, they divided Alba between them into districts, and each knew the residence of his friend, and not less did the Gael dwell on the east side of the sea quam in Scotioa, and their habitations and royal forts were built there. Inde dicitur Dinn Tradui, i.e., Triple-fossed Fort, of Crimthann the Great, son of Fidach (2), King of Ireland and Alba to the Ictian sea (3). It is there was Glass son of Cass, Swineherd of the King of Hiruaith (4), with his swine feeding, and it was he that Patrick resuscitated at the end of six score (a) years after he was slain by the soldiers of Mac Con. And it is in that part of Dinn map Lethain in the lands of the Cornish Britons, i.e., the Fort of Mac Liathain, for mac is the same as map in the British. Thus every tribe divided on that side (b), for its property to the east was equal [to that on the west] (c), and they continued in this power till long after the coming of Patrick. Hence Cairbre Muse was visiting in the East his family and his friends. At this time no lapdog had come into the land of Eirin, and the Britons commanded that no lapdog should be given to the Gael on solicitation or by free will, for gratitude or friendship. Now at this time the law among the Britons was, ' Every criminal for his crime such as breaks the law ' (a). There was a beautiful lapdog in the possession of a friend of Cairbre Muse in Britain, and Cairbre got it from him [thus]. Once as Cairbre [went] to his house, he was made welcome to everything save the lapdog. Cairbre Muse had a wonderful skene, around the haft whereof was adornment of silver and gold. It was a precious jewel. Cairbre put much grease about it and rubbed fat meat to its haft, and aftenvards left it before the lapdog. The lapdog began and continued ,to gnaw the haft till morning, and hurt the knife, so that it was not beautiful. On the morrow Cairbre made great complaint of this, and was sorry for it, and demanded justice for it of his friend. ' That is fair indeed : I mil pay for the trespass,' said he. ' I will not take aught,' says Cairbre, ' save what is in the law of Britain, namely, " every animal for his crime." ' The lapdog was therefore given to Cairbre, and the name. IN IRELAND, WALES, AXD SCOTLAND. 1:^11 i.e. Mvg-eime (slave of a haft) clung to it, from mug ' a slave ' [and eim Wale.s. ' a haft'], because it was given on account of the skene. The lapdog (being a bitch) was then with young. Ailill Flaun the Little (0 ) was then king over IMunster, and Cormao, grandson of Conn (6), at Tara ; and the three took to wrangling, and to demand and contend for the lapdog ; and the way in which the matter was settled between the three of them was this, that the dog should abide for a certain time in the house of each. The dog afterwards httered, and each of them took a pup of her litter, and in this wise descends every lapdog in Ireland still." It will probably be thought that at this time the presence of the Irish was rather that of peaceful settlers, for the law to which reference is made was Roman law, and a hostile occu- pation of imperial territory was Httle hkely at this period. If, then, there were an Irish population spealdng a language diiferent from that of the native British in these regions at that time, it would appear highly probable that the Irish- soundiag formulas and names found on ^Velsh and South British Ogham inscriptions ought to be ascribed to them. It is indeed very difficult to come to any other conclusion, if it be conceded that in St. Patrick's time the Welsh ecclesiastics could not pronounce Cruimthir, but called it Prempter. But this depends on whether the Welsh in question were com- panions of Patrick of Dunbarton, the son of Calphurn, or of Palladius, also called Patrick. There is no doubt that Palladius sailed on his Ii-ish mission attended by numbers of Bi-itons from the port of Menevea, now St. David's, in A.D. 431. If the Britons who accompanied him used p for Ic, it would be extremely difficult to treat the maqis of the AVelsh Oghams as of British origin. But the language of Western and Southern Britain during the time of the Roman occupation, so far as it can be judged of by the names of persons and places and their occasional interpretations in works of early authority, is argued vsrith much force to have been substantially the same as that which may legitimately be supposed to have then been spoken in Ireland ; and the differences which now exist between the Welsh and Irish languages are sought to be accounted for, and not unreasonably, by that Cymric invasion from North Britain of the 6th century led by Cunedda and 130 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Wales. his eight SOUS, which British scholars are agreed in accepting as an historical event. To these Britons of Cumbria and Strathclyde from the north, and to subsequent Cymric infusions pouring themselves westward before Anglo-Saxon pressure, the change may be due which, as early as Cormac's time, had made Mac Irish, and Map Welsh ; and assuming Patrick Calphurnides to have been accompanied on his Irish mission by Britons of that Cymric race and language, the statement of Cormac may be referred to him rather than to PaUadius, and may well consist with the Welsh claim to be left in possession of their old Ogham monuments. 207. The paleeographio difficulty remains. Assume the language of Britain before the epoch of Cunedda to have been the same with that of Ireland. Assume the Cuneddan revolution to have altered it into the language of the now oldest Welsh writings. The maqi-heaxhig Ogham epigraphs must then be referred to the pre-Curieddan period, during the greater part of which good Eoman models were at hand, and the production of letters so debased as we find associated -with many of the examples, rendered, in the estimation of scholars, unHkely if not impossible. It may be a question whether scholarship has not overreached itself by excessive scientific nicety, or whether the contintiing maqi be not hieratic, and a survival of some special school of inscriptional phraseology. This might be supposed in the case of formulas like maqi and maccu, but that the Irish-sounding names should also have been continued after their Welsh modifications had come into use, seems hard to admit. To the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, however, if we accept the theory of an identical speech in Ireland and Britain, we seem coerced to refer the Oghams the subject of this lecture, although associated with epigraphs which we have been taught to regard as two, three, and four centuries later in date. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the inclination of my own mind would be to accept the theory, especially as in the old Irish tradition preserved in the Book of Invasions the Fid-genta or people of the woods, the autochthones of Ireland are designated Britons. Holding this view, I should be bound to admit that, cceteris paribus, a British claim to have imparted IN IRELAND, W.VLES, AND SCOTLAND. 131 this kind of writing to the Irish would rest on reasonable Wales probabihty. For the Irish were there in as good a position to be receivers of the gift as bestowers of it ; the Ogham bases itself on an alphabetic system, having a Latin aspect ; and the natural course of transmission of Latin influences would prima facie be through Britain to the outer island. But if the Ogham be of British origin, it may be afHrmed with confi- dence that it originated there after the British emigration to Armorica, generally referred to the time of Maximus, 383-9 ; for, notwithstanding extended special search, no Ogham has ever been found in Brittany or elsewhere on the Continent. 208. But a greater than the palseographic difficulty must still be surmounted before we can say that Ogham was of British as distinguished from Irish origin, or vice versa. On the one hand, we may have been struck, in the Welsh examples, with the absence of scholastic trickeries. On the other, we will have noticed that they almost all present their genitive name-terminations in the Latin i; and that such forms as the Irish ias, as, a ; os, o ; are absent. Language is distinguished from the other gifts of man in this, that it be- comes more perfect, in the sense of having more inflectional forms, as we go back towards its beginnings. These guides to the relations of words undergo a continual process of decay and removal ; dropping, first, one syllable, then another, then disappearing altogether. I do not suppose that philology has any means of computing the time necessary for these changes ; but, as they are gradual, their successions must cover large spaces of human history. If we try to estimate what time it took the ias genitive to shorten into as and a ; or the i geni- tive to recede from the termination, and hide itself in the body of the word, as in maic for maqi, we shall find ourselves demanding periods long behind the Roman advent, and must, in that case, give the prior use to the place in which these forms are found. But if these be not true inflectional forms, but only pedantic devices of the Irish carvers, the conclusion would be that Ogham writing, after its discontinuance in Wales, went on through several stages of a spurious refine- ment, in the south of Ireland ; and to that conclusion, I acknowledge, my own mind is, at present, the more attracted. 132 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS. Wales. 209. The discontinuance of Ogh-am-writiag in Wales seems to correspond ia date with the reforms consequent on the mission of Augustine. Both in Wales and Ireland there had been great need of reformation : GUdas has drawn the British half of the picture in very dark colours, but with outHnes too indistirict to give us more than an indefinite sense of vice and apostacy. We know also how obscure and intangible are the traces of that early Welsh mysticism which Algernon Herbert, in his Neo-Druidic Heresy, deduces from the ambi- guous language of the Bards, but it seems pretty evident that there was sometlung esoteric there ; and, indeed, we may unconsciously have abeady had a sample of it in the Kenfigg inscription. If I have been right in deducing the name Merlin, the Son without human father, from its Ogham, and this have its echo, as we might expect, in sense, if not in sound, ia the Roman epigraph, it is quite conceivable that He who, in religious language, by His five wounds gives mankind their saving assm'ance, may be indicated under the associated Pumpeius Carantorius. The Irish hagiologists are also vague and unsatisfying, but they indicate substan- tially that there was something much amiss in the Irish Church about the same time. Brigid had prophesied that evil teachers were to come who should overthrow doctrine and seduce almost all men ; and her biographer, Cogitosus, declares that when King Ainmire, the reformer of the Bards, called in Gildas to restore ecclesiastical law, all, from the highest to the lowest, had lost the Catholic faith ; while St. Hildegard, in her life of Desibode, shows the continuing behef in some great heterodoxy of the Irish of the sixth century by representing them as having, in many cases, turned Jews, and, in many, relapsed into Paganism. In this view of the two Churches— both Ogham-using, and both under orthodox censure — we may, I think, see the causes which in Wales led to the disuse of this kind of writing, and, in Ireland, to the disuse also of the graveyards of the sectaries. CHAPTER VII. Scottisli Oghams differ from tliose in Ireland, Wales, and England— Shetland Oghams ; Lunnasting : St. Niuian's : Bressay — Orkney ; Burrian, Aherdeenshire ; Newton : Logic : Aboyne — Scoouie stone in Fifeshire — Golspie iu Sutherland. 210. All the older Oghamic monuments of Ireland, and all Scotland. tliose of Wales and South England, so far as they are known to us, are of the digit and notch kind. The Oghamic monu- Scntthh ments of Scotland, on the contrary, are all of what has ^&Q^ fri'm7ho11'fn termed the scholastic variety, in which digits constitute ireiand,Wairs, vowels as well as consonants, and the notch is unknown. "'"^ ^"^ ""■ " The stem-crossing vocahc groups are distinguished from consonantal by being vertical to the medial Hne ; but this is by no means a general rule. In some instances vowels and consonants are sloped in reversed directions, and in some reverse incUnations are given to both classes of letters infer se. The consequence is a range of alternative transhterations so wide that room can only be found for the most obvious possible variations in the transliterated texts of this section. The Scottish Oghams, therefore, agreeably to these views, may be considered the more modern, and in them we may be prepared to find more of that studied obscurity which appears to have originated in the pedantry of later ecclesiastical scribes. They are about equally distributed over the main- land and the islands. In the latter we find no collateral aid from associated epigraphs, or, save in one instance, from definitely intelhgible sculpture. On the mainland all the examples ally themselves with peculiar Picto-Scottish forms of sculpture, which, for such interpretation as they may receive, require the fuller preparatory exploration. It will therefore be more convenient to begin our smwey from the Shetland Islands, the most distant point northward at which Ogham inscriptions have yet been found ; then to take up the Orkney examples, and reserve those found on 134 OGHAM INSCRIPTIOXS Scotland. the sculptured stones of Aberdeen, Fifeshire, and Sutherland, siu'iiaiid. for final examination. The first, then, of the Scottish island Luiiiiasting. inscriptions which I shall observe on, is that from Lunnas- ting, on the mainland of Shetland. It is very clearly, I had almost said elegantly, cut on a smooth flag, which retains the traces of every character. It is, besides, provided with word-divisions; yet the artist has succeeded in making it one of the obscurest Oghams with which we are acquainted. A cross accompanies it, and a cross designates the commence- ment. It exhibits one group of coll digits, recalHng the examples at Kilbonane and Lly^vell ; and, in the initial of the second word, employs a character which, in one of the lists of sigla or key alphabets of the Irish Book of BaUymote, is set down for s. All its digit-groups are tied, and free from the least doubt as to number or position. The trans- literation, however, is singularly repellent — TTUIciJ,HEATTS : SEAHHTTANNN : HCCFfJ' FF : NEHHTONN. ttuiculieatts sealihttannn liccffeff nehhtonn. Tuicuheat might aUy itself with the Toichthec of other examples, and the legend might commemorate a sechtain or septenary of his kindred, amongst whom Nechton might be one : but the intermediate collection of digits, liccffeff, conveys nothing articulate to the ear, and suggests no meaning to the mind, nor will any alternative antithetical or exchangeable adjustment, so far as I can see, solve the riddle, though, without doubt, the characters, when inscribed, had a meaning for those who had the key. 211. The second Shetland Ogham is from the ecclesiastical SI. Niniaii's. site of St. Ninian's. It is imperfect at the commencement, but complete at its ending, and consists of two words at most — esmeqqnann ammoffest. The name seems a diminutive of affection, and the predicate has all the look of a superlative in est, but further I do not enter on the dangerous field of philology. Bressaij. 212. The third example from Shetland, the Bressay monu- ment, affords further e"^ddence of the Ogham having been in IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 135 use among a mixed Celtic and Norse population, and a most Scotland. welcome and well-assured standing-ground in chronology. I know not whether to regard the Bishop of Limerick's identifi- cation of the St. Olan monument in Ireland or of this record of the descendants of Naddodd, the discoverer of Iceland, as the more brilhant critical achievement. It is now nearly thirty years since Dr. Graves read his paper on the Bressay Stone before the Royal Irish Academy. Up to that time the strong presumption was that Celtic forms only should be looked for. It is not until now that any suspicion of Icelandic or old Enghsh forms of speech being concealed in other Ogham legends of the Scottish islands has been expressed. Dr. Graves, however, finding the undoubted sequence dattrr following a proper name in the s possessive, at once perceived the Norse character of the monument, and the direction in which his search after the names of the persons commemo- rated should be conducted. The stone is ia marked contrast with the modest slabs described in the preceding paragraphs. It is of considerable size, covered on both faces with Christian ecclesiastical sculpturings, set in a symboHcal framework representing the swallowing and disgorgement of Jonah, and engraved on both edges with Ogham legends. These, not- withstanding some pedantries belonging to the later school of writing, may be transhterated — CKEOBSCC : NAHHTFFDDADDS : DATTRE : aNN. ccrroscc nahhtfddadds dattrr an — , the terminal digits being uncertaia ; and — BENNE^ES : MF.QQDDREOI ANN. bennrres meqq ddrroi ann. Dr. Graves has pointed out that ccrroscc for crocs is in harmony with other Irish examples, and that Nathdod, who discovered Iceland A.D. 861, had a grandson Benir, to whom if we refer the Bressay monument, we shall bring the probable age of this writing to about the middle of the tenth century. 213. I next take up the Orkney example. It comes from Or/tnei/. the Broch (Bui-gh) or diy-stone round castle of Bm-rian, in the Buniun. Island of North Ronaldsay, and is now in the National Museum 136 OGHAM IXSCRIPTIOXS Scotland. of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. It is a small slab, on the smooth surface of which a cross has been engraved, along with a hne of Ogham lettering very delicately cut on an incised stem-line. It is, I fancy, the most minute lapidary Ogham hitherto found. Unfortunately some of its groups are obhterated. It has no division points, and its series of words has to be made out on presumption, and by way of trial. The commencing syllables appear to make a proper name ending in rrann or rarjg. They are followed by groups of digits yield- ing the sequence u(u)rract, which, in a Norse or old English legend, would without difficulty be accepted for " wrought,'' or " engraved" ; after u{u)rract comes a combination of digit groups, beginning with the X to which ea, p, and a possible th force have been ascribed, but incapable, as it stands, of yielding any intelligible syllabic sequence. The next and final word begins with angulated digits, Avhich, as Runes, would have the force of cc. We are here on the confines of the Norse influence, and may accept these values the more readily because the groups which follow plainly express, with them, ccrroccs, " cross." Here, then, are four words, of which the second and fourth are sensible and relevant to the accompany- ing sculpture, and the first and third, as they stand, insensible. We have had examples of entire legends insensible until in- verted, but no evidence as yet of partial inversions of the constituent words. Such, however, would seem to be the key to the Bunian Ogham. The group, illegible as it stood, before ccri'occs, turned upside down, becomes ilietts, " this." For the Burrian legend, therefore, I would submit the trans- hteration — (? rrann) uurract ilietts ccrroccs. (? rrann) wrought (engTaAi^ed) this cross. How lapidary writing in Ogham came into Orkney and the Shetlands, may exercise a good deal of speculation. The more obvious idea woidd be that it had been introduced by the Columban clergy. But the question niight be asked with much cogency how it happens that there are no traces of Ogham at lona, or Derry, or Durrow, or Kells, or at any of the centres of Columban missionary acti'S'ity on the Continent? IN IRELAXD, WALES, AXD SCOTLAND. 137 The pi-e-Columban Chi-istianity of Scotland was that of Gallo- Scotland. way and Strathclyde, and, if we may credit certain legendary statements, which, however, have been generally discredited, an earlier infusion direct fronr the east into northern Pictland. GaUoway and Strathclyde are destitute of Oghams. Pictland alone on the mainland of Scotland possesses them, in like manner as it alone possesses its particular lapidary symbolic sculptures. Pictland, certainly, would be the highway to the Northern Islands and to Iceland, and it may be worth con- sideration whether the Christian monks called Papa3, whom the discoverers of Iceland found there in the ninth century, were not the representatives of some such pre-Columban influence from the Scottish mainland ; for Papa, although it has lingered in the Breton Church, is certainly not Columban nor Irish, but characteristically Eastern. 214. The monument on the mainland of Scotland which in its general aspect most resembles the old Irish and Welsh examples, is that at Newton, in the Garioch, Aberdeenshire. Nmcton. The front of the stone bears an inscription of consider- able length in very singular characters, accompanied by a long Ogham legend extending down one side, and having at the lower end a lateral loop not unhke the knot on a Runic worm-band. The loop section has an incised stem-hne : the principal hue of Ogham foUow^s the drum or natural convexity of the stone where the face rounds into the side. A cross of the filfot kind occurs in the middle of the front inscription, and a cross appears in the Ogham at the front where the collateral digits branch off. It may be thought that no so fantastic forms of letters as those of the principal epigraph have ever been derived from the Roman alphabet. But that opinion will hardly be retained after an inspection of some of the ^Yelsh non-Oghaniic lapidary legends, and wiU., I think, be promptly dismissed in presence of the oak-carved inscrip- tions of Llanfair Waterdine, Salop. Here, on the chancel-rail of a church of the fourteenth or fifteenth centmy are two legends in raised characters even more strange to the eye than anything in the Newton epigraph. Yet they are no more than Roman characters and sigla pedantically disguised, as appears from the Maria with which the fii'st begins, and 138 OGHAM IXSCRIPTIOXS Scotland. the words Esrl flii Concluding the second. These Llanfair texts are adduced, not for the purpose of further elucidating them, which would be beside the present inquiry, but as an instance of the extent to which inscriptional fantasy has gone under Welsh ecclesiastical influences, and as a caution against our allowing the not greater distortions of the Newton text to deter us from seeking their explanation in the alphabet by which we have hitherto found aU the British and Irish bi-Hteral epigraphs explainable. And if the miad be kept from remote and foreign analogies, and prepared to recognise famihar forms, though in glyptical masquerade, the eye, even cursorily glancing over the principal Newton legend, can hardly fail to take in some tangible Latin sequences. In the second hne Furtrin, Rex ; in the third, Gito ho loco, with a sign of contraction over the ho ; in the fourth and fifth, usscetlifili sitrgsi ; and in the fifth what seem to be hgatures of the component letters of sepultus. The name at top is a monogram hke the duplex Cellach bound up in another set of hgatures. I, L, T, U, and F are easily distinguishable in each of its two parts. Turning to the Ogham, we experience excessive embarrassment from the absence of any definite stem-hne ; from the disregard of any distinction between consonantal and vowel groups, it being left uncertain or for ascertaiament from the context whether, for example, a group of five digits crossing the drum is to be taken for R or for /; as well as from the probably intentional dropping out of letters and syllables. What presents itself at fitrst sight, including the loop in parenthesis and accepting as a digit a faint iaden- tation to complete the g of regs, not hitherto taken iato account, seems to be — uu dd mq qnsn forrennq (regs gist) X tli. This may receive some shght expansion from further accept- ing a faint underline curved mark after the q of qnsn for ui, and a prolongation of three of the digits of the first r into the opposite superior group as equivalent to an ioserted t, giving — udd mq quinsn fotrennq regs gist X tli, yielding, if both ends of the Hne be taken as reading towards X and the supposed omitted letters be added, iltudd m(a)q quins(anti)n fortrennq regs gist. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 139 And certainly the Romanesque monogram, if read like the Scotland. cypher Cellach outward from the centre, is quite adaptable to Itudd in the form Iltulf : and Iltulf or Indulf certainly was king of Fortren or Pictland, and was slain A.D. 961, at Inner- colan, in Aberdeenshire, not far north of the Garioch; which would all hang together with reasonable appearance of pro- babihty were it not stated, valeat quantum, in the Pictish chronicle that Indulf was buried in lona. I do not attempt to reconcile the discrepancy, but present the reading for what it may be worth, as the only seenung solution to which these lapidary texts conduct. 215. There remain now the four Ogham inscriptions, at Logie and Aboyne, Aberdeenshire ; Scoonie in Fife, and Golspie in Sutherland. The Logie ring-Ogham is associated Lo(iie ring- with what will, I beheve, be shown to be Marian Emblems. ^ '""*■ The name Maria contains five letters, and it is made up seemingly of five groups of digits ; but there the resemblance ceases. The only vocahsable sequence having any resem- blance to a name which it presents is Togtuch, which, if we could be sure of it, might be compared with Toicthech and Toggittac ; but the " wheel-Ogham " was cryptic of the cryptic. In the Amra Coluimkille, a eulogistic elegy by the bard Dalian Forgaill, the art of reading the " wheel-Ogham " is enumerated among Coliunba's accomphshments. I fear it has not been transmitted to our times. 216. Neither can I add anything to what is already known of the Aboyne legend. It was at once seen that the first hue Ahmjtn-. read — __ MAQQOITALLUORRH, Maqqoi talluorrh, where the h has evidently the same force as in the " Ingeborh " of the Stennis Runes, and, no one doubts, makes up the name of a Pictish Talorg. The second line remained um-ead till Mr. Skene, our Celto-Scottish historian, detected in it what seems the Ogham equivalents of an expression in use in old Picto-Scottish charters. The Book of the Monastery of Deer, in recording the grants made to that community by the kings and nobles of Pictland, uses two forms of expression — do rat, " donavit," and ro bait, " immolavit." The reason for 140 oghjUI inscriptions Scotland. the distinction may now, perhaps, be apparent. Grants to the Celtic church were made, as well through voluntary- piety as in condonation of personal immoraUties. Those recorded in the Welsh Book of Llandaff were almost all made by transgressors of the moral or ecclesiastical law, in con- sideration of re-admission to church privileges. If do rat be proper to voluntary grants, and ro bait to these compulsory ones, we would imderstand the reason for something pecuhar in the Ogham now under consideration. Mr. Skene renders it— NliAHH^LfAROBBSDOCEANNEFF. HGL ^^ JVeahJitla rohhait Ceanneff. "Neahhtla" (which he regards as a form of Nechtan) granted (immolavit) Kenneff," a known place-name in the district of the Mearns. The grantor's name, if it be Neachtan, is presented under a singularly ambiguous and confusing form. It may be read Neahhtla, Neahhhgla, Neahhhola, Neahhhof, Neahhhong, according as some of the digits are taken as crossing or stopping short at the medial Hne. They show on both sides, but so sKghtly on one that it might be doubted whether these sources of confusion arise from care- lessness or design. If Rohbait, however, imports that this is the name of one whose donation was an enforced mtdct for an ecclesiastical offence, we see the relevancy of MacCm-tin's statement about the evil actions of the dead being engraved on their monuments in forms of Ogham illegible to the uniniti- ated, and may be satisfied to conclude that probably none of the above various readings expresses the real name of the dehnquent who, we have supposed, mortified KenneS" for his transgressions. It is to be observed that in extracting robbait from the text, the force of ai is given to the siglum, which has been elsewhere taken for s, shghtly varied, and on the authority only of the exigence of the context. Fifeshire, 217. The Other Fifeshire Ogham monument, at Scoonie, Scooine. offers an animated representation of a stag-hunt. The Ogham is carried up at one side ; and must be deemed to have been engraved after the sculpturing of the chase, as one Hinb of the stag projects across its digit-band, and that has a corresponding IX IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 141 discontinuance. The mysterious elephant-like symbol, often Scotland. appearing on the Scottish sculptured stones, surmounts the scene. Its presence might alone assure us that the hunt is typical and has an inner meaning. Other grounds, however, exist for the same conclusion. The subject is one of very frequent occurrence, both in ecclesiastical lapidary sculp- ture and wood-carving. The sculptured slab of the stone coffin of St. Andrew's gives, I imagine, a key to the emble- matical character of them all. Here, at one side is the sub- stituted ram of the sacrifice of Abraham. At the other, a mounted hunter pursues the deer, which is entangled in the thicket. A footman below chases wild beasts, which seem to elude him. A composite creatm-e, half-lion half-eagle, of frequent occurrence in church sculpture, preys on a carcass in the foreground at the feet of a Samson rending the jaws of the Hon, all intensely Christian, recondite, and symboHcal. It is enough for the present pm-pose to point out that the object of the horseman's chase is not the typical ram, but its antitype, so that if we accept the analogy of the St. Andrew's monument, these hunting scenes point to the pursuit of salvation in Christ. The picture, however, has a reverse, in which I would suppose the theme of the Wild Huntsman has its origin. The most notable illustration known to me is that on the portal of St. Zeno's at Verona, where a mounted king pursues a stag with horn and hounds, but his horse has been provided by Satan, and bears him to the infernal gates. There is a vague idea, which I have not traced to any certain source, that it represents Theodoric carried to destruction by heresy. The accompanying Latin legend countenances the interpretation — Regem stultum : petit infernale tributum, Moxque paratm- equus quem misit demon iniquus, Exit aquila nisus petit infera non rediturus. Nisus equus ferus canis. His datur hos dat averno. Oh, the mad King, he seeks his doleful dues On steed the devil iinds him for his use, Hawk, eagle, horse, hound, bounding beast, to these He's given ; these gives he for perdition's fees. Brodie Stone. 142 OGHAM IXSCRIPTIOXS Scotland. His fatal quany, so, with hound and horn, He hunts through Hell-gate, never to return. ^Tiat the eagle or eagle-hawk may mean in either compo- sition I do not attempt to explain, but infer that the hunt on the Scoonie standing stone is, hke that on the St. Andrew's stone coffin slab, allegorical, and that, as regards the horses of the riders it is in contrast with that at St. Zeno's. The Ogham expresses but a single name which seems to me to be— EDDARRNONN. Eddarrnonn. Whether the Ettem and Edeyrn of British examples in the dimiautive, hke Adamnan, or Eddarnon Hke the Irish Edarscal, I do not take on me to pronounce. The name of Ehiiiishhc. Eddarrnonn is found also on the Brodie Stone in Elginshire. The same name in the modified form of Iturnan and liliurnan occurs in the Irish annals at the years 665 and 669 in connec- tion with Pictland. A further proof is afforded by the fact that traces of the ordinary sign of filiation are found in the inscription itself next after the characters in question. There is, first, a lacuna affording room for m and a vowel, followed by qi. But, unless this i be treated as an " iterate " or else be appropriated to the beginning of a succeeding vocable, nothing intelligible, so far as I can see, will emerge from the remaining groups. Accepting the q, however, as terminating miq or meq, the i will ally itself with what follows in a not unHkely sequence, disclosing something which, ia this view, would appear to be a Pictish matronymic — EDDAEENONNmeQINGeA'^HuN^'^^UEH, STJ' &c. or, dividing the words, and accepting the forces for the uncertain characters most agreeable to their contexts — Eddarrnonn meq ingen Rrunurborh, that is, Eddarnon son of the daughter [lady] Runurborh. Eddamon must be deemed a personage of note to have had his name inscribed on two out of the six Ogham monuments IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 1 4 3 of Pictland, and, from the fact of both bearing Rymbolical Scotland. sculpture, may be well supposed to have been an ecclesiaKtic. The legend appears to be continued on the opposite edge of the slab. Here, also, the characters are much confused by weather erosions, and present many perplexing alternatives — ^ r ^ ^ C T' AN st^nnmaqqdi>jax;oll',mb ,"[ &c.'-^ AC T -^ &c. But for the apparent it preceding oil 'mhan, there would be no question that the Eddarnon of the monument is here brought into contact with a Columbanus ; and there is no doubt that the Cohnan or Columbanus of the Paschal contro- versy, A.D. 664, was the contemporary of the Ithurnan of the annals. Our judgment in this dilSculty may be legitimately inHuenced by the consideration that the division of the questionable digits into groups of two and four, instead of three and three, appears necessary to complete not only the initial of the name which follows, but also the termination of the word which precedes, viz., Egnnuqqdig ; and this, if it be assimilable to its seeming Celtic equivalent Ecnecdacli, must have an ending corresponding to dach, of which d and i are already ascertained. '■'• Ecnecdach" may be rendered " antagonist," " expulsor." If it is rightly supposed to be represented by the barbaric Egnnuqqdig of the inscription, it is plain that Eddarrnpnn is here shown in relations of anta- gonism to some Colmnbanus, importing one date for both. But the Columbanus of contentious repute in Scottish history is he of Lindisfarne, whence we may infer with some measure of assurance that the Ithurnan and Columbanus of the Annals are none other than the Eddarnan and Cobtmban of the Brodie monument. A second set of Oghams formerly existed on the cross- signed face of the Brodie stone. The only portion of these now in any degree legible is on the lower right-hand margin. It has a definite termination at top. Read from below upward, it yields nothing pronounceable. Read downward normally, it yields vocables commencing osf, suggesting some such proper name as Osfric, but comphcated hy what seems 144 OGHAJI INSCRIPTIONS Scotland. a t after /. Read do-wnward from the opposite side, the characters yield an equally unpronounceable but also Anglo- Saxon-like name, followed by what looks very like a desig- nation of nationahty — OCTFE^:^ANGLA. s In whatever way it may be regarded, the Anglo-Saxon element seems to be present, and lends additional force to the considerations which have already associated these Scottish memorials with reminiscences of the Council of Whitby. Whatever is known in British history respecting the Council of Whitby is derived from the third Book of Beda. From his statements it may be collected that in the time of Finan, the successor of Aidan and predecessor of Colman in the See of Lindisfarne, questions had been raised respectiag the Columban or northern Irish paschal practice by Ronan, a southern Irish monk. Colman, who had been deputed from loua to preach to the English, succeeding Finan, found him- self exposed to the same charges of heterodoxy by other assailants, led by Wilfrid, the domestic chaplaia of King Oswy, and tutor of his son Alchfrid. To settle these disputes, Oswy convened both parties at the monastic house of St. Hilda, and, on debate of the matter, gave judgment against Colman. Thereupon Colman, " finding his doctrine repudi- ated and his sect contemned," set sail from Liadisfarne, taking with him the remnant of the Irish there, as weU as thirty English adherents, and some rehcs also of Saint Aidan, and proceeded by way of lona to Inisbofin, on the west coast of Ireland, whence, owing to differences among his followers, he withdi-ew with his English disciples to the mainland, where he founded the monastery of Mayo for them and their countrymen, and afterwards retiring to the " insula vaccse albse,'' died there, as we learn from the Annals of Ulster, which throughout call him Columbanus, A.D. 675. Beda, who names some of the synodical assembly, has no mention of any Iturnan, but names an Agatho who came on the part of Wilfrid. The withdrawal of Colman may well have been regarded as an expulsion by those of the opposite party ; and IN IRELAXD, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 145 if we now find an Eddarnon of Anglo-Saxon associations Scotland. commemorated as one of his expellers, there will be nothing repugnant to the historical facts hitherto known to us. The notice of Iturnan'e and another's death in the annals — "Iturnan [Ithurnan] et Corinda [Corendu, Corenda] apud Pictones [Pictons] defuncti sunt " — may perhaps indicate that their parts in pubKc affairs entitling them to historic mention had been played elsewhere than in Pictland. However this may be, it cannot be doubted that a memorial of anyone concerned against Colman in the Paschal controversy, A.D. 664, bearing the symbols pecuhar to the sculptured stones of Pictland, would give rise to considerations of very great historical interest. For, a century from the time of the Pictish conversion by Columba must appear a surprisingly short time for the growth, not only of a non-Columban system of rehgious symbols, but of an anti-Columban ecclesiasticism, if these were not survivals of some form of pre-Columban Christianity in Pictland. 218. The mystical chase, however, is but one of a great number of lapidary devices of an extraordinary kind which occur as well on Ogham as on other stone monuments through- out the old Pictish part of Scotland. Some of them have been incidentally referred to, but any attempt to read inscrip- tions so accompanied would be imperfect without a more extended notice of them ; and therefore, though I do not expect to bend the bow of Ulysses so as to send the arrow through all the rings, I shall endeavour to some extent to place before you the material for forming an opinion as to the meaning of these singular objects. 219. Dr. Joseph Anderson, of Edinbm-gh, has the distinction of having demonstrated the Christian character of several of these monuments independently of the crosses engraved on them. A cross, indeed, does not absolutely and of necessary inference show a monument to be Christian. There are, no doubt. Pagan crosses of various forms, from the Filfot or Swastica found by Schhemann on objects of old Trojan ware, to the Greek rectangular cross of equal arms found under the boundary mounds of the Roman agrimensores. But the general presumption in favour of the Christian symbol being 146 OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS Scotland. of Christian times is so strong, that one cannot but think those antiquaries over fastidious who decHne to accept its evidence on the monuments of an ancient Christian country, because it is accompanied by unexplained forms of animals and other devices of crescent moons, circles, and sceptres, with which Dr. Stuart in his magnificent work has made the learned world famihar. 220. These objects accompany the cross on several monu- ments of this class, which Dr. Anderson has demonstrated to be Christian by comparing one of their sculptured features with the Jonah and Whale of the Catacombs, and of mediaeval metal work. He has also identified other objects on the same monuments with what may be called scenes in Natural History, drawn from a peculiar kind of literature which stiU, I beheve, rests in MS., in the Bestiaries of the later middle ages. The Bestiaries are compendiums of such knowledge in zoology and other branches of biological science as was current among the educated classes from the early Christian times down to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was a kind of reading aiming at entertainment and piety as well as instruction. Many of the creatures described and pictured are fabulous and chimerical in form ; and many of the stories told of the non-fabulous ones are more designed for doctrinal and moral than scientific apphcation. The lioness brings forth her cubs dead, till the hon, on the third day, breathes on them and so calls them to hfe. The tigress, when the hunter has stolen her cub, is stopped in her pursuit of him by a glass ball which he throws in her path, and in which seeing her own diminished image, she fancies she has her cub again, and stops to fondle it till the hunter makes his escape. Both these scenes Dr. Anderson has strong ground for claiming to have foimd on Scottish sculptured monuments of the class in question; and has, so far, advanced the growing proof of their Chiistian and not very ancient character. 221. I propose to cany the proofs farther, and to place before you some evidences on which, I do not doubt, you ^vi\\ conclude the entirely Christian nature of all these objects, and possibly the particular significance of some of them. I shall begia with the animal fi^m-es, and, with Dr. Anderson, take IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 147 my first examples from the Catacombs. Here, we readily Scotland. recognise our Lord in the Good Shepherd, and the Piping Shepherd. Equally obvious is the symbolism of our Lord in the character of Orpheus taming the rude nature of man by the harmonies of the divine message. From the classically- attired Orpheus of the tomb of St. Calixtus, with his seven- stringed lyre and attendant audience of the beasts of the field, to the unclothed human figure which is next presented from the western fa9ade of the Cathedral of Ferrara, playing on his violin, there is a wide diversity in taste and in reverentness of technical treatment and expression, but not in meaning, as is evidenced by the animal attendants and their attitudes of submission and pleasure. I might cite other examples, especially those figures of the Piping Shepherd, and the Orpheus on the great cross of Clonmacnois, but, for the deeper symbohsms of the Scottish sculptm-es, it is neces- sary to go several steps farther. The figm-es, so far, are human, but we must be prepared to look without astonishment on other forms of the same idea. On the pulpit of San Ambrogio's, at Milan, a tenth-century work, are seen among other highly mystical devices, representations of a hon and a lamb respectively playing on triangular harps, with their several animal attendants. Were the analogies to stop here, there would be little hesitation in recognising the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world, engaged in the same Orphic refor- mation of the brutish element in our nature. But the allegory is carried on through further disguises, partly mere animal ; such as the bear which plays on the Celtic harp over one of the transept windows at Chartres, with other forms still more derogatory to the subject in manuscript and printed books ; and partly composite — animal and hirnian, — of which latter class is the Centaur from the porch of the Cathedral of St. Zeno, at Verona, playing on a square lyre and accompanied by the usual attendant. The next example, even more instruc- tive for the purposes of our immediate inqtiiry, taken from the exterior of the south transept of the Cathedral of Genoa, shows an equine figure playing the same part in precisely a similar scene, but with some differences worthy of closer 148 OGHAM ESiSCRrPTIONS Scotland. notice. Tlie side of the creature is rent, as are the sides of the victims which may be seen in the paws of the hons at most of the cathedral doorways in North Italy, and its fore feet, with which it touches the strings of the instrument, are not sohdungular but divided. An example of the same hetero- geneous mixture of animal varieties may be seen in an Agnus Dei of so late a date as the sixteenth century in the cloister of the University of Pavia. It is ovine in all its traits, save its leonine tail and clawed feet. The tail, indeed, in all these mystical animal forms is conventionahsed, and gives notice that something esoteric and Christian is hidden under the barbarous outhnes. 222. The digital feet unite these latter examples A^'ith other symboHsms caiTying us another step nearer the Scottish sculptures, through a connection for which it is necessary to resort to the early Christian montiments of Scandinavia. Here also are found digital-footed equine figures whose out- hnes, treated in a manner pecuHar, so far as I know, to Norse and Picto-Scottish monuments, show a general relation between the schools of sculpture and a resemblance almost amounting to identity between part of the Norse composition and one of the more peculiar Scottish emblems. The figures referred to are found at three several locahties in Sweden, and may be seen engraved in Stephens's " Runic Monuments." Their singularities consist, first, in curved prolongations of the upper outlines of the hmbs, produciag spirals and volutes over the body. These spu'als are found similarly situated on the symbohc animals forming the interlaced ornamenta- tion of the Moneymusk rehquary, and are famihar to om* eyes in great numbers of the Scottish and Irish lapidary sculptures. I would, next, instance the re-entrant and divergent cm'ves of the outhnes, quite in the manner of what is known as the Celtic trmnpet pattern. This pattern pervades Celtic ecclesiastical decorative work, and is con- spicuous on some examples of what is known as the ' envelope ' object on the Scottish inscribed stones. Of its ecclesiastical use I would suppose there can be no doubt, and that most probably it is meant for a satchel or book-cover. Let us now observe the cmied and convoluted outlines of the IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 149 head and jaws, and compare these Avith the curled and flori- Scotland. ated outUnes of the Norrie's Law symbol, as seen in its con- ventionahsed reproductions on the Scottish incised stones. It must be owned that the latter bears an extraordinary Uke- ness to the neck and head of the Swedish symbol. Why a portion only of the figure should be adopted into the Scottish emblematical technology, I am in no position to explain, but a glance into that storehouse of mystical learning lately pro- duced by the Benedictines at Solesme, in Normandy, the " Spicilegium Solesmense," serves to show the mediaeval idea underlying the entire equine series. At No. 767 of Theodulfs Recensio of the Clavis of Mehto (a species of concordance to the figurative language of Scripture) is the entry, " Equus, corpus Domini," so that it may be predicated vnth considerable confidence of this floriated Norrie's Law object on the Scottish sculptures that it is Christian, symbolical, and eucharistic. 223. In one of the Scottish figm'es, that of the elephant, the terminal convolutions, which in the Swedish symbolic creature are confined to the face and jaw, are extended to all the extremities. The Clavis ascribes no special meaning to the elephant ; but in the Bestiaries it is treated as the emblem of Chastity. Whether it be a type merely of a particular virtue, and so referable to the Mother of our Lord, or be a symbol having a more universal meaning, this device of the trans- figurated elephant has associations apparently carrying back its use in Scotland, where alone it has been found, into the age of urn-burial and of the use of bronze weapons. It is engraved on a stone said to have been found above the covering-stone of a kist which enclosed an tu'n and bronze dagger, at Carngrig, Forfarshire. (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 15th Feb., 1865.) It has also been found among works presumably of the Roman period. That it was always of Christian import, I myself am strongly persuaded ; and if it be so, it caiTies back Christianity in Scotland to a surprisingly early date, and tends powerfully to set up the old traditions of Boece and Fordun. Its curled extremities show that the taste which has disguised the outhne ot the Swedish symbolic equine figures in similar convolutions was of vastly older 150 OGHAJI IXSCRIPTIOXS Scotland. prevalence in North Britain, and goes almost the whole way in displacing the idea that the Scoto-Pictish carvings are of Scandinavian origin. How, then, it will be said, can this be deemed a ninth or tenth century symbol in those monuments where we have found it accompanied by Oghams seemingly of so late a period? The answer must be found in the persistence of types, and I Avould imagine the nursery of the type must be looked for in Byzantine symbolography. 224. In this connexion, let me observe that an earHer Christiamty than that usually accorded to the Picts is strongly argued by the language of St. Patrick in his epistle to Coroticus, where he reproaches the Picts with having become apostate while a Roman municipal and miKtary estabKshment still subsisted at Strathclyde, which could hardly have been after A.D. 410, when the Romans took their final departure from Britaia. It is true this would put the date of Patrick, the son of Calphurn, before the mission of Palladius ; but many arguments for that position may be drawn from the documents preserved in the Book of Armagh and from the Coroticus Epistle. Not the least cogent of these, in my mind, is the absence from Patrick's authentic writings of any refer- ence to a predecessor in the missionary field, while his state- ment that in the scene of his own labours the want that had been experienced was a want of regular ministers of rehgion, imphes that there were already everywhere behevers to be served. 225. I shall now seek the meaning of another animal form of occasional occurrence on the Scottish momunents, in what must always be the chief source of knowledge in Christian symbohsm — the objects themselves seen in actual ecclesiastical sculpture. It is the seemingly canine creature found notably on the Bressay and Golspie stones, and also conspicuous on the decorated cross at Drumchife in Ireland. On the western portal of St. Apolhnaris at Trent, but not of an antiqiiity equaUing that of the building, is a boldly-executed figure of a composite creature, in which we do not hesitate to recognise Him of Avhom it is said, " Thou shalt ti-ead upon the lion and adder : the yoimg lion and the dragon shalt thou trample imder feet." The cherubic disguise at St. IN IRELAND, WALES, AND SCOTLAND. 151 Apollinaris, is exchanged for another presentation of the same Scotland. Being at the porch of St. Bolzen, where the walker on the dragon is figured in the canine form. Under the same dero- gatory disguise the same allegory occurs again at the eastern door of Trent Cathedral. AVe are shacked at the irreverence of this kind of religion, but compelled to give it the meaning which Scriptm-e supphes. Three of these creatures appear on the Bressay monument, one single, and on the opposite side two breathing as it were into one another's open jaws, and, between them, exhahng a something represented by a circular disk. 226. Not pausing here to speculate on the meaning, further than to say that the associated figm'es show it, if significant, to be symbohcal and Christian, I may now approach the consideration of the Golspie monument, where Golspie. the canine creature occurs in company not only with most of the pecuhar emblematic devices of Picto-Scottish sculpture, but with a human figure engaged in significant action in relation to it. At top the monument presents the object known as the envelope ; below it the elephant ; below these, at one side, the human figure ; at the other, three objects, namely, this canine creature voluted hke the Scandinavian Norse emblems ; below it the emblematic fish ; below the fish the object I have designated the Norrie's Law symbol. In a triad of emblems, the central one of which is the 'x^ws, we may without irreverence perceive the relative meanings of the other two. Against this triad a human figure armed with an axe in one hand and a knife in other, is shown advancing in an attitude of attack. The dress is secular and the aspect hostile. We tiurn to the Ogham context in the legitimate hope that it may throw some Kght on the scene. If it have any relevancy, and be at aU decipherable, it ought to inform us of some action afi"ecting some mystery of the Christian religion. It occupies the edge of the stone, and, at the commencement especially, is a highly artificiahsed example of Ogham writing. The edge of the flag is rounded, and without any medial fine. It is left doubtful whether some of the digits are intended to cross the whole field of the edge-smface, or to be confined to one side of the suppressed medmm filum. 152 OGHAM IXSCRIPTIONS Scotland. Further difficulty arises from the contrariety of slope given, to digits seemingly belonging to the same categories. But when, undeterred by these confusions, one apphes the ordi- nary key to the digits according to their position over, under, or across the central part of the field, accepting the vertical digits as vocalic, some Celtic words do indeed seem to shape themselves out of these elements having a real relation to the sculptured subject. One of these appears to be intended for aijfroin, the Mass. This adaptation of the offerendum or ablatio of the Latins is the universal insular Celtic equivalent for the eucharistic offering. If it be here intended, it is presented in the form aiffhrrenn. The word, at its commencement, is de- fined by a point separating it from the immediately preceding vocables. These appear to express ac a tan, " at his tan" Tan, that is, " plunder," "plundering expedition," a " driving," or " raid," as in the Tain ho Cuailnge, the Tain bo Dartada, &c. "\¥ho, then, is he whom we have these reasons to regard as being thus shown at his Slass raid ? It certainly gives renewed corroboration to MacCurtin's statement about writing the evil deeds of men in difficult Oghams on their monuments that almost aU the devices for obscuring this legend are employed in the earher part of it, containing the name which should answer that question. It begins with the character to which, in the Lunnasting example, we have ascribed the power of s, and it ends with eadda ; but further I am unable to Kft the veil, unless I were to resort to assumptions and conjectures for which I am not at present prepared. Still it "will admit of question, even supposing that I have rightly interpreted both symbols and legend, whether the commemoration is condemnatory. It was one of the pedan- tries of ' Irish ecclesiastical writers to " use the technical language of plundering for the expression of reUgious senti- ment" (Stokes, Fel., Feb. 17th, Miscel. Celt. Soc, 338), and one of the few passages in which the author of the Felire rises into imaginative exaltation is that at May 17th, in which he treats three saints " as if they were three Irish chieftains making a raid in their war-chariots into heaven " (ib.). He celebrates — " The hosting (sluagad) of Adrio, of Victor, of Basil : they unyoked without a whit of wcalvuess on a hciirht of Heaven's Kingdom." IN IRELAND, W.UjES, AND SCOTLAND. 153 So hove the knife and hatchet may but signify the urgency Scotland. and frequency of the oblation by a worshipper bent on winning heaven by assault. But, had this been the true meaning, less pains would probably have been taken in dis- guising the name of the offerer. 227. The remaining objects comprise two which occur very frequently and conspicuously on these Picto-Scottish monu- ments. Below the triad, the sceptre-traversed crescent, and the object known as the " spectacle ornament." If we apply the rule noscitiir a sociis, we must infer them to be symbohcal and Christian ; and from Avhat has been seen of the tri-radial device in Welsh symbolism, we may inchne to allow that the tri-sceptral one of the Scottish monuments has also relation to the same mystery of the Godhead. This symbol in a bi-sceptral form traverses the crescent ; in a tri-sceptral form, the other emblem, whatever it may signify. I imagine the meaning of both may be inferred from the symbolic interpretation of lima in the Clavis, " Luna, Maria Virgo " (" Spicileg.," vol. ii., p. 66), because of her increase in the Incarnation. It is difficult with due reverence to treat this subject in words as fully as our forefathers have treated it in their carved emblems. Many of those, especially in Ireland, are greatly coarser in their methods of expression than these Scottish examples, but all of them appear to relate to that human condition to which our Lord condescended when He took upon Him to deliver man. 228. Looking back, now, on the entire subject, there appear to be two questions of primary importance for the historian and philologist : Is this method of "writing, of Pagan or of Christian origin ? and. Is the language in which these names and formulas are expressed a quasi hieratic dialect, not trammelled by the ordinary laws of Celtic speech, or is it the vernacular language of those who carved the inscrip- tions? No treatment of the first question is hkely to be satisfactory which does not fully investigate that class of quasi Oghams and pseudo Oghams of which I have spoken as abounding in the South of Ireland, as well as all the remains of inscriptional figm-ing on the Pagan sepulchral monuments of the Boyne and Slieve-na-Calliagh districts. As regardM 154 OGHAM IXSCRIPTIONS. Scotland. the second, I am content to leave it in the hands of those "who have made the philosophy of language their study, claiming only the credit of having supplied their researches with approximately authentic data in the texts I have presented. INDEX TO OGHAM LEGENDS. CHAPTER 11. Par. No. Page 2!J Curci maqi mucoi f , • Lougher Co. Kerry 21 30 Uuggengel maqi reddos Ballynahunt „ 22 34 Maqqi decedda, &c. GortiieguUanagh jj •24 38 Apiloggo Aglisli 5» 26 30 Laddigui maqqi muccoi ana Aghacai-rible „ 27 40 Aciirciti Findiloras Kinard »5 30 41 Bruscos Trabeg 30 43 Tria maqa Mailagni ... Ballintaggart J» 32 41 Nettal minacca, &c. ... 55 I) 33 45 Apefritti ], J) 33 46 Inissimouas „ J, 34 47 Maqi lari, &c. „ 3) 34 48 Dofeti maqqi Cattini ... jj JJ 34 49 Sufallos, &c. ;} ») 35 50 Mai^i Decceda, &c. ... ... J) 5) 35 51 Colum maqqi fie J) 35 52 Moiiiena maqi olacon Ballynesteenig ») 30 53 Talagni, &c. Emlagb West J) 36 55 Finten Kilfouutain 37 50 Anm Cololomb nalilter Maumanorigli 1) 38 58 Togittacc maqi Sagarettos Cabirnagat it 39 59 Quneloci, &c. Temple Manaban „ 40 61 Ere maqi Eicias, &c. l>unmore CHAPTER III. » 40 C2 Lugiqritti, &e. Ballyneanig 42 C3 Broiuiunas Ballinrannig 43 04 MaqiTenae J) 44 05 Maqqi Cunitti ; grafieas, &c ?) 44 07 Anm maolinbrie Kilmalkedar 46 69 QrimitiiTos Brandon Mountain „ 48 71 Qeuiloegni Martramane >J 49 72 Conuneatt maqi Conuri Camp ,) 50 74 Babroei Tarbert » 51 77 Fan lia do liea, &c. ... Mount Callan Co. Clare 63 84 Maqi Medfii ... Batbcrogban Co. Roscommon 57 85 Maq Corrbi ... Breastagb Co. Mayo 59 88 Detect maqi Agbascribba CHAPTER IV. Co. Tyrone 61 97 Gosuctias, &c. Museum, Royal Irisb Academy, Dublin 68 98 Netacarinelacagi Castletimon Co. Wicklow 08 100 Inigi Donard ») 69 103 Ufanosafiefrattos Killeen Cormac Co. Kildare 71 105 100 Maqiddecceda Rebus for doftos „ ... ... ,, 74 74 156 INDEX TO OGHxUI LEGENDS. Par. No. Page 107 Lasicareigni Gonran Co. Kilkenny 75 108 Tasegagni Claragh J) 75 109 Branettas, &c. Dunbell )) 75 110 Corbi poi, &c. Ballyboodan J) 70 111 Moddagni maqi gatigni, &c. Windgap Co. Waterford 70 lU Catabar, &c. Ballyquin )> 70 113 Netafroqi, &o. BaUyvooney 3J 77 115 Cunetas maqi, &c. Islaud » 78 lua Olni mucoi cunuu Kilgrovan 3) 81 125 Na maqi lugudeca, &c. ») it 82 lao NisigDU, &c. >j 3J 82 las Caqomageca, &c. Ardmore 83 129 Anaci maqi 3) CHAPTER V. J3 84 134 Colomagni, &c. ; Scottoliiii Glenawillen Co. Cork 86-7 137 Trenu Greenbill )t 88 130 Dalagni maqi dali Monataggart J 89 liO Feqreq moqoi glunlegget 5, 89 l-li Broenienas, &c. J 90 142 Fei-gosomaci, &c. »J 90 143 CaiTtaccgaqi Barrachauran J 91 144 Anm Corpimaq, &c. ... St. Olan's } 92 145 Nomaqidego „ 94 147 Ot maqi rite Liads J 94 149 Maqi Laseg Magourney 95 150 Sacattini Ballyliani 3 90 150 Ulccagui „ 90 150 Corbagni „ J 96 150 Coicorotani 96 150 Corban „ J 96 151 Maqi elliaci ... „ ) 96 153 An moqiFoirtigum ... „ ) 97 154 Maqi falamui Roovesmore ) 98 155 Tabira mocoi, &c. j» ) 99 156 Anaflamattias, &C. J 99 162 Annacanni, &c. Knockourau 1 101 175 Qrigifiqq Kilcolaght Co. Kerry 105 176 Annafeu Kilnobinet ) 100 177 Alatto celi battigni ... Whitefield ) 107 177 Nocati maqi maqi rette, &c. „ J 107 178 Dego maqi mocoi toicatbi Duiiloe ; 107 179 Bonagui, &c. Kilbonane ) 108 182 Aum teagan maqi deglen Tinnabally J 110 183 Anmc faruddrann maqi „ } 110 185 Cattuffiqq maqi ritte Corkaboy i 111 CHAPTER VI. 188 Fitaliani Cwm Gloyn Pembrokeshire 114 189 Turjiilli ic iacit, &o. ... Crickhowel BreconsLire 114 190 Hogtivis Alius Demeti TreflFgaru Pembrokeshire 115 191 Sagi-amni maqi Cunotami St. Dogmael's Cardiganshire 115 192 Trenaccattlo Llaufecliau Carmarthenshire 116 193 Etterui fili victor Clydai Cardiganshu-e 116 194 Trenegussi fili Macutreni, &c. ... Cilgerran ji 116 195 Tovisaci Pool Park Monmouthshire 117 196 Euabarri Buckland lloiia- clioruni Dc^ onshii'e 117 IXDEX TO OGHAM LEGENDS. 157 Par. No. 197 Fanoni Maqiiirini 198 Humeledonas, &c. 199 Cunacenna fiil fi'eto ... SnO Doftacoos 201 Affi boci beffe 202 Catuocon, &c. 203 Netta Sagri, &o. 204 Pumpeius Carantorius 205 Maqitrenii salicidni ... Fardel stone Llaiidawke TralloEg Dugoed Pace British Museum 117 Pembrokeshire 1 1 8 Brecon 119 Cardiganshire 119 Llanwinio, Middleton Hall, near Llandeilo 120 Caldey Island Bridell stone Kenfigg stone, Pyle Llywell stone Pembrokesliire 120 Cardiganshire 121 Glamorganshire British Museum 122 124 CHAPTER VII. 210 ttuicuheatts seahhttannn, &c. 211 esmeqqnann ammoiFest 212 ccrroscc nahlilffddadds dattrr an — ... 213 rrann uurract thetts ccrroccs 214 udd mq quinsn fotrennq regs gist, &c. 215 Togtiich, &c. 216 Maqqoi talluorrh ; Neahhtla robbait Ceanneff 217 Eddarruonn 217 Eddarrnonu meq ingeu llrunurborh, &c. 226 ac a tan aiffhrreun Lunnasting St. Ninian's Bressay Burrian Newton stone Logie ring-Ogham Shetland Orkney Aberdeenshire Aboyne Scoonie stone Brodie stone Golspie stone Fifeshire Elginshire Sutherland 134 134 135 13fi 138 139 139 142 142 152 INDEX. A. Abbau, St., 72, 73, 74 Aberdeen, 134, 137, 139 Aboyne, 139 Abraham, sacrifice of, 141 Adamnan, 61, 77, 143 Adare, 51, 103, 1U9 jEngus, Felir6 of, 34, 77, 93, isa Agatho, 144 AghabuUose, 92, 93, 95, 119 AgUacarrible, 26, 27, 29 Aghaliskey, 100 Aghaseribba, 60, 61 Aglish, 25, 26, 33, 37, 85 Aidan, St., 144 AUbe, St., Ill Ailill, 56 Ainmire, 132 Alba, 55, 128 Alchfrid, 144 Alphabet, Bethluisnion, 5 Cryptic rree-Euues,2, 4, 62, 64 Forfeada, 5 ' Futhorc or Scandina- vian, 2, 5, 6 - Ogham, 4, 11, 12, 29, 33, 44, 64, 66, 82, 96, 97, 122, 126, 131, 132, 133, 134, 151 Roman, 137 ■ Runic, 2, 62, 97, 99, 109, 139 ■ Stone, Kilmalkedar, 55 Alphabetic writing, 109 Amalgaid (see Auley) Amra Coluimltille, 139 Anderson, Dr. Joseph, 145,146 Anglesea, 103 Anglo-Saxon, 130, 144, 145 Anglo-Saxon coins, 46 Annascaul, 19, 23, 49 Antrim, 28 Apollinaris, St., church of, 150, 151 Ardagh, 67 Ardmore, 9, 10, 78, 83, 84 Ardyvvanig, 110 Armagh, 56, 64 Armorica, 131 Arraglen, 48, 49 Arthur, King, 72 Astle, Mr., 9, 12 Atlciuson, Mr., 16, 76, 84 Attacottic rebellion, 62 Augher, 61 Augustus, 56 Augustine, St„ 132 Auley, 09 Auxerre, St. German, Bishop of, 98 Ayrshire, 65 B. Ballina, 76 Ballinacourty, 23 Balliuahunt, 21, 22, 23, 45 Balliurobe, 54 Ballintaggart, 31, 34, 36,43, 93 Ballintarmon, 23 Ballinyoher, 20, 23 Ballybay, 64 Ballyboodan, 76 Ballyclough, 88 Ballycrovane, 102 Ballyhank, 96, 98 Ballymote, Book of, 11, 134 Ballyneanig, 42 Ballynesturig, 120 Ballyqnin, 9, 10, 15, 76 Ballyshannon, 59 Ballyvooney, 77 Ballyvourney, 101, 102 Ballywiheen, 39 Bandon, 95, 99, 100, 101 Bani, 61,62,63,07,84 Bantry, 102 Bai-ds, 132 Bai-ddas, 125, 126 Ban-achauran, 91 Barrow, river, 51 Barry, Rev. E., 84 Bealaghamire, 87 Beaufort Bridge, 107, 108 Beda, 144 Bellerophon, 55 Benir, 135 Bestiaries, 146, 149 Bi-liugual Ogliam - inscribed monuments, Caldey Island, 120 Clydai, 116, 121 Cwm Gloyn, 114 Dugoed, 119, 121 Fardel stone, 117 Kenligg stone, 122 Laugher, 113 Llandawke, 118 Llanfechan, 115, 116 Llanwinio stone, 119 Llywell stone, 123 Pool Park, 117 ■ St. Dogmael's, 115 Tavistock, 117 Trallong, 118 Trefi'garn, 114, 115 Usk Park, 114 Blackwater, river, 61, 65, 85, 86, 88, 92, 95 Blaii-'s Hill, 101 Blanaid, 49 Bodoney, 61 Boece, 149 Boggra mountains, 92 Boithin, St., 107 Bolzeu, St., 151 Bonan, St., 108 Bone objects, ornamentation on, 66 Bovevagh, 61 Boydafea, 61 Boyle, 56, 58 Boyne monuments, 62, 65, 66, 153 Brackloon, 23 Brandon mountain, 7, 19, 42, 48,49 Brash, Mr., 13, 16, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 37, 42, 45, 51, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88,95, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 109, 122 Breastagh, 58 Breconshire, 114, 1 18, 124,125 Brehon Laws, 52, 79, 89 Brendan, St., 36, 48, 49, 99 INDEX. 159 Bressay stone, 14, 134, 135, 150 Brew Bridge, 88 Bridell stone, 131 Brigid, St., 1:52 British church, 21, 132 British origin of Ogham writing, 131 Britisli princes, 97 Brittany, 131 monnments of, C2, 64, 131 Brodie stone, 142, 143 Bruscos, 9, 30 Buckland Monachorum, 117 Buvchett, Mr., 31 Buruham House, 37, 43, 44 liurntfort, ^7 Hiirrian stone, 135, 136 Hweeng, 88 Byzantine symbolography, 15( I Caher, 104 Cahirciveen, 104 Cahir Conree, 20, 4!), 58, 111 Cahir-na-gat, 39, 75 Cairbre Muse, 128 Caldey Island, 120 Calixtus, St., tomb of, 147 Callan, 52, 54 Calphurn, father of St. Patrick, 29 Camp, 49, 89 Cappagli, 103 Cappoquin, 86 Carausius, 53 Cardigan, 115, 116, 121 Carleton, Mr. W., 61 Carlow, 74 Carmarthenshire, 115, 11 9, 123 Cai-ugrig, 149 Cai'ra lough, 105 Carrick-on-Suir, 76 Costlederg, 60, 64 Castlegregory, 49 Castlemaine, 19, 20, 109, 110, 111 Castlereagh, 56 Castletimon, 68 Casts, paper, 17, 31 Catacombs, 29, 47, 146, 147 Cattin, 34 C'avan, 63 Caves with Ogham-nscribed stones — Aghacarrible,26,27,29 Aghaliskey, 100 Burntfort, 87 Cooldorrihy, 101 Caves, Drumlohan, 78, 82, 93,98 Dunloe, 10, 107 Glenawillen, 86 Keel, 111 Knockboy, 87 Laharan, 100 Monataggart, 7, 88 Eathcoolnamuek, 76 Eathcroglian, 57 Kathmalode, 20 Koovesmore, 20, 21,98 Tinnahally, 109 Ceallagh, 59 Cealluragh (see Killeen) Celtic decorative work, 148 Cennloc, 40 Chartres cathedra], 147 Christ as the Good Shepherd, 147 as the Piping Shep- herd, 147 as Orpheus, 147 Christian cell, 91 Christian character of Ogham inscriptions. 111, 118, 127 monuments, 145 Christian symbolism, 150 Christianity, pre -Columban, in Scotland, 137, 145 Church, lireton, 137 Celtic, 140 Columban, 54, 136,144 Coptic, 35 Early British, 21, 132 Irish, 133 Llanfair Waterdine, 137 Palladian, 69, 84 Patrician, 54, 64 pre-Patrician, 111 Church Island, 59 Chute Hall, 43 Ciaran, St., Ill Cilgerran, 116 Cill-Vickallane, 45 Clare, 51 Claragh, 75 Clogher, 61 Clonfert, 36 Clonmacnois, 54, 55, 147 Clonsharagh, 48, 49 Clossagh, the, 61, 63 Cloghaiie, 48 Cloyne, 86 Clvdai, 116, 121 Clyda river, 88 Coachford, 88 Cobbinstown, 70 Cogitosus, 132 Coilsford stone, 05 Coirbre, 59 Colgan, H4 Colman, 38, l44, 145 Colman Bocht, 54, 55 Colomb, 38, 39, 40, 43 Columba (see Columbkille) Columbauus, 143 Columbkille, 23, 77, 139, 145 Commeragh mountains, 76, 85 Conaire, 138 Oonall Cnrnaoh, 56 Conan Maoil, 53, 54 Concani, 119 Cong, 54 Connaught, 56 Conor Mac Nessa, 39, 56 Cooldorrihy, 101 Coomliah, 102 Core, 55 Corkaboy, 111 Corkaguiny, 19, 34, 39, 47, 49, 51, 68 Cork, 8, 20, 28, 86, 95 Cork Athenseum, H7 Cormac's Glossary, 34, 93, 127, 128, 129 Cormac,73, 73,93, 130 Cornwall, 123 Coroticus, 1 50 Corpmac, 119 Corrodv, 64 Crickhowel, 114, 118 Criifan, son of Fidach, 1 27, 1 28 Cromlech, 60, 64, 76 Cross-inscribed stones, 13, 15, 31,23,23, 24, 25, 39, 32, 86, 37, 40, 48, 50, 64, 74, 101, 104, 105, 111, no, 118, 119, 130, 121, 124, 134, 136, 137, 143 Crosses sometimes Pagan, 145 Cmimthir, .34, 48, 127, 129 Cuach, St., 73 Cuchulain, 23, 49, 56 Cucorb, 72, 73, 74 Oulfeightrim, 28 Cumbria, 130 ' Cummin Foda, 59 Cunedda, 129, 130 Curcitt, 35 Curoi Mac Dara, 49 Curraghmore, 70 Cnrrane, lough, 104 CwniGloyn, 114 Cymric invasion, 129, 130 D. Dalian Forgaill, 139 David's, St., 129 160 INDEX. Davidstown, 70 Deagad, 103 Declan, St., 83, 8-1, 111 Deelish, 9i Deer, Book of, 139 Derry, 6i, 1 30 Derrygurrane, 10-1 Desi, 84 Desibode, 132 Devon, 103, 117 Dingle, 19, 30, 31,36,37 Disert Ulad, 93 Dofet, 34 Domnach Arda, 09 Donard, 09 Donegal, 64, 70 Donoughmore, parish of, 7, 88,92 Doolan bay, 54 Down, Connor, and Dromore, Bishop of, 28, 04 Dripsey, river, 88, 91 Dromatoulc, 103 Dromkeare, 104 Dromod, 104 Dromore, 85 Druids, 70, 71 Drumciiffe sculptured cross, 150 Drumlohan, 78, 82, 92, 98 Dubric, 127 Duftac, son of Evoleng, 1 1 9 Duftac Macculugar, 71,72,73 Dugoed, 119, 121 Duil Laithne, 38 Dunbarton, birthplace of St. Patrick, 129 Dunbell, 61, 75, 117 DunbuUoge, 87 Dunflnne, 59 Dunganstown, 68 Dungarvan, 81, 82, 83, 84 Dunlavin, 70 Dunloe, 10, 107 Dunmore, 40, 42, 98 Du Noyer, Mr. G., 15,51,109 Duuraven, Earl of, 51,. 109 Durrow, 130 E. Eastern liturgies, 35 Eddarnon, 142, 143, 145 Eglish, 98 Egyptians in Ireland, 35, 93 Elginshire, 142 Emania, 56, 04 Emlagh, 36 England, 15 Ennis, 52 Eobba, 97 Eochaid, 34 Eodhaid Argthec, 22 Eochy Kachbeol, 49 Kolang (see Olan) Erne, lougli, 59 l''ternalis, 1 1 6 Exmoor, 117 Fagau, 127 FaUan, " city of," 46 Fardel stone, 117 Faustus, St., 97 Felimy Rechtmar, 61, 72, 84 Felire (see Jingus) Ferdiad, 23, 56 Feredach, 55 Fergus, 5 1 Fermanagh, 59 Ferrara : its cathedral with symbolic sculpture, 147 Fiachra, 59 Fiersad Tresi, 59 Fifeshu-e, 134, 139, 14(1 Finan, St., 144 Fiubarr. St., 93 Finglass, river, 105 Fintan, 37, 40 Fishguard, 115 Flavius Victor, 116 Flintshhe, 124 Focluth, wood of, 58 Fordun, 149 Forfeada, 5 Forfarshire, 149 Foyle, lough, 61 Freoc, 57 G. Gallerus, 40 Galloway, 137 Galtee mountains, 57, 86 Galway, 54 Garioch, 137 Garranes, 99 Gavr-inis monument, 02 Genoa : its cathedral, 147 German, St., 97, 98 Gildas, 132 Gillamurras, 44, 97 Gill, lough, 59 Glamorganshire, 113, 122 Glasheen Cockmuck stream, 106 Glenawillan, 86 Glencolumkill, 70 Glendalough, 09, 72 Glossary (see Cormac's) Glounaglogh, 95 Golspie stone, 139, 150, 151 Gormlee, 87 Gortmacaree, 51, 103 Gortnegullanagb, 24, 35, 44 Gowran, 74 Grange, 84 Graves, Dr. Charles (see Limerick, Bishop of ) Graves, Rev. J., 75 Gr.^ek cross, 145 Greeks in Ireland, 35 Greise, river, 72 Greenhill, 88 Gusact, 67 H. Haigh, Eev.D., 15, 91, 48,90, 97,98, 99, no, 116, 120 Hayle inscription, 123 Herbert, Hon. A., 21, 132 Heresy, NeoDruidic, 1,32 Hilda, St., 144 Hildegard, St., 133 Hitchcock, Mr. E., 15, 67 Hook Point, 25 Horgan,Rev. M., 13 Hy-Cormaic, 72, 73 Hy-Lugab, 72, 73, 74 I. lar, 54 Ibar, St., 84, 111 Iceland, 135, 137 Ictian sea, 128 Indulf, 139 Inisbofin, 144 Innercolan, 139 Innisfallen, annals of, 02 luniskeen, 48 Invasions, Book of, 01, 99, 130 lona, 130, 139, 144 Ireland, 18, 97 Irish annals, 142 Irish and British connection, 98, 103, 127, 129 Irish ecclesiastical arcliitec- ture, 77 Irish formulas on Welsh stones, 129 Irviuestown, 59 Isidore, " origines of," 47 Island, 78 Island Mac Dara, 83 Italy, symbolic inscriptions in cathedrals, 148 Iturnan, 142, 143, 144, 1-45 Ivybridge, 117 J. Jonah and the whale, 140 INDEX. Kil K. Keel, 111 Keiiflgg stone, 1'22, 125, 132 Kenmare, 102, 1U3, 104 Kerry, 7,0,19,28,54,07, 80, 103 Kevin, St., 69 Kieran, St., 84 Kilbonane, 108, 109, 125, 134 Kilcushmore, 102 KilcolagLt, 28, 105 Kilcolman, 38 Kilcullen, 91 Kileummin, 59 Kildare, 69, 70, 103 Kilfountain, 37, 45, 46 Killgarrylander, 111 Kilgarvan, 103 Kilgobinet, 106 Kilgrovan, 28, 81,82 Kilkenny, 68, 74, 76, 117 Killala, 58 Killaney, 49 Killarney, 19, 105 Killeenadreena, 105 Killeens, 27, 28, 29, 31', 35, 37,39,40, 42, 46, 69, 70, 72, 73, 78, 81,85,86, 94, 95,100, 103, 104, 1C5, 106 Killeen Cormac, 09, 70, 71, 72,73,90,108 Killfinte, 69 Killogrone, 104 Killorglin, 105, 109 Kilmactljomas, 76, 77 Kilmaine, 54 Kilmaikedar, 37, 45, 46, 55 Kilmaloda, 100 Kilmichael, 101 Kilmocamogue, 102 Kilnaglory, 95 Kilnanare, 110 Kilrush, 83 Kilshannig, 88 Kiltera, 85, 1 09 Kinard, 26, 29, 30, 32, 35, 40, 40 King's connty, 54 Knockastoolery, 54 Knockboy, 87 Knockfierna, 50 Knock Many, 61, 06 Knockmeldown mountains, 51,86 Knockouran, 101 Knockrour, 94 Knocktopher, 76 Labraid, 73, 76 Lalmran, 109 Lane-Fox, Colonel, 20, 27, 51, 94, 98, 99 Language of W. and S. Britain, 129, 130 Lapdog, first, in Ireland, story of, 128, 129 Latin aspect of Ogham writing, 131 Laugher, 113, 114 Laune, river, 107, 108 Leabhar-na-li-Uidhre, 22 Le lUant, M. Kdmond, 43 Lee, river, 87, 88, 92, 95 Leinster, Hook of, 23, 93 Leinster, 72 Leitrim, 50 Lennan, 04 Leslie, Colonel Forbes, 47 Leth Cuin, 5."i Lliuyd, Jlr., 9, 12 Liads, 94 Liathan, 127 Liber Hymnorum, 45 Library, liodleian, 52 British lluseum, 52 Eoyal Irish Academy, 51 Trinity College, Dub- lin, 38 Limerick, Bishop of, 7, 14, 15, 20, 35, 36, 50,89,99, 104, 10.J, 107, 110, 122, 135 Lindisfarne, 143, 144 Liadoonvarna, 54 Lisgrenan "(see Grange) Lismore, 86 Llandaff, Book of, 140 Llandawke, 118 Llandeilo, 1 19 Llanfeclian, 1 15 Llywell stone, 123, 134 Llanwinio, 119 Lochlann, 55 Locriu, 106 Longarad, 23 Logic stone, 139 Lomanagh, 103, 105 Longford, 50 Lougharne, 118 Loughcrew monuments, 125, 126 Lougher, 20, 21 Lugaidh, 55 Lugnagliam-inscribed monuments Aboyne, 139 AdaVe, 51, 103, 109 ■ Aghabulloge, 92, 93, 95, 119 • Agbacarrible, 26, 27, 29 Agbaliskey, 100 Aghascribba, 60, 61 Aglish, 25, 26, 33, 37, 85 Aniiascaul, 23, 49 Ardmore, S3, 84 Ardywanig, 110 Augher, 61 ■ Ballinahunt, 21, 22, 23, 46 Ballintaggart, 31, 34, 36, 43, 93 Ballintannon, 23 Ballinvolier, 20, 23 Ballyboodan, 76 Balljcrovane, 102 Ogham- Ballyhank, 96, 98 Ballyneanig, 42 Ballynesturig, 120 Ballyquin, 9, 10, 15, 76 Ball3'vooney, 77 bariachauran, 91 Brackloon, 23 Brandon mountain, 7, 19, 42, 48, 49 Hreastagh, 68 • Bressay, 14, 134, 135, 150 84 92, 98 Bridell stone, 121 ■ Brodie stone, 142,143 - Bruacos, 9, 30 ■ Burnham, 37, 43, 44 Burntfort, 87 ■ Burrian, 135, 136 ■ Bweeng, 88 • Cabir-na-gat, 39, 75 ■Caldey Island, 120 ■ Callan mountain, 52, • Camp, 4 9, 89 ■ Castlelimon, 68 ■ Chute Hall, 43 • Cilgei'ran, 116 • Claragh, 76 ■ Clonsbaragh, 48, 49 Clydai, 116, 121 Cooldorrihy, 101 ■ Corkaboy,lll Cwm Gloyi., 114 - Derrygurrane, 104 Donard, 69 ■ Dromatouk, 103 ■ Dromkeare, 104 Urumlohan, 78, 82, Dugoed, 119, 121 Dunbell, 61, 76, 117 Dunloe, 10, 107 Dun more, or Clogher Head, 40,42, 98 Emlagh, West, 36 Kardel stone, 117 Garranes, 99 Glenawillan, 86 Glonnaglogh, 95 Golspie stone, 139, 150,151 Gormlee, 87 Gortmacaree, 51, 103 Gortnegullanagh, 24, 36, 44 Grange, 84 Greenhill, 88 Island, 78 Ketl, 111 Ogham— KenBgg stone, 122, 125, 132 Kilbonane, 108, 109, 12.0, 134 Kilcolaght, 28, 105 Kilfauntain,37,45,46 Kilgobinet, 106 Kilj/rovan, 28, 81, 82 Killeenadreena, 105 Killeen - Coi'mac, 19, 70, 71, 72, 73, 90, 108 Killogrone, 104 Kilmalkedar, 37, 45, 46, 55 Kilrush, 83 Kinard. 26, 29, 30, 32,35, 40, 46 Knockastoolery, 54 Knock uoy, 87 Knockouran, 101 Knockrour, 94 Laharan, 109 Laugher, 113, 114 Liads, 94 Llandawke, 118 Llanfecban, 115 Llywell stone, 123, 134 Llanwinio, 119 Logic stone, 139 Lonianagh, 103, 10 3 Lougher, 20, 21 Lugnagappul, 24 Lunnasting, 8, 134, Martramane, 49, 79 Maumanorigh, 37, 38, 39, 44 Minard, 24, 23 Moiiataggart, 7, 88, 90 Mulloch, 65 ■ Newton stone, 14, 137, 152 138 104 Pant-y-Cadno, 124 Pool Park, 117 • Ratlicuoluamuck, '» 6 I-lathcrogbaD, 56, 58, 98, 99 Rathmalude, 20 Roovesinore, 20, 21, Salter Bridge, 86 Scoonie stone, 139, 140, 142 Seskinan, 85 ■ Shanacloon, 101 St. Dogmail's, 14, 115 St. Manchan's, 10, 40, 46,49, 79 St. Ninian's, 134 INDEX. I(i3 Ogham — Tai'bei't, 51 Tavistock, 117 Teeravona, 40 . Temi>leinanalian,9, 40 Tinnalially, 1ij9 Tdpped mountain, 69 Trabcf;, 9, 30, 31,30 'Irallong, 118 • Treffnarn, 114 'ruUij^more, 95 'lulloherin, 75 Tyvoria, 40, 67 UslcPark, 114 Olacon, 36 Olan, St.,92,93,94, 119, 123, 135 Olcliu, 36 Oldcastle, 02 Olden, Hev. T., 88 Olnegmaclit, 56 Oratories, 83 Ordnance Survey Memoir of Ireland, 10 Orkney, 133, 136 Oswy, 144 Oxford, Professorsliip of Celtic, IB P. Pagan monuments, 113, 114, 124, 125, 126, 153 Pagan places of burial, 46, 65, BC, 126 Palladian church, 84 Palladius, 18, 69, 74, 94, 98, 112, 129, 130, 150 Pant-y-Cadno, 124 Papse-Lhristian monks in Ice- land, 137 Paiknafulla, 24 Pascent, 97, 98 Paschal controversy, 143, 144, 145 Patrick, St., son of Calphurn, 33, 34, 51, 58, 67, 71, 84, 112, 128, 129, 130, 150 Patrician Christianity, 33, 55, 69, 110 church,55, 84,86,111 documents, 33 Pavia, cloister of its Univer- sity, 148 Pelham, Wr., 36 Pembrokeshire, 114, 115, 118, 119 Petrie, Dr., 10, 39,40,45,55, 59, 77, 83 Pictish Chronicle, 139 Pictland, 139, 142, 143, 145 Picto-Scottish charters, 139 Pioto-Scottish sculpture, 133, 137, 148, 150, 151, 153 Picts, 21, 150 Piper's stone, 69 Pomeroy, Gt) Pool Park, 117 Pope Celestine, 18 Portmarnock, 67 Prim, Mr., 75 Ptolemy, 50, 56, 107, 119 Pumpeius Carautorius, 132 Pyle, 122 E. Eaphoe, 61 liathban, 58 Eath-caves, 95, 100 Eathcoolnamuck, 76 Kathcrogban, 56, 58, 104 Eathdufl', 23 Eathgormuc, 76 Itathkeale, 50 Eatbmalode, 20 Eaths, 20, 27, 81, 94 Eea, INlr., Ill Eeeks (see Macgillicuddy) Eeeves, Eev. Dr. (see Down and Connor, Bishop of) Eelig- na-ree, 56 Ehys, Professor, 16, 71 Eiug-Ogham, 139 Kock carvings, 126 Eoman agrimensores, 89, 145 altar- with Ogham cha- racters, 113, 114 ■letters, 114, 115, 120, 124, 137 customs, 88 epigraphs, 70, 103, 114, 115, 117, 122, 132 law, 129 period, 149 Eonaldsay, North, island of, 135 Eonan, St., 144 Eooer's bridge, 98 Eoovesmore, 20, 21, 98, 99 Eoscommon, 56 Eoss-Krc, 59 Eoss Hill, 54 Eound Towers, 13, 83 Eoyal Cork Institution, 86, 87, 88, 91, 94, 95 Eoyal Historical and Archaeo- logical Association, Kil- kenny, 75, 76 Eoyal Irish Academy, 7, 49, S!), 90, 96, 107, 109 EI.A., Museum of, 7, 15, 20, 24, 25,42,49,67, 08, 84 Eunes, 2, KO, 139 Eutliin, 117 Salique Law of Graves, 47 Salter Bridge, 80 Samson rending the lion, 141 Scandinavia. 04, 14H, 150, 151 Schliemann, Dr., 145 Scoonie, 139,140, 142 Scotland, 62, 133 Scottish Oghams, 133, 134 Sculptured monuments, 64, 124, 134, 135, 141, 145, 148, 149, 151, 153 Sepulchral cellse, 70, 83 legends, 80 tumuli, 60, 62 Sere, 59 Seskinan, 85 Shauacloon, 101 Shannon, river, 54, 56 Shearman, Eev. J., 71, 73 Shetland, 14. 133, 134, 136 Silures, 127 Skene, Mr., 139,140 Slieve Cua, 112 Slieve-na-Calliagh, 62, 65,06, 153 Slieve Grada, 58 Slieve Mish, 19, 31, 49, 50, HI Sligo, 58, 59 Smerwick, 42 Society of Antiquaries of Scot- land, Museum, 8, 130 Proceedings, 149 " Spicilegium Solesmense," 149, 153 Staghuut, 140 St. Declan (see Declan) St. Dogmael's, 14, 115 Stephens's " Euuic Monu- ments," 148 St. Manchan's, 10, 40, 40, 49, 79 Stokes, Dr. Whitley, 38, 71, 77, 152 Stokes, Miss, 55 St. Olan (see Olan) Stone coffin, St. Andrew's, 141, 142 Stradbally, 77, 78 Strathclyde, 130, 137, 150 Stuait, Dr., author of " Sculp- tured Stones of Scotland," I4(j Sun, river, 51 164 INDEX. Sutherland, Vdi, 139 Swastica or Filfot cross, 145 Swedish symbols, 14!J Tain-bo Cuailnge, 56 Taliesin, 120 Tallin (Telltown), 05 Tarbert, 50,51 Tavistock Eectory, stone brought from Eoborough Down, 117 Tech-na-Bomauagh, 69 Teeravona, 4=0 Teivy, river, 1 1 6 Templemanahan, 9, 40 Templemartin, 99 Templenacariga, 86, 87 Templenoe, 104 Tenby, 120 Teuthal Techtmar, 61,02 Theodulfs " Recensio of the clavis of Melito," 149 Theodoric, 141 Tigroney, 69 Tipperary, 76 Todd, Eev. Dr., 84 Topped mountain, 59 Trabeg, 9,30, 31,36 Tralee, 19 Trallong, 118 Trecastle, 124 Treifgarn, 114 Trengas, 116 Trent Cathedral, 150, 151 Tresi, 59 Trinity College, Dublin, 38 Trinity, symbol of, 123, 125 Trojan ware, 145 Tuatha de Danaan, 5, 66 Tulliemore, 95 Tulloherin, 75 TuUycorbet, 64 Tyrone, 59, 60, 67 Tyvoria, 40, 67 U. Ulster, annals of, 144 Plantation of, 60 Ulvsses, bow of, 145 UskPark, 114 Valentia island, 105 Vallancey, General, 23, 53 Ventry, 31, 46 Lord, 37 Verona, 141, 147 Villierst5TITmON OF MECHASICAL ESGDTEEES ; ASSOCIATE OF THE ISSTITUTIOX OF CtTIL EKGDTEEES ; irEMBEE OF COrSCIL OF THE rSSTTTCTE OF PATEST AGENTS, ETC. EGTFTIAX SICKLE FOUXD AT KARSAK. VoL L in October. EDINBURGH : DAVID DOUGLAS. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS. 27 One Vol. Small Ato, With Inde.r, and thirteen Full-page arid ten JVoodcut Illustrations, 21s. LINDOEES ABBEY AND THE BUEGH OF NEWBUEGH BY ALEXANDER LAING, LL.D. "This is a charming volume in every respect." — Notes and Queries. " The prominent characteristics of the work are its exhaustiveness and the thoroughly philosophic spirit in which it is written." — Scotsman. EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS. 28 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS. In One Vol., Ato, price £3 : 3s. A few Copies for sale on large Paper, pice £5:15:6. 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