ARCHÆOLOGICAL ESSAYS

ARCHÆOLOGICAL ESSAYS

BY THE LATE

SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON, BART. 

M. D. , D. C. L. 

ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S PHYSICIANS FOR SCOTLAND, AND PROFESSOR OF MEDICINEAND MIDWIFERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

EDITED BY

JOHN STUART, LL. D. 

SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND

VOL. I. 

EDINBURGH

EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS

PUBLISHERS TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES

MDCCCLXXII

_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_. 

THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

The late Sir James Simpson, in the midst of his anxious professionallabours, was wont to seek for refreshment in the pursuit of subjects ofa historical and archæological character, and to publish the results inthe Transactions of different Societies and in scientific journals. 

Some of these papers are now scarce, and difficult of access; and adesire having been expressed in various quarters for their appearance ina collected and permanent form, I was consulted on the subject by SirWalter Simpson, who put into my hands copies of the various essays, withnotes on some of them by his father, which seemed to indicate that hehimself had contemplated their republication. 

Having for a long time been acquainted with their merits, I did nothesitate to express a strong opinion in favour of their publication; andI accepted with pleasure the duty of editing them, which Sir Walterrequested me to perform. 

The papers in question were the fruit of inquiries begun indeed as arelief from weightier cares; but as it was not in their author's natureto rest satisfied with desultory and superficial results in histreatment of any subject, so his archæological papers more resemble theexhaustive treatises of a leisurely student, than the occasional effortsof one overwhelmed in professional occupations. 

In the present work will be found all the more important archæologicalpapers of Sir James Simpson, collected from the various sourcesindicated in the Table of Contents. 

The subjects to the antiquities of which Sir James first directed hisattention were connected with his own profession; but, as time went on, his interest in historical pursuits deepened and expanded, and thequestions discussed by him became more varied. 

It has been thought best to arrange the papers of a general historicalscope in the first volume, and those connected with professionalantiquities in the second; but readers, who may wish to trace the orderin which they were written by the author, will find their various datesin the Table. 

The first paper, entitled "Archæology, its Past and its Future Work, "was prepared as a lecture to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. This was done with a care and elaboration which are not alwaysassociated with such efforts; and, whether in indicating the object andend of the archæological student's pursuits, --sketching the pastprogress of the study, --and specifying the lines of research from whichScottish inductive archæology may be expected to derive additional dataand facts, --nothing more thoroughly practical could be desired; while inhis resumé of the difficulties and enigmas peculiar to Scottishantiquities, he may be said to have left none of them untouched, hispassing allusions being, in many instances, suggestive of theirsolution. 

The paper on "An old Stone-roofed Cell or Oratory in the Island ofInchcolm" affords an instance of the author's careful observation, andhis fertility of illustration. The humble structure in question, which, at the time when it first attracted Sir James Simpson's notice, was usedas a pig-stye, had few external features to suggest the necessity offarther inquiry; but after his eye had become accustomed to thearchitecture of the early monastic cells in Ireland, its real characterflashed upon him, and he found that his conclusions coincided with thefacts of the early history of the island. 

These he gleaned from many sources, but in grouping them into a picturehe enriched his narrative with various instructive notes; as on the "MosScotticum" of our early buildings; a comparison of the ruin with theIrish oratories; notices of other Island Retreats of Saints, and of theSaints themselves. In one of these he gives an instructive reference toa passage in the original Latin text of Boece about the round tower ofBrechin, which had been overlooked by his translator Bellenden, and sowas now quoted for the first time. 

A copy of this paper on Inchcolm having been sent to his friend Dr. Petrie of Dublin, author of the well-known essay on the "EarlyEcclesiastical Architecture and Round Towers of Ireland, " it wasreturned after a time, enriched with many notes and illustrations. Innow reprinting the paper these have been added, and are distinguishedfrom the author's notes by having the letter P annexed to them. Thesubject of the Inchcolm oratory was one about which this great man feltmuch interest, and on which he could speak from the abundance of hisknowledge and experience. The notes are therefore of special value, asfurnishing the latest views of the author on mooted points of CelticEcclesiology, while they are conspicuous for the modesty and candourwhich were combined with Dr. Petrie's vast learning on the subject. 

Thus, in his work on the Round Towers, Dr. Petrie assigned "about theyear 1020" as the date of the round tower of Brechin, but in one of thenotes he corrects himself, and explains the origin of his mistake:--"Therecollection of the error which I made, by a carelessness not in suchmatters usual with me, in assigning this date 1020, instead of betweenthe years 971 and 994, as I ought to have done, has long given meannoyance, and a lesson never to trust to memory in dates; for it wasthus I fell into the mistake. I had the year 1020 on my mind, which isthe year assigned by Pinkerton for the writing of the _Chron. Pictorum_, and, without stopping to remember or to refer, I took it for grantedthat it was the year of Kenneth's death, or rather of his gift. "

In writing of the Early Churches or Oratories of Ireland, Dr. Petriestated in his Essay--"they had a single doorway always placed in thecentre of the west wall. " In one of his notes, now printed, he thusqualifies the statement:--"I should perhaps have written _almost_always. The very few exceptions did not at the moment occur to me. "Again, Sir James Simpson having quoted a passage from Dr. Petrie's work, in which the writer ascribes the old small stone-roofed church atKillaloe to the seventh century, Dr. Petrie, in his relative note, adds--"but now considers as of the tenth, or perhaps eleventh. "

To the paper on "Leprosy and Leper Hospitals in Scotland and England" isnow added a series of additional "Historical Notices, " prepared by Dr. Joseph Robertson, with the accuracy and research for which, as is wellknown, my early friend was conspicuous. 

The origin of the tract on "Medical Officers in the Roman Army" isexplained in the following note, prefixed to the first edition:--"A fewyears ago my late colleague, Sir George Ballingall, asked me--'Was theRoman Army provided with Medical Officers?' He was interested in thesubject as Professor of Military Surgery, and told me that he had made, quite unsuccessfully, inquiries on the matter in various quarters, andat various persons. I drew up for him a few remarks, which wereprivately printed and circulated among his class at the time. Thepresent essay consists of an extension of these remarks. "

The essay on the monument called "THE CATSTANE" suggested anexplanation, which naturally elicited divergent criticisms. Some ofthese appear to have occasionally engaged Sir James Simpson's attention;and from some unfinished notes among his papers, it seems plain that hemeant to notice them in an additional communication to the Society ofAntiquaries. 

In these notes, after recapitulating at the outset the facts adduced inhis first paper, Sir James proceeds:--"These points of evidence, Iventured to conclude, '_tend at least to render it probable_' that theCatstane is a monument to Vetta, the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa. But I did not consider the question as a settled question. I began andended my paper by discussing this early Saxon origin of the monument asproblematical and probable, but not fixed. At the same time, I mayperhaps take the liberty of remarking, that both in archæology andhistory we look upon some questions as sufficiently fixed and settled, regarding which we have less inferential and direct proof than we haverespecting this solution of the enigma respecting the Catstane. Theidea, however, that it was possible for a monument to a historic Saxonleader to be found in Scotland of a date antecedent to the advent ofHengist and Horsa to the shores of Kent, was a notion so repugnant tomany minds, that, very naturally, various arguments have been adducedagainst it, while some high authorities have declared in favour of it. In this communication I propose to notice briefly some of the leadingarguments that have been latterly brought forward both against and forthe belief that the Catstane commemorates the ancestor of the Saxonconquerors of Kent. 

"1. One anonymous writer has maintained, that if the Catstane was amonument to the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa, the inscription uponit should not have read 'In hoc tumulo jacet Vetta f(ilius) Victi, ' but, on the contrary, 'Victus filius Vettæ. ' In other words, he holds thatthe inscription reverses the order of paternity as given by Bede, Nennius, etc. [1] But all this is simply and altogether a mistake on thepart of the writer. All the ancient genealogies describe Hengist andHorsa as the sons of Victgils, Victgils as the son of Vetta, and Vettaas the son of Victus. The Catstane inscriptions give Vetta and Victus inexactly the same order. When I pointed out to the writer the mistakeinto which he had, perhaps inadvertently, fallen, he turned round, andargued that in such names the vowels _e_ and _i_ were more trustworthyas permanent elements than the consonants _c_ and _t_. [2] He argued, inother words, that Vecta as a proper name would not be found spelledwith an _i_. If it were never so spelled with an _i_, that circumstancewas no argument in favour of the strange error of criticism into whichthe writer had fallen; but the fact is, that in the famous chapter ofBede's history, in which the names Hengist and Horsa, and theirgenealogies, first occur, there is an instance given, showing that, contrary to the opinion of this writer, a proper name having, like_Vetta_, the letter _e_ as a component, _may_ change it to _i_. ForBede, in telling us that the men of Kent and of the Isle of Wight(Cantuarii et Victuarii) were sprung from the Jutes, spells the Isle ofWight (Vecta) with an _e_, and the inhabitants of it (Victuarii) with an_i_. 

"The same writer states it as his opinion that the lettering in theCatstane inscription is not so old as I should wish to make it. 'It is, 'says he, 'in our opinion, of later date even than Hengist himself, bothin the formula of the inscription and in the character of the writing. 'Perhaps the writer's opinion upon such a point is not worth alluding to, as it is maintained by no proof. But Edward Lhuyd--one of the very bestjudges in such questions in former days--stated the lettering to be ofthe fourth or fifth century, without having any hypothesis to support orsubvert by this opinion. And the best palæographer of our owntimes--Professor Westwood--is quite of the same idea as to the mere ageof the inscription, as drawn from its palæography and formula, an ideain which he is joined by an antiquary who has worked much with ancientlettering--viz. Professor Stephens of Copenhagen. "

Although it is to be regretted that the contemplated remarks were notcompleted, it may be doubted if the question admitted of much furtherillustration; and, however unlikely the conclusion may be that theinscription on the Catstane, VETTA F[ILIUS] VICTI, is a contemporarycommemoration of the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa, it may not beeasy to suggest a solution of the question free from difficulties aspuzzling. At all events the palæographic features of the inscriptionseem plainly to associate it with a class of rude post-Roman monuments, of which we have a good many examples in different parts of the kingdom;and it may be remarked that Mr. Skene, who has made this period of ourhistory a special study, after investigating, with his usual acumen, theevidence which exists to show that the Frisians had formed settlementsin Scotland at a period anterior to that usually assigned for thearrival of the Saxons in England, has established the fact of the earlysettlement on our northern coasts of a people called by the general nameof Saxons, but in reality an offshoot from the Frisians, whose principalseat was on the shores of the Firth of Forth, and on the whole thinks itnot impossible that the Catstane may be the tomb of their first leaderVitta, son of Vecta, the traditionary grandfather of Hengist andHorsa. [3]

Besides the papers now printed, Sir James Simpson contributed manyshorter essays and reviews of books to magazines and newspapers. He alsoprepared a memorandum, printed in the second volume of the "SculpturedStones of Scotland, " of a reading of the inscription on a sculpturedcross at St. Vigeans in Forfarshire. [4] At the time of the finaladjustment of this paper Sir James was an invalid, and confined to hisbed, and I well remember the extreme, almost fastidious, care bestowedby him on the proof-sheet, in the course of my frequent visits to hisbedroom. 

It sometimes happened also that a subject originally treated in a paperby Sir James Simpson required a volume to exhaust it. Thus, in thespring of 1864, he read to a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries ofScotland a "Notice of the Sculpturing of Cups and Concentric Rings onStones and Rocks in various parts of Scotland;" but materials afterwardsso grew on his hands that his original Notice came to be expanded into avolume of nearly 200 pages, with 36 illustrative plates. His treatmentof this curious subject furnishes a model for such investigations. [5]

Setting out with a description of the principal types of the sculptures, he investigates the chief deviations which occur. He next classifies thevarious monuments on which the sculptures have been observed, asstanding-stones, cromlechs, stones in chambered tumuli, and stones insepulchral cists. Another chapter describes their occurrence on stonesconnected with archaic habitations, as weems, fortified buildings, inand near ancient towns and camps, and on isolated rocks and stones. After a description of analogous sculptures in other countries, there isa concluding chapter of general inferences founded on the factsaccumulated in the previous part of the volume. 

On the occasion of a rapid journey to Liverpool, Sir James Simpsonvisited a stone circle at Calder, near that city, and detected the truecharacter of the sculptures on the stones, a very imperfect note ofwhich I had recently brought under his notice. An account of thismonument, which he prepared for the Historic Society of Lancashire andCheshire, is printed in the Transactions of that body for 1865, and thefollowing passages are quoted from it:--"Many suggestions, I mayobserve, have been offered in regard to the intent and import of suchlapidary cup and ring cuttings as exist on the Calder Stones; but noneof the theories proposed solve, as it seems to me, the hieroglyphicmystery in which these sculpturings are still involved. They are oldenigmatical 'handwritings on the wall, ' which no modern reader has yetdeciphered. In our present state of knowledge with regard to them, letus be content with merely collecting and recording the facts in regardto their appearances, relations, localities, etc. ; for all earlytheorising will, in all probability, end only in error. It is surelybetter frankly to own that we know not what these markings mean (andpossibly may never know it), rather than wander off into that vaguemystification and conjecture which in former days often broughtdiscredit on the whole study of archæology. 

"But in regard to their probable era let me add one suggestion. Thesecup and ring cuttings have now been traced along the whole length of theBritish Isles, from Dorsetshire to Orkney, and across their wholebreadth from Yorkshire in England to Kerry in Ireland; and in many ofthe inland counties in the three kingdoms. They are evidently dictatedby some common thought belonging to some common race of men. But howvery long is it since a common race--or successive waves even of acommon race--inhabited such distant districts as I have just named, andspread over Great Britain and Ireland, from the English Channel to thePentland Firth, and from the shores of the German Ocean to those of theAtlantic?"

The special value of the inductive treatment of the subject adopted bySir James Simpson is here conspicuous; and although no decidedconclusion was come to on the age and meaning of the sculptures, or thepeople by whom they were made, yet a reader feels that the utmost hasbeen made of existing materials; and that, while nothing has been leftuntouched which could throw light on the question, a broad and surefoundation has been laid on which all subsequent research must rest. 

One of the Appendices to this volume contains an account of some ancientsculptures on the walls of certain caves in Fife. The essay originallyappeared as a communication to the Royal Society of Edinburgh inJanuary 1866, and was also soon afterwards printed separately--"Inscribedto James Drummond, Esq. , R. S. A. , as a small token of the Author's verysincere friendship and esteem. "

The discovery of these cave sculptures affords an instance of thethoroughness which Sir James carried into all his investigations. Whileengaged in the preparation of his original paper for the Society ofAntiquaries on the Sculpturing of Cups and Rings, he wished to ascertainall the localities and conditions of their occurrence. After describingthe sculptured circles and cups which had been found on the stones ofweems and "Picts' Houses, " he referred to the caves on the coast ofFife, which he suggested might be considered as natural weems orhabitations. These he had visited in the hope of discoveringcup-markings; and in one near the village of Easter Wemyss he discoveredfaded appearances of some depressions or cups, with small single circlescut on the wall, adding to his description--"Probably a more minute andextensive search in these caves would discover many more such carvings. "

This was written in 1864; and when the paper then prepared had beenexpanded into the volume of 1867, the passage just quoted wasaccompanied by the following note:--"I leave this sentence as it waswritten above two years ago. Shortly after that period, I revisitedWemyss, to inspect the other caves of the district, and make moreminute observations than I could do in my first hurried visit, anddiscovered on the walls of some of them many carvings of animals, 'spectacle ornaments, ' and other symbols exactly resembling in type andcharacter the similar figures represented on the ancient so-calledsculptured stones of Scotland, and, like them, probably about a thousandyears old. "[6]

In like manner, after Sir Gardner Wilkinson had detected a concentriccircle of four rings sculptured on the pillar called "Long Meg, " at thegreat stone circle of Salkeld, in Cumberland, Sir James Simpson paid avisit to the monument, when his scrutiny was rewarded by the discoveryon this pillar of several additional groups of sculptures. [7]

In his lecture on Archæology, Sir James Simpson has indicated two linesof research, from which additional data and facts for the elucidation ofpast times might be expected--viz. Researches beneath the surface of theearth, and researches among older works and manuscripts. By the formerhe meant the careful and systematised examinations in which the spadeand pickaxe are so important, and have done such service in late years, and from which Sir James expected much more; and by the latter theexploring and turning to account the many stores of written records ofearly times yet untouched. 

Being impressed with the value of the charters of our old religioushouses for historical purposes, he, shortly before his death, had atranscript made of the Chartulary of the Monastery of Inchcolm, with adesign to edit it as one of a series of volumes of monastic records forthe Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 

But the services of Sir James Simpson to the cause of archæologicalresearch are not to be measured by his written contributions, remarkableas these are. Perhaps it may be said that his influence was mostpregnant in kindling a love of research in others, by opening their eyesto see how much yet lay undiscovered, and how much each person could doby judicious effort in his own neighbourhood. With this view he onvarious occasions delivered lectures on special subjects of antiquity, and among his papers I found very full notes of lectures on Romanantiquities, one of which, on the "Romans in Britain, " he delivered atFalkirk in the winter of 1862. 

For many years the house of Sir James Simpson was the rendezvous ofarchæological students; and it was one of his great pleasures to bringtogether at his table men from different districts and countries, butunited by the brotherhood of a common pursuit, for the discussion offacts and the exchange of thought. 

The friends who were accustomed to these easy reunions will not soonforget the radiant geniality of the host, and his success in stimulatingthe discussions most likely to draw out the special stores of hisguests. Others also, who were associated with Sir James in the visits tohistorical sites which he frequently planned, in the retrospect of thepleasant hours thus spent will feel how vain it is to hope for anotherleader with the attractions which were combined in him. 

In the course of his numerous professional journeys he acquired awonderfully accurate knowledge of the early remains of differentdistricts; and so contagious was his enthusiasm for their elucidation, that both the professional brethren with whom he acted, and hispatients, were speedily found among his correspondents and allies. 

His presence at the meetings of Archæological Societies was everregarded as a pleasure and benefit. Besides the stated meetings of theSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland, which he attended with comparativefrequency, and where he ever took a share in the discussions, he waspresent on various occasions at Congresses of the ArchæologicalInstitute, the Cambrian Association, and other kindred bodies, by meansof which he was enabled to maintain an intercourse with contemporaryfellow-labourers in the archæological field, and to attain thatfamiliarity with different classes of antiquities which he turned tosuch account in the discussion and classification of the early remainsof Scotland. 

I must not speak of the wonderful combination of qualities which wereconspicuous in Sir James Simpson, alongside of those which I havementioned. This may safely be left to the more competent hand ofProfessor Duns, from whose memoir of his early friend so much may beexpected, and where a more general estimate of his character willnaturally be found. Yet, in bringing together this series of Sir JamesSimpson's Archæological Essays, it seemed not unsuitable for me toexpress something of my admiration of the earnest truth-seeking spiritwith which they were undertaken, as well as of the genius and researchwith which they were executed. 

JOHN STUART. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: "The monument reverses the order of paternity of the twoindividuals, making Wecta the son of Witta, instead of Witta the son ofWecta, in which all the old genealogies agree. "--_Athenæum_, July 5, 1862, p. 17. ]

[Footnote 2: "The vowel is far more distinctive of the two names thanthe difference of _c_ and _t_, letters which were continuallyinterchanged. "--_Ibid. _ August 2, 1862, p. 149. ]

[Footnote 3: _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, vol. Iv. P. 181. ]

[Footnote 4: _The Sculptured Stones of Scotland_, vol. Ii. Notices ofthe Plates, p. 71. ]

[Footnote 5: _Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc. , upon Stonesand Rocks in Scotland, England, and other Countries. _ Edin. 1867. ]

[Footnote 6: _British Archaic Sculpturings_, p. 126. ]

[Footnote 7: _Idem_, p. 20. ]

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. 

 PAGE

I. ARCHÆOLOGY: ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE WORK 1

An Inaugural Address to the Society of Antiquaries ofScotland. Session 1860-61. Proc. Vol. Iv. P. 5. 

II. ON AN OLD STONE-ROOFED CELL OR ORATORY IN THEISLAND OF INCHCOLM 67

A Paper read to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, July 13, 1857. Proc. Vol. Ii. P. 489. 

[With Notes by Dr. George Petrie, Author of an Essayon the "Early Ecclesiastical Architecture and RoundTowers of Ireland. "]

III. ON THE CAT-STANE, KIRKLISTON 137

Read to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 11thFebruary 1861. Proc. Vol. Iv. P. 119. 

Printed separately in 1862, and "Inscribed withFeelings of the most Sincere Esteem to Mrs. Pender, Crumpsall House, Manchester. "

IV. ON SOME SCOTTISH MAGICAL CHARM-STONES, OR CURING-STONES 199

Read to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 8th April1861. Proc. Vol. Iv. P. 211. 

V. IS THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZEH A METROLOGICALMONUMENT? 219

Corrected Abstract of a Communication to the RoyalSociety of Edinburgh on 20th January 1868, withNotes and an Appendix. Proc. Of the Royal Society, No. 75. 

ARCHÆOLOGY:

ITS PAST AND ITS FUTURE WORK. [8]

It has become a practice of late years in this Society for one of theVice-Presidents to read an Annual Address on some topic or topicsconnected with Archæology. I appear here to-night more in compliancewith this custom than with any hope of being able to state aught to youthat is likely to prove either of adequate interest or of adequateimportance for such an occasion. 

In making this admission, I am fully aware that the deficiency lies inmyself, and not in my subject. For truly there are few studies whichoffer so many tempting fields of observation and comment as Archæology. Indeed, the aim and the groundwork of the studies of the antiquary forma sufficient guarantee for the interest with which these studies areinvested. For the leading object and intent of all his pursuits is--MAN, and man's ways and works, his habits and thoughts, from the earliestdates at which we can find his traces and tracks upon the earth, onwardand forwards along the journey of past time. During this long journey, man has everywhere left scattered behind and around him innumerablerelics, forming so many permanent impressions and evidences of his marchand progress. These impressions and evidences the antiquary searchesfor and studies--in the changes which have in successive eras takenplace (as proved by their existing and discoverable remains) in thematerials and forms of the implements and tools which man has from theearliest times used in the chase and in agriculture; in the weaponswhich he has employed in battle; in the habitations which he has dweltin during peace, and in the earth-works and stone-works which he hasraised during war; in the dresses and ornaments which he has worn; inthe varying forms of religious faith which he has held, and the deitiesthat he has worshipped; in the sacred temples and fanes which he hasreared; in the various modes in which he has disposed of the dead; inthe laws and governments under which he has lived; in the arts which hehas cultivated; in the sculptures which he has carved; in the coins andmedals which he has struck; in the inscriptions which he has cut; in therecords which he has written; and in the character and type of thelanguages in which he has spoken. All the markings and relics of man, inthe dim and distant past, which industry and science can possiblyextract from these and from other analogous sources, Archæologycarefully collects, arranges, and generalises, stimulated by the fondhope that through such means she will yet gradually recover more andmore of the earlier chronicles and lost annals of the human race, and ofthe various individual communities and families of that race. 

The objects of antiquarian research embrace events and periods, many ofwhich are placed within the era of written evidence; but many more areof a date long anterior to the epoch when man made that greatest ofhuman discoveries--the discovery, namely, of the power of permanentlyrecording words, thoughts, and acts, in symbolical and alphabeticwriting. To some minds it has seemed almost chimerical for thearchæologist to expect to regain to any extent a knowledge of theconditions and circumstances of man, and of the different nations ofmen, before human cunning had learned to collect and inscribe them onstone or brass, or had fashioned them into written or traditionalrecords capable of being safely floated down the stream of time. But themodern history of Archæology, as well as the analogies of other alliedpursuits, are totally against any such hopeless views. 

Almost within the lifetime of some who are still amongst us, there hassprung up and been cultivated--and cultivated most successfully too--ascience which has no written documents or legible inscriptions to guideit on its path, and whose researches are far more ancient in theirobject than the researches of Archæology. Its subject is an antiquitygreatly older than human antiquity. It deals with the state of the earthand of the inhabitants of the earth in times immeasurably beyond theearliest times studied by the antiquary. In the course of itsinvestigations it has recovered many strange stories and marvellouschronicles of the world and of its living occupants--long, long agesbefore human antiquity even began. But if Geology has thus successfullyrestored to us long and important chapters in the pre-Adamite annals ofthe world's history, need Archæology despair of yet deciphering andreading--infinitely more clearly than it has yet done--that far laterepisode in the drama of the past which opens with the appearance of manas a denizen of earth. The modes of investigating these two allied andalmost continuous sciences--Geology and Archæology--are the same inprinciple, however much the two sciences themselves may differ indetail. And if Geology, in its efforts to regain the records of the paststate of animal and vegetable life upon the surface of the earth, hasattractions which bind the votaries of it to its ardent study, surelyArchæology has equal, if not stronger claims to urge in its own behoofand favour. To the human mind the study of those relics by which thearchæologist tries to recover and reconstruct the history of the pastraces and nations of man, should naturally form as engrossing a topic asthe study of those relics by which the geologist tries to regain thehistory of the past races and families of the _fauna_ and _flora_ of theancient world. Surely, as a mere matter of scientific pursuit, theancient or fossil states of man should--for man himself--haveattractions as great, at least, as the ancient or fossil states ofplants and animals; and the old Celt, or Pict, or Saxon, be asinteresting a study as the old Lepidodendron or Ichthyosaurus. 

Formerly, the pursuit of Archæology was not unfrequently regarded as akind of romantic dilettanteism, as a collecting together of meaninglessantique relics and oddities, as a greedy hoarding and storing up ofrubbish and frivolities that were fit only for an old curiosity shop, and that were valued merely because they were old;--while the essays andwritings of the antiquary were looked down upon as disquisitions uponvery profitless conjectures, and very solemn trivialities. Perhaps theobjects and method in which antiquarian studies were formerly pursuedafforded only too much ground for such accusations. But all this is now, in a great measure, entirely changed. Archæology, as tempered anddirected by the philosophic spirit, and quickened with the life andenergy of the nineteenth century, is a very different pursuit from theArchæology of our forefathers, and has as little relation to theirantiquarianism as modern Chemistry and modern Astronomy have to theirformer prototypes--Alchemy and Astrology. In proof of this, I mayconfidently appeal to the good work which Archæology has done, and thegreat advances which it has struck out in different directions withinthe last fifty years. Within this brief period it has made discoveries, perhaps in themselves of as momentous and marvellous a character asthose of which any other modern science can boast. Let me cite two orthree instances in illustration of this remark. 

Dating, then, from the commencement of the present century, Archæologyhas--amidst its other work--rediscovered, through the interpretation ofthe Rosetta-stone, the long-lost hieroglyphic language of Egypt, and hasthus found a key by which it has begun--but only as yet begun--to unlockthe rich treasure-stores of ancient knowledge which have for ages lainconcealed among the monuments and records scattered along the valley ofthe Nile. It has copied, by the aid of the telescope, the trilingualarrow-headed inscriptions written 300 feet high upon the face of therocks of Behistun; and though the alphabets and the languages in whichthese long inscriptions were "graven with a pen of iron and lead uponthe rocks for ever, " had been long dead and unknown, yet, by a kind ofphilological divination, Archæology has exorcised and resuscitated both;and from these dumb stones, and from the analogous inscriptions of Van, Elwend, Persepolis, etc. , it has evoked official gazettes and royalcontemporaneous annals of the deeds and dominions of Darius, Xerxes, andother Persian kings. By a similar almost talismanic power and process, it has forced the engraved cylinders, bricks, and obelisks of the oldcities of Chaldea and Babylonia--as those of Wurka, Niffer, Muqueyer, etc. --to repeat over again to this present generation of men the namesof the ancient founders of their public buildings, and the wars andexploits of their ancient monarchs. It has searched among the shapelessmounds on the banks of the Tigris, and after removing the shroud ofearth and rubbish under which "Nineveh the Great" had there lainentombed for ages, it has brought back once more to light the riches ofthe architecture and sculptures of the palaces of that renowned city, and shown the advanced knowledge of Assyria--some thirty long centuriesago--in mechanics and engineering, in working and inlaying with metals, in the construction of the optical lens, in the manufactory of potteryand glass, and in most other matters of material civilisation. It haslately, by these and other discoveries in the East, confirmed in manyinteresting points, and confuted in none, the truth of the Biblicalrecords. It has found, for instance, every city in Palestine and theneighbouring kingdoms whose special and precise doom was pronounced bythe sure word of Prophecy, showing the exact state foretold of themtwenty or thirty centuries ago, --as Askelon tenantless, the site ofancient Gaza "bald, " old Tyre "scraped" up, and Samaria with itsfoundations exposed, and its "stones poured down in heaps" into thevalley below. It has further, within the last few years, stolen into thedeserts of the Hauran, through the old vigilant guard formed around thatregion by the Bedouin Arabs, and there--(as if in startlingcontradiction to the dead and buried cities of Syria, etc. )--it has--aswas equally predicted--discovered the numerous cyclopic cities ofBashan standing perfect and entire, yet "desolate and without any todwell therein, "--cities wrapped, as it were, in a state of mortaltrance, and patiently awaiting the prophesied period of their futurerevival and rehabitation; some of them of great size, as Um-el-Jemâl(probably the Beth-gamul of Scripture), a city covering as large a spaceas Jerusalem, with its high and massive basaltic town walls, itssquares, its public buildings, its paved streets, and its houses withtheir rooms, stairs, revolving and frequently sculptured stone-doors, all nearly as complete and unbroken, as if its old inhabitants had onlydeserted it yesterday. Again, from another and more distant part of theEast, --from the plains of India, --Archæology has recently brought toEurope, and at an English press printed for the first time, upwards of1000 of the sacred hymns of the Rig-Veda, the most ancient literary workof the Aryan or Indo-European race of mankind; for, according to thecalm judgment of our ripest Sanskrit scholars, these hymns were composedbefore Homer sung of the wrath of Achilles; and they are furtherremarkable, on this account, that they seem to have been transmitteddown for upwards of 3000 years by oral tradition alone--the Brahminpriests up to the present day still spending--as Cæsar tells us the oldDruidical priests of Gaul spent--twelve, twenty, or more years of theirlives, in learning by heart these sacred lays and themes, and thenteaching them in turn to their pupils and successors. 

The notices of antiquarian progress in modern times, that I havehitherto alluded to, refer to other continents than our own. But sincethe commencement of the present century Archæology has been equallyactive in Europe. It has, by its recent devoted study of the wholeworks of art belonging to Greece, shown that in many respects a livelierand more familiar knowledge of the ancient inhabitants of that classicland is to be derived from the contemplation of their remaining statues, sculptures, gems, medals, coins, etc. , than by any amount of mereschool-grinding at Greek words and Greek quantities. It has recovered atthe same time some interesting objects connected with ancient Grecianhistory; having, for example, during the occupation of Constantinople in1854 by the armies of England and France, laid bare to its base andcarefully copied the inscription, engraved some twenty-three centuriesago, upon the brazen stand of the famous tripod which was dedicated bythe confederate Greeks to Apollo at Delphi, after the defeat of thePersian host at Platea, --an inscription that Herodotus himself speaksof, and by which, indeed, the Father of History seems to haveauthenticated his own battle-roll of the Greek combatants. Archæologyhas busied itself also, particularly of late years, in disinterring theruins of numerous old Roman villas, towns, and cities in Italy, inFrance, in Britain, and in the other western colonies of Home; and bythis measure it has gained for us a clearer and nearer insight intoevery-day Roman life and habits, than all the wealth of classicliterature supplies us with. Though perfectly acquainted with theEtruscan alphabet, it has hitherto utterly failed to read a single lineof the numerous inscriptions found in Etruria, but yet among theunwritten records and relics of the towns and tombs of that ancientkingdom, it has recovered a wonderfully complete knowledge of themanners, and habits, and faith, of a great and prosperous nation, which--located in the central districts of Italy--was already faradvanced in civilisation and refinement long before that epoch whenRomulus is fabled to have drawn around the Palatine the first boundaryline of the infant city which was destined to become the mistress of theworld. Latterly, among all the western and northern countries of Europe, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in Denmark, in France, and in the BritishIslands, Archæology has made many careful and valuable collections ofthe numerous and diversified implements, weapons, etc. , of theaboriginal inhabitants of these parts, and traced by them thestratifications, as it were, of progress and civilisation, by which ourprimæval ancestors successively passed upwards through the varying erasand stages of advancement, from their first struggles in the battle oflife with tools of stone, and flint, and bone alone, till theydiscovered and applied the use of metals in the arts alike of peace andwar; from those distant ages in which, dressed in the skins of animals, they wore ornaments made of sea-shells and jet, till the times when theylearned to plait and weave dresses of hair, wool, and other fibres, andadorned their chiefs with torcs and armlets of bronze, silver, and gold. Archæology also has sought out and studied the strongholds and forts, the land and lake habitations of these, our primæval Celtic and Teutonicforefathers:--and has discovered among their ruins many interestingspecimens of the implements they used, the dresses that they wore, thehouses they inhabited, and the very food they fed upon. It has descendedalso into their sepulchres and tombs, and there--among the mysteriouscontents of their graves and cinerary urns--it has found revealed manyother wondrous proofs of their habits and condition during this life, aswell as of their creeds and faith in regard to a future state ofexistence. 

By the aid of that new and most powerful ally, Comparative Philology, Archæology has lately made other great advances. By proofs exactly ofthe same linguistic kind as those by which the modern Spanish, French, and other Latin dialects can be shown to have all radiated from Rome astheir centre, the old traditions of the eastern origin of all the chiefnations of Europe have been proved to be fundamentally true; for byevidence so "irrefragable" (to use the expression of the Taylorianprofessor of modern languages at Oxford), that "not an English jurycould now-a-days reject it, " Philological Archæology has shown that ofthe three great families of mankind--the Semitic, the Turanian, and theAryan--this last, the Aryan, Japhetic, or Indo-European race, had itschief home about the centre of Western Asia;--that betimes there issuedthence from its paternal hearths, and wended their way southward, humanswarms that formed the nations of Persia and Hindustan;--that at distantand different, and in some cases earlier periods, there hived off fromthe same parental stock other waves of population, which wanderedwestward, and formed successively the European nations of the Celts, theTeutons, the Italians, the Greeks, and the Sclaves;--and that while eachexodus of this western emigration, which followed in the wake of itsfellow, drove its earliest predecessor before it in a general directionfurther and further towards the setting sun, at the same time someaboriginal, and probably Turanian races, which previously inhabitedportions of Europe, were gradually pushed and pressed aside and upwards, by the more powerful and encroaching Aryans, into districts either sosterile or so mountainous and strong, that it was too worthless or toodifficult to follow them further--their remnants being represented atthe present day by the Laps, the Basques, and the Esths. PhilologicalArchæology has further demonstrated that the vast populations which nowstretch from the mouth of the Ganges to the Pentland Firth, --sprung, asthey are, with a few exceptions only, from the same primitive Aryanstock, --all use words which, though phonetically changed, are radicallyidentical for many matters, as for the nearest relationships of familylife, for the naming of domestic animals, and other common objects. Someof these archaic words indicate, by their hoary antiquity, the originalpastoral employment and character of those that formed the parentalstock in our old original Asiatic home; the special term, for example(the "pasu" of the old Sanskrit or Zend), which signified "private"property among the Aryans, and which we now use under the Englishmodifications, "peculiar" and "pecuniary"--primarily meaning"flocks;"[9] the Sanskrit word for Protector, and ultimately for theking himself, "go-pa, " being the old word for cowherd, and consecutivelyfor chief herdsman; while the endearing name of "daughter" (the duhitarof the Sanskrit, the [Greek: thygatêr] of the Greek), as applied in theleading Indo-European languages to the female children of ourhouseholds, is derived from a verb which shows the originalsignification of the appellation to have been the "milker" of the cows. At the same time the most ancient mythologies and superstitions, andapparently even the legends and traditions of the various anddiversified Indo-European races, appear also, the more they areexamined, to betray more and more of a common parentage. Briefly, and intruth, then, Philological Archæology proves that the Saxon and thePersian, the Scandinavian and the Greek, the Icelander and the Italian, the fair-skinned Scottish Highlander, and his late foe, the swarthyBengalee, are all distant, very distant, cousins, whose ancestors werebrothers that parted company with each other long, long ages ago, on theplains of Iran. That the ancestors of these different races originallylived together on these Asiatic plains "within the same fences, andseparate from the ancestors of the Semitic and Turanian races, " is (toquote the words of Max Müller), "a fact as firmly established as thatthe Normans of William the Conqueror were the Northmen of Scandinavia. "

Lastly, to close this too long, and yet too rapid and imperfect sketchof some of the work performed by modern inductive Archæology, let memerely here add, --for the matter is too important to omit, --that, principally since the commencement of this century, Archæology hassedulously sat down among the old and forbidding stores of musty, andoften nearly illegible manuscripts, charters, cartularies, records, letters, and other written documents, that have been accumulating forhundreds of years in the public and private collections of Europe, andhas most patiently and laboriously culled from them annals and factshaving the most direct and momentous bearing upon the acts and thoughtsof our mediæval forefathers, and upon the events and persons of thesemediæval times. By means of this last type of work, the researches ofthe antiquary have to a wonderful degree both purified and extended thehistory of this and of the other kingdoms of Europe. These researcheshave further, and in an especial manner, thrown a new flood of lightupon the inner and domestic life of our ancestors, and particularly uponthe conditions of the middle and lower grades of society in formertimes, --objects ever of primary moment to the researches of Archæologyin its services, as the workman and the pioneer of history. For, truly, human history, as it has been hitherto usually composed, has been toooften written as if human chronicles ought to detail only the deeds ofcamps and courts--as if the number of men murdered on particularbattle-fields, and the intrigues and treasons perpetrated in royal andlordly antechambers, were the sum total of actual knowledge which it wasof any moment to transmit from one generation of men to another. Ingathering, however, from the records of the past his materials for thetrue philosophy of history, the archæologist finds--and is now teachingthe public to find--as great an attraction in studying the arts of peaceas in studying the arts of war; for in his eyes the life, and thoughts, and faith of the merchant, and craftsman, and churl, are as important asthose of the knight, and nobleman, and prince--with him the peasant isas grand and as genuine a piece of antiquity as the king. 

Small in extent, scant in population, and spare in purse, as Scotlandconfessedly is, yet, in the cultivation of Archæology she has in thesemodern times by no means lagged behind the other and greater kingdoms ofEurope. This observation is attested by the rich and valuable Museum ofScottish antiquities which this Society has gathered together--a Museumwhich, exclusively of its large collection of foreign coins, now numbersabove 7000 specimens, for nearly 1000 of which we stand indebted to theenlightened zeal and patriotic munificence of one Scottish gentleman, Mr. A. Henry Rhind of Sibster. The same fact is attested also by thehighly valuable character of the systematic works on Scottish Archæologywhich have been published of late years by some of our colleagues, suchas the masterly _Pre-historic Annals of Scotland_, by Professor DanielWilson; the admirable volume on _Scotland in the Middle Ages_, byProfessor Cosmo Innes; and the delightful _Domestic Annals of Scotland_, by Mr. Robert Chambers. The essays also, and monographs on individualsubjects in Scottish Archæology, published by Mr. Laing, Lord Neaves, Mr. Skene, Mr. Stuart, Mr. Robertson, Mr. Fraser, Captain Thomas, Mr. Burton, Mr. Napier, Mr. M'Kinlay, Mr. M'Lauchlan, Dr. Wise, Dr. J. A. Smith, Mr. Drummond, etc. , all strongly prove the solid and successfulinterest which the subject of Scottish Archæology has in recent timescreated in this city. The recent excellent town and county historiespublished by Dr. Peter Chalmers, Messrs. Irving, Jeffrey, Jervise, Pratt, Black, Miller, etc. , afford evidences to the same effect. Nor canI forget in such an enumeration the two complete _Statistical Accountsof Scotland_. But if I were asked to name any one circumstance, asproving more than another the attention lately awakened among ourcountrymen by antiquarian inquiries, I would point, with true patrioticpride, to the numerous olden manuscript chronicles of Scotland, ofScottish towns, and Scottish monasteries, institutions, families, andpersons, which have been printed within the last forty years--almost allof them having been presented as free and spontaneous contributions toScottish Archæology and History by the members of the Bannatyne, theAbbotsford, the Maitland, and the Spalding Clubs; and the whole nowforming a goodly series of works extending to not less than threehundred printed quarto volumes. 

But let us not cheat and cozen ourselves into idleness and apathy byreflecting and rejoicing over what has been done. For, after all, thetruth is, that Scottish Archæology is still so much in its infancy, thatit is only now beginning to guess its powers, and feel its deficiencies. It has still no end of lessons to learn, and perhaps some to unlearn, before it can manage to extract the true metal of knowledge from the oreand dross of exaggeration in which many of its inquiries have becomeenveloped. At this present hour we virtually know far less of theArchæology and history of Scotland ten or fifteen centuries ago than weknow of the Archæology and history of Etruria, Egypt, or Assyria, twenty-five or thirty centuries ago. 

In order to obtain the light which is required to clear away the darkand heavy mists which thus obscure the early Archæology of Scotland, howshould we proceed? In the pursuits and investigations of Archæology, asof other departments of science, there has never yet been, and neverwill be discovered, any direct railway or royal road to the knowledgewhich we are anxious to gain, but which we are inevitably doomed to waitfor and to work for. The different branches of science are Gordianknots, the threads of which we can only hope to unwind and evolve bycautious assiduity, and slow, patient industry. Their secrets cannot besummarily cut open and exposed by the sword of any son of Philip. But, in our daydreams, it is not unpleasant sometimes to imagine thepossibility of such a feat. It was, as we all know, very generallybelieved, in distant antiquarian times, that occasionally dead men couldbe induced to rise, and impart all sorts of otherwise unattainableinformation to the living. This creed, however, has not been limited tothose ancient times, for, in our own days, many sane persons stillprofess to believe in the possibility of summoning the spirits of thedeparted from the other world back to this sublunary sphere. When theydo so, they have always hitherto, as far as I have heard, encouragedthese spirits to perform such silly juggling tricks, or requested themto answer such trivial and frivolous questions, as would seem to myhumble apprehension to be almost insulting to the grim dignity andsolemn character of any respectable and intelligent ghost. If, like OwenGlendower, or Mr. Home, I had the power to "call spirits from the vastydeep, " and if the spirits answered the call, I--being a practicalman--would fain make a practical use of their presence. Methinks Ishould feel grossly tempted, for example, to ask such of them as had thenecessary foreknowledge, to rap out for me, in the first instance, theexact state of the English funds, or of the London stock and share-list, a week or a month hence; for such early information would, I opine--ifthe spirits were true spirits--be rather an expeditious and easy mode offilling my coffers, or the coffers of any man who had the good sense ofplying these spiritual intelligences with one or two simple and usefulquestions. If, however, the spirits refused to answer such goldeninterrogatories as involving matters too mercenary and not sufficientlyghostly in their character, then I certainly should next ask them--and Iwould of course select very ancient spirits for the purpose--hosts ofquestions regarding the state of society, religion, the arts, etc. , atthe time when they themselves were living denizens of this earth. Suppose, for a moment, that our Secretaries, on summoning the nextmeeting of this Society, had the power of announcing in their billetsthat, by "some feat of magic mystery, " a very select and intelligentdeputation of ancient Britons and Caledonians, Picts, Celts, and Scots, and perhaps of Scottish Turanians, were to be present in ourMuseum--(certainly the most appropriate room in the kingdom for such areunion)--for a short sederunt, somewhere between twilight andcock-crowing, to answer any questions which the Fellows might choose toply them with, what an excitement would such an announcement create! Howeagerly would some of our Fellows look forward to the results of one ortwo such "Hours with the Mystics. " And what a battery of quick questionswould be levelled at the members of this deputation on all the endlessproblems involved in Scottish Archæology. I think we may readily, andyet pretty certainly, conjecture a few of the questions, on our earlierantiquities alone, that would be put by various members that I mightname, as:--

What is the signification of the so-called "crescent" and "spectacle"ornaments, and of the other unique symbols that are so common upon the150 and odd ancient Sculptured Stones scattered over the north-easterndistricts of Scotland?

What is the true reading of the old enigmatic inscriptions upon theNewton and St. Vigean's stones, and of the Oghams on the stones ofLogie, Bressay, Golspie, etc. ?

Had Solinus Polyhistor, in the fourth century, any ground for statingthat an ancient Ulyssean altar, written with Greek letters, existed inthe recesses of Caledonia?

Who were Vetta, Victus, Memor, Loinedinus, Liberalis, Florentius, Mavorius, etc. , whose names are recorded on the Romano-British monumentsat Kirkliston, Yarrow, Kirkmadrine, etc. , and what is the date of thesemonuments?

By what people was constructed the Devil's Dyke, which runs above fiftymiles in length from Loch Ryan into Nithsdale?

When, and for what purpose, was the Catrail dug?

Was it on the line of the Catrail, or of the Roman wall between theForth and Clyde, or on what other ground, that there was fought thegreat battle or siege of Cattraeth or Kaltraez, which Aneurin sings ofin his _Gododin_, and where, among the ranks of the British combatants, were "three hundred and sixty-three chieftains wearing the golden torcs"(some specimens, of which might yet perhaps be dug up on thebattle-field by our Museum Committee, seeing three only of these chiefsescaped alive); and how was the "bewitching mead" brewed, that Aneurintells us was far too freely partaken of by his British countrymen beforeand during this fierce struggle with the Saxon foe?

Is the poet Aneurin the same person as our earliest native prosehistorian Gildas, the two appellations being relatively the Cymric andSaxon names of the same individual? Or were they not two of the sons ordescendants of Caw of Cwm Cawlwyd, that North British chief whosemiraculous interview with St. Cadoc near Bannawc (Stirlingshire?) isdescribed in the life of that Welsh saint?

Of what family and rank was the poet--Merddin Wyllt--or "Merlin theWild, " who, wearing the chieftain's golden torc, fought at the battle ofArderydd, about A. D. 573, against Rhydderch Hael, that king of Alcluithor Dumbarton, who was the friend of St. Columba, and "the champion ofthe (Christian) faith, " as Merlin himself styles him? And when thatvictory was apparently the direct means of establishing this Christianking upon the throne of Strathclyde, and the indirect means which led tothe recall of St. Kentigern from St. Asaph's to Glasgow, how is it thatthe Welsh Triads talk of it enigmatically as a battle for a lark's nest?

If Ossian is not a myth, when and where did he live and sing? Was he notan Irish Gael? And could any member of the deputation give us anyaccurate information about our old nursery friend Fingal or Fin MacCoul? Was he really, after all, not greater, or larger, or any otherthan simply a successful and reforming general in the army of KingCormac of Tara, and the son-in-law of that monarch of Ireland?

From what part of Pictland did King Cormac obtain, in the third century, the skilled mill-wright, Mac Lamha, to build for him that firstwater-mill which he erected in Ireland, on one of the streams of Tara?And is it true, as some genealogists in this earthly world believe, thatthe lineal descendants of this Scottish or Pictish mill-wright are stillmillers on the reputed site of this original Irish water-mill?

The apostate Picts (_Picti apostati_) who along with the Scots arespoken of by St. Patrick in his famous letter against Coroticus, ashaving bought for slaves some of the Christian converts kidnapped andcarried off by that chief from Ireland, were they inhabitants ofGalloway, or of our more northern districts? And was the Irish sea notvery frequently a "middle passage" in these early days, across which St. Patrick himself and many others were carried from their native homes andsold into slavery?

Was it a Pictish or Scottish, a British or a Roman architect that built"Julius' howff, " at Stenhouse (_Stone-house_) on the Carron, and whatwas its use and object?

Were our numerous "weems, " or underground houses, really used as humanabodes, and were they actually so very dark, that when one of theinmates ventured on a joke, he was obliged--as suggested by "Elia"--tohandle his neighbour's cheek to feel if there was any resulting smileplaying upon it?

When, and by whom were reared the Titanic stone-works on the WhiteCaterthun, and the formidable stone and earth forts and walls on theBrown Caterthun, on Dunsinane, on Barra, on the Barmekyn of Echt, onDunnichen, on Dunpender, and on the tops of hundreds of other hills inScotland?

How, and when, were our Vitrified Forts built? Was the vitrification ofthe walls accidental, or was it not rather intentional, as most of usnow believe? In particular, who first constructed, and who last occupiedthe remarkable Vitrified Forts of Finhaven in Angus, and of the hill ofNoath in Strathbogie? Was not the Vitrified Fort of Craig-Phadric, nearInverness, the residence of King Brude, the son of Meilochon, in thesixth century; and if so, is it true, as stated in the Irish Life of St. Columba, that its gates were provided with iron locks?

When, by whom, and for what object, were the moats of Urr, Hawick, Lincluden, Biggar, and our other great circular earth mounds of the samekind, constructed? Were they used for judicial and legal purposes, likethe old Things of Scandinavia; and as the Tinwald Mount in the island ofMan is used to this day? And were not some of them military orsepulchral works?

Who fashioned the terraces at Newlands in Tweeddale; and what was theorigin of the many hillside terraces scattered over the country?

What is the age of the rock-caves of Ancrum, Hawthornden, etc. , and werethey primarily used as human habitations?

The sea-cave at Aldham on the Firth of Forth--when opened in 1831, withits paved floor strewed with charred wood, animal bones, limpet-shells, and apparently with a rock-altar at its mouth, having its top markedwith fire, ashes adhering to its side, and two infants' skeletons lyingat its base--was it a human habitation, or a Pagan temple?

What races sleep in the chambered barrows and cairns of Clava, Yarrows, Broigar, and in the many other similar old Scottish cities and houses ofthe dead?

By whom and for what purpose or purposes were the megalithic circles atStennis, Callernish, Leys, Achnaclach, Crichie, Kennethmont, Midmar, Dyce, Kirkmichael, Deer, Kirkbean, Lochrutton, Torhouse, etc. , etc. , reared?

What were the leading peculiarities in the religious creed, faith, andfestivals of Broichan and the other Caledonian or Pictish Magi beforethe introduction of Christianity?

When Coifi, the pagan high-priest of Edwin, the king of Northumbria andthe Lothians, was converted to Christianity by Paulinus, in A. D. 627, hedestroyed, according to Bede, the heathen idols, and set fire to theheathen temples and altars; but what was the structure of the pagantemples here in these days, that he could burn them, --while at the sametime they were so uninclosed, that men on horseback could ride intothem, as Coifi himself did after he had thrown in the desecrating spear?

Was not our city named after this Northumbrian Bretwalda, "Edwin's-burgh?" Or was the Eiddyn of which Aneurin speaks before thetime of Edwin, and the Dinas Eiddyn that was one of the chief seats ofLlewddyn Lueddog (Lew or Loth), the grandfather of St. Kentigern orMungo of Glasgow, really our own Dun Edin? Or if the Welsh term "Dinas"does not necessarily imply the high or elevated position of the place, was it Caer Eden (Cariden, or Blackness), at the eastern end of theRoman Wall, on the banks of the Forth?

Did our venerable castle rock obtain the Welsh name of Din or DunMonaidh, from its being "the fortress of the hill, " and was its otherCymric appellation Agnedh, connected with its ever having been given asa marriage-portion (Agwedh)? Or did its old name of Maiden Castle, orCastrum Puellarum, not rather originate in its olden use as a femaleprison, or as a school, or a nunnery?

And is it true, as asserted by Conchubhranus, that the Irish lady Saint, Darerca or Monnine, founded, late in the fifth century, seven churches(or nunneries?) in Scotland, on the hills of Dun Edin, Dumbarton, Stirling, Dunpelder, and Dundevenal, at Lanfortin near Dundee, and atChilnacase in Galloway?

When, and by whom, were the Round Towers of Abernethy, Brechin, andEglishay built? Were there not in Scotland or its islands other such"_turres rotundae mirâ arte constructae_, " to borrow the phrase ofHector Boece regarding the Brechin tower?

If St. Patrick was, as some of his earliest biographers aver, aStrathclyde Briton, born about A. D. 387 at Nempthur (Nemphlar, on theClyde?) and his father Calphurnius was, as St. Patrick himself states inhis Confession, a deacon, and his grandfather Potitus a priest, then hebelonged to a family two generations of which were alreadyoffice-bearers in Scotland in the Christian Church;--but were theremany, or any such families in Scotland before St. Ninian built his stonechurch at Whithern about A. D. 397, or St. Palladius, the missionary ofPope Celestine, died about A. D. 431, in the Mearns? And was it a mererhetorical flourish, or was there some foundation for the strong anddistinct averment of the Latin father Tertullian, that, when he wrote, about the time of the invasion of Scotland by Severus (_circa_ A. D. 210), there were places in Britain beyond the limits of the Roman swayalready subject to Christ?

When Dion Cassius describes this invasion of Scotland by Severus, andthe Roman Emperor's loss of 50, 000 men in the campaign, does he notindulge in "travellers' tales, " when he further avers that ourCaledonian ancestors were such votaries of hydropathy that they couldstand in their marshes immersed up to the neck in water for live-longdays, and had a kind of prepared homoeopathic food, the eating of apiece of which, the size of a bean, entirely prevented all hunger andthirst?

Cæsar tells us that dying the skin blue with woad was a practice commonamong our British ancestors some 1900 years ago;--are Claudian andHerodian equally correct in describing the very name of Picts as beingderived from a system of painting or tattooing the skin, that was intheir time as fashionable among some of our Scottish forefathers, as itis in our time in New Zealand, and among the Polynesians?

According to Cæsar, the Britons wore a moustache on the upper lip, butshaved the rest of the beard; and the sole stone--fortunately a fragmentof ancient sculpture--which has been saved from the ruins of the oldcapital of the Picts at Forteviot, shows a similar practice among them. But what did they shave with? Were their razors of bronze, or iron, orsteel? And where, and by whom, were they manufactured?

Was the state of civilisation and of the arts among the Caledonians, when Agricola invaded them, about A. D. 80 or 81, as backward as someauthorities have imagined, seeing that they were already so skilled in, for example, the metallurgic arts, as to be able to construct, for thepurposes of war, --chariots, and consequently chariot-wheels, longswords, darts, targets, etc. ?

As the swords of the Caledonians in the first century were, according toTacitus, long, large, and blunt at the point, and hence in allprobability made of iron, whence came the sharp-pointed leaf-shapedbronze swords so often found in Scotland, and what is the place and dateof their manufacture? Were they earlier? And what is the real origin ofthe large accumulation of spears and other instruments of bronze, somewhole, and others twisted, as if half-melted with heat, which, withhuman bones, deer and elk-horns, were dredged up from Duddingston Lochabout eighty years ago, and constituted, it may be said, the foundationof our Museum? Was there an ancient bronze-smith shop in theneighbourhood; or were these not rather the relics of a burned crannogethat had formerly existed in this lake, within two miles of the futuremetropolis of Scotland?

Could the deputation inform us where we might find, buried and concealedin our muirs or mosses, and obtain for our Museum some interestingantiquarian objects which we sadly covet--such as a specimen or two, forinstance, of those Caledonian spears described by Dion, that had abrazen apple, sounding when struck, attached to their lower extremity?or one of those statues of Mercury that, Cæsar says, were common amongthe Western Druids? or one of the _covini_ mentioned by Tacitus--(for weare anxious to know if its wheels were of iron or bronze; how thesewheels made, as Cæsar tells us the wheels of the British war-chariotsmade, a loud noise in running; and whether or not they had, as someauthorities maintain, scythes or long swords affixed to their axles)? orwhere we might dig up another specimen of such ancient and engravedsilver armour as was some years ago discovered at Norrie's Law, in Fife, and unfortunately melted down by the jeweller at Cupar? or could any ofthe deputation refer us to any spot where we might have a good chance offinding a concealed example of such glass goblets as were, according toAdamnan, to be met with in the royal palace of Brude, king of the Picts, when St. Columba visited him, in A. D. 563, in his royal fort and hall(_munitio, aula regalis_) on the banks of the Ness?

Whence came King "Cruithne, " with his seven sons, and the Picts? Werethey of Gothic descent and tongue, as Mr. Jonathan Oldbuck maintained inrather a notorious dispute in the parlour at Monkbarns? or were they"genuine Celtic, " as Sir Arthur Wardour argued so stoutly on the samememorable occasion?

Were the first Irish or Dalriadic Gaeidhil or Scots who took possessionof Argyll (_i. E. _, Airer-Gaeidheal, or the district of the Gaeidhel), and who subsequently gave the name of Scot-land to the whole kingdom, the band of emigrants that crossed from Antrim about A. D. 506 under theleadership of Fergus and the other sons of Erc; or, as the name of"Scoti" recurs more than once in the old sparse notices of the tribes ofthe kingdom before this date, had not an antecedent colony, underCairbre Riada, as stated by Bede, already passed over and settled inCantyre a century or two before?

Our Reformed British Parliament is still so archæological as to listen, many times each session, to Her Majesty, or Her Majesty's Commissioners, assenting to their bills, by pronouncing a sentence of old and obsoleteNorman French--a memorial in its way of the Norman Conquest; and ourState customs are so archæological that, when Her Majesty, and a longline of her illustrious predecessors, have been crowned in WestminsterAbbey, the old Scottish coronation-stone, carried off in A. D. 1296 byEdward I. From Scone, and which had been previously used for centuriesas the coronation-stone of the Scotic, and perhaps of the Irish, or eventhe Milesian race of kings, has been placed under theircoronation-chair--playing still its own archaic part in this gorgeousstate drama. But is this Scone or Westminster coronation-stone reallyand truly--as it is reputed to be by some Scottish historians--thefamous _Lia Fail_ of the kings of Ireland, that various old Irishwritings describe as formerly standing on the Hill of Tara, near theMound of the Hostages? Or does not the _Lia Fail_--"the stone thatroared under the feet of each king that took possession of the throne ofIreland"--remain still on Tara--(though latterly degraded to the officeof a grave-stone)--as is suggested by the distinguished author of theHistory and Antiquities of Tara Hill? If any of our deputies fromghostdom formerly belonged to the court of Fergus MacErc, or originallysailed across with him in his fleet of _currachs_, perhaps they will beso good as tell us if in reality the royal or any other of theaccompanying skin-canoes was ballasted then or subsequently with asacred stone from Ireland, for the coronation of our first Dalriadicking; and especially would we wish it explained to us how such aprecious monument as the _Lia Fail_ of Tara was or could be smuggledaway by such a small tribe as the Dalriadic Scots at first were? Perhapsit would be right and civil to tell the deputation at once, that thetruth is we are anxious to decide the knotty question as to whether theopinions of Edward I. Or of Dr. Petrie are the more correct in regard tothis "Stone of Fate?" Or if King Edward was right politically, is Dr. Petrie right archæologically, in his views on this subject? In short, does the _Lia Fail_ stand at the present day--as is generallybelieved--in the vicinity of the Royal Halls of Westminster, or in thevicinity of the Royal Halls of Tara?

What ancient people, destitute apparently of metal tools and of anyknowledge of mortar, built the gigantic burgs or duns of Mousa, Hoxay, Glenelg, Carloway, Bragar, Kildonan, Farr, Rogart, Olrick, etc. , withgalleries and chambers in the thickness of their huge uncemented walls?Is it true, as the Irish bardic writers allege, that some of the race ofthe Firbolgs escaped, after the battle at one of the Moyturas to theWestern Islands and shores of Scotland, and that thence, after severalcenturies, they were expelled again by the Picts, after the commencementof the Christian era, and subsequently returned to the coast of Galway, and built, or rebuilt, there and then, the great analogous burgs of DunÆngus, Dun Conchobhair, etc. , in the Irish isles of Aran?[10]

What is the signification of those mysterious circles formed ofdiminishing concentric rings which are found engraved, sometimes onrocks outside an old aboriginal village or camp, as at Rowtin Lynn andOld Bewick; sometimes on the walls of underground chambers, as in theHolm of Papa Westray, and in the island of Eday; sometimes on the wallsof a chambered tumulus, as at Pickaquoy in Orkney; or on the interior ofthe lid of a kistvaen, as at Craigie Hall, near Edinburgh, and probablyalso at Coilsfield and Auchinlary; or on a so-called Druidical stone, ason "Long Meg" at Penrith?

Is it true that a long past era--and, if so, at what era--ourpredecessors in this old Caledonia had nothing but tools and implementsof stone, bone, and wood? Are there no gravel-beds in Scotland in whichwe could probably find large deposits of the celts and other stoneweapons--with bored and worked deer-horns, of that distantstone-age--such as have been discovered on the banks of the Somme andthe Loire in France? And were the people of that period in ScotlandCeltic or pre-Celtic?

When the first wave of Celtic emigrants arrived in Scotland, did theynot find a Turanian or Hamitic race already inhabiting it, and werethose Scottish streams, lakes, etc. , which bear, or have borne, in theircomposition, the Euskarian word _Ura_ (water)--as the rivers Urr, Orr, and Ury, lochs Ur, Urr, and Orr, Urr-quhart, Cath-Ures, Or-well, Or-rea, etc. , named by these Turanian aborigines?

We know that in Iona, ten or twelve centuries ago, Greek was written, though we do not know if the Iona library possessed--what Queen Mary hadamong the sixteen Greek volumes[11] in her library--a copy of Herodotus;but we are particularly anxious to ascertain if the story told byHerodotus of Rhampsinitus, and the robbery of his royal treasury by that"Shifty Lad" "the Master Thief, "[12] was in vogue as a popular taleamong the Scottish Gaels or Britons in the oldest times? The tale isprevalent in different guises from India to Scotland and Scandinaviaamong the Aryans, or alleged descendants of Japhet; Herodotus heard itabout twenty-three centuries ago in Egypt, and consequently (according, at least, to some high philologists), among the alleged descendants ofShem; and could any Scottish Turanians, as alleged descendants of Ham, in the deputation, tell us whether the tale was also a favourite withthem and their forefathers? For if so, then, in consonance with theusual reasoning on this and other popular tales, the story must havebeen known in the Ark itself, as the sons of Noah separated soon afterleaving it, and yet all their descendants were acquainted with thislegend. But have these and other such simple tales not originated inmany different places, and among many different people, at differenttimes; and have they not an appearance of similarity, merely because, inthe course of their development, the earliest products of the humanfancy, as well as of the human hand, are always more or less similarunder similar circumstances?

Or perhaps, passing from more direct interrogatories, we might requestsome of the deputation to leave with us a retranslation of that famousletter preserved by Bede, which Abbot Ceolfrid addressed about A. D. 715to Nectan III. , King of the Picts, and which the venerable monk ofJarrow tells us was, immediately after its receipt by the Pictish Kingand court, carefully interpreted into their own language? or to be sogood as write down a specimen of the Celtic or Pictish songs thathappened to be most popular some twelve or fourteen centuries ago? ordescribe to us the limits at different times of the kingdoms of theStrathclyde Britons and Northumbrians, and of the Picts and DalriadicScots? or fill up the sad gaps in Mr. Innes' map of Scotland in thetenth century, containing, as it does, the names of one river only, andsome thirteen Scottish church establishments and towns; or tell us wherethe "urbs Giudi" and the Pictish "Niduari" of Bede were placed, and whyÆngus the Culdee speaks (about A. D. 800) of Cuilenross, or Culross, asplaced in Strath-h-Irenn in the Comgalls, between Slieve-n-Ochil and theSea of Giudan? or identify for us the true sites of the numerous rivers, tribes, divisions, and towns--or merely perhaps stockaded or rathedvillages--which Ptolemy in the second century enters in his geographicaldescription of North Britain? or particularise the precise bounds of theMeatæ and Attacotti, and of the two Pictish nations mentioned byAmmianus Marcellinus, namely, the Dicaledonæ and Vecturiones? or traceout for us the course of Agricola's campaigns in Scotland, especiallymarking the exact site of the great victory of the Mons Grampius, andthus deciding at once and for ever whether the two enormous cairnsplaced above the moor of Ardoch cover the remains of the 10, 000 slain;or whether the battle was fought at Dealgin Ross, or at Findochs, or atInverpeffery, or at Urie Hill in the Mearns, or at Mormond in Buchan, orat the "Kaim of Kinprunes?" which last locality, however, was, it mustbe confessed, rather summarily and decisively put out of Court some timeago by the strong personal evidence of Edie Ochiltree. 

 * * * * *

If these, and some thousand-and-one similar questions regarding thehabits, arts, government, language, etc. , of our Primæval and MediævalForefathers could be at once summarily and satisfactorily answered byany power of "gramarye, " then the present and the future Fellows of theSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland would be saved an incalculable amountof difficult investigation and hard work. But unfortunately I, for oneat least, have no belief that any human power can either unsphere thespirits of the dead for a night's drawing-room amusement, or seduce the"wraiths" of our ancestors to "revisit the glimpses of the moon" evenfor such a loyal and patriotic object as the furtherance of ScottishArchæology. Nevertheless I doubt not, at the same time, that many ofthese supposed questions on the dark points of Scottish antiquities willyet betimes be answered more or less satisfactorily. But the answers, ifever obtained, will be obtained by no kind of magic except the magic ofaccumulated observations, and strict stern facts;--by no necromancyexcept the necromancy of the cautious combination, comparison, andgeneralisation of these facts;--by no enchantment, in short, except thatspecial form of enchantment for the advancement of every science whichthe mighty and potent wizard--Francis Bacon--taught to his fellow-men, when he taught them the spell-like powers of the inductive philosophy. 

The data and facts which Scottish antiquaries require to seek out andaccumulate for the future furtherance of Scottish Archæology, lie inmany a different direction, waiting and hiding for our search afterthem. On some few subjects the search has already been keen, and thesuccess correspondingly great. Let me specify one or two instances inillustration of this remark. 

As a memorable example, and as a perfect Baconian model for analogousinvestigations on other corresponding topics--in the way of the full andcareful accumulation of all ascertainable premises and data beforeventuring to dogmatise upon them--let me point to the admirable work ofMr. Stuart on the Sculptured Stones of Scotland--an almost nationalwork, which, according to Mr. Westwood (the highest living authority onsuch a subject), is "one of the most remarkable contributions toArchæology which has ever been published in this or any other country. "

"Crannoges"--those curious lake-habitations, built on piles of wood, orstockaded islands, --that Herodotus describes in lake Prasias, five orsix centuries before the Christian era, constituting dwellings therewhich were then impregnable to all the military resources of a Persianarmy, --that Hippocrates tells us were also the types of habitationemployed in his day by the Phasians, who sailed to them in single-treecanoes, --that in the same form of houses erected upon tall wooden piles, are still used at the present day as a favourite description of dwellingin the creeks and rivers running into the Straits of Malacca, and on thecoasts of Borneo and New Guinea, etc. , and the ruins of which have beenfound in numerous lakes in Ireland, England, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, etc. ;--Crannoges, I say, have been searched for and found alsoin various lochs in our own country; and the many curious dataascertained with regard to them in Scotland will be given in the nextvolume of our Society's proceedings by Mr. Joseph Robertson, a gentlemanwhom we all delight to acknowledge as pre-eminently entitled to wieldamongst us the pen of the teacher and master in this as in otherdepartments of Scottish antiquities. 

Most extensive architectural data, sketches, and measurements, regardingmany of the remains of our oldest ecclesiastical buildings in Scotland(including some early Irish Churches, with stone roofs and Egyptiandoors, that still stand nearly entire in the seclusion of our WesternIslands), have been collected by the indomitable perseverance andindustry of Mr. Muir; and when the work which that most ableecclesiologist has now in the press is published, a great step willdoubtless be made in this neglected department of Scottish antiquities. 

In addition, however, to the assiduous collection of all ascertainablefacts regarding the existing remains of our sculptured stones, ourcrannoges, and our early ecclesiastical buildings, there are many otherdepartments of Scottish antiquities urgently demanding, at the hands ofthe numerous zealous antiquaries scattered over the country, fulldescriptions and accurate drawings of such vestiges of them as are stillleft--as, for example:--

 I. Our ancient Hill-forts of Stone and Earth. II. Our old cyclopic Burgs and Duns. III. Our primæval Towns, Villages, and Raths. IV. Our Weems or Underground Houses. V. Our Pagan sepulchral Barrows, Cairns, and Cromlechs. VI. Our Megalithic Circles and Monoliths. VII. Our early Inscribed Stones; etc. 

Good and trustworthy accounts of individual specimens, or groups ofspecimens, of most of these classes of antiquities, have been alreadypublished in our Transactions and Proceedings, and elsewhere. ButScottish Archæology requires of its votaries as large and exhaustive acollection as possible, with accurate descriptions, and, when possible, with photographs or drawings--or mayhap with models (which we greatlylack for our Museum)--of all the discoverable forms of each class; as ofall the varieties of ancient hill-strongholds; all the varieties of ourunderground weems, etc. The necessary collection of all ascertainabletypes, and instances of some of these classes of antiquities, will be, no doubt, a task of much labour and time, and will in most instancesrequire the combined efforts of many and zealous workers. This Societywill be ever thankful to any members who will contribute even one or twostones to the required heap. But all past experience has shown that itis useless, and generally even hurtful, to attempt to frame hypothesesupon one, or even upon a few specimens only. In Archæology, as in othersciences, we must have full and accurate premises before we can hope tomake full and accurate deductions. It is needless and hopeless for us toexpect clear, correct, and philosophic views of the character and of thedate and age of such archæological objects as I have enumerated, exceptby following the triple process of (1) assiduously collecting togetheras many instances as possible of each class of our antiquities; (2)carefully comparing these instances with each other, so as to ascertainall their resemblances and differences; and (3) contrasting them withsimilar remains in other cognate countries, where--in some instances, perhaps--there may exist, what possibly is wanting with us, the light ofwritten history to guide us in elucidating the special subjects that mayhappen to be engaging our investigations--ever remembering that ourScottish Archæology is but a small, a very small, segment of the generalcircle of the Archæology of Europe and of the World. 

The same remarks, which I have just ventured to make, as to the propermode of investigating the classes of our larger archæological subjects, hold equally true also of those other classes of antiquities of alighter and more portable type, which we have collected in our museums;such, for instance, as the ancient domestic tools, instruments, personalornaments, weapons, etc. , of stone, flint, bone, bronze, iron, silver, and gold, which our ancestors used; the clay and bronze vessels whichthey employed in cooking and carrying their food; the handmills withwhich they ground their corn; the whorls and distaffs with which theyspan, and the stuff and garments spun by them, etc. Etc. It is only bycollecting, combining, and comparing all the individual instances ofeach antiquarian object of this kind--all ascertainable specimens, forexample, of our Scottish stone celts and knives; all ascertainablespecimens of our clay vessels; of our leaf-shaped swords; of ourmetallic armlets; of our grain rubbers and stone-querns, etc. Etc. --andby tracing the history of similar objects in other allied countries, that we will read aright the tales which these relics--when onceproperly interrogated--are capable of telling us of the doings, thehabits, and the thoughts of our distant predecessors. 

It is on this same broad and great ground--of the indispensablenecessity of a large and perfect collection of individual specimens ofall kinds of antiquities for safe, sure, and successful deduction--thatwe plead for the accumulation of such objects in our own or in otherpublic antiquarian collections. And in thus pleading with the Scottishpublic for the augmentation and enrichment of our Museum, by donationsof all kinds, however slight and trivial they may seem to the donors, weplead for what is not any longer the property of this Society, but whatis now the property of the nation. The Museum has been gifted over bythe Society of Antiquaries to the Government--it now belongs, not to us, but to Scotland--and we unhesitatingly call upon every true-heartedScotsman to contribute, whenever it is in his power, to the extension ofthis Museum, as the best record and collection of the ancientarchæological and historical memorials of our native land. We call forsuch a central general ingathering and repository of Scottishantiquities for another reason. Single specimens and examples ofarchæological relics are, in the hands of a private individual, generally nought but mere matters of idle curiosity and wild conjecture;while all of them become of use, and sometimes of great moment, whenplaced in a public collection beside their fellows. Like stray singlewords or letters that have dropt from out the Book of Time, theythemselves, individually, reveal nothing, but when placed alongside ofother words and letters from the same book, they gradually form--underthe fingers of the archæologist--into lines, and sentences, andparagraphs, which reveal secret and stirring legends of the workings ofthe human mind, and human hand, in ages of which, perchance, we have noother existing memorials. 

In attempting to read the cypher of these legends aright, let us guardagainst one fault which was unfortunately too often committed in formerdays, and which is perhaps sometimes committed still. Let us not fallinto the mistake of fancying that everything antiquarian, which we donot see at first sight the exact use of, must necessarily be somethingvery mysterious. Old distaff-whorls, armlets, etc. , have, in thisillogical spirit, been sometimes described as Druidical amulets andtalismen; ornamented rings and bosses from the ancient rich Celtichorse-harness, discovered in sepulchral barrows, have been published asDruidical astronomical instruments; and in the last century somecolumnar rock arrangement in Orkney was gravely adduced by Toland as aDruidical pavement. It is this craving after the mysterious, thisreprehensible irrationalism, that has brought, indeed, the whole subjectof Druidism into much modern contempt with many archæologists. No doubtDruidism is a most interesting and a most important subject for due andcalm investigation, and the facts handed down to us in regard to it byCæsar, Diodorus, Mela, Strabo, Pliny, and other classic and hagiologicalauthors, are full of the gravest archæological bearings; but no doubtalso many antiquarian relics, both large and small, have beenprovokingly called Druidical, merely because their origin and objectwere unknown. We have not, for instance, a particle of direct evidencefor the too common belief that our stone circles were temples which theDruids used for worship; or that our cromlechs were their sacrificialaltars. In fact, formerly the equanimity of the old theoretical class ofarchæologists was disturbed by these leviathan notions about Druids andDruidesses as much as the marine zoology of the poor sailor was longdisturbed by his leviathan notions about sea-serpents and mermaids. 

In our archæological inquiries into the probable uses and import of alldoubtful articles in our museums or elsewhere, let us proceed upon aplan of the very opposite kind. Let us, like the geologists, try always, when working with such problems, to understand the past by reasoningfrom the present. Let us study backwards from the known to the unknown. In this way we can easily come to understand, for example, how ourancestors made those single-tree canoes, which have been found so oftenin Scotland, by observing how the Red Indian, partly by fire and partlyby the hatchet, makes his analogous canoe at the present day; how ourflint arrows were manufactured, when we see the process by which thepresent Esquimaux manufactures his; how our predecessors fixed and usedtheir stone knives and hatchets, when we see how the Polynesian fixesand uses his stone knives and hatchets now; how, in short, matters spedin respect to household economy, dress, work, and war, in this oldCaledonia of ours, during even the so-called Stone Age, when we reflectupon and study the modes in which matters are conducted in that newCaledonia in the Pacific--the inhabitants of which knew nothing ofmetals till they came in contact with Europeans, not many years ago;how, in long past days, hand and home-made clay vessels were the chiefor only vessels used for cooking and all culinary purposes, seeing thatin one or two parts of the Hebrides this is actually the state ofmatters still. 

The collection of home-made pottery on the table--glazed with milk--isthe latest contribution to our Museum. It was recently brought up, byCaptain Thomas and Dr. Mitchell, from the parish of Barvas, in theLewis. These "craggans, " jars, or bowls, and other culinary dishes, arecertainly specimens of the ceramic art in its most primitivestate;--they are as rude as the rudest of our old cinerary urns; and yetthey constitute, in the places in which they were made and used, theprincipal cooking, dyeing, and household vessels possessed by some ofour fellow-countrymen in this the nineteenth century. [13] In theadjoining parish of Uig, Captain Thomas found and described to us, twoyears ago, in one of his instructive and practical papers, the smallbeehive stone houses in which some of the nomadic inhabitants of thedistrict still live in summer. Numerous antiquarian remains, and ruinsof similar houses and collections of houses, exist in Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Switzerland, and perhaps in other kingdoms; but apparentlythey have everywhere been long ago deserted as human habitations, exceptin isolated and outlying spots among the Western Islands of Scotland. The study of human habits in these Hebridean houses, at the present day, enables us to guess what the analogous human habits probably were, when, for example, the old Irish city of Fahan--consisting of similarstructures only--was the busy scene of human life and activity in timeslong past. These, and other similar facts, besides teaching us the trueroad to some forms of archæological discovery, teach us also one otherimportant lesson, --namely, that there are in reality two kinds ofantiquity, both of which claim and challenge our attention. One of thesekinds of antiquity consists in the study of the habits and works of ourdistant predecessors and forefathers, who lived on this earth, andperhaps in this segment of it, many ages ago. The other kind ofantiquity consists of the study of those archaic human habits and workswhich may, in some corners of the world, be found still prevailing amongour fellow-men--or even among our own fellow-countrymen--down to thepresent hour, in despite of all the blessings of human advancement, andthe progress of human knowledge. By one kind of antiquity we trace theslow march and revolutions of centuries; by the other we trace the stillslower march and revolutions of civilisation, in countries and kingdomswhere the glittering theories of the politician might have led us toexpect a different and a happier state of matters. 

Besides the antiquarian relics of a visible and tangible form to which Ihave adverted, as demanding investigation and collection on our part, there are various antiquarian relics of a non-material type in ScottishArchæology which this Society might perhaps do much to collect andpreserve, through the agency of active committees, and the assistance ofmany of our countrymen, who, I doubt not, could be easily incited toassist us in the required work. One of these matters is a fullercollection and digest than we yet possess of the old superstitiousbeliefs and practices of our forefathers. And certainly some strangesuperstitions do remain, or at least lately did remain, among us. Thesacrifice, for example, of the cock and other animals for recovery fromepilepsy and convulsions, is by no means extinct in some Highlanddistricts. In old Pagan and Mithraic times we know that the sacrifice ofthe ox was common. I have myself often listened to the account given byone near and dear to me, who was in early life personally engaged in theoffering up and burying of a poor live cow as a sacrifice to the Spiritof the Murrain. This occurred within twenty miles of the metropolis ofScotland. In the same district a relative of mine bought a farm not verymany years ago. Among his first acts, after taking possession, was theinclosing a small triangular corner of one of the fields within a stonewall. The corner cut off--and which still remains cut off--was the"Goodman's Croft"--an offering to the Spirit of Evil, in order that hemight abstain from ever blighting or damaging the rest of the farm. Theclergyman of the parish, in lately telling me the circumstance, added, that my kinsman had been, he feared, far from acting honestly withLucifer, after all, as the corner which he had cut off for the"Goodman's" share was perhaps the most worthless and sterile spot on thewhole property. Some may look upon such superstitions and superstitiouspractices as matters utterly vulgar and valueless in themselves; but inthe eyes of the archæologist they become interesting and important whenwe remember that the popular superstitions of Scotland, as of othercountries, are for the most part true antiquarian vestiges of the pagancreeds and customs of our earlier ancestors; our present Folk-lore beingmerely in general a degenerated and debased form of the highestmythological and medical lore of very distant times. A collection of thepopular superstitions and practices of the different districts ofScotland now, ere (like fairy and goblin forms vanishing before thebreak of day) they melt and disappear totally before the light and thepride of modern knowledge, would yet perhaps afford important materialsfor regaining much lost antiquarian knowledge. For as the palæontologistcan sometimes reconstruct in full the types of extinct animals from afew preserved fragments of bones, possibly some future archæologicalCuvier may one day be able to reconstruct from these mythologicalfragments, and from other sources, far more distinct figures and formsthan we at present possess of the heathen faith and rites of ourforefathers. 

Perhaps a more important matter still would be the collection, fromevery district and parish of Scotland, of local lists of the oldestnames of the hills, rivers, rocks, farms, and other places and objects;and this all the more that in this age of alteration and change many ofthese names are already rapidly passing away. Yet the possession of aScottish antiquarian gazetteer or map of this kind would not only enableus to identify many localities mentioned in our older deeds andcharters, but more--the very language to which these names belong would, perhaps, as philological ethnology advances, betimes serve as guides tolead our successors, if they do not lead us, to obtain clearer viewsthan we now have of the people that aboriginally inhabited the differentdistricts of our country, and the changes which occurred from time totime in these districts in the races which successively had possessionof them. In this, as in other parts of the world, our mountains andother natural objects often obstinately retain, in despite of allsubsequent changes and conquests, the appellations with which they wereoriginally baptised by the aboriginal possessors of the soil; as, forexample, in three or four of the rivers which enter the Forth nearest tous here--viz. , the Avon, the Amond, and the Esk on this side; and theDour, at Aberdour, on the opposite side of the Firth. For these are allold Aryan names, to be found as river appellations in many other spotsof the world, and in some of its oldest dialects. The Amond or Avon is asimple modification of the present word of the Cymric "Afon, " for"river, " and we have all from our schooldays known it under its Latinform of "Amnis. " The Esk, in its various modifications of Exe, Axe, Uisk, etc. , is the present Welsh word, "Uisk, " for "water, " and possiblythe earliest form "asqua, " of the Latin noun "aqua. " Again, the noun"Dour"--Douro--so common an appellative for rivers in many parts ofEurope, is, according to some of our best etymologists, identical with, or of the same Aryan source as the "Uda, " or water, of the sanskrit, "[Greek: hydôr]" of the Greeks, and the "Dwr" or "Dour" of the Cambrianand Gael. The archæologist, like the Red Indian when tracking his foe, teaches himself to observe and catch up every possible visible trace ofthe trail of archaic man; but, like the Red Indian also, he now andagain lays his ear on the ground to listen for any sounds indicating thepresence and doings of him who is the object of his pursuit. The oldwords which he hears whispered in the ancient names of natural objectsand places supply the antiquary with this kind of audible archæologicalevidence. For, when cross-questioned at the present day as to theirnomenclature, many, I repeat, of our rivers and lakes, of our hills andheadlands, do, in their mere names, telegraph back to us, along mightydistances of time, significant specimens of the tongue spoken by thefirst inhabitants of their district--in this respect resembling thedoting and dying octogenarian that has left in early life the home ofhis fathers, to sojourn in the land of the stranger, and who remembersand babbles at last--ere the silver cord of memory is utterly andfinally loosed--one language only, and that some few words merely, inthe long unspoken tongue which he first learned to lisp in his earliestinfancy. 

The special sources and lines of research from which Scottish inductiveArchæology may be expected to derive the additional data and facts whichit requires for its elucidation are many and various. Let me herebriefly allude to two only, and these two of rather oppositecharacters, --viz. (1), researches beneath the surface of the earth; and(2), researches among olden works and manuscripts. 

In times past Scottish Archæology has already gained much from digging;and in times to come it is doubtless destined to gain yet infinitelymore from a systematised use of this mode of research. For the truth is, that beneath the surface of the earth on which we tread--often not abovetwo or three feet below that surface, sometimes not deeper than theroots of our plants and trees--there undoubtedly lie, in innumerablespots and places, --buried, and waiting only for disinterment, --antiquarianrelics of the most valuable and important character. The richest andrarest treasures contained in some of our antiquarian museums have beenexhumed by digging; and that digging has been frequently of the mostaccidental and superficial kind--like the discovery of the silver minesof Potosi through the chance uprooting of a shrub by the hand of aclimbing traveller. 

The magnificent twisted torc, containing some £50 worth of pure gold, which was exhibited in Edinburgh in 1856, in the Museum of theArchæological Institute, was found in 1848 in Needwood Forest, lying onthe top of some fresh mould which had been turned up by a fox, inexcavating for himself a new earth-hole. Formerly, on the sites of theold British villages in Wiltshire, the moles, as Sir Richard Hoare tellsus, were constantly throwing up to the surface numerous coins andfragments of pottery. We are indebted to the digging propensities ofanother animal for the richest collection of silver ornaments which iscontained in our Museum: For the great hoard of massive silver brooches, torcs, ingots, Cufic and other coins, etc. , weighing some 16 lbs. Inall, which was found in 1857 in the Bay of Skaill in Orkney, wasdiscovered in consequence of several small pieces of the deposit havingbeen accidentally uncovered by the burrowings of the busy rabbit. Thathoard itself is interesting on this other account, that it is one of 130or more similar silver deposits, almost all found by digging, that havelatterly been discovered, stretching from Orkney, along the shores andislands of the Baltic, through Russia southward, towards the seat of thegovernment of those Eastern Caliphs who issued the Cufic coins whichgenerally form part of these collections--this long track beingapparently the commercial route along which those merchants passed, who, from the seventh or eighth to the eleventh century, carried on thetraffic which then subsisted between Asia and the north of Europe. 

The spade and plough of the husbandman are constantly disinterringrelics of high value to the antiquary and numismatist. The matchlesscollection of gold ornaments contained in the Museum of the IrishAcademy has been almost entirely discovered in the course of commonagricultural operations. The pickaxe of the ditcher, and of the canaland railway navvies, have often also, by their accidental strokes, uncovered rich antiquarian treasures. The remarkable massive silverchain, ninety-three ounces in weight, which we have in our Museum, wasfound about two feet below the surface, when the Caledonian Canal wasdug in 1808. One of the largest gold armlets ever discovered in Scotlandwas disinterred at Slateford in cutting the Caledonian Railway. OurMuseum contains only a model of it; for the original--like many similarrelics, when they consisted of the precious metals--was sold for itsmere weight in bullion, and lost--at least to Archæology--in themelting-pot of the jeweller, in consequence of the former unfortunatestate of our law of treasure-trove. And it cannot perhaps be stated toooften or too loudly, that such continued wanton destruction of theserelics is now so far provided against; for by a Government ordinance, the finder of any relics in ancient coins, or in the precious metals, isnow entitled by law, on delivering them up to the Crown for our NationalMuseum, to claim "the full intrinsic value" of them from the Sheriff ofthe district in which they chance to be discovered--a most just andproper enactment, through the aid of which many such relics will nodoubt be henceforth properly preserved. 

But the results of digging to which I have referred are, as I havealready said, the results merely of accidental digging. From asystematised application of the same means of discovery, in fit andproper localities, with or without previous ground-probing, Archæologyis certainly entitled to expect most valuable consequences. The spadeand pickaxe are become as indispensable aids in some forms ofarchæological, as the hammer is in some forms of geological research. The great antiquarian treasures garnered up in our sepulchral barrowsand olden kistvaen cemeteries, are only to be recovered to antiquarianscience by digging, and by digging, too, of the most careful andmethodised kind. For in such excavations it is a matter of moment tonote accurately every possible separate fact as to the position, state, etc. , of all the objects exposed; as well as to search for, handle, andgather these objects most carefully. In excavating, some years ago, alarge barrow in the Phoenix Park at Dublin, two entire skeletons werediscovered within the chamber of the stone cromlech which formed thecentre of the sepulchral mound. A flint knife, a flint arrow-head, and asmall fibula of bone were found among the rubbish, along with somecinerary urns; but no bronze or other metallic implements. The humanbeings buried there had lived in the so-called Stone Period of theDanish archæologists. Some hard bodies were observed immediately belowthe head of one of the skeletons, and by very cautious and carefulpicking away of the surrounding earth, there was traced around the neckof each a complete necklace formed of the small sea-shells of theNerita, with a perforation in each shell to admit of a string composedof vegetable fibres being passed through them. Without due vigilance howreadily might these interesting relics have been overlooked!

The spade and mattock, however, have subserved, and will subserve, otherimportant archæological purposes besides the opening of ancientcemeteries. They will probably enable us yet to solve to some extent thevexed question of the true character of our so-called "Druidicalcircles" and "Druidical stones, " by proving to us that one of their usesat least was sepulchral. The bogs and mosses of Ireland, Denmark, andother countries, have, when dug into, yielded up great stores ofinteresting antiquarian objects--usually wonderfully preserved by thequalities of the soil in which they were immersed--as stone and metallicimplements, portions of primæval costume, combs, and other articles ofthe toilet, pieces of domestic furniture, old and buried wooden houses, and even, as in the alleged case of Queen Gunhild, and other "bogged" or"pitted" criminals, human bodies astonishingly entire, and covered withthe leathern and other dresses in which they died. All this forms agreat mine of antiquarian research, in which little or nothing has yetbeen accomplished in Scotland. It is only by due excavations that we canhope to acquire a proper analytical knowledge of the primæval abodes ofour ancestors, --whether these abodes were in underground "weems, " or inthose hitherto neglected and yet most interesting objects of ScottishArchæology, namely, our archaic villages and towns, the vestiges andmarks of which lie scattered over our plains and mountain sides--alwaysnear a stream, or lake, or good spring--usually marked by groups ofshallow pits or excavations (the foundations of their old circularhouses) and a few nettles--generally protected and surrounded on one ormore sides by a rath or earth-wall--often near a hill-fort--and havingattached to them, at some distance in the neighbourhood, stone graves, and sometimes, as on the grounds about Morton Hall, monoliths andbarrows. 

Last year we had detailed at length to the Society the very remarkableresults which Mr. Neish had obtained by simple persevering digging uponthe hill of the Laws in Forfarshire, exposing, as his excavations havedone, over the whole top of the hill, extensive Cyclopic walls ofseveral feet in height, formerly buried beneath the soil, and of suchstrange and puzzling forms as to defy as yet any definite conjecture oftheir character. No doubt similar works, with similar remains ofimplements, ornaments, querns, charred corn, etc. , will yet be found bysimilar diggings on other Scottish hills; and at length we may obtainadequate data for fixing their nature and object, and perhaps even theirdate. Certainly every Scotch antiquary must heartily wish that theexcellent example of earnest and enlightened research set by Mr. Neishwas followed by others of his brother landholders in Scotland. 

At the present time the sites and remains of some Roman cities inEngland are being restored to light in this way--as the old city ofUriconium (Wroxeter), where already many curious discoveries haverewarded the quiet investigations that are being carried on;--andBorcovicus in Northumberland (a half-day's journey from Edinburgh), oneof the stations placed along the magnificent old Roman wall which stillexists in wonderful preservation in its neighbourhood, and itself aRoman town, left comparatively so entire that "Sandy Gordon" describedit long ago as the most remarkable and magnificent Roman station in thewhole island, while Dr. Stukely spoke of it enthusiastically as the"Tadmor of Britain. " I was lately told by Mr. Longueville Jones, that inthe vicinity of Caerleon--the ancient Isca Silurum of the RomanItinerary--the slim sharpened iron rod used as a ground-probe haddetected at different distances a row of buried Roman houses andvillas, extending from the old city into the country for nearly threemiles in length. Here, as elsewhere, a rich antiquarian mine waits forthe diggings of the antiquary; and elsewhere, as here, the ground-probewill often point out the exact spots that should be dug, with far morecertainty than the divining rod of any Dousterswivel ever pointed outhidden hoards of gold or hidden springs of water. 

But it is necessary, as I have already hinted, to seek and hope foradditional archæological materials in literary as well as insubterraneous researches. And certainly, one especial deficiency whichwe have, to deplore in Scottish Archæology is the almost total want ofwritten documents and annals of the primæval and early mediæval portionsof Scottish history. The antiquaries of England and Ireland are muchmore fortunate in this respect than we are; for they possess a greaterabundance of early documents than we can boast of. Indeed, afterTacitus' interesting account of the first Roman invasion of Scotlandunder Agricola, and a few meagre allusions to, and statements regardingthis country and its inhabitants by some subsequent classic authors, wehave, for a course of seven or eight centuries, almost no writtenrecords of any authority to refer to. The chief, if not the only, exceptions to this general remark, consist of a few scattered entriesbearing upon Scotland in the Irish Annals--as in those of Tighernach andUlster; some facts related by Bede; some statements given in the livesand legends of the early Scottish, Welsh, and Irish saints;[14] andvarious copies of the list of the Pictish kings. 

When we come down beyond the eleventh and twelfth centuries, our writtenmemorials rapidly increase in quantity and extent. I have alreadyalluded to the fact that three hundred quarto volumes--nearly altogetherdrawn from unpublished manuscripts--have been printed by the Scottishclubs within the last forty years. Mr. Robertson informs me that in theGeneral Register House alone (and independently of other and privatecollections), there is material for at least a hundred volumes more; andthe English Record Office contains, as is well known, many unediteddocuments referring to the building of various Scottish castles byEdward I. , and to other points interesting to Scottish Archæology andHistory. The Welsh antiquaries have obtained from the Government officesin London various important documents of this description referring toWales. Why should the antiquaries of Scotland not imitate them in thisrespect?

Modern experience has shown that it is not by any means chimerical toexpect, that we may yet recover, from various quarters, and from quiteunexpected sources, too, writings and documents of much interest andimportance in relation both to British and to Scottish Archæology. Ofthat great fossil city Pompeii, not one hundredth part, it is alleged, has as yet been fully searched; and, according to Sir Charles Lyell, thequarters hitherto cleared out are those where there was the leastprobability of discovering manuscripts. It would be almost hoping beyondthe possibility of hope to expect that in some of its unexploredmansions, one of the rich libraries of those ancient Roman times mayturn up, presenting papyri deeply interesting to British antiquaries, and containing, for example, a transcript of that letter on the habitsand character of the inhabitants of Britain which Cicero himself informsus that he desired his brother Quintus to write, when, as second incommand, he accompanied Julius Cæsar in his first invasion of ourisland;--or a copy of that account which Himilico the Carthaginian, haddrawn up of his voyage, some centuries before the Christian era, to theTin Islands, and other parts northwards of the Pillars of Hercules;--ora roll of those Punic Annals which Festus Avienus tells us that hehimself consulted when (probably in the fourth century) he wrote thoselines in his "_Ora Maritima_" in which he gives a description of GreatBritain and Ireland. 

The antiquaries of Scotland would heartily rejoice over the discovery oflost documents far less ancient than these. Perhaps I could name two orthree of our colleagues who would perfectly revel over the recovery, forinstance, of one or two leaves of those old Pictish annals (_veteresPictorum libri_) that still existed in the twelfth century, and inwhich, among other matters, was a brief account (once copied by thePictish clerk Thana, the son of Dudabrach, for King Ferath, at Meigle)of the solemn ceremony which took place when King Hungus endowed thechurch of St. Andrews, in presence of twelve members of the Pictishregal race, with a grant of many miles of broad acres, and solemnlyplaced with his royal hands on the altar of the church a piece of freshturf in symbolisation of his royal land-gift. We all deplore that wepossess no longer what the Abbot Ailred of Rievaulx, and the monkJoceline of Furness possessed, namely, biographies, apparently writtenin the old language of our country, of two of our earliest Scottishsaints--St. Ninian of Whithorn, and St. Kentigern of Glasgow; and wegrieve that we have lost even that Life of St. Serf, which, along with agoodly list of service and other books (chained to the stalls anddesks), was placed, before the time of the Reformation, in the choir ofthe Cathedral of Glasgow, as we know from the catalogue which has beenpreserved of its library. 

But let us not at the same time forget that Scottish archæologicaldocuments, as ancient as any of these, have been latterly rediscovered, and rediscovered occasionally in the most accidental way; and let usnot, therefore, despair of further, and perhaps even of greater successin the same line. Certainly the greatest of recent events in ScottishArchæology was the casual finding, within the last two or three years, in one of the public libraries at Cambridge, of a manuscript of theGospels, which had formerly belonged to the Abbey of Deer, inAberdeenshire. The margin and blank vellum of this ancient volumecontain, in the Celtic language, some grants and entries reaching muchbeyond the age of any of our other Scottish charters and chronicles. Theoldest example of written Scottish Gaelic that was previously known wasnot earlier than the sixteenth century. Portions of the Deer Manuscripthave been pronounced by competent scholars to be seven centuries older. 

The most ancient known collection of the laws of Scotland--a manuscriptwritten about 1270--was detected in the public library of Berne, andlately restored to this country. In 1824, Mr. Thomson, a schoolmaster atAyr, picked up, on an old bookstall in that town, a valuable manuscriptcollection of Scotch burghal laws written upwards of four centuriesago. 

Sometimes, as in this last instance, documents of great value inScottish Archæology have made narrow escapes from utter loss anddestruction. 

I was told by the late Mr. Thomas Thomson--a gentleman to whom we areall indebted for promoting and systematising our studies--that amiscellaneous, but yet in some points valuable collection of old vellummanuscripts was left, at the beginning of the present century, by a poorperipatetic Scottish tailor, who could not read one word of the oldblack letter documents which he spent his life and his purse incollecting. Being a visionary claimant to one of the dormant Scottishpeerages, he buoyed himself up with the bright hope that some cleverlawyer would yet find undoubted proofs of his claims in some of thewritten parchments which he might procure. Sir Robert Cotton is said tohave discovered one of the original vellum copies of the Magna Charta inthe shop of another tailor, who, holding it in his hand, was preparingto cut up this charter of the liberties of England into tape formeasuring some of England's sons for coats and trousers. The missingmanuscript of the History of Scotland, from the Restoration to 1681, which was written by Sir George Mackenzie, the King's Advocate, wasrescued from a mass of old paper that had been sold for shop purposes toa grocer in Edinburgh. Some fragments of the Privy Council Records ofScotland--now preserved in the General Register House--were bought amongwaste snuff-paper. [15] Occasionally even a very small preserved fragmentof an ancient document has proved of importance. Mr. Robertson informsme that, in editing the old Canons of the Scottish Church, he hasderived considerable service from a single leaf of a contemporary recordof the Canons of the sixteenth century, which had been used andpreserved in the old binding of a book. This single leaf is the only bitof manuscript of the Scotch sixteenth century Canons that is known toexist in Scotland. 

In 1794 eight official volumes of the Scottish Secretary of State'sRegister of Seisins were discovered in a bookseller's shop in Edinburgh, after they had remained concealed for more than 185 years. 

Among the great mass of interesting Scottish manuscripts preserved inour General Register House, there is one dated Arbroath, --April1320;--perhaps the noblest Scottish document of that era. It is theofficial duplicate of a letter of remonstrance addressed to Pope JohnXXII. By the Barons, Freeholders, and Community of Scotland, in whichthese doughty Scotsmen declare, that so long as a hundred of them remainalive, they will never submit to the dominion of England. This venerablerecord and precious declaration of Scottish independence, written on asheet of vellum, and authenticated by the dependant seals of itspatriotic authors, was detected by a deceased Scottish nobleman in amost precarious situation; for he discovered it ruthlessly stuck intothe fire-place of his charter-room. 

Contested points in Scottish Archæology and history have beenoccasionally settled by manuscript discoveries that were perfectlyaccidental. 

After the blowing up of the Kirk of the Field, the only one of Darnley'sservants that escaped was brought by the Earl of Murray before theEnglish Council, and there gave evidence, implying that Queen Mary--thatever-interesting princess, who has been doubtlessly both over-decried byher foes and over-praised by her friends--was cognisant of the intendedmurder of her husband, inasmuch as, beforehand, she ordered an old bedto be placed in Darnley's room, and the richer bed that previously stoodin it to be removed. Nearly three hundred years after that dark andsordid insinuation was made, a roll of papers was casually found, duringa search among some legal documents of the early part of the seventeenthcentury, and one of the leaves in that roll contained a contemporary andauthenticated official return of the royal furniture lost by the blowingup of the King's residence. Among other items, this leaf proved, beyondthe possibility of further cavil, that the bed which stood in Darnley'sroom was, up to the time of his death, unchanged, and was not, asalleged by Mary's enemies, an old and worthless piece of furniture, but, on the contrary, was "a bed of violet velvet, with double hangings, braided with gold and silver (ung lictz de veloux viollet a double pantepassemente dor et argent). "

The finest old Teutonic cross in Scotland is the well-known pillar whichstands in the churchyard of Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire. It wasignominiously thrown down, by a decree of the General Assembly of thePresbyterian Church, in 1642; but its broken fragments were collected, as far as possible, and the cross itself again erected, by the lateclergyman of the parish, Dr. Henry Duncan, who published in theTransactions of this Society correct drawings of the Runic inscriptionon this ancient monument. Two Danish antiquaries, Repp and FinnMagnusen, tried to read these Runic lines, and tortured them into veryopposite, and let me simply add, very ridiculous meanings, about a grantof land and cows in Ashlafardhal, and Offa, a kinsman of Woden, transferring property to Ashloff, etc. , all which they duly published. That great antiquary and Saxon scholar, the late Mr. Kemble, thenhappened to turn his attention to the Ruthwell inscription, and saw therunes or language to be Anglo-Saxon, and in no ways Scandinavian, as hadbeen supposed. He found that the inscription consisted of a poem, orextracts from a poem, in Anglo-Saxon, in which the stone cross, speakingin the first person, described itself as overwhelmed with sorrow becauseit had borne Christ raised upon it at His crucifixion, had been stainedwith the blood poured from His side, and had witnessed His agonies, --

 "I raised the powerful King, The Lord of the heavens; I dared not fall down, " etc. Etc. 

Who was to decide between the very diverse opinions, and still morediverse readings, of this inscription by the English antiquary and hisDanish rivals? An accidental discovery in an old manuscript may bejustly considered as having settled the whole question. For, two orthree years after Mr. Kemble had published his reading of theinscription, the identical Anglo-Saxon poem which he had found writtenon the Ruthwell cross was casually discovered in an extended form underthe title of the "Dream of the Rood. " The old MS. Volume of Saxonhomilies and religious lays from which the book containing it wasprinted, was found by Dr. Blum in a library at Vercelli, in Italy. 

With these rambling remarks I have already detained you far too long. Ere concluding, however, bear with me for a minute or two longer, whileI shortly speak of one clamant subject--viz. The strong necessity ofthis Society, and of every Scotsman, battling and trying to prevent, ifpossible, the further demolition of the antiquarian relics scatteredover Scotland. 

Various human agencies have been long busy in the destruction andobliteration of our antiquarian earth and stone works. At no period hasthis process of demolition gone on in Scotland more rapidly andruthlessly than during the last fifty or a hundred years. That tide ofagricultural improvement which has passed over the country, has, in itsutilitarian course, swept away--sometimes inevitably, often mostneedlessly--the aggers and ditches of ancient camps, sepulchral barrowsand mounds, stone circles and cairns, earth-raths, and various otherobjects of deep antiquarian interest. Indeed, the chief antiquarianremains of this description which have been left on the surface of oursoil are to be found on our mountain-tops, on our moors, or in ourwoods, where the very sterility or inaccessibility of the spot, or thekind protection and sympathy of the old forest-trees, have saved them, for a time at least, from reckless ruin and annihilation. Some of theantiquarian memorials that I allude to would have endured for centuriesto come, had it not been for human interference and devastation. For, in the demolition of these works of archaic man, the hand of man has toogenerally proved both a busier and a less scrupulous agent than the handof time. 

Railways have proved among the greatest, as well as the latest, of theagents of destruction. In our island various cherished antiquities havebeen often most unnecessarily swept away in constructing theserace-courses for the daily rush and career of the iron horse. His roughand ponderous hoof, for example, has kicked down, at one extremity of arailway connected with Edinburgh (marvellously and righteously to thedispeace of the whole city), that fine old specimen of ScottishSecond-Pointed architecture, the Trinity College Church; while, at theother extremity of the same line, it battered into fragments the oldCastle of Berwick, a fort rich in martial and Border memories, and abuilding rendered interesting by the fact, that in connection with oneof its turrets there was--at the command of Edward I. "the greatest ofthe Plantagenets, " (as his latest biographer boastfully termshim)--constructed, some six centuries ago, a cage of iron and wood, inwhich he immured, with Bomba-like ferocity, for four weary years, a poorprisoner, and that prisoner a woman--the Countess of Buchan--whosefrightful crime consisted in having assisted at the coronation of herliege sovereign, Robert the Bruce. In the construction of the Edinburghand Glasgow Railway the line was driven, with annihilating effect, through the centre of the old and rich Roman Station on the Wall ofAntoninus at Castlecary. Some years ago, as I passed along the line, Isaw the farmer in the immediate neighbourhood of this station busilyremoving a harmless wall, --among the last, if not the very last remnantsof Roman masonry in Scotland. The largest stone circle near the EnglishBorder--the Stonehenge or Avebury of the north of England--formerlystood near Shap. The stone avenues leading to it are said to have beennearly two miles in length. The engineer of the Carlisle and Lancasterrailway carried his line right through the very centre of the ancientstone circle forming the head of the chief avenue, leaving a few of itshuge stones standing out on the western side, where they may be stillseen by the passing traveller about half a mile south of the Shapstation. If the line had been laid only a few feet on either side, thewanton desecration and destruction of this fine archaic monument mighthave been readily saved. Railway engineers, however, and railwaydirectors, care far more for mammon and money than for mounds andmonoliths. 

But other and older agents have overturned and uprooted the memorialstransmitted down from ancient times, with as much wantonness as therailways. Towards the middle of the last century the Government of theday ordered many miles of the gigantic old Roman wall, which stretchesacross Northumberland and Cumberland, to be tossed over and pounded intoroad metal. About the same time a Scottish proprietor--with a Vandalismwhich cast a stigma on his order--pulled down that antique enigmaticalbuilding, "Arthur's Oven, " in order to build, with its ashlar walls, amill-dam across the Carron. At its next flood the indignant Carroncarried away the mill-dam, and buried for ever in the depths of its ownwater-course those venerable stones which were begrudged any longer bythe proprietor of the soil the few feet of ground which they hadoccupied for centuries on its banks. 

In many parts of our country our old sepulchral cairns, hill-forts, castles, churches, and abbeys, have been most thoughtlessly andreprehensibly allowed, by those that chanced to be their proprietors forthe time, to be used as mere quarries of ready stones for the buildingof villages and houses, and for the construction of field-dikes anddrains. In the perpetration of this class of sad and discreditabledesecrations, many parties are to blame. Such outrages have beenpractised by both landlord and tenant, by both State and Church; and Ifear that the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is by no means free frommuch culpability in the matter. But let us, at the same time, rejoicethat a better spirit is awakened on the whole question; and let us hopethat our Scottish landlords will all speedily come to imitate, whenrequired, the excellent example of Mr. Baillie, who, when some years agohe found that one of his tenants had pulled down and carried off, forbuilding purposes, some portions of the walls of the four grand oldburgs standing in Glenelg, in Inverness-shire, prosecuted the delinquentfarmer before the sheriff-court of the county, and forced him to restoreand replace _in situ_, as far as possible, and at his own expense, allthe stones which he had removed. 

Almost all the primæval stone circles and cromlechs which existed in themiddle and southern districts of Scotland have been cast down andremoved. The only two cromlechs in the Lothians, the stones of whichhave not been removed, are at Ratho and Kipps; and though the stoneshave been wantonly pulled down, they could readily be restored, andcertainly deserve to be so. In 1813 the cromlech at Kipps was seen bySir John Dalzell still standing upright. In describing it, in thebeginning of the last century, Sir Robert Sibbald states that near thisKipps cromlech was a circle of stones, with a large stone or two in themiddle; and he adds, "many such may be seen all over the country. " Theyhave all disappeared; and latterly the stones of the Kipps circle havebeen themselves removed and broken up, to build, apparently, someneighbouring field-walls, though there was abundance of stones in thevicinity equally well suited for the purpose. 

Among the most valuable of our ancient Scottish monuments are certainlyour Sculptured Stones. Most of them, however, and some even in latetimes, have been sadly mutilated and destroyed, to a greater or lessdegree, by human hands, and converted to the most base uses. The stoneat Hilton of Cadboll, remarkable for its elaborate sculpture andornamental tracery, has had one of its sides smoothed and obliterated inorder that a modern inscription might be cut upon it to commemorate"Alexander Duff and His Thrie Wives. " The beautiful sculptured stone ofGolspie has been desecrated in the same way. Only two of these ancientsculptured stones are known south of the Forth. One of them has beenpreserved by having been used as a window-lintel in the church ofAbercorn--the venerable episcopal see, in the seventh century, ofTrumwine, the Bishop of the Picts. The other serves the purpose of afoot-bridge within a hundred yards of the spot where we are met; and itis to be hoped that its proprietors will allow this ancient stone to besoon removed from its present ignominious situation to an honoured placein our Museum. I saw, during last autumn, in Anglesey, a stone bearing avery ancient Romano-British legend, officiating as one of the posts of apark gate--a situation in which several such inscribed stones have beenfound. Still more lately, I was informed of the large central monolithin a stone circle, not far from the Scottish border, having been throwndown and split up into seven pairs of field gate-posts. 

"Standing-stones"--the old names of which gave their appellations to thevery manors on which they stood--have been repeatedly demolished inScotland. An obelisk of thirteen feet in height, and imparting its nameto a landed estate in Kincardineshire, was recently thrown down; and alarge monolith, which lent its old, venerable name to a property andmansion within three or four miles of Edinburgh, was, within the memoryof some living witnesses, uprooted and totally demolished when thedirection of the turnpike road in its neighbourhood happened to bealtered. 

 * * * * *

A healthier and finer feeling in regard to the propriety of preservingsuch national antiquities as I have referred to, subsists, I believe, inthe heart of the general public of Scotland, than perhaps those who aretheir superiors in riches and rank generally give them credit for. Within this century the standing-stones of Stennis in Orkney wereattacked, and two or three of them overthrown by an iconoclast; but thepeople in the neighbourhood resented and arrested the attempt bythreatening to set fire to the house and corn of the barbaric aggressor. After the passing of the Parliamentary Reform Bill, during a keencontest for the representation of a large Scottish county, there wassuccessfully urged in the public journals against one of the candidates, the damaging fact that one of his forefathers had deliberately committedone of the gross acts of barbarism which I have already specified, inthe needless destruction, in a distant part of Scotland, of one of thesmallest but most interesting of Scottish antiquarian relics; and thevoters at the polling-booths showed that they deemed a family, howeverrich and estimable, unfit to be intrusted with the parliamentaryguardianship of the county, which had outraged public feeling bywantonly pulling down one of the oldest stone memorials in the kingdom. 

 * * * * *

In the name of this Society, and in the name of my fellow-countrymengenerally, I here solemnly protest against the perpetration of any moreacts of useless and churlish Vandalism, in the needless destruction andremoval of our Scottish antiquarian remains. The hearts of all lealScotsmen, overflowing as they do with a love of their native land, mustever deplore the unnecessary demolition of all such early relics andmonuments as can in any degree contribute to the recovery andrestoration of the past history of our country and of our ancestors. These ancient relics and monuments are truly, in one strong sense, national property; for historically they belong to Scotland and toScotsmen in general, more than they belong to the individual proprietorsupon whose ground they accidentally happen to be placed. There is an Actof Parliament against the wilful defacing and demolition of publicmonuments; and, perhaps the Kilkenny Archæological Association wereright when they threatened to indite with the penalties of"misdemeanour" under that statute, any person who should wantonly andneedlessly destroy the old monumental and architectural relics of hiscountry. Many of these relics might have brought only a small priceindeed in the money-market, while yet they were of a national andhistorical value which it would be difficult to estimate. For, when onceswept away, their full replacement is impossible. They cannot bepurchased back with gold. Their deliberate and ruthless annihilation is, in truth, so far the annihilation of the ancient records of the kingdom. If any member of any ancient family among us needlessly destroyed someof the olden records of that one family, how bitterly, and how justlytoo, would he be denounced and despised by its members? But assuredlyantiquarian monuments, as the olden records of a whole realm, areinfinitely more valuable than the records of any individual family inthat realm. Let us fondly hope and trust that a proper spirit ofpatriotism--that every feeling of good, generous, and gentlemanlytaste--will insure and hallow the future consecration of all suchScottish antiquities as still remain--small fragments only though theymay be of the antiquarian treasures that once existed in our land. 

Time, like the Sibyl, who offered her nine books of destiny to the Romanking, has been destroying, century after century, one after another ofthe rich volumes of antiquities which she formerly tendered to thekeeping of our Scottish fathers. But though, unhappily, ourpredecessors, like King Tarquin, rejected and scorned the richantiquarian treasures which existed in their days, let us not now, onthat account, despise or decline to secure the three books of them thatstill perchance remain. On the contrary, --like the priests appointed bythe Roman authorities to preserve and study the Sibylline records whichhad escaped destruction, --let this Society carefully guard and cherishthose antiquities of our country which yet exist, and let them strive toteach themselves and their successors to decipher and interpret arightthe strange things and thoughts that are written on those Sibyllineleaves of Scottish Archæology which Fate has still spared for them. Working earnestly, faithfully, and lovingly in this spirit, let us notdespair that, as the science of Archæology gradually grows and evolves, this Society may yet, in full truth, restore Scotland to antiquity, andantiquity to Scotland. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 8: An inaugural Address delivered to the Society ofAntiquaries of Scotland, Session 1860-61]

[Footnote 9: As an illustration of this primitive pastoral idea ofwealth, Dr. Livingstone told me, that on more than one occasion, whenAfricans were discoursing with him on the riches of his own country andhis own chiefs at home, he was asked the searching and rather puzzlingquestion, "But how many cows has the Queen of England?"]

[Footnote 10: As some confirmation of the views suggested in thepreceding question, my friend Captain Thomas pointed out to me, afterthe Address was given, that the name of the fort in St. Kilda was, asstated by Martin and Macaulay, "Dun Fir-bholg. "]

[Footnote 11: Including the works of Homer, Plato, Sophocles, etc. Herlibrary catalogue shows also a goodly list of "Latyn Buikis, " andclassics. In a letter to Cecil, dated St. Andrews, 7th April 1562, Randolph incidentally states that Queen Mary then read daily afterdinner "somewhat of Livy" with George Buchanan. ]

[Footnote 12: See these stories in Mr. Dasent's _Norse Tales_, and inMr. Campbell's collection of the _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_. ]

[Footnote 13: Among the people of the district of Barvas, most of themsmall farmers or crofters, a metal vessel or pot was a thing almostunknown twelve or fourteen years ago. Their houses have neither windowsnor chimneys, neither tables nor chairs; and the cattle and poultry liveunder the same roof with their human possessors. If a Chinaman orJapanese landed at Barvas, and went no further, what a picture might hepaint, on his return home, of the state of civilisation in the BritishIslands. ]

[Footnote 14: One of these Lives--that of St. Columba by Adamnan--hasbeen annotated by Dr. Reeves with such amazing lore that it really looksas if the Editor had acquired his wondrous knowledge of ancient Iona andScotland by some such "uncanny" aids as an archæological "deputation ofspirits. "]

[Footnote 15: This alludes to the portion of a mutilated volume for theyear 1605, which came into Mr. Laing's hands, and was given by him tothe Deputy Clerk Register. But singular enough, as Mr. Laing has sinceinformed me, the identical MS. Of Sir George Mackenzie, above noticed, was brought to him for sale as probably a curious volume; it having bysome accident been _a second time sold for waste paper_! Having nodifficulty in recognising the volume, he of course secured it, and, agreeably to the expressed intention of the Editor of the work in 1821, the MS. Has been deposited in the Advocates' Library, where, it is to behoped, it may now remain in safety. ]

ON AN OLD STONE-ROOFED CELL OR ORATORY IN THE ISLAND OF INCHCOLM. [16]

Among the islands scattered along the Firth of Forth, one of the mostinteresting is the ancient Aemonia, Emona, St. Columba's Isle, or St. Colme's Inch--the modern Inchcolm. The island is not large, being littlemore than half-a-mile in length, and about a hundred and fifty yardsacross at its broadest part. At either extremity it is elevated androcky; while in its intermediate portion it is more level, though stillvery rough and irregular, and at one point--a little to the east of theold monastic buildings--it becomes so flat and narrow that at high tidesthe waters of the Forth meet over it. Inchcolm lies nearly six milesnorth-west from the harbour of Granton, or is about eight or nine milesdistant from Edinburgh; and of the many beautiful spots in the vicinityof the Scottish metropolis, there is perhaps none which surpasses thislittle island in the charming and picturesque character of the viewsthat are obtained in various directions from it. 

Though small in its geographical dimensions, Inchcolm is rich inhistorical and archæological associations. In proof of this remark, Imight adduce various facts to show that it has been at one time afavoured seat of learning, as when, upwards of four hundred years ago, the Scottish historian, Walter Bower, the Abbot of its Monastery, wrotethere his contributions to the ancient history of Scotland;[17] and atother times the seat of war, as when it was pillaged at differentperiods by the English, during the course of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. [18] For ages it was the site of a monasticinstitution and the habitation of numerous monks;[19] and at thebeginning of the present century it was temporarily degraded to the siteof a military fort, and the habitation of a corps of artillery. [20]During the plagues and epidemics of the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies, it formed sometimes a lazaretto for the suspected anddiseased;[21] and during the reign of James I. It was used as astate-prison for the daughter of the Earl of Ross and the mother of theLord of the Isles[22]--"a mannish, implacable woman, " as Drummond ofHawthornden ungallantly terms her;[23] while fifty years later, whenPatrick Graham, Archbishop of St. Andrews, was "decernit ane heretique, scismatike, symoniak, and declarit cursit, and condamnit to perpetuallpresoun, " he was, for this last purpose, "first transportit to St. Colmes Insche. "[24] Punishments more dark and dire than meretransportation to, and imprisonment upon Inchcolm, have perhaps takenplace within the bounds of the island, if we do not altogethermisinterpret the history of "a human skeleton standing upright, " foundseveral years ago immured and built up within the old ecclesiasticwalls. [25] Nor is this eastern Iona, as patronised and protected by St. Columba, --and, at one period of his mission to the Picts and Scots, hisown alleged dwelling-place, [26]--devoid in its history of the usualamount of old monkish miracles and legends. The Scotichronicon containslong and elaborate details of several of them. When, in 1412, the Earlof Douglas thrice essayed to sail out to sea, and was thrice driven backby adverse gales, he at last made a pilgrimage to the holy isle ofAemonia, presented an offering to Columba, and forthwith the Saint spedhim with fair winds to Flanders and home again. [27] When, towards thewinter of 1421, a boat was sent on a Sunday (die Dominica) to bring offto the monastery from the mainland some house provisions and barrels ofbeer brewed at Bernhill (in barellis cerevisiam apud Bernhillbrasiatam), and the crew, exhilarated with liquor (alacres et potosi), hoisted, on their return, a sail, and upset the barge, Sir Peter theCanon, --who, with five others, was thrown into the water, --fervently andunceasingly invoked the aid of Columba, and the Saint appeared in personto him, and kept Sir Peter afloat for an hour and a half by the help ofa truss of tow (adminiculo cujusdam stupæ), till the boat of Portevinpicked up him and two others. [28] When, in 1385, the crew of an Englishvessel (quidam filii Belial) sacrilegiously robbed the island, and triedto burn the church, St. Columba, in answer to the earnest prayers ofthose who, on the neighbouring shore, saw the danger of the sacrededifice, suddenly shifted round the wind and quenched the flames, whilethe chief of the incendiaries was, within a few hours afterwards, struckwith madness, and forty of his comrades drowned. [29] When, in 1335, anEnglish fleet ravaged the shores of the Forth, and one of their largestships was carrying off from Inchcolm an image of Columba[30] and a storeof ecclesiastical plunder, there sprung up such a furious tempest aroundthe vessel immediately after she set sail, that she drifted helplesslyand hopelessly towards the neighbouring island of Inchkeith, and wasthreatened with destruction on the rocks there till the crew imploredpardon of Columba, vowed to him restitution of their spoils, and asuitable offering of gold and silver, and then they instantly andunexpectedly were lodged safe in port (et statim in tranquillo portuinsperate ducebantur). [31] When, in 1336, some English pirates robbedthe church at Dollar--which had been some time previously repaired andrichly decorated by an Abbot of Aemonia--and while they were, with theirsacrilegious booty, sailing triumphantly, and with music on board, downthe Forth, under a favouring and gentle west wind, in the twinkling ofan eye (non solum subito sed in ictu oculi), and exactly opposite theabbey of Inchcolm, the ship sank to the bottom like a stone. Hence, addsthe writer of this miracle in the _Scotichronicon_, --and no doubt thatwriter was the Abbot Walter Bower, --in consequence of these markedretaliating propensities of St. Columba, his vengeance against all whotrespassed against him became proverbial in England; and instead ofcalling him, as his name seems to have been usually pronounced at thetime, St. Callum or St. Colam, he was commonly known among them as_St. Quhalme_ ("et ideo, ut non reticeam quid de eo dicatur, apud eosvulgariter _Sanct Quhalme_ nuncupatur"[32]). 

But without dwelling on these and other well-known facts and fictions inthe history of Inchcolm, let me state, --for the statement has, as weshall afterwards see, some bearing upon the more immediate object ofthis notice, --that this island is one of the few spots in the vicinityof Edinburgh that has been rendered classical by the pen of Shakspeare. In the second scene of the opening act of the tragedy of Macbeth, theThane of Ross comes as a hurried messenger from the field of battle toKing Duncan, and reports that Duncan's own rebellious subjects and theinvading Scandinavians had both been so completely defeated by hisgenerals, Macbeth and Banquo, that the Norwegians craved for peace:--

 "Sueno, the Norways' King, craves composition; Nor would we deign him burial of his men Till he disbursed, at Saint Colmes Inch, Ten thousand dollars to our general use. "

Inchcolm is the only island of the east coast of Scotland which derivesits distinctive designation from the great Scottish saint. But more thanone island on our western shores bears the name of St. Columba; as, forexample, St. Colme's Isle, in Loch Erisort, and St. Colm's Isle in theMinch, in the Lewis; the island of Kolmbkill, at the head of Loch Arkeg, in Inverness-shire; Eilean Colm, in the parish of Tongue;[33] and, aboveall, Icolmkill, or Iona itself, the original seat and subsequent greatcentre of the ecclesiastic power of St. Columba and his successors. [34]An esteemed antiquarian friend, to whom I lately mentioned the precedingreference to Inchcolm by Shakspeare, at once maintained that the St. Colme's Isle in Macbeth was Iona. Indeed, some of the modern editors[35]of Shakspeare, carried away by the same view, have printed the linewhich I have quoted thus:--

 "Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's-kill Isle, "

instead of "Saint Colmes ynch, " as the old folio edition prints it. Butthere is no doubt whatever about the reading, nor that the islandmentioned in Macbeth is Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth. For the site ofthe defeat of the Norwegian host was in the adjoining mainland of Fife, as the Thane of Ross tells the Scotch king that, to report his victory, he had come from the seat of war--

 "from Fife, Where the Norwegian banners flout the sky. "

The reference to Inchcolm by Shakspeare becomes more interesting when wefollow the poet to the original historical foundations upon which hebuilt his wondrous tragedy. It is well known that Shakspeare derived theincidents for his story of Macbeth from that translation of HectorBoece's _Chronicles of Scotland_, which was published in England byRaphael Holinshed in 1577. In these Chronicles, Holinshed, or ratherHector Boece, after describing the reputed poisoning, with the juice ofbelladonna, of Sueno and his army, and their subsequent almost completedestruction, adds, that shortly afterwards, and indeed while the Scotswere still celebrating this equivocal conquest, another Danish hostlanded at Kinghorn. The fate of this second army is described byHolinshed in the following words:--

 "The Scots hauing woone so notable a victorie, after they had gathered and diuided the spoile of the field, caused solemne processions to be made in all places of the realme, and thanks to be giuen to almightie God, that had sent them so faire a day ouer their enimies. But whilest the people were thus at their processions, woord was brought that a new fleet of Danes was arriued at Kingcorne, sent thither by Canute, King of England, in reuenge of his brother Suenos ouerthrow. To resist these enimies, which were alreadie landed, and busie in spoiling the countrie, Makbeth and Banquho were sent with the Kings authoritie, who hauing with them a conuenient power, incountred the enimies, slue part of them, and chased the other to their ships. They that escaped and got once to their ships, obteined of Makbeth for a great summe of gold, that such of their friends as were slaine at this last bickering, might be buried in Saint Colmes Inch. In memorie whereof, manie old sepultures are yet in the said Inch, there to be seene grauen with the armes of the Danes, as the maner of burieng noble men still is, and hieretofore hath beene vsed. A peace was also concluded at the same time betwixt the Danes and Scotishmen, ratified (as some haue written) in this wise: that from thencefoorth the Danes should neuer come into Scotland to make anie warres against the Scots by anie maner of meanes. And these were the warres that Duncane had with forren enimies, in the seuenth yiere of his reigne. "[36]

To this account of Holinshed, as bearing upon the question of the St. Colme's Isle alluded to by Shakspeare, it is only necessary to add oneremark:--Certainly the western Iona, with its nine separate cemeteries, could readily afford fit burial-space for the slain Danes; but it isimpossible to believe that the defeated and dejected Danish army wouldor could carry the dead and decomposing bodies of their chiefs to thatremote place of sepulture. And, supposing that the dead bodies had beenembalmed, then it would have been easier to carry them back to theDanish territories in England, or even across the German Ocean toDenmark itself, than round by the Pentland Firth to the distant westernisland of Icolmkill. On the other hand, that St. Colme's Inch, in theFirth of Forth, is the island alluded to, is, as I have already said, perfectly certain, from its propinquity to the seat of war, and thepoint of landing of the new Scandinavian host, namely, Kinghorn; the oldtown of Wester Kinghorn lying only about three or four miles belowInchcolm, and the present town of the same name, or Eastern Kinghorn, being placed about a couple of miles further down the coast. 

We might here have adduced another incontrovertible argument in favourof this view by appealing to the statement, given in the abovequotation, of the existence on Inchcolm, in Boece's time, of Danishsepulchral monuments, provided we felt assured that this statement wasin itself perfectly correct. But before adopting it as such, it isnecessary to remember that Boece describes the sculptured crosses andstones at Camustane and Aberlemno, [37] in Forfarshire, as monuments of aDanish character also; and whatever may have been the origin and objectsof these mysteries in Scottish archæology, --our old and numerousSculptured Stones, with their strange enigmatical symbols, --we are atleast certain that they are not Danish either in their source ordesign, as no sculptured stones with these peculiar symbols exist inDenmark itself. That Inchcolm contained one or more of those sculpturedstones, is proved by a small fragment that still remains, and which wasdetected a few years ago about the garden-wall. A drawing of it has beenalready published by Mr. Stuart. [38] (See woodcut, Fig. 1. ) In thequotation which I have given from Holinshed's Chronicles, the "oldsepultures there (on Inchcolm) to be seene grauen with the armes of theDanes, " are spoken of as "manie" in number. [39] Bellenden uses similarlanguage: "Thir Danes" (he writes) "that fled to thair schippis, gaifgret sowmes of gold to Makbeth to suffer thair freindis that war slaneat his jeoperd to be buryit in Sanct Colmes Inche. In memory heirof, _mony_ auld sepulturis ar yit in the said Inche, gravin with armis ofDanis. "[40] In translating this passage from Boece, both Holinshed andBellenden overstate, in some degree, the words of their original author. Boece speaks of the Danish monuments still existing on Inchcolm in hisday, or about the year 1525, as plural in number, but without speakingof them as many. After stating that the Danes purchased the right ofsepulture for their slain chiefs (nobiles) "in Emonia insula, locosacro, " he adds, "extant et hac ætate notissima Danorum monumenta, lapidibusque insculpta eorum insignia. "[41] For a long period past onlyone so-called Danish monument has existed on Inchcolm, and is still tobe seen there. It is a single recumbent block of stone above five feetlong, about a foot broad, and one foot nine inches in depth, having arude sculptured figure on its upper surface. In his _History of Fife_, published in 1710, Sir Robert Sibbald has both drawn and described it. "It is (says he) made like a coffin, and very fierce and grim faces aredone on both the ends of it. Upon the middle stone which supports it, there is the figure of a man holding a spear in his hand. "[42] He mighthave added that on the corresponding middle part of the opposite sidethere is sculptured a rude cross; but both the cross and "man holding aspear" are cut on the single block of stone forming the monument, andnot, as he represents, on a separate supporting stone. Pennant, in his_Tour through Scotland_ in 1772, tells us that this "Danish monument""lies in the south-east [south-west] side of the building (ormonastery), on a rising ground. It is (he adds) of a rigid form, andthe surface ornamented with scale-like figures. At each end is therepresentation of a human head. "[43][44] In its existing defacedform, [45] the sculpture has certainly much more the appearance of arecumbent human figure, with a head at one end and the feet at theother, than with a human head at either extremity. The presentcondition of the monument is faithfully given in the accompanyingwoodcut, which, like most of the other woodcuts in this little essay, have been copied from sketches made by the masterly pencil of myesteemed friend, Mr. James Drummond, R. S. A. 

[Illustration: Fig. 1. Sculptured Stone, Inchcolm. ]

[Illustration: Fig. 2. Danish Monument. ]

It is well known that, about a century after the occurrence of theseDanish wars, and of the alleged burial of the Danish chiefs onInchcolm, --or in the first half of the thirteenth[47] century, --therewas founded on this island, by Alexander I. , a monastery, which fromtime to time was greatly enlarged, and well endowed. The monasticbuildings remaining on Inchcolm at the present day are of very variousdates, and still so extensive that their oblong light-grey mass, surmounted by a tall square central tower, forms a striking object inthe distance, as seen in the summer morning light from the higherstreets and houses of Edinburgh, and from the neighbouring shores of theFirth of Forth. These monastic buildings have been fortunately protectedand preserved by their insular situation, --not from the silent andwasting touch of time, but from the more ruthless and destructive handof man. The stone-roofed octagonal chapter-house is one of the mostbeautiful and perfect in Scotland; and the abbot's house, the cloisters, refectory, etc. , are still comparatively entire. But the object of thepresent communication is not to describe the well-known conventual ruinson the island, but to direct the attention of the Society to a smallbuilding, isolated, and standing at a little distance from the remainsof the monastery, and which, I am inclined to believe, is of an olderdate, and of an earlier age, than any part of the monastery itself. 

[Illustration: Fig 3. Inchcolm. ]

The small building, cell, oratory, or chapel, to which I allude, formsnow, with its south side, a portion of the line of the north wall of thepresent garden, and is in a very ruinous state; but its morecharacteristic and original features can still be accurately made out. 

[Illustration: Fig. 4. Ground-plan of Oratory. ]

The building is of the quadrangular figure of the oldest and smallestIrish churches and oratories. But its form is very irregular, partly inconsequence of the extremely sloping nature of the ground on which it isbuilt, and partly perhaps to accommodate it in position to three largeand immovable masses of trap that lie on either side of it, and one ofwhich masses is incorporated into its south-west angle. It is thusdeeper on its north than on its south side; and much deeper at itseastern than at its western end. Further, its remaining eastern gable isset at an oblique angle to the side walls, while both the side wallsthemselves seem slightly curved or bent. Hence it happens, that whilstexternally the total length of the north side of the building is 19 feetand a half, the total length of its south side is 21 feet and a half, or2 feet more. Internally, also, it gradually becomes narrower towards itswestern extremity; so that, whilst the breadth of the interior of thebuilding is about 6 feet 3 inches at its eastern end, it is only 4 feetand 9 inches at its western end. Some of these peculiarities are shownin the accompanying ground-plan drawn by Mr. Brash (see woodcut, Fig. 4), in which the line A B represents the whole breadth of the building;A the north, and B the south wall of it. Unfortunately, as far as can begathered amid the accumulated debris at the western part of thebuilding, the gable at that end is almost destroyed, with the exceptionof the stones at its base; but, judging from the height of the vaultedroof, this gable probably did not measure externally above 8 feet, whilethe depth of the eastern gable, which is comparatively entire, isbetween 14 and 15 feet. The interior of the building has beenoriginally, along its central line, about 16 feet in length; it isnearly 8 feet in height from the middle of the vaulted roof to thepresent floor; and the interior has an average breadth of about 5 feet. Internally the side walls are 5 feet in height from the ground to thespring of the arch or vault. 

Three feet from the ground there is interiorly, in the south wall, asmall four-sided recess, [48] 1 foot in breadth, and 15 inches in heightand depth. (See C in ground plan, Fig. 4; and also Fig. 8. ) In the samesouth-side wall, near the western gable, is an opening extending fromthe floor to the spring of the roof. It has apparently been the originaldoor of the building; but as it is now built up by a layer of thin stoneexternally, and the soil of the garden has been heaped up against it andthe whole south wall to the depth of several feet, it is difficult tomake out its full relations and character. There is a peculiarity, however, about the head of this entrance which deserves special notice. The top of the doorway, as seen both from within and from without thebuilding, is arched, but in two very different ways. When examined fromwithin, the head of the doorway is found to be composed of stones laidin the form of a horizontal arch, the superincumbent stones on each sideprojecting more and more over each other to constitute its sides, andthen a large, flat, horizontal stone closing the apex. (See woodcut, Fig. 5. ) On the contrary, when examined from without, the top of thedoorway is formed by stones laid in the usual form of the radiatingarch, and roughly broken off, as if that arch at a former period hadextended beyond the line of the wall. (See woodcut, Fig. 6. ) Thisdoorway, let me add, is 5 feet high, and on an average about 4 feetwide, [49] but it is 2 or 3 inches narrower at the top, or at the springof the arch, than it is at the bottom. [50] The north side wall of thebuilding is less perfect; as, in modern times, a large rude opening hasbeen broken through as an entrance or door (see woodcut, Fig. 7, andground-plan, Fig. 4), after the original door on the other side hadbecome blocked up. 

[Illustration: Fig. 5. Horizontal arch of the door, as seen from withinthe cell. ]

[Illustration: Fig. 6. Semi-circular arch of the door as seen fromwithout, the garden earth filling the doorway. ]

The eastern gable is still very entire, and contains a small window, [51]which, as measured outside, is 1 foot 11 inches in height, and 10inches in breadth. But the jambs of this window incline or splayinternally, so as to form on the internal plane of the gable an opening2 feet 3 inches in breadth. 

[Illustration: Fig. 7. Eastern gable and north side of the building. ]

The squared sill stone of the window is one of the largest in theeastern gable. Its flat lintel stone projects externally in an angled orsharpened form beyond the plane of the gable, like a rude attempt at amoulding or architrave, but probably with the more utilitarian objectof preventing entrance of the common eastern showers into the interiorof the cell. The thin single flat sandstones composing the jambs areeach large enough to extend backwards the whole length of the interiorsplay of the window, and, from the marks upon them, have evidently beenhammer-dressed. [53] Internally, in this eastern gable, there is placedbelow the window, and in continuation of its interior splay, a recessabout 18 inches in depth, and of nearly the same breadth as thedivergence of the jambs of the window. The broken base or floor of thisrecess is in the position of the altar-stone in some small early Irishchapels. 

The accompanying sketch (see woodcut, Fig. 7) of the exterior of theeastern gable shows that the stones of which it is built have beenprepared and dressed with sufficient care--especially those forming theangles--to entitle us to speak of it as presenting the type of rudeashlar-work. The stones composing it, particularly above the line of thewindow, are laid in pretty regular horizontal courses; lower down theyare not by any means so equable in size. The masonry of the side wallsis much less regular, and more of a ruble character. The walls are on anaverage about 3 feet in thickness. [54] The stones of which the buildingis composed are, with a few exceptions, almost all squared sandstone. The exceptions consist of some larger stones of trap or basalt, placedprincipally along the base of the walls. Both secondary trap andsandstone are found _in situ_ among the rocks of the island. A roundishbasalt stone, 2 feet long, forms a portion of the floor of the buildingat its southern corner. At other points there is evidence of awell-laid earth floor. The whole interior of the building has beencarefully plastered at one time. The surface of this plaster-covering ofthe walls, wherever it is left, is so dense and hard as to be scratchedwith difficulty. The lime used for building and cementing the walls, asshown in a part at the west end which has been lately exposed, containsoyster and other smaller sea-shells, and is as firm and hard as someforms of concrete. 

I have reserved till the last a notice of one of the most remarkablearchitectural features in this little building, namely, its arched orvaulted stone roof, --the circumstance, no doubt, to which the wholestructure owes its past durability and present existence. 

Stone roofs are found in some old Irish buildings, formed on theprinciple of the horizontal arch, or by each layer of stone overlappingand projecting within the layer placed below it till a single stonecloses the top. A remarkable example of this type of stone roof ispresented by the ancient oratory of Gallerus in the county of Kerry; andstone roofs of the same construction covered most of the old beehivehouses and variously shaped cloghans that formerly existed inconsiderable numbers in the western and southern districts of Ireland, and more sparsely on the western shores of Scotland. In the Inchcolmoratory the stone roof is constructed on another principle--on that, namely, of the radiating arch--a form of roof still seen in some earlyIrish oratories and churches, whose reputed date of building ranges fromthe sixth or seventh onward to the tenth or eleventh centuries. 

The mode of construction of the stone roof of the Inchcolm cell is welldisplayed in the accidental section of it that has been made by thefalling in of the western gable. One of Mr. Drummond's sketches (seewoodcut, Fig. 9) represents the section as seen across the collection offlower-tipped rubbish and stones made by the debris of the gable andsome accumulated earth. The roof is constructed, first, of stones placedin the shape of a radiating arch; secondly, of a thin layer of lime andsmall stones placed over the outer surface of this arch; and, thirdly, the roof is finished by being covered externally with a layer of oblong, rhomboid stones, laid in regular courses from the top of the side wallsonwards and upwards to the ridge of the building. This outer coating ofsquared stones is seen in the external surface of the roof to the leftin one sketch (see woodcut, Fig. 9); but a more perfect and betterpreserved specimen of it exists immediately above the entrance-door, asshown in another of Mr. Drummond's drawings (see woodcut, Fig. 6). 

[Illustration: Fig. 8. Interior of the building, showing splayed windowin eastern gable, recess in interior of south wall, vaulted roof, etc. ]

[Illustration: Fig. 9. Exposed section of the arch of the vault. ]

The arch or vault of the roof has one peculiarity, perhaps worthy ofnotice (and seen in the preceding woodcut, Fig. 9). The central keystoneof the arch has the form of a triangular wedge, or of the letter V, atype seen in other rude and primitive arches. Interiorly, a similarkeystone line appears to run along the length of the vault, but notalways perfectly straight; and the whole figure of the arch distinctlyaffects the pointed form. 

Several years ago I first saw the building which I have described whenvisiting Inchcolm with Captain Thomas, Dr. Daniel Wilson, and some otherfriends, and its peculiar antique character and strong rude masonrystruck all of us, for it seemed different in type from any of the otherbuildings around it. Last year I had an opportunity of visiting severalof the oldest remaining Irish churches and oratories at Glendalough, Killaloe, Clonmacnoise, and elsewhere, and the features of some of themstrongly recalled to my recollection the peculiarities of the oldbuilding in Inchcolm, and left on my mind a strong desire to re-inspectit. Later in the year Mr. Fraser and I visited Inchcolm in company withour greatest Scottish authority on such an ecclesiological question--Mr. Joseph Robertson. That visit confirmed us in the idea, first, that thesmall building in question was of a much more ancient type than anyportion of the neighbouring monastery; and, secondly, that in form andconstruction it presented the principal architectural characters of theearliest and oldest Irish churches and oratories. More lately I had anopportunity of showing the various original sketches which Mr. Drummondhad made for me of the building to the highest living authority on everyquestion connected with early Irish and Scoto-Irish ecclesiasticalarchitecture--namely, Dr. Petrie of Dublin; and before asking anythingas to its site, etc. , he at once pronounced the building to be "aColumbian cell. "

The tradition, as told to our party by the cicerone on the island on myfirst visit, was, that this neglected outbuilding was the place in which"King Alexander lived for three days with the hermit of Inchcolm. " Therewas nothing in the rude architecture and general character of thebuilding to gainsay such a tradition, but the reverse; and, on thecontrary, when we turn to the notice of a visit of Alexander I. To theisland in 1123, as given by our earliest Scotch historians, theiraccount of the little chapel or oratory which he found there perfectlyapplies to the building which I have been describing. In order to provethis, let me quote the history of Alexander's visit from the_Scotichronicon_ of Fordun and Bower, the _Extracta e Cronicis Scocie_, and the _Scotorum Historia_ of Hector Boece. [55]

The _Scotichronicon_ contains the following account of King Alexander'sadventure and temporary sojourn in Inchcolm:--

 "About the year of our Lord 1123, under circumstances not less wonderful than miraculous, a monastery was founded on the island Aemonia, near Inverkeithing. For when the noble and most Christian Sovereign Alexander, first of this name, was, in pursuit of some state business, making a passage across the Queensferry, suddenly a tremendous storm arose, and the fierce south-west wind forced the vessel and sailors to make, for safety's sake, for the island of Aemonia, where at that time lived an island hermit (_eremita insulanus_), who, belonging to the service of St. Columba, devoted himself sedulously to his duties at a certain little chapel there (_ad quandam inibi capellulam_), content with such poor food as the milk of one cow and the shell and small sea fishes which he could collect. On the hermit's slender stores the king and his suite of companions, detained by the storm, gratefully lived for three consecutive days. But on the day before landing, when in very great danger from the sea, and tossed by the fury of the tempest, the king despaired of life, he vowed to the Saint, that if he should bring him and his companions safe to the island, he would leave on it such a memorial to his honour as would render it a future asylum and refuge to sailors and those that were shipwrecked. Therefore, it was decided on this occasion that he should found there a monastery of prebendaries, such as now exists; and this the more so, as he had always venerated St. Columba with special honour from his youth; and chiefly because his own parents were for several years childless and destitute of the solace of offspring, until, beseeching St. Columba with suppliant devotion, they gloriously obtained what they sought for so long a time with anxious desire. Hence the origin of the verse--

 'M. C, ter, I. Bis, et X literis à tempore Christi, Aemon, tunc ab Alexandro fundata fuisti Scotorum primo. Structorem Canonicorum Transferat ex imo Deus hunc ad alta polorum. '"[56]

The preceding account of King Alexander's visit to Inchcolm, and hisfounding of the monastery there, occurs in the course of the fifth book(lib. V. Cap. 37) of the _Scotichronicon_, without its being markedwhether the passage itself exists in the original five books of Fordun, or in one of the additions made to them by the Abbot Walter Bower. [57]The first of these writers, John of Fordun, lived, it will berecollected, in the reigns of Robert II. And III. , and wrote about 1380;while Walter Bower, the principal continuator of Fordun's history, wasAbbot of Inchcolm from 1418 to the date of his death in 1449. 

In the work known under the title of _Extracta e Variis CronicisScocie_, [58] there is an account of Alexander's fortuitous visit toInchcolm, exactly similar to the above, but in an abridged form. Mr. Tytler, in his _History of Scotland_, [59] supposes the _Extracta_ tohave been written posterior to the time of Fordun, and prior to the dateof Bower's _Continuation of the Scotichronicon_, --a conjecture which oneor more passages in the work entirely disprove. [60] If the opinion ofMr. Tytler had been correct, it would have been important as a proofthat the story of the royal adventure of Alexander upon Inchcolm waswritten by Fordun, and not by Bower, inasmuch as the two accounts in the_Scotichronicon_ and in the _Extracta_ are on this, as on most otherpoints, very similar, the _Extracta_ being merely somewhat curtailed. Asevidence of this remark, let me here cite the original words of the_Extracta_:--

 "Emonia insula seu monasterium, nunc Sancti Columbe de Emonia, per dictum regem fundatur circa annum Domini millesimum vigesimum quartum miraculose. Nam cum idem nobilis rex transitum faciens per Passagium Regine, exorta tempestas valida, flante Africo, ratem cum naucleris, vix vita comite, compulit applicare ad insulam Emoniam, ubi tunc degebat quidam heremita insulanus, qui seruicio Sancti Columbe deditus, ad quamdam inibi capellulam tenui victu, utpote lacte vnius vacce et conchis ac pisiculis marinis contentatus, sedule se dedit, de quibus cibariis rex cum suis, tribus diebus, vento compellente, reficitur. Et quia Sanctum Columbam a juventute dilexit, in periculo maris, ut predicitur, positus, vouit se, si ad prefatam insulam veheretur incolumis, aliquid memoria dignum ibidem facere, et sic monasterium ibidem construxit canonicorum, et dotauit. "[61]

I shall content myself with citing from our older Scottish historiansone more account of Alexander's adventure upon Inchcolm--namely, thatgiven by Hector Boece, Principal of King's College, Aberdeen, in his_Scotorum Historia_, a work written during the reign of James V. , andfirst published in 1526. In this work, after alluding to the foundationof the Abbey of Scone, Boece proceeds to state that--(to quote thetranslation of the passage as given by Bellenden)--"Nocht long efterKing Alexander come in Sanct Colmes Inche; quhair he was constrainit, beviolent tempest, to remane thre dayis, sustenand his life with skarsfude, be ane heremit that dwelt in the said inche: in quhilk, he had anelitill chapell, dedicat in the honoure of Sanct Colme. Finaly, KingAlexander, becaus his life was saiffit be this heremit, biggit ane Abbayof Chanonis regular, in the honour of Sanct Colme; and dotat it withsindry landes and rentis, to sustene the abbot and convent thairof. "[62]

As Bellenden's translation of Boece's work does not in this and otherparts adhere by any means strictly to the author's original context, Iwill add the account given by Boece in that historian's own words:[63]

 "Nec ita multo post Fortheæ rex æstuarium trajiciens, coorta tempestate in Emoniam insulam appulsus descendit, repertoque Divi Columbæ _saccllo_, viroque Eremita, triduo tempestatis vi permanere illic coactus est, exiguo sustentatus cibo, quem apud Eremitam quendam sacelli custodem reperiebat, nec tamen comitantium multitudini ulla ex parte sufficiente. Itaque eo periculo defunctus Divo Columbæ ædem vovit. Nec diu voto damnatus fuit, coenobio paulo post Regularium, ordinis Divi Augustini extructo, agrisque atque redditibus ad sumptus eorum collatis. "

That the very small and antique-looking edifice which I have describedas still standing on Inchcolm is identically the little chapel or cellspoken of by Fordun and Boece as existing on the island at the time ofAlexander's visit to it, upwards of seven centuries ago, is a matteradmitting of great probability, but not of perfect legal proof. One ortwo irrecoverable links are wanting in the chain of evidence to makethat proof complete; and more particularly do we lack for this purposeany distinct allusions or notices among our mediæval annalists, of theexistence or character of the building during these intervening sevencenturies, except, indeed, we consider the notice of it which I havecited from the _Scotichronicon_ "_ad quandam inibi capellulam_, " to bewritten by the hand of Walter Bower, and to have a reference to thelittle chapel as it existed and stood about the year 1430, when Bowerwrote his additions to Fordun, while living and ruling on Inchcolm asAbbot of its Monastery. 

But various circumstances render it highly probable that the oldstone-roofed cell still standing on the island is the ancient chapel ororatory in which the island hermit (_eremita insulanus_) lived andworshipped at the time of Alexander's royal but compulsory visit in1123. I have already adduced in favour of this belief the very doubtfuland imperfect evidence of tradition, and the fact that this littlebuilding itself is, in its whole architectural style and character, evidently far more rude, primitive, and ancient, than any of theextensive monastic structures existing on the island, and that have beenerected from the time of Alexander downwards. In support of the sameview there are other and still more valuable pieces of corroborativeproof, which perhaps I may be here excused from now dwelling upon with alittle more fullness and detail. 

The existing half-ruinous cell answers, I would first venture toremark--and answers most fitly and perfectly--to the two characteristicappellations used respectively in the _Scotichronicon_ and in the_Historiæ Scotorum_, to designate the cell or oratory of the Inchcolmanchorite at the time of King Alexander's three days' sojourn on theisland. These two appellations we have already found in the precedingquotations to be _capellula_ and _sacellum_. As applied to the small, rude, vaulted edifice to which I have endeavoured to draw the attentionof the Society, both terms are strikingly significant. The word used byFordun or Bower in the _Scotichronicon_ to designate the oratory of theInchcolm anchorite, namely "capellula, " or little chapel, is verydescriptive of a diminutive church or oratory, but at the same time veryrare. Du Cange, in his learned glossary, only adduces one example of itsemployment. It occurs in the testament of Guido, Bishop of Auxerrè, inthe thirteenth century (1270), who directs that "oratorium seu_capellulam_ super sepulchrum dicti Robini construent. " This passagefurther proves the similar signification of the two names of oratoriumand capellula. The other appellation "sacellum, " applied by Boece to thehermit's chapel, is a better known and more classical word than thecapellula of the _Scotichronicon_. It is, as is well known, a diminutivefrom sacer, as tenellus is from tener, macellus from macer, etc. ; andCicero himself has left us a complete definition of the word, for he hasdescribed "sacellum" as "locus parvus deo sacratus cum ara. "[64]

Again, in favour of the view that the existing building on Inchcolm isthe actual chapel or oratory in which the insular anchorite lived andworshipped there in the twelfth century, it may be further argued, that, where they were not constructed of perishable materials, it was inconsonance with the practice of these early times to preserve carefullyhouses and buildings of religious note, as hallowed relics. Most of theold oratories and houses raised by the early Irish and Scottish saintswere undoubtedly built of wattles, wood, or clay, and other perishablematerials, and of necessity were soon lost. [65] But when of a more solidand permanent construction, they were sometimes sedulously preserved, and piously and punctually visited for long centuries as holy shrines. There still exist in Ireland various stone oratories of early Irishsaints to which this remark applies--as, for example, that of St. Kevinat Glendalough, of St. Columba at Kells, those of St. Molua and St. Flannan at Killaloe, of St. Benan on Aranmore, St. Ceannanach onInishmaan, etc. Etc. Let us take the first two examples which I havenamed, to illustrate more fully my remark. St. Kevin died at an extremeold age, in the year 618; and St. Columba died a few years earlier, namely in the year 597. When speaking of the two houses at Glendaloughand Kells, respectively bearing the names of these two early Irishsaints, Dr. Petrie--and I certainly could not quote either a higher or amore cautious antiquarian authority--observes, "I think we have everyreason to believe that the buildings called St. Columba's House atKells, and St. Kevin's House at Glendalough, buildings so closelyresembling each other in every respect, were erected by the personswhose names they bear. "[66] If Dr. Petrie's idea be correct, and herepeats it elsewhere, [67] then these houses were constructed about theend of the sixth century, and their preservation for so long anintervening period was no doubt in a great measure the result of theirbeing looked upon, protected, and visited, as spots hallowed by havingbeen the earthly dwellings of such esteemed saints. 

In the great work on _The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, which I have just quoted--a work, let me add, overflowing with therichest and ripest antiquarian lore, and yet written with all thefascination of a romance--Dr. Petrie, after describing the two houses Ispeak of, St. Kevin's and St. Columba's, farther states his belief thatboth of these buildings "served the double purpose of a habitation andan oratory. "[70] They were, in this view, the residences, as well as thechapels, of their original inhabitants; and subsequently the house ofSt. Kevin at Glendalough, of St. Flannan at Killaloe, etc. , werepublicly used as chapels or churches. [71] In all probability the_capellula_ of the hermit on Inchcolm was, in the same way, at once boththe habitation and the oratory of this solitary anchorite, andapparently the only building on the island when Alexander was tossedupon its shores. The sacred character of the humble cell, as thedwelling and oratory of a holy Columbite hermit, and possibly also theinterest attached to it as an edifice which had afforded for three dayssuch welcome and grateful shelter to King Alexander and his suite, wouldin all probability--judging from the numerous analogies which we mighttrace elsewhere--led to its preservation, and perhaps its repair andrestoration, when, a few years afterwards, the monastery rose in itsimmediate neighbourhood, in pious fulfilment of the royal vow. [72]

Indeed, that the holy cell or chapel of the Inchcolm anchorite would, under the circumstances in question, be carefully saved and preserved byKing Alexander I. , is a step which we would specially expect, from allthat we know of the religious character of that prince, and his peculiarlove for sacred buildings and the relics of saints. For, according toFordun, Alexander "vir literatus et pius" "erat in construendisecclesiis, et reliquis Sanctorum perquirendis, in vestibussacerdotalibus librisque sacris conficiendis et ordinandis, studiosissimus. "

For the antiquity of the Inchcolm cell there yet remains an additionalargument, and perhaps the strongest of all. I have already stated that, in its whole architectural type and features, the cell or oratory ismanifestly older, and more rude and primitive, than any of the diversemonastic buildings erected on the island from the twelfth centurydownwards. But more, the Inchcolm cell or oratory corresponds in all itsleading architectural features and specialities with the cells, oratories, or small chapels, raised from the sixth and eighth, down tothe tenth and twelfth centuries, in different parts of Ireland, and insome districts in Scotland, by the early Irish ecclesiastics, and theirIrish or Scoto-Irish disciples and followers, of these distant times anddates. 

It is now acknowledged on all sides, that, though not the firstpreachers of Christianity in Scotland, [73] the Irish were at least byfar the most active and the most influential of our early missionaries;and truly a new epoch began in Scottish history when, in the year 563, St. Columba, "pro Christo peregrinari volens, " embarked, with his twelvecompanions, and sailing across from Ireland to the west coast ofScotland, founded the monastery of Iona. It is certainly to St. Columbaand his numerous disciples and followers that the spread of Christianityin this country, during the succeeding two or three centuries, isprincipally due. At the same time we must not forget that numerous otherIrish saints in these early times engaged in missionary visits toScotland, and founded churches there, which still bear their names, as(to quote part of the enumeration of Dr. Reeves) St. Finbar, St. Comgall, St. Blaan, St. Brendan, the two St. Fillans, St. Ronan, St. Flannan, St. Beranch, St. Catan, St. Merinus, St. Mernoc, St. Molaise, St. Munna, St. Vigean, etc. [74]

Along with their Christian doctrines and teachings these Irishecclesiastics brought over to Scotland their peculiar religious habitsand customs, and, amongst other things, imported into this country theirarchitectural knowledge and practices with regard to sacred and monasticbuildings. In the western parts of Scotland, more particularly, numerousecclesiastical structures were raised similar to those which werepeculiar to Ireland; and various material vestiges of these stillexist. [75] In the eastern parts of Scotland, to which the personalteaching of the Irish missionaries speedily spread, we have stillremaining two undoubted examples of the repetition in this country ofIrish ecclesiastical architecture in the well-known Round Towers ofAbernethy and Brechin, and perhaps we have a third example in thestone-roofed oratory of Inchcolm. 

Various ancient stone oratories still exist in a more or less perfectcondition in different parts of Ireland, sometimes standing bythemselves, sometimes with the remains of a round beehive-shaped cell ordwelling near them, and sometimes forming one of a group of churches, orof a series of monastic buildings. Such, for example, are the smallchapels or oratories of St. Gobnet, St. Benen, and St. MacDuach, in theIsles of Aran, [76] of St. Senan on Bishop's Island, of St. Molua onFriar's Island, Killaloe, the Leabha Mollayga near Mitchelstown, in theCounty Cork, and probably the so-called dormitory of St. Declan atArdmore. Among the old sacred buildings of Ireland we find, in fact, twokinds or classes of churches, the "ecclesiæ majores" and "minores, " ifwe may call them so, and principally distinguished from each other bytheir comparative length or size. It appears both from the remains ofthe first class which still exist, and from the incidental notices whichoccur of their erection, measurements, etc. , in the ancient annals andhagiology of Ireland, that the larger abbey or cathedral churches ofthat country, whose date of foundation is anterior to the twelfthcentury, were oblong quadrangular buildings, which rarely, if ever, exceeded the length of 60 feet, and were sometimes less. In theTripartite Life of St. Patrick, he is described as prescribing 60 feetas the length of the church of Donagh Patrick. [77] This "was also, " saysDr. Petrie, "the measure of the other celebrated chapels erected by himthroughout Ireland, and imitated as a model by his successors. "[78]"Indeed, " he further observes, "that the Irish, who have been everremarkable for a tenacious adherence to their ancient customs, shouldpreserve with religious veneration that form and size of the primitivechurch introduced by the first teachers of Christianity, is only whatmight be naturally expected, and what we find to have been the fact. Wesee, " Dr. Petrie adds, "the result of this feeling exhibited veryremarkably in the conservation, down to a late period, of the humblestand rudest _oratories_ of the first ecclesiastics in all thoselocalities where Irish manners and customs remained, and where suchedifices, too small for the services of religion, would not have beendeemed worthy of conservation, but from such feeling. "[79]

The second or lesser type of the early Irish churches, or, in otherwords, of the humble and rude oratories to which Dr. Petrie refers inthe last sentence of the preceding paragraph, were of a similar form, but of a much smaller size than the larger or abbey churches. [80] Wehave ample and accurate evidence of this, both in the oratories whichstill remain, and in a fragment of the Brehon laws, referring to thedifferent payments which ecclesiastical artificers received according asthe building was--(1. ) a duirtheach or small chapel or oratory; (2. ) alarge abbey church or damhliag, etc. [81]

Generally, according to Dr. Petrie, the average of the smaller type ofchurches or oratories may be stated to be about 15 feet in length, and10 feet in breadth, though they show no fixed similarity in regard tosize. [82] "In the general plan, " he observes, "of this class ofbuildings there was an equal uniformity. They had a single doorway, always placed in the centre of the west wall, [83] and were lighted by asingle window placed in the centre of the east wall, and a stone altarusually, perhaps always, placed beneath this window. "[84] In theseleading architectural features (with an exception to which I shallimmediately advert), the Inchcolm cell or oratory corresponds to theancient cells or oratories existing in Ireland, and presents the sameancient style of masonry--the same splaying internally of the windowwhich is so common in the ancient Irish churches, both large andsmall--and the same configuration of doorway which is seen in many ofthem, the opening forming it being narrower at the top than at thebottom. 

[Illustration: Fig. 10. St. Senan's Oratory on Bishop's Island. ]

In the Inchcolm oratory there is one exception, as I have just stated, to the general type and features of the ancient Irish oratory. I alludeto the position of the door, which is placed in the south side of theInchcolm cell, instead of being placed, as usual, in the western gableof the building. But this position of the door in the south wall is notwithout example in ancient Irish oratories that still exist. [85] Thedoor occupies in this respect the same position in the Inchcolm oratoryas in an oratory on Bishop's Island upon the coast of Clare, theerection of which is traditionally ascribed to St. Senan, who lived inthe sixth century. This oratory of St. Senan (says Mr. Wakeman)"measures 18 feet by 12; the walls are in thickness 2 feet 7 inches. Thedoorway, which occupies an unusual position in the south side, immediately adjoining the west end wall, is 6 feet in height, and 1 foot10 inches wide at the top, 2 feet 4 inches at the bottom. The eastwindow splays externally, and in this respect is probably unique inIreland. "[86][87] These peculiarities are shown in the accompanyingwoodcut, Fig. 10, taken from Mr. Wakeman's _Handbook of IrishAntiquities_. 

The Irish ecclesiastics did not scruple to deviate from the establishedplans of their sacred buildings, when the necessities of individualcases required it. In the Firth of Forth west winds are the mostprevalent of all; and sometimes the western blast is still as fierce andlong continued as when of old it drove King Alexander on the shores ofInchcolm. The hermit's cell or oratory is placed on perhaps the mostprotected spot on the island; and yet it would have been scarcelyhabitable with an open window exposing its interior to the east, andwith a door placed directly opposite it in the western gable. It hasbeen rendered, however, much more fit for a human abode by the doorbeing situated in the south wall; and the more so, because the ledge ofrock against which the south-west corner of the building abuts, protectsin a great degree this south door from the direct effects of the westernstorm. The building itself is narrower than the generality of the Irishoratories, but this was perhaps necessitated by another circumstance, for its breadth was probably determined by the immovable basaltic blockslying on either side of it. 

The head of the doorway in the Inchcolm oratory is, as pointed out in apreceding page, peculiar in this respect, that externally it isconstructed on the principle of the radiating arch, whilst internally itis built on the principle of the horizontal arch. But in other earlyIrish ecclesiastical buildings in Scotland, as well as in Ireland, theexternal and internal aspect of the doorway is sometimes thusconstructed on opposite principles. In the round tower, for example, ofAbernethy, the head of the doorway externally is formed of a largesingle stone laid horizontally, and having a semicircular opening cutout of the lower side of the horizontal block; while the head of thedoorway internally is constructed of separate stones on the plan of theradiating arch. 

One striking circumstance in the Inchcolm oratory--viz. , its vaulted orarched roof, has been already sufficiently described; and, in describingit, I have stated that the arch is of a pointed form. In many of theancient Irish oratories the roof was of wood, and covered with rushes orshingles; and most of them had their walls even constructed of wood oroak, as the term _duir-theach_ originally signifies. But apparently, though the generic name duir-theach still continued to be applied tothem, some of them were constructed, from a very early period, entirelyof stone; and of these the roofs were occasionally formed of the samematerial as the walls, and arched or vaulted, as in the Inchcolmoratory. In speaking of the construction of the primitive largerchurches of Ireland, Dr. Petrie states, that their "roof appears to havebeen constructed generally of wood, even where their walls were ofstone;" while in the oratories or primitive smaller stone churches, "theroofs (says he) generally appear to have been constructed of stone, their sides forming at the ridge a very acute angle. "[88] The selectionof the special materials of which both walls and roof were composed, wasno doubt, in many cases, regulated and determined by the comparativefacility or difficulty with which these materials were obtained. At notime, perhaps, did timber exist on Inchcolm that could have been used inconstructing such a building; whilst plenty of stones fit for thepurpose abounded on the island, and there was abundance of lime on theneighbouring shore. Stone-roofed oratories of a more complex andelaborate architectural character than that of Inchcolm still exist inIreland, and of a supposed very early date. We have already found, forinstance, Dr. Petrie stating that "we have every reason to believe" thatthe stone-roofed oratories known as St. Kevin's House at Glendalough, and St. Columba's House at Kells, "were erected by the persons whosenames they bear, "[89] and consequently that they are as old as the sixthcentury. These two oratories, are, as it were, two storeyed buildings;for each consists of a lower and larger stone-arched or vaulted chamberbelow, and of another higher and smaller stone-arched or vaulted chamberor over-croft above. The old small stone-roofed church still standing atKillaloe, and the erection of which Dr. Petrie is[90] inclined toascribe to St. Flannan in the seventh century[91] presents also in itsstructure this type of double stone-vault or arch, as shown in thefollowing section of it by Mr. Fergusson. [92] When treating of the earlyIrish oratories, Mr. Fergusson observes, "One of the peculiarities ofthese churches is, that they were nearly all designed to have stoneroofs, no wood being used in their construction. The section (Fig. 11)of the old church at Killaloe, belonging probably to the tenth century, will explain how this was generally managed. The nave was roofed with atunnel-vault with a pointed one over it, on which the roofing slabs werelaid. " Mr. Fergusson adduces Cormac's Chapel on the Rock of Cashel, St. Kevin's House or Kitchen at Glendalough, which he thinks "may belong tothe seventh century;" and St. Columba's House at Kells, "and severalothers in various parts of Ireland, as all displaying the samepeculiarity" in the stone roofing. 

[Illustration: Fig. 11. Section of St. Flannan's Church at Killaloe. ]

[Illustration: Fig. 12. Section of the Church of Killaghy. ]

Like some oratories and churches in Ireland, more simple and primitivethan those just alluded to, the building on Inchcolm is an edificeconsisting of a single vaulted chamber, analogous in form to theover-croft of the larger oratories or minor churches. The accompanyingsection of the old and small stone-roofed church of Killaghy, at thevillage of Cloghereen, near Killarney, is the result of an accurateexamination of that building by Mr. Brash of Cork. Its stones lookbetter dressed and more equal in size, but otherwise it is so exactly asection of the Inchcolm oratory, that it might well be regarded as aplan of it, intended to display the figure and mode of construction ofits walls and stone roof, formed as that roof is of three layers--viz. , 1. The layer consisting of the proper stones of the arch of the cellinteriorly; 2. The layer of outer roofing stones placed exteriorly; and3. The intermediate layer of lime, and grit or small stones, cementingand binding together these other two courses. [93]

It was once suggested to me as an argument against the Irisharchitectural character and antiquity of the Inchcolm oratory, that itsvault or arch was slightly but distinctly pointed, and that pointedarches did not become an architectural feature in ecclesiasticalbuildings before the latter half of the twelfth century. But if thereexisted any truth in this objection, it would equally disprove the earlycharacter and antiquity of those ecclesiastical buildings at Killaloe, Glendalough, and Kells, in which the arch of the over-croft is of thesame pointed form. The over-croft in King Cormac's Chapel at Cashelshows also a similar pointed vault or arch; and no one now ventures tochallenge it as an established fact in ecclesiological history, thatthis edifice was consecrated in 1134, or at a date anterior to theintroduction[94] of Gothic church architecture or pointed arches insacred buildings in England. [95] In truth, the pointed form of archedvault was sometimes used by Irish ecclesiastics structurally, and forthe sake of more simply and easily sustaining the stone roof, longbefore that arch became the distinctive mark of any architectural style. Indeed, in the very oldest existing Irish oratory--viz. That ofGallerus, which is generally reckoned[96] as early as, if not earlierthan, the time of St. Patrick, or about the fifth century--the stoneroof, though constructed on the principle of the horizontal arch, is ofthe pointed form. The whole section of the oratory of Gallerus is thatof a pointed arch commencing directly at the ground line. [97] "I have, "Mr. Brash writes me, and I could not well quote a better judge or morelearned ecclesiastic antiquary, "carefully examined the oratory atInchcolm, and it is my conviction that the pointed arch supporting thestone roof does not in any wise whatever militate against its antiquity, particularly when taking it in connection with the extreme rudeness andsimplicity of the rest of the structure, and the total absence of anypointed form in either door or window. "[98]

Let me add one word more as to the probable or possible age of thecapellula on Inchcolm. Granting, for a moment, that the building onInchcolm is the small chapel existing on the island when visited by KingAlexander in 1123, have we any reason to suppose the structure to beone of a still earlier date? Inchcolm was apparently a favourite placeof sepulture up, indeed, to comparatively late times; and may possiblyhave been so in old Pagan times, and previously to the introduction ofChristianity into Scotland. The soil of the fields to the west of themonastery is, when turned over, found still full of fragments of humanbones. Allan de Mortimer, Lord of Aberdour, gave to the Abbey ofInchcolm a moiety of the lands of his town of Aberdour for leave ofburial in the church of the monastery. [100] In Scottish history variousallusions occur with regard to persons of note, and especially theecclesiastics of Dunkeld, being carried for sepulture to Inchcolm. [101]The Danish chiefs who, after the invasion of Fife, were buried in thecemetery of Inchcolm, were, as we have already found, interred there inthe seventh or last year of King Duncan's reign, or in 1039, nearly acentury before the date of Alexander's visit to the island. But if therewas, a century before Alexander's visit, a place of burial on theisland, there was almost certainly also this or some other chapelattached to the place, as a Christian cemetery had in these early timesalways a Christian chapel or church of some form attached to it. Thestyle and architecture of the building is apparently, as I have alreadystated, as old, or even older than this; or, at all events, itcorresponds in[102] its features to Irish houses and oratories that areregarded as having been built two or three centuries before the dateeven of the of the Danes in the island. 

The manuscript copy of the _Scotichronicon_, which belonged to the Abbeyof Cupar, and which, like the other old manuscripts of the_Scotichronicon_, was written before the end of the fifteenthcentury, [103] describes Inchcolm as the temporary abode of St. Columbahimself, [104] when he was engaged as a missionary among the Scots andPicts. In enumerating the islands of the Firth of Forth, Inchcolm ismentioned in the Cupar manuscript as "alia insuper insula ad occidensdistans ab Inchcketh, quæ vocatur Æmonia, inter Edinburch etInverkethyn; _quam quondam incoluit, dum Pictis et Scotis fidemprædicavit, Sanctus Columba Abbas_. "[105] We do not know upon whatfoundation, if any, this statement is based; but it is very evidently anallegation upon which no great assurance can be placed. Nor, in alludingto this statement here, have I any intention of arguing that this cellmight even have served St. Columba both as a house and oratory, such asthe house of the Saint still standing at Kells is believed by Dr. Petrieto have possibly been. 

The nameless religious recluse whom Alexander found residing on Inchcolmis described by Fordun and Boece as leading there the life of a hermit(_Eremita_), though a follower of the order or rule of Saint Columba. The ecclesiastical writers of these early times not unfrequently referto such self-denying and secluded anchorites. The Irish Annals are fullof their obits. Thus, for example, under the single year 898, the FourMasters[106] record the death of, at least, four who had passed longeror shorter periods of their lives as hermits, namely, "Suairleach, anchorite and Bishop of Treoit;" "Cosgrach, who was called Truaghan [themeagre], anchorite of Inis-Cealtra;" "Tuathal, anchorite;" "Ceallach, anchorite and Bishop of Ard-Macha;"--and probably we have the obit of afifth entered in this same year under the designation of "Caenchomhracof the Caves of Inis-bo-fine, " as these early ascetics sometimes betookthemselves to caves, natural or artificial, using them for their housesand oratories. [107] Various early English authors also allude to thehabitations and lives of different anchorites belonging to our owncountry. Thus the venerable Bede--living himself as a monk in theNorthumbrian monastery of Jarrow, in the early part of the eighthcentury--refers by name to several, as to Hemgils, who, as a religioussolitary (_solitarius_), passed the latter portion of his lifesustained by coarse bread and cold water; and to Wicbert, [108] who, "multos annos in Hibernia peregrinus anchoreticam in magna perfectionevitam egerat. "[109] Reginald of Durham has left a work on the life, penances, medical and other miracles, of the celebrated St. Godric, who, during the twelfth century, lived for about forty years as an anchoritein the hermitage of Finchale, on the river Weir, near Durham. [110] Thesame author speaks of, as contemporary holy hermits, St. Elric ofWalsingham, and an anchorite at Yareshale, on the Derwent. [111][112] Asuccession of hermits occupied a cell near Norham. [113] Small islandsappear to have been specially selected by the early anchorets for theirheremitical retreats. Hereberct, the friend of St. Cuthbert, lived, according to Bede, an anchoret life upon one of the islands in the lakeof Derwentwater; and St. Cuthbert himself, Ethelwald, and Felgeld, whenthey aspired to the rank of anchoretish perfection (gradum anchoreticæsublimitatis), successively betook themselves for this purpose to Farne, on the coast of Northumberland, a small isle about eight or nine milessouth of Lindisfarne. [114] Among other anchorets who subsequently livedon Farne, Reginald incidentally mentions Aelric, Bartholomew, andAelwin. [115] On Coquet Island, lying also off the Northumbrian coast, St. Henry the Dane led the life of a religious hermit, and died aboutthe year 1120. [116] Inchcolm is not the only island in the Firth ofForth which is hallowed by the reputation of having been the residenceof anchorets, seeking for scenes in which they might practiseuninterrupted devotion. Thus, St. Baldred or Balther lived for sometime, during the course of the seventh century, as a religious recluse, upon the rugged and precipitous island of the Bass, as stated by Boece, Leslie, Dempster, [117] etc. , and, as we know with more certainty from apoem written--upwards now of one thousand years ago--by a native of thiscountry, the celebrated Alcuin. [118] The followers of the order of St. Columba who desired to follow a more ascetic life than that which thesociety of his religious houses and monasteries afforded to its ordinarymembers, sometimes withdrew (observes Dr. Reeves[120]) to a solitaryplace in the neighbourhood of the monastery, where they enjoyedundisturbed meditation, without breaking the fraternal bond. Such, in634, was Beccan, the "solitarius, " as he is designated in Cummian'scontemporary Paschal letter to Segene, the Abbot of Iona; and such wasFinan, the hermit of Darrow, in the words of Adamnan, "vitam multisanchoreticam annis irreprehensibiliter ducebat. " According to theevidence of the Four Masters, an anchorite held the Abbacy of Iona in747; another anchorite was Abbot-elect in 935; and a third was madeBishop in 964[121] "The abode of such anchorites was (adds Dr. Reeves)called in Irish a 'desert' (Dysart), from the Latin _desertum_; and asthe heremitical life was held in such honour among the Scotic Churches, we frequently find this word 'desert' an element in religiousnomenclature. There was a 'desert' beside the monastery of Derry; andthat belonging to Iona was situate near the shore, in the low groundnorth of the Cathedral, as may be inferred from Port-an-diseart, thename of a little bay in this situation. " The charters of the ColumbianHouse at Kells show that a "desert" existed in connection with thatinstitution. Could the old building or capellula on Inchcolm have servedas a "desert" to the Monastery there?[122]

The preceding remarks have spun out to a most unexpected extent; and Ihave to apologise both for their extravagant length and ramblingcharacter. At the same time, however, I believe that it would beconsidered an object of no small interest if it could be shown to be atall probable that we had still near us a specimen, however rude andruinous, of early Scoto-Irish architecture. All authorities nowacknowledge the great influence which, from the sixth to the eleventh ortwelfth century, the Irish Church and Irish clergy exercised over theconversion and civilisation of Scotland. But on the eastern side of thekingdom we have no known remains of Scoto-Irish ecclesiasticalarchitecture except the beautiful and perfect Round Tower ofBrechin, [123] and the ruder and probably older Round Tower ofAbernethy. If, to these two instances, we dare to conjoin a specimen ofa house or oratory of the same Scoto-Irish style, and of the sameancient period, such as the Oratory on Inchcolm seems to me probably tobe, we would have in such a specimen an addition of some moment to thislimited and meagre list. Besides, it would surely not be uninterestingcould we feel certain that we have still standing, within eight or tenmiles of Edinburgh, a building whose roof had covered the head of KingAlexander I. , though it covered it for three days only; for that verycircumstance would at the same time go far to establish another fact, namely, that any such building might claim to be now the oldest roofedstone habitation in Scotland. [127]

[Illustration: Fig. 13. Oratory on Inchcolm, as lately repaired by theEarl of Moray. ]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 16: From the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries ofScotland_, vol. Ii. Part iii. ]

[Footnote 17: These contributions by the "Abbas Aemoniæ Insulæ" arealluded to by Boece, who wrote nearly a century afterwards, as one ofthe works upon which he founded his own _Scotorum Historiæ_. --(See his_Praefatio_, p. 2; and Innes' _Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitantsof Scotland_, vol. I. , pp. 218 and 228. ) Bower, in a versified colophon, claims the merit of having completed eleven out of the sixteen bookscomposing the _Scotichronicon_ lib. Xvi. Cap. 39:--

 "Quinque libros Fordun, undenos auctor arabat, Sic tibi clarescit sunt sedecim numero, Ergo pro precibus, petimus te, lector eorum, " etc. ]

[Footnote 18: See _Scotichronicon_, lib. Xiii. Cap. 34 and 37; lib. Xiv. Cap. 38, etc. In 1547 the Duke of Somerset, after the battle of Pinkie, seized upon Inchcolm as a post commanding "vtterly ye whole vse of theFryth it self, with all the hauens uppon it, " and sent as "elect Abbot, by God's sufferance, of the monastery of Sainct Coomes Ins, Sir JhonLuttrell, knight, with C. Hakbutters and l. Pioners, to kepe his houseand land thear, and ii. Rowe barkes, well furnished with municion, andlxx. Mariners to kepe his waters, whereby (naively remarks Patten) it isthought he shall soon becum a prelate of great power. The perfytnes ofhis religion is not alwaies to tarry at home, but sumetime to rowe outabrode a visitacion; and when he goithe, I haue hard say he takethalweyes his sumners in barke with hym, which ar very open mouthed, andneuer talk but they are harde a mile of, so that either for loove of hisblessynges, or feare of his cursinges, he is lyke to be soouveraigneouer most of his neighbours. "--(See Patten's _Account of the lateExpedition in Scotlande_, dating "out of the parsonage of S. Mary Hill, London, " in Sir John Dalyell's _Fragments of Scottish History_, pp. 79and 81. ) In Abbot Bower's time, the island seems to have been providedwith some means of defence against these English attacks; for, in the_Scotichronicon_, in incidentally speaking of the return of the Abbotand his canons in October 1421 from the mainland to the island, it isstated that they dared not, in the summer and autumn, live on the islandfor fear of the English, for, it is added, the monastery at that timewas not fortified as it is now, "non enim erant tunc, quales ut nunc, inmonasterio munitiones" (lib. Xv. Cap. 38). ]

[Footnote 19: Iona itself has not an air of stiller solitude. Here, within view of the gay capital, and with half the riches of the Scotlandof earlier days spread around them, the brethren might look forth fromtheir secure retreat on that busy ambitious world, from which, thoughclose at hand, they were effectually severed. --(Billings' _Baronial andEcclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland_, vol. Iii. Note on Inchcolm. )]

[Footnote 20: Alexander Campbell, in his _Journey through North Britain_(1802), after speaking of a fort in the east part of Inchcolm having acorps of artillery stationed on it, adds, "so that in lieu of the piousorisons of holy monks, the orgies of lesser deities are celebrated hereby the sons of Mars, " etc. , vol. Ii. P. 69. ]

[Footnote 21: See MS. Records of the Privy Council of Scotland, 23dSeptember 1564, etc. ]

[Footnote 22: Bellenden's translation of Boece's _History of Scotland_, vol. Ii. P. 500. ]

[Footnote 23: _Works_ of William Drummond, Edinburgh, 1711, p. 7. ]

[Footnote 24: Bishop Lesley's _History of Scotland_, p. 42. ]

[Footnote 25: See General Hutton's MSS. In the Advocates' Library, asquoted in Billings' _Ecclesiastical Antiquities, loc. Cit. _]

[Footnote 26: See his Life in Colgan's _Trias Thaumaturga_, vol. Ii. P. 466. ]

[Footnote 27: _Scotichronicon_, lib. Xv. Cap. 23. ]

[Footnote 28: _Scotichronicon_, lib. Xv. Cap. 38. ]

[Footnote 29: _Ibid. _ lib. Xv. Cap. 48. ]

[Footnote 30: Images, or statues in wood, of the founders or patrons ofchurches of the sixth and seventh centuries, were common in Ireland, andno doubt in the Gaelic portion of Scotland. Some of these "images" arestill preserved in islands on the west coast of Ireland. "St. Barr'swooden image" was preserved in his church in the island of Barray. --SeeMartin's _Western Isles of Scotland_, pp. 92, 93. But Macaulay, in his_History of St. Kilda_, p. 75, says, that this was an image of St. Brandan, to whom the church was consecrated. --P. ]

[Footnote 31: _Ibid. _ lib. Xiii. Cap. 34. When, in 1355, the navy ofKing Edward came up the Forth, and "spulyeit" Whitekirk, in EastLothian, still more summary vengeance was taken upon such sacrilege. For"trueth is (says Bellenden) ane Inglisman spulyeit all the ornamentisthat was on the image of our Lady in the Quhite Kirk; and incontinentthe crucifix fel doun on his head, and dang out his harnis. "--(Bellenden's_Translation of Hector Boece's Croniklis_, lib. Xv. C. 14; vol. Ii. P. 446. )]

[Footnote 32: _Scotichronicon_, lib. Xiii. Cap. 37. ]

[Footnote 33: See George Chalmers' _Caledonia_, vol. I. P. 320. ]

[Footnote 34: "Within the bay call'd _Loch-Colmkill_, three milesfurther south, lies _Lough Erisort_, which hath an anchoring-place onthe south and north. "--Martin, p. 4. "The names of the churches in LewisIsles, and the saints to whom they were dedicated, are St. _Columbkil's_, in the island of that name, " etc. --_Ibid. _ p. 27. Isuspect that all the churches founded by Columba bore anciently the nameof Columbkill. Bede tells that the saint bore the united name ofColumbkill. --_Hist. Ec. _ v. 9; and all the churches founded by him inIreland, or places called after him, are, I think, invariably sodesignated. Thus also the lake near Mugstot, in Skye, now drained, andon the island of which the most undoubted remains of a monasticestablishment of Columb's time still exist, was called Lough Columbkill, and the island Inch Columbkill. --P. ]

[Footnote 35: See, for example, the notes on this passage in theeditions of Steevens and Malone. ]

[Footnote 36: Holinshed's _Chronicles_, vol. V. P. 268. ]

[Footnote 37: _Scotorum Historiæ_, lib. Xi. F. 225, 251. ]

[Footnote 38: See his great work on the _Sculptured Stones of Scotland_, plate cxxv. P. 39. ]

[Footnote 39: I do not believe that there is a single example ofarmorial bearings to be found either in Scotland or Ireland of anearlier date than the close of the twelfth century. --P. ]

[Footnote 40: Bellenden's _Translation of Boece's Croniklis ofScotland_, lib. Xii. 2, vol. Ii. P. 258. ]

[Footnote 41: _Scotorum Historiæ_ (1526), lib. Xii. P. 257. ]

[Footnote 42: _History of Fife and Kinross_, p. 35. ]

[Footnote 43: _A Tour in Scotland_, part ii. P. 210. See also Grose's_Antiquities of Scotland_ (1797), vol. Ii. P. 135. ]

[Footnote 44: I feel quite satisfied that this monumental stone is of amuch earlier date than the thirteenth century, and that it is mostprobably a Danish or Dano-Scottish monument. --P. ]

[Footnote 45: In the _Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland_, or metricalversion of the History of Hector Boece, by William Stewart, latelypublished under the authority of the Master of the Rolls, and edited byMr. Turnbull, there is a description of the Danish monument on Inchcolmfrom the personal observation of the translator; and we know that thismetrical translation was finished by the year 1535. The description isinteresting, not only from being in this way a personal observation, butalso as showing that, at the above date, the recumbent sculptured "greitstane, " mentioned in the text, was regarded as a monument of the Danishleader, and that there stood beside it a Stone Cross, which has sinceunfortunately disappeared. After speaking of the burial of the Danes--

 Into an yle callit Emonia, Sanct Colmis hecht now callit is this da, and the great quantity of human bones still existing there, he adds inproof--

 As _I myself quhilk has bene thair and sene. _ Ane croce of stane thair standis on ane grene, Middis the feild quhair that they la ilk one, Besyde the croce thair lyis ane greit stane; Under the stane, in middis of the plane, Their chiftane lyis quhilk in the feild was slane. 

(See vol. Ii. P. 635). Within the last few months there has beendiscovered by Mr. Crichton another sculptured stone on Inchcolm. But thecharacter of the sculptures on it is still uncertain, as the stone is ina dark corner, the exposed portion of it forming the ceiling of thestaircase of the Tower, and the remainder of the stone being built into, and buried in the wall. The sculptures are greatly weather-worn, and thestone itself had been used in the original building of the Tower. TheTower of St. Mary's Church, or of the so-called Cathedral at Iona, isknown to have been erected early in the thirteenth century. Mr. HubandSmith, who believes the Tower of the Cathedral in Iona, and perhaps thelarger portion of the nave and aisles, to be "probably the erection ofthe twelfth and next succeeding century, " found, in 1844, on the abacusof one of the supporting columns, the inscription "DONALDUS OBROLCHANFECIT HOC OPUS;" and already this inscription has been broken andmutilated. --(See Ulster _Journal of Archæology_, vol. I. P. 86. ) Theobit of a person of this name, and probably of this builder, occurs, asDr. Reeves has shown, in the _Annals of Ulster_ in 1203, and in the_Annals of the Four Masters_ in 1202; and Dr. Reeves considers theChurch or Cathedral at Iona as "an edifice of the early part of thethirteenth century. "--(_Life of Columba_, pp. 411 and 416. ) But theTower of the Church of Inchcolm is so similar in its architectural formsand details to that of Icolmkill, that it is evidently a structurenearly, if not entirely, of the same age; and the new choir (novumchorum) built to the church in 1265 (see _Scotichronicon_, lib. X. C. 20) is apparently, as seen by its remaining masonic connections, posterior in age to the Tower upon which it abuts. Hence we are, perhaps, fairly entitled to infer that this sculptured stone thusincidentally used in the construction of the Tower on Inchcolm, existedon the island long, at least, before the thirteenth century, as by thattime it was already very weather-worn, and consequently old. [46]]

[Footnote 46: I, too, consider this church to be of the early part ofthe thirteenth century. Parts of it, however, I believe to be of thetwelfth century. I allude particularly to that portion on one of thecolumns of which the name of the builder appears, and who, I have littledoubt, was the eminent person whose death--1202--is recorded by theAnnalists. Pinkerton, vol. Ii. P. 258, is in error in supposing anyportion of the church to be of the eleventh century. The family of theO'Brolchans were of distinguished rank in the county of Derry, andintimately connected with the churches there. See my notices of them inthe _Ordnance Memoir of the Parish of Temple More_, pp. 21, 22, 29. Itmay be worthy of remark that this family of O'Brolchain, or a branch ofit, appear to have been eminent, hereditarily, after the Irish usage, asarchitects or builders. At the year 1029 the _Annals of Ulster_ recordthe death of Maolbride O'Brolchan, "_chief mason_ of Ireland. " And atthe year 1097, the death of Maelbrighde _Mac-an-tsaeir_ (son of themason) O'Brolchan. And, lastly, we have the name of Donald O'Brolchan asthe architect of the great church at Iona. But if this Donald be theperson whose death is recorded in the _Annals_ as "a noble senior" in1202, that part of the building in which the inscription is found mustbe surely of the twelfth century; and the style of its architecturesupports that conclusion. --P. ]

[Footnote 47: Twelfth. --P. ]

[Footnote 48: Square recesses or ambries of this kind are common in themost ancient Irish oratories. --P. ]

[Footnote 49: The unusual breadth, 4 feet, of this doorway, is perhapsthe only feature in the structure likely to excite a doubt of its earlyantiquity. I cannot remember ever having seen in any very ancient churchor oratory in Ireland a doorway so wide. The widest doorway that I havemet with is, I think, that of the great church at Glandelough, which is3 feet 10 inches wide at its base. The usual width in doorways of smallchurches and oratories is from 2 feet to 2 feet 10 inches. --P. ]

[Footnote 50: When I first visited Inchcolm the ancient cell describedin the present paper was the abode of one or two pigs; and on anotheroccasion I found it inhabited by a cow. In consequence of the attentionof the Earl of Moray (the proprietor of the island), and his activefactor, Mr. Philipps, having been directed to the subject, all suchdesecration has been put an end to, and the whole building has beenrepaired in such a way as to retard its dilapidation. The plans requiredfor its proper repair were kindly drawn out by my friend Mr. Brash ofCork, a most able architect and archæologist, who had performed onvarious occasions previously a similar duty in reference to therestoration of old ecclesiastical buildings in the south and west ofIreland. All these restorations preserve, as far as possible, in everyrespect the original characteristics of the building. In making theserestorations, several points mentioned in the text as visible in theformer dilapidated state of the building, are now of course covered up, such as the section of the arch of the roof, represented in woodcut, Fig. 9, etc. Other new points, not alluded to in the text, were clearedup and brought to light as the necessary repairs were proceeded with. The opening in the western part of the south wall of the building wasfound to be the undoubted original door of the cell; and when the earthaccumulated up against it externally was cleared away, there wasdiscovered, leading from this door to the south, and in the direction ofthe well of the island, a built way or passage, [52] gently slopingupwards out of the cell, 4 feet in width, like the door itself, butbecoming slightly wider when it reached the limit to which it has beenas yet traced--viz. , about 13 or 14 feet from the building. The builtsides of this passage still stand about 3 or 4 feet in height; the limeused, as cement in constructing these sides is apparently the same asthat used in the construction of the walls of the cell itself; and, further, the passage has been coated over with the same dense plaster asthat still seen adhering at different points to the interior of theoratory. It is impossible to fix the original height of the walls ofthis passage, but probably these walls were so high at one time, nearthe entrance at least into the oratory, as to be there arched over; for, as stated in the text, the stones composing the outer or external archof the doorway offer that appearance of irregular fracturing which theywould necessarily show if the archway had been originally continuedforward, and subsequently broken across parallel with the line or faceof the south side wall. It is perhaps not uninteresting here to add, that in Icolmkill a similar walled walk or entrance led into the smallhouse or building of unknown antiquity, named the "Culdee's Cell. " Inthe old _Statistical Account_ (1795), this cell is described as "thefoundation of a small circular house, upon a reclining plain. From thedoor of the house a walk ascends to a small hillock, with the remains ofa wall upon each side of the walk, which grows wider to thehillock. "--(_Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. Xiv. P. 200. ) At theold heremetical establishment of St. Fechin, on High Island, Connemara, there is "a covered passage, about 15 feet long and 3 wide, " leadingfrom the oratory to the supposed nearly circular, dome-roofed cell ofthe Abbot. --(Dr. Petrie's _Ecclesiastical Architecture_, p. 425. )]

[Footnote 51: This window seems very ancient, and no mistake! Compare itwith the window of the oratory near Kilmalkedar, in my _Towers_, p. 184. First edition. --P. ]

[Footnote 52: This fact is, I think, very interesting and important asan evidence of the great antiquity of the building. Such built-passagesare often found in Ireland connected with small churches and oratoriesof the sixth and seventh centuries, but never, to my knowledge, with anyof a later age. They may, in fact, be considered as characteristicappendages, or accompanying features, to the ecclesiastical structuresof those times. There is one at Rathmichael, near Dublin, where there isthe butt of a round tower. I have seen many of them in various states ofpreservation, and I think all were about 4 feet both in breadth andheight. They were, however, never arched, but roofed with large flags, laid horizontally, and their upper surface level with the surroundingground. --P. ]

[Footnote 53: After this sentence Dr. Petrie adds, "Good--very good. "]

[Footnote 54: This is a strong evidence in favour of the antiquity ofthe structure. --P. ]

[Footnote 55: See other similar notices of the visit of Alexander I. ToInchcolm in Buchanan's _Rerum Scoticarum Historia_, lib. Vii. Cap. 27;Leslæus _de Rebus Gestis Scotorum_, lib. Vi. P. 219, etc. ]

[Footnote 56: Joannis de Fordun _Scotichronicon_, cum Supplementis etContinuatione Walteri Boweri Insulæ St. Columbæ Abbatis; cura WalteriGoodall (1759), vol. I. P. 286. ]

[Footnote 57: My friend Mr. David Laing, with his usual kindness, hasexamined, with a view to this point, several manuscripts of the_Scotichronicon_, and has found that the account in that work of KingAlexander's visit to Inchcolm is from the pen of Bower, and, as Mr. Laing adds in his note to me, "not the less curious and interesting onthat account. " In his original portion of the History, Fordun himselfmerely refers to the foundation of the Monastery of Inchcolm byAlexander. ]

[Footnote 58: _Extracta e Cronicis Scocie_, p. 66. ]

[Footnote 59: _History of Scotland_, vol. Iii. P. 336. ]

[Footnote 60: See Mr. Turnbull's Introductory Notice to the AbbotsfordClub edition of the _Extracta_, p. Xiv. ]

[Footnote 61: _Extracta e Cronicis Scocie_, p. 66. ]

[Footnote 62: Boece's _History and Chronicles of Scotland_, translatedby John Bellenden, book xii. Chap. 15, vol. Ii. P. 294. ]

[Footnote 63: _Scotorum Historiæ_, lib. V. Fol. Cclxxii. First ParisEdition of 1526. ]

[Footnote 64: _De Divinitate_, cap. 46. ]

[Footnote 65: Though Roman houses, temples, and other buildings of stoneand lime abounded in this country in the earlier centuries of theChristian era, yet the first Christian churches erected at Glastonburyin England, and at St. David's in Wales, were--according to theauthority, at least, of William of Malmesbury and GiraldusCambrensis--made of wattles. The first Christian church which isrecorded as having been erected in Scotland, namely, the _Candida Casa_, reared at Whithern, towards the beginning of the fifth century, by St. Ninian, was constructed, as mentioned in a well-known passage of Bede, of stone, forming "ecclesiam insignem ... De lapide insolito Britonibusmore. "--(_Historia Ecclesiast. _, lib. Iii. Cap. 4. ) According to the_Irish Annals_, the three churches first erected by Palladius, inIreland, about the year 420, were of wood, one of them being termedHouse of the Romans, "Teach-na-Romhan, " but not apparently from itsRoman mode of building. --(See Dr. O'Donovan's _Annals of the FourMasters_, vol. I. P. 129. ) The church of Duleck, one of the earliest, ifnot the earliest, which St. Patrick erected in Ireland, and the firstbishop of which, St. Cianan, died in the year 490, was built of stone, as its original name of Daimhllag (stone house) signifies; and the sameword, _damhliag_ or _stone house_, came subsequently to be applied as ageneric term to the larger Irish churches. --(See Dr. Petrie's_Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 142, with a quotation froman old Irish poem of the names of the three masons in the household ofSt. Patrick, who "made damhliags first in Erin. ") When, in the year 652, Finan succeeded to the Bishopric of Lindisfarne, he built there asuitable Episcopal church, constructed of oak planks, and covered withreeds, "more Scotorum non de lapide, sed de robore secto totamcomposuit, atque arundine texit. "--(Bede's _Hist. Eccl. _, lib. Iii. Cap. 25. ) When St. Cuthbert erected his anchorite retreat on the island ofFarne he made it of two chambers, one an oratory, and the other fordomestic purposes; and he finished the walls of these buildings bydigging round and cutting away the natural soil within and without, forming the roof out of rough wood and straw, "de lignis informibus etfoeno. "--(Vita S. Cuthberti, cap. 17. ) Planks or "tabulæ, " also, wereemployed in building or reconstructing the walls of this oratory onFarne Island, as St. Ethelwald, Cuthbert's successor, finding hay andclay insufficient to fill up the openings that age made between itsboards, obtained a calf's skin, and nailed it as a protection againstthe storms in that corner of the oratory, where, like his predecessor, he used to kneel or stand when praying. --(_Ibid. _, cap. 46. ) St. Godric's first rude hermitage at Finchale, on the Wear, was made of turf(vili cespite), and afterwards of rough wood and twigs (de lignisinformibus et virgulis). --(See chaps 21 and 29 of his Life by Reginald. )On the construction, by wattles and wood, of some early Irish andScoto-Irish monastic and saints' houses and oratories, as those of St. Wolloc, St. Columba, and St. Kevin, see Dr. Reeves' notes in his editionof the _Life of St. Columba_, pp. 106, 114, and 177. In some districtswhere wood was scarce, and stone abundant and easily worked, as in thewest coast of Ireland, all ecclesiastical buildings were--like the farmore ancient duns and forts in these parts--made principally or entirelyof stone. But even in parts where wood was easily procured, oratoriesseem to have been sometimes, from an early period, built of stone. Thus, in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, the devout virgin Crumtherim isdescribed as living in a stone-built oratory, "in cella sive _lapideo_inclusorio, " in the vicinity of Armagh, as early as the fifthcentury. --(Colgan's _Trias Thaumaturga_, p. 163. ) And, at the city ofArmagh again, we have an incidental notice of a stone oratory in theeighth century; for, in the _Ulster Annals_, under the year 788, thereis reported "Contentio in Ardmacae in qua jugulatur vir in hostio[ostio] Oratorii _lapidei_. "--(Dr. O'Conor's _Rerum HibernicarumScriptores_, tom. Iv. P. 113. ) Dr. Petrie believes that all the churchesat Armagh erected by St. Patrick and his immediate successors were builtof stone, as well indeed as all the early abbey and cathedral churchesthroughout Ireland. --(_Ecclesiastical Architecture_, p. 159. )]

[Footnote 66: The _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, anterior tothe Anglo-Saxon Invasion, comprising an Essay on the Round Towers ofIreland, pp. 437, 435 and 430. ]

[Footnote 67: "That these buildings (St. Columb's House at Kells and St. Kevin's at Glendalough), which are so similar in most respects to eachother, are of a very early antiquity, can scarcely admit of doubt;indeed, I see no reason to question their being of the times of thecelebrated ecclesiastics whose names they bear. "--(Dr. Petrie's_Ecclesiastical Architecture_, p. 430. ) In his late edition of Adamnan's_Life of St. Columba_, Dr. Reeves, when describing the Columbitemonasteries and churches founded in Ireland, speaks (p. 278) of Kells as"having become the chief seat of the Columbian monks" shortly after thecommencement of the ninth century. Among the indications of the ancientimportance of the place which still remain, he enumerates the fine oldRound Tower of Kells, its three ancient large sculptured crosses, the"curious oratory called St. Columbkille's House, " and its great literarymonument now preserved in Trinity College, Dublin--namely, the _Book ofKells_. He quotes the old Irish _Life of St. Columba_, followed byO'Donnell, to show that it is there stated that the saint himself"marked out the city of Kells in extent as it now is, and blessed it;"but he doubts if any considerable church here was founded by Columbahimself, or indeed before 804. He grounds his doubts chiefly on thenegative circumstance that there is "no mention of the place in the_Annals_ as a religious seat" till the year 804. But the _Annals of theFour Masters_ record two years previously, or in 802, that "the churchof Columcille at Céanannus (or Kells) was destroyed" (vol. I. P. 413), referring of course to an _old_ or former church of St. Columba's there;whilst the _Annals of Clonmacnoise_ mention that two years afterwards, or in 804, "there was a new church founded in Kells in honour of St. Colume. "--(See _Ibid. _, footnote. )[68] The learned editor of the _Annalsof the Four Masters_, Professor O'Donovan, has translated and published, in the first volume of the _Miscellany of the Irish ArchæologicalSociety_, an ancient poem attributed to St. Columba, and which, at allevents, was certainly composed at a period when some remains of Paganismexisted in Ireland. In this production the poet makes St. Columba say, "My order is at Cennanus (Kells), " etc. ; and in his note to thisallusion Dr. O'Donovan states that at Kells "St. Columbkille erected amonastery in the sixth century. "--(_Miscellany of ArchæologicalSociety_, vol. I. P. 13. ) Some minds would trust such a questionregarding the antiquity of a place more to the evidence of parchmentthan to the evidence of stone and lime. The beautiful _Evangeliarium_, known as the _Book of Kells_, is mentioned by the _Four Masters_ underthe year 1006 as being then the "principal relic of the western world, "on account of its golden case or cover, and as having been temporarilystolen in that year from the erdomh or sacristy of the great church ofKells. In the same ancient entry this book is spoken of as "the GreatGospel of Columcille, " and whether originally belonging to Kells or not, is certainly older than the ninth century, if not indeed as old asColumba. The corresponding _Evangeliarium_ of Durrow, placed now also inTrinity College, Dublin, --"a manuscript" (says Dr. Reeves, p. 276)"approaching, if not reaching to the Columbian age, "--is known from theinscription on the silver-mounted case which formerly belonged to it, tohave been "venerable in age, and a reliquary in 916" (p. 327). In theremarkable colophon which closes this manuscript copy of theEvangelists, St. Columba himself is professed to be the copyist orwriter of it, the reader being adjured to cherish the memory "Columbæscriptoris _qui hoc scripsi_. " In the _Ulster Annals_, under the year904, there is the following entry regarding Kells: "Violatio EcclesiæKellensis per Flannum mac Maelsechnalli contra Donchad filium suum, etalii decollati sunt circa _Oratorium_. "--(Dr. O'Conor's _Rerum Hibern. Scriptores_, tom. Iv. P. 243. ) Is the scene of slaughter thusspecialised the Oratory or "House of St. Columb, " which is stillstanding at Kells?[69]]

[Footnote 68: I would say yes, beyond question! It was both oratory andhouse, like that of St. Cuthbert on Farne island, described in thepassage quoted _ante_, p. 101, note. --P. ]

[Footnote 69: St. Colume, as translated by Mageochagan or Macgeoghegan. In the original this would be Columbkille, as in all the otherAnnals. --P. ]

[Footnote 70: In treating of the subsequent fate of the old Irishoratories, Dr. Petrie remarks, "Such structures came in subsequent timesto be used by devotees as penitentiaries, and to be generally regardedas such exclusively. Nor is it easy to conceive localities as suchbetter fitted, in a religious age, to excite feelings of contrition forpast sins, and of expectations of forgiveness, than those which had beenrendered sacred by the sanctity of those to whom they had owed theirorigin. Most certain, at all events, it is, that they came to beregarded as sanctuaries the most inviolable, to which, as our annalsshow, the people were accustomed to fly in the hope of safety--a hope, however, which was not always realised. "--(P. 358. )]

[Footnote 71: _Scotichronicon_, lib. V. Cap. 36. Goodall's edition, vol. I. P. 286. ]

[Footnote 72: Such cells or oratories, as relics of the holy men who hadbeen their founders, were always regarded by the Irish, like every otherkind of relics, as their bells, croziers, books, etc. Etc. , with the deepestsentiments of veneration, and their injury or violation--"dishonouring, "as the annalists often term it--was regarded as a sacrilege ofthe most revolting and sinful character. And to this pious feeling we mayascribe the singular preservation to our own times of so many of suchbuildings--though, indeed, in many instances, they may only retain thegeneral form, or a portion of the walls, of the original structure--owingto the injuries inflicted by time, or, as more frequently, by foreignviolence. Thus, in the great Aran of the _Tiglach Enda_, or "House ofEnda, " a portion only--the east end--is of the Saint's time, the rest issome centuries later; and of St. Ciarn's oratory at Clonmacnoise--calledin the _Irish Annals_ "Temple Ciaron, " or "Eaglais-beag, " and, sometimes, "_Temple-beg_, " or "The Little Church, " though the original form wascarefully preserved, there was, when I first examined it, more thanforty years ago, apparently no portion of its masonry that was notobviously of much later times--in parts even as late as the seventeenthcentury. Our annalists record the names of Airchinneachs of this oratoryfrom 893 to 1097. --P. ]

[Footnote 73: In reference to this observation, it is scarcely necessaryto refer to the teachings in Scotland of St. Kentigern of Strathclyde inthe first half of the sixth century, of St. Serf of Culross in thelatter, and of St. Palladius and St. Ninian in the earlier parts of thefifth century, with the more immediate converts and followers of theseancient missionaries. In his _Demonstratio quod Christus sit Deus contraJudæos atque Gentiles_, written about the year 387, St. Chrysostom aversthat "the British Islands ([Greek: Bretanikai nêsoi]), situated beyondthe Mediterranean Sea, and in the very ocean itself, had felt the powerof the Divine Word, churches having been found there, and altarserected. " (_Opera omnia_, vol. I. P. 575, Paris edition of Montfaucon, 1718. ) Perhaps St. Chrysostom founded his statement upon a notice inreference to the alleged extension of Christianity to the northern partsof Britain, given a hundred and fifty years previously by Tertullian, when discussing a similar argument. In his dissertation _AdversusJudæos_, supposed to be written about 210, Tertullian, when treating ofthe propagation of Christianity, states (chap. Vii. ), that at that timealready places among the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, were yetsubject to Christ--"Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo verosubdita. " (Oehler's edition of _Tertullian_, vol. Iii. P. 713. ) Amongthe numerous inscriptions and sculptures left here by the Romans whilethey held this country during the first four centuries of the Christianera, not one has, I believe, been yet found containing a singleChristian notice or emblem, or affording by itself any direct evidenceof the existence of Christianity among the Roman colonists and soldiersin Britain. But there is indirect lapidary or monumental evidence of itspropagation in another manner. In England, as in Germany, France, etc. , there exist among the old Roman remains, altars and temples dedicated toMithras, originally the god of the Sun among the Persians, withsculptures and inscriptions referring to Mithraic worship. They havebeen found in the cities along the Roman wall in Northumberland; atYork, etc. Various references among the old Fathers seem to show thatwhen a knowledge of the Christian religion began to spread to theWestern Colonies of Rome, the worship of Mithras was set up inopposition to Christianity, and Christian rites were imitated by theMithraic priests and followers. Thus, for example, the author whom Ihave just cited, Tertullian, tells us, in his tract _De PræscriptioneHæreticorem_, chap. 40, that the worshippers of Mithras practised theremission of sins by water (as in baptism), made a sign upon theirforeheads (as if simulating the sign of the cross), celebrated theoffering of bread (as if in imitation of the sacrament of the Lord'sSupper), etc. (See his _Works_, vol. Iii. P. 38, of Oehler's Leipsicedition of 1854. )]

[Footnote 74: See Dr. Reeves' admirable edition of Adamnan's _Life ofSt. Columba_, pp. Lxxiv and lxxv, --a book which is a perfect model oflearned annotation and careful editing. ]

[Footnote 75: I think it might be well to strengthen your statement byadducing a few examples--thus, as for example, the remains of amonastery of Columba's time on an island--now drained--called LoughColumbkill, in the island of Skye--the churches and clochans, orstone-houses of the monks, on St. Kilda, and probably many similarremains on other islands of the Hebrides. --P. ]

[Footnote 76: Of St. MacDara of Cruach MicDara, an island off the coastof Connamara, of St. Brendan in Inis Gloria, an island off the coast ofErrus, and very many more. --P. ]

[Footnote 77: Colgan's _Trias Thaumaturga_, p. 129. ]

[Footnote 78: _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 195. ]

[Footnote 79: _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 194. ]

[Footnote 80: And which, moreover, had often chancels attached tothem. --P. ]

[Footnote 81: _Ibid. _, pp. 365, 351. ]

[Footnote 82: _Ibid. _, p. 351. ]

[Footnote 83: I should, perhaps, have written _almost_ always. The veryfew exceptions did not at the moment occur to me. Perhaps, indeed, thereis but one exception, that most important one, on Bishop's Island, theothers belonging rather to churches. --P. ]

[Footnote 84: _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 352. ]

[Footnote 85: South doorways are certainly very rarely to be met with inthe very ancient churches or oratories in Ireland. In addition to thisimportant one on Bishop's Island, I can only call to mind three others, namely, in Kilbaspugbrone, near Sligo; the Templemor, or great church ofSt. Mochonna, in Inismacnerin, or, as now called, Church Island, inLough Key, county of Roscommon; and Killcrony, near Bray, in the countyof Wicklow. The two last named are fine specimens of doorways ofCyclopean style and masonry. --P. ]

[Footnote 86: Wakeman's _Archæologia Hibernica_, pp. 59, 60. ]

[Footnote 87: My pupil is in error in this supposition. He should haveremembered--for he drew it on the block for me--that the window in theoratory near the church of Kilmalkedar, county of Kerry, which is builtwithout cement, splays both externally and internally. --See my work, p. 184. 

I should also observe another feature common to both these windows, namely, that it is only the jambs that are splayed. --P. ]

[Footnote 88: _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 186. ]

[Footnote 89: _Ibid. _ p. 437. ]

[Footnote 90: Was. --P. ]

[Footnote 91: But now considers as of the tenth or perhapseleventh. --P. ]

[Footnote 92: See his _Illustrated Handbook of Architecture_, vol. Ii. P. 918. ]

[Footnote 93: I confess that I should not like to adduce thisstone-roofed church of Killaghy in support of the antiquity of theoratory; for I could never bring myself to believe that it was of an ageanterior to the thirteenth century. --P. ]

[Footnote 94: See Dr. Petrie's work (p. 291) for full quotations inconfirmation of this date, from the _Annals of Clonmacnoise andKilronan_, the _Annals of Munster_, the _Annals of the Four Masters_, the _Chronicon Scotorum_, etc. ]

[Footnote 95: When discussing the history of the pointed arch, Mr. Parker observes: "The choir of Canterbury Cathedral, commenced in 1175, is usually referred to as the earliest example in England, and none ofearlier date has been authenticated. "--_Glossary of Terms inArchitecture_ (1845), p. 28. ]

[Footnote 96: Dr. Petrie's _Ecclesiastical Architecture_, p. 133. ]

[Footnote 97: Pointed arches, constructed both on the radiating andhorizontal principles, are found still standing in the antiquatedmason-work of Assyria, Nubia, Greece, and Etruria. (See drawings anddescriptions of different specimens from these countries in Mr. Fergusson's _Handbook of Architecture_, vol. I. Pp. 253, 254, 257, 259, 294, 381, etc. ) The pointed arch was used in the East in sacredarchitecture as early as the time of Constantine, as is still witnessedin the oldest existing Christian church, namely, the church built bythat emperor, in the earlier part of the fourth century, over thealleged tomb of our Saviour at Jerusalem. [99] For notices of theprevalence of the pointed arch in early Eastern and in Saracenicarchitecture, see Fergusson's _Handbook_, p. 380, 598, etc. ]

[Footnote 98: In this opinion of Mr. Brash's I fully concur. --P. ]

[Footnote 99: I must confess that I am very sceptical as to any portionnow existing of the church of the Holy Sepulchre being of the time ofConstantine, and also as to the early age of any portion of it in whicha pointed arch is found. More walls of the original edifice may_possibly_ exist; but it is certain that the church was more than oncemodified, and the ornamental work is assuredly of a much later age. --P. ]

[Footnote 100: "Alanus de Mortuo Mari, Miles, Dominus de Abirdaur, deditomnes et totas dimidietates terrarum Villæ suæ de Abirdaur, Deo etMonachis de Insula Sancti Columbi, pro sepultura sibi et posteris suisin Ecclesia dicti Monasterii. " (Quoted from the MS. Register orChartulary of the Abbey by Sir Robert Sibbald in his _History of Fife_, p. 41. ) The same author adds, that, in consequence of this grant to theMonastery of Inchcolm for leave of sepulture, the Earl of Murray (whorepresents "Stewart Abbott of Inchcolm, " that sat as a lay Commendatorin the Parliament of 1560, when the Confession of Faith was approved of)now possesses "the wester half of Aberdour. " Sir Robert Sibbald furthermentions the story that "Alain, the founder, being dead, the Monks, carrying his corpse in a coffin of lead, by barge, in the night-time, tobe interred within their church, some wicked Monks did throw the samenin a great deep betwixt the land and the Monastery, which to this day, by the neighbouring fishermen and salters, is called _Mortimer's deep_. "He does not give the year of the preceding grant by Alain de Mortimer, but states that "the Mortimers had this Lordship by the marriage ofAnicea, only daughter and sole heiress of Dominus Joannes de VeterePonte or Vypont, in anno 1126. " It appears to have been her husband whomade the above grant. (See Nisbet's _Heraldry_, vol. I. P. 294. )]

[Footnote 101: Thus, in 1272, Richard of Inverkeithing, Chamberlain ofScotland, died, and his body was buried at Dunkeld, but his heart wasdeposited in the choir of the Abbey of Inchcolm. (_Scotichronicon_, lib. X. C. 30. ) In Hay's _Scotia Sacra_ is a description of the sepultures onthis monument in Inchcolm Church, p. 471. In 1173, Richard, chaplain toKing William, died at Cramond, and was buried in Inchcolm. (Mylne's_Vitæ_, p. 6. ) In 1210, Richard, Bishop of Dunkeld, died at Cramond, andwas buried in Inchcolm. (_Scotichronicon_, lib. Viii. C. 27); and fouryears afterwards, Bishop Leycester died also at Cramond, and was buriedat Inchcolm (_Ibid. _ lib. Ix. C. 27). In 1265, Richard, Bishop ofDunkeld, built a new choir in the church of St. Columba on Inchcolm; andin the following year the bones of three former bishops of Dunkeld weretransferred and buried, two on the north, and the third on the southside of the altar in this new choir. (_Scotichronicon_, lib. X. C. 20, 21. ) See also the _Extracta e Cronicis Scocie_ for other similarnotices, pp. 90, 95, etc. ; and Mylne's _Vitæ Dunkeldensis EcclesiæEpiscoporum_, pp. 6, 9, 11, etc. ]

[Footnote 102: Many, if not all of. --P. ]

[Footnote 103: "There are" (observes Father Innes) "still remaining manycopies of Fordun, with continuations of his history done by differenthands. The chief authors were Walter Bower or Bowmaker, Abbot ofInchcolm, Patrick Russell, a Carthusian monk of Perth, _the Chronicle ofCupar_, the Continuation of Fordun, attributed to Bishop Elphinstone, inthe Bodleian Library, and many others. All these were written in thefifteenth age, or in the time betwixt Fordun and Boece, by the besthistorians that Scotland then afforded, and unquestionably wellqualified for searching into, and finding out, what remained of ancientMSS. Histories anywhere hidden within the kingdom, and especially inabbeys and monasteries, they being all either abbots or the most learnedchurchmen or monks in their respective churches or monasteries. " (Innes'_Critical Inquiry_, vol. I. P. 228. )]

[Footnote 104: I confess I have still some doubt as to this islandhaving received its name from a church founded by S. Columba-_cill_, orthat he ever resided in it, and I should like to have your presentopinion upon the matter. Fordun _alone_ seems to me a very insufficientauthority for a fact which is very improbable; and the legend of theseal, which I published, appears to me to be a better authority for theancient name of the island--"_Colmanus nomine, qui ab alijsMocholmocus. _ Quia Colmôe & Colmân sunt diminutiva, a _Colum. _ 1. Columba, et affectus vel venerationis causa additur _mo_; et hinc_Mocholmocus_, " Colgan, vol. I. P. 155. Colgan's authority is of novalue, as his statement is wholly founded on Fordun. This is proved byhis notice of the monastery in his catalogue of the churches founded byColumba. "Colmis-inse Monasterium canonicorum Regularium in Æmoniainsula inter Edinburgum et InverKithin. _Fordonus, ibid. _" As thecautious Dr. Lanigan observes--"Colgan was, to use a vulgar phrase, bewitched as to the mania of ascribing foundations of monasteries to oureminent saints. " Further, it should not be forgotten that Fordun tellsus that in his time the island was called "_Saint Colmy's Inche_. " Seethe passage quoted by Ussher, _De Brit. Ec. _, p. 704. Now, I know of noinstance of the corruption of Columb, or Columba, into Colmy, whichappears rather a corruption of Colmoc or Colman. 

If this be not the Insula Colmoci of the _regal_ seal--"round seals havesomething royal"--where are we to find it? Not in Ireland, certainly, though our calendars record the names of two islands called InchMocholmoc, from saints of that name. One of these was in Leinster; thelocality of the other is unknown. They also record the patron day of aSt. Mocholmoc, _na hainse_, "of the island, " at the 30th October. Couldwe find what was the patron day of the saint of Inche Colm it might helpto settle the matter. One of the above saints is called Colman_Ailither_, or the pilgrim. Chattering in my discursive way, let me addthat a Saint Mocholmoc appears to have been a favourite with the Danesof Dublin in the twelfth century, for we find in the lists of the DanishKings of Dublin that of Donald MacGilloholmoch as reigning from 1125 to1134; and another of the name is noticed by Regan as an Irish king, wholived not far from Dublin, and who offered his services to the Englishagainst the Irish and Danes in 1171. There was a Gillmeholmoc's Lane inDublin, near Christ's Church, where, as Harris conjectures, he, or someof his family, inhabited. Did this royal Danish family adopt its surnamein honour of St. Colman of Lindisfarne, of whom it must have heard agreat deal during the Danish occupation of Northumbria, the kings ofwhich were for a long time also kings of Dublin? Or may it have beenfrom a remembrance of the shelter and honourable interment to theirdead, given to their predecessors in the little island of St. Colme (orColmoch!) something more than a century before--said island havingderived its name from the Lindisfarne Saint, who may have occasionallyoccupied it as his desert or hermitage? I do not expect that you willnot laugh at all this! but a hearty laugh is not a bad thing in thisgloomy weather. --P. ]

[Footnote 105: See extract in Goodall's edition of the _Scotichronicon_, vol. I. P. 6. (footnote), and in Colgan's _Trias Thaumaturga_, vol. Ii. P. 466. ]

[Footnote 106: Dr. O'Donovan's _Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland_, vol. I. P. 557. ]

[Footnote 107: In Scotland we have various alleged instances of cavesbeing thus employed as anchorite or devotional cells, and some of themstill show rudely cut altars, crosses, etc. --as the so-called cave ofSt. Columba on the shores of Loch Killesport in North Knapdale, with analtar, a font or piscina, and a cross cut in the rock (_OriginesParochiales_, vol. Ii. P. 40); the cave of St. Kieran on Loch Kilkerranin Cantyre (_Ibid. _ vol. Ii. P. 12); the cave of St. Ninian on the coastof Wigtonshire (_Old Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. Xvii. P. 594); the cave of St. Molio or Molaise, in Holy Island, in the Clyde, with Runic inscriptions on its walls (see an account of them in Dr. Daniel Wilson's admirable _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, pp. 531 to533, etc). The island of Inchcolm pertains to Fifeshire, and in thissingle county there are at least four caves that are averred to havebeen the retreats which early Christian devotees and ascetics occupiedas temporary abodes and oratories, or in which they occasionally kepttheir holy vigils; namely, the cave at Dunfermline, which bears the nameof Malcolm Canmore's devout Saxon queen St. Margaret, and which is saidto have contained formerly a stone table or altar, with "something likea crucifix" upon it (Dr. Chalmers' _Historical Account of Dunfermline_, vol. I. Pp. 88, 89); the cave of St. Serf at Dysart (the nameitself--Dysart--an instance, in all probability, of the "_desertum_" ofthe text, p. 124), in which that saint contested successfully in debate, according to the _Aberdeen Breviary_, with the devil, and expelled himfrom the spot (see _Breviarium Aberdonense_, Mens. Julii, fol. Xv, andMr. Muir's _Notices of Dysart_ printed for the Maitland Club, p. 3); thecaves of Caplawchy, on the east Fifeshire coast, marked interiorly withrude crosses, etc. , and which, according to Wynton, were inhabited for atime by "St. Adrian wyth hys cumpany" of disciples (_Orygynale Chronykelof Scotland_, book iii. C. Viii. ); and the cave of St. Rule at St. Andrews, containing a stone table or altar on its east side, and on itswest side the supposed sleeping cell of the hermit excavated out of therock (_Old Statistical Account_, vol. Xiii. P. 202). In _Marmion_(Cantoi. 29) Sir Walter Scott describes the "Palmer" as, with solemn vows topay, "To fair St. Andrews bound, Within the _ocean-cave_ to pray, Where good St. Rule his holy lay, From midnight to the dawn of day, Sung to the billows' sound. "]

[Footnote 108: _Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum_, lib. V. Cap. 12. ]

[Footnote 109: _Ibid. _ lib. V. C. 9. Bede further states that thisanchoret subsequently went to Frisland to preach as a missionary there, but he reaped no fruit from his labours among his barbarous auditors. "Returning then (adds Bede) to the beloved place of his peregrination, he gave himself up to our Lord in his wonted repose; for since he couldnot be profitable to strangers by teaching them the faith, he took careto be the more useful to his own people by the example of his virtue. "]

[Footnote 110: Published in 1845 by the Surtees Society, _Libellus deVita, etc. , S. Godrici_, p. 65, etc. ]

[Footnote 111: _Ibid. _ pp. 45 and 192. ]

[Footnote 112: See Wordsworth's beautiful inscription--"For the spotwhere the hermitage stood on St. Herbert's island, Derwentwater. "--Ed. Of 1858, p. 258. --P. ]

[Footnote 113: _Ibid. _ footnote, p. 46. ]

[Footnote 114: Bede's _Vita Sancti Cuthberti_, cap. 16, 28, 46, etc. ]

[Footnote 115: _De Beati Cuthberti Virtutibus_, pp. 63 and 66. ]

[Footnote 116: See, _The Flowers of the Lives of the most renownedSaincts of the Three Kingdoms_, by Hierome Porter, p. 321. ]

[Footnote 117: Boece's _History and Chronicles of Scotland_, book ix. C. 17, or vol. Ii. P. 98; Leslie's _De Rebus Gestis Scotorum_, lib. Iv. P. 152; Dempster's _Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum_, lib. Ii. P. 122, or vol. I. P. 66. ]

[Footnote 118: The poem alluded to is designated "De Pontificibus etSanctis Ecclesiæ Eboracencis. " A copy of it is printed in Gale's_Historiæ Britannicæ, etc. Scriptores_, vol. Iii. P. 703, _seq. _ Thefamous author of this poem, Alcuin, who was brought up at York, andprobably born there about the year 735, became afterwards, as is wellknown, the councillor and confidant of Charlemagne. The application tothe Bass of the lines in which he describes the anchoret residence ofSt. Balther is evident:

 Est locus undoso circumdatus undique ponto, Rupibus horrendis prærupto et margine septus, In quo belli potens terreno in corpore miles Sæpius aërias vincebat Balthere turmas; etc. 

The Bass was not the only hermit's island on our eastern coasts whichwas imagined, in these credulous times, to be the occasional abode ofevil spirits. According to Bede no one had dared to dwell alone on theisland of Farne before St. Cuthbert selected it as his anchorethabitation, because demons resided there (propter demorantium ibiphantasias demonum). _Vita Cuthberti_, cap. 16. See also the undevillingof the cave of Dysart by St. Serf in the footnote of page 125, _supra_;and some alleged feats of St. Patrick and St. Columba in this directionin Dr. O'Donovan's _Annals of the Four Masters_, vol. I. P. 156. Twoother islands in the Firth of Forth are noted in ancient ecclesiasticalhistory--viz. , Inch May and Inch Keith. "The ile of May, decorit (to usethe words of Bellenden) with the blude and martirdome of Sanct Adrianeand his fallowis, " was the residence of that Hungarian missionary andhis disciples when they were attacked and murdered about the year 874 bythe Danes (Bellenden's _Translation of Boece's History_, vol. I. P. 37);see also vol. Ii. P. 206; Dempster's _Historia Eccl. Gentis Scotorum_, lib. I. 17, and vol. I. P. 20; and Fordun, in the _Scotichronicon_, lib. I. C. Vi. , where he describes "Maya, prioratus cujus est cellacanonicorum Sancti Andreæ de Raymonth; ubi requiescit Sanctus Adrianus, cum centum sociis suis sanctis martyribus. " Inch Keith is enumerated byDr. Reeves (_Preface to Life of Columba_, p. 66) as one of the Scotchchurches of St. Adamnan, Abbot of Iona from A. D. 679 to 704, and thebiographer of St. Columba[119]--Fordun having long ago described it as aplace "in qua præfuit Sanctus Adamnanus abbas, qui honorifice suscepitSanctum Servanum, cum sociis suis, in ipsa insula, ad primum suumadventum in Scotiam. " Andrew Wynton, himself the Prior of St. Serf'sIsle in Lochlevin, describes also, in his old metrical _OrygynaleChronykil of Scotland_, vol. I. P. 128, this apocryphal meeting of thetwo saints

 "at Inchkeith, The ile betweene Kingorne and Leth. "

_The Breviary of Aberdeen_, in alluding to this meeting, points out thatthe St. Serf received by Adamnan was not the St. Serf of the DysartCave, and hence also not the baptiser of St. Kentigern at Culross, astold in the legend of his mother, St. Thenew, or St. Thenuh--a femalesaint whose very existence the good Presbyterians of Glasgow had soentirely lost sight of, that centuries ago they unsexed the very name ofthe church dedicated to her in that city, and came to speak of it underthe uncanonical appellation of St. Enoch's. This first St. Serf andAdamnan lived two centuries, at least, apart. In these early days InchKeith was a place of no small importance, if it be--as some (seeMacpherson's _Geographical Illustrations of Scottish History_) havesupposed--the "urbs Giudi" of Bede, which he speaks of as standing inthe midst of the eastern firth, and contrasts with Alcluith orDumbarton, standing on the side of the western firth. The Scots andPicts were, he says, divided from the Britons "by two inlets of the sea(duobus sinibus maris) lying betwixt them, both of which run far andbroad into the land of Britain, one from the Eastern, and the other fromthe Western Ocean, though they do not reach so as to touch one another. The eastern has in _the midst of it_ the city of Giudi (Orientalis habitin medio sui _urbem Giudi_). The western has on it, that is, on theright hand thereof (ad dextram sui), the city of Alchuith, which intheir language means the 'Rock of Cluith, ' for it is close by the riverof that name (Clyde). " (Bede's _Hist. Ecclesiast. _, book i. C. Xii. ) Inreference to the supposed identification of Inch Keith and this "urbsGiudi, " let me add (1. ) that Bede's description (in medio sui) asstrongly applies to the Island of Garvie, or Inch Garvie, lying midwaybetween the two Queensferries: (2. ) it is perhaps worthy of note thatthe term "Giudi" is in all probability a Pictish proper name, one of thekings of the Picts being surnamed "Guidi, " or rather "Guidid" (seePinkerton's _Inquiry into the History of Scotland_, vol. I. P. 287, andan extract from the _Book of Ballymote_, p. 504); and (3. ) that the word"urbs, " in the language of Bede, signifies a place important, not somuch for its size as from its military or ecclesiastic rank, for thus hedescribes the rock (petra) of Dumbarton as the "urbs Alcluith, " andColdingham as the "urbs Coludi" (_Hist. Eccl. _, lib. Iv. C. 19. Etc. ), --the Saxon noun "_ham_" house or village, having, in this lastinstance, been in former times considered a sufficient appellative for aplace to which Bede applies the Latin designation of "urbs. "]

[Footnote 119: As I have not the _Life of Columba_ at hand to refer to, I must assume that so able an archæologist as my friend Dr. Reeves hadsufficient authority for this statement. If it rested only on Fordun orWynton, I should deem their authority insufficient to establish as afact what seems to me so improbable. Assuming the story to have had afoundation, might not the real Adamnan have been the priest and monk ofthe monastery of Coludi or Coldingham, of whom Bede has written?Coldingham, in his time, belonged to the Northumbrian kingdom. --P. ]

[Footnote 120: See his edition of Adamnan's _Life of Saint Columba_, p. 366. ]

[Footnote 121: Colgan refers to the Life of _S. Fintani Eremita ad 15Novemb. , Tr. T. _, p. 606:--"Tir mille anachoritas in Momonia est. S. Hibaro Episcopo cujusdam quæstionis decidendæ causâ simul collect[illegible] & Angelus Dei ad convivium à S. Brigida Christo paratuminvitativies had so in auxilium per Jesum Christum. " Quoted from the_Book of Litanies of S. Ængus_, on the same page. 

See also the _Summary of the Saints_ in that _Litany_ in Ward's _Vita S. Rumoldi_, pp. 204, 205. 

In short, the notices of deserts, hermits, and anchorites to be found, lives of saints, etc. Etc. , are innumerable. --P. ]

[Footnote 122: I think it very improbable, if the monastery founded byAlexander be meant. --P. ]

[Footnote 123: This is no fit place to discuss the ages of the two RoundTowers of Brechin and Abernethy. But it may perhaps prove interesting tosome future antiquary if it is here mentioned, that when Dr. Petrie, inhis _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_ (p. 410), gives "about theyear 1020"[124] as the probable date of the erection of the Bound Towerof Brechin, he chiefly relied--as he has mentioned to me, whenconversing upon the subject, --for this approach to the era of itsbuilding, upon that entry in the ancient _Chronicon de RegibusScotorum_, etc. , published by Innes, in which it is stated that KingKenneth MacMalcolm, who reigned from A. D. 971 to A. D. 994, "tribuitmagnam civitatem Brechne domino. " (See the Chronicon in Innes' _CriticalInquiry_, vol. Ii. P. 788. ) The peculiarities of architecture in theRound Tower of Brechin assimilate it much with the Irish Bound Towers ofDonoughmore and Monasterboice, both of which Dr. Petrie believes to havebeen built in or about the tenth century. If we could, in such aquestion, rely upon the authority of Hector Boece, the Round Tower ofBrechin is at least a few years older than the probable date assigned toit by Dr. Petrie. For, in describing the inroads of the Danes intoForfarshire about A. D. 1012, he tells us that these invaders destroyedand burned down the town of Brechin, and all its great church, except"_turrim quandam rotundam_ mira arte constructam. " (_Scotorum Historiæ_, lib. Xi. 251, of Paris Edit, of 1526. )[125] This reference to the RoundTower of Brechin has escaped detection, perhaps because it has beenomitted by Bellenden and Holinshed in their translations. No historicalnotices, I believe, exist, tending to fix in any probable way the exactage of the Round Tower of Abernethy; but one or two circumstancesbearing upon the inquiry are worthy of note. We are informed, both bythe _Chronicon Pictorum_ and by Bede, that in the eighth or ninth yearof his reign, or about A. D. 563, Brude, King of the Picts, embracedChristianity under the personal teaching of St. Columba. At Brude'sdeath, in 586, Garnard succeeded, and reigned till 597; and he wasfollowed by Nectan II. , who reigned till 617. Fordun (_Scotichronicon_, lib. Iv. Cap. 12) and Wynton (book v. Ch. 12), both state that KingGarnard founded the collegiate Church of Abernethy; and Fordun furtheradds that he had found this information in a chronicle of the Church ofAbernethy itself, which, is now lost; "in quadam Chronica ecclesiæ deAbirnethy reperimus. " But the register of the Priory of St. Andrewsmentions Garnard's successor on the Pictish throne, Nectan II. , as thebuilder of Abernethy, "hic ædificavit Abernethyn" (Innes' _CriticalInquiry_, p. 800). The probability is, that Garnard, towards the end ofhis reign, founded and commenced the building of the churchestablishment of Abernethy, and that it was concluded and consecrated inthe early part of the reign of Nectan. The church was dedicated to St. Brigid; and the _Chronicon Pictorum_ (Innes' _Inquiry_, p. 778), inascribing its foundation to Nectan I. (about A. D. 455) instead of NectanII. , commits a palpable anachronism, and very evident error, as St. Brigid did not die till a quarter of the next century had elapsed. (_Annals of the Four Masters_ under the year 525; Colgan's _TriasThaumaturga_, p. 619. ) Again, according to the more certain evidence ofBede, another Pictish king, still of the name of Nectan (Naitanus RexPictorum), despatched messengers, about the year 710, to Ceolfrid, Abbotof Bede's own Northumbrian monastery of Jarrow, requesting, among othermatters, that architects should be sent to him to build in his country achurch of stone, according to the manner of the Romans et architectossibi mitti petiit, qui juxta morem Romanorum ecclesiam in lapide ingente ipsius facerent. (_Hist. Eccles. _, lib. V. C. Xxi. ) Forty yearspreviously, St. Benedict or Biscop, the first Abbot of Jarrow, hadbrought there from Gaul, masons (cæmentarios) to build for him"ecclesiam lapideam juxta Romanorum morem. " (See Bede's _Vita BeatorumAbbatum_. ) Now it is probable that the Round Tower of Abernethy was notbuilt in connection with the church established there by the Pictishkings at the beginning of the seventh century, for no such structuresseem to have been erected in connection with Pictish churches in anyother part of the Pictish kingdom; and if at Abernethy, the capital ofthe Picts, a Round Tower had been built in the seventh century of stoneand lime, the Abbot of Jarrow would scarcely have been asked in theeighth century, by a subsequent Pictish king, to send architects to showthe mode of erecting a church of stone in his kingdom. Nor is it in theleast degree more likely that these ecclesiastic builders, invited byKing Nectan in the early years of the eighth century, erected themselvesthe Round Tower of Abernethy; for the building of such towers was, ifnot totally unknown, at least totally unpractised by the ecclesiasticarchitects of England and France within their own countries. [126] TheScotic or Scoto-Irish race became united with the Picts into one kingdomin the year 843, under King Kenneth MacAlpine, a lineal descendant andrepresentative of the royal chiefs who led the Dalriadic colony fromAntrim to Argyleshire, about A. D. 506. (See the elaborate genealogicaltable of the Scottish Dalriadic kings in Dr. Reeves' edition of_Adamnan's Life of Columba_, p. 438. ) The purely "Scotic period" of ourhistory, as it has been termed, dates from this union of the Picts andScots under Kenneth MacAlpine in 843, till Malcolm Canmore ascended thethrone in 1057; and there is every probability that the Round Towers ofAbernethy and Brechin were built during the period between these twodates, or during the regime of the intervening Scotic or Scoto-Irishkings, --in imitation of the numerous similar structures belonging totheir original mother-church in Ireland. We may feel very certain, also, that they were not erected later than the commencement of the twelfthcentury, for by that date the Norman or Romanesque style, --whichpresents no such structures as the Irish Round Towers, was apparently ingeneral use in ecclesiastic architecture in Scotland, under the piouspatronage of Queen Margaret Atheling and her three crowned sons. Abernethy--now a small village--was for centuries a royal and pontificalcity, and the capital of a kingdom, "fuit locus ille sedes principalis, regalis, et pontificalis, totius regni Pictorum" (Goodall's_Scotichronicon_, vol. I. P. 189); but all its old regal andecclesiastical buildings have utterly vanished, with the exception onlyof its solitary and venerable Round Tower. And perhaps the preservationof the Round Tower in this, and in numerous instances in Ireland, amidstthe general ruin and devastation which usually surround them, is owingto the simple circumstance that these Towers--whatever were their usesand objects--were structures which, in consequence of their remarkablecombination of extreme tallness and slenderness, required to beconstructed from the first of the very best and strongest, andconsequently of the most durable building materials which could beprocured; while the one-storeyed or two-storeyed wood-roofed churches, and other low and lighter ecclesiastical edifices with which they wereassociated, demanded far less strength in the original construction oftheir walls, and consequently have, under the dilapidating effects ofcenturies, much more speedily crumbled down and perished. ]

[Footnote 124: The recollection of the error which I made by acarelessness not in such matters usual with me, in assigning this date1020 instead of between the years 971 and 994, as I ought to have done, has long given me annoyance, and a lesson never to trust to memory indates; for it was thus I fell into the mistake. I had the year 1020 onmy mind, which is the year assigned by Pinkerton for the writing of the_Chron. Pictorum_, and, without stopping to remember or to refer, I tookit for granted that it was the year of Kenneth's death, or rather hisgift. --P. ]

[Footnote 125: I congratulate you warmly on the discovery of thisinteresting and most valuable notice. Surely Boece could have had noobject to serve by forging such a statement, nor had he such antiquarianknowledge as would have enabled him to forge a statement so consistentwith the conclusion fairly to be drawn from the entry in the chronicle, and the characteristics of the architecture of the tower itself. Itappears to me that no rational scepticism can in future be indulged asto the conclusion that the erection of this beautiful tower must bereferred to the last quarter of the tenth century. --P. ]

[Footnote 126: The determining the age of the Brechin tower--a questionwhich I consider as now settled--must go far towards enabling us to cometo a right conclusion as to the age of the tower of Abernethy; for Ithink that no one possessed of ordinary powers of observation andcomparison, who has examined both, can for a moment doubt that the ageof the Abernethy tower is much greater than that of the tower ofBrechin. This is the opinion which I formed many years ago, after a verycareful examination of the architectural peculiarities of each; and Icame to the conclusion that the safest opinion which could be indulgedas to the age of the Abernethy tower was, that it had been erectedduring the reign of the third Nectan, _i. E. _ between 712 and 727, and bythose Northumbrian architects of the monastery of Jarrow, for whoseassistance that king, according to the high authority of Bede, hadapplied to build for him in his capital a stone church in the Romanstyle. In the features of that style, during the eighth century, asexhibited in its doorway, and, still more, its upper apertures, thistower appeared to stand alone--there is nothing similar to it to be seeneither in Scotland or Ireland. The tower of Brechin has indeed aRomanesque doorway, but it is plainly of a later age, and its otherfeatures are quite Irish. The circumstance of the Abernethy doorwaybeing placed on a level with the ground, and not, as almost universally, at a considerable height from it, seemed also to support this opinion, as it indicated that the erection of the tower was of a period anteriorto the irruption of the Northmen, which rendered such a defensivefeature an imperative necessity. I cannot agree with you in opinion asto the cause assigned for the preservation of the towers; for, in thefirst place, it is not true that their materials were stronger orbetter, or their construction in any way different from that of thechurches with which they were connected, as proved by numerous examplesin Ireland. Their walls are rarely found of greater thickness than thoseof their contemporaneous churches, where such have remained; and in allsuch cases the character of the masonry is identical. The cause which Ishould rather assign for this greater longevity would be theirrotundity, and still more, their superior altitude. A church of moderatesize, and humble height, might be easily injured, or even destroyed, byneighbouring or foreign assailants, but the destruction of a tower, oreven its injury, beyond the burning of its wooden floors and doorway, would be a tedious and difficult labour, requiring ladders, with whichwe are not to suppose the incendiaries came provided; and hence theirworst antagonist was found to be the flame from heaven. --P. ]

[Footnote 127: Might not _oratory_ be a safer term than _habitation_?Surely the clochans or monks' houses, called _stone pyramids_ by Martin, in St. Kilda, and of which many are still perfect, are as old asChristianity in the _north_ of Scotland, or as any similar buildings tobe found in Ireland. --P. ]

ON THE CAT-STANE, KIRKLISTON. 

The Mediæval Archæology of Scotland is confessedly sadly deficient in_written_ documents. From the decline of Roman records and rule, onwardthrough the next six or eight centuries, we have very few, or almost nowritten data to guide us in Scottish historical or antiquarianinquiries. Nor have we any numismatic evidence whatever to appeal to. Inconsequence of this literary dearth, the roughest lapidary inscriptions, belonging to these dark periods of our history, come to be invested withan interest much beyond their mere intrinsic value. The very want ofother contemporaneous lettered documents and data imparts importance tothe rudest legends cut on our ancient lettered stones. For even briefand meagre tombstone inscriptions rise into matters of historicalsignificance, when all the other literary chronicles and annals of themen and of the times to which these inscriptions belong have, in thelapse of ages, been destroyed and lost. 

It is needless to dwell here on the well-known fact, that in England andScotland there have been left by the Roman soldiers and colonists whooccupied our island during the first four centuries of the Christianera, great numbers of inscribed stones. British antiquarian andtopographical works abound with descriptions and drawings of these Romanlapidary writings. But of late years another class or series oflapidary records has been particularly attracting the attention ofBritish antiquaries, --viz. , inscribed stones of a late Roman orpost-Roman period. The inscriptions on this latter class of stones arealmost always, if not always, sepulchral. The characteristically rudeletters in which they are written consist--in the earliest stones--ofdebased Roman capitals; and--in the latest--of the uncial or minusculeforms of letters which are used in the oldest English and Irishmanuscripts. Some stones show an intermixture of both alphabeticalcharacters. These "Romano-British" inscribed stones, as they have beenusually termed, have hitherto been found principally in Wales, inCornwall, and in West Devon. In the different parts of the WelshPrincipality, nearly one hundred, I believe, have already beendiscovered. In Scotland, which is so extremely rich in ancientsculptured stones, very few inscribed stones are as yet known; but if adue and diligent search be instituted, others, no doubt, will betimes bebrought to light. 

An inscribed Scottish stone of the class I allude to is situated in thecounty of Edinburgh, and has been long known under the name of theCat-stane or Battle-stone. Of its analogy with the earliest class ofRomano-British inscribed stones found in Wales, I was not fully awaretill I had an opportunity of examining last year, at the meeting of theCambrian Archæological Society, a valuable collection of rubbings anddrawings of these Welsh stones, brought forward by that excellentantiquary, Mr. Longueville Jones; and afterwards, _in situ_, one or twoof the stones themselves. I venture, in the following remarks, to directthe attention of the Society to the Cat-stane, partly in consequence ofthis belief in its analogy with the earliest Welsh inscribed stones;partly, also, in order to adduce an old and almost unknown descriptionof the Cat-stane, made in the last years of the seventeenth century, bya gentleman who was perhaps the greatest antiquary of his day; andpartly because I have a new conjecture to offer as to the historicalpersonage commemorated in the inscription, and, consequently, as to theprobable age of the inscription itself. 

_Site and Description of the Stone. _

The Cat-stane stands in the parish of Kirkliston, on the farm ofBriggs, [128] in a field on the north side of the road to Linlithgow, andbetween the sixth and seventh milestone from Edinburgh. It is placedwithin a hundred yards of the south bank of the Almond; nearlyhalf-a-mile below the Boathouse Bridge; and about three miles above theentrance of the stream into the Firth of Forth, at the old Roman stationof Cramond, or Caer Amond. The monument is located in nearly the middleof the base of a triangular fork of ground formed by the meeting of theGogar Water with the river Almond. The Gogar flows into the Almond aboutsix or seven hundred yards below the site of the Cat-stane. [129] Theground on which the Cat-stane stands is the beginning of a ridgeslightly elevated above the general level of the neighbouring fields. The stone itself consists of a massive unhewn block of the secondarygreenstone-trap of the district, many large boulders of which lie in thebed of the neighbouring river. In form it is somewhat prismatic, orirregularly triangular, with its angles very rounded. This largemonolith is nearly twelve feet in circumference, about four feet fiveinches in width, and three feet three inches in thickness. Its heightabove ground is about four feet and a half. The Honourable Mrs. Ramsayof Barnton, upon whose son's property the monument stands, very kindlygranted liberty, last year, for an examination by digging beneath andaround the stone. The accompanying woodcut is a copy of a sketch, madeat the time, by my friend Mr. Drummond, of the stone as exposed whenpursuing this search around its exposed basis. We found the stone to bea block seven feet three inches in total length, and nearly three feetburied in the soil. It was placed upon a basis of stones, formingapparently the remains of a built stone grave, which contained nobones[130] or other relics, and that had very evidently been alreadysearched and harried. I shall indeed have immediately occasion to cite apassage proving that a century and a half ago the present pillarstonewas surrounded, like some other ancient graves, by a circular range oflarge flat-laid stones; and when this outer circle was removed, --if notbefore, --the vicinity and base of the central pillar were very probablydug into and disturbed. 

[Illustration: Fig. 14. ]

_Different Readings of the Inscription. _

The inscription upon the stone is cut on the upper half of the easternand narrowest face of the triangular monolith. Various descriptions ofthe legend have been given by different authors. The latest publishedaccount of it is that given by Professor Daniel Wilson in his work on_Scottish Archæology_. He disposes of the stone and its inscription inthe two following short sentences:--"A few miles to the westward of thisis the oft-noted Catt Stane in Kirkliston parish, on which the painfulantiquary may yet decipher the imperfect and rudely-letteredinscription--the work, most probably, of much younger hands than thosethat reared the mass of dark whinstone on which it is cut--IN [H]OCTVMVLO IACET VETTA.. VICTR.. About sixty yards to the west of theCat-stane a large tumulus formerly stood, which was opened in 1824, andfound to contain several complete skeletons; but nearly all traces of ithave now disappeared. "[131]

In the tenth volume of the _Statistical Account of Scotland_, collectedby Sir John Sinclair, and published in 1794, the Rev. Mr. JohnMuckarsie, in giving an account of the parish of Kirkliston, alludes ina note to the "Cat-stane standing on the farm of that name in thisparish. " In describing it he observes "The form is an irregular prism, with the following inscription on the south-east face, deeply cut in thestone, in a most uncouth manner:--

 IN OC T VMVLO IACI VETTA D VICTA

We are informed, " continues Mr. Muckarsie, "by Buchanan and otherhistorians, that there was a bloody battle fought near this place, onthe banks of the Almond, in the year 995, between Kennethus, naturalbrother and commander of the forces of Malcolm II. , King of Scotland, and Constantine, the usurper of that crown, wherein both the generalswere killed. About two miles higher up the river, on the Bathgate road, is a circular mound of earth (of great antiquity, surrounded with largeunpolished stones, at a considerable distance from each other, evidentlyintended in memory of some remarkable event). The whole intermediatespace, from the human bones dug up, and graves of unpolished stonesdiscovered below the surface, seems to have been the scene of manybattles. "[132]

In the discourse which the Earl of Buchan gave in 1780 to a meetingcalled together for the establishment of the present Society of ScottishAntiquaries, his Lordship took occasion to allude to the Cat-stane whenwishing to point out how monuments, rude as they are, "lead us tocorrect the uncertain accounts which have been handed down by themonkish writers. " "Accounts, for example, have (he observes) been givenof various conflicts which took place towards the close of the tenthcentury between Constantine IV. And Malcolm, the general of the lawfulheir of the Scottish Crown, on the banks of the River Almond, anddecided towards its confluence to the sea, near Kirkliston. Accordingly, from Mid-Calder, anciently called Calder-comitis, to Kirkliston, thebanks of the river are filled with the skeletons of human bodies, andthe remains of warlike weapons; and opposite to Carlowrie there is awell-known stone near the margin of the river, called by the people_Catt Stane_. The following inscription was legible on the stone in thebeginning of this (the eighteenth) century; and the note of theinscription I received from the Rev. Mr. Charles Wilkie, minister of theparish of Ecclesmachan, whose father, Mr. John Wilkie, minister of theparish of Uphall, whilst in his younger days an inhabitant ofKirkliston, had carefully transcribed:--

 IN HOC TUM · JAC · CONSTAN · VIC · VICT·"[133]

Lord Buchan adduces this alleged copy of the Cat-stane inscription asvaluable from having been taken early in the last century. The copy ofthe inscription, though averred to be old, is, as we shall see in thesequel, doubtlessly most inaccurate. And there exist accounts of theinscription both older and infinitely more correct and trustworthy. 

The oldest and most important notice of the Cat-stane and itsinscription that I know of is published in a work where few would expectto find it--viz. , in the _Mona Antiqua Restaurata_ of the Rev. Mr. Rowlands. It is contained in a letter addressed to that gentleman by thedistinguished Welsh archæologist, Edward Lhwyd. The date of Mr. Lhwyd'sletter is "Sligo, March 12th, 1699-1700. " A short time previously he hadvisited Scotland, and "collected a considerable number of inscriptions. "At that time the Cat-stane was a larger and much more imposing monumentthan it is now, as shown in the following description of it. "Onemonument, " says he, "I met with within four miles of Edinburgh, different from all I had seen elsewhere, and never observed by theirantiquaries. I take it to be the tomb of some Pictish king; thoughsituate by a river side, remote enough from any church. It is an area ofabout seven yards diameter, raised a little above the rest of theground, and encompassed with large stones; all which stones are laidlength-wise, excepting one larger than ordinary, which is pitched onend, and contains this inscription in the barbarous characters of thefourth and fifth centuries, IN OC TUMULO JACIT VETTA F. VICTI. This thecommon people call the _Cat-Stene_, whence I suspect the person's namewas _Getus_, of which name I find three Pictish kings; for the namespronounced by the Britons with _G_, were written in Latin with _V_, aswe find by Gwyrtheyrn, Gwyrthefyr, and Gwythelyn, which were written inLatin Vortigernus, Vortimerus, and Vitelinus. "[134]

[Illustration: Fig. 15. ]

Besides writing the preceding note to Dr. Rowland regarding theCat-stane, Mr. Lhwyd, at the time of his visit, took a sketch of theinscription itself. In the _Philosophical Transactions_ for February1700, this sketch of the Cat-stane inscription was, with eight others, published by Dr. Musgrave, in a brief communication entitled, "AnAccount of some Roman, French, and Irish Inscriptions and Antiquities, lately found in Scotland and Ireland, by Mr. Edward Lhwyd, andcommunicated to the publisher from Mr. John Hicks of Trewithier, inCornwall. " The accompanying woodcut (Fig. 15) is an exact copy of Mr. Lhwyd's sketch, as published in the _Philosophical Transactions_. In thevery brief communication accompanying it, the Cat-stane is shortlydescribed as "A Pictish monument near Edinburgh, IN OC TUMULO JACIT VETAF. VICTI. This the common people call the Ket-stean; note that theBritish names beginning with the letter Gw began in Latin with V [andthe three examples given by Lhwyd in his letter to Dr. Rowland follow]. So I suppose (it is added) this person's name was Gweth or Geth, ofwhich name were divers kings of the Picts, whence the vulgar name ofKetstone. "[135]

In the course of the last century, notices or readings of the Cat-staneinscription, more or less similar to the account of it in the_Philosophical Transactions_, were published by different writers, asby Sir Robert Sibbald, in 1708, [136]--by Maitland, in 1753, [137]--byPennant, in his journey through Scotland in 1772, [138]--and by Gough, in1789, in the third volume of his edition of Camden's _Britannia_. [139]

All the four authors whom I have quoted agree as to the reading of theinscription, and give the two names mentioned in it, as VETTA and VICTI. But in printing the first of these names, VETTA, Maitland and Pennant, following perhaps the text in the _Philosophical Transactions_, carelessly spell it with a single instead of a double T; and Gough makesthe first vowel in VICTI an E instead of an I. Sir Robert Sibbald givesas a K the mutilated terminal letter in the third line, which Mr. Lhwyddeciphered as an F. Sibbald's account of the stone and its inscription, in 1708, is short but valuable, as affording an old independent readingof the legend. It is contained in his folio essay or work entitled, _Historical Inquiries Concerning the Roman Monuments and Antiquities inScotland_ (p. 50). "Close (says he) by Kirkliston water, upon the southside, there is a square pillar over against the Mannor of Carlowry withthis inscription:--

 IN OC TV MVLO IACIT VETTA K VICTI

This (Sibbald continues) seemeth to have been done in later times thanthe former inscriptions [viz. , those left in Scotland by the Romans]. Whether it be a Pictish monument or not is uncertain; the vulgar call itthe CAT _Stane_. "

Mr. Gough, when speaking of the stone in the latter part of the lastcentury, states that the inscription upon it was "not now legible. " Itis certainly still even sufficiently legible and entire to proveunmistakably the accuracy of the reading of it given upwards of acentury and a half ago by Lhwyd and Sibbald. The letters come out withspecial distinctness when examined with the morning sun shining on them;and indeed few ancient inscriptions in this country, not protected bybeing buried, are better preserved, --a circumstance owing principally tothe very hard and durable nature of the stone itself, and the depth towhich the letters have been originally cut. The accompanying woodcut istaken from a photograph of the stone by my friend Dr. Paterson, and veryfaithfully represents the inscription. The surface of the stone uponwhich the letters are carved has weathered and broken off in some parts;particularly towards the right-hand edge of the inscription. Thisprocess of disintegration has more or less affected the terminal lettersof the four lines of the inscriptions. Yet, out of the twenty-sixletters composing the legend, twenty are still comparatively entire andperfectly legible; four are more or less defective; and two nearlyobliterated. The two which are almost obliterated consist of the firstV in TVMVLO, constituting the terminal letter of the first line, and thelast vowel I, or rather, judging from the space it occupies, E in JACIT. A mere impress of the site of the bars of the V is faintly traceable bythe eye and finger, though the letter came out in the photograph. Onlyabout an inch of the middle portion of the upright bar of I or E inJACIT can be traced by sight or touch. In this same word, also, thelower part of the C and the cross stroke of the T is defective. But evenif the inscription had not been read when these letters were moreentire, such defects in particular letters are not assuredly of a kindto make any palæographer entertain a doubt as to the two words in whichthese defects occur being TVMVLO and JACIT. 

[Illustration: Fig. 16. The Cat-Stane, Kirkliston, _from a Photograph_. ]

The terminal letter in the third line[140] was already defective in thetime of Edward Lhwyd, as shown by the figure of it in his sketch. (Seewoodcut, No. 15. ) Sibbald prints it as a K, a letter without any attachablemeaning. Lhwyd read it as an F (followed apparently by a linear point orstop), and held it to signify--what F so often does signify in the commonestablished formula of these old inscriptions--F(ILIVS). The upright limbof this F appears still well cut and distinct; but the stone is muchhollowed out and destroyed immediately to the right, where the two crossbars of the letter should be. The site of the upper cross-bar of the letteris too much decayed and excavated to allow of any distinct recognition ofit. The site, however, of a small portion of the middle cross bar istraceable at the point where it is still united to and springs from theupright limb of the letter. Beyond, or to the right of this letter F, aline about half-an-inch long, forming possibly a terminal stop or pointof a linear type, commences on the level of the lower line of the letters, and runs obliquely upwards and outwards, till it is now lost above in theweathered and hollowed-out portion of stone. Its site is nearer theupright limb or basis of the F than it is represented to be in thesketch of Mr. Lhwyd, where it is figured as constituting a partlycontinuous extension downwards of the middle bar of the letter itself. And perhaps it is not a linear point, but more truly, as Lhwyd figuresit, the lower portion of a form of the middle bar of F, of an unusualthough not unknown type. The immediate descent or genealogy of thosewhom these Romano-British inscriptions commemorate is often given on thestones, but their status or profession is seldom mentioned. We haveexceptions in the case of one or two royal personages, as in the famousinscription in Anglesey to "CATAMANUS, REX SAPIENTISSIMUS OPINATISSIMUSOMNIUM REGUM. " The rank and office of priests are in several instancesalso commemorated with their names, as in the Kirkmadrine Stone inGalloway. In the churchyard of Llangian, in Caernarvonshire, there is astone with an ancient inscription written not horizontally, butvertically (as is the case with regard to most of the Cornish inscribedstones), and where MELUS, the son of MARTINUS, the person commemorated, is a physician--MEDICVS. But the inscription is much more interesting inregard to our present inquiry in another point. For--as the accompanyingwoodcut of the Llangian inscription shows--the F in the word FILI isvery much of the same type or form as the F seen by Lhwyd in theCat-stane, and drawn by him. (See his sketch in the preceding woodcut, Fig. 15. ) The context and position of this letter F in the Llangianlegend leaves no doubt of its true character. The form is old; Mr. Westwood considers the age of the Llangian inscription as "not laterthan the fifth century. "[141] An approach to the same form of F in thesame word FILI, is seen in an inscribed stone which formerly stood atPant y Polion in Wales, and is now removed to Dolan Cothy House. Again, in some instances, as in the Romano-British stones at Llandysilir, Clyddan, Llandyssul, etc. , where the F in Filius is tied to thesucceeding I, the conjoined letters present an appearance similar to theF on the Cat-stane as figured by Lhwyd. 

[Illustration]

While all competent authorities are nearly agreed as to the letteringand reading of the first three lines, latterly the terminal letter ofthe fourth or last line has given rise to some difference of opinion. Lhwyd, Sibbald, and Pennant, unhesitatingly read the whole last line asVICTI. Lhwyd, in his sketch of the inscription, further shows that, following the last I, there is a stop or point of a linear form. Theterminal I is three inches long, while the linear point or stopfollowing it is fully an inch in length. Between it and the terminal Iis a smooth space on the stone of five or six lines. Latterly thisterminal I, with its superadded linear point, has been supposed by Mr. Muckarsie to be an A, and by Dr. Wilson to be an R. Both suppositionsappear to me to be erroneous; and of this one or two considerationswill, I think, satisfy any cautious observer who will examine carefullyeither the stone itself, or the cast of the inscription that was made in1824--copies of which are placed in our own and in other museums. Mr. Muckarsie and Dr. Wilson hold the upright bar forming the letter I to bethe primary upright bar of an A or R; and they think the remainingportions of these letters to be indicated or formed by the linear stopfigured by Lhwyd. That the letter is not A, is shown by the bar beingquite perpendicular, and not oblique or slanting, as in the two otherA's in the inscription. Besides, the middle cross stroke of the A iswanting; and the second descending bar of the letter is quite deficientin length--a deficiency not explicable by mutilation from the weatheringof the stone, as the stone happens to be still perfectly entire both atthe uppermost and the lowest end of this bar or line. This last reasonis also in itself a strong if not a sufficient ground for rejecting theidea that the letter is an R; inasmuch as if it had been an R, the tailof the letter would have been found prolonged downwards to the base lineof the other letters in the word. For it is to be held in remembrance, that though the forms of the letters in this inscription are rude anddebased, yet they are all cut with firmness and fulness. 

The idea that the terminal letter of the inscription is an R seems stillmore objectionable in another point of view. To make it an R at all, wecan only suppose the disputed "line" to be the lowest portion of thesegment of the loop or semicircular head of the R. The line, which isabout an inch long, is straight, however, and not a part of a roundcurve or a circle, such as we know the mason who carved this inscriptioncould and did cut, as witnessed by his O's and C's. Besides, if thisstraight line had formed the lower segment of the semicircular loop orhead of an R, then the highest point of that R would have stood sodisproportionately elevated above the top line or level of the otherletters in this word, as altogether to oppose and differ from what wesee in the other parts of this inscription. This same reason bearsequally against another view which perhaps might be taken; namely, thatthe straight line in question is the tail or terminal right-hand strokeof the R, placed nearly horizontally, as is occasionally the form ofthis letter in some early inscriptions, like those of Yarrow andLlangian. But if this view be adopted, then the loop or semicircularhead of the R must be considered as still more disproportionatelydisplaced upwards above the common level of the top line; for in thisview the whole loop or head must have stood entirely above this straighthorizontal line, which line itself reaches above the middle height ofthe upright bar forming the I. Immediately above the horizontal line, for a space about an inch or more in depth, and some ten or twelveinches in length, there has been a weathering and chipping off of asplinter of the surface of the stone, as indicated by its commencementin an abrupt, curved, rugged edge above. This lesion or fracture of thestone has, I believe, originally given rise to the idea of the semblanceof this terminal letter of the inscription to an R. Probably, also, thisdisintegration is comparatively recent; for in the last century Lhwyd, Sibbald, Maitland, and Pennant, all unhesitatingly lay down the terminalletter as an I. But even if it were an A or an R, and not an I andhyphen point, this would not affect or alter the view which I will takein the sequel, that the last word in the inscription is a Latinised formof the surname VICTA or WECTA; as, amid the numberless modifications towhich the orthography of ancient names is subjected by our earlychroniclers, the historic name in question is spelled by Ethelwerd witha terminal R, --in one place as UUITHAR, and in another as WITHER. [142]Altogether, however, I feel assured that the more accurately we examinethe inscription as still left, and the more we take into considerationthe well-known caution and accuracy of Edward Lhwyd as an archæologist, the more do we feel assured that his reading of the Cat-stane legend, when he visited and copied it upwards of a hundred and sixty years agois strictly correct, viz. --

 IN OC TV MVLO JACIT VETTA F. VICTI. 

_Palæographic Peculiarities. _

The palæographic characters of the inscription scarcely require anycomment. As in most other Roman and Romano-British inscriptions, thewords run into each other without any intervening space to mark theirseparation. The letters all consist of debased Roman capitals. Theygenerally vary from two and a half to three inches in length; but the Oin the first line is only one and a half inch deep. The O in TVMVLO inthese ancient inscriptions is often, as in the Cat-stane, smaller thanthe other letters. M. Edmond Le Blant gives numerous marked instances ofthis peculiarity of the small O in the same words, "IN HoC TVMVLo, " inhis work on the early Romano-Gaulish inscriptions of France. [143] Mostof the letters in the Cat-stane inscription are pretty well formed, andfirmly though rudely cut. The oblique direction of the bottom stroke ofL in TVMVLO is a form of that letter often observable in other oldRomano-British inscriptions, as on the stone at Llanfaglan in Wales. TheM in the same word has its first and last strokes splaying outwardly; apeculiarity seen in many old Roman and Romano-British monuments--as isalso the tying together of this letter with the following V. In theRomano-British inscription upon the stone found at Yarrow, and which wasbrought under the notice of the Society by Dr. John Alexander Smith, there are three interments, as it were, recorded, the last of them inthese words;[144]

 ... HIC IACENT IN TVMVLO DVO FILI LIBERALI. 

The letters on this Yarrow stone are--with one doubtfulexception[145]--Roman capitals, of a ruder, and hence perhaps later, type than those cut on the Cat-stane; but the letters MV in TVMVLO aretied together in exactly the same way on the two stones. The omission ofthe aspirate in (H)OC, as seen on the Cat-stane, is by no means rare. The so-called bilingual, or Latin and Ogham, inscribed stone atLlanfechan, Wales, has upon it the Latin legend TRENACATVS IC JACETFILIVS MAGLAGNI--the aspirate being wanting in the word HIC. It iswanting also in the same way, and in the same word, in the inscriptionon the Maen Madoc stone, near Ystradfellte--viz. , DERVACI FILIVS IVLIIIC IACIT; and on the Turpillian stone near Crickhowel. In a stone, described by Mr. Westwood, and placed on the road from Brecon toMerthyr, the initial aspirate in "hoc" is not entirely dropped, but iscut in an uncial form, while all the other letters are Roman capitals;thus IN hOC TVMULO. 

Linear hyphen-like stops, such as Lhwyd represents at the end of thefourth, and probably also of the third line on the Cat-staneinscription, seem not to be very rare. In the remarkable inscription onthe Caerwys stone, now placed at Downing Whitford, "Here lies a good andnoble woman"--[146]

 HIC JACIT / MVLI ER BONA NOBILI(S)

an oblique linear point appears in the middle of the legend, after theword JACIT. The linear stop on the Cat-stane inscription, at the end ofthe fourth line, is, as already stated, fully an inch in length, but itis scarcely so deep as the cuts forming the letters; and the originalsurface of the stone at both ends of this terminal linear stop is veryperfect and sound, showing that the line was not extended either upwardsor downwards into any form of letter. Straight or hyphen lines, at theend both of words--especially of the proper names--and of the wholeinscriptions, have been found on various Romano-British stones, as onthose of Margan (the Naen Llythyrog), Stackpole, and Clydau, and havebeen supposed to be the letter I, placed horizontally, while all theother letters in these inscriptions are placed perpendicularly. Is itnot more probable that they are merely points? Or do they not sometimes, like tied letters, represent both an I and a stop?

WHO IS COMMEMORATED IN THE CAT-STANE INSCRIPTION?

In the account which Mr. George Chalmers gives of the Antiquities ofLinlithgowshire in his _Caledonia_, there is no notice of theinscription on the Cat-stane taken; but, with a degree of vagueness ofwhich this author is seldom guilty, he remarks, that this monolith "iscertainly a memorial of some conflict and of _some_ person. "[147]

Is it not possible, however, to obtain a more definite idea of theperson who is named on the stone, and in commemoration of whom it wasraised?

In the extracts that have been already given, it has been suggested, bydifferent writers whom I have cited, that the Cat-stane commemorates aScottish king, Constantine IV. , or a Pictish king, Geth. Let us firstexamine into the probability of these two suggestions. 

1. CONSTANTINE?--In the olden lists of our Scottish kings, four KingConstantines occur. The Cat-stane has been imagined by Lord Buchan andMr. Muckarsie to have been raised in memory of the last of these--viz. , of Constantine IV. , who fell in a battle believed by these writers tohave been fought on this ground in the last years of the tenth century, or about A. D. 995. In the _New Statistical Account of Scotland_, theReverend Mr. Tait, the present minister of Kirkliston, farther speaks ofthe "Catstean (as) supposed to be a corruption of Constantine, and tohave been erected to the honour of Constantine, one of the commanders inthe same engagement, who was there slain and interred. "[148]

In the year 970 the Scottish king Culen died, having been "killed(according to the Ulster Annals), by the Britons in open battle;" and inA. D. 994, his successor, Kenneth MacMalcolm, the founder of Brechin, wasslain. [149] Constantine, the son of Culen, reigned for the next yearand a half, and fell in a battle for the crown fought between him andKenneth, the son of Malcolm I. The site of this battle was, according tomost of our ancient authorities, on the Almond. There are two rivers ofthis name in Scotland, one in Perthshire and the other in the Lothians. George Chalmers places the site of the battle in which Constantine fellon the Almond in Perthshire; Fordun, Boece, and Buchanan place it on theAlmond in the Lothians, upon the banks of which the Cat-stane stands. The battle was fought, to borrow the words of the Scotichronicon, "inLaudonia juxta ripam amnis Almond. "[150] _The Chronicle of Melrose_gives (p. 226) the "Avon"--the name of another large stream in theLothians--as the river that was the site of the battle in question. Wynton (vol. I. P. 182) speaks of it as the "Awyne. " Bishop Leslietransfers this same fight to the banks of the Annan in Dumfriesshire, describing it as having occurred during an invasion of Cumbria, "adAnnandiæ amnis ostia. "[151]

Among the authorities who speak of this battle or of the fall ofConstantine, some describe these events as having occurred at thesource, others at the mouth of the Almond or Avon. Thus the ancientrhyming chronicle, cited in the Scotichronicon, gives the locality ofConstantine's fall as "ad caput amnis Amond. "[152] _The Chronicle ofMelrose_, when entering the fall of "Constantinus Calwus, " quotes thesame lines, with such modifications as follows:[153]--

 "Rex Constantinus, Culeno filius ortus, Ad caput amnis Avon ense peremtus erat, In Tegalere; regens uno rex et semis annis, Ipsum Kinedus Malcolomida ferit. "

Wyntown cites the two first of these Latin lines, changing, as I havesaid, the name of the river to Awyne, almost, apparently, for thepurpose of getting a vernacular rhyme, and then himself tells us, that

 "At the Wattyr hed of Awyne, The King Gryme slwe this Constantyne. "[154]

If the word "Tegalere" in the _Melrose Chronicle_ be a truereading, [155] and the locality could be identified under the same or asimilar derivative name, the site of the battle might be fixed, and thepoint ascertained whether it took place, as the preceding authoritiesaver, at the source, "water-head" or "caput" of the river; or, asHector, Boece and George Buchanan[156] describe it, at its mouth orentrance into the Forth at Cramond; "ad Amundæ amnis ostia tribuspassuum millibus ab Edinburgo. "[157] A far older and far more valuableauthority than either Boece or Buchanan, namely, the collector of thelist of the Scottish and Pictish kings, extracted by Sir Robert Sibbaldfrom the now lost register of the Priory of St. Andrews, [158] seems alsoto place the death of King Constantine at the mouth of the Almond, if weinterpret aright the entry in it of "interfectus in Rathveramoen" asmeaning "Rath Inver Amoen, "--the rath or earth-fortress at the mouthof the Amoen. [159]

Even, however, were it allowed that the battle in which Constantineperished was fought upon the Almond, and not upon the Avon, on thestream of the former name in the Lothians and not in Perthshire, at themouth and not at the source of the river, there still, after all, remains no evidence whatever that the Cat-stane was raised incommemoration of the fall of the Scottish king; whilst there is abundantevidence to the contrary. The very word "Inver, " in the last of thedesignations which I have adduced, is strongly against this idea. Forthe term "Inver, " when applied to a locality on a stream, almostinvariably means the mouth of it, [160] and not a site on itscourse--such as the Cat-stane occupies--three miles above itsconfluence. Nor is there any probability that an inscribed monumentwould be raised in honour of a king who, like Constantine, fell in acivil war, --who was the last of his own branch of the royal house thatreigned, --and was distinguished, as the ancient chroniclers tell us, bythe contemptuous appellation of _Calvus_. There is great reason, indeed, to believe that the idea of the Cat-stane being connected with the fallof Constantine is comparatively modern in its origin. Oral traditionsometimes creates written history; but, on the other hand, writtenhistory sometimes creates oral tradition. And in the present instance aknowledge of the statements of our ancient historians in all probabilitygave rise to such attempts as that of Mr. Wilkie--to find, namely, adirect record of Constantine in the Cat-stane inscription. But when wecompare the inscription itself, as read a century and a half ago byLhwyd and Sibbald, and as capable of being still read at the presentday, with the edition of it as given by Lord Buchan, it is impossiblenot to conclude that the idea of connecting the legend with the name ofConstantine is totally without foundation. For, besides minor errors inpunctuation and letterings, such as the total omission in Lord Buchan'scopy of the inscription of the three last letters VLO of "TVMVLO, " thechanging of VETTA to VIC, etc. , we have the two terminal letters ofJACIT--viz. The IT, changed into the seven-lettered word CONSTAN, apparently with no object but the support of a theory as to the personcommemorated in the legend and the monolith. Most assuredly there is notthe very slightest trace of any letters on the surface of the stonewhere the chief part of the word CONSTAN is represented asexisting--viz. , after JACIT. It would be difficult, perhaps, to adduce acase of more flagrant incorrectness in copying an inscription than Mr. Wilkie's and Lord Buchan's reading of the Cat-stane legend affords. Mr. Gough, in his edition of Camden's _Britannia_ (1784), only aggravatesthis misrepresentation. For whilst he incorrectly states that theinscription is "not now legible, " he carelessly changes Mr. Wilkie'salleged copy of the leading word from CONSTAN to CONSTANTIE, andsuppresses altogether the word VIC. 

GETUS, GWETH, or GETH?--I have already cited Mr. Lhwyd's conjecture thatthe Cat-stane is "the tomb of some Pictish King, " and the opinionexpressed by him and Mr. Hicks, that taking the V in the Latin VETTA ofthe inscription as equal to the Pictish letters G or Gw, the name of thePictish king commemorated by the stone was Getus, "of which name, "observes Mr. Lhwyd, "I find three Pictish kings. " In the analogousaccount sent by Mr. Hicks to the _Philosophical Transactions_ along withMr. Lhwyd's sketch of the Cat-stane, it is stated that the person's nameon "this Pictish monument" was Gweth or Geth, "of which name, " it isadded, "were divers kings of the Picts, whence the vulgar name ofKetstone. "

It is unnecessary to stop and comment on the unsoundness of thisreasoning, and the improbability--both as to the initial and terminalletters--of the surname VETTA in this Latin inscription being similar tothe Pictish surname Geth or GETUS, as Lhwyd himself gives and writes itin its Latin form. Among the lists of the Pictish kings, whilst we haveseveral names beginning with G, we have some also commencing in theLatinised forms of the Chronicles with V, as Vist, Vere, Vipoignamet, etc. 

But a much more important objection exists against the conjecture of Mr. Lhwyd, in the fact that his memory had altogether misled him as to therehaving been "three" Pictish kings of the name of "Getus, " or "diverskings of the Picts of the names of Geth or Gweth, " to use the wordsemployed in the _Philosophical Transactions_. 

Lists, more or less complete, of the Pictish kings have been found inthe Histories of Fordun and Winton, in the pages of the Scalacronica andChronicles of Tighernach, in the Irish copy of Nennius, in the extractspublished by Sir Robert Sibbald and Father Innes from the lost Registerof St. Andrews, and in the old Chronicum Regum Pictorum, supposed to bewritten about A. D. 1020, and preserved in the Colbertine Library. 

None of these lists include a Pictish king of the name of Getus, Geat, or Gweth. Some of the authorities--as the Register of St. Andrews, Fordun, and Winton--enter as the second king of the Picts Ghede or Gede, the Gilgidi of the _Chronicum Regum Pictorum_; and this latter chroniclecontains in its more mythical and earlier part the appellations Got, Gedeol, Guidid, and Brude-Guith; but none of these surnames sufficientlycorrespond either to Mr. Lhwyd's statement or to the requirements of theinscription. 

But whilst thus setting aside the conjectures as to the Cat-stanecommemorating the name of a Scottish King Constantine, or of a PictishKing Geth, I would further remark that the surname in the inscription, namely--VETTA FILIUS VICTI--is one which appears to me to be capable ofanother and a more probable solution. With this view let us proceed thento inquire who was

VETTA, _the son_ of VICTUS?

And _first_, I would beg to remark, that the word Vetta is still toodistinct upon the Cat-stane to allow of any doubt as to the mere name ofthe person commemorated in the inscription upon it. 

_Secondly_, The name of Vetta, or, to spell the word in its more commonSaxon forms, Wetta or Witta, is a Teutonic surname. To speak moredefinitely, it pertains to the class of surnames which characterisedthese so-called Saxon or Anglo-Saxon invaders of our island, and alliedGermanic tribes, who overran Britain upon the decline of the Romandominion amongst us. 

Bede speaks, as is well known, of our original Teutonic conquerors inthe fifth century as coming from three powerful tribes of Germany;namely, the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. "Advenerant autem de tribusGermaniæ populis fortioribus, id est, Saxonibus, Anglis, Jutis" (lib. I. C. 20). [161] Ubo Emmius, in his _History of the Frisians_, maintainsthat "more colonies from Friesland than Saxony, settled in Briton, whether under the names of Jutes, or of Angles, or later of theSaxons. "[162] Procopius, who lived nearly two centuries before Bede, andhad access to good means of information from being the secretary of theEmperor Belisarius, states that at the time of his writing (about A. D. 548) three numerous nations possessed Britain, the Angles and Frisians([Greek: Angeloi te kai phrissones]), and those surnamed, from theIsland, Brittones. [163] Modern Friesland seems to have yielded aconsiderable number of our Teutonic invaders and colonists; and it is inthat isolated country that we find, at all events, the characteristicsand language of our Teutonic forefathers best preserved. In his _Historyof England during the Anglo-Saxon Period_, the late Sir Francis Palgraveremarks, "The tribes by whom Britain was invaded, appear principally tohave proceeded from the country now called Friesland. Of all thecontinental dialects (he adds), the ancient Frisick is the one whichapproaches most nearly to the Anglo-Saxon of our ancestors. "[164] "Thenearest approach, " according to Dr. Latham, "to our genuine and typicalGerman or Anglo-Saxon forefathers, is not to be found within the fourseas of Britain, but in the present Frisian or Friesland. "[165] Atpresent, about one hundred thousand inhabitants of Friesland speak theancient or Country-Friesic, a language unintelligible to the surroundingDutch, but which remains still nearly allied to the old Anglo-Saxon ofEngland. Some even of their modern surnames are repetitions of the mostancient Anglo-Saxon surnames in our island, and, among others, stillinclude that of Vetta or Witta; thus showing its Teutonic origin. Indiscussing the great analogies between ancient Anglo-Saxon and modernFriesic, Dr. Bosworth, the learned Professor of Anglo-Saxon Literatureat Oxford, incidentally remarks, "I cannot omit to mention that theleaders of the Anglo-Saxons bear names which are now in use by theFriesians, though by time a little altered or abbreviated. They haveHorste, Hengst, WITTE, Wiggele, etc. , for the Anglo-Saxon Horsa, Hengist, WITTA, Wightgil, etc. "[166]

But Witta or Vetta was not a common name among our more leadingAnglo-Saxon forefathers. Among the many historical surnames occurring inancient Saxon annals and English chronicles, the name of Vetta, as faras I know, only occurs twice or thrice. 

I. It is to be found in the ancient Saxon poem of _The Scop_, or_Traveller's Tale_, where, among a list of numerous kings and warriors, Vetta or Witta is mentioned as having ruled the Swaefs--

 "Witta weold Swæfum. "[167]

The Swaefs or Suevi were originally, as we know from classical writers, a German tribe, or confederacy of tribes, located eastward of the oldAngles; and Ptolemy indeed includes these Angles as a branch of theSuevi. But possibly the Swaefs ruled by Wittan, and mentioned in _TheScop_ in the preceding line, and in others (see lines 89 and 123), werea colony from this tribe settled in England. 

II. In the list of the ancient Anglo-Saxon Bishops of Lichfield, givenby Florence of Worcester, the name "Huita" occurs as tenth on theroll. [168] Under the year 737, Simeon of Durham enters the consecrationof this bishop, spelling his name as Hweicca and Hweitta. [169] In a noteappended to Florence's Chronicle, under the year 775, his death isrecorded, and his name given as Witta. [170]

III. The name Vetta occupies a constant and conspicuous place in thelineage of Hengist and Horsa, as given by Bede, Nennius, the SaxonChronicle, etc. In the list of their pedigree, Vetta or Witta is alwaysrepresented as the grandfather of the Teutonic brothers. 

The inscription on the Cat-stane further affords, however, a mostimportant _additional element_ or criterion for ascertaining theparticular Vetta in memory of whom it was raised; for it records thename of his father, Victus or Victa. And in relation to the presentinquiry, it is alike interesting and important to find that in thegenealogy given by our ancient chronicles of the predecessors of Hengistand Horsa, whilst Vetta is recorded as their grandfather, Victi or Wectais, with equal constancy, represented as their great-grandfather. Theold lapidary writing on the Cat-stane describes the Vetta for whom thatmonument was raised as the son of Vecta; and the old parchment and paperwritings of our earliest chroniclers invariably describe the samerelationship between the Vetta and Victa of the forefathers of Hengistand Horsa. Thus Bede, when describing the invasion of England by theGerman tribes in the time of Vortigern, states that their "leaders weretwo brothers, Hengist and Horsa, who were the sons of Victgils, whosefather was Vitta, whose father was Vecta, whose father was Woden, fromwhose stock the royal race of many provinces deduces its origin, " "Erantautem filii Victgilsi, cujus pater Vitta, cujus pater Vecta, cujus paterVoden, de cujus stirpe multarum provinciarum regum genus originemduxit. "[171] In accordance with a common peculiarity in his orthographyof proper names, and owing also, perhaps, to the character of theNorthumbrian dialect of the Anglo-Saxon tongue, Bede spells thepreceding and other similar surnames with an initial V, while by mostother Anglo-Saxon chroniclers, and in most other Anglo-Saxon dialects, the surnames are made to commence with a W. Thus, the Vilfrid, Valchstod, Venta, etc. , of Bede, [172] form the Wilfrid, Walchstod, Wenta(Winchester), etc. , of other Saxon writers. In this respect Bede adheresso far to the classic Roman standard in the spelling of proper names. Thus, for example, the Isle of Wight, which was written as Wecta by theSaxons, is the Vecta and Vectis of Ptolemy and Eutropius, and the Vectaalso of Bede; and the name Venta, just now referred to as spelled so byBede, is also the old Roman form of spelling that word, as seen in the_Itinerary_ of Antonine. 

The _Saxon Chronicle_ gives the details of the first advent of theSaxons under Hengist and Horsa in so nearly the same words as the_Historia Ecclesiastica_, as to leave no doubt that this, like manyother passages in the earlier parts of the _Saxon Chronicle_, were meretranslations of the statements of Bede. But most copies of the _SaxonChronicle_ were written in the dialect of the West Saxons, and, consequently, under A. D. 449, they commence the surnames in the pedigreeof our Saxon invaders with a W, --as Wightgils, Witta, Wecta, etc. ;telling us that Hengist and Horsa, "waeron Wihtgilses suna, Wihtgilswaes Witting, Witta Wecting, Wecta Wodning, " etc. 

Ethelwerd, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman, who himself claimed to be adescendant of the royal stock of Woden, has left us a Latin history orChronicle, "nearly the whole of which is an abridged translation of the_Saxon Chronicle_, with a few trivial alterations and additions. "[173]In retranslating back into Latin, the Anglo-Saxon names in the genealogyof Hengist and Horsa, he makes the Wecta of the _Saxon Chronicle_ endwith an R, --a matter principally of interest because, as we have alreadyseen, some have supposed the corresponding name in the Cat-stane toterminate with an R. Speaking of Hengist as leader of the Angles[174]Ethelwerd describes his pedigree thus:--"Cujus pater fuit Wihtgels avusWicta; proavus WITHER, atavus Wothen, " etc. In a previous page, [175] thesame author tells us that "Hengest et Horsa filii Uuyrhtelsi, avus eorumUuicta, et proavus eorum Uuithar, atavus eorum Uuothen, qui est rexmultitudinis barbarorum. "

In the preceding paragraphs we find the same authors, or at least thescribes who copied their writings, spelling the same names in verydiverse ways. All know how very various, and sometimes almost endless, is the orthography of proper nouns and names among our ancientchroniclers, and among our mediæval writers and clerks also. Thus LordLindsay, in his admirable _Lives of the Lindsays_, gives examples ofabove a hundred different ways in which he has found his own family namespelled. In the _Historia Britonum_, usually attributed to Nennius, thepedigree of the Saxon invaders of Kent is given at greater length thanby Bede; for it is traced back four or five generations beyondWoden[176] up to Geat, and the spelling of the four races from Woden toHengist and Horsa is varied according to the Celtic standard oforthography, as cited already from Edward Lhwyd--namely, the Latin andSaxon initials V and W are changed to the Cymric or British G, or GU. Inthe same way, the Isle of Wight, "Vecta" or "Wecta, " is spelled inNennius "Guith" and "Guied;" Venta (Winchester) is written Guincestra;Vortigernus, Guorthigernus; Wuffa, king of the east Angles, Guffa; etc. Etc. In only one, as far as I am aware, of the old manuscript copies ofthe _Historia Britonum_, is the pedigree of Hengist and Horsa spelled asit is by Bede and all the Saxon writers, with an initial V or W, asWictgils, Witta, Wecta, and Woden. This copy belongs to the RoyalLibrary in Paris, and the orthography alone sufficiently determines itto have been made by an Anglo-Saxon scribe or editor. Of sometwenty-five or thirty other known manuscripts of the same work, most, ifnot all, spell the ancestors of Hengist with the initial Keltic GU, --as"Guictgils, Guitta, Guechta"--one, among other arguments, for the beliefthat the original and most ancient part of this composite _Historia_ waspenned, if not, as asserted in many of the copies, by Gildas, aStrathclyde Briton, at least by a British or Cymric hand. The accountgiven in the work of the arrival of the Saxons is as follows:--"Intereavenerunt tres ciulæ a Germania expulsæ in exilio, in quibus erant Horset Hengist, qui et ipsi fratres erant, filii Guictgils, filii Guitta, filii Guechta, filii Vuoden, filii Frealaf, filii Fredulf, filii Finn, filii Folcwald, filii Geta, qui fuit, aiunt filius Dei. Non ipse estDeus Deorum Amen, Deus exercitum, sed unus est ab idolis eorum quæ ipsicolebant. "[177] In this pedigree of the ancestors of Hengist and Horsa, it is deserving of remark that Woden, from whom the various Anglo-Saxonkings of England, and other kings of the north-west of Europe generallyclaimed their royal descent, is entered as a historical personage, living (according to the usual reckoning applied to genealogies) aboutthe beginning of the third century, and who could count his descent backto Geat; while the Irish and other authorities affect to trace hispedigree for some generations even beyond this last-named ancestor. [178]According to Mallet, the true name of this great conqueror and ruler ofthe north-western tribes of Europe was "Sigge, son of Fridulph; but heassumed the name of Odin, who was the supreme god among the Teutonicnations, either to pass, among his followers, for a man inspired by thegods, or because he was chief priest, and presided over the worshippaid to that deity. "[179] In his conquering progress towards thenorth-west of Europe, he subdued, continues Mallet, "all the people hefound in his passage, giving them to one or other of his sons forsubjects. Many sovereign families (he adds) of the north are said to bedescended from those princes. " And Hengist and Horsa were thus, as wasmany centuries ago observed by William of Malmesbury, "thegreat-great-grandsons of that Woden from whom the royal families ofalmost all the barbarous nations derive their lineage, and to whom theAngles have consecrated the fourth day of the week (Wodens-day), and thesixth unto his wife Frea (Frey-day), by a sacrilege which lasts even _tothis time_. "[180]

Henry of Huntingdon, in his _Historiæ Anglorum_, gives the pedigree ofHengist and Horsa according to the list which he found in Nennius; buthe changes back the spelling to the Saxon form. They were, he says, "Filii Widgils, filii Wecta, filii Vecta, filii Woden, filii Frealof, filii Fredulf, filii Fin, filii Flocwald, filii Ieta (Geta). " Florenceof Worcester follows the shorter genealogy of Bede, giving in his textthe names of the ancestors of Hengist and Horsa as Wictgils, Witta, andWecta; and in his table of the pedigrees of the kings of Kent spellingthese same names Wihtgils, Witta, and Wehta. [181]

In giving the ancient genealogy of Hengist and Horsa, we thus find ourold chroniclers speaking of their grandfather under the variousorthographic forms of Guitta, Uuicta, Witta, Vitta; and theirgreat-grandfather as Guechta, Uuethar, Wither, Wechta, Wecta, and Vecta. In the Cat-stane inscription the last--Vecta or Victa--is placed in thegenitive, and construed as a noun of the second declension, whilst Vettaretains, as a nominative, its original Saxon form. The older chroniclersfrequently alter the Saxon surnames in this way. Thus, Horsa issometimes made, like Victa, a noun of the second declension, inconjunction with the use of Hengist, Vortimer, etc. , as unalterednominatives. Thus, Nennius tells us, [182] "Guortemor cum Hengist etHorso ... Pugnabat. " (cap. Xlvi. ) According to Henry of Huntingdon, "Gortimer ... Ex obliquo aciem Horsi desrupit, " etc. (Lib. Ii. )

The double and distinctive name of "Vetta filius Victa, " occurring, asit thus does, in the lineage of Hengist and Horsa, as given both (1) inour oldest written chronicles and (2) in the old inscription carved uponthe Cat-stane, is in itself a strong argument for the belief that thesame personage is indicated in these two distinct varieties of ancientlettered documents. This inference, however, becomes still stronger whenwe consider the rarity of the appellation Vetta, and the greatimprobability of there having ever existed two historic individuals ofthis name both of them the sons of two Victas. But still, it must beconfessed, various arguments naturally spring up in the mind against theidea that in the Cat-stane we have a memorial of the grandfather ofHengist and Horsa. Let us look at some of these reasons, and considertheir force and bearing. 

_Some Objections considered. _

Perhaps, as one of the first objections, I should notice the doubtswhich some writers have expressed as to such leaders as Hengist andHorsa having ever existed, and as to the correctness, therefore, of thatgenealogy of the Saxon kings of Kent in which Hengist and Horsa areincluded. [183]

The two most ancient lists of that lineage exist, as is well known, inthe "Historia Britonum" of Gildas or Nennius, and in the "HistoriaEcclesiastica" of Bede. 

The former of these genealogical lists differs from the latter in beingmuch longer, and in carrying the pedigree several generations beyond thegreat Teutonic leader Woden, backwards to his eastern forefather, Geat, whom Mr. Kemble and others hold to have been probably the hero Woden, whose semi-divine memory the northern tribes worshipped. Bothgenealogical lists agree in all their main particulars back toWoden--and so far corroborate the accuracy of each other. Whence theoriginal author of the _Historia Britonum_ derived his list, is asunknown as the original authorship of the work itself. Some of Bede'ssources of information are alluded to by himself. Albinus, Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, and Nothhelm, afterwards Archbishop ofCanterbury, "appear, " observes Mr. Stevenson, "to have furnished Bedewith chronicles in which he found accurate and full information uponthe pedigrees, accessions, marriages, exploits, descendants, deaths andburials of the kings of Kent. "[184] That the genealogical list itself iscomparatively accurate, there are not wanting strong reasons forbelieving. The kings of the different seven or eight small Anglo-Saxonkingdoms of England all claimed--as the very condition and charter oftheir regality--a direct descent from Woden, through one or other of hisseveral sons. To be a king among our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, it wasnecessary, and indeed indispensable, both to be a descendant of Woden, and to be able to prove this descent. The chronicles of most ancientpeople, as the Jews, Irish, Scots, etc. , show us how carefully thepedigree of their royal and noble families was anciently kept andretained. And surely there is no great wonder in the Saxon kings of Kentkeeping up faithfully a knowledge of their pedigree--say from Bede'stime, backwards, through the nine or ten generations up to Hengist, orthe additional four generations up to Woden. The wonder would perhapshave been much greater if they had omitted to keep up a knowledge, bytradition, poems, or chronicles, of a pedigree upon which they, and theother kings of the Saxon heptarchy, rested and founded--as descendantsof Woden--their whole title to royalty, and their claim and charter totheir respective thrones. [185]

But a stronger objection against the idea of the Cat-stane being amonument to the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa rises up in thequestion, --Is there any proof or probability that an ancestor of Hengistand Horsa fought and fell in this northern part of the island, twogenerations before the arrival of these brothers in Kent?

It is now generally allowed, by our best historians, that before thearrival of Hengist and Horsa in Kent, Britain was well known at least tothe Saxons and Frisians, and other allied Teutonic tribes. 

Perhaps from a very early period the shores and comparative riches ofour island were known to the Teutons or Germans inhabiting the oppositecontinental coast. "It seems hardly conceivable, " observes Mr. Kemble, "that Frisians who occupied the coast (of modern Holland) as early asthe time of Cæsar, should not have found their way to Britain. "[186] Weknow from an incident referred to by Tacitus, in his Life of Agricola, that at all events the passage in the opposite direction from Britain tothe north-west shores of the Continent was accidentally revealed--ifnot, indeed, known long before--during the first years of the Romanconquest of Scotland. For Tacitus tells us that in A. D. 83 a cohort ofUsipians, raised in Germany, and belonging to Agricola's army, havingseized some Roman vessels, sailed across the German Ocean, and wereseized as pirates, first by the Suevi and afterwards by the Frisians(_Vita Agricolæ_, xlv. 2, and xlvi. 2). In Agricola's Scottish armythere were other Teutonic or German conscripts. According to Tacitus, atthe battle of the Mons Grampius three cohorts of Batavians and twocohorts of Tungrians specially distinguished themselves in the defeat ofthe Caledonian army. Various inscriptions by these Tungrian cohorts havebeen dug up at Cramond, and at stations along the two Roman walls, as atCastlecary and Housesteads. At Manchester, a cohort of Frisians seems tohave been located during nearly the whole era of the Romandominion. [187] Another cohort of Frisian auxiliaries seems, according toHorsley, to have been stationed at Bowess in Richmondshire. [188]Teutonic officers were occasionally attached to other Roman corps thanthose of their own countrymen. A Frisian citizen, for example, was inthe list of officers of the Thracian cavalry at Cirencester. [189] Thecelebrated Carausius, himself a Menapian, and hence probably of Teutonicorigin, was, before he assumed the emperorship of Britain, appointed bythe Roman authorities admiral of the fleet which they had collected forthe purpose of repressing the incursions of the Franks, Saxons, andother piratical tribes, who at that date (A. D. 287) ravaged the shoresof Britain and Gaul. [190]

In the famous Roman document termed "Notitia utriusque Imperii, " thefact that there were Saxon settlers in England before the arrival ofHengist and Horsa seems settled, by the appointment of a "Comes LittorisSaxonici in Britannica. "[191] The date of this official and imperialRoman document is fixed by Gibbon between A. D. 395 and 407. About fortyyears earlier we have--what is more to our present purpose--a notice byAmmianus Marcellinus of Saxons being leagued with the Picts and Scots, and invading the territories south of the Forth, which were held by theRomans and their conquered allies and dependants--the Britons. 

To understand properly the remarks of Ammianus, it is necessary toremember that the two great divisional military walls which the Romanserected in Britain, stretched, as is well known, entirely across theisland--the most northerly from the Forth to the Clyde, and the secondand stronger from the Tyne to the Solway. The large tract of countrylying between these two military walls formed from time to time aregion, the possession of which seems to have been debated between theRomans and the more northerly tribes; the Romans generally holding thecountry up to the northern wall or beyond it, and occasionally beingapparently content with the southern wall as the boundary of theirempire. 

About the year A. D. 369, the Roman general Theodosius, the father of thefuture emperor of the same name, having collected a disciplined army inthe south, marched northward from London, and after a time conquered, orrather reconquered, the debateable region between the two walls; erectedit into a fifth British province, which he named "Valentia, " in honourof Valens, the reigning emperor; and garrisoned and fortified theborders (_limites_ que vigiliis tuebatur et praetenturis). [192] Thenotices which the excellent contemporary historian, AmmianusMarcellinus, has left us of the state of this part of Britain during theten years of active rebellion and war preceding this erection of theprovince of Valentia are certainly very brief, but yet very interesting. Under the year 360, he states that "In Britain, the stipulated peacebeing broken, the incursions of the Scots and Picts, fierce nations, laid waste the grounds lying next to the boundaries (loca _limitibus_vicina vastarent). " "These grounds were, " says Pinkerton, "surely thoseof the future province of Valentia. "[193] Four years subsequently, or in364, Ammianus again alludes to the Britons being vexed by continuedattacks from the same tribes, namely the Picts and Scots, but hedescribes these last as now assisted by, or leagued with, the Attacotsand with the _Saxons_--"Picti, SAXONESQUE, et Scotti, et Attacotti, Britannos aerumnis vexavere continuis. " Again, under the year 368, healludes to the Scots and Attacots still ravaging many parts; but now, instead of speaking of them as leagued with the Picts and Saxons, hedescribes them as combined with the Picts, divided into two nations, theDicaledonæ and Vecturiones:--"Eo tempore Picti in duas gentes divisi, Diacaledonæ et Vecturiones, itidemque Attacotti, bellicosa hominumnatio, et Scotti per diversa vagantes, multa populabuntur. "

In both of these two last notices for the years 364 and 368, theinvaders are described as consisting of four different tribes. The Scotsand Attacots are mentioned under these appellations in both. But whilst, in the notice for 364, the two remaining assailants are spoken of asPicts and Saxons (Picti, Saxonesque), in the notice for 368 theremaining assailants are described as the "Picts, divided into theDicaledonæ and Vecturiones. " Is it possible that the Saxon allies werenow amalgamated with the Picts, and that they assumed the name ofVecturiones after their leader Vetta or Vecta? The idea, at all events, of naming nations patronymically from their leaders or founders wascommon in ancient times, though the correctness of some of the instancesadduced is more than doubtful. Early Greek and Roman history is full ofsuch alleged examples; as the Trojans from Tros; the Achæans fromAchæus; the Æolians from Æolus; the Peloponnesians from Pelops; theDorians from Dorus; the Romans from Romulus, etc. Etc. ; and so is ourown. The Scots from Ireland are, observes Bede, named to this dayDalreudins (Dalriads), from their commander Reuda. [194] The Irishcalled (according to some ancient authorities) the Picts "Cruithne, "after their alleged first king, Crudne or Cruthne. In a still moreapocryphal spirit the word Britons was averred by some of the olderchroniclers to be derived from a leader, Brito--"Britones Bruto dicti, "to use the expression of Nennius(§ 18); Scots from Scota "Scoti exScota, " in the words of the (_Chronicon Rythmicum_), etc. 

The practice of eponymes was known also, and followed to some extentamong the Teutonic tribes, both in regard to royal races and wholenations. The kings of Kent were known as Aescingas, from Aesc, the sonof Hengist;[195] those of East Anglia were designated Wuffingas, afterWuffa ("Uffa, a quo reges Orientalium Anglorum Vuffingusappellant"[196]). In some one or other of his forms, Woden (observes Mr. Kemble) "is the eponymus of tribes and races. Thus, as Geat, or throughGeat, he was the founder of the Geatas; through Gewis, of the Gewissas;through Scyld, of the Scyldingas, the Norse Skjoldungar; through Brand, of the Brodingas; perhaps, through Baetwa, of the Batavians. "[197] Itcould therefore scarcely be regarded as very exceptional at least, ifVetta, one of the grandsons of Woden, should have given, in the sameway, his name to a combined tribe of Saxons and Picts, over whom he hadbeen elected as leader. [198]

That a Saxon force, like that mentioned by Ammianus as being joined tothe Picts and Scots in A. D. 364, was led by an ancestor of Hengist andHorsa is quite in accordance with all that is known of Saxon laws andcustoms. As in some other nations, the leaders and kings were generally, if not always, selected from their royal stock. "Descent" (observes Mr. Kemble) "from Heracles was to the Spartans what descent from Woden wasto the Saxons--_the_ condition of royalty. "[199] All the variousAnglo-Saxon royal families that, during the time of the so-calledHeptarchy, reigned in different parts of England certainly claimed thisdescent from Woden. Hengist and Horsa probably led the band of theircountrymen who invaded Kent, as members of this royal lineage; and aroyal pre-relative or ancestor would have a similar claim and chance ofacting as chief of that Saxon force which joined the Picts and Scots inthe preceding century. 

If we thus allow, for the sake of argument, that Vetta, the son ofVictus, the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa, is identical with Vettathe son of Victus commemorated in the Cat-stane inscription, and that hewas the leader of those Saxons mentioned by Ammianus that were alliedwith the Picts in A. D. 364, we shall find nothing incompatible in thatconjecture with the era of the descent upon Kent of Hengist and Horsa. Bede, confusing apparently the arrival of Hengist and Horsa with thedate of the second instead of the first visit of St. Germanus toBritain, has placed at too late a date the era of their first appearancein Kent, when he fixes it in the year 449. The facts mentioned in theearlier editions or copies of Nennius have led our very learned andaccurate colleague Mr. Skene, and others, to transfer forwards twentyor more years the date at which Hengist and Horsa landed on ourshores. [200] But whether Hengist and Horsa arrived in A. D. 449, or, asseems more probable, about A. D. 428, if we suppose them in either caseto have been born about A. D. 400, we shall find no incongruity, but thereverse, in the idea that their grandfather Vetta was the leader of aSaxon force thirty-six years previously. Hengist was in all probabilitypast the middle period of life when he came to the Court of Vortigern, as he is generally represented as having then a daughter, Rowena, already of a marriageable age. 

On the cause or date of Vetta's death we have of course no historicalinformation; but the position of his monument renders it next to acertainty that he fell in battle; for, as we have already seen, theCat-stane stands, in the words of Lhwyd, "situate on a river side, remote enough from any church. " The barrows and pillar stones placed formiles along that river prove how frequently it had served as a strategicpoint and boundary in ancient warfare. [201] The field in which theCat-stane itself stands was, as we have already found Dr. Wilsonstating, the site formerly of a large tumulus. In a field, on theopposite bank of the Almond, my friend, Mr. Hutchison of Caerlowrie, came lately, when prosecuting some draining operations on his estate, upon numerous stone-kists, which had mutual gables of stone, and weretherefore, in all probability, the graves of those who had perished inbattle. Whether the death of Vetta occurred during the war withTheodosius in A. D. 364, or, as possibly the appellation Vecturionestends to indicate, at a later date, we have no ground to determine. 

The vulgar name of the monument, the Cat-stane, seems, as I have alreadyhinted, to be a name synonymous with Battle-stane, and hence, also, sofar implies the fall of Vetta in open fight. Maitland is the firstauthor, as far as I am aware, who suggests this view of the origin ofthe word Cat-stane. According to him, "Catstean is a Gaelic and Englishcompound, the former part thereof (Cat) signifying a battle, and steanor stan a stone; so it is the battlestane, in commemoration probably ofa battle being fought at or near this place, wherein Veta or Victi, interred here, was slain. "[202] I have already quoted Mr. Pennant, astaking the same view of the origin and character of the name; and Mr. George Chalmers, in his _Caledonia_, propounds the same explanation ofthe word:--"In the parish of Liberton, Edinburghshire, there were (heobserves) several large cairns, wherein were found various stone chests, including urns, which contained ashes and weapons; some of these cairnswhich still remain are called the _Cat_-stanes or Battle-stanes. [203]Single stones in various parts of North Britain are still known underthe appropriate name of _Cat_-stanes. The name (he adds) is plainlyderived from the British _Cad_, or the Scoto-Irish _Cath_, whichsignify a battle. "[204] But the word under the form _Cat_ is Welsh orBritish, as well as Gaelic. Thus, in the _Annales Cambriæ_, under theyear 722, the battle of Pencon is entered as "Cat-Pencon. "[205] In hisedition of the old Welsh poem of the Gododin, Williams (verse 38) printsthe battle of Vannau (Manau) as "Cat-Vannau. "

The combination of the Celtic word "Cat" with the Saxon word "stane" mayappear at first as an objection against the preceding idea of theorigin and signification of the term Cat-stane. But many of our localnames show a similar compound origin in Celtic and Saxon. In theimmediate neighbourhood, for example, of the Cat-stane, [206] we haveinstances of a similar Celtic and Saxon amalgamation in the wordsGogar-burn, Lenny-bridge, Craigie-hill, etc. One of the oldest knownspecimens of this kind of verbal alloy, is alluded to above a thousandyears ago by Bede, [207] in reference to a locality not above fourteen orfifteen miles west from the Cat-stane. For, in his famous sentenceregarding the termination of the walls of Antoninus on the Forth, hestates that the Picts called this eastern "head of the wall" Pean-fahel, but the Angles called it Pennel-_tun_. To a contracted variety of thisPictish word signifying head of the wall, or to its Welsh form Pengual, they added the Saxon word "town, " probably to designate the "villa, "which, according to an early addition to Nennius, was placed there. "Pengaaul, quæ villa Scottice Cenail [Kinneil], Anglice verò Peneltundicitur. "[208]

The palæographic peculiarities of the inscription sufficiently bear outthe idea of the monument being of the date or era which I have venturedto assign to it--a point the weight and importance of which it isunnecessary to insist upon. "The inscription, " says Lhwyd, "is in thebarbarous characters of the fourth and fifth centuries. " ProfessorWestwood, who is perhaps our highest authority on such a question, states to me that he is of the same opinion as Lhwyd as to the age ofthe lettering in the Cat-stane legend. 

To some minds it may occur as a seeming difficulty that the legend orinscription is in the Latin language, though the leader commemorated isSaxon. But this forms no kind of valid objection. The fact is, that allthe early Romano-British inscriptions as yet found in Great Britain, are, as far as they have been discovered and deciphered, in Latin. Andit is not more strange that a Saxon in the Lothians should be recordedin Latin, and not in Saxon or Keltic, than that the numerous Welshmenand others recorded on the early Welsh inscribed stones should berecorded in Latin and not in the Cymric tongue. 

Doubtless, the Romanised Britons and the foreign colonists settled amongthem were, with their descendants, more or less acquainted with Latin inboth its spoken and written forms. As early as the second year of hismarch northward for the conquest of this more distant part of Britain, or A. D. 79, Agricola, as Tacitus takes special care to inform us, tookall possible means to introduce, for the purposes of conquest andcivilisation, a knowledge of the Roman language and of the liberal artsamong the barbarian tribes whom he went to subdue. [209] The same policywas no doubt continued to a greater or less extent during the whole eraof the Roman dominion here as elsewhere; so that there is no wonder thatsuch arts as lapidary writing, and the composition of brief Latininscriptions, should have been known to and transmitted to the nativeBritons. There was, however, another class of inhabitants, besides thesenative Britons, who were, as we know from the altars and stone monumentswhich they have left, sufficiently learned in the formation and cuttingof inscriptions in Latin, --a language which was then, and for somecenturies subsequently, the only language used in this country, eitherin lapidary or other forms of writing. The military legions and cohortswhich the Roman emperors employed to keep Britain under due subjection, obtained, under the usual conditions, grants of lands in the country, married, and became betimes fixed inhabitants. When speaking of theveteran soldiers of Rome settling down at last as permanent proprietorsof land in Britain--as in other Roman colonies, --Sir Francis Palgraveremarks, "Upwards of forty of these barbarian legions, _some of Teutonicorigin_, and others Moors, Dalmatians, and Thracians, whose forefathershad been transplanted from the remotest parts of the empire, obtainedtheir domicile in various parts of our island, though principally uponthe northern and eastern coasts, and _in the neighbourhood of the Romanwalls_. "[210] Such colonists undoubtedly possessed among their ranks, and were capable of transmitting to their descendants, a sufficientknowledge of the Latin tongue, and a sufficient amount of art, to formand cut such stone inscriptions as we have been considering; and perhapsI may add, that in such a mixed population, the Teutonic elements[211]in particular, would, towards the decline of the Roman dominion andpower, not perhaps be averse to find and follow a leader, like Vetta, belonging to the royal stock of Woden; nor would they likely fail to payall due respect, by the raising of a monument or otherwise, to thememory of a chief of such an illustrious race, if he fell amongst themin battle. 

 * * * * *

Besides, a brief incidental remark in Bede's History proves that theerection of a monument like the Cat-stane, to record the resting-placeof the early Saxon chiefs, was not unknown. For, after telling us thatHorsa was slain in battle by the Britons, Bede adds that "this Saxonleader was buried in the eastern parts of Kent, where a monument bearinghis name is still in existence"[212] (hactenus in orientalibus Cantiæpartibus monumentum habet suo nomine insigne). [213] The great durabilityof the stone forming Vetta's monument has preserved it to the presentday; while the more perishable material of which Horsa's was constructedhas made it a less faithful record of that chief, though it was still inBede's time, or in the eighth century, "suo nomine insigne. "[214]

 * * * * *

The chief points of evidence which I have attempted to adduce in favourof the idea that the Cat-stane commemorates the grandfather of Hengistand Horsa may be summed up as follows:--

1. The surname of VETTA upon the Cat-stane is the name of thegrandfather of Hengist and Horsa, as given by our oldest genealogists. 

2. The same historical authorities all describe Vetta as the son ofVicta; and the person recorded on the Cat-stane is spoken of in the samedistinctive terms--"VETTA F(ILIUS) VICTI. "

3. Vetta is not a common ancient Saxon name, and it is highly improbablethat there existed in ancient times two historical Vettas, the sons oftwo Victas. 

4. Two generations before Hengist and Horsa arrived in England, a Saxonhost--as told by Ammianus--was leagued with the other races of modernScotland (the Picts, Scots, and Attacots), in fighting with a Roman armyunder Theodosius. 

5. These Saxon allies were very probably under a leader who claimedroyal descent from Woden, and consequently under an ancestor orpre-relative of Hengist and Horsa. 

6. The battle-ground between the two armies was, in part at least, thedistrict placed between the two Roman walls, and consequently includedthe tract in which the Cat-stane is placed; this district being erectedby Theodosius, after its subjection, into a fifth Roman province. 

7. The palæographic characters of the inscription accord with the ideathat it was cut about the end of the fourth century. 

8. The Latin is the only language[215] known to have been used inBritish inscriptions and other writings in these early times by theRomanised Britons and the foreign colonists and conquerors of theisland. 

9. The occasional erection of monuments to Saxon leaders is proved bythe fact mentioned by Bede, that in his time, or in the eighth century, there stood in Kent a monument commemorating the death of Horsa. [216]

 * * * * *

If, then, as these reasons tend at least to render probable, theCat-stane be the tombstone of Vetta, the grandfather of Hengist andHorsa, this venerable monolith is not only interesting as one of ourmost ancient national historic monuments, but it corroborates thefloating accounts of the early presence of the Saxons upon our coast; itpresents to us the two earliest individual Saxon names known in Britishhistory; it confirms, so far as it goes, the accuracy of the genealogyof the ancestors of Hengist and Horsa, as recorded by Bede and our earlychroniclers; while at the same time it forms in itself a connectinglink, as it were, between the two great invasions of our island by theRoman and Saxon--marking as it does the era of the final declinature ofthe Roman dominion among us, and the first dawn and commencement of thatSaxon interference and sway in the affairs of Britain, which wasdestined to give to England a race of new kings and new inhabitants, newlaws, and a new language. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 128: The farm is called "Briggs, or Colstane" (Catstane), in aplan belonging to Mr. Hutchison, of his estate of Caerlowrie, drawn upin 1797. In this plan the bridge (brigg) over the Almond, at theboathouse, is laid down. But in another older plan which Mr. H. Has ofthe property, dated 1748, there is no bridge, and in its stead there isa representation of the ferry-boat crossing the river. ]

[Footnote 129: In this strategic angular fork or tongue of ground, formed by the confluence of these two rivers, Queen Mary and her suitewere, according to Mr. Robert Chambers, caught when she was carried offby Bothwell on the 24th of April 1567. (See his interesting remarks "Onthe Locality of the Abduction of Queen Mary" in the _Proceedings of theSociety of Scottish Antiquaries_, vol. Ii. P. 331. )]

[Footnote 130: The comparative rapidity or slowness with which bones aredecomposed and disappear in different soils, is sometimes a question ofimportance to the antiquary. We all know that they preserve for manylong centuries in dry soils and dry positions. In moist ground, such asthat on which the Cat-stane stands, they melt away far more speedily. Onanother part of Mrs. Ramsay's property, namely in the policy, and withintwo hundred yards of the mansion-house of Barnton, I opened, severalyears ago, with Mr. Morritt of Rokeby, the grave of a woman who haddied--as the tombstone on the spot told us--during the last Scottishplague in the year 1648. The only remains of sepulture which we foundwere some fragments of the wooden coffin, and the enamel crowns of a fewteeth. All other parts of the body and skeleton had entirelydisappeared. The chemical qualities of the ground, and consequently ofits water, will of course modify the rapidity of such results. ]

[Footnote 131: _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, p. 96. ]

[Footnote 132: _Statistical Account of Scotland_, collected by Sir JohnSinclair, vol. X. Pp. 68, 75. ]

[Footnote 133: The _Scots Magazine_ for 1780, p. 697. See also Smellie's_Account of the Institution and Progress of the Society of Antiquariesof Scotland_ (1782), p. 8. ]

[Footnote 134: Rowlands' _Mona Antiqua Restaurata_, second edition, p. 313. The inscription is printed in italics by Rowland. I have printedthis and some of the following readings in small Roman capitals, inorder to assimilate them all the more with each other. ]

[Footnote 135: _Philosophical Transactions_, vol. Xxii. P. 790. ]

[Footnote 136: _Historical Inquiries concerning the Roman Monuments andAntiquities in Scotland_, p. 50. ]

[Footnote 137: _The History of Edinburgh_, p. 508. ]

[Footnote 138: _Tour in Scotland_ in 1772, Part ii. P. 237. Whendescribing his ride from Kirkliston to Edinburgh, he observes: "On theright hand, at a small distance from our road are some rude stones. Onone called the _Cat-stean_, a compound of Celtic and Saxon, signifyingthe Stone of Battle, is this inscription: IN HOC TUMULO JACET VETA F. VICTI; supposed in memory of a person slain there. "]

[Footnote 139: Camden's _Britannia_, edited by Richard Gough, vol. Iii. P. 317. Mr. Gough cites also as Mr. Wilkie's reading, "IN HOC TUM, JAC. CONSTANTIE VICT. "]

[Footnote 140: In the VETTA of this line the cross bar in A is wanting, from the stone between the upright bars being chipped or weathered out. ]

[Footnote 141: _Archæologia Cambrensis_ (for 1848), vol. Iii. P. 107. ]

[Footnote 142: See his "Chronicon, " in the _Monumenta HistoricaBritannica_, pp. 502 and 505. Nouns, and names ending thus in "r, "preceded by a vowel, were often written without the penultimate vowel, particularly in the Scandinavian branches of the Teutonic language; asBaldr for Balder and Baldur; Folkvangr for Folkvangar; Surtr for Surturand Surtar, etc. (See the Glossary to the prose Edda in Bohn's editionof Mallet's _Northern Antiquities_, and Kemble's _Saxons in England_, pp. 346, 363, etc. ) For genealogical lists full of proper names endingin "r" with the elision of the preceding vowel, see the long tables ofScandinavian and Orcadian pedigrees printed at the end of the work onthe pre-Columbian discovery of America, _Antiquitates Americanæ_, etc. , which was published at Copenhagen in 1837 by the Royal Society ofNorthern Antiquaries. In the first table of genealogies giving thepedigree of Thorfinn, the son of Sigurd, of the Orkney dynasty, etc. , wehave, among other names--Olafr, Grismr, Ingjaldr, Oleifr (_RexDublini_); Thorsteinn Raudr (_partis Scotiæ Rex_); Dungadr (_Earl ofKatanesi_); Arfidr, Havadr, Thorfinnr, etc. (_Earls of Orkney_); etc. Etc. ]

[Footnote 143: _Inscriptions Chrétiennes de la Gaule, anterieures auVIII. Siècle. _ See Plates Nos. 10, 11, 15, 16, 24, 25, etc. ]

[Footnote 144: The name LIBERALIS is probably the Latinised form of aBritish surname having the same meaning. Rydderch, King of Strathclyde, in the latter part of the sixth century, and the personal friend ofKentigern and Columba, was sometimes, from his munificence, termedRydderch _Hael_, or, in its Latinised form, Rydderch _Liberalis_. Thefirst lines of the Yarrow inscription appear to me to read as far asthey are decipherable, as follows:--

 HIC MEMOR IACIT F LOIN:::NI:::: HIC PE::M DVMNOGENL

The true character of the G in the fourth line was first pointed out byDr. Smith. It is of the same form as the G in the famous SAGRAMANVSstone, etc. ]

[Footnote 145: The exception is the letter D in DVO, which verges to theuncial form. ]

[Footnote 146: In the inscription all the words are, as usual, runtogether, with the exception of the Jacit and Mulier, which areseparated from each other by the oblique linear point. See a plate ofthe inscription in the _Archæologia Cambrensis_ for 1855, p. 153. ]

[Footnote 147: _Caledonia_, vol. Ii. P. 844. ]

[Footnote 148: _New Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol i. P. 138. Forthe same supposed corruption of the name Constantine into Cat-stane, seealso Fullarton's _Gazetteer of Scotland_, vol. Ii. P. 182. ]

[Footnote 149: The brief history of Kenneth, his parentage, reign, andmode of death, as given in one of the earliest Chronicles of the Kingsof Scotland, quoted by Father Innes (p. 802), contains in its few linesa very condensed and yet powerful story of deep maternal affection andfierce female revenge. The whole entry is as follows:--"KinathMac-Malcolm 24, an. Et 2. Mens. Interfectus in Fotherkern a suis perperfidium Finellæ filiæ Cunechat comitis de Angus; cujus Finellæ filiumunicum prædictus Kinath interfecit apud Dunsinoen. " The clumsy additionsof some later historians only spoil and mar the original simplicity andforce of this "three-volume" historical romance. ]

[Footnote 150: Tom. I. P. 219, of Goodall's edition. ]

[Footnote 151: _De Rebus Gestis Scotorum_, chap. Lxxxi. P. 200. ]

[Footnote 152: _Joannis Forduni Scotichronicon_, tom. I. P. 219. ]

[Footnote 153: _Chronicon de Mailros_, p. 226 (Bannatyne Club edition). ]

[Footnote 154: Wyntown's _Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland_, vol. I. P. 183. ]

[Footnote 155: In the _Scotichronicon_ instead of "In Tegalere, " thethird of these lines commences "Inregale regens, " etc. ; and it is notedthat in the "Liber Dumblain" the line begins "Indegale, " etc. ]

[Footnote 156: Buchanan, in his _Rerum Scoticorum Historia_, gives thelocality as "ad Almonis amnis ostium. " (Lib. Vi. C. 81. )]

[Footnote 157: _Scotorum Historiæ_, p. 235 of Paris edition of 1574. Bellenden and Stewart, in their translations of Boece's _History_ bothplace the fight at "Crawmond. "]

[Footnote 158: This document, entitled _Nomina Regum Scottorum etPictorum_ and published by Father Innes in his _Critical Essay_, p. 797, etc. , is described by that esteemed and cautious author as a documentthe very fact of the registration of which among the records andcharters of the ancient church of St. Andrews "is a full proof of itsbeing held authentick at the time it was written, that is about A. D. 1251. " (P. 607. )]

[Footnote 159: The orthography of the copy of this Chronicle, as givenby Innes, is very inaccurate, and the omission of the two initialletters of "_in_ver, " not very extraordinary in the word Rathveramoen. Apparently the same word Rathinveramon occurs previously in the sameChronicle, when Donald MacAlpin, the second king of the combined Pictsand Scots, is entered as having died "in Raith in Veramont" (p. 801). Inanother of the old Chronicles published by Innes, this king is said tohave died in his palace at "Belachoir" (p. 783). If, as some historiansbelieve, the Lothians were not annexed to Scotland before his death inA. D. 859, by Kenneth the brother of Donald, and did not become a part ofthe Scottish kingdom till the time of Indulf (about A. D. 954), or evenlater, then it is probable that the site of King Donald's death in A. D. 863, at Rathinveramon, was on the Almond in Perthshire, within his ownterritories. ]

[Footnote 160: I am only aware of one very marked exception to thisgeneral law Malcolm Canmore is known to have been killed near Alnwick, when attacking its castle. Alnwick is situated on the Alne, about fiveor six miles above the village of Alnmouth, the ancient Twyford, on theAlne, of Bede, on the mount near which St. Cuthbert was installed as abishop. But in the ancient Chronicle from the Register of St. Andrews, King Malcolm is entered (see Innes, p. 803) as "interfectus inInneraldan. " The error has more likely originated in a want of properlocal knowledge on the part of the chronicler than in so unusual a useof the Celtic word "inver;" for, according to all analogies, while theterm is applicable to Alnmouth, it is not at all applicable to Alnwick. ]

[Footnote 161: _Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum_. (Stevenson'sEdit. P. 35. )]

[Footnote 162: _De Bello Gothico_, lib. Iv. C. 20. See other authoritiesin Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. I. P. 182. ]

[Footnote 163: _Emmii Rerum Friescarum Historia_, p. 41. ]

[Footnote 164: _History of England_, vol. I. --Anglo-Saxon Period, pp. 33, 34. ]

[Footnote 165: _The Ethnology of the British Islands_, p. 259. At p. 240, Dr. Latham "A native tradition makes Hengist a Frisian. " Dr. Bosworth cites (see his _Origin of the English, etc. , Language andNation_, p. 52) Maerlant in his Chronicle as doubtful whether to callHengist a Frisian or a Saxon. ]

[Footnote 166: See his _Origin of the English, German, and ScandinavianLanguages_, p. 54. Some modern authorities have thought it philosophicalto object to the whole story of Hengist and Horsa, on the alleged groundthat these names are "equine" in their original meaning--"henges" and"hors" signifying stallion and horse in the old Saxon tongue. If theprinciples of historic criticism had no stronger reasons for clearingthe story of the first Saxon settlement in Kent of its romantic andapocryphal superfluities, this argument would serve us badly. For somefuture American historian might, on a similar hypercritical ground, argue against the probability of Columbus, a Genoese, having discoveredAmerica, and carried thither (to use the language of his son Ferdinand)"the olive branch and oil of baptism across the ocean, "--of Drake andHawkins having, in Queen Elizabeth's time, explored the West Indies, andsailed round the southernmost point of America, --of General Wolfe havingtaken Quebec, --or Lord Lyons being English ambassador to the UnitedStates in the eventful year 1860, on the ground that Colombo is actuallythe name of a dove in Italian, Drake and Hawkins only the appellationsof birds, and Wolfe and Lyons the English names for two wild beasts. ]

[Footnote 167: See Thorpe's edition of Beowulf and other Anglo-SaxonPoems, p. 219, line 45. ]

[Footnote 168: _Monumenta Historica_, p. 623. ]

[Footnote 169: _Ib. _, p. 659. ]

[Footnote 170: _Ib. _, p. 544. ]

[Footnote 171: _Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum_, lib. I. Cap. 15, p. 34 of Mr. Stevenson's edition. In some editions of Bede's_History_ (as in Dr. Giles' Translation, for example) the name of Vittais carelessly omitted, as a word apparently of no moment. Such adiscussion as the present shows how wrong it is to tamper with the textsof such old authors. ]

[Footnote 172: See these names in page 414 of Stevenson's edition of the_Historia Ecclesiastica_. ]

[Footnote 173: _Monumenta Historica Britt. _, preface, p. 82. ]

[Footnote 174: "Ethelwerdi Chronicorum, " lib. Ii. C. 2, in _MonumentaHistorica_, p. 505. ]

[Footnote 175: _Ibid. _ lib. I. P. 502 of _Monumenta Historica_. ]

[Footnote 176: The historical personage and leader Woden is representedin all these genealogies as having lived four generations, or from 100to 150 years earlier than the age of Hengist and Horsa. ]

[Footnote 177: See p. 24 of Mr. Stevenson's edition of _Nennii HistoriaBritonum_, printed for the English Historical Society. In the Gaelictranslation of the _Historia Britonum_, known as the Irish Nennius, thename Wetta or Guitta is spelled in various copies as "Guigte" and"Guite. " The last form irresistibly suggests the Urbs Guidi of Bede, situated in the Firth of Forth. Might not he have thus written theKeltic or Pictish form of the name of a city or stronghold founded byVitta or Vecta; and does this afford any clue to the fact, that thewaters of the Forth are spoken of as the Sea of Guidi by Angus theCuldee, and as the Mare Fresicum by Nennius, while its shores are theFrisicum Litus of Joceline? In the text I have noted the transformationof the analogous Latin name of the Isle of Wight, "Vecta, " into "Guith, "by Nennius. The "urbs Guidi" of Bede is described by him as placed inthe middle of the Firth of Forth, "in medio sui. " Its most probable siteis, as I have elsewhere (see _Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries ofScotland_, vol. Ii. Pp. 254, 255) endeavoured to show, Inch Keith; and, phonetically, the term "Keith" is certainly not a great variation from"Guith" or "Guidi. " At page 7 of Stevenson's edition of Nennius, theIsle of Wight, the old "Insula Vecta" of the Roman authors, is written"Inis Gueith"--a term too evidently analogous to "Inch Keith" to requireany comment. ]

[Footnote 178: See Irish Nennius, p. 77; _Saxon Chronicle_, under year855, etc. ]

[Footnote 179: _Northern Antiquities_, Bohn's edition, p. 71. Sigge isgenerally held as the name of one of the sons of Woden. ]

[Footnote 180: _Gest. _ I. Sec. 5, I. 11. ]

[Footnote 181: _Monumenta Historica Britannica_, p. 707. ]

[Footnote 182: See his "Chronicon ex Chronicis, " in the _MonumentaHistorica_, pp. 523 and 627. ]

[Footnote 183: See preceding note (1), p. 168. In answer to the vagueobjection that the alleged leaders were two brothers, Mr. Thorpeobserves that the circumstance of two brothers being joint-kings orleaders, bearing, like Hengist and Horsa, alliterative names, is farfrom unheard of in the annals of the north; and as instances (he adds)may be cited, Ragnar, Inver, Ulba, and two kings in Rumedal--viz. Haerlang and Hrollang. --See his Translation of Lappenberg's _History ofthe Anglo-Saxons_, vol. I. Pp. 78 and 275. ]

[Footnote 184: See Mr. Stevenson's Introduction, p. Xxv. , to theHistorical Society's edition of Bede's _Historia Ecclesiastica_; andalso Mr. Hardy in the Preface, p. 71, to the _Monumenta HistoricaBritannica_. ]

[Footnote 185: The great importance attached to genealogical descentlasted much longer than the Saxon era itself. Thus the author of thelatest Life (1860) of Edward I. , when speaking of the birth of thatmonarch at London in 1239, observes (p. 8), "The kind of feeling whichwas excited by the birth of an English prince in the English metropolis, and by the king's evident desire to connect the young heir to the thronewith his Saxon ancestors, is shown in the _Worcester Chronicle_ of thatdate. The fact is thus significantly described:--

'On the 14th day of the calends of July, Eleanor, Queen of England gavebirth to her eldest son Edward; whose father was Henry; whose father wasJohn; whose father was Henry; whose mother was Matilda the Empress;whose mother was Matilda, Queen of England; whose mother was Margaret, Queen of Scotland; whose father was Edward; whose father was EdmundIronside; who was the son of Ethelred; who was the son of Edgar; who wasthe son of Edmund; who was the son of Edward the elder; who was the sonof Alfred. '"--(_The Greatest of the Plantagenets_, pp. 8 and 9. )

Here we have eleven genealogical ascents appealed to from Edward toAlfred. The thirteen or fourteen ascents again from Alfred to Cerdic, the first Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex, are as fixed and determined as theeleven from Alfred to Edward. (See them quoted by Florence, Asser, etc. )But the power of reckoning the lineage of Cerdic up through theintervening nine alleged ascents to Woden, was indispensable to form andto maintain Cerdic's claim to royalty, and was probably preserved withas great, if not greater care when written records were so defective andwanting. ]

[Footnote 186: _The Saxons in England_, vol. I. P. 11. ]

[Footnote 187: See the inscription, etc. , in Whittaker's _Manchester_, vol. I. P. 160. ]

[Footnote 188: On these Frisian cohorts, and consequently also Frisiancolonists, in England, see the learned _Memoir on the Roman Garrison atManchester_, by my friend Dr. Black. (Manchester, 1849. )]

[Footnote 189: Buckman and Newmarch's work on _Ancient Corinium_, p. 114. ]

[Footnote 190: Palgrave's _Anglo-Saxons_, p. 24. ]

[Footnote 191: For fuller evidence on this point, see the remarks by Mr. Kemble in his _Saxons in England_, vol. I. P. 13, etc. ]

[Footnote 192: _Ammiani Marcellini Historiæ_, lib. Xxviii. C. 1. Thepoet Claudian, perhaps with the full liberty of a poet, sings ofTheodosius' forces in this war having pursued the Saxons to the veryOrkneys:--

 ----maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades. ]

[Footnote 193: _Inquiry into the History of Scotland_, vol. I. P. 116. See also Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, chap. Xxv. ]

[Footnote 194: _Histor. Eccles. _, lib. I. C. 1, § 8. ]

[Footnote 195: Bede's _Hist. Eccles. _, lib. Ii. Cap. V. (Oisc, a quoreges Cantuariorum solent Oiscingas cognominare. )]

[Footnote 196: _Ibid. _, lib. Ii. Cap. Xv. ]

[Footnote 197: _The Saxons in England_, vol. I. P. 341. ]

[Footnote 198: In his account of the kings of the Picts, Mr. Pinkerton(_Inquiry into History of Scotland_, vol. I. P. 293) calculates that thesovereign "Wradech Vechla" of the _Chronicon Pictorum_ reigned aboutA. D. 380. In support of his own philological views, Mr. Pinkerton altersthe name of this Pictish king from "Wradech Vechla" to "Wradech_Vechta_. " There is not, however, I believe, any real foundationwhatever for this last reading, interesting as it might be, in ourpresent inquiry, if true. ]

[Footnote 199: _The Saxons in England_, vol. I. P. 149. ]

[Footnote 200: Mr. Hardy, in the preface (p. 114, etc. ) to the_Monumenta Historica Britannica_, maintains also, at much length, thatthe advent and reception of the Saxons by Vortigern was in A. D. 428, andnot 449. He contests for an earlier Saxon invasion of Britain in A. D. 374. See also Lappenberg in his _History of England under theAnglo-Saxon Kings_, vol. I. Pp. 62, 63. ]

[Footnote 201: Two miles higher up the river than the Cat-stane, fourlarge monoliths still stand near Newbridge. They are much taller thanthe Cat-stane, but contain no marks or letters on their surfaces. Threeof them are placed around a large barrow. ]

[Footnote 202: _History of Edinburgh_, p. 509. ]

[Footnote 203: _Transactions of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries_, vol. I. P. 308. Maitland, in his _History of Edinburgh_, p. 307, callsthese cairns the "Cat-heaps. "]

[Footnote 204: _Caledonia_, vol. I. P. 86. The only references, however, which Mr. Chalmers gives to a "single stone" in Scotland, bearing thename of Cat-stane, all relate to this monument in Kirklistonparish:--"The tallest and most striking ancient monolith in the vicinityof Edinburgh is a massive unhewn flat obelisk, standing about ten feethigh, in the parish of Colinton. " Maitland (_History of Edinburgh_, p. 507), and Mr. Whyte (_Trans. Of Scottish Antiquaries_, vol. I. P. 308)designate this monument the Caiy-stone. "Whether this (says Maitland) bea corruption of the Catstean I know not. " The tall monolith is in theneighbourhood of the cairns called the Cat-stanes or Cat-heaps (seepreceding note). Professor Walker, in an elaborate Statistical Accountof the Parish of Colinton, published in 1808, in his _Essays on NaturalHistory_ describes the Cat-heaps or cairns as having been each found, when removed, to cover a coffin made of _hewn_ stones. In the coffinswere found mouldering human bones and fragments of old arms, includingtwo bronze spear-heads. "When the turnpike road which passes near theabove cairns was formed, for more than a mile the remains of dead bodieswere everywhere thrown up. " Most of them had been interred in stonecoffins made of coarse slabs. To use the words of Professor Walker, "Notfar from the three cairns is the so called 'Caiy-stone' of Maitland andWhyte. It has always, however (he maintains), been known among thepeople of the country by the name of the Ket-stane. " It is of whinstone, and "appears not to have had the chisel, or any inscription upon it. ""The craig (he adds) or steep rocky mountain which forms the northernextremity of the Pentland Hills, and makes a conspicuous figure atEdinburgh, hangs over this field of battle. It is called Caer-_Ket_anCraig. This name appears to be derived from the Ket-stane abovedescribed, and the fortified camp adjacent, which, in the old British, was termed a Caer. " (P. 611. )]

[Footnote 205: See "Annales Cambriæ, " in the _Monumenta Hist. Britannica_, p. 833. ]

[Footnote 206: In Maitland's time (1753), there was a farm-house termed"Catstean, " standing near the monument we are describing. And up to thebeginning of the present century the property or farm on the oppositeside of the Almond, above Caerlowrie, was designated by a name, havingapparently the Celtic "battle" noun as a prefix in its composition--viz. , Cat-elbock. This fine old Celtic name has latterly been changed for thedegenerate and unmeaning term Almond-hill. ]

[Footnote 207: _Historia Ecclesiast. _, lib. I. C. Xii. "Sermone PictorumPeanfahel, lingua autem Anglorum Penneltun appellatur. "]

[Footnote 208: _Historia Britonum_, c. Xix. At one time I fancied itpossible that the mutilated and enigmatical remains of ancient Welshpoetry furnished us with a name for the Cat-stane older still than thatappellation itself. Among the fragments of old Welsh historical poemsascribed to Taliesin, one of the best known is that on the battle ofGwen-Ystrad. In this composition the poet describes, from professedlypersonal observation, the feats at the above battle of the army of hisfriend and great patron, Urien, King of Rheged, who was subsequentlykilled at the siege of Medcaut, or Lindisfarne, about A. D. 572. Villemarque places the battle of Gwen-Ystrad between A. D. 547 and A. D. 560. 

The British kingdom of Rheged, over which Urien ruled, is by someauthorities considered as the old British or Welsh kingdom of Cumbria, or Cumberland; but, according to others, it must have been situatedfurther northwards. In the poem of the battle of Gwen-Ystrad (see the_Myvyrian Archæology_, vol. I. P. 53), Urien defeats theenemy--apparently the Saxons or Angles--under Ida, King of Bernicia. Inone line near the end of the poem, Taliesin describes Urien as attackinghis foes "by the white stone of Galysten:"

 "Pan amwyth ai alon yn Llech wen Galysten. "

The word "Galysten, " when separated into such probable originalcomponents as "Gal" and "lysten, " is remarkable, from the latter part ofthe appellation, "lysten, " corresponding with the name, "Liston, " of theold barony or parish in which the Cat-stane stands; the prefix Kirk(Kirk-liston) being, as is well known, a comparatively modern addition. The word "Gal" is a common term, in compound Keltic words, for"stranger, " or "foreigner. " In the Gaelic branch of the Keltic, "lioston" signifies, according to Sir James Foulis, "an inclosure on theside of a river. " (See Mr. Muckarsie on the origin of the name ofKirkliston, in the _Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. X. P. 68. )The Highland Society's _Gaelic Dictionary_ gives "liostean" as alodging, tent, or booth. In the Cymric, "lystyn" signifies, according toDr. Owen Pughe, "a recess, or lodgment. " (See his _Welsh Dictionary_, _sub voce_. ) The compound word Gal-lysten would perhaps not be thusoverstrained, if it were held as possibly originating in the meaning, "the lodgment, inclosure, or resting-place of the foreigner;" and theline quoted would, under such an idea, not inaptly apply to thegrave-stone of such a foreign leader as Vetta. Urien's forces aredescribed in the first line of the poem of the battle of Gwen-Ystrad, as"the men of Cattraeth, who set out with the dawn. " Cattraeth is nowbelieved by eminent archæologists to be a locality situated at theeastern end of Antonine's wall, on the Firth of Forth--Callander, Carriden, or more probably the castle hill at Blackness, which containsvarious remains of ancient structures. Urien's foes at the battle ofGwen-Ystrad were apparently the Angles or Saxons of Bernicia--this lastterm of Bernicia, with its capital at Bamborough, including at that timethe district of modern Northumberland, and probably also Berwickshireand part of the Lothians. An army marching from Cattraeth or the easternend of Antonine's Wall, to meet such an army, would, if it took theshortest or coast line, pass, after two or three hours' march, very nearthe site of the Cat-stane. A ford and a fort are alluded to in the poem. The neighbouring Almond has plenty of fords; and on its banks the nameof two forts or "caers" are still left--viz. Caerlowrie (Caer-l-Urien?)and Caer Almond, one directly opposite the Cat-stane, the other threemiles below it. But no modern name remains near the Cat-stane toidentify the name of "the fair or white strath. " "Lenny"--the name ofthe immediately adjoining barony on the banks of the Almond, or in its"strath" or "dale"--presents insurmountable philological difficulties toits identification with Gwen; the L and G, or GW not beinginterchangeable. The valley of Strath-Broc (Broxburn)--the seat in thetwelfth century of Freskyn of Strath-Broc, and consequently the cradleof the noble house of Sutherland--runs into the valley of the Almondabout two miles above the Cat-stane. In this, as in other Welsh andGaelic names, the word Strath is a prefix to the name of the adjoiningriver. In the word "Gwen-Ystrad, " the word Strath is, on the contrary, in the unusual position of an affix; showing that the appellation isdescriptive of the beauty or fairness of the strath which it designates. The valley or dale of the Almond, and the rich tract of fertile countrystretching for miles to the south-west of the Cat-stane, certainly wellmerit such a designation as "fair" or "beautiful" valley--"Gwen-Ystrad;"but we have not the slightest evidence whatever that such a name wasever applied to this tract. In his learned edition of _Les BardesBretons, Poemes du vi^e Siècle_, the Viscount Villemarque, in the notewhich he has appended to Taliesin's poem of the battle of Gwen-Ystrad, suggests (page 412) that this term exists in a modern form under thename of Queen's-strad, or Queen's-ferry--a locality within three milesof the Cat-stane. But it is certain that the name of Queens-ferry, applied to the well-known passage across the Forth, is of the far laterdate of Queen Margaret, the wife of Malcolm Canmore. Numerous manors andlocalities in the Lothians and around Kirkliston, end in the Saxon affix"ton, " or town--a circumstance rendering it probable that Lis-ton hadpossibly a similar origin. And further, against the idea of theappellation of "the white stone of Galysten" being applicable to theCat-stane, is the fact that it is, as I have already stated, a block ofgreenstone basalt; and the light tint which it presents, when viewed ata distance in strong sunlight--owing to its surface being covered withwhitish lichen--is scarcely sufficient to have warranted apoet--indulging in the utmost poetical license--to have sung of it as"the white stone. " After all, however, the adjective "wen, " or "gwenn, "as Villemarque writes it, may signify "fair" or "beautiful" when appliedto the stone, just as it probably does when applied to the strath whichwas the seat of the battle--"Gwenn Ystrad. "

Winchburgh, the name of the second largest village in the parish ofKirkliston, and a station on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, isperhaps worthy of note, from its being placed in the same district asthe stone of Vetta, the son of Victa, and from the appellation possiblysignifying originally, according to Mr. Kemble (our highest authority insuch a question), the burgh of Woden, or Wodensburgh. (See his _Historyof the Anglo-Saxons_, vol. I. P. 346. )]

[Footnote 209: _Vita Agricolæ_, xliv. 2. ]

[Footnote 210: _History of England_--Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 20. ]

[Footnote 211: On the probable great extent of the Teutonic or Germanelement of population in Great Britain as early as about A. D. 400; seeMr. Wright, in his excellent and interesting work _The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon_, p. 385. ]

[Footnote 212: _Historia Ecclesiastica_, lib. I. C. 1; or Dr. Giles'_Translation_, in Bohn's edition, p. 5. ]

[Footnote 213: Dr. Giles' _Translation_, in Bohn's edition, p. 24. ]

[Footnote 214: _Historia Ecclesiastical_, lib. I. C. 15. ]

[Footnote 215: Perhaps it is right to point out, as exceptions to thisgeneral observation, a very few Greek inscriptions to Astarte, Hercules, Esculapius, etc. , left in Britain by the Roman soldiers and colonists. ]

[Footnote 216: On the supposed site, etc. Of this monument to Horsa, inKent, see Mr. Colebrook's paper in _Archæologia_, vol. Ii. P. 167; andHalsted's _Kent_, vol. Ii. P. 177. In 1631, Weever, in his _AncientFuneral Monuments_, p. 317, acknowledges that "stormes and time havedevoured Horsa's monument. " In 1659 Phillpot, when describing thecromlech called Kits Coty House--the alleged tomb of Catigern--speaks ofHorsa's tomb as utterly extinguished "by storms and tempests under theconduct of time. "]

ON SOME SCOTTISH MAGICAL CHARM-STONES, OR CURING-STONES. 

Throughout all past time, credulity and superstition have constantly andstrongly competed with the art of medicine. There is no doubt, accordingto Pliny, that the magical art began in Persia, that it originated inmedicine, and that it insinuated itself first amongst mankind under theplausible guise of promoting health. [217] In proof of the antiquity ofthe belief, this great Roman encyclopædist cites Eudoxus, Aristotle, andHermippus, as averring that magical arts were used thousands of yearsbefore the time of the Trojan war. 

Assuredly, in ancient times, faith in the effects of magical charms, amulets, talismans, etc. , seems to have prevailed among all thoseancient races of whom history has left any adequate account. In moderntimes a belief in their efficiency and power is still extensivelyentertained amongst most of the nations of Asia and Africa. In someEuropean kingdoms, also, as in Turkey, Italy, and Spain, belief in themstill exists to a marked extent. In our own country, the magicalpractices and superstitions of the older and darker ages persist only asforms and varieties, so to speak, of archæological relics, --for theyremain at the present day in comparatively a very sparse and limiteddegree. They are now chiefly to be found among the uneducated, and inoutlying districts of the kingdom. But still, some practices, whichprimarily sprung up in a belief in magic, are carried on, even by themiddle and higher classes of society, as diligently as they werethousands of years ago, and without their magical origin being dreamedof by those who follow them. The coral is often yet suspended as anornament around the neck of the Scottish child, without the potent andprotective magical and medicinal qualities long ago attached to it byDioscorides and Pliny being thought of by those who place it there. Isnot the egg, after being emptied of its edible contents, still, in manyhands, as assiduously pierced by the spoon of the eater as if he hadweighing upon his mind the strong superstition of the ancient Roman, that--if he omitted to perforate the empty shell--he incurred the riskof becoming spell-bound, etc. ? Marriages seem at the present day as muchdreaded in the month of May as they were in the days of Ovid, when itwas a proverbial saying at Rome that

 "Mense malas _Maio_ nubere vulgus ait. "

And, in the marriage ceremony itself, the finger-ring still holds amongus as prominent a place as it did among the superstitious marriage-ritesof the ancient pagan world. Among the endless magical and medicalproperties that were formerly supposed to be possessed by human saliva, one is almost universally credited by the Scottish schoolboy up to thepresent hour; for few of them ever assume the temporary character ofpugilists without duly spitting into their hands ere they close theirfists; as if they retained a full reliance on the magical power of thesaliva to increase the strength of the impending blow--if not to avertany feeling of malice produced by it--as was enunciated, eighteencenturies ago, by one of the most laborious and esteemed writers of thatage, [218] in a division of his work which he gravely prefaces with theassertion that in this special division he has made it his "object (ashe declares) to state no facts but such as are established by nearlyuniform testimony. "

In a separate chapter (chap. Iv. ) in his 30th Book, Pliny alludes to theprevalence of magical beliefs and superstitious practices in the ancientCeltic provinces of France and Britain. "The Gaelic provinces, " says he, "were pervaded by the magical art, and that even down to a period withinmemory; for it was the Emperor Tiberius who put down the Druids and allthat tribe of wizards and physicians. " We know, however, from theancient history of France posterior to Pliny's time, that the Druidssurvived as a powerful class in that country for a long time afterwards. Writing towards the end of the first century, Pliny goes on toremark;--"At the present day, struck with fascination, Britannia stillcultivates this art, and that with ceremonials so august, that she mightalmost seem to have been the first to communicate them to the people ofPersia. " "To such a degree, " adds this old Roman philosopher, "arenations throughout the whole world, totally different as they are, andquite unknown to one another, in accord upon _this_ one point. "[219]

Some supposed vestiges of a most interesting kind, of very ancientGallic or Celtic word-charms, have recently been brought beforearchæologists by the celebrated German philologist Grimm, and by Pictetof Geneva. Marcellus, the private physician of the Roman EmperorTheodosius, was a Gaul born in Aquitane, and hence, it is believed, wasintimately acquainted with the Gaulish or Celtic language of thatprovince. He left a work on quack medicines (_De MedicamentisEmpiricis_), written probably near the end of the fourth century. Thiswork contains, amongst other things, a number of word-charms, orsuperstitious cure-formulas, that were, till lately, regarded--likeCato's word-cure for fractures of the bones--as mere unmeaninggibberish. Joseph Grimm and M. Pictet, however, think that they havefound in these word-charms of Marcellus, specimens of the Gaulish orCeltic language several centuries older than any that were previouslyknown to exist--none of the earliest glosses used by Zeuss, in hisfamous _Grammatica Celtica_, being probably earlier than the eighth orninth centuries. If the labours of Grimm and Pictet prove successful inthis curious field of labour, they will add another proof to theprevalence of magical charms among the Celtic nations of antiquity, andafford us additional confirmation of the ancient prevalence, asdescribed by Pliny, of a belief in the magical art among the Gaelicinhabitants of France and Britain. [220]

The long catalogue of the medical superstitions and magical practicesoriginally pertaining to our Celtic forefathers, was no doubt from timeto time increased and swelled out in Britain by the addition of theanalogous medical superstitions and practices of the successiveRoman[221] and Teutonic [222] invaders and conquerors of our island. Acareful analysis would yet perhaps enable the archæologist to separatesome of these classes of magical beliefs from each other; but many ofthem had, perhaps, a common and long anterior origin. We know furtherthat, in its earlier centuries among us, the teachers of Christianityadded greatly to the number of existing medical superstitions, bymaintaining the efficacy, for example, of a visit to the cross of KingEdwin of Northumberland, for the cure of agues, etc. , --the marvellousalleged recoveries worked by visiting the grave of St. Ninian atWhitehorn, or the cross of St. Mungo in the Cathedral churchyard atGlasgow; the sovereign virtues of the waters of wells used by variousanchorets, and dedicated to various saints throughout the country; thecurative powers of holy robes, bells, bones, relics, etc. 

Numerous forms of medical superstitions, charms, amulets, incantations, etc. , derived from the preceding channels, and possibly also from othersources, seem to have been known and practised among our forefathers, and for the cure of almost all varieties of human maladies, whether ofthe mind or body. Our old Scottish hagiologies, witch trials, ecclesiastical records, etc. , abound with notices of them. Nor have someof the oldest and most marked medical superstitions of ancient timesbeen very long obliterated and forgotten. I know, for example, of twolocalities in the Lowlands, one near Biggar in Lanarkshire, the othernear Torphichen in West Lothian, where, within the memory of the presentand past generation, living cows have been sacrificed for curativepurposes, or under the hope of arresting the progress of the murrain inother members of the flock. In both these instances the cow wassacrificed by being buried alive. The sacrifice of other livinganimals, [223] as of the cat, cock, mole, etc. , for the cure of disease, and especially of fits, epilepsy, and insanity, continues to beoccasionally practised in some parts of the Highlands up to the presentday. And in the city of Edinburgh itself, every physician knows the factthat, in the chamber of death, usually the face of the mirror is mostcarefully covered over, and often a plate with salt in it is placed uponthe chest of the corpse. 

The Museum of the Society contains a few medicinal charms and amulets, principally in the form of amber beads (which were held potent in thecure of blindness), perforated stones, and old distaff whorls, whoseoriginal use seems to have been forgotten, and new and magicalproperties assigned to them. But the most important medicinal relic inthe collection is the famous "Barbreck's bone, " a slice or tablet ofivory, about seven inches long, four broad, and half-an-inch inthickness. It was long in the possession of the ancient family ofBarbreck in Argyleshire, and over the Western Highlands had thereputation of curing all forms and degrees of insanity. It was formerlyreckoned so valuable that a bond of £100 was required to be depositedfor the loan of it. 

But the main object of the present communication is, through the kindpermission of Struan Robertson, Lady Lockhart of Lee, and others, toshow to the Society two or three of the principal curing-stones ofScotland. 

Several of these curing-stones long retained their notoriety, but theyhave now almost all fallen entirely into disuse, at least for the cureof human diseases. In some districts, however, they are still employedin the treatment of the diseases of domestic animals. 

A very ancient example of the use of a "curing-stone" in this country isdetailed in what may be regarded as the first or oldest historical workwhich has been left us in reference to Scotland, namely, in Adamnan's_Life of St. Columba_. This biography of the founder of Iona wasprobably written in the last years of the seventh century, Adamnanhaving died in A. D. 705. He was elected to the Abbacy of Iona A. D. 679, and had there the most favourable opportunities of becoming acquaintedwith all the existing traditions and records regarding St. Columba. About the year 563 of the Christian era, Columba visited Brude, King ofthe Picts, in his royal fort on the Ness, and found the Pictishsovereign attended by a court or council, and with Brochan as his chiefDruid or Magus. Brochan retained an Irish female, and consequently acountrywoman of Columba's, as a slave. The 33d chapter of the secondbook of Adamnan's work is entitled, "Concerning the Illness with whichthe Druid (_Magus_) Brochan was visited for refusing to liberate aFemale Captive, and his Cure when he restored her to Liberty. " The storytold by Adamnan, under this head, is as follows:--

_Curing-Stone of St. Columba. _

"About the same time the venerable man, from motives of humanity, besought Brochan the Druid to liberate a certain Irish female captive, arequest which Brochan harshly and obstinately refused to grant. TheSaint then spoke to him as follows:--'Know, O Brochan, know, that if yourefuse to set this captive free, as I desire you, you shall die before Ireturn from this province. ' Having said this in presence of Brude theking, he departed from the royal palace and proceeded to the river Nesa, from which he took a white pebble, and showing it to his companions, said to them:--'Behold this white pebble, by which God will effect thecure of many diseases. ' Having thus spoken, he added, 'Brochan ispunished grievously at this moment, for an angel sent from heaven, striking him severely, has broken in pieces the glass cup which he heldin his hands, and from which he was in the act of drinking, and hehimself is left half dead. Let us await here, for a short time, two ofthe king's messengers, who have been sent after us in haste, to requestus to return quickly and relieve the dying Brochan, who, now that he isthus terribly punished, consents to set his captive free. '

"While the saint was yet speaking, behold, there arrived as he hadpredicted, two horsemen, who were sent by the king, and who related allthat had occurred, according to the prediction of the saint--thebreaking of the drinking goblet, the punishment of the Druid, and hiswillingness to set his captive at liberty. They then added:--'The kingand his councillors have sent us to you to request that you would curehis foster father, Brochan, who lies in a dying state. '

"Having heard these words of the messengers, Saint Columba sent two ofhis companions to the king, with the pebble which he had blessed, andsaid to them; 'If Brochan shall first promise to free his captive, immerse this little stone in water and let him drink from it, but if herefuse to liberate her, he will that instant die. '

"The two persons sent by the saint proceeded to the palace and announcedthe words of the holy man to the king and to Brochan, an announcementwhich filled them with such fear, that he immediately liberated thecaptive and delivered her to the saint's messengers. "

The stone was then immersed in water, and in a wonderful manner, andcontrary to the laws of nature, it floated on the water like a nut or anapple, nor could it be submerged. Brochan drank from the stone as itfloated on the water, and instantly recovered his perfect health andsoundness of body. 

"This little pebble (adds Adamnan) was afterwards preserved among thetreasures of the king, retained its miraculous property of floating inwater, and through the mercy of God effected the cure of sundrydiseases. And, what is very wonderful, when it was sought for by thosesick persons whose term of life had arrived it could not be found. Aninstance of this occurred the very day king Brude died, when the stone, though sought for with great diligence, could not be found in the placewhere it had been previously left. "[224]

In the Highlands of Scotland there have been transmitted down, for manygenerations, various curing or charm-stones, used in the same manner asthat of Columba, and reckoned capable, like his, of imparting to the_water in which they were immersed_[225] wondrous medicinal powers. Oneof the most celebrated of these curing-stones belongs to StruanRobertson, the chief of the Clan Donnachie. I am indebted to thekindness of Mrs. Robertson, for the following notes regarding thecuring-stone, of which her family are the hereditary proprietors. Itslocal name is

_Clach-na-Bratach, or Stone of the Standard. _

"This stone has been in possession of the Chiefs of Clan Donnachaidhsince 1315. 

"It is said to have been acquired in this wise. 

"The (then) chief, journeying with his clan to join Bruce's army beforeBannockburn, observed, on his standard being lifted one morning, aglittering something in a clod of earth hanging to the flagstaff. It wasthis stone. He showed it to his followers, and told them he felt sureits brilliant lights were a good omen and foretold a victory--andvictory was won on the hard-fought field of Bannockburn. 

[Illustration: Fig. 17. Clach-na-Bratach. ]

"From this time, whenever the clan was 'out, ' the Clach-na-Bratachaccompanied it, carried on the person of the chief, and its varying hueswere consulted by him as to the fate of battle. On the eve ofSheriffmuir (13th November 1715), of sad memory, on Struan consultingthe stone as to the fate of the morrow, the large internal flaw wasfirst observed. The Stuarts were lost--and Clan Donnachaidh has beendeclining in influence ever since. 

"The virtues of the Clach-na-Bratach are not altogether of a martialnature, for it cures all manner of diseases in cattle and horses, andformerly in human beings also, if they drink the water in which thischarmed stone has been thrice dipped by the hands of Struan. "

The Clach-na-Bratach is a transparent, globular mass of rock crystal, ofthe size of a small apple. (See accompanying woodcut, Fig. 17. ) Itssurface has been artificially polished. Several specimens of roundrock-crystal, of the same description and size, and similarly polished, have been found deposited in ancient sepulchres, and were formerly usedalso in the decoration of shrines and sceptres. 

Another well-known example of the Highland curing-stone is the

_Clach Dearg, or Stone of Ardvoirloch. _

[Illustration: Fig. 18. Stone of Ardvoirloch. ]

This stone is a clear rock-crystal ball of a similar character, butsomewhat smaller than the Clach-na-Bratach, and placed in a setting (seeFig. 18) of four silver bands or slips. The following account of theArdvoirloch curing-stone is from the pen of one of the present membersof that ancient family:--

"It has been in the possession of our family from _time immemorial_, butthere is no writing about it in any of the charters, nor even atradition as to _when_ and _how_ it became possessed of it. It issupposed to have been brought from the _East_, which supposition iscorroborated by the fact of the silver setting being recognised as ofEastern workmanship. Its healing powers have always been held in greatrepute in our own neighbourhood, particularly in diseases of cattle. Ihave even known persons come for the water into which it has been dippedfrom a distance of forty miles. It is also believed to have otherproperties which you know of. 

"These superstitions would have existed up to the present day, had I notmyself put a stop to them; but six years ago, I took an opportunity todo away with them, by depositing the stone with some of the family platein a chest which I sent to the bank. Thus, when applied to for it (whichI have been since then), I had the excuse of not having it in mypossession; and when the Laird returns from India, it is hoped thesuperstition may be forgotten, and "the stone" preserved only as a veryprecious _heirloom_. 

"I may mention that there were various forms to be observed by those whowished to benefit by its healing powers. The person who came for it toArdvoirloch was obliged to draw the water himself, and bring it into thehouse in some vessel into which this stone was to be dipped. A bottlewas filled and carried away; and in its conveyance home, if carried intoany house by the way, the virtue was supposed to leave the water; it wastherefore necessary, if a visit had to be paid, that the bottle shouldbe left outside. "

Other charm-stones enjoyed, up to the present century, no small medicalreputation among the inhabitants of the Highlands. In some districts, every ancient family of note appears to have affected the possession ofa curing-stone. The Campbells of Glenlyon have long been the hereditaryproprietors of a charm-stone similar to those that I have alreadymentioned. It consists of a roundish or ovoidal ball, apparently ofrock-crystal, about an inch and a half in diameter, and protected by asilver mounting. To make the water in which it was dipped sufficientlymedicinal and effective, the stone, during the process, required to beheld in the hand of the Laird. The Bairds of Auchmeddan possessedanother of these celebrated northern amulets. The Auchmeddan Stone is aball of black-coloured flint, mounted with four strips of silver. Alegend engraved on this silver setting--in letters probably of the lastcentury--states that this "Amulet or charm belonged to the family ofBaird of Auchmeddan from the year 1174. " In the middle of the lastcentury, this amulet passed as a family relic to the Frasers ofFindrack, when an intermarriage with the Bairds occurred. 

Curing-stones seem to have formerly been by no means rare in thiscountry, to the south also of the Highland Borders. In a letter writtenby the distinguished Welsh archæologist Edward Lhwyd, and datedLinlithgow, December 17, 1699, he states that betwixt Wales and theHighlands he had seen at least fifty different forms of theparty-coloured glass bead or amulet known under the name of Adder-beadsor Snake stones. [226] In Scotland he found various materials used ashealing amulets, particularly some pebbles of remarkable shape andcolour, and hollow balls and rings of coloured glass. "They have also, "he says, "the _Ombriæ pellucidæ_, which are crystal balls orhemispheres, or depressed ovals, in great esteem for curing of cattle;and some on May-day put them into a tub of water, and besprinkle alltheir cattle with that water, to prevent being elf-struck, bewitched, etc. "

In the Lowlands, the curing-stone of greatest celebrity, and the onewhich has longest retained its repute, is

_The Lee Penny. _

In the present century this ancient medical charm-stone has acquired aworld-wide reputation as the original of the _Talisman_ of Sir WalterScott, though latterly its therapeutic reputation has greatly declined, and almost entirely ceased. [227] The enchanted stone has long been inthe possession of the knightly family of the Lockharts of Lee, inLanarkshire. According to a mythical tradition, it was, in thefourteenth century, brought by Sir Simon Lockhart from the Holy Land, where it had been used as a medical amulet, for the arrestment ofhæmorrhage, fever, etc. It is a small dark-red stone, of a somewhattriangular or heart shape, as represented in the adjoining woodcut (Fig. 19). It is set in the reverse of a groat of Edward IV. , of the LondonMint. [228]

[Illustration: Fig. 19. The Lee Penny. ]

When the Lee Penny was used for healing purposes, a vessel was filledwith water, the stone was drawn once round the vessel, and then dippedthree times in the water. In his _Account of the Penny in the Lee_, written in 1702, Hunter states, that "it being taken and put into theend of a cloven stick, and washen in a tub full of water, and given tocattell to drink, infallibly cures almost all manner of deseases. Thepeople, " he adds, "come from all airts of the kingdom with deseasedbeasts. "

One or two points in its history prove the faith that was placed in thehealing powers of the Lee Penny in human maladies of the most formidabletype. About the beginning of last century, Lady Baird of Saughtonhallwas attacked with the supposed symptoms of hydrophobia. But on drinkingof, and bathing in, the water in which the Lee Penny had been dipped, the symptoms disappeared; and the Knight and Lady of Lee were for manydays sumptuously entertained by the grateful patient. In one of theepidemics of plague which attacked Newcastle in the reign of Charles I. , the inhabitants of that town obtained the loan of the Lee Penny bygranting a bond of £6000 for its safe return. Such, it is averred, wastheir belief in its virtues, and the good that it effected, that theyoffered to forfeit the money, and keep the charm-stone. 

About the middle of the seventeenth century the Reformed ProtestantChurch of Scotland zealously endeavoured, as the English Church underKing Edgar had long before done, to "extinguish every heathenism, andforbid well-worshippings, and necromancies, and divinations, andenchantments, and man-worshippings, and the vain practices which arecarried on with various spells, and with elders, and also with othertrees, and with stones, etc. "[229] They left, however, other practices, equally superstitious, quite untouched. Thus, while they threatened "theseventh son of a woman" with the "paine of Kirk censure, " for "cureingthe cruelles (scrofulous tumours and ulcers), "[230] by touching them, they still allowed the reigning king this power (Charles II. Alone"touched" 92, 000 such patients);[231] and the English Church sanctioneda liturgy to be used on these superstitious occasions. Again, the Synodof the Presbyterian Church of Glasgow examined into the alleged curativegifts of the Lee Penny; but, finding that it was employed "wtout usingonie words such as charmers and sorcerers use in their unlawfullpractisess; and considering that in nature there are mony things seen towork strange effects, q^{r}of no human witt can give a reason, it havingpleasit God to give to stones and herbes special virtues for the healingof mony infirmities in man and beast, advises the brethern to surceasetheir process, as q^{r}in they perceive no ground of offence: Andadmonishes the said Laird of Lee, in the useing of the said stone to takheed that it be used hereafter w^t the least scandal that possiblie maybe. "[232]

[Footnote 217: _Natural History_, Book xxx. Chapters i. Ii. ]

[Footnote 218: "What we are going to say, " observes Pliny, "ismarvellous, but it may easily be tested by experiment. If a personrepents of a blow given to another, either by hand or with a missile, hehas nothing to do but to spit at once into the palm of the hand whichhas inflicted the blow, and all feeling of resentment will be instantlyalleviated in the person struck. This, too, is often verified in thecase of a beast of burden, when brought on its haunches with blows: for, upon this remedy being adopted, the animal will immediately step out andmend its pace. Some persons, also, before making an effort, spit intothe hand in the manner above stated, in order to make the blow _more_heavy. "--Pliny's _Natural History_, xxviii. § 7. ]

[Footnote 219: _Natural History_, Book xxx. § 4. Archæologists are nowfully aware of "the accord" of the ancient inhabitants of Britain withthose of Persia and the other eastern branches of the Aryan race in manyother particulars, as in their language, burial customs, etc. Accordingto some Indian observers, stone erections, like our so-called Druidicalcircles, cromlechs, etc. , are common in the East. Is it vain to hopethat amid the great and yet unsearched remains of old Sanscritliterature, allusions may yet be found to such structures, that maythrow more light upon their uses in connection with religious, sepulchral, or other services?]

[Footnote 220: Grimm thinks that the formulæ of Marcellus partake moreof the Celtic dialects of the Irish, and consequently of the Scotch, than of the Welsh. As one of the shortest specimens of Marcellus'scharm-cures, let me cite, from Pictet, the following, as given in the_Ulster Journal of Archæology_, vol. Iv. P. 266:--"Formula 12. He whoshall labour under the disease of watery (or blood-shot) eyes, let himpluck the herb Millefolium up by the roots, and of it make a hoop, andlook through it, saying three times, '_Excicumacriosos_;' and let him asoften move the hoop to his mouth, and spit through the middle of it, andthen plant the herb again. " "I divide, " observes Pictet, "the formulathus: _exci cuma criosos_, and translate it, 'See the form of thegirdle. '" After a long and learned disquisition on the component wordsPictet adds--"The process of cure recommended in this formula is of acharacter altogether symbolical. Girdles (_cris_), which we shall meetwith again in formula No. 27, seem to have performed an important partin Celtic medicine. By making the eye look through the circle formed bythe plant, a girdle, as it were, was put round it; and it is for thisreason that the formula says, see the form (or model) of the girdle. Theaction of spitting afterwards through the little ring expressedsymbolically the expulsion of the pain. " The so-called Celticword-charms in the formulæ of Marcellus are usually longer than theabove; as, "_Tetune resonco bregan gresso_;" "Heilen prossaggeri nomesipolla na builet ododieni iden olitan, " etc. Etc. ]

[Footnote 221: On this subject I elsewhere published, two years ago, thefollowing remarks:--"The medical science and medical lore of the pasthas become, after a succession of ages, the so-called folk-lore andsuperstitious usages of times nearer our own. Up to the end of the lastcentury, patients attacked with insanity were occasionally dipped inlakes and wells, and left bound in the neighbouring church for a night. Loch Maree, in Ross-shire, and St. Fillan's Pool, in Perthshire, wereplaces in which such unfortunate patients were frequently dipped. Heron, in his _Journey through Scotland_ in the last century, states that itwas affirmed that two hundred invalids were carried annually to St. Fillan's for the cure of various diseases, but principally of insanity. The proceedings at this famous pool were in such cases an imitation ofthe old Greek and Roman worship of Æsculapius. Patients consulting theÆsculapian priest were purified first of all, by bathing in some sacredwell; and then having been allowed to enter into and sleep in histemple, the god, or rather some priest of the god, came in the darknessof the night and told them what treatment they were to adopt. The poorlunatics brought to St. Fillan's were, in the same way, first purifiedby being bathed in his pool, and then laid bound in the neighbouringchurch during the subsequent night. If they were found loose in themorning, a full recovery was confidently looked for, but the cureremained doubtful when they were found at morning dawn still bound. Iwas lately informed by the Rev. Mr Stewart of Killin, that in one of thelast cases so treated--and that only a few years ago--the patient wasfound sane in the morning, and unbound; a dead relative, according tothe patient's own account, having entered the church during the night, and loosened her both from the ropes that bound her body and thedelusions that warped her mind. It was a system of treatment by mysteryand terrorism that might have made some sane persons insane; and hence, perhaps, conversely, some insane persons sane. Mr. Pennant tells us thatat Llandegla, in Wales, where similar rites were performed for the cureof insanity, viz. , purification in the sacred well, and forced detentionof the patient for a night in the church, under the communion-table, thelunatics or their friends were obliged to leave a cock in the church ifhe were a male, and a hen if she were a female--an additionalcircumstance in proof of the Æsculapian type of the superstition. Butperhaps, after all, the whole is a medical or mythological belief, olderthan Greece or Rome, and which was common to the whole Aryan orIndo-European race in Asia before they sent off, westward, over Europe, those successive waves of population that formed the nations of the Celtand Teuton, of the Goth, and Greek, and Latin. The cock is stilloccasionally sacrificed in the Highlands for the cure of epilepsy andconvulsions. A patient of mine found one, a few years ago, deposited ina hole in the kitchen floor; the animal having been killed and laid downat the spot where a child had, two or three days previously, fallen downin a fit of convulsions. "--See the _Medical Times and Gazette_ of Dec. 8, 1860, p. 549. ]

[Footnote 222: See, for example, Kemble's work on the Anglo-Saxons, vol. I. P. 528, for various Teutonic medical superstitions and cures. ]

[Footnote 223: A very intelligent patient from the North Highlands, towhom I happened lately to speak on this subject, has written out thefollowing instances that have occurred within her own knowledge:--"Twentyyears or more ago, in the parish of Nigg, Ross-shire, there was a lad offifteen ill with epilepsy. To cure him, his friends first tried the charmof mole's blood. A plate was laid on the lad's head; the living mole washeld over it by the tail, the head cut off, and the blood allowed to dropinto the plate. Three moles were sacrificed one after the other, butwithout effect. Next they tried the effect of a bit of the skull of asuicide, and sent for this treasure a distance of from sixty to one hundredmiles. This bit of the skull was scraped to dust into a cup of water, which the lad had to swallow, not knowing the contents. This I heardfrom a sister of the lad's. There was a 'strong-minded' old woman atStrathpeffer, Ross-shire whose daughter told me that the neighbours hadcome to condole with the mother after she had fallen down in a fit of somekind. They strongly advised her to bury a living cock in the very placewhere she had fallen, to prevent a return of the ailment. A woman inSutherlandshire told me that she knew a young man, ill of consumption, who was made to drink his own blood after it had been drawn from his arm. This same woman was ill with a pain in her chest, which she could getnothing to relieve; so her father sent off for 'a knowing man, ' who, whenhe saw the girl, repeated some words under his breath, then touched thefloor and her shoulder three times alternately, and with alleged success. "]

[Footnote 224: In the first chapter of Adamnan's work, the miracle isagain alluded to as follows:--"He took a white stone (_lapidemcandidum_) from the river's bed, and blessed it for the cure of certaindiseases; and that stone, contrary to the law of nature, floats like anapple when placed in the water. "]

[Footnote 225: For other instances of waters rendered medicinal by beingbrought in contact with saint's bones--such as St. Marnan's head, withSt. Conval's chariot, etc. Etc. , see Dalyell's _Superstitions ofScotland_, p. 151, etc. Sibbald's _Memoirs of the Edinburgh College ofPhysicians_, p. 39. ]

[Footnote 226: See _Philosophical Transactions_ for the year 1713, p. 98. For instances of curing-stones in the Hebrides, see Martin's_Western Isles_, p. 134, 166, etc. ]

[Footnote 227: I was lately told by the farmer at Nemphlar, in theneighbourhood of Lee, that in his younger days no byre was consideredsafe which had not a bottle of water from the Lee Penny suspended fromits rafters. Even this remnant of superstition seems to have died outduring the present generation. ]

[Footnote 228: I state this on the high numismatic authority of myfriend, Mr. Sim. Sir Walter Scott describes the coin as a groat ofEdward I. ]

[Footnote 229: Kemble's _Anglo-Saxons_, vol. I. P. 527, etc. ]

[Footnote 230: See a case of this prohibition in the _EcclesiasticalRecords of the Presbytery of St. Andrews_ for September 1643. "It ismanifest by experience, " says Upton, "that the seventh male child byjust order, never a girle or wench being borne betweene, doth heall onlywith touching, by a natural gift, the king's evil; which is a speciallgift of God, given to kings and queens, as daily experience dothwitnesse. " See Upton's Notable Things (1631), p. 28. Charles I. When hevisited Scotland in 1633, in Holyrood Chapel, on St. John's day, "heallit 100 persons of the cruelles, or kingis eivell, yong andolde. "--Dalyell's _Superstitions_, p. 62. ]

[Footnote 231: See the "_Charisma Basilicon_" (1684) of John Browne, "Chirurgion to His Majesty, " for a full and charming account of thewhole process and ceremonies of the royal "touch, " the prayers used onthe occasion, and due proofs of the alleged wondrous effects of this"sanative gift, which hath (says Dr. Browne) for above 640 years beenconfirmed and continued in our English Princely line, wherein is not somuch of their Majesty shown as of their Divinity, " and which is onlydoubted by "Ill affected men and Dissenters. "]

[Footnote 232: See the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for December 1787. ]

IS THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZEH A METROLOGICAL MONUMENT?

 The following observations form a corrected Abstract, from No. 75 of the _Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, of a communication made to that Society on the 20th January 1868, and entitled _Pyramidal Structures in Egypt and elsewhere; and the Objects of their Erection_. Some additional points are dwelt upon in the Notes and Appendix. As stated at the time, the communication was not at all spontaneous, but enforced by the previous criticisms of Professor Smyth. 

There are many proposed derivations of the word Pyramid. Perhaps theorigin of the name suggested by the distinguished Egyptologist, Mr. Birch, from two Coptic words, "_pouro_, " "ing, " and "_emahau_, " or"_maha_, " "tomb, "--the two in combination signifying "the king'stomb, "--is the most correct. "_Men_, " in Coptic, signifies "monument, ""memorial;" and "_pouro-men_, " or "king's monument, " may possibly alsobe the original form of the word. [233]

Various English authors, as Pope, [234] Pownall, [235] Professor DanielWilson, [236] Burton, [237] had long applied the term pyramid to thelarger forms of conical and round sepulchral mounds, cairns, orbarrows--such as are found in Ireland, Brittany, Orkney, etc. , and alsoin numerous districts of the New and Old World;[238] and which are allcharacterised by containing in their interior chambers or cells, constructed usually of large stones, and with megalithic galleriesleading into them. In these chambers (small in relation to the hills ofstone or earth in which they were imbedded) were found the remains ofsepulture, with stone weapons, ornaments, etc. The galleries andchambers were roofed, sometimes with flags laid quite flat, or placedabutting against each other; and occasionally with large stones arrangedover the internal cells in the form of a horizontal arch or dome. In histravels to Madeira and the Mediterranean (1840), Sir W. Wilde details ininteresting terms his visit to the pyramids of Egypt; and in describingthe roof of the interior chambers of one of the pyramids atSakkara, [239] he remarks on the analogy of its construction to the greatbarrow of Dowth in Ireland; and again, when writing--in his work on the_Beauties of the Boyne_ (1849)--an account of the great old barrows ofDowth, New Grange, etc. , placed on its banks above Drogheda, hedescribes at some length the last of these mounds (New Grange), --statingthat it "consists" of an enormous cairn or "hill of small stones, calculated at 180, 000 tons weight, occupying the summit of one of thenatural undulating slopes which enclose the valley of the Boyne upon thenorth. It is said to cover nearly two acres, and is 400 paces incircumference, and now about 80 feet higher than the adjoining naturalsurface. Various excavations (he adds) made into its sides and upon itssummit, at different times, in order to supply materials for buildingand road-making, having assisted to lessen its original height, and alsoto destroy the beauty of its outline. " Like the other analogous moundsand pyramids placed there and elsewhere, New Grange has a longmegalithic gallery, of above 60 feet in length, leading inward intothree dome-shaped chambers or crypts. After describing minutely, andwith a master-hand, the construction of these interior parts, and thecarvings of circles, spirals, etc. , [240] upon the enormous stones ofwhich the gallery and crypts are built, Sir William Wilde goes on toobserve:--"We believe with most modern investigators into such subjects, that it was a tomb, or great sepulchral Pyramid, similar in everyrespect to those now standing by the banks of the Nile, from Dashour toGizeh, each consisting of a great central chamber containing one or moresarcophagi, entered by a long stone-covered passage. The externalaperture was concealed, and the whole covered with a great mound ofstones or earth in a conical form. The early Egyptians, and theMexicans also, possessing greater art and better tools than theprimitive Irish, carved, smoothed, and cemented their great pyramids;_but the type and purpose is all the same_.... How far anterior to theChristian era its date should be placed would be a matter ofspeculation; it may be of an age coeval, or even anterior, to itsbrethren on the Nile. "

Other pyramidal barrows at Maeshowe, Gavr Inis, etc. , were referred toand illustrated; showing that a gigantic sepulchral cairn was in itsmass an unbuilt pyramid; or, in other words, that a pyramid was a builtcairn. 

SEPULCHRAL CHARACTER, ETC. , OF THE EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS. 

All authors, from the Father of History downwards, have generally agreedin considering the pyramids of Egypt as magnificent and regalsepulchres; and the sarcophagi, etc. , of the dead have been found inthem when first opened for the purposes of plunder or curiosity. Thepyramidal sepulchral mounds on the banks of the Boyne were opened andrifled in the ninth century by the invading Dane, as told in differentold Irish annals; and the Pyramids of Gizeh, etc. , were reputedly brokeninto and harried in the same century by the Arabian Caliph, AlMamoon, --the entrances and galleries blocked up by stones being forcedand turned, and in some parts the solid masonry perforated. The largestof the Pyramids of Gizeh--or "the Great Pyramid, " as it is generallytermed--is now totally deprived of the external polished limestonecoating which covered it at the time of Herodotus's visit, sometwenty-two centuries ago; and "now" (writes Mr. Smyth) "is so injured asto be, in the eyes of some passing travellers, little better than aheap of stones. " But all the internal built core of the magnificentstructure remains, and contains in its interior (besides a rock chamberbelow) two higher built chambers or crypts above--the so-called King'sChamber and Queen's chamber--with galleries and apartments leading tothem. The walls of these galleries and upper chambers are built withgranite and limestone masonry of a highly-finished character. This, thelargest and most gigantic of the many pyramids of Egypt, had beencalculated by Major Forlong (Asso. Inst. C. Engrs. ), as a structurewhich in the East would cost about £1, 000, 000. Over India, and the Eastgenerally, enormous sums had often been expended on royal sepulchres. The Taj Mahal of Agra, built by the Emperor Shah Jahan for his favouritequeen, cost perhaps double or triple this sum; and yet it formed only aportion of an intended larger mausoleum which he expected to rear forhimself. The great Pyramid contains in its interior, and directly overthe King's Chamber, five entresols or "chambers of construction, " asthey have been termed, intended apparently to take off the enormousweight of masonry from the cross stones forming the roof of the King'sChamber itself. These entresols are chambers, small and unpolished, andnever intended to be opened. But in two or three of them, broken into byColonel H. Vyse, a most interesting discovery was made about thirtyyears ago. The surfaces of some of the stones were found painted over inred ochre or paint, with rudish hieroglyphics--being, as first shown byMr. Birch, quarry marks, written on the stones 4000 years ago, andhence, perhaps, forming the oldest preserved writing in the world. Theseaccidental hieroglyphics usually marked only the number and position ofthe individual stones. Among them, however, Mr. Birch discovered tworoyal ovals, viz. , Shufu (the Cheops of Herodotus) and Nu Shufu--"abrother" (writes Professor Symth) "of Shufu, also a king and a co-regentwith him. " Most, if not all, of the other pyramids are believed to havebeen erected by individual kings during their individual or separatereigns. If these hieroglyphics proved that _two_ kings were connectedwith the building of the Great Pyramid, that circumstance would perhapsaccount for its size and the duplicity and position of its sepulchralchambers. [241]

The pyramid standing next the Great Pyramid, and nearly of equal size, is said by Herodotus to have been raised by the brother of Cheops. Theother pyramids at Gizeh are usually regarded as later in date. But theexact era of the reign or reigns of their builders has not as yet beendetermined, in consequence of the break made in Egyptian chronology bythe invasion of the Shepherd Kings. 

In their mode of building, the various pyramids of Gizeh, etc. , are allsimilar, and the Great Pyramid does not specially differ from theothers. "There is nothing" (observes Professor Smyth) "in thestone-upon-stone composition of the Great Pyramid which speaks of themere building problem to be solved there, as being of a differentcharacter, or requiring inventions by man of absolutely higher orderthan elsewhere. " But the Great Pyramid has been imagined to contain somehidden symbols and meanings. For "it is the manner of the Pyramid"(according to Professor Smyth) "not to wear its most vital truths inprominent outside positions. "

ALLEGED METROLOGICAL OBJECT OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 

By several authorities the largest[242] of the group of pyramids atGizeh, or "Great Pyramid, " has been maintained--and particularly of lateby Gabb, Jomard, Taylor, and Professor Smyth--not to be a royalmausoleum, but to be a marvellous metrological monument, built someforty centuries ago, as "a necessarily material centre, " to hold andcontain within it, and in its structure, material standards, "in apracticable and reliable shape, " "down to the ends of the world, " asmeasures of length, capacity, weight, etc. , for men and nations for alltime--"a monument" (in the language of Professor Smyth) "devoted toweights and measures, not so much as a place of frequent reference forthem, but one where the original standards were to be preserved for somethousands of years, safe from the vicissitudes of empires and the decayof nations. " Messrs. Taylor and Smyth further hold that this GreatPyramid was built for these purposes of mensuration under Divineinspiration--the standards being, through superhuman origination andguidance, made and protected by it till they came to be understood andinterpreted in these latter times. For, observes Professor Smyth, "theGreat Pyramid was a sealed book to all the world _until_ this presentday, when modern science, aided in part by the dilapidation of thebuilding and the structural features thereby opened up--has at lengthbeen able to assign the chief interpretations. " Professor Smyth has, inhis remarkable devotedness and enthusiasm, lately measured most of theprincipal points in the Great Pyramid; and for the great zeal, labour, and ability which he has displayed in this self-imposed mission, theSociety have very properly and justly bestowed upon him the Keith Medal. But the exactitude of the measures does not necessarily imply exactitudein the reasoning upon them; and on what grounds can it be possiblyregarded as a metrological monument and not a sepulchre, is legitimatelythe subject of our present inquiry. In such an investigation springs upfirst this question--

_Who was the Architect of the Great Pyramid?_

Mr. Taylor ascribes to Noah the original idea of the metrologicalstructure of the Great Pyramid. "To Noah" (observes Mr. Taylor) "we mustascribe the original idea, the presiding mind, and the benevolentpurpose. He who built the Ark, was of all men the most competent todirect the building of the Great Pyramid. He was born 600 years beforethe Flood and lived 350 years after that event, dying in the year 1998B. C. Supposing the pyramids were commenced in 2160 B. C. (that is 4000years ago), _they_ were founded 168 years before the death of Noah. Weare told" (Mr. Taylor continues) "that Noah was a 'preacher ofrighteousness, ' but nothing could more illustrate this character of apreacher of righteousness after the Flood than that he should be thefirst to publish a system of weights and measures for the use of allmankind, based upon the measure of the earth. " Professor Smyth, computing by another chronology, rejects the presence of Noah, and makesa shepherd--Philition, slightly and incidentally alluded to in a singlepassage by Herodotus[243]--the presiding and directing genius of thestructure;--holding him to be a Cushite skilled in building, and underwhose inspired direction the pyramid rose, containing within itmiraculous measures and standards of capacity, weight, length, heat, etc. 

THE COFFER IN THE KING'S CHAMBER IN THE GREAT PYRAMID AN ALLEGEDSTANDARD FOR MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 

A granite coffer, stone box, or sarcophagus standing in that interiorcell of the pyramid, called the King's Chamber, is held by Messrs. Taylor and Smyth to have been hewn out and placed there as a measure ofcapacity for the world, so that the ancient Hebrew, Grecian, and Romanmeasures of capacity on the one hand, and our modern Anglo-Saxon on theother, are all derived, directly or indirectly, from the parentmeasurements of this granite vessel. "For, " argues Mr. Taylor, "theporphyry coffer in the King's Chamber was intended to be a standardmeasure of capacity and weights for all nations; and all chief nationsdid originally receive their weights and measures from thence. "

The works of these authors show, in numerous passages and extracts, [244]that, in their belief, the great object for which the whole pyramid wascreated, was the preservation of this coffer as a standard of measures, and the "whole pyramid arranged in subservience to it. " The accounts ofit published by Mr. Taylor, and in Mr. Smyth's first work, further averthat the coffer is, internally and externally, a rectangular figure ofmathematical form, and of "exquisite geometric truth, " "highly polished, and of a fine bell-metal consistency" (p. 99). "The chest or coffer inthe Great Pyramid" (writes Mr. Taylor in 1859) "is so shaped as to be inevery part rectangular from side to side, and from end to end, and thebottom is also cut at right angles to the sides and end, and madeperfectly level. " "The coffer, " said Professor Smyth in 1864, "exhibitsto us a standard measure of 4000 years ago, with the tenacity andhardness of its substance unimpaired, and the polish and evenness of itssurface untouched by nature through all that length of time. "

But later inquiries and observations upset entirely all these notionsand strong averments in regard to the coffer. For--

 * * * * *

(1. ) _The Coffer, though an alleged actual standard of capacity-measure, has yet been found difficult or impossible to measure. _--In his firstwork, "Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid, " Professor Smyth had citedthe measurements of it, made and published by twenty-five differentobservers, several of whom had gone about the matter with greatmathematical accuracy. [245] Though imagined to be a great standard ofmeasure, yet all these twenty-five, as Professor Smyth owned, variedfrom each other in their accounts of this imaginary standard in "everyelement of length, breadth, and depth, both inside and outside. "Professor Smyth has latterly measured it himself, and this twenty-sixthmeasurement varies again from all the preceding twenty-five. Surely ameasure of capacity should be measureable. Its mensurability indeedought to be its most unquestionable quality; but this imagined standardhas proved virtually unmeasurable--in so far at least that itstwenty-six different and skilled measurers all differ from each otherin respect to its dimensions. Still, says Professor Smyth, "this affairof the coffer's precise size is _the question of questions_. "

 * * * * *

(2. ) _Discordance between its actual and its theoreticalmeasure. _--Professor Smyth holds that _theoretically_ its capacity oughtto be 71, 250 "pyramidal" cubic inches, for that cubic size would make itthe exact measure for a chaldron, or practically the vessel would thencontain exactly four quarters of wheat, etc. Yet Professor Smyth himselffound it some 60 cubic inches less than this; while also themeasurements of Professor Greaves, one of the most accurate measurers ofall, make it 250 cubic inches, and those of Dr. Whitman 14, 000 _below_this professed standard. On the other hand, the measurements of ColonelHoward Vyse make it more than 100, those of Dr. Wilson more than 500, and those of the French academicians who accompanied the Napoleonicexpedition to Egypt, about 6000 cubic inches _above_ the theoreticalsize which Professor Smyth has latterly fixed on. 

 * * * * *

(3. ) _Its theoretical measure varied. _--The _actual_ measure of thecoffer has varied in the hands of all its twenty-six measurers. But evenits _theoretical_ measure is varied also; for the size which the oldcoffer really _ought_ to have as "a grand capacity standard, " is, strangely enough, not a determined quantity. In his last work (1867), Professor Smyth declares, as just stated, its proper theoretical cubiccapacity to be 71, 250 pyramidal cubic inches. But in his first work(1864), he declared something different, for "we _elect_, " says he, "totake 70, 970·2 English cubic inches (or 70, 900 pyramidal cubic inches) asthe true, because the theoretically _proved_ contents of the porphyrycoffer, and therefore accept these numbers as giving the cubic size ofthe grand _standard_ measure of capacity in the Great Pyramid. " Again, however, Mr. Taylor, who, previously to Professor Smyth, was the greatadvocate of the coffer being a marvellous standard of capacity measurefor all nations, ancient and modern, declares its measure to be neitherof the above quantities, but 71, 328 cubic inches, or a cube of theancient cubit of Karnak. [246] A vessel cannot be a measure of capacitywhose own standard theoretical size is thus declared to vary somewhatevery few years by those very men who maintain that it is a standard. But whether its capacity is 71, 250, or 70, 970, or 71, 328, it is quiteequally held up by Messrs Taylor and Smyth that the Sacred Laver of theIsraelites, and the Molten Sea of the Scriptures, also conform andcorrespond to its (yet undetermined) standard "with _all_ conceivablepractical exactness;" though the standard of capacity to which they thusconform and correspond is itself a size or standard which has not beenyet fixed with any exactness. Professor Smyth, in speaking of thecalculations and theoretical dimensions of this coffer--as published byMr. Jopling, a believer in its wonderful standard character--criticallyand correctly observes, "Some very astonishing results were brought outin the play of arithmetical numerations. "

 * * * * *

(4. ) _The dilapidation of the Coffer. _--Thirty years ago this stonecoffer was pointed out, and indeed delineated by Mr. Perring, as "_not_particularly well polished, " and "chipped and broken at the edges. "Professor Smyth, in his late travels to Egypt, states that he foundevery possible line and edge of it chipped away with large chips alongthe top, both inside and outside, "chip upon chip, woefully spoiling theoriginal figure; along all the corners of the upright sides too, andeven along every corner of the bottom, while the upper south-easterncorner of the whole vessel is positively broken away to a depth andbreadth of nearly a third of the whole. " Yet this broken and damagedstone vessel is professed to be the _permanent_ and perfect miraculousstandard of capacity-measure for the world for "present and still futuretimes;" and, according to Mr. Taylor--that it might serve this purpose, "is formed of one block of the hardest kind of material, such asporphyry or granite, _in order_ that it might _not_ fall into decay;"for "in this porphyry coffer we have" (writes Professor Smyth in 1864)"the very closing end and aim of the whole pyramid. "

 * * * * *

(5. ) _Alleged mathematical form of the Coffer erroneous. _--But in regardto the coffer as an exquisite and marvellous standard of capacity to berevealed in these latter times, worse facts than these are divulged bythe tables, etc. , of measurements which Professor Smyth has recentlypublished of this stone vessel or chest. His published measurements showthat it is not at all a vessel, as was averred a few years ago, of puremathematical form; for, externally, it is in length an inch greater onone side than another; in breadth half-an-inch broader at one point thanat some other point; its bottom at one part is nearly a whole inchthicker than it is at some other parts; and in thickness its sides varyin some points about a quarter of an inch near the top. "But, " ProfessorSmyth adds, "if calipered lower down, it is extremely probable that a_notably_ different thickness would have been found there;"--though itdoes not appear why they were not thus calipered. [247] Further, externally, "all the sides" (says Professor Smyth) "were slightlyhollow, excepting the east side;" and the "two external ends" also showsome "concavity" in form. "The outside, " (he avows) "of the vessel wasfound to be by no means so perfectly accurate as many would haveexpected, for the length was greater on one side than the other, and_different_ also according to the height at which the measure was made. ""The workmanship" (he elsewhere describes) "of the _inside_ is inadvance of the outside, but yet _not_ perfect. " For internally there isa convergence at the bottom towards the centre; both in length and inbreadth the interior differs about half-an-inch at one point fromanother point; the "extreme points" (also) "of the corners of the bottomnot being perfectly worked out to the intersection of the general planesof the entire sides;" and thus its cavity seems really of a form utterlyunmeasurable in a correct way by mere linear measurement--the onlymeasure yet attempted. If it were an object of the slightest moment, perhaps liquid measurements would be more successful in ascertaining atleast as much of the mensuration of the lower part of the coffer asstill remains. 

 * * * * *

(6. ) _Coffer cut with ledges and catch-holes for a lid, like othersarcophagi. _--More damaging details still remain in relation to thecoffer as "a grand standard measure of capacity, " and prove that itsobject or function was very different. In his first work Professor Smythdescribes the coffer as showing no "symptoms" whatever of grooves, orcatchpins or other fastenings or a lid. "More modern accounts, " here-observes, "have been further precise in describing the smooth andgeometrical finish of the upper part of the coffer's sides, _withoutany_ of those grooves, dovetails, or steady-pin-holes which have beenfound elsewhere in true polished sarcophagi, where the firm fastening ofthe lid is one of the most essential features of the whole business. "Mr. Perring, however, delineated the catchpin-holes for a lid in thecoffer thirty years ago. [248] On his late visit to it Professor Smythfound its western side lowered down in its whole extent to nearly aninch and three-quarters (or more exactly, 1·72 inch), and ledges cut outaround the interior of the other sides at the same height. Should wemeasure on this western side from this actual ledge brim, or from theimaginary higher brim? If reckoned as the true brim, "this ledge"(according to Professor Smyth) would "take away near 4000 inches fromthe cubic capacity of the vessel. " Besides, he found three holes cut onthe top of the coffer's lowered western side, as in all the otherEgyptian sarcophagi, where these holes are used along with the ledge andgrooves to admit, and form a simple mechanism to lock the lids of suchstone chests. [249] In other words, it presents the usual ledge andapparatus pertaining to Egyptian stone sarcophagi, and served as such. 

 * * * * *

(7. ) _Sepulchral contents of Coffer when first discovered. _--When, abouta thousand years ago, the Caliph Al Mamoon tunnelled into the interiorof the pyramid, he detected by the accidental falling, it is said, of agranite portcullis, the passage to the King's Chamber, shut up from thebuilding of the pyramid to that time. "Then" (to quote the words ofProfessor Smyth) "the treasures of the pyramid, sealed up almost fromthe days of Noah, and undesecrated by mortal eye for 3000 years, layfull in their grasp before them. " On this occasion, to quote the wordsof Ibn Abd Al Hakm or Hokm--a contemporary Arabian writer, and ahistorian of high authority, [250] who was born, lived, and died inEgypt--they found in the pyramid, "towards the top, a chamber [now theso-called King's Chamber] with an hollow stone [or coffer] in whichthere was a statue [of stone] like a man, and within it a man upon whomwas a breastplate of gold set with jewels; upon this breastplate was asword of inestimable price, and at his head a carbuncle of the bignessof an egg, shining like the light of the day; and upon him werecharacters writ with a pen, [251] which no man understood"[252]--adescription stating, down to the so-called "statue, " mummy-case, orcartonage, and the hieroglyphics upon the cere-cloth, the arrangementsnow well known to belong to the higher class of Egyptian mummies. 

In short (to quote the words of Professor Smyth), "that wonder within awonder of the Great Pyramid--viz. , the porphyry coffer, "--that "chiefmystery and boon to the human race which the Great Pyramid was built toenshrine, "--"this vessel of exquisite meaning, " and of "far-reachingcharacteristics, "--mathematically formed under alleged Divineinspiration as a measure of capacity (and, according to M. Jomard, probably of length also) for all men and all nations, for all time, --andparticularly for these latter profane times, --is, in simple truth, nothing more and nothing less than--an old and somewhat misshapen stonecoffin. 

STANDARD OF LINEAR MEASURE IN THE GREAT PYRAMID. 

The standard in the Great Pyramid, according to Messrs. Taylor andSmyth, for _linear_ measurements, is the length of the base line orlines of the pyramid. This, Professor Smyth states, is "_the functionproper of the pyramids base_. " It is professed also that in this baseline there has been found a new mythical inch--one-thousandth of aninch longer than the British standard inch; and in the last sections ofhis late work Professor Smyth has earnestly attempted to show that thestatus of the kingdoms of Europe in the general and moral world may bemeasured in accordance with their present deviation from or conformityto this suppositious pyramidal standard in their modes of nationalmeasurement. [253] "For the linear measure" (says Professor Smyth) "ofthe base line of this colossal monument, viewed in the light of thephilosophical connection between time and space, has yielded a standardmeasure of length which is more admirably and learnedlyearth-commensurable than anything which has ever yet entered into themind of man to conceive, even up to the last discovery in modernmetrological science, whether in England, France, or Germany. "

The engineers and mathematicians of different countries have repeatedlymeasured arcs of meridians to find the form and dimensions of the earth, and the French made the metre (their standard of length), 1/10, 000, 000of the quadrant of the meridian. Professor Smyth holds that the basisline of the pyramid has been laid down by Divine authority as such aguiding standard measure. 

 * * * * *

_What, then, is the exact length of one of its basis lines?_ The sidesof the pyramid have been measured by many different measurers. Linearstandards have, says Professor Smyth, "been already looked for by manyand many an author on the sides of the base of the Great Pyramid, evenbefore they knew that the terminal points of those magnificent baselines had been carefully marked in the solid rock of the hill by thesocket-holes of the builders. " But--as in the case of the cubiccapacity of the coffer--these measurers sadly disagree with each otherin their measurements, which, in fact, vary from some 7500 or 8000inches to 9000 and upwards. Thus, for example, Strabo makes it under 600Grecian feet, or under 7500 English inches; Dr. Shawe makes it 8040inches; Shelton makes it 8184 inches; Greaves, 8316; Davison, 8952:Caviglia, 9072; the French academicians, 9163; Dr. Perry, 9360, etc. , etc. 

At the time at which Professor Smyth was living at the Pyramids, Mr. Inglis of Glasgow visited it, and, for correct measurement, laid barefor the first time the four corner sockets. Mr. Inglis's measurementsnot only differed from all the other measurements of "one side" baselines made before him, but he makes the four sides differ from eachother; one of them--namely, the north side--being longer than the otherthree. Strangely, Professor Smyth, though in Egypt for the purpose ofmeasuring the different parts of the pyramid--and holding that its baseline ought to be our grand standard of measure, and further holding thatthe base line could only be accurately ascertained by measuring fromsocket to socket--never attempted that linear measurement himself afterthe sockets were cleared. These four corner sockets were never exposedbefore in historic times; and it may be very long before an opportunityof seeing and using them again shall ever be afforded to any othermeasurers. 

Before the corner sockets were exposed, Professor Smyth attempted tomeasure the bases, and made each side of the present masonry courses"between 8900 and 9000 inches in length, " or (to use his own word)"_about_" 8950 inches for the mean length of one of the four sides ofthe base; exclusive of the ancient casing and backing stones--whichlast Colonel Howard Vyse found and measured to be precisely 108 incheson each side, or 216 on both sides. These 216 inches, added to ProfessorSmyth's measure of "about" 8950 inches, make one side 9166 inches. ButProfessor Smyth has "elected" (to use his own expression) not to takethe mathematically exact measure of the casing stones as given byColonel Vyse and Mr. Perring, who alone ever saw them and measured them(for they were destroyed shortly after their discovery in 1837), but totake them, without any adequate reason, and contrary to theirmathematical measurement, as equal only to 202 inches, and hence "accept9152 inches as the original length of one side of the base of thefinished pyramid. " He deems, however, this "determination" not to be somuch depended upon as the measurements made from socket to socket. 

The mean of the only four series of such socket or casing stone measuresas have been recorded hitherto by the French Academicians (9163), Vyse(9168), Mahmoud Bey (9162), and Inglis (9110), amounts to nearly 9150. The first three of these observers were only able to measure the northside of the pyramid. Mr. Inglis measured all the four sides, and foundthem respectively 9120, 9114, 9102, and 9102, making a difference of 18inches between the shortest and longest. Professor Smyth thinks themeasures of Mr. Inglis as on the whole probably too _small_, and hetakes two of them, 9114 and 9102--(but, strangely, not the largest, 9120)--as data, and strikes a new number out of these two, and out ofthe three previous measures of the French Academicians, Vyse, andMahmoud Bey; from these five quantities making a calculation of "means, "and electing 9142 as the proper measure of the basis line of thepyramid--(which exact measure certainly none of its many measurers everyet found it to be); and upon this _foundation_, "derived" (to use hisown words) "from the best modern measures yet made, " he proceeds toreason, "as the happy, useful, and perfect representation of 9142, " andthe great standard for linear measure revealed to man in the GreatPyramid. Surely it is a remarkably strange _standard_ of linear measurethat can only be thus elicited and developed--not by direct measurementbut by indirect logic; and regarding the exact and precise length ofwhich there is as yet no kind of reliable and accurate certainty. 

Lately, Sir Henry James, the distinguished head of the Ordnance SurveyDepartment, has shown that the length of one of the sides of the pyramidbase, with the casing stones added, as measured by Colonel H. Vyse--viz. 9168 inches--is precisely 360 derahs, or land cubits of Egypt; the derahbeing an ancient land measure still in use, of the length of nearly25-1/2 British inches, or, more correctly, of 25·488 inches; and he haspointed out that in the construction of the body of the Great Pyramid, the architect built 10 feet or 10 cubits of horizontal length for every9 feet or 9 cubits of vertical height; while in the construction of theinclined passages the proportion was adhered to of 9 on the incline to 4in vertical height, rules which would altogether simplify the buildingof such a structure. [254] The Egyptian derah of 25·48 inches ispractically one-fourth more in length than the old cubit of the city ofMemphis. Long ago Sir Isaac Newton showed, from Professor Greaves'measurements of the chambers, galleries, etc. , that the Memphis cubit(or cubit of "ancient Egypt generally") of 1·719 English feet, [255] or20·628 English inches, was apparently the _working_ cubit of the masonsin constructing the Great Pyramid[256]--an opinion so far admitted morelately by both Messrs Taylor and Smyth; "the length" (says ProfessorSmyth) "of the cubit employed by the masons engaged in the Great Pyramidbuilding, or that of the ancient city of Memphis, " being, he thinks, onan average taken from various parts in the interior of the building, 20·73 British inches. [257] According to Mr. Inglis' late measurement ofthe four bases of the pyramid, after its four corner sockets wereexposed, the length of each base line was possibly 442 Memphis cubits, or 9117 English inches; or, if the greater length of the FrenchAcademicians, Colonel Vyse, and Mahmoud Bey, be held nearer the truth, 444 Memphis cubits, or 9158 British inches. 

But Professor Smyth tries to show that (1. ) if 9142 only be granted tohim as the possible base line of the pyramid; and (2. ) if 25 pyramidalinches be allowed to be the length of the "Sacred Cubit, " as revealed tothe Israelites (and as revealed in the pyramid), then the base linemight be found very near a multiple of this cubit by the days of theyear, [258] or by 365·25; for these two numbers multiplied togetheramount to 9131 "pyramidal" inches, or 9140 British inches--the Britishinch being held, as already stated, to be 1000th less than the pyramidalinch. Was, however, the "Sacred Cubit"--upon whose alleged length of 25"pyramidal" inches this idea is entirely built--really a measure of thislength? In this matter--the most important and vital of all for hiswhole linear hypothesis--Professor Smyth seems to have fallen intoerrors which entirely upset all the calculations and inferences foundedby him upon it. 

 * * * * *

_Length of the Sacred Cubit. _--Sir Isaac Newton, in his remarkable_Dissertation upon the Sacred Cubit of the Jews_ (republished in full byProfessor Smyth in the second volume of his _Life and Work at the GreatPyramid_), long ago came to the conclusion that it measured 25 unciæ ofthe Roman foot, and 6/10 of an uncia, or 24·753 British inches; and inthis way it was one-fifth longer than the cubit of Memphis--viz. 20·628inches, as previously deduced by him from Greaves' measurements of theKing's Chamber and other parts of the interior of the Great Pyramid. Before drawing his final inference as to the Sacred Cubit being 24·75inches, and as so many steps conducting to that inference, Sir Isaacshows that the Sacred Cubit was some measurement intermediate between along and moderate human step or pace, between the third of the length ofthe body of a tall and short man, etc. Etc. Professor Smyth hascollected several of the estimations thus adduced by Newton as "methodsof approach" to circumscribe the length of the Sacred Cubit, and omittedothers. Adding to eight of these alleged data, what he mistakingly aversto be Sir Isaac's deduction of the actual length of the Sacred Cubit inBritish inches--(namely, 24·82 instead of 24·753)--as a ninth quantity, he enters the whole nine in a table as follows:--

_Professor Smyth's Table of Newton's data of Inquiry regarding theSacred Cubit. _[259]

 "First between 23·28 and 27·94 British inches. Second " 23·3 27·9 " Third " 24·80 25·02 " Fourth " 24·91 25·68[260] " And Fifth, somewhere near 24·82. "

"The mean of all which numbers" (Professor Smyth remarks) "amounts to25·07 British inches. The Sacred Cubit, then, of the Hebrews" (he adds)"in the time of Moses--_according to Sir Isaac Newton_--was equal to25·07 British inches, with a probable error of ±·1. "

But--"_according_ to Sir Isaac Newton"--the Sacred Cubit of the Jews was_not_ 25·07, as Professor Smyth makes him state in this table, but 24·75British inches, as Sir Isaac himself more than once deliberately infersin his Dissertation. [261] Besides, in such inquiries, is it notaltogether illogical to attempt to draw mathematical deductions by thesecalculations of "means, " and especially by using the ninth quantity inthe table--viz. Sir Isaac's own avowed and deliberate deductionregarding the actual length of the Sacred Cubit--as one of the ninequantities from which that length was to be again deduced by the veryequivocal process of "means?" Errors, however, of a far more seriouskind exist. The "mean" of the nine quantities in Professor Smyth's tableis, he infers, 25·07 inches; and hence he avows that this, or near thisfigure, is the length of the Sacred Cubit. But the real mean of the ninequantities which Professor Smyth has collected is not 25·07 but 25·29--anumber in such a testing question as this of a very different value. Forthe days of the year (365·25) when multiplied by this, the true mean ofthese nine quantities, would make the base line of the pyramid 9237inches instead of Professor Smyth's theoretical number of 9142 inches; adifference altogether overturning all his inferences and calculationsthereanent. And again, if we take Sir Isaac Newton's own conclusion of24·75, and multiply it by the days of the year, the pretended length ofthe pyramid base comes out as low as 9039. 

_Alleged "really glorious Consummation" in Geodesy. _

The incidentally but totally erroneous summation which Professor Smyththus makes of the nine equivocal quantities in his table, as amountingto 25·07, he declares (to use his own strong words) as a "_reallyglorious consummation_ for the geodesical science of the present day tohave brought to light;" for he avers this length of 25·07--(which heforthwith elects to alter and change, without any given reason whatever, to 25·025 British inches)--being, he observes, "practically the sacredHebrew cubit, is _exactly_ one ten-millionth (1-10, 000, 000th) of theearth's semi-axis of rotation; and _that is_ the very best mode ofreference to the earth-ball as a whole, for a linear standard throughall time, that the highest science of the existing age of the world hasyet struck out or can imagine. In a word, the Sacred Cubit, _thus_realised, forms an instance of the most advanced and perfected humanscience supporting the truest, purest, and most ancient religion; whilea linear standard which the chosen people in the earlier ages of theworld were merely told by maxim to look on as _sacred_, compared withother cubits of other lengths, is proved by the progress of humanlearning in the latter ages of time, to have had, and still to have, aphilosophical merit about it which no men or nations at the time it wasfirst produced, or within several thousand years thereof, could havepossibly thought of for themselves. " Besides, adds he elsewhere, "an_extraordinarily_[262] convenient length too, for man to handle and usein the common affairs of life is the one ten-millionth of the earth'ssemi-axis of rotation when it comes to be realised, for it is extremelyclose to the ordinary human arm, or to the ordinary human pace inwalking, with a purpose to measure. "

Of course all these inferences and averments regarding the Sacred Cubitbeing an exact segment of the polar axis disappear, when we find SirIsaac Newton's length of the Sacred Cubit is not, as Professor Smythelects it to be, 25·025 British inches; nor 25·07, as he incorrectlycalculated it to be from the mean of the nine quantities selected andarranged in his table; nor 25·29, as is the actual mean of these ninequantities in his table; but, "_according_ to Sir Isaac Newton's" ownreiterated statement and conclusion, 24·753. (See footnote, p. 245. ) ASacred Cubit, according to Sir Isaac Newton's admeasurements of it, of24·75 inches, would not, by thousands of cubits, be one ten-millionth ofthe measure of the semi-polar axis of the earth; provided the polar axisbe, as Professor Smyth elects it to be, 500, 500, 000 Britishinches. [263]

AXIS OF THE EARTH AS A STANDARD OF MEASURE. 

The standards of measure in France and some other countries are, as iswell known, referred to divisions of arcs of the meridian, measured offupon different points of the surface of the earth. These measures ofarcs of the meridian, as measurements of a known and selected portion ofthe surface of the spheroidal globe of the earth, have, more or less, fixed mathematical relations with the axis of the earth; as thecircumference of a sphere has an exact mathematical ratio to itsdiameter. The difference in length of arcs of the meridian at differentparts of the earth's surface, in consequence of the spheroidal form ofthe globe of the earth, has led to the idea that the polar diameter oraxis of the earth would form a more perfect and more universal standardthan measurements of the surface of the earth. In the last century, Cassini[264] and Callet[265] proposed, on these grounds, that the polaraxis of the earth should be taken as the standard of measure. Withouthaving noticed these propositions of Cassini and Callet, [266] ProfessorSmyth adopts the same idea, and avers that 4000 years ago it had beenadopted and used also by the builders of the Great Pyramid, who laid outand measured off the basis of the pyramid as a multiple by the days ofthe year of the Sacred Cubit, and hence of the Pyramidal Cubit while theSacred or Pyramidal Cubit were both the results of superhuman or divineknowledge, and were both, or each, one ten-millionth of the semi-polaraxis of the earth. We have already seen, however, that the Sacred Cubit, "_according_ to Sir Isaac Newton, " is not a multiple by the days of theyear of the base line of the Great Pyramid; and is not onetwenty-millionth of the polar axis of the earth, when that polar axis islaid down as measuring, according to the numbers elected by ProfessorSmyth, 500, 500, 000 British inches. 

 * * * * *

But is there any valid reason whatever for fixing and determining, as anascertained mathematical fact, the polar axis of the earth to be thisvery precise and exact measure, with its formidable tail of cyphers?None, except the supposed requirements or necessities of ProfessorSmyth's pyramid metrological theory. The latest and most exactmeasurements are acknowledged to be those of Captain Clarke, who, on thedoctrine of the earth being a spheroid of revolution computes the polaraxis to be 500, 522, 904 British inches, calculating it from the resultsof all the known arcs of meridian measures. If we grant that the SacredCubit could be allowed to be exactly 25·025 inches, which Sir IsaacNewton found it not to be; and if we grant that the polar axis isexactly 500, 500, 000 British inches, which Captain Clarke did not find itto be; then, certainly, as shown by Professor Smyth, there would be20, 000, 000 of these supposititious pyramidal cubits, or 500, 000, 000 ofthe supposititious pyramidal inches in this supposititious polar axis ofthe earth. "In so far, then" (writes Professor Smyth), "we have in the5, with the many 0's that follow, a pyramidally commensurable andsymbolically appropriate unit for the earth's axis of rotation. " Butsuch adjustments have been made with as great apparent exactitude whenentirely different earth-axes and quantities were taken. Thus Mr. JohnTaylor shows the inches, cubits, and axes to answer precisely, althoughhe took as his standard a totally different diameter of the earth fromProfessor Smyth. The diameter of the earth at 30° of latitude--thegeographical position of the Great Pyramid--is, he avers, some seventeenmiles, or more exactly 17·652 miles longer than at the poles. [267] ButMr. Taylor fixed upon this diameter of the earth at latitude 30°--andnot, like Professor Smyth, upon its polar diameter--as the standard forthe metrological linear measures of the Great Pyramid; and yet, thoughthe standard was so different, he found, like Mr. Smyth, 500, 000, 000 ofinches also in his axis, and 20, 000, 000 of cubits also. [268] Theresulting figures appear to fit equally as well for the one as for theother. Perhaps they answer best on Mr. Taylor's scheme. For Mr. Taylormaintained that the diameter of the earth before the Flood, at thisselected point of 30°, was less by nearly 37 miles than what it wassubsequently to the flood, [269] and is now; a point by which heaccounts for otherwise unaccountable circumstances in the metrologicaldoctrines which have been attempted to be connected with the GreatPyramid. For while Mr. Taylor believes the Sacred Cubit to be 24·88, orpossibly 24·90 British inches, he holds the new Pyramidal cubit to be 25inches in full; and the Sacred and Pyramidal cubits to be differenttherefore from each other, though both inspired. In explanation of thisstartling difference in two measures supposed to be equally ofsacred[270] origin, Mr. Taylor observes--"The smaller 24·88 is theSacred Cubit which measured the diameter of the Earth _before_ theFlood; the one by which Noah measured the Ark, as tradition says; andthe one in accordance with which all the interior works of the GreatPyramid were constructed. [271] The larger (25) is the Sacred Cubit ofthe _present_ Earth, according to the standard of the Great Pyramid whenit was completed. "

Surely such marked diversities and contradictions, and such strangehypothetical adjustments and re-adjustments of the data andcalculations, entirely upset the groundless and extraordinary theory ofthe base of the pyramid being a standard of linear measurement; or asegment of any particular axis of the earth; or a standard for emittinga system of new inches and new cubits;--seeing, on the one hand, moreparticularly, that the basis line of the pyramid is still itself anunknown and undetermined linear quantity, as is also the polar axis ofthe earth of which it is declared and averred to be an ascertained, determined, and measured segment. 

M. Paucton, in 1780, wrote a work in which he laid down the base side ofthe pyramid as 8754 inches; maintained, like Mr. Taylor and Mr. Smyth, that this length was a standard of linear measures; found it to be themeasure of a portion of a degree of the meridian, such degree beingitself the 360th part of a circle;--and apparently the calculations andfigures answered as well as when the measurement was declared to be 9142inches, and the line not a segment of an arc of the circumference ofthe earth, but a segment of the polar axis of the earth; for De l'Islelauds Paucton's meridian degree theory as one of the wondrous efforts ofhuman genius, or (to use his own words) "as one of the chief works ofthe human mind!" Yet the errors into which Paucton was seduced inmiscalculating the base line of the Pyramid as 8754 inches, and theother ways he was misled, are enough--suggests Professor Smyth--"to makepoor Paucton turn in his grave. "

SIGNIFICANCE OF CYPHERS AND FIVES. 

M. Paucton, Mr. Taylor, and those who have adopted and followed theirpyramid metrological ideas, seem to imagine that if, by multiplying oneof their measures or objects, they can run the calculation out into along tail of terminal 0's, then something very exact and marvellous isproved. "When" (upholds Mr. Taylor), "we find in so complicated a seriesof figures as that which the measures of the Great Pyramid and of theEarth require for their expression, _round numbers_ present themselves, or such as leave no remainder, we may be sure we have arrived at_primitive_ measures. " But many small and unimportant objects, when thusmultiplied sufficiently, give equally startling strings of 0's. Thus, ifthe polar axis of the earth be held as 500, 000, 000 inches, and Sir IsaacNewton's "Sacred Cubit" be held, as Professor Smyth calculated it to be, viz. 24·82 British inches--then the long diameter of the brim of thelecturer's hat, measuring 12·4 inches, is 1-40, 000, 000th of the earth'spolar axis; a page of the print of the Society's Transactions is1-60, 000, 000th of the same; a print page of Professor Smyth's book, 6·2inches in length, is 1-80, 000, 000th of this "great standard;" etc. Etc. Etc. 

Professor Smyth seems further to think that the figure or number "five"plays also a most important symbolical and inner part in theconfiguration, structure, and enumeration of the Great Pyramid. "Thepyramid" (says he) "embodies in a variety of ways the importance offive. " It is itself "five-angled, and with its plane a five-sided solid, in which everything went by fives, or numbers of fives and powers offive. " "With five, then, as a number, times of five, and powers of five, the Great Pyramid contains a mighty system of consistently subdividinglarge quantities to suit human happiness. " To express this, Mr. Smythsuggests the new noun "fiveness. " But it applies to many other mattersas strongly, or more strongly than to the Great Pyramid. For instance, the range of rooms belonging to the Royal Society is "five" in number;the hall in which it meets has five windows; the roof of that hall isdivided into five transverse ornamental sections; and each of these fivetransverse sections is subdivided into five longitudinal ones; the booksat each end of the hall are arranged in ten rows and sixsections--making sixty, a multiple of five; the official chairs in thehall are ten in number, or twice five; the number of benches on one sidefor ordinary fellows is generally five; the office-bearers of theSociety are twenty-five in number, or five times five; and so on. Thesearrangements were doubtless, in the first instance, made by the RoyalSociety without any special relation to "fiveness, " or the"symbolisation" of five; and there is not the slightest ground for anybelief that the apparent "fiveness" of anything in the Great Pyramid hada different origin. 

GREAT MINUTENESS OF MODERN PRACTICAL STANDARDS OF GAUGES. 

In all these "standards" of capacity and length alleged to exist aboutthe Great Pyramid, not only are the theoretical and actual sizes of thesupposed "standards" made to vary in different books--which it isimpossible for an actual "standard" to do--but the evidences adduced inproof of the conformity of old or modern measures with them isnotoriously defective in complete aptness and accuracy. Measures, to betrue counterparts, must, in mathematics, be not simply "near, " or "verynear, " which is all that is generally and vaguely claimed for thesupposed pyramidal proofs, but they must be entirely and _exactly_alike, which the pyramidal proofs and so-called standards fail totallyand altogether in being. Mathematical measurements of lines, sizes, angles, etc. , imply exactitude, and not mere approximation; and withoutthat exactitude they are not mathematical, and--far more--are they not"superhuman" and "inspired. "

Besides, it must not be forgotten that our real _practical_ standardmeasures are infinitely more refined and many thousand-fold moredelicate than any indefinite and equivocal measures alleged to be foundin the pyramid by even those who are most enthusiastic in the pyramidalmetrological theory. At the London Exhibition in 1851, that celebratedmechanician and engineer, Mr. Whitworth, of Manchester, was the first toshow the possibility of ascertaining by the sense of touch alone theone-millionth of an inch in a properly-adjusted standard of linearmeasure; and in his great establishment at Manchester they work andconstruct machinery and tools of all kinds with differences in linearmeasurements amounting to one ten-thousandth of an inch. The standardsof the English inch, etc. , made by him for the Government--and now usedby all the engine and tool makers, etc. , of the United Kingdom--lead tothe construction of machinery, etc. , to such minute divisions; and theadoption of these standards has already effected enormous saving to thecountry by bringing all measured metal machinery, instruments, andtools, wherever constructed and wherever afterwards applied and used, tothe same identical series of mathematical and precise gauges. 

THE SABBATH, ETC. TYPIFIED IN THE PYRAMID. 

The communication next discussed some others amongst the many anddiversified matters which Professor Smyth fancifully averred to betypified and symbolised in the Great Pyramid. 

One, for example, of the chambers in the Great Pyramid--the so-calledQueen's Chamber--has a roof composed of two large blocks of stoneleaning against each other, making a kind of slanting or double roof. This double roof, and the four walls of the chamber count six, andtypify, according to Professor Smyth, the six days of the week, whilstthe floor counts, as it were, a seventh side to the room, "nobler andmore glorious than the rest, " and typifying something, he conceives, ofa "nobler and more glorious order"--namely, the Sabbath; it is surelydifficult to fancy anything more strange than this strange idea. [272] Informing this theory liberties are also confessedly taken with the floorin order to make it duly larger than the other six sides of the room, and to do so he theoretically lifts up the floor till it is placedhigher than the very entrance to the chamber; for originally the floorand sides are otherwise too nearly alike in size to make a symbolic_seven_-sided room with one of the sides proportionally and properlylarger than the other six sides. Yet Professor Smyth holds that, in theabove typical way, he has "shown, " or indeed "proved entirely, " that theSabbath had been heard of before Moses, and that thus he findsunexpected and confirmatory light of a fact which, he avers, is of"extraordinary importance, and possesses a ramifying influence throughmany departments of religious life and progress. "

He believes, also, that the corner-stone--so frequently alluded to bythe Psalmist and the Apostles as a symbol of the Messiah--is the head orcorner-stone of the Great Pyramid, which, though long ago removed, mayyet possibly, he thinks, be discovered in the Cave of Machpelah; thoughhow, why, or wherefore it should have found its way to that distant andspecial locality is not in any way solved or suggested. 

GREAT PYRAMID ALLEGED TO BE A SUPERHUMAN, AND MORE OR LESS AN INSPIREDMETROLOGICAL ERECTION. 

Professor Smyth holds the Great Pyramid to be in its emblems, andintentions and work "superhuman;" as "not altogether of humanorigination; and in that case whereto" (he asks) "should we look for anyhuman assistance to men but from Divine inspiration?" "Its metrologyis, " he conceives, "directed by a higher Power" than man; its erection"directed by the _fiat_ of Infinite Wisdom;" and the whole "built underthe direction of chosen men divinely inspired from on high for thispurpose. "

If of this Divine origin, the work should be absolutely perfect; but, asowned by Professor Smyth, the structure is not entirely correct in itsorientation, in its squareness, etc. Etc. --all of them matters provingthat it is human, and not superhuman. It was, Professor Smyth furtheralleges, intended to convey standards of measures to all times down to, and perhaps beyond, these latter days, "to herald in some of thoseaccompaniments of the promised millennial peace and goodwill to allmen. " Hence, if thus miraculous in its forseen uses, it ought to haveremained relatively perfect till now. But "what feature of the pyramidis there" (asks Professor Smyth) "which renders at once in itsmeasurements in the present day its ancient proportions? None. " If thepyramid were a miracle of this kind, then the Arabian Caliph Al Mamoonso far upset the supposititious miracle a thousand years ago--(of coursehe could not have done so provided the miracle had been trulyDivine)--when he broke into the King's Chamber and unveiled itscontents; inasmuch as the builders, according to Professor Smyth, intended to conceal its secrets for the benefit of these latter times, and for this purpose had left a mathematical sign of two somewhatdiagonal lines or joints in the floor of the descending passage, bywhich secret sign or clue[273] some men or man in the far distantfuture, visiting the interior, should detect the entrance to thechambers; and which secret sign Professor Smyth himself was, as hebelieves, the first "man" to discover two years ago. The secret, however, thus averred to be placed there for the detection of theentrance to the interior chambers in these latter times, has beendiscovered some 1000 years at least too late for the evolution of thealleged miraculous arrangement. And in relation to the Great Pyramid, asto other matters, we may be sure that God does not teach by the mediumof miracle anything that the unaided intellect of man can find out; andwe must beware of erroneously and disparagingly attributing to Divineinspiration and aid, things that are imperfect and human. 

 * * * * *

The communication concluded by a series of remarks, in which it waspointed out that at the time at which the Great Pyramid was built, probably about 4000 years ago, mining, architecture, astronomy, etc. , were so advanced in various parts of the East as to present no obstaclein the way of the erection of such magnificent mausoleums, as thecolossal Great Pyramid and its other congener pyramids undoubtedly are. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 233: See on other proposed significations and origins of theword pyramid, APPENDIX, No. I. ]

[Footnote 234: In the plain of Troy, and on the higher grounds aroundit, various barrows still remain, and have been described from Pliny, Strabo, and Lucia down to Lechevalier, Forchhammer, and Maclaren. Inlater times, Choiseul and Calvert have opened some of them. Homer givesa minute account of the obsequies of Patroclus and the raising of hisburial-mound, which forms, as is generally believed, one of those twinbarrows still existing on the sides of the Sigean promontory, that passunder the name of the tumuli of Achilles and Patroclus. Pope, intranslating the passage describing the commencement of the funeral pyre, uses the word pyramid. For

 ... "those deputed to inter the slain, Heap with a rising _pyramid_ the plain. "

Professor Daniel Wilson, in alluding, in his _Prehistoric Annals_, vol. I. P. 74, to this account by Homer of the ancient funeral-rites, andraising of the funeral-mound, speaks of the erection of Patroclus'barrow as "the methodic construction of the Pyramid of earth whichcovered the sacred deposit and preserved the memory of the honoureddead. "]

[Footnote 235: Colonel Pownall, while describing in 1770 the barrow ofNew Grange, in Ireland, to the London Society of Antiquaries, speaks ofit as "a pyramid of stone. " "This pyramid, " he observes, "was encircledat its base with a number of enormous unhewn stones, " etc. "The pyramid, in its present state, is but a ruin of what it was, " etc. Etc. See_Archæologia_, vol. Vi. P. 254; and Higgins' _Celtic Druids_, p. 40, etc. ]

[Footnote 236: In his _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, Dr. DanielWilson states (vol. I. P. 87), that "the Chambered Cairn properlypossesses as its peculiar characteristic the enclosed catacombs andgalleries of megalithic masonry, branching off into various chamberssymmetrically arranged, and frequently exhibiting traces of constructiveskill, such as realise in some degree the idea of the regular pyramid. "He speaks again of the stone barrows or cairns of Scotland as"monumental pyramids" (vol. I. P. 67); of the earth barrow being an"earth pyramid or tumulus" (p. 70); of Silbury Hill as an "earthpyramid" (p. 62): and in the same page, in alluding to the largebarrow-tomb of the ancient British chief or warrior, he states, "in itslater circular forms we see the rude type of the great pyramids ofEgypt. " The same learned author, in his work on _Prehistoric Man_, refers to the great monuments of the American mound-builders as "earthpyramids" (p. 202), "huge earth pyramids" (p. 205), "pyramidalearth-works" (p. 203); etc. ]

[Footnote 237: In his _History of Scotland_, Mr. Burton speaks of thebarrows of New Grange and Maeshowe (Orkney), as erections which "mayjustly be called minor pyramids" (vol. I. P. 114). ]

[Footnote 238: In mentioning the great numbers of sepulchral barrowsspread over the world, Sir John Lubbock observes--"In our own islandthey may be seen on almost every down; in the Orkneys alone it isestimated that two thousand still remain; and in Denmark they are evenmore abundant; they are found all over Europe from the shores of theAtlantic to the Oural Mountains; in Asia they are scattered over thegreat steppes from the borders of Russia to the Pacific Ocean, and fromthe plains of Siberia to those of Hindostan; in America we are told thatthey are numbered by thousands and tens of thousands; nor are theywanting in Africa, where the pyramids themselves exhibit the mostmagnificent development of the same idea; so that the whole world isstudded with these burial-places of the dead. "--_Prehistoric Times_, p. 85. See similar remarks in Dr. Clarke's _Travels_, 4th edition, vol. I. P. 276, vol. Ii. P. 75, etc. ]

[Footnote 239: Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson thinks that the pyramids ofSakkara are probably older than the other groups of these structures, asthose of Gizeh or the Great Pyramid erected during the fourth dynasty ofkings. --See Rawlinson's _Herodotus_, vol. Ii. Chap. Viii. Manethoassigns to Uènophes, one of the monarchs in the first dynasty, theerection of the Pyramids of Cochome. See Kenrick's _Ancient Egypt_, ii. P. 112, 122, 123; Bunsen's _Egypt_, ii. 99, etc. ]

[Footnote 240: On these Archaic forms of sculpture, see APPENDIX, No. II. In many barrows the gallery in its course--and in some as it entersthe crypt--is contracted, and more or less occluded by obstructions ofstone, etc. , which Mr. Kenrick likens to the granite portcullises in theGreat Pyramid. See his _Ancient Egypt_, vol. I. P. 121. ]

[Footnote 241: Mr. Birch, however--and it is impossible to cite a higherauthority in such a question--holds the cartouches of Shufu and Nu Shufuto refer only to one personage--namely, the Cheops of Herodotus; and, believing with Mr. Wilde and Professor Lepsius, that the pyramids wereas royal sepulchres built and methodically extended and enlarged as thereigns of their intended occupants lengthened out, he ascribes theunusual size of the Great Pyramid to the unusual length--as testified byManetho, etc. --of the reign of Cheops; the erection of a sepulchralchamber in its built portion above being, perhaps, a step adopted inconsequence of some ascertained deficiency in the rock chamber orgallery below. Indeed, the subterranean chamber under the Great Pyramidhas, to use Professor Smyth's words, only been "begun to be cut out ofthe rock from the ceiling downwards, and left in that _unfinished_state. " (Vol. I. 156. ) Mr. Perring, who--as engineer--measured, worked, and excavated so very much at the Pyramids of Gizeh, under ColonelHoward Vyse, held, at the end of his researches, that "the principalchamber" in the Second Pyramid is still undetected. See Vyse's _Pyramidof Gizeh_, vol. I. 99. ]

[Footnote 242: The Mexican Pyramid of Cholula has a base of more than1420 feet, and is hence about twice the length of the basis of the GreatPyramid of Gizeh. See Prescott's _Conquest of Mexico_, book iii. Chap. I. , and book v. Chap. Iv. ]

[Footnote 243: Herodotus states that the Egyptians detested the memoriesof the kings who built the two larger Pyramids, viz. , Cheops andCephren; and hence, he adds, "they commonly call the Pyramids afterPhilition, a shepherd, who at that time fed his flocks about the place. "They thus called the Second, as well as the Great Pyramid, after him(iii. § 128); but, according to Professor Smyth, the Second Pyramid, though architecturally similar to the first, and almost equal in size, has nothing about it of the "superhuman" character of the GreatPyramid. ]

[Footnote 244: The extracts within inverted commas, here, and in otherparts, are from--(1. ) Mr. John Taylor's work, entitled _The GreatPyramid--Why was it Built, and Who Built it?_ London, 1859; and (2. )Professor Smyth's work, _Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid_, Edinburgh, 1864; (3. ) his later three-volume work, _Life and Work at theGreat Pyramid_, Edinburgh, 1867; and (4. ) _Recent Measures at the GreatPyramid_, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for1865-66. ]

[Footnote 245: Professor Smyth has omitted to state--what, after all, itwas perhaps unnecessary to state--that one set of these measurements, which he has tabulated and published, viz. , that given by Dr. Whitman, was taken for him "by a British officer of engineers;" as, when Dr. Whitman visited Gizeh, he did not himself examine the interior of theGreat Pyramid. --See Colonel Vyse's work, vol. Ii. P. 286. ]

[Footnote 246: "Its contents, " says Mr. Taylor (p. 299), "are equal incubic inches to the cube of 41, 472 inches--the cubit of Karnak--viz. , to71, 328 cubic inches. " Elsewhere (p. 304) he states--"The Pyramid coffercontains 256 gallons of wheat;"--"It also contains 256 gallons of water, etc. "]

[Footnote 247: At a later meeting of the Royal Society, on 20th April, Professor Smyth explained that, among the numerous instruments hecarried out, he was not provided with calipers fit for thismeasurement. ]

[Footnote 248: See plate iii. Fig. 1, in his great folio work on the_Pyramids of Gizeh from Actual Survey and Admeasurement_, Lond. 1839. "The sarcophagus is, " he remarks, "of granite, not particularly wellpolished; at present it is chipped and broken at the edges. There arenot any remains of the lid, _which was however_, fitted on in the samemanner as those of the other pyramids. "]

[Footnote 249: "The western side, " observes Professor Smyth, "of thecoffer is, through almost its entire length, rather lower than the otherthree, and these have _grooves_ inside, or the remains of grooves oncecut into them, about an inch or two below their summits, and on a levelwith the western edge; _in fact_, to _admit a sliding sarcophagus coveror lid_; and there were the remains of three fixing pin-holes on thewestern side, for fastening such cover into its place. " (Vol. I. P. 85. )]

[Footnote 250: For age, etc. , of Al Hakm, see Dr. Rieu in APPENDIX No. III. ; and Jomard on length of the Sarcophagus, No. IV. ]

[Footnote 251: In the original Arabic, the expression is "birdlike (orhieroglyphic) characters writ with a reed. "]

[Footnote 252: See Greaves' _Works_, vol. I. P. 61 and p. 115. InColonel Vyse's works are adduced other Arabian authors who allude tothis discovery of a body with golden armour, etc. , etc. , in thesarcophagus of the King's Chamber; as Alkaisi, who testifies that "hehimself saw the case (the cartonage or mummy-case) from which the bodyhad been taken, and that it stood at the door of the King's Palace atCairo, in the year 511" A. H. (See _The Pyramids of Gizeh_, vol. Ii. P. 334). See also to the same effect _Abon Szalt_, p. 357; and Ben Abd AlRahman, as cited in the _Description de l'Egypte_, vol. Ii. P. 191. "Itmay be remarked, " observes Dr. Sprenger in Colonel Vyse's work, "thatthe Arabian authors have given the same accounts of the pyramids, withlittle or no variation, for above a thousand years. " (Vol. Ii. P. 328. )See further APPENDIX, p. 270. ]

[Footnote 253: See APPENDIX, No. VII. ]

[Footnote 254: Our great Scottish architect, Mr. Bryce, believes that, with these data given, any well-informed master-mason or clerk of workscould have drawn or planned and superintended the building. ]

[Footnote 255: See Newton's _Essay_, in Professor Smyth's work, vol. Ii. 360; and Sir Henry James' masterly _Memorandum on the Length of thecubit of Memphis_, in APPENDIX, No. V. ]

[Footnote 256: Sir Isaac Newton says--"In the precise determination ofthe cubit of Memphis, I should choose to pitch upon the length of thechamber in the middle of the pyramid. " Greaves gives this length 34·38 =20 cubits of 20·628 inches. ]

[Footnote 257: Yet this, the Memphian cubit, "need not" (somewhatmysteriously adds Professor Smyth), "and actually is not, by any meansthe same as the cubit _typified_ in the more concealed and _symbolised_metrological system of the Great Pyramid. "]

[Footnote 258: Godfrey Higgins, in his work on _The Celtic Druids_, shows how, among the ancients, superstitions connected with numbers, asthe days of the year or the figures 365, have played a prominent part. "Amongst the ancients" (says he) "there was no end of the superstitiousand trifling play upon the nature and value of numbers. The first men ofantiquity indulged themselves in these fooleries" (p. 244). Mr. Higginspoints out that the old Welsh or British word for Stonehenge, namelyEmrys, signifies, according to Davies, 365; as do the words Mithra, Neilos, etc. ; that certain collections of the old Druidic stones atAbury may be made to count 365; that "the famous Abraxas only meant thesolar period of 365 days, or the sun, " etc. "It was all judicialastrology.... It comes" (adds Mr. Higgins) "from the Druids. "]

[Footnote 259: See this table in Professor Smyth's _Life and Work at theGreat Pyramid_, vol. Ii. P. 458. The table professes to give some of SirIsaac Newton's data regarding the Sacred Cubit by changing themeasurements which Sir Isaac uses of the Roman foot and inch intoEnglish inches. But all the figures and measurements are transferredinto English inches by a different rule from that which Sir Isaachimself lays down--viz. , that the English foot is 0·967 of the Romanfoot; and, consequently, _in every one of the instances given_ in Mr. Smyth's table, the lengths in English inches of these data of Sir IsaacNewton are assuredly _not_ their lengths in English inches as understoodand laid down by Newton himself. ]

[Footnote 260: The fourth line in the table presents a most fatal andunfortunate error in a special calculation to which the very highestimportance is professed to be attached. This fourth line gives themeasurement of the Sacred Cubit as quoted by Newton from Mersennus, wholaid down its length as 25·68 inches of Roman measurement. ProfessorSmyth changes this Roman measurement into 24·91 English inches, and thenerroneously enters these same identical Roman and English measurementsof Mersennus--viz. , 24·91 and 25·68--not as _one_ identical quantity, which they are--but as _two_ different and contrasting quantities; andfurther, he tabulates this strange mistake as one of the "methods ofapproach" for gaining a correct idea of the Sacred Cubit. Never, perhaps, has so unhappy an error been made in a work of an arithmeticaland mathematical character. ]

[Footnote 261: Thus, after deducing the length of the cubit of Memphisfrom the length of the King's Chamber, Sir Isaac Newton observes:--"Fromhence I would infer that the Sacred Cubit of Moses was equal to 25 unciæof the Roman foot and 6/10 of an _uncia_. " (See his _Dissertation on theSacred Cubit_, as republished in Professor Smyth's _Life and Work at theGreat Pyramid_, vol. Ii. P. 362. ) Again, at p. 363, Sir Isaac speaks of"the cubit which we have concluded to have been in the time of Moses25-60/100 inches" of the Roman foot; and at p. 365, in closing hisDissertation, he remarks--"The Roman cubit therefore consists of 18unciæ, and the Sacred Cubit of 25-3/5 unciæ, of the Roman foot. " Inother words, according to Sir Isaac Newton, the Sacred Cubit of 25·60inches of the Roman foot is equal to 24·75 British inches; for, as hecalculated, the Roman foot "was equal to 967/1000 the English foot. "(See p. 342. ) This is the measurement of the Roman foot laid down by SirIsaac Newton in his Dissertation, and the only standard of it mentionedin Professor Smyth's _Life and Work at the Great Pyramid_; yet in thatwork Professor Smyth calculates Sir Isaac's Sacred Cubit to be 24·82instead of 24·75 British inches. In doing so, he has calculated theEnglish foot as equal to ·970 of the Roman foot; but was he entitled todo so when using Sir Isaac's own data, and when employing Sir Isaac'sown calculated conclusion as to the length of the Sacred Cubit? In thepublished _Proceedings_ of the Royal Society, in consequence offollowing the calculation by Professor Smyth of Sir Isaac Newton'sconclusion from Sir Isaac's own data as to the length of the SacredCubit, it was erroneously spoken of as 24·82, instead of 24·75 Britishinches. ]

[Footnote 262: This word "extraordinarily, " was, by a clerical orprinter's error, spelled "extraordinary" in the _Proceedings_ of theRoyal Society; and a friend who looked over the printed proof, andsuggested two or three corrections, placed the word (sic) on the marginafter it, from whence it slipped into the text:--accidents to be muchregretted, as, from Professor Smyth's remarks to the Society on the 20thApril, they had evidently given him much, but most unintentionaloffence. ]

[Footnote 263: At the close of a subsequent meeting of the RoyalSociety, on the 20th April 1868, Professor Smyth gave away a printedAppendix to his three-volume work, in which he has acknowledged theerroneous character--as pointed out in this communication--of hisall-important table, p. 22, on the length of the Sacred Cubit, bywithdrawing it, and offering one of a new construction and character, but without being able to make the length of the cubit come nearer tohis theory. See further, APPENDIX, No. VI]

[Footnote 264: _Traite de la Grandeur et de la Figure de la Terre. _Amsterdam edition (1723), p. 195. ]

[Footnote 265: _Tables Portatives de Logarithmes. _ Paris, 1795, p. 100. ]

[Footnote 266: The same idea of using the earth's axis as a standard oflength has been suggested also by Professor Hennessy of Dublin, and bySir John Herschel. See _Athenæum_ for April 1860, pp. 581 and 617. ]

[Footnote 267: The diameter of the earth in latitude 30° is really about20 miles longer than the polar axis. But Mr. Taylor obviously did notknow the nature of the spheroidal arcs of the meridian, and so fallsinto the most inconsistent assertions respecting the length of thisparticular diameter. Thus, in pp. 75 and 87, he asserts the diameter inlatitude 30° to be 500, 000, 000 inches [that is = 7891·414 miles], whichis 7·756 miles _less_ than the polar axis--_the least_ diameter of all;whereas, in p. 95, he states this diameter in lat. 30° to be 17·652miles _greater_ than the polar axis. ]

[Footnote 268: "The diameter of the earth, according to the measurestaken at the Pyramids, is 41, 666, 667 English feet, or 500, 000, 000inches. " (See _The Great Pyramid_, p. 75. ) "Dividing this number by20, 000, 000 we obtain the measure of 25 (English) inches for the SacredCubit" (p. 67). ]

[Footnote 269: "When" (says Mr. Taylor, p. 91) "the _new_ Earth wasmeasured in Egypt after the Deluge, it was found that it exceeded thediameter of the _old_ Earth by the difference between 497, 664, 000 inchesand 500, 000, 000 inches; that is, by 2, 336, 000 inches, equal to 36·868miles. "]

[Footnote 270: _Alleged Sacred Character of the Scottish Yard or EllMeasure. _--Professor Smyth tries to show (iii. 597), that if Britainstands too low in his metrological testing of the European kingdoms andraces, its "low entry is due to accepting the yard for the country'spopular measure of length. " But long ago the "divine" origin of theScottish ell--as in recent times the divine origin of the so-calledpyramidal cubit and inch--was pleaded rather strenuously. For when, inthe 13th century, Edward I. Of England laid before Pope Boniface hisreasons for attaching the kingdom of Scotland to the Crown of England, he maintained, among other arguments, the justice and legality of thisappropriation on the ground that his predecessor King Athelstane, aftersubduing a rebellion in Scotland under the auspices of St. John ofBeverley, prayed that through the intervention of that saint, it "mightbe granted to him to receive a visible and tangible token by which allfuture ages might be assured that the Scots were rightfully subject tothe King of England. His prayer was granted in this way: Standing infront of one of the rocks at Dunbar, he made a cut at it with his sword, and left a score which proved to be the _precise_ length of an ell, andwas adopted as the regulation test of that measure of length. " Thislegend of the "miraculously created ellwand standard" was afterwardsduly attested by a weekly service in the Church of St. John of Beverley. (See Burton's _History of Scotland_, ii. 319. ) In the official accountof the miracle, as cited by Rymer, it is declared that during itsperformance the rock cut like butter or soft mud under the stroke ofAthelstane's sword. "Extrahens gladium de vaginâ percussit in cilicem, quæ adeo penetrabilis, Dei virtute agente, fuit gladio, quasi eâdem horâlapis butirum esset, vel mollis glarea; ... Et usque ad presentem diem, evidens signum patet, quod Scoti, ab Anglis devicti ac subjugata;monumento tali evidenter cunctis adeuntibus demonstrante. " (Foedera, tom. I. Pars ii. 771. )]

[Footnote 271: Elsewhere (p. 45) Mr. Taylor corroborates Sir IsaacNewton's opinion that the _working_ cubit by which the Pyramid was builtwas the cubit of Memphis. ]

[Footnote 272: The interior of any Scottish cottage, where the inside ofthe thatched or slated roof is left exposed by uncovered joists within, contains, on the same principle, six sides, and a seventh or the floor. ]

[Footnote 273: "The _clue_ was not prepared for any immediate successorsof the builders, but was intended, on the contrary, to endure to a mostremote period. And it has so endured and served such a purpose even downto those our own days. " (Professor Smyth's _Life and Work at the GreatPyramid_, vol. I. P. 157. ) "The builders, or planners rather, of theGreat Pyramid, did not leave their building without sure testimony toits chief secret; for there, before the eyes of all men for ages, hadexisted these _two diagonal joints_ in the passage floor, pointingdirectly and constantly to what was concealed in the roof just oppositethem, and no one ever thought of it. Practically, then, we may say withfull certainty that these two floor marks were left there to guide _men_who, it was expected, would come subsequently, earnestly desiring, onrightly-informed principles, to look for the entrance to the upper partsof the Pyramid. " (Vol. I. P. 156-7. ) At p. 270 Professor Smyth againalludes to this supposed mark, made up by two diagonal joints in thepassage floor, as evading the notice of all visitors, except "those veryfew, or perhaps even that _one only man_, who had been previouslyinstructed to look for a certain almost microscopic mark on thefloor. "]

APPENDIX. 

I. --DERIVATION OF THE TERM PYRAMID. (_Page_ 219. )

Professor Smyth suggests the origin of the term Pyramid from the twoCoptic words, "_pyr_, " "division, " and "_met_, " "ten. " This derivation, which he first heard of in Cairo, is, he believes, a significantappellation for a metrological monument such as the Great Pyramid, andcoincides with its five-sided, five-cornered, etc. , features (seeanteriorly, p. 255) and decimal divisions. But surely a name, which inthis metrological and arithmetical view of "powers and times of ten andfive, " meant _division into ten_, and which divisional metrologicalideas applied, according to Professor Smyth, to one pyramid only, namelythe Great Pyramid of Gizeh, was not likely to have been applied as ageneral term to all the other pyramidal structures in Egypt--not one ofwhich had, according to Professor Smyth himself, anything whatsoever ofthis metrological or divisional character in their composition andobject. It is not likely that all these structures should have beennamed from a series of qualities supposed to belong to _one_; butaltogether hidden and concealed, in these early times, even in that onepyramid, being for the information of future times and generations. 

In a similar spirit of exclusiveness, Mr. John Taylor derives the wordpyramid from the two Greek words [Greek: pyros], _wheat_, and [Greek:metron], _measure_--apparently in the belief that the coffer orsarcophagus within one pyramid (the Great Pyramid) was intended as achaldron measure of wheat--though none of the sarcophagi, in any of themany other royal pyramidal sepulchres of Egypt, were at all intendedfor such standard measures; and although, according to Mr. Taylor'stheory, the Greeks, too, who out of their own language applied the termof Pyramid, or Wheat-Measurer, to all these structures, --never dreamedof the Great Pyramid or of any other of them having locked up in one ofits concealed chambers a supposed standard measure of capacity of wheat, water, etc. , for all nations and all times. 

Fifteen centuries ago, Ammianus Marcellinus derived the word pyramidfrom another Greek word [Greek: pyr], _fire_; because, as he argues, theEgyptian Pyramid rises to a sharp pointed top, like to the form of afire or flame. This derivation, which, of course, excludes themathematical idea of the sides of the pyramid being a series offlattened triangles that meet in a point at the apex, has been adoptedby various authors. 

Keats, the poor surgeon, but rich poet, who died at Rome at the earlyage of twenty-six, was buried in the beautiful Protestant Cemeterythere, amid the ruins of the Aurelian Walls. His grave is surmounted bya pyramidal tomb, which Petrarch romantically ascribed to Remus, butwhich antiquarians generally accord, in conformity with the inscriptionwhich it bears, to Caius Cestius, a tribune of the people, who isremembered for nothing else than his sepulchre. In his elegy of Adonais, Shelley, in alluding to the resting-place of Keats beside thisremarkable monument, brings in, with rare poetical power, the idea ofthe word pyramid being derived from [Greek: pyr], and signifying theshape of flame:--

 And one keen _pyramid_ with edge sublime, Pavilioning the dust of him who planned This refuge for his memory, doth stand Life _flame transformed to marble_. [274]

If the word pyramid is of Greek origin, the suggestion of that ablewriter and scholar, Mr. Kenrick of York, is probably more true, viz. That the term [Greek: pyramis] (from [Greek: pyros], wheat, and [Greek:melitos], honey) was applied by the Greeks to a pointed or cone-shapedcake, used by them at the feasts of Bacchus (as shown on the table atthe reception of Bacchus by Icarus; see Hope's _Costumes_, vol. Ii. P. 224), and when they became acquainted with the Pyramids of Egypt, they, in this as in other instances, applied a term to a thing till thenunknown, from a thing well known to them; in the very same way as theyapplied to the tall pointed monoliths peculiar to Egypt, the wordobelisk--no doubt a direct derivation from the familiar Greek word[Greek: obelos], a _spit_. 

For a learned discussion on various other supposed origins of the wordpyramid, see Jomard, in the _Description de l'Egypte_, vol. Ii. P. 213, etc. 

II. --ARCHAIC CIRCLE AND RING SCULPTURES. (_Page_ 222. )

Representations of incised cups, rings, circles, and spirals, are foundon stones connected with other forms of ancient sculpture besideschambered barrows or cairns, --as on the lids of stone cists, megalithiccircles, etc. ; and, from this connection with the burial of the dead, these antique sculpturings were possibly of a religious character. In awork on "Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Rings, etc. Upon Stones and Rocksof Scotland, England, and other Countries, " published last year by theauthor of the present communication, it was further argued that theywere probably also ornamental in their character, in a chapter beginningas follows:--

"Without attempting to solve the mystery connected with these archaiclapidary cups and ring cuttings, I would venture to remark that there isone use for which some of these olden stone carvings were in allprobability devoted--namely, ornamentation. From the very earliesthistoric periods in the architecture of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, etc. , down to our own day, circles, single or double, and spirals, haveformed, under various modifications, perhaps the most common fundamentaltypes of lapidary decoration. In prehistoric times the same taste forcircular sculpturings, however rough and rude, seems to have swayed themind of archaic man. This observation as to the probable ornamentalorigin of our cup and ring carvings holds, in my opinion, far morestrongly in respect to some antique stone cuttings in Ireland and inBrittany, than to the ruder and simpler forms that I have described asexisting in Scotland and England. For instance, the cut single anddouble volutes, the complete and half-concentric circles, the zig-zag, and other patterns which cover almost entirely and completely somestones in those magnificent though rude western Pyramids that constitutethe grand old mausolea of Ireland and Brittany, appear to be, in greatpart at least, of an ornamental character, whatever else their importmay be. "

In a communication on the Great Pyramid, made to the Royal Society 16thDecember 1867, Professor Smyth most unexpectedly, and quite out of hisway, took occasion to criticise severely the remarks contained in thepreceding extract, on two grounds:

_First_, He laid down that the term pyramid was misapplied, as the termreferred only to figures and structures of a special mathematical form;being apparently quite unaware that, as shown in the text and notes, pp. 219 and 220, it was often applied archæologically to sepulchral moundsand erections that were not faced, and which did not consist of a seriesof triangles meeting in an apex. 

_Secondly_, He objected to the statement that, "from the very earliesthistoric periods in the architecture of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, etc. , circles and spirals, or modifications of them, constituted perhaps themost common fundamental types of lapidary decoration;" because, thoughcircles, spirals, etc. , occurred in the later architecture of Thebes, etc. , yet in the Great Pyramid of Gizeh no such decorations were to befound, nor, indeed, lapidary decorations of any other kind. Cheops, thebuilder of the Great Pyramid, was, according to Manetho, "arroganttowards the gods. " Was it this spirit of religious infidelity orscepticism that led to the rejection of any ornamentation? ProfessorSmyth notices what he himself terms an "ornament, " "a most unique thingcertainly, " on the upper stone of what Greaves calls "the granite leaf"portcullis, in the interior of the Great Pyramid (ii. 100), and herepresents it, it is now said erroneously in plate xii. As a portion ofa double circle instead of a general raised elevation. [275]

All the other Pyramids of Gizeh seem, like the Great Pyramid, wonderfully free from lapidary decorations on their interior walls, theexteriors of all of them being now too much dilapidated to offer anydistinct proof in relation to the subject; though in Herodotus' timethere were hieroglyphics, at least on the external surface of the GreatPyramid. The whole surface of the basalt sarcophagus in the ThirdPyramid, or that of Mycerinus, was sculptured. "It was, " to use thewords of Baron Bunsen, "very beautifully carved in compartments, in theDoric style" (vol. Ii. 168). This carving, in the well-known carpentryform, was, according to Mr. Fergusson, a representation of a palace(_Handbook of Architecture_, p. 222). 

Fragments, however, of lapidary sculpture have been found among theruins of Egyptian pyramids supposed to be older than those of Gizeh, orthan their builders, the Memphite kings of the _fourth_ dynasty. Thusone of the most able and learned of modern Egyptologists, Baron Bunsen, has written at some length to show that the great northern brick pyramidof Dashoor belongs to the preceding or _third_ dynasty of kings. ColonelVyse and Mr. Perring, when digging among its ruins, discovered two orthree fragments of sculptured casing and other stones, with a few piecespresenting broken hieroglyphic inscriptions. One of the ornamentedfragments represents a row of floreated-like decorations, and eachdecoration shows on its side a concentric circle, consisting of threerings, --the whole ornament being one which is found in later Egyptianeras, not unfrequently along the tops of walls in the interior ofchambers, etc. Mr. Perring represents this fragment of sculpturing fromthe brick Pyramid of Dashoor, in his folio work, _The Pyramids ofGizeh_, plate xiii. Fig. 7. Hence among the very earliest Egyptianlapidary decorations we have, as in other countries, the appearance ofthe simple circular ornamentation. 

Besides, more complex circular and spiral decorations, in the form ofthe well-known guilloche and scroll, were made use of in Egypt duringthe sixth dynasty, or immediately after the Memphite dynasty that rearedthe larger Pyramids of Gizeh. Thus, speaking of the ancient Egyptianarchitectural decorations, Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson observes--"TheEgyptians did not always confine themselves to the mere imitation ofnatural objects for ornament; and their ceilings and cornices offernumerous graceful fancy devices, among which are the guilloche, miscalled Tuscan borders, the chevron, and the scroll patterns. They areto be met with in a tomb of the time of the sixth dynasty; they aretherefore known in Egypt many ages before they were adopted by theGreeks, and the most complicated form of the guilloche covered a wholeEgyptian ceiling, upwards of a thousand years before it was representedon those comparatively late objects found at Nineveh. "--_Popular accountof the Ancient Egyptians, _ ii. 290. 

III. --ERA OF THE ARABIAN HISTORIAN, IBN ABD AL HAKM. (_Page_ 236. )

Professor Smyth owns that the grooves and pin holes which the coffer inthe King's Chamber presents, were (to use his own words) "in fact toadmit a sliding sarcophagus cover or lid" (see _ante_, p. 236, footnote). But in his recent communication to the Royal Society on the20th April, he doubted Al Hakm's account of the mummy having beenactually found in the sarcophagus when the King's Chamber was firstentered by the Caliph Al Mamoon, in the ninth century, arguing, on theauthority of a Glasgow gentleman, that the historian himself, Al Hakm, did not live for three or four centuries afterwards, and, therefore, could not be relied upon. But all this reasoning or assertion is simplya mistake. In a late letter (7th April), Dr. Rieu of the BritishMuseum, --the chief living authority among us on any such Arabicquestion, --writes, "The statement relating to Al Mamoon's discoverycould hardly rest on a better authority than that of Ibn Abd Al Hakm;for not only was he a contemporary writer (having died at Old Cairo, A. H. 269, that is, thirty-eight years after Al Mamoon's death), but heis constantly quoted by later writers as an historian of the highestauthority. You will find a notice of him in Khallikan's _BiographicalDictionary_, vol. Ii. Etc. " He was a native of Egypt, and chief of theShafite sect. Born in A. D. 799, he died in A. D. 882, or at the age of83. 

IV. --LENGTH OF THE SARCOPHAGUS IN THE KING'S CHAMBER. (_Page_ 236. )

M. Jomard, in the _Description de l'Egypte_, drawn up by the FrenchAcademicians, remarks in vol. Ii. P. 182, that looking to the length ofthe cavity or interior of the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber, that itcould not hold within it a cartonage or mummy case, enclosing a man ofthe ordinary height. This statement proceeds entirely upon amiscalculation. The length of the interior or cavity of the sarcophagusis six and a half English feet; and the average stature of the ancientEgyptians, "judging from their mummies, did not" observes Mr. Kenrick, "exceed five feet and a half. " (See his _Ancient Egypt_, vol. I. P. 97. )The space thus left, of one foot, is much more than sufficient for thethickness of the two ends of a cartonage or mummy case; and the embalmedbody was generally, or indeed always, closely packed within them. Thelength of the coffin was, long ago, quaintly observed ProfessorGreaves, "large enough to contain a most potent and dreadful monarchbeing dead, to whom, living, all Egypt was too strait and narrow acircuit" (_Works_, i. P. 131). 

V. --MEMORANDUM ON THE CUBIT OF MEMPHIS AND THE SACRED CUBIT, BY SIRHENRY JAMES. (_Page_ 242. )

Sir Isaac Newton says, "for the precise determination of the cubit ofMemphis I should choose to pitch upon the length of the chamber in themiddle of the Pyramid, where the king's monument stood, which lengthcontained 20 cubits, and was very carefully measured by Mr. Greaves. "(_See_ vol. Ii. P. 362 of Professor Smyth's _Life at the Pyramids_, etc. )

Greaves' measures of the King's chamber are given at p. 335, vol. Ii. Ofthe same work. 

The length of the chamber on the south side, he says, is

 34·380 feet = 20 cubits. 17·190 " = 10 cubits. 12 ------- 206·280 inches = 10 cubits, and 20·628 " = 1 cubit of Memphis;

and Newton himself says, at p. 360, vol. Ii. _Life at the Pyramids_, --

 "The cubit of Memphis of 1·719 English feet, " 12 ------ or 20·628 inches, and, therefore, there can be no possible doubt but that this is Newton'sdetermination of the length of the cubit of Memphis. 

But Newton goes on to say in the same page, the cubit "double the lengthof 12-3/8 English inches (=24·75 inches) will be to the cubit of Memphisas 6 to 5. "

 Therefore, if we add 1/5 to 20·628 inches, 4·126 ------ we have 24·754

as Newton's determination of the length of the Sacred Cubit. 

Newton's determinations are therefore--

 Length of Sacred Cubit 24·754 inches. " Cubit of Memphis 20·628 "

The cubit measured by Mersennus (_see_ p. 362, vol. Ii. _Life at thePyramids_) was 23-1/4 Paris inches, and Mr. Greaves estimated the Parisfoot as equal to 1·068 of the English foot; therefore 23·25 +1·068=24·831 was the length of this cubit, if we take Greaves'proportion of the Paris to the English foot; but by the more exactdetermination of the proportion of the Paris to the English foot made atthe Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, it is found to be as 1 to1·06576 and 23·25 + 1·06576=24·780 English inches, which differs only inexcess ·026 from the length of the Sacred Cubit determined by Newton. 

The double Royal Cubit of Karnak, which is in the British Museum, wasfound by Sir Henry James to measure 41·398 inches; the length of thesingle cubit was therefore 20·699 inches, and differs only in excess·071 inches from the length of the cubit of Memphis, as determined byNewton. 

It will be observed that the lengths of the cubits derived by Newtonfrom the length of the King's chamber are shorter than the measuredlengths of the cubits which have come down to us. But if

 we add 1/5 or = 4·140 to the length of the Karnak cubit = 20·699, ------ we have 24·839 for the Sacred Cubit. 

 The one measured by Mersennus = 24·780 and the ------ mean of the two = 24·810, whilst the length derived by Newton was = 24·754, showing ------ a difference of only ·056 between the ======

length of the Sacred Cubit derived from the actual lengths of the twocubits which have come down to us, and the length of the Sacred Cubitderived by Newton from the length of the King's chamber. 

The method adopted by Professor P. Smyth, to find the length of theSacred Cubit, in p. 458, vol. Ii. _Life at the Pyramids_, is also wrongin principle. He has no right to take the means between the limits ofapproach, or to say that the Sacred Cubit was, according to Sir IsaacNewton, 25·07 inches, when, as I have shown in his own words, Sir Isaacsays it was 24·754 inches. 

VI. --PROFESSOR SMYTH'S RECENT COMMUNICATION TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY ON 20THAPRIL 1868. 

It has been already stated (see footnote, p. 248) that, on the 20thApril Professor Smyth brought before the Royal Society a newcommunication on the pyramids, the principal part of which consisted ofa criticism upon the preceding observations, and a defence of hishypotheses regarding the Great Pyramid. His chief criticisms related topoints already adverted to, and answered in footnotes, pp. 234, 248, etc. In addition, he expressed great dissatisfaction that the quotationfrom Sprenger, in Vyse's Work, quoted in footnote, p. 237, was notextended beyond the semicolon in the original, at which the quotationends, and made to embrace the other or latter half of the sentence, viz. , " ... ; and that they appear to have repeated the traditions of theancient Egyptians, mixed up with fabulous stories and incidents, certainly not of Mahometan invention. "[276] But this latter half, orthe traditions about the pyramid builders, Surid, Ben Shaluk, BenSermuni, etc. , who lived "before the Flood, " etc. Etc. , did assuredlynot require to be quoted, as they had really nothing whatever to do withthe object under discussion--viz. , the opening of the sarcophagus underthe Caliph Al Mamoon, and the accounts or history of the pyramids, asgiven by Arabian authors themselves. 

In the course of this communication to the Royal Society, ProfessorSmyth did not allude to or rescind the erroneous table and calculationsfrom Sir Isaac Newton regarding the Sacred Cubit, printed and commentedupon in some of the preceding pages (see _ante_, p. 244, etc. ) But, atthe end of the subsequent discussion he handed round, as a printed"Appendix" to his three volume work, a total withdrawal of this table, etc. , and in this way so far confessed the justice of the exposition ofhis errors on this all-vital and testing point in his theory of theSacred Cubit, as given in p. 243, etc. , of the present essay. Heattributes his errors to "an unfortunate misprinting of the calculatednumbers;" and (though he does not at all specialise what numbers werethus misprinted) he gives from Sir Isaac Newton's Dissertation on theSacred Cubit a new and more lengthened table instead of the old anderroneous table. For this purpose, instead of selecting as he did, without any attempted explanation in his old table, _only five_ of SirIsaac Newton's estimations or "methods of approach, " he now, in his newtable, takes _seven_ of them to strike out new "means. " The simple"mean" of all the seven quantities tabulated--as calculated, in the wayfollowed, in his first published table--is 25·47 British inches; and the"mean" of all the seven means in the Table is 25·49 British inches. Unfortunately for Professor Smyth's theory of the Sacred Cubit being25·025 British inches, either of these numbers makes the Sacred Cubitnearly half a British inch longer than his avowed standard of length--anoverwhelming difference in any question relating to a _standard_measure. What would any engineer, or simple worker in metal, wood, orstone, think of an alleged _standard_ measure or cubit which varied soenormously from its own alleged length? But, surely, such facts and suchresults require no serious comment. 

In this, his latest communication on the Pyramids, Professor Smyth alsooffered some new calculations regarding the measurements of the interiorof the broken stone coffin standing in the King's Chamber. Formerly(1864), he elected the cubic capacity of this sarcophagus to be 70, 900"pyramidal" cubic inches; latterly he has elected it to be 71, 250 cubicinches. According, however, to his own calculations, he found, practically, that it measured neither of these two numbers; but insteadof them 71, 317 pyramidal inches (_see_ vol. Iii. P. 154). The capacityof the interior of this coffin does not hence correspond at all to thesupposititious standard of 71, 250 pyramidal cubic inches; but in orderto make it appear to do so he has now struck a "mean" between themeasurement of the interior of the vessel and some of the measurementsof its exterior, in a way that was not easily comprehensible in hisdemonstration. But what other hollow vessel in the world, and withunequal walls too (_see_ p. 233), had the capacity of its interior everbefore attempted to be altered and rectified by any measurements of thesize of its exterior? What, for example, would be thought of the verystrange proposition of ascertaining and determining the capacity of theinterior of a pint, a gallon, a bushel, or any other such standardmeasure by measuring, not the capacity of the interior of the vessel, but by taking some kind of mean between that interior capacity and thesize or sizes of the exterior of the vessel? According to Messrs. Taylorand Smyth, this standard measure--along with other supposed perfectmetrological standards--in the Great Pyramid is "of an origin higherthan human, " or "divinely inspired;" and yet it has proved so incapableof being readily measured, and hence used as a standard, that hithertoit has been found impossible to make the _actual_ capacity of thiscoffer to correspond to its standard theoretical or supposititiouscapacity; whilst even its standard theoretical capacity has beendeclared different by different observers, and even at different timesby the same observer, as shown previously at p. 231. 

VII. --METROLOGICAL TABLES AND TESTS OF THE EUROPEAN RACES. (_See_ p. 238. )

Professor Smyth believes that among the nations of Europe the metrologyused will be found closer and closer to the Hebrew and "Pyramid"standards, according to the amount of Ephraimitic blood in each nation. He further inclines to hold, with Mr. Wilson, that the Anglo-Saxons haveno small share of this Israelitish blood, as shown in their language, and in their weights and measures, etc. After giving various Tables ofthe metrological standards of different European nations, ProfessorSmyth adds, "It is not a little striking to see all the Protestantcountries standing first and closest to the Great Pyramid; then Russia, and her Greek, but freely Bible-reading church; then the Roman Catholiclands; then, after a long interval, and last but one on the list, Francewith its metrical system--voluntarily adopted, under an atheistical formof government, in place of an hereditary pound and ancient inch, whichwere not very far from those of the Great Pyramid; and last of allMahommedan Turkey. " Subsequently, when speaking of British standards oflength, etc. , Professor Smyth remarks, --"But let the island kingdom lookwell that it does not fall; for not only has the 25·344 inch length notyet travelled beyond the region of the Ordnance maps, --but theGovernment has been recently much urged by, and has partly yielded to, afew ill-advised but active men, who want these invaluable hereditarymeasures (preserved almost miraculously to this nation from primevaltimes, for apparently a Divine purpose) to be instantly abolished _intoto_, --and the recently atheistically-conceived measures of France tobe adopted in their stead. In which case England would have to descendfrom her present noble pre-eminence in the metrological scale ofnations, and occupy a place almost the very last in the list; or next toTurkey, and in company with some petty princedoms following France, andblessed with little history and less nationality. 'How art thou fallenfrom heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!' might be then, indeed, addressed to England with melancholy truth. Or more plainly (ProfessorSmyth adds), and in words seemingly almost intended for such a case, anduttered with depressing grief of heart, 'O Israel, thou hast destroyedthyself!'" (Professor Smyth's _Life and Work at the Great Pyramid_, 1867, vol. Iii. P. 598. )

In his previous work in 1864, Professor Smyth denounced also, in equallystrong terms, the French decimal system of metrology, considering itas--to use his own words--"precisely one of the most hearty aids whichSatan, and traitors to their country, ever had to their hands. " (_OurInheritance in the Great Pyramid_, p. 185, etc. )

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 274: Shelley himself is now interred in the same cemetery, near the pyramid of Cestius, and a little above the grave of Keats. ]

[Footnote 275: In vol. I. P. 365, this "raised ornament" is described as"a very curious, and, for the Pyramid, perfectly unique adornment, of asemicircular form, raised about one inch above the general surface, andbevelled off on either side and above, " etc. ]

[Footnote 276: The whole sentence runs thus, and is punctuatedthus:--"It may be remarked that the Arabian authors have given the sameaccounts of the pyramids with little or no variation, for above athousand years; and that they appear to have repeated the traditions ofthe ancient Egyptians, mixed up with fabulous stories and incidents, certainly not of Mahometan invention. " Vol. Iii. P. 328. ]

END OF VOL. I. 

_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh. _