died A.D. 807 (Ann. Camb. and Brut y Tywysog.). And Arthgen, son of Sulien Bishop of St. David's, must have died a few years before or after A. D. 1100. The date seems to exclude the first (supposing him to have existed), and the locality the second, whilst the assumed date of the monument is inconsistent with the third. Sulien's other sons appear to have left St. David's on their brother Rhyddmarch's death, so that Arthgen may well have died in Glamorgan.' Haddan and Stubbs' Councils, i. p. 631.

PLATE II. FIG. 3.

THE INSCRIBED STONE AT THE GNOLL, NEAR NEATH.

The earliest notice of this stone is that given by Edward Lhwyd in Gibson's Camden, p. 620 (copied in Gough's Camden, ii. p. 502, and ed. alt. iii. p. 132), where it is stated that 'in Panwen Brydhin, in the parish of Llangadoc, about 6 miles above Neath, is the Maen dan Lygad yr ych, two circular intrenchments and a stone pillar, inscribed M. CARITINI FILII BERICII.' The stone is about a yard long and 8 inches broad. From a letter, with which I was favoured in 1853, by the Rev. T. Williams1 of Tir-y-Cwm, Ystrad, near Swansea, it appears that about the year 1835 the late Lady Mackworth, then the possessor of The Gnoll, near Neath, collected together all the curious stones found in the neighbourhood for the embellishment of a grotto she was forming in a terrace about one hundred yards to the south of the house, in the ornamental ground overlooking Neath. Being too heavy it was partially broken before removal, the extremity of the inscription receiving some injury. Shortly after the grotto had been completed the rock-work gave way during a heavy storm of lightning and thunder and the whole was buried from sight.

Fairy influence was believed by the common people to have been at work in revenge for the removal of the stone from the charmed circles, within which the fairies had been constantly seen dancing on a fine evening,' but who had disappeared after the removal of the stone, and who were heard laughing heartily when the grotto was destroyed, according to the testimony of the under-gardener, as amusingly narrated by Mr. Williams, who subsequently induced Mrs. Grant, the then occupier of The Gnoll, to have the ruins removed, when the stone reappeared without having suffered any further injury. The place however became neglected, as in 1846 I found the grotto filled with dead leaves and garden rubbish so as nearly to hide the stone again.

The letters of the inscription are very rudely-formed Roman capitals of unequal height. It is to be read 2

MACARITIN FILI BERI(CI?)

There is certainly a cross bar between the two strokes forming the second part of the

1 Mr. Williams's letter appears in extenso in my article on this stone in the Archæologia Cambrensis, Ser. 3. vol. xi. p. 59.

2 By a lapsus calami (easily detected on an inspection of the engraving of the inscription published with my article on this stone in the Archæologia Cambrensis, here reproduced in the accompanying Plate II. fig. 3), the first word of the inscription was printed MACARIN- instead of MACARITIN➡.

initial M which I regard as forming a conjoined A; the N is reversed in its shape, and the next letter I is horizontal, as is so often the case with the final I in these Welsh inscribed names. The letters FI and LI in the following word are conjoined in the manner also common in these inscriptions, and also in early Irish and Anglo-Saxon MSS. Of the final part of the last word I am in doubt, as the stone has evidently suffered injury since Camden read it BERICII, although his facsimile looks more like BERICCI, the first c having the bottom transverse, and the final cr being now wanting on the stone.

Supposing the first letter to be intended for MA conjoined, we have either the proper name Macaritini or Marcus Caritinus, a more genuine Latin name than is usual in the analogous Romano-British inscriptions in Wales, one in fact which would bring the inscription nearer to the period of the Roman occupation than we have been in the habit of regarding the date of this class of stones.

Mr. Williams, in his letter to me in answer to the enquiry who was this Marcus Caritinus, states that in Hughes's 'Hora Britannica' there is mention of a Berice, a prince of the Coditani (the district of the Cotswold), between whom and Caradoc there was a feud. It was he who, going to Rome, informed the Court that Caradoc was raising troops to oppose the Romans; and I have somewhere read that he had a son named Marcus Collatinus, who was probably employed in the imperial armies, as he knew the language of the country.' The one objection to this suggestion appears to me to arise from the formula of the inscription being that which we have been in the habit of referring to a later (the sixth to the eighth century), and not according with really Roman inscriptions.

(The singular carved stone, with a figure in the ancient attitude of prayer, also built into the grotto at The Gnoll, is represented in Plate XXV. fig. 3.)

PLATE II. FIG. 4.

THE LLANILTERN STONE.

The little church of Llaniltern (or Llanillteyrn), a village about three miles north of Llandaff, is a comparatively new and very plain structure, but is interesting from having had built into its eastern outer wall an inscribed stone, first described by myself in the Archæologia Cambrensis, 1871, p. 260, and which I had accidentally noticed during one of my rambles in that part of the Principality. The inscription itself is 2 feet long and 1 foot wide, formed of two lines of rudely-shaped letters. It is to be read

Vendvmagl

hic IACIT

The name of the deceased is written in the genitive case, as is so often done on these inscribed stones; the letters are large and coarsely cut, varying from 3 to 4 inches in height, and exhibit a curious mixture of capital, uncial, minuscule, and even cursive writing; the V, N, A, I, and c being capitals, the E and M uncials; the D, L, and H minuscules; and the G and T cursives.

It may be suggested that we have here the gravestone of a person distinct from Vinnemagli, to whose memory the gravestone in Gwytherin churchyard was erected. The names are however evidently identical although differing slightly in spelling. It is evidently to this stone that allusion is made in a note by Iolo Morganwg as existing in a corner of the tower of Llanellteyrn Church, bearing the following inscription-VEN duc- ARTI; the popular tradition founded on this incorrect reading in the neighbourhood being that it was an inscription to the memory of Gwenhwyvar, wife of King Arthur!

PLATE II. FIG. 5.

BROKEN STONE AT MERTHYR MAWR.

During the excavations for the foundation of the elegant new church erected about thirty years ago at Merthyr Mawr, a stone containing portions of a Romano-British inscription was found, of which I published a figure in the Archæologia Cambrensis for 1856, p. 319. It is part of a sepulchral stone inscribed in Roman capitals of a somewhat debased form; the letters which remain being

PAVLI

FILI M (...)

The letters average 3 inches in height, and the fragment of stone measures 12 inches by 8 inches. It is possible that the name in the top line may have been PAULINI, as the stone must have extended further to the right so as to have left room for more letters on that side, and the name Paulinus occurs in several other Welsh inscriptions, as on the Port Talbot stone and the Dolaucothy inscription.

The second letter of the name of the father of this Pauli(nus?) is incomplete; it is slightly slanting and may have been an A, but this is quite conjectural.

The other Merthyr Mawr stones are figured in Plates X, XI, and XII.

PLATES III — IX.

LLANTWIT-MAJOR.

To the student of the Christian antiquities of Wales, Llantwit is one of the most interesting localities in the Principality. For some time after the introduction of Christianity into these islands, long previous to the coming of St. Augustine, no spot shone more conspicuously; before the expiration of the fourth century a body of Christians was established here under the protection of the Emperor Theodosius, and before the close of the fifth century St. Iltyd or Iltutus, to whom the church is dedicated, arrived here in company with Germanus, with the view of extinguishing the then prevalent Pelagian heresy. A school or college was then founded for the instruction of those youths who should afterwards be called upon to fill the important offices of the Church, and thus arose the first Christian school of this

description in the island of Britain, St. Iltyd being appointed the superintendent of the school. Archbishop Ussher,1 quoting the Regestum Landavense, informs us, ‘A Dubricio Landavensi Episcopo in loco qui ab illo [Iltutus] Llaniltut id est Ecclesia Iltuti accepit nomen, est constitutus. Is locus Morganiæ prope mare, nec procul a Lancarvensi Cadoci monasterio ad Bovertonum positus paulo contractius Lan-twit hodie appellatur. Ibi Ecclesiâ primum, deinde monasterio extructo Merchiauno cognomento Vesano Morganiæ rege approbante gymnasium aperuit: de quo scriptor vitæ ipsius anonymus, [quoted from the same Regestum Landavense]: "Confluebant ad illum scholares plurimi quorum de numero quatuor isti; Samson, Paulinus, (vel Paulus potius) Gildas et Dewi (id est David) studebant sapienter eruditi; aliique complures sicut illi." Et vitæ Gildæ scriptor ex Fioriacensi Bibliotheca editus : "In Schola Doctoris Hilduti erudiebantur plurimi nobilium filii; inter quos præclariores erant, tam generis nobilitate quam suorum probitate, Samson videlicet atque Paulus; sed hos quoque mira ingenii sagacitate superabat Gildas beatus. Ex quibus Samson sanctissimus postea Britannorum extitit archiepiscopus; Paulus vero Oxismorum Ecclesiæ præfuit episcopus. Gildas autem non Albanius-hic intelligendus est sed-Badonicus: Samson Dolensis [Dole] et Paulus Leonensis [St. Paul de Leon] in Britannica Armorica episcopi sunt pariter accipiendi." Under the charge of St. Iltyd the church, which had been injured by the Irish invaders of South Glamorganshire, was restored to its former glory, and after his death it was dedicated to him by the name of Llan Illtyd Vawr.

Of the early church and other early conventual buildings, the only relic which I was able to meet with was a flat-topped archway about a yard and a half high in the wall of a garden close to the north side of the churchyard, which I was informed had formed part of St. Iltyd's College. This was probably part of the 'large house' from which it is said that the early stones in the church had been brought. Of the present medieval church and other buildings a full description by Messrs. Freeman and Longueville Jones is given in the Archæologia · Cambrensis for 1858.

PLATES III & IV.

LLANTWIT. THE CROSS OF ST. SAMSON.

This is one of the most interesting memorials of the early British Church in existence, commemorating as it does not fewer than four of the holy men, some of whose names are amongst the chief glories of the Principality. It stands in the churchyard of Llantwit, on the north side of the church.

It is an oblong block of stone about 6 feet high, its breadth below being about 29 inches, and above about 23 inches, and it is 9 inches in thickness. The front face has unfortunately been much injured by the scaling off of large portions, nearly the upper half and a portion of the lower division having thus been lost, caused by the climbing of children up the stone. We can only conjecture that the upper part may have contained

1 De Britann. Eccles. primord. p. 472.

с

a cruciform design, or that it may have been surmounted by a wheel cross. The inscription itself, in two compartments, is quite distinct, and is to be read

famson pofuit hanc cRucem

PRO aNmia eivf

The s is throughout of the minuscule form often used in Anglo-Saxon and Irish manuscripts derived from the cursive Roman S. The m is of a peculiar shape, formed of three upright strokes united by a transverse bar across the middle, a form seen in the oldest and finest of our manuscripts, as in the Gospels of Lindisfarne written at the close of the seventh century, and the Book of St. Chad. The space below the right-hand portion of the inscription is filled by a plain ribbon pattern. Sufficient remains of the upper part of the lower division of the face of the stone to show that it was ornamented with the curious Chinese-like design (with small raised bosses in the open spaces), of which the complete pattern may be seen upon the cross at Neverne and on that of Eiudon.

The back face of the stone (Pl. IV) is more complete than the front, although both the broad interlaced ribbon designs in the upper part have been injured by exposure to the weather; the lower part is filled by a large design of straight interlaced ribbons like basket-work. The inscriptions occur on four small panels. The first, on the left hand near the top, has the word iltet, a crack in the stone across the last two letters rendering their true reading rather doubtful. (It is given distinctly as ILTUTI in Gibson's Camden, ii. p. 22.) There is no doubt however that the name records St. Iltutus, the founder of the College at Llaniltyd Vawr.

In the second compartment the name of Samson is again introduced with the addition of the word Regis. Here we find the s in both the capital and minuscule shapes. The m is shaped as on the other face of the stone, and the g is of the minuscule form. Two other names occur in the two small central compartments, namely f a m uel and ebifa R✈. This second name has exercised the ingenuity of various authors: thus we read in Gibson's Camden, ii. p. 22, Egisar, legendum forte excusor,' and 'On the western side it has inscribed in several compartments CRUX ILTUTI SAMSON REDIS. SAMUEL EGISAR for EXCISOR; Samuel being the name of the sculptor.'1 The name Ebisar is however a proper one, and occurs on both the ancient stones at Coychurch. The two small compartments at the sides of this inscription are filled with the double interlaced oval pattern, which is also used along the upper part of one of the edges of the stone (Pl. III), below which is the well-known pattern formed of four T's, with the bottom of the upright strokes directed to the centre of the pattern. The other edge of the stone has thirteen squares filled with a diagonal and square design. By Messrs. Stubbs and Haddan (Councils, i. p. 628) this stone is referred to A.D. 850—885 (or 894), and is read ILTET: SAMSON RETIS : SAMUEL EGISOR ✈. RETIS ought possibly to be read REGIS ; possibly it means the son of Rhys."

This is not the place to enter into an examination of the various statements of Welsh writers as to the exact period and history of St. Samson or his want of identity with the priest of the same name who carried his pallium with him to Armorica, which subsequently

1 Lewis, Top. Dict. Wales; Rees, Lives of the Cambro-British Saints, p. 491, the frontispiece to which work represents the west side of this cross from a drawing which I furnished to the publishers.