The Welsh

the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland. Stones have occupied five such parts, which have been issued at a price barely sufficient to cover the expenses of publication.

The work is arranged in Counties, commencing with the Stones of Glamorganshire, the earliest seat of Christianity in Wales and the richest in respect to its lapidary remains.

A careful examination of the Plates of this work, and a comparison of them with the various illustrated volumes on the illuminated MSS. of England and Ireland', as well as with different works on the ancient lapidary monuments of these islands lately published, must convince the impartial observer that the early periods which have been assigned to these different productions are generally correct, and that they fully confirm the statements of Venerable Bede (Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. cap. 4) as to the identity of the religious views of the early British and Irish Churches previous to the eighth century; an identity confirmed by the discovery of numerous Ogham inscriptions in Wales. It is remarkable however that the Welsh Stones exhibit peculiarities of their own as compared with those of other parts of the United Kingdom. The Stones of Scotland are remarkable for their elaborate ornamentation, in which human figures and animals are frequently introduced, but which are almost universally destitute of inscriptions. In Ireland, on the contrary, except on the great crosses, ornament is sparingly used, the sepulchral stones generally bearing inscriptions in the Irish language. In the Isle of Man these Stones are elaborately ornamented, but with the inscriptions in Runic characters and in the Norse language, whilst in Wales the Stones are ornamented with scarcely any attempt at representations of the human figure or of animals, and in most cases with inscriptions written in debased Roman letters and in a formula met with in no other part of the world, of which the Cilgerran inscription, Trenegussi fili Macutreni hic iacit' (Pl. LIII. fig. 2), is an example. The Scandinavian inscribed Stones offer still more striking distinctions.

The Members of the Cambrian Archæological Association owe a debt of gratitude to the Rev. E. L. Barnwell, Treasurer of the Society, for the liberal manner in which he has enabled me to bring this work to a successful termination.

1 The National Manuscripts of Ireland, Parts 1 and 2, folio; the Fac-Similes of Ancient MSS., issued by the Palæographical Society; Palæographia Sacra Pictoria; and The Miniatures of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts, folio.

2 The Sculptured Stones of Scotland, 2 vols., fol., by John Stuart; the Crosses of Ireland, by Henry O'Neill, fol.; Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language, by George Petrie and Margaret Stokes, 2 vols. 4to.; the Runic Monuments of the Isle of Man, by the Rev. J. G. Cumming, 4to.