PLATE LIII. FIG. 5. THE EVOLENGGUS STONE AT LLANDYSSILIO. The second of the Llandyssilio stones is much rougher than the former. The inscription itself was for the first time published by myself in the Archæologia Cambrensis, 1860, p. 56, from my rubbings and a drawing sent to me by the Rev. H. L. Jones, the inscription being therein read:— EVOLENUS FIL LITOGENI HIC IACIT. There are a few palæographic peculiarities in this inscription: the second letter in the first line being a U, not v, and the N reversed in shape w; in the second line the F and I are conjoined, and the final I placed transversely, as is often the case; in the third line the g is of the Hiberno-British form, and the N again reversed; whilst the H at the beginning of the last line has the transverse bar very oblique, and the ▲ in jacit (for jacet) much elongated below the other letters. With these exceptions the inscription is in Roman capitals, the letters being generally about 4 inches in height, and the stone itself 3 feet wide by 28 inches high. From the more debased form of the letters I infer that it is somewhat more recent than the gravestone of Clutorix. A The two supposed terminal letters us offered some difficulty, the seventh letter in Mr. Jones's notes to me being described as 'problematical from the stone being injured there,' adding, 'is the last or eighth letter an s?' In my published figure the break of the stone over the seventh letter was rendered not sufficiently decided and the letter made too much like a u, whilst the eighth letter, which is carried much below the line and with a very slight top cross bar, led me on the spot to regard it as a s. Prof. Rhys, however, having subsequently visited the stone, read the first word EVOLENÇÇ- (Arch. Camb., 1875, p. 186); and having shown me his rubbing, which was much clearer than my own, I must admit that the seventh letter is an injured g, that the eighth letter is also a g, and that it is followed by a horizontal – which I had overlooked. In the accompanying Plate LIII, fig. 5, I have given the name as it appears in the rubbing of Prof. Rhys, except that the terminal letters are made too decided. PLATE LIII. FIG. 4. THE CROSSED STONE AT LLANDYSSILIO. The third of the Llandyssilio stones is now built into the south wall of the church, close to the south-west angle. It is of an oblong form, measuring 40 inches by 16 inches, and is marked near one end with a circle enclosing five smaller equally-sized circles, one forming the centre and the four others arranged so that the outer spaces form a Maltese cross with dilated ૨ ends. The whole is very slightly incised, or the surface of the stone has been so much reduced that the incised lines forming the pattern are now but faintly seen except by the slanting rays of the sun. There is no straight incised lines forming the stem of the cross as in the Nevern slab. It is most probable that this was originally a sepulchral slab. (J. O. W. in Arch. Camb., 1860, p. 57.) PLATE LIV. FIG. 1. THE BRIDELL OGHAM STONE. This stone stands erect in the churchyard of Bridell, near Cardigan, partly shaded by a venerable yew-tree to the south of the church. It is from the porphyritic greenstone formation of the Preseleu hills, tapering uniformly to the top, nearly covered with a thin grey lichen, and having on its northern face an equal-armed cross with the limbs rounded at the ends and inscribed within a circle, being evidently of a very early character1. Along the northeastern angle of the stone are a series of Ogham markings extending from the bottom almost to the top of the stone, for the most part in excellent preservation. The accompanying figure is copied from the illustration of the stone given by the Rev. H. L. Jones in his account of it published in the Archæologia Cambrensis, 1860, p. 314. This figure was made after repeated examinations of the stone by Mr. Jones, and my own sketch of the stone and its Oghams agrees with that of Mr. Jones. There are, however, several difficulties in deciphering these Oghams which led Mr. Jones to defer attempting a reading of them. The late Mr. R. R. Brash, M.R.I.A., visited the stone in 1870, and published a memoir on it in Arch. Camb., 1872, p. 24. He considers that the difficulty pointed out by Mr. Jones, arising from the prolongation of some of the upper and crossing consonants to an angular projection on the eastern side of the stone, giving some countenance to the idea of a second line of inscription, does not in reality exist, and that there is no second line of inscription intended; indeed, had a continuation of the main line of Oghams been required, it would as usual have been carried on to the north-west or right-hand angle of the stone. The Oghams occupy 5 feet 3 inches of the north-east angle, and are read by Mr. Brash NEQA SAGROM MAQI MUCOI NECI Neqa Sagrom the son of Mucoi Neci the identification of the first name being confirmed by the Sagramni of the bilingual monument at Llanfechen and the Sagranui of the Fardell stone. Dr. Samuel Ferguson (Proc. Royal Irish Acad., vol. xi. p. 48) reads the Oghams as NETTASACHROHOCOUDOCOEFFECI, i. e. Netta Sagro hoc or Sagromoc oudoco effeci,' there having been a Bishop Oudoc of Llandaff in the seventh century; which reading is controverted by Mr. Brash (loc. cit. supra) at great length. 1 Mr. Brash does not consider that this represents a cross, or that it is of remote antiquity, but that it is a mediæval quatrefoil, not older than the thirteenth century. In a subsequent note (Arch. Camb., 1872, p. 355, and see Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 92) Dr. Ferguson partly admits the incorrectness of his reading, especially as regards the Oudoc part of the inscription as pointed out by Mr. Brash, but adduces other peculiarities in support of other portions of his reading. To these again Mr. Brash replied in Arch. Camb., 1873, pp. 103, 285, especially insisting on the prefix Nec instead of Netta. Prof. Rhys (Arch. Camb., 1873, pp. 76, 197, 386, and 1874, p. 90) adopts the reading of the Oghams Nett a Sagrom Maqui Mucoi Greci ; and subsequently (Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 21) Nettasagru maqi Mucoi Breci; thus thinking 'both Neci and Greci unwarranted;' and in another note (Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 175) the Professor has found a solution of the difficult word mucoi, which, under the more ancient forms 'maccu' and 'mocu' and the modern Welsh 'macwy,' is to be translated 'grandson.' PLATE LIV. FIG. 2. THE BILINGUAL STONE AT ST. DOGMAEL'S. This stone has acquired a celebrity from having been the first discovered in Wales on which the debased Latin inscription was repeated in Celtic in Ogham characters, and having thence been considered by Professor Graves, the first authority on the subject, to be as valuable a key to the latter mode of writing as the Rosetta stone was to Egyptian hieroglyphics.' The stone was first made known by the Rev. H. Longueville Jones at the Rhyl Meeting of the Cambrian Archæological Association in 1858 (Arch. Camb., 1858, p. 461). The stone was long used as a foot-bridge at St. Dogmael's Abbey, and is recorded by W. Gambold in Gibson's Camden, p. 638 (Gough's Camden, ii. p. 522; Ed. 2, iii. 152), where the inscription is given as Sasrani fill Cunotami. The name Cunotamus is regarded as the Latinised form of Cuneddaf, Kynedha, Kynodha, Cunedda, or Cunetha (A. D. 560), a prince of North Wales, who is stated to have given to his son Ceredig (from whom Cardigan takes its name) a large district in Cardigan and Pembrokeshire, so that the account to a certain extent seemed confirmed by finding in this district the tombstone of one of his brothers. There was a tradition in the neighbourhood that a mystical white lady constantly passed over the stone when used as a bridge at 12 o'clock at night. In 1858 the stone was standing in a wall adjoining the Vicarage of St. Dogmael's, but on taking down the wall the stone fell and was broken into two pieces, as shown in the figure. The stone had about the end of the seventeenth century been examined and sketched by Edward Lhwyd, the antiquary, who had marked several of the Oghams in his original unpublished sketch, still preserved at Oxford. The Latin inscription is entirely composed of Roman capital letters of a rather narrow form, varying in height, some in the upper line being nearly 6 inches high: those forming the word fili, in their much narrower form, in the bar of ends. The whole is very slightly incised, or the surface of the stone has been so much reduced that the incised lines forming the pattern are now but faintly seen except by the slanting rays of the sun. There is no straight incised lines forming the stem of the cross as in the Nevern slab. It is most probable that this was originally a sepulchral slab. (J. O. W. in Arch. Camb., 1860, p. 57.) PLATE LIV. FIG. 1. THE BRIDELL OGHAM STONE. This stone stands erect in the churchyard of Bridell, near Cardigan, partly shaded by a venerable yew-tree to the south of the church. It is from the porphyritic greenstone formation of the Preseleu hills, tapering uniformly to the top, nearly covered with a thin grey lichen, and having on its northern face an equal-armed cross with the limbs rounded at the ends and inscribed within a circle, being evidently of a very early character1. Along the northeastern angle of the stone are a series of Ogham markings extending from the bottom almost to the top of the stone, for the most part in excellent preservation. The accompanying figure is copied from the illustration of the stone given by the Rev. H. L. Jones in his account of it published in the Archæologia Cambrensis, 1860, p. 314. This figure was made after repeated examinations of the stone by Mr. Jones, and my own sketch of the stone and its Oghams agrees with that of Mr. Jones. There are, however, several difficulties in deciphering these Oghams which led Mr. Jones to defer attempting a reading of them. The late Mr. R. R. Brash, M.R.I.A., visited the stone in 1870, and published a memoir on it in Arch. Camb., 1872, p. 24. He considers that the difficulty pointed out by Mr. Jones, arising from the prolongation of some of the upper and crossing consonants to an angular projection on the eastern side of the stone, giving some countenance to the idea of a second line of inscription, does not in reality exist, and that there is no second line of inscription intended; indeed, had a continuation of the main line of Oghams been required, it would as usual have been carried on to the north-west or right-hand angle of the stone. The Oghams occupy 5 feet 3 inches of the north-east angle, and are read by Mr. Brash NEQA SAGROM MAQI MUCOI NECI Neqa Sagrom the son of Mucoi Neci; the identification of the first name being confirmed by the Sagramni of the bilingual monument at Llanfechen and the Sagranui of the Fardell stone. Dr. Samuel Ferguson (Proc. Royal Irish Acad., vol. xi. p. 48) reads the Oghams as NETTASACHROHOCOUDOCOEFFECI, i. e. Netta Sagro hoc or Sagromoc oudoco effeci,' there having been a Bishop Oudoc of Llandaff in the seventh century; which reading is controverted by Mr. Brash (loc. cit. supra) at great length. 1 Mr. Brash does not consider that this represents a cross, or that it is of remote antiquity, but that it is a mediæval quatrefoil, not older than the thirteenth century. In a subsequent note (Arch. Camb., 1872, p. 355, and see Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 92) Dr. Ferguson partly admits the incorrectness of his reading, especially as regards the Oudoc part of the inscription as pointed out by Mr. Brash, but adduces other peculiarities in support of other portions of his reading. To these again Mr. Brash replied in Arch. Camb., 1873, pp. 103, 285, especially insisting on the prefix Nec instead of Netta. Prof. Rhys (Arch. Camb., 1873, pp. 76, 197, 386, and 1874, p. 90) adopts the reading of the Oghams― Nett a Sagrom Maqui Mucoi Greci ; and subsequently (Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 21) Nettasagru maqi Mucoi Breci; thus thinking 'both Neci and Greci unwarranted;' and in another note (Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 175) the Professor has found a solution of the difficult word mucoi, which, under the more ancient forms 'maccu' and 'mocu' and the modern Welsh 'macwy,' is to be translated 'grandson.' PLATE LIV. FIG. 2. THE BILINGUAL STONE AT ST. DOGMAEL'S. This stone has acquired a celebrity from having been the first discovered in Wales on which the debased Latin inscription was repeated in Celtic in Ogham characters, and having thence been 'considered by Professor Graves, the first authority on the subject, to be as valuable a key to the latter mode of writing as the Rosetta stone was to Egyptian hieroglyphics.' The stone was first made known by the Rev. H. Longueville Jones at the Rhyl Meeting of the Cambrian Archæological Association in 1858 (Arch. Camb., 1858, p. 461). The stone was long used as a foot-bridge at St. Dogmael's Abbey, and is recorded by W. Gambold in Gibson's Camden, p. 638 (Gough's Camden, ii. p. 522; Ed. 2, iii. 152), where the inscription is given as Sasrani fill Cunotami. The name Cunotamus is regarded as the Latinised form of Cuneddaf, Kynedha, Kynodha, Cunedda, or Cunetha (A. D. 560), a prince of North Wales, who is stated to have given to his son Ceredig (from whom Cardigan takes its name) a large district in Cardigan and Pembrokeshire, so that the account to a certain extent seemed confirmed by finding in this district the tombstone of one of his brothers. There was a tradition in the neighbourhood that a mystical white lady constantly passed over the stone when used as a bridge at 12 o'clock at night. In 1858 the stone was standing in a wall adjoining the Vicarage of St. Dogmael's, but on taking down the wall the stone fell and was broken into two pieces, as shown in the figure. The stone had about the end of the seventeenth century been examined and sketched by Edward Lhwyd, the antiquary, who had marked several of the Oghams in his original unpublished sketch, still preserved at Oxford. The Latin inscription is entirely composed of Roman capital letters of a rather narrow form, varying in height, some in the upper line being nearly 6 inches high: those forming the word fili, in their much narrower form, in the bar of |