Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 



325 



" A. D. 890, or 891. Suibne Mac Maele humai, anchorita et scriba optimus Cluana mac Nois, 

 dormivit." 



The inscription reads : 



" OROIC <DO SV161H6 mac maitae hvmai." 



" A PRAYER FOR SUIBINE, THE SON OF MAILAE HUMAI." 

 It is to be regretted that the works of this celebrated person, whom Florence 

 of Worcester calls " Doctor Scotorum peritissimus" have not been preserved 

 to us, or at least are not found in Ireland, and, as Ware tells us, that even the 

 titles of them are lost. 



Such complicated combinations of this figure are not common on the in- 

 scribed tombstones, for amongst all those at Clonmacnoise, which I have drawn 

 at various times, I have only met with two other examples, and of these one was 

 of cotemporaneous date with that of Suibhne, and, as we may believe, the work 

 of the same sculptor. I allude to the tomb of the celebrated abbot and bishop, 

 St. Coirpre Crom, who, according to the Irish annalists, died on the 6th of 

 March, 899. Like most monuments of this time, it is simply inscribed with 

 the bishop's name, and the usual request for a prayer, thus : 



"OR t)O COR6R1V ChRVmm." 

 "A PRAYER FOR CORBRIU CROMM." 



