270 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



the entire inscriptions originally were. The first of them occurs on a tablet, 

 on the west front of the cross in the lowest compartment of the shaft, and 

 should unquestionably be read as follows : 



"ouoic t>o pcaiNt) mac maicsechtaiNt)." 



"A PRAYER FOR FLANN, SON OF MAELSECHLAINN." 

 The second inscription is found on a similar tablet, on the east side of the 

 cross, which nearly faces the western door of the church, and, like the former, 

 occupies the lowest compartment of the shaft : this inscription, which is less 

 injured than the preceding, very plainly reads as follows : 



"oraoic t>o cor,maN t>ORRoiNt>i IN CROssa arc IN RI ptaiND." 



"A PRAYER FOR COLMAN WHO MADE THIS CROSS ON THE KING FLANN." 

 Should it be objected that this cross was erected by the abbot Colman 

 as a sepulchral monument to the monarch Flann, and not in commemoration 

 of the erection of the church, I would reply, that it is highly probable that 

 it was intended for both purposes, as the abbot Colman survived the monarch 

 eight years ; and a cross of this kind, which would have taken the sculptor a 

 considerable time to finish, might very well have been commenced during the life- 

 time of the monarch, and have, moreover, been intended to serve as much as a 

 memorial of the erection of the church as a sepulchral monument of its royal 

 founder. But, however this may be, the sculptures on the west side of the 

 cross evidently relate to the history of the original foundation of Clonmacnoise 

 by St. Kieran, and are very clearly intended to be a memorial of the erection of 

 its great church to his honour, while the sculptures on the other sides repre- 

 sent the principal events in the life of our Saviour, as recorded in the Scripture; 

 and hence the cross was subsequently known by the appellation of the Cros na 

 Screaptra, i. e. the Cross of the Scriptures, under which name it is thus noticed 

 in the Annals of Tighernach at the year 1060 : 



" A. D. 1060. h-6ille 7 h-Ui pocepcai DO apgain Cluana mac Noip, co pucpac bpuicmoip 

 6 Cpoip naScpepcpa, 7 cop mapbao Dip ann, .1. mac leijjino, 7 oclac eili : co poipip t)ia 7 Cia- 

 pan t)elbna i n-a n-oiaij, cop laipper a n-dp ann, im pigoathna h-Ua pocapra, ap ip eipioe po 

 mupb in mac leijino. t)o pocc cpa a m-bpuir epoch n-eipji DO lo ap na rhapac co Cluain rpe 

 pepcaib Ciapain." 



" A. D. 1060. The Elians and the Hy-Focertai plundered Clonmacnoise, and carried away many 

 captives from Cros na Screaptra, and slew two persons there, i. e. a student, and another youth : 



