286 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 285. 



forwarded to the Rev. Ch. Graves, in Dublin; and 

 it is presumed that notice will be taken of this 

 remarkable monument in the forthcoming work 

 on Ogham writing by that gentleman, about to 

 be published by the Irish Archaeological Society. 

 I heard in Shetland of a remarkable stone (whether 

 inscribed or not I cannot say), which existed in 

 the island of Yell, near to Papal, but could get 

 no farther tidings of it. 



No Runic inscription is known to exist at the 

 present day in Shetland. In 1852 I carefully 

 examined the burying-ground of the Cross-kirk 

 in Northmavine, but could find no trace of the 

 Runic gravestone said to have been found there 

 by Mr. Low, and figured from that gentleman's 

 sketch by Dr.' Hibbert. The graveyard of the 

 Cross-kirk was, in July, 1852, so deeply covered 

 with long grass that the stone in question may 

 have escaped my search ; but Dr. Hibbert like- 

 wise sought for it in vain. 



The Ogham inscription on the stone at Golspie 

 in Sutherland is very perfect, and will no doubt 

 be figured in the forthcoming publication of the 

 Spalding Club. The other two or three Ogham 

 inscriptions in Scotland I have not seen, but from 

 sketches that I possess, I consider them all to 

 have a certain resemblance to the Irish stones 

 bearing Ogham writing. The Bressay stone bears 

 the Cross and other Christian emblems, and as 

 the Scoto-Irish were established in Scotland for 

 three centuries before the arrival of the North- 

 men, we can well believe that these few monu- 

 ments are remnants of their rule. On the other 

 hand, it is perfectly possible that these stones may 

 be of a later date than anterior to the ninth cen- 

 tury, especially if we concede that Ogham writing 

 is in reality derived from the Runic alphabet; and 

 such we believe is the opinion of the Rev. Ch. 

 Graves. We can hardly believe that the in- 

 habitants of the Northern Isles would be utterly 

 exterminated by the Norse invaders; and this 

 cryptic style of writing may have been adopted 

 by some of those who still adhered to the Christian 

 faith in Shetland, or may have perhaps only come 

 into use after the Northmen themselves were con- 

 verted to Christianity, It would be a curious 

 confirmation of this last opinion if the Bressay or 

 the Golspie stone exhibited, when read, an Ogham 

 inscription in the old Norse tongue. Oghams 

 were employed in Ireland for expressing Latin as 

 well as Irish words. 



It is difficult in these remote countries to decide 

 on the age of a monument from the character of 

 its carving or ornamentation. To the present 

 day the Icelander carves in the style that pre- 

 vailed there 600 years ago, and the Irish character 

 of ornamentation may have continued in Shetland 

 for as long a period. 



The Bressay stone has been returned to the 

 Rev. Mr. Hamilton, but it is to be hoped that ere 



long it will be deposited in the Museum of Scot- 

 tish Antiquaries in Edinburgh. 



Edwakd Charlton, M. D. 



Newcastle-on-T3'ne. 



ST. PAUL S QUOTATION OF HEATHEN WRITERS. 



(Vol. v., pp. 175. 278. 352. ; Vol. vi., pp. 243. 41 1.) 



Mr. Thomas H. Gill has aptly compared a 

 sentence in Aristotle's Politics (lib. iii. c. viii.} 

 with Galatians v. 23. : " Against such there is no 

 law :" and adds, 



" I am not aware that this quotation or identity of ex- 

 pression has been pointed out before ... It is surely worth, 

 the noting ; and should anything occur to any of your 

 correspondents, either to confirm or demolish the idea of 

 quotation, I would gladly be delivered out of my doubt. 

 1 should not think less reverentlj' of St. Paul in believing 

 him indebted to Aristotle," &c. 



The description given by Strabo (as quoted by 

 H. Stephens in Schediasma II. : 



"De quodam Platonis loco ubi mentio fit interioris 

 sive interni hominis, sicut a Paulo Apostolo,") — 



furnishes a remarkable instance of the use of the 

 Greek and Latin classics in confirming the truth 

 of Sacred History, whilst it is calculated in some 

 degree to deliver your correspondent out of his 

 doubt : 



" It is not incredible that aforetime St. Paul had met 

 with this passage, because it is evident that he had turned 

 over the writings both of the Greek philosophers and 

 poets, which we need not be surprised at, especially since 

 Strabo testifies (lib. xiv.) of the natives of Tarsus, that 

 they excelled the schools of Athens and Alexandria in 

 the pursuit of philosophy, and of what are called the 

 encyclical studies; and that writing this Epistle long 

 after he transferred the obscure expressions of Pagan 

 metaphysics to the spiritual truths of revelation, and irra- 

 diated them with the sublime doctrine of illuminating 

 grace." — Henr. Stephani Schediasmata, p. 7. Eeprinted 

 in Gruteri Lampas, sive Fax Artium Liberalium, tom. v. 



This subject has been illustrated by the Rev. 

 Charles Forster, in the Apostolical Authority of the 

 Epistle to the Hebrews. After having shown the 

 identity of manner in the use of peculiar words, 

 which obtains between the Epistle to the Hebrews 

 and St. Paul's undisputed Epistles, he concludes : 



" Nor do St. Paul's undisputed Epistles and Hebrews 

 correspond only in the use of terms of philosophy ; the}-- 

 correspond also, in numerous examples, in the use of the 

 same philosophic terms. Several of the most remarkable 

 of these common verbal peculiarities, I have myself veri- 

 fied in a similar sense and connexion in Aristotle, Plato, 

 and especially in Epictetus.". 



Bibliothecar. Chetham. 



