1G6 



The Bishop of Bristol 



[May 10, 



distinguish it from the E nine. D is the Ionian Th cut square, 

 with the horizontal lines removed as unnecessary and troublesome. 



The vowel sounds, A, Ac, 0, appear to 

 be simple modifications of the Ionian 

 short E, a very useful letter for cut- 

 ting on wood. K and N have one of 

 their three strokes knocked off. I 

 have now mentioned 2'2 of the 26 Ang- 

 lian runes ; and of the remaining four, 

 one is compounded of E and A, and 

 the others are so exceedingly rare as 

 scarcely ever to meet the eye of the 

 investigator of Runic inscriptions. 



Many questions of great interest 

 are raised by some of these changes 

 and appropriations. I will only men- 

 tion two. One is the use of the Greek 

 koppa, corresponding to the Hebrew 

 koof, for the rune W. We are fa- 

 miliar with the mediaeval use of qu 

 for io in such words as quhat for what. 

 The other is the use of the Greek G 

 for the rune U. Here again we are 

 familiar with the forms guard and 

 ward, guerre and war. 



The earliest pieces of English 

 literature in existence are the inscrip- 

 tions on the shaft of a cross in the 

 churchyard of Bewcastle, nine miles 

 from Gilslaud. It is 14^ feet high, 

 and when the head was on it stood 

 17 feet high. It was erected in the 

 year G70, as the inscriptions show, and 

 besides the inscriptions now shown it 

 bears the names of Wulfhere, king of 

 the Mercians, his wife Kynesuitha, 

 and her sister Kynburug. 



The sculptures on this cross in 

 clear relief are so striking as works 

 of art that I have had a slide specially 

 prepared to show the figure of our 

 Lord in the attitude of benediction ; a 

 figure about 4 feet high, of marvellous 

 dignity in its simplicity. Very diffi- 

 cult questions are raised on the art 

 For our runic purposes we note the 

 inscription at the head, Kristtus Gessus, which shows that our Anglian 

 ancestors pronounced their consouants with special emphasis ; whereas 



side of this striking panel. 



