176 Tlie Bishop of Bristol [May 19, 



ceedingly early times, the times of Cresar's Druids, for instance, and 

 earlier. I cannot at all think that they are a mere literary invention 

 of Christian times. Passing through many stages they arrived at 

 length at the development in which we know them. Christianity 

 rendered their use for cryptic purposes no longer applicable. The 

 time for medicine-men had gone by. The abolition of the Druids 

 abolished the impiousness of writing down any Druid secret. The 

 ogams were then, for the first time, used for sepulchral purposes, just 

 at their fullest development, and just at the time of transition in 

 religious beliefs, among the people who occupied the limited districts 

 where the survivors of those who had cryptically used them dwelt ; 

 and in a very short time their use passed away for ever. The know- 

 ledge of the key did not die out, and we have a few examples in 

 Scotland probably quite as late as some of even the later runes. 



You will of course have noticed that while our present finger 

 alphabet for the deaf and dumb, which was only invented about 150 

 years ago, reproduces as far as fingers can the shapes of the letters, 

 so that anyone looking on can see what several of the letters are, the 

 ogam entirely avoids that, and is quite inscrutable if you do not know 

 the key. 



In cutting the ogams on stone, one edge of the stone, or a pro- 

 minent ridge on the stone, was taken as the dividing line. In the 

 following illustrations, which are taken by photography from my 

 facsimile rubbings of the stones, the edge is not shown ; it is usually 

 irregular, the inscriptions being cut on a rude pillar-stone. 



Fig. 9 shows the inscription on a stone now in the Queen's College 

 at Cork. The ogams are read from the bottom upwards, and they pass 

 round the top and down the other side. The inscription seems to be 

 of comparatively late date, judging by its grammatical form. It has 

 after the first four letters a symbol in form of X, and to this Mr. Brash 

 assigns the function of dividing two parts of the inscription. But 

 such division is unknown elsewhere, and has in this case no meaning, 

 indeed it destroys meaning. The symbol X is given in the Book of 

 Ballymote as representing the consonant ea, and there seems no doubt 

 that on this stone it stands for that or some other letter or combina- 

 tion of letters. 



The stone has been damaged at one end of the inscription since it 

 was first found at Tinnahally farm, in the parish of Kilorglin. The 

 journey of 70 miles on rough roads from Kilorglin to Cork may well 

 have obscured the earlier letters, which were quite clear when it was 

 found. They are fairly clear still. I read it anm teagann mac 

 deglenn. 



The usual form of the inscriptions in ogam characters is " A son 

 of B." The words are all in the genitive, the word " the stone," or 

 " the memorial," or " the grave," or possibly " the body," being 

 understood :— " the monument of A son of B." 



This inscription has Mac, instead of the old genitive Maqi. 

 This looks as if anm were a verb, with some such sense as requiescat, 



