28 Address of the Vice-President. 



Monumental Effigies. 



These abound in England, and there they form a rich 

 treasure, illustrative of the history of art and of social life, 

 as well as commemorative of relationship, worth, or station. 

 Here it is otherwise, there being few of any kind, and of an 

 early date perhaps none, that are uumutilated. 



How is this ? 



On the one hand undoubtedly, the necessities of life (as 

 we may call it) have had a large influence ; for houses have 

 been aided out of the old abbeys, and country dykes from 

 cairn heaps. But other causes have also been in operation. 

 The figure of Alan Lord of Galloway at Dundrennan, the 

 great lord whom Buchanan calls Scotorum longe potentissi- 

 vius, is an object. And at Lincluden Abbey one looks with 

 indignation at the rifled and demolished tomb of the Countess 

 of Douglas, 



Regis Scotia^ Filia, 



so finely i-epresented in Pennant's work. It might also be 

 thought, not unreasonably, that the Abbot Stone and Nun 

 Slab at Dundrennan Abbey were originally brasses, but 

 brasses no longer. 



Considerations such as these invite enquiry — less to re- 

 deem the past than to prevent the recurrence f(jr the future 

 if possible. 



Crosses and Obelisks. 



These form the last of the Jixed structures of the district 

 to which we here invite attention. 



The Society had an opportunity in one of its excursions 

 of visiting and examining the Ruthwell Cross. 



This Cross has been termed by Professor Sir J. Y. Simj)- 

 son*' " the finest Teutonic Cross in Scotland."* 



* See Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, voL 4, p. 44. 



