The RiTTinvELK Cross. 31 



apparent differences are not greater tlian may be acconnted for 

 1)y the Itleaching and wasting incident to tlie Cross througli the 

 long exposure to wliich it has been subjected. The Cross itself, 

 apart from the red stain, varies in both respects, and partly at 

 least through unequal weathering. Tlie piece of stone before 

 referred to is of the same formation as the Cross. Although 

 bastard limestone occurs in the district, which was worked at 

 one time, no evidence of lime is found in its composition, and it 

 exhi])its at one end a spot of the peculiar blood-red stain which 

 marks so conspicuously one of the pieces of the Cross. 



The facts stated are, I submit, fairly conclusive of the stone 

 having been obtained from a local quarry ; and it follows that in 

 all probability the Cross was sculptured and first set up in the 

 vicinity where it stands. 



It would be interesting could some clue lie discovered regarding 

 the author of so famous a monument. Professor Stephen's 

 interpretation of words said to have been inscribed on the top 

 stone is certainly suggestive in this coiniection — " Caedmon made 

 me " is the rendering. According to the professor it applies to 

 the runic inscriptions on the sides of the Cross ; but considering 

 the ancient usage of inscril)ing the artist's name on such works, 

 and the ordinary and natural signification of the words, it seems 

 at least as likely to apply to the Cross itself. 



In closing the paper I may be permitted a word of reference 

 to the sculptures. Tliey are artistically worked, and the treat- 

 ment of the subjects appears to be well developed. On one side 

 of the base, for instance, there has been a representation of the 

 Crucifixion. It is greatly defaced, and in part quite obliter- 

 ated. So far as decernible it shows, in the centre of the picture, 

 a large cross with the crucified Christ, of Avhich only the lim1)s 

 remain. On one side may be traced, I think, indications of a 

 smaller cross. At the foot of the cross were a group of figures. 

 The moon or the sun shorn of its splendour appears in the firma 

 ment in allusion to the passage — '• And when the sixth hour was 

 come there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth 

 hour." Heavy foulds of drapery frame the picture on either side, 

 the inner edges converging at a point in tlie centre, and parting 

 widely at top and bottom as if by violence, according with the 

 Scriptures — " And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from 

 the top to the bottom." 



