445 
The following memorandum respecting some ancient In- 
seriptionsin Scotland, by Mr. John Ramsay, of Heading Hill, 
Aberdeen, was read. 
** Towards the end of January last, my attention was di- 
rected to an inscription on a portion of what was once the cross 
of St. Vigean, a parish of Forfarshire, contiguous to that of the 
town of Arbroath. Through the medium of a friend, I was 
permitted to inspect a handsome lithograph of this interesting 
monument of antiquity, executed, I understand, under the 
auspices of Patrick Chalmers, Esq., of Auldbar, a gentleman 
not less skilled than zealous in archeological pursuits. The 
cross referred to is thus mentioned in the Statistical Account 
of the Parish of St. Vigean (1845), written by the parochial 
clergyman, the Rev. John Muir: ‘ In the churchyard there 
formerly stood a large cross over the grave of some person 
of eminence, richly carved in hieroglyphical figures of the kind 
found on sepulchral stones in some other places of Scotland. 
The cross has been long ago demolished, but the stalk re- 
mains, with characters at the base hitherto undeciphered.’ 
‘* I entirely concur in the opinion of the reverend writer, 
that the cross in question was monumental. Such sepulchral 
monuments were common about the period to which the cross 
of St. Vigean seems to belong. A comparison of some of its 
ornaments with those of other crosses of the same kind, sug- 
gests that it was the production of the latter part of the tenth 
eentury. The peculiar and beautiful interlacery in the com- 
partment immediately above the inscription, and on one of the 
Jaces of the cross, is of kindred character with that which is 
exhibited in similar monuments of the same era, sketches of 
which are given in Mr. Petrie’s valuable Essay on the Eccle- 
siastical Architecture of Ireland. I observe that it is stated, in 
_ the Account of the parish already referred to, that St. Vigean 
lived in the latter part of the tenth century ; and that he had 
his residence in the neighbourhood of the spot where the cross 
formerly stood. ‘ His original chapel and hermitage were at 
