[ 9 ] 



ever fide drawn, did not exceed five. Wherefore making myfelf 

 as well acquainted with the fcale as I poflibly could, and again 

 applying myfelf to the ftudy of the infcription, I found it read 

 the five different ways following, viz. ift, " Beneath this fepul- 

 " chral monument is laid Conan the fierce, the nimble-footed j" 

 2d, " Obfcure not the remains of Conan the fierce, the nimble- 

 " footed !" 3d, " Long let him lie at eafe on the brink of this 

 " lake, beneath this hieroglyphic, darling of the Sacred !" 4th, 

 " Long let him lie at eafe on the brink of this lake, who never 

 " fdw his faithful clan depreffed !" 5th, " Hail, with reverential 

 " forrow, the drooping heath around his lamentable tomb*!" 

 When all thefe various readings are united, there appears a 

 rational beginning, continuation and conclufion of the fame 

 fenfe. But what is flill farther remarkable, the number of 

 readings is the limit of the number of lines in the Ogam fcale. 

 The whole is in the ftile and manner of the antients, defcriptive 

 botli of the man and the place ; and though the language be very 

 antient, yet it is equally familiar and eafy to fuch as are well 

 verfed in the feveral idioms and dialedls of the Irifh language. 



The firfl and fecond readings are found by twice decypher- 

 ing the Ogam line in the infcription, from the broad to the 

 narrow end of the ftone (and here the procefs is from left 

 to right) commuting the letters F and N, wherever they occur, 

 as the fenfe fliall diredl ; and the third and fourth readings are 

 found by taking the two former backwards (and here the pro- 



* Firft, " Fan li da fica Conan Colgac, cos-obmda !" 2d, " Na flida ni ca 

 " Conan Colgac, cos-obmda !" 3d, Adm bo focc ag Loc fan oca cifa dil Naf !" 

 4th, " Adm bo focc ag Loc na foe a cina dil fan !" 5th, " Almho Coffag dos ta 

 •' cu OS afit a lid cuat !" 



(B) cefs 



