I 4, 1 



year 1797, the Lord Primate,* fond of every fpecies of litera- 

 ture and not unacquainted with any, told him it was generally 

 faid, that on a high hill, about three miles from the town, an 

 Ogham infcription was to be found. Dr. Browne rode up to the 

 top of this hill and found on its fummit a fmall conical mount 

 or rather heap of fmall ftones, furrounded by a regular circle 

 of large ones upright and about two feet and an half high. 

 The country people immediately direded him to one of thofe 

 ftones on which they faid the infcription was; the day being 

 very windy and the ftone low, he was forced to lie down on 

 his fide to copy it, which he did as well as he was able. At 

 firft view he fays he was not fure that the indentures in the 

 ftone were not natural, but on obferving them carefully and 

 their regularity, and comparing them with the natural impref- 

 fions which were irregularly indented in the other ftones and 

 on fome part of this, he convinced himfelf beyond a doubt, 

 that they were artificial, and this is ftrongly confirmed by the 

 tradition of the country. 



Dr. Browne was again at Armagh in September 1799, and agam 

 vifited the Vicars Cairn with a friend. Not inftantly recolled- 

 ing the particular ftone, he afked a peafant who was pafling with 

 a load of turf not far off, if he knew the ftone upon 

 which letters were faid to be written ; he immediately aiked, if 



it 



• Doctor Newcorae. 



