" Died R. T. (fuppofe RIcard or Roderic Toole or Teigue, &c.) 

 prince (or precentor) of Killalla, on May the ift, in the year of the 

 Crofs 1 1 02." 



The letters C. T. I fuppofe to be the initials of the name of the 

 fon or fucceffor of R. T. who erefted the monument to the memory 

 of the latter. Thefe four only are capital letters. 



There is a piece broken from the lower part of the ftone; but it 

 is evident there were never any charafters infcribed on it. 



Now whatever doubt may be entertained as to the meaning of the 

 reft of the infcription, I think there can be none as to the date, ex- 

 cepting in the lafl: figure or mark §, which I take to be the Arabic 

 numeral charafter or figure 2, or perhaps 5 : and I am induced to 

 think fo, for thefe reafons. 



1. It is not a letter of the Roman alphabet, as all others in the 

 infcription are, the date excepted; and one cannot, in this inftance, 

 fuppofe a mixture of Greek and Roman letters. 



2. It refembles moft the antique form of the figure 2, among the 

 Arabic charafters, which the learned Doftor Wallis gives us in his hif- 

 tory of Algebra, chap. 3d. as written in the manufcripts of 'Johannes a 



facro Bofco, and other writers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 



3. The charafter I, after the letters m a, and alfo that before the 

 letter C, in the upper and lower compartments, on the right hand ra- 

 ther refemble the form of the figure i, than that of the Roman let- 

 ter I. . / 



4. Doftor Wallis has, (in the place above quoted), produced inftances, 

 fhewing that about the time of the firft introduftion of the Saracenic 

 numeral charafters into thefe countries, it was not unufual in manufcripts, 

 to write the dates partly in literal, and partly in numeral charafters, 

 as is done here. 



Before the art of printing had afforded a model for the fliape of 

 letters, there was a licence for that variety in the form of them, (as 

 in manufcripts), which is obfervable in fome of the letters here : our 

 fculptor hath accordingly difplayed fuch fancy in this refpe^t, as fliews 



him 



