VOL XV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 25* 



signed. Mr. Cambden, though not acquainted with the characters of the in- 

 scription, yet seems to fancy as much : and, for proof of his opinion, brings a 

 quotation out of St. Paulinus's epistles. But he needed not to have sent us so 

 far off for a voucher, if he had taken good notice of the imagery on the east 

 side of this stone. We have there fairly represented, a person in a long sacer- 

 dotal habit, dipping a child into the water; and a dove hovering over the 

 infant. 



On the south-side of the stone is an inscription in Runic characters, which 

 it is well enough known, since Ol. Wormius's great industry in making us 

 acquainted with the Literatura Runica, have been chiefly used by the pagan 

 inhabitants of Denmark, Sweden, and the other northern nations; and the 

 Danes are said to have swarmed mostly in these parts of our island: which two 

 considerations make it probable that the fount is a Danish monument. But 

 then, on the other hand, we are sufficiently assured, that the heathen Saxons 

 also made use of these Runae ; as is plain from the frequent mention of 

 Runcjiaepcijen and Runj-capaj- in many of the monuments of that nation, both 

 in print and manuscript still to be met with. Besides, we must not forget that 

 both Danes and Saxons are indebted to this kingdom for this Christianity : and 

 therefore thus far their pretentions to a Runic (Christian) monument may be 

 thought equal. Indeed some of the letters seem purely Saxon : being not to 

 be met with among Wormius's many alphabets : and the words themselves 

 seem to come nearer to the ancient Saxon dialect than the Danish. However 

 let the inscription speak for itself: and I doubt not but it will convince any 

 competent and judicious reader that it is Danish. Thus therefore I have 

 ventured to read and explain it : 



Er Ekard han men egrocten, and to dis men red wer : Taner men brogten, i. e. 



Here Ekard was converted ; and to this man's example were the Danes brought. 



The language of the whole seems a mixture of the Danish and Saxon 

 tongues: but that can be no other than the natural effect of the two nations 

 being mixed together in this part of the world. Our borderers, to this day, 

 speak a triple of languages (British, Saxon, and Danish) in one ; and it is hard 

 to determine which of those three nations has the greatest share in the motley 

 breed. 



On the Latitude of Constantinople and Rhodes. By Mr. John Greaves, some time 

 Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford. N° 178, p. 12Q5. 



The received latitude of Byzantium (now Constantinople) by Appianus, Mer- 

 cator, Ortelius, Maginuus, and some others, is 43° 5'. This also we find in 

 the Basle edition of Ptolemy's geography procured by Erasmus out of a Greek 



