THE RUTHWELL CROSS 263 



which is in those characters, with rigid accuracy; 

 but when it came to transcribing Latin marry ! he 

 was at home there, and in order to carry out his 

 interpretation thereof, in reconstructing the cross 

 he fitted into the Kunic characters a few words of 

 his own in Roman, with doleful results, as will 

 presently be shown. 



Next came Mr. Thornleif Repp, an Icelandic 

 scholar of renown, to whom Runes were, literally, 

 ABC. Assuming, as was most reasonable, that the 

 language was Old Norse, he interpreted the inscrip- 

 tion faultlessly, unfolding a really thrilling narra- 

 tive. It was a plain statement how 'a vessel of 

 Christ, of eleven pounds weight, with ornaments, 

 made by the Therfusian fathers, was given in expia- 

 tion for the devastation of Ashlafardhal,' i.e. the vale 

 of Ashlafr. As if to put the translation beyond all 

 doubt, ' there is preserved,' says the New Statistical 

 Account of Dumfriesshire, ' along with the column, an 

 ornamental circular stone,' no doubt the ' vessel of 

 Christ,' or baptismal font alluded to. Great was 

 the throwing up of hats in antiquarian circles at 

 this easy reading of the riddle by the erudite Repp. 

 Nobody, it is true, had ever heard of the Therfusian 

 fathers; but there were plenty of places in broad 



