60 ANCIENT INSCEIBED ST0NE3. 



"named Nonnita, Ercilius, and Yiricatns, respectively, were all 

 "buried under this stone, or near the spot where it was set up. 



" Whether any traces of these names can he found in other 

 " Cornish inscriptions, or whether any shadows of them have come 

 "down to us in Cornish tradition, must be left to the decision of 

 " Cornish antiquaries." 



This interpretation seems to require little comment or addition. 

 It may, however, be suspected that the three last letters do not in- 

 dicate, as initials, so advanced, and in Cornwall unexampled, a 

 style of epigraph as has been here assigned to them, however tempting 

 such a construction may be. We may, perhaps, more safely adopt 

 a suggestion of Professor Westwood, that the third letter from the 

 last is meant for A, making the last word ERCILACI. If this reading 

 be accepted, the terminal stroke of the L in ERCIL must be attributed 

 to splintering from the tool; and the penultimate letter of the 

 second line, which has been transferred to the beginning of the third 

 line, would then be regarded as A, the cross stroke being neglected, 

 a not uncommon omission. — Nonnit(^ (or ai) may be the preferable 

 reading, the other names being in the genitive case, as is usual. 



It has so rarely happened hitherto that any of the names on our 

 non-Roman inscribed stones could be identified, even approximately, 

 with those of persons in any way known to history, that the occur- 

 rence of the word Nonnita, the latinised name of Nun, or Neon, the 

 mother of David, the most eminent of Welsh Saints, could not but 

 excite much interest and the hope of further discovery — the more so be- 

 cause the connection of St. Nun with Cornwall is already established 

 by the name and dedication of the church of Altarnun, where she 

 is even said to have been buried, and by the reputed virtues of the well 

 called by her name, famous for the cure of madness.* Unfortunately, 

 a careful examination of the Genealogies given in Bees' s Welsh 

 Saints, which seem to merit a fair share of confidence, has not en- 

 abled me to identify either of the other names on this stone as in 

 any way related to the mother of St. David, or, indeed, with any 



* Carew (p. 123) gives a curious account of this water cure. — The patient 

 having been placed on the brink of a square pool, filled with water from St. 

 Nun's well, was, by a sudden blow on the breast, tumbled into the pool, where 

 he was tossed up and down by some strong hands till his fury forsook him. 

 He was then carried to the church, and certain masses sung over him ; if he 

 was not cm-ed at ouce, the immersion was repeated. — Borlase's Nat. Hist., 

 pp. 302, 303. 



