76 Tue Brus INSCRIPTION AT ANNAN. 
‘‘The letters are deeply cut; the crosses of the @ ’s 
vary. In some cases they are much lighter than in others, 
and in some, where the surface is worn, only perceptible to 
touch. The top two lines are considerably better and more 
careful work, as well as better preserved. Evidently the 
man flagged like others of his confreres, both ancient and 
modern. 
‘It is possible I think’that the + at the beginning and 
the numerals at the end were added by another hand. They 
are not cut deep and broad with a chisel, but rather scraped - 
out as it were. On the other hand, it is possible that the 
mason may have used for them the same tool with which he 
crossed his @ ’s and made his ornamental tails to the letters. 
Both the O’s seem to have a central dot. 
‘ The first two lines are quite clear—+ Robert . de. Brus 
—(a curious “‘s,”’ isn’t it ?)— —Counte (the stop is lost in the 
big hole in the stone) de . Ca. The beginning of the next 
line is hopeless. The surface of the stone is simply not 
there. Under the U there is the first certain chisel mark, 
a deep down stroke. Of course the stone on the right of it 
has broken away to it. It may well be 1. The marks which 
follow are very uncertain. Possibly there are the remains 
of a down stroke, but it would be difficult to say that they 
were certainly the relics of chisel marks. There is here, as it 
were, a layer off the surface of the stone. 
“But for practical purposes I imagine that there can be 
little doubt that the reading was CA [RR] I [K], if that 
is a possible spelling. ET. presents no difficulties. Then 
you have SENTVU, and room probably for one, at a 
pinch for two letters, on the next line. I feel that one is 
almost certain, rather than two. Well, there is no doubt at 
all about SENT. I tried hard to think it might be an O 
with some sort of a contraction mark, but it is certainly a T. 
There follows I/, the bottom ending in a break of the stone. 
_It seems to me that the mason was trying to repeat his V 
of BR VS, and made a mess of it. Possibly he gave it up, 
and then did a more ordinary U instead. (One notices that 
the U is cramped up rather, and nearer the edge of the stone. 
Is this because he had to squash in the substitute for his 
