278 MAWGAN CROSS, MENEAGE. 



The Inscription, — like all the oldest yet deciphered in 

 Cornwall, — is in Latin.* 



Before entering upon a detailed account of the legend, we 

 must note that some very fanciful and imtenable statements 

 have been made with regard to it. For instance, C. S. Gilbert 

 observed, in his " Survey," (Vol. II, p. 781) : — 



"At Mawgan Cross is a very ancient stone with an 

 "inscription by no means intelligible. In a manuscript 

 ' ' left by Mr. Peard, of Penryn, it is said to have been 

 "translated by Mr. Basset, formerly of Reskymer, who 

 " found it to be of the old Cornish language ; in English 

 " thus : — ' What lieth here is not the Soul !' consequently 

 " it must have been a funeral monument." 



Pedler, also supposing it to be in the Cornish language, 

 translated it quite differently, but no better. 



I have elsewhere shewn the absurdity of imagining either 

 that the sentence was written in Cornish, or that it could be 

 translated in conformity with the suggestions which those writers 

 so strangely advanced, f 



♦Besides Latin legends tlie following have been found, or vainly sought for, 

 in Cornwall. 



Cwp-markings. — The late Rev. Dr. Wm. Borlase discovered what appeared 

 to be such, on a stone near Camelford. It cannot now be identified, although a 

 sketch of it is preserved in his M.S. collection (penes his descendant, Mr. W. 

 Copeland Borlase, M.A., M.P., F.S.A.., of Laregan). 



Cromlech-grooving s. — Mr. H. M. Whitley, F.G-.S., has noticed marks on the 

 stone at Caerwynneu, and suggests a more careful examination of tliem. 



No Oghams have yet been recognized in Cornwall, although they are found 

 in Devon. Professor Rhys detected notches on the edge of the Slaughter Bridge 

 Stone, at Worthyvale. I found them to consist of five dots, just above the name 

 Latin[us], much resembling the Ogham vowel i; but as no other marks appear 

 in connection with them, an Ogham legend has not been established. 



No Cornish (or Celtic) sentence has yet been found on any ancient stone, — 

 nothwithstanding the statement or conjectures of the late Mr. Pedler and others. 



Anglo-Saxon words and distinctive runes occur on one stone in Cornwall, 

 viz. : on the Sybstel found at Castle Goff. It is now at Lanteglos Rectory, by 

 Camelford. (See Sir John Maclean's "Trigg Minor," Vol II, p. 281, with .my 

 illustration of it). 



fThe late Sir E. Smirke (an eminent authority) wrote with respect to the late 

 Mr. Pedler's theory, " I am not prepared to adopt the ingenious author's views." 

 R.I. of C. Report, 1862, part I, pp. 9, 16. 



