Ffeguson — On the Transcription of Ogham Legends. 43 



(corresponding to the Qunilocgni of the stone No. 7 in the Mnseum of 

 the Academy, and seemingly to the Cunalegea of No. 7 of the Drum- 

 loghan group) may possibly have borne the agnomen Ifanchan ; 

 as the Latin Monachus, in its various forms, was a favourite one 

 among the adoptival names customarily assumed by persons in reli- 

 gion ; and the conspicuous position of the pillar, flanking a kind of 

 raised avenue to the doorway of the stone roofed oratory, universally 

 called St. Manachan's, makes it unlikely that it should have been 

 erected to any but the founder. 



In justice to the illustrious scholar, to whose inaccuracies I have 

 shown no more tenderness than I have extended to my own, it must 

 be mentioned that, twenty-five years ago, when Petrie published this 

 deservedly renowned essay, the evidence of the Welsh biliterals was 

 unknown ; and the pretensions of this class of lapidary letters rested 

 on the traditionary method of transliteration, which, true though it 

 was to the key as since established, had in its results at that time 

 little to recommend it to the acceptance of scholars acquainted with 

 formulas of monumental writing. 



A better test of Petrie' s accuracy is found in his drawing of the 

 inscription " in Grseco-Koman or Byzantine letters," as he considers, 

 at Gallarus (page 133), which records the name of Colum, and once 

 recorded the name of Colum' s father and grandfather. Petrie must have 

 had this stone raised from its bed and subjected to a most careful study 

 in various lights, for his reading is (having regard to the abrasions and 

 bizarreries presented by the legend) a surprising approximation to 

 complete and exact accuracy. Nevertheless he has failed to observe, 

 what the paper-mould reveals on a careful inspection and in favorable 

 light, that what he took for mel, the last syllable of the lost name of 

 the father, is, in fact, mec, the introductory predicate to the name of 

 the grandfather ; and that what follows, although no longer fully 

 legible, includes the remains of what probably was a monogram of the 

 name of Maria or some of its derivatives. 9 



So also, notwithstanding the general success with which he has 

 copied the alphabet stone at Kilmalkedar, engraved on the same 

 page, down to the letter P, a comparison with the cast discloses im- 

 perfections more or less noticeable in most of the remaining characters. 

 But here, again, one cannot but admire the skill which extracted 

 so much from a surface so worn, and which from the weight and posi- 

 tion of the stone could only be studied under a light unfavourable to 

 the disclosure of some of the inscribed traces. 



An interesting consideration suggested by this mould is to be 

 noticed as regards the letter K. In Petrie's essay, this letter 

 presents the form of F ; and, so far as the top stroke is concerned, 

 the inscription prima facie would seem to warrant it ; but the pro- 

 jecting limb is somewhat retrenched of its upper member in his 



9 Othei' Marian combinations exist in this locality. Compare No. VI. (3rd 

 of the Ballinrannig group), and the Tyvoria and Kinard examples, post. 



