Ferguson — On the Biliteral Key to the Ogham Alphabet. 179 



But I do not profess to obtain any intelligible result from these Tycoed 

 " Sub-Yirgates," which, if they express anything, might be expected 

 to yield the second name in the epigraph, that is Volengus, in some 

 such form as Bolenc ; or, (if Mr. Rhys have succeeded in finding the 

 Vitalianus of the Nevern inscription (Archse. Camb., 1873, p. 387), asso- 

 ciated with an Ogham yielding the name Fiteliani), in the form Folenc. 

 Indeed there is some difficulty in saying that the terminal character of 

 the epigraph is not s, and the inscription itself Dolteqo, or Dobtaqeo 

 filius volens. The pagan formula, however, seems irreconcileable with 

 the Christian decoration of the monument, and I would incline, not- 

 withstanding the obscurity of the terminal vowel, to accept Professor 

 Westwood's reading of Volengi, noticing its resemblance to Conang, 

 Dunlang, and other old Irish proper names, having the same termina- 

 tion. That the decoration is Christian cannot reasonably be doubted 

 when we compare the general style of the sculpture with the Aglish 

 Ogham in our Museum, of which a cast and photogram also are 

 exhibited. 



The value of this inscription, although unaccompanied by any Ogham, 

 as corroborative of the proofs already adduced, consists in this, that the 

 name or designation which it presents is " echoed," so to speak, in 

 a great number of instances by Irish Ogham texts read by the same 

 key. The first of these, which for many years has been in the Academy's 

 lapidary museum, comes from Corkaguinny in Kerry. It bears the legend 

 Maqqi Decedda on one side, and Maqqi Catufi(r) on the other. The 

 second lies in that rich repository of Ogham inscriptions, the disused 

 burying ground of Ballintaggart, near Dingle, also in Kerry. Its 

 legend reads on one side Maqi Deccod(a), and on the other Caqosi 

 Ceccudo(ros). The third is at Killeen-Cormac in Kildare; noticed by 

 Mr. Shearman in our Proceedings (vol. ix. p. 253). 



This argument has lately been pressed on the attention of Welsh 

 archaeologists by our associate Mr. Brash, who has compared the Irish 

 examples with the legend ic jacet Maccudecetti at Penros Llygwy in 

 Anglesea. But it has been assumed, that the Penros monument com- 

 memorates a known personage, Machutus son of Eccwyd. Such an 

 explanation seems difficult of application to the very Irish sounding 

 Sarin, as I would read it, of the Ilaccodecheti monument at Tavistock. 

 What may be the meaning of the name or designation I do not pretend 

 to explain. If it were confined to Ireland one might suppose it to 

 designate a person of a particular family, as in the case, for example, 

 of Duftac Maculugar, the cotemporary of St. Patrick ; but it is hard to 

 conceive how the family of the clan Degaid could have spread into 

 Anglesea and Devon; unless indeed it should appear that they were a 

 family in religion, and that the formula indicates an order. 



Another echo, so to speak, from a "Welsh text, of the formula maqi 

 mucoi, of very frequent occurrence in Irish Oghams, is found on 

 the Bridell inscription also near Clydai in Pembrokeshire. This is a 

 much worn and very faint text, and has exercised the eyes and fingers 

 of many students. The context of a part of the inscription in which 



