Sroxes—Probable Date of the Tara Brooch, &c. 453 
diverge and converge as before; thus forming a design, the lines of 
which may be carried on in an infinite series of circles and curves, 
the opening spaces of which are filled with colour by the illuminator 
or with enamel by the goldsmith. This design is found on the Late 
Celtic and pre-Roman works of Britain, z. e. between 200 years before 
the birth of Christ and a.p. 200. During the Roman occupation of 
Britain it seems to have become extinct in that country ; but it lived 
on in Ireland, and works in metal, marked by it, may belong to a 
period bordering on that of the introduction of Christianity in Ireland, 
7.e. the third century. It must be remembered, also, that in Ireland 
there are two distinct modifications of this design—one appearing on 
the bronze and gold ornaments of apparently pre-Christian art, the 
other on decidedly Christian monuments, down to the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries; and there are stone monuments in Ireland where 
the transition from one to the other may be clearly traced. In the 
oldest variety, the large curves of the diverging lines form the essen- 
tial element in which the artist revelled; in the second and later 
variety the curved spaces are treated as secondary to the spiral, and 
instead of one whirl round to the centre, you have twelve or more. 
After the tenth, and perhaps the beginning of the eleventh century, 
this design disappears from Irish art; and its decay and death may be 
traced in monuments whose dates have been satisfactorily ascertained. 
There is no trace of the divergent spiral upon the shrine of 
St. Manchan, cere. 1166; neither is there on the case or shrine of 
Dimma’s Book, a.p. 1150; on the cross of Cong, a.p. 1123; on the 
stone cross of Tuam, 4.p. 1123; on the crosier of Lismore, 4.p. 1101; 
or on the shrine of St. Lachtin’s arm, 4.p. 1106. In works of the 
eleventh century it scarcely ever appears. It is not to be found on 
the shrine of St. Patrick’s bell, a.p. 1091; nor does it appear on the 
cathach of the O’ Donneils. 
The design is found—very sparsely used, and as if in its decay— 
upon the shrine of the Stowe Missal, a.p. 1023. It occurs, in a more 
excellent form, on the shrine of Molaise’s Book from Devenish, cre. 
1000; and on the crosier of Maelfinnia of Kells, 4.p. 967, as well as the 
top of the bell shrine of Maelbrigde of Ahoghill, crc. 954. Thirty 
sculptured and inscribed crosses and tombstones in Ireland have been 
assigned, with tolerable certainty, to dates varying from the years 810 
to 1123: of these, three belong to the ninth century, which are orna- 
mented with this peculiar spiral; seven to the tenth century; and it 
rarely, if ever, appears in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The 
trumpet pattern or divergent spiralis much used upon the high cross of 
Clonmacnois erected by Abbot Colman in memory of King Flann, and 
on the high cross of Monasterboice, erected for Abbot Muredach, ere. 
923. It is not to be seen on the high cross of Tuam, erected for King 
Turlough O’Conor, 4.p. 1123. It seems to have fallen into disuse 
before this date. 
The testimony of the illuminated MSS., as to the decay of this 
design in the tenth century, is very remarkable. There is no trace of 
342 
