311 



reality ; though it was entirely different from every other that 

 had been proposed, either by modern chronologers or by the 

 early Fathers of the Church, in their manifold attempts to 

 connect the narrative of Moses with the remaining fragments 

 of Egyptian history. The hypothesis, indeed, is the only 

 one which, while it gives a probable date for the Exodus, 

 also satisfies what Mr. Mac Cullagh conceives to be the ne- 

 cessary conditions of the question ; namely, a very long reign 

 — of at least eighty years — during which the Israelites were 

 persecuted, succeeded by a very short one — apparently not 

 more than a year — during which their deliverance was 

 wrought ; and it is interesting in itself, on account of the 

 remarkable connexion which it establishes between sacred 

 and profane history, and the highly dramatic character of the 

 events which are thus, for the first time, brought into view. 



Mr. Petrie exhibited a drawing, on a large scale, of an 

 ancient inscribed grave stone at Clonmacnoise, which he con- 

 sidered as interesting, not only as a characteristic example 

 of the usual sepulchral memorials of the Irish, from the sixth 

 to the twelfth century, — and of which Mr. Petrie has col- 

 lected upwards of three hundred examples, — but also as a 

 monumental record of a person very eminently distinguished 

 for his learning in Ireland in the ninth century. 



This stone, which is about four feet in length, and three 

 in breadth, though never squared or dressed, exhibits a very 

 richly carved cross, and the following simple inscription : 



svi6iNe. ni maicae hvmai- 



SUIBHNE, THE SON OF MAILiEHUMAI. 



Of the celebrity, in his day, of the person who is thus 

 recorded, the Irish Annals, as well as those of England and 

 Wales, bear abundant evidence. 



In the Chronicon Scotorum his death is thus recorded 



VOL. ir. 2 c 



