ON THE PRE-NORMAN SCULPTURED STONES OF DERBYSHIRE. 1 65 



on Plate XII., where, on account of the great length of the Bakewell 

 shaft with the Eyam head placed above it, I have been obliged 

 to make the scale one inch to a foot and a half. It is an 

 obvious objection to this method that it represents the raised 

 parts as dark and the sunk parts as white. But when the eye 

 has got over that difficulty, the mind can appreciate the advantage 

 of not having a draughtsman between it and the stone. The 

 most careful draughtsman must in some cases interpret what he 

 sees, and thus the result of his skill is a picture of what he 

 thinks he sees. The accuracy of the proportion in my method 

 is another advantage. For myself, as I cannot draw at all, and 

 can put in these outlines, it is question between this method and 

 none. It may be said once for all that none of the stones are 

 incised except the runic stone on Plate XIV. The ornamentation 

 is in fairly bold relief, even after the weathering and the rough 

 usage it has undergone. • 



The font at Wilne is one of the most remarkable stones in 

 the county. It is fully described in Volume vii. of these 

 proceedings, where a photo-lithograph from my rubbing is given. 

 Another photo-lithograph of the rubbing, on a larger scale, is 

 given in the Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 

 1885. The font has six panels, each containing a dragon or 

 birds. The panels are divided by pillars which are deeply 

 indented, something after the manner of the pillars at Durham 

 and Dunfermline, but quite rudely and irregularly, probably the 

 first example of this kind of work. The pillars on the font at 

 Ham, which is only just beyond the bounds of Derbyshire, 

 are indented quite regularly, and practically reproduce the effect 

 of Durham and Dunfermline. Thus considerable strides had 

 been made in this respect between the period of the Wilne 

 font and the period of the Ham font ; while on the other 

 hand the design and the execution of the Wilne font are very 

 far superior to the Dam font, and show great care and skill. 

 The stone composing the font is at present upside down, and 

 appears to have an inscription round the base in what have 

 been not unnaturally described as "twelve bold characters." 



