426 



around them, and were doubtless suggested by some prominent events 

 during the life of the patron saint of the place, or the king of the district. 

 One side of the plinth bears a human figure standing erect, and battling 

 with rampant animals, one on either side of him ; the device below this I 

 cannot unravel. Another side represents two animals like horses, with 

 their necks and fore legs crossed, as if fighting, while two men stand by, 

 one in the act of bending forward as if to separate the animals, and the 

 other standing erect, enveloped in a cloak. Below this is a single hunter 

 with two dogs running before him, and each trying to catch a long-billed 

 bird like a pelican, which is represented in the act of running, and not 

 flying away from its pursuers. The third face has its upper compart- 

 ment divided into an arcade of four arches, under two of which are hu- 

 man figures, face to face, as if conversing ; and beneath the two other 

 arches is a man on horseback trotting away from the conference ; below 

 this are two animals like horses facing each other, and looking down on 

 a triquatra ornament, while over one of the horses is a human mask. 



It is not easy to assign a date to this work, which however, from the 

 truncated pyramidal form of the plinth, and the shortness and plump- 

 ness of the human figures, may very possibly date back to the tenth or 

 eleventh century. 



No. 13. Exterior view of the east window of St. Fingin's Church at 

 Clonmacnoise — a building possibly of the early part of the twelfth cen- 

 tury.* 



'No. 14. Exterior view of the lowest ope of the Eound Tower of St. 

 Fingin's Church, Clonmacnoise. 



ETo. 15. Do. of the second window from the basement of the same 

 tower. 



Eos. 16 to 25. The following ten illustrations are taken from the 

 sculpturings on the cross at Clonmacnoise known as that of King Fland, 

 according to the 1 'Annals of the Four Masters," and an inscription in the 

 Irish character on the plinth of the cross, now unhappily defaced by 

 time. 



The first illustration which I have selected is taken from the lowest 

 compartment on the east face of the cross ; it represents King Fland and 

 the abbot Colman Conaillech, who together founded the Church of the 

 Kings in A.D. 909, making a compact by swearing on the cross or pas- 

 toral staff of the saint. The costume of the king is exceedingly inte- 

 resting ; his head is covered by a flat and bordered close-fitting cap, 

 from beneath which the hair falls behind over the shoulders in a 

 massive club, ending in a ball ; and over the ears there is a globose orna- 

 ment, which is possibly attached to the skullcap ; the moustache is 

 heavy and plain, and the beard is long, and plaited to a point ; the arms 

 and legs are bare ; and the body is clothed in a tunic which reaches no 

 farther than above the knees, where it is bordered by a row of small 

 disks below a zigzag ornament ; a broad strap is suspended over the 

 right shoulder, and joins on to a waistbelt, into which is thrust a 



* Petrie, p. 269. 



