199 
right-liand side the only letter in which I could feel any 
confidence was an S at the beginning of the second line. 
These traces, faint though they were, were enough to indicate 
something like the usual formula of Northumbrian epitaphs 
of the 7th and 8th centuries ; but all that was of any conse- 
quence to me was the fact that this was a monument of King 
Oswini. 
I should not have referred to this again, but for the notice 
of my reading which has appeared in Professor Stephens' great 
work on " Old Northern Runic Monuments,*' grounded on 
information supplied by Mr. Denny, (for himself and Messrs. 
Eamonson and O'Callaghan). Mr. Denny has kindly pro- 
cured for me casts of all the four sides. From these I have 
taken other casts, so as to give in relief whatever traces of 
inscription there may be ; from these light rubbings, and 
from these, again, tracings, which (reversed) enable me to 
present to the Society the remains of the inscriptions with 
restoration in dotted lines. My former readings were taken 
from "clay moulds of the stone itself. 
When I first saw these fragments, they had been for about 
fourteen years set up in the Yicarage garden, since their disin- 
terment from near the foundations of the church, in 1841. The 
lower part had a coating of moss (the growth of these years), 
which was cleared away to allow of the moulds being taken 
for me, and thus the surface of the stone was again exposed 
to the weather. The consequence has been, as Mr. Denny 
can testify, that the traces of letters are not nearly so plain 
on the casts of 1870 as on those of 1855, for the surface of the 
stone has suffered from the exposure during this interval. 
1. The cast of the back seems to show that the moss has 
not been quite cleared away, and the middle of the surface is 
most worn, being half-an-inch lower than the sides, (unless 
this be attributable to the warping of the mould), otherwise 
we might find the letters more distinct than they now appear. 
