Of the CROSS infcrihed. on Ancient Mon UMENTS. 
vEVERAL of the Caledonian Obelisks, with the Cross richly carved, and orna- 
^ mented with various flowerings and mathematical figures, have, on former occa- 
sions, been engraved in thefe Plates. The prefent aflemblage of them is made with a 
v *e\v to exhibit the various forms, which in different provinces they affume, and to fug- 
the probability of the archetypes from whence they have been derived. 
The very peculiar ftyle of the embellifliments on fome, and ornaments fo foreign to the 
S- r ofs of Jerusalem on others, fuggefts the idea of fome fources of imitation not yet 
tr aced ; and that fancy alone had not preferibed the lines apparently fo fantaftic by which 
are diftinguilhed. 
Twere eafy at once to fay, the Crofs, as on thefe Monuments, fb unfuitably.diverfified 
ai) d adorned, mull; have been the vifionary work of a rude illiterate age, without meaning 
an d without importance, and may therefore be left to unnoticed decay : but in the very 
daborate execution of thefe, although peihaps by ill-informed artifts, there are fome fuch. 
ri king peculiarities of defign, as it would not be becoming of a zealous antiquarian to 
Ptfs over, without fome comparifon with fimilar works of other countries. 
T The correfpondence of defign in the difpofition of the circles on the Crofs of the ered 
°t>elifk A, and the one adjacent marked ILLYRICA, are very remarkable, if a matter 
chance ; but admit of an eafy Ibiution, if fpecimens of the latter, on parchment, found 
way with the firfb Chriftian pallors to Iona, and to North Britain. Artifts in Nor h 
r *tain, not underftanding the nature of the myfiic characters inlcribed in the circles, readily 
^‘hftituted mathematical ones in their room. The inftance of the original kinds, here pro- 
ceed, is one of thofe which fuperftition found, in the early ages of Chriftianity, on the bor- 
Qers of the Roman Empire ; and contains in the circles connected arrangements of the 
Ahabetical characters ufed in that territory, which was the ancient Illyricum*; and, 
t ‘ 0r n the bell tranflation that can be had of them, they celebrated the faiutary influences of 
le Cross, in terms that are equally confiftent with the then prevailing fpirit of Chriftian 
Motion, as with fome peculiar tenets of the ancient religion of Egypt. 
Eut the parchments thus inferibed, at the dawn of the revival of literature, were held in 
S r eat veneration, as including the rudiments of evangelical do&rine ; and paved the way, 
^ e refore, for fuch embellifliments of the Crofs as we find engraven on the Caledonian . 
°Hiks. 
- Some of the Caledonian Crofles are fo involved in circles, as to put on a very dif- 
e ‘ e nt character, and retain not dubious veftiges of thefe marks and lines, which were, as 
t >ri fome of the ancient Abraxas, the firft rude memorials of the difpofition of the plane- 
U: y fyftem. That marked B, which lies near the Abbey of Beaulieu, in RoJ'sJhire, 
* Oedipus. JEgypt. tom. III. p. 39. 
9 
more 
