ADDRESS ON AECH^IOLOG-Y. BY PROFESSO . SIMPSONY . RJ , M.D.

It has become a practice of late years in this Society for one of the Vice-President reao t sAnnuan da l Addres somn o s e topi topicr co s con- nected with Archeology. I appear here to-night more in compliance with this custom, than withopy f beinan ho e g abl stato t e e augho t t you that is likel provo yt e eithe f adequato r e interes f adequato r o t e importance for such an occasion. makinn I g this admission fullm a y , I aware thadeficience th t y lien i s myself, and not in my subject. For truly there are few studies which offe mano s r y tempting field f observatioso commend nan Archaeologys ta . Indeed, the aim and the groundwork of the studies of the antiquary form a sufficient guarantee for the interest with which these studies are in- vested. For the leading object and intent of all his pursuits is—MAN, and man's wayworksd an s s habit ,hi thoughtsd an s , froe earliesmth t date finn t s tracewhicsa ca d hi track d e hsan w s upo e earthnth , onward and forwards along the journey of past time. During this long journey, man has everywhere left scattered behind and around him innumerable relics, formin o mangs y permanent impression d evidencean s s hi f o s march and progress. These impressions and evidences the antiquary searches for and studies—in the changes which have in successive eras taken plac s prove(a e theiy b d r existin d discoverablan g e remainsn )i the materials and forms of the implements and tools which man has froearliese mth t time n agriculturesi e chas th used an n e di th n i ; weapons which he has employed in battle; in the habitations which he has dwelt in during peace, and in the earth-works and stone-works which raises heha d durin ge dresse warth d ornamentn i ;an s ss whicha e h worn ; in the varying forms of religious faith which he has held, and the 6 PROCEEDING THF SO E SOCIETF YO

deitie worshippeds s ha tha e h te sacre th n di ; temple faned an s s which he has reared; in the various modes in which he has disposed of the dead; in the laws and governments under which he has lived; in the arts which he has cultivated; in the sculptures which he has carved ; in coine medald th san s s struckwhicinscriptione ha th e hh n i ; s whice hh ha recorde s cutth n e i characte;s writtenth s whicn ha i d e d hh an r an ; languagee typth f eo e markings spokenwhicth n si ha l e d Al h .an s relics of man, in the dim and distant past, which industry and science can possihly extract from these and from other analogous sources, Archaeology carefully collects, arranges, and generalizes, stimulated by the fond hope that through such mean wile t graduallssh ye l y recover mor mord an e e earliee oth f r chronicle losd san t annale humath e f th o sf n o race d an , various individual communities and families of that race.

objecte Th antiquariaf so n research embrace event periodsd san , many of whic placee har f writteo d a withier n e evidencenth t manbu ; y more are of a date long anterior to the epoch when man made that greatest of human discoveries—the discovery, namely powee th f f permanentlo ,ro y recording words, thoughts actd symbolican an ,si alphabetid an l c writing. To some minds it has seemed almost chimerical for the archaeologist to expect to regain to any extent a knowledge of the conditions and cir- cumstances of man, and of the different nations of men, before human cunning had learned to collect and inscribe them on stone or brass, or fashioned ha d them into writte traditionar no l records capabl f beino e g safely floated dow e streae moderth nth f timet mo nBu .histor f yo Archaeology, as well as the analogies of other allied pursuits, are totally agains sucy an th hopeless views. Almost withi lifetime nth stile ar som f l eo o amongs ewh , therus s t eha sprung up and been cultivated—and cultivated most successfully too— a science which has no written documents or legible inscriptions to guide paths it whosd n an ,o t ei researche r morfa e ancienar s thein i t r object tha researchee nth Archaeologyf so s subjec It antiquitn a . s i t y greatly older than human antiquity. It deals with the state of the earth and of the inhabitants of the earth in times immeasurably beyond the earliest times studie antiquarye th e courss investigationy it th db f n o eI . t i s has recovered many strange stories and marvellous chronicles of the ANTIQUARIE SCOTLANDF SO . 7. world and of its living occupants—long, long ages before human anti- quity even f Geologbegani t Bu s thu.y ha s successfully restores u o dt lon importand gan t chapter e pre-Adamitth n i s e annal f tho se world's history, need Archeology despait decipherinye f o r d reading—ingan - finitely more clearly than it has yet done—that far later episode in the drama of the past which opens with the appearance of man as a denizen of earth. The modes of investigating these two allied and almost con- tinuous sciences—Geology and Archaeology—are the same in principle, howeve scienceo r muctw e hsth themselve diffey f i detailn sma i d r An . Geology, in its efforts to regain the records of the past state of animal and vegetable life upo e surface earthth nth s attractionf o ha e, s which bind the votaries of it to its ardent study, surely Archaeology has equal, t strongeino f behoon re claimfavourd th ow an o s f T it urgo st . n i e human min stude dth thosf yo e relic whicy sb archaeologise hth t trieo st recover and reconstruct the history of the past races and nations of man, should naturally form as engrossing a topic, as the study of those relics by whic geologise hth t trie regaio st e histor e npasth th tf yo race d an s families of the fauna andyfora of the ancient world. Surely, as a mere matter of scientific pursuit, the ancient or fossil states of man should— for man himself—have attractions as great, at least, as the ancient or fossil state d Celtplantf so ol Pictr animals d o ,e r Saxonsan th o , d an ;, be as interesting a study as the old Lepidodendron or Ichthyosaurus. Formerly e pursuith , f Archaeologo t t unfrequentlno s ywa y regarded as a kind of romantic dilletanteism, as a collecting together of meaning- less antique relic odditiesd san greeda s a , y hoardin storind f go an p gu rubbis frivolitied han s tha curiositd ol t wern a t onl fi eyr yshopfo d an , that were valued merely because they were old;—whil e essayth e s writing antiquarand the of s y were looked down upo disquisitionas n s upon very profitless conjectures, and very solemn trivialities. Perhaps the objects and method in which antiquarian studies were formerly pur- sued afforded onl muco yto h groun sucr fo dh accusations l thial st Bu . is now, in a great measure, entirely changed. Archaeology, as tempered and directe philosophie th y db c spirit quickened an , d wit d e lifhth an e energnineteente th f yo h century vera s yi , different pursuit froe mth Archaeology of our forefathers, and has as little relation to their anti- quarianis s mmodera n Chemistr d moderyan n Astronomy hav o theiet r 8 PROCEEDINGS OP THE SOCIETY OP

former prototypes—Alchem Astrologyd yan n prooy I .f this ma o f I , confidently appeae gooth do t l work which Archaeolog s doneyd ha an , the great advances which it has struck out in different directions within the last fifty years. Within this brief period it has made discoveries, perhap themselven si s momentoua f o s marvelloud an s charactea s s ra thos whicf e o othe y han r moderr no scienccito e e m tw boast n t eca Le . three instances in illustration of this remark. Dating, then, from the commencement of the present century, Archaeo- logy has—amids s otheit t r work—rediscovered, throug interpretae hth - Eosetta-stonee tioth f no long-lose th , t hieroglyphic languag f Egypteo , anthus whicbegun—bus dy ha s b ha founy t hi ke a d t begu onlye s ya n —to unloc rice kth h treasure-store ancienf so t knowledge which havr efo ages lain concealed amon e monumentgth recordd an s s scattered along the valley of the Nile. It has copied, by the aid of the telescope, the trilingual arrow-headed inscriptions written 300 feet high upon the face of the rocks of Behistun; and though the alphabets and the languages whicn i h these long inscriptions were " graven irof d o ,nan n wit pe ha lead upo rocke nth ever,r sfo bee d "ha n long dea unknownd dan , yety b , kina f philologicado l divination, Archaeolog exorcises yha resuscid dan - tated fro d botman h ; thes e dumb stones fro d analogoue man ,th s inscrip- tion Vanf so , Elwand, Persepolis evokes , &c.ha t i ,d official gazetted san royal contemporaneous e annaldeed th d dominion f an so s Dariusf o s , Xerxes, and other Persian kings. By a similar almost talismanic power and process, it has forced the engraved cylinders, bricks, and obelisks of the old cities of Chaldea and Babylonia—as those of Wurka, Niffer, Muqueyer, &c.—to repeat over again to this present generation of men namee anciene th th f so t founder theif o s r public buildings ware th sd an , and exploit f theio s r ancient monarchs s searcheha t I .d amone gth shapeless mound bank e Tigrise th th aften f d so o ,an r removin shroue gth d of eart rubbisd han h under which " Nineve Great"e h th ther d ha e lain entombed for ages, it has brought back once more to light the riches of architecture th sculptured ean palacee th f sthao f so t renowned cityd an , shown the advanced knowledge of Assyria—some thirty long centuries ago—in mechanics and engineering, in working and inlaying with metals, in the construction of the optical lens, in the manufactory of potter mosn glassi d yd an t ,an othe r matter materiaf so l civilisationt I . ANTIQUARIE9 SCOTLANDF SO . latelys ha thesy othe,b d ean r discoverie Easte th n ,si confirme mann di y interesting points, and confuted in none, the truth of the Biblical records. It has found, for instance, every city in Palestine and the neighbouring kingdoms whose specia precisd an l e doo pronounces mwa d by the sure word of Prophecy, showing the exact state foretold of them twent thirtr yo y centuries ago,—as Askelon tenantless site ancienf e,th o t G-aza " bald, Tyrd "ol e " scraped Samarid an , "aup wit foundations hit s exposed, and its " stones poured down in heaps" into the valley below. s furtherha t I , withi yearse lasw nth fe t , stolen int e deserte oth th f so Hauran througvigiland ol e hth t guard formed around that regioe th y nb Bedouin Arabs, and there—(as if in startling contradiction to the dead and buried cities of Syria, &c.)—it has—as was equally predicted—dis- covere e numerouth d s cyclopic citie f Bashao s n standing perfecd an t entire t " desolatye , withou d dwelo t e an y lt an therein,"—citie s wrapped, at weresi stata f n mortai e,o l trance patientld an , y awaitin e progth - phesied period of their future revival and rehabitation ; some of them of great size, as Um-el-Jemal (probably the Beth-gamul of Scripture), a city coverin s largga ea spac s Jerusalemea , wit s higmassivd hit han e basaltic town walls, its squares, its public buildings, its paved streets, and houses it s with their rooms, stairs, revolvin d frequentlgan y sculptured stone-doors, all nearly as complete and unbroken, as if its old inhabitants had only deserte t yesterdaydi . Again, from anothe mord an re distant part of the East,—from the plains of India,1—Archaeology has recently brough Englisn a Europeo t t t a hd pressan , , printee firsth tr timfo d e upward e sacref 100so th f 0o d hymnEig-Vedae th f so mose th , t ancient literary work of the Aryan or Indo-European race of mankind; for, accordin e calth m o g t judgmen ripesr ou f t o tSanskri t scholars, these hymns were composed before Home r wrate sunth f Achillef gho o d an s; the e furtheyar r remarkable thin o , s account, that they see o havmt e been transmitted down for upwards of 3000 years by oral tradition alone —the Brahmi e presennth prieststil y o t da lt p spending—asu s Csesar Druidicad ol e tellth s slu priest f Gauso l spent—twelve, twenty morr o , e year theif so r lives learninn i , heary gb t these sacred themeslayd an s , and then teaching the mturn i theio nt r pupil successorsd san . The notices of antiquarian progress in modern times that I have hitherto allude refeo dt o othet r r continents that sincownr Bu ou ne . 10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

the commencement of the present century, Archaslogy has been equally active in Europe. It has, by its recent devoted study of the old works belongint ofar Greecego t , shown tha mann ti y respect liveliesa mord ran e familiar knowledg ee ancien .oth f t inhabitant f thao s t classic lano t s di be derived.fro contemplatioe mth theirf no , remaining statues, sculptures, gems, medals, coins, &c., than amouny byan t ofmere school-grinding-at' Greek word Greed an s k quantities s recovere ha same t th I e.t da tim e some interesting objects connected with ancient Grecian history; having, for example, during the occupation of Constantinople in 1854 by the armies of England and .France, laid bare to its base and carefully copied e inscriptioth n engraved, some twenty-three centuries ago, upoe th n brazen , famoue stanth f do s tripod whic dedicates h wa confederate th y db e Greeks to Apollo at Delphi, after the defeat of the Persian host at Platea, :—an inscription that Herodotus himsel whichy b f d speak,an indeed, sof , the father of History seems to have authenticated his own battle-roll of the Greek combatants. Archaeology has busied itself also, particularly of late years disinterrinn ,i ruine gth numerouf so Eomad sol n villas, towns, and cities in Italy, in France, in Britain, and in the other western colonies of thi y Homeb s d measur clearean a s ;gaine s neareha d u r t ei an rd fo r insight into every-day Epman life and habits, than all the wealth of classic literature supplie withs su . Though perfectly acquainted with theEtruscan alphabet t ha,i s hitherto utterly faile reao dt singlda numeroue linth f eo s inscriptions found in Etruria, but yet among the unwritten records and relics of the towns and tombs of that ancient kingdom, it has recovered wonderfulla y complete knowledg mannerse th f e o habits d an fait,d an ,h ogreaa f prosperoud an t s nation, which—locate e centrath n di l districts of Italy—was already far advanced in civilisation and refinement long before that epoch when Eomulus is fabled to have drawn around the Palatin firse eth t boundar infane y th lin f eto city whic destines hwa o dt become the mistress of the world. Latterly, among all the western and northern.countrie f Europeso Germanyn i , Scandinavian i , Denmarkn i , , in France, and in the British Islands, Archaeology has made many care- valuabld fuan l e collection numeroue th f so diversified san d implements, weapons, &c., of the aboriginal inhabitants of these parts, and traced by them the stratifications, as it were, of progress and civilisation, by which our primeval ancestors successively passed upwards through the varying ANTIQUAKIE1 1 SCOTLANDF SO .

erastaged san f advancemenso t from their first struggle e battleth n si - of-life with, tools of stone, and flint, and bone alone, till they discovered f metale arto th appliee sd n alikus i an s e f peacedo th war d ean ; from those distant age n whichi s , dresse e skinth f animalsn so di , they wore ornaments mad f sea-shelleo jetd ,an s e timetilth l s when they learned to plait and weave dresses of hair, wool, and other fibres, and adorned their chiefs with tore d armletsan f bronzeso , silver goldd an , . Archse- ology studie alsd soughs an oha t strongholde dth ou t fortsd lane san th ,d d lakan e habitation f theseo s r primaevaou , l Celtic d Teutonian , c fore- fathers ;—an discoveres dha d among their ruins many interesting speci- mens of the implements they used, the dresses that they wore, the houses they inhabited vere th yd fooan , d they fe descendes d uponha t I . d also into their sepulchres and tombs, and there—among the mysterious content f theio s r graves d cineraran , y urns—i s founha t d revealed many other wondrous proofs of their habits and condition during this life, as well as of their creeds and faith in regard to a future state of existence. By the aid of that new and most powerful ally, Comparative Philology, Archeology has lately made other great advances. By proofs exactly of same th e linguistic kin thoss da whicy eb modere hth n Spanish, French, and other Latin dialect showe b n havo nt sca l radiateeal d from Borns ea their d traditioncentreol e easter e th ,th e chie f o th sn fl origial f o n nation f Europo s e have been provee fundamentallb o t d y y trueb r fo ; evidenc "o e s irrefragable expressioe th Tayloriae e th us f o no (t " n pro- fessor of modern languages at Oxford), that " not an English jury could now-a-days reject it," Philological Archaeology has shown that of the three great families of mankind—the Semitic, the Turanian, and the Aryan—this last, the Aryan, Japhetic, or Indo-European race, had its chief home about the centre of Western Asia;—that betimes there issued thence from its paternal hearths, and wended their way southward, human swarms that formed the nations of Persia and Hindustan;—that at distant and different, and in some cases earlier periods, there hived off fro e sammth e parental stock other wave populationf so , which wandered westward d formean , d successivel e Europeayth n nation e Celtsth f o s, Teutonse th Italianse th , GreeksSclaves;—ane e th th , d an , d that while each exodu f thio s s western emigration, which followe wake th f en o i d 12 PROCEEDINGS OP THE SOCIETY OF

fellows it , drov s earlieseit t predecesso ra genera beforn i t i el direction further and further towards the setting sun, at the same time some abori- ginal, and probably Turanian races, which previously inhabited portions •of Europe, were gradually pushe pressed dan d asid upwardd e an e th y sb more powerfu encroachind an l g Aryans into districts eithe sterilo rs r o e so mountainous and strong, that it was too worthless or too difficult to follow them further—their remnants being represented at the present day by the Laps, the Basques, and the Esths. Philological Archeology has further demonstrated that the vast populations which now stretch from the mouth of the G-anges to the Pentland Firth,—sprung, as they are, with a few exceptions only, from the same primitive Aryan stock,—all use words which, though phonetically changed e radicallar , y identicar fo l many matters, as for the nearest relationships of family life, for the namin domestif go c animals othed an , r common objects. Som thesf eo e archaic words indicate, by their hoary antiquity, the original pastoral employmen characted an t thosf o r e that forme parentae dth lr stocou n ki old original Asiatic home; the special term, for example (the"pasu" of the old Sanskrit or Zend), which signified "private " property among e unde e us Aryanse Englis th th w r d whicno an ,e h w hmodifications , "peculiar d "pecuniary"—primaril"an y meaning "flocks,"*—the San- skrit wor Protectorr dfo d ultimatelan , e kinth gr yhimselffo , "go-pa," word beinr cowherdol dfo e g th d consecutivelan , r chieyfo f herdsman, whil endearine eth g nam f "o e daughter " (the duhita Sanskrite th f o r , the Ovydrrip of the Greek), as applied in the leading Indo-European lan- guages to the female children of our households, is derived from a verb which show e originath s l significatio e appellatioth f o n havo t n e been "milker e same th th cowse t eth A time f ." o mose th , t ancient mytho- logies and superstitions, and apparently even the legends and traditions of the various and diversified Indo-European races appear also, the more they are examined, to betray more and more of a common parentage. n truthi Briefl d ,an y then, Philological Archaeology proves thae th t Saxon and the Persian, the Scandinavian and the Greek, the Icelander * As an illustration of this primitive pastoral idea of wealth, Dr Livingstone told me, that on more than one occasion, when Africans were discoursing with him on the riches of his own country and his own chiefs at home, he was asked the search- ratheind gan r puzzling question manw Queeho e y t ,th cow "s Englanf Bu no s ha d ?" ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 13

and the Italian, the fair-skinned Scottish Highlander, and his late foe, the swarthy Bengalee, are all distant, very distant, cousins, whose ances- tors were brothers that parted company with each other long, long ages plaine agoth n f Iranso ,o . Tha e ancestorth t f thesso e different races originally lived together on these Asiatic plains "within the same fences, and separate from the ancestors of the Semitic and Turanian races," is (to quotMullerx worde eth Ma f so ) " fac a firmls a t y establishe thas da e tth Norman Williaf so e Conqueromth r wer e Northmeeth Scandinaviaf no . Lastly rapicloso o t ,imperfecd to dt ean thiye longo d sto tan , sketch of some of the work performed by modern inductive Archaeology, let me merely here add,—fo matte importanthe r too ris omit,—thatto t , princi- pally sinc commencemene eth thif o t s century, Archaeolog sedulousls yha y sat down among the old and forbidding stores of musty, and often nearly illegible manuscripts, charters, cartularies, records, letters d othean , r written documents, that have been accumulating for hundreds of years e publith d privatn i can e collection f s mosEuropeso ha t d patientlan , y and laboriously culled from them annal factd san s havin mose gth t direct and momentous bearing upo e actd thoughtth n r an mediaeva s ou f o s l forefathers upod e eventan , th n d personsan f thesso e mediaeval times. By mean f thiso s last typ workf eo researchee th , antiquare th f so y have to a wonderful degree both purified and extended the history of this and of the other kingdoms of Europe. These researches have further, and in an especial manner, thrown a new flood of light upon the inner and domestic life of our ancestors, and particularly upon the conditions of the middle and lower grades of society in former times,—objects ever of primary momen researchee th o t t f Archaeologso s serviceit e n th yi s sa workma e pioneeth d f historynan o r . For, truly, human historyt i s a , s beeha n hitherto usually composed s bee ofteo ha , to n n writtef i s a n human chronicles ought to detail only the deeds of camps and courts— as if the number of men murdered on particular battle-fields, and the intrigue d treasonan s s perpetrate n royai dd lordl an l y antechambers, totam f .weractuasu o l e eth l knowledg momeny an f o e o t s whic wa t hi transmit from one generation of men to another. In gathering, however, froe recorde pas mth s materialth hi tf e tru o sth er philosophfo s f yo history, the archaeologist finds,—and is now teaching the public to find, —as great an attraction in studying the arts of peace as in studying the 14 PROCEEDINGS OP THE SOCIETY OP

arts of war; for in his eyes the life and thoughts and faith of the mer- chant craftsmand an , churlimportans d a an ,e ar , knighte thoss a tth f eo , and nobleman, and prince—with him the peasant is as grand and as genuine a piece of antiquity as the king. Small in extent, scant in population, and spare in purse, as Scotland confessedly is, yet, in the cultivation of Archaeology she has in these modern times by no means lagged behind the other and greater king- doms of Europe. This observation is attested by the rich and valuable Museum of Scottish antiquities which this Society has gathered together —a Museum which, exclusivel s largit f yeo collectio f foreigno n coins, now numbers above 7000 specimens, for nearly 1000 of which we stand indebte enlightenee th o t d d zead patriotian l c munificenc Scote on -f eo tish gentleman, Mr A. Henry Ehind of Sibster. The same fact is at- teste dhighle th als y ob y valuable characte systematie th f o r c workn o s Scottish Archaeology which have been publishe latf do e year somy sb f eo our colleagues, such as the masterly " Pre-historic Annals of Scotland," by Professor Daniel Wilson ; the admirable volume on " Scotland in the Middle Ages, Professoy "b r Cosm odelightfue Innesth d an ; l " Domestic Annals of Scotland," by Mr Eobert Chambers. The essays also, and monograph individuan so l subject Scottisn si h Archaeology, publishey db Mr Laing, Lord Neaves, Mr Skene, Mr Stuart, Mr Bobertson, Mr Eraser, Captain Thomas, Mr Burton, Mr Napier, Mr M'Kinlay, Mr M'Lauchlan, Dr Wise, Dr J. A. Smith, Mr Drummond, &c., all strongly prove the solid successfuan d l interest whic e subjechth f Scottiso t h Archaeology has in recent times created in this city. The recent excellent town and county histories publishe Peter D y rdb Chalmers, Messrs Irving, Jeffrey, Jervise, Pratt, Black, Miller, &c., afford evidence e samth eo t s effect. Nor can I forget in such an enumeration the two complete " Statistical Account f Scotland. sI o wer f i et aske circume Bu "namo on t dy -ean stance s provina , g more than anothe e attentioth r n lately awakened among our countrymen by antiquarian inquiries, I would point, with true patriotic pridenumeroue th o t , s olden manuscript chronicle f Scotlandso , of Scottish towns, and Scottish monasteries, institutions, families, and persons, which have been printed withi lase nth t forty years—almosl al t of them having been presented as free and spontaneous contributions to Scottish Archseolog History—bd yan membere yth Bannatynee th f so e ,th ANTIQUARIE5 1 S OF SCOTLAND.

Abbotsford Maitlande th Spaldine , th d whole an ,g th w Clubd no e an s; formin goodlga y serie f workso s extendin t lesno s o gt tha n three hun- dred printed quarto volumes. But let us not cheat and cozen ourselves into idleness and apathy by reflectin rejoicind an g g over wha s beeha t n done. For, after alle th , truth is that Scottish Archaeology is still so much in its infancy, that it is beginninonlw yno gueso gt powerss sit fee d deficienciess it lan , s ha t I . still no end of lessons to learn, and perhaps some to unlearn, before it can manag extraco et e truth t e meta f knowledgo l d an e eor froe mth dross of exaggeration in which many of its inquiries have become enve- loped. At this present hour, we virtually know far less of the Archaeo- logy and history of Scotland ten or fifteen centuries ago than we know of the Archeology and history of Etruria, Egypt, or Assyria, twenty-five or thirty centuries ago. orden I obtaio rt e lighnth t whic requires hi cleao dt r awa dare yth k d heavan y mists which thus obscur earle th e y Archaeolog f Scotlandyo , how shoul pursuite proceee th d w investigationn d I san d ? f Archaeoso - logy, as of other departments of science, there has never yet been, and never will be discovered any direct, railway, or royal road to the know- ledge which we are anxious to gain, but which we are inevitably doomed o wort d k an e differenforo wai t r Th .fo t t branche f scienco s e ar e Gordian knots, the threads of which we can only hope to unwind and evolv cautiouy b e s assiduity slowd an , , patient industry. Their secrets cannot be summarily cut open and exposed by the sword of any son of Philip. day-dreamsr Butou t unpleasann ,i no s i t i , t sometime imao st - gin e possibilitth e f sucy o l know al hfeat a t wase I w ,. s ver,a y gene- rally believed, in distant antiquarian times, that occasionally dead men could be induced to rise, and impart all sorts of otherwise unattainable informatio livinge th o nt . This creed, however t beeno ns limiteha , o dt those ancient times, for, in our own days, many sane persons still profess to believe in the possibility of summoning the spirits of the departed fro othemthe r world bac thikto s sublunary sphere. When theso, ydo they have alway I shav s hithertoa er heardfa s a , , encouraged these spirits to perform such silly juggling tricks, or requested them to answer such trivial and frivolous questions, as would seem to my humble appre- hensio almose b o nt t insultin grie th m o g t dignit y and solemn character 6 1 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH P P SO Y O

respectably oan f intelligend an e t ghost , likIf e. Owen Grlendowerr o , Mr Home, I had the power to " call spirits from the vasty deep," and if e spiritth s answere e callth d , I—bein ga practica l man—would fain mak practicaea l use'of their presence. Methink sI shoul d feel grossly tempted, for example, to ask such of them as had the necessary fore- knowledge, to rap out for me, in the first instance, the exact state of the English funds, or of the London stock and share-list, a week or a month hence; for such early information would, I opine,—if the spirits were true spirits,—be rather an expeditious and easy mode of filling my gooe th dd sensha o plyinf eo wh n g thesma coffersy e coffereth an r f o o ,s spiritual intelligences with one or two simple and useful questions. If, however, the spirits refused to answer such golden interrogatories as in- volving matter mercenaro st to sufficientl no d yan y ghostl thein yi r char- acter, the I ncertainl y should nexthem—ank as t I dwoul f courso d e select very ancient purpose—hoste spiritth r sfo f questiono s s regarding the state of society, religion, the arts, &c., at the time when they them- selves were living denizen f thiso s earth. Suppose momenta r fo , , that our Secretaries summoninn o , e nexgth t meetin f thigo s Societyd ha , the power of announcing in their billets that, by "some feat of magic mystery, ver"a y selec intelligend an t t deputatio ancienf no t Britond san Caledonians, Picts, Celts, and Scots, and perhaps of Scottish Turanians, were to be present in our Museum^-(certainly the most appropriate room e kingdoth n i r sucmfo a reunion)—foh a shorr t sederunt, somewhere between twiligh cockcrowingd an t o answet , questiony an r s whice th h Fellows might choose to ply them with, what an excitement would such an announcement create 1 How eagerly would some of our Fellows look suco tw h r o " forwar Houre e resultth on o f st do swit Mystics.e hth " And wha battera t quicf yo k questions woul levellee db membere th t da s of this deputation on all the endless problems involved in Scottish Archae- ology. I think we may readily, and yet pretty certainly, conjecture a e questionsth fe earlier f wo ou n ro , antiquities alone, thatt woulpu e b d by various members that I might name ; as :— What is the signification of the so-called "crescent" and "spectacle" ornaments, and of the other unique symbols that are so common upon anciend od d t an Sculpture 0 15 e th d Stones scattered ove e northth r - eastern districts of Scotland? ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 17

What is the true reading of the old enigmatic inscriptions upon the Newton and St Vigean's stones, and of the Oghams on the stones of Logie, Brassay, Golspie, &c. ? Solinud Ha s Polyhistor fourte th n hi , century grouny an , r statindfo g tha ancienn a t t Ulyssean altar, written with G-reek letters, existee th n di recesses of Caledonia ? o wereWh Vetta, Victus, Memor, Loinedinus, Liberalis, Florentius, Mavorius, &c., whose names are recorded on the Eomano-British monu- ments at Kirkliston, Yarrow, Kirkmadrine, &c., and what is the date of these monuments? whay B t peopl s constructeewa Devil'e th d s Dyke, which runs above fifty miles in length from Loch Eyan into Nithsdale ? When, and for what purpose, was the Catrail dug ? e Eoma Catraile th th e linf o f th n eo r n o wal,o t i l s betweeWa e th n Fort Clydewhad n o han r t o , other ground, that ther s foughwa ee th t great battl siegr eo f Cattraeteo Kaltraezr ho , which Aneurin singn i f so his " Gododin, whered "an , amon Britis e ranke th gth f so h combatants, were " three hundred and sixty-three chieftains wearing the golden tores " (some specimen e f whicso th n ho mighp u t perhapg ye t du e b s battle-field by our Museum Committee, seeing three only of these chiefs escaped alive); and how was the " bewitching mead " brewed, that Aneurin tells us was far too freely partaken of by his British country- men, before and during, this fierce struggle with the Saxon foe ? Is the poet Aneurin the same person as our-earliesfc native prose his- toria nappellationo Gildastw e th , s being relativel e Cymrith y d an c Saxon namee samth f eso individual sone th sf werr o O o ?e tw the t yno or descendants of Caw of Cwm Cawlwyd, that North British chief whose miraculous interview wit t CadohS c near Bannawc (Stirlingshir- de s i ) e? scribed in the life of that Welsh saint ? Of what family and rank was the poet—Merddin Wyllt—or " Merlin Wild,e th " who, wearin chieftain'e gth s golden tore, foughbattle th t ea t of Arderydd, about A.D. 573, against Ehydclerch Hael, that king of Alcluith or Dumbarton, who was the friend of St Columha, and " the champion of the (Christian) faith," as Merlin himself styles him? And when that victory was apparently the direct means of establishing this Christian king upo throne nth f Strathclydeeo e indirecth d an ,t means B VOL . PAEIV . T I. 18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

which led to the recall of St Kentigern from St Asaph's to Glasgow, how is it that the Welsh Triads talk of it enigmatically as a battle for a lark's nest? If Ossian is not a myth, when and where did he live and sing ? Was he not an Irish G-ael ? And could any member of the deputation give us any accurate information about our old nursery giant friend Fingal or ' FinMac Coul ? Was he really, after all, not greater, or larger, or any other, than simpl a ysuccessfu d reforminan l g generaarme th f yo n i l King Corm.a son-in-lae th f Tara co d an , thaf wo t monarc Irelanf ho d? From what par Pictlanf o t Kind ddi g Cormac obtain thire th dn i , cen- tury e skilleth , d mill-wright Lamhac thaMa m , hi builo tt ,r firsfo d t water-mill which he erected in Ireland, on one of the streams of Tara ? And is it true, as some genealogists in this earthly world believe, that e lineath l descendant f thio s s Scottis Pictisr ho h mill-wright are still millerreputee th n so d sit f thieo s original Irish water-mill? The apostate Picts (Picti apostatf), who along with the Scots are spoken t PatricS s famouy ohi b f n ki s letter against Caroticus havins a , g bought for slaves some of the Christian converts kidnapped and carried off by that chief from Ireland, were they inhabitant f Galloways o morr ou f eo r o , northern districts ? And was the Irish sea not very frequently a " middle passage thesn "i e early days, across whic t PatrichS k himsel mand fan y others were carried from their native home sold san d into slavery? Pictisa t i s Scottishr ho Wa Britisa , Eomaa r ho n architect that built " Julius' howff," at Stenhouse (Stone-house) on the Carron, and what was its use and object ? Were our numerous " weems," or underground houses, really used as human abodes, and were they actually so very dark, that when one of the inmates ventured on a joke, he was obliged—as suggested by " Elia"—to handl s neighbour'hi e s chee resultin y feeo t kf an ther i ls ewa g smile playing upo? t n"i whoWheny b d m an ,wer e reare Titanie dth c stone-work White th n so e Caterthun, and the formidable stone and earth forts and walls on the Brown Caterthun Dunsinanen o , BarraBarmekye n o ,th n o , Echt,f no n o Dunnichen Dunpender n tope o , th hundredf so n o d othef an ,s o r hilln si Scotland ? How, and when, were our Vitrified Forts built ? Was the vitrification ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 19 walle o th t frathe sno accidental t i r s intentionalwa r o , s s mosu a , f o t now believe ? In particular, who first constructed, and who last occupied the remarkable Vitrified Forts of Finhaven in Angus, and of the hill of Noat e Vitrifien Strathbogiehi th t no d s For f Craig-PhadricWa ?o t , near Inverness e residencth , f Kino e f Meilochongo n Brudeso e th ,n i , the sixth century; and if so, is it true, as stated in the Irish Life of St Columba, tha s gateit t s were provided with iron locks? When whar whomy fo b , td objectan , , wer moate eth Urrf so , Hawick, Lincluden, othe r Biggarou rd greaan , t circular earth mound same th f eso kind, constructed ? Were they used for judicial and legal purposes, like Thingd ol e Scandinaviaf th s o Tinwale th s a d Mounan Islan;e th n di t werd t somAn no e f thes useo ei ? thimo y n t d sda omilitar Ma f r yo sepulchral works? Who fashioned the terraces at Newlands in Tweeddale ; and what was the origin of the many hillside terraces scattered over the country ? rock-cavee th f o e Ancrumf ag so Whae th s i t , Hawthornden, &c.d an , were they primarily used as human habitations ? The sea-cave at Aldham on the Forth, found—when opened in 1831 —wit paves hit d floor strewed with charred wood, animal bones, limpet- shells,—and apparently-with a rock-altar at its mouth, having its top marked with fire, ashes adhering to its side, and two infants' skeletons lying at its base—was it a human habitation, or a Pagan temple ? What races chambere e sleeth n pi d barrow cairnd an s Clavaf so , Tar- rows, Broigar, and in the many other similar old Scottish cities and housee death df ? so By whom and for what purpose or purposes were the megalithic circles t Stennisa , Callernish, Leys, Achnaclach, Orichie, Kennethmont, Midmar, Dyce, Eirkmichael, Deer, Kirkbean, Lochrutton, Torhouse . &c.&c ,, reared ? What wer leadine eth g peculiaritie e religiouth n si s creed, faithd an , festival f Broicha so e othe th d r nan Caledonia r Pictiso n h Magi before introductioe th f Christianitno y? When Coin pagathe , n high-pries Edwinof t kinthe ,Northumbri gof a and the Lothians, was converted to Christianty by Paulinus, in A.D. 627, he destroyed, according to Bede, the heathen idols, and set fire to the heathen temples and altars; but what was the structure of the pagan 20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

temples here in'these days, tha coule h t d burn them,—whil same th t eea time they wer uninclosedo s e horsebacn o , than me t k could ride into them Coifs a , i himsel throw d desecratine afteha d th e di fn n h i r g spear? citr yWaou t namesno d after this Northumbrian Bretwalda, " Edwin's- Eiddye th burgs whicf nwa o h r ?O "h Aneurin speaks befor time eth f eo DinaEdwine th d chiee s an th ,Eiddy f f o seate n f Llewdon so thas wa t - dyn Lueddog (Lew or Loth), the grandfather of St Kentigern or Mungo of Glasgow, really our own Dun Edin ? Or if the "Welsh term " Dinas " doet necessarilno s y impl e hig yth r elevate o h d positio placee th f o n, wa t Caei s r Eden (Cariden 'Blackness)r o e , th e f eastero th t d a , en n Eoman Wall, on the banks of the Forth ? Did our venerable castle-rock obtain the Welsh name of Din or Dun Monaidh, fro beins s motheit it s g r e fortrese hill,"wa th th d f "an o s Cymric appellation Agnedh, connected with its ever having been given as a marriage-portion (Agwedh) ? Or did its old name of Maiden Castle, or Castrum Puellarum, not rather originate in its olden use as a female prison, or as a school, or a nunnery ? t truei An s s assertei da , Conchubhranusy b d , thae Iristh t h lady Saint, Darerca or Monnine, founded, late in the fifth century, seven churche r nunneries(o n EdinScotlandn i ) hille sDu ? ,th f so Dumn o , - barton, Stirling, Dunpelder Dundevenald an , t Lanfortia , n near Dundee, and at Chilnacase in Galloway ? When, and by whom, were the Eound Towers of Abernethy, Brechin, and Eglishay buil t? Wer e Scotlann theri t islands eno it r do s other such " turres rotundae mird arle constructae" borroo t phrase wth f Hectoeo r Boece regardin Brechie gth n Tower? t PatricS f I k was s soma , f hiseo . earliest biographers aver Stratha , - clyde Briton, born abou t Nempthua t A.D7 38 . r (Nemphlar Clyde th n ) eo ,? and his father Calphurnius was, as St Patrick himself states in his Con- fession, a deacon, and his grandfather Potitus a priest, then he belonged famila generationo o t ytw whicf so h were already office-bearer Scotn i s - e Christiath lan n di n Church ;—but were there sucy manyan h r o , familie Scotlann i s d befor t NmiaS e n buil s stonhi t e churc t Witherha n about A.D .t Palladius397S r o , e missionarth , f Popo y e Celestine, died abou mera t i t eA.Ds rhetorica wa .Mearn e 431d th n An ,i ls? flourishr o , was there some foundatio r thnfo e stron distincd gan t avermene th f o t ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 21 Latin father Tertullian, that, when he wrote, about the time of the inva- sio f Scotlanno Severuy db s (circa A.D, 210), there were place Britain si n beyon Romae limite th dth f so n sway already subjec Christo t t ? When Dion Cassius describes this invasion of Scotland by Severus, and Romae th n Emperor' campaigne sth los n 50,00i f so n t , 0me no doe e h s indulge in " travellers' tales," when he further avers that our Caledonian ancestors were such votaries of hydropathy that they could stand in their marshes immersed up to the neck in water for live-long days, and had a kind of prepared homoeopathic food, the eating of a piece of which, the beansiza eof , entirely prevente hungedall thirsand r t? Ceesar tells us that dying the skin blue with woad was a practice com- mon amon Britisr gou h ancestors some 1900 year ;—aro ag s e Claudian and Herodian equally correct in describing the very name of Picts as being derived from a system of painting or tattooing the skin, that was in their time as fashionable among some of our Scottish forefathers, as it is in our time in New Zealand, and among the Polynesians ? According to Ceesar, the Britons wore a moustache on the upper lip, sole t shaveth e beare d bu stone—fortunatel resth e an f d dth ; o t fragya - ment of ancient sculpture—which has been saved from the ruins of the old capital of the Picts at Forteviot, shows a similar practice among themt wha thed Bu di t. y shave wit h? Were their razor f bronzeso r o , iron, or steel? And where, and by whom, were they manufactured? Was the state of civilisation and of the arts among the Caledonians, when Agricola invaded them, about A.D. 80 or 81, as backward as some authorities have imagined, seeing that they were alread skiller o ys fo , din example metallurgie th , able b cconstruct o et o arts t purposee s a ,th r fo , s of war,—chariots, and consequently chariot-wheels, long swords, darts, targets? . &c , As the swords of the Caledonians in the first century were, according to Tacitus, long, large, and blunt at the point, and hence in all proba- bility mad ironf eo , whence cam e sharp-pointedth e , leaf-shaped bronze swords so often found in Scotland, and what is the place and date of their manufacture? Were they earliere rea whad th l s An i origit? n e largoth f e accumulatio f spearo n d othean s r instrument f bronzeo s , some whole, and others twisted, as if half-melted with heat, which, with human bones, deer and elk-horns, were dredged up from Duddingston 22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

Loch about eighty years ago, and constituted, it may be said, the foun- dation of our Museum? Was there an ancient bronze smith-shop in the neighbourhood; or were these not rather the relics of a burned crannoge thad formerlha t y existe n thii d s lake, withi future mileo th tw nf seo metropolis of Scotland ? Could tlfe deputation infor whers mu mighe ew t find, burie cond dan - cealed in our muirs or mosses, and obtain for our Museum some interest- ing antiquarian objects which we sadly covet—such as a specimen or two, for instance, of those Caledonian spears described by Dion, that had a brazen apple, sounding when struck, attached to their lower extremity ? thosf o e eo on rstatue Mercurf so y that, Cassar says, were common among Westere e cownith th f o nmentionee Druidon r o s? d by Tacitus—(for anxioue wear o knos t wheel it wf i s wer f iroeo bronzer no thesw ho e; wheels made Ceesaas , r tells wheeltiBritisthe sthe of sh war-chariots made loua , d nois n runningi e whethed t thean ;no yr o hadr s som,a e . authorities maintain, scythe r lonso g swords affixe theio t d r axles)r o ? wher p anothemighe u e w g di t r specime sucf no h ancien engraved an t d silver armour as was some years ago discovered at Nome's Law, in Fife, d unfortunatelan y melte djewellee dowth y b nt Cupa a rcoulr o y r? dan of the deputation refer us to any spot where we might have a good chance of findin concealega d exampl f suceo h glass goblet weres a s , according royae t witth Adamnano t lme n h i palace b f o Brude,t eo , e kinth f go Picts, whe t ColumbnS a visited him A.Dn ,i . s 563royahi n ,li d foran t hall (munitio, aula regalis) on the banks of the Ness? Whence came King "•Cruithne," with his seven sons, and the Picts? Were they of Gothic descent and tongue, as Mr Jonathan Oldbuck main- tained in rather a notorious dispute in the parlour at Monkbarns ? or were they " genuine Celtic," as Sir Arthur Wardour argued so stoutly on the same memorable occasion ? Were the first Irish or Dalriadic G-aeidhil or Scots who took possession of Argyll (i.e., Airer-G-aeidheal districe Gaeidhel)e th th r o o ,f o twh d an , subsequently gav name eth f Scot-laneo whole th o det kingdom bane th , d of emigrants that crossed from Antrim about A.D. 506 under the leader- ship of Fergus and the other sons of Ere; or, as the name of " Scoti" recurs more than once in the old sparse notices of the tribes of the king- dom before this date, had not an antecedent colony, under Cairbre Eiada, ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 23 states a Bedey b d , already passed ovesettled an r Cantyrn di centurea y or two before ? Our Eeformed British Parliamen stils i tarchaeologica o s l listeno t s a l , many times each sessionr Majesty r Majesty'He He o t ,r o , s Commis- sioners, assenting to their bills, by pronouncing a sentence of old and obsolete Norman French— e Normath f o a y nmemoria Conwa s it - n i l Statr questou ed customan ; archaeologicao s e sar l that, whe Majestyr nHe , an dlona r illustrioug he lin f eo s predecessors, have been crownen di Westminster Abbey, the old Scottish coronation-stone, carried off in A.D. 1296 by Edward I. from Scone, and which had been previously used for centurie coronation-stone th s sa Scotice th perhapd f eo Irishe ,an th f so , or even the Milesian race of kings, has been placed under their corona- tion-chair—playing still its own archaic part in this gorgeous state drama. But is this Scone or Westminster coronation-stone really and truly—as somy reputes b i e t i b Scottis o dt h historians—the famou Faila f Li s o kinge th f Irelanso d that variou Irisd sol h writings describ formerls ea y standing on the Hill of Tara, near the Mound of the Hostages ? Or does Fail—"a Li e e stonth th t e no that roared unde e fee f eacth ro t h king that took possession of the throne of Ireland"—remain still on Tara— (though latterly degrade office grave-stone)—aa th f o o edt suggestes si d by the distinguished author of the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill ? If any of our deputies from ghostdom formerly belonged to the court of Fergus MacErc, or originally sailed across with him in his fleet of curachs, perhaps they wil se o b lrealit n i goo f othe y i tels roya e da s yan th l u r o l accompanyine oth f g skin-canoe ballastes swa d the subsequentlr no y with a sacred stone from Irelande coronatioth r r firsfo ou , t f o nDalriadi c king especialld an ; y woul wise sucd w t hw explainei hprea ho s -u o dt cious monumen Faila coulr o Tarf Li smuggles o e e db a wa th s a t d away by such a small tribe as the Dalriadic Scots at first were ? Perhaps it woul righe civib d telan o e tdeputatiot l th l t oncna e thatrute th t s hi we are anxious to decide the knotty question as to whether the opinions of EdwarDf o r morr e Petrio th . dI e correcear regarn i t thio dt s " Stone of Fate? f Kini r O g" Edwar righs dwa t politically Petrir D s i ,e right archeeologicall viewhis thi ysin on s subjec shortIn Fail? t, doeLia sthe stand at the present day—as is generally believed—in the vicinity of the Eoyal Halls of Westminster, or in the vicinity of the Eoyal Halls of Tara ? 24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

What ancient people, destitute apparently of metal tools and of any knowledg mortarf eo , buil gigantie th t c burg r dunso Mousaf so , Hoxay, G-lenelg, Carloway, Bragar, Kildonan, Farr, Eogart, Olrick, &c., with galleries and chambers in the thickness of their huge uncernented walls ? Is it true, as the Irish bardic writers allege, that some of the race of the Firbolgs escaped, after the battle at one of the Moyturas, to the Western Island shored san f Scotlandso d thaan , t thence, after several centuries, they were expelled again by the Picts, after the commence- e Christiamenth f o t n d erasubsequentlan , y returne e coasth f o o tt d Gralway builtd an ,rebuiltr o , , ther the d greae ean nth t analogous burgs .ZEngusn o Du fConchobhairn Du , Irise , &c.th hn i , isle Araf so n ?J What is the signification of those mysterious circles formed of diminishing concentric rings which are found engraved, sometimes on rocks outsidaboriginad ol n ea l villag campr et o Rowti a s a , n Lynd nan Bewickd Ol ; sometime e wallth f undergrouno n s o s d chambersn i s a , Hole th Papf mo aislane Westrath Edaf n di o d y; ysometime an e th n so walls of a chambered tumulus, as at Pickaquoy in Orkney; or on the interior of the lid of a kistvaen, as at Craigie Hill, near Edinburgh, and probably also at Coilsfield and Auchinlary; or on a so-called Druidical stone, as on " Long Meg" at Penrith ? , t trui s eI thalona t a gt past era—and t whaa , tso era—ouf i , r prede- cessors in this old Caledonia had nothing but tools and implements of stone, bonee ther wood Ar gravel-bedo an e,n d ? Scotlann si whicn di h we could probably find large deposit celt e othed th sf an so r stone weapons —with bore worked dan d deer-horns f thao , t distant stone-age—sucs ha have been discovered on the banks of the Somme and the Loire in Erance ? And were the people of that period in Scotland Celtic or pre-Celtic ? When the first wave of Celtic emigrants arrived in Scotland, did they not find a Turanian or Hamitic race already inhabiting it, and were those Scottish streams, lakes, &c., which bear, or have borne, in their composi- tion the Euskarian word Ura (water)—as the rivers Urr, Orr, and "Dry, lochs Ur, d OrrUrran ,, Urr-quhart, Cath-TJres, Or-well, Or-rea, &c., named by these Turanian aborigines?

1 As some confirmation of the views suggested in the preceding question, my friend Captain Thomas pointed out to me, after the address was given, that the name of the fort in St Kilda was, as stated by Martin and Macaulay, " Dun Fir-bholg." ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 25 We know that in lona, ten or twelve centuries ago, Greek was written, though we do not know if the lona library possessed—what Queen Mary had among the sixteen Greek volumes1 in her library—a copy of Hero- particularle ar e w dotut bu y s; anxiou o ascertaist store th yf n i tol y db Herodotu Ehampsinitusf so robbere th royas d hi f yan ,lo treasur thay yb t " Shifty Lad" " the Master Thief,"2 was in vogue as a popular tale among Scottise th h Gael Britonr so oldese th n talse i t timeprevalens ei Th s? t in different guises from India to Scotland and Scandinavia among the Aryans, or alleged descendants of Japhet; Herodotus heard it about twenty-three centuries ago in Egypt, and consequently (according, at least, to some high philologists), among the alleged descendents of Shem ; and coul Scottisy dan h Turanians alleges a , d descendant Hamf so e th n ,i deputation tell us whether the tale was also a favourite with them and their forefathers ? For if so, then, in consonance with the usual reasoning on this and other popular tales, the story must have been known in the Ark sone itself th Noaf so s a , h separated soon l afteal t r ye leavin d an , git their descendants weie acquainted with this legend t havBu e. these and other such simple tales not originated in many different places, and among many different people, at different times; and have they not an appearance of similarity, merely because, in the course of their development, the earliest products of the human fancy, as well as of the human hand, are always mor lesr eo s similar under similar circumstances? Or perhaps, passing from more direct interrogatories, we might request some of the deputation to leave with us a retranslation of that famous letter preserved by Bede, which Abbot Ceolfrid addressed about A.D. 715 to Nectan III., King of the Picts, and which the venerable monk of Jarrow tells us was, immediately after its receipt by the Pictish King and court, carefully interpreted into o s theilanguagen e b ow r o t r ?o good as write down a specimen of the Celtic or Pictish songs that hap- pened to be most popular some twelve or fourteen centuries ago? or

Including the works of Homer, Plato, Sophocles, &c. Her library catalogue 1 shows als goodloa y lis "f to Laty n Builds, classicsd lettea "an n CecilI o rt . , dated St Andrews, 7th April 1562, Eaudolph incidentally states, that Queen Mary then read daily after dinner " somewha Livf o t y " with George Buchanan. See these stories in Mr Dassent's Norse Tales, and in Mr Campbell's collection 2 of the Popular Tales of the West Highlands. 26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

limite describth s t differenu sa o et t timekingdome th f Strathe so th f so - clyde Britons and Northumbrians, and of the Picts and Dalriadic Scots ? f Scotlanr Inneso gapd tentM e p sa th n si e ma h'on di th r cenfilp u l - try, containing, as it does, the names of one river only, and some thirteen Scottish church establishments and towns ? or tell us where the " urbs G-iudi" and the Pictish " Niduari" of Bedewere placed, and why .ffingus e Culdeth e speaks (about A.D. 800 f Cuilenross)o r Culrosso , s placea , d in Strath-h-Irerm in the Comgalls, between Slieve-n-Ochil and the Sea of G-iuda e tru identifr th o enumerous e nu ? site th r f yfo so s rivers, tribes, divisions towns—od an , r merely perhaps stockade rather do d villages— which Ptolem secone th n yi d century entergeographicas hi n si l descrip- tio f Nortno h Britai particularisr o n? precise eth e bound Meatee th f so e and Attacotti, and of the two Pictish nations mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus, namely, the Dicaledonse and Vecturiones ? or trace out for us the course of Agricola's campaigns in Scotland, especially marking the exact site of the great victory of the Mons G-rampius,-and thus decid- ing at once and for ever whether the two enormous cairns placed above e mooth f Ardoco r h cove e remain th re 10,00 th f so 0 slai whether o n? r the battle was fought at Dealgin Boss, or at Findochs, or at Inverpeffery, or at Urie Hill in the Mearns, or at Mormond in Buchan, or at the " Kaim of Kinprunes?" which last locality, however, was musit , confessedbe t , rather summaril f d decisivelCouro y an t tou e somt th ypu ey b tim o eag strong personal evidenc Edif eo e Ochiltree.

f theseI somd an , e thousand-and-one similar questions regarding the habits, arts, government, language, &c., of our PrimEeval and Mediaeval Forefathers, could be at once summarily and satisfactorily answered by any power of "gramarye," then the present and the future Fellows of the Societ Antiquarief yo Scotlanf so d woul savee db incalculabln da e amount of difficult investigatio hard nan d workt unfortunatelt Bu a .e on r fo , yI least, hav belieo en f thahumay an t n powe eithen rca r unspher spirite eth s of the dead for a night's drawing-room amusement, or seduce the "wraiths" ancestorr oou f o "revisist e glimpseth t e moonth f so " eve sucr nfo ha loya d patriotian l c e furtherancobjecth s a t f Scottiso e h Archaeology. Nevertheles sI doub tsame notth et , a time, that man thesf yo e supposed questions on the dark points of Scottish antiquities will yet betimes be ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 27 answered mor lesr eo s satisfactorily answerse th t Bu f evei , . r obtained, will be obtained by no kind of magic except the magic of accumulated observations stricd an , t stern facts;—b necromanco yn y excep necroe tth - mancy of the cautious combination, comparison, and generalisation of these facts;—by no enchantment, in short, except that special form of enchantmen e advancementh r fo t f evero t y science whic e mighthth y and potent wizard—Francis Bacon—taught to his fellow-men, when he taught the spell-like mth e power inductive th f so e philosophy. The data and facts which Scottish antiquaries require to seek out and accumulate for the future furtherance of Scottish Archaeology, lie in man ydifferena t direction, waitin r searchidind gou an r hgfo after them. On some few subjects the search has already been keen, and the success correspondingly great. Let me specify one or two instances in illustra- tio thif no s remark. A memorablsa e exampleperfeca s a d t an Baconia, n mode analor fo l - gous investigation othen so r correspondin fule gth l f topics—io y wa e nth and careful accumulation of all ascertainable premises and data before venturing to dogmatize upon them—let me point to the admirable work StuarSculptureofMr the on t d Stone Scotland—asof n almost national work, which, according to Mr Westwood (the highest living authority on suc mos e subject)ha th f t o remarkabl e s "i , on e contribution Archreo st - ology whic eves hha r been publishe othey thian n di r so country. " " Crannoges"—those curious lake-habitations, built on piles of wood, or stockaded islands,—that Herodotus describes in lake Prasias, five or six centuries before the Christian era, constituting dwellings there which were then impregnabl e militarth l al yo e t resource Persiaa f so n army,—that Hippocrates tells us were also the types of habitation employed in his day by the Phasians, who sailed to them in single-tree canoes,—that in the same form of houses erected upon tall wooden piles, are still used at the present favourita da s ya e descriptio dwellinf no creeke th river d n gi s an s running into the Straits of Malacca, and on the coasts of Borneo and New G-uinea, ruine th f whic&c.so d an , h have been foun n numeroudi s lake Iren i s - land, England, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, &c.;—CrannogesI , say, have been searche d founan r dd fo als varioun oi n ow sr lochou n i s country; and the many curious data ascertained with regard to them in Scotland wil e e nexgiveb lth n tni volum r Society'ou f o e s proceedings 28 ' PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

by Mr Joseph Bobertson, a gentlemen whom we all delight to acknow- ledge as pre-eminently entitled to wield amongst us the pen of the teacher and master in this as in other departments of Scottish antiquities. .Most extensive architectural data, sketches measurementd an , s regard- remainmang e oldesr in th f you o f tso ecclesiastical building Scotlann si d (including some early Irish Churches, with stone roofs and Egyptian doors, that still stand nearly e entirseclusio th r Wester ou n ei f o nn Islands), have been collated by the indomitable perseverance and industry of Mr Muir; and when the work which that most able ecclesiologist has prese noth publisheds si wn i greaa , t step will doubtles made sb thin ei s neglected department of Scottish antiquities. additionn I , however assiduoue th o ,t s collectio ascertainabll al f no e facts regarding the existing remains of our sculptured stones, our crannoges, earlr ou yd ecclesiasticaan l buildings, ther mane ear y other departments of Scottish antiquities urgently demanding, at the hands of the numerous zealous antiquaries scattered ove countrye rth , full description accud san - rate drawing sucf so h vestige stil e thef so ar lms left—asa examplr fo , e :— ancienr Ou . tI Hill-Fort Stonf so Earth d ean . cyclopid ol r cOu Burg . DunsII d san . primaevar IIIOu . l Towns, Villages Eathsd an , . IV. Our "Weems or Underground Houses. V. Our pagan sepulchral Barrows, Cairns, and Cromlechs. VI. Our Megalithic Circles and Monoliths. earlr VIIOu y. Inscribed. ' &c Stone . &c s; Good and trustworthy accounts of individual specimens, or groups of specimens mosf ,o f theso t e classe f antiquitiesso , have been already pub- lished in our Transactions and Proceedings, and elsewhere. But Scottish Archeology require s votarieit f o s s larg sa exhaustiv d ean collectioea n possibles a , with accurate descriptions, and, when possible, with photo- graphs or drawings—or mayhap with models (which we greatly lack for our Museum)—of all the discoverable forms of each class; as of all the varietie ancienf so t hill-strongholds varietiee th undergrounr l ou al ; f so d weems, &c. The necessary collection of all ascertainable types, and in- stance f somso f theso e e classe f antiquitiesso doubto , n wil , tasa be l, k of much labou d time wild an r n mosan ,i l t instances requir e comth e - ANTIQUARIE9 2 SCOTLANDF SO . bined efforts of many, and zealous workers. This Society will be ever thankful to any members who will contribute even one or two stones to the require l pasdal heapt t experiencBu . shows eha n thauselesss i t i t , and generally even hurtful, to attempt to frame hypotheses upon one, or even upon a few specimens only. In Archaeology, as in other sciences, we must have accuratd fulan l e premises hopn befor ca mak o et e ew e full and accurate deductions needless i t expecI o hopelest d . s an su tr fo s clear, correct, and philosophic views of the character and of the date and age of such archaeological objects as I have enumerated, except by fol- lowing the triple process of (1) assiduously collecting together as many instances as possible of each class of our antiquities ; (2) carefully com- paring these instances with eac hascertaio t others a o l theis , nal r resem- blances and differences; and (3) contrasting them with similar remains in other cognate countries, where—in some instances, perhaps—there may exist, what possibly is wanting with us, the light of written history guido n elucidatint i s eu e speciath g l subjects happey thae b ma t o t n engaging our investigations—ever remembering that our Scottish Archae- ology is but a small, a very small segment of the general circle of the Archeeolog Worlde th Europ f f yo o .d ean The same remarks whic hI hav e just venturee th makeo t o dt s a , proper mod investigatinf eo classee larger gth ou f rso archaeological sub- jects, hold equally true als f thoso e other classe f antiquitieso a f so lighte mord ran e portable type, whic have hw e collecte museumsr ou n di ; such instancer fo , e ancienth s ,a t domestic tools, instruments, personal ornaments, weapons, &c. f stoneo , , flint, bone, bronze, iron, silverd an , gold, which our ancestors used ; the clay and bronze vessels which they employe cookinn di carryind gan g their handmill e footh d; s with which they ground their corn ; the whorls and distaffs with which they span, ane stufgarmentd th dan f s spu s onlthemi y col nb y t y b I -, . &c&c . lecting, combining -comparind an , individuae th l gal l instance f eacso h antiquarian object of this kind—all ascertainable specimens, for example, of our Scottish stone celts and knives ; all ascertainable specimens of our clay vessels ; of our leaf-shaped swords; of our metallic armlets; of our grain-rubbers and stone-querns, &c. &c.;—and by tracing the history of similar objects in other allied countries, that we will read aright the tales which these relics—when once properly interrogated—are capable of tell- 0 3 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO YO e doingsth uf thoughtg e e habitsso in th th ,distanr d ou an ,f so t prede- cessors. It is on this same broad and great ground—of the indispensable ne- cessit larga d perfecf yo an e t collectio f individuano l specimenl al f o s kinds of antiquities for safe, sure, and successful deduction—that we accumulatioe pleath r dfo f antiquariano othen i r o rn now objectr ou n si public antiquarian collections thun i d s pleadinAn . g wit e Scottishth h publiaugmentatioe th r cfo enrichmend nan Museumr ou f to donationy b , s of all kinds, however slight and trivial they may seem to the donors, we longey an pleapropert e t whar rth no dfo s i tthi f yo s Society t whabu , s ti no properte w th natione Museue th f Th yo .bees mha n gifted ovey b r the Society of Antiquaries to the Government—it now belongs, not to us, hut to Scotland—and we unhesitatingly call upon every true-hearted Scotsman to contribute, whenever it is in his power, to the extension of this Museum, as the best record and collection of the ancient archaeolo- gical and historical memorials of our native land. We call for such a central general ingathering repositorand , Scottisof y h antiquitiefor s another reason. Single specimen exampled san f archaeologicaso l relics e hand a privatth arf n o i se e individual generally nough t merbu t e matters of idle curiosity and wild conjecture ; while all of them become of usesometimed an , greaf so t moment, when place publia n di c collection beside their fellows. Like stray single words or letters that have dropt Booe th fro f Timet ko m ou , they themselves, individually, reveal nothing, but when placed alongside of other words and letters from the same book, they gradually form—under the fingers of the archseologist—into lines, and sentences, and paragraphs, which reveal secret and stirring legends of the workings of: the human mind, and human hand, in ages of which, perchance, we have no other existing memorials. In attempting to read the cypher of these legends aright, let: us guard agains faule on t t whic unfortunatels hwa y too often committe formen di r days, and which is perhaps sometimes committed still. Let us not fall int mistake oth fancyinf eo g that everything antiquariant ,no whico d e hw first a e t sigh se mus, exace of tth e t necessariltus somethine yb g very mys- terious distaff-whorlsd Ol . , armlets, &c., have thin i , s illogical spirit, been sometimes describe Druidicas da l amulet talismend san ; ornamented rings d bossean s froe ancientmth , rich Celtic horse-harness, discoveren i d ANTIQUARIE1 3 SCOTLANDF SO .

sepulchral barrows, have been published as Druidical astronomical in- struments ; and in the last century some columnar rock arrangement in Orkne gravels ywa y adduce Tolany b d Druidica a s da l pavements i t I . this craving after the mysterious, this reprehensible irrationalism, that has brought, indeed whole th , e subjec f Druidiso t m into much modern con- tempt with many archasologists doubo N . t Druidis mosa ms i t interest- mosa d tan importan g in cald man t subjece investigationdu r fo t e th d an , facts handed down to us in regard to it by Csesar, Diodorus, Mela, Strabo, Pliny othed an , r classi hagiologicad can l authors gravese th ful e f o ar ,l t archaeological bearings ; but no doubt also many antiquarian relics, both large and small, have been provokingly called Druidical, merely because their origi d objecan n t were unknown e havW e. not instancer fo , a , particle of direct evidence for the too common belief that our stone circles were temples which the Druids used for worship; or that our cromlechs were their sacrificial altars. In fact, formerly the equanimity of the old theoretical class of archseologists was disturbed by these levia- than notions about Druid Druidessed san s as mucmarine th s ha e zoology of the poor sailor was long disturbed by his leviathian notions about sea- serpents and mermaids. archaeologicar ou n I l inquiries int probable oth e useimpord l san al f o t doubtful articler museumou n i s r elsewhereo s s proceeu t le , d upona plan of the very opposite kind. Let us, like the geologists, try always, when working with such problems understano t , e pas dreasoninth y b t g fro e studpresents u mth t y Le backward. - s froun e knowe mth th o nt n easilca knowne y w com n y thi I understando t .ewa s r examplefo , , how our ancestors made those single-tree canoes, which have been found so often in Scotland, by observing how the Eed Indian, partly by fire and hatchetpartle th y yb , make analogous shi s canopresene th t ea t day; hor flinwou t arrows were manufactured e procesth e , y whese sb e nw whic presene hth t Esquimaux manufacture r predecessorou s hisw ho ; s fixed and used their stone knives and hatchets, when we see how the Poly- nesian fixeused stons an sshi e knive hatchetd an s s now; how shortn ,i , matters spe respecn di householo t t d economy, dress, work ward n an ,i , this old Caledonia of .ours, during even the so-called Stone Age, when we reflect upo studd nmodean e yth whicn si h matter conductee sar than di t new Caledoni Pacific—ththe ain e inhabitant whicsof h knew nothingof 2 3 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH P P O SYO

metals till they cam contacn ei t with Europeans t manno , y long years ago ; how in long past days hand and home-made clay vessels were the chief or only vessels used for cooking and all culinary purposes, seeing Hebridee parto th f tw o sr o s e thi on s thaactualli s n i t e statyth f eo matters still. The collection of home-made pottery on the table—glazed with milk— is the latest contribution to our Museum. It was recently brought up, by Captain Thomar MitchellD d an s , froe parismth f Barvasho e th n i , Lewis. These " craggans," jars bowlsr o , othed an , r culinary dishese ar , certainly specimen s mos ceramie it th n ti f primitivso t car e state ;—they are as rude as the rudest of our old cinerary urns ; and yet they constitute, placee th whicn n i si h they were mad usedd principae an e th , l cooking, dyeing household an , d vessels possesse fellow-countrymer somy db ou f eo n in thinineteente sth h century. adjoinine th n I 1 g paris Uigf ho , Captain Thomas found and described to us, two years ago, in one of his instruc- tivpracticad ean l papers smale th , l bee-hive stone house whicn si h some nomadie ofth c inhabitant districe th f so t still liv summern ei . Numerous antiquarian remains ruind ,an similaf so r house collectiond san housesf so , exis n Irelandi t , Wales, Cornwall, Switzerland perhapd an , n othei s r kingdoms; but apparently they have everywhere been long ago deserted as human habitations, excep n isolatei t outlyind an d g spots amone gth Western Islands of Scotland. The study of human habits in these Hebridian houses presene th t a , t day, enable gueso t s su s wha analoe th t - gous human habits probably were, when, for example, the old Irish city of Fachan—consisting of similar structures only—was the busy scene of human life and activity in times long past. These, and other similar facts, besides teachin e truth es gu roa o somt d e form f archaeologicao s l dis- covery, teach us also one other important lesson,—namely, that there are in reality two kinds of antiquity, both of which claim and challenge our attention. One of these kinds of antiquity consists in the study of the

1 Among the people of the district of Barvas, most of them small farmers or crofters, a metal vessel or pot was a thing almost unknown twelve or fourteen years ago. Their houses have neither windows nor chimneys, neither tables nor chairs; and the cattle and poultry live under, the same roof with their human possessors. If a Chinaman or Japanese landed at Barvas, and went no further, what a picture might returs painte h hi n no , homestate th civilisatio f f eo o , Britise th n ni h Islands. ANTIQUARIE3 3 SCOTLANDP O S .

habits and works of our distant predecessors and forefathers, who lived on this earth, and perhaps in this segment of it, many ages ago. The other kind of antiquity consists of the study of those archaic human habits and works -which may, in some corners of the world, be found still prevailing among our fellow-men—or even among our own fellow- countrymen—down to the present hour, in despite of all the blessings of human advancement e progresth d f an huma,o s n knowledgee on y B . kind of antiquity we trace the slow march and revolutions of centuries; by the other we trace the still slower march and revolutions of civilisa- tion countrien i , kingdomd san s wher glitterine eth g theorie polie th -f so tician migh o expect ts u hava different d a happiele e d an t r statf o e matters. Besides the antiquarian relics of a visible and tangible form to which I have adverted, as demanding investigation and collection on our part, there are various antiquarian relics of a non-material type in Scottish Archeology which this Society might perhaps do much to collect and preserve, through the agency of active committees, and the assistance of many of our countrymen, who, I doubt not, could be easily incited to assist us in the required work. One of these matters is a fuller collec- tion and digest than we yet possess of the old superstitious beliefs and practice r forefathersou f o sd certainl An . y some strange superstitions do remain t leasa r o t, latel d remainydi e sacrifice, amonTh r . fo gus , example, of the cock and other animals for recovery from epilepsy and convulsions meano n y b s s extinci , somn i t e Highland districtsd ol n I . Paga d Mithraian n c time knoe s w s wa w x thao e sacrific e th t th f o e common I hav. e myself often listene accoune th o dt neate giveon r y nb earln i s y wa lif o e anwh personall , d deame o rt y engage offerine th n di g up and burying of a poor live cow as a sacrifice to the Spirit of the Murrain. This occurred within twenty miles of the metropolis of Scotland. In the same district a relative of mine bought a farm not very many years ago. Among his first acts, after taking possession, was the inclosing a small trian- gular corner of one of the fields within a stone wall. The corner cut off— and which still remains cut off—was the " G-oodman's Croft"—an offer- Spirie th Evilf o o t orden g i , in r tha mighe th t abstain from ever blight- ing or damaging the rest of the farm. The clergyman of the parish, in lately circumstancetelline th e gm , added, tha kinsmay tm beend nha e h , C VOL . PARIV . . TI 34: PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO Y O

feared, far from acting honestly with Lucifer, after all, as the corner which he had cut off for the " G-oodman's '.' share was perhaps the most worthless and sterile spot on the whole property. Some may look upon such superstition superstitioud an s s practice s mattera s s utterly vulgar and valueles e archseologisthemselves n si e eyeth th f o sn i t bu ;t they become interestin importand gan t whe remembee nw r tha populae th t r superstitions of Scotland, as of other countries, are for the most part true antiquarian vestiges of the pagan creeds and customs of our earlier ances- tors presenr ou ; t Folk-lore being merel generan yi degeneratea l d dan debase dhighese forth f mo t mythologica d medicaan l l lor f vero e y dis- tant times. A collection of the popular superstitions and practices of differene th t district f Scotlanso d now e (lik,er e fair d gobliyan n forms vanishing befor breae th e dayf ko ) they mel disappead tan r totally before pride th lighe f modero ed th an t n knowledge, woul t perhapye d s afford important materials for regaining much lost antiquarian knowledge. paleeontologise th s a r Fo sometimen ca t s reconstruc fultypen e i t th lf o s extinct animals from a few preserved fragments of bones, possibly some future archaeological Cuvier may one day be able to reconstruct from these mythological fragments frod an m, other sources r morfa , e distinct figures and forms than we at present possess of the heathen faith and r forefathersriteou f so . Perhap morsa e important matter stil l e collectionwoulth e db , from every distric parisd an t f Scotlandho f locao , loldese listth f so t namef so the hills, rivers, rocks, farms, and other places and objects; and this all more th e f thaalteratioo thin e i t s ag changd nan e man f thesyo e names are already rapidly passin possessioe gth awayt Scottisa Ye f .n o h anti- quarian thif gazetteeo sp kinma r dro woul onlt dno y enabl identifo t s eu y many localities mentione older ou rdn i deed chartersd san more—tht ,bu e very languag whico t e h these names belong would, perhaps s philoa , - logical ethnology advances, betimes serve as guides to lead our succes- sors, if they do not lead us, to obtain clearer views than we now have of the people that aboriginally inhabited the different districts of our country changee th d an ,s which occurred from tim timo et thesn ei e dis- tricts in the races which successively had possession of them. In this, aothen si r worlde partth r mountainf so ou , othed an s r natural objects often obstinately retain, in despite of all subsequent changes and con- ANTIQUAIUE5 3 SCOTLANDP SO .

quests appellatione th , s with which they were originally baptisee th y db aboriginal possessor exampler fo soile , th as f ; s o thren i ,e th r foue o f o r rivers which enter the Forth nearest to us here—viz., the Avon, the Amond, and the Esk on this side; and the Dour, at Aberdour, on the opposite side of the Firth. For these are all old Aryan names, to be foun s rivea d r appellation n mani s y othe rn e i worldspot th d f an o s, soms oldesit f eo t dialects Amone Th . Avo r da o simpl s i n e modifica- tion of the present word of the Cymric " Afon," for " river," and we have l fror schooal mou l days know t undei n s Latiit r n for "f mo Amnis. " The Esk, in its various modifications of Exe, Axe, TTisk, &c., is the pre- sent "Welsh word, " Uisk, "water,for " possibl"and earliesythe t form " asqua, Latie th f n"o noun " aqua." Again noue th , n " Dour "—Douro —so commo appellativn na riverr efo mann si y part Europef so , accord,is - besr somo t ou t f g etymologistseo in , identica same lth withf e o Arya r o , n sourc"e Uda,th s ea water Sanskritr e "o th f , o "e vStap,th G-reekse th f "o , and the " Dwr " or " Dour " of the Cambrian and Gael. The archaeolo- gist, like Beth ed Indian when trackin s foehi g , teaches himselo t f observ catcd ean p ever hu y possible visible traie trac th f archai o lf eo c ma n; but , likBee eth d Indian agaid o an r nw nea layno alsos hi e s h , groune th soundy listeo dt an r snfo indicatin presence gth doingd ean f so him who is the object of his pursuit. The old words which he hears whispered in the ancient names of natural objects and places supply the antiquary with this kind of audible archaeological evidence. For, when cross-questione theio t presene s ra th nomenclaturey t a dda t , manyI , repeat, of our rivers and lakes, of our hills and headlands, do, in their mere names, telegraph back to us, along mighty distances of time, significant specimens of the tongue spoken by the first inhabitants of their district —in this respect resemblin e dotingth dyind gan g octogenarian thas tha lef earln i t y s fathers home lifhi th ef o esojoure o t e ,lanth th f do n ni stranger, and who remembers and babbles at last—ere the silver cord of memor utterls yi finalld yan y loosed—one language only thad an ,t some few words merel e lonth gn yi unspoke n tongue whic firse hh t learneo dt lisp in his earliest infancy. speciae Th l source lined researcsf an so h from which Scottish inductive Archaeology may be expected to derive the additional data and facts whic t requirehi s elucidatioit r sfo mane here nvariousar d m e yt an Le . c2 36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

briefly allude to two only, and these two of rather opposite characters,^— viz. (1), researches beneat e surfachth 'thf eo e earth (2)d an , researches among olden works and manuscripts. n timeI s past Scottish Archaeolog s alreadha y y gained much from digging timen i d com o st doubtless an i ; t ei s destine o gait dt infi ye n- nitely more fro msystematisea f thio se moddus f e researcheo th r Fo . truth is, that beneath the surface of the earth on which we tread—often r thret abovo no o e etw fee t below that surface; sometime t deepeno s r than the roots of our plants and trees—there undoubtedly lie, in innu- merable spot d places,—buriedsan waitind an , g onl disinterment,r yfo — antiquarian relics of the most valuable and important character. The riches raresd tan t treasures containe antiquariar somn di ou f eo n museums have been exhumed by digging; and that digging has been frequently of the most accidental and superficial kind—like the discovery of the silver mine f Potosso i throug e chancehth ' uprootin e a shruth f y go b hand of a climbing traveller. The magnificent twisted tore, containing some L.50 worth of pure gold, which was exhibited in Edinburgh in 1856, in the Museum of the Archaeological Institute, was found in 1848 in Needwood Forest, lying f somo p eto frese th h n o mould whic d beehha n foxa turne y n ,i b p du excavatin himselr gfo new-earta f h hole. Formerlye sitee th th f so n o , old British villages in Wiltshire, the moles, as Sir Eichard Hoare tells us, were constantly throwing up to the surface numerous coins and frag- ments of pottery. We are indebted to the digging propensities of an- other animal for the richest collection of silver ornaments which is con- Museumgrear e taineth ou r tn d i hoar Fo . massivf do e silver brooches, tores, ingots, Cufic and other coins, &c., weighing some 16 Ibs. in all, which waSkaillif o sy founBa ne 185n di Orkneyth n 7i discoveres ,wa conn di - sequence of several small pieces of the deposit having been accidentally uncovered by the burrowings of the busy rabbit. That hoard itself is interestin thin go sr mor otheo 0 e r simila13 account f o e r on , thas i t i t silver deposits, almost all found by digging, that have latterly been dis- covered, stretching from Orkney, alon e shore gth islandd e an th s f o s Baltic, through Eussia southward, toward governmene seae th sf th o t f o t those Eastern Caliphs who issued the Cufic coins which generally form part of these collections—this long track being apparentl commere yth - ANTIQUARIE F SCOTLANDO S . 3/

cial route along which those merchants passed, who, fro sevente mth r ho eighth to the eleventh century, carried on the traffic which then sub- sisted between Asia and the north of Europe. The spade and plough of the husbandman are constantly disinterring relic higf so h e valuantiquarth o et d numismatistyan e matchlesTh . s collection of gold ornaments contained in the Museum of the Irish Academy has been almost entirely discovered in the course of common agricultural operations. The pickaxe of the ditcher, and of the canal and railway navvies, have often also theiy ,b r accidental strokes, uncovered rich antiquarian treasures remarkable Th . e massive silver chain, ninety- three ounce weightn si , whic Museumr have ou h w n founes i wa , d about two feet below the surface, when the Caledonian canal was dug in 1808. e largesth On f eo t gold armlets ever discovere n Scotlani d disins dwa - terre t Slatefora d n cuttini d e Caledoniagth n Eailway Museur Ou . m contains only a model of it; for the original—like many similar relics, when they consisted of the precious metals—was sold for its mere weight in bullion, and lost—at least to Archaeology—in the melting-pot of the jeweller, in consequence of the former unfortunate state of our law of treasure-trove t cannoi d An t .perhap statee loudlysb o ofteo to dr to o n, that such continued wanton destruction of these relics is now so far pro- vided Governmenagainsta y b r fo ; t ordinance relicy e findean th , sf o r in ancient coins, or in the precious metals, is now entitled by law, on de- liverin Nationar Crowe gth ou r theo t n fo p ml u Museums claio t , m e "th full intrinsic value" of them from the Sheriff of the district in which they chance to be discovered—a most just and proper enactment, through the aid of which many such relics will no doubt be henceforth properly preserved. But the results of digging to which I have referred are, as I have already said, the results merely of accidental digging. From a system- atized application of the same means of discovery, in fit and proper localities, wit r withouo h t previous ground-probing, Archaeolog cers yi - tainly entitle o expect d t most valuable consequences e spadd Th an .e pickax become ear indispensabls ea e aid somn si e form f archaeologicalso , hammee asth somn i s i re form f geologicao s l research greae Th .t anti- quarian treasures sepulchrar garnereou n i p du l barrow d oldesan n kist- vaen cemeteries are only to be recovered to antiquarian science by digging, 8 3 PROCEEDING SSOCIETE OFTH F YO

and by digging, too, of the most careful and methodized kind. For in such excavations it is a matter of moment to note accurately every pos- sible separat positione th eo t fac s a t, stateobjecte th l , al &cs f exposedo . ; a ssearc o welt s a lh for, handle gathed an , r these objects most carefully. In excavating, some years ago, a large barrow in the Phoenix Park at Dublin entiro tw , e skeletons were discovered withi chambee ne th th f o r stone cromlech which formed the centre of the sepulchral mound. A flint knife, a flint arrow-head, and a small fibula of bone were found among the rubbish, along with some cinerary urns; but no bronze or other me- tallic implements e humaTh . n beings burie- dso there lived th eha n d i called Stone PerioDanise th f do h archaeologists. Some hard bodies were observed immediatel skeletonse th y very f belob o ye d e heawan ,on th f do cautiou carefud an s l picking e surroundinawath f yo g earth, thers ewa traced around the neck of each a complete necklace formed of the small sea-shell e Neritath f o s , wit perforatioha eacn ni h shel admio t la f o t string compose f vegetabldo e fibres being passed through them. With- out due vigilance how readily might these interesting relics have been overlooked! The spade and mattock, however, have subserved, and -will subserve, other important archaeological purposes beside e openinth s f ancieno g t cemeteries. They will probably enable us yet to solve to some extent the vexed question of the true character of our so-called " Druidical circles" and "Druidical stones," by proving to us thatone of their uses at leas sepulchrals twa boge mossed Th s.an Irelandf so , Denmark othed an , r countries, have, when dug into, yielded up great stores of interesting anti- quarian objects—usually wonderfully preserved by the qualities of the soil in which they were immersed—as stone and metallic implements, portions of primaeval costume, combs, and other articles of the toilet, pieces of domestic furniture buried an d ol woode, n e housesth evend n i an ,s a , alleged cas Queef eo n G-unhild othed an , r "bogged "pittedr "o " criminals, human bodies astonishingly entire, and covered with the leathern and other dresse whicn si h they diedl thiAl s . form greaa s t min f antio e - quarian research whicn i , h littl t nothinr beeeo ye ns accomplishegha d in Scotlandexcavatione onls du i y t yb I . hopn s ca tha o acquiret e w t e a proper analytical knowledge of the primaeval abodes of our ancestors,— whether these abodes were in underground "weems," or in those hitherto ANTIQUARIE9 3 SCOTLANDF SO . neglected an most dye t interesting object Scottisf so h Archaeology, namely, our archaic villages and towns, the vestiges and marks of which lie scat- tered oveplainr mountaiou rd san n sides—always nea a rstrea lakr mo e or good spring—usually marke groupy db shallof so w pit excavationr so s (the foundation theif s o circula d rol r houses fea wd nettles—generall)an y protecte surrounded r mordo an e e on side rata n dr earth-wally o h so b — often near a hill-fort—and having attached to them, at some distance in neighbourhoode th , stone graves sometimesd grounde an , th n o ss a ,abou t Morton Hall, monoliths and barrows. Last year we had detailed at length to the Society the very remarkable results whic Neisr hobtaineM d hha simply db e persevering digging upon the hill of the Laws in Forfarshire, exposing, as his excavations have done, over the whole top of the hill, extensive Cyclopic walls of several fee heightn i t , formerly buried beneat sucf o soile hd h th strang an , d ean puzzlin definity an g t form defeo ye t s conjecturs ya sa theif eo r character. No doubt similar works, with similar remains of implements, ornaments, querns, charred corn, &c., will yet be found by similar diggings on other Scottis obtaih y t lengt hillsa ma d ne han ;adequatw e dat fixinr afo g their nature objectd perhapan d an , s even their date. Certainly every Scotch antiquary must heartily wish that the excellent example of earnest and enlightene r dNeis M s followeresearc y hwa b y s othert b dhi se h f o s brother landholders in Scotland, At the present time the sites and remains of some Eoman cities in Englan beine dar g restore ligho dt thin ti s way—a citd Uricof ol y o e sth - nium (Wroxeter), where already many curious discoveries have rewarded the quiet investigations that are being carried on;—and Borcovicus in Northumberland (a half-day's journey from Edinburgh), one of the stations placed along the magnificent old Eoman wall which still exists in wonderful preservatio s neighbourhoodit n ni itseld an ,Eoma a f n town left comparativel entiro ys e that " Sandy Gordon" describe t dloni o gag as the most remarkable and magnificent Eoman station in the whole island, while Dr Stukely spoke of it enthusiastically as the " Tadmor of Britain." I was lately told by Mr Longueville Jones, that in the vicinity of Caerleon—the ancient Isca Silurum of the Eoman Itinerary—the slim sharpened iron rod used as a ground probe had detected at different distancef burieo w dro sEomaa n house villad an s s extending froe mth 40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

old city int countre oth nearlr yfo y three mile lengthn si . Here elses a , - where, a rich antiquarian mine waits for the diggings of the antiquary; and elsewhere, as here, the ground-prohe will often point out the exact spots that should be dug, with far more certainty than the divining rod of any Dousterswivel ever pointed out hidden hoards of gold or hidden springs of water. But it is necessary, as I have already hinted, to seek and hope for additional archaeological materials in literary as well as in subterraneous researches. And certainly one special deficiency which we have to deplore in Scottish Archaeology is the almost total want of written docu- ment annal primaevasand the sof earland l y medieval portion Scottissof h history e antiquarieTh . f Englano s d Irelanan d e mucar d h more fortunat thin ei s respect tha are e ther nw fo ; y posses greatesa r abundance of early documents than we can boast of. Indeed, after Tacitus' inter- esting accoun e firsth tf Komao t n invasio f Scotlanno d under Agricola, an feda w meagre allusion statementd an , sto s regarding this countrd yan inhabitants it somy sb e subsequent classic authors have e coursa ,w r fo , f eo seve eighr no t centuries, almos writteo tn n record authority an f so refeo yt r onlye th t chief,e exceptionno Th f i , . to thio st s general remark consist of a few scattered entries bearing upon Scotland in the Irish Annals—as in those of Tighernach and Ulster; some facts related by Bede; some statements livee legendgive d e th earl an sth n i f y so Scottish, Welsh, and Irish saints ;* and various copies of the list of the Pictish kings. Whe come nw e down beyon e eleventth d d twelfthan h centuriesr ou , written memorials rapidly increas quantitn ei extentd yan havI . e already allude face th t o dthat t three hundred quarto volumes—nearly altogether drawn from unpublished manuscripts—have been printe e Scottisth y db h clubs withi e lasnth t forty years Eobertsor M . n informe thath e sm n i t General Register House alone (and independently of other and private collections), there is material for at least a hundred volumes more; and the English Eecord Office contains, as is well known, many unedited documents referrin buildine th o gt variouf go s Scottish castle Edwary sb d

* One of these Lives—that of St Columba by Adamnan—has been annotated by Dr Beeves with such amazing lore that it really looks as if the Editor had acquired his wondrous knowledge of ancient lona and Scotland by some such " uncanny" aids as an archajological " deputation of spirits." . ANTIQUARIE1 4 SCOTLANDF SO . otheo t d I.r an ,point s interestin Scottiso gt h Archaeolog Historyd yan . The Welsh antiquaries have obtained from the Government offices in London various important documents of this description referring to "Wales. Why should the antiquaries of Scotland not imitate them in this respect ? Modern experience has shown that it is not by any means chimerical to expect, that we may yet recover, from various quarters, and from quite unexpected sources, too, writing d documentsan f muco s h interesd an t importanc relation ei n bot Britis ho Scottist o t d han h Archaeology. Of that great fossil city Pompeii, not one hundredth part, it is alleged, has as yet been fully searched; and, according to Sir Charles Lyell, the quarters hitherto cleared out are those where there was the least probability of discovering manuscripts. It would be almost hoping beyond the possi- bilit f hopyo expeco et t tha s unexploresomn i it t f eo d mansionsf o e on , the rich libraries of those ancient Eoman times may turn up, presenting papyri deeply interesting to British antiquaries, and containing, for example, a transcript of that letter on the habits and character of the inhabitants of Britain which Cicero himself informs us that he desired his brother Quintus to write, when, as second in command, he accom- panied Julius Ceesafirss hi t n rinvasioi island;—or ou f no copra thaf yo t account which Himilico the Carthagenian, had drawn up of his voyage, some centuries before the Christian era, to the Tin Islands, and other parts northward Pillare th f sf o Hercules;—o so rola r f thoso l e Punic Annals which Festus Avienus tell thas su himsel e th f consulted when (probably in the fourth century) he wrote those lines in his " Ora Maritima" in which he gives a description of Great Britain and Ireland. antiquariee Th Scotlanf so d would heartily rejoice ove discovere th r y of lost document r lesfa ss ancient than these. Perhap I scoul d name two or three of our colleagues who would perfectly revel over the recovery, for instance, of one or two leaves of those old Pictish annals (veteres Pict- onim lilrf) that still existe twelfte th n di h century whichn i d an ,, among other matters, was a brief account (once copied by the Pictish clerk Thana, the son of Dudabrach, for Zing Ferath, at Meigle) of the solemn ceremony which took place when King Hungus endowed the church of St Andrews, in presenc twelvf eo e member Pictise th f so h regal race, wit hgrana manf to y mile broaf so d acres solemnld an , y placed wit royas hhi l handaltae th rn so I /

42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

of the church a piece of fresh turf in symbolisation of his royal land-gift. We all deplore that we possess no longer what the Abbot Ailred of Eie- mone vaulxth kd Jocelinan , Furnesf eo s possessed, namely, biographies, apparently written in the old language of our country, of two of our earliest Scottish saints—St Ninian of Whitehorn and St Kentigern of Glasgow ; and we grieve that we have lost even that Life of St Serf, which, along wit hgoodla y lisf servico t othed ean r books (chaine e stalld th an o sdt desks) s placedwa , , befor e Eeformationtime th th ef eo choie th f ro n i , the Cathedral of Glasgow, as we know from the catalogue which has been preserved of its library. e samth t ea timt no e s forgetu t le ,t thaBu t Scottish archaeological documents f theseo s ancieny a , ,an havs a t e been latterly rediscovered, and rediscovered occasionally in the most accidental way; and let us not therefore despair of further, and perhaps even of greater success in the same line. Certainl e greatesyth f receno t t event n Scottissi h Archae- ology was the casual finding, within the last two or three years, in one of the public libraries at Cambridge, of a manuscript of the Gospels, which had formerly belonged to the Abbey of Deer in Aberdeenshire. The margin and blank vellum of this ancient volume contain, in the Celtic language, some grant entried san s reaching much beyon aa;e th de of any of our other Scottish charters and chronicles. The oldest example of written Scottish Gaelic that was previously known was not earlier than sixteente th h century. Portion Deee th f rs o Manuscript have been pro- nounce competeny db t scholar sevee b o st n centuries older. moste Th ancient known collectio e law th f Scotland— so f no a manu- script written about 1270—was detected in the public library of Berne, and lately restore thio dt s country 1824n I Thomsonr . M , schoolmastea , r bookstald t Ayrol a n a , pickethan n li o , t towndup valuabla , e manuscript collection of Scotch burghal laws, written upwards of four centuries ago. Sometimes thin i s a ,las t instance, document f greaso t valu Scotn ei - tish Archasology have made narrow escapes from utter loss and destruc- tion. I was told by the late Mr Thomas Thomson—a gentleman to whom l indebteal e w ear promotinr dfo d systematisingan studies—thar gou a t miscellaneous somn i t eye pointt bu , s valuable, collectio vellud ol f mno manuscript beginnine th lefts t presene a s,wa th f go t century pooa y rb , ANTIQUARIE3 4 SCOTLANDF SO .

peripatetic Scottish blactailord ol coulo kt e reaworwh ,e dth no df on do letter documents whic s purs hi e spen h n collectingd i es lif hi an et . Bein gvisionara dormane th y f claimano e t Scottison o t t h peeragese h , buoyed himsel witp brighu e f hth t hope that some clever lawyer would yet find undoubted proofs of his claims in some of the written parchments which he might procure. Sir Eobert Cotton is said to have discovered e originath on f eo l vellum e copieMagnth f o sa Chartshoe th f p o n i a another tailor, who, holding it in his hand, was preparing to cut up this charter of the liberties of England into tape for measuring some of England's sons for coats and trousers. The missing manuscript of the History of Scotland, from the Eestoration to 1681, which was written by Sir George Mackenzie, the King's Advocate, was rescued from a mass of paped ol r thabeed ha tn sol shor dfo p purpose grocea o st Edinburghn i r . Some fragment Prive th f yso Council Eecord Scotland—nof so w preserved Generae th n i l Eegister House—were bought among waste snuff paper.' Occasionally eve verna y small preserved fragmen n anciena f o t t docu- ment has proved of importance. Mr Eobertson informs me that, in edit- Canon d Scottise ol th e f th so hg in Church s deriveha e h ,d considerable service from a single leaf of a contemporary record of the Canons of the sixteenth century, whic beed hha n used arid bindind preserveol e th g n di of a book. This single leaf is the only bit of manuscript of the Scotch sixteenth century Canons tha knows i t exiso nt Scotlandn i t . n 179I 4 eight official volume e Scottisth f o s h Secretar f State'yo s Eegister of Seisins were discovered in a bookseller's shop in Edinburgh, after they had remained concealed for more than 185 years. Amon e greagth t mas f interestinso g Scottish manuscripts preserved Generar ou n i l Eegister House, datee theron ds e i Arbroath,—Apri l 1320; —perhaps the noblest Scottish document of that era. It is the official duplicat lettea f eo f remonstranc o r e addresse Popo dt e John XXIIy .b 1 This allude portioe th mutilatea o st f no d volumyeae th rr 1606efo , which came e Deputint th Laing'r o M t y m Clergives hi hands wa y k nb d Registeran , t Bu . singular enough, as Mr Laing has since informed me, the identical MS. of Sir George Mackenzie, above noticed salr probabl s fo broughes a m wa , hi yo curioua t t s volume; t havini somy gb e accident bee nseconda lime sold r wastefo paper! Having no diffi- culty in recognising the volume, he of course secured it, and agreeably to the expressed intentio bees Editoha e e worn. - th th depositef 1821n nf i Ad ko MS r o e e th th , n di vocates Library, where, it is to be hoped, it may now remain in safety 4 4 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F P SO YO

the Barons, Freeholders, and Community of Scotland, in which these doughty Scotsmen declare, tha lon o hundrea ts s ga thef do m remain alive, they will never suhmit to the dominion of England. This venerable recor precioud an d s declaratio f Scottiso n h independence, writtea n o n sheet of vellum, and authenticated by the dependant seals of its patriotic authors detectes wa , deceasea y db d Scottish noblema mosa n ni t precari- ous situation discoveree h r fo ; t ruthlessldi y stuck intfire-place oth f o e charter-rooms hi . Contested points in Scottish Archseology and history have been occasionally settled by manuscript discoveries that were perfectly accidental. After the blowing up of the Kirk of the Field, the only one of Darnley's servants that escaped was brought by the Earl of Murray before the English Council therd an , e gave evidence, implying that Queen Mary— that ever-interesting princess, who has been doubtlessly both over-decried by her foes and over-praised by her friends—was cognisant of the in- tended murde r husbandhe f o r , inasmuc , beforehandhas orderee sh , n da placee b o Darnley't n d i d be d ol richee s room th thad d rbe t an , previously removede b o t stoo t i .n di Nearly three hundred years after that dark and sordid insinuatio madenwas rola , paperof l casuallwas s y found, durin gsearca h among some legal document e earlth e f yo sth par f o t seventeenth century, and one of the leaves in that roll contained a con- temporar authenticated yan d official returroyae th f lno furniture losy b t the blowing up of the King's residence. Among other items, this leaf proved, beyond the possibility of further cavil, that the bed which stood in Darnley's roos deathtime hi m th f eo waso , t unchangedp ,u s wa d an , nots allegea , Mary'y b d sworthlesd enemiesan d ol sn a ,piec furnif eo - ture, but, on the contrary, was " a bed of violet velvet, with double hang- ings, braided with gold and silver (ung lictz de veloux viollet a double pante passemente dor et argent)." e fines d TeutoniTh ol t c cros n Scotlani s e well-knowth s i d n pillar which stand thn si e churchyar f Euthwello d Dumfriesshiren i , s wa t I . ignominiously thrown down decrea e Genera y th b ,f eo l Assemblye th f o Presbyterian Church brokes 1642n it i , t bu n; fragments were collected, as far as possible, and the cross itself again erected, by the late clergy- man of the parish, Dr Henry Duncan, who published in the Transactions ANTIQUARIES OP SCOTLAND. 45 of this Society correct drawings of the Eunic inscription on this ancient monument. Two Danish antiquaries, Eepp and Finn Magnusen, tried to read these Eunic lines, and tortured them into very opposite, and—let me simply add—very ridiculous meanings, abou grana t lan f cowd o t dan n s i Ashlafardhal, and Offa, a kinsman of "Woden, transferring property to Ash- loff, &c., all which they duly published. That great antiquary and Saxon scholar late r Kembleth ,eM , then happene tur o dt attentios nhi e th o nt Buthwel l runee inscriptionth languagr w so sa Anglo-Saxone d b an o ,e t , and in no ways Scandinavian, as had been supposed. He found that the inscription consiste poema f d o extract r o , s fro mpoema Anglo-Saxonn i , , in which the stone cross, speaking in the first person, described itself as overwhelmed with sorrow, becaus bornd ha t ei e Christ raised upot a t ni His crucifixion, had been stained with the blood poured from His side, and had witnessed His agonies,— "raiseI powerfue dth l King, The heavense Lorth f do ; I dared not fall down," &o., &c. Who was to decide between the very diverse opinions, and still more diverse reading f thio s s inscriptio e Englisth y nb h antiquars hi d yan Danish rivals ? An accidental discovery in an old manuscript may be justly considere s havina d g settle e wholth d e questionr . o Foro tw , three years after KemblM r d publisheha e readins inscripe dhi th f go - tion identicae th , l Anglo-Saxon poem foun d whicha de h h writte e th n no Euthwell cross was casually discovered in an extended form under the title of the " Dream of the Holy Eood." The old MS. volume of Saxon homilie d religiouan s s lays, from whic e booth h k containins wa t i g printed, was found by Dr Blum in a library at Yercelli, in Italy. With these rambling remark sI hav e alread longyo detaineto r . fa u dyo Ere concluding, however, bear with me for a minute or two longer, while I shortly speak of one clamant subject, viz., the strong necessity of this Society, and of every Scotsman, battling and trying to prevent, if pos- sible, the further demolition of the antiquarian relics scattered over Scotland. Various human agencies have been lon ge destructio busth n yi d nan obliteratio antiquariar ou f no n eart stond han e perio o worksn s t dA ha . this process of demolition gone on in Scotland more rapidly and ruthlessly 46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

than during the last fifty or a hundred years. That tide of agricultural improvement which has passed over the country has, in its utilitarian course, swept away—sometimes inevitably, often most needlessly—the aggers and ditches of ancient camps, sepulchral barrows and mounds, stone circle d cairnsan s , earth-raths varioud an , s other object f deeo s p antiquarian interest. Indeed chiee th , f antiquarian remain f thi- o s sde scription which hav foune eb beeo t d r soisurface e nth ou ar l lef n f o o te r mountain-topsoou n r woods ou r moors n ou i , r n whero o , e verth e y sterilit r inaccessibilityo e spotth r thef o ,y o ' kind protectio symd nan - pathy of the old forest-trees, have saved them, for a time at least, from reckless ruin and annihilation. Some of the antiquarian memorials that I allude to would have endured for centuries to come, had it not been for human interference and devastation. For, in the demolition of these works of archaic man, the hand of man has too generally proved both a busielesa d s scrupulouan r s agent tha hane nth d of time. Eailways have proved amon greateste gth lateste e wels th th a , s f a lo , agent destructionf so r islanou dn I variou. s cherished antiquities have been often most unnecessarily swept awa n constructinyi g these race- courses for the daily rush and career of the iron horse. His rough and ponderous hoof, for example, has kicked down, at one extremity of a railway connected with Edinburgh—(marvellousl righteouslyd yan e th o t , subsequent dispeace of the whole city)—-that fine old specimen of Scot- tish Second-Pointed architecture, the Trinity College Church; while at the other extremit same th f eyo lin t battereei d into fragment castld ol e e th s of Berwick—a fort rich in martial and border memories, and a building rendered interesting by the fact that in connection with one of its turrets there was, at the command of Edward I.—(" the greatest of the Plantage- nets,latess hi s "ta biographer boastfully terms him)—constructed, some x centuriesi s ago caga , f irowoodd o e nan whicn i , immurede hh , with Bomba-like ferocity r foufo , r weary years a poo, r prisoner d thaan , t prisoner a woman—the Countess of Buchan—whose frightful crime con- sisted in having assisted at the coronation of her liege sovereign, Eobert the Bruce. In the construction of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Bailway, the line was driven, with annihilating effect, through the centre of the old and rich Eoman Statio Wale th f Antoninu o n ln o t Castlecarysa . Some years ago, as I passed along the line, I saw the farmer in the immediate ANTIQUARIE7 4 SCOTLANDF SO .

neighbourhoo f thio d s station busily removin gharmlesa s wall,—among the last, if not the very last, remnants of Boman masonry in Scotland. e largesTh t stone circle neae Englisth r h border—the Stonehengr o e Avebur norte th England—formerlf f ho yo y stood near Shapstone Th e. avenues saie leadin o havar t d t i e o gt bee n nearl mileo y tw length n si . The engineer of the Carlisle and Lancaster Kailway carried his line right through the very centre of the ancient stone circle forming the head of chiee th f avenue s hugit f , eo leavin stonew fe ga s e standinth n o t gou western side, where they may he still seen by the passing traveller about half a mile south of the Shap station. If the line had been laid only a few feet on either side, the wanton desecration and destruction of this fine archaic monument might have been readily saved. Eailway engineers, however d railwaan , y directors, car r mor fa er mammo fo e n and money than for mounds and monoliths. t othe olded Bu ran r agents have overturne uprooted dan memoriale dth s transmitted down from ancient times, wit s muca h h wantonnese th s sa railways. Towards the middle of the last century the Government of the day ordered many miles of the gigantic old Eoman wall, which stretches across Northumberlan Cumberlandd dan tossee h o t ,d oved an r pounded into road metal. Abou e samth t e tim Scottisea h proprietor— with a Vandalism which cast a stigma on his order—pulled down that antique enigmatical building, " Arthur's Oven," in order to build, with its ashlar walls, a mill-dam across the Carron. At its next flood the indignant Carron carried awa mill-dame yth buried e an ,r th eve dfo n i r depths of its own water-course those venerable stones which were be- grudged any longer by the proprietor of the soil the few feet of ground which they had occupied for centuries on its banks. In many parts of our country our old sepulchral cairns, hill-forts, castles, churches abbeyd an , s have been most thoughtlessl repred yan - hensibly allowed, by those that chanced to be their proprietors for the time, to be used as mere quarries of ready stones for the building of e villageconstructioth r housesd fo an s d f an field-dike, o n drainsd an s . In the perpetration of this class of sad and discreditable desecrations, many parties are to blame. Such outrages have been practised by both landlord and tenant, by both State and Church; and I fear that the Presbyterian Churc f Scotlanmeano o hn y b s s di fre e from much culpa- 48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF e samth t ea time, us t , matterle e rejoicbilit t th n yBu i e . tha betera t t spirit is awakened on the whole question; and let us hope that our Scot- tish landlords will all speedily come to imitate, when required, the excellent exampl r BaillieM f o e , who, when som ee foun h year o dag s that one of his tenants had pulled down and carried of, for building purposes, some portions of the walls of the four grand old burgs standing Gleiielgn i n Inverness-shirei , , prosecute e delinquenth d t farmer before sheriff-coure th countye th o restor t f forced o t replacd an m , edhi an n ei expensen e stoneow th s l shi al ,possibles whica t a r situ,fa e d hh s an a , removedd ha . Almost all.the primaeval stone circles and cromlechs which existed in the middle and southern districts of Scotland have been cast down and removed. The only two cromlechs in the Lothians, the stones of which have not been removed, are at Eatho and Kipps; and though the stones have been wantonly pulled down, they could readily be restored, and certainl n 181I y . e cromlec3 deservth so e b t o Kippet ha see s y nswa b Sir John Dalzell, still standing upright. In describing it, in the begin- ning of the last century, Sir Bobert Sibbald states that near this Kipps cromlec circla s stonesf eho wa , wit middlee larghth a n i eo ;stontw r eo and he adds, " many such may be seen all over the country." They have all disappeared; and latterly the stones of the Kipps circle have been themselves remove broked buildo t dan , nup , apparently, some neighbour- field-wallsing , though ther abundancwas e stonevicinitof ethe in s y equally well suited for the purpose. Amon moste gth valuabl ancienr ou f eo t Scottish monument cere sar - tainly our Sculptured Stones. Most of them, however, and some even latn i e times, have been sadly mutilate d destroyedan d greatea o t , r o r less degree humay b , n hands converted an , mose th to d t bas e e usesTh . stone at Hilton of Cadboll, remarkable for its elaborate sculpture and ornamenta sides it f so e smootheon l traceryd obliterated ha dan s ha , n di order that a modern inscription might be cut upon it to commemorate ," Alexander Duff and His Thrie Wives." The beautiful sculptured stone of Golspie has been desecrated in the same way. Only two of these ancient sculptured stone e knowar s f nthe o Forthe soute mth f On ho . has been preserved by having been used as a window-lintel in the church of Abercorn—the venerable episcopal see, in the seventh century, of ANTIQUARIE9 4 SCOTLANDF SO .

Trumwine Bishoe Pictse othee th ,th Th f pr.o serve purpose sth a f o e foot-bridge within a hundred yards of the spot where we are met; and it hopee b o t d s thai proprietors it t s will allow this ancient stonsooe h no et removed fro presens mit t ignominious situatio honouren a o nt d placn i e our Museum. I saw, during last autumn, in Anglesey, a stone bearing a very ancient Eomano-British legend, officiating as one of the posts of a park gate—a situation in which several such inscribed stones have been found. Still more informes latel large wa yth I f edo centra l monolitn hi stona e r fro circleScottise fa m th t no , h border, having been thrown down and split up into seven pairs of field gate-posts. " Standing-stones "—the old names of which gave their appellations to the very manors on which they stood—have been repeatedly demolished Scotlandn i obelisn A . f thirteeo k n fee heightn i t impartind an , s git nam landea o et d estat n Kincardineshireei recentls wa , y thrown down; and a large monolith, which lent its old, venerable name to a property and mansion within thre four eo r mile Edinburghf so , was, withi memore nth y of some living witnesses, uproote totalld dan y demolished whe direce nth - tion of the turnpike road in ita neighbourhood happened to be altered.

A healthier and finer feeling, in regard to the propriety of preserving such National Antiquities as I have referred to, subsists, I believe, in the heart of the general public of Scotland, than perhaps those who are their superior richen si rand san k generally give them credit for. Within this century the standing-stones of Stennis in Orkney were attacked, and two or three of them overthrown by an iconoclast; but the people in the neighbourhood resente arrested an d e attempth d threateniny b t t se o gt housbarbari the the corfir eto and of n c aggressor. Afte passinthe r g Parliamentare oth f y Eeform Bill, durin ga kee n contesrepree th r -fo t sentation of a large Scottish county, there was successfully urged in the public journals against one of the candidates the damaging fact that one of his forefathers had deliberately committed one of the gross acts of barbarism which I have already specified, in the needless destruction, in a distant part of Scotland, of one of the smallest but most interesting of Scottish antiquaria n votere polling-boothe relicsth th t d sa an ; s showed that they deemed a family, however rich and estimable, unfit to be intrusted wit parliamentare hth y guardianshi countye th f po , whicd ha h VOL. IV. TART I. D 50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

outraged public feeling by wantonly pulling down one of the oldest stone memorials in the kingdom.

In the name of this Society, and in the name of my fellow-countrymen generally I ,her e solemnly protest agains e perpetratioth t mory an e f no act f uselesso churlisd san h Yandalism needlese th n i , s destructiod an n removal of our Scottish antiquarian remains. The hearts of all leal Scotsmen, overflowin thes a gwito yd lova h f theieo r native land, must ever deplore the unnecessary demolition of all such early relics and monuments as can in any degree contribute to the recovery and restora- e pas th r tioancestors tf ou o nhistorr countrf o ou f d yo . an y These ancient relics and monuments are truly, in one strong sense, national property; for historically they belong to Scotland and to Scotsmen in general, more than they belon individuae th o gt l proprietors upon whose ground they accidentally happe e placedf h o o t t n . Ac Thern a s i e Parliament against the wilful defacing and demolition of public monu- ment s; and , perhap Kilkenne sth y Archasological Association were right when they threatened to indite with the penalties of " misdemeanour " under that statute, any person who should wantonly and needlessly de- stroy the old monumental and architectural relics of his country. Many of these relics might have brought only a small price indeed in the money-market, while yet they were of a national and historical value which it would be difficult to estimate. For, when once swept away, their full replacement is impossible. They cannot be purchased back with gold. Their deliberate and ruthless annihilation is, in truth, so far, annihilatioe th anciene th f no t record kingdome membey th f an so f I r. • of any ancient family among us needlessly destroyed some of the olden record thaf familye so justl bitterlyw on tw ho ho y, d tooan , , woule b e dh denounced and despised by its members? But assuredly antiquarian monuments e oldeth s na , record whola f so e realm e infinitelar , y more valuable than the records of any individual family in that realm. Let fondls u y hoptrusd an et tha propea t r spiri f patriotism—thao t t every feelin goodf go , generous gentlemanld an , y taste—will insur hallod ean w the future consecration of all such Scottish antiquities as still remain— small fragments only though they may be of the antiquarian treasures that once existelandr ou .n di ANTIQUARIE1 5 SCOTLANDF SO .

Time, like Sybil offereth o e r ninwh , he de book f destino se th o yt Koman king, has been destroying, century after century, one after another rice oth fh volume f antiquitieso s whic e formerlsh h y tenderee th o t d keepin Scottisr ou f go h fathers t thoughBu . , unhappily, r predecesou - sors, like King Tarquin, rejecte d scornean de ricth dh antiquarian treasures which existed in their days, let us not now, on that account, despis declinr eo securo t e three eth e book f theso m that still perchance remain. On the contrary,—like the priests appointed by the Koman authorities to preserve and study the Sybilline records which had escaped destruction,—let this Society carefully guar cherisd dan h those antiquities r countroou f y whic t the le t exist mhye d strivan , teaco t e h themselves and their successors to decipher and interpret aright the strange things and thoughts that are written on those Sybilline leaves of Scottish Archaeology which Fat stils eha l spare r themdfo . Working earnestly, faithfully lovingld an , n thit yi despai no s s spiritu re t thatth le , s a , scienc f Archaeologo e y gradually grow d evolvesan s , this Society yma yet, in full truth, restore Scotland to antiquity, and antiquity to Scot- land.

A cordial vote of thanks, on the motion of the Honourable LORD NEAVES (see p. 70), was unanimously given to Professor SIMPSON for his very learne interestind dan g Address.

MONDAY, Wth December 1860.

PROFESSOR J. Y. SIMPSON, M.D., Vice-President, in the Chair.

followine Th g gentlemen were ballote elected an r dfo Fellowe th f so Society:— THOMAS MACKNI&HT CKAWFDB f CaitsbuinDo , Esq. DAVID DOUGLAS, Esq., Publisher. WILLIAM WILSO f BanknookNo , Esq., Stirlingshire. D 2 52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY Of

The following Donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to the Donors :— Stone Gist, found unde a cairr t .Eoseislena , near Elgin, consistinf go four undressed Bed Sandstone slabs unequaf o , lCise sizeTh t measure. s inside 3 feet by 2 feet 1 inch ; depth, 2 feet 1 inch. By Sir ALEXANDER GORDON GUMMING of Altyre and G-ordonstone, Bart., through Professor OOSMO INNES, F.S.A. Scot. A finely-finished Cel f light-coloureo t d Stone 2 inche1 , s 4 long d an , inches acros facee anothed sth an ; r polished Cel dark-colouref o t d Stone, 6 inches inche 3 long d an ,s acros face sth e ; from Zetland. A finely-finished Celt of light green Stone, 3| inches long; from Caithness. Two " Stone Knives," consisting of flat discs of Stone, somewhat oval J6 inche e inches5 n shape on i y b se e other th th ,; , partially broken, 6 inches by 4J; both about 3-12ths of an inch in thickness ; from Zetland. A polished Cel f green-coloureo t d Stone 2 inche1 , sinche4 lond gan s across the face ; from Cornwall. Sixteen Celts of various sizes and varieties of Stone ; from Ireland. Forty-three Flint Weapons from Ireland ; including twenty-one leaf- shaped Arrow-heads, varying in finish and size; eight Arrow-heads with two Barbs; sixteen Arrow-heads, with Stem and Barbs, one partially broken. A Flint Axe-head or Celt, 6J inches long, 4 inches across the face; and a Flint Chisel, 5J inches long, 1 inch across face ; from Denmark. A small Axe-head or Celt of black Stone, 2^ inches long, 1£ inch broad ; from Mexico. • A Four-sided Black Stone, probabl y"a Touch Stone," 2^ inches long, one inch squar e; fro m Mexico. An Axe-hea Celr do f dar o t k grey Stone, with projectine g on ear t a s extremity, 4J inches inchelon3 y gb Stonsa broad ean dImplemen; r o t Axe-hea f Blacdo k Stone inche7 , s inche 2 long d an ,s across face ; from the Islands of the South Sea. Stone Celt from North America, broken at one end. Two round perforated Stones, probably Whorls for the Distaff, each about lj inch in diameter. ANTIQUARIE3 5 SCOTLANDF SO . Upper Stone of a small Pot Querne, 5 inches in diameter, 1 inch in thickness, with three indentation s uppeit n o rs surface perforated an , d centree b holya th n ei . Ten Bronze wedge-shaped Axe-heads or Celts, of various sizes; from Ireland. One deeply-flanged Bronze Celt, 4| inches long hy 1J inch across the face. One Flanged Bronze Celt, from Ireland, broken at one end, 1| inch across face. One Bronze Looped and Socketed Celt from Ireland, 2 inches long, li| inch across face. Small Bronze Vesse r Flagono l , with handl d circulaan e r mouth, e Highland founa mosth n n i i ds f Dumfriesshireo s inche5 ; s high, across mouth 2J inches. Bronze Flat Eing-shaped Celtic Brooch inche4 , s diameter, with Iron Pin, and engraved with four circles and foliage; found at Canisbay, Caithness. Bronze Brooch, in form of a small Animal; found near Wick. Brass Key; found at Wick. Silver Patriarchal Cross, 3J inches long, partially ornamented on both sides with a knarling tool, and with the letters A. F. engraved upon it; found at St Magnus's Cathedral, Kirkwall. Four Etruscan Yases—" Hydria," 5 inches high; a " Lecythus " or Cruet, ornamented with two figures, 5J inches high; an " CEnochbe" or Decanter, ornamented with longitudinal raised ribs, 4 inches high; and an " Olpe" or Jug, of black glazed ware, 9J inches high; found near Agrigentum. Portio f Calvariuno f Skullmo fragmend an , coarsa f o t e clay Urn, from a Cromlech at Algiers. Globular-shaped Urn of light-coloured Sandstone, 8-J inches in height, with rude stone cover; and two Hemispherical Discs of White Sandstone, inche4 diametern si ; foun grava n di t Haga ea r Kim, Malta. Twelve Coins foun Egypt:n di — 1 Large Brass Coin of Ptolemy CSoter) of Egypt. 4 Third Brass Coins of Licinius, all struck at Alexandria, in Egypt. 2 Third Bras Constantinf so Greate eth , struc t Alexandriaka . 4 5 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO YO

Mini1 m Coi f Constantino n e Greatth e , with veiled head, struck after his death. 1 Do., do.; rev.,soldiero tw s wit standardha . Mini1 m Coi Constansf no Constantinef o n so , . 1 Minim Coin of Constantius, son of Constantine. 1 Constantinopolis, struc removan ko seaf o lEmpiref o t . By A. HENKY EHIND, Esq., of Sibster, Hon. Mem. S.A. Scot. Humerus and Lower Jaw of a Human Skeleton, from a Cromlech at Haugabost, Harris. Human Lower Jaw and portion of another, found in a Circular Grave at Bernera, Harris. By Captain F. W. L. THOMAS, Corr. Mem. S.A. Scot. Twenty-five Stemme Barbed dan d Flint Arrow-heads variouf o , s sizes. Twenty-two Leaf-shaped Mint Arrow-heads, varying in size and finish. Five larger Flint Arro Spear wo r Heads, rud charactern ei . Seven Stone Celts, varyin n charactegi n sizf stonei o r ed froan , m8 tincheo4 lengthn si . Two small perforated Stone Discs or Whorls, one ornamented with incised lines. And Two rude Clay Pipe-heads, one marked with a star on each side of the bowlfare l foun th f Cloiste mAl o n .do r Seat, Udny, Aberdeenshire. By CHABLES SIMPSON TEMPLE, Esq., Udny. Two Flint Arrow-heads, finely finished ; from Cull en of Buchan, Banffshire. Amber Bead, 5-8th incn a diameten hf i s o r; foun d amongs debrie th t s ofortifiea f d headlan t Culleda Buchanf no . Five Leaf-shaped Arrow-heads of reddish-coloured Flint, varying in" size and finish ; found near an earthen mound at Cullen of Buchan. By Mr JAMES PATERSON, Macduff, Banffshire. FlinA t Arrow-head, from Culle r f WILLIABuchano M n y B M. HUTCHISON, Fishery Banffy b , . Two Stemmed and Barbed, and one fine Leaf-shaped Arrow-heads of yellowish-coloured flint, varying in length from 2f inches to If inch; found in Strathdon, Aberdeenshire. By Sir CHARLES FOKBES of Newe and Edinglassie, Bart. ANTIQUARIE5 5 SCOTLANDF SO .

Leaf-shaped Arrow-hea f brown-coloureo d d Flint 2 inche, s long; found at Skirling, Peeblesshire. And An Arrow-head, with Stem and Barb, of grey-coloured Flint; found t Slipperfielda , nearLinton. By Mr THOMAS BROWN, Schoolmaster, Linton. Stone Celt, 12 inches long, and 4 inches across face ; found in cutting fooe draia f Tintocth o tt a n k Hill, Lanarkshire. Silver Penn Edwarf yo . d(LONDONI ; foun) a moss n i d , near Syming- ton, Biggar. r JAMEM y SB AITKEN, Broadfield, Symington. Stone, encrusted apparently with Glass, fro ma plac e knowe th s a n Old Glass Kiln t Shoggla , e Burn, Morayshire e Eevth y .B GEORG. E GORDON, LL.D., Birnie. Four Stemme Leaf-shape o Barbedd tw dan d an , d Flint Arrow-heads, varyin sizn gi e from 3 1o |Jt inche s; Townshifoune th n di Bayhamf po , London District, Canada West. By the Eev. JAMES STEWART, Paisley. Oval-shaped Stone, 4 inches by 3, and 2 inches in thickness, with a bevelled opening 1 inch across, cut through the centre; found in the bed of the river Devon, near Alloa. Presented by PETER D. HANDYSIBE, M.D. There were exhibited— A Valuable Collection of Greek and Eoman Silver and Brass Coins. GEORGy B E SIM, Esq., F.S.A. Scot. Dagger and Sheath, with richly-gilt Iron Handle, which belonged to the Mameluke attendant of Napoleon I. By J. M. NAIRNE, Esq. of Dunsinane, F.S.A. Scot. StonA e Celt inche8 , n lengthi s , showing longitudinal markf o s cutting alon e a Stonsides th gd ean ; Hammer 1 inche1 , s long, with pointed facerounded an , d back par r heado t , with- large perforatior nfo handl e; bot h foun Wigtonshiren i d . Br ANDREySi W AGNE f WLocho - naw, Bart.

followine Th g Communications were read :—