II. NOTICE OF THE VARIOUS ATTEMPTS WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE TO READ AN0 INTERPRET THE INSCRIPTION ON THE NEWTON STONE, GARIOCH, ABERDEENSHIRE. BY ALEXANDER THOMSON OF BANCHOKY, ESQ., F.S.A. SCOT. (PLATES X. AND XI.) Although no satisfactory progress has yet been made in reading and translating this mysterious inscription, it seems desirable to collect to- gethe preservd an r a briee f notic whaf es o hithert ha t o been donen ,i e hopth e that scholarstimulatee b y ma s furtheo dt r exertionss i t I . provoking to have an inscription in our own country of unquestionable genuinenes antiquityd an s , which thio t sp u time, , seem havo st e baffled all attempts to decipher it, and that, too, in an age when Egyptian hiero- glyphics and the cuneatic characters of Persepolis, and Babylon, and Nineveh have been force reveao dt l their secret laboriouo t s s scholars. The greatest difficulty with regard to the Newton Stone arises from s beinit g unique otheo n ; r inscriptio knows ni preciseln i n e samyth e character, so that ther nothins ei g wit comparede hb whicn ca t I t hi . is in six unequal lines, and consists of forty-six letters, giving sixteen or seventeen different form t therreasoo n bu s s ; ei o suppos nt e that i t furnishes us with an entire alphabet of the language, whatever it may be. proo a littl w s i fho et I local antiquities were studie Scotlandn di , that so remarkabl monumenea t shoul t havdno e attracte attentioy an d n until the beginnin e presenth f go t century t I appear. havo t s e been first notice 1803n di shepherd y b , neighbourhoode th n si e latth e d Earan , l of Aberdeen went to examine it in 1804; and it was very much through s instrumentalithi y tha t i graduallt y became known e fortunatelH • . y preserve e exac th nota d f to e appearanc e stonth t thaa f eo et time, INSCRIPTIO NEWTOE TH N NO N STONE, ABERDEENSHIRE5 22 . with the small lichens growing in the letters, as well as on the general surface of the stone, previous to the many tracings, and rubbings, and casting n plastesi f lato es whico rt yearha t i h s been subjected. (See "Sculptured Stone) 2. Scotland,f d so an 1 . "pp e earliesTh t engraving t i appea f o sn Pinkerton' i r s Inquiry into e Historth f Scotlandyo , Edinburghr e giveou ar n o i n, tw 1814 d an , Transactions, " Arcbaaologia Scotica," . 316 Accoun volp n "n . i A , ii . t of some Sculptured Pillare Northerth n si n Par f Scotland,o t e th y "b late Professor John Stuar f Marischao t l College, Aberdeen a zealou, s and accurate antiquary. This paper was read in the Session 1821-22, and printe n 1823d i thu d an ,s dre e attentiowth f memberno r ou f o s Societ inscriptione th o yt . engravinge Nonth f eo altogethee sar r accu- largee th rate t f Professoro ,bu r Stuart' e best,—neitheth s i s f theso r e gentlemen give readiny san r translationgo r StuartM . , however, refers to what was the first attempt at translation, so far as we know, which was mad Generay b e l Vallancey e well-knowth , n Irish antiquariane Th . inscription was sent to him not long before his death, and he at once read lines,—firso e th tw t " Gilf Gommara, r "o " Princ e Gommara;e h t bu " could go no further. He appears to have read it through some fancied resemblanc charactere th f eo Eomao st n letters. Wilson give a mors e correct representatio e inscriptioth f no n than either Pinkerto Stuartalsor nhe o givebut , readinno s translationgor . valuabls Hi e work, publishe 1851n i d , assisted, however n makini , t gi more generally known. The late Earl of Aberdeen continued to take a lively interest in the inscription, and he and his son, the Hon. Arthur Gordon, brought it under the notice of the late Dr Mill of Cambridge, one of the most pro- found oriental scholars of the day; and before his death he had written mose th r bt yfa importan t dissertatio e subjecth n no t whic have t hw eye obtained. Dr Mill's paper is a remarkable example of bringing a vast amount of learning to bear upon an inscription in an unknown character. It would be unfaimemors hi o rt regaro yt attaine s resule dha th e th absolutels da y certain ; he probably did not so regard it. Dr Mill proceeds on the theory Phoeniciad tha inscriptioe ol th te th n i n s ni characte languaged an r . The frequent resort of these enterprising navigators of ancient times 226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 1864. Britaio t wels i searcn i n l ti known f ho d givean , t oncsa possibilityea , if not a probability, to the supposition, that some of them may have ven- tured in exploring voyages beyond the Oassiterides, and even reached the north-eas f Scotlano t n searci d f additionao h l supplie e valueth f o ds metal d tha e stonhavy an th ,t ma e been e inscriptioerecteth d an d n. engraven by some such party. Givin consideratioweighe e th du g o t t n that these Phoenicians were the only lettered people of whose intercourse, in the most ancient times, with our country we have certain knowledge, Dr Mill was further strengthened in this supposition by the oriental appearance of the in- scription e resemblancth confirmed y characterb e an , th t i f o n ei d o t s e ancienth t Phoenician, wit he cognat th whic d an eh s dialectwa e h s well.acquainted. e treateH e Newtoth d n Stone inscriptio s Barthelemya n , Swinton, Akerblad, Movers, and others had done undoubted Phoenician inscrip- tions found alon shoree Mediterraneane gth th f so , trusting especiallo yt laboure th f G-eseniusso e greatesth , f Phoeniciao t n scholars reae H d. inscriptione th f courseo , , from righ left,—ho t t e analyse speako t o d(s ) each letter, and assigned to it its letter in the Hebrew alphabet corre- sponding wit anciene hth t Phoenician thed an ,n translated into Latid nan English. e proces Th s laborious r Milwa sD ld broughan , a vast t amounf o t learning to bear upon his work; and it is to be hoped that his paper (which is known to be in type) will soon be published by his friend, the Eev. George Williams of King's College, Cambridge, to whose care Dr Mill's manuscript was intrusted by the Hon. Arthur Gordon. Hitherto s onli t yi know y havinb n g bee ny Mi b n abstracread-a , r it o , f o t Williams, at the meeting of the British Association at Cambridge in 1862. r Mill'resule D Th f so t wor Appendie gives ki th n i n thio t x s paper, Englise Th No h. II translatio. Eshmu, o "nis T n [Go f health]do y b , this Monumental Stone, may the wandering Exile of me thy servant go up in never-ceasing memorial: even the record of Han-Thanit- Zenaniah, magistrate, who is saturated with sorrow!" Eshmun is the Syrian Esculapius. The correctness of this translation was impugned at the meeting by Mr Thomas Wright, who, seeing the inscription for the first time, at INSCRIPTION ON THE NEWTON STONE, ABEKDEENSHIRE. 227 once declared it to be Latin, written in a debased character, of a date subsequent to the departure of the Eomans from Britain, and which he stated to be well known to English" antiquaries, but he does not seem to have pointed out any instances where it could he seen and compared. He, however, at once read the first two lines,—'' Hie jacet Constan- tinus," while in the following lines he said that he saw the word Filius, wit namfathee e hth th f Constantinf eo ro genitive th n ei s ewa casee H . followed by Simonides, who, with equal confidence, pronounced and read s GreeJe,a wha d t veri s an wa yt remarkable, extracte same dth e meaning from the Greek as Mr Wright did from the Latin ! These two critics may therefor fairle eb y hel havins da g effectually confuted each other. Cer- tainly they left untouche learnee dth d labour DrMillf so . Eve heref ni - afte t shouli r e founb d d tha r Mill'D t s translatio t correctno s i n , still s worhi k must ever continu valuabla e b o et e monumen patienf o t t labo- rious investigation, and an admirable example to other scholars. As I spent last winter in Italy, I thought it might be worth while to take correc t e inscriptiocopieth f o s n wit r thifo hs med purposan ; I e had very careful photograph . Eiddles A prepare thesr d M an , I ey b d showed and gave to persons likely to be able to throw some light upon differeno t doni tw d n ei ha t sizesI . ,it sen whicexhibitionw r dfo no hI , the smaller being the one which I prefer, and of which I made most use.