the Remains of that Name and Family; which cannot be run up higher then the Conquest.

On the East we have nothing but a few Flourishes, Draughts of Birds, Grapes and other Fruits: all which I take to be no more then the Statuary's Fancy.

On the South, Flourishes and conceits, as before, and towards the bottom, the following decay'd Inscription.

RMT

The Defects in this short piece are sufficient to discourage me from attempting to expound it. But (possibly) it may be read thus.

Gag Ubbo Erlat, i. e.

Latrones Ubbo Vicit.

I confess this has no Affinity (at least, being thus interpreted) with the foregoing Inscription: but may well enough suit with the manners of both antient and modern Inhabitants of this Town and Country.

Upon your pardon and Correction, S, of the Impertinencies and Mistakes in this, (which I shall humbly hope [1291] for,) I shall trouble you with my further observations on the Font at Bridekirk; and to all your other Commands shall pay that ready obedience which becomes,

[This letter is reprinted in Gibson's edition of Camden's Britannia, 1695 and 1722, omitting the last paragraph, and substituting one

based upon Nicolson's (then and ever since) unpublished History of Northumberland, Part 6. This runs, in the edition of 1722 (2. 1031) :]

Thus far of that ancient Monument; besides which, there is a large Inscription on the west; and on the south side of the Stone, these Letters1 are fairly discernible,

IV. NICOLSON'S EPISCOPAL VISITATION

OF BEWCASTLE, 1703.

[As stated above, Nicolson became Bishop of Carlisle in 1702. The next year he visited the various churches of his diocese, and noted in what condition they were. The results of the visitations in

1703 and 1704 are embodied in the Miscellany Accounts of the Diocese of Carlile, published in 1877 by the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archæological Society. The subjoined account of Bewcastle is from pp. 56-7.]

BEAUCASTLE. Jul. 30. The Church 1 is built, Chapplewise, all of a heighth, and no Distinction betwixt the Body and the Chancel; onely there's a small Ascent towards the Communion-Table. No Rails. The Children of the parish are taught here by one John Morley; who was brought hither by (the present Rector) Mr Tong, no such Education haveing been formerly known in these parts. The man has not yet any setled Salary; nor is it probable that he will have any in hast. The pulpit and Reading-Desk are in a tolerable Condition; & so are the Seats, being all lately furnished wth backs, uniformly clumsie. Nothing else is so. There's very little plaister on the Walls; no Appearance of any such thing as yo Queen's Arms or y Ten Commandments. No Bell, to call them in to Divine Service. The Font wants a pedestal, and looks like a Swine's Trough.

The church-yard is pretty well fenced; and a very small Charge will keep it so. Mr Benson and I try'd to recover the Runic Inscription on ye West Side of the cross: But, tho' it looked promiseing at a Distance, we could not assuredly make out even so much as that single line 5 which S1 H. Spelman long since Com

municated to Ol. Wormius. That Short one on the North (which I noted in my Letter to Ob. Walker, long since publish'd in y° Philosophical Transaction, & the last Edition1 of Camden by Dr Gibson) is as fair & legible as it was at first; and stands exactly thus:

Antt BAR n X.

Of which, and the Embroydery that's about it, and of the Imagery on the other Sides, I have no more to say than what I have said almost twenty years agoe; save that, on the South, there's a many-headed Thistle, which has not (probably) any Relation to the Neighboring Kingdom of Scotland, any more than the Vine wch is (a little lower) on the same Side.

[57] The Parsonage-House is lately rebuilt by Mr Tong; who has made it a pretty convenient Dwelling. Into this, Mr Allen (the Curate, who also assists Mr Culcheth at Stapleton) is now removeing his family. The Man's a poor ejected Episcopalian of the Scottish Nation. The Men of Beaucastle would be well content with him, if they had him wholly (as in Justice they ought) to themselves.

V. COX'S MAGNA BRITANNIA, 1720.

[In the Magna Britannia et Hibernia, Antiqua et Nova, published anonymously in 1720, but edited by Thomas Cox, there is a description (1. 388-9) based upon Nicolson's letter, as republished by Gibson. In the reproduction of the five runes which Nicolson found in the long inscription, the rune for S (next to the last) is here replaced by N. A novelty is the imaginary representation of the chequered (north) side of the cross, as given below. The inscription at the foot reems to be recut from that in Nicolson's letter. This figure is reproduced in Gent. Mag. 12 (1742). 319, opposite one of Smith's plates, and in Hutchinson's History of Cumberland 1. 83.]

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