(The drawing of this monument, as well as those of the following inscribed stones, is borrowed from W. Kinnebrook's "Etchings of the Runic Monuments in the Isle of Man,” London, 1841, 8vo. But the faulty inscriptions in that book are here corrected.)

In the middle of the village of Kirk Michael, close to the northern corner of the churchyard, is a stone not less richly sculptured than the preceding one, with all sorts of figures of stags, dogs, serpents, horses, horsemen, &c., which are placed round a large cross covered with interlacings, or scrolls. The inscription on it runs thus:

"Jualfir sunr Thurulfs eins Rautha risti krus thana aft Frithu muthur sina." (Or, "Joalf, son of Thorolf the Red, erected this cross to his mother Frida.")

At the end of the inscription is carved the figure of a man (probably Joalf), with a shield on his arm and a lance in his hand. (See the annexed cut.)

The language of the inscriptions, as well as the Scandinavian names which appear in them,-as Thor

laf, Arnbjörg, Frida, and particularly the names compounded after the genuine Scandinavian fashion, as Sandulf the Swarthy, and Thorolf the Red,-sufficiently prove that these monuments were erected by Northmen, or Norwegians, to their relatives who had died in the Isle of Man. A piece of runic stone in the wall of Michael's Church bears the name of Grim the Swarthy ("Grims ins Suarta "); and in some similar fragments of inscriptions near Kirk Onchan we find the names of Thurid ("Thurith raist runir," i. e., Thurith engraved runes) and Leif (“tra es Laifa fustra guthan son Ilan "). The wellknown Scandinavian name, Asketil, is also found on the remains of a runic inscription in the museum in Douglas ("p. Askitil vilti i trigu aithsaara siin ;" i. e., whom Asketil deceived in security, contrary to his pledge of peace). At the same time, however, we may infer from names like Neaki, Fjak, and Jabr, that the Northmen must, when these inscriptions were written, have already mingled with the original Gaelic inhabitants of Man. A stone at Kirk Michael, which is ornamented with a finely sculptured cross, on the sides

THENYMERIFERIPHERYERDERE

Some hitherto inexplicable fragments of inscriptions at Kirk Onchan may also possibly contain Gaelic words. The Manx runic stones bear, both in form and workman

ship, a striking resemblance to the previously-mentioned sculptured monuments in the Lowlands, and on the northeast coasts of the Highlands. Yet several of the Manx stones exhibit certain peculiarities; as, for instance, the singular scale-covered serpents surrounded with interlacings, which do not appear in a similar form on the Scotch monuments. But as these serpents and interlacings very much agree with ornaments on different antiquities of the heathen times found in Scandinavia, and, as the language of the runic stones is pure Scandinavian, there is every reason to conclude that the splendid specimens on Man were carved by Norwegians, who, though they imitated the monuments in vogue in Scotland, frequently allowed their own characteristically fantastic ideas to display themselves in peculiar devices. This view is confirmed in a remarkable manner by a few Manx runic inscriptions, the real interpretation of which was first given by Professor Munch. On the stone at Kirk Michael, represented below, is the following inscription:

"Mail Brigdi sunr Athakans smith raisti krus thana fur salu sini sin brukuin Gaut girthi thana auk ala i Mann." i. e., "Malbrigd, son of Athakan (the) Smith, erected this cross for his soul . . . Gaut made this (cross) and all on Man."

According to this, Gaut, who, to judge from the name, was a Norwegian, erected all the crosses which, it must be observed, were at that time on Man. Another inscription perfectly agreeing with this, though taken from a very much defaced and broken monument near Kirk Andreas, on which has been carved a cross with many scrolls (delineated in Kinnebrook's work, No. 8), runs as follows:

66

thana af Ufaig fauthur sin in Gautr girthi sunr Biarnar "(N. N. erected) this (cross) to his father Ufeig, but Gaut Björnsön made it."

Gaut's surname, here given, further proves his Norwegian, or Scandinavian, descent. From the language and manner of writing in the Manx inscriptions still extant, we may assume that, with the exception perhaps of some few pieces at Kirk Michael (Mal Lumkun's inscription) and Kirk Onchan (Leif inscription), which, according to Professor Munch's opinion, are of a somewhat later period, all these inscriptions were from the artist-hand of Gaut Björnsön. It is even probable that several of the other sculptured stones in Man, which are not known to have had inscriptions (particularly at Kirk Onchan, Kirk Braddan, and Kirk Lonan; see Kinnebrook, Nos. 16, 17, 20, 22, 23), were carved by Gaut, or at least by a Northman. At all events, they are somewhat different from the corresponding stones in Scotland; and some of them (Onchan, 20, and Braddan, 23) prove themselves to be genuine Norwegian runic stones, by the same peculiar figures of dragons and serpents as on those before described.

The circumstance that those sculptured monumental stones in Man, which are Norwegian, have both runic writings and peculiar representations of figures, certainly affords a strong corroboration of the opinion before expressed, that the sculptured monuments, generally so finely executed, which are found on the east coast of Scotland, are in fact, though called "Danish," not Scandinavian, but Scotch. As, on the other hand, the runic stones in Man have expressly preserved the name of the person who made them-the Norwegian skilled in runes, Gaut Björnsön, who imitated and altered the Scotch models with great expertness and taste-it is clear that the Norwegians in the remote Western Isles must not be regarded, any more than their kinsmen in the Orkneys and in England, as merely rude barbarians, living only for plunder, war, and bloodshed, and having no feeling for anything higher and nobler. The discovery of Gaut Björnsön's name may be regarded as an instructive addition to the proofs before adduced, that the cathedral in Kirkwall was originally

founded, and partly erected, by a Norwegian layman, the chieftain Kol; as well as that there existed at the same time in England a considerable number of Danish, or Scandinavian, coiners. Of the latter, as we shall see, there were likewise several employed by the NorwegianDanish kings in Ireland. For the rest, these characteristic Scandinavian runic writings suffice to show that, with regard to the civilization then prevailing, the Norwegians or Danes settled in these districts were by no means deficient in education. The Northmen on the Isle of Man were, besides, at a very early period, Christians. Almost all the Manx runic stones are ornamented with the Christian cross; and on a defaced piece of such a monumental stone at Kirk Onchan we even find the words Jesus Christ (“Jsu Krist”). From the language of the inscriptions there is reason to suppose that they were for the most part engraved in the eleventh century. We cannot, therefore, doubt that Christianity must at that time have been already disseminated among the Scandinavian population in the Isle of Man. There was a bishopric in the island in very ancient times; and we learn from history, as well as from the names of the bishops, that in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries several of them were of Norwegian descent; for instance, in 1050-1065, Roolwer (Rolf?); 1077– 1100, Aumond M'Olave; 1181-1190, Reginald, or Ragnvald; 1203-1226, Reginald (son of a sister of King Olaf, of Man); and his successor, John Ivarsön. Unfortunately there is a gap in the chronicles of the bishops of Man from about the year 700 to the year 1025. Had they been perfect, we should possibly have been able to find Scandinavian bishops in the island even earlier than 1050.

The Norwegian monuments in the Isle of Man already mentioned are in themselves numerous and considerable enough to convey an idea of the power which the Norwegians must have possessed there. At all events, the names of places and the runic stones contribute in a high degree to strengthen and illustrate the assertion of the Chronicles,