EARLY CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS Debased Roman capitals are found with Ogam inscriptions on the same stone. Of their palaeographical peculiarities, the chief consists in joining up of two letters together, a part of the first letter forming part of the one adjoining, as, for instance, the M and v in the word TVAVLO on the stone at Hayle. In five cases, viz. at Par, Mawgan Cross, Cuby, Sancreed No. i, and South Hill, the first F of the word FILIVS, or FILI, is run into the following i, thus Fj, while in the example at Sancreed No. i the + preceding the word FILIVS is run into the pj, thus forming a threefold combination. 1 Likewise in five other instances, viz. at Bleu Bridge, Cuby, Mawgan Cross, South Hill, and Worthyvale, the L of the same word is run into the following i, thus Lj. It will be noticed that amongst the foregoing there are two cases in which the word FILI is written by both combinations thus f^H' V1Z - at Cuby and South Hill. It is also a common practice to place the final i of a name horizontally, thus , as in nearly all of the inscriptions on the rude pillar stones. Anglo-Saxon capitals differ from the last by a tendency to assume angular forms, as in the c () at Doydon, Waterpit Down, and Trevena. The A has a horizontal bar across the apex, and an additional vertical stroke hanging from the v-shaped cross-bar thus J^, a peculiarity which occurs in the inscription upon the celebrated Ardagh chalice in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, a Celtic work of art of the best period. 2 It is also found on a stone at Llandawke, Carmarthenshire, and in Cornwall there are five examples on the altar slab at Camborne. The two A'S on the stone at Welltown are similar, but without the top stroke, while that in the name AELNAT on the stone at Trevena has the extra bar across the top, but not the bottom one. It is interesting to note the alteration in the form of the Roman G ; at Doydon and Nanscowe the bottom stroke is brought back thus Q, and on the Lewannick No. 2 and St. Clement's stones the sickle-shaped G is used thus Cj . Other characteristic letters are the Q made like a p backwards, the 8 for th, and p for w, as on the Saxon stone at Lanteglos by Camelford. Hiberno-Saxon minuscules were the natural outcome of the art of writing, in which greater speed was attained by the rounding of the letters ; e.g., v became u, made in one stroke instead of two. The letters in this alphabet 3 are practically the same as those in use at the present day, the chief differences being G for e, f for f, 3 for g, 1 for 1, fl for r, "p or ( for s, and To for t. By far the best example in Cornwall of a minuscule inscription is that on the inscribed cross-base at Redgate, as with the exception of Cardinham No. 2. it is the only inscription in which the whole of the letters are of this form, all others being more or less mixed up with debased Roman capitals. 1 See pi. Ill, fig. 24.. 1 George Petrie, Christian Inscriptions In the Irish Language, , 50. 3 J. R. Allen, Monumental History of the British Church, 66. 411
