A HISTORY OF CORNWALL The inscriptions may be classified as follows : (1) Ogams and (2) debased Roman capitals / (3) Anglo-Saxon capitals . (4) Hiberno-Saxon minuscules . about 450 to 650 about 650 to 850 about 750 to 1050 Anglo-Saxon capitals are occasionally found mixed with Roman capitals, while the fourth class is employed principally on the ornate crosses. The Ogam 1 alphabet consists of four groups of five letters, each letter composed of a straight stroke or strokes, numbering from one to five, the vowel-strokes being much shorter than the others. The strokes are cut with reference either to the vertical angle of a square pillar, or to a vertical stem-line on the face of the pillar. The first group is cut at right angles to, and on the left of, the vertical angle or stem-line, and the second group similarly on the right, the third group diagonally across the line, and the fourth group, or vowels, at right angles across the line. For the sake of convenience the stem-line is placed horizontally in the following groups : First group : Second group : n in mi nil B L F S N OR V H D T C Q I II III Illl Hill Third group : M G NG Fourth group : i ii 111 1111 niii AO U E I There are three or four other additional characters in this alphabet, but since their occurrence is rare and they are not found in Cornwall it is not necessary to include them here. 1 See R. R. Brash, Ogham Inscribed Monuments of the Gaedbil (1874) ; Sir S. Ferguson, Ogham In- scriptions in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland (1887) ; Prof. J. Rhys, Lectures on Welsh Philology (1887). 410
