ing broke with its own Weight, caufed it to be fet upright, and fupported with a Basement, at her own Expence; the true Dimensions thereof, as it now ftands, I have exhibited, Plate LVI. Fig. I and II. That thefe Obelisks [as they call them] were erected for Victories, gain'd over the Danes, I have very good Reafon to believe, but cannot, from the afore-mention'd Hiftory of their Invafions on Scotland, learn that any Victory was ever gain'd by the Scots in that Country: On the contrary, we have already fhewn, that in the Reign of Malcomb, when Olavus Scandianus, and Enecus, the Danish Generals, were fent into Scotland by Sueno, they pitch'd their Camp in Murray, and gain'd a very confiderable Victory over the Scots, taking Poffeffion of the Caftles of Nairn, Forrefs, and Elgin, which obliged Malcomb to retire into other Parts of the Kingdom. Why this Obelisk was rais'd, or how to explain the feveral Figures thereon, I am at a Lofs, but cannot forbear thinking that it was erected by the Scots after the Battle of Murtloch; for the Danes having gain'd the afore-mention'd Victory in Murray, 'defign'd to fettle themselves, and Families, in that Country, being one of the pleasantest and most fruitful Provinces of Scotland; and accordingly fent their Ships back to bring their Wives and Children over: But their Affairs taking a different Turn, by the Battle of Murtloch, they were oblig'd not only to leave all Thoughts of fettling there, but intirely to quit the Kingdom. The Scots therefore feem to have erected this Obelisk, as a Monu ment not only of the Battle of Murtloch, which oblig'd their Enemies to quit the Kingdom, but as an Evidence of the Disappointment the Danes met with, in their Hopes of fettling in that particular Corner of Scotland. The Tradition concerning this Stone favours my Conjecture, it being ftill call'd King Sueno's Stone; Olavus, and Enecus, the Danish Generals at Murtloch, being fent thither by Sueno. Some indeed are of Opinion that this Obelisk was erected by the Scots, as a Monument of their lofing the Battle in that Country; if fo, the Rarity. is very fingular, for we have great Reafon to believe that all others, in different Parts of Scotland, are Trophies of Victories gain'd by them; and, I am not inclinable to imagine them willing to erect any Monument whatsoever as a Mark of their ill Succefs, it being much more natural to suppose that they rather defired fuch Things fhould be buried in Oblivion. It is not to be deny'd but that fome Obelisks have been erected in these Parts as Funeral Monuments, but those are of a different Sort; however, we have Reason to think that where Figures of armed Men, and Standards, and Military Enfigns appear, thofe were undoubtedly defign'd as Trophies of Victory. Bifhop Nicholson, in his Scots Hiftorical Library, p. 64. fpeaking of the fame Monuments, and Obelisks, has these Words. Were we fure that "the Pitts were a Colony of the Agathrifi, or Maritime Inhabitants of the "Baltick, we could no longer be at a Lofs to whom we should ascribe the "many Monuments found on the North-Eaft Parts of Scotland, which fo "exactly resemble thofe Runic Piles that are in Sweden, and Denmark: But till this is made much plainer, than hitherto it appears to me, I must "believe them to be Remains of the later Incurfions of the Danes, and "other Northern Nations. Hector Boetius, in one of his particular Fancies, "thinks them Relicks of the Egyptian Fashions, looking upon their Figures of Birds, Beafts, &c. as the old Hieroglyphical Way of Writing, practised in the Country from whom the Scots had their Original. "He obferves, likewife, that there was, in old Times, an Alphabet which "admirably exprefs'd the particular Vowels, and Dipthongs, of their Primitive Language, which, he fays, was [even in his Days] taught by Men skill'd " in the Mysteries of their ancient Poetry. How thefe Things agree with his "making King Rutha the firft Contriver of thefe Monuments, let the "Friends and Patrons of his Hiftory confider. He allows, indeed, that "there are some Danish Monuments, near Camuftone, fo called from Camus, a Danish General, there flain, to whose Memory there is an Obelisk " erected, with Draughts of the great Overthrow of himself and his Fol"lowers. The like, in Remembrance of another Victory obtain'd against "that People, by the fame King Malcomb the Second." The Bishop afterwards gives Boetius's Defcription of the Stone at Aber. lemny, in Latin, which I have before taken Notice of, and then proceeds to tell us what Hector Boetius adds, on that Subject, namely, That "the Danish Nobility flain in Macbeth's Time were buried in Emonia Infula, "where their Arms still appear on their Grave-Stones : [and then adds, that] "These last seem properly enough Monumenta Danica ; but the reft, which "are fuppofed to be erected only in Remembrance of their Sufferings, may as probably be thought Scotish or Pictish: However, the Runic Characters, and true Danish Infcriptions, which have lately been discover'd on "fome of these Obelisks, will not fuffer us to doubt any longer of their "Original." The Bishop's Obfervation concerning Boetius's contradicting himself is certainly juft; for his allowing these Monuments to be Relicks of the Egyptian Fashions, from whom he vainly believes the Scots had their Original, and yet to have been contriv'd by King Rutha, will hardly hang together: But, taking it for granted, that the Scots never came from Egypt, yet this Hieroglyphical Way of representing Facts, is uncontrovertedly like the Egyp tian Fashion, and was, without doubt, invented to transmit their most memorable Actions to Pofterity, in thofe dark Ages,, when Literature, and Erudition, were scarce known; and I am not altogether without Hopes, that, as I have had the Honour of presenting these Things first to the View of the World, my Work may be the more candidly receiv'd, and my Errors the more cafily overlook'd: And who knows but fome future Critick in Antiquity, from the very Symbols, and Hieroglyphicks, here exhibited, may discover still ftronger Circumftances, to convince the Enemies of the Scots, that their Nation is not quite deftitute of all Vouchers of Historical Facts, notwithstanding they have had the Misfortune, more than once, to be barbarously and ungenerously plunder'd of their others: I mean, their Records, and Archives. As to the Monuments which regard the Battle of Loncharty, and the Victory over Camus, as alfo thofe of Aberlemny, Inverkething, Lundy, Newbo rough, Foreffe, &c. my few Obfervations upon them, make Bishop Nicholfon's Conjecture very clear, namely, That they were erected in Remembrance of the Danish Sufferings, and are indeed Scotish Monuments, which I hope to render ftill more evident before the Conclufion of this Treatile. L It was a nice Observation of that learned and judicious Prelate, That the Monuments, whereon no Letters are engrav'd, are Scotish, and Pictish, and the others, with Runic Characters, are true Danish Infcriptions: But, of thefe latter, very few are to be found at this Day in Scotland; for my Part, I freely own, I never heard of more than two, one of which I have feen, and, fo I prefume, has his Lordship. That which I faw differs much from all the Monuments hitherto defcrib'd: It lies flat on the Ground, within the Church of Ruthvel, in the Stewarty of Annandale, about four Miles Weft from the Town of Annan, and in the Land of the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Stormount, the Patron of the Church. This Obelisk fome think, was originally of |