A description of the part of Devonshire bordering on the Tamar and the Tavy; its natural history, manners, customs, superstitions, scenery, antiquities, biography of eminent persons, etcin a series of letters to Robert Southey . , as is actually the case with another in-scribed stone in the neighbourhood; and, indeed(of which more hereafter), this, or something of asimilar description, seems to have been its originaldestination: for even in the midst of the inscriptionis a cavity, in the form of an oblong square, whichpossibly may have been cut for the reception of alatch or bar. Its obelisk f
A description of the part of Devonshire bordering on the Tamar and the Tavy; its natural history, manners, customs, superstitions, scenery, antiquities, biography of eminent persons, etcin a series of letters to Robert Southey . , as is actually the case with another in-scribed stone in the neighbourhood; and, indeed(of which more hereafter), this, or something of asimilar description, seems to have been its originaldestination: for even in the midst of the inscriptionis a cavity, in the form of an oblong square, whichpossibly may have been cut for the reception of alatch or bar. Its obelisk form is more apparentwhen viewed laterally; as, at the back, which is of asmoother and blacker surface (probably caused bythe contact of a contiguous stratum), it is ratheracutely gathered to a point; seemingly, however,more by nature than by art. Pol whole, even in his History of Devon, presentsus only with some few particulars as to the natureand dimensions of the stone, but not with the in-scription. As he is not quite exact in the dimen-sions, I here give them. Its height, as it at present r2 364 INSCRIBED STONE. [let. stands, is seven feet two and a half inches. Itsbreadth at the bottom is seventeen, at the top four-. teen inches. From the top to the beginning of theinscription are two feet one and a half inch. And XXI.] INSCRIBED STONE. 365 the ca^dty is eight inches long and two and a halfdeep. This, and other similar monuments, he imaginesto have been Romano-British, and to have beenerected to the memory of a Christianized should rather consider it as the memorial of a Ro-manized Briton, previous perhaps to the introductionof Christianity into this island. There is no cross,nor any request to pray for the soul of the departed,which are so commonly found on the sepulchralmonuments of the early, or rather Romanized, Chris-tians. The inscription may be read (sepulchrum, sivememorise) Sabini filii Maccodechetii. Of which thetranslation, I conceive, may be (the grave,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdec, bookpublisherlondonmurray, bookyear1836
