that gives us back a contemporary monument, however slight, of that
Anglian Church which was the first-fruit of Christianity in our nation.
About twenty years ago, a stone was found at Wearmouth which had been
buried in the ruins of the monastery ever since the ninth century, and
which came up fresh and clear in almost every letter, bearing, "Hic in
sepulcro requiescit corpore Hereberecht prb.[28] (Here in this tomb
Hereberecht presbiter rests in the body)." A fine inscription from
Deerhurst, in Gloucestershire, is now among the Arundel Marbles at
Oxford. It is printed in Parker's "Glossary of Architecture," and in my
Saxon Chronicles. Often the interest of these Latin inscriptions is
enhanced by a strong touch of the vernacular showing through. This is
the case on a fine monumental stone in Mortimer Church.


OF VERNACULAR INSCRIPTIONS

there is one at Lincoln, in the tower of St. Mary-le-Wigford Church.
Into this tower, which is of early date, a Roman pagan monument (Diis
Manibus, &c.) is walled, and, on the triangular gable of the stone, a
Saxon inscription has been carved. It is imperfect, but the general
sense is clear. It must be read from the lowest and longest line upwards
to the apex. It says: "Eirtig caused me to be made and endowed in honour
of Christ and St. Mary." Perhaps the tower, or even the church, is the
speaker. The founder's name is much defaced: I have adopted the reading
of Rev. J. Wordsworth, who has bestowed attention on this stone.

A fragment of a similar inscription, but much more copious, was found at
St. Mary's, York, and is described in Hübner, No. 175.

But the most characteristic of the vernacular inscriptions are those on