pted the Christian
faith.--"Old Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England," by
Dr. George Stephens, F.S.A.]

The Barra stone has on the reverse side a large cross, carved in
plaited bands. Dr. Petrie has pointed out that the cross is not
necessarily indicative of belief, the ancient Danes and other peoples
having used various signs--the cross frequently--to mark their
boundaries, their cattle, and their graves.[19] There is little doubt,
however, that in most of these British and Irish memorials, although
the stones may originally have been Pagan, the cross is typical of
Christianity. We are told that it was not unusual for St. Patrick
to dedicate Pagan monuments to the honour of the true God. On one
occasion, it is related, on the authority of an ancient life of the
Saint, that, on coming to the Plain of Magh Solga, near Elphin, he
found three pillar stones which had been raised there by the Pagans,
either as memorials of events or for the celebration of Pagan rites,
on one of which he inscribed the name of Jesus, on another Soter, and
on the third Salvator, along probably with the cross, such as is seen
on nearly every Christian monument in Ireland. In the same way on
two of five upright pillars in the parish of Maroun, Isle of Man, are
crosses deeply incised. This spot is traditionally associated with St.
Patrick as the place where he preached, and the stones appear to be
remains of a Druidical circle.

[Footnote 19: "Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language." Collected
by George Petrie, and edited by Miss M. Stokes.]

This practice is quite consistent with the principles upon which the
Christian conversion was established by the early missionaries. Thus,
Gregory, in a letter from Rome, in 601, directed that the idolatrous
temples in England should not be destroyed, but turned into Christian
churches, in order that the people might be induced to resort to their
customary places of worship; and they were even allowed to kill cattle
as sacrifices to God, as had been their practice in their previous
idolatry. Hence also arose the system of establishing new churches on
the sites previously held as consecrated by heathen worship.

Of the five old gravestones in the British Museum, four are from
Ireland and one from Fardell in Devonshire. The Fardell stone was
found about the year 1850, acting as a footbridge across a small brook
at Fardell, near Ivybridge, Devonshire--a district once inhabited by
a Celt