s another class or series of
lapidary records has been particularly attracting the attention of
British antiquaries,--viz., inscribed stones of a late Roman or
post-Roman period. The inscriptions on this latter class of stones are
almost always, if not always, sepulchral. The characteristically rude
letters in which they are written consist--in the earliest stones--of
debased Roman capitals; and--in the latest--of the uncial or minuscule
forms of letters which are used in the oldest English and Irish
manuscripts. Some stones show an intermixture of both alphabetical
characters. These "Romano-British" inscribed stones, as they have been
usually termed, have hitherto been found principally in Wales, in
Cornwall, and in West Devon. In the different parts of the Welsh
Principality, nearly one hundred, I believe, have already been
discovered. In Scotland, which is so extremely rich in ancient
sculptured stones, very few inscribed stones are as yet known; but if a
due and diligent search be instituted, others, no doubt, will betimes be
brought to light.

An inscribed Scottish stone of the class I allude to is situated in the
county of Edinburgh, and has been long known under the name of the
Cat-stane or Battle-stone. Of its analogy with the earliest class of
Romano-British inscribed stones found in Wales, I was not fully aware
till I had an opportunity of examining last year, at the meeting of the
Cambrian Archaeological Society, a valuable collection of rubbings and
drawings of these Welsh stones, brought forward by that excellent
antiquary, Mr. Longueville Jones; and afterwards, _in situ_, one or two
of the stones themselves. I venture, in the following remarks, to direct
the attention of the Society to the Cat-stane, partly in consequence of
this belief in its analogy with the earliest Welsh inscribed stones;
partly, also, in order to adduce an old and almost unknown description
of the Cat-stane, made in the last years of the seventeenth century, by
a gentleman who was perhaps the greatest antiquary of his day; and
partly because I have a new conjecture to offer as to the historical
personage commemorated in the inscription, and, consequently, as to the
probable age of the inscription itself.

_Site and Description of the Stone._

The Cat-stane stands in the parish of Kirkliston, on the farm of
Briggs,[128] in a field on the north side of the road to Linlithgow, and
between the sixth and seventh milestone from Edinbur