ie and Dr. Wilson hold the upright bar forming the letter I to be
the primary upright bar of an A or R; and they think the remaining
portions of these letters to be indicated or formed by the linear stop
figured by Lhwyd. That the letter is not A, is shown by the bar being
quite perpendicular, and not oblique or slanting, as in the two other
A's in the inscription. Besides, the middle cross stroke of the A is
wanting; and the second descending bar of the letter is quite deficient
in length--a deficiency not explicable by mutilation from the weathering
of the stone, as the stone happens to be still perfectly entire both at
the uppermost and the lowest end of this bar or line. This last reason
is also in itself a strong if not a sufficient ground for rejecting the
idea that the letter is an R; inasmuch as if it had been an R, the tail
of the letter would have been found prolonged downwards to the base line
of the other letters in the word. For it is to be held in remembrance,
that though the forms of the letters in this inscription are rude and
debased, yet they are all cut with firmness and fulness.

The idea that the terminal letter of the inscription is an R seems still
more objectionable in another point of view. To make it an R at all, we
can only suppose the disputed "line" to be the lowest portion of the
segment of the loop or semicircular head of the R. The line, which is
about an inch long, is straight, however, and not a part of a round
curve or a circle, such as we know the mason who carved this inscription
could and did cut, as witnessed by his O's and C's. Besides, if this
straight line had formed the lower segment of the semicircular loop or
head of an R, then the highest point of that R would have stood so
disproportionately elevated above the top line or level of the other
letters in this word, as altogether to oppose and differ from what we
see in the other parts of this inscription. This same reason bears
equally against another view which perhaps might be taken; namely, that
the straight line in question is the tail or terminal right-hand stroke
of the R, placed nearly horizontally, as is occasionally the form of
this letter in some early inscriptions, like those of Yarrow and
Llangian. But if this view be adopted, then the loop or semicircular
head of the R must be considered as still more disproportionately
displaced upwards above the common level of the top line; for in this
view the whole loop or hea