Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/168

 116 PKOCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OF buckle, ornamented with an inlaid plateof gold, engraved with interlaced bands, and a bordure of small pieces of red glass, arranged in a zig-zag pattern. The ar- rangement of this object, when complete, is shown by the similar buckles represented in Douglas' Nenia, p. 33, and that discovered by Lord Londesborougb, Archaeologia, vol. xxx,, pi. 1. fig. 21. The form seems to have been intended to simulate the head of a horse. — A fine perforated ball of glass con- taining a multiplicity of small fragments of briUiant colours, termed by the Venetians mille fori ; it was found at Shropham, Norfolk. — Several ring- fibulte, one of silver, described as found at the Tower of London ; another star-shaped, with a gem in the centre ; another elegantly wreathed, and bearing the posy,— *moun cuTp auej faiis tieparttcr. a heart-shaped pendant, set with pearls ; and other mediajval ornaments. By Mr. Edward Hoare. — An accurate delineation of an example of the Irish Ogham characters, from a slab found at Glaunagloch, at the base of Mushera Mountain, near Macroom, county Cork, and now preserved in the museum of the Cork Royal Institution. These inscriptions had been considered peculiar to Ireland ; and, although some examples have recently been discovered in Great Britain, it is possible that some readers of the Journal may not be familiar with their remarkable character. They have been regarded as analogous to Runes, and to have formed a kind of hieroglyphic writing, used by the Druids or priests, before the introduction of Christianity and the adoption of Roman letters.' The Ogham letters, Mr. Hoare stated, are seventeen in number, with seven compounds ; they are of the simplest forms, — thort, straight, lines, never ' Our readers are no doubt aware that conHidera)le variance of opinion exists as to the age of the Oghams. We would refer them to the dissertation by Professor Graves, in the Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., published also in a separate form.