Another pair of similar armlets found within a few feet of each other, and slightly covered with earth, on the farm of Pitkelloney, near Muthil, in Perthshire, are now in the British Museum. They are not exactly similar in size, though their forms are similar, and their ornamentation almost the same. One measures 16 inches in circumference, the other only 15 inches, but the smaller is the heavier of the two, weighing 3 lbs. 10 oz., while the larger only weighs 3 lbs. 3 oz. The circular spaces in the expanded ends of the armlet are filled with enamelled plates, fastened in their places by iron pins. The enamels are champléve in flat plates of bronze, the colours red and yellow. The patterns (Fig. 117) are not chequered like those in the Castle Newe armlets. One presents a plain rectangular cross-like figure in yellow on a red ground, with a circle of red in the centre. The other has a double quatrefoil in yellow and red on a red ground, with a yellow centre.

An armlet of similar character was ploughed up in a field on the farm of Mains of Auchenbadie, on the estate of Montblairy, in Banffshire, in 1866, and is now in the National Museum. Seen in front (as in Fig. 118) it is penannular and oval in shape, measuring 6½ inches in its longest diameter, and 4 inches from front to back. Its width across the middle of the back (where it is narrowest) is 3¾ inches, and its greatest width across the terminal expansion is 5⅜ inches. Fig. 119.—Bronze Armlet found at Auchenbadie, Banffshire. Back view (6½ inches in diameter).
Fig. 119.—Bronze Armlet found at Auchenbadie, Banffshire. Back view (6½ inches in diameter). Its weight is 3 lbs. 9 oz. Like those already described, it is a solid casting of bronze, having its exterior surface (Fig. 119) divided longitudinally into three bands—convex exteriorly, concave interiorly—the middle band stopping short at the circular aperture in the centre of the terminal expansion, the others passing round it and uniting at the completion of the circle. Fig. 120.—Plan of Ornamentation of Bronze Armlet found at Auchenbadie, Banffshire.
Fig. 120.—Plan of Ornamentation of Bronze Armlet found at Auchenbadie, Banffshire. A boldly chased pattern of zig-zag ornament lies in the furrow between each contiguous pair of bands, and along the slightly depressed furrow at the edges of the outer bands. The convexity of the exterior surfaces of the bands is studded at equal intervals with bold projections nearly an inch in length, placed transversely across the ridges, and standing in rows from side to side of the armlet. From the outer edges of each of these to the inner edge of the next a slightly curved and highly raised projection passes obliquely across the ridge, those on the two outer ridges running parallel to each other, and those on the central ridge in the reverse direction. The circular spaces in the terminal expansions (shown in Fig. 118) have lost their enamelled plates, but the traces remain of the pins and fastenings by which they were secured in their places. The accompanying plan in outline (Fig. 120) of the form and ornamentation of the armlet, shown as it would appear if completely flattened out and seen from above, will render these details more intelligible. From this it appears that the system of arrangement of the members of the ornament is that of the escaping double spiral, while the solid forms of the projecting masses are bounded and outlined by curves of the same formation.

An armlet of similar character, found 6 feet under the surface at Drumside, in the parish of Belhelvie, in Aberdeenshire, is also in the National Museum. It is considerably smaller in size (though it is here shown in Fig. 121 to a larger scale), and measures 4½ inches in its longest diameter, and 4½ inches in greatest width across the centre of the circular expansion of the terminal portion. Its weight is only 28 oz. Like the others, it is a solid casting in bronze, the exterior surface (Fig. 122) triply ridged and studded with projections of the same flattened oval character as those previously described. The less highly raised ridges that pass obliquely from projection to projection are more distinctly trumpet-shaped on the circular terminal part than on the middle portion of the armlet, and a comparison of their forms with the ornament round the eye-holes of the swine’s head from Banffshire (Fig. 95) will show their relationship at a glance. In its form, and the disposition of the members of its ornamentation (as shown on the accompanying plan in outline, Fig. 123), this armlet presents a striking similarity to the one from Achenbadie. It wants the chased border round the exterior edges of the outer bands, but the furrows between the ridges of the contiguous bands are similarly ornamented in both. Like the Castle Newe and Pitkelloney examples, this armlet is one of a pair which were found together. It is not known what became of the other specimen of the pair.

Three others were found in ploughing a piece of new land three miles north-west of Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire, and are now in the possession of the Dowager-Marchioness of Huntly. Two of the three are similar in size and pattern of ornament, though not identical, one being slightly smaller than the other. One (Fig. 124) measures 4¼ inches in the longer and 3¼ in the shorter diameter internally, 2¼ inches in width or height in the middle of the back, and 3 inches across the middle of the rounded extremity. Its weight is 20 ounces. The other, which is precisely similar in the pattern of its ornamentation, measures 4 inches in the longer and 3 inches in the shorter diameter internally, and weighs 14¼ ounces.^[67] Both these examples show an excess of wear at the edge on one side, where fully half the width of the outer band is worn away. The third armlet (Fig. 125) is broken and slightly twisted. It is much plainer, and wants the bold projecting parts of the ornament which are so conspicuous on the others.

An armlet of the same class, preserved in the National Museum (Fig. 126), has both its ends considerably cut away, so as to widen the opening. It measures 4½ inches in greatest diameter, and 3¼ inches in greatest width across the circular extremity. The locality in which it was found is unknown, although there is some probability that it may be one of two said to have been found in the neighbourhood of Bunrannoch, Perthshire. In the pattern and arrangement of its ornamentation it has a strong resemblance to the one next to be described. In all the previous cases these remarkable objects have been found unassociated with other articles, but in the case which follows there was an association which is suggestive of the period of the type.

In 1876, Mr. Lindsay, the tenant of the farm of Stanhope, in Peeblesshire, in searching for a rabbit underneath a large flat stone on the hillside, found the following articles among smaller stones underneath the larger one:—(1) a bronze armlet of the special character of those that have been described; (2) two flat circular buckle-like articles of bronze; and (3) a well made saucepan of bronze with a long side handle. The place where they were discovered is a small hollow close to the brow of a crag some 400 feet high, and lying below the summit of the hill, so that it cannot be seen unless by coming close to the brow of the hill overlooking it.

The armlet (Fig. 127), which is similar in form and ornamentation to those which have been described, measures 4½ inches in greatest diameter internally, and 4 inches from front to back. It is 3 inches wide across the middle of the back where it is narrowest, and 4½ inches across the centre of the terminal expansions. Its weight is 1 lb. 14¾ oz. The enamels which usually filled the circular spaces in the terminal expansions are absent, and there is no trace of the fastenings which held them in their places. The analysis of this armlet by Dr. Stevenson Macadam shows it to be a true bronze consisting of:—

The buckle-like objects (Fig. 128) are slightly oval in shape, formed of a single casting in bronze, consisting of an oval penannular ring 2¾ inches in diameter, convex exteriorly, and slightly hollow behind. It is decorated with two oval ornaments, with bosses at one side, and furnished with a somewhat rectangular projection, having a loop at the back. The ornamentation presents the same character as that of the armlet, but is lower in relief, consisting of curved and trumpet-like forms projecting from the surface.

The saucepan (Fig. 129) is also a single casting in bronze, thin and beautifully finished, and tinned inside. The bowl of the pan is 6 inches wide at the mouth, the sides slightly bulging in the middle, and contracting to a diameter of 3¾ inches across the bottom. Its depth inside is 3⅞ inches. The bottom of the vessel is ornamented on the outside by four projecting concentric bands which give it strength, while the thinning of the metal in the interspaces would serve to transmit the heat quickly. It is furnished with a flattened side handle 5½ inches in length, having a circular expansion at the end. This special form of saucepan of tinned bronze, with the long flat side handle terminating in a circular ornamented and perforated expansion, is found all over the area of the Roman Empire.^[68] They seem to have spread over the area of the Roman colonisation with other products of Roman manufacture, and when they are found in association with objects that are not Roman in form and style of decoration, their presence is an indication that the period of the deposit cannot be widely distant from the time of the Roman occupation. The conclusion drawn from the association of this saucepan with these objects of native workmanship decorated in this purely indigenous style of art, is plainly that this native style of art was already in the period of its highest development at or about the time of the Roman occupation of the southern portion of Scotland.

All these armlets are of one special variety of form, penannular, with expanded ends, having the exterior surface divided into three parallel bands, the middle band stopping short at the circular opening in the expanded extremity, and the bands on either side of it passing round the openings to unite as one endless band.

There is another variety of form exhibited by some armlets of this character, which constitutes a link of connection Fig. 130.—Bronze Armlet, locality unknown, but probably from Bunrannoch, Perthshire (4½ inches in diameter).
Fig. 130.—Bronze Armlet, locality unknown, but probably from Bunrannoch, Perthshire (4½ inches in diameter). between them and an equally remarkable class of armlets characterised by the same style of art, but exhibiting in their form a more distinctly zoomorphic feeling. Of this intermediate variety there are two specimens known in Scotland. The locality of the first specimen (Fig. 130) is unknown, although there is some probability that it may be one of the two previously mentioned as having been found at Bunrannoch, in Perthshire. It Fig. 131.—Bronze Armlet. Back view.
Fig. 131.—Bronze Armlet. Back view. measures 4¼ inches in its greatest internal diameter, and 3 inches in greatest width across the middle of the circular expansion at the extremity. Its weight is 31¾ oz. The openings in the terminal expansions are smaller than in the other armlets, and the projecting ornaments bolder and less uniform in character. Seen from the back (Fig. 131) it presents an appearance so similar to the form of those previously described that it is difficult to detect the variation. But on comparing the plans of the armlet given in outline (Fig. 132) with those of the other armlets (Figs. 120 and 123), the Fig. 132.—Plan of Ornamentation of Bronze Armlet.
Fig. 132.—Plan of Ornamentation of Bronze Armlet. difference is apparent at a glance. By throwing the furrows obliquely, which in the other armlets are parallel to the major axis of the form, and by cutting off the marginal ridges abruptly at the expansions of the rounded ends, the form of this armlet is changed into the similitude of a continuous band folded back upon itself from the two ends in opposite directions. Although it possesses no distinctly zoomorphic character, it thus assumes a suggestively serpentine appearance. This special variety of form is also exhibited by an armlet (Fig. 133), found near Seafield Tower, in the neighbourhood of Kinghorn, in Fife, which is at present exhibited in the Museum. Its ornament (Fig. 134) is somewhat different in character, and the projections less prominent. It measures 5¼ inches in its longest diameter internally, and 2⅞ inches across the middle of the circular expansions at each extremity.

From these descriptions it appears that there are two distinct varieties of one strongly-marked typical form of massive bronze armlet, decorated in a style of art which is remarkable for the special Celticism of its characteristics. It is a form which is found over a wide area in Scotland, and has only been once found out of Scotland. The single example which carries the area of the form beyond the bounds of this country was found near Newry, in County Down, Ireland (Fig. 135). It is 5 inches in its greatest diameter, and 3½ inches in height, and belongs to the transitional variety, which links this typical form with the zoomorphic type, which I next proceed to describe.

Some time before 1827 a man shooting over that wide waste of sand known as the Culbin Sands, near the mouth of the Findhorn, accidentally lost his gun-flint. He knew, however, that in a special locality among these sand hills there is, on the site of an ancient settlement of the hunters of prehistoric times, a spot which is thickly strewn with fragments of flint, which these early hunters, who also used this material, had accumulated in the manufacture of their arrow-heads and other implements. Accordingly, he proceeded to this ancient flint factory to furnish himself with a new gun-flint, and when looking about for a suitable flake for his purpose he found a large and finely-made armlet of bronze (Fig. 136), which he carried with him and sold to a shopkeeper in Forres for half-a-crown. It subsequently passed into the possession of Lady Cumming of Altyre, by whom it is now exhibited in the Museum. It was described by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, and engraved in the Transactions of the Society so long ago as 1827. At that time it stood alone, and was regarded more as a curiosity than as a work of art. Now it stands as the representative of a peculiar class of art-products, which, so far as we know, are confined to Scotland alone. Its form is that of an armlet, formed of a coiled, double-headed serpent. It measures 3½ inches in diameter, and the same in depth externally. Its internal diameter is 2½ inches, and its weight 2 lbs. 9½ oz. It is a single casting in bronze, convex externally, concave internally, throughout the length of the coils, which, though closely contiguous, are completely separate, so that a sheet of paper can pass between them. There are three complete coils, and the middle coil (as seen in Fig. 137) is symmetrically ornamented with lozenge-shaped spaces, bounded by curves, and of considerable prominence. Each end terminates in a snake-like head, the eyes of which are set with blue glass. In front of the eyes is a round disc, sunk in the metal, which has probably been filled with enamel. The upper part of the head and neck is ornamented with raised trumpet-shaped scrolls, and about three inches behind the terminal head there is a simulation of a second head, the eyes of which are also set with blue glass. Speaking of it as a work of art, Sir Henry Ellis unhesitatingly calls it Roman work of the very best period, while Sir Thomas Dick Lauder observes that its workmanship is most beautiful. The taste which it displays, he says, is exquisite, and the detail executed with the greatest delicacy. And he further remarks that the natural form of the serpent has not been servilely and awkwardly copied, “as one might expect that a workman in an infant state of society would have done.” But there is nothing in the character of the work, or in the nature of the art, to suggest that the workman belonged to an infant state of society. The technical skill displayed in modelling and casting such a difficult piece of work is undoubtedly of a very high order, and he would be considered a good workman to-day who could turn out an equally well finished casting of the kind. As to the design of the decoration there can be but one opinion. It possesses the merits of originality of conception, boldness of treatment, purity of style, and freedom of execution. It is decoration, also, of that complex kind which unites the effects of colour with those of form, and deals harmoniously with the results of such diverse processes as modelling in relief, chasing and engraving, the setting of jewels, and the fixing of enamels. The qualities of brain and hand that conceived and executed this piece of metal-work are not to be estimated solely by the results they have obtained in this single example. The man who did this was capable of much higher work if higher work had come in his way, and this solitary specimen of the work of an unknown artist is at least as interesting for the potentiality which it reveals as for the actual ability which it so clearly displays.

In the same year in which this armlet was first exhibited to the society (i.e. in 1827) another of similar character (Fig. 138) was presented to the Museum by the Dowager-Countess of Morton. It had been found at Pitalpin, near Dundee in 1732; but no record of the circumstances in which it was found is now extant. It is smaller than the one previously described, though still of greater size and weight than would now be considered convenient for wear as an article of personal adornment. It measures 3 inches in diameter, and about 3¼ inches in width externally, and has an internal diameter of 2½ inches. Its weight is almost 2 lbs. It is a single casting of bronze, consisting of three coils, of a serpentine form, convex externally and slightly concave within. The serpent-like body of the armlet is ornamented with transverse grooves on either side of a double furrow, running from end to end along the centre of the coils. The terminal portions are formed into the similitude of heads, but there are no settings for the eyes, and the zoomorphic character of the work is but feebly expressed. Nevertheless it is clearly an example of the same typical form and character of art as the Altyre specimen.

Another example, of smaller size (Fig. 139), is also in the Museum, but unfortunately nothing is known regarding its locality and the circumstances in which it was found. Like Fig. 139.—Bronze Armlet (locality unknown).
Fig. 139.—Bronze Armlet (locality unknown). the others it is a single casting of bronze, of three coils of a serpentine form, closely contiguous but not joined to each other by their edges. The coils are ribbed or banded transversely, with smoothly rounded sections on the surface between the bands. The ends are formed into the similitude of animals’ heads. The metal is thin and finely patinated, and the size and weight of the armlet are not excessive. Its internal diameter is 2½ inches, its depth across the coils 2¼ inches, and its weight 9¾ oz.

A fourth of these armlets (Fig. 140), closely resembling the last in form and character, but slightly larger in size, was found in 1874 in the course of the excavation of an underground structure at Grange of Conan, near Arbroath, in Forfarshire. The structure was of the same character as that in connection with which the pair of massive bronze armlets with enamels (Figs. 115, 116) were found at Castle Newe, in Aberdeenshire. The special features of these structures with their contents, and their relations, will be discussed in a subsequent lecture, and it is only necessary in this connection to mark the association of the two forms of armlets with the one type of structure. The armlet itself (Fig. 140) is a single casting of bronze, consisting of three coils, of a serpentine form, divided from each other by a somewhat wider interspace than in any of the other instances, and slightly more convex externally. The metal is thin, and the size and weight of the armlet are not excessive. Its internal diameter is 2⅝ inches, and its depth across the coils 2¼ inches, its weight being about 10 oz.

In these spiral snake-like armlets, we have a class of objects exhibiting a distinct and strongly marked typical character. They are articles of personal adornment, possessing a very special form and style of ornament. Both by the peculiarity of their form and the specialty of their style of ornament they are closely allied to the class of more massive and more peculiar articles of adornment previously described. Like them also they are peculiarly restricted in range. The area over which they have been found, so far as we know, is confined to the eastern portion of Scotland, between the Moray Firth and the Firth of Tay. No specimen is known beyond the bounds of Scotland.

In this connection, also, there falls to be described a class of objects of peculiar type, presenting features of decoration which are essentially Celtic in character. They are mostly carved in stone, but there is one example in bronze which supplies the link between them and the metal-work to which by their decoration they are most closely allied.

This object (Fig. 141) is a ball of cast bronze, found at Walston, Lanarkshire, long in the collection of the late Adam Sim, of Coulter, and now in the National Museum. It is 1½ inch in diameter, divided into hemispheres, which differ considerably in the colour of the metal. Each hemisphere has a different variety of ornament, although the arrangement is the same in both. The surface of the ball is divided into six discs, three in the one hemisphere and three in the other. The discs are separated from each other by deeply hollowed grooves, and each disc in the upper hemisphere is ornamented by a spiral groove, terminating in a zoomorphic ending. The lower hemisphere is similarly treated, except that the spirals are simply geometric in their character.

A ball of clay slate, 2⅞ inches diameter, from Elgin (Fig. 142), of which there is a cast in the Museum, has its surface divided into four projecting discs of considerable convexity, one of which is completely covered with a double spiral pattern, from which smaller spirals escape, but not in the regular manner so characteristic of the double spirals of the Celtic manuscripts and monuments of the Christian time. Another disc shows the commencement of an unfinished spiral. The two remaining discs are plain.

At the Glas Hill, in the parish of Towie, Aberdeenshire, in 1860, a finely ornamented ball of this description (Fig. 143) was found in digging a drain, and is now in the National Museum. It is of clay slate, fine-grained in texture, and dark in colour. It measures almost 3 inches in diameter, and has its surface divided into four boldly projecting discs with considerable convexity, three of which are elaborately carved and the fourth plain. Its ornamentation consists of double spirals, wavy lines arranged concentrically, interrupted concentric circles and escaping spirals, but the lines are not continuous, and the patterns are not worked out with the regularity and precision so conspicuous in the style of the Christian time when the escaping double spiral formed such a characteristic element of Celtic decoration. In the triangular space between the three ornamented discs is a group of three dots arranged as a triangle.^[69]

A ball of fine-grained clay slate (Fig. 144) found at Freelands, near Glasterlaw, Forfarshire, has six projecting discs of slight convexity arranged upon its surface; but the discs are small in proportion to the size of the ball and the interspaces wide. The discs themselves are plain, but the interspaces are partially ornamented. In the space between three contiguous discs is a pattern composed of three triangular figures within each other, formed by the meeting of curved or segmental lines. In the next contiguous space is a double spiral.

A ball of fine-grained dark-coloured sandstone (Fig. 145), found at Fordoun, in Kincardineshire, has its surface divided into seven circular compartments, some of which are simply incised with concentric circles, while in others there is a border of chevrony ornament enclosing the concentric circles.

An example in the collection of Sir J. Noel Paton (Fig. 146) presents a different style of ornament. It is of hornblendic schist, 2¾ inches in diameter, and has its surface divided into six projecting discs, carved with concentric bands of slight convexity, the bands increasing in width and prominence towards the centre of the disc. The spaces between the discs are ornamented by irregular scoopings of the surface as if with the point of a gouge-like tool—a variety of decoration also seen in the gold object found on Cairnmuir (Fig. 114).

On the top of Craig Beg, near Ballater, previous to 1864, three stone cists were found containing interments which, from the presence of ashes and bones, were assigned to the Pagan custom of cremation. Each cist was also surrounded by a number of boulder-stones arranged in a circle of about 15 feet in diameter. Close to one of these cists a stone ball (Fig. 147) was found, having its surface divided into six circular discs of slight convexity, and some of the interspaces between the discs ornamented with small, rounded, slightly projecting knobs.

A ball of fine-grained claystone, in the Perth Museum (Fig. 148), which is said to have been dredged up from the Tay, has its surface divided into four circular discs which scarcely project beyond the circular outline of the ball, and impinge upon each other. In one of the discs the ornament consists of projecting knobs, arranged in rows both ways by the channels between them crossing each other at right angles. The knobs rise from a square base, and are rounded at the summits. This is also the character of the prickly ornament of the hemispheres of the terminal bulbs of the penannular brooches of silver found at Skaill, to which the ornament on the disc of this stone ball has a distinct resemblance. The treatment of the segmental spaces between the discs is also seen in the example from Freelands, Glasterlaw (Fig. 144), and the simply incised ornament of the remaining discs occurs on two other balls (Figs. 149, 150), which have each but one of their discs ornamented.

An example from the island of Skye (Fig. 151) has its surface covered with small hemispherical protuberances. This variety is akin to another which has the whole surface studded with projections of a pyramidal form. Two balls of this latter variety (Figs. 152, 153) were found in one of the chambers of a curious composite structure, or group of structures, situated close to the shore on the south side of the Bay of Skaill, in the mainland of Orkney.^[70] One of these (Fig. 152) has the central portion pierced with a hole. The perforation is roughly made, and considerably wider at its external orifices than in the centre, where it is less than half an inch in diameter.

Another Orkney example (Fig. 154) is allied to these two by the character of its ornamentation. One of its ends is studded with pyramidal projections, the middle portion is ornamented by a continuous spiral, and the other end is filled by a peculiar arrangement of segmental curves.

Many of these balls, however, have their discs destitute of ornament. But whether decorated or undecorated, they usually present the strongly marked typical form, which varies from the approximately circular with rounded discs, like the examples shown from Dumfriesshire (Fig. 155), and Dudwick, in Aberdeenshire (Fig. 156), to those from Mountblairy, in Banffshire (Fig. 157), and Muckle Geddes, in Nairnshire (Fig. 158), which take the form of a cylindrical axis with flat-ended cylindrical projections radiating round its circumference.

In all their varieties of form, these objects present certain features which are suggestive of a possible use as weapons. Their ornate character, their specialty of form, which renders them capable of being swung by thongs or bound to the end of a handle, and the fact that one example is pierced by a hole, are indications in this direction. Although there is no conclusive evidence of the fact, it is at least conceivable that they may have been mounted as mace-heads similar to those metal mace-heads with pyramidal projections which are found occasionally among the relics of the Iron Age, and continued in use in the early Middle Ages, and similar, at least in appearance, to the mace-heads shown (Fig. 159) in the hands of unmounted men in the Bayeux Tapestry.^[71]

But whatever may have been their special purpose or the precise manner of their use, it is of greater importance for the purposes of our inquiry that we should be able to determine their typical relations and ascertain the area to which they are confined. It is clear that they possess a typical form which has no distinctly definable relations with any other class of stone implements. The type is so peculiar and so strongly marked, that if it exists anywhere out of Scotland we should probably have known of its existence. But, with a single exception, said to have been found in Ireland, there is no record that I can discover of the occurrence of any specimen beyond the bounds of Scotland. Within that area it is widely diffused. There are so many specimens in private hands of whose localities we possess no record, that it is impossible to ascertain with any degree of precision the relative frequency of their occurrence in different districts of the country. But their known range comprehends an area which is but little short of the whole area of Scotland. They are most abundant in the north-eastern districts, but they occur as far north as Caithness and Orkney, as far south as Dumfries, and as far west as Argyle. Whether they belong wholly to the Pagan time or partly to the Christian period, it is clear that the prevailing features of their decoration, though distinctly Celtic in character, are not those of the fully developed style of Celtic ornament which prevailed throughout the early Christian time. Nor does it possess the most striking characteristics of the decoration of these objects in metal, of which so many characteristic examples have now been given. But the zoomorphic ending of the spiral pattern on the bronze ball from Lanarkshire, and the double and escaping spirals of the Towie, Elgin, and Glasterlaw specimens, are sufficiently distinctive to claim for them a place in the same system of design which produced the peculiar patterns of the Pagan period, and developed from them the more elaborate systems of decoration so widely applied in the early Christian art of Scotland.

In the whole group of objects described in this Lecture we have a series of examples of the art which characterised the Iron Age Paganism of Scotland—the period that lies beyond the Christian time and reaches back until it merges into the Bronze Age culture. The outcome of the whole examination thus appears to be that the early Christian art of Scotland, although it had close relations with that of Ireland, was nevertheless based upon a pre-existing system of Pagan art peculiar to the area of the British Isles. Although remotely connected with certain developments of art that appear obscurely among the Iron Age relics of Central and Southern Europe, this special system of design received its highest development and attained its full maturity in the British Isles alone. There it became a distinctive school of decoration, exhibiting different aspects in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and attaining in each of these areas a separate development marked by a distinct individuality of character. Its manifestations in Scotland are those of a peculiar and highly characteristic style, confining itself to curvilinear forms, combining its simple elements in a manner that is neither rigidly geometric nor fettered by conditions of absolute symmetry, but producing by the variation and rhythmic recurrence of its peculiar features a series of designs characterised by beauty of form, balance of parts, and harmonious combination. It differs from the art of the Christian time, inasmuch as it presents no intermixture of forms and features that are common to Greek, Roman, or Etruscan art—no interlaced work, no meanders or key-patterns, or fretwork, and no similitude of foliage, or foliageous scrolls. It is zoomorphic, but its zoomorphism is chiefly apparent in the forms of the objects, and seldom exhibited in the designs with which they are decorated. It is more partial to the modelling of solid forms of ornament than to the elaborate enrichment of surface by intricate engraved work, and these solid forms of its surface ornament rarely become zoomorphic. When engraved or chased ornamentation is employed, it is used chiefly to produce broad effects by the contrast between plain spaces in the design and spaces filled with punctulations or chequers of short parallel lines. We find this peculiar style of art employed chiefly in the decoration of metal-work in bronze and gold. The objects so decorated are personal ornaments, arms, harness, and horse-trappings. The technical skill displayed in the fabrication and finish of these objects is great, and the quality of the art displayed in their decoration is high. There is implied in their production a special dexterity in preparing moulds and compounding alloys, in casting, chasing, and engraving, in the polishing and setting of jewels, in the composition and fixing of enamels. But there is further implied an artistic spirit controlling and combining the results of these various processes, giving elegance and beauty of a peculiar cast to the forms of the objects, and increasing the intrinsic elegance and beauty of the form by the harmonious blending of its special varieties of surface decoration, in which forms that are solidly modelled are intermingled with chased or engraved patterns and spaces filled with colour. A style of art characterised by such originality of design and excellence of execution must count for something in the history of a nation’s progress, must have its place to fill in the history of art itself, when once we have begun to realise the fact that art was not the exclusive privilege of classic antiquity.