Above : One of Irish Stone Carving

The skill of the Irish Artists in stone-carving is principally shown in the great stone crosses, of which about forty-five remain. The earliest work of this kind in Ireland were the lapidary inscrip­tions in Roman lettering placed over the tombs of the dead in the first years of Christianity, and it dates from a time before the Irish artists in stone had time to form a style of their own. They seem, as Miss Stokes points out, to be rather the occa­sional and tentative efforts of men who derived their knowledge of letters from various sources abroad. At a later period we find that Ireland became the home of pilgrims and students of various nationalities who sought refuge there from the disorders arid lawlessness that prevailed in Europe. It two these fort^p* influences that woild may trace the fine relief work on the High Crosses, which shows an acquaintance with the early Christian Art of the Roman and Byzantine Schools and their systems of iconography. That art was practised by the Scotch, the Anglo-Saxons and the Welsh, and while we find the same orna­mental material used by the stone-workers of these countries, it only requires a comparison of the existing monuments to show how much superior the Irish artists were to the contemporary artists of England, Scotland, and Wales. The beautiful results attained in Ireland were due to the fact that the people possessed a fine artistic instinct. They knew how to use their decoration in the right place, and so that it should add to the effect of the fundamental form to be adorned, and they held it in subordination to the primary ide# which they wished to express in their art.

Examples of this art are found throughout Ireland. The celebrated High Cross of Tuam was considered by Dr. Petrie to rank as the finest monument of its class and age remaining in Ire­land. The beautiful stone cross at Clonmacnoise was erected to commemorate the foundation of the greatest of the churches there, and to mark the sculpture of King Flann its pious founder. The scupltures on the west side of the shaft represent St. Kevin and King Diarmuid in the act of the erection of the small Church of St. Kevin, and on the opposite side several events in the life of Our Saviour are represented in relief. On one of the two crosses at Monasterboice the panels represent the Fall of Man, the Expulsion from Eden, the Death of Abel, the Crucifixion, and the Last Judgment. There are three sculptured crosses at Kells and there are also fine specimens at Durxow and Cashel. The form in each case is that of the Latin Cross with the circle, a characteristically Irish feature, surrounding the arms of the cross. The panels are enclosed with ornaments similar to those in the manuscripts, and these are reproduced in stone with a delicacy and a lightness of touch that show the highest artistic skill. There are forty-five high crosses still remaining in Ireland, and thirty-two of these are richly ornamental. They date from a period extending from the tenth to the thirteenth century, and in their system of repre­sentation of Biblical scenes the types appear to have been drawn from the Byzantine and Latin guides which were written for the purpose of assisting Christian artists in their selection and treatment of sacred subjects. Sometimes we find associated with religious subjects, scenes from royal processions, hunting scenes, trumpeters and harpers, and other types taken from the ordinary life of the people.