Mention was made on page 57 of the inscriptions which exist on the great shaft of a cross in the churchyard of Bewcastle in Cumberland. These inscriptions are the earliest extant pieces of English prose. They give the names of the King of Mercia, Wulfhere, his queen and her sister, with the date “first year of Ecgfrith King of this realm”, that is, A.D. 670. We have another inscription dated in Ecgfrith’s reign, that, namely, on the dedication stone of the basilica of St. Paul at Jarrow, “in the 15th year of King Ecgfrith and the fourth year of Abbat Ceolfrid”, so that the manner of dating the Bewcastle cross was that usual at the time; the Jarrow inscription is in Latin[282]. Plate XI shows a facsimile of all except the two top lines (which were beyond my reach) of the main inscription on the Bewcastle cross, a copy of which is given in a note on page 57. The runes on Plate XI begin with the _gar_ of _Wothgar_, the second of the three persons who “set up this slender token of victory in memory of Alchfrith once King and son of Oswy”, the half-brother of King Ecgfrith; mention has been made of him on page 9. [Illustration: PLATE XI Runes incised on the Bewcastle Cross. _To face p. 296._] [Illustration: PLATE XII Runes incised on the Ruthwell Cross. _To face p. 297._] The earliest pieces of English verse in existence in their original form are found on the Cross at Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire, a monument of equal magnificence with the Bewcastle Cross, and probably about fourteen years later. King Ecgfrith was slain by the Picts in 685, and the Angles were never dominant in the south-west of Scotland after his death. Plate XII shows a portion of the many runes on this great monument, which is described at pages 235-254 of my little book on _Theodore and Wilfrith_. Reading across the top and down the right side the runes are as follows:— _Krist wæs on rodi hwethræ ther fusæ fearran kwomu æththilæ til anum ic thæt al bih[eald]._ Christ was on the cross, and there hastening from far came they to the noble prince. I that all beh[eld]. Beginning at the top again and reading down the left side, we have:— _Mith strelum giwundad alegdun hiæ hinæ limwoerignæ gistoddun him (æt his licæs heafdum)._ With missiles wounded, they laid Him down limb-weary, they stood at His body’s head. CHAPTER XVIII Alcuin’s latest days.—His letters mention his ill health.—His appeals for the prayers of friends, and of strangers.—An affectionate letter to Charlemagne.—The death scene. [Sidenote: Ep. 147. June 26, 800.]