There is scarcely any difficulty as regards the inscription on the left; the purport being a brief and clumsy account of the sculptor himself. The reason of the reference at the end of the second line may be a sort of justification for suffixing "Israelite" to his name; the following being the passage referred to: "One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and _surname himself by the name of Israel_." The principal perplexity is presented by the inscription on the right, and especially in the second line; containing, as it does, a group of five Hebrew letters, so arranged as to defy the ingenuity of the most erudite lexicographer; there being no word of such construction in the whole range of Hebrew literature. I must premise, before I proceed any further, by stating that I apprehend the sculptor to have been a zealous, though very eccentric, Jewish convert to Christianity; to whom it seemed good to put up that enigmatical sun-dial, with a view to attract the attention, and conduce the inquiry of his Hebrew brethren; which would afford him an opportunity of propounding his Christian views from his own design. I take the Hebrew letters מ מ ש י ר to be the initials of the following words:[4] [Illustration: Hebrew letters] [Footnote 4: According to the first canon of cabbalistical interpretation, called _Notricon_. See _The Fundamental Principles of Modern Judaism Investigated_, pp. 13, 14.]