{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_42538/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_42538","id":"gutenberg_42538","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42538","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - European","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Ireland -- Antiquities","Round towers -- Ireland"],"text":"THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Henry O\u2019Brien\n\n_Author of \u201cThe Round Towers of Ireland.\u201d_]\n\n\n\n\n  THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND\n  OR\n  THE HISTORY OF THE TUATH-DE-DANAANS\n\n\n  BY HENRY O\u2019BRIEN\n\n\n  A NEW EDITION\n\n  _WITH INTRODUCTION, SYNOPSIS, INDEX, ETC._\n\n\n  LONDON: W. THACKER & CO., 2 CREED LANE, E.C.\n  CALCUTTA: THACKER, SPINK & CO.\n  1898\n  [_All Rights Reserved_]\n\n\n\n\n_750 Copies only of this Edition have been printed for Sale and the Type\ndistributed, of which this is No. 324._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                      PAGE\n\n  INTRODUCTION                                         vii\n\n  SYNOPSIS                                          xxxvii\n\n  DEDICATION (FIRST EDITION)                           lxi\n\n  PREFACE (FIRST EDITION)                            lxiii\n\n  DEDICATION (SECOND EDITION)                        xciii\n\n  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                                xcv\n\n  AUTHOR\u2019S TEXT (SECOND EDITION)                         1\n\n  LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL IRISH TOWERS AND CROSSES       525\n\n  INDEX                                                529\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n    \u201cWhen all is dark, who would object to a ray of light, merely because\n    of the faulty or flickering medium by which it is transmitted? And if\n    those round towers have been hitherto a dark puzzle and a mystery,\n    must we scare away O\u2019Brien, because he approaches with a rude and\n    unpolished but serviceable lantern?\u201d--_Fraser\u2019s Magazine_ for August\n    1835.\n\n\nHenry O\u2019Brien, the most daring and ingenious explorer of that recondite\nmystery, the origin and purpose of Irish Round Towers, was born in 1808.\nOn both his father\u2019s and his mother\u2019s side he came of good descent,[1]\nbeing connected with two of the oldest and most influential families in\nthe west of Ireland. At the time of his birth that branch of \u201cthe\nO\u2019Briens\u201d to which he belonged were settled in Kerry, where his father\nresided in a wild, mountainous district, known as Iveragh, forming a\nportion of the Marquis of Lansdowne\u2019s Irish estates. That his family were\nin affluent circumstances is improbable, for up to the age of twelve the\nboy\u2019s education seems to have been neglected in a way very uncommon with\nIrish people who are well off. \u201cThough I could then tolerably well express\nmyself in English,\u201d he says,[2] referring to this portion of his life,\n\u201cthe train of my reflections always ran in Irish. From infancy I spoke\nthat tongue; it was to me vernacular. I thought in Irish, I understood in\nIrish, and I composed in Irish\u201d; and again, \u201cI was twelve years of age\nbefore ever I saw a Testament in any language.\u201d From this unusual neglect,\ncoupled with the fact of his becoming a private tutor soon after he had\nsettled in London, and an obscure reference to certain \u201cdifficulties\u201d at\nthe outset of his career as an author, we are probably justified in\nassuming that money was a rather scarce commodity in the paternal home.\nThere is, however, reason to suppose that when he had reached the age of\ntwelve, or thereabouts, his education was taken in hand, though how, or by\nwhom, does not appear. Evidence of his having been sent to school and\nplaced under systematic and qualified instruction is not forthcoming. In\nfact, circumstances go to negative that supposition. His acquaintance with\nGreek and Latin authors seems to have been more extensive than accurate,\nand his quotations from them are marked by solecisms which any properly\ntaught schoolboy would avoid, but in which the self-educated are prone to\nindulge. It is true that (at p. 481) he describes in terms of unqualified\npraise a \u201ctutor\u201d with whom he commenced the study of the Greek Testament;\nbut there is internal evidence in the same passage that such praise was\nnot wholly deserved, and that the tutor in question was certainly not the\nperson referred to in Father Prout\u2019s statement that O\u2019Brien had been\n\u201cbrought up at the feet of the Rev. Charles Boyton.\u201d[3] Mr. Boyton was at\nthe time a highly distinguished Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, who, in\naddition to holding the position of Greek Lecturer at that University, was\nthe most eminent mathematical \u201ccoach\u201d of his day; and the only connection\nlikely to have existed between him and young O\u2019Brien was that of\ncollege-tutor and undergraduate _in statu pupillari_. The probability is,\ntherefore, that any instruction which the boy received at this early\nperiod of his life was of a very elementary character, and that his\neducation was mainly conducted by himself, a probability which is\ncertainly not discounted by the wide and promiscuous character of his\nreading. From the outset of his introduction to letters he is known to\nhave been an omnivorous reader of all books that came in his way, nor was\nhis mode of studying classical authors that by which the scholastic\nproficiency essential to aspirants for success at college examinations is\nusually attained. O\u2019Brien did not resemble the ordinary boy-student, to\nwhom Roman or Greek classics represent merely a given quantity of \u201ctext\u201d\npossessing certain peculiarities of diction or allusion which have to be\nnicely dissected, analysed, and mastered, but who regards the\nsubject-matter of each work as being of very minor importance. On the\ncontrary, he manifestly read them as authors, or rather authorities upon\nthe subjects with which they respectively dealt, paying, so far as we can\nperceive, little or no attention to the diction or distinctive literary\ncharacter of their writings. The result was what might be expected. If,\nwhilst an undergraduate of Dublin University, it be true that he was\nregarded by many of his fellow-students as a prodigy of learning, their\nseniors appear to have been less enthusiastic about his scholarship, for\nwe have not been able to discover his name in the college archives.[4]\nStill, from the fact of his having obtained, after he took his degree in\n1831, the appointment of private tutor to the sons of the then Master of\nthe Rolls,[5] it is possible that he may have distinguished himself\npreviously.\n\nWhat seems absolutely certain is, that during his stay at the University\nhe must have availed himself to the full of opportunities presented by the\nlibrary for which Trinity College is famous. Here, no doubt, he laid the\nfoundation of that Oriental learning in which he was second to no Irishman\nof his day, and probably to few Englishmen. It is hardly too much to say\nthat in the early part of the century Orientalism was comparatively\nuntrodden ground. Sir William Jones had indeed, many years before,\nthoroughly explored this field of knowledge, but the results of his\nsplendid labours had not as yet been properly assimilated by the general\nmass of readers, or supplemented to any remarkable extent by other workers\nin the same field. Hence the scope of European knowledge of the East was\nby no means so extensive then as now; and an enthusiastic student thereof,\nwhich O\u2019Brien undoubtedly was, had it in his power to acquire an almost\ncomplete mastery of the subject, so far as it was then known. It was one\npeculiarly fitted to his ardent, dreamy, and speculative nature. He read,\nhe pondered, he divined, he foresaw. Dark places in the history of his own\ncountry began to grow clear in the light of this Eastern dawn. Hitherto,\nlike so many of his compatriots, he had found no way of accounting for the\nextraordinary contrast between the distinctive superiority of \u201cthe Ireland\nthat _was_\u201d and the relative obscurity of \u201cthe Ireland that _is_.\u201d To\nwhat, he must apparently have asked himself, was the fact to be\nattributed, that a people who in days of old were admittedly pre-eminent\nin learning and civilisation, should have afterwards lost all claim to\nsuch distinction; or how was it that, in a land covered with the ruins of\nstructures evincing the ripest skill and most fanciful artistic device,\narchitecture should have sunk to a level that was almost barbarous? Why\nwas it that this decadence did not take place gradually, as one would\nexpect, but was plainly the result of a sudden check that stopped the\nerection of such edifices at once and for ever? Why were the materials,\nstructure, and conformation of the edifices in question so different from\nthose of other ancient buildings found in their immediate neighbourhood?\nWhy had their sculptured ornamentation reference to what was unconnected\nwith, nay even opposed to, the teachings of that religious faith to which\nits execution was attributed; and why did the peasantry, inheriting the\ntradition of bygone ages, not recognise them as identified with that\nreligion? Questions like these are very stimulating to inquisitive young\nsouls, which usually become fired with an ambition to solve them; and as\nO\u2019Brien pored over Sir William Jones and _The Asiatic Researches_--not to\nmention his beloved, though decried, Herodotus--it was only natural that\nhe should draw certain conclusions from the undoubted affinity that exists\nbetween the languages, folk-lore, customs, superstitions, and modes of\nthought of his own country and those of the Orient. Similar conclusions\nhad forced themselves upon older people who did not possess a tithe of his\nEastern lore. Moore, that versatile Anacreontic, in his ill-fitting\ndisguise of an Edinburgh Reviewer, avowed \u201cThat there exist strong traces\nof an Oriental origin in the language, character, and movements of the\nIrish people, no fair inquirer into the subject will be inclined to deny;\u201d\nand it is further instanced by the same reviewer how the famous traveller,\nBishop Pococke, on visiting Ireland after his return from the East, was\nmuch struck with \u201cthe amazing conformity\u201d he observed between the Irish\nand the Egyptians.[6] From early childhood the questions to which we have\nreferred seem to have been present to O\u2019Brien--even from the time when he\ngazed upon the stunted ruin of Bally-Carbery Round Tower, not far from his\nfather\u2019s house, and had been told by awestruck peasants that the real name\nof that desolate and unsightly object was _Cathoir Ghall_, or \u201cThe Temple\nof Delight\u201d (p. 48). Since then he had seen other and complete round\ntowers; had noticed that all were of the same peculiar shape, and possibly\nhad detected for himself, or learned from other sources, the existence of\nthat phallic analogy upon which he so strongly insists. He must have read\nin Sir William Jones and elsewhere how, in Eastern lands, the idea which\nlay beneath this same analogy formed the basis of a widespread religious\nfaith, and was expressed in structures devoted to public worship. His next\nstep was, almost inevitably, one of conjecture. If, as the voice of\nnational tradition asserted, the round towers are \u201ctemples,\u201d and if\ncertain analogous associations are connected with them, might they not\nhave been temples of a kindred religious belief? Having settled this to\nhis own satisfaction, the speculation would naturally rise--How came that\nparticular form of belief to prevail in Ireland? Was it native to the\nsoil; or if not, by whom was it introduced, and when? His book being\nmainly an answer to these questions, we need not continue to follow the\nvarious stages by which conjecture may have passed into theory, and theory\ninto conviction. With men of O\u2019Brien\u2019s temperament the hypothetical\ninterval is rarely of long duration. Before he had assumed the _toga\nvirilis_ of a full-fledged graduate, he probably felt confident that in an\nEastern origin lay the true solution of the mystery of the round towers;\nand the more he studied the subject, the stronger grew his belief. Being\nan ambitious man, too, he had no intention to forego the honour which he\nwas persuaded must accrue to the discoverer of this key to a problem that\nhad baffled so many generations of inquirers, and longed for an\nopportunity to display his acquisition.\n\nThat opportunity soon came. In December 1830, the Royal Irish Academy\noffered the prize of a gold medal and fifty pounds to \u201cthe author of an\napproved essay on the Round Towers, in which it is expected that the\ncharacteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all those ancient\nbuildings now existing shall be noticed, and the uncertainty in which\ntheir origin and uses are involved be satisfactorily removed.\u201d\nUnfortunately, the advertisement of this offer escaped O\u2019Brien\u2019s notice,\nand he did not join in the competition which it evoked. But on the 21st\nFebruary 1832 the advertisement was repeated, and this time it caught his\nattention. It declared that none of the essays which had been sent in\n\u201csatisfied the conditions of the question,\u201d and extended the period of\ncompetition for another three months (_i.e._ until 1st June 1832), in the\nalleged hope \u201cof receiving other essays on said subject,\u201d and also for\nallowing the authors of the essays already sent in \u201cto enlarge and improve\nthem.\u201d Considering the task that was set, new competitors were thus placed\nat a singular disadvantage--being expected to do in three months what the\nothers had been unable to accomplish in two years. With all due respect to\nthe Royal Irish Academy, it is difficult to believe that its members can\nhave fully realised the nature of their own conditions. There still exist\nsome scores of round towers in a more or less perfect state; and they are\nscattered all over Ireland, being situated for the most part in remote and\nnot easily accessible places. The work of visiting and inspecting\nthese--which was, surely, a necessary preliminary to describing \u201cthe\ncharacteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all\u201d--would\nrequire much time, after which candidates must apply themselves to the by\nno means trifling task of dispelling \u201cthe uncertainty in which their\norigin and use are involved,\u201d and all within three short months.[7]\nO\u2019Brien was not, however, to be deterred by considerations of time or\nspace when confronted with such a chance of winning deathless fame.\nBesides, he was, in one respect at any rate, well equipped for the\nenterprise, having already made up his mind as to the \u201corigin and uses\u201d of\nthe Round Towers. That he had examined them all is not to be supposed, nor\nis it at all likely that at his age he could have possessed sufficient\ntechnical knowledge of architecture, in its historical and scientific\naspects, to profit much by their inspection. Still, he was probably\nacquainted with whatever had been written on that branch of the subject,\nand had actually made an examination of some towers, which would give him\na fair general idea of the whole. Moreover, he had a formidable quantity\nof Eastern learning to fall back upon, in which latter respect he would\nhave enjoyed an immense advantage over all other possible competitors, if\nhis judges had only been qualified to appreciate that learning as it\ndeserved. Be his equipment for the enterprise what it might, the\nenthusiastic young Irishman saw no rocks ahead, felt no mistrust, and\nrushed into the fray. \u201cI grappled with the question,\u201d he assures us, \u201cwith\nall the ardour of my nature; and, _heaven_ and _earth_, _night_ and _day_,\n_in difficulties and in sorrow_, I laboured until I finished my \u2018essay\u2019\nagainst the appointed hour, when--a brain blow to their (_sc._ the\nAcademy\u2019s) expectation--I sent it in--fully satisfied, from the\nconsciousness of its imperturbable axioms, that all the powers of error\nand wickedness combined could not withhold from it the suffrage of the\nadvertised medal.\u201d[8] The meaning of this passionate reference to malign\ninfluences in the background will appear later on; as yet, he had no cause\nfor misgiving on the subject of fair play, and his overweening\nself-confidence precluded any anticipation of failure. Bad omens seem to\nhave attended his venture from the very outset. The Academy had requested\nthat each essay should be inscribed with some motto; and it would appear\nthat the motto appended to O\u2019Brien\u2019s was \u201c\u03a6\u03c9\u03bd\u03b7 \u03b5\u03bd \u03c4\u03b7 \u03b5\u03c1\u03b5\u03bc\u03c9\u201d (_sic_[9])--a\nsorry introduction to the notice of learned Academicians.\n\nThe heartburnings of suspense, with which most young authors are familiar,\nsoon began. Four days after his essay had been sent in, the Academy issued\na _third_ advertisement, requiring all the essays to be taken back, and\nextending the period of preparation by an additional month, \u201cso as to\nadmit of the receiving of other essays on said subject, and for allowing\nthe authors of essays already given in to improve and enlarge them.\u201d\nO\u2019Brien afterwards saw fit to attribute this fresh delay to a cause very\ndifferent from that alleged; but just then, being persuaded that his\ntriumph was merely postponed, he reconciled himself as best he could to\nthe infliction, and calmly waited for apotheosis. Six months more passed\nby--wearily enough, we may be sure; and then, one direful morning, just at\nthe close of 1832, came news that the premiums had been adjudged as\nfollows:--\u201c\u00a350 and the gold medal to George Petrie, and \u00a320 to Henry\nO\u2019Brien, Esq.\u201d\n\nIt may be stated here that an additional premium of \u00a3100, which had been\nplaced by Lord Cloncurry at the disposal of the Academy, was also awarded\nin its entirety to Mr. Petrie, and that the essay sent in by that\ngentleman was, by order of the Academy, printed in their _Transactions_.\nIt further appears that O\u2019Brien\u2019s essay was at first accepted for\npublication in the _Transactions_, but afterwards rejected on the ground\nof having been made too lengthy by the insertion of additional matter,\nthough in its most enlarged form it never attained to the dimensions of\nMr. Petrie\u2019s work, and, presumably, must have been smaller in its original\nthan in its present shape. The true reason for its exclusion from the\n_Transactions_ (as will, we think, appear from what follows) was that the\nAcademy took offence at the way in which O\u2019Brien received their decision.\nNor was such resentment to be wondered at. So confidently had our author\nreckoned upon an overwhelming triumph for the revelation which, as we have\nseen, he believed to be not only unprecedented, but given to the world\nwith flawless perfection of statement, that the award seems to have almost\nmaddened him. Belonging to a race which has never been remarkable for the\nsilent endurance of wrongs, he lost no time in giving expression to his\nfeelings of disappointment. At first came distant mutterings of the storm\nthat was brewing. \u201cOn hearing of the decision,\u201d he informs us, \u201cI wrote\noff to the secretary, tendering, in indignant irony, my thanks for their\nadjudication, taking care, however, to tell them that I had expected an\nissue more flattering to my hopes.\u201d This dignified attitude having\napparently failed to imbue the Academy with a desire to remedy his\ngrievance, he flung off the mask of satire, and rushed into downright,\nunmistakable personalities of a kind rarely addressed to august and\nlearned associations. He declared that, from information which had come to\nhis knowledge, he was prepared to prove \u201cthat the Royal Irish Academy, at\nthe very moment in which they published their second invitation (_i.e._\nthat by which the time for receiving essays was extended to 1st June\n1832), had actually determined to award the gold medal and premium to _one\nof their own Council_.\u201d[10] He then went on to denounce the successful\nessay as \u201ca farrago of anachronisms and historical falsehoods.\u201d He\nprophesied that when both essays were published, and the public given an\nopportunity of seeing \u201cthe truth,\u201d in the shape of his own essay, there\nwould be a general acclamation of \u201cThis alone is right.\u201d He warned the\nAcademy that, \u201cthough separated from them by a roaring sea\u201d (he was living\nin London at the time), his eye was on their plans, and he demanded from\nthem an opportunity for making his _ascription_ of the Round Towers \u201ca\nmathematical demonstration by all the varieties and modes of proof\u201d; and\nfurther, that upon such demonstration they should at once award _him_ the\ngold medal and premium, \u201cor, if that could not be recalled, an equivalent\ngold medal and premium\u201d--not that, as he is careful to assure them, this\noffer was to be construed as an admission that his original essay was not\n\u201call-sufficient, all-conclusive, all-illustrative, and all-convincing.\u201d As\nwas only to be expected, the reply sent to this challenge ran to the\neffect that, \u201cwhatever might be the merits of any additional matter\nsupplied to them after the day appointed by advertisement, the Academy\ncould not make any alteration or revocation of their award.\u201d Then came\nthe rejoinder,--\u201cI do not want them either to \u2018alter\u2019 or \u2018revoke\u2019 their\naward; but simply to vote me \u2018an equivalent gold medal and premium\u2019 for my\n_combined essay_, or, if they prefer, the _new portion_ of it. Should this\nbe refused, I will put my cause into the hands of the great God who has\nenlightened me, and make Him the Umpire between me and the Academy.\u201d[11]\nOne is not surprised to learn that \u201cno answer was received to this\ncommunication,\u201d which, as already pointed out, may have afforded one of\nthe reasons why the Academy declined to publish the essay in their\n_Transactions_. We may sympathise with O\u2019Brien\u2019s disappointment, and even\ngo further in deprecation of the attitude assumed by the Academy; but it\nis impossible to deny that his conduct showed a want of dignity and common\nsense, excusable only on the ground of youth.\n\nAs regards the Academy\u2019s decision, assuming that the competition was\nconducted fairly,--and, _a priori_, everything seemed in favour of that\nassumption,--it is not easy to see how it could well have been other than\nit was. With all possible admiration for O\u2019Brien\u2019s talents and learning,\ncandour obliges us to own that his essay--taken merely as a literary\nperformance--was inferior to that of his rival. Apart from the question as\nto whether his theory was the true one, and that of Dr. Petrie the\nreverse, the Academy were in a manner bound by regard for their own\ndignity, and by the literary standard then prevailing, to withhold the\nmeed of their unqualified approval from a composition which violated in so\nmany respects the established precedents of literary \u201cform,\u201d not to\nmention the canons of good taste. Besides, O\u2019Brien was, in arch\u00e6ological\nmatters, so far in advance of his generation, that a body of elderly\ngentlemen, who simply represented the standard of knowledge prevalent at\nthe time, might well be excused for declining to follow him. They had, in\nfact, to decide between the respective merits of two essays,--one of\nwhich was well put together, conforming, at least in appearance, to the\nstipulated conditions, expressing the most approved views, bearing the\nmarks of careful and systematic investigation and of superior technical\nknowledge, also of literary skill much above the average; the other,\ndaring, novel, incoherent, propounding views which were not only\nunfamiliar, but even shocking, to grave and reverend seignors, rambling in\nmethod, deficient in proof, and slipshod in language. Was it not, then,\nalmost inevitable that they should have preferred the former? But if one\nhas to pronounce upon the way in which the competition was started,\ncarried on, and finally decided, we are by no means sure that O\u2019Brien had\nnot some reason to complain. First of all, with regard to his charge of\nthe Academy having awarded the prize to a member of their own Council, the\nevidence to support it is _prim\u00e2 facie_ strong. Upon turning to vol. xvi.\nof the _Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, we find the names of\n\u201cThe Committee of Antiquities of the Council\u201d for the year 1830 (that in\nwhich the competition was first invited) given as follows:--\u201cIsaac\nD\u2019Olier, LL.D.; Thomas Herbert Orpen, M.D.; Hugh Ferguson, M.D.; Sir\nWilliam Betham; John D\u2019Alton, Esq.; _George Petrie, Esq._; and the Rev.\nC\u00e6sar Otway.\u201d In the next volume of the _Transactions_, extending to 1837,\nthe above list is given without any alteration, except that Mr. D\u2019Alton\u2019s\nname is omitted, that of the Dean of St. Patrick\u2019s being substituted. From\nthis the inference seems only natural that \u201cGeorge Petrie, Esq.,\u201d was a\nmember of the Council (being likewise, as we find, \u201cantiquarian artist to\nthe Academy\u201d) at the time when the idea of offering a prize for an essay\non the Round Towers was first started; that he continued to be a member\nwhile the competition was in progress, and was actually one when the said\nprize was adjudicated. Next, as to the charge that the Academy had\npredetermined to award the prize to a member of its own Council, we have\nthe very compromising letter of the Rev. Mr. Otway (himself a member of\nthe Council) to the editor of the _Dublin Penny Journal_, which is cited\nin the Preface to the first edition of this work,[12] coupled with those\nrepeated postponements of the date for sending in essays, which O\u2019Brien\nassures us were inexplicable on any other ground than that of giving Mr.\nPetrie time to finish _his_ essay. We are far from contending that the\nreasons adduced in support of both these charges should weigh against the\nhigh repute which the Royal Irish Academy has always enjoyed from the time\nof its foundation; still, it is impossible to deny that, in the absence of\nall satisfactory explanation,--at least so far as we have been able to\ndiscover any,--they wear a rather ugly look.\n\nO\u2019Brien was resolved that, as the Academy would not publish his essay, he\nmust do so himself; but in the meantime he had been engaged upon a\ntranslation of Dr. Villanueva\u2019s _Ibernia Ph\u0153nicia_, which appeared in\n1833. Personal liking for the author must have been his motive for\nundertaking this task, as his own views do not always harmonise with those\nof the Spanish _savant_; and certain letters which are quoted in the\n\u201cTranslator\u2019s Preface\u201d show that the two were very intimate. Having made\nthis concession to friendship, he busied himself with the production of an\nenlarged and amended version of his essay. The first edition of this was\npublished, early in 1834, by Whittaker & Co. of London, and J. Cumming of\nDublin. It seems to have met with a ready sale, for a second edition\nappeared during the same year, bearing the imprint of Parbury & Allen,\nLondon, and J. Cumming, Dublin. Both editions are in octavo, and to\noutward appearance uniform, but differ in some respects. On the title-page\nof the first it is described as the \u201cPrize Essay of the Royal Irish\nAcademy, enlarged\u201d--a description omitted in the second. Further, the\ntitle itself is given as \u201cThe Round Towers of Ireland (or the Mysteries of\nFreemasonry, of Sabaism, and of Budhism, for the first time unveiled)\u201d;\nbut the words within brackets are absent from the title-page of the\nsecond. A few corrections, too, appear in the latter edition; but, upon\nthe whole, it is not much more carefully edited than the first--the\ncurious omission of chapters vii. and xxxii. being common to both. What is\nknown in the book-trade as \u201cThe Long Preface,\u201d together with an amusingly\ncomprehensive \u201cDedication,\u201d is omitted from the second edition, a much\nmore commonplace dedication to the Marquis of Lansdowne (described, of\ncourse, as \u201cThe M\u00e6cenas of his age\u201d) being substituted for the latter. As\nthe second, and last, edition is that which had the author\u2019s latest\nrevisions, it has been thought advisable to reproduce it in the present\nissue. No interference with its text has been attempted--typography and\npagination being alike preserved. Nor has anything in the shape of comment\nbeen inserted. A few supplementary additions to the original work will\nprobably not be considered out of place. Together with this Introduction,\nthey comprise a \u201cSynopsis,\u201d of which the object is to assist readers in\nfollowing the track of the main argument--not always an easy task in the\nface of the author\u2019s numerous divagations, annotated lists of the\nprincipal Round Towers and crosses, and an Index to the body of the work.\n\nThe reception accorded to the book by those whose verdict was most\nimportant to its success, was decidedly hostile, and--what must have been\nespecially galling to a man like O\u2019Brien--took the shape of ridicule.\nThough it cannot be said that he had given no occasion for the latter, it\nis equally apparent that much of it was owing to ignorance; for there is\nnot to be found among all the censorious judgments of those \u201cirresponsible\nreviewers\u201d a single attempt at sterling criticism. They attacked his\nstyle, and they laughed his theory out of court, but they never resorted\nto anything that deserved to be called refutation; and showed plainly by\nthe character of their strictures that they were quite in the dark with\nrespect to the nature of the evidence which he adduced in support of his\nstatements. It was profanely said of the late Professor Jowett, that\nwhatever he did not happen to know was held by him not to be _knowledge_;\nand such was the view which his critics seem to have taken of O\u2019Brien\u2019s\ndependence upon Eastern authorities, with which they themselves were\nunfamiliar. As occasionally happens in Irish affairs, a countryman of his\nown led the attack. In one of the weakest articles that ever appeared in\nthe _Edinburgh Review_,[13] Moore, the poet, accused O\u2019Brien of plagiarism\nand other misdeeds. Considering the extent of Moore\u2019s acquaintance with\nOriental literature, and the character of his mind, it is perhaps not\nsurprising that he mistakes the whole drift of O\u2019Brien\u2019s argument, fails\nto perceive the force of those analogies upon which the latter chiefly\nrelied, and, in fact, only succeeds in proving his own incapacity as a\ncritic. But it is less conceivable that he should seek to overwhelm a\nyoung aspirant for literary honours, who was of his own nationality, and\nwith whom he was on terms of at least nominal friendship, with unfounded\ncharges and clumsy ridicule. The secret of this otherwise unaccountable\nseverity is disclosed to us by \u201cFather Prout,\u201d in his article on \u201cThe\nRogueries of Tom Moore.\u201d From it we learn that Moore had endeavoured\nunsuccessfully to secure the co-operation of O\u2019Brien in his forthcoming\nHistory of Ireland, and that, upon the negotiation falling through, a\n\u201ccoolness\u201d ensued between the two. As \u201cFather Prout\u201d had the whole\ncorrespondence laid before him, the story does not rest upon O\u2019Brien\u2019s own\nversion of what took place. But, be it reliable or not, there is no\ndenying that the poet went out of his way--and out of his depth, too--in\nthe effort to crush a young author, who might fairly be supposed to have\nsome claim upon his sympathy. The scent which Moore thus struck was\nfollowed up by the whole critical pack. The _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, for\ninstance,[14] without attempting anything like serious criticism, quizzed\nO\u2019Brien unmercifully. He committed the fatal indiscretion of sending a\nlengthy, but for him most temperate, reply, in which he is fain to cite\nthe _Freemason\u2019s Quarterly Review_ as his solitary backer. The\n_Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_ reserved its answer until he was no more; when, in\nan obituary notice (November 1835), it flung back this retort: \u201cFondly\nimagining that he was the author of most profound discoveries, and as it\nwere the discoverer of a new historical creed, Mr. O\u2019Brien was always in a\nstate of the highest excitement; and when his lucubrations were treated\nwith ridicule instead of serious refutation, he was acutely\nirritated\u201d--which last observation somehow reminds one of that fastidious\nman-o\u2019-war\u2019s man, who, whether the bo\u2019sun \u201chit him high or hit him low,\u201d\ntook no pleasure in being flogged. In fact, there was no real scholarly\ncriticism of the book from any quarter, though its eccentricities of style\nand treatment received due attention. Superficially regarded, indeed, it\nbristled with salient points for attack, and of these the gentlemen of the\npress naturally availed themselves. They described it as \u201cwild and\nextravagant\u201d--and no one could say them nay; but they failed to point out,\nprobably because they failed to see, that under this same wildness and\nextravagance lay profound knowledge of a most unusual kind, powerful if\nsomewhat erratic reasoning, and the only theory as to the genesis of\nancient Irish proficiency in the arts of civilisation which is consistent\nwith the traditions, customs, superstitions, folk-lore, and antiquities of\nthe country.\n\nO\u2019Brien had now settled in London, where such time as could be spared from\nhis tutorial duties was spent in the study of his favourite literature. It\nappears that he had at least two works then in contemplation--one a\nDissertation on the Pyramids, partly written, and the other a Celtic\nDictionary--which latter project excited the ribaldry, altogether\nunfounded,[15] of certain critics. His health, never strong, was now such\nas to cause some apprehension to his friends; still he was able to share\nthe pleasures which London life affords. He went into the fashionable\nworld--which, by the way, does not appear to have taken him quite\nseriously, while acknowledging his talents and erudition. The Marquis of\nLansdowne\u2019s house was open to him; and mainly, no doubt, through the\ninfluence of that kindly nobleman, he was even presented at Court. The\nmilitary career, for which, as he informs us (p. 130), he had a\npredilection second only to \u201chis love for truth and the rectification of\nhis country\u2019s honour,\u201d was no longer an object of ambition; and he may be\nregarded as having resigned himself contentedly to the peaceful avocations\nof a man of letters. Bad health, aggravated by his studious habits, seems\nindeed to have been the only drawback from which he suffered; but although\nthis had previously excited the apprehension of his friends, it was\nwithout any immediate warning that the end came. He had been paying a\nvisit to some acquaintances in the suburbs of London; had spent with them\nan evening, during which he displayed his usual cheerfulness and vivacity;\nhad retired to rest without any symptoms of indisposition; and the next\nmorning was found lifeless in his bed,--death having, to all appearance,\ntaken place quite painlessly during sleep. By those who knew him he was\nmourned, and by none more sincerely than the genial \u201cFather Prout,\u201d who\nadded the following postscript to his article on \u201cThe Rogueries of Tom\nMoore,\u201d already in print when the news of his young friend\u2019s death reached\nhim:--\n\n    \u201cMEM.--On the 28th of June 1835, died, at The Hermitage, Hanwell,\n    Henry O\u2019Brien, author of _The Round Towers of Ireland_. His portrait\n    was hung up in the gallery of Regina on the 1st August following; and\n    the functionary who exhibits the \u2018Literary Characters\u2019 dwelt thus on\n    his merits:--\n\n    \u201cIn the village graveyard of Hanwell (_ad_ viii. _ab urbe lapidem_)\n    sleeps the original of yonder sketch.... Some time back we had our\n    misgivings that the oil in his flickering lamp of life would soon dry\n    up; still we were not prepared to hear of his light being thus\n    abruptly extinguished. \u201cOne morn we missed him\u201d from the accustomed\n    table at the library of the British Museum, where the page of\n    antiquity awaited his perusal; \u201canother came--nor yet\u201d was he to be\n    seen behind the pile of _Asiatic Researches_, poring over his\n    favourite Herodotus, or deep in the Zendavesta. \u201cThe next\u201d brought\n    tidings of his death. His book on the Round Towers has thrown more\n    light on the early history of Ireland, and on the freemasonry of those\n    gigantic puzzles, than will ever shine from the cracked pitchers of\n    the Royal Irish Academy, or the farthing candle of Tommy Moore.... No\n    emblem will mark the sequestered spot where lies the \u0152dipus of the\n    Round Towers riddle--no hieroglyphic.... But ye who wish for monuments\n    to his memory, go to his native land, and\n    there--_circumspicite!_--Glendalough, Devenish, Clondalkin,\n    Inis-Scattery, rear their architectural cylinders; and each proclaims\n    to the four winds of heaven ... the name of him who solved the problem\n    of 3000 years, and who first disclosed the drift of these\n    erections.... Suffice it to add that he fell a victim to the intense\n    ardour with which he pursued the antiquarian researches that he\n    loved.\u201d\n\nOne portion at least of the good Father\u2019s prophecy was amply fulfilled. In\n_Irish Graves in England_, by Michael M\u2019Donagh (_Evening Telegraph\nReprints_: Dublin, 1888), a chapter on O\u2019Brien contains these words:--\n\n    \u201cHis grave cannot now be identified in Hanwell churchyard. It was\n    never marked by even a rude stone. In the register of burials the\n    entry is: \u2018No. 526, Henry O\u2019Brien, Hanwell, July 2, years 26. Charles\n    Birch, officiating clergyman.\u2019 Tho number of the grave did not help\n    towards its identification, and an examination of every stone did not\n    result in the discovery of the name of O\u2019Brien.\u201d\n\nSo passed out of life a gifted young soul that had just begun to know the\nmeasure of its strength. Had O\u2019Brien been spared, he might have taken the\nvery highest rank among antiquarians and ethnologists; as it is, his fame\nmust rest upon a single crude and imperfect work, written in haste, before\nhis powers were fully ripe, or his learning properly assimilated. Beyond\nthis, and his translation of Villanueva, he may be said to have left no\ntrace behind. He had never married, though it is highly improbable that,\nwith his ardent temperament, and that almost reverential admiration for\nthe sex to which he gives frequent expression in _The Round Towers_, he\ncould have reached the age of six-and-twenty heart-whole. From his\nportrait by Maclise (a copy of which forms the frontispiece to this\nvolume), he must, one would think, have been a sufficiently personable\nman--though somewhat frail, and looking older than his years--not to have\nwooed in vain. But he has left no hint of a love affair, beyond occasional\nreferences to a mysterious \u201csorrow,\u201d which may have been of this nature.\nNo stain rests upon his memory; his habits were convivial, but not\nvicious; and he had a great reverence for his own religion, in no way\nweakened by his sympathy with other less perfect aspects of eternal truth.\nIt may be said of him that he left the world without having done it any\nharm, and in the firm belief that he had nobly served the cause of human\nenlightenment,--which surely was no bad ending.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is one thing to admit the ingenuity, or even the plausibility, of a\nwriter\u2019s views, and another to accept them as articles of belief. So far\nfrom claiming for O\u2019Brien that he has completely solved the mystery of the\nRound Towers, we may even confess a doubt that the latter admits of any\ncomplete solution. Certain links in the chain of evidence are wanting,\nwhich, to all appearance, are not likely to be ever supplied. That, for\ninstance, the _Tuath-de-danaans_ came from Persia, bringing with them to\nIreland their arts and their religion, is quite possible; but the absence\nof any reference to such migration in the more ancient Persian historians,\nwhere we should expect to find it; the want of some adequate explanation\nof the motives which could have led a highly-civilised people, accustomed\nto a luxurious climate, to prefer as their final settlement the bleak\nshores of a remote Atlantic island to the more temperate and, to an\nEastern eye, more beautiful countries through which they must have passed\non their way; the all but complete failure to point out the route which\nthey followed in their quest of an asylum--these are gaps which require to\nbe filled up before most of us will be prepared to accept their Eastern\ngenealogy. Still, it must be confessed that O\u2019Brien\u2019s theory rests upon\nother and surer foundations, so far as its essential probability is\nconcerned; also, that it is entertaining and suggestive to a degree which\nrenders it, if not a profitable, at least a pleasing mental exercise.\n\n_The Origin of the Round Towers_ (the first branch of the question\nproposed by the Royal Irish Academy) is really only part of a much wider\nproblem which had long engaged the attention of earnest, capable, and\nindustrious arch\u00e6ologists, with whose names the reader of this work is\nlikely to become only too familiar. The Round Towers are merely one class\nof more or less elaborate architectural or monumental remains, scattered\nall over Ireland, and bearing unmistakable signs of a very remote\nantiquity.[16] That these remains are inseparably connected in time and\norigin, seems to be proved by the fact that no writer upon the subject of\nthe Round Towers had hitherto been able to treat of the latter\nexclusively, without taking into consideration the \u201ccrosses\u201d or \u201ctemples,\u201d\nor other subdivisions of the whole, and that neither Dr. Petrie nor his\nrival claimed exemption from the same necessity. A great portion of their\nrespective works on the Round Towers is devoted, for instance, to a\nconsideration of other antiquities; and what is perhaps the most valuable\npart of O\u2019Brien\u2019s,--namely, that upon which his assumption of a _pagan_\norigin chiefly rests,--is the result of investigation into the nature of\nthat symbolism for which the sculptured crosses are so remarkable. It\nseemed, in fact, impossible for those who studied the subject carefully to\nresist the conclusion that all these remains belong to a period when\nIreland was inhabited by a race which differed in many respects from the\nIrish of a later date. In Dr. Petrie\u2019s opinion, that race consisted of the\nearly Christian missionaries and their proselytes; in O\u2019Brien\u2019s, it\nbelonged to an era far antecedent to Christianity itself; and so far, he\nis at one with the leading authorities who preceded him. Limiting his\nstatement to the Round Towers, Dr. Petrie informs us[17] that, up to the\ntime at which he undertook to decide the matter, two theories prevailed as\nto the \u201corigin\u201d of these structures: (1) That they were erected by the\nDanes; (2) that they were of Ph\u0153nician origin. But O\u2019Brien discards the\nDanes altogether, and only allows a very subordinate part indeed to the\nPh\u0153nicians, namely, that of having, as sea-carriers, assisted to convey\nthe _Tuath-de-danaans_ to Ireland. For the grounds upon which Dr. Petrie\nattributes an exclusively Christian origin to the Round Towers inquirers\nmust be referred to the body of his work, where they will find it most\ningeniously, if not quite ingenuously, argued at much length that these\nstructures were erected between the fifth and thirteenth centuries of our\nera by Christian founders. An outline of his rival\u2019s argument to the\ncontrary is given in the annexed \u201cSynopsis.\u201d The difference between the\nrespective methods of the two theorists is very marked, and here the\nadvantage does not rest with O\u2019Brien. Petrie is calm, precise,\nauthoritative; O\u2019Brien fervid, rambling, and passionately expostulative.\nThat the former has failed to prove his case, and that the latter has to\nsome extent succeeded in doing so, may, or may not, be the fact; but it\nmust be admitted that, if O\u2019Brien was the more successful, he was not the\nmore dexterous combatant. It has been frequently, and perhaps not without\njustice, remarked that \u201cIrishmen have a way of _blundering_ upon the\ntruth\u201d; and from the eccentric fashion in which he sets about proving his\ncontention, some may argue that O\u2019Brien\u2019s success merely affords an\ninstance of this national peculiarity. But it would be hardly fair to do\nso in the case of an author who is acknowledged to have prepared himself\nfor his task by careful study of the authorities bearing upon its subject,\nand whose \u201cdiscovery,\u201d as he calls it, is expressly founded on the results\nof that preparation. In this latter respect he presents a marked contrast\nto his somewhat dictatorial rival, who is wont to treat the exercise of\nprivate judgment by those who happen to differ from himself as a species\nof _l\u00e8se-majest\u00e9_.[18] On the other hand, O\u2019Brien is always imploring the\nreader to follow his argument step by step. \u201cHere,\u201d he ever seems to be\nurging, \u201care the plain, unvarnished facts; here, the incontestable\nauthorities; with these staring you in the face, surely you cannot think\nof denying that such and such an inference is unavoidable?\u201d His reasons\nmay not be always of the best; but, such as they are, he gives them\nfreely. Of the two methods, the public, who are usually impressed by\nself-assertion, preferred the former; and \u201cDr. Petrie\u2019s epoch-making book\u201d\nwas by general consent allowed to have \u201csettled the question of the Round\nTowers for ever.\u201d This comforting belief remained undisturbed for more\nthan a quarter of a century, when, in the year 1867, a book appeared which\nchallenged its infallibility. The author, a Mr. Marcus Keane, seems to\nhave started upon an investigation of Irish ruins from sheer curiosity,\nand with a dispassionate intention to see and judge for himself. He was\ncertainly not actuated by any wish to decry the merits of Petrie\u2019s work,\nto which he confesses his great obligations, and which he appears to have\ntaken at first as his guide. But, having carefully examined bit by bit the\nancient architecture still remaining in most of the Irish counties, and\nhaving tested Petrie\u2019s statements by personal investigation on the spot,\nhe reluctantly confessed that he had lost faith in the latter. \u201cAfter much\nconsideration,\u201d he declares,[19] \u201cI have been forced to the conclusion ...\nthat the generally received theory is not supported by sufficient\nevidence. My conviction of the heathen origin of these ruins has been\nstrengthened in proportion to the increased knowledge which I have\nacquired by examination of the ruins themselves.... Not only the Round\nTowers, but also the crosses and stone-roofed churches are entirely of\nheathen origin.\u201d Further, on all essential points he found himself in\nagreement with O\u2019Brien, the difference between them, in respect of the\nparticular form of paganism to which those remains owe their existence,\nbeing so trifling as hardly to merit notice. Of course, we do not\nundertake to say that he is right: the question is one upon which people\nhave always differed hitherto, and which will probably be a subject of\nvariance until the end of time. But it seems to us that the dispassionate,\nalmost reluctant, judgment of this competent, methodical, and eminently\nfair observer, who approached his subject, not when controversy was\nraging, but after a sufficient number of years had elapsed to admit of\nprejudice dying out, is entitled to carry more than ordinary weight, where\nthe object is to arrive at a conclusion based upon a study of unvarnished\nfacts.\n\nUp to this point the question may be said to have been regarded solely\nfrom the architectural point of view, which is not the most favourable for\nO\u2019Brien; though, considering his necessarily limited knowledge in that\nrespect, he must be admitted to have made out a fairly strong case. It is\nwhere the argument hinges upon analogies between Irish and Eastern\nsymbolism that we have him at his best. Here all the resources of his\ngreat Oriental learning come into play, and may be said fairly to have\nturned the scale in his favour. Indeed, it is perfectly astonishing,\nconsidering that his book was written more than sixty years ago, when he\nwas himself a mere youth, how nearly it reaches the level attained by\nmodern research. In proof of this, it may be as well to refer, by way of\nexample, to one of the latest authoritative treatises on the subject of\nSymbolism, that written by Count Goblet D\u2019Alviella[20] (_Hibbert\nLecturer_ for 1891, and member of the Royal Academy of Belgium), together\nwith its learned \u201cIntroduction\u201d by Sir George Birdwood, K.C.I.E.; and we\ndo so with the less hesitation because, as neither of these writers\nindulges in more than a passing reference to Ireland, no suspicion of a\nwish to strengthen their inferences by making out a pagan origin for Irish\nantiquities can attach to them. The reader who consults these authorities\nwill find that they go far to support O\u2019Brien\u2019s interpretation of the\nsymbolic ornamentation of Irish towers and crosses; that they perfectly\ncoincide with his views on the nature of Sabaic paganism; and generally\nwith his theory, that where symbolism of this character is found existing\nin Western lands, it must have been introduced there from an Eastern\nsource. A few sentences taken almost at random from the Introduction to\nCount D\u2019Alviella\u2019s work, as well as from the book itself, may be adduced\nin support of this assertion. Thus, having stated that \u201cthe religious\nsymbols common to the different historical races of mankind have not\noriginated independently among them, but have, for the most part, been\ncarried from the one to the other in the course of their migrations of\nconquests and commerce\u201d; that \u201cthe more notable of these symbols were\ncarried over the world in the footsteps of Buddhism\u201d; that they were at\nfirst but \u201cthe obvious ideograph of the phenomena of nature that made the\ndeepest impression on Asiatic man\u201d; that the Sab\u00e6ans were \u201cthe Chald\u00e6an\nworshippers of the Host (_Saba_) of Heaven,\u201d[21] it goes on to say:\n\u201cWithout doubt, the symbols that have attracted in the highest degree the\nveneration of the multitude have been the representative signs of gods,\noften uncouth and indecent; but what have the gods themselves ever been,\nexcept the more or less imperfect symbols of the Being transcending all\ndefinition whom the human conscience has more and more clearly divined\nthrough and above all these gods?\u201d How, it may be asked, does this differ\nfrom O\u2019Brien\u2019s description of the nature of that \u201cBudh\u201d who forms the\ncentral idea around which he groups the minor significances of Irish\nSabaism? Again we read: \u201cIt is sentiment, and, above all, religious\nsentiment, that resorts largely to symbolism; and in order to place itself\nin more intimate communication with the being or abstraction it desires to\napproach. To that end men are everywhere seen either choosing natural or\nartificial objects to remind them of the Great Hidden One.[22]... There\nexists a symbolism so natural that ... it constitutes a feature of\nhumanity in a certain phase of development; ... for example, the\nrepresentations of the sun by a disc or radiating face, of the moon by a\ncrescent; ... of the generative forces of nature by phallic emblems.\u201d[23]\nMight we not fancy that this was written by O\u2019Brien? Again: \u201cWhat theories\nhave not been built upon the existence of the equilateral cross as an\nobject of veneration?... Orthodox writers have protested against the claim\nof attributing a pagan origin to the cross of the Christians, because\nearlier creeds had included cruciform signs in their symbolism. And the\nsame objection might be urged against those who seek for Christian\ninfiltrations in certain other religions under the pretext that they\npossess the sign of the Redemption.\u201d Is not this O\u2019Brien\u2019s argument in a\nnutshell? Then we have an entire chapter (iv.), entitled \u201cSymbolism and\nMythology of the Tree,\u201d the substance of which he may be said to have\nanticipated; and so on, all through the book. It is needless to multiply\nquotations; those already given suffice to show that, in its essential\ncharacter, O\u2019Brien\u2019s argument, so far as it relies upon symbolism, is\ncorroborated by those in the front rank of modern arch\u00e6ologists.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt must, however, be confessed that O\u2019Brien is not always so much in\nharmony with modern thought, and that his reasoning from analogies of\nlanguage appears to us, occasionally, neither sound nor ingenuous. Perhaps\nit would be more correct to say that he sometimes, without meaning\ndeception, allows enthusiasm to entice him across the line between fact\nand fiction. In this respect he is not, perhaps, less scrupulous than the\naverage etymologist; but even admitting the veniality of his offence, it\nseems to us that the philological is the weakest portion of his book. In\nhis hands Grimm\u2019s then recently discovered \u201claw of the mutation of\nconsonants\u201d was, as we think, too often strained to cover most\nquestionable derivations, nor did he shrink, apparently, from coining\nforms of words to suit his purpose. As instances of this we may point to\nhis otherwise skilful treatment of the name _Hibernia_ at p. 128, where,\nwithout any authority that we are aware of, he employs the form \u03bd\u03b7\u03bf\u03c2 for\n\u03c5\u1fc6\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2, evidently with a view to strengthen his case; also, to his\nwonderful evolution of the word _Lingam_, at p. 284. But whilst the reader\nwill probably accept his statements on this head with caution, admiration\nof his skill in detecting analogies which only require pointing out to\nsecure our assent, cannot be withheld. That he had in him the making of a\ngreat philologist, is beyond question; and that in course of time, had his\nlife been spared, he would have made this branch of his argument really\nformidable, is very probable. Even as it stands, we may be undervaluing\nits merit: philology is not an exact science, and one can rarely be sure\nof one\u2019s ground therein from day to day. But, judging the matter by such\nlight as we possess, it seems to us that the least valuable part of\nO\u2019Brien\u2019s book is that upon which he evidently prided himself most: others\nmay, possibly on better grounds, be of a different opinion, and we gladly\nleave this portion of the book to speak for itself.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt may, we think, be said without injustice, that when dealing with that\npart of the question which related to the _uses_ of the Round Towers,\nO\u2019Brien was more successful in upsetting the theories of other people than\nin establishing his own. The purposes for which preceding antiquarians had\nseverally claimed that the towers were built are almost endless; but Dr.\nPetrie has summarised the most prominent of them as follows:[24]--(1)\nFire-temples; (2) places from which to proclaim the Druidical festivals;\n(3) Gnomons, or astronomical observatories; (4) Phallic emblems, or\nBuddhist temples; (5) Anchorite towers, or Stylite columns; (6)\nPenitential prisons; (7) Belfries; (8) Keeps, or Monastic Castles; (9)\nBeacons and Watch-towers. Both he and O\u2019Brien agree in holding that the\nRound Towers were not appropriated to any one of these purposes\nexclusively, though they might have been used for two or more of them. It\nis with regard to the selection of these latter that the authors\ndiffer--Petrie adopting views (7), (8), (9); O\u2019Brien, view (3), but with\nmuch reservation; view (4) absolutely, and adding another view of his own,\nnamely, that they were sometimes devoted to memorial or sepulchral uses.\nIt has been mentioned already that Moore charged him with plagiarism in\nrespect of his adoption of view (4); but, like other charges from the same\nquarter, the assertion rests upon unstable grounds. O\u2019Brien made no secret\nof the fact that on many points he shared the views of General Vallancey,\nfor whom he invariably expresses respect, and even admiration; but he is\ncareful to explain that, where their judgments happen to coincide, it is\nfor very different reasons. \u201cI wish it to be emphatically laid down,\u201d he\nsays in one place, \u201cthat I do not tread in General Vallancey\u2019s\nfootsteps.... I have taken the liberty to _chalk out my own road_\u201d; and,\nin another, \u201cThough his perseverance had rendered him (Vallancey) the best\n_Irishian_ of his age, and of many ages before him, yet he has committed\ninnumerable blunders.\u201d This goes to show that he was unlikely to adopt any\ntheory merely because Vallancey held it; and to have arrived at the same\nconclusion by a wholly different road was surely not \u201cplagiarism.\u201d What is\nmore, a reference to the published works of General Vallancey,[25] or even\nto such extracts from them as may be found in Dr. Petrie\u2019s book, will, if\nwe are not mistaken, give rise to some doubt of that author having ever\ndistinctly maintained the Eastern, or pagan, origin of the Round Towers.\nHis views are, however, so nebulous and shifting, that it is difficult to\nsay whether he committed himself to any positive theory on the subject.\nStarting with the conjecture that the Round Towers may have been the work\nof \u201cPh\u0153nicians or Indo-Scythians,\u201d he is soon found attributing them to\ncertain \u201cAfrican sea-champions,\u201d who, in his opinion, were the \u201cPheni,\u201d\nbeing likewise, as he goes on to inform us, \u201ca _Pelasgic_ tribe.\u201d Next, he\ndeclares that it was the _Fomorians_ who, having conquered Ireland,\n\u201ctaught the inhabitants to build Round Towers\u201d; but he afterwards seems to\ndiscard this theory in favour of a \u201cDanish\u201d origin, and ends, to all\nappearance, by resigning himself to the notion that they may, after all,\nhave been built by \u201cChristian\u201d settlers. Nor are his speculations as to\nthe _purpose_ of those structures less varied and conflicting. At one time\nhe maintains that they were undoubtedly \u201cfire-temples\u201d; at another, that\nthey were \u201cbelfries\u201d; and yet again, that they were \u201cbeacons.\u201d But--what\nis especially remarkable in connection with the charge of plagiarism--he\nnever, so far as we can discover, attributes to them a \u201cphallic\u201d\nsignificance. Upon the whole, then, it seems rather unreasonable to accuse\nanybody of having borrowed theories from an author who practically had\nnone; and the probability is that, without having read General Vallancey\u2019s\nworks, Moore had, from hearsay, formed a vague general notion of their\ncontents, which notion he, in the capacity of an irresponsible and not\nover-scrupulous reviewer, ventured to utilise for paying off old scores.\nBe that as it may, we are not prepared to urge that, upon the evidence,\nO\u2019Brien\u2019s theory as to the phallic emblemism of the Round Towers--whether\nhe borrowed it from Vallancey or not[26]--absolutely deserves credence.\nLike his ascription of an Eastern origin to the _Tuath-de-danaans_, it is\none of those things which, so far as we can see, are incapable of proof.\nStill, it cannot be said that there is any inherent impossibility in the\nnotion; in fact, assuming that the Round Towers were built by an Eastern\ncolony, there is much in its favour. For, as all who are acquainted with\nour Indian Empire must be well aware, phallic symbols are there regarded\nwith a veneration which in its character is entirely free from\nassociations that appear to be inseparable from them elsewhere. The East\nand West have taken different views as to the light in which the physical\nagency by which divine creative power has chosen to perpetuate life should\nbe regarded; and to the Hindoo mind, for instance, there is nothing\ninconsistent with the highest moral purity in worshipping an idealised\nrepresentation of the generative principle. A similar belief, on O\u2019Brien\u2019s\nshowing, prevailed in ancient Persia,--indeed, but for its existence\nthere, the Tuath-de-danaans\u2019 immigration into Ireland could hardly have\ntaken place,--so that colonisers from that country, if any such\ncolonisation ever took place, were likely to have introduced corresponding\ntypical representations wherever they settled. Hence the theory of the\nEastern origin of the Round Towers and that of their phallic significance\nare mutually interdependent. Further than this it is useless to go. The\nprobability of either theory is a matter that, if we are not mistaken,\nmost readers will determine for themselves, without much respect to\nauthority; nor has any author who tries to establish a hypothesis on\nevidence the bearing of which upon the subject is in itself hypothetical,\na right to complain that this should be so. O\u2019Brien has been in a manner\nforced to rely upon such evidence all through his book, and the latter\nsuffers in consequence. To our thinking, those portions of it are usually\nthe most convincing where, discarding authority for the most part, he\nrelies upon his own native shrewdness. His attack upon the \u201cbelfry\u201d theory\nis one instance of this. Another is the way in which he combats\nMontmorency\u2019s notion, that the towers may have been intended as places of\nshelter, for persons or property, from hostile invasion. Almost equally\neffective is his refutation of the hackneyed argument, that because Round\nTowers are usually (not invariably, as some assert) found in the vicinity\nof ecclesiastical buildings, they must necessarily be of Christian origin;\nthough here, as in the case of the \u201cbelfry\u201d theory, he might, we think,\nhave insisted more upon the curious circumstance that Christians should\nhave discontinued building them as soon as Christianity was firmly\nestablished in Ireland, but before the country had been reduced to a\npeaceful or settled condition. If such adjuncts to churches were needed up\nto the thirteenth century, there is nothing in the history of Ireland for\nthe next three centuries, at least, which shows that they might have been\ndispensed with. To account for their disappearance by representing it as a\nconsequence of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture,\nwhich took place about the twelfth century, is to beg the whole question;\nfor it assumes that the Round Towers are Romanesque--a point on which we\ntake leave to think that opinions are much divided, as indeed they appear\nto be upon almost every topic connected with the subject-matter of this\nvery remarkable book.\n\nW. H. C.\n\nLONDON, 1897.\n\n\n\n\nSYNOPSIS\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n(PP. 1-15)\n\n\nThe book opens with a preliminary statement, in general terms, of the\nobject which its author has in view. It is to prove that the round towers\ndate from a more remote antiquity than that usually assigned to them; that\nthey were, in fact, erected long before Christianity reached these\nislands, and even before the date of the Milesian and Scandinavian\ninvasions. In support of this view, he contrasts the materials,\narchitecture, and costliness of their construction with those of the early\nChristian churches usually found in their vicinity (cf. p. 514), and\naccounts for the contiguity of the latter by stating that the Christian\nmissionaries selected, as the sites of their churches, localities\npreviously consecrated to religious use, in order that they might thereby\n\u201cconciliate the prejudices of those whom they would fain persuade\u201d; whilst\nhe points out that a Christian origin has not been claimed for Cromleachs\nand Mithratic caves, in the vicinity of which ecclesiastical remains\nlikewise abound. On the other hand, he insists that the general structure\nand decorative symbolism of the round towers is clearly indicative of\npagan times and a pagan origin, more especially of that primitive form of\npaganism which, originating in Chaldea, diffused itself eastward until it\noverspread a considerable part of Asia, and which is known as _Sabaism_.\nDissenting from the theories of his predecessors in the same field of\ninquiry, he rejects the various theories that the round towers were\nintended as \u201cpurgatorial columns,\u201d or \u201cbeacons,\u201d or \u201cbelfries,\u201d or\n\u201cdungeons,\u201d or \u201canchorite-cells,\u201d or \u201cplaces of retreat\u201d in the case of\nhostile invasion, or \u201cdepositories\u201d for State records, Church utensils, or\nnational treasures; and he states as his conviction, based on examination\nof their structure, that it was not the intention of their founders to\nlimit their use to any one specific purpose.\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n(PP. 16-32)\n\nFollowing up this line of argument, he attacks Montmorency, who had\nmaintained that the founders of the round towers were \u201cprimitive C\u0153nobites\nand bishops, munificently supported in the undertaking by the\nnewly-converted kings and toparchs; the builders and architects being\nthose monks and pilgrims who, from Greece and Rome, either preceded or\naccompanied the early missionaries of the fifth and sixth centuries.\u201d\nReserving a detailed refutation of this theory for subsequent chapters, he\ncontents himself for the present with showing that it rests upon mere\nassumption, which is not borne out by the evidence adduced in\ncorroboration thereof; and exposes the fallacy of Montmorency\u2019s argument,\nthat pre-Christian Ireland was in a state of barbarism which precluded the\npossibility of such structures as the round towers being erected by its\ninhabitants. He further deals with the objections, that the bards do not\nallude to these towers as existent in their time, that those undoubtedly\nancient excavations, the Mithratic caves, are never found in the vicinity\nof round towers, and that the limited nature of their accommodation made\nthem serviceable only for some such purpose as that of a belfry or\ndungeon. With Vallancey\u2019s views he finds himself more in sympathy, but is\nunable to adopt them unreservedly--preferring, as he puts it, to chalk out\nhis own road.\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n(PP. 33-47)\n\nContinuing his attack upon Montmorency, the author points out that the\ntowers erected elsewhere by C\u0153nobite associations are always square, not\nround, and that any argument based upon the elevated position of the\nentrances to both classes of edifices would apply equally to the pyramids.\nHe shows that the round towers could not have been intended as places of\nrefuge, or as depositories of ecclesiastical treasures, and adduces\nhistorical proof that the structures known as \u201cbelfries\u201d were wholly\ndifferent. Alluding to the supposed band of voluntary C\u0153nobite workmen\nunder _Saint Abban_, he points out that their building operations must\nnecessarily have been carried on in the midst of a raging war; that\nalthough they must have availed themselves of native assistance in the\nwork, yet the Irish of the early Christian period betray not the slightest\nknowledge of the art of building; that the building of round towers ceased\nquite suddenly, almost immediately after the introduction of Christianity;\nthat the native Irish have never attributed these towers to such an\norigin; that, so far from being, as Montmorency alleges, assisted by the\nmunificence of native princes, the C\u0153nobite monks must have had to deal\nwith absolute pagans, who would regard their labour with anything but\napproval; and that the fact of \u201ckills,\u201d or remains of Christian churches,\nbeing found in the vicinity of Cromleachs, Mithratic caves, and round\ntowers is simply the result of the reverence felt by the pagan converts\nfor the scenes and associations of their old belief, and affords no ground\nfor supposing that the churches were coeval with the latter. Subsequently\n(at p. 514) he cites the instance of a round tower without any church near\nit.\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\n(PP. 48-62)\n\nIn tracing the origin and purpose of the round towers, our author is led\nto consider the names given them in ancient records and Irish folk-lore.\nThe stunted ruin of Bally-Carbery Round Tower, near his own birthplace,\nwas, he found, known to the peasantry as the \u201cCathoir ghall,\u201d _i.e._ \u201cthe\ntemple of brightness or delight,\u201d whilst both in the _Annals of the Four\nMasters_, the _Ulster Annals_, and the _Annals of Innisfallen_ these\ntowers are included in the generic name _Fiadh-Neimhedh_, as contrasted\nwith the names _Cloic teacha_ and _Erdam_ applied to \u201cbelfries,\u201d thus\nshowing that the two kinds of structures are perfectly distinct. He finds\nthat _Fiadh-Nemeadth_ in all preceding writers on the subject is held to\napply specifically to the round towers, though some of these writers\n(_e.g._ Colgan and O\u2019Connor) have wrested its meaning to support their own\nparticular views, and the true import of this term he subsequently\nexplains to be \u201cconsecrated Lingams\u201d (p. 105), or _phallic temples_. The\n\u201cbelfry\u201d and the _gnomon_, or \u201ccelestial index,\u201d theories are thus\nexploded. From historical evidence he is further led to assume that\nIreland is identical with the _Insula Hyperboreorum_ of the ancients, and\nthat the legendary mission of the Boreadan _Abaris_[27] to Delos took\nplace during the _Scythian_ occupation of Ireland. This friendly\ncommunication between the ancient Irish and the Greeks he attributes to\ntheir having sprung from a common stock--the _Pelasgi_ and the\n_Tuath-de-danaans_ belonging to \u201cthe same time as the Indo-Scyth\u00e6, or\nChaldean Magi.\u201d He traces briefly the relations between the\n_Tuath-de-danaan_ settlers in Ireland and their Scythian (or Milesian)\nconquerors, and shows that to the former is due the high state of\ncivilisation and learning for which ancient Ireland was distinguished, and\nwhich degenerated under Scythian rule; and concludes with a general\nstatement as to the prevalence of _Sabaic_ worship therein, and the\nphallic configuration of the round towers.\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\n(PP. 63-76)\n\nBeing now fairly launched on the subject of _Sabaism_, or worship of\nnatural manifestations of the divine energy, he traces its origin,\ndevelopment, and decadence into idolatry. Amid the heterogeneous confusion\nof beliefs that seem to have sprung up among the descendants of Noah,\nNimrod introduced the worship of the sun as a deity, but only as a part of\nthat general Sabaism which included the whole \u201chost of heaven\u201d as objects\nof worship, and recognised the Godhead, of which they were simply\nmanifestations, under the names of _Baal_ and _Moloch_. Gradually, the\ncreature was substituted for the Creator, and their names, especially the\nformer (_Bolati_), were applied to the sun, \u201cas the source and dispenser\nof all earthly favours,\u201d while to the moon was attributed a corresponding\nreverence under the name _Baaltis_, though in both cases the object of\ninternal regard was intended to be _Nature_, or \u201cthe fructifying germ of\nuniversal generativeness.\u201d From the tendency of man to the concrete, this\ncentral idea was soon lost sight of, and the material element put in its\nplace--hence came _Fire-worship_. Originating in Chaldea, this degenerated\nform of Sabaism in course of time spread eastward until it reached Persia,\nwhere eventually there seems to have been a reversion to the principle\nwhich underlay it, _i.e._ that of _generation_ and _nutrition_, in which\nform it afterwards extended to India. Though fire was the ostensible\nobject of worship, the sun and moon, from which that worship originated,\nwere regarded and reverenced as \u201cthe procreative causes of general\nfecundity,\u201d with which was coupled the notion of regeneration after\ndissolution of the body. Hence when, as will appear hereafter, Eastern\nSabaism was introduced into Ireland by the Tuath-de-danaans, the round\ntowers created by them as temples of their worship had both a phallic and\nsepulchral meaning.\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\n(PP. 77-90)\n\nThat purer form of _Sabaism_ in which the central idea of \u201cthe All-good\nand All-great One\u201d predominated over materialism, seems to have prevailed\nin ancient Egypt, and to a more definite extent in India, whilst in both\nthese countries, and also in Ireland, its material side led to the\ncultivation of astronomy. Hence the _pyramids_ of Egypt, the _pagodas_ of\nIndia, and the _round towers_ of Ireland had both a religious and a\nscientific purpose. There is no ground, however, for supposing that the\nround towers were \u201cfire-temples.\u201d Though temples of the latter kind\nundoubtedly exist in Ireland, their structure is altogether different, and\nthey evidently belong to a later period, showing, in fact, traces of an\nItalian origin. Fire-worship was probably introduced into Italy from\nGreece, where it had been practised by the old Pelasgic stock, who, on\ntheir expulsion from Thessaly, settled in Etruria, bringing their worship\nwith them.\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n(PP. 91-106)\n\nFrom a careful study of Eastern records and Sabaism, the author is led to\ntake up the position that the round towers were constructed by early\nIndian colonists of Ireland (the _Tuath-de-danaans_), in honour of \u201cthe\nfructifying principle of nature,\u201d of which the sun and moon are\nrepresentative. The emblem of this principle was the _phallus_ in the case\nof the sun, and the _crescent_ in that of the moon. The round tower was\nsimply a monumental _phallus_, which fact is taken to explain the terms\n\u201cCathoir ghall\u201d and \u201cFidh-Nemphed\u201d to which he alludes in chap. iv.;\nwhilst the _crescent_ ornament by which many of these towers were\nsurmounted is symbolical of the female nature. A corroboration of this\ntheory is found in the circumstance that the name _Budh_, by which these\ntowers are \u201ccritically and accurately designated, signifies in Irish,\nfirst, the _sun_, and secondly, what \u03c6\u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03cc\u03c2, _phallus_, does in Greek and\nLatin,\u201d a view which is supported by the analogy of Egyptian sun and moon\nworship.\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\n(PP. 107-126)\n\nHaving thus committed himself to the view that the paganism which founded\nthe Irish Round Towers was a religion of which _Budh_ (_i.e._ the sun and\nthe _phallus_) was the central idea, and which, therefore, resembled in\nits essence the faiths of India and Egypt, the author proceeds to trace\nthe origin of this religion. In India the latter is known as _Buddhism_,\nor that form of Sabaism taught by Buddha; but the author is persuaded that\nthere never was such a person as Buddha--at least, when the religion first\nshot into life, which was almost as early as the creation of man--though\nin later times several enthusiasts assumed that name. The origin of the\nreligion was, in fact, \u201can abstract thought,\u201d which cannot easily be\nexpressed in words until it is reduced to the materialised forms of that\npractical Sabaism which each nation framed for itself, and which consisted\nin the worship of generative and productive power under its various\nmanifestations. Hence the objects of worship ranged from the sun and moon\neven to agricultural operations, and, of course, included sexual\nphysiology. Indian Buddhism worshipped the _Lingam_ (or _phallus_) as the\nemblem of_Budh_ (_i.e._ the Sun), but without any sensual alloy in such\nreverence, which, in fact, necessitated the observance of a strict moral\ncode. Among other requirements of this code was the performance of works\nof charity, _Dana_ (_i.e._ the giving of alms), and the religionists were\nhence called _Danaans_ or _Almoners_. The bearing of all this upon Irish\npaganism is explained by referring to the intimate connection that in\nearly times existed between Ireland and the East, from whence its\nTuath-de-danaan colonists were derived. The name _Erin_, together with its\nGreek form _Ierne_, and its Latin transmutation _Hibernia_, is shown to be\nidentical with _Iran_, the ancient name of _Persia_, which, modified into\n_Irin_, was applied by the Greek historians to the \u201cSacred Island\u201d of the\nWest, and recognised by Gildas and Ordericus Vitalis as the established\ndesignation of Ireland in their time.\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\n(PP. 127-141)\n\nDeveloping this last argument, our author shows that, while _Iran_ (or\n\u201cthe sacred _land_\u201d) was a name applied to both Persia and Ireland, the\nform _Irin_ (Sacred _Island_) is exclusively applied to Ireland, and that\n_Irc_, _Eri_, _Ere_, and _Erin_ are but modifications of the latter. The\nGreeks commuted this name of _Irin_ into _Ierne_, which is merely a\ntranslation (\u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2 + \u03bd\u1fc6\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2); and the Latins, by putting an _H_ for the\nrough breathing of \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2, and interpolating a _b_ for sound\u2019s sake,\ntransformed the latter into _Hibernia_, the meaning \u201cSacred Island\u201d being\npreserved. But by its own inhabitants it continued to be known as\n_Fuodhla_, _Fudh-Inis_, and _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_, names associating the\nworship which prevailed therein with the profession of the worshippers,\nfor they respectively denote the land or island of _Fuodh_ or _Budh_ and\n_Budhism_. The _Budh_ here mentioned was identical with the phallic deity\nworshipped by the Tuath-de-danaans under the name of _Buodh_ (known also\nas Moriagan and Fareagh or Phearagh), which name the Scythian invaders\nafterwards adopted as their war-cry (_Boo_ or _A-boo_). The peculiar\ntenets of Irish Budhism were embodied in a mass of literature committed to\nthe flames by Saint Patrick; but the history of pagan Ireland still\nsurvives in MSS. scattered over Europe, whilst an image of _Buodh_, or\n_Fareagh_, bearing a close resemblance to those of the Eastern _Buddha_,\nand to the idols of _Matambo_ \u201cwhose priests are sorcerers or magicians\u201d\n(afterwards shown to be the meaning of _Tuath-de-danaans_), has been\nunearthed at Roscommon, and is now in the Museum of Trinity College,\nDublin.\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\n(PP. 142-156)\n\nFrom India our author now diverges to Egypt. The similarity between the\nregal title \u201cPharaoh\u201d and _Phearagh_ or _Fareagh_ just mentioned is\naccounted for by the invasion of Egypt by the _Uksi_, or _Hyksos_ (Royal\nShepherds or Shepherd Kings), who, according to Manetho, came \u201cfrom the\nEast.\u201d The Indian _Vedas_, which corroborate his account, term them\n_Pali_, or \u201cshepherds\u201d; and the rigorous nature of their sway accounts for\nthe dislike manifested by the Egyptians towards the Israelites, who were a\npastoral people. That they introduced their form of worship into Egypt, is\nshown by the description which Herodotus gives of the rites, ceremonies,\nand usages of the Egyptian priests, resembling those practised by the\nBrahmins. Historical evidence points to the erection by them of the\ngreater pyramids, also to their introduction of those magical arts for\nwhich the Egyptians became notorious. This latter fact brings the _Uksi_\ninto connection with the _Tuath-de-danaans_ (whose name is indicative of\nproficiency in magic), and serves to strengthen the author\u2019s opinion that\nboth belonged to the same Chaldean stock.\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\n(PP. 157-166)\n\nThe pyramids of Egypt may be said to correspond, with one significant\ndifference, to the round towers of Ireland. Both are characterised by the\nhighest architectural skill; both are constructed with an evident\nreference to astronomical purposes; both afford indications that they were\n_inter alia_ appropriated to sepulture; and both are distinctively of\nphallic or, more strictly, Sabaic import. But in this last feature a\ndivergence becomes evident. The symbolism of the principle of \u201cgenerative\nproduction\u201d common to both is in the form of the pyramid more emblematic\nof the _female_ nature (see pp. 267-269), whilst the round towers typify\nthe _male_--a divergence which the author subsequently treats in more\ndetail. To it may be due the circumstance that these excavations or\n\u201cwells\u201d which exist beneath the pyramids have not hitherto been found\nunder round towers.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\n(PP. 167-176)\n\nIn connection with the last paragraph, attention is, however, drawn to the\nfact that round towers have usually been erected in the vicinity of water;\nand that this may have been owing to a real, though less dominant,\nveneration of the female principle, is probable from the extensive use of\nbathing in the worship of _Astarte_, the representative of that principle\nwhose peculiar emblemism is apparent in the ornamentation of the round\ntowers. Traces of the apparatus for a bell found on the summit of one of\nthe latter edifices affords no proof of its original purpose as a belfry.\nFor though bells were used in pagan ceremonials, they were not rung to\nsummon worshippers; and the fact may have been that, after their\nconversion to Christianity, the Irish applied round towers occasionally to\nthe only purpose for which they could then be used in connection with\npublic worship.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\n(PP. 177-192)\n\nRecurring to the affinity of Ireland with ancient Persia (Iran), the\nhistory of the latter country is traced from its settlement by the\n_Aryans_. According to tradition preserved in the collection of sacred\nbooks known as the _Zendavesta_, the original seat of that people was the\n_Eriene-Veedjo_, a district situated in the north-western highlands of\nAsia, of great fertility, and enjoying a singularly mild climate, having\nseven months of summer and five of winter. Then \u201cthe death-dealing Ahriman\nsmote it with the plague of cold, so that it came to have ten months of\nwinter and only two of summer\u201d; and was in consequence deserted by its\ninhabitants, who gradually overspread the low-lying countries, as far\nsouth as the Indus, including _Fars_, as Persia was then termed. They were\na vigorous and energetic race these Aryans, who soon became dominant in\ntheir new quarters, substituting the name of their own country (_Iran_, or\nthe _sacred land_, formed from the ancient Zend _Eriene_) for that of\nFars, and founding a dynasty, or rather succession of dynasties, which\nsuperseded the government formerly in existence. The mixture of races led\nto a certain diversity of language, and thus originated the Zend and\n_Pahlavi_ or Sanskrit dialects, which bear a remarkable affinity to Irish\n(cf. _Palaver_). There was further a diversity of religions, the old\nreligion of _Hushang_, a predecessor of Zoroaster, being professed by many\nlong after fire-worship became the dominant faith of Persia.\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\n(PP. 193-210)\n\nThis ancient religion of Hushang, which was doubtless that of the Aryans,\nseems to have been of that _Sabaic_ order practised by the Chaldeans,\nwhich, as we have seen, recognised the heavenly bodies as the most\nimposing representatives of a divine power, and cannot therefore be fairly\ndescribed as _idolatry_. It was idealistic, in so far as it regarded the\ndifferent energies of nature simply as manifestations of a great creative\npower, whereas the idolatrous stage did not supervene until this purer\nfaith degenerated into materialism. With this religion that of the ancient\nIrish harmonized. The dominance of sun and moon worship in the latter is\nshown by the way in which the various titles of these luminaries are\ninterwoven with the language; most of the Irish local names, as well as\nthe names of traditional festivals, consisting of variants of different\nepithets applied to the sun and moon, which the pagan Irish considered to\nbe united in matrimony, just as the Egyptians did _Osiris_ and _Isis_,\ntheir equivalents.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\n(PP. 211-226)\n\nA faith thus compounded of love, religion, and astrology has necessarily a\ntriple aspect; and, according to the particular component kept in view, or\nthe etymology professed, may be termed _Sabaism_, _Buddhism_, or\n_Phallism_. It constitutes the most primitive form of worship, and is the\nsource from whence all the faiths of the world have been derived. Hence\nthe corresponding features in distinct mythologies. Brahminism, for\nexample, is an offshoot from Buddhism, owing to the apostasy of Paramon,\nthe son of Budh-dearg; and the essential notions of Christianity, the\ndoctrines of a virginal conception, a vicarious sacrifice, and a\nresurrection, have their counterparts in both these faiths. The phallic\nelement, ignored by Christianity, maintained its place in Oriental and\nIrish paganism. The adjuncts of _Lingam_ worship occur in the worship of\n_Budh_. The pagodas of India have their counterparts in the round towers.\nThe symbolism expressed in the sculptures of Elephanta, Ellora, and\nSalsette is reflected in the carvings at Clonmacnoise, Kilcullen, and\nKnockmoy. The Cross is universal, not distinctive; and the purposely\nmutilated cryptograms of the Crescent and the Serpent belong to a paganism\nlong antecedent to the Christianity which partially effaced them.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\n(PP. 227-239)\n\nResearches into the distinctive character of Irish paganism show that its\nmain element was the phallic type of _Sabaism_, the Irish language\naffording remarkable evidence of this fact. Many of its words and all its\nletters embody a twofold meaning, denoting in the first place some\n_passion, quality, or virtue_, and in the next its _sensible index_. For\nexample, _Budh_ or _Fiodh_ means primarily a _lingam_, or _phallus_, and\nsecondarily a _tree_; and this peculiarity of an esoteric meaning known\nonly to the learned, and an esoteric one understood by the masses, it\nshares with Hebrew, which belongs to the same linguistic family. Of this\nwe have an example in the scriptural allegory of \u201cEve and the _tree_ of\nknowledge,\u201d wherein the esoteric import of \u201ctree\u201d is _phallus_. We thus\narrive, as it were, at the fount of Buddhism. Eve may be regarded as the\nfirst Buddhist, and her son Cain, who offered the fruits of the earth to\n\u201cthe God of nature and of increase\u201d (Budh), as the first priest of that\norder. This allegory is found repeated in different forms among the\nvarious populations of the world--in Egypt, India, Persia, and elsewhere.\nIt gave rise to many typical commemorations in various countries, such as\nthe \u201cMaypole festivals\u201d of Eastern lands, whence the custom emanated to\nIreland (with the _Tuath-de-danaan_ settlers), where it is still\npractised.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\n(PP. 240-251)\n\nThe scriptural allegory of the \u201cFall of Man,\u201d involving, as it does, the\nhistory of Cain, has an intimate bearing upon the ancestry of the\n_Tuath-de-danaans_. Cain had a son, Enoch, whose name connotes as usual a\ntwofold meaning, signifying first, _Initiation in sacred rites_; secondly,\n_an assembly of congregated multitudes_. The son of Enoch was named\n_Irad_, i.e. _consecrated to God_ (_Budh_); hence the region where he\ndwelt was called _Iran_, meaning _the land of those so consecrated_; from\nwhich it is argued that in that precise region the Budhists first\nestablished the insignia of their empire. Now, the _Dabistan_ records\ndeclare that although _Kaimours_ was generally regarded as the first king\nof Persia (Iran), he had many predecessors; and that long before the time\nof Zoroaster the Persians venerated a prophet called _Mahabad_ or\n_Maghabad_ (the Great, or Good, _Abad_), whom they considered as \u201cthe\nFather of men,\u201d and who had thirteen successors of his own family, all\nstyled _Abad_. This _Abad_, or _Maghabadean_, dynasty eventually became so\ncorrupt that it was banished to _the woods and mountains_, when _Kaimours_\nwas called to the throne. For various reasons the author is persuaded that\nthe Maghabadeans were the direct descendants of Cain. Their name had the\nusual twofold signification: first, The unity of the Godhead; secondly, a\nsacerdotal institution; and _Tuath-de-danaan_ is simply a translation or\nampliative rendering of the latter--_Tuath_ being a modification of\n_Budh_, and also signifying _magic_; _De_, the vernacular term for the\nDeity; and _Danaan_ signifying Almoners--the whole thus meaning\n_Magician-god-almoners_, or the Almoner-magicians of the Deity.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\n(PP. 252-263)\n\nAssuming that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ originally occupied Iran, or Persia,\ntheir migration to Ireland is thus explained. An internecine variance,\narising out of a purely religious question, sprang up among them. They\nbecame divided into two sects--one maintaining that the _male_ influence\nwas dominant in the production of offspring; the other that _female_\ninfluence was more effective. Each adopted a distinguishing title,\nemblematic of the sex whose virtues it proclaimed. The former did not find\nit necessary to change the name _Tuath-de-danaan_, since the esoteric\nmeaning of _Tuath_ (i.e. _Budh_) was the emblem of _masculinity_; but the\nothers adopted the title of _Pish-de-danaans_, because _Pish_, or _Pith_\n(synonymous with _Yoni_), denoted that of _femininity_. The war which\nresulted from this variance of opinion was waged with all the bitterness\nwhich usually marks polemic differences; and the _Pish-de-danaans_,\nproving completely victorious, expelled their rivals from the sacred soil\nof Iran. The _Tuath-de-danaans_, or at least a portion of them (cf. p.\n443), fled westward, and after many vicissitudes reached Europe, where\ntraces of them are found in parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain; and from\nthe country last named (by help of the _Ph\u0153nicians_, who were the great\nsea-carriers of those days), they made their way to Ireland. It is\nremarkable that a parallel account appears in Hindu records of the\nseverance which took place between the _Lingajas_ and the _Yonijas_ on a\nprecisely similar question.\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\n(PP. 264-284)\n\nAlthough the Persian historians maintain silence, the evidence of other\nauthorities in support of this episode is not wanting. For instance, when\nreferring to Buddha, Oriental writers agree that he was born in _Maghada_;\nalso that he was the son of _Suad-de-dana_--_Suad_ being convertible with\n_Tuath_, and both resolvable into _Budh_. Without professing to map out\nthe exact route by which the _Tuath-de-danaans_ made their way to Ireland,\nthe author maintains that the fact of their having occupied that country\nfor a considerable time is incontrovertible. As for their rivals, the\n_Pish-de-danaans_, it has already been stated that they, in their turn,\nhad to leave Persia when _Kaimours_ was called to the throne; and the\npresumption is that they were identical with those _Uksi_, or Shepherd\nKings, who overran Egypt, and to whom the erection of pyramids\nemblematical of the female nature is ascribed. Their distinctive views\nmay, it is pointed out, have prevailed among them from the time when they\nformed a portion of the Noachid\u00e6; for the \u201cArk\u201d was typical of the\ndominant idea in their belief, and the same idea was typified under\nanother form in the pyramids. A variant symbol of this idea is the\n_crescent_ (or _lunar boat_), of which certain Irish ornaments are\nrepresentative. It is further possible that the _Pish-de-danaan_ tradition\nof the deluge may have been communicated to Moses during his stay in\nEgypt, and that the narrative is more figurative than historical.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\n(PP. 285-304)\n\nAmong the sculptured symbols of the faith held by the ancient Irish, that\nof the _Cross_ stands pre-eminent; but it would be a mistake to infer from\nthis circumstance the existence of Christianity in Ireland at the time\nwhen these sculptures were wrought. The cryptogram of the Cross is found\neverywhere, both in the Old and New World, among the relics of nations\nwhose paganism does not admit of doubt, and it dates from a period long\nantecedent to Christianity. Buildings of cruciform structure, and\nevidently devoted to religious uses, exist all over the East and West; and\nboth they and the _Mithratic caves_, for which no one has ever claimed any\nbut a pagan origin, partake of the same character. To aver that the Cross\nwas emblematical of a _vicarious sacrifice_ by which the redemption of\nmankind was accomplished, is merely to say that it expresses a belief\ncommon to many Sabaic faiths of the pagan world--a belief of which it was\nthe recognised emblem in Egypt, India, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and\nAmerica, as well as in Ireland.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\n(PP. 305-324)\n\nThe argument as to the pagan origin of Irish cross-symbolism is pursued\nand developed, and the connection of the symbol in question with the Irish\n_Budh-gaye_ (corresponding to the Hindu _Budha-gaya_), or representative\nof generative power (_gaye-phallus_), demonstrated. The symbolism of which\nit forms a type is ubiquitous, being found in archaic sculpture all over\nthe Eastern and Western World: nor did Plato exaggerate when he said--\u2018The\nletter X is stamped upon the universe.\u2019\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\n(PP. 325-340)\n\nA remarkable instance of this widely prevalent doctrine of the vicarious\nsacrifice of some incarnation of the Deity accomplished by a purely\nvirginal conception is afforded in the Hindu _Puranas_, which recount the\nincarnation of _Vishnu_ (or _Crishna_) in the _White Island_, and the\nsubsequent crucifixion of the fruit of this conception, under the name of\n_Sulivahana_ (cf. the Irish patronymic _Sulivan_), called also\n_Dhanandhara_, _i.e._ the _Sacred Almoner_ (cf. _Danaan_ and its meaning).\nCuriously enough, the mystic, or esoteric, name of ancient Ireland was\n_Muc Inis_, meaning _White Island_; and the details of a similar\ncrucifixion are, with strictly pagan accompaniments, reproduced in the\nsculptures at Knockmoy, in Galway, which further closely resemble not only\na sculptured portrayal on the temple of Kalabche, in Nubia, but a\ndistinctly Eastern Buddhist group on the _Tuath-de-danaan_ cross at Old\nKilcullen, County Kildare.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\n(PP. 341-355)\n\nA striking instance of the resemblance between the Nubian and Knockmoy\nsculptures consists in the attire of the principal figures. In both the\nphilibeg, or kilt, is worn; and this peculiarity is reproduced in idols of\nthe Irish pagan god, _Phearagh_, or _Farragh_, or _Budh_, which have been\nfrom time to time exhumed. The headdresses and collars also correspond. In\nBuddhist Indian mythology Deva _Thot_ is represented as crucified; in\nfact, the expectation of salvation through the atonement of a crucified\nMediator characterises the whole system of pagan (Sabaic) beliefs as\nthoroughly as it did Hebraism. It is expressed in one of the names of\nIreland, namely, _Criach-na-Fuineadhach_ (meaning _the asylum of the\nexpectants, or the retreat of those looking forward_), which was given to\nthat country long before the advent of Christianity.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\n(PP. 356-367)\n\nThe round towers and crosses at Clonmacnoise, Clondalkin, and elsewhere,\nabound in sculptured devices of a similar character, there being in all a\nmanifest reference to Buddhist, or Eastern, ceremonial; whilst the\nrepresentation of a dog (an animal esteemed sacred by the\nTuath-de-danaans) on one of the crosses at Clonmacnoise seems to exclude\nthe possibility of its relation to Christianity. But perhaps the most\nsignificant feature of these sculptures is the profusion of _snake_\nornamentation, pointing to a time when that form of Sabaism known as\n\u201cserpent-worship\u201d was in the ascendant. The frequency of this emblemism\nwas so obnoxious to the early Christian missionaries, on account of the\nevident reverence with which it was regarded by the Irish, that St.\nPatrick thought it advisable to efface it when practicable; and in this\nsense he may be entitled to the credit of having banished snakes from\nIreland.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\n(PP. 368-395)\n\nReverting to his proper subject of the origin and purpose of the round\ntowers, our author examines the evidence bearing on the date of their\nerection. The Ulster Annals record the destruction of fifty-seven of these\ntowers by an earthquake in A.D. 448, the natural inference being that they\nmust have existed before the fifth century, but how long before is matter\nof conjecture. Tradition connects them with a personage styled the _Goban\nSaer_ (Freemason Sage); but this title being the name of a class, not of\nan individual, and having no settled place in chronology, does not further\nthe solution of the difficulty. A better clue is found in the name of the\nplace whereon was fought the first decisive battle between the\nTuath-de-danaan invaders and the Celtic (Firbolg) inhabitants, which gave\nthe supremacy of the island to the former. From the number of\ncommemorative towers erected there by the conquerors, this came to be\nknown as _Moytura_ (in Irish, _Moye-tureadh_, _i.e._ \u201cthe field of the\ntowers\u201d); and as the date of the second battle, fought centuries later, is\napproximately B.C. 600 (p. 449), there is reason for assigning the\nerection of round towers to a period long preceding that of Christianity.\nThe ascription of these towers to the Tuath-de-danaans is in a degree\nwarranted by the fact that the word \u201c_Tuathan-Tower_\u201d is a well-known\nIrish expression, and that there seems to be no other word in the language\nwhich conveys the same idea.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\n(PP. 396-411)\n\nThe identity of Ireland with the _Insula Hyperboreorum_ is deduced from a\ndescription of the latter, copied by Diodorus Siculus from the writings of\nHecat\u00e6us and from a compendium by Marcianus Herocleotes of the works of\nArtemidorus. Both Hecat\u00e6us and Artemidorus lived before the Christian era,\nand an allusion in the latter author to certain \u201cround temples,\u201d of which\nthe officiating priests were called _Boreades_, that existed in\n\u201c_Juvernia_, a British isle, bounded on the north by the ocean called the\n_Hyperborean_, but on the east by the ocean called the _Hibernian_,\u201d\ncoupled with the fact that (with the exception of those at Brechin and\nAbernethy) no remains of round temples are found in any of the British\nIsles save Ireland,[28] goes far to prove the identity in question, also\nthe pre-Christian antiquity of the round towers, together with the\nexistence of an exceptional, and therefore by natural inference an\n_imported_, civilisation in that island. The latter inference is\nstrengthened by continually-recurring traces of the great proficiency of\nits inhabitants in the fine, or useful, arts at an era when the adjacent\nislands were still plunged in barbarism.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\n(PP. 412-431)\n\nThese proofs of an adventitious civilisation bearing the marks, not of\ngradual growth, but of full development, point to the colonisation of the\nisland by a highly-cultured race, such as were the ancient people of\n_Iran_ (Persia). The round towers, for instance, could not well have been\nthe work of the Ph\u0153nicians, who were a maritime and mercantile race, by no\nmeans prone to arts and letters, and in none of whose admitted settlements\nis any trace of similar buildings to be found. Neither the Firbolgs (or\nCeltic inhabitants of Ireland), nor the Fomorians, nor the Scythians,\nScoto-Milesians, nor Danish invaders, were at all given to the refinements\nof civilisation, and simply regarded the construction of permanent\nbuildings as unworthy of a race of warriors. Everything, in fact, goes to\nshow that the Tuath-de-danaan settlers alone could have erected these\ntowers, introduced the Boreadan ceremonial, and given to the country of\ntheir adoption a name taken from that of their native land. With the\nScythian conquest, it became, of course, inevitable that this name (_Irin_\nor _Eirin_) should be changed into _Scuitte_ or _Scotia_ (the land of the\n_Scythians_), and that there should have been a partial exodus of the\nvanquished Tuath-de-danaans--some of whom, settling in what is now\nScotland, gave it the name of _Iran_ or _Eran_ (which survives in _Erne_\nor _Erse_), which was afterwards changed into _Scoitte_ or _Scotia_, out\nof compliment to the Scythian rulers of the adjacent island, with whom its\nPictish inhabitants had formed alliance.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\n(PP. 432-444)\n\nAs for the unfounded theory,--that Ireland was colonised by Ph\u0153nicians\narriving from Spain, whose last settlement in the island was established\nby Heber and Heremon, sons of Milesius, and descendants of _Feni an fear\nsoid_, \u201cthe Ph\u0153nician wise man,\u201d--it is pointed out that Heber and Heremon\n(brothers of Amergin, the bard) were in reality the sons of _Gallamh_, and\ninvaded Ireland at the head of a Scythian, not Ph\u0153nician, colony (p. 393).\nUpon historical evidence, the date of this invasion is fixed at B.C. 1002;\nwhile it is agreed on all hands that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ had landed\nabout two hundred years before, or B.C. 1202, which latter date exactly\ncorresponds with that given by most Oriental authorities for the exodus of\nthe Buddhists from India. About this time, indeed, Ireland seems to have\nborne the character of an Oriental asylum--a circumstance to which may be\nattributed the Eastern costumes and aspect of the figures depicted in its\nancient sculptures, the Eastern character of traditional religious and\nceremonial usages, and the national reverence for the shamrock,\ncorresponding with that shown to the trefoil (or _trisula_) in Persia\n(_Iran_).\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\n(PP. 445-474)\n\nThe duration of Tuath-de-danaan supremacy may have been some six\ncenturies, dating from the first battle of Moytura, in B.C. 1202 (p. 435),\nto the second battle, in or about B.C. 600, between the Firbolgs, or Celts\n(who had been gradually reasserting themselves), and a reinforcement of\nTuath-de-danaans, coming this time, not from Persia, but from India,\nwhence they had been expelled by the Brahmins (p. 443). Although this\nsecond invasion proved successful, the power of the Tuath-de-danaans was\nnow on the wane, and the height of civilisation to which they had raised\nthe island rapidly declined before the inroads of the Scythians. Their\nritual became merged in that of the Druids, and their taste for letters\nvitiated. Possibly, with a view to arrest this decadence, they began to\ncultivate intercourse with Greece, the result being a strong reciprocal\ninfluence, exercised by the languages of the two countries on each other,\nand more especially by Irish upon Greek. A corresponding influence\nresulted from the migration of discontented Tuath-de-danaans into\nScotland. Nor was it confined to language; for certain peculiarities of\nancient Irish architecture are found reproduced in Mycenian and Caledonian\nstructures, as, for example, in the _Treasury of Atreus_ (Mycen\u00e6) and the\n_Dune of Dornadilla_ (Scotland); and that religion was not wholly\nunaffected is proved by the discovery of Irish relics showing that the\noracular superstitions of Dodona had their counterpart in Ireland.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\n(PP. 475-497)\n\nThe relics of Tuath-de-danaan occupation, which exist in the shape of\ngigantic crosses, and of sculptured ornamentation in which cross-symbolism\nis prominent, point to a mystery far more esoteric than that involved in\nthe Christian emblem. The cross had become representative of the number\n_ten_, because in Irish the same word, _lambh_, denoted equally a _cross_\nand the human _hand_, or the number of fingers on both hands; whilst the\n\u201ctriangle of _ten_\u201d (p. 268) embraced \u201call that was solemn in religion and\nin thought,\u201d being, in fact, \u201cthe index of male and female united,\u201d and\nthe prototype of the ark and pyramid. This _Sabaic_, and only\nintelligible, explanation of these highly figurative sculptures disposes\nof the theory that they are the product of a Christianity with which they\nhave nothing in common but a shape which is not peculiar to any one\nreligion in any part of the world.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII\n\n(PP. 498-524)\n\nSerpent-worship is perhaps the most significant form of _Sabaism_,\ninvolving, as it does, the expression of its source. For in the sacred\nlanguage of _Iran_, whereof Irish is the leading type, the word _Sabh_\n(the root of _Sabaism_) has three distinct, yet connected, meanings--(1)\n_Voluptuousness_, or the _Yoni_; (2) a _Snake_, or sinuosity; (3) _Death_.\nThrough all these runs the central idea of sexual relation, which, as the\nmost elementary part of social life, has been symbolised all over the\nworld in connection with religion. The scriptural reproach, \u201cgeneration of\nvipers,\u201d is probably equivalent to _offspring of concupiscence_, as will\nappear from the indignant repudiation of those to whom it was\naddressed--\u201cWe were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even\nGod.\u201d The part which the serpent plays in Brahminism is well known. In\nMexico a widespread faith called Nagualism had the _Culebra_, or snake,\nfor one of its principal deities; whilst the _Gadelglas_ of the ancient\nIrish (Gadelians) meant simply the _green snake-god_, from which latter,\nand not from the verdure of its soil, Ireland may have obtained the\ndesignation of the _Emerald_ Isle. In fact, Sabaism, Ophiolatry, and\nGadelianism were one and the same; and, while purporting to be the worship\nof the serpent, or of the stars (_vide_ p. 505), were in reality the\nworship of _Sabh_ or _Yoni_, the representative of female nature. It was,\nhowever, masculinity (_Budh_) that was typified in the phallic form of\nthose round towers, which the author now proceeds to describe with more\nminuteness of detail than heretofore. Incidentally, he disposes of the\nargument in favour of the Christian origin of these towers, which is based\nupon the assumption that remains of Christian churches are invariably\nfound in their vicinity, by adducing an instance to the contrary (at\nGiant\u2019s Ring, County Down).[29]\n\nW. H. C.\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION\n\n\n  TO\n  THE LEARNED OF EUROPE\n  TO THE HEADS OF ITS SEVERAL UNIVERSITIES\n  TO THE TEACHERS OF RELIGION AND THE LOVERS OF HISTORY\n  MORE ESPECIALLY\n  TO THE ALIBENISTIC ORDER OF FREEMASONS\n  TO THE FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY\n  TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY\n  TO THE FELLOWS OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES\n  TO THE EDITORS OF THE ARCH\u00c6OLOGIA SCOTICA\n  TO THE COMMITTEES OF THE SOCIETIES FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE\n  GOSPEL AND THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE\n  AND\n  TO THE COURT OF THE HONOURABLE THE EAST INDIA COMPANY\n  THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED\n  AS A NOVEL EXPOSITION OF LITERARY INQUIRIES IN WHICH\n  THEY ARE SEVERALLY INTERESTED\n  AND AS AN INTIMATION OF RESPECT FROM\n  THE AUTHOR\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION\n\n\nIn _Fraser\u2019s Magazine_ for the month just expired, there has appeared an\narticle headed the \u201cArcana of Freemasonry,\u201d which will save me the trouble\nof an introductory dissertation. The style is quaint, but that will be\noverlooked; its author is evidently a true mason and a good man; and,\ninitiated as he is in all the fundamentals of his fraternity, he will be\nthe more ready to recognise the truth of my disclosures, as well as to\nadmit the originality of the proofs which I adduce. To him, therefore,\nwhoever he is, do I with confidence refer.\n\n\u201cIn the spirit of the mighty dead,\u201d says he, \u201cthe great ones of the earth,\nthat seem ever and anon to look down through the clouds of this murky\natmosphere and to beckon us heavenward, nothing strikes more keenly, in\nour conviction, than that passion for divine truth which burned\nunquenchably within them. With what hallowed devotion they worshipped it,\nwith what intense aspirations they loved it, we must remember but too\npainfully, when we converse with men as they are, and read the writings\nthey applaud.\n\n\u201cYes--it must be so! The first and noblest object to which the ambition of\nman can aspire is the discovery and propagation of truth, on which the\nfelicity of all created thinkers absolutely depends; and, fortunately, the\nglory of its discovery is nothing superior to the joy of its\ncommunication. And therefore have the finest and freest souls, that have\ncaught the brightest glimpses of truth\u2019s eternal radiation, ever most\nearnestly sought to lead their brethren and kindred to the same difficult\nand solitary height from which they themselves first witnessed the\ndawnings of the prophetic dayspring.\n\n\u201cHow many illustrious names, however venerable, have from time\u2019s eldest\nrecords sought out with indefatigable assiduity the relics of divinest\nWisdom! How often beneath her charmed inspirations they wandered forth,\nexulting over the boundless fields of metaphysical and physical\nscience--endeavouring by the things that are manifest to retrace the\nhidden Divinity--to look through nature up to nature\u2019s God! And if happily\nthey discover some strange and stirring indications of the Almighty\u2019s\nelaborating hand, or some bright testimony of His vivifying though\nimpalpable Spirit, have they not hastened with glowing hearts, and souls\novercharged with adoration, to whisper the mystery in secret, or to\nproclaim the marvel to the world?\n\n\u201cThe history of Freemasonry being in fact the history of the gradual\nprogression of devotion and philosophy in the youth, maturity, and\ndeclension of our planet\u2019s millenary circle, is intensely interesting to\nthe philosophic mind, as the ages of the one have a thousand mystic\ncorrespondences with the ages of the other. After taking a luminous survey\nof the advances of human intelligence as revealed in Scripture, it traces\nthe perpetual tradition of divine wisdom among the _hierophantic_\nacademies of classic memorial. None understood so well the essential truth\nof their _theo-astrological mythologies_ and their _symbolical mysteries_.\nThey track every subtle declension of lofty and bright-souled truth into\nthe shadowy circumference of hostile error; and thus, establishing their\nminds on the deepest foundations of history, they continually build up\nsuperstructures of all that is precious in literature or elegant in art.\n\n\u201cIn thus eulogising Freemasons, we of course allude to Freemasons\ninitiated into the deep spirit of divine philosophy, and not mere nominal\nprofessors. True masons,--those who are made _free_ by their free devotion\nto God\u2019s spiritual service, and _accepted_ by emulating the\nself-immolation of their celestial prototype of heaven and earth for just\nand disciplined worthies,--we would discourse of these, and these alone.\nIt would be as unfair to judge of Freemasonry in its hidden sanctuary\nwithin the veil, by its irregular members, as to judge of its religious\nillustration without the veil by merely nominal Christians.\n\n\u201cBut for true, or free, or speculative masons. These are the men who,\nattached to their celestial Saviour with filial enthusiasm incommunicable,\nand to each other by fraternal sympathies that melt them into beautiful\nunanimity of immortal emulation, these are the men who feel a more\nespecial and endearing interest in the whole history of mankind. To them,\nwhatever is \u201cwisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best,\u201d in all the records\nof humanity, hath a kind of kindred familiarity of association unknown to\nothers; for in all true men they recognise their ancestry or their\nbrotherhood, and they watch the broad line of their genealogical descent\nwith the reverent fondness of a lineal and loyal progeny. In their history\nthey love to contemplate the magnificent economy of Providence for the\ngradual perfectionising of all lapsed intelligences. In this they view\nevery variation of Churches and States with tranquil and unbroken\nsatisfaction, and from it they look forward to the future with that fine,\nfree, and fearless confidence which Christian philosophy alone inspires.\n\n\u201cIn the present times, these relations to society have assumed a somewhat\ndeeper and still more thrilling intensity; they know well enough that old\nage hath come upon the earth, and that the latter day is at hand; and that\nthe prophecies relating to her dissolution and bright regeneration are,\nere long, to be accomplished in their fulness.\n\n\u201cThey confess, with rejoicing, the vast spread of intellectual light and\nfreedom that now gilds the concluding pages of our planet\u2019s history. They\nbelieve that the true and venerable principles of Church and State will be\nconfirmed and illustrated in their breadth and length, and height and\ndepth, by the last and prophetic experience of pious and patriot sages,\nere the kindling judgment breaks out upon the astonished world.\n\n\u201cSuch is the position of Freemasons in society at present. And when we\nconsider the extent of this chosen band of good and wise men, bound\ntogether by the fellowship of indissoluble benevolence, and scattered over\nevery kingdom and republic, we cannot but observe their influences with\npeculiar scrutiny of attention; for, by keeping fast their own counsel,\nand preserving mutual good faith, they ever possess a strong, though\nsecret domination of philanthropy over all the affairs of Church and\nState. In her peaceful and inviolable retirement, Masonry is, as it were,\nthe _primum mobile_ and mainspring of society,--unseen herself, but urging\nthe whole visible mechanism into harmonious and musical action.\n\n\u201cIn the present time, Freemasons cannot but feel that a terrible\nresponsibility is committed to their charge. The ancient interests and\nambitions of Churches and States are coming into perpetual and jarring\ncollision with the new. The ebb-tides of bigotry and despotism are\nclashing with the advancing currents of enthusiasm and dissolute passion.\nThe spray of the whirling eddies already whitens the deep, and the roar of\nthe conflicting breakers is heard far away upon the wind. God saith, \u2018I\nwill overturn, overturn, overturn, until He shall come whose right the\nkingdom is\u2019; and the sea and the waves are roaring upon every shore, and\nmen\u2019s hearts fail them for fear, and for looking on those things which are\ncoming on the earth. To true masons is entrusted the hazardous charge of\npiloting the vessel athwart the boiling whirlpools. They will save, if\nthey can, earth\u2019s latest age from indecent strife and confusion, and\nstruggle hard against the unfilial and disloyal apostates, that would\nbring down her grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.\u201d[30]\n\nHere I would willingly close my Introduction; but as it may seem strange\nthat a work which bears upon its title-page the character of \u201cPrize Essay\u201d\nshould not have been published by the Society that have awarded it the\nprize, I am obliged to open up a statement of facts which I had rather\nhave concealed; yet, in doing so, I shall take care, now that all vexation\nhas passed over, that no symptoms of asperity shall escape my pen; all the\ncolouring of language I shall equally avoid; nay, even inferences, however\nobvious, I shall not press into observation, but confine myself strictly\nto a matter-of-fact detail as to the conduct of the party in the case in\nquestion.\n\nIn December 1830, the Royal Irish Academy, after many fruitless efforts to\nobtain information on the subject of the Round Towers, proposed a premium\nof a gold medal and fifty pounds to the author of an approved Essay, in\nwhich all particulars respecting them were expected to be explained. This\nintimation I never saw. The stipulated time for the composition of\ntreatises--namely, a full twelvemonth--expired, and the several candidates\nsent in their works. After a perusal of two or three months, the Council\nagreed upon giving the premium to one of them; but his work being\ndeficient in some of the conditions required,[31] it was furthermore\nresolved that he should be allowed some additional interval for the\nsupplying of these defects, and this determination they put into practice\nby the following advertisement:--\n\n    \u201cROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE, DUBLIN,\n\n    \u201c_21st February 1832_.\n\n    \u201cIt having appeared to the Royal Irish Academy that none of the Essays\n    given in on the subject of the \u2018Round Towers,\u2019 as advertised in\n    December 1830, have satisfied the conditions of the question, they\n    have come to the following resolutions:--\n\n    \u201c1st. That the question be advertised again as follows:--\n\n    \u201c\u2018The Royal Irish Academy hereby give notice that they will give a\n    Premium of Fifty Pounds and the Gold Medal to the author of an\n    approved Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland, in which it is expected\n    that the _characteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all\n    those ancient buildings now existing shall be noticed_, and the\n    _uncertainty_ in which their origin and uses are involved be\n    satisfactorily removed.\u2019\n\n    \u201c2nd. That the time be extended to the 1st of June next, for receiving\n    other Essays on said subject, and for allowing the authors of the\n    Essays already given in to enlarge and improve them; for which purpose\n    they will be returned, on application at the Academy House.\n\n    \u201cAll Essays, as usual, to be sent post free to the Rev. J. H. Singer,\n    D.D., Secretary, at the Academy House, 114 Grafton Street, Dublin;\n    each Essay being inscribed with some motto, and accompanied with a\n    sealed billet, superscribed with same motto, in which shall be written\n    the author\u2019s name and address.\u201d\n\nA few days before this appeared, I heard, for the first time, of the\nsubject having been for competition. Wishing to ascertain whether it was\ndecided or not, I availed myself of a pretext for calling upon Dr.\nM\u2019Donnell, one of the Secretaries to the Academy, when the following\nconversation took place between us:--\n\n\u201cI wish to know, sir,\u201d said I, \u201cwhether the Council would patronise a\ntranslation of _Ibernia Ph\u0153nicia_, which I have just embarked in, with Dr.\nVillanueva\u2019s consent?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Council have already subscribed to the _original_, and I believe they\nfeel no difficulty in understanding it in that form,\u201d was the reply.\n\n\u201cI do not at all question their competency,\u201d I rejoined; \u201cbut to the\npublic, Doctor, it is a sealed volume; and I cannot think it foreign from\nthe spirit of your institution to countenance such an idea. Besides, it is\nnot a mere echo of the original that I intend to give. I purpose to\nenlarge it by many additions of my own, accompanying it all through with\nnotes and illustrations.\u201d\n\n\u201cTo what points in particular will those additions refer?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo the development of the mystery which overhangs the Round Towers.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! On that head the Academy have already made up their minds. What is\n_your_ theory about them?\u201d\n\n\u201cSurely, Doctor, if the Academy have already made up their minds upon the\nsubject, my information can be to you of no value! Good-morning.\u201d\n\nIf my disappointment at this interview was great, my delight, a few\nmornings after, was incomparably greater, on beholding the advertisement\nabove introduced; and though the _shortness_ of the time allowed, with the\n_positiveness_ of the assertion so recently and reluctantly extorted, made\nme suspect at once that there was some _management_ in the business, yet,\nhaving thoroughly assured myself, from the wording of that manifesto, that\nI was entitled to enter the lists, I plunged into the discussion without\nfurther delay, and day and night, in sorrow and in difficulties, I\nlaboured, until I finished my Essay against the appointed day, when I sent\nit in accordingly to await its chance.\n\nFour days, however, had only passed over, when the Council, having\nperceived that they had been taken at their word, by the appearance of a\nnew candidate, allowed their friend to take back his Essay for one month\nmore, to render it more perfect! And in the exercise of their discretion,\nthey had the modesty to advertise, by a document precisely similar to that\nalready inserted, that their object in so doing was to \u201cobtain _new_\nEssays on said subject.\u201d\n\nThis last advertisement was not published for some days after their friend\nhad removed his work from the Council Board; so that there were no more\nthan about _three weeks_ remaining, for the inditing of _new works_ upon a\nsubject for which _lives_ have been found inadequate, and for which their\nfriend had already been allowed a period nearly approaching to two years!\n\nSoon as informed of this man\u0153uvre, I called upon Dr. Singer, as the\nSecretary, and entreated of him, with much ardour, that he would put a\nstop to those proceedings; stated that I was myself the author of one of\nthe Essays, which I would not further particularise; and that, as I had\nreason to apprehend something wrong was in contemplation, I would feel\nobliged if he exerted himself to have the Essays detained, and determined\nupon by their merits as they then stood. He asked me to explain the ground\nof my apprehensions. I complied; whereupon he assured me that I was\nmistaken in that quarter, as \u201cthe individual,\u201d says he, \u201cat whose request\nwe have extended the time is one for whom we all have a regard, and is by\nno means the person on whom your suspicions light!\u201d\n\nIt was but little consolation to me that the person in whose favour all\nthis partiality was exerted was \u201cnot the person on whom my suspicions\nlighted\u201d! I remonstrated, but in vain. Every syllable that transpired\nafterwards tended only to show that the decision was already\npronounced--that the premium was already awarded. I then hinted at the\ninjustice of seducing me into the competition, at the very risk of my\nlife, upon so short a notice, and not vouchsafing now so much as to\nexamine my production. This had some effect, and I left the Doctor with an\nassurance that I \u201c_should, at all events, get a hearing_.\u201d\n\nThe day for the reception of the _amended Essays_ again came, and mine\nagain made its appearance. In the interim was started a periodical, under\nthe direction of some members of the Council, the most prominent of whom\nwas the _favoured_ individual himself. In the second number of this\nperiodical, on the Saturday after the last sending in of the Essays, there\nappeared an article, written by the Rev. C\u00e6sar Otway, a member of the\nCouncil, under the assumed name of Terence O\u2019Toole, in which half\nplayfully and half mysteriously, _he lets the cat out of the bag_, and\nactually asserts, as the event verified, that the premium was already\ndetermined _to a member of their own body_!\n\nHere are his words:--\n\n\u201cThe Round Tower, to the right, is a prodigious puzzler to antiquarians.\nQuires of paper, as tall as a tower, have been covered with as much ink as\nmight form a Liffey, in accounting for their origin and use. But all these\nclever and recondite conjectures are shortly, as I understand, to be\ncompletely overthrown, and the real nature of these Round Towers clearly\nexplained, for the first time, in a Prize Essay presented to the Royal\nIrish Academy by an _accomplished antiquarian_ of our city.\u201d[32]\n\nNotwithstanding the disguise here assumed of \u201cas I understand,\u201d and so\nforth, the writer of this announcement had, at this moment, not only\n_perused_ his colleague\u2019s Essay, but actually registered his vote in its\nfavour! And as to his pretending that the development was a discovery, by\nsaying \u201cfor the first time,\u201d he betrays therein the extreme either of\n_untruth_ or of _ignorance_, as the theory alluded to is but the _echo_,\nin all particulars, of Montmorency\u2019s book, every sentence in which I prove\nerroneous in the early chapters of the present volume! I could no longer,\nhowever, be ignorant as to the _identity_ of the person in whose favour\nDr. M\u2019Donnell had told me the Council had \u201cmade up their minds\u201d;--casually\ncorroborated afterwards by Dr. Singer!--I saw at once that the\n\u201c_accomplished_ antiquarian of our city\u201d was Mr. Petrie, the antiquarian\n_artist_ of the Royal Irish Academy--himself a member of their Council!\n\nHowever, Dr. Singer had promised that I \u201cshould get, at all events, a\nhearing.\u201d And this was performed with a vengeance. _Three_ months was the\ntime devoted to the examination of all the former Essays. It remained,\ntherefore, only publicly to announce what was privately resolved upon.\nBut as my Essay, the _only new one_, was at all taken in, it was\nindispensable but that they must read it, and _six_ long months did they\nappropriate thereto. At the end of this period they saw that the position\nassumed was right, and that I was entitled to the premium. But they had\nalready pledged themselves to give it to their friend, whose theory was\nthe direct opposite of mine; and, consequently, every sentence in it, or\nin mine, must be wrong--a discrepancy, however, which they thought to\nreconcile by leaving the original prize undisturbed, and voting me a\nseparate one.\n\nHad they had the candour to avow that this was their dilemma, I should\nnever have murmured, but quietly submitted to the issue; instead of which,\nhowever, they worded their resolution in such a form as led the public to\nthink that there were _two_ premiums all along intended, and that the\nfirst of these was given to the _best_ composition, and the second to that\nwhich approached it in quality.\n\nIt was as follows:--\n\n    \u201cROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE.\n\n    \u201cOn Monday, December 17, a meeting of the Council of the Royal Irish\n    Academy was held, for the purpose of deciding on the merits of essays\n    received, pursuant to advertisement, on _The Origin and Use of the\n    Round Towers of Ireland_, when the following premiums were adjudged,\n    viz.:--\n\n    \u201cFifty pounds and the gold medal to George Petrie.\n\n    \u201cTwenty pounds to Henry O\u2019Brien, Esq.\u201d\n\nNow, be it observed that it was not only of the gold medal and fifty\npounds that I was deprived by this man\u0153uvre, but of the one hundred\nadditional pounds which Lord Cloncurry had offered upon the same subject.\nOf this the Academy were also the dispensers, on the understanding that\nwhoever should get their gold medal and fifty pounds--the only premium\nwhich they had offered--should also get his lordship\u2019s hundred; so that\nby this stratagem they assigned to their friend not only their own, but\nhis lordship\u2019s patronage!\n\nI was in London at the time, and signified my dissatisfaction by letter.\nSeveral were interchanged, in one of which I gave them to understand that\nI would submit to the injustice if they would but publish my work in their\n_Transactions simultaneously_ with Mr. Petrie\u2019s. This they declined,\nassuring me that they would publish it, but _not simultaneously_, and not\n_until_ after. No comment is necessary for this.\n\nMeanwhile, their periodical, which, from the first moment of its starting,\nwhenever reference was made to the Round Towers, unqualifiedly asserted\nthat they were Christian, and only _coeval_ with the _monasteries_,[33]\nthought proper now to change its tone; but as an open acknowledgment of\n_error_ would be too self-abasing for _Academicians_, they only put forth\na _feeler_, as if implying _doubt_ on the matter, which would have the\ntwofold effect of screening the \u201cCouncil\u2019s\u201d verdict--as the result of\ndoubt or ambiguity--and of preparing the public mind for the _altered_ and\n_novel_ conclusion to which _all_, I trust, will ere long, as well as\n_themselves_, have arrived.\n\nMy eye, however, was on their plans, though separated by \u201ca roaring sea.\u201d\nI knew that where there were so many windings to mature the plot, there\nmust be as many to prevent its detection; and, accordingly, the very first\nmove they made in these, their _new tactics_, I _checkmated_ at once by\nthe following letter:--\n\n    (No. 1.)\n\n    \u201cLONDON, _March 16, 1833_.\n\n    \u201cDEAR DR. SINGER,--The _Dublin Penny Journal_ of February 23rd, on the\n    article, \u2018Devenish Island,\u2019 contains this sentence, viz.: \u2018Whether the\n    towers are the accompaniment to the churches, or the churches to the\n    towers, is a question not yet decided.\u2019\n\n    \u201cNow _this_--coupled with the circumstance of the Committee having\n    awarded _two_ premiums to _two_, as I understand, _conflicting\n    ascriptions_, and that when only _one_ was _originally\n    proposed_--induces me, with all deference, to offer this memorial,\n    through you, to the Academy.\n\n    \u201cAs the development of _truth_ in the elucidation of _history_ is the\n    object of the _antiquarian_, and, as the \u2018labourer is worthy of his\n    hire,\u2019 I take the liberty respectfully to ask whether, if I make _my\n    ascription_ of the Round Towers a _mathematical_ demonstration, with\n    _every other incident_ relating to their founders, comprehending _all_\n    the antiquities of Ireland, as connected therewith--and this by _all_\n    the _varieties_ and _modes_ of proof--whether, I say, in _that_ event,\n    will the Academy award me _the gold medal_ and premium? or, if that\n    cannot be _recalled_, an equivalent gold medal and premium.\n\n    \u201cMy intercalary work, _substantiating_ all the above, is now finished,\n    and can be forwarded to the Committee by return of the same post which\n    will favour me with your answer.--I have the honour to be, dear sir,\n    your obedient, etc.\n\n      \u201cHENRY O\u2019BRIEN.\n\n    \u201cTo the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer,\n      \u201c_Secretary to the Academy_.\u201d\n\nBy the above proposal I must not be understood as _admitting_ that my\n_original_ essay \u201cwas not _sufficiently_ conclusive\u201d; but as I had more\narguments still in reserve, I wanted to elicit from the Academy the\nadmission that it was _truth_ they sought after. After waiting, however,\nmore than three weeks, and getting no reply, I forwarded some other\nproofs, accompanied by a letter, of which the following was the\nconclusion, viz.:--\n\n    (No. 2.)\n\n    \u201cThese are but _items_ in the great body of discoveries which this\n    intercalary work will exhibit. In truth, I may without vanity assert\n    that the whole _ancient history of Ireland_, etc., is therein\n    rectified and elucidated--which it never was before. Am I, therefore,\n    presumptuous in appealing to the Royal Irish Academy--the heads of\n    Irish literature and the avowed patrons of its development--for the\n    reward of my labours?\n\n    \u201cI shall with confidence rely upon their _justice_.--I have the honour\n    to be, with sincere regard, etc.\n\n      \u201cHENRY O\u2019BRIEN.\n\n    \u201cTo the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer,\n      \u201c_Secretary to the Academy_.\u201d\n\n\n    (No. 3.)\n\n    \u201cROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE,\n    \u201c_April 16, 1833_.\n\n    \u201cSIR,--Your _improved_ essay and letter were yesterday laid before\n    Council, and as Dr Singer is at present confined with the gout, it\n    devolves on me to communicate to you the following extract from the\n    minutes:--\n\n    \u201c\u2018Resolved, that the Secretary be directed to reply to Mr. O\u2019Brien,\n    and to state that any alteration or revocation of their award cannot\n    be made, _whatever may be the merits_ of any additional matter\n    supplied to them after the day appointed by advertisement; but if Mr.\n    O\u2019Brien be willing that the new matter be printed along with the\n    original Essay, the Council will have the same perused, in order to\n    ascertain the expediency of so enlarging their publication.\u2019--By\n    order.\n\n      \u201cRICH. ROW, _Clerk to the Academy_.\n\n    \u201cTo H. O\u2019Brien, Esq.\u201d\n\n\n    (No. 4.)\n\n    \u201cLONDON, _April 18, 1833_.\n\n    \u201cSIR,--Had I a _notion_ that the Academy\u2019s reply would be such as your\n    letter has this day imparted, I would never have sat down to indite\n    those additions, much less have forwarded them for _their perusal_.\n    For why did I write to the Secretary _three weeks_ ago, but to\n    ascertain _whether_ or _not_, in the event of _my_ doing _so_ and\n    _so_, would the _Academy_ act _so_ and _so_, and thus repair that\n    injury which they had before inflicted? What could be more easy than\n    to give me a categorical answer, one way or the other? Instead of\n    which, however, they left me to my own conclusions, which, as usual in\n    such circumstances, leading me to construe silence into acquiescence,\n    I transmitted my documents on the tacit faith that though the Academy\n    would not pledge themselves by a written promise, they would,\n    notwithstanding, if my researches proved adequate, reward my industry\n    by a suitable remuneration.\n\n    \u201cNow, however, when my papers have been received, and my developments\n    communicated, I am told that, _be their merits what they may_, the\n    _award_ is _irrevocable_; and I have no alternative, in the writhings\n    of my mortification, but the consolation of being _injured_ and\n    _duped_ at the same time.\n\n    \u201cYou will say, perhaps, that my new evidences have not yet been read,\n    and that therefore my property is secure and sacred. But has not the\n    _accompanying letter_ been read? And what was _that_ but a _programme_\n    of their contents?\n\n    \u201c_I_ had _thought_ that the Royal _Irish_ Academy were not only a\n    _learned_, but a _just_ and a _patriotic_ Society. _I_ had _thought_\n    that having marshalled themselves into an institution, with the\n    _avowed_ object of _resuscitating from death_ the almost _despaired-of\n    evidences_ of our _national history_, they would not alone _foster_\n    every _advance_ toward that desirable consummation, but shower\n    _honours_, and _acclamations_, and _triumphs_ upon him who has not\n    only _infused a vital soul_ into those _moribund remains_, but made\n    the history of Ireland, at this moment, the _clearest_, the most\n    _irrefragable_, and withal the most _interestingly comprehensive\n    chain_ of _demonstrational proofs_ in the _whole circle of universal\n    literature_.[34]\n\n    \u201cBut it is not alone the being deprived of my reward that I complain\n    of, and the transferring of that reward to _another, every sentiment\n    of whose production must inevitably be wrong_, but it is the\n    _suppression_ of my labours, and the keeping them back from the public\n    eye, in deference to my _opponent\u2019s_ work, lest that the _discernment_\n    of the public should bestow upon me those _honours_ which the\n    _discretion_ of the Academy has thought proper to _alienate_, that\n    affects me as most severe.\n\n    \u201cIndeed, it has been stated from more quarters than one, that the\n    withholding of the medal from me, in the first instance, and the\n    substituting thereinstead a _nominal_ premium of twenty pounds,\n    originated from a personal pique against me individually. Such a\n    report I would fain disbelieve, and yet it is hard not to give it some\n    credence, seeing that the _irresistible cogency_ of my _truths_ and\n    the _indubitable value_ of my literary discoveries are not only not\n    rewarded, but kept back from publication, _until someone else_ more\n    fortunate, or rather _more favoured_, shall _run away with_ the credit\n    of my cherished disclosures.[35] I wish--I desire--I most intensely\n    covet--that the Academy would convince me that _this is not an act of\n    the most aggravated injustice_.\n\n    \u201cYou will please lay this before the Council, and tell them from me,\n    respectfully, that I do not want them either to \u2018alter\u2019 or \u2018revoke\u2019\n    their award, but _simply_ to vote me \u2018_an equivalent gold medal and\n    premium_\u2019 for my _combined essay_, or, if they prefer, the _new\n    portion_ of it. Should this be refused, _I will put my cause_, etc.\n    etc.--I have the honour to be, etc. etc.\n\n      \u201cHENRY O\u2019BRIEN.\n\n    \u201cTo the Rev. Richard Row,\n      \u201c_Clerk to the Academy_.\u201d\n\nThey bestowed some days in consultation upon the above; meanwhile, the\ntransmission of the _Dublin Penny Journal_ to London was countermanded,\nand not a copy of it was allowed, for some months afterwards, to come\nwithin hundreds of miles of the place of my residence. In the interim the\ningenious author of the _Celtic Druids_, and who had been _partly_ in\npossession of my development of the \u201cTowers\u201d for some time previously,\nfavoured me with a visit, during which we conversed principally on\nhistorical questions. The next day I addressed him a _note_, a copy of\nwhich, with its _answer_, I take leave to subjoin, for the sake of the\n_terminating_ clause of the latter, being the _self-convicting\nacknowledgment_ of the \u201cAcademy\u2019s\u201d _disingenuousness_.\n\n    (No. 5.)\n\n    \u201c_May 2, 1833._\n\n    \u201cDEAR SIR,--I hope you will not feel displeased at the frankness of\n    this question which I am about to propose to you, viz. have you any\n    objection to show me in manuscript, before you send to print, the\n    terms in which you speak of me, in reference to those points of\n    information which I entrusted to your confidence--such as the ancient\n    names of Ireland and their derivation, the towers and founders, dates,\n    etc.?\n\n    \u201cShould you think proper to consent to this feeling of anxiety on my\n    part, I shall be most willing to share with you those other \u2018points\u2019\n    which I exclusively retain.\n\n    \u201cTo the full extent you shall have them. The only condition I require\n    is, the credit of originality, which I have laboriously earned. Please\n    to drop me a line in reply to this, and allow me to subscribe myself,\n    with great respect,--Dear sir, your obedient,\n\n      \u201cHENRY O\u2019BRIEN.\n\n    \u201cGodfrey Higgins, Esq.\u201d\n\n\n    (No. 6.)\n\n    \u201c_May 3, 1833._\n\n    \u201cMY DEAR O\u2019BRIEN,--You may be perfectly assured I shall print nothing\n    which I have learned from you without acknowledging it. But I have\n    really forgotten what you told me, because I considered that I should\n    see it in print _in a few days_. Anything I shall write on the subject\n    will not be printed for years after your books have been before the\n    public. You did not tell me the name of Buddha, but I told it you,\n    that it was Saca, or Saca-sa,[36] which I have already printed a\n    hundred times, and can show you in my great quarto, when you take your\n    tea with me, as I hope you will to-morrow. _Sir W. Betham_ told me of\n    the fire-towers being Phalluses last night at the Antiquarian\n    Society.--Yours truly,\n\n      \u201cG. HIGGINS.\u201d\n\nWho, now, can pretend to think that the _neutralising award_ of the\n\u201cCouncil\u201d was the effect of scepticism or legitimate doubt? Here Sir\nWilliam Betham, the Ulster King-at-Arms! the Goliath of _antiquaries_!--as\nhe is, undoubtedly, of _pedigrees_,--being himself a _member_ of the\n\u201cdeciding tribunal,\u201d--proclaims, in the midst of a venerable literary\nassembly, that _my solution_ of the Round Tower enigma is accurate; and\nyet in the _teeth_ of this _confession_, and of the _conviction_ which\n_extorted_ it, he joins in voting away _my medal_ to a _compilation of\nerrors_, and in substituting thereinstead twenty pounds!\n\n    (No. 7.)\n\n    \u201cLONDON, _May 2, 1833_.\n\n    \u201cDEAR DR. SINGER,--I exceedingly grieve to hear of your ill-health.\n    Its announcement, I assure you, made me look within myself, and for a\n    moment lose sight of my own hardships. I hope, however, that you are\n    now so far recovered as to send me a favourable answer to this my\n    _last_ appeal.\n\n    \u201cTaking it for certain that the Academy\u2019s having not replied to the\n    tenor of my late intimation arose from the circumstance of there\n    having been no \u2018Council day\u2019 since; and, as I anticipate, that on\n    Monday next my _question_ will be _finally_ disposed of, I am anxious,\n    for the good of _all parties_, and for the _triumph_ of _truth_, to\n    show you in _one view_ how I have amputated the last _supports_ of\n    error, and covered its advocates with ignominy and shame.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \u201cThus _every leaf_ unfolds _evidences_ to the _realisation_ of _my\n    victory_. I took my stand at the outset on the pedestal of _truth_;\n    and I challenge scrutiny to insinuate that, in the _multiplied\n    developments_ which I have since revealed, I have deviated from my\n    _grand_ position one single iota.\n\n    \u201cLet it not be supposed, in the observation with which I am now about\n    to conclude, that I mean anything disrespectful to the Council of the\n    Academy. Many years have not passed since I knew several of them in a\n    different relation; and however little effect college associations may\n    produce on _other_ minds, _I_ find not their influence so fleeting or\n    transient. It is with extreme reluctance, therefore, that I would\n    split with a body who have lectured me as tutors. But time has\n    _advanced_; _I am now right, and they are wrong, and the cause which\n    they patronise will not do them much credit_.\n\n    \u201cI do not, however, yet give up my hopes but that the Academy will\n    _wisely_ retrace their steps. Revocation of the _former_ medal I do\n    not require--much less the exercise of a single grain of _partiality_.\n    My demand merely is, as my former letters have indicated, the\n    substitution of _justice_.\n\n    \u201cPlease receive the assurance of my consideration, and in confident\n    reliance that you will use your influence in this matter, and favour\n    me with the upshot instantly after Monday\u2019s Board,--I remain, ever\n    sincerely yours,\n\n      \u201cHENRY O\u2019BRIEN.\u201d\n\n\n    (No. 8.)\n\n    \u201cLONDON, _May 9, 1833_.\n\n    \u201cDEAR DR. SINGER,--My appeals are over; and I regret to say that they\n    have not been attended to. The _virtuous_ and _enlightened part_ of\n    the Academy, therefore, cannot blame me, if, in the assertion of my\n    honest right, I try the effect of a public remonstrance.\n\n    \u201cIn the interim, I transmit to you by this night\u2019s post some\n    additional leaves, which, in the anxiety of despatch, as well, indeed,\n    as from fear that they would not be inserted _because they overwhelm\n    for ever the antiquarian pretensions of the Dublin Penny Journal_,[37]\n    have omitted to copy. However, I will _now_ forward them, and claim\n    that they may be printed along with those already sent in the original\n    Essay.\n\n    \u201c... I have exhausted all the forms of blandness and conciliation, in\n    the vain hope of inducing the Council to redeem _themselves_ from\n    _disgrace_, by doing _me_ common _justice_. I have strove in the\n    mildest terms of conscious rectitude, invigorated by a phalanx of\n    overwhelming proofs, to make them reconsider their course, and spare\n    me the unpleasant task of exposing a deed which I am loth to\n    characterise by its proper designation. But the \u2018heart of Pharaoh\u2019 was\n    hardened; the \u2018voice of the charmer\u2019 not listened to; and to my soft\n    importunities nothing was returned but the coldness of obduracy and\n    disregard.\n\n    \u201cThe Rubicon, therefore, is crossed; my patience feels insulted; and\n    the only consideration I value, in the resolve to which I have at last\n    been driven, is, that _you_ had nothing to do with the \u2018job\u2019 of the\n    Round Towers.\n\n    \u201cLittle did the Academy know what arguments I could adduce in\n    elucidation of _certain mysteries_. As little do they now dream what\n    proofs I can summon, though _you_ cannot have _forgotten_ one of them,\n    while I promise I shall make _Dr. M\u2019Donnell recollect_ another; and\n    would not the _Rev. C\u00e6sar Otway_, with whom I have never so much as\n    exchanged a look, be surprised at my quoting him as a reluctant third\n    witness, to show that the gold medal and premium were predetermined to\n    Mr. Petrie before ever I became a candidate; and that, _consequently_,\n    the advertisement under which I was _invited_ to contend, but from\n    which the Council never expected an intruder, was but a specious\n    delusion.\n\n    \u201cIn this determination I violate no act of private regard, nor set\n    light by the claims of individual acquaintance. You know yourself how\n    earnestly I struggled, before the consummation of this nefarious\n    proceeding, to stem the agency of that despicable under-current which\n    I had just detected. I knew that fraud of some kind was at work; and\n    though unable at the moment to fix upon the person in whose favour it\n    was set agoing,--nay, though _mentally_ fastening the blame thereof\n    upon another, whose name, however, I never _let slip_, and to whom, I\n    rejoice to say I have since made more than recompense for this ideal\n    injury,--yet could I not be persuaded but that something _sinister_\n    was designated; and to frustrate the influence of such prominent\n    deceit, you know how vehement was my address. I implored you, I\n    besought you, and all but upon my _knees_, and with _tears_, I invoked\n    you, by your regard to justice and your fear of a Creator, to _check\n    this trickery_, and allow _merit alone_ and _anonymous_ to decide the\n    issue.\n\n    \u201cI now, in the same spirit of solemn self-composure, adjure the\n    \u2018Council\u2019 through you, in the name of that God before whom they and I\n    shall one day appear, that they will have my cause redressed, and make\n    me reparation, not only for the substantial injury, but for the mental\n    disquietude and agony which this \u2018business\u2019 has occasioned. If they do\n    not, rest satisfied that _my path is already chalked_. All the\n    _evolutions_ of the Council, as displayed upon the Towers, and with\n    which I am but too familiar, shall be immortalised in letterpress; and\n    I do not yet despair of the _hereditary fairness_ of my country but\n    that it shall _register_ its dissent from the decision of that\n    tribunal, which could have had at once the _obtuseness_ of intellect\n    and the _perverseness_ of conduct to _stultify_ their own verdict by a\n    contradictory award; and, after _inveigling me into a competition\n    which they never meant to remunerate, deprive_ me of the fruits of my\n    indubitable triumph, in the pursuit of which I had almost lost my\n    life, and cut short my existence in the very spring of my manhood.\n\n    \u201cI mean no offence, individually or collectively, to the Academy or\n    its members; but as they have been deaf to the justice of my private\n    \u2018appeals,\u2019 I shall try the effect of a public \u2018remonstrance\u2019; and as\n    to _ulterior_ consequences I greatly err, else the upshot will show\n    that the motto[38] adopted as my fictitious signature in the \u2018Essay\u2019\n    was not the random assumption of inconsiderateness or accident, but\n    the true index to the author\u2019s resources.\n\n    \u201cMy proposal is this--my unshaken position from which I will not\n    swerve or retract--a _gold medal and premium equivalent to those\n    originally advertised_.--I am, dear sir, yours sincerely,\n\n      \u201cHENRY O\u2019BRIEN.\n\n    \u201cTo the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer,\n      \u201c_Secretary to the Academy_.\u201d\n\n\n    (No. 10.)\n\n    \u201cGRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN,\n    \u201c_May 13, 1833_.\n\n    \u201cDEAR SIR,--I have been directed by the Council of the Royal Irish\n    Academy to reply to your last letters on the subject of your Essay,\n    and the additional matter recently sent over. As to the latter, I am\n    directed to say that the Council had engaged to examine and publish,\n    if approved, some small additions to your former Essay; but the papers\n    you have sent are so large as to be nearly equal in bulk to the\n    original dissertation; under these circumstances the Council cannot\n    publish them as additional to, or incorporated with, the Essay to\n    which they awarded twenty pounds prize, _as thereby its character\n    might be so altered that it would not appear in print the same Essay\n    on which they had formed their opinion_. The Council, therefore, wish\n    to know how they may transmit to you the papers you have sent. When\n    the gentlemen to whom your Essay has been submitted for examination\n    report, you shall be made aware of the extent of alteration they\n    suggest; and if you think that your paper requires the additions you\n    have sent, and would therefore wish to publish it with them yourself,\n    I have no doubt the Council will entertain any notice to that\n    effect.--I am, dear sir, your most obedient,\n\n      \u201cJ. H. SINGER.\n\n    \u201cH. O\u2019Brien, Esq.\u201d\n\n\n    (No. 11.)\n\n    \u201cLONDON, _May 20, 1833_.\n\n    \u201cDEAR DR. SINGER,--I do not quite understand the closing observation\n    of your last letter. If the Academy mean me a kindness, I should trust\n    that my nature is too sensible of such advances not suitably to\n    acknowledge it; and I should be sorry that, either from obscurity in\n    the diction, or want of quickness in my perception, I were to lose the\n    opportunity of making a grateful return. Let me, therefore, put the\n    following interrogatory to set myself right, viz.:--\n\n    \u201cWill the Academy procure me a publisher for my _enlarged_ work? And\n    will they advertise that, having previously done me injustice, by the\n    transfer of my medal, they now, on being convinced of their error,\n    adopt this as the only mode of reparation, the award itself not being\n    to be recalled?\n\n    \u201cWithout some such course as this, it is obvious that the offer which\n    they make, instead of being a _kindness_, would be a _mockery_; and,\n    instead of making amends for _oppression_, would be adding _insult_ to\n    _persecution_! For who, let me ask, would publish a work which a jury\n    have branded with the stamp of _inferior_, doling out their\n    surreptitious twenty pounds as an eleemosynary deodand, while the\n    _darling_ of their adoption, though disfigured by all the\n    imperfections of _blindness_, _lameness_, and _untruth_, and\n    recommended only by a few _painted gew-gaws_, which never entered into\n    the requisites of the original advertisement, _will pass current in\n    Dublin amongst the creatures_ of party!\n\n    \u201cI have already applied to Mr. ----, and he, intimidated by the\n    vicious state of society in Ireland, declined my proposal; but though\n    his apprehensions were sufficient to deter him from the speculation,\n    they were totally unfounded; for, despite of all corruption, all\n    chicanery, and all cabals, the etc. etc. etc.\n\n    \u201cThis complaint, observe, does not refer to the new papers only, but\n    extends itself equally to the original Essay. Why do the Academy keep\n    it back? Believe me, it is in vain for them to defer \u2018the evil day\u2019 of\n    their exposure. Their doom was sealed the very moment they did me\n    injustice! I have watchfully reconnoitred their course, and have\n    proofs of the intricacies of their internal machinery, ample as those\n    before adduced for the solution of the Round Tower enigma, to effect\n    their overthrow; and if the present generation be not virtuous enough\n    to redress my cause, it shall be no fault of mine if any future age\n    shall be ignorant of the names of the individuals who constitute the\n    present _Council_; and in what light they shall be considered, their\n    own conscience can furnish them with a tolerable foretaste!\n\n    \u201cWas it not a cruelly perverse thing of them, after determining\n    beforehand to award the medal to Mr. Petrie, to inveigle me into the\n    competition by a deceptious advertisement? And then, after signally\n    beating them under all disadvantages, to _man\u0153uvre me off by a\n    beggarly cheat_? Shame, foul shame for ever upon the Academy!\n\n    \u201cWhy, sir, the very terms of your letter show their\n    self-convictedness, though they have not honesty enough to avow it\n    overboard! What do they mean by saying that the new matter would \u2018make\n    my Essay not appear in print the same as that on which they formed\n    their opinion\u2019? Are they afraid that it would make it appear worse?\n    Not at all; they would rejoice at the pretext, and publish it\n    _instanter_ as a cloak to their verdict! But as they have, in spite of\n    them, admitted those additions to be an _improvement,[39] why do they,\n    I ask, who have advertised for truth, again repress its effulgence_?\n\n    \u201cIt is now easy to see what they designed by the clauses of\n    \u2018expediency,\u2019 \u2018if approved,\u2019 and \u2018subject to revisal\u2019; viz., if false,\n    we will insert them in _self-vindication_; but if true, we will not,\n    _as being too great a victory over our own ignorance and favouritism_!\n\n    \u201cMy Essay, however, does not want those new papers: the Council,\n    therefore, will please have them sealed and handed over to the custody\n    of Mr. Tims, my bookseller, in Grafton Street. The only additions\n    which I shall insist upon being inserted are those contained in my\n    letters in appropriate places, as I shall point out.\n\n    \u201cI conclude by giving notice that I shall claim Lord Cloncurry\u2019s\n    premium; nor do I despair of _recovering that_, as I should think that\n    his lordship is _too honest a man to sacrifice the interests of\n    literature to the intrigues of a faction_!--I have the honour to be,\n    etc.,\n\n      \u201cHENRY O\u2019BRIEN.\u201d\n\n\n    (No. 12.)\n\n    \u201cROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE, DUBLIN,\n    \u201c_May 27, 1833_.\n\n    \u201cSIR,--I am directed by the Council of the Royal Irish Academy to\n    inform you that they feel themselves compelled, in consequence of your\n    late letters, to decline the publication of your Essay, or the\n    maintaining any further correspondence with you on the subject.\n\n    \u201cYour Essay and the additional matter will be sent, as you desire, to\n    Mr. Tims, Grafton Street, as soon as a copy of the former can be\n    taken.--I am, sir, your most obedient,\n\n      \u201cJ. H. SINGER, _Secretary_.\n\n    \u201cH. O\u2019Brien, Esq.\u201d\n\nThe discontinuance of the correspondence was to be expected, but their\ndeclining the publication of my Essay in their _Transactions_, merely\nbecause of my giving utterance to some unpalatable truths, was an excess\nof _magnanimity_ which I did not think that even the \u201cCouncil\u201d would\npersonify.\n\nHowever, you suppose that they, at all events, returned me my Essay, as\npromised? Far from it! In violation of all honour, and of the written\nengagements of their Secretary, they have detained it ever since in their\nhands, thereby putting me to the vast expense of procuring new plates,\ninstead of those which the original contained--an inconvenience, I must\naffirm, which they had hoped I could never have surmounted; while, in the\ninterim, they should push out their _bantling_ upon the public, secure in\nthe consciousness of having cushioned my work, that they should ride over\nthe market without a rival.\n\nThey should have known, however, that the person who, at _three months\u2019\nnotice_, undertook to solve the Towers, and then kept them at bay for six\nmonths before they could chouse him out of his prize, was not to be\ndeterred by such an obstacle as the above. And the reader may be satisfied\nthat, though it has occasioned _me_ some hardship, _he is in no respect\nthereby a loser_.\n\nI have stated that the effect of my Letter No. 1 was to interrupt the\ntransmission of the _Dublin Penny Journal_ to London. I have now to point\nout the result of the menace conveyed in Letter 8 of my determining to\nexpose--as I enclosed the proofs that I could refute--the _antiquarian\nerrors_ of their organ. It was that they _instantly took the hint, and\nsold their interest in the concern_! And its new proprietor, edified no\ndoubt by a friendly lesson at their hands, very wisely intimates, in his\nopening number, that he shall forego _antiquities_, and make literary\n_jobbing_ no part of it.\n\nHere are his words: \u201cFrom the concluding paragraph of the last number of\nthis little publication, its readers will be aware that it is now in the\nhands of a new editor and proprietor, and they will naturally expect that\nin the present number something should be said relative to its future\nmanagement. \u2018Deeds, not words,\u2019 has ever been the motto of its (present)\nconductor, and he will therefore merely say that it is his intention to\ngive his readers good value for their money; that the _Dublin Penny\nJournal_ shall not be a mere \u2018catchpenny,\u2019 depending upon the number and\nexcellence of its woodcuts for extensive circulation, but containing, as\nhe considers a publication of the kind should do, such a variety of\ninteresting and useful matter as shall render it really valuable. In\nfuture, therefore, while the _antiquities_ of the country will not be\nneglected, the work shall exhibit a more _general character in the\nsubjects of its contents_.\u201d[40]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_N.B._--As I am a member of no club, belong to no literary society, and\nhave no facilities otherwise for watching periodicals, whether newspapers,\nmagazines, or reviews, I shall feel obliged if any gentleman who, in the\nexercise of a free judgment, should think proper to dissent from me, and\nto express such dissent in offensive language, would be pleased to forward\nme a copy of the work wherein his strictures may appear, and I promise\nthat I shall reply to them with deference, and perhaps satisfaction. I\nalso trust that, from the singularity of my position, I do not expect too\nmuch when I express a hope that any publication which speaks against me\nwill allow me to reply through the same medium--a request certainly which\ncannot be refused, unless the design be hostile and factiously malicious.\nAny suggestions for improvement, with a view to a second edition, I very\ncheerfully court.\n\nAll communications addressed to me, to the care of my publisher, Mr.\nWhittaker, Ave Maria Lane, St. Paul\u2019s, London, will reach me, and be\nattended to.\n\n\n\n\n  THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND;\n\n  OR\n\n  THE HISTORY OF THE TUATH-DE-DANAANS\n\n  _FOR THE FIRST TIME UNVEILED_.\n\n\n  BY HENRY O\u2019BRIEN, ESQ., A.B.\n\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n\n  \u201cHic sacra, hic genus, hic majorum multa vestigia.\u201d\n                                              CICERO.\n\n                    ... \u201cwere of fame,\n  And had been glorious in another day.\u201d\n                                  BYRON.\n\n\n  SECOND EDITION.\n\n\n  LONDON:\n  PARBURY AND ALLEN, LEADENHALL STREET;\n  DUBLIN:\n  J. CUMMING, LOWER ORMOND QUAY.\n  MDCCCXXXIV.\n\n\n\n\nTO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, ETC. ETC. ETC.\n\n\nMY LORD MARQUIS,\n\nMany reasons concur why I should feel ambitious to associate your name\nwith the following production. To enumerate these would neither become my\nhumility, nor be acceptable to your good taste. But there is one motive\nwhich, as it is the offspring of the heart, implanted there at a period\nwhen adulation was not dreamt of, I may be allowed to particularise,--I\nwas born upon your estates--you are the landlord of that spot which\nimparted my earliest images--the first soarings of my fancy were derived\nfrom that scene--and to the native notes which I have lisped in that\nprimitive and retired region, more than to the vaunted advantages of a\nsubsequent collegiate career, am I beholden for the clue with which I have\ntraversed the ancient world; and of which Envy herself must yet\nacknowledge, that I have here rectified the history in its very widest\namplitude--as well sacred as profane.\n\nIt is to do honour to this clue _in the eyes of the Mec\u00e6nas of his age_,\nand, under the auspices of his approval, to promote its revival, that I\ngive utterance to this sentiment; and so, hoping that you will view it in\nthis light, and not as the empty chaunt of a reprehensible egotism, I beg\nleave to subscribe myself, with the most profound consideration and\nrespect,\n\n  My Lord Marquis,\n    Your Lordship\u2019s most devoted\n      And most faithful, humble Servant,\n        HENRY O\u2019BRIEN.\n\nLONDON, _September 1834_.\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n                                                                      PAGE\n\n  PORTRAIT OF HENRY O'BRIEN, BY MACLISE                     _Frontispiece_\n\n  DEVENISH ROUND TOWER                                                  38\n\n  ARDMORE    \"     \"                                                    71\n\n  CLONDALKIN \"     \"                                                   101\n\n  EFFIGY OF FARRAGH, OR MORIAGAN                                       138\n\n  SAMONA OF BUDDHA                                                     140\n\n  ROUND TOWER, WITH DEVOTEE ON SUMMIT                                  169\n\n  SYMBOLIC SCULPTURE FOUND AT VINDOLANA                                223\n\n  PALENCIAN SCULPTURE OF THE SYMBOLIC \u201cTREE,\u201d WITH FIGURES             229\n\n  PYTHAGOREAN TRIANGLE OF TEN                                          268\n\n  SYMBOLIC CRESCENT-ORNAMENTS                                     273, 274\n\n  EFFIGY OF CRUCIFIED BUDDHA, SACA, OR MACHA                           296\n\n  BRECHIN ROUND TOWER (SCOTLAND), WITH DOUBLE-ARCH AND EFFIGIES        299\n\n  OBELISK AT SANDWICK (ROSS-SHIRE)                                     306\n\n  PHOENICIAN MEDALS, STAMPED WITH CROSS, LAMB, AND ROSARY              314\n\n  SHAFT OF CROSS AT FORRES (SCOTLAND)                                  316\n\n        \"        \"            \"       REVERSE SIDE OF SAME             319\n\n  MONOLITH AT CARNAC (EGYPT)                                           322\n\n  SCULPTURE IN KNOCKMOY ABBEY                                     329, 330\n\n  SCULPTURE ON TEMPLE AT KALABCHE (NUBIA)                         341, 342\n\n  KILCULLEN, CROSS AT                                                  338\n\n  CLONMACNOISE,    \"                                                   358\n\n  FINGLAS          \"                                                   366\n\n  KELLS            \"                                                   491\n\n  FACSIMILE OF MS. DISCOVERED AT ICOLMKILL                             419\n\n  PHEELEAS, OR ORACLE-TUBE, FOUND AT BALLYMONEY                        460\n\n  GLENDALOUGH, CURIOUS SYMBOLIC SCULPTURE ON RUINS OF                  467\n\n  THE MAGI--WOODCUT FROM AN ANCIENT BLOCK-BOOK                         482\n\n  MEDALS OF CHRIST, FOUND AT ISLAND OF ANGLESEA AND AT CORK            509\n\n\n\n\nTHE ROUND TOWERS, _&c._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n    \u201cA lively desire of knowing and recording our ancestors so generally\n    prevails, that it must depend on the influence of some common\n    principle in the minds of men. We seem to have lived in the persons of\n    our forefathers; our calmer judgment will rather tend to moderate than\n    suppress the pride of an ancient and worthy race. The satirist may\n    laugh; the philosopher may preach; but reason herself will respect the\n    prejudices and habits which have been consecrated by the experience of\n    mankind.\u201d[41]\n\n\nOf all nations on the globe, the Irish, as a people, are universally\nadmitted to possess, in a pre-eminent degree, those finer sensibilities of\nthe human heart, which, were they but wisely controlled, would exalt _man_\nabove the level of ordinary humanity, and make him, as it were, a being of\nanother species. The numerous instances adduced in all periods of their\nhistory, of ardent and enterprising zeal, in every case wherein personal\nhonour or national glory may be involved, are in themselves sufficient to\nestablish this assertion. But while granting their pre-eminence as to the\npossession of those feelings, and the capability of the feelings\nthemselves to be refined and sublimated to the very acme of cultivation,\nwe may still doubt whether the _mere possession_ of them be not less a\nblessing than a curse--whether, in fact, their quick perception of\ndisquietudes and pains be not more than a counterpoise to their keen\nenjoyment of delight or pleasure.\n\nForemost, however, in the train of the _many virtues_ which flow\ntherefrom, is that \u201camor patri\u00e6,\u201d or love of country, which, unsubdued\noften by the most galling miseries and the most hopeless wants, throws a\nhalo round the loneliness of their present despair in the proud\nretrospection of their former buoyancy. This spirit it is which, despite\nof obvious advantages to be derived from emigration, has riveted the Irish\npeasant so immutably to his home, that any effort on his part to dissolve\nthose local fetters would be equivalent to the disruption of all the ties\nand attachments which nature or habit had implanted within him.\n\n  \u201cThe lofty scenes around their sires recall,\n  Fierce in the field and generous in the hall;\n  The mountain crag, the stream and waving tree,\n  Breathe forth some proud and glorious history--\n  Urges their steps where patriot virtue leads,\n  And fires the kindred souls to kindred deeds.\n  They tread elate the soil their fathers trod,\n  The same their country, and the same their God.\u201d\n\nBut it may be said that this is a day-dream of youth--the hereditary\nvanity of one of Iran\u2019s sons, arrogating antiquity and renown for an\ninconsiderable little island, without a particle of proof to substantiate\ntheir assumption, or a shadow of authority to give colour to their claims.\nWhy, sir, cast your eye over the fair face of the land itself, and does\nnot the scene abound with the superfluity of its evidences? What are those\nhigh aspiring edifices which rise with towering elevation towards the\ncanopy of the \u201c_Most High_\u201d?[42] What are those stupendous and awful\nstructures of another form--the study at once and admiration of the\nantiquarian and the philosopher, to be found on the summits of our various\nhills[43] as well as in the bowels[44] of the earth itself?--what are they\nbut the historical monuments of splendour departed--surviving the ravages\nof time and decay, not as London\u2019s column, to \u201clift their heads and lie,\u201d\nbut to give the lie and discomfiture to those, who, from the interested\nsuggestions of an illiberal policy, or the more pardonable delusions of a\nbeclouded judgment, would deny the authenticity of our historic records,\nand question the truth of our _primeval_ civilisation?\n\nIt is true, the magnificence which those memorials demonstrate is but the\nunenviable grandeur of druidical, as it is called, idolatry and\nunenlightened paganism,--when man, relinquishing that supremacy consigned\nto him at his creation, or rather divested thereof in punishment for the\ntransgression of his degenerate disposition, lost sight of that Being to\nwhom he owed his safety and his life, and bent himself in homage before\nperishable creatures that crawl their ephemeral pilgrimage through the\nsame scene with himself. Granted; yet that cannot well be objected to _us_\nas a disgrace, which, co-extensive in its adoption with the amplitude of\nthe earth\u2019s extension, equally characterised the illiterate and the sage;\nand if, amidst this lamentable prostration of the human understanding,\nanything like redemption or feature of superiority may be allowed, it must\nbe, unquestionably, to the adherents of that system, which, excluding the\nobjects of matter and clay, recognised, in its worship of the bright\nluminaries of the firmament, the purity and omnipotence of that Spirit\nwho brought all into existence, and who guides and preserves them in their\nrespective spheres;--and when I shall have _proved_ that the intent and\napplication of those _Sabian[45] Towers_,--or, to speak more correctly,\nthose _primitive Budhist Temples_,--which decorate our landscape and\ncommemorate our past renown, appertained to this species of purified\nidolatry, which worshipped only the host of heaven, the moon and the solar\nbody, which gives _vigour_ to all things, I shall, methinks, have removed\none obstacle from the elucidation of our antiquities, and facilitated the\nroad to further adventure in this interesting inquiry.\n\nLet me not be supposed, however, by the preceding remarks to restrict\ntheir destination to one single purpose. All I require of my readers is a\npatient perusal of my details; and I deceive myself very much, and\noverrate my powers of enunciation, else I shall establish in their minds\nas thorough a conviction of the development of the \u201cTowers\u201d as I am myself\nsatisfied with the accuracy of my conclusions. I shall only entreat, then,\nof their courtesy that I be not anticipated in my course, or definitively\njudged of by isolated scraps, but that, as my notice for this competition\nhas been limited and recent, allowing but little time for the observance\nof _tactique_ or rules, in the utterance of the novel views which I now\nventure to put forward, the proofs of which, however, have been long\nregistered in my thoughts, and additionally confirmed by every new\nresearch, the merits of the production may not be estimated by parcels,\nbut by the combined tendency of the parts altogether.\n\nTo begin, therefore. The origins I have heard assigned to those records\nof antiquity,--however invidious it may appear, at this the outset of my\nlabours, to assume so self-sufficient a tone, yet can I not avoid saying\nthat, whether I consider their multiplicity or their extravagance, they\nhave not more frequently excited my ridicule than my commiseration. That\nspecimens of architecture, so costly and so elegant, should be designed\nfor the paltry purposes of purgatorial columns or penitential heights, to\nwhich criminals should be elevated for the ablution of their\nenormities--while the honest citizen, virtuous and unstained, should be\ncontent to grovel amongst lowly terrestrials \u2019mid the dense exhalations of\nforests and bogs, in a mud-wall hut, or at best a conglomeration of\nwattles and hurdles--is, I conceive, an outrage upon human reason too\npalpable to be listened to.\n\nNot less ridiculous is the idea of their having been intended for beacons;\nfor, were such their destination, a hill or rising ground would have been\nthe proper site for their erection, and not a valley or low land, where it\nhappens that we generally meet them.\n\nThe belfry theory alone, unfounded in one sense though it really be, and\nwhen confined to that application equally contemptible with the others,\nis, notwithstanding, free from the objection that would lie against the\n_place_, as it is well known that the sound of bells which hang in plains\nand valleys is heard much farther than that of such as hang upon\nelevations or hills: for, air being the medium of sound, the higher the\nsonorous body is placed, the more rarefied is that medium, and\nconsequently the less proper vehicle to convey the sound to a distance.\nThe objection of situation, therefore, does not apply to this theory; and,\naccordingly, we shall find that the exercising of bells--though in a way\nand for an object little contemplated by our theorists--constituted part\nof the machinery of the complicated ceremonial of those mysterious\nedifices.\n\nThe truth is, the \u201cRound Towers\u201d of Ireland were not all intended for one\nand the same use, nor any one of them limited to one single purpose; and\nthis, I presume, will account for the variety in their construction, not\nless perceptible in their diameters and altitudes than in other\ncharacteristic bearings. For I am not to be told that those varieties we\nobserve were nothing more than the capriciousness of _taste_, when I find\nthat the indulgence of that caprice, in one way, would defeat the very\nobject to which one party would ascribe them, whilst its extension, in a\ndifferent way, would frustrate the hopes of another set of speculators.\n\nBut what must strike the most cursory as irresistibly convincing that they\nwere not erected _all_ with _one_ view, is the fact of our sometimes\nfinding two of them together in one and the same locality.\n\nNow, if they were intended as beacons or belfries, would it not be the\nmost wasteful expenditure of time and wealth to erect two of them together\non almost the same spot? And when I mention expenditure, perhaps I may be\nallowed, incidentally, to observe, that, of all species of architecture,\n_this_ particular form, as it is the most durable, so is it also the most\ndifficult and the most costly.\n\nNeed I name the sum of money which Nelson\u2019s monument has cost in modern\ntimes? or that imperfect testimonial in the Ph\u0153nix Park which commemorates\nthe glories of the hero of Waterloo. No; but I will mention what Herodotus\ntells us was the purport of an inscription upon one of the pyramids of\nEgypt, the form of some of which, be it known, was not very dissimilar to\nour Irish pyramids, while their intent and object were more congenial;\nviz. that no less a sum than 1600 talents of silver, or about \u00a3400,000 of\nour money, had been expended upon radishes, onions, and garlic alone, for\n360,000 men, occupied for twenty years in bringing that stupendous fabric,\nthat combined instrument of religion and science, to completion!\n\nOur Round Towers, we may well conceive, must have been attended, at the\nearly period of their erection, with comparatively similar expense: and\nassuredly, the _motive_ which could suggest such an outlay must have been\none of corresponding import, of the most vital, paramount, and absorbing\nconsideration.\n\nWould the receptacles for a bell be of such moment? And that, too, whilst\nthe churches, to which, of course, they must have appertained, were\nthought worthy of no better materials than temporary hurdles, and so leave\nbehind them no vestiges of their local site,--no evidence or trace of\ntheir ever having existed! And, indeed, how could they?--for existence\nthey never had, except in the creative imagination of our hypothetical\nantiquaries.\n\nRuins, it is true, of chapels and dilapidated cathedrals are frequently\nfound in the vicinity of our Round Towers; but these betray in their\n_materials_ and architecture the stamp of a later age, having been founded\nby missionaries of the early Christian Church, and purposely thus\ncollocated--contiguous to edifices long before hallowed by a religious\nuse--to at once conciliate the prejudices of those whom they would fain\npersuade, and divert their adoration to a more purified worship.\n\nAnd yet, upon this single circumstance of proximity to ecclesiastical\ndilapidations--coupled with the bas-relief of a crucifix which presents\nitself over the door of the Budhist temple of Donoghmore in Ireland, and\nthat of Brechin in Scotland--have the deniers of the antiquity of those\nvenerable memorials raised that superstructure of historical imposture,\nwhich, please God, I promise them, will soon crumble round their ears\nbefore the indignant effulgence of regenerated veracity.\n\nIt might be sufficient for this purpose, perhaps, to tell them that\nsimilar ruins of early Christian churches are to be met with abundantly in\nthe neighbourhood of Cromleachs and Mithratic caves all through the\nisland; and that they might as well, from this vicinity, infer that those\ntwo other vestiges of heathenish adoration were contrived by our early\nChristians as appendages to the chapels, as they would fain make out--by\nprecisely the same mode of inference--that the Round Towers had been!\n\nBut this would not suit; they could find no ascription associated with\nChristianity which cave or cromleach could subserve; and thus have the\npoor missionaries escaped the cumbrous imputation of having those colossal\npagan slabs and those astounding gentile excavations affiliated upon them.\n\nNot so fortunate the Towers. After ransacking the whole catalogue of\navailable applications appertaining to the order of monastic institutions\nwith which to _Siamise_ those temples, Montmorency has at last hit upon\nthe noble and dignified department of a \u201cdungeon-keep\u201d or \u201clock-up!\u201d as\nthe sole use and intention of their original erection!\n\nAs I intend, however, to unravel this fallacy in its proper quarter, I\nshall resume, for the present, the thread of my discourse.\n\nBesides the absurdity, then, of bestowing such magnificence upon so really\ninconsiderable a thing as a belfry, while the supposed churches were\ndoomed to dwindle and moulder in decay, is it not astonishing that we find\nno vestiges of the like fashion, or structures of the like form, in any of\nthose countries where the people to whom the advocates of this theory\nascribe their erection have since and before exercised sway?\n\nThe Danes had dominion in Britain longer and more extensively than they\never had in _this_ island; and yet, in the whole compass of England, from\none extremity to the other, is there not one fragment of architecture\nremaining to sanction the idea of identity or resemblance!\n\nNay, in all Denmark and Scandinavia, the original residence of the Ostmen\nand Danes, there is not a single parallel to be found to those columnar\nedifices!\n\nIreland, on the contrary, exhibits them in every quarter; in districts and\nbaronies where Danish authority was never felt; and surely our forefathers\nwere not so much in love with the usages and habits of their barbarian\nintruders, as to multiply the number of those stately piles, solely in\nimitation of such detested taskmasters.\n\nBut what renders it _demonstrative_ that those professional pirates had no\nmanner of connection with the Irish Round Towers, is the glaring fact,\nthat in the two cities of Wexford and Waterford--where their power was\nabsolute, their influence uncontrolled--there is not a solitary structure\nthat could possibly be ascribed to the class of those which we now\ndiscuss!\n\nIn Scotland alone, of all European countries besides Ireland, do we meet\nwith two of them,--one at Brechin, and the other at Abernethy;--but they\nare smaller than the Irish, and, with other characteristics, seem to have\nbeen built, after their model, at a comparatively recent period, by a\ncolony from this country, \u201cas if marking the fact,\u201d to use Dalton\u2019s\n_accidentally_[46] appropriate phrase, \u201cof that colonisation having taken\nplace when the rites, for which the Round Towers were erected, in the\nmother-country, were on the decline.\u201d\n\nBut, forsooth, they are called \u201ccloghachd\u201d by the peasantry, and that,\nwithout further dispute, fixes their destination as belfries! Oh! seri\nstudiorum qu\u00eene difficile putetis?\n\nThat some of them had been appropriated in latter times, nay, and still\nare, to this purpose, I very readily concede; but, \u201ctoto c\u0153lo,\u201d I deny\nthat such had ever entered into the contemplation of their constructors,\nas I do, also, the universality of the very name, which I myself know, by\npopular converse, to be but partial in its adoption, extending only to\nsuch as had been converted by the moderns to the purpose described, or\nsuch as may, originally, have had a clogh, or bell, of which I admit there\nwere some, as part of their apparatus.\n\nThe first bells of which we have any mention are those described by Moses,\nas attached to the garments of the high-priest. From these, the Gentiles,\nas they affected to rival the Israelites in all their ceremonies, borrowed\nthe idea, and introduced its exercise into the celebration of their own\nritual. By \u201cIsraelites,\u201d however, I deem it necessary to explain that I do\nnot understand those who, in strictness of speech, are so denominated as\nthe descendants of Israel, _i.e._ Jacob, who, in fact, were a\ncomparatively modern people; but I particularise that old stock of\npatriarchal believers which existed from the Creation, and upon which the\nIsraelites, rigidly so called, were afterwards engrafted.\n\nOur Irish history abounds with proofs of the \u201cceol,\u201d and \u201cceolan,\u201d the\nbell and the little bell, having been used by the pagan priests in the\nministry of their religious ordinances; and to the fictitious sanctity\nwhich they attributed to this instrument may we ascribe that superstitious\nregard which the illiterate and uneducated still continue to entertain for\nthe music of its sound.\n\nFrom the Sabian ceremonial--succeeded by the Druidical--it unquestionably\nwas that the Christian missionaries in Ireland first adopted the use of\nbells, wishing, wisely, therein to conform as much as possible to the\nprejudices of the natives, when they did not essentially interfere with\nthe spirit of their divine mission. I shall hereafter relate the\nastonishment excited in England, at the appearance of one of those bells,\nbrought there in the beginning of the sixth century by Gildas, who had\njust returned after finishing his education in Ireland; and this, in\nitself, should satisfy the most incredulous that the Britons, as well\npagan as Christian, were ever before strangers to such a sight; and no\nwonder, for they were strangers also to such things as Round Towers, to\nwhich I shall prove those implements properly and exclusively belonged.\n\n\u201cClogad\u201d is the name, and which literally signifies a \u201cpyramid,\u201d that has\nled people into this \u201cbelfry\u201d mistake. To conclude, therefore, this\nportion of our investigation, I shall observe, in Dr. Milner\u2019s words,\n\u201cthat none of these towers are large enough for a single bell of a\nmoderate size to swing about in it; that, from the whole of their form and\ndimensions, and from the smallness of the apertures in them, they are\nrather calculated to stifle than to transmit to a distance any sound that\nis made _in_ them; lastly, that though possibly a small bell may have been\naccidentally put up in one or two of them at some late period, yet we\nconstantly find other belfries, or contrivances for hanging bells, in the\nchurches adjoining to them.\u201d\n\nI fear greatly I may have bestowed too much pains in dispelling the\ndelusion of this preposterous opinion. But as it had been put forward with\nso much confidence by a much-celebrated \u201cantiquarian,\u201d--though how he\nmerited the designation I confess myself at a loss to know,--I thought it\nmy duty not to content myself with the mere exposure of the fallacy,\nwithout following it up with proofs, which must evermore, I trust,\nencumber its advocates with _shame_; and the rather, as this great\nchampion of _Danish civilisation_ and proclaimer of his _country\u2019s\nbarbarism_ is at no ordinary trouble to affect ridicule and contempt for a\nmost enlightened and meritorious English officer, who, from the sole\nsuggestion of truth, promoted by observation and antiquarian research,\nstood forward as the advocate of our ancestral renown, to make amends, as\nit were, for the aspersions of domestic calumniators.\n\nBoth parties are, however, now appreciated as they ought; and though\nVallancey, certainly, did not understand the purport of our Round Towers,\nhis view of them, after all, was not far from being correct; and the\nlaborious industry with which he prosecuted his inquiries, and the\ndisinterested warmth with which he ushered them into light, should shield\nhis memory from every ill-natured sneer, and make every child of Iran feel\nhis grateful debtor.\n\nHaving given Milner a little while ago the opportunity of tolling the\ndeath-knell of the belfry hypothesis, I think I could not do better now\nthan give Ledwich, in return, a triumph, by demolishing the symmetry of\nthe anchorite vagary.\n\n\u201cIt must require a warm imagination,\u201d says this writer,--after quoting the\naccount given by Evagrius of Simeon Stylites\u2019 pillar, upon which\nRichardson, Harris, and Milner after them had founded the anchorite\nvagary,--\u201cto point out the similarity between this pillar and our \u2018tower\u2019:\nthe one was solid, and the other hollow--the one square, and the other\ncircular: the ascetic _there_ was placed without _on_ the pillar; with\n_us_ enclosed _in_ the tower. He adds, these habitations of anchorites\nwere called _inclusoria_, or _arcti inclusorii ergastula_, but these were\nvery different from our round towers; for he mistakes Raderus, on whom he\ndepends, and who says, \u2018The house of the recluse ought to be of stone, the\nlength and breadth twelve feet, with three windows, one facing the choir,\nthe other opposite, through which food is conveyed to him, and the third\nfor the admission of light--the latter to be always covered with glass or\nhorn.\u2019\n\n\u201cHarris, speaking of Donchad O\u2019Brien, Abbot of Clonmacnois, who shut\nhimself up in one of these cells, adds, \u2018I will not take upon me to affirm\nthat it was in one of these towers of Clonmacnois he was enclosed.\u2019 It\nmust have been the strangest perversion of words and ideas to have\nattempted it. Is it not astonishing that a reverie thus destitute of\ntruth, and founded on wilful mistakes of the plainest passages, should\nhave been attended to, and even be, for some time, believed?\u201d\n\nThus have I allowed him to retaliate in his own words; but in order to\nrender his victory complete, by involving a greater number within his\nclosing denunciation, he should have waited until he had seen a note\nappended to the fourteenth of Dr. Milner\u2019s _Letters_, which,\nunquestionably, would deserve a similar rebuke for its gross perversion of\na \u201ccell\u201d into a \u201ctower.\u201d\n\nIt is this: \u201cWe learn from St. Bernard, that St. Malachy, afterwards\nArchbishop of Armagh, in the twelfth century, applied for religious\ninstruction, when a youth, to a holy solitary by name Imarus, who was shut\nup in a \u2018cell,\u2019 near the cathedral of the said city, _probably in a Round\nTower_.\u201d Risum teneatis?\n\nBut I am tired of fencing with shadows and special pleading with casuists.\nAnd yet, as I would wish to render this Essay systematically complete, I\nam forced, however reluctant, to notice the conjecture, which others have\nhazarded, of those Round Towers having been places of retreat and security\nin the event of invasion from an enemy; or depositories and reservoirs for\nthe records of State, the Church utensils and national treasures!\n\nTo the _former_, I shall reply, that Stanihurst\u2019s description of the\n\u201cexcubias in castelli vertice,\u201d upon which it would seem to have been\nfounded, does not at all apply to the case; because, while the \u201ccastella\u201d\nhave vanished, the Round Towers--which never belonged to them--do, many of\nthem still firmly, maintain their post; and as to the _latter_, the\nboldness with which it has been put forward, by its author before\nnamed,[47] requires a more lengthened examination than its utter\ninstability could otherwise justify.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\nThis chivalrous son of Mars, more conversant, I should hope, with tactics\nthan with literary disquisitions, has started with a position which he is\nhimself, shortly after, the most industrious to contradict; namely, \u201cthat\nthe gods, to punish so much vanity and presumption, had consigned to\neverlasting oblivion the founders, names, dates, periods, and all records\nrelating to them.\u201d[48]\n\nSurely, if they were intended for the despicable _dungeons_ which the\nColonel would persuade us was their origin, there existed neither \u201cvanity\u201d\nnor \u201cpresumption\u201d in _that humble design_; and when to this we add the\n_nature_ of that security, which he tells us they were to establish, one\nwould think that _this_ should be a ground for the perpetuity of their\nregistration, rather than for consigning their history to \u201ceverlasting\noblivion.\u201d\n\nBut secure in the consciousness of the whole history of those structures,\nand satisfied that _truth_ will never suffer anything by condescending to\ninvestigation, I will, to put the reader in full possession of _this_\nadversary\u2019s statement, here capitulate his arguments with all the fidelity\nof an honourable rival.\n\nHis object, then, being to affix the Round Towers to the Christian era, he\nbegins by insisting that, as \u201cthe architects of those buildings were\nconsummate masters in masonic art,\u201d it follows, that \u201ca people so\nadmirably skilled in masonry never could have experienced any impediments\nin building substantial dwellings, strong castles, palaces, or any other\nstructures of public or private conveniency, some fragments of which,\nhowever partial and insignificant, would still be likely to appear, in\ndespite of the corroding breath of time or the torch of devastation.\u201d\n\nHis next argument is, \u201cthat the _busy_ and _fantastic bard_, whose\noccupation led him to interfere in private and public concerns,--who, in\ntruth (he adds) is our oldest and most circumstantial annalist,--on the\nsubject of the Pillar Tower is dumb and silent as the dead\u201d; whence he\ninfers the \u201cnon-existence of those Towers during the remote ages of bardic\ninfluence,\u201d--\u201cand of their being utterly unknown to them, and to our\nancestors, anterior to the reception of the Christian faith.\u201d\n\nHis third proposition is, that as \u201cStrabo, Pomponius Mela, Solinus,\nDiodorus Siculus, and other writers of antiquity, have represented the\ncondition of Ireland and its inhabitants to be barbarous in _their_\ndays,--in common with their neighbours the Britons, Gauls, and Germans, to\nwhom the art systematically to manufacture stone had been\nunknown,--_ergo_, those _barbarians_ could not be set up as the authors of\nthe Pillar Tower.\u201d\n\nHis fourth premise is, that \u201cwherever we chance to light upon a cromleach,\nwe seldom fail to find near it one of those miserable caves\u201d--and which he\nhas described before as \u201csurpassing in dreariness everything in the\nimagination of man\u201d;--whereas in the vicinity of the Pillar Tower no such\nthing is seen, _unless some natural_ or _accidental excavation_ may\nhappen to exist _unaccountably_ in that direction. His inference from\nwhich is, that \u201calthough the cromleach and the cave do claim, the first a\nCeltic, the second a Ph\u0153nician origin, and happen _here_ to be united, the\nPillar Tower, nevertheless, disavows even the most distant connection with\neither of them.\u201d\n\nHis fifth is a continuation of the foregoing, with an erroneous\nparallelism, viz. \u201cat Bael Heremon, in India, not far from Mount Lebanon,\nthere stood a temple dedicated to Bael, near to which were many caves, of\nwhich one was roomy enough to admit into it four thousand persons.\u201d \u201cThe\nsize of those temples,\u201d he adds, \u201cwas regulated according to the extent or\namount of the local population, being spacious and magnificent in large\ncities, and small and simple in the inferior towns and villages; but\nnowhere, nor in any case, do we meet an example of a lofty spiral tower,\n_internally too confined_ to admit _into it at once a dozen bulky\npersons_, denominated a temple.\u201d\n\n\u201cAn edifice,\u201d he resumes, \u201clike the Pillar Tower, might easily serve for a\nbelfry; and there are instances where it has been converted, in modern\ntimes, to that use; on the other hand, a temple, properly speaking, gives\nan idea of a spacious edifice, or of one calculated to accommodate,\nwithinside its walls, a certain congregation of devout people, met to\npray. Should the building, to answer any partial or private use, be\nconstructed upon a diminutive scale, like the little round temple at\nAthens,[49] called Demosthenes\u2019, the edifice,\u201d he continues, \u201cin that\ncase, obtains its appropriate shape, yet differing in plan, size, and\nelevation from the Irish Pillar Tower, to which it cannot, in any one\nrespect, be assimilated.\u201d\n\n\u201cMoreover,\u201d he says, \u201cthe ancients had _hardly_ any round temples.\nVitruvius barely speaks of two kinds, neither of which bears the slightest\nresemblance to a tower. Upon the whole,\u201d concludes he, \u201cif we will but\nbestow a moment\u2019s reflection on the geographical and political condition\nof primitive Ireland, and the avowed _tardy_ progress towards civilisation\nand an acquaintance with the fine arts then common to those nations not\n_conveniently_ placed within the enlightened and enlivening pale of Attic\nand Roman instruction, it will be impossible not to pronounce Vallancey\u2019s\nconjectures respecting the Pillar Towers as receptacles for the sacred\nfire altogether chimerical and fabulous.\u201d\n\nBefore I proceed to demolish, _seriatim_, this tissue of cobwebs, I wish\nit to be emphatically laid down that _I_ do not tread in General\nVallancey\u2019s footsteps. To his undoubted services, when temperately\nguarded, I have already paid the tribute of my national gratitude; but,\npitying his mistakes, while sick of his contradictions, I have taken the\nliberty to _chalk out my own road_.\n\nNow for Montmorency. As to the first, then, of those objections against\nthe antiquity of our Round Towers, it is readily repelled by explaining\nthat, in the early ages of the world, masonic edifices, of architectural\nprecision, were exclusively appropriated, as a mark of deferential homage,\nto the worship of the _Great Architect_ of the universe; and with this\nview it was that the science was, at _first_, studied as a sort of\nreligious mystery, of which there can be required no greater possible\ncorroboration than the circumstance of that _ancient_ and _mysterious_\nsociety who date the existence of their institution from Noah himself--and\nit is incomparably older--still retaining, amid the thousand changes which\nthe world has since undergone, and the thousand attempts that have been\nmade to explore and explode their secrets, the mystic denominational\nligature of \u201c_Free and Accepted Masons_.\u201d[50]\n\nThe absence, therefore, of any vestiges of other _coeval_ structures, for\nprivate abode or public exhibition, should excite in us no surprise; more\nespecially when we recollect that in the East also--whence all our early\ncustoms have been derived--their mud-built houses present the greatest\npossible contrast between the simplicity of their domestic residences and\nthe magnificence and grandeur of their religious conventicles--Verum illi\ndelubra deorum pietate, domos sua gloria decorabant.[51]\n\nBut though this my reply is triumphantly subversive of the Colonel\u2019s first\nposition, I shall dwell upon it a little longer, to hold forth, with\nmerited retaliation, either his disingenuousness or his forgetfulness;\nbecause the same inference which he deduced from the non-appearance of\ncoeval architecture of any _other_ class, would apply as well to the\nperiod which _he_ wishes to establish as the era of the erection of the\nTowers,--and of which era, he admits, no other architectural monuments do\nremain,--as to that which I shall incontrovertibly prove was their proper\nepoch.\n\nThen, without having recourse to the _impossibility_--of which all\ntravellers complain--to ascertain even the _situation_ of those gigantic\ncities which in other parts of the globe, at equally remote periods of\ntime, were cried up as the wonders of the age--the masterpieces of human\ngenius, making their domes almost kiss the stars; without betaking myself,\nI say, to those, the only memorials of which are now to be found in that\nof the _echo_, which, to your affrighted fancy, asking inquisitively and\nincredulously, \u201cWhere are they?\u201d only repeats responsively, \u201cWhere are\nthey?\u201d--passing over this, I tell him that, more highly favoured than\nother countries, we possess, in Ireland, ample evidences of those remnants\nwhich he so vauntingly challenges. Traverse the isle in its inviting\nrichness, over its romantic mountains and its fertile valleys, and there\nis scarcely an old wall you meet, or an old hedge you encounter, that you\nwill not find, _embedded_ among the mass, some solitary specimens of\nchiselled execution, which, in their proud, aristocratic bearing, afford\nocular and eloquent demonstration of their having _once_ occupied a more\nrespectable post.\n\nNot less futile than the foregoing is his second objection, arising from\nwhat he represents as the silence of \u201cthe busy and fantastic bard.\u201d\nDoubtless he reckoned upon _this_ as his most impregnable battery; and I\nreadily believe that most of his readers anticipate the same result: but\nthis little book will soon shiver the fallacy of such calculations, and\nadduce, in its proper place, from the very head and principal of the\n_bardic order_--no less a personage than Amergin himself--its _towering_\nrefutation; as well as the _final_, incontrovertible appropriation of\nthose structures to their _actual_ founders.\n\nIn the interim, I must not let the opportunity pass of vindicating our\nancient bards from the false imputations of \u201cbusy and fantastic.\u201d\n\nIf pride of descent be a weakness of Irishmen, it is one in which they are\ncountenanced by all the nations of the globe who have had anything like\npretensions to support the claim; and I fearlessly affirm that the more\nsensitive a people prove themselves of their national renown, their\nhereditary honour, and ancestral splendour, the more tenacious will they\nshow themselves, in support of that repute,--whether as individuals or a\ncommunity,--in every cause involving the far higher interests of moral\nrectitude, of virtue, and of religion. In the legitimate indulgence of\nthis honourable emotion the Irish have ever stood conspicuously high. No\nnation ever attended with more religious zeal to their acts and\ngenealogies, their wars, alliances, and migrations, than they did; and\nwhile no people ever excelled them in enterprise or heroism, or the wisdom\nand administration of their legislative code, so were they surpassed by\nnone in the number and capability of those who could delineate such\nevents, and impart to reality the _additional charm_ of imagery and verse.\n\nThe bards were a set of men exclusively devoted, like the tribe of Levi\namongst the Israelites, to the superintendence of those subjects. Their\nagency in this department was a legitimately recognised and graduate\nfaculty; and, in accuracy of speech, the only one which merited the\ndesignation of _learned_, being attainable only after the most severe\nnovitiate of preliminary study and rigid exercise of all the mental\npowers.\n\nThe industry and patience bestowed on such a course were not, however,\nwithout their reward. In a classical point of view _this_ exhibited itself\nin the high estimation in which they were held--both amongst foreigners\nand natives--as poets, as prophets, and as philosophers; while the dignity\nand emolument attached to their situation, and the distinguished rank\nassigned them, at the general triennial assemblies of the state at\nTara--with the endowments conferred upon them by the monarch and the\nseveral provincial kings--were sure to render it, at all times, an object\nof ambition and pursuit to members of the noblest families throughout the\nvarious parts of the realm.\n\nThe moral deportment and personal correctness of those literary sages\ncontributed still further to add to their esteem; and, probably, I could\nnot succeed better, in depicting the almost _sanctity_ of their general\nbehaviour, than by transcribing a stanza descriptive of the qualities\nwhich won to them, as a society, the mingled sentiments of veneration and\nof awe. It is taken from a very ancient Irish poem, and runs thus--\n\n  \u201cIod na laimh lith gan ghuin,\n  Iod na beorl gan ean neamhuib,\n  Iod na foghlama gan ean ghes,\n  Is iod na lanamh nas.\u201d\n\nThat is--\n\n  \u201cTheirs were the hands free from violence,\n  Theirs the mouths free from calumny,\n  Theirs the learning without pride,\n  And theirs the love free from venery.\u201d\n\nIn later times I admit there was a lamentable degeneracy in the bardic\nclass,--or rather the innumerable pretenders to the assumption of the\nname; and the \u201cfescennine licentiousness\u201d with which they violated the\nsanctity of domestic seclusion, in exposing the objects of their private\nspleen, tended not a little to bring their body into disrepute, and\nsubject them additionally to the salutary restrictions of legislative\nseverity. They were not less extravagant in the lavishment of their\nfulsome commendations; so that one can hardly avoid drawing a parallel\nbetween them and those poetasters, formerly, of Italy, whom Horace so\nhappily describes in those remarkable hexameters, viz.:--\n\n  \u201cFescinnina per hunc invecta licentia morem,\n  Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit,\n                    ... quin etiam lex\n  P\u0153naque lata malo qu\u00e6 mallet carmine quenquam,\n  Describi.\u201d[52]\n\nYou would imagine the Roman poet was speaking of the Irish bards in the\n_night_ of their decline; but the description by no means applies to the\noriginal institution, whose object it was to perpetuate the history and\nrecords of the nation, and preserve its history from the intrusions of\nbarbarism. To this end it was that they met for revision at the senatorial\nsynod; and the importance of this trust it was that procured to their body\nthe many dignities before described, giving them precedence above the\naggregate of the community at large, and investing them with an authority\nlittle short of royalty.\n\nRhyme was the vehicle in which their lucubrations were presented; verse\nthe medium selected for their thoughts. To gain perfection in this\naccomplishment their fancies were ever on the stretch; while the varieties\nof metre which they invented for the purpose, and the facility with which\nthey bent them to each application and use, were not the least\nastonishing part of their arduous avocations, and leave the catalogue of\nmodern measures far away in the shade.\n\nMusic is the sister of poetry, and it is natural to suppose that they went\nhand in hand _here_. In all countries, the voice was the original organ of\nmusical sounds. With this they accompanied their extemporaneous hymns;\nwith this they chanted the honours of their heroes. The battle-shout and\nthe solemnity of the hour of sacrifice were the usual scenes for the\nconcerts of our ancestors. Singing the glory of former warriors, the\ncombatant was _himself_ inspired; and while the victim expired on the\naltar of immolation, the priest sang the praise of the deity he invoked.\n\nThe introduction of the Christian truths gave a new and elevated scope to\nthe genius of the bards. A new enthusiasm kindled up their ardour--a new\nvitality invigorated their frames; and they who, but the moment before,\nwere most conspicuous in upholding the dogmas of the pagan creed, became\nnow the most distinguished in proclaiming the blessings of the Christian\ndispensation. Fiech, Amergin, Columba, Finan, etc., are glorious examples\nof this transmuted zeal.\n\nAbout the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, however, a change burst forth\nfor the destinies of this order. Verse ceased to be used in their\nhistorical announcements. Prose succeeded, as a more simple narrative; and\nfrom that moment the respectability of the bards progressively evaporated.\n\nThe jealousy of the English Government at the martial feeling excited by\ntheir effusions, and the intrepid acts of heroism inculcated by their\nexample, if not the actual cause of this national declension,\npreponderated very largely amongst its component ingredients.\n\nIn the height of the battle, when the war-cry was most loud, and the\ncarnage most severe, those poetic enthusiasts would fling themselves\namongst the ranks of the enraged contenders, and determine the victory to\nwhatever party they chose to befriend.\n\nWhen, too, under the pressure of an untoward fate, and the disheartening\nyoke of--what they deemed--a treacherous subjugation, the nobles would\nseem dispirited at the aspect of circumstances, and all but subscribe to\nthe thraldom of slavery, the bards would rouse the energies of their\nslumbering patriotism, and, as Tyrt\u00e6us used the Spartans, enkindle in\ntheir bosoms a passion for war. We must not be surprised, therefore, to\nfind in the preamble to some of the acts passed in those times for the\nsuppression of this body of men, the following harsh and deprecating\nallusions, viz.:--\u201cThat those rymors do, by their ditties and rymes made\nto divers lords and gentlemen in Ireland, in the commendacyon and high\npraise of extortion, rebellyon, rape, raven, and outhere injustice,\nencourage those lords and gentlemen rather to follow those vices than to\nleave them.\u201d\n\nFor two centuries after the invasion of Henry II., the voice of the Muse\nwas but faintly heard in Ireland. The arms of Cromwell and William III.\ncompletely swept away her feudal reminiscences. As it was their country\u2019s\nlustre that inspired the enthusiasm of the bards, so, on the tarnishing of\n_its_ honour, did they become mute and spiritless. They fell with its\nfall; and, like the captive Israelites, hanging their untuned harps on the\nwillows, they may be supposed to exclaim in all the vehemence of the royal\npsalmist--\n\n  \u201cNow while our harps were hanged soe,\n  The men whose captives there we lay\n  Did on our griefs insulting goe,\n  And more to grieve us thus did say:\n  You that of musique make such show,\n  Come, sing us now a Zion lay.--\n  Oh no! we have nor voice nor hand\n  For such a song in such a land.\u201d\n\nMontmorency\u2019s _third_ objection against the antiquity of the Round\nTowers--founded on the statements of those Greek and Latin writers above\nnamed, respecting the \u201cbarbarous\u201d condition of the _then_ Irish,--I thus\ndissipate into thin air.\n\nThe inhabitants of Ireland, at the time in which those authors flourished,\nhad nothing to do with the erection of the Round Towers. Those edifices\nwere hoary with antiquity at that moment. They belonged to an era and to a\ndynasty, not only of a more ancient but of a more exalted character in\nevery sense of the word, and whose religious ceremonials, for the\ncelebration of which the Round Towers were constructed, the _then_\ninhabitants did not only abhor, but did all in their power to efface and\nobliterate. Nor was it the religion alone of this inoffensive and sacred\ntribe that this new and devastating race of militants laboured to\nextirpate; but, what was far more to be deplored, they, for a season,\nextinguished their literature also; until at length, fired by the moral\nether which the lessons of their now slaves had inspired, their souls got\nattuned to the sublimity of such studies, and they sat themselves down\naccordingly to emulate their instructors.\n\nAs to the puny detractions, therefore, of either Greece or Rome, they\nmight well have been spared, as they knew _less_ than _nothing_ of our\nreal history. When they were lowly and obscure, and immersed in the\ndarkness of circumambient benightment, our high careering name,\n_synonymous_ with civilisation, was wafted by the four winds of heaven to\nall the quarters of the world which that heaven irradiates. The commerce\nof the whole East pressed tumultuously to our shores--the courts of the\npolished universe (not including Greece or Rome amongst the number) sent\nus embassies of congratulation; while the indomitable ardour and\npublic-spirited zeal of the \u201cislanders\u201d themselves launched them abroad\nover the bosom of the wide watery circumference; exploring in every region\nthe gradations of civil institutes, as well as the master productions of\nNature herself; civilising life with the results of their discoveries, and\ngarnishing their houses, like so many museums, with the fruits of their\nresearch, for the benefit, at once, and entertainment of their less\nfavoured, though not less ambitious brethren at home.\n\nThink you that the testimony of Festus Avienus, who wrote before the\nChristian light, and who avowedly only compiled his treatise from other\nmore ancient authorities--think you, I say, that _his_ designation of this\nisland as \u201csacred\u201d--and which he says was the appropriate denomination by\nwhich the still greater ancients used to call it--was an idle sobriquet or\nan arbitrary adjective? Amongst the many discoveries which will develop\nthemselves in succession, before I shall have done with this little book,\nI pledge myself to the public incontrovertibly to prove that the word\n\u201c_Hibernian_\u201d--so grossly abused and so malignantly vilified, and which\nAvienus has recorded as the name of the _islanders_ at the period in which\nhe wrote, as it is still to this day--signifies, in its _component\nessence_, and according to the nicest scrutiny of etymological analysis,\nindependently _altogether_ of historical corroboration, _an inhabitant of\nthe sacred isle_; and has _nothing_ on earth to do with _Heber_ or\nHeremon; or _hiar_, the west; or _iberin_, extremes; or any other such\noutlandish nonsense!\n\nNow comes the Colonel\u2019s _fifth_ and _last_ objection; viz. that because\nthere existed at Baal Heremon, in India, a temple sacred to Baal, the\ncapacity of which was sufficient to accommodate four thousand persons,\ntherefore the Round Towers, which are \u201cinternally too confined to admit\ninto them, at once, a dozen bulky persons, could not be denominated a\ntemple.\u201d\n\nDoes not the Colonel know that there existed a plurality of those Baals?\nthat, in fact, they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament,\nresolving themselves--according to the character of every distinct\ncountry, and of every minor subdivision and canton in that country--into\nthe specific and gentile classifications of Baal Shamaim, Baal Pheor or\nPhearagh, Baal Meon, Baal Zephon, Baal Hemon, etc.; while under the _veil_\nof all, the learned ever understood to have been solely personated the sun\nand moon. \u201cHowbeit every nation made gods of their own, and the men of\nBabylon made Succoth-Benoth.\u201d[53]\n\nIn accordance with the _different_ views under which each people\nconsidered the _bounties_ of those luminaries, so did their temples assume\na corresponding shape; and it shall be my lot, in the progress of this\nlitigated research, to show why the followers of one of those Baals,\nnamely, Baal Phearagh, gave their temples this _erect_, _narrow_, and\n_elevated roundness_.\n\nI have thus annihilated those visionary ramparts which my opponent had\nflattered himself he had raised against the intrusion of long-suppressed\ntruth; and by the help of which, as a military bastion, he had fondly\nhoped he might link together the Church and the sword in one _cemented_\nbond of anachronism. Let us see, however, how he would bring about the\nmatch, with the articles of intermarriage, and so forth.\n\nHis assumption is, that \u201cthe founders of those Towers were primitive\nC\u0153nobites and Bishops, _munificently_ supported in the undertaking by the\nnewly-converted kings and toparchs; the builders and architects being\nthose monks and pilgrims who, from Greece and Rome, either preceded or\naccompanied our early missionaries in the fifth and sixth centuries\u201d;\nwhich he pretends to substantiate in the following manner.\n\nHaving discovered, by a most miraculous effort of penetration, that one\nhundred and fifty Greek and Roman religionists had accompanied St. Abhan\non his return from imperial Rome,--whither he had gone to complete his\ntheological studies, towards the end of the fifth century,--and not\nknowing how to occupy those strangers in this _then pagan_ land, the\nColonel, with his industrious habits, well aware that \u201cidleness is the\nmother of mischief,\u201d sets them, at once, about building the Towers.\n\nBut as it would be too lavish a display of knight-errantry to waste their\ntime and strength without some ostensible purpose, he must, of course,\nfind out for them a pretext, at least, for such; and so, in the eagerness\nof his milito-monastic zeal, he flies off, at a tangent, to the top of\nMount Colzoum, near the desert of Gebel,--\u201ca short day\u2019s journey from the\nRed Sea,\u201d--where he thinks he has got, in the monasteries of the Egyptian\nmonks, a direct, immediate, and indubitable prototype.\n\nReader, you shall be the judge. Here is his own translation of Bonnani\u2019s\ndescription of the place, viz.:\n\n\u201cThere are three churches, of which St. Anthony\u2019s, which is small and very\nold, is the most distinguished; the second is dedicated to the apostles\nPeter and Paul; and the third church is raised in honour of St. Macaire,\nwho has been a lay brother in this convent. All the cells stand separately\nfrom each other; they are _ill built_, the walls being composed of clay,\ncovered in with flat roofs and diminutive windows only one foot square.\nClose to the refectory, which is dark and dirty, the monks have added a\nrather decent apartment, in their wonted hospitality, destined to the\nreception of visitors.\n\n\u201cWithin the central courtyard, an isolated _square tower_ of masonry,\nwhich is approached by a drawbridge, holds a formidable station. Here the\nCophtes preserve whatever wealth or precious objects they possess; and if\nassailed by the plundering Arabs, defend themselves with stones. There are\nfour more celebrated monasteries in the desert of St. Macaire, distant\nabout three days\u2019 journey from Grand Cairo. The first is the convent of\nSt. Macaire, which is ancient and in a ruinous state--the bones of the\nfounder are enshrined in a stone coffin, placed behind an iron gate,\nenveloped in a chafe or pluvial (a sort of church ornament), formed into a\ncanopy. A _square tower_ of stone, which you enter by a drawbridge, is the\nonly solid building belonging to the Abbey that remains. The friars store\ntheir books and their provisions, and obstinately defend themselves in\nthis _hold_, whenever the wild Arabs come to pay them a predatory visit.\n\n\u201cThere are _similar_ (square) towers attached to the three other\nmonasteries in the desert, the doors of which, and of the convent of St.\nMacaire, are alike covered with iron plates,\u201d etc.\n\nTo the candid and dispassionate reader,--who has gone through this\nextract, and who is told that _this_ is the _basis_ upon which Colonel de\nMontmorency builds his superstructure of monastic appropriation,--to such\nI fearlessly appeal whether he will not scout the indignity with\n_intellectual_ scorn.\n\nHere are edifices spread, _in numbers_, over our island, in unity of\ndesign and elegance of execution, admitted by this writer himself as \u201cthe\nmost imposing objects of antiquity in all Christendom,\u201d and \u201cplaced by an\nalmost supernatural power to brave the stormy winds and the wrath of\ntime\u201d; yet, in the same breath, made the counterparts of a _few trumpery_,\n_temporary_, and _crazy_ old piles, which were originally erected as\nmilitary stations, totally distinct from religion or religious\nuses--similar to those erected by Helena, mother to Constantine the Great,\non the coast of Syria, against piratical incursions, and analogous to what\nwe find in India, viz. a whole fortress converted into a conventual\nestablishment. The thing is absurd,--it is revolting to _common\nsense_,--and bears on its forehead its own discomfiture.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\nObserve, then, the structures which he compares are altogether different;\none being _square_, and the other round. Nor, in the whole _compass_ of\n_possible analogies_, is there a single feature in which the two _classes_\nof edifices could be _said_ to correspond, but that they both have their\ndoors--which, by the way, are different in their form--at a distance from\nthe ground. The _Pyramids_ of Egypt bear the same correspondence,--their\nentrance being one-third of the height from the surface,--and why does not\nthe Colonel bestow _them_ also upon the monks? No; those poor, denuded,\ninoffensive, exemplary, _unearthly_ victims of maceration were incapable\nof, either the masonic acme, or--at the era which Montmorency\nparticularises--of the corporate influence and pecuniary or equivalent\nsupplies indispensable for the erection of either \u201cpyramid\u201d or\n\u201ctower\u201d;--contenting themselves rather with their _lowly cells_, whence\nthey issued out, at all seasons, to diffuse the word of \u201clife,\u201d than in\nraising _maypoles_ of stone, within which to garrison their\n_inexpressible_ treasures.\n\nBut to reconcile this discrepancy in exterior outfit, he has recourse to a\nmiracle, which he thus conjures up. \u201cDoubtless, in the _beginning_, when\nfirst those C\u0153nobites settled in the desert, the convent-tower was round;\u201d\nthen, by a single word, _pr\u00e6sto_,--or \u201cdoubtless,\u201d--right-about face,\ntakes place a metamorphosis, from round to square!--the more miraculous,\nin that the _former round_ ones left behind them no vestiges! Upon which,\nagain, a counter miracle is effected: \u201cThe square ones having subsequently\nfallen into disuse, the round tower, in after ages,\u201d he says, \u201cappears to\nhave acquired a degree of increased celebrity, especially in _Europe_,\nduring the preponderance of the feudal system, when every baronial castle\nin Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, etc., was furnished with one\nor more.\u201d Now, has he not before told us, and told us _truly, by chance_,\nthat the Pillar Tower _scorns_ all kind of affinity with those\n\u201c_barbarians_\u201d; whereupon I shall merely observe with the poet, that\n\n  \u201cIf people contradict themselves, can _I_\n  Help contradicting them?\u201d[54]\n\nBut, if intended as a place of shelter for either _person_ or _property_,\nwhy build them of such an altitude? Above all things, why not build them\nof such internal capacity as to accommodate the _whole_ number of inmates\nin each convent, in case of an attack,--as, in fact, those _square_ towers\nin the desert used; whereas, \u201ca _dozen bulky persons_\u201d could not squeeze\ntogether into one of our Round Towers; and accordingly, with the\ninconsistency inseparable from error, our author himself proclaims that\n\u201cit has frequently occurred that the _barbarian_, on finding that he had\nbeen foiled in his search after treasures, though he burned the abbey, and\nperpetrated all the mischief he was able, sooner than retire empty-handed,\nthe _pirate_ seized on the abbot, or most prominent member he found\nbelonging to the community, and hurried away the unfortunate individual\non board his ship, holding him in durance, till, overcome by ill-usage, he\nbesought his brethren to come to his relief with a heavy ransom for his\nfreedom.\u201d \u201cIt has also often happened,\u201d he adds, \u201cthat, unable to comply\nwith the tyrant\u2019s exorbitant demands, the monks resigned the captive to\nhis fate.\u201d\n\nSurely, if they had those _keeps_ to fly to, the \u201cunfortunate\u201d abbot need\nnot allow himself to be seized at all; and surely, also, if they had all\nthose treasures upon which the Colonel insists, they would not leave the\nfather of their \u201ccommunity\u201d unredeemed from so excruciating a degradation.\nAnd hence we may conclude with Dr. Lanigan, \u201cWhat little credit is due to\nthe stories of some hagiologists, who talk of great estates granted to our\nmonasteries and churches in those and even earlier times.\u201d[55] Indeed, for\nthe two first centuries subsequent to the arrival of St. Patrick, such a\nthing was incompatible with the nature of the \u201cpolitical compact\u201d in\nIreland.\n\nI do not deny, however, but that the ecclesiastics of this time did\npossess some articles of value appertaining to the altar, and that these\nwere objects of unholy cupidity to the Danes: nay, further, I admit that,\nto escape from the insatiability of those virulent marauders, they used to\nfly to the belfries, which--from that mistaken regard attached to the\nedifices, as these receptacles of those sonorous organs to which\nsuperstition has ever clung[56]--they had hoped would prove an asylum\nfrom their pursuits,--but in vain--neither religion nor superstition\nopposed a barrier to the Northmen, while the frail materials whereof those\nbelfries were constructed afforded a ready gratification to their appetite\nfor destruction.\n\n_The Ulster Annals_, year 949, furnish us with the following\nfact:--\u201cCloicteach Slane do loscadh do Gall Athacliath. Bacall ind\nErlamha, 7 cloc badec do cloccaibh, Caenechair Ferleghinn, 7 sochaide mor\ninbi do loscadh.\u201d That is, the belfry at Slane was set fire to by the\nforeigners (the Danes) of Dublin. The pastor\u2019s staff or crozier, adorned\nwith precious stones, besides the principal _bells_, and Canecar the\nlecturer, with a _multitude_ of other persons were burned in the flames.\n_The Annals of the Four Masters_, noticing the same event, use nearly\nsimilar words: \u201cCloicteach Slaine do loscadh can a lan do mhionnaibh 7\ndeghdh aoninibh, im Ch\u00e6inechair Fearleighinn Slaine, Bachall an Eramha 7\n_clocc_ ba deach do chloccaibh.\u201d That is, The belfry at Slane was _burned\nto the ground_, along with several articles of value which were therein,\nand _numbers_ of _individuals_, besides the Slane pr\u00e6lector, the patron\u2019s\nstaff, and all the bells, which were there of _most_ worth.\n\nNow take notice that within those \u201cbelfries\u201d a \u201c_multitude_ of persons\u201d\nused to have been collected, whereas the Round Towers could not\naccommodate above \u201ca dozen\u201d at one time. The belfries also are represented\nto have been reduced to ashes by the conflagration, which accords with the\ndescription given by both Ware and Colgan, of the _wooden_ substance\nwhereof they were composed; whereas the Round Towers are made of _stone_,\nand cemented by a bond of such indurated tenacity, that nothing short of\nlightning or earthquake has been known to disturb them:--and even though\nother violence may succeed in their overthrow, yet could it not be said\nwith any accuracy that they were reduced by _fire_ to cinders. But, above\nall, those very Annals which I have above quoted, when recording a greater\nand national calamity, place the belfries and the Round Towers in the same\nsentence, _contradistinguished_ from one another,--the former\ncharacterised by their appropriate name of _Cloicteach_, as exhibited\nbefore, and the latter under the still more apposite denomination of\n_Fidhnemeadh_, as we shall explain elsewhere.\n\nAgain, if designed as fortresses for the monks, and receptacles for their\nriches, is it not strange that in the isle of Hy,--which was literally a\nnest of ecclesiastics, and which Columb Kill himself evangelised at the\ntime when Montmorency was--in a _dream_--employing him and his coadjutors\nat the erection of the Round Towers,--is it not strange, I say, that this\nlittle isle, the most defenceless, as it is, and forlorn of all lands that\never projected above the bosom of the sea, should yet, in the allotment of\nmonastic artillery, be left totally destitute of an _a\u00ebrial_ garrison?\n\nAnd yet, notwithstanding the absence of such defences, the monks still\ncontinued to make it their favourite abode; of which we have but too\ncogent an evidence in the record of the Four Masters, under the year 985,\nstating that the abbot and fifteen of his brethren were slain by the\nNorthmen on Christmas Day, just as they were preparing to celebrate the\nnativity of their Redeemer.\n\nBut those monks spread themselves, in _shoals_, over England also; and we\nknow that _that_ country was even more infested than our own with both\nNorthmen and Danes. Is it not astonishing, therefore, that the English\nconvents were not protected against the sacrilege of those savages by\ntelescopic steeples of _Babylonish cement_?\n\nThis, it may be said, is applying a steam-engine to crush a flapwing; yet,\nas that flapwing has been somewhat troublesome, and has contrived to\nblindfold some searchers after antiquarian _truth_, I may be excused if,\nto frustrate any efforts at impotent revivals, I shall continue\ndecapitating the hydra, until he disappears in his own sinuosities.\n\nHe tells us, then, with all the calculation of an engineer and the gravity\nof a physician, that a stone let fall from the top of one of those towers\nwould crush the \u201cbarbarian\u201d to atoms. True, it would, and the _civilian_\nalso. A little pebble let fall from an eagle\u2019s beak, as he cuts his a\u00ebrial\npassage through the cloudy regions, or soars aloft into the empyreal of\ninterminable space, would have a similar effect; but it would puzzle the\nshrewdest engineer in Christendom to place a ballast-man, with a big stone\non his lap, on either the top or the sloping sides of the conical\n\u201ccaubeen\u201d which graces the summit of our careering cylinders. This, to use\nthe Colonel\u2019s own words, \u201cwill be admitted to be contrary to all that is\nadmissible in the rules of architectural proportions.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: DEVENISH.]\n\nNext remark that the Colonel keeps those 150 \u201cvolunteers\u201d at work upon the\nRound Towers in the midst of a raging war;--after he had before affirmed\nthat they could only be erected in a season of profound peace--for a\ncomplete century. During this whole time they must, of course, have\navailed themselves of the assistance of the inhabitants; and is it not\nmarvellous that, during that long time \u201cthe ancient Irishman\u201d--and \u201cPat\u2019s\nnae stupid fellow,\u201d as the Colonel himself avows--should not have been\nable to pick up a single insight into the arcana of the masonic art?--but\nthat soon as ever the dear externs expired,--who at the period of their\narrival must have been, at least, over twenty years of age each, and who,\nto accomplish Montmorency\u2019s miracle, must have every one of them lived\njust one hundred years more, and then died, all in one day!--is it not\n_petrifying_, I say, that soon as ever this appalling catastrophe\noccurred, every vestige of those \u201cfairy\u201d masons should have vanished along\nwith them?--and the country, in a _paralysis_, have forgotten to associate\nthem with the Towers, as if stupefied with the incantation of a wizard or\na talisman!\n\nAnd yet this was not the greatest injustice of which the poor C\u0153nobites\ngot reason to complain; but it _is_ that, when the people had recovered\nfrom the delirium of their late trance, and began to look abroad for some\n\u201cauthors\u201d on whom to _father_ those edifices, they unanimously, though\nunaccountably, agreed to lay them at the door of the \u201cO\u2019Rorkes\u201d and the\n\u201cMacCarthy Mores\u201d!\n\nIt so happens that the last of the MacCarthy Mores was my _own_ maternal\ngrandfather; and he, venerable and venerated old gentleman, apt as he was,\nin the evening of his faded life, to revert to the mutability of worldly\npossessions, never for a moment bestowed a solitary thought upon the\nalienation of the property of those columnar masonries. Often used he to\nmention the Castles of Palace and of Blarney: Castlemain and Glenflesk\nused still oftener to grace his talk; but oftener still, and with more\napparent delectation, would he dilate on the _Castle_ of Macroom and the\n_Abbey_ of Mucruss,--all, as the creation of _immediate_ or _collateral_\nbranches of his family; but never, in the catalogue of his patrimonial\nspoliations did he enumerate a Round Tower, or lay a shadow of claim to\ntheir construction.\n\nTo the point, however.--The great miracle after all is, that after the\ndecease of those \u201cfairy\u201d masters, no one of their native helpmates could\nbe found able to join together with mechanical skill two pieces of hewn\nstone with the intermediate amalgam of adhesive mortar! The thing is so\nabsurd as to make the Colonel himself in his honesty to exclaim, \u201cIs this\nsimple process that mighty piece of necromancy which, according to some\nauthors\u201d (forgetting that he was one of those himself), \u201cthat _lively_\npeople were unable to comprehend?\u201d It is amusing to see how encomiastic\nand commendatory he is of the \u201cHibernians\u201d when it answers his views; and\nhow vituperative and condemnatory when it is equally to his purpose.\n\nThe last assumption of this writer, and which I have purposely reserved\nuntil now is an affected parallel of the Irish Culdees with the Egyptian\nCophtes. \u201cTheir great piety, austerity, and hospitality announce,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cthe existence of one kind of discipline and of kindred religions\nbetween the Cophtes and the Irish C\u0153nobites.\u201d That is, because they are\nboth _pious_, _austere_, and _hospitable_, they must both necessarily\ncorrespond in _religious opinions_ and in _Church forms_! The Indian\nBrahmins, say I, are also _pious_, _austere_, and _hospitable_; and why\nare they not incorporated in this holy identification? No, Colonel, it\nwill not do; I see what you are at. You want to insinuate our obligation\nto the Greeks for the blessings of the Gospel. A false zeal for mental\nemancipation--subsequent to the dislodgment of spiritual encroachment--has\nforced into mushroom existence this spurious abortion. Aloof from the\nthraldom of Roman or other yoke, the Irish, within themselves, cultivated\nthe principles of the Christian verity; but it is, in the extreme,\nerroneous to say that they derived their _faith_ in that verity through\nemissaries of the Grecian Church, from whom they differed as substantially\nas light does from darkness.\n\nI think it very probable indeed that the glad tidings of revelation were\nfirst imparted to Ireland by the lips of St. Paul himself.[57] We have the\nnames of many Christians existing amongst us before the arrival of either\nPelagius or Patrick. The very terms of the commission, which Pope\nCelestine gave to the _former_, being addressed \u201cad Scotos in Christum\ncredentes,\u201d to the _Irish who believe in Christ_,--prove the good seed had\nbeen laid in the soil before _his_ pontificate. The nation, however, was\nyet too much immersed in its old idolatries--and the fascinations of\ntheir former creed had so spellbound the inhabitants as a community--that\nthose who singled themselves out as converts to the new faith were\nobliged, from persecution, to betake themselves to other countries. And\nyet _this_ is the moment when paganism was omnipotent throughout this\nisland, that Colonel de Montmorency has the modesty to tell us that the\n\u201cRound Towers\u201d were erected as magazines for the monks!\n\nTo the _Patrician Apostle_, the beloved patriarch of Ireland, was reserved\nthe glory of maturing the fruit which his predecessors had planted. His\nconstitutional zeal and absorbing devotion in the service of his Creator\nwere but the secondary qualifications which pre-eminently marked him out\nfor so hazardous an enterprise. The primary and grand facility which this\n_true hero_ possessed for the attainment of his great design, was his\nintimate converse with the manners and language of the natives,--obtained\nduring his captivity not long before,--which, making way at once to the\n_hearts_ of his auditory, was an irresistible passport to their heads and\ntheir understandings.\n\nIn the sequel of this volume it will be fully shown, that when St. Patrick\nentered upon his prescribed task,--towards the close of the fifth\ncentury,--the monarch and his court were celebrating their pagan festival,\nor preparing for it, on the hill of Tara. Can a nation be called Christian\nwhere the sovereign and court are pagan? Or will a few exceptions from the\nmass of the population be indulged with fortresses of imperishable\narchitecture, while the nation at large took shelter within _wattles_ and\nwalls of clay?--and that, too, at a moment when Christianity was\nconsidered a name of reproach, and its few solitary abettors constrained\nto exile or to degradation!\n\nNo sooner, however, were the simplicities of Christianity expounded to the\nnatives through the medium of their native tongue, than the refined\norganism of the Irish constitution, habituated by discipline to sublime\npursuits, took fire from the blaze of the sacred scintilla, and enlisted\nthem as its heralds, not only at home but throughout Europe.\n\nPrecisely at this instant it was that all the _ancient_ names of places in\nthe island--recorded by Ptolemy from other foreign geographers--were\nchanged and new-modelled; the converts--\u201c_ut in nova deditione_\u201d--not\nthinking it sufficient to abandon the forms of their previous belief, and\nadopt the more pure one, if they did not obliterate every vestige of\nnominal association which could tend to recall their fancies to the\nreligion which they relinquished. Accordingly, from the names of Juernis,\nMacollicon, Rhigia, Nagnata, Rheba, etc., sprang up the names of\nKillkenny, Killmalloch, and the thousand other names, commencing with\n\u201cKill,\u201d to be met with in every district and subdivision throughout the\ncountry.\n\nEvery corner was now the scene of Christian zeal; and every neophyte\nstrove to surpass his neighbour in evincing devotion to the newly-revealed\nreligion. \u201cKills,\u201d or little churches,--from the Latin _cella_, now for\nthe first time introduced,--were built in the vicinity of every spot which\nhad before been the theatre of pagan adoration--whether as cromleachs, as\nMithratic caves, or as Round Towers. These were the memorials of _three\ndistinct species_ of paganism, and were, therefore, now singled out as\nappropriate sites for the erection of Christian \u201cKills,\u201d the ruins of\nwhich are still to be traced, contiguous to _each_ of those idolatrous\nreminiscences,--disputing with the false divinities the very ground of\ntheir worship, and diverting the zeal of the worshippers from the creature\nto the Creator.\n\nNay, to such a pitch did the crusaders, in their conflict, carry the\nprinciple of their enthusiasm, that many of them adopted the names of\ntheir late idols, and intertwined _those_ again--now Christianly\nappropriated--with the _old_ favourite denominations of many of the\nlocalities. For instance, St. Shannon assumed _that_ name from the _river_\nShannon, which was an object of deification some time before; and St.\nMalloch adopted _this_ name from the city of Malloch, that is, the Sun, or\nApollo,--the supreme idol of pagan Ireland\u2019s adoration,--from which again,\nwith the prefix \u201cKill,\u201d he made the name Kill-_malloch_,--the latter alone\nhaving been the ancient name of the place, converted by Ptolemy into\n\u201cMacollicon\u201d; which is only giving his Greek termination, _icon_, to the\nIrish word _Malloch_, and transposing, for sound\u2019s sake, the two middle\nsyllables.\n\nChaildee was the pious but appropriate epithet by which those patriarchs\nof Christianity thought fit to distinguish themselves. The word means\n_associate of God_. Having obtained the gospel from the see of Rome, they\nadhered implicitly--yet without conceding any _superiority_--to the Roman\nconnection--agreeing in all the grand essentials of vital belief, and\ndiffering only as to some minor points of ecclesiastical discipline.\n\nThis variance, however, has afforded handle to some lovers of\ncontroversial doubt to maintain that Ireland was never beholden to Rome\nfor the gospel. The fallacy is disproved by the fact of all our early\nneophytes betaking themselves, for perfection in the mysteries of\nrevelation, to the Roman capital. On one of which occasions it was that\nMontmorency himself brought over his hundred and fifty volunteers, to\naccompany back one of those converted students, who had gone there to\nlearn the very minuteness of the doctrine which the Romans inculcated.\n\nIt was not, remember, for ordinary or secular education that they betook\nthemselves to Rome. The academies of Ireland far surpassed it in\nsplendour. It was solely and exclusively to learn the particulars of their\nfaith; and having once obtained this insight, they continued in spiritual\nunison with the tenets of that Church, as to all fundamental points of\ndoctrine; never surrendering, however, the independence of their judgment,\nnor bowing before the \u201c_ipse dixit_\u201d of any tribunal,--where _reason_ was\nto be the guide,--until forced by the conspiracy of Pope Adrian IV. and\nhis countryman Henry II.\n\nHow contemptible, therefore, is the effort, in the teeth of this exposure,\nto identify the Irish Chaildees with the Egyptian Cophtes! There was no\none point in which they may be compared, except their mutual _poverty_;\nwhich, however, Montmorency overlooks, or rather contradicts, making them\nboth wealthy, and have _banks_ even for their riches. As, however, I look\nupon Dr. Hurd[58] as somewhat a better authority, you shall have what he\nsays upon the subject--\n\n\u201cAmong the Ethiopians, there are still to be found some monks, called\nCoptics, who first flourished in Egypt, but, by no difficult sort of\ngradation, made their way into Ethiopia. They profess the utmost\n_contempt_ for all _worldly things_, and look upon themselves as a sort of\nterrestrial angels. They are obliged to _part with all their possessions\nbefore they can enter upon a monastic life_.\u201d\n\nTheir discrepancy in doctrine is even still more notorious, agreeing with\nthe Chaildees only in a _single_ instance also; namely, in _both_ denying\nthe supremacy of the Pope. Here are the Doctor\u2019s words: \u201cThey deny the\npapal supremacy, and, indeed, _most parts_ of the popish doctrine,\nparticularly transubstantiation, purgatory, _auricular confession_,\n_celibacy_ of the _clergy_, and _extreme unction_;\u201d all which, save the\nfirst, the Irish Chaildees maintained in _common with the see of Rome_.\n\nAnd now, on the point of education, I will content myself with\nMontmorency\u2019s own testimony, which is to this effect, viz.: \u201cOnly on the\nscore of erudition it must be acknowledged that the _Irish theologian_, as\nhistory asserts, did not only _excel_ the modern Greek and Egyptian, but\nhis profound acquaintance with the _sciences_, _arts_, and _laws of his\ncountry_, gave him an _unrivalled superiority_ in the _literary_ and\ncivilised world.\u201d\n\nWhat, Colonel! are those the \u201cbarbarians\u201d? Is _this_ what you mean by not\nbeing _conveniently situated_ within the _enlightened_ and _enlivening_\ninfluence of Greek and Roman refinement? Alas! you knew but little of the\nreal statement of the case; whilst the illustrious Fenelon, himself a\ndescendant of this boasted Rome, thus more accurately avows, \u201cthat,\nnotwithstanding all the _pretended politeness_ of the Greeks and Romans,\nyet, as to moral virtue and religious obligations, they were no better\nthan the savages of America.\u201d\n\nI have been thus hurried on by the train of my thoughts, without observing\nmuch of order or methodical arrangement. As my object is, however, the\nelucidation of truth,--not idle display, or vainglorious exhibition,--I am\nsure my readers will scarce murmur at the course by which I shall have led\nthem to that end; in a question, moreover, where so many adventurers have\nso miserably miscarried.\n\n  So much the rather, thou celestial light,\n  Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers\n  Irradiate. There plant eyes; all mist from thence\n  Purge and disperse; that I may see and tell\n  Of things invisible to mortal sight.[59]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\nHaving thus disposed of the word \u201cCloic-teach,\u201d which Dr. Ledwich so\nrelied upon, as determining the character of these antique remains, I take\nleave, evermore, to discard the misnomer, and draw attention to a name\nwhich I have never seen noticed as applied to any of those pyramidal\nedifices. That which I allude to is \u201cCathoir ghall,\u201d which means the\n\u201cCathedral or temple of brightness\u201d (\u201cand _delight_\u201d[60]); not, I must\npremise, from any external daubing with which modern Vandalism may have\nthought proper to incrust it,--as happened to that at Swords,--but in\nevident reference to the solar and lunar light--the sources of life and\ngeneration--therein contemplated, at once, and interchangeably venerated.\n\nThe particular Tower to which this epithet had been assigned--and which it\nobtained, by way of eminence, for its colossal superiority--is not now\nstanding.[61] It rose about half a mile distant from the old castle of\nBally Carbery, in the barony of Iveragh, and county of Kerry; a place\nwhere one would hope that the true designation of such phenomena would be\npreserved most pure, being aloof from the influence of exotic refinements,\nand, thus far, free from that maudlin _scepticism_ and laboured _doubt_\nwhich a \u201clittle learning\u201d too frequently superinduces.\n\n  \u201cDear, lovely bowers of innocence and ease,--\n  Seats of my youth, when ev\u2019ry sport could please,--\n  How often have I loiter\u2019d o\u2019er thy green,\n  When humble happiness endear\u2019d each scene!\n  How often have I paused on every charm,--\n  The shelter\u2019d cot, the cultivated farm!\n  While all the village train, from labour free,\n  Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree.\u201d[62]\n\nNo combination of letters could possibly approach closer, or convey to a\ndiscerning mind greater affinity of meaning to anything, than does the\nabove name to the description given of them in the twelfth century by\nGiraldus Cambrensis, who calls them \u201c_turres ecclesiasticas_, qu\u00e6, more\npatri\u00e6, arct\u00e6 sunt et alt\u00e6, nec non et rotund\u00e6.\u201d This definition, vague as\nit may seem, affords ample illumination, when compared with the epithet\nwhich I have above adduced, to penetrate the darkness of this literary\nnebula. The word \u201c_turres_\u201d points out their constructional symmetry, and\n\u201c_ecclesiasticas_\u201d their appropriation to a religious use; and what can\npossibly be in stricter consonance with the tenor of this idea than\n\u201cCathaoir ghall,\u201d or the Temple of Brightness, which I have instanced\nabove as the _vernacular_ appellation of one of those sanctuaries?\n\nShould it be asked, why did not Cambrensis, at the time, enter more fully\ninto the minuti\u00e6 of their detail? I shall unhesitatingly answer, it was\nbecause he knew nothing more about them. The Irish had at that moment most\nlamentably dwindled into a degenerate race. The noble spirit of their\nheroic ancestors, which had called forth those pyramids, for the _twofold_\nand _mingled_ purpose of _religion_ and _science_, had already evaporated;\nand all the historian could glean, in prosecuting his inquiries as to\ntheir era and cause, was that their antiquity was so remote, that some of\nthem may be even seen immersed beneath the waters of Lough Neagh,[63]\nwhich had been occasioned many ages before by the overflowing of a\nfountain.[64]\n\nLet us now turn to the annals of the \u201cFour Masters,\u201d which record the\ndestruction of Armagh, A.D. 995, by a flash of lightning, and see under\nwhat name they include the Round Towers in the general catastrophe. Here\nis the passage at full length, as given by O\u2019Connor--\u201c_Ardmaeha do lose do\ntene saighnein, ettir tighib, 7[65] Domhuliacc, 7 Cloic teacha, 7\nFiadh-Neimhedh_\u201d; that is, Armagh having been set on fire by lightning,\nits houses, its cathedrals, its belfries, and its _Fiadh-Neimhedh_, were\nall destroyed.\n\nThe _Ulster Annals_ have registered the same event in the following\nwords:--\u201c_Tene diait do gabail Airdmaeha conafarcaibh Dertach, na\nDamliacc, na h Erdam, na Fidh-Nemead ann cen loscadh_\u201d; that is, Lightning\nseized upon Armagh, to so violent a degree, as to leave neither mansion,\nnor cathedral, nor belfry, nor _Fiadh-Nemeadh_, undemolished.\n\nHere we find _Fiadh-Nemeadh_ to occur in both accounts, while the belfries\nare represented in one place as _Cloic teacha_, and in the other as\n_Erdam_, and in both are opposed to, and contradistinguished from, the\n_Fiadh-Nemeadh_. Our business now is to investigate what this latter word\nconveys; and though I do not mean, for a while, to develop its _true\ninterpretation_,--of which I am the sole and exclusive depositary,--yet\nmust I make it apparent, that by it--whatever way it must be rendered--all\nbefore me have understood, were emphatically designated our Sabian Towers.\nThus Colgan in his _Acts_, p. 297, referring to these words of the Four\nMasters, says: \u201cAnno 995, Ardmaeha cum _Basilicis_, _Turribus_, _aliisque\nomnibus edificiis_, incendio ex fulmine generato, tota vastatur.\u201d\n\nO\u2019Connor also, wishing to wrest its import to his favourite theory of\nthere having been _gnomons_, while ignorant of its proper force, indulges\nin a conjecture of the most lunatic _ostentation_, and translates\n_Fiadh-Nemeadh_ by _celestial indexes_.\n\nBut though the word does not _literally_ signify either \u201cTowers\u201d--as\nColgan, for want of a better exposition, has set forth--or \u201ccelestial\nindexes\u201d--as O\u2019Connor, equally at a loss for its proper meaning, has\nventured to promulgate, yet is it indisputable that it stood as the\nrepresentative of those _enigmatical_ edifices, as well as that both\nwriters had the same structures in view as comprehended under the tenor of\nthis _mysterious_ denomination.[66]\n\nThese annals I look upon in three different lights as invaluable\ndocuments--firstly, as they prove the existence of those edifices at the\ndate above assigned; secondly, as they show that they were distinct things\nfrom the belfries--whether cloicteach or erdam--which shared their\ndisaster; and, thirdly, because that, even admitting of O\u2019Connor\u2019s\nmistranslation, it gives us an insight into their character more\nfortuitous than he had anticipated. _Celestial indexes!_[67] Could any one\nbe so silly as for a moment to suppose that this was a mere allusion to\nthe circumstance of their height? No; it was no such casual epithet, or\nwitty effort of hyperbole; but it was, what Sallust has so truly said of\nthe Syrtes, \u201c_nomen ex re inditum_.\u201d\n\nThe identity between this island and the \u201cInsula Hyperboreorum\u201d of\nHecat\u00e6us being to be completely established in an ensuing chapter,--the\n_bungling_ of natives and the _claims_ of externs notwithstanding,--I\nshall not hesitate to assume as _proved_, that ours was the \u201cisland\u201d\ndescribed.\n\nAllow me then to draw your attention to an extract from Diodorus\u2019s\n_report_ thereof:--\u201cThey affirm also,\u201d says he, \u201cthat _the moon_ is so\nseen from this island, that it _appears not so distant_ from the _earth_,\nand _seems_ to _present on its disk certain projections like the mountains\nof our world_. Likewise that the _God Apollo_ in person visits this island\nonce in _nineteen_ years, in which the _stars_ complete their\n_revolutions_, and return into their old positions; and hence this _cycle_\nof _nineteen years_ is called, by the Greeks, the great year.\u201d\n\nWho is it that collates this description with the \u201ccelestial indexes\u201d[68]\nabove produced, that is not, at once, struck with the felicity of the\ncoincidence? On earth, what could _celestial indexes_ mean but such as\nwere appropriated to the contemplation of the heavenly bodies?--just as\nthe name of \u201cZoroaster\u201d--which, in the Persian language, signifies\n\u201cc\u0153lorum observator,\u201d that is, star-gazer, or observer of the\nheavens--was given to Zerdust, the great patriarch of the Magi, from his\neminence and delight in astronomical pursuits.\n\nNow, \u201cthe moon being so seen from this island that it appears not so\ndistant from the earth,\u201d is so obvious a reference to the study of\nastronomy that it would be almost an insult to go about to prove it; but\nwhen it is said that \u201cit presents on its disk certain _projections_ like\nthe mountains of our world,\u201d it not only puts that question beyond the\npossibility of dispute, but argues furthermore a proficiency in that\ndepartment, which it is the fashion _now-a-days_ to attribute only to\n_modern_ discoveries.\n\nBut have we any evidence of having ever had amongst us, in those \u201colden\ntimes,\u201d men who by their talents could support this character? Hear what\nStrabo says of _Abaris_, whom \u201cHecat\u00e6us and others mention\u201d as having been\nsent by his fraternity from the \u201c_island_ of the Hyperboreans\u201d to Delos,\nin Greece, in the capacity of a sacred ambassador, where he was equally\nadmired for his knowledge, politeness, justice, and integrity. \u201cHe came,\u201d\nsays Strabo, \u201cto Athens, not clad in skins like a _Scythian_, but with a\nbow in his hand, a quiver hanging on his shoulders, a plaid wrapt about\nhis body, a gilded belt encircling his loins, and trousers reaching from\nthe waist down to the soles of his feet. He was easy in his address,\nagreeable in his conversation, active in his despatch, and secret in his\nmanagement of great affairs; quick in judging of present occurrences, and\nready to take his part in any sudden emergency; provident withal in\nguarding against futurity; diligent in the quest of wisdom; fond of\nfriendship; trusting _very little_ to _fortune_, yet having the entire\nconfidence of others, and trusted with everything for his prudence. He\nspake Greek with a fluency, that you would have thought he had been bred\nup in the Lyceum, and conversed all his life with the Academy of\nAthens.\u201d[69]\n\nThis embassy is ascertained to have taken place B.C. 600; and from what\nshall be elsewhere said of the \u201cisland of the Hyperboreans\u201d--coupled with\nthe circumstance of the orator Himerius having called this individual a\nScythian, which Strabo would seem to have insinuated also--we can be at no\nloss in tracing him to his proper home.\n\n  \u201cFar westward lies an isle of ancient fame,\n  By nature blessed, and Scotia is her name;\n  An island rich--exhaustless in her store\n  Of veiny silver and of golden ore;\n  Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow,\n  Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow,\n  Her waving furrows float with verdant corn,\n  And _Arms_ and _Arts_ her envied sons adorn.\u201d\n\nSuch is the description of Ireland given by Donatus, bishop of Etruria, in\n802; and I have selected it among a thousand other authorities of similar\nimport, to show that Scotia or Scythia was one, and the _last_, of the\n_ancient_ names of this country;[70] while the name of \u201cHyperborean\u201d was\nthe distinctive character assigned thereto, not only as descriptive of its\nlocality towards the north, but as worshipping the wind Boreas.\n\nDid I not apprehend it might be considered irrelevant to the scope of this\nwork, I could easily prove that the amity, said by Hecat\u00e6us to have been\ncemented on the occasion of the visit above alluded to, was not that of a\nmere return of courteous civilities for a casual intercourse, but one of a\nfar more tender and _familiar_ nature, viz. the recognition on both sides\nof their mutual descent from one common origin: the same people who had\nsettled in this country, and imported the mysteries of their magic\npriesthood, being akin to the first settlers on the coasts of Greece,\nwhich they impregnated with similar initiation. I am anticipated, of\ncourse, to have meant the Pelasgi, who, under another name, belonged to\nthe same hive as the Indo-Scyth\u00e6, or Chaldean Magi, or\nTuath-de-danaan,--_as the head tribe thereof were called_,--who, having\neffected an establishment on _this_ happy isle, aloof from the intrusion\nof external invasion or internal butcheries, were allowed to cultivate the\n_study_ of their _favourite rites_, the fame and eminence of which had\nobtained for its theatre, of all nations, the designation of \u201csacred.\u201d But\nI fear it would be encroaching upon the patience of my readers, and\nbesides anticipating, in point of order, what may by and by follow.\n\nAn inconsistency, however, appears in the details, which I cannot here\nwell overlook. It is this. Himerius has called this our ambassador a\n\u201cScythian\u201d; and Strabo has affirmed, that he was \u201cnot clad like a\nScythian.\u201d How, then, shall I cut this knot? Thus. Abaris, as his name\nimplies, was one of the Boreades, or priests of Boreas, belonging to the\nTuath-de-danaan colony in this island, who were subdued about six hundred\nyears before this event by the Scythians, whose dress, as well as manners,\ndiffered in all particulars from those of their religious and learned\npredecessors.\n\nBut though the Scythians, from state policy, had suppressed the\ntemple-worship when they deposed from the throne their antecedent\nHyperboreans, they were but too sensible of their literary value not to\nprofit by their services in the department of education. Hence it came to\npass, that the Boreades were still indulged with their favourite costume,\nwhile the inferior communities were obliged to conform to the rules and\nthe fashions of the ascendant dynasty. In a short time, however, the\nScythian Druids superseded the Danaan Boreades, by the influence of their\nown instruction; and the consequence was that of that graceful garb, in\nthe folds of which our ancient high priests officiated at the altar, or\nexhibited in the senate, not a single vestige is now to be traced except\nin the word God, _Phearagh_, whom I shall anon introduce, and in the\nhighlands of Scotland, where a remnant of those Hyperborean or Danaan\npriests took shelter from the ruthless Picts, resigning to those\nremorseless and intolerant persecutors the ground of the only two temples\nwhich they were able there to raise, as the last resort of their hopes,\nand the solace of their exile.[71]\n\nNor is it alone as accounting for the circumstance of costume that the\nabove explanation deserves the reader\u2019s regard. An additional insight is\nafforded, by its enabling us to account for that boundless superiority\nwhich, the Irish Druids possessed over all other bodies of the same\ndenomination all over the world. Originally, the Druids were an humble set\nof men, without science, without letters, without pretensions to\nrefinement; but having succeeded here to the fraternity of the\naccomplished Danaan Boreades, who, in the revolution of affairs, were\nforced to communicate their acquirements to the opposite but prevailing\npriesthood, those latter so far profited by the ennobling opportunity, as\nto eclipse all other Druids, as well in Europe as in Africa.\n\nC\u00e6sar, in his _Commentaries_, bears direct testimony to their astronomical\nresearch, saying: \u201cMulta pr\u00e6terea de sideribus atque eorum motu, de mundi\nac terrarum magnitudine, de rerum natur\u00e2 ac deorum immortalium vi ac\npotestate disputant ac juventuti transdunt.\u201d--_De Bel. Gal._ lib. 1-6, c.\nxiv. Pomponius Mela, also confirming the fact, says: \u201cHi terr\u00e6 mundique\nmagnitudinem ac forman, motus c\u0153li ac siderum, ac quid Dii velint scire,\nprofitentur.\u201d--_De Situ Orbis_, lib. 3, c. ii. These two latter\nauthorities, I admit, were more immediately directed to the _Druids_ of\nBritain; but as it is agreed on all hands that _that_ body of\nreligionists had received the seeds of their instruction from the Irish\n_Magi_, who were infinitely their superiors in _all_ literary\naccomplishments, I think we may be warranted in extending the commendation\nto Ireland also, as the writers indubitably _included_ it under the\n_general name_ of _Britain_.\n\nBut were all _external_ testimonies silent on the matter, and mercenary\nvouchers even assert the reverse, the internal evidence of our language\nitself, a language so truly characterised as \u201cmore than three thousand\nyears old,\u201d would afford to the ingenious and disinterested inquirer the\nmost convincing proof of the ground which I have assumed. In that\nlanguage--and the writer of this essay _ought_ to know _something_ of\nit--there is scarcely a single term appertaining to time, from _la_ a day,\nderived from _liladh_, to turn round,--in allusion to the diurnal\nrevolution,--up to _bleain_, a year, compounded of _Bel_, the sun, and\n_Ain_, a circle, referring to its annual orbit, that does not, in its\nformation and construction, associate the idea with the planetary courses,\nand thereby evince, not only an astronomical taste, but that astronomy was\nthe \u201cruling passion\u201d of those who spoke it.\n\n\u201cThe Irish language,\u201d says Davies, an intelligent and respectable Welsh\nwriter, \u201cappears to have arrived at maturity amongst the Iapetid\u00e6, while\nthey were yet in contact with Aram\u00e6an families, and formed a powerful\ntribe in Asia Minor and in Thrace. It may, therefore, in particular\ninstances, have more similitude or analogy to the Asiatic dialects than\nwhat appears in those branches of the Celtic that were matured in the west\nof Europe. Those who used this language consisted partly of Titans, of\nCelto-Scythians, or of those Iapetid\u00e6 who assisted in building the city\nof Babel, and must have been habituated, after the dispersion, to the\ndialects of the nations through which they passed, before they joined the\nsociety of their brethren.\u201d We thank this learned author for the\nflattering notice which he has been pleased to take of us; and though, in\nhis subsequent remarks, he steers far wide of our true pedigree, yet a\nconcession so important as that even here adduced, must command at least\nour becoming acknowledgments.\n\nThe splendid examples which we have had of primitive teachers of\nChristianity in this kingdom, and whom Ledwich himself, reluctant as he\nwas to afford ordinary justice to Irish merit, is obliged to praise, were\nnot more remarkable for the sanctified zeal and enthusiastic devotion with\nwhich they propagated the Gospel, than they were for the diversified range\nof their literary acquirements, and the moral sublimity of their ideas and\nconceptions.[72] Speaking of a production belonging to one of these\nworthies, Ledwich remarks: \u201cIn this tract we can discover Cumman\u2019s\nacquaintance with the doctrine of time, and the chronological characters.\nHe is no stranger to the solar, lunar, and bissextile years, to the\nepactal days, and embolismal months, nor to the names of the Hebrew,\nMacedonian, and Egyptian months. To examine the various cyclical systems,\nand to point out their construction and errors, required no mean\nabilities: a large portion of Greek and Latin literature was also\nnecessary.\u201d[73]\n\nHere I would have it distinctly noticed, that the above-mentioned\nindividuals who shone in the galaxy of our early Christian constellations,\nhad been but just converted from paganism by St. Patrick, and consequently\nwere not indebted for this \u201clearned lore\u201d to the Romish missionaries, but\nto the more elevated genius of their native institutions. This it was that\nenabled them to make those astronomical observations which our annals\ncommemorate; and who can say, amidst the decay of time, the ravages of\npersecution, and the fury of fanaticism, what tomes of such labours has\nnot the world lost? Some few, however, remain, of which we shall adduce\nsome by way of specimen. Solar eclipses of 495, 664, 810, 884; lunar, of\n673, 717, 733, 807, 877; solar and lunar, 864; a comet 911, are recorded\nin our annals.\n\nThose of the \u201cFour Masters\u201d additionally record certain extraordinary\ncelestial phenomena in 743:--\u201cVis\u00e6 sunt stell\u00e6 quasi de c\u0153lo cadere.\u201d\nAgain, in 744, they observe: \u201cHoc anno stell\u00e6 item de c\u0153lo frequentes\ndeciderunt\u201d; while it cannot be too diligently noted, \u201cthat, when the rest\nof Europe, as Vallancey so justly remarked, through ignorance or\nforgetfulness, had no knowledge of the _true figure_ of the earth, in the\neighth century, the rotundity and true formation of it should have been\ntaught in the Irish schools,\u201d which we shall by and by more pointedly\nadvert to.\n\nIt thus appears manifest that the Irish must, at one time, have not only\npossessed, but excelled in, the science of astronomy. How did they acquire\nit? is the next question. \u201cAd illa mihi pro se quisque acriter intendat\nanimum.\u201d In that passage of Diodorus, to which I have already referred, we\nfind the following appropriate characteristic:--\u201cIt is affirmed that\nLatona was born there, and that, therefore, the worship of Apollo is\npreferred to that of any other God; and as they daily celebrate this deity\nwith songs of praise, and worship him with the highest honours, they are\nconsidered as _peculiarly_ the _priests_ of Apollo, whose sacred grove and\n_singular_ temple of _round form_, endowed with many gifts, are there.\u201d\n\nNow, it is universally known that Apollo, which, \u201caccording to the learned\nPezron, is no other than Ap-haul, or the son of the Sun,\u201d was understood\nby the ancients only essentially to typify that powerful planet, \u201cwhich\nanimates and imparts fecundity to the universe, whose divinity has been\naccordingly honoured in every quarter by temples and by altars, and\nconsecrated in the religious strains of all nations\u201d and all climes.\n\nHis being peculiarly worshipped in this island only shows the intimate\nknowledge it possessed of the mysteries of the _solar system_; and that\nnear converse which we have been already told it possessed with the moon,\nis confirmation the most positive of this explanation.\n\nLet me here again recall to the reader\u2019s mind the name of _Cathaoir\nGhall_, or _temple of brightness_, which I have before adduced, and when\nwe compare _all_ with the _celestial indexes_ recorded in our annals, the\nconclusion is inevitable, _that the Round Towers of Ireland were\nspecifically constructed for the two-fold purpose of worshipping the Sun\nand Moon_--as the authors of generation and vegetative heat--_and, from\nthe nearer converse which their elevation afforded, of studying the\nrevolutions and properties of the planetary orbs_. Let me, however, before\nelucidating the era of their actual erection, with their _Phallic_ form\nand their further use, revert to the Mosaic history for the _groundwork_\nof my development.\n\n  \u201cAnd chiefly thou, O Spirit! that dost prefer\n  Before all temples th\u2019 upright heart and pure,\n  Instruct me, for thou know\u2019st; thou from the first\n  Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,\n  Dove-like sat\u2019st brooding on the vast abyss,\n  And mad\u2019st it pregnant. What in me is dark,\n  Illumine! what is low, raise and support!\n  That to the height of this great argument\n  I may assert eternal Providence,\n  And justify the ways of God to man.\u201d[74]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\nNimrod, the son of Cush, \u201cthe mighty hunter before the Lord,\u201d was the\nfirst person,[75] according to Vossius,[76] who introduced the worship of\nthe _sun_ as a deity. Disgusted with the roving character of his previous\nlife, and tired of peregrination, he resolves to build himself a permanent\nabode, and persuades his followers to embark in the design, \u201clest they be\nscattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.\u201d[77] Mankind had\nalready relapsed into the follies of their antediluvian ancestors. The\nawful lesson of the watery visitation was read to them in vain, and again\nthey verified what God had before that memorable epoch with sorrow\ndeclared, \u201cthat every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only\nevil continually.\u201d[78]\n\nIn Babel, the city thus agreed upon to be built, as the anchor of their\nstability and the basis of their renown,--we find a \u201c_Tower_\u201d mentioned,\n\u201cwhose top may _reach_,\u201d says our version (but should it not rather be\n_point_?) _towards heaven_.\n\nWhat was the object of this architectural elevation?\n\nNot certainly, as some have supposed, as a place of refuge in apprehension\nof a second deluge; for in that case, it is probable, they would have\nbuilt it on an eminence, rather than on a _plain_, _whereas_ the Bible\nexpressly tells us they had selected the latter.\n\nMuch less could it be, what the poets have imagined, for the purpose of\nscaling the celestial abodes, and disputing with Jehovah the composure of\nHis sovereignty.\n\nWhat, then, was it intended for?\n\nUndoubted as an acknowledgment, however vitiated and depraved, of\ndependence upon that Being, whose acts shine forth in universal love, but\nwhose spiritual adoration was now partially lost sight of, or _merged_ in\nthe homage thus primarily tendered to the _lucid offspring_ of his\n_omnipotent fiat_.\n\nThis tower, so erected by Nimrod, in opposition to the established system\nof religious belief, and which, therefore--but from a _nobler_ reason than\nwhat was generally imagined, viz. his researches in astronomy, and the\napplication thereto of instruments--procured him the appellation of\n_rebel_ from _nemh_, heaven, and _rodh_, an assault, was, I hesitate not\nto say, a temple constructed to the celestial host, the sun, moon, and\nstars, which constituted the substance of the _Sabian idolatry_.[79]\n\nShinaar, in Mesopotamia, was the theatre of this dread occurrence--this\nappalling spectacle at once of man\u2019s weakness and God\u2019s omnipotence:--Here\nthe Noachid\u00e6 had been then fixed; and the name by which this innovation\nupon their previous usages is transmitted, viz. _Ba-Bel_, corroborates the\ndestination above assigned.[80]\n\nThe word \u201cBaal,\u201d in itself an appellative, at first served to denote the\ntrue God amongst those who adhered to the true religion; though, when it\nbecame common amongst the idolatrous nations, and applied to idols, He\nrejected it. \u201cAnd it shall be in that day that you shall call me Ishi, and\nshall call me no more Baali.\u201d[81] Another name by which the _Godhead_ was\nrecognised was Moloch. The latter, indeed, in accuracy of speech was the\nname assigned him by the Ammonites and Moabites--both terms, however,\ncorresponded in sense, \u201cMoloch\u201d signifying king, and \u201cBaal\u201d Lord, that is,\nof the heavens; whence transferring the appellation to the Sun, as the\n_source_ and _dispenser_ of all _earthly favours_, he was also called\nBolati, _i.e._, \u201cBaal the _bestower_,\u201d as was the moon, Baaltis, from the\nsame consideration: whilst the direct object of their internal regard was\nnot, undoubtedly, that globe of fire which illumines the firmament and\nvivifies terrestrials, but, physically considered, _nature_ at large, the\n_fructifying germ_ of universal _generativeness_.\n\nThe Sun, it is true, as the source of light and heat, came in as\n_representative_ for all this adoration. Thus viewed, then, it would\nappear that the origin of the institution may have been comparatively\nharmless. God being invisible, or only appearing to mortals through the\nmedium of His acts, it was natural that _man_, left to the workings of\nunaided reason, should look on yon mysterious luminary with mingled\nsentiments of gratitude and awe. We have every reason, accordingly, to\nthink, that solar worship at first was only emblematical, recognising, in\nthe effulgence of the orb of day, the creative power of Him, the\n\n  \u201cFather of all, in every age,\n    In every clime adored,\n  By saint, by savage, and by sage,\n    _Jehovah_, _Jove_, or _Lord_\u201d--\n\nwho sent it forth on its _beneficent_ errand.\n\nAs such, originally they had no temples dedicated to the occasion; they\nmet in the open air, without the precincts of any earthly shrine: there\nthey poured forth their vows and their thanksgivings, under the a\u00ebrial\ncanopy of the vaulted expanse; nor can it be denied but that there was\nsomething irresistibly impressive in such an assemblage of pious votaries,\npaying their adoration to the throne of light in the natural temple of his\ndaily splendours.[82]\n\nThe degeneracy of man, however, became manifest in the sequel, and, from\nthe frequency of the act, the type was substituted in room of the thing\ntypified. \u201cSolum in c\u0153lis deum putabant solem,\u201d says Philobibliensis, in\nhis interpretation of Sanchoniathon. Nor did it stop here, but, proceeding\nin its progress of melancholy decay, swept before it the barriers of\nreason and moral light; and, from the bright monarch of the stars, who\nrules the day, the seasons, and the year, with perpetual change, yet\nuniform and identical, bowed before the grosser element of _material\nfire_, as his symbol or corporeal representative.\n\nBut the worst and most lamentable is yet untold. The sign again occupied\nthe place of the thing signified, and the human soul was prostrated, and\nhuman life often immolated, to propitiate the favour of earthly fire, now\nby transition esteemed a god. They had, it is true, from a _faint_\nknowledge of the sacred writings, and a perverted exercise of that\ninspired authority, something like an excuse for, at least, a decent\nattention in the ordinary management of that useful article. In Lev. vi.\n13 it is said: \u201cThe fire upon the altar shall ever be burning, it shall\nnever go out.\u201d This injunction given by the Lord to Moses, to remind His\npeople of the constant necessity of sacrifice and prayer, the Gentiles\nmisconstrued into reverence for the fire itself, and \u201cquoniam omnes pravi\ndociles sumus,\u201d hence the ready admission with which the doctrine was\nembraced, and the general spread of that which was at first but partial\nand figurative.\n\nIndeed we find that God Himself had appeared to Moses in a \u201cflame of fire\nin the midst of a bush\u201d (Ex. iii. 2), and in presence of the whole\nIsraelitish host (Ex. xix. 18). \u201cThe Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, as\nthe smoke of a furnace;\u201d while in Ex. xiii. 21, it is declared that \u201cthe\nLord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a\npillar of fire, to give them light.\u201d So accordingly we find Elijah, 1\nKings xviii. 24, when challenging the priests of the false divinities,\npropose a decision by fiery ordeal. \u201cCall you on the name of your gods,\u201d\nhe says, \u201cand I will call upon the name of the Lord: and the God that\nanswereth by _fire_, let him be God; and all the people answered, it is\nwell spoken.\u201d\n\nThe infidels, therefore, who could not concede any superiority to the\nreligion of the Hebrews, and yet could not deny those manifestations of\ndivine support, thought they best proved their independence by instituting\na rivalship, and got thereby the more confirmed in their original\nidolatry. Their bloody sacrifices themselves originated, we may suppose,\nin some similar way. God must, undoubtedly, have prescribed that rite to\nAdam, after his fall in Paradise, else how account for the \u201cskins\u201d with\nwhich Eve and he had covered themselves? The beasts to which they belonged\ncould not have been slain for food; for it was not till a long time after\nthat they were allowed to eat the flesh of animals. We may, therefore,\nsafely infer that it was for a sin-offering they had been immolated; and\nthe subsequent reproof given to Cain by the rejection of his oblation,\nevidently for the non-observance of the exact mode of sacrifice\nprescribed, coupled with the command issued to Abraham, to try his\nobedience, by offering up his own son, are undeniable proofs of the truth\nof this inference.\n\nIn \u201cUr\u201d of the Chaldees, a name which literally signifies \u201cfire,\u201d the\nworship of that element first originated. Thence it travelled in its\ncontaminating course, until all the regions of the earth got impregnated\ntherewith. In Persia, a country with which _this island_ had, of old, the\nmost _direct communication_, we also find a city denominated \u201cUr\u201d; and who\ndoes not know that the Persians, having borrowed the custom from the\nChaldean priests, regarded fire with the utmost veneration? Numerous as\nwere the deities which that nation worshipped, \u201cfire,\u201d on every occasion,\nin every sacrifice--like the Janus of the Romans--was invoked the first.\nTheir Pyrea, in which they not only preserved it ever burning, but\nworshipped it as a deity, have been noticed by Brisson--but without the\nnecessary adjunct of their being an innovation.\n\nEven the ordinary fire for culinary or social purposes participated in\nsome measure in this hallowed regard; as they durst not, without violating\nthe most sacred rules, and stifling the scruples of all their previous\neducation, offer it the least mark of impious disregard, or pollute its\nsanctity by profane contact.\n\nIt was, however, only as symbolical of the _sun_ that _they_, like the\nChaldeans, paid it this extraordinary reverence--a reverence not limited\nto mere religious rules, but which exercised control over and biassed the\ndecisions of their most important secular transactions. Accordingly, we\nlearn from Herodotus, lib. vii., as quoted by Cicero in \u201cVerrem,\u201d that\nwhen Datis, the prefect of Xerxes\u2019 fleet, flushed with the result of his\nvictory over Naxos and the city of Eretria in Eub\u0153a, might easily have\nmade himself master of the island of Delos, he however passed it over\nuntouched in honour of that divinity before whom his country had bowed,\nhaving been sacred to Apollo or the sun, and reputedly his birthplace.\n\nBut do I mean to say that the Round Towers of Ireland were intended for\nthe preservation of the sacred fire? Far, very far indeed, from it. That\n_some few_ of them were therewith connected--I say _connected, not\nappropriated_--may, I think, be well allowed; nay, it is my candid belief,\nso far as belief is compatible with a matter so unauthenticated. But\nhaving all through maintained that they were not all intended for one and\nthe same object, I must have been understood, of course, by the numerous\nsupporters of that fashionable proposition as including fire-worship\nwithin the compass of my several views. I put it, however, frankly to the\nmost _ardent_ supporter of that theory, who for a moment considers the\ndifferent _bearings_ and peculiarities of those several structures,\ncomparing them first with one another, and then with the description of\nfire-receptacles which we read of elsewhere, whether he can\ndispassionately bring himself to say that all our Round Towers, or indeed\nabove two of those at present remaining, could have been _even calculated_\nfor that purpose?\n\nWhere, let me ask, is it they will suppose the fire to have been placed?\nIn the bottom? No; the intervening floors, of which the GREATER PORTION\nretain evident traces, would not only endanger the conflagration of the\nwhole edifice, as it is most probable that they were made of wood, but\nwould also prevent the egress of the smoke through the four windows at the\ntop, for which use, they tell you, those apertures were inserted.\n\nBut I am answered that the tower of Ardmore, which has within it no\nvestiges of divisional compartments, could offer no hindrance to the\nascent of the smoke, or its consequent discharge through the four\ncardinal openings. To which I rejoin, that if there had _ever_ been a fire\nlighted within that edifice, and continued for any length of time, as the\nsacred fire is known to have been kept perpetually burning, it would have\nbeen impossible for the inner surface of that stately structure to\npreserve the beautiful and white coating which it still displays through\nthe mystic revolutions of so many ages. The same conclusion applies to the\ntower of Devenish, which, though it has no inside coating, yet must its\nelegant polish have been certainly deteriorated, if subjected to the\naction of a perpetual smoke.\n\n[Illustration: ARDMORE.]\n\nThe instance which is adduced of the four temples described by Hanway in\nhis _Travels into Persia_, proves nothing. It certainly corresponds with\nthe architectural character of some of our Round Towers, but leaves us as\nmuch in the dark as to the era and use of both as if he had never made\nmention of any such occurrence.\n\nTo me it is as obvious as the noon-day sun that _they too_ on examination\nwould be found of a more comprehensive religious tendency than what could\npossibly relate to the preservation of the sacred fire; for it is well\nknown that when temples were at all appropriated to this consecrated\ndelusion, it was within a small _crypt_ or _arched vault_--over which the\ntemple was erected--that it was retained. The Ghebres or Parsees, the\ndirect disciples of Zoroaster, the reputed author of this improved\ninstitution, \u201cbuild their temples,\u201d says Richardson,[83] \u201cover\n_subterraneous fires_.\u201d\n\nWhenever a deviation from this occurred, it was in favour of a low\nstone-built structure, all over-arched, such as that which _Hanway met\nwith at Baku_, and _corresponding in every_ particular with the edifices\nof this description to be seen at Smerwick, county Kerry, and elsewhere\nthroughout Ireland.[84]\n\nThe fire-house which Captain Keppel visited at a later period at Baku, in\n1824, was a small square building, erected on a platform, with three\nascending steps on each side, having a tall hollow stone column at every\nside, through which the flame was seen to issue, all _in the middle of a\npentagonal enclosure_--comprising also a large altar, whereon naphtha was\nkept continually burning.\n\nNow, could anything possibly _correspond more minutely_ with Strabo\u2019s\ndescription of the Pyratheia than does this last account? \u201cThey are,\u201d he\nsays, \u201c_immense enclosures_, in the centre of which was erected an altar,\nwhere the Magi used to preserve, as well a quantity of ashes, as the\never-burning fire itself.\u201d And could anything possibly be _more opposite_\nto our Round Towers than all these accounts?\n\nWhen, therefore, we are told[85] that at the city of Zezd in Persia--which\nis distinguished by the apellation of Darub Abadat, or seat of\nreligion--the Ghebres are permitted to have an Atush Kidi, or fire-temple,\nwhich they assert had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster,\nwe must be prepared to understand it as corresponding in architectural\nproportion with one or other of the instances just now detailed; and in\ntruth, from recent discovery, I have ascertained--since the above was\ncomposed--that it is nothing more than a _sorry hut_.\n\nBut Pennant\u2019s view of Hindostan is brought forward as at once decisive of\nthe matter. What says Mr. Pennant, however? \u201cAll the people of this part\nof India are Hindoos, and retain the _old religion_, with all its\nsuperstition. This makes the pagodas here much more numerous than in any\nother part of the peninsula; their form too is different, being chiefly\nbuildings of a _cylindrical_ or _round tower_ shape, with their tops\neither pointed or truncated at the top, and ornamented with something\neccentrical, but frequently with a round ball stuck on a spike: this ball\nseems intended to represent the _sun_, an emblem of the deity of the\nplace.\u201d\n\nTo this ascription of this learned traveller I most fully, most heartily\nrespond. Pagoda is a name invented by the Portuguese, from the Persian\n\u201cPeutgheda,\u201d meaning a temple of idols, in which they supposed them to\nabound, but which in reality were only so many figures or symbols of the\n\u201cprinciple of truth,\u201d the \u201cspirit of wisdom,\u201d the \u201csupreme essence,\u201d and\nother attributes of the Godhead, which, I believe, they in a great measure\nspiritually recognised. Those structures, therefore, as the very word\nimplies, had no manner of relation to the sacred fire, but they had to the\nsun and moon, the supposed authors of _generation_ and _nutrition_, of\nwhich fire was only the corrupt emblem; and the different forms of their\nconstructural terminations, similar to those elsewhere described by\nMaundrell, some being _pointed_, and some being _truncated_, harmonises\nmost aptly with the _radial_ and _hemispherical representations_ of the\ntwo celestial luminaries, as well as with that organ of human\n_procreation_ which we shall hereafter more particularly identify. These\nare the two Baals dwelt so largely upon in the Scriptures--Baal masculine,\nthe sun, and Baal feminine, the moon, from both of which the Hindoos\nderive their fabulous origin. Indeed it was from their extreme veneration\nfor the \u201cqueen of night\u201d that they obtained their very name; Hindoo\nmeaning, in the Sanscrit language, the moon; and accordingly we find among\nthem Hindoo-buns, that is, children of the moon, as we do Surage-buns,\nchildren of the sun, the other parent of their fanciful extraction.\n\nHere then, methinks, we have at once a clue to the character of those\nRound Towers so frequent throughout the East, of whose history, however,\nthe Orientals are as ignorant as we are here of our \u201crotundities.\u201d\nCaucasus abounds in those columnar fanes, and it must not be forgotten\nthat Caucasus has been claimed as the residence of our ancestors. On Teric\nbanks, hard by, there is a very beautiful and lofty one as like as\npossible to some of ours. The door is described as twelve feet from the\nground, level and rather oblong in its form. Lord Valentia was so struck\nwith the extraordinary similitude observable between some very elegant\nones which he noticed in Hindostan and those in this country, that he\ncould not avoid at once making the comparison. The inhabitants, he\nobserves, paid no sort of regard to those venerable remains, but pilgrims\nfrom afar, and chiefly from Jynagaur, adhering to _their old religion_,\nused annually to resort to them as the shrines of their ancient worship.\nYet in the ceremonies there performed we see no evidence of their\nappropriation to the sacred fire--however _tradition_ may have ascribed\nthem as once belonging to the Ghebres! Franklin mentions some he has seen\nat Nandukan, as do other writers in other sites. In short, all through the\nEast they are to be met with, and yet all about them is obscurity, doubt,\nand mystery, a proof at once of the antiquity of their date, and of their\nnot being receptacles for fire, which, _if the fact_, could be _there_ no\nsecret.\n\nYes, I verily believe, and I will as substantially establish, that they\nwere, what has already been affirmed, in reference to those in Ireland,\nviz. temples in honour of the sun and moon, the procreative causes of\ngeneral fecundity, comprising in certain instances, like them, also the\nadditional and blended purposes of funeral cemeteries and astronomical\nobservatories. The Septuagint interpreters well understood their nature\nwhen rendering the \u201chigh place of Baal\u201d[86] by the Greek \u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03bb\u03b7 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b2\u03b1\u03b1\u03bb,\nor Pillar of Baal, that is, the pillar consecrated to the sun; while the\nancient Irish themselves, following in the same train, designated those\nstructures Bail-toir, that is, the tower of Baal, or the sun, and the\npriest who attended them, Aoi Bail-toir, or superintendent of Baal\u2019s\ntower. Neither am I without apprehension but that the name \u201cArdmore,\u201d\nwhich signifies \u201cthe great high place,\u201d and where a splendid specimen of\nthose Sabian edifices is still remaining, was in direct reference to that\nreligious column; but this _en passant_.\n\nIn the _sepulchral_ opinion I am not a little fortified by the\ncircumstance of there being found at Benares pyramids corresponding in all\nrespects, save that of size, to those in Egypt, having also subterranean\npassages beneath them, which are said to extend even for miles together. A\ncolumn also, besides a sphinx\u2019s head, which has been discovered not long\nsince in digging amid the ruins of an ancient and unknown city, on the\nbanks of the Hypanis, bearing an inscription which was found to differ on\nbeing compared with Arabic, Persia, Turkish, Chinese, Tartar, Greek, and\nRoman letters; but bore \u201ca manifest and close similarity with the\ncharacters observed by Denon on several of the mummies of Egypt,\u201d gives\nstrength to the idea of the identity of the Egyptian religion with that of\nthe Indians, as it does to the identity of destination of their respective\npyramids.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\nNow if there be any one point of Irish antiquity which our historians\ninsist upon more than another, it is that of our ancestral connection with\nthe Egyptian kings. In all their legends Egypt is mixed up--in all their\nromances Egypt stands prominent, which certainly could not have been so\nuniversal without _something_ at least like foundation, and must,\ntherefore, remove anything like surprise at the affinity our ancient\nreligion bore, in many respects, to theirs, since they were both derived\nfrom the same common origin.\n\nI have already intimated my decided belief of the application of the\nEgyptian pyramids to the combined purposes of religion and science. The\ndepartment of science to which I particularly referred was astronomy, the\ncultivation of which was inseparably involved in all their religious\nrites; for despite of the reverence which the Egyptians seemed to pay to\ncrocodiles, bulls, and others of the brute creation, in those they only\nfigured forth the several attributes, all infinite, in the divinity; as\ntheir worship, like that of the ancient Irish, was purely planetary, or\nSabian.\n\nThe Indians too have images of the elephant, horse, and other such\nanimals, chiselled out with the most studious care, and to all intents and\npurposes appear to pay them homage; but, if questioned on the subject,\nthey will tell you that in the sagacity of the former, and the strength\nand swiftness of the latter, they only recognise the superior wisdom and\nmight of the All-good and All-great One, and the rapidity with which his\ndecrees are executed by his messengers.\n\nIf questioned more closely, they will tell you that the Brahmin is but\nreminded by the image of the inscrutable Original, whose pavilion is\nclouds and darkness; to him he offers the secret prayer of the heart; and\nif he neglects from inadvertence the external services required, it is\nbecause his mind is so fully occupied with the contemplation of uncreated\nexcellence, that he overlooks the grosser object by which his impressions\nwere communicated. Then with respect to their subterranean temples or\nMithratic caves, of which we have so many specimens throughout this\nisland, they affirm that the mysterious temple of the caverns is dedicated\nto services which soar as much above the worship of the plain and\nuninstructed Hindoo, as Brahma the invisible Creator is above the good and\nevil genii who inhabit the region of the sky. The world, whose ideas are\nbase and grovelling as the dust upon which they tread, must be led by\nobjects perceptible to the senses to perform the ceremonial of their\nworship; the chosen offspring of Brahma are destined to nobler and\nsublimer hopes; their views are bounded alone by the ages of eternity.\n\nThese specimens, though brief, will prove that the spirit of the religion\nof ancient India and Egypt was not that farrago of mental prostration\nwhich some have imagined. No, the stars, as the abode, or immediate signal\nof the Deity, were their primary study; and even to this day, depressed\nand humiliated as the Indians are, and aliens in their own country, they\nare not without some attention to their favourite pursuit, or something\nlike an observatory to perpetuate its cultivation. In May, 1777, a letter\nfrom Sir Robert Baker to the President of the Royal Society of London was\nread before that body, which details a complete astronomical apparatus\nfound at Benares, belonging to the Brahmins.\n\nSuch is the remnant of that once enlightened nation, the favourite retreat\nof civilisation and the arts, which sent forth its professors into the\nmost distant quarters of the world, and disseminated knowledge wherever\nthey had arrived. \u201cWith the first accounts we have of Hindostan,\u201d says\nCrawford, \u201ca mighty empire opens to our view, which in extent, riches, and\nthe number of its inhabitants, has not yet been equalled by any one nation\non the globe. We find salutary laws, and an ingenious and refined system\nof religion established; sciences and arts known and practised; and all of\nthese evidently brought to perfection by the accumulated experience of\nmany preceding ages. We see a country abounding in fair and opulent\ncities; magnificent temples and palaces; useful and ingenious artists\nemploying the precious stones and metals in curious workmanship;\nmanufacturers fabricating cloths, which in the fineness of their texture,\nand the beauty and duration of some of their dyes, have even yet been but\nbarely imitated by other nations.\n\n\u201cThe traveller was enabled to journey through this immense country with\nease and safety; the public roads were shaded with trees to defend him\nfrom its scorching sun; at convenient distances buildings were erected for\nhim to repose in, a friendly Brahmin attended to supply his wants; and\n_hospitality_ and the _laws_ held out assistance and protection to _all\nalike_, without prejudice or partiality.... We afterwards see the empire\noverrun by a fierce race of men, who in the beginning of their furious\nconquests endeavoured, with their country, to subdue the minds of the\nHindoos. They massacred the people, tortured the priests, threw down many\nof the temples, and, what was still more afflicting, converted some of\nthem into places of worship for their prophet, till at length, tired with\nthe exertion of cruelties which they found to be without effect, and\nguided by their interest, which led them to wish for tranquillity, they\nwere constrained to let a religion and customs subsist which they found it\nimpossible to destroy. But during these scenes of devastation and\nbloodshed, the sciences, being in the sole possession of the priests, who\nhad more pressing cares to attend to, were neglected, and are now almost\nforgotten.\u201d\n\nI have dwelt thus long upon the article of India, from my persuasion of\nthe intimate connection that existed at one time as to religion, language,\ncustoms, and mode of life between some of its inhabitants and those of\n_this_ western island. I have had an additional motive, and that was to\nshow that the same cause which effected the _mystification_ that overhangs\n_our_ antiquities, has operated similarly with respect to _theirs_, and\nthis brings me back to the subject of the Round Towers, in the _history_,\nor rather the _mystery_, of which, in both countries, this result is most\nexemplified.\n\nAs to their appropriation, then, to the _sacred_ fire, though I do not\ndeny that _some_ of them _may_ have been connected with it, yet\nunquestionably _too much importance_ has been attached to the _vitrified_\nappearance of Drumboe tower as if necessarily enforcing our acquiescence\nin the universality of that doctrine. \u201cAt some former time,\u201d says the\nsurveyor, \u201c_very strong fires have been burned_ within this building, and\nthe inside surface towards the bottom has the appearance of\nvitrification.\u201d\n\nI do not at all dispute the _accident_, but while the vitrified aspect\nwhich _this tower_ exhibits is proof irresistible that _no fire ever\nentered_ those in which _no such_ vitrification appears, I cannot but\n_here too_ express more than a surmise that it was not the \u201c_sacred\nfire_,\u201d which, when religiously preserved, was not allowed to break forth\nin those _volcanoes_ insinuated; but in a _lambent, gentle flame_,\nemblematic of that emanation of the spirit of the Divinity infused, as\n_light from light_, into the soul of man.\n\n  \u201cHail, holy Light! offspring of heaven first-born!\n  Or of th\u2019 Eternal co-eternal beam!\n  May I express thee unblamed? Since God is light,\n  And never but in unapproached light\n  Dwelt from eternity; dwelt then in thee,\n  Bright effluence of bright essence increate!\n  Or hear\u2019st thou rather, pure ethereal stream,\n  Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,\n  Before the heavens, thou wert, and at the voice\n  Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest\n  The rising world of waters dark and deep,\n  Won from the void and formless infinite.\u201d[87]\n\nBut to prove that they were not appropriated to the ritual of\nfire-worship, _nay, that their history and occupation had been altogether\nforgotten when that ritual now prevailed_, I turn to the glossary of\nCormac, first bishop of Cashel, who, after his conversion to\nChristianity, in the fifth century, by St. Patrick, thus declares his\nfaith:--\n\n  \u201cAdhram do righ na duile\n  Do dagh bhar din ar n\u2019 daone\n  Lies gach dream, leis gach dine\n  Leis gach ceall, leis gach caoimhe.\u201d\n\nThat is--\n\n  \u201cI worship the King of the Elements,\n  Whose fire from the mountain top ascends,\n  In whose hands are all mankind,\n  All punishment and remuneration.\u201d\n\nNo allusion here to \u201c_towers_\u201d as connected with that _fire_ so pointedly\nadverted to. And lest there should be any doubt as to the _identity_ of\nthis fire with the religious element so frequently referred to, we find\nthe same high authority thus critically explain himself in another place:\n\u201cdha teinne soinmech do gintis na draoithe con tincet laib moraib foraib,\nagus do bordis, na ceatra or teamandaib cacha bliadhna\u201d--that is, the\nDruids used to kindle two immense fires, with great incantation, and\ntowards them used to drive the cattle, which they forced to pass between\nthem every year.\n\nNay, when St. Bridget, who was originally a _pagan vestal_, and\nconsequently well versed in all the solemnities of the sacred fire,\nwished, upon her conversion to Christianity, A.D. 467, to retain this\nfavourite usage, now sublimated in its nature, and streaming in a more\nhallowed current, it was not in a \u201ctower\u201d that we find she preserved it,\nbut in a cell or low building \u201clike a vault,\u201d \u201cwhich,\u201d says Holinshed,\nwhose curiosity, excited by Cambrensis\u2019s report,[88] had induced him to go\nand visit the spot, \u201cto this day they call the fire-house.\u201d It was a\nstone-roofed edifice about twenty feet square, the ruins of which are\nstill visible, and recognised by all around as once the preservative of\nthe sacred element. When Cambrensis made mention of this miraculous fire\nof St. Bridget, why did he not connect it with the _Round Towers_, which\nhe mentions elsewhere? He knew they had no connection, and should not be\nassociated.\n\nBut, forsooth, the Venerable Bede has distinctly mentioned in the _Life of\nSt. Cuthbert_ that there were numerous _fire receptacles_, remnants of\nancient paganism, still remaining in this island!--Admitted. But does it\nnecessarily follow that they were the _Round Towers_?[89] No: here is the\nenigma solved--they were those _low stone-roofed structures_, similar to\nwhat the Persians call the \u201cAtash-gah,\u201d to be met with so commonly\nthroughout all parts of this country, such as at Ardmore, Killaloe, Down,\nKerry, Kells, etc. etc. The circumstance of St Columbe having for a time\ntaken up his abode in this last-mentioned one, gave rise to the idea that\nhe must have been its founder: but the delusion is dispelled by comparing\nits architecture with that of the churches which this distinguished\nchampion of the early Christian Irish Church had erected in Iona,[90]\nwhose ruins are still to be seen, and bear no sort of analogy with those\nancient receptacles. Struck, no doubt, with some apprehensions like the\nforegoing, it is manifest that Miss Beaufort herself, while combating\nmost strenuously for the Round Towers as _fire receptacles_, had no small\nmisgiving, nay, was evidently divided as to the security of her position.\n\u201cFrom the foregoing statements,\u201d she observes, \u201ca well-grounded conclusion\nmay be drawn that these _low fabrics_ are seldom found but in connection\nwith the towers, and were designed for the preservation of the sacred\nfire; in some cases the lofty tower may have served for both\npurposes.\u201d[91] The lofty tower, I emphatically say, was a distinct\nedifice.\n\nAgain, when St. Patrick in person went round the different provinces to\nattend the pagan solemnities at the respective periods of their\ncelebration, we find no mention made of any such thing as a \u201ctower\u201d\noccupying any part in the ritual of their religious exercises. When he\nfirst presented himself near the Court of Laogaire, not far from the hill\nof Tara, on the eve of the vernal equinox, and lit up a fire before his\ntent in defiance of the legal prohibition, the appeal which we are told\nhis Druids addressed to the monarch on that occasion was couched in the\nfollowing words:--\u201cThis fire which has to-night been kindled in our\npresence, before the flame was lit up in your _palace_, unless\nextinguished this very night, shall never be extinguished at all, but\nshall triumph over all the fires of our ancient rites, and the lighter of\nit shall scatter your kingdom.\u201d In this notification, as I translate it\nfrom O\u2019Connor\u2019s _Prolegomena_, i. c. 35, there occur two terms to which I\nwould fain bespeak the reader\u2019s regard; one is the word _kindled_, which\nimplies the lighting up of a fire where there was none before; the second\nis the word _palace_, which is more applicable to a kingly residence or\nprivate abode, than to a _columnar structure_, which would seem to demand\na characteristic denomination.\n\nAnother objection more imposing in its character, and to the _local_\nantiquary offering no small difficulty to surmount, is that those\nabove-mentioned low structures must have been erected by our first Roman\nmissionaries, because that they bear the strongest possible affinity to\nthe finish and perfection of the early Roman cloac\u00e6 or vaults. This\ndifficulty, however, I thus remove: no one in this enlightened age can\nsuppose that these stupendous specimens of massive and costly workmanship,\nwhich we read of as being constructed by the Romans in the very infancy of\ntheir State, could have been the erection of a rude people, unacquainted\nwith the arts. The story of the wolf, the vestal, and the shepherd is no\nlonger credited; Rome was a flourishing and thriving city long before the\nson of Rhea was born, and the only credit that he deserves, as connected\nwith its history, is that of uniting together under one common yoke the\nseveral neighbouring communities, many of whom, particularly the\nEtrurians, were advanced in scientific and social civilisation, conversant\nnot only with the researches of letters, and the arcana of astronomy, but\nparticularly masters of all manual trades, and with none more profoundly\nthan that of architecture.\n\nBut who, let me ask, were those Etrurians? none others, most undoubtedly,\nthan the Pelasgi or Tyrseni, another branch of our Tuath-de-danaan\nancestors, who, as Myrsilus informs us, had erected the ancient wall\naround the Acropolis of Athens, which is therefore styled, by Callimachus,\nas quoted in the Scholia to the _Birds_ of Aristophanes, \u201cthe Pelasgic\nWall of the Tyrseni.\u201d It is now a point well ascertained by historians\nthat what are termed by ancient writers _Cyclopean walls_--as if\nintimating the work of a race of giants, while the true exposition of the\nname is to be found in the fact of their having been constructed by a\ncaste of miners, otherwise called arimaspi, whose lamp, which perhaps they\nhad fastened to their foreheads, may be considered as their _only\neye_--were actually the creation of those ancient Pelasgi, and, as will\nshortly appear, should properly be called Irish.[92] Mycen\u00e6, Argos, and\nTiryns, in Greece, as well as Etruria and other places in Italy, the early\nresidences of this lettered tribe, abound in relics of this ancient\nmasonry. In all respects, in all points, and in all particulars it\ncorresponds with that of those above-mentioned _low_, stone-roofed,\nfire-receptacles, so common in this island; which must satisfactorily and\nfor ever do away with the doubt as to why such features of similarity\nshould be observed to exist between our antiquities and those of _ancient\nGreece_ and _Rome_; not less perceptible in the circumstance of those\nedificial remains than in the collateral evidences of language and\nmanners.\n\nThe sacred fire, once observed with such religious awe by every class, and\nin every quarter of this island, was imported from Greece into Italy by\nthe same people who had introduced it here. Let me not be supposed to\ninsinuate that the people of the latter country, _modernly considered_,\nadopted the usage from those of the former country, moderns also; no,\nthere was no intercourse between these parties for many years after the\nfoundation of the western capital. Indeed it was not until the time of\nPyrrhus that they knew anything of their respective existences, whereas we\nfind that the vestal fire was instituted by Numa, A.U.C. 41. What I meant\ntherefore to say was, that the same early people, viz. the Pelasgi, who\nhad introduced it into Greece, had, upon their expulsion from Thessaly by\nthe Hellenes, betaken themselves to Latium, afterwards so called, and\nthere disseminated their doctrines not less prosperously than their\ndominion.\n\nNuma was in his day profoundly skilled in all the mysteries of those\nreligious philosophers; and his proffered elevation to the Roman throne\nwas but the merited recompense of his venerable character. His whole reign\nwas accordingly one continued scene of devotion and piety, in which\npre-eminently outshone his regard to Vesta,[93] in whose sanctuary was\npreserved the Palladium, \u201cthe fated pledge of Roman authority,\u201d and which\ntoo, by the way, ever connected as we see it was with the _worship of\nfire_, would seem to make the belief respecting it also to be of Oriental\norigin. This eastern extraction additionally accounts for that dexterous\nState contrivance of client and patron established in the early ages of\nthe Roman government, corresponding to our ancient clanship--both\nevidently borrowed from the same Indian castes.\n\nI now address myself to another obstacle which has been advanced by an\nIrish _lady_, and of the most deserved antiquarian repute, whose classic\nand elaborate treatise on this identical subject, though somewhat\ndifferently moulded, has already won her the applause of that society\nwhose discriminating verdict I now respectfully await. But as my object\nis _truth_, divested as much as possible of worldly considerations, and\nunshackled by systems or literary codes, I conceive that object will be\nmore effectually attained by setting inquiry on foot, than by tamely\nacquiescing in dubious asservations or abiding by verbal ambiguities.\n\nWhat elicited this sentiment was Miss Beaufort\u2019s remark on the enactment\nat Tara, A.D. 79, for the _erection of a palace_ in each of the four\nproportions subtracted by order of Tuathal Teachmar, from each of the four\nprovinces to form the present county of Meath. Her words are as\nfollow:--\u201cTaking the landing of Julius C\u00e6sar in Britain, in the year 55\nbefore Christ, as a fixed point of time, and counting back fifty years\nfrom that, we shall be brought to about one hundred years before the\nChristian era, at which time the introduction of the improvements and\ninnovations of Zoroaster, and that also of fire towers, may, without\nstraining probability, be supposed to have fully taken place. _That it\nwas_ not much earlier may be inferred from the before-mentioned ordinance\nof the year 79 A.D., to increase the number of towers in the different\nprovinces.\u201d\n\nWith great submission I conceive that the _error_ here incurred originated\non the lady\u2019s part, from mistaking as authority the comment in the\n_Statistical Survey_, vol. iii. p. 320, which runs thus:--\u201cIt is quite\nevident from sundry authentic records, that these round towers were\nappropriated to the preservation of the Baal-thinne, or sacred fire of\nBaal: first at the solemn convention at Tara, in the year of Christ 79, in\nthe reign of Tuathal Teachmar, it was enacted, that on the 31st of October\nannually, the sacred fire should be publicly exhibited from the stately\ntower of Tlactga, in Munster, from whence all the other repositories of\nthe Baal-thinne were to be rekindled, in case they were by any accident\nallowed to go out. It was also enacted, that a particular tower should be\nerected for that purpose in each of the other four provinces, Meath being\nthen a distinct province. For this purpose the tax called Scraball, of\nthreepence per head on all adults, was imposed.\u201d\n\nWell, for this is quoted _Psalter of Tara_, by Comerford, p. 51; on\nreferring to which I find the text as thus: \u201cHe (Tuathal) also erected a\nstately palace in each of these proportions, viz. in that of Munster, the\npalace of Tlactga, where the fire of Tlactga was ordained to be kindled on\nthe 31st of October, to summon the priests and augurs to consume the\nsacrifices offered to their gods; and it was also ordained that no other\nfire should be kindled in the kingdom that night, so that the fire to be\nused in the country was to be derived from this fire; for which privilege\nthe people were to pay a scraball, which amounts to threepence every year,\nas _an acknowledgment to the King of Munster_. The second palace was in\nthat of Connaught, where the inhabitants assembled once a year, upon the\n1st of May, to offer sacrifices to the principal deity of the island under\nthe name of Beul, which was called the Convocation of Usneagh; and on\naccount of this meeting the King of Connaught had from every lord of a\nmanor, or chieftain of lands, a horse and arms. The third was at Tailtean,\nin the portion of Ulster, where the inhabitants of the kingdom brought\ntheir children when of age, and treated with one another about their\nmarriage. From this custom the King of Ulster demanded an ounce of silver\nfrom every couple married here. The fourth was the palace of Teamor or\nTara, which originally belonged to the province of Leinster, and where the\nStates of the kingdom met in a parliamentary way.\u201d\n\nI now leave the reader to decide whether the word \u201cpalace\u201d can be well\nused to represent an \u201cecclesiastical tower,\u201d or indeed any tower at all;\nor whether it is not rather a royal residence for the several provincial\nprinces, that is meant to be conveyed; as is evident to the most\nsuperficial, from the closing allusion to the _palace_ of Tara, \u201cwhere the\nStates of the kingdom met in a parliamentary way.\u201d The impost of the\nscraball, I must not omit to observe, has been equally misstated in the\nsurvey; for it was not for the purpose of erecting _any_ structures, but\nas an acknowledgment of homage and a medium of revenue that it was\nenforced, as will appear most clearly on reverting to the original, and\ncomparing it with the other means of revenue, which the other provincial\nkings were entitled to exact. But what gives the complete overthrow to the\ndoctrine which would identify those _palaces_ with columnar edifices, is\nthe fact that there are no vestiges to be found of _Round Towers_ in any,\ncertainly not in all of those four localities specially notified. Wells\nand Donaghmore are the only Round Towers now in the county Meath, and\nthese are not included among the places above designated.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\nTo wind up the matter, steadily and unequivocally I do deny that the Round\nTowers of Ireland were fire receptacles. I go further, and deny that any\nof those eastern round edifices which travellers speak of, were ever\nintended for fire receptacles: that they were all pagan structures--and\ntemples too--consecrated to the most _solemn_ and _engrossing_ objects of\n_human pursuit_, however erroneously that pursuit may have been directed,\nI unhesitatingly affirm. What then, I shall be asked, was their design? To\nthis I beg leave to offer a circumlocutory answer. Squeamishness may be\nshocked, and invidiousness receive a pretext, but, the spirit being pure,\nthe well-regulated mind will always say, \u201cCur nescire, pudens prav\u00e9, quam\ndiscere malo?\u201d[94]\n\nThen be it known that the _Round Towers_ of _Ireland_ were temples\nconstructed by the early Indian colonists of the country, in honour of\nthat _fructifying_ principle of nature, emanating, as was supposed, from\nthe sun, under the denomination of Sol, Ph\u0153bus, Apollo, Abad or Budh, etc.\netc.; and from the moon, under the epithet of Luna, Diana, Juno, Astarte,\nVenus, Babia or Butsee, etc. etc. Astronomy was inseparably interwoven\nwith this planetary religion; while the religion itself was characterised\nby enforcing almost as strict a regard to the body after death, as the\nbody was expected to pay to a Supreme Essence before its mortal\ndissolution. Under this double sense then of _funereal_ or posthumous\nregard, as well as active and living devotion, must I be understood to\nhave used the expression, when previously declaring that our _Sabian\nrotundities_ were erected with the twofold view of religious _culture_ and\nthe _practice_ of that _science_ with which it was so amalgamated.\n\nTo be explicit, I must recall to the reader\u2019s mind the destination which\nthe Brahmins assigned to the Egyptian pyramids, on hearing Wilford\u2019s\ndescription of them--viz. that they were places appropriated to the\nworship of Padma-devi.[95] Before I proceed, however, I must state that I\ndo not intend to make this the basis of what I shall designate my\n_disclosures_. It would be very foolish of _me_, if hoping to dislodge a\n_world_ of long-established prejudice, to use, as my _lever_, a ray shot\ntransversely from a volume which has been tarnished by forgery. I need no\nsuch aid, as the sequel will show; and yet were it requisite, no objection\nwould be valid, as the \u201c_Pundit_\u201d could have had no motive, either of\ninterest or of vanity, such as influenced his _transcriptions_, here to\nmislead his victim. It was the mere utterance of a casual opinion, without\nreference to any deduction. Besides it was not the statement of the knave\nat all, but that of a number of religious men of letters, who all agreed\nin the ascription above laid down. They spoke, no doubt, from some\ntraditionary acquaintance with the use of those tall round buildings which\nso much baffle antiquarians, not more in Ireland than they do in\nHindostan: but the explanation of this their answer will be a happy\ninlet--and as such only do I mean to employ it--to the _illustration_ of\nwhat we have been so long labouring at.\n\nThe word Padma-devi[96] means \u201c_the deity of desire_,\u201d as instrumental in\nthat principle of _universal_ generativeness diffused throughout all\nnature. Do I mean that gross suggestion of carnal concupiscence?--that\nmere propensity of animal appetite which is common to man with the brute\ncreation? No; it became redeemed, if not justified, by the religious\ncomplexion with which it was intertwined, derived, mayhap, originally from\nthat _paradisiacal_ precept which said, \u201cincrease and multiply\u201d; while the\nstrain of metaphor under which it was couched, and the spiritual tendency\nby which the ceremony was inculcated, prevented offence even to the most\nrefined taste, the most susceptible fancy, or the most delicate\nsensibility.\n\nThe love of offspring has ever been a powerful ingredient in man\u2019s\ncomposition. The fair portion of the human species, as every age and\nexperience can prove, have shown themselves not more exempt from the\ncontrol of the same emotions or the influence of the same impulses. It was\nso wisely instituted by the great Regulator of all things, nor is the\nabuse of the principle any argument against its general utility or\nsanctified intent. Search the records of all early States, and you will\nfind the legislator and the priest, instead of opposing a principle so\nuniversally dominant, used their influence, on the contrary, to bring it\nmore into play, and make its exercise subservient to the increase of our\nspecies; the law lent its aid to enforce the theme as national, and\nreligion sanctified it as a moral obligation.\n\nIn India this _fervor_ was particularly encouraged: for \u201cas the Hindoos\ndepend on their children for performing those ceremonies to their names,\nwhich they believe tend to mitigate punishment in a _future state_, they\nconsider the being deprived of them as a severe misfortune and the sign of\nan offended God.\u201d[97] They accordingly had recourse to all the stratagems\nwhich ingenuity could devise to recommend this passion to the inner\nsenses, and dignify its nature by the studied imagery of metaphor and\ngrace. In conformity with this sentiment we are favoured by Sir William\nJones with the copy of a hymn, which they were in the habit of addressing\nto the above-mentioned \u201cPadma-devi,\u201d or \u201cMollium mater s\u00e6va cupidinum,\u201d\nwhich he thus prefaces with her figurative descent:--\n\nIt is Camadeva, that is, the _god_ of desire, the opposite sex he speaks\nof, but the principle is the same.\n\n  \u201cPeor, his other name, when he enticed\n  Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,\n  To do him wanton rites, which cost them sore.\u201d[98]\n\n\u201cAccording to the Hindu mythology, he was the son of Maya, or the general\nattracting power;[99] that he was married to Ritty, or Affection; and that\nhis bosom friend is Vassant, or the Spring: that he is represented as a\nbeautiful youth, sometimes conversing with his mother, or consort, in the\nmidst of his gardens and temples; sometimes riding by moonlight on a\nparrot, and attended by dancing girls, or nymphs, the foremost of whom\nbears his colours, which are a fish on a red ground: that his favourite\nplace of resort is a large tract of country round Agra, and principally\nthe plain of Mathra, where Kreshen also, and the nine Gopia usually spend\nthe night with music and dance: that his bow is of sugar-cane or flowers,\nthe sting of bees, and his five arrows are each painted with an Indian\nblossom of an healing quality.\u201d Tedious and diffuse as has been the\ndissertation already, I cannot resist the inclination of transcribing the\nhymn also.\n\n  \u201cWhat potent god, from Agra\u2019s orient bowers,\n  Floats through the lucid air; whilst living flowers,\n  With sunny twine, the vocal arbours wreathe,\n  And gales enamoured heavenly fragrance breathe?\n\n      Hail, Power unknown! for at thy beck\n      Vales and groves their bosoms deck,\n      And every laughing blossom dresses,\n      With gems of dew, his musky tresses.\n  I feel, I feel thy genial flame divine,\n  And hallow thee, and kiss thy _shrine_.\n\n          Knowest thou not me?--\n      Yes, son of Maya, yes, I know\n      Thy bloomy shafts and cany bow,\n  Thy scaly standard, thy mysterious arms,\n  And all thy pains and all thy charms.\n\n  Almighty Cama! or doth Smara bright,\n  Or proud Aranga, give thee more delight?\n      Whate\u2019er thy seat, whate\u2019er thy name,\n      Seas, earth, and air, thy reign proclaim;\n      All to thee their tribute bring,\n      And hail thee universal king.\n\n  Thy consort mild, Affection, ever true,\n  Graces thy side, her vest of glowing hue,\n  And in her train twelve blooming maids advance,\n  Touch golden strings and knit the mirthful dance.\n      Thy dreadful implements they bear,\n      And wave them in the scented air,\n      Each with pearls her neck adorning,\n      Brighter than the tears of morning.\n  Thy crimson ensign which before them flies,\n  Decks with new stars the sapphire skies.\n\n  God of the flowery shafts and flowery bow,\n  Delight of all above and all below!\n  Thy loved companion, constant from his birth\n  In heaven clep\u2019d Vassant, and gay Spring on earth,\n      Weaves thy green robe, and flaunting bowers,\n      And from the clouds draws balmy showers,\n      He with fresh arrows fills thy quiver,\n      (Sweet the gift, and sweet the giver,)\n  And bids the various warbling throng\n  Burst the pent blossoms with their song.\n\n  He bends the luscious cane, and twists the string,\n  With bees how sweet! but ah, how keen their sting!\n  He with fine flowrets tips thy ruthless darts,\n  Which through five senses pierce enraptured hearts.\n      Strong Champa, rich in od\u2019rous gold,\n      Warm Amer, nursed in heavenly mould,\n      Dry Nagkezer, in silver smiling,\n      Hot Kiticum, our sense beguiling,\n  And last, to kindle fierce the scorching flame,\n  Loveshaft, which gods bright Bela name.\n\n  Can men resist thy power, when Krishen yields,\n  Krishen, who still in Mathra\u2019s holy fields,\n  Tunes harps immortal, and to strains divine,\n  Dances by moonlight with the Gopia nine?\n\n  Oh! thou for ages born, yet ever young,\n  For ages may thy Bramin\u2019s lay be sung;\n  And when thy Lory spreads his emerald wings,\n  To waft thee high above the tower of kings,\n      Whilst o\u2019er thy throne the moon\u2019s pale light\n      Pours her soft radiance through the night,\n      And to each floating cloud discovers\n      The haunts of blest or joyless lovers,\n  Thy milder influence to thy bard impart,\n  To warm, but not consume his heart.\u201d\n\nAmongst the fables that are told to account for the origin of this amorous\ndevotion, Sir William tells us, is the following, viz.:--\n\n\u201cCertain devotees in a remote time had acquired great renown and respect;\nbut the purity of the art was wanting; nor did their motives and secret\nthoughts correspond with their professions and exterior conduct. They\naffected poverty, but were attached to the things of this world, and the\nprinces and nobles were constantly sending them offerings. They seemed to\nsequester themselves from the world; they lived retired from the towns;\nbut their dwellings were commodious, and their women numerous and\nhandsome. But nothing can be hid from the gods, and Sheevah resolved to\nexpose them to shame. He desired Prakeety[100] to accompany him; and\nassumed the appearance of a Pandaram of a graceful form. Prakeety appeared\nas herself a damsel of matchless beauty. She went where the devotees were\nassembled with their disciples, waiting the rising sun to perform their\nablutions[101] and religious ceremonies. As she advanced the refreshing\nbreeze moved her flowing robe, showing the exquisite shape which it seemed\nintended to conceal. With eyes cast down, though sometimes opening with a\ntimid but a tender look, she approached them, and with a low enchanting\nvoice desired to be admitted to the sacrifice. The devotees gazed on her\nwith astonishment. The sun appeared, but the purifications were forgotten;\nthe things of the Poojah[102] lay neglected; nor was any worship thought\nof but that to her. Quitting the gravity of their manners, they gathered\nround her as flies round the lamp at night, attracted by its splendour,\nbut consumed by its flame. They asked from whence she came; whither she\nwas going? \u2018Be not offended with us for approaching thee; forgive us for\nour importunities. But thou art incapable of anger, thou who art made to\nconvey bliss; to thee, who mayest kill by indifference, indignation and\nresentment are unknown. But whoever thou mayest be, whatever motive or\naccident may have brought thee amongst us, admit us into the number of thy\nslaves; let us at least have the comfort to behold thee.\u2019\n\n\u201cHere the words faltered on the lip; the soul seemed ready to take its\nflight; the vow was forgotten, and the policy of years destroyed.\n\n\u201cWhilst the devotees were lost in their passions, and absent from their\nhomes, Sheevah entered their village with a musical instrument in his\nhand, playing and singing like some of those who solicit charity. At the\nsound of his voice the women immediately quitted their occupations; they\nran to see from whom it came. He was beautiful as Krishen on the plains of\nMatra.[103] Some dropped their jewels without turning to look for them;\nothers let fall their garments without perceiving that they discovered\nthose abodes of pleasure which jealousy as well as decency has ordered to\nbe concealed. All pressed forward with their offerings; all wished to\nspeak; all wished to be taken notice of; and bringing flowers and\nscattering them before him, said, \u2018Askest thou alms! thou who art made to\ngovern hearts! Thou whose countenance is fresh as the morning! whose voice\nis the voice of pleasure; and thy breath like that of Vassant[104] in the\nopening rose! Stay with us and we will serve thee; nor will we trouble thy\nrepose, but only be jealous how to please thee.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Pandaram continued to play, and sung the loves of Kama,[105] of\nKrishen, and the Gopia, and smiling the gentle smiles of fond desire, he\nled them to a neighbouring grove that was consecrated to pleasure and\nretirement. Sour began to gild the western mountains, nor were they\noffended at the retiring day.\n\n\u201cBut the desire of repose succeeds the waste of pleasure. Sleep closed the\neyes and lulled the senses. In the morning the Pandaram was gone. When\nthey awoke they looked round with astonishment, and again cast their eyes\non the ground. Some directed their looks to those who had been formerly\nremarked for their scrupulous manners, but their faces were covered with\ntheir veils. After sitting a while in silence, they arose, and went back\nto their houses with slow and troubled steps. The devotees returned about\nthe same time from their wanderings after Prakeety. The days that followed\nwere days of embarrassment and shame. If the women had failed in their\nmodesty, the devotees had broken their vows. They were vexed at their\nweakness; they were sorry for what they had done; yet the tender sigh\nsometimes broke forth, and the eye often turned to where the men first saw\nthe maid, the women the Pandaram.\n\n\u201cBut the people began to perceive that what the devotees foretold came\nnot to pass. Their disciples in consequence neglected to attend them, and\nthe offerings from the princes and the nobles became less frequent than\nbefore. They then performed various penances; they sought for secret\nplaces among the woods unfrequented by man; and having at last shut their\neyes from the things of this world, retired within themselves in deep\nmeditation, that Sheevah was the author of their misfortunes. Their\nunderstanding being imperfect, instead of bowing the head with humility\nthey were inflamed with anger; instead of contrition for their hypocrisy,\nthey sought for vengeance. They performed new sacrifices and incantations,\nwhich were only allowed to have effect in the end to show the extreme\nfolly of man in not submitting to the will of Heaven.\n\n\u201cTheir incantations produced a tiger, whose mouth was like a cavern, and\nhis voice like thunder among the mountains. They sent him against Sheevah,\nwho, with Prakeety, was amusing himself in the vale. He smiled at their\nweakness, and killing the tiger at one blow with his club, he covered\nhimself with his skin. Seeing themselves frustrated in this attempt, the\ndevotees had recourse to another, and sent serpents against him of the\nmost deadly kind; but on approaching him they became harmless, and he\ntwisted them round his neck. They then sent their curses and imprecations\nagainst him, but they all recoiled upon themselves. Not yet disheartened\nby all these disappointments, they collected all their prayers, their\npenances, their charities, and other good works, the most acceptable of\nall sacrifices; and demanding in return only vengeance against Sheevah,\nthey sent a consuming fire to destroy his genital parts. Sheevah,\nincensed at this attempt, turned the fire with indignation against the\nhuman race; and mankind would have been soon destroyed, had not Vishnou,\nalarmed at the danger, implored him to suspend his wrath. At his\nentreaties Sheevah relented. But it was ordained that in his temples those\n_parts_ should be _worshipped_ which the false devotees had impiously\nattempted to destroy.\u201d[106]\n\n[Illustration: CLONDALKIN.]\n\nBut what was the form under which this _deity_ was recognised? \u201cLook on\nthis picture and on that;\u201d and the answer presents itself.[107] The\neastern votaries, suiting the action to the idea, and that their vivid\nimagination might be still more enlivened by the very _form_ of the\n_temple_ in which they addressed their vows, actually constructed its\narchitecture after the model of the _membrum virile_, which, obscenity\napart, is the divinely-formed and indispensable medium selected by God\nHimself for human propagation and sexual prolificacy.\n\nThis was the Phallus, of which we read in Lucian,[108] as existing in\nSyria of such extraordinary height, and which, not less than the Egyptian\nPyramids, has heretofore puzzled antiquaries,--little dreaming that it was\nthe counterpart of our Round Towers, and that both were the prototypes of\nthe two \u201c_Pillars_\u201d which Hiram wrought before the temple of Solomon.\n\nAstarte was the divinity with whose worship it was thus associated, and by\nthat being understood the moon,[109] it was natural to suppose that the\nstudy of the stars would essentially enter into the ceremonial of her\nworship. Another name by which this divinity was recognised, was Rimmon,\nwhich, signifying as it does _pomegranate_, was a very happy emblem of\n_fecundity_, as apples are known to be the most prolific species of fruit.\n\nLingam is the name by which the Indians designated this idol.[110] Those\nwho dedicate themselves to his service, swear to observe inviolable\nchastity. \u201cThey do not, however,\u201d says Craufurd, \u201clike the priests of\nAtys, deprive themselves of the means of breaking their vows; but were it\ndiscovered that they had in any way departed from them, the punishment is\ndeath. They go naked; but being considered as sanctified persons, the\nwomen approach them without scruple, nor is it thought that their modesty\nshould be offended by it. Husbands whose wives are barren solicit them to\ncome to their houses, or send their wives to worship Lingam at the\ntemples; and it is supposed that _the ceremonies_ on this occasion, if\nperformed with the proper zeal, are usually productive of the desired\neffect.\u201d[111]\n\nSuch was the origin and design of the most _ancient_ Indian pagodas, which\nhad no earthly connection with fire or fire-worshippers, as generally\nimagined. And that such, also, was the use and origin of the Irish pagodas\nis manifest from the name by which they are critically and accurately\ndesignated, viz. _Budh_, which, in the Irish language, signifies not only\nthe _Sun_, as the source of _generative vegetation_, but also as the _male\norgan of procreative generativeness_, consecrated, according to their\nfoolish ideas, to Baal-_Phearagh_ or Deus-_coitionis_, by and by to be\nelucidated. This thoroughly explains the word \u201cCathoir-ghall,\u201d or \u201ctemple\nof _delight_,\u201d already mentioned as appropriated to one of those edifices,\nand is still further confirmed by the name of \u201cTeaumpal na greine,\u201d or\n\u201ctemple of the sun,\u201d by which another of them is called; while the\nornament that has been known to exist on the top of many of them\nrepresents the crescent of Sheevah, the matrimonial deity of the Indians,\nagreeably to what the Heetopades states, viz. \u201cmay he on whose diadem is a\ncrescent cause prosperity to the people of the earth.\u201d\n\nBut you will say that my designating these structures by the name of\n_Budh_ is a _gratuitous assumption_, for which I have no authority other\nthan what _imagination_ may afford me; and that, therefore, however\nstriking may be _appearances_, you will withhold your conviction until you\nhear my proofs. Sir, I advance nothing that I cannot support by arguments,\nand should not value your adherence were it not earned by truth. This is\ntoo important an investigation to allow _fancy_ any share therein. It is\nnot the mere settlement of an antiquarian dispute of _individual_ interest\nor _isolated_ locality that is involved in its adjustment,--no, its\nbearings are as comprehensive as its interest should be universal; _the\nopinions of mankind to a greater extent than you suppose will be affected\nby its determination_; and I should despise myself if, by any silly effort\nof ingenuity, I should attempt to lead your reason captive, or pander to\nyour credulity, rather than storm your judgment.\n\nThis being premised, I shall not condescend, here or elsewhere, to\napologise for the freedom with which I shall express myself in the\nprosecution of my ideas. The spirit that breathes over the face of the\nwork will protect me from the venom of ungenerous imputation. Freedom is\nindispensable to the just development of the subject. Nor do I dread any\nbad results can accrue from such a course, knowing that it is the\n_vicious_ alone who can extract poison from my page,--and they could do it\nas well in a museum or picture gallery,--while the _virtuous_ will peruse\nit in the purity of their own conceptions, and if they rise not improved,\nthey will, at least, not deteriorated.\n\nMy authority for assigning to the Round Towers the above designation is\nnothing less than those annals before adduced.[112] Where is it _there_?\nyou reply. I rejoin in _Fidh-Nemphed_; which, as it has heretofore puzzled\nall the world to develop, I shall unfold to the reader with an almost\nmiraculous result. _Fidh_, then--as the _Ulster Annals_, or _Fiadh_, as\nthose of the Four Masters spell it--is the plural of _Budh_, _i.e._\nLingam; the initial _F_ of the former being only the aspirate of the\ninitial _B_ of the latter, and commutable with it[113]; and _Nemphed_ is\nan adjective, signifying _divine_ or _consecrated_, from _Nemph_, the\nheavens: so that _Fidh-Nemphed_ taken together will import the\n_Consecrated Lingams_, or the _Budhist Consecrations_.\n\nCelestial INDEXES, cries O\u2019Connor; following which _term_--but with a very\ndifferent acceptation--the reader must be aware how that, in the early\npart of our journey, I ascribed to this _enigma_ an astronomical\nexposition; but herein I was supported not only by expediency but by\nverity, having, all along, not only connected _Solar_ worship, and its\nconcomitant survey of the stars--which is _Sabianism_--with _Phallic_\nworship,--beginning with the former in order to prepare the way for the\nlatter,--but shall proceed in detail until I establish their identity.\n\nThe Egyptian history, then, of the origin of this deification is what will\nput this question beyond the possibility of denial, viz. that \u201cIsis having\nrecovered the mangled pieces of her husband\u2019s body, the _genitals\nexcepted_, which the murderers had thrown into the sea, resolving to\nrender him all the honour which his humanity had merited, got made as many\nwaxen statues as there were mangled pieces of his body. Each statue\ncontained a piece of the flesh of the dead monarch. And Isis, after she\nhad summoned in her presence, one by one, the priests of all the different\ndeities in her dominions, gave them each a statue, intimating that, in so\ndoing, she had preferred them to all the other communities of Egypt; and\nshe bound them by a solemn oath that they would keep secret that mark of\nher favour, and endeavour to prove their sense of it by establishing a\nform of worship, and paying divine honours to their prince. But that\n_part_ of the body of Osiris which had not been discovered, was treated\nwith more _particular_ attention by Isis, and she ordered that _it_ should\nreceive _honours more solemn_, and at the same time _more mysterious_,\nthan the other members.\u201d[114]\n\nNow as Isis[115] and Osiris--two deities, by the way, which comprehended\nall nature and all the gods of the ancients--only personated the _Sun_ and\n_Moon_, the sources of nutrition and vegetative heat, it is very easy to\nremove the veil of this affectionate mythology, and see that it means\nnothing more than the mutual dependence and attraction of the sexes upon,\nand to, each other; while the fact of the Egyptian \u201c_Osiris_,\u201d[116] which\nin _their_ language signifies the _Sun_, and the Irish \u201c_Budh_,\u201d which in\n_our language_ signifies the same planet, being _both_ represented by the\n_same emblematic sign_;[117] and the _name_ of that sign in both languages\nsignifying as well _sign_ as _thing_ signified, gives a stamp to my proof\nwhich I defy _ingenuity_ to overthrow.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n\nWhat is it, then, that we see here elucidated? Just conceive. For the last\nthree thousand years and more, the learning of the world has been employed\nto ascertain the _origin_ of the doctrine of Budhism. The savants of\nFrance, the indefatigable inquirers of Germany, the affected pedants of\nGreece and Rome, and the pure and profound philosophers of ancient India\nand Egypt, have severally and ineffectually puzzled themselves to dive\ninto the secrets of that mystic religion.[118]\n\n\u201cThe conflicting opinions,\u201d says Coleman, \u201cwhich have prevailed among the\nmost intelligent Oriental writers, respecting the origin and antiquity of\nthis and the Jaina sects, and the little historical light that has yet\nbeen afforded to disperse the darkness that ages have spread over them,\nleave us, at the end of many learned disquisitions, involved in almost as\nmany doubts as when we commenced upon them.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere was, then,\u201d adds Gentil, \u201cin those parts of India, and principally\non the coast of Choromandel and Ceylon, a sort of worship the precepts of\nwhich we are quite unacquainted with. The god Baouth, of whom at present\nthey know no more in India than the name, was the object of this worship;\nbut it is now _totally_ abolished, except that there may possibly yet be\nfound some families of Indians who have remained faithful to Baouth, and\ndo not acknowledge the religion of the Brahmins, and who are on that\naccount separated from and despised by the other castes.... I made various\ninquiries concerning this singular figure, and the Zamulians one and all\nassured me that this was the god Baouth, who was now no longer regarded,\nfor that his worship and his festivals had been abolished ever since the\nBrahmins had made themselves masters of the people\u2019s faith.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe worship of Budha,\u201d says Heeren, \u201cconcerning the rise and progress of\nwhich we at present know so little, still flourishes in Ceylon.\u201d Again,\n\u201cAll that we know with certainty of Budha is, that he was the founder of a\nsect which must formerly have prevailed over a considerable part of India,\nbut whose tenets and forms of worship were in direct opposition to those\nof the Brahmins, and engendered a deadly hate between the two parties,\nwhich terminated in the expulsion of the Budhists from the country.\u201d[119]\n\n\u201cThe real time,\u201d say the _Asiat. Res._ viii. p. 505, \u201cat which Budha\npropagated the doctrines ascribed to him, is a desideratum which the\nlearned knowledge and indefatigable research of Sir W. Jones have still\nleft to be satisfactorily ascertained.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf the Budhaic religion,\u201d says the _Westminster Review_ of January 1830,\n\u201creally arrived at predominance in India, its _rise_ in the first place,\nand more especially its _extirpation_, are not merely events of stupendous\n_magnitude_, but of impenetrable mystery.\u201d\n\nIt will soon appear, that however _impenetrable_ heretofore, it is so no\nlonger. Indeed, a great deal of the principle of their _faith_ has been at\nall times understood, but under different associations. It was that which\nJob alluded to when he said, \u201cIf I gazed upon Orus (the sun) when he was\nshining, or upon J\u00e4r\u00eacha (the moon) when rising in her glory; and my heart\nwent secretly after them, and my hand kissed my mouth (in worship), I\nshould have denied the God that is above.\u201d\n\nSo far all have arrived at the discovery of this creed, and accordingly,\nif you look into any encyclopedia or depository of science for a\ndefinition of the word \u201cBudhism,\u201d you will be told that \u201cit is the\ndoctrine of solar worship as taught by Budha.\u201d There never was such a\nperson as Budha--I mean at the outset of the religion, when it first shot\ninto life, and that was almost as early as the creation of man. In later\ntimes, however, several enthusiasts assumed the name, and personified in\nthemselves the faith they represented. But the origin of the religion was\nan _abstract thought_, which while Creuzer allows, yet he must acknowledge\nhis ignorance of what that _thought_ was.\n\nThe sun and moon were the great objects of religious veneration to fallen\nman in the ancient world. Each country assumed a suitable form to their\npropensities and peculiarities; but all agreed in centering the essence of\ntheir zeal upon those resplendent orbs to whom they were indebted for so\nmany common benefits. Those mysteries of faith to which the \u201c_initiated_\u201d\nalone had access, and which were disguised in the habiliments of symbols\nand of veils, were neither more nor less than representative forms of\n_generation_ and _production_. These were the _theme_ which made the\ncanopy of the firmament to ring with their songs; and these the _spring_\nwhich gave vigour and elasticity to those graceful displays which, under\nthe name of _dances_, typified the circular and semicircular rotations of\nthose bright objects of their regard.[120]\n\nThe Eleusinian[121] rites themselves were essentially of this kind; for\nthough the benefits of _agriculture_ were said to be chiefly there\ncommemorated, this after all resolves itself into the above: for as the\nprocess of the earth\u2019s bearing is similar to that of our own species, and\nindeed of all creatures that rest upon her,--no seed bringing forth fruit\nuntil, as the apostle has affirmed,[122] it first dies,--the\nrepresentation of this miracle of nature\u2019s vicissitudes led the mind to\nthe contemplation of general fecundity. And hence the _culture_ of the\nground, and the _propagation_ of human beings, being both viewed in the\nsame light, and sometimes even named by the same epithet, viz. _tillage_,\nwere inculcated no less as beneficial exercises than as religious\nordinances. Did a doubt remain as to the accuracy of this connection\nbetween the worship of the ancients and their sexual correspondence, it\nwould be more than removed by attending to the import of the terms by\nwhich they mystified those celebrations, and which, with the sanctity\nattached to the _parts_ themselves, will come consecutively under our\nreview. One of them, however, is too apposite to be omitted here, and that\nis the term by which they designated a certain ceremony still practised on\nthe coast of Guinea, and which neither the _blandishments_ of _artifice_\nnor the _terrors_ of _menace_ could ever prevail upon them to divulge.\nThis ceremony they call _Belli-Paaro_. The meaning they assign to it is\n_regeneration_, or the act of reviving from _death_ to a new state of\nexistence; and when we see that the name itself is but an inflection of\nthe _Baal-Peor_ of the Scriptures, the _Baal-Phearagh_ of our forefathers,\nand the _Copulative deity_ of the amative universe, it will not be hard to\ndive into its character, though so shrouded in types.\n\nBut the Budhists, not content with this ordinary veneration, or with\npaying homage in _secret_ to that symbol of production which all other\nclasses of idolators equally, though privately, worshipped,--I mean the\nLingam,--thought they could never carry their zeal sufficiently far,\nunless they erected it into an _idol_ of more than colossal\nmagnitude--_and those idols were the Round Towers_. Hence the name\n_Budhism_, which I thus define, viz. _that species of idolatry which\nworshipped Budh_ (_i.e._ the Lingam), _as the emblem_ of _Budh_ (_i.e._\nthe Sun)--Budh signifying, indiscriminately, Sun and Lingam.\n\nSuch was the whole substance of this philosophical creed, which was\nnot--as may have been imagined--a _ritual of sensuality_, but a _manual of\ndevotion_, as simple in its exercise as it was pious in its intent--a\nSabian veneration and a symbolical gratitude. I shall now give a summary\nof their moral code, couched in the following Pentalogue, as presented by\nZaradobeira, chief Rahan at Ava, to a Catholic bishop, who expressed a\nwish some years ago to be favoured with a brief outline of their tenets;\nit is this:--\n\n1. Thou shalt not kill any animal--from the meanest insect up to man\nhimself.\n\n2. Thou shalt not steal.\n\n3. Thou shalt not commit adultery.\n\n4. Thou shalt not tell anything false.\n\n5. Thou shalt not drink any intoxicating liquor.\n\nThe extension of this first commandment from the crime of homicide to the\ndeprivation of life of any breathing existence, arose from their doctrine\nof the transmigration of souls, which they believed should continue ever\nin action, and, after release from one tenement of earthly configuration,\nenter into some other of a different species and order.\n\nIn this incessant alternation--which was to be one of _ascent_ or of\n_descent_, according to the merits of the _body_, which the spirit had\n_last_ animated, and which was all considered as a sort of lustral\ncrucible, for the refining of the vital spark against its reunion with the\nGodhead, whence it had originally derived--it is manifest that such\ntenderness for the entire animal creation arose from the apprehension of\nslaying some relation in that disguise.--Or, did we ascribe it to no\nhigher motive than a sympathy with fellow-creatures, which, if not equally\nresponsible, are at all events susceptible of anguish and of pain, this in\nitself should teach us to suppress all ebullitions of irreverent sarcasm,\nand, if we yield not our acquiescence, to extend to it at least our\ncommiseration.\n\n  \u201cPain not the ant that drags the grain along the ground,\n  It has life, and life is sweet and delightful to all to whom it\n        belongs.\u201d[123]\n\nThe _good works_ which they were _additionally_ enjoined to perform were\nclassified under the two heads of _Dana_ and _Bavana_. By \u201c_Dana_\u201d was\nmeant the _giving of alms_, and hence the whole fraternity were called\n_Danaans_ or _Almoners_.[124] By \u201c_Bavana_\u201d was understood the\n_thoughtfully pronouncing_ those three words, _Anuzza_, _Docha_, and\n_Anatta_: of which the first implies our liability to _vicissitude_; the\nsecond to _misfortune_, and the third our _inability_ to exempt ourselves\nfrom either.[125]\n\nThe exposition of the terms _Tuath_ and _de_, as prefixes to _Danaans_,\nforming with it the compound Tuath-de-danaan, I shall reserve for a more\nbefitting place. Meantime I hasten to redeem my \u201cpledge\u201d as to the\nelucidation of the import of the name _Hibernian_.\n\nIn the wide range of literary disquisition there is no one topic which has\nso engrossed the investigation of studious individuals as the origin of\nthe word _Hibernia_. The great Bochart, the uncertain Vallancy, the\nspiteful Macpherson, the pompous O\u2019Flaherty, and the \u201cantiquary of\nantiquaries,\u201d Camden himself,--with a thousand others unworthy of\nrecognition,--have been all consecutively shipwrecked upon its\nunapproachable sand-banks. But the most miserable failure of all is that\nof a namesake of my own, _the author of a dictionary upon the language of\nhis country_, who, in his mad zeal for an outlandish conceit, foists into\nhis book a term with which our language owns no kindred, and then builds\nupon that a superstructure which \u201cwould make even the angels weep.\u201d\n\nThis gentleman would fain make out[126] that, because those islands have\nbeen denominated the _Cassiterides_, or _Tin Reservoirs_, therefore Eirin,\nour own one of them, must have been so called as an _Iron Store_!\nforgetting that the genius of our vocabulary has never had a term whereby\nto express that _metal_ at all,--that by which we now designate it,\nnamely, _iarun_, being only a modern _coinage_ from the English word,--as\nthe general voice of antiquity speaks trumpet-tongued on the point, and\nthe fragments of our Brehon laws give it insuperable confirmation, that\n_iron_ was the last metal which mankind has turned to profit, or even\nknown to exist, while with us it was an exotic until a very recent\nperiod.[127]\n\nBut admitting that _Eirin_ or _Erin_ did signify _the Land of Iron_, then\nits Greek formation _Ierne_ must convey the same idea, and so must\n_Hibernia_, their Latin inflection; and it would afford me a considerable\nportion of merriment to behold any champion for this _iron-cased_ knight\nbuckle on his _etymological_ armour, and analyse these two last terms so\nas to make them indicate the _Land of Iron_.\n\nYet pitiable as this appears, for the author of an Irish dictionary, its\ningenuity, at all events, must screen it from contempt. But how will the\npublic estimate the brightness of that man\u2019s intellect, who would state\nthat _Erin_ is but a _metempsychosis_ of the word _Green_? Will it be\nbelieved that such is the sober utterance of the author of the _Decline\nand Fall of the Roman Empire_? But lest I should misrepresent, I shall let\nhim speak for himself, viz.: \u201cIreland, from its luxuriant vegetation,\nobtained the epithet _Green_, and has preserved, with a slight alteration,\nthe name _Erin_.\u201d[128]\n\nSo that a country which piques itself on its _Irishry_, has remained ever\nwithout a cognomen, until the _English_ language has been _matured_; and\nthen, in compliment to her sister, Britain, has borrowed an adjective from\nher _rainbow_, which, however, she had not the good manners to preserve\npure, but allowed to degenerate so far, that the sagacity of a conjurer\ncould not trace any resemblance between this _vitiation_ and the _original\nepithet_ which pourtrayed her _verdure_!\n\nHave we not here the solution of that general disbelief which attaches to\nproofs deduced from etymology? It is so in all professions, when quacks\nbreak into the fold, and usurp the office of the legitimate practitioner.\nEtymology, in itself, is an exalted _science_, and an _unerring standard_;\nbut the mountebanks that have intermeddled with her holy tools, and\ndisjointed the symmetry of her fair proportions, knowing no more of the\n_foundation_ of _languages_ than they do of the _origin_ of _spirit_, have\nsunk it into a _pandemonium_ of _hackling_, _mangling_, and _laceration_,\nat which \u201cthe satirist,\u201d perhaps, may laugh, but \u201cthe philosopher,\u201d who\nhas any regard for the right thinking of society, and the implanting in\nthe tender mind a correct idea of words, at a moment when impressions are\nso wrought as to be _ineffaceable_, will feel differently on the subject;\nand, if he cannot _reform_, do all that he can to _expose_ it!\n\nHow opposite has been the conduct of the learned Abb\u00e9 MacGeoghegan as to\nthe origin of this abstruse word! After reviewing in his able work[129]\nthe opinions offered by the several persons who wrote before him upon the\nquestion, and none of them giving him satisfaction, he freely\nacknowledges, when unable to supply the deficiency, that \u201cthe derivation\nof this name is unknown.\u201d He was right; but the spell is at last broken.\n\nAs a sequel to this avowal, I must be allowed to quote at full length the\nextract from Avienus,[130] which has been already referred to--\n\n  \u201cAst hinc, duobus in _Sacram_--sic _Insulam_\n  Dixere _prisci_--solibus cursus rati est;\n  H\u00e6c inter undas multum cespitem jacit;\n  Eamque lat\u00e8 gens _Hibernorum_ colit,\n  Propinqua rursus insula Albionum patet,\u201d--\n\nthat is, two days\u2019 sail will take you thence (from the Sorlings) to the\n_Sacred Island_; as so denominated by the _men of old_. A rich gleby soil\ndistinguishes this favourite of the waters; and the race of the\n_Hibernians_ cultivate it in its wide extent. Close by, again, is situated\nthe isle of the Albiones.\n\nWithout dwelling upon the importance which he attaches to this \u201cSacred\nIsland,\u201d while he disposes of England in one single line, I ask any person\nat all conversant with letters, whether it was as a vernacular epithet, or\nnot rather in compliance with his _hexameters_ and the rules of metrical\nversification, which rendered inconvenient the exhibition of the _name\nitself_ that the poet paraphrased its meaning, and gave _insula sacra_ as\nits equivalent?\n\nIs not the country inhabited by the Gauls called Gallia; that occupied by\nthe Britons, Britannia; that possessed by the Indians, India; that peopled\nby the Germans, Germania; and that tenanted by the Arcadians, Arcadia?\nConsequently, the land inhabited by the people styled _Hibernians_ must,\nby universal analogy, be denominated _Hibernia_. And if this signifies\n\u201cSacred Island,\u201d of course \u201cHibernian\u201d must mean \u201can inhabitant of the\nSacred Island.\u201d\n\nAvienus wrote about the three hundredth year of the Christian era, and\ncites the authorities whence he derived his information to the following\npurpose, viz.:--\n\n\u201cHimilco, the Ph\u0153nician, has recorded that he has himself traversed the\nocean, and with his own eyes and senses verified those facts. From the\n_remote_ annals of the Ph\u0153nicians I copy the same, and present them to you\nas handed down from antiquity.\u201d\n\nHimilco, be it remarked, flourished six hundred years before the name of\nChristianity was mentioned in the world; and when his acquaintance with\nthis isle, and that of his countrymen in general, is thus irrefutably\npremised, we shall be the more ready to do justice to that observation\nmade by Tacitus, when, in his _Life of Agricola_, talking of Ireland\nrelatively to England, he affirmed that \u201cher coasts and harbours were\nbetter known, through commerce and mercantile negotiation,\u201d than those of\nthe latter country.[131]\n\nWhy do I introduce this notice here? To show that it was not to the Latins\nAvienus was indebted for his _insight_ into that term, which we thus\npursue. The Romans knew nothing even of the _situation_ of the place that\nbore it, until their avarice and their rapacity brought their eagles to\nBritain; and, after effecting the subjugation of that heroic island, it is\nno small incentive to our vanity to see their historian constrained to\nconfess that the exhibition of a similar project against the liberties of\nIreland was more with a view to overawe, than from any hopes of\nsucceeding;[132] while the ignorance which he evinces in another clause of\nthat very sentence, whence the above extract has been quoted,--placing\nIreland _midway_ between Spain and England,--is proof incontrovertible of\nthe position which has been assumed.\n\nBut it is to me immaterial whether Avienus was aware or otherwise that\n\u201cHibernia\u201d and \u201cSacred Island\u201d were convertible and synonymous. It is not\nby his authority that I mean to establish the fact; for even admitting his\ncognisance of the identity of these two terms, he must yet of _necessity_\nbe unacquainted with the _root_ whence they _both_ had sprung; and,\naccordingly, I have only put him here in the foreground--as has been the\nplan all through--\u201cto break the ice,\u201d as it were, for the exordium of the\npromised _d\u00e9nouement_.\n\n_Iran_, then, and _Irin_, or, as more correctly spelled, _Eirean_ and\n_Eirin_, with an _e_ prefixed to each of the other vowels, as well initial\nas intermediate, is the characteristic denomination which all our ancient\n_manuscripts_ affix to this country. There is no exception to this\nadmitted rule. From the romance to the annal, the observation holds good;\nit is an _inalienable_ landmark, and of _inviolable_ unanimity.\n\nDionysius of Sicily, who wrote about fifty years before the _Advent_, and\nwho cannot be suspected of much partiality towards our forefathers, calls\nthe land they inhabited by the name of _Irin_.[133] Nor will the\ncircumstance of his applying to it in another place, the variation _Iris_,\ndetract from this fact; as it is evident that he only manufactured this\nlatter, having occasion to use a nominative case which he thought that\n_Irin_ would not well represent, and so, with the lubricity of a Greek,\never sacrificing sense to sound,[134] he gave birth to a conception which\n_strangled_ the original.[135]\n\nIn the _Life of Gildas_, an early and eminent English ecclesiastic, we\nfind it called _Iren_, when the biographer, talking of the proficiency\nmade by his subject in literary pursuits, says that he betook himself to\n_Ireland_, which he designates as above, in order to ascertain, by\ncommunion with kindred teachers, the very utmost recesses of theology and\nphilosophy.[136]\n\nOrdericus Vitalis, in his _Ecclesiastical History_,[137] having occasion\nto mention the _Irish_, calls them by the name of _Irenses_, equivalent to\n_Iranians_, that is _inhabitants_ of _Iran_, _Iren_, or _Irin_, whichever\nof them you happen to prefer. And as these are now established as the\n_basis_ of our general search, I shall address myself without further\ndigression to their syllabic analysis.\n\nTo do this the more effectually, and at the same time to comprise within\none dissertation what otherwise might encroach upon two, it is to be\nnoticed that the country known in the present day as _Persia_, and whither\nour labours will be directed at no distant hour, was by its _primitive_\ninhabitants called _Iran_ also, and spelled as ours, with an initial _E_.\nThe prefixing of this letter, in both instances of its occurrence, whether\nwe regard the _Eastern_ or the _Western_ hemisphere, was neither the\nresult of chance, nor intended as an operative in the import of the term.\nIt was a mere _dialectal_ distinction, appertaining to the court-language\nof the dynasty of the times, and what is astoundingly miraculous, retains\nthe same appellation, with literal precision, unimpaired, unadulterated,\nin both countries, up to the moment in which I write.\n\n_Palahvi_[138] is the appellation of this courtly dialect in _Persia_, and\n_Palahver_ is the epithet assigned to it in _Ireland_; and such is the\nsoftness and mellifluence of its enchanting tones, and its energy also,\nthat to soothe care, to excite sensibility, or to stimulate heroism, it\nmay properly be designated as \u201cthe language of the gods.\u201d\n\nThus we see that Ireland and Persia were both called _Iran_; that both\nequally admitted of the change of this name to _Eiran_; and that the\n_style_ of this variation was similarly characterised in both. How, then,\nwill the _empyrics_ of etymology recover their confusion: they who would\npersuade us that Ireland was so denominated from _Iar_, the\n_West_--unless, indeed, they can substitute _East_ for _West_, and show\nthat Persia was denominated from _Iar_ also.[139] Entangled in this\ndilemma, the amiable old General Vallancy, without intimating, however,\nthat _it_ was what extorted his remark,--after rigidly maintaining through\na series of volumes, that the word had its origin in the above exploded\n_Western_ Will o\u2019 the Wisp,--exclaims, in a sentiment of unconscious\nself-conviction, that \u201cnothing more can be said of this derivation than\nthat the name was common to that part of the globe whence they (who\nimported it) originally came.\u201d[140]\n\nArrived, then, at length, at the _fountain-head_ of our inquiry, how shall\nwe account for it in \u201cthat part of the globe whence we originally came\u201d? I\nhave seen but two efforts to develop the word, as applied to that\nquarter: one by Professor Heeren, of the G\u00f6ttingen University; the other\nby \u201ca learned priest of the Parsees,\u201d as recorded by Sir John Malcolm, the\nlate lamented author of a history of the place itself. And as the former\nof these is rather _humorous_, and as the latter contains in it a small\n_ingredient of truth_, it is worth while to parade them in the _tail_ of\nour inspection.\n\n\u201cAnciently,\u201d says the professor, \u201cthey were called by the Orientals\nthemselves by the common term of _Iran_, and the inhabitants, inasmuch as\nthey possessed _fixed_ habitations and laws, were styled _Iranians_, in\nopposition to the _Turanians_, or _wandering_ hordes of Central\nAsia.\u201d[141]\n\nI wonder did the German _historian_ take his cue from the conjecture of\nthe Irish _lexicographer_? It is literally marvellous if he did not; for,\nby a most unaccountable coincidence, while tracing the foundation of a\nname, descriptive of two localities at opposite points of this mundane\nball, one boldly asserts, and the other more than insinuates, that its\nroot is to be found in one and the same _English_ word!--and this, too,\nwhen those countries were blazing in glory, before three words of the\nEnglish language were broken into train!\n\nA difference, however, breaks out amongst those partners, which seems to\nsever the prospects of their _metallic_ union. It is, that though each\nwould make _iron_ to be the substratum of their respective hobbies, yet\nwould _my namesake_ have his so called as _abounding_ therein; whereas,\nthe _professor_, who betrays a respectable insight into geology, and\nfearing that the womb of _Persia_ could not conceive so hard an ore,\nwishes us at once to believe that it acquired its _ancient_ epithet from\nthe _fixedness_ of that metal; and thus would one _ex abundanti\u00e2_, and the\nother _ex similitudine_, have the common name of _Iran_ for Ireland and\nfor Persia be derived from an _English_ word, which was not concocted for\nmany centuries after the _decay_ of those two regions, when the very metal\nit represented first grew into use![142]\n\n\u201cMoullah Feroze, an excellent Palahvi scholar, tells me,\u201d says Sir John\nMalcolm, \u201cthat _Iran_ is the plural of _Eir_, and means _the country of\nbelievers_.\u201d And again, when he had occasion to consult his oracle, he\nstates the answer as follows:--\n\n\u201cI gave this inscription[143] to Moullah Feroze, a learned priest of the\nParsees, at Bombay, and he assured me that the translation of De Sacy was\ncorrect. Feroze explained the word _An-Iran_ to mean _unbelievers_. _Eer_,\nhe informed me, was a Pehlivi word, which signified _believer_; _Eeran_\nwas its plural: in Pehlivi, the _a_ or _an_ prefixed is a privative, as in\nGreek or Sanscrit; and consequently, _An-Eeran_ meant _unbelievers_. The\nking of _Eeran_ and _An-Eeran_ he interpreted to mean king of _believers_\nand _unbelievers_; _of_ Persia and other nations. It was, he said, a title\nlike king of the world. This however,\u201d adds Sir John, of himself, \u201cis like\nall _conjectures_ founded on etymology, very uncertain.\u201d\n\nIt was natural enough that Sir John should express himself slightingly as\nto a mode of proof, the principle of which he must have seen violated in\nso many instances; and, independently of this, it is an infirmity in human\nnature to affect disregard for any knowledge which we do not ourselves\nunderstand. I do not mean, however, to vindicate Feroze\u2019s interpretation;\non the contrary, I purpose to show that it is not only _imperfect_, but\n_incorrect_; yet while doing so, I am bound to acknowledge, that, if he\nhas not hit off the whole truth, he has a part of it; and even _this_ is\nsuch a treat, in the wilderness through which we have been groping for\nsome time back, that I welcome it as an _oasis_, and offer him my thanks\nthus beforehand.\n\nTo prove however, that he is in error, I need but confine myself to the\nunravelling of his own words. At first he affirms that _Eeran_ is the\nplural of _Eer_, and means the _country of believers_; if so, the singular\nmust mean _the country of a believer_; but he tells us afterwards, that\n_Eer_ signifies _a believer_ alone, consequently _Eeran_ must _believers_\nalone, without any consideration of the word _country_. And the same\ninconsistency, which manifests itself here, applies with equal strictness\nto _An-Eiran_ also.\n\nShould these papers ever reach the observance of this distinguished\nforeigner, whom I appreciate even for his _approximation_ to the precincts\nof the _thought_, they will, I doubt not, readily disabuse him of a\n_radical_ misconception. _Eeran_ is not a _plural_ at all, but a\n_compound_ word: its constituents being _Eer_ and _An_,[144] of which the\nformer signifies _Sacred_ and the latter a _Territory_. So that the united\nimport will be the _Sacred Territory_; and _An-Eeran_, of course, is but\nits negative.\n\nThis exposition I gain from the Irish language, which I take to be the\nprimitive Iranian or Persic language. By it I am furthermore enabled to\ninform the _German_ \u201cprofessor\u201d that _Turan_, though now inhabited by\n\u201cNomad tribes,\u201d obtained not its name from that circumstance, but from a\nwidely different one. Tur[145] means _prolific_, whether as regards\n_population_ or _rural produce_; and _An_, as before, a territory--the\nwhole betokening a _prolific territory_.[146] And he should remember, what\nhe is not at all unconscious of, that eastern denominations are not varied\nby recent occupants, but continue in uninterrupted succession, from age to\nage, as imposed at the outset.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n\nThus far have Ireland and Persia kept company together, both equally\nrejoicing in the common name of _Iran_. But now, when we descend to\nparticulars, this harmony separates. Ireland being an _island_ surrounded\non all sides by water--which Persia is not--it was necessary it should\nobtain a denomination expressive of this accident; or, at all events, when\nthe alteration was so easily formed as by the change of the final _an_\ninto _in_--_an_ meaning _land_, and _in island_--the transition was so\nnatural as at once to recommend its propriety.\n\nHence it is that though we occasionally meet with _Iran_, as applied to\nthis country, yet do we more frequently find _Irin_ as its distinctive\nterm; whereas the latter is never, by any chance, assigned to Persia, the\nformer alone being its universal name. And this is all conformable to the\nclosest logical argumentation, which teaches that every species is\ncontained in its genus, but that no genus is contained in its species;\n_Irin_, therefore, which is the specific term, may also be called _Iran_\nthe generic, while _Iran_--except as in _our_ instance, where the\n_extension_ of both is identical--could never be called _Irin_: and so it\nhappens that _Ireland_ is indifferently called by the names of _Iran_ or\n_Irin_, the latter alone marking its _insular_ characteristic; whereas\n_Persia_, not being so circumstanced, is mentioned only by the general\nform of _Iran_.\n\nTo simplify this reasoning I must repeat that _Iran_[147] signifies the\n_Sacred Land_, and _Irin_,[148] the _Sacred Island_; now every _island_ is\na _land_, but every _land_ is not an island: Persia, therefore, which is\n_not an island_, could not be called _Irin_, whereas Ireland, _which is_,\nmay as well be called one as the other.[149]\n\n_Irin_, then, is the _true_, _appropriate_, _characteristic_ and\n_specific_ denomination belonging to this island:--and the words Ire, Eri,\nEre,[150] and Erin, applied also thereto, are but vicious or dialectal\nmodifications of this grand, original, and ramifying root.\n\nThe import of this appellative having spread itself over the globe before\nRome was ever known, under that name, as a city, and when Greece was but\njust beginning to peep into the light, the Pelasgi--who were partly\nBudhists, allied somewhat to them in religion, and still more akin in\nbirth and endowments--conveyed, in conjunction with the Ph\u0153nician\nmerchants, to the early Greek inhabitants;[151] and they, by a very easy\nprocess, commuted _Irin_ to _I\u00e9rne_, which is but a translation of the\nword--\u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 signifying _sacred_, and \u03bd\u03b7\u03bf\u03c2 an island.\n\nOf this Greek form, Ierne, there were again various inflections and\ndepraved assimilations, such as Iernis, Iuernia, Ouvernia, Vernia, etc.\nAnd from one[152] of those, the Latins, without, perhaps, exactly knowing\nwhat it meant, conjured up _Hibernia_, but which, however, with\nsoul-stirring triumph, retains _uninjured_ our original root, the initial\n_H_ being nothing more than the aspirate of the Greek \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, sacred; \u03bd\u03b7\u03bf\u03c2,\n_island_, remaining unaltered; and the letter _b_ only interposed for\nsound-sake.[153]\n\nSo that, whether we consider it as _Irin_, _Ierne_, or _Hibernia_, or\nunder the multiplied variations which diverge, almost interminably, from\nthose _three originals_, in the several languages which they\n_respectively_ represent, they will be found, each and all, to resolve\nthemselves into this _one, great, incontrovertible position of the_\n\u201cSacred Island.\u201d\n\nThus, under heaven, have I been made the humble instrument of redeeming my\ncountry from the aspersions of calumniators. I have shown to\n_demonstration_ the real origin of its _sanctified_ renown. I have traced\nfrom the _Irish_, through all the variations of _Greek_ and _Latin_\ncapricios, its _delineatory_ name; and have proved, beyond the possibility\nof rational contradiction, that in all those different changes regard was\nstill held to the original epithet.\n\nWhere, then, are the sneers--of \u201challucination,\u201d--of \u201clunacy,\u201d--and of\n\u201cetymological moonshine?\u201d These are very cheap and convenient terms for\ngentlemen to adopt, as cloaks to the ignorance of the purport of\ndenominations imposed at a time when every _word_ was a _history_. In the\nearly ages of the world whimsicality never mingled with the\ncircumstantial designation of either person or locality. Every name was\nthe sober consequence of deliberate circumspection; and was intended to\ntransmit the memory of events, in the truest colours, as well as in the\nmost comprehensive form, to the latest generation.\n\nWill this be considered the _vapouring_ of conceit? Is it the _spouting_\nof self-sufficient inanity? Let the heartless _utilitarian_, unable to\nappreciate the motives which first enlisted me in this inquiry, and which\nstill fascinate my zeal, at an age when--did not my love for _truth_ and\nthe rectification of my country\u2019s history _rise superior_ to the\nmortification of _alienated_ honour--I should have flung from me letters\nand literature in disgust, and betaken myself, an adventurer for\ndistinction as a soldier,--let such, I say, _conceal within himself_ his\ndespicable worldly-mindedness, and leave me unmolested, if unrewarded, to\nposterity.\n\n  \u201cCome thou, my friend, my genius, come along,\n  Thou master of the poet and the song,\n  And while the muse now stoops, or now ascends,\n  To man\u2019s low passions, or his glorious ends,\n  Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise,\n  To fall with dignity--with temper rise;\n  Formed by thy converse happily to steer\n  From grave to gay, from lively to severe;\n  Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease;\n  Intent to reason, or polite to please.\u201d\n\nThe origin of the term \u201cSacred Island,\u201d being now for ever adjudicated,\nthe reader will at once see that it belonged to an era long anterior to\nChristianity. In assigning to it this _date_,[154] I pretend not to be\n_unique_; and, as I should not wish to deprive any brow of the laurels\nwhich it has earned--more especially, where an undisputed enjoyment has\namounted to _prescription_--I shall register, in express words, my\npredecessor\u2019s own expos\u00e9, which is, that \u201cthe isle must have been so named\n_because of its nurturing no venomous reptile_\u201d[155]!!! Who will not\nsmile?\n\nNo, sir, the imposers of this name were too sensible of its value, and too\njealous of its use, to expose it to ambiguity. It pourtrayed the sanctity\nof the occupying proprietors; and lest there should be any misconception\nas to the _species_ of worship whence that \u201csanctity\u201d had emanated, they\ngave _this scene_ of its exercise three other names, viz. _Fuodhla_, _Fudh\nInis_, and _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_[156]--which at once associate the\n\u201cworship\u201d with the _profession_ of the worshippers: for _f_, or _ph_,\nbeing only the aspirate of _b_, and commutable with it, _Fuodhla_--which\nis compounded of _Fuodh_ and _ila_, this latter signifying _land_--becomes\n_Buodhla_--that is, Budh_land_.[157] _Fudh Inis_, by the same rule, is\nreducible to _Budh Inis_, of which the latter means _island_, that is,\nBudh-_island_;[158] while _Inis_-na-_Bhfiodhbhadh_ requires no\ntransposition, being clear and obvious in itself, as the _Island of\nBudhism_.\n\nNow, \u201cto make assurance doubly sure,\u201d go to _Keating\u2019s History of\nIreland_, p. 49, and you will there find \u201cthe female deities\u201d--an\nincorrect expression for the deities worshipped by the females--of the\nTuath-de-danaans, to have been Badhha, Macha, and Moriagan.[159] Of these\nthe first needs no exposition; the second I shall reserve for another\nplace, but the third I will here develop. He was the military deity of\nthis \u201csacred\u201d colony, and a personification of Budh, under the designation\nof Farragh,[160] _i.e._ _Copulation_; and, accordingly, the Scythians, who\nincorporated with them, after first dethroning them, adopted this term as\ntheir exhilarating war-shout, while under the veil of the epithet was\nreally meant the _sun_, whose aid they invoked to give _strength_ to their\n_loins_ and _vigour_ to their _arms_.[161]\n\nAnd yet this is the name which _Spenser_ would derive from that of Fergus,\nking of Scotland! Fifteen hundred years and more before Fergus was born,\nwhich, by the way, was not until the sixth century of the Christian era,\nthe Irish basked in the _sunshine_ of their resplendent war-god, who,\nunder another and equivalent denomination, viz. Buodh, abbreviated into\n_Boo_,[162] and thus with the prefix _a_, implying _to_, or _under the\nauspices of_--assumed by the different septs as their distinctive\nwatchwords, branched out into the national and spirit-stirring\nacclamations of _O\u2019Brien_ a-Boo![163] O\u2019Neil a-Boo! etc. etc.; which the\nearly English settlers, who would fain become _Hibernis ipsis\nHiberniores_, afterwards imitated: such as Butler a-Boo; Shanet-a-Boo;\nGrasagh a-Boo; Crom a-Boo, etc.; the last having been that adopted by\nFitzgerald, Duke of Leinster, and still retained as the motto of his\narmorial escutcheon.\n\nIt is worth while to listen to Spenser\u2019s _gratulation_, while chuckling\nhimself with the idea of his fancied discovery: \u201cThis observation of\nyours,\u201d he says to himself, \u201cis very _good_ and _delightful_, far beyond\nthe _blind conceits_ of some, who upon the same word Farragh have made a\nvery _blunt_ conjecture.\u201d _Oh patria! Oh mores!_ how little is known of\nIreland! But I am not surprised at _foreigners_, when the very _natives_,\nthe descendants of the _actors_ in those glorious scenes, are ignorant of\nits history!\n\nTake up any document, purporting to give an account of this country, and\nyou will find it to be composed, either of absurd and nauseous\n_exaggerations_ on the one hand, or of gross and calumnious _detractions_\non the other. But though the _wildness_ of the _former_ cannot fail to\ngenerate, in the intellectual amongst all readers, an _unfavourable\nimpression_; and in those of a different nation, already prejudiced, or\nmayhap incapable of separating the gold from the baser metal,\n_incredulity_ and _contempt_; yet the _true Irish searcher_, versed in the\nantiquities, not only of his own dear \u201cfather-land,\u201d but of the kindred\nEast, which maintained in the old world a religious and incessant\ncommunication with this \u201cSacred Isle,\u201d will glean in the distortion of\nthose _maniac effusions_, the _glimmerings_ of that _truth_ whence they\noriginally emanated--while the _injustice_ of the _calumniator\u2019s_ must,\n_of itself_ bring dismay, with the whole train of confusion and dishonour,\nupon the mercenary instruments of those foul abuses, as well as upon the\nheartless abettors who could have enlisted their vassalage!\n\nTruth, notwithstanding, obliges me to say that the blame should not\naltogether be laid upon the historians. They did as much as, under the\ncircumstances, could be expected at their hands. Two successive invasions\nhaving passed over, and swept away, in the whirlwind of their desolating\nfury, all those monuments of learning to which the world had bowed just\nbefore--one from _innate antipathy_ to the _thing_ itself; the other from\n_apprehension_ that the contents of those memorials, acting upon the\nsensibilities of a high-hearted and proud race, should stimulate their\nardour to the recovery of their lost rights, and the consequent ejectment\nof the party who had usurped them[164]--the patriot had little more to\nguide him in supplying the deficiencies thus created, than the rude\nimagining of his own brain, or the oral traditions of the village\nschoolmaster and genealogist.\n\nThe rigour, however, of penal observances began, in time, gradually to\nrelax; and the people ventured to confess that they had still in their\npossession such things as _manuscripts_, illustrative of their lineage and\nancestral elevation. This was the signal to some liberal individuals to\nprosecute an inquiry for additional memorials; and the result was, that\nthey rose from the pursuit, if not with a _connected aggregate of\ndemonstrational evidence_, at least with a _conviction_ on their _minds_,\nthat those treasured visions of primeval lustre, hereditary and inborn\nwithin the breast of every Irishman, and impossible to be eradicated, were\nnot yet, _late as was the hour_, without something like a basis to rest\nupon.\n\nI would be unjust did I not furthermore avow, that it was not their\nenemies alone that waged this ungenerous warfare with the literature of\nthe Irish. St. Patrick himself was the individual who, in pursuance, as he\nconceived, of his apostolic charge, may be said to have perpetrated the\ngreatest outrage upon our antiquities; having set fire, in a paroxysm of\npious zeal, to no less than _one hundred and eighty volumes_, which he\nselected from the great mass of the records of the nation, as embodying\nthe tenets of _Budhism_ and _Astrology_. The rest, relating to the\nnotification of national or personal achievements, he left untouched and\nsecure.\n\nYet, will it be believed that this was the severest infliction, so far as\n_letters_ are concerned, which we have sustained, after all? For as the\n_religion_ of the ancient Irish was intermingled with their _history_, and\nas the wide diffusion of their _celebrity_ arose from the eminence of\ntheir _religious creed_, the flames of that conflagration have inflicted a\nloss upon the antiquarian which _fifteen centuries of study_ have not been\nable to repair!\n\nDespite, however, the united inroads of suspicion and mistaken piety, the\nIrish have still materials, ample and authentic, for the completion of a\nhistory, not only of _insular_, but, if _properly handled_, of almost\n_universal_ elucidation:[165] and of this Toland himself was, in some\nmeasure, aware, when he said that \u201cnotwithstanding the long state of\nbarbarity in which that nation hath lain, and after all the rebellions and\nwars with which the kingdom has been harassed, they (the Irish) have\n_incomparably_ more ancient materials of that kind for their history, to\nwhich even their _mythology is not unserviceable_, than either the\nEnglish, or the French, or any other European nation with whose ancient\nmanuscripts I have any acquaintance.\u201d\n\nBut though resources most unquestionable thus notoriously still abounded,\nyet has it not been the fortune of Ireland, hitherto, to meet with any\nhistorian gifted with the widely comprehensive, philosophical views and\nsuitable education calculated to do her justice; so that, by the untoward\nhand of fate, and the iniquitous operation of the old political stroke,\nthe knowledge of the character in which those papers are couched has\nbecome already so almost extinct, that they lie on the shelves, to all\nintents and purposes a _dead_ letter.[166]\n\nI now beg leave to introduce this identical war-god, in his military\ncostume and hyperborean philabeg, in which, as before observed, the\nScythians never invested themselves; and hope the reader will enjoy a\nhearty laugh at the expense of those blunderers, who, in their\n_preposterous_, I had almost said _repentant_, devotion to monastic\nrefinements, would rob the Pagans of this long-cherished _idol_, and\nconvert his godship into a _Christian_ nonentity!\n\nYou will find him--name and all corresponding--described fully in the\n_Rites and Ceremonies of all Nations_, as similarly officiating and\nworshipped in the East. \u201cThere is,\u201d says the author, \u201cin the province of\nMatambo, an _idol_ whose priests are _sorcerers_ or _magicians_; and this\nimage stands _upright_, directly over against the temple dedicated to his\npeculiar service, in a _basket made in the form of a bee-hive_.\u201d[167]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cTo this deity in particular they apply themselves for success when they\ngo out a _hunting_ or _fishing_, and for the relief of all such as are\nindisposed![168] _Miramba always marches at the head of their armies_;\nand he is presented with the first delicious morsel, and the first glass\nof wine that is served up at the governor\u2019s or King of Matambo\u2019s table.\u201d\n\nBut a _living_ traveller, in a very interesting work just launched from\nthe press, and without expecting therein to become my auxiliary, decides\nthis ascription without further pains. \u201cThis village,\u201d says our author\n(near Rampore, on the Himalaya range), \u201cinstanced the care which the\nsacerdotal orders in the East take for their comfort and good. It was a\nneat, clean, and substantial place, in all acceptations of the word. These\nBrahmin villagers pay no rent of any kind to the state: they live on the\ngranted lands, but are obliged to keep the _temples_ in repair, to furnish\nall the implements, and to take care of the godships within it--these are\n_small brass images, with nether garments in the shape of petticoats_.\nThey are carried in procession, on certain occasions, and the ceremonies\nbelonging to them are performed twice a day. Mahadeo is the great god of\nthe mountains.\u201d[169]\n\nBut if the advocates of modernism have cause to be annoyed at my depriving\nthem of this specimen of \u201cthe Fine Arts in Ireland,\u201d which they thought\nthey had appropriated to the prejudice of truth, how much greater must not\nbe their chagrin at my wrenching from their grasp another \u201cexceedingly\ncurious\u201d and \u201crichly-ornamented\u201d \u201cecclesiastic?\u201d[170] Ecclesiastic,\nindeed! Yes; but reverenced and revered, by many a beating heart, as the\nhead of all ecclesiastics, for centuries upon centuries, before the name\nof monachism, as connected with Christianity, was ever articulated!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThis, Sir, is no less a personage than Mr. Budha himself, or rather the\npersonified abstract, in the possession of one of the last queens of the\nTuath-de-danaans, at the moment of the inundation of the Scythian dynasty.\nI hope that, after so long an obscuration, and the uncourtly treatment he\nhas received during the humiliating interval of revolving centuries, you\nwill--now that he chooses to reveal his proper character, avow his\ndelegation, and acknowledge the supremacy of that power by which his\nempire had been overthrown--treat him as an _Irishman_, with generous\ncordiality, and impute not to him a crime which belonged only to his\nfollowers.\n\nBut his dress is like a Christian. So much the better, man: we ought to\nlike him the more for that. But to be serious,--although, as my friend\nHorace formerly told me, \u201cwhat hinders one laughing from speaking\ntruth?\u201d--all our ecclesiastical ritual, as well of _ceremony_ as of\n_costume_, has been borrowed from the Jewish, and that again from the\nPagans, with such alterations only as the allwise Jehovah thought\nnecessary to recommend. Besides, we have the authority of Dr. Buchanan for\nstating that \u201c_Samona_ is a title bestowed on the priests of Godama\n(Budha), and is likewise applied to the _images_ of the _divinity_, when\n_represented, as he commonly is_, in the _priestly habit_.\u201d[171]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n\n_Pharaoh_,[172] the titular appellation of the monarchs of Egypt, being\nbut the _local modification_ of this our Irish _Phearagh_, the mind is\ninstinctively directed towards that great storehouse of bygone\nconsequence. And as the best authority that we can command in gaining any\ninsight into its reverses is through the medium of its own historians, let\nus hear what Manetho, a priest of the country, thus transmits:--\n\n\u201cWe had formerly,\u201d says he, \u201ca king named Tim\u00e6us, in whose reign, I know\nnot why, but it pleased God to visit us with a blast of His displeasure;\nwhen, on a sudden, there came upon this country a large body of _obscure\npeople_ from the East, and with great boldness invaded the land, and took\nit without opposition. Their behaviour to the natives was very barbarous;\nfor they slaughtered the men, and made slaves of their wives and children.\nThe whole body of this people were called _Huksos_, or _Uksos_; that is,\nRoyal Shepherds: for the first syllable, in the _sacred dialect_,\nsignifies a \u2018king,\u2019 as the latter, in the popular language, signifies \u2018a\nshepherd.\u2019 These two compounded together constitute the word Huksos. These\npeople are said to have been Arabians.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Vedas, or Sanscrit records of Hindustan, furthermore state that these\ninvaders were the \u201cPali,\u201d or shepherds, a powerful, warlike, and\nenterprising Indian tribe. While the deadly aversion which existed in the\nminds of the Egyptians against the name and office of a shepherd in\nJoseph\u2019s day, is a lasting memorial of their visit and their\nseverity.\u201d[173]\n\nThey did not go, however, without leaving behind them other signs. The\npages of Herodotus afford ample evidence of the resemblance between the\nEgyptian customs and those of the more remote East. By his description of\nthe rites and ceremonies, the mode of life, etc., of the priests of Egypt,\nthey are at once identified with the Brahmins of India. China still\ncelebrates that festival of lamps which was formerly universal throughout\nthe extent of Egypt;[174] and \u201cwe have the most indubitable authority for\nstating that the sepoys in the British overland army from India, when they\nbeheld in Egypt the ruins of Dendera, prostrated themselves before the\nremains of the ancient temples, and offered up adoration to them;\ndeclaring, upon being asked the reason of this strange conduct, _that_\nthey _saw sculptured_ before them the Gods of their country.\u201d[175]\n\nBut the most stupendous and appalling memento of their dominion and\nscience was the three great pyramids of Geeza, the erection of which,\nHerodotus assures us (bk. ii. sec. 128), though the _priests_ would\nattribute to Cheops, Cephrenes, and Mycerinus, three Egyptian kings, \u201cyet\nthe _people_ ascribed them to a _shepherd_ named Philitis, _who at that\ntime fed his cattle_ in those places\u201d; so consonant with the _invasion_\nabove authenticated. This is additionally confirmed by the Sanscrit\nrecords already referred to, informing us of _three mountains_, Rucm-adri,\n\u201cthe Mount of Gold,\u201d Rajat-adri, \u201cthe Mount of Silver,\u201d and Retu-adri,\n\u201cthe Mount of Gems\u201d; having been raised by that Indian colony who had\nconquered Egypt; which is only a figurative denotation of those\n_factitious heights_, those astounding monuments of religion and\nostentation, which were originally cased with _yellow_, _white_, and\n_spotted marbles_, brought from the quarries of Arabia, until stripped by\nthe rapacity of succeeding colonies.\n\nBelzoni\u2019s testimony is decisive on this point, as his drawing of the\nsecond pyramid represents the upper part of its casing remaining still\nentire, about a third of the distance from the summit to the base\ndownwards. We meet with other pyramids, it is true, chiefly dispersed\nabout the Libyan deserts, but they are much inferior to the fore-mentioned\nthree, except one near the mummies, whose dimensions and structure are\nvery nearly the same with the largest Gezite one. This latter, according\nto Greaves, is 693 feet square at the base; its perpendicular height 499\nfeet; that is, 62 feet higher than St. Peter\u2019s at Rome, and 155 feet\nhigher than St. Paul\u2019s in London; while the inclining height is 693 feet,\nexactly equal to the breadth of the base; so that the angles and base make\nan equilateral triangle.[176] Belzoni measures them all differently, and\ngives to the second even greater dimensions than are _usually_ assigned to\nthe first or largest, viz. base, 684; perpendicular height, 456; central\nline down front, from apex to base, 568; coating, from top to where it\nends, 140.\n\nThe variation arises from the circumstance of the latter gentleman\u2019s\nmeasurement having been taken after the base had been cleared away of all\nsand and rubbish; while those of his predecessors applied only as taken\nfrom the level of the surrounding heap. The small ones above noticed are\nsome quadrilateral, _some round, terminating like a sugar-loaf_, some\nrising with a greater and some with a lesser inclination. All commence\nimmediately south of Cairo, but on the opposite side of the Nile, and\nextend, in an uninterrupted range, for many miles in a southerly\ndirection, parallel with the banks of the river.\n\nAfter what has been said above, I need scarcely allude to the ridiculous\nsupposition of those having been built by Joseph as granaries for his\ncorn! Their form and construction, ill adapted to such an occasion,\nrefutes that absurdity, as it does the derivation upon which it has been\nfounded, viz. the _Greek_ words \u03c0\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, wheat, and \u03b1\u03bc\u03b1\u03c9, I gather; as if,\nforsooth, an _Egyptian_ structure, erected before the _Greek_ language was\never known to exist, should wait for a designation until Greece should be\npleased to christen it. Still more disposed must one be to discard with\ncontempt the usual derivation given them, of \u03c0\u03c5\u03c1, fire; as this not only\nlabours under the weakness of the former, but betrays an ignorance of the\ncorrect idea of the Greek word \u03c0\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, of which \u03c0\u03c5\u03c1, fire, is the true\nderivation, \u201cquia flamm\u00e6 instar in _acutum_ tendit\u201d;[177] intimating its\n_continually tapering_ until it ends in a _point_; whereas the top of the\nEgyptian _pyramids_ never does so end; that of the largest above described\nending in a flat of nine stones, besides two wanting at the angles, each\nside of this platform being about sixteen feet; so that a considerable\nnumber of people may stand on it, and have, as from most of ours, one of\nthe most beautiful prospects imaginable.\n\nWilkins\u2019s derivation from _pouro_, a king, and _misi_, a race, would seem\nplausible enough, being a purely Coptic or Egyptian analysis; but when we\nconsider the general ascription of them by the people to the _shepherd\nPhilitis_, whether as one of the _Pali_--that is, shepherds--or Uksi,\nwhich meant the same--king-shepherds above adduced; or as _emphatically\nthe shepherd_, the son of Israel,[178] it argues a disposition on the part\nof the people to assign the honour--if taken in the latter light--to the\nworkmen employed; if in the former, to a prince of a different dynasty\nfrom those whom the Egyptian priests would fain associate with them. This\nderivation, therefore, will not stand; and we have only to betake\nourselves to the ingenious conjecture of Lacroze,[179] which, perhaps,\nmay give more satisfaction respecting the etymology of the word _pyramid_.\nLacroze derives it from the _Sanscrit term_ Biroumas, and traces an\nanalogy between Brahma, Birma (which the Indians of Malabar pronounce\nBiroumas), and the word Piromis, which means the same thing, namely, a\nvirtuous and upright character--Piromia meaning, according to him, in the\nlanguage of Ceylon, man in general.\n\nHerodotus states,[180] that the priests of Egypt kept in a spacious\nbuilding large images of wood, representing all their preceding _high\npriests_, arranged in genealogical order, every high priest placing his\nimage there during his life. They mentioned to Hecat\u00e6us, the historian,\nwhen they were showing this edifice to him, that each of the images he saw\nrepresented a _Piromis_, begotten by another _Piromis_, which word, says\nHerodotus, signifies, in their language, a _virtuous_ and _honest man_. A\npassage from Synesius, the celebrated bishop of Cyrene, in his treatise\n\u201con Providence,\u201d at once coincides with, and is illustrative of this\nanecdote. \u201cThe father of Osiris and Typhon,\u201d says he, \u201cwas at the same\ntime a _king_, a _priest_, and a _philosopher_. The Egyptian histories\nalso rank him among the gods; for the Egyptians are disposed to believe\nthat many divinities reigned in their country in succession before it was\ngoverned by men, and before their kings were reckoned in a genealogical\norder by _Peirom_ after Peirom.\u201d\n\nThe Japanese celebrate an annual festival in honour of one _Pireun_, who,\nthey say, was many ages ago king of _Formosa_, and who, being disgusted\nwith the abandoned morals of his subjects--wealthy traders--consigned\nhimself solely to the worship of the gods. Forewarned in a dream, he took\nflight from the impending visitation, and had scarcely sailed ere the\nisland, with its inhabitants, sunk to the bottom of the sea. As for the\ngood king, he arrived safe in China, whence he went over to Japan, where\nhe has been ever since honoured by the above commemoration.\n\nThe true Coptic name for those edifices is Pire monc--which signifies a\n_sunbeam_[181]--not so much in allusion to their _form_ as to their\nappropriation, which we shall make the subject of a separate inquiry.\n\nIt has, I trust, satisfactorily been proved that the erection and\nnomination of those wondrous edifices were not of _native_ growth. It has,\nI trust, additionally appeared that _both_ were essentially Indian. It may\nnot now be \u201cungermane to the matter,\u201d if we would for a moment digress, to\nconsider the era of their probable date, as introductory to the character\nof their probable destination.\n\nJosephus expressly informs us that the Israelites were employed in the\nconstruction of the pyramids. Is there any reason why we should doubt so\nrespectable an authority? Oh, yes, it is said the Scriptures are against\nit--the task of the Israelites during their bondage being exclusively\nconfined to the making of brick. I deny that the Scriptures either allege\nor insinuate any such thing. On the contrary, we may fairly infer, from\nEx. ix. 8, 10, that they were engaged in other servile offices; as also\nfrom Ps. lxxxi. 6, where it is said, \u201cI removed his shoulder from the\n_burden_, and his hands were delivered from the _mortar-box_\u201d--not _pots_,\nas our translation has it; and such rendering is supported by the\nSeptuagint, Vulgate, Symmachus, and others.[182]\n\nThis ascription receives further countenance from a passage in Diodorus,\ni. 2, where, referring to those immense piles, and the ideas of the\nEgyptians themselves respecting them, he adds: \u201cThey say the first was\nerected by Arm\u00e6us, the second by Amosis, the third by Inaron.\u201d Who is it\nthat pronounces the last two names, if only spelled, aMosis and inAron,\nand recollects, at the same time, what the Scriptures tell us of Moses and\nAaron, that is not at once struck with the similarity of the sound? And as\nto Arm\u00e6us, why it bears so evident an affinity with Aram\u00e6us or Aramean,\nthat one cannot avoid connecting it with the \u201cAramite ready to perish,\u201d\nthe very name given to Jacob, Deut. xxvi. 5.[183] Nothing, then, prevents,\nso far as I can see, our concluding _one_ of those structures at least--I\nsay one at least to _conciliate_ the brick-party; and I think, besides, I\nhave read somewhere, that one of the pyramids, the smaller ones no doubt,\nwas built of such material--to have been the work of the sons of Israel.\nAnd the rather as it was consonant with the uniform practice of the\nancient Oriental nations to employ captive foreigners on servile and\nlaborious works.\n\nThe usual time, too, assigned to the slavery of the Israelites corresponds\nvery nearly with that generally allotted to the erection of those masses.\nThe stay of the sons of Israel in the land of Egypt is generally\nunderstood to have been two hundred and fifteen years. Of these Joseph\nruled seventy; forty is a fair average for the generation that\nsucceeded--which, added to his seventy, leaves one hundred and five years\nto the Exodus. Now we learn from Herodotus that Cheops, the _reputed_\nfounder of the first or greatest of these pyramids, was the first also of\nthe Egyptian kings who oppressed, or in any way tyrannised over, his\nsubjects. His reign is stated to have been fifty years. Cephrenes, who\nsucceeded, showed himself in every respect his brother, barring, as the\nother before him, the approach to every temple, stopping the performance\nof the usual sacrifices, and keeping his subjects all the while employed\nin every species of oppressive task and laborious drudgery. The period of\nhis reign is stated to have been fifty-six years, which, added to the\npreceding fifty, make one hundred and six, exactly answering to the above\ncalculation.\n\nThe Exodus, besides, is stated to have occurred B.C. 1791; and Herodotus\nand Diodorus together, while acknowledging their ignorance of the actual\ndate of the pyramids, and the impossibility, on their part, to ascertain\nit, declare also their conviction that they must have been built at least\nabout that period.\n\nI have thus, I trust, done honourable justice to the testimony of\nJosephus. I have done so for many reasons--firstly, because of the\nimportance of the subject itself; secondly, from my respect for the merits\nof the writer; and, thirdly, because that I think it very probable indeed\nthat the Israelites may have been occupied in the erection of some of the\nminor and later pyramids. But _insuperable_ obstacles stand in the way of\nour associating them with the structure of them _all_; and of these _one_\nis, the improbability that the victorious invaders would single out the\ninoffensive Israelites as particular objects of their oppression, when\npolicy should suggest to them a directly different course in securing\ntheir adherence in opposition to the native residents. By Josephus\u2019s\naccount, however, it would appear that the Israelites alone were engaged\nupon those edifices; and the Scriptures themselves confine the intimation\nof drudgery to the Israelitish race: it therefore is manifest that the\nEgyptian _natives_ were favoured by the _then existing_ dynasty, while it\nis on all hands agreed, that the _new_-comers had treated during the whole\nperiod of their dominion, the _entire_ Egyptian nation with indiscriminate\nrigour and chastisement.\n\nBesides this, that deadly animosity existing in the Egyptian mind to the\nname and profession of shepherds, above alluded to, at once identifies\ntheir character with that of the \u201cUksi,\u201d or \u201cKing-shepherds,\u201d to whom we\nhave before referred, and proves the date of their invasion anterior in\npoint of time to Israel\u2019s introduction into the land of Egypt. Joseph was\nwell aware of the particulars of this invasion, and of the sting it left\nbehind it in the mind of the Egyptians; and accordingly he acquaints his\nbrothers, whose \u201ctrade also had been about cattle,\u201d that \u201cevery shepherd\nwas an abomination to the Egyptians.\u201d[184]\n\nManetho himself, the Egyptian priest, is my voucher for this deduction,\nwhen he says that, \u201cAfter these--the shepherd-kings--came _another set of\npeople_ who were sojourners in Egypt, in the reign of Amenophis. These\nchose themselves a leader one who was a priest of Heliopolis, and whose\nname was Osarsiph; and after he had listed himself with this body of men\nhe changed his name to Moses.\u201d\n\nBut this, it will be said, is at variance with Moses\u2019 own account, which\nstates that he obtained his name on being rescued from a watery cradle by\nPharaoh\u2019s daughter. Not in the least, I reply; for it is more than\nprobable that, after his slaying the Egyptian, and consequent flight, he\ndropped his name to ensure concealment, and only resumed it on being\ninvested with his divine commission. Or, what is more likely still, and\nperhaps the truth, that Osarsiph was the name which his \u201cmother\u201d had given\nhim, and which adhered to him until \u201che grew up,\u201d--a term in Scripture\nwhich expresses _mature_ age,--until when it was not that the princess had\ndesignated him as Moses.\n\nStrong, too, as my veneration is for Josephus, I cannot conceal either\nfrom myself or from the reader, that his testimony in _this instance_ is\nrather of a dubious character. The idea of interpolation I altogether\nwaive--it is, at _all times_, a contemptible subterfuge. I will take for\ngranted that the text is genuine; and, on the very face of it, it bears\nthe impress--in the first place, of inaccuracy, confounding the period of\nhis countrymen\u2019s _servitude_ with that of their actual _sojourn_ in Egypt;\nand, in the second place, of _indistinctness_, attaching a term of obloquy\nto those edifices, without condescending to offer therefor any cause. Here\nare his own words: \u201cWhen time had obliterated the benefits of Joseph, and\nthe kingdom of Egypt had passed into another family, they inhumanely\ntreated the Israelites, and wore them down in various labours: for they\nordered them to divert the course of the river (Nile) into many ditches,\nand to build walls, and raise mounds by which to confine the inundations\nof the river (Nile); and, moreover, vexed our nation in constructing\nFOOLISH PYRAMIDS, forced them to learn various arts, and inured them to\nundergo great labours; and after this manner did they, for _four hundred\nyears_, endure bondage; the Egyptians doing that to destroy the Israelites\nby overmuch labour, whilst we ourselves endeavoured to struggle against\nall our difficulties.\u201d\n\nNow, it is not a little remarkable, as connecting the erection of the\npyramids with the \u201croyal shepherd race,\u201d the former occupants of the above\nfertile territory, that those immense edifices happen to be situated in\nthe very vicinity of Goshen. Geeza, where the three _great ones_ stand, is\nuniversally allowed to have been the site whereon Memphis once stood; and\nas a west wind took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea (Ex.\nx. 19), Goshen, which we find by Gen. xlv. 10, cannot have been far from\nJoseph\u2019s own residence, will be more aptly fixed in the vicinity of this\nspot within the Heliopolitan nome, than within any other nome or\npr\u00e6fecture, particularly the Tanitic, \u201cwhere the same wind,\u201d as has been\njustly remarked by Dr. Shaw, \u201cwould not have blown those insects into the\nRed Sea, but into the Mediterranean, or else into the land of the\nPhilistines.\u201d Goshen, then, was that part of \u201cthe land of Rameses,\u201d \u201cthe\nbest of the land\u201d (Gen. xlvii. 6-11) which lay in the neighbourhood of\nCairo, but on the opposite side of the Nile, where, as already observed,\nthe pyramids are first met with, and whence they proceed in a continued\nline along the banks of the river, in a southerly direction for many miles\ntogether.\n\nAfter reading these details it will be impossible, I conceive, for any\ndispassionate mind to remain longer in suspense as to the origin of the\npyramids. The doubt, too, and obscurity in which they have been\nheretofore enveloped can be explained with similar ease, if we but\nremember the execration in which their Cushite founders were held by the\nEgyptians, and their consequent disinclination to associate their name\nwith such splendid memorials. With this view, indeed, it is not at all\nimprobable but that active legislative measures were adopted to cancel and\nsuppress every vestige of proof which could tend to perpetuate the memory\nof the obnoxious erectors. So that we must not wonder if, after a lapse of\nyears, their history was as great a riddle to the Egyptians themselves as\nthat of _our pyramids_ is to the Irish nation.\n\nA collateral cause for this universal ignorance of their use and origin\nwas the probable absence of letters on the part of the Egyptians, until\nnow, for the first time, introduced by those learned Arabians; and though\nany one who is acquainted with the oriental disquisitions of Wilfrid, and\nthe coincidences he establishes between the ancient history of Egypt and\nthe account given of the customs and dynasties of that kingdom, as drawn\nfrom the Hindoo Puranas, will at once admit that \u201cthere must have been a\nperiod when a Hindoo power had reigned in Egypt by right of conquest,\u201d and\nestablished therein the peculiar rites of their religion with the elements\nof literature and social civilisation, yet it is probable that during\ntheir sojourn, which, we have seen, was a continued series of warfare,\nthey kept themselves aloof from all intercourse with the natives, and\nchecked, as much as possible, the circulation of their science among them.\n\nSome _sparks_ of it, however, must inevitably have transpired; and the\nEgyptian intellect was too finely constituted to be insensible to its\nvalue, or allow it to extinguish without food; so that, in the time of\nMoses, and long after, their learning and accomplishments were courted by\nthe philosophers of the day, and were so eminently conspicuous, as to\nbecome a proverb (Acts Apost. vii. 22). Homer, we all know, visited that\nfavoured land--so did Pythagoras--so did Solon, Thales, Plato, and\nEudoxus; in short, all the sages of antiquity, of whom we read so much,\nand whom we peruse with such _recuperative_ pleasure, either finished\ntheir education in that favoured school, or conversed with those who had\nthemselves done so.\n\nThe Egyptians are said to have been the first who brought the \u201crules of\ngovernment,\u201d with the art of making \u201clife easy\u201d and \u201ca people happy\u201d--the\n_true end_ of worldly politics--to a regular system. But much as they\nexcelled other nations in scientific lore, in nothing was their\nsuperiority so conspicuous as in that _magic_ art which enabled them to\ncope, for so long a time, and under such trying varieties, even with the\nprophet and ambassador of God himself.\n\nThese exhibitions are too stubbornly authenticated by scriptural proofs,\nas well in the Old as in the New Testament,[185] for any one to affect\ndisbelief in them without at the same time disbelieving the authenticity\nof the Scriptures themselves. Yes, I implicitly subscribe to the truth of\nthe narration; and as I mean to bring home their _initiation_ in the art,\nas well as in their other several accomplishments, to the Chaldean\ndiviners, or _Aire Coti_ shepherds--a branch of the Tuath-de-danaan\ncolonists of this our western isle--from whom, or their relatives, under\nthe designation of Uksi, Indo-Scyth\u00e6, or Cushite shepherds--who, if not\nall one and the same, were at least mixed and incorporated--the Egyptians\nhad imbibed it--this, I trust, will plead my excuse for obtruding its\nnotice here, as well as for dilating so much at large upon the early\nhistory of Egypt.[186]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n\nI come now, with the same view, to consider the _destination_ of their\nfamous \u201cPyramids.\u201d[187] In this pursuit the first thing that strikes us is\nthe uniform precision and systematic design apparent in their\narchitecture. They all have their sides accurately adapted to the four\ncardinal points, as the four apertures near the summit of most of ours\nindicate a similar regard to fidelity to the compass. In six of them which\nhave been opened, the principal passage preserves the same inclination of\n26\u00b0 to the horizon, being directed towards the polar star. And I doubt\nnot, were the ground _within_ and _around all_ of _ours_ sufficiently\nexplored, there would be found, in some at least, regular vistas to\ncorrespond with this description. Their obliquity too being so adjusted as\nto make the north side coincide with the obliquity of the sun\u2019s rays at\nthe summer\u2019s solstice, has, combined with the former particulars, led some\nto suppose they were solely intended for astronomical uses; and\ncertainly, if not altogether true, it bespeaks, at all events, an intimate\nacquaintance with _astronomical rules_,[188] as well as a due regard to\nthe principles of _geometry_.[189]\n\nNo one, I believe, has ever questioned the latter fact. Some, induced\nthereby, have thought them to be erected for the purpose of establishing\nthe exact measure of the cubit; of which they happen to contain both in\nbreadth and height a certain number of multiples. But as they were\nevidently constructed by persons well versed in all the niceties of exact\nmeasurement, and who consequently had no occasion for such colossal\nreference to refresh their memories, like the Lancasterian apparatus, it\nis ridiculous to suppose them erected with this view, nor should I have\nalluded to it but to expose its weakness. Others have fancied them\nintended for sepulchres; and as the Egyptians, _taught by their ancient\nChaldean victors_, connected _astronomy_ with their _funereal_ and\n_religious ceremonies_, they seem not in this to be far astray, if we but\nextend the application to their _sacred bulls_ and _other animals_, and\nnot merely to their _kings_, as Herodotus would have us suppose.\n\nThe immense sarcophagus lying in the interior of the first or Great\nPyramid, with the _bone_ found by the Earl of Munster[190] in the second,\nmust put this question beyond the possibility of doubt; as Sir Everard\nHome, after a laborious examination of the properties of this relic, found\nit accurately to agree with the lower extremity of the thigh-bone of an\nox, while it corresponded with that of no other animal.\n\nIn conformity with this conclusion were the discoveries of Belzoni some\ntime before, in Upper Egypt, which abounds in specimens of the most\nsplendid antiquities, in a catacomb amongst which, called \u201cB\u00eeban el\nMoluk,\u201d that is \u201cthe gates of the king\u201d--meaning thereby the _universal\nking of the ancients_, the generating principle of vegetation and life, of\nwhich _Apis_ and _Mnevis_, _Osiris_ and _Typhon_, were but the\nrepresentatives among the Egyptians, as other nations had adopted\nequivalent forms and names, according to the genius of their climes and\nlanguages--I mean the Sun--well, in one of the numerous chambers of this\ncatacomb, Belzoni discovered an exquisitely beautiful sarcophagus of\nalabaster, 9 feet 5 inches long, by 3 feet 9 inches wide, and 2 feet 1\ninch high, covered within and without with hieroglyphics, and figures in\nintaglio, nearly in a perfect state, sounding like a bell, and as\ntransparent as glass: from the extraordinary magnificence of which, he\nconceives, it must have been the depository of the remains of Apis; in\nwhich idea he is the more confirmed by having found the carcass of a\n_bull_ embalmed with asphaltum, in the innermost chamber.\n\nThe passage in Herodotus, to which I before referred, appears to throw\nsome light on the intricate subject which we are now pursuing. In lib. ii.\np. 124, etc., \u201cthe father of historians\u201d tells us that the two kings, who\nsucceeded each other on the throne of Egypt, after the happy reign of\nRhampsinitus and his predecessors, and to whom the building of those\npyramids was reputedly ascribed, had shown themselves indeed _brothers_,\nnot more by affinity of blood than by the similar outlines of their\ncruelty and intolerance. No species of oppression was by them left\nunattempted; no extreme of rigour or rapacious plunder by them unenforced:\nbut what peculiarly characterised the hardship of their tyranny was the\nrestraint they put upon the _religion_ and pious exercises of their\nsubjects; closing the portals of the _temples_ where they were wont to\nadore, and preventing the oblation of their usual sacrifices.\n\nThough Herodotus has been justly honoured with the designation of \u201cFather\nof Historians,\u201d he has also, perhaps, not so very justly been called \u201cthe\nFather of Errors\u201d; and, as he himself admitted his incapability of\nobtaining any satisfactory insight into the original of those structures,\nmay we not fairly conclude that, in the extract now cited, he either\nconfounds those princes with the _foreign dynasty_ which we have already\nestablished, or else, from the ignorance _superinduced_ to obliterate\ntheir memory, mistakes the erection of some of the _minor_ and _later_\nones, which this \u201cpar nobile fratrum\u201d may, indeed, have devised, in\nimitation of the three \u201c_mountains_\u201d built by the Uksi. What he states,\nhowever, is of value, as it points to a _previous form of worship_, and a\n_system of government_ by an alien house. The prohibition of sacrifices\nand the closing the temple doors make this as clear as words can delineate\nanything. All we want, then, is to be informed what the particular temples\nalluded to were: and that they were the _pyramids_, will, I think, be\nconceded by everyone who has carefully perused the arguments here set\ndown, and who has not his judgment warped by favourite plans of literary\nsystems and speculative hypotheses.\n\nThis conclusion receives additional force from the conversation which\nWilford, in his \u201cDissertation upon Egypt and the Nile,\u201d[191] tells us he\nhad with several learned Brahmins, when, upon describing to them the form\nand bearings of the great Egyptian pyramid, one of them asked if _it had\nnot a communication under ground with the river Cali_? Being answered that\nsuch communication was spoken of as having once existed, and that a _well_\nwas still to be seen, they unanimously agreed that it was a _temple_\nappropriated to the worship of _Padma-devi_, and that the supposed _tomb_\nwas a _trough_, which, on certain festivals, her priests used to fill with\nthe sacred water and lotos-flowers.\n\nMr. Davison, British Consul to Algiers, when accompanying Mr. Wortley\nMontague to Egypt, in 1763, discovered here a chamber, before unnoticed,\nand descended, to a depth of 155 feet, the three successive reservoirs.\nThe principal oblique passage has, since then, been traced by the very\nenterprising master of a merchant vessel, Captain Caviglia, 200 feet\nfarther down than by any former explorer, and found to communicate with\nthe bottom of the well, which is now filled with rubbish. A circulation of\nair being thus procured, he was emboldened to proceed 28 feet farther,\nwhich brought him to a spacious hall, 66 feet by 27 feet, unequal in\naltitude, and directly under the centre of the pyramid. In no instance yet\nrecorded has any appearance presented itself of human remains within those\napartments, nor indeed was there any possibility of conveying such\nthither, unless placed there before the erection of the pile itself; for\nthe _extremities_ of the gallery, which leads into the _great chamber_,\nare so _narrow_ and _circumscribed_, that it is _with difficulty_ one can\neffect an _entrance into it, even by creeping upon his belly_.\n\nThe _symbolical anatomy_ prefigured in this contrivance, and which equally\nexhibits itself in all the temples of the ancients, as well _under_ as\n_over ground_, is such as almost to have tempted me to make _this_ the\noccasion on which I should uncover another secret of their mystic code.\nBut a more _concentrated_ opportunity will occur as we advance, and for\nwhich this intimation will answer as a prelude; meanwhile, I would have\nthe reader soberly to bethink himself, what possible use could _dead\nbodies have of wells of water_? Is not _such_ the _type_, as it is also\nthe _accompaniment_, of _life_ and activity? And does not _this_, of\nitself, subvert the absurdity of those temples having been erected as mere\nmausoleums for kings?\n\nI have already hinted my confident belief _that if the ground all, within,\nand around our pyramids were sufficiently examined_, there would not be\nwanting indications of subterraneous passages. I am the more confirmed in\nthis, my belief, from the appearances that presented themselves on the\ndemolition of _that_ at Downpatrick, in 1790, \u201cto make room for the\nrebuilding of that part of the old cathedral next which it stood, and from\nwhich it was distant about forty feet. When the tower was thrown down,\u201d\ncontinues Dubourdieu, in his _Statistical Survey_ of the county, \u201cand\ncleared away to the foundation, another foundation was discovered under\nit, and running directly across the site of the tower, which appeared to\nbe a continuation of the church wall, which, at some period prior to the\nbuilding of the tower, seemed to have extended considerably beyond it.\u201d\nWith great deference, however, to the authority of so respectable a\nwriter, I hesitate not to proclaim that the second foundation so\ndiscovered was _not_ a \u201ccontinuation of the church wall,\u201d but the remnant\nof some _pagan_ structure, appertaining to the tower itself--in fact a\n_Vih\u00e2r_, or college for its priests--or else the vestige of some larger\ntemple, and connected therewith, previously existing on the same locality.\n\nThat this announcement is correct will be apparent, from the _superiority\nof masonic skill_ exhibited in this _foundation_, as well as in its having\nbeen upon a larger scale and ampler dimensions than what the Christian\n\u201ccathedral\u201d had ever occupied; \u201cin the walls of which,\u201d says my authority,\n\u201cthere are many pieces of cut stone that have evidently been used in some\nformer building. The same circumstance may also be observed in several of\nthe ruined churches at Clonmacnoise.\u201d[192]\n\nNor ought this relic of an ancient pagan edifice to excite our surprise,\nwhen we are told that the temple of the \u201cSyrian goddess,\u201d which existed\nin the days of Lucian, was not that which was originally erected by\nDeucalion, but one built _many ages_ after, on the _same site_, by Attis,\nBacchus, or Semiramis.\n\nWith the church, therefore, or other Christian edifice, this \u201cfoundation\u201d\nhad no relation. St. Patrick was the first who erected one in that\nvicinity, to which he gave the name of Sgibol Phadruig, or Patrick\u2019s\nGranary; having been built on the identical spot on which Dichu, son of\nTrichem, of the tribe of the Dalfiatachs, and lord of the territory of\nLecale, had a granary constructed to preserve his corn, before that his\ngratitude for the saint, by whom he was just converted, induced him to\nconsecrate the place where that event occurred, by raising thereon a house\nto the God of nature and of harvests.\n\nIts situation, be it observed, was \u201ctwo miles from the city of Down\u201d;[193]\ndifferent, therefore, from that of the cathedral, as was also its _form_:\nhaving been built from north to south, at the solicitation of Dichu\nhimself, agreeably to the plan of the former storehouse.\n\nThis took place in 433-34; and though, for concession\u2019 sake, I may\nadmit,--_what yet is far from being my conviction_,--that _some_ of our\nRound Towers may have been erected _subsequently_ to the Christian era,\nyet positive I must be that _no one_ of them _was after the successful\nmission_ of the Apostle of Ireland; and the explosion of the doctrines\nwith which even the _most modern of them_ may happen to be\nassociated,--while the majority, and the _real ones_, I shall prove,\nbelong to an infinitely earlier date.\n\nAs a further inducement to explore for cavities beneath, and connected\nwith, our Round Towers, I beg leave to bring under review what Maundrel\nrelates of two Round Pillars, which he met with in his journey from Aleppo\nto Jerusalem, on the sea-coast, a little to the south of Aradus, in the\nneighbourhood of Tripoli. He describes one of them as thirty-three feet\nhigh, composed of a pedestal, ten high and fifteen square, surmounted with\na tall cylindrical stone, and capped with another in the form of a\n_pyramid_. The second was not quite so high--thirty feet two inches--its\npedestal, which was supported by four lions, rudely carved at each corner,\nwas in height six feet, being sixteen feet six inches square; the\nsuperstructure upon which was one single stone cut in the shape of a\n_hemisphere_. Each of these pillars, of which he gives accurate drawings,\nhas under it several catacombs or sepulchral chambers, the entrances to\nwhich lie on the south side. He pronounces a third which he met with, as\n\u201ca very ancient structure, and probably a place of sepulchre.\u201d[194]\n\nWith the opinion of this judicious traveller I altogether concur, provided\nonly, as said before, in reference to the pyramids, that the application\nbe extended to the sacred bulls and crocodiles, serpents, dragons, and\nheifers, with the whole train of _bestial_ divinities, which both Indians\nand Egyptians, and all the other polished nations of antiquity, thought\nproper to adopt as objects of their regard, and treat with the\nhomage--though only _commemorative_, as they will tell you--of the One\nGreat Supreme.[195]\n\nThis extension of the use will at once afford a solution of the otherwise\nunaccountable and unnecessary _size_ of those cavities, and is further\nsupported by Savary\u2019s remark, made on occasion of his searching for the\nEgyptian Labyrinth, viz. that \u201camidst the ruins of the towns of Caroun,\nthe attention is particularly fixed by several narrow, low, and very long\ncells, which seem to have had no other use than that of containing the\nbodies of the sacred crocodiles; these remains can only correspond with\nthe labyrinth.\u201d While Herodotus\u2019s declaration, of his not being allowed to\nenter its vaults, on the score of their \u201ccontaining within them the bodies\nof the fifteen kings, together with the _sacred crocodiles_,\u201d should\nafford it a determination no longer liable to doubt.\n\nArcher, also, when mentioning a very ancient Hindoo temple, at the south\nend of the fort of Gualior, resembling in shape those on the Coromandel\ncoast, and decorated with much carving, says that \u201cthere was a\nsubterranean communication with the plain at the north end, but the\npassage has been so long neglected as to be impassable.\u201d\n\nAm I not justified, therefore, in the conviction, from what I have already\nintimated, as to the _complicated_ design of those sacred piles, that _our\nRound Towers_ would be found similarly furnished with subterranean\nchambers? I do respectfully urge that such is my _firm belief_, and that\nit would be well worth the while of the learned community to investigate\nthe accuracy of the surmise here put forward.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n\nAnother characteristic, to which I would fain attract the reader\u2019s regard,\nis the circumstance of their being erected in the vicinity of _water_. At\nGlendalough, what a magnificent lake salutes the Tower? In Devenish and at\nKillmalloch, is not the same the case? In other parts of the country,\nalso, we find them similarly located. And even where nature has not been\nso lavish of her _inland seas_, yet is water, of some shape, always to be\nseen contiguous to our towers.\n\nWhat use, it will be asked, do I mean to make of this argument? or how\nseek support from the accidental propinquity of this element? Remember my\nremark upon the article, before, in connection with the Egyptian Pyramids.\nCaptain Mignan, besides, tells us that a tradition, handed down from time\nimmemorial, says that \u201cnear the foot of the ruin of El Mujellebah,\u201d which\nhe takes to be that of the Tower of Babel, \u201cis a _well_, invisible to\nmortals\u201d; and, as all Eastern heathenism, whence ours was deduced, partook\nin some degree of the same usages and properties, I think it very probable\nthe correspondence will apply in this as well as in other peculiarities;\nand the rather as from symptoms of vaults, which have already appeared,\nand the hollow sounds, or echoes, which invariably accompany, the\nproposition does not come unwarranted, however singly put forth or\nwithout something like argument to recommend its trial.\n\nWe know that in Hieropolis, or the \u201cHoly city,\u201d in _Syria_, where a\nTemple, with a _Tower_, was erected to _Astarte_, there stood adjacent a\n_lake_, where _sacred fishes_ were preserved, in the midst of which was a\nstone altar, which was _said_, and really _appeared_, to float; whither\nnumbers of persons used to swim every day to perform their devotions.\nUnder this temple they showed the cleft where it was said the waters\ndrained off after Deucalion\u2019s flood, and this tradition brought on the\nextraordinary ceremony now about to be narrated, something similar to\nwhich our ancestors must formerly have practised _here_.\n\n\u201cI have,\u201d says Lucian,[196] \u201cmyself seen this chasm, and it is a very\nsmall one, under the temple. Whether it was formerly larger and since\nlessened I cannot tell, but that which I have seen is small. In\ncommemoration of this history they act in this manner: twice in every year\nwater is brought from the sea to the temple, and not by the priests only,\n_but by all Syria_ and Arabia. Many come from the Euphrates to the sea,\nand all carry water, which they first pour out in the temple, and\nafterwards it sinks into the chasm, which though small, receives a\nprodigious quantity of water, and when they do so, they say, Deucalion\ninstituted the ceremony as a memorial of the calamity above named, and of\nhis deliverance from it.\u201d\n\nTwice a year a man went up to the top of the Priap, and there remained\nseven days. His mode of getting up was thus:--He surrounded _it_ and\n_himself_ with a chain, and ascended by the help of that and certain\npegs, which, stuck out of its sides for the purpose, lifting the chain up\nafter him at each resting interval--a method of ascent which will be\nreadily understood by those who have seen men climb up the palm trees of\nEgypt and Arabia. Having reached the summit he let down the chain, and by\nmeans thereof drew up all the necessaries in the way of food, and withal\nprepared himself a seat, or rather nest on his a\u00ebrial tabernacle.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  View him now mounted on his sacred tower,\n  He looks around with conscious sense of power.]\n\nOn these occasions crowds used to come with offerings, and the custom was\nfor each to declare his name to the priests; upon which one below cried it\nout to him on the top, who thereupon muttered a prayer, which, in order to\narrest the attention of the congregation, and enliven their devotion, he\n_all the while_ accompanied by striking a bell.\n\nOne way of their sacrificing was as shocking as it would be otherwise\nridiculous. They crowned victims with garlands, then drove them out of the\ntemple-court, on one side whereof was an abrupt steep, where falling they\nthereby perished. Nay, some tied up their very children in sacks, and then\nshoved them down, reproaching them as wild beasts, miserably to perish.\n\nThis whole proceeding, only under a mythological garb, was in direct\nharmony with the directions given and the practice pursued by God\u2019s own\npeople. The man ascending to the top of the tower had a parallel in that\ndeclaration of the Lord recorded in Ex. xxiv. 1, 2, 3, viz.: \u201cAnd he said\nunto Moses, come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and\nseventy of the elders of Israel, and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone\nshall come near the Lord; but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the\npeople go up with him. And Moses came and told the people all the words of\nthe Lord, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one\nvoice, and said, \u2018All the words which the Lord hath said, will we\ndo.\u2019\u201d[197]\n\nHis staying there seven days corresponded with Lev. viii. 33, 34, 35: \u201cAnd\nye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in\nseven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven\ndays shall ye consecrate you. As he hath done this day, so the Lord hath\ncommanded to do, to make an atonement for you. Therefore shall ye abide\nat the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven\ndays, and keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not; for so I am\ncommanded.\u201d And again, Ezek. xliii. 25: \u201cSeven days shalt thou prepare\nevery day a goat for a sin-offering: they shall also prepare a young\nbullock and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. Seven days shall they\npurge the altar, and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.\u201d\n\nThe enrolment of their names was also sanctioned by Divine command, as Ex.\nxxviii. 29: \u201cAnd Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in\nthe breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy\nplace, for a memorial before the Lord continually.\u201d Whilst the ringing of\nthe bell is particularly enforced by a triple repetition, Ex. xxviii. 33,\n34: \u201cAnd beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make _pomegranates_ of\nblue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and\n_bells_ of gold between them round about. A golden _bell_ and a\n_pomegranate_, a golden _bell_ and a _pomegranate_, upon the hem of the\nrobe round about.\u201d\n\nThis last-cited text is of the most inconceivable advantage in the\ndevelopment of the subject which we thus pursue. The most superficial must\nhave noticed how that, in the tracing of this analogy between the\nceremonies of the Gentiles and the Hebrews, I have studiously guarded\nagainst its appearing an imitation, on the part of the former, from the\nritual of the latter. The priority in point of date will certainly appear\non the Gentile side. Meanwhile, ere other links of conformity crowd upon\nour path, it will be well to take heed to the frequency of the word\n_pomegranate_, as occurring in the Scriptures. It has already appeared\nthat one of the names of the _Syrian goddess_, in whose honour the\nHieropolitan Priaps were erected, was _Rimmon_. This epithet you have had\nbefore expounded as expressive of that _fruit_; and as we see that, both\nin the Jewish and the pagan formul\u00e6, it occupied so prominent a\nposition,[198] it must occasion you no surprise if, by and by, I discover\nit amongst the mouldings[199] of our consecrated and venerable Round\nTowers.\n\nAs to their devotions at the lake, and the propinquity of the lake itself\nto the temple, it is in direct similitude to the \u201cmolten sea,\u201d mentioned 1\nKings vii. 23, 24, 25, 26, \u201cthe brim whereof was wrought like the brim of\na _cup, with flowers_ of lilies,\u201d etc.;--while the cruel and shocking\nsacrifice with which the whole terminated, was the exact respondent of the\nMosaical scapegoat.[200]\n\nLet it not be wondered at, therefore, if on the summit of one of our Round\nTowers are to be found the traces of the apparatus for a bell. For\nindependently of what Walsh and others inform us of, viz. that the\nIrish--enjoying tranquillity and repose after the expulsion of the Ostmen,\nand so recalling their attention to the cultivation of Christianity after\ntheir release from that scourge--converted those structures of exploded\npaganism to the only obvious use to which they could then be made\nsubservient, namely, that of _belfries_, for the summoning together of the\npeople to public worship, some remnants of which it is but natural may yet\nremain--independently, I say, of this, have I not here shown that _bells_\nentered essentially into the code of the pagan ceremonial, from whence it\nis more than probable, nay, a downright certainty, that the first\nChristian ecclesiastics adopted the use, as the Mohammedans, in their\nminarets, did so likewise.[201]\n\nThe instance to which I have referred in an early part of this volume, of\nastonishment created in the English minds, on their first beholding one of\nthose implements, was that of Gildas, who, having finished his education\nat Armagh, and returned to Britain about the year 508, was engaged by\nCadoc, abbot of the church of Mancarban, to superintend the studies of his\npupils during his absence for a twelvemonth. Having done so most\nsuccessfully, and without accepting of any remuneration for his labour, we\nfind, in an ancient life of Cadoc, in the Tinmouth MS., Lambeth observes\nthat \u201cCadoc, returning to his monastery, found Gildas a noble scholar,\nwith a very beautiful _little bell_, which he brought with him from\nIreland.\u201d\n\nThose bells, then, we may be sure, appertained exclusively to the service\nof the Round Towers.[202] Having none of these in England, of course they\nhad no bells, and hence the surprise manifested on the above occasion. In\nIreland, too, they must have been, now, comparatively obsolete.[203] And\nhence we find, according to Primate Usher, that their (restored) use was\nnot general in the _churches_ here before the latter end of the seventh\ncentury; while another writer assures us that it was not until the ninth\ncentury that large ones were invented for the purpose of suspension.[204]\n\nThe shape of the Irish _pagan_ bells was precisely the same as of those\nin the present day. They were called crotals, or bell-cymbals. Oblong\n_square_ ones, some of bell-metal, some of iron, from twelve inches to\neighteen inches high, with a handle to sound them by, have been also dug\nup in our various bogs. Of these the museum of the Dublin Society\npossesses one; another is preserved by the Moira family. The writer of\nthis article not having seen either of these relics, is rather diffident\nin the conjecture which he is now about to express; but from the account\nreceived of that in the possession of the house of Moira, he feels\nstrongly disposed to identify its origin with the worship of the\nabove-mentioned deity, Astarte. Lucian expressly tells us that under the\nveil of this goddess was really meant the _moon_; and that \u201cthe host of\nheaven,\u201d--including sun, moon, and stars, and typifying the fulgor of that\nOmniscient germ whence they all had emanated,--constituted the object of\nthe ancient Irish adoration, no one, I believe, can longer question. Now,\nin Hall\u2019s _Tour through Ireland_, 1813, I see this bell described as\nhaving \u201ca hole in one of its sides like a quarterly moon\u201d; and not knowing\nwhether this is the effect of accident or corrosion, or a symbolical\nproperty in its original shape, I trust I shall not be deemed fanciful if\nI ascribe it as a reference to that planet in whose vain solemnities it\nhad been primarily exercised.\n\nWhether this exposition prove eccentrical or otherwise, and, by\ninspection, it can be readily ascertained, I cannot presume to determine;\nnor indeed does it value much.[205] With one thing, however, I am\ngratified, that in Archer\u2019s _Travels in Upper India_, published, as before\nobserved, within the last few weeks, I find that distinguished soldier and\nshrewd observer, delineate a piece of architecture similar in all\nparticulars to this Syrian Priap--the allusion to which has recalled me to\nring this second chime upon the bells--and as the notice is of value, I\nshall give it in his express words: \u201cA curious structure,\u201d says he, \u201cis at\nthe bottom of the hill (Dutteah). It consists of five _conical pillars_,\nwith green painted tops, in a line from east to west; the two larger ones\nin the centre: the _pillars_ have _tiles stuck in them resembling steps_.\nWe could not learn what was its meaning or use. The village is wholly\n_Jain_, and is named Serrowlee.\u201d\n\nIt is not difficult to understand why no information could be obtained,\nfrom the _present_ inhabitants, as to the object of those edifices. Their\nremote _antiquity_ is a sufficient reply. But I flatter myself that the\nreader, who has accompanied me from the outset of this antiquarian voyage,\ncan now supply the defect, and explain that _they were a series of Round\nTowers_, or _Phalli, erected by the aboriginal Buddhists_, of whom the\n_Jaina_ are only the wretched remains; and that those \u201ctiles\u201d which are\n\u201cstuck in them, resembling steps,\u201d _were for the purpose of ascending by\nthe aid of a hoop_, such as we have shown at Hieropolis. The projecting\nstones in _our_ Priaps, or the cavities that appear after their removal,\nare thus also accounted for.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n\nThe universal ignorance which prevails throughout the East as to the\norigin of those antiquities which excite the wonder of every traveller\nmakes it necessary that we should again direct our course towards that\nhemisphere, to redeem, if possible, its venerable remains from that moral\nnight which successive ages have accumulated around them.\n\nPersia[206] was the source which poured its vivifying light into the\nmental obnubilation of our European ancestors. By a reverse of those\ncasualties from which no condition can be exempt, Persia has, in her turn,\nbeen made the theatre of darkness; and though, under the fostering\nauspices of British institutions, the mist has, to a large amount, been\ndispelled, yet is the proudest era of her splendour left still\nunexplored, and that is the epoch which called forth into life those\nmonuments of literature and philosophical eminence, which, resisting the\ncorrosion of time and the assaults of war, still proudly elevate their\nheads towards those orbs, with whose pompous ceremonial they were\nessentially connected, and whose generative properties they typically\nsymbolised--I mean the Round Towers.\n\nThis was the moment of Persia\u2019s halcyon pride: this the period of her\nearthly coruscation: to this have all the faculties of my ardent mind with\nvigour been addressed; and while, in the humble consciousness of\nsuccessful investigation, I announce its issue to have far exceeded my\nhopes, I shall avail myself of the industry of preceding inquirers to\nthrow light upon the intervals of value which intervene; but, lest I\nshould intrude upon the province of their well-earned honours, I shall, in\nevery such case of borrowed assistance, allow the writers themselves to\nspeak; by which it will additionally appear that, with much good taste,\nand with historical honesty, they have left a vacuum in their researches,\nfor which the public mind has been long athirst, and which my exclusive\nresources could alone supply.\n\n\u201cThe Persian empire,\u201d[207] says Heeren, \u201cowed its origin to one of those\ngreat political revolutions which are of such frequent occurrence in Asia,\nand the rise and progress of which we have already considered in general.\nA rude mountain tribe of nomad habits rushed with impetuous rapidity from\nits fastnesses, and overwhelmed all the nations of Southern Asia, (the\nArabians excepted), from the Mediterranean to the Indus and Iaxartes. The\nmighty empires which arose in Asia were not founded in the same manner\nwith the kingdoms of Europe. They were generally erected by mighty\nconquering nations, and these, for the most part, nomad nations. This\nimportant consideration we must never lose sight of, when engaged in the\nstudy of their history and institutions.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot only is Persia[208] Proper memorable on account of its historical\nassociations, but also for the architectural remains which it continues to\npresent. The ruins of Persepolis are the noblest monuments of the most\nflourishing era of this empire, which have survived the lapse of ages. As\nsolitary in their situation as peculiar in their character, they rise\nabove the deluge of years, which for centuries has overwhelmed all the\nrecords of human grandeur, around them, or near them, and buried all\ntraces of Susa and of Babylon. Their venerable antiquity and majestic\nproportions do not more command our reverence, than the mystery which\ninvolves their construction awakens the curiosity of the most unobservant\nspectator. Pillars which belong to no known order of architecture;\ninscriptions in an alphabet which continues an enigma; fabulous animals\nwhich stand as guards at the entrance; the multiplicity of allegorical\nfigures which decorate the walls,--all conspire to carry us back to ages\nof the most remote antiquity, over which the traditions of the East shed a\ndoubtful and wandering light.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Persians have taken more pains than almost any other nation to\npreserve their records in writing; yet it has been their fate, in common\nwith most other nations of antiquity, to be indebted for the stability of\ntheir fame to foreign historians. Notwithstanding the pains they took to\nregister the acts of their government, the _original documents of their\nhistory_, with a few accidental exceptions, have altogether perished. And\nthe inscriptions of Persepolis, like the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians,\nwill, in a manner, have outlived themselves, unless a complete key be\ndiscovered to the alphabet in which they are composed.\u201d\n\nNow, as a set off to these extracts, it will be necessary to remark that,\nthough true in substance, they are only so as descriptive of a particular\nepoch. Empire after empire rolled over, in succession, before that which\nthe historian here delineates, and which was but the motley combination of\na rugged swarm of mountaineers, who stalked with ferocious insensibility\nover the consecrated relics of monumental glory.\n\nHerodotus and Arrian were the authorities that seduced him into this\nmistake, the former of whom states that \u201cthe Persians originally occupied\na small and craggy country, and that it was proposed in the time of Cyrus\nthat they should exchange this for one more fertile; a plan which Cyrus\ndiscouraged as likely to extinguish their hardy and warlike pursuits\u201d; and\nthe latter, that \u201cthe Persians, when, under Cyrus, they conquered all\nAsia, were a poor people, inhabiting a hilly region\u201d;[209] but those\nwriters were as misinformed, as to all events and particulars relating to\nthis locality, anterior to the time specified above, as any of their\ncontemporaries; and when we reflect how very recent an era in the history\nof the world was that in which Cyrus appeared, it will be seen how fragile\na substratum was that which the professor had adopted for the erection of\nhis materials. We read accordingly, in Terceira\u2019s Spanish history of that\ncountry, that \u201cthere was not at that time (A.D. 1590) one man in Persia\n(these were the direct descendants of Cyrus\u2019s men) that understood their\n_ancient_ letters, for having often seen some plates of metal with\n_ancient_ inscriptions on them, I made inquiry after the meaning of them;\nand men _well versed_ in their _antiquities_, and _studious_, told me that\nwas _Fars kadeem, ancient Persian_, after the old fashion, and _therefore_\nI should find _no man_ that understood it.\u201d\n\nIndeed the reasonings of Heeren himself,--and learned I cheerfully\nacknowledge them,--would seem to make him rise above the narrowness of his\nGrecian supporters.\n\n\u201cEven previous,\u201d says he, \u201cto the time when the Arabs, with the sword in\none hand and the Koran in the other, overran and subdued Persia, they were\nthe more open to settlers from the North and East, from the circumstance\nthat Persia was situated on the great highway of nations, by which the\nhuman race spread itself from East to West. All that is meant to be\nasserted is, that the various races who successively had dominion in these\nparts, all belonged to the same original stock.\n\n\u201cThis fact, which the observations of the best modern travellers tend to\nconfirm, may explain how it has come to pass that many districts,\nanciently celebrated for their fertility, are at present barren and\nunproductive. A single invasion, by destroying the water-courses, is\nsufficient to reduce, in a short time, a fertile and flourishing country\nto an arid desert; and to how many such disastrous contingencies has not\nPersia at all times been exposed!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnother fact, suggested by the languages of Asia and the ancient dialects\nof Persia, is too important to be passed over in silence. Not only in the\nPersian territory but in other parts of Eastern Asia, particularly the two\nIndian peninsulas, we find languages which still subsist, mixed up with\nothers which are preserved to us only in a few written names. To this\nclass belong, in Persia, the Zend and Pahlivi, already mentioned; in\nHindustan, the celebrated Sanscrit, as well as the Pali in the Burman\npeninsula.\n\n\u201cAccordingly, we shall venture to consider as the same parent stock the\nrace which bore rule in Iran, comprehending all the inferior races, and\nwhich may be termed in general the Persian or Medo-Persian, inasmuch as\nthe countries in its occupation were termed, in a wider sense, the land of\nPersia.\n\n\u201cThey have been denominated by Rhode (Heilige sagen, etc.) the people of\nZend, not improperly, if we consider the Zend as the original language of\nall the race ... not confined to Persis, properly so called, but extending\nover the steppes of Carmania and to the shores of the Caspian. Even at the\npresent day they are comprised under the general name of Persia, though\nFarsistan, the original country of the Persians, forms a very small part\nof this territory.\n\n\u201cThe Semitic and the Persian were, therefore, the principal languages of\nAsia; the latter being spoken as far as the Indus. Our knowledge of the\nlanguages prevalent on the other side of that river is as yet too\ndefective to enable us to speak with anything like certainty. Possibly it\nmay be reserved for our own age to arrive at important conclusions on this\nsubject, if the affinity between the Zend and the Sanscrit, the sacred\nlanguages of Persia and Hindustan, should be established,--if the spirit\nof discovery which characterises the British nation should succeed in\nrescuing from oblivion some more remains of ancient Indian literature, and\na second Anquetil Duperron present the public with the sacred books of the\nBrahmans, with the same success that his predecessor has illustrated those\nof the Parsees.\u201d\n\nThough I cannot avoid concurring in the laudable hope that \u201cour own age\u201d\nmay witness important conclusions on this subject, still it strikes\nme,--_and I earnestly urge it as worthy of the notice of a Reform\nMinistry_, that until the _Irish Language_ be raked from its ashes, no\naccuracy can ever be obtained either in the Zend, Pahlavi, or Sanscrit\n_dialects_, which are but emanations from it, or in the _subject matter_,\nhistorical or religious, which they profess to pourtray.\n\n\u201cIn the interior of these districts is situated a considerable lake,\ncalled the Lake Zevora, unquestionably the _Aria Palus_ of antiquity. A\nlarge river, anciently bearing the same name, at present called the\nIlmend, empties itself into this inland sea from the deserts to the\nsouth-east, and Christie fell in with another stream farther to the north,\ncalled the Herat, near a town of the same name.\n\n\u201cI consider (with Kinneir) the city of Herat to be same with the ancient\nAria, or, as it was also called, Artacoana. We are told that Alexander on\nhis march to Bactriana inclined to the south to visit Aria. We must\ncarefully distinguish between the terms Aria and Ariana, as used by the\nGreeks. The former was applied to a province which we shall have occasion\nto describe in the sequel. The latter is equivalent to Iran, and appears\nto have been formed from the ancient term in the Zend language, Eriene.\nThe whole of Iran composes a sort of oblong, the Tigris and Indus forming\nits sides to the east and west; the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean bounding\nit to the south; and the Caspian, with Mount Taurus and the river Oxus,\nshutting it in to the north. These were also the limits of the ancient\nAriana (see Strabo, p. 1048), except that, towards the west, its boundary\nwas an imaginary line separating it from Persia Proper. Of this more\nextensive district, Aria (according to Strabo) formed only a part,\ndistinguished by its superior fertility. Herodotus appears to have been\nunacquainted with the term Aria; he merely mentions the Arii as a nation\nallied to the Medes.\n\n\u201cAria, lying to the east of Media, derived its name from the river Arius,\nthe modern Heri: and the Arians and Medes were originally the same race;\nthe Medes, according to Herodotus, having originally borne the name\nArians. It is apparent, from the same place (Herod. vii. 62) that what\nwere called the _Median habits_ were not confined to Media Proper, but\nextended to the countries lying eastward, and as these touch on Bactria,\nwe cannot be surprised at the conformity which prevailed.\u201d\n\nThese latter quotations I have thought fit to introduce to show the\nignorance of the modern Greeks,--those of Cyrus and Herodotus\u2019s\ndays--compared with their Pelasgic predecessors--_Iran_, the real name for\nall those countries of higher Asia as far as the Indus,[210] being\ncalled, in the Zend, _Eriene_, the Greeks, whose intercourse with the East\nnow for the first time began, without troubling their brains to ascertain\nwhat the word in either form meant, transmuted this latter into _Ariana_,\nwhereas their forefathers, the Pelasgi, a literary and a religious tribe,\nchanged its namesake in the West, our own _Iran_--which in the Pahlavi\ndialect was called _Erin_, and in the Zend would also be called\n_Eriene_--into _Ierne_, thereby evincing their knowledge of the import of\nthe term, and registering their subscription in its _sacred_\nattributes.[211]\n\nThe following, however, is more to the point, and in itself sufficient to\nredeem the professor\u2019s entire work from any occasional inclination to\nGrecian subserviency.\n\n\u201cIt cannot be doubted that at some remote period antecedent to the\ncommencement of historical records, one mighty race possessed these vast\nplains.\n\n\u201cThe traditions of this race preserve some very important particulars\nrespecting their descent, their ancient abodes, and their gradual\ndissemination through the land of Iran. These traditions are preserved in\nthe beginning of the Vendidat, the most important, and it is probable, the\nmost ancient of all their sacred books, the collection of which is styled\nthe Zendavasta, to which we shall have occasion to refer hereafter. The\nfirst two chapters of this work, entitled _Fargards_, contain the above\ntraditions, not wrapt up in allegory, but so evidently historical as to\ndemand nothing more than the application of geographical knowledge to\nexplain them. With the exception of the Mosaical Scriptures, we are\nacquainted with nothing which so plainly wears the stamp of remote\nantiquity, ascending beyond the times within which the known empires of\nthe East flourished; in which we catch, as it were, the last faint echo of\nthe history of a former world, anterior to that great catastrophe of our\nplanet, which is attested in the vicinity of the parent country of these\nlegends, by the remains of the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the mammoth,\nand other countries properly belonging to the countries of the South. It\nwould be a fruitless labour to attempt to assign dates to these remains,\nbut if the compiler of the _Vendidat_ himself, who was long anterior to\nthe Persian, and as we shall have occasion to show, probably also to the\nMedian dynasty, as known to us, received them as the primeval traditions\nof his race, our opinion of their importance may be fully justified.\n\n\u201cThese legends describe as the _original_ seat of the race, a delicious\ncountry, named Eriene-_Veedjo_, which enjoyed a climate singularly mild,\nhaving seven months summer and five of winter. Such was the state at\nfirst, as created by the power of Ormuzd; but the author of evil, the\ndeath-dealing Ahriman, smote it with the plague of cold, so that it came\nto have ten months of winter and only two of summer. Thus the nation began\nto desert the paradise they at first occupied, and Ormuzd successively\ncreated for their reception sixteen other places of benediction and\nabundance, which are faithfully recorded in the legend.\n\n\u201cWhat then was the site of the Eriene referred to? The editors and\ncommentators on the Zendavesta are inclined to discover it in Georgia, or\nthe Caucasian district; but the opinion must necessarily appear\nunsatisfactory to anyone who will take into account the whole of the\nrecord, and the succession of places there mentioned as the abodes of the\nrace. On the contrary, we there trace a gradual migration of the nation\nfrom east to west, not as this hypothesis would tend to prove, from west\nto east. The first abode which Ormuzd created for the exiled people was\nSoghdi, whose identity with Sogdiana is sufficiently apparent; next M\u00f4ore,\nor Maroo, in Khorasan; then Bakhdi, or Balkh (Bactriana), and so on to\nFars itself, and the boundaries of Media or India. The original country of\nEriene must therefore lie to the east of Leed, and thus we are led, by the\ncourse of tradition, to those regions which we have already referred to as\nthe scene of the traditions and fables of the nation, viz. the mountainous\ntracts on the borders of Bucharia, the chain of Mustag and Beloorland, as\nfar as the Paropamisan range on the confines of Hindustan, and extending\nnorthwards to the neighbourhood of the Altain chain. This savage and\nungenial region enjoys at present only a short summer, at the same time\nthat it contains the relics of an ancient world, which confirm, by\npositive proof, the legend of the Vendidat, that anciently the _climate_\nwas of a _totally different character_. When the altered nature of their\noriginal seats compelled the race to quit them, Ormuzd prepared for them\nother places of repose and abundance, within the precincts of that\nterritory which has _preserved to the present day the appellation of Iran;\nthe nation carrying with them the name of Eriene, which is obviously the\nsame with Iran_.\n\n\u201cJemshid, the father of his people, the most glorious of mortals whom the\nsun ever beheld. In his day animals perished not: there was no want either\nof water or of fruit-bearing trees, or of animals fit for the food of\nmankind. During the light of his reign there was neither frost nor burning\nheat, nor death, nor unbridled passions, nor the work of the Deevs. Man\nappeared to retain the age of fifteen; the children grew up in safety as\nlong as Jemshid reigned the father of his people.[212]\n\n\u201cThe restoration of such a golden age was the end of the legislation of\nZoroaster, who, however, built his code on a religious foundation\nagreeably to the practice of the East; and the multifarious ceremonies he\nprescribed had all reference to certain doctrines intimately associated\nwith his political dogmata; and it is absolutely necessary to bear in mind\ntheir alliance, if we would not do injustice to one part or other of his\nsystem.\n\n\u201cOn these principles Zoroaster built his laws for the improvement of the\nsoil by means of agriculture, by tending of cattle and gardening, which he\nperpetually inculcates, as if he could not sufficiently impress his\ndisciples with a sense of their importance.\n\n\u201cAccording to his own professions he was only the restorer of the doctrine\nwhich Ormuzd himself had promulgated in the days of Jemshid: this\ndoctrine, however, had been misrepresented, a false and delusive magia,\nthe work of Deevs, had crept in, which was first to be extinguished, in\norder to restore the pure laws of Ormuzd.\n\n\u201cEven Plato, the first Grecian writer who mentions Zoroaster, speaks of\nhim as _a sage of remote antiquity_; and the same is established by the\nevidence of Hermippus and Eudoxus, which Pliny has preserved. The second\nZoroaster, supposed by Toucher to have flourished under Darius Hystaspes,\nis the mere figment of some later Grecian authors of little credit.\n\n\u201cOn the whole, we _are compelled_ to carry back Zoroaster to the period\nwhen Bactriana was an independent monarchy, _a period anterior to the very\ncommencement of the Median empire_, as related by Herodotus, ascending\n_beyond the eighth century_ before the Christian era. Whether we must\nrefer him to a _still more ancient epoch_, prior to the Assyrian monarchy,\nthe chronological notices we have already given are all that can be\nafforded, except we be prepared to transport the sage beyond the _utmost\nlimits of recorded_ history.\u201d\n\nAs I have no longer occasion, however, for the _sage_ than to show that he\nwas a _reformer_; and though at least \u201ceight (more likely _eighteen_)\nhundred years before the Christian era,\u201d--yet was he even then,\ncomparatively, a _modern_,--I shall now turn to other sources to ascend to\nthe dynasties that had preceded him.\n\n\u201cThe rare and interesting tract on twelve religions,\u201d says Sir W. Jones,\n\u201centitled the Dabistan, and composed by a Mohammedan traveller, a native\nof Cashmere, named Moshan, but distinguished by the assumed surname of\nFani, or Perishable, begins with a wonderfully curious chapter on the\nreligion of Hushang, which was _long anterior to Zeradust_ (_Zoroaster_),\nbut had continued to be _secretly professed_ by many learned Persians,\neven to the author\u2019s time; and several of the most eminent of these\ndissenting, in many points, from the Ghabres, and persecuted by the ruling\npowers of their country, had retired to India, where they compiled a\nnumber of books, now extremely scarce, which Moshan had perused, and with\nthe writers of which, or with many of them, he had contracted an intimate\nfriendship. From them he learned that a _powerful monarchy had been\nestablished for ages in Iran for the accession of Cayemurs_; that it was\ncalled the Mahabadean dynasty, for a reason which will soon be mentioned;\nand that many princes, of whom seven or eight only are named in the\nDabistan, and among them Mahbul, or Maha Beli, had raised the empire to\nthe zenith of human glory. If we can rely on this evidence,--_which to me\nappears unexceptionable_,--the Iranian monarchy must have been the oldest\nin the world.\u201d\n\nSir John Malcolm had some scruples as to the authenticity of this\nproduction, and entered upon a very severe analysis of its contents;\nmerely because the _idols_ which the ancient Persians are therein stated\nto have adored, and the _mode_ of their adoration, were dissimilar to\nthose of India! Was it necessary that they should be alike? It is true,\nthat from Persia everything Indian flowed; but there, on its importation,\nit partook of the peculiarities of the soil and climate; while, even in\nPersia itself, a great degeneracy occurred; and the deterioration and\nmoral laxity, thus superinduced, was what the virtuous Zeradust so\ndeplored, and what _kindled_ his _fervour_ to new model the system.\n\nBut \u201cthe introduction of the angel _Gabriel_,\u201d he says, \u201cappears of\nitself enough to discredit the whole work.\u201d Was Sir John sure that this\nrendering was literal? He himself admits that he was \u201cfollowing a\nMohammedan author, who has certainly made a _free_ translation of the\nPahlavi text.\u201d And, if so in one case, why not in another? But even\nadmitting that there was no _freedom_ at all used in the matter; and that\n_Gabriel_ is the rigid version of the name of the messenger employed, this\nshould not, _in the least_, affect our reliance upon the Dabistan, as I\nshall adduce a greater _coincidence_ than this, nay, a downright\n_identity_, not only of _name_ but of _essence_, between the divine\ndispensation in all previous ages, and the spiritual form of it with which\nwe are at present blessed.\n\nBut you will say, perhaps, that Moshan Fani\u2019s authorities were, in a great\nmeasure, _floating_, and dependent upon _histories_ of a merely oral\nstamp, which--wanting as they do, the impress of lettered perpetuity, and\nsubject, as they are, to variation, both of curtailment and of addition,\nbesides the colour of depreciation or enhancement, which they must\nfurthermore undergo, according to the nature of the successive _media_\nthrough which they pass,--cannot, after repeated transfusions, retain much\nsimilarity with the original truth, nor afford to a rational and thinking\nmind, however they may gratify selfish or national love, much stability\nfor conviction or satisfactory acquiescence?\n\nTo the first I shall reply that it seems not correct, as the manuscripts\nby which he was guided appear still in existence; and this was not without\nits influence on Sir John\u2019s own scepticism, when he declares, that \u201cthe\ndoubtful authority of this work has received some support from the recent\ndiscovery of a volume in the ancient Pahlivi, called the Dussadeer, or\nZemarawatseer, to which its authors refer.\u201d\n\nThen, as to the _vanity_ alluded to, the compiler may well be acquitted of\nany, as being of a different creed, and proverbially intolerant, he could\nnot, _did not truth oversway_, have felt much communion of pleasure in\ncelebrating the glories of a defunct religion. And though I concede that\n_that_ species of information, which arises from the traditions of\nsuccessive races of men, cannot be so satisfactory as that which is\n_stereotyped_ in alphabetic characters; nay, that, according as it\ndiverges from its first outlet, it is likely to diverge also from\nexactness; still I do insist, that the prevalence of those _traditions_,\nwherever they occur, argues some alliance with _fact_ and _reality_; just\nas idolatry itself, in all its ramifications, is but the corrupt\ntransmission of original pure religion.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n\nThe objections against the Dabistan being thus superseded, and the idea of\nits being an \u201cinvention\u201d[213] having never crossed anyone\u2019s thoughts, I\nshall now give a bird\u2019s-eye view of its tenour in Sir John\u2019s own summary\nthereof.\n\n\u201cIt has been before observed,\u201d says he, \u201cthat the idolatrous religion\nwhich Mohsin Fani ascribes to the ancient Persians, bears no resemblance\nto the worship of the Hindoos: it seems nearest that which was followed by\na sect of _Sabians_, who, we are told, _believed in God_, but _adored the\nplanets_, whom _they deemed his vicegerents, that exercised an influence\nover all created things in the world_. This sect of Sabians were said to\nfollow the _ancient_ Chaldeans, and to inherit their skill in astronomy, a\nscience built upon the same foundation as the adoration of the\nplanets.[214] And this leads us to remark, that the very title of the work\nfrom which Mohsin Fani gives an account of this worship, appears more like\nthat of a treatise upon astrology, than upon religion. He calls it\n_Akheristan_, or _the region_ of the _stars_. It is, however, impossible\nto enter into any minute comparison of the religion he ascribes to the\nancient Persians, and the sect of Sabians that have been noticed, _because\nwe have only a very general account of the tenets of the latter_.\u201d\n\nAs to the _impossibility_ here complained of, it is obvious that _there is\nnone_: whoever has digested even the early part of this essay will own it\nwas but _ideal_. With this I should have contented myself, but that I feel\ncalled upon to correct another misconception, which the above may have\nproduced.\n\nThat Sabaism meant _idolatry_ in the way there insinuated, I utterly and\naltogether repudiate. It was the religion of the early Greeks before their\ndegenerate mythology had loaded it with so many absurdities;[215] and that\nit was so, is evident from the term in their language, which expresses \u201cto\nworship,\u201d viz. \u03c3\u03b5\u03b2\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9, an evident derivation, from which is anglicised,\nSabaism.[216] The object of this religion was the host of heaven, meaning\nthe sun, moon, and stars. The names assigned to the reputed idols, viz.\nUranus, _i.e._ Heaven, and Gea, _i.e._ Earth, with the energies of the sky\nand nature typified under the names of the \u201cCyclops\u201d and \u201cGiants,\u201d\nincontrovertibly demonstrate the truth of this position.\n\nI have said that the name Cyclops, in this religious code, was meant to\nfigure forth the energies of the atmosphere; I need but mention their\ndenominations to establish my proof. They are \u201cSteropes,\u201d from \u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03b7,\nlightning; Argues, from \u03b1\u03c1\u03b3\u03b7\u03c2, quick-flashing; and Brontes, from \u03b2\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b7,\nthunder. Even the celebrated name of _Hercules_[217] himself, and the\ntwelve labours poetically ascribed to him,--who, we must observe, many\nages before the Tirynthian hero is fabled to have performed his wonders,\nor his mother Clymena to have been born, had temples raised to him in\nPh\u0153nicia and Egypt, as well as at Cadiz and the Isle of Thasos,--are\nnothing more than a figurative denotation of the annual course of the\nsolar luminary through the signs of the Zodiac.\n\nIn support of this I shall quote the authority of Porphyry, who was\nhimself born in Ph\u0153nicia, and who assures us that \u201cthey there gave the\nname of Hercules to the sun, and that the fable of the twelve labours\nrepresents the sun\u2019s annual path in the heavens.\u201d Orpheus, or the author\nof the hymns that pass under his name, says that Hercules is \u201cthe god who\nproduced time, whose forms vary, the father of all things and destroyer of\nall; he is the god who brings back by turns Aurora and the night, and who\nmoving onwards from east to west, runs through the career of his twelve\nlabours; the valiant Titan, who chases away maladies, and delivers man\nfrom the evils which afflict him.\u201d The scholiast on Hesiod likewise\nremarks, \u201cThe zodiac in which the sun performs his annual course is the\ntrue career which Hercules traverses in the fable of the twelve labours;\nand his marriage with H\u0153be, the goddess of youth, whom he espoused after\nhe had ended his labours, denotes the renewal of the year at the end of\neach solar revolution.\u201d While the poet Nonnas, adverting to the sun as\nadored by the Tyrians, designates him Hercules Astrokiton (\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c7\u03b9\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd), or\nthe god clothed in a mantle of stars; following up this description by\nstating that \u201che is the same god whom different nations adore, under a\nmultitude of different names--Belus, on the banks of the Euphrates; Ammon,\nin Libya; Apis, at Memphis; Saturn, in Arabia; Jupiter, in Assyria;\nSerapis, in Egypt; Helios, among the Babylonians; Apollo, at Delphi;\n\u00c6sculapius, throughout Greece,\u201d etc. etc.\n\nEven the father of history himself, the great Colossus of the Greeks,\nwhilst claiming for his countrymen the honour of instituting their own\ntheogony, evinces in the attempt more of misgiving and doubt than was\nconsistent with the possession of authentic information. His words are\nthese: \u201cAs for the gods whence each of them was descended, or whether they\nwere always in being, or under what shape or form they existed, the Greeks\nknew nothing till very lately. Hesiod and Homer were, I believe, about\nfour hundred years older than myself, and no more, and these are the men\nwho made a theogony for the Greeks; who gave the gods their appellations,\ndefined their qualities, appointed their honours, and described their\nforms; as for the poets, who are said to have lived before these men, I am\nof opinion they came after them.\u201d\n\nBut even this assumption, were it conceded to the utmost, would not\nmilitate against the doctrine which I have laid down; for Homer\u2019s\neducation was received in Egypt, and India was the medium which\nilluminated the latter country; nothing, therefore, prevents our yielding\nto the stream of general authority in ascribing the introduction to the\nPelasgi. The word \u03c7\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 itself, or \u201cthe father of Jove,\u201d was nothing more\nthan an equivalent with the Latin _tempus_; and for the very best possible\nreason, because the revolutions of this planet, as of the other celestial\norbs, came, from their periodical and regular appearances, to be\nconsidered the ordinary measurements of the parts of duration or time.\n\nIt must, no doubt, appear a contradiction that Chronos--the \u201cson of\nUranus, and Terra,\u201d as we were told at school, and the first person, as\nsomewhere else stated, who was honoured with a crown--should be called an\n\u201corb,\u201d and have \u201cperiodical appearances\u201d; and that those appearances\nshould regulate our estimate of days, weeks, years, and seasons. The\ndifficulty, however, will cease, when we consider that though the _sun_,\n_moon_, and _stars_ were the primary objects of false worship, the\ndeification of dead men, deceased heroes, afterwards crept in, the\nconsequence of which was a mixed kind of idolatry, consisting of _stars_\nand _heroes_, or _heroines, deceased_--a planet being assigned to each as\nthe greatest possible honour. \u201cThat whom men could not honour in presence,\nbecause they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of his visage from\nfar, and made an express image of a king, whom they honoured, to the end\nthat by their forwardness they might flatter him that was absent, as if he\nwas present.\u201d[218]\n\nLet us now see how the religion of the ancient Irish harmonises with that\nof the Dabistan, as illustrated in the composition of some of our ancient\nnames. Here _Baal_, or _Moloch_, and _Astarte_ are obviously in the\nforeground; whilst the popular and vernacular names for those luminaries\namongst the peasantry themselves, namely, _Grian_ for the _sun_, _Luan_\nfor the _moon_, _Righ_ for _king_, and _Rea_ for _queen_, in their\nappropriation to several localities throughout the country, indicate but\ntoo plainly the melancholy tale of their former deification.\n\nTo instance some few of those names, that strike me as _demonstrative_ of\nthis Sabian worship, I shall begin with\n\nBaltinglas.[219]--This name of a town and mountain in the county of\nWicklow, and province of Leinster, is equivalent to Baal-tinne-glass, that\nis, \u201cBaal\u2019s-fire-green,\u201d alluding to the colour of the grass at the spring\nseason. These _igneous_ betrayals of human frailty and superstition were\ncelebrated throughout Ireland at both the _vernal_ and _autumnal_\nequinoxes, in honour of the twin divinities so often adverted to in the\ncourse of this book. The eve of the vernal one was called _Aiche\nBaal-tinne_, that is, the night of Baal\u2019s fire, the eve of the autumnal,\n_Aiche Shamain_, that is, the night of the moon\u2019s solemnity; on both which\noccasions fires were lighted on all \u201c_the high places_\u201d dedicated to their\nworship.\n\nThe return of these respective seasons gave rise to various superstitions\namongst the illiterate populace, one of which was that of borrowing a\npiece of money at the first sight of the new-moon, if they had it not\nthemselves, as an omen of plenty throughout the month.[220] And their\npraying to that luminary, when first seen after its change, is so well\nknown as to be mentioned even by a French writer, whom Selden, _De Diis\nSyriis_, quotes in these words:--\u201cSe mittent a genoux en voyant la lune\nnouvelle, et disent en parlant a lune, laise nous ausi sains que tu nous\nas trouv\u00e9.\u201d[221]\n\nThe new moon nearest to the winter solstice was celebrated with peculiar\nceremonies. On that night the chief Druid, attended by crowds of the\npeople, used to go into the woods, and cut with a golden sickle a branch\nof the mistletoe of the oak, which he would carry in procession to the\nsacred grove. This golden sickle or crescent corresponded in form and\nnature with that which Aurelius Antoninus, the Roman emperor, wore at his\ncoronation, to intimate his adherence to the Ph\u0153nician doctrines in which\nhe had been early instructed--his adopted name still further intimating\nthat he had been, what _it_ literally signifies, Heliogabalus, that is,\npriest of the sun.[222] The crescent itself is the favourite badge of\n_Sheevah_, the _matrimonial_ deity of the Indians, which he is represented\nas wearing in front of his crown.\n\nAfter the introduction of Christianity, its first preachers wishing to\ndefer to the prejudices of the inhabitants, yet not so as to interfere\nwith the celebration of Easter at the vernal equinox, with an\naccommodating policy, retained the Baal-tinne ceremonial, only\ntransferring it to the _saints\u2019 days_; thus _diverting_ their attention\nfrom their former devotion, and fixing it upon those who, in their zealous\npropagation of the gospel truths, may be considered as Christian\n_stars_;--conformably to that gracious character of \u201ca burning and shining\nlight,\u201d which our Saviour Himself applied to His precursor, St. John.\n\nIn honour of this apostle, June 24th, the day of his nativity, was\nsubstituted, in the old ecclesiastical calendar, for the pagan solstice\nfestival, and called solstitium vulgi, the vulgar solstice.\n\nThe intention of the transfer was, however, lost sight of by the\nilliterate; and when they would kindle their fires on the tops of\n_mountains_ on those occasions, they used to blend with them the features\nof the pagan institution, by passing children and cattle between them for\nthe purpose of purification.\n\nThe propriety, therefore, of thus subserving to deep-rooted prejudices,\nhas by some been impugned; but \u201csurely,\u201d after all, to use the words of a\nvery able writer, \u201cthey were much wiser and better who, in those early\ntimes, grafted the evangelical upon the druidical culture, than they who,\nin subsequent times, instituted a system of extirpation in order to\nregenerate.\u201d\n\nThe other pagan solemnities were similarly metamorphosed, and partook of\nsimilar transmutations. The 1st of May alone retained the name and\ncharacteristics of its original appropriation, being still called \u201c_La\nBeuil-tinne_,\u201d that is, the day of Baal\u2019s fire, as familiarly as the name\n_Christmas_ is given to the 25th of December. On it, too, fires are\nkindled on \u201chigh places,\u201d as before; and children and cattle purified by\npassing between them;--\n\n              --------\u201cYet, oh! remember\n  Oft I have heard thee say, the secret heart\n  Is fair Devotion\u2019s temple: there the saint\n  Even on that living altar lights the flame\n  Of purest sacrifice, which burns unseen,\n  Not unaccepted.\u201d[223]\n\nI next turn to Killmalloch, the ancient name of which, as given by\nPtolemy, was Macollicon,--a metathesis for Mallochicon; and the final,\n_icon_, which is only a Greek termination, being taken away, leaves\nMalloch, that is, Moloch, the Apollo or great divinity of the ancient\nuniverse.\n\nTo divert the natives from this misplaced enthusiasm, one of the early\nconverts to Christianity assumed to himself the name of _Maloch_; and\nthen prefixing to it the adjunct _Kill_, made it the _church_ of _Maloch_,\ninstead of the _city_ of _Moloch_.\n\nHere is still to be seen, careering towards the skies, one of those\n\u201c_singular_ temples of round form,\u201d of the existence of which Vitruvius\nwas so ignorant, but whose dogmatic enunciation of \u201cmonopteres\u201d and\n\u201cperipteres,\u201d sounds as feebly in _my_ ears, as Montmorency\u2019s assumption\nthat the round towers were dungeons!--and the violence which this\nstructure has latterly undergone--by the effort made to incorporate it\nwith the Christian cathedral, built beside it in rivalship, after an\ninterval of nearly three thousand years--is one of the most triumphant\nevidences which truth can produce in suppression of error. My soul burned\nwith earnestness to visit this hallowed scene, upon which I had revolved\nso much, and which I associated in my fancy with the recorded glories of\nApollo. I have, at last, seen it; and he must be indeed a slave to\nfaction, or the dupe of prejudice, who will not subscribe to that evidence\nwhich the very stones proclaim.\n\nApollo\u2019s Temple, or the Round Tower, stands at the corner of the\ncathedral, subsequently built half-around it: and, as you ascend the\nparapet of the latter, by an _intermural_ staircase, having to pass,\nafterwards, from one side of this parapet to the other, just at the very\ncorner by which the Tower is girt, the pass being very narrow, and almost\nterrific in dimensions, wholly defenceless besides, on the right hand\nwhich looks down into the body of the cathedral, the constructors of this\nlatter edifice were obliged, in their desire to intermarry Christianity\nwith paganism, to scoop off, or rather to file, about six inches of the\n_ancient_ rotund structure, all along, on the left, to the height of the\nhuman figure, so as to allow more room; yet even thus mutilated, I could\nnot but reverence and bow down before the Tower.\n\n  \u201cFor, even the faintest relics of a shrine,\n  Of _any_ worship, wake some thoughts divine.\u201d[224]\n\nAfter this transformation, Kilmalloch assumed an entirely Christian\naspect; and the monastic buildings that crowded the town surpassed, in\ntheir style, anything similar throughout the island. The materials,\nhowever, of which those were constructed, being inferior in quality to the\n_Tuathan_ composition, did not long keep place; so that now, whilst the\nRound Tower still maintains its bold preoccupancy, the Christian churches\nexhibit but a pile of ruins!\n\nThe dreariness of this once imperial site is a moving instance of worldly\nvicissitudes; and one can scarcely avoid, when passing by the loneliness\nof its dilapidated mansions, applying the apposite and melancholy\napostrophe attributed to Ossian, \u201cWhy dost thou build the hall, son of the\nwinged days? Thou lookest from thy towers to-day; yet a few years, and the\nblast of the desert comes, it howls in thy empty courts.\u201d\n\nArd-Mulchan, the name of a village in the barony of Duleck, county Meath,\ncomes from _Ard_, the high place, or mound, _Mulchan_ of Moloch. And,\nhowever extraordinary it may appear to some readers, I cannot but hazard\nmy opinion, that the name of the individual to whom St. Patrick had been\nsold during his captivity in this island, viz. _Milco_-Mac-Huanan, that\nis, Milco, the son-of-Huanan, originated in the circumstance of the\nfamily\u2019s devotion to the service of this idol; and if a doubt remained as\nto the justness of this conclusion, it will, methinks, be removed, when\nwe consider the close of his mortal career, and the unfortunate blindness\nwith which he clung to his fatuity.\n\nHe was a petty prince of that part of the country, afterwards called\nDalruadia, or the principality of the Dalruads, from the prevalence of\nthat demi-tribe, in Ulster; and when Patrick--in prosecution of that\nmission of grace, to which he had been deputed by divine interposition;\nand impelled, perhaps, moreover, by a compassionate zeal and Christian\nrecollection of his previous bondage--undertook, amongst other\nconversions, that of his former master, we find that the sentiment was not\nreciprocated on _his_ part; but that, either ashamed of allowing himself\nto be persuaded, in his old age, to abandon the religion in which he had\nbeen early initiated; or marked out by Providence as an awful victim to\nthe prevailing superstition, he plunged himself into a fire which had\naccidentally broken out in his castle, and so was consumed by that element\nwhich he had before worshipped as his God!\n\nAthlone,--or as anciently and correctly written, Ath-luain,--the name of a\ntown situated on the river Shannon, where _it is fordable_, bounding\nLeinster in Westmeath, and Connaught in Galway, is compounded of the words\n_Ath_, which signifies a ford, and _luain_, of the moon. The common people\nstill call it Blah-luin, an evident corruption of _Baile-ath-luin_, that\nis, the village of the ford of the moon; equivalent to Moon-ford-town.\nThis name establishes the analogy of the Syrian Astarte with the worship\nhere paid to the \u201cqueen of night,\u201d and the many lunettes, or gold\ncrescents, found buried in the _neighbourhood_, are \u201cconfirmation strong\u201d\nof the inference deduced.\n\nThe moon, whose course through the heavens regulated the months of the\nearly lunar year, and whose influence was regarded by the ancients, in\ncommon with that of the sun, as one of the _fertilising principles_ of\n_nature_, and as exerted chiefly amid wilds and woods, at a distance from\nthe crowded abodes of man, had in this spot, apparently, a peculiar claim\nfor her special appropriation. For here the aged majesty of the river\nShannon, the Ganges of Ireland,--as we find reciprocally that Shannon is\none of the Gangian names, and Saor, or Suir, the name of another Irish\nriver, meaning \u201csacred\u201d water, belongs also to the Indus itself,--displays\nits imposing grandeur in all the varieties of sublime and delightful\nscenery. Not far off is one of those beautiful lakes into which this\nmonarch of waters expands himself, to bask, as it were, in repose, from\nthe tiresome gaze attending the crowded path of his ordinary travels--\n\n  \u201cTho\u2019 deep, yet clear; tho\u2019 gentle, yet not dull;\n  Strong without rage; without o\u2019erflowing full.\u201d[225]\n\nLough Rea is the name of the lake above referred to, which, from its\nproximity to Athlone, gives concurrent sanction to the derivation above\nassigned. For _Rea_, in Irish, corresponds to Malcoth, or Astarte, _i.e._\nqueen, that is, Shamaim, of the heavens; as _Righ_ does to Baal, or\nMolock, master, or king of the same; and both re-echoed in the _regina_\nand _rex_ of the Latins.[226]\n\nI should further notice, that in the Barony of Castle-_reagh_--a name,\nwhich, though prefaced by a _modern_ adjunct, still testifies its\ndevotion, at one time, to the moon--there has been, some years ago, dug up\none of those beautiful plates of gold, shaped like a half-moon, at once\nconfirmatory of the propriety of the local name, and of the nature of the\nworship of its primitive incumbents having been lunar or Sabian. This\nrelic is now in the possession of the Downshire family.\n\nIn reference to _Shannon_, to which I have before adverted, as being one\nof the names of the _Ganges_, it is not a little curious that _Durga_, the\nsupposed divinity of this water, and whose festival is annually solemnised\nall through Hindoostan, should be represented by _Derg_, the supposed\ndivinity of the _Shannon_, and should have its name still more perpetuated\nin the Irish word _Dearg-art_, that is, the abode of Derg, in Lough Derg,\nthe lower lake upon this river.\n\nFrom its mouth to its source this noble stream is characterised with\nrelics of primeval worship, corresponding, in form and tendency, with\nthose on the banks of its Indian namesake. Scattery Island, or, as it\nshould more properly be called, Inis Catty, situated very near where it\ndischarges itself into the sea, retains a beautiful Round Tower, to which\nhas been afterwards appended, in the Christian times, the mystical number\nof seven churches, and the ruins of which are still perceptible. The\ncircumstance of an early professor of our heaven-taught religion having\ntaken up his secluded residence within the precincts of this spot, has led\nmany moderns to suppose that the river obtained its name from him, whereas\nthe word _Shannon_ is derived from _Shan Aoun_, that is, the \u201caged river\u201d;\nand the saint received his name from that _pious policy_ before\nexplained, as well as from the constancy of his abode in its vicinity--not\n_vice vers\u00e2_.[227]\n\nKilleshandra, the name of a town in the county of Leitrim, on the borders\nof the county of Cavan, signifies, in Irish, \u201cthe temple of the moon\u2019s\ncycle,\u201d or circle. In Sanscrit, which is a dialect of the aboriginal\nIrish,[228] it denotes exactly the same. We find besides Herodotus making\nmention, B. xi. c. 98, of a city in Egypt, during the Persian dominion,\ncalled Archandra, that is, \u201cthe city of the moon.\u201d He asserts that it is\nnot Egyptian, neither derived from the wife of Danaus, the daughter of\nArchander: yet the opposite may be well supported without at the same time\ninjuring this derivation, for the daughters of Danaus were certainly\ninitiated in the _Phallic rites_; nay, they were the persons who first\nimported them into Attica: and it is eminently worth notice, that this was\nthe very spot[229] where the Tuath-de-danaan kings happened to be\nstationed upon the first Scythian deluge; the word \u201cKill\u201d having been\n_prefixed_ to it only upon the introduction of Christianity.\n\nGranard, the name of a town in the county of Longford, is compounded of\nthe words _Grian_, the sun, and _ard_, a height, that is, the sun\u2019s\nhigh-place. Nor, I suspect, will it be deemed an over-effort of criticism,\nif I repeat, that in our Irish _Grian_ is to be found the root of that\nepithet of Apollo, _Gryn\u00e6us_,[230] which was also the name of a city of\nAsia Minor, consecrated to his worship, and favoured, as Strabo informs\nus, with a grove, a temple, and an oracle of that deity. The river\nGranicus, too, was derived therefrom, because its source lay in Mount Ida,\nsacred to _Grian_, or the sun, whereon was situated the _Idean stone_,\nupon which, we are told, Hector was wont to sacrifice; and corresponding\nto the _Cromleachs_, so common throughout this island. The word _Carne_,\nalso, meaning a heap of stones, on which an inferior order of clergy,\nthence called _Carneach_, used to officiate, belongs to the same root, as\nboth Ovid and Macrobius declare that it was called, by the ancients,\nGrane.[231]\n\nAs Lough _Rea_ had been dedicated to the moon, so was the other luminary\nalso honoured with a lake,--called after his name,--which we find in the\nadjoining country, where Lough _Grany_ signifies the Lake of the _Sun_; as\nwe do also _Beal-ath_, or Ath-en-righ, that is, the _Ford of Baal_, or the\n_Ford of the King_, _i.e._ the _Sun_; corresponding to _Ath-lone_, or\n_Ford of the Moon_.\n\nThe above are but a few of those imperishable memorials intertwined round\nthose haunts which our forefathers have trod; the import of which,\nhowever, has been so perverted by _modern scribblers_, as to give occasion\nto O\u2019Flaherty to give up their solution in despair, and, as a cover to his\nretreat, to pronounce them \u201cas outlandish in their sound as the names of\nthe savages in some of the American forests.\u201d[232] In this rhodomontade,\nhowever, he was much more fortunate than he had intended, or, as the\nEnglishmen say of our countrymen, \u201che blundered himself into the right.\u201d\nLittle did he suspect how near a connection there existed between the two\npeople whom he affected, thus ridiculously, to associate; and anyone who\nattends to the position which I subjoin, independently of many others that\ncould be brought in support of it, will admit the happiness of this\nunintentional coincidence. The Algan Kinese are the most influential and\ncommanding people in the whole of North America; their name in Irish\nindicates as much, namely, _Algan-Kine_, or _Kine Algan_,[233] a _noble_\ncommunity. The language of this people is the master one of the whole\ncountry; and, what is truly remarkable, understood, as Baron de Humboldt\nasserts, by all the Indian nations except two. What then are we to infer\nfrom this obvious affinity? Most undoubtedly, that a colony of the same\npeople who first inhabited Ireland, and assigned to its several localities\nthose characteristic names which so disconcerted the harmony of Mr.\nO\u2019Flaherty\u2019s acoustic organs, had fixed themselves, at an early date, in\nwhat has been miscalled the _New World_.\n\nSmall, however, as is the number of the names here selected, they are\nenough, I flatter myself, to establish the prevalence of our Sabian\nritual. But what puts this matter beyond anything like a question is the\ninscription upon a stone, still extant, in the county of Dublin, evidently\na symbol of the _Sun_ and _Moon_, which, like Osiris and Isis of Egypt,\nwere considered by the ancient Irish as _united_ in matrimony.\n\n  \u201cGod, in the nature of each being, founds\n  Its proper bliss, and sets its proper bounds:\n  But as He framed a whole the whole to bless,\n  On mutual wants built mutual happiness;\n  So from the first, eternal order ran,\n  And creature linked to creature, man to man.\n  Whate\u2019er of life all quickening ether keeps,\n  Or breathes through air, or shoots beneath the deeps,\n  Or pours profuse on earth, one nature feeds\n  The vital flame, and swells the genial seeds.\n  Not man alone, but all that roam the wood,\n  Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood,\n  Each loves itself, but not itself alone,\n  Each sex desires alike, _till two are one_.\u201d--POPE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\n\n\u201cWoman, the poetry of Nature,\u201d says an elegant writer of the present day,\n\u201chas ever been the theme of the minstrel, and the idol of the poet\u2019s\ndevotion. The only ideas we entertain of a celestial nature are associated\nwith her; in her praise the world has been exhausted of its beauties, and\nshe is linked with the stars and the glories of the universe, as if,\nthough dwelling in a _lowlier_ sphere, she belonged to a _superior_\nworld.\u201d\n\nThis deification of the _female character_ was the true _substance_ of\nthose imaginary _goddesses_, so sadly disfigured by the circumscribed\nstupidity of Greek and Roman mythologists. _Juno_, _Baaltis_, _Diana_,\n_Babia_, _Venus_, _Aphrodite_, _Derceto_, _Militta_, _Butsee_,\n_Semiramis_, _Astarte_, _Io_, _Luna_, _Rimmon_, _Lucina_, _Genitalis_,\n_Ourania_, _Atargatis_, etc. etc., were all but fictitious and ideal\nforms, resolving themselves into _one and the same representation_ of that\nsweetest ornament of the creation, _woman_; and the same terms being\napplied to the _moon_, with the same _symbolic_ force and the same\n_typical_ significance, illustrates the aptitude of that _tributary_\nquotation, with which this chapter has commenced, and to the beauty of\nwhich the heart of every \u201cman that is born of woman\u201d must feelingly\nrespond.\n\nEuropa itself, now geographically appropriated, as a denomination, to one\nof the quarters of the globe, was originally synonymous with any of the\nabove-mentioned names; and partook in the acquiescence paid by adoring\nmillions to the all-fascinating object of so refined an allegory.\n\nOf all those various epithets, however vitiated by time, or injured by\naccommodation to different climates and languages, the import--intact and\nundamaged--is still preserved in the _primitive Irish tongue_, and in that\nalone; and with the fertility of conception whereby it engendered _all\nmyths_, and kept the human intellect suspended by its _verbal\nphantasmagoria_, we shall find the _drift_ and the _design_, the _type_\nand the _thing typified_, united in the ligature of one _appellative\nchord_, which to the _enlightened_ and the _few_ presented a chastened yet\nsublime and microscopic _moral_ delineation; but to the _profane_ and the\n_many_ was an impenetrable night producing submission the most slavish,\nand mental prostration the most abject; or, whenever a ray of the\n_equivoque_ did happen to reach their eyes--perverted, with that\npropensity which we all have to the depraved, into the most reckless\nindulgence and the most profligate _licentiousness_.\n\nIn the limits here prescribed for the development of our _outline_--which\neven the most heedless must have observed, instead of being compressed, as\nintended within the compass of one volume could more easily have been\ndilated to the magnitude of four--it cannot be supposed that I could\ndwell, with much minuteness, upon the several collateral particulars to\nwhich I may incidentally refer. As, however, that _twofold tenour_ to\nwhich I have above alluded, may require something more in the way of\nillustration, I shall take any two of the aggregate of names there\ncollected, and in them exemplify what has been said.\n\nSuppose them to be _Militta_ and _Astarte_. Of these, then, the first\nmeans _appetency_, such as is natural between the sexes; and the second\n_dalliance_, of the same _mutual_ sort; and while both alike typify the\n_delights_ of _love_, they both equally personate the _mistress_ of the\n_starry_ firmament whose influence was courted for the maturity of all\nsuch connection, as the season of her splendour is the most suitable for\nits gratification.\n\nFrom _Astarte_ (\u0391\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03b7), the Greeks formed _Aster_ (\u0391\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1) a star,\nthereby retaining but one branch of this duplicity. The Irish deduced from\nit the well-known endearment, _Astore_; and I believe I do not exaggerate\nwhen I affirm that, in the whole circuit of dialectal enunciations, there\nexists not another sound calculated to convey to a native of this country\nso many commingling ideas of _tender pathos_, and of _exalted adventure_,\nas this syllabic representation of the _lunar_ deity.[234]\n\nSuch was _Sabaism_,--composed of love, religion, and astrology: such too\nwas _Budhism_, as I have already shown; and _Phallism_ being but another\nname, equivalent with this latter, it follows that the whole\nthree--_Sabaism_, _Budhism_, and _Phallism_--are, to all intents and\npurposes, but _identically one_.\n\nThis being about to be demonstrated, a few pages forwards, as _the oldest\nspecies of worship recognised upon earth_, it were needless, one would\nhope, to enter into a comparison in point of antiquity between it and any\nof its living derivatives. But as many learned men, misled by that cloud\nwhich heretofore enveloped the subject, have promulgated the belief that\n_Brahminism_ was the parent stock, whence _Budhism_, with its adjuncts,\ndiverged as a scion, I shall, omitting others, address myself to the\nconsideration of Mr. Colebrooke\u2019s arguments, which I select from the mass\nin deference to a character so honourably interwoven with the revival of\nEastern literature.\n\n\u201cThe mythology of the orthodox Hindus,\u201d says this venerable and good man,\n\u201ctheir present chronology, adapted to astronomical periods, their\nlegendary tales, and their mystical allegories, are abundantly\nextravagant, but the Jains and the Bauddhas surpass them in monstrous\nexaggerations of the same kind. In this rivalship of absurd fiction it\nwould not be unreasonable to pronounce that to be the most modern which\nhas outgone the rest.\u201d\n\nHis second position is, that \u201cthe Greek writers who mention the Bramins,\nspeak of them as a flourishing society, whereas the Budhists they\nrepresent as an inconsiderable handful: therefore,\u201d etc.\n\nTo the first I shall oppose Dr. Buchanan\u2019s testimony, who states that\n\u201chowever idle and ridiculous the legends and notions of the worshippers of\nBouddha may be, they have been in a great measure adopted by the Brahmins,\n_but with all their defects monstrously aggravated_.\u201d\n\nAnd even had we not this rebutting evidence the inference in itself is\ndecidedly weak; for it would go equally to establish that _Romanism_ is\nmore recent than _Protestantism_, as containing a greater number of\nceremonial observances than this latter does: whereas the reverse is what\n_reason_ would lead us to conclude, namely, that _ritual multiplications_\nare the growth of _longevity_, and that the retrenchment of their number\nis what reformation aspires to.\n\nI make a free-will offering, unrestricted and unimpeded, of all the value\nthat can belong to Grecian historians--the Greeks, whom their own\ncountryman, Lucian, so justly banters as distinguished for nothing so much\nas a total indifference to truth! But admitting them to be as veracious as\nthey were notoriously not so, the intercourse, of the very earliest of\nthem, with India and its dependencies, was much too modern, to allow their\nstatements to be further conclusive, than as refers to the time being: and\nI am very ready to allow that, at the particular moment described, the\nBudhists were in the wane, while the Brahmins ruled ascendant--nay, that\nthere were but a few straggling votaries of the former creed then existing\nat all in that country, the latter, though schismatics from the\necclesiastical root, having, by gaining over the civil power on their\nside, effected their expulsion many ages before.\n\nThe subterranean temples of Gyah, Ellora, Salsette, Elephanta, and those\nother monuments of piety and civil eminence which still shed a lustre over\nIndia, and which no subsequent state of the arts could rival, much less\neclipse, owe their existence to an era anterior to this catastrophe. The\nBudhists were the architects when in the zenith of human power. The\nsculptures and devices establish this fact: for of the whole list of\ndeities personated in those inscriptions, the Brahmins have retained none\nbut such as suited their purpose. These, in all conscience, were numerous\nenough; and as the Brahmins, when at the helm, permitted not the\nintroduction of \u201cstrange gods,\u201d it is evident that those, which they have\nin common with the Budhists, are but _cullings_ from the \u201cmother-church,\u201d\nill-understood and worse interpreted; the similarity, however, being still\nso great as, after a lapse of centuries, to give rise to the question of,\nwhether the stem or the branch, the sire or the offspring, had the\npriority in point of time!\n\n\u201cJ\u2019ai remarqu\u00e9,\u201d says the philosopher Bailly, \u201cque les Brames aimaient \u00e0\n\u00eatre appell\u00e9s Param\u00e8nes, par respect pour la m\u00e9moire de leurs anc\u00eatres,\nqui portoient ce nom.\u201d[235] Monsieur Gebelin is more explicit. \u201cPausanias\nnous dit, que Mercure, le m\u00eame que Butta, ou Budda, un des fondateurs de\nla doctrines des Param\u00e8nes, ou Brames, est appell\u00e9 Paramon.\u201d[236]\n\nThis Paramon, who had seceded from the Budhist doctrine, and placed\nhimself at the head of that sect who still bear his name, was the son of\n_Budh-dearg_, a religious denomination, most painfully inexplicable to\ninquirers into those matters, but which _one, at least_, from his\nacquaintance with the Irish language, should have better known. \u201cI think,\u201d\nsays Vallancey, \u201c_dearg_ is a contraction for _darioga_, rex supremus,\nwhich corresponds with the Chald\u00e6an _darag_, dux, an epithet given to\n_Budya_!\u201d\n\nAll those words, in fact, _dearg_, _darioga_, and _darag_, are _one and\nthe same_, adjuncts, it is true, of Budya, but meaning neither _dux_,\n_rex_, nor _supremus_, except inasmuch as they were _his_ epithets, the\ncorrect rendering being _red_, which, added to Budh, signifies the _Red\nLingam_, the _Sardana-palus_, the _Eocad_, the _Penis sanctus_, the _god_\nof _nature_, the _ruber palus_, the _Helio-go-balus_, the _corporeal\nspirit_, the _agent of production_, the _type of life_, as it is also the\n_concurrent symbol of universal dissolution_.\n\nThese several terms, which are, each and all, convertible, pourtray not\nonly the procreative powers of the _male_ world personified, but likewise\nits symbols, which were the _Round Towers_; and not these only, but\n_Obelisks_[237] also, and _naturally erect_ stones,[238] which though not\ncircularly fashioned, yet typified, in their ascension, the upward bent of\nall vegetable growth.\n\nThis is the true solution of those enigmatical _lithoi_, by which the\nancients represented the _bounty_ of Providence. _Maghody_ was the name\nappropriated to him under this character; and the import of this word\nconveying, literally, the idea of the _Good God_, shows the philosophic\nfeeling, no less than it does the religious seriousness, of the grateful\ncontrivers.[239] And while reminded by the thought, perhaps I may be\npermitted, with humble deference, to suggest to literary gentlemen\noccupied in the translation of Eastern manuscripts, that whenever they\nmeet with any proper name of the inconceivable Godhead, or of any place or\ntemple devoted to his use, and beginning with the word _Magh_; such as\n_Magh_-Balli-Pura;[240] they should not render _Magh_ by _great_,--which\nhitherto had been the practice,--but by _good_; as it is not the _power_\nof the divinity that is thereby meant to be signified, but his _bounty_:\nsuch as his votaries chiefly supplicated, and such as was most influential\nto ensure their fealty.\n\n\u201cChristnah, the Indian Apollo, is the darling,\u201d says Archer, \u201cof the\nHindoo ladies; and in his pranks, and the demolishing pitchers of milk, or\nmilk-pitchers, has acquired a fame infinitely surpassing that enjoyed by\nthe hero of the agreeable ditty entitled _Kitty of Coleraine_!\u201d\n\nI confess I do not understand the levity of temperament which betrays\nitself in this witticism. For my part I cannot contemplate any form of\nreligion without a sensation of awe. There may be much imposture, much\nalso of hypocrisy, and no small share of self-delusion amongst\n_individuals_ of every sect, but sincerity will be found in the\n_aggregate_ of each: and where _certainty_ is not attainable by finite\ncomprehensions, nay, where _unity_ is incompatible with freedom of thought\nand will, it would more become us, methinks, to make allowance for each\nother\u2019s weaknesses, than to vilify any worship, which, after all, may only\ndiffer from our own as to mode. Christianity, beyond a question, does not\ninculcate such intolerance. The _true_ follower of that faith recognises\nin every _altar_ an evidence of common piety; perceives in every\narticulation of the name of _Lord_, a mutual sense of dependence and a\nsimilar appeal for succour; and taking these as inlets into the character\nof the supplicant, he traces an approximation to that hope whereby he is\nhimself sustained, and rejoices in the discovery: yet it is no less true,\nthat, when superadded to these generalities, he beholds the \u201cimage\u201d of his\nCreator, acknowledging the mission of the second Godhead, and, by reliance\non the all-fulness of his immaculate atonement, immersed in the waters of\nregenerating grace, his bosom expands with _more_ gladness, and he\nwelcomes the stranger as a brother.\n\nThat the rebuke here intended is not gratuitous or uncalled for, I refer\nto the testimony of Sir William Jones, who, with some infusion, I regret,\nof the same irony and incredulity, offers the following portrait, the\nresult of tardy conviction of the superhuman qualifications of this\nidentical Christnah, viz.: \u201cThe prolix accounts of his life are filled\nwith narratives of a most extraordinary kind, and most strangely\nvariegated. This incarnate deity of Sanscrit romance was not only cradled,\nbut educated among shepherds. A tyrant, at the time of his birth, ordered\nall the male infants to be slain. He performed amazing, but ridiculous\nmiracles, and saved multitudes partly by his miraculous powers, and partly\nby his arms: and raised the dead, by descending for that purpose into the\ninfernal regions. He was the meekest and best tempered of beings; washed\nthe feet of the Brahmans, and preached indeed sublimely, but always in\ntheir favour. He was pure and chaste in reality, but exhibited every\nappearance of libertinism. Lastly, he was benevolent and tender, and yet\nfomented and conducted a terrible war.\u201d\n\nMahony, also, is a reluctant witness to the same effect. \u201cThe religion of\nBhoodha,\u201d says he, \u201cas far as I have had any insight into it, seems to be\nfounded on a mild and simple morality. Bhoodha has taken for his\nprinciples _wisdom_, _justice_, and _benevolence_; from which principles\nemanate ten commandments, held by his followers as the true and only rule\nof their conduct. He places them under three heads, _thought_, _word_, and\n_deed_; and it may be said that the spirit of them is becoming and\nwell-suited to him, whose mild nature was first shocked at the sacrifice\nof cattle.\u201d[241]\n\nI have already shown that Budha is but a title, embodying an abstract;\nthat, therefore, it was not limited to one individual, but applied\nindiscriminately to a series. As I shall soon bring this succession nearer\nto _our own fire-hearths_, and, in a way, perhaps, which may, else,\nelectrify over-sensitive nerves, it may be prudent that I should premise\nanother citation, descriptive of an answer, made by a dignitary of their\ncreed, to the last-mentioned author upon his enunciating a principle of\nthe Hindoo doctrine. \u201cThe Hindoos,\u201d rejoined the priest, \u201cmust surely be\nlittle acquainted with this subject, by this allusion to only one\n(incarnation). Bhoodha, if they mean Bhoodha Dhannan Raja, became man, and\nappeared as such in the world at different periods, during ages before he\nhad qualified himself to be a Bhoodha. These various incarnations took\nplace by his supreme will and pleasure, and in consequence of his superior\nqualifications and merits. I am therefore inclined to believe, that the\nHindoos, who thus speak of the incarnation of a Bhoodha, cannot allude to\nhim whose religion and law I preach, who is now a resident of the hall of\nglory, situated above the twenty-sixth heaven.\u201d\n\nNow it is stated in the Puranas, that a giant, named Sancha-mucha-naga, in\nthe shape of a _snake_, with a mouth like a _shell_, and whose abode was\nin a shell, having two countenances, was killed by _Christnah_; and as\nthis irresistibly directs our reflection to the early part of the Book of\nGenesis, I shall adduce what Mr. Deane has set forth on this latter head.\n\n\u201cThe tradition of the serpent,\u201d says he, \u201cis a chain of many links, which,\ndescending from Paradise, reaches, in the energetic language of Homer,\n\n  \u2018\u03a4\u03bf\u03c3\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd \u1f15\u03bd\u03b5\u03c1\u03b8\u2019 \u1f00\u03ca\u03b4\u03b5\u03c9, \u1f45\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd \u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u2019 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf \u03b3\u03b1\u03af\u03b7\u03c2,\u2019\n\nbut conducts, on the other hand, upwards to the promise, that \u2018the seed of\nthe woman should bruise the serpent\u2019s head.\u2019... The mystic serpent entered\ninto the mythology of every nation, consecrated almost every temple,\nsymbolised almost every deity, was imagined in the heavens, stamped upon\nthe earth, and ruled in the realms of everlasting sorrow.... This\nuniversal concurrence of traditions proves a common source of derivation,\nand the oldest record of the legend must be that upon which they are all\nfounded. The most ancient record of the history of the serpent-tempter is\nthe Book of Genesis! In the Book of Genesis, therefore, is the fact from\nwhich almost every superstition connected with the mythological serpent is\nderived.\u201d[242]\n\nThat \u201cthe oldest record of the legend must be that upon which they are\nall founded,\u201d no one can gainsay, inasmuch as the parent is always senior\nto the offspring: but it is not quite such a _truism_ that \u201cthe most\nancient record of the history of the serpent-tempter is the Book of\nGenesis.\u201d Before a line of it was ever written, or its author even\nconceived, the allegory of the serpent was propagated all over the world.\nTemples, constructed thousands of years prior to the birth of Moses, bear\nthe impress of its history. \u201cThe extent and permanence of the\nsuperstition,\u201d says the erudite ex-secretary of the Asiatic Society, now\nProfessor of Sanscrit in the University of Oxford, \u201cwe may learn from\nAbulfazl, who observes that in seven hundred places there are carved\nfigures of snakes, which they worship. There is, likewise, reason to\nsuppose that this worship was diffused throughout the _whole_ of India,\nas, besides, the numerous fables and traditions relating to the _Nagas_,\nor _snake-gods_, scattered through the Puranas, vestiges of it still\nremain in the actual observances of the Hindus.\u201d\n\nTo explore the origin, however, of this Ophite veneration, all the efforts\nof ingenuity have hitherto miscarried: and the combination of _solar_\nsymbols with it, in some places of its appearance, has, instead of\nfacilitating, augmented the difficulty. \u201cThe portals of all the Egyptian\ntemples,\u201d observes the _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, \u201care decorated with the\nsame hierogram of the _circle_ and the _serpent_. We find it also upon the\ntemple of Naki Rustan, in Persia; upon the triumphal arch at Pechin, in\nChina; over the gates of the great temple of Chaundi Teeva, in Java; upon\nthe walls of Athens; and in the temple of Minerva, at Tegea--for the\nMedusa\u2019s head, so common in Grecian sanctuaries, is nothing more than the\nOphite hierogram, filled up by a human face. Even Mexico, remote as it was\nfrom the ancient world, has preserved, with Ophiolatreia, its universal\nsymbol.\u201d[243]\n\nHow would Mr. Deane account for this commixture? \u201cThe votaries of the\nsun,\u201d says he, \u201chaving taken possession of an Ophite temple, adopted some\nof its rites, and thus in process of time arose the compound religion,\nwhose god was named Apollo.\u201d\n\nBut, sir, the symbols are _coeval_, imprinted _together_ upon those\nedifices at the _very moment_ of their construction; and, therefore, \u201cno\nprocess of time\u201d was required to amalgamate a religion whose god (it is\ntrue) was Apollo, but which was already inseparable, and, though compound,\none.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nI have before established the sameness of design which belonged,\nindifferently, to _solar_ worship and to _phallic_. I shall, ere long,\nprove that the same characteristic extends equally to _ophiolatreia_; and\nif _they all three be identical_, as it thus necessarily follows, where is\nthe occasion for surprise at our meeting the _sun_, _phallus_, and\n_serpent_, the constituent symbols of each, _embossed upon the same\ntable_, and _grouped_ under the same _architrave_?\n\n\u201cHere,\u201d says a correspondent in the supplement to the _Gentleman\u2019s\nMagazine_ of August last, \u201cwe have the umbilicated _moon_ in her state of\nopposition to the sun, and the sign of fruitfulness. She was also, in the\ndoctrines of Sabaism, the northern gate, by which Mercury conducted souls\nto birth, as mentioned by Homer in his description of the Cave of the\nNymphs, and upon which there remains a commentary by Porphyry. Of this\ncave Homer says--\n\n  \u2018Fountains it had eternal, and two gates,\n  The northern one to men admittance gives;\n  That to the south is more divine--a way\n  Untrod by men, t\u2019 immortals only known.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe _Cross_, in Gentile rites, was the symbol of reproduction and\nresurrection. It was, as Shaw remarks, \u2018the same with the ineffable image\nof eternity that is taken notice of by Suidas.\u2019 The _Crescent_ was the\nlunar ship or ark that bore, in Mr. Faber\u2019s language, the Great Father and\nthe Great Mother over the waters of the deluge; and it was also the emblem\nof the boat or ship which took aspirants over the lakes or arms of the sea\nto the Sacred Islands, to which they resorted for initiation into the\nmysteries: and over the river of death to the mansions of Elysium; the\n_Cockatrice_ was the snake-god. It was also the basilisk or cock-adder.\n\u2018Habet caudem ut coluber, residuum vero corpus ut gallus.\u2019 The Egyptians\nconsidered the basilisk as the emblem of eternal ages: \u2018esse quia vero\nvidetur \u03b6\u03c9\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03c5\u03c1\u03b9\u03b5\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd, ex auro conformatum capitibus deorum\nappingebant \u00c6gyptii.\u2019 What relation had this with the Nehustan or Brazen\nSerpent, to which the Israelites paid divine honours in the time of\nHezekiah? What is the circle with the seasons at the equinoxes and\nsolstices marked upon it?--the signs of the four great pagan festivals\ncelebrated at the commencement of each of these seasons? The corner of the\nstone which is broken off probably contained some symbol. I am not\nhierophant enough to unriddle and explain the hidden tale of this\ncombination of hieroglyphics. We know that the sea-goat and the Pegasus on\ntablets and centeviral stones, found on the walls of Severus and\nAntoninus, were badges of the second, and the boar of the twentieth\nlegion; but this bas-relief seems to refer, in some dark manner, to\nmatters connected with the ancient heathen mysteries. The form of the\nborder around them is remarkable. The stone which bears them was, I\napprehend, brought in its present state from Vindolana, where, as I have\nobserved, an inscription to the Syrian goddess was formerly found. The\nstation of Magna also, a few years since, produced a long inscription to\nthe same goddess in the Iambic verse of the Latin comedians; and a cave,\ncontaining altars to Mithras, and a bust of that god, seated between the\ntwo hemispheres and surrounded by the twelve signs of the Zodiac, besides\nother signa and \u1f04\u03b3\u03b1\u03bb\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 of the Persian god, was opened at Borcovicus only\nabout ten years since. These, therefore, and other similar remains, found\nin the Roman stations in the neighbourhood of Vindolana, induce me to\nthink that the symbols under consideration, and now for the first time\ntaken notice of, were originally placed near the altars of some divinity\nin the station of the Bowers-in-the-Wood. I know of no establishment that\nthe Knights Templars had in this neighbourhood.\u201d\n\nThe modesty of \u201cV. W.\u201d is not less than his diligence; and both, I\nconsider, exemplary and great. But he will excuse me when I tell him that\nthe _Cross_, the _Crescent_, and the _Cockatrice_, are still _maiden_\nsubjects after his hands. Neither Faber, Shaw, nor Suidas, pretend even to\napproach those matters, save in their _emblematic_ sense; and, as every\nemblem must have a substratum, I for one, cannot content myself with that\nremote and secondary knowledge which is imparted by the _exoteric type_,\nbut must enter the penetralia, and explore the secrets of the _eisoteric\ntemple_.\n\n  \u201cAs an old serpent casts his scaly vest,\n  Wreaths in the sun in youthful glory dress\u2019d;\n  So, when Alcides\u2019 mortal mould resign\u2019d,\n  His better part enlarg\u2019d, and grew refin\u2019d;\n  August his visage shone; almighty Jove\n  In his swift car his honoured offspring drove:\n  High o\u2019er the hollow clouds the coursers fly,\n  And lodge the hero in the starry sky.\u201d[244]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n\n\u201cChilly as the climate of the world is growing--artificial and systematic\nas it has become--and unwilling as we are to own the fact, there are few\namongst us but who have had those feelings once strongly entwined around\nthe soul, and who have felt how dear was their possession when existing,\nand how acute the pang which their severing cost. Fewer still were the\nlabyrinths unclosed in which their affections lay folded, but in whose\nhearts the name of _woman_ would be found, although the rough collision\nwith the world may have partially effaced it.\u201d\n\nThis instinctive influence, which the daughters of Eve universally\nexercise over the sons of Adam, is not more irresistible in the present\nday, than it proved in the case of their great progenitor. _Love_, however\ndisguised--and how could it be more beautifully than by the scriptural\npenman?--_love, in its literal and all-absorbing seductiveness_, was the\nsimple but fascinating aberration couched under the figure of the\n_forbidden apple_.\n\nAll the illusions of fancy resolve themselves into this sweet abyss. The\ndreams of commentators may, therefore, henceforward be spared; the\ncalculations of bookmakers, on this topic, dispensed with: whatever be\n_my_ fate, one consolation, at least, awaits me, that in addition to the\n_Towers_, I shall have expounded the mysteries of Genesis.\n\nIn the _Irish_ language, which, as being that of ancient Persia, or\n_Iran_, must be the oldest in the world, and of which the _Hebrew_,\nbrought away by Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees,[245] is but a distant and\nimperfect branch,--well, in this primordial tongue, the nursery at once of\nscience, of religion, and of philosophy, all _mysteries_, also, have been\nmatured: and it will irrefutably manifest itself, that in it, exclusively,\nwas woven that elegantly-wrought veil, of colloquial illusiveness, which\nshrouds the _nature_ of our first parents\u2019 downfall.\n\nHow, think you, was this accomplished? By assigning to certain terms a\ntwofold signification, of which one represented a certain _passion_,\n_quality_, or _virtue_, and the other its _sensible index_. To the latter\nalone had the _multitude_ any access; while the sanctity of the former was\nguarded against them by all the terrors of religious interdicts.\n\nFor instance, in the example before us, _Budh_, or _Fiodh_,--which is the\nsame thing,--means, primarily, _lingam_, and secondarily, a _tree_. Of\nthese, the latter, which was the popular acceptation, was only the\n_outward signal_ of the former, which was the _inward_ mystified\n_passion_, comprehended only by the initiated. When, therefore, we are\ntold that Eve was desired not to taste of the _tree_, _i.e._ _Budh_, we\nare to understand that she was prohibited what _Budh_ meant in its true\nsignification, viz. _lingam_: in other words, that when cautioned against\nthe _Budh_, it was not an _insensible tree_, its symbolic import, that\nwas meant thereby, but the _vital phallus_, its _animate_\nprototype:--that, in short, \u201c_missis_ ambagibus,\u201d the word _Budh_ was to\nbe taken, _not figuratively_, but _literally_.[246]\n\n[Illustration: FROM THE RUINS OF THE PALENCIAN CITY.]\n\nAgain, in this cradle of literary wonders--the Irish language--every\nletter in its alphabet expresses some particular _tree_; but its second,\n_Beth_,--whence the _Beta_ of the Greeks, and a formative only of _Budh_,\nthe radix,--signifies in addition to the _tree_ which it\nrepresents[247]--_knowledge_ also! And _here, obvious as light, and\nimpregnable to contradiction, you have the tree of knowledge, in natural\nnakedness, divested of all the mystery of pomiferous verbiage, and\nidentified in attributes, as in prolific import, with the name and essence\nof the sacred_ Budh![248]\n\nHere then we have, at length, arrived at the _fountain-head_ and _source_\nof the _mystery_ of _Budhism_. Eve herself, I emphatically affirm, was the\n_very first Budhist_. And, accordingly, we find that, in former ages,\nwomen universally venerated the _Budh_, and carried images of it, as a\ntalisman, around their necks and in their bosoms![249]\n\nBut if Eve was the first Budhist, the first priest of the Budhist order\nwas her first-born, but apostate son Cain: and in his acknowledging the\nbounty of _Budh_, the _sun_, who matures the fruits of the earth,--and\nthereby recognising Jehovah only as the God of _nature_ and of\n_increase_,--rather than in looking forward by faith to the redemption by\n_blood_, as a different sacrifice would have intimated, consisted \u201cthe\nwhole front and bearing\u201d of his treason and offence.[250]\n\n\u201cIf thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not\nwell, a sin offering lieth at the door\u201d[251]--the means of propitiation\nare within your immediate reach.\n\nThe endearing tone in which this is conveyed bespeaks an appeal to some\nusage familiar to the party. It betokens indisputably, that on previous\noccasions, when Cain had acted \u201cwell,\u201d he had met with no rejection. And\nfor the truth of this Jehovah refers to the defendant\u2019s own experience and\nself-convincing consciousness.\n\nCain, therefore, was a priest under a former dispensation, and a favoured\none, too, and his being deprived of this office, or, in other words, \u201ccast\noff from the presence of the Lord,\u201d was the great source and origin of his\npresent wretchedness.\n\nBut if a priest, he must have been so to a larger congregation than his\nfather, mother, and brother: and besides, he, as well as Abel, must have\nhad _wives_; but the Scriptures do not tell us that Adam and Eve, as\nindividuals, had any _daughters_; it follows, therefore, that the consorts\nof the two brothers must have sprung from some _other_ parents. There,\nthen, were more men and women on the earth than Adam and Eve: and this is\nstill further confirmed by the apprehensions expressed by Cain himself,\nafter the murder of Abel, lest he might be slain by someone meeting him.\n\nYes, in the paradisaical state, before \u201csin entered into the world,\u201d the\nearth was as crowded with population as it is at present, and Adam and Eve\nare only put as representatives, male and female, of the entire human\nspecies all over the globe.[252]\n\nHere I cannot do better than set the reader right as to the rendering of a\nsubsequent text, which says that \u201cGod set a mark upon Cain lest any one\nmeeting him should kill him\u201d; nor can I recollect another instance wherein\nhuman ingenuity, while struggling after truth, has been more directly\ninstrumental in the dissemination of error.\n\nOne would suppose that the setting \u201ca mark upon\u201d a person, instead of\nallaying his fears of being molested by those meeting him, should, on the\ncontrary, aggravate them, from its extraordinary aspect. Besides, in the\ninnumerable fantasies which commentators have conjured up as\nspecifications of this \u201cmark,\u201d no vestige whatsoever has been yet traced\non the human form to justify the inference.\n\nWe are obliged, therefore, at last, to recur to the _truth_, and it\nfortunately happens that this is accessible by only translating the\noriginal as it should properly be, thus, viz. \u201cAnd God _gave_ Cain a\n_sign_ lest any meeting him, should kill him.\u201d\n\nThe only question now is what that _sign_ was, which God _gave_ to Cain?\nAnd to resolve this, we have but to bethink ourselves of his\ndereliction,--namely, the offering worship to Budh, _i.e._ _nature_, or\nthe _sun_: and his refusing to sacrifice, in consequence of such devotion,\nanything endowed with _life_, of which Budh, _i.e._ Lingam,--according to\nthe double acceptation of the word,--was the type, as it is also the\n_sign_ of Budh, the sun,--and we have infallibly developed the answer and\nthe secret.\n\nStamping the nature of his crime, and at the same time indicating that, in\nthe now fallen condition of man, this badge of his revolt would be rather\na security against trespass, and a passport to acceptance than an\ninducement to annoyance, God shows to Cain, as much in derision as in\nanger, the _substantial_ image of that deity to which he had but just\nbefore done homage, viz. Budh; and thereupon, Cain goes, and, on \u201cthe land\na wanderer,\u201d he erects this _sign_ into a deified _Round Tower_.\n\nPerhaps the reader would like to have some _collateral_ proofs for these\nstartling interpretations. I shall give them, as convincing as the\nsolution itself is irrefutable and true.\n\nThe Maypole festival, which the Rev. Mr. Maurice has so satisfactorily\nshown to be but the remains of an ancient institution of India and Egypt\n(he should have added Persia, and, indeed, placed it first), was, in fact,\nbut part and parcel of this Round Tower worship. May the 1st is the day on\nwhich its orgies were celebrated; nor is the custom, even now, confined to\nthe British Isles alone, but as naturally prevails universally throughout\nthe East, whence it emanated _of old_ to us. Lest, too, there should be\nany mistake as to the object of adoration, we are told in the second\nvolume of the _Asiatic Researches_, in a letter from Colonel Pearce, that\nBhadani, _i.e._ Astarte, _i.e._ Luna, _i.e._ Venus, _i.e._ \u201cMollium mater\ncupidinum,\u201d was the goddess in whose honour those festivities were raised.\n\nNow as astronomy was connected with all the ceremonies of the ancients,\nthe sun\u2019s entrance into Taurus, which in itself bespeaks the vigour of\nreanimated productiveness at the vernal equinox, was the symbol in the\nheavens associated by the worshippers with this allegorical gaiety. But\nthis event takes place a little earlier every year than the preceding one,\nby reason of what astronomers call the _precession_, so that at present\nit occurs at a season far more advanced than it did at first.\n\nTheory and observation both concur in establishing that 72 years is the\nperiod which the equinox will take to precede 1 degree of the 360 into\nwhich the heavens are divided,--2160 years 30 degrees, that is, one\nsign,--and 25,920, 360 degrees, or the twelve signs of the Zodiac. If,\ntherefore, we compute at this rate the precise year at which the vernal\nequinox must have coincided with the 1st of May,--which must certainly\nhave been the fact at the origin of the institution,--it will prove to\nhave been about the four thousandth before the Christian era, which\nexactly corresponds with the time of Cain, and irrefutably confirms the\norigin which I have assigned to the worship of the Budh, Tower, Phallus,\nor Maypole.\n\nMr. Maurice\u2019s position deserves to be remarked. \u201c_I have little doubt,\ntherefore_,\u201d says he, \u201c_that May-day, or at least the day on which the sun\nentered Taurus, has been immemorially kept as a sacred festival from the\ncreation of the earth and man, originally intended as a memorial of that\nauspicious period and that momentous event_.\u201d\n\nIt is with extreme reluctance that I would dissent from a writer who has\ncontributed so largely as the gentleman before us towards the restoration\nof literature; but since we agree as to the _era_ of the origin of the\nfestival, and _substantially_ as to its _design_, I have the less\nhesitation in recording my belief that _it was not the creation of the\nearth or of man_ that was intended to be commemorated, but the\ncommencement of a _new dispensation_, consequent upon _man\u2019s\ndefection_.[253]\n\nLord, from the Shaster, quotes the following abstract, marking the opinion\nof the Easterns themselves, as to Adam and Eve having had many\ncontemporaries. This relates an interview between a different couple.\n\u201cBeing both persuaded that God had a hand in this their meeting, they took\ncouncil from this book, to bind themselves in the inviolable bond of\nmarriage, and with the courtesies interceding between man and wife, were\nlodged in one another\u2019s bosoms: for joy whereof the sun put on his nuptial\nlustre, and looked brighter than ordinary, causing the season to shine\nupon them with golden joy; and the silver moon welcomed the evening of\ntheir repose, whilst music from heaven, as if God\u2019s purpose in them had\nbeen determinate, sent forth a pleasing sound, such as useth to fleet from\nthe loud trumpet, together with the noise of the triumphant drum. Thus\nproving the effects of generation together, they had fruitful issue, and\nso peopled the East, and the woman\u2019s name was Sanatree.\u201d\n\nThis _Maypole_ ceremony, under the name of _Phallica_, _Dionysia_, or\n_Orgia_, which last word, though sometimes applied to the mysteries of\nother deities, belongs more particularly to those of Bacchus,[254] was\ncelebrated, at one time, throughout Attica with all the extravagance of\nreligio-lascivious pomp. Archer, in his _Travels in Upper India_, arrived\nat a village just a few hours only after the May gaieties were over, and\nfound the _pole_ still standing. \u201cThe occasion,\u201d says he, \u201cwas one of\nfestivity, for all had strings of flowers about their heads, and they\nspoke of the matter as one of great pleasure and amusement.\u201d As, however,\nhe did not come in for the actual observances, I shall supply the omission\nby detailing the form of its celebration in our own country.\n\n\u201cAnciently,\u201d says M\u2019Skimin, in his _History of Carrickfergus_, \u201ca large\ncompany of young men assembled each May-day, who were called May-boys.\nThey wore above their other dress white linen shirts, which were covered\nwith a profusion of various coloured ribbons, formed into large and\nfantastic knots. One of the party was called King, and the other Queen,\neach of whom wore a crown, composed of the most beautiful flowers of the\nseason, and was attended by pages who held up the train. When met, their\nfirst act was _dancing to music round the pole_, planted the preceding\nevening; after which they went to the houses of the most respectable\ninhabitants round about, and having taken a short jig in front of each\nhouse, received a voluntary offering from those within. The sum given was\nrarely less than five shillings. In the course of this ramble the King\nalways presented a rich garland of flowers to some handsome young woman,\nwho was hence called \u2018the Queen of May\u2019 till the following year.\u201d\n\nWith this compare the description given by the author of the _Rites and\nCeremonies of all Nations_, of a similar worship as celebrated amongst the\nBanians. \u201cAnother god,\u201d says he, \u201cmuch esteemed and worshipped by these\npeople, is called _Perimal_, and his image is that of a _pole_, or the\n_large mast of a ship_. The Indians relate the following legend concerning\nthis idol. At Cydambaran, a city in Golcondo, a penitent having\naccidentally pricked his foot with an awl, let it continue in the wound\nfor several years together; and although this extravagant method of\nputting himself to excessive torture was displeasing to the god Perimal,\nyet the zealot swore he would not have it pulled out till he _saw the god\ndance_. At last, the indulgent god had compassion on him, _and danced, and\nthe sun, moon, and stars danced along with him_. During this celestial\nmovement, a chain of gold dropped from either the sun or the god, and the\nplace has been ever since called Cydambaran. It was also in memory of this\nremarkable transaction _that the image of the god was changed from that of\nan ape to a pole_, thereby intimating (adds the good-natured expositor of\nhimself) that all religious worship should reach up towards heaven, that\nhuman affections should be placed on things above.\u201d\n\nNow, this mysterious _Peri-Mal_ is but a euphony for _Peri-Bal_, that is,\nthe _Baal-Peor_ before explained: and when you remember the destination\nwhich I have there assigned him, you will perceive the propriety of his\nhaving been represented by a _mast_ or May-_pole_. As to the Indian\nlegend, it only shows the antiquity of the rite, superadded to that\nreligious _investment_ which was meant as a shield against profanation.\n\nVallancey also mentions the following additional custom, which he himself\nwitnessed in the county of Waterford:--\u201cOn the first day of May, annually,\na number of youths, of both sexes, go round the _parish_ to _every couple\nmarried within the year_, and oblige them to give a ball. This is\nornamented with gold or silver coin. I have been assured, they sometimes\nexpended three guineas on this ornament. The _balls are suspended by a\nthread, in two hoops placed at right angles, decorated with festoons of\nflowers. The hoops are fastened to the end of a long pole, and carried\nabout in great solemnity, attended with singing, music, and dancing._\u201d\n\nThe _mummers_, in like manner, who went about upon this day, demanding\nmoney, and with similar solemnities, as if for the _moon in labour_, were\nderived from the same origin. In Ceylon this practice is confined to\n\u201cwomen alone,\u201d[255] who, as the editor of the _Rites and Ceremonies_,\netc., informs us, \u201cgo from door to door with the image of _Buddu_ in their\nhands, calling out as they pass, \u2018Pray, remember _Buddu_.\u2019[256] The\nmeaning is, that will enable them to sacrifice to the god. Some of the\npeople give them money, others cotton thread, some rice, and others oil\nfor the lamps. Part of these gifts they carry to the priests of _Buddu_,\nand the remainder they carry home for their own use.\u201d\n\nThe money collected in Ireland, on the same occasion, would appear to have\nbeen somewhat similarly expended, having been \u201cmostly sacrificed to the\njolly god; the remainder given to the poor in the neighbourhood.\u201d\n\n  \u201cHere, for a while, my proper cares resigned,\n  Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind;\n  Like yon neglected shrub, at random cast,\n  That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast.\u201d[257]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\n\nWhen I cast back my eye upon this narrative, through the long perspective\nof ages which it involves, I confess I feel incommoded by some misgivings\nof self-distrust. When I consider the _mighty_ individuals, of\n_transcendent_ powers and almost _inexhaustible_ resources, who, having\nreconnoitred its coast, either _perished_ in the impotency of effecting a\nlanding, or, more wisely, _receded_ from it as impregnable, I am _thrown\nback_, as it were, upon myself, and impeded by the comparison of my own\nlittleness.\n\nBut if \u201cGod has often chosen the small things of the earth to confound the\ngreat\u201d; and if success in past undertakings be any guarantee against the\nillusiveness of inward promise; if the roads be all chalked, the posts\nlighted, and the sentinels faithful, why, _then_, allow the influence of\npetty fears to mar, at all events, the _project_ of an ennobling\nenterprise?\n\nIn that cherished volume, whence our first lessons upon religion have been\ndeduced, and which, as embodying the principles of our _happiness_ here,\nand our _hopes_ hereafter, has been honoured with the _pre-eminent_ and\ndistinctive appellation of the _Bible_, or _Book_, there occur numerous\nphrases of _mysterious_ import, but _pregnant_ significancy, which pious\nmen, unable to solve, have contented themselves with classifying as under\nthe head of \u201cabove reason\u201d--\u201ccontrary,\u201d and \u201caccording to,\u201d being the two\nother constituents of their predicamental line.\n\nThose _conventional_ terms which _expediency_ alone has invented are, to\nsay the least, arbitrary; and as all men have an equal right to form a\n_specification_ of their subject-matter, I shall, without disconcerting\nthe _order_ of the above _division_, endeavour only to rescue the points\nto which I refer from immersion in the _first_ class;[258] or--if allowed\nthe latitude of _parliamentary_ elocution--to take them out from the\ncondemnation of _Schedule A_.\n\nTo begin, then, with the following text, viz. \u201c_The sons of God_ saw the\ndaughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all\nwhich they chose.\u201d[259]\n\nWhat do you understand by the expression \u201csons of God\u201d?\n\nHis peculiar people, you reply; such, for instance, as _called upon His\nname_;[260] or, perhaps, Seth\u2019s descendants in opposition to those of\nCain, the unrighteous.\n\nTurn, sir, to the beginning of the first and second chapters of _Job_, and\nread what you are there informed of.\n\n\u201cNow there was a day when the _sons of God_ came to present themselves\nbefore the Lord, and Satan came also among them.\u201d And, \u201cAgain, there was a\nday, when the _sons of God_ came to present themselves before the Lord,\nand Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.\u201d\n\nWell, what is your answer now? or will it not be different from what it\nwas before? Can you seriously imagine that it was _any_ race of\n_ordinary_ human beings that was thus denominated? _And_ are you not\ncompelled to associate the idea with some one of the other _superior_\nproductions of omnipotent agency?\n\nI will make you, sir, if you have candour in your constitution,\nacknowledge the fact. Listen--\u201cWhere wast thou when I laid the foundations\nof the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding: when the morning stars\nsang together, and all the _sons of God_ shouted for joy.\u201d[261]\n\nHere allusion is made to a period antecedent to the existence of either\n_Cain_ or _Seth_. The _myriads_ of revolving ages suggested by the\ninterrogatory set even _fancy_ at defiance; nor are their limits demarked\nby the _vague_ and _indefinite exordium_ of even the talented and\notherwise highly-favoured legislator, Moses himself.[262] And yet, in this\nincomprehensible _inane_ of time, do we see the _sons of God shouting for\njoy_, before the species of man--at least in his degenerate\nsinfulness--had appeared upon this surface!\n\nIt is manifest, therefore, that some _emanation_ of the Godhead, distinct\nfrom _mere_ humanity, is couched under the phrase of \u201cthe sons of God\u201d;\nand accordingly we perceive that, when they \u201cwent in unto the daughters of\nmen, and they bare children to them,\u201d it is _emphatically_ noticed, as an\noccurrence of _unusual_ impress, that \u201cthe same became mighty men, which\nwere of old, men of renown.\u201d[263]\n\nAt the commencement of the verse, whence the last extract has been taken,\nyou will find the name of _giant_ mentioned; and instantly after, as if\nin _juxtaposition_, nay, as if _synonymous_ with it in meaning, is\nrepeated \u201cthe sons of God\u201d: thereby identifying both in nature and in\ncharacter, and proving their sameness by their convertibility.\n\nThe Hebrew word from which _giant_ has been translated, signifies _to\nfall_: and what, do you suppose, constituted this _apostasy_? In sooth,\nnothing else than that _carnal intercourse_, which they could not resist\nindulging with the \u201cdaughters of men,\u201d _when their senses told them they\nwere lovely_.[264] Thus do both names corroborate my truth; while both\nreciprocally illustrate each other.\n\n\u201cIt may seem strange,\u201d says Wilford, \u201cthat the posterity of Cain should be\nso much noticed in the Puranas, whilst that of the pious and benevolent\nRuchi is in a great measure neglected. But little is said of the posterity\nof Seth, whilst the inspired penman takes particular notice of the\ningenuity of the descendants of Cain, and to what a high degree of\nperfection they carried the arts of civil life. _The charms and\naccomplishments of the women are particularly mentioned._ \u2018The same became\nmighty men, which were of old, men of renown.\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd again,--\u201cWe have been taught to consider the descendants of Cain as a\nmost profligate and abominable race. This opinion, however, is not\ncountenanced, either by sacred or profane history. That they were not\nentrusted with the sacred deposit of religious truths, to transmit to\nfuture ages, is sufficiently certain. They might, in consequence of this,\nhave deviated gradually from the original belief, and at last fallen into\na superstitious system of religion, which seems, also, a natural\nconsequence of the fearful disposition of Cain, and the horrors he must\nhave felt, when he recollected the atrocious murder of his brother Abel.\u201d\n\nThis, so far as it goes, is satisfactory enough; but it is _groping in the\ndark_, and _without a pilot_. A few pages, in the distance, will, however,\nbring us to the right understanding of these points also; meanwhile, I\nreturn to the Mosaical record, for the insight therein afforded into the\nhistory of Cain.\n\nWe are told then that he \u201cknew his wife, and she conceived and bare\n_Enoch_\u201d: and as this name signifies _initiation in sacred rites_, as well\nas it does an _assembly of congregated multitudes_,--in which latter sense\nit was accurately applied to the \u201ccity\u201d which he had \u201cbuilded,\u201d--it shows\nthat the new religion bade fair for perpetuity.\n\n_Irad_, the name of Enoch\u2019s son, proves the crowning finish of the matured\nceremonial, for intimating, as it does, _consecrated to God_, we are\nnaturally led to connect its bearer with the profession of that worship\nwhich his name represented.\n\nAs _Irad_ signifies _consecrated to God_, so _Iran_ does _the land of\nthose so consecrated_; and accordingly we may be assured that it was in\n_that precise region_ that the Budhists had first established the\n_insignia_ of their empire.[265]\n\nLet us now inquire what light will the _Dabistan_ afford to our labours.\nIt is known that Sir John Malcolm was no ready convert to its merits; his\nabridgment of it, therefore, cannot be suspected of any colouring; and, as\nI like the testimony of reluctant witnesses, I shall even make _him_ the\ninterpreter of its recondite contents.\n\n\u201cIn almost all the _modern_ accounts of Persia,\u201d says he, \u201cwhich have been\ntranslated from Mahomedan authors, _Kaiomurs_ is considered the _first\nking of that country_; but the Dabistan, a book professedly compiled from\nworks of the ancient Guebrs, or worshippers of fire, presents us with a\nchapter on a succession of monarchs and prophets who preceded Kaiomurs.\nAccording to its author the Persians, previous to the reign of Kaiomurs,\nand consequently _long before the mission of Zoroaster_, venerated a\nprophet called _Mah-abad_, or the Great (rather the _Good_) Abad, whom\nthey considered as the father of men. We are told in the Dabistan that\n_the ancient Persians deemed it impossible to ascertain who were the first\nparents of the human race_. The knowledge of man, they alleged, was quite\nincompetent to such a discovery; but they believed, on the authority of\ntheir books, that Mah-abad was the person left at the _end of the last\ngreat cycle_, and consequently the father of the present world. The only\nparticulars they relate of him are, that he and his wife, having survived\nthe former cycle, were blessed with a numerous progeny, who inhabited\ncaves and clefts of rocks, and were uninformed of both the comforts and\nluxuries of life; that they were at first strangers to order and\ngovernment, but that Mah-abad, inspired and aided by Divine Power,\nresolved to alter their condition; and, to effect that object, _planted\ngardens_, _invented ornaments_, and _forged weapons_. He also taught men\nto take the fleece from the sheep, and to make clothing; he built cities,\nconstructed palaces, fortified towns, and introduced among his descendants\nall the benefits of art and commerce.\n\n\u201cMah-abad had thirteen successors of his own family; all of whom are\nstyled _Abad_, and deemed prophets. They were at once the monarchs and the\nhigh priests of the country; and during their reigns, the world, we are\ninformed, enjoyed a golden age, which was, however, disturbed by an act of\nAzer-abad, the last prince of the Mahabadean dynasty, who abdicated the\nthrone, and retired to a life of solitary devotion.\n\n\u201cBy the absence of Azer-abad his subjects were left to the free indulgence\nof their passions, and every species of excess was the consequence. _The\nempire became a scene of rapine and of murder._ To use the extravagant\nexpression of our author (the Dabistan), _the mills, from which men were\nfed, were turned by the torrents of blood that flowed from the veins of\ntheir brothers; every art and science fell into oblivion; the human race\nbecame as beasts of prey, and returned to their former rude habitations in\ncaverns and mountains_.\n\n\u201cSome sages, who viewed the state of the empire with compassion, intreated\nIy-Affram, a saint-like, retired man, to assume the government. This holy\nman, who had received the title of Iy (pure), from his pre-eminent\nvirtues, refused to attend to their request, till a divine command,\nthrough the angel _Gabriel_, led him to consent to be the instrument of\nrestoring order, and of reviving the neglected laws and institutions of\nMah-abad. Iy-Affram founded a new dynasty, which was called the Iy-abad;\nwho, after a long and prosperous reign, suddenly disappeared, and the\nempire fell again into confusion. Order was restored by his son, Shah\nKisleer, who was with difficulty prevailed upon to quit his religious\nretirement to assume the reigns of government. His successors were\nprosperous till the elevation of the last prince of the dynasty, whose\nname was Mahabool. This monarch, we are told, was compelled by the\nincreasing depravity of his subjects to resign his crown.\n\n\u201cHe was succeeded by his eldest son, Yessan, who, acting under divine\ninfluence, supported himself in that condition which his father had\nabandoned. This prince founded a new dynasty, which terminated in his\ndescendant, Yessan-Agrin. At the end of his reign the general wickedness\nof mankind exceeded all bounds, and _God made their mutual hostility the\nmeans of the Divine vengeance, till the human race was nearly extinct_.\nThe few that remained had fled to woods and mountains, _when the\nall-merciful Creator called Kaiomurs, or Gilshah, to the throne_.\u201d\n\nWe only now want a key to unlock the portals of this _Magh-abadean_\nhousehold; and I flatter myself that _this_, which I am about to tender,\nwill consummate to an accuracy that very desirable purpose.\n\nCain\u2019s immediate progeny are they which are included under the above\ndenomination. Their faith and worship are exactly symbolised under its\nderivative dress. _Magh_, as before explained, is _good_; and _Abad_, a\n_unit_; that is, when combined, the _Good One_, or _Unit_, the author of\nfruitfulness and productiveness--in which light alone, as all-bountiful\nand all-generous, was he recognised by this family.\n\n_This unity_ of the Godhead was what was _religiously_ comprehended under\nthe _Phallic_ configuration of the Round Tower erections; and this,\nfurthermore, elucidates that heretofore enigmatical declaration of the\nBudhists themselves, viz. that the pyramids, in which the sacred relics\nare deposited, \u201c_be their shape what it will, are an imitation of the\nworldly temple of the Supreme Being_.\u201d[266]\n\nBut if _Magh-abadean_ was the name adopted by them with this _spiritual_\ntendency, _Tuath-de-danaan_ was that which pictured them a sacerdotal\ninstitution. The last member of this compound I have already expounded. It\nremains that I develop what the two first parts conceal.\n\n_Tuath_, then, is neither more nor less than a dialectal modification for\n_Budh_, which, according to the licence of languages, transformed itself,\notherwise and indifferently, into _Butt_, Butta, Fiod, Fioth, _Thot_,\n_Tuath_, _Duath_, _Suath_, Pood, Woad; and in the two last forms--of which\none is Gothic, and the other Tamulic--admitted a final syllable,--which\nwas but an insignificant termination,--namely, _en_, making _Pooden_ and\n_Woad-en_; or _Poden_ and _Woden_.\n\nIn these several variations, and the innumerable others which branch\ntherefrom, while the _sensible_ idea is preserved underneath, there is\nsuperinduced another of a more refined complexion. Thus, _Budh_, while it\nprimarily represents the _sun_, its type, the _penis_; and again, _its_\nsign, a _tree_, expresses also the attributes of _magic_, _science_,\n_divination_, and _wisdom_.\n\nThese were the consequences of that _mysterious_ garb in which the priests\ninvested the _true_ elements of their religion. Being themselves the sole\npossessors of its inward secrets, and all literature and erudition going\nhand in hand also therewith, it was so dexterously managed, that a sort of\nreverential feeling attached, not only to those _qualities_ in the\nabstract, but to the consecrated _personages_ who were their depositories.\nHence, while _Budh_ came to signify _divination_ and _wisdom_, _Budha_,\nits professor, did a _divine_ and _wise man_; and _Tuath_, being only a\nmodification of the former epithet, _Tuatha_ is the corresponding\ntransmutation of the latter.\n\n_Tuatha_, therefore, signifies _magicians_;[267] and so we have the\n_first_ component of _Tuath-de-danaans_ elucidated. The _second_ requires\nno _\u0152dipus_ to solve it, _De_ being but the vernacular term whereby was\nexpressed the _Deity_; and as I have previously established the import of\n_Danaans_ to have been _Almoners_, it follows that the aggregate tenour of\nthis religious-compound-denomination is _the Magician-god-almoners_, or\nthe Almoner-magicians of the Deity.\n\nAs from _Budh_ was formed _Fiodh_, so from Fiodh arose Fidhius; and as I\nhave before shown that _Hercules_ and _Deus_ were synonymous terms, and\nboth personifications of the _Sun_, so, accordingly, we find that this\n_symbolical_ adjunct was reciprocally appropriated to one as to the other.\n\nI dwell upon those terms with the more impressive force, because that _the\nspirit of no one of them_ has ever before been developed. _Me Deus\nFidhius_, and _Me Hercules Fidhius_, we where taught at school to consider\nas appeals to the _God of Truth_, and the _Hercules of Honour_. Most\nassuredly those virtues are comprehended under the _radix_ of the great\n_mysterious_ Original; but the dictionaries and lexicons that gave us\nthose significations knew no more of what that _Original_ was than they\ndid of the connection between soul and body.\n\nDeus _Fidhius_, then, means God the _Budha_, and as such the _All-wise_,\nthe _All-sacred_, the _All-amiable_, and the _All-hospitable_; and\n_Hercules_ Fidhius, that is, _Hercules_ the Budha, is, in sense and\nmeaning, exactly the same.\n\nThe Latin word _Fides_, and the English _Faith_, are but direct emanations\nfrom the same communion. A thousand other analogies must suggest\nthemselves now in consequence. In a word, if you go through the circle of\nnatural _religion_ and artificial _science_,--if you analyse the\nvocabulary of conventional _taste_ and of modish etiquette, you will find\nthe _constituent particles_ of all the leading outlines resolve themselves\ninto the _physical_ symbolisation of the radical Budh.\n\nWhat inference, I ask my reader, would he draw from the above facts?\nUnquestionably that at the outset of social life, mankind at large had\nused but one lingual conversation; and as the _Irish_ is the only language\nin which are traced the germs of all the diverging _radii_,--nay, as it is\nthe _focus_ in which all amicably meet,--it follows inevitably that it\nmust have been the universal language of the first human cultivators--the\nnursery of letters, and the cradle of revelation.\n\n  \u201cHow charming is divine Philosophy!\n  Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,\n  But musical as is Apollo\u2019s lute,\n  And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets\n  Where no crude surfeit reigns.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\n\nThe _Tuath-de-danaans_, or Mahabadeans, being thus far proved as the first\noccupiers of Iran, it may be asked, How happens it that no Persian\nhistorians, anterior to Mohsan Fani, have noticed their existence? In the\nfirst place, I answer that _they all_ have mentioned them, however\n_unconsciously_ by themselves, or _inadvertently_ by others. And even had\nthis not been the fact--had not a single syllable been recorded, bearing\nreference to their name, the remote era, in itself, of their detachment\nfrom that country, would be the best possible apology for the omission.\n\nThe professed writers upon Persia belong all to a recent period; and the\nmagazines which they consulted, for the scanty information which they\nfurnish, were either Arabs or Greeks--the former a body of predatory\nwarriors, whose only insight into letters arose from the opportunities\nwhich their rapines had supplied them; and the latter, a community who,\ninsensible to the beauties of moral truth, took delight in distorting even\nthe most commonplace occurrences into the most unnatural incredibilities\nand misshapen incongruities.\n\nBut independently of these causes, another more powerful one had before\nlong co-operated. A rival dynasty, starting up from amongst themselves,\nsucceeded, by the issue of a religious revolution, to effect their\nexpulsion; and that once ascertained--the doors of admission ever after\nclosed against their return--the victors were not satisfied with the\nmonopoly of civil power, but they must wreak their vengeance still more,\nby the erasure of every vestige of the former sway.\n\nIn this devastating course, the Round Towers, as the temples of their\nfigurative veneration, were particularly obnoxious; and, accordingly, we\nmay be assured, that it was owing to the durability of those edifices, and\nnot to the clemency of the assailants, that any one of them has been able\nto survive the hurricane.\n\nWho, you will ask, were those destroyers? They were the _Pish-de-danaans_.\nAnd so energetically did they prosecute their extinguishing plan, aided,\nbesides, by the antiquity of its remote occurrence, that all writers upon\nthat country, before the compilers of the _Dabistan_, have set them down\nas its first dynasty, making the Kaianians, the Askanians, and the\nSassanians, their successors.\n\nHere I am obliged, in compliance with the justice of my subject, to expose\nan error of a gentleman, whom I would rather have overlooked.\n\n\u201cThe _Tuatha-dadan_ of the Irish,\u201d says Vallancey, \u201care the _Pish-dadan_\nof the Persians\u201d; which he pretends to prove as follows:--\u201cFirst, then,\u201d\nsays he, \u201c_Tuath_ and _Pish_ are synonymous in the Chaldee, and both\nsignify mystery, sorcery, prophets, etc.; they are both of the same\nsignification in the Irish; therefore by _Pish-dadan_ and _Tuatha-dadan_,\nI understand the Dadanites, descended of Dedan, who had studied the\nnecromantic art, which sprang from the Chesdim, or Chaldeans.\u201d\n\nOf a piece with this was his assertion that _Nuagha Airgiodlamh_ of the\nIrish, was _Zerdust_ of the Persians! And wherefore, think you, reader?\nBecause, forsooth, _Airgiodlamh_ signifies _silver_-hand, and Zerdust,\n_gold_-hand! Yes, but he made out another analogy, and it is worth while\nto hear it, viz. that Nuagha had his _hand cut off_ by a Fir-Bolg\n_general_; while Zerdust\u2019s _life was taken away_ by a Turanian\n_chieftain_!!!\n\nThis is but an _item_ in that great ocean of incertitude in which that\nenterprising etymologist had, unfortunately, been swallowed up. Having\nperceived by the perusal of the manuscripts of our country, that there\nmust have been a time when it basked in the _sunshine_ of literary\nsuperiority; yet unable tangibly to grapple with it, having no _clue_ into\nthe _origin_ of its _sacred_ repute, or the collateral particulars of its\n_date_, _nature_, or _promoters_, he was tossed about by the ferment of a\n_parturient_ imagination, without the saving ballast of a _discriminating_\nfaculty.\n\nThe General\u2019s work, accordingly, is one which must be read with great\nreserve; not because that it does not offer many valuable hints, but\nbecause that its plan is so _crude_, and its matter so\n_ill-digested_,--the same thing being _contradicted_ in one place, which\nwas _affirmed_ in another, or else _repeated_ interminably, without regard\nto _method_ or to _style_,--that when you have waded through the whole,\nyou feel you have derived from it no other benefit than that of whetting\nyour avidity for a _correct_ insight into those subjects, of which the\nauthor, you imagine, must have had some _idea_, but which also, it is\nevident, however indefatigable he was in the attempt, he had not, himself,\nthe power to penetrate.\n\nThe great praise, therefore, which I would award to this writer, is that,\nwith one leg almost in the grave, he sat down, in the enthusiasm of a\nyouthful aspirant, to master the difficulties of the Irish tongue, which,\n_mutilated_ though it be, and _begrimed_ by disuse, he knew was,\nnotwithstanding, the only sure inlet to the _genius_ of the people, as\nwell as to the _arcana_ of their antiquities, the most precious, as they\nare, and fruitful, of any country on the surface of the globe.\n\nBut though his perseverance had rendered him the best _Irishian_ of his\nage, and of many ages before him, yet has he committed _innumerable\nblunders_, even in the exposition of the most simple words; and the\nquestion now in point will verify this declaration, with as much\nexactitude as any other that could be adduced.\n\n_Tuath_, then, and _pish_ are by no means _synonymous_; neither do they\nsignify _mystery_ or _prophets_, except in a secondary light. In their\noriginal acceptation, they are the _antipodes_ of each other, as much as\n_male_ is to _female_, and as _relative_ is to _correlative_.[268]\n\nThey are the distinctive denominations for the _genital organs_ of both\nsexes, respectively--_Tuath_ signifying _Lingam_; and _Pish_, _Yoni_.\n\nI have already explained that _Tuath_ is but a modification of the word\n_Budh_--the final _dh_ of the latter having been changed into the final\n_th_ of the former, only for euphony; because that prefixed to _de-danaan_\nthe collision of the two _d\u2019s_--as _Bud_-de-danaan--would not sound well;\nit was, therefore, made _Buth_-de-danaan; and--the initials _b_ and _t_\nbeing always convertible,--hence became _Tuath_-de-danaan.\n\nThe case was exactly _opposite_ with respect to _pish_: I mean so far as\nthe alteration of two of its letters is concerned. _Pith_ is the _usual_\nmethod of pronouncing that term: nor is it, except when followed by a _d_,\nthat it assumes the other garb. But as _dh_, in the former instance, was\ncommuted into _th_, so _th_, in this latter, is still further into _sh_;\ntherefore, instead of _Pith_-de-danaan, we make it _Pish_-de-danaan.\n\nTo screen those two ligaments of _sexual_ familiarity from the peril of\nprofane and irreverent acceptations, all the investiture of _magic_ was\nshrouded upon them. The vocabulary of _love_ and of _religion_ became one\nand the same: _mystery_ and _enchantment_ were identified, and the\n_negotiations_ of the earth, and the _revolutions_ of the heavens, were\nblended with the _witchery_ of _amative sway_.\n\nIn this universality of domain, no one of those dear _helpmates_ had a\ngreater portion of honour assigned to it than the other. They were equal\nin power, and alike in attributes. And to set this _equality_ beyond the\ncontingencies of doubt, it was withal arranged, that while _each,\nprimarily_, retained its _distinct sexual_ interpretation, they should\n_both, secondarily_, harmonise under another _mutual_ exposition; and what\nmore appropriate one could be devised than that of the _influence_ which\nthey exercised? and of the _veil_ with which they were guarded?\n\n_Magic_, therefore, and _mystery_, were the two _secondary_ imports, in\nwhich both were _united_; and the _ambiguity_ thus occasioned was what\ncast Vallancey upon that shoal, which proved similarly fatal to many a\npreceding speculator.\n\nTo exemplify--_Budh_, or _Tuath_, in its literal and substantive\nacceptation, implies the _Lingam_; collaterally, _magic_; and by\nconvention, _mystery_, _prophets_, _legislators_, etc. _Pish_, in like\nmanner, or _Pith_, denotes, literally, the _Yoni_; collaterally, _magic_;\nand by convention, _mystery_, _prophets_, _legislators_, etc. And the\noffshoots of either, in an inferior and deteriorated view, such as\n_Budh-og_ from the former, and _Pish-og_ from the latter, intimate,\nindiscriminately, _witchcraft_, _wizard_, or _witch_.\n\nNow the words _De-danaans_, having been already illustrated as meaning\n_God-Almoners_, if we prefix to them, severally, _Tuath_ and _Pish_, they\nwill become _Tuath_-de-danaans, and _Pish_-de-danaans; the former\nexpressing, literally, _Lingam_-God-Almoners; and the latter, literally,\n_Yoni_-God-Almoners; and both equally, by convention,\n_Magic_-God-Almoners.\n\nAs we have had exhibited numerous representations of the homage paid to\nthe _paternal_ member of this theocracy, perhaps I may be permitted to\nadduce a single quotation demonstrative of the honours shown to his\n_maternal_ colleague.\n\n\u201cThe Chinese,\u201d says the author of _Rites and Ceremonies_, \u201cworship a\ngoddess, whom they call _Puzza_, and of whom their priests give the\nfollowing account:--They say that three nymphs came down from heaven to\nwash themselves in a river, but scarce had they got into the water before\nthe herb _Lotos_[269] appeared on one of their garments, with its coral\nfruit upon it. They were surprised to think whence it could proceed; and\nthe nymph upon whose garment it was could not resist _the temptation of\nindulging herself in tasting it_. But by thus eating some of it, she\nbecame _pregnant_, and was delivered of a boy, whom she brought up, and\nthen returned to heaven. He afterwards became a great man, a conqueror and\nlegislator, and the nymph was afterwards worshipped under the name of\n_Puzza_.\u201d[270]\n\nAnd thus we see that _Budh_ and _Pish_ were the actual regulators of the\nsolar universe.\n\nTime, however, dissolved the chain which linked together those _mysterious\nabsolutes_: or, rather, the _zealots_ of each contrived to sever an\nattachment, which was intended by nature to be reciprocal and mutual.[271]\nWar, devastating, desecrating war, spread abroad over the plain! Human\nenergies were evoked into an unknown activity! Men\u2019s passions, always\ninflammable by the jealousy of partisanship, were here furthermore\nstimulated by the rancour of religion! And hearts were lacerated, and\ncountries were depopulated in sustainment of the consequences of a\nphysiological disquisition!!!\n\nBut what do you conceive to have been the topic at issue? Verily, it was\nwhether the _male or the female contributed more largely to the act of\ngeneration_!--those who voted for the _female_ side ranging themselves\nunder the banners of _Pish_, and those for the _male_ under the standard\nof _Budh_, while both equally appealed to heaven for adjudication of\ntheir suit, by arrogating to themselves the adjunct of _De-danaans_, or\nGod-Almoners.\n\n  \u201cNot but the human fabric from its birth\n  Imbibes a flavour of its parent earth,\n  As various tracts enforce a various toil,\n  The manners speak the idiom of the soil.\u201d\n\nWhether or not, however, the result is to be considered as decisive of the\nmatter in dispute, one thing at least is certain, namely, that the\n_Pish_-God-Almoners obtained the victory; and the _Budh_-God-Almoners were\nthrown upon the ocean; over whose bosom, wafted to our genial shores, they\ndid not only import with them all the culture of the East, with its\naccompanying refinement and polished civilisation; but they raised the\nisle to that pinnacle of literary and religious beatitude which made it\nappear to the fancies of distant and enraptured hearers more the day-dream\nof romance than the sober outline of an actual locality.\n\nI shall now illustrate a part of those truths by the Indian history of the\ncircumstances, as copied from their Puranas, by one who had no\nanticipation of my differently-drawn conclusions, and one, in fact, who\ndid not know either the _scene_ or the _substance_ of the occurrence which\nhe thus transcribes.\n\n\u201cYoni, the _female nature_, is also,\u201d says Wilford, \u201cderived from the same\nroot (_yu_, to mix). Many Pundits insist the Yavanas were so named from\ntheir obstinate assertion of a superior influence in the _female_ over the\n_linga_ or _male nature_, in producing a perfect offspring. It may seem\nstrange that a question of mere physiology should have occasioned not only\na vehement religious contest, but even a bloody war; yet the fact appears\nto be historically true, though the Hindu writers have dressed it up, as\nusual, in a veil of historical allegories and mysteries, which we should\ncall obscene, but which they consider as awfully sacred.\n\n\u201cThere is a legend in the Servarasa, of which the figurative meaning is\nmore obvious. When Sati, after the close of her existence as the daughter\nof Dascha, sprang again to life in the character of Parvati, or Mountain\nSpring, she was reunited in marriage to Mahadeva. This divine pair had\nonce a dispute on the comparative influence of the sexes in producing\nanimated beings, and each resolved, by mutual agreement, to create apart a\nnew race of men.[272] The race produced by Mahadeva were very numerous,\nand devoted themselves exclusively to the worship of the _male deity_; but\ntheir intellects were dull, their bodies feeble, their limbs distorted,\nand their complexions of many different hues. Parvati had, at the same\ntime, created a multitude of human beings, who adored the _female power_\nonly, and were all well shaped, with sweet aspects and fine complexions. A\nfurious contest ensued between the two races, and the _Lingajas_ were\ndefeated in battle; but Mahadeva, enraged against the _Yonijas_, would\nhave destroyed them with the _fire of his eye_, if Parvati had not\ninterposed and spared them;[273] but he would spare them only on\ncondition that they should instantly leave the country, with a promise to\nsee it no more; and from the _Yoni_, which they adored as the sole cause\nof their existence, they were named Yavanas.\u201d\n\nIt is evident that a mistake has been committed in the above narrative,\nmaking the _victors_ the persons who were obliged to quit! and we know\nfrom testimony, adduced upon a different occasion, that instances of such\nconfusion were neither unfrequent nor uncommon.[274] But even admitting it\nto be accurate, the apparent contradiction is easily reconciled; as it is\nprobable that the contest was protracted for a _long period of time_,\nbefore it was ultimately decided in favour of one party; and, in the\nalternations of success, one side being up to-day, and another uppermost\nto-morrow, what could be more natural than that a colony of the _Yavanas_,\nor _Pish-de-danaans_,--which is the same,--should have fled for shelter to\nIndia, before that the auspices of their arms, propelled by the _fair\ncause_ which they vindicated, had, at length, accomplished the overthrow\nof their adversaries.\n\nThis object, however, once obtained,--full masters of their wishes, and\nsole arbiters of Iran,--they were not satisfied with the mere extinction\nof all the symbols of their predecessors,--save and except the _Towers_\nwhich stood proof to their attacks,--but they established there instead a\ncode, as well political as moral, more consonant with their own\nprejudices: and the wonder would be great, indeed, if, after this\ntriumphant assertion of _female_ power, gratitude and religion should not\nboth combine in making the _type_ of that influence--the sacred\n_crescent_, or _yoni_--the personification of their doctrines; and _woman\nherself_, all-lovely and all-attractive, the concentrated temple of their\ndivinity upon earth!\n\nSuch was the commencement of the Pish-de-danaan dynasty in Persia; and its\ninfluence still operating, after a long interval of time, is what the\nhistorian unconsciously describes in the following terms, viz.:--\n\n\u201cIf we give any credit to Ferdosi, most of the laws of modern honour\nappear to have been understood and practised with an exception in favour\nof the ancient Persians, whose duels, or combats (which were frequent),\nwere generally with the most distinguished among the enemies of their\ncountry or the human race. The great respect in which the female sex was\nheld was, no doubt, the principal cause of the progress they had made in\ncivilisation. These were at once the cause of generous enterprise and its\nreward. It would appear that in former days the women of Persia had an\nassigned and honourable place in society; and we must conclude that an\nequal rank with the male creation, which is secured to them by the\nordinances of Zoroaster, existed long before the time of that reformer,\nwho paid too great attention to the habits and prejudices of his\ncountrymen, to have made any serious alterations in so important a usage.\nWe are told by Quintus Curtius, that Alexander would not sit in the\npresence of Sisy-gambis till told to do so by that matron, because it was\nnot the custom in Persia for sons to sit in presence of their mothers.\nThere can be no stronger proof than this anecdote affords, of the great\nrespect in which the female sex were held in that country at the period of\nhis invasion.\u201d[275]\n\n  \u201cWithout thee, what were unenlightened man?\n  A savage roaming through the woods and wilds\n  In quest of prey; and with the unfashioned fur\n  Rough clad; devoid of every finer art,\n  And elegance of life. Nor happiness\n  Domestic, mixed of tenderness and care,\n  Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss,\n  Nor grace, nor love, were his.\u201d[276]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\n\nBut you will say that I have ventured nothing like proof, of the\nparadoxical affirmation propounded a short while ago, as to the\n_Tuath-de-danaans_ having been mentioned, by all Eastern writers, in\nconnection with Persia; and yet unnoticed, the while, by themselves, not\nless than unheeded by their readers?\n\nTrue: I but awaited the opportunity which has just arrived.\n\nAre you not aware, then, how that all Oriental writers, when referring to\nBudha, who was born at Maghada, in South Bahar, state that he was the son\nof _Suad-dha-dana_? And have I not already shown you that _Suadh_ and\n_Tuath_ were but disguises of each other, and both resolvable into Budh?\n\nThose first components, therefore, in each being the same, look at the\nentire compound words, _Tuath-de-danaan_, and _Suad-dha-dana_, and are not\nthe rest, also, infallibly identical?\n\nAdmitting this, you reply, how could they, in that early age, make their\nway to Ireland? which, from its extreme position, must have been the very\nlast place they would have thought of!\n\nIf the question refers to the route pursued, I decline its solution, as\nnot necessary for my design. \u201cA piece of sugar, or a morsel of pepper, in\na neglected corner of a village inn, would be a certain proof,\u201d says\nHeeren, \u201cof the trade with either Indies, even if we possessed no other\nevidences of the commerce of the Dutch and English with those countries.\u201d\nAnd when I have already made the coincidences between the two Irans and\ntheir inhabitants, their forms of worship, their language and mode of\nlife, to be historical axioms, I surely cannot be expected to waste labour\nupon such a trifle, which sinks into nothing against _evidences_ of the\nactual fact.[277]\n\nBut if the length of the voyage be the obstacle insinuated, then would I\nfind some difficulty to--do what?--keep my muscles grave: as if, forsooth,\nthe adventurous sons of man could only, slowly and imperceptibly, and like\nso many ants pushing a load before them, introduce themselves, inch by\ninch, and in measured succession, into the diversified terraqueous globe\nspread abroad for their enjoyment!--when we have direct demonstration that\nsuch was far from having been the case in the instance of a colony which,\nstarting from Tyre, and leaving behind on all sides the most inviting and\ndelicious countries, planted itself down, perhaps from the mere spirit of\nromance, in the circumscribed little island of Cadiz, long before Carthage\nor Utica had existence even in name!\n\nNo, sir; we must not be so fond of derogating from the ancients all\nparticipation in those embellishments which promote society. Asia was the\ncradle of the whole human race; and thence, as its population overflowed,\nmigratory herds in different states of civilisation, and with different\nforms of religious culture, poured in their successive colonies with\nmultitudinous inundation into the other continental lands; but with more\nzeal, and with stronger preference, into those compact little nests which\nhave been significantly denominated the \u201cIsles of the Gentiles.\u201d\n\nVessels rode over the briny surges with as proud a canvas as now receives\nthe gale.[278] The model of the ark would be lesson sufficient to instruct\nan enterprising generation in the science of naval architecture: and we\nmay well suppose that, of all pursuits cultivated by human art, this would\nhave occupied the very foremost regard by a people just rescued, through\nits salutary instrumentality, from the desolating scourge of an\nall-swallowing abyss.\n\n\u201cWell, then, at all events,\u201d--I fancy I hear you exclaim,--\u201cyou admit the\nstory of the _deluge_?\u201d\n\nCertainly; and that of _Noah_, and the _ark_, and the _dove_, and the\n_raven_. But did I not, also, concede the story of the _giants_, and of\nthe _serpent_? of the _sons of God_, and of the _tree of knowledge_? Nay,\n_have I not put the truth of those particulars beyond the possibility of\nscepticism_, much more of _denial_? But, believe me, that the _liquid_\nwhich composed this \u201cdeluge\u201d was more of the colour of _claret_ than it\nwas of _water_;--that there was no more of _wood_ or _timber_ in the\nconstruction of this \u201cark\u201d than there was in that of the \u201ctree of\nknowledge\u201d--that those two latter were congenial and correspondent to each\nother,--in their configuration and intention,--and that _flesh_ and\n_blood_ were the elements of which they were both composed.\n\n  \u201cFor all that meets the bodily sense, I deem\n  Symbolical, one mighty alphabet\n  For infant minds------\u201d\n\nCould the coincidence of measure[279] between the great Egyptian _pyramid_\nat its base, and that of the Noachic _ark_, in ancient cubits,[280] have\nbeen accidental, do you imagine? And if not, what community of purpose, do\nyou think, had been subserved by such numerical analogy?\n\nThe _triangle_, in the old world, was a sacred form. It represented the\nproperties--capacity and dilatation--of the _female_ symbol. Lucian, in\nhis _Auction_, states the following dialogue as having occurred between\nPythagoras and a purchaser, viz.:--\n\nPYTH. How do you reckon?\n\nPUR. One, two, three, four.\n\nPYTH. Do you see? What you conceive _four_, these are _ten_; and a perfect\n_triangle_, and our _oath_.\n\nNow, Pythagoras, though a Samian, was educated in Egypt; and the religious\nmysteries, with which he had been there imbued, are what is so profanely\nridiculed by this infidel scoffer.\n\nIt is not my province to justify the ceremonial of the Egyptians, any\nfurther than as indicative of gratitude to the Godhead; but the reflection\nmust suggest itself to every observant mind, that they are never called\n_idolaters_ in any part of the Pentateuch; and Plutarch, in addition,\n_positively asserts_ that \u201cthey had inserted nothing into their worship\nwithout a reason,--nothing merely fabulous,--nothing superstitious; but\ntheir institutions have reference either to morals or something useful in\nlife, and bear a beautiful resemblance, many of them, to some _facts_ in\n_history_, or some _appearance_ in _nature_.\u201d\n\nIf we investigate the secret of this Pythagorean asseveration, we shall\nfind that the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, thrice joined, and touching each other,\nas it were, in three angles, in this manner--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nconstitute an equilateral _triangle_, and amount also, in calculation, to\n_ten_. While the _inward_ mystery, couched under its figure, embraced _all\nthat was solemn in religion and in thought_, being, in fact, the index of\n_male_ and _female_ united--the unit, in the centre, standing for the\nLingam.\n\nLook now at the form of the great Egyptian pyramid; and is it not\nprecisely that of the above triangle? Is there not, also, an _aperture_\ninto it, about the middle as here?[281] And when to all, we add the\nnotion of _wells_ of water withinside, is not the demonstration complete,\nthat the goddess of the _Lotos_, the soft promoter of _desire_, the\narbitress of _man_, and the compeer of the _angels_, was the honoured\nobject of its symbolical erection?[282]\n\nIn 1 Pet. iii. 20, it is asserted that only \u201ceight persons\u201d were preserved\nin the ark. Let us suppose them to have been Noah and _his_ wife, with his\nthree sons and _their_ wives. At a comparatively short interval after the\ndate assigned to this event,--at most but 352 years,--on Abraham\u2019s arrival\nin the land of Egypt, we find a flourishing kingdom, an organised police,\na systematic legislature, and comprehensive institutions, diffused over\nits surface. All the other parts of the world, we must be ready to\npresume, if not equally enlightened, were, at least, as populous; and I\nput it to your good sense to decide, whether _eight_ individuals could,\nwithin that period, not only procreate so plentifully as to replenish the\nwhole earth, but enlighten it, additionally, with such a coruscation of\nscience, as no subsequent era has been since able to eclipse?\n\nIndeed, the Scriptures themselves give us, elsewhere, to understand that\nSt. Peter did not correctly interpret this history. \u201cCome thou,\u201d says Gen.\nvii. 1, \u201cand _all thy house_, into the ark!\u201d This gracious invitation, at\nso critical a juncture, would have been too welcome a proffer to be lost\nsight of by anyone who could make it available; and must not we suppose\nthat the _domestics_ to whom the extension was addressed, with their\nseveral dependants and collateral offspring, would have been glad and\nhappy to grasp at it with delight?\n\nBut the name of the type itself is worth a hundred deductions from\nequivocal premises. The _coffer_ of the law, the _coffin_ of Joseph, the\n_money chest_ of the temple, are all severally translated _ark_, and\nrecorded in Hebrew by the word \u05df\u05e8\u05d5\u05d0 _aron_: but the \u201c_ark_ of Noah\u201d[283]\nand Moses\u2019s \u201cark of bulrushes\u201d[284] are peculiarly designated, \u05ea\u05d1\u05ea\n_Thebit_, or \u05ea\u05d1\u05d4 _tebah_.[285]\n\nWhat is the meaning of these mysterious terms?\n\n  \u201cQuo spectanda modo, quo sensu credis, et ore?\u201d\n\nAs the _Tau_ of the Hebrews is, indifferently, in power, _T_ and _Th_,\n_Thebit_ has as good a right to be spelled with, as without, an _h_ at the\nend of it,--and, indeed, a better right, considering the elements whereof\nit is compounded. _Thebith_, then, is the proper and true sound, and the\nmystery of its import I thus unravel.\n\nIts first syllable, _The_, signifies _sacred_ or consecrated;[286] and\nsince the letters _b_ and _p_ are commutable--_bith_ is the same as\n_pith_, that is, _Cteis_ or _Yoni_. The words _The-bith_, then, together,\nin all the attraction of truth, intimate the _consecrated Cteis_; or the\n_sacred Yoni_![287]\n\nBut _Pith_, itself, is only a _conversion of Fidh_, the initial letters\n_P_ and _F_ being always interchangeable, and not more so than the\npenultimates _t_ and _d_. And _Fidh_, in its abstract and original\nposition, such as we have early seen it, is _masculine_, the plural of\n_Budh_, conveying variously the significations of _Lingams_, _trees_, and\n_bulrushes_. Here, however, where it is _feminine_, its sex _reversed_,\nand the _anatomy_ of _nature_ pourtrayed by the _physics_ of _language_,\nthe idea of the _bulrushes_ alone presents itself; and the _basket_ in\nwhich Moses was _saved_ from the waters, and which was made of such reeds,\nwas appropriately denominated by this mysterious symbol, as a type of the\n_virginity_ in which the Messiah was to be incarnated, not less than of\nthe _redemption_ which was to accrue from His sufferings.\n\nAnother stage has been thus advanced; and lo! the beautiful union which\nsubsists, _as to design_, between the results of our discoveries, and the\nconsoling assurances of pure Christianity!\n\nLet us now proceed a little farther in this course--\n\n  \u201cSanctos ausi recludere fontes,\u201d[288]\n\nand connect these truths with the _Tuath_-de-danaans and the\n_Pish_-de-danaans.\n\n\u201cNoah was a just man,\u201d observes the scriptural historian, \u201cand _perfect in\nhis generations_; and Noah walked with God.\u201d[289]\n\nThe name of this patriarch implies literally a _boat_: the character\nassigned him is not so well understood.\n\nTo succeed in the investigation we must have recourse to the context: and\nhere the first thing that strikes us is the observation \u201cthat the earth\nwas _corrupt_ before God, and filled with _violence_; for all _flesh_ had\ncorrupted his way upon the earth.\u201d[290]\n\nA passage in the New Testament will be the best comment upon this subject,\nwhere the patience of God with the iniquities of mankind being at length\nexhausted, it is said, that He \u201cgave them over to a _reprobate mind_,\u201d \u201cto\ndishonour their own bodies between themselves.\u201d[291]\n\nBut Noah did not participate in those unhallowed abominations, and he\naccordingly \u201cfound grace in the eyes of the Lord.\u201d[292]\n\nWe now, therefore, see the propriety of the name assigned to his\n_ark_;[293]--and the intimation of approval conveyed by the divine command\nof \u201cCome thou and all thy house into it,\u201d was but another form of the\ninjunction elsewhere conveyed, to the same effect, in the words, \u201cBe ye\nfruitful and multiply.\u201d[294]\n\n_Noah_, then, and _Kaiomurs_[295] were one and the same person, the\nreformer of the human species, and the first monarch of the\nPish-de-danaan dynasty. _Yavana_ was another name appropriated to him, and\nequivalent with _Noah_, excepting only that the former is literal, and the\nlatter figurative. An advantage, however, arises from this difference, for\nwhen we know that _Yavana_ means the _yoni_, and _Noah_ a _boat_, and that\nboth were equally characteristic of the same individual character, we\nconclude that the latter denomination was but the symbol of the\nformer--that, in fact, it was the _lunar boat_,[296] or the _crescent_,\nthe _concha Veneris_, and the type of _comfort_[297] that was veiled under\nthe mystery of this ambiguous device.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThis fact once explained, you have the immediate solution of those\n\u201csemicircular implements\u201d so universal throughout this island, and which\nLedwich acknowledges \u201chave created more trouble to the antiquarians to\ndetermine their use, than all the other antiquities put together.\u201d\n\nThese are all made of the finest gold, and, as emblems of the _yoni_,\nwhich was the Raman _palladium_, used to have been worn as _breast_-plates\nby the priests and sovereigns. They would sometimes, also, exhibit them as\nornaments to the _head_-dress: and when so designed the two terminating\nangles used to have been furnished with circular cups, whereby they would\nbetter adhere to the part: of such, likewise, we have the following\nspecimen.[298]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_Yun_ is the usual mode of pronouncing _Yavana_; and as the veneration of\nposterity for the virtues of this legislator, at a moment when vice had\nthreatened a general decay,[299] led them to consider him a god, he hence\nobtained the prefix of _Deo_ or _Deu_, which along with that of _Cali_,\nwhose champion he showed himself, make up the romantic, emblematic and\nnominal representation of _Deucaliyun_.[300]\n\n  \u201cSafe o\u2019er the main of life the _vessel_ rides,\n  When _passion_ furls her sails, and _reason_ guides;\n  Whilst she who has that surest rudder lost,\n  Midst rocks and quicksands by the waves is tost;\n  No certain road she keeps, nor port can find,\n  Toss\u2019d up and down by every wanton wind.\u201d[301]\n\nThe struggles for ascendency between contending parties are not the growth\nof a day; still less are they unstained by the effusion of blood. _Deluge_\nwas no very extravagant hyperbole to apply to such a carnage; for\nindependently of our knowing that _every_ visitation, whether by _fire_,\n_water_, or _sword_, was so denominated by the Easterns, we have the\nScriptures themselves illustrating this use of the term in applying it to\nthe description at a far later period of an equally severe and no less\ndistressing catastrophe.\n\n\u201cNow, therefore, the Lord bringeth upon him the waters of the river,\nstrong and many, even the King of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall\ncome up over all his channels, and go over all his banks. And he shall\npass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to\nthe neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of\nThy land, O Immanuel.\u201d[302]\n\nBut how, you ask, account for the marine strata, and other remains, found\nwithin the earth\u2019s recesses?\n\nI answer they were there embedded and inanimate, before ever man was\nplaced above them as a denizen.\n\n\u201cIt is clearly ascertained,\u201d says Cuvier \u201cthat the oviparous quadrupeds\nare found considerably earlier, or in more ancient strata than those of\nthe viviparous class. Thus the crocodiles of Harfleur and of England are\nfound immediately beneath the chalk. The great alligators and the\ntortoises of Maestricht are found in the chalk formation, but these are\nboth marine animals. This earliest appearance of fossil bones seems to\nindicate that dry lands and fresh waters must have existed before the\nformation of the chalk strata; yet neither of that early epoch, nor during\nthe formation of the chalk strata, nor even for a long period afterwards,\ndo we find any fossil remains of _mammiferous land_ quadrupeds. We begin\nto find the bones of the mammiferous sea animals, namely, of the lamantin\nand of seals, in the course of shell limestone which immediately covers\nthe chalk strata in the neighbourhood of Paris. But no bones of the\nmammiferous land quadrupeds are to be found in that formation; and\nnotwithstanding the most careful investigations I have never been able to\ndiscover the slightest trace of this class excepting in the formations\nwhich lie over the coarse limestone strata: but on reaching these more\nrecent formations, the bones of land quadrupeds are discovered in great\nabundance.\n\n\u201cAs it is reasonable to believe that shells and fish did not exist at the\nperiod of the formation of the primitive rocks, we are also led to\nconclude that the oviparous quadrupeds began to exist along with the\nfishes, while the land quadrupeds did not begin to appear till long\nafterwards, and until the coarse shell limestone had been already\ndeposited, which contains the greater part of our genera of shells,\nalthough of quite different species from those that are now found in a\nnatural state. There is also a determinate order observable in the\ndisposition of those bones with regard to each other, which indicates a\nvery remarkable succession in the appearance of the different species.\n\n\u201cAll the genera which are now unknown, as the Pal\u00e6otheria, Anapal\u00e6otheria,\nand with the localities of which we are thoroughly acquainted, are found\nin the most ancient of the formations of which we are now treating, or\nthose which are placed directly over the coarse limestone strata. It is\nchiefly they which occupy the regular strata which have been deposited\nfrom fresh waters, or certain alluvial beds of very ancient formation,\ngenerally composed of sand and rounded pebbles.\n\n\u201cThe most celebrated of the unknown species belonging to known genera, or\nto genera nearly allied to those which are known, as the fossil elephant,\nrhinoceros, hippopotamos, and mastodon, are never found with the more\nancient genera, but are only contained in alluvial formations. Lastly, the\nbones of species which are apparently the same with those that still\nexist alive, are never found except in light and alluvial dispositions.\u201d\n\nFrom all which, this philosopher draws the following just conclusion,\nnamely:--\u201cThus we have a collection of facts, a series of epochs anterior\nto the present time, and of which the successive steps may be ascertained\nwith perfect certainty, though the periods which intervened cannot be\ndetermined with any degree of precision. These epochs form so many fixed\npoints, answering as rules for directing our inquiries respecting this\nancient chronology of the earth.\u201d\n\nTo return--\u201cGod said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before Me;\nfor the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will\ndestroy them with the earth.\u201d[303]\n\nNow, we see that the earth has _not_ been destroyed, and _this single\ncircumstance, in itself_, ought to have been enough to show us that the\nwhole register was but figurative. The _raven_ and the _dove_ were\nindispensable auxiliaries to the structure of the allegory: the former\ntypifies the _massacre_ that prevailed during the period of the contest;\nand the latter, in its meek and its tender constancy, the invariable\nattendant, besides, of _Venus_ and the _boat_, characteristically\npourtrays the overtures made for an accommodation, until, after a second\nembassy, the _olive-branch_ of peace was saluted, and the cessation of\nhostilities was the consequence.[304]\n\nBehold, then, the folly of those dreamers who would make _Thebith_ so\ncalled, as if the _ark_ had rested upon it! Why, sir, in the entire\ncatalogue of _local_ names, there is no one half so common as that of\n_Thebith_ and _Theb\u00e6_! And surely you will not claim for your _ideal_\nman-of-war, in addition to other properties, that of _ubiquity_ also, by\nmaking it perch upon all those places, at one and the same time!\n\nNo, these scenes have been all denominated from the form of religion which\nthey recognised, and of which the _Pith_, _Yoni_, or _sacred Boat_, was\nthe conventional sign: as the countries of _Phut_, that is, _But_, and\n_Buotan_, were so designated likewise, from their adopting the _opposite_\nsymbol, namely, the _Budh_, _Phallus_, or _sacred Lingam_!\n\nPerplexed in this entanglement, and tossed about in \u201ca sea of\nspeculation,\u201d Mr. Jacob Bryant, in some respects a clever man, after a\nfatiguing cruise of somewhat more than half a century, fell at last a\nvictim in the general shipwreck.\n\n  \u201cYour wise men don\u2019t know much of navigation.\u201d\n\nThe _Gentiles_, says he, worshipped Noah\u2019s _ark_! Yes they did; but _not\nin the sense in which he understood it_.[305]\n\nAnother _axiom_ of his is, that the _Deluge_ must have really happened,\nbecause that the _tradition_ of it is _universal_! To this, also, I chime\nin my affirmative response, and proclaim, yea. But the _tradition_ of the\n_tree of knowledge_ is equally _universal_. And though the _ground work_\nof _both occurred_, and was _substantively true_, yet was the\n_description_ of _neither_ more than a graceful _allegory_; while the\nsalutary _alarm_ imparted under this guise, and the monitory _lesson_\nsuggested by its horrors, in _amusing_ the fancy, _edified_ it, at the\nsame moment, by keeping before it a _picture_ of that _spiritual\ndesolation_, which _sin_ leaves in the _citadel_ of the _soul_.[306]\n\n\u201cMoses,\u201d says the apostle, \u201cwas learned in all the wisdom of the\nEgyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.\u201d[307]\n\nNow Strabo assures us that the Egyptians of his day were as ignorant as he\nwas himself of the origin of their religion, of the import of their\nsymbols, and of their national history. They pretended to retain some\n_evanescent_ traces thereof in the time of Diodorus; but so scrupulously\nexact were they in the concealment of their tenour, that to pry into them,\nprofanely, was morally impossible.\n\nHerodotus himself, who neglected no channel of information, found it no\neasy matter to glean a few _initiatory_ scraps from them. And even these\nwere accompanied with such solemn denunciations, that his embarrassment is\nbetrayed when but alluding to their tendency.\n\nIf, during Moses\u2019s residence at Pharaoh\u2019s Court, his opportunities of\ninsight were greater, it is still self-evident that the accomplishments\nwhich he obtained were more of a secular character than of a religious\ncast--that the _courtier_ was the first object of the young princess\u2019s\ndirections, and the qualifications of the _statesman_ her next ambition\nfor her charge. The _mysteries_ of the priests were too awful, and too\nsanctified, to be debased to the routine of a schoolboy\u2019s rehearsal; and\neven when ripening age did bespeak a more chastened mind, the\ncommunication of their contents was obscured by the interposition of an\nalmost impenetrable umbrage.\n\nThus palliated by types, Moses did, however, imbibe from the Egyptians all\nthe knowledge which they then possessed of the nature of their ceremonies;\nand the record of the _Fall_, the _Deluge_, and the _Creation_ are the\ndirect transcripts of the instruction so conveyed. But though it is\nundeniable, from their _symbols_, that the Egyptians must have been well\napprised of the _constitution_ of those rites, yet am I as satisfied as I\nam of my physical motion, that the foldings of that _web_, in which they\nwere so mystically _doubled_, was lost to their grasp in the labyrinths of\nantiquity.\n\nMoses, therefore, could not have _learned_ from the Egyptians more than\nthe Egyptians themselves had _known_. He related the allegory as he had\n_received_ it from them: and it is, doubtless, to his ignorance of its\n_ambiguous_ interpretation, _accessible only through that language in\nwhich it was originally involved_, that we are indebted for a\ntransmission, _so essentially Irish_.\n\nThe _Pish_-de-danaan dynasty which rose upon the ruins of the\n_Tuath_-de-danaans, in _Iran_, was itself, in after ages, ejected from\nthat country. _Egypt_ was the retreat of their shattered fortunes; and\nthere, during their abode, under the name of the _Shepherd-kings_, they\nerected the _Pyramids_, in honour of _Pith_, or _Padma_-devi, but at an\nage long anterior to what may be presumed from Manetho.[308]\n\nPreviously, however, to their arrival in Egypt, Shinaar in Mesopotamia\nafforded them an asylum. Here it was that Nimrod broke in:[309] and as I\nhave before but _transiently glanced_ at that circumstance, I shall now\nrevert to it with more precision.\n\nBetween the tenets of the _Pish_-de-danaans and those of their\n_Tuath_-de-danaan predecessors, there was but a single point of\ndissentient belief. The language, the customs, the manners and modes of\nlife of both were the same. To all intents and purposes they were one\nidentical people.\n\nBut as the former had imagined that the _Yoni_ alone was the author of\n_procreation_, while the others claimed that honour for their own symbol,\nthe _Lingam_, an animosity ensued, which was not allayed even by the\nconsciousness, that _each_, secretly, worshipped the type of the _other\u2019s_\ncreed.\n\nThe _goddess_, however, prevailed in the struggle, and her glories in Iran\nwere great and far spread. Monarchs bowed at the nod of her omnipotence,\nand the earth swelled with the gestations of her praise.[310] \u201c_Sed\nultima dies semper homini est expectanda._\u201d A rude and a lawless swarm of\nstragglers, headed by an adventurer of commanding abilities and determined\nheroism, _deluged_, in turn, the _Boatmen_, or the _Noachid\u00e6_,[311] and\nswamped them in a _flood_, as _sanguinary_ and as _disastrous_ as that\nwhich they had, themselves, before, brought upon the adversaries of their\nzeal.\n\nBut it was not the _bloodshed_ of the scene that affected them half so\nmuch as the _insult_ offered by the erection of the _Tower_![312] And as\nno clue can be so adequate for the analysis of this _enigma_ as that which\nthey themselves have bequeathed,--for it was from the _Yavanas_ or\n_Pish_-de-danaans that Moses had been taught the fact,--I shall place such\nbefore your eyes, in all the eloquence of a self-interpreting dissyllable.\n\n\u05de\u05e0\u05e8\u05dc is the name by which the scriptural record perpetuates this\nstructure.[313] If you put this into English letters, and read them\nregularly, from left to right, it will be _Lidgam_. But the Hebrews read\nin the opposite direction, from right to left; and that is the very cause\nof the appearance of the _d_ in the word; for as _Magnil_--reading\nbackwards--would produce a _cacophony_, the _n_ of the original was left\nout, and _d_ substituted, making _Magdil_: reinstate, therefore, the _n_,\nand enunciate the Hebrew word, as you would the Irish or the Sanscrit, and\nit will not only unmask the _secret_ of this long-disputed edifice, but\n_be_, _sound_, and _personate_, in all the nicety of accentuation,\n_Lingam_, and thus prevent all further controversy about the character of\nthe _Tower_ of Babel.\n\n  \u201cThe waies through which my weary steps I guide,\n    In this researche of old antiquitie,\n  Are so exceeding riche, and long, and wyde,\n    And sprinkled with such sweet varietie,\n  Of all that pleasant is to eare and eye,\n    That I, nigh ravisht with rare thought\u2019s delight,\n  My tedious travel quite forgot thereby;\n    And when I gin to feel decay of might,\n  It strength to me supplies and cheers my dulled spright.\u201d[314]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\n\nI have stated that it was from the _Pish_-de-danaans or Yavana\nphilosophers of Egypt that Moses had learned the allegories of the Deluge\nand of the Fall. I now add, _that it was by them also he had been\ninstructed in that consolatory assurance which told him_ that the \u201cSeed of\nthe woman should bruise the serpent\u2019s head.\u201d[315]\n\nIn truth, it was this very promise made to the ancestors of those people\nin _Paradise_, which is but another name for _Iran_,[316] that gave rise\nto the _schism_ between them and the _Tuath_-de-danaans.\n\n\u201cUnto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy\n_conception_; in sorrow thou shalt _bring forth children_: and thy\n_desire_ shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.\u201d[317]\n\nThe _nature_ of the _crime_ is here clearly denoted by the _suitableness_\nof the _punishment_.[318] But the same over-ruling Judge, who, in\nconformity with His justice, could not but chastise the violation of His\ninjunctions, yet, in mercy to man\u2019s weakness, and seeing that \u201che also is\nflesh,\u201d condescended to promise that the _instrument_ of his _seduction_\nshould be also the _vehicle_ of his _redeeming triumph_.\n\n\u201cI will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between\nthy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his\nheel.\u201d[319]\n\nPinning their faith upon the literal fulfilment of these terms, which told\nthem that the _female, as such_, would be the unaided author of a _being_,\nwhose healing effects would restore them to the inheritance so heedlessly\nforfeited, their veneration for that _symbol_ of divine interposition\nbecame correspondingly unbounded; and their enthusiasm for the principle\nof its strict verification was what engendered the thought that in the\ngeneral procreating scheme the _yoni_ was the _vivifier_.\n\nThe _Tuath_-de-danaans or Lingajas, on the other hand, were not less\nsatisfied in their security; but looking upon the terms with a more\n_spiritual_ interpretation, and led by the operation of ordinary _physics_\nto consider the question as a _deviation_ from the _general rule_, they\nerected the symbol of _male_ capability as the standard of their doctrine.\nAnd thus, while the zeal of both parties shook the very framework of\nsociety, yet did they _concur_ in all the _essentials_ of their respective\nreligions; and even the particulars of that _prospect_ by which they were\nboth sustained, instead of operating as an exception to the universality\nof this truth, only confirm its import.\n\nThe Jews, who were but _newly_ brought forward upon the stage, and who, in\nthe inscrutable councils of heaven, were selected as the objects of God\u2019s\nimmediate superintendence, being informed of the tenour of the\nparadisaical hope, abused it more wantonly than ever did the\n_Pish_-de-danaans or the _Tuath_-de-danaans.\n\nUnable to comprehend, from their narrow mental calibre, any _agency_ in\nthe form of a divine _emanation_, and yet fancying, each of them, that she\nwould herself be the mother of the expected Redeemer, their women indulged\nin all the lusts of _desire_, and, where no opportunity offered for\nlicensed gratification, revelled in the arms of incest.\n\nThis alone can apologise for that intensity of passion, exceeding even the\ndictates of natural thirst, and unrestrained by the consideration of\ndecency or consanguinity, whereof we read in the Old Testament, respecting\nthe Israelitish daughters;[320] while it also demonstrates that the\n_carnality_ of their souls did not allow them thoroughly to understand the\nprecise nature of the _favour_ designed.\n\nFar otherwise the case with the _intellectual_ races, which they were now\nappointed to supersede.\n\n\u201cIn order to reclaim the vicious, to punish the incorrigible, to protect\nthe oppressed, to destroy the oppressor, to encourage and reward the good,\nand to show all spirits the path to their ultimate happiness, God has been\npleased to manifest Himself, say the Brahmins, in a variety of ways, from\nage to age, in all parts of the habitable globe. When He acts immediately,\nwithout assuming a shape, or sending forth a new emanation, when a divine\nsound is heard from the sky, that manifestation of Himself is called\n_acasavani_, or an ethereal voice: when the voice proceeds from a meteor\nor a flame, it is said to be _agnarupi_, or _formed of fire_; but an\n_avatara_ is a descent of the Deity in the shape of a mortal; and an\n_avantara_ is a similar incarnation of an inferior kind, intended to\nanswer some purpose of less moment. The Supreme Being, and the celestial\nemanations from Him, are _niracara_, or bodiless, in which state they must\nbe invisible to mortals; but when they are _pratya-sha_, or obvious to\nsight, they become _sacara_, or embodied, either in shapes different from\nthat of any mortal, and expressive of the divine attributes, as Chrishna\nrevealed himself to Arjun, or in a human form, _which Chrishna usually\nbore, and in that mode of appearing the deities are generally supposed to\nbe born of women without any carnal intercourse_.\u201d[321]\n\nIs this repugnant to the spirit of Christianity? No; it is its\ncounterpart. \u201cI know,\u201d says Job, in the moment of inspiration, \u201cthat my\nRedeemer liveth.\u201d[322] Prophetically, you reply; and you back the opinion\nby our Saviour\u2019s own appeal that \u201cAbraham saw his day, and was glad.\u201d[323]\n\nAbraham certainly believed by anticipation, but Job by retrospection. And\nif you will not think my assertion decisive of the matter, I will produce\nan authority to which you will more readily subscribe.\n\n\u201cAnd all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names are not\nwritten in the book of life of _the Lamb slain from the foundation of the\nworld_.\u201d[324]\n\nIt will be in vain for you to attempt to parry the evidence of this\nstartling text. No visionary _foresight_ will accomplish its defeat: no\nideal _substitutions_ will shake its validity.\n\n\u201cHow it came to pass,\u201d says Skelton, \u201cthat the Egyptians, Arabians, and\nIndians, before Christ came among us, and the inhabitants of the extreme\nnorthern parts of the world, ere they had so much as heard of Him, _paid a\nremarkable veneration to the sign of the cross_, is to me unknown, but\n_the fact itself_ is known. In some places this sign was given to men\naccused of a crime, but acquitted: and _in Egypt it stood for the\nsignification of eternal life_.\u201d[325]\n\n\u201cV. W.\u201d has asserted something similar;[326] but neither one nor the other\nhas attempted to fathom its origin.\n\n\u201cThe Druids,\u201d adds Schedius, \u201cseek studiously for an oak tree, large and\nhandsome, growing up with _two principal arms, in form of a cross_, beside\nthe main stem upright. If the two _horizontal arms_ are not sufficiently\nadapted to the figure, they fasten a _cross_-beam to it. This tree they\nconsecrate in this manner. Upon the right branch, they cut in the back, in\nfair characters, the word _Hesus_: upon the middle or upright stem, the\nword _Taramis_: upon the left branch, _Belenus_: over this, above the\ngoing off of the arms, they cut the name of God, _Thau_: under all, the\nsame repeated _Thau_.\u201d[327]\n\n\u201cThe form of the great temple,\u201d observes Dr. Macculloch, \u201cat Loch Bernera,\nin the Isle of Lewis the chief isle of the Hebrides, is that of a _cross_,\ncontaining, at the intersection, a circle with a central stone; an\nadditional line being superadded on one side of the longest arms, and\nnearly parallel to it. Were this line absent, its proportion would be\nnearly that of the Roman cross, or common crucifix.\u201d\n\nAnd then, in reply to the supposition of its having been converted by the\n_Christians_ into this form, he avers that \u201cthe whole is too consistent,\nand too much of one age, to admit of such; while at the same time, it\ncould not, under any circumstances, have been applicable to a Christian\nworship. Its essential part, the circular area, and the number of similar\nstructures found in the vicinity, equally bespeak its ancient origin. It\nmust, therefore, be concluded, that the cruciform shape was given by the\noriginal contrivers of the fabric; and it will afford an object of\nspeculation to antiquaries, who, if they are sometimes accused of _heaping\nadditional obscurity on the records of antiquity_, must also be allowed\nthe frequent merit of eliciting light from darkness. _To them I willingly\nconsign all further speculations concerning it._\u201d[328]... \u201cYet it seems\n_unquestionable_ that the figure of a cross was known to the Gothic\nnations, and also used by them _before they were_ converted to\nChristianity.\u201d[329]\n\nI do not know whether or not would the Doctor deem _me_ an \u201cantiquary,\u201d or\nif he did, in _which class_ would he assign me a place. I will undertake,\nnotwithstanding, to solve this difficulty with as much precision as I have\nthe others before it.\n\nThe _existence_ of the \u201ccross,\u201d and its _worship_, anterior to the\nChristian era, being no longer liable to dispute, it remains only that we\ninvestigate the _cause_ which it commemorates.[330]\n\nOur first aid in this research will be the notice of its accompaniments;\nand when we find that it goes ever in the train of a particular divinity,\nare we not compelled to connect that divinity with the idea of a\ncrucifixion?\n\n_Taut_, amongst the Egyptians, is emblemised by _three_ crosses.[331] The\nScandinavians represent their _Teutates_ by a cross. And a cross is the\ndevice by which the Irish _Tuath_ is perpetuated.\n\nBut these are all one and the same name, varied by the genius of the\ndifferent countries. The _centre_ from which they _diverge_, as well as\nthe _focus_ to which they _return_, I have shown to be _Budh_: and as this\n_symbol_ of his worship is universally recognised, does not the\n_crucifixion_ thus implied identify his fate with that of the \u201cLamb slain\nfrom the beginning of the world\u201d?[332]\n\nThe Pythonic _allegory_ which the Greeks have so obscured, in reality\noriginated in this religious transaction. For what is their fable? Is it\nnot that _Apollo_ slew with his _arrow_ the serpent _Python_? And as\nApollo means _son of the Sun_, is not the _substance_ of the whole, that\nthe _offspring of a virgin\u2019s womb_--that is, an _emanation of the Sun_, or\n_Budh_--overcame by his own _death_--typified by an _arrow_--sin and\n_sensuality_, of which the _serpent_, _i.e._ _pith_, is the symbol?\n\nWe are now prepared for the reception of that chronicle, transmitted\nthrough the Puranas, and noticed already at p. 221, viz. that a \u201cgiant,\nnamed Sancha-mucha-naga, in the shape of a _snake_, with a _mouth_ like a\n_shell_, and whose abode was in a _shell_, having _two countenances_, was\nkilled by Christnah.\u201d\n\nThe _very name_ of this allegoric \u201cgiant\u201d indicates the _mysterious\nsnake_--his being in the _form_ of a _snake_ is but the _personification_\nof _sensuality_; his having a _mouth_ like a _shell_ alludes to the\n_concha Veneris_, or the _Pith_; his having his _abode_ in that _shell_\ndenotes its being the _seat_ of _temptation_; his having _two\ncountenances_ implies the _disguise_ which _sin_ assumes; and his being\n_slain_ by _Christnah_ denotes that the _Son of God_, by _mortification\nand self-denial, and the most rigid abstinence from all worldly\npleasures_, verified in _His own person the promise made in Paradise_, and\nfor the _minor disquietudes_ which _guilt_ entails--expressed by the\n\u201c_heel_\u201d being \u201c_bruised_\u201d by the \u201c_serpent_,\u201d--inflicted a _blow_, which\nlaid low his empire, and stamped the signal of _victory_ over his\n\u201chead.\u201d[333]\n\n\u201cYe search the Scriptures,\u201d says our Saviour \u201cfor in them ye think ye have\neternal life: and they are they which _testify_ of Me.\u201d[334]\n\n_Testification_ can be made only in the case of a past occurrence. It is\nnever used in the way of prophecy. And in conformity with its true import,\nyou will find, from Genesis to Revelation, the concurrent tenor of the\nSacred Volume giving proof to the fact of Christ\u2019s former appearance upon\nthe earth as man!\n\nBut suppose me for a moment to descend from this position, and view those\nprevious manifestations as ordinary subjects of history, then hear an\noutline of what is transmitted to us respecting one of them.\n\nChanakya, Zacha, or, as our registers have it, Macha,[335] one of the\npersonifications of Budh, the general appellative of those heaven-sent\ndevotees, was so startling a paragon of human impeccability, as to inspire\nhis followers with the conviction of his being an incarnation of the\nGodhead.\n\nHe is stated to have been the son of one of the most powerful of eastern\nkings; but, according to their preconceived notions of the future\nRedeemer, born of his mother without any knowledge of the other sex.\n\nThe circumstances attendant upon his infantine education, and the\nprecocity of his parts, favoured an inauguration upon which their fancies\nhad been long riveted. After a laborious ordeal of pious austerity, not\nwithout miraculous proofs and other intimations of Divine approval, he was\nduly admitted to the honour of canonisation, and entered, accordingly,\nupon his task of consigned Saviour of the world.\n\nThe encounters with which he had to contend, in this uphill work, against\nflesh and blood, were those which were, afterwards, again combated by the\n_admitted_ Saviour whom he had personated. The same faults he reprehended;\nthe same weakness he deplored; the same hypocrisy he rebuked; and the same\nvirtues he inculcated. The purification of the inner spirit was the object\nwhich both professed, and the improvement of human morals in social\nintercourse and relation, the evidence in practice, upon which both\nequally insisted.\n\nIf Christ promised a _heaven_ to the votaries of His truths, Budha did a\n_nirwana_ to his disciples and imitators: and though the former place, to\nour imagination, sounds _replete with all delights_, while the latter is\nmerely figured as exempt from all _painfulness_, yet _both_ agree in one\nparticular, not a little soothing to wounded hope, in being essentially\nsuch, as where \u201cthe wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are\nat rest.\u201d\n\nBut great as was the resemblance which the personal example and the\ndoctrinal lessons of Macha and Christ bore to one another, it was as\nnothing compared to the almost incredible similitude of their respective\ndepartures. They both died the inglorious death of the _cross_ to\nreconcile man to his offended Creator; and in confident dependence upon\nthe best authenticated assurance, exulted on the occasion, however galling\nthe process, of expiating, by their own sufferings, the accumulated sins\nof humanity.\n\nIs it to be wondered at, therefore, that the traces which they have left\nbehind them, in their different ages, should bear an analogy to one\nanother? Or would not the wonder rather be that they did not, in all\nrespects, harmonise?\n\n\u201cLet not the piety of the Catholic Christian,\u201d says the Rev. Mr. Maurice,\n\u201cbe offended at the preceding assertion, that the _cross_ was one of the\nmost usual symbols among the hieroglyphics of Egypt and India. Equally\nhonoured in the Gentile and the Christian world, this emblem of universal\nnature, of that world to whose quarters its diverging radii pointed,\ndecorated the hands of most of the sculptured images in the former\ncountry, and in the latter stamped its form upon the most majestic of the\nshrines of their deities.\u201d[336]\n\nThe _fact_ alone is here attested to: not a syllable is said as to the\n_reason why_: and though I cannot but recognise the _scruples_ of the\n_writer_, nor withhold my admiration from the _rotundity_ in which the\ndiction has been cast, yet the reader must have seen that, as to _actual\nillustration_, it is--like the Rev. Mr. Deane\u2019s _flourish_ about the\nworship of the serpent--\u201c_Vox et pr\u00e6terea nihil_!\u201d[337]\n\n\u201cYou do err, not knowing the Scriptures,\u201d[338] said a Master, _without\npride_, and _who could not err_. If the remark applied in _His_ day, it is\nnot the less urgent in ours. So astounding did the correspondence between\nthe Christian and the Budhist doctrines appear to the early missionaries\nto Thibet and the adjacent countries--a correspondence not limited to mere\npoints of _faith_ and preceptorial maxims, but exhibiting its operation in\nall the outward details of _form_, the inhabitants going even so far as to\nwear _crosses_ around their necks--that Thevenot, Renaudot, Lacroze, and\nAndrada, have supposed in their ignorance of the cause of such affinity,\nthat Budhism must have been a vitiation of _Christianity_ before planted;\nwhereas _Budhism_ flourished thousands of years before it, or Brahminism\neither; and _this cross was the symbol of Budha crucified_.\n\n\u201cOur second illustration,\u201d says the _Dublin Penny Journal_, referring to\nwhat I have here introduced, \u201cbelongs to a later period, and will give a\ngood idea of the usual mode of representing the _Saviour_, whether on\nstone crosses, or on bronze, which prevailed from the sixth to the twelfth\ncentury. Such remains however, are valuable, not only as memorials of the\narts, but as preserving the Celtic costume of a portion of the inhabitants\nof our island in those remote ages. It will be seen that in _this_, as in\none of the shrine-figures before given, the kilt, or philibeg, is\ndistinctly marked, and _controverts the erroneous assertion_ of\nPinkerton, formerly noticed, that \u201cit was always quite unknown amongst the\nWelsh and Irish.\u201d[339]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHow others may receive it I do not know; but for myself, I confess, I find\nit no easy matter to maintain the composure of my countenance at this\naffected _pomposity_ of censorial _magniloquence_. The _self-complacency_\nof the _censor_ one could tolerate with ease, if the _assumption_ of the\n_historian_ had aught to support it. But alas! every position in the\nextract is the direct opposite of truth, with the exception of that which\nasserts another person\u2019s error; and even this is beclouded with such\negregious observations as to show, that leaving _Pinkerton_ to P----[340]\nwould be consigning the blind to a blinder conductor.\n\nFor, in the first place, the _philibeg_ was not a _Celtic_ costume at all,\nbut belonged to the De-danaan, or Iranian colony,[341] who, on their\noverthrow here, took it with them to what is now called Scotland. The\nFirbolgs, who were Celts, and occupied this island before the Iranians,\nwore another style of dress altogether, which, on the reconquest of the\ncountry by the Scythian swarms, B.C. 1000, became again the national\nuniform. For the Firbolgs, having assisted the Scythians in dislodging the\nIranians from the throne of the kingdom, and agreeing with them\nfurthermore in point of worship and of garb, they did not only make _their\nown habits_, as well of _religion_ as of _dress_, universal throughout the\nrealm, but obliterated every vestige of the _obnoxious_ costume, and\ncancelled every symptom of its characteristic ceremonial, except alone\nthose Round Temples of adamantine strength, which defied the assailment of\nall violence and batteries.\n\nThere was no remnant, therefore, of the kilt to be met with in Ireland,\neither in the _sixth_ century, or in the _twelfth_, or indeed for many\ncenturies before the Christian era at all. This effigy,[342] therefore,\n_could not have been intended for our Saviour_, wanting, besides, the I.\nN. R. I.,[343] and wearing the _Iranian regal crown_ instead of the\n_Jewish crown of thorns_. Therefore are we justified in ascribing it to\nits owner, _Budha_, whom again we find imprinted in the same _crucified\nform_, but with more _irresistibility of identification_, over the\nmonuments of his name--over the doors and lintels of the temples of his\nworship.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMr. Gough, describing this edifice, tells us that \u201cOn the west front of\nthe tower (Brechin) are two arches, one within the other, in relief. On\nthe point of the outermost is a _crucifix_, and between both, towards the\nmiddle, are figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John, the latter holding a\ncup with a lamb. The outer arch is adorned with knobs, and within both is\na slit or loop. At bottom of the outer arch are _two beasts_ couchant. _If\none of them, by his proboscis_, was not evidently _an elephant_, I should\nsuppose them the supporters of the Scotch arms. Parallel with the crucifix\nare two plain stones, which do not appear to have had anything upon\nthem.\u201d[344]\n\nCaptain Mackenzie, in his _Antiquities of the West and South Coast of\nCeylon_, which still professes adherence to Budhism, tells us that \u201c_at\neach side of the doorway_ (of the temple at Calane), _inclosed in recesses\ncut in the wall, are two large figures, the janitors of the god_\n(Budh).... A large elephant\u2019s tooth and a small _elephant of brass form\nthe ornament_ of a lampstead.... A female figure of the natural size,\ndecently and not ungracefully arrayed in the same garb, was represented\nstanding in another quarter, holding a lamp in the extended hand. The\ngallery was entirely covered with paintings, containing an history of the\nlife of Boodhoo--one of these seemed to represent the birth of the divine\nchild. A _large white elephant_ made a conspicuous figure in most of these\nassemblies.\u201d[345]\n\nScotch arms, indeed! Why, Sir, those animals were recumbent there, in\ndeified transfiguration, before ever _Pict_ or _Scot_ had planted a\nprofane foot within their neighbourhood. What connection, let me ask,\ncould this _elephant_ and this _bull_ have with Christianity, to entitle\nthem to the honour of being grouped with our Saviour? Or, if any, how\nhappens it that we never see them enter into similar combinations, in\n_churches_ or _chapels_, or _convents_ or _cathedrals_?[345]\n\nBut if they belong not to the Christian ceremonial, they do to something\nelse. They are the _grand, distinctive_, and _indispensable adjuncts of\nBudhism_; being the _two animals_ into which, _according to its doctrine\nof metempsychosis, the soul of Budha had entered after his death_.\n\nThis was the origin of the Egyptian _Apis_: and who is not familiar with\nthe honours lavished upon the sacred _bull_? To this day the _elephant_ is\nworshipped in the Burman empire,[346] where the genius of _Budhism_ still\nlingeringly tarries; and \u201c_Lord of the White Elephant_\u201d is the proudest\nensign of power claimed by the successors to the throne of Pegu.\n\nThe _human_ figures, then, _of course_, cannot be intended for \u201c_St. John_\nor the _Virgin Mary_.\u201d They represent _Budha\u2019s Virgin Mother_, along with\nhis _favourite disciple, Rama_. And thus does the testimony of\nArtemidorus, who _flourished 104 years before Christ_, a native himself of\nEphesus, and _who did not himself understand_ the _mystery_ of that\n_Virgin_ whom he historically records, receive _illustration_ from _my\nproof_, while it gives _it confirmation_ in return.\n\nHis words are--\u201cAdjacent to Britain there stands an island, where _sacred\nrites_ are performed to Ceres and the _Virgin_, similar to those in\nSamothrace.\u201d\n\nInitiation in the principles of this Samothracian ceremonial was thought\nso necessary an accomplishment for every hero and every prince, that no\naspirant to those distinctions ever ventured upon his destination, without\nfirst paying a visit to that religious rendezvous. The solemnity,\nattaching to the ritual there performed, was not greater than the\nveneration paid to the place itself. All fugitives found shelter within\nits privileged precincts, and the name of _sacred_ was assigned it, as the\nordinary characteristic of such sanctuaries.[347]\n\n\u201cThere are,\u201d says the Scholiast upon Aristophanes, \u201ctwo orders of\nmysteries celebrated in the course of the year, in honour of Ceres and\n_the Virgin_--the lesser and the greater; the former being but a sort of\npurification and holy preparation for the latter.\u201d[348]\n\nWho the Virgin was, however, none but the _initiated_ ever presumed to\ninvestigate, the practice observed in respect to her, being the same as\nthat which influenced the other ordinances of antiquity: and which made\nStrabo himself declare, that \u201c_all that can be said concerning the gods\nmust be by the exposition of old opinions and fables; it being the custom\nof the ancients to wrap up in enigma and allegory their thoughts and\ndiscourses concerning nature, which are, therefore, not easily\nexplained_.\u201d[349]\n\nProclus also says: \u201cIn all initiations and mysteries, the gods exhibit\nthemselves under many forms, and with a frequent change of shape;\nsometimes as light defined to no particular figure; sometimes in a human\nform; and sometimes in that of some other creature.\u201d[350]\n\nWith the clue, however, already afforded, we need not be deterred from\napproaching her fane. The allegorical name, under which they disguised\nher, was that of _Proserpine_: whom they represent \u201cso beautiful that _the\nfather of the gods himself became enamoured of her, and deceived her by\nchanging himself into a serpent, and folding her in his wreaths_.\u201d[351]\n\nThis was the _Greek perversion_ of the narrative. They had received it\nfrom the Pelasgi, under the garb of a _conception_, by _serpentine\ninsinuation, in a virgin womb_: and, the grossness of their intellects not\nallowing them to comprehend the possibility of an _emanation_, yet giving\nunqualified credence to the record, they degraded altogether the\n_religiousness_ of the thought, and supposed that the Almighty, to\neffectuate his design, had actually assumed the _cobra di capello_ form!\n\nSo austere was the rule, by which those mysteries were protected, that\n\u00c6schylus but _barely escaped discerption within the theatre_, for an\nimagined disrespect to their tendency. Nor was it but on the plea of\nignorance and _un_-initiation, that he did ultimately obtain pardon.[352]\n\nThis insuperable barrier to the curiosity of the profane, engendered in\ntheir conduct a corresponding reaction, and, as the _fox_ did to the\n_grapes_, what they could not themselves compass, they strove all they\ncould to vituperate!\n\n\u201cVirtue, however, is its own reward,\u201d and, as the authority of Cicero,\nhaving been himself a priest, ought to have some weight in the discussion,\nit is no small impetus to the cause of truth, to hear this pre-eminent man\nassign to the efficacy of the precepts, inculcated in those\nmysteries,--\u201cthe knowledge of the God of nature; the first, the supreme,\nthe intellectual; by which men had been reclaimed from rudeness and\nbarbarism, to elegance and refinement; and been taught, not only to live\nwith more comfort, but to die with better hopes.\u201d[353]\n\n  \u201cSlave to no sect, who takes no private road,\n  But looks through Nature up to Nature\u2019s God;\n  Pursues that chain which links the immense design,\n  Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine,\n  Sees that no being any bliss can know,\n  But touches some above, and some below;\n  Learns from this union of the rising whole,\n  The first, last purpose of the human soul;\n  And knows where faith, law, morals, all began,\n  All end in love of God and love of man.\u201d[354]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\n\nI would have my reader pause upon the substance of the terms with which\nthe last section concluded--\u201cNot only to live with more comfort, but to\ndie with better hopes!\u201d\n\nHave you read them? Have you digested them? And are you not ashamed of\nyour illiberality?\n\nFrom what pulpit in Christendom will you hear better or more orthodox\ntruths? Where will you find the Gospel more energetically enunciated? And,\nwith this _testimony_ staring you in the face--in defiance of inner\nlight--and imperiously subjugating the allegiance of rationality--will you\nstill persist in limiting the benevolence of your \u201cFather?\u201d and in\nwithholding every symptom of paternal regard from his own handiwork, until\nthe beginning of the last two thousand years? that is, as it were, till\nyesterday?\n\n\u201cI tell you, that if these should hold their peace, the _stones_ would\nimmediately cry out.\u201d[355]\n\n\u201cOn a bank near the shore,\u201d says Cordiner, in his _Antiquities of\nScotland_, \u201copposite to the ruins of a castellated house, called Sandwick\n(in Ross-shire), and about three miles east from Ferns, a very splendid\nobelisk is erected, surrounded at the base with large, well-cut flag\nstones, formed like steps. Both sides of this column are elaborately\ncovered with various enrichments, in well-finished carved work. The one\nface presents a sumptuous cross, with a figure of St. Andrew on each hand,\nand some uncouth animals and flowerings underneath. The central division,\non the reverse, renders it a piece of antiquity well worthy of\npreservation; there is exhibited on that such a variety of figures, birds,\nand animals, as seemed what might prove a curious subject of\ninvestigation; I have, therefore, given a distinct delineation of them at\nthe foot of the column, on a larger scale, that their shapes might be\ndistinctly ascertained, and the more probable conjectures formed of their\nallusion.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhat, on earth, business would St. Andrew have in company with \u201cuncouth\nanimals?\u201d What have \u201cbirds,\u201d \u201cfigures,\u201d and \u201cflowerings\u201d to do with\nChristianity? If this \u201cobelisk\u201d had not been erected here, in\ncommemorative deification, centuries upon centuries before the era of his\nSaintship\u2019s birth, why should the \u201ccross,\u201d which \u201cone face presents,\u201d be\ndecorated with \u201cenrichments\u201d brought all the way from Egypt?\n\nLook at these hieroglyphics: and where will you find anything congenial to\nthem within the empire of the Romans? Here is the _Bulbul of Iran_,[356]\nthe _boar_ of Vishnu, the elk, the fox, the lamb, and the dancers. All the\nother configurations, without going through them in detail, are not only,\nin their nature and import, essentially eastern, but are actually the\n_symbols of the various animal-forms under which they contemplated the\nproperties of the Godhead_. As the _cross_, however, is that to which we\nare more immediately directed, I shall confine myself, for the present, to\nthe establishment of its antiquity.\n\nNo one will question but that _Venus_ was antecedent to the days of _St.\nAndrew_; and _she_ is represented with a _cross_ and a circle![357]\n_Jupiter_ also, it will be admitted, was anterior to his time; and we find\nhim delineated with a _cross_ and a horn! _Saturn_ is said to have been\nsire to the last-mentioned god, and, by the laws of primogeniture, must\nhave been senior to him; yet we find _him_ also pictured with a _cross_\nand horn! The monogram of Osiris is a _cross_! On a medal of one of the\nPtolemies is to be seen an eagle conveying a thunderbolt with the _cross_!\nIn short, all through the ancient world this symbol was to be encountered,\nand wherever it presented itself, it was always the harbinger of sanctity\nand of peace.\n\nCan we glean from their writings any confirmation to my development as to\nthe _origin_ of the rite? Plato asserts, that the form of the letter X was\nimprinted upon the universe.[358] I know how this has been interpreted as\na reference to the Son of God, and the second power of the Divinity. I\nwill not make use of it in any such light, preferring to avoid everything\nthat may seem _equivocal_, yet am I well convinced that, under the\nphilosopher\u2019s ratiocination, may be seen the twinkling trace of a previous\nincarnation of the \u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, and a crucifixion, likewise, as an atonement for\nthe sins of humanity.\n\n\u201cSurely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did\nesteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.\n\n\u201cBut He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our\niniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His\nstripes we are healed.\u201d[359]\n\nThis is all in the past tense; bearing reference, irrefutably, to a\n_former_ occurrence, but including also, in the sequel, the idea of a\n_future_ reappearance. And if you look back at the effigy, page 296, will\nit not sensitively prove him to have been \u201ca man of sorrows and acquainted\nwith grief?\u201d[360]\n\n\u201cThe deity Har\u00ec,\u201d says an inscription at _Budda-gaya_, in India, \u201cthe lord\nand possessor of all, appeared in this ocean of natural beings at the\nclose of the Devapara and beginning of the Cali Yug. He who is omnipresent\nand everlastingly to be contemplated, the Supreme Being, the Eternal One,\nthe Divinity worthy of mankind, appeared here, with a portion of His\ndivine nature.\u201d[361]\n\nThere is no term so vernacular in the Irish language as that of\n_Budh-gaye_. It is familiar to the _ears_ of every smatterer in _letters_;\nand is in the _mouth_ of every _cowherd_, from Cape Clear to the Giants\u2019\nCauseway. Neither class has, however, had so much as a _glimpse_ of what\nit means: nor did they busy themselves much in the pursuit, but acquiesced\nin that example of _commendable_ resignation once practised by\nStrabo--when he failed to ascertain anything about the _Cabiri_--by\ndeclaring that \u201cthe name was mysterious!\u201d\n\nA great personage, however, who was not only in his habits _wise_, but was\nin himself _wisdom_, has affirmed, that \u201cthere is nothing covered that\nshall not be revealed; nor hid that shall not be known.\u201d[362] And as every\nsentence recorded as emanating from _His_ lips has with me a value more\nthan what could serve to illustrate a momentary topic, I flatter myself\nthat the result of the confidence, thus humbly inspired, will be\nadditionally verified in the instance before us.\n\n_Budh-gaye_, then of the Irish, or _Budha-gaya_ of the Hindoos, means\n_Phallus[363] telluris_, _i.e._ the _generativeness of the earth_, or _the\nearth\u2019s prolific principle_. This I have before demonstrated to have been\nthe object of adoration to the ancients; and have furthermore shown, that\none of the individuals, in whom this idea was personified, had suffered\ncrucifixion as a mediator for sin.\n\nA new disclosure suggests itself from this. _Budh_ and _Phallus_ being\nsynonymous, if you add _Gaye_ to each, then _Budh-gaye_ and _Gaye-phallus_\nwill be identical. But as the character who embodied the _abstract virtue_\nof the former had been crucified, his name came to stand, not only for\nthat _abstract virtue_, but also for a cross,[364] or a _crucified man_;\nand of course, _Gaye-phallus_, its equivalent, represented the same ideas.\n\nNow, as well the _primary_ as _secondary_ meaning of those two words was\nliable to misconstruction; and they were sure to obtain such from\nignorance and from depravity. The _pure_ and the _sublime emotions_, which\nthe religiousness of the _prolific principle_ had comprehended, were\nperverted by malice into _sensuality_ and _debauchery_; while the idea of\na _man crucified_, however innocent of charge, could not be separated, by\ngrovelling and servile dispositions, from the ordinary accompaniments of\n_contempt_ and of _crime_.\n\nHence _Budh-gaye_ and _Gaye-phallus_, after a succession of ages, when\ntheir _proper_ acceptation was forgotten, were remembered only in their\n_perverted_ sense. And accordingly we observe, that, when a Roman Emperor\nwho had been brought up a priest in the East, assumed, on his being\nappointed to the Roman sceptre, the title of _Helio-ga-balus_, and thereby\ninvested himself in all the attributes of _Gaye-phallus_, or _Budh-gaye_,\nthat is, in other words, as the _Vicegerent of the Sun_, the\nlicentiousness of his life, and the profligacy of his demeanour, having\nrendered him obnoxious to his subjects, they amputated the _prefix_ of his\n_Solar_ majesty, and branded him with the _scorn_ of _Ga-balus_.\n\nThe _disdain_ intended in this latter abbreviation is now, therefore,\nalready solved. _Gaye-phallus_, for sound sake, having been made\n_Ga-phallus_, this latter was still further--by reason of the\ncommutability of the letters _ph_ and _b_--reduced into _Ga-balus_.\n\nWhen the temple of Serapis, at Alexandria, was destroyed, we are told by\nSozomen, that the monogram of Christ was discovered beneath the\nfoundation. And, though neither party knew how to account for the sign,\nyet was it pleaded alike by the Gentiles as by the Christians, in support\nof the heavenliness of their respective religions.\n\nThe early Roman _fathers_, very pious but very illiterate men, unable to\nclose their eyes against the proofs of the priority of the cross to the\nera of the advent, did not scruple to assign it to the malicious\nforeknowledge of the prince of the lower world.[365]\n\nBut if this gentleman had been the author of the early cross, is it likely\nthat God would have embraced it as the signal of His protection when\ndealing destruction to the objects of His divine vengeance?\n\n\u201cAnd the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the\nmidst of Jerusalem, and put a _mark_ upon the foreheads of the men that\nsigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst\nthereof:\n\n\u201cAnd to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye after him through the\ncity, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity.\n\n\u201cSlay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women;\nbut _come not near any man upon whom is the mark_; and begin at My\nsanctuary.\u201d[366]\n\nNow this \u201cmark,\u201d in the ancient Hebrew original, was the _cross_ X. St.\nJerome, the most learned by far of those \u201c_fathers_,\u201d has admitted the\ncircumstance. And if this had been the device of the enemy of man, would\nthe Author of all goodness so sanction _his_ imposture, as to adopt it as\nthe index of His saving love?\n\n\u201cArt thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?\u201d[367]\n\nBut this was not the only _invention_ which they attributed to the devil.\nTertullian gravely assures us that he was the author of _buskins_ also!\nAnd why, good reader, would you suppose?--in sooth, for no other reason\nthan because that our Saviour said, in His sermon upon the mountain,\n\u201cWhich of you, by taking thought, can _add one cubit unto his\nstature_?\u201d[368]\n\nIn him, also, did they find an adequate excuse for those _apertures_,\nwhich I shall by and by notice, as excavated in rocks and mounds of clay,\ncalling them, with some compliment it must be admitted to his _gallantry_,\nby the monopolising appellation of the Devil\u2019s _Yonies_.[369]\n\nBut of all the _puerilities_ which sully their zeal, there is no one half\nso calculated to injure _vital religion_, as the _low quibbles_ and\n_dishonest quotations_ which Justin Martyr had recourse to, as _apologies_\nfor the _cross_!\n\nWhy, Sir, the greatest persecutor with which the Christians had ever been\ncursed, namely, the Emperor Decius, had imprinted the _cross_ upon some of\nhis coins!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHere, again, it is upon a medal found in the ruins of Citium, and proved\nby Dr. Clarke in his _Travels_ to have been Ph\u0153nician! It exhibits the\n_lamb_, the _cross_, and the rosary![370]\n\nWhen John the Baptist first saw Jesus beyond the Jordan, in Bethabara, he\nexclaimed, \u201cBehold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the\nworld.\u201d[371]\n\nThis he did not apply as a _novel_ designation; but as the familiar\nepithet, and the recognised denomination of the Son of God, whose\nprescribed office it was, in _all the changes of past worlds_, as it was\nnow in this present, to redress the broken-hearted by taking away sin.\n\nHe adds: \u201cThis is He of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is\npreferred before me; _for He was before me_,\u201d[372] not only in eternity,\nbut on this earth.\n\n\u201cAnd I knew Him not; but that _He should be made manifest to\nIsrael_,\u201d[373] as He was before to other nations,--an event which was but\nthe fulfilment of a prophecy ushered in many years before in these\nremarkable words--\n\n\u201cBehold, the former things are come to pass\u201d:[374] not that the\n_predictions_ formerly delivered had taken place, but the _things_, the\n_events_, the _occurrences_, which had been _enacted_ before, were now\n_re_-enacted! that a _renovation_ of the world was at hand, which the\nmouthpiece of the Lord commences by saying--\u201cNew things do I declare;\nbefore they spring forth I tell you of them.\u201d\n\nOn turning the leaf you will see another of those pillars which grace a\nland of heroes, \u201cwhere stones were raised on high to speak to future\ntimes, with their grey heads of moss\u201d;[375] and whose story, though \u201clost\nin the mist of years,\u201d may yet be deciphered from off themselves.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThis costly relic of religion, erected solely in honour of the cross, is\nto be seen at Forres, in Scotland, and is thus described by Cordiner:--\n\n\u201cOn the first division, under the Gothic ornaments at the top, are nine\nhorses with their riders, marching in order; in the next division is a\nline of warriors on foot, brandishing their weapons, and appear to be\nshouting for the battle. The import of the attitudes in the third division\nvery dubious, their expression indefinite.\n\n\u201cThe figures which form a square in the middle of the column are pretty\ncomplex, but distinct; four serjeants, with their halberts, guard a\ncanopy, under which are placed several human heads, which have belonged to\nthe dead bodies piled up at the left of the division: one appears in the\ncharacter of executioner, severing the head from another body; behind him\nare three trumpeters sounding their trumpets; and before him two pair of\ncombatants fighting with sword and target.\n\n\u201cA troop of horse next appears, put to flight by infantry, whose first\nline have bows and arrows; the three following, swords and targets. In the\nlowermost division now visible, the horses seem to be seized by the\nvictorious party, their riders beheaded, and the head of their chief hung\nin chains, or placed in a frame: the others being thrown together beside\nthe dead bodies, under an arched cover.\u201d\n\nWith this compare the description given by Captain Head, of the devices\nsculptured upon one of the Egyptian antiquities.\n\n\u201cIt would,\u201d says he, \u201cfar exceed the limits of this work, to attempt a\ndescription of the ornaments of sculpture in this temple. The most\ninteresting are on the north wall, where there are battle-scenes, with\ninnumerable figures of military combatants, using their arms, consisting\nof bows and arrows, spears and bucklers--of prostrate enemies, of\nwar-chariots and horses. The fiery action and elegant shape of the steeds\nare remarkable. It would require a first-rate living genius to rival the\nvariety of position, the power of effect, and fidelity of execution, in\nwhich men and horses are exhibited in the dismay of the flight, the agony\nof the death-struggle, and the exultation of the triumph.\u201d\n\nLet us take a view, now, of the other side of this obelisk. \u201cThe greatest\npart of it,\u201d says Cordiner, \u201cis occupied by a _sumptuous_ cross, and\ncovered over with an uniform figure, elaborately raised, and interwoven\nwith great mathematical exactness; of this, on account of its singularity,\nthere is given a representation at the foot of the column. Under the cross\nare two august personages with some attendants, much obliterated, but\nevidently in an attitude of reconciliation; and if the monument was\nerected in memory of the peace concluded between _Malcolm_ and _Canute_,\nupon the final retreat of the _Danes_, these larger figures may represent\nthe reconciled monarchs.\n\n\u201cOn the edge, below the fretwork, are some rows of figures, joined\nhand-in-hand, which may also imply the new degree of confidence and\nsecurity which took place, after the feuds were composed, which are\ncharacterised on the front of the pillar. But to whatever particular\ntransaction it may allude, it can hardly be imagined, _that in so early an\nage of the arts in Scotland as it must have been raised, so elaborate a\nperformance would have been undertaken but in consequence of an event of\nthe most general importance_: it is, therefore, surprising, that no\ndistincter traditions of it arrived at the era when letters were known.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs to \u201cthe era when letters were known,\u201d I shall bestow upon that a\nsentence or two by and by. For the present I confine myself to the\n\u201csurprise that no distincter traditions\u201d of this _monolith_ temple[376]\nhas been handed down to us.\n\nIt was erected by the _Tuath-de-danaans_ on their expulsion from Ireland.\nThe inscriptions upon it are the irresistible evidence of their emblematic\nreligion. After an interval of some centuries, the Picts poured in upon\ntheir quietude; and the barbarous habits of those marauders, being averse\nas much to the _ritual_ as to the _avocations_ of the Tuath-de-danaans,\nthey effaced every vestige of the dominion of that people, and made them\nfly for shelter to the Highlands.\n\nIn the days of _Malcolm_, therefore, and of _Canute_, the history of this\npyramid was as difficult of solution as it was in those of _Pennant_ and\nof _Cordiner_. And there is no question but that the two _monarchs_\nlooked, with as much wonder, upon the hieroglyphics along its sides, as\ndid the two _antiquarians_, who would fain associate them with them.\n\nIt is to me marvellous, how persons, in the possession of common reason\ncould, _contrary to all the evidence of observation and history_, look\nupon the Danish invasion as the epoch of all enlightenment! and the Danes,\nthemselves, as the heaven-sent importers of its blessings! Yet, whatever\nmay have been the case with _some hopeful_ scions of this order, Mr.\nCordiner, at all events, appears to have been honest, and if he missed the\ndirection of historical verity, it was less his fault than his misfortune.\n\nWho can say so much for Ledwich?\n\nThe following extract will justify the tribute here paid to the\n_sincerity_ of Mr. Cordiner\u2019s investigations \u201cThese monuments,\u201d says he,\n\u201care all said to have been erected in memory of defeats of the Danes, but\nthere _does not appear any reference that the hieroglyphics on them can\nhave to such events_. That they have been raised on interesting occasions\nthere can be little doubt, perhaps in memory of the most renowned\nchieftains and their exploits who first embraced Christianity.\u201d\n\nThey who first \u201cembraced Christianity\u201d were no \u201cchieftains\u201d; or such as\nwere, had no \u201cexploits\u201d to record. But it was not so with the professors\nof the _primeval_ \u201c_cross_,\u201d in the revelation of Budhism, the\ntransmigrations of which were but typically pourtrayed on this enduring\ncolumn. And in confirmation hereof, Mr. Gordon affirms that he has\n\u201cdistinguished upon it several figures of a _monstrous form_, resembling\n_four-footed beasts_ with human heads!\u201d\n\nCarnac, in Upper Egypt, retains a _monolith_ of the same symbolic\ncharacter. It is eighty feet high, composed of a single block of black\ngranite, presenting a beautifully polished surface on each of its four\nsides. The hieroglyphics upon it represent the lifetime of _Thot_, or\n_Budda_, until you at last see him enthroned in heaven, at the top.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cHe seems, indeed,\u201d says Hamilton, \u201cto have been considered either by\nhimself, his subjects, or his successors, as a peculiar favourite of\nheaven. He is frequently on his knees, receiving from Isis and Osiris,\ntogether with their blessing, the insignia of royalty, and even of\ndivinity. The hawk is always flying about him. Two priests are performing\nupon him the mysterious ceremony of pouring the _cruces ansatas_, or\n_crosses with rings_, over his head; at which time he wears a common dress\nand close cap. Hermes and Osiris are pointing out to him a particular line\nin a graduated scale, allusive it may be to the periodical inundation of\nthe Nile, or the administration of strict justice: or (combined with the\npreceding scene) to the ceremony of \u2018initiation into the religious\nmysteries.\u2019\u201d[377]\n\nThe number of feet in the pillar corresponds too, if I mistake not, with\nthat of the years of his recorded pilgrimage.\n\nCaptain Head describes, in his splendid work, the avenue which leads to\nthe temple to which this belongs, in the following terms:--\u201cFragments of\nsphinxes line the sides of the road at intervals of ten or twelve feet,\nand usher the visitor to the magnificent granite propylon, or gateway,\nwhose grandeur for a time monopolises the attention, and makes him who\ngazes on it at a loss to decide whether he shall remain adoring its fine\nproportions, or advance and examine the carvings which embellish its\nfront. Is this \u2018the land made waste by the hand of strangers, who destroy\nthe walls, and cause the images to cease?\u2019 The fragments of desolation\nthat lie scattered around are identified with the predictions of the\ninspired historians, by whom we are enabled to estimate the \u2018palmy state\u2019\nof this once mighty kingdom, whose gigantic monuments fully verify all\nthat has been said or sung of its pristine splendour.\u201d\n\nAfter what has been said above, then, along with what may be added by and\nby, may I not safely proclaim that M\u2019Pherson\u2019s prediction, that \u201cthe\nhistory of Caledonia, before the Roman eagles were displayed beyond the\nfriths, must ever remain in impenetrable darkness,\u201d[378] has now been\nfalsified?\n\n    \u201cWhat are _ages_ and the lapse of time,\n  Matched against _truths_ as lasting as sublime?\n  Can length of years on God Himself exact?\n  Or make that _fiction_ which was once a _fact_?\n  No--marble and recording brass decay,\n  And like the graver\u2019s _memory_ pass away:\n  The works of man inherit, as is just,\n  Their author\u2019s frailty, and return to dust;\n  _But truth divine for ever stands secure,\n  Its head is guarded, as its base is sure;\n  Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years,\n  The pillar of the eternal plan appears,\n  The raving storm and dashing wave defies,\n  Built by that Architect who built the skies_.\u201d[379]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\n\nA very industrious contributor to the _Asiatic Researches_ has afforded\nscope for some jests at his expense, because of the attempt which he has\nmade to identify the British islands with certain Western localities\ncommemorated in the writings of the Hindoos. Had he but known, however,\nthe coincidence of _our monuments_ with those _mysteries_ which the\nPuranas record, how they mutually support and dovetail into each other, he\ncould not only have laughed to scorn the traducers of his services, but\nfixed his fame upon a pinnacle of literary pride which no _undergrowl_ of\nenvy could have subverted.\n\nBut as it is, unacquainted with the history of the places which he left\nbehind him, and wading, therefore, through an ocean in which he had no\ncompass for his guide, he has, in his puerile endeavours to wrest the text\nof the Puranas to external prejudices, effected more himself towards the\ndisparagement of his reputation, than what the combined influence of\ninterest and of scepticism could otherwise accomplish.\n\n\u201cThere are,\u201d say the Puranas, \u201cmany manifestations and forms of Bhagavan,\nO Muni, but the form which resides in the _White Island_ is the primitive\none. Vishnu,\u201d says the author, \u201crecalling all his emanations into the\n_White Island_, went into the womb, in the house of Vasu-devi; and on\nthis grand occasion he recalled all his emanations. Bama and Nrisinha are\ncomplete forms, O Muni; but Crishna, the most powerful king of the _White\nIsland_, is the most perfect and complete of all Vishnu\u2019s forms. For this\npurpose Vishnu, from Potola, rejoins the body of Radhiceswara, the lord of\nRadha, he who dwells in the _White Island_ with the famous _snake_, a\nportion of his essence. The gods sent there portions of their own essences\nto be consolidated into the person of Crishna, who was going to be\nincarnated at Gocula.\u201d[380]\n\nThe gist of the foregoing, Mr. Wilford would neutralise by this following\nextract, which he gives as the substance of another notice in the same\ndocuments, and which he considers himself as incredible:--\n\n\u201c_Bali_, an antediluvian, and in the fifth generation from the creation,\nis introduced, requesting the god of gods, or Vishnu, to allow him to die\nby his hand, that he might go into his paradise in the _White Island_.\nVishnu told him it was a favour not easily obtained; that he would however\ngrant his request. But, says Vishnu, you cannot come into my paradise now;\nbut you must wait till I become incarnate in the shape of a _boar_, in\norder to make the world undergo a total renovation, to establish and\nsecure it upon a most firm and permanent footing: and you must wait a\nwhole yuga till this takes place, and then you will accompany me into my\nparadise.\u201d\n\n\u201cGanesa, who is identified with Vishnu, and has also an inferior paradise\nin the _White Island_, and another in the Euxine, or Jeshu sea, thus says\nto a king of Casi, or Benares, an antediluvian, and who, like Bali, wished\nmuch to be admitted into his elysium, \u201cyou cannot now enter my paradise in\nthe _White Island_; you must wait 5000 years; but in the mean time you may\nreside in my other paradise, in the Euxine Sea.\u201d\n\nNow, all these monstrosities, as they presented themselves to Mr. Wilford,\ngauging them with the comparisons of dry rule and line on the application\nof the true touchstone, vanish into ether.\n\nThe most _mysterious_ and _religiously-occult_ name given to _Ireland_ in\nthe days of its pristine glory was _Muc-Inis_.\n\nThis word has three interpretations--firstly, the _Boar Island_; secondly,\nthe _White Island_; and, thirdly, the _Sacred_, or rather the _Divine_,\nand _Consecrated Island of God_.[381]\n\nIs it necessary that I should say one syllable more to authenticate the\nPuranas, and identify this _hallowed_ spot with the _paradise_ of their\nencomiums? No: I shall not affront your understanding by so supposing. The\nexplanation of this _single term_ has, more effectually than could a\n_ship-load of folios_, set to flight the hobgoblins of ignorance and of\nscepticism, and reared the castle of truth on the ruins of prostrated\nerror.\n\nI would by no means, however, be understood as intending an ungenerous\ntrophy over Mr. Wilford\u2019s mistakes. I respect the zeal with which he\nembarked in his undertaking; and, to speak over-board, the lapses which he\nhas committed were to _him_ ethically unavoidable.\n\nThe sting, therefore, of the above, if any it convey, must be directed\nexclusively to the _romancers_ of my own country: a specimen of whom I\nshall give you in the Rev. Dr. Keating, who, venturing to unveil the\nmystery of the name _Muc-Inis_, and account for its origin, tells us, with\na serious face, that \u201cwhen the Danaans found the Milesians attempted to\nland, by their magical enchantments they threw a cloud on the island, by\nwhich it appeared no bigger than a _hog\u2019s_ back!!!\u201d\n\nBut Ireland, thank God, is rescued from the drivelling of such dotards. It\nwill hold its place now amongst the nations of the earth; and the result\nis inevitable, however tardy your compliance, but that the truth will be\n_revived_ from one pole of the universe to the other, that, in the\nprimeval world, all sanctity and all happiness had here fixed their abode,\nthat heaven was here personified, and that the irradiating focus of all\nmoral enlightenment was here alone to be found.[382]\n\nLook, Sir, what do you see before you? The solution of that all-healing\n_arrow_ which Abaris was said to have brought with him from the island of\nthe Hyperboreans, on his visit of religion to Greece!\n\nShould you ever chance to travel as far as the county of Galway, inquire\nfor the deserted village of Knockmoy. Though now dreary, inconsiderable,\nand forgotten, it was once the theatre of soul-stirring impressions!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere in the remnant of an ancient Tuath-de-danaan Temple, vaulted with\nstone, and transformed, in after ages, to a Christian Abbey, you will\nfind, after a succession of, at least, three thousand revolving years,\nthis pathetic representation of the _youth Apollo slaying with his arrow\nthe serpent Python_[383]--in other words, _overthrowing, by\nself-endurance, the dominion of sin! and, finally, by immolation upon a\ntree_, to which you perceive him pinioned, _establishing ascendency over\nthe serpent and his wiles_, and pointing out the road to eternity beyond\nthe grave!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn an upper range, on the same compartment, you can trace this other line,\nconsisting of three kings with their eastern _crowns_, their eastern\n_costume_, and the _dove_ of amity entwining all of them as they\nsuperintend the spectacle, while the solemnity of the whole is enhanced by\nthe composure with which a Brehon sits by, in his turban of state, after\nreading from the _Bana_, or the Budhist gospel, the sentence of\ncondemnation and of mysterious expiation, in one and the same breath.\n\n\u201cHe was oppressed and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth: He is\nbrought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before His shearers is\ndumb, so He openeth not His mouth.\u201d[384]\n\nBut this is not the only incident which this treasure of antiquity\npourtrays. Beside the three monarchs are skeleton delineations of the\n_three_ other divinities, who, before this _fourth_, assumed the form of\nhumanity, and went through the same ordeal of atoning passion to reclaim\nour species, through ages back in the distance![385]\n\nIt will readily be believed, that descriptions so mysterious, relating to\nevents so momentous, must have attracted the observation of subsequent\nyears. Generation after generation gazed upon them with wonder! Generation\nafter generation spoke their ignorance in wonder! Mr. Ledwich, of course,\nmust have a snap at them: and it would make a _cat_ laugh, or Plutarch\u2019s\n_boar_ dance a hornpipe, to hear the contortions of history, the\nviolations of nature, the perversions of fact, of date, and of\nphilosophy, which this _blot_ upon letters has strung together into a\nmelange, as if an exposition of the above hieroglyphics!\n\nAnd yet, this is he who boasts of his having been \u201c_not sparing of\nridicule_\u201d in those moments which he tells us, \u201che could steal from\n_clerical_ and domestic avocations,\u201d--to tell lies of his country!\n\nThe speculation took, however, and he was fostered in his malice--riches\nand honours were showered upon him!\n\nWell, he died--a monitory pause accompanies the sound--but the party must\nhave a successor!\n\nThey \u201chave found him\u201d amongst themselves!--the author of the _Fine Arts in\nIreland_!\n\nThis _fine_ gentleman has really exhibited some degree of _tact_, which\nshows him not unworthy of his appointment. He begins by denouncing, hoof\nand horn, every position of his predecessor! Calls him, as a salvo, \u201ca\nlearned man!\u201d but insists upon his being a \u201cmost unskilful antiquary\u201d; and\nthough \u201cdogmatic,\u201d \u201caltogether a visionary.\u201d\n\nThese, you would suppose, were great liberties to take with the\nfoster-child of patronage. They were so, in _appearance_, not _in\nreality_, for\n\n  \u201cMutato nomine, de te fabula narratur\u201d--\n\nhe is a _modern_,[386] and though of a different _school_, it suits their\npurpose as well.\n\nBut let us see how he would decipher \u201cthe writing upon the wall.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf we might venture a _conjecture_,\u201d he says, \u201cit would be that the\nliving figures represent the most distinguished native princes, who warred\nwith the adventurers in defence of their country; and that those of the\ndeceased kings were the patriot monarchs of earlier times!\u201d\n\nPray, _what_ adventurers? _what_?--But the farce is too absurd to bestow\ndiscussion upon it.\n\nCome, however, to the _crucifixion scene_, what would \u201cP----\u201d make of\nthis?\n\n\u201cThis _appears_,\u201d he says, \u201cto represent the death of the young son of\nDermod MacMurrough, who was delivered up to Roderick O\u2019Connor, as a\nhostage for his father\u2019s fidelity, and who, according to Cambrensis, and,\nwe _believe_, to our own annalists, was abandoned by that inhuman and\nambitious parent to his fate!\u201d\n\nAfter the flourish of trumpets, with which Mr. P---- had proclaimed\n_independence_ of Dr. Ledwich, one would have expected a _new_ ascription,\nor, at least, a _different_ one, from him. This, however, is but a\n_servile transcript from his predecessor\u2019s work_, and that, too, without\nhaving the candour to quote him as his authority!\n\n  \u201cBut let us view those things with closer eyes.\u201d\n\nHad MacMurrough\u2019s son been put to death by O\u2019Connor, in that awful manner\nabove delineated, with such external parade, and such mysterious pomp,\nthink you that Cambrensis, who never omitted _even the most trivial\nfeature_ of a narrative, would have been blind to a particular, which must\nhave interested all his readers? Yet, as to the reality of this--Mr.\nP----\u2019s insinuation notwithstanding--Cambrensis is silent and mute as the\ngrave!\n\nA fact which was thought worthy to be commemorated in _fresco_ must have\nbeen equally eligible as a phenomenon in _writing_. The O\u2019Connors,\ntherefore, whom Mr. P---- would install as the authors of this device,\nmust have retained some _documentary_ register thereof: and, though it is\nwell known, that there is not a family in the kingdom, who have preserved\nthe records of their house with such industry or minuteness as _they_\nhave, yet is there not so much as the _semblance_ of an allusion to be\ntraced amongst them, to this _mysterious representation_!\n\nNay, if O\u2019Connor had put to death MacMurrough\u2019s son, with such\ncircumstances of torture and savage insensibility, is it probable that he\nwould himself be the person to immortalise his disgrace, by depicting it\nupon such a chronicle? And if the virtue of the nation were not previously\noutraged by the _hellishness_ of the crime itself, would it not now blaze\nforth in holy indignation at the infatuated _vanity_ of the monster, who,\nnot satisfied with the murder of his innocent _victim_, must deluge his\n_country_ also in gore, by associating it, to forthcoming ages, with this\noutline of his barbarity?\n\nYes, sir, if they were _silent_ as to the _crime_, they would be\n_eloquent_ as to the _painting_! And it is not only that they would\n_demolish_ the _structure_ within which it was _inscribed_, but every\n_quill_ within the realm would become a _pen_, every _liquid_ be converted\ninto _ink_, and every _hand_ be made that of a _writer_ to rescue the\n_island\u2019s_ fame from identity with the traitor\u2019s _cause_; and confine to\nhis own and his loathed head the withering execrations of posterity!\n\nInstead of which, however, not a syllable is uttered, on paper or on\nparchment, allusive to the tragedy! Not a _presage_ is imparted by\nmournful _banshee_! nor _elegy_ sung by familiar _mna-caointha_! No\n_historian_ records the heart-rending _tale_! nor does _gipsy_ retail it\nin itinerant _ditty_! But the _mystery_ of sorrow, and the _sanctity_ of\n_truth_, that _hallowed the scene which this temple commemorates_, has,\nstill further, exerted its protecting instrumentality, and besides the\n_moving evidences imprinted_ upon its _interior_, has added those also of\n_exclusion from without_, and prevented the iniquity of _profane_\nappropriation, by the occurrence of any equivocal record!\n\nThe devices upon places of worship are always of a religious kind. Would\nthe perpetration of a _faithless infanticide_ be considered an act of\nreligion? And, if not, why emblazon it within the tabernacle of prayer,\nwith all the circumstances of grace and of grandeur around it?--solemnised\nby kings! superintended by gods! and executed by judges!\n\nOh! sir, a dire plague of astringent benightment has lain brooding over\nhistory! and spread, like the _upas_, its baleful emaciation over\neverything of culture that fell within its shadow! But _truth_ is\n_immortal_: and, however _momentarily suppressed_, will _ultimately_\nrecover.\n\n\u201cIt is a pleasure,\u201d says Bacon, \u201cto stand on the shore, and to see ships\ntossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to\nsee a battle, and the adventurers thereof below; _but no pleasure is\ncomparable to the standing on the vantage-ground of truth_ (a hill not to\nbe commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), _and to see\nthe errors, and wanderings and mists and tempests, in the vale below; so\nalways that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride_.\nCertainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man\u2019s mind move in charity,\nrest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.\u201d\n\nThe very dresses, which adorn these venerable delineations, are enough to\nredeem them from the turpitude which Mr. P---- would impute to them.\nO\u2019Connor and MacMurrough were, neither of them, on this earth, for at\nleast _two thousand years after_ these were in vogue! neither are they by\nany means the habits which P---- would persuade us that \u201claws were\nsubsequently enacted to abolish as barbarous!\u201d\n\nBehold! I show you a mystery![387]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhat do you see here?[388] What do you make of this Mr. P----. Or do you\nthink that O\u2019Connor went over into Nubia, and got the impress of his\nenormity canonised there also, in the form of a cross, within the temples\nand sanctuaries of the adoring Egyptians?\n\nI copy this image from a work of great value, lately published in Paris by\nMonsieur Rifaud; which he designates by the title of _Voyage en Egypte et\nen Nubie, et lieux circonvoisins_. The plate under notice is but part of a\nlarger one, which he describes as \u201cFa\u00e7ade du petit temple de Kalabche (en\nNubie) et ses d\u00e9tails int\u00e9rieurs,\u201d and of which I shall, by and by, treat\nyou to two more compartments, as the exact correspondents of the six\ncrowned figures at Knockmoy.\n\nMeanwhile, I beg leave to introduce to you on the next page, some of the\nsculptures on the Tuath-de-danaan _cross_, at old Kilcullen, in the county\nof Kildare, Ireland. Here you distinguish nine _Budhist_ priests in the\n_Eastern_ uniform, with _bonnet_, _tunic_, and _trouser_--nay, with their\nvery _beards_ dressed after the Egyptian fashion.\n\nOther figures I shall leave to your own research to unfold. But let me\nparticularly _fasten_ upon your faculty of comparing, the _head-gear_ of\nthe standing figure, in the _second_ division, and that of the crucifixion\nupon the Nubian temple. Are they not _critically_, _accurately_, and\n_identically_ the same?\n\nLook next at the brute _animals_ that take part in this group! Mind the\n_grotesqueness_ of their positions, and the _combination_ of their\ncharacter with that of _man_! then lay your hand upon your breast, and,\nwith the light now streaming in upon you, can you conscientiously believe\nthat the _cross_ which exhibits itself at the other side, was ever the\nwork of Christianity?[389]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut as you cannot imagine that O\u2019Connor had gone over to Nubia, in the\ntwelfth century of the Christian era, to get his murdered hostage\n_deified_ in a pagan temple, built, perhaps, at the very lowest, three\nthousand years before his time, so neither can you impose upon us, that\nthe Budhists stole a march upon our Christian _supineness_, and, while our\ndifferent sects were fighting for _who should have most_, and proclaiming\n\u201cI am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ,\u201d[390]\nimprinted their complexity upon our boasted simplicity, and then suddenly\nagain vanished without having been once seen, felt, heard, discovered, or\nunderstood!!!\n\nWhat entanglements will not people plunge themselves into when supporting\na bad cause! And how easy is the road which rectitude follows!\n\nThe Hindoo Puranas corroborate, to an iota, this our Knockmoy\ncrucifixion.[391] _Sulivahana_ is the name which they give to the deity\nthere represented. The meaning of the word is _tree-born_, or, who\nsuffered death upon a tree. He was otherwise called _Dhanandhara_, that\nis, the _sacred almoner_. And his fame, say the Puranas, reached even to\nthe _Sacred Island_, in the sea of _milk_, that is, of _Doghda_, which\nsignifies milk, and which was the title of the tutelar goddess of\nIreland.[392]\n\nAvaunt, then, evermore, to the humbug of _back-reckoning_, and the charge\nof _imposture_ upon the Brahmins! I flatter myself, I have laid an\n_extinguisher_, for ever, upon that pretext.\n\nAs I have before presumed to offer a suggestion to the translators of\noriental _manuscripts_, I shall take the additional liberty of intimating,\nwhich I do with profound submission and respect, to the decipherers of all\n_hieroglyphics_, whether in Ireland or in the East, that those\n_arrow-headed_ characters, to be met with at Persepolis, and resembling in\ntheir formation our Irish Oghams, _bear reference, both of them, to this\nmysterious crucifixion_! And that if Mr. Champollion, and other gentlemen\ninterested in the prosecution of those useful points, will attend to this\nmy advice, they will find it a more _certain key to the attainment of\ntheir desired object, than all the labour and outlay of centuries\nheretofore_!\n\n  \u201cKnowing that Nature never did betray\n  The heart that loved her; \u2019tis her privilege,\n  Through all the years of this our life, to lead\n  From joy to joy: for _she can so inform\n  The heart that is within us, so impress\n  With quietness and beauty, and so feed\n  With lofty thoughts_, that neither evil tongues,\n  Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,\n  Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all\n  The dreary intercourse of daily life,\n  Shall e\u2019er prevail against us, or disturb\n  Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold\n  Is full of blessings.\u201d--WORDSWORTH.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\n\nThe regal figures, which I promised, as belonging to the _Nubian_ temple,\nand corresponding to the _Knockmoy_ frescoes, are the following:--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nYou will, furthermore, observe how that they all wear the _philibeg_, like\nour crucified effigy at p. 296, and our war-god, Phearagh, at p. 138.\nEach of them, also, is adorned with the _cross_, as the passport of their\nredemption: while the three _divinities_, delineated in the Irish scenes,\nhave these as their counterparts in the temple of Nubia.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAbbe Pluch\u00e9 states, that \u201cthe figures of those gods brought from Egypt\ninto Ph\u0153nicia, wore on their heads leaves and branches, wings and globes,\nwhich,\u201d he adds, \u201cappeared ridiculous to those who did not comprehend the\nsignification of these symbols, as happened to Cambyses, King of Persia,\nbut these represented Isis, Osiris, and Horus.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_ for November, 1742, is an account,\u201d says\nVallancey, \u201cof two silver images, found under the _ruins of an old tower_,\nwhich had raised various conjectures and speculations amongst the\nantiquaries; they were about three inches in height, representing men in\narmour, with _very high helmets on their heads, ruffs round their necks_,\nand standing on a pedestal of silver, holding a small golden spear in\ntheir hands. The account is taken from the Dublin papers. The writer\nrefers to Merrick\u2019s translation of Tryphiodorus, an Egyptian, that\ncomposed a Greek poem on the destruction of Troy, a sequel to Homer\u2019s\n_Iliad_, to show that it was customary with the ancients, at the\nfoundation of a fort or city, to consecrate such images to some titular\nguardians, and deposit them in a secret part of the building; where he\nalso inserts a judicious exposition of a difficult text of Scripture on\nthat subject.\u201d\n\nThe above extract was indited long before the publication of those Nubian\nantiquities; and, consequently, when neither the contributor to the\nmagazine, nor the quoter from its columns, had any knowledge of their\nexistence. Its production, therefore, must be valuable here, as showing\nnot only the connection of the _idols_ with the _Round Tower ceremonial_,\nbut also that the helmets of the _Nubian_ gods had been adopted in the\neffigies of some of those amongst us.\n\nI terminate my proofs of the primeval _crucifixion_, by the _united_\ntestimonies of the _Budhists_ and the _Free-Masons_.\n\n\u201cThough the punishment of the cross,\u201d says the _Asiatic Researches_, \u201cbe\nunknown to the Hindus, yet the followers of Buddha have some knowledge of\nit, when they represent Deva _Thot_ (that is, the god _Thot_) crucified\nupon an instrument resembling a cross, according to the accounts of some\ntravellers to Siam.\u201d\n\n\u201cChristianity,\u201d says Oliver, \u201cor the system of salvation through the\natonement of a crucified Mediator, was the main pillar of Freemasonry ever\nsince the fall.\u201d\n\nLet me point your notice now to some _consequences_ of that mysterious\nfact. I begin by asking--\n\nHow happened it, that, of all places in the world, Ireland was that which\ngave the readiest countenance, and the most cheering support, to the\nGospel of Christ, on its first promulgation?\n\nThis question you will consider of no trivial tendency. It is, in itself,\nworth a thousand other arguments. To solve it, I must premise that,\nbesides the many ancient appellatives, already given you, for this\ncountry, there was one, which characterised it, as anticipating that\nevent?\n\n_Crioch-na-Fuineadhach_[393] was this name. Its meaning is, _the asylum of\nthe expectants_: or, _the retreat of those looking forward_.\n\nTo what, you ask?--To the consummation, I reply, of that prophecy, which\nwas imparted to Israel through another source, saying, \u201cThe sceptre shall\nnot depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until\n_Shiloh_ come.\u201d[394]\n\nNumerous intimations have, from time to time, been conveyed to man as\nharbingers of an event which was to crown their species with universal\nblessings. In the Puranas, it was prophesied, that \u201cafter three thousand\nand one hundred years of the Caliyuga are elapsed, will appear King\n_Saca_, to remove wretchedness from the world.\u201d[395]\n\nI have given an abstract of the history of this remarkable personage at\npp. 293 and 294, and shortly after, at p. 296, I presented you with the\neffigy of his crucifixion. As to the era of his appearance, as deducible\nfrom the Yugas, I shall confine myself to the opinion advanced by Mr.\nDavis, in the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 243, where he states: \u201cIt\nmay further with confidence be inferred, that _Mons. Anquetil du Perron\u2019s\nconclusion, with respect to the late introduction of Yugas_, which are the\ncomponent parts of the Calpa, into the Hindu astronomy, _is unfounded; and\nthat the invention of those periods, and the application of them to\ncomputations by the Hindus, must be referred to an antiquity which has not\nyet been ascertained_.\u201d\n\nIn another age was promised another Redeemer; and of him I copy what Mr.\nWilford transmits, as follows, viz.:--\n\n\u201cA thousand years before that event, the goddess Cali had foretold him\nthat he would reign, or rather his _posterity_, according to several\nlearned commentators in the Dokhin, as mentioned by Major Mackenzie, till\na _divine child_, born of a virgin, should put an end both to his life and\nkingdom, or to his dynasty, nearly in the words of Jacob, in Genesis,\nchap. xlix. ver. 10. The Hindu traditions concerning this wonderful child\nare collected in a treatise called the _Vicrama Chastra; or, History of\nVicrama Ditya_. This I have not been able to procure, though many learned\npundits have repeated to me by heart whole pages from them. Yet I was\nunwilling to make use of their traditions till I found them in the large\nextracts made by the ingenious and indefatigable Major C. Mackenzie of the\nMadras establishment, and by him communicated to the Asiatic Society.\u201d\n\nIn truth, it was to the _certainty_ of this _manifestation_ that the first\ncouplet of an Arabic elegy, preserved by Mons. d\u2019Herbelot in his account\nof Ibnuzaidun, a celebrated Andalusian poet, refers. In Roman letters, the\nlines run thus--\n\n  \u201cJekad he\u00efn tenagikom dharmairna\n  Jacdha ala\u00efna alassa laula tassina.\u201d\n\nThat is, \u201cThe time will soon come when you will deliver us from all our\ncares; the remedy is assured, provided we have a little patience.\u201d\n\nThe learned President of the Society of Bengal, unaware of the _drift_ of\nthis beautiful stanza, and without ever having so much as _seen_ the\noriginal whence it was quoted, offers to alter its import to the\nfollowing, viz.: \u201cWhen our bosoms impart their secrets to you, anguish\nwould almost fix our doom, if we were not mutually to console ourselves!\u201d\nAnd the only reason he assigns for this novel interpretation is, that\n_two_ individuals, _neither of whom, he himself admits, knew anything\nabout its meaning_, happened, or rather pretended, to put it for him\n_differently_ into Arabic words!\n\nOn the pillar at Buddal, this emanation of the godhead is thus\ncharacterised: \u201cHe did not exult over the ignorant and ill-favoured: but\nspent his riches among the needy: in short, he was the wonder of all good\nmen.\u201d[396] Isaiah\u2019s prophecy of the _future_ Messiah would appear a\n_verbatim_, though more _poetical_ transcript of this inscription, viz.:\n\u201cHe shall not cry, nor lift up; nor cause His voice to be heard in the\nstreet; a bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He\nnot quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.\u201d[397]\n\nAt p. 110 of this volume, I have promised to explain the origin of the\nword _Eleusinian_, as applied to the celebration of certain religious\nrites. I have very little doubt but that, when reading the declaration,\nthe reader looked upon its offer as, to say the least,\ngratuitous--satisfied that the term could have no possible other meaning,\nthan as an adjective formed from the substantive _Eleusis_!\n\nWell, the rashness of that judgment I very freely forgive; and repay it\nnow by the verification of my contract.\n\n_Eleusis_, the _place_, and _Eleusinian_, as descriptive of the\n_mysteries_ therein solemnised, were both denominated in honour of that\n_Advent_, which all nations awaited; and the fulfilment of which, in the\nperson of one of the _Budhas_, made him to be recognised on one occasion\nas the \u201csource of the _faith_ of the three epochs of the world.\u201d[398]\n\nI have already redeemed the character of those ceremonies from the\nsinister imputations which attached to their _secrecy_. An apprehension\nthat their publication would subvert the popular belief, or a supposed\nindelicacy in their tenour, were the _mildest_ constructions which the\n_uninitiated_ would afford them. Though secure in the sufficiency of my\nformer proofs, I cannot avoid taking support from an article in a very\ntalented publication of our day, in which the writer, _wholly\nuninstructed, while he evidently is, as to the nature_ of those\ncelebrations, yet confirms the fact of their worth and their purity.\n\n\u201cFrom the whole concurrent testimony of ancient history,\u201d says he, \u201cwe\nmust believe that the Eleusinian mysteries were used for good purposes,\nfor there is not an instance on record that the honour of an initiation\nwas ever obtained by a very bad man. The hierophants--the higher priests\nof the order--were always exemplary in their morals, and became sanctified\nin the eyes of the people. The high-priesthood of this order in Greece was\ncontinued in one family, the Eumolpid\u00e6, for ages. In this they resembled\nboth the Egyptians and the Jews.\n\n\u201cThe Eleusinian mysteries in Rome took another form, and were called the\nrites of Bona Dea; but she was the same Ceres that was worshipped in\nGreece. All the distinguished Roman authors speak of these rites and in\nterms of profound respect. Horace denounces the wretch who should attempt\nto reveal the secrets of these rites; Virgil mentions these mysteries with\ngreat respect; and Cicero alludes to them with a greater reverence than\neither of the poets we have named. Both the Greeks and Romans punished any\ninsult offered to these mysteries with the most persevering\nvindictiveness. Alcibiades was charged with insulting these religious\nrites; and although the proof of his offence was quite doubtful, yet he\nsuffered for it for years in exile and misery; and it must be allowed that\nhe was the most popular man of his age.\u201d[399]\n\nAnalogous to these were the solemnities at Carthage, designated by the\nname of _Phiditia_; and the import of which, as well in term as in\nsubstance, has been no less a riddle to antiquarians, than was the\nsanctified commemoration which it disguises. During the interval of their\ncelebration, the youths received lessons from their elders of the state,\nas to the regulation of their conduct in after life; and the lustre of\ntruth, and the comeliness of virtue, as they shone forth in _Budha_\n(_which solves the mystery of the name_), were the invariable _ethics_\nthey propounded.\n\nPublic feasts were the scene for the delivery of those discourses. They\nfound their way also to Rome, but the _spirituality of Redemption_ not\ngoing hand-in-hand with its _doctrine_, or not duly comprehended, if\naccompanying, the _joyousness_ of _hope_, was there sunk into the\n_licentiousness_ of _enjoyment_, and the innocence of mirth and of moral\nhilarity was superseded by the uproar of riot and of vice! _Such were the\nSaturnalia._\n\nHow different was their celebration in our \u201cSacred Ireland!\u201d The very\nletters of the epithet, by which our forefathers had solemnised them, show\nthe spirituality of purpose which actuated their zeal. _Nullog_ was that\nepithet--it is compounded of _nua_, _new_; and _log_ (for bullog), a\n_belly_, meaning _regeneration_, or the putting aside of the old leaven of\nsin, and the assumption of the new investiture of righteousness, by\njustification.\n\nAs everything, however, in their religious procedure was transacted by\nsymbols, so, in this instance, they did not content themselves with the\n_inner consciousness_ of a _new birth_,[400] but the most go through the\nouter form of it by typification; and for this end it was that they\nexcavated those _apertures_ in the bodies of rocks, which I have noticed\nin page 314, as calling forth, from ignorance, the animadversion of the\n_devil\u2019s yonies_, in order that, by _passing themselves through them, they\nmight represent the condition of one issuing, through the womb, to a new\nscope of life_.[401]\n\nA nobler method of symbolisation, and confined solely to the _initiated_,\nwas that which characterised the construction of their subterranean\ntemples. Here the sublimity of their worship breaks out in all the\ngrandeur and the majesty of awe.[402] The narrowness of the entrance,\nnever larger than the girth of the ordinary human body, pourtrayed, as\nwell the _circular passage_ in their regenerating _type_,[403] as the\n_circumvention_ of temptation by which the faithful are ever beset;[404]\nwhile _the model_ of the _cross, which regulates their architecture\nwithinside, attests the mystery and the form of their master\u2019s death_.\n\nThe Mithratic temple, at New Grange, is exactly so constructed. After\nsqueezing yourself, with much labour, through a long _emblematic_ gallery,\nyou arrive at a _circular room_, or rather an _irregular polygon or\noctagon_;[405] whence, at measured intervals, three other apartments\ndiverge, forming, with the inleading gut, a perfect _cross_; and\npresenting, altogether, to a susceptible mind, _the most solemn\ncombination of symbolical mysteries_![406]\n\nI wonder why do not our _moderns_ confer these _subterraneous cruciform_\nedifices upon the industry of the early Christians, as they have striven\nto claim for them the _corresponding_ structures _above ground_! and\nwithout half the probability of success! For if it may be stated, that the\n_crucifixions_ upon the _towers_ were an _interpolation_, with a view to\n_Christianise_ what before was devoted to _Paganism_, _no one_, at all\nevents, would maintain that the _monks_ had gone down into the bowels of\nthe earth, and after ejecting the inmates of old _Alma Mater_, converted\ntheir tabernacles into a magical cross!\n\nNay, a greater difficulty would still attach to this adventure. The\n_Pagodas_[407] of Benares and Mathura, the two principal ones in all\nIndia, are _cruciformly_ built! and, in order to make both worlds\nharmonise, the _advocates_ for the monks, or rather their _beliers_, would\nhave to transport their mechanics to those regions also, and turn upside\ndown, and sideways, and every way, whatever was the shape of the original\nstructures, until they moulded them at last into this mysterious cross!\n\nSome blame, however, would seem attachable to the _superintendents_ of\nthis vision: and it is that, while imprinting this _mark_ over the head of\nthe principal figure in the cave, or Mithratic temple, at Elephanta,[408]\nthey neglected to demolish the _Lingam_, appertaining to the previous\nworship; and which actually presents itself but a little from it in the\nfront!\n\nTo be grave. There was nothing more _natural_ than that those different\nsymbols should be thus united. I have shown that in the various copies of\nour annals, the _Round Towers_, or overground temples, are designated by\nthe name of _Fidh-nemead_, the meaning of which I have elucidated to be,\nthe _consecrated Lingams_: the _Mithratic caves_, or underground temples,\ntheir _correspondents_, it was to be expected, should be known by a\n_suitable_ denomination; and, accordingly, you will find this very one at\nNew Grange mentioned in the _Chronicon Scotorum_ by the title of _Fiodh\nAongusa_; that is, the _Mysterious Cavern_ of _Buddh_; while the\n_crucifixions_ upon the _former_, and the _cruciform shape_ of the\n_latter_, are the reverential memorials of his atoning dissolution.\n\nThe mysteries celebrated within the recesses of those caverns were\nprecisely of that character which are called _Freemasonic_, or _Cabiric_.\nThe signification of this latter epithet is, as to written letters, a\ndesideratum. Selden has missed it; so has Origen and Sophocles. Strabo,\ntoo, and Montfaucon, have been equally astray. Hyde was the only one who\nhad any _idea_ of its _composition_, when he declared \u201cit was a _Persian\nword_ somewhat altered from _Gabri_, or _Guebri_, and signifying\nfire-worshippers.\u201d\n\nIt is true that _Gabri_ now stands for _fire-worshippers_, but that is\nonly because that they assumed to themselves this title, which belonged to\nanother order of their ancestors. The word is derived from _gabh_, \u201ca\nsmith,\u201d and _ir_, \u201csacred,\u201d meaning the _sacred smiths_; and _Cabiri_\nbeing only a perversion of it is, of course, in substance, of the very\nsame import.\n\nMount _Caucasus_,[409] also, which still, in our language, retains its\noriginal pronunciation, of _Gaba-casan_, or the Smith\u2019s Path, was named\nfrom the same root; nor is the tradition of the _reason_ altogether\nobliterated from those who dwell beside it, if we may judge from a\nceremony described by a recent traveller, as performed by them, as\nfollows:--\n\n\u201cThe original founders of the Tartarian Mongolian Scythians, called Cajan\nand Docos, got embarrassed amongst those mountains, then uninhabited.\nAfter a sojourn there of 450 years, having become so numerous as to\nrequire other settlements, they were at a loss to find a passage through\nthe mountains, when a _smith_, pointing out to them a place very rich in\niron ore, advised them to make great fires there, by which means the ore\nmelted, and a broad passage was opened for them. In commemoration of which\nfamous march, the Mongols to this day celebrate an annual feast, and\nobserve the ceremony of heating a piece of iron red hot, on which the\nCeann (that is, the chief) strikes one blow with a hammer, and all the\npersons of quality do the same after him.\u201d\n\nI shall close this chapter by the description given of the destruction of\nCambyses\u2019s army in the Nubian desert, _after the insults offered by him to\nthe Cabiri priests_.\n\n  \u201cGnomes, o\u2019er the waste, you led your myriad powers,\n  Climb\u2019d on the whirls, and aim\u2019d the flinty showers;\n  Onward resistless rolls the infuriate surge,\n  Clouds follow clouds, and mountains mountains urge;\n  Wave over wave the driving desert swims,\n  Burst o\u2019er their heads, inhumes their struggling limbs;\n  Man mounts on man, on camels camels rush,\n  Hosts march o\u2019er hosts, and nations nations crush:\n  Wheeling in air, the winged islands fall--\n  And one great sandy ocean covers all.\u201d[410]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\n\nOn the east side of the river Shannon, about ten miles distant from\nAthlone, in the barony of Garrycastle, and King\u2019s County, is situated the\n_Sanctuary_ of Clonmacnoise. Within the narrow limits of two Irish acres,\nare here condensed more _religious_ ruins, of antiquarian value, than are\nto be found, perhaps, in a similar space in any other quarter of the\nhabitable world.\n\nNine churches, built respectively by the individuals whose names they\nbear, namely: (1) that of Macarthy More; (2) that of Melaghlin; (3) that\nof MacDermott; (4) that of Hiorphan; (5) that of Kieran; (6) that of\nGawney; (7) that of O\u2019Kelly; and (8) that of O\u2019Connor;--independently of\nthe _cathedral_,--here moulder, in kindred mortality, with the ashes of\nnobles, of princes, and of kings, entombed beneath their walls; and who,\nat feud, mayhap, in life, are now content to sleep beside each other,\n\u201ctheir warfare o\u2019er,\u201d in the levelling indistinction of death.\n\nYour curiosity is, no doubt, excited to know how so circumscribed a little\nspot could have been chosen as the nucleus of such ecclesiastical\nambition? The answer is found in the circumstance of this having been one\nof the strongholds of _Budhism_, in the days of its corruscations, which\nmade it now be singled out, in common with other places memorable for that\ncreed, as the appropriate locality for Christian superincumbency.\n\nTwo Round Towers, _the chief object of emulation_, are, as you may have\nsupposed, here to be encountered: and _these are the very ones, which the\nreader may recollect have been alluded to at_ p. 38, as ridiculously\nclaimed by Montmorency for _Christian_--because, forsooth, in the\nvagueness of popular titles, they are _recently_ distinguished by the\nnames of _MacCarthy_ and _O\u2019Rourke_!\n\nThe _Eastern columns_, denominated after _Pompey_[411] and\n_Cleopatra_,[412] have been equally productive of historical mistakes;\nuntil, at last, it has appeared that those celebrated lovers have had no\nmore to do with such erections, than have had the _O\u2019Rourkes_ or\n_MacCarthys_ with our _Round Towers_!\n\nHere also are _three crosses_ belonging to the same religion, to _one_ of\nwhich only shall I now direct your observation. It is fifteen feet high,\ncomposed of a single stone, and sculptured with imagery of the most\nelegant execution.\n\nThe devices upon this sculpture are such as you would have expected from\nthe _authors of the Allegory of the Paradisiacal Fall_: and here,\naccordingly, it presents itself, just as in _language_ they had clothed\nit, in all the mysteriousness of the figurative _tree_.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nImmediately over the equestrian and chariot sports, which decorate the\npedestal, you see Adam and Eve conversing at each side of this _symbol_ of\ntheir dearly-bought _knowledge_! Farther up are other emblems of\nmythological allusion: while, in the centre above, you observe a _Cabir_\npriest, alias, a _Freemason_, holding the implements of his craft--a high\nhonour--in his hand;[413] and encompassed by a retinue of several more\npersons, all in the glow of joy!\n\nThe other sides, though less complex, are not less graceful, nor less\nsignificant, than the two which I have introduced. In them, also,\neverything bears reference to the _Budhist_ ceremonial. Nor are the\n_mouldings_ and the _flowerings_, the _networks_, and other ornaments\nwhich figure upon them, the _least essential_ constituent of that fruitful\ncode,[414]--while the personation of a _dog_,--an invariable\naccompaniment, as it is also amongst the sculptures at Persepolis, and\nother places in the East,--_would, in itself be sufficient to fix the\nappropriation of those crosses_, as that animal can have no possible\nrelation to Christianity, whereas, by the Tuath-de-danaans, it was\naccounted _sacred_, and its maintenance enjoined by the ordinances of the\nstate, as it is still in the Zend books, which remain after Zoroaster.\n\nTo Clondalkin Tower, represented at p. 101, there belongs also a stone\ncross, and bearing its own history upon its _Tuath-de-danaan_ countenance.\nIn Armagh is another. I cannot afford time to point out any more, but that\nat _Finglas_ is too remarkable to be quite neglected.\n\nEvery body is acquainted with the legendary tale of _St. Patrick having\nbanished all venomous reptiles from this_ island. Now, I am very willing,\nas has been shown, to give this apostle all the credit which he deserves;\nbut I am a chronicler of _truth_, and from me he shall have no romances.\nSolinus, who flourished A.D. 190, that is, above two centuries before St.\nPatrick was born, has noticed the phenomenon of there being no vipers\nhere. Isidore has repeated it in the seventh century; as has Bede in the\neighth; and, in the ninth, Donatus, the famous bishop of Fesula. This\nexemption, therefore, cannot be attributable to St. Patrick, whose honour\nwould be better consulted by his religious admirers in confining\nthemselves to _facts_, which are numerous enough, than in shocking\ncredibility by their _pious frauds_.\n\nAs to the _local_ phenomenon, to which you perceive _he_ can have no\npretensions, I cannot resist bestowing upon it a passing observation.\nBede, I think, has gone so far as to say that not only are there no snakes\nto be found in Ireland, but that they would not live, if imported: nay,\nthat, when brought within sight of the shore, they expire! I should like\nto see this ascertained; if the fact be such, then the question is solved,\nthe air or the soil is the cause.\n\nBut if the case be otherwise, then must we ascribe it to some _human_\ninstrumentality; and, as there occur various texts in Scripture, allusive,\nit would seem, to a very prevailing opinion in the _East_, as to the\nmanageableness of that species, by the power of charms,--such as, \u201cI will\nsend serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed\u201d (Jer.\nviii. 17); and \u201cthe deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not\nhearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely\u201d (Ps. lvii. 4,\n5);--and as our Tuath-de-danaans, who were an Eastern people, are\nrecorded by all our early ecclesiastical writers, and with no view to\nencomium, as so eminent for incantations, that the island seemed, during\ntheir sway, to have been one continuation of enchantment, it is past\ndoubt, that, if practicable by man\u2019s efficacy at all, the merit of\nextinction belongs solely to them. And it is well worth notice, that the\nisland of Crete, where a colony of them also had settled, is said to be\ngifted with a similar exemption. \u201cThe professed snake-catchers in India,\u201d\nsays Johnson, \u201care a low caste of Hindoos, wonderfully clever in catching\nsnakes, as well as in practising the art of legerdemain; they pretend to\ndraw them from their holes by a song, _and by an instrument resembling an\nIrish bagpipe, on which they play a plaintive tune_.\u201d[415]\n\nEvery _legend_, however, is founded upon _reality_, and I will unfold to\nyou from what has Joceline concocted _this about St. Patrick_. All the\n_crosses_ of the Tuath-de-danaans had _snakes_ engraved upon them. Look\nback at that at Killcullen,[416] and you will see them there still, and\nmore plainly, by and by, upon that at Kells. These to the Irish were\nobjects of reverence, because of the _passions_ which they symbolised; and\naccordingly the Saint, in order to obviate the recurrence of such\ncontemplations, effaced them, when practicable, from off the stones.[417]\n\nThe same precisely was the course, but with a less hallowed intention,\nwhich the Moslems had pursued in the dissemination of their creed.\n\u201cWhenever,\u201d says Archer, \u201cthese figures were introduced, the fanatic\nMoslem had hammered away all those within his reach; and when this process\nwas too slow for the work of demolition, another mode of obliteration was\nrequisite. Whole compartments of sculpture were plastered over to hide the\nprofane imagery! In clearing away the rubbish, to bring these beautiful\nremains to light, the engineer stumbled on a long frieze, part of which\nhad had the destroying mallet passed over it; but this method of despatch\nwas not active enough, and that portion which had escaped violence, had\nbeen plastered over with a composition of the colour of the stone.\u201d[418]\n\nWe read also in the Puranas, as an historical circumstance, that the whole\n_serpent_ race had been destroyed by Janamijaya, the son of Parieshit,\nwhich, in truth, only implies, as the talented professor of Sanscrit in\nOxford University has already remarked, \u201cthe subversion of the local and\noriginal superstition, and the erection of the system of the Vedas upon\nits ruins.\u201d\n\nSt. Patrick, in like manner, having established Christianity _here_, in\nsupercedence of a religion, the most prominent symbols of which were\n_snakes_, _cockatrices_, and _serpents_, may be truly said to have\n_extirpated_ their race from the country, but, as you see, in an\nacceptation heretofore unexplained.\n\nThe _statement_ given by Major Archer of the _symbolic representations_\nupon one of the Indian temples, as well as the particulars of its _fate_,\nare so perfectly in unison with what I have been describing, that I must\nbe excused if I give it a place here.\n\n\u201cReached Burwah-Saugor,\u201d says he. \u201cImmediately on the right is a Hindoo\ntemple, which I think one of the rarest sights, on the score of\narchitecture and sculpture, which have gratified our curiosity. The work\nof the chisel would have immortalised the artist had he lived in the\npresent day. I have never seen its execution rivalled, although tolerably\nconversant with similar objects of art. The elegance of design--the\narrangement of the figures, which were too numerous to be computed--the\nposition of them--the sharp and bold relief--and the elaborate ornaments\nof _foliage_ and _animals_, render it one of the _most remarkable\nmonuments_ of art it is possible to conceive. There are compartments on\nthe lintels of the doors and the entablature, four deep; _figures of the\nsubordinate deities in the voluminous code of Brahma_, _symbols of their\nattributes_, _sacred utensils_, and _animals_. Two vases are on the\nthreshold, which, for shape and execution, would compete the palm of\nexcellence with Grecian art. _Wreaths of snakes_, and groups of _men_ and\n_women_, are on the _columns_, which also have _their_ ornaments, and are\nwell proportioned.\n\n\u201cI could not resist a second visit to this edifice, which, at the risk of\nappearing opinionative, I can seriously aver, I never saw equalled for\nrichness and taste; but the hand of intolerant bigotry has marred the work\nof fair proportion. The fanatical Moslems, who overran the country in the\ntime of Acbar, broke and defaced every image they saw; and, with few\nexceptions, the head of every figure, of any size or importance, has been\ndemolished; and nothing remains but relics, which attest the advance of\nthe arts at the time the structure was reared.\u201d\n\nThe effects of fanaticism are the same in all ages. It desecrates alike\nhuman and divine laws. St. Patrick was no fanatic; and accordingly, in\n_his_ course, what he could not himself comprehend, he was resolved, at\nall events, to have respected. Those crosses, therefore, which had\npreviously been looked upon with an eye of veneration, _though the cause\nhad long ceased to be transmitted_, he literally _Christianised_, by\nremoving the sculpture; and thus were they made, in the ritual of the new\nreligion, as hallowedly expressive as they were ever before.\n\nPrecisely similar was the system pursued by the missionaries in India.\n\n\u201cThe island of Salsette,\u201d says Captain Head, \u201cabounds in mythological\nantiquities and pagan temples--two gigantic figures of Buddha, near twenty\nfeet high, of complete preservation, which they owe to the zeal of the\nPortuguese, who painted them red, and converted the place they ornamented\nto a Catholic chapel.\u201d\n\nThe Pantheon at Rome was new modelled in the same manner. In a word, as\nGrotius has before affirmed, \u201cinfinite appropriations have been made.\u201d\n\nBut, independently of this conversion, the conformity itself between the\nChristian and the Budhist religion was so great that the Christians, who\nrounded the Cape of Good Hope with Vasco de Gama, performed their\ndevotions in an Indian temple, on the shores of Hindustan! Nay, \u201cin many\nparts of the peninsula,\u201d say the _Asiatic Researches_, \u201cChristians are\ncalled, and considered as followers of Buddha, and their divine\nlegislator, whom they confound with the apostle of India, is declared to\nbe a form of Buddha, both by the followers of Brahma and those of Siva;\nand the information I had received on that subject is confirmed by F.\nPaulino.\u201d\n\nIt was not so with those who made religion a trade, and only the auxiliary\npassword to their selfish aggrandisement! When the \u201cabomination of\ndesolation\u201d[419] swept over this country, and strewed the verdure of its\nsurface with the indiscriminate fragments of cathedrals, of castles, and\nof towers, the crosses but as little escaped the scourge!\n\nHaving had occasion to pass through Finglas, on their march to the siege\nof Drogheda, and fancying the cross which stood there to have been\n_necessarily_ the erection of obnoxious _Romanism_, they gave it an\n_iconoclast_ blow, which broke its shaft into two! Thus decapitated, it\nfell. But the citizens, wishing to avoid further profanation, soon as ever\nthe army evacuated the town, took the disjointed relic and buried it very\ndecorously within the confines of the churchyard!\n\nHere it remained, in consecrated interment, until the beginning of the\nyear 1816, when an old man of the parish, recounting anecdotes of bygone\ntimes, mentioned amongst others, the particulars of this tradition, and\nexcited some curiosity by the narrative.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Rev. Robert Walsh was then curate of Finglas, and this mysterious\nhistory having reached his ears, he determined forthwith to ascertain its\nevidences. His first step was to see the chronicler himself.--This\npersonage\u2019s name was Jack White. Jack, who was himself well stricken in\nyears, told him that he had learned, a long while ago, from his father,\nwho was then himself rather elderly, that he had been shown by his still\nolder grandfather the identical spot where the cross had been concealed,\nand could point it out now to anyone with certainty and preciseness.\n\nThe proposal was accepted; workmen were employed; and, after considerable\nperseverance, the cross was _exhumed_, its parts _reunited_ by iron\ncramps, and _re-erected_, as opposite, within a short distance of the\nscene of its subterranean slumbers, as if in renascent triumph over the\ndestroyer!\n\n  \u201cLet such approach this consecrated land\n  And pass in peace along the magic waste:\n  But spare its relics--let no busy hand\n  Deface the scene, already how defaced!\n  Not for such purpose were those altars placed:\n  Revere the remnants nations once revered;\n  So may our country\u2019s name be undisgraced,\n  So may\u2019st thou prosper where thy youth was reared,\n  By every honest joy of love and life endeared.\u201d[420]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\n\nIt will be borne in mind that everything hitherto advanced on the various\ntopics which we have been discussing, was the sheer result of internal\nreasoning and of personal circumspection--that, wherever extrinsic aid was\nbrought forward in support of this unbeaten track, it was uniformly in the\nshape of _conclusions_ deduced from the premises of reluctant witnesses. I\nrejoice, with delight unspeakable, that I have it at last in my power to\nrange myself side by side with an author whose testimony in this matter\nmust be considered decisive, but which, however, by some strange\naberration of intellect, has never before been understood!\n\nCormac,[421] the celebrated bishop of Cashel, and one of the first\nscholars who ever flourished in any country, when defining the Round\nTowers in his _Glossary of the Irish Language_, under the name of\n_Gaill_[422] says, that they were \u201c_Cartha cloacha is aire bearor gall\ndesucder Fo bith ro ceata suighedseat en Eire_,\u201d--that is, stone-built\nmonuments within which noble judges used to enclose vases containing the\nrelics of Fo (_i.e._ Buddh), and of which they had erected hundreds\nthroughout Ireland!\n\nKnowing that the Ceylonese _Dagobs_, a name which literally signifies\n_houses of relics_, were appurtenances of Budhism, I intreated of a very\nintelligent native of that island, who attended the Vihara, at Exeter\nHall, some time ago, that he would favour me with a written outline of his\nviews of those structures. After a few days, he very civilly obliged me\nwith the following:--\n\n\u201cTravellers to the Eastern countries often have their notice attracted by\nnumerous buildings of a singular form and enormous sizes, both in ruins\nand in preserved states, about the origin and objects of which many\ninquiries have been made, and various conclusions drawn. These are\nmonuments raised in ancient times to the memory of deified persons, and\ncalled _Chaityas_, to which places devotees used to resort for meditation,\nespecially those who had any particular veneration for the deceased, whose\nrelics are supposed to be deposited within, and on whose virtues they\nquietly reflect, availing themselves of the solitude of such places; and\nif in their own imaginations the personages are deified, they make\nofferings of lamplight, etc.\n\n\u201cIn exploring the ruins of these pyramids, the inside of the globes are\nfound to contain loose earth, merely filled up after the arches had been\nraised; in such loose earth are found ancient coins of various metals,\nsupposed to be thrown in, in token of respect or veneration, whilst\nbuilding; but in the very centre of the globe is always found a square\nwell, paved with bricks, and the mouths covered by hewn granite, borne on\ngranite supporters, standing in the four corners of the square (sometimes\ntriangular). In this well, if the monument of a king (and if not robbed\nby ancient invaders), will be found the urn containing the relics of the\ndeceased, and treasure to a considerable worth. Sometimes there may be\ndiscovered a piece of beaten gold, or other metal, with engravings,\nmentioning the name and other circumstances of the deceased. If a Buddhist\nking, idols of Buddha might be found in it--but in others, sometimes\nearthen or metallic lamps, and heads of _cobra de capellas_.\n\n\u201cIn similar monuments, erected for the relics of Buddha, are three\ndifferent compartments or depositories; one in the bottom of the\nfoundation, one in the heart of the globe, and one at the top of the globe\nwithin the column. This column always has its basis upon the granite\ncovering of the well. In monuments of this description are supposed to be\nmuch buried treasure, especially in the foundations. The Paly book,\n_Toopahwanse_, gives account of the distribution of the Buddha\u2019s relics to\nthe different parts of the world, and the erection of such monuments over\nthem.\n\n\u201cMonuments of eminent Buddhist high priests are sometimes erected very\nhigh, but no treasure is to be expected in them, excepting sometimes books\nengraved on metal; but the tomb of the poorest prince is never without (at\nleast in models) a golden crown, a sword of the same metal, a pair of\nmetallic shoes, and a similar parasol.\n\n\u201cBesides having learnt from tradition and ancient documents, the writer\nhas seen the discovery of the tomb of a prince, in which these articles\nwere found, with a plate of gold, stating the name of the prince, his age,\ndeath, etc., which he had the pleasure to transcribe; the characters were\nin a different form from those now used in the same language, and hardly\nintelligible.\n\n\u201cThe writer had also the pleasure of exploring the ruins of a very lofty\nDagob that stood opposite to the establishment of the Church Missionaries\nin Ceylon. It was found to have been the tomb of a monarch, and had the\nappearance of having been robbed of the wealth it very likely contained,\nupwards of a century ago, as the trees that were growing on it indicated.\nA large quantity of ancient coins, and metal of different kinds, melted\ninto various shapes (perhaps with burning of the corpse), were, however,\ncollected.\n\n\u201cCeylon contains many ancient pyramids of the kind in a preserved state,\nand protected by the people, which are supposed to contain much wealth,\nbut the superstitious do not dare to explore, and others fear the laws,\nwhich will permit violence to no man\u2019s feelings.\u201d[423]\n\nHaving before shown how that the religion of the ancients was interwoven\nwith their funeral observances, this ocular testimony was alone requisite\nto gain credence for my proofs. I can still further adduce the authority\nof Dr. Hurd,[424] to show that the Gaurs of India, to this day, make use\nof the _Round Towers_[425] in their neighbourhood as places of burial,\nlifting up the dead bodies to the elevated door by means of ladders and\npulleys. None of those three writers have attempted anything more than a\nstatement of the actualities, therefore will I be excused if, in addition\nto what has been already detailed, I observe that, sublime and philosophic\nas was the intent of the _phallic_ configuration of those edifices,\napplied to _religion_, it was incomparably more so, considered in\nreference to _sepulture_; for while, in the former, it merely typified the\nprogress of _generation_ and _vitality_, in the latter it suggested the\nmore ennobling hope of a future _renascence_ and a _resurrection_.\n\nThat the reader, now aware of the \u201c_secret_\u201d which directed the form and\nelevation of our Sabian Towers, should not be surprised at the affinity\nwhich I have before pointed out between them and the two \u201cpillars\u201d which\nstood at the door of Solomon\u2019s temple,[426] I shall tell him that the\nwhole internal construction of this latter edifice, as well as those outer\nand partial ornaments, bore direct relation to the anatomical organism of\nman himself.\n\nTo instance only the most prominent of those analogies, you will find the\n\u201choly\u201d and the \u201cmost holy\u201d bear the same relation to each other, as the\ncerebrum and cerebellum of the human mechanism. Nor need this at all be\nwondered at, seeing that, from the very faintest reflection, it must\nsuggest itself to the most indolent that the divine ingenuity most\nprominently shines forth in the human anatomy; and that, therefore, from\nthe exalted sentiments which this is calculated to inspire of the Godhead,\n\u201cthe noblest study of mankind is man.\u201d[427]\n\nViewing it in this light, and coupling it with that piety which is known\nto have animated the bosom of David\u2019s anointed son, I cannot pass on\nwithout participating in that sublime exclamation, which bespoke at once\nhis gratitude and his humility, after the consummation of his mighty task.\n\u201cBut will God,\u201d said he, \u201cindeed dwell on earth! Behold! the heaven and\nthe heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that I\nhave builded!\u201d[428]\n\nNow to the _era_ for the erection of our Round Towers. \u201cAs they have\nneither dates nor inscriptions,\u201d say Sir John Ware, \u201cand as history is\nsilent on that head, it cannot be expected that I should point out the\ntime when they were erected in this country.\u201d[429] A very cheap way,\ncertainly, of getting over a difficulty! The same was the mode adopted by\nhim, and with equal candour, a few pages earlier, as to the development of\ntheir _destination_, when he says: \u201cI confess it is much easier to combat\nand _overthrow_ everything that has been hitherto advanced by writers in\nfavour of the _Danish claim_ to these monuments of antiquity and the\n_uses_ of them, than to _substitute anything solid and satisfactory in\ntheir room_.\u201d[430] But inasmuch as the latter problem has been solved, one\nis led to conclude that the obstacles to the former are but imaginary\nalso.\n\nTo begin then. Camden, speaking of them, in the thirteenth century, says\nhe believes them to have been erected in the seventh, but does not know by\nwhom! But I put it to any rational thinker to say whether, if they had\nbeen a creation of the seventh century, it would be possible for a writer\nof the thirteenth to have been ignorant of their origin, and that too at a\ntime when _tradition_ was universal? and every father made it a point to\ninstil into his son the events and circumstances that happened in his own\nday? This writer\u2019s testimony is sufficient, at all events, to show that\nthey existed in the seventh century.\n\nBishop Cormac, we have seen before, has recorded them as objects of\nantiquity in his own time; and this being, at the latest, within the ninth\ncentury, they must have had existence before the seventh; else they could\nnot well be deemed _ancient_ two centuries after.\n\nThe Ulster annals record the destruction of fifty-seven of them by an\nearthquake, A.D. 448; they must, therefore, have existed before that\ncentury also. But the Royal Irish Academy say _no_; because that tradition\nconnects a person called the _Goban Saer_, and \u201cthe historical notices\nrelative to whom have been collected into Mr. Petrie\u2019s essay ... with the\nerection of this (the Antrim Tower), as well as others in the north of\nIreland!\u201d[431] As every notice, therefore, respecting so important a\ncharacter must be eagerly sought after, I shall take leave to transcribe\nwhat the same high authority tells us of him, in the following words,\nnamely:--\n\n\u201c_I have not learned the particular period at which he flourished_, but\ntradition says that he was superior to all his contemporaries in the art\nof building; even in that dark age when so little communication existed\nbetween countries not so remotely situated, his fame extended to distant\nlands. A British prince, whose possessions were very extensive, and who\nfelt ambitious of erecting a splendid palace to be his regal residence,\nhearing of the high attainments of the Goban Saer in his sublime science,\ninvited him to court, and by princely gifts and magnificent promises\ninduced him to build a structure, the splendour of which excelled that of\nall the palaces in the world. But the consummate skill of the artist had\nnearly cost him his life, for the prince, struck with the matchless beauty\nof the palace, was determined that it should stand unrivalled on the\nearth, by putting the architect to death, who alone was capable of\nconstructing such another, after the moment the building received the\nfinishing touches of his skilful hand.\n\n\u201cThis celebrated individual had a son, who was grown up to man\u2019s estate;\nand anxious that this only child should possess, in marriage, a young\nwoman of sound sense and ready wit, he cared little for the factitious\ndistinctions of birth or fortune, if he found her rich in the gifts of\nheaven. Having killed a sheep, he sent the young man to sell the skin at\nthe next market town, with this singular injunction, that he should bring\nhome _the skin and its price_ at his return. The lad was always accustomed\nto bow to his father\u2019s superior wisdom, and on this occasion did not stop\nto question the good sense of his commands, but bent his way to town. In\nthese primitive times it was not unusual to see persons of the highest\nrank engaged in menial employments, so the townsfolk were less surprised\nto see the young Goban expose a sheep-skin for sale, than at the absurdity\nof the term, \u2018_the skin and the price of it_.\u2019 He could find no chapman,\nor rather chapwoman (to coin a term), for it was women engaged in domestic\nbusiness that usually purchased such skins for the wool. A young woman at\nlast accosted him, and upon hearing the terms of sale, after pondering a\nmoment agreed to the bargain. She took him to her house, and having\nstripped off all the wool, returned him the bare skin, and the price for\nwhich the young man stipulated. Upon reaching home, he returned _the skin\nand its value_ to his father, who learning that a young woman became the\npurchaser, entertained so high an opinion of her talents, that in a few\ndays she became the wife of his son, and sole mistress of Rath Goban.\n\n\u201cSome time after this marriage, and towards the period to which we before\nreferred, when the Goban Saer and his son were setting off, at the\ninvitation of the British prince, to erect his superb palace, this young\nwoman exhibited considerable abilities, and the keenness of her\nexpressions, and the brilliancy of her wit, far outdid, on many occasions,\nthe acumen of the Goban Saer himself; she now cautioned him, when his old\nfather, who did not, like modern architects, Bianconi it along macadamised\nroads, got tired from the length of the journey, _to shorten the road_;\nand, secondly, not to sleep a third night in any house without securing\nthe interest of _a domestic female friend_. The travellers pursued their\nway, and after some weary walking over flinty roads, and through intricate\npassages, the strength of the elder Goban yielded to the fatigue of the\njourney. The dutiful son would gladly _shorten the road_ for the wayworn\nsenior, but felt himself unequal to the task. On acquainting his father\nwith the conjugal precept, the old man unravelled the mystery by bidding\nhim commence some strange legend of romance, whose delightful periods\nwould beguile fatigue and pain into charmed attention. Irishmen, I\nbelieve, are the cleverest in Europe at \u2018_throwing it over_\u2019 females in\nforeign places, and it is pretty likely that the younger Goban did not\ndisobey the second precept of his beloved wife. On the second night of\ntheir arrival at the king\u2019s court, he found in the person of a female of\nvery high rank (some say she was the king\u2019s daughter), a friend who gave\nher confiding heart to all the dear delights that love and this Irish\nexperimentalist could bestow. As the building proceeded under the skilful\nsuperintendence of the elder Goban, the son acquaints him with the\nprogress of his love, and the ardent attachment of the lady. The cautious\nold man bade him beware of one capable of such violent passion, and take\ncare lest her jealousy or caprice might not be equally ungovernable, and\ndisplay more fearful effects. To discover her temper, the father ordered\nhim to sprinkle her face with water as he washed himself in the\nmorning--that if she received the aspersion with a smile, her love was\ndisinterested, and her temper mild; but if she frowned darkly, her love\nwas lust, and her anger formidable. The young man playfully sprinkled the\ncrystal drops on the face of his lover--she smiled gently--and the young\nGoban rested calmly on that tender bosom, where true love and pitying\nmildness bore equal sway.\n\n\u201cThe wisdom of the Goban Saer and his sapient daughter-in-law was soon\nmanifested; for, as the building approached its completion, his lady-love\ncommunicated to the young man the fearful intelligence that the king was\nresolved, by putting them to death when the work was concluded, that they\nshould erect no other such building, and, by that means, to enjoy the\nunrivalled fame of possessing the most splendid palace in the world. These\ntidings fell heavily on the ear of the Goban Saer, who saw the strong\nnecessity of circumventing this base treachery with all his skill. In an\ninterview with his majesty, he acquaints him that the building was being\ncompleted; and that its beauty exceeded everything of the kind he had done\nbefore, but that it could not be finished without a certain instrument\nwhich he unfortunately left at home, and he requested his royal permission\nto return for it. The king would by no means consent to the Goban Saer\u2019s\ndeparture; but anxious to have the edifice completed, he was willing to\nsend a trusty messenger into Ireland for that instrument upon which the\nfinishing of the royal edifice depended. The other assured his majesty\nthat it was of so much importance that he would not entrust it into the\nhands of the greatest of his majesty\u2019s subjects. It was finally arranged\nthat the king\u2019s eldest son should proceed to Rath Goban, and, upon\nproducing his credentials to the lady of the castle, receive the\ninstrument of which she had the keeping, and which the Goban Saer named\n\u2018_Cur-an-aigh-an-cuim_.\u2019 Upon his arrival in Ireland, the young prince\nproceeded to fulfil his errand; but the knowing mistress of Rath Goban,\njudging from the tenor of the message, and the ambiguous expressions\ncouched under the name of the pretended instrument, that her husband and\nfather-in-law were the victims of some deep treachery, she bad him\nwelcome, inquired closely after her absent friends, and told him he should\nhave the object of his mission when he had refreshed himself after the\nfatigues of his long journey. Beguiled by the suavity of her manners and\nthe wisdom of her words, the prince complied with her invitation to remain\nall night at Rath Goban. But in the midst of his security, the domestics,\nfaithful to the call of their mistress, had him bound in chains, and led\nto the dungeon of the castle. Thus the wisdom of the Goban Saer and the\ndiscrimination of his daughter completely baffled the wicked designs of\nthe king, who received intimation that his son\u2019s life would surely atone\nfor the blood of the architects. He dismissed them to their native country\nladen with splendid presents; and, on their safe arrival at Rath Goban,\nthe prince was restored to liberty.\u201d[432]\n\nGentlemen of England, where is your knowledge of history? which of your\nfamed monarchs was it that was going to play this scurvy trick upon our\n_Goban_, and earn for himself the infamous notoriety of a second\n_Laomedon_, by defrauding this _architect_, who no doubt was a _Hercules_,\nof his stipulated salary? Ye shades of Alfred and of Ethelbert, I pause\nfor a reply?\n\nBut this indignity, if offered to _Goban_, would be even greater than that\noffered by Laomedon to Hercules; for in the latter case the crime was only\nthat of _dishonesty_--which is not uncommon in any age--superadded to a\nspice of _impiety_, in cheating a god; but in the former case, over and\nabove all these, would weigh a consideration which our people would never\nforget, namely, a violation of the laws of _gallantry_, this same Goban\n\u201chaving been believed in this part of this country to have been a\n_woman_!\u201d[433] And yet the same vehicle that puts forth this trash has\ntold us, in the preceding extract, that he was a _father_ and a _husband_!\n(I do not believe in hermaphrodites), and, to crown the climax of\nabsurdity, gives us the following specimen of the _heroism_ of his _wife_,\nnamely:--\n\n\u201cThe Goban Saer having been barbarously murdered, together with his\njourneymen, by twelve highwaymen, the murderers proceeded to his house,\nand told the Goban\u2019s wife, with an air of triumph, that they had killed\nher husband. She appearing nowise concerned, asked them to assist her in\ndrawing open the trunk of a tree, which the Goban had been cutting up into\nplanks. They put in their hands for the purpose, when, drawing out a\nwedge, she left them literally in a cleft stick, and taking up an axe, cut\noff all their heads at a blow\u201d![434]\n\nBut this is ludicrously trifling with the time of my readers. I am alive\nto the fact, and I most submissively crave forgiveness, which I doubt not\nI shall receive, when I state that my sole object was to expose the\n_flimsiness_ of that subterfuge by which the Royal Irish Academy, or\nrather their council! had hoped that they could blindfold the public as\nwell as they had succeeded in sequestrating my prize!\n\nI do not deny indeed but that there may have been in Ireland at one time\nsuch a person as the Goban Saer: but if ever he did belong thereto, it\nmust have been at least _sixteen hundred_ years before the epoch which the\nAcademy sanction--and so sanction, be it observed, because that a\nweak-minded poor monk, when writing the biography of _St. Abhan_, and\ntorturing his invention, in all quarters, for the purpose of conjuring up\nmiracles to lay to his score, thought the similarity of sound between\n_Abhan_ and _Gobhan_ so inviting, that he must contrive an interview\nbetween the parties; and so, with \u201cone fell swoop,\u201d alias, _dash of the\npen_, cutting off the centuries of separation, he treats himself and his\npupils to the following burlesque:--\n\n\u201c_Quidam_ famossissimus in omni arte lignorum et lapidum _erat_ in\nHibernia nomine Gobbanus, cujus artis fama usque _in finem s\u00e6culi_ erit in\nea. Ipse jam postquam, aliis sanatis, in superflua artis su\u00e6 mercede lumen\noculorum amisit, et erat c\u00e6cus. Hic vocatus est ad S. Abbanum et dixit ei:\nVolo \u00e6dificium in honorem Dei \u00e6dificare, et tu age illud. Et ille ait:\nQuomodo possum agere cum sim c\u00e6cus? dixit ei sanctus, Quamdiu illud\noperaberis lumen oculorum habebis, sed tibi postea non promitto. Et ita\nfactum est, nam ille artifex apud sanctum Dei in lumine suo operatus est,\net cum esset illud perfectum lumen oculorum amisit\u201d[435]--that is, in the\ntrue spirit of what my countrymen call a _sceal Feeneechtha_, or\n_Ph\u0153nician story_, _i.e._ an _entertaining lie_ (a proof, by the way, that\nthey claim no kindred with the Ph\u0153nicians, else they would not thus\nconfirm the well-known epithet of _Punica fides_); however to put this\n_sceal Feeneechtha_ into English, it runs thus: \u201c_Once upon a time_ there\nlived in Erin a man most celebrated for his universal mastery over wood\nand stone; and whose fame, accordingly, will live therein as long as\n_grass shall grow_ or _purling streams flow in its enchanting scenery_.\nThis good man\u2019s name was _Gobhan_, who, wallowing in wealth from the\nmeritorious exertions of his abilities, yet incapacitated from enjoying it\nby the deprivation of his sight, was summoned before _St. Abhan_, who had\nalready healed the rest of the world by his miraculous gifts, and who thus\naddresses him: \u2018I wish to build a house to the honour of God; and set you\nabout it.\u2019 \u2018How can I,\u2019 says _Gobhan_, \u2018_seeing_ that I am _blind_?\u2019 \u2018O\nvery well,\u2019 says _Abhan_, \u2018I will settle that; long as ever you are\nengaged in the business, you shall have the use of your eyes; but I make\nno promises afterwards!\u2019 And verily it was so, for long as ever he did\nwork with the saint he had the use of his sight, but soon as ever the work\nwas done he relapsed into his former blindness!\u201d\n\nWell, you may laugh if you chose, in future, at the simplicity of the\n_monks_; but here is one for you, who, in the very extravagance of his\nsimplicity, and that while bursting almost with risibility himself at the\nspeciousness of his conceit, has contrived to bamboozle a jury of\n_umpires_ who pique themselves upon their contempt for everything\n_monkish_, and who actually, in any other case, had they the _sworn_\nevidence of a monk, would go counter thereto; but here, where an old\ndoting friar is drawing upon his ingenuity, every syllable that escapes\nhim is taken for gospel!\n\nNow, _I_ as readily believe, as they would fain persuade me, that \u201clong as\n_Gobhan_ did work with _Abhan_ he had the use of his sight,\u201d and that\n\u201csoon as ever the work was done he relapsed into his former blindness.\u201d\nAnd why? because the two men, living in different ages, never laid eyes\nupon each other at all, and thus were they _both, morally and literally,\nblind to each other_!\n\nThe Scythians, who were masters of this country at the Christian era, and\nfor many centuries preceding, had a sovereign contempt for everything like\narchitecture. \u201cThey have no towns,\u201d says Herodotus, \u201cno fortifications;\ntheir habitations they always carry with them.\u201d[436] The principle which\nactuated them, in this indifference to _houses_, was precisely that which\ngoverned the Britons in a similar taste--they were a race of _warriors_,\nand dreaded the imputation of _cowardice_ more than they did the\ninclemency of the _weather_. It is not without reason, therefore, that we\nfind Hollingshed, who wrote his Chronicles in Queen Elizabeth\u2019s reign,\ncomplaining that \u201cthree things were altered for the worse in England: the\nmultitude of chimneys lately erected, the great increase of lodgings, and\nthe exchange of treen platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver\nand tin. Nothing but oak for building houses is now regarded: when houses\nwere built with willow, then had we oaken men; but now our houses are\ncome to be built of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a great\nmany altogether of straw.\u201d[437]\n\nSt. Bernard, also, in reference to the Irish, having mentioned that\nMalachy O\u2019Morgan, archbishop of Armagh, was the first (of the Scythian\nrace) who had erected a stone house in the island, introduces a native\nupbraiding him with it, in these terms: \u201cWhat wonderful work is this? why\nthis innovation in our country? we are Scots, and not Gauls, what\nnecessity have we for such durable edifices?\u201d\n\n_St. Abhan_, therefore, who belonged to the sixth century, at which time\nthe Scythians had here absolute sway, never once dreamt of erecting a\nstone edifice, or of evoking from the grave the manes of _Gobhan_, who, if\nhe ever existed, must have been a member of the former dynasty.\n\nThose _pious_ fabrications which the biographers of early saints had\nconcocted, with a view to magnify the reverence due to their subjects,\nremind me of one which was invented for the benefit (but in reality to the\ndetriment) of St. Patrick, and which, even at the risk of appearing\ntedious, I must detail.\n\n\u201cWhereas,\u201d--you perceive the record begins with all the formalities of\noffice,--\u201cin the year of the world 1525, Noah began to admonish the people\nof vengeance to come by a generall deluge for the wickednesse and\ndetestable sinne of man, and continued his admonition for 120 years,\nbuilding an arke for the safeguard of himself and his family; one C\u00e6sarea\n(say they), according unto others, Caisarea, a niece of Noah (when others\nseemed to neglect this warning), rigging a navy, committed herself, with\nher adherents, to the seas, to seeke adventures and leave the plagues that\nwere to befall. There arrived in Ireland with her three men, _Bithi_,\n_Largria_, and _Fintan_, and fifty women. Within forty days after her\narrivall the universal flood came upon them, and those parts, as well as\nupon the rest of the world, and drowned them all; in which perplexity of\nmind and imminent danger, beholding the waves overflowing all things\nbefore their eyes, _Fintan_ is said to have been _transformed into a\nsalmon_, and to have swoome all the time of the deluge about Ulster; and\nafter the fall of the water, recovering his former shape, to have lived\nlonger than _Adam_, and to have delivered strange things to posterity, so\nthat of him the common speech riseth, \u2018If I had lived Fintan\u2019s years I\ncould say much.\u2019\u201d\n\nWell, \u201cto make a long story short,\u201d this same Fintan, who was converted\ninto a _salmon_, for the sole purpose of accounting for his appearance on\nthe same theatre with St. Patrick, is introduced to the saint, when, after\na very diverting episode upon his _submarine_ adventures, a miracle, of\ncourse, is to be wrought; and, anon, we have the contemporary of _Noah_,\nand of _Patrick_, at once a _salmon_, a _dolphin_, and a _man_, renouncing\nhis attachment to the _waters_ and to the _boat_, and devoutly embracing\nChristianity!!!\n\nThe anachronism committed in the instance of the _Goban Saer_ was\nprecisely of the same character! and the very name assigned him, which is\nthat of a _class_, not of an individual, exposes the counterfeit!\n\n_Gobhan Saer_ means the _Sacred Poet_, or the _Freemason Sage_, one of\nthe _Guabhres_, or _Cabiri_, such as you have seen him represented upon\nthe Tuath-de-danaan cross at Clonmacnoise. To this colony, therefore, must\nhe have belonged, and therefore the _Towers traditionally associated with\nhis erection_ must have been constructed anterior to the Scythian influx.\n\nBut we are not left to such inferences to determine the point. A more\nsubstantial ally, the imperishable landmarks of history stand forward as\nmy vouchers.\n\nTo this hour the two localities,--whereon the Tuath-de-danaans had fought\ntheir two decisive battles with the _Fir-Bolgs_, their immediate\npredecessors in the occupation of this island,--one near Lough Mask, in\nthe county Galway, and the other near Lough Arran, in the county\nRoscommon, are called by the name of _Moy-tura_, or more correctly, in\nIrish, _Moye-tureadh_!\n\nThe meaning of this compound, beyond the possibility of disputation, is\n_The field of the Towers_! And when in both those places are still traced\nthe ruins of such edifices, are we not inevitably forced to connect, as\nwell their _erection_ as the imposition of the _name_, with the fortunes\nor with the feelings of some side of the above combatants?\n\nYou will say, then, that the _Fir-Bolgs_ were as likely to have originated\nthe name, and built those structures upon the site, in _reliance_ upon\n_their_ divinities, as that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ should have been the\nauthors in _gratitude to theirs_?\n\nOur only mode, therefore, is to consider the vestiges of their respective\nreligions: and when we perceive that in the isles of Aran, whither the\nFir-Bolgs betook themselves after their _first_ defeat, for the period\nintervening between those two battles, commemorated by the above name,\nthere appears not a _vestige_ of architectural masonry approaching in\ncharacter to a _Columnar temple_, while, on the contrary, they abound in\nspecimens of _Druidical_ veneration, is it not evident that they, at all\nevents, have no claim thereto?\n\nThe worship, therefore, of the Fir-Bolgs differed altogether from that of\nthe Tuath-de-danaans, and so _they_ are excluded from those immortal\nmemorials. Indeed the avidity with which they hailed the approach of a new\nconqueror, and tendered him their assistance for the reduction of the\nisland, arose not so much from any fondly-cherished hope of their being\nthemselves restored to the throne they had lost, or even allowed therein a\nparticipation, as from an illiberal aversion to the emblematic ritual of\ntheir temple-serving superiors, which their ignorant prejudices could not\nallow them to appreciate!\n\nWe are warranted, then, I presume, in assigning solely to the\nTuath-de-danaans the affixing of the name _Moy-tureadh_ to those _two\nscenes of their success_. And did there even a _doubt_ remain on the mind\nof the most incredulous as to the accuracy of the inference, or the\ncorrectness of that reasoning, which would identify this people with the\nerections _in general_ of those rotundities, it will hide its diminished\nhead, and vanish with self-abasement, when I bring forward the testimony\nof Amergin, brother to Heremon and, Heber,--the immediate victors of this\nreligious order--in the following graphic and pictorial treasure, as still\nreligiously preserved in the Book of Leccan, viz.:--\n\n  \u201cAonoch righ Teambrach\n  Teamor _Tur Tuatach_\n  Tuath Mac Miledh\n  Miledh Long Libearne.\u201d\n\nThat is--\n\n  Noble is the King of Teamor,\n  Teamor the _Tuathan Tower_,\n  Tuaths were the sons of Miledh,\n  Miledh of the Libearn vessels.\n\nHere, then,--_a circumstance which I cannot imagine how it could have\nescaped all before me!_--we have this disputed question at length settled,\nand incontrovertibly adjudicated by the very head of _that body_ which\nMontmorency had assured us never alluded to those edifices as a subject of\nnational boast--I mean the _Bards_. For, whether we admit this Amergin to\nhave been the person above described,[438] the actual contemporary and\nsuccessor of the Tuatha-de-danaans, or as the other of that name who\nbelongs to the Christian age, and the time of St. Patrick, the supposition\nis equally valid, to prove the existence of those structures anterior to\n_their_ respective eras! and the ascription in either case remains\nunshaken and irrefragable, which in the word _Tuathan Tower_ unites the\n_Tower_ erectors with the colony of the _Tuatha_!\n\nMy opponents may now demolish, if they can, all my foregoing deductions,\nas speedily as they please,--nay, did the destructiveness of fire, or\nother untoward accident, deprive me of the deductions of my preceding\nlabours, to _this one stanza_ would I cling, as the palladium of my truth;\nto this landmark would I adhere as my \u201cne plus ultra\u201d against error, in\nits encroachments upon history![439]\n\nIn the whole catalogue of Irish deposits, there exists not one of more\nintrinsic value to the lover of antiquities, so far as the right\nsettlement of history is concerned, than what those four lines present.\nFor, in the first place, we learn that the celebrity of Teamor[440] arose\nnot from any gorgeous suit of palaces of a castellated outline. Its renown\nconsisted in being the central convention for religious celebration to all\nthe distant provincials once in every year; who, after attending the games\nin the adjoining district of _Tailtine_, now Telltown, adjourned, for\nlegislative deliberations, to the Hill of Tarah, where they propounded\ntheir plans, not within the confined enclosures of any measured dome, but\nunder the open canopy of the expanded firmament.\n\nTeamor, then, was not a palace at all, but one of the Round Towers, or\nBudhist Temples, belonging to the Tuath-de-danaans; and this is further\nproved by the result of researches, made to explore the foundation of an\nedifice, confirmatory of a regal mansion, having all ended in the most\nconfuting disappointment--no vestiges could be found save those of the\nRound Tower!\n\nThe importance which attaches to the _Tailtine_ games above noticed, makes\nit necessary that I should bestow upon them something more than a cursory\nglance. Let me, therefore, first state what other writers have said\nrespecting them.\n\n\u201cWe attribute,\u201d says Abb\u00e9 Mac Geoghegan, \u201cto Lugha Lamh Fada, one of their\nancient kings, the institution of military exercises at Tailton in Meath;\nthose exercises consisted in wrestling, the combats of gladiators,\ntournaments, races on foot and on horseback, as we have seen them\ninstituted at Rome a long time after by Romulus, in honour of Mars, which\nwere called \u2018Equitia.\u2019 These games at Tailton, which Gratianus Lucius and\nO\u2019Flaherty call \u2018ludi Taltini,\u2019 were celebrated every year, during thirty\ndays, that is, fifteen days before, and fifteen days after, the first of\nour month of August. On that account, the first of August has been, and is\nstill called in Ireland, \u2018Lah Lugh-Nasa,\u2019 which signifies a day in memory\nof Lugha. These olympiads always continued amongst the Milesians until the\narrival of the English. We discover to this day some vestiges of them,\nwithout any other change than that of time and place. Wrestling, which we\ncall in France \u2018le tour du Breton,\u2019 the exercises of gladiators, and races\non foot, are still on festival days their common diversion in various\ndistricts of Ireland, and the conquerors generally receive a prize.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Tailtean_,\u201d says Seward, \u201ca place in the county of Meath, where the\nDruids sacrificed in honour of the _sun_ and _moon_, and _heaven_ and\n_earth_, on the first of August, being the fifth revolution of the moon\nfrom the vernal equinox. At this time the states assembled, and young\npeople were given in marriage, according to the custom of the eastern\nnations. Games were also instituted, resembling the Olympic games of the\nGreeks, and held fifteen days before and fifteen days after the first of\nAugust. This festival was frequently denominated Lughaid Naoislean, or the\nMatrimonial Assembly.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis chapter,\u201d says Vallancey, \u201cmight have been lengthened many pages,\nwith the description and etymology of the various ornaments of female\ndress, but enough has been said to convince the reader that the ancient\nIrish brought with them the Asiatic dress and ornaments of their\nancestors, for they could not have borrowed these names of Spaniards,\nBritons, Danes, or Norwegians.\n\n\u201cThus dressed and ornamented, the youthful females of Ireland appeared at\n_Tailetan_, or the mysteries of the sun, on the first day of August in\neach year, when the ceremony of the marriage of the sun and moon took\nplace, and the females were exposed to enamour the swains. The day still\nretains the name of _Luc-nasa_, or the Anniversary of the Sun. And the\nname of the month of August, in Sanscrit, is Lukie, whom they make the\nwife of Veeshnu, the preserver and goddess of plenty. So the Irish poets\nhave made this festival, named Lucaid-lamh-fada, _i.e._ the Festival of\nLove, the consecration of hands, to be the feast of Luigh-lamh-fada, or\nLuigh-longumans, to whom they have given Tailte for wife, who, after his\ndeath, was married to Duach.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Taltenean sports,\u201d says Sir James Ware, \u201chave been much celebrated by\nthe Irish historians. They were a sort of warlike exercises, something\nresembling the Olympic games, consisting of racing, tilts, tournaments,\nor something like them, and other exercises. They were held every year at\nTalten, a mountain in Meath, for fifteen days before and fifteen days\nafter the first of August. Their first institution is ascribed to\nLugaid-lam-fadhe, the twelfth King of Ireland, who began his reign A.M.\n2764, in gratitude to the memory of Tailte, the daughter of Magh Mor, a\nprince of some part of Spain, who, having been married to Eochaid, King of\nIreland, took this Lugaidh under her protection, and had the care of his\neducation in his minority. From this lady both the sports and the place\nwhere they were celebrated took their names. From King Lugaidh the first\nof August was called Lugnasa, or the memory of Lugaidh, nasa signifying\nmemory in Irish.\u201d\n\nThe truth is, that those games were called _Tailtine_ (whence the English\n_Tilts_), and the place _Tailton_, from _Tailte, which, in our language,\nsignifies a wife_; and the sports, there exhibited, made but a\nrepresentation of the victory which Budha gained over _Mara_, the great\ntempter, who had attacked him on the day of his attaining to perfection,\nwith an innumerable host of demons. The conflict is said to have lasted\nfor fifteen days, at the end of which Budha reduced them to submission,\nand to the acknowledgment of his pretensions as the Son of God.\n\nThe _battle-scenes_, therefore, with which the _Tuath_-de-danaan crosses\nand obelisks are decorated, bear reference, all of them, to this religious\nachievement: and to this hour you will find those identical games\ncelebrated in various parts of the east, and for the same number of days!\nIn Egypt, also, there was a place called Tailtal,[441] and named from the\nsame cause. Nay, the name of the Eleusinian mysteries was _Tailtine_! but\nthis the Greeks not comprehending, they bent it, as usual, to some\nconformity to their own language, and made _Teletai_ of it! and then they\nwere at no loss in making a _reason_ for it in like manner, namely, that\nno one could be _finished_ until _initiated_ therein!\n\nBut it is not alone as assigning those edifices to their real proprietors\nthat this \u201cstanza\u201d is of value; but as giving us an insight into that\nmysterious personage whom our modern chroniclers would fain represent as\nthe father of Heber and Heremon. A greater error, whether voluntary or\naccidental, was never incurred. Heber and Heremon were the sons of\nGallamh, and invaded this island at the head of a Scythian colony,[442]\ndistinct in all respects, save that of language,[443] from their Tuathan\npredecessors.\n\nThese predecessors were headed by three brothers, Brien, Iuchordba, and\nIuchor, the sons of King Miledh, a Fo-morian, by a queen of the\nTuath-de-danaan race, agreeably to this record in the Book of Leccan,\nviz.:--\n\n\u201cD\u2019Hine fine _Fo-mora_ dosomh de shaorbh a athor, agus do _Tuathabh\nDadanann_ a mhathar\u201d--that is, the father was of the race of the\nFo-morians, and the mother a Tuath-de-danaan.\n\nAgain, in the Seabright Collection, this genealogy is prosecuted further,\nand from it, General Vallancey translates some lines, which are by no\nmeans irrelevant, as follows, viz.: \u201cCuill, Ceacht, and Grian, were the\nchildren of little Touraine--and their descendants, Uar, Jurca, Jurcatha;\nand from Uar was descended _Brian_, who was named Touran; and many others\nnot here enumerated.\u201d\n\nBut the history of those events having been destroyed by time, the\ndegenerate _Pheeleas_, wishing to flatter the vanity of the existing\npowers, did not hesitate to ascribe to the _Scythian_, or _modern_ Irish,\nfollowers of Heber and Heremon, those brilliant features of primeval\nimmortality which appertained exclusively to the Irish of another day--the\nHyperborean or Iranian Irish!\n\nThe Tuath-de-danaans having been proved the authors of the Round Towers,\nmy ambition in the investigation is already attained. But since we are\ntold, that this people had claimed possession of the island as inheritors\nof an antecedent and preoccupying eastern colony, it may be worth while to\ninquire whether we can discover any traces to connect those predecessors\nwith any of these edifices. Without bestowing upon it, however, more\nconsideration than what the exigency demands, I will briefly observe, that\nwe are likely to find such in the history of the _Fo-moraice_, who are\nrepresented in our chronicles, _by the party who had ejected them_, under\nthe obnoxious character of _monsters_ and _giants_.[444]\n\nIt is high time to give up those abuses in the import of words.\n_Fo-moraic_ means literally the mariners of _Fo_, that is, of _Budh_: and\ntheir _religion_ being thus identified with that of the\n_Tuath-de-danaans_, what could be more natural than that they should have\nerected _temples_ of the same shape with theirs?\n\nThis deduction will appear the more credible from the unanimity of all our\nhistorians, on the subject of this people having been perfect masters of\n_masonry_, as well as from the universally credited report in the days of\nCambrensis, of some of the Towers being then visible beneath the\ninundation of Lough Neagh.[445]\n\nI confess I am one of those persons who give faith to this tradition; for\neven my experience of the vicissitudes of all things earthly has enabled\nme to say, in the words of the philosophic poet, that--\n\n  \u201cWhere once was solid land seas have I seen,\n  And solid land where once deep seas have been,\n  Shells far from seas, like quarries in the ground,\n  As anchors have in mountain tops been found.\n  Torrents have made a valley of a plain,\n  High hills by floods transported to the main,\n  Deep standing lakes sucked dry by thirsty sand,\n  And on late thirsty earth now lakes do stand.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\n\nHaving promised early in this volume to identify our island with the\nInsula Hyperboreorum of antiquity, I shall, without further tarrying,\nproduce the extract referred to, from Diodorus; and, lest I may be\nsuspected of adapting it to my own peculiar views, it shall appear\nminutely in Mr. Booth\u2019s translation, viz.:--\n\n\u201cAmongst them that have written old stories much like fables, Hecat\u00e6us and\nsome others say, that there is an island in the ocean, over against Gaul,\nas big as Sicily, under the arctic pole, where the Hyperboreans inhabit,\nso called because they lie beyond the breezes of the north wind. That the\nsoil here is very rich and very fruitful, and the climate temperate,\ninsomuch as there are two crops in the year.\n\n\u201cThey say that Latona was born here, and therefore that they worship\nApollo above all other gods; and because they are daily singing songs in\npraise of this god, and ascribing to him the highest honours, they say\nthat these inhabitants demean themselves as if they were Apollo\u2019s priests,\nwho has here a stately grove and renowned temple of round form, beautified\nwith many rich gifts. That there is a city likewise consecrated to this\ngod, whose citizens are most of them harpers, who, playing on the harp,\nchant sacred hymns to Apollo in the temple, setting forth his glorious\nacts. The Hyperboreans use their own natural language, but, of _long_ and\nancient time, have had a special kindness for the Grecians; and more\nespecially for the Athenians and them of Delos; and that some of the\nGrecians passed over to the Hyperboreans, and left behind them divers\npresents[446] inscribed with Greek characters; and that Abaris formerly\ntravelled thence into Greece, and renewed the ancient league of friendship\nwith the Delians.\n\n\u201cThey say, moreover, that the moon in this island seems as if it were near\nto the earth, and represents, on the face of it, excrescences like spots\non the earth; and that Apollo once in nineteen years comes into the\nisland; in which space of time the stars perform their courses and return\nto the same point; and therefore the Greeks call the revolution of\nnineteen years the Great Year. At this time of his appearance they say\nthat he plays upon the harp, and sings and dances all the night, from the\nvernal equinox[447] to the rising of the Pleiades,[448] solacing himself\nwith the praises of his own successful adventures. The sovereignty of this\ncity and the care of the temple, they say, belong to the Boreades, the\nposterity of Boreas, who hold the principality by descent in the direct\nline from that ancestor.\u201d\n\nWhen copying this narrative from the writings of Hecat\u00e6us, it is evident\nthat Diodorus did not believe one single syllable it contained. He looked\nupon it as a romance; and so far was he from identifying it with any\nactual locality, that he threw over the whole an air of burlesque. We are,\ntherefore, not at all obliged for the services he has rendered--yet shall\nwe make his labours subservient to the elucidation of truth. Little did he\ndream that Ireland, which he, by and by, expressly mentions by the name of\nIrin, and which he calumniates as cannibal, was one and the same with that\nisle of which he read such encomiums in the writings of former\nantiquaries; and, most unquestionably, it did require no small portion of\nresearch to reconcile the contradiction which the outline involves, and\nwhich is now further enhanced by his scepticism.\n\nUnable to solve this difficulty, Mr. Dalton--wishing to retain, by all\nmeans, the _Hyperborean isle_, which, indeed, he could not well discard,\nyet not bring it in collision with the _Iranian libel_--does not hesitate\nto throw at once overboard into the depth of the Atlantic the island of\nIrin (alias _Ireland_), and affirm that it never was the place which the\nhistorian had specified. \u201cIt is not quite certain,\u201d says he, \u201cwhat place\nDiodorus means by Iris;[449] from the turn of the expression it would\n_rather appear to be a part of Britain_,--perhaps the Erne, for which Mr.\nJames M\u2019Pherson contends in another place,--while the island which\nDiodorus does mention in the remarkable pages cited above, and which so\ncompletely agrees with Ireland, is never called Iris by him, nor does the\nname occur again in all his work, nor is it by any other author applied to\nIreland.\u201d[450]\n\nMind, now, reader, how easily I reconcile the conflicting fact of\nDiodorus\u2019s incredulity with his positive defamation.\n\nAt the period when he flourished as an accredited historian, the occupancy\nof Ireland had passed into new hands. The Scythians were the persons then\npossessed of the soil; and they being a warlike tribe, averse to letters,\nto religion, and to refinement,[451]--but overwhelming in\nnumbers,--obliterated every vestige of that primeval renown in which the\nisland had once gloried, and which afforded theme and material to the\nlearned of all countries for eulogy and praise.\n\nHecat\u00e6us was one of those who depicted in glowing colours the primitive\nsplendour and the ethereal happiness of Ireland\u2019s first inhabitants. He\nbelonged to an age which was well called antiquarian, even in the day in\nwhich Diodorus wrote, viz. B.C. 44; and when, therefore, this latter,\nlooking over the pages of his venerable predecessor, saw them so replete\nwith incidents,--at variance with our condition in his own degenerate\nday,--he did not only not dream of considering Ireland as the place\ndescribed, but looked upon the whole story as the fiction of a dotard.\n\nLet us, however, despite of Diodorus, establish the veracity of the\nantiquarian Hecat\u00e6us. Then behold the situation of this island, just\nopposite to France,--in size as large as Sicily,--at once corresponding to\nthe locality and size of Ireland, and subversive of the claims of those\nwho would fain make England, Anglesea, or one of the Hebrides, the island\nspecified.\n\nConsidering further the prolificacy of its soil, and with that compare\nwhat the old poet has affirmed,--and what we know to be true,--of our own\ncountry, viz.:--\n\n  \u201cIllic bis niveum tondetur vellus in anno\n  Bisque die referunt ubera tenta greges.\u201d\n\nThen bring its propinquity to the \u201carctic pole,\u201d and the high northern\nlatitude which Strabo[452] and other ancients have assigned to Ireland,\ninto juxtaposition with \u201cHyperborean,\u201d the name given to its inhabitants\nfrom the very circumstance of their lying so far to the north, and the\nidentity of the isle with that in which each true Irishman exults is\ninfallibly complete when I quote from Marcianus Heracleotes--who wrote in\nthe third century, and who, as he himself avows, only drew up a compendium\nfrom the voluminous works of Artemidorus, who flourished in the hundred\nand sixty-ninth Olympiad, or 104 years before Christ--the following\ndescription of this sacred island, viz. \u201cIuvernia, a British isle, is\nbounded on the north (ad Boream) by the ocean called the Hyperborean; but\non the east by the ocean which is called the Hibernian; on the south by\nthe Virginian ocean. It has sixteen nations and eleven illustrious cities,\nfifteen remarkable rivers, five remarkable promontories, and six\nremarkable islands.\u201d\n\nHere the sea, encompassing Ireland on the north, is called the Hyperborean\nOcean;[453] and when we are told that the priests officiating at the round\ntemples of Apollo were called Boreades, we can readily understand the\norigin of the name, as derived from _Boreas_, the deity who presided over\nthe north-east wind, to which they offered their vows,--just as we find\nthe Emperor Augustus erecting a temple at Rome, many centuries after, to\nthe wind called Circius.\n\nTo this deification of the energies of nature, which, as before affirmed,\nwas but part and parcel of that form of worship called Sabaism, the author\nof the Book of Enoch has alluded in the following mysterious episode:--\n\n\u201cThen another angel, who proceeded with me, spoke to me; and showed me the\nfirst and last secrets in heaven above, and in the depths of the earth: in\nthe extremities of heaven, and in the foundations of it, and in the\nreceptacle of the winds. _He showed me_ how their Spirits were divided;\nhow they were balanced; and how both the springs and the winds were\nnumbered according to the force of the Spirit. _He showed me_ the power of\nthe moon\u2019s light, that its power is a just one; as well as the divisions\nof the stars, according to their respective names; _that_ every division\nis divided; that the lightning flashes; that _their Host_ immediately\nobey; and that a cessation takes place during thunder, in the continuance\nof its sound. Nor are the thunder and the lightning separated; neither do\nboth of them move with one Spirit; yet are they not separated. For when\nthe lightning lightens, the thunder sounds, and the Spirit, at a proper\nperiod, pauses, making an equal division between them; for the receptacle\nof their times is what sand is. Each of them at a proper season is\nrestrained with a bridle, and turned by the power of the Spirit; which\nthus propels them according to the spacious extent of the earth.\u201d\n\nYet beautiful as is the above, it is not much more so than an almost\ninspired little poem, which appeared some time ago, in one of the public\nprints, as emanating from the pen of an American lady, named Goold,\npersonifying this element, viz.:--\n\n  \u201cWe come! we come! and ye feel our might,\n  As we\u2019re hastening on in our boundless flight;\n  And over the mountains and over the deep,\n  Our broad invisible pinions sweep.\n  Like the Spirit of Liberty, wild and free!\n  And ye look on our works, and own \u2019tis we;\n  Ye call us the _winds_; but can ye tell\n  Whither we go, or where we dwell?\n\n  Ye mark as we vary our forms of power,\n  And fell the forest or fan the flower,\n  When the hare-bell moves, and the rush is bent,\n  When the tower\u2019s o\u2019erthrown and the oak is rent,\n  As we waft the bark o\u2019er the slumbering wave,\n  Or hurry its crew to a watery grave:\n  And ye say it is we! but can ye trace\n  The wandering _winds_ to their secret place?\n\n  And whether our breath be loud and high,\n  Or come in a soft and balmy sigh,\n  Our threat\u2019nings fill the soul with fear,\n  As our gentle whisperings woo the ear\n  With music a\u00ebrial, still \u2019tis we,\n  And ye list, and ye look; but what do ye see?\n  Can ye hush one sound of our voice to peace,\n  Or waken one note when our numbers cease?\n\n  Our dwelling is in th\u2019 Almighty\u2019s hand,\n  We come and we go at His command;\n  Though joy or sorrow may mark our track,\n  His will is our guide, and we look not back;\n  And if, in our wrath, ye would turn us away,\n  Or win us in gentlest air to play,\n  Then lift up your hearts to Him who binds,\n  Or frees, as He will, the obedient _winds_!\u201d\n\nAnd now, as to those \u201ctemples\u201d themselves, \u201cof round form,\u201d sacred to\nApollo, where will Borlasse in his championship for England, or Rowland in\nhis claims for the island of Anglesea, or Toland and Carte for the little\nHebrides isles, find a single vestige of a _rotund edifice_ of antiquated\nconsecration, appertaining to the age which Hecat\u00e6us described?--whereas,\nin Ireland, of the two hundred and upwards, with which its surface was, at\none time, adorned, we have not only _vestiges_ of each and all to this\nday; but, out of the sixty that _survive_,--after an interval of more than\nthree thousand years standing,--about twenty still display their Grynean\ndevotion and their Hyperborean tranquillity, and are likely so to do for\nthree thousand years more, should this world, or our portion of it, but\nlast so long!\n\nTo give soul to the solemnisation of this religious pomp, the Irish have\never cultivated the mysteries of music. The harp more particularly had\nenlisted the energies of their devotional regard, and their eminence in\nits management made Hecat\u00e6us well observe, that \u201cthe inhabitants were\nalmost exclusively harpers.\u201d This was a very suitable accompaniment to\ntheir worship of Apollo, who was himself the reputed inventor of this\ninstrument; and accordingly we find that, even in the twelfth century,\nbroken down and obliterated as every vestige of the _real Irish_ then was,\nby the ungenial amalgamation of the Scythian and Danish intruders, the\n_harp_ was still preserved as the last remnant of their glory; while the\nelegance of their compositions and performance upon it extorted this\nreluctant acknowledgment from the prejudiced Cambrensis:--\n\n\u201cThe attention,\u201d says he, \u201cof this people to musical instruments, I find\nworthy of commendation; their skill in which is, _beyond comparison,\nsuperior_ to that of _any nation_ I have seen. For in these the modulation\nis not slow and solemn, as in the instruments of Britain, to which we are\naccustomed, but the sounds are rapid and precipitate, yet, at the same\ntime sweet and pleasing. It is wonderful how, in such precipitate rapidity\nof the fingers, the musical proportions are observed, and, by their art,\nfaultless throughout.\n\n\u201cIn the midst of their complicated modulations and most intricate\narrangement of notes, by a rapidity so sweet, a regularity so irregular, a\nconcord so discordant, the melody is rendered harmonious and perfect,\nwhether the cords of the diatesseron or diapente are struck together. Yet\nthey always begin in a soft mood, and end in the same, that all may be\nperfected in the sweetness of delicious sounds. They enter on, and again\nleave, their modulations with so much subtlety, and the tricklings of the\nsmall notes sport with so much freedom under the deep note of the bass;\nthey delight with so much delicacy, and soothe so softly, that the\nexcellency of their art seems to be in concealing it.\u201d[454]\n\nClarsech and Cruit were both names which the Irish gave their harp, from\nthe musical board and the warbling of the strings respectively. But the\nfavourite designation was that of Orphean, an evident derivation from\nOrpheus, the divine musician of the ancients, who is said to have stayed\nthe course of rivers, and lulled the listening woods,--to have moved the\nstones into prescribed positions, and tamed the savage propensities of\nman--all by the instrumentality of his speaking lyre!\n\n\u201cAs regards Orpheus himself,\u201d says the learned Barker, \u201che is stated by\nsome ancient authorities to have abstained from eating of flesh, and to\nhave had an abhorrence of eggs, considered as food, from a persuasion that\nthe egg was the principle of all being. Many other accounts are given of\nhim, which would seem to assimilate his character to that of the ancient\npriests of India, or Brachmani. The ancients, however, unable to discover\nany mode by which he could have obtained his knowledge from any other\nsource, pretended that he had visited Egypt, and had there been initiated\nin the mysteries of Isis and Osiris. This appears, however, to be a\nsupposition purely gratuitous on the part of the ancient writers, since a\ncareful examination of the subject leads directly to the belief that\nOrpheus was of Indian origin; that he was a member of one of those\n_Sacerdotal Colonies, which professed the religion of Buddha_; and who\nbeing driven from their home, in the northern parts of India, and in the\nplains of Tartary, by the power of the rival sect of Brahma, moved\ngradually onwards to the west, dispensing, in their progress, the benefits\nof civilisation and the _mysterious tenets of their peculiar faith_.\u201d\n\nWe know little or nothing at this remote day of the ancient music of the\nBardic order; that it was eminent, however, and transcendently superior to\nthat of all other countries, is evident from the fact of its having\nmaintained its character when all our other attributes had notoriously\nvanished. Caradoc admits that his countrymen, the Welsh, borrowed all\ntheir instruments, tunes, airs, and measures, from our favoured island.\nCarr additionally says, that \u201calthough the Welsh have been for ages\ncelebrated for the boldness and sweetness of their music, yet it appears\nthat they were much indebted to the superior musical talents of their\nneighbours, the Irish.\u201d Selden asserts \u201cthat the Welsh music, for the most\npart, came out of Ireland with Gruffydh ap Tenan, Prince of North Wales,\nwho was cotemporary with King Stephen.\u201d I know not whether our brethren of\nScotland will be so ready to acknowledge the loan. But if anyone will\ncompare the spirit of their music with that which pervades the melodies of\nour country, the identity will be as obvious as the inference is\nirresistible.\n\nFuller, in his account of the Crusade, conducted by Godfrey of Boulogne,\nsays, \u201cYea, we might well think that all the concerts of Christendom in\nthis war would have made no music if the _Irish harp_ had been wanting.\u201d\n\nAnd _this_ is the instrument which Ledwich asserts we borrowed from the\nOstmen! Insolent presumption! Neither Ostman nor Dane ever laid eyes upon\nsuch, until they saw it in the _sunny_ valleys of the Emerald Island. And\nhad they the shadow of a claim either to it or to the Round Towers, to\nwhich its services were consecrated, Cambrensis could not fail\nascertaining the fact from any of the stragglers of those uncouth\nmarauders, who--having survived the carnage inflicted upon their army, in\nthe plains of Clontarf, under the retributive auspices of the immortal\nBrien--were allowed to cultivate their mercantile avocations in the\nvarious maritime cities, where they would naturally be proud to perpetuate\nevery iota of demonstrative civilisation which they could pretend to have\nimported. Alas! they _imparted_ none, but _exported_ a great deal; and,\nwhat is more to be lamented, annihilated its evidences!\n\nBut it is not alone of the _property_ of this national organ that the\n_moderns_ would deprive us, but the very _existence_ of the instrument\nthey affirm to be of recent date! Why, sir, it is as old as the hills.\nOpen the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis, and you will find it there\nrecorded that \u201cJubal was the father of all such as handle the _harp_ and\norgan.\u201d\n\nAnd now to the empirics of the \u201cFine Arts,\u201d[455] and the deniers of their\nantiquity, I shall quote the next verse, namely, \u201cZillah, she also bare a\nson, Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.\u201d[456]\nAnd in Job xxviii. 2 it is said that \u201ciron is taken out of the earth, and\nbrass is molten out of the stone.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the _north of Europe_,\u201d says Herodotus, \u201cthere appears to be by far\nthe greatest abundance of gold; where it is found I cannot say, except\nthat _the Arimaspians, a race of men having only one eye_, are said to\npurloin it from the griffins.[457] I do not, however, believe that there\nexists any race of men born with only one eye!\u201d\n\nHad this esteemed author known the allegorical import of the word\nArimaspians (from _arima_, one, and _spia_, an eye), such as it has been\nexplained at page 86, he would not have committed himself by the\nobservation with which the above extract has terminated. No doubt he\nthought it extremely _philosophical_, because it is _sceptical_! but let\nus see if another instance of his _scepticism_ will redound more to his\n_philosophy_:--\u201cI cannot help laughing,\u201d says he elsewhere, \u201cat those who\npretend that the ocean flows round our continent: no proof can be given of\nit.... I believe that Homer had taken what he believes about the ocean\nfrom a work of antiquity, but it was without comprehending anything of the\nmatter, repeating what he had read, without well understanding what he had\nread!\u201d[458]\n\nNow, without disputing with Siberia the honour of possessing all this\n_ancient_ gold, I will take the liberty of inserting an extract from one\nof Mr. Hamilton\u2019s letters on the Antrim coast, which will show, at all\nevents, the antiquity of our mining.\n\n\u201cAbout the year 1770,\u201d says he, \u201cthe miners, in pushing forward an adit\ntoward the bed of coal, at an unexplored part of the Ballycastle cliff,\nunexpectedly broke through the rock into a narrow passage, so much\ncontracted and choked up with various drippings and deposits on its sides\nand bottom, as rendered it impossible for any of the workmen to force\nthrough, that they might examine it farther. Two lads were, therefore,\nmade to creep in with candles, for the purpose of exploring this\nsubterranean avenue. They accordingly pressed forward for a considerable\ntime, with much labour and difficulty, and at length entered into an\nextensive labyrinth, branching off into numerous apartments, in the mazes\nand windings of which they were completely bewildered and lost. After\nvarious vain attempts to return, their lights were extinguished, their\nvoices became hoarse, and exhausted with frequent shouting; and, at\nlength, wearied and spiritless, they sat down together, in utter despair\nof an escape from this miserable dungeon. In the meanwhile, the workmen in\nthe adit became alarmed for their safety, fresh hands were incessantly\nemployed, and, in the course of twenty-four hours, the passage was so\nopened as to admit some of the most active among the miners; but the\nsituation of the two unhappy prisoners, who had sat down together in a\nvery distant chamber of the cavern, prevented them from hearing altogether\nthe noise and shouts of their friends, who thus laboured to assist them.\n\n\u201cFortunately, it occurred to one of the lads (after his voice had become\nhoarse with shouting), that the noise of miners\u2019 hammers was often heard\nat considerable distances through the coal works; in consequence of this\nreflection, he took up a stone, which he frequently struck against the\nsides of the cavern; the noise of this was at length heard by the workmen,\nwho, in their turn, adopted a similar artifice; by this means each party\nwas conducted towards the other, and the unfortunate adventurers\nextricated time enough to behold the sun risen in full splendour, which\nthey had left the morning before just beginning to tinge the eastern\nhorizon. On examining this subterranean wonder, it was found to be a\ncomplete gallery, which had been driven forward many hundred yards to the\nbed of coal: that it branched off into numerous chambers, where miners had\ncarried on their different works: that these chambers were dressed in a\nworkmanlike manner: that pillars were left at proper intervals to support\nthe roof. In short, it was found to be an extensive mine, wrought by a set\nof people at least as expert in the business as the present generation.\nSome remains of the tools, and even of the baskets used in the works, were\ndiscovered, but in such a decayed state, that on being touched, they\nimmediately crumbled to pieces. From the remains which were found, there\nis reason to believe that the people who wrought these collieries\nanciently, were acquainted with the use of iron, some small pieces of\nwhich were found; it appeared as if some of their instruments had been\nthinly shod with that metal.\u201d\n\nThere is no question but that the era when those collieries were before\nworked, was that in which the Tuath-de-danaans were masters of this\nisland. _Had it been at any later period, we could not fail having some\ntraditions relating thereto._ Iron, therefore, the last discovered of the\nmetals, as stated at page 115, must have been known to this people: and\nthe absence of any name for it in our vernacular language is accounted for\non the same principle as that by which those excavations themselves had\nbeen so long concealed, namely, the distaste of their successors to such\napplications, or the reluctance entertained to make them acquainted with\ntheir worth.\n\nIt is probable, however, that the little minikin fineries of life were not\nthen in fashion--that our loaves were not baked in tin shapes, as at\npresent, nor our carriages constructed in so many different varieties of\nform, excluding altogether those worked by steam; that our gunlocks were\nnot prepared with percussion caps, nor our sofas furnished with air-blown\ncushions; that the routine of etiquette was differently negotiated, and\nthat twenty, or more, several hands were not employed in the finish of a\ncommon pin, before it could be dignified with the honour of acting a\nuseful part in adjusting the habiliments of a modern dandy:--but in all\nthe grand essentials of life--in all its solid refinements and elegant\nutilities,--the scholar will confess that those who have gone before us\nhave been fully our equals; and traces, too, are not wanting to\ncountenance the belief that even those knick-knack frivolities on which we\nso pique ourselves in the present day, have not been at some period\nwithout a prototype,--so that the majority of those boasted patents for\nwhat are considered _discoveries_ or inventions of something new, should\nmore properly be for _recoveries_, or unfoldings of something old, and\nillustrative of the adage, as remarkable as it is correct, \u201cthat there is\nnothing new under the sun.\u201d[459]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\n\nYou ask me for the proofs of this early grandeur? I point you to the gold\ncrowns, the gold and silver ingots, the double-headed pater\u00e6 or censers,\nthe anklets, lunettes, bracelets, fibul\u00e6, necklaces, etc., which have been\nrepeatedly found throughout all parts of Ireland, evidently the relics of\nthat \u201cSacred\u201d colony who gave their name to this island, and who, to the\nrefined _taste_ which such possessions imply, united also the science\nwhich appears in their workmanship.[460]\n\nBut these are scanty and insufficient memorials? Pray, what greater can\nyou produce of ancient Egypt? Her Pyramids? Our Round Towers are as _old_;\nare likely to be as _permanent_; and are really more _beautiful_. What are\nthe vestiges of ancient Etruria? of Assyria? Troy? Chaldea? nay, of\nBabylon the Great, the queen of the world? A few consolidations of stone\nand mortar--disjointed rubbish--and incrusted pottery. All these _we_\nretain, in addition to the thousand other evidences which crowd upon the\nhistorian. And, while Britain can adduce no single vestige of the\nRomans--who subjugated that country at their highest period of\ncivilisation--but what, in the words of my adversaries themselves, are\n\u201conly monuments of barbarism,\u201d I answer--_no wonder_--for the Romans were\nnever to be compared to the Iranian Budhists, who brought all the\nsplendour of the East to the concentrated locality of this Hyperborean\nIsland.\n\n\u201cInfant colonies, forsooth, do not carry a knowledge of the \u2018Fine Arts\u2019\nalong with them; they are only to be found where wealth, luxury, and power\nhave fixed their abode.\u201d[461] Most sapient remark! but unluckily out of\nplace; for the authors of our Round Towers were not \u201can infant colony\u201d at\nall; but the very _heads_ and _principals_ of the most polished and\nrefined people on the bosom of the habitable earth--the Budhists of Iran.\nAnd, accordingly, in their train not only did \u201cwealth, luxury, and power\u201d\nabound, but they seemed _exclusively_ to have taken up their abode amongst\nthem.[462]\n\nAnalogous to the above was the rhodomontade of another pillar of the same\norder. \u201cI, nevertheless,\u201d says Montmorency, \u201cam disinclined to believe\nthat those same persons, had they to choose a residence between Syria and\nIreland, would have taken the _wintry_ and _uncultivated wilds_ of\n_Fidh-Inis_, in preference to the sunny plains which gave them\nbirth.\u201d[463]\n\nIn both those cases, of which the former is but the _echo_, in all\nopinions, of the latter, our eastern extraction is only objected to,\n_considered as Ph\u0153nician_; and there, I admit that the Colonel and his\npupil may get an easy triumph over their adversaries. For had the\n_Ph\u0153nicians_ been the erectors of those Round Towers, _what was to prevent\ntheir raising similar structures in Cornwall_? where it is indisputable\nthat they had trafficked for tin. In Spain we are certain that they had\nestablished _a home_; and _why does this appear as free from every\nevidence of columnar architecture as does the former place_? The same may\nbe said of other countries whither this people resorted, Citium, Crete,\nCadiz, and all the islands in the Mediterranean. _In no one of them is\nthere to be found a single edifice approaching, either in design or form,\nthe idea of a Round Tower!_[464]\n\nThe Ph\u0153nicians, therefore, can have no pretensions to the honour of those\nmemorials; nor, indeed, can their connection with Ireland be at all\nrecognised, further than that, as having been, at one time, masters of the\nsea, _it is merely possible_ that the Tuath-de-danaans may have availed\nthemselves of their geographical information, and even consigned\nthemselves to their pilotage for a secure retreat, aloof from the\npersecution of intolerance.\n\nBut as we see from the stanza quoted at page 396, that the\nTuath-de-danaans were themselves possessed of a navy; and as it is\nindisputable that, long before the Ph\u0153nicians, the dynasty of the Persians\nhad swept the ocean in its widest breadth, there is no need for our giving\nthe Ph\u0153nicians credit even _for this service_, which it now appears could\nbe dispensed with.\n\nAn effort, however, has been advanced to identify their language with\nours, by the analysis of the fragment of a speech which occurs in one of\nthe plays of Plautus.[465] The idea was ingenious, but totally unfounded.\n_Affinity_, undoubtedly, there does appear,--as there does between all the\nancient languages,--but nothing like _identity_; and the very circumstance\nof its having a _distinct_ denomination assigned to it in Ireland, viz.\n_Bearla-na-Fene_, or dialect of the Ph\u0153nicians (who traded here, it is\nadmitted), proves it to be different from our _local_ phraseology--the\nIranian _Pahlavi_, the polished elocution of the Tuath-de-danaans.\n\nThe Ph\u0153nicians, besides being a mercantile people, never had any monuments\nof literary value, whereas the Irish are known to have abounded in such\nfrom the earliest era.[466]\n\nIt is true that we have been denied the possession of alphabetic\ncharacters before the time of St. Patrick: but by whom? By Bolandus; on a\nfalse deduction from the writings of Ward, Colgan, Nennius, etc., who\nstate that this apostle was the first who gave the \u201cabjectoria,\u201d or\nalphabet to our nation. Who says otherwise? But what alphabet was here\nmeant? The Latin, certainly, and no other. Until then the Irish were\nstrangers to the _Roman_ letters;[467] but that they were not to _written\ncharacters_, or the _cultivation of them in every variety of literature_,\nis evident from the very fact of St. Patrick himself having committed to\nthe flames no less than one hundred and eighty volumes of our ancient\ntheology;[468] as well as from the recorded instance of his disciple,\nBenignus,--his successor also in the See of Armagh,--having, according to\nWard, written a work on the virtues of the Saint, half Latin and half\nIrish, and which Jocelyne afterwards availed himself of, when more fully\ndetailing his biography.\n\nIt has been the custom in all ages with those who would pass as the\nluminaries of their respective generations, to maintain that _letters_ and\ntheir application were but a _recent_ discovery! Their antiquity, however,\nis an historical fact, than which there can be no other better\nauthenticated. The Bible makes frequent allusion to the cultivation of\nalphabetic cyphers--thus in Ex. xxiv. 4, it is said, \u201cAnd Moses _wrote_\nall the words of the Lord\u201d; and in Josh. xxiv. 26, \u201cAnd Joshua _wrote_\nthese words in the book of the law of God.\u201d\n\nNor is it only to the _elementary_ part of literature, but to the very\nhighest and noblest department of literary research that we find the\nancients had arrived. In the history of Job, an acquaintance with\nastronomy is quite apparent. The names of Arcturus, Orion, and the\nPleiades,[469] are distinctly notified in that elaborate composition.[470]\nCould this have been without the aid of written characters? Could the\nabstruse calculations involved in that pursuit be possibly carried on\nwithout an intimate knowledge of notation and of numbers? Or, if superior\nmemory may effect it in a few cases, without such characters or legible\nmarks, how could the _results_ arrived at, and the steps by which they had\nbeen attained, be for any length of time preserved, and their value handed\ndown to successive experimentalists, unless by the instrumentality of\nexpressive signs?\n\nWe find, accordingly, in the same treatise,[471] the art of writing\nexpressly named: Thus, \u201cOh that my words were now written! oh that they\nwere printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in\nthe rock for ever!\u201d And that it was of long-continued usage is evident\nfrom a preceding chapter,[472] where it is said, \u201c_Enquire_, I pray thee,\nof the _former age_, and prepare thyself for the _search_ of their\nfathers!\u201d\n\nThe alphabet which we had here, before the Roman abjectorium, is still\npreserved, and called _Beth-luis-nion_,[473] from the names of its first\nthree letters, just as the English is denominated _A B C_, from a similar\ncause, and the Greek _Alpha-bet_ from a like consideration.\n\n                        Irish.            Latin.          English.\n\n   1   B   [Letter]     Beithe,         Betulla,          Birch.\n   2   L   [Letter]     Luis,           Ornus,            Wild ash.\n   3   N   [Letter]     Nion,           Fraxinus,         Ash.\n   4   S   [Letter]     Suil,           Salix,            Willow.\n   5   F   [Letter]     Fearn,          Alnus,            Alder.\n   6   H   [Letter]     Huath,          Oxiacanthus,      White thorn.\n   7   D   [Letter]     Duir,           Ilex,             Oak\n   8   T   [Letter]     Timne,          Genist. Spin.     Furze.\n   9   C   [Letter]     Coll,           Corylus,          Hazel.\n  10   M   [Letter]     Muin,           Vitis,            Vine.\n  11   G   [Letter]     Gort,           Hedera,           Ivy.\n  12   P   [Letter]     Peth-bhog       Beite, or B mollified,\n  13   R   [Letter]     Ruis,           Sambucus,         Elder.\n  14   A   [Letter]     Ailm,           Abies,            Fir tree.\n  15   O   [Letter]     Onn,            Genista,          Broom.\n  16   U   [Letter]     Ur,             Erix, or Erica,   Heath.\n  17   E   [Letter]     Eghadh,         Tremula,          Aspen.\n  18   I   [Letter]     Iodha,          Taxus,            Yew.\n\nThis, you perceive, _falls short, by eight letters, of the number of the\nLatin cyphers_, which could not have occurred if borrowed from that\npeople, and will therefore _stand_, independently and everlastingly, a\nself-evident proof of the reverse.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt is well known, that long prior to the arrival of Cadmus the Greeks were\nin possession of alphabetic writing.[474] Diodorus states so, but adds\nthat a _deluge_ had swept all away. One thousand five hundred and fifty\nbefore the era we count by, is agreed upon as the year in which Cadmus\nvisited Greece; and you have the authority of Pausanias, that he himself\nhad read an inscription upon a monument at Megara, the date of which was\n1678 before our epoch, that is, one hundred and twenty-eight years before\nCadmus\u2019s time.\n\nBesides those ordinary letters of the _Beth-luis-nion_, the Irish made use\nof various other _occult_ and secret forms of writing, which they called\n_ogham_,[475] and of which I insert some specimens.\n\nAmong these you perceive the _arrow-headed figures_ whereof I have already\nadvertised you; and the _mysterious import_ of which reminded the\n_initiated_ of the _solemn purchase of salvation by the cross_.\n\nThese are all peculiar and totally separate from any Ph\u0153nician alliance.\nInstead, therefore, of my being _adverse_ to the _moderns_ as to the\nPh\u0153nician _bubble_, I am their _auxiliary_. But, Mr. Montmorency, are\nthere not other places in the East besides Ph\u0153nicia? And may not a people\nleave the \u201csunny plains that gave them birth,\u201d from other motives than\nthose of \u201cchoice\u201d? And may not \u201cFidh Inis,\u201d instead of being a name of\nreproach, such as you affected, by associating it with \u201cwintry and\nuncultivated wilds,\u201d be one of distinction and of renown? And though to\nyou its _authors_, as well as the _mystery of its import_, were an\n_impenetrable_ secret, may it not, notwithstanding _what you see verified_\nnow, be made one of the engines exercised in the recovery of truth, to\nprove the splendour and the refinement of our venerable ancestors?\n\nIt is to be hoped, therefore, that after this explanation, we shall hear\nno more sarcasms upon this _favoured_ spot. Nor would the anticipation be\ntoo great, that the whole _infidel_ host, with the gallant colonel himself\nat their head, _becoming_ alive to the injustice of their former\ndisbelief, would now slacken their virulence, and if they will not _join_\nin the acclamations of regenerated history, at least decently _withdraw_,\nand let the lovers of truth, in security and happiness, celebrate its\ntriumph.\n\n\u201cThe appellation of Britain,\u201d says another _goodly_ (?) champion of this\n_order_, \u201chas been tortured for ages by the antiquarians, in order to\nforce a confession of origin and import for it. And erudition, running\nwild in the mazes of folly, has eagerly deduced it from every word of a\nsimilar sound, almost in every known language of the globe. But the Celtic\nis obviously the only one that can lay any competent claim to it--and the\nmeaning of it may as easily be ascertained as its origin.\u201d--And so,\naccordingly, he proceeds to show, that \u201cBreatin, Brydain, or Britain,\u201d is\nderived from a \u201cCeltic word,\u201d which signifies \u201cseparation or\ndivision!\u201d[476]\n\nIt is more than probable that I should have left Mr. Whittaker to his\nvagaries, or rather his _clerical_ recreations, if he had not been\npropelled by his all-illuminating reforms, to glance a ray upon us, here,\nacross St. George\u2019s Channel.--\u201cThis,\u201d says he, \u201chas _equally_ given\ndenomination to the _tribes_ of _Ireland_, the nations of Caledonia, and\ntwo or three islands on our coasts!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe original world is still retained in the Welch, Britain; and the\nIrish, Breact,--anything divided or striped; in the Irish Bricth, a\nfraction; the Irish Brisead, a rupture; and the Welch brig, a breach. And\nit was equally pronounced Brict, or Brit (as the Icitus of C\u00e6sar, or the\nItium of Strabo), Bris and Brig; and appears with this variety of\nterminations, in the usual appellation of the islanders, Britanni, in the\npresent denomination of the Armorican Britons, and their language, Brez\nand Brezonic, and in the name of Brigantes. Brit is enlarged into Briton,\nor Brit-an in the plural, and Britan-ec in the relative adjective. And so\nforms the appellation Britones, Britani, and Britanici; as Brig is either\nchanged into Briges, in the plural, and makes Allobroges, or Allo-broges,\nthe name of a tribe on the continent, and of all the Belg\u00e6 in the island,\nis altered into Brigan and Brigants, and forms the denomination of\nBrigantes.\u201d And again, \u201cthe original word appears to have been equally\npronounced Brict, Brits, and Bricth, Breact, Breac, and Brig; and appears\nto be derived from the Gallic Bresche, a rupture, the Irish Bris, to\nbreak, and Brisead, a breach. And the word occurs with all this variety of\ntermination in the Irish Breattain or Breatin, Bretam, and in Breathnach,\nBriotnach, and Breagnach, a Briton; in the Armorican names of Breton,\nBreiz, and Brezonnec, for an individual, the country, and the language of\nArmorica; in the Welch Brython and Brythoneg, the Britons and their\nlanguage; and in the ancient synonymous appellations of Brigantes and\nBritanni.\u201d\n\nDoubtless the reader has been highly edified by this Britannic\ndissertation! He is, I am sure, as thorough master of the subject, now, as\nMr. Whittaker himself!--can tell how many fractures, cross-lines, and\ndiagonals have been made upon _Britain_ ever since Noah\u2019s _flood_! And as\nhe cannot fail, in consequence, being in love with the Reverend Author, I\nwill indulge his fondness by another _spark_ of enlightenment.\n\n\u201cAt this period,\u201d he resumes (three hundred years before Christ), \u201cmany of\nthe natives relinquishing their ancient seats to the Belg\u00e6, found all the\ncentral and northern parts of England already occupied, and transported\nthemselves into _the uninhabited isle_ of Ireland!\u201d\n\nI will now be understood as to the promise made some while ago,[477] in\nreference to a definition for the word _modern_. A _modern_ then, be it\nknown, _is a philosopher_ (?), who fancies that _until three hundred years\nbefore Christ, the whole world was in darkness! physical as well as\nmetaphysical! that it was even in a great measure uninhabited! by other\nthan the brute creation!--but that suddenly when ever any mighty feat was\nto be achieved_ (in other words, whenever a modern theory was to be\nbolstered up) _innumerable myrmidons armed cap-\u00e0-pi\u00e9! full accoutred,\nbooted and spurred! used to gush forth from some obscure corner of the\nearth!_ A miracle of production, to which even _Cadmus\u2019s soldiers_ can\nbear no parallel; for while the latter are located to a particular\n_place_, and stated to have been generated by regular _seed_, even though\nthat was nothing more than a _tooth_ of a _dragon_,[478] the former burst\nforward, nobody knows _whence_, nor will their _machiners_ condescend to\ntell even so much as what may have been the _elements_ of their\ncomposition!\n\nTo whom, however, is Mr. Whittaker beholden for this intellectual idea?\nVerily, to a half-senseless poor friar,[479] a few centuries deceased, who\nwas no more competent--and no blame to him from his resources--to analyse\nthis question, than he was to stop the revolutions of the celestial orbs!\n\nYet _jejune_ and abortive as were Cirencester\u2019s cerebral conceptions, he\nwas not less dogmatic in the utterance of them than was his imitator. \u201c_It\nis most certain_,\u201d says he, \u201cthat the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes, Cangi,\nand other nations, were descended from the Britons, and passed over\nthither after Divitiacus, or Claudius, or Ostorius, or other victorious\ngenerals had invaded their original countries. Lastly, the ancient\nlanguage, which resembles the old British and Gallic tongues, affords\nanother argument, as is well known to persons skilled in both languages.\u201d\n\nNow, by what authority, may I ask, is all this \u201cmost certain?\u201d And by\nauthority I do not mean any quotation from previous historians. That I\nwaive, and should not here require it, if either _proof_ or _probability_\nwere tendered of the _occurrence_. But as none such is vouchsafed--as all\nis mere _assertion_--and as I can _prove the exact contrary to have been\nthe actual fact_, is not _dogmatism_ too _mild_ a name to apply to the\n_scribbler_ who _propounds_ such nonsense? And is not _servility_ too\n_dignified_ an epithet to brand upon the _copyist_, who takes such _ipse\ndixit_ evidence upon so intricate a proposition as gospel truth? and that\ntoo when he must have absolute _demonstration_, and canvas every other\nstatement, emanating from that fraternity, with _the very eye of a\nLynceus_!\n\nIn the first place, then, the name _Damnii_ (to begin with the beginning)\nis but a monkish Latinisation for _Danaans_; and _these I have established\nto have been_ an eastern race, totally and universally distinct from\nBritain, until upon their overthrow in Ireland they fled for shelter to\nScotland, whither on their way some straggling parties, reduced and\nhumiliated, took up their residence in the northern parts of England;\nwhere, accordingly, to this hour we find evidences of their worship, such\nas sculptured _crosses_,[480] and other _emblematic devices_, but _never a\nRound Tower_, their impoverished circumstances not being now adequate to\nsuch an expense.\n\nThe Brigantes, again, is another Latin metamorphosis for the inhabitants\nof _Breo-cean_, in Spain, where the Ph\u0153nicians had fixed a colony, and\nwhence they doubtless had brought some portion with them to work the mines\nat Cornwall. This _Breo-cean_ the Romans, in conformity with the genius of\ntheir language, changed into _Bri_-gantia, which, however, was a very\nallowable commutation, the letters _c_ and _g_ being always convertible,\nand _tia_ nothing more than an ordinary termination.\n\nSeneca well knew that the _Brigantes_ thus imported were a very different\nextraction from the native _Britons_.\n\n  \u201cIlli _Britannos_ ultra noti littora ponti,\n  Et c\u0153ruleos _Scuto-Brigantes_ dare Romuleis,\u201d\n\nsays he, in his satirical invective upon the death of Claudius. Here, you\nwill observe, that the _Britons_ and the _Brigantes_ are _opposed to one\nanother_, and marked out as _distinct_ races. And to specify still further\nthe origin of the Brigantes is the epithet _Scuto_[481] prefixed thereto,\nfrom _Scuitte_, the ancient mode of spelling _Scythia_.\n\nThose Scoto-Brigantes were the persons who, having been driven from Spain\nby the conquests of Sesostris, poured in with multitudinous inundation\nupon the quietude of our _Tuath-de-danaans_, and wrested from them an\nisland which, during their blissful reign, had eclipsed in sanctity even\ntheir _former_ Iran.[482]\n\nThe language which they spoke differed in nothing from the\nTuath-de-danaan, but that it was not quite so refined; and this feature of\nsimilarity silences at once the _conjectures_ of _Stillingfleet_, Innes,\nand their followers, who would make those _Scythians_ to be\n_Scandinavians_, merely because the letter S occurs as the _initial_ and\n_final_ of either name!\n\nWhy, sir, when the _Scandinavians_ did _really_ invade Ireland, which was\nnot until the early centuries of the Christian era, the great obstruction\nto their progress was their _ignorance_ of our tongue; whereas, when the\n_Scythians_ arrived here, many ages earlier, our legends, our traditions,\nour histories, and our annals, _unanimously_ and _universally_ attest,\nthat they used the same conversable articulation with that of the\nestablished dynasty.[483]\n\nWhere is the wonder, then, that we should find all the ancient names in\nthe north of England, correspond to a nicety with those of the Irish? And\nwhich made Lhuydh, the author of the _Arch\u00e6ologia_, himself an Englishman,\ndeclare, \u201c_how necessary the Irish language is to those who shall\nundertake to write of the antiquity of the isle of Britain_.\u201d\n\nBut if Lhuydh was thus _candid_ in the avowal of his conviction, he was\nnot equally _successful_ in the discovery of the relationship. From want\nof the true _touchstone_, he went on _hypothesising_! and came at last to\nthe _supposition_--\u201cthat the Irish must at one time have been in\npossession of those English localities, and thence removed themselves into\nIreland\u201d--_the exact opposite having been the fact_.\n\nTo atone for my long digression from Mr. Whittaker, and his _breakages_, I\nwill supply to you the derivations, as well of Britain as of Brigantia.\nThe former is compounded of _Bruit_, _tin_; and _tan_, a country abounding\nin that metal, and corresponding to _Cassiteris_, assigned to it by the\nGreeks: and Brigantia, as before explained, being but a formative from\nBreo-cean, is compounded of _Breo_, which signifies fire; and _cean_, a\nhead or promontory, meaning the _head-land of fires_; or that whereon such\nused to have been lighted for the convenience of mariners lying out at\nsea.[484]\n\nNeither the Scythians, therefore, nor the Celts, had connection\nwhatsoever, either of them, with the once-envied celebrity of this\n\u201cisland.\u201d[485] The latter were the persons who, under the name of\nFir-Bolgs, erected all the cromleachs spread over the country, the\naccomplishment of which bespeaks, it is true, an acquaintance with\n_mechanics_, of which the present artisans are altogether ignorant. And as\nthe original of their denomination has never been elucidated, I embrace\nthis opportunity of supplying the omission. It comes from _bolog_, which,\nin the Irish language signifies a _paunch_; and _fir_, a _man_; so that\nFir-Bolg means the _big-bellied man_, being an evident allusion to their\nbodily configuration: and to this day Bolcaig is the epithet applied,\nvernacularly, to individuals of large girth or corpulent robustness,\nexactly corresponding to what we are told by C\u00e6sar, when describing the\ntripartite division of Gaul, viz. that the Belg\u00e6, who, in fact, were of\nthe same stock as our Fir-Bolgs, were the _stoutest bodied_, and the\n_bravest otherwise_ of all its inhabitants.\n\nThe Scythian religion, which was Druidical, accorded with that of the\nFir-Bolgs, which was Celtic--not less as to modes of worship, than in\nmutual aversion to that of the Iranians; and, accordingly, we find, that\nwhen both conspired for the recovery of this country from the Iranians,\nwho had themselves wrested it from the Fir-Bolgs, antecedently, these\nlatter branching out into the septs of Cauci and Menapii, corresponding\nto the kindred and cognominal tribes on the continent; and who, during the\noccupancy of the Iranians--the interval of Ireland\u2019s Hyperborean\nrenown--had retired to Arran[486] and the northern isles, were restored to\na partnership in the possession of the island, in return for the\nassistance they lent the Scythians for its conquest: and this accounts for\nthat diversity of races which Ptolemy records, but which antiquarian\nluminaries, unable to comprehend, took upon them to reject as altogether a\nchimera.\n\nAs to the Iranians, the real Hibernians--the true Hyperborean\nTuath-de-danaans, or Magic-god Almoners--they were hurled from the throne,\ntheir sanctified ceremonials trampled in the dust, their sacred harps,\nwhich before used to swell to the praises of their Divinity, were now\ndesecrated for the inspiration of the Scythian warriors; and their divine\n_Boreades_, who ere now composed canticles in adoration of Apollo, were\ndegraded to the secular and half-military occupation of Scythian _bards_.\n\nThe name of the island itself, from \u201cIrin,\u201d or the \u201cSacred island,\u201d was\nchanged into Scuitte, that is, Scotia or Scythia, or the land of the\n_Scythians_. Nor was it until the eleventh century of the present era,\nthat, _to remove the ambiguity which arose from the circumstance of there\nbeing another country also called by this name_, Ireland assumed its\nformer name, Irin, as its people did Irenses, instead of Scoti.[487]\n\nYet in the general transmutation which so great a revolution bespeaks, we\nbehold the strictest regard paid to the literary fame and the mental\nacquirements of those sages who had been ejected. They were retained as\nthe _instructors_ of the new establishment; and their refined precepts\ntending gradually to soften the warlike propensities of this ferocious\ngroup, the amalgamation became so complete, and the aristocracy of\nintellect so recognised, that when religious dissensions were all\ncancelled in the grave, many of them were able to trace their steps\nbackwards to the forfeited monarchy.\n\nOf this number was Connachar-mor-mac-Nessan, that is, Connor\nthe-great-son-of-Nessan, styled indifferently _Feidlimidh_ and _Ollamh\nFodlah_, i.e. the _erudite man_ (the _Budhist_) and the _Doctor of\nBudland_; and Brien, who ascended the Irish throne, A.D. 1014; and who,\nafter a succession of two thousand two hundred years, was the lineal\ndescendant of Brien, head of the Tuath-de-danaans; and this very\nextraction, in the confusion of the names, was the circumstance which\noccasioned the popular belief, not yet exploded, of his having been the\nfounder, by magic creation, in one single night, of those Round Towers of\nhis inheritance! The mistake, however, is of value, as it is a collateral\nevidence that those edifices have been attributed to their real authors;\nand the anachronism will be excused, seeing that there is nothing more\ncommon than to assign to one Hercules the exploits of another.\n\nOthers of this colony, who could not brook the yoke, betook themselves on\ntheir downfall to Scotland, and built there the two round temples of\nBrechin and Abernethy, besides others that have disappeared; from thence,\nhowever, they were again dislodged by the barbarous Picts, and obliged to\nfly for shelter to the Highland fastnesses. These are they whom Macculloch\nand others have misrepresented as Celts. During their sway in that\ncountry, they called it also by the name of Iran or Eran, as the Scotch\nlanguage is, to this day, called Irish, or Erse. The name of Scoitte,\n_i.e._ Scotia, was given it afterwards by the Picts, in compliment to\n_this_ island, which had furnished them with wives, and otherwise joined\ntheir fraternity.[488]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n\n\n\u201cThe Scoto-Milesians,\u201d says Dr. Hales,[489] \u201creckon twenty-three\ngenerations from Feni an fear soid, \u2018the Ph\u0153nician wise man,\u2019 their\nancestor, to Heber and Heremon, who established the last settlement from\nSpain, as observed before; which, at the usual computation of three mean\ngenerations to a century, would give 766 years from Fenius to Heber. But\nwe learn from Coemhain, that the sons of _Milesius_ (this should have been\n_Gallamh_)[490] were coeval with Solomon, and that the Gadelians[491] came\nto Ireland in the middle of the reign of this illustrious prince,\u201d B.C.\n1002, according to the Irish chronology. Counting backwards, therefore,\nfrom this date, 766 years, we get the time of Fenius about B.C. 1768. And\nthis agrees with sacred and profane history; for Joshua, whose\nadministration began B.C. 1688, according to Hales\u2019s _Chronology_, notices\n\u201cthe strong city of Tyre\u201d (Josh. xix. 29); which maintained its\nindependence even in David\u2019s days (2 Sam. xxiv. 7); and in Solomon\u2019s (1\nKings ix. 11-14). And Herodotus, that inquisitive traveller and\nintelligent historian, who visited Tyre about B.C. 448, saw there the\ntemple of the Thasian Hercules; and another erected to him by the\nPh\u0153nicians at Thasus itself, an island on the coast of Thrace, while they\nwere engaged in search of Europa, the daughter of Agenor, King of Tyre,\nwho had been carried off by some Greeks; an event, says Herodotus, which\nhappened five generations before the Grecian Hercules, the son of\nAmphitryon, B. ii. sec. 44; who flourished about 900 years before he\nwrote, sec. 145, or about B.C. 1348, to which adding 166 years for the\nfive generations, we get the rape of Europa about B.C. 1514.\n\n\u201cBut the deification of the Thasian Hercules must have been after his\ndeath, which may make him contemporary with Joshua, or even earlier.\nHerodotus relates that the Tyrians themselves boasted of the remote\nantiquity of their city, founded, as they said, 2300 years before (B. xi.\n44), which would carry it higher than the deluge. The high antiquity,\nhowever, of Sidon and her daughter Tyre, was acknowledged by Xerxes, king\nof Persia, when he invaded Greece, B.C. 480; and in a council of his\nofficers allowed her ambassadors the honour of precedence\u201d (sec. 11).\n\nHe adds: \u201cIn order to determine the cardinal data of ancient Irish\nhistory, it is necessary to premise a synopsis of Coemhain\u2019s System of\nChronology.\n\n                           Y.             B.C.\n\n  Creation                1656            3952\n  Deluge                   292            2296\n  Abraham born             942            2004\n  David, king              473            1062\n  Babylonish Captivity     589             589\n                          ----\n  Christian Era           3952               1\n\n\u201cIn this table, the first column contains the years elapsed between the\nsucceeding events: thus, from the creation, 1656 years to the deluge;\nfrom the deluge, 292 years to the birth of Abraham, etc.; and their\namount, 3952 years, gives the basis of the system, or the years elapsed\nfrom the creation to the vulgar Christian era. The second column gives the\ndates of these events before the Christian era.\n\n\u201cDavid began to reign B.C. 1062; from which subducting 60 years for the\namount of his whole reign, 40 years, and 20 years, the half of Solomon\u2019s,\nwe get B.C. 1002, for the date of the expedition of Heber and Heremon to\nIreland.\n\n\u201cThis same number has been noticed by two earlier chronologers, Marcus\nAnchoreta, A.D. 647; and Nennius, A.D. 858; who both date the arrival of\nthe Scoti in Ireland, \u20181002 years after the passage of the Red Sea by the\nIsraelites, in which the Egyptians were drowned\u2019 (O\u2019Connor, _Proleg._ ii.\npp. 15-45). The identity of the number 1002 proves the mistake in the\nreference to the exode of the Israelites, instead of to the Christian era,\nwhich depresses the arrival of the Scoti five centuries too low. For\nCoemhain reckons the exode 502 years after the birth of Abraham, or B.C.\n1502; from which subtracting 1002 years, the arrival of the Scoti would be\nreduced to B.C. 500; or, following Usher\u2019s date of the deluge, B.C. 1491.\nO\u2019Connor reduces it still lower, to B.C. 489 (_Proleg._ ii. p. 45). Upon\nthe superior authority of Coemhain, therefore, as a chronologer, we are\nwarranted to rectify this important error of Nennius and Marcus Anchoreta,\nwhich even Dr. O\u2019Connor has failed to correct; not adverting to the\nforegoing inference from Coemhain. But he has happily furnished himself\nthe materials for proving the error.\n\n\u201cHe states, that one hundred and eighteen kings of the Scoti reigned, till\nthe arrival of St. Patrick, B.C. 489 + A.D. 435 = 921 years in all, which,\ndivided by 118, would give too short an average of reigns, only 7-9/11\nyears a-piece; whereas the true interval, B.C. 1002 + A.D. 432 = 1434\nyears, would give the average of reigns above twelve years a-piece; which\nhe justly represents as the standard, from Patrick to Malachy II., viz.\nforty-eight reigns in 590 years (_Proleg._ ii. p. 45).\u201d[492]\n\nThe date of the Scythian invasion, then, being fixed as B.C. 1002, it is\nagreed on all hands that that of the _Tuath-de-danaans_ was but two\nhundred years anterior, or B.C. 1202;[493] with this _exactly corresponds\nthe time at which Marsden, K\u00e6mpfer, and Loubere date the arrival of the\nBuddists at Siam_, viz. B.C. 1202. Among the Japanese also, they are\nstated by Klaproth to have arrived not very distant from that era, or B.C.\n1029. D\u00e9 Guignes and Remusat suppose 1029 as the epoch at which they\ninvaded China. B.C. 1000 is the epoch assigned by Symes for their descent\nupon the Burman empire; and B.C. 1029 is that fixed by Ozeray for their\nentrance into Ceylon; while the Mogul authors and the Bagwad Amrita (Sir\nW. Jones) recognise their appearance respectively at B.C. 2044 and B.C.\n2099.\n\nNow, the extreme concordance amongst the calculations of those various\ncountries, one with the other, and their almost universal coincidence,\nnay, _in the Siamese authorities_, almost _miraculous identifications,\nwith our Irish registries_, as to the influx, amongst all, of this\nsingular people, and their extraordinary ritual, makes us associate the\nphenomena with one common cause, and that was the _expulsion_ of the\nBudhists from India, the Rajas having proclaimed, at the instigation of\nthe rival Brahmins, that \u201cfrom the bridge of Rama, even to the snow-capped\nHimala, no man should spare the Budhists, young or old, on pain of death\u201d\n(_Guigniaud\u2019s Creuzer_).\n\nAs to the Mogul dates, and those of the Bagwad Amrita, they evidently bear\nreference to former colonies; nor are _we_, in Ireland, without similar\nchronicles of an antecedent arrival, and precisely answering to the time\nof the _first departure_ of the Tuath-de-danaans from the borders of\nPersia.[494]\n\nIt was, indeed, the tradition of this early invasion, long mystified by\nage, that we have seen so perverted at p. 385, for the sole purpose of\neffecting a miracle! Nor is this the only fable that fastens upon that\nnarrative: we have that of Partholan and of Nemedius, and a thousand other\nreminiscences, all directing towards the centre of a common nucleus. The\n_East_ is the point whither they all aim, and the era they assign is\ninvariably that of the _deluge_! Is it not, therefore, inevitable, but\nthat the object recorded is our reception of the Tuath-de-danaans when\nejected by the arms of their Pish-de-danaan rivals?[495]\n\nAmongst the Easterns themselves we find corresponding traditions, wrapt\nup, as usual, in allegory, of this primordial departure. The Phrygians,\nwho were one of the most ancient and considerable nations of Asia Minor,\ncomplain of Apollo having wandered from them, in company with Cybele, to\nthe land of the Hyperboreans.[496] The costume of the archers upon our\nKnockmoy frescoes is strictly Phrygian, and confirms their testimony\nbetter than any written memorial! \u201cHercules,\u201d says Cedrenus, \u201cfirst taught\nphilosophy in the _western_ parts of the world.\u201d This was our Ogham, which\nthe Gauls had borrowed from us, as you will see by note, p. 420. \u201cIn\nEgypt,\u201d says Ausonius, \u201cthey called him Osiris, but in the _island_ of\nOgygia they gave him the name of Bacchus.\u201d If we will remember the form\nunder which _Osiris_ was worshipped, viz. that of our _Round Towers_,[497]\nand then recollect that the name of _Bacchus_ is still found amongst our\nancient inscriptions;[498] and in addition to all these, bear in mind that\nPlutarch[499] expressly designates _the island_, from its extreme\nantiquity, as _Ogygia_, all qualms as to the situation alluded to by\nAusonius must for ever evaporate?\n\nLet us now glance at the institutions of this island, the personal\nappearance of its inhabitants, and their popular customs, as compared with\nancient Persia.\n\nTo begin with the _aspect_, which often proves decisive in more\n_interesting_ applications, I refer you to our real figures at p. 330, as\na fair outline of Irish contour; with this, if you will compare what\nCaptain Head affirms, in reference to the settlers at Bombay, viz. that\n\u201cthe _ancient_ inhabitants of Persia were superior, not inferior, in\nlooks, to the _present_, who belong to a hundred mixed races, which have\npoured upon that kingdom since the overthrow of Yezdijerd,\u201d no disparity\nwill present itself, at least in that quarter.\n\nAs to _institutions_, I will instance that of our ancient clans,[500] and\nplace by them in juxtaposition what Sir John Malcolm delivers on the\nsubject of Persia. \u201cJemsheed\u201d (a prince of the Pish-de-danaan dynasty,\nfounder of Persepolis, called after him, Tucht-e-jemsheed, which, in\nIrish, signifies the Couch-of-Jemsheed) \u201cdivided,\u201d says he, \u201caccording to\nPersian authors, his subjects into four classes. The first was formed of\nlearned and pious men, devoted to the worship of God; and the duty\nascribed to them was to make known to others what was lawful and what\notherwise. The second were writers, whose employment was to keep the\nrecords and accounts of the state. The third soldiers, who were directed\nto occupy themselves in military exercises, that they might be fitted for\nwar. The fourth class were artificers, husbandmen, and tradesmen. The\nauthorities on which we give the history of Jemsheed make no mention of\nMah-abad; but, if we are to give credit to the Dabistan, _the institution\nof Jemsheed can only be deemed a revival of that lawgiver_.\u201d[501]\n\nIn respect to _religion_, Herodotus states that, \u201c_from his own\nknowledge_, the Persians had neither statues, temples, nor altars, but\noffered on the tops of the highest mountains sacrifices to Jove, by which\nthey meant the deity of the air; that they adored the _sun, moon, earth,\nfire, water, and the winds_, but that they sacrificed to these _only from\nof old, according to ancient custom_, and that they gave the preference to\nTrefoil, whereon they laid their offerings.\u201d[502]\n\nNow, two considerations are to be observed, as involved in this last\nquotation: one is, that the historian attributes the usages of this nation\nto two distinct periods of time. From ocular inspection, he avows that\nthey had no _temples, etc., because such were long exploded_. And _he knew\nnot what to make of the Round Towers_. Part, however, of the ceremonial\nappertaining to those edifices still remained, such as the worship of the\nsun, moon, earth, fire, water, and the winds; and \u201cto these,\u201d he frankly\nacknowledges, \u201cthey sacrificed _only from of old_,\u201d or in deference to the\npractice of their predecessors--I will not say forefathers.\n\nContemplate now the reverence shown to the herb _Trefoil_, our _national\nshamrock_, and will you not see another link of that great concatenation\nuniting the two Irans, and triumphing at once over _supposition_ and over\n_scepticism_? I have already deplumed St. Patrick of the _serpent_\nexpulsion; or, rather, I have done honour to his memory, by saving it from\nthe fabrications of _pious_ impostors. I now continue my course of\njustice, by showing that he had as little to do with the veneration paid\nto this plant. It was worshipped in the Emerald Island, and imported, you\nperceive, by the Tuath-de-danaans, centuries upon centuries before the\napostle was born: and the cause of this devotion was, not alone that it\nsymbolised the _Trinity_, which was an article of Budhist doctrine, even\nbefore the incarnation of Christ, but because that it _blended with_ it,\nin mystery as well as in gratitude, the _Alibenistic cross_, the seal of\ntheir redemption, and their passport to eternity! Here then are the\n_shamrocks_, or _Free-masonic devices_, upon the crowns of our _Irish_\nkings explained; and those upon the _Persian_ crowns, by and by to be\ninserted, are similarly expounded![503]\n\nLastly, the _funerals_ of the Persians--after the soul\u2019s liberation from\nits tenement of clay, at the summons of its God--are described by\nHerodotus[504] with so striking a similtude, that you would imagine he had\nwitnessed, and expressly referred to, the like scenes in Ireland.[505]\n\nOh! \u201cif the human mind can ever flatter itself with having been successful\nin discovering the truth, it is when many facts, and these facts of\ndifferent kinds unite in producing the same result.\u201d[506]\n\nIn truth, the island was altogether an _Oriental Asylum_,[507] until, for\na moment broken in upon by the Fir-Bolgs, or Celts. Their usurpation,\nhowever, was only that of a day, amounting, by all records, but to\nfifty-six years;[508] after which, a new army of the Tuath-de-danaans,\ndriven now, not from Persia, but from India, by the Brahmins, laid claim\nto the sceptre to which their brethren had invited them, and reinstated\nthemselves afresh in our kindred Iran.\n\nIt is not, therefore, you perceive, our individual history alone that is\nrectified by this investigation. It supplies a vacuum in the history of\nthe world: which could not be said to have been correct, _so long as there\nwas nothing known on the various topics now explained_.[509]\n\nProfessor M\u00fcller,[510] in a very elaborate treatise upon the _Antiquities\nof the Dorians_, has been pleased to affect astonishment, through one of\nhis notes, that Hecat\u00e6us should have believed in the existence of the\nHyperboreans! It became him, unquestionably, so to do, because that the\nproofs of their existence were beyond his own reach. But though their\n_reality_, as well as _locality_, have been already put beyond\ndisputation, I will, to justify the exclusiveness here proclaimed, enter\nagain upon the subject, and, without following in detail, show, by the\nreverse of his positions, that his whole system of mythology is equally\nerroneous.\n\nIn this determination I will of course be acquitted of any intentional\nslight. Who could read Professor M\u00fcller\u2019s work, and not be struck with the\nlabour and the ingenuity which distinguish its every page? I yield to no\nman in my respect for his abilities, but I weep, from my soul, that his\nclassic care was not bequeathed upon some other subject, rather than be\nsplit upon a rock by an _ignis fatuus_. I never saw such a waste of\nletters as his book exhibits! I never saw such learned research so\nmiserably thrown away! And how could it be otherwise, his great object\nhaving been to make everything square to the reveries of the\nGrecians!--taking them as his clue, into a labyrinth of inextricability,\nthrough one inch of which neither conductor nor traveller could see their\nway!\n\nSweet _pahlavi_ of the Hyperboreans, I will take _you_ as my guide!\n\n            \u201c------Nor be my thoughts\n  Presumptuous counted, if amid the calm\n  That soothes the vernal evening into smiles,\n  I steal impatient, from the sordid haunts\n  Of strife and low ambition, to attend\n  Thy sacred presence, in the sylvan shade,\n  By their malignant footstep ne\u2019er profaned.\u201d--THOMSON.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\n\nBefore we descend to language, I shall collect the historical concordances\nthat bear upon this investigation.\n\nBeo, a poetess of Delphi, mentions in the fragment of a poem, quoted by\nPausanias, that three individuals, sons of Hyperboreans, and named _Olen_,\n_Pagasus_, and _Agyeus_, had founded the oracle of Delphi. Will it be\ncredited that those three names are but representatives of three several\norders of our Irish priests, viz. Ollam, Pagoes, and Aghois?[511]\n\nAt Delos the same tradition is to be encountered, with but a few local\nalterations: such as that of Latona having arrived there from the\nHyperboreans, in the form of a _she-wolf_; Apollo and Diana, with the\nvirgins Arge and Opis, following afterwards. Two other virgins, viz.\nLaodice and Hyperoche, succeeded, and with them five men, who were called\n_peripherees_, or carriers, from their bringing with them offerings of\nfirst-fruits, wrapt in bundles of wheaten straw.\n\nBut is this embassy altogether a fiction? \u201cThere is not a fact in all\nantiquity,\u201d says Carte, \u201cthat made a greater noise in the world, was more\nuniversally known, or better attested by the gravest and most ancient\nauthors among the Greeks, than this of the sacred embassies of the\nHyperboreans to Delos, _in times preceding_, by an _interval of ages_,\nthe voyages of the Carthaginians to the north of the Straits of\nGibraltar.\u201d \u201cNo argument to the contrary,\u201d says M\u00fcller, \u201ccan be drawn from\nits not being mentioned either in the _Iliad_ or _Odyssey_, these poems\nnot affording an opportunity for its introduction: moreover, the\nHyperboreans were spoken of in the poem of the Epigoni, and by Hesiod....\nStephanus quotes here a supposed oracle of a prophetess named _Asteria_,\nthat the inhabitants and priests of Delos came from the Hyperboreans.\u201d So\nthat we are by no means dependent, as implied before, upon Diodorus\nSiculus, for the narrative.\n\nOn this subject Herodotus says that \u201cthe suite of this Hyperborean embassy\nhaving been ill-treated by the Greeks, they took afterwards another method\nof sending their sacred presents to the temples of Apollo and Diana,\ndelivering them to the nation that lay nearest to them on the continent of\nEurope, with a request that they might be forwarded to their next\nneighbour: and thus they were transmitted from one people to another,\nthrough the _western_ regions, till they came to the _Adriatic_, and\nthere, being put into the hands of the Dodoneans, the first of the Greeks\nthat received them, they were conveyed thence by the Melian Bay, Eub\u0153a,\nCarystus, Andras, and Tenos, till at last they arrived at Delos.\u201d\n\nCould he, I ask, more geographically pourtray their route from Ireland?\n\nAlc\u00e6us, in a hymn to Apollo, says that \u201cJupiter adorned the new-born god\nwith a golden fillet and lyre, and sent him in a chariot drawn by swans to\nDelphi, in order to introduce justice and law among the Greeks. Apollo,\nhowever, ordered the swans first to fly to the Hyperboreans. The\nDelphians, missing the god, instituted a p\u00e6an and song, ranged choruses of\nyoung men around the tripod, and invoked him to come from the\nHyperboreans. The god remained an entire year with that nation, and, at\nthe appointed time, when the tripods of Delphi were destined to sound, he\nordered the swans to resume their flight. The return of Apollo takes place\nexactly in the middle of summer; nightingales, swallows, and grasshoppers\nsang in honour of the god; and even Castalia and Cephisus heave their\nwaves to salute him.\u201d\n\nNow Mr. Bryant assures us that--\n\n  \u201cThe Celtic sages a tradition hold,\n  That every drop of amber was a tear\n  Shed by Apollo, _when he fled from heaven_,--\n  _For sorely did he weep_,--and _sorrowing passed\n  Through many a doleful region_, till he reached\n  The sacred Hyperboreans.\u201d[512]\n\nWords could not convey a more direct delineation of the first arrival of\nthe Tuath-de-danaans amongst us, with their mysterious worship, after\ntheir ejectment from _Iran_, their paradise, or earthly _heaven_, for the\nloss of which they \u201csorely wept,\u201d until at length they found a substitute\nin _Irin_. The _lyre_ or _harp_ which they brought with them, and solely\nfor celebrating the praises of Apollo, continues still our national\nemblem; and those swans which are said to have drawn his chariot formed so\nessential a part of our ceremonial, that you shall be presented by and by\nwith one of his magic implements, to which they are still attached, as\nthey are similarly figured upon the painted vases, remaining after our\nallied Etrurians in the south of Italy.\n\nAs to the embassy of Abaris, the direct fact is so completely\nauthenticated by our ancient records, which narrate the circumstance, with\nno view to decide an historical controversy, but with indifference\nthereto, and as in ordinary course,--that it is inevitable but that, when\nthe Greeks say that this philosopher had gone to them from the\n_Hyperboreans_,--and when we produce proofs to show that a man of the\n_same name_ had repaired on the _errand_ alluded to, from _our_ country to\n_Greece_, it is inevitable, I say, but that, when both statements so\nperfectly tally, the island of the _Hyperboreans_ and that of the\n_Hibernians_ must be one and the same.\n\nI shall now subjoin from General Vallancey\u2019s works, as he translates it\nfrom an old Irish poem, the authentic narrative of this our Hyperborean\nembassy.\n\n  \u201cThe purport of the Tuath-de-danaans journey was in quest of knowledge,\n  And to seek a proper place where they should improve in Druidism.\n  These holy men soon sailed to Greece. The sons of Nirned, son of Adhnam,\n  Descendant of Baoth, from B\u0153otia sprung. Thence to the care of skilful\n        pilots,\n  This B\u0153otian clan, like warlike heroes, themselves committed,\n  And after a dangerous voyage, the ships brought them to Loch Luar.\n  Four cities of great fame, which bore great sway,\n  Received our clan, in which they completed their studies.\n  Spotless Taleas, Goreas, majestic Teneas and Mhuiras,\n  For sieges famed, were the names of the four cities.\n  Morfios and Earus-Ard, _Abhras_, and Lemas, well-skilled in magic,\n  Were the names of our Druids; they lived in the reign of Garman the\n        Happy.\n  Morfios was made Fele of Falias, Earus the poet in Gone dwelt,\n  Samias dwelt at Mhurias, but _Abhras_, the Tele-fionn, at Teneas.\u201d\n\nA quarrel, it would seem, ensued between them and the Fir-Bolgs on their\nreturn: and the Seanneachees, in their incapacity to separate any two\nevents of a similar character from each other, confounded the differences\nwhich arose herefrom with the battles fought _six hundred years before_,\nbetween the ancestors of both parties, on the plains of _Moye-tureadh_!\n\nAt page 67 I have stated that this event took place about B.C. 600. And\nthis very circumstance it was--I mean the lateness of the date--which\nrendered the expedition at all needful.\n\nThe Tuath-de-danaans having been for a long time humiliated, and allowed\nbut a mere nominal existence in a remote canton of the realm, their ritual\ngot merged into that of the Druids. A corresponding decay had vitiated\ntheir taste for letters, while the Greeks, in proportion, rose in the\nscale.\n\nPythagoras had by this time returned from his tour to Egypt, and the fame\nof his acquirements had reached the Tuath-de-danaans. Naturally solicitous\nto court the acquaintance of an individual who had derived his information\nfrom the kindred of their ancestors,[513] they had address enough to\nobtain leave from the several States of the kingdom to repair to Greece,\non the alleged plea of returning the visit[514] of the _Argonauts_ to our\nshores many ages previously,[515] but actually with a view to gratify\ntheir predilections by philosophical inquiry.\n\nWhen the _meteors met_, it is difficult now to decide which orb it was\nthat emitted the greater light. But without being too much biassed by the\nlinks of patriotism, I think we may very fairly aver that our countryman\ncommunicated, _depressed even as was his order at that day_, as much\ninformation as he had received.[516]\n\nWho then can any longer doubt but that this was the island of the\nHyperboreans? Even the _peculiarity_ of our language mingles in the chain\nof proof; as Diodorus states that \u201cthe Hyperboreans use _their own_\nnatural tongue.\u201d But were all other arguments wanting, I would undertake\nto prove the identity by an admission from this transcriber himself. \u201cThe\nsovereignty of this city,\u201d says he, \u201cand the care of the temple belong to\nthe _Boreades_.\u201d[517]\n\nNow, nothing ever has puzzled etymologists so much to explore as the\norigin of the Irish term _Bards_.[518] The _guesses_ which they have made\nthereat are so exceedingly amusing, that I will take leave to _refresh_\nmyself, exhausted and languid as I now wellnigh am, with the outline of a\nfew.\n\nFirst, Bochart would derive it from _parat_, to speak!!! Wilford from the\nSanscrit, _varta_!!! But \u201csome learned friends of his are of opinion that\nit comes from _bhardanan_, to burthen!!! because burthened with the\ninternal management of the royal household\u201d!!!\n\nI shall spare my reader any more of those _caricatures_, and submit to his\nown candour to adjudicate whether _Bards_ could, by possibility, be\nanything else than the modern Englification for our ancient _Boreades_?\n\nDoubtless, Professor M\u00fcller, your astonishment has now subsided as to\nHecat\u00e6us\u2019s credulity in the existence of the Hyperboreans. Diodorus\nSiculus, who, though, as Granville Penn has affirmed, he \u201chas transmitted\nto us many _scattered_ and important truths,\u201d yet does the same judicious\ncommentator add, that it was in a condition \u201cintermixed with much idle\nfiction, _equivocation_, and anachronism,\u201d[519] was herein your guide! But\nthe _manes_ of the Hyperboreans now speak from the tomb, and vindicate\ntheir _existence_ as well as their _locality_!\n\nI come now to prove this by another mode.\n\nPlato, in his _Cratylus_, represents Hermogenes as proposing several terms\nto Socrates for solution, when the following acknowledgment transpires:--\n\n\u201cI think,\u201d says the philosopher, \u201cthat the Greeks, especially such of them\nas lived subject to the dominion of foreigners, adopted _many foreign\nwords_; so that, if anyone should endeavour to resolve those words by\nreference to the _Greek language_, or to any other _than that from which\nthe word_ was received, he must needs be involved in error!\u201d\n\nThe _foreign_ extraction, then, of _many_ of the Greek words being\nadmitted, it devolves upon me to establish this extraction to be purely\n_Irish_.\n\nTo begin with Dodona--\u201cIn Eustathius and Steph. Byzantius,\u201d says\nVallancey, \u201cwe meet with three different conjectures in regard to the\nderivation of the name Dodona, which, they say, owes its origin either to\na daughter of Jupiter and Europa, or one of the nymphs, the daughter of\nOceanus; or, lastly, to a river in Epirus, called Dodon. But, as Mr.\nPotter observes, we find the Greek authors all differ, both as to the\netymology of the name and the site of this oracle. In my humble opinion,\nHomer and Hesiod have not only agreed that it was not in Greece, but in\nIreland, or some island, at least, as far westward.\u201d\n\nThe passages to which the General refers in those ancient poets are--\n\n  \u201c\u03a3\u03b5\u03c5 \u03b1\u03bd\u03b1 \u0394\u03c9\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03b5 \u03a0\u03b5\u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03b3\u03b9\u03ba\u03b5 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bb\u03bf\u03b8\u03b9 \u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03c9\u03bd\n  \u0394\u03c9\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b5\u03b4\u03b5\u03c9\u03bd \u03b4\u03c5\u03c3\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5.\u201d[520]\n\nThat is,--\n\n  Pelasgian Jove, who _far from Greece_ resid\u2019st\n  In cold Dodona.\n\n  \u201c\u0394\u03c9\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd \u03a6\u03b7\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5 \u03a0\u03b5\u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03b3\u03c9\u03bd \u03b5\u03b4\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03b7\u03ba\u03b5\u03bd.\u201d[521]\n\nThat is,--\n\n  To Dodona he came, and the hallowed oak, the seat of the Pelasgi.\n\nValuable as are those authorities, the General needed not to have had\nrecourse to them at all, had he but been apprised of the origin of the\nword _Dodona_.\n\nOne of the religious names of Ireland, which I have purposely left\nunexplained till now, was _Totdana_.[522] This it derived immediately from\nthe _Tuath-de-danaans_, as indeed it did all its ancient names, with the\nexception of Scotia. _Tuath-de-danaans_ I have shown to mean the\n_Magic-God-Almoners_,[523] and _Totdana_, by consequence, must denote the\n_Magic-almonry_.[524]\n\nNow, the Greeks, having been initiated in all their religious mystery by\nthe Irish, did not only enrich their language with the vocabulary of our\nceremonial, but adopted the several epithets of our island as the\ndistinctive names for their various localities, so that our\n_Muc-inis_[525] became their _Myc-ene_, our _Tot-dana_, their Do-dona,\netc. etc. And even the names of our lakes, with all their legends of\n_hydras_ and _enchantments_, found their way to them also, so that from\nour Lough-Erne was formed, by a crasis, their L-Erna.\n\nThe change from _Tot-dana_ to _Do-dona_ is much more obvious than may seem\nat first sight. _T_ and _D_ being commutable, _Tot_-dana was at once made\n_Dot_-dana; the intermediate _t_ was then left out for sound\u2019s sake,\nmaking it Do-dana; and, lastly, the penultimate _a_ was transformed into\n_o_ for the \u201core rotundo,\u201d[526] completing the _Grecism_ of Do-dona.\n\nYou see, therefore, from this that the origin of _Dodona_ was exclusively\nIrish! that _Dodona_ and _Ireland_ were, in fact, one and the same!--a\ncircumstance of which Homer was perfectly well assured when he styled it\n\u0394\u03c9\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd\u03b7 \u03b4\u03c5\u03c3\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, or the _Hyperborean Tot-dana_.[527]\n\nNeither was it in _name_ only, but in _sanctity_ also, that the Greek\n_Myc-ene_ strove to imitate our _Muc-inis_. To this hour is to be found\none of the ancient Pelasgian temples, vulgarly termed the _Treasury of\nAtreus_, from the mere circumstance, as Dr. Clarke well remarks, \u201cof there\nbeing found a few _brass nails_ within it, and evidently for the purpose\nof fastening on _something_ wherewith the _interior surface was formerly\nlined_, and that many a long year before Atreus or Agamemnon!\u201d The\nDoctor, however, was perfectly astray in supposing it a _sepulchre_! In\nform it is a hollow cone, fifty feet in diameter, and as many in height,\ncomposed of enormous masses of a very hard _breccia_, a sort of\npudding-stone, the very material whereof most of our Round Towers are\nconstructed, and the property of which is to indurate by time. The _Dune\nof Dornadella_ in Scotland is _identically_ the _same kind of structure_,\nbuilt by our Tuath-de-danaans, and for the solemn purpose of _religion_\nalone. This is so accurately described in an article in the _Edinburgh\nMagazine_, copied into _Pennant\u2019s Tour_, that I too will make free to\ntranscribe it.\n\n\u201cIt is,\u201d says the reviewer, \u201cof a circular form, and now nearly resembling\nthe frustum of a cone: whether, when perfect, it terminated in a point, I\ncannot pretend to guess; but it seems to have been higher, by the rubbish\nwhich lies round it. It is built of stone, without cement, and I take it\nto be between twenty and thirty feet still. The entrance is by a low and\nnarrow door, to pass through which one is obliged to stoop much; but\nperhaps the ground may have been raised since the first erection. When one\nis got in, and placed in the centre, it is open overhead. _All round the\nsides of the walls are ranged stone shelves, one above another, like a\ncircular beaufait, reaching from near the bottom to the top._ The stones\nwhich compose these shelves are supported chiefly by the stones which form\nthe walls, and which project all round, just in that place where the\nshelves are, and in no others; each of the shelves is separated into\nseveral divisions, as in a bookcase. There are some remains of an awkward\nstaircase. _What use the shelves could be applied to I cannot conceive._\nIt could not be of any military use, from its situation at the bottom of\na sloping hill, which wholly commands it. The most learned amongst the\ninhabitants, such as the gentry and clergy, who all speak the _Irish_\nlanguage, could give no information or tradition concerning its use, or\nthe origin of its name.\u201d\n\nNow, our _Round Towers_ have similar _shelves_, or recesses in the wall,\nand \u201creaching, like a circular beaufait, from near the bottom to the top\u201d!\nWherever these do not appear, their place is supplied by _projecting\nstones_, for the evident purpose of acting as supporters.[528] And as the\n_Mycenian_, the _Caledonian_, and the _Hibernian_ edifices thus far\ncorrespond, the only thing that remains is _to explain to what purpose\ncould those recesses_ serve.\n\nI thus solve the question--_They were as so many cupboards for containing\nthe idols of Budha_, as the structures themselves for _temples_ of his\nworship, etc. Nor is this their use yet forgotten, in the buildings of the\nlike description in Upper India, as appears from the following statement\nby Archer. \u201cIn the afternoon,\u201d says he, \u201cI went to look at a _Jain\ntemple_. It was a neat building, with an upper storey. _The idol is\nBoadh._ There is a lattice verandah of brick and mortar round the shrine,\nand there are _small cupboards, in which numerous figures of the idol are\nranged on shelves_.\u201d\n\nArguments crowd upon me to establish these particulars; the only\ndifficulty is in the compression. I shall, however, continue to prove this\nfrom another source, even by showing that when Ezekiel declared, in\nallusion to Tyre, that \u201cthe men of _Dedan_ were thy _merchants_,\u201d[529] he\nmeant the men of _Ireland_.\n\nFirst let me refer you to page 4, by which you will be reminded of our\nancient possession of a _naval equipment_. Secondly, let me quote to you\nan extract from Vallancey, when directing the result to a different\napplication. His words are: \u201cAnother proof of the ancient Irish being\nskilled in the art of navigation, I draw from a fragment of the Brehon\nlaws in my possession, where the payment, or the reward, for the education\nof children, whilst under the care of fosterers, is thus stipulated to be\npaid to the ollamhs, or professors, distinguishing private tuition from\nthat of public schools. The law says: \u2018If youth be instructed in the\nknowledge of cattle, the payment shall be three eneaclann and a seventh;\nif in husbandry and farming, three eneaclann and three-sevenths; if in\nmilrach, _i.e._ _glais-argneadh as tear_, that is, _superior navigation_,\nor the best kind of knowledge, the payment shall be five eneaclann and the\nfifth of an eanmaide; if in _glais-argneadhistein_, that is, second, or\ninferior (branch of) navigation, two eneaclann and a seventh.\u2019 And this\nlaw is ordained because the pupils must have been previously instructed in\n_letters_, which is the lowest education of all.\u201d\n\nThus you see, at all events, that we were _qualified_ for the duties\nrequired. Now, I will _demonstrate_, and that too by the aid, or rather at\nthe expense, of Mons. Heeren, that we were the actual persons pointed to\nby the prophet.\n\n\u201cDeden,\u201d says the professor, \u201cis one of the Bahrein, or rather more\nnortherly one of Cathema. The proofs, which to detail here would be out of\nplace, may be found in Assemani, _Bib. Orient._ tom. ii. par. ii. pp. 160,\n564, 604, and 744. Difficulties arise here, not merely from want of maps,\nbut also from the variation and confusion of names. _Daden_, or _Deden_,\nis also frequently called _Dirin_; and it may be conjectured that from\nhence arose the name of Dehroon, which is given to one of the Bahrein\nislands in the map of Delisle. If that were the case, then Dedan would not\nbe Cathema, as Assemani asserts, but the island mentioned above; and this\nis rendered probable by the _resemblance of names, which is a certain\nguide_.\u201d\n\nIf the \u201c_resemblance_ of names\u201d be \u201ca certain guide,\u201d _identity_ of names\nmust be still more certain; and then must my _proofs_ already prevail, and\nthe professor\u2019s _conjectures_ fall to the ground! Surely he cannot say\nthat there is any even resemblance between _D-Irin_ and _Dehroon_! But he\nadmits that the place alluded to is called indifferently _Dedan_[530] and\n_D-Irin_; and have I not shown that each of those names, identical and\nunadulterated, belonged _properly_ to Ireland? Ireland, therefore, _alone_\ncan be the country alluded to by the inspired penman.\n\nIn denying, however, a _Dodona_ to the Greeks, and an oracle also, General\nVallancey was quite incorrect. What he should have maintained was, that\nboth _name_ and _oracle_ had their _prototypes_ in Ireland; but that, so\nremote was the date at which the transfer occurred, all insight into the\nmysteries had long since perished.\n\nIndeed, their priests very frankly acknowledged the fact to Herodotus,\nwhen, in his thirst for information, he waited upon them at Dodona. \u201cWe do\nnot,\u201d said they, \u201cknow even the _names_ of the deities to whom we make our\nofferings--we distinguish them, it is true, by titles and designations;\nbut these are all adventitious and modern in comparison of the worship,\nwhich is of great antiquity.\u201d Upon which the historian very truly\nconcludes, \u201cthat their _nature_ and _origin had been always a secret_; and\nthat even the Pelasgi, who first introduced them and their rites, had been\nequally unacquainted with their history.\u201d\n\nLike a true Greek, however, he must set about _coining_ an origin for\nthem; and so he tells us _a cock-and-a-bull_ story of two _pigeons_\n(Peleiai) having taken flight from Thebes in Upper Egypt, and never\nstopped until they perched, one upon the top of Dodona, and the other God\nknows where; and then he flatters himself he has the allegory solved, by\n_imagining_ that those _pigeons_ were _priestesses_, or _old women_,\ncarried off by Ph\u0153nician pirates, and sold into the land of Greece!\n\nIn this he has been followed by thousands of imitators, and quoted\nmiraculously at all the public schools. Nay, his disciples would fain even\n_improve_ upon the _thing_; and Servius has gone so far as to say that the\n_old woman\u2019s_ name was _Pelias_!\n\nNow, here is the whole mystery unravelled for you.\n\nWhen the Greeks established an oracle of _their_ Dodona, subordinate to\nour master one, they adopted, at the same time, one of the orders of our\npriesthood. This was that of the _Pheeleas_, the meaning of which being to\nthem an enigma, they _bent it_, as usual, to some similar sound in their\nown language.[531] This was that of _Peleiai_, in the accusative\n_Peleias_, which, in the dialect of Attica, signifies _pigeons_, and in\nthat of Epirus, _old women_; and so the whole metamorphosis was forthwith\nadjusted!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cThe very extraordinary piece of antiquity, represented in the annexed\nwoodcut, was found,\u201d says Mr. Petrie, \u201cin a bog at Ballymoney, county of\nAntrim, and exhibited to the Royal Irish Academy, by the Lord Bishop of\nDown, in March 1829. Its material is that description of _bronze_ of which\nall the ancient Irish weapons, etc., are composed, and its actual size is\nfour times that of the representation. It is a tube, divided by joints at\nA and B into three parts, which, on separating, were found to contain\nbrass wire, in a zigzag form, a piece of which is represented in _Fig._ G.\nThis wire appears to have been originally elastic, but when found was in a\nstate of considerable decomposition. At E and F are two holes, about\none-eighth of an inch in diameter, and seem intended for rivets or pins to\nhold the instrument together. The birds move on loose pins, which pass\nthrough the tube, and on the other end are rings. The material and style\nof workmanship of this singular instrument leaves no doubt of its high\nantiquity. But we _confess ourselves totally unable to form even a\nrational conjecture as to its probable use_, and should feel obliged to\nany antiquary who would throw light upon it.\u201d[532]\n\nHad the antiquarian _high-priest_ to this _magnanimous_ assemblage been\nequally modest in former cases, and courted _instruction_, instead of\nerecting _himself_ into a _Pheelea_, he would not cut the figure which he\nnow does. Ignorance is no fault: it is only its vagaries that are so\nridiculous!\n\nHowever, he has said--I beg pardon, he is in the _plural_ number--well,\nthen, _they_ have said, that they would feel obliged to any _antiquary_\nwho would throw light upon the subject.\n\nTo be sure, I am no _antiquary_. The Royal Irish Academy have made _that_\nas clear as the sun at noonday. Nay, they have even strove to make their\n_brethren_ at this side of the water to think so also! But their brethren\nat this side of the water are too _honest_ a people, and too _noble_ in\ntheir purpose, to make history a trade, and to stifle _truth_ at the\nunhallowed dictates of interest or partiality.\n\nNo matter; I will tell all what this piece of antiquity was. _It was the\nactual instrument through which the oracle of Dodona was announced!_ You\nsee upon it the _swans_ by which Apollo was brought to the Hyperboreans!\nThe _bulbul of Iran_ also attends in the train; and the affinity of this\nlatter bird to the species of _pigeons_, convinced the Greeks that they\nhad really hit off the interpretation of the word _Pheelea_! and that\n_pigeons_ were, in truth, the _deliverers_ of the oracle.\n\nThis was the block upon which Abb\u00e9 Bannier was stumbling. Having learned\nfrom some quarter, I believe from Aristotle, that there were some _brass_\nappendages contiguous to Dodona, he converts those appendages into\n_kettles_--a worthy friend of mine would add, _of fish_--\u201cwhich,\u201d says he,\n\u201cbeing lashed with a whip, clattered against one another until the oracle\nfulminated\u201d!!!\n\nAs to those oracles themselves, with the registries of which antiquity is\nso replete, I will here articulate my individual belief. No one who knows\nme can suppose that I am superstitious; and, for those who know me not,\nthe sentiments herein delivered will scarcely foster the imputation. Yet\nam I as thoroughly persuaded as I am of my personal consciousness, that\nsome prescience they did possess, conducted partly by human fraud, and\npartly by spiritual co-operation.\n\nThere is no question but that there must have been some _supernatural_\nagency in the business; for _human_ skill and human sagacity could never\npenetrate the deep _intricacies_ of doubt, and the important _pregnancies_\nof time which they have _foreshown_.[533]\n\nPorphyry, in his book _De D\u00e6monibus_, and Iamblichus in his _De\nMysteriis_, expressly mention that _demons_ were in every case the authors\nof oracles. Without going all this length, we may readily allow that they\nhad perhaps a great share in them; neither will the ambiguity in which\ntheir answers were sometimes couched detract anything from this admission,\nbecause the spirits themselves, when ignorant of any contingency, would,\nof course, try to screen their defect by the vagueness of conjectures, in\norder that if the issue did not correspond with their advice, it may be\nsupposed owing to misinterpretation. The instance of Cr\u0153sus and the\nDelphian oracle was an interesting event. He sent to all the oracles on\nthe same day this question for solution, viz. \u201cWhat is Cr\u0153sus, the son of\nAlyattes, King of Lydia, now doing?\u201d That of Delphi answered thus: \u201cI know\nthe number of the sand of Libya, the measure of the ocean--the secrets of\nthe silent and dumb lie open to me--_I smell the odour of a lamb and\ntortoise boiling together in a brazen cauldron; brass is under and brass\nabove the flesh_.\u201d\n\nHaving heard this reply, Cr\u0153sus adored the god of Delphi, and owned the\noracle had spoken truth; for he was on that day employed in _boiling\ntogether a lamb and a tortoise_ in a _cauldron of brass_, which had a\ncover of the same metal. He next sent, enjoining his ambassadors to\ninquire whether he should undertake a war against the Persians? The oracle\nreturned answer, \u201cIf Cr\u0153sus passes the Halys, he will put an end to a vast\nempire.\u201d\n\nNot failing to interpret this as favourable to his project, he again sent\nto inquire, \u201cIf he should long enjoy the kingdom?\u201d The answer was, \u201cThat\nhe should till a mule reigned over the Medes.\u201d Deeming this impossible, he\nconcluded that he and his posterity should hold the kingdom _for ever_.\nBut the oracle afterwards declared that by \u201ca _mule_\u201d was meant _Cyrus_,\nwhose parents were of different nations--his father a Persian, and mother\na Mede. By which _mule_, says a facetious writer, the good man Cr\u0153sus was\nthus made an _ass_!\n\nThat the priests, however, used much deception in the business, and that\nthis deception did not escape the notice of the learned men of the time,\nis evident from the charge which Demosthenes had brought against the\n_Pythia_, of her being accustomed to _Philippise_, or conform her notes to\nthe tune of the Macedonian emperor. The knowledge of this circumstance\nmade the prudent at all times distrust their suggestions, whilst the\nrabble, without gainsay, acquiesced as blindly in the belief of their\ninfallibility.\n\nBut it was not only as to the meaning of the word _Pheelea_ that the\nGreeks were unapprised, they knew not the import of their own name\n_Pelargi_![534] It is compounded of this same term _pheelea_, an _augur_\nor a _diviner_; and _argh_, the symbolic _boat_, or yoni! And, mind you,\nthat this was the great difference between the Pelargi--which is but\nanother name for Pish-de-danaans--and the Tuath-de-danaans, that the\nlatter venerated the _male_ organ of energy, and the former the _female_;\ntherefore in no country occupied by the former do you meet with _Round\nTowers_, though you invariably encounter those _traces_ of _art_, which\nprove their descent from _one common origin_.\n\nAs presiding over the _diviners_ of the _symbolical boat_, Jupiter was\ncalled _Pelargicus_.[535]\n\n_Agyeus_ was another term in their religious vocabulary, as applied to\nApollo, of which the Greeks knew not the source. They could not, indeed,\nwell mistake, that it was derived immediately from \u03b1\u03b3\u03c5\u03b9\u03b1, _via_; but that\ndid not expound the fact, and they were still in ignorance of its proper\nimport. It is merely a translation of our _Rudh-a-vohir_, that is,\n_Apollo-of-the high-roads_, not, what the Greeks understood it, as\n_stationary_ thereon, but, on the contrary, as _itinerant_; and to whom\n_Venus the stranger_ corresponded on the other side; the especial province\nof both being to ensure the comforts of _hospitality_, of _protection_,\nand of _love_, to all emigrants and all travellers.\n\n_Grunie_ was another epithet applied to _Apollo_, as we may read in a hymn\ncomposed by Orpheus, which they could not comprehend. It is derived from\n_Grian_, one of our names for the _Sun_.\n\nBut, beyond comparison, the most inexplicable of all the epithets applied\nto this divinity is _Lyc\u00e6us_; which, though--as has been the case, you\nperceive, in _every subject yet discussed_--it can be explained only in\nthe _Irish_!--yet, even _there_, it opposes some difficulties to\ndiscourage, but not more than what give way to sagacity and to\nperseverance.\n\nAt Glendalough, in the county Wicklow, one of the proudest abodes of\nBudhism, are found, amongst other sculptures, upon the dilapidated ruins,\nthose which you see opposite.\n\nThe _wolf_ is the most frequent in the multitude of those hieroglyphics.\nHis character is exhibited in more attitudes than one--and all\nmysteriously significant of natural designs.\n\nIn one place you observe his tail gracefully interwoven with the long hair\nof a young man\u2019s head. That represents the youth Apollo, controlling by\nhis efficacy--alias, the sun\u2019s genial rays--the most hardened hearts, and\nso revolutionising the tendency of the inborn system, as from antipathy\noften to produce affection and love!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOf this illustration, the practical proof is afforded in _Bakewell\u2019s\nTravels in the Tarentaise_, to the following purpose, viz.:--\n\n\u201cBy way of enlivening the description of the structure of animals, he\n(M. de Candolle, Lecturer on Natural History at Geneva), introduced many\ninteresting particulars respecting what he called _leur morale_, or their\nnatural dispositions, and the changes they underwent when under the\ndominion of man. Among other instances of the affection which wolves had\nsometimes shown to their masters, he mentioned one which took place in the\nvicinity of Geneva. A lady, Madame M----, had a tame wolf, which seemed to\nhave as much attachment to its mistress as a spaniel. She had occasion to\nleave home for some weeks; the wolf evinced the greatest distress after\nher departure, and at first refused to take food. During the whole time\nshe was absent, he remained much dejected: on her return, as soon as the\nanimal heard her footsteps, he bounded into the room in an ecstasy of\ndelight; springing up, he placed one paw on each of her shoulders, but the\nnext moment he fell backwards and instantly expired.\u201d\n\nElsewhere you discern two wolves unmercifully tearing at a human head! And\nthis is symbolical of a species of disease, of which there is published an\naccount in a work called _The Hospitall of Incurable Fooles_, translated\nfrom the Italian by Todd, to the following effect, viz.:--\n\n\u201cAmongst these humours of Melancholy, the phisitions place a kinde of\nmadnes, by the Greeks called _Lycanthropia_, termed by the Latines\n_Insania Lupina_, or _Wolves furie_: which bringeth a man to this point\n(as Attomare affirmeth), that in Februarie he will goe out of the house in\nthe night _like a wolfe_, hunting about the graves of the dead with great\nhowling: _and plucke the dead men\u2019s bones out of the sepulchres, carrying\nthem about the streets_, to the great fear and astonishment of all them\nthat meete him: And the foresaide author affirmeth, that melancholike\npersons of this kinde have pale faces, soaked and hollow eies, with a weak\nsight, never shedding one tear to the view of the world,\u201d etc.\n\nAnd that this was epidemic amongst the Irish is proved by _Spenser\u2019s_\ntestimony, when, drawing a parallel between the Scythians and the Irish of\nhis day, he says: \u201cAlso, the Scythians said, that they were once a year\nturned into wolves; and so it is written of the Irish: though Martin\nCamden, in a better sense, doth suppose it was a disease, called\nlycanthropia, so named of the wolf: and yet some of the _Irish doe use to\nmake the wolf their gossip_.\u201d\n\nThus it appears, that the Irish were not only acquainted with the _nature_\nof this _sickness_, but also with the knack of _taming_ that _animal_ of\nwhich it bore the name. All this was connected with the worship of Apollo,\nand with Eastern mythology. Nay, the very _dogs_, for which our country\nwas once famous,[536] and which were destined as protectors against the\nravages of the _wolf_, are clear, from Ctesias, to have had their\ncorrespondents in India.\n\nThe epithet _Lyceus_, I conceive, now elucidated; and so leave to yourself\nto _penetrate_ the rest of those devices. But I shall not, at the same\ntime, take leave of the \u201c_Valley of the Two Lakes_.\u201d[537]\n\nOn one of the loose stones, which remain after this wreck of\nmagnificence, you will see a full delineation of \u201cThe history of\nDahamsonda, King of Baranes (_modern Benares_), who, as his name implies,\nwas a zealous lover of religious knowledge; and was _incarnated_, in order\nto be tried between his _attachment to religion_ and his zeal for the\n_salvation of the world_ on the one side, and his love to _his own life_,\nand his _attachment to his kingdom_ and wealth, as well as his kindred and\nfriends, on the other; for which purpose the gods had gradually and\ncompletely _withdrawn the light of religious knowledge_ from the world by\nthe time of his accession to the throne.\u201d[538]\n\nThis king, in his anxiety to regain the _lost_ condition of mankind--to\nrecover their literature and their _ancient_ knowledge of religion,\ninstructs his courtiers to proclaim the offer of a casket of gold, \u201cas a\nreward to any person\u201d who would instruct his majesty in the mysteries of\nthe _Bana_,[539] that is, the Budhist _Gospel_, with a view to its\nsalutary repropagation.\n\nThe officers proceeded in quest of such a phenomenon; but, _in the extent\nof their own realms, he was not to be found_!\n\nThis excites the uneasiness of the king, who \u201chaving by degrees _increased\nhis offers_ to thousands and millions of money, high titles, possessions\nof land and great privileges; and, at last, offering his own throne and\nkingdom, but still finding no instructor, _leaves his court, resolved to\nbecome private traveller, and not to rest till he has found one who could\ncommunicate to him the desired knowledge_. Having _for a length of time\ntravelled_ through many _kingdoms_, towns, and villages, enduring\nhardships, he is, at last, by providential interference, led through _a\ndelightful valley_ (which affords him subjects for consideration and\nrecreation of mind) into a dismal forest, the habitation of frightful\ndemons, _venomous reptiles_, and beasts of prey.\n\n\u201c_Sekkraia_ having on the occasion come down from heaven, in the disguise\nof a _Raksha_, meets _Bodhesat_ (the king) in the wilderness, who\nfearlessly enters into conversation with him, and informs him of the\nobject of his wanderings. The disguised deity undertaking to satisfy the\nking, if he will sacrifice to him his flesh and blood in exchange for the\nsacred knowledge, _Bodhesat_ cheerfully ascends a steep rock, shown him by\nthe apparition, and throws himself headlong to the mouth of the _Raksha_.\nThe king\u2019s zeal being thus proved, _Sekkraia_, in his own heavenly form,\nreceives him in his arms, as he is precipitating himself from the rock,\u201d\nand has him initiated in the desired information.[540]\n\nNow, waiving for a moment the latter part of this legend--every word of\nwhich, however, is still chronicled in our country, though transferred by\nthe _moderns_ to _St. Kevin_ and the _monks_--I return to add, that, on\nthe above-mentioned stone, you will see a representation of the\n_ambassadors offering this caske of riches to a professor of letters\nseated in his \u201cdoctor\u2019s chair\u201d_!!!\n\nThis stone itself is engraved in _Ledwich\u2019s Antiquities_, where in his\nignorance of its meaning, as well as of everything else which formed the\nsubject of his libellous farrago, he perverts it into the _bribing_ of a\n_Roman Catholic priest_!--as if the priests would so emblazon\nthemselves!--and quotes Chaucer to _prove_ the fact, when he says of one\nthem, that--\n\n  \u201cHe would suffer, for a quart of wine,\n  A good fellow to have his concubine\u201d!\n\nHow inconsistent is error! Elsewhere this Reverend Doctor has asserted,\nand, accidentally, _with truth_, that there was no such thing at all to be\nmet with at this place, as \u201cChristian symbols.\u201d I wonder was he one of\nthose who consider _Roman Catholics_ not to be _Christians_?\n\nHowever, again from _this_ he diverges! And, when called upon to decipher\nthe _hieroglyphics upon a stone-roofed Tuath-de-danaan chapel, of the same\ncharacter as that at Knockmoy_, and discovered here a few years ago,\nbeneath the Christian piles which the early missionaries had built over\nit, by way of _supersedence_, he throws himself, in his embarrassment,\ninto the arms of _St. Kevin_! associates _him_ with the whole! and that,\ntoo, after he had fatigued himself, _until half choked with spleen_, in\nbellowing out the _ideality_ and utter _non-existence_ of such a\npersonage!\n\nOn the front of the cathedral erected out of the fragments of the\nTuath-de-danaan dilapidations, you will find _Budha_ embracing the _sacred\ntree_, known _in our registries_, by the name of _Aithair Faodha_, which\nsignifies literally the _tree_ of _Budha_.[541]\n\nThe _pomegranate_ of _Astarte_--the medicinal apple of\n_affection_[542]--presents itself, also, in the foliage! The _mouldings_\nupon the arch of the western window refer likewise to _her_. And, to\ncomplete the union of Sabian symbolisation, the _serpent_ mingles in the\ngeneral tale! while the traditional story of the adjoining _lake_ having\nbeen infested by the presence of that reptile, has a faithful parallel in\none of the lakes of Syria!\n\nWill it not be believed, therefore, that the _valley_ at which Dohamsonda\nhad alighted, _after he had traversed many realms far away from his own_,\nwas that of Glendalough? And where, I ask, would he be more likely to\nobtain the object of his peregrination, viz. initiation into _gospel_\ntruth, than in that country which, from its pre-eminent effulgence in its\nbeatitudes, was exclusively denominated the _Gospel-land_?\n\nThis, sir, is no _rhetoric_,--no _declamatory exaggeration_. I will reduce\nit for you, in its simple elements, to the perspicuity of vision.\n\n_Bana-ba_ is one of the names of our _sacred island_, which, like all the\nrest of our _history_, has been heretofore a _mystery_ to literary\ninquirers!\n\nThe light bursts upon you!--does it not already? Need I proceed to\nseparate for you the constituent parts of this word?\n\nIt is compounded, then, be it known, of _Bana_, which indicates good\ntidings, or gospel, and _aba_, land--meaning, in the aggregate, the\n_Gospel-land_! And accordingly the pilgrim, when he set out upon his\njourney in quest of the _Bana_, very naturally betook himself to\n_Bana-ba_, or the _land of the Bana_, where alone it was to be found!\n\nAnd you presume to say that _Christianity_ is a thing which only commenced\nlast week?\n\n                      \u201cGreat God! I\u2019d rather be\n  A _Pagan_ suckled in a creed outworn;\n  So might I standing on this pleasant lea,\n  Have _glimpses_ that would make me _less forlorn_;\n  Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;\n  Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.\u201d\n                                      WORDSWORTH.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\n\n\u201cThey shall be astonished, and shall humble their countenances: and\ntrouble shall seize them, when they shall behold the Son of _Woman_\nsitting upon the throne of his glory. Then shall the kings, the princes,\nand all who possess the earth glorify him who has dominion over all\nthings--him who was _concealed_: for, from the beginning, the Son of Man\nexisted _in secret_, whom the Most High preserved in the presence of his\npower, and _revealed to the elect_.\u201d[543]\n\nSo speaks one of the most extraordinary productions that has ever appeared\nin England, in the shape of literature! And the commentary of its\ntranslator[544] is as follows:--\n\n\u201cIn both these passages,\u201d says he, \u201cthe _pre-existence_ of the Messiah is\nasserted in language which admits not the slightest shade of\nambiguity--nor is it such a pre-existence as the philosophical cabalists\nattributed to him, who believed the souls of all men, and, consequently,\nthat of the Messiah, to have been originally created together, when the\nworld itself was formed; but an _existence antecedent_ to all creation, an\nexistence previous to the formation of the luminaries of heaven; an\nexistence prior to all things visible and invisible, before everything\nconcealed.--It should likewise be remarked, that the pre-existence\nascribed to him is a divine pre-existence.\u201d[545]\n\nAs to the _pre-existence_ of the Messiah, in the only way in which the\nArchbishop affirms, I did not think that the doctrine was so obscure as to\nrequire so much stress! Everybody acquiesces, who acquiesces in\nChristianity--that its Founder had existence and dominion with His Father\nbefore all worlds. And, therefore, when His Grace offers this as an\n_illustration_ of our opening extract, he either _unconsciously\ncontradicts himself_, or, else, by dealing _in generalities, evades_ an\n_exposition, which he was not at liberty to communicate_!\n\nI am quite ignorant as to whether or not Dr. Lawrence belongs to the order\nof _Freemasons_, but I confess that when first I glanced at the above\nremarks I fancied he did. The care with which the two words \u201c_secret_\u201d and\n\u201c_concealed_\u201d were distinguished by him in _italics_, led me to this\nconjecture. But the _indefinite unsubstantiality_ into which he afterwards\nwandered, made the fact of his _initiation_ become, itself, a _secret_.\n\nLet me, however, prove the above _dilemma_.\n\nHis Lordship has asserted, that the _uninspiration_ of \u201cthe author\u201d will\nadmit of no dispute:[546] and yet that \u201cauthor,\u201d whom the Archbishop\nhimself acknowledges to have written, at the very lowest, _antecedently_\nto the _Advent_, speaks of the _Messiah_ as the \u201c_Son of Man_\u201d and the\n\u201cSon of _Woman_.\u201d[547]\n\nEither, therefore, the author was _inspired_, speaking _prospectively_ of\nan occurrence _not then consummated_! or else, _uninspired_, he\nhistorically transmits the record of an _incarnation vouchsafed before his\ntime_.\n\nI feel perfectly indifferent as to which horn of this alternative you may\npatronise. They both equally make for _me_. Nor do I want _either_,\notherwise than to show, that else the Archbishop is already of _my way of\nthinking_, and _restrained_ from _avowing_ it, or _unwillingly_ involved\nin a _contradictory nodus_, from a partial succumbing to education!\n\nWith this I leave Enoch! I have hitherto done without him! I shall\ncontinue still to do so! But while bidding _adieu_, I must disburthen\nmyself of the sentiments which his merits have inspired, and that after a\n_very short personal familiarity_.\n\nThou art, then, a GOODLY and a WISE book, Enoch, stored with _many_ and\n_recondite truths_, but \u201c_few_ they be who _find_\u201d them. Better for thee\nit were, however, that thou hadst slept a little longer in thy _tranquil_\nretirement, than obtrude thyself, _unappreciated_, upon an _ungenial_\nworld--a cold, a calculating, an adamantine world--who fancy they know\n_everything_, but who, in truth, know _nothing_--to meet with nothing but\ntheir _scorn_! It is true, Enoch, that thy face hath been tarnished by\nmany a blemish! And that the hand of time hath dealt with thee, as it doth\nwith the other works of man! Yet, despite of the _curtailments_ thus\nsustained, and the _exotics_ incorporated, thy magnificent ruin still\nholds within it some _gleams_, which to the _initiated_ and the\n_sympathetic_ afford delight and gratification.\n\n  --------\u201cSweet as the _ecstatic_ bliss\n  Of _souls_ that by _intelligence_ converse!\u201d\n\nDoubtless, reader, you are acquainted with the Gospel of St. John?--and\nyou have a heart?--and you have emotions?--and you have\nsensibilities?--and you have intellect? Well, then, tell me frankly, have\nnot these all been brought into requisition, at the metaphysical\n_sublimity_ and the oriental _pathos_ of the opening part of that\nproduction?\n\n\u201cHe was in the world, and the world was made by Him; and the world _knew\nHim not_. He came unto _His own_, and _His own_ received Him not.\u201d[548]\n\nYou surely cannot suppose this said in reference to the _late\nincarnation_! Were it so, why should the Evangelist deliver himself in\nterms so pointedly allusive to _distant times_? The interval between\nChrist\u2019s disappearance and St. John\u2019s registration was but as _yesterday_,\nand therefore the latter, when inculcating the _divinity_ of the _former_,\nupon the belief of his countrymen, who were all contemporaries, as well of\none as of the other, need not advertise them of an addition, of which they\nwere themselves cognisant.\n\nBut to illustrate to you as _light_, that it was not the _recent_\nmanifestation that was meant by the above text, he tells us in the sequel,\nwhen expressly narrating _this_ latter fact, that \u201cthe _Logos_ was made\nflesh and dwelt _among us_\u201d;[549] where you perceive that \u201c_dwelling among\nus_\u201d is made a _distinct thing from_, and _posterior in eventuation to\n\u201ccoming unto His own,\u201d_ as before recorded![550]\n\nIndeed, in the delineation, it is not only the _order_ of _time_, but the\n_precision_ of _words_, that we see most rigidly characteristic. The\n_Jews_, it is certain, could not be called \u201c_His own_,\u201d except by\n_adoption_; and, I am free to allow, that from them, \u201cas concerning the\n_flesh_, Christ came\u201d; but by \u201c_His own_\u201d[551] are meant His _real\nrelations!--emanations from the Godhead, such as He was Himself! beings\naltogether separate from flesh and blood!_ and whose _mysteriousness_ was\nperceptible most clearly to St. John, as you will perceive by the Greek\nwords from which this is rendered, viz. \u03c4\u03b1 \u03b9\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1, having been put in the\nneuter gender!\n\nBut suppose them, for an instant, to have been the Jews!--Then we are told\nthat, \u201cto as many as received Him, gave He power to become sons of\nGod.\u201d[552] Now, the apostles were they who did _implicitly receive_ Him:\nand why does not St. John refer to those, whether living or dead, as\nadmitted to the privilege of becoming \u201csons of God\u201d? I will tell you:--it\nwas because that they did not answer to that order of beings \u201cwhich were\nborn not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,\nbut of God.\u201d[553]\n\nThese were the persons to whom _Christ came before_--these were \u201cHis own,\u201d\nbecause that, _like Him_, they also were _of God_.[554] These were they,\nwho having lapsed into sin,[555] and vitiated their nature, drew down the\nvengeance of heaven upon them; and to the descendants of these it was that\n\u201cthe elect\u201d and \u201cthe concealed one,\u201d in mercy was made manifest, with\nproposals of redemption to regain their lost state!!!\n\n\u201cO the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how\nunsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable His ways!\u201d[556]\n\nSeest thou not now, therefore, the propriety of St. John\u2019s expression,\nwhen He says, \u201cAnd I knew Him not, but that He should _be made manifest_\nto Israel\u201d;[557] for when, before \u201cHe was in the world,\u201d it was in\n_secret_ and _concealed_--as _still and always represented_ in the\n_mysteries_! The latter, he _asserts_, as a matter of _revelation_--for\nthe former he _appeals to the experience_ of his auditors, as a subject of\n_history_: and _both epochs are confirmed_ by the \u201cvoice from heaven,\u201d\nwhich replied to Christ\u2019s own prayer, as thus, \u201cI have both glorified it,\u201d\nviz. _at Thy former manifestation_--\u201cand will glorify it again,\u201d[558] _at\nthis Thy present_!!!\n\nI was myself twelve years of age before ever I saw a Testament in any\nlanguage. The first I was then introduced to was the Greek. Being in\nfavour with my tutor, he took an interest in my progress, and the\nconsequence was, to my gratitude and his praise, that no deviation from\nthe exactness of grammatical technicality could possibly escape my\nobservation. Soon as I arrived at the text wherein \u03c4\u03b1 \u03b9\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1 occurs, its\nirregularity, at once, flashed across my mind. I sought for an\nexplanation, but it was in vain; my imagination set to work, but it was\nequally abortive. At length, in despair, I relinquished the pursuit, and\nnever again troubled myself with it, or its solution, until recalled by\nits connection with the present inquiry.\n\nBut it was not alone the peculiarity of gender that excited my\ncircumspection, the phraseology, when translated, sounded so familiar to\nmy ear, as to appear an old acquaintance under a new form. For, though I\ncould then tolerably well express myself in English, the train of my\nreflections always ran in Irish. From infancy I spoke that tongue: it was\nto me vernacular. I thought in Irish, I understood in Irish, and I\ncompared in Irish. My sentiments and my conceptions were _filtrated_\ntherein!\n\nAs to dialectal idioms or lingual peculiarities, I had not, of course, the\nmost remote idea. Whether, therefore, the expression coming to \u201cHis own\u201d\nwere properly a _Greek_ or an _English_ elocution, I did not, then, know\neither sufficiently well to determine; but that it was _Irish_ I was\nperfectly satisfied; my ear and my heart, at once, told me so.\n\nI now positively affirm that the _phrase is neither Hebrew_, _Greek_, nor\n_English_! And if you are not disposed to admit the information which it\nconveys,[559] to be an immediate communication from the Omnipotent, I have\nanother very adequate mode of accounting for St. John\u2019s having acquired\nit, and expressed it too in a phraseology so _essentially Oriental_.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe three wise men--who came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, \u201cWhere\nis He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the\neast, and are come to worship Him\u201d[560]--to a mortal certainty imparted to\nhim the intelligence!\n\nHere you see them with _crosses_ upon their crowns,[561] the religious\ncounterparts of our _Irish shamrocs_![562] And surely, as Jesus was then\nbut an infant, those mysterious devices were commemorative of His\ncrucifixion, when \u201cHe came to His own,\u201d--and not to that which occurred\nwhile He \u201cdwelt among us,\u201d a catastrophe which had not yet taken place!\n\nNor is it alone this single phrase (\u03c4\u03b1 \u03b9\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1) that I claim as Oriental--the\nfive first verses of this Gospel, as at present arranged, appertain also\nthereto. They speak the _doctrine_ alike of the _Budhists_ and of the\n_Free-masons_; but in _diction_, and in _peculiarity_, in _tone_, in\n_point_, and _essence_, they are irrefragably _Irish_.[563]\n\nThat St. John never wrote them is beyond all question! but having found\nthem to his hand, existing after the circuit of centuries and ages, the\ncomposition seemed so pure, and so consonant with Christianity, nay, its\nvery vitality and soul, he adopted it as the _preface_ to his _own\nproduction_, which begins only at the sixth verse, opening with, \u201cThere\nwas a man sent from God whose name was John\u201d!\n\nHaving asserted that the preliminary part was inalienably _Irish_, I now\nundertake to prove a _radical misconception_, nay, a _derogation_ from the\n_majesty_ of the _Messiah_, to have crept into the text, in consequence\nof its having been translated by persons unacquainted with that language!\n\nThe term _logos_, which you render _word_, means to an iota the _spiritual\nflame_--_log_, or _logh_, being the _original_ denomination. The Greeks,\nwho had borrowed all their religion from the Irish, adopted this also from\ntheir vocabulary; but its form not being suited to the genius of their\nlanguage, they fashioned it thereto by adding the termination _os_, as\n_loghos_; and thus did it become identified in sound with the common\n_logos_, which they had before, and which merely expresses a _word_ or\n_term_!\n\nBut though thus confounded, their philosophers, for a long time, kept both\nexpressions distinct. The former they ever considered a _foreign\nimportation_, rendering it, as we did, by the _spiritual flame_; as is\nevident from Zeno making use of the expression, \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, that\nis, the spiritual _flame_, which is diffused through, and vivifies\neverything.\n\nPythagoras is so explicit upon this _spiritual flame_, that you would\nswear he was paraphrasing the first five verses of St. John.\n\n\u201cGod,\u201d says he, \u201cis neither the object of sense, nor subject to passion,\nbut invisible, only intelligible, and supremely intelligent. In His body,\nHe is like the _light_, and in His soul He resembles truth. He is the\nuniversal _spirit_ that pervades and diffuseth itself over all nature. All\nbeings receive their _life_ from Him. There is but one only God, who is\nnot, as some are apt to imagine, seated above the world, beyond the orb of\nthe universe; but being Himself all in all, He sees all the beings that\nfill His immensity, the only principle, the light of Heaven, the Father\nof all. He _produces everything_, He orders and disposes _everything_; He\nis the reason, the _life_, and the motion of all being.\u201d\n\nEven the Latins having borrowed the idea from the Greeks, steered clear of\nthe equivocation of the ridiculous _word_; and the immortal Maro, when\ndescribing the quickening influence of this ethereal _logos_ through all\nthe branches of nature, interprets it as above, literally, by the\n_spiritual flame_!\n\n  \u201cPrincipio c\u0153lum ac terras, camposque liquentes,\n  Lucentemque globum Lun\u00e6, Titaniaque Astra,\n  _Spiritus intus_ alit; totamque infusa per artus\n  Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.\n  Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vit\u00e6que volantum,\n  Et qu\u00e6 marmoreo fert monstra sub \u00e6quore pontus.\u201d[564]\n\nAm I, therefore, presumptuous in appealing to the _community_ to reject\nthis _word_ as applied to the _logos_? A meaning, it is true, has been\ntrumped up for this, as the _communicating vehicle_ between God and His\ncreatures! No doubt the Saviour is all that: but _logos does not express\nit_; and the _duration_ of an abuse is no reason why it should be\nperpetuated after its _exposure_.\n\nI have said that it degraded the dignity of the Godhead to render this\nexpression by the form of _word_. I do not retract the charge: on the\ncontrary, I _add_ that, independently altogether of the former arguments,\nadduced to establish its _inaccuracy_, it would be _revolting to common\nsense_, were it not even thus _incorrect_!\n\nFor example--\u201cIn Him was _life_,\u201d says the text, \u201cand the life was the\n_light_ of men.\u201d\n\nNow, how could there be _life_ in a _word_? except by the most unnatural\nstraining of metaphor. Or, admitting that there was _life_, how could\nthere be _light_, except by the same? Whereas, by substituting the proper\nterm, then all is regular and easy; for what could be more natural, than\nthat there should be _life_ in _spirit_? and that _this life_ should give\n_light_ to men?\n\nYou will observe accordingly, that Jesus Himself, when describing His own\ncharacter, exactly states what I here rectify, saying, \u201cI am the _light_\nof the world\u201d--not the _word_ of the world--or any such nonsense. And He\ncontinues the idea by noting further, that \u201che that followeth Me shall not\nwalk in _darkness_, but shall have the _light_ of life.\u201d[565] Thus keeping\nup an _uninterrupted_ reference to _logos_, or the _spiritual flame_!\n\nI do, therefore, humbly, but strenuously, implore of the legislature that\nthey _restore_ this epithet to its _divine_ interpretation! I entreat of\nthe heads, as well of Church as of State, that they cancel the error; for\n_error_ I unhesitatingly pronounce it to be,--a _derogation_ from the\nGodhead, and a _perversion_ of the attributes of the Messiah!\n\nI will myself show the way--thus: \u201cIn the beginning was the _spiritual\nflame_: and the _spiritual flame_ was with God, and the _spiritual flame_\nwas God.\u201d[566]\n\nHow beautiful! may I hope that it will never more be extinguished!\n\nNow, there is another text in the same chapter, which, though not\nincorrectly translated, yet _loses half its beauty_ as at present\nunderstood! It will startle you when I recite it! Yet here it comes.\n\u201cBehold the _Lamb_ of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!\u201d[567]\n\nBy _lamb_, no doubt, you mean a young sheep: but let me ask you, what\nconnection can you perceive between a _young sheep_ and the _taking away\nof sin_? That of immolation, you answer, as typifying the _grand\noffering_. Well, then, why add \u201cof God\u201d? Why say, the _young sheep of\nGod_, if it was an ordinary animal of the mere _ovine species_ that was\nintended?\n\nNo, sir; recollect the \u201c_Lamb_ slain from the beginning of the world,\u201d\nrecorded in the Revelations, as quoted before.[568]\n\nA deep mystery is involved in this expression, which the ingenuity of man\ncould not evolve but through the Irish. In that language _lambh_ is a word\nhaving _three_ significations. The first is a _hand_; the second a _young\nsheep_; and the third a _cross_.[569]\n\nLet us now, in rendering the text, substitute this latter instead of the\nintermediate; and it will be, \u201cBehold the _cross_ of God, which taketh\naway the sin of the world!\u201d By which you perceive that when John the\nBaptist, by inspiration, pointed out Jesus Christ as the universal Saviour\nof the world, his _very words_ establish a previous _crucifixion_!\n\nYou now see how it happened that ten, in numerals, came to be represented\nby a cross X. _This_ being the _number_ of _fingers_ upon each person\u2019s\nhands: and a _hand_ and a _cross_ being both prefigured in the _sacred_,\nthat is, in the _Irish_ language,[570] by the same term, _lambh_, it hence\noccurred that in all reckoning and notation, a _new score_ should be\ncommenced therefrom--that its _sanctity_ should be still further enhanced\nby the epithet of _diag_, or _perfection_, which characterises it as a\n_submultiple_, and that the _mysteriousness_ of the _whole_ should be\nadditionally shrouded under the _comprehensive symbol_ of a _pyramid_ or\n_triangle_ \u25b3[571]\n\n\u201cOur Hibernian Druids,\u201d says Vallancey, \u201calways wore a key, like the\ndoctors of law of the Jews, to _show they alone had the key of the\nsciences_, that is, that they alone could communicate the knowledge of the\ndoctrine they preached. The name of this key was _kire_, or _cire_; and\n_eo_, a peg or pin, being compounded with it, forms the modern _eo-cire_,\nthe key of a lock. The figure of this key resembled a _cross_; those of\nthe Laced\u00e6monians and Egyptians were of the same form.\u201d\n\nEstimable and revered Vallancey, it pains me to say anything against you!\nbut on those subjects you were quite _at bay_! _It was not_ to \u201cshow that\nthey alone had the key of the sciences,\u201d that \u201cthe doctors of law of the\nJews always wore _a key_,\u201d but because that _they had seen it in the\nceremonial of the Egyptians_, from whom, like the Laced\u00e6monians, they had\nborrowed its use, without _either of them being able to penetrate its\nimport_![572]\n\nThe origin, then, of this _badge_ appearing amongst the _habiliments_ of\nour ancient priests, is developed by the _name_ which those priests\nthemselves bore, viz. _Luamh_, which, being but a direct formative from\n_lambh_, a _cross_, _unlocks_ the _secret_ of their being its\n_ministers_.[573]\n\nThe _Id\u00e6i-Dactyli_, who superintended the mysteries of Ceres, obtained\ntheir designation from the very same cause, and corresponded literally\nwith our _Luamhs_: for the _Iod_ of the Chaldeans being equivalent to the\n_lambh_ or _hand_ of the Irish, the number of fingers thereon were made\nreligiously significant of the X, or _cross_! And,--what cannot fail to\nexcite astonishment, as to the _immutability_ of a nation\u2019s\n_character_,--_to this very hour, the symbolical oath of the Irish peasant\nis a transverse placing of the forefinger of one hand over that of the\nother_, and then uttering the words, \u201c_By the cross_\u201d!\n\nAre not the opposers of my _truths_, then, as yet satisfied? or will they\nstill persist in saying that it was the _Pope_ that sent over our\nTuath-de-danaan crosses?[574] in the ship _Argho_! some thousands of years\nbefore ever Pope was born. I wonder was it His Holiness that transported\nemissaries also to that ancient city in America, lately discovered in\nruins, near Palenque; amongst the sculptures of which we discover a\n_cross_! And the _priority_ of which to the times of _Christianity_ is\nborne witness to by the gentleman who has published the \u201cDescription\u201d of\nthose ruins,[575] though _glaringly ignorant as to what was commemorated\nthereby_.\n\n\u201cUpon one point, however,\u201d he says, \u201cit is deemed essentially necessary to\nlay a stress, which is the _representation of a Greek cross_, in the\nlargest plate illustrative of the present work, from whence the _casual_\nobserver might be prompted to infer that the Palencian city flourished at\na period _subsequent_ to the Christian era; whereas it is _perfectly well\nknown to all those conversant_ with the mythology _of the ancients_, that\nthe figure of a _cross_ constituted the leading symbol of their religious\nworship: for instance, the augural _staff_ or wand of the Romans was an\nexact resemblance of a _cross_, being borne as the ensign of authority by\nthe community of the augurs of Rome, where they were held in such high\nveneration that, although guilty of flagrant crimes, they could not be\ndeposed from their offices; and with the Egyptians the _staff_ of Bootes\nor Osiris is similar to the _crosier_ of Catholic bishops, which\nterminated at the top with a cross.\u201d\n\nBut if the Pope had so great a taste for beautifying our valleys with\nthose costly specimens of art, whereof some are at least eighteen feet in\nheight, composed of a single stone, and chiselled into devices of the most\nelaborate mysteries, is it not _marvellous_ that he has not, in the\nplenitude of his piety, thought proper to adorn the neighbourhood of the\nHoly See with any similar trophies? And why has he not preserved in the\narchives of the Vatican any _record_ of the bequest, as he has taken care\nto do in the case of the four _palls_?\n\nBut, transcendently and lastly, why did he deem it necessary to depict\n_centaurs_ upon those _crosses_, with snakes, serpents, dogs and other\nanimals, such as this following one exhibits, which is that at Kells, and\nwhich has been alluded to, by promise, some pages backwards.[576]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nI have now done with the _appropriation_ of those columns; and shall just\n_whisper_ into my adversaries\u2019 ears--_if they have but recovered from the\ndowncrash of their_ fabric--that so far from laying claim to the honour of\ntheir erection, the Pope has actually excommunicated all such as revered\nthem! and has otherwise disowned all participation therein, by the\nfulminating of bulls and of anathemas![577]\n\nYet did the zealots of party, after the history of those crosses was\nforgotten, associate them individually with some favourite saint! \u201cThis\nnotion,\u201d says Mosheim, referring to such _diversions_, \u201crendered it\nnecessary to multiply prodigiously their number, and to create daily new\nones. The clergy set their invention at work, and peopled at discretion\nthe invisible world with imaginary protectors; they invented the names and\nhistories of saints that never existed; many chose their own patrons,\neither phantoms of their own creation or distracted fanatics whom they\nsainted.\u201d\n\nHere, however, the historian is as _inaccurate_ as he is _severe_: for not\nonly did the majority of those _saints_, if not all of them, exist, but\nthe greater part also of those _exploits_ ascribed to them have actually\noccurred! _The imposition consisted in making them the heroes of events\nand legends belonging to former actors._[578]\n\nI shall now give you, from the Book of Ballymote, my proof for the\nassertion before advanced as to the _Goban Saer_, whom they would fain\nappropriate, having been a member of the Tuath-de-danaans, viz.: \u201cRo\ngabsat sartain in Eirin Tuatha Dadann is deb ro badar na prem ealadhnaigh:\nLuchtand saer credne ceard: Dian ceachd liargh etan dan a hingeinsidhe:\nbuime na filedh Goibneadh _Gobha lug_ Mac Eithe Occai; ro badar na huile\ndana Daghadae in Righ: oghma brathair in Righ, is e ar arainic litri no\nScot.\u201d That is, The Tuath-de-danaans then ruled in Eirin. They were first\nin all sciences. Credne Ceard was of this people; and his daughter _Dean_\nCeachd, who presided over physic: she nursed the poet Gohne _Gobha_, the\nFree-mason (_lug_ is the same as _Saer_), son of Occai Esthne. Daghdae the\nking was skilled in all sciences: his brother Ogmus _taught the Scythians\nthe use of letters_.\n\nThus you see that he could not, by possibility, be on the same theatre\nwith _St. Abham_; while the popular tradition is still substantially true\nwhich connects his name with the erection of the Round Towers!\n\nThe Church festivals themselves, in our Christian calendar, are but the\ndirect transfers from the Tuath-de-danaan ritual. Their very _names_ in\nIrish are identically the same as those by which they were distinguished\nby that earlier race. If therefore, surprise has heretofore been excited\nat the conformity observable between our Church institutions and those of\nthe East, let it in future subside at the explicit announcement that\n_Christianity_, with us, was but the _revival_ of a religion imported\namongst us, many ages before, by the Tuath-de-danaans from the East, and\nnot from any chimerical inundation of Greek missionaries--a _revival_ upon\nwhich their hearts were longingly riveted, and which Fiech himself, the\npupil of St. Patrick, and bishop of Sletty, unconsciously registers in the\nfollowing couplet, viz.:--\n\n  \u201c_Tuatha_ Heren, tarcaintais\n  Dos nicfead sith laithaith nua.\u201d[579]\n\nThat is,--\n\n  The _Budhists_ of Irin prophesied\n  That _new_ times of _peace_ would come.\n\nWhat kind of _peace_, you ask? Is it of _deliverance_ from their\n_Scythian_ oppressors? No, but that spiritual tranquillity, such as they\nenjoyed before, and at which even the angels of heaven rejoiced, while\nannouncing the tidings to man[580]--\n\n  \u201cAnd sweet, and with rapture o\u2019erflowing,\n    Was the song from that multitude heard,\n  Who their heav\u2019n for a season foregoing,\n    To second the Angel appear\u2019d.\n  \u2018All glory,\u2019 the anthem resounding,\n    \u2018To God in the highest,\u2019 began;\n  And the chant was re-echoed, responding,\n    \u2018_Peace_ on earth, loving-kindness to man.\u2019\u201d[581]\n\nYou will remember that the Scriptures themselves record, how that the\n_wise men of the East_ foresaw this epoch; and \u201cLo, the star which they\nsaw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the\nyoung child was.\u201d[582]\n\nIs it therefore to be wondered at that our Tuath-de-danaans, who were\ntheir brethren, should equally anticipate it?\n\nYes, from the commencement of time, and through all the changes of\nhumanity, God had always witnesses to the _truth_ in this nether world.\n\n\u201cAnd Melchizedec, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was\nthe priest of the most high God.\n\n\u201cAnd he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God,\npossessor of heaven and earth:\n\n\u201cAnd blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies\ninto thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.\u201d[583]\n\n\u201cNow consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham\ngave the tenth of the spoils.\n\n\u201cFor this Melchizedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met\nAbraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him:\n\n\u201cTo whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all: first being, by\ninterpretation, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem,\nwhich is king of _peace_.\n\n\u201cWithout father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning\nof days nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God--abideth a\n_priest_ continually.\u201d[584]\n\nThus does the apostle proceed, in a strain of the closest argumentation,\nto point out the superiority of this king of _peace_, over Abraham and his\nlineage: after which Mr. Brown, in his _Commentary_ upon the Bible,\nexpresses himself as follows, viz.:--\u201cWho this Melchizedec was, this\npriest of God among the Canaanites, greater than Abraham, the friend of\nGod, who were his parents or his successors, is on purpose concealed by\nthe Holy Ghost. And hence he is without father or mother, predecessor or\nsuccessor, in his historical account, in order that he might typify the\nincomprehensible dignity, the amazing pedigree and unchangeable duration\nof Jesus Christ, our great High Priest.\u201d\n\nNobody can quarrel with the _piety_ of this commentator: but _piety_ is\nnot the only requisite for a commentator upon the Scriptures: the _absence\nof stupidity_ is an essential condition. It is not, however, as applied to\n_this particular passage_ that I thus express myself: were this the only\ninstance of _accommodating oversight_ it should draw forth no critique\nfrom me. But the instances are _innumerable_, to verify the expression\nthat \u201csome persons _see_, but _perceive_ not.\u201d\n\nMr. Brown had no idea of an _emanation_! Mr. Brown did not comprehend the\n_sons of God_! Mr. Brown did not know the connection which existed between\nthe _peace_ of Christ and that which was represented by Melchizedec.[585]\n\n\u201cHow beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth _good\ntidings_, that publisheth _peace_; that bringeth _good tidings_ of good,\nthat publisheth _salvation_; that saith unto Zion, Thy _God_\nreigneth.\u201d[586]\n\n\u201cThese things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have _peace_. In\nthe world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome\nthe world.\u201d[587]\n\n\u201cIf thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day the things which\nbelong unto thy _peace_! but now they are hid from thine eyes.\u201d[588]\n\n\u201c_Peace_ I leave with you; _My peace_ I give unto you: not as the world\ngiveth, give I unto you.\u201d[589]\n\n\u201cWhich hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and\nwhich entereth into that within the veil;\n\n\u201cWhither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an _High\nPriest for ever after the order of Melchisedec_.\u201d[590]\n\n  \u201cFrom our fathers to us the good tidings descend,\n    From us to our children agen;\n  Unrestrain\u2019d as the sun, and as lasting, they blend\n    All the nations and ages of men.\n  Good news of great joy to all people, they speak\n    At once to the learn\u2019d and the rude,\n  To barbarian and Scythian, the Jew and the Greek,\n    Nor country nor person exclude.\n\n  From the man who goes forth to his labour by day,\n    To the woman his help-meet at home;\n  From the child that delights in his infantine play,\n    To the old on the brink of the tomb;\n  From the bridal companions, the youth and the maid,\n    To the train on the death-pomp that wait;\n  From the rich in fine linen and purple array\u2019d,\n    To the beggar that lies at his gate:\n\n  To all is the ensign of blessedness shown,\n    To the dwellers in vale or on hill,\n  Alike to the monarch who sits on his throne,\n    And the bond-man who toils at the mill;\n  High and low, rich and poor, young and old, one and all,\n    Earth\u2019s sojourners, dead and alive,\n  Who perish\u2019d by Adam, our forefather\u2019s fall,\n    Shall in Jesus the Saviour revive.\n\n  Not an ear, that those tidings of welfare can meet,\n    But to _it_ doth that welfare belong:\n  Then those tidings with rapture what ear shall not greet,\n    What tongue shall not echo the song?\n  All hail to the Saviour! all hail to the Lord!\n    God and Man in one person combined!\n  The Father\u2019s Anointed! by Angels adored!\n    The Hope and Delight of mankind!\u201d[591]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\n\n  \u201cYet once I was blind, and could not see the light,\n  And straight to Jeru-_salem_ I then took my flight;\n  They led me through a wilderness, with a multitude of care,\n  You may know me by the system, or badge I wear.\n\n  Twelve dazzling lights I saw, which did me surprise;\n  I stood in amaze where I heard a great noise;\n  A _serpent_ came by me,--I fell unto the ground,\n  With joy, peace, and comfort the _secret_ I found.\u201d[592]\n\n\nThe _principle_ of all mysteries having been already elucidated, it only\nremains, that in this concluding chapter, I point out a few more instances\nof their practical application.\n\nIn the Gospel, then, according to St. Matthew, I find the words, \u201c_O\ngeneration of vipers_, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to\ncome?\u201d[593] And in that according to St. John, the following, \u201cWe be not\n_born of fornication_; we have one Father, even God.\u201d[594]\n\nThe juxtaposition of these texts, one with another, and the comparison of\nthem, mutually, with the explication of the _serpent_, given at p. 229,\nwill not only confirm the _truth_ of all the foregoing developments, but\nsatisfy you further, what I am very certain you did not before identify,\nviz. that the phrases _generation of vipers_, and the being _born of\nfornication_, are one and the same--the _viper_, or _serpent_, being the\nsymbol of _lustfulness_, making the former equivalent to _ye offspring of\nconcupiscence_; that is, in other words, ye _born of fornication_![595]\nAnd the very stress laid upon this mode of _geniture_, implies not only\nthe _possibility_ of a different sort, but its _frequency_ also!\n\n\u201cIn the Purana prophecies concerning the expected Saviour,\u201d say the\n_Asiatic Researches_, \u201cit is said, that he was the son, or rather the\nincarnation, of the great serpent: and his mother was also of that tribe,\nand incarnate in the house of a pot-maker. She conceived, at the age of\none year and a half, the great serpent gliding over her while she was\nasleep in the cradle: and his mother, accordingly, is represented as\nsaying to the child, once that she brought him to a place full of\nserpents--\u2018Go and play with them, _they are your relations_.\u2019\u201d\n\nHere it will be seen that, under the form of a serpent, is personified the\n_Deity_, or the _generative power_.\n\nNunez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapa, in Mexico, when describing Nagualism,\nin his _Constitutions_, as observed in that country, says: \u201cThe Nagualists\npractise it by superstitious calendars, wherein are inserted the proper\nnames of all the Naguals, of stars, the elements, birds, beasts, fishes,\nand reptiles; with observations upon the months and days; in order that\nthe children, as soon as they are born, may be dedicated to that which, in\nthe calendar, corresponds with the day of their birth; this is preceded by\nsome frantic ceremonies, and the express consent of parents, which is an\nexplicit part between the infants and the Naguals that are to be given to\nthem. They then appoint the _melpa_, or place, where, after the completion\nof seven years, they are brought into the presence of the Nagual to ratify\nthe engagement; for this purpose they make them renounce God and His\nblessed Mother, instructing them beforehand not to be alarmed, or sign\nthemselves with the cross: they are afterwards to embrace the Nagual\naffectionately, which, by _some diabolical art or another, appears very\ntame, and fondly attached to them, although it may be a beast of a\nferocious nature, as a lion, a tiger, etc._ They persuade the children, by\ntheir _infernal cunning_, that this Nagual is _an angel sent by God_ to\nwatch over their fortunes, to protect, assist, and accompany them; and\nthat it must be invoked upon all occasions, business, or occurrences, in\nwhich they may require its aid!\u201d\n\nIt is very clear, that the _Nagualism_ above notified is but a degenerate\noffshoot of that _serpent_ worship, which is coeval with the _fall_: yet,\ndegenerate as it is, it is equally indisputable, that this good man\u2019s zeal\noutsteps far his judgment, the exaggerations of his fancy even committing\nhim so far, as to make him imperceptibly contradict himself!\n\nSurely, were it a principle of action with those unfortunate beings to\nmake their children, on their entrance upon active life, to _renounce\nGod_, they would not teach them, at the same time, to _reverence_ a brute\ncreature, merely as being a _subordinate servant of that God_!\n\nTo reconcile the Bishop, therefore, to something like truth, I will\nsuppose him to mean by the word _God_, where it first occurs, _Christ_,\nwhich is evident from the context, of \u201cHis blessed Mother\u201d: and then the\nprohibition against the sign of \u201cthe cross,\u201d must be understood\nexclusively as in reference to _him_; a conclusion which is confirmed by\nan additional reference to that _oath_, which I have before mentioned, as\nstill prevalent amongst the Irish.\n\n_By the cross_ is the oath, accompanied by a transverse location of the\nforefinger of one hand upon that of the other: and the addition alluded to\nis _of Christ_, which is never volunteered except when equivocation is\nsuspected; and then it is exacted as a matter of _distinction_ between\n_His_ cross and the _more antecedent_ one!\n\nBut no further proof is requisite to prove the Bishop\u2019s want of candour\nthan his _withholding_ documents from the public eye, which would appear\nto illustrate the subject.--\u201cAlthough in these tracts and papers there\nare,\u201d says he, \u201cmany other things touching primitive paganism, they are\nnot mentioned in this epitome, lest, in being brought into notice, they\nshould be the means of confirming more strongly an idolatrous\nsuperstition.\u201d He should have had more confidence in his own cause, and\nfeel that--\u201cIf anything, in consequence of this scrutiny, totter and fall,\nit can only be the _error_ which has attached itself to truth, encumbering\nand deforming it. _Truth_ itself will remain _unshaken, unsullied, fair,\nimmortal_!\u201d\n\nNow, in the description of the ancient city, near Palenque, quoted before,\nI find some words, which prove an affinity between the worship of the\nancient inhabitants of America and those of Ireland, and which rescue both\nfrom the imputations of bigotry. \u201cI am _Culebra_,\u201d says _Votan_, one of\nthe early princes, I believe, of Mexico, who wrote an historical tract in\nthe Indian idiom, \u201cbecause I am Chivim.\u201d\n\nThe man\u2019s name, you perceive, was _Votan_, but his ambition was to be\nconsidered _Culebra_, or the _snake_, that is, the deity so personified:\nthe mode whereby he sought to establish it is foreign from my inquiry.\n\nThe _Gadelglas_ of the ancient Irish was precisely similar to this\n_Culebra_ of the Americans: _gad_ signifying a snake, or tortuosity: _el_,\ngod; and _glas_, green--in all, the _green snake-god_! And conformably\nwith this import, we are assured by a man who knew very little as to the\n_reason why_, but whose testimony is here valuable in a matter of\n_record_, not of _opinion_; namely, that the \u201cMilesians, from the time\nthey first conquered Ireland, down to the reign of Ollamh Fodhla, made use\nof no other _arms of distinction in their banners_ than a _serpent twisted\nround a rod_, after the example of their Gadelian ancestors.\u201d[596]\n\nYou have now the _proof_ of \u201c_who puts the snakes_ upon our _ancient\ncrosses_?\u201d And, independently of such proof, the antiquity itself of all\nthe traditions associating the _serpent_ with the early memoirs of our\nancestors was so great as to appal even the _monks_! And as they could\nnot, in their system of _transferring_ our history, _bring down_ this\nserpent to the era of the _saints_, they resolved, at all events, to have\nhim in their dispensation, and so made _Moses_ the hero!\n\nThis they contrived by inventing the name of _Gadel_ for one of our\nforefathers, and then transplanting him to the coast of the Red Sea, just\nas the Legislator of the Jews was conducting them out of Egypt! They then\nvery unsacerdotally make a serpent bite him in some part of the heel, but\nvery graciously afterwards restore him to sanity by Moses\u2019s interposition!\nwith a stipulation, however, that the former _sore_ should ever appear\n_glass_ or _green_! And thus was he called _Gadelglas_, or _Gadel the\nGreen_!!!\n\nIn truth, it was from this _green_ snake-god, above explained, that the\nisland obtained the designation of _Emerald_; and not from the _verdure_\nof its soil, which is not greater than that of other countries.\n\nThe Arabians have a tradition, that Enoch was the first who, after Enos,\nson of Seth, son of Adam, wrote with a pen, in the use of which he\ninstructed his children, saying to them additionally, \u201cO, my sons, know\nthat ye are _Sabians_!\u201d\n\nAlthough the substance of the _religion_, couched under this designation,\nhas been already explained, yet the origin of the name itself remains yet\nto be unfolded.\n\nThen be it known, that in the _sacred_, _i.e._ _Irish_ language, the word\n_Sabh_,[597] has three significations--firstly, _voluptuousness_, or the\n_yoni_; secondly, a _snake_, or sinuosity; and, thirdly, _death_ or life!\nAnd in accordance with this triple import, if you roll back the leaves as\nfar as p. 229, you will find in the plate inserted there, and which has\nbeen transcribed from the sculptures of the ancient Palencian city before\nalluded to, those three symbols, viz. the _yoni_, the _serpent_, and\n_death_, all united in design, and illustrating my development of that\nmysterious scene wherein--\n\n  \u201cEve _tempting_ Adam by a _serpent_ was stung.\u201d[598]\n\nThe sculpture itself is intended to pourtray the situation of those\nprogenitors of the human species in the Garden of Eden. And yet, striking\nas it is, would its tendency remain ever a _secret_, were it not for the\ninstrumentality of the _Irish_ language!\n\n\u201cThat the society of free and accepted Masons possess a grand _secret_\namong themselves is an undoubted fact. What this grand secret is, or of\nwhat unknown materials it consists, mankind in general, not dignified with\nthe order, have made the most ridiculous suppositions. The ignorant form\nincoherencies, such as conferring with the devil, and many other\ncontemptible surmises, too tedious to mention, and too dull to laugh at.\nWhile the better sort, and more polished part of mankind, puzzle\nthemselves with reflections more refined, though equally absurd. To dispel\nthe opinionative mist from the eye of general error is the author\u2019s\nintention; and however rash the step may be thought, that he, a mere atom\nin the grand system, should attempt so difficult, so nice a task, yet he\nflatters himself that he shall not only get clear over it, but meet with\nthe united plaudits both of the public and of his brethren. And he must\nbeg leave to whisper to the ignorant, as well as the judicious, who thus\nunwarrantably give their judgment, that the truth of this grand secret is\nas delicately nice as the element of air; though the phenomenon\ncontinually surrounds us, yet human sensation can never feelingly touch it\ntill constituted to the impression by the masonic art. The _principal_,\nsimilar to the orb of light, universally warms and enlightens the\n_principles_, the first of which, virtue, like the moon, is heavenly\nchaste, attended by ten thousand star-bright qualifications. The masonic\nsystem is perfectly the emblem of the astronomic; it springs from the\nsame God, partakes of the same originality, still flourishes in immortal\nyouth, and but with nature will expire.\u201d[599]\n\nThe _contortions_ of the snake were easily transferred to the revolutions\nof the heavenly bodies. \u201cWhen the ancients,\u201d says Boulanger, \u201cfound out\nthe true cycle of the sun, they coined names by a _jeu de mots_, or words,\nsignifying its heat, or its course, that made up the number 365, as they\nhad done before to make up 360. The name Sabasins, that has so much\nperplexed antiquaries and etymologists, is no more than a _numerical\nname_, which was given to Jupiter and to Bacchus as _periodical_ deities.\nWhen the suppliant was initiated into the mysteries of Sabasins, a\n_serpent_, the symbol of revolution, was thrown upon his breast. \u03a4\u03bf \u03a3\u0391\u0392\u039f\u0395,\nwhich the Greeks repeated so often in the feasts of Bacchus _without\nunderstanding the meaning of the words_, meant no more than the cycle of\nthe year, from the Chaldean _Sabb circuire vertere_, etc. The ancient\nreligion, which applied entirely to the motions of the heavens and\n_periodical return_ of the stars, was for that reason named _Sabianism_,\nall derived from the Chaldee _Seba_, a _revolution_\u201d; and this, though\nBoulanger knew it not, from the Irish Sabh, _serpent_, or _pith_.\n\nSabaism, therefore, and Ophiolatreia were all one with Gadelianism; and\nwhile, apparently, purporting to be the worship of the _serpent_ and the\n_stars_, were in reality the worship of the _Sabh_ or _Yoni_--so that the\ndialogue in Genesis between Eve and the _serpent_, was, in truth, a parley\nbetween Eve and the _Yoni_: and the materials for the allegory were\nafforded by the fact of _serpent_ and _yoni_ being both expressed in the\nsacred, _i.e._ Irish language, by one and the same name, just as the\nLingam and the Tree of Knowledge have been before identified.\n\nThe mystery, then, of our ancient escutcheon, viz. a _serpent_ twisted\n_round a rod_, resolves itself into the _Yoni embracing_ the _Lingam_.\n\nHence, too, it was that the portals of all the Egyptian temples were\ndecorated with the impress of the circle and the serpent. You see also,\nwhy the _seasons_, at the equinoxes and solstices, should have been marked\nupon the circle at p. 225; and you further see the mysterious tendency of\nthe Prophet\u2019s injunction to his children, when he said, \u201cRemember that ye\nare _Sabians_,\u201d to have been equivalent with--Keep constantly in view that\nyou are the offspring of _concupiscence_, and, by the suggestion of the\n_serpent_, begotten in _sin_, the penalty of which, as a breach of the\nCreator\u2019s commandments, is inevitable _death_, from which you are only\nextricated through the promised Redeemer, emanating from the same source\nwhich was before instrumental in entailing your sorrow!\n\nEvery syllable of this is hieroglyphically expressed upon the plate\ninserted at p. 223, where you observe the _cockatrice_, or snake-god,\nplaced at the bottom; over him the _crescent_, or mysterious _boot_,\n_i.e._ _yoni_, the object seduced; and, finally, the _cross_ in triumph\nover both, intimating emancipation by the vicarious passion of God\u2019s own\nSon.\n\nThis, then, is my answer to V. W.\u2019s question at p. 225, where he asks,\n\u201cWhat relation had this with the Nehustan, or brazen serpent, to which the\nIsraelites paid divine honours in the time of Hezekiah?\u201d\n\nFrom this _Sabaism_, or _serpent worship_, Ireland obtained the name of\n_Tibholas_ or _Tivolas_; _S_ and _T_ being commutable letters, _Tibholas_\nis the same as _Sibholas_, and this being derived from _sibal_, a circle,\nshows the name to have been equivalent with the _land of circles or\nrevolutions_, otherwise, both to the serpent and the planets.\n\nThose prophetic women of Etruria, designated _Sybils_, were named from the\nsame cause, being priestesses of the _serpent_, _i.e._ the _Sabh_ or\n_Yoni_--allegorically represented as married to Apollo, and gifted with a\nlongevity of a thousand years. Here, again, the same conversion of letters\noccurred, for the place which _they_ inhabited was called from themselves,\n_Tivola_, corresponding to our Tivolas, the _S_ and _T_ being, as before\nexplained, commutable, and _b_ or _bh_ being equivalent to _v_.\n\n_Pythia_ is exactly synonymous with _Sybil_, meaning the priestess who\npresided over the _Pith_, which, like Sabhus, means as well _serpent_ as\n_yoni_: and the oracle which she attended was called _Delphi_, from _de_,\ndivine, and _phith_, yoni--it being but a _cave_ in the shape of that\nsymbol,[600] over the orifice of which the priestess used to take her seat\nupon a sacred _tripod_, or the religiously emblematic pyramid,[601] while\nthe inspiring vapour issued from beneath through a tube similar to that\nexhibited at p. 460, and one end of which, passing through the aperture,\nheld fast the tripod to which the priestess had been secured, so that she\nshould not, in her delirium, relinquish the position.\n\nThe great Samian philosopher, known as Pythagoras, only assumed this name\nin deference to those rites: for _Pyth-agoras_ means one who _expounds_\nthe mysteries of the _pith_, viz. _death_ from its weakness, and\n_redemption_ from its virtue.\n\n\u201cBehold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name\nImmanuel,\u201d[602] was the spiritual substance of those _expositions_: the\nonly difference being in that _Isaiah_ spoke prospectively towards a\nlately verified issue, whereas the _initiated_ took the promise from the\nmoment of the _fall_: and of its _partial_ accomplishment prior to our\nera, there can be no doubt, even from the writings of this prophet.\n\nOn the opposite plate are three profile likenesses of Christ, as He\nappeared upon earth in human form--the first is a facsimile from a _brass_\nmedal, found at Brein Owyn, in the Isle of Anglesey, and published in\nRowland\u2019s _Mona Antiqua_. The inscription upon it has been translated as\nmeaning, \u201cJesus the Mighty, this is the Christ and the Man together.\u201d\n\nThe second, likewise of brass, and found at Friar\u2019s Walk, near Cork, is\nnow in the possession of a Mr. Corlett.--Inscription upon one side, \u201cThe\nLord Jesus.\u201d--Upon the other, \u201cChrist the King came in _peace_, and the\nlight from the heaven was made life.\u201d\n\nYou will please observe here, that he does not say the _Word_ was made\nlife, but the _Light_ was made life.\n\nThe third is of silver, and the inscription means, \u201cJesus of Nazareth, the\nChrist--the Lord and the Man together.\u201d\n\nThe originals of these inscriptions are all in Hebrew, and the\nlikenesses which accompany them, although on different metals, appear\nalmost copies one of another: whereas the cruciform figures herein already\ninserted, have no one feature of correspondence whatsoever with them, but\nprove themselves, on the contrary, in every particular, an antecedent\ngeneration.[603]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs everything else appertaining to the history of the Round Towers has\nalready been explained, I shall now account for the difference of\nappropriation noticed at p. 6. Having been all erected in honour of the\n_Budh_, they all partook of the phallic form; but as several enthusiasts\npersonified this abstract, which, in consequence of the _mysteries_\ninvolved in the thought and the impenetrable veil which shrouded it from\nthe vulgar, became synonymous with _wisdom_ or _wise man_, it was\nnecessary, of course, that the Towers constructed in honour of each should\nportray the distinctive attributes of the individuals specified. Hence the\ndifference of apertures towards the pr\u00e6putial apex, the crucifixions over\nthe doors, and the absence or presence of internal compartments.[604]\n\nThose venerable piles vary in their elevation from fifty to one hundred\nand fifty feet. At some distance from the summit there springs out a sort\nof covering, which--accompanied as it sometimes is with a cornice, richly\nsculptured in foliage, in imitation, if you must have it, _pr\u00e6putii\nhumani_, but such also was the pattern of the \u201cnets of checker-work and\nwreaths of chain-work,\u201d which graced \u201cthe chapiters which were upon the\ntop of the two pillars belonging to Solomon\u2019s temple\u201d--terminates above in\na sort of sugar-loaf crown, concave on the inside and convex on the\noutside.\n\nTheir diameter at the base is generally about fourteen feet through, that\ninside measuring about eight, which decreases gradually, but\nimperceptibly, to the top, where it may be considered as about six feet in\nthe interior.\n\nThe distance of the door from the level of the ground varies from four to\ntwenty-four feet. The higher the door the more irrefragable is the\nevidence of the appropriation of the structure to the purposes specified.\nThe object was two-fold, at once to keep off profane curiosity and allow\nthe votaries the undisturbed exercise of their _devotions_; and to save\nthe _relics_ deposited underneath from the irreverent gaze of the casual\nitinerant.\n\nAnalogous to these would appear to have been the edifices which the Lord\nhad in view when He said, \u201cNeither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine\naltar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon,\u201d[605] which\nadditionally proves the antiquity of the Irish _philebeg_; for, as with\nany other costume, such a prohibition would be needless, it follows that\nthe prevailing fashion, in the eastern habiliments, must have been diffuse\nand open in the nether extremes.\n\nI beg the reader will now be pleased to look back at the Tuath-de-danaan\ncross at p. 358, and he will at once see how it happened that the _Goban\nSaer_, who is there represented, has been imposed upon the Royal Irish\nAcademy, or rather promulgated by them, as a _woman_! viz. from the\npeculiarity of his _dress_! being the distinctive badge of his sacerdotal\norder.\n\nNor is it only the character of those sculptures, but the existence of any\nsculptures upon those relics, as well crosses as towers, that proves them\nto have been Tuath-de-danaan; for the reason why Jehovah forbade the\nIsraelites from using any _tools_ upon the stones used in their religious\nedifices was, that other nations had loaded theirs with sculptured images\nof different gods, which made Him say, \u201cIf thou wilt make Me an altar of\nstone, thou shalt not build it of _hewn_ stone, for if thou _lift up thy\ntool upon it_, thou hast polluted it.\u201d\n\nIn their masonic construction there is nothing in the Irish Towers\nappertaining to any of the four orders of architecture prescribed by the\nmoderns. It is so also with those in the East. They approach nearest,\nhowever, to the Tuscan, and the reason of that similarity may be imagined\nfrom what I have already stated as to the Etrurians.\n\nPrepared stone is the material of which they are generally composed, and\nevidently, in some instances, brought from afar. Sometimes also they\nappear constructed of an _artificial_ substance resembling a reddish\nbrick, squared, and corresponding to the composition of the Round Towers\nof Mazunderan. Now if the monks possessed this secret, why were not the\nmonasteries, the more important edifices, according to our would-be\nantiquarians, composed of the same elements? And is it not strange that\nall _elegance_ and _extravagance_ should have been lavished upon the\n_appendages_, while _uncouthness_, _inelegance_, want of durability, or\nother architectural recommendation are the characteristics of what they\ntell us were the principals? Yet neither in the monasteries, nor in any\nother Christian building, do we meet with those materials above described,\neither _generally_ or _partially_, except where the ruins of a\nneighbouring Round Tower have made them available, which, in itself, is\nsufficient to overthrow for ever the anachronisms of those who would deny\nthe existence of those temples anterior to the present era.\n\nBut Christian edifices, they say, are generally found in their vicinity.\nYes, and as I have already explained the reason why,[606] I forbear now\nrehearsing the fact. But even _this stronghold_ of the _moderns_ I cut\naway from them, by stating that at the \u201cGiant\u2019s Ring,\u201d in the county Down,\nthe indisputable scene of _primordial veneration_, we have an instance of\na Round Tower, _without any church hard by_! And while recalled by this\ncircumstance, I must observe that the vitrification manifest within the\nwalls of that structure arose from the _burning of the dead bodies_\ntherein, and not from the indications of the _sacred fire_.\n\nWith three exceptions, all have a row of apertures towards the top, just\nunder the projecting roof, made completely after the fashion of those\nwhich Solomon had built, being windows of narrow lights.[607] In general\nthe number is four, and then they correspond to the cardinal points. In\nthree instances there is one aperture towards the summit, in one instance\nthere occur five, in one six, in one seven, in one eight.\n\nInside they are perfectly empty from the door upwards, but most of them\ndivided, either by _rests_ or _projecting_ stones, into lofts or storeys,\nvarying in number from three to eight. In the temple of Solomon we find\nthe same, for \u201cwithin, in the wall of the house, he made narrowed _rests\nround about_, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the\nhouse.\u201d[608] And the images which I have shown to have been cupboarded\nupon these rests, were nothing more than what Solomon himself did, when\n\u201che carved all the walls of the house _round about_ with carved figures of\ncherubims, and palm-trees, and open flowers, within and without.\u201d[609]\n\nIn a future publication I intend to show a more startling correspondence\nbetween our Round Towers and some other parts of Solomon\u2019s temple.\nMeanwhile I wish it to be borne in mind,--as in some degree accounting for\nthe correspondence,--that Solomon\u2019s architect was a Sidonian.\n\nA striking perfection observable in their construction is the inimitable\nperpendicular invariably maintained. No architect of the present day, I\nventure to affirm, could observe such regularity. Nelson\u2019s pillar itself\nhas been proved to vary somewhat from the perpendicular line; but the\nkeenest eye cannot trace a deviation, in a single instance, from amongst\nthe whole of those Sabian monuments. Even the tower of Kilmacdugh, one of\nthe largest in the kingdom, having from some accident, earthquake, or\nother cause, been forced to lean terrifically to one side; yet, miraculous\nto mention, retains its stability as firm as before; such was the accuracy\nof its original elevation.[610]\n\nIf asked how it was I conceive them to have been constructed, I should\nanswer, by a scaffolding raised gradually from within. The expense in this\ncase would be infinitely less, and the labour also. It would be very easy\nto let fall a plumb-line at various intervals of height, by which at all\ntimes the perpendicular may be ascertained, and the masonry carried on by\nwhat may be called overhanding, while the cement employed in giving\nsolidity to the whole, and which is the direct counterpart of the Indian\nchunan, bids defiance to the efforts of man to dissever, except by the\nexertion of extraordinary power.\n\nThat this was the mode in which their erection was effected, is evident in\nthe instance of Devenish Tower, which, from the elegance of its cut-stone\nexterior, would seem to negative the idea of their being built from\nwithin. But a judicious eye cannot but at once discern that near the top,\nwhere it is probable that one or two of the artists may have come out, by\nthe help of some contrivance devised for the purpose, the execution and\nfinish which the workmanship displays is incomparably superior to that of\nany of the lower parts. In other instances, where the ancient top having\nbeen removed, a modern one has been substituted, the case is very\ndifferent indeed.\n\nThe cohesiveness of all these columns will be best estimated by the fact\nof the Round Tower at Clondalkin having firmly stood its ground when, in\nthe year 1786-87, the powder-mill explosion, which took place within\ntwenty-four feet of its base, shivered to annihilation every other\nstructure within its influence; nay, extended its violence so far as to\nshatter the windows in some of the streets of Dublin. That at Maghera also\nlay unbroken after its fall, exhibiting to the spectator the almost\nappalling spectacle of a gigantic cannon!\n\nThat both Indians and Irish performed circular _dances_ around them,\ntypical of the motions of the heavenly bodies, is highly probable, as we\nhave still the name of a particular movement, apparently that practised on\nthe occasion, still amongst us in common use, namely, _Rinke-teumpoil_, or\nthe temple dance: and that they otherwise honoured them by performing\n_penances_ around them, is evident from the name of _Turrish_, which means\na _religious circuit round a tower_! applied afterwards by the Catholics\nto any penitential _round_. And we have the authority of Sanchoniathon,\nwhen talking of the Creation, for stating that \u201cthe next race consecrated\n_pillars_--that they _prostrated themselves before them_, and made annual\nlibations to them\u201d![611]\n\nThese, I conceive, were the halcyon days of Ireland\u2019s legendary and\nromantic greatness. In this sequestered isle, aloof from the tumults of a\nbustling world, this Tuath-de-danaan colony, all of a religious race, and\nall disposed to the pursuits of literature, united into a circle of\ninternational love, and spread the fame of their sanctity throughout the\nremotest regions of the universe. That its locality was familiar to the\nBrahmins of India I make no earthly question; that it was that sacred\nisland which they eulogised so fondly, and spoke of with such raptures, I\nam sanguinely satisfied; and equally convinced am I, that it was that\nbeautifying region, whose widespread holiness, and far-famed renown, made\nsuch an impression on the minds of Orpheus and of Pindar, when those\ndivine bards, speaking of its Hyperborean inhabitants, thus enchantingly\nsung--\n\n\u201cOn sweet and fragrant herbs they feed, amid verdant and grassy pastures,\nand drink ambrosial dew, divine potation: all resplendent alike in coeval\nyouth; a placid serenity for ever smiles on their brows and lightens in\ntheir eyes; the consequence of a just temperament of mind and disposition,\nboth in the parents and in the sons, inclining them to do what is great,\nand to speak what is wise. Neither disease nor wasting old age infest this\nholy people, but without labour, without war, they continue to live happy,\nand to escape the vengeance of the cruel Nemesis.\u201d[612]\n\nThough clothed in the cadence of measured phraseology, and decked in the\ncharms of an imaginative style, this is scarely more beautiful than the\nsimple summary of the Tuath-de-danaan moral code, as given you at page\n112, and of which, in truth, this is but the paraphrase. For instance,\nthey fed, it is stated, \u201con sweet and fragrant herbs,\u201d because they were\nprevented by their first commandment from eating \u201canything endowed with\nlife.\u201d[613] They drank \u201cambrosial dew,\u201d because their fifth commandment\nforbade their touching \u201cany intoxicating liquor.\u201d And the healthful\naspects they exhibited were but the natural result of temperate habits and\nvirtuous demeanour.\n\n  \u201cThe simplest flow\u2019ret of the vale,\n  The simplest note that swells the gale,\n  The common air, the earth, the skies,\n  To them were opening Paradise!\u201d\n\nFive hundred years after the period of their dethronement, while the\ninfluence of their example still continued to operate, we are told by the\nDinn Seanchas, that \u201cThe people deemed each other\u2019s voices sweeter than\nthe warblings of a melodious harp, such peace and concord reigned amongst\nthem, that no music could delight them more than the sound of each other\u2019s\nvoices.\u201d\n\nWith these compare what Cambrensis, who was no friend, has said of this\nisland, about two thousand years after. \u201cOf all climes,\u201d says he, \u201cIreland\nis the most temperate; neither Cancer\u2019s violent heat is felt there in\nsummer, nor Capricorn\u2019s cold in winter; but in these particulars it is so\nblessed, that it seems as if Nature looked upon this zephyric realm with\nits most benignant eye. It is so temperate,\u201d he adds, \u201cthat neither\ninfectious fogs, nor pestilential winds, are felt there, so that the aid\nof doctors is seldom looked for, and sickness rarely appears except among\nthe dying.\u201d\n\nThe repose of this happy people being at length disturbed by the ungenial\ninundation of the Scythian intruders, the ritual of the temple worship was\nprecipitated apace; and this, if I mistake not, \u201csatisfactorily removes\nthe uncertainty in which the origin and uses of those ancient buildings\nhas been heretofore involved.\u201d[614] For the Scythians being warriors[615]\nrather than students, and looking with distrust upon the emblematic images\nof their temple-serving predecessors, which they considered to be\nidolatry, did all in their power by legislative, as well as military\nenactments, to efface every trace thereof; so that in a few years the\ntemple, or tower, worship became utterly extinct, and--more than\nannihilated--forgotten.\n\nInstead thereof, they substituted the worship of _fire_,[616] which,\nthough their predecessors were far from recognising as a deity, yet they\nalways showed to it some reverential respect: and this approximation of\nsentiment, on both parts, contributed to what may be called a passive\nreconciliation; the victors assuming the mastery of the soil; and the\nvanquished, in deference to their high literary repute, being continued as\nsuperintendents of the national education, as well as the practical\nfollowers of all trades and professions.\n\nIt was so also at Rome, when Romulus dislodged the Pelasgi, who, we are\ntold by Festus, had themselves some time previously, under the name of\n\u201cSacrani,\u201d that is, the religious caste, corresponding to \u201cIrish,\u201d which\nsignifies the same thing, drove the Ligures and Siculi from Septimontio,\n_i.e._ Rome.\n\nThe only use now made of those Sabian edifices, after stifling the\nreligion for which they were designed, was, we may suppose, to promote the\nstudy of astronomical science, for which they were admirably adapted, and\nwith which their _original_ destination was inseparably interwoven.[617]\nBut as the stimulus of religion was wanting for the prosecution of those\nresearches, we cannot be surprised that _this_ part of their purpose, too,\nsharing the fate of its collateral helpmate, insensibly repined under the\naltered aspect of the scene; for, to apply to it what has been said of the\ngreat scheme of the creation itself, viz. that--\n\n              \u201cif each system in gradation roll\n  Alike essential to the amazing whole,\n  The least confusion--but in one--not all,\n  That system only, but the whole must fall.\u201d\n\nThe knowledge of this delightful study, however, did not yet completely\ndie away; it formed still an essential in the education of every Irish\nyouth; and the remnant of our language, at this very moment, shows how\npiously attentive were its framers to that divine precept which told them,\nthat the \u201clights of the firmament of heaven were for signs and for\nseasons, and for days and for years.\u201d\n\nThe profligate degeneracy of the Druids, however, tended to bring _this_\nalso into disesteem.\n\nThis order of priests got so overbearing here, grasping at not only high\necclesiastical power, but also intermeddling in secular transactions,\nthat they made themselves obnoxious to the great body of the people, and a\ndisregard both to the literature and the religion which they inculcated\nwas the inevitable result. To this I ascribe the plebeian war of Ireland,\nA.D. 47, that deplorable state of a country, when faction and rage usurp\nthe place of counsel and discretion! when commerce stagnates! confidence\ndecays! when lust stalks abroad to desecrate everything holy! and all is\ndoubt, suspicion, melancholy, and death!\n\nHow beautifully and how aptly, but yet, for himself, how unwisely, did the\nphilosophic Callisthenes apply the sentiment of Euripedes to Philip of\nMacedon, at Alexander\u2019s Feast?--viz.:--\n\n  \u201cWhen civil broils declining states surprise,\n  There the worst men to highest honours rise.\u201d\n\nMany virtuous persons, we are told, opposed themselves to the\nencroachments of this degenerate hierarchy. When Conlah, in his retreat\nfrom the glitter of life, betook himself to an humble cottage, and devoted\nthe faculties of his comprehensive mind to philosophical pursuits and the\nimprovement of his species, the greatest praise which the analyst, in\nrecording such worth, could bestow, was, \u201cShe do rinni an choin\nbhliocht-ris inna Druwdh\u201d; that is, It is he that disputed against the\nDruids!\n\nThe Books, however, of their predecessors, the Boreades, still remained,\nand the knowledge of astronomy was kept alive by their perusal. But of\nthese we were despoiled, very shortly after, by that mistaken piety\nelsewhere deplored. Some few treatises even then must have escaped, and\ntheir effect was best illustrated, as shown before, by the unprecedented\nsuccess with which the gospel dispensation was hailed in this island.\n\nI have before shown the instance of Fergil or Virgil, who, in the eighth\ncentury, maintained the rotund and true form of the earth, when the rest\nof Europe were ignorant on the subject. \u201cHe was,\u201d says Sir James Ware,\n\u201cthe author of a Discourse on the Antipodes, which he most truly held,\nthough against the received opinion of the ancients, who imagined the\nearth to be a plain.\u201d\n\nIn this sweeping ban upon the ancients, however, Sir James must not\ninclude the ancient Irish, whose hereditary doctrine upon the subject it\nis evident that Fergil did here only give utterance to; and dearly did he\nsuffer for it; his life, like that of Galileo, having been forfeited\nthereby, at the hands of the same enlightened tribunal. This was enough to\nput the _last_ extinguisher upon the cultivation, or at least avowal, of\nthe Irish notions of astronomy. It is astonishing, notwithstanding, what\nan instinctive thirst still lurked in the Irish mind for the sublimities\nof this pursuit.[618] Smith mentions an instance of a \u201cpoor man near\nBlackstones, in the county Kerry, who had a tolerable notion of\ncalculating the epacts, golden number, dominical letter, the moon\u2019s\nphases, and even eclipses, although he had never been taught to read\nEnglish.\u201d The author of this essay has known many such characters;--one in\nparticular who, from his great proficiency in the art, had obtained for\nhimself the honourable designation of the _Kerry Star_.\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF IRISH ROUND TOWERS AND CROSSES.[619]\n\n_An asterisk (*) is prefixed to the names of the most remarkable._\n\n\nI. TOWERS.\n\nAGHABOE (Queen\u2019s Co.).\n\nAGHADOE (Kerry), only 12 or 15 feet left. Its masonry greatly superior to\nthat of the church near it (167).\n\nAGHAGOWER (Mayo), near Westport. Imperfect.\n\nAGHAVILLER (Kilkenny), six miles south of Thomastown. Imperfect.\n\nANNADOWN (Galway), only 7 feet of a very fine base left.\n\n*ANTRIM (Antrim), one of the most perfect, but of the smaller class.\n\nARANMORE (Galway), base only.\n\nARDFERT (Kerry), site only.\n\nARDKEEN, or ARDKYNE (Down).\n\nARDMORE (Waterford), very perfect specimen, 97 feet high by 52 feet round\n(_v._ p. 71).\n\nARDPATRICK (Limerick), imperfect.\n\nARDRAHAN (Galway), site interesting from having a subterranean passage.\n\nARMAGHDOWN (Galway).\n\nARMOY (Antrim), near Ballycastle, 40 feet only left.\n\nASSYLIN (Roscommon), site only.\n\nBAAL, or BALLA (Mayo), only 40 feet left, but fine specimen.\n\nBALLYBEG (Cork), site only.\n\nBALLYCARBERY (Kerry), alluded to by O\u2019Brien as a \u201cCathoir ghall\u201d (p. 48).\n\nBALLYGADDY (Galway), near Kilbannon.\n\nBALLYVOURNEY (Cork), site only.\n\nBELTURBET (Cavan).\n\nBRIGOON (Cork), site only; tower blown down in 1704.\n\nCAILTREE ISLE, so mentioned by Vallancey; probably INISCALTRA (_q.v._).\n\nCASHEL (Tipperary), 90 feet high by 42 feet round. Sculptured doorway.\n\nCASTLE DERMOT (Kildare), imperfect, but with fine doorway.\n\nCLAREEN (King\u2019s Co.), see SIERG KIERAN.\n\n*CLONDALKIN (Dublin), complete, but renovated, specimen, nearly 80 feet\nhigh by 45 feet round; curious projecting base 13 feet high (p. 101).\n\nCLONES (Monaghan), imperfect.\n\n*CLONMACNOISE (King\u2019s Co.), two fine, but renovated, specimens.\n\nCLOYNE (Cork), well preserved, but tampered with in rebuilding. Originally\n92 feet high, which has been increased to 102 feet.\n\nCORK (near St. Finbar\u2019s), site only.\n\nDERRY (city), site only.\n\n*DEVENISH (Fermanagh), the most perfect and highly finished of all, 79\nfeet high by 48 feet round (p. 38).\n\nDISART CARRIGEN, or DISERT ANGUS (Limerick), near Adare; about 60 feet\nleft; ornamented doorway.\n\nDONOUGHMORE (Meath), 79 feet left; fine, but imperfect, specimen.\n\nDROMCLIFFE (Clare), very imperfect remains of.\n\nDROMESKIN (Louth), a reconstruction; church now stands on original site.\n\nDRUMBOE (Down), only the base, with quadrangular doorway, remaining.\n\nDRUMCLIFFE (Sligo), only 40 feet left.\n\nDRUMLAHAN, or DRUMLANE (Cavan), only 20 feet of original left, with\n\u201cbelfry\u201d added.\n\nDUBLIN (city), site on left side of Ship Street, now built on.\n\nDURROW (King\u2019s Co.).\n\nDYSART ENOS (Queen\u2019s Co.), imperfect.\n\nDYSART O\u2019DEA (Clare), near Ennis; 50 feet left, 61 feet in circumference.\n\nFERBANE (King\u2019s Co.), Vallancey mentions two specimens.\n\nFERNS (Wexford), evidently a modern structure made out of the old\nmaterials.\n\n*FERTAGH (Kilkenny), one of the loftiest and most perfect.\n\nFINGLAS (Dublin), site only.\n\nGIANT\u2019S RING (Down), a specimen \u201cwithout any church hard by\u201d (O\u2019B.), p.\n514.\n\n*GLENDALOUGH (Wicklow), locality most interesting; contains two specimens,\none 110 feet high by 50 feet round.\n\nINISCALTRA (Galway), probably the \u201cCailtree Isle\u201d of Vallancey.\n\nINIS KEEN (Monaghan), 42 feet left standing.\n\nINIS MACNESSAIN (Ireland\u2019s Eye) (Dublin), site only.\n\nINIS-MOCHOE (Down), on shore of Lough Strangfal; imperfect.\n\n*INIS SCATTERY (Clare), more than 100 feet high, injudiciously repaired.\n\nIRELAND\u2019S EYE (Dublin), materials of tower taken to build R.C. church.\n\nISLE OF ARAN (Galway).\n\nKELLISTOWN (Carlow), site only.\n\n*KELLS (Meath), in very good preservation, though unroofed; quite\nunaltered; 99 feet left.\n\nKILBANNON, or BALLYGADDY (Galway), 40 feet left.\n\nKILCOONA (Galway).\n\nKILCULLEN (Kildare), 40 feet remaining.\n\n*KILDARE, very fine, and elaborately ornamented; 105 feet high, but top\nspurious.\n\n*KILKENNY, perfect, all but the top 108 feet high. Good specimen.\n\nKILLALA (Mayo), good specimen, judiciously repaired; 84 feet high by 50\nfeet round.\n\nKILLASHEE (Kildare), also known as Killossy. Imperfect.\n\nKILLESHANDRA (Cavan).\n\nKILLESHIN (Queen\u2019s Co.), site only.\n\n*KILMACDUAGH (Galway), fine Cyclopean base; 120 feet high by 57 feet\nround; 3 feet out of the perpendicular.\n\nKILMALLOCK (Limerick), very imperfect, and much altered.\n\nKILNABOY (Clare), 12 feet only standing.\n\nKILREA (Kilkenny), nearly perfect.\n\nKINNETH, pronounced KINNEIGH (Cork), remarkably fine hexagonal base,\nunderground passage, rock basins, etc.\n\nLORUM (Carlow), site only.\n\nLUSK (Dublin), fine Cyclopean doorway; much repaired; 100 feet high by 43\nfeet round.\n\nMAGHERA (Down), only 20 feet left, rest blown down in 1704.\n\nMAGHTURREIDH (Sligo), doubtful.\n\nMAHEE ISLAND (Down), imperfect.\n\nMEELICK (Mayo), 72 feet left; in good condition.\n\n*MONASTERBOICE (Louth), characteristic doorway, top shattered by\nlightning, otherwise perfect; 110 feet high by 50 feet round.\n\nORAN (Roscommon), only 12 feet left, must have been one of the largest.\n\nOUGHTERARD (Kildare), scanty remains.\n\nRAM ISLAND (Antrim), scanty remains; said to have been used as a\nsepulchre.\n\nRATH (Clare), site only.\n\nRATHMICHAEL (Dublin), stump only.\n\n*RATTOO (Kerry), very perfect; the loftiest and least injured by\nrenovation.\n\nROSCOM (Galway), three miles east of Galway. Imperfect.\n\nROSCREA (Tipperary), imperfect, curiously sculptured rounded doorway.\n\nROSENALLIS (Meath?), site only; the subject of a bitter controversy (_v._\nPetrie, pp. 40-42).\n\nROSSCARBERY (Cork), site only.\n\n*SCATTERY ISLAND (see INIS SCATTERY), 125 feet high by 52 feet round. The\nonly specimen having doorway level with the ground.\n\nSIERG KEIRAN or CLAREEN (King\u2019s Co.), site only.\n\nSLANE (Meath), very doubtful site.\n\nSWORDS (Dublin), almost entirely rebuilt; 73 feet high.\n\nTAMLAGHTFINLOGAN (Derry), scanty remains.\n\nTEGHADOE (Kildare), 60 feet left, in excellent preservation.\n\nTEMPLE FINGHIN (at Clonmacnoise).\n\n*TIMAHOE (Queen\u2019s Co.), 96 feet high by 60 feet round; beautiful specimen.\n\nTOMGRANEY (Clare), site only.\n\nTORY ISLAND (Donegal), imperfect.\n\nTRUMMERY (Antrim).\n\nTULLAGHERIN (Kilkenny).\n\nTULLOSHERIN (Waterford), near Dungarvan; mentioned by Vallancey.\n\n*TURLOUGH (Mayo), good specimen, but reconstructed in part.\n\nWEST CARBERY (?), so mentioned by Vallancey, but probably ROISCARBERY\n(_q.v._).\n\nNOTE.--Round Towers, evidently imitations of the Irish R. T., exist at\nBrechin and Abernethy in Scotland. There is, also, a rather doubtful\nspecimen at Peel (Isle of Man), and a still more doubtful one at Hythe\n(Kent).\n\n\nII. CROSSES.\n\n_Achath_, _Abhall_, or _Aghold_ (Wicklow), much weather-worn.\n\n*_Ardboe_, or _Arboe_ (Tyrone), about 20 feet high, with remarkable\nsculpture.\n\n_Armagh_, imperfect; when complete, at least 26 feet high; sculptured.\n\n_Banagher_ (Derry), curious sculptured figure of man on horseback.\n\n_Cashel_ (Tipperary), much weather-worn.\n\n_Castle Dermot_ (Kildare), two specimens of some interest.\n\n_Clondalkin_ (Dublin), ancient granite specimen, 9 feet high.\n\n_Clones_ (Monaghan), handsomely sculptured, but weather-worn.\n\n_Clonfeacle_, (Armagh), without sculpture or inscription.\n\n*_Clonmacnoise_ (King\u2019s Co.), two fine specimens (_v._ p. 358).\n\n_Cong_ (Connemara), base only, with inscription in Erse.\n\n_Conwall_ (Donegal), only the socket remaining.\n\n_Donoughmore_ (Meath), imperfect, and much weather-worn.\n\n*_Drumcliffe_ (Sligo), handsomely sculptured.\n\n_Drumeskin_ (Louth), used as a headstone in burying-ground.\n\n_Duleck_ (Meath), handsomely sculptured.\n\n*_Durrow_ (King\u2019s Co.), very beautiful, but hard to find, being situated\namong trees in an old burial-ground.\n\n*_Dysart_, or _Disert_, _O\u2019Dea_ (Clare), now in ruins, once richly\nsculptured.\n\n_Fassaroe_ (Wicklow), in private grounds.\n\n_Ferns_ (Wexford), remains of four specimens in different places.\n\n_Finglas_ (Dublin), well cut, but without ornament (_v._ p. 366).\n\n_Glanculmkill_ (Clare), base only.\n\n_Glen_ (Donegal).\n\n*_Glendalough_ (Wicklow), _v._ p. 466.\n\n*_Kells_ (Meath), three beautiful specimens (_v._ p. 491).\n\n_Kilclispeen_ (Tipperary), with very remarkable sculptured base.\n\n*_Kilcullen_ (Kildare), portions of two specimens (_v._ p. 338).\n\n*_Killkieran_ (Kilkenny), three specimens.\n\n*_Killamery_ (Kilkenny), beautiful specimen.\n\n_Kilmacduagh_ (Galway).\n\n_Kilnaboy_ (Clare), has been shifted from its original position.\n\n*_Kilnafora_ (Clare), remains of five out of seven.\n\n_Kilnafosse._\n\n_Kilrea_ (Kilkenny).\n\n_Maheramore_, or _Banagher_ (Derry). See _Banagher_.\n\n*_Monasterboice_ (Louth), the most perfect in Ireland.\n\n*_Moone Abbey_, or _Timolin_ (Kildare), two specimens; one very\nremarkable.\n\n_Moville_ (Donegal), ancient cross, with hole in top of shaft.\n\n_Nevinstown_ (Meath), in mutilated condition.\n\n_Old Leighlin_ (Carlow), only the base remaining.\n\n_Oughterard_ (Kildare), several specimens near the Round Tower.\n\n_Roscrea_ (Tipperary), broken, but with curious carving.\n\n_Rosstrevor_ (Down), fine specimen in burying-ground.\n\n_Temple Cronan_ (Clare).\n\n_Temple Kieran_ (Leitrim).\n\n*_Termon Fechin_ (Louth), fine specimen.\n\n_Timolin_, or _Moone Abbey_ (Kildare).\n\n_Tory Island_ (Donegal), several specimens.\n\n*_Tuam_ (Galway), \u201cthe finest monument of its class and age\u201d (Petrie).\n\n_Tynan_ (Armagh).\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n(_R. T. signifies Round Tower, or Towers._)\n\n\n  AARON, or Inaron, 149.\n\n  ABAD (Persian dynasty), 246.\n\n  ABARIS, the Boreadan;\n    his mission to Delos from the Insula Hyperboreorum, 53-56, 397, 448;\n    why he did not adopt the Scythian dress, 56;\n    meaning of the \u201carrow\u201d which he bore with him to Delos, 328.\n\n  ABERNETHY (R. T.), 10, 431.\n\n  AGRICULTURE, an object of Sabaic worship, 111.\n\n  AGNARUPI, a manifestation of the Deity (Brahminic), 288.\n\n  AICHE BAAL-TINNE and AICHE-SHAMAIN, 199, 200.\n\n  AITHAIR FOADHA, or the tree of Bhudda, explained, 472.\n\n  ALPHABET (Irish), a \u201ctree\u201d code, 229, 418.\n    See ST. PATRICK.\n\n  AMERGIN, the bard, brother of Heremon and Heber, 22, 387, 388.\n\n  ANNALS of Ulster and of the Four Masters, cited against the theory that\n        R. T. were belfries, 364;\n    also to prove that they existed before the 5th century, 374.\n\n  ANATTA, ANUZZA, and DOCHA, their respective meanings, 114.\n\n  APIS, the Egyptian deity, what he represented, 159.\n\n  APOLLO, meaning of the name, 61;\n    his alleged cyclic visits to the Insula Hyperboreorum (Ireland), 52,\n        397;\n    Christnah, the Indian equivalent of, 218, 219;\n    sculptured with the Python at Knockmoy, 330;\n    meaning of the Python myth, 291;\n    the \u201cgreat year\u201d of the Greeks, 397;\n    his musical worship in Ireland, 403;\n    his supposed temple at Kilmalloch, 202;\n    Phrygian account of his visit to the Hyperboreans, 436;\n    _Gryn\u00e6us_ and _Lyc\u00e6us_ explained, 466.\n    See SUN-WORSHIP.\n\n  APPLE, Eve and the, 227 _et seq._\n\n  ARABIC Sabaism, 503-506.\n\n  ARCHITECTURE of the R. T., 513.\n\n  ARD-MELCHAN, derivation of the name, 203.\n\n  ARDMORE (R. T.), 71, 75;\n    meaning of the name, 75.\n\n  ARGUES, its Sabaic import, 195.\n\n  ARIMASPI, their connection with Cyclopean architecture and mining, 86,\n        407.\n\n  ARK of Scripture, what it means, 224-226, 267, 270 _et seq._\n\n  ARMAGH (R. T.), destruction of, by lightning, 50.\n\n  ARON distinguished from TEBAH (both signifying \u201cark\u201d), 270.\n\n  ARRAN, meaning of the name, 429 _n._\n\n  ARROWHEAD character, 340.\n\n  ARTEMIDORUS cited, 301, 302, 400.\n\n  ARYANS, site of the ancient Aria or Artacoana, 183;\n    Aria and Ariana distinguished, 183, 184;\n    the latter equivalent to Iran or Eriene, 184;\n    Eriene corrupted into Ierne, 185;\n    Zendavast description of the Aryan country, 185 _et seq._;\n    change in its climate, 186, 187;\n    consequent Western migration of the Aryans, 187;\n    Jemshid and his times, 188;\n    policy of Zoroaster, 188;\n    laws of Ormuzd corrupted, 188;\n    two claimants for the name of Zoroaster, 189;\n    antiquity of the original Zoroaster, 189;\n    his predecessors, 189;\n    the Dabistan and its author, Moshan or Fani, 189;\n    religion of Hushang, 189, 190;\n    the Mahabadean dynasty, 190;\n    antiquity of the Iranian monarchy, 190.\n\n  ASIA, the \u201ccradle of the human race,\u201d 265, 266.\n\n  ASTARTE, phallic worship of, 101, 102;\n    description of her temple at Hieropolis, 168;\n    known also by the name Rimmore, 102;\n    signification of the latter, 102;\n    perpetuation of this meaning in sculpture at Glendalough, 473;\n    traces of her worship (as the Moon) at Athlone, 204;\n    the Irish term of endearment, \u201cAstore,\u201d derived from her name, 213;\n    Astarte distinguished from Militta, 213;\n    use of bells in her worship, 175.\n\n  ASTORE. See ASTARTE.\n\n  ASTRONOMY, proficiency of the ancient Irish in, 59, 60, 521-3;\n    R. T. used for purposes connected with, 61, 62, 521;\n    entered into the religion of the ancient Egyptians and Indians, 77-79;\n    connection of serpent-worship with, 515;\n    Fergil and the theory of the earth\u2019s rotundity, 523;\n    predilection of the Irish peasantry for, 523;\n    malign influence of the Druids on, 521.\n\n  ATHLONE, 204.\n\n  ATREUS, \u201ctreasury\u201d of, its analogy to the Round Towers, 454, 458.\n\n  AUGURS (Roman), symbolism of the cross connected with, 490.\n\n  AVATARA and AVANTARA, incarnations (Brahminical) of the Deity,\n        distinguished, 288.\n\n  AVENTINE (Roman), derivation of the name, 198 _n._\n\n  AVIENUS on the _Insula Sacra_, 28, 29, 117;\n    his opinion of Irish antiquities, 28;\n    applies the term \u201cHibernian\u201d to the Irish, 28.\n\n\n  BAALS, plurality and divinity of, 29;\n    meaning of \u201cBaal,\u201d 29, 65;\n    connection between them and the R. T., 29;\n    twofold signification of the word \u201cBaal\u201d in Scripture, 74;\n    Septuagint rendering of the expression \u201chigh place of Baal,\u201d 75;\n    the Irish _Bail-toir_ and _Aoi-Bail-toir_ distinguished, 75.\n\n  BAAL-PHEARAGH, how connected with the _Baal-peor_ of Scripture, and with\n        the African _Belli-Paaro_, 111;\n    signification of the name, 103;\n    form of the R. T. attributable to his influence, 29.\n    See FARRAGH or PHEARAGH.\n\n  BAAL-THINNE, or sacred fire of Baal, 88-90.\n\n  BAALTIS, meaning of, 65.\n\n  BABEL, tower of, its purpose, 63, 64;\n    meaning of \u201cBabel,\u201d 65;\n    the Hebrew (scriptural) name for, indicative of its phallic character,\n        283, 284.\n\n  BABYLONIANS, proficient in astronomy, 64 _n._\n\n  BACCHUS, name of, found in ancient Irish inscriptions, 437;\n    only another name for one of the various Buddhas, 235 _n._;\n    the \u201cMaypole\u201d ceremony specially connected with his worship, 235;\n    significance of the name _Sabasins_, 505.\n\n  BADHHA, worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaan women, 132.\n\n  BAKU, description of fire-temple at, 72.\n\n  BALLYCARBERY (R. T.), 48.\n\n  BANAVAN (in Scotland), its connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 114 _n._\n\n  BARDS, nature of their office, 22, 23;\n    their high reputation, 23, 24;\n    their use of rhyme and verse, 25;\n    also of music, 25, 405, 406;\n    their decadence into prose after their conversion to Christianity, 25;\n    suppressed by the English, 26;\n    superiority of Irish bardic music, 405, 406;\n    origin of the name \u201cBards,\u201d 451;\n    the knowledge of astronomy preserved in their sacred books, 522.\n\n  BASILISK, or COCKATRICE, its Sabaic and scriptural significance, 225,\n        226.\n\n  BAVANA and DANA, 113, 114.\n\n  BEAUFORT (Miss), and the enactment of Tara (A.D. 79), 88-96.\n\n  BELFRIES, the R. T. could not have been intended as, 5-13, 36, 37;\n    the names _Cloic-teacha_ and _Erdam_ applied to them in the Irish\n        Annals, as distinguished from _Fiadh-Nemeadh_, 50, 51.\n\n  BELLI-PAARO, or _Baal-Peor_, and _Baal-Phearagh_, phallic nature of, 111.\n\n  BELLS, origin of, 10, 11;\n    Irish CEOL and _Ceolan_ date from pagan times, 11;\n    the Sabian and Druidic use of, adopted by the Christian missionaries\n        to their own worship, 11, 170-175;\n    introduced into England from Ireland by Gildas, 11, 173, 174;\n    miraculous effects supposed to result from the tolling of, 35 _n._;\n    date of their introduction into churches, 174;\n    shape of the Irish _crotals_, or pagan bells, 175;\n    square bells, 175;\n    connection of bells with the worship of Astarte, 175;\n    St. Finnan\u2019s bell, 174 _n._;\n    references to bells in Scripture, 171;\n    traces of apparatus for ringing bells found in some of the R. T.\n        accounted for, 172, 173;\n    used for worship in Ceylon, Burmah, and China, 173, 174.\n\n  BELUS, description of the tower of, by Herodotus, 283 _n._\n\n  BENARES, cruciform shape of pagodas at, 352;\n    sepulchral pyramids at, 75, 76.\n\n  BETH (Irish alphabetical letter), significance of, 228, 229.\n\n  BIRS-NIMROD, or tower of Nimrod, its Sabaic character, 65 _n._\n\n  _Bleain_, the Irish for year, its meaning and derivation, 58.\n\n  BOAR-INCARNATION (of Vishnu) and the White Island, 326-328.\n\n  BOAT (lunar), or crescent, 273.\n\n  BOAZ and JACHIN (pillars of Solomon\u2019s temple), 372, 511-514.\n\n  BOLATI, meaning of, 65.\n\n  BONA DEA, Sabaic rites of, 348, 349.\n\n  BOO and A-BOO, origin of the Irish expressions, 132, 133.\n\n  BOREADES, or Tuath-de-danaan priests of Boreas, superseded by the\n        Scythian Druids, 56;\n    relics of their costume, 56, 57;\n    likewise priests of Apollo, 397-401;\n    origin of the name, 401;\n    Irish astronomy preserved in their sacred books, 522.\n    See BARDS and INSULA HYPERBOREORUM.\n\n  BRAHMINISM, subsequent to and distinct from Buddhism, 108, 213-215;\n    its doctrine of multiple divine emanations, 287, 288.\n    See INDIA.\n\n  BRAZEN SERPENT (of Scripture), or _Nehushtan_, its relation to the\n        basilisk, 225;\n    also to Sabaism generally, and to that of Ireland in particular,\n        501-506.\n    See SERPENT-WORSHIP.\n\n  BRECHIN (R. T.), 8, 10, 431;\n    description and explanation of its symbolic sculpture, 299-301.\n\n  BRITAIN, inclusive of Ireland, in ancient writings, 58;\n    derivation of the name, 427;\n    Irish etymology of some English local names accounted for, 426, 427.\n\n  BRONTES, Sabaic import of the name, 195.\n\n  BROOCHES (Irish) of crescent form, their symbolism, 273, 274.\n\n  BUDDHISM, speculations regarding nature of, 107;\n    antecedent to Brahminism, 108, 213, 214;\n    Buddhists expelled from India, 108, 109;\n    date of Buddha\u2019s ministry, 109;\n    abstract character of his teaching, 109, 110;\n    the Sun and Moon (_i.e._ generation and production) as objects of\n        primitive worship, 109, 110;\n    Buddhism preceded Buddha, 109, 110;\n    definition of Bhud and Buddhism, 112;\n    transmigration of souls, a tenet of, 112, 113;\n    abstract purity of, 112, 220;\n    moral code of Buddhists, 112, 220;\n    _Dana_, _Bavana_, _Anuzza_, _Docha_, and _Anatta_ explained, 113, 114;\n    forbids the taking of animal life, 113;\n    reverence of Buddhists for the elephant, 113 _n._;\n    _Budh-Nemph_, _Nemph-Thur_, and _Tor-Boileh_ equivalent, 114 _n._;\n    _Badha_, _Macha_, and _Moriagan_ worshipped by Tuath-de danaans, 131,\n        132;\n    _Farragh_ or _Phearagh_ (Irish), identical with Bhud, 132;\n    origin of the Irish suffixes _Boo_ and _a-Boo_, 130, 132;\n    Tuath-de-danaan effigy of Buddha, 139, 141;\n    its Sabaistic and Phallic character, 213, 227, 311;\n    Colebrooke\u2019s charges against considered, 214, 215;\n    subterranean temples for practice of, 215, 216;\n    Buddha distinct from Paramon, 216;\n    _Dearg_, _darioga_, and _darag_ as epithets of Buddha, 216, 217;\n    meaning of _Magh_ and _Maghody_, 217;\n    CHRISTNAH, or the \u201cIndian Apollo,\u201d 218, 219;\n    _Buddha_ stands for a series of incarnations, 220, 221;\n    _Budh_, the forbidden \u201capple\u201d of Scripture, 227;\n    twofold meaning of _Budh_, or _Fiodh_, 228 _et seq._;\n    Eve, the first Buddhist, 230;\n    Cain, the first priest of Buddhism, 230;\n    Bacchus identical with Buddha, 235 _n._;\n    significance of the Ceylon \u201cMaypole\u201d festival, 238, 239;\n    the Palencian \u201ctree\u201d-symbolism, 229;\n    original seat of, 244, 264;\n    _Budh_ and its derivatives, _Fiodh_, _Fidhuis_, _Fides_, with Deus and\n        Hercules, 250;\n    _Tuath_ and _Suath_ identical with _Buddha_, 264;\n    birthplace and parentage of Buddha, 264;\n    corresponding Brahminic doctrine of multiple incarnation 287;\n    its doctrine of a virginal conception, 288;\n    its symbolism of the cross compared with that of Christianity, 293,\n        294, 295;\n    _Budh_ synonymous with _Phallus_, 311;\n    also with the Egyptian _Thot_, 323;\n    Bhagavan, Crishna, the White Island, and snake-legend of the _Puranas_\n        considered, 325-329;\n    connection of the \u201cboar incarnation\u201d with Ireland, 326-328;\n    Buddhist sculpture at Knockmoy, 328-336;\n    also on Cross at Old Kilcullen, 337, 338;\n    analogies between Buddhism and Christianity, 364, 365;\n    theory that Orpheus was a Buddhist, 405.\n\n  BUDH (Irish), or FIODH, its signification, 103;\n    primary and secondary meaning of, 228, 229.\n\n  BUDH-GAYE (Irish) and BUDDA-GAYA (Indian), their phallic meaning,\n        310-312.\n\n  BUD-NEMPH and NEMPH-THUR (birthplace of St. Patrick), also TOR BOILEH\n        (Indian local name), identical in meaning, 114 _n._\n\n  BUNS (I. for children), e.g. _Surage-buns_, or children of the sun;\n    cf. with _Hindu-Buns_ (E. I.), children of the moon, 74.\n\n  BURWAH SANGOR, description of snake-sculpture on Hindu temple at, 363;\n    its mutilation by Mohammedans analogous to that of the similar\n        sculpture on Irish crosses by St. Patrick, 364.\n\n\n  CABIRI and CABIRIC, origin and meaning of the name, 354;\n    connected with Freemasonry, 354, 359.\n\n  CAIN, the first priest of Buddhism, 230;\n    nature of his offence, 230;\n    and of the \u201csin-offering\u201d prescribed for him, 230, 231;\n    also of the \u201cmark\u201d set upon him, 232;\n    computation of the time at which he lived, 234;\n    his predecessors, 241, 242;\n    his immediate progeny, 247.\n\n  CAMADEVA (Hindu god of desire), origin and meaning of his name, 94;\n    other names for, 94;\n    his parentage, marriage, and friendships, 94, 95;\n    personal aspect of, 94, 95;\n    hymn to, 95, 96;\n    his connection with the phallic symbolism of the R. T., 91-101.\n\n  CAMBRENSIS (Giraldus Cambrensis) on the R. T., 49, 83;\n    on the climate of Ireland, 529.\n\n  CAMDEN on the R .T., 374.\n\n  CANONISATION of local pagan objects of worship in Ireland, 43, 44.\n\n  CARNAC, Buddhist symbolism at, 321-323.\n\n  CASTLEREAGH, evidence of Sabaic worship at, 205, 206.\n\n  CATHOIR-GHALL (as a name of R. T.), its meaning, 48, 61, 62, 103.\n\n  CAUCASUS, origin and meaning of the name, 354, 355;\n    existence of buildings similar to the R. T. in, 74.\n\n  CAVES. See MITHRATIC CAVES.\n\n  CELESTIAL INDEXES, theory of the R. T. being, considered, 52.\n\n  CELESTINE (pope), his commission _Ad Scotos_, 41.\n\n  CELLS, theory of the R. T. being, 13, 14.\n\n  CEOL and CEOLAN (bells), their pagan use, 11.\n\n  CEYLON, bells used at the _Dagob_ temples in, 173 _n._;\n    the Maypole ceremony as observed in, 238;\n    Buddhist temple of _Calane_ in, resemblance between it and Brechin\n        R. T., 300;\n    meaning of the name _Dagobs_, 369;\n    description of a _Dagob_, 369-371;\n    sepulchral character of, 370, 371.\n\n  CHAILDEES, or CULDEES, not connected with the Egyptian Cophtes, 40, 41;\n    the latter may, however, have derived their knowledge from the\n        Tuath-de-danaans, 155;\n    did not admit the papal supremacy, 46;\n    meaning of the name, 44.\n\n  CHALDEANS, their connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 155.\n\n  CHRISTIANITY, existed in Ireland before the time of Pelagius, or of St.\n        Patrick, 41;\n    early Irish Christians ostracised, 42;\n    St. Patrick\u2019s actual share in the diffusion of, 42, 43;\n    canonisation of objects of pagan worship by the apostles of, 44, 492;\n    to what its reception by the Irish pagans, is attributable, 344 _et\n        seq._;\n    prophecy in the Hindu Puranas of a coming redeemer of mankind, 345;\n    the \u201cYugas\u201d to the same effect, 345, 346;\n    Hindu \u201cHistory of Vicrama Ditya,\u201d 346;\n    Arabic poetic prediction to same effect, 346;\n    analogous inscription on pillar at Buddal, 346, 347;\n    theory that, in its leading essentials, it was introduced into Ireland\n        as a revival of an early Eastern religion by the Tuath-de-danaans,\n        493;\n    the Greek term _logos_ considered with reference to this point, 478,\n        479;\n    also the reference in St. John\u2019s gospel to Christ\u2019s coming to his\n        \u201cown,\u201d 478;\n    the incident of the _Magi_, and the symbolism of the cross in its\n        sculptured representation, 482, 483;\n    meaning of the expression \u201cLamb of God,\u201d 486-489;\n    conformity between Buddhism and Christianity, 365;\n    the Church festivals derived from the Tuath-de-danaan ritual, 493.\n\n  CHRISTNAH (the Indian Apollo), 218, 219;\n    the legend of his incarnation and his connection with the \u201cWhite\n        Island\u201d (Muc-Inis), 326, 327.\n\n  CHRONOS, deification of, accounted for, 197.\n\n  CHURCHES, arguments from their being found in the neighbourhood of Round\n        Towers, Cromleachs, and Mithratic caves against the pre-Christian\n        antiquity of the R. T. considered, 7, 8, 356, 357.\n\n  CLEMENT (the Irish doctor), German testimony to his learning, 54 _n._\n\n  CLIMATE of Ireland praised by Geraldus Cambrensis, 529.\n\n  CLOGAD, meaning of, 12;\n    the name accountable for a mistake as to the R. T., 12.\n\n  CLOICTEACH, or belfrey, distinct from R. T., 36, 37.\n\n  CLONDALKIN (R. T.), 101, 359.\n\n  CLONMACNOISE, antiquity of its crosses, churches, and round towers\n        accounted for, 356, 357;\n    once a stronghold of Buddhism, 356, 357;\n    its sculptures unconnected with Christianity, 358, 359;\n    inferiority of the architecture of its churches to that of the other\n        remains, such as crosses and round towers, 163;\n    Abbot O\u2019Brien and his \u201ccell,\u201d 13, 14.\n\n  COCKATRICE, or BASILISK, its symbolism, 225.\n\n  COLEBROOKE\u2019S statement regarding Buddhism refuted, 214.\n\n  COLGAN on the R. T., 37, 51.\n\n  COLZOUM (Egyptian monastery), supposed to resemble the R. T., 30-33.\n\n  COPTIC, Hurd\u2019s description of the Ethiopian monks so-called, 45, 46;\n    such monastic orders not analogous to the Irish Culdees or Chaildees,\n        45.\n\n  CORMAC (bishop of Cashel), his allusions to fire-worship, 81, 82;\n    his description of the R. T., and opinion of their great antiquity,\n        368, 394.\n\n  CRESCENT-WORSHIP, its origin and significance, 261, 262, 273 _et seq._;\n    its symbolism preserved in the Irish crescent brooches, 273, 274;\n    crescent on the summits of R. T., 103;\n    the crescent of Sheva (Hindu), 103;\n    the crescent and the \u201cark,\u201d 224-226;\n    the Pish-de-danaan votaries of, 261, 262.\n\n  CRIOCH-NA-FUINEADHACH, a name of Ireland, its meaning, 344.\n\n  CROCODILES as objects of worship, 165, 166;\n    bearing of this on the question of sub-pyramidal (and R. T.) cavities,\n        166.\n\n  CROMLEACHS, their Buddhist origin, 2, 3;\n    that churches are found in their vicinity no disproof of this, 8;\n    possibly the work of Firbolgs or Scythians, 428.\n\n  CROSS-WORSHIP, its antiquity and universality, 289-308;\n    Egyptian interpretation of the cross symbol, 289, 291;\n    Druidic cross worship, 289;\n    practised among all ancient Gothic peoples, 290;\n    the Egyptian _Taut_ symbol, 291;\n    Buddhist origin of cross-worship, 291;\n    Greek allegory of Apollo and the Python, 291, 292;\n    the Irish _Tuath_ cross, 291;\n    the cross a symbol of universal nature, 294;\n    Irish cross with _kilted_ figure thereon--of whom? 295-297;\n    crosses on obelisk at Sandwick (Ross-shire), 305-309;\n    crosses in cryptograms of heathen deities, 308;\n    Plato on the prevalence of the cross symbol, 308;\n    cross symbols found at the temple of Serapis, 312;\n    the forehead \u201cmark\u201d in Ezekiel, a cross, 313;\n    cross on the coinage of the Emperor Decius, 314;\n    also on Ph\u0153nician medals, 314, 315;\n    description of the great cross at Forres, 317-320;\n    the latter cross probably erected by Tuath-de-danaans, 320;\n    theory that such crosses are of Danish origin refuted, 321;\n    cross symbols on monolith at Carnac, 321, 322;\n    resemblance of sculpture on cross at Old Kilcullen to those on the\n        temple at Kalabche in Nubia, 337-342;\n    crucificial Buddhist effigy of Deva Thot, 343, 344;\n    freemasonry and the crucifixion, 344;\n    cruciform construction of Mithratic temple at New Grange, 350;\n    also of the so-called \u201cDevil\u2019s Yonies,\u201d 314, 350, 351;\n    also of pagodas at Benares and Mathura, 352;\n    union of cross with lingam symbol at Elephanta, 353;\n    analogy between Irish and Eastern cross-symbolism, 353, 354;\n    snake-sculpture on Irish crosses, 502;\n    the crosses of Clonmacnoise, Clondalkin, Armagh, Finglas, etc.,\n        357-367;\n    cross-symbolism at Brechin and Donoghmore R. T., 8;\n    its connection with serpent-worship, Freemasonry, and Buddhism,\n        358-367;\n    all ancient Irish crosses the work of Tuath-de-danaans, 359-361;\n    the dog-effigy on the cross at Clonmacnoise, 359;\n    demolition and restoration of cross at Finglas, 365-367;\n    cross-worship symbolised in the shamrock, 440;\n    meaning of the expression \u201cLamb of God,\u201d 486-489;\n    also of the emblem \u00d7 for the number _ten_, 487, 488;\n    also of the Druidic \u201ckey\u201d emblem, 488, 489;\n    also of the Irish cross (or \u201cfinger\u201d) oath, 489;\n    theory of crosses having been introduced into Ireland by the Pope,\n        489-492;\n    the cross-symbolism of Palencia, 490;\n    the cross-staff of the Roman Augurs, 490;\n    pagan sculpture on the cross at Kells, 490, 491;\n    how Irish crosses became associated with Christianity, 492-494;\n    how the crosses over the doors of some of the round towers may be\n        accounted for, 511.\n\n  CRUCIFIXION, sculpture of, at Knockmoy, explained, 328-345;\n    analogous sculpture on temple at Kalabche (Nubia), 337;\n    Hindu (Purana) legend of, 339;\n    testimony of Buddhists and of Freemasonry to the fact of a primeval\n        crucifixion, 343, 344.\n\n  CUMMAN, the Irish astronomer, 59.\n\n  CYCLE, of nineteen years--\u201cthe great year\u201d of the Greeks, 52.\n\n  CYCLOPEAN WALLS, their origin, and derivation of the name, 86;\n    found wherever the Pelasgi settled, 86.\n\n  CYCLOPS, public origin of the name, 86;\n    its Sabaic import, 195, 196.\n\n\n  DAGOBS (Cingalese temples), analogous to the R. T., 369-372.\n\n  DAHAMSOUDA (King of Baranes, or Benares) and the _Bana_, or Buddhist\n        gospel, sculpture of the legend at Glendalough, 470 _et seq._\n\n  DALTON on the date of the Scotch R. T., 10;\n    his theory that _Iris_ was not Ireland considered, 398.\n\n  DANA, as the root of _Danaans_, its meaning, 113.\n\n  DANCING, connected with Sabaic worship, 110;\n    circular dances performed round the R. T., 517;\n    _Rinke-teumpoil_ and _Turrish_ dances, 517.\n\n  DANES, the R. T. could not have been constructed by, 9, 10;\n    nor have been intended as places of refuge from, 35, 36;\n    crosses not commemorative in any way of the, 321.\n\n  DAVIES on the genealogy of the Irish language, 58.\n\n  DEARG, DARAG, and DARIOGA, their origin and meaning, 206, 216, 217.\n\n  DECIUS (Roman Emperor), the cross-emblem on his coinage, 314.\n\n  DELOS, visit of Abaris to, 53-56, 397, 448;\n    why the fleet of Xerxes did not molest, 69;\n    Hyperborean embassies to, repulsed, 445, 446;\n    account of the subsequent transmission of Hyperborean offerings to the\n        shrines of Apollo and Diana there, 446.\n\n  DELPHI, poetic account of the foundation of the oracle by Hyperboreans\n        representative of the Irish priesthood, 445;\n    similar tradition at Delos, 445;\n    hymn of Alc\u00e6us commemorating the visit of Apollo to the Hyperboreans\n        on his way to, 446, 447;\n    derivation of the names _Delphi_, _Pythia_, and _Sybil_, 507;\n    whence the Pythia derived her inspiration, 507.\n\n  DELUGE, scriptural narrative of, explained, 266 _et seq._;\n    number of the Noachid\u00e6, 269, 270;\n    distinction between _Aron_ and _Thebit_ (both signifying \u201cark\u201d), 270;\n    meaning of the name _Noah_, and of the mandate, \u201cCome thou and all thy\n        house into the ark,\u201d 272;\n    derivation of _Deucalion_, 275;\n    figurative character of the, 275, 276;\n    the argument from marine strata, 276-278;\n    signification of the _raven_, _dove_, and _olive branch_, 278;\n    Purana account of the, 279 _n._;\n    whence the Mosaic version may have been derived, 280, 281;\n    _Japhet_ and _Javan_ explained, 283 _n._;\n    coincidence between the diluvian period and that of the\n        Tuath-de-danaan migration from the East, 436;\n    legend of Fintan and Caisarea, niece of Noah, 385;\n    Moses and the Pish-de-danaans, 283.\n\n  DENDERA, resemblance between the respective worships of ancient Egypt\n        and India exemplified by conduct of Sepoys at, 143, 144.\n\n  DEUCALION, origin of the name, 275.\n\n  DEUS and Hercules synonymous, 250;\n    meaning of Deus Fidhius, 250.\n\n  DEVA THOT (Buddhist), represented as crucified, 343.\n\n  DEVENISH (R. T.), 38, 71, 167.\n\n  DEVIL\u2019S YONIES, 314, 350, 351.\n\n  DIODORUS SICULUS and _Iris_, or the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 120 _n._,\n        397-399.\n\n  DIONYSIUS OF SICILY, sense in which he uses _Iris_ and _Irin_, 120.\n\n  DOCHA, included with _Anuzza_ and _Anatta_ in the _Bavana_, 114.\n\n  DOG, personified in sculpture at Persepolis and Clonmacnoise, 359.\n\n  DOGHDA (Milk), the title of the tutelar goddess of Ireland, 339.\n\n  DONATUS (bishop of Etruria, 9th century), his description of _Scotia_,\n        or Ireland, 54.\n\n  DONOGHMORE (R. T.), bas-relief of crucifix over door of, 8.\n\n  DOVE, its signification in the Noachian allegory, 278.\n\n  DOWNPATRICK, St Patrick\u2019s alleged \u201cgranary\u201d near, 164.\n\n  DRUIDS, superiority of the Irish, 57;\n    C\u00e6sar and Pomponius Mela on the, 57;\n    whence the Irish Druids derived their superiority, 57;\n    were fire-worshippers, 82;\n    significance of the golden \u201csickle\u201d used by them in cutting mistletoe,\n        200;\n    influence of their degeneracy on the study of astronomy in Ireland,\n        521;\n    how that study was kept alive by the books of their predecessors, the\n        Boreades, 522.\n\n  DUMBOE (R. T.), 81.\n\n  DUNE OF DORNADELLA (Scotland), its resemblance to the R. T., 455;\n    the mystery of its stone shelves explained, 456.\n\n  DUNGEONS, theory of the R. T. being, 16 _et seq._\n\n\n  EGYPT, ancestral connection of Ireland with, 77;\n    Sabian character of its ancient worship, 77;\n    resemblance of the latter to that of India and China, 143;\n    remarkable confirmation of this in the conduct of Sepoys at Dendera,\n        143;\n    its Ghizan pyramids popularly ascribed to Philitis (a _shepherd_), and\n        the evidence of Sanskrit records to the same effect, 144-146;\n    the _Uksi_, or shepherd kings, 146, 151;\n    derivation of the word \u201cpyramid,\u201d 146-148;\n    the Coptic name and its signification, 148;\n    _Arm\u00e6us_, _Amosis_, and _Inaron_ (the supposed founders of the Ghezan\n        pyramids), who they were, 149;\n    sojourn of the Israelites in, 149;\n    did not take place until after the Uksi invasion, 151;\n    the dislike of the Egyptians to the Israelites accounted for, 151;\n    Manetho\u2019s account of Osarsiph or Moses, 151;\n    proximity of Goshen to Ghiza, 153;\n    date of the Exodus, 150;\n    civilisation and magic of the Egyptians borrowed from the Chaldeans,\n        155;\n    connection of this circumstance with Irish history, 155;\n    the ancient Egyptians not idolaters, 268;\n    indebtedness of Moses to them, 281.\n\n  ELEPHANTA (subterranean or Mithratic temples of), Buddhist sculptures\n        of, 215;\n    their defacement by the Brahmins, 215, 216;\n    cross-symbolism in, 353.\n\n  ELEPHANTS, objects of reverence to Buddhists, 113 _n._\n\n  ELEUSINIAN _mysteries_, their nature, 110, 111, 347, 348;\n    kindred rites of _Bona Dea_ and _Phiditia_, 348, 349;\n    degradation of such rites into the _Saturnalia_, 349, 350;\n    the Irish _Nullog_, 350;\n    the typification of regeneration, or the _new birth_, 350.\n\n  ELLORA (caves of), 215, 216.\n\n  EMERALD ISLE, explanation of the name, 503.\n\n  ENGLAND, traces of the Danaans in, 425.\n\n  ENOCH (Book of), 401, 402, 475-478.\n\n  ERDAM (Irish for belfry), contradistinguished from _Fidh-Nemead_, 50.\n\n  ERIGENA, or SCOTUS (John or Shane), the Irish doctor, 54 _n._\n\n  ETRURIANS, their origin and connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 85.\n\n  EVE, the forbidden fruit and the serpent, 227-230, 285 _et seq._, 506,\n        508.\n\n  EXODUS. See EGYPT.\n\n\n  FARRAGH, or PHEARAGH, 56;\n    identical with Budh and Moriagan, 132, 141;\n    meaning of the name 132;\n    Spencer\u2019s theory as to his being Fergus, king of Scotland, 132;\n    his identity with _Peor_ and _Priapus_, 132 _n._;\n    his effigy in the Museum of T. C. D., 137, 138;\n    similar effigies found at Rampore (Himalayas), 139;\n    as to his being synonymous with Pharaoh, 142;\n    represented as wearing a kilt, or philabeg, 141, 341.\n\n  FENIUS, or FENI, ancestor of the Scoto-Milesians, 432;\n    date of his era, 432.\n\n  FERGIL, Irish astronomer, who in the 8th century taught the rotundity of\n        the earth, 523.\n\n  FIDH-NEMEAD, or FIDH-NEMPHED, its meaning, 50, 105, 353;\n    Colgan\u2019s and O\u2019Connor\u2019s errors respecting, 51.\n\n  FINE ARTS, existed in remote antiquity, 407;\n    proficiency of the ancient Irish in, 411;\n    evidence of this proficiency, 412;\n    Oriental character of the Tuath-de-danaan fine art work, 412, 413.\n\n  FINGER-OATH of the Irish peasantry, its connection with cross-worship,\n        489, 501.\n\n  FINGLAS, old cross at, 365-367.\n\n  FIODH, or FIDHUIS, its derivation and meaning, 228, 250.\n\n  FIRBOLGS, or Celtic inhabitants of Ireland before the Tuath-de-danaans,\n        297;\n    assisted the Scythians to expel the latter, 297, 428;\n    their attire described, 297;\n    could not have built the R. T., 386, 387;\n    but probably constructed the Cromleachs, 428;\n    origin of the name, 428;\n    their religion akin to that of the Scythians, 428;\n    how the existence of two distinct races (Celtic and Scythian) in Arran\n        and the northern isles may be accounted for, 428, 429;\n    duration of their rule between the first Tuath-de-danaan emigration\n        (from Persia) and the second (from India), 442, 443;\n    confusion as to the battle of Moytura, which they fought with the\n        Tuath-de-danaans, 386, 387, 448, 449.\n\n  FIRE-WORSHIP, alluded to in Scripture, 67, 68;\n    originated in \u201cUr of the Chaldees,\u201d 68;\n    spread thence to Persia, 69;\n    the Persian \u201cUr,\u201d 69;\n    the \u201cPyrea\u201d noticed by Brisson, its nature, 69;\n    question as to whether the round towers were fire-temples, 70-75,\n        80-82;\n    also as to whether the Ghebre or Parsee temples were exclusively\n        devoted to this worship, 71;\n    structural peculiarities of fire-temples, 71, 72;\n    the temples at Baku and Smerwick, 72;\n    Strabo\u2019s description of the \u201cPyratheia,\u201d 72;\n    fire-temple at Zezd, 72;\n    pagodas considered and described, 73;\n    derivation of the name \u201cpagoda,\u201d 73, 352 _n._;\n    pagodas devoted to worship of the sun and moon, 73;\n    significance of their form, 73, 74;\n    fire-worship introduced into Italy by the Pelasgi, 86, 87, and into\n        Ireland by the Scythians, 520;\n    could not have been the exclusive purpose of round towers, 80-82;\n    Cormac\u2019s allusion to, 81, 82;\n    Druidic fire-worship, 82;\n    St. Bridget\u2019s fire-temple, 82, 83;\n    testimony of the Venerable Bede to its existence in Ireland, 83;\n    structural affinity of the Irish fire-temples to those of ancient\n        Greece and Rome, 85, 86;\n    the vestal fire, 87;\n    the _Baal-thinne_, Miss Beaufort\u2019s theory as to, 88-90.\n\n  FOMORIANS, in what sense they may be regarded as builders of the R. T.,\n        394, 395;\n    their affinity to the Tuath-de-danaans, 393-395;\n    meaning of the name, 394, 395.\n\n  FORBIDDEN FRUIT (of Scripture), its meaning, 227, 229 _n._\n\n  FOREHEAD-MARK (Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 6), a cross, 313.\n\n  FORRES (Scotland), description of sculpture on cross at, 317-320.\n\n  FOUR MASTERS. See ANNALS.\n\n  FREEMASONRY, 20;\n    essentially Christian in principle, 344;\n    its Cabiric rites similar to those practised in the Fiodh Aongusa or\n        the Mithratic caves of Budh, 353, 354;\n    its connection with the R. T., 19, 20.\n    See MASONIC.\n\n  FULLER, allusion in his writings to the Irish harp, 406.\n\n\n  GADELGLAS, origin of the name, 502, 503;\n    its connection with serpent-worship, 502.\n\n  GADELIANS, ancestors of the Milesians, 432, 502.\n\n  GAL AND NOUDABAL (Persian legend from Ferdosi), its meaning, 102 _n._\n\n  GALLAMH, father of Heber and Heremon, 393, 432.\n\n  GAUR TOWERS of India, similar to the R. T., 371.\n\n  GAYE-PHALLUS, twofold meaning of, 311, 312.\n\n  \u201cGENERATION OF VIPERS,\u201d meaning of the phrase, 498 _et seq._\n\n  GHEBRES, or PARSEES, their fire-temples, 71.\n\n  GHIZEH and its pyramids, 144-153.\n\n  GIANT\u2019S RING (R. T.), an instance of a R. T. without a church near it,\n        514.\n\n  GILDAS, introduction of bells into England by, 11, 121, 173, 174.\n\n  GIRALDUS. See CAMBRENSIS.\n\n  GLENDALOUGH (R. T.), 167, 469, 474.\n    See SAINT KEVIN.\n\n  GNOMONS, theory that the R. T. were. See CELESTIAL INDEXES.\n\n  GOBAN SAER (the supposed architect of the R. T.), legendary account of,\n        375-385;\n    not contemporary with St. Abhan, 383, 384, 493;\n    was a Tuath-de-danaan, 386, 492;\n    meaning of his name, 385, 386;\n    his individuality, 379, 385;\n    his effigy at Clonmacnoise, 358;\n    the sacerdotal character of its attire, 513.\n\n  GOSHEN, significance of its situation, 153.\n\n  GRANARD, derivation of the name, 208.\n\n  GREECE, not the source of Irish religion or learning, 41, 453;\n    nature of Greek Sabaism, 194-197;\n    Herodotus on the Greek theogony, 196;\n    remarkable derivative analogy between Greek and Irish names, 453-470.\n\n  GRIAN (Irish), as the root of _Gryn\u00e6us_ (epithet of Apollo), 208.\n\n  GYAH, Buddhist subterranean temple, 215.\n\n  GWALIOR (Hindu temple), its subterranean passage, 166.\n\n\n  HARP, cultivation of harp music in Ireland, 403-406.\n\n  HEBER and HEREMON, 387;\n    their parentage, 393, 432;\n    headed the Scythian invasion of Ireland, 393;\n    their epoch according to Irish chronology, 432;\n    distinct, except in language, from the _Danaans_, 393.\n\n  HEBREW, its affinity to Irish, 228.\n\n  HECAT\u00c6US on the mission of Abaris from the island of the Hyperboreans to\n        Delos, 53-55;\n    on the peculiar appearance of the moon as seen from the latter island,\n        397;\n    on the cyclic visits of Apollo to the latter, 397;\n    on the prevalence of _harpers_ there, 403.\n\n  HEEREN on the history, language, architecture, and institutions of\n        ancient Persia, 178-183.\n\n  HELIOGABALUS, connection of the name with the perverted sense of\n        _Gaye-phallus_, 312.\n\n  HERCULES, and his twelve labours, 195;\n    worshipped in Egypt, Ph\u0153nicia, and elsewhere, before his inclusion in\n        the Greek theogony, 195;\n    a personification of the sun, 195;\n    pronounced by Orpheus the father and destroyer of all things, and the\n        great deliverer of mankind, 195;\n    explanation of the Zodiac, 195, 196;\n    Hercules Astrokiton, 196;\n    worshipped by different nations under a diversity of names, 196;\n    Hercules Fidhius, 250;\n    Hercules and Deus synonymous terms, 250;\n    the founder of Western philosophy, 437;\n    worshipped as _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_, 437.\n\n  HERODOTUS cited, 160, 161, 180, 196.\n\n  HIBERNIA, meaning and derivation of the name, 28, 29, 115-126, 128, 129.\n    See IRAN, IRELAND, INSULA HYPERBOREORUM.\n\n  HINDUS, their origin and the meaning of their name, 74.\n    See INDIA.\n\n  HOLY and MOST HOLY (places mentioned in Scripture), anatomical\n        significance of, 373.\n\n  HYPANIS (River), identity of the Egyptian and Indian religions, and of\n        the destination of their respective pyramids, suggested by\n        architectural remains found near, 76.\n\n  HYPERBOREAN (an epithet of Ireland), its twofold meaning, 55.\n    See INSULA HYPERBOREORUM.\n\n\n  INARON. See AARON.\n\n  INDEX theory of the R. T. See CELESTIAL INDEXES.\n\n  INDIA, idea underlying the morphology of Brahminism, 77, 78;\n    purpose of the Indian cave-temples, 78;\n    devotion of Brahmins to astronomy, 78, 79;\n    ancient Hindu civilisation, 79, 80;\n    its decadence under Mohammedan rule, 80;\n    Sir W. Jones on the pantheistic idealism of, 94 _n._;\n    Buddhism, 107-114 (and see BUDDHISM);\n    identity of ancient Egyptian worship with Brahminism, 143;\n    Sepoys worshipping in Egyptian temples, 143;\n    reference in Sanskrit records to the Pyramids, 144;\n    Indian origin claimed for Orpheus, 405;\n    second migration of the Tuath-de-danaans to Ireland was from, 443;\n    sculpture at Glendalough explained by reference to the history of,\n        469-474.\n\n  INSULA HYPERBOREORUM, identity of Ireland with, 52, 396-403, 437, 445\n        _et seq._;\n    twofold meaning of Hyperborean, 55;\n    description by Hecat\u00e6us of, distorted by Diodorus, 397, 398;\n    likewise by Dalton and Macpherson, 398;\n    incredulity of Diodorus accounted for, 398, 399;\n    known also as Ogygia, 437;\n    scepticism of M\u00fcller respecting, 443, 444;\n    mission of Abaris from, 447, 448;\n    Greek evidence of its identity with Ireland, 451 _sq._\n\n  IONA, derivation of the name, 83 _n._;\n    its connection with St. Columbe Kille, 83 _n._\n\n  IRAN, the generic name of both Persia and Ireland, 127;\n    its specific form, _Irin_, appropriated to Ireland, 120-127;\n    meaning of both these names, 127;\n    origin of the diverse forms, _Ire_, _Eri_, _Ere_, _Erin_, 128;\n    how _Iran_ was metamorphosed into _Ierne_ and _Hibernia_, 128, 129;\n    its occupation by the Tuath-de-danaans, and their expulsion by the\n        Pish- (or Pith-) de-danaans, 252-259;\n    equivalent in meaning to _Paradise_, 285;\n    properly applicable to all India lying north-west of the Indus, 184;\n    changed by the Greeks into _Ariana_, 185;\n    Pahlavi _Erin_ and Zend _Eriene_ and Pelasgic _Ierne_, 185;\n    _Irad_ and _Iran_, 244;\n    _Iranians_ and _Turanians_, 123-126.\n    See PERSIA and IRELAND.\n\n  IRELAND, its early repute for academic learning, 45, 46, 59 _n._;\n    its learning not borrowed from Greece or Rome, 45, 46;\n    the \u201cInsula Hyperboreorum\u201d of the Ancients, 52, 396-403, 445 _et seq._;\n    alleged cyclic visits of Apollo to, 52, 397;\n    description of, by Donatus (9th century), 54;\n    its identity with _Scotia_, 54 _n._;\n    why called the \u201cSacred\u201d Island, 55, 117, 130;\n    persecution in Scotland of exiles from, 57 _n._;\n    included by the Ancients in the general term _Britain_, 58;\n    antiquity and astronomic character of the Irish language, 58, 250;\n    also of its alphabet, 416-418;\n    genealogy of the language according to Davies, 58;\n    Mosheim\u2019s testimony to the learning of the ancient Irish, 59 _n._;\n    also that of Henricus Antisiodrensis, 59 _n._;\n    description of Ireland by Artemidorus, 400;\n    its ancestral religious affinity with Egypt and India, 77-80;\n    resemblance of its early architecture to that of ancient Greece and\n        Rome, 86;\n    derivation and meaning of the name Hibernia, 115-126;\n    Tacitus on, 119;\n    _Iran_ and _Irin_ as names for, 120, 121-126;\n    _Irenses_, 121;\n    origin of the name _Ogygia_, 131;\n    also of the names _Fuodhla_, _Fudh_, _Inis_, and\n        _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_, 131;\n    its connection with Sabaism, 193-210;\n    Hebrew and Irish, branches of the same root-language, 228;\n    twofold signification of Irish letters and words, 228, 229;\n    the Irish alphabet a \u201ctree\u201d code, 229;\n    Irish (_i.e._ the language of Iran) an original and universal tongue,\n        250;\n    Artemidorus on the ancient religion of, 301, 302;\n    mentioned in the _Puranas_ as \u201cthe white island\u201d (_Muc-Inis_) 325-328;\n    significance of its readiness to accept Christianity, 344;\n    _Crioch-na-Fuineadhach_ as a name of, 344;\n    St. Patrick not the introducer of letters into, 416-419;\n    proof that the Irish is not derived from the Roman alphabet, 416-419;\n    the Ogham character, 340, 419, 420;\n    views of Montmorency and Whittaker refuted, 418-428;\n    ancient celebrity of, not due to the Celts or Scythians, 428;\n    resemblance of the Irish, as regards physique, manners, customs,\n        religious observances, etc., to the ancient Persians, 437-440;\n    in ancient times an \u201cOriental Asylum,\u201d 441;\n    twice invaded by the Tuath-de-danaans, 442, 443;\n    Firbolg occupation of, 442, 443;\n    meaning of _Bana-ba_ as a name of, 470-474;\n    also of its Sabaic name _Tibholas_, 507;\n    its existence known to the Greeks and Brahmins, 517, 518.\n\n  IRIS and IRIN and IRAN, names of Ireland, 120, 121, 127, 398.\n\n  ISIDORE of SEVILLE, on the identity of _Scotia_ with Ireland, 54 _n._\n\n  ISIS (Egyptian deity), phallic worship of, 105, 106;\n    what she personified, 106.\n\n  ISRAELITES, sense in which the author uses the term, 11;\n    their use of bells, 11.\n\n\n  JAPHET (Noachian) and JAVAN (his son), derivation and meaning of the\n        names, 283 _n._\n\n\n  KAIOMURS (king of Persia), 245-247;\n    identical with Noah, 272.\n\n  KALABCHE (Nubian temple), resemblance of its sculptures to those at\n        Knockmoy and Old Kilcullen, 337-342.\n\n  KELLS (R. T.), 83;\n    snake sculpture on cross at, 361, 490.\n\n  KILL (in Irish names), its origin and signification, 43;\n    existence of a \u201cKill\u201d evidence of previous existence of paganism, 43,\n        44.\n\n  KILCULLEN, or OLD KILCULLEN, remarkable Tuath-de-danaan cross at, 337;\n    its Buddhist character, 337, 338.\n\n  KILLESHANDRA, phallic meaning of the name, 207.\n\n  KILLMALLOCK (R. T.), 44, 167, 202;\n    derivation of the names, 201;\n    description of its tower as contrasted with the churches in its\n        vicinity, 202, 203.\n\n  KILMACDUGH, remarkable leaning round tower at, 515.\n\n  KILT, or PHILABEG, 138, 296;\n    originally a Tuath-de-danaan article of attire, not a Celtic, 297;\n    disappeared from Ireland before the introduction of Christianity, 298;\n    kilted figures of Budh, 138, 296;\n    antiquity of the Irish philabeg, 512.\n\n  KNOCKMOY, description of supposed Buddhist sculptures at, 328-335;\n    refutation of theory that they depict the death of MacMurrough\u2019s son,\n        333, 334;\n    representation of the kings, with doves, explained, 330;\n    similarity of the sculpture to that on temple of Kalabche (Nubia),\n        337-341;\n    confirmatory Purana evidence, 339;\n    Phrygian attire of the subordinate figures, 329, 437.\n\n\n  LA-BEUIL-TINNE (first of May), or day of Baal\u2019s fire, 201.\n\n  LAMBH and LUAMH, twofold meaning of, 487-489.\n\n  LANIGAN on the theory that the round towers were repositories for\n        ecclesiastical treasure, 35.\n\n  LEDWICH\u2019S views regarding the round towers, 13-15;\n    on CUMMAN, 59.\n\n  LINGAJAS (worshippers of the _Lingam_, or male nature), 102, 113, 228,\n        259, 260, 282, 353;\n    their connection with Babel, 284.\n\n  LOTOS, phallic significance of, 257 _n._;\n    Chinese legend of the, 257, 258.\n\n  LOUGH DERG, meaning of its name, 206.\n\n  LOUGH NEAGH, submerged round towers of, 50.\n\n  LOUGH REA, and its connection with the worship of Astarte, 204, 205.\n\n  LYCANTHROPY (or wolf-madness) in Ireland, 468, 469.\n\n\n  MACCARTHY MORES, reputed founders of round towers, 39, 40.\n\n  MACHA, one of the three deities specially worshipped by Tuath-de-danaan\n        women, 132.\n\n  MADURA, cruciform pagoda at, 352.\n\n  MAGADHA (birthplace of Buddha), 264;\n    its bearing on the question, how the Tuath-de-danaans made their way\n        to Ireland? 265, 266 _n._\n\n  MAGH-ABADEAN (name of Persian dynasty), 190, 246;\n    another name for Tuath-de-danaan, 248;\n    its derivation, 247, 248.\n\n  MAGH and MAGHODY, representing the _bounty_ of Providence, 217, 218.\n\n  MAHADEVA (Hindu legend of), and the _Lingajas_ and _Yonijas_ or\n        _Yavanas_, 260, 261.\n\n  MANETHO, his account of the invasion of Egypt by the _Uksi_, or shepherd\n        kings, 142;\n    also of the Israelites, 151.\n\n  MANUSCRIPTS (ancient Irish), loss of, 54 _n._;\n    destruction of by St. Patrick, 135;\n    preservation and _habitat_ of the remainder, 136.\n\n  MARINE STRATA, their bearing on the chronology of the Deluge, 276-278.\n\n  MASONIC significance of the round towers, 19, 20;\n    meaning of Saer, 20 _n._\n\n  MAYA and RITTY (Hindu), parents of Camadeva, meaning of the legend, 94.\n\n  MAYPOLE ceremony (Irish), its Eastern origin, 233;\n    its phallic and astronomic significance, 233, 234;\n    what it commemorated, 234;\n    corresponds to the Bacchic _Phallica_, _Donysia_, and _Orgia_, 235;\n    description of the Irish Maypole festivals, 237;\n    mode of celebration at Waterford, 238;\n    similar ceremony at Ceylon celebrated by women only, 238, 239.\n\n  M\u2019PHERSON\u2019S theory of _Erne_ as the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 398.\n\n  MEDAL effigies of Christ, 508-510.\n\n  MELCHISEDEC, of what he was the type, 494-497.\n\n  MILESIANS, 328, 432, 502;\n    date of their invasion of Ireland, 432-434.\n    See HEBER and HEREMON.\n\n  MILNER on the \u201cbelfry\u201d theory of the round towers, 12.\n\n  MINING, Tuath-de-danaans proficient in, 408;\n    traces of their workings on the coast of Antrim, 408-410;\n    their acquaintance with iron, 115, 410;\n    the _Arimaspi_, or Cyclopean miners, 86, 407.\n\n  MITHRATIC CAVES, Buddhist origin of, 2, 3, 353;\n    argument from the vicinity of churches to, 8;\n    also from Cromleachs being found near them, 17, 18;\n    as to their Ph\u0153nician origin, 18;\n    _Fiodh Aongusa_ as a designation of, 353;\n    Mithratic temple at New Grange, 351, 352;\n    their cruciform character, 353, 354;\n    cave of Elephanta, 353.\n\n  MOLOCH, meaning of the name, 65, 201.\n    See KILLMALLOCK.\n\n  MOLTEN SEA at Solomon\u2019s temple, 172.\n\n  MONTMORENCY, his theories as to the round towers refuted, 16-19, 30,\n        34-37, 413 _et seq._\n\n  MOON, prominences of, strikingly visible from the _Insula\n        Hyperboreorum_, 52, 53;\n    phallic worship of, 91, 92, 110;\n    generally an object of Sabaic worship, 111, 193-210;\n    worshipped as _Astarte_ and _Rimmon_, 102;\n    different names for, as a fructifying power, 91;\n    connected with the deification of the feminine principle, 211, 212;\n    different names expressive of this deification, 211;\n    dual sense of such epithets preserved in the primitive Irish tongue,\n        212, 213;\n    _Militta_, ASTARTE, and the Irish derivative _Astore_, 213;\n    connection of the round towers with her worship, 74, 75, 112.\n    See ASTARTE, and 109, 112.\n\n  MORIAGAN, a deity worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaans, 131, 132;\n    his military character, 132;\n    a personification of Budh under the name FARRAGH, 132;\n    meaning of the latter name, 132;\n    Spenser\u2019s theory that he was Fergus, king of Scotland, 132.\n    See FARRAGH.\n\n  MOSES, his identity with _Amosis_ and _Osarsiph_, 149-152;\n    Manetho\u2019s account of, 151, 152.\n    See DELUGE.\n\n  MOSHAN FANI, his account of ancient Persia, 189 _et seq._\n\n  MOSHEIM on the learning of the Irish schoolmen, 59 _n._\n\n  MOYTURA (battle), meaning of the name, 386;\n    first not to be confounded with another and subsequent battle, 448,\n        449;\n    scenes of the respective battles, 386;\n    retreat of the Firbolgs to Arran after the first battle, 386, 387;\n    cause of the second battle, 448.\n\n  MUC-INIS as a name of Ireland corresponding to the _White Island_\n        mentioned in the _Puranas_, 325;\n    threefold meaning of the name, 327;\n    Dr. Keating\u2019s interpretation of it refuted, 328.\n\n  M\u00dcLLER\u2019S scepticism as to the Hyperboreans, 443, 444.\n\n  MUSIC, antiquity of Irish music, 403;\n    Hecat\u00e6us cited in evidence of its culture by the ancient Irish, 403;\n    Giraldus Cambrensis on the proficiency of the Irish harpers, 403, 404;\n    _Clarsech_, _Cruit_, and _Orphean_, as names for the harp, 404;\n    music of the Irish bards superior to that of their contemporaries,\n        405, 406;\n    Fuller\u2019s eulogium on the Irish harp, 406;\n    a Danish origin falsely ascribed to the Irish harp, 406.\n    See APOLLO.\n\n\n  NAGUALISM, a Mexican form of Sabaism, described, 499 _et seq._\n\n  NAVIGATION, ancient Irish skilled in the art of, 457.\n\n  NEW GRANGE, Mithratic temple at, cruciform character of, 351, 352.\n\n  NIMROD, the inventor of Sun-Worship, 63;\n    builder of the tower of Babel, 63;\n    his object in building it, 63, 64;\n    why called _rebel_, 64;\n    _Birs Nimrod_, or _Mujellibah_, 65 _n._\n\n  NIRACARA (Brahminic), bodiless manifestations of the deity, as opposed\n        to _sacara_, or visible ones, which latter are, when in a human\n        form, the progeny of virginal conception, 288.\n\n  NOAH and the NOACHID\u00c6, 269-273.\n    See DELUGE and ARK.\n\n  NUBIA, resemblance of sculptures, found at temple of Kalabche in, to\n        certain sculptures at Old Kilcullen and Knockmoy, 337-343.\n\n  NULLOG (Irish name for Sabaic rites), its derivation and meaning, 350.\n\n\n  OBELISK at Sandwick (Ross-shire), description of, 305-309.\n\n  O\u2019CONNOR on the _gnomon_ or _celestial-index_ theory of the round\n        towers, 51.\n\n  OGG (Colonel), phallic sculpture presented by him to the H. E. I. C.,\n        229 _n._\n\n  OGHAM character, 419, 420, 437.\n\n  OGYGIA, name of Ireland, or of the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 437.\n\n  OLIVE BRANCH (Noachian), its significance, 278.\n\n  OLLAMH FODLAH, or FEIDLIMIDH (king of Ireland), meaning of his name, 430;\n    date of his accession, 430;\n    his ancestry, 430;\n    reputed founder of the round towers, 430, 431;\n    and see 502.\n\n  OPHIOLATREIA (a form of Sabaism), identical with _Gadelianism_, 505;\n    the specific object of its worship, 505.\n    See SERPENT-WORSHIP.\n\n  ORDERICUS VITALIS, his use of the name _Irenses_ for the Irish, 121.\n\n  O\u2019RORKES, reputed founders of the round towers, 39, 40.\n\n  OROSIUS (fifth century) on the _Scoti_ as being inhabitants of Ireland,\n        54 _n._\n\n  ORPHEUS and ORPHEAN, 404. 405.\n\n  OSARSIPH (name for Moses), 151.\n\n  OSIRIS (Egyptian deity), the object of Sabaic and Phallic worship, 105,\n        106;\n    the same as Apollo, 437;\n    his staff, 490.\n    See ISIS.\n\n\n  PADMA-DEVI (Brahminic), its meaning, 93;\n    connection with the Pyramids, 92.\n\n  PAGODAS (Hindu), derivation of the name, 73, 352 _n._;\n    not fire-temples, but devoted to the worship of the sun and moon, 73;\n    significance of their form, 73, 74;\n    their phallic import, 103;\n    cruciform construction of those at Benares and Madura, 352.\n\n  PALATINE (Hill), etymology of the name, 198 _n._\n\n  PALAVER (I.), identical with _Pahlavi_, the Persian court dialect, 122.\n\n  PALENQUE, or PALENCIA, Sabaic and Phallic import of sculptures at, 229;\n    cross symbolism at, 489;\n    affinity of its religion to that of ancient Ireland, 501;\n    _votan_ and the _Culebra_, 501, 502;\n    its triple symbolism of _yoni_, the _serpent_, and _death_, 229, 503.\n\n  PALI (Hindu), name for the _Uksos_, or shepherd kings, 142, 143, 146.\n\n  PARADISE, another name for _Iran_, 285.\n\n  PARAMON (apostate Buddhist), founder of Brahminism, derivation and\n        meaning of his name, 216, 217.\n\n  PARSEES, or GHEBRES, disciples of Zoroaster, and fire-worshippers, 71.\n\n  PARVATI, the regenerate name of _Sati_ (Hindu goddess), and the\n        _Yonijas_, 260, 261.\n\n  PEIROM and PIROMIS (cf. Sanskrit _Birouma_), as the origin of the name\n        _Pyramid_, 147.\n\n  PEIRUM (king of Formosa), Japanese legend of, 147, 148.\n\n  PELASGI, sprang from the same stock as the Tuath-de-danaans, 55;\n    were in fact a branch of the latter, 85;\n    called also _Tyrseni_, 85;\n    the real builders of Cyclopean walls, 86;\n    correspondence of the Cyclopean architecture with that of certain\n        Irish remains, 86;\n    introduced fire-worship into Italy, 87.\n\n  PENANCES (Turrish), performed round the round towers, 517.\n\n  PERSEPOLIS, description of, 179.\n\n  PERSIA, derivation of the name, 177;\n    the source of European civilisation, 177;\n    Heeren\u2019s account of the origin of the Persian empire, 178-183;\n    antiquity and grandeur of the remains of Persepolis, 179;\n    remarkable absence of ancient records of, 180;\n    erroneous views of Herodotus and Arrian respecting, 180;\n    Terceira on the ignorance by Persians of their own history, 181;\n    Heeren\u2019s classification of ancient eastern empires, 182, 183;\n    the _Zend_ and _Pehlivi_ languages of Persia, 182;\n    Irish the possible key to both, 183;\n    Lake Zevora and the _Aria Palus_, 183;\n    site of the ancient _Aria_, the latter distinct from _Ariana_, 183,\n        184, 187;\n    description of ancient Aria (Eriene-Veedjo), 186;\n    disastrous change of its climate leading to its desertion by the\n        Arii, 186, 187;\n    subsequent immigration of the latter into, 187;\n    Zoroaster and his predecessors, 188-190;\n    the Mahabadean dynasty, 190, 245, 246;\n    meaning of the name, 247;\n    antiquity of the Iranian monarchy, 190;\n    Moshan Fani\u2019s account of the ancient Hushang religion, 188-193;\n    Sir J. Malcolm\u2019s description of the same, 193;\n    its Sabian character, 194;\n    its origin, 194 _n._;\n    its adoption by the early Greeks, 194;\n    original seat of Buddhism, 244;\n    evidence of the Dabistan, 245-247;\n    the pre-Zoastrian dynasty founded by Mahabad, 245, 246;\n    his _Abad_ successors, 246, 247;\n    decadence of the Mahabadean dynasty, 246, 247;\n    Iy-Affram and Iy-abad dynasties, 246, 247;\n    Shah Kisleer and Mahabool, 247;\n    the Yessan dynasty, 247;\n    _Kaiomurs_, or Gilshah, 247;\n    Cain\u2019s descendants Mahabadeans, 247;\n    distinct position among the Mahabadeans of the Tuath-de-danaans, 248;\n    rule of the Tuath-de-danaans in, how terminated, 252-259;\n    silence of Persian historians on this point accounted for, 252, 253;\n    Vallancey\u2019s error, 253-255;\n    the _Pith_- (or _Pish_-) _de-danaan_ dynasty, 252-259;\n    consequent respect for women in ancient Persia, 262, 263;\n    affinity of the Ogham character to the \u201carrow-heads\u201d of Persepolis,\n        340;\n    resemblance of the Irish and Persians in physique, customs, etc.,\n        437-444;\n    the trefoil reverenced in Persia as well as in Ireland, 439, 440;\n    only the _first_ Tuath-de-danaan invasion of Ireland was from Persia,\n        443.\n    See FIRE-WORSHIP and IRAN.\n\n  PHALLIC WORSHIP, connection of the round towers with, 61, 62, 91, 101,\n        103, 371, 372, 511;\n    religious character of, 93, 105, 213;\n    as practised in India, 94;\n    fable of devotees beguiled by Sheeva and Prakeety, 97-101;\n    phallic form of round towers, 101, 248;\n    also of pillars at Solomon\u2019s temple, 101;\n    of Astarte or Rimmon, 101, 102;\n    meaning of _Toradh_, 102 _n._;\n    fable of Gal and Noudabah, 102 _n._;\n    the _lingam_ and its priesthood, 102, 112;\n    Indian and Irish pagodas, devoted to, 103;\n    meaning of _Budh_, 103, 228, 229;\n      also of _Baal Phearagh_, 103;\n      also of _Cathoir-ghall_ and _Teaumpal-na-greine_, 103;\n    crescent of Sheeva symbolised on round towers, 103;\n    phallic significance of _Fidh-Nemphed_, 105;\n    identity of Sabianism with, 105;\n    fable of _Isis_ and _Osiris_, 106;\n    of the sun and moon, 75, 109, 110;\n    extended to agriculture, 111;\n    Belli-Paaro, 111;\n    identity and antiquity of Buddhism, Phallism, and Sabaism, 213;\n    what the \u201cforbidden fruit\u201d of Scripture signified, 227;\n    Eve and the \u201ctree of knowledge,\u201d 228, 285, 501, 506;\n    _Budh_, _Fiodh_, _Beth_, their common significance, 228, 229;\n    the _Maypole_ ceremonial, 233 _et seq._;\n    derivation and meaning of _lingam_ and _yoni_, 259, 260;\n    their secondary meaning, also that of _Tuath_ and _Pish_ or _Pith_,\n        256, 257;\n    origin of _Lingajas_ and _Yonijas_, according to the Puranas, 260, 261;\n    Chinese legend of Puzza and the lotus, 257, 258;\n    significance of the sacred \u201ccrescent,\u201d 261;\n    introduction of crescent worship into Persia, 261, 262;\n    Hebrew name for tower of Babel, phallic import of, 283, 284;\n    significance of the triangle and the pyramid, 267-269;\n    Pythagorean _triangle of ten_, 267, 268;\n    phallic import of the name _Thebit_ for the \u201cark,\u201d 270, 271;\n    the \u201cark of bulrushes\u201d and the doctrine of \u201cvirginal conception,\u201d 271;\n    \u201cCome thou and all thy house into the ark\u201d explained, 272;\n    derivation of the symbolic \u201ccrescent\u201d or lunar \u201cboat,\u201d 273;\n    the Irish \u201ccrescent\u201d brooches, 273, 274;\n    Delphic and other personifications of _yoni_, 282 _n._;\n    the temple of Belus at Babylon, 283 _n._;\n    the Ogg sculpture in the British Museum, its phallic and Buddhistic\n        significance, 229 _n._;\n    Eve and the \u201cSerpent,\u201d 285 _et seq._, 505;\n    origin of the two _Danaan_ sects, _i.e._ the _Tuaths_ and _Piths_, 286;\n    legend of Apollo and the python, 291, 292;\n    also of the Purana \u201c_Snake_ giant,\u201d 292;\n    Proserpine and the \u201cserpent,\u201d 303;\n    identity of _Budha-gaya_ and _Budh-gaye_, 310, 311;\n    their common and their secondary meaning, 311;\n    degradation of Phallicism, 311, 312;\n    how evinced in the title _Heliogabalus_, 312;\n    phallic character of the _Eleusinian_ mysteries, 349;\n      also of those of the _Bona Dea_ and _Phiditia_, 349;\n    _Phallus_ synonymous with _Budh_, also _Budh-gaye_ (Irish) with\n        _Budha-gaya_ (Hindu), meaning of both, 311;\n    phallic configuration of the round towers, 372, 511.\n\n  PHARAOH, synonymous with Farragh and Phearagh, 142.\n\n  PHEARAGH (Irish pagan deity). See FARRAGH.\n\n  PHEELEA, its derivation, meaning, and use, 459-461;\n    Irish specimen found at Ballymony, 461;\n    also, as PHEELEAS, (an order of Irish priesthood), etymology of\n        connected with the Greek oracular _Peleiai_ of Dodona, 459;\n    oracular tube of this nature found at Ballymony, 460;\n    its uses and symbolism explained, 461, 462.\n\n  PHIDITIA, a form of phallic worship practised at Carthage, 349.\n\n  PHILABEG (a portion of ancient Irish costume). See KILT.\n\n  PH\u0152NICIANS, round towers not built by, 413, 414;\n    their sole connection with Ireland, 414, 420;\n    a mercantile, not a literary, people, 415;\n    not connected with Irish letters, 420.\n\n  PHRYGIANS, their reference to the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 436;\n    traces of their costume in the sculptures at Knockmoy, 437.\n\n  PICTS, persecution of Tuath-de-danaans by, 57 _n._, 326, 431.\n\n  PIRE-MONC (Coptic name for pyramid), its meaning, 148.\n\n  PIROMIS (Egyptian high priest) and PIROMIA, as the origin of _Pyramid_,\n        147.\n\n  PISH, or PITH, its signification, 255-257.\n\n  PISH-DE-DANAANS, or PITH-DE-DANAANS, meaning of the name, 257;\n    how distinguished from the Tuath-de-danaans, 255-257, 282;\n    origin of the war between the two sects, 258;\n    victory of the Pish-de-danaans and consequent expulsion from Persia of\n        their rivals, 259;\n    Hindu version of a corresponding struggle between the _Lingajas_ and\n        _Yonijas_, 260, 261;\n    their political and moral code, and worship of the _Yoni_, or \u201csacred\n        crescent,\u201d 261, 262;\n    their subsequent expulsion from _Iran_, or Persia, and retreat to\n        Egypt, 281;\n    known there as the _Uksi_, or shepherd kings, 281;\n    builders of the pyramids, 282;\n    dwelt in _Shinar_ (Mesopotamia) pending their arrival in Egypt, 282;\n    communicated to Moses the legend of the Deluge, 283;\n    known also as _Yavanas_, 273, 283.\n    See TUATH-DE-DANAANS.\n\n  POMEGRANATE ORNAMENT, mentioned in connection with bells in Scripture,\n        171;\n    the name _Rimmon_ expressive of, 102, 172;\n    its significance, 102;\n    depicted in the mouldings of the round towers, 172.\n\n  POMPONIUS MELA on Druidic learning, 57.\n\n  POPE, as to the alleged papal origin of the ancient Irish crosses,\n        489-492.\n\n  PRAKEETY and SHEEVA, Hindu legend of, 97-101.\n\n  PRATYA-SHA (Brahminical), visible emanations from the Deity, 288.\n\n  PROSERPINE and the Serpent, allegory of, 303.\n\n  PRUTANEION (Greek), its nature, derivation, and applied meaning, 198 _n._\n\n  PURANAS (Hindu sacred writings), cited, 260, 279 _n._, 325-329, 499.\n\n  PUZZA and the LOTUS, Chinese legend of, 257, 258.\n\n  PYRAMIDS, cost of building, 7;\n    purpose for which they were intended, 77, 145, 157, 158, 248;\n    whether used as sepulchres, 75, 76, 158, 159, 162;\n    Brahminic theory respecting, 92, 161;\n    origin of those at Ghiza, 144-156, 281, 282;\n    marble casing of, 144;\n    dimensions of the great pyramid, 145, 267;\n    peculiar construction of the smaller ones, 145;\n    derivation of the word \u201cpyramid,\u201d 145-149;\n    images of the Pyromis, 147;\n    not intended as granaries, 145;\n    description of their general structure, 157;\n    their astronomical character, 158;\n    internal passage pointing to the polar star, 157;\n    whether intended to be metrical standards, 158;\n    or sepulchres, 158, 159, 162;\n    sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid, 159;\n    sarcophagus of Apis at Biban-el-Moluk, 159, 160;\n    theory of Herodotus regarding, 160, 161;\n    Brahminic theory from existence of wells under, 161, 162;\n    probability of corresponding excavations under the round towers, 162,\n        163;\n    the Japanese _Peirum_, 147, 148;\n    Coptic name for, 148;\n    Indian origin of, 148;\n    whether the Israelites were employed in constructing, 148-156;\n    vicinity of Ghizeh to the land of Goshen, 153;\n    ignorance of the Egyptians respecting their origin accounted for, 154;\n    Buddhistic doctrine of their emblemism, 248;\n    coincidence between dimensions of the Great Pyramid and those of the\n        \u201cark,\u201d 267;\n    probably erected by the Uksos, or shepherd kings, _i.e._ by the\n        Pish-de-danaans, 281, 282.\n\n  PYRATHEIA (fire-temples), Strabo\u2019s description of, opposed to the whole\n        character of the round towers, 72.\n\n  PYREA, or fire-temples of the Chaldeans, Persians, etc., 69.\n\n  PYTHAGORAS and the triangle of ten, 267, 268;\n    Tuath-de-danaan mission to, 449, 450;\n    meaning of his name, 507, 508.\n\n  PYTHIA, derivation and meaning of, 507;\n    transmission to the oracle of the inspiring vapour through _pheeleas_,\n        460, 507.\n\n  PYTHON, allegory of Apollo and the, its origin and meaning, 291, 292,\n        330;\n    its representation at Knockmoy, 330.\n\n\n  RAVEN (Noachian), sent forth from the ark, what it typified, 278.\n\n  RIMMON (ASTARTE), its meaning and emblemism, 101, 102.\n\n  RINKE-TEUMPOIL (temple dance), its connection with the round towers, 517.\n\n  RITTY (wife of Camadeva), her place in the Hindu phallic mythology, 94.\n\n  ROME, connection of the Irish _Chaildees_ with, 44;\n    Montmorency\u2019s theory on this point, 44, 45;\n    academies of Ireland superior to those of, 45;\n    nature and extent of the acknowledgment of Roman supremacy in Ireland,\n        45;\n    Dr. Hurd on the relation of the _Chaildees_ to, 46;\n    Fenelon on the moral and religious status of, 46.\n\n  ROUND TOWERS, to be regarded as _Sabian_ towers, 3, 4;\n    or primitive Buddhist temples, 4;\n    Buddhist origin claimed for them in common with Cromleachs and\n        Mithratic caves, 2, 3;\n    not designed for penitential or purgatorial purposes, 5;\n    not specially intended as beacons or belfries, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 36,\n        37;\n    not limited to any special purpose, 6;\n    durability, costliness, and complexity of their structure, 6, 7;\n    inferior construction of churches in their vicinity, showing that the\n        latter date from a subsequent period, 7, 514;\n    instance of a R. T. without a church near it, 514;\n    not of Danish origin, 9, 10;\n    as to the alleged Christian origin of those at Brechin and Abernethy\n        in Scotland, 8, 10, 431;\n    how Scotch differ from Irish R. T., 10;\n    the \u201ccell\u201d theory, 13, 14;\n    the existence of R. T. in Scotland accounted for, 10;\n    their being termed _Cloghads_ no proof of their being merely belfries,\n        10-12;\n    not intended as retreats or depositories in the case of a hostile\n        invasion, or as places of seclusion for anchorites, 13-15, 35, 36;\n    nor as \u201cexcubi\u00e6\u201d (Stanihurst\u2019s theory), 14, 15;\n    their connection with freemasonry, 19, 20;\n    and with the _Bards_, 22, 23;\n    their antiquity, 27, 28;\n    erected by followers of _Baal Phearagh_, 29;\n    inference from the peculiar position of their doors, 33;\n    belfry at Slane not a R. T., 36, 37;\n    not meant as monastic fortresses, 37, 38;\n    that of Devenish, 38, 71;\n    allegation that they were founded by the O\u2019Rorkes and M\u2019Carthys, 39,\n        40;\n    that of Ballycarberry, 48;\n    described by Giraldus Cambrensis, 49;\n    alleged to be submerged under Lough Neagh, 50;\n    the \u201ccelestial index\u201d theory, 52;\n    twofold purpose of, 61, 62, 372;\n    phallic significance of, 61, 62, 91, 101, 103, 112, 178, 372, 511;\n    the \u201cfire-temple\u201d theory, 70, 71, 74, 82, 83, 91;\n    Ardmore and Devenish R. T. considered with regard to the latter\n        theory, 71;\n    Eastern buildings similar to the R. T., especially in the Caucasus and\n        Hindostan, 74, 75;\n    Eastern R. T. not necessarily fire-temples, 75, 191;\n    Drumboe R. T. and the \u201cfire-temple\u201d theory, 81;\n    structural difference between R. T. and \u201cfire-temples,\u201d 83;\n    Miss Beaufort\u2019s arguments considered, 83-89;\n    not \u201cprovincial palaces\u201d elected under the enactment of Tara, 90;\n    funeral and astronomic purposes of, 91, 92;\n    that of Clondalkin, 101;\n    the \u201ccrescent of Sheevah\u201d sculpture on the latter, 103;\n    symbolic of the _Lingam_, 112;\n    possibility of subterranean passages under, 162-166;\n    confirmatory evidence of this at Downpatrick, 164;\n    comparative date of structures at Clonmacnoise, 163;\n    must have existed before St. Patrick\u2019s time, 164;\n    the round pillars of Aradus (Tripoli), 165;\n    the crocodile tanks of the Egyptian labyrinth, 166;\n    the \u201csepulchre\u201d theory, 162-166;\n    subterranean passage of Hindu temple at Gwalior, 166;\n    argument from water in vicinity of, 167;\n    Lake of Astarte at Hieropolis, 168;\n    Solomon\u2019s \u201cMolten Sea,\u201d 172;\n    confirmatory description by Lucian, 168;\n    mode of ascending the R. T., 168, 169, 176;\n    segregation of solitary worshippers on summit of R. T., 170;\n    use of bells in R. T., 169, 175;\n    corresponding usage in Indian and Jewish ceremonials, 169-175;\n    similar conformity in respect of sacrifices, 170-173;\n    pomegranate sculpture on, 171, 172;\n    traces of bell apparatus on accounted for, 172, 173;\n    corresponding bell usages in Ceylon, Burmah, and China, 173 _n._, 174\n        _n._;\n    traces of steps used for ascending R. T., 176;\n    parallel instance at phallic temple of Serrowbee, 176;\n    R. T. of Kilmalloch, 201-203;\n    R. T. on Scattery Island, 206;\n    common phallic symbolism of R. T., obelisks and other _lithoi_, 217,\n        229 _n._;\n    connection of the R. T. with the offence of Cain, 233;\n    form of the R. T. significative of Divine unity, 248;\n    reason why R. T. are seldom found in Persia, 253 _et seq._;\n    pseudo-Christian symbols on R. T. of Brechin, 299-301;\n    similar emblems on temple in Ceylon, 300;\n    _Fidh-nemead_ as a designation of, 343;\n    their analogy to certain _Nubian_ antiquities, 343;\n    R. T. of Clonmacnoise, their vicinity to the churches accounted for,\n        356, 357;\n    Cormac\u2019s testimony to their antiquity and Buddhist origin, 74, 368;\n    their affinity to the Ceylonese _Dagobs_, 369-371;\n    also to the _Gaur_ towers of India, 371;\n    their twofold, _i.e._ phallic and sepulchral character, 372;\n    analogy between them and the pillars Jachin and Boaz of Solomon\u2019s\n        temple, 372, 373;\n    era of their construction, 373-395;\n    proof in the annals of Ulster that they existed before the fifth\n        century, 374;\n    legend of their supposed architect, _Goban Saer_, 375, 383, 513;\n    _St. Abhan_ could have had no share in their construction, 383, 384;\n    not of Scythian origin, 386, 387;\n    probability of their Tuath-de-danaan origin, 386-389, 513;\n    as to the possibility of their Fomorian origin, 394, 395;\n    Amergin\u2019s evidence as to their antiquity, 387, 388;\n    corresponding Boreadan temples of Apollo described by Hecat\u00e6us, 403;\n    could not have been of Ph\u0153nician origin, 413, 414;\n    why there are no R. T. in England, 425;\n    their existence in Scotland accounted for, 431;\n    not founded by _Ollamh Fodlah_, 430;\n    their connection with the worship of Osiris, 437;\n    their resemblance to the Treasury of Atreus (Greece), 455;\n    also to _Dune of Donadella_ (Scotland), 455;\n    certain projections from their surface accounted for, 456, 515;\n    difference of their appropriation accounted for, 512;\n    reason of their phallic shape, 511;\n    significance of their apertures, 511;\n    also of their crucificial emblems, 511;\n    also of the absence or presence of internal compartments, 511;\n    their varying height, 511;\n    shape and fashioning of the apex, 511;\n    also of their cornices, resembling those of Solomon\u2019s pillars, 511,\n        514;\n    their tapering diameter, 511, 512;\n    their doors, reason of height from the ground, 512;\n    their exceptional architecture, 513-516;\n    their material, evidence of a pre-Christian origin, 513, 514;\n    similar evidence from their decorative character, 513, 514;\n    occasional vitrification of their interior accounted for, 514;\n    absence of floors in, how explicable, 514, 515;\n    correspondence of their general construction with that of Solomon\u2019s\n        temple, 514, 515;\n    their perpendicularity, 515;\n    probable mode of their construction, 516;\n    cohesiveness of their structure exemplified, 516;\n    performance of dances (_Rinke-teumpoil_) round them, 517;\n    peculiar penances (_Turrish_) observed in their vicinity, 517;\n    the prevalent uncertainty as to their origin and uses explained, 519,\n        520;\n    their assignment to astronomical purposes after the Scythian conquest\n        of Ireland, 521.\n\n\n  SABAISM, 193-210, 503-510;\n    not idolatry, 194;\n    origin of, 194 _n._, 503;\n    its objects of worship, 194;\n    professed by the early Greeks, 194;\n    its identity with Phallicism, 105;\n    significance of Cyclops, _Sterope_, _Argues_, _Brontes_, _Hercules_,\n        195, 196;\n    names under which Hercules or the Sun was worshipped, 196;\n    Herodotus on the old Greek theogony, 196;\n    whence Greece derived Sabaism, 196, 197;\n    how the latter degenerated into idolatry, 197;\n    its affinity with the ancient religion of Ireland, 197-210;\n    such affinity evident from Irish local names, 197-210;\n    Sabaic origin of the names _Palatine_, _Aventine_, _Prytaneia_, 198\n        _n._;\n    _Aiche-Baal-tinne_ and _Aiche-Shamain_ explained, 199, 200;\n    Irish customs and expressions indicative of, 199;\n    existed among the Druids, 199, 200;\n    significance of the Druidic \u201cgolden sickle,\u201d its Indian equivalent,\n        200;\n    adoption of its institutions by the early Christian missionaries,\n        200-202;\n    _La-Beuil-tinne_ as a name for Christmas, 201;\n    signified in architectural remains at Kilmalloch, 201, 203;\n    Sabian origin of the names _Baltinglas_, _Athlone_, _Shannon_,\n        _Lough Rea_, _Castlereagh_, _Deargart_, and _Lough Derg_, etc.,\n        203-209;\n    Scattery Island and its round tower, 206;\n    Killeshandra, 207;\n    Grian (the Sun), as a root name, 208, 209;\n    Sabian affinity of the Irish with the Algan Kinese of N. America, 209;\n    connection between Sabaism, Buddhism, and Phallism, 213;\n    deification of the energies of nature alluded to in the _Book of\n        Enoch_, 401, 402;\n    derivation and origin of the name _Sabian_, 503;\n    triple meaning of the Irish root, _Sabh_, 503;\n    Hindu equivalent of the latter, 503 _n._;\n    Sabaism indicated in Palencian remains, 503;\n    _Ophiolatreia_ and the _Gadelian_ varieties of, 505;\n    \u201cknow that ye are Sabians\u201d (Arabic prophecy) explained, 503, 506;\n    meaning of \u03a4\u03cc \u03a3\u0391\u0392\u039f\u0395 in Bacchic rites, 505;\n    Sabaic, or Phallic, import of _Sibyl_, _Delphi_, _Pythia_, and\n        _Tripod_, 507;\n    also of the name Pythagoras, 508;\n    the sacred name \u201cImmanuel,\u201d and the medals of Christ, 503, 510;\n    Sabaic character of the round towers, 510 _et seq._\n\n  SABH, triple meaning of, 503;\n    identity with Hindu Seva, 503 _n._\n\n  SACARA (Brahminical), name for certain embodiments of the Deity, 288.\n\n  SAER, triple meaning of, 20 _n._\n    See GOBAN SAER.\n\n  SAINT ABHAN, Montmorency\u2019s view as to his having been the founder of the\n        R. T. considered, 30, 383;\n    not contemporary with the Goban Saer, 383, 384;\n      and see GOBAN SAER.\n\n  SAINT BRIDGET, originally a pagan vestal or fire-worshipper, 82;\n    date of her conversion to Christianity, 82;\n    how she continued to show a leaning to her former faith, 82;\n    description of her \u201cfire-house\u201d by Cambrensis, 82, 83;\n    unconnected with the R. T., 83.\n\n  SAINT COLUMB, or COLUMB-KILL, and the isle of Hy, 37;\n    not the founder of Kells R. T., 83.\n\n  SAINT KEVIN, nature of his connection with Glendalough, 471;\n    Ledwich\u2019s fallacy respecting, 472.\n\n  SAINT PATRICK, introduction of Christianity into Ireland not due to him,\n        41;\n    his share in the work of evangelisation, 42, 43, 364;\n    meaning of _Nemph-Thur_, the name of his birthplace, 114 _n._;\n    his holocaust of Irish literature, 135, 415, 416;\n    his alleged \u201cgranary\u201d at Down, 164;\n    his pagan master, Milco Mac-Huanan, 203, 204;\n    the only sense in which he can be regarded as having extirpated snakes\n        from Ireland, 360-364;\n    analogous legend in the _Puranas_, 362, 363;\n    not the originator of the Irish alphabet, 416;\n    nor of the national veneration for the shamrock, 439, 440.\n\n  SAINT PAUL, as to the possibility of Ireland having been evangelised by,\n        41.\n\n  SALSETTE, subterranean temple at, 215, 216.\n\n  SAMONA, a title for the priests and images of Buddha, 141.\n\n  SANDWICK (Ross-shire), description of symbolic sculpture on obelisk at,\n        305-9.\n\n  SATI, or PARVATI (Hindu), and Mahadeva, parents of the _Lingajas_ and\n        _Yonijas_, 260.\n\n  SCAPEGOAT, corresponding observance connected with R. T., 170, 172;\n    similar observance in upper India, 172 _n._\n\n  SCATTERY ISLAND, its round tower and seven churches, 206.\n\n  SCOTI and SCOTIA, the latter originally identical with _Scythia_, 54;\n    SCOTI, a name for the Irish, 54 _n._, 429;\n    the _Scoto-Brigantes_ and their invasion of Ireland, 426;\n    distinct from the Scandinavian invasion, 426;\n    connection of the Scoti with Spain, 426 _n._;\n    their amalgamation with the Firbolgs, 428;\n    change of the name _Irin_ into _Scotia_, 429;\n    date at which the former name was resumed, 429;\n    _Scotia Major_ and _Scotia Minor_, and substitution of the latter for\n        _Albania_ as the name of Scotland, 429 _n._;\n    retention of _Scoti_ as a name for the Irish, 429 _n._;\n    friendship between the Picts and Scots, and adoption by the former of\n        Scotia as a name for their country, 431;\n    rupture of this friendship, 431;\n    the _Scoto-Milesians_, 432.\n\n  Scotland, exile of the Danaan Boreades to, 56;\n    persecution of the latter by the Picts, 57 _n._;\n    round towers in, 10, 431.\n\n  SCOTUS (Johannes). See ERIGENA.\n\n  SCRABALL (head-tax), as to its levy for the purpose of building palaces\n        at Tara, 89, 90.\n\n  SCYTHIANS, date of their conquest of Ireland, 297, 435;\n    assisted by the Firbolgs to subjugate the Iranians (Tuath-de-danaans),\n        297, 428;\n    superseded the usages and dress of the latter, 297, 298;\n    Strabo\u2019s description of the Scythian attire, 53;\n    why Abaris did not wear this dress, 56;\n    their policy towards the Boreades, 56;\n    their contempt for architecture, 383, 384;\n    O\u2019Morgan (Archbishop of Armagh), the first Scythian who built a stone\n        house, 384;\n    St. Abhan could not have done so, 384;\n    _Goban Saer_ not a Scythian, 386;\n    could not have built the R. T., 386, 387;\n    spoke the language of the Tuath-de-danaans, 393;\n    their religion Druidical, 428;\n    name of Ireland changed to Scythia (_Scuitte_), 429;\n    their occupation of the country responsible for the decay of its\n        grandeur and piety, 520.\n\n  SEANNEACBUS, mistake of, respecting the battle of Maytura, 448, 449.\n\n  SEPOYS at Dendera, remarkable behaviour of, 143, 144.\n\n  SEPULTURE, mystic significance of the form of the R. T. in reference to,\n        372.\n\n  SERAPIS, monogram of Christ found beneath foundation of temple to, 312.\n\n  SERPENT-WORSHIP, general symbolism of the serpent, 221, 222;\n    Purana legend of the snake giant killed by Christnah, 221, 292;\n    antiquity of this worship and of its symbolism, 222, 223;\n    symbol of circle and serpent explained, 222, 223, 506;\n    ubiquity of serpent-worship and of its peculiar symbolism, 222, 223;\n    the Vindolana stone and its symbolism, 223;\n    identity of serpent, sun, and phallic worship, 223, 224;\n    symbol of cross, crescent, and cockatrice explained, 224-226, 506;\n    Egyptian notions regarding the basilisk, 225;\n    relation of the latter to the _brazen serpent_ of Scripture, 225, 506;\n    Eve and the serpent, 285 _et seq._, 505, 506;\n    Apollo and the Python, 291, 292, 330;\n    meaning of \u201cPython,\u201d 330 _n._;\n    Proserpine and the serpent, 303;\n    snake-symbolism on Irish crosses, 357-367;\n    only sense in which St. Patrick can be allowed credit for the\n        extirpation of snakes from Ireland, 361-363;\n    scriptural allusions to snake-charming, 360;\n    why snake-sculpture on crosses was revered by the Irish, 361;\n    description of snake-sculpture on temple at Burwah Saugor, 363;\n    snake symbolism at Glendalough, 473;\n    the expression \u201cgeneration of vipers\u201d explained, 498-505;\n    Purana legend of Deity assuming form of serpent, 499;\n    Nagualism and its doctrines, 499 _et seq._;\n    the Palencian _Culebra_ and the Irish _Gadelglas_, 502;\n    serpent insignia of the Milesians, 502;\n    _Gadel_, _Gadelglas_, and the \u201c_Emerald Isle_\u201d explained, 502, 503;\n    Vishnu, the snake, and the White Island, 326.\n\n  SERROWLEE (India), description of certain structures resembling R. T.\n        at, 176.\n\n  SHAMROCK, Irish national reverence for, derived from ancient Persia,\n        and not introduced by Saint Patrick, 439, 440;\n    imported by the Tuath-de-danaans, 440;\n    reason for its veneration, 440;\n    shamrock devices in Freemasonry, and upon the crowns of Irish and\n        Persian kings, explained, 440.\n\n  SHANNON, a Gangian name, 205, 206;\n    its divinity _Derg_ (Durga), 206.\n\n  SHEEVA, or SEVA, the originator of phallic worship, 100, 101;\n    his \u201ccrescent\u201d represented on the R. T., 103;\n    his name identical with the Irish _Sabh_, 503;\n    its Hindu signification, 503 _n._\n\n  SHINAR (in Mesopotamia), the site of the tower of Babel, and of the\n        origin of Sabaism, 64;\n    settlement of the Noachid\u00e6, 65;\n    its previous occupation by the _Pish-de-danaans_ before they went\n        to Egypt, 282.\n\n  SIAMESE REGISTERS, their coincidence with the Irish as to the date of\n        the Tuath-de-danaan invasion, 435.\n\n  SIBYLS, why so called, 507.\n    See PHEELEA and PYTHIA.\n\n  SICKLE, as to the symbolism of the golden one used by the Druids, 200.\n\n  SLANE, belfry at, not a R. T., 36, 37.\n\n  SMERWICK, ancient fire-temple at, 72.\n\n  SOLOMON\u2019S TEMPLE, Phallic or Sabian pillars at, 101, 372, 511;\n    consequent affinity between them and the R. T., 372, 514;\n    anatomical significance in the construction of, 373;\n    correspondence of its windows to the apertures of R. T., 514.\n    See MOLTEN SEA.\n\n  SPENSER, cited, 469.\n\n  STANIHURST, his theory of the R. T. being \u201cexcubi\u00e6,\u201d 14, 15.\n\n  STEROPES, Sabaic, import of the term, 195.\n\n  STRABO on _Abaris_ and the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 53-55;\n    his description of _Pyratheia_, showing that R. T. could not have been\n        the latter, 72.\n\n  SUAD-DHA-DANA (father of Buddha), identical with Tuath-de-danaan, 264.\n\n  SULLIVAN and O\u2019SULLIVAN, connected with the Hindu name, _Sulivahana_,\n        339;\n    peculiar reverence accorded to families bearing this name in Ireland,\n        339 _n._\n\n  SUN-WORSHIP, Nimrod reputed to have introduced, 63, 64;\n    _Baal_, _Moloch_, and _Bolati_ as names of the Sun, 65;\n    its Sabian character, 64-66, 110;\n    why it originated, 66;\n    at first merely emblematical, 66;\n    not conducted originally in temples, 66;\n    its degeneration into _Materialism_, as fire-worship, 67;\n    allusions to both in Scripture, 67, 68, 109;\n    names for the Sun as representative of the _fructifying_ principle, 91;\n    description of a Mexican fire-temple, 156 _n._;\n    connection of the R. T. with, 75;\n    connection of Ophiolatry (serpent-worship) with, 223, 224.\n    See APOLLO and FIRE-WORSHIP.\n\n\n  TACITUS (Agricola), his comparison of Ireland with England, 119.\n\n  TAILTINE GAMES, described, 390-392;\n    origin of the name, 392;\n    recorded in sculptures on Irish crosses and obelisks, 392;\n    corresponding observances in Egypt and Greece, 392, 393;\n    Buddhist significance of, 392;\n    analogy of _Tailtine_ with English _Tilt_, 392;\n    Telltown, 389.\n\n  TARA, triennial assemblies at, 23;\n    pagan rites celebrated at in the time of St. Patrick, 42;\n    Miss Beaufort on the enactment of, A.D. 79, by Tuathal Teachmar, in\n        connection with the purpose of the R. T., 88, 89;\n    Psalter of Tara quoted in refutation of her theory, 89, 90;\n    a place for legislative deliberations, 389.\n    See TEAMOR.\n\n  TAUT (Egyptian), triple-cross emblem of, 291;\n    its connection with Freemasonry, 291 _n._\n\n  TEAMOR (or TARA), not a palace, but a R. T., 90, 389.\n\n  TEAUMPAL-NA-GREINE (temple of the Sun), a name for R. T., 103.\n\n  TEN (the number) the Pythagorean triangle of, 267, 268;\n    its phallic significance, 268;\n    its connection with the pyramids, 268, 269;\n    how it came to be represented by a cross, 487-489;\n    its connection with the Irish \u201cfinger-oath,\u201d 489.\n\n  TERCEIRA (Spanish historian of 16th cent.) on the decay of learning in\n        Persia, 181.\n\n  THEBIT, or THEBITH (name for the \u201cArk\u201d), its phallic import, 270, 271.\n\n  TIBHOLAS, or TIVOLAS, as a name of Ireland, its Sabaic origin and\n        import, 507.\n\n  TORADH (Irish), curious double meaning of, 102 _n._\n\n  TOR-BOILEH (Indian local name), corresponding to Irish _Nemph-Thur_ and\n        _Budh-Nemph_, 114 _n._\n\n  TOTDANA (a religious name of Ireland), explained, 453.\n\n  TREE, how each letter of the Irish alphabet denotes some kind of, 229,\n        418.\n\n  TREE of KNOWLEDGE, (scriptural), what it signified, 227-230.\n    See EVE.\n\n  TREFOIL. See SHAMROCK.\n\n  TRIANGLE, sacred character and phallic import of its form, 267.\n    See TEN.\n\n  TRIPOD (Delphic), analogous symbolism of shape between it and the\n        pyramid, 507.\n\n  TUATH, corresponds to Buddhist _Suath_, and is resolvable with _Budh_,\n        264;\n    device of the cross significant of, 291.\n\n  TUATH-DE-DANAANS, origin and meaning of the name, 55, 248, 249, 257;\n    a sacerdotal caste of the Persian Magh-abadeans, 248, 249;\n    derivation of _Tuath_ and _Tuatha_, 249, 257;\n    of _de_ and _Danaans_, 249;\n    meaning of the whole name, 249;\n    distinct from the _Pish_- (or _Pith_)- de-danaans, 255-257;\n    origin of their separation from the latter, 258;\n    war of the two sects, and victory of the Pish-de-danaans, 259, 285;\n    consequent expulsion of the Tuath-de-danaans from Persia, 259;\n    discrepant Hindu account of the struggle, 260, 261;\n    their settlement in Ireland, and its consequences, 259, 264-266, 393;\n    their leaders, the sons of Miledh, the Fomorian, 393;\n    their existence in Persia recognised by Eastern historians, 264;\n    identical with _Suad-dha-dana_ (Buddhist), 264;\n    Kaiomurs, or Yavana (Noah), the founder of their dynasty, 272;\n    their garb described, 297;\n    contrasted with that of the Celts, 297;\n    their expulsion from Ireland, and persecution by the Picts in\n        Scotland, 320;\n    their battles with the Firbolgs, 386, 448, 449;\n    were a sea-going people, 414;\n    whether carried by the Ph\u0153nicians to their destination, 414;\n    date of their arrival in Ireland, 435, 436;\n    curious correspondence of same with that of expulsion of the\n        Buddhists, _ib._;\n    also with the diluvian period, 436;\n    effected two distinct settlements in Ireland, 436, 443, 448, 449;\n    their expulsion from India by the Brahmins, 443;\n    harassed by the Firbolgs, 441, 442;\n    their embassy to Greece, and contest with the Firbolgs on their\n        return; consequent battle, 448, 449;\n    their subsequent decadence both in religion and learning, 449;\n    merging of their ritual with that of the Druids, 449;\n    their practical introduction of the leading tenets of Christianity\n        into Ireland, 493;\n    Irish crosses, church festivals, and hagiology derived from, 492-494,\n        513;\n    prosperity of Ireland in their time, 517;\n    effacement of their influence by the Scythian conquest, 520;\n    subsequent accommodation between victors and vanquished, 520;\n    analogous event in Roman history, 520, 521;\n    their connection with the round towers, 386-389, 513.\n    See BUDDHISM, ROUND TOWERS, PERSIA, IRELAND, etc.\n\n  TURRISH, name for penitential gyration round the R. T., 517.\n\n\n  UKSI, or HUKSOS (shepherd kings), Manetho\u2019s account of, 142;\n    called _Pali_ in Vedas, 143;\n    their invasion of Egypt explains the dislike of the Egyptians to the\n        Israelites, 143, 151;\n    evidence of Herodotus, 143;\n    were probably the founders of the Pyramids, 144, 153;\n    the shepherd _Philitis_, 144, 146;\n    their general influence on civilisation and science in Egypt, 144-156;\n    were antecedent to the Israelites there, 151;\n    were derived from the same stock as the _Tuath-de-danaans_, 155.\n\n  ULSTER (annals of), record the destruction of fifty-seven R. T. by an\n        earthquake in the 5th cent., 374.\n    See ANNALS.\n\n  UR, meaning of, 68;\n    Chaldean and Persian cities of that name, the former the original seat\n        of fire-worship, 68, 69.\n    See NIMROD and FIRE-WORSHIP.\n\n\n  VALENTIA (Lord) on certain edifices in the Caucasus resembling R. T., 74.\n\n  VALLANCEY, his theories as to the R. T., 13, 254, 255;\n    his confusion of the _Pish-de-danaans_ with the _Tuath-de-danaans_,\n        253;\n    also of _Airgiodlamh_ with _Zerdust_ (Zoroaster), 254;\n    his merits and defects, 19, 254, 255.\n\n  VASSANT (Hindu deity), companion of _Camadeva_, meaning of the name, 95,\n        96.\n\n  VEDAS (Sanskrit records), cited, 143.\n\n  VENERABLE BEDE, evidence of, as to the existence of fire-temples in\n        Ireland, not conclusive as to the character of the R. T., 83.\n\n  VESTAL-FIRE, of Oriental origin, 87.\n\n  VINDOLANA, remarkable Sabaic sculpture on stone found at, 223-226.\n\n  VIPERS, their place in Sabaism, 498-505;\n    import of the scriptural expression, \u201cgeneration of vipers,\u201d 498, 499.\n    See SERPENT-WORSHIP.\n\n  VIRGINAL CONCEPTION, a doctrine not confined to Christianity, 271, 288,\n        291-304.\n\n  VISHNU (Hindu deity), phallic worship of, identical with that of the\n        _Yonijas_, 260 _n._\n\n\n  WARE (Sir John), 37;\n    on the chronology of the R. T., 373.\n\n  WATERFORD and WEXFORD, argument from R. T. not being found there, 9.\n\n  WELLS, existence of, under the pyramids, an argument against the theory\n        that they were royal mausoleums, 162.\n\n  WHITAKER on the derivation of the name _Britain_, 421, 422;\n    on the Celtic origin of Irish, Scotch, and Welsh local names, 422;\n    on a Belgic colonisation of Ireland, 423;\n    his theories refuted, 423-428.\n\n  WHITE ISLAND (_Muc-Inis_), a name of Ireland, 327;\n    also the name given in the Puranas to the kingdom of Crishna, and the\n        scene of Vishnu\u2019s incarnation and the abode of the legendary\n        snake-giant, 325-327;\n    triple meaning of the Irish name, _Muc Inis_, 327;\n    Keating\u2019s theory of its origin, 328;\n    its real meaning, 339.\n\n  WOLF, representation on ancient Irish sculptures of the, 466, 467;\n    meaning of the symbolism, 466-468;\n    _Lycanthropy_, or wolf-madness, 468;\n    its prevalence among the ancient Irish, 469;\n    the Irish as wolf-tamers, 469;\n    Irish and Indian wolf-dogs, 469;\n    meaning of _Lyceus_, 469.\n\n  WOMAN, the subject of deification in early times, 211, 212;\n    typified by the Moon, 211;\n    names under which she was worshipped, 211, 212;\n    dual import of the Irish term _Astore_, 212, 213;\n    nature of Eve\u2019s fatal curiosity, 228, 229, 285;\n    also how it led to Buddhism, 330;\n    exalted position of woman in ancient Persia, 262, 263;\n    the scriptural penalty imposed on Eve explains the nature of her\n        offence, 285;\n    the promise of virginal offspring to avert its consequences, 285, 286;\n    immorality resulting from the wish to anticipate this promise, 287;\n    Buddhist recognition of its fulfilment, 301;\n    Artemidorus on the pre-Christian worship of the virgin in Ireland, 301;\n    Greek perversion of the idea of virginal conception, 303;\n    meaning of the expression, \u201cthe son of woman\u201d in the Book of Enoch,\n        475-477.\n\n\n  YAVANA, its meaning, 259, 273;\n    another name for _Pish-de-danaans_, 283.\n\n  YESSAN (Persian dynasty), 247.\n\n  YONIJAS, worshippers of the Yoni, or sacred emblem of female nature,\n        259, 260, 282 _n._\n    See also DEVIL\u2019S YONIES.\n\n\n  ZEZD (Persian), nature of fire-temple at, 72.\n\n  ZOROASTER (or _Zerdust_), meaning of the name, 52;\n    period at which he lived, 189;\n    nature of his teaching, 188;\n    anticipated by Hushang, 189, 190.\n\n\nNOTE.--This edition of O\u2019Brien\u2019s work on the Round Towers being, as\nregards the Author\u2019s text, a _facsimile_ of that published in 1834, the\nabove Index will serve for both.\n\n\n  PRINTED BY\n  MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] \u201cBryan O\u2019Brien, of the county of Kerry, son of Teige, born 1740,\nmarried, 17th November 1797, Ellen, daughter of Justin MacCarthy (by\nJoanna Conway, his wife); and had: I. Richard, who died unmar. in Jan.\n1861; II. Lucien, who also died unmar. in America, in Mar. 1865; III.\nTurlogh Henry, author of _The Round Towers of Ireland_, who died unmar.\n1835\u201d (O\u2019Hart\u2019s _Irish Pedigrees_, p. 168). At pp. 39, 40, _post_, O\u2019Brien\nalludes to his maternal grandfather as \u201cthe last of the MacCarthy Mores.\u201d\n\n[2] At pp. 480, 481, _post_: thus, by the way, refuting a statement (in\nthe _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_ for 1835) which has been adopted in the\n_Dictionary of National Biography_, that he was utterly ignorant of\nCeltic.\n\n[3] It is not to be supposed that a University Professor of Greek would\nhave had any difficulty in explaining to the most ordinary intelligence an\nidiom so frequently occurring in the New Testament as \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f70 \u1f34\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1, which\nwe meet with, not only in the passage referred to (John i. 11), but at\nxvi. 32 and xix. 37 of the same Gospel, and at xxi. 6 of the Acts of the\nApostles. Nor is it likely that the exegetic difficulty connected with \u03c4\u1f70\n\u1f34\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1 would have occurred to a boy of twelve. Further, Mr. Boyton did not\nresign his connection with the University until 1833, whereas, in the\npassage above cited, O\u2019Brien evidently refers to some time about 1820.\n\n[4] It is not even clear that he is identical with the \u201cHenry O\u2019Brien\u201d\nmentioned in the _Catalogue of the Graduates of the University of Dublin\nfrom 1691 to 1868_, now in the British Museum. The entry is as\nfollows:--\u201cHenry O\u2019Brien, B.A. (_ad eundem, Cantab._), 1835.\u201d\n\n[5] This must have been the English Master of the Rolls, who at that time\nwas the Right Hon. Sir John Leach, a judge remarkable for the celerity of\nhis decisions, in marked contrast to those of his contemporary, Lord\nEldon, of whom it used to be said that he heard cases without determining\nthem, whereas Sir John Leach determined cases without hearing them.\n\n[6] _Edinburgh Review_, vol. lix. pp. 148, 149.\n\n[7] Mr. Marcus Keane, author of _The Temples and Round Towers of Ancient\nIreland_, states in his Preface to that work that he spent three years,\nduring which he had to travel more than five thousand miles, in the\nperformance of a task not much more exacting.\n\n[8] From \u201cTO THE PUBLIC,\u201d a narrative prefixed to his translation of\nVillanueva\u2019s \u201c_Ibernia Ph\u0153nicia_,\u201d which preceded _The Round Towers_.\n\n[9] _Ibid._ p. xxxii. \u201c\u2019\u0395\u03c1\u03b5\u03bc\u03c9\u201d may, however, be an error of the printer,\nand the fact that it was subsequently corrected lends colour to this view.\n\n[10] It must be admitted that a letter alluded to at p. xix, _post_,\nwritten by the Rev. C\u00e6sar Otway, a member of the Council, lends some\ncolour to this assertion.\n\n[11] P. xxiii of the introduction to _Ph\u0153nician Ireland_, inscribed \u201cTo\nthe Public.\u201d\n\n[12] This letter will be found at p. lxxi, _post_.\n\n[13] Vol. 59 of the _Edinburgh Review_ for 1834.\n\n[14] _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_ for March 1834, p. 288; for Oct, 1834, p. 365\nf.; and for Nov. 1835, p. 553. At pp. 340 f. of the volume for 1833, pt.\nii., may be found a distinctly unfavourable review of O\u2019Brien\u2019s\ntranslation of _Ibernia Ph\u0153nicia_.\n\n[15] _Vide_ note 2, p. vii, _ante_.\n\n[16] It may be remarked here that an Act for the protection of ancient\nmonuments is much needed in Ireland.\n\n[17] At p. 4 of his work on the Round Towers (2nd ed.).\n\n[18] Amusing instances of this autocratic method pervade Dr. Petrie\u2019s work\non the Round Towers. Thus, at p. 109, he disposes of the Phallic Theory,\nwhich had exercised so many noble minds, with the single remark: \u201cIt is,\nhappily, so absurd, and at the same time so utterly unsupported by\nauthority or evidence worthy of refutation, that I gladly pass it by\nwithout further notice, even though it has found a zealous supporter in\nthe person of Sir \u201cWilliam Betham\u201d (who, it may be observed, was not only\na member of the Academy, but one of the leading antiquarians of his day,\nbesides being Ulster-King-at Arms, etc. etc.) \u201csince these pages were\noriginally written ... and _who was consequently not unacquainted with\ntheir contents_.\u201d (The italics are ours.) No further reference to this\nmuch-debated theory occurs in his book; but there are many denunciations\nof Sir W. Betham for presuming to differ from him. His way of dealing with\nthe evidences and arguments in support of the pagan origin of the Round\nTowers adduced by O\u2019Brien and Sir W. Betham is simply this: \u201cI have not\nthought them deserving of notice\u201d (p. 359).\n\n[19] At pp. 1, 2 of _The Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland_, by Marcus\nKeane, M.R.I.A. (Dublin: Hodges, Smith & Co.); a very beautiful and\ninteresting volume. A still more formidable champion of the revolt against\nDr. Petrie\u2019s sway has since appeared, the Rev. Canon Bourke, M.R.I.A.,\nauthor of _Pre-Christian Ireland_ (Brown & Nolan, Dublin, 1887).\n\n[20] _The Migration of Symbols_: Archibald Constable & Co., Westminster,\n1894.\n\n[21] Introduction, pp. ix-xv.\n\n[22] Preface, 3.\n\n[23] P. 12.\n\n[24] At p. 4 of his work on the Round Towers.\n\n[25] General Vallancey\u2019s literary remains are preserved in seven octavo\nvolumes, entitled _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, of which a complete\nset is rather difficult to obtain. The portions specifically relating to\nthe round towers will be found in vols. ii., iii., and vii. As regards the\nother source of plagiarism to which Moore refers in his article above\nquoted,--\u201cthe remarkable work called _Nimrod_,\u201d--it has been already\nshown, without any attempt at contradiction, that the leading idea of\n_Nimrod_ was that the round towers were _fire-altars_, and that (to quote\nthe writer\u2019s words) \u201cO\u2019Brien\u2019s theory is not to be found in any page of\nit.\u201d\n\n[26] According to \u201cFather Prout\u201d (\u201cRogueries of Tom Moore\u201d), it was\nprobably suggested to him by the study of Lucian. See p. 90 of Mr. Kent\u2019s\nedition of \u201cThe Works of Father Prout.\u201d\n\n[27] Alluded to in the _Charmides_ of Plato.\n\n[28] This statement is subject to a qualification. Certain structures--one\nat Peel in the Isle of Man, and another at Hythe in Kent--are supposed, on\ngrounds of which the validity is more or less questioned, to be round\ntowers.\n\n[29] _Vide_ p. 514. General Vallancey had made a similar remark: \u201cNor are\nthey always annexed to churches. There are many in the fields, where no\ntraces of the foundations of any other buildings can be discovered around\nthem\u201d (_Collect._ iii. 492, cited at p. 17 of Dr. Petrie\u2019s work). Dr.\nLanigan avowed the same; but Dr. Petrie declares \u201cthey are, without a\nsingle exception, found near old churches, or where churches are known to\nhave existed\u201d; though, as Mr. Keane points out, he assumes buildings to be\n\u201cchurches\u201d which have no claim to that title.\n\n[30] _Fraser\u2019s Magazine_, November 1, 1833.\n\n[31] The _characteristic architectural peculiarities_ belonging to each of\nthe towers was the omission required to be supplied, and for this alone\nthree months were extended. During that time I wrote my entire Essay, and\nof course did not omit this requisite. But as these could give no interest\nto the general reader, I have omitted them in the present enlarged form.\nIf called for, however, I shall cheerfully supply them, as an Appendix to\nanother work which may soon appear.\n\n[32] _Dublin Penny Journal_, July 7, 1832.\n\n[33] \u201cKilmallock has been a place of some distinction from a very remote\nperiod, and, like most of our ancient towns, is of ecclesiastical origin,\na _monastery_ having been founded here by St. Maloch in the sixth century,\n_of which the original Round Tower_ still remains.\u201d--_Dublin Penny\nJournal_, vol. i. p. 65.\n\n\u201cThese (the Ruins of Swords) consist of a fine and lofty Round Tower,\ncoeval with the foundation of the original monastery.\u201d--_Ibid._ vol. i. p.\n177.\n\n[34] If this appear over-sanguine, I trust it will be attributed to its\nonly cause--a strong sense of injustice expressed in the moment of warmth,\nand without ever expecting that this expression should see the light.\n\n[35] That this was not gratuitous I pledge myself to prove, even from\ncircumstances that have already transpired.\n\n[36] It is true Mr. Higgins has told me this, and I listened with polite\nsilence to what I had read \u201cin print\u201d a thousand times before. But our\nchronicles call the name Macha, and I abide by them. Enough, however, has\noccurred between the date of this letter and the present to quiet the most\nardent disposition as to the pursuit of earthly \u00e9clat. Its author is no\nmore! He has reached that \u201cbourne whence no traveller returns.\u201d And the\nwarning, I confess, is to myself not a little pointed, from the\nunremitting perseverance with which this inquiry has been prosecuted and\nthe vexatious opposition with which its truths have been met.\n\n[37] I wish the reader to keep this in mind; its effects will be\nmanifested by and by.\n\n[38] \u03c6\u03c9\u03bd\u03b7 \u03b5\u03bd \u03c4\u03b7 \u03b5\u03c1\u03b7\u03bc\u03c9.\n\n[39] See Letter No. 3.\n\n[40] _Dublin Penny Journal_, August 3, 1833.\n\n[41] Gibbon\u2019s Memoirs.\n\n[42] The Budhist temples.\n\n[43] The Cromleachs.\n\n[44] The Mithratic Caves.\n\n[45] Job i.\n\n[46] I say _accidentally_, because he foundered as well upon the _actual\ncolony_ who erected those temples, as upon the _nature_ of the _rites_ for\nwhich they were erected.\n\n[47] Colonel Montmorency.\n\n[48] Pliny, lib. lxvi. cap. 12.\n\n[49] This incomparably beautiful object, constructed of white marble, in\nthe days of Demosthenes, in the second year of the one hundred and\neleventh Olympiad, 335 years before Christ, and in the year 418 of Rome,\nwas erected in honour of some young men of the tribe of Archamantide,\nvictors at the public games, and dedicated, it is supposed, to Hercules.\n\n[50] The first name ever given to this body was _Saer_, which has three\nsignifications--firstly, _free_; secondly, _mason_; and thirdly, _Son of\nGod_. In no language could those several imports be united but in the\noriginal one, viz. the Irish. The Hebrews express only one branch of it by\n_aliben_; while the English join together the other two.\n\n[51] Sallust, _Cat. Con._\n\n[52] Lib. xi. epist. 11.\n\n[53] 2 Kings xvii. 29, 30.\n\n[54] Byron.\n\n[55] Vol. iii. p. 78, note.\n\n[56] The tolling of a bell was supposed to have had miraculous effects--to\nkeep the spirits of darkness from assaulting believers--to dispel thunder,\nand prevent the devil from molesting either the church or congregation;\nand hence they were always rung, in time of storm or other attack, to\nparalyse the fiend, whether the elements or mortal man, by the hallowed\nintonation. Each was dedicated to a particular saint,--duly baptized and\nconsecrated; and the inscriptions which still remain on the old ones that\nhave come down to us proclaim the virtue of their capabilities. The\nfollowing distich will be found to sum them up, viz.:--\n\n  \u201cLaudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum,\n  Defunctos plero, _pestem fugo_, festa decoro.\u201d\n\nAnd the very syllables of this which follows form a sort of _tuneful_\ngalloping, viz.:--\n\n  \u201cSabbata pango, funera plango, solemnia clango.\u201d\n\n[57] \u03bd\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1 \u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03a9\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b5\u03bb\u03b8\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03b5\u03c0\u1f76 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b1\u03c2 \u0392\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03c2 \u03bd\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2.\nEUSEB. in _Pr\u00e6p. Ev._ 1. 3.\n\nEgyptum et Libyam sortitus est alius Apostolorum, extremas vero oceani\nregiones, et _Insulas Britannicas_ alius obtinuit. NICEPHOR. l. 2, c. 40.\n\n[58] _Religious Rites and Ceremonies_, published under his name.\n\n[59] Milton.\n\n[60] This latter to be explained hereafter.\n\n[61] The ruins, to the height of ten feet, still remain.\n\n[62] Goldsmith.\n\n[63] _Top. Dist._ ii. c. 9, p. 720.\n\n[64] In the reign of Txiacha Labhruine, A.M. 3177; B.C. 827.\n\n[65] This mark (7), in the Irish language, is an abbreviation for _agus_,\ni.e. _and_.\n\n[66] The _Annals of Inisfallen_, also, p. 148, call them by the same name\nof _Fiadh-Nemeadh_.\n\n[67] _Rer. Hib. Scrip. Vet._ iii. p. 527.\n\n[68] _Fidh-Nemeadh_ certainly admits of this interpretation, but in a very\ndifferent sense from what its author had supposed.\n\n[69] A German writer, contemporary with the Emperor Charles the Great,\nsays of another Irishman named Clement, at a much later period, \u201cThat\nthrough his instructions the French might vie with the Romans and the\nAthenians. John Erigena, whose surname denoted his country (Eri or Erina\nbeing the proper name of Ireland), became soon (in the ninth century)\nafter famous for his learning and good parts, both in England and France.\nThus did most of the lights which, in those times of thick darkness, cast\ntheir beams over Europe, proceed out of Ireland. The loss of the\nmanuscripts is much bewailed by the Irish who treat of the history and\nantiquities of their country, and which may well be deemed a misfortune,\nnot only to them, but to the whole learned world.\u201d\n\n[70] Isidore of Seville, in the seventh century, says: \u201cScotia eadem et\nHibernia,\u201d that is, Scotia and Ireland are one and the same--an identity,\nhowever, of _locality_, not of _signification_. And Orosius of Tarracona,\nstill earlier in the fifth century, avers that, \u201cIn his own time, Ireland\nwas inhabited by the nations of the Scoti.\u201d And were further evidence\nrequired as to the point, it would be found in the fact of one of our\nChristian luminaries, whose name was Shane, _i.e._ John, being called by\nthe Latin historians indifferently by the epithets of Johannes Scotus and\nJohannes Erigena--the former signifying John the Irishman and the latter,\nJohn the Scotchman.\n\n[71] The Scots first drove them from Ireland to what is now called\nScotland, and the Picts afterwards chased them from the lowlands to the\nhighland fastnesses.\n\n[72] Henricus Antisiodrensis, writing to Charles the Bald, says: \u201cWhy need\nI mention all Ireland, with her crowd of philosophers?\u201d \u201cThe philosophy\nand logic,\u201d says Mosheim, a German historian, \u201cthat were taught in the\nEuropean schools in the ninth century, scarcely deserved such honourable\ntitles, and were little better than an empty jargon. There were, however,\nto be found in various places, _particularly among the Irish_, men of\nacute parts and extensive knowledge, who were perfectly well entitled to\nthe appellation of philosophers.\u201d\n\n[73] _Antiq._ p. 108.\n\n[74] Milton.\n\n[75] I will show, however, that it was much older.\n\n[76] _De Orig. et Progress. Idolat._ ii. 61.\n\n[77] Gen. xi. 4.\n\n[78] Gen. vi. 5.\n\n[79] _On the top was an observatory, by the benefit of which_ it was that\nthe _Babylonians advanced their skill in astronomy so early_; when\nAlexander took Babylon, Callisthenes the philosopher, who accompanied him\nthere, found they had _observations_ for 1903 years backward from that\ntime, which carries up the account as high as the hundred and fifteenth\nyear after the flood, _i.e._ within fifteen years after the tower of Babel\nwas built.\n\n[80] I stop not to inquire whether or not this may have been the same with\nthat which stood in the midst of the temple of Belus, afterwards built\naround it by Nebuchadnezzar. The intent I conceive similar in all, whether\nthe scriptural _Tower_, Birs Nimrod, or Mujellibah; and the rather, as\nCaptain Mignan tells us of the last, that on its summit there are still\nconsiderable traces of erect building, and that at the western end is a\n_circular_ mass of solid brick-work _sloping towards the top_, and rising\nfrom a confused heap of rubbish; while Niebuhr states that Birs Nimrod is\nalso surmounted by a turret. My object is to show that the same\n_emblematic design_ mingled in all those ancient edifices, though not\nidentical in its details.\n\n[81] Hos. ii. 16.\n\n[82] St. Stephen, the first martyr who suffered death for Christ, said\nbefore the Jewish Sanhedrim, \u201cGod dwelleth not in temples made with hands\u201d\n(Acts vii. 48).\n\n[83] _Asiatic Researches._\n\n[84] It is most unaccountable how Hanway, after seeing this evidence of an\n_actual_ fire-temple, should, notwithstanding, commit the egregious\nblunder of calling the Round Towers--which differed from it as much as a\n_maypole_ does from a rabbit-hole--fire-temples also. Yet has he been most\nreligiously followed by Vallancey, Beauford, Dalton, etc., who could not\nopen their eyes to the mistake.\n\n[85] Pottinger\u2019s _Belochistan_.\n\n[86] Num. xxii. 41.\n\n[87] Milton.\n\n[88] _Top. Dist._ ii. c. 34.\n\n[89] Had Bede even _asserted_ that the Round Towers were fire receptacles,\nit would not obtain my assent, as they were as great an enigma in that\nvenerable writer\u2019s day as they have been ever since, until now that their\n_secret_ is about to be unveiled.\n\n[90] The derivation of this word not being generally known, I may be\nallowed to subjoin it. It is the Irish for _dove_, as _columba_ is the\nLatin, and was assigned to the above place in honour of St. Columbe, who\nwas surnamed Kille, from the many churches which he had founded.\n\n[91] _Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad._ vol. xv.\n\n[92] This adjective is not here applied to our western _Irin_, _i.e._\nIreland, but to the eastern Iran, _i.e._ Persia.\n\n[93] \u201cVirginesque Vest\u00e6 legit, Alb\u00e2 oriundum sacerdotium, et genti\nconditoris haud alienum\u201d (Livy, lib. i. cap. xx.).\n\n[94] Horace.\n\n[95] _Asiatic Researches_, Dissert. Up. Egypt and Nile.\n\n[96] Literally, \u201cthe goddess of the lotos.\u201d\n\n[97] Craufurd\u2019s _Sketches_.\n\n[98] Milton.\n\n[99] Maya also signifies _illusion_, of which as an operation of the\nDeity, the following remark, extracted elsewhere from Sir William, may not\nbe unseasonable:--\u201cThe inextricable difficulties,\u201d says he, \u201cattending the\n_vulgar notion of material substances_, concerning which \u2018we know this\nonly, that we know nothing,\u2019 induced many of the wisest among the\nancients, and some of the most enlightened among the moderns, to believe\nthat the whole creation was rather an _energy_ than a work, by which the\nInfinite Being who is present at all times and in all places, exhibits to\nthe minds of his creatures a set of perceptions, like a wonderful picture\nor piece of music, always varied, yet always uniform; so that all bodies\nand their qualities exist, indeed, to every wise and useful purpose, but\nexist only as far as they are _perceived_--a theory no less pious than\nsublime, and as different _from_ any principle of atheism, as the\nbrightest sunshine differs from the blackest midnight.\u201d\n\n[100] Nature.\n\n[101] The Hindoos never bathe nor perform their ablutions whilst the sun\nis below the horizon.\n\n[102] Poojah is properly worship.\n\n[103] Krishen of Matra may be called the Apollo of the Hindoos.\n\n[104] Vassant, the spring.\n\n[105] Kama, the god of love.\n\n[106] Translated from the Persic, and read before the Oriental Society in\nIndia.\n\n[107] The reason why the Egyptian Pyramids, though _comprehending_ the\nsame idea, did not _exhibit_ this form, will be assigned hereafter.\n\n[108] In his treatise, _De De\u00e2 Syri\u00e2_.\n\n[109]\n\n  \u201cAstarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns,\n  To whose bright image nightly by the moon,\n  Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs.\u201d--MILTON.\n\n[110] \u201cLes Indiens ont le Lingam qui ajoute encore quelque chose \u00e0\nl\u2019infamie du Phallus des Egyptiens et des Grecs: ils adorent le faux dieu\nIsoir sous cette figure monstreuse, et qu\u2019ils exposent en procession\ninsultant d\u2019une mani\u00e8re horrible \u00e0 la pudeur et \u00e0 la cr\u00e9dulit\u00e9 de la\npopulace\u201d (_La Croze_, p. 431).\n\n[111] We can now see how it happened that the Irish word _Toradh_, _i.e._\n\u201cto go through the tower ceremony,\u201d should signify also \u201cto be pregnant\u201d;\nand we can equally unravel the _mythos_ of that elegant little tale which\nSir John Malcolm tells us from Ferdosi, in his _History of Persia_. \u201cIt is\nrelated,\u201d says he, \u201cthat Gal, when taking the amusement of the chase, came\nto the foot of a _tower_, on one of the turrets of which he saw a young\n_damsel_ of the most exquisite beauty. _They mutually gazed and loved_,\nbut there appeared no mode of ascending the battlement. After much\nembarrassment, an _expedient_ occurred to the fair maiden. She loosened\nher dark and beautiful _tresses_, which fell in ringlets to the _bottom_\nof the _tower_, and enabled the _enamoured_ prince to _ascend_. The lady\nproved to be Noudabah, the daughter of Merab, king of Cabul, a prince of\nthe race of Zohauk.\u201d\n\n[112] Chap. iv. p. 48.\n\n[113] Syncellus accordingly spells Budh, even in the singular number, with\nan _F_; and Josephus, from the Scriptures, additionally commutes the final\n_d_ into _t_. We shall see more inflections anon.\n\n\u201c\u03c6\u03bf\u03c5\u03b4 \u03b5\u03be \u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u03c1\u03c9\u03c1\u03bb\u03bf\u03b4\u03b9\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9.\u201d--Syncellus, p. 47.\n\n\u201cFut was the founder of the nations in Libya (Africa), and the people were\nfrom him called Futi\u201d (Josephus, _Ant._ lib. i. c. 7).\n\n[114] _Vide_ Plutarch, _de Isi et Osiri_.\n\n[115] Eas, in Irish, also means the moon.\n\n[116] Literally the Son of the Sun, and should properly be written\nO\u2019Siris, like any of our Irish names, such as O\u2019Brien--and meaning _sprung\nfrom_.\n\n[117] These are the _indexes_ for which Mr. O\u2019Connor could find no other\nuse than that of dials!\n\n[118] \u201cLes myst\u00e8res de l\u2019antiquit\u00e9 nous sont demeur\u00e9s presqu\u2019interdicts;\nles vestiges de ses monuments manquent le plus souvent de sens pour nous,\nparceque, de si\u00e8cle en si\u00e8cle, les savants ont voulu leur attribuer un\nsens\u201d (DE SACY).\n\n[119] To this declaration of Mr. Heeren, as I cannot _now_ bestow upon it\na separate inquiry, I must be allowed briefly to intimate that if such be\nall that he \u201cknows with certainty\u201d on the topic, he had better not know it\nat all, for, with the exception of that part which avows the general\n_ignorance_ concerning its rise and progress, as well as its expulsion by\nthe Brahmins from the East, _all the rest is inaccurate_. In the first\nplace it does not \u201c_flourish_\u201d at present in Ceylon. It has sunk and\ndegenerated there into an unmeaning tissue of hideous demonology, _if we\nmay judge by a reference to a large work published here some time ago_, by\nMr. Upham, which is as opposite from real _Budhism_ as truth is from\nfalsehood. In the second place its tenets were _not_ \u201cin direct opposition\nto those of the Brahmins,\u201d any more than those of the Catholics are from\nthe tenets of the Protestants; yet have the latter contrived to oust the\nCatholics, their predecessors, as the Brahmins did the still more\nantecedent Budhists. And this will be sufficient to neutralise that\ninsinuation which would imply that Budha was an _innovator_ and a\n_sectarian_, until I show by and by that the reverse was the fact.\n\n[120] The Jews themselves, so early as the time of Moses, adopted the\npractice as an act of _thanksgiving_.\n\n\u201cAnd Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her\nhand; and all the women went out after her, with timbrels, and with\ndances.\n\n\u201cAnd Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for He hath triumphed\ngloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea\u201d (Exod.\nxv. 20, 21).\n\n[121] The origin of this word shall be explained hereafter.\n\n[122] \u201cVerily, verily, I say unto you, except a _corn_ of _wheat_ fall\ninto the ground and _die_, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth\nforth much fruit\u201d (John xii. 24).\n\n[123] We are told--says Sir John Malcolm, in a Persian work of celebrity,\nthe _Attash Kuddah_--that a person dreamt he saw Ferdosi composing, and an\nangel was guiding his pen: he looked near, and discovered that he had just\nwritten the above couplet, in which he so emphatically pleads for humanity\nto the smallest insect of the creation.\n\n[124] _Another Almoner_ was an epithet they assigned to God, which even\nthe Brahmins retained after they had seceded from them, as may be seen in\nWilkins\u2019 translation of a Sanscrit inscription on a pillar near _Buddal_,\npublished in the first volume of the _Asiatic Researches_. This\ninscription, I must observe, as it escaped that learned Orientalist to\nperceive it, as it equally did the acumen of the president, his annotator,\nis, with the column on which it appears, nothing else than a record of the\ntriumphs obtained by a hero of the Brahminical party in exterminating the\nBudhists. The frequent allusion to the \u201clustful elephants,\u201d--such as\n\u201cwhose piles of rocks reek with the juice exuding from the heads of\nintoxicated elephants,\u201d--and \u201cAlthough the prospect hidden by the dust\narising from the multitude of marching force was rendered clear from the\nearth being watered by constant and abundant streams flowing from the\nheads of lustful elephants of various breeds,\u201d--and still more that\nbeautiful and pathetic sentiment which occurs in the original of the\npreceding paper, omitted by Mr. Wilkins, but supplied by the president,\nviz. \u201cby whom having conquered the earth as far as the _ocean_, it was\nleft as being unprofitably seized--so he declared; and his _elephants\nweeping_ saw again _in the forests their kindred whose eyes were full of\ntears_,\u201d--make this a demonstration: yet would the beauty of the image be\nlost to some of my readers, were I not to explain that the Budhists\ntreated with a sort of deified reverence the tribe of _elephants_, which\nnow bewailed their extermination as above described.\n\n[125] From Bavana was named the village of Banaven, in Scotland, whither\nsome of the Tuath-de-danaans had repaired after their retreat from\nIreland--a very appropriate commemoration of their recent subversion; and\na particular locality within its district, where St. Patrick was born, was\ncalled _Nemph-Thur_, that is, the _holy tower_, corresponding to\n_Budh-Nemph_, _i.e._ the _holy Lingam_, from the circumstance of there\nhaving been erected on it one of those temples which time has since\neffaced. _Tor-Boileh_ upon the Indus, which means the _Tower of Baal_, is\nin exact consonance with _Nemph-Thur_ and with _Budh-Nemph_; and there can\nbe no question but that _there_ also stood one of those edifices, as the\nruins even of a city are perceptible in the neighbourhood. Mr. Wilford,\nhowever, would translate this last name, Tor-Boileh, by _Black Beilam_:\nand, to keep this _colour_ in countenance, he invents a new name for a\nplace called Peleiam, \u201cwhich,\u201d he says, \u201c_appears_ to have been transposed\nfrom Ac Beilam, or the _White Beilam_, sands or shores and now called\n\u2018Hazren.\u2019\u201d I am not surprised at the _discredit_ brought upon etymology.\n\n[126] And this, too, after he had admitted that \u201cthe name is certainly of\nthe pure Iberno-Celtic dialect, and must have had some meaning founded in\nthe nature of things in its original and radical formation.\u201d\n\n[127] All our ancient swords were made of brass.\n\n[128] Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 527, 4to, 1781.\n\n[129] _Histoire d\u2019Irelande_, vol. i. cap. 7.\n\n[130] Avienus lived in the fourth century.\n\n[131] \u201cMelius (Hiberni\u00e6 quam Britanni\u00e6) aditus--portusque per commercia et\nnegociatores cogniti\u201d (Tacit. _vit. Agricol._ 499).\n\n[132] \u201cPlus in metum quan in spem.\u201d\n\n[133] \u201c\u1f65\u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u0392\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03bf\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd \u0399\u03c1\u03b9\u03bd.\u201d _Diod\nSic._ lib. v.\n\n[134] In proof of this, I aver that I could go through the whole range of\ntheir language, and prove that in its fabrication, so punctilious was\ntheir regard to _euphony_, they scrupled not to _cancel_ or otherwise\n_obnebulate_ the _essential_ and _significant_ letters of the primitive\nwords; so that, in a few generations, their descendants were unable to\ntrace the true _roots_ of their compounds. Hence that lamentable\nimperfection which pervades all our lexicons and dictionaries, and which\ncan never be rectified but by the revisal of the whole system, and that by\na _thorough adept_ in the language of the Irish.\n\n[135] I say strangled, because _Irin_ is a compound word embracing within\nits compass _two distinct parts_, of which Iris could give but the spirit\nof one.\n\n[136] \u201cIren perrexit ut et aliorum Doctorum sententias in philosophicis\natque divinis litteris investigator curiosus exquireret\u201d (_Vita Gild\u00e6_,\ncap. 6).\n\n[137] Lib. x. Anno 1098.\n\n[138] Modern writers upon Persia, who would _refine_ upon the matter, have\nperverted this word to _Pehlivi_; but look you into the early numbers of\nthe _Asiatic Researches_, and there you will find it spelled as above.\n\n[139] Besides, to speak _accurately_, this is not a _western_ country at\nall, or only so relatively to Britain, Gaul, and that particular line.\n\n[140] _Collect. de Reb. Hib._ vol. iv.\n\n[141] _Antiq. Research. Pers._ vol. i. p. 137.\n\n[142] If I have taken a wrong view of the professor\u2019s phraseology, I shall\nfeel most happy to be set right; but I submit to the critic whether I am\nnot justified in understanding him as I do.\n\n[143] To be met with at a place called Tauk-e-Bostan. Silvestre de Sacy, a\nmember of the Institute at Paris, had made the following translation of\nit, which is divided into two parts.\n\nThe first:--\u201cThis figure is that of a worshipper of Hormuzd, or God; the\nexcellent Shahpoor; king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial\ngerm of a heavenly race; the son of the adorer of God; the excellent\nHormuzd; a king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial germ of a\nheavenly race; grandson of the excellent Narses; king of kings.\u201d\n\nThe second:--\u201cThis figure is that of a worshipper of Hormuzd, or God; the\nexcellent Varaham; king of kings; king of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a\ncelestial germ of a heavenly race; son of the adorer of God; the excellent\nShapoor; king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial germ of a\nheavenly race; grandson of the excellent Hormuzd; king of kings.\u201d\n\n[144] This _An_, the original name for _country_, was modified afterwards,\naccording to clime and dialect, into _tan_, as in Aqui-_tan_-ia,\nBrit-_tan_-ia, Mauri-_tan_-ia, etc.; and into _stan_, as in Curdi-_stan_,\nFardi-_stan_, Hindu-_stan_, etc.\n\n[145] From this was formed the English word _tower_, the very idea\nremaining unchanged. As was also the English word _bud_, meaning the\n_first shoot of a plant_, a _germ_, from the Irish _budh_, _i.e._ the\n_organ of male energy_.\n\n[146] The present bleak and sterile aspect of this region militates\nnothing against this view, when we consider the thousand alterations which\nit has undergone, under the thousand different tribes that have\nconsecutively possessed it.\n\n[147] From _Ir_ or _Eer_, sacred, and _an_, a _land_.\n\n[148] From _Ir_ or _Eer_, sacred, and _in_, an _island_.\n\n[149] Iran or Irin, _i.e._ Eeran or Eerin.\n\n[150] Each of these three preceding words means _religion_ or\n_revelation_. And from them _Era_, denoting a _period of_ time,--which\nwith the ancients was a _sacred_ reckoning,--has been so denominated; as\nwell as _Eric_, which, in law phraseology, indicates a certain penalty\nattachable to certain crimes, and equivalent to _Deodand_, or a _religious\nrestitution_--all Irish.\n\n[151] I mean the \u201c_Gr\u00e6ci vetustissimi_,\u201d not the \u201c_Gr\u00e6culi esurientes_.\u201d\n\n[152] Namely, _Ivernia_:--_u_, _v_, and _b_ are commutable.\n\n[153] Should you hesitate as to this mode of accounting for the letter\n_b_, I can show you that the Greeks spelled _Albion_ indifferently with or\nwithout a _b_; as they indifferently used _b_ or _v_ in one of the above\nnames for Ireland; for instance--\n\n\u1f0c\u03b9 \u0392\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03b5\u03b9\u03db\u03b9 \u03b4\u03c5\u03bf \u03bd\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u03b9, \u039f\u03c5\u03b5\u03c1\u03bd\u03af\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u0391\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, \u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9 \u0392\u03b5\u03c1\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u0391\u03bb\u03b2\u03b9\u03c9\u03bd\nEustath. _ad Dion. Perieg._\n\n[154] It is only the _date_, however, that I will share with any one. The\nderivation of the word and its _true exposition_ are exclusively my own.\n\n[155] \u201cQuod nomen ob beati solum ingenium, in quo _nullum animal venenosum\nvitale_, facile assentior attributum\u201d (_Ogyg._ pt. i. c. 21). So\ngratifying, however, has this been to the obsequious wisdom of subsequent\n_historians_ (?), as to be echoed from one to the other with the most\ncommendable fidelity. \u201c_O imitatores, servum pecus!_\u201d\n\n[156] Pronounced Fiodhvadh--copied _literally_ from the old manuscripts.\n\n[157] This corresponds to _Ir-an_, the Sacred _Land_.\n\n[158] This answers to _Ir-in_, the Sacred _Island_.\n\n[159] The reader will see that, in quoting Dr. Keating, I do so from no\nrespect for his discrimination or sagacity. Whenever he has attempted to\nexert either, in the way of comment or _deduction_, he has _invariably_\nerred: fortunately he has offered none in this instance. Yet is his book a\nmost valuable compilation; and _I_ now cull out of it _those three names_,\nas one would a casket of jewels from a lumber-room.\n\n[160] This _Farragh_, otherwise _Phearragh_, is the _Peor_ of the\nScriptures, and the _Priapus_ of the Greeks.\n\n[161] \u201cPriapus, si _physice_ consideretur idem est ac _sol_; ejusque lux\nprimogenia unde _vis omnis seminatrix_\u201d (_Diod. Sic._ lib. i.). See also\nNum. xxv. 4, where you will see that \u201cPeor\u201d _remotely_ meant the sun.\n\n[162] I shall not trouble myself in reciting the absurd _attempts_ that\nhave been heretofore made to expound this word: it is enough to say that\n_they were all wrong_.\n\n[163] The _motto_, also, of this family, viz., _Lamh laider a-Boo_, _i.e._\n\u201cThe strong arm from Boo,\u201d now changed to _Vigueur du dessus_, is in\nkeeping with the same idea.\n\n[164] This is the _mere utterance_ of an historical transaction without\nreference to _sect_, _creed_, _party_, or _politics_. No feelings of\nbitterness mingle therein. The author disclaims all such, as much as he\nwould depreciate them in others.\n\n[165] In the library of Trinity College, Dublin, are several such,\ncollected in the beginning of last century, by Lhuyd, author of the\n_Arch\u00e6ologia_, and restored by Sir John Seabright, at the instigation of\nEdmund Burke. I am credibly informed also, that there have been lately\ndiscovered in the Library at Copenhagen certain documents relating to our\nantiquities, taken away by the Danes after their memorable defeat at\nClontarf, by King Brian, A.D. 1014. Lombard has already asserted the same;\nand that the King of Denmark entreated Queen Elizabeth to send him some\nIrishman, who could transcribe them; that Donatus O\u2019Daly, a learned\nantiquarian, was selected for the purpose, but that his appointment was\nafterwards countermanded, for political reasons.\n\nThere are, besides, in mostly all the public libraries of Europe--without\nadverting to those which are detained in the Tower of London--divers Irish\nmanuscripts, presented by the various emigrants, who from time to time\nhave been obliged to fly their country, to seek among strangers that\nshelter which they were denied at home; taking with them, as religious\nheirlooms, those hereditary relics of their pedigree and race.\n\nOne of the most beautiful and pathetic pieces of Irish poetry remaining,\nwritten by Macleog, private secretary to Brian, after the demise of that\nmonarch, and beginning with this expression of his sorrow: \u201cOh! Cencoradh\n(the name of his patron\u2019s favourite palace), where is Brian?\u201d was picked\nup in the Netherlands, in 1650, by Fergar O\u2019Gara, an Augustinian friar,\nwho fled from Ireland in the iron days of Cromwell.\n\n[166] I rejoice to state, that the present administration, under the\nbenign direction of our patriot King, have resolved, so far as in them\nlies, to atone for former depredators. There is now a vigorous revisal of\nthose documents going on, with a view, as I understand, to their immediate\npublication.\n\n[167] The antiquarian luminaries of the _Royal Irish Academy_ would fain\nmake out that this was a _Christian warrior_. Their _high priest_ has\nlately proclaimed the fact, in their \u201ccollective wisdom.\u201d It is\nastonishing how fond they have _suddenly_ become for the memory of the\nmonks; they would now father everything like culture in the country upon\nthem. It used not to have been so!\n\n[168] This image was found under the root of a tree dug up in Roscommon.\nIt is about the size of the drawing; is made of brass, once gilt; the\ngilding, however, now almost worn off; and may be seen in the Museum of\nTrinity College, Dublin.\n\n[169] _Major Archer\u2019s Travels in Upper India_, vol. i. pp. 383, 384. Lond.\n1833.\n\n[170] So the \u201ccollective wisdom,\u201d in the true spirit of Christian\nrestitution and penitential contrition, have lately pronounced him! It is\ndelightful to see this solicitous zeal with which, when it suits a private\npurpose, they cherish the memory of the monks, being _no longer_ in the\nway of their _secular_ perquisites: but if the poor monks could speak, or\nsend a voice from the tomb, it would be to say that they did not choose to\nbe encumbered with such meretricious flattery; and that, having laid no\nclaim to those _relics_, or to the _towers_ which they decorated, during\ntheir _lifetime_, they now in _death_ must repudiate the ascription.\n\u201cTimeo Danaas et dona ferentes,\u201d would be their answer.\n\n[171] _Asiatic Researches_, vol. vi.; where it will be observed that the\nDoctor was not writing for me. He did not even _suspect_ the existence of\nthis figure. It is, like the preceding one, of bronze.\n\n[172] The Egyptian sovereign assumed this _title_, as the highest that\n_language_ and _imagination_ could bestow. It signifies literally the _act\nof copulation_, of which it would represent him as _presiding genius_--the\nsource whence all pleasure and happiness can flow--and is but faintly\nre-echoed in the Macedo-Syriac regal epithet of \u0395\u03c5\u03b5\u03c1\u03b3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, \u201cBenefactor,\u201d\nor even that by which we designate our king as the _fountain_ of\n_goodness_. There being no such letter as _ph_ in the ancient alphabets,\nall those words, viz. _Pheor_, _Pharaoh_, and _Pharagh_, should properly\nbe spelled _Feor_, _Faraoh_, and _Faragh_.\n\n[173] Gen. xlvi. 34.\n\n[174] \u201cOn the fifteenth day of the first month every year. Every person is\nobliged, on the evening of that day, to set out a lantern before his door,\nand these are of various sizes and prices, according to the different\ncircumstances of those to whom they belong. During this festival, they\nhave all sorts of entertainments, such as plays, balls, assemblies, music,\ndancing, and the lanterns are filled with a vast number of wax candles,\nand surrounded with bonfires.\u201d\n\n[175] Barker.--The same is mentioned by Captain Burr, in reference to the\nIndian followers who had attended him to the temple of Isis.\n\n[176] Mr. Greaves\u2019s diagonal, in proportion to his base of 694 feet, is\n991 feet nearly; the half of which is 495\u00bd feet, for the height of the\nPyramid; for as the radius is to the tangent of 45\u00b0, so is half the\ndiameter to half the diagonal, or 7 to 10, or 706 to 1000. Say, 7 : 10 ::\n694 : 991/2 = 495\u00bd.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._\n\n[177] Schindl.\n\n[178] Gen. xlvii.\n\n[179] _Hist. Christ. des Indes_, p. 429.\n\n[180] Lib. ii. p. 4.\n\n[181] \u03c0\u03c5\u03c1, generally rendered _fire_, is not so, however, in the true\nimport of the word, but the _Sun_; fire is only a secondary sense of it.\n\n[182] Barker.\n\n[183] _Ibid._\n\n[184] Gen. xlvi. 34.\n\n[185] Ex. vii. 11, etc., and 2 Tim. iii. 8.\n\n[186] America also has had her ancient pageantry. Antonio de Solis gives\nthe following description of the Mexican shrine:--\u201cThe site of that temple\ndevoted to the worship of the Sun, and its altar for human sacrifices, was\na large square environed by walls, cloisters, and gates; in the centre was\nraised a high tower of a pyramidical form, broad at the base, and narrowed\ntowards the top, having four equal sides in a sloping direction; in one of\nwhich was a flight of one hundred and fifty steps to the top, covered with\nthe finest marble, with a square marble pavement, guarded with a\nbalustrade: in the centre stood a large black stone, in manner of an\naltar, placed near the idol. In the front of this tower, and at a\nconvenient distance from its base, stood a high altar of solid masonry,\nascended by thirty steps: in the middle of it was placed a large stone, on\nwhich they slaughtered the numerous human victims devoted for sacrifice;\nthe outside being set with stakes and bars, on which were fixed human\nsculls.\u201d\n\n[187] The regular pyramid is a section of the cube, whose altitude is\nequal to half the diameter of the base, and is contained within a\nsemicircle. The great pyramid is not of this precise order; its height or\naltitude being found more than half the diameter of its base. A second\norder is that whose altitude is equal to half the diagonal of the base,\nand is also bounded and contained within a semicircle; and consequently,\nif the diagonal be given at 1000, the altitude will be 500: but the true\nheight of the Egyptian pyramid being determined at less than half its\ndiagonal, is therefore found to be not exactly of this order, but nearly\napproaching to it, and probably aimed at in the original design, though\nfailing in the execution.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._\n\n[188] Astronomy began very early to be cultivated among the Egyptians; and\nto them is attributed the discovery of the magnitude of the solar year,\nor, as it is distinguished, _the Egyptian year_ of 365 days; which\ndiscovery appears to be noticeable, and memorialised in the construction\nof their Great Pyramid. The ancient measure of length being the cubit, and\nthat measure being determined common with the Hebrews and Egyptians, as\nnearly as Dr. Cumberland could determine it, and reduced to English\nmeasure, a certain standard is obtained: but we find also another, called\nthe longer cubit, to have obtained, on which we may with equal propriety\ncalculate the measures of the Egyptian Pyramid, on which to infer the\nnumber of days contained in the solar year; the measures of the base of\nthe Great Pyramid being found, if not exactly, yet nearly approximating to\nit.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._\n\n[189] I have not the least doubt but the ancient Egyptians measured by the\ncubit, whatever it then was; that the number of cubits was designedly\nfixed upon by them in laying the base of the Pyramid; and that if we\ndivide the ascertained sum of 752 feet by 2, the quotient will be 376,\nwhich is a number exceeding 365 by 11: consequently, if we estimate their\nancient cubit at 2 feet 7/10 of an inch, that measure will be ascertained,\nand found to approximate nearly to the longer Hebrew cubit; and so will\nthe measures of the Pyramid be found to agree with the number of days in\nthe solar year.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._\n\n[190] Then Major Fitzclarence, March 2, 1818.\n\n[191] _Asiatic Researches._\n\n[192] _Scientific Tourist through Ireland_, p. 33.\n\n[193] Usher\u2019s _Primord_, c. xvii. p. 846.\n\n[194] _Journal_, pp. 21, 23.\n\n[195] Neither can I, with him, restrict their object to _Tombs alone_;\ntheir Phallic shape bespeaks another allusion; as does the style of\narchitecture indicate an _affinity_ of _descent_, though not an _identity_\nof _design_ with that of our _Towers_.\n\n[196] In his treatise, _De De\u00e2 Syri\u00e2_.\n\n[197] Of this distant adoration we may still see traces in the practice of\nthe Irish peasantry, almost preferring to say their prayers outside the\nprecincts of the chapel, or mass-house, than within it, unconsciously\nderived from this service of the Afrion, or benediction-house, _i.e._ the\nRound Towers.\n\n[198] The Ghabres to this day chew a leaf of it in their mouths, while\nperforming their religious duties round the sacred fire.\n\n[199] Those are what Montmorency would fain make out to have been _roses_\nimported from the Vatican.\n\n[200] A similar sacrifice is described by Major Archer as still practised\nin the mountains of Upper India, which he himself witnessed. \u201cAn\nunfortunate goat,\u201d says he, \u201clean and emaciated, was brought as an\noffering to the deities; but so poor in flesh was he that no crow would\nhave waited his death in hopes of a meal from his carcass.\u201d\n\n[201] \u201cRound the _tie_ or umbrella at the top (of the Dagobs at Ceylon)\nare suspended a number of small bells, which with these form _tees_ of a\ngreat quantity of smaller pagodas that surround the quatine, being set in\nmotion by the wind, keep up a constant tinkling, but not unpleasing sound\u201d\n(COLEMAN).\n\nThe temples of Budh in the Burmese empire are also pyramidical, the top\nalways crowned with a gilt umbrella of iron filagree, hung round with\nbells.--\u201cThe _tie_ or _umbrella_ is to be seen on every sacred building\nthat is of a spiral form; the rising and consecration of this last and\nindispensable appendage is an act of high religious solemnity, and a\nseason of festivity and relaxation. The present king bestowed the _tie_\nthat covers Shoemadoo: it was made at the capital. Many of the principal\nnobility came down from Ummerapoora to be present at the ceremony of its\nelevation. The circumference of the tie is fifty-six feet; it rests on an\niron axis fixed in the building, and is further secured by large chains\nstrongly riveted to the spire. Round the lower rim of the tie are appended\na number of _bells_, which agitated by the wind make a continual jingling\u201d\n(SYMES).\n\n[202] \u201cIt is remarked that in China they have no pyramids, but pagodas\nraised by galleries, one above another, to the top: the most celebrated of\nthese is that called the Porcelain Tower, in Nankin, said to be two\nhundred feet high, and forty feet at the base, built in an octagonal form.\nThese pagodas seem to have been designed for altars of incense, raised to\ntheir a\u00ebrial deities, with which to appease them; and their hanging bells,\n_with their tintillations to drive away the demons_ lest they should, by\nnoxious and malignant winds and tempests, disturb their serene atmosphere\nand afflict their country\u201d (_Dissertations upon the Pyramids_).\n\n[203] The reason of this will appear hereafter; while in the interim I\nmust observe that this new appropriation of them to Christian purposes was\nwhat occasioned that error on the part of a writer some centuries after,\nwho _opined_ that it was _Sanctus Patricius_ who first presented one to\n_Sancto Kierano_. I make no question of the _present_; but does\npresentation imply invention?\n\n[204] Cambrensis tells rather a curious story about St. Finnan\u2019s\nbell:--\u201cThere is,\u201d says he, \u201cin the district of Mactalewi, in Leinster, a\ncertain bell which, unless it is adjured by its possessor every night in a\nparticular form of exorcism shaped for the purpose, and tied with a cord\n(no matter how slight), it would be found in the morning at the church of\nSt. Finnan, at Clunarech, in Meath, from whence it was brought; and,\u201d adds\nhe, \u201cthis sometimes happened.\u201d\n\n[205] A communication from Mr. Hall himself, just imparted, assures me\nthat, _as far as he could judge_, the aperture was _coeval_ with the\ninstrument, and by no means accidental.\n\n[206] \u201cThis word is generally supposed to be derived from Fars or Pars, a\ndivision of the empire of Iran, and applied by Europeans to the whole of\nthat kingdom. It is certainly a word unknown, in the sense we use it, to\nthe present natives of Iran, though some Arabic writers contend that Pars\nformerly meant the whole kingdom. In proof of this assertion, a passage of\nthe Koran is quoted, in which one of Mohammed\u2019s companions who came from a\nvillage near Isfahan is called Telman of Fars or Pars. We have also the\nauthority of the Scripture for the name of this kingdom being Paras or\nPhars. The authors of the Universal History, on what authority I know not,\nstate that the word Iran is not a general name of Persia, but of a part of\nthe country. _This is certainly erroneous_: Iran has, from the most\nancient times to the present day, been the term by which the Persians call\ntheir country; and it includes, in the sense they understand it, all the\nprovinces to the east of the Tigris; Assyria Proper, Media, Parthia,\nPersia, and Hyrcania or Mazenderan\u201d (SIR JOHN MALCOLM).\n\n[207] These quotations from the professor\u2019s book are not given\n_consecutively_ as he wrote them, but _brought together_ from detached\nsections and chapters.\n\n[208] Pars is the Persian, Fars the Arabic, pronunciation of the word.\n\n[209] I should have observed, that Plato also, speaking of those modern\nPersians, says: \u201cThey were originally a nation of shepherds and herdsmen,\noccupying a rude country, such as naturally fosters a hardy race of\npeople, capable of supporting both cold and watching, and when needful, of\nenduring the toils of war\u201d (Plato, _De Leg._ iii. op. ii. p. 695).\n\n[210] \u0395\u03c0\u03b5\u03ba\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b4\u03b5 \u03c4\u2019 \u03bf\u1f54\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u0391\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b5\u03c7\u03c1\u03b9 \u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03a0\u03b5\u03c1\u03c3\u03c9\u03bd\n\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u039c\u03b7\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b5\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03b1\u03c1\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u0392\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03a3\u03bf\u03b3\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd\u1ff6\u03bd. \u03b5\u03b9\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b3\u03b1\u03c1 \u03c4\u03c9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\n\u1f41\u03bc\u03c9\u03b3\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b9\u03ba\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc (STRABO, p. 1094).\n\n[211] All the other variations are thus similarly accounted for; being but\noffshoots of the same radix, such as I have already shown (p. 128) in\nreference to Ireland--while the careful reader will of himself see that\nthe name of that lake in Persia, of which the Greeks and Romans conjointly\nmanufactured Aria Palus, corresponds to our Lough Erne, and must doubtless\nhave been so called in Persia also, for _palus_ is evidently but the\ntranslation of lough.\n\n[212] Zendavesta, i. 14.\n\n[213] \u201cAnd what would hardly appear possible, as we cannot discover what\npurpose such a finished fable of idolatrous superstition would be meant to\nanswer\u201d (Sir John Malcolm\u2019s _History of Persia_, vol. i. p. 191).\n\n[214] Yet in Hindoostan, also, as we learn from Major Archer, \u201can\n_astrologer_ is a constituted authority in all the villages, and nothing\npertaining to life and its concerns is commenced without his sanction.\u201d\n\n[215] \u201cTout, dans le syst\u00eame primitif de la religion des Grecs, atteste la\ntransposition des traditions comme des principes; tout y est vague, sombre\net confus\u201d (DE SACY).\n\n[216] \u201cThe Sabians themselves boasting the origin of their religion from\nSeth, and pretending to have been denominated from a son of his called\nSabius, as also of having among them a book, which they called the _Book\nof Seth_\u201d (Prideaux, part i. book iii.).\n\n[217] This is only a corruption from the Irish word _Ercol_, the sun.\n\n[218] Wisdom of Solomon, xiv. 16, 17.\n\n[219] To this exactly corresponds, as well in import as in appropriation,\nthe name of one of the hills upon which Rome was built, that is\n_Palatinus_, which--no doubt, to the amazement of etymological\nempirics--is nothing less than a compound of _Baal_ and _tinne_; that is\n_Baal\u2019s fire_--the initial _B_ and _P_ being always commutable. And\n_Aven-tinus_, the epithet of another of the Seven Mounts, is derived from\n_Avan_, a river; and _tinne_, fire, meaning the fire-hill, near the river.\nAnd as the former was devoted to the _sun_, so the latter was to the\n_moon_; in confirmation of which it got another name, namely, _Re-monius_,\nof which the component parts are _Re_, the moon, and _moin_, an elevation.\n\nThe _Pru-taneion_, also amongst the Greeks, was what? A _fire_-hill.\nStartle not, it is a literal truth. But the dictionaries and lexicons say\nnothing about these matters? nay, offer other _explanations_?\nmystifications, Sir, if you please, whereby they implicate, as well\nthemselves as their readers, in absurdities; which could not be expected\nto be otherwise uninstructed, _as their authors necessarily were_, in the\nelements of that language whence all those words have diverged.\n\n_Pru-taneion_, then, is compounded of _Bri_, a mount, and _tinne_, fire;\nthe _B_, as before observed, being commutable with _P_, particularly\namongst the Greeks, who indifferently called Britain \u0392\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03b7 and\n\u03a0\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03b7 (\u03bd\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2 being understood). Every community had, of old, one of\nthose _Britennes_, or _fire mounts_, natural or artificial. The guardian\nof the sacred element therein was called, _Bri-ses_; and the dwelling\nassigned him, hard by, _Astu_. The number of those latter Cecrops reduced,\nin Attica from one hundred and sixty, to twelve. Of these, Theseus\nappointed the _principal station_ at _Cecropia_, the name of which he\nchanged, by _way of eminence_, to _Astu_; and hence this latter word,\nwhich originally but represented the abode of the _Sacerdos_, came\nultimately to signify a _city_ at large; as _Prutaneion_ did a Common\nCouncil Hall.\n\n[220] To this day, the most kindly wish, and ordinary salutation, of the\nIrish peasant, continues to be _Bal dhia duit, Bal dhia ort_, that is the\ngod Baal to you, or the god Baal upon you.\n\n[221] The Irish mode of expressing it is _Slan fuar tu sin, agus slan\nadfaga tu sin_. The Caffres who reside all round the Cape, pay their\nadoration to the moon, by dancing to her honour when she changes, or when\nshe is at the full. They prostrate themselves on the ground, then rise up\nagain, and, gazing at her orb, with loud acclamations, make the following\naddress:--\u201cWe, thy servants, salute thee. Give us store of milk and honey;\nincrease our flocks and herds, and we will worship thee.\u201d\n\n[222] The word is more _mysterious_, as I shall explain elsewhere.\n\n[223] Hannah More.\n\n[224] Byron.\n\n[225] \u201cOne superstition of the pagans never fails to assert its influence\nupon spots like this--the _genius_ loci is always ascendant\u201d (DEANE).\n\n[226] _Ab-roch_ also, the official title of Joseph, when appointed regent\nof Egypt, signifies father of the _king_.\n\n[227] \u201cThe Himalaya are the peculiar abodes of the gods of the Hindoos;\nthe rivers, issuing from the eternal snows, are goddesses, and are sacred\nin the eyes of all. Shrines, of the most holy and awful sanctity, are at\nthe fountain-heads of the Ganges and Jumna; and on the summit of Kedar\nNauth, Cali, that goddess of bloody rites, is supposed to have taken up\nher residence. One among the numerous proceedings of her votaries, is to\nscramble as high up the mountain as they can attain, taking with them a\n_goat_ for an offering: the animal is turned loose with a _knife_ tied\nround his neck; the belief is, that the goddess will find the victim, and\nimmolate it with her own hand\u201d (ARCHER).\n\n[228] This adjective I apply indiscriminately to Persia or to Ireland.\n\n[229] It lies in the district of _Ins-oin_, which means the _abode_ of\n_Magicians_; corrupted now to _Inis_-owen, which would import Eugene\u2019s\n_island_. An aggravated blunder--the place being in the _very centre_ of\nthe country, with which such an imaginary chevalier was never associated.\n\n[230]\n\n  \u201cHis tibi _Gryn\u00e6i_ nemoris dicatur origo,\n  Ne quis sit lucus, qu\u00e2 se plus jactet _Apollo_.\u201d\n                                        Virg. _Ecl._ 6.\n\n[231] \u201c_Granem_ dixere priores.\u201d--OVID.\n\nAlthough those heaps are now but signals of accidental or violent death,\nfor which each passenger bespeaks his sorrow by _adding a small stone_,\nyet we see that in their origin they were more religiously designed; and\nwhile this _latter practice_ is observed also in India, it appears that\nthey have retained there more correctly the primitive idea, as may be\ninferred from these words of Major Archer:--\u201cOn the right and left are\nseveral cairns of stones, erected by parties of travellers as they cross,\nin _acknowledgment to the deities or presiding spirits for their\nprotection_.\u201d\n\n[232] _Ogyg. seu Rer. Iber. Chron._ part i. p. 16.\n\n[233] One of the ancient names of Ireland is _Inis Algan_, that is, the\n_Noble Island_.\n\n[234] \u201cThe children gathered the wood, the fathers kindled the fire, and\nthe women kneaded the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven\u201d (Jer.\nvii. 18).\n\n[235] _Lettres sur les Sciences_, p. 202.\n\n[236] _Hist. du Calendrier_, Pref. p. 14.\n\n[237] \u201cObeliscum Deo soli, speciali munere, dedicatum fuisse\u201d (AMMIANUS).\n\n[238] \u201cChinenses et Indi, pr\u00e6ter imagines in pagodis et delubris,\npr\u00e6grandes aliquando etiam _integras rupes_, presertim si natur\u00e2 in\n_pyramidalem formam_ vergebant, in idola formari solebant\u201d (HYDE).\n\n[239] Is it not pitiable, therefore, to hear Mr. Deane, in the last volume\nof the _Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries_, London, ascribe the\nerection of those obelisks which he met in Britanny, to the following\ntext? namely, \u201cBehold Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear\nstuck in the ground at his bolster\u201d (1 Sam. xxvi. 7).\n\nWhen Captain Pyke landed in the island of Elephanta, near Bombay, he found\nin the midst of a Gentoo temple a low altar, on which was placed a large\npolished stone, of a _cylindrical_ form, standing on its base, the top\n_rounded_, or convex: they called it _Mahody_,--that the name of the\ninconceivable God was placed under it aloof from profanation.\n\nLaunder, in his _Voyage to India_, p. 81, saw one _erected_ in a _tank_ of\nwater. Herodian tells us he saw a similar stone, round at the bottom,\ndiminishing towards the top in a conical form, at Emessa, in Ph\u0153nicia, and\nthat the name they gave it was Heliogabalus (VALLANCEY).\n\n[240] _I.e._ the _Good_-Baal-Peor.\n\n[241] Wilford, in like manner, after a more mature acquaintance with the\nsystem, says, \u201cI beg leave here to retract what I said in a former essay\non Egypt, concerning the followers of Buddha.\u201d\n\n[242] _Observations on Drakontia_, London, 1833.\n\n[243] The Mexican hierogram is formed by the intersecting of two great\nserpents, which describe the circle with their bodies, and have each a\nhuman head in its mouth.\n\n[244] Ovid.\n\n[245] Gen. xi. 31.\n\n[246] See pages 503-506 for the explication of the serpent and the rest of\nthe allegory.\n\n[247] The Betula, or Birch tree.\n\n[248] Were additional proof required that this is the true solution of the\nMosaic _myth_, respecting the forbidden _apple_, it is irresistibly\noffered to anyone who will see that relic of Eastern idolatry, presented\nby Lieutenant-Colonel Ogg to the Museum of the East India Company, London,\nwhich consists of a tabular frame of white marble, furnished with a\nfountain, and emblematically stored with religious devices; the most\nextraordinary of which is a representation of the _Lingam_ and _Yoni_ in\n_conjunction_, around the bottom of which, in symbolical suggestion, is\ncoiled a serpent; while the top of another Lingam, placed underneath, is\nembossed towards the termination, which is _conical_ and _sunny_, with\nfour heads, facing the cardinal points, and _exactly corresponding with\nthose which grace the preputial apex_ of the Round _Tower_ of _Devenish_.\nThose four heads represent the four gods of the Budhist theology, who have\nappeared in the present world, and already obtained the perfect state of\nNirwana, viz. Charchasan, Gonagon, Gaspa, and Goutama. And the entire\ncoincidence between this Lingam and the characteristics of our Round\nTowers is such as to convince the most obdurate sceptics, even had I not\nput the question beyond dispute before, that they were _uniform_ in\ndesign, and _identical_ in purpose.\n\n[249] Venus preferred a _cestus_, or a talisman of her own sex, as we are\ntold in the fourteenth book of the _Iliad_, where it is said, that\n\n                          \u201cthe Queen of Love\n  Obeyed the sister and the wife of Jove,\n  And from her fragrant breast the zone unbraced,\n  With various skill and high embroidery graced.\n  In this was every art, and every charm,\n  To win the wisest, and the coldest warm:\n  Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire,\n  The kind deceit, the still reviving fire,\n  Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs,\n  Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes.\u201d--HOMER.\n\n[250] The offerings made at the present day are precisely of the same\nkind. \u201cBoiled rice, fruits, especially the cocoa-nut, flowers, natural,\nand artificial, and a variety of curious figures made of paper, gold leaf,\nand the cuttings of the cocoa-nut kernel, are the most common\u201d (SYMES).\n\n[251] Gen. iv. 7.\n\n[252] Methinks I hear some wiseacre start up here and say this cannot be,\nbecause man in an _uncivilised_ state occupies more space than when\nrestricted by social usages. Pray, sir, who told you that man was then\n_uncivilised_? Then, in fact, it was that he may be called truly\ncivilised, as more recent from the converse of his Creator.\n\n[253] In fig. 1, plate 33, of Mr. Coleman\u2019s book, \u201cis a four-headed Linga\nof white marble, on a stand of the same, surrounded by Parvati, Durga,\nGanes, and the Bull Nandi, in adoration. The size of the stand or tablet\nis about two feet square, and the whole is richly painted and gilt. On the\ncrown of the Linga is a refulgent sun.\u201d In fig. 2 of same \u201cis a Panch\nMuckti, or five-headed Linga, of basalt, of which the fifth head rises\nabove the other four, surmounted by the hooded snake. Each of the heads\nhas also a snake wreathed around it, as well as around the Argha. The Bull\nNandi is kneeling in adoration before the spout of the Yoni.\u201d\n\n[254] And _Bacchus_, in reality, was but another name for one of the\nvarious _Budhas_. Even under the name of _Dionysos_ we find him, to this\nhour, amongst ourselves. \u201cOn _Sliabh Grian_, or the _Hill_ of the _Sun_\u201d\nsays Tighe, \u201cotherwise called Tory Hill, in the county Kilkenny, is a\ncircular space, sixty-four yards in circumference, covered with stones. In\nthis stands a very large one, and on the east side another, reared on\nthree supporters, and containing an inscription, which in Roman letter\nwould exhibit \u201cBeli Dinose.\u201d\n\n[255] \u201cThere are in India (also) public women, called _women of the idol_,\nand the origin of this custom is this: when a woman has made a vow for the\npurpose of having children, if she brings into the world a pretty\ndaughter, she carries it to Bod,--so they call the idol which they adore,\nand leaves it with him\u201d (Renaudot\u2019s _Anc. Rel._ p. 109).\n\n[256] \u201cIt is generally known, that the religion of Boudhou is the religion\nof the people of _Ceylon_, but no one is acquainted with its forms and\nprecepts\u201d (JOINVILLE).\n\n[257] Goldsmith.\n\n[258] That is, \u201c_above_ reason.\u201d\n\n[259] Gen. vi. 2.\n\n[260] _Ibid._ iv. 26.\n\n[261] Job xxxviii.\n\n[262] \u201c_In the beginning_ God created\u201d (Gen. i. 1).\n\n[263] Gen. vi. 4.\n\n[264] Dr. Gill, very _innocently_, would account for it otherwise, viz.\n\u201c_either_ because they made their fear _fall_ upon men, _or_ men through\nfear to _fall_ before them, because of their height and strength--or\nrather because they fell and rushed on men with great violence, and\noppressed them in a cruel and tyrannical manner\u201d!!!\n\n[265] Philosophers will ultimately repose in the belief that Asia has been\nthe principal foundry of the human kind; and _Iran_ or _Persia_ will be\nconsidered as one of the cradles from which the species took their\ndeparture to people the various regions of the earth (Dr. Barton, _Trans\nPhil. Soc. Philad._ vi. p. 1).\n\n\u201cIt follows that Iran or Persia (I contend for the _meaning, not the\nname_) was the central country which we sought\u201d (Sir W. Jones, _Asiatic\nResearches_).\n\n[266] An edifice of this kind, in which the _relics_ of Budha were kept,\nnear Benares, is described by Wilford as about _fifty feet high, of a\ncylindrical form, with its top shaped like a dome_.\n\n[267]\n\n  \u201cTuatha _Heren_ tarcaintais\n  Dos nicfead sith laitaith nua.\u201d\n\nThat is,\n\n  The _magicians_ of Ireland prophesied\n  That new times of peace would come.\n\nI would point your attention to this stanza, not only as confirmatory of\nthe solution above given for the word _Tuatha_, but as furnishing another\nlink in that great chain of analogy which I have traced between the names\nof Ireland and ancient Persia. _Haran_, in Mesopotamia, is but the\nprefixing of an aspirate to _Eran_, the Pahlavi variation for _Iran_, the\noriginal name for that _Sacred Land_.\n\n[268] General Vallancey was equally ignorant as to the meaning of the\nadditional words _De-danaan_.\n\n[269] The Lotos was the most sacred plant of the ancients, and typified\nthe _two_ principles of the earth\u2019s fecundation combined--the germ\nstanding for the _Lingam_; the filaments and petals for the _Yoni_.\n\n[270] This _Puzza_ is nothing more than our Irish _Pish_: and, what is\nmiraculously _coincident_, the title of the enthusiast who annually kills\nsomebody in honour of her, under the name of the goddess _Manepa_, at\nTancput, is _Phut_, or Buth; that is, the Budh of the Irish!\n\n[271] \u201cTherefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall\ncleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh\u201d (Gen. xi. 24).\n\n[272] \u201cThere is a sect of Hindus, by far the most numerous of any, who,\nattempting to reconcile the two systems, tell us, in their allegorical\nstyle, that Parvati and Mahadeva found their _concurrence_ essential to\nthe perfection of their offspring, and that Vishnu, at the request of the\ngoddess, effected a reconciliation between them; hence the _navel_ of\nVishnu, by which they mean the _os tinc\u00e6_, is worshipped as one and the\nsame with the sacred _Yoni_.\u201d\n\n[273] She \u201cmade use of the same artifice the old woman, called Baubo, did\nto put Ceres in good humour, and showed him the prototype of the _Lotos_.\nMahadeva smiled and relented; but on the condition that they should\ninstantly leave the country.\u201d\n\n[274] \u201cBut such is the confusion and uncertainty of the Hindu records,\nthat one is really afraid of forming any opinion whatever\u201d (WILFORD).\n\n[275] Sir John Malcolm, vol. i. p. 270.\n\n[276] Thomson.\n\n[277] \u201cWhen history fails in accounting for foreign extraction of any\npeople, or where it is manifestly mistaken, how can this extraction be\nmore rationally inferred and determined, or that mistake rectified, than\nfrom the analogy of languages? And is not this at once sufficiently\nconclusive, if nothing else was left them?\u201d (_Eugene Aram_).\n\n[278] \u201cThe merchants of Magadha formed not only a particular class, but\nalso a particular tribe. It seems that they were bold, enterprising, and,\nat the same time, cautious and circumspect; hence they are said to be\nmerchants by the fathers\u2019, and warriors by the mothers\u2019 side, according to\nMr. Colebrook\u2019s account of the Hindu classes\u201d (_Asiat. Res._ ix. p. 79).\n\n[279] See _A Dissertation on the Antiquity, Origin, and Design of the\nprincipal Pyramids of Egypt_, etc. etc.\n\n[280] Mersennus writes thus:--\u201cI find that the cubit (upon which a learned\nJewish writer, which I received by the favour of the illustrious Hugenius,\nKnight of the Order of St. Michael, supposes the dimensions of the temple\nwere formed) answers to 23\u00bc of our inches; so that it wants \u00be of an inch\nof two of our feet, and contains two Roman feet and two digits, and a\ngrain, which is \u00bc of a digit.\u201d The Paris foot, with which Mersennus\ncompared this cubit, is equal to 1-68/1000 of the English foot, according\nto Mr. Greaves; and consequently is to the Roman foot as 1068 to 967. In\nthe same proportion, reciprocally, are 23\u00bc and 25-68/100. That cubit,\ntherefore, is equal to 25-68/100 _unci\u00e6_ of the Roman foot, and\nconsequently falls within the middle of the limits 25-57/100 and 79/100,\nwith which we have just circumscribed the sacred cubit: so that I suspect\nthis cubit was taken from some authentic model, preserved in a secret\nmanner from the knowledge of the Christians (SIR ISAAC NEWTON).\n\n[281] \u201cAnd he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked,\nbehold a _hole_ in _the wall_. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now\nin the wall; and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door: and he said\nunto me, Go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I\nwent in, and saw; and, behold, every form of creeping things, and\nabominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed\nupon the wall round about\u201d (EZEKIEL).\n\n[282] \u201cInter omnes eos, non constat \u00e0 quibus fact\u00e6 sint, justissimo casu\nobliteratis tant\u00e6 vanitatis authoribus\u201d (PLIN).\n\n[283]\n\n  \u05e7\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d2\u05e4\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e6\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05da\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4\n  \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d5\u05db\u05e4\u05e8\u05ea \u05d4\u05ea\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05ea \u05ea\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4\n  \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d6\u05d4 \u05d1\u05db\u05e4\u05e8 \u05d5\u05de\u05d7\u05d5\u05e5 \u05de\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\n  \u05d0\u05de\u05d4 \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc\u05e9 \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05ea\u05e2\u05e9\u05d4\n  \u05d0\u05de\u05d4 \u05d7\u05de\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05ea\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e8\u05da\n  \u05e7\u05d5\u05de\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d0\u05de\u05d4 \u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e8\u05d7\u05d1\u05d4\n\n_Gen._ vi. 14.\n\n[284] Exod. ii. 3.\n\n[285] The Septuagint translators, not perceiving any difference, rendered\nall, similarly, by the word \u03ba\u03b9\u03b2\u03c9\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2!\n\n[286] As does also _Tha_, _To_, _Ti_, _Tho_, _Thu_, with their several\ncommutables, derivatives, formatives, etc.\n\n[287] And the _Valley of To-phith_, in which human victims were\nsacrificed, thus discloses, in the _symbolic secret of its shape_, that\nthe propitiation of this _instrument_ was the grand object of the\nsacrificers.\n\n[288] Virgil.\n\n[289] Gen. vi. 9.\n\n[290] Gen. vi. 12.\n\n[291] Rom. i. 20-24.\n\n[292] Gen. vi. 8.\n\n[293] _The-bith._\n\n[294] Gen. ix. 1.\n\n[295] \u201cThis king is stated to have reclaimed his subjects from a _state_\nof the _most savage barbarity_. He was, we are told by our author, the son\nof Yussan-Ajum, while others call him the grandson of Noah; _all agree in\nacknowledging him as the founder of a dynasty, which are known in history\nas that of the Paishdadian_\u201d (SIR JOHN MALCOLM).\n\n[296] The Irish name for a _boat_ is _baudh_, which is only a formative of\n_pith_.\n\n[297] Gen. v. 29.\n\n[298] If the reader will now turn to p. 223, will he not think it probable\nthat the _symbol_ contained on the broken-off portion of the stone, there\nrepresented, must have been the phallus?\n\n[299] Who can forget the fable in Ovid, _de jactibus lapidibus_?\n\n[300] \u201cBut as his descendants gave him his right as to the title of Deva,\nand decreed divine honours to be paid to him, we shall henceforth call him\nDeva-cala-_Yavana_; or, according to the vulgar mode of pronouncing this\ncompound word, Deo-cal-_Yun_, which sounds exactly like _Deucalion_ in\nGreek\u201d (WILFORD).\n\n[301] Fielding.\n\n[302] Isa. viii. 7, 8.\n\n[303] Gen. vii. 2.\n\n[304] Gen. viii. 10, 11.\n\n[305] The following is an abstract of the Hindoo version of this allegory,\nas copied from their Puranas:--\u201cSatyavrata, having built the _ark_, and\nthe flood increasing, it was made fast to the peak of Nau-baudha, with a\ncable of a prodigious length. During the flood, Brahma, or the _creating\npower_, was _asleep_ at the bottom of the abyss: the _generative powers of\nnature_, both male and female, were reduced to their simplest elements,\nthe _Linga_ and the _Yoni_. The Yoni assumed the shape of the hull of a\n_ship_, since typified by the Argha, whilst the Linga became the _mast_.\nIn this manner they were wafted over the deep, under the care and\nprotection of _Vishnu_. When the waters had retired, the _female power_ of\nnature appeared immediately in the character of _Capoteswari_, or the\n_dove_, and she was soon joined by her consort, in the shape of\n_Capoteswara_.\u201d\n\n[306] See p. 63.\n\n[307] Acts vii. 22.\n\n[308] The _date_ of those Uksi was not the only misconception this\nhistorian has committed. He was equally in the dark as to the _place_\nwhence they came, and, for want of a better name, called them, at a\nventure, Arabians!\n\n[309] See p. 64.\n\n[310] Most of the _oracles_ in the ancient world were but\n_personifications_ of this influence--the _goddess_ invariably being the\nsacred Yoni. And the priestesses so far prevailed upon the credulous\nworshippers as to make them believe that _she_ actually spoke! The oracle\nof _Delphi_, the most venerable in all Greece, obtained its name from the\n_very thing_--the first syllable _De_, signifying _divine_ or _sacred_;\nand the second _phi_, _i.e._ phith, _yoni_: the letter _l_ having been\ninserted only for euphony. Even in the _Greek_ language this import is not\nyet lost.\n\n[311] As _Noah_ was himself named from the _symbolical boat_, so was his\neldest son _Japheth_, from its sanctified _prototype_. _Ja-Phith_\nsignifies _consecrated to Pith_, or the _Yoni_. And again, _his_ son\u2019s\nname, _Ja-van_, means _consecrated to woman_.\n\n[312] \u201cIn the city of Babylon there is a temple with brazen gates,\nconsecrated to Jupiter Belus, being four square; and each side being two\nfurlongs in length. In the midst of this holy place there is a solid\ntower, of the thickness and height of a furlong; upon which there is\nanother tower placed, and upon that another; and so on, one upon another,\ninsomuch that there are eight in all. On the outside of these there are\nsteps or stairs placed, by which men go up from one tower to another. In\nthe middle of these steps there are resting-places; and rooms were made\nfor the purpose, that they who go to the top may have conveniences to sit\ndown and rest themselves\u201d (HERODOTUS).\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis a tower exactly round, in form of a cone, or round pyramid; the\ndiameter, or thickness at the base, being 81 feet; the circumference, or\nway round, 254\u00bd feet; the height perpendicular likewise 81 feet, equal to\nthe diameter; the height likewise, oblique, 90\u00bd feet; and the angles of\nthe sides equal to those of the former design: the whole likewise a mass\nof brick and bitumen work, amounting to 140,589 cubic feet, upon 5207\nsquare\u201d (MARK GREGORY).\n\n[313] Gen. xi. 4.\n\n[314] Spenser\u2019s _Fa\u00ebrie Queene_.\n\n[315] _Shiloh_ is an _Irish_ word, literally meaning _seed_, and\nadditionally showing that it was in our _sacred_ language all those\noccurrences were _originally named_.\n\n[316] Both words equally signify the _happy country_ or the _sacred land_.\n\n[317] Gen. iii. 15.\n\n[318] See chap. xvii. p. 229.\n\n[319] Gen. iii. 15.\n\n[320] Gen. xix. 31-34.\n\n[321] _Asiatic Researches._\n\n[322] Job xix. 25.\n\n[323] John viii. 56.\n\n[324] Rev. xiii. 8.\n\n[325] _Appeal to Common Sense_, p. 45.\n\n[326] See chap. xvi. p. 224.\n\n[327] _De Morib. German._ xxiv.\n\n[328] _Western Islands_, vol. i. p. 184, etc.\n\n[329] _Highlands_, vol. iii. p. 236.\n\n[330] \u201cI inquired,\u201d says Mr. Martin, \u201cof the inhabitants, what tradition\nthey had concerning these stones; and they told me, it was a place\nappointed for worship in the time of heathenism; and that the chief Druid\nstood near the big stone in the centre, from whence he addressed himself\nto the people that surrounded him.\u201d\n\n[331] United at the feet in this manner [Illustration]. The jewel in the\nfreemasons\u2019 royal arch is thus formed. Noah was a freemason; and being the\ninventor of that _mysterious_ and _sacredly-religious ceremony_, called\nthe _Deluge_, we may be satisfied that all the _secrets_ of that body bear\nreference to my developments. I look upon their institution as most\n_solemn_ and _majestically sublime_.\n\n[332] In the accounts transmitted to us of the various _Buddhas_, no term\noccurs more commonly as descriptive of their innocence and their meekness\nthan that of _lamb_.\n\n[333] Gen. iii. 15.\n\n[334] Luke iii. 39.\n\n[335] See p. 132.\n\n[336] _Indian Antiquities_, vol. ii. p. 361.\n\n[337] See chap. xvi. p. 221.\n\n[338] Matt. xxii. 29.\n\n[339] Vol. i. p. 308, on the article \u201cFine Arts.\u201d\n\n[340] The initial subscribed to the article.\n\n[341] See Appendix.\n\n[342] Like the two former effigies, at pp. 138 and 140, it is made of\n_bronze_, and found in Ireland after the Tuath-de-danaans. Those found\nafter their brethren in the East are made of the same metal. \u201cSometimes,\u201d\nsays Archer, \u201cthe _images_ are of _wood_ or _stone_, but these, unless\npossessing the rarity of some monkish legend, are not in such repute as\ntheir brothers of _brass_.\u201d\n\n[343] This is the only _peculiar_ monogram of Jesus Christ--I. H. S.\nbelonging originally to Budha, though appropriated afterwards to _him_, \u03a5\n\u0397 \u03a3 was its proper form, and it comprehended a mysterious number, as\nfollows:--\n\n  \u03a5      400\n  \u0397        8\n  \u03a3      200\n         ---\n         608\n\nAnother monogram of Budha was \u03a6 \u03a1 \u0397. It composed the same numerical\nenigma, viz.--\n\n  \u03a6      500\n  \u03a1      100\n  \u0397        8\n         ---\n         608\n\n  Salvo vera Deum facies, vultusque patern\u00e6,\n  Octo et sexcentis numeris, cui litera trina\n  Conformet sacrum nomen, cognomen et omen.\n                                    MARTIANUS CAPELLA.\n\n[344] _Arch. Soc. Ant. Lond._ vol. ii. p. 83.\n\n[345] _Asiatic Researches._\n\n[346] \u201cHe has a separate apartment, shrouded from vulgar eyes by a black\nvelvet curtain, richly embossed with gold, in a splendid palace at\nUmmerapoor: and his whole residence is as dazzling and sumptuous as gold\nand silver can make it. He is furnished with a silk bed, adorned with gold\ntapestry, hangings, and jewellery, and has his gold appurtenances. Foreign\nministers are introduced to his sacred person, and he ranks before every\nmember of the royal court except the king\u201d (SYMES).\n\n[347] It was only as an _epithet_ that the title _sacred_ could apply to\nSamothrace: and as such, every other locality, wherein those mysteries\nwere commemorated, shared it in common. But in _this our island_, to which\nArtemidorus above alludes, and where superior solemnity attended the\ncelebration, the name of _sacred_ was no adventitious clause, but, _par\nexcellence_, the _constituent essence_ of its _proper appellation_ (see\npp. 128, 129).\n\n[348] \u039c\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b4\u03b5 \u03b4\u03c5\u03bf \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b5\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03bf\u03c5; \u0394\u03b7\u03bc\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9 \u039a\u03bf\u03c1\u03b7; \u03c4\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b9\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u03b1\n\u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u00b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c4\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b9\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1 \u03c9\u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03c1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03bd\u03ad\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03b1\u03bb\u03c9\u03bd.\n\n[349] Lib. x. p. 474.\n\n[350] \u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03a0\u03bf\u03bb\u03b9\u03c4. \u03a0\u03bb\u03b1\u03c4. p. 380.\n\n[351] See the article under her name in the _Classical Dictionary_, with\nall the authorities there adduced.\n\n[352] _Clem. Alex. Strom._ ii.\n\n[353] Mihi cum multa eximia divinaque videntur Athen\u00e6 tu\u00e6 peperisse--tum\nnihil melius illis mysteriis quibus agresti immanique vit\u00e2 exculti ad\nhumanitatem mitigati sumus: initiaque, ut appellantur, ita revera\nprincipia vit\u00e6 cognovimus: neque solum cum l\u00e6titi\u00e2 vivendi rationem\naccepimus, sed etiam cum spe meliori moriendi (_De Legibus_, 1. i. c. 24).\n\n[354] Pope.\n\n[355] Luke xix. 20.\n\n[356] \u201cThe _Bulbul of Iran_ has a passion for the rose, and when he sees\nany person pull a rose from the tree he laments and cries\u201d (\u201cPersian\nPoem,\u201d quoted in Ouseley\u2019s _Oriental Collections_).\n\n[357] Basnage, bk. iii. ch. xix. s. xix.\n\n[358] That phenomenon in the heavens, called the \u201cSouthern Cross,\u201d appears\nto me so associated with the _mystery_ of redemption, in all ages, that I\ncannot forbear drawing attention to the sign. The following is Captain\nBasil Hall\u2019s description of this curious constellation.\n\n\u201cOf all the antarctic constellations, the celebrated _Southern Cross_ is\nby far the most remarkable; and must in every age continue to arrest the\nattention of all voyagers and travellers who are fortunate enough to see\nit. I think it would strike the imagination even of a person who had never\nheard of the Christian religion; but of this it is difficult to judge,\nseeing how inextricably our own ideas are mingled up with associations\nlinking this sacred symbol with almost every thought, word, and deed of\nour lives.\n\n\u201cThe three great stars which form the Cross, one at the top, one at the\nleft arm, and one, which is the chief star, called Alpha, at the foot, are\nso placed as to suggest the idea of a crucifix, even without the help of a\nsmall star, which completes the horizontal beam. When on the meridian, it\nstands nearly upright; and as it sets, we observe it lean over to the\nwestward. I am not sure whether, upon the whole, this is not more striking\nthan its gradually becoming more and more erect, as it rises from the\neast. In every position, however, it is beautiful to look at, and well\ncalculated, with a little prompting from the fancy, to stir up our\nthoughts to solemn purposes.\n\n\u201cI know not how others are affected by such things, but for myself I can\nsay with truth, that during the many nights I have watched the Southern\nCross, I remember on two occasions, when the spectacle interested me\nexactly in the same way, nor any one upon which I did not discover the\nresult to be somewhat different, and always more impressive than what I\nhad looked for. This constellation, being about thirty degrees from the\nSouth Pole, is seen in its whole revolution, and accordingly, when off the\nCape of Good Hope, I have observed it in every stage; from its triumphant\nerect position, between sixty and seventy degrees above the horizon, to\nthat of complete immersion, with the top beneath, and almost touching the\nwater. This position, by the way, always reminded me of the death of St.\nPeter, who is said to have deemed it too great an honour to be crucified\nwith his head upwards. In short, I defy the stupidest mortal that ever\nlived, to watch these changes in the aspect of this splendid\nconstellation, and not to be, in some degree, struck by them\u201d (_Fragments\nof Voyages_).\n\n[359] Isa. liii. 4, 5.\n\n[360] Isa. liii. 3.\n\n[361] _Asiatic Researches._\n\n[362] Matt. x. 26.\n\n[363] This will explain a text in Scripture never before understood,\nnamely, \u201cSon of Man, when the land sinneth against Me by tresspassing\ngrievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break _the\nstaff of the bread thereof_, and will send famine upon it, and cut off man\nand beast from it\u201d (Ezek. xiv. 13). _Fogh_ is another term equivalent to\nthis.\n\n[364] This will at once appear from Varro, who, in Nonus Marcellinus, is\nmade to say, \u201cWe are barbarians, because that we crucify (in gabalum\nsuffigimus) the innocent; are you not barbarians, when you acquit the\nguilty?\u201d Compare also Selden, _Syntagm._ ii. c. 1.\n\n[365] Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites suos (Tertullian, _de\nPr\u00e6scrip._ cap. xi.).\n\n[366] Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 6.\n\n[367] John iii. 10. The omission of this _cross_ from the text of our\ntranslation may afford some handle to the enemies of religion.\n\n[368] Matt. vi. 27.\n\n[369] _Cunni_ Diaboli.\n\n[370] The _rosary_ was also anterior to Christianity.\n\n[371] John i. 29.\n\n[372] John i. 30.\n\n[373] John i. 31.\n\n[374] Isa. xlii. 9.\n\n[375] Temora.\n\n[376] \u201cAnd this _stone_, which I have set for a _pillar_, shall be _God\u2019s\nhouse_\u201d (Gen. xxviii. 22).\n\n[377] It is fit I should advertise that Mr. Hamilton spoke of the\nindividual merely as a figure, without professing to identify him in name\nor history either with _Thot_, _Budha_, or _anybody else_.\n\n[378] Introduction, p. xciii.\n\n[379] Cowper.\n\n[380] From the Brahma-vawartta, section of the Crishna-janma--c\u2019hand\u2019a.\n\n[381] Much, mugh, mughsaine tra ainm sain delias do dheadh (Cormac\u2019s\n_Glossary_).\n\n[382] The _locale_ of that _boar_, as well as the _mystery_ of its\nmeaning, which Plutarch transmitted in his allegorical _war_ between\nOsiris and Typhon, is now no longer ambiguous (see p. 327).\n\n[383] I have before explained that the _serpent Pyth-on_ means the\n_seduction_ of sensuality--_Pith_ itself signifying _yoni_, the _boat_, or\n_serpent_, the final _on_ being nothing but a Greek termination.\n\n[384] Isa. liii. 7.\n\n[385] \u201cThe gods,\u201d said the Budhist priest to the Catholic bishop before\nalluded to, \u201cwho have appeared in the present world, and who have obtained\nthe perfect state, niebau, or _deliverance from all the evils of life_,\nare four, Chanchasam, Gonagom, Gaspa, and Godama\u201d (Syme\u2019s _Embassy to the\nCourt of Ava_).\n\n[386] I shall give you my _definition_ for this word by and by.\n\n[387] 1 Cor. xv. 51.\n\n[388] It will be perceived, that I do not mean this to be an exact _copy_\nof the Knockmoy Crucifixion--or _vice vers\u00e2_.--The general idea is, what I\nmean to substantiate, and the identity of design cannot well be gainsaid.\nThis remark applies also to the kings about to be introduced by and by.\n\n[389] \u201cWe saw,\u201d says Colonel Symes, alluding to the imperfect shell of a\n_Budhist_ temple, in the Burman Empire, \u201cseveral unfinished figures of\n_animals_ and _men_ in _grotesque attitudes_, which were designed as\nornaments for different parts of the building\u201d (_Embassy to the Court of\nAva_).\n\n[390] 1 Cor. i. 12.\n\n[391] _Asiatic Researches._\n\n[392] The name of _Sulivan_ in Ireland, than which there is no one more\ncommon, is unquestionably but the perpetuation of the above _Sulivahana_.\nAnd I can give a proof of the fact, _independently of its derivation_,\nwhich will scare ridicule into defiance. It is that a particular branch of\nthat family called the O\u2019Sulivans, of Tomies, have been ever looked upon\nwith a feeling of _reverence_ by the natives, almost approaching to\nveneration. I have in vain striven to ascertain from them the origin of\nthis indefinable sense of sanctity. It was like magic upon their minds:\nthey half-worshipped them, and knew not why. There were but _two\nindividuals_ of this stock remaining when I was a schoolboy, a few years\nago, at Killarney.\n\n[393] \u201cThat is,\u201d says Keating, \u201cthe neighbouring country\u201d!!! as if a\ncountry would call itself by such a name! Vallancey ridicules, but bungles\nhimself still more. And while reminded by this circumstance, I had best\nnote, that what this last-mentioned writer elsewhere translates as \u201cthe\n_topographical_ names of Ireland\u201d (_Ainim abberteach an n\u2019 Eirean_),\nshould have been \u201cthe _appellative_ names of Ireland\u201d: they are the\n_titles_ of the _island_ itself, not _descriptions_ of the several\n_localities_ within it.\n\n[394] Gen. xlix. 10.\n\n[395] _Asiatic Researches._\n\n[396] _Asiatic Researches._\n\n[397] Isa. xlii. 2, 3.\n\n[398] Retiring into a still more solitary place, _Gautama_ and his\ndisciples sustained triumphantly an argument with two of their bitterest\nenemies. But a severer trial exhibited his righteousness in a yet clearer\nlight. Four young and beautiful sisters, burning with unholy love,\npresented themselves naked before him, and besought him to comply with\ntheir desires. \u201cWho, O Gautame!\u201d said they, in the rage of their\ndisappointment, \u201cwho is the lying witness who dares attest that the\nvirtues of all the former saints are concentrated in thee?\u201d \u201cBehold my\nwitness,\u201d said the sage, striking the ground with his hand, and at the\nmoment Okint\u00f4ngu, the tutelar genius of the earth, appeared, proclaiming,\nwith a loud voice, \u201cIt is I who am the witness of the truth!\u201d The young\nwomen then fell upon their faces and adored Gautama, saying, \u201cO _pure_ and\n_perfect countenance_, wisdom more precious than gold! majesty\nimpenetrable! honour and adoration to thee, _thou source of the faith of\nthe three epochs of the world_!\u201d (Abridged from KLAPROTH).\n\n[399] _Chambers\u2019s Edinburgh Journal_, October 12, 1833.\n\n[400] This is the exact rendering of the name by which they called it:\nviz. _nua vreith_, or _the being born anew_ by the operation of grace.\n\n[401] It is still practised in the East.--\u201cFor the purpose of regeneration\nit is directed to make an image of pure gold of the _female_ power of\n_nature_, in the shape either of a woman or of a cow. In this statue the\nperson to be regenerated is inclosed, and dragged out through the usual\nchannel. As a statue of pure gold, and of proper dimensions, would be too\nexpensive, it is sufficient to make an image of the sacred _Yoni_, through\nwhich the person to be regenerated is to pass\u201d (WILFORD).\n\n[402] See pp. 3-78 and 162.\n\n[403] Be it remembered, that it was in consequence of his ignorance of the\nprinciple of regeneration that our Saviour addressed Nicodemus in these\ncutting words, viz. \u201cArt thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these\nthings?\u201d thereby recognising the existence of the doctrine before His own\nmanifestation to that people.\n\n[404] \u201cEnter ye in at the _strait gate_: for _wide_ is the gate, and broad\nis the way, that leadeth to _destruction_, and _many_ there be which go\n_in_ thereat, because _strait_ is the _gate_, and narrow is the way, which\nleadeth unto _life_, and _few_ there be that find it\u201d (Matt. vii. 13, 14).\n\n[405] \u201cThe dome [of this, what he calls a cemetery] springs at various\nunequal heights, from eight to nine and ten feet on different sides,\nforming at first a coving of eight sides. At the height of fifteen or\nsixteen feet, the north and south sides of this coving run to a point like\na gore, and the coving continues its spring with six sides; the east side\ncoming to a point next, it is reduced to five sides, the west next; and\nthe dome ends and closes with four sides; not tied with a key-stone, but\ncapped with a flag-stone of three feet ten inches, by three feet five. The\nconstruction of this dome is not formed by key-stones, whose sides are the\nradii of a circle, or of an ellipsis converging to a centre. It is\ncombined with great long flat stones, each of the upper stones projecting\na little beyond the end of that immediately beneath it; the part\nprojecting, and weight supported by it, bearing so small a proportion to\nthe weight which presses down the part supported; the greater the general\nweight is which is laid upon such a cove, the firmer it is compacted in\nall its parts\u201d (POWNALL).\n\n[406] \u201cThe eight sides of this polygon are thus formed: the aperture which\nforms the entrance, and the three niches, or tabernacles, make four sides,\nand the four imposts the other four\u201d (POWNALL).\n\n[407] This word I have already derived, after the example of other\nwriters, from _peutgeda_, or _house of idols_, so misnamed by Europeans. I\nmust state, however, that another explication is also assigned thereto,\nand that is, a perversion of the term _bhaga-vati_, or _holy house_. But\nwith great respect to the gentlemen who incline to the latter opinion, I\nhave to observe that _bhaga-vati_, properly signifies the _sacred Yoni_;\nand, therefore, that however applicable to a _subterraneous temple_, or\n_cave_, it could by no means represent an _erect building_.\n\n[408] \u201cThe entrance into this temple, which is entirely hewn out of a\nstone resembling porphyry, is by a spacious front supported by two massy\npillars and two pilasters forming three openings, under a thick and steep\nrock, overhung by brushwood and wild shrubs. The long ranges of columns\nthat appear closing in perspective on every side; the flat roof of solid\nrock that seems to be prevented from falling only by the massy pillars,\nwhose capitals are pressed down and flattened as if by the superincumbent\nweight; the darkness that obscures the interior of the temple, which is\ndimly lighted only by the entrances; and the gloomy appearance of the\ngigantic stone figures ranged along the wall, and hewn, like the whole\ntemple, out of the living rock,--joined to the strange uncertainty that\nhangs over the history of this place,--carry the mind back to distant\nperiods, and impress it with that kind of uncertain and religious awe with\nwhich the grander works of ages of darkness are generally contemplated\u201d\n(ERSKINE).\n\n[409] \u201cThis appellation, Caucasus, at least in its present state, is not\nSanscrit; and as it is not of Grecian origin, it is probable that the\nGreeks received it through their intercourse with the Persians\u201d (WILFORD).\n\n[410] Darwin.\n\n[411] \u201cIf perfection in art consist in affording continued pleasure, its\nachievements, when contemplating this column, must be deemed\ninsurpassable. A Corinthian capital of 10 feet is poised on a shaft of 67\u00bd\nfeet, the latter resting on a base of 21\u00bd feet; the whole rises to a\nheight of nearly 100 feet\u201d (HEAD).\n\n[412] \u201cOr the obelisks, commonly called Cleopatra\u2019s Needles, one alone is\nnow standing; the other, lying down, measures seven feet square at the\nbase, and sixty-six feet in length. They are so well known, that it is not\nnecessary to give a very particular description of them\u201d (CLARKE).\n\n[413] In confirmation of this, you will find at p. 14 of Seguin\u2019s\n_Thessalonian Coins_, the impression of a man with a hammer, as above, in\none hand, and a key in the other, and the word _Cabeiros_ as the\ninscription.\n\n[414] On all public occasions displays of this kind are still indulged in\nthe East. The _floralia_ of the Romans were adopted from the Easterns.\n\u201cEvery person, male and female, had _festoons_ depending from the top of\nthe cap down one side of the head. These were composed of the flowers of\nthe _wild rose_ and hawthorn, and other beautiful kinds, which, while they\nset off the headpiece of the lieges, literally perfumed the air wherever\nthey went\u201d (ARCHER).\n\n[415] _Sketches of India Field Sports._ Dr. Shaw and Mr. Forbes are even\nmore conclusive.\n\n[416] P. 338.\n\n[417] If you examine the Tuath-de-danaan crosses with a minute eye, you\nwill find this exposition irrefutably verified. Though they all have the\ntraces of the Budhist sculpture, they have also the marks of\n_obliteration_; and no one of them to a greater extent than this at\nFinglas, where it is known that St. Patrick principally resided. Yet even\nthis retains indistinct evidence of snakes, etc.\n\n\u201cThe body of the snake is not only capable of flexion, but of close and\nintimate application to every rugged inequality of a tree on the earth;\nand this faculty is the result of its minute subdivisions. The body of the\nsnake is never bent in acute angles, but always in flowing easy curves or\ncircles. From each of those distant bones, so multitudinous in their\nnumber, which form the vertebral column (and in one species of Pythra we\nhave counted 256, exclusive of those composing the tail), a rib arises\nfrom each side, and both together form a great portion of a circle, so as\nto embrace nearly the whole circumference of the body. These ribs are\nrestricted to the vertebr\u00e6 of the body only; they do not arise from those\nof the tail.\u201d\n\n[418] _Travels in Northern India._\n\n[419] Oliver Cromwell with his army of locusts.\n\n[420] Byron.\n\n[421] Some say he belonged to the _fifth_ century. All agree that it was\nnot later than the _ninth_.\n\n[422] See p. 61.\n\n[423] July 1833.--This gentleman\u2019s name was Pareira.\n\n[424] _Religious Rites and Ceremonies._\n\n[425] The Gaurs themselves did not build those towers, but finding them to\ntheir hand, and knowing them to have been formerly reverenced, they\nconverted them to this purpose.\n\n[426] One called _Jachen_, that is, _he shall establish_; and the other\n_Boaz_, or, _in it is strength_. This was all emblematical, which, without\ngiving Solomon any participation therein, may be accounted for on the\nprinciple that the building was conducted under the superintendence of\nHiram, a Sidonian, who naturally had exercised the taste of his own\ncountry in the discretion here allowed him. Nor will the circumstance of\nthose pillars having been made of _metal_ oppose any barrier--the _design_\nis the thing to be considered, not the _material_. And besides, we find\nthem of metal elsewhere also.\n\n\u201cAn iron pillar,\u201d says Archer, \u201cstands in a sort of courtyard, having the\nremains of cloisters on the four sides. Its history is _veiled in darkest\nnight_. There is an inscription on it, which nobody can decipher: nor is\nthere any account, historical or traditional, except we may refer to the\nlatter class, a prevalent idea of all people, that the pillar is on the\nmost sacred spot of the old city, which spot was also its centre. It is\nalso said that as long as the pillar stood, so long would Hindustan\nflourish. This was the united dictum of the Brahmins and astrologers of\nthe day. The pillar is fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter.\u201d\n\n[427] \u03b1\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd (PROTAGORAS).\n\n[428] 1 Kings viii. 27.\n\n[429] _Antiquities of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 134.\n\n[430] _Antiquities of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 129.\n\n[431] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 20th July 1833.\n\n[432] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 10th June 1833.\n\n[433] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 20th July 1833.\n\n[434] _Ibid._ 5th October 1833.\n\n[435] Colgan.\n\n[436] _Melpomene_, ch. 46.\n\n[437] \u201cOppidum vocant Britanni cum silvas impeditas vallo atque foss\u00e2\nmunierunt. The Britons call a town an encumbered wood, fenced in with a\nrampart and a ditch\u201d (C\u00c6SAR\u2019S _Comment._ lib. 5).\n\n[438] Of whom O\u2019Flaherty gives this character from an Irish poem, writ by\none G. Comdeus O\u2019Cormaic, which he thus translates into Latin:--\n\n  \u201cPrimus Amerginus genu candidus anthor Jern\n  Historicus, judex lege, poeta, sophus.\u201d\n\nThat is,--\n\n  Fair-limbed Amergin, venerable sage,\n  First graced Ierne\u2019s old historic page;\n  Judge of the laws, for justice high approved,\n  And loving wisdom by the muse beloved.\n\nAnd he quotes this hemistich as another fragment of his poetry--\n\n  \u201cEagna la heagluis aidir\n  Agus feabtha la flaithibh.\u201d\n\nThat is,--\n\n  Let those, who o\u2019er the sacred rites preside,\n  Take wisdom for their guardian and their guide;\n  Let those, whose power the multitude obey,\n  Support by conduct their imperial sway.\n\n[439] The above stanza, I should observe, belongs to that species of\npoetry called in Irish _con-a-clon_, wherein the final word of each line\nis the initial one of the following.\n\n[440] Or \u201cTarah,\u201d says the _Dinn Seanchas_, compiled by Amergen Mac\nAmalgaid in the year 544, \u201cwas so called from its celebrity for melody.\u201d\n\n[441] \u201cOnce occupied by a celebrated queen!\u201d (_Asiatic Researches_).\n\n[442] \u201cHeremon was the first of the _Scots_ who held the dominion over all\nIreland\u201d (_Psalter of Narran_).\n\n[443] \u201cFor, in the first place, the general tradition of the old Irish\nhanded down to us by all our historians and other writers, imports that\nwhen the Scots arrived in Ireland, they spoke the same language with that\nof the Tuath-de-danaans\u201d (Preface to _O\u2019Brien\u2019s Irish Dictionary_).\n\n[444] The Egyptian epithets are not very dissimilar: \u201cBesides these first\ninhabitants of Sancha-dwipa, who are described by the mythologists, as\n_elephants_, _demons_, and _snakes_, we find a race called Shand-ha-yana,\nwho are the real Troglodites; they were the descendants of Abri, before\nnamed, whose history being closely connected with that of the _Sacred\nIsles in the West_, deserves peculiar attention\u201d (_Asiatic Researches_).\n\n[445] Nearly similar things, we find, have occurred in the East. \u201cThe\nnatives of the place (Mavalepuran, in Indian) declared to the writer of\nthis account, that the more aged people among them remembered to have seen\nthe tops of several pagodas far out in the sea; a statement which was\nverified by the appearance of one on the brink of the sea, already nearly\nswallowed up by that element\u201d (_Asiatic Researches_).\n\n[446] \u0391\u03bd\u03b1\u03b8\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1,--things dedicated to the gods.\n\n[447] In March.\n\n[448] In September.\n\n[449] See p. 120.\n\n[450] _Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad._ vol. xvi. p. 166.\n\n[451] Procopius calls them \u03b1\u03bd\u03b7\u03ba\u03bf\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03bb\u03b9\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9, that is, heedless and\nindifferent to all culture.\n\nBishop Cormac also says that he \u201ccannot sufficiently express his\nastonishment at the indifference which the Scottish nation evinced in his\nday to literature.\u201d\n\nStrabo calls them, \u0391\u03b3\u03c1\u03b9\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2 \u03b1\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd, while M\u2019Pherson asserts of\ntheir brethren, that \u201cnothing is more certain than that the British Scots\nwere an illiterate people, and involved in barbarism, even after the\nPatriarch\u2019s mission to the Scots of Ireland.\u201d\n\n[452] In fact this writer had no other reason for this _mistake_ which he\nhas committed, in describing it as \u201cscarce habitable for cold,\u201d than his\nknowledge of its Hyperborean situation. \u201cThe most remote navigation\nnorthward from the Celtic coast in our days,\u201d says he, \u201cis said to be into\nIreland (Iern\u00e9), which being situated beyond Britain, is scarce habitable\nfor cold, so that what lies beyond that island is thought to be not at all\nhabitable\u201d (_Geog._ lib. 2, ex vers. Gul. Xylandri).\n\n[453] Orpheus also calls the sea dividing the north of Scotland from\nIreland, \u201cMare Cronium, idem quod mare saturninum et oceanus\nseptentrionalis\u201d (VALLANCEY).\n\n[454] Gerald. _Cambr. Hist._ i. cap. 19.\n\n[455] A series of articles written under this head, in the columns of the\n_Dublin Penny Journal_, by Mr. Pebrie, antiquarian high-priest to the\nRoyal Irish Academy!\n\n[456] This Tubal-Cain was evidently the person from whom the Greeks\nmanufactured their mythological Vul-can.\n\n[457] \u201cThe griffin,\u201d says Shaw, copying Ctesias, \u201cis a quadruped of India,\nhaving the claws of a lion, and wings upon his back. His fore parts are\nred, his wings white, his neck blue, his head and his beak resemble those\nof the eagle; he makes his nest among the mountains, and haunts the\ndeserts, where he conceals his gold.\u201d\n\n[458] \u201cThe ignorance of the European Greeks in geography was extreme in\nall respects during many ages. They do not even appear to have known the\ndiscoveries made in more ancient voyages, which were not absolutely\nunknown to Homer\u201d (Mr. Gouget, _Origin of Arts and Sciences_, tom. 7, b.\n3).\n\n[459] \u201cL\u2019existence _de ce peuple ant\u00e9rieur_ est prouv\u00e9e par le tableau qui\nn\u2019offre que des d\u00e9bris, astronomie oubli\u00e9e, philosophie m\u00eal\u00e9e \u00e0 des\nabsurdit\u00e9s, physique d\u00e9g\u00e9n\u00e9r\u00e9e en fables, religion \u00e9pur\u00e9e, mais cach\u00e9e\ndans une idolatrie grossi\u00e8re. Cet ancien peuple a eu des sciences\nperfectionn\u00e9es, une philosophie sublime et sage\u201d (BAILLY).\n\n[460] Amongst our antiquities also are found _nose-rings_ (nasc-srion),\nwhich, stronger than any other demonstration, shows the orientalism of our\nTuath-de-danaan ancestors. Their ear-rings, also, are thus defined in\nComrac\u2019s _Glossary_: \u201cArc nasc--vel, a-naisc, bid im cluas--aibh na\nsaoreland,\u201d _i.e._ a ring worn in the ears of our gentry.\n\n[461] _Dublin Penny Journal._\n\n[462] \u201cSi j\u2019ai bien prouv\u00e9 que Butta, Thoth, et Mercure ne sont \u00e9galement\nque le m\u00eame inventeur des sciences et des arts\u201d (BAILLY).\n\n\u201cThe Buddhists insist that the religion of Buddha existed from the\nbeginning\u201d (_Asiatic Researches_).\n\n[463] _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, Nov. 1822.\n\n[464] In the entire land of Ph\u0153nicia there was but one, and that\ncomparatively a modern one, erected no doubt after their intercourse with\nthe Tuath-de-danaans.\n\n[465] The play above alluded to is that of the P\u00e6nulus, or Carthaginian,\nin which Haono is introduced in quest of his two daughters, who, with\ntheir nurse, had been stolen by pirates, and conveyed to Calydon, in\n\u00c6tolia. Thither the father repairs on receiving intelligence of the fact,\nand addresses a supplication to the presiding deity of the country, to\nrestore to him his children unstained by pollution. He is made to speak in\nhis vernacular tongue, just as natives of France are represented in our\ndrama by Shakespeare: and so _interesting_ is the whole--independently of\nthe curiosity attaching to so rare a production--that I shall subjoin a\nportion of it for the reader.\n\n  1.\n\n  \u201cNith al o nim, ua lonuth secorathessi ma com syth.\n  An iath al a nim, uaillonac socruidd se me com sit.\u201d\n  O mighty splendour of the land, renowned, powerful; let him quiet me\n        with repose.\n\n  2.\n\n  \u201cChin lach chunyth mumys tyal myethii barii imi schi.\n  Cim laig cungan, muin is toil, mo iocd bearad iar mo sgil.\u201d\n  Help of the weary captive, instruct me according to thy will, to recover\n        my children after my fatigue.\n\n_N.B._--The first line in each of these triplets is Ph\u0153nician, the second\nIrish, and the third, their import, in English.\n\n[466] \u201cHow comes it then that they are so unlearned--still, being so old\nscholars? for learning (as the poet saith) _emollit mores_ nec sinit esse\nferos; whence, then, I pray you, could they have those letters?\u201d He\nanswers, \u201cIt is hard to say, for whether they at the first coming into the\nland, or afterwards by trading with other nations, learned them of them,\nor devised them amongst themselves, is very doubtful, _but that they had\nletters anciently is nothing doubtful, for the Saxons of England are said\nto have their letters and learning, and learned men, from the Irish_. And\nthat also appeareth from the likeness of the character, for the Saxon\u2019s\ncharacter is the same with the Irish\u201d (SPENSER).\n\n[467] \u201cHaving been always free and independent of the empire of the\nRomans, they were unacquainted with the Roman language and its characters:\nthere were, therefore, but two courses to adopt; either to translate the\nholy books into the language of the country, and celebrate the divine\nmysteries in it, which would have been contrary to the custom of the\nChurch, or to teach the characters of the Roman language to those who were\nto instruct others; the holy apostle adopted the latter course\u201d (ABB\u00c9 MAC\nGEOHIGAN).\n\n[468] Book of Cashel.\n\n[469] Job viii. 8, and xix. 23.\n\n[470] There is no Mohammedan of learning in Persia or India who is not an\nastrologer: rare works upon that science are more valued than any other;\nand it is remarkable that on the most trivial occasions, when calculating\nnativities and foretelling events, they deem it essential to describe the\nplanets in terms _not unsuited to the account which the author of the\nDabistan has given of these deities_ (SIR JOHN MALCOLM).\n\n[471] Job xix. 23, 24.\n\n[472] Job viii. 8.\n\n[473] Since I have commenced this work, a very ancient manuscript of the\nabbey of Icolmkill has fallen into my hands; it was written by\nCairbre-Liffeachair, who lived _six generations before St. Patrick_, and\nabout the time of our Saviour; an exact account is given in it of Irish\nkings, from whence I infer, that as the Irish had manuscripts at that\nperiod, we must certainly have possessed them likewise.\n\n[474] \u00c6schylus would seem to refer to this, when he makes Prometheus say,\n\u201cI invented for them the array of letters, and fixed the memory, the\nmother of knowledge, and the soul of life\u201d (_Bloomfield\u2019s edition_, v.\n469).\n\n[475] \u03a4\u03bf\u03bd \u1f19\u03c1\u03b1\u03ba\u03bb\u03b5\u03b1 \u1f41\u03b9 \u039a\u03b5\u03bb\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9 \u039f\u0393\u039c\u0399\u039f\u039d \u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c6\u03c9\u03bd\u03b7 \u03c4\u03b7 \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03c7\u03c9\u03c1\u03b9\u1ff3. LUCIAN.\n\n[476] Whittaker\u2019s, Manchester.\n\n[477] See p. 332.\n\n[478] An allegory, by the way, which I could explain satisfactorily, were\nit not that it would detain me.\n\n[479] O Richard of Cirencester, oh! what pleasure it affords me to see the\n_moderns_ running after the chariot wheels of the _monks_, whenever they\ncan pick out amongst their lucubrations any stray sentences to support\ntheir own fantasies!\n\n[480] \u201cNear the road (at a place called Margan) is an _old cross_, bearing\nan _inscription_, which has been doomed to serve as a bridge for foot\npassengers over a little rivulet; and in the village are fragments of a\n_most beautiful cross richly decorated with fretwork_.\u201d--CAMBRENSIS.\n\n[481] Some copies read _Scoto_, the meaning, however, is the same; the\nonly difference being that the latter partakes of the modern enunciations\nof the word, as _Scots_, instead of _Scuits_ or _Scythians_.\n\n[482] In the anxiety with which my translation of \u201cPh\u0153nician Ireland\u201d was\nhurried through the press, it inadvertently escaped me that the Scythians\nhad only _touched at Spain_. The above will correct the oversight; to\nwhich I shall add that, \u201cas for entitling the _Spanish-Irish Scots_, there\nwants no authority, the Irish authors having constantly called the Spanish\ncolony Kin-Scuit, or the Scottish nation.\u201d--LHUYDH.\n\n[483] \u201cEvery argument of the origin of emigrant nations must, after all,\nbe referred to language.\u201d--CAMDEN.\n\n[484] The derivation of those two terms is not exclusively mine. It is but\nthe repetition of the received interpretation of all men of letters.\n\n[485] \u201cFor it is to be thought, that the use of all England was in the\nraigne of Henry the Second, when Ireland was planted with English, very\nrude and barbarous, so as if the same should be now used in England by\nany, it would seem worthy of sharpe correction, and of new lawes for\nreformation, for it is but even the other day since England grew civill\u201d\n(SPENSER).\n\n[486] The name of _Arran_ was given to this island as expressive of _the\nland of the unfaithful_, in opposition to our _Iran_, or _the land of the\nfaithful_: both corresponding to the _Iran_ and _An-Iran_ of the Persians.\n\n[487] This, however, did not happen at first; for the name of Ireland was\nnot yet generally used among strangers, as Adam de Breme, who lived in the\neleventh century, and Nubigensis, in the twelfth, were the first who\nmentioned it: the name of Scotland was by degrees appropriated to Albania,\nwhich was for some time called Little Scotland, \u201cScotia Minor,\u201d to\ndistinguish it from Ireland, which was called \u201cScotia Major,\u201d whose\ninhabitants did not lose all of a sudden the name of Scots: they are so\ncalled in the eleventh century by Herman, in the first book of his\nchronicle; by Marianus Scotus, Florentius Wigorniensis, in his annals, in\nwhich, having inserted the chronicle of Marianus, in mentioning the year\n1028, he says, \u201cIn this year was born Marianus, probably a Scot from\nIreland, by whose care this excellent chronicle has been compiled from\nseveral histories.\u201d We discover the same thing in a chronicle in the\nCottonian library (_Abb\u00e9 Mac Geoghegan_).\n\n[488] The Picts, confiding in the happy omen of future friendship from the\nScots, obtained wives from them, and thereby contracted so close an\nalliance, that they seemed to form but one people; so that the passage\nbetween the two countries being free, a number of Scots came and settled\namongst the Picts, who received them with joy (BUCHANAN).\n\nBritannia post Britones et Pictos tertiam Scotorum nationem in Pictorum\nparte, recepit, qui, duce Reuda, de Hibernia progressi, vel amiciti\u00e2 vel\nferro, sibimet inter eos sedes quas hactenus habent, vindic\u00e2runt, \u00e0 quo\nscilicet duce usque hodi\u00e8 Dalreundini vocantur (Beda, _Hist. Eccles._ lib.\ni. cap. 1).\n\nCambrensis says, that in the reign of Niall the Great in Ireland, the six\nsons of Muredus, King of Ulster, with a considerable fleet, seized on the\nnorthern part of Britain, and founded a nation, called Scotia (_Topog.\nHib._ dist. 3, cap. 16).\n\n\u201cIt is certain,\u201d says Camden, \u201cthat the Scots went from Ireland into\nBritain. Orosius, Bede, and Eginard, bear indisputable testimony that\nIreland was inhabited by the Scots.\u201d Elsewhere he calls the Irish the\nancestors of the Scotch. \u201cHiberni Scotorum atavi.\u201d\n\n[489] Author of the _New Analysis of Chronology_, and late Fellow of\nTrinity College, Dublin.\n\n[490] See p. 376.\n\n[491] This should have been Scythians.\n\n[492] \u201cOrigin and Purity of the Primitive Churches of the British Isles.\u201d\n\n[493] Various colonies of the Tuath-de-danaans had settled here: but I\ntalk now of the last one, immediately preceding the Scythians.\n\n[494] See pp. 259, 264, 265.\n\n[495] See pp. 385, 282, and 259.\n\n[496] _Euseb. Pr\u00e6par. Evang._ 1. ii. 4.\n\n[497] \u03a0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c7\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c1\u03b8\u03bf\u03bd \u039f\u03c3\u03b9\u03c1\u03af\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f04\u03b3\u03b1\u03bb\u03bc\u03b1\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03ba\u03bd\u03cd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f10\u03be\u03bf\u03c1\u03b8\u03b9\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03bd\n\u03c4\u1ff6\u2019 \u03b1\u1f30\u03b4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c9, \u03b4\u03b9\u1f70 \u03c4\u03bf \u03b3\u03cc\u03bd\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c4\u03c1\u03cc\u03c6\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd.--_Plut. de Isid. et Osirid._\n\n[498] See p. 265.\n\n[499] De facie in orbe lun\u00e6. Slatyr, also, an English poet, in his \u201cPale\nAlbeone,\u201d calls our island Ogygia. Rhodoganus explains the propriety of\nthe word when he says, \u201cOgygium appellant poet\u00e6 tanquam pervatis dixeres.\u201d\n\n[500] The original, in fact, of the _Feodal System_.\n\n[501] An act of daring impiety (not requiring to be added) disgusted\nJemsheed\u2019s subjects, and encouraged the Syrian prince, Zohauk, to invade\nPersia. The unfortunate Jemsheed fled before a conqueror, who was deemed\nby all, the instrument of divine vengeance. The wanderings of the exiled\nmonarch are wrought into a tale, which is among the most popular in\nPersian romance. His first adventure was in the neighbouring province of\nSeistan, where the only daughter of the ruling prince was led, by a\nprophecy of her nurse, to fall in love with him, and to contract a secret\nmarriage; but the unfortunate Jemsheed was pursued through Seistan, India,\nand China, by the agents of the implacable Zohauk, by whom he was at last\nseized, and carried before his cruel enemy, like a common malefactor. Here\nhis miseries closed; for after enduring all that proud scorn could inflict\nupon fallen greatness, he was placed between two boards, and sawn asunder\nwith a bone of a fish (SIR JOHN MALCOLM).\n\n[502] _Clio_, chap. 130.\n\n[503] \u201cNow these _heathens_ in India, believe that an _atonement_ has been\nmade for their sins,\u201d says Dr. Hurd, in his _Religious Rites and\nCeremonies_. Had the Doctor, or whoever he was that assumed his name,\nknown that this was their reliance upon the _expiation_ \u201cof the Lamb slain\nfrom the beginning of the world,\u201d he would have spared his _heathens_, and\nspoken less irreverently.\n\n[504] _Clio_, chap. 193.\n\n[505] Cambrensis, in the twelfth century, says, the Irish then musically\nexpressed their griefs; that is, they applied the musical art, in which\nthey excelled all others, to the ordinary celebration of funeral\nobsequies, by dividing the mourners into two bodies, each alternately\nsinging their part, and the whole, at times, joining in full chorus.\n\n\u201cThe body of the deceased, dressed in graveclothes, and ornamented with\nflowers, was placed on a bier, or some elevated spot. The relations and\n_keeners_ (singing mourners) then ranged themselves in two divisions, one\nat the head, and the other at the foot of the corpse. The bards and\ncroteries had before prepared the funeral caoinan. The chief bard of the\nhead chorus began by singing the first stanza in a low doleful tone, which\nwas softly accompanied by the harp: at the conclusion, the foot semichorus\nbegan the lamentation, or _ullaloo_, from the final note of the preceding\nstanza, in which they were answered by the head semichorus; then both\nunited in one general chorus. The chorus of the first stanza being ended,\nthe chief bard of the foot semichorus began the second gol, or\nlamentation, in which they were answered by that of the head, and, as\nbefore, both united in the full chorus. Thus, alternately, were the song\nand the choruses performed during the night. The genealogy, rank,\npossessions, the virtues and vices of the dead were rehearsed, and a\nnumber of interrogations were addressed to the deceased: as, Why did he\ndie? If married, whether his wife was faithful to him, his sons dutiful,\nor good hunters or warriors? If a woman, whether her daughters were fair\nor chaste? If a young man, whether he had been crossed in love? or if the\nblue-eyed maids of Erin had treated him with scorn?\u201d (_Transactions of the\nRoyal Irish Academy_, vol. iv. note 9).\n\n[506] Baillie.\n\n[507] A particular anecdote in the Persian history has such claims upon\nthe feelings, and is otherwise so interesting, _as being, in fact, the\nelucidation of the origin and era of the Tyrrhenians, Etrurians, or\nTuscans, in Italy_, that I am forced to transcribe it here at full length.\n\n\u201cFeridoon was the son of Ablen, an immediate descendant of Tahamurs. He\nhad escaped, in almost a miraculous manner, from Zohauk, when that prince\nhad seized and murdered his father. At the age of sixteen he joined K\u00e2w\u00e2h,\nwho had collected a large body of his countrymen: these fought with\nenthusiasm under the standard of the blacksmith\u2019s apron, which continually\nreminded them of the just cause of their revolt; and the presence of their\nyoung prince made them invincible. Zohauk, after numerous defeats, was\nmade prisoner, and put to a slow and painful death, as some punishment for\nhis great crimes.\n\n\u201cFeridoon\u2019s first act was to convert the celebrated apron into the royal\nstandard of Persia. As such, it was richly ornamented with jewels, to\nwhich every king, from Feridoon to the last of the Pehlivi monarchs added.\nIt was called the Derush-e-Kawanee, the Standard of Kawa, and continued to\nbe the royal standard of Persia, till the Mohammedan conquest, when it was\ntaken in battle by Saed-e-Wukass, and sent to the Caliph Omar.\n\n\u201cA Persian poet, alluding to the victories which the youthful Feridoon\nobtained over Zohauk, and to those enchantments by which the latter was\nguarded, and the manner in which they were overcome by his virtuous\nantagonist, beautifully exclaims, \u2018The happy Feridoon was not an angel; he\nwas not formed of musk or of amber; it was by his justice and mercy that\nhe gained good and great ends. Be then just and merciful, and thou shalt\nbe a Feridoon.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe crimes of his elder sons, which embittered the latter years of\nFeridoon, have given rise to one of the most affecting tales in Persian\nromance; and it is, indeed, only in that form that there remains any trace\nof these events. This virtuous monarch had, we are told, three sons, Selm,\nToor, and Erii. The two former were by one mother, the daughter of Zohauk;\nthe latter by a princess of Persia. All these three princes had been\nunited in marriage to three daughters of a king of Arabia. Feridoon\ndetermined to divide his wide dominions among them. To Selm he gave the\ncountries comprehended in modern Turkey; to Toor, Tartary and part of\nChina; and to Erii, Persia. The princes departed for their respective\ngovernments, but the two elder were displeased that Persia, the fairest of\nlands, and the seat of royalty, should have been given to their junior,\nand they combined to effect the ruin of their envied brother. They first\nsent to their father to reproach him with his partiality and injustice,\nand to demand a revision of his act, threatening an immediate attack if\ntheir request was refused. The old king was greatly distressed; he\nrepresented to them that his days were drawing to a close, and entreated\nthat he might be allowed to depart in peace. Erii discovered what was\npassing, and resolved to go to his brothers and to lay his crown at their\nfeet, rather than continue to be the cause of a dissension that afflicted\nhis father. He prevailed upon the old king to consent to this measure, and\ncarried a letter from their common parent to Selm and Toor, the purport of\nwhich was, that they should live together in peace. This appeal had no\neffect, and the unfortunate Erii was slain by his brothers who had the\nhardihood to embalm his head and send it to Feridoon. The old man is said\nto have fainted at the sight. When he recovered, he seized with frantic\ngrief the head of his beloved son, and, holding it in his raised hands, he\ncalled upon heaven to punish the base perpetrators of so unnatural and\ncruel a deed. \u2018May they never more,\u2019 he exclaimed, \u2018enjoy one bright day!\nMay the demon remorse tear their savage bosoms, till they excite\ncompassion even in the wild beasts of the forest! As for me,\u2019 said the\nafflicted old man, \u2018I only desire from the God that gave me life, that he\nwill continue it till a descendant shall arise from the race of Erii to\navenge his death: and then this head will repose with joy on any spot that\nis appointed to receive it.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe daughter of Erii was married to the nephew of Feridoon, and their\nyoung son, Manucheher, proved the image of his grandfather; this child\nbecoming the cherished hope of the aged monarch; and when the young prince\nattained manhood he made every preparation to enable him to revenge the\nblood of Erii. Selm and Toor trembled as they saw the day of retribution\napproach; they sent ambassadors with rich presents to their father, and\nentreated that Manucheher might be sent to them, that they might stand in\nhis presence like slaves, and wash away the remembrance of their crimes by\ntears of contrition. Feridoon returned their presents; and in his reply to\ntheir message expressed his indignation in glowing terms. \u2018Tell the\nmerciless men,\u2019 he exclaimed, \u2018that they shall never see Manucheher, but\nattended by armies, and clothed in steel.\u2019\n\n\u201cA war commenced; and in the very first battle Toor was slain by the lance\nof Manucheher. Selm retired to a fortress, from whence he was drawn by a\nchallenge from the youthful hero, who was victorious in this combat, and\nthe war restored tranquillity to the empire\u201d (SIR JOHN MALCOLM).\n\n[508] \u201cFifty-six years the Fir-Bolgs royal line were kings, and the\nsceptre they resigned to the Tuath-de-danaans\u201d (KEATING).\n\n[509] We have as yet no accounts of the persecution and expulsion of the\nBudhists from India; and this circumstance of itself would allow us to\ninfer, with great probability, that those events must have taken place at\na very remote period of antiquity.--_Asiatic Researches._\n\n[510] G\u00f6ttingen University.\n\n[511] Vallancey, _Coll._ vol. iii. p. 163.\n\n[512] Bryant\u2019s _Anal._ vol. iii. 491-3.\n\n[513] \u201cThe first origin of the _Danavas_\u201d says Wilford, talking of the\nprimeval inhabitants of Egypt, \u201cis as little known as that of the tribe\nlast mentioned. But they came into Egypt from the west of India, and are\nfrequently mentioned in the Puranas, amongst the inhabitants near Cali.\u201d\n\nIs it not manifest that they were a colony of our Danaans? And is not this\nstill more undeniable from the circumstance of a part of Egypt--doubtless\nthat wherein the Danaans resided--having been called of old, as you will\nfind by the same authority, by the name of _Eria_? See p. 68 of present\nvolume.\n\n[514] This explains what Hecat\u00e6us records, as to the ancient attachment\nbetween the Hyperboreans and the Grecians--\u201cdeducing their friendship from\nremote times.\u201d And the offerings which the latter are said to have brought\nto the former were precisely of that nature (\u03b1\u03bd\u03b8\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1) which comports with\nthe spirit of our Budhist pentalogue. See p. 112.\n\n[515] As to the actuality of the visit, it is past anything like doubt,\nfrom Orpheus, or if you prefer Onomacretus\u2019 poem called \u201cArgonautica\u201d; and\nhis conviction of this it was which made Adrianus Junius, quoted by Sir\nJohn Ware, to characterise Ireland as an \u201cinsula _Jasoni\u00e6_ puppis bene\ncognita nautis.\u201d\n\n[516] \u201cAbaris ex Hyperboreis, _ipse quoque theologus fuit; scripsit\noracula regionibus quas peragravit, qu\u00e6 hodie extant; pr\u00e6dixit is quoque\nterr\u00e6 motus, pestes, et similia ac c\u00e6tera. Ferunt eum cum Spartam\nadvenisset, Lacones monuisse de sacris mala avertentibus, quibus peractis\nnulla, postmodum Laced\u00e6mone pestis fuerit_\u201d (Apollonius, _Histor.\nMirab._).\n\n  \u201cThey thought them gods and not of mortal race,\n  And gave them cities and adored their learning,\n  And begged them to communicate their art.\u201d\n                    KEATING (from an old Irish poem).\n\nTurn back also to pp. 328, 67, and 66, and see what is there stated!\n\n  \u201cAn hundred and ninety-seven years complete\n  The Tuath-de-danaans, a famous colony,\n  The Irish sceptre swayed.\u201d\n\n[517] \u201cA spiritual supremacy of this kind prevailed in several cities of\nAsia Minor, as, for instance, at Pessinus, in Phrygia. The origin of such\nconstitutions is uncertain; but, according to tradition, was of very\nancient date. The same cities were also great resorts of commerce, lying\non the highway from Armenia to Asia Minor. The bond between commerce and\nreligion was very intimate. The festivals of their worship were also those\nof their great fairs, frequented by a multitude of foreigners; all of whom\n(certain classes of females not excepted), as well as everything which had\na reference to trade, were considered as under the immediate protection of\nthe temple and the divinity. The same fact may be remarked here, which has\nobtained in several parts of Central Africa, namely, that the union of\ncommerce with some particular mode of worship gave occasion at a very\nearly period to certain political associations, and introduced a\nsacerdotal government\u201d (Heeren, vol. i. p. 121).\n\n[518] \u201cThis word is of uncertain etymology--their early history is\nuncertain. Diodorus (lib. v. 31) tells us that the Celts had bards who\nsung to musical instruments; and Strabo (liv. iv.) testifies that they\nwere treated with respect approaching to veneration. The passage of\nTacitus (Germ. 7) is a doubtful reading\u201d (_American Encyclop\u00e6dia_).\n\n[519] See Oriental Collections.\n\n[520] Homer\u2019s _Iliad_, \u03c0. v. 233.\n\n[521] Hesiod, _apud Strabo_, 1. 7.\n\n[522] See Miege\u2019s _Present State of Ireland_.\n\n[523] See p. 257.\n\n[524] On the pillar at Buddall, before alluded to, are these words,\nnamely, \u201cHe had a womb, but it obstinately bore him no fruit. One like him\ncan have no relish for the enjoyments of life. He never was blessed with\nthat giver of delight, by obtaining which a man goes to _another\nAlmoner_.\u201d Upon which the learned translator (Sir Charles Wiggins) very\ncorrectly comments, that \u201che had no issue to perform _Sradh_ for the\nrelease of his soul from the bonds of sin.\u201d See p. 113 of this work. By\n_another Almoner_ is meant the _Deity_.\n\n[525] See p. 327.\n\n[526] \u201cGraiis, ingenium Graiis: dedit _ore rotundo_\u201d (HORACE).\n\n[527] This is still more evident by his making use of the word \u03c4\u03b7\u03bb\u03bf\u03b8\u03b9,\nthat is, _far off_, meaning _from_ Greece! And Hesiod applies this\nidentical topography to the _British Islands_, which he styles _sacred_,\ndescribing them as \u03bc\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bb\u03b5, an immeasurable distance off, towards the\nnorthern point of the ancient continent!\n\n[528] See p. 71.\n\n[529] Chap. xvii. 15.\n\n[530] For _Dedan_, see last two pages; and for _D-Irin_, see p. 128. The\nprefixing of _D_ to the last word arose from confounding it with the\nformer name; and thus it was embodied with it, as seen before in _L-Erne_.\n\n[531] Or as the Rev. C\u00e6sar Otway would say, in a similar\nembarrassment,--\u201cI will _give_ (_i.e._ invent) you a motto and a motive\nfor it.\u201d Ha, ha, ha! (see _Dublin Penny Journal_, July 8, 1832).\n\n[532] _Dublin Penny Journal_, April 6, 1833.\n\n[533] \u201cElementorum omnium spiritus, utpote perennium corporum motu semper,\net ubique vigens, ex his qu\u00e6 per disciplinas varias affectamus, participat\nnobiscum munera divinandi, et substantiales potestates ritu diversa\nplacat\u00e6, velut ex perpetuis fontium venis vaticina mortalitati suppeditant\nverba\u201d (Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 21).\n\n\u201cThey then took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to\napproach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery,\nincantations, and the dividing of roots and trees\u201d (Book of Enoch).\n\n\u201cI have collected fifty words in the Irish language relating to augury and\ndivination: every one of them are oriental, expressing the mode of\nproducing these abominable arts; they are, in fact, the very identical\noriental words written in Irish characters\u201d (VALLANCEY).\n\n[534] Danaus, the sire of fifty daughters, leaving those fruitful regions\nwatered by the Nile, came to Argos, and through Greece, ordained that\nthose who erst were called Pelasgi, should by the name of Danai be\ndistinguished (EURIPIDES).\n\n[535] You will find in Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller\u2019s writings, that\nthose boats are still called, in that country, _arghs_, as they were in\nours, and the people who man them are styled _Phut_, corresponding to our\n_Fo-morians_.\n\n[536] \u201cI thank you,\u201d says Symmachus to his brother Flavianus, \u201cfor the\npresent you made me of some _Irish dogs_ (_canes Scotici_), which were\nthere exhibited at the Circensian Games, to the great astonishment of the\npeople, who could not judge it possible to bring them to Rome otherwise\nthan in iron cages.\u201d\n\n[537] This is the meaning of the name _Glen-da-lough_, and a faithful\nportraiture it is of the situation.\n\n[538] Miniature of Budhism.\n\n[539] \u201cThe _secret_, it was _lost_, but surely it was found\u201d (_Freemason\u2019s\nSong_).\n\n[540] This account is found in _Satdharmalankare_, a very popular Budhist\nbook, being a collection of histories, etc., from the writings of the\n_Rahats_, in which the original _Paly_ (_Pahlavi_) texts are preserved\nwith the Singhalese (_Miniature of Budhism_).\n\n[541] _Buddu_, the god of souls, is represented by several little images\nmade of silver, brass, stone, or white clay, and these are set up in\nalmost every corner, even in caverns and on rocks, to all which piles the\ndevotees carry a variety of provisions, every new and full moon throughout\nthe year; but it is in March they celebrate the grand festival of _Buddu_,\nat which time they imagine the new year begins. At this festival they go\nto worship in two different places, which have been made famous by their\nlegendary stories concerning them. One of them is the highest mountain in\nthe island, and called by the Christians _Adam\u2019s Peak_; the other is in a\nplace where _Buddu_ reposed himself under a _tree_, which planted itself\nthere for the more commodious reception of the deity, who, _when he was on\nearth, frequently amused himself under its agreeable shade_, and _under\nthat tree_ the pagans in Ceylon _adore_ their _Buddu_, whom they really\nbelieve to be a god (DR. HURD).\n\nBodhesat receives a few handfuls of grass presented to him by Soitha (a\nBrahmin), which grass, when strewed on the ground under the _Bo tree_,\nthere arise from the earth miraculously a throne of diamond fourteen\ncubits high, covered externally with grass; on which Bodhesat takes his\nseat, reclining his back against the _tree_, in order to accomplish his\nlast act of meditations. Buddha having ascended into the air, and\ndisplayed his glory to all the worlds in rays of six different colours, in\norder to afford the gods a proof of his perfection, stands seven days with\nhis eyes fixed on the _Bo tree_, enjoying the _Dhyanes_ (_Miniature,\netc._).\n\n[542]\n\n  \u201cYes, love indeed is light from heaven,\n    A spark of that immortal fire,\n  With angels shared, by Allah given,\n    To lift from earth our low desire.\n  Devotion wafts the mind above,\n  But heaven itself descends in love,\n  A feeling from the Godhead caught,\n  To wean from self each sordid thought.\u201d--BYRON.\n\n[543] Book of Enoch, lxi. 8-10.\n\n[544] Dr. Lawrence, present Archbishop of Cashel.\n\n[545] Preface to translation of the Book of Enoch.\n\n[546] \u201cIf this singular book be censured as abounding in some parts with\nfable and fiction, still should we recollect that fable and fiction may,\noccasionally, prove both amusing and instructive; and can then only be\ndeemed injurious when pressed into the service of vice and infidelity. Nor\nshould we forget that much, perhaps most, of what we censure, was grounded\nupon rational tradition, the antiquity of which alone, independent of\nother considerations, had rendered it respectable. _That the author was\nuninspired will be scarcely now questioned._ But, although his production\nwas apocryphal, it ought not therefore to be necessarily stigmatised as\nnecessarily replete with error; although it be on that account incapable\nof becoming a rule of faith, it may nevertheless contain much moral as\nwell as religious truth, and may be justly regarded as a correct standard\nof the doctrine of the times in which it was composed. _Non omnia esse\nconcedenda antiquitati_ is, it is true, a maxim founded upon reason and\nexperience; but, in perusing the present relic of a remote age and\ncountry, should the reader discover much to condemn, still, unless he be\ntoo fastidious, he will find more to approve; if he sometimes frown, he\nmay oftener smile; nor seldom will he be disposed to admire the vivid\nimagination of a writer who transports him far beyond the flaming\nboundaries of the world--\n\n                          ------\u2018Extra\n  Processit longe flammantia m\u0153nia mundi\u2019;\n\ndisplaying to him every secret of creation; the splendours of heaven, and\nthe terrors of hell; the mansions of departed souls, and the myriads of\nthe celestial hosts, the seraphim, cherubim, and ophanim, which surround\nthe blazing throne, and magnify the holy name of the great Lord of\nSpirits, the Almighty Father of men and of angels\u201d (ARCHBISHOP OF CASHEL).\n\n[547] See p. 475.\n\n[548] John i. 10, 11.\n\n[549] John i. 14.\n\n[550] P. 478.\n\n[551] But cf. Acts (Gr.) xxiv. 23, \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b9\u03b4\u03b9\u03c9\u03bd.\n\n[552] John i. 12.\n\n[553] John i. 13.\n\n[554] See p. 242.\n\n[555] See p. 243.\n\n[556] Rom. xi. 33.\n\n[557] John i. 31.\n\n[558] John xii. 28.\n\n[559] Namely, the _secret_ of an Antediluvian Incarnation.\n\n[560] Matt. ii. 1, 2.\n\n[561] This woodcut is copied from one of the early block-books.\n\n[562] See p. 440.\n\n[563] I need not repeat to the reader, that by _Irish_ I mean the\nprimitive _Persic_, indiscriminately common as well to _Iran_ as to\n_Irin_.\n\n[564] Virgil\u2019s _\u00c6neid_, vi. 724.\n\n[565] John viii. 12.\n\n[566] John i. 1.\n\n[567] John i. 29. See also p. 315 of this volume.\n\n[568] See p. 288.\n\n[569] In the Tartar language, which is a dialect of the Irish, it still\nretains this latter import, as appears from the following:--\u201cCe qu\u2019il y a\nde remarquable, c\u2019est que le grand pr\u00eatre des Tartares port le nom de\n_lama_, qui en langue Tartare signifie _la croix_; et les _Bogdoi_ qui\nconquirent la Chine en 1644, et qui sont so\u00fbmis au _delae-lama_ dans les\nchoses de la religion, ont toujours des _croix_ sur eux, qu\u2019ils appellent\naussi _lamas_\u201d (_Voyage de la Chine_, par Avril, lib. iii. p. 194).\n\n[570] The words _Irish_ and _sacred_ are synonymous. See p. 129.\n\n[571] See pp. 267, 268, 269.\n\n[572] \u201cThe peculiar office of the Irumarcalim it is difficult to find\nout,\u201d says Lewis, \u201conly it is agreed that they carried the keys of the\nseven gates of the court, and one could not open them without the rest.\nSome add that there were seven rooms at the seven gates, where the holy\nvessels were kept, and these seven men kept the keys, and had the charge\nof them\u201d (_Origines Hebr\u00e6\u00e6_, vol. i. p. 97).\n\n[573] See p. 438, with the note thereon also.\n\n[574] See _Dublin Penny Journal_, Nov. 10, 1833.\n\n[575] Published by Berthoud, 65 Regent\u2019s Quadrant, Piccadilly.\n\n[576] See p. 361. At Monasterboice there are three very beautiful\nspecimens of those Tuath-de-danaan crosses still remaining, and covered,\nas usual, with _hieroglyphic sculpture_. \u201cThe pillars in the Palencian\ncity,\u201d I find, \u201care also decorated with serpents, lizards, etc.\u201d\n\n[577] See Borlase, p. 162.\n\n[578] See p. 36. I must not omit to mention that the Tuath-de-danaan cross\nat Armagh, noticed at p. 359, was pulled down some time back, to prevent\nthe _squabbles_ between the Catholics and the Orangemen, neither of whom\nhad any inheritance therein!\n\n[579] _Vita prima S. Patricii_, Ap. Colgan.\n\n[580] \u201cFear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which\nshall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of\nDavid, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord\u201d (Luke ii. 10,11).\n\n[581] \u201cAnd suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly\nhost, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth\npeace, good will towards men\u201d (Luke ii. 13, 14).\n\n[582] Matt. ii. 9.\n\n[583] Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 20.\n\n[584] Heb. vii. 4, 1, 2, 3. \u201cRex idem hominum, Ph\u0153bique Sacerdos\u201d\n(VIRGIL).\n\n[585] \u201cHoly _mysteries_ must be studied with this caution, that the mind\nfor its module be dilated to the amplitude of the _mysteries_, and not the\nmysteries be straitened and girt into the narrow compass of the mind\u201d\n(BACON).\n\n[586] Isa. lii. 7.\n\n[587] John xvi. 33.\n\n[588] Luke xix. 42.\n\n[589] John xiv. 27.\n\n[590] Heb. vi. 19, 20.\n\n[591] _Christmas Carols._\n\n[592] _Freemasons\u2019 Song._\n\n[593] Matt. iii. 7.\n\n[594] John vii. 41.\n\n[595] See p. 229.\n\n[596] Keating\u2019s _History of Ireland_, folio, p. 143.\n\n[597] Pronounced _Sauv_. This was the Seva of the Hindoos, by which\nalthough they understood, indeed, as well _generation_ as _destruction_ to\nbe symbolised; yet it is clear that they must have long lost the method of\naccounting for the _reason why_, otherwise than saying, that _death_ and\n_life_ meant the same thing; that is, that the cessation of existence in\none form was but the commencement of existence in another.\n\n[598] _Freemasons\u2019 Song._\n\n[599] Ashe\u2019s _Masonic Manual_.\n\n[600] See p. 282, note.\n\n[601] See p. 268.\n\n[602] Isa. vii. 14.\n\n[603] \u201cThe countenance of Christ was placid, handsome, and ruddy, so\nformed, however, as to inspire the beholders, not so much with love and\nreverence as with terror; his locks were like the colour of a full ripe\nfilbert nut (auburn), straight, and entire down to the ears, from thence\nsomewhat curled down to the shoulders, but parted on the crown of the head\nafter the manner of the Nazarites; his forehead was smooth and shining,\nhis eyes blue and sparkling, his nose and mouth decorous, and absolutely\nfaultless; his beard, in colour like his locks, was forked, and not long\u201d\n(WASERUS, p. 63).\n\n\u201cAt this time appeared a man, who is still living, a man endowed with\ngreat power, his name Jesus Christ. The people say that he is a mighty\nprophet; his disciples call him the Son of God. He quickens the dead, and\nheals the sick of all manner of diseases and disorders. He is a man of\ntall stature, well proportioned, and the aspect of his countenance\nengaging, with serenity, and full of expression, so as to induce the\nbeholders to love and then to fear him. The locks of his hair are of the\ncolour of a vine-leaf, without curl, and straight to the bottom of his\nears, but from thence, down to his shoulders, curled and glossy, and\nhanging below his shoulders. His hair on the crown of the head disposed\nafter the manner of the Nazarites. His forehead smooth and fair. His face\nwithout spot, and adorned with a certain tempered ruddiness. His aspect\ningenuous and agreeable. His nose and his mouth in no wise reprehensible.\nHis beard thick and forked, of the same colour as the locks of his head.\nHis eyes blue and extremely bright. In reprehending and improving, awful;\nin teaching and exhorting, courteous and engaging; a wonderful grace and\ngravity of countenance; none saw him laugh, even once, but rather weep. In\nspeaking, accurate and impressive, but sparing of speech. In countenance,\nthe fairest among the children of men\u201d (Attributed to Lentulus,\npredecessor of Pilate in the government of Judea, recorded by Fabricius in\nhis _Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti_).\n\n[604] The principal one I conceive to have been at the hill of _Tara_,\nwhich means the hill of the _Saviour_, and synonymous with mount _Ida_,\nwhich means the mount of the cross. See p. 453.\n\n\u201cThe predominant style and character of the Pillar Tower,\u201d says\nMontmorency, \u201cin a great measure discloses the _secret_ of its origin.\u201d It\nis astonishing how, after this, he and his pupils of the academy should\nlabour to assimilate that secret to a dungeon.\n\n\u201cL\u2019ob\u00e9lisque que les Ph\u00e9niciens d\u00e9di\u00e8rent au Soleil dont le _sommet\nsph\u00e9rique_ et la mati\u00e8re \u00e9toient fort diff\u00e9rens des ob\u00e9lisques d\u2019Egypte\u201d\n(AMMIAN. MARCEL.).\n\n[605] Ex. xx. 26. The word _altar_ does not mean what it is generally\ntaken to express, a _platform_, but a _high place_, or standing column,\nwhat the Septuagint renders by the Greek word \u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03bb\u03b7, a pillar. And this\nwas what the Israelites were forbid erecting to Jehovah, lest that their\nnakedness should be discovered while ascending by steps or ladders to the\nentrance overhead.\n\nThe Gaurs have _round towers_ erected of stone, and thither they carry\ntheir dead on biers; within the tower is a staircase with deep steps made\nin a winding form, and when the bearers are got within, the priests scale\nthe walls by the help of ladders; when they have dragged the corpse gently\nup with ropes, they then let it slide down the staircase (Dr. Hurd\u2019s\n_Rites and Ceremonies, etc._).\n\n[606] See pp. 7 and 8.\n\n[607] 1 Kings vi. 4.\n\n[608] 1 Kings vi. 6.\n\n[609] 1 Kings vi. 29.\n\n[610] The Tower of Pisa bears no comparison to this edifice.\n\n[611] The holy wells also, with the practice of hanging pieces of cloth\nupon the branches of an overhanging tree, all belonged to the\nTuath-de-danaan ceremonial. The early Christians took possession each of\nthem of one of these wells, and are now, by prescription, recognised as\ntheir patron saints, and even supposed to have been their founders?\n\n[612] \u039c\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c3\u03b1 \u03b4\u2019 \u03bf\u1f30\u03ba \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03b4\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9 \u03c4\u03c1\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9 \u03c3\u03c6\u03b5\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03b9, \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1 \u03b4\u03b5 \u03c7\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u1f76 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b8\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd\n\u03bb\u03c5\u03c1\u1fb6\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5 \u0392\u03bf\u03b1\u1f76 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c7\u03b1\u03af \u03c4\u2019 \u03b1\u03bd\u03bb\u03c9\u03bd \u03b4\u03bf\u03bd\u03b5\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b4\u03b1\u03c6\u03bd\u1fb3 \u03c4\u03b5 \u03c7\u03c1\u03c5\u03c3\u03b5\u03b1 \u03ba\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03b4\u03b7\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2\n\u03b5\u1f30\u03bb\u03b1\u03c0\u03b9\u03bd\u03b1 \u03be\u03bf\u03b9\u03bd\u03b9\u03bd \u03b5\u03bd \u03c6\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03c9\u03c2. \u03bd\u03bf\u03c3\u03bf\u03b9 \u03b4\u2019 \u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5 \u03b3\u03b7\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2 \u03bf\u03bd\u03bb\u03bf\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u03ba\u03ad\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u1fb6\n\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03b5\u1fb6\u00b7 \u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03b4\u03b5 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bc\u03b1\u03c7\u1fb6\u03bd \u1f04\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1 \u03bf\u03b9\u03ba\u03b5\u03bf\u03b9\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c6\u03c5\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c5\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd \u039d\u03ad\u03bc\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd (Pyth\nx. 59).\n\n[613] Even among the vegetables, they abstained from _beans_, as did the\nPythagoreans after them, _ob similitudinem virilibus genitalibus_.\n\n[614] See conditions of advertisement in Preface.\n\n[615] \u201cYou may read in Lucian, in that sweet dialogue, which is entitled,\n_Toxaris; or, of Friendship_, that the common oath of the Scythians was by\nthe _sword_, and by the _fire_, for that they accounted those two speciall\ndivine powers, which should worke vengeance on the perjurers. So doe the\nIrish at this day, when they goe to battaile, say certaine prayers or\ncharmes to their swords, making a crosse therewith upon the earth, and\nthrusting the points of their blades into the ground, thinking thereby to\nhave the better successe here in fight. Also they use commonly to swear by\ntheir swords\u201d (SPENSER).\n\n[616] See pp. 81, 82.\n\n[617] They were _afterwards_ degraded to every possible purpose they could\nbe made to subserve: but I speak above of the time _immediately_ after\ntheir overthrow.\n\n[618] \u201cI had not been a week landed in Ireland from Gibraltar, where I had\nstudied Hebrew and Chaldaic, under Jews of various countries and\ndenominations, when I heard a peasant girl say to a boor standing by her,\n_F\u00e9ach an maddin nag_ (Behold the morning star), pointing to the planet\nVenus, the _maddin nag_ of the Chaldean. Shortly after, being benighted\nwith a party in the mountains of the western parts of the county of Cork,\nwe lost the path, when an aged cottager undertook to be our guide. It was\na fine starry night. In our way, the peasant pointing to the constellation\n_Orion_, he said that was _Caomai_, or the armed king; and he described\nthe three upright stars to be his spear or sceptre, and the three\nhorizontal stars, he said, were his sword-belt. I could not doubt of this\nbeing the _Cimah_ of Job, which the learned Costard asserts to be the\nconstellation _Orion_\u201d (VALLANCEY).\n\n[619] At p. 305 of his work on the _Towers and Temples of Ancient\nIreland_, Mr. Keane observes: \u201cLists of Irish Round Towers have been made\nto the number of one hundred and twenty; of these, the remains of about\nsixty-six are traceable.\u201d The list given here includes some towers of\nwhich the site alone remains, as being possibly of interest to explorers.","title":"The Round Towers of Ireland; or, The History of the Tuath-De-Danaans","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":184594}