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diff --git a/42538-0.txt b/42538-0.txt index b2fd282..18fb966 100644 --- a/42538-0.txt +++ b/42538-0.txt @@ -1,38 +1,4 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Round Towers of Ireland, by Henry O'Brien - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Round Towers of Ireland - or, The History of the Tuath-De-Danaans - -Author: Henry O'Brien - -Release Date: April 15, 2013 [EBook #42538] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND - - - - -[Illustration: Henry O'Brien - -_Author of "The Round Towers of Ireland."_] - - - - - THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND - OR - THE HISTORY OF THE TUATH-DE-DANAANS - - - BY HENRY O'BRIEN - - - A NEW EDITION - - _WITH INTRODUCTION, SYNOPSIS, INDEX, ETC._ - - - LONDON: W. THACKER & CO., 2 CREED LANE, E.C. - CALCUTTA: THACKER, SPINK & CO. - 1898 - [_All Rights Reserved_] - - - - -_750 Copies only of this Edition have been printed for Sale and the Type -distributed, of which this is No. 324._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - INTRODUCTION vii - - SYNOPSIS xxxvii - - DEDICATION (FIRST EDITION) lxi - - PREFACE (FIRST EDITION) lxiii - - DEDICATION (SECOND EDITION) xciii - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xcv - - AUTHOR'S TEXT (SECOND EDITION) 1 - - LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL IRISH TOWERS AND CROSSES 525 - - INDEX 529 - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - "When all is dark, who would object to a ray of light, merely because - of the faulty or flickering medium by which it is transmitted? And if - those round towers have been hitherto a dark puzzle and a mystery, - must we scare away O'Brien, because he approaches with a rude and - unpolished but serviceable lantern?"--_Fraser's Magazine_ for August - 1835. - - -Henry O'Brien, the most daring and ingenious explorer of that recondite -mystery, the origin and purpose of Irish Round Towers, was born in 1808. -On both his father's and his mother's side he came of good descent,[1] -being connected with two of the oldest and most influential families in -the west of Ireland. At the time of his birth that branch of "the -O'Briens" to which he belonged were settled in Kerry, where his father -resided in a wild, mountainous district, known as Iveragh, forming a -portion of the Marquis of Lansdowne's Irish estates. That his family were -in affluent circumstances is improbable, for up to the age of twelve the -boy's education seems to have been neglected in a way very uncommon with -Irish people who are well off. "Though I could then tolerably well express -myself in English," he says,[2] referring to this portion of his life, -"the train of my reflections always ran in Irish. From infancy I spoke -that tongue; it was to me vernacular. I thought in Irish, I understood in -Irish, and I composed in Irish"; and again, "I was twelve years of age -before ever I saw a Testament in any language." From this unusual neglect, -coupled with the fact of his becoming a private tutor soon after he had -settled in London, and an obscure reference to certain "difficulties" at -the outset of his career as an author, we are probably justified in -assuming that money was a rather scarce commodity in the paternal home. -There is, however, reason to suppose that when he had reached the age of -twelve, or thereabouts, his education was taken in hand, though how, or by -whom, does not appear. Evidence of his having been sent to school and -placed under systematic and qualified instruction is not forthcoming. In -fact, circumstances go to negative that supposition. His acquaintance with -Greek and Latin authors seems to have been more extensive than accurate, -and his quotations from them are marked by solecisms which any properly -taught schoolboy would avoid, but in which the self-educated are prone to -indulge. It is true that (at p. 481) he describes in terms of unqualified -praise a "tutor" with whom he commenced the study of the Greek Testament; -but there is internal evidence in the same passage that such praise was -not wholly deserved, and that the tutor in question was certainly not the -person referred to in Father Prout's statement that O'Brien had been -"brought up at the feet of the Rev. Charles Boyton."[3] Mr. Boyton was at -the time a highly distinguished Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, who, in -addition to holding the position of Greek Lecturer at that University, was -the most eminent mathematical "coach" of his day; and the only connection -likely to have existed between him and young O'Brien was that of -college-tutor and undergraduate _in statu pupillari_. The probability is, -therefore, that any instruction which the boy received at this early -period of his life was of a very elementary character, and that his -education was mainly conducted by himself, a probability which is -certainly not discounted by the wide and promiscuous character of his -reading. From the outset of his introduction to letters he is known to -have been an omnivorous reader of all books that came in his way, nor was -his mode of studying classical authors that by which the scholastic -proficiency essential to aspirants for success at college examinations is -usually attained. O'Brien did not resemble the ordinary boy-student, to -whom Roman or Greek classics represent merely a given quantity of "text" -possessing certain peculiarities of diction or allusion which have to be -nicely dissected, analysed, and mastered, but who regards the -subject-matter of each work as being of very minor importance. On the -contrary, he manifestly read them as authors, or rather authorities upon -the subjects with which they respectively dealt, paying, so far as we can -perceive, little or no attention to the diction or distinctive literary -character of their writings. The result was what might be expected. If, -whilst an undergraduate of Dublin University, it be true that he was -regarded by many of his fellow-students as a prodigy of learning, their -seniors appear to have been less enthusiastic about his scholarship, for -we have not been able to discover his name in the college archives.[4] -Still, from the fact of his having obtained, after he took his degree in -1831, the appointment of private tutor to the sons of the then Master of -the Rolls,[5] it is possible that he may have distinguished himself -previously. - -What seems absolutely certain is, that during his stay at the University -he must have availed himself to the full of opportunities presented by the -library for which Trinity College is famous. Here, no doubt, he laid the -foundation of that Oriental learning in which he was second to no Irishman -of his day, and probably to few Englishmen. It is hardly too much to say -that in the early part of the century Orientalism was comparatively -untrodden ground. Sir William Jones had indeed, many years before, -thoroughly explored this field of knowledge, but the results of his -splendid labours had not as yet been properly assimilated by the general -mass of readers, or supplemented to any remarkable extent by other workers -in the same field. Hence the scope of European knowledge of the East was -by no means so extensive then as now; and an enthusiastic student thereof, -which O'Brien undoubtedly was, had it in his power to acquire an almost -complete mastery of the subject, so far as it was then known. It was one -peculiarly fitted to his ardent, dreamy, and speculative nature. He read, -he pondered, he divined, he foresaw. Dark places in the history of his own -country began to grow clear in the light of this Eastern dawn. Hitherto, -like so many of his compatriots, he had found no way of accounting for the -extraordinary contrast between the distinctive superiority of "the Ireland -that _was_" and the relative obscurity of "the Ireland that _is_." To -what, he must apparently have asked himself, was the fact to be -attributed, that a people who in days of old were admittedly pre-eminent -in learning and civilisation, should have afterwards lost all claim to -such distinction; or how was it that, in a land covered with the ruins of -structures evincing the ripest skill and most fanciful artistic device, -architecture should have sunk to a level that was almost barbarous? Why -was it that this decadence did not take place gradually, as one would -expect, but was plainly the result of a sudden check that stopped the -erection of such edifices at once and for ever? Why were the materials, -structure, and conformation of the edifices in question so different from -those of other ancient buildings found in their immediate neighbourhood? -Why had their sculptured ornamentation reference to what was unconnected -with, nay even opposed to, the teachings of that religious faith to which -its execution was attributed; and why did the peasantry, inheriting the -tradition of bygone ages, not recognise them as identified with that -religion? Questions like these are very stimulating to inquisitive young -souls, which usually become fired with an ambition to solve them; and as -O'Brien pored over Sir William Jones and _The Asiatic Researches_--not to -mention his beloved, though decried, Herodotus--it was only natural that -he should draw certain conclusions from the undoubted affinity that exists -between the languages, folk-lore, customs, superstitions, and modes of -thought of his own country and those of the Orient. Similar conclusions -had forced themselves upon older people who did not possess a tithe of his -Eastern lore. Moore, that versatile Anacreontic, in his ill-fitting -disguise of an Edinburgh Reviewer, avowed "That there exist strong traces -of an Oriental origin in the language, character, and movements of the -Irish people, no fair inquirer into the subject will be inclined to deny;" -and it is further instanced by the same reviewer how the famous traveller, -Bishop Pococke, on visiting Ireland after his return from the East, was -much struck with "the amazing conformity" he observed between the Irish -and the Egyptians.[6] From early childhood the questions to which we have -referred seem to have been present to O'Brien--even from the time when he -gazed upon the stunted ruin of Bally-Carbery Round Tower, not far from his -father's house, and had been told by awestruck peasants that the real name -of that desolate and unsightly object was _Cathoir Ghall_, or "The Temple -of Delight" (p. 48). Since then he had seen other and complete round -towers; had noticed that all were of the same peculiar shape, and possibly -had detected for himself, or learned from other sources, the existence of -that phallic analogy upon which he so strongly insists. He must have read -in Sir William Jones and elsewhere how, in Eastern lands, the idea which -lay beneath this same analogy formed the basis of a widespread religious -faith, and was expressed in structures devoted to public worship. His next -step was, almost inevitably, one of conjecture. If, as the voice of -national tradition asserted, the round towers are "temples," and if -certain analogous associations are connected with them, might they not -have been temples of a kindred religious belief? Having settled this to -his own satisfaction, the speculation would naturally rise--How came that -particular form of belief to prevail in Ireland? Was it native to the -soil; or if not, by whom was it introduced, and when? His book being -mainly an answer to these questions, we need not continue to follow the -various stages by which conjecture may have passed into theory, and theory -into conviction. With men of O'Brien's temperament the hypothetical -interval is rarely of long duration. Before he had assumed the _toga -virilis_ of a full-fledged graduate, he probably felt confident that in an -Eastern origin lay the true solution of the mystery of the round towers; -and the more he studied the subject, the stronger grew his belief. Being -an ambitious man, too, he had no intention to forego the honour which he -was persuaded must accrue to the discoverer of this key to a problem that -had baffled so many generations of inquirers, and longed for an -opportunity to display his acquisition. - -That opportunity soon came. In December 1830, the Royal Irish Academy -offered the prize of a gold medal and fifty pounds to "the author of an -approved essay on the Round Towers, in which it is expected that the -characteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all those ancient -buildings now existing shall be noticed, and the uncertainty in which -their origin and uses are involved be satisfactorily removed." -Unfortunately, the advertisement of this offer escaped O'Brien's notice, -and he did not join in the competition which it evoked. But on the 21st -February 1832 the advertisement was repeated, and this time it caught his -attention. It declared that none of the essays which had been sent in -"satisfied the conditions of the question," and extended the period of -competition for another three months (_i.e._ until 1st June 1832), in the -alleged hope "of receiving other essays on said subject," and also for -allowing the authors of the essays already sent in "to enlarge and improve -them." Considering the task that was set, new competitors were thus placed -at a singular disadvantage--being expected to do in three months what the -others had been unable to accomplish in two years. With all due respect to -the Royal Irish Academy, it is difficult to believe that its members can -have fully realised the nature of their own conditions. There still exist -some scores of round towers in a more or less perfect state; and they are -scattered all over Ireland, being situated for the most part in remote and -not easily accessible places. The work of visiting and inspecting -these--which was, surely, a necessary preliminary to describing "the -characteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all"--would -require much time, after which candidates must apply themselves to the by -no means trifling task of dispelling "the uncertainty in which their -origin and use are involved," and all within three short months.[7] -O'Brien was not, however, to be deterred by considerations of time or -space when confronted with such a chance of winning deathless fame. -Besides, he was, in one respect at any rate, well equipped for the -enterprise, having already made up his mind as to the "origin and uses" of -the Round Towers. That he had examined them all is not to be supposed, nor -is it at all likely that at his age he could have possessed sufficient -technical knowledge of architecture, in its historical and scientific -aspects, to profit much by their inspection. Still, he was probably -acquainted with whatever had been written on that branch of the subject, -and had actually made an examination of some towers, which would give him -a fair general idea of the whole. Moreover, he had a formidable quantity -of Eastern learning to fall back upon, in which latter respect he would -have enjoyed an immense advantage over all other possible competitors, if -his judges had only been qualified to appreciate that learning as it -deserved. Be his equipment for the enterprise what it might, the -enthusiastic young Irishman saw no rocks ahead, felt no mistrust, and -rushed into the fray. "I grappled with the question," he assures us, "with -all the ardour of my nature; and, _heaven_ and _earth_, _night_ and _day_, -_in difficulties and in sorrow_, I laboured until I finished my 'essay' -against the appointed hour, when--a brain blow to their (_sc._ the -Academy's) expectation--I sent it in--fully satisfied, from the -consciousness of its imperturbable axioms, that all the powers of error -and wickedness combined could not withhold from it the suffrage of the -advertised medal."[8] The meaning of this passionate reference to malign -influences in the background will appear later on; as yet, he had no cause -for misgiving on the subject of fair play, and his overweening -self-confidence precluded any anticipation of failure. Bad omens seem to -have attended his venture from the very outset. The Academy had requested -that each essay should be inscribed with some motto; and it would appear -that the motto appended to O'Brien's was "[Greek: Phônê en tê eremô]" -(_sic_[9])--a sorry introduction to the notice of learned Academicians. - -The heartburnings of suspense, with which most young authors are familiar, -soon began. Four days after his essay had been sent in, the Academy issued -a _third_ advertisement, requiring all the essays to be taken back, and -extending the period of preparation by an additional month, "so as to -admit of the receiving of other essays on said subject, and for allowing -the authors of essays already given in to improve and enlarge them." -O'Brien afterwards saw fit to attribute this fresh delay to a cause very -different from that alleged; but just then, being persuaded that his -triumph was merely postponed, he reconciled himself as best he could to -the infliction, and calmly waited for apotheosis. Six months more passed -by--wearily enough, we may be sure; and then, one direful morning, just at -the close of 1832, came news that the premiums had been adjudged as -follows:--"£50 and the gold medal to George Petrie, and £20 to Henry -O'Brien, Esq." - -It may be stated here that an additional premium of £100, which had been -placed by Lord Cloncurry at the disposal of the Academy, was also awarded -in its entirety to Mr. Petrie, and that the essay sent in by that -gentleman was, by order of the Academy, printed in their _Transactions_. -It further appears that O'Brien's essay was at first accepted for -publication in the _Transactions_, but afterwards rejected on the ground -of having been made too lengthy by the insertion of additional matter, -though in its most enlarged form it never attained to the dimensions of -Mr. Petrie's work, and, presumably, must have been smaller in its original -than in its present shape. The true reason for its exclusion from the -_Transactions_ (as will, we think, appear from what follows) was that the -Academy took offence at the way in which O'Brien received their decision. -Nor was such resentment to be wondered at. So confidently had our author -reckoned upon an overwhelming triumph for the revelation which, as we have -seen, he believed to be not only unprecedented, but given to the world -with flawless perfection of statement, that the award seems to have almost -maddened him. Belonging to a race which has never been remarkable for the -silent endurance of wrongs, he lost no time in giving expression to his -feelings of disappointment. At first came distant mutterings of the storm -that was brewing. "On hearing of the decision," he informs us, "I wrote -off to the secretary, tendering, in indignant irony, my thanks for their -adjudication, taking care, however, to tell them that I had expected an -issue more flattering to my hopes." This dignified attitude having -apparently failed to imbue the Academy with a desire to remedy his -grievance, he flung off the mask of satire, and rushed into downright, -unmistakable personalities of a kind rarely addressed to august and -learned associations. He declared that, from information which had come to -his knowledge, he was prepared to prove "that the Royal Irish Academy, at -the very moment in which they published their second invitation (_i.e._ -that by which the time for receiving essays was extended to 1st June -1832), had actually determined to award the gold medal and premium to _one -of their own Council_."[10] He then went on to denounce the successful -essay as "a farrago of anachronisms and historical falsehoods." He -prophesied that when both essays were published, and the public given an -opportunity of seeing "the truth," in the shape of his own essay, there -would be a general acclamation of "This alone is right." He warned the -Academy that, "though separated from them by a roaring sea" (he was living -in London at the time), his eye was on their plans, and he demanded from -them an opportunity for making his _ascription_ of the Round Towers "a -mathematical demonstration by all the varieties and modes of proof"; and -further, that upon such demonstration they should at once award _him_ the -gold medal and premium, "or, if that could not be recalled, an equivalent -gold medal and premium"--not that, as he is careful to assure them, this -offer was to be construed as an admission that his original essay was not -"all-sufficient, all-conclusive, all-illustrative, and all-convincing." As -was only to be expected, the reply sent to this challenge ran to the -effect that, "whatever might be the merits of any additional matter -supplied to them after the day appointed by advertisement, the Academy -could not make any alteration or revocation of their award." Then came -the rejoinder,--"I do not want them either to 'alter' or 'revoke' their -award; but simply to vote me 'an equivalent gold medal and premium' for my -_combined essay_, or, if they prefer, the _new portion_ of it. Should this -be refused, I will put my cause into the hands of the great God who has -enlightened me, and make Him the Umpire between me and the Academy."[11] -One is not surprised to learn that "no answer was received to this -communication," which, as already pointed out, may have afforded one of -the reasons why the Academy declined to publish the essay in their -_Transactions_. We may sympathise with O'Brien's disappointment, and even -go further in deprecation of the attitude assumed by the Academy; but it -is impossible to deny that his conduct showed a want of dignity and common -sense, excusable only on the ground of youth. - -As regards the Academy's decision, assuming that the competition was -conducted fairly,--and, _a priori_, everything seemed in favour of that -assumption,--it is not easy to see how it could well have been other than -it was. With all possible admiration for O'Brien's talents and learning, -candour obliges us to own that his essay--taken merely as a literary -performance--was inferior to that of his rival. Apart from the question as -to whether his theory was the true one, and that of Dr. Petrie the -reverse, the Academy were in a manner bound by regard for their own -dignity, and by the literary standard then prevailing, to withhold the -meed of their unqualified approval from a composition which violated in so -many respects the established precedents of literary "form," not to -mention the canons of good taste. Besides, O'Brien was, in archæological -matters, so far in advance of his generation, that a body of elderly -gentlemen, who simply represented the standard of knowledge prevalent at -the time, might well be excused for declining to follow him. They had, in -fact, to decide between the respective merits of two essays,--one of -which was well put together, conforming, at least in appearance, to the -stipulated conditions, expressing the most approved views, bearing the -marks of careful and systematic investigation and of superior technical -knowledge, also of literary skill much above the average; the other, -daring, novel, incoherent, propounding views which were not only -unfamiliar, but even shocking, to grave and reverend seignors, rambling in -method, deficient in proof, and slipshod in language. Was it not, then, -almost inevitable that they should have preferred the former? But if one -has to pronounce upon the way in which the competition was started, -carried on, and finally decided, we are by no means sure that O'Brien had -not some reason to complain. First of all, with regard to his charge of -the Academy having awarded the prize to a member of their own Council, the -evidence to support it is _primâ facie_ strong. Upon turning to vol. xvi. -of the _Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, we find the names of -"The Committee of Antiquities of the Council" for the year 1830 (that in -which the competition was first invited) given as follows:--"Isaac -D'Olier, LL.D.; Thomas Herbert Orpen, M.D.; Hugh Ferguson, M.D.; Sir -William Betham; John D'Alton, Esq.; _George Petrie, Esq._; and the Rev. -Cæsar Otway." In the next volume of the _Transactions_, extending to 1837, -the above list is given without any alteration, except that Mr. D'Alton's -name is omitted, that of the Dean of St. Patrick's being substituted. From -this the inference seems only natural that "George Petrie, Esq.," was a -member of the Council (being likewise, as we find, "antiquarian artist to -the Academy") at the time when the idea of offering a prize for an essay -on the Round Towers was first started; that he continued to be a member -while the competition was in progress, and was actually one when the said -prize was adjudicated. Next, as to the charge that the Academy had -predetermined to award the prize to a member of its own Council, we have -the very compromising letter of the Rev. Mr. Otway (himself a member of -the Council) to the editor of the _Dublin Penny Journal_, which is cited -in the Preface to the first edition of this work,[12] coupled with those -repeated postponements of the date for sending in essays, which O'Brien -assures us were inexplicable on any other ground than that of giving Mr. -Petrie time to finish _his_ essay. We are far from contending that the -reasons adduced in support of both these charges should weigh against the -high repute which the Royal Irish Academy has always enjoyed from the time -of its foundation; still, it is impossible to deny that, in the absence of -all satisfactory explanation,--at least so far as we have been able to -discover any,--they wear a rather ugly look. - -O'Brien was resolved that, as the Academy would not publish his essay, he -must do so himself; but in the meantime he had been engaged upon a -translation of Dr. Villanueva's _Ibernia Phoenicia_, which appeared in -1833. Personal liking for the author must have been his motive for -undertaking this task, as his own views do not always harmonise with those -of the Spanish _savant_; and certain letters which are quoted in the -"Translator's Preface" show that the two were very intimate. Having made -this concession to friendship, he busied himself with the production of an -enlarged and amended version of his essay. The first edition of this was -published, early in 1834, by Whittaker & Co. of London, and J. Cumming of -Dublin. It seems to have met with a ready sale, for a second edition -appeared during the same year, bearing the imprint of Parbury & Allen, -London, and J. Cumming, Dublin. Both editions are in octavo, and to -outward appearance uniform, but differ in some respects. On the title-page -of the first it is described as the "Prize Essay of the Royal Irish -Academy, enlarged"--a description omitted in the second. Further, the -title itself is given as "The Round Towers of Ireland (or the Mysteries of -Freemasonry, of Sabaism, and of Budhism, for the first time unveiled)"; -but the words within brackets are absent from the title-page of the -second. A few corrections, too, appear in the latter edition; but, upon -the whole, it is not much more carefully edited than the first--the -curious omission of chapters vii. and xxxii. being common to both. What is -known in the book-trade as "The Long Preface," together with an amusingly -comprehensive "Dedication," is omitted from the second edition, a much -more commonplace dedication to the Marquis of Lansdowne (described, of -course, as "The Mæcenas of his age") being substituted for the latter. As -the second, and last, edition is that which had the author's latest -revisions, it has been thought advisable to reproduce it in the present -issue. No interference with its text has been attempted--typography and -pagination being alike preserved. Nor has anything in the shape of comment -been inserted. A few supplementary additions to the original work will -probably not be considered out of place. Together with this Introduction, -they comprise a "Synopsis," of which the object is to assist readers in -following the track of the main argument--not always an easy task in the -face of the author's numerous divagations, annotated lists of the -principal Round Towers and crosses, and an Index to the body of the work. - -The reception accorded to the book by those whose verdict was most -important to its success, was decidedly hostile, and--what must have been -especially galling to a man like O'Brien--took the shape of ridicule. -Though it cannot be said that he had given no occasion for the latter, it -is equally apparent that much of it was owing to ignorance; for there is -not to be found among all the censorious judgments of those "irresponsible -reviewers" a single attempt at sterling criticism. They attacked his -style, and they laughed his theory out of court, but they never resorted -to anything that deserved to be called refutation; and showed plainly by -the character of their strictures that they were quite in the dark with -respect to the nature of the evidence which he adduced in support of his -statements. It was profanely said of the late Professor Jowett, that -whatever he did not happen to know was held by him not to be _knowledge_; -and such was the view which his critics seem to have taken of O'Brien's -dependence upon Eastern authorities, with which they themselves were -unfamiliar. As occasionally happens in Irish affairs, a countryman of his -own led the attack. In one of the weakest articles that ever appeared in -the _Edinburgh Review_,[13] Moore, the poet, accused O'Brien of plagiarism -and other misdeeds. Considering the extent of Moore's acquaintance with -Oriental literature, and the character of his mind, it is perhaps not -surprising that he mistakes the whole drift of O'Brien's argument, fails -to perceive the force of those analogies upon which the latter chiefly -relied, and, in fact, only succeeds in proving his own incapacity as a -critic. But it is less conceivable that he should seek to overwhelm a -young aspirant for literary honours, who was of his own nationality, and -with whom he was on terms of at least nominal friendship, with unfounded -charges and clumsy ridicule. The secret of this otherwise unaccountable -severity is disclosed to us by "Father Prout," in his article on "The -Rogueries of Tom Moore." From it we learn that Moore had endeavoured -unsuccessfully to secure the co-operation of O'Brien in his forthcoming -History of Ireland, and that, upon the negotiation falling through, a -"coolness" ensued between the two. As "Father Prout" had the whole -correspondence laid before him, the story does not rest upon O'Brien's own -version of what took place. But, be it reliable or not, there is no -denying that the poet went out of his way--and out of his depth, too--in -the effort to crush a young author, who might fairly be supposed to have -some claim upon his sympathy. The scent which Moore thus struck was -followed up by the whole critical pack. The _Gentleman's Magazine_, for -instance,[14] without attempting anything like serious criticism, quizzed -O'Brien unmercifully. He committed the fatal indiscretion of sending a -lengthy, but for him most temperate, reply, in which he is fain to cite -the _Freemason's Quarterly Review_ as his solitary backer. The -_Gentleman's Magazine_ reserved its answer until he was no more; when, in -an obituary notice (November 1835), it flung back this retort: "Fondly -imagining that he was the author of most profound discoveries, and as it -were the discoverer of a new historical creed, Mr. O'Brien was always in a -state of the highest excitement; and when his lucubrations were treated -with ridicule instead of serious refutation, he was acutely -irritated"--which last observation somehow reminds one of that fastidious -man-o'-war's man, who, whether the bo'sun "hit him high or hit him low," -took no pleasure in being flogged. In fact, there was no real scholarly -criticism of the book from any quarter, though its eccentricities of style -and treatment received due attention. Superficially regarded, indeed, it -bristled with salient points for attack, and of these the gentlemen of the -press naturally availed themselves. They described it as "wild and -extravagant"--and no one could say them nay; but they failed to point out, -probably because they failed to see, that under this same wildness and -extravagance lay profound knowledge of a most unusual kind, powerful if -somewhat erratic reasoning, and the only theory as to the genesis of -ancient Irish proficiency in the arts of civilisation which is consistent -with the traditions, customs, superstitions, folk-lore, and antiquities of -the country. - -O'Brien had now settled in London, where such time as could be spared from -his tutorial duties was spent in the study of his favourite literature. It -appears that he had at least two works then in contemplation--one a -Dissertation on the Pyramids, partly written, and the other a Celtic -Dictionary--which latter project excited the ribaldry, altogether -unfounded,[15] of certain critics. His health, never strong, was now such -as to cause some apprehension to his friends; still he was able to share -the pleasures which London life affords. He went into the fashionable -world--which, by the way, does not appear to have taken him quite -seriously, while acknowledging his talents and erudition. The Marquis of -Lansdowne's house was open to him; and mainly, no doubt, through the -influence of that kindly nobleman, he was even presented at Court. The -military career, for which, as he informs us (p. 130), he had a -predilection second only to "his love for truth and the rectification of -his country's honour," was no longer an object of ambition; and he may be -regarded as having resigned himself contentedly to the peaceful avocations -of a man of letters. Bad health, aggravated by his studious habits, seems -indeed to have been the only drawback from which he suffered; but although -this had previously excited the apprehension of his friends, it was -without any immediate warning that the end came. He had been paying a -visit to some acquaintances in the suburbs of London; had spent with them -an evening, during which he displayed his usual cheerfulness and vivacity; -had retired to rest without any symptoms of indisposition; and the next -morning was found lifeless in his bed,--death having, to all appearance, -taken place quite painlessly during sleep. By those who knew him he was -mourned, and by none more sincerely than the genial "Father Prout," who -added the following postscript to his article on "The Rogueries of Tom -Moore," already in print when the news of his young friend's death reached -him:-- - - "MEM.--On the 28th of June 1835, died, at The Hermitage, Hanwell, - Henry O'Brien, author of _The Round Towers of Ireland_. His portrait - was hung up in the gallery of Regina on the 1st August following; and - the functionary who exhibits the 'Literary Characters' dwelt thus on - his merits:-- - - "In the village graveyard of Hanwell (_ad_ viii. _ab urbe lapidem_) - sleeps the original of yonder sketch.... Some time back we had our - misgivings that the oil in his flickering lamp of life would soon dry - up; still we were not prepared to hear of his light being thus - abruptly extinguished. "One morn we missed him" from the accustomed - table at the library of the British Museum, where the page of - antiquity awaited his perusal; "another came--nor yet" was he to be - seen behind the pile of _Asiatic Researches_, poring over his - favourite Herodotus, or deep in the Zendavesta. "The next" brought - tidings of his death. His book on the Round Towers has thrown more - light on the early history of Ireland, and on the freemasonry of those - gigantic puzzles, than will ever shine from the cracked pitchers of - the Royal Irish Academy, or the farthing candle of Tommy Moore.... No - emblem will mark the sequestered spot where lies the Oedipus of the - Round Towers riddle--no hieroglyphic.... But ye who wish for monuments - to his memory, go to his native land, and - there--_circumspicite!_--Glendalough, Devenish, Clondalkin, - Inis-Scattery, rear their architectural cylinders; and each proclaims - to the four winds of heaven ... the name of him who solved the problem - of 3000 years, and who first disclosed the drift of these - erections.... Suffice it to add that he fell a victim to the intense - ardour with which he pursued the antiquarian researches that he - loved." - -One portion at least of the good Father's prophecy was amply fulfilled. In -_Irish Graves in England_, by Michael M'Donagh (_Evening Telegraph -Reprints_: Dublin, 1888), a chapter on O'Brien contains these words:-- - - "His grave cannot now be identified in Hanwell churchyard. It was - never marked by even a rude stone. In the register of burials the - entry is: 'No. 526, Henry O'Brien, Hanwell, July 2, years 26. Charles - Birch, officiating clergyman.' Tho number of the grave did not help - towards its identification, and an examination of every stone did not - result in the discovery of the name of O'Brien." - -So passed out of life a gifted young soul that had just begun to know the -measure of its strength. Had O'Brien been spared, he might have taken the -very highest rank among antiquarians and ethnologists; as it is, his fame -must rest upon a single crude and imperfect work, written in haste, before -his powers were fully ripe, or his learning properly assimilated. Beyond -this, and his translation of Villanueva, he may be said to have left no -trace behind. He had never married, though it is highly improbable that, -with his ardent temperament, and that almost reverential admiration for -the sex to which he gives frequent expression in _The Round Towers_, he -could have reached the age of six-and-twenty heart-whole. From his -portrait by Maclise (a copy of which forms the frontispiece to this -volume), he must, one would think, have been a sufficiently personable -man--though somewhat frail, and looking older than his years--not to have -wooed in vain. But he has left no hint of a love affair, beyond occasional -references to a mysterious "sorrow," which may have been of this nature. -No stain rests upon his memory; his habits were convivial, but not -vicious; and he had a great reverence for his own religion, in no way -weakened by his sympathy with other less perfect aspects of eternal truth. -It may be said of him that he left the world without having done it any -harm, and in the firm belief that he had nobly served the cause of human -enlightenment,--which surely was no bad ending. - - * * * * * - -It is one thing to admit the ingenuity, or even the plausibility, of a -writer's views, and another to accept them as articles of belief. So far -from claiming for O'Brien that he has completely solved the mystery of the -Round Towers, we may even confess a doubt that the latter admits of any -complete solution. Certain links in the chain of evidence are wanting, -which, to all appearance, are not likely to be ever supplied. That, for -instance, the _Tuath-de-danaans_ came from Persia, bringing with them to -Ireland their arts and their religion, is quite possible; but the absence -of any reference to such migration in the more ancient Persian historians, -where we should expect to find it; the want of some adequate explanation -of the motives which could have led a highly-civilised people, accustomed -to a luxurious climate, to prefer as their final settlement the bleak -shores of a remote Atlantic island to the more temperate and, to an -Eastern eye, more beautiful countries through which they must have passed -on their way; the all but complete failure to point out the route which -they followed in their quest of an asylum--these are gaps which require to -be filled up before most of us will be prepared to accept their Eastern -genealogy. Still, it must be confessed that O'Brien's theory rests upon -other and surer foundations, so far as its essential probability is -concerned; also, that it is entertaining and suggestive to a degree which -renders it, if not a profitable, at least a pleasing mental exercise. - -_The Origin of the Round Towers_ (the first branch of the question -proposed by the Royal Irish Academy) is really only part of a much wider -problem which had long engaged the attention of earnest, capable, and -industrious archæologists, with whose names the reader of this work is -likely to become only too familiar. The Round Towers are merely one class -of more or less elaborate architectural or monumental remains, scattered -all over Ireland, and bearing unmistakable signs of a very remote -antiquity.[16] That these remains are inseparably connected in time and -origin, seems to be proved by the fact that no writer upon the subject of -the Round Towers had hitherto been able to treat of the latter -exclusively, without taking into consideration the "crosses" or "temples," -or other subdivisions of the whole, and that neither Dr. Petrie nor his -rival claimed exemption from the same necessity. A great portion of their -respective works on the Round Towers is devoted, for instance, to a -consideration of other antiquities; and what is perhaps the most valuable -part of O'Brien's,--namely, that upon which his assumption of a _pagan_ -origin chiefly rests,--is the result of investigation into the nature of -that symbolism for which the sculptured crosses are so remarkable. It -seemed, in fact, impossible for those who studied the subject carefully to -resist the conclusion that all these remains belong to a period when -Ireland was inhabited by a race which differed in many respects from the -Irish of a later date. In Dr. Petrie's opinion, that race consisted of the -early Christian missionaries and their proselytes; in O'Brien's, it -belonged to an era far antecedent to Christianity itself; and so far, he -is at one with the leading authorities who preceded him. Limiting his -statement to the Round Towers, Dr. Petrie informs us[17] that, up to the -time at which he undertook to decide the matter, two theories prevailed as -to the "origin" of these structures: (1) That they were erected by the -Danes; (2) that they were of Phoenician origin. But O'Brien discards the -Danes altogether, and only allows a very subordinate part indeed to the -Phoenicians, namely, that of having, as sea-carriers, assisted to convey -the _Tuath-de-danaans_ to Ireland. For the grounds upon which Dr. Petrie -attributes an exclusively Christian origin to the Round Towers inquirers -must be referred to the body of his work, where they will find it most -ingeniously, if not quite ingenuously, argued at much length that these -structures were erected between the fifth and thirteenth centuries of our -era by Christian founders. An outline of his rival's argument to the -contrary is given in the annexed "Synopsis." The difference between the -respective methods of the two theorists is very marked, and here the -advantage does not rest with O'Brien. Petrie is calm, precise, -authoritative; O'Brien fervid, rambling, and passionately expostulative. -That the former has failed to prove his case, and that the latter has to -some extent succeeded in doing so, may, or may not, be the fact; but it -must be admitted that, if O'Brien was the more successful, he was not the -more dexterous combatant. It has been frequently, and perhaps not without -justice, remarked that "Irishmen have a way of _blundering_ upon the -truth"; and from the eccentric fashion in which he sets about proving his -contention, some may argue that O'Brien's success merely affords an -instance of this national peculiarity. But it would be hardly fair to do -so in the case of an author who is acknowledged to have prepared himself -for his task by careful study of the authorities bearing upon its subject, -and whose "discovery," as he calls it, is expressly founded on the results -of that preparation. In this latter respect he presents a marked contrast -to his somewhat dictatorial rival, who is wont to treat the exercise of -private judgment by those who happen to differ from himself as a species -of _lèse-majesté_.[18] On the other hand, O'Brien is always imploring the -reader to follow his argument step by step. "Here," he ever seems to be -urging, "are the plain, unvarnished facts; here, the incontestable -authorities; with these staring you in the face, surely you cannot think -of denying that such and such an inference is unavoidable?" His reasons -may not be always of the best; but, such as they are, he gives them -freely. Of the two methods, the public, who are usually impressed by -self-assertion, preferred the former; and "Dr. Petrie's epoch-making book" -was by general consent allowed to have "settled the question of the Round -Towers for ever." This comforting belief remained undisturbed for more -than a quarter of a century, when, in the year 1867, a book appeared which -challenged its infallibility. The author, a Mr. Marcus Keane, seems to -have started upon an investigation of Irish ruins from sheer curiosity, -and with a dispassionate intention to see and judge for himself. He was -certainly not actuated by any wish to decry the merits of Petrie's work, -to which he confesses his great obligations, and which he appears to have -taken at first as his guide. But, having carefully examined bit by bit the -ancient architecture still remaining in most of the Irish counties, and -having tested Petrie's statements by personal investigation on the spot, -he reluctantly confessed that he had lost faith in the latter. "After much -consideration," he declares,[19] "I have been forced to the conclusion ... -that the generally received theory is not supported by sufficient -evidence. My conviction of the heathen origin of these ruins has been -strengthened in proportion to the increased knowledge which I have -acquired by examination of the ruins themselves.... Not only the Round -Towers, but also the crosses and stone-roofed churches are entirely of -heathen origin." Further, on all essential points he found himself in -agreement with O'Brien, the difference between them, in respect of the -particular form of paganism to which those remains owe their existence, -being so trifling as hardly to merit notice. Of course, we do not -undertake to say that he is right: the question is one upon which people -have always differed hitherto, and which will probably be a subject of -variance until the end of time. But it seems to us that the dispassionate, -almost reluctant, judgment of this competent, methodical, and eminently -fair observer, who approached his subject, not when controversy was -raging, but after a sufficient number of years had elapsed to admit of -prejudice dying out, is entitled to carry more than ordinary weight, where -the object is to arrive at a conclusion based upon a study of unvarnished -facts. - -Up to this point the question may be said to have been regarded solely -from the architectural point of view, which is not the most favourable for -O'Brien; though, considering his necessarily limited knowledge in that -respect, he must be admitted to have made out a fairly strong case. It is -where the argument hinges upon analogies between Irish and Eastern -symbolism that we have him at his best. Here all the resources of his -great Oriental learning come into play, and may be said fairly to have -turned the scale in his favour. Indeed, it is perfectly astonishing, -considering that his book was written more than sixty years ago, when he -was himself a mere youth, how nearly it reaches the level attained by -modern research. In proof of this, it may be as well to refer, by way of -example, to one of the latest authoritative treatises on the subject of -Symbolism, that written by Count Goblet D'Alviella[20] (_Hibbert -Lecturer_ for 1891, and member of the Royal Academy of Belgium), together -with its learned "Introduction" by Sir George Birdwood, K.C.I.E.; and we -do so with the less hesitation because, as neither of these writers -indulges in more than a passing reference to Ireland, no suspicion of a -wish to strengthen their inferences by making out a pagan origin for Irish -antiquities can attach to them. The reader who consults these authorities -will find that they go far to support O'Brien's interpretation of the -symbolic ornamentation of Irish towers and crosses; that they perfectly -coincide with his views on the nature of Sabaic paganism; and generally -with his theory, that where symbolism of this character is found existing -in Western lands, it must have been introduced there from an Eastern -source. A few sentences taken almost at random from the Introduction to -Count D'Alviella's work, as well as from the book itself, may be adduced -in support of this assertion. Thus, having stated that "the religious -symbols common to the different historical races of mankind have not -originated independently among them, but have, for the most part, been -carried from the one to the other in the course of their migrations of -conquests and commerce"; that "the more notable of these symbols were -carried over the world in the footsteps of Buddhism"; that they were at -first but "the obvious ideograph of the phenomena of nature that made the -deepest impression on Asiatic man"; that the Sabæans were "the Chaldæan -worshippers of the Host (_Saba_) of Heaven,"[21] it goes on to say: -"Without doubt, the symbols that have attracted in the highest degree the -veneration of the multitude have been the representative signs of gods, -often uncouth and indecent; but what have the gods themselves ever been, -except the more or less imperfect symbols of the Being transcending all -definition whom the human conscience has more and more clearly divined -through and above all these gods?" How, it may be asked, does this differ -from O'Brien's description of the nature of that "Budh" who forms the -central idea around which he groups the minor significances of Irish -Sabaism? Again we read: "It is sentiment, and, above all, religious -sentiment, that resorts largely to symbolism; and in order to place itself -in more intimate communication with the being or abstraction it desires to -approach. To that end men are everywhere seen either choosing natural or -artificial objects to remind them of the Great Hidden One.[22]... There -exists a symbolism so natural that ... it constitutes a feature of -humanity in a certain phase of development; ... for example, the -representations of the sun by a disc or radiating face, of the moon by a -crescent; ... of the generative forces of nature by phallic emblems."[23] -Might we not fancy that this was written by O'Brien? Again: "What theories -have not been built upon the existence of the equilateral cross as an -object of veneration?... Orthodox writers have protested against the claim -of attributing a pagan origin to the cross of the Christians, because -earlier creeds had included cruciform signs in their symbolism. And the -same objection might be urged against those who seek for Christian -infiltrations in certain other religions under the pretext that they -possess the sign of the Redemption." Is not this O'Brien's argument in a -nutshell? Then we have an entire chapter (iv.), entitled "Symbolism and -Mythology of the Tree," the substance of which he may be said to have -anticipated; and so on, all through the book. It is needless to multiply -quotations; those already given suffice to show that, in its essential -character, O'Brien's argument, so far as it relies upon symbolism, is -corroborated by those in the front rank of modern archæologists. - - * * * * * - -It must, however, be confessed that O'Brien is not always so much in -harmony with modern thought, and that his reasoning from analogies of -language appears to us, occasionally, neither sound nor ingenuous. Perhaps -it would be more correct to say that he sometimes, without meaning -deception, allows enthusiasm to entice him across the line between fact -and fiction. In this respect he is not, perhaps, less scrupulous than the -average etymologist; but even admitting the veniality of his offence, it -seems to us that the philological is the weakest portion of his book. In -his hands Grimm's then recently discovered "law of the mutation of -consonants" was, as we think, too often strained to cover most -questionable derivations, nor did he shrink, apparently, from coining -forms of words to suit his purpose. As instances of this we may point to -his otherwise skilful treatment of the name _Hibernia_ at p. 128, where, -without any authority that we are aware of, he employs the form [Greek: -nêos] for [Greek: uêsos], evidently with a view to strengthen his case; -also, to his wonderful evolution of the word _Lingam_, at p. 284. But -whilst the reader will probably accept his statements on this head with -caution, admiration of his skill in detecting analogies which only require -pointing out to secure our assent, cannot be withheld. That he had in him -the making of a great philologist, is beyond question; and that in course -of time, had his life been spared, he would have made this branch of his -argument really formidable, is very probable. Even as it stands, we may be -undervaluing its merit: philology is not an exact science, and one can -rarely be sure of one's ground therein from day to day. But, judging the -matter by such light as we possess, it seems to us that the least valuable -part of O'Brien's book is that upon which he evidently prided himself -most: others may, possibly on better grounds, be of a different opinion, -and we gladly leave this portion of the book to speak for itself. - - * * * * * - -It may, we think, be said without injustice, that when dealing with that -part of the question which related to the _uses_ of the Round Towers, -O'Brien was more successful in upsetting the theories of other people than -in establishing his own. The purposes for which preceding antiquarians had -severally claimed that the towers were built are almost endless; but Dr. -Petrie has summarised the most prominent of them as follows:[24]--(1) -Fire-temples; (2) places from which to proclaim the Druidical festivals; -(3) Gnomons, or astronomical observatories; (4) Phallic emblems, or -Buddhist temples; (5) Anchorite towers, or Stylite columns; (6) -Penitential prisons; (7) Belfries; (8) Keeps, or Monastic Castles; (9) -Beacons and Watch-towers. Both he and O'Brien agree in holding that the -Round Towers were not appropriated to any one of these purposes -exclusively, though they might have been used for two or more of them. It -is with regard to the selection of these latter that the authors -differ--Petrie adopting views (7), (8), (9); O'Brien, view (3), but with -much reservation; view (4) absolutely, and adding another view of his own, -namely, that they were sometimes devoted to memorial or sepulchral uses. -It has been mentioned already that Moore charged him with plagiarism in -respect of his adoption of view (4); but, like other charges from the same -quarter, the assertion rests upon unstable grounds. O'Brien made no secret -of the fact that on many points he shared the views of General Vallancey, -for whom he invariably expresses respect, and even admiration; but he is -careful to explain that, where their judgments happen to coincide, it is -for very different reasons. "I wish it to be emphatically laid down," he -says in one place, "that I do not tread in General Vallancey's -footsteps.... I have taken the liberty to _chalk out my own road_"; and, -in another, "Though his perseverance had rendered him (Vallancey) the best -_Irishian_ of his age, and of many ages before him, yet he has committed -innumerable blunders." This goes to show that he was unlikely to adopt any -theory merely because Vallancey held it; and to have arrived at the same -conclusion by a wholly different road was surely not "plagiarism." What is -more, a reference to the published works of General Vallancey,[25] or even -to such extracts from them as may be found in Dr. Petrie's book, will, if -we are not mistaken, give rise to some doubt of that author having ever -distinctly maintained the Eastern, or pagan, origin of the Round Towers. -His views are, however, so nebulous and shifting, that it is difficult to -say whether he committed himself to any positive theory on the subject. -Starting with the conjecture that the Round Towers may have been the work -of "Phoenicians or Indo-Scythians," he is soon found attributing them to -certain "African sea-champions," who, in his opinion, were the "Pheni," -being likewise, as he goes on to inform us, "a _Pelasgic_ tribe." Next, he -declares that it was the _Fomorians_ who, having conquered Ireland, -"taught the inhabitants to build Round Towers"; but he afterwards seems to -discard this theory in favour of a "Danish" origin, and ends, to all -appearance, by resigning himself to the notion that they may, after all, -have been built by "Christian" settlers. Nor are his speculations as to -the _purpose_ of those structures less varied and conflicting. At one time -he maintains that they were undoubtedly "fire-temples"; at another, that -they were "belfries"; and yet again, that they were "beacons." But--what -is especially remarkable in connection with the charge of plagiarism--he -never, so far as we can discover, attributes to them a "phallic" -significance. Upon the whole, then, it seems rather unreasonable to accuse -anybody of having borrowed theories from an author who practically had -none; and the probability is that, without having read General Vallancey's -works, Moore had, from hearsay, formed a vague general notion of their -contents, which notion he, in the capacity of an irresponsible and not -over-scrupulous reviewer, ventured to utilise for paying off old scores. -Be that as it may, we are not prepared to urge that, upon the evidence, -O'Brien's theory as to the phallic emblemism of the Round Towers--whether -he borrowed it from Vallancey or not[26]--absolutely deserves credence. -Like his ascription of an Eastern origin to the _Tuath-de-danaans_, it is -one of those things which, so far as we can see, are incapable of proof. -Still, it cannot be said that there is any inherent impossibility in the -notion; in fact, assuming that the Round Towers were built by an Eastern -colony, there is much in its favour. For, as all who are acquainted with -our Indian Empire must be well aware, phallic symbols are there regarded -with a veneration which in its character is entirely free from -associations that appear to be inseparable from them elsewhere. The East -and West have taken different views as to the light in which the physical -agency by which divine creative power has chosen to perpetuate life should -be regarded; and to the Hindoo mind, for instance, there is nothing -inconsistent with the highest moral purity in worshipping an idealised -representation of the generative principle. A similar belief, on O'Brien's -showing, prevailed in ancient Persia,--indeed, but for its existence -there, the Tuath-de-danaans' immigration into Ireland could hardly have -taken place,--so that colonisers from that country, if any such -colonisation ever took place, were likely to have introduced corresponding -typical representations wherever they settled. Hence the theory of the -Eastern origin of the Round Towers and that of their phallic significance -are mutually interdependent. Further than this it is useless to go. The -probability of either theory is a matter that, if we are not mistaken, -most readers will determine for themselves, without much respect to -authority; nor has any author who tries to establish a hypothesis on -evidence the bearing of which upon the subject is in itself hypothetical, -a right to complain that this should be so. O'Brien has been in a manner -forced to rely upon such evidence all through his book, and the latter -suffers in consequence. To our thinking, those portions of it are usually -the most convincing where, discarding authority for the most part, he -relies upon his own native shrewdness. His attack upon the "belfry" theory -is one instance of this. Another is the way in which he combats -Montmorency's notion, that the towers may have been intended as places of -shelter, for persons or property, from hostile invasion. Almost equally -effective is his refutation of the hackneyed argument, that because Round -Towers are usually (not invariably, as some assert) found in the vicinity -of ecclesiastical buildings, they must necessarily be of Christian origin; -though here, as in the case of the "belfry" theory, he might, we think, -have insisted more upon the curious circumstance that Christians should -have discontinued building them as soon as Christianity was firmly -established in Ireland, but before the country had been reduced to a -peaceful or settled condition. If such adjuncts to churches were needed up -to the thirteenth century, there is nothing in the history of Ireland for -the next three centuries, at least, which shows that they might have been -dispensed with. To account for their disappearance by representing it as a -consequence of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture, -which took place about the twelfth century, is to beg the whole question; -for it assumes that the Round Towers are Romanesque--a point on which we -take leave to think that opinions are much divided, as indeed they appear -to be upon almost every topic connected with the subject-matter of this -very remarkable book. - -W. H. C. - -LONDON, 1897. - - - - -SYNOPSIS - - -CHAPTER I - -(PP. 1-15) - - -The book opens with a preliminary statement, in general terms, of the -object which its author has in view. It is to prove that the round towers -date from a more remote antiquity than that usually assigned to them; that -they were, in fact, erected long before Christianity reached these -islands, and even before the date of the Milesian and Scandinavian -invasions. In support of this view, he contrasts the materials, -architecture, and costliness of their construction with those of the early -Christian churches usually found in their vicinity (cf. p. 514), and -accounts for the contiguity of the latter by stating that the Christian -missionaries selected, as the sites of their churches, localities -previously consecrated to religious use, in order that they might thereby -"conciliate the prejudices of those whom they would fain persuade"; whilst -he points out that a Christian origin has not been claimed for Cromleachs -and Mithratic caves, in the vicinity of which ecclesiastical remains -likewise abound. On the other hand, he insists that the general structure -and decorative symbolism of the round towers is clearly indicative of -pagan times and a pagan origin, more especially of that primitive form of -paganism which, originating in Chaldea, diffused itself eastward until it -overspread a considerable part of Asia, and which is known as _Sabaism_. -Dissenting from the theories of his predecessors in the same field of -inquiry, he rejects the various theories that the round towers were -intended as "purgatorial columns," or "beacons," or "belfries," or -"dungeons," or "anchorite-cells," or "places of retreat" in the case of -hostile invasion, or "depositories" for State records, Church utensils, or -national treasures; and he states as his conviction, based on examination -of their structure, that it was not the intention of their founders to -limit their use to any one specific purpose. - - -CHAPTER II - -(PP. 16-32) - -Following up this line of argument, he attacks Montmorency, who had -maintained that the founders of the round towers were "primitive -Coenobites and bishops, munificently supported in the undertaking by the -newly-converted kings and toparchs; the builders and architects being -those monks and pilgrims who, from Greece and Rome, either preceded or -accompanied the early missionaries of the fifth and sixth centuries." -Reserving a detailed refutation of this theory for subsequent chapters, he -contents himself for the present with showing that it rests upon mere -assumption, which is not borne out by the evidence adduced in -corroboration thereof; and exposes the fallacy of Montmorency's argument, -that pre-Christian Ireland was in a state of barbarism which precluded the -possibility of such structures as the round towers being erected by its -inhabitants. He further deals with the objections, that the bards do not -allude to these towers as existent in their time, that those undoubtedly -ancient excavations, the Mithratic caves, are never found in the vicinity -of round towers, and that the limited nature of their accommodation made -them serviceable only for some such purpose as that of a belfry or -dungeon. With Vallancey's views he finds himself more in sympathy, but is -unable to adopt them unreservedly--preferring, as he puts it, to chalk out -his own road. - - -CHAPTER III - -(PP. 33-47) - -Continuing his attack upon Montmorency, the author points out that the -towers erected elsewhere by Coenobite associations are always square, not -round, and that any argument based upon the elevated position of the -entrances to both classes of edifices would apply equally to the pyramids. -He shows that the round towers could not have been intended as places of -refuge, or as depositories of ecclesiastical treasures, and adduces -historical proof that the structures known as "belfries" were wholly -different. Alluding to the supposed band of voluntary Coenobite workmen -under _Saint Abban_, he points out that their building operations must -necessarily have been carried on in the midst of a raging war; that -although they must have availed themselves of native assistance in the -work, yet the Irish of the early Christian period betray not the slightest -knowledge of the art of building; that the building of round towers ceased -quite suddenly, almost immediately after the introduction of Christianity; -that the native Irish have never attributed these towers to such an -origin; that, so far from being, as Montmorency alleges, assisted by the -munificence of native princes, the Coenobite monks must have had to deal -with absolute pagans, who would regard their labour with anything but -approval; and that the fact of "kills," or remains of Christian churches, -being found in the vicinity of Cromleachs, Mithratic caves, and round -towers is simply the result of the reverence felt by the pagan converts -for the scenes and associations of their old belief, and affords no ground -for supposing that the churches were coeval with the latter. Subsequently -(at p. 514) he cites the instance of a round tower without any church near -it. - - -CHAPTER IV - -(PP. 48-62) - -In tracing the origin and purpose of the round towers, our author is led -to consider the names given them in ancient records and Irish folk-lore. -The stunted ruin of Bally-Carbery Round Tower, near his own birthplace, -was, he found, known to the peasantry as the "Cathoir ghall," _i.e._ "the -temple of brightness or delight," whilst both in the _Annals of the Four -Masters_, the _Ulster Annals_, and the _Annals of Innisfallen_ these -towers are included in the generic name _Fiadh-Neimhedh_, as contrasted -with the names _Cloic teacha_ and _Erdam_ applied to "belfries," thus -showing that the two kinds of structures are perfectly distinct. He finds -that _Fiadh-Nemeadth_ in all preceding writers on the subject is held to -apply specifically to the round towers, though some of these writers -(_e.g._ Colgan and O'Connor) have wrested its meaning to support their own -particular views, and the true import of this term he subsequently -explains to be "consecrated Lingams" (p. 105), or _phallic temples_. The -"belfry" and the _gnomon_, or "celestial index," theories are thus -exploded. From historical evidence he is further led to assume that -Ireland is identical with the _Insula Hyperboreorum_ of the ancients, and -that the legendary mission of the Boreadan _Abaris_[27] to Delos took -place during the _Scythian_ occupation of Ireland. This friendly -communication between the ancient Irish and the Greeks he attributes to -their having sprung from a common stock--the _Pelasgi_ and the -_Tuath-de-danaans_ belonging to "the same time as the Indo-Scythæ, or -Chaldean Magi." He traces briefly the relations between the -_Tuath-de-danaan_ settlers in Ireland and their Scythian (or Milesian) -conquerors, and shows that to the former is due the high state of -civilisation and learning for which ancient Ireland was distinguished, and -which degenerated under Scythian rule; and concludes with a general -statement as to the prevalence of _Sabaic_ worship therein, and the -phallic configuration of the round towers. - - -CHAPTER V - -(PP. 63-76) - -Being now fairly launched on the subject of _Sabaism_, or worship of -natural manifestations of the divine energy, he traces its origin, -development, and decadence into idolatry. Amid the heterogeneous confusion -of beliefs that seem to have sprung up among the descendants of Noah, -Nimrod introduced the worship of the sun as a deity, but only as a part of -that general Sabaism which included the whole "host of heaven" as objects -of worship, and recognised the Godhead, of which they were simply -manifestations, under the names of _Baal_ and _Moloch_. Gradually, the -creature was substituted for the Creator, and their names, especially the -former (_Bolati_), were applied to the sun, "as the source and dispenser -of all earthly favours," while to the moon was attributed a corresponding -reverence under the name _Baaltis_, though in both cases the object of -internal regard was intended to be _Nature_, or "the fructifying germ of -universal generativeness." From the tendency of man to the concrete, this -central idea was soon lost sight of, and the material element put in its -place--hence came _Fire-worship_. Originating in Chaldea, this degenerated -form of Sabaism in course of time spread eastward until it reached Persia, -where eventually there seems to have been a reversion to the principle -which underlay it, _i.e._ that of _generation_ and _nutrition_, in which -form it afterwards extended to India. Though fire was the ostensible -object of worship, the sun and moon, from which that worship originated, -were regarded and reverenced as "the procreative causes of general -fecundity," with which was coupled the notion of regeneration after -dissolution of the body. Hence when, as will appear hereafter, Eastern -Sabaism was introduced into Ireland by the Tuath-de-danaans, the round -towers created by them as temples of their worship had both a phallic and -sepulchral meaning. - - -CHAPTER VI - -(PP. 77-90) - -That purer form of _Sabaism_ in which the central idea of "the All-good -and All-great One" predominated over materialism, seems to have prevailed -in ancient Egypt, and to a more definite extent in India, whilst in both -these countries, and also in Ireland, its material side led to the -cultivation of astronomy. Hence the _pyramids_ of Egypt, the _pagodas_ of -India, and the _round towers_ of Ireland had both a religious and a -scientific purpose. There is no ground, however, for supposing that the -round towers were "fire-temples." Though temples of the latter kind -undoubtedly exist in Ireland, their structure is altogether different, and -they evidently belong to a later period, showing, in fact, traces of an -Italian origin. Fire-worship was probably introduced into Italy from -Greece, where it had been practised by the old Pelasgic stock, who, on -their expulsion from Thessaly, settled in Etruria, bringing their worship -with them. - - -CHAPTER VIII - -(PP. 91-106) - -From a careful study of Eastern records and Sabaism, the author is led to -take up the position that the round towers were constructed by early -Indian colonists of Ireland (the _Tuath-de-danaans_), in honour of "the -fructifying principle of nature," of which the sun and moon are -representative. The emblem of this principle was the _phallus_ in the case -of the sun, and the _crescent_ in that of the moon. The round tower was -simply a monumental _phallus_, which fact is taken to explain the terms -"Cathoir ghall" and "Fidh-Nemphed" to which he alludes in chap. iv.; -whilst the _crescent_ ornament by which many of these towers were -surmounted is symbolical of the female nature. A corroboration of this -theory is found in the circumstance that the name _Budh_, by which these -towers are "critically and accurately designated, signifies in Irish, -first, the _sun_, and secondly, what [Greek: phallos], _phallus_, does in -Greek and Latin," a view which is supported by the analogy of Egyptian sun -and moon worship. - - -CHAPTER IX - -(PP. 107-126) - -Having thus committed himself to the view that the paganism which founded -the Irish Round Towers was a religion of which _Budh_ (_i.e._ the sun and -the _phallus_) was the central idea, and which, therefore, resembled in -its essence the faiths of India and Egypt, the author proceeds to trace -the origin of this religion. In India the latter is known as _Buddhism_, -or that form of Sabaism taught by Buddha; but the author is persuaded that -there never was such a person as Buddha--at least, when the religion first -shot into life, which was almost as early as the creation of man--though -in later times several enthusiasts assumed that name. The origin of the -religion was, in fact, "an abstract thought," which cannot easily be -expressed in words until it is reduced to the materialised forms of that -practical Sabaism which each nation framed for itself, and which consisted -in the worship of generative and productive power under its various -manifestations. Hence the objects of worship ranged from the sun and moon -even to agricultural operations, and, of course, included sexual -physiology. Indian Buddhism worshipped the _Lingam_ (or _phallus_) as the -emblem of_Budh_ (_i.e._ the Sun), but without any sensual alloy in such -reverence, which, in fact, necessitated the observance of a strict moral -code. Among other requirements of this code was the performance of works -of charity, _Dana_ (_i.e._ the giving of alms), and the religionists were -hence called _Danaans_ or _Almoners_. The bearing of all this upon Irish -paganism is explained by referring to the intimate connection that in -early times existed between Ireland and the East, from whence its -Tuath-de-danaan colonists were derived. The name _Erin_, together with its -Greek form _Ierne_, and its Latin transmutation _Hibernia_, is shown to be -identical with _Iran_, the ancient name of _Persia_, which, modified into -_Irin_, was applied by the Greek historians to the "Sacred Island" of the -West, and recognised by Gildas and Ordericus Vitalis as the established -designation of Ireland in their time. - - -CHAPTER X - -(PP. 127-141) - -Developing this last argument, our author shows that, while _Iran_ (or -"the sacred _land_") was a name applied to both Persia and Ireland, the -form _Irin_ (Sacred _Island_) is exclusively applied to Ireland, and that -_Irc_, _Eri_, _Ere_, and _Erin_ are but modifications of the latter. The -Greeks commuted this name of _Irin_ into _Ierne_, which is merely a -translation ([Greek: hieros] + [Greek: nêsos]); and the Latins, by putting -an _H_ for the rough breathing of [Greek: hieros], and interpolating a _b_ -for sound's sake, transformed the latter into _Hibernia_, the meaning -"Sacred Island" being preserved. But by its own inhabitants it continued -to be known as _Fuodhla_, _Fudh-Inis_, and _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_, names -associating the worship which prevailed therein with the profession of the -worshippers, for they respectively denote the land or island of _Fuodh_ or -_Budh_ and _Budhism_. The _Budh_ here mentioned was identical with the -phallic deity worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaans under the name of _Buodh_ -(known also as Moriagan and Fareagh or Phearagh), which name the Scythian -invaders afterwards adopted as their war-cry (_Boo_ or _A-boo_). The -peculiar tenets of Irish Budhism were embodied in a mass of literature -committed to the flames by Saint Patrick; but the history of pagan Ireland -still survives in MSS. scattered over Europe, whilst an image of _Buodh_, -or _Fareagh_, bearing a close resemblance to those of the Eastern -_Buddha_, and to the idols of _Matambo_ "whose priests are sorcerers or -magicians" (afterwards shown to be the meaning of _Tuath-de-danaans_), has -been unearthed at Roscommon, and is now in the Museum of Trinity College, -Dublin. - - -CHAPTER XI - -(PP. 142-156) - -From India our author now diverges to Egypt. The similarity between the -regal title "Pharaoh" and _Phearagh_ or _Fareagh_ just mentioned is -accounted for by the invasion of Egypt by the _Uksi_, or _Hyksos_ (Royal -Shepherds or Shepherd Kings), who, according to Manetho, came "from the -East." The Indian _Vedas_, which corroborate his account, term them -_Pali_, or "shepherds"; and the rigorous nature of their sway accounts for -the dislike manifested by the Egyptians towards the Israelites, who were a -pastoral people. That they introduced their form of worship into Egypt, is -shown by the description which Herodotus gives of the rites, ceremonies, -and usages of the Egyptian priests, resembling those practised by the -Brahmins. Historical evidence points to the erection by them of the -greater pyramids, also to their introduction of those magical arts for -which the Egyptians became notorious. This latter fact brings the _Uksi_ -into connection with the _Tuath-de-danaans_ (whose name is indicative of -proficiency in magic), and serves to strengthen the author's opinion that -both belonged to the same Chaldean stock. - - -CHAPTER XII - -(PP. 157-166) - -The pyramids of Egypt may be said to correspond, with one significant -difference, to the round towers of Ireland. Both are characterised by the -highest architectural skill; both are constructed with an evident -reference to astronomical purposes; both afford indications that they were -_inter alia_ appropriated to sepulture; and both are distinctively of -phallic or, more strictly, Sabaic import. But in this last feature a -divergence becomes evident. The symbolism of the principle of "generative -production" common to both is in the form of the pyramid more emblematic -of the _female_ nature (see pp. 267-269), whilst the round towers typify -the _male_--a divergence which the author subsequently treats in more -detail. To it may be due the circumstance that these excavations or -"wells" which exist beneath the pyramids have not hitherto been found -under round towers. - - -CHAPTER XIII - -(PP. 167-176) - -In connection with the last paragraph, attention is, however, drawn to the -fact that round towers have usually been erected in the vicinity of water; -and that this may have been owing to a real, though less dominant, -veneration of the female principle, is probable from the extensive use of -bathing in the worship of _Astarte_, the representative of that principle -whose peculiar emblemism is apparent in the ornamentation of the round -towers. Traces of the apparatus for a bell found on the summit of one of -the latter edifices affords no proof of its original purpose as a belfry. -For though bells were used in pagan ceremonials, they were not rung to -summon worshippers; and the fact may have been that, after their -conversion to Christianity, the Irish applied round towers occasionally to -the only purpose for which they could then be used in connection with -public worship. - - -CHAPTER XIV - -(PP. 177-192) - -Recurring to the affinity of Ireland with ancient Persia (Iran), the -history of the latter country is traced from its settlement by the -_Aryans_. According to tradition preserved in the collection of sacred -books known as the _Zendavesta_, the original seat of that people was the -_Eriene-Veedjo_, a district situated in the north-western highlands of -Asia, of great fertility, and enjoying a singularly mild climate, having -seven months of summer and five of winter. Then "the death-dealing Ahriman -smote it with the plague of cold, so that it came to have ten months of -winter and only two of summer"; and was in consequence deserted by its -inhabitants, who gradually overspread the low-lying countries, as far -south as the Indus, including _Fars_, as Persia was then termed. They were -a vigorous and energetic race these Aryans, who soon became dominant in -their new quarters, substituting the name of their own country (_Iran_, or -the _sacred land_, formed from the ancient Zend _Eriene_) for that of -Fars, and founding a dynasty, or rather succession of dynasties, which -superseded the government formerly in existence. The mixture of races led -to a certain diversity of language, and thus originated the Zend and -_Pahlavi_ or Sanskrit dialects, which bear a remarkable affinity to Irish -(cf. _Palaver_). There was further a diversity of religions, the old -religion of _Hushang_, a predecessor of Zoroaster, being professed by many -long after fire-worship became the dominant faith of Persia. - - -CHAPTER XV - -(PP. 193-210) - -This ancient religion of Hushang, which was doubtless that of the Aryans, -seems to have been of that _Sabaic_ order practised by the Chaldeans, -which, as we have seen, recognised the heavenly bodies as the most -imposing representatives of a divine power, and cannot therefore be fairly -described as _idolatry_. It was idealistic, in so far as it regarded the -different energies of nature simply as manifestations of a great creative -power, whereas the idolatrous stage did not supervene until this purer -faith degenerated into materialism. With this religion that of the ancient -Irish harmonized. The dominance of sun and moon worship in the latter is -shown by the way in which the various titles of these luminaries are -interwoven with the language; most of the Irish local names, as well as -the names of traditional festivals, consisting of variants of different -epithets applied to the sun and moon, which the pagan Irish considered to -be united in matrimony, just as the Egyptians did _Osiris_ and _Isis_, -their equivalents. - - -CHAPTER XVI - -(PP. 211-226) - -A faith thus compounded of love, religion, and astrology has necessarily a -triple aspect; and, according to the particular component kept in view, or -the etymology professed, may be termed _Sabaism_, _Buddhism_, or -_Phallism_. It constitutes the most primitive form of worship, and is the -source from whence all the faiths of the world have been derived. Hence -the corresponding features in distinct mythologies. Brahminism, for -example, is an offshoot from Buddhism, owing to the apostasy of Paramon, -the son of Budh-dearg; and the essential notions of Christianity, the -doctrines of a virginal conception, a vicarious sacrifice, and a -resurrection, have their counterparts in both these faiths. The phallic -element, ignored by Christianity, maintained its place in Oriental and -Irish paganism. The adjuncts of _Lingam_ worship occur in the worship of -_Budh_. The pagodas of India have their counterparts in the round towers. -The symbolism expressed in the sculptures of Elephanta, Ellora, and -Salsette is reflected in the carvings at Clonmacnoise, Kilcullen, and -Knockmoy. The Cross is universal, not distinctive; and the purposely -mutilated cryptograms of the Crescent and the Serpent belong to a paganism -long antecedent to the Christianity which partially effaced them. - - -CHAPTER XVII - -(PP. 227-239) - -Researches into the distinctive character of Irish paganism show that its -main element was the phallic type of _Sabaism_, the Irish language -affording remarkable evidence of this fact. Many of its words and all its -letters embody a twofold meaning, denoting in the first place some -_passion, quality, or virtue_, and in the next its _sensible index_. For -example, _Budh_ or _Fiodh_ means primarily a _lingam_, or _phallus_, and -secondarily a _tree_; and this peculiarity of an esoteric meaning known -only to the learned, and an esoteric one understood by the masses, it -shares with Hebrew, which belongs to the same linguistic family. Of this -we have an example in the scriptural allegory of "Eve and the _tree_ of -knowledge," wherein the esoteric import of "tree" is _phallus_. We thus -arrive, as it were, at the fount of Buddhism. Eve may be regarded as the -first Buddhist, and her son Cain, who offered the fruits of the earth to -"the God of nature and of increase" (Budh), as the first priest of that -order. This allegory is found repeated in different forms among the -various populations of the world--in Egypt, India, Persia, and elsewhere. -It gave rise to many typical commemorations in various countries, such as -the "Maypole festivals" of Eastern lands, whence the custom emanated to -Ireland (with the _Tuath-de-danaan_ settlers), where it is still -practised. - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -(PP. 240-251) - -The scriptural allegory of the "Fall of Man," involving, as it does, the -history of Cain, has an intimate bearing upon the ancestry of the -_Tuath-de-danaans_. Cain had a son, Enoch, whose name connotes as usual a -twofold meaning, signifying first, _Initiation in sacred rites_; secondly, -_an assembly of congregated multitudes_. The son of Enoch was named -_Irad_, i.e. _consecrated to God_ (_Budh_); hence the region where he -dwelt was called _Iran_, meaning _the land of those so consecrated_; from -which it is argued that in that precise region the Budhists first -established the insignia of their empire. Now, the _Dabistan_ records -declare that although _Kaimours_ was generally regarded as the first king -of Persia (Iran), he had many predecessors; and that long before the time -of Zoroaster the Persians venerated a prophet called _Mahabad_ or -_Maghabad_ (the Great, or Good, _Abad_), whom they considered as "the -Father of men," and who had thirteen successors of his own family, all -styled _Abad_. This _Abad_, or _Maghabadean_, dynasty eventually became so -corrupt that it was banished to _the woods and mountains_, when _Kaimours_ -was called to the throne. For various reasons the author is persuaded that -the Maghabadeans were the direct descendants of Cain. Their name had the -usual twofold signification: first, The unity of the Godhead; secondly, a -sacerdotal institution; and _Tuath-de-danaan_ is simply a translation or -ampliative rendering of the latter--_Tuath_ being a modification of -_Budh_, and also signifying _magic_; _De_, the vernacular term for the -Deity; and _Danaan_ signifying Almoners--the whole thus meaning -_Magician-god-almoners_, or the Almoner-magicians of the Deity. - - -CHAPTER XIX - -(PP. 252-263) - -Assuming that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ originally occupied Iran, or Persia, -their migration to Ireland is thus explained. An internecine variance, -arising out of a purely religious question, sprang up among them. They -became divided into two sects--one maintaining that the _male_ influence -was dominant in the production of offspring; the other that _female_ -influence was more effective. Each adopted a distinguishing title, -emblematic of the sex whose virtues it proclaimed. The former did not find -it necessary to change the name _Tuath-de-danaan_, since the esoteric -meaning of _Tuath_ (i.e. _Budh_) was the emblem of _masculinity_; but the -others adopted the title of _Pish-de-danaans_, because _Pish_, or _Pith_ -(synonymous with _Yoni_), denoted that of _femininity_. The war which -resulted from this variance of opinion was waged with all the bitterness -which usually marks polemic differences; and the _Pish-de-danaans_, -proving completely victorious, expelled their rivals from the sacred soil -of Iran. The _Tuath-de-danaans_, or at least a portion of them (cf. p. -443), fled westward, and after many vicissitudes reached Europe, where -traces of them are found in parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain; and from -the country last named (by help of the _Phoenicians_, who were the great -sea-carriers of those days), they made their way to Ireland. It is -remarkable that a parallel account appears in Hindu records of the -severance which took place between the _Lingajas_ and the _Yonijas_ on a -precisely similar question. - - -CHAPTER XX - -(PP. 264-284) - -Although the Persian historians maintain silence, the evidence of other -authorities in support of this episode is not wanting. For instance, when -referring to Buddha, Oriental writers agree that he was born in _Maghada_; -also that he was the son of _Suad-de-dana_--_Suad_ being convertible with -_Tuath_, and both resolvable into _Budh_. Without professing to map out -the exact route by which the _Tuath-de-danaans_ made their way to Ireland, -the author maintains that the fact of their having occupied that country -for a considerable time is incontrovertible. As for their rivals, the -_Pish-de-danaans_, it has already been stated that they, in their turn, -had to leave Persia when _Kaimours_ was called to the throne; and the -presumption is that they were identical with those _Uksi_, or Shepherd -Kings, who overran Egypt, and to whom the erection of pyramids -emblematical of the female nature is ascribed. Their distinctive views -may, it is pointed out, have prevailed among them from the time when they -formed a portion of the Noachidæ; for the "Ark" was typical of the -dominant idea in their belief, and the same idea was typified under -another form in the pyramids. A variant symbol of this idea is the -_crescent_ (or _lunar boat_), of which certain Irish ornaments are -representative. It is further possible that the _Pish-de-danaan_ tradition -of the deluge may have been communicated to Moses during his stay in -Egypt, and that the narrative is more figurative than historical. - - -CHAPTER XXI - -(PP. 285-304) - -Among the sculptured symbols of the faith held by the ancient Irish, that -of the _Cross_ stands pre-eminent; but it would be a mistake to infer from -this circumstance the existence of Christianity in Ireland at the time -when these sculptures were wrought. The cryptogram of the Cross is found -everywhere, both in the Old and New World, among the relics of nations -whose paganism does not admit of doubt, and it dates from a period long -antecedent to Christianity. Buildings of cruciform structure, and -evidently devoted to religious uses, exist all over the East and West; and -both they and the _Mithratic caves_, for which no one has ever claimed any -but a pagan origin, partake of the same character. To aver that the Cross -was emblematical of a _vicarious sacrifice_ by which the redemption of -mankind was accomplished, is merely to say that it expresses a belief -common to many Sabaic faiths of the pagan world--a belief of which it was -the recognised emblem in Egypt, India, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and -America, as well as in Ireland. - - -CHAPTER XXII - -(PP. 305-324) - -The argument as to the pagan origin of Irish cross-symbolism is pursued -and developed, and the connection of the symbol in question with the Irish -_Budh-gaye_ (corresponding to the Hindu _Budha-gaya_), or representative -of generative power (_gaye-phallus_), demonstrated. The symbolism of which -it forms a type is ubiquitous, being found in archaic sculpture all over -the Eastern and Western World: nor did Plato exaggerate when he said--'The -letter X is stamped upon the universe.' - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -(PP. 325-340) - -A remarkable instance of this widely prevalent doctrine of the vicarious -sacrifice of some incarnation of the Deity accomplished by a purely -virginal conception is afforded in the Hindu _Puranas_, which recount the -incarnation of _Vishnu_ (or _Crishna_) in the _White Island_, and the -subsequent crucifixion of the fruit of this conception, under the name of -_Sulivahana_ (cf. the Irish patronymic _Sulivan_), called also -_Dhanandhara_, _i.e._ the _Sacred Almoner_ (cf. _Danaan_ and its meaning). -Curiously enough, the mystic, or esoteric, name of ancient Ireland was -_Muc Inis_, meaning _White Island_; and the details of a similar -crucifixion are, with strictly pagan accompaniments, reproduced in the -sculptures at Knockmoy, in Galway, which further closely resemble not only -a sculptured portrayal on the temple of Kalabche, in Nubia, but a -distinctly Eastern Buddhist group on the _Tuath-de-danaan_ cross at Old -Kilcullen, County Kildare. - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -(PP. 341-355) - -A striking instance of the resemblance between the Nubian and Knockmoy -sculptures consists in the attire of the principal figures. In both the -philibeg, or kilt, is worn; and this peculiarity is reproduced in idols of -the Irish pagan god, _Phearagh_, or _Farragh_, or _Budh_, which have been -from time to time exhumed. The headdresses and collars also correspond. In -Buddhist Indian mythology Deva _Thot_ is represented as crucified; in -fact, the expectation of salvation through the atonement of a crucified -Mediator characterises the whole system of pagan (Sabaic) beliefs as -thoroughly as it did Hebraism. It is expressed in one of the names of -Ireland, namely, _Criach-na-Fuineadhach_ (meaning _the asylum of the -expectants, or the retreat of those looking forward_), which was given to -that country long before the advent of Christianity. - - -CHAPTER XXV - -(PP. 356-367) - -The round towers and crosses at Clonmacnoise, Clondalkin, and elsewhere, -abound in sculptured devices of a similar character, there being in all a -manifest reference to Buddhist, or Eastern, ceremonial; whilst the -representation of a dog (an animal esteemed sacred by the -Tuath-de-danaans) on one of the crosses at Clonmacnoise seems to exclude -the possibility of its relation to Christianity. But perhaps the most -significant feature of these sculptures is the profusion of _snake_ -ornamentation, pointing to a time when that form of Sabaism known as -"serpent-worship" was in the ascendant. The frequency of this emblemism -was so obnoxious to the early Christian missionaries, on account of the -evident reverence with which it was regarded by the Irish, that St. -Patrick thought it advisable to efface it when practicable; and in this -sense he may be entitled to the credit of having banished snakes from -Ireland. - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -(PP. 368-395) - -Reverting to his proper subject of the origin and purpose of the round -towers, our author examines the evidence bearing on the date of their -erection. The Ulster Annals record the destruction of fifty-seven of these -towers by an earthquake in A.D. 448, the natural inference being that they -must have existed before the fifth century, but how long before is matter -of conjecture. Tradition connects them with a personage styled the _Goban -Saer_ (Freemason Sage); but this title being the name of a class, not of -an individual, and having no settled place in chronology, does not further -the solution of the difficulty. A better clue is found in the name of the -place whereon was fought the first decisive battle between the -Tuath-de-danaan invaders and the Celtic (Firbolg) inhabitants, which gave -the supremacy of the island to the former. From the number of -commemorative towers erected there by the conquerors, this came to be -known as _Moytura_ (in Irish, _Moye-tureadh_, _i.e._ "the field of the -towers"); and as the date of the second battle, fought centuries later, is -approximately B.C. 600 (p. 449), there is reason for assigning the -erection of round towers to a period long preceding that of Christianity. -The ascription of these towers to the Tuath-de-danaans is in a degree -warranted by the fact that the word "_Tuathan-Tower_" is a well-known -Irish expression, and that there seems to be no other word in the language -which conveys the same idea. - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -(PP. 396-411) - -The identity of Ireland with the _Insula Hyperboreorum_ is deduced from a -description of the latter, copied by Diodorus Siculus from the writings of -Hecatæus and from a compendium by Marcianus Herocleotes of the works of -Artemidorus. Both Hecatæus and Artemidorus lived before the Christian era, -and an allusion in the latter author to certain "round temples," of which -the officiating priests were called _Boreades_, that existed in -"_Juvernia_, a British isle, bounded on the north by the ocean called the -_Hyperborean_, but on the east by the ocean called the _Hibernian_," -coupled with the fact that (with the exception of those at Brechin and -Abernethy) no remains of round temples are found in any of the British -Isles save Ireland,[28] goes far to prove the identity in question, also -the pre-Christian antiquity of the round towers, together with the -existence of an exceptional, and therefore by natural inference an -_imported_, civilisation in that island. The latter inference is -strengthened by continually-recurring traces of the great proficiency of -its inhabitants in the fine, or useful, arts at an era when the adjacent -islands were still plunged in barbarism. - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -(PP. 412-431) - -These proofs of an adventitious civilisation bearing the marks, not of -gradual growth, but of full development, point to the colonisation of the -island by a highly-cultured race, such as were the ancient people of -_Iran_ (Persia). The round towers, for instance, could not well have been -the work of the Phoenicians, who were a maritime and mercantile race, by -no means prone to arts and letters, and in none of whose admitted -settlements is any trace of similar buildings to be found. Neither the -Firbolgs (or Celtic inhabitants of Ireland), nor the Fomorians, nor the -Scythians, Scoto-Milesians, nor Danish invaders, were at all given to the -refinements of civilisation, and simply regarded the construction of -permanent buildings as unworthy of a race of warriors. Everything, in -fact, goes to show that the Tuath-de-danaan settlers alone could have -erected these towers, introduced the Boreadan ceremonial, and given to the -country of their adoption a name taken from that of their native land. -With the Scythian conquest, it became, of course, inevitable that this -name (_Irin_ or _Eirin_) should be changed into _Scuitte_ or _Scotia_ (the -land of the _Scythians_), and that there should have been a partial exodus -of the vanquished Tuath-de-danaans--some of whom, settling in what is now -Scotland, gave it the name of _Iran_ or _Eran_ (which survives in _Erne_ -or _Erse_), which was afterwards changed into _Scoitte_ or _Scotia_, out -of compliment to the Scythian rulers of the adjacent island, with whom its -Pictish inhabitants had formed alliance. - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -(PP. 432-444) - -As for the unfounded theory,--that Ireland was colonised by Phoenicians -arriving from Spain, whose last settlement in the island was established -by Heber and Heremon, sons of Milesius, and descendants of _Feni an fear -soid_, "the Phoenician wise man,"--it is pointed out that Heber and -Heremon (brothers of Amergin, the bard) were in reality the sons of -_Gallamh_, and invaded Ireland at the head of a Scythian, not Phoenician, -colony (p. 393). Upon historical evidence, the date of this invasion is -fixed at B.C. 1002; while it is agreed on all hands that the -_Tuath-de-danaans_ had landed about two hundred years before, or B.C. -1202, which latter date exactly corresponds with that given by most -Oriental authorities for the exodus of the Buddhists from India. About -this time, indeed, Ireland seems to have borne the character of an -Oriental asylum--a circumstance to which may be attributed the Eastern -costumes and aspect of the figures depicted in its ancient sculptures, the -Eastern character of traditional religious and ceremonial usages, and the -national reverence for the shamrock, corresponding with that shown to the -trefoil (or _trisula_) in Persia (_Iran_). - - -CHAPTER XXX - -(PP. 445-474) - -The duration of Tuath-de-danaan supremacy may have been some six -centuries, dating from the first battle of Moytura, in B.C. 1202 (p. 435), -to the second battle, in or about B.C. 600, between the Firbolgs, or Celts -(who had been gradually reasserting themselves), and a reinforcement of -Tuath-de-danaans, coming this time, not from Persia, but from India, -whence they had been expelled by the Brahmins (p. 443). Although this -second invasion proved successful, the power of the Tuath-de-danaans was -now on the wane, and the height of civilisation to which they had raised -the island rapidly declined before the inroads of the Scythians. Their -ritual became merged in that of the Druids, and their taste for letters -vitiated. Possibly, with a view to arrest this decadence, they began to -cultivate intercourse with Greece, the result being a strong reciprocal -influence, exercised by the languages of the two countries on each other, -and more especially by Irish upon Greek. A corresponding influence -resulted from the migration of discontented Tuath-de-danaans into -Scotland. Nor was it confined to language; for certain peculiarities of -ancient Irish architecture are found reproduced in Mycenian and Caledonian -structures, as, for example, in the _Treasury of Atreus_ (Mycenæ) and the -_Dune of Dornadilla_ (Scotland); and that religion was not wholly -unaffected is proved by the discovery of Irish relics showing that the -oracular superstitions of Dodona had their counterpart in Ireland. - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -(PP. 475-497) - -The relics of Tuath-de-danaan occupation, which exist in the shape of -gigantic crosses, and of sculptured ornamentation in which cross-symbolism -is prominent, point to a mystery far more esoteric than that involved in -the Christian emblem. The cross had become representative of the number -_ten_, because in Irish the same word, _lambh_, denoted equally a _cross_ -and the human _hand_, or the number of fingers on both hands; whilst the -"triangle of _ten_" (p. 268) embraced "all that was solemn in religion and -in thought," being, in fact, "the index of male and female united," and -the prototype of the ark and pyramid. This _Sabaic_, and only -intelligible, explanation of these highly figurative sculptures disposes -of the theory that they are the product of a Christianity with which they -have nothing in common but a shape which is not peculiar to any one -religion in any part of the world. - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -(PP. 498-524) - -Serpent-worship is perhaps the most significant form of _Sabaism_, -involving, as it does, the expression of its source. For in the sacred -language of _Iran_, whereof Irish is the leading type, the word _Sabh_ -(the root of _Sabaism_) has three distinct, yet connected, meanings--(1) -_Voluptuousness_, or the _Yoni_; (2) a _Snake_, or sinuosity; (3) _Death_. -Through all these runs the central idea of sexual relation, which, as the -most elementary part of social life, has been symbolised all over the -world in connection with religion. The scriptural reproach, "generation of -vipers," is probably equivalent to _offspring of concupiscence_, as will -appear from the indignant repudiation of those to whom it was -addressed--"We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even -God." The part which the serpent plays in Brahminism is well known. In -Mexico a widespread faith called Nagualism had the _Culebra_, or snake, -for one of its principal deities; whilst the _Gadelglas_ of the ancient -Irish (Gadelians) meant simply the _green snake-god_, from which latter, -and not from the verdure of its soil, Ireland may have obtained the -designation of the _Emerald_ Isle. In fact, Sabaism, Ophiolatry, and -Gadelianism were one and the same; and, while purporting to be the worship -of the serpent, or of the stars (_vide_ p. 505), were in reality the -worship of _Sabh_ or _Yoni_, the representative of female nature. It was, -however, masculinity (_Budh_) that was typified in the phallic form of -those round towers, which the author now proceeds to describe with more -minuteness of detail than heretofore. Incidentally, he disposes of the -argument in favour of the Christian origin of these towers, which is based -upon the assumption that remains of Christian churches are invariably -found in their vicinity, by adducing an instance to the contrary (at -Giant's Ring, County Down).[29] - -W. H. C. - - - - -DEDICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION - - - TO - THE LEARNED OF EUROPE - TO THE HEADS OF ITS SEVERAL UNIVERSITIES - TO THE TEACHERS OF RELIGION AND THE LOVERS OF HISTORY - MORE ESPECIALLY - TO THE ALIBENISTIC ORDER OF FREEMASONS - TO THE FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY - TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY - TO THE FELLOWS OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES - TO THE EDITORS OF THE ARCHÆOLOGIA SCOTICA - TO THE COMMITTEES OF THE SOCIETIES FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE - GOSPEL AND THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE - AND - TO THE COURT OF THE HONOURABLE THE EAST INDIA COMPANY - THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED - AS A NOVEL EXPOSITION OF LITERARY INQUIRIES IN WHICH - THEY ARE SEVERALLY INTERESTED - AND AS AN INTIMATION OF RESPECT FROM - THE AUTHOR - - - - -PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION - - -In _Fraser's Magazine_ for the month just expired, there has appeared an -article headed the "Arcana of Freemasonry," which will save me the trouble -of an introductory dissertation. The style is quaint, but that will be -overlooked; its author is evidently a true mason and a good man; and, -initiated as he is in all the fundamentals of his fraternity, he will be -the more ready to recognise the truth of my disclosures, as well as to -admit the originality of the proofs which I adduce. To him, therefore, -whoever he is, do I with confidence refer. - -"In the spirit of the mighty dead," says he, "the great ones of the earth, -that seem ever and anon to look down through the clouds of this murky -atmosphere and to beckon us heavenward, nothing strikes more keenly, in -our conviction, than that passion for divine truth which burned -unquenchably within them. With what hallowed devotion they worshipped it, -with what intense aspirations they loved it, we must remember but too -painfully, when we converse with men as they are, and read the writings -they applaud. - -"Yes--it must be so! The first and noblest object to which the ambition of -man can aspire is the discovery and propagation of truth, on which the -felicity of all created thinkers absolutely depends; and, fortunately, the -glory of its discovery is nothing superior to the joy of its -communication. And therefore have the finest and freest souls, that have -caught the brightest glimpses of truth's eternal radiation, ever most -earnestly sought to lead their brethren and kindred to the same difficult -and solitary height from which they themselves first witnessed the -dawnings of the prophetic dayspring. - -"How many illustrious names, however venerable, have from time's eldest -records sought out with indefatigable assiduity the relics of divinest -Wisdom! How often beneath her charmed inspirations they wandered forth, -exulting over the boundless fields of metaphysical and physical -science--endeavouring by the things that are manifest to retrace the -hidden Divinity--to look through nature up to nature's God! And if happily -they discover some strange and stirring indications of the Almighty's -elaborating hand, or some bright testimony of His vivifying though -impalpable Spirit, have they not hastened with glowing hearts, and souls -overcharged with adoration, to whisper the mystery in secret, or to -proclaim the marvel to the world? - -"The history of Freemasonry being in fact the history of the gradual -progression of devotion and philosophy in the youth, maturity, and -declension of our planet's millenary circle, is intensely interesting to -the philosophic mind, as the ages of the one have a thousand mystic -correspondences with the ages of the other. After taking a luminous survey -of the advances of human intelligence as revealed in Scripture, it traces -the perpetual tradition of divine wisdom among the _hierophantic_ -academies of classic memorial. None understood so well the essential truth -of their _theo-astrological mythologies_ and their _symbolical mysteries_. -They track every subtle declension of lofty and bright-souled truth into -the shadowy circumference of hostile error; and thus, establishing their -minds on the deepest foundations of history, they continually build up -superstructures of all that is precious in literature or elegant in art. - -"In thus eulogising Freemasons, we of course allude to Freemasons -initiated into the deep spirit of divine philosophy, and not mere nominal -professors. True masons,--those who are made _free_ by their free devotion -to God's spiritual service, and _accepted_ by emulating the -self-immolation of their celestial prototype of heaven and earth for just -and disciplined worthies,--we would discourse of these, and these alone. -It would be as unfair to judge of Freemasonry in its hidden sanctuary -within the veil, by its irregular members, as to judge of its religious -illustration without the veil by merely nominal Christians. - -"But for true, or free, or speculative masons. These are the men who, -attached to their celestial Saviour with filial enthusiasm incommunicable, -and to each other by fraternal sympathies that melt them into beautiful -unanimity of immortal emulation, these are the men who feel a more -especial and endearing interest in the whole history of mankind. To them, -whatever is "wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best," in all the records -of humanity, hath a kind of kindred familiarity of association unknown to -others; for in all true men they recognise their ancestry or their -brotherhood, and they watch the broad line of their genealogical descent -with the reverent fondness of a lineal and loyal progeny. In their history -they love to contemplate the magnificent economy of Providence for the -gradual perfectionising of all lapsed intelligences. In this they view -every variation of Churches and States with tranquil and unbroken -satisfaction, and from it they look forward to the future with that fine, -free, and fearless confidence which Christian philosophy alone inspires. - -"In the present times, these relations to society have assumed a somewhat -deeper and still more thrilling intensity; they know well enough that old -age hath come upon the earth, and that the latter day is at hand; and that -the prophecies relating to her dissolution and bright regeneration are, -ere long, to be accomplished in their fulness. - -"They confess, with rejoicing, the vast spread of intellectual light and -freedom that now gilds the concluding pages of our planet's history. They -believe that the true and venerable principles of Church and State will be -confirmed and illustrated in their breadth and length, and height and -depth, by the last and prophetic experience of pious and patriot sages, -ere the kindling judgment breaks out upon the astonished world. - -"Such is the position of Freemasons in society at present. And when we -consider the extent of this chosen band of good and wise men, bound -together by the fellowship of indissoluble benevolence, and scattered over -every kingdom and republic, we cannot but observe their influences with -peculiar scrutiny of attention; for, by keeping fast their own counsel, -and preserving mutual good faith, they ever possess a strong, though -secret domination of philanthropy over all the affairs of Church and -State. In her peaceful and inviolable retirement, Masonry is, as it were, -the _primum mobile_ and mainspring of society,--unseen herself, but urging -the whole visible mechanism into harmonious and musical action. - -"In the present time, Freemasons cannot but feel that a terrible -responsibility is committed to their charge. The ancient interests and -ambitions of Churches and States are coming into perpetual and jarring -collision with the new. The ebb-tides of bigotry and despotism are -clashing with the advancing currents of enthusiasm and dissolute passion. -The spray of the whirling eddies already whitens the deep, and the roar of -the conflicting breakers is heard far away upon the wind. God saith, 'I -will overturn, overturn, overturn, until He shall come whose right the -kingdom is'; and the sea and the waves are roaring upon every shore, and -men's hearts fail them for fear, and for looking on those things which are -coming on the earth. To true masons is entrusted the hazardous charge of -piloting the vessel athwart the boiling whirlpools. They will save, if -they can, earth's latest age from indecent strife and confusion, and -struggle hard against the unfilial and disloyal apostates, that would -bring down her grey hairs with sorrow to the grave."[30] - -Here I would willingly close my Introduction; but as it may seem strange -that a work which bears upon its title-page the character of "Prize Essay" -should not have been published by the Society that have awarded it the -prize, I am obliged to open up a statement of facts which I had rather -have concealed; yet, in doing so, I shall take care, now that all vexation -has passed over, that no symptoms of asperity shall escape my pen; all the -colouring of language I shall equally avoid; nay, even inferences, however -obvious, I shall not press into observation, but confine myself strictly -to a matter-of-fact detail as to the conduct of the party in the case in -question. - -In December 1830, the Royal Irish Academy, after many fruitless efforts to -obtain information on the subject of the Round Towers, proposed a premium -of a gold medal and fifty pounds to the author of an approved Essay, in -which all particulars respecting them were expected to be explained. This -intimation I never saw. The stipulated time for the composition of -treatises--namely, a full twelvemonth--expired, and the several candidates -sent in their works. After a perusal of two or three months, the Council -agreed upon giving the premium to one of them; but his work being -deficient in some of the conditions required,[31] it was furthermore -resolved that he should be allowed some additional interval for the -supplying of these defects, and this determination they put into practice -by the following advertisement:-- - - "ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE, DUBLIN, - - "_21st February 1832_. - - "It having appeared to the Royal Irish Academy that none of the Essays - given in on the subject of the 'Round Towers,' as advertised in - December 1830, have satisfied the conditions of the question, they - have come to the following resolutions:-- - - "1st. That the question be advertised again as follows:-- - - "'The Royal Irish Academy hereby give notice that they will give a - Premium of Fifty Pounds and the Gold Medal to the author of an - approved Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland, in which it is expected - that the _characteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all - those ancient buildings now existing shall be noticed_, and the - _uncertainty_ in which their origin and uses are involved be - satisfactorily removed.' - - "2nd. That the time be extended to the 1st of June next, for receiving - other Essays on said subject, and for allowing the authors of the - Essays already given in to enlarge and improve them; for which purpose - they will be returned, on application at the Academy House. - - "All Essays, as usual, to be sent post free to the Rev. J. H. Singer, - D.D., Secretary, at the Academy House, 114 Grafton Street, Dublin; - each Essay being inscribed with some motto, and accompanied with a - sealed billet, superscribed with same motto, in which shall be written - the author's name and address." - -A few days before this appeared, I heard, for the first time, of the -subject having been for competition. Wishing to ascertain whether it was -decided or not, I availed myself of a pretext for calling upon Dr. -M'Donnell, one of the Secretaries to the Academy, when the following -conversation took place between us:-- - -"I wish to know, sir," said I, "whether the Council would patronise a -translation of _Ibernia Phoenicia_, which I have just embarked in, with -Dr. Villanueva's consent?" - -"The Council have already subscribed to the _original_, and I believe they -feel no difficulty in understanding it in that form," was the reply. - -"I do not at all question their competency," I rejoined; "but to the -public, Doctor, it is a sealed volume; and I cannot think it foreign from -the spirit of your institution to countenance such an idea. Besides, it is -not a mere echo of the original that I intend to give. I purpose to -enlarge it by many additions of my own, accompanying it all through with -notes and illustrations." - -"To what points in particular will those additions refer?" - -"To the development of the mystery which overhangs the Round Towers." - -"Oh! On that head the Academy have already made up their minds. What is -_your_ theory about them?" - -"Surely, Doctor, if the Academy have already made up their minds upon the -subject, my information can be to you of no value! Good-morning." - -If my disappointment at this interview was great, my delight, a few -mornings after, was incomparably greater, on beholding the advertisement -above introduced; and though the _shortness_ of the time allowed, with the -_positiveness_ of the assertion so recently and reluctantly extorted, made -me suspect at once that there was some _management_ in the business, yet, -having thoroughly assured myself, from the wording of that manifesto, that -I was entitled to enter the lists, I plunged into the discussion without -further delay, and day and night, in sorrow and in difficulties, I -laboured, until I finished my Essay against the appointed day, when I sent -it in accordingly to await its chance. - -Four days, however, had only passed over, when the Council, having -perceived that they had been taken at their word, by the appearance of a -new candidate, allowed their friend to take back his Essay for one month -more, to render it more perfect! And in the exercise of their discretion, -they had the modesty to advertise, by a document precisely similar to that -already inserted, that their object in so doing was to "obtain _new_ -Essays on said subject." - -This last advertisement was not published for some days after their friend -had removed his work from the Council Board; so that there were no more -than about _three weeks_ remaining, for the inditing of _new works_ upon a -subject for which _lives_ have been found inadequate, and for which their -friend had already been allowed a period nearly approaching to two years! - -Soon as informed of this manoeuvre, I called upon Dr. Singer, as the -Secretary, and entreated of him, with much ardour, that he would put a -stop to those proceedings; stated that I was myself the author of one of -the Essays, which I would not further particularise; and that, as I had -reason to apprehend something wrong was in contemplation, I would feel -obliged if he exerted himself to have the Essays detained, and determined -upon by their merits as they then stood. He asked me to explain the ground -of my apprehensions. I complied; whereupon he assured me that I was -mistaken in that quarter, as "the individual," says he, "at whose request -we have extended the time is one for whom we all have a regard, and is by -no means the person on whom your suspicions light!" - -It was but little consolation to me that the person in whose favour all -this partiality was exerted was "not the person on whom my suspicions -lighted"! I remonstrated, but in vain. Every syllable that transpired -afterwards tended only to show that the decision was already -pronounced--that the premium was already awarded. I then hinted at the -injustice of seducing me into the competition, at the very risk of my -life, upon so short a notice, and not vouchsafing now so much as to -examine my production. This had some effect, and I left the Doctor with an -assurance that I "_should, at all events, get a hearing_." - -The day for the reception of the _amended Essays_ again came, and mine -again made its appearance. In the interim was started a periodical, under -the direction of some members of the Council, the most prominent of whom -was the _favoured_ individual himself. In the second number of this -periodical, on the Saturday after the last sending in of the Essays, there -appeared an article, written by the Rev. Cæsar Otway, a member of the -Council, under the assumed name of Terence O'Toole, in which half -playfully and half mysteriously, _he lets the cat out of the bag_, and -actually asserts, as the event verified, that the premium was already -determined _to a member of their own body_! - -Here are his words:-- - -"The Round Tower, to the right, is a prodigious puzzler to antiquarians. -Quires of paper, as tall as a tower, have been covered with as much ink as -might form a Liffey, in accounting for their origin and use. But all these -clever and recondite conjectures are shortly, as I understand, to be -completely overthrown, and the real nature of these Round Towers clearly -explained, for the first time, in a Prize Essay presented to the Royal -Irish Academy by an _accomplished antiquarian_ of our city."[32] - -Notwithstanding the disguise here assumed of "as I understand," and so -forth, the writer of this announcement had, at this moment, not only -_perused_ his colleague's Essay, but actually registered his vote in its -favour! And as to his pretending that the development was a discovery, by -saying "for the first time," he betrays therein the extreme either of -_untruth_ or of _ignorance_, as the theory alluded to is but the _echo_, -in all particulars, of Montmorency's book, every sentence in which I prove -erroneous in the early chapters of the present volume! I could no longer, -however, be ignorant as to the _identity_ of the person in whose favour -Dr. M'Donnell had told me the Council had "made up their minds";--casually -corroborated afterwards by Dr. Singer!--I saw at once that the -"_accomplished_ antiquarian of our city" was Mr. Petrie, the antiquarian -_artist_ of the Royal Irish Academy--himself a member of their Council! - -However, Dr. Singer had promised that I "should get, at all events, a -hearing." And this was performed with a vengeance. _Three_ months was the -time devoted to the examination of all the former Essays. It remained, -therefore, only publicly to announce what was privately resolved upon. -But as my Essay, the _only new one_, was at all taken in, it was -indispensable but that they must read it, and _six_ long months did they -appropriate thereto. At the end of this period they saw that the position -assumed was right, and that I was entitled to the premium. But they had -already pledged themselves to give it to their friend, whose theory was -the direct opposite of mine; and, consequently, every sentence in it, or -in mine, must be wrong--a discrepancy, however, which they thought to -reconcile by leaving the original prize undisturbed, and voting me a -separate one. - -Had they had the candour to avow that this was their dilemma, I should -never have murmured, but quietly submitted to the issue; instead of which, -however, they worded their resolution in such a form as led the public to -think that there were _two_ premiums all along intended, and that the -first of these was given to the _best_ composition, and the second to that -which approached it in quality. - -It was as follows:-- - - "ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE. - - "On Monday, December 17, a meeting of the Council of the Royal Irish - Academy was held, for the purpose of deciding on the merits of essays - received, pursuant to advertisement, on _The Origin and Use of the - Round Towers of Ireland_, when the following premiums were adjudged, - viz.:-- - - "Fifty pounds and the gold medal to George Petrie. - - "Twenty pounds to Henry O'Brien, Esq." - -Now, be it observed that it was not only of the gold medal and fifty -pounds that I was deprived by this manoeuvre, but of the one hundred -additional pounds which Lord Cloncurry had offered upon the same subject. -Of this the Academy were also the dispensers, on the understanding that -whoever should get their gold medal and fifty pounds--the only premium -which they had offered--should also get his lordship's hundred; so that -by this stratagem they assigned to their friend not only their own, but -his lordship's patronage! - -I was in London at the time, and signified my dissatisfaction by letter. -Several were interchanged, in one of which I gave them to understand that -I would submit to the injustice if they would but publish my work in their -_Transactions simultaneously_ with Mr. Petrie's. This they declined, -assuring me that they would publish it, but _not simultaneously_, and not -_until_ after. No comment is necessary for this. - -Meanwhile, their periodical, which, from the first moment of its starting, -whenever reference was made to the Round Towers, unqualifiedly asserted -that they were Christian, and only _coeval_ with the _monasteries_,[33] -thought proper now to change its tone; but as an open acknowledgment of -_error_ would be too self-abasing for _Academicians_, they only put forth -a _feeler_, as if implying _doubt_ on the matter, which would have the -twofold effect of screening the "Council's" verdict--as the result of -doubt or ambiguity--and of preparing the public mind for the _altered_ and -_novel_ conclusion to which _all_, I trust, will ere long, as well as -_themselves_, have arrived. - -My eye, however, was on their plans, though separated by "a roaring sea." -I knew that where there were so many windings to mature the plot, there -must be as many to prevent its detection; and, accordingly, the very first -move they made in these, their _new tactics_, I _checkmated_ at once by -the following letter:-- - - (No. 1.) - - "LONDON, _March 16, 1833_. - - "DEAR DR. SINGER,--The _Dublin Penny Journal_ of February 23rd, on the - article, 'Devenish Island,' contains this sentence, viz.: 'Whether the - towers are the accompaniment to the churches, or the churches to the - towers, is a question not yet decided.' - - "Now _this_--coupled with the circumstance of the Committee having - awarded _two_ premiums to _two_, as I understand, _conflicting - ascriptions_, and that when only _one_ was _originally - proposed_--induces me, with all deference, to offer this memorial, - through you, to the Academy. - - "As the development of _truth_ in the elucidation of _history_ is the - object of the _antiquarian_, and, as the 'labourer is worthy of his - hire,' I take the liberty respectfully to ask whether, if I make _my - ascription_ of the Round Towers a _mathematical_ demonstration, with - _every other incident_ relating to their founders, comprehending _all_ - the antiquities of Ireland, as connected therewith--and this by _all_ - the _varieties_ and _modes_ of proof--whether, I say, in _that_ event, - will the Academy award me _the gold medal_ and premium? or, if that - cannot be _recalled_, an equivalent gold medal and premium. - - "My intercalary work, _substantiating_ all the above, is now finished, - and can be forwarded to the Committee by return of the same post which - will favour me with your answer.--I have the honour to be, dear sir, - your obedient, etc. - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "To the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer, - "_Secretary to the Academy_." - -By the above proposal I must not be understood as _admitting_ that my -_original_ essay "was not _sufficiently_ conclusive"; but as I had more -arguments still in reserve, I wanted to elicit from the Academy the -admission that it was _truth_ they sought after. After waiting, however, -more than three weeks, and getting no reply, I forwarded some other -proofs, accompanied by a letter, of which the following was the -conclusion, viz.:-- - - (No. 2.) - - "These are but _items_ in the great body of discoveries which this - intercalary work will exhibit. In truth, I may without vanity assert - that the whole _ancient history of Ireland_, etc., is therein - rectified and elucidated--which it never was before. Am I, therefore, - presumptuous in appealing to the Royal Irish Academy--the heads of - Irish literature and the avowed patrons of its development--for the - reward of my labours? - - "I shall with confidence rely upon their _justice_.--I have the honour - to be, with sincere regard, etc. - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "To the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer, - "_Secretary to the Academy_." - - - (No. 3.) - - "ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE, - "_April 16, 1833_. - - "SIR,--Your _improved_ essay and letter were yesterday laid before - Council, and as Dr Singer is at present confined with the gout, it - devolves on me to communicate to you the following extract from the - minutes:-- - - "'Resolved, that the Secretary be directed to reply to Mr. O'Brien, - and to state that any alteration or revocation of their award cannot - be made, _whatever may be the merits_ of any additional matter - supplied to them after the day appointed by advertisement; but if Mr. - O'Brien be willing that the new matter be printed along with the - original Essay, the Council will have the same perused, in order to - ascertain the expediency of so enlarging their publication.'--By - order. - - "RICH. ROW, _Clerk to the Academy_. - - "To H. O'Brien, Esq." - - - (No. 4.) - - "LONDON, _April 18, 1833_. - - "SIR,--Had I a _notion_ that the Academy's reply would be such as your - letter has this day imparted, I would never have sat down to indite - those additions, much less have forwarded them for _their perusal_. - For why did I write to the Secretary _three weeks_ ago, but to - ascertain _whether_ or _not_, in the event of _my_ doing _so_ and - _so_, would the _Academy_ act _so_ and _so_, and thus repair that - injury which they had before inflicted? What could be more easy than - to give me a categorical answer, one way or the other? Instead of - which, however, they left me to my own conclusions, which, as usual in - such circumstances, leading me to construe silence into acquiescence, - I transmitted my documents on the tacit faith that though the Academy - would not pledge themselves by a written promise, they would, - notwithstanding, if my researches proved adequate, reward my industry - by a suitable remuneration. - - "Now, however, when my papers have been received, and my developments - communicated, I am told that, _be their merits what they may_, the - _award_ is _irrevocable_; and I have no alternative, in the writhings - of my mortification, but the consolation of being _injured_ and - _duped_ at the same time. - - "You will say, perhaps, that my new evidences have not yet been read, - and that therefore my property is secure and sacred. But has not the - _accompanying letter_ been read? And what was _that_ but a _programme_ - of their contents? - - "_I_ had _thought_ that the Royal _Irish_ Academy were not only a - _learned_, but a _just_ and a _patriotic_ Society. _I_ had _thought_ - that having marshalled themselves into an institution, with the - _avowed_ object of _resuscitating from death_ the almost _despaired-of - evidences_ of our _national history_, they would not alone _foster_ - every _advance_ toward that desirable consummation, but shower - _honours_, and _acclamations_, and _triumphs_ upon him who has not - only _infused a vital soul_ into those _moribund remains_, but made - the history of Ireland, at this moment, the _clearest_, the most - _irrefragable_, and withal the most _interestingly comprehensive - chain_ of _demonstrational proofs_ in the _whole circle of universal - literature_.[34] - - "But it is not alone the being deprived of my reward that I complain - of, and the transferring of that reward to _another, every sentiment - of whose production must inevitably be wrong_, but it is the - _suppression_ of my labours, and the keeping them back from the public - eye, in deference to my _opponent's_ work, lest that the _discernment_ - of the public should bestow upon me those _honours_ which the - _discretion_ of the Academy has thought proper to _alienate_, that - affects me as most severe. - - "Indeed, it has been stated from more quarters than one, that the - withholding of the medal from me, in the first instance, and the - substituting thereinstead a _nominal_ premium of twenty pounds, - originated from a personal pique against me individually. Such a - report I would fain disbelieve, and yet it is hard not to give it some - credence, seeing that the _irresistible cogency_ of my _truths_ and - the _indubitable value_ of my literary discoveries are not only not - rewarded, but kept back from publication, _until someone else_ more - fortunate, or rather _more favoured_, shall _run away with_ the credit - of my cherished disclosures.[35] I wish--I desire--I most intensely - covet--that the Academy would convince me that _this is not an act of - the most aggravated injustice_. - - "You will please lay this before the Council, and tell them from me, - respectfully, that I do not want them either to 'alter' or 'revoke' - their award, but _simply_ to vote me '_an equivalent gold medal and - premium_' for my _combined essay_, or, if they prefer, the _new - portion_ of it. Should this be refused, _I will put my cause_, etc. - etc.--I have the honour to be, etc. etc. - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "To the Rev. Richard Row, - "_Clerk to the Academy_." - - -They bestowed some days in consultation upon the above; meanwhile, the -transmission of the _Dublin Penny Journal_ to London was countermanded, -and not a copy of it was allowed, for some months afterwards, to come -within hundreds of miles of the place of my residence. In the interim the -ingenious author of the _Celtic Druids_, and who had been _partly_ in -possession of my development of the "Towers" for some time previously, -favoured me with a visit, during which we conversed principally on -historical questions. The next day I addressed him a _note_, a copy of -which, with its _answer_, I take leave to subjoin, for the sake of the -_terminating_ clause of the latter, being the _self-convicting -acknowledgment_ of the "Academy's" _disingenuousness_. - - (No. 5.) - - "_May 2, 1833._ - - "DEAR SIR,--I hope you will not feel displeased at the frankness of - this question which I am about to propose to you, viz. have you any - objection to show me in manuscript, before you send to print, the - terms in which you speak of me, in reference to those points of - information which I entrusted to your confidence--such as the ancient - names of Ireland and their derivation, the towers and founders, dates, - etc.? - - "Should you think proper to consent to this feeling of anxiety on my - part, I shall be most willing to share with you those other 'points' - which I exclusively retain. - - "To the full extent you shall have them. The only condition I require - is, the credit of originality, which I have laboriously earned. Please - to drop me a line in reply to this, and allow me to subscribe myself, - with great respect,--Dear sir, your obedient, - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "Godfrey Higgins, Esq." - - - (No. 6.) - - "_May 3, 1833._ - - "MY DEAR O'BRIEN,--You may be perfectly assured I shall print nothing - which I have learned from you without acknowledging it. But I have - really forgotten what you told me, because I considered that I should - see it in print _in a few days_. Anything I shall write on the subject - will not be printed for years after your books have been before the - public. You did not tell me the name of Buddha, but I told it you, - that it was Saca, or Saca-sa,[36] which I have already printed a - hundred times, and can show you in my great quarto, when you take your - tea with me, as I hope you will to-morrow. _Sir W. Betham_ told me of - the fire-towers being Phalluses last night at the Antiquarian - Society.--Yours truly, - - "G. HIGGINS." - -Who, now, can pretend to think that the _neutralising award_ of the -"Council" was the effect of scepticism or legitimate doubt? Here Sir -William Betham, the Ulster King-at-Arms! the Goliath of _antiquaries_!--as -he is, undoubtedly, of _pedigrees_,--being himself a _member_ of the -"deciding tribunal,"--proclaims, in the midst of a venerable literary -assembly, that _my solution_ of the Round Tower enigma is accurate; and -yet in the _teeth_ of this _confession_, and of the _conviction_ which -_extorted_ it, he joins in voting away _my medal_ to a _compilation of -errors_, and in substituting thereinstead twenty pounds! - - (No. 7.) - - "LONDON, _May 2, 1833_. - - "DEAR DR. SINGER,--I exceedingly grieve to hear of your ill-health. - Its announcement, I assure you, made me look within myself, and for a - moment lose sight of my own hardships. I hope, however, that you are - now so far recovered as to send me a favourable answer to this my - _last_ appeal. - - "Taking it for certain that the Academy's having not replied to the - tenor of my late intimation arose from the circumstance of there - having been no 'Council day' since; and, as I anticipate, that on - Monday next my _question_ will be _finally_ disposed of, I am anxious, - for the good of _all parties_, and for the _triumph_ of _truth_, to - show you in _one view_ how I have amputated the last _supports_ of - error, and covered its advocates with ignominy and shame. - - * * * * * - - "Thus _every leaf_ unfolds _evidences_ to the _realisation_ of _my - victory_. I took my stand at the outset on the pedestal of _truth_; - and I challenge scrutiny to insinuate that, in the _multiplied - developments_ which I have since revealed, I have deviated from my - _grand_ position one single iota. - - "Let it not be supposed, in the observation with which I am now about - to conclude, that I mean anything disrespectful to the Council of the - Academy. Many years have not passed since I knew several of them in a - different relation; and however little effect college associations may - produce on _other_ minds, _I_ find not their influence so fleeting or - transient. It is with extreme reluctance, therefore, that I would - split with a body who have lectured me as tutors. But time has - _advanced_; _I am now right, and they are wrong, and the cause which - they patronise will not do them much credit_. - - "I do not, however, yet give up my hopes but that the Academy will - _wisely_ retrace their steps. Revocation of the _former_ medal I do - not require--much less the exercise of a single grain of _partiality_. - My demand merely is, as my former letters have indicated, the - substitution of _justice_. - - "Please receive the assurance of my consideration, and in confident - reliance that you will use your influence in this matter, and favour - me with the upshot instantly after Monday's Board,--I remain, ever - sincerely yours, - - "HENRY O'BRIEN." - - - (No. 8.) - - "LONDON, _May 9, 1833_. - - "DEAR DR. SINGER,--My appeals are over; and I regret to say that they - have not been attended to. The _virtuous_ and _enlightened part_ of - the Academy, therefore, cannot blame me, if, in the assertion of my - honest right, I try the effect of a public remonstrance. - - "In the interim, I transmit to you by this night's post some - additional leaves, which, in the anxiety of despatch, as well, indeed, - as from fear that they would not be inserted _because they overwhelm - for ever the antiquarian pretensions of the Dublin Penny Journal_,[37] - have omitted to copy. However, I will _now_ forward them, and claim - that they may be printed along with those already sent in the original - Essay. - - "... I have exhausted all the forms of blandness and conciliation, in - the vain hope of inducing the Council to redeem _themselves_ from - _disgrace_, by doing _me_ common _justice_. I have strove in the - mildest terms of conscious rectitude, invigorated by a phalanx of - overwhelming proofs, to make them reconsider their course, and spare - me the unpleasant task of exposing a deed which I am loth to - characterise by its proper designation. But the 'heart of Pharaoh' was - hardened; the 'voice of the charmer' not listened to; and to my soft - importunities nothing was returned but the coldness of obduracy and - disregard. - - "The Rubicon, therefore, is crossed; my patience feels insulted; and - the only consideration I value, in the resolve to which I have at last - been driven, is, that _you_ had nothing to do with the 'job' of the - Round Towers. - - "Little did the Academy know what arguments I could adduce in - elucidation of _certain mysteries_. As little do they now dream what - proofs I can summon, though _you_ cannot have _forgotten_ one of them, - while I promise I shall make _Dr. M'Donnell recollect_ another; and - would not the _Rev. Cæsar Otway_, with whom I have never so much as - exchanged a look, be surprised at my quoting him as a reluctant third - witness, to show that the gold medal and premium were predetermined to - Mr. Petrie before ever I became a candidate; and that, _consequently_, - the advertisement under which I was _invited_ to contend, but from - which the Council never expected an intruder, was but a specious - delusion. - - "In this determination I violate no act of private regard, nor set - light by the claims of individual acquaintance. You know yourself how - earnestly I struggled, before the consummation of this nefarious - proceeding, to stem the agency of that despicable under-current which - I had just detected. I knew that fraud of some kind was at work; and - though unable at the moment to fix upon the person in whose favour it - was set agoing,--nay, though _mentally_ fastening the blame thereof - upon another, whose name, however, I never _let slip_, and to whom, I - rejoice to say I have since made more than recompense for this ideal - injury,--yet could I not be persuaded but that something _sinister_ - was designated; and to frustrate the influence of such prominent - deceit, you know how vehement was my address. I implored you, I - besought you, and all but upon my _knees_, and with _tears_, I invoked - you, by your regard to justice and your fear of a Creator, to _check - this trickery_, and allow _merit alone_ and _anonymous_ to decide the - issue. - - "I now, in the same spirit of solemn self-composure, adjure the - 'Council' through you, in the name of that God before whom they and I - shall one day appear, that they will have my cause redressed, and make - me reparation, not only for the substantial injury, but for the mental - disquietude and agony which this 'business' has occasioned. If they do - not, rest satisfied that _my path is already chalked_. All the - _evolutions_ of the Council, as displayed upon the Towers, and with - which I am but too familiar, shall be immortalised in letterpress; and - I do not yet despair of the _hereditary fairness_ of my country but - that it shall _register_ its dissent from the decision of that - tribunal, which could have had at once the _obtuseness_ of intellect - and the _perverseness_ of conduct to _stultify_ their own verdict by a - contradictory award; and, after _inveigling me into a competition - which they never meant to remunerate, deprive_ me of the fruits of my - indubitable triumph, in the pursuit of which I had almost lost my - life, and cut short my existence in the very spring of my manhood. - - "I mean no offence, individually or collectively, to the Academy or - its members; but as they have been deaf to the justice of my private - 'appeals,' I shall try the effect of a public 'remonstrance'; and as - to _ulterior_ consequences I greatly err, else the upshot will show - that the motto[38] adopted as my fictitious signature in the 'Essay' - was not the random assumption of inconsiderateness or accident, but - the true index to the author's resources. - - "My proposal is this--my unshaken position from which I will not - swerve or retract--a _gold medal and premium equivalent to those - originally advertised_.--I am, dear sir, yours sincerely, - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "To the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer, - "_Secretary to the Academy_." - - - (No. 10.) - - "GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN, - "_May 13, 1833_. - - "DEAR SIR,--I have been directed by the Council of the Royal Irish - Academy to reply to your last letters on the subject of your Essay, - and the additional matter recently sent over. As to the latter, I am - directed to say that the Council had engaged to examine and publish, - if approved, some small additions to your former Essay; but the papers - you have sent are so large as to be nearly equal in bulk to the - original dissertation; under these circumstances the Council cannot - publish them as additional to, or incorporated with, the Essay to - which they awarded twenty pounds prize, _as thereby its character - might be so altered that it would not appear in print the same Essay - on which they had formed their opinion_. The Council, therefore, wish - to know how they may transmit to you the papers you have sent. When - the gentlemen to whom your Essay has been submitted for examination - report, you shall be made aware of the extent of alteration they - suggest; and if you think that your paper requires the additions you - have sent, and would therefore wish to publish it with them yourself, - I have no doubt the Council will entertain any notice to that - effect.--I am, dear sir, your most obedient, - - "J. H. SINGER. - - "H. O'Brien, Esq." - - - (No. 11.) - - "LONDON, _May 20, 1833_. - - "DEAR DR. SINGER,--I do not quite understand the closing observation - of your last letter. If the Academy mean me a kindness, I should trust - that my nature is too sensible of such advances not suitably to - acknowledge it; and I should be sorry that, either from obscurity in - the diction, or want of quickness in my perception, I were to lose the - opportunity of making a grateful return. Let me, therefore, put the - following interrogatory to set myself right, viz.:-- - - "Will the Academy procure me a publisher for my _enlarged_ work? And - will they advertise that, having previously done me injustice, by the - transfer of my medal, they now, on being convinced of their error, - adopt this as the only mode of reparation, the award itself not being - to be recalled? - - "Without some such course as this, it is obvious that the offer which - they make, instead of being a _kindness_, would be a _mockery_; and, - instead of making amends for _oppression_, would be adding _insult_ to - _persecution_! For who, let me ask, would publish a work which a jury - have branded with the stamp of _inferior_, doling out their - surreptitious twenty pounds as an eleemosynary deodand, while the - _darling_ of their adoption, though disfigured by all the - imperfections of _blindness_, _lameness_, and _untruth_, and - recommended only by a few _painted gew-gaws_, which never entered into - the requisites of the original advertisement, _will pass current in - Dublin amongst the creatures_ of party! - - "I have already applied to Mr. ----, and he, intimidated by the - vicious state of society in Ireland, declined my proposal; but though - his apprehensions were sufficient to deter him from the speculation, - they were totally unfounded; for, despite of all corruption, all - chicanery, and all cabals, the etc. etc. etc. - - "This complaint, observe, does not refer to the new papers only, but - extends itself equally to the original Essay. Why do the Academy keep - it back? Believe me, it is in vain for them to defer 'the evil day' of - their exposure. Their doom was sealed the very moment they did me - injustice! I have watchfully reconnoitred their course, and have - proofs of the intricacies of their internal machinery, ample as those - before adduced for the solution of the Round Tower enigma, to effect - their overthrow; and if the present generation be not virtuous enough - to redress my cause, it shall be no fault of mine if any future age - shall be ignorant of the names of the individuals who constitute the - present _Council_; and in what light they shall be considered, their - own conscience can furnish them with a tolerable foretaste! - - "Was it not a cruelly perverse thing of them, after determining - beforehand to award the medal to Mr. Petrie, to inveigle me into the - competition by a deceptious advertisement? And then, after signally - beating them under all disadvantages, to _manoeuvre me off by a - beggarly cheat_? Shame, foul shame for ever upon the Academy! - - "Why, sir, the very terms of your letter show their - self-convictedness, though they have not honesty enough to avow it - overboard! What do they mean by saying that the new matter would 'make - my Essay not appear in print the same as that on which they formed - their opinion'? Are they afraid that it would make it appear worse? - Not at all; they would rejoice at the pretext, and publish it - _instanter_ as a cloak to their verdict! But as they have, in spite of - them, admitted those additions to be an _improvement,[39] why do they, - I ask, who have advertised for truth, again repress its effulgence_? - - "It is now easy to see what they designed by the clauses of - 'expediency,' 'if approved,' and 'subject to revisal'; viz., if false, - we will insert them in _self-vindication_; but if true, we will not, - _as being too great a victory over our own ignorance and favouritism_! - - "My Essay, however, does not want those new papers: the Council, - therefore, will please have them sealed and handed over to the custody - of Mr. Tims, my bookseller, in Grafton Street. The only additions - which I shall insist upon being inserted are those contained in my - letters in appropriate places, as I shall point out. - - "I conclude by giving notice that I shall claim Lord Cloncurry's - premium; nor do I despair of _recovering that_, as I should think that - his lordship is _too honest a man to sacrifice the interests of - literature to the intrigues of a faction_!--I have the honour to be, - etc., - - "HENRY O'BRIEN." - - - (No. 12.) - - "ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE, DUBLIN, - "_May 27, 1833_. - - "SIR,--I am directed by the Council of the Royal Irish Academy to - inform you that they feel themselves compelled, in consequence of your - late letters, to decline the publication of your Essay, or the - maintaining any further correspondence with you on the subject. - - "Your Essay and the additional matter will be sent, as you desire, to - Mr. Tims, Grafton Street, as soon as a copy of the former can be - taken.--I am, sir, your most obedient, - - "J. H. SINGER, _Secretary_. - - "H. O'Brien, Esq." - -The discontinuance of the correspondence was to be expected, but their -declining the publication of my Essay in their _Transactions_, merely -because of my giving utterance to some unpalatable truths, was an excess -of _magnanimity_ which I did not think that even the "Council" would -personify. - -However, you suppose that they, at all events, returned me my Essay, as -promised? Far from it! In violation of all honour, and of the written -engagements of their Secretary, they have detained it ever since in their -hands, thereby putting me to the vast expense of procuring new plates, -instead of those which the original contained--an inconvenience, I must -affirm, which they had hoped I could never have surmounted; while, in the -interim, they should push out their _bantling_ upon the public, secure in -the consciousness of having cushioned my work, that they should ride over -the market without a rival. - -They should have known, however, that the person who, at _three months' -notice_, undertook to solve the Towers, and then kept them at bay for six -months before they could chouse him out of his prize, was not to be -deterred by such an obstacle as the above. And the reader may be satisfied -that, though it has occasioned _me_ some hardship, _he is in no respect -thereby a loser_. - -I have stated that the effect of my Letter No. 1 was to interrupt the -transmission of the _Dublin Penny Journal_ to London. I have now to point -out the result of the menace conveyed in Letter 8 of my determining to -expose--as I enclosed the proofs that I could refute--the _antiquarian -errors_ of their organ. It was that they _instantly took the hint, and -sold their interest in the concern_! And its new proprietor, edified no -doubt by a friendly lesson at their hands, very wisely intimates, in his -opening number, that he shall forego _antiquities_, and make literary -_jobbing_ no part of it. - -Here are his words: "From the concluding paragraph of the last number of -this little publication, its readers will be aware that it is now in the -hands of a new editor and proprietor, and they will naturally expect that -in the present number something should be said relative to its future -management. 'Deeds, not words,' has ever been the motto of its (present) -conductor, and he will therefore merely say that it is his intention to -give his readers good value for their money; that the _Dublin Penny -Journal_ shall not be a mere 'catchpenny,' depending upon the number and -excellence of its woodcuts for extensive circulation, but containing, as -he considers a publication of the kind should do, such a variety of -interesting and useful matter as shall render it really valuable. In -future, therefore, while the _antiquities_ of the country will not be -neglected, the work shall exhibit a more _general character in the -subjects of its contents_."[40] - - * * * * * - -_N.B._--As I am a member of no club, belong to no literary society, and -have no facilities otherwise for watching periodicals, whether newspapers, -magazines, or reviews, I shall feel obliged if any gentleman who, in the -exercise of a free judgment, should think proper to dissent from me, and -to express such dissent in offensive language, would be pleased to forward -me a copy of the work wherein his strictures may appear, and I promise -that I shall reply to them with deference, and perhaps satisfaction. I -also trust that, from the singularity of my position, I do not expect too -much when I express a hope that any publication which speaks against me -will allow me to reply through the same medium--a request certainly which -cannot be refused, unless the design be hostile and factiously malicious. -Any suggestions for improvement, with a view to a second edition, I very -cheerfully court. - -All communications addressed to me, to the care of my publisher, Mr. -Whittaker, Ave Maria Lane, St. Paul's, London, will reach me, and be -attended to. - - - - - THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND; - - OR - - THE HISTORY OF THE TUATH-DE-DANAANS - - _FOR THE FIRST TIME UNVEILED_. - - - BY HENRY O'BRIEN, ESQ., A.B. - - - [Illustration] - - - "Hic sacra, hic genus, hic majorum multa vestigia." - CICERO. - - ... "were of fame, - And had been glorious in another day." - BYRON. - - - SECOND EDITION. - - - LONDON: - PARBURY AND ALLEN, LEADENHALL STREET; - DUBLIN: - J. CUMMING, LOWER ORMOND QUAY. - MDCCCXXXIV. - - - - - TO - THE MOST NOBLE - THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, - ETC. ETC. ETC. - - -MY LORD MARQUIS, - -Many reasons concur why I should feel ambitious to associate your name -with the following production. To enumerate these would neither become my -humility, nor be acceptable to your good taste. But there is one motive -which, as it is the offspring of the heart, implanted there at a period -when adulation was not dreamt of, I may be allowed to particularise,--I -was born upon your estates--you are the landlord of that spot which -imparted my earliest images--the first soarings of my fancy were derived -from that scene--and to the native notes which I have lisped in that -primitive and retired region, more than to the vaunted advantages of a -subsequent collegiate career, am I beholden for the clue with which I have -traversed the ancient world; and of which Envy herself must yet -acknowledge, that I have here rectified the history in its very widest -amplitude--as well sacred as profane. - -It is to do honour to this clue _in the eyes of the Mecænas of his age_, -and, under the auspices of his approval, to promote its revival, that I -give utterance to this sentiment; and so, hoping that you will view it in -this light, and not as the empty chaunt of a reprehensible egotism, I beg -leave to subscribe myself, with the most profound consideration and -respect, - - My Lord Marquis, - Your Lordship's most devoted - And most faithful, humble Servant, - HENRY O'BRIEN. - -LONDON, _September 1834_. - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - PAGE - - PORTRAIT OF HENRY O'BRIEN, BY MACLISE _Frontispiece_ - - DEVENISH ROUND TOWER 38 - - ARDMORE " " 71 - - CLONDALKIN " " 101 - - EFFIGY OF FARRAGH, OR MORIAGAN 138 - - SAMONA OF BUDDHA 140 - - ROUND TOWER, WITH DEVOTEE ON SUMMIT 169 - - SYMBOLIC SCULPTURE FOUND AT VINDOLANA 223 - - PALENCIAN SCULPTURE OF THE SYMBOLIC "TREE," WITH FIGURES 229 - - PYTHAGOREAN TRIANGLE OF TEN 268 - - SYMBOLIC CRESCENT-ORNAMENTS 273, 274 - - EFFIGY OF CRUCIFIED BUDDHA, SACA, OR MACHA 296 - - BRECHIN ROUND TOWER (SCOTLAND), WITH DOUBLE-ARCH AND EFFIGIES 299 - - OBELISK AT SANDWICK (ROSS-SHIRE) 306 - - PHOENICIAN MEDALS, STAMPED WITH CROSS, LAMB, AND ROSARY 314 - - SHAFT OF CROSS AT FORRES (SCOTLAND) 316 - - " " " REVERSE SIDE OF SAME 319 - - MONOLITH AT CARNAC (EGYPT) 322 - - SCULPTURE IN KNOCKMOY ABBEY 329, 330 - - SCULPTURE ON TEMPLE AT KALABCHE (NUBIA) 341, 342 - - KILCULLEN, CROSS AT 338 - - CLONMACNOISE, " 358 - - FINGLAS " 366 - - KELLS " 491 - - FACSIMILE OF MS. DISCOVERED AT ICOLMKILL 419 - - PHEELEAS, OR ORACLE-TUBE, FOUND AT BALLYMONEY 460 - - GLENDALOUGH, CURIOUS SYMBOLIC SCULPTURE ON RUINS OF 467 - - THE MAGI--WOODCUT FROM AN ANCIENT BLOCK-BOOK 482 - - MEDALS OF CHRIST, FOUND AT ISLAND OF ANGLESEA AND AT CORK 509 - - - - -THE ROUND TOWERS, _&c._ - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - "A lively desire of knowing and recording our ancestors so generally - prevails, that it must depend on the influence of some common - principle in the minds of men. We seem to have lived in the persons of - our forefathers; our calmer judgment will rather tend to moderate than - suppress the pride of an ancient and worthy race. The satirist may - laugh; the philosopher may preach; but reason herself will respect the - prejudices and habits which have been consecrated by the experience of - mankind."[41] - - -Of all nations on the globe, the Irish, as a people, are universally -admitted to possess, in a pre-eminent degree, those finer sensibilities of -the human heart, which, were they but wisely controlled, would exalt _man_ -above the level of ordinary humanity, and make him, as it were, a being of -another species. The numerous instances adduced in all periods of their -history, of ardent and enterprising zeal, in every case wherein personal -honour or national glory may be involved, are in themselves sufficient to -establish this assertion. But while granting their pre-eminence as to the -possession of those feelings, and the capability of the feelings -themselves to be refined and sublimated to the very acme of cultivation, -we may still doubt whether the _mere possession_ of them be not less a -blessing than a curse--whether, in fact, their quick perception of -disquietudes and pains be not more than a counterpoise to their keen -enjoyment of delight or pleasure. - -Foremost, however, in the train of the _many virtues_ which flow -therefrom, is that "amor patriæ," or love of country, which, unsubdued -often by the most galling miseries and the most hopeless wants, throws a -halo round the loneliness of their present despair in the proud -retrospection of their former buoyancy. This spirit it is which, despite -of obvious advantages to be derived from emigration, has riveted the Irish -peasant so immutably to his home, that any effort on his part to dissolve -those local fetters would be equivalent to the disruption of all the ties -and attachments which nature or habit had implanted within him. - - "The lofty scenes around their sires recall, - Fierce in the field and generous in the hall; - The mountain crag, the stream and waving tree, - Breathe forth some proud and glorious history-- - Urges their steps where patriot virtue leads, - And fires the kindred souls to kindred deeds. - They tread elate the soil their fathers trod, - The same their country, and the same their God." - -But it may be said that this is a day-dream of youth--the hereditary -vanity of one of Iran's sons, arrogating antiquity and renown for an -inconsiderable little island, without a particle of proof to substantiate -their assumption, or a shadow of authority to give colour to their claims. -Why, sir, cast your eye over the fair face of the land itself, and does -not the scene abound with the superfluity of its evidences? What are those -high aspiring edifices which rise with towering elevation towards the -canopy of the "_Most High_"?[42] What are those stupendous and awful -structures of another form--the study at once and admiration of the -antiquarian and the philosopher, to be found on the summits of our various -hills[43] as well as in the bowels[44] of the earth itself?--what are they -but the historical monuments of splendour departed--surviving the ravages -of time and decay, not as London's column, to "lift their heads and lie," -but to give the lie and discomfiture to those, who, from the interested -suggestions of an illiberal policy, or the more pardonable delusions of a -beclouded judgment, would deny the authenticity of our historic records, -and question the truth of our _primeval_ civilisation? - -It is true, the magnificence which those memorials demonstrate is but the -unenviable grandeur of druidical, as it is called, idolatry and -unenlightened paganism,--when man, relinquishing that supremacy consigned -to him at his creation, or rather divested thereof in punishment for the -transgression of his degenerate disposition, lost sight of that Being to -whom he owed his safety and his life, and bent himself in homage before -perishable creatures that crawl their ephemeral pilgrimage through the -same scene with himself. Granted; yet that cannot well be objected to _us_ -as a disgrace, which, co-extensive in its adoption with the amplitude of -the earth's extension, equally characterised the illiterate and the sage; -and if, amidst this lamentable prostration of the human understanding, -anything like redemption or feature of superiority may be allowed, it must -be, unquestionably, to the adherents of that system, which, excluding the -objects of matter and clay, recognised, in its worship of the bright -luminaries of the firmament, the purity and omnipotence of that Spirit -who brought all into existence, and who guides and preserves them in their -respective spheres;--and when I shall have _proved_ that the intent and -application of those _Sabian[45] Towers_,--or, to speak more correctly, -those _primitive Budhist Temples_,--which decorate our landscape and -commemorate our past renown, appertained to this species of purified -idolatry, which worshipped only the host of heaven, the moon and the solar -body, which gives _vigour_ to all things, I shall, methinks, have removed -one obstacle from the elucidation of our antiquities, and facilitated the -road to further adventure in this interesting inquiry. - -Let me not be supposed, however, by the preceding remarks to restrict -their destination to one single purpose. All I require of my readers is a -patient perusal of my details; and I deceive myself very much, and -overrate my powers of enunciation, else I shall establish in their minds -as thorough a conviction of the development of the "Towers" as I am myself -satisfied with the accuracy of my conclusions. I shall only entreat, then, -of their courtesy that I be not anticipated in my course, or definitively -judged of by isolated scraps, but that, as my notice for this competition -has been limited and recent, allowing but little time for the observance -of _tactique_ or rules, in the utterance of the novel views which I now -venture to put forward, the proofs of which, however, have been long -registered in my thoughts, and additionally confirmed by every new -research, the merits of the production may not be estimated by parcels, -but by the combined tendency of the parts altogether. - -To begin, therefore. The origins I have heard assigned to those records -of antiquity,--however invidious it may appear, at this the outset of my -labours, to assume so self-sufficient a tone, yet can I not avoid saying -that, whether I consider their multiplicity or their extravagance, they -have not more frequently excited my ridicule than my commiseration. That -specimens of architecture, so costly and so elegant, should be designed -for the paltry purposes of purgatorial columns or penitential heights, to -which criminals should be elevated for the ablution of their -enormities--while the honest citizen, virtuous and unstained, should be -content to grovel amongst lowly terrestrials 'mid the dense exhalations of -forests and bogs, in a mud-wall hut, or at best a conglomeration of -wattles and hurdles--is, I conceive, an outrage upon human reason too -palpable to be listened to. - -Not less ridiculous is the idea of their having been intended for beacons; -for, were such their destination, a hill or rising ground would have been -the proper site for their erection, and not a valley or low land, where it -happens that we generally meet them. - -The belfry theory alone, unfounded in one sense though it really be, and -when confined to that application equally contemptible with the others, -is, notwithstanding, free from the objection that would lie against the -_place_, as it is well known that the sound of bells which hang in plains -and valleys is heard much farther than that of such as hang upon -elevations or hills: for, air being the medium of sound, the higher the -sonorous body is placed, the more rarefied is that medium, and -consequently the less proper vehicle to convey the sound to a distance. -The objection of situation, therefore, does not apply to this theory; and, -accordingly, we shall find that the exercising of bells--though in a way -and for an object little contemplated by our theorists--constituted part -of the machinery of the complicated ceremonial of those mysterious -edifices. - -The truth is, the "Round Towers" of Ireland were not all intended for one -and the same use, nor any one of them limited to one single purpose; and -this, I presume, will account for the variety in their construction, not -less perceptible in their diameters and altitudes than in other -characteristic bearings. For I am not to be told that those varieties we -observe were nothing more than the capriciousness of _taste_, when I find -that the indulgence of that caprice, in one way, would defeat the very -object to which one party would ascribe them, whilst its extension, in a -different way, would frustrate the hopes of another set of speculators. - -But what must strike the most cursory as irresistibly convincing that they -were not erected _all_ with _one_ view, is the fact of our sometimes -finding two of them together in one and the same locality. - -Now, if they were intended as beacons or belfries, would it not be the -most wasteful expenditure of time and wealth to erect two of them together -on almost the same spot? And when I mention expenditure, perhaps I may be -allowed, incidentally, to observe, that, of all species of architecture, -_this_ particular form, as it is the most durable, so is it also the most -difficult and the most costly. - -Need I name the sum of money which Nelson's monument has cost in modern -times? or that imperfect testimonial in the Phoenix Park which -commemorates the glories of the hero of Waterloo. No; but I will mention -what Herodotus tells us was the purport of an inscription upon one of the -pyramids of Egypt, the form of some of which, be it known, was not very -dissimilar to our Irish pyramids, while their intent and object were more -congenial; viz. that no less a sum than 1600 talents of silver, or about -£400,000 of our money, had been expended upon radishes, onions, and garlic -alone, for 360,000 men, occupied for twenty years in bringing that -stupendous fabric, that combined instrument of religion and science, to -completion! - -Our Round Towers, we may well conceive, must have been attended, at the -early period of their erection, with comparatively similar expense: and -assuredly, the _motive_ which could suggest such an outlay must have been -one of corresponding import, of the most vital, paramount, and absorbing -consideration. - -Would the receptacles for a bell be of such moment? And that, too, whilst -the churches, to which, of course, they must have appertained, were -thought worthy of no better materials than temporary hurdles, and so leave -behind them no vestiges of their local site,--no evidence or trace of -their ever having existed! And, indeed, how could they?--for existence -they never had, except in the creative imagination of our hypothetical -antiquaries. - -Ruins, it is true, of chapels and dilapidated cathedrals are frequently -found in the vicinity of our Round Towers; but these betray in their -_materials_ and architecture the stamp of a later age, having been founded -by missionaries of the early Christian Church, and purposely thus -collocated--contiguous to edifices long before hallowed by a religious -use--to at once conciliate the prejudices of those whom they would fain -persuade, and divert their adoration to a more purified worship. - -And yet, upon this single circumstance of proximity to ecclesiastical -dilapidations--coupled with the bas-relief of a crucifix which presents -itself over the door of the Budhist temple of Donoghmore in Ireland, and -that of Brechin in Scotland--have the deniers of the antiquity of those -venerable memorials raised that superstructure of historical imposture, -which, please God, I promise them, will soon crumble round their ears -before the indignant effulgence of regenerated veracity. - -It might be sufficient for this purpose, perhaps, to tell them that -similar ruins of early Christian churches are to be met with abundantly in -the neighbourhood of Cromleachs and Mithratic caves all through the -island; and that they might as well, from this vicinity, infer that those -two other vestiges of heathenish adoration were contrived by our early -Christians as appendages to the chapels, as they would fain make out--by -precisely the same mode of inference--that the Round Towers had been! - -But this would not suit; they could find no ascription associated with -Christianity which cave or cromleach could subserve; and thus have the -poor missionaries escaped the cumbrous imputation of having those colossal -pagan slabs and those astounding gentile excavations affiliated upon them. - -Not so fortunate the Towers. After ransacking the whole catalogue of -available applications appertaining to the order of monastic institutions -with which to _Siamise_ those temples, Montmorency has at last hit upon -the noble and dignified department of a "dungeon-keep" or "lock-up!" as -the sole use and intention of their original erection! - -As I intend, however, to unravel this fallacy in its proper quarter, I -shall resume, for the present, the thread of my discourse. - -Besides the absurdity, then, of bestowing such magnificence upon so really -inconsiderable a thing as a belfry, while the supposed churches were -doomed to dwindle and moulder in decay, is it not astonishing that we find -no vestiges of the like fashion, or structures of the like form, in any of -those countries where the people to whom the advocates of this theory -ascribe their erection have since and before exercised sway? - -The Danes had dominion in Britain longer and more extensively than they -ever had in _this_ island; and yet, in the whole compass of England, from -one extremity to the other, is there not one fragment of architecture -remaining to sanction the idea of identity or resemblance! - -Nay, in all Denmark and Scandinavia, the original residence of the Ostmen -and Danes, there is not a single parallel to be found to those columnar -edifices! - -Ireland, on the contrary, exhibits them in every quarter; in districts and -baronies where Danish authority was never felt; and surely our forefathers -were not so much in love with the usages and habits of their barbarian -intruders, as to multiply the number of those stately piles, solely in -imitation of such detested taskmasters. - -But what renders it _demonstrative_ that those professional pirates had no -manner of connection with the Irish Round Towers, is the glaring fact, -that in the two cities of Wexford and Waterford--where their power was -absolute, their influence uncontrolled--there is not a solitary structure -that could possibly be ascribed to the class of those which we now -discuss! - -In Scotland alone, of all European countries besides Ireland, do we meet -with two of them,--one at Brechin, and the other at Abernethy;--but they -are smaller than the Irish, and, with other characteristics, seem to have -been built, after their model, at a comparatively recent period, by a -colony from this country, "as if marking the fact," to use Dalton's -_accidentally_[46] appropriate phrase, "of that colonisation having taken -place when the rites, for which the Round Towers were erected, in the -mother-country, were on the decline." - -But, forsooth, they are called "cloghachd" by the peasantry, and that, -without further dispute, fixes their destination as belfries! Oh! seri -studiorum quîne difficile putetis? - -That some of them had been appropriated in latter times, nay, and still -are, to this purpose, I very readily concede; but, "toto coelo," I deny -that such had ever entered into the contemplation of their constructors, -as I do, also, the universality of the very name, which I myself know, by -popular converse, to be but partial in its adoption, extending only to -such as had been converted by the moderns to the purpose described, or -such as may, originally, have had a clogh, or bell, of which I admit there -were some, as part of their apparatus. - -The first bells of which we have any mention are those described by Moses, -as attached to the garments of the high-priest. From these, the Gentiles, -as they affected to rival the Israelites in all their ceremonies, borrowed -the idea, and introduced its exercise into the celebration of their own -ritual. By "Israelites," however, I deem it necessary to explain that I do -not understand those who, in strictness of speech, are so denominated as -the descendants of Israel, _i.e._ Jacob, who, in fact, were a -comparatively modern people; but I particularise that old stock of -patriarchal believers which existed from the Creation, and upon which the -Israelites, rigidly so called, were afterwards engrafted. - -Our Irish history abounds with proofs of the "ceol," and "ceolan," the -bell and the little bell, having been used by the pagan priests in the -ministry of their religious ordinances; and to the fictitious sanctity -which they attributed to this instrument may we ascribe that superstitious -regard which the illiterate and uneducated still continue to entertain for -the music of its sound. - -From the Sabian ceremonial--succeeded by the Druidical--it unquestionably -was that the Christian missionaries in Ireland first adopted the use of -bells, wishing, wisely, therein to conform as much as possible to the -prejudices of the natives, when they did not essentially interfere with -the spirit of their divine mission. I shall hereafter relate the -astonishment excited in England, at the appearance of one of those bells, -brought there in the beginning of the sixth century by Gildas, who had -just returned after finishing his education in Ireland; and this, in -itself, should satisfy the most incredulous that the Britons, as well -pagan as Christian, were ever before strangers to such a sight; and no -wonder, for they were strangers also to such things as Round Towers, to -which I shall prove those implements properly and exclusively belonged. - -"Clogad" is the name, and which literally signifies a "pyramid," that has -led people into this "belfry" mistake. To conclude, therefore, this -portion of our investigation, I shall observe, in Dr. Milner's words, -"that none of these towers are large enough for a single bell of a -moderate size to swing about in it; that, from the whole of their form and -dimensions, and from the smallness of the apertures in them, they are -rather calculated to stifle than to transmit to a distance any sound that -is made _in_ them; lastly, that though possibly a small bell may have been -accidentally put up in one or two of them at some late period, yet we -constantly find other belfries, or contrivances for hanging bells, in the -churches adjoining to them." - -I fear greatly I may have bestowed too much pains in dispelling the -delusion of this preposterous opinion. But as it had been put forward with -so much confidence by a much-celebrated "antiquarian,"--though how he -merited the designation I confess myself at a loss to know,--I thought it -my duty not to content myself with the mere exposure of the fallacy, -without following it up with proofs, which must evermore, I trust, -encumber its advocates with _shame_; and the rather, as this great -champion of _Danish civilisation_ and proclaimer of his _country's -barbarism_ is at no ordinary trouble to affect ridicule and contempt for a -most enlightened and meritorious English officer, who, from the sole -suggestion of truth, promoted by observation and antiquarian research, -stood forward as the advocate of our ancestral renown, to make amends, as -it were, for the aspersions of domestic calumniators. - -Both parties are, however, now appreciated as they ought; and though -Vallancey, certainly, did not understand the purport of our Round Towers, -his view of them, after all, was not far from being correct; and the -laborious industry with which he prosecuted his inquiries, and the -disinterested warmth with which he ushered them into light, should shield -his memory from every ill-natured sneer, and make every child of Iran feel -his grateful debtor. - -Having given Milner a little while ago the opportunity of tolling the -death-knell of the belfry hypothesis, I think I could not do better now -than give Ledwich, in return, a triumph, by demolishing the symmetry of -the anchorite vagary. - -"It must require a warm imagination," says this writer,--after quoting the -account given by Evagrius of Simeon Stylites' pillar, upon which -Richardson, Harris, and Milner after them had founded the anchorite -vagary,--"to point out the similarity between this pillar and our 'tower': -the one was solid, and the other hollow--the one square, and the other -circular: the ascetic _there_ was placed without _on_ the pillar; with -_us_ enclosed _in_ the tower. He adds, these habitations of anchorites -were called _inclusoria_, or _arcti inclusorii ergastula_, but these were -very different from our round towers; for he mistakes Raderus, on whom he -depends, and who says, 'The house of the recluse ought to be of stone, the -length and breadth twelve feet, with three windows, one facing the choir, -the other opposite, through which food is conveyed to him, and the third -for the admission of light--the latter to be always covered with glass or -horn.' - -"Harris, speaking of Donchad O'Brien, Abbot of Clonmacnois, who shut -himself up in one of these cells, adds, 'I will not take upon me to affirm -that it was in one of these towers of Clonmacnois he was enclosed.' It -must have been the strangest perversion of words and ideas to have -attempted it. Is it not astonishing that a reverie thus destitute of -truth, and founded on wilful mistakes of the plainest passages, should -have been attended to, and even be, for some time, believed?" - -Thus have I allowed him to retaliate in his own words; but in order to -render his victory complete, by involving a greater number within his -closing denunciation, he should have waited until he had seen a note -appended to the fourteenth of Dr. Milner's _Letters_, which, -unquestionably, would deserve a similar rebuke for its gross perversion of -a "cell" into a "tower." - -It is this: "We learn from St. Bernard, that St. Malachy, afterwards -Archbishop of Armagh, in the twelfth century, applied for religious -instruction, when a youth, to a holy solitary by name Imarus, who was shut -up in a 'cell,' near the cathedral of the said city, _probably in a Round -Tower_." Risum teneatis? - -But I am tired of fencing with shadows and special pleading with casuists. -And yet, as I would wish to render this Essay systematically complete, I -am forced, however reluctant, to notice the conjecture, which others have -hazarded, of those Round Towers having been places of retreat and security -in the event of invasion from an enemy; or depositories and reservoirs for -the records of State, the Church utensils and national treasures! - -To the _former_, I shall reply, that Stanihurst's description of the -"excubias in castelli vertice," upon which it would seem to have been -founded, does not at all apply to the case; because, while the "castella" -have vanished, the Round Towers--which never belonged to them--do, many of -them still firmly, maintain their post; and as to the _latter_, the -boldness with which it has been put forward, by its author before -named,[47] requires a more lengthened examination than its utter -instability could otherwise justify. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -This chivalrous son of Mars, more conversant, I should hope, with tactics -than with literary disquisitions, has started with a position which he is -himself, shortly after, the most industrious to contradict; namely, "that -the gods, to punish so much vanity and presumption, had consigned to -everlasting oblivion the founders, names, dates, periods, and all records -relating to them."[48] - -Surely, if they were intended for the despicable _dungeons_ which the -Colonel would persuade us was their origin, there existed neither "vanity" -nor "presumption" in _that humble design_; and when to this we add the -_nature_ of that security, which he tells us they were to establish, one -would think that _this_ should be a ground for the perpetuity of their -registration, rather than for consigning their history to "everlasting -oblivion." - -But secure in the consciousness of the whole history of those structures, -and satisfied that _truth_ will never suffer anything by condescending to -investigation, I will, to put the reader in full possession of _this_ -adversary's statement, here capitulate his arguments with all the fidelity -of an honourable rival. - -His object, then, being to affix the Round Towers to the Christian era, he -begins by insisting that, as "the architects of those buildings were -consummate masters in masonic art," it follows, that "a people so -admirably skilled in masonry never could have experienced any impediments -in building substantial dwellings, strong castles, palaces, or any other -structures of public or private conveniency, some fragments of which, -however partial and insignificant, would still be likely to appear, in -despite of the corroding breath of time or the torch of devastation." - -His next argument is, "that the _busy_ and _fantastic bard_, whose -occupation led him to interfere in private and public concerns,--who, in -truth (he adds) is our oldest and most circumstantial annalist,--on the -subject of the Pillar Tower is dumb and silent as the dead"; whence he -infers the "non-existence of those Towers during the remote ages of bardic -influence,"--"and of their being utterly unknown to them, and to our -ancestors, anterior to the reception of the Christian faith." - -His third proposition is, that as "Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Solinus, -Diodorus Siculus, and other writers of antiquity, have represented the -condition of Ireland and its inhabitants to be barbarous in _their_ -days,--in common with their neighbours the Britons, Gauls, and Germans, to -whom the art systematically to manufacture stone had been -unknown,--_ergo_, those _barbarians_ could not be set up as the authors of -the Pillar Tower." - -His fourth premise is, that "wherever we chance to light upon a cromleach, -we seldom fail to find near it one of those miserable caves"--and which he -has described before as "surpassing in dreariness everything in the -imagination of man";--whereas in the vicinity of the Pillar Tower no such -thing is seen, _unless some natural_ or _accidental excavation_ may -happen to exist _unaccountably_ in that direction. His inference from -which is, that "although the cromleach and the cave do claim, the first a -Celtic, the second a Phoenician origin, and happen _here_ to be united, -the Pillar Tower, nevertheless, disavows even the most distant connection -with either of them." - -His fifth is a continuation of the foregoing, with an erroneous -parallelism, viz. "at Bael Heremon, in India, not far from Mount Lebanon, -there stood a temple dedicated to Bael, near to which were many caves, of -which one was roomy enough to admit into it four thousand persons." "The -size of those temples," he adds, "was regulated according to the extent or -amount of the local population, being spacious and magnificent in large -cities, and small and simple in the inferior towns and villages; but -nowhere, nor in any case, do we meet an example of a lofty spiral tower, -_internally too confined_ to admit _into it at once a dozen bulky -persons_, denominated a temple." - -"An edifice," he resumes, "like the Pillar Tower, might easily serve for a -belfry; and there are instances where it has been converted, in modern -times, to that use; on the other hand, a temple, properly speaking, gives -an idea of a spacious edifice, or of one calculated to accommodate, -withinside its walls, a certain congregation of devout people, met to -pray. Should the building, to answer any partial or private use, be -constructed upon a diminutive scale, like the little round temple at -Athens,[49] called Demosthenes', the edifice," he continues, "in that -case, obtains its appropriate shape, yet differing in plan, size, and -elevation from the Irish Pillar Tower, to which it cannot, in any one -respect, be assimilated." - -"Moreover," he says, "the ancients had _hardly_ any round temples. -Vitruvius barely speaks of two kinds, neither of which bears the slightest -resemblance to a tower. Upon the whole," concludes he, "if we will but -bestow a moment's reflection on the geographical and political condition -of primitive Ireland, and the avowed _tardy_ progress towards civilisation -and an acquaintance with the fine arts then common to those nations not -_conveniently_ placed within the enlightened and enlivening pale of Attic -and Roman instruction, it will be impossible not to pronounce Vallancey's -conjectures respecting the Pillar Towers as receptacles for the sacred -fire altogether chimerical and fabulous." - -Before I proceed to demolish, _seriatim_, this tissue of cobwebs, I wish -it to be emphatically laid down that _I_ do not tread in General -Vallancey's footsteps. To his undoubted services, when temperately -guarded, I have already paid the tribute of my national gratitude; but, -pitying his mistakes, while sick of his contradictions, I have taken the -liberty to _chalk out my own road_. - -Now for Montmorency. As to the first, then, of those objections against -the antiquity of our Round Towers, it is readily repelled by explaining -that, in the early ages of the world, masonic edifices, of architectural -precision, were exclusively appropriated, as a mark of deferential homage, -to the worship of the _Great Architect_ of the universe; and with this -view it was that the science was, at _first_, studied as a sort of -religious mystery, of which there can be required no greater possible -corroboration than the circumstance of that _ancient_ and _mysterious_ -society who date the existence of their institution from Noah himself--and -it is incomparably older--still retaining, amid the thousand changes which -the world has since undergone, and the thousand attempts that have been -made to explore and explode their secrets, the mystic denominational -ligature of "_Free and Accepted Masons_."[50] - -The absence, therefore, of any vestiges of other _coeval_ structures, for -private abode or public exhibition, should excite in us no surprise; more -especially when we recollect that in the East also--whence all our early -customs have been derived--their mud-built houses present the greatest -possible contrast between the simplicity of their domestic residences and -the magnificence and grandeur of their religious conventicles--Verum illi -delubra deorum pietate, domos sua gloria decorabant.[51] - -But though this my reply is triumphantly subversive of the Colonel's first -position, I shall dwell upon it a little longer, to hold forth, with -merited retaliation, either his disingenuousness or his forgetfulness; -because the same inference which he deduced from the non-appearance of -coeval architecture of any _other_ class, would apply as well to the -period which _he_ wishes to establish as the era of the erection of the -Towers,--and of which era, he admits, no other architectural monuments do -remain,--as to that which I shall incontrovertibly prove was their proper -epoch. - -Then, without having recourse to the _impossibility_--of which all -travellers complain--to ascertain even the _situation_ of those gigantic -cities which in other parts of the globe, at equally remote periods of -time, were cried up as the wonders of the age--the masterpieces of human -genius, making their domes almost kiss the stars; without betaking myself, -I say, to those, the only memorials of which are now to be found in that -of the _echo_, which, to your affrighted fancy, asking inquisitively and -incredulously, "Where are they?" only repeats responsively, "Where are -they?"--passing over this, I tell him that, more highly favoured than -other countries, we possess, in Ireland, ample evidences of those remnants -which he so vauntingly challenges. Traverse the isle in its inviting -richness, over its romantic mountains and its fertile valleys, and there -is scarcely an old wall you meet, or an old hedge you encounter, that you -will not find, _embedded_ among the mass, some solitary specimens of -chiselled execution, which, in their proud, aristocratic bearing, afford -ocular and eloquent demonstration of their having _once_ occupied a more -respectable post. - -Not less futile than the foregoing is his second objection, arising from -what he represents as the silence of "the busy and fantastic bard." -Doubtless he reckoned upon _this_ as his most impregnable battery; and I -readily believe that most of his readers anticipate the same result: but -this little book will soon shiver the fallacy of such calculations, and -adduce, in its proper place, from the very head and principal of the -_bardic order_--no less a personage than Amergin himself--its _towering_ -refutation; as well as the _final_, incontrovertible appropriation of -those structures to their _actual_ founders. - -In the interim, I must not let the opportunity pass of vindicating our -ancient bards from the false imputations of "busy and fantastic." - -If pride of descent be a weakness of Irishmen, it is one in which they are -countenanced by all the nations of the globe who have had anything like -pretensions to support the claim; and I fearlessly affirm that the more -sensitive a people prove themselves of their national renown, their -hereditary honour, and ancestral splendour, the more tenacious will they -show themselves, in support of that repute,--whether as individuals or a -community,--in every cause involving the far higher interests of moral -rectitude, of virtue, and of religion. In the legitimate indulgence of -this honourable emotion the Irish have ever stood conspicuously high. No -nation ever attended with more religious zeal to their acts and -genealogies, their wars, alliances, and migrations, than they did; and -while no people ever excelled them in enterprise or heroism, or the wisdom -and administration of their legislative code, so were they surpassed by -none in the number and capability of those who could delineate such -events, and impart to reality the _additional charm_ of imagery and verse. - -The bards were a set of men exclusively devoted, like the tribe of Levi -amongst the Israelites, to the superintendence of those subjects. Their -agency in this department was a legitimately recognised and graduate -faculty; and, in accuracy of speech, the only one which merited the -designation of _learned_, being attainable only after the most severe -novitiate of preliminary study and rigid exercise of all the mental -powers. - -The industry and patience bestowed on such a course were not, however, -without their reward. In a classical point of view _this_ exhibited itself -in the high estimation in which they were held--both amongst foreigners -and natives--as poets, as prophets, and as philosophers; while the dignity -and emolument attached to their situation, and the distinguished rank -assigned them, at the general triennial assemblies of the state at -Tara--with the endowments conferred upon them by the monarch and the -several provincial kings--were sure to render it, at all times, an object -of ambition and pursuit to members of the noblest families throughout the -various parts of the realm. - -The moral deportment and personal correctness of those literary sages -contributed still further to add to their esteem; and, probably, I could -not succeed better, in depicting the almost _sanctity_ of their general -behaviour, than by transcribing a stanza descriptive of the qualities -which won to them, as a society, the mingled sentiments of veneration and -of awe. It is taken from a very ancient Irish poem, and runs thus-- - - "Iod na laimh lith gan ghuin, - Iod na beorl gan ean neamhuib, - Iod na foghlama gan ean ghes, - Is iod na lanamh nas." - -That is-- - - "Theirs were the hands free from violence, - Theirs the mouths free from calumny, - Theirs the learning without pride, - And theirs the love free from venery." - -In later times I admit there was a lamentable degeneracy in the bardic -class,--or rather the innumerable pretenders to the assumption of the -name; and the "fescennine licentiousness" with which they violated the -sanctity of domestic seclusion, in exposing the objects of their private -spleen, tended not a little to bring their body into disrepute, and -subject them additionally to the salutary restrictions of legislative -severity. They were not less extravagant in the lavishment of their -fulsome commendations; so that one can hardly avoid drawing a parallel -between them and those poetasters, formerly, of Italy, whom Horace so -happily describes in those remarkable hexameters, viz.:-- - - "Fescinnina per hunc invecta licentia morem, - Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit, - ... quin etiam lex - Poenaque lata malo quæ mallet carmine quenquam, - Describi."[52] - -You would imagine the Roman poet was speaking of the Irish bards in the -_night_ of their decline; but the description by no means applies to the -original institution, whose object it was to perpetuate the history and -records of the nation, and preserve its history from the intrusions of -barbarism. To this end it was that they met for revision at the senatorial -synod; and the importance of this trust it was that procured to their body -the many dignities before described, giving them precedence above the -aggregate of the community at large, and investing them with an authority -little short of royalty. - -Rhyme was the vehicle in which their lucubrations were presented; verse -the medium selected for their thoughts. To gain perfection in this -accomplishment their fancies were ever on the stretch; while the varieties -of metre which they invented for the purpose, and the facility with which -they bent them to each application and use, were not the least -astonishing part of their arduous avocations, and leave the catalogue of -modern measures far away in the shade. - -Music is the sister of poetry, and it is natural to suppose that they went -hand in hand _here_. In all countries, the voice was the original organ of -musical sounds. With this they accompanied their extemporaneous hymns; -with this they chanted the honours of their heroes. The battle-shout and -the solemnity of the hour of sacrifice were the usual scenes for the -concerts of our ancestors. Singing the glory of former warriors, the -combatant was _himself_ inspired; and while the victim expired on the -altar of immolation, the priest sang the praise of the deity he invoked. - -The introduction of the Christian truths gave a new and elevated scope to -the genius of the bards. A new enthusiasm kindled up their ardour--a new -vitality invigorated their frames; and they who, but the moment before, -were most conspicuous in upholding the dogmas of the pagan creed, became -now the most distinguished in proclaiming the blessings of the Christian -dispensation. Fiech, Amergin, Columba, Finan, etc., are glorious examples -of this transmuted zeal. - -About the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, however, a change burst forth -for the destinies of this order. Verse ceased to be used in their -historical announcements. Prose succeeded, as a more simple narrative; and -from that moment the respectability of the bards progressively evaporated. - -The jealousy of the English Government at the martial feeling excited by -their effusions, and the intrepid acts of heroism inculcated by their -example, if not the actual cause of this national declension, -preponderated very largely amongst its component ingredients. - -In the height of the battle, when the war-cry was most loud, and the -carnage most severe, those poetic enthusiasts would fling themselves -amongst the ranks of the enraged contenders, and determine the victory to -whatever party they chose to befriend. - -When, too, under the pressure of an untoward fate, and the disheartening -yoke of--what they deemed--a treacherous subjugation, the nobles would -seem dispirited at the aspect of circumstances, and all but subscribe to -the thraldom of slavery, the bards would rouse the energies of their -slumbering patriotism, and, as Tyrtæus used the Spartans, enkindle in -their bosoms a passion for war. We must not be surprised, therefore, to -find in the preamble to some of the acts passed in those times for the -suppression of this body of men, the following harsh and deprecating -allusions, viz.:--"That those rymors do, by their ditties and rymes made -to divers lords and gentlemen in Ireland, in the commendacyon and high -praise of extortion, rebellyon, rape, raven, and outhere injustice, -encourage those lords and gentlemen rather to follow those vices than to -leave them." - -For two centuries after the invasion of Henry II., the voice of the Muse -was but faintly heard in Ireland. The arms of Cromwell and William III. -completely swept away her feudal reminiscences. As it was their country's -lustre that inspired the enthusiasm of the bards, so, on the tarnishing of -_its_ honour, did they become mute and spiritless. They fell with its -fall; and, like the captive Israelites, hanging their untuned harps on the -willows, they may be supposed to exclaim in all the vehemence of the royal -psalmist-- - - "Now while our harps were hanged soe, - The men whose captives there we lay - Did on our griefs insulting goe, - And more to grieve us thus did say: - You that of musique make such show, - Come, sing us now a Zion lay.-- - Oh no! we have nor voice nor hand - For such a song in such a land." - -Montmorency's _third_ objection against the antiquity of the Round -Towers--founded on the statements of those Greek and Latin writers above -named, respecting the "barbarous" condition of the _then_ Irish,--I thus -dissipate into thin air. - -The inhabitants of Ireland, at the time in which those authors flourished, -had nothing to do with the erection of the Round Towers. Those edifices -were hoary with antiquity at that moment. They belonged to an era and to a -dynasty, not only of a more ancient but of a more exalted character in -every sense of the word, and whose religious ceremonials, for the -celebration of which the Round Towers were constructed, the _then_ -inhabitants did not only abhor, but did all in their power to efface and -obliterate. Nor was it the religion alone of this inoffensive and sacred -tribe that this new and devastating race of militants laboured to -extirpate; but, what was far more to be deplored, they, for a season, -extinguished their literature also; until at length, fired by the moral -ether which the lessons of their now slaves had inspired, their souls got -attuned to the sublimity of such studies, and they sat themselves down -accordingly to emulate their instructors. - -As to the puny detractions, therefore, of either Greece or Rome, they -might well have been spared, as they knew _less_ than _nothing_ of our -real history. When they were lowly and obscure, and immersed in the -darkness of circumambient benightment, our high careering name, -_synonymous_ with civilisation, was wafted by the four winds of heaven to -all the quarters of the world which that heaven irradiates. The commerce -of the whole East pressed tumultuously to our shores--the courts of the -polished universe (not including Greece or Rome amongst the number) sent -us embassies of congratulation; while the indomitable ardour and -public-spirited zeal of the "islanders" themselves launched them abroad -over the bosom of the wide watery circumference; exploring in every region -the gradations of civil institutes, as well as the master productions of -Nature herself; civilising life with the results of their discoveries, and -garnishing their houses, like so many museums, with the fruits of their -research, for the benefit, at once, and entertainment of their less -favoured, though not less ambitious brethren at home. - -Think you that the testimony of Festus Avienus, who wrote before the -Christian light, and who avowedly only compiled his treatise from other -more ancient authorities--think you, I say, that _his_ designation of this -island as "sacred"--and which he says was the appropriate denomination by -which the still greater ancients used to call it--was an idle sobriquet or -an arbitrary adjective? Amongst the many discoveries which will develop -themselves in succession, before I shall have done with this little book, -I pledge myself to the public incontrovertibly to prove that the word -"_Hibernian_"--so grossly abused and so malignantly vilified, and which -Avienus has recorded as the name of the _islanders_ at the period in which -he wrote, as it is still to this day--signifies, in its _component -essence_, and according to the nicest scrutiny of etymological analysis, -independently _altogether_ of historical corroboration, _an inhabitant of -the sacred isle_; and has _nothing_ on earth to do with _Heber_ or -Heremon; or _hiar_, the west; or _iberin_, extremes; or any other such -outlandish nonsense! - -Now comes the Colonel's _fifth_ and _last_ objection; viz. that because -there existed at Baal Heremon, in India, a temple sacred to Baal, the -capacity of which was sufficient to accommodate four thousand persons, -therefore the Round Towers, which are "internally too confined to admit -into them, at once, a dozen bulky persons, could not be denominated a -temple." - -Does not the Colonel know that there existed a plurality of those Baals? -that, in fact, they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament, -resolving themselves--according to the character of every distinct -country, and of every minor subdivision and canton in that country--into -the specific and gentile classifications of Baal Shamaim, Baal Pheor or -Phearagh, Baal Meon, Baal Zephon, Baal Hemon, etc.; while under the _veil_ -of all, the learned ever understood to have been solely personated the sun -and moon. "Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and the men of -Babylon made Succoth-Benoth."[53] - -In accordance with the _different_ views under which each people -considered the _bounties_ of those luminaries, so did their temples assume -a corresponding shape; and it shall be my lot, in the progress of this -litigated research, to show why the followers of one of those Baals, -namely, Baal Phearagh, gave their temples this _erect_, _narrow_, and -_elevated roundness_. - -I have thus annihilated those visionary ramparts which my opponent had -flattered himself he had raised against the intrusion of long-suppressed -truth; and by the help of which, as a military bastion, he had fondly -hoped he might link together the Church and the sword in one _cemented_ -bond of anachronism. Let us see, however, how he would bring about the -match, with the articles of intermarriage, and so forth. - -His assumption is, that "the founders of those Towers were primitive -Coenobites and Bishops, _munificently_ supported in the undertaking by the -newly-converted kings and toparchs; the builders and architects being -those monks and pilgrims who, from Greece and Rome, either preceded or -accompanied our early missionaries in the fifth and sixth centuries"; -which he pretends to substantiate in the following manner. - -Having discovered, by a most miraculous effort of penetration, that one -hundred and fifty Greek and Roman religionists had accompanied St. Abhan -on his return from imperial Rome,--whither he had gone to complete his -theological studies, towards the end of the fifth century,--and not -knowing how to occupy those strangers in this _then pagan_ land, the -Colonel, with his industrious habits, well aware that "idleness is the -mother of mischief," sets them, at once, about building the Towers. - -But as it would be too lavish a display of knight-errantry to waste their -time and strength without some ostensible purpose, he must, of course, -find out for them a pretext, at least, for such; and so, in the eagerness -of his milito-monastic zeal, he flies off, at a tangent, to the top of -Mount Colzoum, near the desert of Gebel,--"a short day's journey from the -Red Sea,"--where he thinks he has got, in the monasteries of the Egyptian -monks, a direct, immediate, and indubitable prototype. - -Reader, you shall be the judge. Here is his own translation of Bonnani's -description of the place, viz.: - -"There are three churches, of which St. Anthony's, which is small and very -old, is the most distinguished; the second is dedicated to the apostles -Peter and Paul; and the third church is raised in honour of St. Macaire, -who has been a lay brother in this convent. All the cells stand separately -from each other; they are _ill built_, the walls being composed of clay, -covered in with flat roofs and diminutive windows only one foot square. -Close to the refectory, which is dark and dirty, the monks have added a -rather decent apartment, in their wonted hospitality, destined to the -reception of visitors. - -"Within the central courtyard, an isolated _square tower_ of masonry, -which is approached by a drawbridge, holds a formidable station. Here the -Cophtes preserve whatever wealth or precious objects they possess; and if -assailed by the plundering Arabs, defend themselves with stones. There are -four more celebrated monasteries in the desert of St. Macaire, distant -about three days' journey from Grand Cairo. The first is the convent of -St. Macaire, which is ancient and in a ruinous state--the bones of the -founder are enshrined in a stone coffin, placed behind an iron gate, -enveloped in a chafe or pluvial (a sort of church ornament), formed into a -canopy. A _square tower_ of stone, which you enter by a drawbridge, is the -only solid building belonging to the Abbey that remains. The friars store -their books and their provisions, and obstinately defend themselves in -this _hold_, whenever the wild Arabs come to pay them a predatory visit. - -"There are _similar_ (square) towers attached to the three other -monasteries in the desert, the doors of which, and of the convent of St. -Macaire, are alike covered with iron plates," etc. - -To the candid and dispassionate reader,--who has gone through this -extract, and who is told that _this_ is the _basis_ upon which Colonel de -Montmorency builds his superstructure of monastic appropriation,--to such -I fearlessly appeal whether he will not scout the indignity with -_intellectual_ scorn. - -Here are edifices spread, _in numbers_, over our island, in unity of -design and elegance of execution, admitted by this writer himself as "the -most imposing objects of antiquity in all Christendom," and "placed by an -almost supernatural power to brave the stormy winds and the wrath of -time"; yet, in the same breath, made the counterparts of a _few trumpery_, -_temporary_, and _crazy_ old piles, which were originally erected as -military stations, totally distinct from religion or religious -uses--similar to those erected by Helena, mother to Constantine the Great, -on the coast of Syria, against piratical incursions, and analogous to what -we find in India, viz. a whole fortress converted into a conventual -establishment. The thing is absurd,--it is revolting to _common -sense_,--and bears on its forehead its own discomfiture. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -Observe, then, the structures which he compares are altogether different; -one being _square_, and the other round. Nor, in the whole _compass_ of -_possible analogies_, is there a single feature in which the two _classes_ -of edifices could be _said_ to correspond, but that they both have their -doors--which, by the way, are different in their form--at a distance from -the ground. The _Pyramids_ of Egypt bear the same correspondence,--their -entrance being one-third of the height from the surface,--and why does not -the Colonel bestow _them_ also upon the monks? No; those poor, denuded, -inoffensive, exemplary, _unearthly_ victims of maceration were incapable -of, either the masonic acme, or--at the era which Montmorency -particularises--of the corporate influence and pecuniary or equivalent -supplies indispensable for the erection of either "pyramid" or -"tower";--contenting themselves rather with their _lowly cells_, whence -they issued out, at all seasons, to diffuse the word of "life," than in -raising _maypoles_ of stone, within which to garrison their -_inexpressible_ treasures. - -But to reconcile this discrepancy in exterior outfit, he has recourse to a -miracle, which he thus conjures up. "Doubtless, in the _beginning_, when -first those Coenobites settled in the desert, the convent-tower was -round;" then, by a single word, _præsto_,--or "doubtless,"--right-about -face, takes place a metamorphosis, from round to square!--the more -miraculous, in that the _former round_ ones left behind them no vestiges! -Upon which, again, a counter miracle is effected: "The square ones having -subsequently fallen into disuse, the round tower, in after ages," he says, -"appears to have acquired a degree of increased celebrity, especially in -_Europe_, during the preponderance of the feudal system, when every -baronial castle in Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, etc., was -furnished with one or more." Now, has he not before told us, and told us -_truly, by chance_, that the Pillar Tower _scorns_ all kind of affinity -with those "_barbarians_"; whereupon I shall merely observe with the poet, -that - - "If people contradict themselves, can _I_ - Help contradicting them?"[54] - -But, if intended as a place of shelter for either _person_ or _property_, -why build them of such an altitude? Above all things, why not build them -of such internal capacity as to accommodate the _whole_ number of inmates -in each convent, in case of an attack,--as, in fact, those _square_ towers -in the desert used; whereas, "a _dozen bulky persons_" could not squeeze -together into one of our Round Towers; and accordingly, with the -inconsistency inseparable from error, our author himself proclaims that -"it has frequently occurred that the _barbarian_, on finding that he had -been foiled in his search after treasures, though he burned the abbey, and -perpetrated all the mischief he was able, sooner than retire empty-handed, -the _pirate_ seized on the abbot, or most prominent member he found -belonging to the community, and hurried away the unfortunate individual -on board his ship, holding him in durance, till, overcome by ill-usage, he -besought his brethren to come to his relief with a heavy ransom for his -freedom." "It has also often happened," he adds, "that, unable to comply -with the tyrant's exorbitant demands, the monks resigned the captive to -his fate." - -Surely, if they had those _keeps_ to fly to, the "unfortunate" abbot need -not allow himself to be seized at all; and surely, also, if they had all -those treasures upon which the Colonel insists, they would not leave the -father of their "community" unredeemed from so excruciating a degradation. -And hence we may conclude with Dr. Lanigan, "What little credit is due to -the stories of some hagiologists, who talk of great estates granted to our -monasteries and churches in those and even earlier times."[55] Indeed, for -the two first centuries subsequent to the arrival of St. Patrick, such a -thing was incompatible with the nature of the "political compact" in -Ireland. - -I do not deny, however, but that the ecclesiastics of this time did -possess some articles of value appertaining to the altar, and that these -were objects of unholy cupidity to the Danes: nay, further, I admit that, -to escape from the insatiability of those virulent marauders, they used to -fly to the belfries, which--from that mistaken regard attached to the -edifices, as these receptacles of those sonorous organs to which -superstition has ever clung[56]--they had hoped would prove an asylum -from their pursuits,--but in vain--neither religion nor superstition -opposed a barrier to the Northmen, while the frail materials whereof those -belfries were constructed afforded a ready gratification to their appetite -for destruction. - -_The Ulster Annals_, year 949, furnish us with the following -fact:--"Cloicteach Slane do loscadh do Gall Athacliath. Bacall ind -Erlamha, 7 cloc badec do cloccaibh, Caenechair Ferleghinn, 7 sochaide mor -inbi do loscadh." That is, the belfry at Slane was set fire to by the -foreigners (the Danes) of Dublin. The pastor's staff or crozier, adorned -with precious stones, besides the principal _bells_, and Canecar the -lecturer, with a _multitude_ of other persons were burned in the flames. -_The Annals of the Four Masters_, noticing the same event, use nearly -similar words: "Cloicteach Slaine do loscadh can a lan do mhionnaibh 7 -deghdh aoninibh, im Chæinechair Fearleighinn Slaine, Bachall an Eramha 7 -_clocc_ ba deach do chloccaibh." That is, The belfry at Slane was _burned -to the ground_, along with several articles of value which were therein, -and _numbers_ of _individuals_, besides the Slane prælector, the patron's -staff, and all the bells, which were there of _most_ worth. - -Now take notice that within those "belfries" a "_multitude_ of persons" -used to have been collected, whereas the Round Towers could not -accommodate above "a dozen" at one time. The belfries also are represented -to have been reduced to ashes by the conflagration, which accords with the -description given by both Ware and Colgan, of the _wooden_ substance -whereof they were composed; whereas the Round Towers are made of _stone_, -and cemented by a bond of such indurated tenacity, that nothing short of -lightning or earthquake has been known to disturb them:--and even though -other violence may succeed in their overthrow, yet could it not be said -with any accuracy that they were reduced by _fire_ to cinders. But, above -all, those very Annals which I have above quoted, when recording a greater -and national calamity, place the belfries and the Round Towers in the same -sentence, _contradistinguished_ from one another,--the former -characterised by their appropriate name of _Cloicteach_, as exhibited -before, and the latter under the still more apposite denomination of -_Fidhnemeadh_, as we shall explain elsewhere. - -Again, if designed as fortresses for the monks, and receptacles for their -riches, is it not strange that in the isle of Hy,--which was literally a -nest of ecclesiastics, and which Columb Kill himself evangelised at the -time when Montmorency was--in a _dream_--employing him and his coadjutors -at the erection of the Round Towers,--is it not strange, I say, that this -little isle, the most defenceless, as it is, and forlorn of all lands that -ever projected above the bosom of the sea, should yet, in the allotment of -monastic artillery, be left totally destitute of an _aërial_ garrison? - -And yet, notwithstanding the absence of such defences, the monks still -continued to make it their favourite abode; of which we have but too -cogent an evidence in the record of the Four Masters, under the year 985, -stating that the abbot and fifteen of his brethren were slain by the -Northmen on Christmas Day, just as they were preparing to celebrate the -nativity of their Redeemer. - -But those monks spread themselves, in _shoals_, over England also; and we -know that _that_ country was even more infested than our own with both -Northmen and Danes. Is it not astonishing, therefore, that the English -convents were not protected against the sacrilege of those savages by -telescopic steeples of _Babylonish cement_? - -This, it may be said, is applying a steam-engine to crush a flapwing; yet, -as that flapwing has been somewhat troublesome, and has contrived to -blindfold some searchers after antiquarian _truth_, I may be excused if, -to frustrate any efforts at impotent revivals, I shall continue -decapitating the hydra, until he disappears in his own sinuosities. - -He tells us, then, with all the calculation of an engineer and the gravity -of a physician, that a stone let fall from the top of one of those towers -would crush the "barbarian" to atoms. True, it would, and the _civilian_ -also. A little pebble let fall from an eagle's beak, as he cuts his aërial -passage through the cloudy regions, or soars aloft into the empyreal of -interminable space, would have a similar effect; but it would puzzle the -shrewdest engineer in Christendom to place a ballast-man, with a big stone -on his lap, on either the top or the sloping sides of the conical -"caubeen" which graces the summit of our careering cylinders. This, to use -the Colonel's own words, "will be admitted to be contrary to all that is -admissible in the rules of architectural proportions." - -[Illustration: DEVENISH.] - -Next remark that the Colonel keeps those 150 "volunteers" at work upon the -Round Towers in the midst of a raging war;--after he had before affirmed -that they could only be erected in a season of profound peace--for a -complete century. During this whole time they must, of course, have -availed themselves of the assistance of the inhabitants; and is it not -marvellous that, during that long time "the ancient Irishman"--and "Pat's -nae stupid fellow," as the Colonel himself avows--should not have been -able to pick up a single insight into the arcana of the masonic art?--but -that soon as ever the dear externs expired,--who at the period of their -arrival must have been, at least, over twenty years of age each, and who, -to accomplish Montmorency's miracle, must have every one of them lived -just one hundred years more, and then died, all in one day!--is it not -_petrifying_, I say, that soon as ever this appalling catastrophe -occurred, every vestige of those "fairy" masons should have vanished along -with them?--and the country, in a _paralysis_, have forgotten to associate -them with the Towers, as if stupefied with the incantation of a wizard or -a talisman! - -And yet this was not the greatest injustice of which the poor Coenobites -got reason to complain; but it _is_ that, when the people had recovered -from the delirium of their late trance, and began to look abroad for some -"authors" on whom to _father_ those edifices, they unanimously, though -unaccountably, agreed to lay them at the door of the "O'Rorkes" and the -"MacCarthy Mores"! - -It so happens that the last of the MacCarthy Mores was my _own_ maternal -grandfather; and he, venerable and venerated old gentleman, apt as he was, -in the evening of his faded life, to revert to the mutability of worldly -possessions, never for a moment bestowed a solitary thought upon the -alienation of the property of those columnar masonries. Often used he to -mention the Castles of Palace and of Blarney: Castlemain and Glenflesk -used still oftener to grace his talk; but oftener still, and with more -apparent delectation, would he dilate on the _Castle_ of Macroom and the -_Abbey_ of Mucruss,--all, as the creation of _immediate_ or _collateral_ -branches of his family; but never, in the catalogue of his patrimonial -spoliations did he enumerate a Round Tower, or lay a shadow of claim to -their construction. - -To the point, however.--The great miracle after all is, that after the -decease of those "fairy" masters, no one of their native helpmates could -be found able to join together with mechanical skill two pieces of hewn -stone with the intermediate amalgam of adhesive mortar! The thing is so -absurd as to make the Colonel himself in his honesty to exclaim, "Is this -simple process that mighty piece of necromancy which, according to some -authors" (forgetting that he was one of those himself), "that _lively_ -people were unable to comprehend?" It is amusing to see how encomiastic -and commendatory he is of the "Hibernians" when it answers his views; and -how vituperative and condemnatory when it is equally to his purpose. - -The last assumption of this writer, and which I have purposely reserved -until now is an affected parallel of the Irish Culdees with the Egyptian -Cophtes. "Their great piety, austerity, and hospitality announce," he -says, "the existence of one kind of discipline and of kindred religions -between the Cophtes and the Irish Coenobites." That is, because they are -both _pious_, _austere_, and _hospitable_, they must both necessarily -correspond in _religious opinions_ and in _Church forms_! The Indian -Brahmins, say I, are also _pious_, _austere_, and _hospitable_; and why -are they not incorporated in this holy identification? No, Colonel, it -will not do; I see what you are at. You want to insinuate our obligation -to the Greeks for the blessings of the Gospel. A false zeal for mental -emancipation--subsequent to the dislodgment of spiritual encroachment--has -forced into mushroom existence this spurious abortion. Aloof from the -thraldom of Roman or other yoke, the Irish, within themselves, cultivated -the principles of the Christian verity; but it is, in the extreme, -erroneous to say that they derived their _faith_ in that verity through -emissaries of the Grecian Church, from whom they differed as substantially -as light does from darkness. - -I think it very probable indeed that the glad tidings of revelation were -first imparted to Ireland by the lips of St. Paul himself.[57] We have the -names of many Christians existing amongst us before the arrival of either -Pelagius or Patrick. The very terms of the commission, which Pope -Celestine gave to the _former_, being addressed "ad Scotos in Christum -credentes," to the _Irish who believe in Christ_,--prove the good seed had -been laid in the soil before _his_ pontificate. The nation, however, was -yet too much immersed in its old idolatries--and the fascinations of -their former creed had so spellbound the inhabitants as a community--that -those who singled themselves out as converts to the new faith were -obliged, from persecution, to betake themselves to other countries. And -yet _this_ is the moment when paganism was omnipotent throughout this -island, that Colonel de Montmorency has the modesty to tell us that the -"Round Towers" were erected as magazines for the monks! - -To the _Patrician Apostle_, the beloved patriarch of Ireland, was reserved -the glory of maturing the fruit which his predecessors had planted. His -constitutional zeal and absorbing devotion in the service of his Creator -were but the secondary qualifications which pre-eminently marked him out -for so hazardous an enterprise. The primary and grand facility which this -_true hero_ possessed for the attainment of his great design, was his -intimate converse with the manners and language of the natives,--obtained -during his captivity not long before,--which, making way at once to the -_hearts_ of his auditory, was an irresistible passport to their heads and -their understandings. - -In the sequel of this volume it will be fully shown, that when St. Patrick -entered upon his prescribed task,--towards the close of the fifth -century,--the monarch and his court were celebrating their pagan festival, -or preparing for it, on the hill of Tara. Can a nation be called Christian -where the sovereign and court are pagan? Or will a few exceptions from the -mass of the population be indulged with fortresses of imperishable -architecture, while the nation at large took shelter within _wattles_ and -walls of clay?--and that, too, at a moment when Christianity was -considered a name of reproach, and its few solitary abettors constrained -to exile or to degradation! - -No sooner, however, were the simplicities of Christianity expounded to the -natives through the medium of their native tongue, than the refined -organism of the Irish constitution, habituated by discipline to sublime -pursuits, took fire from the blaze of the sacred scintilla, and enlisted -them as its heralds, not only at home but throughout Europe. - -Precisely at this instant it was that all the _ancient_ names of places in -the island--recorded by Ptolemy from other foreign geographers--were -changed and new-modelled; the converts--"_ut in nova deditione_"--not -thinking it sufficient to abandon the forms of their previous belief, and -adopt the more pure one, if they did not obliterate every vestige of -nominal association which could tend to recall their fancies to the -religion which they relinquished. Accordingly, from the names of Juernis, -Macollicon, Rhigia, Nagnata, Rheba, etc., sprang up the names of -Killkenny, Killmalloch, and the thousand other names, commencing with -"Kill," to be met with in every district and subdivision throughout the -country. - -Every corner was now the scene of Christian zeal; and every neophyte -strove to surpass his neighbour in evincing devotion to the newly-revealed -religion. "Kills," or little churches,--from the Latin _cella_, now for -the first time introduced,--were built in the vicinity of every spot which -had before been the theatre of pagan adoration--whether as cromleachs, as -Mithratic caves, or as Round Towers. These were the memorials of _three -distinct species_ of paganism, and were, therefore, now singled out as -appropriate sites for the erection of Christian "Kills," the ruins of -which are still to be traced, contiguous to _each_ of those idolatrous -reminiscences,--disputing with the false divinities the very ground of -their worship, and diverting the zeal of the worshippers from the creature -to the Creator. - -Nay, to such a pitch did the crusaders, in their conflict, carry the -principle of their enthusiasm, that many of them adopted the names of -their late idols, and intertwined _those_ again--now Christianly -appropriated--with the _old_ favourite denominations of many of the -localities. For instance, St. Shannon assumed _that_ name from the _river_ -Shannon, which was an object of deification some time before; and St. -Malloch adopted _this_ name from the city of Malloch, that is, the Sun, or -Apollo,--the supreme idol of pagan Ireland's adoration,--from which again, -with the prefix "Kill," he made the name Kill-_malloch_,--the latter alone -having been the ancient name of the place, converted by Ptolemy into -"Macollicon"; which is only giving his Greek termination, _icon_, to the -Irish word _Malloch_, and transposing, for sound's sake, the two middle -syllables. - -Chaildee was the pious but appropriate epithet by which those patriarchs -of Christianity thought fit to distinguish themselves. The word means -_associate of God_. Having obtained the gospel from the see of Rome, they -adhered implicitly--yet without conceding any _superiority_--to the Roman -connection--agreeing in all the grand essentials of vital belief, and -differing only as to some minor points of ecclesiastical discipline. - -This variance, however, has afforded handle to some lovers of -controversial doubt to maintain that Ireland was never beholden to Rome -for the gospel. The fallacy is disproved by the fact of all our early -neophytes betaking themselves, for perfection in the mysteries of -revelation, to the Roman capital. On one of which occasions it was that -Montmorency himself brought over his hundred and fifty volunteers, to -accompany back one of those converted students, who had gone there to -learn the very minuteness of the doctrine which the Romans inculcated. - -It was not, remember, for ordinary or secular education that they betook -themselves to Rome. The academies of Ireland far surpassed it in -splendour. It was solely and exclusively to learn the particulars of their -faith; and having once obtained this insight, they continued in spiritual -unison with the tenets of that Church, as to all fundamental points of -doctrine; never surrendering, however, the independence of their judgment, -nor bowing before the "_ipse dixit_" of any tribunal,--where _reason_ was -to be the guide,--until forced by the conspiracy of Pope Adrian IV. and -his countryman Henry II. - -How contemptible, therefore, is the effort, in the teeth of this exposure, -to identify the Irish Chaildees with the Egyptian Cophtes! There was no -one point in which they may be compared, except their mutual _poverty_; -which, however, Montmorency overlooks, or rather contradicts, making them -both wealthy, and have _banks_ even for their riches. As, however, I look -upon Dr. Hurd[58] as somewhat a better authority, you shall have what he -says upon the subject-- - -"Among the Ethiopians, there are still to be found some monks, called -Coptics, who first flourished in Egypt, but, by no difficult sort of -gradation, made their way into Ethiopia. They profess the utmost -_contempt_ for all _worldly things_, and look upon themselves as a sort of -terrestrial angels. They are obliged to _part with all their possessions -before they can enter upon a monastic life_." - -Their discrepancy in doctrine is even still more notorious, agreeing with -the Chaildees only in a _single_ instance also; namely, in _both_ denying -the supremacy of the Pope. Here are the Doctor's words: "They deny the -papal supremacy, and, indeed, _most parts_ of the popish doctrine, -particularly transubstantiation, purgatory, _auricular confession_, -_celibacy_ of the _clergy_, and _extreme unction_;" all which, save the -first, the Irish Chaildees maintained in _common with the see of Rome_. - -And now, on the point of education, I will content myself with -Montmorency's own testimony, which is to this effect, viz.: "Only on the -score of erudition it must be acknowledged that the _Irish theologian_, as -history asserts, did not only _excel_ the modern Greek and Egyptian, but -his profound acquaintance with the _sciences_, _arts_, and _laws of his -country_, gave him an _unrivalled superiority_ in the _literary_ and -civilised world." - -What, Colonel! are those the "barbarians"? Is _this_ what you mean by not -being _conveniently situated_ within the _enlightened_ and _enlivening_ -influence of Greek and Roman refinement? Alas! you knew but little of the -real statement of the case; whilst the illustrious Fenelon, himself a -descendant of this boasted Rome, thus more accurately avows, "that, -notwithstanding all the _pretended politeness_ of the Greeks and Romans, -yet, as to moral virtue and religious obligations, they were no better -than the savages of America." - -I have been thus hurried on by the train of my thoughts, without observing -much of order or methodical arrangement. As my object is, however, the -elucidation of truth,--not idle display, or vainglorious exhibition,--I am -sure my readers will scarce murmur at the course by which I shall have led -them to that end; in a question, moreover, where so many adventurers have -so miserably miscarried. - - So much the rather, thou celestial light, - Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers - Irradiate. There plant eyes; all mist from thence - Purge and disperse; that I may see and tell - Of things invisible to mortal sight.[59] - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -Having thus disposed of the word "Cloic-teach," which Dr. Ledwich so -relied upon, as determining the character of these antique remains, I take -leave, evermore, to discard the misnomer, and draw attention to a name -which I have never seen noticed as applied to any of those pyramidal -edifices. That which I allude to is "Cathoir ghall," which means the -"Cathedral or temple of brightness" ("and _delight_"[60]); not, I must -premise, from any external daubing with which modern Vandalism may have -thought proper to incrust it,--as happened to that at Swords,--but in -evident reference to the solar and lunar light--the sources of life and -generation--therein contemplated, at once, and interchangeably venerated. - -The particular Tower to which this epithet had been assigned--and which it -obtained, by way of eminence, for its colossal superiority--is not now -standing.[61] It rose about half a mile distant from the old castle of -Bally Carbery, in the barony of Iveragh, and county of Kerry; a place -where one would hope that the true designation of such phenomena would be -preserved most pure, being aloof from the influence of exotic refinements, -and, thus far, free from that maudlin _scepticism_ and laboured _doubt_ -which a "little learning" too frequently superinduces. - - "Dear, lovely bowers of innocence and ease,-- - Seats of my youth, when ev'ry sport could please,-- - How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green, - When humble happiness endear'd each scene! - How often have I paused on every charm,-- - The shelter'd cot, the cultivated farm! - While all the village train, from labour free, - Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree."[62] - -No combination of letters could possibly approach closer, or convey to a -discerning mind greater affinity of meaning to anything, than does the -above name to the description given of them in the twelfth century by -Giraldus Cambrensis, who calls them "_turres ecclesiasticas_, quæ, more -patriæ, arctæ sunt et altæ, nec non et rotundæ." This definition, vague as -it may seem, affords ample illumination, when compared with the epithet -which I have above adduced, to penetrate the darkness of this literary -nebula. The word "_turres_" points out their constructional symmetry, and -"_ecclesiasticas_" their appropriation to a religious use; and what can -possibly be in stricter consonance with the tenor of this idea than -"Cathaoir ghall," or the Temple of Brightness, which I have instanced -above as the _vernacular_ appellation of one of those sanctuaries? - -Should it be asked, why did not Cambrensis, at the time, enter more fully -into the minutiæ of their detail? I shall unhesitatingly answer, it was -because he knew nothing more about them. The Irish had at that moment most -lamentably dwindled into a degenerate race. The noble spirit of their -heroic ancestors, which had called forth those pyramids, for the _twofold_ -and _mingled_ purpose of _religion_ and _science_, had already evaporated; -and all the historian could glean, in prosecuting his inquiries as to -their era and cause, was that their antiquity was so remote, that some of -them may be even seen immersed beneath the waters of Lough Neagh,[63] -which had been occasioned many ages before by the overflowing of a -fountain.[64] - -Let us now turn to the annals of the "Four Masters," which record the -destruction of Armagh, A.D. 995, by a flash of lightning, and see under -what name they include the Round Towers in the general catastrophe. Here -is the passage at full length, as given by O'Connor--"_Ardmaeha do lose do -tene saighnein, ettir tighib, 7[65] Domhuliacc, 7 Cloic teacha, 7 -Fiadh-Neimhedh_"; that is, Armagh having been set on fire by lightning, -its houses, its cathedrals, its belfries, and its _Fiadh-Neimhedh_, were -all destroyed. - -The _Ulster Annals_ have registered the same event in the following -words:--"_Tene diait do gabail Airdmaeha conafarcaibh Dertach, na -Damliacc, na h Erdam, na Fidh-Nemead ann cen loscadh_"; that is, Lightning -seized upon Armagh, to so violent a degree, as to leave neither mansion, -nor cathedral, nor belfry, nor _Fiadh-Nemeadh_, undemolished. - -Here we find _Fiadh-Nemeadh_ to occur in both accounts, while the belfries -are represented in one place as _Cloic teacha_, and in the other as -_Erdam_, and in both are opposed to, and contradistinguished from, the -_Fiadh-Nemeadh_. Our business now is to investigate what this latter word -conveys; and though I do not mean, for a while, to develop its _true -interpretation_,--of which I am the sole and exclusive depositary,--yet -must I make it apparent, that by it--whatever way it must be rendered--all -before me have understood, were emphatically designated our Sabian Towers. -Thus Colgan in his _Acts_, p. 297, referring to these words of the Four -Masters, says: "Anno 995, Ardmaeha cum _Basilicis_, _Turribus_, _aliisque -omnibus edificiis_, incendio ex fulmine generato, tota vastatur." - -O'Connor also, wishing to wrest its import to his favourite theory of -there having been _gnomons_, while ignorant of its proper force, indulges -in a conjecture of the most lunatic _ostentation_, and translates -_Fiadh-Nemeadh_ by _celestial indexes_. - -But though the word does not _literally_ signify either "Towers"--as -Colgan, for want of a better exposition, has set forth--or "celestial -indexes"--as O'Connor, equally at a loss for its proper meaning, has -ventured to promulgate, yet is it indisputable that it stood as the -representative of those _enigmatical_ edifices, as well as that both -writers had the same structures in view as comprehended under the tenor of -this _mysterious_ denomination.[66] - -These annals I look upon in three different lights as invaluable -documents--firstly, as they prove the existence of those edifices at the -date above assigned; secondly, as they show that they were distinct things -from the belfries--whether cloicteach or erdam--which shared their -disaster; and, thirdly, because that, even admitting of O'Connor's -mistranslation, it gives us an insight into their character more -fortuitous than he had anticipated. _Celestial indexes!_[67] Could any one -be so silly as for a moment to suppose that this was a mere allusion to -the circumstance of their height? No; it was no such casual epithet, or -witty effort of hyperbole; but it was, what Sallust has so truly said of -the Syrtes, "_nomen ex re inditum_." - -The identity between this island and the "Insula Hyperboreorum" of -Hecatæus being to be completely established in an ensuing chapter,--the -_bungling_ of natives and the _claims_ of externs notwithstanding,--I -shall not hesitate to assume as _proved_, that ours was the "island" -described. - -Allow me then to draw your attention to an extract from Diodorus's -_report_ thereof:--"They affirm also," says he, "that _the moon_ is so -seen from this island, that it _appears not so distant_ from the _earth_, -and _seems_ to _present on its disk certain projections like the mountains -of our world_. Likewise that the _God Apollo_ in person visits this island -once in _nineteen_ years, in which the _stars_ complete their -_revolutions_, and return into their old positions; and hence this _cycle_ -of _nineteen years_ is called, by the Greeks, the great year." - -Who is it that collates this description with the "celestial indexes"[68] -above produced, that is not, at once, struck with the felicity of the -coincidence? On earth, what could _celestial indexes_ mean but such as -were appropriated to the contemplation of the heavenly bodies?--just as -the name of "Zoroaster"--which, in the Persian language, signifies -"coelorum observator," that is, star-gazer, or observer of the -heavens--was given to Zerdust, the great patriarch of the Magi, from his -eminence and delight in astronomical pursuits. - -Now, "the moon being so seen from this island that it appears not so -distant from the earth," is so obvious a reference to the study of -astronomy that it would be almost an insult to go about to prove it; but -when it is said that "it presents on its disk certain _projections_ like -the mountains of our world," it not only puts that question beyond the -possibility of dispute, but argues furthermore a proficiency in that -department, which it is the fashion _now-a-days_ to attribute only to -_modern_ discoveries. - -But have we any evidence of having ever had amongst us, in those "olden -times," men who by their talents could support this character? Hear what -Strabo says of _Abaris_, whom "Hecatæus and others mention" as having been -sent by his fraternity from the "_island_ of the Hyperboreans" to Delos, -in Greece, in the capacity of a sacred ambassador, where he was equally -admired for his knowledge, politeness, justice, and integrity. "He came," -says Strabo, "to Athens, not clad in skins like a _Scythian_, but with a -bow in his hand, a quiver hanging on his shoulders, a plaid wrapt about -his body, a gilded belt encircling his loins, and trousers reaching from -the waist down to the soles of his feet. He was easy in his address, -agreeable in his conversation, active in his despatch, and secret in his -management of great affairs; quick in judging of present occurrences, and -ready to take his part in any sudden emergency; provident withal in -guarding against futurity; diligent in the quest of wisdom; fond of -friendship; trusting _very little_ to _fortune_, yet having the entire -confidence of others, and trusted with everything for his prudence. He -spake Greek with a fluency, that you would have thought he had been bred -up in the Lyceum, and conversed all his life with the Academy of -Athens."[69] - -This embassy is ascertained to have taken place B.C. 600; and from what -shall be elsewhere said of the "island of the Hyperboreans"--coupled with -the circumstance of the orator Himerius having called this individual a -Scythian, which Strabo would seem to have insinuated also--we can be at no -loss in tracing him to his proper home. - - "Far westward lies an isle of ancient fame, - By nature blessed, and Scotia is her name; - An island rich--exhaustless in her store - Of veiny silver and of golden ore; - Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow, - Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow, - Her waving furrows float with verdant corn, - And _Arms_ and _Arts_ her envied sons adorn." - -Such is the description of Ireland given by Donatus, bishop of Etruria, in -802; and I have selected it among a thousand other authorities of similar -import, to show that Scotia or Scythia was one, and the _last_, of the -_ancient_ names of this country;[70] while the name of "Hyperborean" was -the distinctive character assigned thereto, not only as descriptive of its -locality towards the north, but as worshipping the wind Boreas. - -Did I not apprehend it might be considered irrelevant to the scope of this -work, I could easily prove that the amity, said by Hecatæus to have been -cemented on the occasion of the visit above alluded to, was not that of a -mere return of courteous civilities for a casual intercourse, but one of a -far more tender and _familiar_ nature, viz. the recognition on both sides -of their mutual descent from one common origin: the same people who had -settled in this country, and imported the mysteries of their magic -priesthood, being akin to the first settlers on the coasts of Greece, -which they impregnated with similar initiation. I am anticipated, of -course, to have meant the Pelasgi, who, under another name, belonged to -the same hive as the Indo-Scythæ, or Chaldean Magi, or -Tuath-de-danaan,--_as the head tribe thereof were called_,--who, having -effected an establishment on _this_ happy isle, aloof from the intrusion -of external invasion or internal butcheries, were allowed to cultivate the -_study_ of their _favourite rites_, the fame and eminence of which had -obtained for its theatre, of all nations, the designation of "sacred." But -I fear it would be encroaching upon the patience of my readers, and -besides anticipating, in point of order, what may by and by follow. - -An inconsistency, however, appears in the details, which I cannot here -well overlook. It is this. Himerius has called this our ambassador a -"Scythian"; and Strabo has affirmed, that he was "not clad like a -Scythian." How, then, shall I cut this knot? Thus. Abaris, as his name -implies, was one of the Boreades, or priests of Boreas, belonging to the -Tuath-de-danaan colony in this island, who were subdued about six hundred -years before this event by the Scythians, whose dress, as well as manners, -differed in all particulars from those of their religious and learned -predecessors. - -But though the Scythians, from state policy, had suppressed the -temple-worship when they deposed from the throne their antecedent -Hyperboreans, they were but too sensible of their literary value not to -profit by their services in the department of education. Hence it came to -pass, that the Boreades were still indulged with their favourite costume, -while the inferior communities were obliged to conform to the rules and -the fashions of the ascendant dynasty. In a short time, however, the -Scythian Druids superseded the Danaan Boreades, by the influence of their -own instruction; and the consequence was that of that graceful garb, in -the folds of which our ancient high priests officiated at the altar, or -exhibited in the senate, not a single vestige is now to be traced except -in the word God, _Phearagh_, whom I shall anon introduce, and in the -highlands of Scotland, where a remnant of those Hyperborean or Danaan -priests took shelter from the ruthless Picts, resigning to those -remorseless and intolerant persecutors the ground of the only two temples -which they were able there to raise, as the last resort of their hopes, -and the solace of their exile.[71] - -Nor is it alone as accounting for the circumstance of costume that the -above explanation deserves the reader's regard. An additional insight is -afforded, by its enabling us to account for that boundless superiority -which, the Irish Druids possessed over all other bodies of the same -denomination all over the world. Originally, the Druids were an humble set -of men, without science, without letters, without pretensions to -refinement; but having succeeded here to the fraternity of the -accomplished Danaan Boreades, who, in the revolution of affairs, were -forced to communicate their acquirements to the opposite but prevailing -priesthood, those latter so far profited by the ennobling opportunity, as -to eclipse all other Druids, as well in Europe as in Africa. - -Cæsar, in his _Commentaries_, bears direct testimony to their astronomical -research, saying: "Multa præterea de sideribus atque eorum motu, de mundi -ac terrarum magnitudine, de rerum naturâ ac deorum immortalium vi ac -potestate disputant ac juventuti transdunt."--_De Bel. Gal._ lib. 1-6, c. -xiv. Pomponius Mela, also confirming the fact, says: "Hi terræ mundique -magnitudinem ac forman, motus coeli ac siderum, ac quid Dii velint scire, -profitentur."--_De Situ Orbis_, lib. 3, c. ii. These two latter -authorities, I admit, were more immediately directed to the _Druids_ of -Britain; but as it is agreed on all hands that _that_ body of -religionists had received the seeds of their instruction from the Irish -_Magi_, who were infinitely their superiors in _all_ literary -accomplishments, I think we may be warranted in extending the commendation -to Ireland also, as the writers indubitably _included_ it under the -_general name_ of _Britain_. - -But were all _external_ testimonies silent on the matter, and mercenary -vouchers even assert the reverse, the internal evidence of our language -itself, a language so truly characterised as "more than three thousand -years old," would afford to the ingenious and disinterested inquirer the -most convincing proof of the ground which I have assumed. In that -language--and the writer of this essay _ought_ to know _something_ of -it--there is scarcely a single term appertaining to time, from _la_ a day, -derived from _liladh_, to turn round,--in allusion to the diurnal -revolution,--up to _bleain_, a year, compounded of _Bel_, the sun, and -_Ain_, a circle, referring to its annual orbit, that does not, in its -formation and construction, associate the idea with the planetary courses, -and thereby evince, not only an astronomical taste, but that astronomy was -the "ruling passion" of those who spoke it. - -"The Irish language," says Davies, an intelligent and respectable Welsh -writer, "appears to have arrived at maturity amongst the Iapetidæ, while -they were yet in contact with Aramæan families, and formed a powerful -tribe in Asia Minor and in Thrace. It may, therefore, in particular -instances, have more similitude or analogy to the Asiatic dialects than -what appears in those branches of the Celtic that were matured in the west -of Europe. Those who used this language consisted partly of Titans, of -Celto-Scythians, or of those Iapetidæ who assisted in building the city -of Babel, and must have been habituated, after the dispersion, to the -dialects of the nations through which they passed, before they joined the -society of their brethren." We thank this learned author for the -flattering notice which he has been pleased to take of us; and though, in -his subsequent remarks, he steers far wide of our true pedigree, yet a -concession so important as that even here adduced, must command at least -our becoming acknowledgments. - -The splendid examples which we have had of primitive teachers of -Christianity in this kingdom, and whom Ledwich himself, reluctant as he -was to afford ordinary justice to Irish merit, is obliged to praise, were -not more remarkable for the sanctified zeal and enthusiastic devotion with -which they propagated the Gospel, than they were for the diversified range -of their literary acquirements, and the moral sublimity of their ideas and -conceptions.[72] Speaking of a production belonging to one of these -worthies, Ledwich remarks: "In this tract we can discover Cumman's -acquaintance with the doctrine of time, and the chronological characters. -He is no stranger to the solar, lunar, and bissextile years, to the -epactal days, and embolismal months, nor to the names of the Hebrew, -Macedonian, and Egyptian months. To examine the various cyclical systems, -and to point out their construction and errors, required no mean -abilities: a large portion of Greek and Latin literature was also -necessary."[73] - -Here I would have it distinctly noticed, that the above-mentioned -individuals who shone in the galaxy of our early Christian constellations, -had been but just converted from paganism by St. Patrick, and consequently -were not indebted for this "learned lore" to the Romish missionaries, but -to the more elevated genius of their native institutions. This it was that -enabled them to make those astronomical observations which our annals -commemorate; and who can say, amidst the decay of time, the ravages of -persecution, and the fury of fanaticism, what tomes of such labours has -not the world lost? Some few, however, remain, of which we shall adduce -some by way of specimen. Solar eclipses of 495, 664, 810, 884; lunar, of -673, 717, 733, 807, 877; solar and lunar, 864; a comet 911, are recorded -in our annals. - -Those of the "Four Masters" additionally record certain extraordinary -celestial phenomena in 743:--"Visæ sunt stellæ quasi de coelo cadere." -Again, in 744, they observe: "Hoc anno stellæ item de coelo frequentes -deciderunt"; while it cannot be too diligently noted, "that, when the rest -of Europe, as Vallancey so justly remarked, through ignorance or -forgetfulness, had no knowledge of the _true figure_ of the earth, in the -eighth century, the rotundity and true formation of it should have been -taught in the Irish schools," which we shall by and by more pointedly -advert to. - -It thus appears manifest that the Irish must, at one time, have not only -possessed, but excelled in, the science of astronomy. How did they acquire -it? is the next question. "Ad illa mihi pro se quisque acriter intendat -animum." In that passage of Diodorus, to which I have already referred, we -find the following appropriate characteristic:--"It is affirmed that -Latona was born there, and that, therefore, the worship of Apollo is -preferred to that of any other God; and as they daily celebrate this deity -with songs of praise, and worship him with the highest honours, they are -considered as _peculiarly_ the _priests_ of Apollo, whose sacred grove and -_singular_ temple of _round form_, endowed with many gifts, are there." - -Now, it is universally known that Apollo, which, "according to the learned -Pezron, is no other than Ap-haul, or the son of the Sun," was understood -by the ancients only essentially to typify that powerful planet, "which -animates and imparts fecundity to the universe, whose divinity has been -accordingly honoured in every quarter by temples and by altars, and -consecrated in the religious strains of all nations" and all climes. - -His being peculiarly worshipped in this island only shows the intimate -knowledge it possessed of the mysteries of the _solar system_; and that -near converse which we have been already told it possessed with the moon, -is confirmation the most positive of this explanation. - -Let me here again recall to the reader's mind the name of _Cathaoir -Ghall_, or _temple of brightness_, which I have before adduced, and when -we compare _all_ with the _celestial indexes_ recorded in our annals, the -conclusion is inevitable, _that the Round Towers of Ireland were -specifically constructed for the two-fold purpose of worshipping the Sun -and Moon_--as the authors of generation and vegetative heat--_and, from -the nearer converse which their elevation afforded, of studying the -revolutions and properties of the planetary orbs_. Let me, however, before -elucidating the era of their actual erection, with their _Phallic_ form -and their further use, revert to the Mosaic history for the _groundwork_ -of my development. - - "And chiefly thou, O Spirit! that dost prefer - Before all temples th' upright heart and pure, - Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first - Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, - Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, - And mad'st it pregnant. What in me is dark, - Illumine! what is low, raise and support! - That to the height of this great argument - I may assert eternal Providence, - And justify the ways of God to man."[74] - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -Nimrod, the son of Cush, "the mighty hunter before the Lord," was the -first person,[75] according to Vossius,[76] who introduced the worship of -the _sun_ as a deity. Disgusted with the roving character of his previous -life, and tired of peregrination, he resolves to build himself a permanent -abode, and persuades his followers to embark in the design, "lest they be -scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."[77] Mankind had -already relapsed into the follies of their antediluvian ancestors. The -awful lesson of the watery visitation was read to them in vain, and again -they verified what God had before that memorable epoch with sorrow -declared, "that every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only -evil continually."[78] - -In Babel, the city thus agreed upon to be built, as the anchor of their -stability and the basis of their renown,--we find a "_Tower_" mentioned, -"whose top may _reach_," says our version (but should it not rather be -_point_?) _towards heaven_. - -What was the object of this architectural elevation? - -Not certainly, as some have supposed, as a place of refuge in apprehension -of a second deluge; for in that case, it is probable, they would have -built it on an eminence, rather than on a _plain_, _whereas_ the Bible -expressly tells us they had selected the latter. - -Much less could it be, what the poets have imagined, for the purpose of -scaling the celestial abodes, and disputing with Jehovah the composure of -His sovereignty. - -What, then, was it intended for? - -Undoubted as an acknowledgment, however vitiated and depraved, of -dependence upon that Being, whose acts shine forth in universal love, but -whose spiritual adoration was now partially lost sight of, or _merged_ in -the homage thus primarily tendered to the _lucid offspring_ of his -_omnipotent fiat_. - -This tower, so erected by Nimrod, in opposition to the established system -of religious belief, and which, therefore--but from a _nobler_ reason than -what was generally imagined, viz. his researches in astronomy, and the -application thereto of instruments--procured him the appellation of -_rebel_ from _nemh_, heaven, and _rodh_, an assault, was, I hesitate not -to say, a temple constructed to the celestial host, the sun, moon, and -stars, which constituted the substance of the _Sabian idolatry_.[79] - -Shinaar, in Mesopotamia, was the theatre of this dread occurrence--this -appalling spectacle at once of man's weakness and God's omnipotence:--Here -the Noachidæ had been then fixed; and the name by which this innovation -upon their previous usages is transmitted, viz. _Ba-Bel_, corroborates the -destination above assigned.[80] - -The word "Baal," in itself an appellative, at first served to denote the -true God amongst those who adhered to the true religion; though, when it -became common amongst the idolatrous nations, and applied to idols, He -rejected it. "And it shall be in that day that you shall call me Ishi, and -shall call me no more Baali."[81] Another name by which the _Godhead_ was -recognised was Moloch. The latter, indeed, in accuracy of speech was the -name assigned him by the Ammonites and Moabites--both terms, however, -corresponded in sense, "Moloch" signifying king, and "Baal" Lord, that is, -of the heavens; whence transferring the appellation to the Sun, as the -_source_ and _dispenser_ of all _earthly favours_, he was also called -Bolati, _i.e._, "Baal the _bestower_," as was the moon, Baaltis, from the -same consideration: whilst the direct object of their internal regard was -not, undoubtedly, that globe of fire which illumines the firmament and -vivifies terrestrials, but, physically considered, _nature_ at large, the -_fructifying germ_ of universal _generativeness_. - -The Sun, it is true, as the source of light and heat, came in as -_representative_ for all this adoration. Thus viewed, then, it would -appear that the origin of the institution may have been comparatively -harmless. God being invisible, or only appearing to mortals through the -medium of His acts, it was natural that _man_, left to the workings of -unaided reason, should look on yon mysterious luminary with mingled -sentiments of gratitude and awe. We have every reason, accordingly, to -think, that solar worship at first was only emblematical, recognising, in -the effulgence of the orb of day, the creative power of Him, the - - "Father of all, in every age, - In every clime adored, - By saint, by savage, and by sage, - _Jehovah_, _Jove_, or _Lord_"-- - -who sent it forth on its _beneficent_ errand. - -As such, originally they had no temples dedicated to the occasion; they -met in the open air, without the precincts of any earthly shrine: there -they poured forth their vows and their thanksgivings, under the aërial -canopy of the vaulted expanse; nor can it be denied but that there was -something irresistibly impressive in such an assemblage of pious votaries, -paying their adoration to the throne of light in the natural temple of his -daily splendours.[82] - -The degeneracy of man, however, became manifest in the sequel, and, from -the frequency of the act, the type was substituted in room of the thing -typified. "Solum in coelis deum putabant solem," says Philobibliensis, in -his interpretation of Sanchoniathon. Nor did it stop here, but, proceeding -in its progress of melancholy decay, swept before it the barriers of -reason and moral light; and, from the bright monarch of the stars, who -rules the day, the seasons, and the year, with perpetual change, yet -uniform and identical, bowed before the grosser element of _material -fire_, as his symbol or corporeal representative. - -But the worst and most lamentable is yet untold. The sign again occupied -the place of the thing signified, and the human soul was prostrated, and -human life often immolated, to propitiate the favour of earthly fire, now -by transition esteemed a god. They had, it is true, from a _faint_ -knowledge of the sacred writings, and a perverted exercise of that -inspired authority, something like an excuse for, at least, a decent -attention in the ordinary management of that useful article. In Lev. vi. -13 it is said: "The fire upon the altar shall ever be burning, it shall -never go out." This injunction given by the Lord to Moses, to remind His -people of the constant necessity of sacrifice and prayer, the Gentiles -misconstrued into reverence for the fire itself, and "quoniam omnes pravi -dociles sumus," hence the ready admission with which the doctrine was -embraced, and the general spread of that which was at first but partial -and figurative. - -Indeed we find that God Himself had appeared to Moses in a "flame of fire -in the midst of a bush" (Ex. iii. 2), and in presence of the whole -Israelitish host (Ex. xix. 18). "The Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, as -the smoke of a furnace;" while in Ex. xiii. 21, it is declared that "the -Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a -pillar of fire, to give them light." So accordingly we find Elijah, 1 -Kings xviii. 24, when challenging the priests of the false divinities, -propose a decision by fiery ordeal. "Call you on the name of your gods," -he says, "and I will call upon the name of the Lord: and the God that -answereth by _fire_, let him be God; and all the people answered, it is -well spoken." - -The infidels, therefore, who could not concede any superiority to the -religion of the Hebrews, and yet could not deny those manifestations of -divine support, thought they best proved their independence by instituting -a rivalship, and got thereby the more confirmed in their original -idolatry. Their bloody sacrifices themselves originated, we may suppose, -in some similar way. God must, undoubtedly, have prescribed that rite to -Adam, after his fall in Paradise, else how account for the "skins" with -which Eve and he had covered themselves? The beasts to which they belonged -could not have been slain for food; for it was not till a long time after -that they were allowed to eat the flesh of animals. We may, therefore, -safely infer that it was for a sin-offering they had been immolated; and -the subsequent reproof given to Cain by the rejection of his oblation, -evidently for the non-observance of the exact mode of sacrifice -prescribed, coupled with the command issued to Abraham, to try his -obedience, by offering up his own son, are undeniable proofs of the truth -of this inference. - -In "Ur" of the Chaldees, a name which literally signifies "fire," the -worship of that element first originated. Thence it travelled in its -contaminating course, until all the regions of the earth got impregnated -therewith. In Persia, a country with which _this island_ had, of old, the -most _direct communication_, we also find a city denominated "Ur"; and who -does not know that the Persians, having borrowed the custom from the -Chaldean priests, regarded fire with the utmost veneration? Numerous as -were the deities which that nation worshipped, "fire," on every occasion, -in every sacrifice--like the Janus of the Romans--was invoked the first. -Their Pyrea, in which they not only preserved it ever burning, but -worshipped it as a deity, have been noticed by Brisson--but without the -necessary adjunct of their being an innovation. - -Even the ordinary fire for culinary or social purposes participated in -some measure in this hallowed regard; as they durst not, without violating -the most sacred rules, and stifling the scruples of all their previous -education, offer it the least mark of impious disregard, or pollute its -sanctity by profane contact. - -It was, however, only as symbolical of the _sun_ that _they_, like the -Chaldeans, paid it this extraordinary reverence--a reverence not limited -to mere religious rules, but which exercised control over and biassed the -decisions of their most important secular transactions. Accordingly, we -learn from Herodotus, lib. vii., as quoted by Cicero in "Verrem," that -when Datis, the prefect of Xerxes' fleet, flushed with the result of his -victory over Naxos and the city of Eretria in Euboea, might easily have -made himself master of the island of Delos, he however passed it over -untouched in honour of that divinity before whom his country had bowed, -having been sacred to Apollo or the sun, and reputedly his birthplace. - -But do I mean to say that the Round Towers of Ireland were intended for -the preservation of the sacred fire? Far, very far indeed, from it. That -_some few_ of them were therewith connected--I say _connected, not -appropriated_--may, I think, be well allowed; nay, it is my candid belief, -so far as belief is compatible with a matter so unauthenticated. But -having all through maintained that they were not all intended for one and -the same object, I must have been understood, of course, by the numerous -supporters of that fashionable proposition as including fire-worship -within the compass of my several views. I put it, however, frankly to the -most _ardent_ supporter of that theory, who for a moment considers the -different _bearings_ and peculiarities of those several structures, -comparing them first with one another, and then with the description of -fire-receptacles which we read of elsewhere, whether he can -dispassionately bring himself to say that all our Round Towers, or indeed -above two of those at present remaining, could have been _even calculated_ -for that purpose? - -Where, let me ask, is it they will suppose the fire to have been placed? -In the bottom? No; the intervening floors, of which the GREATER PORTION -retain evident traces, would not only endanger the conflagration of the -whole edifice, as it is most probable that they were made of wood, but -would also prevent the egress of the smoke through the four windows at the -top, for which use, they tell you, those apertures were inserted. - -But I am answered that the tower of Ardmore, which has within it no -vestiges of divisional compartments, could offer no hindrance to the -ascent of the smoke, or its consequent discharge through the four -cardinal openings. To which I rejoin, that if there had _ever_ been a fire -lighted within that edifice, and continued for any length of time, as the -sacred fire is known to have been kept perpetually burning, it would have -been impossible for the inner surface of that stately structure to -preserve the beautiful and white coating which it still displays through -the mystic revolutions of so many ages. The same conclusion applies to the -tower of Devenish, which, though it has no inside coating, yet must its -elegant polish have been certainly deteriorated, if subjected to the -action of a perpetual smoke. - -[Illustration: ARDMORE.] - -The instance which is adduced of the four temples described by Hanway in -his _Travels into Persia_, proves nothing. It certainly corresponds with -the architectural character of some of our Round Towers, but leaves us as -much in the dark as to the era and use of both as if he had never made -mention of any such occurrence. - -To me it is as obvious as the noon-day sun that _they too_ on examination -would be found of a more comprehensive religious tendency than what could -possibly relate to the preservation of the sacred fire; for it is well -known that when temples were at all appropriated to this consecrated -delusion, it was within a small _crypt_ or _arched vault_--over which the -temple was erected--that it was retained. The Ghebres or Parsees, the -direct disciples of Zoroaster, the reputed author of this improved -institution, "build their temples," says Richardson,[83] "over -_subterraneous fires_." - -Whenever a deviation from this occurred, it was in favour of a low -stone-built structure, all over-arched, such as that which _Hanway met -with at Baku_, and _corresponding in every_ particular with the edifices -of this description to be seen at Smerwick, county Kerry, and elsewhere -throughout Ireland.[84] - -The fire-house which Captain Keppel visited at a later period at Baku, in -1824, was a small square building, erected on a platform, with three -ascending steps on each side, having a tall hollow stone column at every -side, through which the flame was seen to issue, all _in the middle of a -pentagonal enclosure_--comprising also a large altar, whereon naphtha was -kept continually burning. - -Now, could anything possibly _correspond more minutely_ with Strabo's -description of the Pyratheia than does this last account? "They are," he -says, "_immense enclosures_, in the centre of which was erected an altar, -where the Magi used to preserve, as well a quantity of ashes, as the -ever-burning fire itself." And could anything possibly be _more opposite_ -to our Round Towers than all these accounts? - -When, therefore, we are told[85] that at the city of Zezd in Persia--which -is distinguished by the apellation of Darub Abadat, or seat of -religion--the Ghebres are permitted to have an Atush Kidi, or fire-temple, -which they assert had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster, -we must be prepared to understand it as corresponding in architectural -proportion with one or other of the instances just now detailed; and in -truth, from recent discovery, I have ascertained--since the above was -composed--that it is nothing more than a _sorry hut_. - -But Pennant's view of Hindostan is brought forward as at once decisive of -the matter. What says Mr. Pennant, however? "All the people of this part -of India are Hindoos, and retain the _old religion_, with all its -superstition. This makes the pagodas here much more numerous than in any -other part of the peninsula; their form too is different, being chiefly -buildings of a _cylindrical_ or _round tower_ shape, with their tops -either pointed or truncated at the top, and ornamented with something -eccentrical, but frequently with a round ball stuck on a spike: this ball -seems intended to represent the _sun_, an emblem of the deity of the -place." - -To this ascription of this learned traveller I most fully, most heartily -respond. Pagoda is a name invented by the Portuguese, from the Persian -"Peutgheda," meaning a temple of idols, in which they supposed them to -abound, but which in reality were only so many figures or symbols of the -"principle of truth," the "spirit of wisdom," the "supreme essence," and -other attributes of the Godhead, which, I believe, they in a great measure -spiritually recognised. Those structures, therefore, as the very word -implies, had no manner of relation to the sacred fire, but they had to the -sun and moon, the supposed authors of _generation_ and _nutrition_, of -which fire was only the corrupt emblem; and the different forms of their -constructural terminations, similar to those elsewhere described by -Maundrell, some being _pointed_, and some being _truncated_, harmonises -most aptly with the _radial_ and _hemispherical representations_ of the -two celestial luminaries, as well as with that organ of human -_procreation_ which we shall hereafter more particularly identify. These -are the two Baals dwelt so largely upon in the Scriptures--Baal masculine, -the sun, and Baal feminine, the moon, from both of which the Hindoos -derive their fabulous origin. Indeed it was from their extreme veneration -for the "queen of night" that they obtained their very name; Hindoo -meaning, in the Sanscrit language, the moon; and accordingly we find among -them Hindoo-buns, that is, children of the moon, as we do Surage-buns, -children of the sun, the other parent of their fanciful extraction. - -Here then, methinks, we have at once a clue to the character of those -Round Towers so frequent throughout the East, of whose history, however, -the Orientals are as ignorant as we are here of our "rotundities." -Caucasus abounds in those columnar fanes, and it must not be forgotten -that Caucasus has been claimed as the residence of our ancestors. On Teric -banks, hard by, there is a very beautiful and lofty one as like as -possible to some of ours. The door is described as twelve feet from the -ground, level and rather oblong in its form. Lord Valentia was so struck -with the extraordinary similitude observable between some very elegant -ones which he noticed in Hindostan and those in this country, that he -could not avoid at once making the comparison. The inhabitants, he -observes, paid no sort of regard to those venerable remains, but pilgrims -from afar, and chiefly from Jynagaur, adhering to _their old religion_, -used annually to resort to them as the shrines of their ancient worship. -Yet in the ceremonies there performed we see no evidence of their -appropriation to the sacred fire--however _tradition_ may have ascribed -them as once belonging to the Ghebres! Franklin mentions some he has seen -at Nandukan, as do other writers in other sites. In short, all through the -East they are to be met with, and yet all about them is obscurity, doubt, -and mystery, a proof at once of the antiquity of their date, and of their -not being receptacles for fire, which, _if the fact_, could be _there_ no -secret. - -Yes, I verily believe, and I will as substantially establish, that they -were, what has already been affirmed, in reference to those in Ireland, -viz. temples in honour of the sun and moon, the procreative causes of -general fecundity, comprising in certain instances, like them, also the -additional and blended purposes of funeral cemeteries and astronomical -observatories. The Septuagint interpreters well understood their nature -when rendering the "high place of Baal"[86] by the Greek [Greek: stêlê tou -Baal], or Pillar of Baal, that is, the pillar consecrated to the sun; -while the ancient Irish themselves, following in the same train, -designated those structures Bail-toir, that is, the tower of Baal, or the -sun, and the priest who attended them, Aoi Bail-toir, or superintendent of -Baal's tower. Neither am I without apprehension but that the name -"Ardmore," which signifies "the great high place," and where a splendid -specimen of those Sabian edifices is still remaining, was in direct -reference to that religious column; but this _en passant_. - -In the _sepulchral_ opinion I am not a little fortified by the -circumstance of there being found at Benares pyramids corresponding in all -respects, save that of size, to those in Egypt, having also subterranean -passages beneath them, which are said to extend even for miles together. A -column also, besides a sphinx's head, which has been discovered not long -since in digging amid the ruins of an ancient and unknown city, on the -banks of the Hypanis, bearing an inscription which was found to differ on -being compared with Arabic, Persia, Turkish, Chinese, Tartar, Greek, and -Roman letters; but bore "a manifest and close similarity with the -characters observed by Denon on several of the mummies of Egypt," gives -strength to the idea of the identity of the Egyptian religion with that of -the Indians, as it does to the identity of destination of their respective -pyramids. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -Now if there be any one point of Irish antiquity which our historians -insist upon more than another, it is that of our ancestral connection with -the Egyptian kings. In all their legends Egypt is mixed up--in all their -romances Egypt stands prominent, which certainly could not have been so -universal without _something_ at least like foundation, and must, -therefore, remove anything like surprise at the affinity our ancient -religion bore, in many respects, to theirs, since they were both derived -from the same common origin. - -I have already intimated my decided belief of the application of the -Egyptian pyramids to the combined purposes of religion and science. The -department of science to which I particularly referred was astronomy, the -cultivation of which was inseparably involved in all their religious -rites; for despite of the reverence which the Egyptians seemed to pay to -crocodiles, bulls, and others of the brute creation, in those they only -figured forth the several attributes, all infinite, in the divinity; as -their worship, like that of the ancient Irish, was purely planetary, or -Sabian. - -The Indians too have images of the elephant, horse, and other such -animals, chiselled out with the most studious care, and to all intents and -purposes appear to pay them homage; but, if questioned on the subject, -they will tell you that in the sagacity of the former, and the strength -and swiftness of the latter, they only recognise the superior wisdom and -might of the All-good and All-great One, and the rapidity with which his -decrees are executed by his messengers. - -If questioned more closely, they will tell you that the Brahmin is but -reminded by the image of the inscrutable Original, whose pavilion is -clouds and darkness; to him he offers the secret prayer of the heart; and -if he neglects from inadvertence the external services required, it is -because his mind is so fully occupied with the contemplation of uncreated -excellence, that he overlooks the grosser object by which his impressions -were communicated. Then with respect to their subterranean temples or -Mithratic caves, of which we have so many specimens throughout this -island, they affirm that the mysterious temple of the caverns is dedicated -to services which soar as much above the worship of the plain and -uninstructed Hindoo, as Brahma the invisible Creator is above the good and -evil genii who inhabit the region of the sky. The world, whose ideas are -base and grovelling as the dust upon which they tread, must be led by -objects perceptible to the senses to perform the ceremonial of their -worship; the chosen offspring of Brahma are destined to nobler and -sublimer hopes; their views are bounded alone by the ages of eternity. - -These specimens, though brief, will prove that the spirit of the religion -of ancient India and Egypt was not that farrago of mental prostration -which some have imagined. No, the stars, as the abode, or immediate signal -of the Deity, were their primary study; and even to this day, depressed -and humiliated as the Indians are, and aliens in their own country, they -are not without some attention to their favourite pursuit, or something -like an observatory to perpetuate its cultivation. In May, 1777, a letter -from Sir Robert Baker to the President of the Royal Society of London was -read before that body, which details a complete astronomical apparatus -found at Benares, belonging to the Brahmins. - -Such is the remnant of that once enlightened nation, the favourite retreat -of civilisation and the arts, which sent forth its professors into the -most distant quarters of the world, and disseminated knowledge wherever -they had arrived. "With the first accounts we have of Hindostan," says -Crawford, "a mighty empire opens to our view, which in extent, riches, and -the number of its inhabitants, has not yet been equalled by any one nation -on the globe. We find salutary laws, and an ingenious and refined system -of religion established; sciences and arts known and practised; and all of -these evidently brought to perfection by the accumulated experience of -many preceding ages. We see a country abounding in fair and opulent -cities; magnificent temples and palaces; useful and ingenious artists -employing the precious stones and metals in curious workmanship; -manufacturers fabricating cloths, which in the fineness of their texture, -and the beauty and duration of some of their dyes, have even yet been but -barely imitated by other nations. - -"The traveller was enabled to journey through this immense country with -ease and safety; the public roads were shaded with trees to defend him -from its scorching sun; at convenient distances buildings were erected for -him to repose in, a friendly Brahmin attended to supply his wants; and -_hospitality_ and the _laws_ held out assistance and protection to _all -alike_, without prejudice or partiality.... We afterwards see the empire -overrun by a fierce race of men, who in the beginning of their furious -conquests endeavoured, with their country, to subdue the minds of the -Hindoos. They massacred the people, tortured the priests, threw down many -of the temples, and, what was still more afflicting, converted some of -them into places of worship for their prophet, till at length, tired with -the exertion of cruelties which they found to be without effect, and -guided by their interest, which led them to wish for tranquillity, they -were constrained to let a religion and customs subsist which they found it -impossible to destroy. But during these scenes of devastation and -bloodshed, the sciences, being in the sole possession of the priests, who -had more pressing cares to attend to, were neglected, and are now almost -forgotten." - -I have dwelt thus long upon the article of India, from my persuasion of -the intimate connection that existed at one time as to religion, language, -customs, and mode of life between some of its inhabitants and those of -_this_ western island. I have had an additional motive, and that was to -show that the same cause which effected the _mystification_ that overhangs -_our_ antiquities, has operated similarly with respect to _theirs_, and -this brings me back to the subject of the Round Towers, in the _history_, -or rather the _mystery_, of which, in both countries, this result is most -exemplified. - -As to their appropriation, then, to the _sacred_ fire, though I do not -deny that _some_ of them _may_ have been connected with it, yet -unquestionably _too much importance_ has been attached to the _vitrified_ -appearance of Drumboe tower as if necessarily enforcing our acquiescence -in the universality of that doctrine. "At some former time," says the -surveyor, "_very strong fires have been burned_ within this building, and -the inside surface towards the bottom has the appearance of -vitrification." - -I do not at all dispute the _accident_, but while the vitrified aspect -which _this tower_ exhibits is proof irresistible that _no fire ever -entered_ those in which _no such_ vitrification appears, I cannot but -_here too_ express more than a surmise that it was not the "_sacred -fire_," which, when religiously preserved, was not allowed to break forth -in those _volcanoes_ insinuated; but in a _lambent, gentle flame_, -emblematic of that emanation of the spirit of the Divinity infused, as -_light from light_, into the soul of man. - - "Hail, holy Light! offspring of heaven first-born! - Or of th' Eternal co-eternal beam! - May I express thee unblamed? Since God is light, - And never but in unapproached light - Dwelt from eternity; dwelt then in thee, - Bright effluence of bright essence increate! - Or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream, - Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun, - Before the heavens, thou wert, and at the voice - Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest - The rising world of waters dark and deep, - Won from the void and formless infinite."[87] - -But to prove that they were not appropriated to the ritual of -fire-worship, _nay, that their history and occupation had been altogether -forgotten when that ritual now prevailed_, I turn to the glossary of -Cormac, first bishop of Cashel, who, after his conversion to -Christianity, in the fifth century, by St. Patrick, thus declares his -faith:-- - - "Adhram do righ na duile - Do dagh bhar din ar n' daone - Lies gach dream, leis gach dine - Leis gach ceall, leis gach caoimhe." - -That is-- - - "I worship the King of the Elements, - Whose fire from the mountain top ascends, - In whose hands are all mankind, - All punishment and remuneration." - -No allusion here to "_towers_" as connected with that _fire_ so pointedly -adverted to. And lest there should be any doubt as to the _identity_ of -this fire with the religious element so frequently referred to, we find -the same high authority thus critically explain himself in another place: -"dha teinne soinmech do gintis na draoithe con tincet laib moraib foraib, -agus do bordis, na ceatra or teamandaib cacha bliadhna"--that is, the -Druids used to kindle two immense fires, with great incantation, and -towards them used to drive the cattle, which they forced to pass between -them every year. - -Nay, when St. Bridget, who was originally a _pagan vestal_, and -consequently well versed in all the solemnities of the sacred fire, -wished, upon her conversion to Christianity, A.D. 467, to retain this -favourite usage, now sublimated in its nature, and streaming in a more -hallowed current, it was not in a "tower" that we find she preserved it, -but in a cell or low building "like a vault," "which," says Holinshed, -whose curiosity, excited by Cambrensis's report,[88] had induced him to go -and visit the spot, "to this day they call the fire-house." It was a -stone-roofed edifice about twenty feet square, the ruins of which are -still visible, and recognised by all around as once the preservative of -the sacred element. When Cambrensis made mention of this miraculous fire -of St. Bridget, why did he not connect it with the _Round Towers_, which -he mentions elsewhere? He knew they had no connection, and should not be -associated. - -But, forsooth, the Venerable Bede has distinctly mentioned in the _Life of -St. Cuthbert_ that there were numerous _fire receptacles_, remnants of -ancient paganism, still remaining in this island!--Admitted. But does it -necessarily follow that they were the _Round Towers_?[89] No: here is the -enigma solved--they were those _low stone-roofed structures_, similar to -what the Persians call the "Atash-gah," to be met with so commonly -throughout all parts of this country, such as at Ardmore, Killaloe, Down, -Kerry, Kells, etc. etc. The circumstance of St Columbe having for a time -taken up his abode in this last-mentioned one, gave rise to the idea that -he must have been its founder: but the delusion is dispelled by comparing -its architecture with that of the churches which this distinguished -champion of the early Christian Irish Church had erected in Iona,[90] -whose ruins are still to be seen, and bear no sort of analogy with those -ancient receptacles. Struck, no doubt, with some apprehensions like the -foregoing, it is manifest that Miss Beaufort herself, while combating -most strenuously for the Round Towers as _fire receptacles_, had no small -misgiving, nay, was evidently divided as to the security of her position. -"From the foregoing statements," she observes, "a well-grounded conclusion -may be drawn that these _low fabrics_ are seldom found but in connection -with the towers, and were designed for the preservation of the sacred -fire; in some cases the lofty tower may have served for both -purposes."[91] The lofty tower, I emphatically say, was a distinct -edifice. - -Again, when St. Patrick in person went round the different provinces to -attend the pagan solemnities at the respective periods of their -celebration, we find no mention made of any such thing as a "tower" -occupying any part in the ritual of their religious exercises. When he -first presented himself near the Court of Laogaire, not far from the hill -of Tara, on the eve of the vernal equinox, and lit up a fire before his -tent in defiance of the legal prohibition, the appeal which we are told -his Druids addressed to the monarch on that occasion was couched in the -following words:--"This fire which has to-night been kindled in our -presence, before the flame was lit up in your _palace_, unless -extinguished this very night, shall never be extinguished at all, but -shall triumph over all the fires of our ancient rites, and the lighter of -it shall scatter your kingdom." In this notification, as I translate it -from O'Connor's _Prolegomena_, i. c. 35, there occur two terms to which I -would fain bespeak the reader's regard; one is the word _kindled_, which -implies the lighting up of a fire where there was none before; the second -is the word _palace_, which is more applicable to a kingly residence or -private abode, than to a _columnar structure_, which would seem to demand -a characteristic denomination. - -Another objection more imposing in its character, and to the _local_ -antiquary offering no small difficulty to surmount, is that those -above-mentioned low structures must have been erected by our first Roman -missionaries, because that they bear the strongest possible affinity to -the finish and perfection of the early Roman cloacæ or vaults. This -difficulty, however, I thus remove: no one in this enlightened age can -suppose that these stupendous specimens of massive and costly workmanship, -which we read of as being constructed by the Romans in the very infancy of -their State, could have been the erection of a rude people, unacquainted -with the arts. The story of the wolf, the vestal, and the shepherd is no -longer credited; Rome was a flourishing and thriving city long before the -son of Rhea was born, and the only credit that he deserves, as connected -with its history, is that of uniting together under one common yoke the -several neighbouring communities, many of whom, particularly the -Etrurians, were advanced in scientific and social civilisation, conversant -not only with the researches of letters, and the arcana of astronomy, but -particularly masters of all manual trades, and with none more profoundly -than that of architecture. - -But who, let me ask, were those Etrurians? none others, most undoubtedly, -than the Pelasgi or Tyrseni, another branch of our Tuath-de-danaan -ancestors, who, as Myrsilus informs us, had erected the ancient wall -around the Acropolis of Athens, which is therefore styled, by Callimachus, -as quoted in the Scholia to the _Birds_ of Aristophanes, "the Pelasgic -Wall of the Tyrseni." It is now a point well ascertained by historians -that what are termed by ancient writers _Cyclopean walls_--as if -intimating the work of a race of giants, while the true exposition of the -name is to be found in the fact of their having been constructed by a -caste of miners, otherwise called arimaspi, whose lamp, which perhaps they -had fastened to their foreheads, may be considered as their _only -eye_--were actually the creation of those ancient Pelasgi, and, as will -shortly appear, should properly be called Irish.[92] Mycenæ, Argos, and -Tiryns, in Greece, as well as Etruria and other places in Italy, the early -residences of this lettered tribe, abound in relics of this ancient -masonry. In all respects, in all points, and in all particulars it -corresponds with that of those above-mentioned _low_, stone-roofed, -fire-receptacles, so common in this island; which must satisfactorily and -for ever do away with the doubt as to why such features of similarity -should be observed to exist between our antiquities and those of _ancient -Greece_ and _Rome_; not less perceptible in the circumstance of those -edificial remains than in the collateral evidences of language and -manners. - -The sacred fire, once observed with such religious awe by every class, and -in every quarter of this island, was imported from Greece into Italy by -the same people who had introduced it here. Let me not be supposed to -insinuate that the people of the latter country, _modernly considered_, -adopted the usage from those of the former country, moderns also; no, -there was no intercourse between these parties for many years after the -foundation of the western capital. Indeed it was not until the time of -Pyrrhus that they knew anything of their respective existences, whereas we -find that the vestal fire was instituted by Numa, A.U.C. 41. What I meant -therefore to say was, that the same early people, viz. the Pelasgi, who -had introduced it into Greece, had, upon their expulsion from Thessaly by -the Hellenes, betaken themselves to Latium, afterwards so called, and -there disseminated their doctrines not less prosperously than their -dominion. - -Numa was in his day profoundly skilled in all the mysteries of those -religious philosophers; and his proffered elevation to the Roman throne -was but the merited recompense of his venerable character. His whole reign -was accordingly one continued scene of devotion and piety, in which -pre-eminently outshone his regard to Vesta,[93] in whose sanctuary was -preserved the Palladium, "the fated pledge of Roman authority," and which -too, by the way, ever connected as we see it was with the _worship of -fire_, would seem to make the belief respecting it also to be of Oriental -origin. This eastern extraction additionally accounts for that dexterous -State contrivance of client and patron established in the early ages of -the Roman government, corresponding to our ancient clanship--both -evidently borrowed from the same Indian castes. - -I now address myself to another obstacle which has been advanced by an -Irish _lady_, and of the most deserved antiquarian repute, whose classic -and elaborate treatise on this identical subject, though somewhat -differently moulded, has already won her the applause of that society -whose discriminating verdict I now respectfully await. But as my object -is _truth_, divested as much as possible of worldly considerations, and -unshackled by systems or literary codes, I conceive that object will be -more effectually attained by setting inquiry on foot, than by tamely -acquiescing in dubious asservations or abiding by verbal ambiguities. - -What elicited this sentiment was Miss Beaufort's remark on the enactment -at Tara, A.D. 79, for the _erection of a palace_ in each of the four -proportions subtracted by order of Tuathal Teachmar, from each of the four -provinces to form the present county of Meath. Her words are as -follow:--"Taking the landing of Julius Cæsar in Britain, in the year 55 -before Christ, as a fixed point of time, and counting back fifty years -from that, we shall be brought to about one hundred years before the -Christian era, at which time the introduction of the improvements and -innovations of Zoroaster, and that also of fire towers, may, without -straining probability, be supposed to have fully taken place. _That it -was_ not much earlier may be inferred from the before-mentioned ordinance -of the year 79 A.D., to increase the number of towers in the different -provinces." - -With great submission I conceive that the _error_ here incurred originated -on the lady's part, from mistaking as authority the comment in the -_Statistical Survey_, vol. iii. p. 320, which runs thus:--"It is quite -evident from sundry authentic records, that these round towers were -appropriated to the preservation of the Baal-thinne, or sacred fire of -Baal: first at the solemn convention at Tara, in the year of Christ 79, in -the reign of Tuathal Teachmar, it was enacted, that on the 31st of October -annually, the sacred fire should be publicly exhibited from the stately -tower of Tlactga, in Munster, from whence all the other repositories of -the Baal-thinne were to be rekindled, in case they were by any accident -allowed to go out. It was also enacted, that a particular tower should be -erected for that purpose in each of the other four provinces, Meath being -then a distinct province. For this purpose the tax called Scraball, of -threepence per head on all adults, was imposed." - -Well, for this is quoted _Psalter of Tara_, by Comerford, p. 51; on -referring to which I find the text as thus: "He (Tuathal) also erected a -stately palace in each of these proportions, viz. in that of Munster, the -palace of Tlactga, where the fire of Tlactga was ordained to be kindled on -the 31st of October, to summon the priests and augurs to consume the -sacrifices offered to their gods; and it was also ordained that no other -fire should be kindled in the kingdom that night, so that the fire to be -used in the country was to be derived from this fire; for which privilege -the people were to pay a scraball, which amounts to threepence every year, -as _an acknowledgment to the King of Munster_. The second palace was in -that of Connaught, where the inhabitants assembled once a year, upon the -1st of May, to offer sacrifices to the principal deity of the island under -the name of Beul, which was called the Convocation of Usneagh; and on -account of this meeting the King of Connaught had from every lord of a -manor, or chieftain of lands, a horse and arms. The third was at Tailtean, -in the portion of Ulster, where the inhabitants of the kingdom brought -their children when of age, and treated with one another about their -marriage. From this custom the King of Ulster demanded an ounce of silver -from every couple married here. The fourth was the palace of Teamor or -Tara, which originally belonged to the province of Leinster, and where the -States of the kingdom met in a parliamentary way." - -I now leave the reader to decide whether the word "palace" can be well -used to represent an "ecclesiastical tower," or indeed any tower at all; -or whether it is not rather a royal residence for the several provincial -princes, that is meant to be conveyed; as is evident to the most -superficial, from the closing allusion to the _palace_ of Tara, "where the -States of the kingdom met in a parliamentary way." The impost of the -scraball, I must not omit to observe, has been equally misstated in the -survey; for it was not for the purpose of erecting _any_ structures, but -as an acknowledgment of homage and a medium of revenue that it was -enforced, as will appear most clearly on reverting to the original, and -comparing it with the other means of revenue, which the other provincial -kings were entitled to exact. But what gives the complete overthrow to the -doctrine which would identify those _palaces_ with columnar edifices, is -the fact that there are no vestiges to be found of _Round Towers_ in any, -certainly not in all of those four localities specially notified. Wells -and Donaghmore are the only Round Towers now in the county Meath, and -these are not included among the places above designated. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -To wind up the matter, steadily and unequivocally I do deny that the Round -Towers of Ireland were fire receptacles. I go further, and deny that any -of those eastern round edifices which travellers speak of, were ever -intended for fire receptacles: that they were all pagan structures--and -temples too--consecrated to the most _solemn_ and _engrossing_ objects of -_human pursuit_, however erroneously that pursuit may have been directed, -I unhesitatingly affirm. What then, I shall be asked, was their design? To -this I beg leave to offer a circumlocutory answer. Squeamishness may be -shocked, and invidiousness receive a pretext, but, the spirit being pure, -the well-regulated mind will always say, "Cur nescire, pudens pravé, quam -discere malo?"[94] - -Then be it known that the _Round Towers_ of _Ireland_ were temples -constructed by the early Indian colonists of the country, in honour of -that _fructifying_ principle of nature, emanating, as was supposed, from -the sun, under the denomination of Sol, Phoebus, Apollo, Abad or Budh, -etc. etc.; and from the moon, under the epithet of Luna, Diana, Juno, -Astarte, Venus, Babia or Butsee, etc. etc. Astronomy was inseparably -interwoven with this planetary religion; while the religion itself was -characterised by enforcing almost as strict a regard to the body after -death, as the body was expected to pay to a Supreme Essence before its -mortal dissolution. Under this double sense then of _funereal_ or -posthumous regard, as well as active and living devotion, must I be -understood to have used the expression, when previously declaring that our -_Sabian rotundities_ were erected with the twofold view of religious -_culture_ and the _practice_ of that _science_ with which it was so -amalgamated. - -To be explicit, I must recall to the reader's mind the destination which -the Brahmins assigned to the Egyptian pyramids, on hearing Wilford's -description of them--viz. that they were places appropriated to the -worship of Padma-devi.[95] Before I proceed, however, I must state that I -do not intend to make this the basis of what I shall designate my -_disclosures_. It would be very foolish of _me_, if hoping to dislodge a -_world_ of long-established prejudice, to use, as my _lever_, a ray shot -transversely from a volume which has been tarnished by forgery. I need no -such aid, as the sequel will show; and yet were it requisite, no objection -would be valid, as the "_Pundit_" could have had no motive, either of -interest or of vanity, such as influenced his _transcriptions_, here to -mislead his victim. It was the mere utterance of a casual opinion, without -reference to any deduction. Besides it was not the statement of the knave -at all, but that of a number of religious men of letters, who all agreed -in the ascription above laid down. They spoke, no doubt, from some -traditionary acquaintance with the use of those tall round buildings which -so much baffle antiquarians, not more in Ireland than they do in -Hindostan: but the explanation of this their answer will be a happy -inlet--and as such only do I mean to employ it--to the _illustration_ of -what we have been so long labouring at. - -The word Padma-devi[96] means "_the deity of desire_," as instrumental in -that principle of _universal_ generativeness diffused throughout all -nature. Do I mean that gross suggestion of carnal concupiscence?--that -mere propensity of animal appetite which is common to man with the brute -creation? No; it became redeemed, if not justified, by the religious -complexion with which it was intertwined, derived, mayhap, originally from -that _paradisiacal_ precept which said, "increase and multiply"; while the -strain of metaphor under which it was couched, and the spiritual tendency -by which the ceremony was inculcated, prevented offence even to the most -refined taste, the most susceptible fancy, or the most delicate -sensibility. - -The love of offspring has ever been a powerful ingredient in man's -composition. The fair portion of the human species, as every age and -experience can prove, have shown themselves not more exempt from the -control of the same emotions or the influence of the same impulses. It was -so wisely instituted by the great Regulator of all things, nor is the -abuse of the principle any argument against its general utility or -sanctified intent. Search the records of all early States, and you will -find the legislator and the priest, instead of opposing a principle so -universally dominant, used their influence, on the contrary, to bring it -more into play, and make its exercise subservient to the increase of our -species; the law lent its aid to enforce the theme as national, and -religion sanctified it as a moral obligation. - -In India this _fervor_ was particularly encouraged: for "as the Hindoos -depend on their children for performing those ceremonies to their names, -which they believe tend to mitigate punishment in a _future state_, they -consider the being deprived of them as a severe misfortune and the sign of -an offended God."[97] They accordingly had recourse to all the stratagems -which ingenuity could devise to recommend this passion to the inner -senses, and dignify its nature by the studied imagery of metaphor and -grace. In conformity with this sentiment we are favoured by Sir William -Jones with the copy of a hymn, which they were in the habit of addressing -to the above-mentioned "Padma-devi," or "Mollium mater sæva cupidinum," -which he thus prefaces with her figurative descent:-- - -It is Camadeva, that is, the _god_ of desire, the opposite sex he speaks -of, but the principle is the same. - - "Peor, his other name, when he enticed - Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile, - To do him wanton rites, which cost them sore."[98] - -"According to the Hindu mythology, he was the son of Maya, or the general -attracting power;[99] that he was married to Ritty, or Affection; and that -his bosom friend is Vassant, or the Spring: that he is represented as a -beautiful youth, sometimes conversing with his mother, or consort, in the -midst of his gardens and temples; sometimes riding by moonlight on a -parrot, and attended by dancing girls, or nymphs, the foremost of whom -bears his colours, which are a fish on a red ground: that his favourite -place of resort is a large tract of country round Agra, and principally -the plain of Mathra, where Kreshen also, and the nine Gopia usually spend -the night with music and dance: that his bow is of sugar-cane or flowers, -the sting of bees, and his five arrows are each painted with an Indian -blossom of an healing quality." Tedious and diffuse as has been the -dissertation already, I cannot resist the inclination of transcribing the -hymn also. - - "What potent god, from Agra's orient bowers, - Floats through the lucid air; whilst living flowers, - With sunny twine, the vocal arbours wreathe, - And gales enamoured heavenly fragrance breathe? - - Hail, Power unknown! for at thy beck - Vales and groves their bosoms deck, - And every laughing blossom dresses, - With gems of dew, his musky tresses. - I feel, I feel thy genial flame divine, - And hallow thee, and kiss thy _shrine_. - - Knowest thou not me?-- - Yes, son of Maya, yes, I know - Thy bloomy shafts and cany bow, - Thy scaly standard, thy mysterious arms, - And all thy pains and all thy charms. - - Almighty Cama! or doth Smara bright, - Or proud Aranga, give thee more delight? - Whate'er thy seat, whate'er thy name, - Seas, earth, and air, thy reign proclaim; - All to thee their tribute bring, - And hail thee universal king. - - Thy consort mild, Affection, ever true, - Graces thy side, her vest of glowing hue, - And in her train twelve blooming maids advance, - Touch golden strings and knit the mirthful dance. - Thy dreadful implements they bear, - And wave them in the scented air, - Each with pearls her neck adorning, - Brighter than the tears of morning. - Thy crimson ensign which before them flies, - Decks with new stars the sapphire skies. - - God of the flowery shafts and flowery bow, - Delight of all above and all below! - Thy loved companion, constant from his birth - In heaven clep'd Vassant, and gay Spring on earth, - Weaves thy green robe, and flaunting bowers, - And from the clouds draws balmy showers, - He with fresh arrows fills thy quiver, - (Sweet the gift, and sweet the giver,) - And bids the various warbling throng - Burst the pent blossoms with their song. - - He bends the luscious cane, and twists the string, - With bees how sweet! but ah, how keen their sting! - He with fine flowrets tips thy ruthless darts, - Which through five senses pierce enraptured hearts. - Strong Champa, rich in od'rous gold, - Warm Amer, nursed in heavenly mould, - Dry Nagkezer, in silver smiling, - Hot Kiticum, our sense beguiling, - And last, to kindle fierce the scorching flame, - Loveshaft, which gods bright Bela name. - - Can men resist thy power, when Krishen yields, - Krishen, who still in Mathra's holy fields, - Tunes harps immortal, and to strains divine, - Dances by moonlight with the Gopia nine? - - Oh! thou for ages born, yet ever young, - For ages may thy Bramin's lay be sung; - And when thy Lory spreads his emerald wings, - To waft thee high above the tower of kings, - Whilst o'er thy throne the moon's pale light - Pours her soft radiance through the night, - And to each floating cloud discovers - The haunts of blest or joyless lovers, - Thy milder influence to thy bard impart, - To warm, but not consume his heart." - -Amongst the fables that are told to account for the origin of this amorous -devotion, Sir William tells us, is the following, viz.:-- - -"Certain devotees in a remote time had acquired great renown and respect; -but the purity of the art was wanting; nor did their motives and secret -thoughts correspond with their professions and exterior conduct. They -affected poverty, but were attached to the things of this world, and the -princes and nobles were constantly sending them offerings. They seemed to -sequester themselves from the world; they lived retired from the towns; -but their dwellings were commodious, and their women numerous and -handsome. But nothing can be hid from the gods, and Sheevah resolved to -expose them to shame. He desired Prakeety[100] to accompany him; and -assumed the appearance of a Pandaram of a graceful form. Prakeety appeared -as herself a damsel of matchless beauty. She went where the devotees were -assembled with their disciples, waiting the rising sun to perform their -ablutions[101] and religious ceremonies. As she advanced the refreshing -breeze moved her flowing robe, showing the exquisite shape which it seemed -intended to conceal. With eyes cast down, though sometimes opening with a -timid but a tender look, she approached them, and with a low enchanting -voice desired to be admitted to the sacrifice. The devotees gazed on her -with astonishment. The sun appeared, but the purifications were forgotten; -the things of the Poojah[102] lay neglected; nor was any worship thought -of but that to her. Quitting the gravity of their manners, they gathered -round her as flies round the lamp at night, attracted by its splendour, -but consumed by its flame. They asked from whence she came; whither she -was going? 'Be not offended with us for approaching thee; forgive us for -our importunities. But thou art incapable of anger, thou who art made to -convey bliss; to thee, who mayest kill by indifference, indignation and -resentment are unknown. But whoever thou mayest be, whatever motive or -accident may have brought thee amongst us, admit us into the number of thy -slaves; let us at least have the comfort to behold thee.' - -"Here the words faltered on the lip; the soul seemed ready to take its -flight; the vow was forgotten, and the policy of years destroyed. - -"Whilst the devotees were lost in their passions, and absent from their -homes, Sheevah entered their village with a musical instrument in his -hand, playing and singing like some of those who solicit charity. At the -sound of his voice the women immediately quitted their occupations; they -ran to see from whom it came. He was beautiful as Krishen on the plains of -Matra.[103] Some dropped their jewels without turning to look for them; -others let fall their garments without perceiving that they discovered -those abodes of pleasure which jealousy as well as decency has ordered to -be concealed. All pressed forward with their offerings; all wished to -speak; all wished to be taken notice of; and bringing flowers and -scattering them before him, said, 'Askest thou alms! thou who art made to -govern hearts! Thou whose countenance is fresh as the morning! whose voice -is the voice of pleasure; and thy breath like that of Vassant[104] in the -opening rose! Stay with us and we will serve thee; nor will we trouble thy -repose, but only be jealous how to please thee.' - -"The Pandaram continued to play, and sung the loves of Kama,[105] of -Krishen, and the Gopia, and smiling the gentle smiles of fond desire, he -led them to a neighbouring grove that was consecrated to pleasure and -retirement. Sour began to gild the western mountains, nor were they -offended at the retiring day. - -"But the desire of repose succeeds the waste of pleasure. Sleep closed the -eyes and lulled the senses. In the morning the Pandaram was gone. When -they awoke they looked round with astonishment, and again cast their eyes -on the ground. Some directed their looks to those who had been formerly -remarked for their scrupulous manners, but their faces were covered with -their veils. After sitting a while in silence, they arose, and went back -to their houses with slow and troubled steps. The devotees returned about -the same time from their wanderings after Prakeety. The days that followed -were days of embarrassment and shame. If the women had failed in their -modesty, the devotees had broken their vows. They were vexed at their -weakness; they were sorry for what they had done; yet the tender sigh -sometimes broke forth, and the eye often turned to where the men first saw -the maid, the women the Pandaram. - -"But the people began to perceive that what the devotees foretold came -not to pass. Their disciples in consequence neglected to attend them, and -the offerings from the princes and the nobles became less frequent than -before. They then performed various penances; they sought for secret -places among the woods unfrequented by man; and having at last shut their -eyes from the things of this world, retired within themselves in deep -meditation, that Sheevah was the author of their misfortunes. Their -understanding being imperfect, instead of bowing the head with humility -they were inflamed with anger; instead of contrition for their hypocrisy, -they sought for vengeance. They performed new sacrifices and incantations, -which were only allowed to have effect in the end to show the extreme -folly of man in not submitting to the will of Heaven. - -"Their incantations produced a tiger, whose mouth was like a cavern, and -his voice like thunder among the mountains. They sent him against Sheevah, -who, with Prakeety, was amusing himself in the vale. He smiled at their -weakness, and killing the tiger at one blow with his club, he covered -himself with his skin. Seeing themselves frustrated in this attempt, the -devotees had recourse to another, and sent serpents against him of the -most deadly kind; but on approaching him they became harmless, and he -twisted them round his neck. They then sent their curses and imprecations -against him, but they all recoiled upon themselves. Not yet disheartened -by all these disappointments, they collected all their prayers, their -penances, their charities, and other good works, the most acceptable of -all sacrifices; and demanding in return only vengeance against Sheevah, -they sent a consuming fire to destroy his genital parts. Sheevah, -incensed at this attempt, turned the fire with indignation against the -human race; and mankind would have been soon destroyed, had not Vishnou, -alarmed at the danger, implored him to suspend his wrath. At his -entreaties Sheevah relented. But it was ordained that in his temples those -_parts_ should be _worshipped_ which the false devotees had impiously -attempted to destroy."[106] - -[Illustration: CLONDALKIN.] - -But what was the form under which this _deity_ was recognised? "Look on -this picture and on that;" and the answer presents itself.[107] The -eastern votaries, suiting the action to the idea, and that their vivid -imagination might be still more enlivened by the very _form_ of the -_temple_ in which they addressed their vows, actually constructed its -architecture after the model of the _membrum virile_, which, obscenity -apart, is the divinely-formed and indispensable medium selected by God -Himself for human propagation and sexual prolificacy. - -This was the Phallus, of which we read in Lucian,[108] as existing in -Syria of such extraordinary height, and which, not less than the Egyptian -Pyramids, has heretofore puzzled antiquaries,--little dreaming that it was -the counterpart of our Round Towers, and that both were the prototypes of -the two "_Pillars_" which Hiram wrought before the temple of Solomon. - -Astarte was the divinity with whose worship it was thus associated, and by -that being understood the moon,[109] it was natural to suppose that the -study of the stars would essentially enter into the ceremonial of her -worship. Another name by which this divinity was recognised, was Rimmon, -which, signifying as it does _pomegranate_, was a very happy emblem of -_fecundity_, as apples are known to be the most prolific species of fruit. - -Lingam is the name by which the Indians designated this idol.[110] Those -who dedicate themselves to his service, swear to observe inviolable -chastity. "They do not, however," says Craufurd, "like the priests of -Atys, deprive themselves of the means of breaking their vows; but were it -discovered that they had in any way departed from them, the punishment is -death. They go naked; but being considered as sanctified persons, the -women approach them without scruple, nor is it thought that their modesty -should be offended by it. Husbands whose wives are barren solicit them to -come to their houses, or send their wives to worship Lingam at the -temples; and it is supposed that _the ceremonies_ on this occasion, if -performed with the proper zeal, are usually productive of the desired -effect."[111] - -Such was the origin and design of the most _ancient_ Indian pagodas, which -had no earthly connection with fire or fire-worshippers, as generally -imagined. And that such, also, was the use and origin of the Irish pagodas -is manifest from the name by which they are critically and accurately -designated, viz. _Budh_, which, in the Irish language, signifies not only -the _Sun_, as the source of _generative vegetation_, but also as the _male -organ of procreative generativeness_, consecrated, according to their -foolish ideas, to Baal-_Phearagh_ or Deus-_coitionis_, by and by to be -elucidated. This thoroughly explains the word "Cathoir-ghall," or "temple -of _delight_," already mentioned as appropriated to one of those edifices, -and is still further confirmed by the name of "Teaumpal na greine," or -"temple of the sun," by which another of them is called; while the -ornament that has been known to exist on the top of many of them -represents the crescent of Sheevah, the matrimonial deity of the Indians, -agreeably to what the Heetopades states, viz. "may he on whose diadem is a -crescent cause prosperity to the people of the earth." - -But you will say that my designating these structures by the name of -_Budh_ is a _gratuitous assumption_, for which I have no authority other -than what _imagination_ may afford me; and that, therefore, however -striking may be _appearances_, you will withhold your conviction until you -hear my proofs. Sir, I advance nothing that I cannot support by arguments, -and should not value your adherence were it not earned by truth. This is -too important an investigation to allow _fancy_ any share therein. It is -not the mere settlement of an antiquarian dispute of _individual_ interest -or _isolated_ locality that is involved in its adjustment,--no, its -bearings are as comprehensive as its interest should be universal; _the -opinions of mankind to a greater extent than you suppose will be affected -by its determination_; and I should despise myself if, by any silly effort -of ingenuity, I should attempt to lead your reason captive, or pander to -your credulity, rather than storm your judgment. - -This being premised, I shall not condescend, here or elsewhere, to -apologise for the freedom with which I shall express myself in the -prosecution of my ideas. The spirit that breathes over the face of the -work will protect me from the venom of ungenerous imputation. Freedom is -indispensable to the just development of the subject. Nor do I dread any -bad results can accrue from such a course, knowing that it is the -_vicious_ alone who can extract poison from my page,--and they could do it -as well in a museum or picture gallery,--while the _virtuous_ will peruse -it in the purity of their own conceptions, and if they rise not improved, -they will, at least, not deteriorated. - -My authority for assigning to the Round Towers the above designation is -nothing less than those annals before adduced.[112] Where is it _there_? -you reply. I rejoin in _Fidh-Nemphed_; which, as it has heretofore puzzled -all the world to develop, I shall unfold to the reader with an almost -miraculous result. _Fidh_, then--as the _Ulster Annals_, or _Fiadh_, as -those of the Four Masters spell it--is the plural of _Budh_, _i.e._ -Lingam; the initial _F_ of the former being only the aspirate of the -initial _B_ of the latter, and commutable with it[113]; and _Nemphed_ is -an adjective, signifying _divine_ or _consecrated_, from _Nemph_, the -heavens: so that _Fidh-Nemphed_ taken together will import the -_Consecrated Lingams_, or the _Budhist Consecrations_. - -Celestial INDEXES, cries O'Connor; following which _term_--but with a very -different acceptation--the reader must be aware how that, in the early -part of our journey, I ascribed to this _enigma_ an astronomical -exposition; but herein I was supported not only by expediency but by -verity, having, all along, not only connected _Solar_ worship, and its -concomitant survey of the stars--which is _Sabianism_--with _Phallic_ -worship,--beginning with the former in order to prepare the way for the -latter,--but shall proceed in detail until I establish their identity. - -The Egyptian history, then, of the origin of this deification is what will -put this question beyond the possibility of denial, viz. that "Isis having -recovered the mangled pieces of her husband's body, the _genitals -excepted_, which the murderers had thrown into the sea, resolving to -render him all the honour which his humanity had merited, got made as many -waxen statues as there were mangled pieces of his body. Each statue -contained a piece of the flesh of the dead monarch. And Isis, after she -had summoned in her presence, one by one, the priests of all the different -deities in her dominions, gave them each a statue, intimating that, in so -doing, she had preferred them to all the other communities of Egypt; and -she bound them by a solemn oath that they would keep secret that mark of -her favour, and endeavour to prove their sense of it by establishing a -form of worship, and paying divine honours to their prince. But that -_part_ of the body of Osiris which had not been discovered, was treated -with more _particular_ attention by Isis, and she ordered that _it_ should -receive _honours more solemn_, and at the same time _more mysterious_, -than the other members."[114] - -Now as Isis[115] and Osiris--two deities, by the way, which comprehended -all nature and all the gods of the ancients--only personated the _Sun_ and -_Moon_, the sources of nutrition and vegetative heat, it is very easy to -remove the veil of this affectionate mythology, and see that it means -nothing more than the mutual dependence and attraction of the sexes upon, -and to, each other; while the fact of the Egyptian "_Osiris_,"[116] which -in _their_ language signifies the _Sun_, and the Irish "_Budh_," which in -_our language_ signifies the same planet, being _both_ represented by the -_same emblematic sign_;[117] and the _name_ of that sign in both languages -signifying as well _sign_ as _thing_ signified, gives a stamp to my proof -which I defy _ingenuity_ to overthrow. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - -What is it, then, that we see here elucidated? Just conceive. For the last -three thousand years and more, the learning of the world has been employed -to ascertain the _origin_ of the doctrine of Budhism. The savants of -France, the indefatigable inquirers of Germany, the affected pedants of -Greece and Rome, and the pure and profound philosophers of ancient India -and Egypt, have severally and ineffectually puzzled themselves to dive -into the secrets of that mystic religion.[118] - -"The conflicting opinions," says Coleman, "which have prevailed among the -most intelligent Oriental writers, respecting the origin and antiquity of -this and the Jaina sects, and the little historical light that has yet -been afforded to disperse the darkness that ages have spread over them, -leave us, at the end of many learned disquisitions, involved in almost as -many doubts as when we commenced upon them." - -"There was, then," adds Gentil, "in those parts of India, and principally -on the coast of Choromandel and Ceylon, a sort of worship the precepts of -which we are quite unacquainted with. The god Baouth, of whom at present -they know no more in India than the name, was the object of this worship; -but it is now _totally_ abolished, except that there may possibly yet be -found some families of Indians who have remained faithful to Baouth, and -do not acknowledge the religion of the Brahmins, and who are on that -account separated from and despised by the other castes.... I made various -inquiries concerning this singular figure, and the Zamulians one and all -assured me that this was the god Baouth, who was now no longer regarded, -for that his worship and his festivals had been abolished ever since the -Brahmins had made themselves masters of the people's faith." - -"The worship of Budha," says Heeren, "concerning the rise and progress of -which we at present know so little, still flourishes in Ceylon." Again, -"All that we know with certainty of Budha is, that he was the founder of a -sect which must formerly have prevailed over a considerable part of India, -but whose tenets and forms of worship were in direct opposition to those -of the Brahmins, and engendered a deadly hate between the two parties, -which terminated in the expulsion of the Budhists from the country."[119] - -"The real time," say the _Asiat. Res._ viii. p. 505, "at which Budha -propagated the doctrines ascribed to him, is a desideratum which the -learned knowledge and indefatigable research of Sir W. Jones have still -left to be satisfactorily ascertained." - -"If the Budhaic religion," says the _Westminster Review_ of January 1830, -"really arrived at predominance in India, its _rise_ in the first place, -and more especially its _extirpation_, are not merely events of stupendous -_magnitude_, but of impenetrable mystery." - -It will soon appear, that however _impenetrable_ heretofore, it is so no -longer. Indeed, a great deal of the principle of their _faith_ has been at -all times understood, but under different associations. It was that which -Job alluded to when he said, "If I gazed upon Orus (the sun) when he was -shining, or upon Järêcha (the moon) when rising in her glory; and my heart -went secretly after them, and my hand kissed my mouth (in worship), I -should have denied the God that is above." - -So far all have arrived at the discovery of this creed, and accordingly, -if you look into any encyclopedia or depository of science for a -definition of the word "Budhism," you will be told that "it is the -doctrine of solar worship as taught by Budha." There never was such a -person as Budha--I mean at the outset of the religion, when it first shot -into life, and that was almost as early as the creation of man. In later -times, however, several enthusiasts assumed the name, and personified in -themselves the faith they represented. But the origin of the religion was -an _abstract thought_, which while Creuzer allows, yet he must acknowledge -his ignorance of what that _thought_ was. - -The sun and moon were the great objects of religious veneration to fallen -man in the ancient world. Each country assumed a suitable form to their -propensities and peculiarities; but all agreed in centering the essence of -their zeal upon those resplendent orbs to whom they were indebted for so -many common benefits. Those mysteries of faith to which the "_initiated_" -alone had access, and which were disguised in the habiliments of symbols -and of veils, were neither more nor less than representative forms of -_generation_ and _production_. These were the _theme_ which made the -canopy of the firmament to ring with their songs; and these the _spring_ -which gave vigour and elasticity to those graceful displays which, under -the name of _dances_, typified the circular and semicircular rotations of -those bright objects of their regard.[120] - -The Eleusinian[121] rites themselves were essentially of this kind; for -though the benefits of _agriculture_ were said to be chiefly there -commemorated, this after all resolves itself into the above: for as the -process of the earth's bearing is similar to that of our own species, and -indeed of all creatures that rest upon her,--no seed bringing forth fruit -until, as the apostle has affirmed,[122] it first dies,--the -representation of this miracle of nature's vicissitudes led the mind to -the contemplation of general fecundity. And hence the _culture_ of the -ground, and the _propagation_ of human beings, being both viewed in the -same light, and sometimes even named by the same epithet, viz. _tillage_, -were inculcated no less as beneficial exercises than as religious -ordinances. Did a doubt remain as to the accuracy of this connection -between the worship of the ancients and their sexual correspondence, it -would be more than removed by attending to the import of the terms by -which they mystified those celebrations, and which, with the sanctity -attached to the _parts_ themselves, will come consecutively under our -review. One of them, however, is too apposite to be omitted here, and that -is the term by which they designated a certain ceremony still practised on -the coast of Guinea, and which neither the _blandishments_ of _artifice_ -nor the _terrors_ of _menace_ could ever prevail upon them to divulge. -This ceremony they call _Belli-Paaro_. The meaning they assign to it is -_regeneration_, or the act of reviving from _death_ to a new state of -existence; and when we see that the name itself is but an inflection of -the _Baal-Peor_ of the Scriptures, the _Baal-Phearagh_ of our forefathers, -and the _Copulative deity_ of the amative universe, it will not be hard to -dive into its character, though so shrouded in types. - -But the Budhists, not content with this ordinary veneration, or with -paying homage in _secret_ to that symbol of production which all other -classes of idolators equally, though privately, worshipped,--I mean the -Lingam,--thought they could never carry their zeal sufficiently far, -unless they erected it into an _idol_ of more than colossal -magnitude--_and those idols were the Round Towers_. Hence the name -_Budhism_, which I thus define, viz. _that species of idolatry which -worshipped Budh_ (_i.e._ the Lingam), _as the emblem_ of _Budh_ (_i.e._ -the Sun)--Budh signifying, indiscriminately, Sun and Lingam. - -Such was the whole substance of this philosophical creed, which was -not--as may have been imagined--a _ritual of sensuality_, but a _manual of -devotion_, as simple in its exercise as it was pious in its intent--a -Sabian veneration and a symbolical gratitude. I shall now give a summary -of their moral code, couched in the following Pentalogue, as presented by -Zaradobeira, chief Rahan at Ava, to a Catholic bishop, who expressed a -wish some years ago to be favoured with a brief outline of their tenets; -it is this:-- - -1. Thou shalt not kill any animal--from the meanest insect up to man -himself. - -2. Thou shalt not steal. - -3. Thou shalt not commit adultery. - -4. Thou shalt not tell anything false. - -5. Thou shalt not drink any intoxicating liquor. - -The extension of this first commandment from the crime of homicide to the -deprivation of life of any breathing existence, arose from their doctrine -of the transmigration of souls, which they believed should continue ever -in action, and, after release from one tenement of earthly configuration, -enter into some other of a different species and order. - -In this incessant alternation--which was to be one of _ascent_ or of -_descent_, according to the merits of the _body_, which the spirit had -_last_ animated, and which was all considered as a sort of lustral -crucible, for the refining of the vital spark against its reunion with the -Godhead, whence it had originally derived--it is manifest that such -tenderness for the entire animal creation arose from the apprehension of -slaying some relation in that disguise.--Or, did we ascribe it to no -higher motive than a sympathy with fellow-creatures, which, if not equally -responsible, are at all events susceptible of anguish and of pain, this in -itself should teach us to suppress all ebullitions of irreverent sarcasm, -and, if we yield not our acquiescence, to extend to it at least our -commiseration. - - "Pain not the ant that drags the grain along the ground, - It has life, and life is sweet and delightful to all to whom it - belongs."[123] - -The _good works_ which they were _additionally_ enjoined to perform were -classified under the two heads of _Dana_ and _Bavana_. By "_Dana_" was -meant the _giving of alms_, and hence the whole fraternity were called -_Danaans_ or _Almoners_.[124] By "_Bavana_" was understood the -_thoughtfully pronouncing_ those three words, _Anuzza_, _Docha_, and -_Anatta_: of which the first implies our liability to _vicissitude_; the -second to _misfortune_, and the third our _inability_ to exempt ourselves -from either.[125] - -The exposition of the terms _Tuath_ and _de_, as prefixes to _Danaans_, -forming with it the compound Tuath-de-danaan, I shall reserve for a more -befitting place. Meantime I hasten to redeem my "pledge" as to the -elucidation of the import of the name _Hibernian_. - -In the wide range of literary disquisition there is no one topic which has -so engrossed the investigation of studious individuals as the origin of -the word _Hibernia_. The great Bochart, the uncertain Vallancy, the -spiteful Macpherson, the pompous O'Flaherty, and the "antiquary of -antiquaries," Camden himself,--with a thousand others unworthy of -recognition,--have been all consecutively shipwrecked upon its -unapproachable sand-banks. But the most miserable failure of all is that -of a namesake of my own, _the author of a dictionary upon the language of -his country_, who, in his mad zeal for an outlandish conceit, foists into -his book a term with which our language owns no kindred, and then builds -upon that a superstructure which "would make even the angels weep." - -This gentleman would fain make out[126] that, because those islands have -been denominated the _Cassiterides_, or _Tin Reservoirs_, therefore Eirin, -our own one of them, must have been so called as an _Iron Store_! -forgetting that the genius of our vocabulary has never had a term whereby -to express that _metal_ at all,--that by which we now designate it, -namely, _iarun_, being only a modern _coinage_ from the English word,--as -the general voice of antiquity speaks trumpet-tongued on the point, and -the fragments of our Brehon laws give it insuperable confirmation, that -_iron_ was the last metal which mankind has turned to profit, or even -known to exist, while with us it was an exotic until a very recent -period.[127] - -But admitting that _Eirin_ or _Erin_ did signify _the Land of Iron_, then -its Greek formation _Ierne_ must convey the same idea, and so must -_Hibernia_, their Latin inflection; and it would afford me a considerable -portion of merriment to behold any champion for this _iron-cased_ knight -buckle on his _etymological_ armour, and analyse these two last terms so -as to make them indicate the _Land of Iron_. - -Yet pitiable as this appears, for the author of an Irish dictionary, its -ingenuity, at all events, must screen it from contempt. But how will the -public estimate the brightness of that man's intellect, who would state -that _Erin_ is but a _metempsychosis_ of the word _Green_? Will it be -believed that such is the sober utterance of the author of the _Decline -and Fall of the Roman Empire_? But lest I should misrepresent, I shall let -him speak for himself, viz.: "Ireland, from its luxuriant vegetation, -obtained the epithet _Green_, and has preserved, with a slight alteration, -the name _Erin_."[128] - -So that a country which piques itself on its _Irishry_, has remained ever -without a cognomen, until the _English_ language has been _matured_; and -then, in compliment to her sister, Britain, has borrowed an adjective from -her _rainbow_, which, however, she had not the good manners to preserve -pure, but allowed to degenerate so far, that the sagacity of a conjurer -could not trace any resemblance between this _vitiation_ and the _original -epithet_ which pourtrayed her _verdure_! - -Have we not here the solution of that general disbelief which attaches to -proofs deduced from etymology? It is so in all professions, when quacks -break into the fold, and usurp the office of the legitimate practitioner. -Etymology, in itself, is an exalted _science_, and an _unerring standard_; -but the mountebanks that have intermeddled with her holy tools, and -disjointed the symmetry of her fair proportions, knowing no more of the -_foundation_ of _languages_ than they do of the _origin_ of _spirit_, have -sunk it into a _pandemonium_ of _hackling_, _mangling_, and _laceration_, -at which "the satirist," perhaps, may laugh, but "the philosopher," who -has any regard for the right thinking of society, and the implanting in -the tender mind a correct idea of words, at a moment when impressions are -so wrought as to be _ineffaceable_, will feel differently on the subject; -and, if he cannot _reform_, do all that he can to _expose_ it! - -How opposite has been the conduct of the learned Abbé MacGeoghegan as to -the origin of this abstruse word! After reviewing in his able work[129] -the opinions offered by the several persons who wrote before him upon the -question, and none of them giving him satisfaction, he freely -acknowledges, when unable to supply the deficiency, that "the derivation -of this name is unknown." He was right; but the spell is at last broken. - -As a sequel to this avowal, I must be allowed to quote at full length the -extract from Avienus,[130] which has been already referred to-- - - "Ast hinc, duobus in _Sacram_--sic _Insulam_ - Dixere _prisci_--solibus cursus rati est; - Hæc inter undas multum cespitem jacit; - Eamque latè gens _Hibernorum_ colit, - Propinqua rursus insula Albionum patet,"-- - -that is, two days' sail will take you thence (from the Sorlings) to the -_Sacred Island_; as so denominated by the _men of old_. A rich gleby soil -distinguishes this favourite of the waters; and the race of the -_Hibernians_ cultivate it in its wide extent. Close by, again, is situated -the isle of the Albiones. - -Without dwelling upon the importance which he attaches to this "Sacred -Island," while he disposes of England in one single line, I ask any person -at all conversant with letters, whether it was as a vernacular epithet, or -not rather in compliance with his _hexameters_ and the rules of metrical -versification, which rendered inconvenient the exhibition of the _name -itself_ that the poet paraphrased its meaning, and gave _insula sacra_ as -its equivalent? - -Is not the country inhabited by the Gauls called Gallia; that occupied by -the Britons, Britannia; that possessed by the Indians, India; that peopled -by the Germans, Germania; and that tenanted by the Arcadians, Arcadia? -Consequently, the land inhabited by the people styled _Hibernians_ must, -by universal analogy, be denominated _Hibernia_. And if this signifies -"Sacred Island," of course "Hibernian" must mean "an inhabitant of the -Sacred Island." - -Avienus wrote about the three hundredth year of the Christian era, and -cites the authorities whence he derived his information to the following -purpose, viz.:-- - -"Himilco, the Phoenician, has recorded that he has himself traversed the -ocean, and with his own eyes and senses verified those facts. From the -_remote_ annals of the Phoenicians I copy the same, and present them to -you as handed down from antiquity." - -Himilco, be it remarked, flourished six hundred years before the name of -Christianity was mentioned in the world; and when his acquaintance with -this isle, and that of his countrymen in general, is thus irrefutably -premised, we shall be the more ready to do justice to that observation -made by Tacitus, when, in his _Life of Agricola_, talking of Ireland -relatively to England, he affirmed that "her coasts and harbours were -better known, through commerce and mercantile negotiation," than those of -the latter country.[131] - -Why do I introduce this notice here? To show that it was not to the Latins -Avienus was indebted for his _insight_ into that term, which we thus -pursue. The Romans knew nothing even of the _situation_ of the place that -bore it, until their avarice and their rapacity brought their eagles to -Britain; and, after effecting the subjugation of that heroic island, it is -no small incentive to our vanity to see their historian constrained to -confess that the exhibition of a similar project against the liberties of -Ireland was more with a view to overawe, than from any hopes of -succeeding;[132] while the ignorance which he evinces in another clause of -that very sentence, whence the above extract has been quoted,--placing -Ireland _midway_ between Spain and England,--is proof incontrovertible of -the position which has been assumed. - -But it is to me immaterial whether Avienus was aware or otherwise that -"Hibernia" and "Sacred Island" were convertible and synonymous. It is not -by his authority that I mean to establish the fact; for even admitting his -cognisance of the identity of these two terms, he must yet of _necessity_ -be unacquainted with the _root_ whence they _both_ had sprung; and, -accordingly, I have only put him here in the foreground--as has been the -plan all through--"to break the ice," as it were, for the exordium of the -promised _dénouement_. - -_Iran_, then, and _Irin_, or, as more correctly spelled, _Eirean_ and -_Eirin_, with an _e_ prefixed to each of the other vowels, as well initial -as intermediate, is the characteristic denomination which all our ancient -_manuscripts_ affix to this country. There is no exception to this -admitted rule. From the romance to the annal, the observation holds good; -it is an _inalienable_ landmark, and of _inviolable_ unanimity. - -Dionysius of Sicily, who wrote about fifty years before the _Advent_, and -who cannot be suspected of much partiality towards our forefathers, calls -the land they inhabited by the name of _Irin_.[133] Nor will the -circumstance of his applying to it in another place, the variation _Iris_, -detract from this fact; as it is evident that he only manufactured this -latter, having occasion to use a nominative case which he thought that -_Irin_ would not well represent, and so, with the lubricity of a Greek, -ever sacrificing sense to sound,[134] he gave birth to a conception which -_strangled_ the original.[135] - -In the _Life of Gildas_, an early and eminent English ecclesiastic, we -find it called _Iren_, when the biographer, talking of the proficiency -made by his subject in literary pursuits, says that he betook himself to -_Ireland_, which he designates as above, in order to ascertain, by -communion with kindred teachers, the very utmost recesses of theology and -philosophy.[136] - -Ordericus Vitalis, in his _Ecclesiastical History_,[137] having occasion -to mention the _Irish_, calls them by the name of _Irenses_, equivalent to -_Iranians_, that is _inhabitants_ of _Iran_, _Iren_, or _Irin_, whichever -of them you happen to prefer. And as these are now established as the -_basis_ of our general search, I shall address myself without further -digression to their syllabic analysis. - -To do this the more effectually, and at the same time to comprise within -one dissertation what otherwise might encroach upon two, it is to be -noticed that the country known in the present day as _Persia_, and whither -our labours will be directed at no distant hour, was by its _primitive_ -inhabitants called _Iran_ also, and spelled as ours, with an initial _E_. -The prefixing of this letter, in both instances of its occurrence, whether -we regard the _Eastern_ or the _Western_ hemisphere, was neither the -result of chance, nor intended as an operative in the import of the term. -It was a mere _dialectal_ distinction, appertaining to the court-language -of the dynasty of the times, and what is astoundingly miraculous, retains -the same appellation, with literal precision, unimpaired, unadulterated, -in both countries, up to the moment in which I write. - -_Palahvi_[138] is the appellation of this courtly dialect in _Persia_, and -_Palahver_ is the epithet assigned to it in _Ireland_; and such is the -softness and mellifluence of its enchanting tones, and its energy also, -that to soothe care, to excite sensibility, or to stimulate heroism, it -may properly be designated as "the language of the gods." - -Thus we see that Ireland and Persia were both called _Iran_; that both -equally admitted of the change of this name to _Eiran_; and that the -_style_ of this variation was similarly characterised in both. How, then, -will the _empyrics_ of etymology recover their confusion: they who would -persuade us that Ireland was so denominated from _Iar_, the -_West_--unless, indeed, they can substitute _East_ for _West_, and show -that Persia was denominated from _Iar_ also.[139] Entangled in this -dilemma, the amiable old General Vallancy, without intimating, however, -that _it_ was what extorted his remark,--after rigidly maintaining through -a series of volumes, that the word had its origin in the above exploded -_Western_ Will o' the Wisp,--exclaims, in a sentiment of unconscious -self-conviction, that "nothing more can be said of this derivation than -that the name was common to that part of the globe whence they (who -imported it) originally came."[140] - -Arrived, then, at length, at the _fountain-head_ of our inquiry, how shall -we account for it in "that part of the globe whence we originally came"? I -have seen but two efforts to develop the word, as applied to that -quarter: one by Professor Heeren, of the Göttingen University; the other -by "a learned priest of the Parsees," as recorded by Sir John Malcolm, the -late lamented author of a history of the place itself. And as the former -of these is rather _humorous_, and as the latter contains in it a small -_ingredient of truth_, it is worth while to parade them in the _tail_ of -our inspection. - -"Anciently," says the professor, "they were called by the Orientals -themselves by the common term of _Iran_, and the inhabitants, inasmuch as -they possessed _fixed_ habitations and laws, were styled _Iranians_, in -opposition to the _Turanians_, or _wandering_ hordes of Central -Asia."[141] - -I wonder did the German _historian_ take his cue from the conjecture of -the Irish _lexicographer_? It is literally marvellous if he did not; for, -by a most unaccountable coincidence, while tracing the foundation of a -name, descriptive of two localities at opposite points of this mundane -ball, one boldly asserts, and the other more than insinuates, that its -root is to be found in one and the same _English_ word!--and this, too, -when those countries were blazing in glory, before three words of the -English language were broken into train! - -A difference, however, breaks out amongst those partners, which seems to -sever the prospects of their _metallic_ union. It is, that though each -would make _iron_ to be the substratum of their respective hobbies, yet -would _my namesake_ have his so called as _abounding_ therein; whereas, -the _professor_, who betrays a respectable insight into geology, and -fearing that the womb of _Persia_ could not conceive so hard an ore, -wishes us at once to believe that it acquired its _ancient_ epithet from -the _fixedness_ of that metal; and thus would one _ex abundantiâ_, and the -other _ex similitudine_, have the common name of _Iran_ for Ireland and -for Persia be derived from an _English_ word, which was not concocted for -many centuries after the _decay_ of those two regions, when the very metal -it represented first grew into use![142] - -"Moullah Feroze, an excellent Palahvi scholar, tells me," says Sir John -Malcolm, "that _Iran_ is the plural of _Eir_, and means _the country of -believers_." And again, when he had occasion to consult his oracle, he -states the answer as follows:-- - -"I gave this inscription[143] to Moullah Feroze, a learned priest of the -Parsees, at Bombay, and he assured me that the translation of De Sacy was -correct. Feroze explained the word _An-Iran_ to mean _unbelievers_. _Eer_, -he informed me, was a Pehlivi word, which signified _believer_; _Eeran_ -was its plural: in Pehlivi, the _a_ or _an_ prefixed is a privative, as in -Greek or Sanscrit; and consequently, _An-Eeran_ meant _unbelievers_. The -king of _Eeran_ and _An-Eeran_ he interpreted to mean king of _believers_ -and _unbelievers_; _of_ Persia and other nations. It was, he said, a title -like king of the world. This however," adds Sir John, of himself, "is like -all _conjectures_ founded on etymology, very uncertain." - -It was natural enough that Sir John should express himself slightingly as -to a mode of proof, the principle of which he must have seen violated in -so many instances; and, independently of this, it is an infirmity in human -nature to affect disregard for any knowledge which we do not ourselves -understand. I do not mean, however, to vindicate Feroze's interpretation; -on the contrary, I purpose to show that it is not only _imperfect_, but -_incorrect_; yet while doing so, I am bound to acknowledge, that, if he -has not hit off the whole truth, he has a part of it; and even _this_ is -such a treat, in the wilderness through which we have been groping for -some time back, that I welcome it as an _oasis_, and offer him my thanks -thus beforehand. - -To prove however, that he is in error, I need but confine myself to the -unravelling of his own words. At first he affirms that _Eeran_ is the -plural of _Eer_, and means the _country of believers_; if so, the singular -must mean _the country of a believer_; but he tells us afterwards, that -_Eer_ signifies _a believer_ alone, consequently _Eeran_ must _believers_ -alone, without any consideration of the word _country_. And the same -inconsistency, which manifests itself here, applies with equal strictness -to _An-Eiran_ also. - -Should these papers ever reach the observance of this distinguished -foreigner, whom I appreciate even for his _approximation_ to the precincts -of the _thought_, they will, I doubt not, readily disabuse him of a -_radical_ misconception. _Eeran_ is not a _plural_ at all, but a -_compound_ word: its constituents being _Eer_ and _An_,[144] of which the -former signifies _Sacred_ and the latter a _Territory_. So that the united -import will be the _Sacred Territory_; and _An-Eeran_, of course, is but -its negative. - -This exposition I gain from the Irish language, which I take to be the -primitive Iranian or Persic language. By it I am furthermore enabled to -inform the _German_ "professor" that _Turan_, though now inhabited by -"Nomad tribes," obtained not its name from that circumstance, but from a -widely different one. Tur[145] means _prolific_, whether as regards -_population_ or _rural produce_; and _An_, as before, a territory--the -whole betokening a _prolific territory_.[146] And he should remember, what -he is not at all unconscious of, that eastern denominations are not varied -by recent occupants, but continue in uninterrupted succession, from age to -age, as imposed at the outset. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - -Thus far have Ireland and Persia kept company together, both equally -rejoicing in the common name of _Iran_. But now, when we descend to -particulars, this harmony separates. Ireland being an _island_ surrounded -on all sides by water--which Persia is not--it was necessary it should -obtain a denomination expressive of this accident; or, at all events, when -the alteration was so easily formed as by the change of the final _an_ -into _in_--_an_ meaning _land_, and _in island_--the transition was so -natural as at once to recommend its propriety. - -Hence it is that though we occasionally meet with _Iran_, as applied to -this country, yet do we more frequently find _Irin_ as its distinctive -term; whereas the latter is never, by any chance, assigned to Persia, the -former alone being its universal name. And this is all conformable to the -closest logical argumentation, which teaches that every species is -contained in its genus, but that no genus is contained in its species; -_Irin_, therefore, which is the specific term, may also be called _Iran_ -the generic, while _Iran_--except as in _our_ instance, where the -_extension_ of both is identical--could never be called _Irin_: and so it -happens that _Ireland_ is indifferently called by the names of _Iran_ or -_Irin_, the latter alone marking its _insular_ characteristic; whereas -_Persia_, not being so circumstanced, is mentioned only by the general -form of _Iran_. - -To simplify this reasoning I must repeat that _Iran_[147] signifies the -_Sacred Land_, and _Irin_,[148] the _Sacred Island_; now every _island_ is -a _land_, but every _land_ is not an island: Persia, therefore, which is -_not an island_, could not be called _Irin_, whereas Ireland, _which is_, -may as well be called one as the other.[149] - -_Irin_, then, is the _true_, _appropriate_, _characteristic_ and -_specific_ denomination belonging to this island:--and the words Ire, Eri, -Ere,[150] and Erin, applied also thereto, are but vicious or dialectal -modifications of this grand, original, and ramifying root. - -The import of this appellative having spread itself over the globe before -Rome was ever known, under that name, as a city, and when Greece was but -just beginning to peep into the light, the Pelasgi--who were partly -Budhists, allied somewhat to them in religion, and still more akin in -birth and endowments--conveyed, in conjunction with the Phoenician -merchants, to the early Greek inhabitants;[151] and they, by a very easy -process, commuted _Irin_ to _Iérne_, which is but a translation of the -word--[Greek: hieros] signifying _sacred_, and [Greek: nêos] an island. - -Of this Greek form, Ierne, there were again various inflections and -depraved assimilations, such as Iernis, Iuernia, Ouvernia, Vernia, etc. -And from one[152] of those, the Latins, without, perhaps, exactly knowing -what it meant, conjured up _Hibernia_, but which, however, with -soul-stirring triumph, retains _uninjured_ our original root, the initial -_H_ being nothing more than the aspirate of the Greek [Greek: hieros], -sacred; [Greek: nêos], _island_, remaining unaltered; and the letter _b_ -only interposed for sound-sake.[153] - -So that, whether we consider it as _Irin_, _Ierne_, or _Hibernia_, or -under the multiplied variations which diverge, almost interminably, from -those _three originals_, in the several languages which they -_respectively_ represent, they will be found, each and all, to resolve -themselves into this _one, great, incontrovertible position of the_ -"Sacred Island." - -Thus, under heaven, have I been made the humble instrument of redeeming my -country from the aspersions of calumniators. I have shown to -_demonstration_ the real origin of its _sanctified_ renown. I have traced -from the _Irish_, through all the variations of _Greek_ and _Latin_ -capricios, its _delineatory_ name; and have proved, beyond the possibility -of rational contradiction, that in all those different changes regard was -still held to the original epithet. - -Where, then, are the sneers--of "hallucination,"--of "lunacy,"--and of -"etymological moonshine?" These are very cheap and convenient terms for -gentlemen to adopt, as cloaks to the ignorance of the purport of -denominations imposed at a time when every _word_ was a _history_. In the -early ages of the world whimsicality never mingled with the -circumstantial designation of either person or locality. Every name was -the sober consequence of deliberate circumspection; and was intended to -transmit the memory of events, in the truest colours, as well as in the -most comprehensive form, to the latest generation. - -Will this be considered the _vapouring_ of conceit? Is it the _spouting_ -of self-sufficient inanity? Let the heartless _utilitarian_, unable to -appreciate the motives which first enlisted me in this inquiry, and which -still fascinate my zeal, at an age when--did not my love for _truth_ and -the rectification of my country's history _rise superior_ to the -mortification of _alienated_ honour--I should have flung from me letters -and literature in disgust, and betaken myself, an adventurer for -distinction as a soldier,--let such, I say, _conceal within himself_ his -despicable worldly-mindedness, and leave me unmolested, if unrewarded, to -posterity. - - "Come thou, my friend, my genius, come along, - Thou master of the poet and the song, - And while the muse now stoops, or now ascends, - To man's low passions, or his glorious ends, - Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise, - To fall with dignity--with temper rise; - Formed by thy converse happily to steer - From grave to gay, from lively to severe; - Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease; - Intent to reason, or polite to please." - -The origin of the term "Sacred Island," being now for ever adjudicated, -the reader will at once see that it belonged to an era long anterior to -Christianity. In assigning to it this _date_,[154] I pretend not to be -_unique_; and, as I should not wish to deprive any brow of the laurels -which it has earned--more especially, where an undisputed enjoyment has -amounted to _prescription_--I shall register, in express words, my -predecessor's own exposé, which is, that "the isle must have been so named -_because of its nurturing no venomous reptile_"[155]!!! Who will not -smile? - -No, sir, the imposers of this name were too sensible of its value, and too -jealous of its use, to expose it to ambiguity. It pourtrayed the sanctity -of the occupying proprietors; and lest there should be any misconception -as to the _species_ of worship whence that "sanctity" had emanated, they -gave _this scene_ of its exercise three other names, viz. _Fuodhla_, _Fudh -Inis_, and _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_[156]--which at once associate the -"worship" with the _profession_ of the worshippers: for _f_, or _ph_, -being only the aspirate of _b_, and commutable with it, _Fuodhla_--which -is compounded of _Fuodh_ and _ila_, this latter signifying _land_--becomes -_Buodhla_--that is, Budh_land_.[157] _Fudh Inis_, by the same rule, is -reducible to _Budh Inis_, of which the latter means _island_, that is, -Budh-_island_;[158] while _Inis_-na-_Bhfiodhbhadh_ requires no -transposition, being clear and obvious in itself, as the _Island of -Budhism_. - -Now, "to make assurance doubly sure," go to _Keating's History of -Ireland_, p. 49, and you will there find "the female deities"--an -incorrect expression for the deities worshipped by the females--of the -Tuath-de-danaans, to have been Badhha, Macha, and Moriagan.[159] Of these -the first needs no exposition; the second I shall reserve for another -place, but the third I will here develop. He was the military deity of -this "sacred" colony, and a personification of Budh, under the designation -of Farragh,[160] _i.e._ _Copulation_; and, accordingly, the Scythians, who -incorporated with them, after first dethroning them, adopted this term as -their exhilarating war-shout, while under the veil of the epithet was -really meant the _sun_, whose aid they invoked to give _strength_ to their -_loins_ and _vigour_ to their _arms_.[161] - -And yet this is the name which _Spenser_ would derive from that of Fergus, -king of Scotland! Fifteen hundred years and more before Fergus was born, -which, by the way, was not until the sixth century of the Christian era, -the Irish basked in the _sunshine_ of their resplendent war-god, who, -under another and equivalent denomination, viz. Buodh, abbreviated into -_Boo_,[162] and thus with the prefix _a_, implying _to_, or _under the -auspices of_--assumed by the different septs as their distinctive -watchwords, branched out into the national and spirit-stirring -acclamations of _O'Brien_ a-Boo![163] O'Neil a-Boo! etc. etc.; which the -early English settlers, who would fain become _Hibernis ipsis -Hiberniores_, afterwards imitated: such as Butler a-Boo; Shanet-a-Boo; -Grasagh a-Boo; Crom a-Boo, etc.; the last having been that adopted by -Fitzgerald, Duke of Leinster, and still retained as the motto of his -armorial escutcheon. - -It is worth while to listen to Spenser's _gratulation_, while chuckling -himself with the idea of his fancied discovery: "This observation of -yours," he says to himself, "is very _good_ and _delightful_, far beyond -the _blind conceits_ of some, who upon the same word Farragh have made a -very _blunt_ conjecture." _Oh patria! Oh mores!_ how little is known of -Ireland! But I am not surprised at _foreigners_, when the very _natives_, -the descendants of the _actors_ in those glorious scenes, are ignorant of -its history! - -Take up any document, purporting to give an account of this country, and -you will find it to be composed, either of absurd and nauseous -_exaggerations_ on the one hand, or of gross and calumnious _detractions_ -on the other. But though the _wildness_ of the _former_ cannot fail to -generate, in the intellectual amongst all readers, an _unfavourable -impression_; and in those of a different nation, already prejudiced, or -mayhap incapable of separating the gold from the baser metal, -_incredulity_ and _contempt_; yet the _true Irish searcher_, versed in the -antiquities, not only of his own dear "father-land," but of the kindred -East, which maintained in the old world a religious and incessant -communication with this "Sacred Isle," will glean in the distortion of -those _maniac effusions_, the _glimmerings_ of that _truth_ whence they -originally emanated--while the _injustice_ of the _calumniator's_ must, -_of itself_ bring dismay, with the whole train of confusion and dishonour, -upon the mercenary instruments of those foul abuses, as well as upon the -heartless abettors who could have enlisted their vassalage! - -Truth, notwithstanding, obliges me to say that the blame should not -altogether be laid upon the historians. They did as much as, under the -circumstances, could be expected at their hands. Two successive invasions -having passed over, and swept away, in the whirlwind of their desolating -fury, all those monuments of learning to which the world had bowed just -before--one from _innate antipathy_ to the _thing_ itself; the other from -_apprehension_ that the contents of those memorials, acting upon the -sensibilities of a high-hearted and proud race, should stimulate their -ardour to the recovery of their lost rights, and the consequent ejectment -of the party who had usurped them[164]--the patriot had little more to -guide him in supplying the deficiencies thus created, than the rude -imagining of his own brain, or the oral traditions of the village -schoolmaster and genealogist. - -The rigour, however, of penal observances began, in time, gradually to -relax; and the people ventured to confess that they had still in their -possession such things as _manuscripts_, illustrative of their lineage and -ancestral elevation. This was the signal to some liberal individuals to -prosecute an inquiry for additional memorials; and the result was, that -they rose from the pursuit, if not with a _connected aggregate of -demonstrational evidence_, at least with a _conviction_ on their _minds_, -that those treasured visions of primeval lustre, hereditary and inborn -within the breast of every Irishman, and impossible to be eradicated, were -not yet, _late as was the hour_, without something like a basis to rest -upon. - -I would be unjust did I not furthermore avow, that it was not their -enemies alone that waged this ungenerous warfare with the literature of -the Irish. St. Patrick himself was the individual who, in pursuance, as he -conceived, of his apostolic charge, may be said to have perpetrated the -greatest outrage upon our antiquities; having set fire, in a paroxysm of -pious zeal, to no less than _one hundred and eighty volumes_, which he -selected from the great mass of the records of the nation, as embodying -the tenets of _Budhism_ and _Astrology_. The rest, relating to the -notification of national or personal achievements, he left untouched and -secure. - -Yet, will it be believed that this was the severest infliction, so far as -_letters_ are concerned, which we have sustained, after all? For as the -_religion_ of the ancient Irish was intermingled with their _history_, and -as the wide diffusion of their _celebrity_ arose from the eminence of -their _religious creed_, the flames of that conflagration have inflicted a -loss upon the antiquarian which _fifteen centuries of study_ have not been -able to repair! - -Despite, however, the united inroads of suspicion and mistaken piety, the -Irish have still materials, ample and authentic, for the completion of a -history, not only of _insular_, but, if _properly handled_, of almost -_universal_ elucidation:[165] and of this Toland himself was, in some -measure, aware, when he said that "notwithstanding the long state of -barbarity in which that nation hath lain, and after all the rebellions and -wars with which the kingdom has been harassed, they (the Irish) have -_incomparably_ more ancient materials of that kind for their history, to -which even their _mythology is not unserviceable_, than either the -English, or the French, or any other European nation with whose ancient -manuscripts I have any acquaintance." - -But though resources most unquestionable thus notoriously still abounded, -yet has it not been the fortune of Ireland, hitherto, to meet with any -historian gifted with the widely comprehensive, philosophical views and -suitable education calculated to do her justice; so that, by the untoward -hand of fate, and the iniquitous operation of the old political stroke, -the knowledge of the character in which those papers are couched has -become already so almost extinct, that they lie on the shelves, to all -intents and purposes a _dead_ letter.[166] - -I now beg leave to introduce this identical war-god, in his military -costume and hyperborean philabeg, in which, as before observed, the -Scythians never invested themselves; and hope the reader will enjoy a -hearty laugh at the expense of those blunderers, who, in their -_preposterous_, I had almost said _repentant_, devotion to monastic -refinements, would rob the Pagans of this long-cherished _idol_, and -convert his godship into a _Christian_ nonentity! - -You will find him--name and all corresponding--described fully in the -_Rites and Ceremonies of all Nations_, as similarly officiating and -worshipped in the East. "There is," says the author, "in the province of -Matambo, an _idol_ whose priests are _sorcerers_ or _magicians_; and this -image stands _upright_, directly over against the temple dedicated to his -peculiar service, in a _basket made in the form of a bee-hive_."[167] - -[Illustration] - -"To this deity in particular they apply themselves for success when they -go out a _hunting_ or _fishing_, and for the relief of all such as are -indisposed![168] _Miramba always marches at the head of their armies_; -and he is presented with the first delicious morsel, and the first glass -of wine that is served up at the governor's or King of Matambo's table." - -But a _living_ traveller, in a very interesting work just launched from -the press, and without expecting therein to become my auxiliary, decides -this ascription without further pains. "This village," says our author -(near Rampore, on the Himalaya range), "instanced the care which the -sacerdotal orders in the East take for their comfort and good. It was a -neat, clean, and substantial place, in all acceptations of the word. These -Brahmin villagers pay no rent of any kind to the state: they live on the -granted lands, but are obliged to keep the _temples_ in repair, to furnish -all the implements, and to take care of the godships within it--these are -_small brass images, with nether garments in the shape of petticoats_. -They are carried in procession, on certain occasions, and the ceremonies -belonging to them are performed twice a day. Mahadeo is the great god of -the mountains."[169] - -But if the advocates of modernism have cause to be annoyed at my depriving -them of this specimen of "the Fine Arts in Ireland," which they thought -they had appropriated to the prejudice of truth, how much greater must not -be their chagrin at my wrenching from their grasp another "exceedingly -curious" and "richly-ornamented" "ecclesiastic?"[170] Ecclesiastic, -indeed! Yes; but reverenced and revered, by many a beating heart, as the -head of all ecclesiastics, for centuries upon centuries, before the name -of monachism, as connected with Christianity, was ever articulated! - -[Illustration] - -This, Sir, is no less a personage than Mr. Budha himself, or rather the -personified abstract, in the possession of one of the last queens of the -Tuath-de-danaans, at the moment of the inundation of the Scythian dynasty. -I hope that, after so long an obscuration, and the uncourtly treatment he -has received during the humiliating interval of revolving centuries, you -will--now that he chooses to reveal his proper character, avow his -delegation, and acknowledge the supremacy of that power by which his -empire had been overthrown--treat him as an _Irishman_, with generous -cordiality, and impute not to him a crime which belonged only to his -followers. - -But his dress is like a Christian. So much the better, man: we ought to -like him the more for that. But to be serious,--although, as my friend -Horace formerly told me, "what hinders one laughing from speaking -truth?"--all our ecclesiastical ritual, as well of _ceremony_ as of -_costume_, has been borrowed from the Jewish, and that again from the -Pagans, with such alterations only as the allwise Jehovah thought -necessary to recommend. Besides, we have the authority of Dr. Buchanan for -stating that "_Samona_ is a title bestowed on the priests of Godama -(Budha), and is likewise applied to the _images_ of the _divinity_, when -_represented, as he commonly is_, in the _priestly habit_."[171] - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - -_Pharaoh_,[172] the titular appellation of the monarchs of Egypt, being -but the _local modification_ of this our Irish _Phearagh_, the mind is -instinctively directed towards that great storehouse of bygone -consequence. And as the best authority that we can command in gaining any -insight into its reverses is through the medium of its own historians, let -us hear what Manetho, a priest of the country, thus transmits:-- - -"We had formerly," says he, "a king named Timæus, in whose reign, I know -not why, but it pleased God to visit us with a blast of His displeasure; -when, on a sudden, there came upon this country a large body of _obscure -people_ from the East, and with great boldness invaded the land, and took -it without opposition. Their behaviour to the natives was very barbarous; -for they slaughtered the men, and made slaves of their wives and children. -The whole body of this people were called _Huksos_, or _Uksos_; that is, -Royal Shepherds: for the first syllable, in the _sacred dialect_, -signifies a 'king,' as the latter, in the popular language, signifies 'a -shepherd.' These two compounded together constitute the word Huksos. These -people are said to have been Arabians." - -"The Vedas, or Sanscrit records of Hindustan, furthermore state that these -invaders were the "Pali," or shepherds, a powerful, warlike, and -enterprising Indian tribe. While the deadly aversion which existed in the -minds of the Egyptians against the name and office of a shepherd in -Joseph's day, is a lasting memorial of their visit and their -severity."[173] - -They did not go, however, without leaving behind them other signs. The -pages of Herodotus afford ample evidence of the resemblance between the -Egyptian customs and those of the more remote East. By his description of -the rites and ceremonies, the mode of life, etc., of the priests of Egypt, -they are at once identified with the Brahmins of India. China still -celebrates that festival of lamps which was formerly universal throughout -the extent of Egypt;[174] and "we have the most indubitable authority for -stating that the sepoys in the British overland army from India, when they -beheld in Egypt the ruins of Dendera, prostrated themselves before the -remains of the ancient temples, and offered up adoration to them; -declaring, upon being asked the reason of this strange conduct, _that_ -they _saw sculptured_ before them the Gods of their country."[175] - -But the most stupendous and appalling memento of their dominion and -science was the three great pyramids of Geeza, the erection of which, -Herodotus assures us (bk. ii. sec. 128), though the _priests_ would -attribute to Cheops, Cephrenes, and Mycerinus, three Egyptian kings, "yet -the _people_ ascribed them to a _shepherd_ named Philitis, _who at that -time fed his cattle_ in those places"; so consonant with the _invasion_ -above authenticated. This is additionally confirmed by the Sanscrit -records already referred to, informing us of _three mountains_, Rucm-adri, -"the Mount of Gold," Rajat-adri, "the Mount of Silver," and Retu-adri, -"the Mount of Gems"; having been raised by that Indian colony who had -conquered Egypt; which is only a figurative denotation of those -_factitious heights_, those astounding monuments of religion and -ostentation, which were originally cased with _yellow_, _white_, and -_spotted marbles_, brought from the quarries of Arabia, until stripped by -the rapacity of succeeding colonies. - -Belzoni's testimony is decisive on this point, as his drawing of the -second pyramid represents the upper part of its casing remaining still -entire, about a third of the distance from the summit to the base -downwards. We meet with other pyramids, it is true, chiefly dispersed -about the Libyan deserts, but they are much inferior to the fore-mentioned -three, except one near the mummies, whose dimensions and structure are -very nearly the same with the largest Gezite one. This latter, according -to Greaves, is 693 feet square at the base; its perpendicular height 499 -feet; that is, 62 feet higher than St. Peter's at Rome, and 155 feet -higher than St. Paul's in London; while the inclining height is 693 feet, -exactly equal to the breadth of the base; so that the angles and base make -an equilateral triangle.[176] Belzoni measures them all differently, and -gives to the second even greater dimensions than are _usually_ assigned to -the first or largest, viz. base, 684; perpendicular height, 456; central -line down front, from apex to base, 568; coating, from top to where it -ends, 140. - -The variation arises from the circumstance of the latter gentleman's -measurement having been taken after the base had been cleared away of all -sand and rubbish; while those of his predecessors applied only as taken -from the level of the surrounding heap. The small ones above noticed are -some quadrilateral, _some round, terminating like a sugar-loaf_, some -rising with a greater and some with a lesser inclination. All commence -immediately south of Cairo, but on the opposite side of the Nile, and -extend, in an uninterrupted range, for many miles in a southerly -direction, parallel with the banks of the river. - -After what has been said above, I need scarcely allude to the ridiculous -supposition of those having been built by Joseph as granaries for his -corn! Their form and construction, ill adapted to such an occasion, -refutes that absurdity, as it does the derivation upon which it has been -founded, viz. the _Greek_ words [Greek: pyros], wheat, and [Greek: amaô], -I gather; as if, forsooth, an _Egyptian_ structure, erected before the -_Greek_ language was ever known to exist, should wait for a designation -until Greece should be pleased to christen it. Still more disposed must -one be to discard with contempt the usual derivation given them, of -[Greek: pyr], fire; as this not only labours under the weakness of the -former, but betrays an ignorance of the correct idea of the Greek word -[Greek: pyros], of which [Greek: pyr], fire, is the true derivation, "quia -flammæ instar in _acutum_ tendit";[177] intimating its _continually -tapering_ until it ends in a _point_; whereas the top of the Egyptian -_pyramids_ never does so end; that of the largest above described ending -in a flat of nine stones, besides two wanting at the angles, each side of -this platform being about sixteen feet; so that a considerable number of -people may stand on it, and have, as from most of ours, one of the most -beautiful prospects imaginable. - -Wilkins's derivation from _pouro_, a king, and _misi_, a race, would seem -plausible enough, being a purely Coptic or Egyptian analysis; but when we -consider the general ascription of them by the people to the _shepherd -Philitis_, whether as one of the _Pali_--that is, shepherds--or Uksi, -which meant the same--king-shepherds above adduced; or as _emphatically -the shepherd_, the son of Israel,[178] it argues a disposition on the part -of the people to assign the honour--if taken in the latter light--to the -workmen employed; if in the former, to a prince of a different dynasty -from those whom the Egyptian priests would fain associate with them. This -derivation, therefore, will not stand; and we have only to betake -ourselves to the ingenious conjecture of Lacroze,[179] which, perhaps, -may give more satisfaction respecting the etymology of the word _pyramid_. -Lacroze derives it from the _Sanscrit term_ Biroumas, and traces an -analogy between Brahma, Birma (which the Indians of Malabar pronounce -Biroumas), and the word Piromis, which means the same thing, namely, a -virtuous and upright character--Piromia meaning, according to him, in the -language of Ceylon, man in general. - -Herodotus states,[180] that the priests of Egypt kept in a spacious -building large images of wood, representing all their preceding _high -priests_, arranged in genealogical order, every high priest placing his -image there during his life. They mentioned to Hecatæus, the historian, -when they were showing this edifice to him, that each of the images he saw -represented a _Piromis_, begotten by another _Piromis_, which word, says -Herodotus, signifies, in their language, a _virtuous_ and _honest man_. A -passage from Synesius, the celebrated bishop of Cyrene, in his treatise -"on Providence," at once coincides with, and is illustrative of this -anecdote. "The father of Osiris and Typhon," says he, "was at the same -time a _king_, a _priest_, and a _philosopher_. The Egyptian histories -also rank him among the gods; for the Egyptians are disposed to believe -that many divinities reigned in their country in succession before it was -governed by men, and before their kings were reckoned in a genealogical -order by _Peirom_ after Peirom." - -The Japanese celebrate an annual festival in honour of one _Pireun_, who, -they say, was many ages ago king of _Formosa_, and who, being disgusted -with the abandoned morals of his subjects--wealthy traders--consigned -himself solely to the worship of the gods. Forewarned in a dream, he took -flight from the impending visitation, and had scarcely sailed ere the -island, with its inhabitants, sunk to the bottom of the sea. As for the -good king, he arrived safe in China, whence he went over to Japan, where -he has been ever since honoured by the above commemoration. - -The true Coptic name for those edifices is Pire monc--which signifies a -_sunbeam_[181]--not so much in allusion to their _form_ as to their -appropriation, which we shall make the subject of a separate inquiry. - -It has, I trust, satisfactorily been proved that the erection and -nomination of those wondrous edifices were not of _native_ growth. It has, -I trust, additionally appeared that _both_ were essentially Indian. It may -not now be "ungermane to the matter," if we would for a moment digress, to -consider the era of their probable date, as introductory to the character -of their probable destination. - -Josephus expressly informs us that the Israelites were employed in the -construction of the pyramids. Is there any reason why we should doubt so -respectable an authority? Oh, yes, it is said the Scriptures are against -it--the task of the Israelites during their bondage being exclusively -confined to the making of brick. I deny that the Scriptures either allege -or insinuate any such thing. On the contrary, we may fairly infer, from -Ex. ix. 8, 10, that they were engaged in other servile offices; as also -from Ps. lxxxi. 6, where it is said, "I removed his shoulder from the -_burden_, and his hands were delivered from the _mortar-box_"--not _pots_, -as our translation has it; and such rendering is supported by the -Septuagint, Vulgate, Symmachus, and others.[182] - -This ascription receives further countenance from a passage in Diodorus, -i. 2, where, referring to those immense piles, and the ideas of the -Egyptians themselves respecting them, he adds: "They say the first was -erected by Armæus, the second by Amosis, the third by Inaron." Who is it -that pronounces the last two names, if only spelled, aMosis and inAron, -and recollects, at the same time, what the Scriptures tell us of Moses and -Aaron, that is not at once struck with the similarity of the sound? And as -to Armæus, why it bears so evident an affinity with Aramæus or Aramean, -that one cannot avoid connecting it with the "Aramite ready to perish," -the very name given to Jacob, Deut. xxvi. 5.[183] Nothing, then, prevents, -so far as I can see, our concluding _one_ of those structures at least--I -say one at least to _conciliate_ the brick-party; and I think, besides, I -have read somewhere, that one of the pyramids, the smaller ones no doubt, -was built of such material--to have been the work of the sons of Israel. -And the rather as it was consonant with the uniform practice of the -ancient Oriental nations to employ captive foreigners on servile and -laborious works. - -The usual time, too, assigned to the slavery of the Israelites corresponds -very nearly with that generally allotted to the erection of those masses. -The stay of the sons of Israel in the land of Egypt is generally -understood to have been two hundred and fifteen years. Of these Joseph -ruled seventy; forty is a fair average for the generation that -succeeded--which, added to his seventy, leaves one hundred and five years -to the Exodus. Now we learn from Herodotus that Cheops, the _reputed_ -founder of the first or greatest of these pyramids, was the first also of -the Egyptian kings who oppressed, or in any way tyrannised over, his -subjects. His reign is stated to have been fifty years. Cephrenes, who -succeeded, showed himself in every respect his brother, barring, as the -other before him, the approach to every temple, stopping the performance -of the usual sacrifices, and keeping his subjects all the while employed -in every species of oppressive task and laborious drudgery. The period of -his reign is stated to have been fifty-six years, which, added to the -preceding fifty, make one hundred and six, exactly answering to the above -calculation. - -The Exodus, besides, is stated to have occurred B.C. 1791; and Herodotus -and Diodorus together, while acknowledging their ignorance of the actual -date of the pyramids, and the impossibility, on their part, to ascertain -it, declare also their conviction that they must have been built at least -about that period. - -I have thus, I trust, done honourable justice to the testimony of -Josephus. I have done so for many reasons--firstly, because of the -importance of the subject itself; secondly, from my respect for the merits -of the writer; and, thirdly, because that I think it very probable indeed -that the Israelites may have been occupied in the erection of some of the -minor and later pyramids. But _insuperable_ obstacles stand in the way of -our associating them with the structure of them _all_; and of these _one_ -is, the improbability that the victorious invaders would single out the -inoffensive Israelites as particular objects of their oppression, when -policy should suggest to them a directly different course in securing -their adherence in opposition to the native residents. By Josephus's -account, however, it would appear that the Israelites alone were engaged -upon those edifices; and the Scriptures themselves confine the intimation -of drudgery to the Israelitish race: it therefore is manifest that the -Egyptian _natives_ were favoured by the _then existing_ dynasty, while it -is on all hands agreed, that the _new_-comers had treated during the whole -period of their dominion, the _entire_ Egyptian nation with indiscriminate -rigour and chastisement. - -Besides this, that deadly animosity existing in the Egyptian mind to the -name and profession of shepherds, above alluded to, at once identifies -their character with that of the "Uksi," or "King-shepherds," to whom we -have before referred, and proves the date of their invasion anterior in -point of time to Israel's introduction into the land of Egypt. Joseph was -well aware of the particulars of this invasion, and of the sting it left -behind it in the mind of the Egyptians; and accordingly he acquaints his -brothers, whose "trade also had been about cattle," that "every shepherd -was an abomination to the Egyptians."[184] - -Manetho himself, the Egyptian priest, is my voucher for this deduction, -when he says that, "After these--the shepherd-kings--came _another set of -people_ who were sojourners in Egypt, in the reign of Amenophis. These -chose themselves a leader one who was a priest of Heliopolis, and whose -name was Osarsiph; and after he had listed himself with this body of men -he changed his name to Moses." - -But this, it will be said, is at variance with Moses' own account, which -states that he obtained his name on being rescued from a watery cradle by -Pharaoh's daughter. Not in the least, I reply; for it is more than -probable that, after his slaying the Egyptian, and consequent flight, he -dropped his name to ensure concealment, and only resumed it on being -invested with his divine commission. Or, what is more likely still, and -perhaps the truth, that Osarsiph was the name which his "mother" had given -him, and which adhered to him until "he grew up,"--a term in Scripture -which expresses _mature_ age,--until when it was not that the princess had -designated him as Moses. - -Strong, too, as my veneration is for Josephus, I cannot conceal either -from myself or from the reader, that his testimony in _this instance_ is -rather of a dubious character. The idea of interpolation I altogether -waive--it is, at _all times_, a contemptible subterfuge. I will take for -granted that the text is genuine; and, on the very face of it, it bears -the impress--in the first place, of inaccuracy, confounding the period of -his countrymen's _servitude_ with that of their actual _sojourn_ in Egypt; -and, in the second place, of _indistinctness_, attaching a term of obloquy -to those edifices, without condescending to offer therefor any cause. Here -are his own words: "When time had obliterated the benefits of Joseph, and -the kingdom of Egypt had passed into another family, they inhumanely -treated the Israelites, and wore them down in various labours: for they -ordered them to divert the course of the river (Nile) into many ditches, -and to build walls, and raise mounds by which to confine the inundations -of the river (Nile); and, moreover, vexed our nation in constructing -FOOLISH PYRAMIDS, forced them to learn various arts, and inured them to -undergo great labours; and after this manner did they, for _four hundred -years_, endure bondage; the Egyptians doing that to destroy the Israelites -by overmuch labour, whilst we ourselves endeavoured to struggle against -all our difficulties." - -Now, it is not a little remarkable, as connecting the erection of the -pyramids with the "royal shepherd race," the former occupants of the above -fertile territory, that those immense edifices happen to be situated in -the very vicinity of Goshen. Geeza, where the three _great ones_ stand, is -universally allowed to have been the site whereon Memphis once stood; and -as a west wind took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea (Ex. -x. 19), Goshen, which we find by Gen. xlv. 10, cannot have been far from -Joseph's own residence, will be more aptly fixed in the vicinity of this -spot within the Heliopolitan nome, than within any other nome or -præfecture, particularly the Tanitic, "where the same wind," as has been -justly remarked by Dr. Shaw, "would not have blown those insects into the -Red Sea, but into the Mediterranean, or else into the land of the -Philistines." Goshen, then, was that part of "the land of Rameses," "the -best of the land" (Gen. xlvii. 6-11) which lay in the neighbourhood of -Cairo, but on the opposite side of the Nile, where, as already observed, -the pyramids are first met with, and whence they proceed in a continued -line along the banks of the river, in a southerly direction for many miles -together. - -After reading these details it will be impossible, I conceive, for any -dispassionate mind to remain longer in suspense as to the origin of the -pyramids. The doubt, too, and obscurity in which they have been -heretofore enveloped can be explained with similar ease, if we but -remember the execration in which their Cushite founders were held by the -Egyptians, and their consequent disinclination to associate their name -with such splendid memorials. With this view, indeed, it is not at all -improbable but that active legislative measures were adopted to cancel and -suppress every vestige of proof which could tend to perpetuate the memory -of the obnoxious erectors. So that we must not wonder if, after a lapse of -years, their history was as great a riddle to the Egyptians themselves as -that of _our pyramids_ is to the Irish nation. - -A collateral cause for this universal ignorance of their use and origin -was the probable absence of letters on the part of the Egyptians, until -now, for the first time, introduced by those learned Arabians; and though -any one who is acquainted with the oriental disquisitions of Wilfrid, and -the coincidences he establishes between the ancient history of Egypt and -the account given of the customs and dynasties of that kingdom, as drawn -from the Hindoo Puranas, will at once admit that "there must have been a -period when a Hindoo power had reigned in Egypt by right of conquest," and -established therein the peculiar rites of their religion with the elements -of literature and social civilisation, yet it is probable that during -their sojourn, which, we have seen, was a continued series of warfare, -they kept themselves aloof from all intercourse with the natives, and -checked, as much as possible, the circulation of their science among them. - -Some _sparks_ of it, however, must inevitably have transpired; and the -Egyptian intellect was too finely constituted to be insensible to its -value, or allow it to extinguish without food; so that, in the time of -Moses, and long after, their learning and accomplishments were courted by -the philosophers of the day, and were so eminently conspicuous, as to -become a proverb (Acts Apost. vii. 22). Homer, we all know, visited that -favoured land--so did Pythagoras--so did Solon, Thales, Plato, and -Eudoxus; in short, all the sages of antiquity, of whom we read so much, -and whom we peruse with such _recuperative_ pleasure, either finished -their education in that favoured school, or conversed with those who had -themselves done so. - -The Egyptians are said to have been the first who brought the "rules of -government," with the art of making "life easy" and "a people happy"--the -_true end_ of worldly politics--to a regular system. But much as they -excelled other nations in scientific lore, in nothing was their -superiority so conspicuous as in that _magic_ art which enabled them to -cope, for so long a time, and under such trying varieties, even with the -prophet and ambassador of God himself. - -These exhibitions are too stubbornly authenticated by scriptural proofs, -as well in the Old as in the New Testament,[185] for any one to affect -disbelief in them without at the same time disbelieving the authenticity -of the Scriptures themselves. Yes, I implicitly subscribe to the truth of -the narration; and as I mean to bring home their _initiation_ in the art, -as well as in their other several accomplishments, to the Chaldean -diviners, or _Aire Coti_ shepherds--a branch of the Tuath-de-danaan -colonists of this our western isle--from whom, or their relatives, under -the designation of Uksi, Indo-Scythæ, or Cushite shepherds--who, if not -all one and the same, were at least mixed and incorporated--the Egyptians -had imbibed it--this, I trust, will plead my excuse for obtruding its -notice here, as well as for dilating so much at large upon the early -history of Egypt.[186] - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - -I come now, with the same view, to consider the _destination_ of their -famous "Pyramids."[187] In this pursuit the first thing that strikes us is -the uniform precision and systematic design apparent in their -architecture. They all have their sides accurately adapted to the four -cardinal points, as the four apertures near the summit of most of ours -indicate a similar regard to fidelity to the compass. In six of them which -have been opened, the principal passage preserves the same inclination of -26° to the horizon, being directed towards the polar star. And I doubt -not, were the ground _within_ and _around all_ of _ours_ sufficiently -explored, there would be found, in some at least, regular vistas to -correspond with this description. Their obliquity too being so adjusted as -to make the north side coincide with the obliquity of the sun's rays at -the summer's solstice, has, combined with the former particulars, led some -to suppose they were solely intended for astronomical uses; and -certainly, if not altogether true, it bespeaks, at all events, an intimate -acquaintance with _astronomical rules_,[188] as well as a due regard to -the principles of _geometry_.[189] - -No one, I believe, has ever questioned the latter fact. Some, induced -thereby, have thought them to be erected for the purpose of establishing -the exact measure of the cubit; of which they happen to contain both in -breadth and height a certain number of multiples. But as they were -evidently constructed by persons well versed in all the niceties of exact -measurement, and who consequently had no occasion for such colossal -reference to refresh their memories, like the Lancasterian apparatus, it -is ridiculous to suppose them erected with this view, nor should I have -alluded to it but to expose its weakness. Others have fancied them -intended for sepulchres; and as the Egyptians, _taught by their ancient -Chaldean victors_, connected _astronomy_ with their _funereal_ and -_religious ceremonies_, they seem not in this to be far astray, if we but -extend the application to their _sacred bulls_ and _other animals_, and -not merely to their _kings_, as Herodotus would have us suppose. - -The immense sarcophagus lying in the interior of the first or Great -Pyramid, with the _bone_ found by the Earl of Munster[190] in the second, -must put this question beyond the possibility of doubt; as Sir Everard -Home, after a laborious examination of the properties of this relic, found -it accurately to agree with the lower extremity of the thigh-bone of an -ox, while it corresponded with that of no other animal. - -In conformity with this conclusion were the discoveries of Belzoni some -time before, in Upper Egypt, which abounds in specimens of the most -splendid antiquities, in a catacomb amongst which, called "Bîban el -Moluk," that is "the gates of the king"--meaning thereby the _universal -king of the ancients_, the generating principle of vegetation and life, of -which _Apis_ and _Mnevis_, _Osiris_ and _Typhon_, were but the -representatives among the Egyptians, as other nations had adopted -equivalent forms and names, according to the genius of their climes and -languages--I mean the Sun--well, in one of the numerous chambers of this -catacomb, Belzoni discovered an exquisitely beautiful sarcophagus of -alabaster, 9 feet 5 inches long, by 3 feet 9 inches wide, and 2 feet 1 -inch high, covered within and without with hieroglyphics, and figures in -intaglio, nearly in a perfect state, sounding like a bell, and as -transparent as glass: from the extraordinary magnificence of which, he -conceives, it must have been the depository of the remains of Apis; in -which idea he is the more confirmed by having found the carcass of a -_bull_ embalmed with asphaltum, in the innermost chamber. - -The passage in Herodotus, to which I before referred, appears to throw -some light on the intricate subject which we are now pursuing. In lib. ii. -p. 124, etc., "the father of historians" tells us that the two kings, who -succeeded each other on the throne of Egypt, after the happy reign of -Rhampsinitus and his predecessors, and to whom the building of those -pyramids was reputedly ascribed, had shown themselves indeed _brothers_, -not more by affinity of blood than by the similar outlines of their -cruelty and intolerance. No species of oppression was by them left -unattempted; no extreme of rigour or rapacious plunder by them unenforced: -but what peculiarly characterised the hardship of their tyranny was the -restraint they put upon the _religion_ and pious exercises of their -subjects; closing the portals of the _temples_ where they were wont to -adore, and preventing the oblation of their usual sacrifices. - -Though Herodotus has been justly honoured with the designation of "Father -of Historians," he has also, perhaps, not so very justly been called "the -Father of Errors"; and, as he himself admitted his incapability of -obtaining any satisfactory insight into the original of those structures, -may we not fairly conclude that, in the extract now cited, he either -confounds those princes with the _foreign dynasty_ which we have already -established, or else, from the ignorance _superinduced_ to obliterate -their memory, mistakes the erection of some of the _minor_ and _later_ -ones, which this "par nobile fratrum" may, indeed, have devised, in -imitation of the three "_mountains_" built by the Uksi. What he states, -however, is of value, as it points to a _previous form of worship_, and a -_system of government_ by an alien house. The prohibition of sacrifices -and the closing the temple doors make this as clear as words can delineate -anything. All we want, then, is to be informed what the particular temples -alluded to were: and that they were the _pyramids_, will, I think, be -conceded by everyone who has carefully perused the arguments here set -down, and who has not his judgment warped by favourite plans of literary -systems and speculative hypotheses. - -This conclusion receives additional force from the conversation which -Wilford, in his "Dissertation upon Egypt and the Nile,"[191] tells us he -had with several learned Brahmins, when, upon describing to them the form -and bearings of the great Egyptian pyramid, one of them asked if _it had -not a communication under ground with the river Cali_? Being answered that -such communication was spoken of as having once existed, and that a _well_ -was still to be seen, they unanimously agreed that it was a _temple_ -appropriated to the worship of _Padma-devi_, and that the supposed _tomb_ -was a _trough_, which, on certain festivals, her priests used to fill with -the sacred water and lotos-flowers. - -Mr. Davison, British Consul to Algiers, when accompanying Mr. Wortley -Montague to Egypt, in 1763, discovered here a chamber, before unnoticed, -and descended, to a depth of 155 feet, the three successive reservoirs. -The principal oblique passage has, since then, been traced by the very -enterprising master of a merchant vessel, Captain Caviglia, 200 feet -farther down than by any former explorer, and found to communicate with -the bottom of the well, which is now filled with rubbish. A circulation of -air being thus procured, he was emboldened to proceed 28 feet farther, -which brought him to a spacious hall, 66 feet by 27 feet, unequal in -altitude, and directly under the centre of the pyramid. In no instance yet -recorded has any appearance presented itself of human remains within those -apartments, nor indeed was there any possibility of conveying such -thither, unless placed there before the erection of the pile itself; for -the _extremities_ of the gallery, which leads into the _great chamber_, -are so _narrow_ and _circumscribed_, that it is _with difficulty_ one can -effect an _entrance into it, even by creeping upon his belly_. - -The _symbolical anatomy_ prefigured in this contrivance, and which equally -exhibits itself in all the temples of the ancients, as well _under_ as -_over ground_, is such as almost to have tempted me to make _this_ the -occasion on which I should uncover another secret of their mystic code. -But a more _concentrated_ opportunity will occur as we advance, and for -which this intimation will answer as a prelude; meanwhile, I would have -the reader soberly to bethink himself, what possible use could _dead -bodies have of wells of water_? Is not _such_ the _type_, as it is also -the _accompaniment_, of _life_ and activity? And does not _this_, of -itself, subvert the absurdity of those temples having been erected as mere -mausoleums for kings? - -I have already hinted my confident belief _that if the ground all, within, -and around our pyramids were sufficiently examined_, there would not be -wanting indications of subterraneous passages. I am the more confirmed in -this, my belief, from the appearances that presented themselves on the -demolition of _that_ at Downpatrick, in 1790, "to make room for the -rebuilding of that part of the old cathedral next which it stood, and from -which it was distant about forty feet. When the tower was thrown down," -continues Dubourdieu, in his _Statistical Survey_ of the county, "and -cleared away to the foundation, another foundation was discovered under -it, and running directly across the site of the tower, which appeared to -be a continuation of the church wall, which, at some period prior to the -building of the tower, seemed to have extended considerably beyond it." -With great deference, however, to the authority of so respectable a -writer, I hesitate not to proclaim that the second foundation so -discovered was _not_ a "continuation of the church wall," but the remnant -of some _pagan_ structure, appertaining to the tower itself--in fact a -_Vihâr_, or college for its priests--or else the vestige of some larger -temple, and connected therewith, previously existing on the same locality. - -That this announcement is correct will be apparent, from the _superiority -of masonic skill_ exhibited in this _foundation_, as well as in its having -been upon a larger scale and ampler dimensions than what the Christian -"cathedral" had ever occupied; "in the walls of which," says my authority, -"there are many pieces of cut stone that have evidently been used in some -former building. The same circumstance may also be observed in several of -the ruined churches at Clonmacnoise."[192] - -Nor ought this relic of an ancient pagan edifice to excite our surprise, -when we are told that the temple of the "Syrian goddess," which existed -in the days of Lucian, was not that which was originally erected by -Deucalion, but one built _many ages_ after, on the _same site_, by Attis, -Bacchus, or Semiramis. - -With the church, therefore, or other Christian edifice, this "foundation" -had no relation. St. Patrick was the first who erected one in that -vicinity, to which he gave the name of Sgibol Phadruig, or Patrick's -Granary; having been built on the identical spot on which Dichu, son of -Trichem, of the tribe of the Dalfiatachs, and lord of the territory of -Lecale, had a granary constructed to preserve his corn, before that his -gratitude for the saint, by whom he was just converted, induced him to -consecrate the place where that event occurred, by raising thereon a house -to the God of nature and of harvests. - -Its situation, be it observed, was "two miles from the city of Down";[193] -different, therefore, from that of the cathedral, as was also its _form_: -having been built from north to south, at the solicitation of Dichu -himself, agreeably to the plan of the former storehouse. - -This took place in 433-34; and though, for concession' sake, I may -admit,--_what yet is far from being my conviction_,--that _some_ of our -Round Towers may have been erected _subsequently_ to the Christian era, -yet positive I must be that _no one_ of them _was after the successful -mission_ of the Apostle of Ireland; and the explosion of the doctrines -with which even the _most modern of them_ may happen to be -associated,--while the majority, and the _real ones_, I shall prove, -belong to an infinitely earlier date. - -As a further inducement to explore for cavities beneath, and connected -with, our Round Towers, I beg leave to bring under review what Maundrel -relates of two Round Pillars, which he met with in his journey from Aleppo -to Jerusalem, on the sea-coast, a little to the south of Aradus, in the -neighbourhood of Tripoli. He describes one of them as thirty-three feet -high, composed of a pedestal, ten high and fifteen square, surmounted with -a tall cylindrical stone, and capped with another in the form of a -_pyramid_. The second was not quite so high--thirty feet two inches--its -pedestal, which was supported by four lions, rudely carved at each corner, -was in height six feet, being sixteen feet six inches square; the -superstructure upon which was one single stone cut in the shape of a -_hemisphere_. Each of these pillars, of which he gives accurate drawings, -has under it several catacombs or sepulchral chambers, the entrances to -which lie on the south side. He pronounces a third which he met with, as -"a very ancient structure, and probably a place of sepulchre."[194] - -With the opinion of this judicious traveller I altogether concur, provided -only, as said before, in reference to the pyramids, that the application -be extended to the sacred bulls and crocodiles, serpents, dragons, and -heifers, with the whole train of _bestial_ divinities, which both Indians -and Egyptians, and all the other polished nations of antiquity, thought -proper to adopt as objects of their regard, and treat with the -homage--though only _commemorative_, as they will tell you--of the One -Great Supreme.[195] - -This extension of the use will at once afford a solution of the otherwise -unaccountable and unnecessary _size_ of those cavities, and is further -supported by Savary's remark, made on occasion of his searching for the -Egyptian Labyrinth, viz. that "amidst the ruins of the towns of Caroun, -the attention is particularly fixed by several narrow, low, and very long -cells, which seem to have had no other use than that of containing the -bodies of the sacred crocodiles; these remains can only correspond with -the labyrinth." While Herodotus's declaration, of his not being allowed to -enter its vaults, on the score of their "containing within them the bodies -of the fifteen kings, together with the _sacred crocodiles_," should -afford it a determination no longer liable to doubt. - -Archer, also, when mentioning a very ancient Hindoo temple, at the south -end of the fort of Gualior, resembling in shape those on the Coromandel -coast, and decorated with much carving, says that "there was a -subterranean communication with the plain at the north end, but the -passage has been so long neglected as to be impassable." - -Am I not justified, therefore, in the conviction, from what I have already -intimated, as to the _complicated_ design of those sacred piles, that _our -Round Towers_ would be found similarly furnished with subterranean -chambers? I do respectfully urge that such is my _firm belief_, and that -it would be well worth the while of the learned community to investigate -the accuracy of the surmise here put forward. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - -Another characteristic, to which I would fain attract the reader's regard, -is the circumstance of their being erected in the vicinity of _water_. At -Glendalough, what a magnificent lake salutes the Tower? In Devenish and at -Killmalloch, is not the same the case? In other parts of the country, -also, we find them similarly located. And even where nature has not been -so lavish of her _inland seas_, yet is water, of some shape, always to be -seen contiguous to our towers. - -What use, it will be asked, do I mean to make of this argument? or how -seek support from the accidental propinquity of this element? Remember my -remark upon the article, before, in connection with the Egyptian Pyramids. -Captain Mignan, besides, tells us that a tradition, handed down from time -immemorial, says that "near the foot of the ruin of El Mujellebah," which -he takes to be that of the Tower of Babel, "is a _well_, invisible to -mortals"; and, as all Eastern heathenism, whence ours was deduced, partook -in some degree of the same usages and properties, I think it very probable -the correspondence will apply in this as well as in other peculiarities; -and the rather as from symptoms of vaults, which have already appeared, -and the hollow sounds, or echoes, which invariably accompany, the -proposition does not come unwarranted, however singly put forth or -without something like argument to recommend its trial. - -We know that in Hieropolis, or the "Holy city," in _Syria_, where a -Temple, with a _Tower_, was erected to _Astarte_, there stood adjacent a -_lake_, where _sacred fishes_ were preserved, in the midst of which was a -stone altar, which was _said_, and really _appeared_, to float; whither -numbers of persons used to swim every day to perform their devotions. -Under this temple they showed the cleft where it was said the waters -drained off after Deucalion's flood, and this tradition brought on the -extraordinary ceremony now about to be narrated, something similar to -which our ancestors must formerly have practised _here_. - -"I have," says Lucian,[196] "myself seen this chasm, and it is a very -small one, under the temple. Whether it was formerly larger and since -lessened I cannot tell, but that which I have seen is small. In -commemoration of this history they act in this manner: twice in every year -water is brought from the sea to the temple, and not by the priests only, -_but by all Syria_ and Arabia. Many come from the Euphrates to the sea, -and all carry water, which they first pour out in the temple, and -afterwards it sinks into the chasm, which though small, receives a -prodigious quantity of water, and when they do so, they say, Deucalion -instituted the ceremony as a memorial of the calamity above named, and of -his deliverance from it." - -Twice a year a man went up to the top of the Priap, and there remained -seven days. His mode of getting up was thus:--He surrounded _it_ and -_himself_ with a chain, and ascended by the help of that and certain -pegs, which, stuck out of its sides for the purpose, lifting the chain up -after him at each resting interval--a method of ascent which will be -readily understood by those who have seen men climb up the palm trees of -Egypt and Arabia. Having reached the summit he let down the chain, and by -means thereof drew up all the necessaries in the way of food, and withal -prepared himself a seat, or rather nest on his aërial tabernacle. - -[Illustration: - - View him now mounted on his sacred tower, - He looks around with conscious sense of power.] - -On these occasions crowds used to come with offerings, and the custom was -for each to declare his name to the priests; upon which one below cried it -out to him on the top, who thereupon muttered a prayer, which, in order to -arrest the attention of the congregation, and enliven their devotion, he -_all the while_ accompanied by striking a bell. - -One way of their sacrificing was as shocking as it would be otherwise -ridiculous. They crowned victims with garlands, then drove them out of the -temple-court, on one side whereof was an abrupt steep, where falling they -thereby perished. Nay, some tied up their very children in sacks, and then -shoved them down, reproaching them as wild beasts, miserably to perish. - -This whole proceeding, only under a mythological garb, was in direct -harmony with the directions given and the practice pursued by God's own -people. The man ascending to the top of the tower had a parallel in that -declaration of the Lord recorded in Ex. xxiv. 1, 2, 3, viz.: "And he said -unto Moses, come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and -seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone -shall come near the Lord; but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the -people go up with him. And Moses came and told the people all the words of -the Lord, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one -voice, and said, 'All the words which the Lord hath said, will we -do.'"[197] - -His staying there seven days corresponded with Lev. viii. 33, 34, 35: "And -ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in -seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven -days shall ye consecrate you. As he hath done this day, so the Lord hath -commanded to do, to make an atonement for you. Therefore shall ye abide -at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven -days, and keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not; for so I am -commanded." And again, Ezek. xliii. 25: "Seven days shalt thou prepare -every day a goat for a sin-offering: they shall also prepare a young -bullock and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. Seven days shall they -purge the altar, and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves." - -The enrolment of their names was also sanctioned by Divine command, as Ex. -xxviii. 29: "And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in -the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy -place, for a memorial before the Lord continually." Whilst the ringing of -the bell is particularly enforced by a triple repetition, Ex. xxviii. 33, -34: "And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make _pomegranates_ of -blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and -_bells_ of gold between them round about. A golden _bell_ and a -_pomegranate_, a golden _bell_ and a _pomegranate_, upon the hem of the -robe round about." - -This last-cited text is of the most inconceivable advantage in the -development of the subject which we thus pursue. The most superficial must -have noticed how that, in the tracing of this analogy between the -ceremonies of the Gentiles and the Hebrews, I have studiously guarded -against its appearing an imitation, on the part of the former, from the -ritual of the latter. The priority in point of date will certainly appear -on the Gentile side. Meanwhile, ere other links of conformity crowd upon -our path, it will be well to take heed to the frequency of the word -_pomegranate_, as occurring in the Scriptures. It has already appeared -that one of the names of the _Syrian goddess_, in whose honour the -Hieropolitan Priaps were erected, was _Rimmon_. This epithet you have had -before expounded as expressive of that _fruit_; and as we see that, both -in the Jewish and the pagan formulæ, it occupied so prominent a -position,[198] it must occasion you no surprise if, by and by, I discover -it amongst the mouldings[199] of our consecrated and venerable Round -Towers. - -As to their devotions at the lake, and the propinquity of the lake itself -to the temple, it is in direct similitude to the "molten sea," mentioned 1 -Kings vii. 23, 24, 25, 26, "the brim whereof was wrought like the brim of -a _cup, with flowers_ of lilies," etc.;--while the cruel and shocking -sacrifice with which the whole terminated, was the exact respondent of the -Mosaical scapegoat.[200] - -Let it not be wondered at, therefore, if on the summit of one of our Round -Towers are to be found the traces of the apparatus for a bell. For -independently of what Walsh and others inform us of, viz. that the -Irish--enjoying tranquillity and repose after the expulsion of the Ostmen, -and so recalling their attention to the cultivation of Christianity after -their release from that scourge--converted those structures of exploded -paganism to the only obvious use to which they could then be made -subservient, namely, that of _belfries_, for the summoning together of the -people to public worship, some remnants of which it is but natural may yet -remain--independently, I say, of this, have I not here shown that _bells_ -entered essentially into the code of the pagan ceremonial, from whence it -is more than probable, nay, a downright certainty, that the first -Christian ecclesiastics adopted the use, as the Mohammedans, in their -minarets, did so likewise.[201] - -The instance to which I have referred in an early part of this volume, of -astonishment created in the English minds, on their first beholding one of -those implements, was that of Gildas, who, having finished his education -at Armagh, and returned to Britain about the year 508, was engaged by -Cadoc, abbot of the church of Mancarban, to superintend the studies of his -pupils during his absence for a twelvemonth. Having done so most -successfully, and without accepting of any remuneration for his labour, we -find, in an ancient life of Cadoc, in the Tinmouth MS., Lambeth observes -that "Cadoc, returning to his monastery, found Gildas a noble scholar, -with a very beautiful _little bell_, which he brought with him from -Ireland." - -Those bells, then, we may be sure, appertained exclusively to the service -of the Round Towers.[202] Having none of these in England, of course they -had no bells, and hence the surprise manifested on the above occasion. In -Ireland, too, they must have been, now, comparatively obsolete.[203] And -hence we find, according to Primate Usher, that their (restored) use was -not general in the _churches_ here before the latter end of the seventh -century; while another writer assures us that it was not until the ninth -century that large ones were invented for the purpose of suspension.[204] - -The shape of the Irish _pagan_ bells was precisely the same as of those -in the present day. They were called crotals, or bell-cymbals. Oblong -_square_ ones, some of bell-metal, some of iron, from twelve inches to -eighteen inches high, with a handle to sound them by, have been also dug -up in our various bogs. Of these the museum of the Dublin Society -possesses one; another is preserved by the Moira family. The writer of -this article not having seen either of these relics, is rather diffident -in the conjecture which he is now about to express; but from the account -received of that in the possession of the house of Moira, he feels -strongly disposed to identify its origin with the worship of the -above-mentioned deity, Astarte. Lucian expressly tells us that under the -veil of this goddess was really meant the _moon_; and that "the host of -heaven,"--including sun, moon, and stars, and typifying the fulgor of that -Omniscient germ whence they all had emanated,--constituted the object of -the ancient Irish adoration, no one, I believe, can longer question. Now, -in Hall's _Tour through Ireland_, 1813, I see this bell described as -having "a hole in one of its sides like a quarterly moon"; and not knowing -whether this is the effect of accident or corrosion, or a symbolical -property in its original shape, I trust I shall not be deemed fanciful if -I ascribe it as a reference to that planet in whose vain solemnities it -had been primarily exercised. - -Whether this exposition prove eccentrical or otherwise, and, by -inspection, it can be readily ascertained, I cannot presume to determine; -nor indeed does it value much.[205] With one thing, however, I am -gratified, that in Archer's _Travels in Upper India_, published, as before -observed, within the last few weeks, I find that distinguished soldier and -shrewd observer, delineate a piece of architecture similar in all -particulars to this Syrian Priap--the allusion to which has recalled me to -ring this second chime upon the bells--and as the notice is of value, I -shall give it in his express words: "A curious structure," says he, "is at -the bottom of the hill (Dutteah). It consists of five _conical pillars_, -with green painted tops, in a line from east to west; the two larger ones -in the centre: the _pillars_ have _tiles stuck in them resembling steps_. -We could not learn what was its meaning or use. The village is wholly -_Jain_, and is named Serrowlee." - -It is not difficult to understand why no information could be obtained, -from the _present_ inhabitants, as to the object of those edifices. Their -remote _antiquity_ is a sufficient reply. But I flatter myself that the -reader, who has accompanied me from the outset of this antiquarian voyage, -can now supply the defect, and explain that _they were a series of Round -Towers_, or _Phalli, erected by the aboriginal Buddhists_, of whom the -_Jaina_ are only the wretched remains; and that those "tiles" which are -"stuck in them, resembling steps," _were for the purpose of ascending by -the aid of a hoop_, such as we have shown at Hieropolis. The projecting -stones in _our_ Priaps, or the cavities that appear after their removal, -are thus also accounted for. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - -The universal ignorance which prevails throughout the East as to the -origin of those antiquities which excite the wonder of every traveller -makes it necessary that we should again direct our course towards that -hemisphere, to redeem, if possible, its venerable remains from that moral -night which successive ages have accumulated around them. - -Persia[206] was the source which poured its vivifying light into the -mental obnubilation of our European ancestors. By a reverse of those -casualties from which no condition can be exempt, Persia has, in her turn, -been made the theatre of darkness; and though, under the fostering -auspices of British institutions, the mist has, to a large amount, been -dispelled, yet is the proudest era of her splendour left still -unexplored, and that is the epoch which called forth into life those -monuments of literature and philosophical eminence, which, resisting the -corrosion of time and the assaults of war, still proudly elevate their -heads towards those orbs, with whose pompous ceremonial they were -essentially connected, and whose generative properties they typically -symbolised--I mean the Round Towers. - -This was the moment of Persia's halcyon pride: this the period of her -earthly coruscation: to this have all the faculties of my ardent mind with -vigour been addressed; and while, in the humble consciousness of -successful investigation, I announce its issue to have far exceeded my -hopes, I shall avail myself of the industry of preceding inquirers to -throw light upon the intervals of value which intervene; but, lest I -should intrude upon the province of their well-earned honours, I shall, in -every such case of borrowed assistance, allow the writers themselves to -speak; by which it will additionally appear that, with much good taste, -and with historical honesty, they have left a vacuum in their researches, -for which the public mind has been long athirst, and which my exclusive -resources could alone supply. - -"The Persian empire,"[207] says Heeren, "owed its origin to one of those -great political revolutions which are of such frequent occurrence in Asia, -and the rise and progress of which we have already considered in general. -A rude mountain tribe of nomad habits rushed with impetuous rapidity from -its fastnesses, and overwhelmed all the nations of Southern Asia, (the -Arabians excepted), from the Mediterranean to the Indus and Iaxartes. The -mighty empires which arose in Asia were not founded in the same manner -with the kingdoms of Europe. They were generally erected by mighty -conquering nations, and these, for the most part, nomad nations. This -important consideration we must never lose sight of, when engaged in the -study of their history and institutions." - -"Not only is Persia[208] Proper memorable on account of its historical -associations, but also for the architectural remains which it continues to -present. The ruins of Persepolis are the noblest monuments of the most -flourishing era of this empire, which have survived the lapse of ages. As -solitary in their situation as peculiar in their character, they rise -above the deluge of years, which for centuries has overwhelmed all the -records of human grandeur, around them, or near them, and buried all -traces of Susa and of Babylon. Their venerable antiquity and majestic -proportions do not more command our reverence, than the mystery which -involves their construction awakens the curiosity of the most unobservant -spectator. Pillars which belong to no known order of architecture; -inscriptions in an alphabet which continues an enigma; fabulous animals -which stand as guards at the entrance; the multiplicity of allegorical -figures which decorate the walls,--all conspire to carry us back to ages -of the most remote antiquity, over which the traditions of the East shed a -doubtful and wandering light." - -"The Persians have taken more pains than almost any other nation to -preserve their records in writing; yet it has been their fate, in common -with most other nations of antiquity, to be indebted for the stability of -their fame to foreign historians. Notwithstanding the pains they took to -register the acts of their government, the _original documents of their -history_, with a few accidental exceptions, have altogether perished. And -the inscriptions of Persepolis, like the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, -will, in a manner, have outlived themselves, unless a complete key be -discovered to the alphabet in which they are composed." - -Now, as a set off to these extracts, it will be necessary to remark that, -though true in substance, they are only so as descriptive of a particular -epoch. Empire after empire rolled over, in succession, before that which -the historian here delineates, and which was but the motley combination of -a rugged swarm of mountaineers, who stalked with ferocious insensibility -over the consecrated relics of monumental glory. - -Herodotus and Arrian were the authorities that seduced him into this -mistake, the former of whom states that "the Persians originally occupied -a small and craggy country, and that it was proposed in the time of Cyrus -that they should exchange this for one more fertile; a plan which Cyrus -discouraged as likely to extinguish their hardy and warlike pursuits"; and -the latter, that "the Persians, when, under Cyrus, they conquered all -Asia, were a poor people, inhabiting a hilly region";[209] but those -writers were as misinformed, as to all events and particulars relating to -this locality, anterior to the time specified above, as any of their -contemporaries; and when we reflect how very recent an era in the history -of the world was that in which Cyrus appeared, it will be seen how fragile -a substratum was that which the professor had adopted for the erection of -his materials. We read accordingly, in Terceira's Spanish history of that -country, that "there was not at that time (A.D. 1590) one man in Persia -(these were the direct descendants of Cyrus's men) that understood their -_ancient_ letters, for having often seen some plates of metal with -_ancient_ inscriptions on them, I made inquiry after the meaning of them; -and men _well versed_ in their _antiquities_, and _studious_, told me that -was _Fars kadeem, ancient Persian_, after the old fashion, and _therefore_ -I should find _no man_ that understood it." - -Indeed the reasonings of Heeren himself,--and learned I cheerfully -acknowledge them,--would seem to make him rise above the narrowness of his -Grecian supporters. - -"Even previous," says he, "to the time when the Arabs, with the sword in -one hand and the Koran in the other, overran and subdued Persia, they were -the more open to settlers from the North and East, from the circumstance -that Persia was situated on the great highway of nations, by which the -human race spread itself from East to West. All that is meant to be -asserted is, that the various races who successively had dominion in these -parts, all belonged to the same original stock. - -"This fact, which the observations of the best modern travellers tend to -confirm, may explain how it has come to pass that many districts, -anciently celebrated for their fertility, are at present barren and -unproductive. A single invasion, by destroying the water-courses, is -sufficient to reduce, in a short time, a fertile and flourishing country -to an arid desert; and to how many such disastrous contingencies has not -Persia at all times been exposed!" - -"Another fact, suggested by the languages of Asia and the ancient dialects -of Persia, is too important to be passed over in silence. Not only in the -Persian territory but in other parts of Eastern Asia, particularly the two -Indian peninsulas, we find languages which still subsist, mixed up with -others which are preserved to us only in a few written names. To this -class belong, in Persia, the Zend and Pahlivi, already mentioned; in -Hindustan, the celebrated Sanscrit, as well as the Pali in the Burman -peninsula. - -"Accordingly, we shall venture to consider as the same parent stock the -race which bore rule in Iran, comprehending all the inferior races, and -which may be termed in general the Persian or Medo-Persian, inasmuch as -the countries in its occupation were termed, in a wider sense, the land of -Persia. - -"They have been denominated by Rhode (Heilige sagen, etc.) the people of -Zend, not improperly, if we consider the Zend as the original language of -all the race ... not confined to Persis, properly so called, but extending -over the steppes of Carmania and to the shores of the Caspian. Even at the -present day they are comprised under the general name of Persia, though -Farsistan, the original country of the Persians, forms a very small part -of this territory. - -"The Semitic and the Persian were, therefore, the principal languages of -Asia; the latter being spoken as far as the Indus. Our knowledge of the -languages prevalent on the other side of that river is as yet too -defective to enable us to speak with anything like certainty. Possibly it -may be reserved for our own age to arrive at important conclusions on this -subject, if the affinity between the Zend and the Sanscrit, the sacred -languages of Persia and Hindustan, should be established,--if the spirit -of discovery which characterises the British nation should succeed in -rescuing from oblivion some more remains of ancient Indian literature, and -a second Anquetil Duperron present the public with the sacred books of the -Brahmans, with the same success that his predecessor has illustrated those -of the Parsees." - -Though I cannot avoid concurring in the laudable hope that "our own age" -may witness important conclusions on this subject, still it strikes -me,--_and I earnestly urge it as worthy of the notice of a Reform -Ministry_, that until the _Irish Language_ be raked from its ashes, no -accuracy can ever be obtained either in the Zend, Pahlavi, or Sanscrit -_dialects_, which are but emanations from it, or in the _subject matter_, -historical or religious, which they profess to pourtray. - -"In the interior of these districts is situated a considerable lake, -called the Lake Zevora, unquestionably the _Aria Palus_ of antiquity. A -large river, anciently bearing the same name, at present called the -Ilmend, empties itself into this inland sea from the deserts to the -south-east, and Christie fell in with another stream farther to the north, -called the Herat, near a town of the same name. - -"I consider (with Kinneir) the city of Herat to be same with the ancient -Aria, or, as it was also called, Artacoana. We are told that Alexander on -his march to Bactriana inclined to the south to visit Aria. We must -carefully distinguish between the terms Aria and Ariana, as used by the -Greeks. The former was applied to a province which we shall have occasion -to describe in the sequel. The latter is equivalent to Iran, and appears -to have been formed from the ancient term in the Zend language, Eriene. -The whole of Iran composes a sort of oblong, the Tigris and Indus forming -its sides to the east and west; the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean bounding -it to the south; and the Caspian, with Mount Taurus and the river Oxus, -shutting it in to the north. These were also the limits of the ancient -Ariana (see Strabo, p. 1048), except that, towards the west, its boundary -was an imaginary line separating it from Persia Proper. Of this more -extensive district, Aria (according to Strabo) formed only a part, -distinguished by its superior fertility. Herodotus appears to have been -unacquainted with the term Aria; he merely mentions the Arii as a nation -allied to the Medes. - -"Aria, lying to the east of Media, derived its name from the river Arius, -the modern Heri: and the Arians and Medes were originally the same race; -the Medes, according to Herodotus, having originally borne the name -Arians. It is apparent, from the same place (Herod. vii. 62) that what -were called the _Median habits_ were not confined to Media Proper, but -extended to the countries lying eastward, and as these touch on Bactria, -we cannot be surprised at the conformity which prevailed." - -These latter quotations I have thought fit to introduce to show the -ignorance of the modern Greeks,--those of Cyrus and Herodotus's -days--compared with their Pelasgic predecessors--_Iran_, the real name for -all those countries of higher Asia as far as the Indus,[210] being -called, in the Zend, _Eriene_, the Greeks, whose intercourse with the East -now for the first time began, without troubling their brains to ascertain -what the word in either form meant, transmuted this latter into _Ariana_, -whereas their forefathers, the Pelasgi, a literary and a religious tribe, -changed its namesake in the West, our own _Iran_--which in the Pahlavi -dialect was called _Erin_, and in the Zend would also be called -_Eriene_--into _Ierne_, thereby evincing their knowledge of the import of -the term, and registering their subscription in its _sacred_ -attributes.[211] - -The following, however, is more to the point, and in itself sufficient to -redeem the professor's entire work from any occasional inclination to -Grecian subserviency. - -"It cannot be doubted that at some remote period antecedent to the -commencement of historical records, one mighty race possessed these vast -plains. - -"The traditions of this race preserve some very important particulars -respecting their descent, their ancient abodes, and their gradual -dissemination through the land of Iran. These traditions are preserved in -the beginning of the Vendidat, the most important, and it is probable, the -most ancient of all their sacred books, the collection of which is styled -the Zendavasta, to which we shall have occasion to refer hereafter. The -first two chapters of this work, entitled _Fargards_, contain the above -traditions, not wrapt up in allegory, but so evidently historical as to -demand nothing more than the application of geographical knowledge to -explain them. With the exception of the Mosaical Scriptures, we are -acquainted with nothing which so plainly wears the stamp of remote -antiquity, ascending beyond the times within which the known empires of -the East flourished; in which we catch, as it were, the last faint echo of -the history of a former world, anterior to that great catastrophe of our -planet, which is attested in the vicinity of the parent country of these -legends, by the remains of the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the mammoth, -and other countries properly belonging to the countries of the South. It -would be a fruitless labour to attempt to assign dates to these remains, -but if the compiler of the _Vendidat_ himself, who was long anterior to -the Persian, and as we shall have occasion to show, probably also to the -Median dynasty, as known to us, received them as the primeval traditions -of his race, our opinion of their importance may be fully justified. - -"These legends describe as the _original_ seat of the race, a delicious -country, named Eriene-_Veedjo_, which enjoyed a climate singularly mild, -having seven months summer and five of winter. Such was the state at -first, as created by the power of Ormuzd; but the author of evil, the -death-dealing Ahriman, smote it with the plague of cold, so that it came -to have ten months of winter and only two of summer. Thus the nation began -to desert the paradise they at first occupied, and Ormuzd successively -created for their reception sixteen other places of benediction and -abundance, which are faithfully recorded in the legend. - -"What then was the site of the Eriene referred to? The editors and -commentators on the Zendavesta are inclined to discover it in Georgia, or -the Caucasian district; but the opinion must necessarily appear -unsatisfactory to anyone who will take into account the whole of the -record, and the succession of places there mentioned as the abodes of the -race. On the contrary, we there trace a gradual migration of the nation -from east to west, not as this hypothesis would tend to prove, from west -to east. The first abode which Ormuzd created for the exiled people was -Soghdi, whose identity with Sogdiana is sufficiently apparent; next Môore, -or Maroo, in Khorasan; then Bakhdi, or Balkh (Bactriana), and so on to -Fars itself, and the boundaries of Media or India. The original country of -Eriene must therefore lie to the east of Leed, and thus we are led, by the -course of tradition, to those regions which we have already referred to as -the scene of the traditions and fables of the nation, viz. the mountainous -tracts on the borders of Bucharia, the chain of Mustag and Beloorland, as -far as the Paropamisan range on the confines of Hindustan, and extending -northwards to the neighbourhood of the Altain chain. This savage and -ungenial region enjoys at present only a short summer, at the same time -that it contains the relics of an ancient world, which confirm, by -positive proof, the legend of the Vendidat, that anciently the _climate_ -was of a _totally different character_. When the altered nature of their -original seats compelled the race to quit them, Ormuzd prepared for them -other places of repose and abundance, within the precincts of that -territory which has _preserved to the present day the appellation of Iran; -the nation carrying with them the name of Eriene, which is obviously the -same with Iran_. - -"Jemshid, the father of his people, the most glorious of mortals whom the -sun ever beheld. In his day animals perished not: there was no want either -of water or of fruit-bearing trees, or of animals fit for the food of -mankind. During the light of his reign there was neither frost nor burning -heat, nor death, nor unbridled passions, nor the work of the Deevs. Man -appeared to retain the age of fifteen; the children grew up in safety as -long as Jemshid reigned the father of his people.[212] - -"The restoration of such a golden age was the end of the legislation of -Zoroaster, who, however, built his code on a religious foundation -agreeably to the practice of the East; and the multifarious ceremonies he -prescribed had all reference to certain doctrines intimately associated -with his political dogmata; and it is absolutely necessary to bear in mind -their alliance, if we would not do injustice to one part or other of his -system. - -"On these principles Zoroaster built his laws for the improvement of the -soil by means of agriculture, by tending of cattle and gardening, which he -perpetually inculcates, as if he could not sufficiently impress his -disciples with a sense of their importance. - -"According to his own professions he was only the restorer of the doctrine -which Ormuzd himself had promulgated in the days of Jemshid: this -doctrine, however, had been misrepresented, a false and delusive magia, -the work of Deevs, had crept in, which was first to be extinguished, in -order to restore the pure laws of Ormuzd. - -"Even Plato, the first Grecian writer who mentions Zoroaster, speaks of -him as _a sage of remote antiquity_; and the same is established by the -evidence of Hermippus and Eudoxus, which Pliny has preserved. The second -Zoroaster, supposed by Toucher to have flourished under Darius Hystaspes, -is the mere figment of some later Grecian authors of little credit. - -"On the whole, we _are compelled_ to carry back Zoroaster to the period -when Bactriana was an independent monarchy, _a period anterior to the very -commencement of the Median empire_, as related by Herodotus, ascending -_beyond the eighth century_ before the Christian era. Whether we must -refer him to a _still more ancient epoch_, prior to the Assyrian monarchy, -the chronological notices we have already given are all that can be -afforded, except we be prepared to transport the sage beyond the _utmost -limits of recorded_ history." - -As I have no longer occasion, however, for the _sage_ than to show that he -was a _reformer_; and though at least "eight (more likely _eighteen_) -hundred years before the Christian era,"--yet was he even then, -comparatively, a _modern_,--I shall now turn to other sources to ascend to -the dynasties that had preceded him. - -"The rare and interesting tract on twelve religions," says Sir W. Jones, -"entitled the Dabistan, and composed by a Mohammedan traveller, a native -of Cashmere, named Moshan, but distinguished by the assumed surname of -Fani, or Perishable, begins with a wonderfully curious chapter on the -religion of Hushang, which was _long anterior to Zeradust_ (_Zoroaster_), -but had continued to be _secretly professed_ by many learned Persians, -even to the author's time; and several of the most eminent of these -dissenting, in many points, from the Ghabres, and persecuted by the ruling -powers of their country, had retired to India, where they compiled a -number of books, now extremely scarce, which Moshan had perused, and with -the writers of which, or with many of them, he had contracted an intimate -friendship. From them he learned that a _powerful monarchy had been -established for ages in Iran for the accession of Cayemurs_; that it was -called the Mahabadean dynasty, for a reason which will soon be mentioned; -and that many princes, of whom seven or eight only are named in the -Dabistan, and among them Mahbul, or Maha Beli, had raised the empire to -the zenith of human glory. If we can rely on this evidence,--_which to me -appears unexceptionable_,--the Iranian monarchy must have been the oldest -in the world." - -Sir John Malcolm had some scruples as to the authenticity of this -production, and entered upon a very severe analysis of its contents; -merely because the _idols_ which the ancient Persians are therein stated -to have adored, and the _mode_ of their adoration, were dissimilar to -those of India! Was it necessary that they should be alike? It is true, -that from Persia everything Indian flowed; but there, on its importation, -it partook of the peculiarities of the soil and climate; while, even in -Persia itself, a great degeneracy occurred; and the deterioration and -moral laxity, thus superinduced, was what the virtuous Zeradust so -deplored, and what _kindled_ his _fervour_ to new model the system. - -But "the introduction of the angel _Gabriel_," he says, "appears of -itself enough to discredit the whole work." Was Sir John sure that this -rendering was literal? He himself admits that he was "following a -Mohammedan author, who has certainly made a _free_ translation of the -Pahlavi text." And, if so in one case, why not in another? But even -admitting that there was no _freedom_ at all used in the matter; and that -_Gabriel_ is the rigid version of the name of the messenger employed, this -should not, _in the least_, affect our reliance upon the Dabistan, as I -shall adduce a greater _coincidence_ than this, nay, a downright -_identity_, not only of _name_ but of _essence_, between the divine -dispensation in all previous ages, and the spiritual form of it with which -we are at present blessed. - -But you will say, perhaps, that Moshan Fani's authorities were, in a great -measure, _floating_, and dependent upon _histories_ of a merely oral -stamp, which--wanting as they do, the impress of lettered perpetuity, and -subject, as they are, to variation, both of curtailment and of addition, -besides the colour of depreciation or enhancement, which they must -furthermore undergo, according to the nature of the successive _media_ -through which they pass,--cannot, after repeated transfusions, retain much -similarity with the original truth, nor afford to a rational and thinking -mind, however they may gratify selfish or national love, much stability -for conviction or satisfactory acquiescence? - -To the first I shall reply that it seems not correct, as the manuscripts -by which he was guided appear still in existence; and this was not without -its influence on Sir John's own scepticism, when he declares, that "the -doubtful authority of this work has received some support from the recent -discovery of a volume in the ancient Pahlivi, called the Dussadeer, or -Zemarawatseer, to which its authors refer." - -Then, as to the _vanity_ alluded to, the compiler may well be acquitted of -any, as being of a different creed, and proverbially intolerant, he could -not, _did not truth oversway_, have felt much communion of pleasure in -celebrating the glories of a defunct religion. And though I concede that -_that_ species of information, which arises from the traditions of -successive races of men, cannot be so satisfactory as that which is -_stereotyped_ in alphabetic characters; nay, that, according as it -diverges from its first outlet, it is likely to diverge also from -exactness; still I do insist, that the prevalence of those _traditions_, -wherever they occur, argues some alliance with _fact_ and _reality_; just -as idolatry itself, in all its ramifications, is but the corrupt -transmission of original pure religion. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - -The objections against the Dabistan being thus superseded, and the idea of -its being an "invention"[213] having never crossed anyone's thoughts, I -shall now give a bird's-eye view of its tenour in Sir John's own summary -thereof. - -"It has been before observed," says he, "that the idolatrous religion -which Mohsin Fani ascribes to the ancient Persians, bears no resemblance -to the worship of the Hindoos: it seems nearest that which was followed by -a sect of _Sabians_, who, we are told, _believed in God_, but _adored the -planets_, whom _they deemed his vicegerents, that exercised an influence -over all created things in the world_. This sect of Sabians were said to -follow the _ancient_ Chaldeans, and to inherit their skill in astronomy, a -science built upon the same foundation as the adoration of the -planets.[214] And this leads us to remark, that the very title of the work -from which Mohsin Fani gives an account of this worship, appears more like -that of a treatise upon astrology, than upon religion. He calls it -_Akheristan_, or _the region_ of the _stars_. It is, however, impossible -to enter into any minute comparison of the religion he ascribes to the -ancient Persians, and the sect of Sabians that have been noticed, _because -we have only a very general account of the tenets of the latter_." - -As to the _impossibility_ here complained of, it is obvious that _there is -none_: whoever has digested even the early part of this essay will own it -was but _ideal_. With this I should have contented myself, but that I feel -called upon to correct another misconception, which the above may have -produced. - -That Sabaism meant _idolatry_ in the way there insinuated, I utterly and -altogether repudiate. It was the religion of the early Greeks before their -degenerate mythology had loaded it with so many absurdities;[215] and that -it was so, is evident from the term in their language, which expresses "to -worship," viz. [Greek: sebomai], an evident derivation, from which is -anglicised, Sabaism.[216] The object of this religion was the host of -heaven, meaning the sun, moon, and stars. The names assigned to the -reputed idols, viz. Uranus, _i.e._ Heaven, and Gea, _i.e._ Earth, with the -energies of the sky and nature typified under the names of the "Cyclops" -and "Giants," incontrovertibly demonstrate the truth of this position. - -I have said that the name Cyclops, in this religious code, was meant to -figure forth the energies of the atmosphere; I need but mention their -denominations to establish my proof. They are "Steropes," from [Greek: -steropê], lightning; Argues, from [Greek: argês], quick-flashing; and -Brontes, from [Greek: brontê], thunder. Even the celebrated name of -_Hercules_[217] himself, and the twelve labours poetically ascribed to -him,--who, we must observe, many ages before the Tirynthian hero is fabled -to have performed his wonders, or his mother Clymena to have been born, -had temples raised to him in Phoenicia and Egypt, as well as at Cadiz and -the Isle of Thasos,--are nothing more than a figurative denotation of the -annual course of the solar luminary through the signs of the Zodiac. - -In support of this I shall quote the authority of Porphyry, who was -himself born in Phoenicia, and who assures us that "they there gave the -name of Hercules to the sun, and that the fable of the twelve labours -represents the sun's annual path in the heavens." Orpheus, or the author -of the hymns that pass under his name, says that Hercules is "the god who -produced time, whose forms vary, the father of all things and destroyer of -all; he is the god who brings back by turns Aurora and the night, and who -moving onwards from east to west, runs through the career of his twelve -labours; the valiant Titan, who chases away maladies, and delivers man -from the evils which afflict him." The scholiast on Hesiod likewise -remarks, "The zodiac in which the sun performs his annual course is the -true career which Hercules traverses in the fable of the twelve labours; -and his marriage with Hoebe, the goddess of youth, whom he espoused after -he had ended his labours, denotes the renewal of the year at the end of -each solar revolution." While the poet Nonnas, adverting to the sun as -adored by the Tyrians, designates him Hercules Astrokiton ([Greek: -astrochitôn]), or the god clothed in a mantle of stars; following up this -description by stating that "he is the same god whom different nations -adore, under a multitude of different names--Belus, on the banks of the -Euphrates; Ammon, in Libya; Apis, at Memphis; Saturn, in Arabia; Jupiter, -in Assyria; Serapis, in Egypt; Helios, among the Babylonians; Apollo, at -Delphi; Æsculapius, throughout Greece," etc. etc. - -Even the father of history himself, the great Colossus of the Greeks, -whilst claiming for his countrymen the honour of instituting their own -theogony, evinces in the attempt more of misgiving and doubt than was -consistent with the possession of authentic information. His words are -these: "As for the gods whence each of them was descended, or whether they -were always in being, or under what shape or form they existed, the Greeks -knew nothing till very lately. Hesiod and Homer were, I believe, about -four hundred years older than myself, and no more, and these are the men -who made a theogony for the Greeks; who gave the gods their appellations, -defined their qualities, appointed their honours, and described their -forms; as for the poets, who are said to have lived before these men, I am -of opinion they came after them." - -But even this assumption, were it conceded to the utmost, would not -militate against the doctrine which I have laid down; for Homer's -education was received in Egypt, and India was the medium which -illuminated the latter country; nothing, therefore, prevents our yielding -to the stream of general authority in ascribing the introduction to the -Pelasgi. The word [Greek: chronos] itself, or "the father of Jove," was -nothing more than an equivalent with the Latin _tempus_; and for the very -best possible reason, because the revolutions of this planet, as of the -other celestial orbs, came, from their periodical and regular appearances, -to be considered the ordinary measurements of the parts of duration or -time. - -It must, no doubt, appear a contradiction that Chronos--the "son of -Uranus, and Terra," as we were told at school, and the first person, as -somewhere else stated, who was honoured with a crown--should be called an -"orb," and have "periodical appearances"; and that those appearances -should regulate our estimate of days, weeks, years, and seasons. The -difficulty, however, will cease, when we consider that though the _sun_, -_moon_, and _stars_ were the primary objects of false worship, the -deification of dead men, deceased heroes, afterwards crept in, the -consequence of which was a mixed kind of idolatry, consisting of _stars_ -and _heroes_, or _heroines, deceased_--a planet being assigned to each as -the greatest possible honour. "That whom men could not honour in presence, -because they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of his visage from -far, and made an express image of a king, whom they honoured, to the end -that by their forwardness they might flatter him that was absent, as if he -was present."[218] - -Let us now see how the religion of the ancient Irish harmonises with that -of the Dabistan, as illustrated in the composition of some of our ancient -names. Here _Baal_, or _Moloch_, and _Astarte_ are obviously in the -foreground; whilst the popular and vernacular names for those luminaries -amongst the peasantry themselves, namely, _Grian_ for the _sun_, _Luan_ -for the _moon_, _Righ_ for _king_, and _Rea_ for _queen_, in their -appropriation to several localities throughout the country, indicate but -too plainly the melancholy tale of their former deification. - -To instance some few of those names, that strike me as _demonstrative_ of -this Sabian worship, I shall begin with - -Baltinglas.[219]--This name of a town and mountain in the county of -Wicklow, and province of Leinster, is equivalent to Baal-tinne-glass, that -is, "Baal's-fire-green," alluding to the colour of the grass at the spring -season. These _igneous_ betrayals of human frailty and superstition were -celebrated throughout Ireland at both the _vernal_ and _autumnal_ -equinoxes, in honour of the twin divinities so often adverted to in the -course of this book. The eve of the vernal one was called _Aiche -Baal-tinne_, that is, the night of Baal's fire, the eve of the autumnal, -_Aiche Shamain_, that is, the night of the moon's solemnity; on both which -occasions fires were lighted on all "_the high places_" dedicated to their -worship. - -The return of these respective seasons gave rise to various superstitions -amongst the illiterate populace, one of which was that of borrowing a -piece of money at the first sight of the new-moon, if they had it not -themselves, as an omen of plenty throughout the month.[220] And their -praying to that luminary, when first seen after its change, is so well -known as to be mentioned even by a French writer, whom Selden, _De Diis -Syriis_, quotes in these words:--"Se mittent a genoux en voyant la lune -nouvelle, et disent en parlant a lune, laise nous ausi sains que tu nous -as trouvé."[221] - -The new moon nearest to the winter solstice was celebrated with peculiar -ceremonies. On that night the chief Druid, attended by crowds of the -people, used to go into the woods, and cut with a golden sickle a branch -of the mistletoe of the oak, which he would carry in procession to the -sacred grove. This golden sickle or crescent corresponded in form and -nature with that which Aurelius Antoninus, the Roman emperor, wore at his -coronation, to intimate his adherence to the Phoenician doctrines in which -he had been early instructed--his adopted name still further intimating -that he had been, what _it_ literally signifies, Heliogabalus, that is, -priest of the sun.[222] The crescent itself is the favourite badge of -_Sheevah_, the _matrimonial_ deity of the Indians, which he is represented -as wearing in front of his crown. - -After the introduction of Christianity, its first preachers wishing to -defer to the prejudices of the inhabitants, yet not so as to interfere -with the celebration of Easter at the vernal equinox, with an -accommodating policy, retained the Baal-tinne ceremonial, only -transferring it to the _saints' days_; thus _diverting_ their attention -from their former devotion, and fixing it upon those who, in their zealous -propagation of the gospel truths, may be considered as Christian -_stars_;--conformably to that gracious character of "a burning and shining -light," which our Saviour Himself applied to His precursor, St. John. - -In honour of this apostle, June 24th, the day of his nativity, was -substituted, in the old ecclesiastical calendar, for the pagan solstice -festival, and called solstitium vulgi, the vulgar solstice. - -The intention of the transfer was, however, lost sight of by the -illiterate; and when they would kindle their fires on the tops of -_mountains_ on those occasions, they used to blend with them the features -of the pagan institution, by passing children and cattle between them for -the purpose of purification. - -The propriety, therefore, of thus subserving to deep-rooted prejudices, -has by some been impugned; but "surely," after all, to use the words of a -very able writer, "they were much wiser and better who, in those early -times, grafted the evangelical upon the druidical culture, than they who, -in subsequent times, instituted a system of extirpation in order to -regenerate." - -The other pagan solemnities were similarly metamorphosed, and partook of -similar transmutations. The 1st of May alone retained the name and -characteristics of its original appropriation, being still called "_La -Beuil-tinne_," that is, the day of Baal's fire, as familiarly as the name -_Christmas_ is given to the 25th of December. On it, too, fires are -kindled on "high places," as before; and children and cattle purified by -passing between them;-- - - --------"Yet, oh! remember - Oft I have heard thee say, the secret heart - Is fair Devotion's temple: there the saint - Even on that living altar lights the flame - Of purest sacrifice, which burns unseen, - Not unaccepted."[223] - -I next turn to Killmalloch, the ancient name of which, as given by -Ptolemy, was Macollicon,--a metathesis for Mallochicon; and the final, -_icon_, which is only a Greek termination, being taken away, leaves -Malloch, that is, Moloch, the Apollo or great divinity of the ancient -universe. - -To divert the natives from this misplaced enthusiasm, one of the early -converts to Christianity assumed to himself the name of _Maloch_; and -then prefixing to it the adjunct _Kill_, made it the _church_ of _Maloch_, -instead of the _city_ of _Moloch_. - -Here is still to be seen, careering towards the skies, one of those -"_singular_ temples of round form," of the existence of which Vitruvius -was so ignorant, but whose dogmatic enunciation of "monopteres" and -"peripteres," sounds as feebly in _my_ ears, as Montmorency's assumption -that the round towers were dungeons!--and the violence which this -structure has latterly undergone--by the effort made to incorporate it -with the Christian cathedral, built beside it in rivalship, after an -interval of nearly three thousand years--is one of the most triumphant -evidences which truth can produce in suppression of error. My soul burned -with earnestness to visit this hallowed scene, upon which I had revolved -so much, and which I associated in my fancy with the recorded glories of -Apollo. I have, at last, seen it; and he must be indeed a slave to -faction, or the dupe of prejudice, who will not subscribe to that evidence -which the very stones proclaim. - -Apollo's Temple, or the Round Tower, stands at the corner of the -cathedral, subsequently built half-around it: and, as you ascend the -parapet of the latter, by an _intermural_ staircase, having to pass, -afterwards, from one side of this parapet to the other, just at the very -corner by which the Tower is girt, the pass being very narrow, and almost -terrific in dimensions, wholly defenceless besides, on the right hand -which looks down into the body of the cathedral, the constructors of this -latter edifice were obliged, in their desire to intermarry Christianity -with paganism, to scoop off, or rather to file, about six inches of the -_ancient_ rotund structure, all along, on the left, to the height of the -human figure, so as to allow more room; yet even thus mutilated, I could -not but reverence and bow down before the Tower. - - "For, even the faintest relics of a shrine, - Of _any_ worship, wake some thoughts divine."[224] - -After this transformation, Kilmalloch assumed an entirely Christian -aspect; and the monastic buildings that crowded the town surpassed, in -their style, anything similar throughout the island. The materials, -however, of which those were constructed, being inferior in quality to the -_Tuathan_ composition, did not long keep place; so that now, whilst the -Round Tower still maintains its bold preoccupancy, the Christian churches -exhibit but a pile of ruins! - -The dreariness of this once imperial site is a moving instance of worldly -vicissitudes; and one can scarcely avoid, when passing by the loneliness -of its dilapidated mansions, applying the apposite and melancholy -apostrophe attributed to Ossian, "Why dost thou build the hall, son of the -winged days? Thou lookest from thy towers to-day; yet a few years, and the -blast of the desert comes, it howls in thy empty courts." - -Ard-Mulchan, the name of a village in the barony of Duleck, county Meath, -comes from _Ard_, the high place, or mound, _Mulchan_ of Moloch. And, -however extraordinary it may appear to some readers, I cannot but hazard -my opinion, that the name of the individual to whom St. Patrick had been -sold during his captivity in this island, viz. _Milco_-Mac-Huanan, that -is, Milco, the son-of-Huanan, originated in the circumstance of the -family's devotion to the service of this idol; and if a doubt remained as -to the justness of this conclusion, it will, methinks, be removed, when -we consider the close of his mortal career, and the unfortunate blindness -with which he clung to his fatuity. - -He was a petty prince of that part of the country, afterwards called -Dalruadia, or the principality of the Dalruads, from the prevalence of -that demi-tribe, in Ulster; and when Patrick--in prosecution of that -mission of grace, to which he had been deputed by divine interposition; -and impelled, perhaps, moreover, by a compassionate zeal and Christian -recollection of his previous bondage--undertook, amongst other -conversions, that of his former master, we find that the sentiment was not -reciprocated on _his_ part; but that, either ashamed of allowing himself -to be persuaded, in his old age, to abandon the religion in which he had -been early initiated; or marked out by Providence as an awful victim to -the prevailing superstition, he plunged himself into a fire which had -accidentally broken out in his castle, and so was consumed by that element -which he had before worshipped as his God! - -Athlone,--or as anciently and correctly written, Ath-luain,--the name of a -town situated on the river Shannon, where _it is fordable_, bounding -Leinster in Westmeath, and Connaught in Galway, is compounded of the words -_Ath_, which signifies a ford, and _luain_, of the moon. The common people -still call it Blah-luin, an evident corruption of _Baile-ath-luin_, that -is, the village of the ford of the moon; equivalent to Moon-ford-town. -This name establishes the analogy of the Syrian Astarte with the worship -here paid to the "queen of night," and the many lunettes, or gold -crescents, found buried in the _neighbourhood_, are "confirmation strong" -of the inference deduced. - -The moon, whose course through the heavens regulated the months of the -early lunar year, and whose influence was regarded by the ancients, in -common with that of the sun, as one of the _fertilising principles_ of -_nature_, and as exerted chiefly amid wilds and woods, at a distance from -the crowded abodes of man, had in this spot, apparently, a peculiar claim -for her special appropriation. For here the aged majesty of the river -Shannon, the Ganges of Ireland,--as we find reciprocally that Shannon is -one of the Gangian names, and Saor, or Suir, the name of another Irish -river, meaning "sacred" water, belongs also to the Indus itself,--displays -its imposing grandeur in all the varieties of sublime and delightful -scenery. Not far off is one of those beautiful lakes into which this -monarch of waters expands himself, to bask, as it were, in repose, from -the tiresome gaze attending the crowded path of his ordinary travels-- - - "Tho' deep, yet clear; tho' gentle, yet not dull; - Strong without rage; without o'erflowing full."[225] - -Lough Rea is the name of the lake above referred to, which, from its -proximity to Athlone, gives concurrent sanction to the derivation above -assigned. For _Rea_, in Irish, corresponds to Malcoth, or Astarte, _i.e._ -queen, that is, Shamaim, of the heavens; as _Righ_ does to Baal, or -Molock, master, or king of the same; and both re-echoed in the _regina_ -and _rex_ of the Latins.[226] - -I should further notice, that in the Barony of Castle-_reagh_--a name, -which, though prefaced by a _modern_ adjunct, still testifies its -devotion, at one time, to the moon--there has been, some years ago, dug up -one of those beautiful plates of gold, shaped like a half-moon, at once -confirmatory of the propriety of the local name, and of the nature of the -worship of its primitive incumbents having been lunar or Sabian. This -relic is now in the possession of the Downshire family. - -In reference to _Shannon_, to which I have before adverted, as being one -of the names of the _Ganges_, it is not a little curious that _Durga_, the -supposed divinity of this water, and whose festival is annually solemnised -all through Hindoostan, should be represented by _Derg_, the supposed -divinity of the _Shannon_, and should have its name still more perpetuated -in the Irish word _Dearg-art_, that is, the abode of Derg, in Lough Derg, -the lower lake upon this river. - -From its mouth to its source this noble stream is characterised with -relics of primeval worship, corresponding, in form and tendency, with -those on the banks of its Indian namesake. Scattery Island, or, as it -should more properly be called, Inis Catty, situated very near where it -discharges itself into the sea, retains a beautiful Round Tower, to which -has been afterwards appended, in the Christian times, the mystical number -of seven churches, and the ruins of which are still perceptible. The -circumstance of an early professor of our heaven-taught religion having -taken up his secluded residence within the precincts of this spot, has led -many moderns to suppose that the river obtained its name from him, whereas -the word _Shannon_ is derived from _Shan Aoun_, that is, the "aged river"; -and the saint received his name from that _pious policy_ before -explained, as well as from the constancy of his abode in its vicinity--not -_vice versâ_.[227] - -Killeshandra, the name of a town in the county of Leitrim, on the borders -of the county of Cavan, signifies, in Irish, "the temple of the moon's -cycle," or circle. In Sanscrit, which is a dialect of the aboriginal -Irish,[228] it denotes exactly the same. We find besides Herodotus making -mention, B. xi. c. 98, of a city in Egypt, during the Persian dominion, -called Archandra, that is, "the city of the moon." He asserts that it is -not Egyptian, neither derived from the wife of Danaus, the daughter of -Archander: yet the opposite may be well supported without at the same time -injuring this derivation, for the daughters of Danaus were certainly -initiated in the _Phallic rites_; nay, they were the persons who first -imported them into Attica: and it is eminently worth notice, that this was -the very spot[229] where the Tuath-de-danaan kings happened to be -stationed upon the first Scythian deluge; the word "Kill" having been -_prefixed_ to it only upon the introduction of Christianity. - -Granard, the name of a town in the county of Longford, is compounded of -the words _Grian_, the sun, and _ard_, a height, that is, the sun's -high-place. Nor, I suspect, will it be deemed an over-effort of criticism, -if I repeat, that in our Irish _Grian_ is to be found the root of that -epithet of Apollo, _Grynæus_,[230] which was also the name of a city of -Asia Minor, consecrated to his worship, and favoured, as Strabo informs -us, with a grove, a temple, and an oracle of that deity. The river -Granicus, too, was derived therefrom, because its source lay in Mount Ida, -sacred to _Grian_, or the sun, whereon was situated the _Idean stone_, -upon which, we are told, Hector was wont to sacrifice; and corresponding -to the _Cromleachs_, so common throughout this island. The word _Carne_, -also, meaning a heap of stones, on which an inferior order of clergy, -thence called _Carneach_, used to officiate, belongs to the same root, as -both Ovid and Macrobius declare that it was called, by the ancients, -Grane.[231] - -As Lough _Rea_ had been dedicated to the moon, so was the other luminary -also honoured with a lake,--called after his name,--which we find in the -adjoining country, where Lough _Grany_ signifies the Lake of the _Sun_; as -we do also _Beal-ath_, or Ath-en-righ, that is, the _Ford of Baal_, or the -_Ford of the King_, _i.e._ the _Sun_; corresponding to _Ath-lone_, or -_Ford of the Moon_. - -The above are but a few of those imperishable memorials intertwined round -those haunts which our forefathers have trod; the import of which, -however, has been so perverted by _modern scribblers_, as to give occasion -to O'Flaherty to give up their solution in despair, and, as a cover to his -retreat, to pronounce them "as outlandish in their sound as the names of -the savages in some of the American forests."[232] In this rhodomontade, -however, he was much more fortunate than he had intended, or, as the -Englishmen say of our countrymen, "he blundered himself into the right." -Little did he suspect how near a connection there existed between the two -people whom he affected, thus ridiculously, to associate; and anyone who -attends to the position which I subjoin, independently of many others that -could be brought in support of it, will admit the happiness of this -unintentional coincidence. The Algan Kinese are the most influential and -commanding people in the whole of North America; their name in Irish -indicates as much, namely, _Algan-Kine_, or _Kine Algan_,[233] a _noble_ -community. The language of this people is the master one of the whole -country; and, what is truly remarkable, understood, as Baron de Humboldt -asserts, by all the Indian nations except two. What then are we to infer -from this obvious affinity? Most undoubtedly, that a colony of the same -people who first inhabited Ireland, and assigned to its several localities -those characteristic names which so disconcerted the harmony of Mr. -O'Flaherty's acoustic organs, had fixed themselves, at an early date, in -what has been miscalled the _New World_. - -Small, however, as is the number of the names here selected, they are -enough, I flatter myself, to establish the prevalence of our Sabian -ritual. But what puts this matter beyond anything like a question is the -inscription upon a stone, still extant, in the county of Dublin, evidently -a symbol of the _Sun_ and _Moon_, which, like Osiris and Isis of Egypt, -were considered by the ancient Irish as _united_ in matrimony. - - "God, in the nature of each being, founds - Its proper bliss, and sets its proper bounds: - But as He framed a whole the whole to bless, - On mutual wants built mutual happiness; - So from the first, eternal order ran, - And creature linked to creature, man to man. - Whate'er of life all quickening ether keeps, - Or breathes through air, or shoots beneath the deeps, - Or pours profuse on earth, one nature feeds - The vital flame, and swells the genial seeds. - Not man alone, but all that roam the wood, - Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood, - Each loves itself, but not itself alone, - Each sex desires alike, _till two are one_."--POPE. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - - -"Woman, the poetry of Nature," says an elegant writer of the present day, -"has ever been the theme of the minstrel, and the idol of the poet's -devotion. The only ideas we entertain of a celestial nature are associated -with her; in her praise the world has been exhausted of its beauties, and -she is linked with the stars and the glories of the universe, as if, -though dwelling in a _lowlier_ sphere, she belonged to a _superior_ -world." - -This deification of the _female character_ was the true _substance_ of -those imaginary _goddesses_, so sadly disfigured by the circumscribed -stupidity of Greek and Roman mythologists. _Juno_, _Baaltis_, _Diana_, -_Babia_, _Venus_, _Aphrodite_, _Derceto_, _Militta_, _Butsee_, -_Semiramis_, _Astarte_, _Io_, _Luna_, _Rimmon_, _Lucina_, _Genitalis_, -_Ourania_, _Atargatis_, etc. etc., were all but fictitious and ideal -forms, resolving themselves into _one and the same representation_ of that -sweetest ornament of the creation, _woman_; and the same terms being -applied to the _moon_, with the same _symbolic_ force and the same -_typical_ significance, illustrates the aptitude of that _tributary_ -quotation, with which this chapter has commenced, and to the beauty of -which the heart of every "man that is born of woman" must feelingly -respond. - -Europa itself, now geographically appropriated, as a denomination, to one -of the quarters of the globe, was originally synonymous with any of the -above-mentioned names; and partook in the acquiescence paid by adoring -millions to the all-fascinating object of so refined an allegory. - -Of all those various epithets, however vitiated by time, or injured by -accommodation to different climates and languages, the import--intact and -undamaged--is still preserved in the _primitive Irish tongue_, and in that -alone; and with the fertility of conception whereby it engendered _all -myths_, and kept the human intellect suspended by its _verbal -phantasmagoria_, we shall find the _drift_ and the _design_, the _type_ -and the _thing typified_, united in the ligature of one _appellative -chord_, which to the _enlightened_ and the _few_ presented a chastened yet -sublime and microscopic _moral_ delineation; but to the _profane_ and the -_many_ was an impenetrable night producing submission the most slavish, -and mental prostration the most abject; or, whenever a ray of the -_equivoque_ did happen to reach their eyes--perverted, with that -propensity which we all have to the depraved, into the most reckless -indulgence and the most profligate _licentiousness_. - -In the limits here prescribed for the development of our _outline_--which -even the most heedless must have observed, instead of being compressed, as -intended within the compass of one volume could more easily have been -dilated to the magnitude of four--it cannot be supposed that I could -dwell, with much minuteness, upon the several collateral particulars to -which I may incidentally refer. As, however, that _twofold tenour_ to -which I have above alluded, may require something more in the way of -illustration, I shall take any two of the aggregate of names there -collected, and in them exemplify what has been said. - -Suppose them to be _Militta_ and _Astarte_. Of these, then, the first -means _appetency_, such as is natural between the sexes; and the second -_dalliance_, of the same _mutual_ sort; and while both alike typify the -_delights_ of _love_, they both equally personate the _mistress_ of the -_starry_ firmament whose influence was courted for the maturity of all -such connection, as the season of her splendour is the most suitable for -its gratification. - -From _Astarte_ ([Greek: Astartê]), the Greeks formed _Aster_ ([Greek: -Astêr]) a star, thereby retaining but one branch of this duplicity. The -Irish deduced from it the well-known endearment, _Astore_; and I believe I -do not exaggerate when I affirm that, in the whole circuit of dialectal -enunciations, there exists not another sound calculated to convey to a -native of this country so many commingling ideas of _tender pathos_, and -of _exalted adventure_, as this syllabic representation of the _lunar_ -deity.[234] - -Such was _Sabaism_,--composed of love, religion, and astrology: such too -was _Budhism_, as I have already shown; and _Phallism_ being but another -name, equivalent with this latter, it follows that the whole -three--_Sabaism_, _Budhism_, and _Phallism_--are, to all intents and -purposes, but _identically one_. - -This being about to be demonstrated, a few pages forwards, as _the oldest -species of worship recognised upon earth_, it were needless, one would -hope, to enter into a comparison in point of antiquity between it and any -of its living derivatives. But as many learned men, misled by that cloud -which heretofore enveloped the subject, have promulgated the belief that -_Brahminism_ was the parent stock, whence _Budhism_, with its adjuncts, -diverged as a scion, I shall, omitting others, address myself to the -consideration of Mr. Colebrooke's arguments, which I select from the mass -in deference to a character so honourably interwoven with the revival of -Eastern literature. - -"The mythology of the orthodox Hindus," says this venerable and good man, -"their present chronology, adapted to astronomical periods, their -legendary tales, and their mystical allegories, are abundantly -extravagant, but the Jains and the Bauddhas surpass them in monstrous -exaggerations of the same kind. In this rivalship of absurd fiction it -would not be unreasonable to pronounce that to be the most modern which -has outgone the rest." - -His second position is, that "the Greek writers who mention the Bramins, -speak of them as a flourishing society, whereas the Budhists they -represent as an inconsiderable handful: therefore," etc. - -To the first I shall oppose Dr. Buchanan's testimony, who states that -"however idle and ridiculous the legends and notions of the worshippers of -Bouddha may be, they have been in a great measure adopted by the Brahmins, -_but with all their defects monstrously aggravated_." - -And even had we not this rebutting evidence the inference in itself is -decidedly weak; for it would go equally to establish that _Romanism_ is -more recent than _Protestantism_, as containing a greater number of -ceremonial observances than this latter does: whereas the reverse is what -_reason_ would lead us to conclude, namely, that _ritual multiplications_ -are the growth of _longevity_, and that the retrenchment of their number -is what reformation aspires to. - -I make a free-will offering, unrestricted and unimpeded, of all the value -that can belong to Grecian historians--the Greeks, whom their own -countryman, Lucian, so justly banters as distinguished for nothing so much -as a total indifference to truth! But admitting them to be as veracious as -they were notoriously not so, the intercourse, of the very earliest of -them, with India and its dependencies, was much too modern, to allow their -statements to be further conclusive, than as refers to the time being: and -I am very ready to allow that, at the particular moment described, the -Budhists were in the wane, while the Brahmins ruled ascendant--nay, that -there were but a few straggling votaries of the former creed then existing -at all in that country, the latter, though schismatics from the -ecclesiastical root, having, by gaining over the civil power on their -side, effected their expulsion many ages before. - -The subterranean temples of Gyah, Ellora, Salsette, Elephanta, and those -other monuments of piety and civil eminence which still shed a lustre over -India, and which no subsequent state of the arts could rival, much less -eclipse, owe their existence to an era anterior to this catastrophe. The -Budhists were the architects when in the zenith of human power. The -sculptures and devices establish this fact: for of the whole list of -deities personated in those inscriptions, the Brahmins have retained none -but such as suited their purpose. These, in all conscience, were numerous -enough; and as the Brahmins, when at the helm, permitted not the -introduction of "strange gods," it is evident that those, which they have -in common with the Budhists, are but _cullings_ from the "mother-church," -ill-understood and worse interpreted; the similarity, however, being still -so great as, after a lapse of centuries, to give rise to the question of, -whether the stem or the branch, the sire or the offspring, had the -priority in point of time! - -"J'ai remarqué," says the philosopher Bailly, "que les Brames aimaient à -être appellés Paramènes, par respect pour la mémoire de leurs ancêtres, -qui portoient ce nom."[235] Monsieur Gebelin is more explicit. "Pausanias -nous dit, que Mercure, le même que Butta, ou Budda, un des fondateurs de -la doctrines des Paramènes, ou Brames, est appellé Paramon."[236] - -This Paramon, who had seceded from the Budhist doctrine, and placed -himself at the head of that sect who still bear his name, was the son of -_Budh-dearg_, a religious denomination, most painfully inexplicable to -inquirers into those matters, but which _one, at least_, from his -acquaintance with the Irish language, should have better known. "I think," -says Vallancey, "_dearg_ is a contraction for _darioga_, rex supremus, -which corresponds with the Chaldæan _darag_, dux, an epithet given to -_Budya_!" - -All those words, in fact, _dearg_, _darioga_, and _darag_, are _one and -the same_, adjuncts, it is true, of Budya, but meaning neither _dux_, -_rex_, nor _supremus_, except inasmuch as they were _his_ epithets, the -correct rendering being _red_, which, added to Budh, signifies the _Red -Lingam_, the _Sardana-palus_, the _Eocad_, the _Penis sanctus_, the _god_ -of _nature_, the _ruber palus_, the _Helio-go-balus_, the _corporeal -spirit_, the _agent of production_, the _type of life_, as it is also the -_concurrent symbol of universal dissolution_. - -These several terms, which are, each and all, convertible, pourtray not -only the procreative powers of the _male_ world personified, but likewise -its symbols, which were the _Round Towers_; and not these only, but -_Obelisks_[237] also, and _naturally erect_ stones,[238] which though not -circularly fashioned, yet typified, in their ascension, the upward bent of -all vegetable growth. - -This is the true solution of those enigmatical _lithoi_, by which the -ancients represented the _bounty_ of Providence. _Maghody_ was the name -appropriated to him under this character; and the import of this word -conveying, literally, the idea of the _Good God_, shows the philosophic -feeling, no less than it does the religious seriousness, of the grateful -contrivers.[239] And while reminded by the thought, perhaps I may be -permitted, with humble deference, to suggest to literary gentlemen -occupied in the translation of Eastern manuscripts, that whenever they -meet with any proper name of the inconceivable Godhead, or of any place or -temple devoted to his use, and beginning with the word _Magh_; such as -_Magh_-Balli-Pura;[240] they should not render _Magh_ by _great_,--which -hitherto had been the practice,--but by _good_; as it is not the _power_ -of the divinity that is thereby meant to be signified, but his _bounty_: -such as his votaries chiefly supplicated, and such as was most influential -to ensure their fealty. - -"Christnah, the Indian Apollo, is the darling," says Archer, "of the -Hindoo ladies; and in his pranks, and the demolishing pitchers of milk, or -milk-pitchers, has acquired a fame infinitely surpassing that enjoyed by -the hero of the agreeable ditty entitled _Kitty of Coleraine_!" - -I confess I do not understand the levity of temperament which betrays -itself in this witticism. For my part I cannot contemplate any form of -religion without a sensation of awe. There may be much imposture, much -also of hypocrisy, and no small share of self-delusion amongst -_individuals_ of every sect, but sincerity will be found in the -_aggregate_ of each: and where _certainty_ is not attainable by finite -comprehensions, nay, where _unity_ is incompatible with freedom of thought -and will, it would more become us, methinks, to make allowance for each -other's weaknesses, than to vilify any worship, which, after all, may only -differ from our own as to mode. Christianity, beyond a question, does not -inculcate such intolerance. The _true_ follower of that faith recognises -in every _altar_ an evidence of common piety; perceives in every -articulation of the name of _Lord_, a mutual sense of dependence and a -similar appeal for succour; and taking these as inlets into the character -of the supplicant, he traces an approximation to that hope whereby he is -himself sustained, and rejoices in the discovery: yet it is no less true, -that, when superadded to these generalities, he beholds the "image" of his -Creator, acknowledging the mission of the second Godhead, and, by reliance -on the all-fulness of his immaculate atonement, immersed in the waters of -regenerating grace, his bosom expands with _more_ gladness, and he -welcomes the stranger as a brother. - -That the rebuke here intended is not gratuitous or uncalled for, I refer -to the testimony of Sir William Jones, who, with some infusion, I regret, -of the same irony and incredulity, offers the following portrait, the -result of tardy conviction of the superhuman qualifications of this -identical Christnah, viz.: "The prolix accounts of his life are filled -with narratives of a most extraordinary kind, and most strangely -variegated. This incarnate deity of Sanscrit romance was not only cradled, -but educated among shepherds. A tyrant, at the time of his birth, ordered -all the male infants to be slain. He performed amazing, but ridiculous -miracles, and saved multitudes partly by his miraculous powers, and partly -by his arms: and raised the dead, by descending for that purpose into the -infernal regions. He was the meekest and best tempered of beings; washed -the feet of the Brahmans, and preached indeed sublimely, but always in -their favour. He was pure and chaste in reality, but exhibited every -appearance of libertinism. Lastly, he was benevolent and tender, and yet -fomented and conducted a terrible war." - -Mahony, also, is a reluctant witness to the same effect. "The religion of -Bhoodha," says he, "as far as I have had any insight into it, seems to be -founded on a mild and simple morality. Bhoodha has taken for his -principles _wisdom_, _justice_, and _benevolence_; from which principles -emanate ten commandments, held by his followers as the true and only rule -of their conduct. He places them under three heads, _thought_, _word_, and -_deed_; and it may be said that the spirit of them is becoming and -well-suited to him, whose mild nature was first shocked at the sacrifice -of cattle."[241] - -I have already shown that Budha is but a title, embodying an abstract; -that, therefore, it was not limited to one individual, but applied -indiscriminately to a series. As I shall soon bring this succession nearer -to _our own fire-hearths_, and, in a way, perhaps, which may, else, -electrify over-sensitive nerves, it may be prudent that I should premise -another citation, descriptive of an answer, made by a dignitary of their -creed, to the last-mentioned author upon his enunciating a principle of -the Hindoo doctrine. "The Hindoos," rejoined the priest, "must surely be -little acquainted with this subject, by this allusion to only one -(incarnation). Bhoodha, if they mean Bhoodha Dhannan Raja, became man, and -appeared as such in the world at different periods, during ages before he -had qualified himself to be a Bhoodha. These various incarnations took -place by his supreme will and pleasure, and in consequence of his superior -qualifications and merits. I am therefore inclined to believe, that the -Hindoos, who thus speak of the incarnation of a Bhoodha, cannot allude to -him whose religion and law I preach, who is now a resident of the hall of -glory, situated above the twenty-sixth heaven." - -Now it is stated in the Puranas, that a giant, named Sancha-mucha-naga, in -the shape of a _snake_, with a mouth like a _shell_, and whose abode was -in a shell, having two countenances, was killed by _Christnah_; and as -this irresistibly directs our reflection to the early part of the Book of -Genesis, I shall adduce what Mr. Deane has set forth on this latter head. - -"The tradition of the serpent," says he, "is a chain of many links, which, -descending from Paradise, reaches, in the energetic language of Homer, - - [Greek: 'Tosson henerth' aideô, hoson ouranos est' apo gaiês,'] - -but conducts, on the other hand, upwards to the promise, that 'the seed of -the woman should bruise the serpent's head.'... The mystic serpent entered -into the mythology of every nation, consecrated almost every temple, -symbolised almost every deity, was imagined in the heavens, stamped upon -the earth, and ruled in the realms of everlasting sorrow.... This -universal concurrence of traditions proves a common source of derivation, -and the oldest record of the legend must be that upon which they are all -founded. The most ancient record of the history of the serpent-tempter is -the Book of Genesis! In the Book of Genesis, therefore, is the fact from -which almost every superstition connected with the mythological serpent is -derived."[242] - -That "the oldest record of the legend must be that upon which they are -all founded," no one can gainsay, inasmuch as the parent is always senior -to the offspring: but it is not quite such a _truism_ that "the most -ancient record of the history of the serpent-tempter is the Book of -Genesis." Before a line of it was ever written, or its author even -conceived, the allegory of the serpent was propagated all over the world. -Temples, constructed thousands of years prior to the birth of Moses, bear -the impress of its history. "The extent and permanence of the -superstition," says the erudite ex-secretary of the Asiatic Society, now -Professor of Sanscrit in the University of Oxford, "we may learn from -Abulfazl, who observes that in seven hundred places there are carved -figures of snakes, which they worship. There is, likewise, reason to -suppose that this worship was diffused throughout the _whole_ of India, -as, besides, the numerous fables and traditions relating to the _Nagas_, -or _snake-gods_, scattered through the Puranas, vestiges of it still -remain in the actual observances of the Hindus." - -To explore the origin, however, of this Ophite veneration, all the efforts -of ingenuity have hitherto miscarried: and the combination of _solar_ -symbols with it, in some places of its appearance, has, instead of -facilitating, augmented the difficulty. "The portals of all the Egyptian -temples," observes the _Gentleman's Magazine_, "are decorated with the -same hierogram of the _circle_ and the _serpent_. We find it also upon the -temple of Naki Rustan, in Persia; upon the triumphal arch at Pechin, in -China; over the gates of the great temple of Chaundi Teeva, in Java; upon -the walls of Athens; and in the temple of Minerva, at Tegea--for the -Medusa's head, so common in Grecian sanctuaries, is nothing more than the -Ophite hierogram, filled up by a human face. Even Mexico, remote as it was -from the ancient world, has preserved, with Ophiolatreia, its universal -symbol."[243] - -How would Mr. Deane account for this commixture? "The votaries of the -sun," says he, "having taken possession of an Ophite temple, adopted some -of its rites, and thus in process of time arose the compound religion, -whose god was named Apollo." - -But, sir, the symbols are _coeval_, imprinted _together_ upon those -edifices at the _very moment_ of their construction; and, therefore, "no -process of time" was required to amalgamate a religion whose god (it is -true) was Apollo, but which was already inseparable, and, though compound, -one. - -[Illustration] - -I have before established the sameness of design which belonged, -indifferently, to _solar_ worship and to _phallic_. I shall, ere long, -prove that the same characteristic extends equally to _ophiolatreia_; and -if _they all three be identical_, as it thus necessarily follows, where is -the occasion for surprise at our meeting the _sun_, _phallus_, and -_serpent_, the constituent symbols of each, _embossed upon the same -table_, and _grouped_ under the same _architrave_? - -"Here," says a correspondent in the supplement to the _Gentleman's -Magazine_ of August last, "we have the umbilicated _moon_ in her state of -opposition to the sun, and the sign of fruitfulness. She was also, in the -doctrines of Sabaism, the northern gate, by which Mercury conducted souls -to birth, as mentioned by Homer in his description of the Cave of the -Nymphs, and upon which there remains a commentary by Porphyry. Of this -cave Homer says-- - - 'Fountains it had eternal, and two gates, - The northern one to men admittance gives; - That to the south is more divine--a way - Untrod by men, t' immortals only known.' - -"The _Cross_, in Gentile rites, was the symbol of reproduction and -resurrection. It was, as Shaw remarks, 'the same with the ineffable image -of eternity that is taken notice of by Suidas.' The _Crescent_ was the -lunar ship or ark that bore, in Mr. Faber's language, the Great Father and -the Great Mother over the waters of the deluge; and it was also the emblem -of the boat or ship which took aspirants over the lakes or arms of the sea -to the Sacred Islands, to which they resorted for initiation into the -mysteries: and over the river of death to the mansions of Elysium; the -_Cockatrice_ was the snake-god. It was also the basilisk or cock-adder. -'Habet caudem ut coluber, residuum vero corpus ut gallus.' The Egyptians -considered the basilisk as the emblem of eternal ages: 'esse quia vero -videtur [Greek: zôês kyrieuein kai thanaton], ex auro conformatum -capitibus deorum appingebant Ægyptii.' What relation had this with the -Nehustan or Brazen Serpent, to which the Israelites paid divine honours in -the time of Hezekiah? What is the circle with the seasons at the equinoxes -and solstices marked upon it?--the signs of the four great pagan festivals -celebrated at the commencement of each of these seasons? The corner of the -stone which is broken off probably contained some symbol. I am not -hierophant enough to unriddle and explain the hidden tale of this -combination of hieroglyphics. We know that the sea-goat and the Pegasus on -tablets and centeviral stones, found on the walls of Severus and -Antoninus, were badges of the second, and the boar of the twentieth -legion; but this bas-relief seems to refer, in some dark manner, to -matters connected with the ancient heathen mysteries. The form of the -border around them is remarkable. The stone which bears them was, I -apprehend, brought in its present state from Vindolana, where, as I have -observed, an inscription to the Syrian goddess was formerly found. The -station of Magna also, a few years since, produced a long inscription to -the same goddess in the Iambic verse of the Latin comedians; and a cave, -containing altars to Mithras, and a bust of that god, seated between the -two hemispheres and surrounded by the twelve signs of the Zodiac, besides -other signa and [Greek: agalmata] of the Persian god, was opened at -Borcovicus only about ten years since. These, therefore, and other similar -remains, found in the Roman stations in the neighbourhood of Vindolana, -induce me to think that the symbols under consideration, and now for the -first time taken notice of, were originally placed near the altars of some -divinity in the station of the Bowers-in-the-Wood. I know of no -establishment that the Knights Templars had in this neighbourhood." - -The modesty of "V. W." is not less than his diligence; and both, I -consider, exemplary and great. But he will excuse me when I tell him that -the _Cross_, the _Crescent_, and the _Cockatrice_, are still _maiden_ -subjects after his hands. Neither Faber, Shaw, nor Suidas, pretend even to -approach those matters, save in their _emblematic_ sense; and, as every -emblem must have a substratum, I for one, cannot content myself with that -remote and secondary knowledge which is imparted by the _exoteric type_, -but must enter the penetralia, and explore the secrets of the _eisoteric -temple_. - - "As an old serpent casts his scaly vest, - Wreaths in the sun in youthful glory dress'd; - So, when Alcides' mortal mould resign'd, - His better part enlarg'd, and grew refin'd; - August his visage shone; almighty Jove - In his swift car his honoured offspring drove: - High o'er the hollow clouds the coursers fly, - And lodge the hero in the starry sky."[244] - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - - -"Chilly as the climate of the world is growing--artificial and systematic -as it has become--and unwilling as we are to own the fact, there are few -amongst us but who have had those feelings once strongly entwined around -the soul, and who have felt how dear was their possession when existing, -and how acute the pang which their severing cost. Fewer still were the -labyrinths unclosed in which their affections lay folded, but in whose -hearts the name of _woman_ would be found, although the rough collision -with the world may have partially effaced it." - -This instinctive influence, which the daughters of Eve universally -exercise over the sons of Adam, is not more irresistible in the present -day, than it proved in the case of their great progenitor. _Love_, however -disguised--and how could it be more beautifully than by the scriptural -penman?--_love, in its literal and all-absorbing seductiveness_, was the -simple but fascinating aberration couched under the figure of the -_forbidden apple_. - -All the illusions of fancy resolve themselves into this sweet abyss. The -dreams of commentators may, therefore, henceforward be spared; the -calculations of bookmakers, on this topic, dispensed with: whatever be -_my_ fate, one consolation, at least, awaits me, that in addition to the -_Towers_, I shall have expounded the mysteries of Genesis. - -In the _Irish_ language, which, as being that of ancient Persia, or -_Iran_, must be the oldest in the world, and of which the _Hebrew_, -brought away by Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees,[245] is but a distant and -imperfect branch,--well, in this primordial tongue, the nursery at once of -science, of religion, and of philosophy, all _mysteries_, also, have been -matured: and it will irrefutably manifest itself, that in it, exclusively, -was woven that elegantly-wrought veil, of colloquial illusiveness, which -shrouds the _nature_ of our first parents' downfall. - -How, think you, was this accomplished? By assigning to certain terms a -twofold signification, of which one represented a certain _passion_, -_quality_, or _virtue_, and the other its _sensible index_. To the latter -alone had the _multitude_ any access; while the sanctity of the former was -guarded against them by all the terrors of religious interdicts. - -For instance, in the example before us, _Budh_, or _Fiodh_,--which is the -same thing,--means, primarily, _lingam_, and secondarily, a _tree_. Of -these, the latter, which was the popular acceptation, was only the -_outward signal_ of the former, which was the _inward_ mystified -_passion_, comprehended only by the initiated. When, therefore, we are -told that Eve was desired not to taste of the _tree_, _i.e._ _Budh_, we -are to understand that she was prohibited what _Budh_ meant in its true -signification, viz. _lingam_: in other words, that when cautioned against -the _Budh_, it was not an _insensible tree_, its symbolic import, that -was meant thereby, but the _vital phallus_, its _animate_ -prototype:--that, in short, "_missis_ ambagibus," the word _Budh_ was to -be taken, _not figuratively_, but _literally_.[246] - -[Illustration: FROM THE RUINS OF THE PALENCIAN CITY.] - -Again, in this cradle of literary wonders--the Irish language--every -letter in its alphabet expresses some particular _tree_; but its second, -_Beth_,--whence the _Beta_ of the Greeks, and a formative only of _Budh_, -the radix,--signifies in addition to the _tree_ which it -represents[247]--_knowledge_ also! And _here, obvious as light, and -impregnable to contradiction, you have the tree of knowledge, in natural -nakedness, divested of all the mystery of pomiferous verbiage, and -identified in attributes, as in prolific import, with the name and essence -of the sacred_ Budh![248] - -Here then we have, at length, arrived at the _fountain-head_ and _source_ -of the _mystery_ of _Budhism_. Eve herself, I emphatically affirm, was the -_very first Budhist_. And, accordingly, we find that, in former ages, -women universally venerated the _Budh_, and carried images of it, as a -talisman, around their necks and in their bosoms![249] - -But if Eve was the first Budhist, the first priest of the Budhist order -was her first-born, but apostate son Cain: and in his acknowledging the -bounty of _Budh_, the _sun_, who matures the fruits of the earth,--and -thereby recognising Jehovah only as the God of _nature_ and of -_increase_,--rather than in looking forward by faith to the redemption by -_blood_, as a different sacrifice would have intimated, consisted "the -whole front and bearing" of his treason and offence.[250] - -"If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not -well, a sin offering lieth at the door"[251]--the means of propitiation -are within your immediate reach. - -The endearing tone in which this is conveyed bespeaks an appeal to some -usage familiar to the party. It betokens indisputably, that on previous -occasions, when Cain had acted "well," he had met with no rejection. And -for the truth of this Jehovah refers to the defendant's own experience and -self-convincing consciousness. - -Cain, therefore, was a priest under a former dispensation, and a favoured -one, too, and his being deprived of this office, or, in other words, "cast -off from the presence of the Lord," was the great source and origin of his -present wretchedness. - -But if a priest, he must have been so to a larger congregation than his -father, mother, and brother: and besides, he, as well as Abel, must have -had _wives_; but the Scriptures do not tell us that Adam and Eve, as -individuals, had any _daughters_; it follows, therefore, that the consorts -of the two brothers must have sprung from some _other_ parents. There, -then, were more men and women on the earth than Adam and Eve: and this is -still further confirmed by the apprehensions expressed by Cain himself, -after the murder of Abel, lest he might be slain by someone meeting him. - -Yes, in the paradisaical state, before "sin entered into the world," the -earth was as crowded with population as it is at present, and Adam and Eve -are only put as representatives, male and female, of the entire human -species all over the globe.[252] - -Here I cannot do better than set the reader right as to the rendering of a -subsequent text, which says that "God set a mark upon Cain lest any one -meeting him should kill him"; nor can I recollect another instance wherein -human ingenuity, while struggling after truth, has been more directly -instrumental in the dissemination of error. - -One would suppose that the setting "a mark upon" a person, instead of -allaying his fears of being molested by those meeting him, should, on the -contrary, aggravate them, from its extraordinary aspect. Besides, in the -innumerable fantasies which commentators have conjured up as -specifications of this "mark," no vestige whatsoever has been yet traced -on the human form to justify the inference. - -We are obliged, therefore, at last, to recur to the _truth_, and it -fortunately happens that this is accessible by only translating the -original as it should properly be, thus, viz. "And God _gave_ Cain a -_sign_ lest any meeting him, should kill him." - -The only question now is what that _sign_ was, which God _gave_ to Cain? -And to resolve this, we have but to bethink ourselves of his -dereliction,--namely, the offering worship to Budh, _i.e._ _nature_, or -the _sun_: and his refusing to sacrifice, in consequence of such devotion, -anything endowed with _life_, of which Budh, _i.e._ Lingam,--according to -the double acceptation of the word,--was the type, as it is also the -_sign_ of Budh, the sun,--and we have infallibly developed the answer and -the secret. - -Stamping the nature of his crime, and at the same time indicating that, in -the now fallen condition of man, this badge of his revolt would be rather -a security against trespass, and a passport to acceptance than an -inducement to annoyance, God shows to Cain, as much in derision as in -anger, the _substantial_ image of that deity to which he had but just -before done homage, viz. Budh; and thereupon, Cain goes, and, on "the land -a wanderer," he erects this _sign_ into a deified _Round Tower_. - -Perhaps the reader would like to have some _collateral_ proofs for these -startling interpretations. I shall give them, as convincing as the -solution itself is irrefutable and true. - -The Maypole festival, which the Rev. Mr. Maurice has so satisfactorily -shown to be but the remains of an ancient institution of India and Egypt -(he should have added Persia, and, indeed, placed it first), was, in fact, -but part and parcel of this Round Tower worship. May the 1st is the day on -which its orgies were celebrated; nor is the custom, even now, confined to -the British Isles alone, but as naturally prevails universally throughout -the East, whence it emanated _of old_ to us. Lest, too, there should be -any mistake as to the object of adoration, we are told in the second -volume of the _Asiatic Researches_, in a letter from Colonel Pearce, that -Bhadani, _i.e._ Astarte, _i.e._ Luna, _i.e._ Venus, _i.e._ "Mollium mater -cupidinum," was the goddess in whose honour those festivities were raised. - -Now as astronomy was connected with all the ceremonies of the ancients, -the sun's entrance into Taurus, which in itself bespeaks the vigour of -reanimated productiveness at the vernal equinox, was the symbol in the -heavens associated by the worshippers with this allegorical gaiety. But -this event takes place a little earlier every year than the preceding one, -by reason of what astronomers call the _precession_, so that at present -it occurs at a season far more advanced than it did at first. - -Theory and observation both concur in establishing that 72 years is the -period which the equinox will take to precede 1 degree of the 360 into -which the heavens are divided,--2160 years 30 degrees, that is, one -sign,--and 25,920, 360 degrees, or the twelve signs of the Zodiac. If, -therefore, we compute at this rate the precise year at which the vernal -equinox must have coincided with the 1st of May,--which must certainly -have been the fact at the origin of the institution,--it will prove to -have been about the four thousandth before the Christian era, which -exactly corresponds with the time of Cain, and irrefutably confirms the -origin which I have assigned to the worship of the Budh, Tower, Phallus, -or Maypole. - -Mr. Maurice's position deserves to be remarked. "_I have little doubt, -therefore_," says he, "_that May-day, or at least the day on which the sun -entered Taurus, has been immemorially kept as a sacred festival from the -creation of the earth and man, originally intended as a memorial of that -auspicious period and that momentous event_." - -It is with extreme reluctance that I would dissent from a writer who has -contributed so largely as the gentleman before us towards the restoration -of literature; but since we agree as to the _era_ of the origin of the -festival, and _substantially_ as to its _design_, I have the less -hesitation in recording my belief that _it was not the creation of the -earth or of man_ that was intended to be commemorated, but the -commencement of a _new dispensation_, consequent upon _man's -defection_.[253] - -Lord, from the Shaster, quotes the following abstract, marking the opinion -of the Easterns themselves, as to Adam and Eve having had many -contemporaries. This relates an interview between a different couple. -"Being both persuaded that God had a hand in this their meeting, they took -council from this book, to bind themselves in the inviolable bond of -marriage, and with the courtesies interceding between man and wife, were -lodged in one another's bosoms: for joy whereof the sun put on his nuptial -lustre, and looked brighter than ordinary, causing the season to shine -upon them with golden joy; and the silver moon welcomed the evening of -their repose, whilst music from heaven, as if God's purpose in them had -been determinate, sent forth a pleasing sound, such as useth to fleet from -the loud trumpet, together with the noise of the triumphant drum. Thus -proving the effects of generation together, they had fruitful issue, and -so peopled the East, and the woman's name was Sanatree." - -This _Maypole_ ceremony, under the name of _Phallica_, _Dionysia_, or -_Orgia_, which last word, though sometimes applied to the mysteries of -other deities, belongs more particularly to those of Bacchus,[254] was -celebrated, at one time, throughout Attica with all the extravagance of -religio-lascivious pomp. Archer, in his _Travels in Upper India_, arrived -at a village just a few hours only after the May gaieties were over, and -found the _pole_ still standing. "The occasion," says he, "was one of -festivity, for all had strings of flowers about their heads, and they -spoke of the matter as one of great pleasure and amusement." As, however, -he did not come in for the actual observances, I shall supply the omission -by detailing the form of its celebration in our own country. - -"Anciently," says M'Skimin, in his _History of Carrickfergus_, "a large -company of young men assembled each May-day, who were called May-boys. -They wore above their other dress white linen shirts, which were covered -with a profusion of various coloured ribbons, formed into large and -fantastic knots. One of the party was called King, and the other Queen, -each of whom wore a crown, composed of the most beautiful flowers of the -season, and was attended by pages who held up the train. When met, their -first act was _dancing to music round the pole_, planted the preceding -evening; after which they went to the houses of the most respectable -inhabitants round about, and having taken a short jig in front of each -house, received a voluntary offering from those within. The sum given was -rarely less than five shillings. In the course of this ramble the King -always presented a rich garland of flowers to some handsome young woman, -who was hence called 'the Queen of May' till the following year." - -With this compare the description given by the author of the _Rites and -Ceremonies of all Nations_, of a similar worship as celebrated amongst the -Banians. "Another god," says he, "much esteemed and worshipped by these -people, is called _Perimal_, and his image is that of a _pole_, or the -_large mast of a ship_. The Indians relate the following legend concerning -this idol. At Cydambaran, a city in Golcondo, a penitent having -accidentally pricked his foot with an awl, let it continue in the wound -for several years together; and although this extravagant method of -putting himself to excessive torture was displeasing to the god Perimal, -yet the zealot swore he would not have it pulled out till he _saw the god -dance_. At last, the indulgent god had compassion on him, _and danced, and -the sun, moon, and stars danced along with him_. During this celestial -movement, a chain of gold dropped from either the sun or the god, and the -place has been ever since called Cydambaran. It was also in memory of this -remarkable transaction _that the image of the god was changed from that of -an ape to a pole_, thereby intimating (adds the good-natured expositor of -himself) that all religious worship should reach up towards heaven, that -human affections should be placed on things above." - -Now, this mysterious _Peri-Mal_ is but a euphony for _Peri-Bal_, that is, -the _Baal-Peor_ before explained: and when you remember the destination -which I have there assigned him, you will perceive the propriety of his -having been represented by a _mast_ or May-_pole_. As to the Indian -legend, it only shows the antiquity of the rite, superadded to that -religious _investment_ which was meant as a shield against profanation. - -Vallancey also mentions the following additional custom, which he himself -witnessed in the county of Waterford:--"On the first day of May, annually, -a number of youths, of both sexes, go round the _parish_ to _every couple -married within the year_, and oblige them to give a ball. This is -ornamented with gold or silver coin. I have been assured, they sometimes -expended three guineas on this ornament. The _balls are suspended by a -thread, in two hoops placed at right angles, decorated with festoons of -flowers. The hoops are fastened to the end of a long pole, and carried -about in great solemnity, attended with singing, music, and dancing._" - -The _mummers_, in like manner, who went about upon this day, demanding -money, and with similar solemnities, as if for the _moon in labour_, were -derived from the same origin. In Ceylon this practice is confined to -"women alone,"[255] who, as the editor of the _Rites and Ceremonies_, -etc., informs us, "go from door to door with the image of _Buddu_ in their -hands, calling out as they pass, 'Pray, remember _Buddu_.'[256] The -meaning is, that will enable them to sacrifice to the god. Some of the -people give them money, others cotton thread, some rice, and others oil -for the lamps. Part of these gifts they carry to the priests of _Buddu_, -and the remainder they carry home for their own use." - -The money collected in Ireland, on the same occasion, would appear to have -been somewhat similarly expended, having been "mostly sacrificed to the -jolly god; the remainder given to the poor in the neighbourhood." - - "Here, for a while, my proper cares resigned, - Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind; - Like yon neglected shrub, at random cast, - That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast."[257] - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - - -When I cast back my eye upon this narrative, through the long perspective -of ages which it involves, I confess I feel incommoded by some misgivings -of self-distrust. When I consider the _mighty_ individuals, of -_transcendent_ powers and almost _inexhaustible_ resources, who, having -reconnoitred its coast, either _perished_ in the impotency of effecting a -landing, or, more wisely, _receded_ from it as impregnable, I am _thrown -back_, as it were, upon myself, and impeded by the comparison of my own -littleness. - -But if "God has often chosen the small things of the earth to confound the -great"; and if success in past undertakings be any guarantee against the -illusiveness of inward promise; if the roads be all chalked, the posts -lighted, and the sentinels faithful, why, _then_, allow the influence of -petty fears to mar, at all events, the _project_ of an ennobling -enterprise? - -In that cherished volume, whence our first lessons upon religion have been -deduced, and which, as embodying the principles of our _happiness_ here, -and our _hopes_ hereafter, has been honoured with the _pre-eminent_ and -distinctive appellation of the _Bible_, or _Book_, there occur numerous -phrases of _mysterious_ import, but _pregnant_ significancy, which pious -men, unable to solve, have contented themselves with classifying as under -the head of "above reason"--"contrary," and "according to," being the two -other constituents of their predicamental line. - -Those _conventional_ terms which _expediency_ alone has invented are, to -say the least, arbitrary; and as all men have an equal right to form a -_specification_ of their subject-matter, I shall, without disconcerting -the _order_ of the above _division_, endeavour only to rescue the points -to which I refer from immersion in the _first_ class;[258] or--if allowed -the latitude of _parliamentary_ elocution--to take them out from the -condemnation of _Schedule A_. - -To begin, then, with the following text, viz. "_The sons of God_ saw the -daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all -which they chose."[259] - -What do you understand by the expression "sons of God"? - -His peculiar people, you reply; such, for instance, as _called upon His -name_;[260] or, perhaps, Seth's descendants in opposition to those of -Cain, the unrighteous. - -Turn, sir, to the beginning of the first and second chapters of _Job_, and -read what you are there informed of. - -"Now there was a day when the _sons of God_ came to present themselves -before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." And, "Again, there was a -day, when the _sons of God_ came to present themselves before the Lord, -and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord." - -Well, what is your answer now? or will it not be different from what it -was before? Can you seriously imagine that it was _any_ race of -_ordinary_ human beings that was thus denominated? _And_ are you not -compelled to associate the idea with some one of the other _superior_ -productions of omnipotent agency? - -I will make you, sir, if you have candour in your constitution, -acknowledge the fact. Listen--"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations -of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding: when the morning stars -sang together, and all the _sons of God_ shouted for joy."[261] - -Here allusion is made to a period antecedent to the existence of either -_Cain_ or _Seth_. The _myriads_ of revolving ages suggested by the -interrogatory set even _fancy_ at defiance; nor are their limits demarked -by the _vague_ and _indefinite exordium_ of even the talented and -otherwise highly-favoured legislator, Moses himself.[262] And yet, in this -incomprehensible _inane_ of time, do we see the _sons of God shouting for -joy_, before the species of man--at least in his degenerate -sinfulness--had appeared upon this surface! - -It is manifest, therefore, that some _emanation_ of the Godhead, distinct -from _mere_ humanity, is couched under the phrase of "the sons of God"; -and accordingly we perceive that, when they "went in unto the daughters of -men, and they bare children to them," it is _emphatically_ noticed, as an -occurrence of _unusual_ impress, that "the same became mighty men, which -were of old, men of renown."[263] - -At the commencement of the verse, whence the last extract has been taken, -you will find the name of _giant_ mentioned; and instantly after, as if -in _juxtaposition_, nay, as if _synonymous_ with it in meaning, is -repeated "the sons of God": thereby identifying both in nature and in -character, and proving their sameness by their convertibility. - -The Hebrew word from which _giant_ has been translated, signifies _to -fall_: and what, do you suppose, constituted this _apostasy_? In sooth, -nothing else than that _carnal intercourse_, which they could not resist -indulging with the "daughters of men," _when their senses told them they -were lovely_.[264] Thus do both names corroborate my truth; while both -reciprocally illustrate each other. - -"It may seem strange," says Wilford, "that the posterity of Cain should be -so much noticed in the Puranas, whilst that of the pious and benevolent -Ruchi is in a great measure neglected. But little is said of the posterity -of Seth, whilst the inspired penman takes particular notice of the -ingenuity of the descendants of Cain, and to what a high degree of -perfection they carried the arts of civil life. _The charms and -accomplishments of the women are particularly mentioned._ 'The same became -mighty men, which were of old, men of renown.'" - -And again,--"We have been taught to consider the descendants of Cain as a -most profligate and abominable race. This opinion, however, is not -countenanced, either by sacred or profane history. That they were not -entrusted with the sacred deposit of religious truths, to transmit to -future ages, is sufficiently certain. They might, in consequence of this, -have deviated gradually from the original belief, and at last fallen into -a superstitious system of religion, which seems, also, a natural -consequence of the fearful disposition of Cain, and the horrors he must -have felt, when he recollected the atrocious murder of his brother Abel." - -This, so far as it goes, is satisfactory enough; but it is _groping in the -dark_, and _without a pilot_. A few pages, in the distance, will, however, -bring us to the right understanding of these points also; meanwhile, I -return to the Mosaical record, for the insight therein afforded into the -history of Cain. - -We are told then that he "knew his wife, and she conceived and bare -_Enoch_": and as this name signifies _initiation in sacred rites_, as well -as it does an _assembly of congregated multitudes_,--in which latter sense -it was accurately applied to the "city" which he had "builded,"--it shows -that the new religion bade fair for perpetuity. - -_Irad_, the name of Enoch's son, proves the crowning finish of the matured -ceremonial, for intimating, as it does, _consecrated to God_, we are -naturally led to connect its bearer with the profession of that worship -which his name represented. - -As _Irad_ signifies _consecrated to God_, so _Iran_ does _the land of -those so consecrated_; and accordingly we may be assured that it was in -_that precise region_ that the Budhists had first established the -_insignia_ of their empire.[265] - -Let us now inquire what light will the _Dabistan_ afford to our labours. -It is known that Sir John Malcolm was no ready convert to its merits; his -abridgment of it, therefore, cannot be suspected of any colouring; and, as -I like the testimony of reluctant witnesses, I shall even make _him_ the -interpreter of its recondite contents. - -"In almost all the _modern_ accounts of Persia," says he, "which have been -translated from Mahomedan authors, _Kaiomurs_ is considered the _first -king of that country_; but the Dabistan, a book professedly compiled from -works of the ancient Guebrs, or worshippers of fire, presents us with a -chapter on a succession of monarchs and prophets who preceded Kaiomurs. -According to its author the Persians, previous to the reign of Kaiomurs, -and consequently _long before the mission of Zoroaster_, venerated a -prophet called _Mah-abad_, or the Great (rather the _Good_) Abad, whom -they considered as the father of men. We are told in the Dabistan that -_the ancient Persians deemed it impossible to ascertain who were the first -parents of the human race_. The knowledge of man, they alleged, was quite -incompetent to such a discovery; but they believed, on the authority of -their books, that Mah-abad was the person left at the _end of the last -great cycle_, and consequently the father of the present world. The only -particulars they relate of him are, that he and his wife, having survived -the former cycle, were blessed with a numerous progeny, who inhabited -caves and clefts of rocks, and were uninformed of both the comforts and -luxuries of life; that they were at first strangers to order and -government, but that Mah-abad, inspired and aided by Divine Power, -resolved to alter their condition; and, to effect that object, _planted -gardens_, _invented ornaments_, and _forged weapons_. He also taught men -to take the fleece from the sheep, and to make clothing; he built cities, -constructed palaces, fortified towns, and introduced among his descendants -all the benefits of art and commerce. - -"Mah-abad had thirteen successors of his own family; all of whom are -styled _Abad_, and deemed prophets. They were at once the monarchs and the -high priests of the country; and during their reigns, the world, we are -informed, enjoyed a golden age, which was, however, disturbed by an act of -Azer-abad, the last prince of the Mahabadean dynasty, who abdicated the -throne, and retired to a life of solitary devotion. - -"By the absence of Azer-abad his subjects were left to the free indulgence -of their passions, and every species of excess was the consequence. _The -empire became a scene of rapine and of murder._ To use the extravagant -expression of our author (the Dabistan), _the mills, from which men were -fed, were turned by the torrents of blood that flowed from the veins of -their brothers; every art and science fell into oblivion; the human race -became as beasts of prey, and returned to their former rude habitations in -caverns and mountains_. - -"Some sages, who viewed the state of the empire with compassion, intreated -Iy-Affram, a saint-like, retired man, to assume the government. This holy -man, who had received the title of Iy (pure), from his pre-eminent -virtues, refused to attend to their request, till a divine command, -through the angel _Gabriel_, led him to consent to be the instrument of -restoring order, and of reviving the neglected laws and institutions of -Mah-abad. Iy-Affram founded a new dynasty, which was called the Iy-abad; -who, after a long and prosperous reign, suddenly disappeared, and the -empire fell again into confusion. Order was restored by his son, Shah -Kisleer, who was with difficulty prevailed upon to quit his religious -retirement to assume the reigns of government. His successors were -prosperous till the elevation of the last prince of the dynasty, whose -name was Mahabool. This monarch, we are told, was compelled by the -increasing depravity of his subjects to resign his crown. - -"He was succeeded by his eldest son, Yessan, who, acting under divine -influence, supported himself in that condition which his father had -abandoned. This prince founded a new dynasty, which terminated in his -descendant, Yessan-Agrin. At the end of his reign the general wickedness -of mankind exceeded all bounds, and _God made their mutual hostility the -means of the Divine vengeance, till the human race was nearly extinct_. -The few that remained had fled to woods and mountains, _when the -all-merciful Creator called Kaiomurs, or Gilshah, to the throne_." - -We only now want a key to unlock the portals of this _Magh-abadean_ -household; and I flatter myself that _this_, which I am about to tender, -will consummate to an accuracy that very desirable purpose. - -Cain's immediate progeny are they which are included under the above -denomination. Their faith and worship are exactly symbolised under its -derivative dress. _Magh_, as before explained, is _good_; and _Abad_, a -_unit_; that is, when combined, the _Good One_, or _Unit_, the author of -fruitfulness and productiveness--in which light alone, as all-bountiful -and all-generous, was he recognised by this family. - -_This unity_ of the Godhead was what was _religiously_ comprehended under -the _Phallic_ configuration of the Round Tower erections; and this, -furthermore, elucidates that heretofore enigmatical declaration of the -Budhists themselves, viz. that the pyramids, in which the sacred relics -are deposited, "_be their shape what it will, are an imitation of the -worldly temple of the Supreme Being_."[266] - -But if _Magh-abadean_ was the name adopted by them with this _spiritual_ -tendency, _Tuath-de-danaan_ was that which pictured them a sacerdotal -institution. The last member of this compound I have already expounded. It -remains that I develop what the two first parts conceal. - -_Tuath_, then, is neither more nor less than a dialectal modification for -_Budh_, which, according to the licence of languages, transformed itself, -otherwise and indifferently, into _Butt_, Butta, Fiod, Fioth, _Thot_, -_Tuath_, _Duath_, _Suath_, Pood, Woad; and in the two last forms--of which -one is Gothic, and the other Tamulic--admitted a final syllable,--which -was but an insignificant termination,--namely, _en_, making _Pooden_ and -_Woad-en_; or _Poden_ and _Woden_. - -In these several variations, and the innumerable others which branch -therefrom, while the _sensible_ idea is preserved underneath, there is -superinduced another of a more refined complexion. Thus, _Budh_, while it -primarily represents the _sun_, its type, the _penis_; and again, _its_ -sign, a _tree_, expresses also the attributes of _magic_, _science_, -_divination_, and _wisdom_. - -These were the consequences of that _mysterious_ garb in which the priests -invested the _true_ elements of their religion. Being themselves the sole -possessors of its inward secrets, and all literature and erudition going -hand in hand also therewith, it was so dexterously managed, that a sort of -reverential feeling attached, not only to those _qualities_ in the -abstract, but to the consecrated _personages_ who were their depositories. -Hence, while _Budh_ came to signify _divination_ and _wisdom_, _Budha_, -its professor, did a _divine_ and _wise man_; and _Tuath_, being only a -modification of the former epithet, _Tuatha_ is the corresponding -transmutation of the latter. - -_Tuatha_, therefore, signifies _magicians_;[267] and so we have the -_first_ component of _Tuath-de-danaans_ elucidated. The _second_ requires -no _Oedipus_ to solve it, _De_ being but the vernacular term whereby was -expressed the _Deity_; and as I have previously established the import of -_Danaans_ to have been _Almoners_, it follows that the aggregate tenour of -this religious-compound-denomination is _the Magician-god-almoners_, or -the Almoner-magicians of the Deity. - -As from _Budh_ was formed _Fiodh_, so from Fiodh arose Fidhius; and as I -have before shown that _Hercules_ and _Deus_ were synonymous terms, and -both personifications of the _Sun_, so, accordingly, we find that this -_symbolical_ adjunct was reciprocally appropriated to one as to the other. - -I dwell upon those terms with the more impressive force, because that _the -spirit of no one of them_ has ever before been developed. _Me Deus -Fidhius_, and _Me Hercules Fidhius_, we where taught at school to consider -as appeals to the _God of Truth_, and the _Hercules of Honour_. Most -assuredly those virtues are comprehended under the _radix_ of the great -_mysterious_ Original; but the dictionaries and lexicons that gave us -those significations knew no more of what that _Original_ was than they -did of the connection between soul and body. - -Deus _Fidhius_, then, means God the _Budha_, and as such the _All-wise_, -the _All-sacred_, the _All-amiable_, and the _All-hospitable_; and -_Hercules_ Fidhius, that is, _Hercules_ the Budha, is, in sense and -meaning, exactly the same. - -The Latin word _Fides_, and the English _Faith_, are but direct emanations -from the same communion. A thousand other analogies must suggest -themselves now in consequence. In a word, if you go through the circle of -natural _religion_ and artificial _science_,--if you analyse the -vocabulary of conventional _taste_ and of modish etiquette, you will find -the _constituent particles_ of all the leading outlines resolve themselves -into the _physical_ symbolisation of the radical Budh. - -What inference, I ask my reader, would he draw from the above facts? -Unquestionably that at the outset of social life, mankind at large had -used but one lingual conversation; and as the _Irish_ is the only language -in which are traced the germs of all the diverging _radii_,--nay, as it is -the _focus_ in which all amicably meet,--it follows inevitably that it -must have been the universal language of the first human cultivators--the -nursery of letters, and the cradle of revelation. - - "How charming is divine Philosophy! - Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, - But musical as is Apollo's lute, - And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets - Where no crude surfeit reigns." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - - -The _Tuath-de-danaans_, or Mahabadeans, being thus far proved as the first -occupiers of Iran, it may be asked, How happens it that no Persian -historians, anterior to Mohsan Fani, have noticed their existence? In the -first place, I answer that _they all_ have mentioned them, however -_unconsciously_ by themselves, or _inadvertently_ by others. And even had -this not been the fact--had not a single syllable been recorded, bearing -reference to their name, the remote era, in itself, of their detachment -from that country, would be the best possible apology for the omission. - -The professed writers upon Persia belong all to a recent period; and the -magazines which they consulted, for the scanty information which they -furnish, were either Arabs or Greeks--the former a body of predatory -warriors, whose only insight into letters arose from the opportunities -which their rapines had supplied them; and the latter, a community who, -insensible to the beauties of moral truth, took delight in distorting even -the most commonplace occurrences into the most unnatural incredibilities -and misshapen incongruities. - -But independently of these causes, another more powerful one had before -long co-operated. A rival dynasty, starting up from amongst themselves, -succeeded, by the issue of a religious revolution, to effect their -expulsion; and that once ascertained--the doors of admission ever after -closed against their return--the victors were not satisfied with the -monopoly of civil power, but they must wreak their vengeance still more, -by the erasure of every vestige of the former sway. - -In this devastating course, the Round Towers, as the temples of their -figurative veneration, were particularly obnoxious; and, accordingly, we -may be assured, that it was owing to the durability of those edifices, and -not to the clemency of the assailants, that any one of them has been able -to survive the hurricane. - -Who, you will ask, were those destroyers? They were the _Pish-de-danaans_. -And so energetically did they prosecute their extinguishing plan, aided, -besides, by the antiquity of its remote occurrence, that all writers upon -that country, before the compilers of the _Dabistan_, have set them down -as its first dynasty, making the Kaianians, the Askanians, and the -Sassanians, their successors. - -Here I am obliged, in compliance with the justice of my subject, to expose -an error of a gentleman, whom I would rather have overlooked. - -"The _Tuatha-dadan_ of the Irish," says Vallancey, "are the _Pish-dadan_ -of the Persians"; which he pretends to prove as follows:--"First, then," -says he, "_Tuath_ and _Pish_ are synonymous in the Chaldee, and both -signify mystery, sorcery, prophets, etc.; they are both of the same -signification in the Irish; therefore by _Pish-dadan_ and _Tuatha-dadan_, -I understand the Dadanites, descended of Dedan, who had studied the -necromantic art, which sprang from the Chesdim, or Chaldeans." - -Of a piece with this was his assertion that _Nuagha Airgiodlamh_ of the -Irish, was _Zerdust_ of the Persians! And wherefore, think you, reader? -Because, forsooth, _Airgiodlamh_ signifies _silver_-hand, and Zerdust, -_gold_-hand! Yes, but he made out another analogy, and it is worth while -to hear it, viz. that Nuagha had his _hand cut off_ by a Fir-Bolg -_general_; while Zerdust's _life was taken away_ by a Turanian -_chieftain_!!! - -This is but an _item_ in that great ocean of incertitude in which that -enterprising etymologist had, unfortunately, been swallowed up. Having -perceived by the perusal of the manuscripts of our country, that there -must have been a time when it basked in the _sunshine_ of literary -superiority; yet unable tangibly to grapple with it, having no _clue_ into -the _origin_ of its _sacred_ repute, or the collateral particulars of its -_date_, _nature_, or _promoters_, he was tossed about by the ferment of a -_parturient_ imagination, without the saving ballast of a _discriminating_ -faculty. - -The General's work, accordingly, is one which must be read with great -reserve; not because that it does not offer many valuable hints, but -because that its plan is so _crude_, and its matter so -_ill-digested_,--the same thing being _contradicted_ in one place, which -was _affirmed_ in another, or else _repeated_ interminably, without regard -to _method_ or to _style_,--that when you have waded through the whole, -you feel you have derived from it no other benefit than that of whetting -your avidity for a _correct_ insight into those subjects, of which the -author, you imagine, must have had some _idea_, but which also, it is -evident, however indefatigable he was in the attempt, he had not, himself, -the power to penetrate. - -The great praise, therefore, which I would award to this writer, is that, -with one leg almost in the grave, he sat down, in the enthusiasm of a -youthful aspirant, to master the difficulties of the Irish tongue, which, -_mutilated_ though it be, and _begrimed_ by disuse, he knew was, -notwithstanding, the only sure inlet to the _genius_ of the people, as -well as to the _arcana_ of their antiquities, the most precious, as they -are, and fruitful, of any country on the surface of the globe. - -But though his perseverance had rendered him the best _Irishian_ of his -age, and of many ages before him, yet has he committed _innumerable -blunders_, even in the exposition of the most simple words; and the -question now in point will verify this declaration, with as much -exactitude as any other that could be adduced. - -_Tuath_, then, and _pish_ are by no means _synonymous_; neither do they -signify _mystery_ or _prophets_, except in a secondary light. In their -original acceptation, they are the _antipodes_ of each other, as much as -_male_ is to _female_, and as _relative_ is to _correlative_.[268] - -They are the distinctive denominations for the _genital organs_ of both -sexes, respectively--_Tuath_ signifying _Lingam_; and _Pish_, _Yoni_. - -I have already explained that _Tuath_ is but a modification of the word -_Budh_--the final _dh_ of the latter having been changed into the final -_th_ of the former, only for euphony; because that prefixed to _de-danaan_ -the collision of the two _d's_--as _Bud_-de-danaan--would not sound well; -it was, therefore, made _Buth_-de-danaan; and--the initials _b_ and _t_ -being always convertible,--hence became _Tuath_-de-danaan. - -The case was exactly _opposite_ with respect to _pish_: I mean so far as -the alteration of two of its letters is concerned. _Pith_ is the _usual_ -method of pronouncing that term: nor is it, except when followed by a _d_, -that it assumes the other garb. But as _dh_, in the former instance, was -commuted into _th_, so _th_, in this latter, is still further into _sh_; -therefore, instead of _Pith_-de-danaan, we make it _Pish_-de-danaan. - -To screen those two ligaments of _sexual_ familiarity from the peril of -profane and irreverent acceptations, all the investiture of _magic_ was -shrouded upon them. The vocabulary of _love_ and of _religion_ became one -and the same: _mystery_ and _enchantment_ were identified, and the -_negotiations_ of the earth, and the _revolutions_ of the heavens, were -blended with the _witchery_ of _amative sway_. - -In this universality of domain, no one of those dear _helpmates_ had a -greater portion of honour assigned to it than the other. They were equal -in power, and alike in attributes. And to set this _equality_ beyond the -contingencies of doubt, it was withal arranged, that while _each, -primarily_, retained its _distinct sexual_ interpretation, they should -_both, secondarily_, harmonise under another _mutual_ exposition; and what -more appropriate one could be devised than that of the _influence_ which -they exercised? and of the _veil_ with which they were guarded? - -_Magic_, therefore, and _mystery_, were the two _secondary_ imports, in -which both were _united_; and the _ambiguity_ thus occasioned was what -cast Vallancey upon that shoal, which proved similarly fatal to many a -preceding speculator. - -To exemplify--_Budh_, or _Tuath_, in its literal and substantive -acceptation, implies the _Lingam_; collaterally, _magic_; and by -convention, _mystery_, _prophets_, _legislators_, etc. _Pish_, in like -manner, or _Pith_, denotes, literally, the _Yoni_; collaterally, _magic_; -and by convention, _mystery_, _prophets_, _legislators_, etc. And the -offshoots of either, in an inferior and deteriorated view, such as -_Budh-og_ from the former, and _Pish-og_ from the latter, intimate, -indiscriminately, _witchcraft_, _wizard_, or _witch_. - -Now the words _De-danaans_, having been already illustrated as meaning -_God-Almoners_, if we prefix to them, severally, _Tuath_ and _Pish_, they -will become _Tuath_-de-danaans, and _Pish_-de-danaans; the former -expressing, literally, _Lingam_-God-Almoners; and the latter, literally, -_Yoni_-God-Almoners; and both equally, by convention, -_Magic_-God-Almoners. - -As we have had exhibited numerous representations of the homage paid to -the _paternal_ member of this theocracy, perhaps I may be permitted to -adduce a single quotation demonstrative of the honours shown to his -_maternal_ colleague. - -"The Chinese," says the author of _Rites and Ceremonies_, "worship a -goddess, whom they call _Puzza_, and of whom their priests give the -following account:--They say that three nymphs came down from heaven to -wash themselves in a river, but scarce had they got into the water before -the herb _Lotos_[269] appeared on one of their garments, with its coral -fruit upon it. They were surprised to think whence it could proceed; and -the nymph upon whose garment it was could not resist _the temptation of -indulging herself in tasting it_. But by thus eating some of it, she -became _pregnant_, and was delivered of a boy, whom she brought up, and -then returned to heaven. He afterwards became a great man, a conqueror and -legislator, and the nymph was afterwards worshipped under the name of -_Puzza_."[270] - -And thus we see that _Budh_ and _Pish_ were the actual regulators of the -solar universe. - -Time, however, dissolved the chain which linked together those _mysterious -absolutes_: or, rather, the _zealots_ of each contrived to sever an -attachment, which was intended by nature to be reciprocal and mutual.[271] -War, devastating, desecrating war, spread abroad over the plain! Human -energies were evoked into an unknown activity! Men's passions, always -inflammable by the jealousy of partisanship, were here furthermore -stimulated by the rancour of religion! And hearts were lacerated, and -countries were depopulated in sustainment of the consequences of a -physiological disquisition!!! - -But what do you conceive to have been the topic at issue? Verily, it was -whether the _male or the female contributed more largely to the act of -generation_!--those who voted for the _female_ side ranging themselves -under the banners of _Pish_, and those for the _male_ under the standard -of _Budh_, while both equally appealed to heaven for adjudication of -their suit, by arrogating to themselves the adjunct of _De-danaans_, or -God-Almoners. - - "Not but the human fabric from its birth - Imbibes a flavour of its parent earth, - As various tracts enforce a various toil, - The manners speak the idiom of the soil." - -Whether or not, however, the result is to be considered as decisive of the -matter in dispute, one thing at least is certain, namely, that the -_Pish_-God-Almoners obtained the victory; and the _Budh_-God-Almoners were -thrown upon the ocean; over whose bosom, wafted to our genial shores, they -did not only import with them all the culture of the East, with its -accompanying refinement and polished civilisation; but they raised the -isle to that pinnacle of literary and religious beatitude which made it -appear to the fancies of distant and enraptured hearers more the day-dream -of romance than the sober outline of an actual locality. - -I shall now illustrate a part of those truths by the Indian history of the -circumstances, as copied from their Puranas, by one who had no -anticipation of my differently-drawn conclusions, and one, in fact, who -did not know either the _scene_ or the _substance_ of the occurrence which -he thus transcribes. - -"Yoni, the _female nature_, is also," says Wilford, "derived from the same -root (_yu_, to mix). Many Pundits insist the Yavanas were so named from -their obstinate assertion of a superior influence in the _female_ over the -_linga_ or _male nature_, in producing a perfect offspring. It may seem -strange that a question of mere physiology should have occasioned not only -a vehement religious contest, but even a bloody war; yet the fact appears -to be historically true, though the Hindu writers have dressed it up, as -usual, in a veil of historical allegories and mysteries, which we should -call obscene, but which they consider as awfully sacred. - -"There is a legend in the Servarasa, of which the figurative meaning is -more obvious. When Sati, after the close of her existence as the daughter -of Dascha, sprang again to life in the character of Parvati, or Mountain -Spring, she was reunited in marriage to Mahadeva. This divine pair had -once a dispute on the comparative influence of the sexes in producing -animated beings, and each resolved, by mutual agreement, to create apart a -new race of men.[272] The race produced by Mahadeva were very numerous, -and devoted themselves exclusively to the worship of the _male deity_; but -their intellects were dull, their bodies feeble, their limbs distorted, -and their complexions of many different hues. Parvati had, at the same -time, created a multitude of human beings, who adored the _female power_ -only, and were all well shaped, with sweet aspects and fine complexions. A -furious contest ensued between the two races, and the _Lingajas_ were -defeated in battle; but Mahadeva, enraged against the _Yonijas_, would -have destroyed them with the _fire of his eye_, if Parvati had not -interposed and spared them;[273] but he would spare them only on -condition that they should instantly leave the country, with a promise to -see it no more; and from the _Yoni_, which they adored as the sole cause -of their existence, they were named Yavanas." - -It is evident that a mistake has been committed in the above narrative, -making the _victors_ the persons who were obliged to quit! and we know -from testimony, adduced upon a different occasion, that instances of such -confusion were neither unfrequent nor uncommon.[274] But even admitting it -to be accurate, the apparent contradiction is easily reconciled; as it is -probable that the contest was protracted for a _long period of time_, -before it was ultimately decided in favour of one party; and, in the -alternations of success, one side being up to-day, and another uppermost -to-morrow, what could be more natural than that a colony of the _Yavanas_, -or _Pish-de-danaans_,--which is the same,--should have fled for shelter to -India, before that the auspices of their arms, propelled by the _fair -cause_ which they vindicated, had, at length, accomplished the overthrow -of their adversaries. - -This object, however, once obtained,--full masters of their wishes, and -sole arbiters of Iran,--they were not satisfied with the mere extinction -of all the symbols of their predecessors,--save and except the _Towers_ -which stood proof to their attacks,--but they established there instead a -code, as well political as moral, more consonant with their own -prejudices: and the wonder would be great, indeed, if, after this -triumphant assertion of _female_ power, gratitude and religion should not -both combine in making the _type_ of that influence--the sacred -_crescent_, or _yoni_--the personification of their doctrines; and _woman -herself_, all-lovely and all-attractive, the concentrated temple of their -divinity upon earth! - -Such was the commencement of the Pish-de-danaan dynasty in Persia; and its -influence still operating, after a long interval of time, is what the -historian unconsciously describes in the following terms, viz.:-- - -"If we give any credit to Ferdosi, most of the laws of modern honour -appear to have been understood and practised with an exception in favour -of the ancient Persians, whose duels, or combats (which were frequent), -were generally with the most distinguished among the enemies of their -country or the human race. The great respect in which the female sex was -held was, no doubt, the principal cause of the progress they had made in -civilisation. These were at once the cause of generous enterprise and its -reward. It would appear that in former days the women of Persia had an -assigned and honourable place in society; and we must conclude that an -equal rank with the male creation, which is secured to them by the -ordinances of Zoroaster, existed long before the time of that reformer, -who paid too great attention to the habits and prejudices of his -countrymen, to have made any serious alterations in so important a usage. -We are told by Quintus Curtius, that Alexander would not sit in the -presence of Sisy-gambis till told to do so by that matron, because it was -not the custom in Persia for sons to sit in presence of their mothers. -There can be no stronger proof than this anecdote affords, of the great -respect in which the female sex were held in that country at the period of -his invasion."[275] - - "Without thee, what were unenlightened man? - A savage roaming through the woods and wilds - In quest of prey; and with the unfashioned fur - Rough clad; devoid of every finer art, - And elegance of life. Nor happiness - Domestic, mixed of tenderness and care, - Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss, - Nor grace, nor love, were his."[276] - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - - -But you will say that I have ventured nothing like proof, of the -paradoxical affirmation propounded a short while ago, as to the -_Tuath-de-danaans_ having been mentioned, by all Eastern writers, in -connection with Persia; and yet unnoticed, the while, by themselves, not -less than unheeded by their readers? - -True: I but awaited the opportunity which has just arrived. - -Are you not aware, then, how that all Oriental writers, when referring to -Budha, who was born at Maghada, in South Bahar, state that he was the son -of _Suad-dha-dana_? And have I not already shown you that _Suadh_ and -_Tuath_ were but disguises of each other, and both resolvable into Budh? - -Those first components, therefore, in each being the same, look at the -entire compound words, _Tuath-de-danaan_, and _Suad-dha-dana_, and are not -the rest, also, infallibly identical? - -Admitting this, you reply, how could they, in that early age, make their -way to Ireland? which, from its extreme position, must have been the very -last place they would have thought of! - -If the question refers to the route pursued, I decline its solution, as -not necessary for my design. "A piece of sugar, or a morsel of pepper, in -a neglected corner of a village inn, would be a certain proof," says -Heeren, "of the trade with either Indies, even if we possessed no other -evidences of the commerce of the Dutch and English with those countries." -And when I have already made the coincidences between the two Irans and -their inhabitants, their forms of worship, their language and mode of -life, to be historical axioms, I surely cannot be expected to waste labour -upon such a trifle, which sinks into nothing against _evidences_ of the -actual fact.[277] - -But if the length of the voyage be the obstacle insinuated, then would I -find some difficulty to--do what?--keep my muscles grave: as if, forsooth, -the adventurous sons of man could only, slowly and imperceptibly, and like -so many ants pushing a load before them, introduce themselves, inch by -inch, and in measured succession, into the diversified terraqueous globe -spread abroad for their enjoyment!--when we have direct demonstration that -such was far from having been the case in the instance of a colony which, -starting from Tyre, and leaving behind on all sides the most inviting and -delicious countries, planted itself down, perhaps from the mere spirit of -romance, in the circumscribed little island of Cadiz, long before Carthage -or Utica had existence even in name! - -No, sir; we must not be so fond of derogating from the ancients all -participation in those embellishments which promote society. Asia was the -cradle of the whole human race; and thence, as its population overflowed, -migratory herds in different states of civilisation, and with different -forms of religious culture, poured in their successive colonies with -multitudinous inundation into the other continental lands; but with more -zeal, and with stronger preference, into those compact little nests which -have been significantly denominated the "Isles of the Gentiles." - -Vessels rode over the briny surges with as proud a canvas as now receives -the gale.[278] The model of the ark would be lesson sufficient to instruct -an enterprising generation in the science of naval architecture: and we -may well suppose that, of all pursuits cultivated by human art, this would -have occupied the very foremost regard by a people just rescued, through -its salutary instrumentality, from the desolating scourge of an -all-swallowing abyss. - -"Well, then, at all events,"--I fancy I hear you exclaim,--"you admit the -story of the _deluge_?" - -Certainly; and that of _Noah_, and the _ark_, and the _dove_, and the -_raven_. But did I not, also, concede the story of the _giants_, and of -the _serpent_? of the _sons of God_, and of the _tree of knowledge_? Nay, -_have I not put the truth of those particulars beyond the possibility of -scepticism_, much more of _denial_? But, believe me, that the _liquid_ -which composed this "deluge" was more of the colour of _claret_ than it -was of _water_;--that there was no more of _wood_ or _timber_ in the -construction of this "ark" than there was in that of the "tree of -knowledge"--that those two latter were congenial and correspondent to each -other,--in their configuration and intention,--and that _flesh_ and -_blood_ were the elements of which they were both composed. - - "For all that meets the bodily sense, I deem - Symbolical, one mighty alphabet - For infant minds------" - -Could the coincidence of measure[279] between the great Egyptian _pyramid_ -at its base, and that of the Noachic _ark_, in ancient cubits,[280] have -been accidental, do you imagine? And if not, what community of purpose, do -you think, had been subserved by such numerical analogy? - -The _triangle_, in the old world, was a sacred form. It represented the -properties--capacity and dilatation--of the _female_ symbol. Lucian, in -his _Auction_, states the following dialogue as having occurred between -Pythagoras and a purchaser, viz.:-- - -PYTH. How do you reckon? - -PUR. One, two, three, four. - -PYTH. Do you see? What you conceive _four_, these are _ten_; and a perfect -_triangle_, and our _oath_. - -Now, Pythagoras, though a Samian, was educated in Egypt; and the religious -mysteries, with which he had been there imbued, are what is so profanely -ridiculed by this infidel scoffer. - -It is not my province to justify the ceremonial of the Egyptians, any -further than as indicative of gratitude to the Godhead; but the reflection -must suggest itself to every observant mind, that they are never called -_idolaters_ in any part of the Pentateuch; and Plutarch, in addition, -_positively asserts_ that "they had inserted nothing into their worship -without a reason,--nothing merely fabulous,--nothing superstitious; but -their institutions have reference either to morals or something useful in -life, and bear a beautiful resemblance, many of them, to some _facts_ in -_history_, or some _appearance_ in _nature_." - -If we investigate the secret of this Pythagorean asseveration, we shall -find that the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, thrice joined, and touching each other, -as it were, in three angles, in this manner-- - -[Illustration] - -constitute an equilateral _triangle_, and amount also, in calculation, to -_ten_. While the _inward_ mystery, couched under its figure, embraced _all -that was solemn in religion and in thought_, being, in fact, the index of -_male_ and _female_ united--the unit, in the centre, standing for the -Lingam. - -Look now at the form of the great Egyptian pyramid; and is it not -precisely that of the above triangle? Is there not, also, an _aperture_ -into it, about the middle as here?[281] And when to all, we add the -notion of _wells_ of water withinside, is not the demonstration complete, -that the goddess of the _Lotos_, the soft promoter of _desire_, the -arbitress of _man_, and the compeer of the _angels_, was the honoured -object of its symbolical erection?[282] - -In 1 Pet. iii. 20, it is asserted that only "eight persons" were preserved -in the ark. Let us suppose them to have been Noah and _his_ wife, with his -three sons and _their_ wives. At a comparatively short interval after the -date assigned to this event,--at most but 352 years,--on Abraham's arrival -in the land of Egypt, we find a flourishing kingdom, an organised police, -a systematic legislature, and comprehensive institutions, diffused over -its surface. All the other parts of the world, we must be ready to -presume, if not equally enlightened, were, at least, as populous; and I -put it to your good sense to decide, whether _eight_ individuals could, -within that period, not only procreate so plentifully as to replenish the -whole earth, but enlighten it, additionally, with such a coruscation of -science, as no subsequent era has been since able to eclipse? - -Indeed, the Scriptures themselves give us, elsewhere, to understand that -St. Peter did not correctly interpret this history. "Come thou," says Gen. -vii. 1, "and _all thy house_, into the ark!" This gracious invitation, at -so critical a juncture, would have been too welcome a proffer to be lost -sight of by anyone who could make it available; and must not we suppose -that the _domestics_ to whom the extension was addressed, with their -several dependants and collateral offspring, would have been glad and -happy to grasp at it with delight? - -But the name of the type itself is worth a hundred deductions from -equivocal premises. The _coffer_ of the law, the _coffin_ of Joseph, the -_money chest_ of the temple, are all severally translated _ark_, and -recorded in Hebrew by the word [Hebrew] _aron_: but the "_ark_ of -Noah"[283] and Moses's "ark of bulrushes"[284] are peculiarly designated, -[Hebrew] _Thebit_, or [Hebrew] _tebah_.[285] - -What is the meaning of these mysterious terms? - - "Quo spectanda modo, quo sensu credis, et ore?" - -As the _Tau_ of the Hebrews is, indifferently, in power, _T_ and _Th_, -_Thebit_ has as good a right to be spelled with, as without, an _h_ at the -end of it,--and, indeed, a better right, considering the elements whereof -it is compounded. _Thebith_, then, is the proper and true sound, and the -mystery of its import I thus unravel. - -Its first syllable, _The_, signifies _sacred_ or consecrated;[286] and -since the letters _b_ and _p_ are commutable--_bith_ is the same as -_pith_, that is, _Cteis_ or _Yoni_. The words _The-bith_, then, together, -in all the attraction of truth, intimate the _consecrated Cteis_; or the -_sacred Yoni_![287] - -But _Pith_, itself, is only a _conversion of Fidh_, the initial letters -_P_ and _F_ being always interchangeable, and not more so than the -penultimates _t_ and _d_. And _Fidh_, in its abstract and original -position, such as we have early seen it, is _masculine_, the plural of -_Budh_, conveying variously the significations of _Lingams_, _trees_, and -_bulrushes_. Here, however, where it is _feminine_, its sex _reversed_, -and the _anatomy_ of _nature_ pourtrayed by the _physics_ of _language_, -the idea of the _bulrushes_ alone presents itself; and the _basket_ in -which Moses was _saved_ from the waters, and which was made of such reeds, -was appropriately denominated by this mysterious symbol, as a type of the -_virginity_ in which the Messiah was to be incarnated, not less than of -the _redemption_ which was to accrue from His sufferings. - -Another stage has been thus advanced; and lo! the beautiful union which -subsists, _as to design_, between the results of our discoveries, and the -consoling assurances of pure Christianity! - -Let us now proceed a little farther in this course-- - - "Sanctos ausi recludere fontes,"[288] - -and connect these truths with the _Tuath_-de-danaans and the -_Pish_-de-danaans. - -"Noah was a just man," observes the scriptural historian, "and _perfect in -his generations_; and Noah walked with God."[289] - -The name of this patriarch implies literally a _boat_: the character -assigned him is not so well understood. - -To succeed in the investigation we must have recourse to the context: and -here the first thing that strikes us is the observation "that the earth -was _corrupt_ before God, and filled with _violence_; for all _flesh_ had -corrupted his way upon the earth."[290] - -A passage in the New Testament will be the best comment upon this subject, -where the patience of God with the iniquities of mankind being at length -exhausted, it is said, that He "gave them over to a _reprobate mind_," "to -dishonour their own bodies between themselves."[291] - -But Noah did not participate in those unhallowed abominations, and he -accordingly "found grace in the eyes of the Lord."[292] - -We now, therefore, see the propriety of the name assigned to his -_ark_;[293]--and the intimation of approval conveyed by the divine command -of "Come thou and all thy house into it," was but another form of the -injunction elsewhere conveyed, to the same effect, in the words, "Be ye -fruitful and multiply."[294] - -_Noah_, then, and _Kaiomurs_[295] were one and the same person, the -reformer of the human species, and the first monarch of the -Pish-de-danaan dynasty. _Yavana_ was another name appropriated to him, and -equivalent with _Noah_, excepting only that the former is literal, and the -latter figurative. An advantage, however, arises from this difference, for -when we know that _Yavana_ means the _yoni_, and _Noah_ a _boat_, and that -both were equally characteristic of the same individual character, we -conclude that the latter denomination was but the symbol of the -former--that, in fact, it was the _lunar boat_,[296] or the _crescent_, -the _concha Veneris_, and the type of _comfort_[297] that was veiled under -the mystery of this ambiguous device. - -[Illustration] - -This fact once explained, you have the immediate solution of those -"semicircular implements" so universal throughout this island, and which -Ledwich acknowledges "have created more trouble to the antiquarians to -determine their use, than all the other antiquities put together." - -These are all made of the finest gold, and, as emblems of the _yoni_, -which was the Raman _palladium_, used to have been worn as _breast_-plates -by the priests and sovereigns. They would sometimes, also, exhibit them as -ornaments to the _head_-dress: and when so designed the two terminating -angles used to have been furnished with circular cups, whereby they would -better adhere to the part: of such, likewise, we have the following -specimen.[298] - -[Illustration] - -_Yun_ is the usual mode of pronouncing _Yavana_; and as the veneration of -posterity for the virtues of this legislator, at a moment when vice had -threatened a general decay,[299] led them to consider him a god, he hence -obtained the prefix of _Deo_ or _Deu_, which along with that of _Cali_, -whose champion he showed himself, make up the romantic, emblematic and -nominal representation of _Deucaliyun_.[300] - - "Safe o'er the main of life the _vessel_ rides, - When _passion_ furls her sails, and _reason_ guides; - Whilst she who has that surest rudder lost, - Midst rocks and quicksands by the waves is tost; - No certain road she keeps, nor port can find, - Toss'd up and down by every wanton wind."[301] - -The struggles for ascendency between contending parties are not the growth -of a day; still less are they unstained by the effusion of blood. _Deluge_ -was no very extravagant hyperbole to apply to such a carnage; for -independently of our knowing that _every_ visitation, whether by _fire_, -_water_, or _sword_, was so denominated by the Easterns, we have the -Scriptures themselves illustrating this use of the term in applying it to -the description at a far later period of an equally severe and no less -distressing catastrophe. - -"Now, therefore, the Lord bringeth upon him the waters of the river, -strong and many, even the King of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall -come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks. And he shall -pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to -the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of -Thy land, O Immanuel."[302] - -But how, you ask, account for the marine strata, and other remains, found -within the earth's recesses? - -I answer they were there embedded and inanimate, before ever man was -placed above them as a denizen. - -"It is clearly ascertained," says Cuvier "that the oviparous quadrupeds -are found considerably earlier, or in more ancient strata than those of -the viviparous class. Thus the crocodiles of Harfleur and of England are -found immediately beneath the chalk. The great alligators and the -tortoises of Maestricht are found in the chalk formation, but these are -both marine animals. This earliest appearance of fossil bones seems to -indicate that dry lands and fresh waters must have existed before the -formation of the chalk strata; yet neither of that early epoch, nor during -the formation of the chalk strata, nor even for a long period afterwards, -do we find any fossil remains of _mammiferous land_ quadrupeds. We begin -to find the bones of the mammiferous sea animals, namely, of the lamantin -and of seals, in the course of shell limestone which immediately covers -the chalk strata in the neighbourhood of Paris. But no bones of the -mammiferous land quadrupeds are to be found in that formation; and -notwithstanding the most careful investigations I have never been able to -discover the slightest trace of this class excepting in the formations -which lie over the coarse limestone strata: but on reaching these more -recent formations, the bones of land quadrupeds are discovered in great -abundance. - -"As it is reasonable to believe that shells and fish did not exist at the -period of the formation of the primitive rocks, we are also led to -conclude that the oviparous quadrupeds began to exist along with the -fishes, while the land quadrupeds did not begin to appear till long -afterwards, and until the coarse shell limestone had been already -deposited, which contains the greater part of our genera of shells, -although of quite different species from those that are now found in a -natural state. There is also a determinate order observable in the -disposition of those bones with regard to each other, which indicates a -very remarkable succession in the appearance of the different species. - -"All the genera which are now unknown, as the Palæotheria, Anapalæotheria, -and with the localities of which we are thoroughly acquainted, are found -in the most ancient of the formations of which we are now treating, or -those which are placed directly over the coarse limestone strata. It is -chiefly they which occupy the regular strata which have been deposited -from fresh waters, or certain alluvial beds of very ancient formation, -generally composed of sand and rounded pebbles. - -"The most celebrated of the unknown species belonging to known genera, or -to genera nearly allied to those which are known, as the fossil elephant, -rhinoceros, hippopotamos, and mastodon, are never found with the more -ancient genera, but are only contained in alluvial formations. Lastly, the -bones of species which are apparently the same with those that still -exist alive, are never found except in light and alluvial dispositions." - -From all which, this philosopher draws the following just conclusion, -namely:--"Thus we have a collection of facts, a series of epochs anterior -to the present time, and of which the successive steps may be ascertained -with perfect certainty, though the periods which intervened cannot be -determined with any degree of precision. These epochs form so many fixed -points, answering as rules for directing our inquiries respecting this -ancient chronology of the earth." - -To return--"God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before Me; -for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will -destroy them with the earth."[303] - -Now, we see that the earth has _not_ been destroyed, and _this single -circumstance, in itself_, ought to have been enough to show us that the -whole register was but figurative. The _raven_ and the _dove_ were -indispensable auxiliaries to the structure of the allegory: the former -typifies the _massacre_ that prevailed during the period of the contest; -and the latter, in its meek and its tender constancy, the invariable -attendant, besides, of _Venus_ and the _boat_, characteristically -pourtrays the overtures made for an accommodation, until, after a second -embassy, the _olive-branch_ of peace was saluted, and the cessation of -hostilities was the consequence.[304] - -Behold, then, the folly of those dreamers who would make _Thebith_ so -called, as if the _ark_ had rested upon it! Why, sir, in the entire -catalogue of _local_ names, there is no one half so common as that of -_Thebith_ and _Thebæ_! And surely you will not claim for your _ideal_ -man-of-war, in addition to other properties, that of _ubiquity_ also, by -making it perch upon all those places, at one and the same time! - -No, these scenes have been all denominated from the form of religion which -they recognised, and of which the _Pith_, _Yoni_, or _sacred Boat_, was -the conventional sign: as the countries of _Phut_, that is, _But_, and -_Buotan_, were so designated likewise, from their adopting the _opposite_ -symbol, namely, the _Budh_, _Phallus_, or _sacred Lingam_! - -Perplexed in this entanglement, and tossed about in "a sea of -speculation," Mr. Jacob Bryant, in some respects a clever man, after a -fatiguing cruise of somewhat more than half a century, fell at last a -victim in the general shipwreck. - - "Your wise men don't know much of navigation." - -The _Gentiles_, says he, worshipped Noah's _ark_! Yes they did; but _not -in the sense in which he understood it_.[305] - -Another _axiom_ of his is, that the _Deluge_ must have really happened, -because that the _tradition_ of it is _universal_! To this, also, I chime -in my affirmative response, and proclaim, yea. But the _tradition_ of the -_tree of knowledge_ is equally _universal_. And though the _ground work_ -of _both occurred_, and was _substantively true_, yet was the -_description_ of _neither_ more than a graceful _allegory_; while the -salutary _alarm_ imparted under this guise, and the monitory _lesson_ -suggested by its horrors, in _amusing_ the fancy, _edified_ it, at the -same moment, by keeping before it a _picture_ of that _spiritual -desolation_, which _sin_ leaves in the _citadel_ of the _soul_.[306] - -"Moses," says the apostle, "was learned in all the wisdom of the -Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."[307] - -Now Strabo assures us that the Egyptians of his day were as ignorant as he -was himself of the origin of their religion, of the import of their -symbols, and of their national history. They pretended to retain some -_evanescent_ traces thereof in the time of Diodorus; but so scrupulously -exact were they in the concealment of their tenour, that to pry into them, -profanely, was morally impossible. - -Herodotus himself, who neglected no channel of information, found it no -easy matter to glean a few _initiatory_ scraps from them. And even these -were accompanied with such solemn denunciations, that his embarrassment is -betrayed when but alluding to their tendency. - -If, during Moses's residence at Pharaoh's Court, his opportunities of -insight were greater, it is still self-evident that the accomplishments -which he obtained were more of a secular character than of a religious -cast--that the _courtier_ was the first object of the young princess's -directions, and the qualifications of the _statesman_ her next ambition -for her charge. The _mysteries_ of the priests were too awful, and too -sanctified, to be debased to the routine of a schoolboy's rehearsal; and -even when ripening age did bespeak a more chastened mind, the -communication of their contents was obscured by the interposition of an -almost impenetrable umbrage. - -Thus palliated by types, Moses did, however, imbibe from the Egyptians all -the knowledge which they then possessed of the nature of their ceremonies; -and the record of the _Fall_, the _Deluge_, and the _Creation_ are the -direct transcripts of the instruction so conveyed. But though it is -undeniable, from their _symbols_, that the Egyptians must have been well -apprised of the _constitution_ of those rites, yet am I as satisfied as I -am of my physical motion, that the foldings of that _web_, in which they -were so mystically _doubled_, was lost to their grasp in the labyrinths of -antiquity. - -Moses, therefore, could not have _learned_ from the Egyptians more than -the Egyptians themselves had _known_. He related the allegory as he had -_received_ it from them: and it is, doubtless, to his ignorance of its -_ambiguous_ interpretation, _accessible only through that language in -which it was originally involved_, that we are indebted for a -transmission, _so essentially Irish_. - -The _Pish_-de-danaan dynasty which rose upon the ruins of the -_Tuath_-de-danaans, in _Iran_, was itself, in after ages, ejected from -that country. _Egypt_ was the retreat of their shattered fortunes; and -there, during their abode, under the name of the _Shepherd-kings_, they -erected the _Pyramids_, in honour of _Pith_, or _Padma_-devi, but at an -age long anterior to what may be presumed from Manetho.[308] - -Previously, however, to their arrival in Egypt, Shinaar in Mesopotamia -afforded them an asylum. Here it was that Nimrod broke in:[309] and as I -have before but _transiently glanced_ at that circumstance, I shall now -revert to it with more precision. - -Between the tenets of the _Pish_-de-danaans and those of their -_Tuath_-de-danaan predecessors, there was but a single point of -dissentient belief. The language, the customs, the manners and modes of -life of both were the same. To all intents and purposes they were one -identical people. - -But as the former had imagined that the _Yoni_ alone was the author of -_procreation_, while the others claimed that honour for their own symbol, -the _Lingam_, an animosity ensued, which was not allayed even by the -consciousness, that _each_, secretly, worshipped the type of the _other's_ -creed. - -The _goddess_, however, prevailed in the struggle, and her glories in Iran -were great and far spread. Monarchs bowed at the nod of her omnipotence, -and the earth swelled with the gestations of her praise.[310] "_Sed -ultima dies semper homini est expectanda._" A rude and a lawless swarm of -stragglers, headed by an adventurer of commanding abilities and determined -heroism, _deluged_, in turn, the _Boatmen_, or the _Noachidæ_,[311] and -swamped them in a _flood_, as _sanguinary_ and as _disastrous_ as that -which they had, themselves, before, brought upon the adversaries of their -zeal. - -But it was not the _bloodshed_ of the scene that affected them half so -much as the _insult_ offered by the erection of the _Tower_![312] And as -no clue can be so adequate for the analysis of this _enigma_ as that which -they themselves have bequeathed,--for it was from the _Yavanas_ or -_Pish_-de-danaans that Moses had been taught the fact,--I shall place such -before your eyes, in all the eloquence of a self-interpreting dissyllable. - -[Hebrew] is the name by which the scriptural record perpetuates this -structure.[313] If you put this into English letters, and read them -regularly, from left to right, it will be _Lidgam_. But the Hebrews read -in the opposite direction, from right to left; and that is the very cause -of the appearance of the _d_ in the word; for as _Magnil_--reading -backwards--would produce a _cacophony_, the _n_ of the original was left -out, and _d_ substituted, making _Magdil_: reinstate, therefore, the _n_, -and enunciate the Hebrew word, as you would the Irish or the Sanscrit, and -it will not only unmask the _secret_ of this long-disputed edifice, but -_be_, _sound_, and _personate_, in all the nicety of accentuation, -_Lingam_, and thus prevent all further controversy about the character of -the _Tower_ of Babel. - - "The waies through which my weary steps I guide, - In this researche of old antiquitie, - Are so exceeding riche, and long, and wyde, - And sprinkled with such sweet varietie, - Of all that pleasant is to eare and eye, - That I, nigh ravisht with rare thought's delight, - My tedious travel quite forgot thereby; - And when I gin to feel decay of might, - It strength to me supplies and cheers my dulled spright."[314] - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - - -I have stated that it was from the _Pish_-de-danaans or Yavana -philosophers of Egypt that Moses had learned the allegories of the Deluge -and of the Fall. I now add, _that it was by them also he had been -instructed in that consolatory assurance which told him_ that the "Seed of -the woman should bruise the serpent's head."[315] - -In truth, it was this very promise made to the ancestors of those people -in _Paradise_, which is but another name for _Iran_,[316] that gave rise -to the _schism_ between them and the _Tuath_-de-danaans. - -"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy -_conception_; in sorrow thou shalt _bring forth children_: and thy -_desire_ shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."[317] - -The _nature_ of the _crime_ is here clearly denoted by the _suitableness_ -of the _punishment_.[318] But the same over-ruling Judge, who, in -conformity with His justice, could not but chastise the violation of His -injunctions, yet, in mercy to man's weakness, and seeing that "he also is -flesh," condescended to promise that the _instrument_ of his _seduction_ -should be also the _vehicle_ of his _redeeming triumph_. - -"I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between -thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his -heel."[319] - -Pinning their faith upon the literal fulfilment of these terms, which told -them that the _female, as such_, would be the unaided author of a _being_, -whose healing effects would restore them to the inheritance so heedlessly -forfeited, their veneration for that _symbol_ of divine interposition -became correspondingly unbounded; and their enthusiasm for the principle -of its strict verification was what engendered the thought that in the -general procreating scheme the _yoni_ was the _vivifier_. - -The _Tuath_-de-danaans or Lingajas, on the other hand, were not less -satisfied in their security; but looking upon the terms with a more -_spiritual_ interpretation, and led by the operation of ordinary _physics_ -to consider the question as a _deviation_ from the _general rule_, they -erected the symbol of _male_ capability as the standard of their doctrine. -And thus, while the zeal of both parties shook the very framework of -society, yet did they _concur_ in all the _essentials_ of their respective -religions; and even the particulars of that _prospect_ by which they were -both sustained, instead of operating as an exception to the universality -of this truth, only confirm its import. - -The Jews, who were but _newly_ brought forward upon the stage, and who, in -the inscrutable councils of heaven, were selected as the objects of God's -immediate superintendence, being informed of the tenour of the -paradisaical hope, abused it more wantonly than ever did the -_Pish_-de-danaans or the _Tuath_-de-danaans. - -Unable to comprehend, from their narrow mental calibre, any _agency_ in -the form of a divine _emanation_, and yet fancying, each of them, that she -would herself be the mother of the expected Redeemer, their women indulged -in all the lusts of _desire_, and, where no opportunity offered for -licensed gratification, revelled in the arms of incest. - -This alone can apologise for that intensity of passion, exceeding even the -dictates of natural thirst, and unrestrained by the consideration of -decency or consanguinity, whereof we read in the Old Testament, respecting -the Israelitish daughters;[320] while it also demonstrates that the -_carnality_ of their souls did not allow them thoroughly to understand the -precise nature of the _favour_ designed. - -Far otherwise the case with the _intellectual_ races, which they were now -appointed to supersede. - -"In order to reclaim the vicious, to punish the incorrigible, to protect -the oppressed, to destroy the oppressor, to encourage and reward the good, -and to show all spirits the path to their ultimate happiness, God has been -pleased to manifest Himself, say the Brahmins, in a variety of ways, from -age to age, in all parts of the habitable globe. When He acts immediately, -without assuming a shape, or sending forth a new emanation, when a divine -sound is heard from the sky, that manifestation of Himself is called -_acasavani_, or an ethereal voice: when the voice proceeds from a meteor -or a flame, it is said to be _agnarupi_, or _formed of fire_; but an -_avatara_ is a descent of the Deity in the shape of a mortal; and an -_avantara_ is a similar incarnation of an inferior kind, intended to -answer some purpose of less moment. The Supreme Being, and the celestial -emanations from Him, are _niracara_, or bodiless, in which state they must -be invisible to mortals; but when they are _pratya-sha_, or obvious to -sight, they become _sacara_, or embodied, either in shapes different from -that of any mortal, and expressive of the divine attributes, as Chrishna -revealed himself to Arjun, or in a human form, _which Chrishna usually -bore, and in that mode of appearing the deities are generally supposed to -be born of women without any carnal intercourse_."[321] - -Is this repugnant to the spirit of Christianity? No; it is its -counterpart. "I know," says Job, in the moment of inspiration, "that my -Redeemer liveth."[322] Prophetically, you reply; and you back the opinion -by our Saviour's own appeal that "Abraham saw his day, and was glad."[323] - -Abraham certainly believed by anticipation, but Job by retrospection. And -if you will not think my assertion decisive of the matter, I will produce -an authority to which you will more readily subscribe. - -"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names are not -written in the book of life of _the Lamb slain from the foundation of the -world_."[324] - -It will be in vain for you to attempt to parry the evidence of this -startling text. No visionary _foresight_ will accomplish its defeat: no -ideal _substitutions_ will shake its validity. - -"How it came to pass," says Skelton, "that the Egyptians, Arabians, and -Indians, before Christ came among us, and the inhabitants of the extreme -northern parts of the world, ere they had so much as heard of Him, _paid a -remarkable veneration to the sign of the cross_, is to me unknown, but -_the fact itself_ is known. In some places this sign was given to men -accused of a crime, but acquitted: and _in Egypt it stood for the -signification of eternal life_."[325] - -"V. W." has asserted something similar;[326] but neither one nor the other -has attempted to fathom its origin. - -"The Druids," adds Schedius, "seek studiously for an oak tree, large and -handsome, growing up with _two principal arms, in form of a cross_, beside -the main stem upright. If the two _horizontal arms_ are not sufficiently -adapted to the figure, they fasten a _cross_-beam to it. This tree they -consecrate in this manner. Upon the right branch, they cut in the back, in -fair characters, the word _Hesus_: upon the middle or upright stem, the -word _Taramis_: upon the left branch, _Belenus_: over this, above the -going off of the arms, they cut the name of God, _Thau_: under all, the -same repeated _Thau_."[327] - -"The form of the great temple," observes Dr. Macculloch, "at Loch Bernera, -in the Isle of Lewis the chief isle of the Hebrides, is that of a _cross_, -containing, at the intersection, a circle with a central stone; an -additional line being superadded on one side of the longest arms, and -nearly parallel to it. Were this line absent, its proportion would be -nearly that of the Roman cross, or common crucifix." - -And then, in reply to the supposition of its having been converted by the -_Christians_ into this form, he avers that "the whole is too consistent, -and too much of one age, to admit of such; while at the same time, it -could not, under any circumstances, have been applicable to a Christian -worship. Its essential part, the circular area, and the number of similar -structures found in the vicinity, equally bespeak its ancient origin. It -must, therefore, be concluded, that the cruciform shape was given by the -original contrivers of the fabric; and it will afford an object of -speculation to antiquaries, who, if they are sometimes accused of _heaping -additional obscurity on the records of antiquity_, must also be allowed -the frequent merit of eliciting light from darkness. _To them I willingly -consign all further speculations concerning it._"[328]... "Yet it seems -_unquestionable_ that the figure of a cross was known to the Gothic -nations, and also used by them _before they were_ converted to -Christianity."[329] - -I do not know whether or not would the Doctor deem _me_ an "antiquary," or -if he did, in _which class_ would he assign me a place. I will undertake, -notwithstanding, to solve this difficulty with as much precision as I have -the others before it. - -The _existence_ of the "cross," and its _worship_, anterior to the -Christian era, being no longer liable to dispute, it remains only that we -investigate the _cause_ which it commemorates.[330] - -Our first aid in this research will be the notice of its accompaniments; -and when we find that it goes ever in the train of a particular divinity, -are we not compelled to connect that divinity with the idea of a -crucifixion? - -_Taut_, amongst the Egyptians, is emblemised by _three_ crosses.[331] The -Scandinavians represent their _Teutates_ by a cross. And a cross is the -device by which the Irish _Tuath_ is perpetuated. - -But these are all one and the same name, varied by the genius of the -different countries. The _centre_ from which they _diverge_, as well as -the _focus_ to which they _return_, I have shown to be _Budh_: and as this -_symbol_ of his worship is universally recognised, does not the -_crucifixion_ thus implied identify his fate with that of the "Lamb slain -from the beginning of the world"?[332] - -The Pythonic _allegory_ which the Greeks have so obscured, in reality -originated in this religious transaction. For what is their fable? Is it -not that _Apollo_ slew with his _arrow_ the serpent _Python_? And as -Apollo means _son of the Sun_, is not the _substance_ of the whole, that -the _offspring of a virgin's womb_--that is, an _emanation of the Sun_, or -_Budh_--overcame by his own _death_--typified by an _arrow_--sin and -_sensuality_, of which the _serpent_, _i.e._ _pith_, is the symbol? - -We are now prepared for the reception of that chronicle, transmitted -through the Puranas, and noticed already at p. 221, viz. that a "giant, -named Sancha-mucha-naga, in the shape of a _snake_, with a _mouth_ like a -_shell_, and whose abode was in a _shell_, having _two countenances_, was -killed by Christnah." - -The _very name_ of this allegoric "giant" indicates the _mysterious -snake_--his being in the _form_ of a _snake_ is but the _personification_ -of _sensuality_; his having a _mouth_ like a _shell_ alludes to the -_concha Veneris_, or the _Pith_; his having his _abode_ in that _shell_ -denotes its being the _seat_ of _temptation_; his having _two -countenances_ implies the _disguise_ which _sin_ assumes; and his being -_slain_ by _Christnah_ denotes that the _Son of God_, by _mortification -and self-denial, and the most rigid abstinence from all worldly -pleasures_, verified in _His own person the promise made in Paradise_, and -for the _minor disquietudes_ which _guilt_ entails--expressed by the -"_heel_" being "_bruised_" by the "_serpent_,"--inflicted a _blow_, which -laid low his empire, and stamped the signal of _victory_ over his -"head."[333] - -"Ye search the Scriptures," says our Saviour "for in them ye think ye have -eternal life: and they are they which _testify_ of Me."[334] - -_Testification_ can be made only in the case of a past occurrence. It is -never used in the way of prophecy. And in conformity with its true import, -you will find, from Genesis to Revelation, the concurrent tenor of the -Sacred Volume giving proof to the fact of Christ's former appearance upon -the earth as man! - -But suppose me for a moment to descend from this position, and view those -previous manifestations as ordinary subjects of history, then hear an -outline of what is transmitted to us respecting one of them. - -Chanakya, Zacha, or, as our registers have it, Macha,[335] one of the -personifications of Budh, the general appellative of those heaven-sent -devotees, was so startling a paragon of human impeccability, as to inspire -his followers with the conviction of his being an incarnation of the -Godhead. - -He is stated to have been the son of one of the most powerful of eastern -kings; but, according to their preconceived notions of the future -Redeemer, born of his mother without any knowledge of the other sex. - -The circumstances attendant upon his infantine education, and the -precocity of his parts, favoured an inauguration upon which their fancies -had been long riveted. After a laborious ordeal of pious austerity, not -without miraculous proofs and other intimations of Divine approval, he was -duly admitted to the honour of canonisation, and entered, accordingly, -upon his task of consigned Saviour of the world. - -The encounters with which he had to contend, in this uphill work, against -flesh and blood, were those which were, afterwards, again combated by the -_admitted_ Saviour whom he had personated. The same faults he reprehended; -the same weakness he deplored; the same hypocrisy he rebuked; and the same -virtues he inculcated. The purification of the inner spirit was the object -which both professed, and the improvement of human morals in social -intercourse and relation, the evidence in practice, upon which both -equally insisted. - -If Christ promised a _heaven_ to the votaries of His truths, Budha did a -_nirwana_ to his disciples and imitators: and though the former place, to -our imagination, sounds _replete with all delights_, while the latter is -merely figured as exempt from all _painfulness_, yet _both_ agree in one -particular, not a little soothing to wounded hope, in being essentially -such, as where "the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are -at rest." - -But great as was the resemblance which the personal example and the -doctrinal lessons of Macha and Christ bore to one another, it was as -nothing compared to the almost incredible similitude of their respective -departures. They both died the inglorious death of the _cross_ to -reconcile man to his offended Creator; and in confident dependence upon -the best authenticated assurance, exulted on the occasion, however galling -the process, of expiating, by their own sufferings, the accumulated sins -of humanity. - -Is it to be wondered at, therefore, that the traces which they have left -behind them, in their different ages, should bear an analogy to one -another? Or would not the wonder rather be that they did not, in all -respects, harmonise? - -"Let not the piety of the Catholic Christian," says the Rev. Mr. Maurice, -"be offended at the preceding assertion, that the _cross_ was one of the -most usual symbols among the hieroglyphics of Egypt and India. Equally -honoured in the Gentile and the Christian world, this emblem of universal -nature, of that world to whose quarters its diverging radii pointed, -decorated the hands of most of the sculptured images in the former -country, and in the latter stamped its form upon the most majestic of the -shrines of their deities."[336] - -The _fact_ alone is here attested to: not a syllable is said as to the -_reason why_: and though I cannot but recognise the _scruples_ of the -_writer_, nor withhold my admiration from the _rotundity_ in which the -diction has been cast, yet the reader must have seen that, as to _actual -illustration_, it is--like the Rev. Mr. Deane's _flourish_ about the -worship of the serpent--"_Vox et præterea nihil_!"[337] - -"You do err, not knowing the Scriptures,"[338] said a Master, _without -pride_, and _who could not err_. If the remark applied in _His_ day, it is -not the less urgent in ours. So astounding did the correspondence between -the Christian and the Budhist doctrines appear to the early missionaries -to Thibet and the adjacent countries--a correspondence not limited to mere -points of _faith_ and preceptorial maxims, but exhibiting its operation in -all the outward details of _form_, the inhabitants going even so far as to -wear _crosses_ around their necks--that Thevenot, Renaudot, Lacroze, and -Andrada, have supposed in their ignorance of the cause of such affinity, -that Budhism must have been a vitiation of _Christianity_ before planted; -whereas _Budhism_ flourished thousands of years before it, or Brahminism -either; and _this cross was the symbol of Budha crucified_. - -"Our second illustration," says the _Dublin Penny Journal_, referring to -what I have here introduced, "belongs to a later period, and will give a -good idea of the usual mode of representing the _Saviour_, whether on -stone crosses, or on bronze, which prevailed from the sixth to the twelfth -century. Such remains however, are valuable, not only as memorials of the -arts, but as preserving the Celtic costume of a portion of the inhabitants -of our island in those remote ages. It will be seen that in _this_, as in -one of the shrine-figures before given, the kilt, or philibeg, is -distinctly marked, and _controverts the erroneous assertion_ of -Pinkerton, formerly noticed, that "it was always quite unknown amongst the -Welsh and Irish."[339] - -[Illustration] - -How others may receive it I do not know; but for myself, I confess, I find -it no easy matter to maintain the composure of my countenance at this -affected _pomposity_ of censorial _magniloquence_. The _self-complacency_ -of the _censor_ one could tolerate with ease, if the _assumption_ of the -_historian_ had aught to support it. But alas! every position in the -extract is the direct opposite of truth, with the exception of that which -asserts another person's error; and even this is beclouded with such -egregious observations as to show, that leaving _Pinkerton_ to P----[340] -would be consigning the blind to a blinder conductor. - -For, in the first place, the _philibeg_ was not a _Celtic_ costume at all, -but belonged to the De-danaan, or Iranian colony,[341] who, on their -overthrow here, took it with them to what is now called Scotland. The -Firbolgs, who were Celts, and occupied this island before the Iranians, -wore another style of dress altogether, which, on the reconquest of the -country by the Scythian swarms, B.C. 1000, became again the national -uniform. For the Firbolgs, having assisted the Scythians in dislodging the -Iranians from the throne of the kingdom, and agreeing with them -furthermore in point of worship and of garb, they did not only make _their -own habits_, as well of _religion_ as of _dress_, universal throughout the -realm, but obliterated every vestige of the _obnoxious_ costume, and -cancelled every symptom of its characteristic ceremonial, except alone -those Round Temples of adamantine strength, which defied the assailment of -all violence and batteries. - -There was no remnant, therefore, of the kilt to be met with in Ireland, -either in the _sixth_ century, or in the _twelfth_, or indeed for many -centuries before the Christian era at all. This effigy,[342] therefore, -_could not have been intended for our Saviour_, wanting, besides, the I. -N. R. I.,[343] and wearing the _Iranian regal crown_ instead of the -_Jewish crown of thorns_. Therefore are we justified in ascribing it to -its owner, _Budha_, whom again we find imprinted in the same _crucified -form_, but with more _irresistibility of identification_, over the -monuments of his name--over the doors and lintels of the temples of his -worship. - -[Illustration] - -Mr. Gough, describing this edifice, tells us that "On the west front of -the tower (Brechin) are two arches, one within the other, in relief. On -the point of the outermost is a _crucifix_, and between both, towards the -middle, are figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John, the latter holding a -cup with a lamb. The outer arch is adorned with knobs, and within both is -a slit or loop. At bottom of the outer arch are _two beasts_ couchant. _If -one of them, by his proboscis_, was not evidently _an elephant_, I should -suppose them the supporters of the Scotch arms. Parallel with the crucifix -are two plain stones, which do not appear to have had anything upon -them."[344] - -Captain Mackenzie, in his _Antiquities of the West and South Coast of -Ceylon_, which still professes adherence to Budhism, tells us that "_at -each side of the doorway_ (of the temple at Calane), _inclosed in recesses -cut in the wall, are two large figures, the janitors of the god_ -(Budh).... A large elephant's tooth and a small _elephant of brass form -the ornament_ of a lampstead.... A female figure of the natural size, -decently and not ungracefully arrayed in the same garb, was represented -standing in another quarter, holding a lamp in the extended hand. The -gallery was entirely covered with paintings, containing an history of the -life of Boodhoo--one of these seemed to represent the birth of the divine -child. A _large white elephant_ made a conspicuous figure in most of these -assemblies."[345] - -Scotch arms, indeed! Why, Sir, those animals were recumbent there, in -deified transfiguration, before ever _Pict_ or _Scot_ had planted a -profane foot within their neighbourhood. What connection, let me ask, -could this _elephant_ and this _bull_ have with Christianity, to entitle -them to the honour of being grouped with our Saviour? Or, if any, how -happens it that we never see them enter into similar combinations, in -_churches_ or _chapels_, or _convents_ or _cathedrals_?[345] - -But if they belong not to the Christian ceremonial, they do to something -else. They are the _grand, distinctive_, and _indispensable adjuncts of -Budhism_; being the _two animals_ into which, _according to its doctrine -of metempsychosis, the soul of Budha had entered after his death_. - -This was the origin of the Egyptian _Apis_: and who is not familiar with -the honours lavished upon the sacred _bull_? To this day the _elephant_ is -worshipped in the Burman empire,[346] where the genius of _Budhism_ still -lingeringly tarries; and "_Lord of the White Elephant_" is the proudest -ensign of power claimed by the successors to the throne of Pegu. - -The _human_ figures, then, _of course_, cannot be intended for "_St. John_ -or the _Virgin Mary_." They represent _Budha's Virgin Mother_, along with -his _favourite disciple, Rama_. And thus does the testimony of -Artemidorus, who _flourished 104 years before Christ_, a native himself of -Ephesus, and _who did not himself understand_ the _mystery_ of that -_Virgin_ whom he historically records, receive _illustration_ from _my -proof_, while it gives _it confirmation_ in return. - -His words are--"Adjacent to Britain there stands an island, where _sacred -rites_ are performed to Ceres and the _Virgin_, similar to those in -Samothrace." - -Initiation in the principles of this Samothracian ceremonial was thought -so necessary an accomplishment for every hero and every prince, that no -aspirant to those distinctions ever ventured upon his destination, without -first paying a visit to that religious rendezvous. The solemnity, -attaching to the ritual there performed, was not greater than the -veneration paid to the place itself. All fugitives found shelter within -its privileged precincts, and the name of _sacred_ was assigned it, as the -ordinary characteristic of such sanctuaries.[347] - -"There are," says the Scholiast upon Aristophanes, "two orders of -mysteries celebrated in the course of the year, in honour of Ceres and -_the Virgin_--the lesser and the greater; the former being but a sort of -purification and holy preparation for the latter."[348] - -Who the Virgin was, however, none but the _initiated_ ever presumed to -investigate, the practice observed in respect to her, being the same as -that which influenced the other ordinances of antiquity: and which made -Strabo himself declare, that "_all that can be said concerning the gods -must be by the exposition of old opinions and fables; it being the custom -of the ancients to wrap up in enigma and allegory their thoughts and -discourses concerning nature, which are, therefore, not easily -explained_."[349] - -Proclus also says: "In all initiations and mysteries, the gods exhibit -themselves under many forms, and with a frequent change of shape; -sometimes as light defined to no particular figure; sometimes in a human -form; and sometimes in that of some other creature."[350] - -With the clue, however, already afforded, we need not be deterred from -approaching her fane. The allegorical name, under which they disguised -her, was that of _Proserpine_: whom they represent "so beautiful that _the -father of the gods himself became enamoured of her, and deceived her by -changing himself into a serpent, and folding her in his wreaths_."[351] - -This was the _Greek perversion_ of the narrative. They had received it -from the Pelasgi, under the garb of a _conception_, by _serpentine -insinuation, in a virgin womb_: and, the grossness of their intellects not -allowing them to comprehend the possibility of an _emanation_, yet giving -unqualified credence to the record, they degraded altogether the -_religiousness_ of the thought, and supposed that the Almighty, to -effectuate his design, had actually assumed the _cobra di capello_ form! - -So austere was the rule, by which those mysteries were protected, that -Æschylus but _barely escaped discerption within the theatre_, for an -imagined disrespect to their tendency. Nor was it but on the plea of -ignorance and _un_-initiation, that he did ultimately obtain pardon.[352] - -This insuperable barrier to the curiosity of the profane, engendered in -their conduct a corresponding reaction, and, as the _fox_ did to the -_grapes_, what they could not themselves compass, they strove all they -could to vituperate! - -"Virtue, however, is its own reward," and, as the authority of Cicero, -having been himself a priest, ought to have some weight in the discussion, -it is no small impetus to the cause of truth, to hear this pre-eminent man -assign to the efficacy of the precepts, inculcated in those -mysteries,--"the knowledge of the God of nature; the first, the supreme, -the intellectual; by which men had been reclaimed from rudeness and -barbarism, to elegance and refinement; and been taught, not only to live -with more comfort, but to die with better hopes."[353] - - "Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, - But looks through Nature up to Nature's God; - Pursues that chain which links the immense design, - Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine, - Sees that no being any bliss can know, - But touches some above, and some below; - Learns from this union of the rising whole, - The first, last purpose of the human soul; - And knows where faith, law, morals, all began, - All end in love of God and love of man."[354] - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - - -I would have my reader pause upon the substance of the terms with which -the last section concluded--"Not only to live with more comfort, but to -die with better hopes!" - -Have you read them? Have you digested them? And are you not ashamed of -your illiberality? - -From what pulpit in Christendom will you hear better or more orthodox -truths? Where will you find the Gospel more energetically enunciated? And, -with this _testimony_ staring you in the face--in defiance of inner -light--and imperiously subjugating the allegiance of rationality--will you -still persist in limiting the benevolence of your "Father?" and in -withholding every symptom of paternal regard from his own handiwork, until -the beginning of the last two thousand years? that is, as it were, till -yesterday? - -"I tell you, that if these should hold their peace, the _stones_ would -immediately cry out."[355] - -"On a bank near the shore," says Cordiner, in his _Antiquities of -Scotland_, "opposite to the ruins of a castellated house, called Sandwick -(in Ross-shire), and about three miles east from Ferns, a very splendid -obelisk is erected, surrounded at the base with large, well-cut flag -stones, formed like steps. Both sides of this column are elaborately -covered with various enrichments, in well-finished carved work. The one -face presents a sumptuous cross, with a figure of St. Andrew on each hand, -and some uncouth animals and flowerings underneath. The central division, -on the reverse, renders it a piece of antiquity well worthy of -preservation; there is exhibited on that such a variety of figures, birds, -and animals, as seemed what might prove a curious subject of -investigation; I have, therefore, given a distinct delineation of them at -the foot of the column, on a larger scale, that their shapes might be -distinctly ascertained, and the more probable conjectures formed of their -allusion." - -[Illustration] - -What, on earth, business would St. Andrew have in company with "uncouth -animals?" What have "birds," "figures," and "flowerings" to do with -Christianity? If this "obelisk" had not been erected here, in -commemorative deification, centuries upon centuries before the era of his -Saintship's birth, why should the "cross," which "one face presents," be -decorated with "enrichments" brought all the way from Egypt? - -Look at these hieroglyphics: and where will you find anything congenial to -them within the empire of the Romans? Here is the _Bulbul of Iran_,[356] -the _boar_ of Vishnu, the elk, the fox, the lamb, and the dancers. All the -other configurations, without going through them in detail, are not only, -in their nature and import, essentially eastern, but are actually the -_symbols of the various animal-forms under which they contemplated the -properties of the Godhead_. As the _cross_, however, is that to which we -are more immediately directed, I shall confine myself, for the present, to -the establishment of its antiquity. - -No one will question but that _Venus_ was antecedent to the days of _St. -Andrew_; and _she_ is represented with a _cross_ and a circle![357] -_Jupiter_ also, it will be admitted, was anterior to his time; and we find -him delineated with a _cross_ and a horn! _Saturn_ is said to have been -sire to the last-mentioned god, and, by the laws of primogeniture, must -have been senior to him; yet we find _him_ also pictured with a _cross_ -and horn! The monogram of Osiris is a _cross_! On a medal of one of the -Ptolemies is to be seen an eagle conveying a thunderbolt with the _cross_! -In short, all through the ancient world this symbol was to be encountered, -and wherever it presented itself, it was always the harbinger of sanctity -and of peace. - -Can we glean from their writings any confirmation to my development as to -the _origin_ of the rite? Plato asserts, that the form of the letter X was -imprinted upon the universe.[358] I know how this has been interpreted as -a reference to the Son of God, and the second power of the Divinity. I -will not make use of it in any such light, preferring to avoid everything -that may seem _equivocal_, yet am I well convinced that, under the -philosopher's ratiocination, may be seen the twinkling trace of a previous -incarnation of the [Greek: logos], and a crucifixion, likewise, as an -atonement for the sins of humanity. - -"Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did -esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. - -"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our -iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His -stripes we are healed."[359] - -This is all in the past tense; bearing reference, irrefutably, to a -_former_ occurrence, but including also, in the sequel, the idea of a -_future_ reappearance. And if you look back at the effigy, page 296, will -it not sensitively prove him to have been "a man of sorrows and acquainted -with grief?"[360] - -"The deity Haŕ," says an inscription at _Budda-gaya_, in India, "the lord -and possessor of all, appeared in this ocean of natural beings at the -close of the Devapara and beginning of the Cali Yug. He who is omnipresent -and everlastingly to be contemplated, the Supreme Being, the Eternal One, -the Divinity worthy of mankind, appeared here, with a portion of His -divine nature."[361] - -There is no term so vernacular in the Irish language as that of -_Budh-gaye_. It is familiar to the _ears_ of every smatterer in _letters_; -and is in the _mouth_ of every _cowherd_, from Cape Clear to the Giants' -Causeway. Neither class has, however, had so much as a _glimpse_ of what -it means: nor did they busy themselves much in the pursuit, but acquiesced -in that example of _commendable_ resignation once practised by -Strabo--when he failed to ascertain anything about the _Cabiri_--by -declaring that "the name was mysterious!" - -A great personage, however, who was not only in his habits _wise_, but was -in himself _wisdom_, has affirmed, that "there is nothing covered that -shall not be revealed; nor hid that shall not be known."[362] And as every -sentence recorded as emanating from _His_ lips has with me a value more -than what could serve to illustrate a momentary topic, I flatter myself -that the result of the confidence, thus humbly inspired, will be -additionally verified in the instance before us. - -_Budh-gaye_, then of the Irish, or _Budha-gaya_ of the Hindoos, means -_Phallus[363] telluris_, _i.e._ the _generativeness of the earth_, or _the -earth's prolific principle_. This I have before demonstrated to have been -the object of adoration to the ancients; and have furthermore shown, that -one of the individuals, in whom this idea was personified, had suffered -crucifixion as a mediator for sin. - -A new disclosure suggests itself from this. _Budh_ and _Phallus_ being -synonymous, if you add _Gaye_ to each, then _Budh-gaye_ and _Gaye-phallus_ -will be identical. But as the character who embodied the _abstract virtue_ -of the former had been crucified, his name came to stand, not only for -that _abstract virtue_, but also for a cross,[364] or a _crucified man_; -and of course, _Gaye-phallus_, its equivalent, represented the same ideas. - -Now, as well the _primary_ as _secondary_ meaning of those two words was -liable to misconstruction; and they were sure to obtain such from -ignorance and from depravity. The _pure_ and the _sublime emotions_, which -the religiousness of the _prolific principle_ had comprehended, were -perverted by malice into _sensuality_ and _debauchery_; while the idea of -a _man crucified_, however innocent of charge, could not be separated, by -grovelling and servile dispositions, from the ordinary accompaniments of -_contempt_ and of _crime_. - -Hence _Budh-gaye_ and _Gaye-phallus_, after a succession of ages, when -their _proper_ acceptation was forgotten, were remembered only in their -_perverted_ sense. And accordingly we observe, that, when a Roman Emperor -who had been brought up a priest in the East, assumed, on his being -appointed to the Roman sceptre, the title of _Helio-ga-balus_, and thereby -invested himself in all the attributes of _Gaye-phallus_, or _Budh-gaye_, -that is, in other words, as the _Vicegerent of the Sun_, the -licentiousness of his life, and the profligacy of his demeanour, having -rendered him obnoxious to his subjects, they amputated the _prefix_ of his -_Solar_ majesty, and branded him with the _scorn_ of _Ga-balus_. - -The _disdain_ intended in this latter abbreviation is now, therefore, -already solved. _Gaye-phallus_, for sound sake, having been made -_Ga-phallus_, this latter was still further--by reason of the -commutability of the letters _ph_ and _b_--reduced into _Ga-balus_. - -When the temple of Serapis, at Alexandria, was destroyed, we are told by -Sozomen, that the monogram of Christ was discovered beneath the -foundation. And, though neither party knew how to account for the sign, -yet was it pleaded alike by the Gentiles as by the Christians, in support -of the heavenliness of their respective religions. - -The early Roman _fathers_, very pious but very illiterate men, unable to -close their eyes against the proofs of the priority of the cross to the -era of the advent, did not scruple to assign it to the malicious -foreknowledge of the prince of the lower world.[365] - -But if this gentleman had been the author of the early cross, is it likely -that God would have embraced it as the signal of His protection when -dealing destruction to the objects of His divine vengeance? - -"And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the -midst of Jerusalem, and put a _mark_ upon the foreheads of the men that -sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst -thereof: - -"And to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye after him through the -city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. - -"Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women; -but _come not near any man upon whom is the mark_; and begin at My -sanctuary."[366] - -Now this "mark," in the ancient Hebrew original, was the _cross_ X. St. -Jerome, the most learned by far of those "_fathers_," has admitted the -circumstance. And if this had been the device of the enemy of man, would -the Author of all goodness so sanction _his_ imposture, as to adopt it as -the index of His saving love? - -"Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?"[367] - -But this was not the only _invention_ which they attributed to the devil. -Tertullian gravely assures us that he was the author of _buskins_ also! -And why, good reader, would you suppose?--in sooth, for no other reason -than because that our Saviour said, in His sermon upon the mountain, -"Which of you, by taking thought, can _add one cubit unto his -stature_?"[368] - -In him, also, did they find an adequate excuse for those _apertures_, -which I shall by and by notice, as excavated in rocks and mounds of clay, -calling them, with some compliment it must be admitted to his _gallantry_, -by the monopolising appellation of the Devil's _Yonies_.[369] - -But of all the _puerilities_ which sully their zeal, there is no one half -so calculated to injure _vital religion_, as the _low quibbles_ and -_dishonest quotations_ which Justin Martyr had recourse to, as _apologies_ -for the _cross_! - -Why, Sir, the greatest persecutor with which the Christians had ever been -cursed, namely, the Emperor Decius, had imprinted the _cross_ upon some of -his coins! - -[Illustration] - -Here, again, it is upon a medal found in the ruins of Citium, and proved -by Dr. Clarke in his _Travels_ to have been Phoenician! It exhibits the -_lamb_, the _cross_, and the rosary![370] - -When John the Baptist first saw Jesus beyond the Jordan, in Bethabara, he -exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the -world."[371] - -This he did not apply as a _novel_ designation; but as the familiar -epithet, and the recognised denomination of the Son of God, whose -prescribed office it was, in _all the changes of past worlds_, as it was -now in this present, to redress the broken-hearted by taking away sin. - -He adds: "This is He of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is -preferred before me; _for He was before me_,"[372] not only in eternity, -but on this earth. - -"And I knew Him not; but that _He should be made manifest to -Israel_,"[373] as He was before to other nations,--an event which was but -the fulfilment of a prophecy ushered in many years before in these -remarkable words-- - -"Behold, the former things are come to pass":[374] not that the -_predictions_ formerly delivered had taken place, but the _things_, the -_events_, the _occurrences_, which had been _enacted_ before, were now -_re_-enacted! that a _renovation_ of the world was at hand, which the -mouthpiece of the Lord commences by saying--"New things do I declare; -before they spring forth I tell you of them." - -On turning the leaf you will see another of those pillars which grace a -land of heroes, "where stones were raised on high to speak to future -times, with their grey heads of moss";[375] and whose story, though "lost -in the mist of years," may yet be deciphered from off themselves. - -[Illustration] - -This costly relic of religion, erected solely in honour of the cross, is -to be seen at Forres, in Scotland, and is thus described by Cordiner:-- - -"On the first division, under the Gothic ornaments at the top, are nine -horses with their riders, marching in order; in the next division is a -line of warriors on foot, brandishing their weapons, and appear to be -shouting for the battle. The import of the attitudes in the third division -very dubious, their expression indefinite. - -"The figures which form a square in the middle of the column are pretty -complex, but distinct; four serjeants, with their halberts, guard a -canopy, under which are placed several human heads, which have belonged to -the dead bodies piled up at the left of the division: one appears in the -character of executioner, severing the head from another body; behind him -are three trumpeters sounding their trumpets; and before him two pair of -combatants fighting with sword and target. - -"A troop of horse next appears, put to flight by infantry, whose first -line have bows and arrows; the three following, swords and targets. In the -lowermost division now visible, the horses seem to be seized by the -victorious party, their riders beheaded, and the head of their chief hung -in chains, or placed in a frame: the others being thrown together beside -the dead bodies, under an arched cover." - -With this compare the description given by Captain Head, of the devices -sculptured upon one of the Egyptian antiquities. - -"It would," says he, "far exceed the limits of this work, to attempt a -description of the ornaments of sculpture in this temple. The most -interesting are on the north wall, where there are battle-scenes, with -innumerable figures of military combatants, using their arms, consisting -of bows and arrows, spears and bucklers--of prostrate enemies, of -war-chariots and horses. The fiery action and elegant shape of the steeds -are remarkable. It would require a first-rate living genius to rival the -variety of position, the power of effect, and fidelity of execution, in -which men and horses are exhibited in the dismay of the flight, the agony -of the death-struggle, and the exultation of the triumph." - -Let us take a view, now, of the other side of this obelisk. "The greatest -part of it," says Cordiner, "is occupied by a _sumptuous_ cross, and -covered over with an uniform figure, elaborately raised, and interwoven -with great mathematical exactness; of this, on account of its singularity, -there is given a representation at the foot of the column. Under the cross -are two august personages with some attendants, much obliterated, but -evidently in an attitude of reconciliation; and if the monument was -erected in memory of the peace concluded between _Malcolm_ and _Canute_, -upon the final retreat of the _Danes_, these larger figures may represent -the reconciled monarchs. - -"On the edge, below the fretwork, are some rows of figures, joined -hand-in-hand, which may also imply the new degree of confidence and -security which took place, after the feuds were composed, which are -characterised on the front of the pillar. But to whatever particular -transaction it may allude, it can hardly be imagined, _that in so early an -age of the arts in Scotland as it must have been raised, so elaborate a -performance would have been undertaken but in consequence of an event of -the most general importance_: it is, therefore, surprising, that no -distincter traditions of it arrived at the era when letters were known." - -[Illustration] - -As to "the era when letters were known," I shall bestow upon that a -sentence or two by and by. For the present I confine myself to the -"surprise that no distincter traditions" of this _monolith_ temple[376] -has been handed down to us. - -It was erected by the _Tuath-de-danaans_ on their expulsion from Ireland. -The inscriptions upon it are the irresistible evidence of their emblematic -religion. After an interval of some centuries, the Picts poured in upon -their quietude; and the barbarous habits of those marauders, being averse -as much to the _ritual_ as to the _avocations_ of the Tuath-de-danaans, -they effaced every vestige of the dominion of that people, and made them -fly for shelter to the Highlands. - -In the days of _Malcolm_, therefore, and of _Canute_, the history of this -pyramid was as difficult of solution as it was in those of _Pennant_ and -of _Cordiner_. And there is no question but that the two _monarchs_ -looked, with as much wonder, upon the hieroglyphics along its sides, as -did the two _antiquarians_, who would fain associate them with them. - -It is to me marvellous, how persons, in the possession of common reason -could, _contrary to all the evidence of observation and history_, look -upon the Danish invasion as the epoch of all enlightenment! and the Danes, -themselves, as the heaven-sent importers of its blessings! Yet, whatever -may have been the case with _some hopeful_ scions of this order, Mr. -Cordiner, at all events, appears to have been honest, and if he missed the -direction of historical verity, it was less his fault than his misfortune. - -Who can say so much for Ledwich? - -The following extract will justify the tribute here paid to the -_sincerity_ of Mr. Cordiner's investigations "These monuments," says he, -"are all said to have been erected in memory of defeats of the Danes, but -there _does not appear any reference that the hieroglyphics on them can -have to such events_. That they have been raised on interesting occasions -there can be little doubt, perhaps in memory of the most renowned -chieftains and their exploits who first embraced Christianity." - -They who first "embraced Christianity" were no "chieftains"; or such as -were, had no "exploits" to record. But it was not so with the professors -of the _primeval_ "_cross_," in the revelation of Budhism, the -transmigrations of which were but typically pourtrayed on this enduring -column. And in confirmation hereof, Mr. Gordon affirms that he has -"distinguished upon it several figures of a _monstrous form_, resembling -_four-footed beasts_ with human heads!" - -Carnac, in Upper Egypt, retains a _monolith_ of the same symbolic -character. It is eighty feet high, composed of a single block of black -granite, presenting a beautifully polished surface on each of its four -sides. The hieroglyphics upon it represent the lifetime of _Thot_, or -_Budda_, until you at last see him enthroned in heaven, at the top. - -[Illustration] - -"He seems, indeed," says Hamilton, "to have been considered either by -himself, his subjects, or his successors, as a peculiar favourite of -heaven. He is frequently on his knees, receiving from Isis and Osiris, -together with their blessing, the insignia of royalty, and even of -divinity. The hawk is always flying about him. Two priests are performing -upon him the mysterious ceremony of pouring the _cruces ansatas_, or -_crosses with rings_, over his head; at which time he wears a common dress -and close cap. Hermes and Osiris are pointing out to him a particular line -in a graduated scale, allusive it may be to the periodical inundation of -the Nile, or the administration of strict justice: or (combined with the -preceding scene) to the ceremony of 'initiation into the religious -mysteries.'"[377] - -The number of feet in the pillar corresponds too, if I mistake not, with -that of the years of his recorded pilgrimage. - -Captain Head describes, in his splendid work, the avenue which leads to -the temple to which this belongs, in the following terms:--"Fragments of -sphinxes line the sides of the road at intervals of ten or twelve feet, -and usher the visitor to the magnificent granite propylon, or gateway, -whose grandeur for a time monopolises the attention, and makes him who -gazes on it at a loss to decide whether he shall remain adoring its fine -proportions, or advance and examine the carvings which embellish its -front. Is this 'the land made waste by the hand of strangers, who destroy -the walls, and cause the images to cease?' The fragments of desolation -that lie scattered around are identified with the predictions of the -inspired historians, by whom we are enabled to estimate the 'palmy state' -of this once mighty kingdom, whose gigantic monuments fully verify all -that has been said or sung of its pristine splendour." - -After what has been said above, then, along with what may be added by and -by, may I not safely proclaim that M'Pherson's prediction, that "the -history of Caledonia, before the Roman eagles were displayed beyond the -friths, must ever remain in impenetrable darkness,"[378] has now been -falsified? - - "What are _ages_ and the lapse of time, - Matched against _truths_ as lasting as sublime? - Can length of years on God Himself exact? - Or make that _fiction_ which was once a _fact_? - No--marble and recording brass decay, - And like the graver's _memory_ pass away: - The works of man inherit, as is just, - Their author's frailty, and return to dust; - _But truth divine for ever stands secure, - Its head is guarded, as its base is sure; - Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years, - The pillar of the eternal plan appears, - The raving storm and dashing wave defies, - Built by that Architect who built the skies_."[379] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - - -A very industrious contributor to the _Asiatic Researches_ has afforded -scope for some jests at his expense, because of the attempt which he has -made to identify the British islands with certain Western localities -commemorated in the writings of the Hindoos. Had he but known, however, -the coincidence of _our monuments_ with those _mysteries_ which the -Puranas record, how they mutually support and dovetail into each other, he -could not only have laughed to scorn the traducers of his services, but -fixed his fame upon a pinnacle of literary pride which no _undergrowl_ of -envy could have subverted. - -But as it is, unacquainted with the history of the places which he left -behind him, and wading, therefore, through an ocean in which he had no -compass for his guide, he has, in his puerile endeavours to wrest the text -of the Puranas to external prejudices, effected more himself towards the -disparagement of his reputation, than what the combined influence of -interest and of scepticism could otherwise accomplish. - -"There are," say the Puranas, "many manifestations and forms of Bhagavan, -O Muni, but the form which resides in the _White Island_ is the primitive -one. Vishnu," says the author, "recalling all his emanations into the -_White Island_, went into the womb, in the house of Vasu-devi; and on -this grand occasion he recalled all his emanations. Bama and Nrisinha are -complete forms, O Muni; but Crishna, the most powerful king of the _White -Island_, is the most perfect and complete of all Vishnu's forms. For this -purpose Vishnu, from Potola, rejoins the body of Radhiceswara, the lord of -Radha, he who dwells in the _White Island_ with the famous _snake_, a -portion of his essence. The gods sent there portions of their own essences -to be consolidated into the person of Crishna, who was going to be -incarnated at Gocula."[380] - -The gist of the foregoing, Mr. Wilford would neutralise by this following -extract, which he gives as the substance of another notice in the same -documents, and which he considers himself as incredible:-- - -"_Bali_, an antediluvian, and in the fifth generation from the creation, -is introduced, requesting the god of gods, or Vishnu, to allow him to die -by his hand, that he might go into his paradise in the _White Island_. -Vishnu told him it was a favour not easily obtained; that he would however -grant his request. But, says Vishnu, you cannot come into my paradise now; -but you must wait till I become incarnate in the shape of a _boar_, in -order to make the world undergo a total renovation, to establish and -secure it upon a most firm and permanent footing: and you must wait a -whole yuga till this takes place, and then you will accompany me into my -paradise." - -"Ganesa, who is identified with Vishnu, and has also an inferior paradise -in the _White Island_, and another in the Euxine, or Jeshu sea, thus says -to a king of Casi, or Benares, an antediluvian, and who, like Bali, wished -much to be admitted into his elysium, "you cannot now enter my paradise in -the _White Island_; you must wait 5000 years; but in the mean time you may -reside in my other paradise, in the Euxine Sea." - -Now, all these monstrosities, as they presented themselves to Mr. Wilford, -gauging them with the comparisons of dry rule and line on the application -of the true touchstone, vanish into ether. - -The most _mysterious_ and _religiously-occult_ name given to _Ireland_ in -the days of its pristine glory was _Muc-Inis_. - -This word has three interpretations--firstly, the _Boar Island_; secondly, -the _White Island_; and, thirdly, the _Sacred_, or rather the _Divine_, -and _Consecrated Island of God_.[381] - -Is it necessary that I should say one syllable more to authenticate the -Puranas, and identify this _hallowed_ spot with the _paradise_ of their -encomiums? No: I shall not affront your understanding by so supposing. The -explanation of this _single term_ has, more effectually than could a -_ship-load of folios_, set to flight the hobgoblins of ignorance and of -scepticism, and reared the castle of truth on the ruins of prostrated -error. - -I would by no means, however, be understood as intending an ungenerous -trophy over Mr. Wilford's mistakes. I respect the zeal with which he -embarked in his undertaking; and, to speak over-board, the lapses which he -has committed were to _him_ ethically unavoidable. - -The sting, therefore, of the above, if any it convey, must be directed -exclusively to the _romancers_ of my own country: a specimen of whom I -shall give you in the Rev. Dr. Keating, who, venturing to unveil the -mystery of the name _Muc-Inis_, and account for its origin, tells us, with -a serious face, that "when the Danaans found the Milesians attempted to -land, by their magical enchantments they threw a cloud on the island, by -which it appeared no bigger than a _hog's_ back!!!" - -But Ireland, thank God, is rescued from the drivelling of such dotards. It -will hold its place now amongst the nations of the earth; and the result -is inevitable, however tardy your compliance, but that the truth will be -_revived_ from one pole of the universe to the other, that, in the -primeval world, all sanctity and all happiness had here fixed their abode, -that heaven was here personified, and that the irradiating focus of all -moral enlightenment was here alone to be found.[382] - -Look, Sir, what do you see before you? The solution of that all-healing -_arrow_ which Abaris was said to have brought with him from the island of -the Hyperboreans, on his visit of religion to Greece! - -Should you ever chance to travel as far as the county of Galway, inquire -for the deserted village of Knockmoy. Though now dreary, inconsiderable, -and forgotten, it was once the theatre of soul-stirring impressions! - -[Illustration] - -There in the remnant of an ancient Tuath-de-danaan Temple, vaulted with -stone, and transformed, in after ages, to a Christian Abbey, you will -find, after a succession of, at least, three thousand revolving years, -this pathetic representation of the _youth Apollo slaying with his arrow -the serpent Python_[383]--in other words, _overthrowing, by -self-endurance, the dominion of sin! and, finally, by immolation upon a -tree_, to which you perceive him pinioned, _establishing ascendency over -the serpent and his wiles_, and pointing out the road to eternity beyond -the grave! - -[Illustration] - -In an upper range, on the same compartment, you can trace this other line, -consisting of three kings with their eastern _crowns_, their eastern -_costume_, and the _dove_ of amity entwining all of them as they -superintend the spectacle, while the solemnity of the whole is enhanced by -the composure with which a Brehon sits by, in his turban of state, after -reading from the _Bana_, or the Budhist gospel, the sentence of -condemnation and of mysterious expiation, in one and the same breath. - -"He was oppressed and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth: He is -brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before His shearers is -dumb, so He openeth not His mouth."[384] - -But this is not the only incident which this treasure of antiquity -pourtrays. Beside the three monarchs are skeleton delineations of the -_three_ other divinities, who, before this _fourth_, assumed the form of -humanity, and went through the same ordeal of atoning passion to reclaim -our species, through ages back in the distance![385] - -It will readily be believed, that descriptions so mysterious, relating to -events so momentous, must have attracted the observation of subsequent -years. Generation after generation gazed upon them with wonder! Generation -after generation spoke their ignorance in wonder! Mr. Ledwich, of course, -must have a snap at them: and it would make a _cat_ laugh, or Plutarch's -_boar_ dance a hornpipe, to hear the contortions of history, the -violations of nature, the perversions of fact, of date, and of -philosophy, which this _blot_ upon letters has strung together into a -melange, as if an exposition of the above hieroglyphics! - -And yet, this is he who boasts of his having been "_not sparing of -ridicule_" in those moments which he tells us, "he could steal from -_clerical_ and domestic avocations,"--to tell lies of his country! - -The speculation took, however, and he was fostered in his malice--riches -and honours were showered upon him! - -Well, he died--a monitory pause accompanies the sound--but the party must -have a successor! - -They "have found him" amongst themselves!--the author of the _Fine Arts in -Ireland_! - -This _fine_ gentleman has really exhibited some degree of _tact_, which -shows him not unworthy of his appointment. He begins by denouncing, hoof -and horn, every position of his predecessor! Calls him, as a salvo, "a -learned man!" but insists upon his being a "most unskilful antiquary"; and -though "dogmatic," "altogether a visionary." - -These, you would suppose, were great liberties to take with the -foster-child of patronage. They were so, in _appearance_, not _in -reality_, for - - "Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur"-- - -he is a _modern_,[386] and though of a different _school_, it suits their -purpose as well. - -But let us see how he would decipher "the writing upon the wall." - -"If we might venture a _conjecture_," he says, "it would be that the -living figures represent the most distinguished native princes, who warred -with the adventurers in defence of their country; and that those of the -deceased kings were the patriot monarchs of earlier times!" - -Pray, _what_ adventurers? _what_?--But the farce is too absurd to bestow -discussion upon it. - -Come, however, to the _crucifixion scene_, what would "P----" make of -this? - -"This _appears_," he says, "to represent the death of the young son of -Dermod MacMurrough, who was delivered up to Roderick O'Connor, as a -hostage for his father's fidelity, and who, according to Cambrensis, and, -we _believe_, to our own annalists, was abandoned by that inhuman and -ambitious parent to his fate!" - -After the flourish of trumpets, with which Mr. P---- had proclaimed -_independence_ of Dr. Ledwich, one would have expected a _new_ ascription, -or, at least, a _different_ one, from him. This, however, is but a -_servile transcript from his predecessor's work_, and that, too, without -having the candour to quote him as his authority! - - "But let us view those things with closer eyes." - -Had MacMurrough's son been put to death by O'Connor, in that awful manner -above delineated, with such external parade, and such mysterious pomp, -think you that Cambrensis, who never omitted _even the most trivial -feature_ of a narrative, would have been blind to a particular, which must -have interested all his readers? Yet, as to the reality of this--Mr. -P----'s insinuation notwithstanding--Cambrensis is silent and mute as the -grave! - -A fact which was thought worthy to be commemorated in _fresco_ must have -been equally eligible as a phenomenon in _writing_. The O'Connors, -therefore, whom Mr. P---- would install as the authors of this device, -must have retained some _documentary_ register thereof: and, though it is -well known, that there is not a family in the kingdom, who have preserved -the records of their house with such industry or minuteness as _they_ -have, yet is there not so much as the _semblance_ of an allusion to be -traced amongst them, to this _mysterious representation_! - -Nay, if O'Connor had put to death MacMurrough's son, with such -circumstances of torture and savage insensibility, is it probable that he -would himself be the person to immortalise his disgrace, by depicting it -upon such a chronicle? And if the virtue of the nation were not previously -outraged by the _hellishness_ of the crime itself, would it not now blaze -forth in holy indignation at the infatuated _vanity_ of the monster, who, -not satisfied with the murder of his innocent _victim_, must deluge his -_country_ also in gore, by associating it, to forthcoming ages, with this -outline of his barbarity? - -Yes, sir, if they were _silent_ as to the _crime_, they would be -_eloquent_ as to the _painting_! And it is not only that they would -_demolish_ the _structure_ within which it was _inscribed_, but every -_quill_ within the realm would become a _pen_, every _liquid_ be converted -into _ink_, and every _hand_ be made that of a _writer_ to rescue the -_island's_ fame from identity with the traitor's _cause_; and confine to -his own and his loathed head the withering execrations of posterity! - -Instead of which, however, not a syllable is uttered, on paper or on -parchment, allusive to the tragedy! Not a _presage_ is imparted by -mournful _banshee_! nor _elegy_ sung by familiar _mna-caointha_! No -_historian_ records the heart-rending _tale_! nor does _gipsy_ retail it -in itinerant _ditty_! But the _mystery_ of sorrow, and the _sanctity_ of -_truth_, that _hallowed the scene which this temple commemorates_, has, -still further, exerted its protecting instrumentality, and besides the -_moving evidences imprinted_ upon its _interior_, has added those also of -_exclusion from without_, and prevented the iniquity of _profane_ -appropriation, by the occurrence of any equivocal record! - -The devices upon places of worship are always of a religious kind. Would -the perpetration of a _faithless infanticide_ be considered an act of -religion? And, if not, why emblazon it within the tabernacle of prayer, -with all the circumstances of grace and of grandeur around it?--solemnised -by kings! superintended by gods! and executed by judges! - -Oh! sir, a dire plague of astringent benightment has lain brooding over -history! and spread, like the _upas_, its baleful emaciation over -everything of culture that fell within its shadow! But _truth_ is -_immortal_: and, however _momentarily suppressed_, will _ultimately_ -recover. - -"It is a pleasure," says Bacon, "to stand on the shore, and to see ships -tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to -see a battle, and the adventurers thereof below; _but no pleasure is -comparable to the standing on the vantage-ground of truth_ (a hill not to -be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), _and to see -the errors, and wanderings and mists and tempests, in the vale below; so -always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride_. -Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in charity, -rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of truth." - -The very dresses, which adorn these venerable delineations, are enough to -redeem them from the turpitude which Mr. P---- would impute to them. -O'Connor and MacMurrough were, neither of them, on this earth, for at -least _two thousand years after_ these were in vogue! neither are they by -any means the habits which P---- would persuade us that "laws were -subsequently enacted to abolish as barbarous!" - -Behold! I show you a mystery![387] - -[Illustration] - -What do you see here?[388] What do you make of this Mr. P----. Or do you -think that O'Connor went over into Nubia, and got the impress of his -enormity canonised there also, in the form of a cross, within the temples -and sanctuaries of the adoring Egyptians? - -I copy this image from a work of great value, lately published in Paris by -Monsieur Rifaud; which he designates by the title of _Voyage en Egypte et -en Nubie, et lieux circonvoisins_. The plate under notice is but part of a -larger one, which he describes as "Façade du petit temple de Kalabche (en -Nubie) et ses détails intérieurs," and of which I shall, by and by, treat -you to two more compartments, as the exact correspondents of the six -crowned figures at Knockmoy. - -Meanwhile, I beg leave to introduce to you on the next page, some of the -sculptures on the Tuath-de-danaan _cross_, at old Kilcullen, in the county -of Kildare, Ireland. Here you distinguish nine _Budhist_ priests in the -_Eastern_ uniform, with _bonnet_, _tunic_, and _trouser_--nay, with their -very _beards_ dressed after the Egyptian fashion. - -Other figures I shall leave to your own research to unfold. But let me -particularly _fasten_ upon your faculty of comparing, the _head-gear_ of -the standing figure, in the _second_ division, and that of the crucifixion -upon the Nubian temple. Are they not _critically_, _accurately_, and -_identically_ the same? - -Look next at the brute _animals_ that take part in this group! Mind the -_grotesqueness_ of their positions, and the _combination_ of their -character with that of _man_! then lay your hand upon your breast, and, -with the light now streaming in upon you, can you conscientiously believe -that the _cross_ which exhibits itself at the other side, was ever the -work of Christianity?[389] - -[Illustration] - -But as you cannot imagine that O'Connor had gone over to Nubia, in the -twelfth century of the Christian era, to get his murdered hostage -_deified_ in a pagan temple, built, perhaps, at the very lowest, three -thousand years before his time, so neither can you impose upon us, that -the Budhists stole a march upon our Christian _supineness_, and, while our -different sects were fighting for _who should have most_, and proclaiming -"I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ,"[390] -imprinted their complexity upon our boasted simplicity, and then suddenly -again vanished without having been once seen, felt, heard, discovered, or -understood!!! - -What entanglements will not people plunge themselves into when supporting -a bad cause! And how easy is the road which rectitude follows! - -The Hindoo Puranas corroborate, to an iota, this our Knockmoy -crucifixion.[391] _Sulivahana_ is the name which they give to the deity -there represented. The meaning of the word is _tree-born_, or, who -suffered death upon a tree. He was otherwise called _Dhanandhara_, that -is, the _sacred almoner_. And his fame, say the Puranas, reached even to -the _Sacred Island_, in the sea of _milk_, that is, of _Doghda_, which -signifies milk, and which was the title of the tutelar goddess of -Ireland.[392] - -Avaunt, then, evermore, to the humbug of _back-reckoning_, and the charge -of _imposture_ upon the Brahmins! I flatter myself, I have laid an -_extinguisher_, for ever, upon that pretext. - -As I have before presumed to offer a suggestion to the translators of -oriental _manuscripts_, I shall take the additional liberty of intimating, -which I do with profound submission and respect, to the decipherers of all -_hieroglyphics_, whether in Ireland or in the East, that those -_arrow-headed_ characters, to be met with at Persepolis, and resembling in -their formation our Irish Oghams, _bear reference, both of them, to this -mysterious crucifixion_! And that if Mr. Champollion, and other gentlemen -interested in the prosecution of those useful points, will attend to this -my advice, they will find it a more _certain key to the attainment of -their desired object, than all the labour and outlay of centuries -heretofore_! - - "Knowing that Nature never did betray - The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege, - Through all the years of this our life, to lead - From joy to joy: for _she can so inform - The heart that is within us, so impress - With quietness and beauty, and so feed - With lofty thoughts_, that neither evil tongues, - Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, - Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all - The dreary intercourse of daily life, - Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb - Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold - Is full of blessings."--WORDSWORTH. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - - -The regal figures, which I promised, as belonging to the _Nubian_ temple, -and corresponding to the _Knockmoy_ frescoes, are the following:-- - -[Illustration] - -You will, furthermore, observe how that they all wear the _philibeg_, like -our crucified effigy at p. 296, and our war-god, Phearagh, at p. 138. -Each of them, also, is adorned with the _cross_, as the passport of their -redemption: while the three _divinities_, delineated in the Irish scenes, -have these as their counterparts in the temple of Nubia. - -[Illustration] - -Abbe Pluché states, that "the figures of those gods brought from Egypt -into Phoenicia, wore on their heads leaves and branches, wings and globes, -which," he adds, "appeared ridiculous to those who did not comprehend the -signification of these symbols, as happened to Cambyses, King of Persia, -but these represented Isis, Osiris, and Horus." - -"In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for November, 1742, is an account," says -Vallancey, "of two silver images, found under the _ruins of an old tower_, -which had raised various conjectures and speculations amongst the -antiquaries; they were about three inches in height, representing men in -armour, with _very high helmets on their heads, ruffs round their necks_, -and standing on a pedestal of silver, holding a small golden spear in -their hands. The account is taken from the Dublin papers. The writer -refers to Merrick's translation of Tryphiodorus, an Egyptian, that -composed a Greek poem on the destruction of Troy, a sequel to Homer's -_Iliad_, to show that it was customary with the ancients, at the -foundation of a fort or city, to consecrate such images to some titular -guardians, and deposit them in a secret part of the building; where he -also inserts a judicious exposition of a difficult text of Scripture on -that subject." - -The above extract was indited long before the publication of those Nubian -antiquities; and, consequently, when neither the contributor to the -magazine, nor the quoter from its columns, had any knowledge of their -existence. Its production, therefore, must be valuable here, as showing -not only the connection of the _idols_ with the _Round Tower ceremonial_, -but also that the helmets of the _Nubian_ gods had been adopted in the -effigies of some of those amongst us. - -I terminate my proofs of the primeval _crucifixion_, by the _united_ -testimonies of the _Budhists_ and the _Free-Masons_. - -"Though the punishment of the cross," says the _Asiatic Researches_, "be -unknown to the Hindus, yet the followers of Buddha have some knowledge of -it, when they represent Deva _Thot_ (that is, the god _Thot_) crucified -upon an instrument resembling a cross, according to the accounts of some -travellers to Siam." - -"Christianity," says Oliver, "or the system of salvation through the -atonement of a crucified Mediator, was the main pillar of Freemasonry ever -since the fall." - -Let me point your notice now to some _consequences_ of that mysterious -fact. I begin by asking-- - -How happened it, that, of all places in the world, Ireland was that which -gave the readiest countenance, and the most cheering support, to the -Gospel of Christ, on its first promulgation? - -This question you will consider of no trivial tendency. It is, in itself, -worth a thousand other arguments. To solve it, I must premise that, -besides the many ancient appellatives, already given you, for this -country, there was one, which characterised it, as anticipating that -event? - -_Crioch-na-Fuineadhach_[393] was this name. Its meaning is, _the asylum of -the expectants_: or, _the retreat of those looking forward_. - -To what, you ask?--To the consummation, I reply, of that prophecy, which -was imparted to Israel through another source, saying, "The sceptre shall -not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until -_Shiloh_ come."[394] - -Numerous intimations have, from time to time, been conveyed to man as -harbingers of an event which was to crown their species with universal -blessings. In the Puranas, it was prophesied, that "after three thousand -and one hundred years of the Caliyuga are elapsed, will appear King -_Saca_, to remove wretchedness from the world."[395] - -I have given an abstract of the history of this remarkable personage at -pp. 293 and 294, and shortly after, at p. 296, I presented you with the -effigy of his crucifixion. As to the era of his appearance, as deducible -from the Yugas, I shall confine myself to the opinion advanced by Mr. -Davis, in the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 243, where he states: "It -may further with confidence be inferred, that _Mons. Anquetil du Perron's -conclusion, with respect to the late introduction of Yugas_, which are the -component parts of the Calpa, into the Hindu astronomy, _is unfounded; and -that the invention of those periods, and the application of them to -computations by the Hindus, must be referred to an antiquity which has not -yet been ascertained_." - -In another age was promised another Redeemer; and of him I copy what Mr. -Wilford transmits, as follows, viz.:-- - -"A thousand years before that event, the goddess Cali had foretold him -that he would reign, or rather his _posterity_, according to several -learned commentators in the Dokhin, as mentioned by Major Mackenzie, till -a _divine child_, born of a virgin, should put an end both to his life and -kingdom, or to his dynasty, nearly in the words of Jacob, in Genesis, -chap. xlix. ver. 10. The Hindu traditions concerning this wonderful child -are collected in a treatise called the _Vicrama Chastra; or, History of -Vicrama Ditya_. This I have not been able to procure, though many learned -pundits have repeated to me by heart whole pages from them. Yet I was -unwilling to make use of their traditions till I found them in the large -extracts made by the ingenious and indefatigable Major C. Mackenzie of the -Madras establishment, and by him communicated to the Asiatic Society." - -In truth, it was to the _certainty_ of this _manifestation_ that the first -couplet of an Arabic elegy, preserved by Mons. d'Herbelot in his account -of Ibnuzaidun, a celebrated Andalusian poet, refers. In Roman letters, the -lines run thus-- - - "Jekad heïn tenagikom dharmairna - Jacdha alaïna alassa laula tassina." - -That is, "The time will soon come when you will deliver us from all our -cares; the remedy is assured, provided we have a little patience." - -The learned President of the Society of Bengal, unaware of the _drift_ of -this beautiful stanza, and without ever having so much as _seen_ the -original whence it was quoted, offers to alter its import to the -following, viz.: "When our bosoms impart their secrets to you, anguish -would almost fix our doom, if we were not mutually to console ourselves!" -And the only reason he assigns for this novel interpretation is, that -_two_ individuals, _neither of whom, he himself admits, knew anything -about its meaning_, happened, or rather pretended, to put it for him -_differently_ into Arabic words! - -On the pillar at Buddal, this emanation of the godhead is thus -characterised: "He did not exult over the ignorant and ill-favoured: but -spent his riches among the needy: in short, he was the wonder of all good -men."[396] Isaiah's prophecy of the _future_ Messiah would appear a -_verbatim_, though more _poetical_ transcript of this inscription, viz.: -"He shall not cry, nor lift up; nor cause His voice to be heard in the -street; a bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He -not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth."[397] - -At p. 110 of this volume, I have promised to explain the origin of the -word _Eleusinian_, as applied to the celebration of certain religious -rites. I have very little doubt but that, when reading the declaration, -the reader looked upon its offer as, to say the least, -gratuitous--satisfied that the term could have no possible other meaning, -than as an adjective formed from the substantive _Eleusis_! - -Well, the rashness of that judgment I very freely forgive; and repay it -now by the verification of my contract. - -_Eleusis_, the _place_, and _Eleusinian_, as descriptive of the -_mysteries_ therein solemnised, were both denominated in honour of that -_Advent_, which all nations awaited; and the fulfilment of which, in the -person of one of the _Budhas_, made him to be recognised on one occasion -as the "source of the _faith_ of the three epochs of the world."[398] - -I have already redeemed the character of those ceremonies from the -sinister imputations which attached to their _secrecy_. An apprehension -that their publication would subvert the popular belief, or a supposed -indelicacy in their tenour, were the _mildest_ constructions which the -_uninitiated_ would afford them. Though secure in the sufficiency of my -former proofs, I cannot avoid taking support from an article in a very -talented publication of our day, in which the writer, _wholly -uninstructed, while he evidently is, as to the nature_ of those -celebrations, yet confirms the fact of their worth and their purity. - -"From the whole concurrent testimony of ancient history," says he, "we -must believe that the Eleusinian mysteries were used for good purposes, -for there is not an instance on record that the honour of an initiation -was ever obtained by a very bad man. The hierophants--the higher priests -of the order--were always exemplary in their morals, and became sanctified -in the eyes of the people. The high-priesthood of this order in Greece was -continued in one family, the Eumolpidæ, for ages. In this they resembled -both the Egyptians and the Jews. - -"The Eleusinian mysteries in Rome took another form, and were called the -rites of Bona Dea; but she was the same Ceres that was worshipped in -Greece. All the distinguished Roman authors speak of these rites and in -terms of profound respect. Horace denounces the wretch who should attempt -to reveal the secrets of these rites; Virgil mentions these mysteries with -great respect; and Cicero alludes to them with a greater reverence than -either of the poets we have named. Both the Greeks and Romans punished any -insult offered to these mysteries with the most persevering -vindictiveness. Alcibiades was charged with insulting these religious -rites; and although the proof of his offence was quite doubtful, yet he -suffered for it for years in exile and misery; and it must be allowed that -he was the most popular man of his age."[399] - -Analogous to these were the solemnities at Carthage, designated by the -name of _Phiditia_; and the import of which, as well in term as in -substance, has been no less a riddle to antiquarians, than was the -sanctified commemoration which it disguises. During the interval of their -celebration, the youths received lessons from their elders of the state, -as to the regulation of their conduct in after life; and the lustre of -truth, and the comeliness of virtue, as they shone forth in _Budha_ -(_which solves the mystery of the name_), were the invariable _ethics_ -they propounded. - -Public feasts were the scene for the delivery of those discourses. They -found their way also to Rome, but the _spirituality of Redemption_ not -going hand-in-hand with its _doctrine_, or not duly comprehended, if -accompanying, the _joyousness_ of _hope_, was there sunk into the -_licentiousness_ of _enjoyment_, and the innocence of mirth and of moral -hilarity was superseded by the uproar of riot and of vice! _Such were the -Saturnalia._ - -How different was their celebration in our "Sacred Ireland!" The very -letters of the epithet, by which our forefathers had solemnised them, show -the spirituality of purpose which actuated their zeal. _Nullog_ was that -epithet--it is compounded of _nua_, _new_; and _log_ (for bullog), a -_belly_, meaning _regeneration_, or the putting aside of the old leaven of -sin, and the assumption of the new investiture of righteousness, by -justification. - -As everything, however, in their religious procedure was transacted by -symbols, so, in this instance, they did not content themselves with the -_inner consciousness_ of a _new birth_,[400] but the most go through the -outer form of it by typification; and for this end it was that they -excavated those _apertures_ in the bodies of rocks, which I have noticed -in page 314, as calling forth, from ignorance, the animadversion of the -_devil's yonies_, in order that, by _passing themselves through them, they -might represent the condition of one issuing, through the womb, to a new -scope of life_.[401] - -A nobler method of symbolisation, and confined solely to the _initiated_, -was that which characterised the construction of their subterranean -temples. Here the sublimity of their worship breaks out in all the -grandeur and the majesty of awe.[402] The narrowness of the entrance, -never larger than the girth of the ordinary human body, pourtrayed, as -well the _circular passage_ in their regenerating _type_,[403] as the -_circumvention_ of temptation by which the faithful are ever beset;[404] -while _the model_ of the _cross, which regulates their architecture -withinside, attests the mystery and the form of their master's death_. - -The Mithratic temple, at New Grange, is exactly so constructed. After -squeezing yourself, with much labour, through a long _emblematic_ gallery, -you arrive at a _circular room_, or rather an _irregular polygon or -octagon_;[405] whence, at measured intervals, three other apartments -diverge, forming, with the inleading gut, a perfect _cross_; and -presenting, altogether, to a susceptible mind, _the most solemn -combination of symbolical mysteries_![406] - -I wonder why do not our _moderns_ confer these _subterraneous cruciform_ -edifices upon the industry of the early Christians, as they have striven -to claim for them the _corresponding_ structures _above ground_! and -without half the probability of success! For if it may be stated, that the -_crucifixions_ upon the _towers_ were an _interpolation_, with a view to -_Christianise_ what before was devoted to _Paganism_, _no one_, at all -events, would maintain that the _monks_ had gone down into the bowels of -the earth, and after ejecting the inmates of old _Alma Mater_, converted -their tabernacles into a magical cross! - -Nay, a greater difficulty would still attach to this adventure. The -_Pagodas_[407] of Benares and Mathura, the two principal ones in all -India, are _cruciformly_ built! and, in order to make both worlds -harmonise, the _advocates_ for the monks, or rather their _beliers_, would -have to transport their mechanics to those regions also, and turn upside -down, and sideways, and every way, whatever was the shape of the original -structures, until they moulded them at last into this mysterious cross! - -Some blame, however, would seem attachable to the _superintendents_ of -this vision: and it is that, while imprinting this _mark_ over the head of -the principal figure in the cave, or Mithratic temple, at Elephanta,[408] -they neglected to demolish the _Lingam_, appertaining to the previous -worship; and which actually presents itself but a little from it in the -front! - -To be grave. There was nothing more _natural_ than that those different -symbols should be thus united. I have shown that in the various copies of -our annals, the _Round Towers_, or overground temples, are designated by -the name of _Fidh-nemead_, the meaning of which I have elucidated to be, -the _consecrated Lingams_: the _Mithratic caves_, or underground temples, -their _correspondents_, it was to be expected, should be known by a -_suitable_ denomination; and, accordingly, you will find this very one at -New Grange mentioned in the _Chronicon Scotorum_ by the title of _Fiodh -Aongusa_; that is, the _Mysterious Cavern_ of _Buddh_; while the -_crucifixions_ upon the _former_, and the _cruciform shape_ of the -_latter_, are the reverential memorials of his atoning dissolution. - -The mysteries celebrated within the recesses of those caverns were -precisely of that character which are called _Freemasonic_, or _Cabiric_. -The signification of this latter epithet is, as to written letters, a -desideratum. Selden has missed it; so has Origen and Sophocles. Strabo, -too, and Montfaucon, have been equally astray. Hyde was the only one who -had any _idea_ of its _composition_, when he declared "it was a _Persian -word_ somewhat altered from _Gabri_, or _Guebri_, and signifying -fire-worshippers." - -It is true that _Gabri_ now stands for _fire-worshippers_, but that is -only because that they assumed to themselves this title, which belonged to -another order of their ancestors. The word is derived from _gabh_, "a -smith," and _ir_, "sacred," meaning the _sacred smiths_; and _Cabiri_ -being only a perversion of it is, of course, in substance, of the very -same import. - -Mount _Caucasus_,[409] also, which still, in our language, retains its -original pronunciation, of _Gaba-casan_, or the Smith's Path, was named -from the same root; nor is the tradition of the _reason_ altogether -obliterated from those who dwell beside it, if we may judge from a -ceremony described by a recent traveller, as performed by them, as -follows:-- - -"The original founders of the Tartarian Mongolian Scythians, called Cajan -and Docos, got embarrassed amongst those mountains, then uninhabited. -After a sojourn there of 450 years, having become so numerous as to -require other settlements, they were at a loss to find a passage through -the mountains, when a _smith_, pointing out to them a place very rich in -iron ore, advised them to make great fires there, by which means the ore -melted, and a broad passage was opened for them. In commemoration of which -famous march, the Mongols to this day celebrate an annual feast, and -observe the ceremony of heating a piece of iron red hot, on which the -Ceann (that is, the chief) strikes one blow with a hammer, and all the -persons of quality do the same after him." - -I shall close this chapter by the description given of the destruction of -Cambyses's army in the Nubian desert, _after the insults offered by him to -the Cabiri priests_. - - "Gnomes, o'er the waste, you led your myriad powers, - Climb'd on the whirls, and aim'd the flinty showers; - Onward resistless rolls the infuriate surge, - Clouds follow clouds, and mountains mountains urge; - Wave over wave the driving desert swims, - Burst o'er their heads, inhumes their struggling limbs; - Man mounts on man, on camels camels rush, - Hosts march o'er hosts, and nations nations crush: - Wheeling in air, the winged islands fall-- - And one great sandy ocean covers all."[410] - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - - -On the east side of the river Shannon, about ten miles distant from -Athlone, in the barony of Garrycastle, and King's County, is situated the -_Sanctuary_ of Clonmacnoise. Within the narrow limits of two Irish acres, -are here condensed more _religious_ ruins, of antiquarian value, than are -to be found, perhaps, in a similar space in any other quarter of the -habitable world. - -Nine churches, built respectively by the individuals whose names they -bear, namely: (1) that of Macarthy More; (2) that of Melaghlin; (3) that -of MacDermott; (4) that of Hiorphan; (5) that of Kieran; (6) that of -Gawney; (7) that of O'Kelly; and (8) that of O'Connor;--independently of -the _cathedral_,--here moulder, in kindred mortality, with the ashes of -nobles, of princes, and of kings, entombed beneath their walls; and who, -at feud, mayhap, in life, are now content to sleep beside each other, -"their warfare o'er," in the levelling indistinction of death. - -Your curiosity is, no doubt, excited to know how so circumscribed a little -spot could have been chosen as the nucleus of such ecclesiastical -ambition? The answer is found in the circumstance of this having been one -of the strongholds of _Budhism_, in the days of its corruscations, which -made it now be singled out, in common with other places memorable for that -creed, as the appropriate locality for Christian superincumbency. - -Two Round Towers, _the chief object of emulation_, are, as you may have -supposed, here to be encountered: and _these are the very ones, which the -reader may recollect have been alluded to at_ p. 38, as ridiculously -claimed by Montmorency for _Christian_--because, forsooth, in the -vagueness of popular titles, they are _recently_ distinguished by the -names of _MacCarthy_ and _O'Rourke_! - -The _Eastern columns_, denominated after _Pompey_[411] and -_Cleopatra_,[412] have been equally productive of historical mistakes; -until, at last, it has appeared that those celebrated lovers have had no -more to do with such erections, than have had the _O'Rourkes_ or -_MacCarthys_ with our _Round Towers_! - -Here also are _three crosses_ belonging to the same religion, to _one_ of -which only shall I now direct your observation. It is fifteen feet high, -composed of a single stone, and sculptured with imagery of the most -elegant execution. - -The devices upon this sculpture are such as you would have expected from -the _authors of the Allegory of the Paradisiacal Fall_: and here, -accordingly, it presents itself, just as in _language_ they had clothed -it, in all the mysteriousness of the figurative _tree_. - -[Illustration] - -Immediately over the equestrian and chariot sports, which decorate the -pedestal, you see Adam and Eve conversing at each side of this _symbol_ of -their dearly-bought _knowledge_! Farther up are other emblems of -mythological allusion: while, in the centre above, you observe a _Cabir_ -priest, alias, a _Freemason_, holding the implements of his craft--a high -honour--in his hand;[413] and encompassed by a retinue of several more -persons, all in the glow of joy! - -The other sides, though less complex, are not less graceful, nor less -significant, than the two which I have introduced. In them, also, -everything bears reference to the _Budhist_ ceremonial. Nor are the -_mouldings_ and the _flowerings_, the _networks_, and other ornaments -which figure upon them, the _least essential_ constituent of that fruitful -code,[414]--while the personation of a _dog_,--an invariable -accompaniment, as it is also amongst the sculptures at Persepolis, and -other places in the East,--_would, in itself be sufficient to fix the -appropriation of those crosses_, as that animal can have no possible -relation to Christianity, whereas, by the Tuath-de-danaans, it was -accounted _sacred_, and its maintenance enjoined by the ordinances of the -state, as it is still in the Zend books, which remain after Zoroaster. - -To Clondalkin Tower, represented at p. 101, there belongs also a stone -cross, and bearing its own history upon its _Tuath-de-danaan_ countenance. -In Armagh is another. I cannot afford time to point out any more, but that -at _Finglas_ is too remarkable to be quite neglected. - -Every body is acquainted with the legendary tale of _St. Patrick having -banished all venomous reptiles from this_ island. Now, I am very willing, -as has been shown, to give this apostle all the credit which he deserves; -but I am a chronicler of _truth_, and from me he shall have no romances. -Solinus, who flourished A.D. 190, that is, above two centuries before St. -Patrick was born, has noticed the phenomenon of there being no vipers -here. Isidore has repeated it in the seventh century; as has Bede in the -eighth; and, in the ninth, Donatus, the famous bishop of Fesula. This -exemption, therefore, cannot be attributable to St. Patrick, whose honour -would be better consulted by his religious admirers in confining -themselves to _facts_, which are numerous enough, than in shocking -credibility by their _pious frauds_. - -As to the _local_ phenomenon, to which you perceive _he_ can have no -pretensions, I cannot resist bestowing upon it a passing observation. -Bede, I think, has gone so far as to say that not only are there no snakes -to be found in Ireland, but that they would not live, if imported: nay, -that, when brought within sight of the shore, they expire! I should like -to see this ascertained; if the fact be such, then the question is solved, -the air or the soil is the cause. - -But if the case be otherwise, then must we ascribe it to some _human_ -instrumentality; and, as there occur various texts in Scripture, allusive, -it would seem, to a very prevailing opinion in the _East_, as to the -manageableness of that species, by the power of charms,--such as, "I will -send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed" (Jer. -viii. 17); and "the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not -hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely" (Ps. lvii. 4, -5);--and as our Tuath-de-danaans, who were an Eastern people, are -recorded by all our early ecclesiastical writers, and with no view to -encomium, as so eminent for incantations, that the island seemed, during -their sway, to have been one continuation of enchantment, it is past -doubt, that, if practicable by man's efficacy at all, the merit of -extinction belongs solely to them. And it is well worth notice, that the -island of Crete, where a colony of them also had settled, is said to be -gifted with a similar exemption. "The professed snake-catchers in India," -says Johnson, "are a low caste of Hindoos, wonderfully clever in catching -snakes, as well as in practising the art of legerdemain; they pretend to -draw them from their holes by a song, _and by an instrument resembling an -Irish bagpipe, on which they play a plaintive tune_."[415] - -Every _legend_, however, is founded upon _reality_, and I will unfold to -you from what has Joceline concocted _this about St. Patrick_. All the -_crosses_ of the Tuath-de-danaans had _snakes_ engraved upon them. Look -back at that at Killcullen,[416] and you will see them there still, and -more plainly, by and by, upon that at Kells. These to the Irish were -objects of reverence, because of the _passions_ which they symbolised; and -accordingly the Saint, in order to obviate the recurrence of such -contemplations, effaced them, when practicable, from off the stones.[417] - -The same precisely was the course, but with a less hallowed intention, -which the Moslems had pursued in the dissemination of their creed. -"Whenever," says Archer, "these figures were introduced, the fanatic -Moslem had hammered away all those within his reach; and when this process -was too slow for the work of demolition, another mode of obliteration was -requisite. Whole compartments of sculpture were plastered over to hide the -profane imagery! In clearing away the rubbish, to bring these beautiful -remains to light, the engineer stumbled on a long frieze, part of which -had had the destroying mallet passed over it; but this method of despatch -was not active enough, and that portion which had escaped violence, had -been plastered over with a composition of the colour of the stone."[418] - -We read also in the Puranas, as an historical circumstance, that the whole -_serpent_ race had been destroyed by Janamijaya, the son of Parieshit, -which, in truth, only implies, as the talented professor of Sanscrit in -Oxford University has already remarked, "the subversion of the local and -original superstition, and the erection of the system of the Vedas upon -its ruins." - -St. Patrick, in like manner, having established Christianity _here_, in -supercedence of a religion, the most prominent symbols of which were -_snakes_, _cockatrices_, and _serpents_, may be truly said to have -_extirpated_ their race from the country, but, as you see, in an -acceptation heretofore unexplained. - -The _statement_ given by Major Archer of the _symbolic representations_ -upon one of the Indian temples, as well as the particulars of its _fate_, -are so perfectly in unison with what I have been describing, that I must -be excused if I give it a place here. - -"Reached Burwah-Saugor," says he. "Immediately on the right is a Hindoo -temple, which I think one of the rarest sights, on the score of -architecture and sculpture, which have gratified our curiosity. The work -of the chisel would have immortalised the artist had he lived in the -present day. I have never seen its execution rivalled, although tolerably -conversant with similar objects of art. The elegance of design--the -arrangement of the figures, which were too numerous to be computed--the -position of them--the sharp and bold relief--and the elaborate ornaments -of _foliage_ and _animals_, render it one of the _most remarkable -monuments_ of art it is possible to conceive. There are compartments on -the lintels of the doors and the entablature, four deep; _figures of the -subordinate deities in the voluminous code of Brahma_, _symbols of their -attributes_, _sacred utensils_, and _animals_. Two vases are on the -threshold, which, for shape and execution, would compete the palm of -excellence with Grecian art. _Wreaths of snakes_, and groups of _men_ and -_women_, are on the _columns_, which also have _their_ ornaments, and are -well proportioned. - -"I could not resist a second visit to this edifice, which, at the risk of -appearing opinionative, I can seriously aver, I never saw equalled for -richness and taste; but the hand of intolerant bigotry has marred the work -of fair proportion. The fanatical Moslems, who overran the country in the -time of Acbar, broke and defaced every image they saw; and, with few -exceptions, the head of every figure, of any size or importance, has been -demolished; and nothing remains but relics, which attest the advance of -the arts at the time the structure was reared." - -The effects of fanaticism are the same in all ages. It desecrates alike -human and divine laws. St. Patrick was no fanatic; and accordingly, in -_his_ course, what he could not himself comprehend, he was resolved, at -all events, to have respected. Those crosses, therefore, which had -previously been looked upon with an eye of veneration, _though the cause -had long ceased to be transmitted_, he literally _Christianised_, by -removing the sculpture; and thus were they made, in the ritual of the new -religion, as hallowedly expressive as they were ever before. - -Precisely similar was the system pursued by the missionaries in India. - -"The island of Salsette," says Captain Head, "abounds in mythological -antiquities and pagan temples--two gigantic figures of Buddha, near twenty -feet high, of complete preservation, which they owe to the zeal of the -Portuguese, who painted them red, and converted the place they ornamented -to a Catholic chapel." - -The Pantheon at Rome was new modelled in the same manner. In a word, as -Grotius has before affirmed, "infinite appropriations have been made." - -But, independently of this conversion, the conformity itself between the -Christian and the Budhist religion was so great that the Christians, who -rounded the Cape of Good Hope with Vasco de Gama, performed their -devotions in an Indian temple, on the shores of Hindustan! Nay, "in many -parts of the peninsula," say the _Asiatic Researches_, "Christians are -called, and considered as followers of Buddha, and their divine -legislator, whom they confound with the apostle of India, is declared to -be a form of Buddha, both by the followers of Brahma and those of Siva; -and the information I had received on that subject is confirmed by F. -Paulino." - -It was not so with those who made religion a trade, and only the auxiliary -password to their selfish aggrandisement! When the "abomination of -desolation"[419] swept over this country, and strewed the verdure of its -surface with the indiscriminate fragments of cathedrals, of castles, and -of towers, the crosses but as little escaped the scourge! - -Having had occasion to pass through Finglas, on their march to the siege -of Drogheda, and fancying the cross which stood there to have been -_necessarily_ the erection of obnoxious _Romanism_, they gave it an -_iconoclast_ blow, which broke its shaft into two! Thus decapitated, it -fell. But the citizens, wishing to avoid further profanation, soon as ever -the army evacuated the town, took the disjointed relic and buried it very -decorously within the confines of the churchyard! - -Here it remained, in consecrated interment, until the beginning of the -year 1816, when an old man of the parish, recounting anecdotes of bygone -times, mentioned amongst others, the particulars of this tradition, and -excited some curiosity by the narrative. - -[Illustration] - -The Rev. Robert Walsh was then curate of Finglas, and this mysterious -history having reached his ears, he determined forthwith to ascertain its -evidences. His first step was to see the chronicler himself.--This -personage's name was Jack White. Jack, who was himself well stricken in -years, told him that he had learned, a long while ago, from his father, -who was then himself rather elderly, that he had been shown by his still -older grandfather the identical spot where the cross had been concealed, -and could point it out now to anyone with certainty and preciseness. - -The proposal was accepted; workmen were employed; and, after considerable -perseverance, the cross was _exhumed_, its parts _reunited_ by iron -cramps, and _re-erected_, as opposite, within a short distance of the -scene of its subterranean slumbers, as if in renascent triumph over the -destroyer! - - "Let such approach this consecrated land - And pass in peace along the magic waste: - But spare its relics--let no busy hand - Deface the scene, already how defaced! - Not for such purpose were those altars placed: - Revere the remnants nations once revered; - So may our country's name be undisgraced, - So may'st thou prosper where thy youth was reared, - By every honest joy of love and life endeared."[420] - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - - -It will be borne in mind that everything hitherto advanced on the various -topics which we have been discussing, was the sheer result of internal -reasoning and of personal circumspection--that, wherever extrinsic aid was -brought forward in support of this unbeaten track, it was uniformly in the -shape of _conclusions_ deduced from the premises of reluctant witnesses. I -rejoice, with delight unspeakable, that I have it at last in my power to -range myself side by side with an author whose testimony in this matter -must be considered decisive, but which, however, by some strange -aberration of intellect, has never before been understood! - -Cormac,[421] the celebrated bishop of Cashel, and one of the first -scholars who ever flourished in any country, when defining the Round -Towers in his _Glossary of the Irish Language_, under the name of -_Gaill_[422] says, that they were "_Cartha cloacha is aire bearor gall -desucder Fo bith ro ceata suighedseat en Eire_,"--that is, stone-built -monuments within which noble judges used to enclose vases containing the -relics of Fo (_i.e._ Buddh), and of which they had erected hundreds -throughout Ireland! - -Knowing that the Ceylonese _Dagobs_, a name which literally signifies -_houses of relics_, were appurtenances of Budhism, I intreated of a very -intelligent native of that island, who attended the Vihara, at Exeter -Hall, some time ago, that he would favour me with a written outline of his -views of those structures. After a few days, he very civilly obliged me -with the following:-- - -"Travellers to the Eastern countries often have their notice attracted by -numerous buildings of a singular form and enormous sizes, both in ruins -and in preserved states, about the origin and objects of which many -inquiries have been made, and various conclusions drawn. These are -monuments raised in ancient times to the memory of deified persons, and -called _Chaityas_, to which places devotees used to resort for meditation, -especially those who had any particular veneration for the deceased, whose -relics are supposed to be deposited within, and on whose virtues they -quietly reflect, availing themselves of the solitude of such places; and -if in their own imaginations the personages are deified, they make -offerings of lamplight, etc. - -"In exploring the ruins of these pyramids, the inside of the globes are -found to contain loose earth, merely filled up after the arches had been -raised; in such loose earth are found ancient coins of various metals, -supposed to be thrown in, in token of respect or veneration, whilst -building; but in the very centre of the globe is always found a square -well, paved with bricks, and the mouths covered by hewn granite, borne on -granite supporters, standing in the four corners of the square (sometimes -triangular). In this well, if the monument of a king (and if not robbed -by ancient invaders), will be found the urn containing the relics of the -deceased, and treasure to a considerable worth. Sometimes there may be -discovered a piece of beaten gold, or other metal, with engravings, -mentioning the name and other circumstances of the deceased. If a Buddhist -king, idols of Buddha might be found in it--but in others, sometimes -earthen or metallic lamps, and heads of _cobra de capellas_. - -"In similar monuments, erected for the relics of Buddha, are three -different compartments or depositories; one in the bottom of the -foundation, one in the heart of the globe, and one at the top of the globe -within the column. This column always has its basis upon the granite -covering of the well. In monuments of this description are supposed to be -much buried treasure, especially in the foundations. The Paly book, -_Toopahwanse_, gives account of the distribution of the Buddha's relics to -the different parts of the world, and the erection of such monuments over -them. - -"Monuments of eminent Buddhist high priests are sometimes erected very -high, but no treasure is to be expected in them, excepting sometimes books -engraved on metal; but the tomb of the poorest prince is never without (at -least in models) a golden crown, a sword of the same metal, a pair of -metallic shoes, and a similar parasol. - -"Besides having learnt from tradition and ancient documents, the writer -has seen the discovery of the tomb of a prince, in which these articles -were found, with a plate of gold, stating the name of the prince, his age, -death, etc., which he had the pleasure to transcribe; the characters were -in a different form from those now used in the same language, and hardly -intelligible. - -"The writer had also the pleasure of exploring the ruins of a very lofty -Dagob that stood opposite to the establishment of the Church Missionaries -in Ceylon. It was found to have been the tomb of a monarch, and had the -appearance of having been robbed of the wealth it very likely contained, -upwards of a century ago, as the trees that were growing on it indicated. -A large quantity of ancient coins, and metal of different kinds, melted -into various shapes (perhaps with burning of the corpse), were, however, -collected. - -"Ceylon contains many ancient pyramids of the kind in a preserved state, -and protected by the people, which are supposed to contain much wealth, -but the superstitious do not dare to explore, and others fear the laws, -which will permit violence to no man's feelings."[423] - -Having before shown how that the religion of the ancients was interwoven -with their funeral observances, this ocular testimony was alone requisite -to gain credence for my proofs. I can still further adduce the authority -of Dr. Hurd,[424] to show that the Gaurs of India, to this day, make use -of the _Round Towers_[425] in their neighbourhood as places of burial, -lifting up the dead bodies to the elevated door by means of ladders and -pulleys. None of those three writers have attempted anything more than a -statement of the actualities, therefore will I be excused if, in addition -to what has been already detailed, I observe that, sublime and philosophic -as was the intent of the _phallic_ configuration of those edifices, -applied to _religion_, it was incomparably more so, considered in -reference to _sepulture_; for while, in the former, it merely typified the -progress of _generation_ and _vitality_, in the latter it suggested the -more ennobling hope of a future _renascence_ and a _resurrection_. - -That the reader, now aware of the "_secret_" which directed the form and -elevation of our Sabian Towers, should not be surprised at the affinity -which I have before pointed out between them and the two "pillars" which -stood at the door of Solomon's temple,[426] I shall tell him that the -whole internal construction of this latter edifice, as well as those outer -and partial ornaments, bore direct relation to the anatomical organism of -man himself. - -To instance only the most prominent of those analogies, you will find the -"holy" and the "most holy" bear the same relation to each other, as the -cerebrum and cerebellum of the human mechanism. Nor need this at all be -wondered at, seeing that, from the very faintest reflection, it must -suggest itself to the most indolent that the divine ingenuity most -prominently shines forth in the human anatomy; and that, therefore, from -the exalted sentiments which this is calculated to inspire of the Godhead, -"the noblest study of mankind is man."[427] - -Viewing it in this light, and coupling it with that piety which is known -to have animated the bosom of David's anointed son, I cannot pass on -without participating in that sublime exclamation, which bespoke at once -his gratitude and his humility, after the consummation of his mighty task. -"But will God," said he, "indeed dwell on earth! Behold! the heaven and -the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that I -have builded!"[428] - -Now to the _era_ for the erection of our Round Towers. "As they have -neither dates nor inscriptions," say Sir John Ware, "and as history is -silent on that head, it cannot be expected that I should point out the -time when they were erected in this country."[429] A very cheap way, -certainly, of getting over a difficulty! The same was the mode adopted by -him, and with equal candour, a few pages earlier, as to the development of -their _destination_, when he says: "I confess it is much easier to combat -and _overthrow_ everything that has been hitherto advanced by writers in -favour of the _Danish claim_ to these monuments of antiquity and the -_uses_ of them, than to _substitute anything solid and satisfactory in -their room_."[430] But inasmuch as the latter problem has been solved, one -is led to conclude that the obstacles to the former are but imaginary -also. - -To begin then. Camden, speaking of them, in the thirteenth century, says -he believes them to have been erected in the seventh, but does not know by -whom! But I put it to any rational thinker to say whether, if they had -been a creation of the seventh century, it would be possible for a writer -of the thirteenth to have been ignorant of their origin, and that too at a -time when _tradition_ was universal? and every father made it a point to -instil into his son the events and circumstances that happened in his own -day? This writer's testimony is sufficient, at all events, to show that -they existed in the seventh century. - -Bishop Cormac, we have seen before, has recorded them as objects of -antiquity in his own time; and this being, at the latest, within the ninth -century, they must have had existence before the seventh; else they could -not well be deemed _ancient_ two centuries after. - -The Ulster annals record the destruction of fifty-seven of them by an -earthquake, A.D. 448; they must, therefore, have existed before that -century also. But the Royal Irish Academy say _no_; because that tradition -connects a person called the _Goban Saer_, and "the historical notices -relative to whom have been collected into Mr. Petrie's essay ... with the -erection of this (the Antrim Tower), as well as others in the north of -Ireland!"[431] As every notice, therefore, respecting so important a -character must be eagerly sought after, I shall take leave to transcribe -what the same high authority tells us of him, in the following words, -namely:-- - -"_I have not learned the particular period at which he flourished_, but -tradition says that he was superior to all his contemporaries in the art -of building; even in that dark age when so little communication existed -between countries not so remotely situated, his fame extended to distant -lands. A British prince, whose possessions were very extensive, and who -felt ambitious of erecting a splendid palace to be his regal residence, -hearing of the high attainments of the Goban Saer in his sublime science, -invited him to court, and by princely gifts and magnificent promises -induced him to build a structure, the splendour of which excelled that of -all the palaces in the world. But the consummate skill of the artist had -nearly cost him his life, for the prince, struck with the matchless beauty -of the palace, was determined that it should stand unrivalled on the -earth, by putting the architect to death, who alone was capable of -constructing such another, after the moment the building received the -finishing touches of his skilful hand. - -"This celebrated individual had a son, who was grown up to man's estate; -and anxious that this only child should possess, in marriage, a young -woman of sound sense and ready wit, he cared little for the factitious -distinctions of birth or fortune, if he found her rich in the gifts of -heaven. Having killed a sheep, he sent the young man to sell the skin at -the next market town, with this singular injunction, that he should bring -home _the skin and its price_ at his return. The lad was always accustomed -to bow to his father's superior wisdom, and on this occasion did not stop -to question the good sense of his commands, but bent his way to town. In -these primitive times it was not unusual to see persons of the highest -rank engaged in menial employments, so the townsfolk were less surprised -to see the young Goban expose a sheep-skin for sale, than at the absurdity -of the term, '_the skin and the price of it_.' He could find no chapman, -or rather chapwoman (to coin a term), for it was women engaged in domestic -business that usually purchased such skins for the wool. A young woman at -last accosted him, and upon hearing the terms of sale, after pondering a -moment agreed to the bargain. She took him to her house, and having -stripped off all the wool, returned him the bare skin, and the price for -which the young man stipulated. Upon reaching home, he returned _the skin -and its value_ to his father, who learning that a young woman became the -purchaser, entertained so high an opinion of her talents, that in a few -days she became the wife of his son, and sole mistress of Rath Goban. - -"Some time after this marriage, and towards the period to which we before -referred, when the Goban Saer and his son were setting off, at the -invitation of the British prince, to erect his superb palace, this young -woman exhibited considerable abilities, and the keenness of her -expressions, and the brilliancy of her wit, far outdid, on many occasions, -the acumen of the Goban Saer himself; she now cautioned him, when his old -father, who did not, like modern architects, Bianconi it along macadamised -roads, got tired from the length of the journey, _to shorten the road_; -and, secondly, not to sleep a third night in any house without securing -the interest of _a domestic female friend_. The travellers pursued their -way, and after some weary walking over flinty roads, and through intricate -passages, the strength of the elder Goban yielded to the fatigue of the -journey. The dutiful son would gladly _shorten the road_ for the wayworn -senior, but felt himself unequal to the task. On acquainting his father -with the conjugal precept, the old man unravelled the mystery by bidding -him commence some strange legend of romance, whose delightful periods -would beguile fatigue and pain into charmed attention. Irishmen, I -believe, are the cleverest in Europe at '_throwing it over_' females in -foreign places, and it is pretty likely that the younger Goban did not -disobey the second precept of his beloved wife. On the second night of -their arrival at the king's court, he found in the person of a female of -very high rank (some say she was the king's daughter), a friend who gave -her confiding heart to all the dear delights that love and this Irish -experimentalist could bestow. As the building proceeded under the skilful -superintendence of the elder Goban, the son acquaints him with the -progress of his love, and the ardent attachment of the lady. The cautious -old man bade him beware of one capable of such violent passion, and take -care lest her jealousy or caprice might not be equally ungovernable, and -display more fearful effects. To discover her temper, the father ordered -him to sprinkle her face with water as he washed himself in the -morning--that if she received the aspersion with a smile, her love was -disinterested, and her temper mild; but if she frowned darkly, her love -was lust, and her anger formidable. The young man playfully sprinkled the -crystal drops on the face of his lover--she smiled gently--and the young -Goban rested calmly on that tender bosom, where true love and pitying -mildness bore equal sway. - -"The wisdom of the Goban Saer and his sapient daughter-in-law was soon -manifested; for, as the building approached its completion, his lady-love -communicated to the young man the fearful intelligence that the king was -resolved, by putting them to death when the work was concluded, that they -should erect no other such building, and, by that means, to enjoy the -unrivalled fame of possessing the most splendid palace in the world. These -tidings fell heavily on the ear of the Goban Saer, who saw the strong -necessity of circumventing this base treachery with all his skill. In an -interview with his majesty, he acquaints him that the building was being -completed; and that its beauty exceeded everything of the kind he had done -before, but that it could not be finished without a certain instrument -which he unfortunately left at home, and he requested his royal permission -to return for it. The king would by no means consent to the Goban Saer's -departure; but anxious to have the edifice completed, he was willing to -send a trusty messenger into Ireland for that instrument upon which the -finishing of the royal edifice depended. The other assured his majesty -that it was of so much importance that he would not entrust it into the -hands of the greatest of his majesty's subjects. It was finally arranged -that the king's eldest son should proceed to Rath Goban, and, upon -producing his credentials to the lady of the castle, receive the -instrument of which she had the keeping, and which the Goban Saer named -'_Cur-an-aigh-an-cuim_.' Upon his arrival in Ireland, the young prince -proceeded to fulfil his errand; but the knowing mistress of Rath Goban, -judging from the tenor of the message, and the ambiguous expressions -couched under the name of the pretended instrument, that her husband and -father-in-law were the victims of some deep treachery, she bad him -welcome, inquired closely after her absent friends, and told him he should -have the object of his mission when he had refreshed himself after the -fatigues of his long journey. Beguiled by the suavity of her manners and -the wisdom of her words, the prince complied with her invitation to remain -all night at Rath Goban. But in the midst of his security, the domestics, -faithful to the call of their mistress, had him bound in chains, and led -to the dungeon of the castle. Thus the wisdom of the Goban Saer and the -discrimination of his daughter completely baffled the wicked designs of -the king, who received intimation that his son's life would surely atone -for the blood of the architects. He dismissed them to their native country -laden with splendid presents; and, on their safe arrival at Rath Goban, -the prince was restored to liberty."[432] - -Gentlemen of England, where is your knowledge of history? which of your -famed monarchs was it that was going to play this scurvy trick upon our -_Goban_, and earn for himself the infamous notoriety of a second -_Laomedon_, by defrauding this _architect_, who no doubt was a _Hercules_, -of his stipulated salary? Ye shades of Alfred and of Ethelbert, I pause -for a reply? - -But this indignity, if offered to _Goban_, would be even greater than that -offered by Laomedon to Hercules; for in the latter case the crime was only -that of _dishonesty_--which is not uncommon in any age--superadded to a -spice of _impiety_, in cheating a god; but in the former case, over and -above all these, would weigh a consideration which our people would never -forget, namely, a violation of the laws of _gallantry_, this same Goban -"having been believed in this part of this country to have been a -_woman_!"[433] And yet the same vehicle that puts forth this trash has -told us, in the preceding extract, that he was a _father_ and a _husband_! -(I do not believe in hermaphrodites), and, to crown the climax of -absurdity, gives us the following specimen of the _heroism_ of his _wife_, -namely:-- - -"The Goban Saer having been barbarously murdered, together with his -journeymen, by twelve highwaymen, the murderers proceeded to his house, -and told the Goban's wife, with an air of triumph, that they had killed -her husband. She appearing nowise concerned, asked them to assist her in -drawing open the trunk of a tree, which the Goban had been cutting up into -planks. They put in their hands for the purpose, when, drawing out a -wedge, she left them literally in a cleft stick, and taking up an axe, cut -off all their heads at a blow"![434] - -But this is ludicrously trifling with the time of my readers. I am alive -to the fact, and I most submissively crave forgiveness, which I doubt not -I shall receive, when I state that my sole object was to expose the -_flimsiness_ of that subterfuge by which the Royal Irish Academy, or -rather their council! had hoped that they could blindfold the public as -well as they had succeeded in sequestrating my prize! - -I do not deny indeed but that there may have been in Ireland at one time -such a person as the Goban Saer: but if ever he did belong thereto, it -must have been at least _sixteen hundred_ years before the epoch which the -Academy sanction--and so sanction, be it observed, because that a -weak-minded poor monk, when writing the biography of _St. Abhan_, and -torturing his invention, in all quarters, for the purpose of conjuring up -miracles to lay to his score, thought the similarity of sound between -_Abhan_ and _Gobhan_ so inviting, that he must contrive an interview -between the parties; and so, with "one fell swoop," alias, _dash of the -pen_, cutting off the centuries of separation, he treats himself and his -pupils to the following burlesque:-- - -"_Quidam_ famossissimus in omni arte lignorum et lapidum _erat_ in -Hibernia nomine Gobbanus, cujus artis fama usque _in finem sæculi_ erit in -ea. Ipse jam postquam, aliis sanatis, in superflua artis suæ mercede lumen -oculorum amisit, et erat cæcus. Hic vocatus est ad S. Abbanum et dixit ei: -Volo ædificium in honorem Dei ædificare, et tu age illud. Et ille ait: -Quomodo possum agere cum sim cæcus? dixit ei sanctus, Quamdiu illud -operaberis lumen oculorum habebis, sed tibi postea non promitto. Et ita -factum est, nam ille artifex apud sanctum Dei in lumine suo operatus est, -et cum esset illud perfectum lumen oculorum amisit"[435]--that is, in the -true spirit of what my countrymen call a _sceal Feeneechtha_, or -_Phoenician story_, _i.e._ an _entertaining lie_ (a proof, by the way, -that they claim no kindred with the Phoenicians, else they would not thus -confirm the well-known epithet of _Punica fides_); however to put this -_sceal Feeneechtha_ into English, it runs thus: "_Once upon a time_ there -lived in Erin a man most celebrated for his universal mastery over wood -and stone; and whose fame, accordingly, will live therein as long as -_grass shall grow_ or _purling streams flow in its enchanting scenery_. -This good man's name was _Gobhan_, who, wallowing in wealth from the -meritorious exertions of his abilities, yet incapacitated from enjoying it -by the deprivation of his sight, was summoned before _St. Abhan_, who had -already healed the rest of the world by his miraculous gifts, and who thus -addresses him: 'I wish to build a house to the honour of God; and set you -about it.' 'How can I,' says _Gobhan_, '_seeing_ that I am _blind_?' 'O -very well,' says _Abhan_, 'I will settle that; long as ever you are -engaged in the business, you shall have the use of your eyes; but I make -no promises afterwards!' And verily it was so, for long as ever he did -work with the saint he had the use of his sight, but soon as ever the work -was done he relapsed into his former blindness!" - -Well, you may laugh if you chose, in future, at the simplicity of the -_monks_; but here is one for you, who, in the very extravagance of his -simplicity, and that while bursting almost with risibility himself at the -speciousness of his conceit, has contrived to bamboozle a jury of -_umpires_ who pique themselves upon their contempt for everything -_monkish_, and who actually, in any other case, had they the _sworn_ -evidence of a monk, would go counter thereto; but here, where an old -doting friar is drawing upon his ingenuity, every syllable that escapes -him is taken for gospel! - -Now, _I_ as readily believe, as they would fain persuade me, that "long as -_Gobhan_ did work with _Abhan_ he had the use of his sight," and that -"soon as ever the work was done he relapsed into his former blindness." -And why? because the two men, living in different ages, never laid eyes -upon each other at all, and thus were they _both, morally and literally, -blind to each other_! - -The Scythians, who were masters of this country at the Christian era, and -for many centuries preceding, had a sovereign contempt for everything like -architecture. "They have no towns," says Herodotus, "no fortifications; -their habitations they always carry with them."[436] The principle which -actuated them, in this indifference to _houses_, was precisely that which -governed the Britons in a similar taste--they were a race of _warriors_, -and dreaded the imputation of _cowardice_ more than they did the -inclemency of the _weather_. It is not without reason, therefore, that we -find Hollingshed, who wrote his Chronicles in Queen Elizabeth's reign, -complaining that "three things were altered for the worse in England: the -multitude of chimneys lately erected, the great increase of lodgings, and -the exchange of treen platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver -and tin. Nothing but oak for building houses is now regarded: when houses -were built with willow, then had we oaken men; but now our houses are -come to be built of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a great -many altogether of straw."[437] - -St. Bernard, also, in reference to the Irish, having mentioned that -Malachy O'Morgan, archbishop of Armagh, was the first (of the Scythian -race) who had erected a stone house in the island, introduces a native -upbraiding him with it, in these terms: "What wonderful work is this? why -this innovation in our country? we are Scots, and not Gauls, what -necessity have we for such durable edifices?" - -_St. Abhan_, therefore, who belonged to the sixth century, at which time -the Scythians had here absolute sway, never once dreamt of erecting a -stone edifice, or of evoking from the grave the manes of _Gobhan_, who, if -he ever existed, must have been a member of the former dynasty. - -Those _pious_ fabrications which the biographers of early saints had -concocted, with a view to magnify the reverence due to their subjects, -remind me of one which was invented for the benefit (but in reality to the -detriment) of St. Patrick, and which, even at the risk of appearing -tedious, I must detail. - -"Whereas,"--you perceive the record begins with all the formalities of -office,--"in the year of the world 1525, Noah began to admonish the people -of vengeance to come by a generall deluge for the wickednesse and -detestable sinne of man, and continued his admonition for 120 years, -building an arke for the safeguard of himself and his family; one Cæsarea -(say they), according unto others, Caisarea, a niece of Noah (when others -seemed to neglect this warning), rigging a navy, committed herself, with -her adherents, to the seas, to seeke adventures and leave the plagues that -were to befall. There arrived in Ireland with her three men, _Bithi_, -_Largria_, and _Fintan_, and fifty women. Within forty days after her -arrivall the universal flood came upon them, and those parts, as well as -upon the rest of the world, and drowned them all; in which perplexity of -mind and imminent danger, beholding the waves overflowing all things -before their eyes, _Fintan_ is said to have been _transformed into a -salmon_, and to have swoome all the time of the deluge about Ulster; and -after the fall of the water, recovering his former shape, to have lived -longer than _Adam_, and to have delivered strange things to posterity, so -that of him the common speech riseth, 'If I had lived Fintan's years I -could say much.'" - -Well, "to make a long story short," this same Fintan, who was converted -into a _salmon_, for the sole purpose of accounting for his appearance on -the same theatre with St. Patrick, is introduced to the saint, when, after -a very diverting episode upon his _submarine_ adventures, a miracle, of -course, is to be wrought; and, anon, we have the contemporary of _Noah_, -and of _Patrick_, at once a _salmon_, a _dolphin_, and a _man_, renouncing -his attachment to the _waters_ and to the _boat_, and devoutly embracing -Christianity!!! - -The anachronism committed in the instance of the _Goban Saer_ was -precisely of the same character! and the very name assigned him, which is -that of a _class_, not of an individual, exposes the counterfeit! - -_Gobhan Saer_ means the _Sacred Poet_, or the _Freemason Sage_, one of -the _Guabhres_, or _Cabiri_, such as you have seen him represented upon -the Tuath-de-danaan cross at Clonmacnoise. To this colony, therefore, must -he have belonged, and therefore the _Towers traditionally associated with -his erection_ must have been constructed anterior to the Scythian influx. - -But we are not left to such inferences to determine the point. A more -substantial ally, the imperishable landmarks of history stand forward as -my vouchers. - -To this hour the two localities,--whereon the Tuath-de-danaans had fought -their two decisive battles with the _Fir-Bolgs_, their immediate -predecessors in the occupation of this island,--one near Lough Mask, in -the county Galway, and the other near Lough Arran, in the county -Roscommon, are called by the name of _Moy-tura_, or more correctly, in -Irish, _Moye-tureadh_! - -The meaning of this compound, beyond the possibility of disputation, is -_The field of the Towers_! And when in both those places are still traced -the ruins of such edifices, are we not inevitably forced to connect, as -well their _erection_ as the imposition of the _name_, with the fortunes -or with the feelings of some side of the above combatants? - -You will say, then, that the _Fir-Bolgs_ were as likely to have originated -the name, and built those structures upon the site, in _reliance_ upon -_their_ divinities, as that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ should have been the -authors in _gratitude to theirs_? - -Our only mode, therefore, is to consider the vestiges of their respective -religions: and when we perceive that in the isles of Aran, whither the -Fir-Bolgs betook themselves after their _first_ defeat, for the period -intervening between those two battles, commemorated by the above name, -there appears not a _vestige_ of architectural masonry approaching in -character to a _Columnar temple_, while, on the contrary, they abound in -specimens of _Druidical_ veneration, is it not evident that they, at all -events, have no claim thereto? - -The worship, therefore, of the Fir-Bolgs differed altogether from that of -the Tuath-de-danaans, and so _they_ are excluded from those immortal -memorials. Indeed the avidity with which they hailed the approach of a new -conqueror, and tendered him their assistance for the reduction of the -island, arose not so much from any fondly-cherished hope of their being -themselves restored to the throne they had lost, or even allowed therein a -participation, as from an illiberal aversion to the emblematic ritual of -their temple-serving superiors, which their ignorant prejudices could not -allow them to appreciate! - -We are warranted, then, I presume, in assigning solely to the -Tuath-de-danaans the affixing of the name _Moy-tureadh_ to those _two -scenes of their success_. And did there even a _doubt_ remain on the mind -of the most incredulous as to the accuracy of the inference, or the -correctness of that reasoning, which would identify this people with the -erections _in general_ of those rotundities, it will hide its diminished -head, and vanish with self-abasement, when I bring forward the testimony -of Amergin, brother to Heremon and, Heber,--the immediate victors of this -religious order--in the following graphic and pictorial treasure, as still -religiously preserved in the Book of Leccan, viz.:-- - - "Aonoch righ Teambrach - Teamor _Tur Tuatach_ - Tuath Mac Miledh - Miledh Long Libearne." - -That is-- - - Noble is the King of Teamor, - Teamor the _Tuathan Tower_, - Tuaths were the sons of Miledh, - Miledh of the Libearn vessels. - -Here, then,--_a circumstance which I cannot imagine how it could have -escaped all before me!_--we have this disputed question at length settled, -and incontrovertibly adjudicated by the very head of _that body_ which -Montmorency had assured us never alluded to those edifices as a subject of -national boast--I mean the _Bards_. For, whether we admit this Amergin to -have been the person above described,[438] the actual contemporary and -successor of the Tuatha-de-danaans, or as the other of that name who -belongs to the Christian age, and the time of St. Patrick, the supposition -is equally valid, to prove the existence of those structures anterior to -_their_ respective eras! and the ascription in either case remains -unshaken and irrefragable, which in the word _Tuathan Tower_ unites the -_Tower_ erectors with the colony of the _Tuatha_! - -My opponents may now demolish, if they can, all my foregoing deductions, -as speedily as they please,--nay, did the destructiveness of fire, or -other untoward accident, deprive me of the deductions of my preceding -labours, to _this one stanza_ would I cling, as the palladium of my truth; -to this landmark would I adhere as my "ne plus ultra" against error, in -its encroachments upon history![439] - -In the whole catalogue of Irish deposits, there exists not one of more -intrinsic value to the lover of antiquities, so far as the right -settlement of history is concerned, than what those four lines present. -For, in the first place, we learn that the celebrity of Teamor[440] arose -not from any gorgeous suit of palaces of a castellated outline. Its renown -consisted in being the central convention for religious celebration to all -the distant provincials once in every year; who, after attending the games -in the adjoining district of _Tailtine_, now Telltown, adjourned, for -legislative deliberations, to the Hill of Tarah, where they propounded -their plans, not within the confined enclosures of any measured dome, but -under the open canopy of the expanded firmament. - -Teamor, then, was not a palace at all, but one of the Round Towers, or -Budhist Temples, belonging to the Tuath-de-danaans; and this is further -proved by the result of researches, made to explore the foundation of an -edifice, confirmatory of a regal mansion, having all ended in the most -confuting disappointment--no vestiges could be found save those of the -Round Tower! - -The importance which attaches to the _Tailtine_ games above noticed, makes -it necessary that I should bestow upon them something more than a cursory -glance. Let me, therefore, first state what other writers have said -respecting them. - -"We attribute," says Abbé Mac Geoghegan, "to Lugha Lamh Fada, one of their -ancient kings, the institution of military exercises at Tailton in Meath; -those exercises consisted in wrestling, the combats of gladiators, -tournaments, races on foot and on horseback, as we have seen them -instituted at Rome a long time after by Romulus, in honour of Mars, which -were called 'Equitia.' These games at Tailton, which Gratianus Lucius and -O'Flaherty call 'ludi Taltini,' were celebrated every year, during thirty -days, that is, fifteen days before, and fifteen days after, the first of -our month of August. On that account, the first of August has been, and is -still called in Ireland, 'Lah Lugh-Nasa,' which signifies a day in memory -of Lugha. These olympiads always continued amongst the Milesians until the -arrival of the English. We discover to this day some vestiges of them, -without any other change than that of time and place. Wrestling, which we -call in France 'le tour du Breton,' the exercises of gladiators, and races -on foot, are still on festival days their common diversion in various -districts of Ireland, and the conquerors generally receive a prize." - -"_Tailtean_," says Seward, "a place in the county of Meath, where the -Druids sacrificed in honour of the _sun_ and _moon_, and _heaven_ and -_earth_, on the first of August, being the fifth revolution of the moon -from the vernal equinox. At this time the states assembled, and young -people were given in marriage, according to the custom of the eastern -nations. Games were also instituted, resembling the Olympic games of the -Greeks, and held fifteen days before and fifteen days after the first of -August. This festival was frequently denominated Lughaid Naoislean, or the -Matrimonial Assembly." - -"This chapter," says Vallancey, "might have been lengthened many pages, -with the description and etymology of the various ornaments of female -dress, but enough has been said to convince the reader that the ancient -Irish brought with them the Asiatic dress and ornaments of their -ancestors, for they could not have borrowed these names of Spaniards, -Britons, Danes, or Norwegians. - -"Thus dressed and ornamented, the youthful females of Ireland appeared at -_Tailetan_, or the mysteries of the sun, on the first day of August in -each year, when the ceremony of the marriage of the sun and moon took -place, and the females were exposed to enamour the swains. The day still -retains the name of _Luc-nasa_, or the Anniversary of the Sun. And the -name of the month of August, in Sanscrit, is Lukie, whom they make the -wife of Veeshnu, the preserver and goddess of plenty. So the Irish poets -have made this festival, named Lucaid-lamh-fada, _i.e._ the Festival of -Love, the consecration of hands, to be the feast of Luigh-lamh-fada, or -Luigh-longumans, to whom they have given Tailte for wife, who, after his -death, was married to Duach." - -"The Taltenean sports," says Sir James Ware, "have been much celebrated by -the Irish historians. They were a sort of warlike exercises, something -resembling the Olympic games, consisting of racing, tilts, tournaments, -or something like them, and other exercises. They were held every year at -Talten, a mountain in Meath, for fifteen days before and fifteen days -after the first of August. Their first institution is ascribed to -Lugaid-lam-fadhe, the twelfth King of Ireland, who began his reign A.M. -2764, in gratitude to the memory of Tailte, the daughter of Magh Mor, a -prince of some part of Spain, who, having been married to Eochaid, King of -Ireland, took this Lugaidh under her protection, and had the care of his -education in his minority. From this lady both the sports and the place -where they were celebrated took their names. From King Lugaidh the first -of August was called Lugnasa, or the memory of Lugaidh, nasa signifying -memory in Irish." - -The truth is, that those games were called _Tailtine_ (whence the English -_Tilts_), and the place _Tailton_, from _Tailte, which, in our language, -signifies a wife_; and the sports, there exhibited, made but a -representation of the victory which Budha gained over _Mara_, the great -tempter, who had attacked him on the day of his attaining to perfection, -with an innumerable host of demons. The conflict is said to have lasted -for fifteen days, at the end of which Budha reduced them to submission, -and to the acknowledgment of his pretensions as the Son of God. - -The _battle-scenes_, therefore, with which the _Tuath_-de-danaan crosses -and obelisks are decorated, bear reference, all of them, to this religious -achievement: and to this hour you will find those identical games -celebrated in various parts of the east, and for the same number of days! -In Egypt, also, there was a place called Tailtal,[441] and named from the -same cause. Nay, the name of the Eleusinian mysteries was _Tailtine_! but -this the Greeks not comprehending, they bent it, as usual, to some -conformity to their own language, and made _Teletai_ of it! and then they -were at no loss in making a _reason_ for it in like manner, namely, that -no one could be _finished_ until _initiated_ therein! - -But it is not alone as assigning those edifices to their real proprietors -that this "stanza" is of value; but as giving us an insight into that -mysterious personage whom our modern chroniclers would fain represent as -the father of Heber and Heremon. A greater error, whether voluntary or -accidental, was never incurred. Heber and Heremon were the sons of -Gallamh, and invaded this island at the head of a Scythian colony,[442] -distinct in all respects, save that of language,[443] from their Tuathan -predecessors. - -These predecessors were headed by three brothers, Brien, Iuchordba, and -Iuchor, the sons of King Miledh, a Fo-morian, by a queen of the -Tuath-de-danaan race, agreeably to this record in the Book of Leccan, -viz.:-- - -"D'Hine fine _Fo-mora_ dosomh de shaorbh a athor, agus do _Tuathabh -Dadanann_ a mhathar"--that is, the father was of the race of the -Fo-morians, and the mother a Tuath-de-danaan. - -Again, in the Seabright Collection, this genealogy is prosecuted further, -and from it, General Vallancey translates some lines, which are by no -means irrelevant, as follows, viz.: "Cuill, Ceacht, and Grian, were the -children of little Touraine--and their descendants, Uar, Jurca, Jurcatha; -and from Uar was descended _Brian_, who was named Touran; and many others -not here enumerated." - -But the history of those events having been destroyed by time, the -degenerate _Pheeleas_, wishing to flatter the vanity of the existing -powers, did not hesitate to ascribe to the _Scythian_, or _modern_ Irish, -followers of Heber and Heremon, those brilliant features of primeval -immortality which appertained exclusively to the Irish of another day--the -Hyperborean or Iranian Irish! - -The Tuath-de-danaans having been proved the authors of the Round Towers, -my ambition in the investigation is already attained. But since we are -told, that this people had claimed possession of the island as inheritors -of an antecedent and preoccupying eastern colony, it may be worth while to -inquire whether we can discover any traces to connect those predecessors -with any of these edifices. Without bestowing upon it, however, more -consideration than what the exigency demands, I will briefly observe, that -we are likely to find such in the history of the _Fo-moraice_, who are -represented in our chronicles, _by the party who had ejected them_, under -the obnoxious character of _monsters_ and _giants_.[444] - -It is high time to give up those abuses in the import of words. -_Fo-moraic_ means literally the mariners of _Fo_, that is, of _Budh_: and -their _religion_ being thus identified with that of the -_Tuath-de-danaans_, what could be more natural than that they should have -erected _temples_ of the same shape with theirs? - -This deduction will appear the more credible from the unanimity of all our -historians, on the subject of this people having been perfect masters of -_masonry_, as well as from the universally credited report in the days of -Cambrensis, of some of the Towers being then visible beneath the -inundation of Lough Neagh.[445] - -I confess I am one of those persons who give faith to this tradition; for -even my experience of the vicissitudes of all things earthly has enabled -me to say, in the words of the philosophic poet, that-- - - "Where once was solid land seas have I seen, - And solid land where once deep seas have been, - Shells far from seas, like quarries in the ground, - As anchors have in mountain tops been found. - Torrents have made a valley of a plain, - High hills by floods transported to the main, - Deep standing lakes sucked dry by thirsty sand, - And on late thirsty earth now lakes do stand." - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - - -Having promised early in this volume to identify our island with the -Insula Hyperboreorum of antiquity, I shall, without further tarrying, -produce the extract referred to, from Diodorus; and, lest I may be -suspected of adapting it to my own peculiar views, it shall appear -minutely in Mr. Booth's translation, viz.:-- - -"Amongst them that have written old stories much like fables, Hecatæus and -some others say, that there is an island in the ocean, over against Gaul, -as big as Sicily, under the arctic pole, where the Hyperboreans inhabit, -so called because they lie beyond the breezes of the north wind. That the -soil here is very rich and very fruitful, and the climate temperate, -insomuch as there are two crops in the year. - -"They say that Latona was born here, and therefore that they worship -Apollo above all other gods; and because they are daily singing songs in -praise of this god, and ascribing to him the highest honours, they say -that these inhabitants demean themselves as if they were Apollo's priests, -who has here a stately grove and renowned temple of round form, beautified -with many rich gifts. That there is a city likewise consecrated to this -god, whose citizens are most of them harpers, who, playing on the harp, -chant sacred hymns to Apollo in the temple, setting forth his glorious -acts. The Hyperboreans use their own natural language, but, of _long_ and -ancient time, have had a special kindness for the Grecians; and more -especially for the Athenians and them of Delos; and that some of the -Grecians passed over to the Hyperboreans, and left behind them divers -presents[446] inscribed with Greek characters; and that Abaris formerly -travelled thence into Greece, and renewed the ancient league of friendship -with the Delians. - -"They say, moreover, that the moon in this island seems as if it were near -to the earth, and represents, on the face of it, excrescences like spots -on the earth; and that Apollo once in nineteen years comes into the -island; in which space of time the stars perform their courses and return -to the same point; and therefore the Greeks call the revolution of -nineteen years the Great Year. At this time of his appearance they say -that he plays upon the harp, and sings and dances all the night, from the -vernal equinox[447] to the rising of the Pleiades,[448] solacing himself -with the praises of his own successful adventures. The sovereignty of this -city and the care of the temple, they say, belong to the Boreades, the -posterity of Boreas, who hold the principality by descent in the direct -line from that ancestor." - -When copying this narrative from the writings of Hecatæus, it is evident -that Diodorus did not believe one single syllable it contained. He looked -upon it as a romance; and so far was he from identifying it with any -actual locality, that he threw over the whole an air of burlesque. We are, -therefore, not at all obliged for the services he has rendered--yet shall -we make his labours subservient to the elucidation of truth. Little did he -dream that Ireland, which he, by and by, expressly mentions by the name of -Irin, and which he calumniates as cannibal, was one and the same with that -isle of which he read such encomiums in the writings of former -antiquaries; and, most unquestionably, it did require no small portion of -research to reconcile the contradiction which the outline involves, and -which is now further enhanced by his scepticism. - -Unable to solve this difficulty, Mr. Dalton--wishing to retain, by all -means, the _Hyperborean isle_, which, indeed, he could not well discard, -yet not bring it in collision with the _Iranian libel_--does not hesitate -to throw at once overboard into the depth of the Atlantic the island of -Irin (alias _Ireland_), and affirm that it never was the place which the -historian had specified. "It is not quite certain," says he, "what place -Diodorus means by Iris;[449] from the turn of the expression it would -_rather appear to be a part of Britain_,--perhaps the Erne, for which Mr. -James M'Pherson contends in another place,--while the island which -Diodorus does mention in the remarkable pages cited above, and which so -completely agrees with Ireland, is never called Iris by him, nor does the -name occur again in all his work, nor is it by any other author applied to -Ireland."[450] - -Mind, now, reader, how easily I reconcile the conflicting fact of -Diodorus's incredulity with his positive defamation. - -At the period when he flourished as an accredited historian, the occupancy -of Ireland had passed into new hands. The Scythians were the persons then -possessed of the soil; and they being a warlike tribe, averse to letters, -to religion, and to refinement,[451]--but overwhelming in -numbers,--obliterated every vestige of that primeval renown in which the -island had once gloried, and which afforded theme and material to the -learned of all countries for eulogy and praise. - -Hecatæus was one of those who depicted in glowing colours the primitive -splendour and the ethereal happiness of Ireland's first inhabitants. He -belonged to an age which was well called antiquarian, even in the day in -which Diodorus wrote, viz. B.C. 44; and when, therefore, this latter, -looking over the pages of his venerable predecessor, saw them so replete -with incidents,--at variance with our condition in his own degenerate -day,--he did not only not dream of considering Ireland as the place -described, but looked upon the whole story as the fiction of a dotard. - -Let us, however, despite of Diodorus, establish the veracity of the -antiquarian Hecatæus. Then behold the situation of this island, just -opposite to France,--in size as large as Sicily,--at once corresponding to -the locality and size of Ireland, and subversive of the claims of those -who would fain make England, Anglesea, or one of the Hebrides, the island -specified. - -Considering further the prolificacy of its soil, and with that compare -what the old poet has affirmed,--and what we know to be true,--of our own -country, viz.:-- - - "Illic bis niveum tondetur vellus in anno - Bisque die referunt ubera tenta greges." - -Then bring its propinquity to the "arctic pole," and the high northern -latitude which Strabo[452] and other ancients have assigned to Ireland, -into juxtaposition with "Hyperborean," the name given to its inhabitants -from the very circumstance of their lying so far to the north, and the -identity of the isle with that in which each true Irishman exults is -infallibly complete when I quote from Marcianus Heracleotes--who wrote in -the third century, and who, as he himself avows, only drew up a compendium -from the voluminous works of Artemidorus, who flourished in the hundred -and sixty-ninth Olympiad, or 104 years before Christ--the following -description of this sacred island, viz. "Iuvernia, a British isle, is -bounded on the north (ad Boream) by the ocean called the Hyperborean; but -on the east by the ocean which is called the Hibernian; on the south by -the Virginian ocean. It has sixteen nations and eleven illustrious cities, -fifteen remarkable rivers, five remarkable promontories, and six -remarkable islands." - -Here the sea, encompassing Ireland on the north, is called the Hyperborean -Ocean;[453] and when we are told that the priests officiating at the round -temples of Apollo were called Boreades, we can readily understand the -origin of the name, as derived from _Boreas_, the deity who presided over -the north-east wind, to which they offered their vows,--just as we find -the Emperor Augustus erecting a temple at Rome, many centuries after, to -the wind called Circius. - -To this deification of the energies of nature, which, as before affirmed, -was but part and parcel of that form of worship called Sabaism, the author -of the Book of Enoch has alluded in the following mysterious episode:-- - -"Then another angel, who proceeded with me, spoke to me; and showed me the -first and last secrets in heaven above, and in the depths of the earth: in -the extremities of heaven, and in the foundations of it, and in the -receptacle of the winds. _He showed me_ how their Spirits were divided; -how they were balanced; and how both the springs and the winds were -numbered according to the force of the Spirit. _He showed me_ the power of -the moon's light, that its power is a just one; as well as the divisions -of the stars, according to their respective names; _that_ every division -is divided; that the lightning flashes; that _their Host_ immediately -obey; and that a cessation takes place during thunder, in the continuance -of its sound. Nor are the thunder and the lightning separated; neither do -both of them move with one Spirit; yet are they not separated. For when -the lightning lightens, the thunder sounds, and the Spirit, at a proper -period, pauses, making an equal division between them; for the receptacle -of their times is what sand is. Each of them at a proper season is -restrained with a bridle, and turned by the power of the Spirit; which -thus propels them according to the spacious extent of the earth." - -Yet beautiful as is the above, it is not much more so than an almost -inspired little poem, which appeared some time ago, in one of the public -prints, as emanating from the pen of an American lady, named Goold, -personifying this element, viz.:-- - - "We come! we come! and ye feel our might, - As we're hastening on in our boundless flight; - And over the mountains and over the deep, - Our broad invisible pinions sweep. - Like the Spirit of Liberty, wild and free! - And ye look on our works, and own 'tis we; - Ye call us the _winds_; but can ye tell - Whither we go, or where we dwell? - - Ye mark as we vary our forms of power, - And fell the forest or fan the flower, - When the hare-bell moves, and the rush is bent, - When the tower's o'erthrown and the oak is rent, - As we waft the bark o'er the slumbering wave, - Or hurry its crew to a watery grave: - And ye say it is we! but can ye trace - The wandering _winds_ to their secret place? - - And whether our breath be loud and high, - Or come in a soft and balmy sigh, - Our threat'nings fill the soul with fear, - As our gentle whisperings woo the ear - With music aërial, still 'tis we, - And ye list, and ye look; but what do ye see? - Can ye hush one sound of our voice to peace, - Or waken one note when our numbers cease? - - Our dwelling is in th' Almighty's hand, - We come and we go at His command; - Though joy or sorrow may mark our track, - His will is our guide, and we look not back; - And if, in our wrath, ye would turn us away, - Or win us in gentlest air to play, - Then lift up your hearts to Him who binds, - Or frees, as He will, the obedient _winds_!" - -And now, as to those "temples" themselves, "of round form," sacred to -Apollo, where will Borlasse in his championship for England, or Rowland in -his claims for the island of Anglesea, or Toland and Carte for the little -Hebrides isles, find a single vestige of a _rotund edifice_ of antiquated -consecration, appertaining to the age which Hecatæus described?--whereas, -in Ireland, of the two hundred and upwards, with which its surface was, at -one time, adorned, we have not only _vestiges_ of each and all to this -day; but, out of the sixty that _survive_,--after an interval of more than -three thousand years standing,--about twenty still display their Grynean -devotion and their Hyperborean tranquillity, and are likely so to do for -three thousand years more, should this world, or our portion of it, but -last so long! - -To give soul to the solemnisation of this religious pomp, the Irish have -ever cultivated the mysteries of music. The harp more particularly had -enlisted the energies of their devotional regard, and their eminence in -its management made Hecatæus well observe, that "the inhabitants were -almost exclusively harpers." This was a very suitable accompaniment to -their worship of Apollo, who was himself the reputed inventor of this -instrument; and accordingly we find that, even in the twelfth century, -broken down and obliterated as every vestige of the _real Irish_ then was, -by the ungenial amalgamation of the Scythian and Danish intruders, the -_harp_ was still preserved as the last remnant of their glory; while the -elegance of their compositions and performance upon it extorted this -reluctant acknowledgment from the prejudiced Cambrensis:-- - -"The attention," says he, "of this people to musical instruments, I find -worthy of commendation; their skill in which is, _beyond comparison, -superior_ to that of _any nation_ I have seen. For in these the modulation -is not slow and solemn, as in the instruments of Britain, to which we are -accustomed, but the sounds are rapid and precipitate, yet, at the same -time sweet and pleasing. It is wonderful how, in such precipitate rapidity -of the fingers, the musical proportions are observed, and, by their art, -faultless throughout. - -"In the midst of their complicated modulations and most intricate -arrangement of notes, by a rapidity so sweet, a regularity so irregular, a -concord so discordant, the melody is rendered harmonious and perfect, -whether the cords of the diatesseron or diapente are struck together. Yet -they always begin in a soft mood, and end in the same, that all may be -perfected in the sweetness of delicious sounds. They enter on, and again -leave, their modulations with so much subtlety, and the tricklings of the -small notes sport with so much freedom under the deep note of the bass; -they delight with so much delicacy, and soothe so softly, that the -excellency of their art seems to be in concealing it."[454] - -Clarsech and Cruit were both names which the Irish gave their harp, from -the musical board and the warbling of the strings respectively. But the -favourite designation was that of Orphean, an evident derivation from -Orpheus, the divine musician of the ancients, who is said to have stayed -the course of rivers, and lulled the listening woods,--to have moved the -stones into prescribed positions, and tamed the savage propensities of -man--all by the instrumentality of his speaking lyre! - -"As regards Orpheus himself," says the learned Barker, "he is stated by -some ancient authorities to have abstained from eating of flesh, and to -have had an abhorrence of eggs, considered as food, from a persuasion that -the egg was the principle of all being. Many other accounts are given of -him, which would seem to assimilate his character to that of the ancient -priests of India, or Brachmani. The ancients, however, unable to discover -any mode by which he could have obtained his knowledge from any other -source, pretended that he had visited Egypt, and had there been initiated -in the mysteries of Isis and Osiris. This appears, however, to be a -supposition purely gratuitous on the part of the ancient writers, since a -careful examination of the subject leads directly to the belief that -Orpheus was of Indian origin; that he was a member of one of those -_Sacerdotal Colonies, which professed the religion of Buddha_; and who -being driven from their home, in the northern parts of India, and in the -plains of Tartary, by the power of the rival sect of Brahma, moved -gradually onwards to the west, dispensing, in their progress, the benefits -of civilisation and the _mysterious tenets of their peculiar faith_." - -We know little or nothing at this remote day of the ancient music of the -Bardic order; that it was eminent, however, and transcendently superior to -that of all other countries, is evident from the fact of its having -maintained its character when all our other attributes had notoriously -vanished. Caradoc admits that his countrymen, the Welsh, borrowed all -their instruments, tunes, airs, and measures, from our favoured island. -Carr additionally says, that "although the Welsh have been for ages -celebrated for the boldness and sweetness of their music, yet it appears -that they were much indebted to the superior musical talents of their -neighbours, the Irish." Selden asserts "that the Welsh music, for the most -part, came out of Ireland with Gruffydh ap Tenan, Prince of North Wales, -who was cotemporary with King Stephen." I know not whether our brethren of -Scotland will be so ready to acknowledge the loan. But if anyone will -compare the spirit of their music with that which pervades the melodies of -our country, the identity will be as obvious as the inference is -irresistible. - -Fuller, in his account of the Crusade, conducted by Godfrey of Boulogne, -says, "Yea, we might well think that all the concerts of Christendom in -this war would have made no music if the _Irish harp_ had been wanting." - -And _this_ is the instrument which Ledwich asserts we borrowed from the -Ostmen! Insolent presumption! Neither Ostman nor Dane ever laid eyes upon -such, until they saw it in the _sunny_ valleys of the Emerald Island. And -had they the shadow of a claim either to it or to the Round Towers, to -which its services were consecrated, Cambrensis could not fail -ascertaining the fact from any of the stragglers of those uncouth -marauders, who--having survived the carnage inflicted upon their army, in -the plains of Clontarf, under the retributive auspices of the immortal -Brien--were allowed to cultivate their mercantile avocations in the -various maritime cities, where they would naturally be proud to perpetuate -every iota of demonstrative civilisation which they could pretend to have -imported. Alas! they _imparted_ none, but _exported_ a great deal; and, -what is more to be lamented, annihilated its evidences! - -But it is not alone of the _property_ of this national organ that the -_moderns_ would deprive us, but the very _existence_ of the instrument -they affirm to be of recent date! Why, sir, it is as old as the hills. -Open the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis, and you will find it there -recorded that "Jubal was the father of all such as handle the _harp_ and -organ." - -And now to the empirics of the "Fine Arts,"[455] and the deniers of their -antiquity, I shall quote the next verse, namely, "Zillah, she also bare a -son, Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron."[456] -And in Job xxviii. 2 it is said that "iron is taken out of the earth, and -brass is molten out of the stone." - -"In the _north of Europe_," says Herodotus, "there appears to be by far -the greatest abundance of gold; where it is found I cannot say, except -that _the Arimaspians, a race of men having only one eye_, are said to -purloin it from the griffins.[457] I do not, however, believe that there -exists any race of men born with only one eye!" - -Had this esteemed author known the allegorical import of the word -Arimaspians (from _arima_, one, and _spia_, an eye), such as it has been -explained at page 86, he would not have committed himself by the -observation with which the above extract has terminated. No doubt he -thought it extremely _philosophical_, because it is _sceptical_! but let -us see if another instance of his _scepticism_ will redound more to his -_philosophy_:--"I cannot help laughing," says he elsewhere, "at those who -pretend that the ocean flows round our continent: no proof can be given of -it.... I believe that Homer had taken what he believes about the ocean -from a work of antiquity, but it was without comprehending anything of the -matter, repeating what he had read, without well understanding what he had -read!"[458] - -Now, without disputing with Siberia the honour of possessing all this -_ancient_ gold, I will take the liberty of inserting an extract from one -of Mr. Hamilton's letters on the Antrim coast, which will show, at all -events, the antiquity of our mining. - -"About the year 1770," says he, "the miners, in pushing forward an adit -toward the bed of coal, at an unexplored part of the Ballycastle cliff, -unexpectedly broke through the rock into a narrow passage, so much -contracted and choked up with various drippings and deposits on its sides -and bottom, as rendered it impossible for any of the workmen to force -through, that they might examine it farther. Two lads were, therefore, -made to creep in with candles, for the purpose of exploring this -subterranean avenue. They accordingly pressed forward for a considerable -time, with much labour and difficulty, and at length entered into an -extensive labyrinth, branching off into numerous apartments, in the mazes -and windings of which they were completely bewildered and lost. After -various vain attempts to return, their lights were extinguished, their -voices became hoarse, and exhausted with frequent shouting; and, at -length, wearied and spiritless, they sat down together, in utter despair -of an escape from this miserable dungeon. In the meanwhile, the workmen in -the adit became alarmed for their safety, fresh hands were incessantly -employed, and, in the course of twenty-four hours, the passage was so -opened as to admit some of the most active among the miners; but the -situation of the two unhappy prisoners, who had sat down together in a -very distant chamber of the cavern, prevented them from hearing altogether -the noise and shouts of their friends, who thus laboured to assist them. - -"Fortunately, it occurred to one of the lads (after his voice had become -hoarse with shouting), that the noise of miners' hammers was often heard -at considerable distances through the coal works; in consequence of this -reflection, he took up a stone, which he frequently struck against the -sides of the cavern; the noise of this was at length heard by the workmen, -who, in their turn, adopted a similar artifice; by this means each party -was conducted towards the other, and the unfortunate adventurers -extricated time enough to behold the sun risen in full splendour, which -they had left the morning before just beginning to tinge the eastern -horizon. On examining this subterranean wonder, it was found to be a -complete gallery, which had been driven forward many hundred yards to the -bed of coal: that it branched off into numerous chambers, where miners had -carried on their different works: that these chambers were dressed in a -workmanlike manner: that pillars were left at proper intervals to support -the roof. In short, it was found to be an extensive mine, wrought by a set -of people at least as expert in the business as the present generation. -Some remains of the tools, and even of the baskets used in the works, were -discovered, but in such a decayed state, that on being touched, they -immediately crumbled to pieces. From the remains which were found, there -is reason to believe that the people who wrought these collieries -anciently, were acquainted with the use of iron, some small pieces of -which were found; it appeared as if some of their instruments had been -thinly shod with that metal." - -There is no question but that the era when those collieries were before -worked, was that in which the Tuath-de-danaans were masters of this -island. _Had it been at any later period, we could not fail having some -traditions relating thereto._ Iron, therefore, the last discovered of the -metals, as stated at page 115, must have been known to this people: and -the absence of any name for it in our vernacular language is accounted for -on the same principle as that by which those excavations themselves had -been so long concealed, namely, the distaste of their successors to such -applications, or the reluctance entertained to make them acquainted with -their worth. - -It is probable, however, that the little minikin fineries of life were not -then in fashion--that our loaves were not baked in tin shapes, as at -present, nor our carriages constructed in so many different varieties of -form, excluding altogether those worked by steam; that our gunlocks were -not prepared with percussion caps, nor our sofas furnished with air-blown -cushions; that the routine of etiquette was differently negotiated, and -that twenty, or more, several hands were not employed in the finish of a -common pin, before it could be dignified with the honour of acting a -useful part in adjusting the habiliments of a modern dandy:--but in all -the grand essentials of life--in all its solid refinements and elegant -utilities,--the scholar will confess that those who have gone before us -have been fully our equals; and traces, too, are not wanting to -countenance the belief that even those knick-knack frivolities on which we -so pique ourselves in the present day, have not been at some period -without a prototype,--so that the majority of those boasted patents for -what are considered _discoveries_ or inventions of something new, should -more properly be for _recoveries_, or unfoldings of something old, and -illustrative of the adage, as remarkable as it is correct, "that there is -nothing new under the sun."[459] - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII. - - -You ask me for the proofs of this early grandeur? I point you to the gold -crowns, the gold and silver ingots, the double-headed pateræ or censers, -the anklets, lunettes, bracelets, fibulæ, necklaces, etc., which have been -repeatedly found throughout all parts of Ireland, evidently the relics of -that "Sacred" colony who gave their name to this island, and who, to the -refined _taste_ which such possessions imply, united also the science -which appears in their workmanship.[460] - -But these are scanty and insufficient memorials? Pray, what greater can -you produce of ancient Egypt? Her Pyramids? Our Round Towers are as _old_; -are likely to be as _permanent_; and are really more _beautiful_. What are -the vestiges of ancient Etruria? of Assyria? Troy? Chaldea? nay, of -Babylon the Great, the queen of the world? A few consolidations of stone -and mortar--disjointed rubbish--and incrusted pottery. All these _we_ -retain, in addition to the thousand other evidences which crowd upon the -historian. And, while Britain can adduce no single vestige of the -Romans--who subjugated that country at their highest period of -civilisation--but what, in the words of my adversaries themselves, are -"only monuments of barbarism," I answer--_no wonder_--for the Romans were -never to be compared to the Iranian Budhists, who brought all the -splendour of the East to the concentrated locality of this Hyperborean -Island. - -"Infant colonies, forsooth, do not carry a knowledge of the 'Fine Arts' -along with them; they are only to be found where wealth, luxury, and power -have fixed their abode."[461] Most sapient remark! but unluckily out of -place; for the authors of our Round Towers were not "an infant colony" at -all; but the very _heads_ and _principals_ of the most polished and -refined people on the bosom of the habitable earth--the Budhists of Iran. -And, accordingly, in their train not only did "wealth, luxury, and power" -abound, but they seemed _exclusively_ to have taken up their abode amongst -them.[462] - -Analogous to the above was the rhodomontade of another pillar of the same -order. "I, nevertheless," says Montmorency, "am disinclined to believe -that those same persons, had they to choose a residence between Syria and -Ireland, would have taken the _wintry_ and _uncultivated wilds_ of -_Fidh-Inis_, in preference to the sunny plains which gave them -birth."[463] - -In both those cases, of which the former is but the _echo_, in all -opinions, of the latter, our eastern extraction is only objected to, -_considered as Phoenician_; and there, I admit that the Colonel and his -pupil may get an easy triumph over their adversaries. For had the -_Phoenicians_ been the erectors of those Round Towers, _what was to -prevent their raising similar structures in Cornwall_? where it is -indisputable that they had trafficked for tin. In Spain we are certain -that they had established _a home_; and _why does this appear as free from -every evidence of columnar architecture as does the former place_? The -same may be said of other countries whither this people resorted, Citium, -Crete, Cadiz, and all the islands in the Mediterranean. _In no one of them -is there to be found a single edifice approaching, either in design or -form, the idea of a Round Tower!_[464] - -The Phoenicians, therefore, can have no pretensions to the honour of those -memorials; nor, indeed, can their connection with Ireland be at all -recognised, further than that, as having been, at one time, masters of the -sea, _it is merely possible_ that the Tuath-de-danaans may have availed -themselves of their geographical information, and even consigned -themselves to their pilotage for a secure retreat, aloof from the -persecution of intolerance. - -But as we see from the stanza quoted at page 396, that the -Tuath-de-danaans were themselves possessed of a navy; and as it is -indisputable that, long before the Phoenicians, the dynasty of the -Persians had swept the ocean in its widest breadth, there is no need for -our giving the Phoenicians credit even _for this service_, which it now -appears could be dispensed with. - -An effort, however, has been advanced to identify their language with -ours, by the analysis of the fragment of a speech which occurs in one of -the plays of Plautus.[465] The idea was ingenious, but totally unfounded. -_Affinity_, undoubtedly, there does appear,--as there does between all the -ancient languages,--but nothing like _identity_; and the very circumstance -of its having a _distinct_ denomination assigned to it in Ireland, viz. -_Bearla-na-Fene_, or dialect of the Phoenicians (who traded here, it is -admitted), proves it to be different from our _local_ phraseology--the -Iranian _Pahlavi_, the polished elocution of the Tuath-de-danaans. - -The Phoenicians, besides being a mercantile people, never had any -monuments of literary value, whereas the Irish are known to have abounded -in such from the earliest era.[466] - -It is true that we have been denied the possession of alphabetic -characters before the time of St. Patrick: but by whom? By Bolandus; on a -false deduction from the writings of Ward, Colgan, Nennius, etc., who -state that this apostle was the first who gave the "abjectoria," or -alphabet to our nation. Who says otherwise? But what alphabet was here -meant? The Latin, certainly, and no other. Until then the Irish were -strangers to the _Roman_ letters;[467] but that they were not to _written -characters_, or the _cultivation of them in every variety of literature_, -is evident from the very fact of St. Patrick himself having committed to -the flames no less than one hundred and eighty volumes of our ancient -theology;[468] as well as from the recorded instance of his disciple, -Benignus,--his successor also in the See of Armagh,--having, according to -Ward, written a work on the virtues of the Saint, half Latin and half -Irish, and which Jocelyne afterwards availed himself of, when more fully -detailing his biography. - -It has been the custom in all ages with those who would pass as the -luminaries of their respective generations, to maintain that _letters_ and -their application were but a _recent_ discovery! Their antiquity, however, -is an historical fact, than which there can be no other better -authenticated. The Bible makes frequent allusion to the cultivation of -alphabetic cyphers--thus in Ex. xxiv. 4, it is said, "And Moses _wrote_ -all the words of the Lord"; and in Josh. xxiv. 26, "And Joshua _wrote_ -these words in the book of the law of God." - -Nor is it only to the _elementary_ part of literature, but to the very -highest and noblest department of literary research that we find the -ancients had arrived. In the history of Job, an acquaintance with -astronomy is quite apparent. The names of Arcturus, Orion, and the -Pleiades,[469] are distinctly notified in that elaborate composition.[470] -Could this have been without the aid of written characters? Could the -abstruse calculations involved in that pursuit be possibly carried on -without an intimate knowledge of notation and of numbers? Or, if superior -memory may effect it in a few cases, without such characters or legible -marks, how could the _results_ arrived at, and the steps by which they had -been attained, be for any length of time preserved, and their value handed -down to successive experimentalists, unless by the instrumentality of -expressive signs? - -We find, accordingly, in the same treatise,[471] the art of writing -expressly named: Thus, "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they -were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in -the rock for ever!" And that it was of long-continued usage is evident -from a preceding chapter,[472] where it is said, "_Enquire_, I pray thee, -of the _former age_, and prepare thyself for the _search_ of their -fathers!" - -The alphabet which we had here, before the Roman abjectorium, is still -preserved, and called _Beth-luis-nion_,[473] from the names of its first -three letters, just as the English is denominated _A B C_, from a similar -cause, and the Greek _Alpha-bet_ from a like consideration. - - Irish. Latin. English. - - 1 B [Letter] Beithe, Betulla, Birch. - 2 L [Letter] Luis, Ornus, Wild ash. - 3 N [Letter] Nion, Fraxinus, Ash. - 4 S [Letter] Suil, Salix, Willow. - 5 F [Letter] Fearn, Alnus, Alder. - 6 H [Letter] Huath, Oxiacanthus, White thorn. - 7 D [Letter] Duir, Ilex, Oak - 8 T [Letter] Timne, Genist. Spin. Furze. - 9 C [Letter] Coll, Corylus, Hazel. - 10 M [Letter] Muin, Vitis, Vine. - 11 G [Letter] Gort, Hedera, Ivy. - 12 P [Letter] Peth-bhog Beite, or B mollified, - 13 R [Letter] Ruis, Sambucus, Elder. - 14 A [Letter] Ailm, Abies, Fir tree. - 15 O [Letter] Onn, Genista, Broom. - 16 U [Letter] Ur, Erix, or Erica, Heath. - 17 E [Letter] Eghadh, Tremula, Aspen. - 18 I [Letter] Iodha, Taxus, Yew. - -This, you perceive, _falls short, by eight letters, of the number of the -Latin cyphers_, which could not have occurred if borrowed from that -people, and will therefore _stand_, independently and everlastingly, a -self-evident proof of the reverse. - -[Illustration] - -It is well known, that long prior to the arrival of Cadmus the Greeks were -in possession of alphabetic writing.[474] Diodorus states so, but adds -that a _deluge_ had swept all away. One thousand five hundred and fifty -before the era we count by, is agreed upon as the year in which Cadmus -visited Greece; and you have the authority of Pausanias, that he himself -had read an inscription upon a monument at Megara, the date of which was -1678 before our epoch, that is, one hundred and twenty-eight years before -Cadmus's time. - -Besides those ordinary letters of the _Beth-luis-nion_, the Irish made use -of various other _occult_ and secret forms of writing, which they called -_ogham_,[475] and of which I insert some specimens. - -Among these you perceive the _arrow-headed figures_ whereof I have already -advertised you; and the _mysterious import_ of which reminded the -_initiated_ of the _solemn purchase of salvation by the cross_. - -These are all peculiar and totally separate from any Phoenician alliance. -Instead, therefore, of my being _adverse_ to the _moderns_ as to the -Phoenician _bubble_, I am their _auxiliary_. But, Mr. Montmorency, are -there not other places in the East besides Phoenicia? And may not a people -leave the "sunny plains that gave them birth," from other motives than -those of "choice"? And may not "Fidh Inis," instead of being a name of -reproach, such as you affected, by associating it with "wintry and -uncultivated wilds," be one of distinction and of renown? And though to -you its _authors_, as well as the _mystery of its import_, were an -_impenetrable_ secret, may it not, notwithstanding _what you see verified_ -now, be made one of the engines exercised in the recovery of truth, to -prove the splendour and the refinement of our venerable ancestors? - -It is to be hoped, therefore, that after this explanation, we shall hear -no more sarcasms upon this _favoured_ spot. Nor would the anticipation be -too great, that the whole _infidel_ host, with the gallant colonel himself -at their head, _becoming_ alive to the injustice of their former -disbelief, would now slacken their virulence, and if they will not _join_ -in the acclamations of regenerated history, at least decently _withdraw_, -and let the lovers of truth, in security and happiness, celebrate its -triumph. - -"The appellation of Britain," says another _goodly_ (?) champion of this -_order_, "has been tortured for ages by the antiquarians, in order to -force a confession of origin and import for it. And erudition, running -wild in the mazes of folly, has eagerly deduced it from every word of a -similar sound, almost in every known language of the globe. But the Celtic -is obviously the only one that can lay any competent claim to it--and the -meaning of it may as easily be ascertained as its origin."--And so, -accordingly, he proceeds to show, that "Breatin, Brydain, or Britain," is -derived from a "Celtic word," which signifies "separation or -division!"[476] - -It is more than probable that I should have left Mr. Whittaker to his -vagaries, or rather his _clerical_ recreations, if he had not been -propelled by his all-illuminating reforms, to glance a ray upon us, here, -across St. George's Channel.--"This," says he, "has _equally_ given -denomination to the _tribes_ of _Ireland_, the nations of Caledonia, and -two or three islands on our coasts!" - -"The original world is still retained in the Welch, Britain; and the -Irish, Breact,--anything divided or striped; in the Irish Bricth, a -fraction; the Irish Brisead, a rupture; and the Welch brig, a breach. And -it was equally pronounced Brict, or Brit (as the Icitus of Cæsar, or the -Itium of Strabo), Bris and Brig; and appears with this variety of -terminations, in the usual appellation of the islanders, Britanni, in the -present denomination of the Armorican Britons, and their language, Brez -and Brezonic, and in the name of Brigantes. Brit is enlarged into Briton, -or Brit-an in the plural, and Britan-ec in the relative adjective. And so -forms the appellation Britones, Britani, and Britanici; as Brig is either -changed into Briges, in the plural, and makes Allobroges, or Allo-broges, -the name of a tribe on the continent, and of all the Belgæ in the island, -is altered into Brigan and Brigants, and forms the denomination of -Brigantes." And again, "the original word appears to have been equally -pronounced Brict, Brits, and Bricth, Breact, Breac, and Brig; and appears -to be derived from the Gallic Bresche, a rupture, the Irish Bris, to -break, and Brisead, a breach. And the word occurs with all this variety of -termination in the Irish Breattain or Breatin, Bretam, and in Breathnach, -Briotnach, and Breagnach, a Briton; in the Armorican names of Breton, -Breiz, and Brezonnec, for an individual, the country, and the language of -Armorica; in the Welch Brython and Brythoneg, the Britons and their -language; and in the ancient synonymous appellations of Brigantes and -Britanni." - -Doubtless the reader has been highly edified by this Britannic -dissertation! He is, I am sure, as thorough master of the subject, now, as -Mr. Whittaker himself!--can tell how many fractures, cross-lines, and -diagonals have been made upon _Britain_ ever since Noah's _flood_! And as -he cannot fail, in consequence, being in love with the Reverend Author, I -will indulge his fondness by another _spark_ of enlightenment. - -"At this period," he resumes (three hundred years before Christ), "many of -the natives relinquishing their ancient seats to the Belgæ, found all the -central and northern parts of England already occupied, and transported -themselves into _the uninhabited isle_ of Ireland!" - -I will now be understood as to the promise made some while ago,[477] in -reference to a definition for the word _modern_. A _modern_ then, be it -known, _is a philosopher_ (?), who fancies that _until three hundred years -before Christ, the whole world was in darkness! physical as well as -metaphysical! that it was even in a great measure uninhabited! by other -than the brute creation!--but that suddenly when ever any mighty feat was -to be achieved_ (in other words, whenever a modern theory was to be -bolstered up) _innumerable myrmidons armed cap-à-pié! full accoutred, -booted and spurred! used to gush forth from some obscure corner of the -earth!_ A miracle of production, to which even _Cadmus's soldiers_ can -bear no parallel; for while the latter are located to a particular -_place_, and stated to have been generated by regular _seed_, even though -that was nothing more than a _tooth_ of a _dragon_,[478] the former burst -forward, nobody knows _whence_, nor will their _machiners_ condescend to -tell even so much as what may have been the _elements_ of their -composition! - -To whom, however, is Mr. Whittaker beholden for this intellectual idea? -Verily, to a half-senseless poor friar,[479] a few centuries deceased, who -was no more competent--and no blame to him from his resources--to analyse -this question, than he was to stop the revolutions of the celestial orbs! - -Yet _jejune_ and abortive as were Cirencester's cerebral conceptions, he -was not less dogmatic in the utterance of them than was his imitator. "_It -is most certain_," says he, "that the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes, Cangi, -and other nations, were descended from the Britons, and passed over -thither after Divitiacus, or Claudius, or Ostorius, or other victorious -generals had invaded their original countries. Lastly, the ancient -language, which resembles the old British and Gallic tongues, affords -another argument, as is well known to persons skilled in both languages." - -Now, by what authority, may I ask, is all this "most certain?" And by -authority I do not mean any quotation from previous historians. That I -waive, and should not here require it, if either _proof_ or _probability_ -were tendered of the _occurrence_. But as none such is vouchsafed--as all -is mere _assertion_--and as I can _prove the exact contrary to have been -the actual fact_, is not _dogmatism_ too _mild_ a name to apply to the -_scribbler_ who _propounds_ such nonsense? And is not _servility_ too -_dignified_ an epithet to brand upon the _copyist_, who takes such _ipse -dixit_ evidence upon so intricate a proposition as gospel truth? and that -too when he must have absolute _demonstration_, and canvas every other -statement, emanating from that fraternity, with _the very eye of a -Lynceus_! - -In the first place, then, the name _Damnii_ (to begin with the beginning) -is but a monkish Latinisation for _Danaans_; and _these I have established -to have been_ an eastern race, totally and universally distinct from -Britain, until upon their overthrow in Ireland they fled for shelter to -Scotland, whither on their way some straggling parties, reduced and -humiliated, took up their residence in the northern parts of England; -where, accordingly, to this hour we find evidences of their worship, such -as sculptured _crosses_,[480] and other _emblematic devices_, but _never a -Round Tower_, their impoverished circumstances not being now adequate to -such an expense. - -The Brigantes, again, is another Latin metamorphosis for the inhabitants -of _Breo-cean_, in Spain, where the Phoenicians had fixed a colony, and -whence they doubtless had brought some portion with them to work the mines -at Cornwall. This _Breo-cean_ the Romans, in conformity with the genius of -their language, changed into _Bri_-gantia, which, however, was a very -allowable commutation, the letters _c_ and _g_ being always convertible, -and _tia_ nothing more than an ordinary termination. - -Seneca well knew that the _Brigantes_ thus imported were a very different -extraction from the native _Britons_. - - "Illi _Britannos_ ultra noti littora ponti, - Et coeruleos _Scuto-Brigantes_ dare Romuleis," - -says he, in his satirical invective upon the death of Claudius. Here, you -will observe, that the _Britons_ and the _Brigantes_ are _opposed to one -another_, and marked out as _distinct_ races. And to specify still further -the origin of the Brigantes is the epithet _Scuto_[481] prefixed thereto, -from _Scuitte_, the ancient mode of spelling _Scythia_. - -Those Scoto-Brigantes were the persons who, having been driven from Spain -by the conquests of Sesostris, poured in with multitudinous inundation -upon the quietude of our _Tuath-de-danaans_, and wrested from them an -island which, during their blissful reign, had eclipsed in sanctity even -their _former_ Iran.[482] - -The language which they spoke differed in nothing from the -Tuath-de-danaan, but that it was not quite so refined; and this feature of -similarity silences at once the _conjectures_ of _Stillingfleet_, Innes, -and their followers, who would make those _Scythians_ to be -_Scandinavians_, merely because the letter S occurs as the _initial_ and -_final_ of either name! - -Why, sir, when the _Scandinavians_ did _really_ invade Ireland, which was -not until the early centuries of the Christian era, the great obstruction -to their progress was their _ignorance_ of our tongue; whereas, when the -_Scythians_ arrived here, many ages earlier, our legends, our traditions, -our histories, and our annals, _unanimously_ and _universally_ attest, -that they used the same conversable articulation with that of the -established dynasty.[483] - -Where is the wonder, then, that we should find all the ancient names in -the north of England, correspond to a nicety with those of the Irish? And -which made Lhuydh, the author of the _Archæologia_, himself an Englishman, -declare, "_how necessary the Irish language is to those who shall -undertake to write of the antiquity of the isle of Britain_." - -But if Lhuydh was thus _candid_ in the avowal of his conviction, he was -not equally _successful_ in the discovery of the relationship. From want -of the true _touchstone_, he went on _hypothesising_! and came at last to -the _supposition_--"that the Irish must at one time have been in -possession of those English localities, and thence removed themselves into -Ireland"--_the exact opposite having been the fact_. - -To atone for my long digression from Mr. Whittaker, and his _breakages_, I -will supply to you the derivations, as well of Britain as of Brigantia. -The former is compounded of _Bruit_, _tin_; and _tan_, a country abounding -in that metal, and corresponding to _Cassiteris_, assigned to it by the -Greeks: and Brigantia, as before explained, being but a formative from -Breo-cean, is compounded of _Breo_, which signifies fire; and _cean_, a -head or promontory, meaning the _head-land of fires_; or that whereon such -used to have been lighted for the convenience of mariners lying out at -sea.[484] - -Neither the Scythians, therefore, nor the Celts, had connection -whatsoever, either of them, with the once-envied celebrity of this -"island."[485] The latter were the persons who, under the name of -Fir-Bolgs, erected all the cromleachs spread over the country, the -accomplishment of which bespeaks, it is true, an acquaintance with -_mechanics_, of which the present artisans are altogether ignorant. And as -the original of their denomination has never been elucidated, I embrace -this opportunity of supplying the omission. It comes from _bolog_, which, -in the Irish language signifies a _paunch_; and _fir_, a _man_; so that -Fir-Bolg means the _big-bellied man_, being an evident allusion to their -bodily configuration: and to this day Bolcaig is the epithet applied, -vernacularly, to individuals of large girth or corpulent robustness, -exactly corresponding to what we are told by Cæsar, when describing the -tripartite division of Gaul, viz. that the Belgæ, who, in fact, were of -the same stock as our Fir-Bolgs, were the _stoutest bodied_, and the -_bravest otherwise_ of all its inhabitants. - -The Scythian religion, which was Druidical, accorded with that of the -Fir-Bolgs, which was Celtic--not less as to modes of worship, than in -mutual aversion to that of the Iranians; and, accordingly, we find, that -when both conspired for the recovery of this country from the Iranians, -who had themselves wrested it from the Fir-Bolgs, antecedently, these -latter branching out into the septs of Cauci and Menapii, corresponding -to the kindred and cognominal tribes on the continent; and who, during the -occupancy of the Iranians--the interval of Ireland's Hyperborean -renown--had retired to Arran[486] and the northern isles, were restored to -a partnership in the possession of the island, in return for the -assistance they lent the Scythians for its conquest: and this accounts for -that diversity of races which Ptolemy records, but which antiquarian -luminaries, unable to comprehend, took upon them to reject as altogether a -chimera. - -As to the Iranians, the real Hibernians--the true Hyperborean -Tuath-de-danaans, or Magic-god Almoners--they were hurled from the throne, -their sanctified ceremonials trampled in the dust, their sacred harps, -which before used to swell to the praises of their Divinity, were now -desecrated for the inspiration of the Scythian warriors; and their divine -_Boreades_, who ere now composed canticles in adoration of Apollo, were -degraded to the secular and half-military occupation of Scythian _bards_. - -The name of the island itself, from "Irin," or the "Sacred island," was -changed into Scuitte, that is, Scotia or Scythia, or the land of the -_Scythians_. Nor was it until the eleventh century of the present era, -that, _to remove the ambiguity which arose from the circumstance of there -being another country also called by this name_, Ireland assumed its -former name, Irin, as its people did Irenses, instead of Scoti.[487] - -Yet in the general transmutation which so great a revolution bespeaks, we -behold the strictest regard paid to the literary fame and the mental -acquirements of those sages who had been ejected. They were retained as -the _instructors_ of the new establishment; and their refined precepts -tending gradually to soften the warlike propensities of this ferocious -group, the amalgamation became so complete, and the aristocracy of -intellect so recognised, that when religious dissensions were all -cancelled in the grave, many of them were able to trace their steps -backwards to the forfeited monarchy. - -Of this number was Connachar-mor-mac-Nessan, that is, Connor -the-great-son-of-Nessan, styled indifferently _Feidlimidh_ and _Ollamh -Fodlah_, i.e. the _erudite man_ (the _Budhist_) and the _Doctor of -Budland_; and Brien, who ascended the Irish throne, A.D. 1014; and who, -after a succession of two thousand two hundred years, was the lineal -descendant of Brien, head of the Tuath-de-danaans; and this very -extraction, in the confusion of the names, was the circumstance which -occasioned the popular belief, not yet exploded, of his having been the -founder, by magic creation, in one single night, of those Round Towers of -his inheritance! The mistake, however, is of value, as it is a collateral -evidence that those edifices have been attributed to their real authors; -and the anachronism will be excused, seeing that there is nothing more -common than to assign to one Hercules the exploits of another. - -Others of this colony, who could not brook the yoke, betook themselves on -their downfall to Scotland, and built there the two round temples of -Brechin and Abernethy, besides others that have disappeared; from thence, -however, they were again dislodged by the barbarous Picts, and obliged to -fly for shelter to the Highland fastnesses. These are they whom Macculloch -and others have misrepresented as Celts. During their sway in that -country, they called it also by the name of Iran or Eran, as the Scotch -language is, to this day, called Irish, or Erse. The name of Scoitte, -_i.e._ Scotia, was given it afterwards by the Picts, in compliment to -_this_ island, which had furnished them with wives, and otherwise joined -their fraternity.[488] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX. - - -"The Scoto-Milesians," says Dr. Hales,[489] "reckon twenty-three -generations from Feni an fear soid, 'the Phoenician wise man,' their -ancestor, to Heber and Heremon, who established the last settlement from -Spain, as observed before; which, at the usual computation of three mean -generations to a century, would give 766 years from Fenius to Heber. But -we learn from Coemhain, that the sons of _Milesius_ (this should have been -_Gallamh_)[490] were coeval with Solomon, and that the Gadelians[491] came -to Ireland in the middle of the reign of this illustrious prince," B.C. -1002, according to the Irish chronology. Counting backwards, therefore, -from this date, 766 years, we get the time of Fenius about B.C. 1768. And -this agrees with sacred and profane history; for Joshua, whose -administration began B.C. 1688, according to Hales's _Chronology_, notices -"the strong city of Tyre" (Josh. xix. 29); which maintained its -independence even in David's days (2 Sam. xxiv. 7); and in Solomon's (1 -Kings ix. 11-14). And Herodotus, that inquisitive traveller and -intelligent historian, who visited Tyre about B.C. 448, saw there the -temple of the Thasian Hercules; and another erected to him by the -Phoenicians at Thasus itself, an island on the coast of Thrace, while they -were engaged in search of Europa, the daughter of Agenor, King of Tyre, -who had been carried off by some Greeks; an event, says Herodotus, which -happened five generations before the Grecian Hercules, the son of -Amphitryon, B. ii. sec. 44; who flourished about 900 years before he -wrote, sec. 145, or about B.C. 1348, to which adding 166 years for the -five generations, we get the rape of Europa about B.C. 1514. - -"But the deification of the Thasian Hercules must have been after his -death, which may make him contemporary with Joshua, or even earlier. -Herodotus relates that the Tyrians themselves boasted of the remote -antiquity of their city, founded, as they said, 2300 years before (B. xi. -44), which would carry it higher than the deluge. The high antiquity, -however, of Sidon and her daughter Tyre, was acknowledged by Xerxes, king -of Persia, when he invaded Greece, B.C. 480; and in a council of his -officers allowed her ambassadors the honour of precedence" (sec. 11). - -He adds: "In order to determine the cardinal data of ancient Irish -history, it is necessary to premise a synopsis of Coemhain's System of -Chronology. - - Y. B.C. - - Creation 1656 3952 - Deluge 292 2296 - Abraham born 942 2004 - David, king 473 1062 - Babylonish Captivity 589 589 - ---- - Christian Era 3952 1 - -"In this table, the first column contains the years elapsed between the -succeeding events: thus, from the creation, 1656 years to the deluge; -from the deluge, 292 years to the birth of Abraham, etc.; and their -amount, 3952 years, gives the basis of the system, or the years elapsed -from the creation to the vulgar Christian era. The second column gives the -dates of these events before the Christian era. - -"David began to reign B.C. 1062; from which subducting 60 years for the -amount of his whole reign, 40 years, and 20 years, the half of Solomon's, -we get B.C. 1002, for the date of the expedition of Heber and Heremon to -Ireland. - -"This same number has been noticed by two earlier chronologers, Marcus -Anchoreta, A.D. 647; and Nennius, A.D. 858; who both date the arrival of -the Scoti in Ireland, '1002 years after the passage of the Red Sea by the -Israelites, in which the Egyptians were drowned' (O'Connor, _Proleg._ ii. -pp. 15-45). The identity of the number 1002 proves the mistake in the -reference to the exode of the Israelites, instead of to the Christian era, -which depresses the arrival of the Scoti five centuries too low. For -Coemhain reckons the exode 502 years after the birth of Abraham, or B.C. -1502; from which subtracting 1002 years, the arrival of the Scoti would be -reduced to B.C. 500; or, following Usher's date of the deluge, B.C. 1491. -O'Connor reduces it still lower, to B.C. 489 (_Proleg._ ii. p. 45). Upon -the superior authority of Coemhain, therefore, as a chronologer, we are -warranted to rectify this important error of Nennius and Marcus Anchoreta, -which even Dr. O'Connor has failed to correct; not adverting to the -foregoing inference from Coemhain. But he has happily furnished himself -the materials for proving the error. - -"He states, that one hundred and eighteen kings of the Scoti reigned, till -the arrival of St. Patrick, B.C. 489 + A.D. 435 = 921 years in all, which, -divided by 118, would give too short an average of reigns, only 7-9/11 -years a-piece; whereas the true interval, B.C. 1002 + A.D. 432 = 1434 -years, would give the average of reigns above twelve years a-piece; which -he justly represents as the standard, from Patrick to Malachy II., viz. -forty-eight reigns in 590 years (_Proleg._ ii. p. 45)."[492] - -The date of the Scythian invasion, then, being fixed as B.C. 1002, it is -agreed on all hands that that of the _Tuath-de-danaans_ was but two -hundred years anterior, or B.C. 1202;[493] with this _exactly corresponds -the time at which Marsden, Kæmpfer, and Loubere date the arrival of the -Buddists at Siam_, viz. B.C. 1202. Among the Japanese also, they are -stated by Klaproth to have arrived not very distant from that era, or B.C. -1029. Dé Guignes and Remusat suppose 1029 as the epoch at which they -invaded China. B.C. 1000 is the epoch assigned by Symes for their descent -upon the Burman empire; and B.C. 1029 is that fixed by Ozeray for their -entrance into Ceylon; while the Mogul authors and the Bagwad Amrita (Sir -W. Jones) recognise their appearance respectively at B.C. 2044 and B.C. -2099. - -Now, the extreme concordance amongst the calculations of those various -countries, one with the other, and their almost universal coincidence, -nay, _in the Siamese authorities_, almost _miraculous identifications, -with our Irish registries_, as to the influx, amongst all, of this -singular people, and their extraordinary ritual, makes us associate the -phenomena with one common cause, and that was the _expulsion_ of the -Budhists from India, the Rajas having proclaimed, at the instigation of -the rival Brahmins, that "from the bridge of Rama, even to the snow-capped -Himala, no man should spare the Budhists, young or old, on pain of death" -(_Guigniaud's Creuzer_). - -As to the Mogul dates, and those of the Bagwad Amrita, they evidently bear -reference to former colonies; nor are _we_, in Ireland, without similar -chronicles of an antecedent arrival, and precisely answering to the time -of the _first departure_ of the Tuath-de-danaans from the borders of -Persia.[494] - -It was, indeed, the tradition of this early invasion, long mystified by -age, that we have seen so perverted at p. 385, for the sole purpose of -effecting a miracle! Nor is this the only fable that fastens upon that -narrative: we have that of Partholan and of Nemedius, and a thousand other -reminiscences, all directing towards the centre of a common nucleus. The -_East_ is the point whither they all aim, and the era they assign is -invariably that of the _deluge_! Is it not, therefore, inevitable, but -that the object recorded is our reception of the Tuath-de-danaans when -ejected by the arms of their Pish-de-danaan rivals?[495] - -Amongst the Easterns themselves we find corresponding traditions, wrapt -up, as usual, in allegory, of this primordial departure. The Phrygians, -who were one of the most ancient and considerable nations of Asia Minor, -complain of Apollo having wandered from them, in company with Cybele, to -the land of the Hyperboreans.[496] The costume of the archers upon our -Knockmoy frescoes is strictly Phrygian, and confirms their testimony -better than any written memorial! "Hercules," says Cedrenus, "first taught -philosophy in the _western_ parts of the world." This was our Ogham, which -the Gauls had borrowed from us, as you will see by note, p. 420. "In -Egypt," says Ausonius, "they called him Osiris, but in the _island_ of -Ogygia they gave him the name of Bacchus." If we will remember the form -under which _Osiris_ was worshipped, viz. that of our _Round Towers_,[497] -and then recollect that the name of _Bacchus_ is still found amongst our -ancient inscriptions;[498] and in addition to all these, bear in mind that -Plutarch[499] expressly designates _the island_, from its extreme -antiquity, as _Ogygia_, all qualms as to the situation alluded to by -Ausonius must for ever evaporate? - -Let us now glance at the institutions of this island, the personal -appearance of its inhabitants, and their popular customs, as compared with -ancient Persia. - -To begin with the _aspect_, which often proves decisive in more -_interesting_ applications, I refer you to our real figures at p. 330, as -a fair outline of Irish contour; with this, if you will compare what -Captain Head affirms, in reference to the settlers at Bombay, viz. that -"the _ancient_ inhabitants of Persia were superior, not inferior, in -looks, to the _present_, who belong to a hundred mixed races, which have -poured upon that kingdom since the overthrow of Yezdijerd," no disparity -will present itself, at least in that quarter. - -As to _institutions_, I will instance that of our ancient clans,[500] and -place by them in juxtaposition what Sir John Malcolm delivers on the -subject of Persia. "Jemsheed" (a prince of the Pish-de-danaan dynasty, -founder of Persepolis, called after him, Tucht-e-jemsheed, which, in -Irish, signifies the Couch-of-Jemsheed) "divided," says he, "according to -Persian authors, his subjects into four classes. The first was formed of -learned and pious men, devoted to the worship of God; and the duty -ascribed to them was to make known to others what was lawful and what -otherwise. The second were writers, whose employment was to keep the -records and accounts of the state. The third soldiers, who were directed -to occupy themselves in military exercises, that they might be fitted for -war. The fourth class were artificers, husbandmen, and tradesmen. The -authorities on which we give the history of Jemsheed make no mention of -Mah-abad; but, if we are to give credit to the Dabistan, _the institution -of Jemsheed can only be deemed a revival of that lawgiver_."[501] - -In respect to _religion_, Herodotus states that, "_from his own -knowledge_, the Persians had neither statues, temples, nor altars, but -offered on the tops of the highest mountains sacrifices to Jove, by which -they meant the deity of the air; that they adored the _sun, moon, earth, -fire, water, and the winds_, but that they sacrificed to these _only from -of old, according to ancient custom_, and that they gave the preference to -Trefoil, whereon they laid their offerings."[502] - -Now, two considerations are to be observed, as involved in this last -quotation: one is, that the historian attributes the usages of this nation -to two distinct periods of time. From ocular inspection, he avows that -they had no _temples, etc., because such were long exploded_. And _he knew -not what to make of the Round Towers_. Part, however, of the ceremonial -appertaining to those edifices still remained, such as the worship of the -sun, moon, earth, fire, water, and the winds; and "to these," he frankly -acknowledges, "they sacrificed _only from of old_," or in deference to the -practice of their predecessors--I will not say forefathers. - -Contemplate now the reverence shown to the herb _Trefoil_, our _national -shamrock_, and will you not see another link of that great concatenation -uniting the two Irans, and triumphing at once over _supposition_ and over -_scepticism_? I have already deplumed St. Patrick of the _serpent_ -expulsion; or, rather, I have done honour to his memory, by saving it from -the fabrications of _pious_ impostors. I now continue my course of -justice, by showing that he had as little to do with the veneration paid -to this plant. It was worshipped in the Emerald Island, and imported, you -perceive, by the Tuath-de-danaans, centuries upon centuries before the -apostle was born: and the cause of this devotion was, not alone that it -symbolised the _Trinity_, which was an article of Budhist doctrine, even -before the incarnation of Christ, but because that it _blended with_ it, -in mystery as well as in gratitude, the _Alibenistic cross_, the seal of -their redemption, and their passport to eternity! Here then are the -_shamrocks_, or _Free-masonic devices_, upon the crowns of our _Irish_ -kings explained; and those upon the _Persian_ crowns, by and by to be -inserted, are similarly expounded![503] - -Lastly, the _funerals_ of the Persians--after the soul's liberation from -its tenement of clay, at the summons of its God--are described by -Herodotus[504] with so striking a similtude, that you would imagine he had -witnessed, and expressly referred to, the like scenes in Ireland.[505] - -Oh! "if the human mind can ever flatter itself with having been successful -in discovering the truth, it is when many facts, and these facts of -different kinds unite in producing the same result."[506] - -In truth, the island was altogether an _Oriental Asylum_,[507] until, for -a moment broken in upon by the Fir-Bolgs, or Celts. Their usurpation, -however, was only that of a day, amounting, by all records, but to -fifty-six years;[508] after which, a new army of the Tuath-de-danaans, -driven now, not from Persia, but from India, by the Brahmins, laid claim -to the sceptre to which their brethren had invited them, and reinstated -themselves afresh in our kindred Iran. - -It is not, therefore, you perceive, our individual history alone that is -rectified by this investigation. It supplies a vacuum in the history of -the world: which could not be said to have been correct, _so long as there -was nothing known on the various topics now explained_.[509] - -Professor Müller,[510] in a very elaborate treatise upon the _Antiquities -of the Dorians_, has been pleased to affect astonishment, through one of -his notes, that Hecatæus should have believed in the existence of the -Hyperboreans! It became him, unquestionably, so to do, because that the -proofs of their existence were beyond his own reach. But though their -_reality_, as well as _locality_, have been already put beyond -disputation, I will, to justify the exclusiveness here proclaimed, enter -again upon the subject, and, without following in detail, show, by the -reverse of his positions, that his whole system of mythology is equally -erroneous. - -In this determination I will of course be acquitted of any intentional -slight. Who could read Professor Müller's work, and not be struck with the -labour and the ingenuity which distinguish its every page? I yield to no -man in my respect for his abilities, but I weep, from my soul, that his -classic care was not bequeathed upon some other subject, rather than be -split upon a rock by an _ignis fatuus_. I never saw such a waste of -letters as his book exhibits! I never saw such learned research so -miserably thrown away! And how could it be otherwise, his great object -having been to make everything square to the reveries of the -Grecians!--taking them as his clue, into a labyrinth of inextricability, -through one inch of which neither conductor nor traveller could see their -way! - -Sweet _pahlavi_ of the Hyperboreans, I will take _you_ as my guide! - - "------Nor be my thoughts - Presumptuous counted, if amid the calm - That soothes the vernal evening into smiles, - I steal impatient, from the sordid haunts - Of strife and low ambition, to attend - Thy sacred presence, in the sylvan shade, - By their malignant footstep ne'er profaned."--THOMSON. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX. - - -Before we descend to language, I shall collect the historical concordances -that bear upon this investigation. - -Beo, a poetess of Delphi, mentions in the fragment of a poem, quoted by -Pausanias, that three individuals, sons of Hyperboreans, and named _Olen_, -_Pagasus_, and _Agyeus_, had founded the oracle of Delphi. Will it be -credited that those three names are but representatives of three several -orders of our Irish priests, viz. Ollam, Pagoes, and Aghois?[511] - -At Delos the same tradition is to be encountered, with but a few local -alterations: such as that of Latona having arrived there from the -Hyperboreans, in the form of a _she-wolf_; Apollo and Diana, with the -virgins Arge and Opis, following afterwards. Two other virgins, viz. -Laodice and Hyperoche, succeeded, and with them five men, who were called -_peripherees_, or carriers, from their bringing with them offerings of -first-fruits, wrapt in bundles of wheaten straw. - -But is this embassy altogether a fiction? "There is not a fact in all -antiquity," says Carte, "that made a greater noise in the world, was more -universally known, or better attested by the gravest and most ancient -authors among the Greeks, than this of the sacred embassies of the -Hyperboreans to Delos, _in times preceding_, by an _interval of ages_, -the voyages of the Carthaginians to the north of the Straits of -Gibraltar." "No argument to the contrary," says Müller, "can be drawn from -its not being mentioned either in the _Iliad_ or _Odyssey_, these poems -not affording an opportunity for its introduction: moreover, the -Hyperboreans were spoken of in the poem of the Epigoni, and by Hesiod.... -Stephanus quotes here a supposed oracle of a prophetess named _Asteria_, -that the inhabitants and priests of Delos came from the Hyperboreans." So -that we are by no means dependent, as implied before, upon Diodorus -Siculus, for the narrative. - -On this subject Herodotus says that "the suite of this Hyperborean embassy -having been ill-treated by the Greeks, they took afterwards another method -of sending their sacred presents to the temples of Apollo and Diana, -delivering them to the nation that lay nearest to them on the continent of -Europe, with a request that they might be forwarded to their next -neighbour: and thus they were transmitted from one people to another, -through the _western_ regions, till they came to the _Adriatic_, and -there, being put into the hands of the Dodoneans, the first of the Greeks -that received them, they were conveyed thence by the Melian Bay, Euboea, -Carystus, Andras, and Tenos, till at last they arrived at Delos." - -Could he, I ask, more geographically pourtray their route from Ireland? - -Alcæus, in a hymn to Apollo, says that "Jupiter adorned the new-born god -with a golden fillet and lyre, and sent him in a chariot drawn by swans to -Delphi, in order to introduce justice and law among the Greeks. Apollo, -however, ordered the swans first to fly to the Hyperboreans. The -Delphians, missing the god, instituted a pæan and song, ranged choruses of -young men around the tripod, and invoked him to come from the -Hyperboreans. The god remained an entire year with that nation, and, at -the appointed time, when the tripods of Delphi were destined to sound, he -ordered the swans to resume their flight. The return of Apollo takes place -exactly in the middle of summer; nightingales, swallows, and grasshoppers -sang in honour of the god; and even Castalia and Cephisus heave their -waves to salute him." - -Now Mr. Bryant assures us that-- - - "The Celtic sages a tradition hold, - That every drop of amber was a tear - Shed by Apollo, _when he fled from heaven_,-- - _For sorely did he weep_,--and _sorrowing passed - Through many a doleful region_, till he reached - The sacred Hyperboreans."[512] - -Words could not convey a more direct delineation of the first arrival of -the Tuath-de-danaans amongst us, with their mysterious worship, after -their ejectment from _Iran_, their paradise, or earthly _heaven_, for the -loss of which they "sorely wept," until at length they found a substitute -in _Irin_. The _lyre_ or _harp_ which they brought with them, and solely -for celebrating the praises of Apollo, continues still our national -emblem; and those swans which are said to have drawn his chariot formed so -essential a part of our ceremonial, that you shall be presented by and by -with one of his magic implements, to which they are still attached, as -they are similarly figured upon the painted vases, remaining after our -allied Etrurians in the south of Italy. - -As to the embassy of Abaris, the direct fact is so completely -authenticated by our ancient records, which narrate the circumstance, with -no view to decide an historical controversy, but with indifference -thereto, and as in ordinary course,--that it is inevitable but that, when -the Greeks say that this philosopher had gone to them from the -_Hyperboreans_,--and when we produce proofs to show that a man of the -_same name_ had repaired on the _errand_ alluded to, from _our_ country to -_Greece_, it is inevitable, I say, but that, when both statements so -perfectly tally, the island of the _Hyperboreans_ and that of the -_Hibernians_ must be one and the same. - -I shall now subjoin from General Vallancey's works, as he translates it -from an old Irish poem, the authentic narrative of this our Hyperborean -embassy. - - "The purport of the Tuath-de-danaans journey was in quest of knowledge, - And to seek a proper place where they should improve in Druidism. - These holy men soon sailed to Greece. The sons of Nirned, son of Adhnam, - Descendant of Baoth, from Boeotia sprung. Thence to the care of skilful - pilots, - This Boeotian clan, like warlike heroes, themselves committed, - And after a dangerous voyage, the ships brought them to Loch Luar. - Four cities of great fame, which bore great sway, - Received our clan, in which they completed their studies. - Spotless Taleas, Goreas, majestic Teneas and Mhuiras, - For sieges famed, were the names of the four cities. - Morfios and Earus-Ard, _Abhras_, and Lemas, well-skilled in magic, - Were the names of our Druids; they lived in the reign of Garman the - Happy. - Morfios was made Fele of Falias, Earus the poet in Gone dwelt, - Samias dwelt at Mhurias, but _Abhras_, the Tele-fionn, at Teneas." - -A quarrel, it would seem, ensued between them and the Fir-Bolgs on their -return: and the Seanneachees, in their incapacity to separate any two -events of a similar character from each other, confounded the differences -which arose herefrom with the battles fought _six hundred years before_, -between the ancestors of both parties, on the plains of _Moye-tureadh_! - -At page 67 I have stated that this event took place about B.C. 600. And -this very circumstance it was--I mean the lateness of the date--which -rendered the expedition at all needful. - -The Tuath-de-danaans having been for a long time humiliated, and allowed -but a mere nominal existence in a remote canton of the realm, their ritual -got merged into that of the Druids. A corresponding decay had vitiated -their taste for letters, while the Greeks, in proportion, rose in the -scale. - -Pythagoras had by this time returned from his tour to Egypt, and the fame -of his acquirements had reached the Tuath-de-danaans. Naturally solicitous -to court the acquaintance of an individual who had derived his information -from the kindred of their ancestors,[513] they had address enough to -obtain leave from the several States of the kingdom to repair to Greece, -on the alleged plea of returning the visit[514] of the _Argonauts_ to our -shores many ages previously,[515] but actually with a view to gratify -their predilections by philosophical inquiry. - -When the _meteors met_, it is difficult now to decide which orb it was -that emitted the greater light. But without being too much biassed by the -links of patriotism, I think we may very fairly aver that our countryman -communicated, _depressed even as was his order at that day_, as much -information as he had received.[516] - -Who then can any longer doubt but that this was the island of the -Hyperboreans? Even the _peculiarity_ of our language mingles in the chain -of proof; as Diodorus states that "the Hyperboreans use _their own_ -natural tongue." But were all other arguments wanting, I would undertake -to prove the identity by an admission from this transcriber himself. "The -sovereignty of this city," says he, "and the care of the temple belong to -the _Boreades_."[517] - -Now, nothing ever has puzzled etymologists so much to explore as the -origin of the Irish term _Bards_.[518] The _guesses_ which they have made -thereat are so exceedingly amusing, that I will take leave to _refresh_ -myself, exhausted and languid as I now wellnigh am, with the outline of a -few. - -First, Bochart would derive it from _parat_, to speak!!! Wilford from the -Sanscrit, _varta_!!! But "some learned friends of his are of opinion that -it comes from _bhardanan_, to burthen!!! because burthened with the -internal management of the royal household"!!! - -I shall spare my reader any more of those _caricatures_, and submit to his -own candour to adjudicate whether _Bards_ could, by possibility, be -anything else than the modern Englification for our ancient _Boreades_? - -Doubtless, Professor Müller, your astonishment has now subsided as to -Hecatæus's credulity in the existence of the Hyperboreans. Diodorus -Siculus, who, though, as Granville Penn has affirmed, he "has transmitted -to us many _scattered_ and important truths," yet does the same judicious -commentator add, that it was in a condition "intermixed with much idle -fiction, _equivocation_, and anachronism,"[519] was herein your guide! But -the _manes_ of the Hyperboreans now speak from the tomb, and vindicate -their _existence_ as well as their _locality_! - -I come now to prove this by another mode. - -Plato, in his _Cratylus_, represents Hermogenes as proposing several terms -to Socrates for solution, when the following acknowledgment transpires:-- - -"I think," says the philosopher, "that the Greeks, especially such of them -as lived subject to the dominion of foreigners, adopted _many foreign -words_; so that, if anyone should endeavour to resolve those words by -reference to the _Greek language_, or to any other _than that from which -the word_ was received, he must needs be involved in error!" - -The _foreign_ extraction, then, of _many_ of the Greek words being -admitted, it devolves upon me to establish this extraction to be purely -_Irish_. - -To begin with Dodona--"In Eustathius and Steph. Byzantius," says -Vallancey, "we meet with three different conjectures in regard to the -derivation of the name Dodona, which, they say, owes its origin either to -a daughter of Jupiter and Europa, or one of the nymphs, the daughter of -Oceanus; or, lastly, to a river in Epirus, called Dodon. But, as Mr. -Potter observes, we find the Greek authors all differ, both as to the -etymology of the name and the site of this oracle. In my humble opinion, -Homer and Hesiod have not only agreed that it was not in Greece, but in -Ireland, or some island, at least, as far westward." - -The passages to which the General refers in those ancient poets are-- - - [Greek: "Seu ana Dôdônaie Pelasgike têlothi naiôn - Dôdônês medeôn duscheimerou."][520] - -That is,-- - - Pelasgian Jove, who _far from Greece_ resid'st - In cold Dodona. - - [Greek: "Dôdônên Phêgon te Pelasgôn edranôn êken."][521] - -That is,-- - - To Dodona he came, and the hallowed oak, the seat of the Pelasgi. - -Valuable as are those authorities, the General needed not to have had -recourse to them at all, had he but been apprised of the origin of the -word _Dodona_. - -One of the religious names of Ireland, which I have purposely left -unexplained till now, was _Totdana_.[522] This it derived immediately from -the _Tuath-de-danaans_, as indeed it did all its ancient names, with the -exception of Scotia. _Tuath-de-danaans_ I have shown to mean the -_Magic-God-Almoners_,[523] and _Totdana_, by consequence, must denote the -_Magic-almonry_.[524] - -Now, the Greeks, having been initiated in all their religious mystery by -the Irish, did not only enrich their language with the vocabulary of our -ceremonial, but adopted the several epithets of our island as the -distinctive names for their various localities, so that our -_Muc-inis_[525] became their _Myc-ene_, our _Tot-dana_, their Do-dona, -etc. etc. And even the names of our lakes, with all their legends of -_hydras_ and _enchantments_, found their way to them also, so that from -our Lough-Erne was formed, by a crasis, their L-Erna. - -The change from _Tot-dana_ to _Do-dona_ is much more obvious than may seem -at first sight. _T_ and _D_ being commutable, _Tot_-dana was at once made -_Dot_-dana; the intermediate _t_ was then left out for sound's sake, -making it Do-dana; and, lastly, the penultimate _a_ was transformed into -_o_ for the "ore rotundo,"[526] completing the _Grecism_ of Do-dona. - -You see, therefore, from this that the origin of _Dodona_ was exclusively -Irish! that _Dodona_ and _Ireland_ were, in fact, one and the same!--a -circumstance of which Homer was perfectly well assured when he styled it -[Greek: Dôdônê duscheimeros], or the _Hyperborean Tot-dana_.[527] - -Neither was it in _name_ only, but in _sanctity_ also, that the Greek -_Myc-ene_ strove to imitate our _Muc-inis_. To this hour is to be found -one of the ancient Pelasgian temples, vulgarly termed the _Treasury of -Atreus_, from the mere circumstance, as Dr. Clarke well remarks, "of there -being found a few _brass nails_ within it, and evidently for the purpose -of fastening on _something_ wherewith the _interior surface was formerly -lined_, and that many a long year before Atreus or Agamemnon!" The -Doctor, however, was perfectly astray in supposing it a _sepulchre_! In -form it is a hollow cone, fifty feet in diameter, and as many in height, -composed of enormous masses of a very hard _breccia_, a sort of -pudding-stone, the very material whereof most of our Round Towers are -constructed, and the property of which is to indurate by time. The _Dune -of Dornadella_ in Scotland is _identically_ the _same kind of structure_, -built by our Tuath-de-danaans, and for the solemn purpose of _religion_ -alone. This is so accurately described in an article in the _Edinburgh -Magazine_, copied into _Pennant's Tour_, that I too will make free to -transcribe it. - -"It is," says the reviewer, "of a circular form, and now nearly resembling -the frustum of a cone: whether, when perfect, it terminated in a point, I -cannot pretend to guess; but it seems to have been higher, by the rubbish -which lies round it. It is built of stone, without cement, and I take it -to be between twenty and thirty feet still. The entrance is by a low and -narrow door, to pass through which one is obliged to stoop much; but -perhaps the ground may have been raised since the first erection. When one -is got in, and placed in the centre, it is open overhead. _All round the -sides of the walls are ranged stone shelves, one above another, like a -circular beaufait, reaching from near the bottom to the top._ The stones -which compose these shelves are supported chiefly by the stones which form -the walls, and which project all round, just in that place where the -shelves are, and in no others; each of the shelves is separated into -several divisions, as in a bookcase. There are some remains of an awkward -staircase. _What use the shelves could be applied to I cannot conceive._ -It could not be of any military use, from its situation at the bottom of -a sloping hill, which wholly commands it. The most learned amongst the -inhabitants, such as the gentry and clergy, who all speak the _Irish_ -language, could give no information or tradition concerning its use, or -the origin of its name." - -Now, our _Round Towers_ have similar _shelves_, or recesses in the wall, -and "reaching, like a circular beaufait, from near the bottom to the top"! -Wherever these do not appear, their place is supplied by _projecting -stones_, for the evident purpose of acting as supporters.[528] And as the -_Mycenian_, the _Caledonian_, and the _Hibernian_ edifices thus far -correspond, the only thing that remains is _to explain to what purpose -could those recesses_ serve. - -I thus solve the question--_They were as so many cupboards for containing -the idols of Budha_, as the structures themselves for _temples_ of his -worship, etc. Nor is this their use yet forgotten, in the buildings of the -like description in Upper India, as appears from the following statement -by Archer. "In the afternoon," says he, "I went to look at a _Jain -temple_. It was a neat building, with an upper storey. _The idol is -Boadh._ There is a lattice verandah of brick and mortar round the shrine, -and there are _small cupboards, in which numerous figures of the idol are -ranged on shelves_." - -Arguments crowd upon me to establish these particulars; the only -difficulty is in the compression. I shall, however, continue to prove this -from another source, even by showing that when Ezekiel declared, in -allusion to Tyre, that "the men of _Dedan_ were thy _merchants_,"[529] he -meant the men of _Ireland_. - -First let me refer you to page 4, by which you will be reminded of our -ancient possession of a _naval equipment_. Secondly, let me quote to you -an extract from Vallancey, when directing the result to a different -application. His words are: "Another proof of the ancient Irish being -skilled in the art of navigation, I draw from a fragment of the Brehon -laws in my possession, where the payment, or the reward, for the education -of children, whilst under the care of fosterers, is thus stipulated to be -paid to the ollamhs, or professors, distinguishing private tuition from -that of public schools. The law says: 'If youth be instructed in the -knowledge of cattle, the payment shall be three eneaclann and a seventh; -if in husbandry and farming, three eneaclann and three-sevenths; if in -milrach, _i.e._ _glais-argneadh as tear_, that is, _superior navigation_, -or the best kind of knowledge, the payment shall be five eneaclann and the -fifth of an eanmaide; if in _glais-argneadhistein_, that is, second, or -inferior (branch of) navigation, two eneaclann and a seventh.' And this -law is ordained because the pupils must have been previously instructed in -_letters_, which is the lowest education of all." - -Thus you see, at all events, that we were _qualified_ for the duties -required. Now, I will _demonstrate_, and that too by the aid, or rather at -the expense, of Mons. Heeren, that we were the actual persons pointed to -by the prophet. - -"Deden," says the professor, "is one of the Bahrein, or rather more -northerly one of Cathema. The proofs, which to detail here would be out of -place, may be found in Assemani, _Bib. Orient._ tom. ii. par. ii. pp. 160, -564, 604, and 744. Difficulties arise here, not merely from want of maps, -but also from the variation and confusion of names. _Daden_, or _Deden_, -is also frequently called _Dirin_; and it may be conjectured that from -hence arose the name of Dehroon, which is given to one of the Bahrein -islands in the map of Delisle. If that were the case, then Dedan would not -be Cathema, as Assemani asserts, but the island mentioned above; and this -is rendered probable by the _resemblance of names, which is a certain -guide_." - -If the "_resemblance_ of names" be "a certain guide," _identity_ of names -must be still more certain; and then must my _proofs_ already prevail, and -the professor's _conjectures_ fall to the ground! Surely he cannot say -that there is any even resemblance between _D-Irin_ and _Dehroon_! But he -admits that the place alluded to is called indifferently _Dedan_[530] and -_D-Irin_; and have I not shown that each of those names, identical and -unadulterated, belonged _properly_ to Ireland? Ireland, therefore, _alone_ -can be the country alluded to by the inspired penman. - -In denying, however, a _Dodona_ to the Greeks, and an oracle also, General -Vallancey was quite incorrect. What he should have maintained was, that -both _name_ and _oracle_ had their _prototypes_ in Ireland; but that, so -remote was the date at which the transfer occurred, all insight into the -mysteries had long since perished. - -Indeed, their priests very frankly acknowledged the fact to Herodotus, -when, in his thirst for information, he waited upon them at Dodona. "We do -not," said they, "know even the _names_ of the deities to whom we make our -offerings--we distinguish them, it is true, by titles and designations; -but these are all adventitious and modern in comparison of the worship, -which is of great antiquity." Upon which the historian very truly -concludes, "that their _nature_ and _origin had been always a secret_; and -that even the Pelasgi, who first introduced them and their rites, had been -equally unacquainted with their history." - -Like a true Greek, however, he must set about _coining_ an origin for -them; and so he tells us _a cock-and-a-bull_ story of two _pigeons_ -(Peleiai) having taken flight from Thebes in Upper Egypt, and never -stopped until they perched, one upon the top of Dodona, and the other God -knows where; and then he flatters himself he has the allegory solved, by -_imagining_ that those _pigeons_ were _priestesses_, or _old women_, -carried off by Phoenician pirates, and sold into the land of Greece! - -In this he has been followed by thousands of imitators, and quoted -miraculously at all the public schools. Nay, his disciples would fain even -_improve_ upon the _thing_; and Servius has gone so far as to say that the -_old woman's_ name was _Pelias_! - -Now, here is the whole mystery unravelled for you. - -When the Greeks established an oracle of _their_ Dodona, subordinate to -our master one, they adopted, at the same time, one of the orders of our -priesthood. This was that of the _Pheeleas_, the meaning of which being to -them an enigma, they _bent it_, as usual, to some similar sound in their -own language.[531] This was that of _Peleiai_, in the accusative -_Peleias_, which, in the dialect of Attica, signifies _pigeons_, and in -that of Epirus, _old women_; and so the whole metamorphosis was forthwith -adjusted! - -[Illustration] - -"The very extraordinary piece of antiquity, represented in the annexed -woodcut, was found," says Mr. Petrie, "in a bog at Ballymoney, county of -Antrim, and exhibited to the Royal Irish Academy, by the Lord Bishop of -Down, in March 1829. Its material is that description of _bronze_ of which -all the ancient Irish weapons, etc., are composed, and its actual size is -four times that of the representation. It is a tube, divided by joints at -A and B into three parts, which, on separating, were found to contain -brass wire, in a zigzag form, a piece of which is represented in _Fig._ G. -This wire appears to have been originally elastic, but when found was in a -state of considerable decomposition. At E and F are two holes, about -one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and seem intended for rivets or pins to -hold the instrument together. The birds move on loose pins, which pass -through the tube, and on the other end are rings. The material and style -of workmanship of this singular instrument leaves no doubt of its high -antiquity. But we _confess ourselves totally unable to form even a -rational conjecture as to its probable use_, and should feel obliged to -any antiquary who would throw light upon it."[532] - -Had the antiquarian _high-priest_ to this _magnanimous_ assemblage been -equally modest in former cases, and courted _instruction_, instead of -erecting _himself_ into a _Pheelea_, he would not cut the figure which he -now does. Ignorance is no fault: it is only its vagaries that are so -ridiculous! - -However, he has said--I beg pardon, he is in the _plural_ number--well, -then, _they_ have said, that they would feel obliged to any _antiquary_ -who would throw light upon the subject. - -To be sure, I am no _antiquary_. The Royal Irish Academy have made _that_ -as clear as the sun at noonday. Nay, they have even strove to make their -_brethren_ at this side of the water to think so also! But their brethren -at this side of the water are too _honest_ a people, and too _noble_ in -their purpose, to make history a trade, and to stifle _truth_ at the -unhallowed dictates of interest or partiality. - -No matter; I will tell all what this piece of antiquity was. _It was the -actual instrument through which the oracle of Dodona was announced!_ You -see upon it the _swans_ by which Apollo was brought to the Hyperboreans! -The _bulbul of Iran_ also attends in the train; and the affinity of this -latter bird to the species of _pigeons_, convinced the Greeks that they -had really hit off the interpretation of the word _Pheelea_! and that -_pigeons_ were, in truth, the _deliverers_ of the oracle. - -This was the block upon which Abbé Bannier was stumbling. Having learned -from some quarter, I believe from Aristotle, that there were some _brass_ -appendages contiguous to Dodona, he converts those appendages into -_kettles_--a worthy friend of mine would add, _of fish_--"which," says he, -"being lashed with a whip, clattered against one another until the oracle -fulminated"!!! - -As to those oracles themselves, with the registries of which antiquity is -so replete, I will here articulate my individual belief. No one who knows -me can suppose that I am superstitious; and, for those who know me not, -the sentiments herein delivered will scarcely foster the imputation. Yet -am I as thoroughly persuaded as I am of my personal consciousness, that -some prescience they did possess, conducted partly by human fraud, and -partly by spiritual co-operation. - -There is no question but that there must have been some _supernatural_ -agency in the business; for _human_ skill and human sagacity could never -penetrate the deep _intricacies_ of doubt, and the important _pregnancies_ -of time which they have _foreshown_.[533] - -Porphyry, in his book _De Dæmonibus_, and Iamblichus in his _De -Mysteriis_, expressly mention that _demons_ were in every case the authors -of oracles. Without going all this length, we may readily allow that they -had perhaps a great share in them; neither will the ambiguity in which -their answers were sometimes couched detract anything from this admission, -because the spirits themselves, when ignorant of any contingency, would, -of course, try to screen their defect by the vagueness of conjectures, in -order that if the issue did not correspond with their advice, it may be -supposed owing to misinterpretation. The instance of Croesus and the -Delphian oracle was an interesting event. He sent to all the oracles on -the same day this question for solution, viz. "What is Croesus, the son -of Alyattes, King of Lydia, now doing?" That of Delphi answered thus: "I -know the number of the sand of Libya, the measure of the ocean--the -secrets of the silent and dumb lie open to me--_I smell the odour of a -lamb and tortoise boiling together in a brazen cauldron; brass is under -and brass above the flesh_." - -Having heard this reply, Croesus adored the god of Delphi, and owned the -oracle had spoken truth; for he was on that day employed in _boiling -together a lamb and a tortoise_ in a _cauldron of brass_, which had a -cover of the same metal. He next sent, enjoining his ambassadors to -inquire whether he should undertake a war against the Persians? The oracle -returned answer, "If Croesus passes the Halys, he will put an end to a -vast empire." - -Not failing to interpret this as favourable to his project, he again sent -to inquire, "If he should long enjoy the kingdom?" The answer was, "That -he should till a mule reigned over the Medes." Deeming this impossible, he -concluded that he and his posterity should hold the kingdom _for ever_. -But the oracle afterwards declared that by "a _mule_" was meant _Cyrus_, -whose parents were of different nations--his father a Persian, and mother -a Mede. By which _mule_, says a facetious writer, the good man Croesus was -thus made an _ass_! - -That the priests, however, used much deception in the business, and that -this deception did not escape the notice of the learned men of the time, -is evident from the charge which Demosthenes had brought against the -_Pythia_, of her being accustomed to _Philippise_, or conform her notes to -the tune of the Macedonian emperor. The knowledge of this circumstance -made the prudent at all times distrust their suggestions, whilst the -rabble, without gainsay, acquiesced as blindly in the belief of their -infallibility. - -But it was not only as to the meaning of the word _Pheelea_ that the -Greeks were unapprised, they knew not the import of their own name -_Pelargi_![534] It is compounded of this same term _pheelea_, an _augur_ -or a _diviner_; and _argh_, the symbolic _boat_, or yoni! And, mind you, -that this was the great difference between the Pelargi--which is but -another name for Pish-de-danaans--and the Tuath-de-danaans, that the -latter venerated the _male_ organ of energy, and the former the _female_; -therefore in no country occupied by the former do you meet with _Round -Towers_, though you invariably encounter those _traces_ of _art_, which -prove their descent from _one common origin_. - -As presiding over the _diviners_ of the _symbolical boat_, Jupiter was -called _Pelargicus_.[535] - -_Agyeus_ was another term in their religious vocabulary, as applied to -Apollo, of which the Greeks knew not the source. They could not, indeed, -well mistake, that it was derived immediately from [Greek: aguia], _via_; -but that did not expound the fact, and they were still in ignorance of its -proper import. It is merely a translation of our _Rudh-a-vohir_, that is, -_Apollo-of-the high-roads_, not, what the Greeks understood it, as -_stationary_ thereon, but, on the contrary, as _itinerant_; and to whom -_Venus the stranger_ corresponded on the other side; the especial province -of both being to ensure the comforts of _hospitality_, of _protection_, -and of _love_, to all emigrants and all travellers. - -_Grunie_ was another epithet applied to _Apollo_, as we may read in a hymn -composed by Orpheus, which they could not comprehend. It is derived from -_Grian_, one of our names for the _Sun_. - -But, beyond comparison, the most inexplicable of all the epithets applied -to this divinity is _Lycæus_; which, though--as has been the case, you -perceive, in _every subject yet discussed_--it can be explained only in -the _Irish_!--yet, even _there_, it opposes some difficulties to -discourage, but not more than what give way to sagacity and to -perseverance. - -At Glendalough, in the county Wicklow, one of the proudest abodes of -Budhism, are found, amongst other sculptures, upon the dilapidated ruins, -those which you see opposite. - -The _wolf_ is the most frequent in the multitude of those hieroglyphics. -His character is exhibited in more attitudes than one--and all -mysteriously significant of natural designs. - -In one place you observe his tail gracefully interwoven with the long hair -of a young man's head. That represents the youth Apollo, controlling by -his efficacy--alias, the sun's genial rays--the most hardened hearts, and -so revolutionising the tendency of the inborn system, as from antipathy -often to produce affection and love! - -[Illustration] - -Of this illustration, the practical proof is afforded in _Bakewell's -Travels in the Tarentaise_, to the following purpose, viz.:-- - -"By way of enlivening the description of the structure of animals, he -(M. de Candolle, Lecturer on Natural History at Geneva), introduced many -interesting particulars respecting what he called _leur morale_, or their -natural dispositions, and the changes they underwent when under the -dominion of man. Among other instances of the affection which wolves had -sometimes shown to their masters, he mentioned one which took place in the -vicinity of Geneva. A lady, Madame M----, had a tame wolf, which seemed to -have as much attachment to its mistress as a spaniel. She had occasion to -leave home for some weeks; the wolf evinced the greatest distress after -her departure, and at first refused to take food. During the whole time -she was absent, he remained much dejected: on her return, as soon as the -animal heard her footsteps, he bounded into the room in an ecstasy of -delight; springing up, he placed one paw on each of her shoulders, but the -next moment he fell backwards and instantly expired." - -Elsewhere you discern two wolves unmercifully tearing at a human head! And -this is symbolical of a species of disease, of which there is published an -account in a work called _The Hospitall of Incurable Fooles_, translated -from the Italian by Todd, to the following effect, viz.:-- - -"Amongst these humours of Melancholy, the phisitions place a kinde of -madnes, by the Greeks called _Lycanthropia_, termed by the Latines -_Insania Lupina_, or _Wolves furie_: which bringeth a man to this point -(as Attomare affirmeth), that in Februarie he will goe out of the house in -the night _like a wolfe_, hunting about the graves of the dead with great -howling: _and plucke the dead men's bones out of the sepulchres, carrying -them about the streets_, to the great fear and astonishment of all them -that meete him: And the foresaide author affirmeth, that melancholike -persons of this kinde have pale faces, soaked and hollow eies, with a weak -sight, never shedding one tear to the view of the world," etc. - -And that this was epidemic amongst the Irish is proved by _Spenser's_ -testimony, when, drawing a parallel between the Scythians and the Irish of -his day, he says: "Also, the Scythians said, that they were once a year -turned into wolves; and so it is written of the Irish: though Martin -Camden, in a better sense, doth suppose it was a disease, called -lycanthropia, so named of the wolf: and yet some of the _Irish doe use to -make the wolf their gossip_." - -Thus it appears, that the Irish were not only acquainted with the _nature_ -of this _sickness_, but also with the knack of _taming_ that _animal_ of -which it bore the name. All this was connected with the worship of Apollo, -and with Eastern mythology. Nay, the very _dogs_, for which our country -was once famous,[536] and which were destined as protectors against the -ravages of the _wolf_, are clear, from Ctesias, to have had their -correspondents in India. - -The epithet _Lyceus_, I conceive, now elucidated; and so leave to yourself -to _penetrate_ the rest of those devices. But I shall not, at the same -time, take leave of the "_Valley of the Two Lakes_."[537] - -On one of the loose stones, which remain after this wreck of -magnificence, you will see a full delineation of "The history of -Dahamsonda, King of Baranes (_modern Benares_), who, as his name implies, -was a zealous lover of religious knowledge; and was _incarnated_, in order -to be tried between his _attachment to religion_ and his zeal for the -_salvation of the world_ on the one side, and his love to _his own life_, -and his _attachment to his kingdom_ and wealth, as well as his kindred and -friends, on the other; for which purpose the gods had gradually and -completely _withdrawn the light of religious knowledge_ from the world by -the time of his accession to the throne."[538] - -This king, in his anxiety to regain the _lost_ condition of mankind--to -recover their literature and their _ancient_ knowledge of religion, -instructs his courtiers to proclaim the offer of a casket of gold, "as a -reward to any person" who would instruct his majesty in the mysteries of -the _Bana_,[539] that is, the Budhist _Gospel_, with a view to its -salutary repropagation. - -The officers proceeded in quest of such a phenomenon; but, _in the extent -of their own realms, he was not to be found_! - -This excites the uneasiness of the king, who "having by degrees _increased -his offers_ to thousands and millions of money, high titles, possessions -of land and great privileges; and, at last, offering his own throne and -kingdom, but still finding no instructor, _leaves his court, resolved to -become private traveller, and not to rest till he has found one who could -communicate to him the desired knowledge_. Having _for a length of time -travelled_ through many _kingdoms_, towns, and villages, enduring -hardships, he is, at last, by providential interference, led through _a -delightful valley_ (which affords him subjects for consideration and -recreation of mind) into a dismal forest, the habitation of frightful -demons, _venomous reptiles_, and beasts of prey. - -"_Sekkraia_ having on the occasion come down from heaven, in the disguise -of a _Raksha_, meets _Bodhesat_ (the king) in the wilderness, who -fearlessly enters into conversation with him, and informs him of the -object of his wanderings. The disguised deity undertaking to satisfy the -king, if he will sacrifice to him his flesh and blood in exchange for the -sacred knowledge, _Bodhesat_ cheerfully ascends a steep rock, shown him by -the apparition, and throws himself headlong to the mouth of the _Raksha_. -The king's zeal being thus proved, _Sekkraia_, in his own heavenly form, -receives him in his arms, as he is precipitating himself from the rock," -and has him initiated in the desired information.[540] - -Now, waiving for a moment the latter part of this legend--every word of -which, however, is still chronicled in our country, though transferred by -the _moderns_ to _St. Kevin_ and the _monks_--I return to add, that, on -the above-mentioned stone, you will see a representation of the -_ambassadors offering this caske of riches to a professor of letters -seated in his "doctor's chair"_!!! - -This stone itself is engraved in _Ledwich's Antiquities_, where in his -ignorance of its meaning, as well as of everything else which formed the -subject of his libellous farrago, he perverts it into the _bribing_ of a -_Roman Catholic priest_!--as if the priests would so emblazon -themselves!--and quotes Chaucer to _prove_ the fact, when he says of one -them, that-- - - "He would suffer, for a quart of wine, - A good fellow to have his concubine"! - -How inconsistent is error! Elsewhere this Reverend Doctor has asserted, -and, accidentally, _with truth_, that there was no such thing at all to be -met with at this place, as "Christian symbols." I wonder was he one of -those who consider _Roman Catholics_ not to be _Christians_? - -However, again from _this_ he diverges! And, when called upon to decipher -the _hieroglyphics upon a stone-roofed Tuath-de-danaan chapel, of the same -character as that at Knockmoy_, and discovered here a few years ago, -beneath the Christian piles which the early missionaries had built over -it, by way of _supersedence_, he throws himself, in his embarrassment, -into the arms of _St. Kevin_! associates _him_ with the whole! and that, -too, after he had fatigued himself, _until half choked with spleen_, in -bellowing out the _ideality_ and utter _non-existence_ of such a -personage! - -On the front of the cathedral erected out of the fragments of the -Tuath-de-danaan dilapidations, you will find _Budha_ embracing the _sacred -tree_, known _in our registries_, by the name of _Aithair Faodha_, which -signifies literally the _tree_ of _Budha_.[541] - -The _pomegranate_ of _Astarte_--the medicinal apple of -_affection_[542]--presents itself, also, in the foliage! The _mouldings_ -upon the arch of the western window refer likewise to _her_. And, to -complete the union of Sabian symbolisation, the _serpent_ mingles in the -general tale! while the traditional story of the adjoining _lake_ having -been infested by the presence of that reptile, has a faithful parallel in -one of the lakes of Syria! - -Will it not be believed, therefore, that the _valley_ at which Dohamsonda -had alighted, _after he had traversed many realms far away from his own_, -was that of Glendalough? And where, I ask, would he be more likely to -obtain the object of his peregrination, viz. initiation into _gospel_ -truth, than in that country which, from its pre-eminent effulgence in its -beatitudes, was exclusively denominated the _Gospel-land_? - -This, sir, is no _rhetoric_,--no _declamatory exaggeration_. I will reduce -it for you, in its simple elements, to the perspicuity of vision. - -_Bana-ba_ is one of the names of our _sacred island_, which, like all the -rest of our _history_, has been heretofore a _mystery_ to literary -inquirers! - -The light bursts upon you!--does it not already? Need I proceed to -separate for you the constituent parts of this word? - -It is compounded, then, be it known, of _Bana_, which indicates good -tidings, or gospel, and _aba_, land--meaning, in the aggregate, the -_Gospel-land_! And accordingly the pilgrim, when he set out upon his -journey in quest of the _Bana_, very naturally betook himself to -_Bana-ba_, or the _land of the Bana_, where alone it was to be found! - -And you presume to say that _Christianity_ is a thing which only commenced -last week? - - "Great God! I'd rather be - A _Pagan_ suckled in a creed outworn; - So might I standing on this pleasant lea, - Have _glimpses_ that would make me _less forlorn_; - Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; - Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn." - WORDSWORTH. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI. - - -"They shall be astonished, and shall humble their countenances: and -trouble shall seize them, when they shall behold the Son of _Woman_ -sitting upon the throne of his glory. Then shall the kings, the princes, -and all who possess the earth glorify him who has dominion over all -things--him who was _concealed_: for, from the beginning, the Son of Man -existed _in secret_, whom the Most High preserved in the presence of his -power, and _revealed to the elect_."[543] - -So speaks one of the most extraordinary productions that has ever appeared -in England, in the shape of literature! And the commentary of its -translator[544] is as follows:-- - -"In both these passages," says he, "the _pre-existence_ of the Messiah is -asserted in language which admits not the slightest shade of -ambiguity--nor is it such a pre-existence as the philosophical cabalists -attributed to him, who believed the souls of all men, and, consequently, -that of the Messiah, to have been originally created together, when the -world itself was formed; but an _existence antecedent_ to all creation, an -existence previous to the formation of the luminaries of heaven; an -existence prior to all things visible and invisible, before everything -concealed.--It should likewise be remarked, that the pre-existence -ascribed to him is a divine pre-existence."[545] - -As to the _pre-existence_ of the Messiah, in the only way in which the -Archbishop affirms, I did not think that the doctrine was so obscure as to -require so much stress! Everybody acquiesces, who acquiesces in -Christianity--that its Founder had existence and dominion with His Father -before all worlds. And, therefore, when His Grace offers this as an -_illustration_ of our opening extract, he either _unconsciously -contradicts himself_, or, else, by dealing _in generalities, evades_ an -_exposition, which he was not at liberty to communicate_! - -I am quite ignorant as to whether or not Dr. Lawrence belongs to the order -of _Freemasons_, but I confess that when first I glanced at the above -remarks I fancied he did. The care with which the two words "_secret_" and -"_concealed_" were distinguished by him in _italics_, led me to this -conjecture. But the _indefinite unsubstantiality_ into which he afterwards -wandered, made the fact of his _initiation_ become, itself, a _secret_. - -Let me, however, prove the above _dilemma_. - -His Lordship has asserted, that the _uninspiration_ of "the author" will -admit of no dispute:[546] and yet that "author," whom the Archbishop -himself acknowledges to have written, at the very lowest, _antecedently_ -to the _Advent_, speaks of the _Messiah_ as the "_Son of Man_" and the -"Son of _Woman_."[547] - -Either, therefore, the author was _inspired_, speaking _prospectively_ of -an occurrence _not then consummated_! or else, _uninspired_, he -historically transmits the record of an _incarnation vouchsafed before his -time_. - -I feel perfectly indifferent as to which horn of this alternative you may -patronise. They both equally make for _me_. Nor do I want _either_, -otherwise than to show, that else the Archbishop is already of _my way of -thinking_, and _restrained_ from _avowing_ it, or _unwillingly_ involved -in a _contradictory nodus_, from a partial succumbing to education! - -With this I leave Enoch! I have hitherto done without him! I shall -continue still to do so! But while bidding _adieu_, I must disburthen -myself of the sentiments which his merits have inspired, and that after a -_very short personal familiarity_. - -Thou art, then, a GOODLY and a WISE book, Enoch, stored with _many_ and -_recondite truths_, but "_few_ they be who _find_" them. Better for thee -it were, however, that thou hadst slept a little longer in thy _tranquil_ -retirement, than obtrude thyself, _unappreciated_, upon an _ungenial_ -world--a cold, a calculating, an adamantine world--who fancy they know -_everything_, but who, in truth, know _nothing_--to meet with nothing but -their _scorn_! It is true, Enoch, that thy face hath been tarnished by -many a blemish! And that the hand of time hath dealt with thee, as it doth -with the other works of man! Yet, despite of the _curtailments_ thus -sustained, and the _exotics_ incorporated, thy magnificent ruin still -holds within it some _gleams_, which to the _initiated_ and the -_sympathetic_ afford delight and gratification. - - --------"Sweet as the _ecstatic_ bliss - Of _souls_ that by _intelligence_ converse!" - -Doubtless, reader, you are acquainted with the Gospel of St. John?--and -you have a heart?--and you have emotions?--and you have -sensibilities?--and you have intellect? Well, then, tell me frankly, have -not these all been brought into requisition, at the metaphysical -_sublimity_ and the oriental _pathos_ of the opening part of that -production? - -"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him; and the world _knew -Him not_. He came unto _His own_, and _His own_ received Him not."[548] - -You surely cannot suppose this said in reference to the _late -incarnation_! Were it so, why should the Evangelist deliver himself in -terms so pointedly allusive to _distant times_? The interval between -Christ's disappearance and St. John's registration was but as _yesterday_, -and therefore the latter, when inculcating the _divinity_ of the _former_, -upon the belief of his countrymen, who were all contemporaries, as well of -one as of the other, need not advertise them of an addition, of which they -were themselves cognisant. - -But to illustrate to you as _light_, that it was not the _recent_ -manifestation that was meant by the above text, he tells us in the sequel, -when expressly narrating _this_ latter fact, that "the _Logos_ was made -flesh and dwelt _among us_";[549] where you perceive that "_dwelling among -us_" is made a _distinct thing from_, and _posterior in eventuation to -"coming unto His own,"_ as before recorded![550] - -Indeed, in the delineation, it is not only the _order_ of _time_, but the -_precision_ of _words_, that we see most rigidly characteristic. The -_Jews_, it is certain, could not be called "_His own_," except by -_adoption_; and, I am free to allow, that from them, "as concerning the -_flesh_, Christ came"; but by "_His own_"[551] are meant His _real -relations!--emanations from the Godhead, such as He was Himself! beings -altogether separate from flesh and blood!_ and whose _mysteriousness_ was -perceptible most clearly to St. John, as you will perceive by the Greek -words from which this is rendered, viz. [Greek: ta idia], having been put -in the neuter gender! - -But suppose them, for an instant, to have been the Jews!--Then we are told -that, "to as many as received Him, gave He power to become sons of -God."[552] Now, the apostles were they who did _implicitly receive_ Him: -and why does not St. John refer to those, whether living or dead, as -admitted to the privilege of becoming "sons of God"? I will tell you:--it -was because that they did not answer to that order of beings "which were -born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, -but of God."[553] - -These were the persons to whom _Christ came before_--these were "His own," -because that, _like Him_, they also were _of God_.[554] These were they, -who having lapsed into sin,[555] and vitiated their nature, drew down the -vengeance of heaven upon them; and to the descendants of these it was that -"the elect" and "the concealed one," in mercy was made manifest, with -proposals of redemption to regain their lost state!!! - -"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how -unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable His ways!"[556] - -Seest thou not now, therefore, the propriety of St. John's expression, -when He says, "And I knew Him not, but that He should _be made manifest_ -to Israel";[557] for when, before "He was in the world," it was in -_secret_ and _concealed_--as _still and always represented_ in the -_mysteries_! The latter, he _asserts_, as a matter of _revelation_--for -the former he _appeals to the experience_ of his auditors, as a subject of -_history_: and _both epochs are confirmed_ by the "voice from heaven," -which replied to Christ's own prayer, as thus, "I have both glorified it," -viz. _at Thy former manifestation_--"and will glorify it again,"[558] _at -this Thy present_!!! - -I was myself twelve years of age before ever I saw a Testament in any -language. The first I was then introduced to was the Greek. Being in -favour with my tutor, he took an interest in my progress, and the -consequence was, to my gratitude and his praise, that no deviation from -the exactness of grammatical technicality could possibly escape my -observation. Soon as I arrived at the text wherein [Greek: ta idia] -occurs, its irregularity, at once, flashed across my mind. I sought for an -explanation, but it was in vain; my imagination set to work, but it was -equally abortive. At length, in despair, I relinquished the pursuit, and -never again troubled myself with it, or its solution, until recalled by -its connection with the present inquiry. - -But it was not alone the peculiarity of gender that excited my -circumspection, the phraseology, when translated, sounded so familiar to -my ear, as to appear an old acquaintance under a new form. For, though I -could then tolerably well express myself in English, the train of my -reflections always ran in Irish. From infancy I spoke that tongue: it was -to me vernacular. I thought in Irish, I understood in Irish, and I -compared in Irish. My sentiments and my conceptions were _filtrated_ -therein! - -As to dialectal idioms or lingual peculiarities, I had not, of course, the -most remote idea. Whether, therefore, the expression coming to "His own" -were properly a _Greek_ or an _English_ elocution, I did not, then, know -either sufficiently well to determine; but that it was _Irish_ I was -perfectly satisfied; my ear and my heart, at once, told me so. - -I now positively affirm that the _phrase is neither Hebrew_, _Greek_, nor -_English_! And if you are not disposed to admit the information which it -conveys,[559] to be an immediate communication from the Omnipotent, I have -another very adequate mode of accounting for St. John's having acquired -it, and expressed it too in a phraseology so _essentially Oriental_. - -[Illustration] - -The three wise men--who came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, "Where -is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the -east, and are come to worship Him"[560]--to a mortal certainty imparted to -him the intelligence! - -Here you see them with _crosses_ upon their crowns,[561] the religious -counterparts of our _Irish shamrocs_![562] And surely, as Jesus was then -but an infant, those mysterious devices were commemorative of His -crucifixion, when "He came to His own,"--and not to that which occurred -while He "dwelt among us," a catastrophe which had not yet taken place! - -Nor is it alone this single phrase ([Greek: ta idia]) that I claim as -Oriental--the five first verses of this Gospel, as at present arranged, -appertain also thereto. They speak the _doctrine_ alike of the _Budhists_ -and of the _Free-masons_; but in _diction_, and in _peculiarity_, in -_tone_, in _point_, and _essence_, they are irrefragably _Irish_.[563] - -That St. John never wrote them is beyond all question! but having found -them to his hand, existing after the circuit of centuries and ages, the -composition seemed so pure, and so consonant with Christianity, nay, its -very vitality and soul, he adopted it as the _preface_ to his _own -production_, which begins only at the sixth verse, opening with, "There -was a man sent from God whose name was John"! - -Having asserted that the preliminary part was inalienably _Irish_, I now -undertake to prove a _radical misconception_, nay, a _derogation_ from the -_majesty_ of the _Messiah_, to have crept into the text, in consequence -of its having been translated by persons unacquainted with that language! - -The term _logos_, which you render _word_, means to an iota the _spiritual -flame_--_log_, or _logh_, being the _original_ denomination. The Greeks, -who had borrowed all their religion from the Irish, adopted this also from -their vocabulary; but its form not being suited to the genius of their -language, they fashioned it thereto by adding the termination _os_, as -_loghos_; and thus did it become identified in sound with the common -_logos_, which they had before, and which merely expresses a _word_ or -_term_! - -But though thus confounded, their philosophers, for a long time, kept both -expressions distinct. The former they ever considered a _foreign -importation_, rendering it, as we did, by the _spiritual flame_; as is -evident from Zeno making use of the expression, [Greek: dia tou pantos -logos], that is, the spiritual _flame_, which is diffused through, and -vivifies everything. - -Pythagoras is so explicit upon this _spiritual flame_, that you would -swear he was paraphrasing the first five verses of St. John. - -"God," says he, "is neither the object of sense, nor subject to passion, -but invisible, only intelligible, and supremely intelligent. In His body, -He is like the _light_, and in His soul He resembles truth. He is the -universal _spirit_ that pervades and diffuseth itself over all nature. All -beings receive their _life_ from Him. There is but one only God, who is -not, as some are apt to imagine, seated above the world, beyond the orb of -the universe; but being Himself all in all, He sees all the beings that -fill His immensity, the only principle, the light of Heaven, the Father -of all. He _produces everything_, He orders and disposes _everything_; He -is the reason, the _life_, and the motion of all being." - -Even the Latins having borrowed the idea from the Greeks, steered clear of -the equivocation of the ridiculous _word_; and the immortal Maro, when -describing the quickening influence of this ethereal _logos_ through all -the branches of nature, interprets it as above, literally, by the -_spiritual flame_! - - "Principio coelum ac terras, camposque liquentes, - Lucentemque globum Lunæ, Titaniaque Astra, - _Spiritus intus_ alit; totamque infusa per artus - Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. - Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitæque volantum, - Et quæ marmoreo fert monstra sub æquore pontus."[564] - -Am I, therefore, presumptuous in appealing to the _community_ to reject -this _word_ as applied to the _logos_? A meaning, it is true, has been -trumped up for this, as the _communicating vehicle_ between God and His -creatures! No doubt the Saviour is all that: but _logos does not express -it_; and the _duration_ of an abuse is no reason why it should be -perpetuated after its _exposure_. - -I have said that it degraded the dignity of the Godhead to render this -expression by the form of _word_. I do not retract the charge: on the -contrary, I _add_ that, independently altogether of the former arguments, -adduced to establish its _inaccuracy_, it would be _revolting to common -sense_, were it not even thus _incorrect_! - -For example--"In Him was _life_," says the text, "and the life was the -_light_ of men." - -Now, how could there be _life_ in a _word_? except by the most unnatural -straining of metaphor. Or, admitting that there was _life_, how could -there be _light_, except by the same? Whereas, by substituting the proper -term, then all is regular and easy; for what could be more natural, than -that there should be _life_ in _spirit_? and that _this life_ should give -_light_ to men? - -You will observe accordingly, that Jesus Himself, when describing His own -character, exactly states what I here rectify, saying, "I am the _light_ -of the world"--not the _word_ of the world--or any such nonsense. And He -continues the idea by noting further, that "he that followeth Me shall not -walk in _darkness_, but shall have the _light_ of life."[565] Thus keeping -up an _uninterrupted_ reference to _logos_, or the _spiritual flame_! - -I do, therefore, humbly, but strenuously, implore of the legislature that -they _restore_ this epithet to its _divine_ interpretation! I entreat of -the heads, as well of Church as of State, that they cancel the error; for -_error_ I unhesitatingly pronounce it to be,--a _derogation_ from the -Godhead, and a _perversion_ of the attributes of the Messiah! - -I will myself show the way--thus: "In the beginning was the _spiritual -flame_: and the _spiritual flame_ was with God, and the _spiritual flame_ -was God."[566] - -How beautiful! may I hope that it will never more be extinguished! - -Now, there is another text in the same chapter, which, though not -incorrectly translated, yet _loses half its beauty_ as at present -understood! It will startle you when I recite it! Yet here it comes. -"Behold the _Lamb_ of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!"[567] - -By _lamb_, no doubt, you mean a young sheep: but let me ask you, what -connection can you perceive between a _young sheep_ and the _taking away -of sin_? That of immolation, you answer, as typifying the _grand -offering_. Well, then, why add "of God"? Why say, the _young sheep of -God_, if it was an ordinary animal of the mere _ovine species_ that was -intended? - -No, sir; recollect the "_Lamb_ slain from the beginning of the world," -recorded in the Revelations, as quoted before.[568] - -A deep mystery is involved in this expression, which the ingenuity of man -could not evolve but through the Irish. In that language _lambh_ is a word -having _three_ significations. The first is a _hand_; the second a _young -sheep_; and the third a _cross_.[569] - -Let us now, in rendering the text, substitute this latter instead of the -intermediate; and it will be, "Behold the _cross_ of God, which taketh -away the sin of the world!" By which you perceive that when John the -Baptist, by inspiration, pointed out Jesus Christ as the universal Saviour -of the world, his _very words_ establish a previous _crucifixion_! - -You now see how it happened that ten, in numerals, came to be represented -by a cross X. _This_ being the _number_ of _fingers_ upon each person's -hands: and a _hand_ and a _cross_ being both prefigured in the _sacred_, -that is, in the _Irish_ language,[570] by the same term, _lambh_, it hence -occurred that in all reckoning and notation, a _new score_ should be -commenced therefrom--that its _sanctity_ should be still further enhanced -by the epithet of _diag_, or _perfection_, which characterises it as a -_submultiple_, and that the _mysteriousness_ of the _whole_ should be -additionally shrouded under the _comprehensive symbol_ of a _pyramid_ or -_triangle_ [Triangle][571] - -"Our Hibernian Druids," says Vallancey, "always wore a key, like the -doctors of law of the Jews, to _show they alone had the key of the -sciences_, that is, that they alone could communicate the knowledge of the -doctrine they preached. The name of this key was _kire_, or _cire_; and -_eo_, a peg or pin, being compounded with it, forms the modern _eo-cire_, -the key of a lock. The figure of this key resembled a _cross_; those of -the Lacedæmonians and Egyptians were of the same form." - -Estimable and revered Vallancey, it pains me to say anything against you! -but on those subjects you were quite _at bay_! _It was not_ to "show that -they alone had the key of the sciences," that "the doctors of law of the -Jews always wore _a key_," but because that _they had seen it in the -ceremonial of the Egyptians_, from whom, like the Lacedæmonians, they had -borrowed its use, without _either of them being able to penetrate its -import_![572] - -The origin, then, of this _badge_ appearing amongst the _habiliments_ of -our ancient priests, is developed by the _name_ which those priests -themselves bore, viz. _Luamh_, which, being but a direct formative from -_lambh_, a _cross_, _unlocks_ the _secret_ of their being its -_ministers_.[573] - -The _Idæi-Dactyli_, who superintended the mysteries of Ceres, obtained -their designation from the very same cause, and corresponded literally -with our _Luamhs_: for the _Iod_ of the Chaldeans being equivalent to the -_lambh_ or _hand_ of the Irish, the number of fingers thereon were made -religiously significant of the X, or _cross_! And,--what cannot fail to -excite astonishment, as to the _immutability_ of a nation's -_character_,--_to this very hour, the symbolical oath of the Irish peasant -is a transverse placing of the forefinger of one hand over that of the -other_, and then uttering the words, "_By the cross_"! - -Are not the opposers of my _truths_, then, as yet satisfied? or will they -still persist in saying that it was the _Pope_ that sent over our -Tuath-de-danaan crosses?[574] in the ship _Argho_! some thousands of years -before ever Pope was born. I wonder was it His Holiness that transported -emissaries also to that ancient city in America, lately discovered in -ruins, near Palenque; amongst the sculptures of which we discover a -_cross_! And the _priority_ of which to the times of _Christianity_ is -borne witness to by the gentleman who has published the "Description" of -those ruins,[575] though _glaringly ignorant as to what was commemorated -thereby_. - -"Upon one point, however," he says, "it is deemed essentially necessary to -lay a stress, which is the _representation of a Greek cross_, in the -largest plate illustrative of the present work, from whence the _casual_ -observer might be prompted to infer that the Palencian city flourished at -a period _subsequent_ to the Christian era; whereas it is _perfectly well -known to all those conversant_ with the mythology _of the ancients_, that -the figure of a _cross_ constituted the leading symbol of their religious -worship: for instance, the augural _staff_ or wand of the Romans was an -exact resemblance of a _cross_, being borne as the ensign of authority by -the community of the augurs of Rome, where they were held in such high -veneration that, although guilty of flagrant crimes, they could not be -deposed from their offices; and with the Egyptians the _staff_ of Bootes -or Osiris is similar to the _crosier_ of Catholic bishops, which -terminated at the top with a cross." - -But if the Pope had so great a taste for beautifying our valleys with -those costly specimens of art, whereof some are at least eighteen feet in -height, composed of a single stone, and chiselled into devices of the most -elaborate mysteries, is it not _marvellous_ that he has not, in the -plenitude of his piety, thought proper to adorn the neighbourhood of the -Holy See with any similar trophies? And why has he not preserved in the -archives of the Vatican any _record_ of the bequest, as he has taken care -to do in the case of the four _palls_? - -But, transcendently and lastly, why did he deem it necessary to depict -_centaurs_ upon those _crosses_, with snakes, serpents, dogs and other -animals, such as this following one exhibits, which is that at Kells, and -which has been alluded to, by promise, some pages backwards.[576] - -[Illustration] - -I have now done with the _appropriation_ of those columns; and shall just -_whisper_ into my adversaries' ears--_if they have but recovered from the -downcrash of their_ fabric--that so far from laying claim to the honour of -their erection, the Pope has actually excommunicated all such as revered -them! and has otherwise disowned all participation therein, by the -fulminating of bulls and of anathemas![577] - -Yet did the zealots of party, after the history of those crosses was -forgotten, associate them individually with some favourite saint! "This -notion," says Mosheim, referring to such _diversions_, "rendered it -necessary to multiply prodigiously their number, and to create daily new -ones. The clergy set their invention at work, and peopled at discretion -the invisible world with imaginary protectors; they invented the names and -histories of saints that never existed; many chose their own patrons, -either phantoms of their own creation or distracted fanatics whom they -sainted." - -Here, however, the historian is as _inaccurate_ as he is _severe_: for not -only did the majority of those _saints_, if not all of them, exist, but -the greater part also of those _exploits_ ascribed to them have actually -occurred! _The imposition consisted in making them the heroes of events -and legends belonging to former actors._[578] - -I shall now give you, from the Book of Ballymote, my proof for the -assertion before advanced as to the _Goban Saer_, whom they would fain -appropriate, having been a member of the Tuath-de-danaans, viz.: "Ro -gabsat sartain in Eirin Tuatha Dadann is deb ro badar na prem ealadhnaigh: -Luchtand saer credne ceard: Dian ceachd liargh etan dan a hingeinsidhe: -buime na filedh Goibneadh _Gobha lug_ Mac Eithe Occai; ro badar na huile -dana Daghadae in Righ: oghma brathair in Righ, is e ar arainic litri no -Scot." That is, The Tuath-de-danaans then ruled in Eirin. They were first -in all sciences. Credne Ceard was of this people; and his daughter _Dean_ -Ceachd, who presided over physic: she nursed the poet Gohne _Gobha_, the -Free-mason (_lug_ is the same as _Saer_), son of Occai Esthne. Daghdae the -king was skilled in all sciences: his brother Ogmus _taught the Scythians -the use of letters_. - -Thus you see that he could not, by possibility, be on the same theatre -with _St. Abham_; while the popular tradition is still substantially true -which connects his name with the erection of the Round Towers! - -The Church festivals themselves, in our Christian calendar, are but the -direct transfers from the Tuath-de-danaan ritual. Their very _names_ in -Irish are identically the same as those by which they were distinguished -by that earlier race. If therefore, surprise has heretofore been excited -at the conformity observable between our Church institutions and those of -the East, let it in future subside at the explicit announcement that -_Christianity_, with us, was but the _revival_ of a religion imported -amongst us, many ages before, by the Tuath-de-danaans from the East, and -not from any chimerical inundation of Greek missionaries--a _revival_ upon -which their hearts were longingly riveted, and which Fiech himself, the -pupil of St. Patrick, and bishop of Sletty, unconsciously registers in the -following couplet, viz.:-- - - "_Tuatha_ Heren, tarcaintais - Dos nicfead sith laithaith nua."[579] - -That is,-- - - The _Budhists_ of Irin prophesied - That _new_ times of _peace_ would come. - -What kind of _peace_, you ask? Is it of _deliverance_ from their -_Scythian_ oppressors? No, but that spiritual tranquillity, such as they -enjoyed before, and at which even the angels of heaven rejoiced, while -announcing the tidings to man[580]-- - - "And sweet, and with rapture o'erflowing, - Was the song from that multitude heard, - Who their heav'n for a season foregoing, - To second the Angel appear'd. - 'All glory,' the anthem resounding, - 'To God in the highest,' began; - And the chant was re-echoed, responding, - '_Peace_ on earth, loving-kindness to man.'"[581] - -You will remember that the Scriptures themselves record, how that the -_wise men of the East_ foresaw this epoch; and "Lo, the star which they -saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the -young child was."[582] - -Is it therefore to be wondered at that our Tuath-de-danaans, who were -their brethren, should equally anticipate it? - -Yes, from the commencement of time, and through all the changes of -humanity, God had always witnesses to the _truth_ in this nether world. - -"And Melchizedec, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was -the priest of the most high God. - -"And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, -possessor of heaven and earth: - -"And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies -into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all."[583] - -"Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham -gave the tenth of the spoils. - -"For this Melchizedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met -Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him: - -"To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all: first being, by -interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, -which is king of _peace_. - -"Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning -of days nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God--abideth a -_priest_ continually."[584] - -Thus does the apostle proceed, in a strain of the closest argumentation, -to point out the superiority of this king of _peace_, over Abraham and his -lineage: after which Mr. Brown, in his _Commentary_ upon the Bible, -expresses himself as follows, viz.:--"Who this Melchizedec was, this -priest of God among the Canaanites, greater than Abraham, the friend of -God, who were his parents or his successors, is on purpose concealed by -the Holy Ghost. And hence he is without father or mother, predecessor or -successor, in his historical account, in order that he might typify the -incomprehensible dignity, the amazing pedigree and unchangeable duration -of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest." - -Nobody can quarrel with the _piety_ of this commentator: but _piety_ is -not the only requisite for a commentator upon the Scriptures: the _absence -of stupidity_ is an essential condition. It is not, however, as applied to -_this particular passage_ that I thus express myself: were this the only -instance of _accommodating oversight_ it should draw forth no critique -from me. But the instances are _innumerable_, to verify the expression -that "some persons _see_, but _perceive_ not." - -Mr. Brown had no idea of an _emanation_! Mr. Brown did not comprehend the -_sons of God_! Mr. Brown did not know the connection which existed between -the _peace_ of Christ and that which was represented by Melchizedec.[585] - -"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth _good -tidings_, that publisheth _peace_; that bringeth _good tidings_ of good, -that publisheth _salvation_; that saith unto Zion, Thy _God_ -reigneth."[586] - -"These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have _peace_. In -the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome -the world."[587] - -"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day the things which -belong unto thy _peace_! but now they are hid from thine eyes."[588] - -"_Peace_ I leave with you; _My peace_ I give unto you: not as the world -giveth, give I unto you."[589] - -"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and -which entereth into that within the veil; - -"Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an _High -Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec_."[590] - - "From our fathers to us the good tidings descend, - From us to our children agen; - Unrestrain'd as the sun, and as lasting, they blend - All the nations and ages of men. - Good news of great joy to all people, they speak - At once to the learn'd and the rude, - To barbarian and Scythian, the Jew and the Greek, - Nor country nor person exclude. - - From the man who goes forth to his labour by day, - To the woman his help-meet at home; - From the child that delights in his infantine play, - To the old on the brink of the tomb; - From the bridal companions, the youth and the maid, - To the train on the death-pomp that wait; - From the rich in fine linen and purple array'd, - To the beggar that lies at his gate: - - To all is the ensign of blessedness shown, - To the dwellers in vale or on hill, - Alike to the monarch who sits on his throne, - And the bond-man who toils at the mill; - High and low, rich and poor, young and old, one and all, - Earth's sojourners, dead and alive, - Who perish'd by Adam, our forefather's fall, - Shall in Jesus the Saviour revive. - - Not an ear, that those tidings of welfare can meet, - But to _it_ doth that welfare belong: - Then those tidings with rapture what ear shall not greet, - What tongue shall not echo the song? - All hail to the Saviour! all hail to the Lord! - God and Man in one person combined! - The Father's Anointed! by Angels adored! - The Hope and Delight of mankind!"[591] - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII. - - "Yet once I was blind, and could not see the light, - And straight to Jeru-_salem_ I then took my flight; - They led me through a wilderness, with a multitude of care, - You may know me by the system, or badge I wear. - - Twelve dazzling lights I saw, which did me surprise; - I stood in amaze where I heard a great noise; - A _serpent_ came by me,--I fell unto the ground, - With joy, peace, and comfort the _secret_ I found."[592] - - -The _principle_ of all mysteries having been already elucidated, it only -remains, that in this concluding chapter, I point out a few more instances -of their practical application. - -In the Gospel, then, according to St. Matthew, I find the words, "_O -generation of vipers_, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to -come?"[593] And in that according to St. John, the following, "We be not -_born of fornication_; we have one Father, even God."[594] - -The juxtaposition of these texts, one with another, and the comparison of -them, mutually, with the explication of the _serpent_, given at p. 229, -will not only confirm the _truth_ of all the foregoing developments, but -satisfy you further, what I am very certain you did not before identify, -viz. that the phrases _generation of vipers_, and the being _born of -fornication_, are one and the same--the _viper_, or _serpent_, being the -symbol of _lustfulness_, making the former equivalent to _ye offspring of -concupiscence_; that is, in other words, ye _born of fornication_![595] -And the very stress laid upon this mode of _geniture_, implies not only -the _possibility_ of a different sort, but its _frequency_ also! - -"In the Purana prophecies concerning the expected Saviour," say the -_Asiatic Researches_, "it is said, that he was the son, or rather the -incarnation, of the great serpent: and his mother was also of that tribe, -and incarnate in the house of a pot-maker. She conceived, at the age of -one year and a half, the great serpent gliding over her while she was -asleep in the cradle: and his mother, accordingly, is represented as -saying to the child, once that she brought him to a place full of -serpents--'Go and play with them, _they are your relations_.'" - -Here it will be seen that, under the form of a serpent, is personified the -_Deity_, or the _generative power_. - -Nunez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapa, in Mexico, when describing Nagualism, -in his _Constitutions_, as observed in that country, says: "The Nagualists -practise it by superstitious calendars, wherein are inserted the proper -names of all the Naguals, of stars, the elements, birds, beasts, fishes, -and reptiles; with observations upon the months and days; in order that -the children, as soon as they are born, may be dedicated to that which, in -the calendar, corresponds with the day of their birth; this is preceded by -some frantic ceremonies, and the express consent of parents, which is an -explicit part between the infants and the Naguals that are to be given to -them. They then appoint the _melpa_, or place, where, after the completion -of seven years, they are brought into the presence of the Nagual to ratify -the engagement; for this purpose they make them renounce God and His -blessed Mother, instructing them beforehand not to be alarmed, or sign -themselves with the cross: they are afterwards to embrace the Nagual -affectionately, which, by _some diabolical art or another, appears very -tame, and fondly attached to them, although it may be a beast of a -ferocious nature, as a lion, a tiger, etc._ They persuade the children, by -their _infernal cunning_, that this Nagual is _an angel sent by God_ to -watch over their fortunes, to protect, assist, and accompany them; and -that it must be invoked upon all occasions, business, or occurrences, in -which they may require its aid!" - -It is very clear, that the _Nagualism_ above notified is but a degenerate -offshoot of that _serpent_ worship, which is coeval with the _fall_: yet, -degenerate as it is, it is equally indisputable, that this good man's zeal -outsteps far his judgment, the exaggerations of his fancy even committing -him so far, as to make him imperceptibly contradict himself! - -Surely, were it a principle of action with those unfortunate beings to -make their children, on their entrance upon active life, to _renounce -God_, they would not teach them, at the same time, to _reverence_ a brute -creature, merely as being a _subordinate servant of that God_! - -To reconcile the Bishop, therefore, to something like truth, I will -suppose him to mean by the word _God_, where it first occurs, _Christ_, -which is evident from the context, of "His blessed Mother": and then the -prohibition against the sign of "the cross," must be understood -exclusively as in reference to _him_; a conclusion which is confirmed by -an additional reference to that _oath_, which I have before mentioned, as -still prevalent amongst the Irish. - -_By the cross_ is the oath, accompanied by a transverse location of the -forefinger of one hand upon that of the other: and the addition alluded to -is _of Christ_, which is never volunteered except when equivocation is -suspected; and then it is exacted as a matter of _distinction_ between -_His_ cross and the _more antecedent_ one! - -But no further proof is requisite to prove the Bishop's want of candour -than his _withholding_ documents from the public eye, which would appear -to illustrate the subject.--"Although in these tracts and papers there -are," says he, "many other things touching primitive paganism, they are -not mentioned in this epitome, lest, in being brought into notice, they -should be the means of confirming more strongly an idolatrous -superstition." He should have had more confidence in his own cause, and -feel that--"If anything, in consequence of this scrutiny, totter and fall, -it can only be the _error_ which has attached itself to truth, encumbering -and deforming it. _Truth_ itself will remain _unshaken, unsullied, fair, -immortal_!" - -Now, in the description of the ancient city, near Palenque, quoted before, -I find some words, which prove an affinity between the worship of the -ancient inhabitants of America and those of Ireland, and which rescue both -from the imputations of bigotry. "I am _Culebra_," says _Votan_, one of -the early princes, I believe, of Mexico, who wrote an historical tract in -the Indian idiom, "because I am Chivim." - -The man's name, you perceive, was _Votan_, but his ambition was to be -considered _Culebra_, or the _snake_, that is, the deity so personified: -the mode whereby he sought to establish it is foreign from my inquiry. - -The _Gadelglas_ of the ancient Irish was precisely similar to this -_Culebra_ of the Americans: _gad_ signifying a snake, or tortuosity: _el_, -god; and _glas_, green--in all, the _green snake-god_! And conformably -with this import, we are assured by a man who knew very little as to the -_reason why_, but whose testimony is here valuable in a matter of -_record_, not of _opinion_; namely, that the "Milesians, from the time -they first conquered Ireland, down to the reign of Ollamh Fodhla, made use -of no other _arms of distinction in their banners_ than a _serpent twisted -round a rod_, after the example of their Gadelian ancestors."[596] - -You have now the _proof_ of "_who puts the snakes_ upon our _ancient -crosses_?" And, independently of such proof, the antiquity itself of all -the traditions associating the _serpent_ with the early memoirs of our -ancestors was so great as to appal even the _monks_! And as they could -not, in their system of _transferring_ our history, _bring down_ this -serpent to the era of the _saints_, they resolved, at all events, to have -him in their dispensation, and so made _Moses_ the hero! - -This they contrived by inventing the name of _Gadel_ for one of our -forefathers, and then transplanting him to the coast of the Red Sea, just -as the Legislator of the Jews was conducting them out of Egypt! They then -very unsacerdotally make a serpent bite him in some part of the heel, but -very graciously afterwards restore him to sanity by Moses's interposition! -with a stipulation, however, that the former _sore_ should ever appear -_glass_ or _green_! And thus was he called _Gadelglas_, or _Gadel the -Green_!!! - -In truth, it was from this _green_ snake-god, above explained, that the -island obtained the designation of _Emerald_; and not from the _verdure_ -of its soil, which is not greater than that of other countries. - -The Arabians have a tradition, that Enoch was the first who, after Enos, -son of Seth, son of Adam, wrote with a pen, in the use of which he -instructed his children, saying to them additionally, "O, my sons, know -that ye are _Sabians_!" - -Although the substance of the _religion_, couched under this designation, -has been already explained, yet the origin of the name itself remains yet -to be unfolded. - -Then be it known, that in the _sacred_, _i.e._ _Irish_ language, the word -_Sabh_,[597] has three significations--firstly, _voluptuousness_, or the -_yoni_; secondly, a _snake_, or sinuosity; and, thirdly, _death_ or life! -And in accordance with this triple import, if you roll back the leaves as -far as p. 229, you will find in the plate inserted there, and which has -been transcribed from the sculptures of the ancient Palencian city before -alluded to, those three symbols, viz. the _yoni_, the _serpent_, and -_death_, all united in design, and illustrating my development of that -mysterious scene wherein-- - - "Eve _tempting_ Adam by a _serpent_ was stung."[598] - -The sculpture itself is intended to pourtray the situation of those -progenitors of the human species in the Garden of Eden. And yet, striking -as it is, would its tendency remain ever a _secret_, were it not for the -instrumentality of the _Irish_ language! - -"That the society of free and accepted Masons possess a grand _secret_ -among themselves is an undoubted fact. What this grand secret is, or of -what unknown materials it consists, mankind in general, not dignified with -the order, have made the most ridiculous suppositions. The ignorant form -incoherencies, such as conferring with the devil, and many other -contemptible surmises, too tedious to mention, and too dull to laugh at. -While the better sort, and more polished part of mankind, puzzle -themselves with reflections more refined, though equally absurd. To dispel -the opinionative mist from the eye of general error is the author's -intention; and however rash the step may be thought, that he, a mere atom -in the grand system, should attempt so difficult, so nice a task, yet he -flatters himself that he shall not only get clear over it, but meet with -the united plaudits both of the public and of his brethren. And he must -beg leave to whisper to the ignorant, as well as the judicious, who thus -unwarrantably give their judgment, that the truth of this grand secret is -as delicately nice as the element of air; though the phenomenon -continually surrounds us, yet human sensation can never feelingly touch it -till constituted to the impression by the masonic art. The _principal_, -similar to the orb of light, universally warms and enlightens the -_principles_, the first of which, virtue, like the moon, is heavenly -chaste, attended by ten thousand star-bright qualifications. The masonic -system is perfectly the emblem of the astronomic; it springs from the -same God, partakes of the same originality, still flourishes in immortal -youth, and but with nature will expire."[599] - -The _contortions_ of the snake were easily transferred to the revolutions -of the heavenly bodies. "When the ancients," says Boulanger, "found out -the true cycle of the sun, they coined names by a _jeu de mots_, or words, -signifying its heat, or its course, that made up the number 365, as they -had done before to make up 360. The name Sabasins, that has so much -perplexed antiquaries and etymologists, is no more than a _numerical -name_, which was given to Jupiter and to Bacchus as _periodical_ deities. -When the suppliant was initiated into the mysteries of Sabasins, a -_serpent_, the symbol of revolution, was thrown upon his breast. [Greek: -To SABOE], which the Greeks repeated so often in the feasts of Bacchus -_without understanding the meaning of the words_, meant no more than the -cycle of the year, from the Chaldean _Sabb circuire vertere_, etc. The -ancient religion, which applied entirely to the motions of the heavens and -_periodical return_ of the stars, was for that reason named _Sabianism_, -all derived from the Chaldee _Seba_, a _revolution_"; and this, though -Boulanger knew it not, from the Irish Sabh, _serpent_, or _pith_. - -Sabaism, therefore, and Ophiolatreia were all one with Gadelianism; and -while, apparently, purporting to be the worship of the _serpent_ and the -_stars_, were in reality the worship of the _Sabh_ or _Yoni_--so that the -dialogue in Genesis between Eve and the _serpent_, was, in truth, a parley -between Eve and the _Yoni_: and the materials for the allegory were -afforded by the fact of _serpent_ and _yoni_ being both expressed in the -sacred, _i.e._ Irish language, by one and the same name, just as the -Lingam and the Tree of Knowledge have been before identified. - -The mystery, then, of our ancient escutcheon, viz. a _serpent_ twisted -_round a rod_, resolves itself into the _Yoni embracing_ the _Lingam_. - -Hence, too, it was that the portals of all the Egyptian temples were -decorated with the impress of the circle and the serpent. You see also, -why the _seasons_, at the equinoxes and solstices, should have been marked -upon the circle at p. 225; and you further see the mysterious tendency of -the Prophet's injunction to his children, when he said, "Remember that ye -are _Sabians_," to have been equivalent with--Keep constantly in view that -you are the offspring of _concupiscence_, and, by the suggestion of the -_serpent_, begotten in _sin_, the penalty of which, as a breach of the -Creator's commandments, is inevitable _death_, from which you are only -extricated through the promised Redeemer, emanating from the same source -which was before instrumental in entailing your sorrow! - -Every syllable of this is hieroglyphically expressed upon the plate -inserted at p. 223, where you observe the _cockatrice_, or snake-god, -placed at the bottom; over him the _crescent_, or mysterious _boot_, -_i.e._ _yoni_, the object seduced; and, finally, the _cross_ in triumph -over both, intimating emancipation by the vicarious passion of God's own -Son. - -This, then, is my answer to V. W.'s question at p. 225, where he asks, -"What relation had this with the Nehustan, or brazen serpent, to which the -Israelites paid divine honours in the time of Hezekiah?" - -From this _Sabaism_, or _serpent worship_, Ireland obtained the name of -_Tibholas_ or _Tivolas_; _S_ and _T_ being commutable letters, _Tibholas_ -is the same as _Sibholas_, and this being derived from _sibal_, a circle, -shows the name to have been equivalent with the _land of circles or -revolutions_, otherwise, both to the serpent and the planets. - -Those prophetic women of Etruria, designated _Sybils_, were named from the -same cause, being priestesses of the _serpent_, _i.e._ the _Sabh_ or -_Yoni_--allegorically represented as married to Apollo, and gifted with a -longevity of a thousand years. Here, again, the same conversion of letters -occurred, for the place which _they_ inhabited was called from themselves, -_Tivola_, corresponding to our Tivolas, the _S_ and _T_ being, as before -explained, commutable, and _b_ or _bh_ being equivalent to _v_. - -_Pythia_ is exactly synonymous with _Sybil_, meaning the priestess who -presided over the _Pith_, which, like Sabhus, means as well _serpent_ as -_yoni_: and the oracle which she attended was called _Delphi_, from _de_, -divine, and _phith_, yoni--it being but a _cave_ in the shape of that -symbol,[600] over the orifice of which the priestess used to take her seat -upon a sacred _tripod_, or the religiously emblematic pyramid,[601] while -the inspiring vapour issued from beneath through a tube similar to that -exhibited at p. 460, and one end of which, passing through the aperture, -held fast the tripod to which the priestess had been secured, so that she -should not, in her delirium, relinquish the position. - -The great Samian philosopher, known as Pythagoras, only assumed this name -in deference to those rites: for _Pyth-agoras_ means one who _expounds_ -the mysteries of the _pith_, viz. _death_ from its weakness, and -_redemption_ from its virtue. - -"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name -Immanuel,"[602] was the spiritual substance of those _expositions_: the -only difference being in that _Isaiah_ spoke prospectively towards a -lately verified issue, whereas the _initiated_ took the promise from the -moment of the _fall_: and of its _partial_ accomplishment prior to our -era, there can be no doubt, even from the writings of this prophet. - -On the opposite plate are three profile likenesses of Christ, as He -appeared upon earth in human form--the first is a facsimile from a _brass_ -medal, found at Brein Owyn, in the Isle of Anglesey, and published in -Rowland's _Mona Antiqua_. The inscription upon it has been translated as -meaning, "Jesus the Mighty, this is the Christ and the Man together." - -The second, likewise of brass, and found at Friar's Walk, near Cork, is -now in the possession of a Mr. Corlett.--Inscription upon one side, "The -Lord Jesus."--Upon the other, "Christ the King came in _peace_, and the -light from the heaven was made life." - -You will please observe here, that he does not say the _Word_ was made -life, but the _Light_ was made life. - -The third is of silver, and the inscription means, "Jesus of Nazareth, the -Christ--the Lord and the Man together." - -The originals of these inscriptions are all in Hebrew, and the -likenesses which accompany them, although on different metals, appear -almost copies one of another: whereas the cruciform figures herein already -inserted, have no one feature of correspondence whatsoever with them, but -prove themselves, on the contrary, in every particular, an antecedent -generation.[603] - -[Illustration] - -As everything else appertaining to the history of the Round Towers has -already been explained, I shall now account for the difference of -appropriation noticed at p. 6. Having been all erected in honour of the -_Budh_, they all partook of the phallic form; but as several enthusiasts -personified this abstract, which, in consequence of the _mysteries_ -involved in the thought and the impenetrable veil which shrouded it from -the vulgar, became synonymous with _wisdom_ or _wise man_, it was -necessary, of course, that the Towers constructed in honour of each should -portray the distinctive attributes of the individuals specified. Hence the -difference of apertures towards the præputial apex, the crucifixions over -the doors, and the absence or presence of internal compartments.[604] - -Those venerable piles vary in their elevation from fifty to one hundred -and fifty feet. At some distance from the summit there springs out a sort -of covering, which--accompanied as it sometimes is with a cornice, richly -sculptured in foliage, in imitation, if you must have it, _præputii -humani_, but such also was the pattern of the "nets of checker-work and -wreaths of chain-work," which graced "the chapiters which were upon the -top of the two pillars belonging to Solomon's temple"--terminates above in -a sort of sugar-loaf crown, concave on the inside and convex on the -outside. - -Their diameter at the base is generally about fourteen feet through, that -inside measuring about eight, which decreases gradually, but -imperceptibly, to the top, where it may be considered as about six feet in -the interior. - -The distance of the door from the level of the ground varies from four to -twenty-four feet. The higher the door the more irrefragable is the -evidence of the appropriation of the structure to the purposes specified. -The object was two-fold, at once to keep off profane curiosity and allow -the votaries the undisturbed exercise of their _devotions_; and to save -the _relics_ deposited underneath from the irreverent gaze of the casual -itinerant. - -Analogous to these would appear to have been the edifices which the Lord -had in view when He said, "Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine -altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon,"[605] which -additionally proves the antiquity of the Irish _philebeg_; for, as with -any other costume, such a prohibition would be needless, it follows that -the prevailing fashion, in the eastern habiliments, must have been diffuse -and open in the nether extremes. - -I beg the reader will now be pleased to look back at the Tuath-de-danaan -cross at p. 358, and he will at once see how it happened that the _Goban -Saer_, who is there represented, has been imposed upon the Royal Irish -Academy, or rather promulgated by them, as a _woman_! viz. from the -peculiarity of his _dress_! being the distinctive badge of his sacerdotal -order. - -Nor is it only the character of those sculptures, but the existence of any -sculptures upon those relics, as well crosses as towers, that proves them -to have been Tuath-de-danaan; for the reason why Jehovah forbade the -Israelites from using any _tools_ upon the stones used in their religious -edifices was, that other nations had loaded theirs with sculptured images -of different gods, which made Him say, "If thou wilt make Me an altar of -stone, thou shalt not build it of _hewn_ stone, for if thou _lift up thy -tool upon it_, thou hast polluted it." - -In their masonic construction there is nothing in the Irish Towers -appertaining to any of the four orders of architecture prescribed by the -moderns. It is so also with those in the East. They approach nearest, -however, to the Tuscan, and the reason of that similarity may be imagined -from what I have already stated as to the Etrurians. - -Prepared stone is the material of which they are generally composed, and -evidently, in some instances, brought from afar. Sometimes also they -appear constructed of an _artificial_ substance resembling a reddish -brick, squared, and corresponding to the composition of the Round Towers -of Mazunderan. Now if the monks possessed this secret, why were not the -monasteries, the more important edifices, according to our would-be -antiquarians, composed of the same elements? And is it not strange that -all _elegance_ and _extravagance_ should have been lavished upon the -_appendages_, while _uncouthness_, _inelegance_, want of durability, or -other architectural recommendation are the characteristics of what they -tell us were the principals? Yet neither in the monasteries, nor in any -other Christian building, do we meet with those materials above described, -either _generally_ or _partially_, except where the ruins of a -neighbouring Round Tower have made them available, which, in itself, is -sufficient to overthrow for ever the anachronisms of those who would deny -the existence of those temples anterior to the present era. - -But Christian edifices, they say, are generally found in their vicinity. -Yes, and as I have already explained the reason why,[606] I forbear now -rehearsing the fact. But even _this stronghold_ of the _moderns_ I cut -away from them, by stating that at the "Giant's Ring," in the county Down, -the indisputable scene of _primordial veneration_, we have an instance of -a Round Tower, _without any church hard by_! And while recalled by this -circumstance, I must observe that the vitrification manifest within the -walls of that structure arose from the _burning of the dead bodies_ -therein, and not from the indications of the _sacred fire_. - -With three exceptions, all have a row of apertures towards the top, just -under the projecting roof, made completely after the fashion of those -which Solomon had built, being windows of narrow lights.[607] In general -the number is four, and then they correspond to the cardinal points. In -three instances there is one aperture towards the summit, in one instance -there occur five, in one six, in one seven, in one eight. - -Inside they are perfectly empty from the door upwards, but most of them -divided, either by _rests_ or _projecting_ stones, into lofts or storeys, -varying in number from three to eight. In the temple of Solomon we find -the same, for "within, in the wall of the house, he made narrowed _rests -round about_, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the -house."[608] And the images which I have shown to have been cupboarded -upon these rests, were nothing more than what Solomon himself did, when -"he carved all the walls of the house _round about_ with carved figures of -cherubims, and palm-trees, and open flowers, within and without."[609] - -In a future publication I intend to show a more startling correspondence -between our Round Towers and some other parts of Solomon's temple. -Meanwhile I wish it to be borne in mind,--as in some degree accounting for -the correspondence,--that Solomon's architect was a Sidonian. - -A striking perfection observable in their construction is the inimitable -perpendicular invariably maintained. No architect of the present day, I -venture to affirm, could observe such regularity. Nelson's pillar itself -has been proved to vary somewhat from the perpendicular line; but the -keenest eye cannot trace a deviation, in a single instance, from amongst -the whole of those Sabian monuments. Even the tower of Kilmacdugh, one of -the largest in the kingdom, having from some accident, earthquake, or -other cause, been forced to lean terrifically to one side; yet, miraculous -to mention, retains its stability as firm as before; such was the accuracy -of its original elevation.[610] - -If asked how it was I conceive them to have been constructed, I should -answer, by a scaffolding raised gradually from within. The expense in this -case would be infinitely less, and the labour also. It would be very easy -to let fall a plumb-line at various intervals of height, by which at all -times the perpendicular may be ascertained, and the masonry carried on by -what may be called overhanding, while the cement employed in giving -solidity to the whole, and which is the direct counterpart of the Indian -chunan, bids defiance to the efforts of man to dissever, except by the -exertion of extraordinary power. - -That this was the mode in which their erection was effected, is evident in -the instance of Devenish Tower, which, from the elegance of its cut-stone -exterior, would seem to negative the idea of their being built from -within. But a judicious eye cannot but at once discern that near the top, -where it is probable that one or two of the artists may have come out, by -the help of some contrivance devised for the purpose, the execution and -finish which the workmanship displays is incomparably superior to that of -any of the lower parts. In other instances, where the ancient top having -been removed, a modern one has been substituted, the case is very -different indeed. - -The cohesiveness of all these columns will be best estimated by the fact -of the Round Tower at Clondalkin having firmly stood its ground when, in -the year 1786-87, the powder-mill explosion, which took place within -twenty-four feet of its base, shivered to annihilation every other -structure within its influence; nay, extended its violence so far as to -shatter the windows in some of the streets of Dublin. That at Maghera also -lay unbroken after its fall, exhibiting to the spectator the almost -appalling spectacle of a gigantic cannon! - -That both Indians and Irish performed circular _dances_ around them, -typical of the motions of the heavenly bodies, is highly probable, as we -have still the name of a particular movement, apparently that practised on -the occasion, still amongst us in common use, namely, _Rinke-teumpoil_, or -the temple dance: and that they otherwise honoured them by performing -_penances_ around them, is evident from the name of _Turrish_, which means -a _religious circuit round a tower_! applied afterwards by the Catholics -to any penitential _round_. And we have the authority of Sanchoniathon, -when talking of the Creation, for stating that "the next race consecrated -_pillars_--that they _prostrated themselves before them_, and made annual -libations to them"![611] - -These, I conceive, were the halcyon days of Ireland's legendary and -romantic greatness. In this sequestered isle, aloof from the tumults of a -bustling world, this Tuath-de-danaan colony, all of a religious race, and -all disposed to the pursuits of literature, united into a circle of -international love, and spread the fame of their sanctity throughout the -remotest regions of the universe. That its locality was familiar to the -Brahmins of India I make no earthly question; that it was that sacred -island which they eulogised so fondly, and spoke of with such raptures, I -am sanguinely satisfied; and equally convinced am I, that it was that -beautifying region, whose widespread holiness, and far-famed renown, made -such an impression on the minds of Orpheus and of Pindar, when those -divine bards, speaking of its Hyperborean inhabitants, thus enchantingly -sung-- - -"On sweet and fragrant herbs they feed, amid verdant and grassy pastures, -and drink ambrosial dew, divine potation: all resplendent alike in coeval -youth; a placid serenity for ever smiles on their brows and lightens in -their eyes; the consequence of a just temperament of mind and disposition, -both in the parents and in the sons, inclining them to do what is great, -and to speak what is wise. Neither disease nor wasting old age infest this -holy people, but without labour, without war, they continue to live happy, -and to escape the vengeance of the cruel Nemesis."[612] - -Though clothed in the cadence of measured phraseology, and decked in the -charms of an imaginative style, this is scarely more beautiful than the -simple summary of the Tuath-de-danaan moral code, as given you at page -112, and of which, in truth, this is but the paraphrase. For instance, -they fed, it is stated, "on sweet and fragrant herbs," because they were -prevented by their first commandment from eating "anything endowed with -life."[613] They drank "ambrosial dew," because their fifth commandment -forbade their touching "any intoxicating liquor." And the healthful -aspects they exhibited were but the natural result of temperate habits and -virtuous demeanour. - - "The simplest flow'ret of the vale, - The simplest note that swells the gale, - The common air, the earth, the skies, - To them were opening Paradise!" - -Five hundred years after the period of their dethronement, while the -influence of their example still continued to operate, we are told by the -Dinn Seanchas, that "The people deemed each other's voices sweeter than -the warblings of a melodious harp, such peace and concord reigned amongst -them, that no music could delight them more than the sound of each other's -voices." - -With these compare what Cambrensis, who was no friend, has said of this -island, about two thousand years after. "Of all climes," says he, "Ireland -is the most temperate; neither Cancer's violent heat is felt there in -summer, nor Capricorn's cold in winter; but in these particulars it is so -blessed, that it seems as if Nature looked upon this zephyric realm with -its most benignant eye. It is so temperate," he adds, "that neither -infectious fogs, nor pestilential winds, are felt there, so that the aid -of doctors is seldom looked for, and sickness rarely appears except among -the dying." - -The repose of this happy people being at length disturbed by the ungenial -inundation of the Scythian intruders, the ritual of the temple worship was -precipitated apace; and this, if I mistake not, "satisfactorily removes -the uncertainty in which the origin and uses of those ancient buildings -has been heretofore involved."[614] For the Scythians being warriors[615] -rather than students, and looking with distrust upon the emblematic images -of their temple-serving predecessors, which they considered to be -idolatry, did all in their power by legislative, as well as military -enactments, to efface every trace thereof; so that in a few years the -temple, or tower, worship became utterly extinct, and--more than -annihilated--forgotten. - -Instead thereof, they substituted the worship of _fire_,[616] which, -though their predecessors were far from recognising as a deity, yet they -always showed to it some reverential respect: and this approximation of -sentiment, on both parts, contributed to what may be called a passive -reconciliation; the victors assuming the mastery of the soil; and the -vanquished, in deference to their high literary repute, being continued as -superintendents of the national education, as well as the practical -followers of all trades and professions. - -It was so also at Rome, when Romulus dislodged the Pelasgi, who, we are -told by Festus, had themselves some time previously, under the name of -"Sacrani," that is, the religious caste, corresponding to "Irish," which -signifies the same thing, drove the Ligures and Siculi from Septimontio, -_i.e._ Rome. - -The only use now made of those Sabian edifices, after stifling the -religion for which they were designed, was, we may suppose, to promote the -study of astronomical science, for which they were admirably adapted, and -with which their _original_ destination was inseparably interwoven.[617] -But as the stimulus of religion was wanting for the prosecution of those -researches, we cannot be surprised that _this_ part of their purpose, too, -sharing the fate of its collateral helpmate, insensibly repined under the -altered aspect of the scene; for, to apply to it what has been said of the -great scheme of the creation itself, viz. that-- - - "if each system in gradation roll - Alike essential to the amazing whole, - The least confusion--but in one--not all, - That system only, but the whole must fall." - -The knowledge of this delightful study, however, did not yet completely -die away; it formed still an essential in the education of every Irish -youth; and the remnant of our language, at this very moment, shows how -piously attentive were its framers to that divine precept which told them, -that the "lights of the firmament of heaven were for signs and for -seasons, and for days and for years." - -The profligate degeneracy of the Druids, however, tended to bring _this_ -also into disesteem. - -This order of priests got so overbearing here, grasping at not only high -ecclesiastical power, but also intermeddling in secular transactions, -that they made themselves obnoxious to the great body of the people, and a -disregard both to the literature and the religion which they inculcated -was the inevitable result. To this I ascribe the plebeian war of Ireland, -A.D. 47, that deplorable state of a country, when faction and rage usurp -the place of counsel and discretion! when commerce stagnates! confidence -decays! when lust stalks abroad to desecrate everything holy! and all is -doubt, suspicion, melancholy, and death! - -How beautifully and how aptly, but yet, for himself, how unwisely, did the -philosophic Callisthenes apply the sentiment of Euripedes to Philip of -Macedon, at Alexander's Feast?--viz.:-- - - "When civil broils declining states surprise, - There the worst men to highest honours rise." - -Many virtuous persons, we are told, opposed themselves to the -encroachments of this degenerate hierarchy. When Conlah, in his retreat -from the glitter of life, betook himself to an humble cottage, and devoted -the faculties of his comprehensive mind to philosophical pursuits and the -improvement of his species, the greatest praise which the analyst, in -recording such worth, could bestow, was, "She do rinni an choin -bhliocht-ris inna Druwdh"; that is, It is he that disputed against the -Druids! - -The Books, however, of their predecessors, the Boreades, still remained, -and the knowledge of astronomy was kept alive by their perusal. But of -these we were despoiled, very shortly after, by that mistaken piety -elsewhere deplored. Some few treatises even then must have escaped, and -their effect was best illustrated, as shown before, by the unprecedented -success with which the gospel dispensation was hailed in this island. - -I have before shown the instance of Fergil or Virgil, who, in the eighth -century, maintained the rotund and true form of the earth, when the rest -of Europe were ignorant on the subject. "He was," says Sir James Ware, -"the author of a Discourse on the Antipodes, which he most truly held, -though against the received opinion of the ancients, who imagined the -earth to be a plain." - -In this sweeping ban upon the ancients, however, Sir James must not -include the ancient Irish, whose hereditary doctrine upon the subject it -is evident that Fergil did here only give utterance to; and dearly did he -suffer for it; his life, like that of Galileo, having been forfeited -thereby, at the hands of the same enlightened tribunal. This was enough to -put the _last_ extinguisher upon the cultivation, or at least avowal, of -the Irish notions of astronomy. It is astonishing, notwithstanding, what -an instinctive thirst still lurked in the Irish mind for the sublimities -of this pursuit.[618] Smith mentions an instance of a "poor man near -Blackstones, in the county Kerry, who had a tolerable notion of -calculating the epacts, golden number, dominical letter, the moon's -phases, and even eclipses, although he had never been taught to read -English." The author of this essay has known many such characters;--one in -particular who, from his great proficiency in the art, had obtained for -himself the honourable designation of the _Kerry Star_. - - - - -LIST OF IRISH ROUND TOWERS AND CROSSES.[619] - -_An asterisk (*) is prefixed to the names of the most remarkable._ - - -I. TOWERS. - -AGHABOE (Queen's Co.). - -AGHADOE (Kerry), only 12 or 15 feet left. Its masonry greatly superior to -that of the church near it (167). - -AGHAGOWER (Mayo), near Westport. Imperfect. - -AGHAVILLER (Kilkenny), six miles south of Thomastown. Imperfect. - -ANNADOWN (Galway), only 7 feet of a very fine base left. - -*ANTRIM (Antrim), one of the most perfect, but of the smaller class. - -ARANMORE (Galway), base only. - -ARDFERT (Kerry), site only. - -ARDKEEN, or ARDKYNE (Down). - -ARDMORE (Waterford), very perfect specimen, 97 feet high by 52 feet round -(_v._ p. 71). - -ARDPATRICK (Limerick), imperfect. - -ARDRAHAN (Galway), site interesting from having a subterranean passage. - -ARMAGHDOWN (Galway). - -ARMOY (Antrim), near Ballycastle, 40 feet only left. - -ASSYLIN (Roscommon), site only. - -BAAL, or BALLA (Mayo), only 40 feet left, but fine specimen. - -BALLYBEG (Cork), site only. - -BALLYCARBERY (Kerry), alluded to by O'Brien as a "Cathoir ghall" (p. 48). - -BALLYGADDY (Galway), near Kilbannon. - -BALLYVOURNEY (Cork), site only. - -BELTURBET (Cavan). - -BRIGOON (Cork), site only; tower blown down in 1704. - -CAILTREE ISLE, so mentioned by Vallancey; probably INISCALTRA (_q.v._). - -CASHEL (Tipperary), 90 feet high by 42 feet round. Sculptured doorway. - -CASTLE DERMOT (Kildare), imperfect, but with fine doorway. - -CLAREEN (King's Co.), see SIERG KIERAN. - -*CLONDALKIN (Dublin), complete, but renovated, specimen, nearly 80 feet -high by 45 feet round; curious projecting base 13 feet high (p. 101). - -CLONES (Monaghan), imperfect. - -*CLONMACNOISE (King's Co.), two fine, but renovated, specimens. - -CLOYNE (Cork), well preserved, but tampered with in rebuilding. Originally -92 feet high, which has been increased to 102 feet. - -CORK (near St. Finbar's), site only. - -DERRY (city), site only. - -*DEVENISH (Fermanagh), the most perfect and highly finished of all, 79 -feet high by 48 feet round (p. 38). - -DISART CARRIGEN, or DISERT ANGUS (Limerick), near Adare; about 60 feet -left; ornamented doorway. - -DONOUGHMORE (Meath), 79 feet left; fine, but imperfect, specimen. - -DROMCLIFFE (Clare), very imperfect remains of. - -DROMESKIN (Louth), a reconstruction; church now stands on original site. - -DRUMBOE (Down), only the base, with quadrangular doorway, remaining. - -DRUMCLIFFE (Sligo), only 40 feet left. - -DRUMLAHAN, or DRUMLANE (Cavan), only 20 feet of original left, with -"belfry" added. - -DUBLIN (city), site on left side of Ship Street, now built on. - -DURROW (King's Co.). - -DYSART ENOS (Queen's Co.), imperfect. - -DYSART O'DEA (Clare), near Ennis; 50 feet left, 61 feet in circumference. - -FERBANE (King's Co.), Vallancey mentions two specimens. - -FERNS (Wexford), evidently a modern structure made out of the old -materials. - -*FERTAGH (Kilkenny), one of the loftiest and most perfect. - -FINGLAS (Dublin), site only. - -GIANT'S RING (Down), a specimen "without any church hard by" (O'B.), p. -514. - -*GLENDALOUGH (Wicklow), locality most interesting; contains two specimens, -one 110 feet high by 50 feet round. - -INISCALTRA (Galway), probably the "Cailtree Isle" of Vallancey. - -INIS KEEN (Monaghan), 42 feet left standing. - -INIS MACNESSAIN (Ireland's Eye) (Dublin), site only. - -INIS-MOCHOE (Down), on shore of Lough Strangfal; imperfect. - -*INIS SCATTERY (Clare), more than 100 feet high, injudiciously repaired. - -IRELAND'S EYE (Dublin), materials of tower taken to build R.C. church. - -ISLE OF ARAN (Galway). - -KELLISTOWN (Carlow), site only. - -*KELLS (Meath), in very good preservation, though unroofed; quite -unaltered; 99 feet left. - -KILBANNON, or BALLYGADDY (Galway), 40 feet left. - -KILCOONA (Galway). - -KILCULLEN (Kildare), 40 feet remaining. - -*KILDARE, very fine, and elaborately ornamented; 105 feet high, but top -spurious. - -*KILKENNY, perfect, all but the top 108 feet high. Good specimen. - -KILLALA (Mayo), good specimen, judiciously repaired; 84 feet high by 50 -feet round. - -KILLASHEE (Kildare), also known as Killossy. Imperfect. - -KILLESHANDRA (Cavan). - -KILLESHIN (Queen's Co.), site only. - -*KILMACDUAGH (Galway), fine Cyclopean base; 120 feet high by 57 feet -round; 3 feet out of the perpendicular. - -KILMALLOCK (Limerick), very imperfect, and much altered. - -KILNABOY (Clare), 12 feet only standing. - -KILREA (Kilkenny), nearly perfect. - -KINNETH, pronounced KINNEIGH (Cork), remarkably fine hexagonal base, -underground passage, rock basins, etc. - -LORUM (Carlow), site only. - -LUSK (Dublin), fine Cyclopean doorway; much repaired; 100 feet high by 43 -feet round. - -MAGHERA (Down), only 20 feet left, rest blown down in 1704. - -MAGHTURREIDH (Sligo), doubtful. - -MAHEE ISLAND (Down), imperfect. - -MEELICK (Mayo), 72 feet left; in good condition. - -*MONASTERBOICE (Louth), characteristic doorway, top shattered by -lightning, otherwise perfect; 110 feet high by 50 feet round. - -ORAN (Roscommon), only 12 feet left, must have been one of the largest. - -OUGHTERARD (Kildare), scanty remains. - -RAM ISLAND (Antrim), scanty remains; said to have been used as a -sepulchre. - -RATH (Clare), site only. - -RATHMICHAEL (Dublin), stump only. - -*RATTOO (Kerry), very perfect; the loftiest and least injured by -renovation. - -ROSCOM (Galway), three miles east of Galway. Imperfect. - -ROSCREA (Tipperary), imperfect, curiously sculptured rounded doorway. - -ROSENALLIS (Meath?), site only; the subject of a bitter controversy (_v._ -Petrie, pp. 40-42). - -ROSSCARBERY (Cork), site only. - -*SCATTERY ISLAND (see INIS SCATTERY), 125 feet high by 52 feet round. The -only specimen having doorway level with the ground. - -SIERG KEIRAN or CLAREEN (King's Co.), site only. - -SLANE (Meath), very doubtful site. - -SWORDS (Dublin), almost entirely rebuilt; 73 feet high. - -TAMLAGHTFINLOGAN (Derry), scanty remains. - -TEGHADOE (Kildare), 60 feet left, in excellent preservation. - -TEMPLE FINGHIN (at Clonmacnoise). - -*TIMAHOE (Queen's Co.), 96 feet high by 60 feet round; beautiful specimen. - -TOMGRANEY (Clare), site only. - -TORY ISLAND (Donegal), imperfect. - -TRUMMERY (Antrim). - -TULLAGHERIN (Kilkenny). - -TULLOSHERIN (Waterford), near Dungarvan; mentioned by Vallancey. - -*TURLOUGH (Mayo), good specimen, but reconstructed in part. - -WEST CARBERY (?), so mentioned by Vallancey, but probably ROISCARBERY -(_q.v._). - -NOTE.--Round Towers, evidently imitations of the Irish R. T., exist at -Brechin and Abernethy in Scotland. There is, also, a rather doubtful -specimen at Peel (Isle of Man), and a still more doubtful one at Hythe -(Kent). - - -II. CROSSES. - -_Achath_, _Abhall_, or _Aghold_ (Wicklow), much weather-worn. - -*_Ardboe_, or _Arboe_ (Tyrone), about 20 feet high, with remarkable -sculpture. - -_Armagh_, imperfect; when complete, at least 26 feet high; sculptured. - -_Banagher_ (Derry), curious sculptured figure of man on horseback. - -_Cashel_ (Tipperary), much weather-worn. - -_Castle Dermot_ (Kildare), two specimens of some interest. - -_Clondalkin_ (Dublin), ancient granite specimen, 9 feet high. - -_Clones_ (Monaghan), handsomely sculptured, but weather-worn. - -_Clonfeacle_, (Armagh), without sculpture or inscription. - -*_Clonmacnoise_ (King's Co.), two fine specimens (_v._ p. 358). - -_Cong_ (Connemara), base only, with inscription in Erse. - -_Conwall_ (Donegal), only the socket remaining. - -_Donoughmore_ (Meath), imperfect, and much weather-worn. - -*_Drumcliffe_ (Sligo), handsomely sculptured. - -_Drumeskin_ (Louth), used as a headstone in burying-ground. - -_Duleck_ (Meath), handsomely sculptured. - -*_Durrow_ (King's Co.), very beautiful, but hard to find, being situated -among trees in an old burial-ground. - -*_Dysart_, or _Disert_, _O'Dea_ (Clare), now in ruins, once richly -sculptured. - -_Fassaroe_ (Wicklow), in private grounds. - -_Ferns_ (Wexford), remains of four specimens in different places. - -_Finglas_ (Dublin), well cut, but without ornament (_v._ p. 366). - -_Glanculmkill_ (Clare), base only. - -_Glen_ (Donegal). - -*_Glendalough_ (Wicklow), _v._ p. 466. - -*_Kells_ (Meath), three beautiful specimens (_v._ p. 491). - -_Kilclispeen_ (Tipperary), with very remarkable sculptured base. - -*_Kilcullen_ (Kildare), portions of two specimens (_v._ p. 338). - -*_Killkieran_ (Kilkenny), three specimens. - -*_Killamery_ (Kilkenny), beautiful specimen. - -_Kilmacduagh_ (Galway). - -_Kilnaboy_ (Clare), has been shifted from its original position. - -*_Kilnafora_ (Clare), remains of five out of seven. - -_Kilnafosse._ - -_Kilrea_ (Kilkenny). - -_Maheramore_, or _Banagher_ (Derry). See _Banagher_. - -*_Monasterboice_ (Louth), the most perfect in Ireland. - -*_Moone Abbey_, or _Timolin_ (Kildare), two specimens; one very -remarkable. - -_Moville_ (Donegal), ancient cross, with hole in top of shaft. - -_Nevinstown_ (Meath), in mutilated condition. - -_Old Leighlin_ (Carlow), only the base remaining. - -_Oughterard_ (Kildare), several specimens near the Round Tower. - -_Roscrea_ (Tipperary), broken, but with curious carving. - -_Rosstrevor_ (Down), fine specimen in burying-ground. - -_Temple Cronan_ (Clare). - -_Temple Kieran_ (Leitrim). - -*_Termon Fechin_ (Louth), fine specimen. - -_Timolin_, or _Moone Abbey_ (Kildare). - -_Tory Island_ (Donegal), several specimens. - -*_Tuam_ (Galway), "the finest monument of its class and age" (Petrie). - -_Tynan_ (Armagh). - - - - -INDEX. - -(_R. T. signifies Round Tower, or Towers._) - - - AARON, or Inaron, 149. - - ABAD (Persian dynasty), 246. - - ABARIS, the Boreadan; - his mission to Delos from the Insula Hyperboreorum, 53-56, 397, 448; - why he did not adopt the Scythian dress, 56; - meaning of the "arrow" which he bore with him to Delos, 328. - - ABERNETHY (R. T.), 10, 431. - - AGRICULTURE, an object of Sabaic worship, 111. - - AGNARUPI, a manifestation of the Deity (Brahminic), 288. - - AICHE BAAL-TINNE and AICHE-SHAMAIN, 199, 200. - - AITHAIR FOADHA, or the tree of Bhudda, explained, 472. - - ALPHABET (Irish), a "tree" code, 229, 418. - See ST. PATRICK. - - AMERGIN, the bard, brother of Heremon and Heber, 22, 387, 388. - - ANNALS of Ulster and of the Four Masters, cited against the theory that - R. T. were belfries, 364; - also to prove that they existed before the 5th century, 374. - - ANATTA, ANUZZA, and DOCHA, their respective meanings, 114. - - APIS, the Egyptian deity, what he represented, 159. - - APOLLO, meaning of the name, 61; - his alleged cyclic visits to the Insula Hyperboreorum (Ireland), 52, - 397; - Christnah, the Indian equivalent of, 218, 219; - sculptured with the Python at Knockmoy, 330; - meaning of the Python myth, 291; - the "great year" of the Greeks, 397; - his musical worship in Ireland, 403; - his supposed temple at Kilmalloch, 202; - Phrygian account of his visit to the Hyperboreans, 436; - _Grynæus_ and _Lycæus_ explained, 466. - See SUN-WORSHIP. - - APPLE, Eve and the, 227 _et seq._ - - ARABIC Sabaism, 503-506. - - ARCHITECTURE of the R. T., 513. - - ARD-MELCHAN, derivation of the name, 203. - - ARDMORE (R. T.), 71, 75; - meaning of the name, 75. - - ARGUES, its Sabaic import, 195. - - ARIMASPI, their connection with Cyclopean architecture and mining, 86, - 407. - - ARK of Scripture, what it means, 224-226, 267, 270 _et seq._ - - ARMAGH (R. T.), destruction of, by lightning, 50. - - ARON distinguished from TEBAH (both signifying "ark"), 270. - - ARRAN, meaning of the name, 429 _n._ - - ARROWHEAD character, 340. - - ARTEMIDORUS cited, 301, 302, 400. - - ARYANS, site of the ancient Aria or Artacoana, 183; - Aria and Ariana distinguished, 183, 184; - the latter equivalent to Iran or Eriene, 184; - Eriene corrupted into Ierne, 185; - Zendavast description of the Aryan country, 185 _et seq._; - change in its climate, 186, 187; - consequent Western migration of the Aryans, 187; - Jemshid and his times, 188; - policy of Zoroaster, 188; - laws of Ormuzd corrupted, 188; - two claimants for the name of Zoroaster, 189; - antiquity of the original Zoroaster, 189; - his predecessors, 189; - the Dabistan and its author, Moshan or Fani, 189; - religion of Hushang, 189, 190; - the Mahabadean dynasty, 190; - antiquity of the Iranian monarchy, 190. - - ASIA, the "cradle of the human race," 265, 266. - - ASTARTE, phallic worship of, 101, 102; - description of her temple at Hieropolis, 168; - known also by the name Rimmore, 102; - signification of the latter, 102; - perpetuation of this meaning in sculpture at Glendalough, 473; - traces of her worship (as the Moon) at Athlone, 204; - the Irish term of endearment, "Astore," derived from her name, 213; - Astarte distinguished from Militta, 213; - use of bells in her worship, 175. - - ASTORE. See ASTARTE. - - ASTRONOMY, proficiency of the ancient Irish in, 59, 60, 521-3; - R. T. used for purposes connected with, 61, 62, 521; - entered into the religion of the ancient Egyptians and Indians, 77-79; - connection of serpent-worship with, 515; - Fergil and the theory of the earth's rotundity, 523; - predilection of the Irish peasantry for, 523; - malign influence of the Druids on, 521. - - ATHLONE, 204. - - ATREUS, "treasury" of, its analogy to the Round Towers, 454, 458. - - AUGURS (Roman), symbolism of the cross connected with, 490. - - AVATARA and AVANTARA, incarnations (Brahminical) of the Deity, - distinguished, 288. - - AVENTINE (Roman), derivation of the name, 198 _n._ - - AVIENUS on the _Insula Sacra_, 28, 29, 117; - his opinion of Irish antiquities, 28; - applies the term "Hibernian" to the Irish, 28. - - - BAALS, plurality and divinity of, 29; - meaning of "Baal," 29, 65; - connection between them and the R. T., 29; - twofold signification of the word "Baal" in Scripture, 74; - Septuagint rendering of the expression "high place of Baal," 75; - the Irish _Bail-toir_ and _Aoi-Bail-toir_ distinguished, 75. - - BAAL-PHEARAGH, how connected with the _Baal-peor_ of Scripture, and with - the African _Belli-Paaro_, 111; - signification of the name, 103; - form of the R. T. attributable to his influence, 29. - See FARRAGH or PHEARAGH. - - BAAL-THINNE, or sacred fire of Baal, 88-90. - - BAALTIS, meaning of, 65. - - BABEL, tower of, its purpose, 63, 64; - meaning of "Babel," 65; - the Hebrew (scriptural) name for, indicative of its phallic character, - 283, 284. - - BABYLONIANS, proficient in astronomy, 64 _n._ - - BACCHUS, name of, found in ancient Irish inscriptions, 437; - only another name for one of the various Buddhas, 235 _n._; - the "Maypole" ceremony specially connected with his worship, 235; - significance of the name _Sabasins_, 505. - - BADHHA, worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaan women, 132. - - BAKU, description of fire-temple at, 72. - - BALLYCARBERY (R. T.), 48. - - BANAVAN (in Scotland), its connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 114 _n._ - - BARDS, nature of their office, 22, 23; - their high reputation, 23, 24; - their use of rhyme and verse, 25; - also of music, 25, 405, 406; - their decadence into prose after their conversion to Christianity, 25; - suppressed by the English, 26; - superiority of Irish bardic music, 405, 406; - origin of the name "Bards," 451; - the knowledge of astronomy preserved in their sacred books, 522. - - BASILISK, or COCKATRICE, its Sabaic and scriptural significance, 225, - 226. - - BAVANA and DANA, 113, 114. - - BEAUFORT (Miss), and the enactment of Tara (A.D. 79), 88-96. - - BELFRIES, the R. T. could not have been intended as, 5-13, 36, 37; - the names _Cloic-teacha_ and _Erdam_ applied to them in the Irish - Annals, as distinguished from _Fiadh-Nemeadh_, 50, 51. - - BELLI-PAARO, or _Baal-Peor_, and _Baal-Phearagh_, phallic nature of, 111. - - BELLS, origin of, 10, 11; - Irish CEOL and _Ceolan_ date from pagan times, 11; - the Sabian and Druidic use of, adopted by the Christian missionaries - to their own worship, 11, 170-175; - introduced into England from Ireland by Gildas, 11, 173, 174; - miraculous effects supposed to result from the tolling of, 35 _n._; - date of their introduction into churches, 174; - shape of the Irish _crotals_, or pagan bells, 175; - square bells, 175; - connection of bells with the worship of Astarte, 175; - St. Finnan's bell, 174 _n._; - references to bells in Scripture, 171; - traces of apparatus for ringing bells found in some of the R. T. - accounted for, 172, 173; - used for worship in Ceylon, Burmah, and China, 173, 174. - - BELUS, description of the tower of, by Herodotus, 283 _n._ - - BENARES, cruciform shape of pagodas at, 352; - sepulchral pyramids at, 75, 76. - - BETH (Irish alphabetical letter), significance of, 228, 229. - - BIRS-NIMROD, or tower of Nimrod, its Sabaic character, 65 _n._ - - _Bleain_, the Irish for year, its meaning and derivation, 58. - - BOAR-INCARNATION (of Vishnu) and the White Island, 326-328. - - BOAT (lunar), or crescent, 273. - - BOAZ and JACHIN (pillars of Solomon's temple), 372, 511-514. - - BOLATI, meaning of, 65. - - BONA DEA, Sabaic rites of, 348, 349. - - BOO and A-BOO, origin of the Irish expressions, 132, 133. - - BOREADES, or Tuath-de-danaan priests of Boreas, superseded by the - Scythian Druids, 56; - relics of their costume, 56, 57; - likewise priests of Apollo, 397-401; - origin of the name, 401; - Irish astronomy preserved in their sacred books, 522. - See BARDS and INSULA HYPERBOREORUM. - - BRAHMINISM, subsequent to and distinct from Buddhism, 108, 213-215; - its doctrine of multiple divine emanations, 287, 288. - See INDIA. - - BRAZEN SERPENT (of Scripture), or _Nehushtan_, its relation to the - basilisk, 225; - also to Sabaism generally, and to that of Ireland in particular, - 501-506. - See SERPENT-WORSHIP. - - BRECHIN (R. T.), 8, 10, 431; - description and explanation of its symbolic sculpture, 299-301. - - BRITAIN, inclusive of Ireland, in ancient writings, 58; - derivation of the name, 427; - Irish etymology of some English local names accounted for, 426, 427. - - BRONTES, Sabaic import of the name, 195. - - BROOCHES (Irish) of crescent form, their symbolism, 273, 274. - - BUDDHISM, speculations regarding nature of, 107; - antecedent to Brahminism, 108, 213, 214; - Buddhists expelled from India, 108, 109; - date of Buddha's ministry, 109; - abstract character of his teaching, 109, 110; - the Sun and Moon (_i.e._ generation and production) as objects of - primitive worship, 109, 110; - Buddhism preceded Buddha, 109, 110; - definition of Bhud and Buddhism, 112; - transmigration of souls, a tenet of, 112, 113; - abstract purity of, 112, 220; - moral code of Buddhists, 112, 220; - _Dana_, _Bavana_, _Anuzza_, _Docha_, and _Anatta_ explained, 113, 114; - forbids the taking of animal life, 113; - reverence of Buddhists for the elephant, 113 _n._; - _Budh-Nemph_, _Nemph-Thur_, and _Tor-Boileh_ equivalent, 114 _n._; - _Badha_, _Macha_, and _Moriagan_ worshipped by Tuath-de danaans, 131, - 132; - _Farragh_ or _Phearagh_ (Irish), identical with Bhud, 132; - origin of the Irish suffixes _Boo_ and _a-Boo_, 130, 132; - Tuath-de-danaan effigy of Buddha, 139, 141; - its Sabaistic and Phallic character, 213, 227, 311; - Colebrooke's charges against considered, 214, 215; - subterranean temples for practice of, 215, 216; - Buddha distinct from Paramon, 216; - _Dearg_, _darioga_, and _darag_ as epithets of Buddha, 216, 217; - meaning of _Magh_ and _Maghody_, 217; - CHRISTNAH, or the "Indian Apollo," 218, 219; - _Buddha_ stands for a series of incarnations, 220, 221; - _Budh_, the forbidden "apple" of Scripture, 227; - twofold meaning of _Budh_, or _Fiodh_, 228 _et seq._; - Eve, the first Buddhist, 230; - Cain, the first priest of Buddhism, 230; - Bacchus identical with Buddha, 235 _n._; - significance of the Ceylon "Maypole" festival, 238, 239; - the Palencian "tree"-symbolism, 229; - original seat of, 244, 264; - _Budh_ and its derivatives, _Fiodh_, _Fidhuis_, _Fides_, with Deus and - Hercules, 250; - _Tuath_ and _Suath_ identical with _Buddha_, 264; - birthplace and parentage of Buddha, 264; - corresponding Brahminic doctrine of multiple incarnation 287; - its doctrine of a virginal conception, 288; - its symbolism of the cross compared with that of Christianity, 293, - 294, 295; - _Budh_ synonymous with _Phallus_, 311; - also with the Egyptian _Thot_, 323; - Bhagavan, Crishna, the White Island, and snake-legend of the _Puranas_ - considered, 325-329; - connection of the "boar incarnation" with Ireland, 326-328; - Buddhist sculpture at Knockmoy, 328-336; - also on Cross at Old Kilcullen, 337, 338; - analogies between Buddhism and Christianity, 364, 365; - theory that Orpheus was a Buddhist, 405. - - BUDH (Irish), or FIODH, its signification, 103; - primary and secondary meaning of, 228, 229. - - BUDH-GAYE (Irish) and BUDDA-GAYA (Indian), their phallic meaning, - 310-312. - - BUD-NEMPH and NEMPH-THUR (birthplace of St. Patrick), also TOR BOILEH - (Indian local name), identical in meaning, 114 _n._ - - BUNS (I. for children), e.g. _Surage-buns_, or children of the sun; - cf. with _Hindu-Buns_ (E. I.), children of the moon, 74. - - BURWAH SANGOR, description of snake-sculpture on Hindu temple at, 363; - its mutilation by Mohammedans analogous to that of the similar - sculpture on Irish crosses by St. Patrick, 364. - - - CABIRI and CABIRIC, origin and meaning of the name, 354; - connected with Freemasonry, 354, 359. - - CAIN, the first priest of Buddhism, 230; - nature of his offence, 230; - and of the "sin-offering" prescribed for him, 230, 231; - also of the "mark" set upon him, 232; - computation of the time at which he lived, 234; - his predecessors, 241, 242; - his immediate progeny, 247. - - CAMADEVA (Hindu god of desire), origin and meaning of his name, 94; - other names for, 94; - his parentage, marriage, and friendships, 94, 95; - personal aspect of, 94, 95; - hymn to, 95, 96; - his connection with the phallic symbolism of the R. T., 91-101. - - CAMBRENSIS (Giraldus Cambrensis) on the R. T., 49, 83; - on the climate of Ireland, 529. - - CAMDEN on the R .T., 374. - - CANONISATION of local pagan objects of worship in Ireland, 43, 44. - - CARNAC, Buddhist symbolism at, 321-323. - - CASTLEREAGH, evidence of Sabaic worship at, 205, 206. - - CATHOIR-GHALL (as a name of R. T.), its meaning, 48, 61, 62, 103. - - CAUCASUS, origin and meaning of the name, 354, 355; - existence of buildings similar to the R. T. in, 74. - - CAVES. See MITHRATIC CAVES. - - CELESTIAL INDEXES, theory of the R. T. being, considered, 52. - - CELESTINE (pope), his commission _Ad Scotos_, 41. - - CELLS, theory of the R. T. being, 13, 14. - - CEOL and CEOLAN (bells), their pagan use, 11. - - CEYLON, bells used at the _Dagob_ temples in, 173 _n._; - the Maypole ceremony as observed in, 238; - Buddhist temple of _Calane_ in, resemblance between it and Brechin - R. T., 300; - meaning of the name _Dagobs_, 369; - description of a _Dagob_, 369-371; - sepulchral character of, 370, 371. - - CHAILDEES, or CULDEES, not connected with the Egyptian Cophtes, 40, 41; - the latter may, however, have derived their knowledge from the - Tuath-de-danaans, 155; - did not admit the papal supremacy, 46; - meaning of the name, 44. - - CHALDEANS, their connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 155. - - CHRISTIANITY, existed in Ireland before the time of Pelagius, or of St. - Patrick, 41; - early Irish Christians ostracised, 42; - St. Patrick's actual share in the diffusion of, 42, 43; - canonisation of objects of pagan worship by the apostles of, 44, 492; - to what its reception by the Irish pagans, is attributable, 344 _et - seq._; - prophecy in the Hindu Puranas of a coming redeemer of mankind, 345; - the "Yugas" to the same effect, 345, 346; - Hindu "History of Vicrama Ditya," 346; - Arabic poetic prediction to same effect, 346; - analogous inscription on pillar at Buddal, 346, 347; - theory that, in its leading essentials, it was introduced into Ireland - as a revival of an early Eastern religion by the Tuath-de-danaans, - 493; - the Greek term _logos_ considered with reference to this point, 478, - 479; - also the reference in St. John's gospel to Christ's coming to his - "own," 478; - the incident of the _Magi_, and the symbolism of the cross in its - sculptured representation, 482, 483; - meaning of the expression "Lamb of God," 486-489; - conformity between Buddhism and Christianity, 365; - the Church festivals derived from the Tuath-de-danaan ritual, 493. - - CHRISTNAH (the Indian Apollo), 218, 219; - the legend of his incarnation and his connection with the "White - Island" (Muc-Inis), 326, 327. - - CHRONOS, deification of, accounted for, 197. - - CHURCHES, arguments from their being found in the neighbourhood of Round - Towers, Cromleachs, and Mithratic caves against the pre-Christian - antiquity of the R. T. considered, 7, 8, 356, 357. - - CLEMENT (the Irish doctor), German testimony to his learning, 54 _n._ - - CLIMATE of Ireland praised by Geraldus Cambrensis, 529. - - CLOGAD, meaning of, 12; - the name accountable for a mistake as to the R. T., 12. - - CLOICTEACH, or belfrey, distinct from R. T., 36, 37. - - CLONDALKIN (R. T.), 101, 359. - - CLONMACNOISE, antiquity of its crosses, churches, and round towers - accounted for, 356, 357; - once a stronghold of Buddhism, 356, 357; - its sculptures unconnected with Christianity, 358, 359; - inferiority of the architecture of its churches to that of the other - remains, such as crosses and round towers, 163; - Abbot O'Brien and his "cell," 13, 14. - - COCKATRICE, or BASILISK, its symbolism, 225. - - COLEBROOKE'S statement regarding Buddhism refuted, 214. - - COLGAN on the R. T., 37, 51. - - COLZOUM (Egyptian monastery), supposed to resemble the R. T., 30-33. - - COPTIC, Hurd's description of the Ethiopian monks so-called, 45, 46; - such monastic orders not analogous to the Irish Culdees or Chaildees, - 45. - - CORMAC (bishop of Cashel), his allusions to fire-worship, 81, 82; - his description of the R. T., and opinion of their great antiquity, - 368, 394. - - CRESCENT-WORSHIP, its origin and significance, 261, 262, 273 _et seq._; - its symbolism preserved in the Irish crescent brooches, 273, 274; - crescent on the summits of R. T., 103; - the crescent of Sheva (Hindu), 103; - the crescent and the "ark," 224-226; - the Pish-de-danaan votaries of, 261, 262. - - CRIOCH-NA-FUINEADHACH, a name of Ireland, its meaning, 344. - - CROCODILES as objects of worship, 165, 166; - bearing of this on the question of sub-pyramidal (and R. T.) cavities, - 166. - - CROMLEACHS, their Buddhist origin, 2, 3; - that churches are found in their vicinity no disproof of this, 8; - possibly the work of Firbolgs or Scythians, 428. - - CROSS-WORSHIP, its antiquity and universality, 289-308; - Egyptian interpretation of the cross symbol, 289, 291; - Druidic cross worship, 289; - practised among all ancient Gothic peoples, 290; - the Egyptian _Taut_ symbol, 291; - Buddhist origin of cross-worship, 291; - Greek allegory of Apollo and the Python, 291, 292; - the Irish _Tuath_ cross, 291; - the cross a symbol of universal nature, 294; - Irish cross with _kilted_ figure thereon--of whom? 295-297; - crosses on obelisk at Sandwick (Ross-shire), 305-309; - crosses in cryptograms of heathen deities, 308; - Plato on the prevalence of the cross symbol, 308; - cross symbols found at the temple of Serapis, 312; - the forehead "mark" in Ezekiel, a cross, 313; - cross on the coinage of the Emperor Decius, 314; - also on Phoenician medals, 314, 315; - description of the great cross at Forres, 317-320; - the latter cross probably erected by Tuath-de-danaans, 320; - theory that such crosses are of Danish origin refuted, 321; - cross symbols on monolith at Carnac, 321, 322; - resemblance of sculpture on cross at Old Kilcullen to those on the - temple at Kalabche in Nubia, 337-342; - crucificial Buddhist effigy of Deva Thot, 343, 344; - freemasonry and the crucifixion, 344; - cruciform construction of Mithratic temple at New Grange, 350; - also of the so-called "Devil's Yonies," 314, 350, 351; - also of pagodas at Benares and Mathura, 352; - union of cross with lingam symbol at Elephanta, 353; - analogy between Irish and Eastern cross-symbolism, 353, 354; - snake-sculpture on Irish crosses, 502; - the crosses of Clonmacnoise, Clondalkin, Armagh, Finglas, etc., - 357-367; - cross-symbolism at Brechin and Donoghmore R. T., 8; - its connection with serpent-worship, Freemasonry, and Buddhism, - 358-367; - all ancient Irish crosses the work of Tuath-de-danaans, 359-361; - the dog-effigy on the cross at Clonmacnoise, 359; - demolition and restoration of cross at Finglas, 365-367; - cross-worship symbolised in the shamrock, 440; - meaning of the expression "Lamb of God," 486-489; - also of the emblem × for the number _ten_, 487, 488; - also of the Druidic "key" emblem, 488, 489; - also of the Irish cross (or "finger") oath, 489; - theory of crosses having been introduced into Ireland by the Pope, - 489-492; - the cross-symbolism of Palencia, 490; - the cross-staff of the Roman Augurs, 490; - pagan sculpture on the cross at Kells, 490, 491; - how Irish crosses became associated with Christianity, 492-494; - how the crosses over the doors of some of the round towers may be - accounted for, 511. - - CRUCIFIXION, sculpture of, at Knockmoy, explained, 328-345; - analogous sculpture on temple at Kalabche (Nubia), 337; - Hindu (Purana) legend of, 339; - testimony of Buddhists and of Freemasonry to the fact of a primeval - crucifixion, 343, 344. - - CUMMAN, the Irish astronomer, 59. - - CYCLE, of nineteen years--"the great year" of the Greeks, 52. - - CYCLOPEAN WALLS, their origin, and derivation of the name, 86; - found wherever the Pelasgi settled, 86. - - CYCLOPS, public origin of the name, 86; - its Sabaic import, 195, 196. - - - DAGOBS (Cingalese temples), analogous to the R. T., 369-372. - - DAHAMSOUDA (King of Baranes, or Benares) and the _Bana_, or Buddhist - gospel, sculpture of the legend at Glendalough, 470 _et seq._ - - DALTON on the date of the Scotch R. T., 10; - his theory that _Iris_ was not Ireland considered, 398. - - DANA, as the root of _Danaans_, its meaning, 113. - - DANCING, connected with Sabaic worship, 110; - circular dances performed round the R. T., 517; - _Rinke-teumpoil_ and _Turrish_ dances, 517. - - DANES, the R. T. could not have been constructed by, 9, 10; - nor have been intended as places of refuge from, 35, 36; - crosses not commemorative in any way of the, 321. - - DAVIES on the genealogy of the Irish language, 58. - - DEARG, DARAG, and DARIOGA, their origin and meaning, 206, 216, 217. - - DECIUS (Roman Emperor), the cross-emblem on his coinage, 314. - - DELOS, visit of Abaris to, 53-56, 397, 448; - why the fleet of Xerxes did not molest, 69; - Hyperborean embassies to, repulsed, 445, 446; - account of the subsequent transmission of Hyperborean offerings to the - shrines of Apollo and Diana there, 446. - - DELPHI, poetic account of the foundation of the oracle by Hyperboreans - representative of the Irish priesthood, 445; - similar tradition at Delos, 445; - hymn of Alcæus commemorating the visit of Apollo to the Hyperboreans - on his way to, 446, 447; - derivation of the names _Delphi_, _Pythia_, and _Sybil_, 507; - whence the Pythia derived her inspiration, 507. - - DELUGE, scriptural narrative of, explained, 266 _et seq._; - number of the Noachidæ, 269, 270; - distinction between _Aron_ and _Thebit_ (both signifying "ark"), 270; - meaning of the name _Noah_, and of the mandate, "Come thou and all thy - house into the ark," 272; - derivation of _Deucalion_, 275; - figurative character of the, 275, 276; - the argument from marine strata, 276-278; - signification of the _raven_, _dove_, and _olive branch_, 278; - Purana account of the, 279 _n._; - whence the Mosaic version may have been derived, 280, 281; - _Japhet_ and _Javan_ explained, 283 _n._; - coincidence between the diluvian period and that of the Tuath-de-danaan - migration from the East, 436; - legend of Fintan and Caisarea, niece of Noah, 385; - Moses and the Pish-de-danaans, 283. - - DENDERA, resemblance between the respective worships of ancient Egypt - and India exemplified by conduct of Sepoys at, 143, 144. - - DEUCALION, origin of the name, 275. - - DEUS and Hercules synonymous, 250; - meaning of Deus Fidhius, 250. - - DEVA THOT (Buddhist), represented as crucified, 343. - - DEVENISH (R. T.), 38, 71, 167. - - DEVIL'S YONIES, 314, 350, 351. - - DIODORUS SICULUS and _Iris_, or the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 120 _n._, - 397-399. - - DIONYSIUS OF SICILY, sense in which he uses _Iris_ and _Irin_, 120. - - DOCHA, included with _Anuzza_ and _Anatta_ in the _Bavana_, 114. - - DOG, personified in sculpture at Persepolis and Clonmacnoise, 359. - - DOGHDA (Milk), the title of the tutelar goddess of Ireland, 339. - - DONATUS (bishop of Etruria, 9th century), his description of _Scotia_, - or Ireland, 54. - - DONOGHMORE (R. T.), bas-relief of crucifix over door of, 8. - - DOVE, its signification in the Noachian allegory, 278. - - DOWNPATRICK, St Patrick's alleged "granary" near, 164. - - DRUIDS, superiority of the Irish, 57; - Cæsar and Pomponius Mela on the, 57; - whence the Irish Druids derived their superiority, 57; - were fire-worshippers, 82; - significance of the golden "sickle" used by them in cutting mistletoe, - 200; - influence of their degeneracy on the study of astronomy in Ireland, - 521; - how that study was kept alive by the books of their predecessors, the - Boreades, 522. - - DUMBOE (R. T.), 81. - - DUNE OF DORNADELLA (Scotland), its resemblance to the R. T., 455; - the mystery of its stone shelves explained, 456. - - DUNGEONS, theory of the R. T. being, 16 _et seq._ - - - EGYPT, ancestral connection of Ireland with, 77; - Sabian character of its ancient worship, 77; - resemblance of the latter to that of India and China, 143; - remarkable confirmation of this in the conduct of Sepoys at Dendera, - 143; - its Ghizan pyramids popularly ascribed to Philitis (a _shepherd_), and - the evidence of Sanskrit records to the same effect, 144-146; - the _Uksi_, or shepherd kings, 146, 151; - derivation of the word "pyramid," 146-148; - the Coptic name and its signification, 148; - _Armæus_, _Amosis_, and _Inaron_ (the supposed founders of the Ghezan - pyramids), who they were, 149; - sojourn of the Israelites in, 149; - did not take place until after the Uksi invasion, 151; - the dislike of the Egyptians to the Israelites accounted for, 151; - Manetho's account of Osarsiph or Moses, 151; - proximity of Goshen to Ghiza, 153; - date of the Exodus, 150; - civilisation and magic of the Egyptians borrowed from the Chaldeans, - 155; - connection of this circumstance with Irish history, 155; - the ancient Egyptians not idolaters, 268; - indebtedness of Moses to them, 281. - - ELEPHANTA (subterranean or Mithratic temples of), Buddhist sculptures - of, 215; - their defacement by the Brahmins, 215, 216; - cross-symbolism in, 353. - - ELEPHANTS, objects of reverence to Buddhists, 113 _n._ - - ELEUSINIAN _mysteries_, their nature, 110, 111, 347, 348; - kindred rites of _Bona Dea_ and _Phiditia_, 348, 349; - degradation of such rites into the _Saturnalia_, 349, 350; - the Irish _Nullog_, 350; - the typification of regeneration, or the _new birth_, 350. - - ELLORA (caves of), 215, 216. - - EMERALD ISLE, explanation of the name, 503. - - ENGLAND, traces of the Danaans in, 425. - - ENOCH (Book of), 401, 402, 475-478. - - ERDAM (Irish for belfry), contradistinguished from _Fidh-Nemead_, 50. - - ERIGENA, or SCOTUS (John or Shane), the Irish doctor, 54 _n._ - - ETRURIANS, their origin and connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 85. - - EVE, the forbidden fruit and the serpent, 227-230, 285 _et seq._, 506, - 508. - - EXODUS. See EGYPT. - - - FARRAGH, or PHEARAGH, 56; - identical with Budh and Moriagan, 132, 141; - meaning of the name 132; - Spencer's theory as to his being Fergus, king of Scotland, 132; - his identity with _Peor_ and _Priapus_, 132 _n._; - his effigy in the Museum of T. C. D., 137, 138; - similar effigies found at Rampore (Himalayas), 139; - as to his being synonymous with Pharaoh, 142; - represented as wearing a kilt, or philabeg, 141, 341. - - FENIUS, or FENI, ancestor of the Scoto-Milesians, 432; - date of his era, 432. - - FERGIL, Irish astronomer, who in the 8th century taught the rotundity of - the earth, 523. - - FIDH-NEMEAD, or FIDH-NEMPHED, its meaning, 50, 105, 353; - Colgan's and O'Connor's errors respecting, 51. - - FINE ARTS, existed in remote antiquity, 407; - proficiency of the ancient Irish in, 411; - evidence of this proficiency, 412; - Oriental character of the Tuath-de-danaan fine art work, 412, 413. - - FINGER-OATH of the Irish peasantry, its connection with cross-worship, - 489, 501. - - FINGLAS, old cross at, 365-367. - - FIODH, or FIDHUIS, its derivation and meaning, 228, 250. - - FIRBOLGS, or Celtic inhabitants of Ireland before the Tuath-de-danaans, - 297; - assisted the Scythians to expel the latter, 297, 428; - their attire described, 297; - could not have built the R. T., 386, 387; - but probably constructed the Cromleachs, 428; - origin of the name, 428; - their religion akin to that of the Scythians, 428; - how the existence of two distinct races (Celtic and Scythian) in Arran - and the northern isles may be accounted for, 428, 429; - duration of their rule between the first Tuath-de-danaan emigration - (from Persia) and the second (from India), 442, 443; - confusion as to the battle of Moytura, which they fought with the - Tuath-de-danaans, 386, 387, 448, 449. - - FIRE-WORSHIP, alluded to in Scripture, 67, 68; - originated in "Ur of the Chaldees," 68; - spread thence to Persia, 69; - the Persian "Ur," 69; - the "Pyrea" noticed by Brisson, its nature, 69; - question as to whether the round towers were fire-temples, 70-75, - 80-82; - also as to whether the Ghebre or Parsee temples were exclusively - devoted to this worship, 71; - structural peculiarities of fire-temples, 71, 72; - the temples at Baku and Smerwick, 72; - Strabo's description of the "Pyratheia," 72; - fire-temple at Zezd, 72; - pagodas considered and described, 73; - derivation of the name "pagoda," 73, 352 _n._; - pagodas devoted to worship of the sun and moon, 73; - significance of their form, 73, 74; - fire-worship introduced into Italy by the Pelasgi, 86, 87, - and into Ireland by the Scythians, 520; - could not have been the exclusive purpose of round towers, 80-82; - Cormac's allusion to, 81, 82; - Druidic fire-worship, 82; - St. Bridget's fire-temple, 82, 83; - testimony of the Venerable Bede to its existence in Ireland, 83; - structural affinity of the Irish fire-temples to those of ancient - Greece and Rome, 85, 86; - the vestal fire, 87; - the _Baal-thinne_, Miss Beaufort's theory as to, 88-90. - - FOMORIANS, in what sense they may be regarded as builders of the R. T., - 394, 395; - their affinity to the Tuath-de-danaans, 393-395; - meaning of the name, 394, 395. - - FORBIDDEN FRUIT (of Scripture), its meaning, 227, 229 _n._ - - FOREHEAD-MARK (Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 6), a cross, 313. - - FORRES (Scotland), description of sculpture on cross at, 317-320. - - FOUR MASTERS. See ANNALS. - - FREEMASONRY, 20; - essentially Christian in principle, 344; - its Cabiric rites similar to those practised in the Fiodh Aongusa or - the Mithratic caves of Budh, 353, 354; - its connection with the R. T., 19, 20. - See MASONIC. - - FULLER, allusion in his writings to the Irish harp, 406. - - - GADELGLAS, origin of the name, 502, 503; - its connection with serpent-worship, 502. - - GADELIANS, ancestors of the Milesians, 432, 502. - - GAL AND NOUDABAL (Persian legend from Ferdosi), its meaning, 102 _n._ - - GALLAMH, father of Heber and Heremon, 393, 432. - - GAUR TOWERS of India, similar to the R. T., 371. - - GAYE-PHALLUS, twofold meaning of, 311, 312. - - "GENERATION OF VIPERS," meaning of the phrase, 498 _et seq._ - - GHEBRES, or PARSEES, their fire-temples, 71. - - GHIZEH and its pyramids, 144-153. - - GIANT'S RING (R. T.), an instance of a R. T. without a church near it, - 514. - - GILDAS, introduction of bells into England by, 11, 121, 173, 174. - - GIRALDUS. See CAMBRENSIS. - - GLENDALOUGH (R. T.), 167, 469, 474. - See SAINT KEVIN. - - GNOMONS, theory that the R. T. were. See CELESTIAL INDEXES. - - GOBAN SAER (the supposed architect of the R. T.), legendary account of, - 375-385; - not contemporary with St. Abhan, 383, 384, 493; - was a Tuath-de-danaan, 386, 492; - meaning of his name, 385, 386; - his individuality, 379, 385; - his effigy at Clonmacnoise, 358; - the sacerdotal character of its attire, 513. - - GOSHEN, significance of its situation, 153. - - GRANARD, derivation of the name, 208. - - GREECE, not the source of Irish religion or learning, 41, 453; - nature of Greek Sabaism, 194-197; - Herodotus on the Greek theogony, 196; - remarkable derivative analogy between Greek and Irish names, 453-470. - - GRIAN (Irish), as the root of _Grynæus_ (epithet of Apollo), 208. - - GYAH, Buddhist subterranean temple, 215. - - GWALIOR (Hindu temple), its subterranean passage, 166. - - - HARP, cultivation of harp music in Ireland, 403-406. - - HEBER and HEREMON, 387; - their parentage, 393, 432; - headed the Scythian invasion of Ireland, 393; - their epoch according to Irish chronology, 432; - distinct, except in language, from the _Danaans_, 393. - - HEBREW, its affinity to Irish, 228. - - HECATÆUS on the mission of Abaris from the island of the Hyperboreans to - Delos, 53-55; - on the peculiar appearance of the moon as seen from the latter island, - 397; - on the cyclic visits of Apollo to the latter, 397; - on the prevalence of _harpers_ there, 403. - - HEEREN on the history, language, architecture, and institutions of - ancient Persia, 178-183. - - HELIOGABALUS, connection of the name with the perverted sense of - _Gaye-phallus_, 312. - - HERCULES, and his twelve labours, 195; - worshipped in Egypt, Phoenicia, and elsewhere, before his inclusion in - the Greek theogony, 195; - a personification of the sun, 195; - pronounced by Orpheus the father and destroyer of all things, and the - great deliverer of mankind, 195; - explanation of the Zodiac, 195, 196; - Hercules Astrokiton, 196; - worshipped by different nations under a diversity of names, 196; - Hercules Fidhius, 250; - Hercules and Deus synonymous terms, 250; - the founder of Western philosophy, 437; - worshipped as _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_, 437. - - HERODOTUS cited, 160, 161, 180, 196. - - HIBERNIA, meaning and derivation of the name, 28, 29, 115-126, 128, 129. - See IRAN, IRELAND, INSULA HYPERBOREORUM. - - HINDUS, their origin and the meaning of their name, 74. - See INDIA. - - HOLY and MOST HOLY (places mentioned in Scripture), anatomical - significance of, 373. - - HYPANIS (River), identity of the Egyptian and Indian religions, and of - the destination of their respective pyramids, suggested by - architectural remains found near, 76. - - HYPERBOREAN (an epithet of Ireland), its twofold meaning, 55. - See INSULA HYPERBOREORUM. - - - INARON. See AARON. - - INDEX theory of the R. T. See CELESTIAL INDEXES. - - INDIA, idea underlying the morphology of Brahminism, 77, 78; - purpose of the Indian cave-temples, 78; - devotion of Brahmins to astronomy, 78, 79; - ancient Hindu civilisation, 79, 80; - its decadence under Mohammedan rule, 80; - Sir W. Jones on the pantheistic idealism of, 94 _n._; - Buddhism, 107-114 (and see BUDDHISM); - identity of ancient Egyptian worship with Brahminism, 143; - Sepoys worshipping in Egyptian temples, 143; - reference in Sanskrit records to the Pyramids, 144; - Indian origin claimed for Orpheus, 405; - second migration of the Tuath-de-danaans to Ireland was from, 443; - sculpture at Glendalough explained by reference to the history of, - 469-474. - - INSULA HYPERBOREORUM, identity of Ireland with, 52, 396-403, 437, 445 - _et seq._; - twofold meaning of Hyperborean, 55; - description by Hecatæus of, distorted by Diodorus, 397, 398; - likewise by Dalton and Macpherson, 398; - incredulity of Diodorus accounted for, 398, 399; - known also as Ogygia, 437; - scepticism of Müller respecting, 443, 444; - mission of Abaris from, 447, 448; - Greek evidence of its identity with Ireland, 451 _sq._ - - IONA, derivation of the name, 83 _n._; - its connection with St. Columbe Kille, 83 _n._ - - IRAN, the generic name of both Persia and Ireland, 127; - its specific form, _Irin_, appropriated to Ireland, 120-127; - meaning of both these names, 127; - origin of the diverse forms, _Ire_, _Eri_, _Ere_, _Erin_, 128; - how _Iran_ was metamorphosed into _Ierne_ and _Hibernia_, 128, 129; - its occupation by the Tuath-de-danaans, and their expulsion by the - Pish- (or Pith-) de-danaans, 252-259; - equivalent in meaning to _Paradise_, 285; - properly applicable to all India lying north-west of the Indus, 184; - changed by the Greeks into _Ariana_, 185; - Pahlavi _Erin_ and Zend _Eriene_ and Pelasgic _Ierne_, 185; - _Irad_ and _Iran_, 244; - _Iranians_ and _Turanians_, 123-126. - See PERSIA and IRELAND. - - IRELAND, its early repute for academic learning, 45, 46, 59 _n._; - its learning not borrowed from Greece or Rome, 45, 46; - the "Insula Hyperboreorum" of the Ancients, 52, 396-403, 445 _et seq._; - alleged cyclic visits of Apollo to, 52, 397; - description of, by Donatus (9th century), 54; - its identity with _Scotia_, 54 _n._; - why called the "Sacred" Island, 55, 117, 130; - persecution in Scotland of exiles from, 57 _n._; - included by the Ancients in the general term _Britain_, 58; - antiquity and astronomic character of the Irish language, 58, 250; - also of its alphabet, 416-418; - genealogy of the language according to Davies, 58; - Mosheim's testimony to the learning of the ancient Irish, 59 _n._; - also that of Henricus Antisiodrensis, 59 _n._; - description of Ireland by Artemidorus, 400; - its ancestral religious affinity with Egypt and India, 77-80; - resemblance of its early architecture to that of ancient Greece and - Rome, 86; - derivation and meaning of the name Hibernia, 115-126; - Tacitus on, 119; - _Iran_ and _Irin_ as names for, 120, 121-126; - _Irenses_, 121; - origin of the name _Ogygia_, 131; - also of the names _Fuodhla_, _Fudh_, _Inis_, and - _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_, 131; - its connection with Sabaism, 193-210; - Hebrew and Irish, branches of the same root-language, 228; - twofold signification of Irish letters and words, 228, 229; - the Irish alphabet a "tree" code, 229; - Irish (_i.e._ the language of Iran) an original and universal tongue, - 250; - Artemidorus on the ancient religion of, 301, 302; - mentioned in the _Puranas_ as "the white island" (_Muc-Inis_) 325-328; - significance of its readiness to accept Christianity, 344; - _Crioch-na-Fuineadhach_ as a name of, 344; - St. Patrick not the introducer of letters into, 416-419; - proof that the Irish is not derived from the Roman alphabet, 416-419; - the Ogham character, 340, 419, 420; - views of Montmorency and Whittaker refuted, 418-428; - ancient celebrity of, not due to the Celts or Scythians, 428; - resemblance of the Irish, as regards physique, manners, customs, - religious observances, etc., to the ancient Persians, 437-440; - in ancient times an "Oriental Asylum," 441; - twice invaded by the Tuath-de-danaans, 442, 443; - Firbolg occupation of, 442, 443; - meaning of _Bana-ba_ as a name of, 470-474; - also of its Sabaic name _Tibholas_, 507; - its existence known to the Greeks and Brahmins, 517, 518. - - IRIS and IRIN and IRAN, names of Ireland, 120, 121, 127, 398. - - ISIDORE of SEVILLE, on the identity of _Scotia_ with Ireland, 54 _n._ - - ISIS (Egyptian deity), phallic worship of, 105, 106; - what she personified, 106. - - ISRAELITES, sense in which the author uses the term, 11; - their use of bells, 11. - - - JAPHET (Noachian) and JAVAN (his son), derivation and meaning of the - names, 283 _n._ - - - KAIOMURS (king of Persia), 245-247; - identical with Noah, 272. - - KALABCHE (Nubian temple), resemblance of its sculptures to those at - Knockmoy and Old Kilcullen, 337-342. - - KELLS (R. T.), 83; - snake sculpture on cross at, 361, 490. - - KILL (in Irish names), its origin and signification, 43; - existence of a "Kill" evidence of previous existence of paganism, 43, - 44. - - KILCULLEN, or OLD KILCULLEN, remarkable Tuath-de-danaan cross at, 337; - its Buddhist character, 337, 338. - - KILLESHANDRA, phallic meaning of the name, 207. - - KILLMALLOCK (R. T.), 44, 167, 202; - derivation of the names, 201; - description of its tower as contrasted with the churches in its - vicinity, 202, 203. - - KILMACDUGH, remarkable leaning round tower at, 515. - - KILT, or PHILABEG, 138, 296; - originally a Tuath-de-danaan article of attire, not a Celtic, 297; - disappeared from Ireland before the introduction of Christianity, 298; - kilted figures of Budh, 138, 296; - antiquity of the Irish philabeg, 512. - - KNOCKMOY, description of supposed Buddhist sculptures at, 328-335; - refutation of theory that they depict the death of MacMurrough's son, - 333, 334; - representation of the kings, with doves, explained, 330; - similarity of the sculpture to that on temple of Kalabche (Nubia), - 337-341; - confirmatory Purana evidence, 339; - Phrygian attire of the subordinate figures, 329, 437. - - - LA-BEUIL-TINNE (first of May), or day of Baal's fire, 201. - - LAMBH and LUAMH, twofold meaning of, 487-489. - - LANIGAN on the theory that the round towers were repositories for - ecclesiastical treasure, 35. - - LEDWICH'S views regarding the round towers, 13-15; - on CUMMAN, 59. - - LINGAJAS (worshippers of the _Lingam_, or male nature), 102, 113, 228, - 259, 260, 282, 353; - their connection with Babel, 284. - - LOTOS, phallic significance of, 257 _n._; - Chinese legend of the, 257, 258. - - LOUGH DERG, meaning of its name, 206. - - LOUGH NEAGH, submerged round towers of, 50. - - LOUGH REA, and its connection with the worship of Astarte, 204, 205. - - LYCANTHROPY (or wolf-madness) in Ireland, 468, 469. - - - MACCARTHY MORES, reputed founders of round towers, 39, 40. - - MACHA, one of the three deities specially worshipped by Tuath-de-danaan - women, 132. - - MADURA, cruciform pagoda at, 352. - - MAGADHA (birthplace of Buddha), 264; - its bearing on the question, how the Tuath-de-danaans made their way - to Ireland? 265, 266 _n._ - - MAGH-ABADEAN (name of Persian dynasty), 190, 246; - another name for Tuath-de-danaan, 248; - its derivation, 247, 248. - - MAGH and MAGHODY, representing the _bounty_ of Providence, 217, 218. - - MAHADEVA (Hindu legend of), and the _Lingajas_ and _Yonijas_ or - _Yavanas_, 260, 261. - - MANETHO, his account of the invasion of Egypt by the _Uksi_, or shepherd - kings, 142; - also of the Israelites, 151. - - MANUSCRIPTS (ancient Irish), loss of, 54 _n._; - destruction of by St. Patrick, 135; - preservation and _habitat_ of the remainder, 136. - - MARINE STRATA, their bearing on the chronology of the Deluge, 276-278. - - MASONIC significance of the round towers, 19, 20; - meaning of Saer, 20 _n._ - - MAYA and RITTY (Hindu), parents of Camadeva, meaning of the legend, 94. - - MAYPOLE ceremony (Irish), its Eastern origin, 233; - its phallic and astronomic significance, 233, 234; - what it commemorated, 234; - corresponds to the Bacchic _Phallica_, _Donysia_, and _Orgia_, 235; - description of the Irish Maypole festivals, 237; - mode of celebration at Waterford, 238; - similar ceremony at Ceylon celebrated by women only, 238, 239. - - M'PHERSON'S theory of _Erne_ as the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 398. - - MEDAL effigies of Christ, 508-510. - - MELCHISEDEC, of what he was the type, 494-497. - - MILESIANS, 328, 432, 502; - date of their invasion of Ireland, 432-434. - See HEBER and HEREMON. - - MILNER on the "belfry" theory of the round towers, 12. - - MINING, Tuath-de-danaans proficient in, 408; - traces of their workings on the coast of Antrim, 408-410; - their acquaintance with iron, 115, 410; - the _Arimaspi_, or Cyclopean miners, 86, 407. - - MITHRATIC CAVES, Buddhist origin of, 2, 3, 353; - argument from the vicinity of churches to, 8; - also from Cromleachs being found near them, 17, 18; - as to their Phoenician origin, 18; - _Fiodh Aongusa_ as a designation of, 353; - Mithratic temple at New Grange, 351, 352; - their cruciform character, 353, 354; - cave of Elephanta, 353. - - MOLOCH, meaning of the name, 65, 201. - See KILLMALLOCK. - - MOLTEN SEA at Solomon's temple, 172. - - MONTMORENCY, his theories as to the round towers refuted, 16-19, 30, - 34-37, 413 _et seq._ - - MOON, prominences of, strikingly visible from the _Insula - Hyperboreorum_, 52, 53; - phallic worship of, 91, 92, 110; - generally an object of Sabaic worship, 111, 193-210; - worshipped as _Astarte_ and _Rimmon_, 102; - different names for, as a fructifying power, 91; - connected with the deification of the feminine principle, 211, 212; - different names expressive of this deification, 211; - dual sense of such epithets preserved in the primitive Irish tongue, - 212, 213; - _Militta_, ASTARTE, and the Irish derivative _Astore_, 213; - connection of the round towers with her worship, 74, 75, 112. - See ASTARTE, and 109, 112. - - MORIAGAN, a deity worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaans, 131, 132; - his military character, 132; - a personification of Budh under the name FARRAGH, 132; - meaning of the latter name, 132; - Spenser's theory that he was Fergus, king of Scotland, 132. - See FARRAGH. - - MOSES, his identity with _Amosis_ and _Osarsiph_, 149-152; - Manetho's account of, 151, 152. - See DELUGE. - - MOSHAN FANI, his account of ancient Persia, 189 _et seq._ - - MOSHEIM on the learning of the Irish schoolmen, 59 _n._ - - MOYTURA (battle), meaning of the name, 386; - first not to be confounded with another and subsequent battle, 448, - 449; - scenes of the respective battles, 386; - retreat of the Firbolgs to Arran after the first battle, 386, 387; - cause of the second battle, 448. - - MUC-INIS as a name of Ireland corresponding to the _White Island_ - mentioned in the _Puranas_, 325; - threefold meaning of the name, 327; - Dr. Keating's interpretation of it refuted, 328. - - MÜLLER'S scepticism as to the Hyperboreans, 443, 444. - - MUSIC, antiquity of Irish music, 403; - Hecatæus cited in evidence of its culture by the ancient Irish, 403; - Giraldus Cambrensis on the proficiency of the Irish harpers, 403, 404; - _Clarsech_, _Cruit_, and _Orphean_, as names for the harp, 404; - music of the Irish bards superior to that of their contemporaries, - 405, 406; - Fuller's eulogium on the Irish harp, 406; - a Danish origin falsely ascribed to the Irish harp, 406. - See APOLLO. - - - NAGUALISM, a Mexican form of Sabaism, described, 499 _et seq._ - - NAVIGATION, ancient Irish skilled in the art of, 457. - - NEW GRANGE, Mithratic temple at, cruciform character of, 351, 352. - - NIMROD, the inventor of Sun-Worship, 63; - builder of the tower of Babel, 63; - his object in building it, 63, 64; - why called _rebel_, 64; - _Birs Nimrod_, or _Mujellibah_, 65 _n._ - - NIRACARA (Brahminic), bodiless manifestations of the deity, as opposed - to _sacara_, or visible ones, which latter are, when in a human - form, the progeny of virginal conception, 288. - - NOAH and the NOACHIDÆ, 269-273. - See DELUGE and ARK. - - NUBIA, resemblance of sculptures, found at temple of Kalabche in, to - certain sculptures at Old Kilcullen and Knockmoy, 337-343. - - NULLOG (Irish name for Sabaic rites), its derivation and meaning, 350. - - - OBELISK at Sandwick (Ross-shire), description of, 305-309. - - O'CONNOR on the _gnomon_ or _celestial-index_ theory of the round - towers, 51. - - OGG (Colonel), phallic sculpture presented by him to the H. E. I. C., - 229 _n._ - - OGHAM character, 419, 420, 437. - - OGYGIA, name of Ireland, or of the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 437. - - OLIVE BRANCH (Noachian), its significance, 278. - - OLLAMH FODLAH, or FEIDLIMIDH (king of Ireland), meaning of his name, 430; - date of his accession, 430; - his ancestry, 430; - reputed founder of the round towers, 430, 431; - and see 502. - - OPHIOLATREIA (a form of Sabaism), identical with _Gadelianism_, 505; - the specific object of its worship, 505. - See SERPENT-WORSHIP. - - ORDERICUS VITALIS, his use of the name _Irenses_ for the Irish, 121. - - O'RORKES, reputed founders of the round towers, 39, 40. - - OROSIUS (fifth century) on the _Scoti_ as being inhabitants of Ireland, - 54 _n._ - - ORPHEUS and ORPHEAN, 404. 405. - - OSARSIPH (name for Moses), 151. - - OSIRIS (Egyptian deity), the object of Sabaic and Phallic worship, 105, - 106; - the same as Apollo, 437; - his staff, 490. - See ISIS. - - - PADMA-DEVI (Brahminic), its meaning, 93; - connection with the Pyramids, 92. - - PAGODAS (Hindu), derivation of the name, 73, 352 _n._; - not fire-temples, but devoted to the worship of the sun and moon, 73; - significance of their form, 73, 74; - their phallic import, 103; - cruciform construction of those at Benares and Madura, 352. - - PALATINE (Hill), etymology of the name, 198 _n._ - - PALAVER (I.), identical with _Pahlavi_, the Persian court dialect, 122. - - PALENQUE, or PALENCIA, Sabaic and Phallic import of sculptures at, 229; - cross symbolism at, 489; - affinity of its religion to that of ancient Ireland, 501; - _votan_ and the _Culebra_, 501, 502; - its triple symbolism of _yoni_, the _serpent_, and _death_, 229, 503. - - PALI (Hindu), name for the _Uksos_, or shepherd kings, 142, 143, 146. - - PARADISE, another name for _Iran_, 285. - - PARAMON (apostate Buddhist), founder of Brahminism, derivation and - meaning of his name, 216, 217. - - PARSEES, or GHEBRES, disciples of Zoroaster, and fire-worshippers, 71. - - PARVATI, the regenerate name of _Sati_ (Hindu goddess), and the - _Yonijas_, 260, 261. - - PEIROM and PIROMIS (cf. Sanskrit _Birouma_), as the origin of the name - _Pyramid_, 147. - - PEIRUM (king of Formosa), Japanese legend of, 147, 148. - - PELASGI, sprang from the same stock as the Tuath-de-danaans, 55; - were in fact a branch of the latter, 85; - called also _Tyrseni_, 85; - the real builders of Cyclopean walls, 86; - correspondence of the Cyclopean architecture with that of certain - Irish remains, 86; - introduced fire-worship into Italy, 87. - - PENANCES (Turrish), performed round the round towers, 517. - - PERSEPOLIS, description of, 179. - - PERSIA, derivation of the name, 177; - the source of European civilisation, 177; - Heeren's account of the origin of the Persian empire, 178-183; - antiquity and grandeur of the remains of Persepolis, 179; - remarkable absence of ancient records of, 180; - erroneous views of Herodotus and Arrian respecting, 180; - Terceira on the ignorance by Persians of their own history, 181; - Heeren's classification of ancient eastern empires, 182, 183; - the _Zend_ and _Pehlivi_ languages of Persia, 182; - Irish the possible key to both, 183; - Lake Zevora and the _Aria Palus_, 183; - site of the ancient _Aria_, the latter distinct from _Ariana_, 183, - 184, 187; - description of ancient Aria (Eriene-Veedjo), 186; - disastrous change of its climate leading to its desertion by the - Arii, 186, 187; - subsequent immigration of the latter into, 187; - Zoroaster and his predecessors, 188-190; - the Mahabadean dynasty, 190, 245, 246; - meaning of the name, 247; - antiquity of the Iranian monarchy, 190; - Moshan Fani's account of the ancient Hushang religion, 188-193; - Sir J. Malcolm's description of the same, 193; - its Sabian character, 194; - its origin, 194 _n._; - its adoption by the early Greeks, 194; - original seat of Buddhism, 244; - evidence of the Dabistan, 245-247; - the pre-Zoastrian dynasty founded by Mahabad, 245, 246; - his _Abad_ successors, 246, 247; - decadence of the Mahabadean dynasty, 246, 247; - Iy-Affram and Iy-abad dynasties, 246, 247; - Shah Kisleer and Mahabool, 247; - the Yessan dynasty, 247; - _Kaiomurs_, or Gilshah, 247; - Cain's descendants Mahabadeans, 247; - distinct position among the Mahabadeans of the Tuath-de-danaans, 248; - rule of the Tuath-de-danaans in, how terminated, 252-259; - silence of Persian historians on this point accounted for, 252, 253; - Vallancey's error, 253-255; - the _Pith_- (or _Pish_-) _de-danaan_ dynasty, 252-259; - consequent respect for women in ancient Persia, 262, 263; - affinity of the Ogham character to the "arrow-heads" of Persepolis, - 340; - resemblance of the Irish and Persians in physique, customs, etc., - 437-444; - the trefoil reverenced in Persia as well as in Ireland, 439, 440; - only the _first_ Tuath-de-danaan invasion of Ireland was from Persia, - 443. - See FIRE-WORSHIP and IRAN. - - PHALLIC WORSHIP, connection of the round towers with, 61, 62, 91, 101, - 103, 371, 372, 511; - religious character of, 93, 105, 213; - as practised in India, 94; - fable of devotees beguiled by Sheeva and Prakeety, 97-101; - phallic form of round towers, 101, 248; - also of pillars at Solomon's temple, 101; - of Astarte or Rimmon, 101, 102; - meaning of _Toradh_, 102 _n._; - fable of Gal and Noudabah, 102 _n._; - the _lingam_ and its priesthood, 102, 112; - Indian and Irish pagodas, devoted to, 103; - meaning of _Budh_, 103, 228, 229; - also of _Baal Phearagh_, 103; - also of _Cathoir-ghall_ and _Teaumpal-na-greine_, 103; - crescent of Sheeva symbolised on round towers, 103; - phallic significance of _Fidh-Nemphed_, 105; - identity of Sabianism with, 105; - fable of _Isis_ and _Osiris_, 106; - of the sun and moon, 75, 109, 110; - extended to agriculture, 111; - Belli-Paaro, 111; - identity and antiquity of Buddhism, Phallism, and Sabaism, 213; - what the "forbidden fruit" of Scripture signified, 227; - Eve and the "tree of knowledge," 228, 285, 501, 506; - _Budh_, _Fiodh_, _Beth_, their common significance, 228, 229; - the _Maypole_ ceremonial, 233 _et seq._; - derivation and meaning of _lingam_ and _yoni_, 259, 260; - their secondary meaning, also that of _Tuath_ and _Pish_ or _Pith_, - 256, 257; - origin of _Lingajas_ and _Yonijas_, according to the Puranas, 260, 261; - Chinese legend of Puzza and the lotus, 257, 258; - significance of the sacred "crescent," 261; - introduction of crescent worship into Persia, 261, 262; - Hebrew name for tower of Babel, phallic import of, 283, 284; - significance of the triangle and the pyramid, 267-269; - Pythagorean _triangle of ten_, 267, 268; - phallic import of the name _Thebit_ for the "ark," 270, 271; - the "ark of bulrushes" and the doctrine of "virginal conception," 271; - "Come thou and all thy house into the ark" explained, 272; - derivation of the symbolic "crescent" or lunar "boat," 273; - the Irish "crescent" brooches, 273, 274; - Delphic and other personifications of _yoni_, 282 _n._; - the temple of Belus at Babylon, 283 _n._; - the Ogg sculpture in the British Museum, its phallic and Buddhistic - significance, 229 _n._; - Eve and the "Serpent," 285 _et seq._, 505; - origin of the two _Danaan_ sects, _i.e._ the _Tuaths_ and _Piths_, 286; - legend of Apollo and the python, 291, 292; - also of the Purana "_Snake_ giant," 292; - Proserpine and the "serpent," 303; - identity of _Budha-gaya_ and _Budh-gaye_, 310, 311; - their common and their secondary meaning, 311; - degradation of Phallicism, 311, 312; - how evinced in the title _Heliogabalus_, 312; - phallic character of the _Eleusinian_ mysteries, 349; - also of those of the _Bona Dea_ and _Phiditia_, 349; - _Phallus_ synonymous with _Budh_, also _Budh-gaye_ (Irish) with - _Budha-gaya_ (Hindu), meaning of both, 311; - phallic configuration of the round towers, 372, 511. - - PHARAOH, synonymous with Farragh and Phearagh, 142. - - PHEARAGH (Irish pagan deity). See FARRAGH. - - PHEELEA, its derivation, meaning, and use, 459-461; - Irish specimen found at Ballymony, 461; - also, as PHEELEAS, (an order of Irish priesthood), etymology of - connected with the Greek oracular _Peleiai_ of Dodona, 459; - oracular tube of this nature found at Ballymony, 460; - its uses and symbolism explained, 461, 462. - - PHIDITIA, a form of phallic worship practised at Carthage, 349. - - PHILABEG (a portion of ancient Irish costume). See KILT. - - PHOENICIANS, round towers not built by, 413, 414; - their sole connection with Ireland, 414, 420; - a mercantile, not a literary, people, 415; - not connected with Irish letters, 420. - - PHRYGIANS, their reference to the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 436; - traces of their costume in the sculptures at Knockmoy, 437. - - PICTS, persecution of Tuath-de-danaans by, 57 _n._, 326, 431. - - PIRE-MONC (Coptic name for pyramid), its meaning, 148. - - PIROMIS (Egyptian high priest) and PIROMIA, as the origin of _Pyramid_, - 147. - - PISH, or PITH, its signification, 255-257. - - PISH-DE-DANAANS, or PITH-DE-DANAANS, meaning of the name, 257; - how distinguished from the Tuath-de-danaans, 255-257, 282; - origin of the war between the two sects, 258; - victory of the Pish-de-danaans and consequent expulsion from Persia of - their rivals, 259; - Hindu version of a corresponding struggle between the _Lingajas_ and - _Yonijas_, 260, 261; - their political and moral code, and worship of the _Yoni_, or "sacred - crescent," 261, 262; - their subsequent expulsion from _Iran_, or Persia, and retreat to - Egypt, 281; - known there as the _Uksi_, or shepherd kings, 281; - builders of the pyramids, 282; - dwelt in _Shinar_ (Mesopotamia) pending their arrival in Egypt, 282; - communicated to Moses the legend of the Deluge, 283; - known also as _Yavanas_, 273, 283. - See TUATH-DE-DANAANS. - - POMEGRANATE ORNAMENT, mentioned in connection with bells in Scripture, - 171; - the name _Rimmon_ expressive of, 102, 172; - its significance, 102; - depicted in the mouldings of the round towers, 172. - - POMPONIUS MELA on Druidic learning, 57. - - POPE, as to the alleged papal origin of the ancient Irish crosses, - 489-492. - - PRAKEETY and SHEEVA, Hindu legend of, 97-101. - - PRATYA-SHA (Brahminical), visible emanations from the Deity, 288. - - PROSERPINE and the Serpent, allegory of, 303. - - PRUTANEION (Greek), its nature, derivation, and applied meaning, 198 _n._ - - PURANAS (Hindu sacred writings), cited, 260, 279 _n._, 325-329, 499. - - PUZZA and the LOTUS, Chinese legend of, 257, 258. - - PYRAMIDS, cost of building, 7; - purpose for which they were intended, 77, 145, 157, 158, 248; - whether used as sepulchres, 75, 76, 158, 159, 162; - Brahminic theory respecting, 92, 161; - origin of those at Ghiza, 144-156, 281, 282; - marble casing of, 144; - dimensions of the great pyramid, 145, 267; - peculiar construction of the smaller ones, 145; - derivation of the word "pyramid," 145-149; - images of the Pyromis, 147; - not intended as granaries, 145; - description of their general structure, 157; - their astronomical character, 158; - internal passage pointing to the polar star, 157; - whether intended to be metrical standards, 158; - or sepulchres, 158, 159, 162; - sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid, 159; - sarcophagus of Apis at Biban-el-Moluk, 159, 160; - theory of Herodotus regarding, 160, 161; - Brahminic theory from existence of wells under, 161, 162; - probability of corresponding excavations under the round towers, 162, - 163; - the Japanese _Peirum_, 147, 148; - Coptic name for, 148; - Indian origin of, 148; - whether the Israelites were employed in constructing, 148-156; - vicinity of Ghizeh to the land of Goshen, 153; - ignorance of the Egyptians respecting their origin accounted for, 154; - Buddhistic doctrine of their emblemism, 248; - coincidence between dimensions of the Great Pyramid and those of the - "ark," 267; - probably erected by the Uksos, or shepherd kings, _i.e._ by the - Pish-de-danaans, 281, 282. - - PYRATHEIA (fire-temples), Strabo's description of, opposed to the whole - character of the round towers, 72. - - PYREA, or fire-temples of the Chaldeans, Persians, etc., 69. - - PYTHAGORAS and the triangle of ten, 267, 268; - Tuath-de-danaan mission to, 449, 450; - meaning of his name, 507, 508. - - PYTHIA, derivation and meaning of, 507; - transmission to the oracle of the inspiring vapour through _pheeleas_, - 460, 507. - - PYTHON, allegory of Apollo and the, its origin and meaning, 291, 292, - 330; - its representation at Knockmoy, 330. - - - RAVEN (Noachian), sent forth from the ark, what it typified, 278. - - RIMMON (ASTARTE), its meaning and emblemism, 101, 102. - - RINKE-TEUMPOIL (temple dance), its connection with the round towers, 517. - - RITTY (wife of Camadeva), her place in the Hindu phallic mythology, 94. - - ROME, connection of the Irish _Chaildees_ with, 44; - Montmorency's theory on this point, 44, 45; - academies of Ireland superior to those of, 45; - nature and extent of the acknowledgment of Roman supremacy in Ireland, - 45; - Dr. Hurd on the relation of the _Chaildees_ to, 46; - Fenelon on the moral and religious status of, 46. - - ROUND TOWERS, to be regarded as _Sabian_ towers, 3, 4; - or primitive Buddhist temples, 4; - Buddhist origin claimed for them in common with Cromleachs and - Mithratic caves, 2, 3; - not designed for penitential or purgatorial purposes, 5; - not specially intended as beacons or belfries, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 36, - 37; - not limited to any special purpose, 6; - durability, costliness, and complexity of their structure, 6, 7; - inferior construction of churches in their vicinity, showing that the - latter date from a subsequent period, 7, 514; - instance of a R. T. without a church near it, 514; - not of Danish origin, 9, 10; - as to the alleged Christian origin of those at Brechin and Abernethy - in Scotland, 8, 10, 431; - how Scotch differ from Irish R. T., 10; - the "cell" theory, 13, 14; - the existence of R. T. in Scotland accounted for, 10; - their being termed _Cloghads_ no proof of their being merely belfries, - 10-12; - not intended as retreats or depositories in the case of a hostile - invasion, or as places of seclusion for anchorites, 13-15, 35, 36; - nor as "excubiæ" (Stanihurst's theory), 14, 15; - their connection with freemasonry, 19, 20; - and with the _Bards_, 22, 23; - their antiquity, 27, 28; - erected by followers of _Baal Phearagh_, 29; - inference from the peculiar position of their doors, 33; - belfry at Slane not a R. T., 36, 37; - not meant as monastic fortresses, 37, 38; - that of Devenish, 38, 71; - allegation that they were founded by the O'Rorkes and M'Carthys, 39, - 40; - that of Ballycarberry, 48; - described by Giraldus Cambrensis, 49; - alleged to be submerged under Lough Neagh, 50; - the "celestial index" theory, 52; - twofold purpose of, 61, 62, 372; - phallic significance of, 61, 62, 91, 101, 103, 112, 178, 372, 511; - the "fire-temple" theory, 70, 71, 74, 82, 83, 91; - Ardmore and Devenish R. T. considered with regard to the latter - theory, 71; - Eastern buildings similar to the R. T., especially in the Caucasus and - Hindostan, 74, 75; - Eastern R. T. not necessarily fire-temples, 75, 191; - Drumboe R. T. and the "fire-temple" theory, 81; - structural difference between R. T. and "fire-temples," 83; - Miss Beaufort's arguments considered, 83-89; - not "provincial palaces" elected under the enactment of Tara, 90; - funeral and astronomic purposes of, 91, 92; - that of Clondalkin, 101; - the "crescent of Sheevah" sculpture on the latter, 103; - symbolic of the _Lingam_, 112; - possibility of subterranean passages under, 162-166; - confirmatory evidence of this at Downpatrick, 164; - comparative date of structures at Clonmacnoise, 163; - must have existed before St. Patrick's time, 164; - the round pillars of Aradus (Tripoli), 165; - the crocodile tanks of the Egyptian labyrinth, 166; - the "sepulchre" theory, 162-166; - subterranean passage of Hindu temple at Gwalior, 166; - argument from water in vicinity of, 167; - Lake of Astarte at Hieropolis, 168; - Solomon's "Molten Sea," 172; - confirmatory description by Lucian, 168; - mode of ascending the R. T., 168, 169, 176; - segregation of solitary worshippers on summit of R. T., 170; - use of bells in R. T., 169, 175; - corresponding usage in Indian and Jewish ceremonials, 169-175; - similar conformity in respect of sacrifices, 170-173; - pomegranate sculpture on, 171, 172; - traces of bell apparatus on accounted for, 172, 173; - corresponding bell usages in Ceylon, Burmah, and China, 173 _n._, 174 - _n._; - traces of steps used for ascending R. T., 176; - parallel instance at phallic temple of Serrowbee, 176; - R. T. of Kilmalloch, 201-203; - R. T. on Scattery Island, 206; - common phallic symbolism of R. T., obelisks and other _lithoi_, 217, - 229 _n._; - connection of the R. T. with the offence of Cain, 233; - form of the R. T. significative of Divine unity, 248; - reason why R. T. are seldom found in Persia, 253 _et seq._; - pseudo-Christian symbols on R. T. of Brechin, 299-301; - similar emblems on temple in Ceylon, 300; - _Fidh-nemead_ as a designation of, 343; - their analogy to certain _Nubian_ antiquities, 343; - R. T. of Clonmacnoise, their vicinity to the churches accounted for, - 356, 357; - Cormac's testimony to their antiquity and Buddhist origin, 74, 368; - their affinity to the Ceylonese _Dagobs_, 369-371; - also to the _Gaur_ towers of India, 371; - their twofold, _i.e._ phallic and sepulchral character, 372; - analogy between them and the pillars Jachin and Boaz of Solomon's - temple, 372, 373; - era of their construction, 373-395; - proof in the annals of Ulster that they existed before the fifth - century, 374; - legend of their supposed architect, _Goban Saer_, 375, 383, 513; - _St. Abhan_ could have had no share in their construction, 383, 384; - not of Scythian origin, 386, 387; - probability of their Tuath-de-danaan origin, 386-389, 513; - as to the possibility of their Fomorian origin, 394, 395; - Amergin's evidence as to their antiquity, 387, 388; - corresponding Boreadan temples of Apollo described by Hecatæus, 403; - could not have been of Phoenician origin, 413, 414; - why there are no R. T. in England, 425; - their existence in Scotland accounted for, 431; - not founded by _Ollamh Fodlah_, 430; - their connection with the worship of Osiris, 437; - their resemblance to the Treasury of Atreus (Greece), 455; - also to _Dune of Donadella_ (Scotland), 455; - certain projections from their surface accounted for, 456, 515; - difference of their appropriation accounted for, 512; - reason of their phallic shape, 511; - significance of their apertures, 511; - also of their crucificial emblems, 511; - also of the absence or presence of internal compartments, 511; - their varying height, 511; - shape and fashioning of the apex, 511; - also of their cornices, resembling those of Solomon's pillars, 511, - 514; - their tapering diameter, 511, 512; - their doors, reason of height from the ground, 512; - their exceptional architecture, 513-516; - their material, evidence of a pre-Christian origin, 513, 514; - similar evidence from their decorative character, 513, 514; - occasional vitrification of their interior accounted for, 514; - absence of floors in, how explicable, 514, 515; - correspondence of their general construction with that of Solomon's - temple, 514, 515; - their perpendicularity, 515; - probable mode of their construction, 516; - cohesiveness of their structure exemplified, 516; - performance of dances (_Rinke-teumpoil_) round them, 517; - peculiar penances (_Turrish_) observed in their vicinity, 517; - the prevalent uncertainty as to their origin and uses explained, 519, - 520; - their assignment to astronomical purposes after the Scythian conquest - of Ireland, 521. - - - SABAISM, 193-210, 503-510; - not idolatry, 194; - origin of, 194 _n._, 503; - its objects of worship, 194; - professed by the early Greeks, 194; - its identity with Phallicism, 105; - significance of Cyclops, _Sterope_, _Argues_, _Brontes_, _Hercules_, - 195, 196; - names under which Hercules or the Sun was worshipped, 196; - Herodotus on the old Greek theogony, 196; - whence Greece derived Sabaism, 196, 197; - how the latter degenerated into idolatry, 197; - its affinity with the ancient religion of Ireland, 197-210; - such affinity evident from Irish local names, 197-210; - Sabaic origin of the names _Palatine_, _Aventine_, _Prytaneia_, 198 - _n._; - _Aiche-Baal-tinne_ and _Aiche-Shamain_ explained, 199, 200; - Irish customs and expressions indicative of, 199; - existed among the Druids, 199, 200; - significance of the Druidic "golden sickle," its Indian equivalent, - 200; - adoption of its institutions by the early Christian missionaries, - 200-202; - _La-Beuil-tinne_ as a name for Christmas, 201; - signified in architectural remains at Kilmalloch, 201, 203; - Sabian origin of the names _Baltinglas_, _Athlone_, _Shannon_, _Lough - Rea_, _Castlereagh_, _Deargart_, and _Lough Derg_, etc., 203-209; - Scattery Island and its round tower, 206; - Killeshandra, 207; - Grian (the Sun), as a root name, 208, 209; - Sabian affinity of the Irish with the Algan Kinese of N. America, 209; - connection between Sabaism, Buddhism, and Phallism, 213; - deification of the energies of nature alluded to in the _Book of - Enoch_, 401, 402; - derivation and origin of the name _Sabian_, 503; - triple meaning of the Irish root, _Sabh_, 503; - Hindu equivalent of the latter, 503 _n._; - Sabaism indicated in Palencian remains, 503; - _Ophiolatreia_ and the _Gadelian_ varieties of, 505; - "know that ye are Sabians" (Arabic prophecy) explained, 503, 506; - meaning of [Greek: To SABOE] in Bacchic rites, 505; - Sabaic, or Phallic, import of _Sibyl_, _Delphi_, _Pythia_, and - _Tripod_, 507; - also of the name Pythagoras, 508; - the sacred name "Immanuel," and the medals of Christ, 503, 510; - Sabaic character of the round towers, 510 _et seq._ - - SABH, triple meaning of, 503; - identity with Hindu Seva, 503 _n._ - - SACARA (Brahminical), name for certain embodiments of the Deity, 288. - - SAER, triple meaning of, 20 _n._ - See GOBAN SAER. - - SAINT ABHAN, Montmorency's view as to his having been the founder of the - R. T. considered, 30, 383; - not contemporary with the Goban Saer, 383, 384; - and see GOBAN SAER. - - SAINT BRIDGET, originally a pagan vestal or fire-worshipper, 82; - date of her conversion to Christianity, 82; - how she continued to show a leaning to her former faith, 82; - description of her "fire-house" by Cambrensis, 82, 83; - unconnected with the R. T., 83. - - SAINT COLUMB, or COLUMB-KILL, and the isle of Hy, 37; - not the founder of Kells R. T., 83. - - SAINT KEVIN, nature of his connection with Glendalough, 471; - Ledwich's fallacy respecting, 472. - - SAINT PATRICK, introduction of Christianity into Ireland not due to him, - 41; - his share in the work of evangelisation, 42, 43, 364; - meaning of _Nemph-Thur_, the name of his birthplace, 114 _n._; - his holocaust of Irish literature, 135, 415, 416; - his alleged "granary" at Down, 164; - his pagan master, Milco Mac-Huanan, 203, 204; - the only sense in which he can be regarded as having extirpated snakes - from Ireland, 360-364; - analogous legend in the _Puranas_, 362, 363; - not the originator of the Irish alphabet, 416; - nor of the national veneration for the shamrock, 439, 440. - - SAINT PAUL, as to the possibility of Ireland having been evangelised by, - 41. - - SALSETTE, subterranean temple at, 215, 216. - - SAMONA, a title for the priests and images of Buddha, 141. - - SANDWICK (Ross-shire), description of symbolic sculpture on obelisk at, - 305-9. - - SATI, or PARVATI (Hindu), and Mahadeva, parents of the _Lingajas_ and - _Yonijas_, 260. - - SCAPEGOAT, corresponding observance connected with R. T., 170, 172; - similar observance in upper India, 172 _n._ - - SCATTERY ISLAND, its round tower and seven churches, 206. - - SCOTI and SCOTIA, the latter originally identical with _Scythia_, 54; - SCOTI, a name for the Irish, 54 _n._, 429; - the _Scoto-Brigantes_ and their invasion of Ireland, 426; - distinct from the Scandinavian invasion, 426; - connection of the Scoti with Spain, 426 _n._; - their amalgamation with the Firbolgs, 428; - change of the name _Irin_ into _Scotia_, 429; - date at which the former name was resumed, 429; - _Scotia Major_ and _Scotia Minor_, and substitution of the latter for - _Albania_ as the name of Scotland, 429 _n._; - retention of _Scoti_ as a name for the Irish, 429 _n._; - friendship between the Picts and Scots, and adoption by the former of - Scotia as a name for their country, 431; - rupture of this friendship, 431; - the _Scoto-Milesians_, 432. - - Scotland, exile of the Danaan Boreades to, 56; - persecution of the latter by the Picts, 57 _n._; - round towers in, 10, 431. - - SCOTUS (Johannes). See ERIGENA. - - SCRABALL (head-tax), as to its levy for the purpose of building palaces - at Tara, 89, 90. - - SCYTHIANS, date of their conquest of Ireland, 297, 435; - assisted by the Firbolgs to subjugate the Iranians (Tuath-de-danaans), - 297, 428; - superseded the usages and dress of the latter, 297, 298; - Strabo's description of the Scythian attire, 53; - why Abaris did not wear this dress, 56; - their policy towards the Boreades, 56; - their contempt for architecture, 383, 384; - O'Morgan (Archbishop of Armagh), the first Scythian who built a stone - house, 384; - St. Abhan could not have done so, 384; - _Goban Saer_ not a Scythian, 386; - could not have built the R. T., 386, 387; - spoke the language of the Tuath-de-danaans, 393; - their religion Druidical, 428; - name of Ireland changed to Scythia (_Scuitte_), 429; - their occupation of the country responsible for the decay of its - grandeur and piety, 520. - - SEANNEACBUS, mistake of, respecting the battle of Maytura, 448, 449. - - SEPOYS at Dendera, remarkable behaviour of, 143, 144. - - SEPULTURE, mystic significance of the form of the R. T. in reference to, - 372. - - SERAPIS, monogram of Christ found beneath foundation of temple to, 312. - - SERPENT-WORSHIP, general symbolism of the serpent, 221, 222; - Purana legend of the snake giant killed by Christnah, 221, 292; - antiquity of this worship and of its symbolism, 222, 223; - symbol of circle and serpent explained, 222, 223, 506; - ubiquity of serpent-worship and of its peculiar symbolism, 222, 223; - the Vindolana stone and its symbolism, 223; - identity of serpent, sun, and phallic worship, 223, 224; - symbol of cross, crescent, and cockatrice explained, 224-226, 506; - Egyptian notions regarding the basilisk, 225; - relation of the latter to the _brazen serpent_ of Scripture, 225, 506; - Eve and the serpent, 285 _et seq._, 505, 506; - Apollo and the Python, 291, 292, 330; - meaning of "Python," 330 _n._; - Proserpine and the serpent, 303; - snake-symbolism on Irish crosses, 357-367; - only sense in which St. Patrick can be allowed credit for the - extirpation of snakes from Ireland, 361-363; - scriptural allusions to snake-charming, 360; - why snake-sculpture on crosses was revered by the Irish, 361; - description of snake-sculpture on temple at Burwah Saugor, 363; - snake symbolism at Glendalough, 473; - the expression "generation of vipers" explained, 498-505; - Purana legend of Deity assuming form of serpent, 499; - Nagualism and its doctrines, 499 _et seq._; - the Palencian _Culebra_ and the Irish _Gadelglas_, 502; - serpent insignia of the Milesians, 502; - _Gadel_, _Gadelglas_, and the "_Emerald Isle_" explained, 502, 503; - Vishnu, the snake, and the White Island, 326. - - SERROWLEE (India), description of certain structures resembling R. T. - at, 176. - - SHAMROCK, Irish national reverence for, derived from ancient Persia, and - not introduced by Saint Patrick, 439, 440; - imported by the Tuath-de-danaans, 440; - reason for its veneration, 440; - shamrock devices in Freemasonry, and upon the crowns of Irish and - Persian kings, explained, 440. - - SHANNON, a Gangian name, 205, 206; - its divinity _Derg_ (Durga), 206. - - SHEEVA, or SEVA, the originator of phallic worship, 100, 101; - his "crescent" represented on the R. T., 103; - his name identical with the Irish _Sabh_, 503; - its Hindu signification, 503 _n._ - - SHINAR (in Mesopotamia), the site of the tower of Babel, and of the - origin of Sabaism, 64; - settlement of the Noachidæ, 65; - its previous occupation by the _Pish-de-danaans_ before they went to - Egypt, 282. - - SIAMESE REGISTERS, their coincidence with the Irish as to the date of - the Tuath-de-danaan invasion, 435. - - SIBYLS, why so called, 507. - See PHEELEA and PYTHIA. - - SICKLE, as to the symbolism of the golden one used by the Druids, 200. - - SLANE, belfry at, not a R. T., 36, 37. - - SMERWICK, ancient fire-temple at, 72. - - SOLOMON'S TEMPLE, Phallic or Sabian pillars at, 101, 372, 511; - consequent affinity between them and the R. T., 372, 514; - anatomical significance in the construction of, 373; - correspondence of its windows to the apertures of R. T., 514. - See MOLTEN SEA. - - SPENSER, cited, 469. - - STANIHURST, his theory of the R. T. being "excubiæ," 14, 15. - - STEROPES, Sabaic, import of the term, 195. - - STRABO on _Abaris_ and the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 53-55; - his description of _Pyratheia_, showing that R. T. could not have - been the latter, 72. - - SUAD-DHA-DANA (father of Buddha), identical with Tuath-de-danaan, 264. - - SULLIVAN and O'SULLIVAN, connected with the Hindu name, _Sulivahana_, - 339; - peculiar reverence accorded to families bearing this name in Ireland, - 339 _n._ - - SUN-WORSHIP, Nimrod reputed to have introduced, 63, 64; - _Baal_, _Moloch_, and _Bolati_ as names of the Sun, 65; - its Sabian character, 64-66, 110; - why it originated, 66; - at first merely emblematical, 66; - not conducted originally in temples, 66; - its degeneration into _Materialism_, as fire-worship, 67; - allusions to both in Scripture, 67, 68, 109; - names for the Sun as representative of the _fructifying_ principle, 91; - description of a Mexican fire-temple, 156 _n._; - connection of the R. T. with, 75; - connection of Ophiolatry (serpent-worship) with, 223, 224. - See APOLLO and FIRE-WORSHIP. - - - TACITUS (Agricola), his comparison of Ireland with England, 119. - - TAILTINE GAMES, described, 390-392; - origin of the name, 392; - recorded in sculptures on Irish crosses and obelisks, 392; - corresponding observances in Egypt and Greece, 392, 393; - Buddhist significance of, 392; - analogy of _Tailtine_ with English _Tilt_, 392; - Telltown, 389. - - TARA, triennial assemblies at, 23; - pagan rites celebrated at in the time of St. Patrick, 42; - Miss Beaufort on the enactment of, A.D. 79, by Tuathal Teachmar, in - connection with the purpose of the R. T., 88, 89; - Psalter of Tara quoted in refutation of her theory, 89, 90; - a place for legislative deliberations, 389. - See TEAMOR. - - TAUT (Egyptian), triple-cross emblem of, 291; - its connection with Freemasonry, 291 _n._ - - TEAMOR (or TARA), not a palace, but a R. T., 90, 389. - - TEAUMPAL-NA-GREINE (temple of the Sun), a name for R. T., 103. - - TEN (the number) the Pythagorean triangle of, 267, 268; - its phallic significance, 268; - its connection with the pyramids, 268, 269; - how it came to be represented by a cross, 487-489; - its connection with the Irish "finger-oath," 489. - - TERCEIRA (Spanish historian of 16th cent.) on the decay of learning in - Persia, 181. - - THEBIT, or THEBITH (name for the "Ark"), its phallic import, 270, 271. - - TIBHOLAS, or TIVOLAS, as a name of Ireland, its Sabaic origin and - import, 507. - - TORADH (Irish), curious double meaning of, 102 _n._ - - TOR-BOILEH (Indian local name), corresponding to Irish _Nemph-Thur_ and - _Budh-Nemph_, 114 _n._ - - TOTDANA (a religious name of Ireland), explained, 453. - - TREE, how each letter of the Irish alphabet denotes some kind of, 229, - 418. - - TREE of KNOWLEDGE, (scriptural), what it signified, 227-230. - See EVE. - - TREFOIL. See SHAMROCK. - - TRIANGLE, sacred character and phallic import of its form, 267. - See TEN. - - TRIPOD (Delphic), analogous symbolism of shape between it and the - pyramid, 507. - - TUATH, corresponds to Buddhist _Suath_, and is resolvable with _Budh_, - 264; - device of the cross significant of, 291. - - TUATH-DE-DANAANS, origin and meaning of the name, 55, 248, 249, 257; - a sacerdotal caste of the Persian Magh-abadeans, 248, 249; - derivation of _Tuath_ and _Tuatha_, 249, 257; - of _de_ and _Danaans_, 249; - meaning of the whole name, 249; - distinct from the _Pish_- (or _Pith_)- de-danaans, 255-257; - origin of their separation from the latter, 258; - war of the two sects, and victory of the Pish-de-danaans, 259, 285; - consequent expulsion of the Tuath-de-danaans from Persia, 259; - discrepant Hindu account of the struggle, 260, 261; - their settlement in Ireland, and its consequences, 259, 264-266, 393; - their leaders, the sons of Miledh, the Fomorian, 393; - their existence in Persia recognised by Eastern historians, 264; - identical with _Suad-dha-dana_ (Buddhist), 264; - Kaiomurs, or Yavana (Noah), the founder of their dynasty, 272; - their garb described, 297; - contrasted with that of the Celts, 297; - their expulsion from Ireland, and persecution by the Picts in - Scotland, 320; - their battles with the Firbolgs, 386, 448, 449; - were a sea-going people, 414; - whether carried by the Phoenicians to their destination, 414; - date of their arrival in Ireland, 435, 436; - curious correspondence of same with that of expulsion of the - Buddhists, _ib._; - also with the diluvian period, 436; - effected two distinct settlements in Ireland, 436, 443, 448, 449; - their expulsion from India by the Brahmins, 443; - harassed by the Firbolgs, 441, 442; - their embassy to Greece, and contest with the Firbolgs on their - return; consequent battle, 448, 449; - their subsequent decadence both in religion and learning, 449; - merging of their ritual with that of the Druids, 449; - their practical introduction of the leading tenets of Christianity - into Ireland, 493; - Irish crosses, church festivals, and hagiology derived from, 492-494, - 513; - prosperity of Ireland in their time, 517; - effacement of their influence by the Scythian conquest, 520; - subsequent accommodation between victors and vanquished, 520; - analogous event in Roman history, 520, 521; - their connection with the round towers, 386-389, 513. - See BUDDHISM, ROUND TOWERS, PERSIA, IRELAND, etc. - - TURRISH, name for penitential gyration round the R. T., 517. - - - UKSI, or HUKSOS (shepherd kings), Manetho's account of, 142; - called _Pali_ in Vedas, 143; - their invasion of Egypt explains the dislike of the Egyptians to the - Israelites, 143, 151; - evidence of Herodotus, 143; - were probably the founders of the Pyramids, 144, 153; - the shepherd _Philitis_, 144, 146; - their general influence on civilisation and science in Egypt, 144-156; - were antecedent to the Israelites there, 151; - were derived from the same stock as the _Tuath-de-danaans_, 155. - - ULSTER (annals of), record the destruction of fifty-seven R. T. by an - earthquake in the 5th cent., 374. - See ANNALS. - - UR, meaning of, 68; - Chaldean and Persian cities of that name, the former the original seat - of fire-worship, 68, 69. - See NIMROD and FIRE-WORSHIP. - - - VALENTIA (Lord) on certain edifices in the Caucasus resembling R. T., 74 - - VALLANCEY, his theories as to the R. T., 13, 254, 255; - his confusion of the _Pish-de-danaans_ with the _Tuath-de-danaans_, - 253; - also of _Airgiodlamh_ with _Zerdust_ (Zoroaster), 254; - his merits and defects, 19, 254, 255. - - VASSANT (Hindu deity), companion of _Camadeva_, meaning of the name, 95, - 96. - - VEDAS (Sanskrit records), cited, 143. - - VENERABLE BEDE, evidence of, as to the existence of fire-temples in - Ireland, not conclusive as to the character of the R. T., 83. - - VESTAL-FIRE, of Oriental origin, 87. - - VINDOLANA, remarkable Sabaic sculpture on stone found at, 223-226. - - VIPERS, their place in Sabaism, 498-505; - import of the scriptural expression, "generation of vipers," 498, 499. - See SERPENT-WORSHIP. - - VIRGINAL CONCEPTION, a doctrine not confined to Christianity, 271, 288, - 291-304. - - VISHNU (Hindu deity), phallic worship of, identical with that of the - _Yonijas_, 260 _n._ - - - WARE (Sir John), 37; - on the chronology of the R. T., 373. - - WATERFORD and WEXFORD, argument from R. T. not being found there, 9. - - WELLS, existence of, under the pyramids, an argument against the theory - that they were royal mausoleums, 162. - - WHITAKER on the derivation of the name _Britain_, 421, 422; - on the Celtic origin of Irish, Scotch, and Welsh local names, 422; - on a Belgic colonisation of Ireland, 423; - his theories refuted, 423-428. - - WHITE ISLAND (_Muc-Inis_), a name of Ireland, 327; - also the name given in the Puranas to the kingdom of Crishna, and the - scene of Vishnu's incarnation and the abode of the legendary - snake-giant, 325-327; - triple meaning of the Irish name, _Muc Inis_, 327; - Keating's theory of its origin, 328; - its real meaning, 339. - - WOLF, representation on ancient Irish sculptures of the, 466, 467; - meaning of the symbolism, 466-468; - _Lycanthropy_, or wolf-madness, 468; - its prevalence among the ancient Irish, 469; - the Irish as wolf-tamers, 469; - Irish and Indian wolf-dogs, 469; - meaning of _Lyceus_, 469. - - WOMAN, the subject of deification in early times, 211, 212; - typified by the Moon, 211; - names under which she was worshipped, 211, 212; - dual import of the Irish term _Astore_, 212, 213; - nature of Eve's fatal curiosity, 228, 229, 285; - also how it led to Buddhism, 330; - exalted position of woman in ancient Persia, 262, 263; - the scriptural penalty imposed on Eve explains the nature of her - offence, 285; - the promise of virginal offspring to avert its consequences, 285, 286; - immorality resulting from the wish to anticipate this promise, 287; - Buddhist recognition of its fulfilment, 301; - Artemidorus on the pre-Christian worship of the virgin in Ireland, 301; - Greek perversion of the idea of virginal conception, 303; - meaning of the expression, "the son of woman" in the Book of Enoch, - 475-477. - - - YAVANA, its meaning, 259, 273; - another name for _Pish-de-danaans_, 283. - - YESSAN (Persian dynasty), 247. - - YONIJAS, worshippers of the Yoni, or sacred emblem of female nature, - 259, 260, 282 _n._ - See also DEVIL'S YONIES. - - - ZEZD (Persian), nature of fire-temple at, 72. - - ZOROASTER (or _Zerdust_), meaning of the name, 52; - period at which he lived, 189; - nature of his teaching, 188; - anticipated by Hushang, 189, 190. - - -NOTE.--This edition of O'Brien's work on the Round Towers being, as -regards the Author's text, a _facsimile_ of that published in 1834, the -above Index will serve for both. - - - PRINTED BY - MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] "Bryan O'Brien, of the county of Kerry, son of Teige, born 1740, -married, 17th November 1797, Ellen, daughter of Justin MacCarthy (by -Joanna Conway, his wife); and had: I. Richard, who died unmar. in Jan. -1861; II. Lucien, who also died unmar. in America, in Mar. 1865; III. -Turlogh Henry, author of _The Round Towers of Ireland_, who died unmar. -1835" (O'Hart's _Irish Pedigrees_, p. 168). At pp. 39, 40, _post_, O'Brien -alludes to his maternal grandfather as "the last of the MacCarthy Mores." - -[2] At pp. 480, 481, _post_: thus, by the way, refuting a statement (in -the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1835) which has been adopted in the -_Dictionary of National Biography_, that he was utterly ignorant of -Celtic. - -[3] It is not to be supposed that a University Professor of Greek would -have had any difficulty in explaining to the most ordinary intelligence an -idiom so frequently occurring in the New Testament as [Greek: eis ta -idia], which we meet with, not only in the passage referred to (John i. -11), but at xvi. 32 and xix. 37 of the same Gospel, and at xxi. 6 of the -Acts of the Apostles. Nor is it likely that the exegetic difficulty -connected with [Greek: ta idia] would have occurred to a boy of twelve. -Further, Mr. Boyton did not resign his connection with the University -until 1833, whereas, in the passage above cited, O'Brien evidently refers -to some time about 1820. - -[4] It is not even clear that he is identical with the "Henry O'Brien" -mentioned in the _Catalogue of the Graduates of the University of Dublin -from 1691 to 1868_, now in the British Museum. The entry is as -follows:--"Henry O'Brien, B.A. (_ad eundem, Cantab._), 1835." - -[5] This must have been the English Master of the Rolls, who at that time -was the Right Hon. Sir John Leach, a judge remarkable for the celerity of -his decisions, in marked contrast to those of his contemporary, Lord -Eldon, of whom it used to be said that he heard cases without determining -them, whereas Sir John Leach determined cases without hearing them. - -[6] _Edinburgh Review_, vol. lix. pp. 148, 149. - -[7] Mr. Marcus Keane, author of _The Temples and Round Towers of Ancient -Ireland_, states in his Preface to that work that he spent three years, -during which he had to travel more than five thousand miles, in the -performance of a task not much more exacting. - -[8] From "TO THE PUBLIC," a narrative prefixed to his translation of -Villanueva's "_Ibernia Phoenicia_," which preceded _The Round Towers_. - -[9] _Ibid._ p. xxxii. [Greek: "Eremô"] may, however, be an error of the -printer, and the fact that it was subsequently corrected lends colour to -this view. - -[10] It must be admitted that a letter alluded to at p. xix, _post_, -written by the Rev. Cæsar Otway, a member of the Council, lends some -colour to this assertion. - -[11] P. xxiii of the introduction to _Phoenician Ireland_, inscribed "To -the Public." - -[12] This letter will be found at p. lxxi, _post_. - -[13] Vol. 59 of the _Edinburgh Review_ for 1834. - -[14] _Gentleman's Magazine_ for March 1834, p. 288; for Oct, 1834, p. 365 -f.; and for Nov. 1835, p. 553. At pp. 340 f. of the volume for 1833, pt. -ii., may be found a distinctly unfavourable review of O'Brien's -translation of _Ibernia Phoenicia_. - -[15] _Vide_ note 2, p. vii, _ante_. - -[16] It may be remarked here that an Act for the protection of ancient -monuments is much needed in Ireland. - -[17] At p. 4 of his work on the Round Towers (2nd ed.). - -[18] Amusing instances of this autocratic method pervade Dr. Petrie's work -on the Round Towers. Thus, at p. 109, he disposes of the Phallic Theory, -which had exercised so many noble minds, with the single remark: "It is, -happily, so absurd, and at the same time so utterly unsupported by -authority or evidence worthy of refutation, that I gladly pass it by -without further notice, even though it has found a zealous supporter in -the person of Sir "William Betham" (who, it may be observed, was not only -a member of the Academy, but one of the leading antiquarians of his day, -besides being Ulster-King-at Arms, etc. etc.) "since these pages were -originally written ... and _who was consequently not unacquainted with -their contents_." (The italics are ours.) No further reference to this -much-debated theory occurs in his book; but there are many denunciations -of Sir W. Betham for presuming to differ from him. His way of dealing with -the evidences and arguments in support of the pagan origin of the Round -Towers adduced by O'Brien and Sir W. Betham is simply this: "I have not -thought them deserving of notice" (p. 359). - -[19] At pp. 1, 2 of _The Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland_, by Marcus -Keane, M.R.I.A. (Dublin: Hodges, Smith & Co.); a very beautiful and -interesting volume. A still more formidable champion of the revolt against -Dr. Petrie's sway has since appeared, the Rev. Canon Bourke, M.R.I.A., -author of _Pre-Christian Ireland_ (Brown & Nolan, Dublin, 1887). - -[20] _The Migration of Symbols_: Archibald Constable & Co., Westminster, -1894. - -[21] Introduction, pp. ix-xv. - -[22] Preface, 3. - -[23] P. 12. - -[24] At p. 4 of his work on the Round Towers. - -[25] General Vallancey's literary remains are preserved in seven octavo -volumes, entitled _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, of which a complete -set is rather difficult to obtain. The portions specifically relating to -the round towers will be found in vols. ii., iii., and vii. As regards the -other source of plagiarism to which Moore refers in his article above -quoted,--"the remarkable work called _Nimrod_,"--it has been already -shown, without any attempt at contradiction, that the leading idea of -_Nimrod_ was that the round towers were _fire-altars_, and that (to quote -the writer's words) "O'Brien's theory is not to be found in any page of -it." - -[26] According to "Father Prout" ("Rogueries of Tom Moore"), it was -probably suggested to him by the study of Lucian. See p. 90 of Mr. Kent's -edition of "The Works of Father Prout." - -[27] Alluded to in the _Charmides_ of Plato. - -[28] This statement is subject to a qualification. Certain structures--one -at Peel in the Isle of Man, and another at Hythe in Kent--are supposed, on -grounds of which the validity is more or less questioned, to be round -towers. - -[29] _Vide_ p. 514. General Vallancey had made a similar remark: "Nor are -they always annexed to churches. There are many in the fields, where no -traces of the foundations of any other buildings can be discovered around -them" (_Collect._ iii. 492, cited at p. 17 of Dr. Petrie's work). Dr. -Lanigan avowed the same; but Dr. Petrie declares "they are, without a -single exception, found near old churches, or where churches are known to -have existed"; though, as Mr. Keane points out, he assumes buildings to be -"churches" which have no claim to that title. - -[30] _Fraser's Magazine_, November 1, 1833. - -[31] The _characteristic architectural peculiarities_ belonging to each of -the towers was the omission required to be supplied, and for this alone -three months were extended. During that time I wrote my entire Essay, and -of course did not omit this requisite. But as these could give no interest -to the general reader, I have omitted them in the present enlarged form. -If called for, however, I shall cheerfully supply them, as an Appendix to -another work which may soon appear. - -[32] _Dublin Penny Journal_, July 7, 1832. - -[33] "Kilmallock has been a place of some distinction from a very remote -period, and, like most of our ancient towns, is of ecclesiastical origin, -a _monastery_ having been founded here by St. Maloch in the sixth century, -_of which the original Round Tower_ still remains."--_Dublin Penny -Journal_, vol. i. p. 65. - -"These (the Ruins of Swords) consist of a fine and lofty Round Tower, -coeval with the foundation of the original monastery."--_Ibid._ vol. i. p. -177. - -[34] If this appear over-sanguine, I trust it will be attributed to its -only cause--a strong sense of injustice expressed in the moment of warmth, -and without ever expecting that this expression should see the light. - -[35] That this was not gratuitous I pledge myself to prove, even from -circumstances that have already transpired. - -[36] It is true Mr. Higgins has told me this, and I listened with polite -silence to what I had read "in print" a thousand times before. But our -chronicles call the name Macha, and I abide by them. Enough, however, has -occurred between the date of this letter and the present to quiet the most -ardent disposition as to the pursuit of earthly éclat. Its author is no -more! He has reached that "bourne whence no traveller returns." And the -warning, I confess, is to myself not a little pointed, from the -unremitting perseverance with which this inquiry has been prosecuted and -the vexatious opposition with which its truths have been met. - -[37] I wish the reader to keep this in mind; its effects will be -manifested by and by. - -[38] [Greek: Phônê en tê erêmô.] - -[39] See Letter No. 3. - -[40] _Dublin Penny Journal_, August 3, 1833. - -[41] Gibbon's Memoirs. - -[42] The Budhist temples. - -[43] The Cromleachs. - -[44] The Mithratic Caves. - -[45] Job i. - -[46] I say _accidentally_, because he foundered as well upon the _actual -colony_ who erected those temples, as upon the _nature_ of the _rites_ for -which they were erected. - -[47] Colonel Montmorency. - -[48] Pliny, lib. lxvi. cap. 12. - -[49] This incomparably beautiful object, constructed of white marble, in -the days of Demosthenes, in the second year of the one hundred and -eleventh Olympiad, 335 years before Christ, and in the year 418 of Rome, -was erected in honour of some young men of the tribe of Archamantide, -victors at the public games, and dedicated, it is supposed, to Hercules. - -[50] The first name ever given to this body was _Saer_, which has three -significations--firstly, _free_; secondly, _mason_; and thirdly, _Son of -God_. In no language could those several imports be united but in the -original one, viz. the Irish. The Hebrews express only one branch of it by -_aliben_; while the English join together the other two. - -[51] Sallust, _Cat. Con._ - -[52] Lib. xi. epist. 11. - -[53] 2 Kings xvii. 29, 30. - -[54] Byron. - -[55] Vol. iii. p. 78, note. - -[56] The tolling of a bell was supposed to have had miraculous effects--to -keep the spirits of darkness from assaulting believers--to dispel thunder, -and prevent the devil from molesting either the church or congregation; -and hence they were always rung, in time of storm or other attack, to -paralyse the fiend, whether the elements or mortal man, by the hallowed -intonation. Each was dedicated to a particular saint,--duly baptized and -consecrated; and the inscriptions which still remain on the old ones that -have come down to us proclaim the virtue of their capabilities. The -following distich will be found to sum them up, viz.:-- - - "Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum, - Defunctos plero, _pestem fugo_, festa decoro." - -And the very syllables of this which follows form a sort of _tuneful_ -galloping, viz.:-- - - "Sabbata pango, funera plango, solemnia clango." - -[57] [Greek: nper ton Ôkeanon parelthein epi tas kaloumenas Bretanikas -nêsous.] EUSEB. in _Præp. Ev._ 1. 3. - -Egyptum et Libyam sortitus est alius Apostolorum, extremas vero oceani -regiones, et _Insulas Britannicas_ alius obtinuit. NICEPHOR. l. 2, c. 40. - -[58] _Religious Rites and Ceremonies_, published under his name. - -[59] Milton. - -[60] This latter to be explained hereafter. - -[61] The ruins, to the height of ten feet, still remain. - -[62] Goldsmith. - -[63] _Top. Dist._ ii. c. 9, p. 720. - -[64] In the reign of Txiacha Labhruine, A.M. 3177; B.C. 827. - -[65] This mark (7), in the Irish language, is an abbreviation for _agus_, -i.e. _and_. - -[66] The _Annals of Inisfallen_, also, p. 148, call them by the same name -of _Fiadh-Nemeadh_. - -[67] _Rer. Hib. Scrip. Vet._ iii. p. 527. - -[68] _Fidh-Nemeadh_ certainly admits of this interpretation, but in a very -different sense from what its author had supposed. - -[69] A German writer, contemporary with the Emperor Charles the Great, -says of another Irishman named Clement, at a much later period, "That -through his instructions the French might vie with the Romans and the -Athenians. John Erigena, whose surname denoted his country (Eri or Erina -being the proper name of Ireland), became soon (in the ninth century) -after famous for his learning and good parts, both in England and France. -Thus did most of the lights which, in those times of thick darkness, cast -their beams over Europe, proceed out of Ireland. The loss of the -manuscripts is much bewailed by the Irish who treat of the history and -antiquities of their country, and which may well be deemed a misfortune, -not only to them, but to the whole learned world." - -[70] Isidore of Seville, in the seventh century, says: "Scotia eadem et -Hibernia," that is, Scotia and Ireland are one and the same--an identity, -however, of _locality_, not of _signification_. And Orosius of Tarracona, -still earlier in the fifth century, avers that, "In his own time, Ireland -was inhabited by the nations of the Scoti." And were further evidence -required as to the point, it would be found in the fact of one of our -Christian luminaries, whose name was Shane, _i.e._ John, being called by -the Latin historians indifferently by the epithets of Johannes Scotus and -Johannes Erigena--the former signifying John the Irishman and the latter, -John the Scotchman. - -[71] The Scots first drove them from Ireland to what is now called -Scotland, and the Picts afterwards chased them from the lowlands to the -highland fastnesses. - -[72] Henricus Antisiodrensis, writing to Charles the Bald, says: "Why need -I mention all Ireland, with her crowd of philosophers?" "The philosophy -and logic," says Mosheim, a German historian, "that were taught in the -European schools in the ninth century, scarcely deserved such honourable -titles, and were little better than an empty jargon. There were, however, -to be found in various places, _particularly among the Irish_, men of -acute parts and extensive knowledge, who were perfectly well entitled to -the appellation of philosophers." - -[73] _Antiq._ p. 108. - -[74] Milton. - -[75] I will show, however, that it was much older. - -[76] _De Orig. et Progress. Idolat._ ii. 61. - -[77] Gen. xi. 4. - -[78] Gen. vi. 5. - -[79] _On the top was an observatory, by the benefit of which_ it was that -the _Babylonians advanced their skill in astronomy so early_; when -Alexander took Babylon, Callisthenes the philosopher, who accompanied him -there, found they had _observations_ for 1903 years backward from that -time, which carries up the account as high as the hundred and fifteenth -year after the flood, _i.e._ within fifteen years after the tower of Babel -was built. - -[80] I stop not to inquire whether or not this may have been the same with -that which stood in the midst of the temple of Belus, afterwards built -around it by Nebuchadnezzar. The intent I conceive similar in all, whether -the scriptural _Tower_, Birs Nimrod, or Mujellibah; and the rather, as -Captain Mignan tells us of the last, that on its summit there are still -considerable traces of erect building, and that at the western end is a -_circular_ mass of solid brick-work _sloping towards the top_, and rising -from a confused heap of rubbish; while Niebuhr states that Birs Nimrod is -also surmounted by a turret. My object is to show that the same -_emblematic design_ mingled in all those ancient edifices, though not -identical in its details. - -[81] Hos. ii. 16. - -[82] St. Stephen, the first martyr who suffered death for Christ, said -before the Jewish Sanhedrim, "God dwelleth not in temples made with hands" -(Acts vii. 48). - -[83] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[84] It is most unaccountable how Hanway, after seeing this evidence of an -_actual_ fire-temple, should, notwithstanding, commit the egregious -blunder of calling the Round Towers--which differed from it as much as a -_maypole_ does from a rabbit-hole--fire-temples also. Yet has he been most -religiously followed by Vallancey, Beauford, Dalton, etc., who could not -open their eyes to the mistake. - -[85] Pottinger's _Belochistan_. - -[86] Num. xxii. 41. - -[87] Milton. - -[88] _Top. Dist._ ii. c. 34. - -[89] Had Bede even _asserted_ that the Round Towers were fire receptacles, -it would not obtain my assent, as they were as great an enigma in that -venerable writer's day as they have been ever since, until now that their -_secret_ is about to be unveiled. - -[90] The derivation of this word not being generally known, I may be -allowed to subjoin it. It is the Irish for _dove_, as _columba_ is the -Latin, and was assigned to the above place in honour of St. Columbe, who -was surnamed Kille, from the many churches which he had founded. - -[91] _Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad._ vol. xv. - -[92] This adjective is not here applied to our western _Irin_, _i.e._ -Ireland, but to the eastern Iran, _i.e._ Persia. - -[93] "Virginesque Vestæ legit, Albâ oriundum sacerdotium, et genti -conditoris haud alienum" (Livy, lib. i. cap. xx.). - -[94] Horace. - -[95] _Asiatic Researches_, Dissert. Up. Egypt and Nile. - -[96] Literally, "the goddess of the lotos." - -[97] Craufurd's _Sketches_. - -[98] Milton. - -[99] Maya also signifies _illusion_, of which as an operation of the -Deity, the following remark, extracted elsewhere from Sir William, may not -be unseasonable:--"The inextricable difficulties," says he, "attending the -_vulgar notion of material substances_, concerning which 'we know this -only, that we know nothing,' induced many of the wisest among the -ancients, and some of the most enlightened among the moderns, to believe -that the whole creation was rather an _energy_ than a work, by which the -Infinite Being who is present at all times and in all places, exhibits to -the minds of his creatures a set of perceptions, like a wonderful picture -or piece of music, always varied, yet always uniform; so that all bodies -and their qualities exist, indeed, to every wise and useful purpose, but -exist only as far as they are _perceived_--a theory no less pious than -sublime, and as different _from_ any principle of atheism, as the -brightest sunshine differs from the blackest midnight." - -[100] Nature. - -[101] The Hindoos never bathe nor perform their ablutions whilst the sun -is below the horizon. - -[102] Poojah is properly worship. - -[103] Krishen of Matra may be called the Apollo of the Hindoos. - -[104] Vassant, the spring. - -[105] Kama, the god of love. - -[106] Translated from the Persic, and read before the Oriental Society in -India. - -[107] The reason why the Egyptian Pyramids, though _comprehending_ the -same idea, did not _exhibit_ this form, will be assigned hereafter. - -[108] In his treatise, _De Deâ Syriâ_. - -[109] - - "Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns, - To whose bright image nightly by the moon, - Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs."--MILTON. - -[110] "Les Indiens ont le Lingam qui ajoute encore quelque chose à -l'infamie du Phallus des Egyptiens et des Grecs: ils adorent le faux dieu -Isoir sous cette figure monstreuse, et qu'ils exposent en procession -insultant d'une manière horrible à la pudeur et à la crédulité de la -populace" (_La Croze_, p. 431). - -[111] We can now see how it happened that the Irish word _Toradh_, _i.e._ -"to go through the tower ceremony," should signify also "to be pregnant"; -and we can equally unravel the _mythos_ of that elegant little tale which -Sir John Malcolm tells us from Ferdosi, in his _History of Persia_. "It is -related," says he, "that Gal, when taking the amusement of the chase, came -to the foot of a _tower_, on one of the turrets of which he saw a young -_damsel_ of the most exquisite beauty. _They mutually gazed and loved_, -but there appeared no mode of ascending the battlement. After much -embarrassment, an _expedient_ occurred to the fair maiden. She loosened -her dark and beautiful _tresses_, which fell in ringlets to the _bottom_ -of the _tower_, and enabled the _enamoured_ prince to _ascend_. The lady -proved to be Noudabah, the daughter of Merab, king of Cabul, a prince of -the race of Zohauk." - -[112] Chap. iv. p. 48. - -[113] Syncellus accordingly spells Budh, even in the singular number, with -an _F_; and Josephus, from the Scriptures, additionally commutes the final -_d_ into _t_. We shall see more inflections anon. - -[Greek: "Phoud ex ou trôrloditai."]--Syncellus, p. 47. - -"Fut was the founder of the nations in Libya (Africa), and the people were -from him called Futi" (Josephus, _Ant._ lib. i. c. 7). - -[114] _Vide_ Plutarch, _de Isi et Osiri_. - -[115] Eas, in Irish, also means the moon. - -[116] Literally the Son of the Sun, and should properly be written -O'Siris, like any of our Irish names, such as O'Brien--and meaning _sprung -from_. - -[117] These are the _indexes_ for which Mr. O'Connor could find no other -use than that of dials! - -[118] "Les mystères de l'antiquité nous sont demeurés presqu'interdicts; -les vestiges de ses monuments manquent le plus souvent de sens pour nous, -parceque, de siècle en siècle, les savants ont voulu leur attribuer un -sens" (DE SACY). - -[119] To this declaration of Mr. Heeren, as I cannot _now_ bestow upon it -a separate inquiry, I must be allowed briefly to intimate that if such be -all that he "knows with certainty" on the topic, he had better not know it -at all, for, with the exception of that part which avows the general -_ignorance_ concerning its rise and progress, as well as its expulsion by -the Brahmins from the East, _all the rest is inaccurate_. In the first -place it does not "_flourish_" at present in Ceylon. It has sunk and -degenerated there into an unmeaning tissue of hideous demonology, _if we -may judge by a reference to a large work published here some time ago_, by -Mr. Upham, which is as opposite from real _Budhism_ as truth is from -falsehood. In the second place its tenets were _not_ "in direct opposition -to those of the Brahmins," any more than those of the Catholics are from -the tenets of the Protestants; yet have the latter contrived to oust the -Catholics, their predecessors, as the Brahmins did the still more -antecedent Budhists. And this will be sufficient to neutralise that -insinuation which would imply that Budha was an _innovator_ and a -_sectarian_, until I show by and by that the reverse was the fact. - -[120] The Jews themselves, so early as the time of Moses, adopted the -practice as an act of _thanksgiving_. - -"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her -hand; and all the women went out after her, with timbrels, and with -dances. - -"And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for He hath triumphed -gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea" (Exod. -xv. 20, 21). - -[121] The origin of this word shall be explained hereafter. - -[122] "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a _corn_ of _wheat_ fall -into the ground and _die_, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth -forth much fruit" (John xii. 24). - -[123] We are told--says Sir John Malcolm, in a Persian work of celebrity, -the _Attash Kuddah_--that a person dreamt he saw Ferdosi composing, and an -angel was guiding his pen: he looked near, and discovered that he had just -written the above couplet, in which he so emphatically pleads for humanity -to the smallest insect of the creation. - -[124] _Another Almoner_ was an epithet they assigned to God, which even -the Brahmins retained after they had seceded from them, as may be seen in -Wilkins' translation of a Sanscrit inscription on a pillar near _Buddal_, -published in the first volume of the _Asiatic Researches_. This -inscription, I must observe, as it escaped that learned Orientalist to -perceive it, as it equally did the acumen of the president, his annotator, -is, with the column on which it appears, nothing else than a record of the -triumphs obtained by a hero of the Brahminical party in exterminating the -Budhists. The frequent allusion to the "lustful elephants,"--such as -"whose piles of rocks reek with the juice exuding from the heads of -intoxicated elephants,"--and "Although the prospect hidden by the dust -arising from the multitude of marching force was rendered clear from the -earth being watered by constant and abundant streams flowing from the -heads of lustful elephants of various breeds,"--and still more that -beautiful and pathetic sentiment which occurs in the original of the -preceding paper, omitted by Mr. Wilkins, but supplied by the president, -viz. "by whom having conquered the earth as far as the _ocean_, it was -left as being unprofitably seized--so he declared; and his _elephants -weeping_ saw again _in the forests their kindred whose eyes were full of -tears_,"--make this a demonstration: yet would the beauty of the image be -lost to some of my readers, were I not to explain that the Budhists -treated with a sort of deified reverence the tribe of _elephants_, which -now bewailed their extermination as above described. - -[125] From Bavana was named the village of Banaven, in Scotland, whither -some of the Tuath-de-danaans had repaired after their retreat from -Ireland--a very appropriate commemoration of their recent subversion; and -a particular locality within its district, where St. Patrick was born, was -called _Nemph-Thur_, that is, the _holy tower_, corresponding to -_Budh-Nemph_, _i.e._ the _holy Lingam_, from the circumstance of there -having been erected on it one of those temples which time has since -effaced. _Tor-Boileh_ upon the Indus, which means the _Tower of Baal_, is -in exact consonance with _Nemph-Thur_ and with _Budh-Nemph_; and there can -be no question but that _there_ also stood one of those edifices, as the -ruins even of a city are perceptible in the neighbourhood. Mr. Wilford, -however, would translate this last name, Tor-Boileh, by _Black Beilam_: -and, to keep this _colour_ in countenance, he invents a new name for a -place called Peleiam, "which," he says, "_appears_ to have been transposed -from Ac Beilam, or the _White Beilam_, sands or shores and now called -'Hazren.'" I am not surprised at the _discredit_ brought upon etymology. - -[126] And this, too, after he had admitted that "the name is certainly of -the pure Iberno-Celtic dialect, and must have had some meaning founded in -the nature of things in its original and radical formation." - -[127] All our ancient swords were made of brass. - -[128] Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 527, 4to, 1781. - -[129] _Histoire d'Irelande_, vol. i. cap. 7. - -[130] Avienus lived in the fourth century. - -[131] "Melius (Hiberniæ quam Britanniæ) aditus--portusque per commercia et -negociatores cogniti" (Tacit. _vit. Agricol._ 499). - -[132] "Plus in metum quan in spem." - -[133] [Greek: "hôsper kai tôn Brettanôn tous oikontas tên onomazomenên -Irin."] _Diod Sic._ lib. v. - -[134] In proof of this, I aver that I could go through the whole range of -their language, and prove that in its fabrication, so punctilious was -their regard to _euphony_, they scrupled not to _cancel_ or otherwise -_obnebulate_ the _essential_ and _significant_ letters of the primitive -words; so that, in a few generations, their descendants were unable to -trace the true _roots_ of their compounds. Hence that lamentable -imperfection which pervades all our lexicons and dictionaries, and which -can never be rectified but by the revisal of the whole system, and that by -a _thorough adept_ in the language of the Irish. - -[135] I say strangled, because _Irin_ is a compound word embracing within -its compass _two distinct parts_, of which Iris could give but the spirit -of one. - -[136] "Iren perrexit ut et aliorum Doctorum sententias in philosophicis -atque divinis litteris investigator curiosus exquireret" (_Vita Gildæ_, -cap. 6). - -[137] Lib. x. Anno 1098. - -[138] Modern writers upon Persia, who would _refine_ upon the matter, have -perverted this word to _Pehlivi_; but look you into the early numbers of -the _Asiatic Researches_, and there you will find it spelled as above. - -[139] Besides, to speak _accurately_, this is not a _western_ country at -all, or only so relatively to Britain, Gaul, and that particular line. - -[140] _Collect. de Reb. Hib._ vol. iv. - -[141] _Antiq. Research. Pers._ vol. i. p. 137. - -[142] If I have taken a wrong view of the professor's phraseology, I shall -feel most happy to be set right; but I submit to the critic whether I am -not justified in understanding him as I do. - -[143] To be met with at a place called Tauk-e-Bostan. Silvestre de Sacy, a -member of the Institute at Paris, had made the following translation of -it, which is divided into two parts. - -The first:--"This figure is that of a worshipper of Hormuzd, or God; the -excellent Shahpoor; king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial -germ of a heavenly race; the son of the adorer of God; the excellent -Hormuzd; a king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial germ of a -heavenly race; grandson of the excellent Narses; king of kings." - -The second:--"This figure is that of a worshipper of Hormuzd, or God; the -excellent Varaham; king of kings; king of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a -celestial germ of a heavenly race; son of the adorer of God; the excellent -Shapoor; king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial germ of a -heavenly race; grandson of the excellent Hormuzd; king of kings." - -[144] This _An_, the original name for _country_, was modified afterwards, -according to clime and dialect, into _tan_, as in Aqui-_tan_-ia, -Brit-_tan_-ia, Mauri-_tan_-ia, etc.; and into _stan_, as in Curdi-_stan_, -Fardi-_stan_, Hindu-_stan_, etc. - -[145] From this was formed the English word _tower_, the very idea -remaining unchanged. As was also the English word _bud_, meaning the -_first shoot of a plant_, a _germ_, from the Irish _budh_, _i.e._ the -_organ of male energy_. - -[146] The present bleak and sterile aspect of this region militates -nothing against this view, when we consider the thousand alterations which -it has undergone, under the thousand different tribes that have -consecutively possessed it. - -[147] From _Ir_ or _Eer_, sacred, and _an_, a _land_. - -[148] From _Ir_ or _Eer_, sacred, and _in_, an _island_. - -[149] Iran or Irin, _i.e._ Eeran or Eerin. - -[150] Each of these three preceding words means _religion_ or -_revelation_. And from them _Era_, denoting a _period of_ time,--which -with the ancients was a _sacred_ reckoning,--has been so denominated; as -well as _Eric_, which, in law phraseology, indicates a certain penalty -attachable to certain crimes, and equivalent to _Deodand_, or a _religious -restitution_--all Irish. - -[151] I mean the "_Græci vetustissimi_," not the "_Græculi esurientes_." - -[152] Namely, _Ivernia_:--_u_, _v_, and _b_ are commutable. - -[153] Should you hesitate as to this mode of accounting for the letter -_b_, I can show you that the Greeks spelled _Albion_ indifferently with or -without a _b_; as they indifferently used _b_ or _v_ in one of the above -names for Ireland; for instance-- - -[Greek: Ai Bretanides eisi duo nêsoi, Ouernia kai Alouion, êtoi Bernia kai -Albiôn.] Eustath. _ad Dion. Perieg._ - -[154] It is only the _date_, however, that I will share with any one. The -derivation of the word and its _true exposition_ are exclusively my own. - -[155] "Quod nomen ob beati solum ingenium, in quo _nullum animal venenosum -vitale_, facile assentior attributum" (_Ogyg._ pt. i. c. 21). So -gratifying, however, has this been to the obsequious wisdom of subsequent -_historians_ (?), as to be echoed from one to the other with the most -commendable fidelity. "_O imitatores, servum pecus!_" - -[156] Pronounced Fiodhvadh--copied _literally_ from the old manuscripts. - -[157] This corresponds to _Ir-an_, the Sacred _Land_. - -[158] This answers to _Ir-in_, the Sacred _Island_. - -[159] The reader will see that, in quoting Dr. Keating, I do so from no -respect for his discrimination or sagacity. Whenever he has attempted to -exert either, in the way of comment or _deduction_, he has _invariably_ -erred: fortunately he has offered none in this instance. Yet is his book a -most valuable compilation; and _I_ now cull out of it _those three names_, -as one would a casket of jewels from a lumber-room. - -[160] This _Farragh_, otherwise _Phearragh_, is the _Peor_ of the -Scriptures, and the _Priapus_ of the Greeks. - -[161] "Priapus, si _physice_ consideretur idem est ac _sol_; ejusque lux -primogenia unde _vis omnis seminatrix_" (_Diod. Sic._ lib. i.). See also -Num. xxv. 4, where you will see that "Peor" _remotely_ meant the sun. - -[162] I shall not trouble myself in reciting the absurd _attempts_ that -have been heretofore made to expound this word: it is enough to say that -_they were all wrong_. - -[163] The _motto_, also, of this family, viz., _Lamh laider a-Boo_, _i.e._ -"The strong arm from Boo," now changed to _Vigueur du dessus_, is in -keeping with the same idea. - -[164] This is the _mere utterance_ of an historical transaction without -reference to _sect_, _creed_, _party_, or _politics_. No feelings of -bitterness mingle therein. The author disclaims all such, as much as he -would depreciate them in others. - -[165] In the library of Trinity College, Dublin, are several such, -collected in the beginning of last century, by Lhuyd, author of the -_Archæologia_, and restored by Sir John Seabright, at the instigation of -Edmund Burke. I am credibly informed also, that there have been lately -discovered in the Library at Copenhagen certain documents relating to our -antiquities, taken away by the Danes after their memorable defeat at -Clontarf, by King Brian, A.D. 1014. Lombard has already asserted the same; -and that the King of Denmark entreated Queen Elizabeth to send him some -Irishman, who could transcribe them; that Donatus O'Daly, a learned -antiquarian, was selected for the purpose, but that his appointment was -afterwards countermanded, for political reasons. - -There are, besides, in mostly all the public libraries of Europe--without -adverting to those which are detained in the Tower of London--divers Irish -manuscripts, presented by the various emigrants, who from time to time -have been obliged to fly their country, to seek among strangers that -shelter which they were denied at home; taking with them, as religious -heirlooms, those hereditary relics of their pedigree and race. - -One of the most beautiful and pathetic pieces of Irish poetry remaining, -written by Macleog, private secretary to Brian, after the demise of that -monarch, and beginning with this expression of his sorrow: "Oh! Cencoradh -(the name of his patron's favourite palace), where is Brian?" was picked -up in the Netherlands, in 1650, by Fergar O'Gara, an Augustinian friar, -who fled from Ireland in the iron days of Cromwell. - -[166] I rejoice to state, that the present administration, under the -benign direction of our patriot King, have resolved, so far as in them -lies, to atone for former depredators. There is now a vigorous revisal of -those documents going on, with a view, as I understand, to their immediate -publication. - -[167] The antiquarian luminaries of the _Royal Irish Academy_ would fain -make out that this was a _Christian warrior_. Their _high priest_ has -lately proclaimed the fact, in their "collective wisdom." It is -astonishing how fond they have _suddenly_ become for the memory of the -monks; they would now father everything like culture in the country upon -them. It used not to have been so! - -[168] This image was found under the root of a tree dug up in Roscommon. -It is about the size of the drawing; is made of brass, once gilt; the -gilding, however, now almost worn off; and may be seen in the Museum of -Trinity College, Dublin. - -[169] _Major Archer's Travels in Upper India_, vol. i. pp. 383, 384. Lond. -1833. - -[170] So the "collective wisdom," in the true spirit of Christian -restitution and penitential contrition, have lately pronounced him! It is -delightful to see this solicitous zeal with which, when it suits a private -purpose, they cherish the memory of the monks, being _no longer_ in the -way of their _secular_ perquisites: but if the poor monks could speak, or -send a voice from the tomb, it would be to say that they did not choose to -be encumbered with such meretricious flattery; and that, having laid no -claim to those _relics_, or to the _towers_ which they decorated, during -their _lifetime_, they now in _death_ must repudiate the ascription. -"Timeo Danaas et dona ferentes," would be their answer. - -[171] _Asiatic Researches_, vol. vi.; where it will be observed that the -Doctor was not writing for me. He did not even _suspect_ the existence of -this figure. It is, like the preceding one, of bronze. - -[172] The Egyptian sovereign assumed this _title_, as the highest that -_language_ and _imagination_ could bestow. It signifies literally the _act -of copulation_, of which it would represent him as _presiding genius_--the -source whence all pleasure and happiness can flow--and is but faintly -re-echoed in the Macedo-Syriac regal epithet of [Greek: Energetês], -"Benefactor," or even that by which we designate our king as the -_fountain_ of _goodness_. There being no such letter as _ph_ in the -ancient alphabets, all those words, viz. _Pheor_, _Pharaoh_, and -_Pharagh_, should properly be spelled _Feor_, _Faraoh_, and _Faragh_. - -[173] Gen. xlvi. 34. - -[174] "On the fifteenth day of the first month every year. Every person is -obliged, on the evening of that day, to set out a lantern before his door, -and these are of various sizes and prices, according to the different -circumstances of those to whom they belong. During this festival, they -have all sorts of entertainments, such as plays, balls, assemblies, music, -dancing, and the lanterns are filled with a vast number of wax candles, -and surrounded with bonfires." - -[175] Barker.--The same is mentioned by Captain Burr, in reference to the -Indian followers who had attended him to the temple of Isis. - -[176] Mr. Greaves's diagonal, in proportion to his base of 694 feet, is -991 feet nearly; the half of which is 495-1/2 feet, for the height of the -Pyramid; for as the radius is to the tangent of 45°, so is half the -diameter to half the diagonal, or 7 to 10, or 706 to 1000. Say, 7 : 10 :: -694 : 991/2 = 495-1/2.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._ - -[177] Schindl. - -[178] Gen. xlvii. - -[179] _Hist. Christ. des Indes_, p. 429. - -[180] Lib. ii. p. 4. - -[181] [Greek: pyr], generally rendered _fire_, is not so, however, in the -true import of the word, but the _Sun_; fire is only a secondary sense of -it. - -[182] Barker. - -[183] _Ibid._ - -[184] Gen. xlvi. 34. - -[185] Ex. vii. 11, etc., and 2 Tim. iii. 8. - -[186] America also has had her ancient pageantry. Antonio de Solis gives -the following description of the Mexican shrine:--"The site of that temple -devoted to the worship of the Sun, and its altar for human sacrifices, was -a large square environed by walls, cloisters, and gates; in the centre was -raised a high tower of a pyramidical form, broad at the base, and narrowed -towards the top, having four equal sides in a sloping direction; in one of -which was a flight of one hundred and fifty steps to the top, covered with -the finest marble, with a square marble pavement, guarded with a -balustrade: in the centre stood a large black stone, in manner of an -altar, placed near the idol. In the front of this tower, and at a -convenient distance from its base, stood a high altar of solid masonry, -ascended by thirty steps: in the middle of it was placed a large stone, on -which they slaughtered the numerous human victims devoted for sacrifice; -the outside being set with stakes and bars, on which were fixed human -sculls." - -[187] The regular pyramid is a section of the cube, whose altitude is -equal to half the diameter of the base, and is contained within a -semicircle. The great pyramid is not of this precise order; its height or -altitude being found more than half the diameter of its base. A second -order is that whose altitude is equal to half the diagonal of the base, -and is also bounded and contained within a semicircle; and consequently, -if the diagonal be given at 1000, the altitude will be 500: but the true -height of the Egyptian pyramid being determined at less than half its -diagonal, is therefore found to be not exactly of this order, but nearly -approaching to it, and probably aimed at in the original design, though -failing in the execution.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._ - -[188] Astronomy began very early to be cultivated among the Egyptians; and -to them is attributed the discovery of the magnitude of the solar year, -or, as it is distinguished, _the Egyptian year_ of 365 days; which -discovery appears to be noticeable, and memorialised in the construction -of their Great Pyramid. The ancient measure of length being the cubit, and -that measure being determined common with the Hebrews and Egyptians, as -nearly as Dr. Cumberland could determine it, and reduced to English -measure, a certain standard is obtained: but we find also another, called -the longer cubit, to have obtained, on which we may with equal propriety -calculate the measures of the Egyptian Pyramid, on which to infer the -number of days contained in the solar year; the measures of the base of -the Great Pyramid being found, if not exactly, yet nearly approximating to -it.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._ - -[189] I have not the least doubt but the ancient Egyptians measured by the -cubit, whatever it then was; that the number of cubits was designedly -fixed upon by them in laying the base of the Pyramid; and that if we -divide the ascertained sum of 752 feet by 2, the quotient will be 376, -which is a number exceeding 365 by 11: consequently, if we estimate their -ancient cubit at 2 feet 7/10 of an inch, that measure will be ascertained, -and found to approximate nearly to the longer Hebrew cubit; and so will -the measures of the Pyramid be found to agree with the number of days in -the solar year.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._ - -[190] Then Major Fitzclarence, March 2, 1818. - -[191] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[192] _Scientific Tourist through Ireland_, p. 33. - -[193] Usher's _Primord_, c. xvii. p. 846. - -[194] _Journal_, pp. 21, 23. - -[195] Neither can I, with him, restrict their object to _Tombs alone_; -their Phallic shape bespeaks another allusion; as does the style of -architecture indicate an _affinity_ of _descent_, though not an _identity_ -of _design_ with that of our _Towers_. - -[196] In his treatise, _De Deâ Syriâ_. - -[197] Of this distant adoration we may still see traces in the practice of -the Irish peasantry, almost preferring to say their prayers outside the -precincts of the chapel, or mass-house, than within it, unconsciously -derived from this service of the Afrion, or benediction-house, _i.e._ the -Round Towers. - -[198] The Ghabres to this day chew a leaf of it in their mouths, while -performing their religious duties round the sacred fire. - -[199] Those are what Montmorency would fain make out to have been _roses_ -imported from the Vatican. - -[200] A similar sacrifice is described by Major Archer as still practised -in the mountains of Upper India, which he himself witnessed. "An -unfortunate goat," says he, "lean and emaciated, was brought as an -offering to the deities; but so poor in flesh was he that no crow would -have waited his death in hopes of a meal from his carcass." - -[201] "Round the _tie_ or umbrella at the top (of the Dagobs at Ceylon) -are suspended a number of small bells, which with these form _tees_ of a -great quantity of smaller pagodas that surround the quatine, being set in -motion by the wind, keep up a constant tinkling, but not unpleasing sound" -(COLEMAN). - -The temples of Budh in the Burmese empire are also pyramidical, the top -always crowned with a gilt umbrella of iron filagree, hung round with -bells.--"The _tie_ or _umbrella_ is to be seen on every sacred building -that is of a spiral form; the rising and consecration of this last and -indispensable appendage is an act of high religious solemnity, and a -season of festivity and relaxation. The present king bestowed the _tie_ -that covers Shoemadoo: it was made at the capital. Many of the principal -nobility came down from Ummerapoora to be present at the ceremony of its -elevation. The circumference of the tie is fifty-six feet; it rests on an -iron axis fixed in the building, and is further secured by large chains -strongly riveted to the spire. Round the lower rim of the tie are appended -a number of _bells_, which agitated by the wind make a continual jingling" -(SYMES). - -[202] "It is remarked that in China they have no pyramids, but pagodas -raised by galleries, one above another, to the top: the most celebrated of -these is that called the Porcelain Tower, in Nankin, said to be two -hundred feet high, and forty feet at the base, built in an octagonal form. -These pagodas seem to have been designed for altars of incense, raised to -their aërial deities, with which to appease them; and their hanging bells, -_with their tintillations to drive away the demons_ lest they should, by -noxious and malignant winds and tempests, disturb their serene atmosphere -and afflict their country" (_Dissertations upon the Pyramids_). - -[203] The reason of this will appear hereafter; while in the interim I -must observe that this new appropriation of them to Christian purposes was -what occasioned that error on the part of a writer some centuries after, -who _opined_ that it was _Sanctus Patricius_ who first presented one to -_Sancto Kierano_. I make no question of the _present_; but does -presentation imply invention? - -[204] Cambrensis tells rather a curious story about St. Finnan's -bell:--"There is," says he, "in the district of Mactalewi, in Leinster, a -certain bell which, unless it is adjured by its possessor every night in a -particular form of exorcism shaped for the purpose, and tied with a cord -(no matter how slight), it would be found in the morning at the church of -St. Finnan, at Clunarech, in Meath, from whence it was brought; and," adds -he, "this sometimes happened." - -[205] A communication from Mr. Hall himself, just imparted, assures me -that, _as far as he could judge_, the aperture was _coeval_ with the -instrument, and by no means accidental. - -[206] "This word is generally supposed to be derived from Fars or Pars, a -division of the empire of Iran, and applied by Europeans to the whole of -that kingdom. It is certainly a word unknown, in the sense we use it, to -the present natives of Iran, though some Arabic writers contend that Pars -formerly meant the whole kingdom. In proof of this assertion, a passage of -the Koran is quoted, in which one of Mohammed's companions who came from a -village near Isfahan is called Telman of Fars or Pars. We have also the -authority of the Scripture for the name of this kingdom being Paras or -Phars. The authors of the Universal History, on what authority I know not, -state that the word Iran is not a general name of Persia, but of a part of -the country. _This is certainly erroneous_: Iran has, from the most -ancient times to the present day, been the term by which the Persians call -their country; and it includes, in the sense they understand it, all the -provinces to the east of the Tigris; Assyria Proper, Media, Parthia, -Persia, and Hyrcania or Mazenderan" (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[207] These quotations from the professor's book are not given -_consecutively_ as he wrote them, but _brought together_ from detached -sections and chapters. - -[208] Pars is the Persian, Fars the Arabic, pronunciation of the word. - -[209] I should have observed, that Plato also, speaking of those modern -Persians, says: "They were originally a nation of shepherds and herdsmen, -occupying a rude country, such as naturally fosters a hardy race of -people, capable of supporting both cold and watching, and when needful, of -enduring the toils of war" (Plato, _De Leg._ iii. op. ii. p. 695). - -[210] [Greek: Epekteinetai de t' ounoma tês Arianês mechri tinos kai -Persôn kai Mêdôn kai eti tôn prosarkton Baktriôn kai Sogdianôn. eisi gar -pôs kai homôglôttoi para mikrom] (STRABO, p. 1094). - -[211] All the other variations are thus similarly accounted for; being but -offshoots of the same radix, such as I have already shown (p. 128) in -reference to Ireland--while the careful reader will of himself see that -the name of that lake in Persia, of which the Greeks and Romans conjointly -manufactured Aria Palus, corresponds to our Lough Erne, and must doubtless -have been so called in Persia also, for _palus_ is evidently but the -translation of lough. - -[212] Zendavesta, i. 14. - -[213] "And what would hardly appear possible, as we cannot discover what -purpose such a finished fable of idolatrous superstition would be meant to -answer" (Sir John Malcolm's _History of Persia_, vol. i. p. 191). - -[214] Yet in Hindoostan, also, as we learn from Major Archer, "an -_astrologer_ is a constituted authority in all the villages, and nothing -pertaining to life and its concerns is commenced without his sanction." - -[215] "Tout, dans le systême primitif de la religion des Grecs, atteste la -transposition des traditions comme des principes; tout y est vague, sombre -et confus" (DE SACY). - -[216] "The Sabians themselves boasting the origin of their religion from -Seth, and pretending to have been denominated from a son of his called -Sabius, as also of having among them a book, which they called the _Book -of Seth_" (Prideaux, part i. book iii.). - -[217] This is only a corruption from the Irish word _Ercol_, the sun. - -[218] Wisdom of Solomon, xiv. 16, 17. - -[219] To this exactly corresponds, as well in import as in appropriation, -the name of one of the hills upon which Rome was built, that is -_Palatinus_, which--no doubt, to the amazement of etymological -empirics--is nothing less than a compound of _Baal_ and _tinne_; that is -_Baal's fire_--the initial _B_ and _P_ being always commutable. And -_Aven-tinus_, the epithet of another of the Seven Mounts, is derived from -_Avan_, a river; and _tinne_, fire, meaning the fire-hill, near the river. -And as the former was devoted to the _sun_, so the latter was to the -_moon_; in confirmation of which it got another name, namely, _Re-monius_, -of which the component parts are _Re_, the moon, and _moin_, an elevation. - -The _Pru-taneion_, also amongst the Greeks, was what? A _fire_-hill. -Startle not, it is a literal truth. But the dictionaries and lexicons say -nothing about these matters? nay, offer other _explanations_? -mystifications, Sir, if you please, whereby they implicate, as well -themselves as their readers, in absurdities; which could not be expected -to be otherwise uninstructed, _as their authors necessarily were_, in the -elements of that language whence all those words have diverged. - -_Pru-taneion_, then, is compounded of _Bri_, a mount, and _tinne_, fire; -the _B_, as before observed, being commutable with _P_, particularly -amongst the Greeks, who indifferently called Britain [Greek: Bretanikê] -and [Greek: Pretanikê] ([Greek: nêsos] being understood). Every community -had, of old, one of those _Britennes_, or _fire mounts_, natural or -artificial. The guardian of the sacred element therein was called, -_Bri-ses_; and the dwelling assigned him, hard by, _Astu_. The number of -those latter Cecrops reduced, in Attica from one hundred and sixty, to -twelve. Of these, Theseus appointed the _principal station_ at _Cecropia_, -the name of which he changed, by _way of eminence_, to _Astu_; and hence -this latter word, which originally but represented the abode of the -_Sacerdos_, came ultimately to signify a _city_ at large; as _Prutaneion_ -did a Common Council Hall. - -[220] To this day, the most kindly wish, and ordinary salutation, of the -Irish peasant, continues to be _Bal dhia duit, Bal dhia ort_, that is the -god Baal to you, or the god Baal upon you. - -[221] The Irish mode of expressing it is _Slan fuar tu sin, agus slan -adfaga tu sin_. The Caffres who reside all round the Cape, pay their -adoration to the moon, by dancing to her honour when she changes, or when -she is at the full. They prostrate themselves on the ground, then rise up -again, and, gazing at her orb, with loud acclamations, make the following -address:--"We, thy servants, salute thee. Give us store of milk and honey; -increase our flocks and herds, and we will worship thee." - -[222] The word is more _mysterious_, as I shall explain elsewhere. - -[223] Hannah More. - -[224] Byron. - -[225] "One superstition of the pagans never fails to assert its influence -upon spots like this--the _genius_ loci is always ascendant" (DEANE). - -[226] _Ab-roch_ also, the official title of Joseph, when appointed regent -of Egypt, signifies father of the _king_. - -[227] "The Himalaya are the peculiar abodes of the gods of the Hindoos; -the rivers, issuing from the eternal snows, are goddesses, and are sacred -in the eyes of all. Shrines, of the most holy and awful sanctity, are at -the fountain-heads of the Ganges and Jumna; and on the summit of Kedar -Nauth, Cali, that goddess of bloody rites, is supposed to have taken up -her residence. One among the numerous proceedings of her votaries, is to -scramble as high up the mountain as they can attain, taking with them a -_goat_ for an offering: the animal is turned loose with a _knife_ tied -round his neck; the belief is, that the goddess will find the victim, and -immolate it with her own hand" (ARCHER). - -[228] This adjective I apply indiscriminately to Persia or to Ireland. - -[229] It lies in the district of _Ins-oin_, which means the _abode_ of -_Magicians_; corrupted now to _Inis_-owen, which would import Eugene's -_island_. An aggravated blunder--the place being in the _very centre_ of -the country, with which such an imaginary chevalier was never associated. - -[230] - - "His tibi _Grynæi_ nemoris dicatur origo, - Ne quis sit lucus, quâ se plus jactet _Apollo_." - Virg. _Ecl._ 6. - -[231] "_Granem_ dixere priores."--OVID. - -Although those heaps are now but signals of accidental or violent death, -for which each passenger bespeaks his sorrow by _adding a small stone_, -yet we see that in their origin they were more religiously designed; and -while this _latter practice_ is observed also in India, it appears that -they have retained there more correctly the primitive idea, as may be -inferred from these words of Major Archer:--"On the right and left are -several cairns of stones, erected by parties of travellers as they cross, -in _acknowledgment to the deities or presiding spirits for their -protection_." - -[232] _Ogyg. seu Rer. Iber. Chron._ part i. p. 16. - -[233] One of the ancient names of Ireland is _Inis Algan_, that is, the -_Noble Island_. - -[234] "The children gathered the wood, the fathers kindled the fire, and -the women kneaded the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven" (Jer. -vii. 18). - -[235] _Lettres sur les Sciences_, p. 202. - -[236] _Hist. du Calendrier_, Pref. p. 14. - -[237] "Obeliscum Deo soli, speciali munere, dedicatum fuisse" (AMMIANUS). - -[238] "Chinenses et Indi, præter imagines in pagodis et delubris, -prægrandes aliquando etiam _integras rupes_, presertim si naturâ in -_pyramidalem formam_ vergebant, in idola formari solebant" (HYDE). - -[239] Is it not pitiable, therefore, to hear Mr. Deane, in the last volume -of the _Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries_, London, ascribe the -erection of those obelisks which he met in Britanny, to the following -text? namely, "Behold Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear -stuck in the ground at his bolster" (1 Sam. xxvi. 7). - -When Captain Pyke landed in the island of Elephanta, near Bombay, he found -in the midst of a Gentoo temple a low altar, on which was placed a large -polished stone, of a _cylindrical_ form, standing on its base, the top -_rounded_, or convex: they called it _Mahody_,--that the name of the -inconceivable God was placed under it aloof from profanation. - -Launder, in his _Voyage to India_, p. 81, saw one _erected_ in a _tank_ of -water. Herodian tells us he saw a similar stone, round at the bottom, -diminishing towards the top in a conical form, at Emessa, in Phoenicia, -and that the name they gave it was Heliogabalus (VALLANCEY). - -[240] _I.e._ the _Good_-Baal-Peor. - -[241] Wilford, in like manner, after a more mature acquaintance with the -system, says, "I beg leave here to retract what I said in a former essay -on Egypt, concerning the followers of Buddha." - -[242] _Observations on Drakontia_, London, 1833. - -[243] The Mexican hierogram is formed by the intersecting of two great -serpents, which describe the circle with their bodies, and have each a -human head in its mouth. - -[244] Ovid. - -[245] Gen. xi. 31. - -[246] See pages 503-506 for the explication of the serpent and the rest of -the allegory. - -[247] The Betula, or Birch tree. - -[248] Were additional proof required that this is the true solution of the -Mosaic _myth_, respecting the forbidden _apple_, it is irresistibly -offered to anyone who will see that relic of Eastern idolatry, presented -by Lieutenant-Colonel Ogg to the Museum of the East India Company, London, -which consists of a tabular frame of white marble, furnished with a -fountain, and emblematically stored with religious devices; the most -extraordinary of which is a representation of the _Lingam_ and _Yoni_ in -_conjunction_, around the bottom of which, in symbolical suggestion, is -coiled a serpent; while the top of another Lingam, placed underneath, is -embossed towards the termination, which is _conical_ and _sunny_, with -four heads, facing the cardinal points, and _exactly corresponding with -those which grace the preputial apex_ of the Round _Tower_ of _Devenish_. -Those four heads represent the four gods of the Budhist theology, who have -appeared in the present world, and already obtained the perfect state of -Nirwana, viz. Charchasan, Gonagon, Gaspa, and Goutama. And the entire -coincidence between this Lingam and the characteristics of our Round -Towers is such as to convince the most obdurate sceptics, even had I not -put the question beyond dispute before, that they were _uniform_ in -design, and _identical_ in purpose. - -[249] Venus preferred a _cestus_, or a talisman of her own sex, as we are -told in the fourteenth book of the _Iliad_, where it is said, that - - "the Queen of Love - Obeyed the sister and the wife of Jove, - And from her fragrant breast the zone unbraced, - With various skill and high embroidery graced. - In this was every art, and every charm, - To win the wisest, and the coldest warm: - Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire, - The kind deceit, the still reviving fire, - Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, - Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes."--HOMER. - -[250] The offerings made at the present day are precisely of the same -kind. "Boiled rice, fruits, especially the cocoa-nut, flowers, natural, -and artificial, and a variety of curious figures made of paper, gold leaf, -and the cuttings of the cocoa-nut kernel, are the most common" (SYMES). - -[251] Gen. iv. 7. - -[252] Methinks I hear some wiseacre start up here and say this cannot be, -because man in an _uncivilised_ state occupies more space than when -restricted by social usages. Pray, sir, who told you that man was then -_uncivilised_? Then, in fact, it was that he may be called truly -civilised, as more recent from the converse of his Creator. - -[253] In fig. 1, plate 33, of Mr. Coleman's book, "is a four-headed Linga -of white marble, on a stand of the same, surrounded by Parvati, Durga, -Ganes, and the Bull Nandi, in adoration. The size of the stand or tablet -is about two feet square, and the whole is richly painted and gilt. On the -crown of the Linga is a refulgent sun." In fig. 2 of same "is a Panch -Muckti, or five-headed Linga, of basalt, of which the fifth head rises -above the other four, surmounted by the hooded snake. Each of the heads -has also a snake wreathed around it, as well as around the Argha. The Bull -Nandi is kneeling in adoration before the spout of the Yoni." - -[254] And _Bacchus_, in reality, was but another name for one of the -various _Budhas_. Even under the name of _Dionysos_ we find him, to this -hour, amongst ourselves. "On _Sliabh Grian_, or the _Hill_ of the _Sun_" -says Tighe, "otherwise called Tory Hill, in the county Kilkenny, is a -circular space, sixty-four yards in circumference, covered with stones. In -this stands a very large one, and on the east side another, reared on -three supporters, and containing an inscription, which in Roman letter -would exhibit "Beli Dinose." - -[255] "There are in India (also) public women, called _women of the idol_, -and the origin of this custom is this: when a woman has made a vow for the -purpose of having children, if she brings into the world a pretty -daughter, she carries it to Bod,--so they call the idol which they adore, -and leaves it with him" (Renaudot's _Anc. Rel._ p. 109). - -[256] "It is generally known, that the religion of Boudhou is the religion -of the people of _Ceylon_, but no one is acquainted with its forms and -precepts" (JOINVILLE). - -[257] Goldsmith. - -[258] That is, "_above_ reason." - -[259] Gen. vi. 2. - -[260] _Ibid._ iv. 26. - -[261] Job xxxviii. - -[262] "_In the beginning_ God created" (Gen. i. 1). - -[263] Gen. vi. 4. - -[264] Dr. Gill, very _innocently_, would account for it otherwise, viz. -"_either_ because they made their fear _fall_ upon men, _or_ men through -fear to _fall_ before them, because of their height and strength--or -rather because they fell and rushed on men with great violence, and -oppressed them in a cruel and tyrannical manner"!!! - -[265] Philosophers will ultimately repose in the belief that Asia has been -the principal foundry of the human kind; and _Iran_ or _Persia_ will be -considered as one of the cradles from which the species took their -departure to people the various regions of the earth (Dr. Barton, _Trans -Phil. Soc. Philad._ vi. p. 1). - -"It follows that Iran or Persia (I contend for the _meaning, not the -name_) was the central country which we sought" (Sir W. Jones, _Asiatic -Researches_). - -[266] An edifice of this kind, in which the _relics_ of Budha were kept, -near Benares, is described by Wilford as about _fifty feet high, of a -cylindrical form, with its top shaped like a dome_. - -[267] - - "Tuatha _Heren_ tarcaintais - Dos nicfead sith laitaith nua." - -That is, - - The _magicians_ of Ireland prophesied - That new times of peace would come. - -I would point your attention to this stanza, not only as confirmatory of -the solution above given for the word _Tuatha_, but as furnishing another -link in that great chain of analogy which I have traced between the names -of Ireland and ancient Persia. _Haran_, in Mesopotamia, is but the -prefixing of an aspirate to _Eran_, the Pahlavi variation for _Iran_, the -original name for that _Sacred Land_. - -[268] General Vallancey was equally ignorant as to the meaning of the -additional words _De-danaan_. - -[269] The Lotos was the most sacred plant of the ancients, and typified -the _two_ principles of the earth's fecundation combined--the germ -standing for the _Lingam_; the filaments and petals for the _Yoni_. - -[270] This _Puzza_ is nothing more than our Irish _Pish_: and, what is -miraculously _coincident_, the title of the enthusiast who annually kills -somebody in honour of her, under the name of the goddess _Manepa_, at -Tancput, is _Phut_, or Buth; that is, the Budh of the Irish! - -[271] "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall -cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh" (Gen. xi. 24). - -[272] "There is a sect of Hindus, by far the most numerous of any, who, -attempting to reconcile the two systems, tell us, in their allegorical -style, that Parvati and Mahadeva found their _concurrence_ essential to -the perfection of their offspring, and that Vishnu, at the request of the -goddess, effected a reconciliation between them; hence the _navel_ of -Vishnu, by which they mean the _os tincæ_, is worshipped as one and the -same with the sacred _Yoni_." - -[273] She "made use of the same artifice the old woman, called Baubo, did -to put Ceres in good humour, and showed him the prototype of the _Lotos_. -Mahadeva smiled and relented; but on the condition that they should -instantly leave the country." - -[274] "But such is the confusion and uncertainty of the Hindu records, -that one is really afraid of forming any opinion whatever" (WILFORD). - -[275] Sir John Malcolm, vol. i. p. 270. - -[276] Thomson. - -[277] "When history fails in accounting for foreign extraction of any -people, or where it is manifestly mistaken, how can this extraction be -more rationally inferred and determined, or that mistake rectified, than -from the analogy of languages? And is not this at once sufficiently -conclusive, if nothing else was left them?" (_Eugene Aram_). - -[278] "The merchants of Magadha formed not only a particular class, but -also a particular tribe. It seems that they were bold, enterprising, and, -at the same time, cautious and circumspect; hence they are said to be -merchants by the fathers', and warriors by the mothers' side, according to -Mr. Colebrook's account of the Hindu classes" (_Asiat. Res._ ix. p. 79). - -[279] See _A Dissertation on the Antiquity, Origin, and Design of the -principal Pyramids of Egypt_, etc. etc. - -[280] Mersennus writes thus:--"I find that the cubit (upon which a learned -Jewish writer, which I received by the favour of the illustrious Hugenius, -Knight of the Order of St. Michael, supposes the dimensions of the temple -were formed) answers to 23-1/4 of our inches; so that it wants 3/4 of an -inch of two of our feet, and contains two Roman feet and two digits, and a -grain, which is 1/4 of a digit." The Paris foot, with which Mersennus -compared this cubit, is equal to 1-68/1000 of the English foot, according -to Mr. Greaves; and consequently is to the Roman foot as 1068 to 967. In -the same proportion, reciprocally, are 23-1/4 and 25-68/100. That cubit, -therefore, is equal to 25-68/100 _unciæ_ of the Roman foot, and -consequently falls within the middle of the limits 25-57/100 and 79/100, -with which we have just circumscribed the sacred cubit: so that I suspect -this cubit was taken from some authentic model, preserved in a secret -manner from the knowledge of the Christians (SIR ISAAC NEWTON). - -[281] "And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, -behold a _hole_ in _the wall_. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now -in the wall; and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door: and he said -unto me, Go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I -went in, and saw; and, behold, every form of creeping things, and -abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed -upon the wall round about" (EZEKIEL). - -[282] "Inter omnes eos, non constat à quibus factæ sint, justissimo casu -obliteratis tantæ vanitatis authoribus" (PLIN). - -[283] [Hebrew] - -_Gen._ vi. 14. - -[284] Exod. ii. 3. - -[285] The Septuagint translators, not perceiving any difference, rendered -all, similarly, by the word [Greek: kibôtos]! - -[286] As does also _Tha_, _To_, _Ti_, _Tho_, _Thu_, with their several -commutables, derivatives, formatives, etc. - -[287] And the _Valley of To-phith_, in which human victims were -sacrificed, thus discloses, in the _symbolic secret of its shape_, that -the propitiation of this _instrument_ was the grand object of the -sacrificers. - -[288] Virgil. - -[289] Gen. vi. 9. - -[290] Gen. vi. 12. - -[291] Rom. i. 20-24. - -[292] Gen. vi. 8. - -[293] _The-bith._ - -[294] Gen. ix. 1. - -[295] "This king is stated to have reclaimed his subjects from a _state_ -of the _most savage barbarity_. He was, we are told by our author, the son -of Yussan-Ajum, while others call him the grandson of Noah; _all agree in -acknowledging him as the founder of a dynasty, which are known in history -as that of the Paishdadian_" (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[296] The Irish name for a _boat_ is _baudh_, which is only a formative of -_pith_. - -[297] Gen. v. 29. - -[298] If the reader will now turn to p. 223, will he not think it probable -that the _symbol_ contained on the broken-off portion of the stone, there -represented, must have been the phallus? - -[299] Who can forget the fable in Ovid, _de jactibus lapidibus_? - -[300] "But as his descendants gave him his right as to the title of Deva, -and decreed divine honours to be paid to him, we shall henceforth call him -Deva-cala-_Yavana_; or, according to the vulgar mode of pronouncing this -compound word, Deo-cal-_Yun_, which sounds exactly like _Deucalion_ in -Greek" (WILFORD). - -[301] Fielding. - -[302] Isa. viii. 7, 8. - -[303] Gen. vii. 2. - -[304] Gen. viii. 10, 11. - -[305] The following is an abstract of the Hindoo version of this allegory, -as copied from their Puranas:--"Satyavrata, having built the _ark_, and -the flood increasing, it was made fast to the peak of Nau-baudha, with a -cable of a prodigious length. During the flood, Brahma, or the _creating -power_, was _asleep_ at the bottom of the abyss: the _generative powers of -nature_, both male and female, were reduced to their simplest elements, -the _Linga_ and the _Yoni_. The Yoni assumed the shape of the hull of a -_ship_, since typified by the Argha, whilst the Linga became the _mast_. -In this manner they were wafted over the deep, under the care and -protection of _Vishnu_. When the waters had retired, the _female power_ of -nature appeared immediately in the character of _Capoteswari_, or the -_dove_, and she was soon joined by her consort, in the shape of -_Capoteswara_." - -[306] See p. 63. - -[307] Acts vii. 22. - -[308] The _date_ of those Uksi was not the only misconception this -historian has committed. He was equally in the dark as to the _place_ -whence they came, and, for want of a better name, called them, at a -venture, Arabians! - -[309] See p. 64. - -[310] Most of the _oracles_ in the ancient world were but -_personifications_ of this influence--the _goddess_ invariably being the -sacred Yoni. And the priestesses so far prevailed upon the credulous -worshippers as to make them believe that _she_ actually spoke! The oracle -of _Delphi_, the most venerable in all Greece, obtained its name from the -_very thing_--the first syllable _De_, signifying _divine_ or _sacred_; -and the second _phi_, _i.e._ phith, _yoni_: the letter _l_ having been -inserted only for euphony. Even in the _Greek_ language this import is not -yet lost. - -[311] As _Noah_ was himself named from the _symbolical boat_, so was his -eldest son _Japheth_, from its sanctified _prototype_. _Ja-Phith_ -signifies _consecrated to Pith_, or the _Yoni_. And again, _his_ son's -name, _Ja-van_, means _consecrated to woman_. - -[312] "In the city of Babylon there is a temple with brazen gates, -consecrated to Jupiter Belus, being four square; and each side being two -furlongs in length. In the midst of this holy place there is a solid -tower, of the thickness and height of a furlong; upon which there is -another tower placed, and upon that another; and so on, one upon another, -insomuch that there are eight in all. On the outside of these there are -steps or stairs placed, by which men go up from one tower to another. In -the middle of these steps there are resting-places; and rooms were made -for the purpose, that they who go to the top may have conveniences to sit -down and rest themselves" (HERODOTUS). - -"'Tis a tower exactly round, in form of a cone, or round pyramid; the -diameter, or thickness at the base, being 81 feet; the circumference, or -way round, 254-1/2 feet; the height perpendicular likewise 81 feet, equal -to the diameter; the height likewise, oblique, 90-1/2 feet; and the angles -of the sides equal to those of the former design: the whole likewise a -mass of brick and bitumen work, amounting to 140,589 cubic feet, upon 5207 -square" (MARK GREGORY). - -[313] Gen. xi. 4. - -[314] Spenser's _Faërie Queene_. - -[315] _Shiloh_ is an _Irish_ word, literally meaning _seed_, and -additionally showing that it was in our _sacred_ language all those -occurrences were _originally named_. - -[316] Both words equally signify the _happy country_ or the _sacred land_. - -[317] Gen. iii. 15. - -[318] See chap. xvii. p. 229. - -[319] Gen. iii. 15. - -[320] Gen. xix. 31-34. - -[321] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[322] Job xix. 25. - -[323] John viii. 56. - -[324] Rev. xiii. 8. - -[325] _Appeal to Common Sense_, p. 45. - -[326] See chap. xvi. p. 224. - -[327] _De Morib. German._ xxiv. - -[328] _Western Islands_, vol. i. p. 184, etc. - -[329] _Highlands_, vol. iii. p. 236. - -[330] "I inquired," says Mr. Martin, "of the inhabitants, what tradition -they had concerning these stones; and they told me, it was a place -appointed for worship in the time of heathenism; and that the chief Druid -stood near the big stone in the centre, from whence he addressed himself -to the people that surrounded him." - -[331] United at the feet in this manner [Illustration]. The jewel in the -freemasons' royal arch is thus formed. Noah was a freemason; and being the -inventor of that _mysterious_ and _sacredly-religious ceremony_, called -the _Deluge_, we may be satisfied that all the _secrets_ of that body bear -reference to my developments. I look upon their institution as most -_solemn_ and _majestically sublime_. - -[332] In the accounts transmitted to us of the various _Buddhas_, no term -occurs more commonly as descriptive of their innocence and their meekness -than that of _lamb_. - -[333] Gen. iii. 15. - -[334] Luke iii. 39. - -[335] See p. 132. - -[336] _Indian Antiquities_, vol. ii. p. 361. - -[337] See chap. xvi. p. 221. - -[338] Matt. xxii. 29. - -[339] Vol. i. p. 308, on the article "Fine Arts." - -[340] The initial subscribed to the article. - -[341] See Appendix. - -[342] Like the two former effigies, at pp. 138 and 140, it is made of -_bronze_, and found in Ireland after the Tuath-de-danaans. Those found -after their brethren in the East are made of the same metal. "Sometimes," -says Archer, "the _images_ are of _wood_ or _stone_, but these, unless -possessing the rarity of some monkish legend, are not in such repute as -their brothers of _brass_." - -[343] This is the only _peculiar_ monogram of Jesus Christ--I. H. S. -belonging originally to Budha, though appropriated afterwards to _him_, -[Greek: U Ê S] was its proper form, and it comprehended a mysterious -number, as follows:-- - - [Greek: U] 400 - [Greek: Ê] 8 - [Greek: S] 200 - --- - 608 - -Another monogram of Budha was [Greek: Ph R Ê]. It composed the same -numerical enigma, viz.-- - - [Greek: Ph] 500 - [Greek: R] 100 - [Greek: Ê] 8 - --- - 608 - - Salvo vera Deum facies, vultusque paternæ, - Octo et sexcentis numeris, cui litera trina - Conformet sacrum nomen, cognomen et omen. - MARTIANUS CAPELLA. - -[344] _Arch. Soc. Ant. Lond._ vol. ii. p. 83. - -[345] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[346] "He has a separate apartment, shrouded from vulgar eyes by a black -velvet curtain, richly embossed with gold, in a splendid palace at -Ummerapoor: and his whole residence is as dazzling and sumptuous as gold -and silver can make it. He is furnished with a silk bed, adorned with gold -tapestry, hangings, and jewellery, and has his gold appurtenances. Foreign -ministers are introduced to his sacred person, and he ranks before every -member of the royal court except the king" (SYMES). - -[347] It was only as an _epithet_ that the title _sacred_ could apply to -Samothrace: and as such, every other locality, wherein those mysteries -were commemorated, shared it in common. But in _this our island_, to which -Artemidorus above alludes, and where superior solemnity attended the -celebration, the name of _sacred_ was no adventitious clause, but, _par -excellence_, the _constituent essence_ of its _proper appellation_ (see -pp. 128, 129). - -[348] [Greek: Mystêria de duo teleitai tou eniautou; Dêmêtoi Korê; ta -mikra kai ta megala; kai esti ta mikra ôsper prokatharsis kai pragneusis -tôn megalôn.] - -[349] Lib. x. p. 474. - -[350] [Greek: eis tên Polit. Plat.] p. 380. - -[351] See the article under her name in the _Classical Dictionary_, with -all the authorities there adduced. - -[352] _Clem. Alex. Strom._ ii. - -[353] Mihi cum multa eximia divinaque videntur Athenæ tuæ peperisse--tum -nihil melius illis mysteriis quibus agresti immanique vitâ exculti ad -humanitatem mitigati sumus: initiaque, ut appellantur, ita revera -principia vitæ cognovimus: neque solum cum lætitiâ vivendi rationem -accepimus, sed etiam cum spe meliori moriendi (_De Legibus_, 1. i. c. 24). - -[354] Pope. - -[355] Luke xix. 20. - -[356] "The _Bulbul of Iran_ has a passion for the rose, and when he sees -any person pull a rose from the tree he laments and cries" ("Persian -Poem," quoted in Ouseley's _Oriental Collections_). - -[357] Basnage, bk. iii. ch. xix. s. xix. - -[358] That phenomenon in the heavens, called the "Southern Cross," appears -to me so associated with the _mystery_ of redemption, in all ages, that I -cannot forbear drawing attention to the sign. The following is Captain -Basil Hall's description of this curious constellation. - -"Of all the antarctic constellations, the celebrated _Southern Cross_ is -by far the most remarkable; and must in every age continue to arrest the -attention of all voyagers and travellers who are fortunate enough to see -it. I think it would strike the imagination even of a person who had never -heard of the Christian religion; but of this it is difficult to judge, -seeing how inextricably our own ideas are mingled up with associations -linking this sacred symbol with almost every thought, word, and deed of -our lives. - -"The three great stars which form the Cross, one at the top, one at the -left arm, and one, which is the chief star, called Alpha, at the foot, are -so placed as to suggest the idea of a crucifix, even without the help of a -small star, which completes the horizontal beam. When on the meridian, it -stands nearly upright; and as it sets, we observe it lean over to the -westward. I am not sure whether, upon the whole, this is not more striking -than its gradually becoming more and more erect, as it rises from the -east. In every position, however, it is beautiful to look at, and well -calculated, with a little prompting from the fancy, to stir up our -thoughts to solemn purposes. - -"I know not how others are affected by such things, but for myself I can -say with truth, that during the many nights I have watched the Southern -Cross, I remember on two occasions, when the spectacle interested me -exactly in the same way, nor any one upon which I did not discover the -result to be somewhat different, and always more impressive than what I -had looked for. This constellation, being about thirty degrees from the -South Pole, is seen in its whole revolution, and accordingly, when off the -Cape of Good Hope, I have observed it in every stage; from its triumphant -erect position, between sixty and seventy degrees above the horizon, to -that of complete immersion, with the top beneath, and almost touching the -water. This position, by the way, always reminded me of the death of St. -Peter, who is said to have deemed it too great an honour to be crucified -with his head upwards. In short, I defy the stupidest mortal that ever -lived, to watch these changes in the aspect of this splendid -constellation, and not to be, in some degree, struck by them" (_Fragments -of Voyages_). - -[359] Isa. liii. 4, 5. - -[360] Isa. liii. 3. - -[361] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[362] Matt. x. 26. - -[363] This will explain a text in Scripture never before understood, -namely, "Son of Man, when the land sinneth against Me by tresspassing -grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break _the -staff of the bread thereof_, and will send famine upon it, and cut off man -and beast from it" (Ezek. xiv. 13). _Fogh_ is another term equivalent to -this. - -[364] This will at once appear from Varro, who, in Nonus Marcellinus, is -made to say, "We are barbarians, because that we crucify (in gabalum -suffigimus) the innocent; are you not barbarians, when you acquit the -guilty?" Compare also Selden, _Syntagm._ ii. c. 1. - -[365] Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites suos (Tertullian, _de -Præscrip._ cap. xi.). - -[366] Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 6. - -[367] John iii. 10. The omission of this _cross_ from the text of our -translation may afford some handle to the enemies of religion. - -[368] Matt. vi. 27. - -[369] _Cunni_ Diaboli. - -[370] The _rosary_ was also anterior to Christianity. - -[371] John i. 29. - -[372] John i. 30. - -[373] John i. 31. - -[374] Isa. xlii. 9. - -[375] Temora. - -[376] "And this _stone_, which I have set for a _pillar_, shall be _God's -house_" (Gen. xxviii. 22). - -[377] It is fit I should advertise that Mr. Hamilton spoke of the -individual merely as a figure, without professing to identify him in name -or history either with _Thot_, _Budha_, or _anybody else_. - -[378] Introduction, p. xciii. - -[379] Cowper. - -[380] From the Brahma-vawartta, section of the Crishna-janma--c'hand'a. - -[381] Much, mugh, mughsaine tra ainm sain delias do dheadh (Cormac's -_Glossary_). - -[382] The _locale_ of that _boar_, as well as the _mystery_ of its -meaning, which Plutarch transmitted in his allegorical _war_ between -Osiris and Typhon, is now no longer ambiguous (see p. 327). - -[383] I have before explained that the _serpent Pyth-on_ means the -_seduction_ of sensuality--_Pith_ itself signifying _yoni_, the _boat_, or -_serpent_, the final _on_ being nothing but a Greek termination. - -[384] Isa. liii. 7. - -[385] "The gods," said the Budhist priest to the Catholic bishop before -alluded to, "who have appeared in the present world, and who have obtained -the perfect state, niebau, or _deliverance from all the evils of life_, -are four, Chanchasam, Gonagom, Gaspa, and Godama" (Syme's _Embassy to the -Court of Ava_). - -[386] I shall give you my _definition_ for this word by and by. - -[387] 1 Cor. xv. 51. - -[388] It will be perceived, that I do not mean this to be an exact _copy_ -of the Knockmoy Crucifixion--or _vice versâ_.--The general idea is, what I -mean to substantiate, and the identity of design cannot well be gainsaid. -This remark applies also to the kings about to be introduced by and by. - -[389] "We saw," says Colonel Symes, alluding to the imperfect shell of a -_Budhist_ temple, in the Burman Empire, "several unfinished figures of -_animals_ and _men_ in _grotesque attitudes_, which were designed as -ornaments for different parts of the building" (_Embassy to the Court of -Ava_). - -[390] 1 Cor. i. 12. - -[391] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[392] The name of _Sulivan_ in Ireland, than which there is no one more -common, is unquestionably but the perpetuation of the above _Sulivahana_. -And I can give a proof of the fact, _independently of its derivation_, -which will scare ridicule into defiance. It is that a particular branch of -that family called the O'Sulivans, of Tomies, have been ever looked upon -with a feeling of _reverence_ by the natives, almost approaching to -veneration. I have in vain striven to ascertain from them the origin of -this indefinable sense of sanctity. It was like magic upon their minds: -they half-worshipped them, and knew not why. There were but _two -individuals_ of this stock remaining when I was a schoolboy, a few years -ago, at Killarney. - -[393] "That is," says Keating, "the neighbouring country"!!! as if a -country would call itself by such a name! Vallancey ridicules, but bungles -himself still more. And while reminded by this circumstance, I had best -note, that what this last-mentioned writer elsewhere translates as "the -_topographical_ names of Ireland" (_Ainim abberteach an n' Eirean_), -should have been "the _appellative_ names of Ireland": they are the -_titles_ of the _island_ itself, not _descriptions_ of the several -_localities_ within it. - -[394] Gen. xlix. 10. - -[395] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[396] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[397] Isa. xlii. 2, 3. - -[398] Retiring into a still more solitary place, _Gautama_ and his -disciples sustained triumphantly an argument with two of their bitterest -enemies. But a severer trial exhibited his righteousness in a yet clearer -light. Four young and beautiful sisters, burning with unholy love, -presented themselves naked before him, and besought him to comply with -their desires. "Who, O Gautame!" said they, in the rage of their -disappointment, "who is the lying witness who dares attest that the -virtues of all the former saints are concentrated in thee?" "Behold my -witness," said the sage, striking the ground with his hand, and at the -moment Okintôngu, the tutelar genius of the earth, appeared, proclaiming, -with a loud voice, "It is I who am the witness of the truth!" The young -women then fell upon their faces and adored Gautama, saying, "O _pure_ and -_perfect countenance_, wisdom more precious than gold! majesty -impenetrable! honour and adoration to thee, _thou source of the faith of -the three epochs of the world_!" (Abridged from KLAPROTH). - -[399] _Chambers's Edinburgh Journal_, October 12, 1833. - -[400] This is the exact rendering of the name by which they called it: -viz. _nua vreith_, or _the being born anew_ by the operation of grace. - -[401] It is still practised in the East.--"For the purpose of regeneration -it is directed to make an image of pure gold of the _female_ power of -_nature_, in the shape either of a woman or of a cow. In this statue the -person to be regenerated is inclosed, and dragged out through the usual -channel. As a statue of pure gold, and of proper dimensions, would be too -expensive, it is sufficient to make an image of the sacred _Yoni_, through -which the person to be regenerated is to pass" (WILFORD). - -[402] See pp. 3-78 and 162. - -[403] Be it remembered, that it was in consequence of his ignorance of the -principle of regeneration that our Saviour addressed Nicodemus in these -cutting words, viz. "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these -things?" thereby recognising the existence of the doctrine before His own -manifestation to that people. - -[404] "Enter ye in at the _strait gate_: for _wide_ is the gate, and broad -is the way, that leadeth to _destruction_, and _many_ there be which go -_in_ thereat, because _strait_ is the _gate_, and narrow is the way, which -leadeth unto _life_, and _few_ there be that find it" (Matt. vii. 13, 14). - -[405] "The dome [of this, what he calls a cemetery] springs at various -unequal heights, from eight to nine and ten feet on different sides, -forming at first a coving of eight sides. At the height of fifteen or -sixteen feet, the north and south sides of this coving run to a point like -a gore, and the coving continues its spring with six sides; the east side -coming to a point next, it is reduced to five sides, the west next; and -the dome ends and closes with four sides; not tied with a key-stone, but -capped with a flag-stone of three feet ten inches, by three feet five. The -construction of this dome is not formed by key-stones, whose sides are the -radii of a circle, or of an ellipsis converging to a centre. It is -combined with great long flat stones, each of the upper stones projecting -a little beyond the end of that immediately beneath it; the part -projecting, and weight supported by it, bearing so small a proportion to -the weight which presses down the part supported; the greater the general -weight is which is laid upon such a cove, the firmer it is compacted in -all its parts" (POWNALL). - -[406] "The eight sides of this polygon are thus formed: the aperture which -forms the entrance, and the three niches, or tabernacles, make four sides, -and the four imposts the other four" (POWNALL). - -[407] This word I have already derived, after the example of other -writers, from _peutgeda_, or _house of idols_, so misnamed by Europeans. I -must state, however, that another explication is also assigned thereto, -and that is, a perversion of the term _bhaga-vati_, or _holy house_. But -with great respect to the gentlemen who incline to the latter opinion, I -have to observe that _bhaga-vati_, properly signifies the _sacred Yoni_; -and, therefore, that however applicable to a _subterraneous temple_, or -_cave_, it could by no means represent an _erect building_. - -[408] "The entrance into this temple, which is entirely hewn out of a -stone resembling porphyry, is by a spacious front supported by two massy -pillars and two pilasters forming three openings, under a thick and steep -rock, overhung by brushwood and wild shrubs. The long ranges of columns -that appear closing in perspective on every side; the flat roof of solid -rock that seems to be prevented from falling only by the massy pillars, -whose capitals are pressed down and flattened as if by the superincumbent -weight; the darkness that obscures the interior of the temple, which is -dimly lighted only by the entrances; and the gloomy appearance of the -gigantic stone figures ranged along the wall, and hewn, like the whole -temple, out of the living rock,--joined to the strange uncertainty that -hangs over the history of this place,--carry the mind back to distant -periods, and impress it with that kind of uncertain and religious awe with -which the grander works of ages of darkness are generally contemplated" -(ERSKINE). - -[409] "This appellation, Caucasus, at least in its present state, is not -Sanscrit; and as it is not of Grecian origin, it is probable that the -Greeks received it through their intercourse with the Persians" (WILFORD). - -[410] Darwin. - -[411] "If perfection in art consist in affording continued pleasure, its -achievements, when contemplating this column, must be deemed -insurpassable. A Corinthian capital of 10 feet is poised on a shaft of -67-1/2 feet, the latter resting on a base of 21-1/2 feet; the whole rises -to a height of nearly 100 feet" (HEAD). - -[412] "Or the obelisks, commonly called Cleopatra's Needles, one alone is -now standing; the other, lying down, measures seven feet square at the -base, and sixty-six feet in length. They are so well known, that it is not -necessary to give a very particular description of them" (CLARKE). - -[413] In confirmation of this, you will find at p. 14 of Seguin's -_Thessalonian Coins_, the impression of a man with a hammer, as above, in -one hand, and a key in the other, and the word _Cabeiros_ as the -inscription. - -[414] On all public occasions displays of this kind are still indulged in -the East. The _floralia_ of the Romans were adopted from the Easterns. -"Every person, male and female, had _festoons_ depending from the top of -the cap down one side of the head. These were composed of the flowers of -the _wild rose_ and hawthorn, and other beautiful kinds, which, while they -set off the headpiece of the lieges, literally perfumed the air wherever -they went" (ARCHER). - -[415] _Sketches of India Field Sports._ Dr. Shaw and Mr. Forbes are even -more conclusive. - -[416] P. 338. - -[417] If you examine the Tuath-de-danaan crosses with a minute eye, you -will find this exposition irrefutably verified. Though they all have the -traces of the Budhist sculpture, they have also the marks of -_obliteration_; and no one of them to a greater extent than this at -Finglas, where it is known that St. Patrick principally resided. Yet even -this retains indistinct evidence of snakes, etc. - -"The body of the snake is not only capable of flexion, but of close and -intimate application to every rugged inequality of a tree on the earth; -and this faculty is the result of its minute subdivisions. The body of the -snake is never bent in acute angles, but always in flowing easy curves or -circles. From each of those distant bones, so multitudinous in their -number, which form the vertebral column (and in one species of Pythra we -have counted 256, exclusive of those composing the tail), a rib arises -from each side, and both together form a great portion of a circle, so as -to embrace nearly the whole circumference of the body. These ribs are -restricted to the vertebræ of the body only; they do not arise from those -of the tail." - -[418] _Travels in Northern India._ - -[419] Oliver Cromwell with his army of locusts. - -[420] Byron. - -[421] Some say he belonged to the _fifth_ century. All agree that it was -not later than the _ninth_. - -[422] See p. 61. - -[423] July 1833.--This gentleman's name was Pareira. - -[424] _Religious Rites and Ceremonies._ - -[425] The Gaurs themselves did not build those towers, but finding them to -their hand, and knowing them to have been formerly reverenced, they -converted them to this purpose. - -[426] One called _Jachen_, that is, _he shall establish_; and the other -_Boaz_, or, _in it is strength_. This was all emblematical, which, without -giving Solomon any participation therein, may be accounted for on the -principle that the building was conducted under the superintendence of -Hiram, a Sidonian, who naturally had exercised the taste of his own -country in the discretion here allowed him. Nor will the circumstance of -those pillars having been made of _metal_ oppose any barrier--the _design_ -is the thing to be considered, not the _material_. And besides, we find -them of metal elsewhere also. - -"An iron pillar," says Archer, "stands in a sort of courtyard, having the -remains of cloisters on the four sides. Its history is _veiled in darkest -night_. There is an inscription on it, which nobody can decipher: nor is -there any account, historical or traditional, except we may refer to the -latter class, a prevalent idea of all people, that the pillar is on the -most sacred spot of the old city, which spot was also its centre. It is -also said that as long as the pillar stood, so long would Hindustan -flourish. This was the united dictum of the Brahmins and astrologers of -the day. The pillar is fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter." - -[427] [Greek: anthrôpos esti tôn pantôn metron] (PROTAGORAS). - -[428] 1 Kings viii. 27. - -[429] _Antiquities of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 134. - -[430] _Antiquities of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 129. - -[431] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 20th July 1833. - -[432] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 10th June 1833. - -[433] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 20th July 1833. - -[434] _Ibid._ 5th October 1833. - -[435] Colgan. - -[436] _Melpomene_, ch. 46. - -[437] "Oppidum vocant Britanni cum silvas impeditas vallo atque fossâ -munierunt. The Britons call a town an encumbered wood, fenced in with a -rampart and a ditch" (CÆSAR'S _Comment._ lib. 5). - -[438] Of whom O'Flaherty gives this character from an Irish poem, writ by -one G. Comdeus O'Cormaic, which he thus translates into Latin:-- - - "Primus Amerginus genu candidus anthor Jern - Historicus, judex lege, poeta, sophus." - -That is,-- - - Fair-limbed Amergin, venerable sage, - First graced Ierne's old historic page; - Judge of the laws, for justice high approved, - And loving wisdom by the muse beloved. - -And he quotes this hemistich as another fragment of his poetry-- - - "Eagna la heagluis aidir - Agus feabtha la flaithibh." - -That is,-- - - Let those, who o'er the sacred rites preside, - Take wisdom for their guardian and their guide; - Let those, whose power the multitude obey, - Support by conduct their imperial sway. - -[439] The above stanza, I should observe, belongs to that species of -poetry called in Irish _con-a-clon_, wherein the final word of each line -is the initial one of the following. - -[440] Or "Tarah," says the _Dinn Seanchas_, compiled by Amergen Mac -Amalgaid in the year 544, "was so called from its celebrity for melody." - -[441] "Once occupied by a celebrated queen!" (_Asiatic Researches_). - -[442] "Heremon was the first of the _Scots_ who held the dominion over all -Ireland" (_Psalter of Narran_). - -[443] "For, in the first place, the general tradition of the old Irish -handed down to us by all our historians and other writers, imports that -when the Scots arrived in Ireland, they spoke the same language with that -of the Tuath-de-danaans" (Preface to _O'Brien's Irish Dictionary_). - -[444] The Egyptian epithets are not very dissimilar: "Besides these first -inhabitants of Sancha-dwipa, who are described by the mythologists, as -_elephants_, _demons_, and _snakes_, we find a race called Shand-ha-yana, -who are the real Troglodites; they were the descendants of Abri, before -named, whose history being closely connected with that of the _Sacred -Isles in the West_, deserves peculiar attention" (_Asiatic Researches_). - -[445] Nearly similar things, we find, have occurred in the East. "The -natives of the place (Mavalepuran, in Indian) declared to the writer of -this account, that the more aged people among them remembered to have seen -the tops of several pagodas far out in the sea; a statement which was -verified by the appearance of one on the brink of the sea, already nearly -swallowed up by that element" (_Asiatic Researches_). - -[446] [Greek: Anathêmata],--things dedicated to the gods. - -[447] In March. - -[448] In September. - -[449] See p. 120. - -[450] _Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad._ vol. xvi. p. 166. - -[451] Procopius calls them [Greek: anêkoi kai amelitêtoi], that is, -heedless and indifferent to all culture. - -Bishop Cormac also says that he "cannot sufficiently express his -astonishment at the indifference which the Scottish nation evinced in his -day to literature." - -Strabo calls them, [Greek: Agriôn teleôs anthrôtôn], while M'Pherson -asserts of their brethren, that "nothing is more certain than that the -British Scots were an illiterate people, and involved in barbarism, even -after the Patriarch's mission to the Scots of Ireland." - -[452] In fact this writer had no other reason for this _mistake_ which he -has committed, in describing it as "scarce habitable for cold," than his -knowledge of its Hyperborean situation. "The most remote navigation -northward from the Celtic coast in our days," says he, "is said to be into -Ireland (Ierné), which being situated beyond Britain, is scarce habitable -for cold, so that what lies beyond that island is thought to be not at all -habitable" (_Geog._ lib. 2, ex vers. Gul. Xylandri). - -[453] Orpheus also calls the sea dividing the north of Scotland from -Ireland, "Mare Cronium, idem quod mare saturninum et oceanus -septentrionalis" (VALLANCEY). - -[454] Gerald. _Cambr. Hist._ i. cap. 19. - -[455] A series of articles written under this head, in the columns of the -_Dublin Penny Journal_, by Mr. Pebrie, antiquarian high-priest to the -Royal Irish Academy! - -[456] This Tubal-Cain was evidently the person from whom the Greeks -manufactured their mythological Vul-can. - -[457] "The griffin," says Shaw, copying Ctesias, "is a quadruped of India, -having the claws of a lion, and wings upon his back. His fore parts are -red, his wings white, his neck blue, his head and his beak resemble those -of the eagle; he makes his nest among the mountains, and haunts the -deserts, where he conceals his gold." - -[458] "The ignorance of the European Greeks in geography was extreme in -all respects during many ages. They do not even appear to have known the -discoveries made in more ancient voyages, which were not absolutely -unknown to Homer" (Mr. Gouget, _Origin of Arts and Sciences_, tom. 7, b. -3). - -[459] "L'existence _de ce peuple antérieur_ est prouvée par le tableau qui -n'offre que des débris, astronomie oubliée, philosophie mêlée à des -absurdités, physique dégénérée en fables, religion épurée, mais cachée -dans une idolatrie grossière. Cet ancien peuple a eu des sciences -perfectionnées, une philosophie sublime et sage" (BAILLY). - -[460] Amongst our antiquities also are found _nose-rings_ (nasc-srion), -which, stronger than any other demonstration, shows the orientalism of our -Tuath-de-danaan ancestors. Their ear-rings, also, are thus defined in -Comrac's _Glossary_: "Arc nasc--vel, a-naisc, bid im cluas--aibh na -saoreland," _i.e._ a ring worn in the ears of our gentry. - -[461] _Dublin Penny Journal._ - -[462] "Si j'ai bien prouvé que Butta, Thoth, et Mercure ne sont également -que le même inventeur des sciences et des arts" (BAILLY). - -"The Buddhists insist that the religion of Buddha existed from the -beginning" (_Asiatic Researches_). - -[463] _Gentleman's Magazine_, Nov. 1822. - -[464] In the entire land of Phoenicia there was but one, and that -comparatively a modern one, erected no doubt after their intercourse with -the Tuath-de-danaans. - -[465] The play above alluded to is that of the Pænulus, or Carthaginian, -in which Haono is introduced in quest of his two daughters, who, with -their nurse, had been stolen by pirates, and conveyed to Calydon, in -Ætolia. Thither the father repairs on receiving intelligence of the fact, -and addresses a supplication to the presiding deity of the country, to -restore to him his children unstained by pollution. He is made to speak in -his vernacular tongue, just as natives of France are represented in our -drama by Shakespeare: and so _interesting_ is the whole--independently of -the curiosity attaching to so rare a production--that I shall subjoin a -portion of it for the reader. - - 1. - - "Nith al o nim, ua lonuth secorathessi ma com syth. - An iath al a nim, uaillonac socruidd se me com sit." - O mighty splendour of the land, renowned, powerful; let him quiet me - with repose. - - 2. - - "Chin lach chunyth mumys tyal myethii barii imi schi. - Cim laig cungan, muin is toil, mo iocd bearad iar mo sgil." - Help of the weary captive, instruct me according to thy will, to recover - my children after my fatigue. - -_N.B._--The first line in each of these triplets is Phoenician, the second -Irish, and the third, their import, in English. - -[466] "How comes it then that they are so unlearned--still, being so old -scholars? for learning (as the poet saith) _emollit mores_ nec sinit esse -feros; whence, then, I pray you, could they have those letters?" He -answers, "It is hard to say, for whether they at the first coming into the -land, or afterwards by trading with other nations, learned them of them, -or devised them amongst themselves, is very doubtful, _but that they had -letters anciently is nothing doubtful, for the Saxons of England are said -to have their letters and learning, and learned men, from the Irish_. And -that also appeareth from the likeness of the character, for the Saxon's -character is the same with the Irish" (SPENSER). - -[467] "Having been always free and independent of the empire of the -Romans, they were unacquainted with the Roman language and its characters: -there were, therefore, but two courses to adopt; either to translate the -holy books into the language of the country, and celebrate the divine -mysteries in it, which would have been contrary to the custom of the -Church, or to teach the characters of the Roman language to those who were -to instruct others; the holy apostle adopted the latter course" (ABBÉ MAC -GEOHIGAN). - -[468] Book of Cashel. - -[469] Job viii. 8, and xix. 23. - -[470] There is no Mohammedan of learning in Persia or India who is not an -astrologer: rare works upon that science are more valued than any other; -and it is remarkable that on the most trivial occasions, when calculating -nativities and foretelling events, they deem it essential to describe the -planets in terms _not unsuited to the account which the author of the -Dabistan has given of these deities_ (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[471] Job xix. 23, 24. - -[472] Job viii. 8. - -[473] Since I have commenced this work, a very ancient manuscript of the -abbey of Icolmkill has fallen into my hands; it was written by -Cairbre-Liffeachair, who lived _six generations before St. Patrick_, and -about the time of our Saviour; an exact account is given in it of Irish -kings, from whence I infer, that as the Irish had manuscripts at that -period, we must certainly have possessed them likewise. - -[474] Æschylus would seem to refer to this, when he makes Prometheus say, -"I invented for them the array of letters, and fixed the memory, the -mother of knowledge, and the soul of life" (_Bloomfield's edition_, v. -469). - -[475] [Greek: Ton Heraklea hoi Keltoi OGMION onomazousi phônê epichôriô.] -LUCIAN. - -[476] Whittaker's, Manchester. - -[477] See p. 332. - -[478] An allegory, by the way, which I could explain satisfactorily, were -it not that it would detain me. - -[479] O Richard of Cirencester, oh! what pleasure it affords me to see the -_moderns_ running after the chariot wheels of the _monks_, whenever they -can pick out amongst their lucubrations any stray sentences to support -their own fantasies! - -[480] "Near the road (at a place called Margan) is an _old cross_, bearing -an _inscription_, which has been doomed to serve as a bridge for foot -passengers over a little rivulet; and in the village are fragments of a -_most beautiful cross richly decorated with fretwork_."--CAMBRENSIS. - -[481] Some copies read _Scoto_, the meaning, however, is the same; the -only difference being that the latter partakes of the modern enunciations -of the word, as _Scots_, instead of _Scuits_ or _Scythians_. - -[482] In the anxiety with which my translation of "Phoenician Ireland" was -hurried through the press, it inadvertently escaped me that the Scythians -had only _touched at Spain_. The above will correct the oversight; to -which I shall add that, "as for entitling the _Spanish-Irish Scots_, there -wants no authority, the Irish authors having constantly called the Spanish -colony Kin-Scuit, or the Scottish nation."--LHUYDH. - -[483] "Every argument of the origin of emigrant nations must, after all, -be referred to language."--CAMDEN. - -[484] The derivation of those two terms is not exclusively mine. It is but -the repetition of the received interpretation of all men of letters. - -[485] "For it is to be thought, that the use of all England was in the -raigne of Henry the Second, when Ireland was planted with English, very -rude and barbarous, so as if the same should be now used in England by -any, it would seem worthy of sharpe correction, and of new lawes for -reformation, for it is but even the other day since England grew civill" -(SPENSER). - -[486] The name of _Arran_ was given to this island as expressive of _the -land of the unfaithful_, in opposition to our _Iran_, or _the land of the -faithful_: both corresponding to the _Iran_ and _An-Iran_ of the Persians. - -[487] This, however, did not happen at first; for the name of Ireland was -not yet generally used among strangers, as Adam de Breme, who lived in the -eleventh century, and Nubigensis, in the twelfth, were the first who -mentioned it: the name of Scotland was by degrees appropriated to Albania, -which was for some time called Little Scotland, "Scotia Minor," to -distinguish it from Ireland, which was called "Scotia Major," whose -inhabitants did not lose all of a sudden the name of Scots: they are so -called in the eleventh century by Herman, in the first book of his -chronicle; by Marianus Scotus, Florentius Wigorniensis, in his annals, in -which, having inserted the chronicle of Marianus, in mentioning the year -1028, he says, "In this year was born Marianus, probably a Scot from -Ireland, by whose care this excellent chronicle has been compiled from -several histories." We discover the same thing in a chronicle in the -Cottonian library (_Abbé Mac Geoghegan_). - -[488] The Picts, confiding in the happy omen of future friendship from the -Scots, obtained wives from them, and thereby contracted so close an -alliance, that they seemed to form but one people; so that the passage -between the two countries being free, a number of Scots came and settled -amongst the Picts, who received them with joy (BUCHANAN). - -Britannia post Britones et Pictos tertiam Scotorum nationem in Pictorum -parte, recepit, qui, duce Reuda, de Hibernia progressi, vel amicitiâ vel -ferro, sibimet inter eos sedes quas hactenus habent, vindicârunt, à quo -scilicet duce usque hodiè Dalreundini vocantur (Beda, _Hist. Eccles._ lib. -i. cap. 1). - -Cambrensis says, that in the reign of Niall the Great in Ireland, the six -sons of Muredus, King of Ulster, with a considerable fleet, seized on the -northern part of Britain, and founded a nation, called Scotia (_Topog. -Hib._ dist. 3, cap. 16). - -"It is certain," says Camden, "that the Scots went from Ireland into -Britain. Orosius, Bede, and Eginard, bear indisputable testimony that -Ireland was inhabited by the Scots." Elsewhere he calls the Irish the -ancestors of the Scotch. "Hiberni Scotorum atavi." - -[489] Author of the _New Analysis of Chronology_, and late Fellow of -Trinity College, Dublin. - -[490] See p. 376. - -[491] This should have been Scythians. - -[492] "Origin and Purity of the Primitive Churches of the British Isles." - -[493] Various colonies of the Tuath-de-danaans had settled here: but I -talk now of the last one, immediately preceding the Scythians. - -[494] See pp. 259, 264, 265. - -[495] See pp. 385, 282, and 259. - -[496] _Euseb. Præpar. Evang._ 1. ii. 4. - -[497] [Greek: Pantachou de kai anthrôpomorphou Osiridos agalmadeiknyousin -exorthiazon tô' aidoiô, dia to gonimon kai to trophimon.]--_Plut. de Isid. -et Osirid._ - -[498] See p. 265. - -[499] De facie in orbe lunæ. Slatyr, also, an English poet, in his "Pale -Albeone," calls our island Ogygia. Rhodoganus explains the propriety of -the word when he says, "Ogygium appellant poetæ tanquam pervatis dixeres." - -[500] The original, in fact, of the _Feodal System_. - -[501] An act of daring impiety (not requiring to be added) disgusted -Jemsheed's subjects, and encouraged the Syrian prince, Zohauk, to invade -Persia. The unfortunate Jemsheed fled before a conqueror, who was deemed -by all, the instrument of divine vengeance. The wanderings of the exiled -monarch are wrought into a tale, which is among the most popular in -Persian romance. His first adventure was in the neighbouring province of -Seistan, where the only daughter of the ruling prince was led, by a -prophecy of her nurse, to fall in love with him, and to contract a secret -marriage; but the unfortunate Jemsheed was pursued through Seistan, India, -and China, by the agents of the implacable Zohauk, by whom he was at last -seized, and carried before his cruel enemy, like a common malefactor. Here -his miseries closed; for after enduring all that proud scorn could inflict -upon fallen greatness, he was placed between two boards, and sawn asunder -with a bone of a fish (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[502] _Clio_, chap. 130. - -[503] "Now these _heathens_ in India, believe that an _atonement_ has been -made for their sins," says Dr. Hurd, in his _Religious Rites and -Ceremonies_. Had the Doctor, or whoever he was that assumed his name, -known that this was their reliance upon the _expiation_ "of the Lamb slain -from the beginning of the world," he would have spared his _heathens_, and -spoken less irreverently. - -[504] _Clio_, chap. 193. - -[505] Cambrensis, in the twelfth century, says, the Irish then musically -expressed their griefs; that is, they applied the musical art, in which -they excelled all others, to the ordinary celebration of funeral -obsequies, by dividing the mourners into two bodies, each alternately -singing their part, and the whole, at times, joining in full chorus. - -"The body of the deceased, dressed in graveclothes, and ornamented with -flowers, was placed on a bier, or some elevated spot. The relations and -_keeners_ (singing mourners) then ranged themselves in two divisions, one -at the head, and the other at the foot of the corpse. The bards and -croteries had before prepared the funeral caoinan. The chief bard of the -head chorus began by singing the first stanza in a low doleful tone, which -was softly accompanied by the harp: at the conclusion, the foot semichorus -began the lamentation, or _ullaloo_, from the final note of the preceding -stanza, in which they were answered by the head semichorus; then both -united in one general chorus. The chorus of the first stanza being ended, -the chief bard of the foot semichorus began the second gol, or -lamentation, in which they were answered by that of the head, and, as -before, both united in the full chorus. Thus, alternately, were the song -and the choruses performed during the night. The genealogy, rank, -possessions, the virtues and vices of the dead were rehearsed, and a -number of interrogations were addressed to the deceased: as, Why did he -die? If married, whether his wife was faithful to him, his sons dutiful, -or good hunters or warriors? If a woman, whether her daughters were fair -or chaste? If a young man, whether he had been crossed in love? or if the -blue-eyed maids of Erin had treated him with scorn?" (_Transactions of the -Royal Irish Academy_, vol. iv. note 9). - -[506] Baillie. - -[507] A particular anecdote in the Persian history has such claims upon -the feelings, and is otherwise so interesting, _as being, in fact, the -elucidation of the origin and era of the Tyrrhenians, Etrurians, or -Tuscans, in Italy_, that I am forced to transcribe it here at full length. - -"Feridoon was the son of Ablen, an immediate descendant of Tahamurs. He -had escaped, in almost a miraculous manner, from Zohauk, when that prince -had seized and murdered his father. At the age of sixteen he joined Kâwâh, -who had collected a large body of his countrymen: these fought with -enthusiasm under the standard of the blacksmith's apron, which continually -reminded them of the just cause of their revolt; and the presence of their -young prince made them invincible. Zohauk, after numerous defeats, was -made prisoner, and put to a slow and painful death, as some punishment for -his great crimes. - -"Feridoon's first act was to convert the celebrated apron into the royal -standard of Persia. As such, it was richly ornamented with jewels, to -which every king, from Feridoon to the last of the Pehlivi monarchs added. -It was called the Derush-e-Kawanee, the Standard of Kawa, and continued to -be the royal standard of Persia, till the Mohammedan conquest, when it was -taken in battle by Saed-e-Wukass, and sent to the Caliph Omar. - -"A Persian poet, alluding to the victories which the youthful Feridoon -obtained over Zohauk, and to those enchantments by which the latter was -guarded, and the manner in which they were overcome by his virtuous -antagonist, beautifully exclaims, 'The happy Feridoon was not an angel; he -was not formed of musk or of amber; it was by his justice and mercy that -he gained good and great ends. Be then just and merciful, and thou shalt -be a Feridoon.' - -"The crimes of his elder sons, which embittered the latter years of -Feridoon, have given rise to one of the most affecting tales in Persian -romance; and it is, indeed, only in that form that there remains any trace -of these events. This virtuous monarch had, we are told, three sons, Selm, -Toor, and Erii. The two former were by one mother, the daughter of Zohauk; -the latter by a princess of Persia. All these three princes had been -united in marriage to three daughters of a king of Arabia. Feridoon -determined to divide his wide dominions among them. To Selm he gave the -countries comprehended in modern Turkey; to Toor, Tartary and part of -China; and to Erii, Persia. The princes departed for their respective -governments, but the two elder were displeased that Persia, the fairest of -lands, and the seat of royalty, should have been given to their junior, -and they combined to effect the ruin of their envied brother. They first -sent to their father to reproach him with his partiality and injustice, -and to demand a revision of his act, threatening an immediate attack if -their request was refused. The old king was greatly distressed; he -represented to them that his days were drawing to a close, and entreated -that he might be allowed to depart in peace. Erii discovered what was -passing, and resolved to go to his brothers and to lay his crown at their -feet, rather than continue to be the cause of a dissension that afflicted -his father. He prevailed upon the old king to consent to this measure, and -carried a letter from their common parent to Selm and Toor, the purport of -which was, that they should live together in peace. This appeal had no -effect, and the unfortunate Erii was slain by his brothers who had the -hardihood to embalm his head and send it to Feridoon. The old man is said -to have fainted at the sight. When he recovered, he seized with frantic -grief the head of his beloved son, and, holding it in his raised hands, he -called upon heaven to punish the base perpetrators of so unnatural and -cruel a deed. 'May they never more,' he exclaimed, 'enjoy one bright day! -May the demon remorse tear their savage bosoms, till they excite -compassion even in the wild beasts of the forest! As for me,' said the -afflicted old man, 'I only desire from the God that gave me life, that he -will continue it till a descendant shall arise from the race of Erii to -avenge his death: and then this head will repose with joy on any spot that -is appointed to receive it.' - -"The daughter of Erii was married to the nephew of Feridoon, and their -young son, Manucheher, proved the image of his grandfather; this child -becoming the cherished hope of the aged monarch; and when the young prince -attained manhood he made every preparation to enable him to revenge the -blood of Erii. Selm and Toor trembled as they saw the day of retribution -approach; they sent ambassadors with rich presents to their father, and -entreated that Manucheher might be sent to them, that they might stand in -his presence like slaves, and wash away the remembrance of their crimes by -tears of contrition. Feridoon returned their presents; and in his reply to -their message expressed his indignation in glowing terms. 'Tell the -merciless men,' he exclaimed, 'that they shall never see Manucheher, but -attended by armies, and clothed in steel.' - -"A war commenced; and in the very first battle Toor was slain by the lance -of Manucheher. Selm retired to a fortress, from whence he was drawn by a -challenge from the youthful hero, who was victorious in this combat, and -the war restored tranquillity to the empire" (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[508] "Fifty-six years the Fir-Bolgs royal line were kings, and the -sceptre they resigned to the Tuath-de-danaans" (KEATING). - -[509] We have as yet no accounts of the persecution and expulsion of the -Budhists from India; and this circumstance of itself would allow us to -infer, with great probability, that those events must have taken place at -a very remote period of antiquity.--_Asiatic Researches._ - -[510] Göttingen University. - -[511] Vallancey, _Coll._ vol. iii. p. 163. - -[512] Bryant's _Anal._ vol. iii. 491-3. - -[513] "The first origin of the _Danavas_" says Wilford, talking of the -primeval inhabitants of Egypt, "is as little known as that of the tribe -last mentioned. But they came into Egypt from the west of India, and are -frequently mentioned in the Puranas, amongst the inhabitants near Cali." - -Is it not manifest that they were a colony of our Danaans? And is not this -still more undeniable from the circumstance of a part of Egypt--doubtless -that wherein the Danaans resided--having been called of old, as you will -find by the same authority, by the name of _Eria_? See p. 68 of present -volume. - -[514] This explains what Hecatæus records, as to the ancient attachment -between the Hyperboreans and the Grecians--"deducing their friendship from -remote times." And the offerings which the latter are said to have brought -to the former were precisely of that nature ([Greek: anthêmata]) which -comports with the spirit of our Budhist pentalogue. See p. 112. - -[515] As to the actuality of the visit, it is past anything like doubt, -from Orpheus, or if you prefer Onomacretus' poem called "Argonautica"; and -his conviction of this it was which made Adrianus Junius, quoted by Sir -John Ware, to characterise Ireland as an "insula _Jasoniæ_ puppis bene -cognita nautis." - -[516] "Abaris ex Hyperboreis, _ipse quoque theologus fuit; scripsit -oracula regionibus quas peragravit, quæ hodie extant; prædixit is quoque -terræ motus, pestes, et similia ac cætera. Ferunt eum cum Spartam -advenisset, Lacones monuisse de sacris mala avertentibus, quibus peractis -nulla, postmodum Lacedæmone pestis fuerit_" (Apollonius, _Histor. -Mirab._). - - "They thought them gods and not of mortal race, - And gave them cities and adored their learning, - And begged them to communicate their art." - KEATING (from an old Irish poem). - -Turn back also to pp. 328, 67, and 66, and see what is there stated! - - "An hundred and ninety-seven years complete - The Tuath-de-danaans, a famous colony, - The Irish sceptre swayed." - -[517] "A spiritual supremacy of this kind prevailed in several cities of -Asia Minor, as, for instance, at Pessinus, in Phrygia. The origin of such -constitutions is uncertain; but, according to tradition, was of very -ancient date. The same cities were also great resorts of commerce, lying -on the highway from Armenia to Asia Minor. The bond between commerce and -religion was very intimate. The festivals of their worship were also those -of their great fairs, frequented by a multitude of foreigners; all of whom -(certain classes of females not excepted), as well as everything which had -a reference to trade, were considered as under the immediate protection of -the temple and the divinity. The same fact may be remarked here, which has -obtained in several parts of Central Africa, namely, that the union of -commerce with some particular mode of worship gave occasion at a very -early period to certain political associations, and introduced a -sacerdotal government" (Heeren, vol. i. p. 121). - -[518] "This word is of uncertain etymology--their early history is -uncertain. Diodorus (lib. v. 31) tells us that the Celts had bards who -sung to musical instruments; and Strabo (liv. iv.) testifies that they -were treated with respect approaching to veneration. The passage of -Tacitus (Germ. 7) is a doubtful reading" (_American Encyclopædia_). - -[519] See Oriental Collections. - -[520] Homer's _Iliad_, [Greek: p]. v. 233. - -[521] Hesiod, _apud Strabo_, 1. 7. - -[522] See Miege's _Present State of Ireland_. - -[523] See p. 257. - -[524] On the pillar at Buddall, before alluded to, are these words, -namely, "He had a womb, but it obstinately bore him no fruit. One like him -can have no relish for the enjoyments of life. He never was blessed with -that giver of delight, by obtaining which a man goes to _another -Almoner_." Upon which the learned translator (Sir Charles Wiggins) very -correctly comments, that "he had no issue to perform _Sradh_ for the -release of his soul from the bonds of sin." See p. 113 of this work. By -_another Almoner_ is meant the _Deity_. - -[525] See p. 327. - -[526] "Graiis, ingenium Graiis: dedit _ore rotundo_" (HORACE). - -[527] This is still more evident by his making use of the word [Greek: -têlothi], that is, _far off_, meaning _from_ Greece! And Hesiod applies -this identical topography to the _British Islands_, which he styles -_sacred_, describing them as [Greek: mala têle], an immeasurable distance -off, towards the northern point of the ancient continent! - -[528] See p. 71. - -[529] Chap. xvii. 15. - -[530] For _Dedan_, see last two pages; and for _D-Irin_, see p. 128. The -prefixing of _D_ to the last word arose from confounding it with the -former name; and thus it was embodied with it, as seen before in _L-Erne_. - -[531] Or as the Rev. Cæsar Otway would say, in a similar -embarrassment,--"I will _give_ (_i.e._ invent) you a motto and a motive -for it." Ha, ha, ha! (see _Dublin Penny Journal_, July 8, 1832). - -[532] _Dublin Penny Journal_, April 6, 1833. - -[533] "Elementorum omnium spiritus, utpote perennium corporum motu semper, -et ubique vigens, ex his quæ per disciplinas varias affectamus, participat -nobiscum munera divinandi, et substantiales potestates ritu diversa -placatæ, velut ex perpetuis fontium venis vaticina mortalitati suppeditant -verba" (Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 21). - -"They then took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to -approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, -incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees" (Book of Enoch). - -"I have collected fifty words in the Irish language relating to augury and -divination: every one of them are oriental, expressing the mode of -producing these abominable arts; they are, in fact, the very identical -oriental words written in Irish characters" (VALLANCEY). - -[534] Danaus, the sire of fifty daughters, leaving those fruitful regions -watered by the Nile, came to Argos, and through Greece, ordained that -those who erst were called Pelasgi, should by the name of Danai be -distinguished (EURIPIDES). - -[535] You will find in Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller's writings, that -those boats are still called, in that country, _arghs_, as they were in -ours, and the people who man them are styled _Phut_, corresponding to our -_Fo-morians_. - -[536] "I thank you," says Symmachus to his brother Flavianus, "for the -present you made me of some _Irish dogs_ (_canes Scotici_), which were -there exhibited at the Circensian Games, to the great astonishment of the -people, who could not judge it possible to bring them to Rome otherwise -than in iron cages." - -[537] This is the meaning of the name _Glen-da-lough_, and a faithful -portraiture it is of the situation. - -[538] Miniature of Budhism. - -[539] "The _secret_, it was _lost_, but surely it was found" (_Freemason's -Song_). - -[540] This account is found in _Satdharmalankare_, a very popular Budhist -book, being a collection of histories, etc., from the writings of the -_Rahats_, in which the original _Paly_ (_Pahlavi_) texts are preserved -with the Singhalese (_Miniature of Budhism_). - -[541] _Buddu_, the god of souls, is represented by several little images -made of silver, brass, stone, or white clay, and these are set up in -almost every corner, even in caverns and on rocks, to all which piles the -devotees carry a variety of provisions, every new and full moon throughout -the year; but it is in March they celebrate the grand festival of _Buddu_, -at which time they imagine the new year begins. At this festival they go -to worship in two different places, which have been made famous by their -legendary stories concerning them. One of them is the highest mountain in -the island, and called by the Christians _Adam's Peak_; the other is in a -place where _Buddu_ reposed himself under a _tree_, which planted itself -there for the more commodious reception of the deity, who, _when he was on -earth, frequently amused himself under its agreeable shade_, and _under -that tree_ the pagans in Ceylon _adore_ their _Buddu_, whom they really -believe to be a god (DR. HURD). - -Bodhesat receives a few handfuls of grass presented to him by Soitha (a -Brahmin), which grass, when strewed on the ground under the _Bo tree_, -there arise from the earth miraculously a throne of diamond fourteen -cubits high, covered externally with grass; on which Bodhesat takes his -seat, reclining his back against the _tree_, in order to accomplish his -last act of meditations. Buddha having ascended into the air, and -displayed his glory to all the worlds in rays of six different colours, in -order to afford the gods a proof of his perfection, stands seven days with -his eyes fixed on the _Bo tree_, enjoying the _Dhyanes_ (_Miniature, -etc._). - -[542] - - "Yes, love indeed is light from heaven, - A spark of that immortal fire, - With angels shared, by Allah given, - To lift from earth our low desire. - Devotion wafts the mind above, - But heaven itself descends in love, - A feeling from the Godhead caught, - To wean from self each sordid thought."--BYRON. - -[543] Book of Enoch, lxi. 8-10. - -[544] Dr. Lawrence, present Archbishop of Cashel. - -[545] Preface to translation of the Book of Enoch. - -[546] "If this singular book be censured as abounding in some parts with -fable and fiction, still should we recollect that fable and fiction may, -occasionally, prove both amusing and instructive; and can then only be -deemed injurious when pressed into the service of vice and infidelity. Nor -should we forget that much, perhaps most, of what we censure, was grounded -upon rational tradition, the antiquity of which alone, independent of -other considerations, had rendered it respectable. _That the author was -uninspired will be scarcely now questioned._ But, although his production -was apocryphal, it ought not therefore to be necessarily stigmatised as -necessarily replete with error; although it be on that account incapable -of becoming a rule of faith, it may nevertheless contain much moral as -well as religious truth, and may be justly regarded as a correct standard -of the doctrine of the times in which it was composed. _Non omnia esse -concedenda antiquitati_ is, it is true, a maxim founded upon reason and -experience; but, in perusing the present relic of a remote age and -country, should the reader discover much to condemn, still, unless he be -too fastidious, he will find more to approve; if he sometimes frown, he -may oftener smile; nor seldom will he be disposed to admire the vivid -imagination of a writer who transports him far beyond the flaming -boundaries of the world-- - - ------'Extra - Processit longe flammantia moenia mundi'; - -displaying to him every secret of creation; the splendours of heaven, and -the terrors of hell; the mansions of departed souls, and the myriads of -the celestial hosts, the seraphim, cherubim, and ophanim, which surround -the blazing throne, and magnify the holy name of the great Lord of -Spirits, the Almighty Father of men and of angels" (ARCHBISHOP OF CASHEL). - -[547] See p. 475. - -[548] John i. 10, 11. - -[549] John i. 14. - -[550] P. 478. - -[551] But cf. Acts (Gr.) xxiv. 23, [Greek: tôn idiôn]. - -[552] John i. 12. - -[553] John i. 13. - -[554] See p. 242. - -[555] See p. 243. - -[556] Rom. xi. 33. - -[557] John i. 31. - -[558] John xii. 28. - -[559] Namely, the _secret_ of an Antediluvian Incarnation. - -[560] Matt. ii. 1, 2. - -[561] This woodcut is copied from one of the early block-books. - -[562] See p. 440. - -[563] I need not repeat to the reader, that by _Irish_ I mean the -primitive _Persic_, indiscriminately common as well to _Iran_ as to -_Irin_. - -[564] Virgil's _Æneid_, vi. 724. - -[565] John viii. 12. - -[566] John i. 1. - -[567] John i. 29. See also p. 315 of this volume. - -[568] See p. 288. - -[569] In the Tartar language, which is a dialect of the Irish, it still -retains this latter import, as appears from the following:--"Ce qu'il y a -de remarquable, c'est que le grand prêtre des Tartares port le nom de -_lama_, qui en langue Tartare signifie _la croix_; et les _Bogdoi_ qui -conquirent la Chine en 1644, et qui sont soûmis au _delae-lama_ dans les -choses de la religion, ont toujours des _croix_ sur eux, qu'ils appellent -aussi _lamas_" (_Voyage de la Chine_, par Avril, lib. iii. p. 194). - -[570] The words _Irish_ and _sacred_ are synonymous. See p. 129. - -[571] See pp. 267, 268, 269. - -[572] "The peculiar office of the Irumarcalim it is difficult to find -out," says Lewis, "only it is agreed that they carried the keys of the -seven gates of the court, and one could not open them without the rest. -Some add that there were seven rooms at the seven gates, where the holy -vessels were kept, and these seven men kept the keys, and had the charge -of them" (_Origines Hebrææ_, vol. i. p. 97). - -[573] See p. 438, with the note thereon also. - -[574] See _Dublin Penny Journal_, Nov. 10, 1833. - -[575] Published by Berthoud, 65 Regent's Quadrant, Piccadilly. - -[576] See p. 361. At Monasterboice there are three very beautiful -specimens of those Tuath-de-danaan crosses still remaining, and covered, -as usual, with _hieroglyphic sculpture_. "The pillars in the Palencian -city," I find, "are also decorated with serpents, lizards, etc." - -[577] See Borlase, p. 162. - -[578] See p. 36. I must not omit to mention that the Tuath-de-danaan cross -at Armagh, noticed at p. 359, was pulled down some time back, to prevent -the _squabbles_ between the Catholics and the Orangemen, neither of whom -had any inheritance therein! - -[579] _Vita prima S. Patricii_, Ap. Colgan. - -[580] "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which -shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of -David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke ii. 10,11). - -[581] "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly -host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth -peace, good will towards men" (Luke ii. 13, 14). - -[582] Matt. ii. 9. - -[583] Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 20. - -[584] Heb. vii. 4, 1, 2, 3. "Rex idem hominum, Phoebique Sacerdos" -(VIRGIL). - -[585] "Holy _mysteries_ must be studied with this caution, that the mind -for its module be dilated to the amplitude of the _mysteries_, and not the -mysteries be straitened and girt into the narrow compass of the mind" -(BACON). - -[586] Isa. lii. 7. - -[587] John xvi. 33. - -[588] Luke xix. 42. - -[589] John xiv. 27. - -[590] Heb. vi. 19, 20. - -[591] _Christmas Carols._ - -[592] _Freemasons' Song._ - -[593] Matt. iii. 7. - -[594] John vii. 41. - -[595] See p. 229. - -[596] Keating's _History of Ireland_, folio, p. 143. - -[597] Pronounced _Sauv_. This was the Seva of the Hindoos, by which -although they understood, indeed, as well _generation_ as _destruction_ to -be symbolised; yet it is clear that they must have long lost the method of -accounting for the _reason why_, otherwise than saying, that _death_ and -_life_ meant the same thing; that is, that the cessation of existence in -one form was but the commencement of existence in another. - -[598] _Freemasons' Song._ - -[599] Ashe's _Masonic Manual_. - -[600] See p. 282, note. - -[601] See p. 268. - -[602] Isa. vii. 14. - -[603] "The countenance of Christ was placid, handsome, and ruddy, so -formed, however, as to inspire the beholders, not so much with love and -reverence as with terror; his locks were like the colour of a full ripe -filbert nut (auburn), straight, and entire down to the ears, from thence -somewhat curled down to the shoulders, but parted on the crown of the head -after the manner of the Nazarites; his forehead was smooth and shining, -his eyes blue and sparkling, his nose and mouth decorous, and absolutely -faultless; his beard, in colour like his locks, was forked, and not long" -(WASERUS, p. 63). - -"At this time appeared a man, who is still living, a man endowed with -great power, his name Jesus Christ. The people say that he is a mighty -prophet; his disciples call him the Son of God. He quickens the dead, and -heals the sick of all manner of diseases and disorders. He is a man of -tall stature, well proportioned, and the aspect of his countenance -engaging, with serenity, and full of expression, so as to induce the -beholders to love and then to fear him. The locks of his hair are of the -colour of a vine-leaf, without curl, and straight to the bottom of his -ears, but from thence, down to his shoulders, curled and glossy, and -hanging below his shoulders. His hair on the crown of the head disposed -after the manner of the Nazarites. His forehead smooth and fair. His face -without spot, and adorned with a certain tempered ruddiness. His aspect -ingenuous and agreeable. His nose and his mouth in no wise reprehensible. -His beard thick and forked, of the same colour as the locks of his head. -His eyes blue and extremely bright. In reprehending and improving, awful; -in teaching and exhorting, courteous and engaging; a wonderful grace and -gravity of countenance; none saw him laugh, even once, but rather weep. In -speaking, accurate and impressive, but sparing of speech. In countenance, -the fairest among the children of men" (Attributed to Lentulus, -predecessor of Pilate in the government of Judea, recorded by Fabricius in -his _Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti_). - -[604] The principal one I conceive to have been at the hill of _Tara_, -which means the hill of the _Saviour_, and synonymous with mount _Ida_, -which means the mount of the cross. See p. 453. - -"The predominant style and character of the Pillar Tower," says -Montmorency, "in a great measure discloses the _secret_ of its origin." It -is astonishing how, after this, he and his pupils of the academy should -labour to assimilate that secret to a dungeon. - -"L'obélisque que les Phéniciens dédièrent au Soleil dont le _sommet -sphérique_ et la matière étoient fort différens des obélisques d'Egypte" -(AMMIAN. MARCEL.). - -[605] Ex. xx. 26. The word _altar_ does not mean what it is generally -taken to express, a _platform_, but a _high place_, or standing column, -what the Septuagint renders by the Greek word [Greek: stêlê], a pillar. -And this was what the Israelites were forbid erecting to Jehovah, lest -that their nakedness should be discovered while ascending by steps or -ladders to the entrance overhead. - -The Gaurs have _round towers_ erected of stone, and thither they carry -their dead on biers; within the tower is a staircase with deep steps made -in a winding form, and when the bearers are got within, the priests scale -the walls by the help of ladders; when they have dragged the corpse gently -up with ropes, they then let it slide down the staircase (Dr. Hurd's -_Rites and Ceremonies, etc._). - -[606] See pp. 7 and 8. - -[607] 1 Kings vi. 4. - -[608] 1 Kings vi. 6. - -[609] 1 Kings vi. 29. - -[610] The Tower of Pisa bears no comparison to this edifice. - -[611] The holy wells also, with the practice of hanging pieces of cloth -upon the branches of an overhanging tree, all belonged to the -Tuath-de-danaan ceremonial. The early Christians took possession each of -them of one of these wells, and are now, by prescription, recognised as -their patron saints, and even supposed to have been their founders? - -[612] [Greek: "Moisa d' oik apodamei tropois epi spheterosi, panta de -choroi parthenôn luran te Boai kanachai t' anlôn doneontai daphna te -chrusea komos anadêsantes eilapina xoinin en phronôs. nosoi d' onte gêras -onlomenon kekrata hiera genea; ponôn de kai machan ater oikeoisi phugontes -uperdikon Nemesin"] (Pyth x. 59). - -[613] Even among the vegetables, they abstained from _beans_, as did the -Pythagoreans after them, _ob similitudinem virilibus genitalibus_. - -[614] See conditions of advertisement in Preface. - -[615] "You may read in Lucian, in that sweet dialogue, which is entitled, -_Toxaris; or, of Friendship_, that the common oath of the Scythians was by -the _sword_, and by the _fire_, for that they accounted those two speciall -divine powers, which should worke vengeance on the perjurers. So doe the -Irish at this day, when they goe to battaile, say certaine prayers or -charmes to their swords, making a crosse therewith upon the earth, and -thrusting the points of their blades into the ground, thinking thereby to -have the better successe here in fight. Also they use commonly to swear by -their swords" (SPENSER). - -[616] See pp. 81, 82. - -[617] They were _afterwards_ degraded to every possible purpose they could -be made to subserve: but I speak above of the time _immediately_ after -their overthrow. - -[618] "I had not been a week landed in Ireland from Gibraltar, where I had -studied Hebrew and Chaldaic, under Jews of various countries and -denominations, when I heard a peasant girl say to a boor standing by her, -_Féach an maddin nag_ (Behold the morning star), pointing to the planet -Venus, the _maddin nag_ of the Chaldean. Shortly after, being benighted -with a party in the mountains of the western parts of the county of Cork, -we lost the path, when an aged cottager undertook to be our guide. It was -a fine starry night. In our way, the peasant pointing to the constellation -_Orion_, he said that was _Caomai_, or the armed king; and he described -the three upright stars to be his spear or sceptre, and the three -horizontal stars, he said, were his sword-belt. I could not doubt of this -being the _Cimah_ of Job, which the learned Costard asserts to be the -constellation _Orion_" (VALLANCEY). - -[619] At p. 305 of his work on the _Towers and Temples of Ancient -Ireland_, Mr. Keane observes: "Lists of Irish Round Towers have been made -to the number of one hundred and twenty; of these, the remains of about -sixty-six are traceable." The list given here includes some towers of -which the site alone remains, as being possibly of interest to explorers. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. - -The original text includes Greek characters that have been replaced with -transliterations in this text version. - -The original text includes Hebrew characters that are represented as -[Hebrew] in this text version. - -The original text includes a triangle symbol that is represented as -[Triangle] in this text version. - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Round Towers of Ireland, by Henry O'Brien - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND *** - -***** This file should be named 42538-8.txt or 42538-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/5/3/42538/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Round Towers of Ireland - or, The History of the Tuath-De-Danaans - -Author: Henry O'Brien - -Release Date: April 15, 2013 [EBook #42538] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42538 ***</div> <p class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p> </p><p> </p> @@ -21469,383 +21430,7 @@ to the number of one hundred and twenty; of these, the remains of about sixty-six are traceable.†The list given here includes some towers of which the site alone remains, as being possibly of interest to explorers.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Round Towers of Ireland, by Henry O'Brien - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND *** - -***** This file should be named 42538-h.htm or 42538-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/5/3/42538/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Round Towers of Ireland - or, The History of the Tuath-De-Danaans - -Author: Henry O'Brien - -Release Date: April 15, 2013 [EBook #42538] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND - - - - -[Illustration: Henry O'Brien - -_Author of "The Round Towers of Ireland."_] - - - - - THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND - OR - THE HISTORY OF THE TUATH-DE-DANAANS - - - BY HENRY O'BRIEN - - - A NEW EDITION - - _WITH INTRODUCTION, SYNOPSIS, INDEX, ETC._ - - - LONDON: W. THACKER & CO., 2 CREED LANE, E.C. - CALCUTTA: THACKER, SPINK & CO. - 1898 - [_All Rights Reserved_] - - - - -_750 Copies only of this Edition have been printed for Sale and the Type -distributed, of which this is No. 324._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - INTRODUCTION vii - - SYNOPSIS xxxvii - - DEDICATION (FIRST EDITION) lxi - - PREFACE (FIRST EDITION) lxiii - - DEDICATION (SECOND EDITION) xciii - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xcv - - AUTHOR'S TEXT (SECOND EDITION) 1 - - LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL IRISH TOWERS AND CROSSES 525 - - INDEX 529 - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - "When all is dark, who would object to a ray of light, merely because - of the faulty or flickering medium by which it is transmitted? And if - those round towers have been hitherto a dark puzzle and a mystery, - must we scare away O'Brien, because he approaches with a rude and - unpolished but serviceable lantern?"--_Fraser's Magazine_ for August - 1835. - - -Henry O'Brien, the most daring and ingenious explorer of that recondite -mystery, the origin and purpose of Irish Round Towers, was born in 1808. -On both his father's and his mother's side he came of good descent,[1] -being connected with two of the oldest and most influential families in -the west of Ireland. At the time of his birth that branch of "the -O'Briens" to which he belonged were settled in Kerry, where his father -resided in a wild, mountainous district, known as Iveragh, forming a -portion of the Marquis of Lansdowne's Irish estates. That his family were -in affluent circumstances is improbable, for up to the age of twelve the -boy's education seems to have been neglected in a way very uncommon with -Irish people who are well off. "Though I could then tolerably well express -myself in English," he says,[2] referring to this portion of his life, -"the train of my reflections always ran in Irish. From infancy I spoke -that tongue; it was to me vernacular. I thought in Irish, I understood in -Irish, and I composed in Irish"; and again, "I was twelve years of age -before ever I saw a Testament in any language." From this unusual neglect, -coupled with the fact of his becoming a private tutor soon after he had -settled in London, and an obscure reference to certain "difficulties" at -the outset of his career as an author, we are probably justified in -assuming that money was a rather scarce commodity in the paternal home. -There is, however, reason to suppose that when he had reached the age of -twelve, or thereabouts, his education was taken in hand, though how, or by -whom, does not appear. Evidence of his having been sent to school and -placed under systematic and qualified instruction is not forthcoming. In -fact, circumstances go to negative that supposition. His acquaintance with -Greek and Latin authors seems to have been more extensive than accurate, -and his quotations from them are marked by solecisms which any properly -taught schoolboy would avoid, but in which the self-educated are prone to -indulge. It is true that (at p. 481) he describes in terms of unqualified -praise a "tutor" with whom he commenced the study of the Greek Testament; -but there is internal evidence in the same passage that such praise was -not wholly deserved, and that the tutor in question was certainly not the -person referred to in Father Prout's statement that O'Brien had been -"brought up at the feet of the Rev. Charles Boyton."[3] Mr. Boyton was at -the time a highly distinguished Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, who, in -addition to holding the position of Greek Lecturer at that University, was -the most eminent mathematical "coach" of his day; and the only connection -likely to have existed between him and young O'Brien was that of -college-tutor and undergraduate _in statu pupillari_. The probability is, -therefore, that any instruction which the boy received at this early -period of his life was of a very elementary character, and that his -education was mainly conducted by himself, a probability which is -certainly not discounted by the wide and promiscuous character of his -reading. From the outset of his introduction to letters he is known to -have been an omnivorous reader of all books that came in his way, nor was -his mode of studying classical authors that by which the scholastic -proficiency essential to aspirants for success at college examinations is -usually attained. O'Brien did not resemble the ordinary boy-student, to -whom Roman or Greek classics represent merely a given quantity of "text" -possessing certain peculiarities of diction or allusion which have to be -nicely dissected, analysed, and mastered, but who regards the -subject-matter of each work as being of very minor importance. On the -contrary, he manifestly read them as authors, or rather authorities upon -the subjects with which they respectively dealt, paying, so far as we can -perceive, little or no attention to the diction or distinctive literary -character of their writings. The result was what might be expected. If, -whilst an undergraduate of Dublin University, it be true that he was -regarded by many of his fellow-students as a prodigy of learning, their -seniors appear to have been less enthusiastic about his scholarship, for -we have not been able to discover his name in the college archives.[4] -Still, from the fact of his having obtained, after he took his degree in -1831, the appointment of private tutor to the sons of the then Master of -the Rolls,[5] it is possible that he may have distinguished himself -previously. - -What seems absolutely certain is, that during his stay at the University -he must have availed himself to the full of opportunities presented by the -library for which Trinity College is famous. Here, no doubt, he laid the -foundation of that Oriental learning in which he was second to no Irishman -of his day, and probably to few Englishmen. It is hardly too much to say -that in the early part of the century Orientalism was comparatively -untrodden ground. Sir William Jones had indeed, many years before, -thoroughly explored this field of knowledge, but the results of his -splendid labours had not as yet been properly assimilated by the general -mass of readers, or supplemented to any remarkable extent by other workers -in the same field. Hence the scope of European knowledge of the East was -by no means so extensive then as now; and an enthusiastic student thereof, -which O'Brien undoubtedly was, had it in his power to acquire an almost -complete mastery of the subject, so far as it was then known. It was one -peculiarly fitted to his ardent, dreamy, and speculative nature. He read, -he pondered, he divined, he foresaw. Dark places in the history of his own -country began to grow clear in the light of this Eastern dawn. Hitherto, -like so many of his compatriots, he had found no way of accounting for the -extraordinary contrast between the distinctive superiority of "the Ireland -that _was_" and the relative obscurity of "the Ireland that _is_." To -what, he must apparently have asked himself, was the fact to be -attributed, that a people who in days of old were admittedly pre-eminent -in learning and civilisation, should have afterwards lost all claim to -such distinction; or how was it that, in a land covered with the ruins of -structures evincing the ripest skill and most fanciful artistic device, -architecture should have sunk to a level that was almost barbarous? Why -was it that this decadence did not take place gradually, as one would -expect, but was plainly the result of a sudden check that stopped the -erection of such edifices at once and for ever? Why were the materials, -structure, and conformation of the edifices in question so different from -those of other ancient buildings found in their immediate neighbourhood? -Why had their sculptured ornamentation reference to what was unconnected -with, nay even opposed to, the teachings of that religious faith to which -its execution was attributed; and why did the peasantry, inheriting the -tradition of bygone ages, not recognise them as identified with that -religion? Questions like these are very stimulating to inquisitive young -souls, which usually become fired with an ambition to solve them; and as -O'Brien pored over Sir William Jones and _The Asiatic Researches_--not to -mention his beloved, though decried, Herodotus--it was only natural that -he should draw certain conclusions from the undoubted affinity that exists -between the languages, folk-lore, customs, superstitions, and modes of -thought of his own country and those of the Orient. Similar conclusions -had forced themselves upon older people who did not possess a tithe of his -Eastern lore. Moore, that versatile Anacreontic, in his ill-fitting -disguise of an Edinburgh Reviewer, avowed "That there exist strong traces -of an Oriental origin in the language, character, and movements of the -Irish people, no fair inquirer into the subject will be inclined to deny;" -and it is further instanced by the same reviewer how the famous traveller, -Bishop Pococke, on visiting Ireland after his return from the East, was -much struck with "the amazing conformity" he observed between the Irish -and the Egyptians.[6] From early childhood the questions to which we have -referred seem to have been present to O'Brien--even from the time when he -gazed upon the stunted ruin of Bally-Carbery Round Tower, not far from his -father's house, and had been told by awestruck peasants that the real name -of that desolate and unsightly object was _Cathoir Ghall_, or "The Temple -of Delight" (p. 48). Since then he had seen other and complete round -towers; had noticed that all were of the same peculiar shape, and possibly -had detected for himself, or learned from other sources, the existence of -that phallic analogy upon which he so strongly insists. He must have read -in Sir William Jones and elsewhere how, in Eastern lands, the idea which -lay beneath this same analogy formed the basis of a widespread religious -faith, and was expressed in structures devoted to public worship. His next -step was, almost inevitably, one of conjecture. If, as the voice of -national tradition asserted, the round towers are "temples," and if -certain analogous associations are connected with them, might they not -have been temples of a kindred religious belief? Having settled this to -his own satisfaction, the speculation would naturally rise--How came that -particular form of belief to prevail in Ireland? Was it native to the -soil; or if not, by whom was it introduced, and when? His book being -mainly an answer to these questions, we need not continue to follow the -various stages by which conjecture may have passed into theory, and theory -into conviction. With men of O'Brien's temperament the hypothetical -interval is rarely of long duration. Before he had assumed the _toga -virilis_ of a full-fledged graduate, he probably felt confident that in an -Eastern origin lay the true solution of the mystery of the round towers; -and the more he studied the subject, the stronger grew his belief. Being -an ambitious man, too, he had no intention to forego the honour which he -was persuaded must accrue to the discoverer of this key to a problem that -had baffled so many generations of inquirers, and longed for an -opportunity to display his acquisition. - -That opportunity soon came. In December 1830, the Royal Irish Academy -offered the prize of a gold medal and fifty pounds to "the author of an -approved essay on the Round Towers, in which it is expected that the -characteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all those ancient -buildings now existing shall be noticed, and the uncertainty in which -their origin and uses are involved be satisfactorily removed." -Unfortunately, the advertisement of this offer escaped O'Brien's notice, -and he did not join in the competition which it evoked. But on the 21st -February 1832 the advertisement was repeated, and this time it caught his -attention. It declared that none of the essays which had been sent in -"satisfied the conditions of the question," and extended the period of -competition for another three months (_i.e._ until 1st June 1832), in the -alleged hope "of receiving other essays on said subject," and also for -allowing the authors of the essays already sent in "to enlarge and improve -them." Considering the task that was set, new competitors were thus placed -at a singular disadvantage--being expected to do in three months what the -others had been unable to accomplish in two years. With all due respect to -the Royal Irish Academy, it is difficult to believe that its members can -have fully realised the nature of their own conditions. There still exist -some scores of round towers in a more or less perfect state; and they are -scattered all over Ireland, being situated for the most part in remote and -not easily accessible places. The work of visiting and inspecting -these--which was, surely, a necessary preliminary to describing "the -characteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all"--would -require much time, after which candidates must apply themselves to the by -no means trifling task of dispelling "the uncertainty in which their -origin and use are involved," and all within three short months.[7] -O'Brien was not, however, to be deterred by considerations of time or -space when confronted with such a chance of winning deathless fame. -Besides, he was, in one respect at any rate, well equipped for the -enterprise, having already made up his mind as to the "origin and uses" of -the Round Towers. That he had examined them all is not to be supposed, nor -is it at all likely that at his age he could have possessed sufficient -technical knowledge of architecture, in its historical and scientific -aspects, to profit much by their inspection. Still, he was probably -acquainted with whatever had been written on that branch of the subject, -and had actually made an examination of some towers, which would give him -a fair general idea of the whole. Moreover, he had a formidable quantity -of Eastern learning to fall back upon, in which latter respect he would -have enjoyed an immense advantage over all other possible competitors, if -his judges had only been qualified to appreciate that learning as it -deserved. Be his equipment for the enterprise what it might, the -enthusiastic young Irishman saw no rocks ahead, felt no mistrust, and -rushed into the fray. "I grappled with the question," he assures us, "with -all the ardour of my nature; and, _heaven_ and _earth_, _night_ and _day_, -_in difficulties and in sorrow_, I laboured until I finished my 'essay' -against the appointed hour, when--a brain blow to their (_sc._ the -Academy's) expectation--I sent it in--fully satisfied, from the -consciousness of its imperturbable axioms, that all the powers of error -and wickedness combined could not withhold from it the suffrage of the -advertised medal."[8] The meaning of this passionate reference to malign -influences in the background will appear later on; as yet, he had no cause -for misgiving on the subject of fair play, and his overweening -self-confidence precluded any anticipation of failure. Bad omens seem to -have attended his venture from the very outset. The Academy had requested -that each essay should be inscribed with some motto; and it would appear -that the motto appended to O'Brien's was "[Greek: Phone en te eremo]" -(_sic_[9])--a sorry introduction to the notice of learned Academicians. - -The heartburnings of suspense, with which most young authors are familiar, -soon began. Four days after his essay had been sent in, the Academy issued -a _third_ advertisement, requiring all the essays to be taken back, and -extending the period of preparation by an additional month, "so as to -admit of the receiving of other essays on said subject, and for allowing -the authors of essays already given in to improve and enlarge them." -O'Brien afterwards saw fit to attribute this fresh delay to a cause very -different from that alleged; but just then, being persuaded that his -triumph was merely postponed, he reconciled himself as best he could to -the infliction, and calmly waited for apotheosis. Six months more passed -by--wearily enough, we may be sure; and then, one direful morning, just at -the close of 1832, came news that the premiums had been adjudged as -follows:--"L50 and the gold medal to George Petrie, and L20 to Henry -O'Brien, Esq." - -It may be stated here that an additional premium of L100, which had been -placed by Lord Cloncurry at the disposal of the Academy, was also awarded -in its entirety to Mr. Petrie, and that the essay sent in by that -gentleman was, by order of the Academy, printed in their _Transactions_. -It further appears that O'Brien's essay was at first accepted for -publication in the _Transactions_, but afterwards rejected on the ground -of having been made too lengthy by the insertion of additional matter, -though in its most enlarged form it never attained to the dimensions of -Mr. Petrie's work, and, presumably, must have been smaller in its original -than in its present shape. The true reason for its exclusion from the -_Transactions_ (as will, we think, appear from what follows) was that the -Academy took offence at the way in which O'Brien received their decision. -Nor was such resentment to be wondered at. So confidently had our author -reckoned upon an overwhelming triumph for the revelation which, as we have -seen, he believed to be not only unprecedented, but given to the world -with flawless perfection of statement, that the award seems to have almost -maddened him. Belonging to a race which has never been remarkable for the -silent endurance of wrongs, he lost no time in giving expression to his -feelings of disappointment. At first came distant mutterings of the storm -that was brewing. "On hearing of the decision," he informs us, "I wrote -off to the secretary, tendering, in indignant irony, my thanks for their -adjudication, taking care, however, to tell them that I had expected an -issue more flattering to my hopes." This dignified attitude having -apparently failed to imbue the Academy with a desire to remedy his -grievance, he flung off the mask of satire, and rushed into downright, -unmistakable personalities of a kind rarely addressed to august and -learned associations. He declared that, from information which had come to -his knowledge, he was prepared to prove "that the Royal Irish Academy, at -the very moment in which they published their second invitation (_i.e._ -that by which the time for receiving essays was extended to 1st June -1832), had actually determined to award the gold medal and premium to _one -of their own Council_."[10] He then went on to denounce the successful -essay as "a farrago of anachronisms and historical falsehoods." He -prophesied that when both essays were published, and the public given an -opportunity of seeing "the truth," in the shape of his own essay, there -would be a general acclamation of "This alone is right." He warned the -Academy that, "though separated from them by a roaring sea" (he was living -in London at the time), his eye was on their plans, and he demanded from -them an opportunity for making his _ascription_ of the Round Towers "a -mathematical demonstration by all the varieties and modes of proof"; and -further, that upon such demonstration they should at once award _him_ the -gold medal and premium, "or, if that could not be recalled, an equivalent -gold medal and premium"--not that, as he is careful to assure them, this -offer was to be construed as an admission that his original essay was not -"all-sufficient, all-conclusive, all-illustrative, and all-convincing." As -was only to be expected, the reply sent to this challenge ran to the -effect that, "whatever might be the merits of any additional matter -supplied to them after the day appointed by advertisement, the Academy -could not make any alteration or revocation of their award." Then came -the rejoinder,--"I do not want them either to 'alter' or 'revoke' their -award; but simply to vote me 'an equivalent gold medal and premium' for my -_combined essay_, or, if they prefer, the _new portion_ of it. Should this -be refused, I will put my cause into the hands of the great God who has -enlightened me, and make Him the Umpire between me and the Academy."[11] -One is not surprised to learn that "no answer was received to this -communication," which, as already pointed out, may have afforded one of -the reasons why the Academy declined to publish the essay in their -_Transactions_. We may sympathise with O'Brien's disappointment, and even -go further in deprecation of the attitude assumed by the Academy; but it -is impossible to deny that his conduct showed a want of dignity and common -sense, excusable only on the ground of youth. - -As regards the Academy's decision, assuming that the competition was -conducted fairly,--and, _a priori_, everything seemed in favour of that -assumption,--it is not easy to see how it could well have been other than -it was. With all possible admiration for O'Brien's talents and learning, -candour obliges us to own that his essay--taken merely as a literary -performance--was inferior to that of his rival. Apart from the question as -to whether his theory was the true one, and that of Dr. Petrie the -reverse, the Academy were in a manner bound by regard for their own -dignity, and by the literary standard then prevailing, to withhold the -meed of their unqualified approval from a composition which violated in so -many respects the established precedents of literary "form," not to -mention the canons of good taste. Besides, O'Brien was, in archaeological -matters, so far in advance of his generation, that a body of elderly -gentlemen, who simply represented the standard of knowledge prevalent at -the time, might well be excused for declining to follow him. They had, in -fact, to decide between the respective merits of two essays,--one of -which was well put together, conforming, at least in appearance, to the -stipulated conditions, expressing the most approved views, bearing the -marks of careful and systematic investigation and of superior technical -knowledge, also of literary skill much above the average; the other, -daring, novel, incoherent, propounding views which were not only -unfamiliar, but even shocking, to grave and reverend seignors, rambling in -method, deficient in proof, and slipshod in language. Was it not, then, -almost inevitable that they should have preferred the former? But if one -has to pronounce upon the way in which the competition was started, -carried on, and finally decided, we are by no means sure that O'Brien had -not some reason to complain. First of all, with regard to his charge of -the Academy having awarded the prize to a member of their own Council, the -evidence to support it is _prima facie_ strong. Upon turning to vol. xvi. -of the _Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, we find the names of -"The Committee of Antiquities of the Council" for the year 1830 (that in -which the competition was first invited) given as follows:--"Isaac -D'Olier, LL.D.; Thomas Herbert Orpen, M.D.; Hugh Ferguson, M.D.; Sir -William Betham; John D'Alton, Esq.; _George Petrie, Esq._; and the Rev. -Caesar Otway." In the next volume of the _Transactions_, extending to 1837, -the above list is given without any alteration, except that Mr. D'Alton's -name is omitted, that of the Dean of St. Patrick's being substituted. From -this the inference seems only natural that "George Petrie, Esq.," was a -member of the Council (being likewise, as we find, "antiquarian artist to -the Academy") at the time when the idea of offering a prize for an essay -on the Round Towers was first started; that he continued to be a member -while the competition was in progress, and was actually one when the said -prize was adjudicated. Next, as to the charge that the Academy had -predetermined to award the prize to a member of its own Council, we have -the very compromising letter of the Rev. Mr. Otway (himself a member of -the Council) to the editor of the _Dublin Penny Journal_, which is cited -in the Preface to the first edition of this work,[12] coupled with those -repeated postponements of the date for sending in essays, which O'Brien -assures us were inexplicable on any other ground than that of giving Mr. -Petrie time to finish _his_ essay. We are far from contending that the -reasons adduced in support of both these charges should weigh against the -high repute which the Royal Irish Academy has always enjoyed from the time -of its foundation; still, it is impossible to deny that, in the absence of -all satisfactory explanation,--at least so far as we have been able to -discover any,--they wear a rather ugly look. - -O'Brien was resolved that, as the Academy would not publish his essay, he -must do so himself; but in the meantime he had been engaged upon a -translation of Dr. Villanueva's _Ibernia Phoenicia_, which appeared in -1833. Personal liking for the author must have been his motive for -undertaking this task, as his own views do not always harmonise with those -of the Spanish _savant_; and certain letters which are quoted in the -"Translator's Preface" show that the two were very intimate. Having made -this concession to friendship, he busied himself with the production of an -enlarged and amended version of his essay. The first edition of this was -published, early in 1834, by Whittaker & Co. of London, and J. Cumming of -Dublin. It seems to have met with a ready sale, for a second edition -appeared during the same year, bearing the imprint of Parbury & Allen, -London, and J. Cumming, Dublin. Both editions are in octavo, and to -outward appearance uniform, but differ in some respects. On the title-page -of the first it is described as the "Prize Essay of the Royal Irish -Academy, enlarged"--a description omitted in the second. Further, the -title itself is given as "The Round Towers of Ireland (or the Mysteries of -Freemasonry, of Sabaism, and of Budhism, for the first time unveiled)"; -but the words within brackets are absent from the title-page of the -second. A few corrections, too, appear in the latter edition; but, upon -the whole, it is not much more carefully edited than the first--the -curious omission of chapters vii. and xxxii. being common to both. What is -known in the book-trade as "The Long Preface," together with an amusingly -comprehensive "Dedication," is omitted from the second edition, a much -more commonplace dedication to the Marquis of Lansdowne (described, of -course, as "The Maecenas of his age") being substituted for the latter. As -the second, and last, edition is that which had the author's latest -revisions, it has been thought advisable to reproduce it in the present -issue. No interference with its text has been attempted--typography and -pagination being alike preserved. Nor has anything in the shape of comment -been inserted. A few supplementary additions to the original work will -probably not be considered out of place. Together with this Introduction, -they comprise a "Synopsis," of which the object is to assist readers in -following the track of the main argument--not always an easy task in the -face of the author's numerous divagations, annotated lists of the -principal Round Towers and crosses, and an Index to the body of the work. - -The reception accorded to the book by those whose verdict was most -important to its success, was decidedly hostile, and--what must have been -especially galling to a man like O'Brien--took the shape of ridicule. -Though it cannot be said that he had given no occasion for the latter, it -is equally apparent that much of it was owing to ignorance; for there is -not to be found among all the censorious judgments of those "irresponsible -reviewers" a single attempt at sterling criticism. They attacked his -style, and they laughed his theory out of court, but they never resorted -to anything that deserved to be called refutation; and showed plainly by -the character of their strictures that they were quite in the dark with -respect to the nature of the evidence which he adduced in support of his -statements. It was profanely said of the late Professor Jowett, that -whatever he did not happen to know was held by him not to be _knowledge_; -and such was the view which his critics seem to have taken of O'Brien's -dependence upon Eastern authorities, with which they themselves were -unfamiliar. As occasionally happens in Irish affairs, a countryman of his -own led the attack. In one of the weakest articles that ever appeared in -the _Edinburgh Review_,[13] Moore, the poet, accused O'Brien of plagiarism -and other misdeeds. Considering the extent of Moore's acquaintance with -Oriental literature, and the character of his mind, it is perhaps not -surprising that he mistakes the whole drift of O'Brien's argument, fails -to perceive the force of those analogies upon which the latter chiefly -relied, and, in fact, only succeeds in proving his own incapacity as a -critic. But it is less conceivable that he should seek to overwhelm a -young aspirant for literary honours, who was of his own nationality, and -with whom he was on terms of at least nominal friendship, with unfounded -charges and clumsy ridicule. The secret of this otherwise unaccountable -severity is disclosed to us by "Father Prout," in his article on "The -Rogueries of Tom Moore." From it we learn that Moore had endeavoured -unsuccessfully to secure the co-operation of O'Brien in his forthcoming -History of Ireland, and that, upon the negotiation falling through, a -"coolness" ensued between the two. As "Father Prout" had the whole -correspondence laid before him, the story does not rest upon O'Brien's own -version of what took place. But, be it reliable or not, there is no -denying that the poet went out of his way--and out of his depth, too--in -the effort to crush a young author, who might fairly be supposed to have -some claim upon his sympathy. The scent which Moore thus struck was -followed up by the whole critical pack. The _Gentleman's Magazine_, for -instance,[14] without attempting anything like serious criticism, quizzed -O'Brien unmercifully. He committed the fatal indiscretion of sending a -lengthy, but for him most temperate, reply, in which he is fain to cite -the _Freemason's Quarterly Review_ as his solitary backer. The -_Gentleman's Magazine_ reserved its answer until he was no more; when, in -an obituary notice (November 1835), it flung back this retort: "Fondly -imagining that he was the author of most profound discoveries, and as it -were the discoverer of a new historical creed, Mr. O'Brien was always in a -state of the highest excitement; and when his lucubrations were treated -with ridicule instead of serious refutation, he was acutely -irritated"--which last observation somehow reminds one of that fastidious -man-o'-war's man, who, whether the bo'sun "hit him high or hit him low," -took no pleasure in being flogged. In fact, there was no real scholarly -criticism of the book from any quarter, though its eccentricities of style -and treatment received due attention. Superficially regarded, indeed, it -bristled with salient points for attack, and of these the gentlemen of the -press naturally availed themselves. They described it as "wild and -extravagant"--and no one could say them nay; but they failed to point out, -probably because they failed to see, that under this same wildness and -extravagance lay profound knowledge of a most unusual kind, powerful if -somewhat erratic reasoning, and the only theory as to the genesis of -ancient Irish proficiency in the arts of civilisation which is consistent -with the traditions, customs, superstitions, folk-lore, and antiquities of -the country. - -O'Brien had now settled in London, where such time as could be spared from -his tutorial duties was spent in the study of his favourite literature. It -appears that he had at least two works then in contemplation--one a -Dissertation on the Pyramids, partly written, and the other a Celtic -Dictionary--which latter project excited the ribaldry, altogether -unfounded,[15] of certain critics. His health, never strong, was now such -as to cause some apprehension to his friends; still he was able to share -the pleasures which London life affords. He went into the fashionable -world--which, by the way, does not appear to have taken him quite -seriously, while acknowledging his talents and erudition. The Marquis of -Lansdowne's house was open to him; and mainly, no doubt, through the -influence of that kindly nobleman, he was even presented at Court. The -military career, for which, as he informs us (p. 130), he had a -predilection second only to "his love for truth and the rectification of -his country's honour," was no longer an object of ambition; and he may be -regarded as having resigned himself contentedly to the peaceful avocations -of a man of letters. Bad health, aggravated by his studious habits, seems -indeed to have been the only drawback from which he suffered; but although -this had previously excited the apprehension of his friends, it was -without any immediate warning that the end came. He had been paying a -visit to some acquaintances in the suburbs of London; had spent with them -an evening, during which he displayed his usual cheerfulness and vivacity; -had retired to rest without any symptoms of indisposition; and the next -morning was found lifeless in his bed,--death having, to all appearance, -taken place quite painlessly during sleep. By those who knew him he was -mourned, and by none more sincerely than the genial "Father Prout," who -added the following postscript to his article on "The Rogueries of Tom -Moore," already in print when the news of his young friend's death reached -him:-- - - "MEM.--On the 28th of June 1835, died, at The Hermitage, Hanwell, - Henry O'Brien, author of _The Round Towers of Ireland_. His portrait - was hung up in the gallery of Regina on the 1st August following; and - the functionary who exhibits the 'Literary Characters' dwelt thus on - his merits:-- - - "In the village graveyard of Hanwell (_ad_ viii. _ab urbe lapidem_) - sleeps the original of yonder sketch.... Some time back we had our - misgivings that the oil in his flickering lamp of life would soon dry - up; still we were not prepared to hear of his light being thus - abruptly extinguished. "One morn we missed him" from the accustomed - table at the library of the British Museum, where the page of - antiquity awaited his perusal; "another came--nor yet" was he to be - seen behind the pile of _Asiatic Researches_, poring over his - favourite Herodotus, or deep in the Zendavesta. "The next" brought - tidings of his death. His book on the Round Towers has thrown more - light on the early history of Ireland, and on the freemasonry of those - gigantic puzzles, than will ever shine from the cracked pitchers of - the Royal Irish Academy, or the farthing candle of Tommy Moore.... No - emblem will mark the sequestered spot where lies the Oedipus of the - Round Towers riddle--no hieroglyphic.... But ye who wish for monuments - to his memory, go to his native land, and - there--_circumspicite!_--Glendalough, Devenish, Clondalkin, - Inis-Scattery, rear their architectural cylinders; and each proclaims - to the four winds of heaven ... the name of him who solved the problem - of 3000 years, and who first disclosed the drift of these - erections.... Suffice it to add that he fell a victim to the intense - ardour with which he pursued the antiquarian researches that he - loved." - -One portion at least of the good Father's prophecy was amply fulfilled. In -_Irish Graves in England_, by Michael M'Donagh (_Evening Telegraph -Reprints_: Dublin, 1888), a chapter on O'Brien contains these words:-- - - "His grave cannot now be identified in Hanwell churchyard. It was - never marked by even a rude stone. In the register of burials the - entry is: 'No. 526, Henry O'Brien, Hanwell, July 2, years 26. Charles - Birch, officiating clergyman.' Tho number of the grave did not help - towards its identification, and an examination of every stone did not - result in the discovery of the name of O'Brien." - -So passed out of life a gifted young soul that had just begun to know the -measure of its strength. Had O'Brien been spared, he might have taken the -very highest rank among antiquarians and ethnologists; as it is, his fame -must rest upon a single crude and imperfect work, written in haste, before -his powers were fully ripe, or his learning properly assimilated. Beyond -this, and his translation of Villanueva, he may be said to have left no -trace behind. He had never married, though it is highly improbable that, -with his ardent temperament, and that almost reverential admiration for -the sex to which he gives frequent expression in _The Round Towers_, he -could have reached the age of six-and-twenty heart-whole. From his -portrait by Maclise (a copy of which forms the frontispiece to this -volume), he must, one would think, have been a sufficiently personable -man--though somewhat frail, and looking older than his years--not to have -wooed in vain. But he has left no hint of a love affair, beyond occasional -references to a mysterious "sorrow," which may have been of this nature. -No stain rests upon his memory; his habits were convivial, but not -vicious; and he had a great reverence for his own religion, in no way -weakened by his sympathy with other less perfect aspects of eternal truth. -It may be said of him that he left the world without having done it any -harm, and in the firm belief that he had nobly served the cause of human -enlightenment,--which surely was no bad ending. - - * * * * * - -It is one thing to admit the ingenuity, or even the plausibility, of a -writer's views, and another to accept them as articles of belief. So far -from claiming for O'Brien that he has completely solved the mystery of the -Round Towers, we may even confess a doubt that the latter admits of any -complete solution. Certain links in the chain of evidence are wanting, -which, to all appearance, are not likely to be ever supplied. That, for -instance, the _Tuath-de-danaans_ came from Persia, bringing with them to -Ireland their arts and their religion, is quite possible; but the absence -of any reference to such migration in the more ancient Persian historians, -where we should expect to find it; the want of some adequate explanation -of the motives which could have led a highly-civilised people, accustomed -to a luxurious climate, to prefer as their final settlement the bleak -shores of a remote Atlantic island to the more temperate and, to an -Eastern eye, more beautiful countries through which they must have passed -on their way; the all but complete failure to point out the route which -they followed in their quest of an asylum--these are gaps which require to -be filled up before most of us will be prepared to accept their Eastern -genealogy. Still, it must be confessed that O'Brien's theory rests upon -other and surer foundations, so far as its essential probability is -concerned; also, that it is entertaining and suggestive to a degree which -renders it, if not a profitable, at least a pleasing mental exercise. - -_The Origin of the Round Towers_ (the first branch of the question -proposed by the Royal Irish Academy) is really only part of a much wider -problem which had long engaged the attention of earnest, capable, and -industrious archaeologists, with whose names the reader of this work is -likely to become only too familiar. The Round Towers are merely one class -of more or less elaborate architectural or monumental remains, scattered -all over Ireland, and bearing unmistakable signs of a very remote -antiquity.[16] That these remains are inseparably connected in time and -origin, seems to be proved by the fact that no writer upon the subject of -the Round Towers had hitherto been able to treat of the latter -exclusively, without taking into consideration the "crosses" or "temples," -or other subdivisions of the whole, and that neither Dr. Petrie nor his -rival claimed exemption from the same necessity. A great portion of their -respective works on the Round Towers is devoted, for instance, to a -consideration of other antiquities; and what is perhaps the most valuable -part of O'Brien's,--namely, that upon which his assumption of a _pagan_ -origin chiefly rests,--is the result of investigation into the nature of -that symbolism for which the sculptured crosses are so remarkable. It -seemed, in fact, impossible for those who studied the subject carefully to -resist the conclusion that all these remains belong to a period when -Ireland was inhabited by a race which differed in many respects from the -Irish of a later date. In Dr. Petrie's opinion, that race consisted of the -early Christian missionaries and their proselytes; in O'Brien's, it -belonged to an era far antecedent to Christianity itself; and so far, he -is at one with the leading authorities who preceded him. Limiting his -statement to the Round Towers, Dr. Petrie informs us[17] that, up to the -time at which he undertook to decide the matter, two theories prevailed as -to the "origin" of these structures: (1) That they were erected by the -Danes; (2) that they were of Phoenician origin. But O'Brien discards the -Danes altogether, and only allows a very subordinate part indeed to the -Phoenicians, namely, that of having, as sea-carriers, assisted to convey -the _Tuath-de-danaans_ to Ireland. For the grounds upon which Dr. Petrie -attributes an exclusively Christian origin to the Round Towers inquirers -must be referred to the body of his work, where they will find it most -ingeniously, if not quite ingenuously, argued at much length that these -structures were erected between the fifth and thirteenth centuries of our -era by Christian founders. An outline of his rival's argument to the -contrary is given in the annexed "Synopsis." The difference between the -respective methods of the two theorists is very marked, and here the -advantage does not rest with O'Brien. Petrie is calm, precise, -authoritative; O'Brien fervid, rambling, and passionately expostulative. -That the former has failed to prove his case, and that the latter has to -some extent succeeded in doing so, may, or may not, be the fact; but it -must be admitted that, if O'Brien was the more successful, he was not the -more dexterous combatant. It has been frequently, and perhaps not without -justice, remarked that "Irishmen have a way of _blundering_ upon the -truth"; and from the eccentric fashion in which he sets about proving his -contention, some may argue that O'Brien's success merely affords an -instance of this national peculiarity. But it would be hardly fair to do -so in the case of an author who is acknowledged to have prepared himself -for his task by careful study of the authorities bearing upon its subject, -and whose "discovery," as he calls it, is expressly founded on the results -of that preparation. In this latter respect he presents a marked contrast -to his somewhat dictatorial rival, who is wont to treat the exercise of -private judgment by those who happen to differ from himself as a species -of _lese-majeste_.[18] On the other hand, O'Brien is always imploring the -reader to follow his argument step by step. "Here," he ever seems to be -urging, "are the plain, unvarnished facts; here, the incontestable -authorities; with these staring you in the face, surely you cannot think -of denying that such and such an inference is unavoidable?" His reasons -may not be always of the best; but, such as they are, he gives them -freely. Of the two methods, the public, who are usually impressed by -self-assertion, preferred the former; and "Dr. Petrie's epoch-making book" -was by general consent allowed to have "settled the question of the Round -Towers for ever." This comforting belief remained undisturbed for more -than a quarter of a century, when, in the year 1867, a book appeared which -challenged its infallibility. The author, a Mr. Marcus Keane, seems to -have started upon an investigation of Irish ruins from sheer curiosity, -and with a dispassionate intention to see and judge for himself. He was -certainly not actuated by any wish to decry the merits of Petrie's work, -to which he confesses his great obligations, and which he appears to have -taken at first as his guide. But, having carefully examined bit by bit the -ancient architecture still remaining in most of the Irish counties, and -having tested Petrie's statements by personal investigation on the spot, -he reluctantly confessed that he had lost faith in the latter. "After much -consideration," he declares,[19] "I have been forced to the conclusion ... -that the generally received theory is not supported by sufficient -evidence. My conviction of the heathen origin of these ruins has been -strengthened in proportion to the increased knowledge which I have -acquired by examination of the ruins themselves.... Not only the Round -Towers, but also the crosses and stone-roofed churches are entirely of -heathen origin." Further, on all essential points he found himself in -agreement with O'Brien, the difference between them, in respect of the -particular form of paganism to which those remains owe their existence, -being so trifling as hardly to merit notice. Of course, we do not -undertake to say that he is right: the question is one upon which people -have always differed hitherto, and which will probably be a subject of -variance until the end of time. But it seems to us that the dispassionate, -almost reluctant, judgment of this competent, methodical, and eminently -fair observer, who approached his subject, not when controversy was -raging, but after a sufficient number of years had elapsed to admit of -prejudice dying out, is entitled to carry more than ordinary weight, where -the object is to arrive at a conclusion based upon a study of unvarnished -facts. - -Up to this point the question may be said to have been regarded solely -from the architectural point of view, which is not the most favourable for -O'Brien; though, considering his necessarily limited knowledge in that -respect, he must be admitted to have made out a fairly strong case. It is -where the argument hinges upon analogies between Irish and Eastern -symbolism that we have him at his best. Here all the resources of his -great Oriental learning come into play, and may be said fairly to have -turned the scale in his favour. Indeed, it is perfectly astonishing, -considering that his book was written more than sixty years ago, when he -was himself a mere youth, how nearly it reaches the level attained by -modern research. In proof of this, it may be as well to refer, by way of -example, to one of the latest authoritative treatises on the subject of -Symbolism, that written by Count Goblet D'Alviella[20] (_Hibbert -Lecturer_ for 1891, and member of the Royal Academy of Belgium), together -with its learned "Introduction" by Sir George Birdwood, K.C.I.E.; and we -do so with the less hesitation because, as neither of these writers -indulges in more than a passing reference to Ireland, no suspicion of a -wish to strengthen their inferences by making out a pagan origin for Irish -antiquities can attach to them. The reader who consults these authorities -will find that they go far to support O'Brien's interpretation of the -symbolic ornamentation of Irish towers and crosses; that they perfectly -coincide with his views on the nature of Sabaic paganism; and generally -with his theory, that where symbolism of this character is found existing -in Western lands, it must have been introduced there from an Eastern -source. A few sentences taken almost at random from the Introduction to -Count D'Alviella's work, as well as from the book itself, may be adduced -in support of this assertion. Thus, having stated that "the religious -symbols common to the different historical races of mankind have not -originated independently among them, but have, for the most part, been -carried from the one to the other in the course of their migrations of -conquests and commerce"; that "the more notable of these symbols were -carried over the world in the footsteps of Buddhism"; that they were at -first but "the obvious ideograph of the phenomena of nature that made the -deepest impression on Asiatic man"; that the Sabaeans were "the Chaldaean -worshippers of the Host (_Saba_) of Heaven,"[21] it goes on to say: -"Without doubt, the symbols that have attracted in the highest degree the -veneration of the multitude have been the representative signs of gods, -often uncouth and indecent; but what have the gods themselves ever been, -except the more or less imperfect symbols of the Being transcending all -definition whom the human conscience has more and more clearly divined -through and above all these gods?" How, it may be asked, does this differ -from O'Brien's description of the nature of that "Budh" who forms the -central idea around which he groups the minor significances of Irish -Sabaism? Again we read: "It is sentiment, and, above all, religious -sentiment, that resorts largely to symbolism; and in order to place itself -in more intimate communication with the being or abstraction it desires to -approach. To that end men are everywhere seen either choosing natural or -artificial objects to remind them of the Great Hidden One.[22]... There -exists a symbolism so natural that ... it constitutes a feature of -humanity in a certain phase of development; ... for example, the -representations of the sun by a disc or radiating face, of the moon by a -crescent; ... of the generative forces of nature by phallic emblems."[23] -Might we not fancy that this was written by O'Brien? Again: "What theories -have not been built upon the existence of the equilateral cross as an -object of veneration?... Orthodox writers have protested against the claim -of attributing a pagan origin to the cross of the Christians, because -earlier creeds had included cruciform signs in their symbolism. And the -same objection might be urged against those who seek for Christian -infiltrations in certain other religions under the pretext that they -possess the sign of the Redemption." Is not this O'Brien's argument in a -nutshell? Then we have an entire chapter (iv.), entitled "Symbolism and -Mythology of the Tree," the substance of which he may be said to have -anticipated; and so on, all through the book. It is needless to multiply -quotations; those already given suffice to show that, in its essential -character, O'Brien's argument, so far as it relies upon symbolism, is -corroborated by those in the front rank of modern archaeologists. - - * * * * * - -It must, however, be confessed that O'Brien is not always so much in -harmony with modern thought, and that his reasoning from analogies of -language appears to us, occasionally, neither sound nor ingenuous. Perhaps -it would be more correct to say that he sometimes, without meaning -deception, allows enthusiasm to entice him across the line between fact -and fiction. In this respect he is not, perhaps, less scrupulous than the -average etymologist; but even admitting the veniality of his offence, it -seems to us that the philological is the weakest portion of his book. In -his hands Grimm's then recently discovered "law of the mutation of -consonants" was, as we think, too often strained to cover most -questionable derivations, nor did he shrink, apparently, from coining -forms of words to suit his purpose. As instances of this we may point to -his otherwise skilful treatment of the name _Hibernia_ at p. 128, where, -without any authority that we are aware of, he employs the form [Greek: -neos] for [Greek: uesos], evidently with a view to strengthen his case; -also, to his wonderful evolution of the word _Lingam_, at p. 284. But -whilst the reader will probably accept his statements on this head with -caution, admiration of his skill in detecting analogies which only require -pointing out to secure our assent, cannot be withheld. That he had in him -the making of a great philologist, is beyond question; and that in course -of time, had his life been spared, he would have made this branch of his -argument really formidable, is very probable. Even as it stands, we may be -undervaluing its merit: philology is not an exact science, and one can -rarely be sure of one's ground therein from day to day. But, judging the -matter by such light as we possess, it seems to us that the least valuable -part of O'Brien's book is that upon which he evidently prided himself -most: others may, possibly on better grounds, be of a different opinion, -and we gladly leave this portion of the book to speak for itself. - - * * * * * - -It may, we think, be said without injustice, that when dealing with that -part of the question which related to the _uses_ of the Round Towers, -O'Brien was more successful in upsetting the theories of other people than -in establishing his own. The purposes for which preceding antiquarians had -severally claimed that the towers were built are almost endless; but Dr. -Petrie has summarised the most prominent of them as follows:[24]--(1) -Fire-temples; (2) places from which to proclaim the Druidical festivals; -(3) Gnomons, or astronomical observatories; (4) Phallic emblems, or -Buddhist temples; (5) Anchorite towers, or Stylite columns; (6) -Penitential prisons; (7) Belfries; (8) Keeps, or Monastic Castles; (9) -Beacons and Watch-towers. Both he and O'Brien agree in holding that the -Round Towers were not appropriated to any one of these purposes -exclusively, though they might have been used for two or more of them. It -is with regard to the selection of these latter that the authors -differ--Petrie adopting views (7), (8), (9); O'Brien, view (3), but with -much reservation; view (4) absolutely, and adding another view of his own, -namely, that they were sometimes devoted to memorial or sepulchral uses. -It has been mentioned already that Moore charged him with plagiarism in -respect of his adoption of view (4); but, like other charges from the same -quarter, the assertion rests upon unstable grounds. O'Brien made no secret -of the fact that on many points he shared the views of General Vallancey, -for whom he invariably expresses respect, and even admiration; but he is -careful to explain that, where their judgments happen to coincide, it is -for very different reasons. "I wish it to be emphatically laid down," he -says in one place, "that I do not tread in General Vallancey's -footsteps.... I have taken the liberty to _chalk out my own road_"; and, -in another, "Though his perseverance had rendered him (Vallancey) the best -_Irishian_ of his age, and of many ages before him, yet he has committed -innumerable blunders." This goes to show that he was unlikely to adopt any -theory merely because Vallancey held it; and to have arrived at the same -conclusion by a wholly different road was surely not "plagiarism." What is -more, a reference to the published works of General Vallancey,[25] or even -to such extracts from them as may be found in Dr. Petrie's book, will, if -we are not mistaken, give rise to some doubt of that author having ever -distinctly maintained the Eastern, or pagan, origin of the Round Towers. -His views are, however, so nebulous and shifting, that it is difficult to -say whether he committed himself to any positive theory on the subject. -Starting with the conjecture that the Round Towers may have been the work -of "Phoenicians or Indo-Scythians," he is soon found attributing them to -certain "African sea-champions," who, in his opinion, were the "Pheni," -being likewise, as he goes on to inform us, "a _Pelasgic_ tribe." Next, he -declares that it was the _Fomorians_ who, having conquered Ireland, -"taught the inhabitants to build Round Towers"; but he afterwards seems to -discard this theory in favour of a "Danish" origin, and ends, to all -appearance, by resigning himself to the notion that they may, after all, -have been built by "Christian" settlers. Nor are his speculations as to -the _purpose_ of those structures less varied and conflicting. At one time -he maintains that they were undoubtedly "fire-temples"; at another, that -they were "belfries"; and yet again, that they were "beacons." But--what -is especially remarkable in connection with the charge of plagiarism--he -never, so far as we can discover, attributes to them a "phallic" -significance. Upon the whole, then, it seems rather unreasonable to accuse -anybody of having borrowed theories from an author who practically had -none; and the probability is that, without having read General Vallancey's -works, Moore had, from hearsay, formed a vague general notion of their -contents, which notion he, in the capacity of an irresponsible and not -over-scrupulous reviewer, ventured to utilise for paying off old scores. -Be that as it may, we are not prepared to urge that, upon the evidence, -O'Brien's theory as to the phallic emblemism of the Round Towers--whether -he borrowed it from Vallancey or not[26]--absolutely deserves credence. -Like his ascription of an Eastern origin to the _Tuath-de-danaans_, it is -one of those things which, so far as we can see, are incapable of proof. -Still, it cannot be said that there is any inherent impossibility in the -notion; in fact, assuming that the Round Towers were built by an Eastern -colony, there is much in its favour. For, as all who are acquainted with -our Indian Empire must be well aware, phallic symbols are there regarded -with a veneration which in its character is entirely free from -associations that appear to be inseparable from them elsewhere. The East -and West have taken different views as to the light in which the physical -agency by which divine creative power has chosen to perpetuate life should -be regarded; and to the Hindoo mind, for instance, there is nothing -inconsistent with the highest moral purity in worshipping an idealised -representation of the generative principle. A similar belief, on O'Brien's -showing, prevailed in ancient Persia,--indeed, but for its existence -there, the Tuath-de-danaans' immigration into Ireland could hardly have -taken place,--so that colonisers from that country, if any such -colonisation ever took place, were likely to have introduced corresponding -typical representations wherever they settled. Hence the theory of the -Eastern origin of the Round Towers and that of their phallic significance -are mutually interdependent. Further than this it is useless to go. The -probability of either theory is a matter that, if we are not mistaken, -most readers will determine for themselves, without much respect to -authority; nor has any author who tries to establish a hypothesis on -evidence the bearing of which upon the subject is in itself hypothetical, -a right to complain that this should be so. O'Brien has been in a manner -forced to rely upon such evidence all through his book, and the latter -suffers in consequence. To our thinking, those portions of it are usually -the most convincing where, discarding authority for the most part, he -relies upon his own native shrewdness. His attack upon the "belfry" theory -is one instance of this. Another is the way in which he combats -Montmorency's notion, that the towers may have been intended as places of -shelter, for persons or property, from hostile invasion. Almost equally -effective is his refutation of the hackneyed argument, that because Round -Towers are usually (not invariably, as some assert) found in the vicinity -of ecclesiastical buildings, they must necessarily be of Christian origin; -though here, as in the case of the "belfry" theory, he might, we think, -have insisted more upon the curious circumstance that Christians should -have discontinued building them as soon as Christianity was firmly -established in Ireland, but before the country had been reduced to a -peaceful or settled condition. If such adjuncts to churches were needed up -to the thirteenth century, there is nothing in the history of Ireland for -the next three centuries, at least, which shows that they might have been -dispensed with. To account for their disappearance by representing it as a -consequence of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture, -which took place about the twelfth century, is to beg the whole question; -for it assumes that the Round Towers are Romanesque--a point on which we -take leave to think that opinions are much divided, as indeed they appear -to be upon almost every topic connected with the subject-matter of this -very remarkable book. - -W. H. C. - -LONDON, 1897. - - - - -SYNOPSIS - - -CHAPTER I - -(PP. 1-15) - - -The book opens with a preliminary statement, in general terms, of the -object which its author has in view. It is to prove that the round towers -date from a more remote antiquity than that usually assigned to them; that -they were, in fact, erected long before Christianity reached these -islands, and even before the date of the Milesian and Scandinavian -invasions. In support of this view, he contrasts the materials, -architecture, and costliness of their construction with those of the early -Christian churches usually found in their vicinity (cf. p. 514), and -accounts for the contiguity of the latter by stating that the Christian -missionaries selected, as the sites of their churches, localities -previously consecrated to religious use, in order that they might thereby -"conciliate the prejudices of those whom they would fain persuade"; whilst -he points out that a Christian origin has not been claimed for Cromleachs -and Mithratic caves, in the vicinity of which ecclesiastical remains -likewise abound. On the other hand, he insists that the general structure -and decorative symbolism of the round towers is clearly indicative of -pagan times and a pagan origin, more especially of that primitive form of -paganism which, originating in Chaldea, diffused itself eastward until it -overspread a considerable part of Asia, and which is known as _Sabaism_. -Dissenting from the theories of his predecessors in the same field of -inquiry, he rejects the various theories that the round towers were -intended as "purgatorial columns," or "beacons," or "belfries," or -"dungeons," or "anchorite-cells," or "places of retreat" in the case of -hostile invasion, or "depositories" for State records, Church utensils, or -national treasures; and he states as his conviction, based on examination -of their structure, that it was not the intention of their founders to -limit their use to any one specific purpose. - - -CHAPTER II - -(PP. 16-32) - -Following up this line of argument, he attacks Montmorency, who had -maintained that the founders of the round towers were "primitive -Coenobites and bishops, munificently supported in the undertaking by the -newly-converted kings and toparchs; the builders and architects being -those monks and pilgrims who, from Greece and Rome, either preceded or -accompanied the early missionaries of the fifth and sixth centuries." -Reserving a detailed refutation of this theory for subsequent chapters, he -contents himself for the present with showing that it rests upon mere -assumption, which is not borne out by the evidence adduced in -corroboration thereof; and exposes the fallacy of Montmorency's argument, -that pre-Christian Ireland was in a state of barbarism which precluded the -possibility of such structures as the round towers being erected by its -inhabitants. He further deals with the objections, that the bards do not -allude to these towers as existent in their time, that those undoubtedly -ancient excavations, the Mithratic caves, are never found in the vicinity -of round towers, and that the limited nature of their accommodation made -them serviceable only for some such purpose as that of a belfry or -dungeon. With Vallancey's views he finds himself more in sympathy, but is -unable to adopt them unreservedly--preferring, as he puts it, to chalk out -his own road. - - -CHAPTER III - -(PP. 33-47) - -Continuing his attack upon Montmorency, the author points out that the -towers erected elsewhere by Coenobite associations are always square, not -round, and that any argument based upon the elevated position of the -entrances to both classes of edifices would apply equally to the pyramids. -He shows that the round towers could not have been intended as places of -refuge, or as depositories of ecclesiastical treasures, and adduces -historical proof that the structures known as "belfries" were wholly -different. Alluding to the supposed band of voluntary Coenobite workmen -under _Saint Abban_, he points out that their building operations must -necessarily have been carried on in the midst of a raging war; that -although they must have availed themselves of native assistance in the -work, yet the Irish of the early Christian period betray not the slightest -knowledge of the art of building; that the building of round towers ceased -quite suddenly, almost immediately after the introduction of Christianity; -that the native Irish have never attributed these towers to such an -origin; that, so far from being, as Montmorency alleges, assisted by the -munificence of native princes, the Coenobite monks must have had to deal -with absolute pagans, who would regard their labour with anything but -approval; and that the fact of "kills," or remains of Christian churches, -being found in the vicinity of Cromleachs, Mithratic caves, and round -towers is simply the result of the reverence felt by the pagan converts -for the scenes and associations of their old belief, and affords no ground -for supposing that the churches were coeval with the latter. Subsequently -(at p. 514) he cites the instance of a round tower without any church near -it. - - -CHAPTER IV - -(PP. 48-62) - -In tracing the origin and purpose of the round towers, our author is led -to consider the names given them in ancient records and Irish folk-lore. -The stunted ruin of Bally-Carbery Round Tower, near his own birthplace, -was, he found, known to the peasantry as the "Cathoir ghall," _i.e._ "the -temple of brightness or delight," whilst both in the _Annals of the Four -Masters_, the _Ulster Annals_, and the _Annals of Innisfallen_ these -towers are included in the generic name _Fiadh-Neimhedh_, as contrasted -with the names _Cloic teacha_ and _Erdam_ applied to "belfries," thus -showing that the two kinds of structures are perfectly distinct. He finds -that _Fiadh-Nemeadth_ in all preceding writers on the subject is held to -apply specifically to the round towers, though some of these writers -(_e.g._ Colgan and O'Connor) have wrested its meaning to support their own -particular views, and the true import of this term he subsequently -explains to be "consecrated Lingams" (p. 105), or _phallic temples_. The -"belfry" and the _gnomon_, or "celestial index," theories are thus -exploded. From historical evidence he is further led to assume that -Ireland is identical with the _Insula Hyperboreorum_ of the ancients, and -that the legendary mission of the Boreadan _Abaris_[27] to Delos took -place during the _Scythian_ occupation of Ireland. This friendly -communication between the ancient Irish and the Greeks he attributes to -their having sprung from a common stock--the _Pelasgi_ and the -_Tuath-de-danaans_ belonging to "the same time as the Indo-Scythae, or -Chaldean Magi." He traces briefly the relations between the -_Tuath-de-danaan_ settlers in Ireland and their Scythian (or Milesian) -conquerors, and shows that to the former is due the high state of -civilisation and learning for which ancient Ireland was distinguished, and -which degenerated under Scythian rule; and concludes with a general -statement as to the prevalence of _Sabaic_ worship therein, and the -phallic configuration of the round towers. - - -CHAPTER V - -(PP. 63-76) - -Being now fairly launched on the subject of _Sabaism_, or worship of -natural manifestations of the divine energy, he traces its origin, -development, and decadence into idolatry. Amid the heterogeneous confusion -of beliefs that seem to have sprung up among the descendants of Noah, -Nimrod introduced the worship of the sun as a deity, but only as a part of -that general Sabaism which included the whole "host of heaven" as objects -of worship, and recognised the Godhead, of which they were simply -manifestations, under the names of _Baal_ and _Moloch_. Gradually, the -creature was substituted for the Creator, and their names, especially the -former (_Bolati_), were applied to the sun, "as the source and dispenser -of all earthly favours," while to the moon was attributed a corresponding -reverence under the name _Baaltis_, though in both cases the object of -internal regard was intended to be _Nature_, or "the fructifying germ of -universal generativeness." From the tendency of man to the concrete, this -central idea was soon lost sight of, and the material element put in its -place--hence came _Fire-worship_. Originating in Chaldea, this degenerated -form of Sabaism in course of time spread eastward until it reached Persia, -where eventually there seems to have been a reversion to the principle -which underlay it, _i.e._ that of _generation_ and _nutrition_, in which -form it afterwards extended to India. Though fire was the ostensible -object of worship, the sun and moon, from which that worship originated, -were regarded and reverenced as "the procreative causes of general -fecundity," with which was coupled the notion of regeneration after -dissolution of the body. Hence when, as will appear hereafter, Eastern -Sabaism was introduced into Ireland by the Tuath-de-danaans, the round -towers created by them as temples of their worship had both a phallic and -sepulchral meaning. - - -CHAPTER VI - -(PP. 77-90) - -That purer form of _Sabaism_ in which the central idea of "the All-good -and All-great One" predominated over materialism, seems to have prevailed -in ancient Egypt, and to a more definite extent in India, whilst in both -these countries, and also in Ireland, its material side led to the -cultivation of astronomy. Hence the _pyramids_ of Egypt, the _pagodas_ of -India, and the _round towers_ of Ireland had both a religious and a -scientific purpose. There is no ground, however, for supposing that the -round towers were "fire-temples." Though temples of the latter kind -undoubtedly exist in Ireland, their structure is altogether different, and -they evidently belong to a later period, showing, in fact, traces of an -Italian origin. Fire-worship was probably introduced into Italy from -Greece, where it had been practised by the old Pelasgic stock, who, on -their expulsion from Thessaly, settled in Etruria, bringing their worship -with them. - - -CHAPTER VIII - -(PP. 91-106) - -From a careful study of Eastern records and Sabaism, the author is led to -take up the position that the round towers were constructed by early -Indian colonists of Ireland (the _Tuath-de-danaans_), in honour of "the -fructifying principle of nature," of which the sun and moon are -representative. The emblem of this principle was the _phallus_ in the case -of the sun, and the _crescent_ in that of the moon. The round tower was -simply a monumental _phallus_, which fact is taken to explain the terms -"Cathoir ghall" and "Fidh-Nemphed" to which he alludes in chap. iv.; -whilst the _crescent_ ornament by which many of these towers were -surmounted is symbolical of the female nature. A corroboration of this -theory is found in the circumstance that the name _Budh_, by which these -towers are "critically and accurately designated, signifies in Irish, -first, the _sun_, and secondly, what [Greek: phallos], _phallus_, does in -Greek and Latin," a view which is supported by the analogy of Egyptian sun -and moon worship. - - -CHAPTER IX - -(PP. 107-126) - -Having thus committed himself to the view that the paganism which founded -the Irish Round Towers was a religion of which _Budh_ (_i.e._ the sun and -the _phallus_) was the central idea, and which, therefore, resembled in -its essence the faiths of India and Egypt, the author proceeds to trace -the origin of this religion. In India the latter is known as _Buddhism_, -or that form of Sabaism taught by Buddha; but the author is persuaded that -there never was such a person as Buddha--at least, when the religion first -shot into life, which was almost as early as the creation of man--though -in later times several enthusiasts assumed that name. The origin of the -religion was, in fact, "an abstract thought," which cannot easily be -expressed in words until it is reduced to the materialised forms of that -practical Sabaism which each nation framed for itself, and which consisted -in the worship of generative and productive power under its various -manifestations. Hence the objects of worship ranged from the sun and moon -even to agricultural operations, and, of course, included sexual -physiology. Indian Buddhism worshipped the _Lingam_ (or _phallus_) as the -emblem of_Budh_ (_i.e._ the Sun), but without any sensual alloy in such -reverence, which, in fact, necessitated the observance of a strict moral -code. Among other requirements of this code was the performance of works -of charity, _Dana_ (_i.e._ the giving of alms), and the religionists were -hence called _Danaans_ or _Almoners_. The bearing of all this upon Irish -paganism is explained by referring to the intimate connection that in -early times existed between Ireland and the East, from whence its -Tuath-de-danaan colonists were derived. The name _Erin_, together with its -Greek form _Ierne_, and its Latin transmutation _Hibernia_, is shown to be -identical with _Iran_, the ancient name of _Persia_, which, modified into -_Irin_, was applied by the Greek historians to the "Sacred Island" of the -West, and recognised by Gildas and Ordericus Vitalis as the established -designation of Ireland in their time. - - -CHAPTER X - -(PP. 127-141) - -Developing this last argument, our author shows that, while _Iran_ (or -"the sacred _land_") was a name applied to both Persia and Ireland, the -form _Irin_ (Sacred _Island_) is exclusively applied to Ireland, and that -_Irc_, _Eri_, _Ere_, and _Erin_ are but modifications of the latter. The -Greeks commuted this name of _Irin_ into _Ierne_, which is merely a -translation ([Greek: hieros] + [Greek: nesos]); and the Latins, by putting -an _H_ for the rough breathing of [Greek: hieros], and interpolating a _b_ -for sound's sake, transformed the latter into _Hibernia_, the meaning -"Sacred Island" being preserved. But by its own inhabitants it continued -to be known as _Fuodhla_, _Fudh-Inis_, and _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_, names -associating the worship which prevailed therein with the profession of the -worshippers, for they respectively denote the land or island of _Fuodh_ or -_Budh_ and _Budhism_. The _Budh_ here mentioned was identical with the -phallic deity worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaans under the name of _Buodh_ -(known also as Moriagan and Fareagh or Phearagh), which name the Scythian -invaders afterwards adopted as their war-cry (_Boo_ or _A-boo_). The -peculiar tenets of Irish Budhism were embodied in a mass of literature -committed to the flames by Saint Patrick; but the history of pagan Ireland -still survives in MSS. scattered over Europe, whilst an image of _Buodh_, -or _Fareagh_, bearing a close resemblance to those of the Eastern -_Buddha_, and to the idols of _Matambo_ "whose priests are sorcerers or -magicians" (afterwards shown to be the meaning of _Tuath-de-danaans_), has -been unearthed at Roscommon, and is now in the Museum of Trinity College, -Dublin. - - -CHAPTER XI - -(PP. 142-156) - -From India our author now diverges to Egypt. The similarity between the -regal title "Pharaoh" and _Phearagh_ or _Fareagh_ just mentioned is -accounted for by the invasion of Egypt by the _Uksi_, or _Hyksos_ (Royal -Shepherds or Shepherd Kings), who, according to Manetho, came "from the -East." The Indian _Vedas_, which corroborate his account, term them -_Pali_, or "shepherds"; and the rigorous nature of their sway accounts for -the dislike manifested by the Egyptians towards the Israelites, who were a -pastoral people. That they introduced their form of worship into Egypt, is -shown by the description which Herodotus gives of the rites, ceremonies, -and usages of the Egyptian priests, resembling those practised by the -Brahmins. Historical evidence points to the erection by them of the -greater pyramids, also to their introduction of those magical arts for -which the Egyptians became notorious. This latter fact brings the _Uksi_ -into connection with the _Tuath-de-danaans_ (whose name is indicative of -proficiency in magic), and serves to strengthen the author's opinion that -both belonged to the same Chaldean stock. - - -CHAPTER XII - -(PP. 157-166) - -The pyramids of Egypt may be said to correspond, with one significant -difference, to the round towers of Ireland. Both are characterised by the -highest architectural skill; both are constructed with an evident -reference to astronomical purposes; both afford indications that they were -_inter alia_ appropriated to sepulture; and both are distinctively of -phallic or, more strictly, Sabaic import. But in this last feature a -divergence becomes evident. The symbolism of the principle of "generative -production" common to both is in the form of the pyramid more emblematic -of the _female_ nature (see pp. 267-269), whilst the round towers typify -the _male_--a divergence which the author subsequently treats in more -detail. To it may be due the circumstance that these excavations or -"wells" which exist beneath the pyramids have not hitherto been found -under round towers. - - -CHAPTER XIII - -(PP. 167-176) - -In connection with the last paragraph, attention is, however, drawn to the -fact that round towers have usually been erected in the vicinity of water; -and that this may have been owing to a real, though less dominant, -veneration of the female principle, is probable from the extensive use of -bathing in the worship of _Astarte_, the representative of that principle -whose peculiar emblemism is apparent in the ornamentation of the round -towers. Traces of the apparatus for a bell found on the summit of one of -the latter edifices affords no proof of its original purpose as a belfry. -For though bells were used in pagan ceremonials, they were not rung to -summon worshippers; and the fact may have been that, after their -conversion to Christianity, the Irish applied round towers occasionally to -the only purpose for which they could then be used in connection with -public worship. - - -CHAPTER XIV - -(PP. 177-192) - -Recurring to the affinity of Ireland with ancient Persia (Iran), the -history of the latter country is traced from its settlement by the -_Aryans_. According to tradition preserved in the collection of sacred -books known as the _Zendavesta_, the original seat of that people was the -_Eriene-Veedjo_, a district situated in the north-western highlands of -Asia, of great fertility, and enjoying a singularly mild climate, having -seven months of summer and five of winter. Then "the death-dealing Ahriman -smote it with the plague of cold, so that it came to have ten months of -winter and only two of summer"; and was in consequence deserted by its -inhabitants, who gradually overspread the low-lying countries, as far -south as the Indus, including _Fars_, as Persia was then termed. They were -a vigorous and energetic race these Aryans, who soon became dominant in -their new quarters, substituting the name of their own country (_Iran_, or -the _sacred land_, formed from the ancient Zend _Eriene_) for that of -Fars, and founding a dynasty, or rather succession of dynasties, which -superseded the government formerly in existence. The mixture of races led -to a certain diversity of language, and thus originated the Zend and -_Pahlavi_ or Sanskrit dialects, which bear a remarkable affinity to Irish -(cf. _Palaver_). There was further a diversity of religions, the old -religion of _Hushang_, a predecessor of Zoroaster, being professed by many -long after fire-worship became the dominant faith of Persia. - - -CHAPTER XV - -(PP. 193-210) - -This ancient religion of Hushang, which was doubtless that of the Aryans, -seems to have been of that _Sabaic_ order practised by the Chaldeans, -which, as we have seen, recognised the heavenly bodies as the most -imposing representatives of a divine power, and cannot therefore be fairly -described as _idolatry_. It was idealistic, in so far as it regarded the -different energies of nature simply as manifestations of a great creative -power, whereas the idolatrous stage did not supervene until this purer -faith degenerated into materialism. With this religion that of the ancient -Irish harmonized. The dominance of sun and moon worship in the latter is -shown by the way in which the various titles of these luminaries are -interwoven with the language; most of the Irish local names, as well as -the names of traditional festivals, consisting of variants of different -epithets applied to the sun and moon, which the pagan Irish considered to -be united in matrimony, just as the Egyptians did _Osiris_ and _Isis_, -their equivalents. - - -CHAPTER XVI - -(PP. 211-226) - -A faith thus compounded of love, religion, and astrology has necessarily a -triple aspect; and, according to the particular component kept in view, or -the etymology professed, may be termed _Sabaism_, _Buddhism_, or -_Phallism_. It constitutes the most primitive form of worship, and is the -source from whence all the faiths of the world have been derived. Hence -the corresponding features in distinct mythologies. Brahminism, for -example, is an offshoot from Buddhism, owing to the apostasy of Paramon, -the son of Budh-dearg; and the essential notions of Christianity, the -doctrines of a virginal conception, a vicarious sacrifice, and a -resurrection, have their counterparts in both these faiths. The phallic -element, ignored by Christianity, maintained its place in Oriental and -Irish paganism. The adjuncts of _Lingam_ worship occur in the worship of -_Budh_. The pagodas of India have their counterparts in the round towers. -The symbolism expressed in the sculptures of Elephanta, Ellora, and -Salsette is reflected in the carvings at Clonmacnoise, Kilcullen, and -Knockmoy. The Cross is universal, not distinctive; and the purposely -mutilated cryptograms of the Crescent and the Serpent belong to a paganism -long antecedent to the Christianity which partially effaced them. - - -CHAPTER XVII - -(PP. 227-239) - -Researches into the distinctive character of Irish paganism show that its -main element was the phallic type of _Sabaism_, the Irish language -affording remarkable evidence of this fact. Many of its words and all its -letters embody a twofold meaning, denoting in the first place some -_passion, quality, or virtue_, and in the next its _sensible index_. For -example, _Budh_ or _Fiodh_ means primarily a _lingam_, or _phallus_, and -secondarily a _tree_; and this peculiarity of an esoteric meaning known -only to the learned, and an esoteric one understood by the masses, it -shares with Hebrew, which belongs to the same linguistic family. Of this -we have an example in the scriptural allegory of "Eve and the _tree_ of -knowledge," wherein the esoteric import of "tree" is _phallus_. We thus -arrive, as it were, at the fount of Buddhism. Eve may be regarded as the -first Buddhist, and her son Cain, who offered the fruits of the earth to -"the God of nature and of increase" (Budh), as the first priest of that -order. This allegory is found repeated in different forms among the -various populations of the world--in Egypt, India, Persia, and elsewhere. -It gave rise to many typical commemorations in various countries, such as -the "Maypole festivals" of Eastern lands, whence the custom emanated to -Ireland (with the _Tuath-de-danaan_ settlers), where it is still -practised. - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -(PP. 240-251) - -The scriptural allegory of the "Fall of Man," involving, as it does, the -history of Cain, has an intimate bearing upon the ancestry of the -_Tuath-de-danaans_. Cain had a son, Enoch, whose name connotes as usual a -twofold meaning, signifying first, _Initiation in sacred rites_; secondly, -_an assembly of congregated multitudes_. The son of Enoch was named -_Irad_, i.e. _consecrated to God_ (_Budh_); hence the region where he -dwelt was called _Iran_, meaning _the land of those so consecrated_; from -which it is argued that in that precise region the Budhists first -established the insignia of their empire. Now, the _Dabistan_ records -declare that although _Kaimours_ was generally regarded as the first king -of Persia (Iran), he had many predecessors; and that long before the time -of Zoroaster the Persians venerated a prophet called _Mahabad_ or -_Maghabad_ (the Great, or Good, _Abad_), whom they considered as "the -Father of men," and who had thirteen successors of his own family, all -styled _Abad_. This _Abad_, or _Maghabadean_, dynasty eventually became so -corrupt that it was banished to _the woods and mountains_, when _Kaimours_ -was called to the throne. For various reasons the author is persuaded that -the Maghabadeans were the direct descendants of Cain. Their name had the -usual twofold signification: first, The unity of the Godhead; secondly, a -sacerdotal institution; and _Tuath-de-danaan_ is simply a translation or -ampliative rendering of the latter--_Tuath_ being a modification of -_Budh_, and also signifying _magic_; _De_, the vernacular term for the -Deity; and _Danaan_ signifying Almoners--the whole thus meaning -_Magician-god-almoners_, or the Almoner-magicians of the Deity. - - -CHAPTER XIX - -(PP. 252-263) - -Assuming that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ originally occupied Iran, or Persia, -their migration to Ireland is thus explained. An internecine variance, -arising out of a purely religious question, sprang up among them. They -became divided into two sects--one maintaining that the _male_ influence -was dominant in the production of offspring; the other that _female_ -influence was more effective. Each adopted a distinguishing title, -emblematic of the sex whose virtues it proclaimed. The former did not find -it necessary to change the name _Tuath-de-danaan_, since the esoteric -meaning of _Tuath_ (i.e. _Budh_) was the emblem of _masculinity_; but the -others adopted the title of _Pish-de-danaans_, because _Pish_, or _Pith_ -(synonymous with _Yoni_), denoted that of _femininity_. The war which -resulted from this variance of opinion was waged with all the bitterness -which usually marks polemic differences; and the _Pish-de-danaans_, -proving completely victorious, expelled their rivals from the sacred soil -of Iran. The _Tuath-de-danaans_, or at least a portion of them (cf. p. -443), fled westward, and after many vicissitudes reached Europe, where -traces of them are found in parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain; and from -the country last named (by help of the _Phoenicians_, who were the great -sea-carriers of those days), they made their way to Ireland. It is -remarkable that a parallel account appears in Hindu records of the -severance which took place between the _Lingajas_ and the _Yonijas_ on a -precisely similar question. - - -CHAPTER XX - -(PP. 264-284) - -Although the Persian historians maintain silence, the evidence of other -authorities in support of this episode is not wanting. For instance, when -referring to Buddha, Oriental writers agree that he was born in _Maghada_; -also that he was the son of _Suad-de-dana_--_Suad_ being convertible with -_Tuath_, and both resolvable into _Budh_. Without professing to map out -the exact route by which the _Tuath-de-danaans_ made their way to Ireland, -the author maintains that the fact of their having occupied that country -for a considerable time is incontrovertible. As for their rivals, the -_Pish-de-danaans_, it has already been stated that they, in their turn, -had to leave Persia when _Kaimours_ was called to the throne; and the -presumption is that they were identical with those _Uksi_, or Shepherd -Kings, who overran Egypt, and to whom the erection of pyramids -emblematical of the female nature is ascribed. Their distinctive views -may, it is pointed out, have prevailed among them from the time when they -formed a portion of the Noachidae; for the "Ark" was typical of the -dominant idea in their belief, and the same idea was typified under -another form in the pyramids. A variant symbol of this idea is the -_crescent_ (or _lunar boat_), of which certain Irish ornaments are -representative. It is further possible that the _Pish-de-danaan_ tradition -of the deluge may have been communicated to Moses during his stay in -Egypt, and that the narrative is more figurative than historical. - - -CHAPTER XXI - -(PP. 285-304) - -Among the sculptured symbols of the faith held by the ancient Irish, that -of the _Cross_ stands pre-eminent; but it would be a mistake to infer from -this circumstance the existence of Christianity in Ireland at the time -when these sculptures were wrought. The cryptogram of the Cross is found -everywhere, both in the Old and New World, among the relics of nations -whose paganism does not admit of doubt, and it dates from a period long -antecedent to Christianity. Buildings of cruciform structure, and -evidently devoted to religious uses, exist all over the East and West; and -both they and the _Mithratic caves_, for which no one has ever claimed any -but a pagan origin, partake of the same character. To aver that the Cross -was emblematical of a _vicarious sacrifice_ by which the redemption of -mankind was accomplished, is merely to say that it expresses a belief -common to many Sabaic faiths of the pagan world--a belief of which it was -the recognised emblem in Egypt, India, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and -America, as well as in Ireland. - - -CHAPTER XXII - -(PP. 305-324) - -The argument as to the pagan origin of Irish cross-symbolism is pursued -and developed, and the connection of the symbol in question with the Irish -_Budh-gaye_ (corresponding to the Hindu _Budha-gaya_), or representative -of generative power (_gaye-phallus_), demonstrated. The symbolism of which -it forms a type is ubiquitous, being found in archaic sculpture all over -the Eastern and Western World: nor did Plato exaggerate when he said--'The -letter X is stamped upon the universe.' - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -(PP. 325-340) - -A remarkable instance of this widely prevalent doctrine of the vicarious -sacrifice of some incarnation of the Deity accomplished by a purely -virginal conception is afforded in the Hindu _Puranas_, which recount the -incarnation of _Vishnu_ (or _Crishna_) in the _White Island_, and the -subsequent crucifixion of the fruit of this conception, under the name of -_Sulivahana_ (cf. the Irish patronymic _Sulivan_), called also -_Dhanandhara_, _i.e._ the _Sacred Almoner_ (cf. _Danaan_ and its meaning). -Curiously enough, the mystic, or esoteric, name of ancient Ireland was -_Muc Inis_, meaning _White Island_; and the details of a similar -crucifixion are, with strictly pagan accompaniments, reproduced in the -sculptures at Knockmoy, in Galway, which further closely resemble not only -a sculptured portrayal on the temple of Kalabche, in Nubia, but a -distinctly Eastern Buddhist group on the _Tuath-de-danaan_ cross at Old -Kilcullen, County Kildare. - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -(PP. 341-355) - -A striking instance of the resemblance between the Nubian and Knockmoy -sculptures consists in the attire of the principal figures. In both the -philibeg, or kilt, is worn; and this peculiarity is reproduced in idols of -the Irish pagan god, _Phearagh_, or _Farragh_, or _Budh_, which have been -from time to time exhumed. The headdresses and collars also correspond. In -Buddhist Indian mythology Deva _Thot_ is represented as crucified; in -fact, the expectation of salvation through the atonement of a crucified -Mediator characterises the whole system of pagan (Sabaic) beliefs as -thoroughly as it did Hebraism. It is expressed in one of the names of -Ireland, namely, _Criach-na-Fuineadhach_ (meaning _the asylum of the -expectants, or the retreat of those looking forward_), which was given to -that country long before the advent of Christianity. - - -CHAPTER XXV - -(PP. 356-367) - -The round towers and crosses at Clonmacnoise, Clondalkin, and elsewhere, -abound in sculptured devices of a similar character, there being in all a -manifest reference to Buddhist, or Eastern, ceremonial; whilst the -representation of a dog (an animal esteemed sacred by the -Tuath-de-danaans) on one of the crosses at Clonmacnoise seems to exclude -the possibility of its relation to Christianity. But perhaps the most -significant feature of these sculptures is the profusion of _snake_ -ornamentation, pointing to a time when that form of Sabaism known as -"serpent-worship" was in the ascendant. The frequency of this emblemism -was so obnoxious to the early Christian missionaries, on account of the -evident reverence with which it was regarded by the Irish, that St. -Patrick thought it advisable to efface it when practicable; and in this -sense he may be entitled to the credit of having banished snakes from -Ireland. - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -(PP. 368-395) - -Reverting to his proper subject of the origin and purpose of the round -towers, our author examines the evidence bearing on the date of their -erection. The Ulster Annals record the destruction of fifty-seven of these -towers by an earthquake in A.D. 448, the natural inference being that they -must have existed before the fifth century, but how long before is matter -of conjecture. Tradition connects them with a personage styled the _Goban -Saer_ (Freemason Sage); but this title being the name of a class, not of -an individual, and having no settled place in chronology, does not further -the solution of the difficulty. A better clue is found in the name of the -place whereon was fought the first decisive battle between the -Tuath-de-danaan invaders and the Celtic (Firbolg) inhabitants, which gave -the supremacy of the island to the former. From the number of -commemorative towers erected there by the conquerors, this came to be -known as _Moytura_ (in Irish, _Moye-tureadh_, _i.e._ "the field of the -towers"); and as the date of the second battle, fought centuries later, is -approximately B.C. 600 (p. 449), there is reason for assigning the -erection of round towers to a period long preceding that of Christianity. -The ascription of these towers to the Tuath-de-danaans is in a degree -warranted by the fact that the word "_Tuathan-Tower_" is a well-known -Irish expression, and that there seems to be no other word in the language -which conveys the same idea. - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -(PP. 396-411) - -The identity of Ireland with the _Insula Hyperboreorum_ is deduced from a -description of the latter, copied by Diodorus Siculus from the writings of -Hecataeus and from a compendium by Marcianus Herocleotes of the works of -Artemidorus. Both Hecataeus and Artemidorus lived before the Christian era, -and an allusion in the latter author to certain "round temples," of which -the officiating priests were called _Boreades_, that existed in -"_Juvernia_, a British isle, bounded on the north by the ocean called the -_Hyperborean_, but on the east by the ocean called the _Hibernian_," -coupled with the fact that (with the exception of those at Brechin and -Abernethy) no remains of round temples are found in any of the British -Isles save Ireland,[28] goes far to prove the identity in question, also -the pre-Christian antiquity of the round towers, together with the -existence of an exceptional, and therefore by natural inference an -_imported_, civilisation in that island. The latter inference is -strengthened by continually-recurring traces of the great proficiency of -its inhabitants in the fine, or useful, arts at an era when the adjacent -islands were still plunged in barbarism. - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -(PP. 412-431) - -These proofs of an adventitious civilisation bearing the marks, not of -gradual growth, but of full development, point to the colonisation of the -island by a highly-cultured race, such as were the ancient people of -_Iran_ (Persia). The round towers, for instance, could not well have been -the work of the Phoenicians, who were a maritime and mercantile race, by -no means prone to arts and letters, and in none of whose admitted -settlements is any trace of similar buildings to be found. Neither the -Firbolgs (or Celtic inhabitants of Ireland), nor the Fomorians, nor the -Scythians, Scoto-Milesians, nor Danish invaders, were at all given to the -refinements of civilisation, and simply regarded the construction of -permanent buildings as unworthy of a race of warriors. Everything, in -fact, goes to show that the Tuath-de-danaan settlers alone could have -erected these towers, introduced the Boreadan ceremonial, and given to the -country of their adoption a name taken from that of their native land. -With the Scythian conquest, it became, of course, inevitable that this -name (_Irin_ or _Eirin_) should be changed into _Scuitte_ or _Scotia_ (the -land of the _Scythians_), and that there should have been a partial exodus -of the vanquished Tuath-de-danaans--some of whom, settling in what is now -Scotland, gave it the name of _Iran_ or _Eran_ (which survives in _Erne_ -or _Erse_), which was afterwards changed into _Scoitte_ or _Scotia_, out -of compliment to the Scythian rulers of the adjacent island, with whom its -Pictish inhabitants had formed alliance. - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -(PP. 432-444) - -As for the unfounded theory,--that Ireland was colonised by Phoenicians -arriving from Spain, whose last settlement in the island was established -by Heber and Heremon, sons of Milesius, and descendants of _Feni an fear -soid_, "the Phoenician wise man,"--it is pointed out that Heber and -Heremon (brothers of Amergin, the bard) were in reality the sons of -_Gallamh_, and invaded Ireland at the head of a Scythian, not Phoenician, -colony (p. 393). Upon historical evidence, the date of this invasion is -fixed at B.C. 1002; while it is agreed on all hands that the -_Tuath-de-danaans_ had landed about two hundred years before, or B.C. -1202, which latter date exactly corresponds with that given by most -Oriental authorities for the exodus of the Buddhists from India. About -this time, indeed, Ireland seems to have borne the character of an -Oriental asylum--a circumstance to which may be attributed the Eastern -costumes and aspect of the figures depicted in its ancient sculptures, the -Eastern character of traditional religious and ceremonial usages, and the -national reverence for the shamrock, corresponding with that shown to the -trefoil (or _trisula_) in Persia (_Iran_). - - -CHAPTER XXX - -(PP. 445-474) - -The duration of Tuath-de-danaan supremacy may have been some six -centuries, dating from the first battle of Moytura, in B.C. 1202 (p. 435), -to the second battle, in or about B.C. 600, between the Firbolgs, or Celts -(who had been gradually reasserting themselves), and a reinforcement of -Tuath-de-danaans, coming this time, not from Persia, but from India, -whence they had been expelled by the Brahmins (p. 443). Although this -second invasion proved successful, the power of the Tuath-de-danaans was -now on the wane, and the height of civilisation to which they had raised -the island rapidly declined before the inroads of the Scythians. Their -ritual became merged in that of the Druids, and their taste for letters -vitiated. Possibly, with a view to arrest this decadence, they began to -cultivate intercourse with Greece, the result being a strong reciprocal -influence, exercised by the languages of the two countries on each other, -and more especially by Irish upon Greek. A corresponding influence -resulted from the migration of discontented Tuath-de-danaans into -Scotland. Nor was it confined to language; for certain peculiarities of -ancient Irish architecture are found reproduced in Mycenian and Caledonian -structures, as, for example, in the _Treasury of Atreus_ (Mycenae) and the -_Dune of Dornadilla_ (Scotland); and that religion was not wholly -unaffected is proved by the discovery of Irish relics showing that the -oracular superstitions of Dodona had their counterpart in Ireland. - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -(PP. 475-497) - -The relics of Tuath-de-danaan occupation, which exist in the shape of -gigantic crosses, and of sculptured ornamentation in which cross-symbolism -is prominent, point to a mystery far more esoteric than that involved in -the Christian emblem. The cross had become representative of the number -_ten_, because in Irish the same word, _lambh_, denoted equally a _cross_ -and the human _hand_, or the number of fingers on both hands; whilst the -"triangle of _ten_" (p. 268) embraced "all that was solemn in religion and -in thought," being, in fact, "the index of male and female united," and -the prototype of the ark and pyramid. This _Sabaic_, and only -intelligible, explanation of these highly figurative sculptures disposes -of the theory that they are the product of a Christianity with which they -have nothing in common but a shape which is not peculiar to any one -religion in any part of the world. - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -(PP. 498-524) - -Serpent-worship is perhaps the most significant form of _Sabaism_, -involving, as it does, the expression of its source. For in the sacred -language of _Iran_, whereof Irish is the leading type, the word _Sabh_ -(the root of _Sabaism_) has three distinct, yet connected, meanings--(1) -_Voluptuousness_, or the _Yoni_; (2) a _Snake_, or sinuosity; (3) _Death_. -Through all these runs the central idea of sexual relation, which, as the -most elementary part of social life, has been symbolised all over the -world in connection with religion. The scriptural reproach, "generation of -vipers," is probably equivalent to _offspring of concupiscence_, as will -appear from the indignant repudiation of those to whom it was -addressed--"We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even -God." The part which the serpent plays in Brahminism is well known. In -Mexico a widespread faith called Nagualism had the _Culebra_, or snake, -for one of its principal deities; whilst the _Gadelglas_ of the ancient -Irish (Gadelians) meant simply the _green snake-god_, from which latter, -and not from the verdure of its soil, Ireland may have obtained the -designation of the _Emerald_ Isle. In fact, Sabaism, Ophiolatry, and -Gadelianism were one and the same; and, while purporting to be the worship -of the serpent, or of the stars (_vide_ p. 505), were in reality the -worship of _Sabh_ or _Yoni_, the representative of female nature. It was, -however, masculinity (_Budh_) that was typified in the phallic form of -those round towers, which the author now proceeds to describe with more -minuteness of detail than heretofore. Incidentally, he disposes of the -argument in favour of the Christian origin of these towers, which is based -upon the assumption that remains of Christian churches are invariably -found in their vicinity, by adducing an instance to the contrary (at -Giant's Ring, County Down).[29] - -W. H. C. - - - - -DEDICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION - - - TO - THE LEARNED OF EUROPE - TO THE HEADS OF ITS SEVERAL UNIVERSITIES - TO THE TEACHERS OF RELIGION AND THE LOVERS OF HISTORY - MORE ESPECIALLY - TO THE ALIBENISTIC ORDER OF FREEMASONS - TO THE FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY - TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY - TO THE FELLOWS OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES - TO THE EDITORS OF THE ARCHAEOLOGIA SCOTICA - TO THE COMMITTEES OF THE SOCIETIES FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE - GOSPEL AND THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE - AND - TO THE COURT OF THE HONOURABLE THE EAST INDIA COMPANY - THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED - AS A NOVEL EXPOSITION OF LITERARY INQUIRIES IN WHICH - THEY ARE SEVERALLY INTERESTED - AND AS AN INTIMATION OF RESPECT FROM - THE AUTHOR - - - - -PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION - - -In _Fraser's Magazine_ for the month just expired, there has appeared an -article headed the "Arcana of Freemasonry," which will save me the trouble -of an introductory dissertation. The style is quaint, but that will be -overlooked; its author is evidently a true mason and a good man; and, -initiated as he is in all the fundamentals of his fraternity, he will be -the more ready to recognise the truth of my disclosures, as well as to -admit the originality of the proofs which I adduce. To him, therefore, -whoever he is, do I with confidence refer. - -"In the spirit of the mighty dead," says he, "the great ones of the earth, -that seem ever and anon to look down through the clouds of this murky -atmosphere and to beckon us heavenward, nothing strikes more keenly, in -our conviction, than that passion for divine truth which burned -unquenchably within them. With what hallowed devotion they worshipped it, -with what intense aspirations they loved it, we must remember but too -painfully, when we converse with men as they are, and read the writings -they applaud. - -"Yes--it must be so! The first and noblest object to which the ambition of -man can aspire is the discovery and propagation of truth, on which the -felicity of all created thinkers absolutely depends; and, fortunately, the -glory of its discovery is nothing superior to the joy of its -communication. And therefore have the finest and freest souls, that have -caught the brightest glimpses of truth's eternal radiation, ever most -earnestly sought to lead their brethren and kindred to the same difficult -and solitary height from which they themselves first witnessed the -dawnings of the prophetic dayspring. - -"How many illustrious names, however venerable, have from time's eldest -records sought out with indefatigable assiduity the relics of divinest -Wisdom! How often beneath her charmed inspirations they wandered forth, -exulting over the boundless fields of metaphysical and physical -science--endeavouring by the things that are manifest to retrace the -hidden Divinity--to look through nature up to nature's God! And if happily -they discover some strange and stirring indications of the Almighty's -elaborating hand, or some bright testimony of His vivifying though -impalpable Spirit, have they not hastened with glowing hearts, and souls -overcharged with adoration, to whisper the mystery in secret, or to -proclaim the marvel to the world? - -"The history of Freemasonry being in fact the history of the gradual -progression of devotion and philosophy in the youth, maturity, and -declension of our planet's millenary circle, is intensely interesting to -the philosophic mind, as the ages of the one have a thousand mystic -correspondences with the ages of the other. After taking a luminous survey -of the advances of human intelligence as revealed in Scripture, it traces -the perpetual tradition of divine wisdom among the _hierophantic_ -academies of classic memorial. None understood so well the essential truth -of their _theo-astrological mythologies_ and their _symbolical mysteries_. -They track every subtle declension of lofty and bright-souled truth into -the shadowy circumference of hostile error; and thus, establishing their -minds on the deepest foundations of history, they continually build up -superstructures of all that is precious in literature or elegant in art. - -"In thus eulogising Freemasons, we of course allude to Freemasons -initiated into the deep spirit of divine philosophy, and not mere nominal -professors. True masons,--those who are made _free_ by their free devotion -to God's spiritual service, and _accepted_ by emulating the -self-immolation of their celestial prototype of heaven and earth for just -and disciplined worthies,--we would discourse of these, and these alone. -It would be as unfair to judge of Freemasonry in its hidden sanctuary -within the veil, by its irregular members, as to judge of its religious -illustration without the veil by merely nominal Christians. - -"But for true, or free, or speculative masons. These are the men who, -attached to their celestial Saviour with filial enthusiasm incommunicable, -and to each other by fraternal sympathies that melt them into beautiful -unanimity of immortal emulation, these are the men who feel a more -especial and endearing interest in the whole history of mankind. To them, -whatever is "wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best," in all the records -of humanity, hath a kind of kindred familiarity of association unknown to -others; for in all true men they recognise their ancestry or their -brotherhood, and they watch the broad line of their genealogical descent -with the reverent fondness of a lineal and loyal progeny. In their history -they love to contemplate the magnificent economy of Providence for the -gradual perfectionising of all lapsed intelligences. In this they view -every variation of Churches and States with tranquil and unbroken -satisfaction, and from it they look forward to the future with that fine, -free, and fearless confidence which Christian philosophy alone inspires. - -"In the present times, these relations to society have assumed a somewhat -deeper and still more thrilling intensity; they know well enough that old -age hath come upon the earth, and that the latter day is at hand; and that -the prophecies relating to her dissolution and bright regeneration are, -ere long, to be accomplished in their fulness. - -"They confess, with rejoicing, the vast spread of intellectual light and -freedom that now gilds the concluding pages of our planet's history. They -believe that the true and venerable principles of Church and State will be -confirmed and illustrated in their breadth and length, and height and -depth, by the last and prophetic experience of pious and patriot sages, -ere the kindling judgment breaks out upon the astonished world. - -"Such is the position of Freemasons in society at present. And when we -consider the extent of this chosen band of good and wise men, bound -together by the fellowship of indissoluble benevolence, and scattered over -every kingdom and republic, we cannot but observe their influences with -peculiar scrutiny of attention; for, by keeping fast their own counsel, -and preserving mutual good faith, they ever possess a strong, though -secret domination of philanthropy over all the affairs of Church and -State. In her peaceful and inviolable retirement, Masonry is, as it were, -the _primum mobile_ and mainspring of society,--unseen herself, but urging -the whole visible mechanism into harmonious and musical action. - -"In the present time, Freemasons cannot but feel that a terrible -responsibility is committed to their charge. The ancient interests and -ambitions of Churches and States are coming into perpetual and jarring -collision with the new. The ebb-tides of bigotry and despotism are -clashing with the advancing currents of enthusiasm and dissolute passion. -The spray of the whirling eddies already whitens the deep, and the roar of -the conflicting breakers is heard far away upon the wind. God saith, 'I -will overturn, overturn, overturn, until He shall come whose right the -kingdom is'; and the sea and the waves are roaring upon every shore, and -men's hearts fail them for fear, and for looking on those things which are -coming on the earth. To true masons is entrusted the hazardous charge of -piloting the vessel athwart the boiling whirlpools. They will save, if -they can, earth's latest age from indecent strife and confusion, and -struggle hard against the unfilial and disloyal apostates, that would -bring down her grey hairs with sorrow to the grave."[30] - -Here I would willingly close my Introduction; but as it may seem strange -that a work which bears upon its title-page the character of "Prize Essay" -should not have been published by the Society that have awarded it the -prize, I am obliged to open up a statement of facts which I had rather -have concealed; yet, in doing so, I shall take care, now that all vexation -has passed over, that no symptoms of asperity shall escape my pen; all the -colouring of language I shall equally avoid; nay, even inferences, however -obvious, I shall not press into observation, but confine myself strictly -to a matter-of-fact detail as to the conduct of the party in the case in -question. - -In December 1830, the Royal Irish Academy, after many fruitless efforts to -obtain information on the subject of the Round Towers, proposed a premium -of a gold medal and fifty pounds to the author of an approved Essay, in -which all particulars respecting them were expected to be explained. This -intimation I never saw. The stipulated time for the composition of -treatises--namely, a full twelvemonth--expired, and the several candidates -sent in their works. After a perusal of two or three months, the Council -agreed upon giving the premium to one of them; but his work being -deficient in some of the conditions required,[31] it was furthermore -resolved that he should be allowed some additional interval for the -supplying of these defects, and this determination they put into practice -by the following advertisement:-- - - "ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE, DUBLIN, - - "_21st February 1832_. - - "It having appeared to the Royal Irish Academy that none of the Essays - given in on the subject of the 'Round Towers,' as advertised in - December 1830, have satisfied the conditions of the question, they - have come to the following resolutions:-- - - "1st. That the question be advertised again as follows:-- - - "'The Royal Irish Academy hereby give notice that they will give a - Premium of Fifty Pounds and the Gold Medal to the author of an - approved Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland, in which it is expected - that the _characteristic architectural peculiarities belonging to all - those ancient buildings now existing shall be noticed_, and the - _uncertainty_ in which their origin and uses are involved be - satisfactorily removed.' - - "2nd. That the time be extended to the 1st of June next, for receiving - other Essays on said subject, and for allowing the authors of the - Essays already given in to enlarge and improve them; for which purpose - they will be returned, on application at the Academy House. - - "All Essays, as usual, to be sent post free to the Rev. J. H. Singer, - D.D., Secretary, at the Academy House, 114 Grafton Street, Dublin; - each Essay being inscribed with some motto, and accompanied with a - sealed billet, superscribed with same motto, in which shall be written - the author's name and address." - -A few days before this appeared, I heard, for the first time, of the -subject having been for competition. Wishing to ascertain whether it was -decided or not, I availed myself of a pretext for calling upon Dr. -M'Donnell, one of the Secretaries to the Academy, when the following -conversation took place between us:-- - -"I wish to know, sir," said I, "whether the Council would patronise a -translation of _Ibernia Phoenicia_, which I have just embarked in, with -Dr. Villanueva's consent?" - -"The Council have already subscribed to the _original_, and I believe they -feel no difficulty in understanding it in that form," was the reply. - -"I do not at all question their competency," I rejoined; "but to the -public, Doctor, it is a sealed volume; and I cannot think it foreign from -the spirit of your institution to countenance such an idea. Besides, it is -not a mere echo of the original that I intend to give. I purpose to -enlarge it by many additions of my own, accompanying it all through with -notes and illustrations." - -"To what points in particular will those additions refer?" - -"To the development of the mystery which overhangs the Round Towers." - -"Oh! On that head the Academy have already made up their minds. What is -_your_ theory about them?" - -"Surely, Doctor, if the Academy have already made up their minds upon the -subject, my information can be to you of no value! Good-morning." - -If my disappointment at this interview was great, my delight, a few -mornings after, was incomparably greater, on beholding the advertisement -above introduced; and though the _shortness_ of the time allowed, with the -_positiveness_ of the assertion so recently and reluctantly extorted, made -me suspect at once that there was some _management_ in the business, yet, -having thoroughly assured myself, from the wording of that manifesto, that -I was entitled to enter the lists, I plunged into the discussion without -further delay, and day and night, in sorrow and in difficulties, I -laboured, until I finished my Essay against the appointed day, when I sent -it in accordingly to await its chance. - -Four days, however, had only passed over, when the Council, having -perceived that they had been taken at their word, by the appearance of a -new candidate, allowed their friend to take back his Essay for one month -more, to render it more perfect! And in the exercise of their discretion, -they had the modesty to advertise, by a document precisely similar to that -already inserted, that their object in so doing was to "obtain _new_ -Essays on said subject." - -This last advertisement was not published for some days after their friend -had removed his work from the Council Board; so that there were no more -than about _three weeks_ remaining, for the inditing of _new works_ upon a -subject for which _lives_ have been found inadequate, and for which their -friend had already been allowed a period nearly approaching to two years! - -Soon as informed of this manoeuvre, I called upon Dr. Singer, as the -Secretary, and entreated of him, with much ardour, that he would put a -stop to those proceedings; stated that I was myself the author of one of -the Essays, which I would not further particularise; and that, as I had -reason to apprehend something wrong was in contemplation, I would feel -obliged if he exerted himself to have the Essays detained, and determined -upon by their merits as they then stood. He asked me to explain the ground -of my apprehensions. I complied; whereupon he assured me that I was -mistaken in that quarter, as "the individual," says he, "at whose request -we have extended the time is one for whom we all have a regard, and is by -no means the person on whom your suspicions light!" - -It was but little consolation to me that the person in whose favour all -this partiality was exerted was "not the person on whom my suspicions -lighted"! I remonstrated, but in vain. Every syllable that transpired -afterwards tended only to show that the decision was already -pronounced--that the premium was already awarded. I then hinted at the -injustice of seducing me into the competition, at the very risk of my -life, upon so short a notice, and not vouchsafing now so much as to -examine my production. This had some effect, and I left the Doctor with an -assurance that I "_should, at all events, get a hearing_." - -The day for the reception of the _amended Essays_ again came, and mine -again made its appearance. In the interim was started a periodical, under -the direction of some members of the Council, the most prominent of whom -was the _favoured_ individual himself. In the second number of this -periodical, on the Saturday after the last sending in of the Essays, there -appeared an article, written by the Rev. Caesar Otway, a member of the -Council, under the assumed name of Terence O'Toole, in which half -playfully and half mysteriously, _he lets the cat out of the bag_, and -actually asserts, as the event verified, that the premium was already -determined _to a member of their own body_! - -Here are his words:-- - -"The Round Tower, to the right, is a prodigious puzzler to antiquarians. -Quires of paper, as tall as a tower, have been covered with as much ink as -might form a Liffey, in accounting for their origin and use. But all these -clever and recondite conjectures are shortly, as I understand, to be -completely overthrown, and the real nature of these Round Towers clearly -explained, for the first time, in a Prize Essay presented to the Royal -Irish Academy by an _accomplished antiquarian_ of our city."[32] - -Notwithstanding the disguise here assumed of "as I understand," and so -forth, the writer of this announcement had, at this moment, not only -_perused_ his colleague's Essay, but actually registered his vote in its -favour! And as to his pretending that the development was a discovery, by -saying "for the first time," he betrays therein the extreme either of -_untruth_ or of _ignorance_, as the theory alluded to is but the _echo_, -in all particulars, of Montmorency's book, every sentence in which I prove -erroneous in the early chapters of the present volume! I could no longer, -however, be ignorant as to the _identity_ of the person in whose favour -Dr. M'Donnell had told me the Council had "made up their minds";--casually -corroborated afterwards by Dr. Singer!--I saw at once that the -"_accomplished_ antiquarian of our city" was Mr. Petrie, the antiquarian -_artist_ of the Royal Irish Academy--himself a member of their Council! - -However, Dr. Singer had promised that I "should get, at all events, a -hearing." And this was performed with a vengeance. _Three_ months was the -time devoted to the examination of all the former Essays. It remained, -therefore, only publicly to announce what was privately resolved upon. -But as my Essay, the _only new one_, was at all taken in, it was -indispensable but that they must read it, and _six_ long months did they -appropriate thereto. At the end of this period they saw that the position -assumed was right, and that I was entitled to the premium. But they had -already pledged themselves to give it to their friend, whose theory was -the direct opposite of mine; and, consequently, every sentence in it, or -in mine, must be wrong--a discrepancy, however, which they thought to -reconcile by leaving the original prize undisturbed, and voting me a -separate one. - -Had they had the candour to avow that this was their dilemma, I should -never have murmured, but quietly submitted to the issue; instead of which, -however, they worded their resolution in such a form as led the public to -think that there were _two_ premiums all along intended, and that the -first of these was given to the _best_ composition, and the second to that -which approached it in quality. - -It was as follows:-- - - "ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE. - - "On Monday, December 17, a meeting of the Council of the Royal Irish - Academy was held, for the purpose of deciding on the merits of essays - received, pursuant to advertisement, on _The Origin and Use of the - Round Towers of Ireland_, when the following premiums were adjudged, - viz.:-- - - "Fifty pounds and the gold medal to George Petrie. - - "Twenty pounds to Henry O'Brien, Esq." - -Now, be it observed that it was not only of the gold medal and fifty -pounds that I was deprived by this manoeuvre, but of the one hundred -additional pounds which Lord Cloncurry had offered upon the same subject. -Of this the Academy were also the dispensers, on the understanding that -whoever should get their gold medal and fifty pounds--the only premium -which they had offered--should also get his lordship's hundred; so that -by this stratagem they assigned to their friend not only their own, but -his lordship's patronage! - -I was in London at the time, and signified my dissatisfaction by letter. -Several were interchanged, in one of which I gave them to understand that -I would submit to the injustice if they would but publish my work in their -_Transactions simultaneously_ with Mr. Petrie's. This they declined, -assuring me that they would publish it, but _not simultaneously_, and not -_until_ after. No comment is necessary for this. - -Meanwhile, their periodical, which, from the first moment of its starting, -whenever reference was made to the Round Towers, unqualifiedly asserted -that they were Christian, and only _coeval_ with the _monasteries_,[33] -thought proper now to change its tone; but as an open acknowledgment of -_error_ would be too self-abasing for _Academicians_, they only put forth -a _feeler_, as if implying _doubt_ on the matter, which would have the -twofold effect of screening the "Council's" verdict--as the result of -doubt or ambiguity--and of preparing the public mind for the _altered_ and -_novel_ conclusion to which _all_, I trust, will ere long, as well as -_themselves_, have arrived. - -My eye, however, was on their plans, though separated by "a roaring sea." -I knew that where there were so many windings to mature the plot, there -must be as many to prevent its detection; and, accordingly, the very first -move they made in these, their _new tactics_, I _checkmated_ at once by -the following letter:-- - - (No. 1.) - - "LONDON, _March 16, 1833_. - - "DEAR DR. SINGER,--The _Dublin Penny Journal_ of February 23rd, on the - article, 'Devenish Island,' contains this sentence, viz.: 'Whether the - towers are the accompaniment to the churches, or the churches to the - towers, is a question not yet decided.' - - "Now _this_--coupled with the circumstance of the Committee having - awarded _two_ premiums to _two_, as I understand, _conflicting - ascriptions_, and that when only _one_ was _originally - proposed_--induces me, with all deference, to offer this memorial, - through you, to the Academy. - - "As the development of _truth_ in the elucidation of _history_ is the - object of the _antiquarian_, and, as the 'labourer is worthy of his - hire,' I take the liberty respectfully to ask whether, if I make _my - ascription_ of the Round Towers a _mathematical_ demonstration, with - _every other incident_ relating to their founders, comprehending _all_ - the antiquities of Ireland, as connected therewith--and this by _all_ - the _varieties_ and _modes_ of proof--whether, I say, in _that_ event, - will the Academy award me _the gold medal_ and premium? or, if that - cannot be _recalled_, an equivalent gold medal and premium. - - "My intercalary work, _substantiating_ all the above, is now finished, - and can be forwarded to the Committee by return of the same post which - will favour me with your answer.--I have the honour to be, dear sir, - your obedient, etc. - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "To the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer, - "_Secretary to the Academy_." - -By the above proposal I must not be understood as _admitting_ that my -_original_ essay "was not _sufficiently_ conclusive"; but as I had more -arguments still in reserve, I wanted to elicit from the Academy the -admission that it was _truth_ they sought after. After waiting, however, -more than three weeks, and getting no reply, I forwarded some other -proofs, accompanied by a letter, of which the following was the -conclusion, viz.:-- - - (No. 2.) - - "These are but _items_ in the great body of discoveries which this - intercalary work will exhibit. In truth, I may without vanity assert - that the whole _ancient history of Ireland_, etc., is therein - rectified and elucidated--which it never was before. Am I, therefore, - presumptuous in appealing to the Royal Irish Academy--the heads of - Irish literature and the avowed patrons of its development--for the - reward of my labours? - - "I shall with confidence rely upon their _justice_.--I have the honour - to be, with sincere regard, etc. - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "To the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer, - "_Secretary to the Academy_." - - - (No. 3.) - - "ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE, - "_April 16, 1833_. - - "SIR,--Your _improved_ essay and letter were yesterday laid before - Council, and as Dr Singer is at present confined with the gout, it - devolves on me to communicate to you the following extract from the - minutes:-- - - "'Resolved, that the Secretary be directed to reply to Mr. O'Brien, - and to state that any alteration or revocation of their award cannot - be made, _whatever may be the merits_ of any additional matter - supplied to them after the day appointed by advertisement; but if Mr. - O'Brien be willing that the new matter be printed along with the - original Essay, the Council will have the same perused, in order to - ascertain the expediency of so enlarging their publication.'--By - order. - - "RICH. ROW, _Clerk to the Academy_. - - "To H. O'Brien, Esq." - - - (No. 4.) - - "LONDON, _April 18, 1833_. - - "SIR,--Had I a _notion_ that the Academy's reply would be such as your - letter has this day imparted, I would never have sat down to indite - those additions, much less have forwarded them for _their perusal_. - For why did I write to the Secretary _three weeks_ ago, but to - ascertain _whether_ or _not_, in the event of _my_ doing _so_ and - _so_, would the _Academy_ act _so_ and _so_, and thus repair that - injury which they had before inflicted? What could be more easy than - to give me a categorical answer, one way or the other? Instead of - which, however, they left me to my own conclusions, which, as usual in - such circumstances, leading me to construe silence into acquiescence, - I transmitted my documents on the tacit faith that though the Academy - would not pledge themselves by a written promise, they would, - notwithstanding, if my researches proved adequate, reward my industry - by a suitable remuneration. - - "Now, however, when my papers have been received, and my developments - communicated, I am told that, _be their merits what they may_, the - _award_ is _irrevocable_; and I have no alternative, in the writhings - of my mortification, but the consolation of being _injured_ and - _duped_ at the same time. - - "You will say, perhaps, that my new evidences have not yet been read, - and that therefore my property is secure and sacred. But has not the - _accompanying letter_ been read? And what was _that_ but a _programme_ - of their contents? - - "_I_ had _thought_ that the Royal _Irish_ Academy were not only a - _learned_, but a _just_ and a _patriotic_ Society. _I_ had _thought_ - that having marshalled themselves into an institution, with the - _avowed_ object of _resuscitating from death_ the almost _despaired-of - evidences_ of our _national history_, they would not alone _foster_ - every _advance_ toward that desirable consummation, but shower - _honours_, and _acclamations_, and _triumphs_ upon him who has not - only _infused a vital soul_ into those _moribund remains_, but made - the history of Ireland, at this moment, the _clearest_, the most - _irrefragable_, and withal the most _interestingly comprehensive - chain_ of _demonstrational proofs_ in the _whole circle of universal - literature_.[34] - - "But it is not alone the being deprived of my reward that I complain - of, and the transferring of that reward to _another, every sentiment - of whose production must inevitably be wrong_, but it is the - _suppression_ of my labours, and the keeping them back from the public - eye, in deference to my _opponent's_ work, lest that the _discernment_ - of the public should bestow upon me those _honours_ which the - _discretion_ of the Academy has thought proper to _alienate_, that - affects me as most severe. - - "Indeed, it has been stated from more quarters than one, that the - withholding of the medal from me, in the first instance, and the - substituting thereinstead a _nominal_ premium of twenty pounds, - originated from a personal pique against me individually. Such a - report I would fain disbelieve, and yet it is hard not to give it some - credence, seeing that the _irresistible cogency_ of my _truths_ and - the _indubitable value_ of my literary discoveries are not only not - rewarded, but kept back from publication, _until someone else_ more - fortunate, or rather _more favoured_, shall _run away with_ the credit - of my cherished disclosures.[35] I wish--I desire--I most intensely - covet--that the Academy would convince me that _this is not an act of - the most aggravated injustice_. - - "You will please lay this before the Council, and tell them from me, - respectfully, that I do not want them either to 'alter' or 'revoke' - their award, but _simply_ to vote me '_an equivalent gold medal and - premium_' for my _combined essay_, or, if they prefer, the _new - portion_ of it. Should this be refused, _I will put my cause_, etc. - etc.--I have the honour to be, etc. etc. - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "To the Rev. Richard Row, - "_Clerk to the Academy_." - - -They bestowed some days in consultation upon the above; meanwhile, the -transmission of the _Dublin Penny Journal_ to London was countermanded, -and not a copy of it was allowed, for some months afterwards, to come -within hundreds of miles of the place of my residence. In the interim the -ingenious author of the _Celtic Druids_, and who had been _partly_ in -possession of my development of the "Towers" for some time previously, -favoured me with a visit, during which we conversed principally on -historical questions. The next day I addressed him a _note_, a copy of -which, with its _answer_, I take leave to subjoin, for the sake of the -_terminating_ clause of the latter, being the _self-convicting -acknowledgment_ of the "Academy's" _disingenuousness_. - - (No. 5.) - - "_May 2, 1833._ - - "DEAR SIR,--I hope you will not feel displeased at the frankness of - this question which I am about to propose to you, viz. have you any - objection to show me in manuscript, before you send to print, the - terms in which you speak of me, in reference to those points of - information which I entrusted to your confidence--such as the ancient - names of Ireland and their derivation, the towers and founders, dates, - etc.? - - "Should you think proper to consent to this feeling of anxiety on my - part, I shall be most willing to share with you those other 'points' - which I exclusively retain. - - "To the full extent you shall have them. The only condition I require - is, the credit of originality, which I have laboriously earned. Please - to drop me a line in reply to this, and allow me to subscribe myself, - with great respect,--Dear sir, your obedient, - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "Godfrey Higgins, Esq." - - - (No. 6.) - - "_May 3, 1833._ - - "MY DEAR O'BRIEN,--You may be perfectly assured I shall print nothing - which I have learned from you without acknowledging it. But I have - really forgotten what you told me, because I considered that I should - see it in print _in a few days_. Anything I shall write on the subject - will not be printed for years after your books have been before the - public. You did not tell me the name of Buddha, but I told it you, - that it was Saca, or Saca-sa,[36] which I have already printed a - hundred times, and can show you in my great quarto, when you take your - tea with me, as I hope you will to-morrow. _Sir W. Betham_ told me of - the fire-towers being Phalluses last night at the Antiquarian - Society.--Yours truly, - - "G. HIGGINS." - -Who, now, can pretend to think that the _neutralising award_ of the -"Council" was the effect of scepticism or legitimate doubt? Here Sir -William Betham, the Ulster King-at-Arms! the Goliath of _antiquaries_!--as -he is, undoubtedly, of _pedigrees_,--being himself a _member_ of the -"deciding tribunal,"--proclaims, in the midst of a venerable literary -assembly, that _my solution_ of the Round Tower enigma is accurate; and -yet in the _teeth_ of this _confession_, and of the _conviction_ which -_extorted_ it, he joins in voting away _my medal_ to a _compilation of -errors_, and in substituting thereinstead twenty pounds! - - (No. 7.) - - "LONDON, _May 2, 1833_. - - "DEAR DR. SINGER,--I exceedingly grieve to hear of your ill-health. - Its announcement, I assure you, made me look within myself, and for a - moment lose sight of my own hardships. I hope, however, that you are - now so far recovered as to send me a favourable answer to this my - _last_ appeal. - - "Taking it for certain that the Academy's having not replied to the - tenor of my late intimation arose from the circumstance of there - having been no 'Council day' since; and, as I anticipate, that on - Monday next my _question_ will be _finally_ disposed of, I am anxious, - for the good of _all parties_, and for the _triumph_ of _truth_, to - show you in _one view_ how I have amputated the last _supports_ of - error, and covered its advocates with ignominy and shame. - - * * * * * - - "Thus _every leaf_ unfolds _evidences_ to the _realisation_ of _my - victory_. I took my stand at the outset on the pedestal of _truth_; - and I challenge scrutiny to insinuate that, in the _multiplied - developments_ which I have since revealed, I have deviated from my - _grand_ position one single iota. - - "Let it not be supposed, in the observation with which I am now about - to conclude, that I mean anything disrespectful to the Council of the - Academy. Many years have not passed since I knew several of them in a - different relation; and however little effect college associations may - produce on _other_ minds, _I_ find not their influence so fleeting or - transient. It is with extreme reluctance, therefore, that I would - split with a body who have lectured me as tutors. But time has - _advanced_; _I am now right, and they are wrong, and the cause which - they patronise will not do them much credit_. - - "I do not, however, yet give up my hopes but that the Academy will - _wisely_ retrace their steps. Revocation of the _former_ medal I do - not require--much less the exercise of a single grain of _partiality_. - My demand merely is, as my former letters have indicated, the - substitution of _justice_. - - "Please receive the assurance of my consideration, and in confident - reliance that you will use your influence in this matter, and favour - me with the upshot instantly after Monday's Board,--I remain, ever - sincerely yours, - - "HENRY O'BRIEN." - - - (No. 8.) - - "LONDON, _May 9, 1833_. - - "DEAR DR. SINGER,--My appeals are over; and I regret to say that they - have not been attended to. The _virtuous_ and _enlightened part_ of - the Academy, therefore, cannot blame me, if, in the assertion of my - honest right, I try the effect of a public remonstrance. - - "In the interim, I transmit to you by this night's post some - additional leaves, which, in the anxiety of despatch, as well, indeed, - as from fear that they would not be inserted _because they overwhelm - for ever the antiquarian pretensions of the Dublin Penny Journal_,[37] - have omitted to copy. However, I will _now_ forward them, and claim - that they may be printed along with those already sent in the original - Essay. - - "... I have exhausted all the forms of blandness and conciliation, in - the vain hope of inducing the Council to redeem _themselves_ from - _disgrace_, by doing _me_ common _justice_. I have strove in the - mildest terms of conscious rectitude, invigorated by a phalanx of - overwhelming proofs, to make them reconsider their course, and spare - me the unpleasant task of exposing a deed which I am loth to - characterise by its proper designation. But the 'heart of Pharaoh' was - hardened; the 'voice of the charmer' not listened to; and to my soft - importunities nothing was returned but the coldness of obduracy and - disregard. - - "The Rubicon, therefore, is crossed; my patience feels insulted; and - the only consideration I value, in the resolve to which I have at last - been driven, is, that _you_ had nothing to do with the 'job' of the - Round Towers. - - "Little did the Academy know what arguments I could adduce in - elucidation of _certain mysteries_. As little do they now dream what - proofs I can summon, though _you_ cannot have _forgotten_ one of them, - while I promise I shall make _Dr. M'Donnell recollect_ another; and - would not the _Rev. Caesar Otway_, with whom I have never so much as - exchanged a look, be surprised at my quoting him as a reluctant third - witness, to show that the gold medal and premium were predetermined to - Mr. Petrie before ever I became a candidate; and that, _consequently_, - the advertisement under which I was _invited_ to contend, but from - which the Council never expected an intruder, was but a specious - delusion. - - "In this determination I violate no act of private regard, nor set - light by the claims of individual acquaintance. You know yourself how - earnestly I struggled, before the consummation of this nefarious - proceeding, to stem the agency of that despicable under-current which - I had just detected. I knew that fraud of some kind was at work; and - though unable at the moment to fix upon the person in whose favour it - was set agoing,--nay, though _mentally_ fastening the blame thereof - upon another, whose name, however, I never _let slip_, and to whom, I - rejoice to say I have since made more than recompense for this ideal - injury,--yet could I not be persuaded but that something _sinister_ - was designated; and to frustrate the influence of such prominent - deceit, you know how vehement was my address. I implored you, I - besought you, and all but upon my _knees_, and with _tears_, I invoked - you, by your regard to justice and your fear of a Creator, to _check - this trickery_, and allow _merit alone_ and _anonymous_ to decide the - issue. - - "I now, in the same spirit of solemn self-composure, adjure the - 'Council' through you, in the name of that God before whom they and I - shall one day appear, that they will have my cause redressed, and make - me reparation, not only for the substantial injury, but for the mental - disquietude and agony which this 'business' has occasioned. If they do - not, rest satisfied that _my path is already chalked_. All the - _evolutions_ of the Council, as displayed upon the Towers, and with - which I am but too familiar, shall be immortalised in letterpress; and - I do not yet despair of the _hereditary fairness_ of my country but - that it shall _register_ its dissent from the decision of that - tribunal, which could have had at once the _obtuseness_ of intellect - and the _perverseness_ of conduct to _stultify_ their own verdict by a - contradictory award; and, after _inveigling me into a competition - which they never meant to remunerate, deprive_ me of the fruits of my - indubitable triumph, in the pursuit of which I had almost lost my - life, and cut short my existence in the very spring of my manhood. - - "I mean no offence, individually or collectively, to the Academy or - its members; but as they have been deaf to the justice of my private - 'appeals,' I shall try the effect of a public 'remonstrance'; and as - to _ulterior_ consequences I greatly err, else the upshot will show - that the motto[38] adopted as my fictitious signature in the 'Essay' - was not the random assumption of inconsiderateness or accident, but - the true index to the author's resources. - - "My proposal is this--my unshaken position from which I will not - swerve or retract--a _gold medal and premium equivalent to those - originally advertised_.--I am, dear sir, yours sincerely, - - "HENRY O'BRIEN. - - "To the Rev. Dr. J. H. Singer, - "_Secretary to the Academy_." - - - (No. 10.) - - "GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN, - "_May 13, 1833_. - - "DEAR SIR,--I have been directed by the Council of the Royal Irish - Academy to reply to your last letters on the subject of your Essay, - and the additional matter recently sent over. As to the latter, I am - directed to say that the Council had engaged to examine and publish, - if approved, some small additions to your former Essay; but the papers - you have sent are so large as to be nearly equal in bulk to the - original dissertation; under these circumstances the Council cannot - publish them as additional to, or incorporated with, the Essay to - which they awarded twenty pounds prize, _as thereby its character - might be so altered that it would not appear in print the same Essay - on which they had formed their opinion_. The Council, therefore, wish - to know how they may transmit to you the papers you have sent. When - the gentlemen to whom your Essay has been submitted for examination - report, you shall be made aware of the extent of alteration they - suggest; and if you think that your paper requires the additions you - have sent, and would therefore wish to publish it with them yourself, - I have no doubt the Council will entertain any notice to that - effect.--I am, dear sir, your most obedient, - - "J. H. SINGER. - - "H. O'Brien, Esq." - - - (No. 11.) - - "LONDON, _May 20, 1833_. - - "DEAR DR. SINGER,--I do not quite understand the closing observation - of your last letter. If the Academy mean me a kindness, I should trust - that my nature is too sensible of such advances not suitably to - acknowledge it; and I should be sorry that, either from obscurity in - the diction, or want of quickness in my perception, I were to lose the - opportunity of making a grateful return. Let me, therefore, put the - following interrogatory to set myself right, viz.:-- - - "Will the Academy procure me a publisher for my _enlarged_ work? And - will they advertise that, having previously done me injustice, by the - transfer of my medal, they now, on being convinced of their error, - adopt this as the only mode of reparation, the award itself not being - to be recalled? - - "Without some such course as this, it is obvious that the offer which - they make, instead of being a _kindness_, would be a _mockery_; and, - instead of making amends for _oppression_, would be adding _insult_ to - _persecution_! For who, let me ask, would publish a work which a jury - have branded with the stamp of _inferior_, doling out their - surreptitious twenty pounds as an eleemosynary deodand, while the - _darling_ of their adoption, though disfigured by all the - imperfections of _blindness_, _lameness_, and _untruth_, and - recommended only by a few _painted gew-gaws_, which never entered into - the requisites of the original advertisement, _will pass current in - Dublin amongst the creatures_ of party! - - "I have already applied to Mr. ----, and he, intimidated by the - vicious state of society in Ireland, declined my proposal; but though - his apprehensions were sufficient to deter him from the speculation, - they were totally unfounded; for, despite of all corruption, all - chicanery, and all cabals, the etc. etc. etc. - - "This complaint, observe, does not refer to the new papers only, but - extends itself equally to the original Essay. Why do the Academy keep - it back? Believe me, it is in vain for them to defer 'the evil day' of - their exposure. Their doom was sealed the very moment they did me - injustice! I have watchfully reconnoitred their course, and have - proofs of the intricacies of their internal machinery, ample as those - before adduced for the solution of the Round Tower enigma, to effect - their overthrow; and if the present generation be not virtuous enough - to redress my cause, it shall be no fault of mine if any future age - shall be ignorant of the names of the individuals who constitute the - present _Council_; and in what light they shall be considered, their - own conscience can furnish them with a tolerable foretaste! - - "Was it not a cruelly perverse thing of them, after determining - beforehand to award the medal to Mr. Petrie, to inveigle me into the - competition by a deceptious advertisement? And then, after signally - beating them under all disadvantages, to _manoeuvre me off by a - beggarly cheat_? Shame, foul shame for ever upon the Academy! - - "Why, sir, the very terms of your letter show their - self-convictedness, though they have not honesty enough to avow it - overboard! What do they mean by saying that the new matter would 'make - my Essay not appear in print the same as that on which they formed - their opinion'? Are they afraid that it would make it appear worse? - Not at all; they would rejoice at the pretext, and publish it - _instanter_ as a cloak to their verdict! But as they have, in spite of - them, admitted those additions to be an _improvement,[39] why do they, - I ask, who have advertised for truth, again repress its effulgence_? - - "It is now easy to see what they designed by the clauses of - 'expediency,' 'if approved,' and 'subject to revisal'; viz., if false, - we will insert them in _self-vindication_; but if true, we will not, - _as being too great a victory over our own ignorance and favouritism_! - - "My Essay, however, does not want those new papers: the Council, - therefore, will please have them sealed and handed over to the custody - of Mr. Tims, my bookseller, in Grafton Street. The only additions - which I shall insist upon being inserted are those contained in my - letters in appropriate places, as I shall point out. - - "I conclude by giving notice that I shall claim Lord Cloncurry's - premium; nor do I despair of _recovering that_, as I should think that - his lordship is _too honest a man to sacrifice the interests of - literature to the intrigues of a faction_!--I have the honour to be, - etc., - - "HENRY O'BRIEN." - - - (No. 12.) - - "ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY HOUSE, DUBLIN, - "_May 27, 1833_. - - "SIR,--I am directed by the Council of the Royal Irish Academy to - inform you that they feel themselves compelled, in consequence of your - late letters, to decline the publication of your Essay, or the - maintaining any further correspondence with you on the subject. - - "Your Essay and the additional matter will be sent, as you desire, to - Mr. Tims, Grafton Street, as soon as a copy of the former can be - taken.--I am, sir, your most obedient, - - "J. H. SINGER, _Secretary_. - - "H. O'Brien, Esq." - -The discontinuance of the correspondence was to be expected, but their -declining the publication of my Essay in their _Transactions_, merely -because of my giving utterance to some unpalatable truths, was an excess -of _magnanimity_ which I did not think that even the "Council" would -personify. - -However, you suppose that they, at all events, returned me my Essay, as -promised? Far from it! In violation of all honour, and of the written -engagements of their Secretary, they have detained it ever since in their -hands, thereby putting me to the vast expense of procuring new plates, -instead of those which the original contained--an inconvenience, I must -affirm, which they had hoped I could never have surmounted; while, in the -interim, they should push out their _bantling_ upon the public, secure in -the consciousness of having cushioned my work, that they should ride over -the market without a rival. - -They should have known, however, that the person who, at _three months' -notice_, undertook to solve the Towers, and then kept them at bay for six -months before they could chouse him out of his prize, was not to be -deterred by such an obstacle as the above. And the reader may be satisfied -that, though it has occasioned _me_ some hardship, _he is in no respect -thereby a loser_. - -I have stated that the effect of my Letter No. 1 was to interrupt the -transmission of the _Dublin Penny Journal_ to London. I have now to point -out the result of the menace conveyed in Letter 8 of my determining to -expose--as I enclosed the proofs that I could refute--the _antiquarian -errors_ of their organ. It was that they _instantly took the hint, and -sold their interest in the concern_! And its new proprietor, edified no -doubt by a friendly lesson at their hands, very wisely intimates, in his -opening number, that he shall forego _antiquities_, and make literary -_jobbing_ no part of it. - -Here are his words: "From the concluding paragraph of the last number of -this little publication, its readers will be aware that it is now in the -hands of a new editor and proprietor, and they will naturally expect that -in the present number something should be said relative to its future -management. 'Deeds, not words,' has ever been the motto of its (present) -conductor, and he will therefore merely say that it is his intention to -give his readers good value for their money; that the _Dublin Penny -Journal_ shall not be a mere 'catchpenny,' depending upon the number and -excellence of its woodcuts for extensive circulation, but containing, as -he considers a publication of the kind should do, such a variety of -interesting and useful matter as shall render it really valuable. In -future, therefore, while the _antiquities_ of the country will not be -neglected, the work shall exhibit a more _general character in the -subjects of its contents_."[40] - - * * * * * - -_N.B._--As I am a member of no club, belong to no literary society, and -have no facilities otherwise for watching periodicals, whether newspapers, -magazines, or reviews, I shall feel obliged if any gentleman who, in the -exercise of a free judgment, should think proper to dissent from me, and -to express such dissent in offensive language, would be pleased to forward -me a copy of the work wherein his strictures may appear, and I promise -that I shall reply to them with deference, and perhaps satisfaction. I -also trust that, from the singularity of my position, I do not expect too -much when I express a hope that any publication which speaks against me -will allow me to reply through the same medium--a request certainly which -cannot be refused, unless the design be hostile and factiously malicious. -Any suggestions for improvement, with a view to a second edition, I very -cheerfully court. - -All communications addressed to me, to the care of my publisher, Mr. -Whittaker, Ave Maria Lane, St. Paul's, London, will reach me, and be -attended to. - - - - - THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND; - - OR - - THE HISTORY OF THE TUATH-DE-DANAANS - - _FOR THE FIRST TIME UNVEILED_. - - - BY HENRY O'BRIEN, ESQ., A.B. - - - [Illustration] - - - "Hic sacra, hic genus, hic majorum multa vestigia." - CICERO. - - ... "were of fame, - And had been glorious in another day." - BYRON. - - - SECOND EDITION. - - - LONDON: - PARBURY AND ALLEN, LEADENHALL STREET; - DUBLIN: - J. CUMMING, LOWER ORMOND QUAY. - MDCCCXXXIV. - - - - - TO - THE MOST NOBLE - THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, - ETC. ETC. ETC. - - -MY LORD MARQUIS, - -Many reasons concur why I should feel ambitious to associate your name -with the following production. To enumerate these would neither become my -humility, nor be acceptable to your good taste. But there is one motive -which, as it is the offspring of the heart, implanted there at a period -when adulation was not dreamt of, I may be allowed to particularise,--I -was born upon your estates--you are the landlord of that spot which -imparted my earliest images--the first soarings of my fancy were derived -from that scene--and to the native notes which I have lisped in that -primitive and retired region, more than to the vaunted advantages of a -subsequent collegiate career, am I beholden for the clue with which I have -traversed the ancient world; and of which Envy herself must yet -acknowledge, that I have here rectified the history in its very widest -amplitude--as well sacred as profane. - -It is to do honour to this clue _in the eyes of the Mecaenas of his age_, -and, under the auspices of his approval, to promote its revival, that I -give utterance to this sentiment; and so, hoping that you will view it in -this light, and not as the empty chaunt of a reprehensible egotism, I beg -leave to subscribe myself, with the most profound consideration and -respect, - - My Lord Marquis, - Your Lordship's most devoted - And most faithful, humble Servant, - HENRY O'BRIEN. - -LONDON, _September 1834_. - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - PAGE - - PORTRAIT OF HENRY O'BRIEN, BY MACLISE _Frontispiece_ - - DEVENISH ROUND TOWER 38 - - ARDMORE " " 71 - - CLONDALKIN " " 101 - - EFFIGY OF FARRAGH, OR MORIAGAN 138 - - SAMONA OF BUDDHA 140 - - ROUND TOWER, WITH DEVOTEE ON SUMMIT 169 - - SYMBOLIC SCULPTURE FOUND AT VINDOLANA 223 - - PALENCIAN SCULPTURE OF THE SYMBOLIC "TREE," WITH FIGURES 229 - - PYTHAGOREAN TRIANGLE OF TEN 268 - - SYMBOLIC CRESCENT-ORNAMENTS 273, 274 - - EFFIGY OF CRUCIFIED BUDDHA, SACA, OR MACHA 296 - - BRECHIN ROUND TOWER (SCOTLAND), WITH DOUBLE-ARCH AND EFFIGIES 299 - - OBELISK AT SANDWICK (ROSS-SHIRE) 306 - - PHOENICIAN MEDALS, STAMPED WITH CROSS, LAMB, AND ROSARY 314 - - SHAFT OF CROSS AT FORRES (SCOTLAND) 316 - - " " " REVERSE SIDE OF SAME 319 - - MONOLITH AT CARNAC (EGYPT) 322 - - SCULPTURE IN KNOCKMOY ABBEY 329, 330 - - SCULPTURE ON TEMPLE AT KALABCHE (NUBIA) 341, 342 - - KILCULLEN, CROSS AT 338 - - CLONMACNOISE, " 358 - - FINGLAS " 366 - - KELLS " 491 - - FACSIMILE OF MS. DISCOVERED AT ICOLMKILL 419 - - PHEELEAS, OR ORACLE-TUBE, FOUND AT BALLYMONEY 460 - - GLENDALOUGH, CURIOUS SYMBOLIC SCULPTURE ON RUINS OF 467 - - THE MAGI--WOODCUT FROM AN ANCIENT BLOCK-BOOK 482 - - MEDALS OF CHRIST, FOUND AT ISLAND OF ANGLESEA AND AT CORK 509 - - - - -THE ROUND TOWERS, _&c._ - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - "A lively desire of knowing and recording our ancestors so generally - prevails, that it must depend on the influence of some common - principle in the minds of men. We seem to have lived in the persons of - our forefathers; our calmer judgment will rather tend to moderate than - suppress the pride of an ancient and worthy race. The satirist may - laugh; the philosopher may preach; but reason herself will respect the - prejudices and habits which have been consecrated by the experience of - mankind."[41] - - -Of all nations on the globe, the Irish, as a people, are universally -admitted to possess, in a pre-eminent degree, those finer sensibilities of -the human heart, which, were they but wisely controlled, would exalt _man_ -above the level of ordinary humanity, and make him, as it were, a being of -another species. The numerous instances adduced in all periods of their -history, of ardent and enterprising zeal, in every case wherein personal -honour or national glory may be involved, are in themselves sufficient to -establish this assertion. But while granting their pre-eminence as to the -possession of those feelings, and the capability of the feelings -themselves to be refined and sublimated to the very acme of cultivation, -we may still doubt whether the _mere possession_ of them be not less a -blessing than a curse--whether, in fact, their quick perception of -disquietudes and pains be not more than a counterpoise to their keen -enjoyment of delight or pleasure. - -Foremost, however, in the train of the _many virtues_ which flow -therefrom, is that "amor patriae," or love of country, which, unsubdued -often by the most galling miseries and the most hopeless wants, throws a -halo round the loneliness of their present despair in the proud -retrospection of their former buoyancy. This spirit it is which, despite -of obvious advantages to be derived from emigration, has riveted the Irish -peasant so immutably to his home, that any effort on his part to dissolve -those local fetters would be equivalent to the disruption of all the ties -and attachments which nature or habit had implanted within him. - - "The lofty scenes around their sires recall, - Fierce in the field and generous in the hall; - The mountain crag, the stream and waving tree, - Breathe forth some proud and glorious history-- - Urges their steps where patriot virtue leads, - And fires the kindred souls to kindred deeds. - They tread elate the soil their fathers trod, - The same their country, and the same their God." - -But it may be said that this is a day-dream of youth--the hereditary -vanity of one of Iran's sons, arrogating antiquity and renown for an -inconsiderable little island, without a particle of proof to substantiate -their assumption, or a shadow of authority to give colour to their claims. -Why, sir, cast your eye over the fair face of the land itself, and does -not the scene abound with the superfluity of its evidences? What are those -high aspiring edifices which rise with towering elevation towards the -canopy of the "_Most High_"?[42] What are those stupendous and awful -structures of another form--the study at once and admiration of the -antiquarian and the philosopher, to be found on the summits of our various -hills[43] as well as in the bowels[44] of the earth itself?--what are they -but the historical monuments of splendour departed--surviving the ravages -of time and decay, not as London's column, to "lift their heads and lie," -but to give the lie and discomfiture to those, who, from the interested -suggestions of an illiberal policy, or the more pardonable delusions of a -beclouded judgment, would deny the authenticity of our historic records, -and question the truth of our _primeval_ civilisation? - -It is true, the magnificence which those memorials demonstrate is but the -unenviable grandeur of druidical, as it is called, idolatry and -unenlightened paganism,--when man, relinquishing that supremacy consigned -to him at his creation, or rather divested thereof in punishment for the -transgression of his degenerate disposition, lost sight of that Being to -whom he owed his safety and his life, and bent himself in homage before -perishable creatures that crawl their ephemeral pilgrimage through the -same scene with himself. Granted; yet that cannot well be objected to _us_ -as a disgrace, which, co-extensive in its adoption with the amplitude of -the earth's extension, equally characterised the illiterate and the sage; -and if, amidst this lamentable prostration of the human understanding, -anything like redemption or feature of superiority may be allowed, it must -be, unquestionably, to the adherents of that system, which, excluding the -objects of matter and clay, recognised, in its worship of the bright -luminaries of the firmament, the purity and omnipotence of that Spirit -who brought all into existence, and who guides and preserves them in their -respective spheres;--and when I shall have _proved_ that the intent and -application of those _Sabian[45] Towers_,--or, to speak more correctly, -those _primitive Budhist Temples_,--which decorate our landscape and -commemorate our past renown, appertained to this species of purified -idolatry, which worshipped only the host of heaven, the moon and the solar -body, which gives _vigour_ to all things, I shall, methinks, have removed -one obstacle from the elucidation of our antiquities, and facilitated the -road to further adventure in this interesting inquiry. - -Let me not be supposed, however, by the preceding remarks to restrict -their destination to one single purpose. All I require of my readers is a -patient perusal of my details; and I deceive myself very much, and -overrate my powers of enunciation, else I shall establish in their minds -as thorough a conviction of the development of the "Towers" as I am myself -satisfied with the accuracy of my conclusions. I shall only entreat, then, -of their courtesy that I be not anticipated in my course, or definitively -judged of by isolated scraps, but that, as my notice for this competition -has been limited and recent, allowing but little time for the observance -of _tactique_ or rules, in the utterance of the novel views which I now -venture to put forward, the proofs of which, however, have been long -registered in my thoughts, and additionally confirmed by every new -research, the merits of the production may not be estimated by parcels, -but by the combined tendency of the parts altogether. - -To begin, therefore. The origins I have heard assigned to those records -of antiquity,--however invidious it may appear, at this the outset of my -labours, to assume so self-sufficient a tone, yet can I not avoid saying -that, whether I consider their multiplicity or their extravagance, they -have not more frequently excited my ridicule than my commiseration. That -specimens of architecture, so costly and so elegant, should be designed -for the paltry purposes of purgatorial columns or penitential heights, to -which criminals should be elevated for the ablution of their -enormities--while the honest citizen, virtuous and unstained, should be -content to grovel amongst lowly terrestrials 'mid the dense exhalations of -forests and bogs, in a mud-wall hut, or at best a conglomeration of -wattles and hurdles--is, I conceive, an outrage upon human reason too -palpable to be listened to. - -Not less ridiculous is the idea of their having been intended for beacons; -for, were such their destination, a hill or rising ground would have been -the proper site for their erection, and not a valley or low land, where it -happens that we generally meet them. - -The belfry theory alone, unfounded in one sense though it really be, and -when confined to that application equally contemptible with the others, -is, notwithstanding, free from the objection that would lie against the -_place_, as it is well known that the sound of bells which hang in plains -and valleys is heard much farther than that of such as hang upon -elevations or hills: for, air being the medium of sound, the higher the -sonorous body is placed, the more rarefied is that medium, and -consequently the less proper vehicle to convey the sound to a distance. -The objection of situation, therefore, does not apply to this theory; and, -accordingly, we shall find that the exercising of bells--though in a way -and for an object little contemplated by our theorists--constituted part -of the machinery of the complicated ceremonial of those mysterious -edifices. - -The truth is, the "Round Towers" of Ireland were not all intended for one -and the same use, nor any one of them limited to one single purpose; and -this, I presume, will account for the variety in their construction, not -less perceptible in their diameters and altitudes than in other -characteristic bearings. For I am not to be told that those varieties we -observe were nothing more than the capriciousness of _taste_, when I find -that the indulgence of that caprice, in one way, would defeat the very -object to which one party would ascribe them, whilst its extension, in a -different way, would frustrate the hopes of another set of speculators. - -But what must strike the most cursory as irresistibly convincing that they -were not erected _all_ with _one_ view, is the fact of our sometimes -finding two of them together in one and the same locality. - -Now, if they were intended as beacons or belfries, would it not be the -most wasteful expenditure of time and wealth to erect two of them together -on almost the same spot? And when I mention expenditure, perhaps I may be -allowed, incidentally, to observe, that, of all species of architecture, -_this_ particular form, as it is the most durable, so is it also the most -difficult and the most costly. - -Need I name the sum of money which Nelson's monument has cost in modern -times? or that imperfect testimonial in the Phoenix Park which -commemorates the glories of the hero of Waterloo. No; but I will mention -what Herodotus tells us was the purport of an inscription upon one of the -pyramids of Egypt, the form of some of which, be it known, was not very -dissimilar to our Irish pyramids, while their intent and object were more -congenial; viz. that no less a sum than 1600 talents of silver, or about -L400,000 of our money, had been expended upon radishes, onions, and garlic -alone, for 360,000 men, occupied for twenty years in bringing that -stupendous fabric, that combined instrument of religion and science, to -completion! - -Our Round Towers, we may well conceive, must have been attended, at the -early period of their erection, with comparatively similar expense: and -assuredly, the _motive_ which could suggest such an outlay must have been -one of corresponding import, of the most vital, paramount, and absorbing -consideration. - -Would the receptacles for a bell be of such moment? And that, too, whilst -the churches, to which, of course, they must have appertained, were -thought worthy of no better materials than temporary hurdles, and so leave -behind them no vestiges of their local site,--no evidence or trace of -their ever having existed! And, indeed, how could they?--for existence -they never had, except in the creative imagination of our hypothetical -antiquaries. - -Ruins, it is true, of chapels and dilapidated cathedrals are frequently -found in the vicinity of our Round Towers; but these betray in their -_materials_ and architecture the stamp of a later age, having been founded -by missionaries of the early Christian Church, and purposely thus -collocated--contiguous to edifices long before hallowed by a religious -use--to at once conciliate the prejudices of those whom they would fain -persuade, and divert their adoration to a more purified worship. - -And yet, upon this single circumstance of proximity to ecclesiastical -dilapidations--coupled with the bas-relief of a crucifix which presents -itself over the door of the Budhist temple of Donoghmore in Ireland, and -that of Brechin in Scotland--have the deniers of the antiquity of those -venerable memorials raised that superstructure of historical imposture, -which, please God, I promise them, will soon crumble round their ears -before the indignant effulgence of regenerated veracity. - -It might be sufficient for this purpose, perhaps, to tell them that -similar ruins of early Christian churches are to be met with abundantly in -the neighbourhood of Cromleachs and Mithratic caves all through the -island; and that they might as well, from this vicinity, infer that those -two other vestiges of heathenish adoration were contrived by our early -Christians as appendages to the chapels, as they would fain make out--by -precisely the same mode of inference--that the Round Towers had been! - -But this would not suit; they could find no ascription associated with -Christianity which cave or cromleach could subserve; and thus have the -poor missionaries escaped the cumbrous imputation of having those colossal -pagan slabs and those astounding gentile excavations affiliated upon them. - -Not so fortunate the Towers. After ransacking the whole catalogue of -available applications appertaining to the order of monastic institutions -with which to _Siamise_ those temples, Montmorency has at last hit upon -the noble and dignified department of a "dungeon-keep" or "lock-up!" as -the sole use and intention of their original erection! - -As I intend, however, to unravel this fallacy in its proper quarter, I -shall resume, for the present, the thread of my discourse. - -Besides the absurdity, then, of bestowing such magnificence upon so really -inconsiderable a thing as a belfry, while the supposed churches were -doomed to dwindle and moulder in decay, is it not astonishing that we find -no vestiges of the like fashion, or structures of the like form, in any of -those countries where the people to whom the advocates of this theory -ascribe their erection have since and before exercised sway? - -The Danes had dominion in Britain longer and more extensively than they -ever had in _this_ island; and yet, in the whole compass of England, from -one extremity to the other, is there not one fragment of architecture -remaining to sanction the idea of identity or resemblance! - -Nay, in all Denmark and Scandinavia, the original residence of the Ostmen -and Danes, there is not a single parallel to be found to those columnar -edifices! - -Ireland, on the contrary, exhibits them in every quarter; in districts and -baronies where Danish authority was never felt; and surely our forefathers -were not so much in love with the usages and habits of their barbarian -intruders, as to multiply the number of those stately piles, solely in -imitation of such detested taskmasters. - -But what renders it _demonstrative_ that those professional pirates had no -manner of connection with the Irish Round Towers, is the glaring fact, -that in the two cities of Wexford and Waterford--where their power was -absolute, their influence uncontrolled--there is not a solitary structure -that could possibly be ascribed to the class of those which we now -discuss! - -In Scotland alone, of all European countries besides Ireland, do we meet -with two of them,--one at Brechin, and the other at Abernethy;--but they -are smaller than the Irish, and, with other characteristics, seem to have -been built, after their model, at a comparatively recent period, by a -colony from this country, "as if marking the fact," to use Dalton's -_accidentally_[46] appropriate phrase, "of that colonisation having taken -place when the rites, for which the Round Towers were erected, in the -mother-country, were on the decline." - -But, forsooth, they are called "cloghachd" by the peasantry, and that, -without further dispute, fixes their destination as belfries! Oh! seri -studiorum quine difficile putetis? - -That some of them had been appropriated in latter times, nay, and still -are, to this purpose, I very readily concede; but, "toto coelo," I deny -that such had ever entered into the contemplation of their constructors, -as I do, also, the universality of the very name, which I myself know, by -popular converse, to be but partial in its adoption, extending only to -such as had been converted by the moderns to the purpose described, or -such as may, originally, have had a clogh, or bell, of which I admit there -were some, as part of their apparatus. - -The first bells of which we have any mention are those described by Moses, -as attached to the garments of the high-priest. From these, the Gentiles, -as they affected to rival the Israelites in all their ceremonies, borrowed -the idea, and introduced its exercise into the celebration of their own -ritual. By "Israelites," however, I deem it necessary to explain that I do -not understand those who, in strictness of speech, are so denominated as -the descendants of Israel, _i.e._ Jacob, who, in fact, were a -comparatively modern people; but I particularise that old stock of -patriarchal believers which existed from the Creation, and upon which the -Israelites, rigidly so called, were afterwards engrafted. - -Our Irish history abounds with proofs of the "ceol," and "ceolan," the -bell and the little bell, having been used by the pagan priests in the -ministry of their religious ordinances; and to the fictitious sanctity -which they attributed to this instrument may we ascribe that superstitious -regard which the illiterate and uneducated still continue to entertain for -the music of its sound. - -From the Sabian ceremonial--succeeded by the Druidical--it unquestionably -was that the Christian missionaries in Ireland first adopted the use of -bells, wishing, wisely, therein to conform as much as possible to the -prejudices of the natives, when they did not essentially interfere with -the spirit of their divine mission. I shall hereafter relate the -astonishment excited in England, at the appearance of one of those bells, -brought there in the beginning of the sixth century by Gildas, who had -just returned after finishing his education in Ireland; and this, in -itself, should satisfy the most incredulous that the Britons, as well -pagan as Christian, were ever before strangers to such a sight; and no -wonder, for they were strangers also to such things as Round Towers, to -which I shall prove those implements properly and exclusively belonged. - -"Clogad" is the name, and which literally signifies a "pyramid," that has -led people into this "belfry" mistake. To conclude, therefore, this -portion of our investigation, I shall observe, in Dr. Milner's words, -"that none of these towers are large enough for a single bell of a -moderate size to swing about in it; that, from the whole of their form and -dimensions, and from the smallness of the apertures in them, they are -rather calculated to stifle than to transmit to a distance any sound that -is made _in_ them; lastly, that though possibly a small bell may have been -accidentally put up in one or two of them at some late period, yet we -constantly find other belfries, or contrivances for hanging bells, in the -churches adjoining to them." - -I fear greatly I may have bestowed too much pains in dispelling the -delusion of this preposterous opinion. But as it had been put forward with -so much confidence by a much-celebrated "antiquarian,"--though how he -merited the designation I confess myself at a loss to know,--I thought it -my duty not to content myself with the mere exposure of the fallacy, -without following it up with proofs, which must evermore, I trust, -encumber its advocates with _shame_; and the rather, as this great -champion of _Danish civilisation_ and proclaimer of his _country's -barbarism_ is at no ordinary trouble to affect ridicule and contempt for a -most enlightened and meritorious English officer, who, from the sole -suggestion of truth, promoted by observation and antiquarian research, -stood forward as the advocate of our ancestral renown, to make amends, as -it were, for the aspersions of domestic calumniators. - -Both parties are, however, now appreciated as they ought; and though -Vallancey, certainly, did not understand the purport of our Round Towers, -his view of them, after all, was not far from being correct; and the -laborious industry with which he prosecuted his inquiries, and the -disinterested warmth with which he ushered them into light, should shield -his memory from every ill-natured sneer, and make every child of Iran feel -his grateful debtor. - -Having given Milner a little while ago the opportunity of tolling the -death-knell of the belfry hypothesis, I think I could not do better now -than give Ledwich, in return, a triumph, by demolishing the symmetry of -the anchorite vagary. - -"It must require a warm imagination," says this writer,--after quoting the -account given by Evagrius of Simeon Stylites' pillar, upon which -Richardson, Harris, and Milner after them had founded the anchorite -vagary,--"to point out the similarity between this pillar and our 'tower': -the one was solid, and the other hollow--the one square, and the other -circular: the ascetic _there_ was placed without _on_ the pillar; with -_us_ enclosed _in_ the tower. He adds, these habitations of anchorites -were called _inclusoria_, or _arcti inclusorii ergastula_, but these were -very different from our round towers; for he mistakes Raderus, on whom he -depends, and who says, 'The house of the recluse ought to be of stone, the -length and breadth twelve feet, with three windows, one facing the choir, -the other opposite, through which food is conveyed to him, and the third -for the admission of light--the latter to be always covered with glass or -horn.' - -"Harris, speaking of Donchad O'Brien, Abbot of Clonmacnois, who shut -himself up in one of these cells, adds, 'I will not take upon me to affirm -that it was in one of these towers of Clonmacnois he was enclosed.' It -must have been the strangest perversion of words and ideas to have -attempted it. Is it not astonishing that a reverie thus destitute of -truth, and founded on wilful mistakes of the plainest passages, should -have been attended to, and even be, for some time, believed?" - -Thus have I allowed him to retaliate in his own words; but in order to -render his victory complete, by involving a greater number within his -closing denunciation, he should have waited until he had seen a note -appended to the fourteenth of Dr. Milner's _Letters_, which, -unquestionably, would deserve a similar rebuke for its gross perversion of -a "cell" into a "tower." - -It is this: "We learn from St. Bernard, that St. Malachy, afterwards -Archbishop of Armagh, in the twelfth century, applied for religious -instruction, when a youth, to a holy solitary by name Imarus, who was shut -up in a 'cell,' near the cathedral of the said city, _probably in a Round -Tower_." Risum teneatis? - -But I am tired of fencing with shadows and special pleading with casuists. -And yet, as I would wish to render this Essay systematically complete, I -am forced, however reluctant, to notice the conjecture, which others have -hazarded, of those Round Towers having been places of retreat and security -in the event of invasion from an enemy; or depositories and reservoirs for -the records of State, the Church utensils and national treasures! - -To the _former_, I shall reply, that Stanihurst's description of the -"excubias in castelli vertice," upon which it would seem to have been -founded, does not at all apply to the case; because, while the "castella" -have vanished, the Round Towers--which never belonged to them--do, many of -them still firmly, maintain their post; and as to the _latter_, the -boldness with which it has been put forward, by its author before -named,[47] requires a more lengthened examination than its utter -instability could otherwise justify. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -This chivalrous son of Mars, more conversant, I should hope, with tactics -than with literary disquisitions, has started with a position which he is -himself, shortly after, the most industrious to contradict; namely, "that -the gods, to punish so much vanity and presumption, had consigned to -everlasting oblivion the founders, names, dates, periods, and all records -relating to them."[48] - -Surely, if they were intended for the despicable _dungeons_ which the -Colonel would persuade us was their origin, there existed neither "vanity" -nor "presumption" in _that humble design_; and when to this we add the -_nature_ of that security, which he tells us they were to establish, one -would think that _this_ should be a ground for the perpetuity of their -registration, rather than for consigning their history to "everlasting -oblivion." - -But secure in the consciousness of the whole history of those structures, -and satisfied that _truth_ will never suffer anything by condescending to -investigation, I will, to put the reader in full possession of _this_ -adversary's statement, here capitulate his arguments with all the fidelity -of an honourable rival. - -His object, then, being to affix the Round Towers to the Christian era, he -begins by insisting that, as "the architects of those buildings were -consummate masters in masonic art," it follows, that "a people so -admirably skilled in masonry never could have experienced any impediments -in building substantial dwellings, strong castles, palaces, or any other -structures of public or private conveniency, some fragments of which, -however partial and insignificant, would still be likely to appear, in -despite of the corroding breath of time or the torch of devastation." - -His next argument is, "that the _busy_ and _fantastic bard_, whose -occupation led him to interfere in private and public concerns,--who, in -truth (he adds) is our oldest and most circumstantial annalist,--on the -subject of the Pillar Tower is dumb and silent as the dead"; whence he -infers the "non-existence of those Towers during the remote ages of bardic -influence,"--"and of their being utterly unknown to them, and to our -ancestors, anterior to the reception of the Christian faith." - -His third proposition is, that as "Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Solinus, -Diodorus Siculus, and other writers of antiquity, have represented the -condition of Ireland and its inhabitants to be barbarous in _their_ -days,--in common with their neighbours the Britons, Gauls, and Germans, to -whom the art systematically to manufacture stone had been -unknown,--_ergo_, those _barbarians_ could not be set up as the authors of -the Pillar Tower." - -His fourth premise is, that "wherever we chance to light upon a cromleach, -we seldom fail to find near it one of those miserable caves"--and which he -has described before as "surpassing in dreariness everything in the -imagination of man";--whereas in the vicinity of the Pillar Tower no such -thing is seen, _unless some natural_ or _accidental excavation_ may -happen to exist _unaccountably_ in that direction. His inference from -which is, that "although the cromleach and the cave do claim, the first a -Celtic, the second a Phoenician origin, and happen _here_ to be united, -the Pillar Tower, nevertheless, disavows even the most distant connection -with either of them." - -His fifth is a continuation of the foregoing, with an erroneous -parallelism, viz. "at Bael Heremon, in India, not far from Mount Lebanon, -there stood a temple dedicated to Bael, near to which were many caves, of -which one was roomy enough to admit into it four thousand persons." "The -size of those temples," he adds, "was regulated according to the extent or -amount of the local population, being spacious and magnificent in large -cities, and small and simple in the inferior towns and villages; but -nowhere, nor in any case, do we meet an example of a lofty spiral tower, -_internally too confined_ to admit _into it at once a dozen bulky -persons_, denominated a temple." - -"An edifice," he resumes, "like the Pillar Tower, might easily serve for a -belfry; and there are instances where it has been converted, in modern -times, to that use; on the other hand, a temple, properly speaking, gives -an idea of a spacious edifice, or of one calculated to accommodate, -withinside its walls, a certain congregation of devout people, met to -pray. Should the building, to answer any partial or private use, be -constructed upon a diminutive scale, like the little round temple at -Athens,[49] called Demosthenes', the edifice," he continues, "in that -case, obtains its appropriate shape, yet differing in plan, size, and -elevation from the Irish Pillar Tower, to which it cannot, in any one -respect, be assimilated." - -"Moreover," he says, "the ancients had _hardly_ any round temples. -Vitruvius barely speaks of two kinds, neither of which bears the slightest -resemblance to a tower. Upon the whole," concludes he, "if we will but -bestow a moment's reflection on the geographical and political condition -of primitive Ireland, and the avowed _tardy_ progress towards civilisation -and an acquaintance with the fine arts then common to those nations not -_conveniently_ placed within the enlightened and enlivening pale of Attic -and Roman instruction, it will be impossible not to pronounce Vallancey's -conjectures respecting the Pillar Towers as receptacles for the sacred -fire altogether chimerical and fabulous." - -Before I proceed to demolish, _seriatim_, this tissue of cobwebs, I wish -it to be emphatically laid down that _I_ do not tread in General -Vallancey's footsteps. To his undoubted services, when temperately -guarded, I have already paid the tribute of my national gratitude; but, -pitying his mistakes, while sick of his contradictions, I have taken the -liberty to _chalk out my own road_. - -Now for Montmorency. As to the first, then, of those objections against -the antiquity of our Round Towers, it is readily repelled by explaining -that, in the early ages of the world, masonic edifices, of architectural -precision, were exclusively appropriated, as a mark of deferential homage, -to the worship of the _Great Architect_ of the universe; and with this -view it was that the science was, at _first_, studied as a sort of -religious mystery, of which there can be required no greater possible -corroboration than the circumstance of that _ancient_ and _mysterious_ -society who date the existence of their institution from Noah himself--and -it is incomparably older--still retaining, amid the thousand changes which -the world has since undergone, and the thousand attempts that have been -made to explore and explode their secrets, the mystic denominational -ligature of "_Free and Accepted Masons_."[50] - -The absence, therefore, of any vestiges of other _coeval_ structures, for -private abode or public exhibition, should excite in us no surprise; more -especially when we recollect that in the East also--whence all our early -customs have been derived--their mud-built houses present the greatest -possible contrast between the simplicity of their domestic residences and -the magnificence and grandeur of their religious conventicles--Verum illi -delubra deorum pietate, domos sua gloria decorabant.[51] - -But though this my reply is triumphantly subversive of the Colonel's first -position, I shall dwell upon it a little longer, to hold forth, with -merited retaliation, either his disingenuousness or his forgetfulness; -because the same inference which he deduced from the non-appearance of -coeval architecture of any _other_ class, would apply as well to the -period which _he_ wishes to establish as the era of the erection of the -Towers,--and of which era, he admits, no other architectural monuments do -remain,--as to that which I shall incontrovertibly prove was their proper -epoch. - -Then, without having recourse to the _impossibility_--of which all -travellers complain--to ascertain even the _situation_ of those gigantic -cities which in other parts of the globe, at equally remote periods of -time, were cried up as the wonders of the age--the masterpieces of human -genius, making their domes almost kiss the stars; without betaking myself, -I say, to those, the only memorials of which are now to be found in that -of the _echo_, which, to your affrighted fancy, asking inquisitively and -incredulously, "Where are they?" only repeats responsively, "Where are -they?"--passing over this, I tell him that, more highly favoured than -other countries, we possess, in Ireland, ample evidences of those remnants -which he so vauntingly challenges. Traverse the isle in its inviting -richness, over its romantic mountains and its fertile valleys, and there -is scarcely an old wall you meet, or an old hedge you encounter, that you -will not find, _embedded_ among the mass, some solitary specimens of -chiselled execution, which, in their proud, aristocratic bearing, afford -ocular and eloquent demonstration of their having _once_ occupied a more -respectable post. - -Not less futile than the foregoing is his second objection, arising from -what he represents as the silence of "the busy and fantastic bard." -Doubtless he reckoned upon _this_ as his most impregnable battery; and I -readily believe that most of his readers anticipate the same result: but -this little book will soon shiver the fallacy of such calculations, and -adduce, in its proper place, from the very head and principal of the -_bardic order_--no less a personage than Amergin himself--its _towering_ -refutation; as well as the _final_, incontrovertible appropriation of -those structures to their _actual_ founders. - -In the interim, I must not let the opportunity pass of vindicating our -ancient bards from the false imputations of "busy and fantastic." - -If pride of descent be a weakness of Irishmen, it is one in which they are -countenanced by all the nations of the globe who have had anything like -pretensions to support the claim; and I fearlessly affirm that the more -sensitive a people prove themselves of their national renown, their -hereditary honour, and ancestral splendour, the more tenacious will they -show themselves, in support of that repute,--whether as individuals or a -community,--in every cause involving the far higher interests of moral -rectitude, of virtue, and of religion. In the legitimate indulgence of -this honourable emotion the Irish have ever stood conspicuously high. No -nation ever attended with more religious zeal to their acts and -genealogies, their wars, alliances, and migrations, than they did; and -while no people ever excelled them in enterprise or heroism, or the wisdom -and administration of their legislative code, so were they surpassed by -none in the number and capability of those who could delineate such -events, and impart to reality the _additional charm_ of imagery and verse. - -The bards were a set of men exclusively devoted, like the tribe of Levi -amongst the Israelites, to the superintendence of those subjects. Their -agency in this department was a legitimately recognised and graduate -faculty; and, in accuracy of speech, the only one which merited the -designation of _learned_, being attainable only after the most severe -novitiate of preliminary study and rigid exercise of all the mental -powers. - -The industry and patience bestowed on such a course were not, however, -without their reward. In a classical point of view _this_ exhibited itself -in the high estimation in which they were held--both amongst foreigners -and natives--as poets, as prophets, and as philosophers; while the dignity -and emolument attached to their situation, and the distinguished rank -assigned them, at the general triennial assemblies of the state at -Tara--with the endowments conferred upon them by the monarch and the -several provincial kings--were sure to render it, at all times, an object -of ambition and pursuit to members of the noblest families throughout the -various parts of the realm. - -The moral deportment and personal correctness of those literary sages -contributed still further to add to their esteem; and, probably, I could -not succeed better, in depicting the almost _sanctity_ of their general -behaviour, than by transcribing a stanza descriptive of the qualities -which won to them, as a society, the mingled sentiments of veneration and -of awe. It is taken from a very ancient Irish poem, and runs thus-- - - "Iod na laimh lith gan ghuin, - Iod na beorl gan ean neamhuib, - Iod na foghlama gan ean ghes, - Is iod na lanamh nas." - -That is-- - - "Theirs were the hands free from violence, - Theirs the mouths free from calumny, - Theirs the learning without pride, - And theirs the love free from venery." - -In later times I admit there was a lamentable degeneracy in the bardic -class,--or rather the innumerable pretenders to the assumption of the -name; and the "fescennine licentiousness" with which they violated the -sanctity of domestic seclusion, in exposing the objects of their private -spleen, tended not a little to bring their body into disrepute, and -subject them additionally to the salutary restrictions of legislative -severity. They were not less extravagant in the lavishment of their -fulsome commendations; so that one can hardly avoid drawing a parallel -between them and those poetasters, formerly, of Italy, whom Horace so -happily describes in those remarkable hexameters, viz.:-- - - "Fescinnina per hunc invecta licentia morem, - Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit, - ... quin etiam lex - Poenaque lata malo quae mallet carmine quenquam, - Describi."[52] - -You would imagine the Roman poet was speaking of the Irish bards in the -_night_ of their decline; but the description by no means applies to the -original institution, whose object it was to perpetuate the history and -records of the nation, and preserve its history from the intrusions of -barbarism. To this end it was that they met for revision at the senatorial -synod; and the importance of this trust it was that procured to their body -the many dignities before described, giving them precedence above the -aggregate of the community at large, and investing them with an authority -little short of royalty. - -Rhyme was the vehicle in which their lucubrations were presented; verse -the medium selected for their thoughts. To gain perfection in this -accomplishment their fancies were ever on the stretch; while the varieties -of metre which they invented for the purpose, and the facility with which -they bent them to each application and use, were not the least -astonishing part of their arduous avocations, and leave the catalogue of -modern measures far away in the shade. - -Music is the sister of poetry, and it is natural to suppose that they went -hand in hand _here_. In all countries, the voice was the original organ of -musical sounds. With this they accompanied their extemporaneous hymns; -with this they chanted the honours of their heroes. The battle-shout and -the solemnity of the hour of sacrifice were the usual scenes for the -concerts of our ancestors. Singing the glory of former warriors, the -combatant was _himself_ inspired; and while the victim expired on the -altar of immolation, the priest sang the praise of the deity he invoked. - -The introduction of the Christian truths gave a new and elevated scope to -the genius of the bards. A new enthusiasm kindled up their ardour--a new -vitality invigorated their frames; and they who, but the moment before, -were most conspicuous in upholding the dogmas of the pagan creed, became -now the most distinguished in proclaiming the blessings of the Christian -dispensation. Fiech, Amergin, Columba, Finan, etc., are glorious examples -of this transmuted zeal. - -About the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, however, a change burst forth -for the destinies of this order. Verse ceased to be used in their -historical announcements. Prose succeeded, as a more simple narrative; and -from that moment the respectability of the bards progressively evaporated. - -The jealousy of the English Government at the martial feeling excited by -their effusions, and the intrepid acts of heroism inculcated by their -example, if not the actual cause of this national declension, -preponderated very largely amongst its component ingredients. - -In the height of the battle, when the war-cry was most loud, and the -carnage most severe, those poetic enthusiasts would fling themselves -amongst the ranks of the enraged contenders, and determine the victory to -whatever party they chose to befriend. - -When, too, under the pressure of an untoward fate, and the disheartening -yoke of--what they deemed--a treacherous subjugation, the nobles would -seem dispirited at the aspect of circumstances, and all but subscribe to -the thraldom of slavery, the bards would rouse the energies of their -slumbering patriotism, and, as Tyrtaeus used the Spartans, enkindle in -their bosoms a passion for war. We must not be surprised, therefore, to -find in the preamble to some of the acts passed in those times for the -suppression of this body of men, the following harsh and deprecating -allusions, viz.:--"That those rymors do, by their ditties and rymes made -to divers lords and gentlemen in Ireland, in the commendacyon and high -praise of extortion, rebellyon, rape, raven, and outhere injustice, -encourage those lords and gentlemen rather to follow those vices than to -leave them." - -For two centuries after the invasion of Henry II., the voice of the Muse -was but faintly heard in Ireland. The arms of Cromwell and William III. -completely swept away her feudal reminiscences. As it was their country's -lustre that inspired the enthusiasm of the bards, so, on the tarnishing of -_its_ honour, did they become mute and spiritless. They fell with its -fall; and, like the captive Israelites, hanging their untuned harps on the -willows, they may be supposed to exclaim in all the vehemence of the royal -psalmist-- - - "Now while our harps were hanged soe, - The men whose captives there we lay - Did on our griefs insulting goe, - And more to grieve us thus did say: - You that of musique make such show, - Come, sing us now a Zion lay.-- - Oh no! we have nor voice nor hand - For such a song in such a land." - -Montmorency's _third_ objection against the antiquity of the Round -Towers--founded on the statements of those Greek and Latin writers above -named, respecting the "barbarous" condition of the _then_ Irish,--I thus -dissipate into thin air. - -The inhabitants of Ireland, at the time in which those authors flourished, -had nothing to do with the erection of the Round Towers. Those edifices -were hoary with antiquity at that moment. They belonged to an era and to a -dynasty, not only of a more ancient but of a more exalted character in -every sense of the word, and whose religious ceremonials, for the -celebration of which the Round Towers were constructed, the _then_ -inhabitants did not only abhor, but did all in their power to efface and -obliterate. Nor was it the religion alone of this inoffensive and sacred -tribe that this new and devastating race of militants laboured to -extirpate; but, what was far more to be deplored, they, for a season, -extinguished their literature also; until at length, fired by the moral -ether which the lessons of their now slaves had inspired, their souls got -attuned to the sublimity of such studies, and they sat themselves down -accordingly to emulate their instructors. - -As to the puny detractions, therefore, of either Greece or Rome, they -might well have been spared, as they knew _less_ than _nothing_ of our -real history. When they were lowly and obscure, and immersed in the -darkness of circumambient benightment, our high careering name, -_synonymous_ with civilisation, was wafted by the four winds of heaven to -all the quarters of the world which that heaven irradiates. The commerce -of the whole East pressed tumultuously to our shores--the courts of the -polished universe (not including Greece or Rome amongst the number) sent -us embassies of congratulation; while the indomitable ardour and -public-spirited zeal of the "islanders" themselves launched them abroad -over the bosom of the wide watery circumference; exploring in every region -the gradations of civil institutes, as well as the master productions of -Nature herself; civilising life with the results of their discoveries, and -garnishing their houses, like so many museums, with the fruits of their -research, for the benefit, at once, and entertainment of their less -favoured, though not less ambitious brethren at home. - -Think you that the testimony of Festus Avienus, who wrote before the -Christian light, and who avowedly only compiled his treatise from other -more ancient authorities--think you, I say, that _his_ designation of this -island as "sacred"--and which he says was the appropriate denomination by -which the still greater ancients used to call it--was an idle sobriquet or -an arbitrary adjective? Amongst the many discoveries which will develop -themselves in succession, before I shall have done with this little book, -I pledge myself to the public incontrovertibly to prove that the word -"_Hibernian_"--so grossly abused and so malignantly vilified, and which -Avienus has recorded as the name of the _islanders_ at the period in which -he wrote, as it is still to this day--signifies, in its _component -essence_, and according to the nicest scrutiny of etymological analysis, -independently _altogether_ of historical corroboration, _an inhabitant of -the sacred isle_; and has _nothing_ on earth to do with _Heber_ or -Heremon; or _hiar_, the west; or _iberin_, extremes; or any other such -outlandish nonsense! - -Now comes the Colonel's _fifth_ and _last_ objection; viz. that because -there existed at Baal Heremon, in India, a temple sacred to Baal, the -capacity of which was sufficient to accommodate four thousand persons, -therefore the Round Towers, which are "internally too confined to admit -into them, at once, a dozen bulky persons, could not be denominated a -temple." - -Does not the Colonel know that there existed a plurality of those Baals? -that, in fact, they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament, -resolving themselves--according to the character of every distinct -country, and of every minor subdivision and canton in that country--into -the specific and gentile classifications of Baal Shamaim, Baal Pheor or -Phearagh, Baal Meon, Baal Zephon, Baal Hemon, etc.; while under the _veil_ -of all, the learned ever understood to have been solely personated the sun -and moon. "Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and the men of -Babylon made Succoth-Benoth."[53] - -In accordance with the _different_ views under which each people -considered the _bounties_ of those luminaries, so did their temples assume -a corresponding shape; and it shall be my lot, in the progress of this -litigated research, to show why the followers of one of those Baals, -namely, Baal Phearagh, gave their temples this _erect_, _narrow_, and -_elevated roundness_. - -I have thus annihilated those visionary ramparts which my opponent had -flattered himself he had raised against the intrusion of long-suppressed -truth; and by the help of which, as a military bastion, he had fondly -hoped he might link together the Church and the sword in one _cemented_ -bond of anachronism. Let us see, however, how he would bring about the -match, with the articles of intermarriage, and so forth. - -His assumption is, that "the founders of those Towers were primitive -Coenobites and Bishops, _munificently_ supported in the undertaking by the -newly-converted kings and toparchs; the builders and architects being -those monks and pilgrims who, from Greece and Rome, either preceded or -accompanied our early missionaries in the fifth and sixth centuries"; -which he pretends to substantiate in the following manner. - -Having discovered, by a most miraculous effort of penetration, that one -hundred and fifty Greek and Roman religionists had accompanied St. Abhan -on his return from imperial Rome,--whither he had gone to complete his -theological studies, towards the end of the fifth century,--and not -knowing how to occupy those strangers in this _then pagan_ land, the -Colonel, with his industrious habits, well aware that "idleness is the -mother of mischief," sets them, at once, about building the Towers. - -But as it would be too lavish a display of knight-errantry to waste their -time and strength without some ostensible purpose, he must, of course, -find out for them a pretext, at least, for such; and so, in the eagerness -of his milito-monastic zeal, he flies off, at a tangent, to the top of -Mount Colzoum, near the desert of Gebel,--"a short day's journey from the -Red Sea,"--where he thinks he has got, in the monasteries of the Egyptian -monks, a direct, immediate, and indubitable prototype. - -Reader, you shall be the judge. Here is his own translation of Bonnani's -description of the place, viz.: - -"There are three churches, of which St. Anthony's, which is small and very -old, is the most distinguished; the second is dedicated to the apostles -Peter and Paul; and the third church is raised in honour of St. Macaire, -who has been a lay brother in this convent. All the cells stand separately -from each other; they are _ill built_, the walls being composed of clay, -covered in with flat roofs and diminutive windows only one foot square. -Close to the refectory, which is dark and dirty, the monks have added a -rather decent apartment, in their wonted hospitality, destined to the -reception of visitors. - -"Within the central courtyard, an isolated _square tower_ of masonry, -which is approached by a drawbridge, holds a formidable station. Here the -Cophtes preserve whatever wealth or precious objects they possess; and if -assailed by the plundering Arabs, defend themselves with stones. There are -four more celebrated monasteries in the desert of St. Macaire, distant -about three days' journey from Grand Cairo. The first is the convent of -St. Macaire, which is ancient and in a ruinous state--the bones of the -founder are enshrined in a stone coffin, placed behind an iron gate, -enveloped in a chafe or pluvial (a sort of church ornament), formed into a -canopy. A _square tower_ of stone, which you enter by a drawbridge, is the -only solid building belonging to the Abbey that remains. The friars store -their books and their provisions, and obstinately defend themselves in -this _hold_, whenever the wild Arabs come to pay them a predatory visit. - -"There are _similar_ (square) towers attached to the three other -monasteries in the desert, the doors of which, and of the convent of St. -Macaire, are alike covered with iron plates," etc. - -To the candid and dispassionate reader,--who has gone through this -extract, and who is told that _this_ is the _basis_ upon which Colonel de -Montmorency builds his superstructure of monastic appropriation,--to such -I fearlessly appeal whether he will not scout the indignity with -_intellectual_ scorn. - -Here are edifices spread, _in numbers_, over our island, in unity of -design and elegance of execution, admitted by this writer himself as "the -most imposing objects of antiquity in all Christendom," and "placed by an -almost supernatural power to brave the stormy winds and the wrath of -time"; yet, in the same breath, made the counterparts of a _few trumpery_, -_temporary_, and _crazy_ old piles, which were originally erected as -military stations, totally distinct from religion or religious -uses--similar to those erected by Helena, mother to Constantine the Great, -on the coast of Syria, against piratical incursions, and analogous to what -we find in India, viz. a whole fortress converted into a conventual -establishment. The thing is absurd,--it is revolting to _common -sense_,--and bears on its forehead its own discomfiture. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -Observe, then, the structures which he compares are altogether different; -one being _square_, and the other round. Nor, in the whole _compass_ of -_possible analogies_, is there a single feature in which the two _classes_ -of edifices could be _said_ to correspond, but that they both have their -doors--which, by the way, are different in their form--at a distance from -the ground. The _Pyramids_ of Egypt bear the same correspondence,--their -entrance being one-third of the height from the surface,--and why does not -the Colonel bestow _them_ also upon the monks? No; those poor, denuded, -inoffensive, exemplary, _unearthly_ victims of maceration were incapable -of, either the masonic acme, or--at the era which Montmorency -particularises--of the corporate influence and pecuniary or equivalent -supplies indispensable for the erection of either "pyramid" or -"tower";--contenting themselves rather with their _lowly cells_, whence -they issued out, at all seasons, to diffuse the word of "life," than in -raising _maypoles_ of stone, within which to garrison their -_inexpressible_ treasures. - -But to reconcile this discrepancy in exterior outfit, he has recourse to a -miracle, which he thus conjures up. "Doubtless, in the _beginning_, when -first those Coenobites settled in the desert, the convent-tower was -round;" then, by a single word, _praesto_,--or "doubtless,"--right-about -face, takes place a metamorphosis, from round to square!--the more -miraculous, in that the _former round_ ones left behind them no vestiges! -Upon which, again, a counter miracle is effected: "The square ones having -subsequently fallen into disuse, the round tower, in after ages," he says, -"appears to have acquired a degree of increased celebrity, especially in -_Europe_, during the preponderance of the feudal system, when every -baronial castle in Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, etc., was -furnished with one or more." Now, has he not before told us, and told us -_truly, by chance_, that the Pillar Tower _scorns_ all kind of affinity -with those "_barbarians_"; whereupon I shall merely observe with the poet, -that - - "If people contradict themselves, can _I_ - Help contradicting them?"[54] - -But, if intended as a place of shelter for either _person_ or _property_, -why build them of such an altitude? Above all things, why not build them -of such internal capacity as to accommodate the _whole_ number of inmates -in each convent, in case of an attack,--as, in fact, those _square_ towers -in the desert used; whereas, "a _dozen bulky persons_" could not squeeze -together into one of our Round Towers; and accordingly, with the -inconsistency inseparable from error, our author himself proclaims that -"it has frequently occurred that the _barbarian_, on finding that he had -been foiled in his search after treasures, though he burned the abbey, and -perpetrated all the mischief he was able, sooner than retire empty-handed, -the _pirate_ seized on the abbot, or most prominent member he found -belonging to the community, and hurried away the unfortunate individual -on board his ship, holding him in durance, till, overcome by ill-usage, he -besought his brethren to come to his relief with a heavy ransom for his -freedom." "It has also often happened," he adds, "that, unable to comply -with the tyrant's exorbitant demands, the monks resigned the captive to -his fate." - -Surely, if they had those _keeps_ to fly to, the "unfortunate" abbot need -not allow himself to be seized at all; and surely, also, if they had all -those treasures upon which the Colonel insists, they would not leave the -father of their "community" unredeemed from so excruciating a degradation. -And hence we may conclude with Dr. Lanigan, "What little credit is due to -the stories of some hagiologists, who talk of great estates granted to our -monasteries and churches in those and even earlier times."[55] Indeed, for -the two first centuries subsequent to the arrival of St. Patrick, such a -thing was incompatible with the nature of the "political compact" in -Ireland. - -I do not deny, however, but that the ecclesiastics of this time did -possess some articles of value appertaining to the altar, and that these -were objects of unholy cupidity to the Danes: nay, further, I admit that, -to escape from the insatiability of those virulent marauders, they used to -fly to the belfries, which--from that mistaken regard attached to the -edifices, as these receptacles of those sonorous organs to which -superstition has ever clung[56]--they had hoped would prove an asylum -from their pursuits,--but in vain--neither religion nor superstition -opposed a barrier to the Northmen, while the frail materials whereof those -belfries were constructed afforded a ready gratification to their appetite -for destruction. - -_The Ulster Annals_, year 949, furnish us with the following -fact:--"Cloicteach Slane do loscadh do Gall Athacliath. Bacall ind -Erlamha, 7 cloc badec do cloccaibh, Caenechair Ferleghinn, 7 sochaide mor -inbi do loscadh." That is, the belfry at Slane was set fire to by the -foreigners (the Danes) of Dublin. The pastor's staff or crozier, adorned -with precious stones, besides the principal _bells_, and Canecar the -lecturer, with a _multitude_ of other persons were burned in the flames. -_The Annals of the Four Masters_, noticing the same event, use nearly -similar words: "Cloicteach Slaine do loscadh can a lan do mhionnaibh 7 -deghdh aoninibh, im Chaeinechair Fearleighinn Slaine, Bachall an Eramha 7 -_clocc_ ba deach do chloccaibh." That is, The belfry at Slane was _burned -to the ground_, along with several articles of value which were therein, -and _numbers_ of _individuals_, besides the Slane praelector, the patron's -staff, and all the bells, which were there of _most_ worth. - -Now take notice that within those "belfries" a "_multitude_ of persons" -used to have been collected, whereas the Round Towers could not -accommodate above "a dozen" at one time. The belfries also are represented -to have been reduced to ashes by the conflagration, which accords with the -description given by both Ware and Colgan, of the _wooden_ substance -whereof they were composed; whereas the Round Towers are made of _stone_, -and cemented by a bond of such indurated tenacity, that nothing short of -lightning or earthquake has been known to disturb them:--and even though -other violence may succeed in their overthrow, yet could it not be said -with any accuracy that they were reduced by _fire_ to cinders. But, above -all, those very Annals which I have above quoted, when recording a greater -and national calamity, place the belfries and the Round Towers in the same -sentence, _contradistinguished_ from one another,--the former -characterised by their appropriate name of _Cloicteach_, as exhibited -before, and the latter under the still more apposite denomination of -_Fidhnemeadh_, as we shall explain elsewhere. - -Again, if designed as fortresses for the monks, and receptacles for their -riches, is it not strange that in the isle of Hy,--which was literally a -nest of ecclesiastics, and which Columb Kill himself evangelised at the -time when Montmorency was--in a _dream_--employing him and his coadjutors -at the erection of the Round Towers,--is it not strange, I say, that this -little isle, the most defenceless, as it is, and forlorn of all lands that -ever projected above the bosom of the sea, should yet, in the allotment of -monastic artillery, be left totally destitute of an _aerial_ garrison? - -And yet, notwithstanding the absence of such defences, the monks still -continued to make it their favourite abode; of which we have but too -cogent an evidence in the record of the Four Masters, under the year 985, -stating that the abbot and fifteen of his brethren were slain by the -Northmen on Christmas Day, just as they were preparing to celebrate the -nativity of their Redeemer. - -But those monks spread themselves, in _shoals_, over England also; and we -know that _that_ country was even more infested than our own with both -Northmen and Danes. Is it not astonishing, therefore, that the English -convents were not protected against the sacrilege of those savages by -telescopic steeples of _Babylonish cement_? - -This, it may be said, is applying a steam-engine to crush a flapwing; yet, -as that flapwing has been somewhat troublesome, and has contrived to -blindfold some searchers after antiquarian _truth_, I may be excused if, -to frustrate any efforts at impotent revivals, I shall continue -decapitating the hydra, until he disappears in his own sinuosities. - -He tells us, then, with all the calculation of an engineer and the gravity -of a physician, that a stone let fall from the top of one of those towers -would crush the "barbarian" to atoms. True, it would, and the _civilian_ -also. A little pebble let fall from an eagle's beak, as he cuts his aerial -passage through the cloudy regions, or soars aloft into the empyreal of -interminable space, would have a similar effect; but it would puzzle the -shrewdest engineer in Christendom to place a ballast-man, with a big stone -on his lap, on either the top or the sloping sides of the conical -"caubeen" which graces the summit of our careering cylinders. This, to use -the Colonel's own words, "will be admitted to be contrary to all that is -admissible in the rules of architectural proportions." - -[Illustration: DEVENISH.] - -Next remark that the Colonel keeps those 150 "volunteers" at work upon the -Round Towers in the midst of a raging war;--after he had before affirmed -that they could only be erected in a season of profound peace--for a -complete century. During this whole time they must, of course, have -availed themselves of the assistance of the inhabitants; and is it not -marvellous that, during that long time "the ancient Irishman"--and "Pat's -nae stupid fellow," as the Colonel himself avows--should not have been -able to pick up a single insight into the arcana of the masonic art?--but -that soon as ever the dear externs expired,--who at the period of their -arrival must have been, at least, over twenty years of age each, and who, -to accomplish Montmorency's miracle, must have every one of them lived -just one hundred years more, and then died, all in one day!--is it not -_petrifying_, I say, that soon as ever this appalling catastrophe -occurred, every vestige of those "fairy" masons should have vanished along -with them?--and the country, in a _paralysis_, have forgotten to associate -them with the Towers, as if stupefied with the incantation of a wizard or -a talisman! - -And yet this was not the greatest injustice of which the poor Coenobites -got reason to complain; but it _is_ that, when the people had recovered -from the delirium of their late trance, and began to look abroad for some -"authors" on whom to _father_ those edifices, they unanimously, though -unaccountably, agreed to lay them at the door of the "O'Rorkes" and the -"MacCarthy Mores"! - -It so happens that the last of the MacCarthy Mores was my _own_ maternal -grandfather; and he, venerable and venerated old gentleman, apt as he was, -in the evening of his faded life, to revert to the mutability of worldly -possessions, never for a moment bestowed a solitary thought upon the -alienation of the property of those columnar masonries. Often used he to -mention the Castles of Palace and of Blarney: Castlemain and Glenflesk -used still oftener to grace his talk; but oftener still, and with more -apparent delectation, would he dilate on the _Castle_ of Macroom and the -_Abbey_ of Mucruss,--all, as the creation of _immediate_ or _collateral_ -branches of his family; but never, in the catalogue of his patrimonial -spoliations did he enumerate a Round Tower, or lay a shadow of claim to -their construction. - -To the point, however.--The great miracle after all is, that after the -decease of those "fairy" masters, no one of their native helpmates could -be found able to join together with mechanical skill two pieces of hewn -stone with the intermediate amalgam of adhesive mortar! The thing is so -absurd as to make the Colonel himself in his honesty to exclaim, "Is this -simple process that mighty piece of necromancy which, according to some -authors" (forgetting that he was one of those himself), "that _lively_ -people were unable to comprehend?" It is amusing to see how encomiastic -and commendatory he is of the "Hibernians" when it answers his views; and -how vituperative and condemnatory when it is equally to his purpose. - -The last assumption of this writer, and which I have purposely reserved -until now is an affected parallel of the Irish Culdees with the Egyptian -Cophtes. "Their great piety, austerity, and hospitality announce," he -says, "the existence of one kind of discipline and of kindred religions -between the Cophtes and the Irish Coenobites." That is, because they are -both _pious_, _austere_, and _hospitable_, they must both necessarily -correspond in _religious opinions_ and in _Church forms_! The Indian -Brahmins, say I, are also _pious_, _austere_, and _hospitable_; and why -are they not incorporated in this holy identification? No, Colonel, it -will not do; I see what you are at. You want to insinuate our obligation -to the Greeks for the blessings of the Gospel. A false zeal for mental -emancipation--subsequent to the dislodgment of spiritual encroachment--has -forced into mushroom existence this spurious abortion. Aloof from the -thraldom of Roman or other yoke, the Irish, within themselves, cultivated -the principles of the Christian verity; but it is, in the extreme, -erroneous to say that they derived their _faith_ in that verity through -emissaries of the Grecian Church, from whom they differed as substantially -as light does from darkness. - -I think it very probable indeed that the glad tidings of revelation were -first imparted to Ireland by the lips of St. Paul himself.[57] We have the -names of many Christians existing amongst us before the arrival of either -Pelagius or Patrick. The very terms of the commission, which Pope -Celestine gave to the _former_, being addressed "ad Scotos in Christum -credentes," to the _Irish who believe in Christ_,--prove the good seed had -been laid in the soil before _his_ pontificate. The nation, however, was -yet too much immersed in its old idolatries--and the fascinations of -their former creed had so spellbound the inhabitants as a community--that -those who singled themselves out as converts to the new faith were -obliged, from persecution, to betake themselves to other countries. And -yet _this_ is the moment when paganism was omnipotent throughout this -island, that Colonel de Montmorency has the modesty to tell us that the -"Round Towers" were erected as magazines for the monks! - -To the _Patrician Apostle_, the beloved patriarch of Ireland, was reserved -the glory of maturing the fruit which his predecessors had planted. His -constitutional zeal and absorbing devotion in the service of his Creator -were but the secondary qualifications which pre-eminently marked him out -for so hazardous an enterprise. The primary and grand facility which this -_true hero_ possessed for the attainment of his great design, was his -intimate converse with the manners and language of the natives,--obtained -during his captivity not long before,--which, making way at once to the -_hearts_ of his auditory, was an irresistible passport to their heads and -their understandings. - -In the sequel of this volume it will be fully shown, that when St. Patrick -entered upon his prescribed task,--towards the close of the fifth -century,--the monarch and his court were celebrating their pagan festival, -or preparing for it, on the hill of Tara. Can a nation be called Christian -where the sovereign and court are pagan? Or will a few exceptions from the -mass of the population be indulged with fortresses of imperishable -architecture, while the nation at large took shelter within _wattles_ and -walls of clay?--and that, too, at a moment when Christianity was -considered a name of reproach, and its few solitary abettors constrained -to exile or to degradation! - -No sooner, however, were the simplicities of Christianity expounded to the -natives through the medium of their native tongue, than the refined -organism of the Irish constitution, habituated by discipline to sublime -pursuits, took fire from the blaze of the sacred scintilla, and enlisted -them as its heralds, not only at home but throughout Europe. - -Precisely at this instant it was that all the _ancient_ names of places in -the island--recorded by Ptolemy from other foreign geographers--were -changed and new-modelled; the converts--"_ut in nova deditione_"--not -thinking it sufficient to abandon the forms of their previous belief, and -adopt the more pure one, if they did not obliterate every vestige of -nominal association which could tend to recall their fancies to the -religion which they relinquished. Accordingly, from the names of Juernis, -Macollicon, Rhigia, Nagnata, Rheba, etc., sprang up the names of -Killkenny, Killmalloch, and the thousand other names, commencing with -"Kill," to be met with in every district and subdivision throughout the -country. - -Every corner was now the scene of Christian zeal; and every neophyte -strove to surpass his neighbour in evincing devotion to the newly-revealed -religion. "Kills," or little churches,--from the Latin _cella_, now for -the first time introduced,--were built in the vicinity of every spot which -had before been the theatre of pagan adoration--whether as cromleachs, as -Mithratic caves, or as Round Towers. These were the memorials of _three -distinct species_ of paganism, and were, therefore, now singled out as -appropriate sites for the erection of Christian "Kills," the ruins of -which are still to be traced, contiguous to _each_ of those idolatrous -reminiscences,--disputing with the false divinities the very ground of -their worship, and diverting the zeal of the worshippers from the creature -to the Creator. - -Nay, to such a pitch did the crusaders, in their conflict, carry the -principle of their enthusiasm, that many of them adopted the names of -their late idols, and intertwined _those_ again--now Christianly -appropriated--with the _old_ favourite denominations of many of the -localities. For instance, St. Shannon assumed _that_ name from the _river_ -Shannon, which was an object of deification some time before; and St. -Malloch adopted _this_ name from the city of Malloch, that is, the Sun, or -Apollo,--the supreme idol of pagan Ireland's adoration,--from which again, -with the prefix "Kill," he made the name Kill-_malloch_,--the latter alone -having been the ancient name of the place, converted by Ptolemy into -"Macollicon"; which is only giving his Greek termination, _icon_, to the -Irish word _Malloch_, and transposing, for sound's sake, the two middle -syllables. - -Chaildee was the pious but appropriate epithet by which those patriarchs -of Christianity thought fit to distinguish themselves. The word means -_associate of God_. Having obtained the gospel from the see of Rome, they -adhered implicitly--yet without conceding any _superiority_--to the Roman -connection--agreeing in all the grand essentials of vital belief, and -differing only as to some minor points of ecclesiastical discipline. - -This variance, however, has afforded handle to some lovers of -controversial doubt to maintain that Ireland was never beholden to Rome -for the gospel. The fallacy is disproved by the fact of all our early -neophytes betaking themselves, for perfection in the mysteries of -revelation, to the Roman capital. On one of which occasions it was that -Montmorency himself brought over his hundred and fifty volunteers, to -accompany back one of those converted students, who had gone there to -learn the very minuteness of the doctrine which the Romans inculcated. - -It was not, remember, for ordinary or secular education that they betook -themselves to Rome. The academies of Ireland far surpassed it in -splendour. It was solely and exclusively to learn the particulars of their -faith; and having once obtained this insight, they continued in spiritual -unison with the tenets of that Church, as to all fundamental points of -doctrine; never surrendering, however, the independence of their judgment, -nor bowing before the "_ipse dixit_" of any tribunal,--where _reason_ was -to be the guide,--until forced by the conspiracy of Pope Adrian IV. and -his countryman Henry II. - -How contemptible, therefore, is the effort, in the teeth of this exposure, -to identify the Irish Chaildees with the Egyptian Cophtes! There was no -one point in which they may be compared, except their mutual _poverty_; -which, however, Montmorency overlooks, or rather contradicts, making them -both wealthy, and have _banks_ even for their riches. As, however, I look -upon Dr. Hurd[58] as somewhat a better authority, you shall have what he -says upon the subject-- - -"Among the Ethiopians, there are still to be found some monks, called -Coptics, who first flourished in Egypt, but, by no difficult sort of -gradation, made their way into Ethiopia. They profess the utmost -_contempt_ for all _worldly things_, and look upon themselves as a sort of -terrestrial angels. They are obliged to _part with all their possessions -before they can enter upon a monastic life_." - -Their discrepancy in doctrine is even still more notorious, agreeing with -the Chaildees only in a _single_ instance also; namely, in _both_ denying -the supremacy of the Pope. Here are the Doctor's words: "They deny the -papal supremacy, and, indeed, _most parts_ of the popish doctrine, -particularly transubstantiation, purgatory, _auricular confession_, -_celibacy_ of the _clergy_, and _extreme unction_;" all which, save the -first, the Irish Chaildees maintained in _common with the see of Rome_. - -And now, on the point of education, I will content myself with -Montmorency's own testimony, which is to this effect, viz.: "Only on the -score of erudition it must be acknowledged that the _Irish theologian_, as -history asserts, did not only _excel_ the modern Greek and Egyptian, but -his profound acquaintance with the _sciences_, _arts_, and _laws of his -country_, gave him an _unrivalled superiority_ in the _literary_ and -civilised world." - -What, Colonel! are those the "barbarians"? Is _this_ what you mean by not -being _conveniently situated_ within the _enlightened_ and _enlivening_ -influence of Greek and Roman refinement? Alas! you knew but little of the -real statement of the case; whilst the illustrious Fenelon, himself a -descendant of this boasted Rome, thus more accurately avows, "that, -notwithstanding all the _pretended politeness_ of the Greeks and Romans, -yet, as to moral virtue and religious obligations, they were no better -than the savages of America." - -I have been thus hurried on by the train of my thoughts, without observing -much of order or methodical arrangement. As my object is, however, the -elucidation of truth,--not idle display, or vainglorious exhibition,--I am -sure my readers will scarce murmur at the course by which I shall have led -them to that end; in a question, moreover, where so many adventurers have -so miserably miscarried. - - So much the rather, thou celestial light, - Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers - Irradiate. There plant eyes; all mist from thence - Purge and disperse; that I may see and tell - Of things invisible to mortal sight.[59] - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -Having thus disposed of the word "Cloic-teach," which Dr. Ledwich so -relied upon, as determining the character of these antique remains, I take -leave, evermore, to discard the misnomer, and draw attention to a name -which I have never seen noticed as applied to any of those pyramidal -edifices. That which I allude to is "Cathoir ghall," which means the -"Cathedral or temple of brightness" ("and _delight_"[60]); not, I must -premise, from any external daubing with which modern Vandalism may have -thought proper to incrust it,--as happened to that at Swords,--but in -evident reference to the solar and lunar light--the sources of life and -generation--therein contemplated, at once, and interchangeably venerated. - -The particular Tower to which this epithet had been assigned--and which it -obtained, by way of eminence, for its colossal superiority--is not now -standing.[61] It rose about half a mile distant from the old castle of -Bally Carbery, in the barony of Iveragh, and county of Kerry; a place -where one would hope that the true designation of such phenomena would be -preserved most pure, being aloof from the influence of exotic refinements, -and, thus far, free from that maudlin _scepticism_ and laboured _doubt_ -which a "little learning" too frequently superinduces. - - "Dear, lovely bowers of innocence and ease,-- - Seats of my youth, when ev'ry sport could please,-- - How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green, - When humble happiness endear'd each scene! - How often have I paused on every charm,-- - The shelter'd cot, the cultivated farm! - While all the village train, from labour free, - Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree."[62] - -No combination of letters could possibly approach closer, or convey to a -discerning mind greater affinity of meaning to anything, than does the -above name to the description given of them in the twelfth century by -Giraldus Cambrensis, who calls them "_turres ecclesiasticas_, quae, more -patriae, arctae sunt et altae, nec non et rotundae." This definition, vague as -it may seem, affords ample illumination, when compared with the epithet -which I have above adduced, to penetrate the darkness of this literary -nebula. The word "_turres_" points out their constructional symmetry, and -"_ecclesiasticas_" their appropriation to a religious use; and what can -possibly be in stricter consonance with the tenor of this idea than -"Cathaoir ghall," or the Temple of Brightness, which I have instanced -above as the _vernacular_ appellation of one of those sanctuaries? - -Should it be asked, why did not Cambrensis, at the time, enter more fully -into the minutiae of their detail? I shall unhesitatingly answer, it was -because he knew nothing more about them. The Irish had at that moment most -lamentably dwindled into a degenerate race. The noble spirit of their -heroic ancestors, which had called forth those pyramids, for the _twofold_ -and _mingled_ purpose of _religion_ and _science_, had already evaporated; -and all the historian could glean, in prosecuting his inquiries as to -their era and cause, was that their antiquity was so remote, that some of -them may be even seen immersed beneath the waters of Lough Neagh,[63] -which had been occasioned many ages before by the overflowing of a -fountain.[64] - -Let us now turn to the annals of the "Four Masters," which record the -destruction of Armagh, A.D. 995, by a flash of lightning, and see under -what name they include the Round Towers in the general catastrophe. Here -is the passage at full length, as given by O'Connor--"_Ardmaeha do lose do -tene saighnein, ettir tighib, 7[65] Domhuliacc, 7 Cloic teacha, 7 -Fiadh-Neimhedh_"; that is, Armagh having been set on fire by lightning, -its houses, its cathedrals, its belfries, and its _Fiadh-Neimhedh_, were -all destroyed. - -The _Ulster Annals_ have registered the same event in the following -words:--"_Tene diait do gabail Airdmaeha conafarcaibh Dertach, na -Damliacc, na h Erdam, na Fidh-Nemead ann cen loscadh_"; that is, Lightning -seized upon Armagh, to so violent a degree, as to leave neither mansion, -nor cathedral, nor belfry, nor _Fiadh-Nemeadh_, undemolished. - -Here we find _Fiadh-Nemeadh_ to occur in both accounts, while the belfries -are represented in one place as _Cloic teacha_, and in the other as -_Erdam_, and in both are opposed to, and contradistinguished from, the -_Fiadh-Nemeadh_. Our business now is to investigate what this latter word -conveys; and though I do not mean, for a while, to develop its _true -interpretation_,--of which I am the sole and exclusive depositary,--yet -must I make it apparent, that by it--whatever way it must be rendered--all -before me have understood, were emphatically designated our Sabian Towers. -Thus Colgan in his _Acts_, p. 297, referring to these words of the Four -Masters, says: "Anno 995, Ardmaeha cum _Basilicis_, _Turribus_, _aliisque -omnibus edificiis_, incendio ex fulmine generato, tota vastatur." - -O'Connor also, wishing to wrest its import to his favourite theory of -there having been _gnomons_, while ignorant of its proper force, indulges -in a conjecture of the most lunatic _ostentation_, and translates -_Fiadh-Nemeadh_ by _celestial indexes_. - -But though the word does not _literally_ signify either "Towers"--as -Colgan, for want of a better exposition, has set forth--or "celestial -indexes"--as O'Connor, equally at a loss for its proper meaning, has -ventured to promulgate, yet is it indisputable that it stood as the -representative of those _enigmatical_ edifices, as well as that both -writers had the same structures in view as comprehended under the tenor of -this _mysterious_ denomination.[66] - -These annals I look upon in three different lights as invaluable -documents--firstly, as they prove the existence of those edifices at the -date above assigned; secondly, as they show that they were distinct things -from the belfries--whether cloicteach or erdam--which shared their -disaster; and, thirdly, because that, even admitting of O'Connor's -mistranslation, it gives us an insight into their character more -fortuitous than he had anticipated. _Celestial indexes!_[67] Could any one -be so silly as for a moment to suppose that this was a mere allusion to -the circumstance of their height? No; it was no such casual epithet, or -witty effort of hyperbole; but it was, what Sallust has so truly said of -the Syrtes, "_nomen ex re inditum_." - -The identity between this island and the "Insula Hyperboreorum" of -Hecataeus being to be completely established in an ensuing chapter,--the -_bungling_ of natives and the _claims_ of externs notwithstanding,--I -shall not hesitate to assume as _proved_, that ours was the "island" -described. - -Allow me then to draw your attention to an extract from Diodorus's -_report_ thereof:--"They affirm also," says he, "that _the moon_ is so -seen from this island, that it _appears not so distant_ from the _earth_, -and _seems_ to _present on its disk certain projections like the mountains -of our world_. Likewise that the _God Apollo_ in person visits this island -once in _nineteen_ years, in which the _stars_ complete their -_revolutions_, and return into their old positions; and hence this _cycle_ -of _nineteen years_ is called, by the Greeks, the great year." - -Who is it that collates this description with the "celestial indexes"[68] -above produced, that is not, at once, struck with the felicity of the -coincidence? On earth, what could _celestial indexes_ mean but such as -were appropriated to the contemplation of the heavenly bodies?--just as -the name of "Zoroaster"--which, in the Persian language, signifies -"coelorum observator," that is, star-gazer, or observer of the -heavens--was given to Zerdust, the great patriarch of the Magi, from his -eminence and delight in astronomical pursuits. - -Now, "the moon being so seen from this island that it appears not so -distant from the earth," is so obvious a reference to the study of -astronomy that it would be almost an insult to go about to prove it; but -when it is said that "it presents on its disk certain _projections_ like -the mountains of our world," it not only puts that question beyond the -possibility of dispute, but argues furthermore a proficiency in that -department, which it is the fashion _now-a-days_ to attribute only to -_modern_ discoveries. - -But have we any evidence of having ever had amongst us, in those "olden -times," men who by their talents could support this character? Hear what -Strabo says of _Abaris_, whom "Hecataeus and others mention" as having been -sent by his fraternity from the "_island_ of the Hyperboreans" to Delos, -in Greece, in the capacity of a sacred ambassador, where he was equally -admired for his knowledge, politeness, justice, and integrity. "He came," -says Strabo, "to Athens, not clad in skins like a _Scythian_, but with a -bow in his hand, a quiver hanging on his shoulders, a plaid wrapt about -his body, a gilded belt encircling his loins, and trousers reaching from -the waist down to the soles of his feet. He was easy in his address, -agreeable in his conversation, active in his despatch, and secret in his -management of great affairs; quick in judging of present occurrences, and -ready to take his part in any sudden emergency; provident withal in -guarding against futurity; diligent in the quest of wisdom; fond of -friendship; trusting _very little_ to _fortune_, yet having the entire -confidence of others, and trusted with everything for his prudence. He -spake Greek with a fluency, that you would have thought he had been bred -up in the Lyceum, and conversed all his life with the Academy of -Athens."[69] - -This embassy is ascertained to have taken place B.C. 600; and from what -shall be elsewhere said of the "island of the Hyperboreans"--coupled with -the circumstance of the orator Himerius having called this individual a -Scythian, which Strabo would seem to have insinuated also--we can be at no -loss in tracing him to his proper home. - - "Far westward lies an isle of ancient fame, - By nature blessed, and Scotia is her name; - An island rich--exhaustless in her store - Of veiny silver and of golden ore; - Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow, - Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow, - Her waving furrows float with verdant corn, - And _Arms_ and _Arts_ her envied sons adorn." - -Such is the description of Ireland given by Donatus, bishop of Etruria, in -802; and I have selected it among a thousand other authorities of similar -import, to show that Scotia or Scythia was one, and the _last_, of the -_ancient_ names of this country;[70] while the name of "Hyperborean" was -the distinctive character assigned thereto, not only as descriptive of its -locality towards the north, but as worshipping the wind Boreas. - -Did I not apprehend it might be considered irrelevant to the scope of this -work, I could easily prove that the amity, said by Hecataeus to have been -cemented on the occasion of the visit above alluded to, was not that of a -mere return of courteous civilities for a casual intercourse, but one of a -far more tender and _familiar_ nature, viz. the recognition on both sides -of their mutual descent from one common origin: the same people who had -settled in this country, and imported the mysteries of their magic -priesthood, being akin to the first settlers on the coasts of Greece, -which they impregnated with similar initiation. I am anticipated, of -course, to have meant the Pelasgi, who, under another name, belonged to -the same hive as the Indo-Scythae, or Chaldean Magi, or -Tuath-de-danaan,--_as the head tribe thereof were called_,--who, having -effected an establishment on _this_ happy isle, aloof from the intrusion -of external invasion or internal butcheries, were allowed to cultivate the -_study_ of their _favourite rites_, the fame and eminence of which had -obtained for its theatre, of all nations, the designation of "sacred." But -I fear it would be encroaching upon the patience of my readers, and -besides anticipating, in point of order, what may by and by follow. - -An inconsistency, however, appears in the details, which I cannot here -well overlook. It is this. Himerius has called this our ambassador a -"Scythian"; and Strabo has affirmed, that he was "not clad like a -Scythian." How, then, shall I cut this knot? Thus. Abaris, as his name -implies, was one of the Boreades, or priests of Boreas, belonging to the -Tuath-de-danaan colony in this island, who were subdued about six hundred -years before this event by the Scythians, whose dress, as well as manners, -differed in all particulars from those of their religious and learned -predecessors. - -But though the Scythians, from state policy, had suppressed the -temple-worship when they deposed from the throne their antecedent -Hyperboreans, they were but too sensible of their literary value not to -profit by their services in the department of education. Hence it came to -pass, that the Boreades were still indulged with their favourite costume, -while the inferior communities were obliged to conform to the rules and -the fashions of the ascendant dynasty. In a short time, however, the -Scythian Druids superseded the Danaan Boreades, by the influence of their -own instruction; and the consequence was that of that graceful garb, in -the folds of which our ancient high priests officiated at the altar, or -exhibited in the senate, not a single vestige is now to be traced except -in the word God, _Phearagh_, whom I shall anon introduce, and in the -highlands of Scotland, where a remnant of those Hyperborean or Danaan -priests took shelter from the ruthless Picts, resigning to those -remorseless and intolerant persecutors the ground of the only two temples -which they were able there to raise, as the last resort of their hopes, -and the solace of their exile.[71] - -Nor is it alone as accounting for the circumstance of costume that the -above explanation deserves the reader's regard. An additional insight is -afforded, by its enabling us to account for that boundless superiority -which, the Irish Druids possessed over all other bodies of the same -denomination all over the world. Originally, the Druids were an humble set -of men, without science, without letters, without pretensions to -refinement; but having succeeded here to the fraternity of the -accomplished Danaan Boreades, who, in the revolution of affairs, were -forced to communicate their acquirements to the opposite but prevailing -priesthood, those latter so far profited by the ennobling opportunity, as -to eclipse all other Druids, as well in Europe as in Africa. - -Caesar, in his _Commentaries_, bears direct testimony to their astronomical -research, saying: "Multa praeterea de sideribus atque eorum motu, de mundi -ac terrarum magnitudine, de rerum natura ac deorum immortalium vi ac -potestate disputant ac juventuti transdunt."--_De Bel. Gal._ lib. 1-6, c. -xiv. Pomponius Mela, also confirming the fact, says: "Hi terrae mundique -magnitudinem ac forman, motus coeli ac siderum, ac quid Dii velint scire, -profitentur."--_De Situ Orbis_, lib. 3, c. ii. These two latter -authorities, I admit, were more immediately directed to the _Druids_ of -Britain; but as it is agreed on all hands that _that_ body of -religionists had received the seeds of their instruction from the Irish -_Magi_, who were infinitely their superiors in _all_ literary -accomplishments, I think we may be warranted in extending the commendation -to Ireland also, as the writers indubitably _included_ it under the -_general name_ of _Britain_. - -But were all _external_ testimonies silent on the matter, and mercenary -vouchers even assert the reverse, the internal evidence of our language -itself, a language so truly characterised as "more than three thousand -years old," would afford to the ingenious and disinterested inquirer the -most convincing proof of the ground which I have assumed. In that -language--and the writer of this essay _ought_ to know _something_ of -it--there is scarcely a single term appertaining to time, from _la_ a day, -derived from _liladh_, to turn round,--in allusion to the diurnal -revolution,--up to _bleain_, a year, compounded of _Bel_, the sun, and -_Ain_, a circle, referring to its annual orbit, that does not, in its -formation and construction, associate the idea with the planetary courses, -and thereby evince, not only an astronomical taste, but that astronomy was -the "ruling passion" of those who spoke it. - -"The Irish language," says Davies, an intelligent and respectable Welsh -writer, "appears to have arrived at maturity amongst the Iapetidae, while -they were yet in contact with Aramaean families, and formed a powerful -tribe in Asia Minor and in Thrace. It may, therefore, in particular -instances, have more similitude or analogy to the Asiatic dialects than -what appears in those branches of the Celtic that were matured in the west -of Europe. Those who used this language consisted partly of Titans, of -Celto-Scythians, or of those Iapetidae who assisted in building the city -of Babel, and must have been habituated, after the dispersion, to the -dialects of the nations through which they passed, before they joined the -society of their brethren." We thank this learned author for the -flattering notice which he has been pleased to take of us; and though, in -his subsequent remarks, he steers far wide of our true pedigree, yet a -concession so important as that even here adduced, must command at least -our becoming acknowledgments. - -The splendid examples which we have had of primitive teachers of -Christianity in this kingdom, and whom Ledwich himself, reluctant as he -was to afford ordinary justice to Irish merit, is obliged to praise, were -not more remarkable for the sanctified zeal and enthusiastic devotion with -which they propagated the Gospel, than they were for the diversified range -of their literary acquirements, and the moral sublimity of their ideas and -conceptions.[72] Speaking of a production belonging to one of these -worthies, Ledwich remarks: "In this tract we can discover Cumman's -acquaintance with the doctrine of time, and the chronological characters. -He is no stranger to the solar, lunar, and bissextile years, to the -epactal days, and embolismal months, nor to the names of the Hebrew, -Macedonian, and Egyptian months. To examine the various cyclical systems, -and to point out their construction and errors, required no mean -abilities: a large portion of Greek and Latin literature was also -necessary."[73] - -Here I would have it distinctly noticed, that the above-mentioned -individuals who shone in the galaxy of our early Christian constellations, -had been but just converted from paganism by St. Patrick, and consequently -were not indebted for this "learned lore" to the Romish missionaries, but -to the more elevated genius of their native institutions. This it was that -enabled them to make those astronomical observations which our annals -commemorate; and who can say, amidst the decay of time, the ravages of -persecution, and the fury of fanaticism, what tomes of such labours has -not the world lost? Some few, however, remain, of which we shall adduce -some by way of specimen. Solar eclipses of 495, 664, 810, 884; lunar, of -673, 717, 733, 807, 877; solar and lunar, 864; a comet 911, are recorded -in our annals. - -Those of the "Four Masters" additionally record certain extraordinary -celestial phenomena in 743:--"Visae sunt stellae quasi de coelo cadere." -Again, in 744, they observe: "Hoc anno stellae item de coelo frequentes -deciderunt"; while it cannot be too diligently noted, "that, when the rest -of Europe, as Vallancey so justly remarked, through ignorance or -forgetfulness, had no knowledge of the _true figure_ of the earth, in the -eighth century, the rotundity and true formation of it should have been -taught in the Irish schools," which we shall by and by more pointedly -advert to. - -It thus appears manifest that the Irish must, at one time, have not only -possessed, but excelled in, the science of astronomy. How did they acquire -it? is the next question. "Ad illa mihi pro se quisque acriter intendat -animum." In that passage of Diodorus, to which I have already referred, we -find the following appropriate characteristic:--"It is affirmed that -Latona was born there, and that, therefore, the worship of Apollo is -preferred to that of any other God; and as they daily celebrate this deity -with songs of praise, and worship him with the highest honours, they are -considered as _peculiarly_ the _priests_ of Apollo, whose sacred grove and -_singular_ temple of _round form_, endowed with many gifts, are there." - -Now, it is universally known that Apollo, which, "according to the learned -Pezron, is no other than Ap-haul, or the son of the Sun," was understood -by the ancients only essentially to typify that powerful planet, "which -animates and imparts fecundity to the universe, whose divinity has been -accordingly honoured in every quarter by temples and by altars, and -consecrated in the religious strains of all nations" and all climes. - -His being peculiarly worshipped in this island only shows the intimate -knowledge it possessed of the mysteries of the _solar system_; and that -near converse which we have been already told it possessed with the moon, -is confirmation the most positive of this explanation. - -Let me here again recall to the reader's mind the name of _Cathaoir -Ghall_, or _temple of brightness_, which I have before adduced, and when -we compare _all_ with the _celestial indexes_ recorded in our annals, the -conclusion is inevitable, _that the Round Towers of Ireland were -specifically constructed for the two-fold purpose of worshipping the Sun -and Moon_--as the authors of generation and vegetative heat--_and, from -the nearer converse which their elevation afforded, of studying the -revolutions and properties of the planetary orbs_. Let me, however, before -elucidating the era of their actual erection, with their _Phallic_ form -and their further use, revert to the Mosaic history for the _groundwork_ -of my development. - - "And chiefly thou, O Spirit! that dost prefer - Before all temples th' upright heart and pure, - Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first - Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, - Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, - And mad'st it pregnant. What in me is dark, - Illumine! what is low, raise and support! - That to the height of this great argument - I may assert eternal Providence, - And justify the ways of God to man."[74] - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -Nimrod, the son of Cush, "the mighty hunter before the Lord," was the -first person,[75] according to Vossius,[76] who introduced the worship of -the _sun_ as a deity. Disgusted with the roving character of his previous -life, and tired of peregrination, he resolves to build himself a permanent -abode, and persuades his followers to embark in the design, "lest they be -scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."[77] Mankind had -already relapsed into the follies of their antediluvian ancestors. The -awful lesson of the watery visitation was read to them in vain, and again -they verified what God had before that memorable epoch with sorrow -declared, "that every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only -evil continually."[78] - -In Babel, the city thus agreed upon to be built, as the anchor of their -stability and the basis of their renown,--we find a "_Tower_" mentioned, -"whose top may _reach_," says our version (but should it not rather be -_point_?) _towards heaven_. - -What was the object of this architectural elevation? - -Not certainly, as some have supposed, as a place of refuge in apprehension -of a second deluge; for in that case, it is probable, they would have -built it on an eminence, rather than on a _plain_, _whereas_ the Bible -expressly tells us they had selected the latter. - -Much less could it be, what the poets have imagined, for the purpose of -scaling the celestial abodes, and disputing with Jehovah the composure of -His sovereignty. - -What, then, was it intended for? - -Undoubted as an acknowledgment, however vitiated and depraved, of -dependence upon that Being, whose acts shine forth in universal love, but -whose spiritual adoration was now partially lost sight of, or _merged_ in -the homage thus primarily tendered to the _lucid offspring_ of his -_omnipotent fiat_. - -This tower, so erected by Nimrod, in opposition to the established system -of religious belief, and which, therefore--but from a _nobler_ reason than -what was generally imagined, viz. his researches in astronomy, and the -application thereto of instruments--procured him the appellation of -_rebel_ from _nemh_, heaven, and _rodh_, an assault, was, I hesitate not -to say, a temple constructed to the celestial host, the sun, moon, and -stars, which constituted the substance of the _Sabian idolatry_.[79] - -Shinaar, in Mesopotamia, was the theatre of this dread occurrence--this -appalling spectacle at once of man's weakness and God's omnipotence:--Here -the Noachidae had been then fixed; and the name by which this innovation -upon their previous usages is transmitted, viz. _Ba-Bel_, corroborates the -destination above assigned.[80] - -The word "Baal," in itself an appellative, at first served to denote the -true God amongst those who adhered to the true religion; though, when it -became common amongst the idolatrous nations, and applied to idols, He -rejected it. "And it shall be in that day that you shall call me Ishi, and -shall call me no more Baali."[81] Another name by which the _Godhead_ was -recognised was Moloch. The latter, indeed, in accuracy of speech was the -name assigned him by the Ammonites and Moabites--both terms, however, -corresponded in sense, "Moloch" signifying king, and "Baal" Lord, that is, -of the heavens; whence transferring the appellation to the Sun, as the -_source_ and _dispenser_ of all _earthly favours_, he was also called -Bolati, _i.e._, "Baal the _bestower_," as was the moon, Baaltis, from the -same consideration: whilst the direct object of their internal regard was -not, undoubtedly, that globe of fire which illumines the firmament and -vivifies terrestrials, but, physically considered, _nature_ at large, the -_fructifying germ_ of universal _generativeness_. - -The Sun, it is true, as the source of light and heat, came in as -_representative_ for all this adoration. Thus viewed, then, it would -appear that the origin of the institution may have been comparatively -harmless. God being invisible, or only appearing to mortals through the -medium of His acts, it was natural that _man_, left to the workings of -unaided reason, should look on yon mysterious luminary with mingled -sentiments of gratitude and awe. We have every reason, accordingly, to -think, that solar worship at first was only emblematical, recognising, in -the effulgence of the orb of day, the creative power of Him, the - - "Father of all, in every age, - In every clime adored, - By saint, by savage, and by sage, - _Jehovah_, _Jove_, or _Lord_"-- - -who sent it forth on its _beneficent_ errand. - -As such, originally they had no temples dedicated to the occasion; they -met in the open air, without the precincts of any earthly shrine: there -they poured forth their vows and their thanksgivings, under the aerial -canopy of the vaulted expanse; nor can it be denied but that there was -something irresistibly impressive in such an assemblage of pious votaries, -paying their adoration to the throne of light in the natural temple of his -daily splendours.[82] - -The degeneracy of man, however, became manifest in the sequel, and, from -the frequency of the act, the type was substituted in room of the thing -typified. "Solum in coelis deum putabant solem," says Philobibliensis, in -his interpretation of Sanchoniathon. Nor did it stop here, but, proceeding -in its progress of melancholy decay, swept before it the barriers of -reason and moral light; and, from the bright monarch of the stars, who -rules the day, the seasons, and the year, with perpetual change, yet -uniform and identical, bowed before the grosser element of _material -fire_, as his symbol or corporeal representative. - -But the worst and most lamentable is yet untold. The sign again occupied -the place of the thing signified, and the human soul was prostrated, and -human life often immolated, to propitiate the favour of earthly fire, now -by transition esteemed a god. They had, it is true, from a _faint_ -knowledge of the sacred writings, and a perverted exercise of that -inspired authority, something like an excuse for, at least, a decent -attention in the ordinary management of that useful article. In Lev. vi. -13 it is said: "The fire upon the altar shall ever be burning, it shall -never go out." This injunction given by the Lord to Moses, to remind His -people of the constant necessity of sacrifice and prayer, the Gentiles -misconstrued into reverence for the fire itself, and "quoniam omnes pravi -dociles sumus," hence the ready admission with which the doctrine was -embraced, and the general spread of that which was at first but partial -and figurative. - -Indeed we find that God Himself had appeared to Moses in a "flame of fire -in the midst of a bush" (Ex. iii. 2), and in presence of the whole -Israelitish host (Ex. xix. 18). "The Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, as -the smoke of a furnace;" while in Ex. xiii. 21, it is declared that "the -Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a -pillar of fire, to give them light." So accordingly we find Elijah, 1 -Kings xviii. 24, when challenging the priests of the false divinities, -propose a decision by fiery ordeal. "Call you on the name of your gods," -he says, "and I will call upon the name of the Lord: and the God that -answereth by _fire_, let him be God; and all the people answered, it is -well spoken." - -The infidels, therefore, who could not concede any superiority to the -religion of the Hebrews, and yet could not deny those manifestations of -divine support, thought they best proved their independence by instituting -a rivalship, and got thereby the more confirmed in their original -idolatry. Their bloody sacrifices themselves originated, we may suppose, -in some similar way. God must, undoubtedly, have prescribed that rite to -Adam, after his fall in Paradise, else how account for the "skins" with -which Eve and he had covered themselves? The beasts to which they belonged -could not have been slain for food; for it was not till a long time after -that they were allowed to eat the flesh of animals. We may, therefore, -safely infer that it was for a sin-offering they had been immolated; and -the subsequent reproof given to Cain by the rejection of his oblation, -evidently for the non-observance of the exact mode of sacrifice -prescribed, coupled with the command issued to Abraham, to try his -obedience, by offering up his own son, are undeniable proofs of the truth -of this inference. - -In "Ur" of the Chaldees, a name which literally signifies "fire," the -worship of that element first originated. Thence it travelled in its -contaminating course, until all the regions of the earth got impregnated -therewith. In Persia, a country with which _this island_ had, of old, the -most _direct communication_, we also find a city denominated "Ur"; and who -does not know that the Persians, having borrowed the custom from the -Chaldean priests, regarded fire with the utmost veneration? Numerous as -were the deities which that nation worshipped, "fire," on every occasion, -in every sacrifice--like the Janus of the Romans--was invoked the first. -Their Pyrea, in which they not only preserved it ever burning, but -worshipped it as a deity, have been noticed by Brisson--but without the -necessary adjunct of their being an innovation. - -Even the ordinary fire for culinary or social purposes participated in -some measure in this hallowed regard; as they durst not, without violating -the most sacred rules, and stifling the scruples of all their previous -education, offer it the least mark of impious disregard, or pollute its -sanctity by profane contact. - -It was, however, only as symbolical of the _sun_ that _they_, like the -Chaldeans, paid it this extraordinary reverence--a reverence not limited -to mere religious rules, but which exercised control over and biassed the -decisions of their most important secular transactions. Accordingly, we -learn from Herodotus, lib. vii., as quoted by Cicero in "Verrem," that -when Datis, the prefect of Xerxes' fleet, flushed with the result of his -victory over Naxos and the city of Eretria in Euboea, might easily have -made himself master of the island of Delos, he however passed it over -untouched in honour of that divinity before whom his country had bowed, -having been sacred to Apollo or the sun, and reputedly his birthplace. - -But do I mean to say that the Round Towers of Ireland were intended for -the preservation of the sacred fire? Far, very far indeed, from it. That -_some few_ of them were therewith connected--I say _connected, not -appropriated_--may, I think, be well allowed; nay, it is my candid belief, -so far as belief is compatible with a matter so unauthenticated. But -having all through maintained that they were not all intended for one and -the same object, I must have been understood, of course, by the numerous -supporters of that fashionable proposition as including fire-worship -within the compass of my several views. I put it, however, frankly to the -most _ardent_ supporter of that theory, who for a moment considers the -different _bearings_ and peculiarities of those several structures, -comparing them first with one another, and then with the description of -fire-receptacles which we read of elsewhere, whether he can -dispassionately bring himself to say that all our Round Towers, or indeed -above two of those at present remaining, could have been _even calculated_ -for that purpose? - -Where, let me ask, is it they will suppose the fire to have been placed? -In the bottom? No; the intervening floors, of which the GREATER PORTION -retain evident traces, would not only endanger the conflagration of the -whole edifice, as it is most probable that they were made of wood, but -would also prevent the egress of the smoke through the four windows at the -top, for which use, they tell you, those apertures were inserted. - -But I am answered that the tower of Ardmore, which has within it no -vestiges of divisional compartments, could offer no hindrance to the -ascent of the smoke, or its consequent discharge through the four -cardinal openings. To which I rejoin, that if there had _ever_ been a fire -lighted within that edifice, and continued for any length of time, as the -sacred fire is known to have been kept perpetually burning, it would have -been impossible for the inner surface of that stately structure to -preserve the beautiful and white coating which it still displays through -the mystic revolutions of so many ages. The same conclusion applies to the -tower of Devenish, which, though it has no inside coating, yet must its -elegant polish have been certainly deteriorated, if subjected to the -action of a perpetual smoke. - -[Illustration: ARDMORE.] - -The instance which is adduced of the four temples described by Hanway in -his _Travels into Persia_, proves nothing. It certainly corresponds with -the architectural character of some of our Round Towers, but leaves us as -much in the dark as to the era and use of both as if he had never made -mention of any such occurrence. - -To me it is as obvious as the noon-day sun that _they too_ on examination -would be found of a more comprehensive religious tendency than what could -possibly relate to the preservation of the sacred fire; for it is well -known that when temples were at all appropriated to this consecrated -delusion, it was within a small _crypt_ or _arched vault_--over which the -temple was erected--that it was retained. The Ghebres or Parsees, the -direct disciples of Zoroaster, the reputed author of this improved -institution, "build their temples," says Richardson,[83] "over -_subterraneous fires_." - -Whenever a deviation from this occurred, it was in favour of a low -stone-built structure, all over-arched, such as that which _Hanway met -with at Baku_, and _corresponding in every_ particular with the edifices -of this description to be seen at Smerwick, county Kerry, and elsewhere -throughout Ireland.[84] - -The fire-house which Captain Keppel visited at a later period at Baku, in -1824, was a small square building, erected on a platform, with three -ascending steps on each side, having a tall hollow stone column at every -side, through which the flame was seen to issue, all _in the middle of a -pentagonal enclosure_--comprising also a large altar, whereon naphtha was -kept continually burning. - -Now, could anything possibly _correspond more minutely_ with Strabo's -description of the Pyratheia than does this last account? "They are," he -says, "_immense enclosures_, in the centre of which was erected an altar, -where the Magi used to preserve, as well a quantity of ashes, as the -ever-burning fire itself." And could anything possibly be _more opposite_ -to our Round Towers than all these accounts? - -When, therefore, we are told[85] that at the city of Zezd in Persia--which -is distinguished by the apellation of Darub Abadat, or seat of -religion--the Ghebres are permitted to have an Atush Kidi, or fire-temple, -which they assert had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster, -we must be prepared to understand it as corresponding in architectural -proportion with one or other of the instances just now detailed; and in -truth, from recent discovery, I have ascertained--since the above was -composed--that it is nothing more than a _sorry hut_. - -But Pennant's view of Hindostan is brought forward as at once decisive of -the matter. What says Mr. Pennant, however? "All the people of this part -of India are Hindoos, and retain the _old religion_, with all its -superstition. This makes the pagodas here much more numerous than in any -other part of the peninsula; their form too is different, being chiefly -buildings of a _cylindrical_ or _round tower_ shape, with their tops -either pointed or truncated at the top, and ornamented with something -eccentrical, but frequently with a round ball stuck on a spike: this ball -seems intended to represent the _sun_, an emblem of the deity of the -place." - -To this ascription of this learned traveller I most fully, most heartily -respond. Pagoda is a name invented by the Portuguese, from the Persian -"Peutgheda," meaning a temple of idols, in which they supposed them to -abound, but which in reality were only so many figures or symbols of the -"principle of truth," the "spirit of wisdom," the "supreme essence," and -other attributes of the Godhead, which, I believe, they in a great measure -spiritually recognised. Those structures, therefore, as the very word -implies, had no manner of relation to the sacred fire, but they had to the -sun and moon, the supposed authors of _generation_ and _nutrition_, of -which fire was only the corrupt emblem; and the different forms of their -constructural terminations, similar to those elsewhere described by -Maundrell, some being _pointed_, and some being _truncated_, harmonises -most aptly with the _radial_ and _hemispherical representations_ of the -two celestial luminaries, as well as with that organ of human -_procreation_ which we shall hereafter more particularly identify. These -are the two Baals dwelt so largely upon in the Scriptures--Baal masculine, -the sun, and Baal feminine, the moon, from both of which the Hindoos -derive their fabulous origin. Indeed it was from their extreme veneration -for the "queen of night" that they obtained their very name; Hindoo -meaning, in the Sanscrit language, the moon; and accordingly we find among -them Hindoo-buns, that is, children of the moon, as we do Surage-buns, -children of the sun, the other parent of their fanciful extraction. - -Here then, methinks, we have at once a clue to the character of those -Round Towers so frequent throughout the East, of whose history, however, -the Orientals are as ignorant as we are here of our "rotundities." -Caucasus abounds in those columnar fanes, and it must not be forgotten -that Caucasus has been claimed as the residence of our ancestors. On Teric -banks, hard by, there is a very beautiful and lofty one as like as -possible to some of ours. The door is described as twelve feet from the -ground, level and rather oblong in its form. Lord Valentia was so struck -with the extraordinary similitude observable between some very elegant -ones which he noticed in Hindostan and those in this country, that he -could not avoid at once making the comparison. The inhabitants, he -observes, paid no sort of regard to those venerable remains, but pilgrims -from afar, and chiefly from Jynagaur, adhering to _their old religion_, -used annually to resort to them as the shrines of their ancient worship. -Yet in the ceremonies there performed we see no evidence of their -appropriation to the sacred fire--however _tradition_ may have ascribed -them as once belonging to the Ghebres! Franklin mentions some he has seen -at Nandukan, as do other writers in other sites. In short, all through the -East they are to be met with, and yet all about them is obscurity, doubt, -and mystery, a proof at once of the antiquity of their date, and of their -not being receptacles for fire, which, _if the fact_, could be _there_ no -secret. - -Yes, I verily believe, and I will as substantially establish, that they -were, what has already been affirmed, in reference to those in Ireland, -viz. temples in honour of the sun and moon, the procreative causes of -general fecundity, comprising in certain instances, like them, also the -additional and blended purposes of funeral cemeteries and astronomical -observatories. The Septuagint interpreters well understood their nature -when rendering the "high place of Baal"[86] by the Greek [Greek: stele tou -Baal], or Pillar of Baal, that is, the pillar consecrated to the sun; -while the ancient Irish themselves, following in the same train, -designated those structures Bail-toir, that is, the tower of Baal, or the -sun, and the priest who attended them, Aoi Bail-toir, or superintendent of -Baal's tower. Neither am I without apprehension but that the name -"Ardmore," which signifies "the great high place," and where a splendid -specimen of those Sabian edifices is still remaining, was in direct -reference to that religious column; but this _en passant_. - -In the _sepulchral_ opinion I am not a little fortified by the -circumstance of there being found at Benares pyramids corresponding in all -respects, save that of size, to those in Egypt, having also subterranean -passages beneath them, which are said to extend even for miles together. A -column also, besides a sphinx's head, which has been discovered not long -since in digging amid the ruins of an ancient and unknown city, on the -banks of the Hypanis, bearing an inscription which was found to differ on -being compared with Arabic, Persia, Turkish, Chinese, Tartar, Greek, and -Roman letters; but bore "a manifest and close similarity with the -characters observed by Denon on several of the mummies of Egypt," gives -strength to the idea of the identity of the Egyptian religion with that of -the Indians, as it does to the identity of destination of their respective -pyramids. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -Now if there be any one point of Irish antiquity which our historians -insist upon more than another, it is that of our ancestral connection with -the Egyptian kings. In all their legends Egypt is mixed up--in all their -romances Egypt stands prominent, which certainly could not have been so -universal without _something_ at least like foundation, and must, -therefore, remove anything like surprise at the affinity our ancient -religion bore, in many respects, to theirs, since they were both derived -from the same common origin. - -I have already intimated my decided belief of the application of the -Egyptian pyramids to the combined purposes of religion and science. The -department of science to which I particularly referred was astronomy, the -cultivation of which was inseparably involved in all their religious -rites; for despite of the reverence which the Egyptians seemed to pay to -crocodiles, bulls, and others of the brute creation, in those they only -figured forth the several attributes, all infinite, in the divinity; as -their worship, like that of the ancient Irish, was purely planetary, or -Sabian. - -The Indians too have images of the elephant, horse, and other such -animals, chiselled out with the most studious care, and to all intents and -purposes appear to pay them homage; but, if questioned on the subject, -they will tell you that in the sagacity of the former, and the strength -and swiftness of the latter, they only recognise the superior wisdom and -might of the All-good and All-great One, and the rapidity with which his -decrees are executed by his messengers. - -If questioned more closely, they will tell you that the Brahmin is but -reminded by the image of the inscrutable Original, whose pavilion is -clouds and darkness; to him he offers the secret prayer of the heart; and -if he neglects from inadvertence the external services required, it is -because his mind is so fully occupied with the contemplation of uncreated -excellence, that he overlooks the grosser object by which his impressions -were communicated. Then with respect to their subterranean temples or -Mithratic caves, of which we have so many specimens throughout this -island, they affirm that the mysterious temple of the caverns is dedicated -to services which soar as much above the worship of the plain and -uninstructed Hindoo, as Brahma the invisible Creator is above the good and -evil genii who inhabit the region of the sky. The world, whose ideas are -base and grovelling as the dust upon which they tread, must be led by -objects perceptible to the senses to perform the ceremonial of their -worship; the chosen offspring of Brahma are destined to nobler and -sublimer hopes; their views are bounded alone by the ages of eternity. - -These specimens, though brief, will prove that the spirit of the religion -of ancient India and Egypt was not that farrago of mental prostration -which some have imagined. No, the stars, as the abode, or immediate signal -of the Deity, were their primary study; and even to this day, depressed -and humiliated as the Indians are, and aliens in their own country, they -are not without some attention to their favourite pursuit, or something -like an observatory to perpetuate its cultivation. In May, 1777, a letter -from Sir Robert Baker to the President of the Royal Society of London was -read before that body, which details a complete astronomical apparatus -found at Benares, belonging to the Brahmins. - -Such is the remnant of that once enlightened nation, the favourite retreat -of civilisation and the arts, which sent forth its professors into the -most distant quarters of the world, and disseminated knowledge wherever -they had arrived. "With the first accounts we have of Hindostan," says -Crawford, "a mighty empire opens to our view, which in extent, riches, and -the number of its inhabitants, has not yet been equalled by any one nation -on the globe. We find salutary laws, and an ingenious and refined system -of religion established; sciences and arts known and practised; and all of -these evidently brought to perfection by the accumulated experience of -many preceding ages. We see a country abounding in fair and opulent -cities; magnificent temples and palaces; useful and ingenious artists -employing the precious stones and metals in curious workmanship; -manufacturers fabricating cloths, which in the fineness of their texture, -and the beauty and duration of some of their dyes, have even yet been but -barely imitated by other nations. - -"The traveller was enabled to journey through this immense country with -ease and safety; the public roads were shaded with trees to defend him -from its scorching sun; at convenient distances buildings were erected for -him to repose in, a friendly Brahmin attended to supply his wants; and -_hospitality_ and the _laws_ held out assistance and protection to _all -alike_, without prejudice or partiality.... We afterwards see the empire -overrun by a fierce race of men, who in the beginning of their furious -conquests endeavoured, with their country, to subdue the minds of the -Hindoos. They massacred the people, tortured the priests, threw down many -of the temples, and, what was still more afflicting, converted some of -them into places of worship for their prophet, till at length, tired with -the exertion of cruelties which they found to be without effect, and -guided by their interest, which led them to wish for tranquillity, they -were constrained to let a religion and customs subsist which they found it -impossible to destroy. But during these scenes of devastation and -bloodshed, the sciences, being in the sole possession of the priests, who -had more pressing cares to attend to, were neglected, and are now almost -forgotten." - -I have dwelt thus long upon the article of India, from my persuasion of -the intimate connection that existed at one time as to religion, language, -customs, and mode of life between some of its inhabitants and those of -_this_ western island. I have had an additional motive, and that was to -show that the same cause which effected the _mystification_ that overhangs -_our_ antiquities, has operated similarly with respect to _theirs_, and -this brings me back to the subject of the Round Towers, in the _history_, -or rather the _mystery_, of which, in both countries, this result is most -exemplified. - -As to their appropriation, then, to the _sacred_ fire, though I do not -deny that _some_ of them _may_ have been connected with it, yet -unquestionably _too much importance_ has been attached to the _vitrified_ -appearance of Drumboe tower as if necessarily enforcing our acquiescence -in the universality of that doctrine. "At some former time," says the -surveyor, "_very strong fires have been burned_ within this building, and -the inside surface towards the bottom has the appearance of -vitrification." - -I do not at all dispute the _accident_, but while the vitrified aspect -which _this tower_ exhibits is proof irresistible that _no fire ever -entered_ those in which _no such_ vitrification appears, I cannot but -_here too_ express more than a surmise that it was not the "_sacred -fire_," which, when religiously preserved, was not allowed to break forth -in those _volcanoes_ insinuated; but in a _lambent, gentle flame_, -emblematic of that emanation of the spirit of the Divinity infused, as -_light from light_, into the soul of man. - - "Hail, holy Light! offspring of heaven first-born! - Or of th' Eternal co-eternal beam! - May I express thee unblamed? Since God is light, - And never but in unapproached light - Dwelt from eternity; dwelt then in thee, - Bright effluence of bright essence increate! - Or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream, - Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun, - Before the heavens, thou wert, and at the voice - Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest - The rising world of waters dark and deep, - Won from the void and formless infinite."[87] - -But to prove that they were not appropriated to the ritual of -fire-worship, _nay, that their history and occupation had been altogether -forgotten when that ritual now prevailed_, I turn to the glossary of -Cormac, first bishop of Cashel, who, after his conversion to -Christianity, in the fifth century, by St. Patrick, thus declares his -faith:-- - - "Adhram do righ na duile - Do dagh bhar din ar n' daone - Lies gach dream, leis gach dine - Leis gach ceall, leis gach caoimhe." - -That is-- - - "I worship the King of the Elements, - Whose fire from the mountain top ascends, - In whose hands are all mankind, - All punishment and remuneration." - -No allusion here to "_towers_" as connected with that _fire_ so pointedly -adverted to. And lest there should be any doubt as to the _identity_ of -this fire with the religious element so frequently referred to, we find -the same high authority thus critically explain himself in another place: -"dha teinne soinmech do gintis na draoithe con tincet laib moraib foraib, -agus do bordis, na ceatra or teamandaib cacha bliadhna"--that is, the -Druids used to kindle two immense fires, with great incantation, and -towards them used to drive the cattle, which they forced to pass between -them every year. - -Nay, when St. Bridget, who was originally a _pagan vestal_, and -consequently well versed in all the solemnities of the sacred fire, -wished, upon her conversion to Christianity, A.D. 467, to retain this -favourite usage, now sublimated in its nature, and streaming in a more -hallowed current, it was not in a "tower" that we find she preserved it, -but in a cell or low building "like a vault," "which," says Holinshed, -whose curiosity, excited by Cambrensis's report,[88] had induced him to go -and visit the spot, "to this day they call the fire-house." It was a -stone-roofed edifice about twenty feet square, the ruins of which are -still visible, and recognised by all around as once the preservative of -the sacred element. When Cambrensis made mention of this miraculous fire -of St. Bridget, why did he not connect it with the _Round Towers_, which -he mentions elsewhere? He knew they had no connection, and should not be -associated. - -But, forsooth, the Venerable Bede has distinctly mentioned in the _Life of -St. Cuthbert_ that there were numerous _fire receptacles_, remnants of -ancient paganism, still remaining in this island!--Admitted. But does it -necessarily follow that they were the _Round Towers_?[89] No: here is the -enigma solved--they were those _low stone-roofed structures_, similar to -what the Persians call the "Atash-gah," to be met with so commonly -throughout all parts of this country, such as at Ardmore, Killaloe, Down, -Kerry, Kells, etc. etc. The circumstance of St Columbe having for a time -taken up his abode in this last-mentioned one, gave rise to the idea that -he must have been its founder: but the delusion is dispelled by comparing -its architecture with that of the churches which this distinguished -champion of the early Christian Irish Church had erected in Iona,[90] -whose ruins are still to be seen, and bear no sort of analogy with those -ancient receptacles. Struck, no doubt, with some apprehensions like the -foregoing, it is manifest that Miss Beaufort herself, while combating -most strenuously for the Round Towers as _fire receptacles_, had no small -misgiving, nay, was evidently divided as to the security of her position. -"From the foregoing statements," she observes, "a well-grounded conclusion -may be drawn that these _low fabrics_ are seldom found but in connection -with the towers, and were designed for the preservation of the sacred -fire; in some cases the lofty tower may have served for both -purposes."[91] The lofty tower, I emphatically say, was a distinct -edifice. - -Again, when St. Patrick in person went round the different provinces to -attend the pagan solemnities at the respective periods of their -celebration, we find no mention made of any such thing as a "tower" -occupying any part in the ritual of their religious exercises. When he -first presented himself near the Court of Laogaire, not far from the hill -of Tara, on the eve of the vernal equinox, and lit up a fire before his -tent in defiance of the legal prohibition, the appeal which we are told -his Druids addressed to the monarch on that occasion was couched in the -following words:--"This fire which has to-night been kindled in our -presence, before the flame was lit up in your _palace_, unless -extinguished this very night, shall never be extinguished at all, but -shall triumph over all the fires of our ancient rites, and the lighter of -it shall scatter your kingdom." In this notification, as I translate it -from O'Connor's _Prolegomena_, i. c. 35, there occur two terms to which I -would fain bespeak the reader's regard; one is the word _kindled_, which -implies the lighting up of a fire where there was none before; the second -is the word _palace_, which is more applicable to a kingly residence or -private abode, than to a _columnar structure_, which would seem to demand -a characteristic denomination. - -Another objection more imposing in its character, and to the _local_ -antiquary offering no small difficulty to surmount, is that those -above-mentioned low structures must have been erected by our first Roman -missionaries, because that they bear the strongest possible affinity to -the finish and perfection of the early Roman cloacae or vaults. This -difficulty, however, I thus remove: no one in this enlightened age can -suppose that these stupendous specimens of massive and costly workmanship, -which we read of as being constructed by the Romans in the very infancy of -their State, could have been the erection of a rude people, unacquainted -with the arts. The story of the wolf, the vestal, and the shepherd is no -longer credited; Rome was a flourishing and thriving city long before the -son of Rhea was born, and the only credit that he deserves, as connected -with its history, is that of uniting together under one common yoke the -several neighbouring communities, many of whom, particularly the -Etrurians, were advanced in scientific and social civilisation, conversant -not only with the researches of letters, and the arcana of astronomy, but -particularly masters of all manual trades, and with none more profoundly -than that of architecture. - -But who, let me ask, were those Etrurians? none others, most undoubtedly, -than the Pelasgi or Tyrseni, another branch of our Tuath-de-danaan -ancestors, who, as Myrsilus informs us, had erected the ancient wall -around the Acropolis of Athens, which is therefore styled, by Callimachus, -as quoted in the Scholia to the _Birds_ of Aristophanes, "the Pelasgic -Wall of the Tyrseni." It is now a point well ascertained by historians -that what are termed by ancient writers _Cyclopean walls_--as if -intimating the work of a race of giants, while the true exposition of the -name is to be found in the fact of their having been constructed by a -caste of miners, otherwise called arimaspi, whose lamp, which perhaps they -had fastened to their foreheads, may be considered as their _only -eye_--were actually the creation of those ancient Pelasgi, and, as will -shortly appear, should properly be called Irish.[92] Mycenae, Argos, and -Tiryns, in Greece, as well as Etruria and other places in Italy, the early -residences of this lettered tribe, abound in relics of this ancient -masonry. In all respects, in all points, and in all particulars it -corresponds with that of those above-mentioned _low_, stone-roofed, -fire-receptacles, so common in this island; which must satisfactorily and -for ever do away with the doubt as to why such features of similarity -should be observed to exist between our antiquities and those of _ancient -Greece_ and _Rome_; not less perceptible in the circumstance of those -edificial remains than in the collateral evidences of language and -manners. - -The sacred fire, once observed with such religious awe by every class, and -in every quarter of this island, was imported from Greece into Italy by -the same people who had introduced it here. Let me not be supposed to -insinuate that the people of the latter country, _modernly considered_, -adopted the usage from those of the former country, moderns also; no, -there was no intercourse between these parties for many years after the -foundation of the western capital. Indeed it was not until the time of -Pyrrhus that they knew anything of their respective existences, whereas we -find that the vestal fire was instituted by Numa, A.U.C. 41. What I meant -therefore to say was, that the same early people, viz. the Pelasgi, who -had introduced it into Greece, had, upon their expulsion from Thessaly by -the Hellenes, betaken themselves to Latium, afterwards so called, and -there disseminated their doctrines not less prosperously than their -dominion. - -Numa was in his day profoundly skilled in all the mysteries of those -religious philosophers; and his proffered elevation to the Roman throne -was but the merited recompense of his venerable character. His whole reign -was accordingly one continued scene of devotion and piety, in which -pre-eminently outshone his regard to Vesta,[93] in whose sanctuary was -preserved the Palladium, "the fated pledge of Roman authority," and which -too, by the way, ever connected as we see it was with the _worship of -fire_, would seem to make the belief respecting it also to be of Oriental -origin. This eastern extraction additionally accounts for that dexterous -State contrivance of client and patron established in the early ages of -the Roman government, corresponding to our ancient clanship--both -evidently borrowed from the same Indian castes. - -I now address myself to another obstacle which has been advanced by an -Irish _lady_, and of the most deserved antiquarian repute, whose classic -and elaborate treatise on this identical subject, though somewhat -differently moulded, has already won her the applause of that society -whose discriminating verdict I now respectfully await. But as my object -is _truth_, divested as much as possible of worldly considerations, and -unshackled by systems or literary codes, I conceive that object will be -more effectually attained by setting inquiry on foot, than by tamely -acquiescing in dubious asservations or abiding by verbal ambiguities. - -What elicited this sentiment was Miss Beaufort's remark on the enactment -at Tara, A.D. 79, for the _erection of a palace_ in each of the four -proportions subtracted by order of Tuathal Teachmar, from each of the four -provinces to form the present county of Meath. Her words are as -follow:--"Taking the landing of Julius Caesar in Britain, in the year 55 -before Christ, as a fixed point of time, and counting back fifty years -from that, we shall be brought to about one hundred years before the -Christian era, at which time the introduction of the improvements and -innovations of Zoroaster, and that also of fire towers, may, without -straining probability, be supposed to have fully taken place. _That it -was_ not much earlier may be inferred from the before-mentioned ordinance -of the year 79 A.D., to increase the number of towers in the different -provinces." - -With great submission I conceive that the _error_ here incurred originated -on the lady's part, from mistaking as authority the comment in the -_Statistical Survey_, vol. iii. p. 320, which runs thus:--"It is quite -evident from sundry authentic records, that these round towers were -appropriated to the preservation of the Baal-thinne, or sacred fire of -Baal: first at the solemn convention at Tara, in the year of Christ 79, in -the reign of Tuathal Teachmar, it was enacted, that on the 31st of October -annually, the sacred fire should be publicly exhibited from the stately -tower of Tlactga, in Munster, from whence all the other repositories of -the Baal-thinne were to be rekindled, in case they were by any accident -allowed to go out. It was also enacted, that a particular tower should be -erected for that purpose in each of the other four provinces, Meath being -then a distinct province. For this purpose the tax called Scraball, of -threepence per head on all adults, was imposed." - -Well, for this is quoted _Psalter of Tara_, by Comerford, p. 51; on -referring to which I find the text as thus: "He (Tuathal) also erected a -stately palace in each of these proportions, viz. in that of Munster, the -palace of Tlactga, where the fire of Tlactga was ordained to be kindled on -the 31st of October, to summon the priests and augurs to consume the -sacrifices offered to their gods; and it was also ordained that no other -fire should be kindled in the kingdom that night, so that the fire to be -used in the country was to be derived from this fire; for which privilege -the people were to pay a scraball, which amounts to threepence every year, -as _an acknowledgment to the King of Munster_. The second palace was in -that of Connaught, where the inhabitants assembled once a year, upon the -1st of May, to offer sacrifices to the principal deity of the island under -the name of Beul, which was called the Convocation of Usneagh; and on -account of this meeting the King of Connaught had from every lord of a -manor, or chieftain of lands, a horse and arms. The third was at Tailtean, -in the portion of Ulster, where the inhabitants of the kingdom brought -their children when of age, and treated with one another about their -marriage. From this custom the King of Ulster demanded an ounce of silver -from every couple married here. The fourth was the palace of Teamor or -Tara, which originally belonged to the province of Leinster, and where the -States of the kingdom met in a parliamentary way." - -I now leave the reader to decide whether the word "palace" can be well -used to represent an "ecclesiastical tower," or indeed any tower at all; -or whether it is not rather a royal residence for the several provincial -princes, that is meant to be conveyed; as is evident to the most -superficial, from the closing allusion to the _palace_ of Tara, "where the -States of the kingdom met in a parliamentary way." The impost of the -scraball, I must not omit to observe, has been equally misstated in the -survey; for it was not for the purpose of erecting _any_ structures, but -as an acknowledgment of homage and a medium of revenue that it was -enforced, as will appear most clearly on reverting to the original, and -comparing it with the other means of revenue, which the other provincial -kings were entitled to exact. But what gives the complete overthrow to the -doctrine which would identify those _palaces_ with columnar edifices, is -the fact that there are no vestiges to be found of _Round Towers_ in any, -certainly not in all of those four localities specially notified. Wells -and Donaghmore are the only Round Towers now in the county Meath, and -these are not included among the places above designated. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -To wind up the matter, steadily and unequivocally I do deny that the Round -Towers of Ireland were fire receptacles. I go further, and deny that any -of those eastern round edifices which travellers speak of, were ever -intended for fire receptacles: that they were all pagan structures--and -temples too--consecrated to the most _solemn_ and _engrossing_ objects of -_human pursuit_, however erroneously that pursuit may have been directed, -I unhesitatingly affirm. What then, I shall be asked, was their design? To -this I beg leave to offer a circumlocutory answer. Squeamishness may be -shocked, and invidiousness receive a pretext, but, the spirit being pure, -the well-regulated mind will always say, "Cur nescire, pudens prave, quam -discere malo?"[94] - -Then be it known that the _Round Towers_ of _Ireland_ were temples -constructed by the early Indian colonists of the country, in honour of -that _fructifying_ principle of nature, emanating, as was supposed, from -the sun, under the denomination of Sol, Phoebus, Apollo, Abad or Budh, -etc. etc.; and from the moon, under the epithet of Luna, Diana, Juno, -Astarte, Venus, Babia or Butsee, etc. etc. Astronomy was inseparably -interwoven with this planetary religion; while the religion itself was -characterised by enforcing almost as strict a regard to the body after -death, as the body was expected to pay to a Supreme Essence before its -mortal dissolution. Under this double sense then of _funereal_ or -posthumous regard, as well as active and living devotion, must I be -understood to have used the expression, when previously declaring that our -_Sabian rotundities_ were erected with the twofold view of religious -_culture_ and the _practice_ of that _science_ with which it was so -amalgamated. - -To be explicit, I must recall to the reader's mind the destination which -the Brahmins assigned to the Egyptian pyramids, on hearing Wilford's -description of them--viz. that they were places appropriated to the -worship of Padma-devi.[95] Before I proceed, however, I must state that I -do not intend to make this the basis of what I shall designate my -_disclosures_. It would be very foolish of _me_, if hoping to dislodge a -_world_ of long-established prejudice, to use, as my _lever_, a ray shot -transversely from a volume which has been tarnished by forgery. I need no -such aid, as the sequel will show; and yet were it requisite, no objection -would be valid, as the "_Pundit_" could have had no motive, either of -interest or of vanity, such as influenced his _transcriptions_, here to -mislead his victim. It was the mere utterance of a casual opinion, without -reference to any deduction. Besides it was not the statement of the knave -at all, but that of a number of religious men of letters, who all agreed -in the ascription above laid down. They spoke, no doubt, from some -traditionary acquaintance with the use of those tall round buildings which -so much baffle antiquarians, not more in Ireland than they do in -Hindostan: but the explanation of this their answer will be a happy -inlet--and as such only do I mean to employ it--to the _illustration_ of -what we have been so long labouring at. - -The word Padma-devi[96] means "_the deity of desire_," as instrumental in -that principle of _universal_ generativeness diffused throughout all -nature. Do I mean that gross suggestion of carnal concupiscence?--that -mere propensity of animal appetite which is common to man with the brute -creation? No; it became redeemed, if not justified, by the religious -complexion with which it was intertwined, derived, mayhap, originally from -that _paradisiacal_ precept which said, "increase and multiply"; while the -strain of metaphor under which it was couched, and the spiritual tendency -by which the ceremony was inculcated, prevented offence even to the most -refined taste, the most susceptible fancy, or the most delicate -sensibility. - -The love of offspring has ever been a powerful ingredient in man's -composition. The fair portion of the human species, as every age and -experience can prove, have shown themselves not more exempt from the -control of the same emotions or the influence of the same impulses. It was -so wisely instituted by the great Regulator of all things, nor is the -abuse of the principle any argument against its general utility or -sanctified intent. Search the records of all early States, and you will -find the legislator and the priest, instead of opposing a principle so -universally dominant, used their influence, on the contrary, to bring it -more into play, and make its exercise subservient to the increase of our -species; the law lent its aid to enforce the theme as national, and -religion sanctified it as a moral obligation. - -In India this _fervor_ was particularly encouraged: for "as the Hindoos -depend on their children for performing those ceremonies to their names, -which they believe tend to mitigate punishment in a _future state_, they -consider the being deprived of them as a severe misfortune and the sign of -an offended God."[97] They accordingly had recourse to all the stratagems -which ingenuity could devise to recommend this passion to the inner -senses, and dignify its nature by the studied imagery of metaphor and -grace. In conformity with this sentiment we are favoured by Sir William -Jones with the copy of a hymn, which they were in the habit of addressing -to the above-mentioned "Padma-devi," or "Mollium mater saeva cupidinum," -which he thus prefaces with her figurative descent:-- - -It is Camadeva, that is, the _god_ of desire, the opposite sex he speaks -of, but the principle is the same. - - "Peor, his other name, when he enticed - Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile, - To do him wanton rites, which cost them sore."[98] - -"According to the Hindu mythology, he was the son of Maya, or the general -attracting power;[99] that he was married to Ritty, or Affection; and that -his bosom friend is Vassant, or the Spring: that he is represented as a -beautiful youth, sometimes conversing with his mother, or consort, in the -midst of his gardens and temples; sometimes riding by moonlight on a -parrot, and attended by dancing girls, or nymphs, the foremost of whom -bears his colours, which are a fish on a red ground: that his favourite -place of resort is a large tract of country round Agra, and principally -the plain of Mathra, where Kreshen also, and the nine Gopia usually spend -the night with music and dance: that his bow is of sugar-cane or flowers, -the sting of bees, and his five arrows are each painted with an Indian -blossom of an healing quality." Tedious and diffuse as has been the -dissertation already, I cannot resist the inclination of transcribing the -hymn also. - - "What potent god, from Agra's orient bowers, - Floats through the lucid air; whilst living flowers, - With sunny twine, the vocal arbours wreathe, - And gales enamoured heavenly fragrance breathe? - - Hail, Power unknown! for at thy beck - Vales and groves their bosoms deck, - And every laughing blossom dresses, - With gems of dew, his musky tresses. - I feel, I feel thy genial flame divine, - And hallow thee, and kiss thy _shrine_. - - Knowest thou not me?-- - Yes, son of Maya, yes, I know - Thy bloomy shafts and cany bow, - Thy scaly standard, thy mysterious arms, - And all thy pains and all thy charms. - - Almighty Cama! or doth Smara bright, - Or proud Aranga, give thee more delight? - Whate'er thy seat, whate'er thy name, - Seas, earth, and air, thy reign proclaim; - All to thee their tribute bring, - And hail thee universal king. - - Thy consort mild, Affection, ever true, - Graces thy side, her vest of glowing hue, - And in her train twelve blooming maids advance, - Touch golden strings and knit the mirthful dance. - Thy dreadful implements they bear, - And wave them in the scented air, - Each with pearls her neck adorning, - Brighter than the tears of morning. - Thy crimson ensign which before them flies, - Decks with new stars the sapphire skies. - - God of the flowery shafts and flowery bow, - Delight of all above and all below! - Thy loved companion, constant from his birth - In heaven clep'd Vassant, and gay Spring on earth, - Weaves thy green robe, and flaunting bowers, - And from the clouds draws balmy showers, - He with fresh arrows fills thy quiver, - (Sweet the gift, and sweet the giver,) - And bids the various warbling throng - Burst the pent blossoms with their song. - - He bends the luscious cane, and twists the string, - With bees how sweet! but ah, how keen their sting! - He with fine flowrets tips thy ruthless darts, - Which through five senses pierce enraptured hearts. - Strong Champa, rich in od'rous gold, - Warm Amer, nursed in heavenly mould, - Dry Nagkezer, in silver smiling, - Hot Kiticum, our sense beguiling, - And last, to kindle fierce the scorching flame, - Loveshaft, which gods bright Bela name. - - Can men resist thy power, when Krishen yields, - Krishen, who still in Mathra's holy fields, - Tunes harps immortal, and to strains divine, - Dances by moonlight with the Gopia nine? - - Oh! thou for ages born, yet ever young, - For ages may thy Bramin's lay be sung; - And when thy Lory spreads his emerald wings, - To waft thee high above the tower of kings, - Whilst o'er thy throne the moon's pale light - Pours her soft radiance through the night, - And to each floating cloud discovers - The haunts of blest or joyless lovers, - Thy milder influence to thy bard impart, - To warm, but not consume his heart." - -Amongst the fables that are told to account for the origin of this amorous -devotion, Sir William tells us, is the following, viz.:-- - -"Certain devotees in a remote time had acquired great renown and respect; -but the purity of the art was wanting; nor did their motives and secret -thoughts correspond with their professions and exterior conduct. They -affected poverty, but were attached to the things of this world, and the -princes and nobles were constantly sending them offerings. They seemed to -sequester themselves from the world; they lived retired from the towns; -but their dwellings were commodious, and their women numerous and -handsome. But nothing can be hid from the gods, and Sheevah resolved to -expose them to shame. He desired Prakeety[100] to accompany him; and -assumed the appearance of a Pandaram of a graceful form. Prakeety appeared -as herself a damsel of matchless beauty. She went where the devotees were -assembled with their disciples, waiting the rising sun to perform their -ablutions[101] and religious ceremonies. As she advanced the refreshing -breeze moved her flowing robe, showing the exquisite shape which it seemed -intended to conceal. With eyes cast down, though sometimes opening with a -timid but a tender look, she approached them, and with a low enchanting -voice desired to be admitted to the sacrifice. The devotees gazed on her -with astonishment. The sun appeared, but the purifications were forgotten; -the things of the Poojah[102] lay neglected; nor was any worship thought -of but that to her. Quitting the gravity of their manners, they gathered -round her as flies round the lamp at night, attracted by its splendour, -but consumed by its flame. They asked from whence she came; whither she -was going? 'Be not offended with us for approaching thee; forgive us for -our importunities. But thou art incapable of anger, thou who art made to -convey bliss; to thee, who mayest kill by indifference, indignation and -resentment are unknown. But whoever thou mayest be, whatever motive or -accident may have brought thee amongst us, admit us into the number of thy -slaves; let us at least have the comfort to behold thee.' - -"Here the words faltered on the lip; the soul seemed ready to take its -flight; the vow was forgotten, and the policy of years destroyed. - -"Whilst the devotees were lost in their passions, and absent from their -homes, Sheevah entered their village with a musical instrument in his -hand, playing and singing like some of those who solicit charity. At the -sound of his voice the women immediately quitted their occupations; they -ran to see from whom it came. He was beautiful as Krishen on the plains of -Matra.[103] Some dropped their jewels without turning to look for them; -others let fall their garments without perceiving that they discovered -those abodes of pleasure which jealousy as well as decency has ordered to -be concealed. All pressed forward with their offerings; all wished to -speak; all wished to be taken notice of; and bringing flowers and -scattering them before him, said, 'Askest thou alms! thou who art made to -govern hearts! Thou whose countenance is fresh as the morning! whose voice -is the voice of pleasure; and thy breath like that of Vassant[104] in the -opening rose! Stay with us and we will serve thee; nor will we trouble thy -repose, but only be jealous how to please thee.' - -"The Pandaram continued to play, and sung the loves of Kama,[105] of -Krishen, and the Gopia, and smiling the gentle smiles of fond desire, he -led them to a neighbouring grove that was consecrated to pleasure and -retirement. Sour began to gild the western mountains, nor were they -offended at the retiring day. - -"But the desire of repose succeeds the waste of pleasure. Sleep closed the -eyes and lulled the senses. In the morning the Pandaram was gone. When -they awoke they looked round with astonishment, and again cast their eyes -on the ground. Some directed their looks to those who had been formerly -remarked for their scrupulous manners, but their faces were covered with -their veils. After sitting a while in silence, they arose, and went back -to their houses with slow and troubled steps. The devotees returned about -the same time from their wanderings after Prakeety. The days that followed -were days of embarrassment and shame. If the women had failed in their -modesty, the devotees had broken their vows. They were vexed at their -weakness; they were sorry for what they had done; yet the tender sigh -sometimes broke forth, and the eye often turned to where the men first saw -the maid, the women the Pandaram. - -"But the people began to perceive that what the devotees foretold came -not to pass. Their disciples in consequence neglected to attend them, and -the offerings from the princes and the nobles became less frequent than -before. They then performed various penances; they sought for secret -places among the woods unfrequented by man; and having at last shut their -eyes from the things of this world, retired within themselves in deep -meditation, that Sheevah was the author of their misfortunes. Their -understanding being imperfect, instead of bowing the head with humility -they were inflamed with anger; instead of contrition for their hypocrisy, -they sought for vengeance. They performed new sacrifices and incantations, -which were only allowed to have effect in the end to show the extreme -folly of man in not submitting to the will of Heaven. - -"Their incantations produced a tiger, whose mouth was like a cavern, and -his voice like thunder among the mountains. They sent him against Sheevah, -who, with Prakeety, was amusing himself in the vale. He smiled at their -weakness, and killing the tiger at one blow with his club, he covered -himself with his skin. Seeing themselves frustrated in this attempt, the -devotees had recourse to another, and sent serpents against him of the -most deadly kind; but on approaching him they became harmless, and he -twisted them round his neck. They then sent their curses and imprecations -against him, but they all recoiled upon themselves. Not yet disheartened -by all these disappointments, they collected all their prayers, their -penances, their charities, and other good works, the most acceptable of -all sacrifices; and demanding in return only vengeance against Sheevah, -they sent a consuming fire to destroy his genital parts. Sheevah, -incensed at this attempt, turned the fire with indignation against the -human race; and mankind would have been soon destroyed, had not Vishnou, -alarmed at the danger, implored him to suspend his wrath. At his -entreaties Sheevah relented. But it was ordained that in his temples those -_parts_ should be _worshipped_ which the false devotees had impiously -attempted to destroy."[106] - -[Illustration: CLONDALKIN.] - -But what was the form under which this _deity_ was recognised? "Look on -this picture and on that;" and the answer presents itself.[107] The -eastern votaries, suiting the action to the idea, and that their vivid -imagination might be still more enlivened by the very _form_ of the -_temple_ in which they addressed their vows, actually constructed its -architecture after the model of the _membrum virile_, which, obscenity -apart, is the divinely-formed and indispensable medium selected by God -Himself for human propagation and sexual prolificacy. - -This was the Phallus, of which we read in Lucian,[108] as existing in -Syria of such extraordinary height, and which, not less than the Egyptian -Pyramids, has heretofore puzzled antiquaries,--little dreaming that it was -the counterpart of our Round Towers, and that both were the prototypes of -the two "_Pillars_" which Hiram wrought before the temple of Solomon. - -Astarte was the divinity with whose worship it was thus associated, and by -that being understood the moon,[109] it was natural to suppose that the -study of the stars would essentially enter into the ceremonial of her -worship. Another name by which this divinity was recognised, was Rimmon, -which, signifying as it does _pomegranate_, was a very happy emblem of -_fecundity_, as apples are known to be the most prolific species of fruit. - -Lingam is the name by which the Indians designated this idol.[110] Those -who dedicate themselves to his service, swear to observe inviolable -chastity. "They do not, however," says Craufurd, "like the priests of -Atys, deprive themselves of the means of breaking their vows; but were it -discovered that they had in any way departed from them, the punishment is -death. They go naked; but being considered as sanctified persons, the -women approach them without scruple, nor is it thought that their modesty -should be offended by it. Husbands whose wives are barren solicit them to -come to their houses, or send their wives to worship Lingam at the -temples; and it is supposed that _the ceremonies_ on this occasion, if -performed with the proper zeal, are usually productive of the desired -effect."[111] - -Such was the origin and design of the most _ancient_ Indian pagodas, which -had no earthly connection with fire or fire-worshippers, as generally -imagined. And that such, also, was the use and origin of the Irish pagodas -is manifest from the name by which they are critically and accurately -designated, viz. _Budh_, which, in the Irish language, signifies not only -the _Sun_, as the source of _generative vegetation_, but also as the _male -organ of procreative generativeness_, consecrated, according to their -foolish ideas, to Baal-_Phearagh_ or Deus-_coitionis_, by and by to be -elucidated. This thoroughly explains the word "Cathoir-ghall," or "temple -of _delight_," already mentioned as appropriated to one of those edifices, -and is still further confirmed by the name of "Teaumpal na greine," or -"temple of the sun," by which another of them is called; while the -ornament that has been known to exist on the top of many of them -represents the crescent of Sheevah, the matrimonial deity of the Indians, -agreeably to what the Heetopades states, viz. "may he on whose diadem is a -crescent cause prosperity to the people of the earth." - -But you will say that my designating these structures by the name of -_Budh_ is a _gratuitous assumption_, for which I have no authority other -than what _imagination_ may afford me; and that, therefore, however -striking may be _appearances_, you will withhold your conviction until you -hear my proofs. Sir, I advance nothing that I cannot support by arguments, -and should not value your adherence were it not earned by truth. This is -too important an investigation to allow _fancy_ any share therein. It is -not the mere settlement of an antiquarian dispute of _individual_ interest -or _isolated_ locality that is involved in its adjustment,--no, its -bearings are as comprehensive as its interest should be universal; _the -opinions of mankind to a greater extent than you suppose will be affected -by its determination_; and I should despise myself if, by any silly effort -of ingenuity, I should attempt to lead your reason captive, or pander to -your credulity, rather than storm your judgment. - -This being premised, I shall not condescend, here or elsewhere, to -apologise for the freedom with which I shall express myself in the -prosecution of my ideas. The spirit that breathes over the face of the -work will protect me from the venom of ungenerous imputation. Freedom is -indispensable to the just development of the subject. Nor do I dread any -bad results can accrue from such a course, knowing that it is the -_vicious_ alone who can extract poison from my page,--and they could do it -as well in a museum or picture gallery,--while the _virtuous_ will peruse -it in the purity of their own conceptions, and if they rise not improved, -they will, at least, not deteriorated. - -My authority for assigning to the Round Towers the above designation is -nothing less than those annals before adduced.[112] Where is it _there_? -you reply. I rejoin in _Fidh-Nemphed_; which, as it has heretofore puzzled -all the world to develop, I shall unfold to the reader with an almost -miraculous result. _Fidh_, then--as the _Ulster Annals_, or _Fiadh_, as -those of the Four Masters spell it--is the plural of _Budh_, _i.e._ -Lingam; the initial _F_ of the former being only the aspirate of the -initial _B_ of the latter, and commutable with it[113]; and _Nemphed_ is -an adjective, signifying _divine_ or _consecrated_, from _Nemph_, the -heavens: so that _Fidh-Nemphed_ taken together will import the -_Consecrated Lingams_, or the _Budhist Consecrations_. - -Celestial INDEXES, cries O'Connor; following which _term_--but with a very -different acceptation--the reader must be aware how that, in the early -part of our journey, I ascribed to this _enigma_ an astronomical -exposition; but herein I was supported not only by expediency but by -verity, having, all along, not only connected _Solar_ worship, and its -concomitant survey of the stars--which is _Sabianism_--with _Phallic_ -worship,--beginning with the former in order to prepare the way for the -latter,--but shall proceed in detail until I establish their identity. - -The Egyptian history, then, of the origin of this deification is what will -put this question beyond the possibility of denial, viz. that "Isis having -recovered the mangled pieces of her husband's body, the _genitals -excepted_, which the murderers had thrown into the sea, resolving to -render him all the honour which his humanity had merited, got made as many -waxen statues as there were mangled pieces of his body. Each statue -contained a piece of the flesh of the dead monarch. And Isis, after she -had summoned in her presence, one by one, the priests of all the different -deities in her dominions, gave them each a statue, intimating that, in so -doing, she had preferred them to all the other communities of Egypt; and -she bound them by a solemn oath that they would keep secret that mark of -her favour, and endeavour to prove their sense of it by establishing a -form of worship, and paying divine honours to their prince. But that -_part_ of the body of Osiris which had not been discovered, was treated -with more _particular_ attention by Isis, and she ordered that _it_ should -receive _honours more solemn_, and at the same time _more mysterious_, -than the other members."[114] - -Now as Isis[115] and Osiris--two deities, by the way, which comprehended -all nature and all the gods of the ancients--only personated the _Sun_ and -_Moon_, the sources of nutrition and vegetative heat, it is very easy to -remove the veil of this affectionate mythology, and see that it means -nothing more than the mutual dependence and attraction of the sexes upon, -and to, each other; while the fact of the Egyptian "_Osiris_,"[116] which -in _their_ language signifies the _Sun_, and the Irish "_Budh_," which in -_our language_ signifies the same planet, being _both_ represented by the -_same emblematic sign_;[117] and the _name_ of that sign in both languages -signifying as well _sign_ as _thing_ signified, gives a stamp to my proof -which I defy _ingenuity_ to overthrow. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - -What is it, then, that we see here elucidated? Just conceive. For the last -three thousand years and more, the learning of the world has been employed -to ascertain the _origin_ of the doctrine of Budhism. The savants of -France, the indefatigable inquirers of Germany, the affected pedants of -Greece and Rome, and the pure and profound philosophers of ancient India -and Egypt, have severally and ineffectually puzzled themselves to dive -into the secrets of that mystic religion.[118] - -"The conflicting opinions," says Coleman, "which have prevailed among the -most intelligent Oriental writers, respecting the origin and antiquity of -this and the Jaina sects, and the little historical light that has yet -been afforded to disperse the darkness that ages have spread over them, -leave us, at the end of many learned disquisitions, involved in almost as -many doubts as when we commenced upon them." - -"There was, then," adds Gentil, "in those parts of India, and principally -on the coast of Choromandel and Ceylon, a sort of worship the precepts of -which we are quite unacquainted with. The god Baouth, of whom at present -they know no more in India than the name, was the object of this worship; -but it is now _totally_ abolished, except that there may possibly yet be -found some families of Indians who have remained faithful to Baouth, and -do not acknowledge the religion of the Brahmins, and who are on that -account separated from and despised by the other castes.... I made various -inquiries concerning this singular figure, and the Zamulians one and all -assured me that this was the god Baouth, who was now no longer regarded, -for that his worship and his festivals had been abolished ever since the -Brahmins had made themselves masters of the people's faith." - -"The worship of Budha," says Heeren, "concerning the rise and progress of -which we at present know so little, still flourishes in Ceylon." Again, -"All that we know with certainty of Budha is, that he was the founder of a -sect which must formerly have prevailed over a considerable part of India, -but whose tenets and forms of worship were in direct opposition to those -of the Brahmins, and engendered a deadly hate between the two parties, -which terminated in the expulsion of the Budhists from the country."[119] - -"The real time," say the _Asiat. Res._ viii. p. 505, "at which Budha -propagated the doctrines ascribed to him, is a desideratum which the -learned knowledge and indefatigable research of Sir W. Jones have still -left to be satisfactorily ascertained." - -"If the Budhaic religion," says the _Westminster Review_ of January 1830, -"really arrived at predominance in India, its _rise_ in the first place, -and more especially its _extirpation_, are not merely events of stupendous -_magnitude_, but of impenetrable mystery." - -It will soon appear, that however _impenetrable_ heretofore, it is so no -longer. Indeed, a great deal of the principle of their _faith_ has been at -all times understood, but under different associations. It was that which -Job alluded to when he said, "If I gazed upon Orus (the sun) when he was -shining, or upon Jaerecha (the moon) when rising in her glory; and my heart -went secretly after them, and my hand kissed my mouth (in worship), I -should have denied the God that is above." - -So far all have arrived at the discovery of this creed, and accordingly, -if you look into any encyclopedia or depository of science for a -definition of the word "Budhism," you will be told that "it is the -doctrine of solar worship as taught by Budha." There never was such a -person as Budha--I mean at the outset of the religion, when it first shot -into life, and that was almost as early as the creation of man. In later -times, however, several enthusiasts assumed the name, and personified in -themselves the faith they represented. But the origin of the religion was -an _abstract thought_, which while Creuzer allows, yet he must acknowledge -his ignorance of what that _thought_ was. - -The sun and moon were the great objects of religious veneration to fallen -man in the ancient world. Each country assumed a suitable form to their -propensities and peculiarities; but all agreed in centering the essence of -their zeal upon those resplendent orbs to whom they were indebted for so -many common benefits. Those mysteries of faith to which the "_initiated_" -alone had access, and which were disguised in the habiliments of symbols -and of veils, were neither more nor less than representative forms of -_generation_ and _production_. These were the _theme_ which made the -canopy of the firmament to ring with their songs; and these the _spring_ -which gave vigour and elasticity to those graceful displays which, under -the name of _dances_, typified the circular and semicircular rotations of -those bright objects of their regard.[120] - -The Eleusinian[121] rites themselves were essentially of this kind; for -though the benefits of _agriculture_ were said to be chiefly there -commemorated, this after all resolves itself into the above: for as the -process of the earth's bearing is similar to that of our own species, and -indeed of all creatures that rest upon her,--no seed bringing forth fruit -until, as the apostle has affirmed,[122] it first dies,--the -representation of this miracle of nature's vicissitudes led the mind to -the contemplation of general fecundity. And hence the _culture_ of the -ground, and the _propagation_ of human beings, being both viewed in the -same light, and sometimes even named by the same epithet, viz. _tillage_, -were inculcated no less as beneficial exercises than as religious -ordinances. Did a doubt remain as to the accuracy of this connection -between the worship of the ancients and their sexual correspondence, it -would be more than removed by attending to the import of the terms by -which they mystified those celebrations, and which, with the sanctity -attached to the _parts_ themselves, will come consecutively under our -review. One of them, however, is too apposite to be omitted here, and that -is the term by which they designated a certain ceremony still practised on -the coast of Guinea, and which neither the _blandishments_ of _artifice_ -nor the _terrors_ of _menace_ could ever prevail upon them to divulge. -This ceremony they call _Belli-Paaro_. The meaning they assign to it is -_regeneration_, or the act of reviving from _death_ to a new state of -existence; and when we see that the name itself is but an inflection of -the _Baal-Peor_ of the Scriptures, the _Baal-Phearagh_ of our forefathers, -and the _Copulative deity_ of the amative universe, it will not be hard to -dive into its character, though so shrouded in types. - -But the Budhists, not content with this ordinary veneration, or with -paying homage in _secret_ to that symbol of production which all other -classes of idolators equally, though privately, worshipped,--I mean the -Lingam,--thought they could never carry their zeal sufficiently far, -unless they erected it into an _idol_ of more than colossal -magnitude--_and those idols were the Round Towers_. Hence the name -_Budhism_, which I thus define, viz. _that species of idolatry which -worshipped Budh_ (_i.e._ the Lingam), _as the emblem_ of _Budh_ (_i.e._ -the Sun)--Budh signifying, indiscriminately, Sun and Lingam. - -Such was the whole substance of this philosophical creed, which was -not--as may have been imagined--a _ritual of sensuality_, but a _manual of -devotion_, as simple in its exercise as it was pious in its intent--a -Sabian veneration and a symbolical gratitude. I shall now give a summary -of their moral code, couched in the following Pentalogue, as presented by -Zaradobeira, chief Rahan at Ava, to a Catholic bishop, who expressed a -wish some years ago to be favoured with a brief outline of their tenets; -it is this:-- - -1. Thou shalt not kill any animal--from the meanest insect up to man -himself. - -2. Thou shalt not steal. - -3. Thou shalt not commit adultery. - -4. Thou shalt not tell anything false. - -5. Thou shalt not drink any intoxicating liquor. - -The extension of this first commandment from the crime of homicide to the -deprivation of life of any breathing existence, arose from their doctrine -of the transmigration of souls, which they believed should continue ever -in action, and, after release from one tenement of earthly configuration, -enter into some other of a different species and order. - -In this incessant alternation--which was to be one of _ascent_ or of -_descent_, according to the merits of the _body_, which the spirit had -_last_ animated, and which was all considered as a sort of lustral -crucible, for the refining of the vital spark against its reunion with the -Godhead, whence it had originally derived--it is manifest that such -tenderness for the entire animal creation arose from the apprehension of -slaying some relation in that disguise.--Or, did we ascribe it to no -higher motive than a sympathy with fellow-creatures, which, if not equally -responsible, are at all events susceptible of anguish and of pain, this in -itself should teach us to suppress all ebullitions of irreverent sarcasm, -and, if we yield not our acquiescence, to extend to it at least our -commiseration. - - "Pain not the ant that drags the grain along the ground, - It has life, and life is sweet and delightful to all to whom it - belongs."[123] - -The _good works_ which they were _additionally_ enjoined to perform were -classified under the two heads of _Dana_ and _Bavana_. By "_Dana_" was -meant the _giving of alms_, and hence the whole fraternity were called -_Danaans_ or _Almoners_.[124] By "_Bavana_" was understood the -_thoughtfully pronouncing_ those three words, _Anuzza_, _Docha_, and -_Anatta_: of which the first implies our liability to _vicissitude_; the -second to _misfortune_, and the third our _inability_ to exempt ourselves -from either.[125] - -The exposition of the terms _Tuath_ and _de_, as prefixes to _Danaans_, -forming with it the compound Tuath-de-danaan, I shall reserve for a more -befitting place. Meantime I hasten to redeem my "pledge" as to the -elucidation of the import of the name _Hibernian_. - -In the wide range of literary disquisition there is no one topic which has -so engrossed the investigation of studious individuals as the origin of -the word _Hibernia_. The great Bochart, the uncertain Vallancy, the -spiteful Macpherson, the pompous O'Flaherty, and the "antiquary of -antiquaries," Camden himself,--with a thousand others unworthy of -recognition,--have been all consecutively shipwrecked upon its -unapproachable sand-banks. But the most miserable failure of all is that -of a namesake of my own, _the author of a dictionary upon the language of -his country_, who, in his mad zeal for an outlandish conceit, foists into -his book a term with which our language owns no kindred, and then builds -upon that a superstructure which "would make even the angels weep." - -This gentleman would fain make out[126] that, because those islands have -been denominated the _Cassiterides_, or _Tin Reservoirs_, therefore Eirin, -our own one of them, must have been so called as an _Iron Store_! -forgetting that the genius of our vocabulary has never had a term whereby -to express that _metal_ at all,--that by which we now designate it, -namely, _iarun_, being only a modern _coinage_ from the English word,--as -the general voice of antiquity speaks trumpet-tongued on the point, and -the fragments of our Brehon laws give it insuperable confirmation, that -_iron_ was the last metal which mankind has turned to profit, or even -known to exist, while with us it was an exotic until a very recent -period.[127] - -But admitting that _Eirin_ or _Erin_ did signify _the Land of Iron_, then -its Greek formation _Ierne_ must convey the same idea, and so must -_Hibernia_, their Latin inflection; and it would afford me a considerable -portion of merriment to behold any champion for this _iron-cased_ knight -buckle on his _etymological_ armour, and analyse these two last terms so -as to make them indicate the _Land of Iron_. - -Yet pitiable as this appears, for the author of an Irish dictionary, its -ingenuity, at all events, must screen it from contempt. But how will the -public estimate the brightness of that man's intellect, who would state -that _Erin_ is but a _metempsychosis_ of the word _Green_? Will it be -believed that such is the sober utterance of the author of the _Decline -and Fall of the Roman Empire_? But lest I should misrepresent, I shall let -him speak for himself, viz.: "Ireland, from its luxuriant vegetation, -obtained the epithet _Green_, and has preserved, with a slight alteration, -the name _Erin_."[128] - -So that a country which piques itself on its _Irishry_, has remained ever -without a cognomen, until the _English_ language has been _matured_; and -then, in compliment to her sister, Britain, has borrowed an adjective from -her _rainbow_, which, however, she had not the good manners to preserve -pure, but allowed to degenerate so far, that the sagacity of a conjurer -could not trace any resemblance between this _vitiation_ and the _original -epithet_ which pourtrayed her _verdure_! - -Have we not here the solution of that general disbelief which attaches to -proofs deduced from etymology? It is so in all professions, when quacks -break into the fold, and usurp the office of the legitimate practitioner. -Etymology, in itself, is an exalted _science_, and an _unerring standard_; -but the mountebanks that have intermeddled with her holy tools, and -disjointed the symmetry of her fair proportions, knowing no more of the -_foundation_ of _languages_ than they do of the _origin_ of _spirit_, have -sunk it into a _pandemonium_ of _hackling_, _mangling_, and _laceration_, -at which "the satirist," perhaps, may laugh, but "the philosopher," who -has any regard for the right thinking of society, and the implanting in -the tender mind a correct idea of words, at a moment when impressions are -so wrought as to be _ineffaceable_, will feel differently on the subject; -and, if he cannot _reform_, do all that he can to _expose_ it! - -How opposite has been the conduct of the learned Abbe MacGeoghegan as to -the origin of this abstruse word! After reviewing in his able work[129] -the opinions offered by the several persons who wrote before him upon the -question, and none of them giving him satisfaction, he freely -acknowledges, when unable to supply the deficiency, that "the derivation -of this name is unknown." He was right; but the spell is at last broken. - -As a sequel to this avowal, I must be allowed to quote at full length the -extract from Avienus,[130] which has been already referred to-- - - "Ast hinc, duobus in _Sacram_--sic _Insulam_ - Dixere _prisci_--solibus cursus rati est; - Haec inter undas multum cespitem jacit; - Eamque late gens _Hibernorum_ colit, - Propinqua rursus insula Albionum patet,"-- - -that is, two days' sail will take you thence (from the Sorlings) to the -_Sacred Island_; as so denominated by the _men of old_. A rich gleby soil -distinguishes this favourite of the waters; and the race of the -_Hibernians_ cultivate it in its wide extent. Close by, again, is situated -the isle of the Albiones. - -Without dwelling upon the importance which he attaches to this "Sacred -Island," while he disposes of England in one single line, I ask any person -at all conversant with letters, whether it was as a vernacular epithet, or -not rather in compliance with his _hexameters_ and the rules of metrical -versification, which rendered inconvenient the exhibition of the _name -itself_ that the poet paraphrased its meaning, and gave _insula sacra_ as -its equivalent? - -Is not the country inhabited by the Gauls called Gallia; that occupied by -the Britons, Britannia; that possessed by the Indians, India; that peopled -by the Germans, Germania; and that tenanted by the Arcadians, Arcadia? -Consequently, the land inhabited by the people styled _Hibernians_ must, -by universal analogy, be denominated _Hibernia_. And if this signifies -"Sacred Island," of course "Hibernian" must mean "an inhabitant of the -Sacred Island." - -Avienus wrote about the three hundredth year of the Christian era, and -cites the authorities whence he derived his information to the following -purpose, viz.:-- - -"Himilco, the Phoenician, has recorded that he has himself traversed the -ocean, and with his own eyes and senses verified those facts. From the -_remote_ annals of the Phoenicians I copy the same, and present them to -you as handed down from antiquity." - -Himilco, be it remarked, flourished six hundred years before the name of -Christianity was mentioned in the world; and when his acquaintance with -this isle, and that of his countrymen in general, is thus irrefutably -premised, we shall be the more ready to do justice to that observation -made by Tacitus, when, in his _Life of Agricola_, talking of Ireland -relatively to England, he affirmed that "her coasts and harbours were -better known, through commerce and mercantile negotiation," than those of -the latter country.[131] - -Why do I introduce this notice here? To show that it was not to the Latins -Avienus was indebted for his _insight_ into that term, which we thus -pursue. The Romans knew nothing even of the _situation_ of the place that -bore it, until their avarice and their rapacity brought their eagles to -Britain; and, after effecting the subjugation of that heroic island, it is -no small incentive to our vanity to see their historian constrained to -confess that the exhibition of a similar project against the liberties of -Ireland was more with a view to overawe, than from any hopes of -succeeding;[132] while the ignorance which he evinces in another clause of -that very sentence, whence the above extract has been quoted,--placing -Ireland _midway_ between Spain and England,--is proof incontrovertible of -the position which has been assumed. - -But it is to me immaterial whether Avienus was aware or otherwise that -"Hibernia" and "Sacred Island" were convertible and synonymous. It is not -by his authority that I mean to establish the fact; for even admitting his -cognisance of the identity of these two terms, he must yet of _necessity_ -be unacquainted with the _root_ whence they _both_ had sprung; and, -accordingly, I have only put him here in the foreground--as has been the -plan all through--"to break the ice," as it were, for the exordium of the -promised _denouement_. - -_Iran_, then, and _Irin_, or, as more correctly spelled, _Eirean_ and -_Eirin_, with an _e_ prefixed to each of the other vowels, as well initial -as intermediate, is the characteristic denomination which all our ancient -_manuscripts_ affix to this country. There is no exception to this -admitted rule. From the romance to the annal, the observation holds good; -it is an _inalienable_ landmark, and of _inviolable_ unanimity. - -Dionysius of Sicily, who wrote about fifty years before the _Advent_, and -who cannot be suspected of much partiality towards our forefathers, calls -the land they inhabited by the name of _Irin_.[133] Nor will the -circumstance of his applying to it in another place, the variation _Iris_, -detract from this fact; as it is evident that he only manufactured this -latter, having occasion to use a nominative case which he thought that -_Irin_ would not well represent, and so, with the lubricity of a Greek, -ever sacrificing sense to sound,[134] he gave birth to a conception which -_strangled_ the original.[135] - -In the _Life of Gildas_, an early and eminent English ecclesiastic, we -find it called _Iren_, when the biographer, talking of the proficiency -made by his subject in literary pursuits, says that he betook himself to -_Ireland_, which he designates as above, in order to ascertain, by -communion with kindred teachers, the very utmost recesses of theology and -philosophy.[136] - -Ordericus Vitalis, in his _Ecclesiastical History_,[137] having occasion -to mention the _Irish_, calls them by the name of _Irenses_, equivalent to -_Iranians_, that is _inhabitants_ of _Iran_, _Iren_, or _Irin_, whichever -of them you happen to prefer. And as these are now established as the -_basis_ of our general search, I shall address myself without further -digression to their syllabic analysis. - -To do this the more effectually, and at the same time to comprise within -one dissertation what otherwise might encroach upon two, it is to be -noticed that the country known in the present day as _Persia_, and whither -our labours will be directed at no distant hour, was by its _primitive_ -inhabitants called _Iran_ also, and spelled as ours, with an initial _E_. -The prefixing of this letter, in both instances of its occurrence, whether -we regard the _Eastern_ or the _Western_ hemisphere, was neither the -result of chance, nor intended as an operative in the import of the term. -It was a mere _dialectal_ distinction, appertaining to the court-language -of the dynasty of the times, and what is astoundingly miraculous, retains -the same appellation, with literal precision, unimpaired, unadulterated, -in both countries, up to the moment in which I write. - -_Palahvi_[138] is the appellation of this courtly dialect in _Persia_, and -_Palahver_ is the epithet assigned to it in _Ireland_; and such is the -softness and mellifluence of its enchanting tones, and its energy also, -that to soothe care, to excite sensibility, or to stimulate heroism, it -may properly be designated as "the language of the gods." - -Thus we see that Ireland and Persia were both called _Iran_; that both -equally admitted of the change of this name to _Eiran_; and that the -_style_ of this variation was similarly characterised in both. How, then, -will the _empyrics_ of etymology recover their confusion: they who would -persuade us that Ireland was so denominated from _Iar_, the -_West_--unless, indeed, they can substitute _East_ for _West_, and show -that Persia was denominated from _Iar_ also.[139] Entangled in this -dilemma, the amiable old General Vallancy, without intimating, however, -that _it_ was what extorted his remark,--after rigidly maintaining through -a series of volumes, that the word had its origin in the above exploded -_Western_ Will o' the Wisp,--exclaims, in a sentiment of unconscious -self-conviction, that "nothing more can be said of this derivation than -that the name was common to that part of the globe whence they (who -imported it) originally came."[140] - -Arrived, then, at length, at the _fountain-head_ of our inquiry, how shall -we account for it in "that part of the globe whence we originally came"? I -have seen but two efforts to develop the word, as applied to that -quarter: one by Professor Heeren, of the Goettingen University; the other -by "a learned priest of the Parsees," as recorded by Sir John Malcolm, the -late lamented author of a history of the place itself. And as the former -of these is rather _humorous_, and as the latter contains in it a small -_ingredient of truth_, it is worth while to parade them in the _tail_ of -our inspection. - -"Anciently," says the professor, "they were called by the Orientals -themselves by the common term of _Iran_, and the inhabitants, inasmuch as -they possessed _fixed_ habitations and laws, were styled _Iranians_, in -opposition to the _Turanians_, or _wandering_ hordes of Central -Asia."[141] - -I wonder did the German _historian_ take his cue from the conjecture of -the Irish _lexicographer_? It is literally marvellous if he did not; for, -by a most unaccountable coincidence, while tracing the foundation of a -name, descriptive of two localities at opposite points of this mundane -ball, one boldly asserts, and the other more than insinuates, that its -root is to be found in one and the same _English_ word!--and this, too, -when those countries were blazing in glory, before three words of the -English language were broken into train! - -A difference, however, breaks out amongst those partners, which seems to -sever the prospects of their _metallic_ union. It is, that though each -would make _iron_ to be the substratum of their respective hobbies, yet -would _my namesake_ have his so called as _abounding_ therein; whereas, -the _professor_, who betrays a respectable insight into geology, and -fearing that the womb of _Persia_ could not conceive so hard an ore, -wishes us at once to believe that it acquired its _ancient_ epithet from -the _fixedness_ of that metal; and thus would one _ex abundantia_, and the -other _ex similitudine_, have the common name of _Iran_ for Ireland and -for Persia be derived from an _English_ word, which was not concocted for -many centuries after the _decay_ of those two regions, when the very metal -it represented first grew into use![142] - -"Moullah Feroze, an excellent Palahvi scholar, tells me," says Sir John -Malcolm, "that _Iran_ is the plural of _Eir_, and means _the country of -believers_." And again, when he had occasion to consult his oracle, he -states the answer as follows:-- - -"I gave this inscription[143] to Moullah Feroze, a learned priest of the -Parsees, at Bombay, and he assured me that the translation of De Sacy was -correct. Feroze explained the word _An-Iran_ to mean _unbelievers_. _Eer_, -he informed me, was a Pehlivi word, which signified _believer_; _Eeran_ -was its plural: in Pehlivi, the _a_ or _an_ prefixed is a privative, as in -Greek or Sanscrit; and consequently, _An-Eeran_ meant _unbelievers_. The -king of _Eeran_ and _An-Eeran_ he interpreted to mean king of _believers_ -and _unbelievers_; _of_ Persia and other nations. It was, he said, a title -like king of the world. This however," adds Sir John, of himself, "is like -all _conjectures_ founded on etymology, very uncertain." - -It was natural enough that Sir John should express himself slightingly as -to a mode of proof, the principle of which he must have seen violated in -so many instances; and, independently of this, it is an infirmity in human -nature to affect disregard for any knowledge which we do not ourselves -understand. I do not mean, however, to vindicate Feroze's interpretation; -on the contrary, I purpose to show that it is not only _imperfect_, but -_incorrect_; yet while doing so, I am bound to acknowledge, that, if he -has not hit off the whole truth, he has a part of it; and even _this_ is -such a treat, in the wilderness through which we have been groping for -some time back, that I welcome it as an _oasis_, and offer him my thanks -thus beforehand. - -To prove however, that he is in error, I need but confine myself to the -unravelling of his own words. At first he affirms that _Eeran_ is the -plural of _Eer_, and means the _country of believers_; if so, the singular -must mean _the country of a believer_; but he tells us afterwards, that -_Eer_ signifies _a believer_ alone, consequently _Eeran_ must _believers_ -alone, without any consideration of the word _country_. And the same -inconsistency, which manifests itself here, applies with equal strictness -to _An-Eiran_ also. - -Should these papers ever reach the observance of this distinguished -foreigner, whom I appreciate even for his _approximation_ to the precincts -of the _thought_, they will, I doubt not, readily disabuse him of a -_radical_ misconception. _Eeran_ is not a _plural_ at all, but a -_compound_ word: its constituents being _Eer_ and _An_,[144] of which the -former signifies _Sacred_ and the latter a _Territory_. So that the united -import will be the _Sacred Territory_; and _An-Eeran_, of course, is but -its negative. - -This exposition I gain from the Irish language, which I take to be the -primitive Iranian or Persic language. By it I am furthermore enabled to -inform the _German_ "professor" that _Turan_, though now inhabited by -"Nomad tribes," obtained not its name from that circumstance, but from a -widely different one. Tur[145] means _prolific_, whether as regards -_population_ or _rural produce_; and _An_, as before, a territory--the -whole betokening a _prolific territory_.[146] And he should remember, what -he is not at all unconscious of, that eastern denominations are not varied -by recent occupants, but continue in uninterrupted succession, from age to -age, as imposed at the outset. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - -Thus far have Ireland and Persia kept company together, both equally -rejoicing in the common name of _Iran_. But now, when we descend to -particulars, this harmony separates. Ireland being an _island_ surrounded -on all sides by water--which Persia is not--it was necessary it should -obtain a denomination expressive of this accident; or, at all events, when -the alteration was so easily formed as by the change of the final _an_ -into _in_--_an_ meaning _land_, and _in island_--the transition was so -natural as at once to recommend its propriety. - -Hence it is that though we occasionally meet with _Iran_, as applied to -this country, yet do we more frequently find _Irin_ as its distinctive -term; whereas the latter is never, by any chance, assigned to Persia, the -former alone being its universal name. And this is all conformable to the -closest logical argumentation, which teaches that every species is -contained in its genus, but that no genus is contained in its species; -_Irin_, therefore, which is the specific term, may also be called _Iran_ -the generic, while _Iran_--except as in _our_ instance, where the -_extension_ of both is identical--could never be called _Irin_: and so it -happens that _Ireland_ is indifferently called by the names of _Iran_ or -_Irin_, the latter alone marking its _insular_ characteristic; whereas -_Persia_, not being so circumstanced, is mentioned only by the general -form of _Iran_. - -To simplify this reasoning I must repeat that _Iran_[147] signifies the -_Sacred Land_, and _Irin_,[148] the _Sacred Island_; now every _island_ is -a _land_, but every _land_ is not an island: Persia, therefore, which is -_not an island_, could not be called _Irin_, whereas Ireland, _which is_, -may as well be called one as the other.[149] - -_Irin_, then, is the _true_, _appropriate_, _characteristic_ and -_specific_ denomination belonging to this island:--and the words Ire, Eri, -Ere,[150] and Erin, applied also thereto, are but vicious or dialectal -modifications of this grand, original, and ramifying root. - -The import of this appellative having spread itself over the globe before -Rome was ever known, under that name, as a city, and when Greece was but -just beginning to peep into the light, the Pelasgi--who were partly -Budhists, allied somewhat to them in religion, and still more akin in -birth and endowments--conveyed, in conjunction with the Phoenician -merchants, to the early Greek inhabitants;[151] and they, by a very easy -process, commuted _Irin_ to _Ierne_, which is but a translation of the -word--[Greek: hieros] signifying _sacred_, and [Greek: neos] an island. - -Of this Greek form, Ierne, there were again various inflections and -depraved assimilations, such as Iernis, Iuernia, Ouvernia, Vernia, etc. -And from one[152] of those, the Latins, without, perhaps, exactly knowing -what it meant, conjured up _Hibernia_, but which, however, with -soul-stirring triumph, retains _uninjured_ our original root, the initial -_H_ being nothing more than the aspirate of the Greek [Greek: hieros], -sacred; [Greek: neos], _island_, remaining unaltered; and the letter _b_ -only interposed for sound-sake.[153] - -So that, whether we consider it as _Irin_, _Ierne_, or _Hibernia_, or -under the multiplied variations which diverge, almost interminably, from -those _three originals_, in the several languages which they -_respectively_ represent, they will be found, each and all, to resolve -themselves into this _one, great, incontrovertible position of the_ -"Sacred Island." - -Thus, under heaven, have I been made the humble instrument of redeeming my -country from the aspersions of calumniators. I have shown to -_demonstration_ the real origin of its _sanctified_ renown. I have traced -from the _Irish_, through all the variations of _Greek_ and _Latin_ -capricios, its _delineatory_ name; and have proved, beyond the possibility -of rational contradiction, that in all those different changes regard was -still held to the original epithet. - -Where, then, are the sneers--of "hallucination,"--of "lunacy,"--and of -"etymological moonshine?" These are very cheap and convenient terms for -gentlemen to adopt, as cloaks to the ignorance of the purport of -denominations imposed at a time when every _word_ was a _history_. In the -early ages of the world whimsicality never mingled with the -circumstantial designation of either person or locality. Every name was -the sober consequence of deliberate circumspection; and was intended to -transmit the memory of events, in the truest colours, as well as in the -most comprehensive form, to the latest generation. - -Will this be considered the _vapouring_ of conceit? Is it the _spouting_ -of self-sufficient inanity? Let the heartless _utilitarian_, unable to -appreciate the motives which first enlisted me in this inquiry, and which -still fascinate my zeal, at an age when--did not my love for _truth_ and -the rectification of my country's history _rise superior_ to the -mortification of _alienated_ honour--I should have flung from me letters -and literature in disgust, and betaken myself, an adventurer for -distinction as a soldier,--let such, I say, _conceal within himself_ his -despicable worldly-mindedness, and leave me unmolested, if unrewarded, to -posterity. - - "Come thou, my friend, my genius, come along, - Thou master of the poet and the song, - And while the muse now stoops, or now ascends, - To man's low passions, or his glorious ends, - Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise, - To fall with dignity--with temper rise; - Formed by thy converse happily to steer - From grave to gay, from lively to severe; - Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease; - Intent to reason, or polite to please." - -The origin of the term "Sacred Island," being now for ever adjudicated, -the reader will at once see that it belonged to an era long anterior to -Christianity. In assigning to it this _date_,[154] I pretend not to be -_unique_; and, as I should not wish to deprive any brow of the laurels -which it has earned--more especially, where an undisputed enjoyment has -amounted to _prescription_--I shall register, in express words, my -predecessor's own expose, which is, that "the isle must have been so named -_because of its nurturing no venomous reptile_"[155]!!! Who will not -smile? - -No, sir, the imposers of this name were too sensible of its value, and too -jealous of its use, to expose it to ambiguity. It pourtrayed the sanctity -of the occupying proprietors; and lest there should be any misconception -as to the _species_ of worship whence that "sanctity" had emanated, they -gave _this scene_ of its exercise three other names, viz. _Fuodhla_, _Fudh -Inis_, and _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_[156]--which at once associate the -"worship" with the _profession_ of the worshippers: for _f_, or _ph_, -being only the aspirate of _b_, and commutable with it, _Fuodhla_--which -is compounded of _Fuodh_ and _ila_, this latter signifying _land_--becomes -_Buodhla_--that is, Budh_land_.[157] _Fudh Inis_, by the same rule, is -reducible to _Budh Inis_, of which the latter means _island_, that is, -Budh-_island_;[158] while _Inis_-na-_Bhfiodhbhadh_ requires no -transposition, being clear and obvious in itself, as the _Island of -Budhism_. - -Now, "to make assurance doubly sure," go to _Keating's History of -Ireland_, p. 49, and you will there find "the female deities"--an -incorrect expression for the deities worshipped by the females--of the -Tuath-de-danaans, to have been Badhha, Macha, and Moriagan.[159] Of these -the first needs no exposition; the second I shall reserve for another -place, but the third I will here develop. He was the military deity of -this "sacred" colony, and a personification of Budh, under the designation -of Farragh,[160] _i.e._ _Copulation_; and, accordingly, the Scythians, who -incorporated with them, after first dethroning them, adopted this term as -their exhilarating war-shout, while under the veil of the epithet was -really meant the _sun_, whose aid they invoked to give _strength_ to their -_loins_ and _vigour_ to their _arms_.[161] - -And yet this is the name which _Spenser_ would derive from that of Fergus, -king of Scotland! Fifteen hundred years and more before Fergus was born, -which, by the way, was not until the sixth century of the Christian era, -the Irish basked in the _sunshine_ of their resplendent war-god, who, -under another and equivalent denomination, viz. Buodh, abbreviated into -_Boo_,[162] and thus with the prefix _a_, implying _to_, or _under the -auspices of_--assumed by the different septs as their distinctive -watchwords, branched out into the national and spirit-stirring -acclamations of _O'Brien_ a-Boo![163] O'Neil a-Boo! etc. etc.; which the -early English settlers, who would fain become _Hibernis ipsis -Hiberniores_, afterwards imitated: such as Butler a-Boo; Shanet-a-Boo; -Grasagh a-Boo; Crom a-Boo, etc.; the last having been that adopted by -Fitzgerald, Duke of Leinster, and still retained as the motto of his -armorial escutcheon. - -It is worth while to listen to Spenser's _gratulation_, while chuckling -himself with the idea of his fancied discovery: "This observation of -yours," he says to himself, "is very _good_ and _delightful_, far beyond -the _blind conceits_ of some, who upon the same word Farragh have made a -very _blunt_ conjecture." _Oh patria! Oh mores!_ how little is known of -Ireland! But I am not surprised at _foreigners_, when the very _natives_, -the descendants of the _actors_ in those glorious scenes, are ignorant of -its history! - -Take up any document, purporting to give an account of this country, and -you will find it to be composed, either of absurd and nauseous -_exaggerations_ on the one hand, or of gross and calumnious _detractions_ -on the other. But though the _wildness_ of the _former_ cannot fail to -generate, in the intellectual amongst all readers, an _unfavourable -impression_; and in those of a different nation, already prejudiced, or -mayhap incapable of separating the gold from the baser metal, -_incredulity_ and _contempt_; yet the _true Irish searcher_, versed in the -antiquities, not only of his own dear "father-land," but of the kindred -East, which maintained in the old world a religious and incessant -communication with this "Sacred Isle," will glean in the distortion of -those _maniac effusions_, the _glimmerings_ of that _truth_ whence they -originally emanated--while the _injustice_ of the _calumniator's_ must, -_of itself_ bring dismay, with the whole train of confusion and dishonour, -upon the mercenary instruments of those foul abuses, as well as upon the -heartless abettors who could have enlisted their vassalage! - -Truth, notwithstanding, obliges me to say that the blame should not -altogether be laid upon the historians. They did as much as, under the -circumstances, could be expected at their hands. Two successive invasions -having passed over, and swept away, in the whirlwind of their desolating -fury, all those monuments of learning to which the world had bowed just -before--one from _innate antipathy_ to the _thing_ itself; the other from -_apprehension_ that the contents of those memorials, acting upon the -sensibilities of a high-hearted and proud race, should stimulate their -ardour to the recovery of their lost rights, and the consequent ejectment -of the party who had usurped them[164]--the patriot had little more to -guide him in supplying the deficiencies thus created, than the rude -imagining of his own brain, or the oral traditions of the village -schoolmaster and genealogist. - -The rigour, however, of penal observances began, in time, gradually to -relax; and the people ventured to confess that they had still in their -possession such things as _manuscripts_, illustrative of their lineage and -ancestral elevation. This was the signal to some liberal individuals to -prosecute an inquiry for additional memorials; and the result was, that -they rose from the pursuit, if not with a _connected aggregate of -demonstrational evidence_, at least with a _conviction_ on their _minds_, -that those treasured visions of primeval lustre, hereditary and inborn -within the breast of every Irishman, and impossible to be eradicated, were -not yet, _late as was the hour_, without something like a basis to rest -upon. - -I would be unjust did I not furthermore avow, that it was not their -enemies alone that waged this ungenerous warfare with the literature of -the Irish. St. Patrick himself was the individual who, in pursuance, as he -conceived, of his apostolic charge, may be said to have perpetrated the -greatest outrage upon our antiquities; having set fire, in a paroxysm of -pious zeal, to no less than _one hundred and eighty volumes_, which he -selected from the great mass of the records of the nation, as embodying -the tenets of _Budhism_ and _Astrology_. The rest, relating to the -notification of national or personal achievements, he left untouched and -secure. - -Yet, will it be believed that this was the severest infliction, so far as -_letters_ are concerned, which we have sustained, after all? For as the -_religion_ of the ancient Irish was intermingled with their _history_, and -as the wide diffusion of their _celebrity_ arose from the eminence of -their _religious creed_, the flames of that conflagration have inflicted a -loss upon the antiquarian which _fifteen centuries of study_ have not been -able to repair! - -Despite, however, the united inroads of suspicion and mistaken piety, the -Irish have still materials, ample and authentic, for the completion of a -history, not only of _insular_, but, if _properly handled_, of almost -_universal_ elucidation:[165] and of this Toland himself was, in some -measure, aware, when he said that "notwithstanding the long state of -barbarity in which that nation hath lain, and after all the rebellions and -wars with which the kingdom has been harassed, they (the Irish) have -_incomparably_ more ancient materials of that kind for their history, to -which even their _mythology is not unserviceable_, than either the -English, or the French, or any other European nation with whose ancient -manuscripts I have any acquaintance." - -But though resources most unquestionable thus notoriously still abounded, -yet has it not been the fortune of Ireland, hitherto, to meet with any -historian gifted with the widely comprehensive, philosophical views and -suitable education calculated to do her justice; so that, by the untoward -hand of fate, and the iniquitous operation of the old political stroke, -the knowledge of the character in which those papers are couched has -become already so almost extinct, that they lie on the shelves, to all -intents and purposes a _dead_ letter.[166] - -I now beg leave to introduce this identical war-god, in his military -costume and hyperborean philabeg, in which, as before observed, the -Scythians never invested themselves; and hope the reader will enjoy a -hearty laugh at the expense of those blunderers, who, in their -_preposterous_, I had almost said _repentant_, devotion to monastic -refinements, would rob the Pagans of this long-cherished _idol_, and -convert his godship into a _Christian_ nonentity! - -You will find him--name and all corresponding--described fully in the -_Rites and Ceremonies of all Nations_, as similarly officiating and -worshipped in the East. "There is," says the author, "in the province of -Matambo, an _idol_ whose priests are _sorcerers_ or _magicians_; and this -image stands _upright_, directly over against the temple dedicated to his -peculiar service, in a _basket made in the form of a bee-hive_."[167] - -[Illustration] - -"To this deity in particular they apply themselves for success when they -go out a _hunting_ or _fishing_, and for the relief of all such as are -indisposed![168] _Miramba always marches at the head of their armies_; -and he is presented with the first delicious morsel, and the first glass -of wine that is served up at the governor's or King of Matambo's table." - -But a _living_ traveller, in a very interesting work just launched from -the press, and without expecting therein to become my auxiliary, decides -this ascription without further pains. "This village," says our author -(near Rampore, on the Himalaya range), "instanced the care which the -sacerdotal orders in the East take for their comfort and good. It was a -neat, clean, and substantial place, in all acceptations of the word. These -Brahmin villagers pay no rent of any kind to the state: they live on the -granted lands, but are obliged to keep the _temples_ in repair, to furnish -all the implements, and to take care of the godships within it--these are -_small brass images, with nether garments in the shape of petticoats_. -They are carried in procession, on certain occasions, and the ceremonies -belonging to them are performed twice a day. Mahadeo is the great god of -the mountains."[169] - -But if the advocates of modernism have cause to be annoyed at my depriving -them of this specimen of "the Fine Arts in Ireland," which they thought -they had appropriated to the prejudice of truth, how much greater must not -be their chagrin at my wrenching from their grasp another "exceedingly -curious" and "richly-ornamented" "ecclesiastic?"[170] Ecclesiastic, -indeed! Yes; but reverenced and revered, by many a beating heart, as the -head of all ecclesiastics, for centuries upon centuries, before the name -of monachism, as connected with Christianity, was ever articulated! - -[Illustration] - -This, Sir, is no less a personage than Mr. Budha himself, or rather the -personified abstract, in the possession of one of the last queens of the -Tuath-de-danaans, at the moment of the inundation of the Scythian dynasty. -I hope that, after so long an obscuration, and the uncourtly treatment he -has received during the humiliating interval of revolving centuries, you -will--now that he chooses to reveal his proper character, avow his -delegation, and acknowledge the supremacy of that power by which his -empire had been overthrown--treat him as an _Irishman_, with generous -cordiality, and impute not to him a crime which belonged only to his -followers. - -But his dress is like a Christian. So much the better, man: we ought to -like him the more for that. But to be serious,--although, as my friend -Horace formerly told me, "what hinders one laughing from speaking -truth?"--all our ecclesiastical ritual, as well of _ceremony_ as of -_costume_, has been borrowed from the Jewish, and that again from the -Pagans, with such alterations only as the allwise Jehovah thought -necessary to recommend. Besides, we have the authority of Dr. Buchanan for -stating that "_Samona_ is a title bestowed on the priests of Godama -(Budha), and is likewise applied to the _images_ of the _divinity_, when -_represented, as he commonly is_, in the _priestly habit_."[171] - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - -_Pharaoh_,[172] the titular appellation of the monarchs of Egypt, being -but the _local modification_ of this our Irish _Phearagh_, the mind is -instinctively directed towards that great storehouse of bygone -consequence. And as the best authority that we can command in gaining any -insight into its reverses is through the medium of its own historians, let -us hear what Manetho, a priest of the country, thus transmits:-- - -"We had formerly," says he, "a king named Timaeus, in whose reign, I know -not why, but it pleased God to visit us with a blast of His displeasure; -when, on a sudden, there came upon this country a large body of _obscure -people_ from the East, and with great boldness invaded the land, and took -it without opposition. Their behaviour to the natives was very barbarous; -for they slaughtered the men, and made slaves of their wives and children. -The whole body of this people were called _Huksos_, or _Uksos_; that is, -Royal Shepherds: for the first syllable, in the _sacred dialect_, -signifies a 'king,' as the latter, in the popular language, signifies 'a -shepherd.' These two compounded together constitute the word Huksos. These -people are said to have been Arabians." - -"The Vedas, or Sanscrit records of Hindustan, furthermore state that these -invaders were the "Pali," or shepherds, a powerful, warlike, and -enterprising Indian tribe. While the deadly aversion which existed in the -minds of the Egyptians against the name and office of a shepherd in -Joseph's day, is a lasting memorial of their visit and their -severity."[173] - -They did not go, however, without leaving behind them other signs. The -pages of Herodotus afford ample evidence of the resemblance between the -Egyptian customs and those of the more remote East. By his description of -the rites and ceremonies, the mode of life, etc., of the priests of Egypt, -they are at once identified with the Brahmins of India. China still -celebrates that festival of lamps which was formerly universal throughout -the extent of Egypt;[174] and "we have the most indubitable authority for -stating that the sepoys in the British overland army from India, when they -beheld in Egypt the ruins of Dendera, prostrated themselves before the -remains of the ancient temples, and offered up adoration to them; -declaring, upon being asked the reason of this strange conduct, _that_ -they _saw sculptured_ before them the Gods of their country."[175] - -But the most stupendous and appalling memento of their dominion and -science was the three great pyramids of Geeza, the erection of which, -Herodotus assures us (bk. ii. sec. 128), though the _priests_ would -attribute to Cheops, Cephrenes, and Mycerinus, three Egyptian kings, "yet -the _people_ ascribed them to a _shepherd_ named Philitis, _who at that -time fed his cattle_ in those places"; so consonant with the _invasion_ -above authenticated. This is additionally confirmed by the Sanscrit -records already referred to, informing us of _three mountains_, Rucm-adri, -"the Mount of Gold," Rajat-adri, "the Mount of Silver," and Retu-adri, -"the Mount of Gems"; having been raised by that Indian colony who had -conquered Egypt; which is only a figurative denotation of those -_factitious heights_, those astounding monuments of religion and -ostentation, which were originally cased with _yellow_, _white_, and -_spotted marbles_, brought from the quarries of Arabia, until stripped by -the rapacity of succeeding colonies. - -Belzoni's testimony is decisive on this point, as his drawing of the -second pyramid represents the upper part of its casing remaining still -entire, about a third of the distance from the summit to the base -downwards. We meet with other pyramids, it is true, chiefly dispersed -about the Libyan deserts, but they are much inferior to the fore-mentioned -three, except one near the mummies, whose dimensions and structure are -very nearly the same with the largest Gezite one. This latter, according -to Greaves, is 693 feet square at the base; its perpendicular height 499 -feet; that is, 62 feet higher than St. Peter's at Rome, and 155 feet -higher than St. Paul's in London; while the inclining height is 693 feet, -exactly equal to the breadth of the base; so that the angles and base make -an equilateral triangle.[176] Belzoni measures them all differently, and -gives to the second even greater dimensions than are _usually_ assigned to -the first or largest, viz. base, 684; perpendicular height, 456; central -line down front, from apex to base, 568; coating, from top to where it -ends, 140. - -The variation arises from the circumstance of the latter gentleman's -measurement having been taken after the base had been cleared away of all -sand and rubbish; while those of his predecessors applied only as taken -from the level of the surrounding heap. The small ones above noticed are -some quadrilateral, _some round, terminating like a sugar-loaf_, some -rising with a greater and some with a lesser inclination. All commence -immediately south of Cairo, but on the opposite side of the Nile, and -extend, in an uninterrupted range, for many miles in a southerly -direction, parallel with the banks of the river. - -After what has been said above, I need scarcely allude to the ridiculous -supposition of those having been built by Joseph as granaries for his -corn! Their form and construction, ill adapted to such an occasion, -refutes that absurdity, as it does the derivation upon which it has been -founded, viz. the _Greek_ words [Greek: pyros], wheat, and [Greek: amao], -I gather; as if, forsooth, an _Egyptian_ structure, erected before the -_Greek_ language was ever known to exist, should wait for a designation -until Greece should be pleased to christen it. Still more disposed must -one be to discard with contempt the usual derivation given them, of -[Greek: pyr], fire; as this not only labours under the weakness of the -former, but betrays an ignorance of the correct idea of the Greek word -[Greek: pyros], of which [Greek: pyr], fire, is the true derivation, "quia -flammae instar in _acutum_ tendit";[177] intimating its _continually -tapering_ until it ends in a _point_; whereas the top of the Egyptian -_pyramids_ never does so end; that of the largest above described ending -in a flat of nine stones, besides two wanting at the angles, each side of -this platform being about sixteen feet; so that a considerable number of -people may stand on it, and have, as from most of ours, one of the most -beautiful prospects imaginable. - -Wilkins's derivation from _pouro_, a king, and _misi_, a race, would seem -plausible enough, being a purely Coptic or Egyptian analysis; but when we -consider the general ascription of them by the people to the _shepherd -Philitis_, whether as one of the _Pali_--that is, shepherds--or Uksi, -which meant the same--king-shepherds above adduced; or as _emphatically -the shepherd_, the son of Israel,[178] it argues a disposition on the part -of the people to assign the honour--if taken in the latter light--to the -workmen employed; if in the former, to a prince of a different dynasty -from those whom the Egyptian priests would fain associate with them. This -derivation, therefore, will not stand; and we have only to betake -ourselves to the ingenious conjecture of Lacroze,[179] which, perhaps, -may give more satisfaction respecting the etymology of the word _pyramid_. -Lacroze derives it from the _Sanscrit term_ Biroumas, and traces an -analogy between Brahma, Birma (which the Indians of Malabar pronounce -Biroumas), and the word Piromis, which means the same thing, namely, a -virtuous and upright character--Piromia meaning, according to him, in the -language of Ceylon, man in general. - -Herodotus states,[180] that the priests of Egypt kept in a spacious -building large images of wood, representing all their preceding _high -priests_, arranged in genealogical order, every high priest placing his -image there during his life. They mentioned to Hecataeus, the historian, -when they were showing this edifice to him, that each of the images he saw -represented a _Piromis_, begotten by another _Piromis_, which word, says -Herodotus, signifies, in their language, a _virtuous_ and _honest man_. A -passage from Synesius, the celebrated bishop of Cyrene, in his treatise -"on Providence," at once coincides with, and is illustrative of this -anecdote. "The father of Osiris and Typhon," says he, "was at the same -time a _king_, a _priest_, and a _philosopher_. The Egyptian histories -also rank him among the gods; for the Egyptians are disposed to believe -that many divinities reigned in their country in succession before it was -governed by men, and before their kings were reckoned in a genealogical -order by _Peirom_ after Peirom." - -The Japanese celebrate an annual festival in honour of one _Pireun_, who, -they say, was many ages ago king of _Formosa_, and who, being disgusted -with the abandoned morals of his subjects--wealthy traders--consigned -himself solely to the worship of the gods. Forewarned in a dream, he took -flight from the impending visitation, and had scarcely sailed ere the -island, with its inhabitants, sunk to the bottom of the sea. As for the -good king, he arrived safe in China, whence he went over to Japan, where -he has been ever since honoured by the above commemoration. - -The true Coptic name for those edifices is Pire monc--which signifies a -_sunbeam_[181]--not so much in allusion to their _form_ as to their -appropriation, which we shall make the subject of a separate inquiry. - -It has, I trust, satisfactorily been proved that the erection and -nomination of those wondrous edifices were not of _native_ growth. It has, -I trust, additionally appeared that _both_ were essentially Indian. It may -not now be "ungermane to the matter," if we would for a moment digress, to -consider the era of their probable date, as introductory to the character -of their probable destination. - -Josephus expressly informs us that the Israelites were employed in the -construction of the pyramids. Is there any reason why we should doubt so -respectable an authority? Oh, yes, it is said the Scriptures are against -it--the task of the Israelites during their bondage being exclusively -confined to the making of brick. I deny that the Scriptures either allege -or insinuate any such thing. On the contrary, we may fairly infer, from -Ex. ix. 8, 10, that they were engaged in other servile offices; as also -from Ps. lxxxi. 6, where it is said, "I removed his shoulder from the -_burden_, and his hands were delivered from the _mortar-box_"--not _pots_, -as our translation has it; and such rendering is supported by the -Septuagint, Vulgate, Symmachus, and others.[182] - -This ascription receives further countenance from a passage in Diodorus, -i. 2, where, referring to those immense piles, and the ideas of the -Egyptians themselves respecting them, he adds: "They say the first was -erected by Armaeus, the second by Amosis, the third by Inaron." Who is it -that pronounces the last two names, if only spelled, aMosis and inAron, -and recollects, at the same time, what the Scriptures tell us of Moses and -Aaron, that is not at once struck with the similarity of the sound? And as -to Armaeus, why it bears so evident an affinity with Aramaeus or Aramean, -that one cannot avoid connecting it with the "Aramite ready to perish," -the very name given to Jacob, Deut. xxvi. 5.[183] Nothing, then, prevents, -so far as I can see, our concluding _one_ of those structures at least--I -say one at least to _conciliate_ the brick-party; and I think, besides, I -have read somewhere, that one of the pyramids, the smaller ones no doubt, -was built of such material--to have been the work of the sons of Israel. -And the rather as it was consonant with the uniform practice of the -ancient Oriental nations to employ captive foreigners on servile and -laborious works. - -The usual time, too, assigned to the slavery of the Israelites corresponds -very nearly with that generally allotted to the erection of those masses. -The stay of the sons of Israel in the land of Egypt is generally -understood to have been two hundred and fifteen years. Of these Joseph -ruled seventy; forty is a fair average for the generation that -succeeded--which, added to his seventy, leaves one hundred and five years -to the Exodus. Now we learn from Herodotus that Cheops, the _reputed_ -founder of the first or greatest of these pyramids, was the first also of -the Egyptian kings who oppressed, or in any way tyrannised over, his -subjects. His reign is stated to have been fifty years. Cephrenes, who -succeeded, showed himself in every respect his brother, barring, as the -other before him, the approach to every temple, stopping the performance -of the usual sacrifices, and keeping his subjects all the while employed -in every species of oppressive task and laborious drudgery. The period of -his reign is stated to have been fifty-six years, which, added to the -preceding fifty, make one hundred and six, exactly answering to the above -calculation. - -The Exodus, besides, is stated to have occurred B.C. 1791; and Herodotus -and Diodorus together, while acknowledging their ignorance of the actual -date of the pyramids, and the impossibility, on their part, to ascertain -it, declare also their conviction that they must have been built at least -about that period. - -I have thus, I trust, done honourable justice to the testimony of -Josephus. I have done so for many reasons--firstly, because of the -importance of the subject itself; secondly, from my respect for the merits -of the writer; and, thirdly, because that I think it very probable indeed -that the Israelites may have been occupied in the erection of some of the -minor and later pyramids. But _insuperable_ obstacles stand in the way of -our associating them with the structure of them _all_; and of these _one_ -is, the improbability that the victorious invaders would single out the -inoffensive Israelites as particular objects of their oppression, when -policy should suggest to them a directly different course in securing -their adherence in opposition to the native residents. By Josephus's -account, however, it would appear that the Israelites alone were engaged -upon those edifices; and the Scriptures themselves confine the intimation -of drudgery to the Israelitish race: it therefore is manifest that the -Egyptian _natives_ were favoured by the _then existing_ dynasty, while it -is on all hands agreed, that the _new_-comers had treated during the whole -period of their dominion, the _entire_ Egyptian nation with indiscriminate -rigour and chastisement. - -Besides this, that deadly animosity existing in the Egyptian mind to the -name and profession of shepherds, above alluded to, at once identifies -their character with that of the "Uksi," or "King-shepherds," to whom we -have before referred, and proves the date of their invasion anterior in -point of time to Israel's introduction into the land of Egypt. Joseph was -well aware of the particulars of this invasion, and of the sting it left -behind it in the mind of the Egyptians; and accordingly he acquaints his -brothers, whose "trade also had been about cattle," that "every shepherd -was an abomination to the Egyptians."[184] - -Manetho himself, the Egyptian priest, is my voucher for this deduction, -when he says that, "After these--the shepherd-kings--came _another set of -people_ who were sojourners in Egypt, in the reign of Amenophis. These -chose themselves a leader one who was a priest of Heliopolis, and whose -name was Osarsiph; and after he had listed himself with this body of men -he changed his name to Moses." - -But this, it will be said, is at variance with Moses' own account, which -states that he obtained his name on being rescued from a watery cradle by -Pharaoh's daughter. Not in the least, I reply; for it is more than -probable that, after his slaying the Egyptian, and consequent flight, he -dropped his name to ensure concealment, and only resumed it on being -invested with his divine commission. Or, what is more likely still, and -perhaps the truth, that Osarsiph was the name which his "mother" had given -him, and which adhered to him until "he grew up,"--a term in Scripture -which expresses _mature_ age,--until when it was not that the princess had -designated him as Moses. - -Strong, too, as my veneration is for Josephus, I cannot conceal either -from myself or from the reader, that his testimony in _this instance_ is -rather of a dubious character. The idea of interpolation I altogether -waive--it is, at _all times_, a contemptible subterfuge. I will take for -granted that the text is genuine; and, on the very face of it, it bears -the impress--in the first place, of inaccuracy, confounding the period of -his countrymen's _servitude_ with that of their actual _sojourn_ in Egypt; -and, in the second place, of _indistinctness_, attaching a term of obloquy -to those edifices, without condescending to offer therefor any cause. Here -are his own words: "When time had obliterated the benefits of Joseph, and -the kingdom of Egypt had passed into another family, they inhumanely -treated the Israelites, and wore them down in various labours: for they -ordered them to divert the course of the river (Nile) into many ditches, -and to build walls, and raise mounds by which to confine the inundations -of the river (Nile); and, moreover, vexed our nation in constructing -FOOLISH PYRAMIDS, forced them to learn various arts, and inured them to -undergo great labours; and after this manner did they, for _four hundred -years_, endure bondage; the Egyptians doing that to destroy the Israelites -by overmuch labour, whilst we ourselves endeavoured to struggle against -all our difficulties." - -Now, it is not a little remarkable, as connecting the erection of the -pyramids with the "royal shepherd race," the former occupants of the above -fertile territory, that those immense edifices happen to be situated in -the very vicinity of Goshen. Geeza, where the three _great ones_ stand, is -universally allowed to have been the site whereon Memphis once stood; and -as a west wind took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea (Ex. -x. 19), Goshen, which we find by Gen. xlv. 10, cannot have been far from -Joseph's own residence, will be more aptly fixed in the vicinity of this -spot within the Heliopolitan nome, than within any other nome or -praefecture, particularly the Tanitic, "where the same wind," as has been -justly remarked by Dr. Shaw, "would not have blown those insects into the -Red Sea, but into the Mediterranean, or else into the land of the -Philistines." Goshen, then, was that part of "the land of Rameses," "the -best of the land" (Gen. xlvii. 6-11) which lay in the neighbourhood of -Cairo, but on the opposite side of the Nile, where, as already observed, -the pyramids are first met with, and whence they proceed in a continued -line along the banks of the river, in a southerly direction for many miles -together. - -After reading these details it will be impossible, I conceive, for any -dispassionate mind to remain longer in suspense as to the origin of the -pyramids. The doubt, too, and obscurity in which they have been -heretofore enveloped can be explained with similar ease, if we but -remember the execration in which their Cushite founders were held by the -Egyptians, and their consequent disinclination to associate their name -with such splendid memorials. With this view, indeed, it is not at all -improbable but that active legislative measures were adopted to cancel and -suppress every vestige of proof which could tend to perpetuate the memory -of the obnoxious erectors. So that we must not wonder if, after a lapse of -years, their history was as great a riddle to the Egyptians themselves as -that of _our pyramids_ is to the Irish nation. - -A collateral cause for this universal ignorance of their use and origin -was the probable absence of letters on the part of the Egyptians, until -now, for the first time, introduced by those learned Arabians; and though -any one who is acquainted with the oriental disquisitions of Wilfrid, and -the coincidences he establishes between the ancient history of Egypt and -the account given of the customs and dynasties of that kingdom, as drawn -from the Hindoo Puranas, will at once admit that "there must have been a -period when a Hindoo power had reigned in Egypt by right of conquest," and -established therein the peculiar rites of their religion with the elements -of literature and social civilisation, yet it is probable that during -their sojourn, which, we have seen, was a continued series of warfare, -they kept themselves aloof from all intercourse with the natives, and -checked, as much as possible, the circulation of their science among them. - -Some _sparks_ of it, however, must inevitably have transpired; and the -Egyptian intellect was too finely constituted to be insensible to its -value, or allow it to extinguish without food; so that, in the time of -Moses, and long after, their learning and accomplishments were courted by -the philosophers of the day, and were so eminently conspicuous, as to -become a proverb (Acts Apost. vii. 22). Homer, we all know, visited that -favoured land--so did Pythagoras--so did Solon, Thales, Plato, and -Eudoxus; in short, all the sages of antiquity, of whom we read so much, -and whom we peruse with such _recuperative_ pleasure, either finished -their education in that favoured school, or conversed with those who had -themselves done so. - -The Egyptians are said to have been the first who brought the "rules of -government," with the art of making "life easy" and "a people happy"--the -_true end_ of worldly politics--to a regular system. But much as they -excelled other nations in scientific lore, in nothing was their -superiority so conspicuous as in that _magic_ art which enabled them to -cope, for so long a time, and under such trying varieties, even with the -prophet and ambassador of God himself. - -These exhibitions are too stubbornly authenticated by scriptural proofs, -as well in the Old as in the New Testament,[185] for any one to affect -disbelief in them without at the same time disbelieving the authenticity -of the Scriptures themselves. Yes, I implicitly subscribe to the truth of -the narration; and as I mean to bring home their _initiation_ in the art, -as well as in their other several accomplishments, to the Chaldean -diviners, or _Aire Coti_ shepherds--a branch of the Tuath-de-danaan -colonists of this our western isle--from whom, or their relatives, under -the designation of Uksi, Indo-Scythae, or Cushite shepherds--who, if not -all one and the same, were at least mixed and incorporated--the Egyptians -had imbibed it--this, I trust, will plead my excuse for obtruding its -notice here, as well as for dilating so much at large upon the early -history of Egypt.[186] - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - -I come now, with the same view, to consider the _destination_ of their -famous "Pyramids."[187] In this pursuit the first thing that strikes us is -the uniform precision and systematic design apparent in their -architecture. They all have their sides accurately adapted to the four -cardinal points, as the four apertures near the summit of most of ours -indicate a similar regard to fidelity to the compass. In six of them which -have been opened, the principal passage preserves the same inclination of -26 deg. to the horizon, being directed towards the polar star. And I doubt -not, were the ground _within_ and _around all_ of _ours_ sufficiently -explored, there would be found, in some at least, regular vistas to -correspond with this description. Their obliquity too being so adjusted as -to make the north side coincide with the obliquity of the sun's rays at -the summer's solstice, has, combined with the former particulars, led some -to suppose they were solely intended for astronomical uses; and -certainly, if not altogether true, it bespeaks, at all events, an intimate -acquaintance with _astronomical rules_,[188] as well as a due regard to -the principles of _geometry_.[189] - -No one, I believe, has ever questioned the latter fact. Some, induced -thereby, have thought them to be erected for the purpose of establishing -the exact measure of the cubit; of which they happen to contain both in -breadth and height a certain number of multiples. But as they were -evidently constructed by persons well versed in all the niceties of exact -measurement, and who consequently had no occasion for such colossal -reference to refresh their memories, like the Lancasterian apparatus, it -is ridiculous to suppose them erected with this view, nor should I have -alluded to it but to expose its weakness. Others have fancied them -intended for sepulchres; and as the Egyptians, _taught by their ancient -Chaldean victors_, connected _astronomy_ with their _funereal_ and -_religious ceremonies_, they seem not in this to be far astray, if we but -extend the application to their _sacred bulls_ and _other animals_, and -not merely to their _kings_, as Herodotus would have us suppose. - -The immense sarcophagus lying in the interior of the first or Great -Pyramid, with the _bone_ found by the Earl of Munster[190] in the second, -must put this question beyond the possibility of doubt; as Sir Everard -Home, after a laborious examination of the properties of this relic, found -it accurately to agree with the lower extremity of the thigh-bone of an -ox, while it corresponded with that of no other animal. - -In conformity with this conclusion were the discoveries of Belzoni some -time before, in Upper Egypt, which abounds in specimens of the most -splendid antiquities, in a catacomb amongst which, called "Biban el -Moluk," that is "the gates of the king"--meaning thereby the _universal -king of the ancients_, the generating principle of vegetation and life, of -which _Apis_ and _Mnevis_, _Osiris_ and _Typhon_, were but the -representatives among the Egyptians, as other nations had adopted -equivalent forms and names, according to the genius of their climes and -languages--I mean the Sun--well, in one of the numerous chambers of this -catacomb, Belzoni discovered an exquisitely beautiful sarcophagus of -alabaster, 9 feet 5 inches long, by 3 feet 9 inches wide, and 2 feet 1 -inch high, covered within and without with hieroglyphics, and figures in -intaglio, nearly in a perfect state, sounding like a bell, and as -transparent as glass: from the extraordinary magnificence of which, he -conceives, it must have been the depository of the remains of Apis; in -which idea he is the more confirmed by having found the carcass of a -_bull_ embalmed with asphaltum, in the innermost chamber. - -The passage in Herodotus, to which I before referred, appears to throw -some light on the intricate subject which we are now pursuing. In lib. ii. -p. 124, etc., "the father of historians" tells us that the two kings, who -succeeded each other on the throne of Egypt, after the happy reign of -Rhampsinitus and his predecessors, and to whom the building of those -pyramids was reputedly ascribed, had shown themselves indeed _brothers_, -not more by affinity of blood than by the similar outlines of their -cruelty and intolerance. No species of oppression was by them left -unattempted; no extreme of rigour or rapacious plunder by them unenforced: -but what peculiarly characterised the hardship of their tyranny was the -restraint they put upon the _religion_ and pious exercises of their -subjects; closing the portals of the _temples_ where they were wont to -adore, and preventing the oblation of their usual sacrifices. - -Though Herodotus has been justly honoured with the designation of "Father -of Historians," he has also, perhaps, not so very justly been called "the -Father of Errors"; and, as he himself admitted his incapability of -obtaining any satisfactory insight into the original of those structures, -may we not fairly conclude that, in the extract now cited, he either -confounds those princes with the _foreign dynasty_ which we have already -established, or else, from the ignorance _superinduced_ to obliterate -their memory, mistakes the erection of some of the _minor_ and _later_ -ones, which this "par nobile fratrum" may, indeed, have devised, in -imitation of the three "_mountains_" built by the Uksi. What he states, -however, is of value, as it points to a _previous form of worship_, and a -_system of government_ by an alien house. The prohibition of sacrifices -and the closing the temple doors make this as clear as words can delineate -anything. All we want, then, is to be informed what the particular temples -alluded to were: and that they were the _pyramids_, will, I think, be -conceded by everyone who has carefully perused the arguments here set -down, and who has not his judgment warped by favourite plans of literary -systems and speculative hypotheses. - -This conclusion receives additional force from the conversation which -Wilford, in his "Dissertation upon Egypt and the Nile,"[191] tells us he -had with several learned Brahmins, when, upon describing to them the form -and bearings of the great Egyptian pyramid, one of them asked if _it had -not a communication under ground with the river Cali_? Being answered that -such communication was spoken of as having once existed, and that a _well_ -was still to be seen, they unanimously agreed that it was a _temple_ -appropriated to the worship of _Padma-devi_, and that the supposed _tomb_ -was a _trough_, which, on certain festivals, her priests used to fill with -the sacred water and lotos-flowers. - -Mr. Davison, British Consul to Algiers, when accompanying Mr. Wortley -Montague to Egypt, in 1763, discovered here a chamber, before unnoticed, -and descended, to a depth of 155 feet, the three successive reservoirs. -The principal oblique passage has, since then, been traced by the very -enterprising master of a merchant vessel, Captain Caviglia, 200 feet -farther down than by any former explorer, and found to communicate with -the bottom of the well, which is now filled with rubbish. A circulation of -air being thus procured, he was emboldened to proceed 28 feet farther, -which brought him to a spacious hall, 66 feet by 27 feet, unequal in -altitude, and directly under the centre of the pyramid. In no instance yet -recorded has any appearance presented itself of human remains within those -apartments, nor indeed was there any possibility of conveying such -thither, unless placed there before the erection of the pile itself; for -the _extremities_ of the gallery, which leads into the _great chamber_, -are so _narrow_ and _circumscribed_, that it is _with difficulty_ one can -effect an _entrance into it, even by creeping upon his belly_. - -The _symbolical anatomy_ prefigured in this contrivance, and which equally -exhibits itself in all the temples of the ancients, as well _under_ as -_over ground_, is such as almost to have tempted me to make _this_ the -occasion on which I should uncover another secret of their mystic code. -But a more _concentrated_ opportunity will occur as we advance, and for -which this intimation will answer as a prelude; meanwhile, I would have -the reader soberly to bethink himself, what possible use could _dead -bodies have of wells of water_? Is not _such_ the _type_, as it is also -the _accompaniment_, of _life_ and activity? And does not _this_, of -itself, subvert the absurdity of those temples having been erected as mere -mausoleums for kings? - -I have already hinted my confident belief _that if the ground all, within, -and around our pyramids were sufficiently examined_, there would not be -wanting indications of subterraneous passages. I am the more confirmed in -this, my belief, from the appearances that presented themselves on the -demolition of _that_ at Downpatrick, in 1790, "to make room for the -rebuilding of that part of the old cathedral next which it stood, and from -which it was distant about forty feet. When the tower was thrown down," -continues Dubourdieu, in his _Statistical Survey_ of the county, "and -cleared away to the foundation, another foundation was discovered under -it, and running directly across the site of the tower, which appeared to -be a continuation of the church wall, which, at some period prior to the -building of the tower, seemed to have extended considerably beyond it." -With great deference, however, to the authority of so respectable a -writer, I hesitate not to proclaim that the second foundation so -discovered was _not_ a "continuation of the church wall," but the remnant -of some _pagan_ structure, appertaining to the tower itself--in fact a -_Vihar_, or college for its priests--or else the vestige of some larger -temple, and connected therewith, previously existing on the same locality. - -That this announcement is correct will be apparent, from the _superiority -of masonic skill_ exhibited in this _foundation_, as well as in its having -been upon a larger scale and ampler dimensions than what the Christian -"cathedral" had ever occupied; "in the walls of which," says my authority, -"there are many pieces of cut stone that have evidently been used in some -former building. The same circumstance may also be observed in several of -the ruined churches at Clonmacnoise."[192] - -Nor ought this relic of an ancient pagan edifice to excite our surprise, -when we are told that the temple of the "Syrian goddess," which existed -in the days of Lucian, was not that which was originally erected by -Deucalion, but one built _many ages_ after, on the _same site_, by Attis, -Bacchus, or Semiramis. - -With the church, therefore, or other Christian edifice, this "foundation" -had no relation. St. Patrick was the first who erected one in that -vicinity, to which he gave the name of Sgibol Phadruig, or Patrick's -Granary; having been built on the identical spot on which Dichu, son of -Trichem, of the tribe of the Dalfiatachs, and lord of the territory of -Lecale, had a granary constructed to preserve his corn, before that his -gratitude for the saint, by whom he was just converted, induced him to -consecrate the place where that event occurred, by raising thereon a house -to the God of nature and of harvests. - -Its situation, be it observed, was "two miles from the city of Down";[193] -different, therefore, from that of the cathedral, as was also its _form_: -having been built from north to south, at the solicitation of Dichu -himself, agreeably to the plan of the former storehouse. - -This took place in 433-34; and though, for concession' sake, I may -admit,--_what yet is far from being my conviction_,--that _some_ of our -Round Towers may have been erected _subsequently_ to the Christian era, -yet positive I must be that _no one_ of them _was after the successful -mission_ of the Apostle of Ireland; and the explosion of the doctrines -with which even the _most modern of them_ may happen to be -associated,--while the majority, and the _real ones_, I shall prove, -belong to an infinitely earlier date. - -As a further inducement to explore for cavities beneath, and connected -with, our Round Towers, I beg leave to bring under review what Maundrel -relates of two Round Pillars, which he met with in his journey from Aleppo -to Jerusalem, on the sea-coast, a little to the south of Aradus, in the -neighbourhood of Tripoli. He describes one of them as thirty-three feet -high, composed of a pedestal, ten high and fifteen square, surmounted with -a tall cylindrical stone, and capped with another in the form of a -_pyramid_. The second was not quite so high--thirty feet two inches--its -pedestal, which was supported by four lions, rudely carved at each corner, -was in height six feet, being sixteen feet six inches square; the -superstructure upon which was one single stone cut in the shape of a -_hemisphere_. Each of these pillars, of which he gives accurate drawings, -has under it several catacombs or sepulchral chambers, the entrances to -which lie on the south side. He pronounces a third which he met with, as -"a very ancient structure, and probably a place of sepulchre."[194] - -With the opinion of this judicious traveller I altogether concur, provided -only, as said before, in reference to the pyramids, that the application -be extended to the sacred bulls and crocodiles, serpents, dragons, and -heifers, with the whole train of _bestial_ divinities, which both Indians -and Egyptians, and all the other polished nations of antiquity, thought -proper to adopt as objects of their regard, and treat with the -homage--though only _commemorative_, as they will tell you--of the One -Great Supreme.[195] - -This extension of the use will at once afford a solution of the otherwise -unaccountable and unnecessary _size_ of those cavities, and is further -supported by Savary's remark, made on occasion of his searching for the -Egyptian Labyrinth, viz. that "amidst the ruins of the towns of Caroun, -the attention is particularly fixed by several narrow, low, and very long -cells, which seem to have had no other use than that of containing the -bodies of the sacred crocodiles; these remains can only correspond with -the labyrinth." While Herodotus's declaration, of his not being allowed to -enter its vaults, on the score of their "containing within them the bodies -of the fifteen kings, together with the _sacred crocodiles_," should -afford it a determination no longer liable to doubt. - -Archer, also, when mentioning a very ancient Hindoo temple, at the south -end of the fort of Gualior, resembling in shape those on the Coromandel -coast, and decorated with much carving, says that "there was a -subterranean communication with the plain at the north end, but the -passage has been so long neglected as to be impassable." - -Am I not justified, therefore, in the conviction, from what I have already -intimated, as to the _complicated_ design of those sacred piles, that _our -Round Towers_ would be found similarly furnished with subterranean -chambers? I do respectfully urge that such is my _firm belief_, and that -it would be well worth the while of the learned community to investigate -the accuracy of the surmise here put forward. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - -Another characteristic, to which I would fain attract the reader's regard, -is the circumstance of their being erected in the vicinity of _water_. At -Glendalough, what a magnificent lake salutes the Tower? In Devenish and at -Killmalloch, is not the same the case? In other parts of the country, -also, we find them similarly located. And even where nature has not been -so lavish of her _inland seas_, yet is water, of some shape, always to be -seen contiguous to our towers. - -What use, it will be asked, do I mean to make of this argument? or how -seek support from the accidental propinquity of this element? Remember my -remark upon the article, before, in connection with the Egyptian Pyramids. -Captain Mignan, besides, tells us that a tradition, handed down from time -immemorial, says that "near the foot of the ruin of El Mujellebah," which -he takes to be that of the Tower of Babel, "is a _well_, invisible to -mortals"; and, as all Eastern heathenism, whence ours was deduced, partook -in some degree of the same usages and properties, I think it very probable -the correspondence will apply in this as well as in other peculiarities; -and the rather as from symptoms of vaults, which have already appeared, -and the hollow sounds, or echoes, which invariably accompany, the -proposition does not come unwarranted, however singly put forth or -without something like argument to recommend its trial. - -We know that in Hieropolis, or the "Holy city," in _Syria_, where a -Temple, with a _Tower_, was erected to _Astarte_, there stood adjacent a -_lake_, where _sacred fishes_ were preserved, in the midst of which was a -stone altar, which was _said_, and really _appeared_, to float; whither -numbers of persons used to swim every day to perform their devotions. -Under this temple they showed the cleft where it was said the waters -drained off after Deucalion's flood, and this tradition brought on the -extraordinary ceremony now about to be narrated, something similar to -which our ancestors must formerly have practised _here_. - -"I have," says Lucian,[196] "myself seen this chasm, and it is a very -small one, under the temple. Whether it was formerly larger and since -lessened I cannot tell, but that which I have seen is small. In -commemoration of this history they act in this manner: twice in every year -water is brought from the sea to the temple, and not by the priests only, -_but by all Syria_ and Arabia. Many come from the Euphrates to the sea, -and all carry water, which they first pour out in the temple, and -afterwards it sinks into the chasm, which though small, receives a -prodigious quantity of water, and when they do so, they say, Deucalion -instituted the ceremony as a memorial of the calamity above named, and of -his deliverance from it." - -Twice a year a man went up to the top of the Priap, and there remained -seven days. His mode of getting up was thus:--He surrounded _it_ and -_himself_ with a chain, and ascended by the help of that and certain -pegs, which, stuck out of its sides for the purpose, lifting the chain up -after him at each resting interval--a method of ascent which will be -readily understood by those who have seen men climb up the palm trees of -Egypt and Arabia. Having reached the summit he let down the chain, and by -means thereof drew up all the necessaries in the way of food, and withal -prepared himself a seat, or rather nest on his aerial tabernacle. - -[Illustration: - - View him now mounted on his sacred tower, - He looks around with conscious sense of power.] - -On these occasions crowds used to come with offerings, and the custom was -for each to declare his name to the priests; upon which one below cried it -out to him on the top, who thereupon muttered a prayer, which, in order to -arrest the attention of the congregation, and enliven their devotion, he -_all the while_ accompanied by striking a bell. - -One way of their sacrificing was as shocking as it would be otherwise -ridiculous. They crowned victims with garlands, then drove them out of the -temple-court, on one side whereof was an abrupt steep, where falling they -thereby perished. Nay, some tied up their very children in sacks, and then -shoved them down, reproaching them as wild beasts, miserably to perish. - -This whole proceeding, only under a mythological garb, was in direct -harmony with the directions given and the practice pursued by God's own -people. The man ascending to the top of the tower had a parallel in that -declaration of the Lord recorded in Ex. xxiv. 1, 2, 3, viz.: "And he said -unto Moses, come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and -seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone -shall come near the Lord; but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the -people go up with him. And Moses came and told the people all the words of -the Lord, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one -voice, and said, 'All the words which the Lord hath said, will we -do.'"[197] - -His staying there seven days corresponded with Lev. viii. 33, 34, 35: "And -ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in -seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven -days shall ye consecrate you. As he hath done this day, so the Lord hath -commanded to do, to make an atonement for you. Therefore shall ye abide -at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven -days, and keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not; for so I am -commanded." And again, Ezek. xliii. 25: "Seven days shalt thou prepare -every day a goat for a sin-offering: they shall also prepare a young -bullock and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. Seven days shall they -purge the altar, and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves." - -The enrolment of their names was also sanctioned by Divine command, as Ex. -xxviii. 29: "And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in -the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy -place, for a memorial before the Lord continually." Whilst the ringing of -the bell is particularly enforced by a triple repetition, Ex. xxviii. 33, -34: "And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make _pomegranates_ of -blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and -_bells_ of gold between them round about. A golden _bell_ and a -_pomegranate_, a golden _bell_ and a _pomegranate_, upon the hem of the -robe round about." - -This last-cited text is of the most inconceivable advantage in the -development of the subject which we thus pursue. The most superficial must -have noticed how that, in the tracing of this analogy between the -ceremonies of the Gentiles and the Hebrews, I have studiously guarded -against its appearing an imitation, on the part of the former, from the -ritual of the latter. The priority in point of date will certainly appear -on the Gentile side. Meanwhile, ere other links of conformity crowd upon -our path, it will be well to take heed to the frequency of the word -_pomegranate_, as occurring in the Scriptures. It has already appeared -that one of the names of the _Syrian goddess_, in whose honour the -Hieropolitan Priaps were erected, was _Rimmon_. This epithet you have had -before expounded as expressive of that _fruit_; and as we see that, both -in the Jewish and the pagan formulae, it occupied so prominent a -position,[198] it must occasion you no surprise if, by and by, I discover -it amongst the mouldings[199] of our consecrated and venerable Round -Towers. - -As to their devotions at the lake, and the propinquity of the lake itself -to the temple, it is in direct similitude to the "molten sea," mentioned 1 -Kings vii. 23, 24, 25, 26, "the brim whereof was wrought like the brim of -a _cup, with flowers_ of lilies," etc.;--while the cruel and shocking -sacrifice with which the whole terminated, was the exact respondent of the -Mosaical scapegoat.[200] - -Let it not be wondered at, therefore, if on the summit of one of our Round -Towers are to be found the traces of the apparatus for a bell. For -independently of what Walsh and others inform us of, viz. that the -Irish--enjoying tranquillity and repose after the expulsion of the Ostmen, -and so recalling their attention to the cultivation of Christianity after -their release from that scourge--converted those structures of exploded -paganism to the only obvious use to which they could then be made -subservient, namely, that of _belfries_, for the summoning together of the -people to public worship, some remnants of which it is but natural may yet -remain--independently, I say, of this, have I not here shown that _bells_ -entered essentially into the code of the pagan ceremonial, from whence it -is more than probable, nay, a downright certainty, that the first -Christian ecclesiastics adopted the use, as the Mohammedans, in their -minarets, did so likewise.[201] - -The instance to which I have referred in an early part of this volume, of -astonishment created in the English minds, on their first beholding one of -those implements, was that of Gildas, who, having finished his education -at Armagh, and returned to Britain about the year 508, was engaged by -Cadoc, abbot of the church of Mancarban, to superintend the studies of his -pupils during his absence for a twelvemonth. Having done so most -successfully, and without accepting of any remuneration for his labour, we -find, in an ancient life of Cadoc, in the Tinmouth MS., Lambeth observes -that "Cadoc, returning to his monastery, found Gildas a noble scholar, -with a very beautiful _little bell_, which he brought with him from -Ireland." - -Those bells, then, we may be sure, appertained exclusively to the service -of the Round Towers.[202] Having none of these in England, of course they -had no bells, and hence the surprise manifested on the above occasion. In -Ireland, too, they must have been, now, comparatively obsolete.[203] And -hence we find, according to Primate Usher, that their (restored) use was -not general in the _churches_ here before the latter end of the seventh -century; while another writer assures us that it was not until the ninth -century that large ones were invented for the purpose of suspension.[204] - -The shape of the Irish _pagan_ bells was precisely the same as of those -in the present day. They were called crotals, or bell-cymbals. Oblong -_square_ ones, some of bell-metal, some of iron, from twelve inches to -eighteen inches high, with a handle to sound them by, have been also dug -up in our various bogs. Of these the museum of the Dublin Society -possesses one; another is preserved by the Moira family. The writer of -this article not having seen either of these relics, is rather diffident -in the conjecture which he is now about to express; but from the account -received of that in the possession of the house of Moira, he feels -strongly disposed to identify its origin with the worship of the -above-mentioned deity, Astarte. Lucian expressly tells us that under the -veil of this goddess was really meant the _moon_; and that "the host of -heaven,"--including sun, moon, and stars, and typifying the fulgor of that -Omniscient germ whence they all had emanated,--constituted the object of -the ancient Irish adoration, no one, I believe, can longer question. Now, -in Hall's _Tour through Ireland_, 1813, I see this bell described as -having "a hole in one of its sides like a quarterly moon"; and not knowing -whether this is the effect of accident or corrosion, or a symbolical -property in its original shape, I trust I shall not be deemed fanciful if -I ascribe it as a reference to that planet in whose vain solemnities it -had been primarily exercised. - -Whether this exposition prove eccentrical or otherwise, and, by -inspection, it can be readily ascertained, I cannot presume to determine; -nor indeed does it value much.[205] With one thing, however, I am -gratified, that in Archer's _Travels in Upper India_, published, as before -observed, within the last few weeks, I find that distinguished soldier and -shrewd observer, delineate a piece of architecture similar in all -particulars to this Syrian Priap--the allusion to which has recalled me to -ring this second chime upon the bells--and as the notice is of value, I -shall give it in his express words: "A curious structure," says he, "is at -the bottom of the hill (Dutteah). It consists of five _conical pillars_, -with green painted tops, in a line from east to west; the two larger ones -in the centre: the _pillars_ have _tiles stuck in them resembling steps_. -We could not learn what was its meaning or use. The village is wholly -_Jain_, and is named Serrowlee." - -It is not difficult to understand why no information could be obtained, -from the _present_ inhabitants, as to the object of those edifices. Their -remote _antiquity_ is a sufficient reply. But I flatter myself that the -reader, who has accompanied me from the outset of this antiquarian voyage, -can now supply the defect, and explain that _they were a series of Round -Towers_, or _Phalli, erected by the aboriginal Buddhists_, of whom the -_Jaina_ are only the wretched remains; and that those "tiles" which are -"stuck in them, resembling steps," _were for the purpose of ascending by -the aid of a hoop_, such as we have shown at Hieropolis. The projecting -stones in _our_ Priaps, or the cavities that appear after their removal, -are thus also accounted for. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - -The universal ignorance which prevails throughout the East as to the -origin of those antiquities which excite the wonder of every traveller -makes it necessary that we should again direct our course towards that -hemisphere, to redeem, if possible, its venerable remains from that moral -night which successive ages have accumulated around them. - -Persia[206] was the source which poured its vivifying light into the -mental obnubilation of our European ancestors. By a reverse of those -casualties from which no condition can be exempt, Persia has, in her turn, -been made the theatre of darkness; and though, under the fostering -auspices of British institutions, the mist has, to a large amount, been -dispelled, yet is the proudest era of her splendour left still -unexplored, and that is the epoch which called forth into life those -monuments of literature and philosophical eminence, which, resisting the -corrosion of time and the assaults of war, still proudly elevate their -heads towards those orbs, with whose pompous ceremonial they were -essentially connected, and whose generative properties they typically -symbolised--I mean the Round Towers. - -This was the moment of Persia's halcyon pride: this the period of her -earthly coruscation: to this have all the faculties of my ardent mind with -vigour been addressed; and while, in the humble consciousness of -successful investigation, I announce its issue to have far exceeded my -hopes, I shall avail myself of the industry of preceding inquirers to -throw light upon the intervals of value which intervene; but, lest I -should intrude upon the province of their well-earned honours, I shall, in -every such case of borrowed assistance, allow the writers themselves to -speak; by which it will additionally appear that, with much good taste, -and with historical honesty, they have left a vacuum in their researches, -for which the public mind has been long athirst, and which my exclusive -resources could alone supply. - -"The Persian empire,"[207] says Heeren, "owed its origin to one of those -great political revolutions which are of such frequent occurrence in Asia, -and the rise and progress of which we have already considered in general. -A rude mountain tribe of nomad habits rushed with impetuous rapidity from -its fastnesses, and overwhelmed all the nations of Southern Asia, (the -Arabians excepted), from the Mediterranean to the Indus and Iaxartes. The -mighty empires which arose in Asia were not founded in the same manner -with the kingdoms of Europe. They were generally erected by mighty -conquering nations, and these, for the most part, nomad nations. This -important consideration we must never lose sight of, when engaged in the -study of their history and institutions." - -"Not only is Persia[208] Proper memorable on account of its historical -associations, but also for the architectural remains which it continues to -present. The ruins of Persepolis are the noblest monuments of the most -flourishing era of this empire, which have survived the lapse of ages. As -solitary in their situation as peculiar in their character, they rise -above the deluge of years, which for centuries has overwhelmed all the -records of human grandeur, around them, or near them, and buried all -traces of Susa and of Babylon. Their venerable antiquity and majestic -proportions do not more command our reverence, than the mystery which -involves their construction awakens the curiosity of the most unobservant -spectator. Pillars which belong to no known order of architecture; -inscriptions in an alphabet which continues an enigma; fabulous animals -which stand as guards at the entrance; the multiplicity of allegorical -figures which decorate the walls,--all conspire to carry us back to ages -of the most remote antiquity, over which the traditions of the East shed a -doubtful and wandering light." - -"The Persians have taken more pains than almost any other nation to -preserve their records in writing; yet it has been their fate, in common -with most other nations of antiquity, to be indebted for the stability of -their fame to foreign historians. Notwithstanding the pains they took to -register the acts of their government, the _original documents of their -history_, with a few accidental exceptions, have altogether perished. And -the inscriptions of Persepolis, like the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, -will, in a manner, have outlived themselves, unless a complete key be -discovered to the alphabet in which they are composed." - -Now, as a set off to these extracts, it will be necessary to remark that, -though true in substance, they are only so as descriptive of a particular -epoch. Empire after empire rolled over, in succession, before that which -the historian here delineates, and which was but the motley combination of -a rugged swarm of mountaineers, who stalked with ferocious insensibility -over the consecrated relics of monumental glory. - -Herodotus and Arrian were the authorities that seduced him into this -mistake, the former of whom states that "the Persians originally occupied -a small and craggy country, and that it was proposed in the time of Cyrus -that they should exchange this for one more fertile; a plan which Cyrus -discouraged as likely to extinguish their hardy and warlike pursuits"; and -the latter, that "the Persians, when, under Cyrus, they conquered all -Asia, were a poor people, inhabiting a hilly region";[209] but those -writers were as misinformed, as to all events and particulars relating to -this locality, anterior to the time specified above, as any of their -contemporaries; and when we reflect how very recent an era in the history -of the world was that in which Cyrus appeared, it will be seen how fragile -a substratum was that which the professor had adopted for the erection of -his materials. We read accordingly, in Terceira's Spanish history of that -country, that "there was not at that time (A.D. 1590) one man in Persia -(these were the direct descendants of Cyrus's men) that understood their -_ancient_ letters, for having often seen some plates of metal with -_ancient_ inscriptions on them, I made inquiry after the meaning of them; -and men _well versed_ in their _antiquities_, and _studious_, told me that -was _Fars kadeem, ancient Persian_, after the old fashion, and _therefore_ -I should find _no man_ that understood it." - -Indeed the reasonings of Heeren himself,--and learned I cheerfully -acknowledge them,--would seem to make him rise above the narrowness of his -Grecian supporters. - -"Even previous," says he, "to the time when the Arabs, with the sword in -one hand and the Koran in the other, overran and subdued Persia, they were -the more open to settlers from the North and East, from the circumstance -that Persia was situated on the great highway of nations, by which the -human race spread itself from East to West. All that is meant to be -asserted is, that the various races who successively had dominion in these -parts, all belonged to the same original stock. - -"This fact, which the observations of the best modern travellers tend to -confirm, may explain how it has come to pass that many districts, -anciently celebrated for their fertility, are at present barren and -unproductive. A single invasion, by destroying the water-courses, is -sufficient to reduce, in a short time, a fertile and flourishing country -to an arid desert; and to how many such disastrous contingencies has not -Persia at all times been exposed!" - -"Another fact, suggested by the languages of Asia and the ancient dialects -of Persia, is too important to be passed over in silence. Not only in the -Persian territory but in other parts of Eastern Asia, particularly the two -Indian peninsulas, we find languages which still subsist, mixed up with -others which are preserved to us only in a few written names. To this -class belong, in Persia, the Zend and Pahlivi, already mentioned; in -Hindustan, the celebrated Sanscrit, as well as the Pali in the Burman -peninsula. - -"Accordingly, we shall venture to consider as the same parent stock the -race which bore rule in Iran, comprehending all the inferior races, and -which may be termed in general the Persian or Medo-Persian, inasmuch as -the countries in its occupation were termed, in a wider sense, the land of -Persia. - -"They have been denominated by Rhode (Heilige sagen, etc.) the people of -Zend, not improperly, if we consider the Zend as the original language of -all the race ... not confined to Persis, properly so called, but extending -over the steppes of Carmania and to the shores of the Caspian. Even at the -present day they are comprised under the general name of Persia, though -Farsistan, the original country of the Persians, forms a very small part -of this territory. - -"The Semitic and the Persian were, therefore, the principal languages of -Asia; the latter being spoken as far as the Indus. Our knowledge of the -languages prevalent on the other side of that river is as yet too -defective to enable us to speak with anything like certainty. Possibly it -may be reserved for our own age to arrive at important conclusions on this -subject, if the affinity between the Zend and the Sanscrit, the sacred -languages of Persia and Hindustan, should be established,--if the spirit -of discovery which characterises the British nation should succeed in -rescuing from oblivion some more remains of ancient Indian literature, and -a second Anquetil Duperron present the public with the sacred books of the -Brahmans, with the same success that his predecessor has illustrated those -of the Parsees." - -Though I cannot avoid concurring in the laudable hope that "our own age" -may witness important conclusions on this subject, still it strikes -me,--_and I earnestly urge it as worthy of the notice of a Reform -Ministry_, that until the _Irish Language_ be raked from its ashes, no -accuracy can ever be obtained either in the Zend, Pahlavi, or Sanscrit -_dialects_, which are but emanations from it, or in the _subject matter_, -historical or religious, which they profess to pourtray. - -"In the interior of these districts is situated a considerable lake, -called the Lake Zevora, unquestionably the _Aria Palus_ of antiquity. A -large river, anciently bearing the same name, at present called the -Ilmend, empties itself into this inland sea from the deserts to the -south-east, and Christie fell in with another stream farther to the north, -called the Herat, near a town of the same name. - -"I consider (with Kinneir) the city of Herat to be same with the ancient -Aria, or, as it was also called, Artacoana. We are told that Alexander on -his march to Bactriana inclined to the south to visit Aria. We must -carefully distinguish between the terms Aria and Ariana, as used by the -Greeks. The former was applied to a province which we shall have occasion -to describe in the sequel. The latter is equivalent to Iran, and appears -to have been formed from the ancient term in the Zend language, Eriene. -The whole of Iran composes a sort of oblong, the Tigris and Indus forming -its sides to the east and west; the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean bounding -it to the south; and the Caspian, with Mount Taurus and the river Oxus, -shutting it in to the north. These were also the limits of the ancient -Ariana (see Strabo, p. 1048), except that, towards the west, its boundary -was an imaginary line separating it from Persia Proper. Of this more -extensive district, Aria (according to Strabo) formed only a part, -distinguished by its superior fertility. Herodotus appears to have been -unacquainted with the term Aria; he merely mentions the Arii as a nation -allied to the Medes. - -"Aria, lying to the east of Media, derived its name from the river Arius, -the modern Heri: and the Arians and Medes were originally the same race; -the Medes, according to Herodotus, having originally borne the name -Arians. It is apparent, from the same place (Herod. vii. 62) that what -were called the _Median habits_ were not confined to Media Proper, but -extended to the countries lying eastward, and as these touch on Bactria, -we cannot be surprised at the conformity which prevailed." - -These latter quotations I have thought fit to introduce to show the -ignorance of the modern Greeks,--those of Cyrus and Herodotus's -days--compared with their Pelasgic predecessors--_Iran_, the real name for -all those countries of higher Asia as far as the Indus,[210] being -called, in the Zend, _Eriene_, the Greeks, whose intercourse with the East -now for the first time began, without troubling their brains to ascertain -what the word in either form meant, transmuted this latter into _Ariana_, -whereas their forefathers, the Pelasgi, a literary and a religious tribe, -changed its namesake in the West, our own _Iran_--which in the Pahlavi -dialect was called _Erin_, and in the Zend would also be called -_Eriene_--into _Ierne_, thereby evincing their knowledge of the import of -the term, and registering their subscription in its _sacred_ -attributes.[211] - -The following, however, is more to the point, and in itself sufficient to -redeem the professor's entire work from any occasional inclination to -Grecian subserviency. - -"It cannot be doubted that at some remote period antecedent to the -commencement of historical records, one mighty race possessed these vast -plains. - -"The traditions of this race preserve some very important particulars -respecting their descent, their ancient abodes, and their gradual -dissemination through the land of Iran. These traditions are preserved in -the beginning of the Vendidat, the most important, and it is probable, the -most ancient of all their sacred books, the collection of which is styled -the Zendavasta, to which we shall have occasion to refer hereafter. The -first two chapters of this work, entitled _Fargards_, contain the above -traditions, not wrapt up in allegory, but so evidently historical as to -demand nothing more than the application of geographical knowledge to -explain them. With the exception of the Mosaical Scriptures, we are -acquainted with nothing which so plainly wears the stamp of remote -antiquity, ascending beyond the times within which the known empires of -the East flourished; in which we catch, as it were, the last faint echo of -the history of a former world, anterior to that great catastrophe of our -planet, which is attested in the vicinity of the parent country of these -legends, by the remains of the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the mammoth, -and other countries properly belonging to the countries of the South. It -would be a fruitless labour to attempt to assign dates to these remains, -but if the compiler of the _Vendidat_ himself, who was long anterior to -the Persian, and as we shall have occasion to show, probably also to the -Median dynasty, as known to us, received them as the primeval traditions -of his race, our opinion of their importance may be fully justified. - -"These legends describe as the _original_ seat of the race, a delicious -country, named Eriene-_Veedjo_, which enjoyed a climate singularly mild, -having seven months summer and five of winter. Such was the state at -first, as created by the power of Ormuzd; but the author of evil, the -death-dealing Ahriman, smote it with the plague of cold, so that it came -to have ten months of winter and only two of summer. Thus the nation began -to desert the paradise they at first occupied, and Ormuzd successively -created for their reception sixteen other places of benediction and -abundance, which are faithfully recorded in the legend. - -"What then was the site of the Eriene referred to? The editors and -commentators on the Zendavesta are inclined to discover it in Georgia, or -the Caucasian district; but the opinion must necessarily appear -unsatisfactory to anyone who will take into account the whole of the -record, and the succession of places there mentioned as the abodes of the -race. On the contrary, we there trace a gradual migration of the nation -from east to west, not as this hypothesis would tend to prove, from west -to east. The first abode which Ormuzd created for the exiled people was -Soghdi, whose identity with Sogdiana is sufficiently apparent; next Moore, -or Maroo, in Khorasan; then Bakhdi, or Balkh (Bactriana), and so on to -Fars itself, and the boundaries of Media or India. The original country of -Eriene must therefore lie to the east of Leed, and thus we are led, by the -course of tradition, to those regions which we have already referred to as -the scene of the traditions and fables of the nation, viz. the mountainous -tracts on the borders of Bucharia, the chain of Mustag and Beloorland, as -far as the Paropamisan range on the confines of Hindustan, and extending -northwards to the neighbourhood of the Altain chain. This savage and -ungenial region enjoys at present only a short summer, at the same time -that it contains the relics of an ancient world, which confirm, by -positive proof, the legend of the Vendidat, that anciently the _climate_ -was of a _totally different character_. When the altered nature of their -original seats compelled the race to quit them, Ormuzd prepared for them -other places of repose and abundance, within the precincts of that -territory which has _preserved to the present day the appellation of Iran; -the nation carrying with them the name of Eriene, which is obviously the -same with Iran_. - -"Jemshid, the father of his people, the most glorious of mortals whom the -sun ever beheld. In his day animals perished not: there was no want either -of water or of fruit-bearing trees, or of animals fit for the food of -mankind. During the light of his reign there was neither frost nor burning -heat, nor death, nor unbridled passions, nor the work of the Deevs. Man -appeared to retain the age of fifteen; the children grew up in safety as -long as Jemshid reigned the father of his people.[212] - -"The restoration of such a golden age was the end of the legislation of -Zoroaster, who, however, built his code on a religious foundation -agreeably to the practice of the East; and the multifarious ceremonies he -prescribed had all reference to certain doctrines intimately associated -with his political dogmata; and it is absolutely necessary to bear in mind -their alliance, if we would not do injustice to one part or other of his -system. - -"On these principles Zoroaster built his laws for the improvement of the -soil by means of agriculture, by tending of cattle and gardening, which he -perpetually inculcates, as if he could not sufficiently impress his -disciples with a sense of their importance. - -"According to his own professions he was only the restorer of the doctrine -which Ormuzd himself had promulgated in the days of Jemshid: this -doctrine, however, had been misrepresented, a false and delusive magia, -the work of Deevs, had crept in, which was first to be extinguished, in -order to restore the pure laws of Ormuzd. - -"Even Plato, the first Grecian writer who mentions Zoroaster, speaks of -him as _a sage of remote antiquity_; and the same is established by the -evidence of Hermippus and Eudoxus, which Pliny has preserved. The second -Zoroaster, supposed by Toucher to have flourished under Darius Hystaspes, -is the mere figment of some later Grecian authors of little credit. - -"On the whole, we _are compelled_ to carry back Zoroaster to the period -when Bactriana was an independent monarchy, _a period anterior to the very -commencement of the Median empire_, as related by Herodotus, ascending -_beyond the eighth century_ before the Christian era. Whether we must -refer him to a _still more ancient epoch_, prior to the Assyrian monarchy, -the chronological notices we have already given are all that can be -afforded, except we be prepared to transport the sage beyond the _utmost -limits of recorded_ history." - -As I have no longer occasion, however, for the _sage_ than to show that he -was a _reformer_; and though at least "eight (more likely _eighteen_) -hundred years before the Christian era,"--yet was he even then, -comparatively, a _modern_,--I shall now turn to other sources to ascend to -the dynasties that had preceded him. - -"The rare and interesting tract on twelve religions," says Sir W. Jones, -"entitled the Dabistan, and composed by a Mohammedan traveller, a native -of Cashmere, named Moshan, but distinguished by the assumed surname of -Fani, or Perishable, begins with a wonderfully curious chapter on the -religion of Hushang, which was _long anterior to Zeradust_ (_Zoroaster_), -but had continued to be _secretly professed_ by many learned Persians, -even to the author's time; and several of the most eminent of these -dissenting, in many points, from the Ghabres, and persecuted by the ruling -powers of their country, had retired to India, where they compiled a -number of books, now extremely scarce, which Moshan had perused, and with -the writers of which, or with many of them, he had contracted an intimate -friendship. From them he learned that a _powerful monarchy had been -established for ages in Iran for the accession of Cayemurs_; that it was -called the Mahabadean dynasty, for a reason which will soon be mentioned; -and that many princes, of whom seven or eight only are named in the -Dabistan, and among them Mahbul, or Maha Beli, had raised the empire to -the zenith of human glory. If we can rely on this evidence,--_which to me -appears unexceptionable_,--the Iranian monarchy must have been the oldest -in the world." - -Sir John Malcolm had some scruples as to the authenticity of this -production, and entered upon a very severe analysis of its contents; -merely because the _idols_ which the ancient Persians are therein stated -to have adored, and the _mode_ of their adoration, were dissimilar to -those of India! Was it necessary that they should be alike? It is true, -that from Persia everything Indian flowed; but there, on its importation, -it partook of the peculiarities of the soil and climate; while, even in -Persia itself, a great degeneracy occurred; and the deterioration and -moral laxity, thus superinduced, was what the virtuous Zeradust so -deplored, and what _kindled_ his _fervour_ to new model the system. - -But "the introduction of the angel _Gabriel_," he says, "appears of -itself enough to discredit the whole work." Was Sir John sure that this -rendering was literal? He himself admits that he was "following a -Mohammedan author, who has certainly made a _free_ translation of the -Pahlavi text." And, if so in one case, why not in another? But even -admitting that there was no _freedom_ at all used in the matter; and that -_Gabriel_ is the rigid version of the name of the messenger employed, this -should not, _in the least_, affect our reliance upon the Dabistan, as I -shall adduce a greater _coincidence_ than this, nay, a downright -_identity_, not only of _name_ but of _essence_, between the divine -dispensation in all previous ages, and the spiritual form of it with which -we are at present blessed. - -But you will say, perhaps, that Moshan Fani's authorities were, in a great -measure, _floating_, and dependent upon _histories_ of a merely oral -stamp, which--wanting as they do, the impress of lettered perpetuity, and -subject, as they are, to variation, both of curtailment and of addition, -besides the colour of depreciation or enhancement, which they must -furthermore undergo, according to the nature of the successive _media_ -through which they pass,--cannot, after repeated transfusions, retain much -similarity with the original truth, nor afford to a rational and thinking -mind, however they may gratify selfish or national love, much stability -for conviction or satisfactory acquiescence? - -To the first I shall reply that it seems not correct, as the manuscripts -by which he was guided appear still in existence; and this was not without -its influence on Sir John's own scepticism, when he declares, that "the -doubtful authority of this work has received some support from the recent -discovery of a volume in the ancient Pahlivi, called the Dussadeer, or -Zemarawatseer, to which its authors refer." - -Then, as to the _vanity_ alluded to, the compiler may well be acquitted of -any, as being of a different creed, and proverbially intolerant, he could -not, _did not truth oversway_, have felt much communion of pleasure in -celebrating the glories of a defunct religion. And though I concede that -_that_ species of information, which arises from the traditions of -successive races of men, cannot be so satisfactory as that which is -_stereotyped_ in alphabetic characters; nay, that, according as it -diverges from its first outlet, it is likely to diverge also from -exactness; still I do insist, that the prevalence of those _traditions_, -wherever they occur, argues some alliance with _fact_ and _reality_; just -as idolatry itself, in all its ramifications, is but the corrupt -transmission of original pure religion. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - -The objections against the Dabistan being thus superseded, and the idea of -its being an "invention"[213] having never crossed anyone's thoughts, I -shall now give a bird's-eye view of its tenour in Sir John's own summary -thereof. - -"It has been before observed," says he, "that the idolatrous religion -which Mohsin Fani ascribes to the ancient Persians, bears no resemblance -to the worship of the Hindoos: it seems nearest that which was followed by -a sect of _Sabians_, who, we are told, _believed in God_, but _adored the -planets_, whom _they deemed his vicegerents, that exercised an influence -over all created things in the world_. This sect of Sabians were said to -follow the _ancient_ Chaldeans, and to inherit their skill in astronomy, a -science built upon the same foundation as the adoration of the -planets.[214] And this leads us to remark, that the very title of the work -from which Mohsin Fani gives an account of this worship, appears more like -that of a treatise upon astrology, than upon religion. He calls it -_Akheristan_, or _the region_ of the _stars_. It is, however, impossible -to enter into any minute comparison of the religion he ascribes to the -ancient Persians, and the sect of Sabians that have been noticed, _because -we have only a very general account of the tenets of the latter_." - -As to the _impossibility_ here complained of, it is obvious that _there is -none_: whoever has digested even the early part of this essay will own it -was but _ideal_. With this I should have contented myself, but that I feel -called upon to correct another misconception, which the above may have -produced. - -That Sabaism meant _idolatry_ in the way there insinuated, I utterly and -altogether repudiate. It was the religion of the early Greeks before their -degenerate mythology had loaded it with so many absurdities;[215] and that -it was so, is evident from the term in their language, which expresses "to -worship," viz. [Greek: sebomai], an evident derivation, from which is -anglicised, Sabaism.[216] The object of this religion was the host of -heaven, meaning the sun, moon, and stars. The names assigned to the -reputed idols, viz. Uranus, _i.e._ Heaven, and Gea, _i.e._ Earth, with the -energies of the sky and nature typified under the names of the "Cyclops" -and "Giants," incontrovertibly demonstrate the truth of this position. - -I have said that the name Cyclops, in this religious code, was meant to -figure forth the energies of the atmosphere; I need but mention their -denominations to establish my proof. They are "Steropes," from [Greek: -sterope], lightning; Argues, from [Greek: arges], quick-flashing; and -Brontes, from [Greek: bronte], thunder. Even the celebrated name of -_Hercules_[217] himself, and the twelve labours poetically ascribed to -him,--who, we must observe, many ages before the Tirynthian hero is fabled -to have performed his wonders, or his mother Clymena to have been born, -had temples raised to him in Phoenicia and Egypt, as well as at Cadiz and -the Isle of Thasos,--are nothing more than a figurative denotation of the -annual course of the solar luminary through the signs of the Zodiac. - -In support of this I shall quote the authority of Porphyry, who was -himself born in Phoenicia, and who assures us that "they there gave the -name of Hercules to the sun, and that the fable of the twelve labours -represents the sun's annual path in the heavens." Orpheus, or the author -of the hymns that pass under his name, says that Hercules is "the god who -produced time, whose forms vary, the father of all things and destroyer of -all; he is the god who brings back by turns Aurora and the night, and who -moving onwards from east to west, runs through the career of his twelve -labours; the valiant Titan, who chases away maladies, and delivers man -from the evils which afflict him." The scholiast on Hesiod likewise -remarks, "The zodiac in which the sun performs his annual course is the -true career which Hercules traverses in the fable of the twelve labours; -and his marriage with Hoebe, the goddess of youth, whom he espoused after -he had ended his labours, denotes the renewal of the year at the end of -each solar revolution." While the poet Nonnas, adverting to the sun as -adored by the Tyrians, designates him Hercules Astrokiton ([Greek: -astrochiton]), or the god clothed in a mantle of stars; following up this -description by stating that "he is the same god whom different nations -adore, under a multitude of different names--Belus, on the banks of the -Euphrates; Ammon, in Libya; Apis, at Memphis; Saturn, in Arabia; Jupiter, -in Assyria; Serapis, in Egypt; Helios, among the Babylonians; Apollo, at -Delphi; AEsculapius, throughout Greece," etc. etc. - -Even the father of history himself, the great Colossus of the Greeks, -whilst claiming for his countrymen the honour of instituting their own -theogony, evinces in the attempt more of misgiving and doubt than was -consistent with the possession of authentic information. His words are -these: "As for the gods whence each of them was descended, or whether they -were always in being, or under what shape or form they existed, the Greeks -knew nothing till very lately. Hesiod and Homer were, I believe, about -four hundred years older than myself, and no more, and these are the men -who made a theogony for the Greeks; who gave the gods their appellations, -defined their qualities, appointed their honours, and described their -forms; as for the poets, who are said to have lived before these men, I am -of opinion they came after them." - -But even this assumption, were it conceded to the utmost, would not -militate against the doctrine which I have laid down; for Homer's -education was received in Egypt, and India was the medium which -illuminated the latter country; nothing, therefore, prevents our yielding -to the stream of general authority in ascribing the introduction to the -Pelasgi. The word [Greek: chronos] itself, or "the father of Jove," was -nothing more than an equivalent with the Latin _tempus_; and for the very -best possible reason, because the revolutions of this planet, as of the -other celestial orbs, came, from their periodical and regular appearances, -to be considered the ordinary measurements of the parts of duration or -time. - -It must, no doubt, appear a contradiction that Chronos--the "son of -Uranus, and Terra," as we were told at school, and the first person, as -somewhere else stated, who was honoured with a crown--should be called an -"orb," and have "periodical appearances"; and that those appearances -should regulate our estimate of days, weeks, years, and seasons. The -difficulty, however, will cease, when we consider that though the _sun_, -_moon_, and _stars_ were the primary objects of false worship, the -deification of dead men, deceased heroes, afterwards crept in, the -consequence of which was a mixed kind of idolatry, consisting of _stars_ -and _heroes_, or _heroines, deceased_--a planet being assigned to each as -the greatest possible honour. "That whom men could not honour in presence, -because they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of his visage from -far, and made an express image of a king, whom they honoured, to the end -that by their forwardness they might flatter him that was absent, as if he -was present."[218] - -Let us now see how the religion of the ancient Irish harmonises with that -of the Dabistan, as illustrated in the composition of some of our ancient -names. Here _Baal_, or _Moloch_, and _Astarte_ are obviously in the -foreground; whilst the popular and vernacular names for those luminaries -amongst the peasantry themselves, namely, _Grian_ for the _sun_, _Luan_ -for the _moon_, _Righ_ for _king_, and _Rea_ for _queen_, in their -appropriation to several localities throughout the country, indicate but -too plainly the melancholy tale of their former deification. - -To instance some few of those names, that strike me as _demonstrative_ of -this Sabian worship, I shall begin with - -Baltinglas.[219]--This name of a town and mountain in the county of -Wicklow, and province of Leinster, is equivalent to Baal-tinne-glass, that -is, "Baal's-fire-green," alluding to the colour of the grass at the spring -season. These _igneous_ betrayals of human frailty and superstition were -celebrated throughout Ireland at both the _vernal_ and _autumnal_ -equinoxes, in honour of the twin divinities so often adverted to in the -course of this book. The eve of the vernal one was called _Aiche -Baal-tinne_, that is, the night of Baal's fire, the eve of the autumnal, -_Aiche Shamain_, that is, the night of the moon's solemnity; on both which -occasions fires were lighted on all "_the high places_" dedicated to their -worship. - -The return of these respective seasons gave rise to various superstitions -amongst the illiterate populace, one of which was that of borrowing a -piece of money at the first sight of the new-moon, if they had it not -themselves, as an omen of plenty throughout the month.[220] And their -praying to that luminary, when first seen after its change, is so well -known as to be mentioned even by a French writer, whom Selden, _De Diis -Syriis_, quotes in these words:--"Se mittent a genoux en voyant la lune -nouvelle, et disent en parlant a lune, laise nous ausi sains que tu nous -as trouve."[221] - -The new moon nearest to the winter solstice was celebrated with peculiar -ceremonies. On that night the chief Druid, attended by crowds of the -people, used to go into the woods, and cut with a golden sickle a branch -of the mistletoe of the oak, which he would carry in procession to the -sacred grove. This golden sickle or crescent corresponded in form and -nature with that which Aurelius Antoninus, the Roman emperor, wore at his -coronation, to intimate his adherence to the Phoenician doctrines in which -he had been early instructed--his adopted name still further intimating -that he had been, what _it_ literally signifies, Heliogabalus, that is, -priest of the sun.[222] The crescent itself is the favourite badge of -_Sheevah_, the _matrimonial_ deity of the Indians, which he is represented -as wearing in front of his crown. - -After the introduction of Christianity, its first preachers wishing to -defer to the prejudices of the inhabitants, yet not so as to interfere -with the celebration of Easter at the vernal equinox, with an -accommodating policy, retained the Baal-tinne ceremonial, only -transferring it to the _saints' days_; thus _diverting_ their attention -from their former devotion, and fixing it upon those who, in their zealous -propagation of the gospel truths, may be considered as Christian -_stars_;--conformably to that gracious character of "a burning and shining -light," which our Saviour Himself applied to His precursor, St. John. - -In honour of this apostle, June 24th, the day of his nativity, was -substituted, in the old ecclesiastical calendar, for the pagan solstice -festival, and called solstitium vulgi, the vulgar solstice. - -The intention of the transfer was, however, lost sight of by the -illiterate; and when they would kindle their fires on the tops of -_mountains_ on those occasions, they used to blend with them the features -of the pagan institution, by passing children and cattle between them for -the purpose of purification. - -The propriety, therefore, of thus subserving to deep-rooted prejudices, -has by some been impugned; but "surely," after all, to use the words of a -very able writer, "they were much wiser and better who, in those early -times, grafted the evangelical upon the druidical culture, than they who, -in subsequent times, instituted a system of extirpation in order to -regenerate." - -The other pagan solemnities were similarly metamorphosed, and partook of -similar transmutations. The 1st of May alone retained the name and -characteristics of its original appropriation, being still called "_La -Beuil-tinne_," that is, the day of Baal's fire, as familiarly as the name -_Christmas_ is given to the 25th of December. On it, too, fires are -kindled on "high places," as before; and children and cattle purified by -passing between them;-- - - --------"Yet, oh! remember - Oft I have heard thee say, the secret heart - Is fair Devotion's temple: there the saint - Even on that living altar lights the flame - Of purest sacrifice, which burns unseen, - Not unaccepted."[223] - -I next turn to Killmalloch, the ancient name of which, as given by -Ptolemy, was Macollicon,--a metathesis for Mallochicon; and the final, -_icon_, which is only a Greek termination, being taken away, leaves -Malloch, that is, Moloch, the Apollo or great divinity of the ancient -universe. - -To divert the natives from this misplaced enthusiasm, one of the early -converts to Christianity assumed to himself the name of _Maloch_; and -then prefixing to it the adjunct _Kill_, made it the _church_ of _Maloch_, -instead of the _city_ of _Moloch_. - -Here is still to be seen, careering towards the skies, one of those -"_singular_ temples of round form," of the existence of which Vitruvius -was so ignorant, but whose dogmatic enunciation of "monopteres" and -"peripteres," sounds as feebly in _my_ ears, as Montmorency's assumption -that the round towers were dungeons!--and the violence which this -structure has latterly undergone--by the effort made to incorporate it -with the Christian cathedral, built beside it in rivalship, after an -interval of nearly three thousand years--is one of the most triumphant -evidences which truth can produce in suppression of error. My soul burned -with earnestness to visit this hallowed scene, upon which I had revolved -so much, and which I associated in my fancy with the recorded glories of -Apollo. I have, at last, seen it; and he must be indeed a slave to -faction, or the dupe of prejudice, who will not subscribe to that evidence -which the very stones proclaim. - -Apollo's Temple, or the Round Tower, stands at the corner of the -cathedral, subsequently built half-around it: and, as you ascend the -parapet of the latter, by an _intermural_ staircase, having to pass, -afterwards, from one side of this parapet to the other, just at the very -corner by which the Tower is girt, the pass being very narrow, and almost -terrific in dimensions, wholly defenceless besides, on the right hand -which looks down into the body of the cathedral, the constructors of this -latter edifice were obliged, in their desire to intermarry Christianity -with paganism, to scoop off, or rather to file, about six inches of the -_ancient_ rotund structure, all along, on the left, to the height of the -human figure, so as to allow more room; yet even thus mutilated, I could -not but reverence and bow down before the Tower. - - "For, even the faintest relics of a shrine, - Of _any_ worship, wake some thoughts divine."[224] - -After this transformation, Kilmalloch assumed an entirely Christian -aspect; and the monastic buildings that crowded the town surpassed, in -their style, anything similar throughout the island. The materials, -however, of which those were constructed, being inferior in quality to the -_Tuathan_ composition, did not long keep place; so that now, whilst the -Round Tower still maintains its bold preoccupancy, the Christian churches -exhibit but a pile of ruins! - -The dreariness of this once imperial site is a moving instance of worldly -vicissitudes; and one can scarcely avoid, when passing by the loneliness -of its dilapidated mansions, applying the apposite and melancholy -apostrophe attributed to Ossian, "Why dost thou build the hall, son of the -winged days? Thou lookest from thy towers to-day; yet a few years, and the -blast of the desert comes, it howls in thy empty courts." - -Ard-Mulchan, the name of a village in the barony of Duleck, county Meath, -comes from _Ard_, the high place, or mound, _Mulchan_ of Moloch. And, -however extraordinary it may appear to some readers, I cannot but hazard -my opinion, that the name of the individual to whom St. Patrick had been -sold during his captivity in this island, viz. _Milco_-Mac-Huanan, that -is, Milco, the son-of-Huanan, originated in the circumstance of the -family's devotion to the service of this idol; and if a doubt remained as -to the justness of this conclusion, it will, methinks, be removed, when -we consider the close of his mortal career, and the unfortunate blindness -with which he clung to his fatuity. - -He was a petty prince of that part of the country, afterwards called -Dalruadia, or the principality of the Dalruads, from the prevalence of -that demi-tribe, in Ulster; and when Patrick--in prosecution of that -mission of grace, to which he had been deputed by divine interposition; -and impelled, perhaps, moreover, by a compassionate zeal and Christian -recollection of his previous bondage--undertook, amongst other -conversions, that of his former master, we find that the sentiment was not -reciprocated on _his_ part; but that, either ashamed of allowing himself -to be persuaded, in his old age, to abandon the religion in which he had -been early initiated; or marked out by Providence as an awful victim to -the prevailing superstition, he plunged himself into a fire which had -accidentally broken out in his castle, and so was consumed by that element -which he had before worshipped as his God! - -Athlone,--or as anciently and correctly written, Ath-luain,--the name of a -town situated on the river Shannon, where _it is fordable_, bounding -Leinster in Westmeath, and Connaught in Galway, is compounded of the words -_Ath_, which signifies a ford, and _luain_, of the moon. The common people -still call it Blah-luin, an evident corruption of _Baile-ath-luin_, that -is, the village of the ford of the moon; equivalent to Moon-ford-town. -This name establishes the analogy of the Syrian Astarte with the worship -here paid to the "queen of night," and the many lunettes, or gold -crescents, found buried in the _neighbourhood_, are "confirmation strong" -of the inference deduced. - -The moon, whose course through the heavens regulated the months of the -early lunar year, and whose influence was regarded by the ancients, in -common with that of the sun, as one of the _fertilising principles_ of -_nature_, and as exerted chiefly amid wilds and woods, at a distance from -the crowded abodes of man, had in this spot, apparently, a peculiar claim -for her special appropriation. For here the aged majesty of the river -Shannon, the Ganges of Ireland,--as we find reciprocally that Shannon is -one of the Gangian names, and Saor, or Suir, the name of another Irish -river, meaning "sacred" water, belongs also to the Indus itself,--displays -its imposing grandeur in all the varieties of sublime and delightful -scenery. Not far off is one of those beautiful lakes into which this -monarch of waters expands himself, to bask, as it were, in repose, from -the tiresome gaze attending the crowded path of his ordinary travels-- - - "Tho' deep, yet clear; tho' gentle, yet not dull; - Strong without rage; without o'erflowing full."[225] - -Lough Rea is the name of the lake above referred to, which, from its -proximity to Athlone, gives concurrent sanction to the derivation above -assigned. For _Rea_, in Irish, corresponds to Malcoth, or Astarte, _i.e._ -queen, that is, Shamaim, of the heavens; as _Righ_ does to Baal, or -Molock, master, or king of the same; and both re-echoed in the _regina_ -and _rex_ of the Latins.[226] - -I should further notice, that in the Barony of Castle-_reagh_--a name, -which, though prefaced by a _modern_ adjunct, still testifies its -devotion, at one time, to the moon--there has been, some years ago, dug up -one of those beautiful plates of gold, shaped like a half-moon, at once -confirmatory of the propriety of the local name, and of the nature of the -worship of its primitive incumbents having been lunar or Sabian. This -relic is now in the possession of the Downshire family. - -In reference to _Shannon_, to which I have before adverted, as being one -of the names of the _Ganges_, it is not a little curious that _Durga_, the -supposed divinity of this water, and whose festival is annually solemnised -all through Hindoostan, should be represented by _Derg_, the supposed -divinity of the _Shannon_, and should have its name still more perpetuated -in the Irish word _Dearg-art_, that is, the abode of Derg, in Lough Derg, -the lower lake upon this river. - -From its mouth to its source this noble stream is characterised with -relics of primeval worship, corresponding, in form and tendency, with -those on the banks of its Indian namesake. Scattery Island, or, as it -should more properly be called, Inis Catty, situated very near where it -discharges itself into the sea, retains a beautiful Round Tower, to which -has been afterwards appended, in the Christian times, the mystical number -of seven churches, and the ruins of which are still perceptible. The -circumstance of an early professor of our heaven-taught religion having -taken up his secluded residence within the precincts of this spot, has led -many moderns to suppose that the river obtained its name from him, whereas -the word _Shannon_ is derived from _Shan Aoun_, that is, the "aged river"; -and the saint received his name from that _pious policy_ before -explained, as well as from the constancy of his abode in its vicinity--not -_vice versa_.[227] - -Killeshandra, the name of a town in the county of Leitrim, on the borders -of the county of Cavan, signifies, in Irish, "the temple of the moon's -cycle," or circle. In Sanscrit, which is a dialect of the aboriginal -Irish,[228] it denotes exactly the same. We find besides Herodotus making -mention, B. xi. c. 98, of a city in Egypt, during the Persian dominion, -called Archandra, that is, "the city of the moon." He asserts that it is -not Egyptian, neither derived from the wife of Danaus, the daughter of -Archander: yet the opposite may be well supported without at the same time -injuring this derivation, for the daughters of Danaus were certainly -initiated in the _Phallic rites_; nay, they were the persons who first -imported them into Attica: and it is eminently worth notice, that this was -the very spot[229] where the Tuath-de-danaan kings happened to be -stationed upon the first Scythian deluge; the word "Kill" having been -_prefixed_ to it only upon the introduction of Christianity. - -Granard, the name of a town in the county of Longford, is compounded of -the words _Grian_, the sun, and _ard_, a height, that is, the sun's -high-place. Nor, I suspect, will it be deemed an over-effort of criticism, -if I repeat, that in our Irish _Grian_ is to be found the root of that -epithet of Apollo, _Grynaeus_,[230] which was also the name of a city of -Asia Minor, consecrated to his worship, and favoured, as Strabo informs -us, with a grove, a temple, and an oracle of that deity. The river -Granicus, too, was derived therefrom, because its source lay in Mount Ida, -sacred to _Grian_, or the sun, whereon was situated the _Idean stone_, -upon which, we are told, Hector was wont to sacrifice; and corresponding -to the _Cromleachs_, so common throughout this island. The word _Carne_, -also, meaning a heap of stones, on which an inferior order of clergy, -thence called _Carneach_, used to officiate, belongs to the same root, as -both Ovid and Macrobius declare that it was called, by the ancients, -Grane.[231] - -As Lough _Rea_ had been dedicated to the moon, so was the other luminary -also honoured with a lake,--called after his name,--which we find in the -adjoining country, where Lough _Grany_ signifies the Lake of the _Sun_; as -we do also _Beal-ath_, or Ath-en-righ, that is, the _Ford of Baal_, or the -_Ford of the King_, _i.e._ the _Sun_; corresponding to _Ath-lone_, or -_Ford of the Moon_. - -The above are but a few of those imperishable memorials intertwined round -those haunts which our forefathers have trod; the import of which, -however, has been so perverted by _modern scribblers_, as to give occasion -to O'Flaherty to give up their solution in despair, and, as a cover to his -retreat, to pronounce them "as outlandish in their sound as the names of -the savages in some of the American forests."[232] In this rhodomontade, -however, he was much more fortunate than he had intended, or, as the -Englishmen say of our countrymen, "he blundered himself into the right." -Little did he suspect how near a connection there existed between the two -people whom he affected, thus ridiculously, to associate; and anyone who -attends to the position which I subjoin, independently of many others that -could be brought in support of it, will admit the happiness of this -unintentional coincidence. The Algan Kinese are the most influential and -commanding people in the whole of North America; their name in Irish -indicates as much, namely, _Algan-Kine_, or _Kine Algan_,[233] a _noble_ -community. The language of this people is the master one of the whole -country; and, what is truly remarkable, understood, as Baron de Humboldt -asserts, by all the Indian nations except two. What then are we to infer -from this obvious affinity? Most undoubtedly, that a colony of the same -people who first inhabited Ireland, and assigned to its several localities -those characteristic names which so disconcerted the harmony of Mr. -O'Flaherty's acoustic organs, had fixed themselves, at an early date, in -what has been miscalled the _New World_. - -Small, however, as is the number of the names here selected, they are -enough, I flatter myself, to establish the prevalence of our Sabian -ritual. But what puts this matter beyond anything like a question is the -inscription upon a stone, still extant, in the county of Dublin, evidently -a symbol of the _Sun_ and _Moon_, which, like Osiris and Isis of Egypt, -were considered by the ancient Irish as _united_ in matrimony. - - "God, in the nature of each being, founds - Its proper bliss, and sets its proper bounds: - But as He framed a whole the whole to bless, - On mutual wants built mutual happiness; - So from the first, eternal order ran, - And creature linked to creature, man to man. - Whate'er of life all quickening ether keeps, - Or breathes through air, or shoots beneath the deeps, - Or pours profuse on earth, one nature feeds - The vital flame, and swells the genial seeds. - Not man alone, but all that roam the wood, - Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood, - Each loves itself, but not itself alone, - Each sex desires alike, _till two are one_."--POPE. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - - -"Woman, the poetry of Nature," says an elegant writer of the present day, -"has ever been the theme of the minstrel, and the idol of the poet's -devotion. The only ideas we entertain of a celestial nature are associated -with her; in her praise the world has been exhausted of its beauties, and -she is linked with the stars and the glories of the universe, as if, -though dwelling in a _lowlier_ sphere, she belonged to a _superior_ -world." - -This deification of the _female character_ was the true _substance_ of -those imaginary _goddesses_, so sadly disfigured by the circumscribed -stupidity of Greek and Roman mythologists. _Juno_, _Baaltis_, _Diana_, -_Babia_, _Venus_, _Aphrodite_, _Derceto_, _Militta_, _Butsee_, -_Semiramis_, _Astarte_, _Io_, _Luna_, _Rimmon_, _Lucina_, _Genitalis_, -_Ourania_, _Atargatis_, etc. etc., were all but fictitious and ideal -forms, resolving themselves into _one and the same representation_ of that -sweetest ornament of the creation, _woman_; and the same terms being -applied to the _moon_, with the same _symbolic_ force and the same -_typical_ significance, illustrates the aptitude of that _tributary_ -quotation, with which this chapter has commenced, and to the beauty of -which the heart of every "man that is born of woman" must feelingly -respond. - -Europa itself, now geographically appropriated, as a denomination, to one -of the quarters of the globe, was originally synonymous with any of the -above-mentioned names; and partook in the acquiescence paid by adoring -millions to the all-fascinating object of so refined an allegory. - -Of all those various epithets, however vitiated by time, or injured by -accommodation to different climates and languages, the import--intact and -undamaged--is still preserved in the _primitive Irish tongue_, and in that -alone; and with the fertility of conception whereby it engendered _all -myths_, and kept the human intellect suspended by its _verbal -phantasmagoria_, we shall find the _drift_ and the _design_, the _type_ -and the _thing typified_, united in the ligature of one _appellative -chord_, which to the _enlightened_ and the _few_ presented a chastened yet -sublime and microscopic _moral_ delineation; but to the _profane_ and the -_many_ was an impenetrable night producing submission the most slavish, -and mental prostration the most abject; or, whenever a ray of the -_equivoque_ did happen to reach their eyes--perverted, with that -propensity which we all have to the depraved, into the most reckless -indulgence and the most profligate _licentiousness_. - -In the limits here prescribed for the development of our _outline_--which -even the most heedless must have observed, instead of being compressed, as -intended within the compass of one volume could more easily have been -dilated to the magnitude of four--it cannot be supposed that I could -dwell, with much minuteness, upon the several collateral particulars to -which I may incidentally refer. As, however, that _twofold tenour_ to -which I have above alluded, may require something more in the way of -illustration, I shall take any two of the aggregate of names there -collected, and in them exemplify what has been said. - -Suppose them to be _Militta_ and _Astarte_. Of these, then, the first -means _appetency_, such as is natural between the sexes; and the second -_dalliance_, of the same _mutual_ sort; and while both alike typify the -_delights_ of _love_, they both equally personate the _mistress_ of the -_starry_ firmament whose influence was courted for the maturity of all -such connection, as the season of her splendour is the most suitable for -its gratification. - -From _Astarte_ ([Greek: Astarte]), the Greeks formed _Aster_ ([Greek: -Aster]) a star, thereby retaining but one branch of this duplicity. The -Irish deduced from it the well-known endearment, _Astore_; and I believe I -do not exaggerate when I affirm that, in the whole circuit of dialectal -enunciations, there exists not another sound calculated to convey to a -native of this country so many commingling ideas of _tender pathos_, and -of _exalted adventure_, as this syllabic representation of the _lunar_ -deity.[234] - -Such was _Sabaism_,--composed of love, religion, and astrology: such too -was _Budhism_, as I have already shown; and _Phallism_ being but another -name, equivalent with this latter, it follows that the whole -three--_Sabaism_, _Budhism_, and _Phallism_--are, to all intents and -purposes, but _identically one_. - -This being about to be demonstrated, a few pages forwards, as _the oldest -species of worship recognised upon earth_, it were needless, one would -hope, to enter into a comparison in point of antiquity between it and any -of its living derivatives. But as many learned men, misled by that cloud -which heretofore enveloped the subject, have promulgated the belief that -_Brahminism_ was the parent stock, whence _Budhism_, with its adjuncts, -diverged as a scion, I shall, omitting others, address myself to the -consideration of Mr. Colebrooke's arguments, which I select from the mass -in deference to a character so honourably interwoven with the revival of -Eastern literature. - -"The mythology of the orthodox Hindus," says this venerable and good man, -"their present chronology, adapted to astronomical periods, their -legendary tales, and their mystical allegories, are abundantly -extravagant, but the Jains and the Bauddhas surpass them in monstrous -exaggerations of the same kind. In this rivalship of absurd fiction it -would not be unreasonable to pronounce that to be the most modern which -has outgone the rest." - -His second position is, that "the Greek writers who mention the Bramins, -speak of them as a flourishing society, whereas the Budhists they -represent as an inconsiderable handful: therefore," etc. - -To the first I shall oppose Dr. Buchanan's testimony, who states that -"however idle and ridiculous the legends and notions of the worshippers of -Bouddha may be, they have been in a great measure adopted by the Brahmins, -_but with all their defects monstrously aggravated_." - -And even had we not this rebutting evidence the inference in itself is -decidedly weak; for it would go equally to establish that _Romanism_ is -more recent than _Protestantism_, as containing a greater number of -ceremonial observances than this latter does: whereas the reverse is what -_reason_ would lead us to conclude, namely, that _ritual multiplications_ -are the growth of _longevity_, and that the retrenchment of their number -is what reformation aspires to. - -I make a free-will offering, unrestricted and unimpeded, of all the value -that can belong to Grecian historians--the Greeks, whom their own -countryman, Lucian, so justly banters as distinguished for nothing so much -as a total indifference to truth! But admitting them to be as veracious as -they were notoriously not so, the intercourse, of the very earliest of -them, with India and its dependencies, was much too modern, to allow their -statements to be further conclusive, than as refers to the time being: and -I am very ready to allow that, at the particular moment described, the -Budhists were in the wane, while the Brahmins ruled ascendant--nay, that -there were but a few straggling votaries of the former creed then existing -at all in that country, the latter, though schismatics from the -ecclesiastical root, having, by gaining over the civil power on their -side, effected their expulsion many ages before. - -The subterranean temples of Gyah, Ellora, Salsette, Elephanta, and those -other monuments of piety and civil eminence which still shed a lustre over -India, and which no subsequent state of the arts could rival, much less -eclipse, owe their existence to an era anterior to this catastrophe. The -Budhists were the architects when in the zenith of human power. The -sculptures and devices establish this fact: for of the whole list of -deities personated in those inscriptions, the Brahmins have retained none -but such as suited their purpose. These, in all conscience, were numerous -enough; and as the Brahmins, when at the helm, permitted not the -introduction of "strange gods," it is evident that those, which they have -in common with the Budhists, are but _cullings_ from the "mother-church," -ill-understood and worse interpreted; the similarity, however, being still -so great as, after a lapse of centuries, to give rise to the question of, -whether the stem or the branch, the sire or the offspring, had the -priority in point of time! - -"J'ai remarque," says the philosopher Bailly, "que les Brames aimaient a -etre appelles Paramenes, par respect pour la memoire de leurs ancetres, -qui portoient ce nom."[235] Monsieur Gebelin is more explicit. "Pausanias -nous dit, que Mercure, le meme que Butta, ou Budda, un des fondateurs de -la doctrines des Paramenes, ou Brames, est appelle Paramon."[236] - -This Paramon, who had seceded from the Budhist doctrine, and placed -himself at the head of that sect who still bear his name, was the son of -_Budh-dearg_, a religious denomination, most painfully inexplicable to -inquirers into those matters, but which _one, at least_, from his -acquaintance with the Irish language, should have better known. "I think," -says Vallancey, "_dearg_ is a contraction for _darioga_, rex supremus, -which corresponds with the Chaldaean _darag_, dux, an epithet given to -_Budya_!" - -All those words, in fact, _dearg_, _darioga_, and _darag_, are _one and -the same_, adjuncts, it is true, of Budya, but meaning neither _dux_, -_rex_, nor _supremus_, except inasmuch as they were _his_ epithets, the -correct rendering being _red_, which, added to Budh, signifies the _Red -Lingam_, the _Sardana-palus_, the _Eocad_, the _Penis sanctus_, the _god_ -of _nature_, the _ruber palus_, the _Helio-go-balus_, the _corporeal -spirit_, the _agent of production_, the _type of life_, as it is also the -_concurrent symbol of universal dissolution_. - -These several terms, which are, each and all, convertible, pourtray not -only the procreative powers of the _male_ world personified, but likewise -its symbols, which were the _Round Towers_; and not these only, but -_Obelisks_[237] also, and _naturally erect_ stones,[238] which though not -circularly fashioned, yet typified, in their ascension, the upward bent of -all vegetable growth. - -This is the true solution of those enigmatical _lithoi_, by which the -ancients represented the _bounty_ of Providence. _Maghody_ was the name -appropriated to him under this character; and the import of this word -conveying, literally, the idea of the _Good God_, shows the philosophic -feeling, no less than it does the religious seriousness, of the grateful -contrivers.[239] And while reminded by the thought, perhaps I may be -permitted, with humble deference, to suggest to literary gentlemen -occupied in the translation of Eastern manuscripts, that whenever they -meet with any proper name of the inconceivable Godhead, or of any place or -temple devoted to his use, and beginning with the word _Magh_; such as -_Magh_-Balli-Pura;[240] they should not render _Magh_ by _great_,--which -hitherto had been the practice,--but by _good_; as it is not the _power_ -of the divinity that is thereby meant to be signified, but his _bounty_: -such as his votaries chiefly supplicated, and such as was most influential -to ensure their fealty. - -"Christnah, the Indian Apollo, is the darling," says Archer, "of the -Hindoo ladies; and in his pranks, and the demolishing pitchers of milk, or -milk-pitchers, has acquired a fame infinitely surpassing that enjoyed by -the hero of the agreeable ditty entitled _Kitty of Coleraine_!" - -I confess I do not understand the levity of temperament which betrays -itself in this witticism. For my part I cannot contemplate any form of -religion without a sensation of awe. There may be much imposture, much -also of hypocrisy, and no small share of self-delusion amongst -_individuals_ of every sect, but sincerity will be found in the -_aggregate_ of each: and where _certainty_ is not attainable by finite -comprehensions, nay, where _unity_ is incompatible with freedom of thought -and will, it would more become us, methinks, to make allowance for each -other's weaknesses, than to vilify any worship, which, after all, may only -differ from our own as to mode. Christianity, beyond a question, does not -inculcate such intolerance. The _true_ follower of that faith recognises -in every _altar_ an evidence of common piety; perceives in every -articulation of the name of _Lord_, a mutual sense of dependence and a -similar appeal for succour; and taking these as inlets into the character -of the supplicant, he traces an approximation to that hope whereby he is -himself sustained, and rejoices in the discovery: yet it is no less true, -that, when superadded to these generalities, he beholds the "image" of his -Creator, acknowledging the mission of the second Godhead, and, by reliance -on the all-fulness of his immaculate atonement, immersed in the waters of -regenerating grace, his bosom expands with _more_ gladness, and he -welcomes the stranger as a brother. - -That the rebuke here intended is not gratuitous or uncalled for, I refer -to the testimony of Sir William Jones, who, with some infusion, I regret, -of the same irony and incredulity, offers the following portrait, the -result of tardy conviction of the superhuman qualifications of this -identical Christnah, viz.: "The prolix accounts of his life are filled -with narratives of a most extraordinary kind, and most strangely -variegated. This incarnate deity of Sanscrit romance was not only cradled, -but educated among shepherds. A tyrant, at the time of his birth, ordered -all the male infants to be slain. He performed amazing, but ridiculous -miracles, and saved multitudes partly by his miraculous powers, and partly -by his arms: and raised the dead, by descending for that purpose into the -infernal regions. He was the meekest and best tempered of beings; washed -the feet of the Brahmans, and preached indeed sublimely, but always in -their favour. He was pure and chaste in reality, but exhibited every -appearance of libertinism. Lastly, he was benevolent and tender, and yet -fomented and conducted a terrible war." - -Mahony, also, is a reluctant witness to the same effect. "The religion of -Bhoodha," says he, "as far as I have had any insight into it, seems to be -founded on a mild and simple morality. Bhoodha has taken for his -principles _wisdom_, _justice_, and _benevolence_; from which principles -emanate ten commandments, held by his followers as the true and only rule -of their conduct. He places them under three heads, _thought_, _word_, and -_deed_; and it may be said that the spirit of them is becoming and -well-suited to him, whose mild nature was first shocked at the sacrifice -of cattle."[241] - -I have already shown that Budha is but a title, embodying an abstract; -that, therefore, it was not limited to one individual, but applied -indiscriminately to a series. As I shall soon bring this succession nearer -to _our own fire-hearths_, and, in a way, perhaps, which may, else, -electrify over-sensitive nerves, it may be prudent that I should premise -another citation, descriptive of an answer, made by a dignitary of their -creed, to the last-mentioned author upon his enunciating a principle of -the Hindoo doctrine. "The Hindoos," rejoined the priest, "must surely be -little acquainted with this subject, by this allusion to only one -(incarnation). Bhoodha, if they mean Bhoodha Dhannan Raja, became man, and -appeared as such in the world at different periods, during ages before he -had qualified himself to be a Bhoodha. These various incarnations took -place by his supreme will and pleasure, and in consequence of his superior -qualifications and merits. I am therefore inclined to believe, that the -Hindoos, who thus speak of the incarnation of a Bhoodha, cannot allude to -him whose religion and law I preach, who is now a resident of the hall of -glory, situated above the twenty-sixth heaven." - -Now it is stated in the Puranas, that a giant, named Sancha-mucha-naga, in -the shape of a _snake_, with a mouth like a _shell_, and whose abode was -in a shell, having two countenances, was killed by _Christnah_; and as -this irresistibly directs our reflection to the early part of the Book of -Genesis, I shall adduce what Mr. Deane has set forth on this latter head. - -"The tradition of the serpent," says he, "is a chain of many links, which, -descending from Paradise, reaches, in the energetic language of Homer, - - [Greek: 'Tosson henerth' aideo, hoson ouranos est' apo gaies,'] - -but conducts, on the other hand, upwards to the promise, that 'the seed of -the woman should bruise the serpent's head.'... The mystic serpent entered -into the mythology of every nation, consecrated almost every temple, -symbolised almost every deity, was imagined in the heavens, stamped upon -the earth, and ruled in the realms of everlasting sorrow.... This -universal concurrence of traditions proves a common source of derivation, -and the oldest record of the legend must be that upon which they are all -founded. The most ancient record of the history of the serpent-tempter is -the Book of Genesis! In the Book of Genesis, therefore, is the fact from -which almost every superstition connected with the mythological serpent is -derived."[242] - -That "the oldest record of the legend must be that upon which they are -all founded," no one can gainsay, inasmuch as the parent is always senior -to the offspring: but it is not quite such a _truism_ that "the most -ancient record of the history of the serpent-tempter is the Book of -Genesis." Before a line of it was ever written, or its author even -conceived, the allegory of the serpent was propagated all over the world. -Temples, constructed thousands of years prior to the birth of Moses, bear -the impress of its history. "The extent and permanence of the -superstition," says the erudite ex-secretary of the Asiatic Society, now -Professor of Sanscrit in the University of Oxford, "we may learn from -Abulfazl, who observes that in seven hundred places there are carved -figures of snakes, which they worship. There is, likewise, reason to -suppose that this worship was diffused throughout the _whole_ of India, -as, besides, the numerous fables and traditions relating to the _Nagas_, -or _snake-gods_, scattered through the Puranas, vestiges of it still -remain in the actual observances of the Hindus." - -To explore the origin, however, of this Ophite veneration, all the efforts -of ingenuity have hitherto miscarried: and the combination of _solar_ -symbols with it, in some places of its appearance, has, instead of -facilitating, augmented the difficulty. "The portals of all the Egyptian -temples," observes the _Gentleman's Magazine_, "are decorated with the -same hierogram of the _circle_ and the _serpent_. We find it also upon the -temple of Naki Rustan, in Persia; upon the triumphal arch at Pechin, in -China; over the gates of the great temple of Chaundi Teeva, in Java; upon -the walls of Athens; and in the temple of Minerva, at Tegea--for the -Medusa's head, so common in Grecian sanctuaries, is nothing more than the -Ophite hierogram, filled up by a human face. Even Mexico, remote as it was -from the ancient world, has preserved, with Ophiolatreia, its universal -symbol."[243] - -How would Mr. Deane account for this commixture? "The votaries of the -sun," says he, "having taken possession of an Ophite temple, adopted some -of its rites, and thus in process of time arose the compound religion, -whose god was named Apollo." - -But, sir, the symbols are _coeval_, imprinted _together_ upon those -edifices at the _very moment_ of their construction; and, therefore, "no -process of time" was required to amalgamate a religion whose god (it is -true) was Apollo, but which was already inseparable, and, though compound, -one. - -[Illustration] - -I have before established the sameness of design which belonged, -indifferently, to _solar_ worship and to _phallic_. I shall, ere long, -prove that the same characteristic extends equally to _ophiolatreia_; and -if _they all three be identical_, as it thus necessarily follows, where is -the occasion for surprise at our meeting the _sun_, _phallus_, and -_serpent_, the constituent symbols of each, _embossed upon the same -table_, and _grouped_ under the same _architrave_? - -"Here," says a correspondent in the supplement to the _Gentleman's -Magazine_ of August last, "we have the umbilicated _moon_ in her state of -opposition to the sun, and the sign of fruitfulness. She was also, in the -doctrines of Sabaism, the northern gate, by which Mercury conducted souls -to birth, as mentioned by Homer in his description of the Cave of the -Nymphs, and upon which there remains a commentary by Porphyry. Of this -cave Homer says-- - - 'Fountains it had eternal, and two gates, - The northern one to men admittance gives; - That to the south is more divine--a way - Untrod by men, t' immortals only known.' - -"The _Cross_, in Gentile rites, was the symbol of reproduction and -resurrection. It was, as Shaw remarks, 'the same with the ineffable image -of eternity that is taken notice of by Suidas.' The _Crescent_ was the -lunar ship or ark that bore, in Mr. Faber's language, the Great Father and -the Great Mother over the waters of the deluge; and it was also the emblem -of the boat or ship which took aspirants over the lakes or arms of the sea -to the Sacred Islands, to which they resorted for initiation into the -mysteries: and over the river of death to the mansions of Elysium; the -_Cockatrice_ was the snake-god. It was also the basilisk or cock-adder. -'Habet caudem ut coluber, residuum vero corpus ut gallus.' The Egyptians -considered the basilisk as the emblem of eternal ages: 'esse quia vero -videtur [Greek: zoes kyrieuein kai thanaton], ex auro conformatum -capitibus deorum appingebant AEgyptii.' What relation had this with the -Nehustan or Brazen Serpent, to which the Israelites paid divine honours in -the time of Hezekiah? What is the circle with the seasons at the equinoxes -and solstices marked upon it?--the signs of the four great pagan festivals -celebrated at the commencement of each of these seasons? The corner of the -stone which is broken off probably contained some symbol. I am not -hierophant enough to unriddle and explain the hidden tale of this -combination of hieroglyphics. We know that the sea-goat and the Pegasus on -tablets and centeviral stones, found on the walls of Severus and -Antoninus, were badges of the second, and the boar of the twentieth -legion; but this bas-relief seems to refer, in some dark manner, to -matters connected with the ancient heathen mysteries. The form of the -border around them is remarkable. The stone which bears them was, I -apprehend, brought in its present state from Vindolana, where, as I have -observed, an inscription to the Syrian goddess was formerly found. The -station of Magna also, a few years since, produced a long inscription to -the same goddess in the Iambic verse of the Latin comedians; and a cave, -containing altars to Mithras, and a bust of that god, seated between the -two hemispheres and surrounded by the twelve signs of the Zodiac, besides -other signa and [Greek: agalmata] of the Persian god, was opened at -Borcovicus only about ten years since. These, therefore, and other similar -remains, found in the Roman stations in the neighbourhood of Vindolana, -induce me to think that the symbols under consideration, and now for the -first time taken notice of, were originally placed near the altars of some -divinity in the station of the Bowers-in-the-Wood. I know of no -establishment that the Knights Templars had in this neighbourhood." - -The modesty of "V. W." is not less than his diligence; and both, I -consider, exemplary and great. But he will excuse me when I tell him that -the _Cross_, the _Crescent_, and the _Cockatrice_, are still _maiden_ -subjects after his hands. Neither Faber, Shaw, nor Suidas, pretend even to -approach those matters, save in their _emblematic_ sense; and, as every -emblem must have a substratum, I for one, cannot content myself with that -remote and secondary knowledge which is imparted by the _exoteric type_, -but must enter the penetralia, and explore the secrets of the _eisoteric -temple_. - - "As an old serpent casts his scaly vest, - Wreaths in the sun in youthful glory dress'd; - So, when Alcides' mortal mould resign'd, - His better part enlarg'd, and grew refin'd; - August his visage shone; almighty Jove - In his swift car his honoured offspring drove: - High o'er the hollow clouds the coursers fly, - And lodge the hero in the starry sky."[244] - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - - -"Chilly as the climate of the world is growing--artificial and systematic -as it has become--and unwilling as we are to own the fact, there are few -amongst us but who have had those feelings once strongly entwined around -the soul, and who have felt how dear was their possession when existing, -and how acute the pang which their severing cost. Fewer still were the -labyrinths unclosed in which their affections lay folded, but in whose -hearts the name of _woman_ would be found, although the rough collision -with the world may have partially effaced it." - -This instinctive influence, which the daughters of Eve universally -exercise over the sons of Adam, is not more irresistible in the present -day, than it proved in the case of their great progenitor. _Love_, however -disguised--and how could it be more beautifully than by the scriptural -penman?--_love, in its literal and all-absorbing seductiveness_, was the -simple but fascinating aberration couched under the figure of the -_forbidden apple_. - -All the illusions of fancy resolve themselves into this sweet abyss. The -dreams of commentators may, therefore, henceforward be spared; the -calculations of bookmakers, on this topic, dispensed with: whatever be -_my_ fate, one consolation, at least, awaits me, that in addition to the -_Towers_, I shall have expounded the mysteries of Genesis. - -In the _Irish_ language, which, as being that of ancient Persia, or -_Iran_, must be the oldest in the world, and of which the _Hebrew_, -brought away by Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees,[245] is but a distant and -imperfect branch,--well, in this primordial tongue, the nursery at once of -science, of religion, and of philosophy, all _mysteries_, also, have been -matured: and it will irrefutably manifest itself, that in it, exclusively, -was woven that elegantly-wrought veil, of colloquial illusiveness, which -shrouds the _nature_ of our first parents' downfall. - -How, think you, was this accomplished? By assigning to certain terms a -twofold signification, of which one represented a certain _passion_, -_quality_, or _virtue_, and the other its _sensible index_. To the latter -alone had the _multitude_ any access; while the sanctity of the former was -guarded against them by all the terrors of religious interdicts. - -For instance, in the example before us, _Budh_, or _Fiodh_,--which is the -same thing,--means, primarily, _lingam_, and secondarily, a _tree_. Of -these, the latter, which was the popular acceptation, was only the -_outward signal_ of the former, which was the _inward_ mystified -_passion_, comprehended only by the initiated. When, therefore, we are -told that Eve was desired not to taste of the _tree_, _i.e._ _Budh_, we -are to understand that she was prohibited what _Budh_ meant in its true -signification, viz. _lingam_: in other words, that when cautioned against -the _Budh_, it was not an _insensible tree_, its symbolic import, that -was meant thereby, but the _vital phallus_, its _animate_ -prototype:--that, in short, "_missis_ ambagibus," the word _Budh_ was to -be taken, _not figuratively_, but _literally_.[246] - -[Illustration: FROM THE RUINS OF THE PALENCIAN CITY.] - -Again, in this cradle of literary wonders--the Irish language--every -letter in its alphabet expresses some particular _tree_; but its second, -_Beth_,--whence the _Beta_ of the Greeks, and a formative only of _Budh_, -the radix,--signifies in addition to the _tree_ which it -represents[247]--_knowledge_ also! And _here, obvious as light, and -impregnable to contradiction, you have the tree of knowledge, in natural -nakedness, divested of all the mystery of pomiferous verbiage, and -identified in attributes, as in prolific import, with the name and essence -of the sacred_ Budh![248] - -Here then we have, at length, arrived at the _fountain-head_ and _source_ -of the _mystery_ of _Budhism_. Eve herself, I emphatically affirm, was the -_very first Budhist_. And, accordingly, we find that, in former ages, -women universally venerated the _Budh_, and carried images of it, as a -talisman, around their necks and in their bosoms![249] - -But if Eve was the first Budhist, the first priest of the Budhist order -was her first-born, but apostate son Cain: and in his acknowledging the -bounty of _Budh_, the _sun_, who matures the fruits of the earth,--and -thereby recognising Jehovah only as the God of _nature_ and of -_increase_,--rather than in looking forward by faith to the redemption by -_blood_, as a different sacrifice would have intimated, consisted "the -whole front and bearing" of his treason and offence.[250] - -"If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not -well, a sin offering lieth at the door"[251]--the means of propitiation -are within your immediate reach. - -The endearing tone in which this is conveyed bespeaks an appeal to some -usage familiar to the party. It betokens indisputably, that on previous -occasions, when Cain had acted "well," he had met with no rejection. And -for the truth of this Jehovah refers to the defendant's own experience and -self-convincing consciousness. - -Cain, therefore, was a priest under a former dispensation, and a favoured -one, too, and his being deprived of this office, or, in other words, "cast -off from the presence of the Lord," was the great source and origin of his -present wretchedness. - -But if a priest, he must have been so to a larger congregation than his -father, mother, and brother: and besides, he, as well as Abel, must have -had _wives_; but the Scriptures do not tell us that Adam and Eve, as -individuals, had any _daughters_; it follows, therefore, that the consorts -of the two brothers must have sprung from some _other_ parents. There, -then, were more men and women on the earth than Adam and Eve: and this is -still further confirmed by the apprehensions expressed by Cain himself, -after the murder of Abel, lest he might be slain by someone meeting him. - -Yes, in the paradisaical state, before "sin entered into the world," the -earth was as crowded with population as it is at present, and Adam and Eve -are only put as representatives, male and female, of the entire human -species all over the globe.[252] - -Here I cannot do better than set the reader right as to the rendering of a -subsequent text, which says that "God set a mark upon Cain lest any one -meeting him should kill him"; nor can I recollect another instance wherein -human ingenuity, while struggling after truth, has been more directly -instrumental in the dissemination of error. - -One would suppose that the setting "a mark upon" a person, instead of -allaying his fears of being molested by those meeting him, should, on the -contrary, aggravate them, from its extraordinary aspect. Besides, in the -innumerable fantasies which commentators have conjured up as -specifications of this "mark," no vestige whatsoever has been yet traced -on the human form to justify the inference. - -We are obliged, therefore, at last, to recur to the _truth_, and it -fortunately happens that this is accessible by only translating the -original as it should properly be, thus, viz. "And God _gave_ Cain a -_sign_ lest any meeting him, should kill him." - -The only question now is what that _sign_ was, which God _gave_ to Cain? -And to resolve this, we have but to bethink ourselves of his -dereliction,--namely, the offering worship to Budh, _i.e._ _nature_, or -the _sun_: and his refusing to sacrifice, in consequence of such devotion, -anything endowed with _life_, of which Budh, _i.e._ Lingam,--according to -the double acceptation of the word,--was the type, as it is also the -_sign_ of Budh, the sun,--and we have infallibly developed the answer and -the secret. - -Stamping the nature of his crime, and at the same time indicating that, in -the now fallen condition of man, this badge of his revolt would be rather -a security against trespass, and a passport to acceptance than an -inducement to annoyance, God shows to Cain, as much in derision as in -anger, the _substantial_ image of that deity to which he had but just -before done homage, viz. Budh; and thereupon, Cain goes, and, on "the land -a wanderer," he erects this _sign_ into a deified _Round Tower_. - -Perhaps the reader would like to have some _collateral_ proofs for these -startling interpretations. I shall give them, as convincing as the -solution itself is irrefutable and true. - -The Maypole festival, which the Rev. Mr. Maurice has so satisfactorily -shown to be but the remains of an ancient institution of India and Egypt -(he should have added Persia, and, indeed, placed it first), was, in fact, -but part and parcel of this Round Tower worship. May the 1st is the day on -which its orgies were celebrated; nor is the custom, even now, confined to -the British Isles alone, but as naturally prevails universally throughout -the East, whence it emanated _of old_ to us. Lest, too, there should be -any mistake as to the object of adoration, we are told in the second -volume of the _Asiatic Researches_, in a letter from Colonel Pearce, that -Bhadani, _i.e._ Astarte, _i.e._ Luna, _i.e._ Venus, _i.e._ "Mollium mater -cupidinum," was the goddess in whose honour those festivities were raised. - -Now as astronomy was connected with all the ceremonies of the ancients, -the sun's entrance into Taurus, which in itself bespeaks the vigour of -reanimated productiveness at the vernal equinox, was the symbol in the -heavens associated by the worshippers with this allegorical gaiety. But -this event takes place a little earlier every year than the preceding one, -by reason of what astronomers call the _precession_, so that at present -it occurs at a season far more advanced than it did at first. - -Theory and observation both concur in establishing that 72 years is the -period which the equinox will take to precede 1 degree of the 360 into -which the heavens are divided,--2160 years 30 degrees, that is, one -sign,--and 25,920, 360 degrees, or the twelve signs of the Zodiac. If, -therefore, we compute at this rate the precise year at which the vernal -equinox must have coincided with the 1st of May,--which must certainly -have been the fact at the origin of the institution,--it will prove to -have been about the four thousandth before the Christian era, which -exactly corresponds with the time of Cain, and irrefutably confirms the -origin which I have assigned to the worship of the Budh, Tower, Phallus, -or Maypole. - -Mr. Maurice's position deserves to be remarked. "_I have little doubt, -therefore_," says he, "_that May-day, or at least the day on which the sun -entered Taurus, has been immemorially kept as a sacred festival from the -creation of the earth and man, originally intended as a memorial of that -auspicious period and that momentous event_." - -It is with extreme reluctance that I would dissent from a writer who has -contributed so largely as the gentleman before us towards the restoration -of literature; but since we agree as to the _era_ of the origin of the -festival, and _substantially_ as to its _design_, I have the less -hesitation in recording my belief that _it was not the creation of the -earth or of man_ that was intended to be commemorated, but the -commencement of a _new dispensation_, consequent upon _man's -defection_.[253] - -Lord, from the Shaster, quotes the following abstract, marking the opinion -of the Easterns themselves, as to Adam and Eve having had many -contemporaries. This relates an interview between a different couple. -"Being both persuaded that God had a hand in this their meeting, they took -council from this book, to bind themselves in the inviolable bond of -marriage, and with the courtesies interceding between man and wife, were -lodged in one another's bosoms: for joy whereof the sun put on his nuptial -lustre, and looked brighter than ordinary, causing the season to shine -upon them with golden joy; and the silver moon welcomed the evening of -their repose, whilst music from heaven, as if God's purpose in them had -been determinate, sent forth a pleasing sound, such as useth to fleet from -the loud trumpet, together with the noise of the triumphant drum. Thus -proving the effects of generation together, they had fruitful issue, and -so peopled the East, and the woman's name was Sanatree." - -This _Maypole_ ceremony, under the name of _Phallica_, _Dionysia_, or -_Orgia_, which last word, though sometimes applied to the mysteries of -other deities, belongs more particularly to those of Bacchus,[254] was -celebrated, at one time, throughout Attica with all the extravagance of -religio-lascivious pomp. Archer, in his _Travels in Upper India_, arrived -at a village just a few hours only after the May gaieties were over, and -found the _pole_ still standing. "The occasion," says he, "was one of -festivity, for all had strings of flowers about their heads, and they -spoke of the matter as one of great pleasure and amusement." As, however, -he did not come in for the actual observances, I shall supply the omission -by detailing the form of its celebration in our own country. - -"Anciently," says M'Skimin, in his _History of Carrickfergus_, "a large -company of young men assembled each May-day, who were called May-boys. -They wore above their other dress white linen shirts, which were covered -with a profusion of various coloured ribbons, formed into large and -fantastic knots. One of the party was called King, and the other Queen, -each of whom wore a crown, composed of the most beautiful flowers of the -season, and was attended by pages who held up the train. When met, their -first act was _dancing to music round the pole_, planted the preceding -evening; after which they went to the houses of the most respectable -inhabitants round about, and having taken a short jig in front of each -house, received a voluntary offering from those within. The sum given was -rarely less than five shillings. In the course of this ramble the King -always presented a rich garland of flowers to some handsome young woman, -who was hence called 'the Queen of May' till the following year." - -With this compare the description given by the author of the _Rites and -Ceremonies of all Nations_, of a similar worship as celebrated amongst the -Banians. "Another god," says he, "much esteemed and worshipped by these -people, is called _Perimal_, and his image is that of a _pole_, or the -_large mast of a ship_. The Indians relate the following legend concerning -this idol. At Cydambaran, a city in Golcondo, a penitent having -accidentally pricked his foot with an awl, let it continue in the wound -for several years together; and although this extravagant method of -putting himself to excessive torture was displeasing to the god Perimal, -yet the zealot swore he would not have it pulled out till he _saw the god -dance_. At last, the indulgent god had compassion on him, _and danced, and -the sun, moon, and stars danced along with him_. During this celestial -movement, a chain of gold dropped from either the sun or the god, and the -place has been ever since called Cydambaran. It was also in memory of this -remarkable transaction _that the image of the god was changed from that of -an ape to a pole_, thereby intimating (adds the good-natured expositor of -himself) that all religious worship should reach up towards heaven, that -human affections should be placed on things above." - -Now, this mysterious _Peri-Mal_ is but a euphony for _Peri-Bal_, that is, -the _Baal-Peor_ before explained: and when you remember the destination -which I have there assigned him, you will perceive the propriety of his -having been represented by a _mast_ or May-_pole_. As to the Indian -legend, it only shows the antiquity of the rite, superadded to that -religious _investment_ which was meant as a shield against profanation. - -Vallancey also mentions the following additional custom, which he himself -witnessed in the county of Waterford:--"On the first day of May, annually, -a number of youths, of both sexes, go round the _parish_ to _every couple -married within the year_, and oblige them to give a ball. This is -ornamented with gold or silver coin. I have been assured, they sometimes -expended three guineas on this ornament. The _balls are suspended by a -thread, in two hoops placed at right angles, decorated with festoons of -flowers. The hoops are fastened to the end of a long pole, and carried -about in great solemnity, attended with singing, music, and dancing._" - -The _mummers_, in like manner, who went about upon this day, demanding -money, and with similar solemnities, as if for the _moon in labour_, were -derived from the same origin. In Ceylon this practice is confined to -"women alone,"[255] who, as the editor of the _Rites and Ceremonies_, -etc., informs us, "go from door to door with the image of _Buddu_ in their -hands, calling out as they pass, 'Pray, remember _Buddu_.'[256] The -meaning is, that will enable them to sacrifice to the god. Some of the -people give them money, others cotton thread, some rice, and others oil -for the lamps. Part of these gifts they carry to the priests of _Buddu_, -and the remainder they carry home for their own use." - -The money collected in Ireland, on the same occasion, would appear to have -been somewhat similarly expended, having been "mostly sacrificed to the -jolly god; the remainder given to the poor in the neighbourhood." - - "Here, for a while, my proper cares resigned, - Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind; - Like yon neglected shrub, at random cast, - That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast."[257] - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - - -When I cast back my eye upon this narrative, through the long perspective -of ages which it involves, I confess I feel incommoded by some misgivings -of self-distrust. When I consider the _mighty_ individuals, of -_transcendent_ powers and almost _inexhaustible_ resources, who, having -reconnoitred its coast, either _perished_ in the impotency of effecting a -landing, or, more wisely, _receded_ from it as impregnable, I am _thrown -back_, as it were, upon myself, and impeded by the comparison of my own -littleness. - -But if "God has often chosen the small things of the earth to confound the -great"; and if success in past undertakings be any guarantee against the -illusiveness of inward promise; if the roads be all chalked, the posts -lighted, and the sentinels faithful, why, _then_, allow the influence of -petty fears to mar, at all events, the _project_ of an ennobling -enterprise? - -In that cherished volume, whence our first lessons upon religion have been -deduced, and which, as embodying the principles of our _happiness_ here, -and our _hopes_ hereafter, has been honoured with the _pre-eminent_ and -distinctive appellation of the _Bible_, or _Book_, there occur numerous -phrases of _mysterious_ import, but _pregnant_ significancy, which pious -men, unable to solve, have contented themselves with classifying as under -the head of "above reason"--"contrary," and "according to," being the two -other constituents of their predicamental line. - -Those _conventional_ terms which _expediency_ alone has invented are, to -say the least, arbitrary; and as all men have an equal right to form a -_specification_ of their subject-matter, I shall, without disconcerting -the _order_ of the above _division_, endeavour only to rescue the points -to which I refer from immersion in the _first_ class;[258] or--if allowed -the latitude of _parliamentary_ elocution--to take them out from the -condemnation of _Schedule A_. - -To begin, then, with the following text, viz. "_The sons of God_ saw the -daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all -which they chose."[259] - -What do you understand by the expression "sons of God"? - -His peculiar people, you reply; such, for instance, as _called upon His -name_;[260] or, perhaps, Seth's descendants in opposition to those of -Cain, the unrighteous. - -Turn, sir, to the beginning of the first and second chapters of _Job_, and -read what you are there informed of. - -"Now there was a day when the _sons of God_ came to present themselves -before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." And, "Again, there was a -day, when the _sons of God_ came to present themselves before the Lord, -and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord." - -Well, what is your answer now? or will it not be different from what it -was before? Can you seriously imagine that it was _any_ race of -_ordinary_ human beings that was thus denominated? _And_ are you not -compelled to associate the idea with some one of the other _superior_ -productions of omnipotent agency? - -I will make you, sir, if you have candour in your constitution, -acknowledge the fact. Listen--"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations -of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding: when the morning stars -sang together, and all the _sons of God_ shouted for joy."[261] - -Here allusion is made to a period antecedent to the existence of either -_Cain_ or _Seth_. The _myriads_ of revolving ages suggested by the -interrogatory set even _fancy_ at defiance; nor are their limits demarked -by the _vague_ and _indefinite exordium_ of even the talented and -otherwise highly-favoured legislator, Moses himself.[262] And yet, in this -incomprehensible _inane_ of time, do we see the _sons of God shouting for -joy_, before the species of man--at least in his degenerate -sinfulness--had appeared upon this surface! - -It is manifest, therefore, that some _emanation_ of the Godhead, distinct -from _mere_ humanity, is couched under the phrase of "the sons of God"; -and accordingly we perceive that, when they "went in unto the daughters of -men, and they bare children to them," it is _emphatically_ noticed, as an -occurrence of _unusual_ impress, that "the same became mighty men, which -were of old, men of renown."[263] - -At the commencement of the verse, whence the last extract has been taken, -you will find the name of _giant_ mentioned; and instantly after, as if -in _juxtaposition_, nay, as if _synonymous_ with it in meaning, is -repeated "the sons of God": thereby identifying both in nature and in -character, and proving their sameness by their convertibility. - -The Hebrew word from which _giant_ has been translated, signifies _to -fall_: and what, do you suppose, constituted this _apostasy_? In sooth, -nothing else than that _carnal intercourse_, which they could not resist -indulging with the "daughters of men," _when their senses told them they -were lovely_.[264] Thus do both names corroborate my truth; while both -reciprocally illustrate each other. - -"It may seem strange," says Wilford, "that the posterity of Cain should be -so much noticed in the Puranas, whilst that of the pious and benevolent -Ruchi is in a great measure neglected. But little is said of the posterity -of Seth, whilst the inspired penman takes particular notice of the -ingenuity of the descendants of Cain, and to what a high degree of -perfection they carried the arts of civil life. _The charms and -accomplishments of the women are particularly mentioned._ 'The same became -mighty men, which were of old, men of renown.'" - -And again,--"We have been taught to consider the descendants of Cain as a -most profligate and abominable race. This opinion, however, is not -countenanced, either by sacred or profane history. That they were not -entrusted with the sacred deposit of religious truths, to transmit to -future ages, is sufficiently certain. They might, in consequence of this, -have deviated gradually from the original belief, and at last fallen into -a superstitious system of religion, which seems, also, a natural -consequence of the fearful disposition of Cain, and the horrors he must -have felt, when he recollected the atrocious murder of his brother Abel." - -This, so far as it goes, is satisfactory enough; but it is _groping in the -dark_, and _without a pilot_. A few pages, in the distance, will, however, -bring us to the right understanding of these points also; meanwhile, I -return to the Mosaical record, for the insight therein afforded into the -history of Cain. - -We are told then that he "knew his wife, and she conceived and bare -_Enoch_": and as this name signifies _initiation in sacred rites_, as well -as it does an _assembly of congregated multitudes_,--in which latter sense -it was accurately applied to the "city" which he had "builded,"--it shows -that the new religion bade fair for perpetuity. - -_Irad_, the name of Enoch's son, proves the crowning finish of the matured -ceremonial, for intimating, as it does, _consecrated to God_, we are -naturally led to connect its bearer with the profession of that worship -which his name represented. - -As _Irad_ signifies _consecrated to God_, so _Iran_ does _the land of -those so consecrated_; and accordingly we may be assured that it was in -_that precise region_ that the Budhists had first established the -_insignia_ of their empire.[265] - -Let us now inquire what light will the _Dabistan_ afford to our labours. -It is known that Sir John Malcolm was no ready convert to its merits; his -abridgment of it, therefore, cannot be suspected of any colouring; and, as -I like the testimony of reluctant witnesses, I shall even make _him_ the -interpreter of its recondite contents. - -"In almost all the _modern_ accounts of Persia," says he, "which have been -translated from Mahomedan authors, _Kaiomurs_ is considered the _first -king of that country_; but the Dabistan, a book professedly compiled from -works of the ancient Guebrs, or worshippers of fire, presents us with a -chapter on a succession of monarchs and prophets who preceded Kaiomurs. -According to its author the Persians, previous to the reign of Kaiomurs, -and consequently _long before the mission of Zoroaster_, venerated a -prophet called _Mah-abad_, or the Great (rather the _Good_) Abad, whom -they considered as the father of men. We are told in the Dabistan that -_the ancient Persians deemed it impossible to ascertain who were the first -parents of the human race_. The knowledge of man, they alleged, was quite -incompetent to such a discovery; but they believed, on the authority of -their books, that Mah-abad was the person left at the _end of the last -great cycle_, and consequently the father of the present world. The only -particulars they relate of him are, that he and his wife, having survived -the former cycle, were blessed with a numerous progeny, who inhabited -caves and clefts of rocks, and were uninformed of both the comforts and -luxuries of life; that they were at first strangers to order and -government, but that Mah-abad, inspired and aided by Divine Power, -resolved to alter their condition; and, to effect that object, _planted -gardens_, _invented ornaments_, and _forged weapons_. He also taught men -to take the fleece from the sheep, and to make clothing; he built cities, -constructed palaces, fortified towns, and introduced among his descendants -all the benefits of art and commerce. - -"Mah-abad had thirteen successors of his own family; all of whom are -styled _Abad_, and deemed prophets. They were at once the monarchs and the -high priests of the country; and during their reigns, the world, we are -informed, enjoyed a golden age, which was, however, disturbed by an act of -Azer-abad, the last prince of the Mahabadean dynasty, who abdicated the -throne, and retired to a life of solitary devotion. - -"By the absence of Azer-abad his subjects were left to the free indulgence -of their passions, and every species of excess was the consequence. _The -empire became a scene of rapine and of murder._ To use the extravagant -expression of our author (the Dabistan), _the mills, from which men were -fed, were turned by the torrents of blood that flowed from the veins of -their brothers; every art and science fell into oblivion; the human race -became as beasts of prey, and returned to their former rude habitations in -caverns and mountains_. - -"Some sages, who viewed the state of the empire with compassion, intreated -Iy-Affram, a saint-like, retired man, to assume the government. This holy -man, who had received the title of Iy (pure), from his pre-eminent -virtues, refused to attend to their request, till a divine command, -through the angel _Gabriel_, led him to consent to be the instrument of -restoring order, and of reviving the neglected laws and institutions of -Mah-abad. Iy-Affram founded a new dynasty, which was called the Iy-abad; -who, after a long and prosperous reign, suddenly disappeared, and the -empire fell again into confusion. Order was restored by his son, Shah -Kisleer, who was with difficulty prevailed upon to quit his religious -retirement to assume the reigns of government. His successors were -prosperous till the elevation of the last prince of the dynasty, whose -name was Mahabool. This monarch, we are told, was compelled by the -increasing depravity of his subjects to resign his crown. - -"He was succeeded by his eldest son, Yessan, who, acting under divine -influence, supported himself in that condition which his father had -abandoned. This prince founded a new dynasty, which terminated in his -descendant, Yessan-Agrin. At the end of his reign the general wickedness -of mankind exceeded all bounds, and _God made their mutual hostility the -means of the Divine vengeance, till the human race was nearly extinct_. -The few that remained had fled to woods and mountains, _when the -all-merciful Creator called Kaiomurs, or Gilshah, to the throne_." - -We only now want a key to unlock the portals of this _Magh-abadean_ -household; and I flatter myself that _this_, which I am about to tender, -will consummate to an accuracy that very desirable purpose. - -Cain's immediate progeny are they which are included under the above -denomination. Their faith and worship are exactly symbolised under its -derivative dress. _Magh_, as before explained, is _good_; and _Abad_, a -_unit_; that is, when combined, the _Good One_, or _Unit_, the author of -fruitfulness and productiveness--in which light alone, as all-bountiful -and all-generous, was he recognised by this family. - -_This unity_ of the Godhead was what was _religiously_ comprehended under -the _Phallic_ configuration of the Round Tower erections; and this, -furthermore, elucidates that heretofore enigmatical declaration of the -Budhists themselves, viz. that the pyramids, in which the sacred relics -are deposited, "_be their shape what it will, are an imitation of the -worldly temple of the Supreme Being_."[266] - -But if _Magh-abadean_ was the name adopted by them with this _spiritual_ -tendency, _Tuath-de-danaan_ was that which pictured them a sacerdotal -institution. The last member of this compound I have already expounded. It -remains that I develop what the two first parts conceal. - -_Tuath_, then, is neither more nor less than a dialectal modification for -_Budh_, which, according to the licence of languages, transformed itself, -otherwise and indifferently, into _Butt_, Butta, Fiod, Fioth, _Thot_, -_Tuath_, _Duath_, _Suath_, Pood, Woad; and in the two last forms--of which -one is Gothic, and the other Tamulic--admitted a final syllable,--which -was but an insignificant termination,--namely, _en_, making _Pooden_ and -_Woad-en_; or _Poden_ and _Woden_. - -In these several variations, and the innumerable others which branch -therefrom, while the _sensible_ idea is preserved underneath, there is -superinduced another of a more refined complexion. Thus, _Budh_, while it -primarily represents the _sun_, its type, the _penis_; and again, _its_ -sign, a _tree_, expresses also the attributes of _magic_, _science_, -_divination_, and _wisdom_. - -These were the consequences of that _mysterious_ garb in which the priests -invested the _true_ elements of their religion. Being themselves the sole -possessors of its inward secrets, and all literature and erudition going -hand in hand also therewith, it was so dexterously managed, that a sort of -reverential feeling attached, not only to those _qualities_ in the -abstract, but to the consecrated _personages_ who were their depositories. -Hence, while _Budh_ came to signify _divination_ and _wisdom_, _Budha_, -its professor, did a _divine_ and _wise man_; and _Tuath_, being only a -modification of the former epithet, _Tuatha_ is the corresponding -transmutation of the latter. - -_Tuatha_, therefore, signifies _magicians_;[267] and so we have the -_first_ component of _Tuath-de-danaans_ elucidated. The _second_ requires -no _Oedipus_ to solve it, _De_ being but the vernacular term whereby was -expressed the _Deity_; and as I have previously established the import of -_Danaans_ to have been _Almoners_, it follows that the aggregate tenour of -this religious-compound-denomination is _the Magician-god-almoners_, or -the Almoner-magicians of the Deity. - -As from _Budh_ was formed _Fiodh_, so from Fiodh arose Fidhius; and as I -have before shown that _Hercules_ and _Deus_ were synonymous terms, and -both personifications of the _Sun_, so, accordingly, we find that this -_symbolical_ adjunct was reciprocally appropriated to one as to the other. - -I dwell upon those terms with the more impressive force, because that _the -spirit of no one of them_ has ever before been developed. _Me Deus -Fidhius_, and _Me Hercules Fidhius_, we where taught at school to consider -as appeals to the _God of Truth_, and the _Hercules of Honour_. Most -assuredly those virtues are comprehended under the _radix_ of the great -_mysterious_ Original; but the dictionaries and lexicons that gave us -those significations knew no more of what that _Original_ was than they -did of the connection between soul and body. - -Deus _Fidhius_, then, means God the _Budha_, and as such the _All-wise_, -the _All-sacred_, the _All-amiable_, and the _All-hospitable_; and -_Hercules_ Fidhius, that is, _Hercules_ the Budha, is, in sense and -meaning, exactly the same. - -The Latin word _Fides_, and the English _Faith_, are but direct emanations -from the same communion. A thousand other analogies must suggest -themselves now in consequence. In a word, if you go through the circle of -natural _religion_ and artificial _science_,--if you analyse the -vocabulary of conventional _taste_ and of modish etiquette, you will find -the _constituent particles_ of all the leading outlines resolve themselves -into the _physical_ symbolisation of the radical Budh. - -What inference, I ask my reader, would he draw from the above facts? -Unquestionably that at the outset of social life, mankind at large had -used but one lingual conversation; and as the _Irish_ is the only language -in which are traced the germs of all the diverging _radii_,--nay, as it is -the _focus_ in which all amicably meet,--it follows inevitably that it -must have been the universal language of the first human cultivators--the -nursery of letters, and the cradle of revelation. - - "How charming is divine Philosophy! - Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, - But musical as is Apollo's lute, - And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets - Where no crude surfeit reigns." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - - -The _Tuath-de-danaans_, or Mahabadeans, being thus far proved as the first -occupiers of Iran, it may be asked, How happens it that no Persian -historians, anterior to Mohsan Fani, have noticed their existence? In the -first place, I answer that _they all_ have mentioned them, however -_unconsciously_ by themselves, or _inadvertently_ by others. And even had -this not been the fact--had not a single syllable been recorded, bearing -reference to their name, the remote era, in itself, of their detachment -from that country, would be the best possible apology for the omission. - -The professed writers upon Persia belong all to a recent period; and the -magazines which they consulted, for the scanty information which they -furnish, were either Arabs or Greeks--the former a body of predatory -warriors, whose only insight into letters arose from the opportunities -which their rapines had supplied them; and the latter, a community who, -insensible to the beauties of moral truth, took delight in distorting even -the most commonplace occurrences into the most unnatural incredibilities -and misshapen incongruities. - -But independently of these causes, another more powerful one had before -long co-operated. A rival dynasty, starting up from amongst themselves, -succeeded, by the issue of a religious revolution, to effect their -expulsion; and that once ascertained--the doors of admission ever after -closed against their return--the victors were not satisfied with the -monopoly of civil power, but they must wreak their vengeance still more, -by the erasure of every vestige of the former sway. - -In this devastating course, the Round Towers, as the temples of their -figurative veneration, were particularly obnoxious; and, accordingly, we -may be assured, that it was owing to the durability of those edifices, and -not to the clemency of the assailants, that any one of them has been able -to survive the hurricane. - -Who, you will ask, were those destroyers? They were the _Pish-de-danaans_. -And so energetically did they prosecute their extinguishing plan, aided, -besides, by the antiquity of its remote occurrence, that all writers upon -that country, before the compilers of the _Dabistan_, have set them down -as its first dynasty, making the Kaianians, the Askanians, and the -Sassanians, their successors. - -Here I am obliged, in compliance with the justice of my subject, to expose -an error of a gentleman, whom I would rather have overlooked. - -"The _Tuatha-dadan_ of the Irish," says Vallancey, "are the _Pish-dadan_ -of the Persians"; which he pretends to prove as follows:--"First, then," -says he, "_Tuath_ and _Pish_ are synonymous in the Chaldee, and both -signify mystery, sorcery, prophets, etc.; they are both of the same -signification in the Irish; therefore by _Pish-dadan_ and _Tuatha-dadan_, -I understand the Dadanites, descended of Dedan, who had studied the -necromantic art, which sprang from the Chesdim, or Chaldeans." - -Of a piece with this was his assertion that _Nuagha Airgiodlamh_ of the -Irish, was _Zerdust_ of the Persians! And wherefore, think you, reader? -Because, forsooth, _Airgiodlamh_ signifies _silver_-hand, and Zerdust, -_gold_-hand! Yes, but he made out another analogy, and it is worth while -to hear it, viz. that Nuagha had his _hand cut off_ by a Fir-Bolg -_general_; while Zerdust's _life was taken away_ by a Turanian -_chieftain_!!! - -This is but an _item_ in that great ocean of incertitude in which that -enterprising etymologist had, unfortunately, been swallowed up. Having -perceived by the perusal of the manuscripts of our country, that there -must have been a time when it basked in the _sunshine_ of literary -superiority; yet unable tangibly to grapple with it, having no _clue_ into -the _origin_ of its _sacred_ repute, or the collateral particulars of its -_date_, _nature_, or _promoters_, he was tossed about by the ferment of a -_parturient_ imagination, without the saving ballast of a _discriminating_ -faculty. - -The General's work, accordingly, is one which must be read with great -reserve; not because that it does not offer many valuable hints, but -because that its plan is so _crude_, and its matter so -_ill-digested_,--the same thing being _contradicted_ in one place, which -was _affirmed_ in another, or else _repeated_ interminably, without regard -to _method_ or to _style_,--that when you have waded through the whole, -you feel you have derived from it no other benefit than that of whetting -your avidity for a _correct_ insight into those subjects, of which the -author, you imagine, must have had some _idea_, but which also, it is -evident, however indefatigable he was in the attempt, he had not, himself, -the power to penetrate. - -The great praise, therefore, which I would award to this writer, is that, -with one leg almost in the grave, he sat down, in the enthusiasm of a -youthful aspirant, to master the difficulties of the Irish tongue, which, -_mutilated_ though it be, and _begrimed_ by disuse, he knew was, -notwithstanding, the only sure inlet to the _genius_ of the people, as -well as to the _arcana_ of their antiquities, the most precious, as they -are, and fruitful, of any country on the surface of the globe. - -But though his perseverance had rendered him the best _Irishian_ of his -age, and of many ages before him, yet has he committed _innumerable -blunders_, even in the exposition of the most simple words; and the -question now in point will verify this declaration, with as much -exactitude as any other that could be adduced. - -_Tuath_, then, and _pish_ are by no means _synonymous_; neither do they -signify _mystery_ or _prophets_, except in a secondary light. In their -original acceptation, they are the _antipodes_ of each other, as much as -_male_ is to _female_, and as _relative_ is to _correlative_.[268] - -They are the distinctive denominations for the _genital organs_ of both -sexes, respectively--_Tuath_ signifying _Lingam_; and _Pish_, _Yoni_. - -I have already explained that _Tuath_ is but a modification of the word -_Budh_--the final _dh_ of the latter having been changed into the final -_th_ of the former, only for euphony; because that prefixed to _de-danaan_ -the collision of the two _d's_--as _Bud_-de-danaan--would not sound well; -it was, therefore, made _Buth_-de-danaan; and--the initials _b_ and _t_ -being always convertible,--hence became _Tuath_-de-danaan. - -The case was exactly _opposite_ with respect to _pish_: I mean so far as -the alteration of two of its letters is concerned. _Pith_ is the _usual_ -method of pronouncing that term: nor is it, except when followed by a _d_, -that it assumes the other garb. But as _dh_, in the former instance, was -commuted into _th_, so _th_, in this latter, is still further into _sh_; -therefore, instead of _Pith_-de-danaan, we make it _Pish_-de-danaan. - -To screen those two ligaments of _sexual_ familiarity from the peril of -profane and irreverent acceptations, all the investiture of _magic_ was -shrouded upon them. The vocabulary of _love_ and of _religion_ became one -and the same: _mystery_ and _enchantment_ were identified, and the -_negotiations_ of the earth, and the _revolutions_ of the heavens, were -blended with the _witchery_ of _amative sway_. - -In this universality of domain, no one of those dear _helpmates_ had a -greater portion of honour assigned to it than the other. They were equal -in power, and alike in attributes. And to set this _equality_ beyond the -contingencies of doubt, it was withal arranged, that while _each, -primarily_, retained its _distinct sexual_ interpretation, they should -_both, secondarily_, harmonise under another _mutual_ exposition; and what -more appropriate one could be devised than that of the _influence_ which -they exercised? and of the _veil_ with which they were guarded? - -_Magic_, therefore, and _mystery_, were the two _secondary_ imports, in -which both were _united_; and the _ambiguity_ thus occasioned was what -cast Vallancey upon that shoal, which proved similarly fatal to many a -preceding speculator. - -To exemplify--_Budh_, or _Tuath_, in its literal and substantive -acceptation, implies the _Lingam_; collaterally, _magic_; and by -convention, _mystery_, _prophets_, _legislators_, etc. _Pish_, in like -manner, or _Pith_, denotes, literally, the _Yoni_; collaterally, _magic_; -and by convention, _mystery_, _prophets_, _legislators_, etc. And the -offshoots of either, in an inferior and deteriorated view, such as -_Budh-og_ from the former, and _Pish-og_ from the latter, intimate, -indiscriminately, _witchcraft_, _wizard_, or _witch_. - -Now the words _De-danaans_, having been already illustrated as meaning -_God-Almoners_, if we prefix to them, severally, _Tuath_ and _Pish_, they -will become _Tuath_-de-danaans, and _Pish_-de-danaans; the former -expressing, literally, _Lingam_-God-Almoners; and the latter, literally, -_Yoni_-God-Almoners; and both equally, by convention, -_Magic_-God-Almoners. - -As we have had exhibited numerous representations of the homage paid to -the _paternal_ member of this theocracy, perhaps I may be permitted to -adduce a single quotation demonstrative of the honours shown to his -_maternal_ colleague. - -"The Chinese," says the author of _Rites and Ceremonies_, "worship a -goddess, whom they call _Puzza_, and of whom their priests give the -following account:--They say that three nymphs came down from heaven to -wash themselves in a river, but scarce had they got into the water before -the herb _Lotos_[269] appeared on one of their garments, with its coral -fruit upon it. They were surprised to think whence it could proceed; and -the nymph upon whose garment it was could not resist _the temptation of -indulging herself in tasting it_. But by thus eating some of it, she -became _pregnant_, and was delivered of a boy, whom she brought up, and -then returned to heaven. He afterwards became a great man, a conqueror and -legislator, and the nymph was afterwards worshipped under the name of -_Puzza_."[270] - -And thus we see that _Budh_ and _Pish_ were the actual regulators of the -solar universe. - -Time, however, dissolved the chain which linked together those _mysterious -absolutes_: or, rather, the _zealots_ of each contrived to sever an -attachment, which was intended by nature to be reciprocal and mutual.[271] -War, devastating, desecrating war, spread abroad over the plain! Human -energies were evoked into an unknown activity! Men's passions, always -inflammable by the jealousy of partisanship, were here furthermore -stimulated by the rancour of religion! And hearts were lacerated, and -countries were depopulated in sustainment of the consequences of a -physiological disquisition!!! - -But what do you conceive to have been the topic at issue? Verily, it was -whether the _male or the female contributed more largely to the act of -generation_!--those who voted for the _female_ side ranging themselves -under the banners of _Pish_, and those for the _male_ under the standard -of _Budh_, while both equally appealed to heaven for adjudication of -their suit, by arrogating to themselves the adjunct of _De-danaans_, or -God-Almoners. - - "Not but the human fabric from its birth - Imbibes a flavour of its parent earth, - As various tracts enforce a various toil, - The manners speak the idiom of the soil." - -Whether or not, however, the result is to be considered as decisive of the -matter in dispute, one thing at least is certain, namely, that the -_Pish_-God-Almoners obtained the victory; and the _Budh_-God-Almoners were -thrown upon the ocean; over whose bosom, wafted to our genial shores, they -did not only import with them all the culture of the East, with its -accompanying refinement and polished civilisation; but they raised the -isle to that pinnacle of literary and religious beatitude which made it -appear to the fancies of distant and enraptured hearers more the day-dream -of romance than the sober outline of an actual locality. - -I shall now illustrate a part of those truths by the Indian history of the -circumstances, as copied from their Puranas, by one who had no -anticipation of my differently-drawn conclusions, and one, in fact, who -did not know either the _scene_ or the _substance_ of the occurrence which -he thus transcribes. - -"Yoni, the _female nature_, is also," says Wilford, "derived from the same -root (_yu_, to mix). Many Pundits insist the Yavanas were so named from -their obstinate assertion of a superior influence in the _female_ over the -_linga_ or _male nature_, in producing a perfect offspring. It may seem -strange that a question of mere physiology should have occasioned not only -a vehement religious contest, but even a bloody war; yet the fact appears -to be historically true, though the Hindu writers have dressed it up, as -usual, in a veil of historical allegories and mysteries, which we should -call obscene, but which they consider as awfully sacred. - -"There is a legend in the Servarasa, of which the figurative meaning is -more obvious. When Sati, after the close of her existence as the daughter -of Dascha, sprang again to life in the character of Parvati, or Mountain -Spring, she was reunited in marriage to Mahadeva. This divine pair had -once a dispute on the comparative influence of the sexes in producing -animated beings, and each resolved, by mutual agreement, to create apart a -new race of men.[272] The race produced by Mahadeva were very numerous, -and devoted themselves exclusively to the worship of the _male deity_; but -their intellects were dull, their bodies feeble, their limbs distorted, -and their complexions of many different hues. Parvati had, at the same -time, created a multitude of human beings, who adored the _female power_ -only, and were all well shaped, with sweet aspects and fine complexions. A -furious contest ensued between the two races, and the _Lingajas_ were -defeated in battle; but Mahadeva, enraged against the _Yonijas_, would -have destroyed them with the _fire of his eye_, if Parvati had not -interposed and spared them;[273] but he would spare them only on -condition that they should instantly leave the country, with a promise to -see it no more; and from the _Yoni_, which they adored as the sole cause -of their existence, they were named Yavanas." - -It is evident that a mistake has been committed in the above narrative, -making the _victors_ the persons who were obliged to quit! and we know -from testimony, adduced upon a different occasion, that instances of such -confusion were neither unfrequent nor uncommon.[274] But even admitting it -to be accurate, the apparent contradiction is easily reconciled; as it is -probable that the contest was protracted for a _long period of time_, -before it was ultimately decided in favour of one party; and, in the -alternations of success, one side being up to-day, and another uppermost -to-morrow, what could be more natural than that a colony of the _Yavanas_, -or _Pish-de-danaans_,--which is the same,--should have fled for shelter to -India, before that the auspices of their arms, propelled by the _fair -cause_ which they vindicated, had, at length, accomplished the overthrow -of their adversaries. - -This object, however, once obtained,--full masters of their wishes, and -sole arbiters of Iran,--they were not satisfied with the mere extinction -of all the symbols of their predecessors,--save and except the _Towers_ -which stood proof to their attacks,--but they established there instead a -code, as well political as moral, more consonant with their own -prejudices: and the wonder would be great, indeed, if, after this -triumphant assertion of _female_ power, gratitude and religion should not -both combine in making the _type_ of that influence--the sacred -_crescent_, or _yoni_--the personification of their doctrines; and _woman -herself_, all-lovely and all-attractive, the concentrated temple of their -divinity upon earth! - -Such was the commencement of the Pish-de-danaan dynasty in Persia; and its -influence still operating, after a long interval of time, is what the -historian unconsciously describes in the following terms, viz.:-- - -"If we give any credit to Ferdosi, most of the laws of modern honour -appear to have been understood and practised with an exception in favour -of the ancient Persians, whose duels, or combats (which were frequent), -were generally with the most distinguished among the enemies of their -country or the human race. The great respect in which the female sex was -held was, no doubt, the principal cause of the progress they had made in -civilisation. These were at once the cause of generous enterprise and its -reward. It would appear that in former days the women of Persia had an -assigned and honourable place in society; and we must conclude that an -equal rank with the male creation, which is secured to them by the -ordinances of Zoroaster, existed long before the time of that reformer, -who paid too great attention to the habits and prejudices of his -countrymen, to have made any serious alterations in so important a usage. -We are told by Quintus Curtius, that Alexander would not sit in the -presence of Sisy-gambis till told to do so by that matron, because it was -not the custom in Persia for sons to sit in presence of their mothers. -There can be no stronger proof than this anecdote affords, of the great -respect in which the female sex were held in that country at the period of -his invasion."[275] - - "Without thee, what were unenlightened man? - A savage roaming through the woods and wilds - In quest of prey; and with the unfashioned fur - Rough clad; devoid of every finer art, - And elegance of life. Nor happiness - Domestic, mixed of tenderness and care, - Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss, - Nor grace, nor love, were his."[276] - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - - -But you will say that I have ventured nothing like proof, of the -paradoxical affirmation propounded a short while ago, as to the -_Tuath-de-danaans_ having been mentioned, by all Eastern writers, in -connection with Persia; and yet unnoticed, the while, by themselves, not -less than unheeded by their readers? - -True: I but awaited the opportunity which has just arrived. - -Are you not aware, then, how that all Oriental writers, when referring to -Budha, who was born at Maghada, in South Bahar, state that he was the son -of _Suad-dha-dana_? And have I not already shown you that _Suadh_ and -_Tuath_ were but disguises of each other, and both resolvable into Budh? - -Those first components, therefore, in each being the same, look at the -entire compound words, _Tuath-de-danaan_, and _Suad-dha-dana_, and are not -the rest, also, infallibly identical? - -Admitting this, you reply, how could they, in that early age, make their -way to Ireland? which, from its extreme position, must have been the very -last place they would have thought of! - -If the question refers to the route pursued, I decline its solution, as -not necessary for my design. "A piece of sugar, or a morsel of pepper, in -a neglected corner of a village inn, would be a certain proof," says -Heeren, "of the trade with either Indies, even if we possessed no other -evidences of the commerce of the Dutch and English with those countries." -And when I have already made the coincidences between the two Irans and -their inhabitants, their forms of worship, their language and mode of -life, to be historical axioms, I surely cannot be expected to waste labour -upon such a trifle, which sinks into nothing against _evidences_ of the -actual fact.[277] - -But if the length of the voyage be the obstacle insinuated, then would I -find some difficulty to--do what?--keep my muscles grave: as if, forsooth, -the adventurous sons of man could only, slowly and imperceptibly, and like -so many ants pushing a load before them, introduce themselves, inch by -inch, and in measured succession, into the diversified terraqueous globe -spread abroad for their enjoyment!--when we have direct demonstration that -such was far from having been the case in the instance of a colony which, -starting from Tyre, and leaving behind on all sides the most inviting and -delicious countries, planted itself down, perhaps from the mere spirit of -romance, in the circumscribed little island of Cadiz, long before Carthage -or Utica had existence even in name! - -No, sir; we must not be so fond of derogating from the ancients all -participation in those embellishments which promote society. Asia was the -cradle of the whole human race; and thence, as its population overflowed, -migratory herds in different states of civilisation, and with different -forms of religious culture, poured in their successive colonies with -multitudinous inundation into the other continental lands; but with more -zeal, and with stronger preference, into those compact little nests which -have been significantly denominated the "Isles of the Gentiles." - -Vessels rode over the briny surges with as proud a canvas as now receives -the gale.[278] The model of the ark would be lesson sufficient to instruct -an enterprising generation in the science of naval architecture: and we -may well suppose that, of all pursuits cultivated by human art, this would -have occupied the very foremost regard by a people just rescued, through -its salutary instrumentality, from the desolating scourge of an -all-swallowing abyss. - -"Well, then, at all events,"--I fancy I hear you exclaim,--"you admit the -story of the _deluge_?" - -Certainly; and that of _Noah_, and the _ark_, and the _dove_, and the -_raven_. But did I not, also, concede the story of the _giants_, and of -the _serpent_? of the _sons of God_, and of the _tree of knowledge_? Nay, -_have I not put the truth of those particulars beyond the possibility of -scepticism_, much more of _denial_? But, believe me, that the _liquid_ -which composed this "deluge" was more of the colour of _claret_ than it -was of _water_;--that there was no more of _wood_ or _timber_ in the -construction of this "ark" than there was in that of the "tree of -knowledge"--that those two latter were congenial and correspondent to each -other,--in their configuration and intention,--and that _flesh_ and -_blood_ were the elements of which they were both composed. - - "For all that meets the bodily sense, I deem - Symbolical, one mighty alphabet - For infant minds------" - -Could the coincidence of measure[279] between the great Egyptian _pyramid_ -at its base, and that of the Noachic _ark_, in ancient cubits,[280] have -been accidental, do you imagine? And if not, what community of purpose, do -you think, had been subserved by such numerical analogy? - -The _triangle_, in the old world, was a sacred form. It represented the -properties--capacity and dilatation--of the _female_ symbol. Lucian, in -his _Auction_, states the following dialogue as having occurred between -Pythagoras and a purchaser, viz.:-- - -PYTH. How do you reckon? - -PUR. One, two, three, four. - -PYTH. Do you see? What you conceive _four_, these are _ten_; and a perfect -_triangle_, and our _oath_. - -Now, Pythagoras, though a Samian, was educated in Egypt; and the religious -mysteries, with which he had been there imbued, are what is so profanely -ridiculed by this infidel scoffer. - -It is not my province to justify the ceremonial of the Egyptians, any -further than as indicative of gratitude to the Godhead; but the reflection -must suggest itself to every observant mind, that they are never called -_idolaters_ in any part of the Pentateuch; and Plutarch, in addition, -_positively asserts_ that "they had inserted nothing into their worship -without a reason,--nothing merely fabulous,--nothing superstitious; but -their institutions have reference either to morals or something useful in -life, and bear a beautiful resemblance, many of them, to some _facts_ in -_history_, or some _appearance_ in _nature_." - -If we investigate the secret of this Pythagorean asseveration, we shall -find that the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, thrice joined, and touching each other, -as it were, in three angles, in this manner-- - -[Illustration] - -constitute an equilateral _triangle_, and amount also, in calculation, to -_ten_. While the _inward_ mystery, couched under its figure, embraced _all -that was solemn in religion and in thought_, being, in fact, the index of -_male_ and _female_ united--the unit, in the centre, standing for the -Lingam. - -Look now at the form of the great Egyptian pyramid; and is it not -precisely that of the above triangle? Is there not, also, an _aperture_ -into it, about the middle as here?[281] And when to all, we add the -notion of _wells_ of water withinside, is not the demonstration complete, -that the goddess of the _Lotos_, the soft promoter of _desire_, the -arbitress of _man_, and the compeer of the _angels_, was the honoured -object of its symbolical erection?[282] - -In 1 Pet. iii. 20, it is asserted that only "eight persons" were preserved -in the ark. Let us suppose them to have been Noah and _his_ wife, with his -three sons and _their_ wives. At a comparatively short interval after the -date assigned to this event,--at most but 352 years,--on Abraham's arrival -in the land of Egypt, we find a flourishing kingdom, an organised police, -a systematic legislature, and comprehensive institutions, diffused over -its surface. All the other parts of the world, we must be ready to -presume, if not equally enlightened, were, at least, as populous; and I -put it to your good sense to decide, whether _eight_ individuals could, -within that period, not only procreate so plentifully as to replenish the -whole earth, but enlighten it, additionally, with such a coruscation of -science, as no subsequent era has been since able to eclipse? - -Indeed, the Scriptures themselves give us, elsewhere, to understand that -St. Peter did not correctly interpret this history. "Come thou," says Gen. -vii. 1, "and _all thy house_, into the ark!" This gracious invitation, at -so critical a juncture, would have been too welcome a proffer to be lost -sight of by anyone who could make it available; and must not we suppose -that the _domestics_ to whom the extension was addressed, with their -several dependants and collateral offspring, would have been glad and -happy to grasp at it with delight? - -But the name of the type itself is worth a hundred deductions from -equivocal premises. The _coffer_ of the law, the _coffin_ of Joseph, the -_money chest_ of the temple, are all severally translated _ark_, and -recorded in Hebrew by the word [Hebrew] _aron_: but the "_ark_ of -Noah"[283] and Moses's "ark of bulrushes"[284] are peculiarly designated, -[Hebrew] _Thebit_, or [Hebrew] _tebah_.[285] - -What is the meaning of these mysterious terms? - - "Quo spectanda modo, quo sensu credis, et ore?" - -As the _Tau_ of the Hebrews is, indifferently, in power, _T_ and _Th_, -_Thebit_ has as good a right to be spelled with, as without, an _h_ at the -end of it,--and, indeed, a better right, considering the elements whereof -it is compounded. _Thebith_, then, is the proper and true sound, and the -mystery of its import I thus unravel. - -Its first syllable, _The_, signifies _sacred_ or consecrated;[286] and -since the letters _b_ and _p_ are commutable--_bith_ is the same as -_pith_, that is, _Cteis_ or _Yoni_. The words _The-bith_, then, together, -in all the attraction of truth, intimate the _consecrated Cteis_; or the -_sacred Yoni_![287] - -But _Pith_, itself, is only a _conversion of Fidh_, the initial letters -_P_ and _F_ being always interchangeable, and not more so than the -penultimates _t_ and _d_. And _Fidh_, in its abstract and original -position, such as we have early seen it, is _masculine_, the plural of -_Budh_, conveying variously the significations of _Lingams_, _trees_, and -_bulrushes_. Here, however, where it is _feminine_, its sex _reversed_, -and the _anatomy_ of _nature_ pourtrayed by the _physics_ of _language_, -the idea of the _bulrushes_ alone presents itself; and the _basket_ in -which Moses was _saved_ from the waters, and which was made of such reeds, -was appropriately denominated by this mysterious symbol, as a type of the -_virginity_ in which the Messiah was to be incarnated, not less than of -the _redemption_ which was to accrue from His sufferings. - -Another stage has been thus advanced; and lo! the beautiful union which -subsists, _as to design_, between the results of our discoveries, and the -consoling assurances of pure Christianity! - -Let us now proceed a little farther in this course-- - - "Sanctos ausi recludere fontes,"[288] - -and connect these truths with the _Tuath_-de-danaans and the -_Pish_-de-danaans. - -"Noah was a just man," observes the scriptural historian, "and _perfect in -his generations_; and Noah walked with God."[289] - -The name of this patriarch implies literally a _boat_: the character -assigned him is not so well understood. - -To succeed in the investigation we must have recourse to the context: and -here the first thing that strikes us is the observation "that the earth -was _corrupt_ before God, and filled with _violence_; for all _flesh_ had -corrupted his way upon the earth."[290] - -A passage in the New Testament will be the best comment upon this subject, -where the patience of God with the iniquities of mankind being at length -exhausted, it is said, that He "gave them over to a _reprobate mind_," "to -dishonour their own bodies between themselves."[291] - -But Noah did not participate in those unhallowed abominations, and he -accordingly "found grace in the eyes of the Lord."[292] - -We now, therefore, see the propriety of the name assigned to his -_ark_;[293]--and the intimation of approval conveyed by the divine command -of "Come thou and all thy house into it," was but another form of the -injunction elsewhere conveyed, to the same effect, in the words, "Be ye -fruitful and multiply."[294] - -_Noah_, then, and _Kaiomurs_[295] were one and the same person, the -reformer of the human species, and the first monarch of the -Pish-de-danaan dynasty. _Yavana_ was another name appropriated to him, and -equivalent with _Noah_, excepting only that the former is literal, and the -latter figurative. An advantage, however, arises from this difference, for -when we know that _Yavana_ means the _yoni_, and _Noah_ a _boat_, and that -both were equally characteristic of the same individual character, we -conclude that the latter denomination was but the symbol of the -former--that, in fact, it was the _lunar boat_,[296] or the _crescent_, -the _concha Veneris_, and the type of _comfort_[297] that was veiled under -the mystery of this ambiguous device. - -[Illustration] - -This fact once explained, you have the immediate solution of those -"semicircular implements" so universal throughout this island, and which -Ledwich acknowledges "have created more trouble to the antiquarians to -determine their use, than all the other antiquities put together." - -These are all made of the finest gold, and, as emblems of the _yoni_, -which was the Raman _palladium_, used to have been worn as _breast_-plates -by the priests and sovereigns. They would sometimes, also, exhibit them as -ornaments to the _head_-dress: and when so designed the two terminating -angles used to have been furnished with circular cups, whereby they would -better adhere to the part: of such, likewise, we have the following -specimen.[298] - -[Illustration] - -_Yun_ is the usual mode of pronouncing _Yavana_; and as the veneration of -posterity for the virtues of this legislator, at a moment when vice had -threatened a general decay,[299] led them to consider him a god, he hence -obtained the prefix of _Deo_ or _Deu_, which along with that of _Cali_, -whose champion he showed himself, make up the romantic, emblematic and -nominal representation of _Deucaliyun_.[300] - - "Safe o'er the main of life the _vessel_ rides, - When _passion_ furls her sails, and _reason_ guides; - Whilst she who has that surest rudder lost, - Midst rocks and quicksands by the waves is tost; - No certain road she keeps, nor port can find, - Toss'd up and down by every wanton wind."[301] - -The struggles for ascendency between contending parties are not the growth -of a day; still less are they unstained by the effusion of blood. _Deluge_ -was no very extravagant hyperbole to apply to such a carnage; for -independently of our knowing that _every_ visitation, whether by _fire_, -_water_, or _sword_, was so denominated by the Easterns, we have the -Scriptures themselves illustrating this use of the term in applying it to -the description at a far later period of an equally severe and no less -distressing catastrophe. - -"Now, therefore, the Lord bringeth upon him the waters of the river, -strong and many, even the King of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall -come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks. And he shall -pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to -the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of -Thy land, O Immanuel."[302] - -But how, you ask, account for the marine strata, and other remains, found -within the earth's recesses? - -I answer they were there embedded and inanimate, before ever man was -placed above them as a denizen. - -"It is clearly ascertained," says Cuvier "that the oviparous quadrupeds -are found considerably earlier, or in more ancient strata than those of -the viviparous class. Thus the crocodiles of Harfleur and of England are -found immediately beneath the chalk. The great alligators and the -tortoises of Maestricht are found in the chalk formation, but these are -both marine animals. This earliest appearance of fossil bones seems to -indicate that dry lands and fresh waters must have existed before the -formation of the chalk strata; yet neither of that early epoch, nor during -the formation of the chalk strata, nor even for a long period afterwards, -do we find any fossil remains of _mammiferous land_ quadrupeds. We begin -to find the bones of the mammiferous sea animals, namely, of the lamantin -and of seals, in the course of shell limestone which immediately covers -the chalk strata in the neighbourhood of Paris. But no bones of the -mammiferous land quadrupeds are to be found in that formation; and -notwithstanding the most careful investigations I have never been able to -discover the slightest trace of this class excepting in the formations -which lie over the coarse limestone strata: but on reaching these more -recent formations, the bones of land quadrupeds are discovered in great -abundance. - -"As it is reasonable to believe that shells and fish did not exist at the -period of the formation of the primitive rocks, we are also led to -conclude that the oviparous quadrupeds began to exist along with the -fishes, while the land quadrupeds did not begin to appear till long -afterwards, and until the coarse shell limestone had been already -deposited, which contains the greater part of our genera of shells, -although of quite different species from those that are now found in a -natural state. There is also a determinate order observable in the -disposition of those bones with regard to each other, which indicates a -very remarkable succession in the appearance of the different species. - -"All the genera which are now unknown, as the Palaeotheria, Anapalaeotheria, -and with the localities of which we are thoroughly acquainted, are found -in the most ancient of the formations of which we are now treating, or -those which are placed directly over the coarse limestone strata. It is -chiefly they which occupy the regular strata which have been deposited -from fresh waters, or certain alluvial beds of very ancient formation, -generally composed of sand and rounded pebbles. - -"The most celebrated of the unknown species belonging to known genera, or -to genera nearly allied to those which are known, as the fossil elephant, -rhinoceros, hippopotamos, and mastodon, are never found with the more -ancient genera, but are only contained in alluvial formations. Lastly, the -bones of species which are apparently the same with those that still -exist alive, are never found except in light and alluvial dispositions." - -From all which, this philosopher draws the following just conclusion, -namely:--"Thus we have a collection of facts, a series of epochs anterior -to the present time, and of which the successive steps may be ascertained -with perfect certainty, though the periods which intervened cannot be -determined with any degree of precision. These epochs form so many fixed -points, answering as rules for directing our inquiries respecting this -ancient chronology of the earth." - -To return--"God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before Me; -for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will -destroy them with the earth."[303] - -Now, we see that the earth has _not_ been destroyed, and _this single -circumstance, in itself_, ought to have been enough to show us that the -whole register was but figurative. The _raven_ and the _dove_ were -indispensable auxiliaries to the structure of the allegory: the former -typifies the _massacre_ that prevailed during the period of the contest; -and the latter, in its meek and its tender constancy, the invariable -attendant, besides, of _Venus_ and the _boat_, characteristically -pourtrays the overtures made for an accommodation, until, after a second -embassy, the _olive-branch_ of peace was saluted, and the cessation of -hostilities was the consequence.[304] - -Behold, then, the folly of those dreamers who would make _Thebith_ so -called, as if the _ark_ had rested upon it! Why, sir, in the entire -catalogue of _local_ names, there is no one half so common as that of -_Thebith_ and _Thebae_! And surely you will not claim for your _ideal_ -man-of-war, in addition to other properties, that of _ubiquity_ also, by -making it perch upon all those places, at one and the same time! - -No, these scenes have been all denominated from the form of religion which -they recognised, and of which the _Pith_, _Yoni_, or _sacred Boat_, was -the conventional sign: as the countries of _Phut_, that is, _But_, and -_Buotan_, were so designated likewise, from their adopting the _opposite_ -symbol, namely, the _Budh_, _Phallus_, or _sacred Lingam_! - -Perplexed in this entanglement, and tossed about in "a sea of -speculation," Mr. Jacob Bryant, in some respects a clever man, after a -fatiguing cruise of somewhat more than half a century, fell at last a -victim in the general shipwreck. - - "Your wise men don't know much of navigation." - -The _Gentiles_, says he, worshipped Noah's _ark_! Yes they did; but _not -in the sense in which he understood it_.[305] - -Another _axiom_ of his is, that the _Deluge_ must have really happened, -because that the _tradition_ of it is _universal_! To this, also, I chime -in my affirmative response, and proclaim, yea. But the _tradition_ of the -_tree of knowledge_ is equally _universal_. And though the _ground work_ -of _both occurred_, and was _substantively true_, yet was the -_description_ of _neither_ more than a graceful _allegory_; while the -salutary _alarm_ imparted under this guise, and the monitory _lesson_ -suggested by its horrors, in _amusing_ the fancy, _edified_ it, at the -same moment, by keeping before it a _picture_ of that _spiritual -desolation_, which _sin_ leaves in the _citadel_ of the _soul_.[306] - -"Moses," says the apostle, "was learned in all the wisdom of the -Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."[307] - -Now Strabo assures us that the Egyptians of his day were as ignorant as he -was himself of the origin of their religion, of the import of their -symbols, and of their national history. They pretended to retain some -_evanescent_ traces thereof in the time of Diodorus; but so scrupulously -exact were they in the concealment of their tenour, that to pry into them, -profanely, was morally impossible. - -Herodotus himself, who neglected no channel of information, found it no -easy matter to glean a few _initiatory_ scraps from them. And even these -were accompanied with such solemn denunciations, that his embarrassment is -betrayed when but alluding to their tendency. - -If, during Moses's residence at Pharaoh's Court, his opportunities of -insight were greater, it is still self-evident that the accomplishments -which he obtained were more of a secular character than of a religious -cast--that the _courtier_ was the first object of the young princess's -directions, and the qualifications of the _statesman_ her next ambition -for her charge. The _mysteries_ of the priests were too awful, and too -sanctified, to be debased to the routine of a schoolboy's rehearsal; and -even when ripening age did bespeak a more chastened mind, the -communication of their contents was obscured by the interposition of an -almost impenetrable umbrage. - -Thus palliated by types, Moses did, however, imbibe from the Egyptians all -the knowledge which they then possessed of the nature of their ceremonies; -and the record of the _Fall_, the _Deluge_, and the _Creation_ are the -direct transcripts of the instruction so conveyed. But though it is -undeniable, from their _symbols_, that the Egyptians must have been well -apprised of the _constitution_ of those rites, yet am I as satisfied as I -am of my physical motion, that the foldings of that _web_, in which they -were so mystically _doubled_, was lost to their grasp in the labyrinths of -antiquity. - -Moses, therefore, could not have _learned_ from the Egyptians more than -the Egyptians themselves had _known_. He related the allegory as he had -_received_ it from them: and it is, doubtless, to his ignorance of its -_ambiguous_ interpretation, _accessible only through that language in -which it was originally involved_, that we are indebted for a -transmission, _so essentially Irish_. - -The _Pish_-de-danaan dynasty which rose upon the ruins of the -_Tuath_-de-danaans, in _Iran_, was itself, in after ages, ejected from -that country. _Egypt_ was the retreat of their shattered fortunes; and -there, during their abode, under the name of the _Shepherd-kings_, they -erected the _Pyramids_, in honour of _Pith_, or _Padma_-devi, but at an -age long anterior to what may be presumed from Manetho.[308] - -Previously, however, to their arrival in Egypt, Shinaar in Mesopotamia -afforded them an asylum. Here it was that Nimrod broke in:[309] and as I -have before but _transiently glanced_ at that circumstance, I shall now -revert to it with more precision. - -Between the tenets of the _Pish_-de-danaans and those of their -_Tuath_-de-danaan predecessors, there was but a single point of -dissentient belief. The language, the customs, the manners and modes of -life of both were the same. To all intents and purposes they were one -identical people. - -But as the former had imagined that the _Yoni_ alone was the author of -_procreation_, while the others claimed that honour for their own symbol, -the _Lingam_, an animosity ensued, which was not allayed even by the -consciousness, that _each_, secretly, worshipped the type of the _other's_ -creed. - -The _goddess_, however, prevailed in the struggle, and her glories in Iran -were great and far spread. Monarchs bowed at the nod of her omnipotence, -and the earth swelled with the gestations of her praise.[310] "_Sed -ultima dies semper homini est expectanda._" A rude and a lawless swarm of -stragglers, headed by an adventurer of commanding abilities and determined -heroism, _deluged_, in turn, the _Boatmen_, or the _Noachidae_,[311] and -swamped them in a _flood_, as _sanguinary_ and as _disastrous_ as that -which they had, themselves, before, brought upon the adversaries of their -zeal. - -But it was not the _bloodshed_ of the scene that affected them half so -much as the _insult_ offered by the erection of the _Tower_![312] And as -no clue can be so adequate for the analysis of this _enigma_ as that which -they themselves have bequeathed,--for it was from the _Yavanas_ or -_Pish_-de-danaans that Moses had been taught the fact,--I shall place such -before your eyes, in all the eloquence of a self-interpreting dissyllable. - -[Hebrew] is the name by which the scriptural record perpetuates this -structure.[313] If you put this into English letters, and read them -regularly, from left to right, it will be _Lidgam_. But the Hebrews read -in the opposite direction, from right to left; and that is the very cause -of the appearance of the _d_ in the word; for as _Magnil_--reading -backwards--would produce a _cacophony_, the _n_ of the original was left -out, and _d_ substituted, making _Magdil_: reinstate, therefore, the _n_, -and enunciate the Hebrew word, as you would the Irish or the Sanscrit, and -it will not only unmask the _secret_ of this long-disputed edifice, but -_be_, _sound_, and _personate_, in all the nicety of accentuation, -_Lingam_, and thus prevent all further controversy about the character of -the _Tower_ of Babel. - - "The waies through which my weary steps I guide, - In this researche of old antiquitie, - Are so exceeding riche, and long, and wyde, - And sprinkled with such sweet varietie, - Of all that pleasant is to eare and eye, - That I, nigh ravisht with rare thought's delight, - My tedious travel quite forgot thereby; - And when I gin to feel decay of might, - It strength to me supplies and cheers my dulled spright."[314] - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - - -I have stated that it was from the _Pish_-de-danaans or Yavana -philosophers of Egypt that Moses had learned the allegories of the Deluge -and of the Fall. I now add, _that it was by them also he had been -instructed in that consolatory assurance which told him_ that the "Seed of -the woman should bruise the serpent's head."[315] - -In truth, it was this very promise made to the ancestors of those people -in _Paradise_, which is but another name for _Iran_,[316] that gave rise -to the _schism_ between them and the _Tuath_-de-danaans. - -"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy -_conception_; in sorrow thou shalt _bring forth children_: and thy -_desire_ shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."[317] - -The _nature_ of the _crime_ is here clearly denoted by the _suitableness_ -of the _punishment_.[318] But the same over-ruling Judge, who, in -conformity with His justice, could not but chastise the violation of His -injunctions, yet, in mercy to man's weakness, and seeing that "he also is -flesh," condescended to promise that the _instrument_ of his _seduction_ -should be also the _vehicle_ of his _redeeming triumph_. - -"I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between -thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his -heel."[319] - -Pinning their faith upon the literal fulfilment of these terms, which told -them that the _female, as such_, would be the unaided author of a _being_, -whose healing effects would restore them to the inheritance so heedlessly -forfeited, their veneration for that _symbol_ of divine interposition -became correspondingly unbounded; and their enthusiasm for the principle -of its strict verification was what engendered the thought that in the -general procreating scheme the _yoni_ was the _vivifier_. - -The _Tuath_-de-danaans or Lingajas, on the other hand, were not less -satisfied in their security; but looking upon the terms with a more -_spiritual_ interpretation, and led by the operation of ordinary _physics_ -to consider the question as a _deviation_ from the _general rule_, they -erected the symbol of _male_ capability as the standard of their doctrine. -And thus, while the zeal of both parties shook the very framework of -society, yet did they _concur_ in all the _essentials_ of their respective -religions; and even the particulars of that _prospect_ by which they were -both sustained, instead of operating as an exception to the universality -of this truth, only confirm its import. - -The Jews, who were but _newly_ brought forward upon the stage, and who, in -the inscrutable councils of heaven, were selected as the objects of God's -immediate superintendence, being informed of the tenour of the -paradisaical hope, abused it more wantonly than ever did the -_Pish_-de-danaans or the _Tuath_-de-danaans. - -Unable to comprehend, from their narrow mental calibre, any _agency_ in -the form of a divine _emanation_, and yet fancying, each of them, that she -would herself be the mother of the expected Redeemer, their women indulged -in all the lusts of _desire_, and, where no opportunity offered for -licensed gratification, revelled in the arms of incest. - -This alone can apologise for that intensity of passion, exceeding even the -dictates of natural thirst, and unrestrained by the consideration of -decency or consanguinity, whereof we read in the Old Testament, respecting -the Israelitish daughters;[320] while it also demonstrates that the -_carnality_ of their souls did not allow them thoroughly to understand the -precise nature of the _favour_ designed. - -Far otherwise the case with the _intellectual_ races, which they were now -appointed to supersede. - -"In order to reclaim the vicious, to punish the incorrigible, to protect -the oppressed, to destroy the oppressor, to encourage and reward the good, -and to show all spirits the path to their ultimate happiness, God has been -pleased to manifest Himself, say the Brahmins, in a variety of ways, from -age to age, in all parts of the habitable globe. When He acts immediately, -without assuming a shape, or sending forth a new emanation, when a divine -sound is heard from the sky, that manifestation of Himself is called -_acasavani_, or an ethereal voice: when the voice proceeds from a meteor -or a flame, it is said to be _agnarupi_, or _formed of fire_; but an -_avatara_ is a descent of the Deity in the shape of a mortal; and an -_avantara_ is a similar incarnation of an inferior kind, intended to -answer some purpose of less moment. The Supreme Being, and the celestial -emanations from Him, are _niracara_, or bodiless, in which state they must -be invisible to mortals; but when they are _pratya-sha_, or obvious to -sight, they become _sacara_, or embodied, either in shapes different from -that of any mortal, and expressive of the divine attributes, as Chrishna -revealed himself to Arjun, or in a human form, _which Chrishna usually -bore, and in that mode of appearing the deities are generally supposed to -be born of women without any carnal intercourse_."[321] - -Is this repugnant to the spirit of Christianity? No; it is its -counterpart. "I know," says Job, in the moment of inspiration, "that my -Redeemer liveth."[322] Prophetically, you reply; and you back the opinion -by our Saviour's own appeal that "Abraham saw his day, and was glad."[323] - -Abraham certainly believed by anticipation, but Job by retrospection. And -if you will not think my assertion decisive of the matter, I will produce -an authority to which you will more readily subscribe. - -"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names are not -written in the book of life of _the Lamb slain from the foundation of the -world_."[324] - -It will be in vain for you to attempt to parry the evidence of this -startling text. No visionary _foresight_ will accomplish its defeat: no -ideal _substitutions_ will shake its validity. - -"How it came to pass," says Skelton, "that the Egyptians, Arabians, and -Indians, before Christ came among us, and the inhabitants of the extreme -northern parts of the world, ere they had so much as heard of Him, _paid a -remarkable veneration to the sign of the cross_, is to me unknown, but -_the fact itself_ is known. In some places this sign was given to men -accused of a crime, but acquitted: and _in Egypt it stood for the -signification of eternal life_."[325] - -"V. W." has asserted something similar;[326] but neither one nor the other -has attempted to fathom its origin. - -"The Druids," adds Schedius, "seek studiously for an oak tree, large and -handsome, growing up with _two principal arms, in form of a cross_, beside -the main stem upright. If the two _horizontal arms_ are not sufficiently -adapted to the figure, they fasten a _cross_-beam to it. This tree they -consecrate in this manner. Upon the right branch, they cut in the back, in -fair characters, the word _Hesus_: upon the middle or upright stem, the -word _Taramis_: upon the left branch, _Belenus_: over this, above the -going off of the arms, they cut the name of God, _Thau_: under all, the -same repeated _Thau_."[327] - -"The form of the great temple," observes Dr. Macculloch, "at Loch Bernera, -in the Isle of Lewis the chief isle of the Hebrides, is that of a _cross_, -containing, at the intersection, a circle with a central stone; an -additional line being superadded on one side of the longest arms, and -nearly parallel to it. Were this line absent, its proportion would be -nearly that of the Roman cross, or common crucifix." - -And then, in reply to the supposition of its having been converted by the -_Christians_ into this form, he avers that "the whole is too consistent, -and too much of one age, to admit of such; while at the same time, it -could not, under any circumstances, have been applicable to a Christian -worship. Its essential part, the circular area, and the number of similar -structures found in the vicinity, equally bespeak its ancient origin. It -must, therefore, be concluded, that the cruciform shape was given by the -original contrivers of the fabric; and it will afford an object of -speculation to antiquaries, who, if they are sometimes accused of _heaping -additional obscurity on the records of antiquity_, must also be allowed -the frequent merit of eliciting light from darkness. _To them I willingly -consign all further speculations concerning it._"[328]... "Yet it seems -_unquestionable_ that the figure of a cross was known to the Gothic -nations, and also used by them _before they were_ converted to -Christianity."[329] - -I do not know whether or not would the Doctor deem _me_ an "antiquary," or -if he did, in _which class_ would he assign me a place. I will undertake, -notwithstanding, to solve this difficulty with as much precision as I have -the others before it. - -The _existence_ of the "cross," and its _worship_, anterior to the -Christian era, being no longer liable to dispute, it remains only that we -investigate the _cause_ which it commemorates.[330] - -Our first aid in this research will be the notice of its accompaniments; -and when we find that it goes ever in the train of a particular divinity, -are we not compelled to connect that divinity with the idea of a -crucifixion? - -_Taut_, amongst the Egyptians, is emblemised by _three_ crosses.[331] The -Scandinavians represent their _Teutates_ by a cross. And a cross is the -device by which the Irish _Tuath_ is perpetuated. - -But these are all one and the same name, varied by the genius of the -different countries. The _centre_ from which they _diverge_, as well as -the _focus_ to which they _return_, I have shown to be _Budh_: and as this -_symbol_ of his worship is universally recognised, does not the -_crucifixion_ thus implied identify his fate with that of the "Lamb slain -from the beginning of the world"?[332] - -The Pythonic _allegory_ which the Greeks have so obscured, in reality -originated in this religious transaction. For what is their fable? Is it -not that _Apollo_ slew with his _arrow_ the serpent _Python_? And as -Apollo means _son of the Sun_, is not the _substance_ of the whole, that -the _offspring of a virgin's womb_--that is, an _emanation of the Sun_, or -_Budh_--overcame by his own _death_--typified by an _arrow_--sin and -_sensuality_, of which the _serpent_, _i.e._ _pith_, is the symbol? - -We are now prepared for the reception of that chronicle, transmitted -through the Puranas, and noticed already at p. 221, viz. that a "giant, -named Sancha-mucha-naga, in the shape of a _snake_, with a _mouth_ like a -_shell_, and whose abode was in a _shell_, having _two countenances_, was -killed by Christnah." - -The _very name_ of this allegoric "giant" indicates the _mysterious -snake_--his being in the _form_ of a _snake_ is but the _personification_ -of _sensuality_; his having a _mouth_ like a _shell_ alludes to the -_concha Veneris_, or the _Pith_; his having his _abode_ in that _shell_ -denotes its being the _seat_ of _temptation_; his having _two -countenances_ implies the _disguise_ which _sin_ assumes; and his being -_slain_ by _Christnah_ denotes that the _Son of God_, by _mortification -and self-denial, and the most rigid abstinence from all worldly -pleasures_, verified in _His own person the promise made in Paradise_, and -for the _minor disquietudes_ which _guilt_ entails--expressed by the -"_heel_" being "_bruised_" by the "_serpent_,"--inflicted a _blow_, which -laid low his empire, and stamped the signal of _victory_ over his -"head."[333] - -"Ye search the Scriptures," says our Saviour "for in them ye think ye have -eternal life: and they are they which _testify_ of Me."[334] - -_Testification_ can be made only in the case of a past occurrence. It is -never used in the way of prophecy. And in conformity with its true import, -you will find, from Genesis to Revelation, the concurrent tenor of the -Sacred Volume giving proof to the fact of Christ's former appearance upon -the earth as man! - -But suppose me for a moment to descend from this position, and view those -previous manifestations as ordinary subjects of history, then hear an -outline of what is transmitted to us respecting one of them. - -Chanakya, Zacha, or, as our registers have it, Macha,[335] one of the -personifications of Budh, the general appellative of those heaven-sent -devotees, was so startling a paragon of human impeccability, as to inspire -his followers with the conviction of his being an incarnation of the -Godhead. - -He is stated to have been the son of one of the most powerful of eastern -kings; but, according to their preconceived notions of the future -Redeemer, born of his mother without any knowledge of the other sex. - -The circumstances attendant upon his infantine education, and the -precocity of his parts, favoured an inauguration upon which their fancies -had been long riveted. After a laborious ordeal of pious austerity, not -without miraculous proofs and other intimations of Divine approval, he was -duly admitted to the honour of canonisation, and entered, accordingly, -upon his task of consigned Saviour of the world. - -The encounters with which he had to contend, in this uphill work, against -flesh and blood, were those which were, afterwards, again combated by the -_admitted_ Saviour whom he had personated. The same faults he reprehended; -the same weakness he deplored; the same hypocrisy he rebuked; and the same -virtues he inculcated. The purification of the inner spirit was the object -which both professed, and the improvement of human morals in social -intercourse and relation, the evidence in practice, upon which both -equally insisted. - -If Christ promised a _heaven_ to the votaries of His truths, Budha did a -_nirwana_ to his disciples and imitators: and though the former place, to -our imagination, sounds _replete with all delights_, while the latter is -merely figured as exempt from all _painfulness_, yet _both_ agree in one -particular, not a little soothing to wounded hope, in being essentially -such, as where "the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are -at rest." - -But great as was the resemblance which the personal example and the -doctrinal lessons of Macha and Christ bore to one another, it was as -nothing compared to the almost incredible similitude of their respective -departures. They both died the inglorious death of the _cross_ to -reconcile man to his offended Creator; and in confident dependence upon -the best authenticated assurance, exulted on the occasion, however galling -the process, of expiating, by their own sufferings, the accumulated sins -of humanity. - -Is it to be wondered at, therefore, that the traces which they have left -behind them, in their different ages, should bear an analogy to one -another? Or would not the wonder rather be that they did not, in all -respects, harmonise? - -"Let not the piety of the Catholic Christian," says the Rev. Mr. Maurice, -"be offended at the preceding assertion, that the _cross_ was one of the -most usual symbols among the hieroglyphics of Egypt and India. Equally -honoured in the Gentile and the Christian world, this emblem of universal -nature, of that world to whose quarters its diverging radii pointed, -decorated the hands of most of the sculptured images in the former -country, and in the latter stamped its form upon the most majestic of the -shrines of their deities."[336] - -The _fact_ alone is here attested to: not a syllable is said as to the -_reason why_: and though I cannot but recognise the _scruples_ of the -_writer_, nor withhold my admiration from the _rotundity_ in which the -diction has been cast, yet the reader must have seen that, as to _actual -illustration_, it is--like the Rev. Mr. Deane's _flourish_ about the -worship of the serpent--"_Vox et praeterea nihil_!"[337] - -"You do err, not knowing the Scriptures,"[338] said a Master, _without -pride_, and _who could not err_. If the remark applied in _His_ day, it is -not the less urgent in ours. So astounding did the correspondence between -the Christian and the Budhist doctrines appear to the early missionaries -to Thibet and the adjacent countries--a correspondence not limited to mere -points of _faith_ and preceptorial maxims, but exhibiting its operation in -all the outward details of _form_, the inhabitants going even so far as to -wear _crosses_ around their necks--that Thevenot, Renaudot, Lacroze, and -Andrada, have supposed in their ignorance of the cause of such affinity, -that Budhism must have been a vitiation of _Christianity_ before planted; -whereas _Budhism_ flourished thousands of years before it, or Brahminism -either; and _this cross was the symbol of Budha crucified_. - -"Our second illustration," says the _Dublin Penny Journal_, referring to -what I have here introduced, "belongs to a later period, and will give a -good idea of the usual mode of representing the _Saviour_, whether on -stone crosses, or on bronze, which prevailed from the sixth to the twelfth -century. Such remains however, are valuable, not only as memorials of the -arts, but as preserving the Celtic costume of a portion of the inhabitants -of our island in those remote ages. It will be seen that in _this_, as in -one of the shrine-figures before given, the kilt, or philibeg, is -distinctly marked, and _controverts the erroneous assertion_ of -Pinkerton, formerly noticed, that "it was always quite unknown amongst the -Welsh and Irish."[339] - -[Illustration] - -How others may receive it I do not know; but for myself, I confess, I find -it no easy matter to maintain the composure of my countenance at this -affected _pomposity_ of censorial _magniloquence_. The _self-complacency_ -of the _censor_ one could tolerate with ease, if the _assumption_ of the -_historian_ had aught to support it. But alas! every position in the -extract is the direct opposite of truth, with the exception of that which -asserts another person's error; and even this is beclouded with such -egregious observations as to show, that leaving _Pinkerton_ to P----[340] -would be consigning the blind to a blinder conductor. - -For, in the first place, the _philibeg_ was not a _Celtic_ costume at all, -but belonged to the De-danaan, or Iranian colony,[341] who, on their -overthrow here, took it with them to what is now called Scotland. The -Firbolgs, who were Celts, and occupied this island before the Iranians, -wore another style of dress altogether, which, on the reconquest of the -country by the Scythian swarms, B.C. 1000, became again the national -uniform. For the Firbolgs, having assisted the Scythians in dislodging the -Iranians from the throne of the kingdom, and agreeing with them -furthermore in point of worship and of garb, they did not only make _their -own habits_, as well of _religion_ as of _dress_, universal throughout the -realm, but obliterated every vestige of the _obnoxious_ costume, and -cancelled every symptom of its characteristic ceremonial, except alone -those Round Temples of adamantine strength, which defied the assailment of -all violence and batteries. - -There was no remnant, therefore, of the kilt to be met with in Ireland, -either in the _sixth_ century, or in the _twelfth_, or indeed for many -centuries before the Christian era at all. This effigy,[342] therefore, -_could not have been intended for our Saviour_, wanting, besides, the I. -N. R. I.,[343] and wearing the _Iranian regal crown_ instead of the -_Jewish crown of thorns_. Therefore are we justified in ascribing it to -its owner, _Budha_, whom again we find imprinted in the same _crucified -form_, but with more _irresistibility of identification_, over the -monuments of his name--over the doors and lintels of the temples of his -worship. - -[Illustration] - -Mr. Gough, describing this edifice, tells us that "On the west front of -the tower (Brechin) are two arches, one within the other, in relief. On -the point of the outermost is a _crucifix_, and between both, towards the -middle, are figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John, the latter holding a -cup with a lamb. The outer arch is adorned with knobs, and within both is -a slit or loop. At bottom of the outer arch are _two beasts_ couchant. _If -one of them, by his proboscis_, was not evidently _an elephant_, I should -suppose them the supporters of the Scotch arms. Parallel with the crucifix -are two plain stones, which do not appear to have had anything upon -them."[344] - -Captain Mackenzie, in his _Antiquities of the West and South Coast of -Ceylon_, which still professes adherence to Budhism, tells us that "_at -each side of the doorway_ (of the temple at Calane), _inclosed in recesses -cut in the wall, are two large figures, the janitors of the god_ -(Budh).... A large elephant's tooth and a small _elephant of brass form -the ornament_ of a lampstead.... A female figure of the natural size, -decently and not ungracefully arrayed in the same garb, was represented -standing in another quarter, holding a lamp in the extended hand. The -gallery was entirely covered with paintings, containing an history of the -life of Boodhoo--one of these seemed to represent the birth of the divine -child. A _large white elephant_ made a conspicuous figure in most of these -assemblies."[345] - -Scotch arms, indeed! Why, Sir, those animals were recumbent there, in -deified transfiguration, before ever _Pict_ or _Scot_ had planted a -profane foot within their neighbourhood. What connection, let me ask, -could this _elephant_ and this _bull_ have with Christianity, to entitle -them to the honour of being grouped with our Saviour? Or, if any, how -happens it that we never see them enter into similar combinations, in -_churches_ or _chapels_, or _convents_ or _cathedrals_?[345] - -But if they belong not to the Christian ceremonial, they do to something -else. They are the _grand, distinctive_, and _indispensable adjuncts of -Budhism_; being the _two animals_ into which, _according to its doctrine -of metempsychosis, the soul of Budha had entered after his death_. - -This was the origin of the Egyptian _Apis_: and who is not familiar with -the honours lavished upon the sacred _bull_? To this day the _elephant_ is -worshipped in the Burman empire,[346] where the genius of _Budhism_ still -lingeringly tarries; and "_Lord of the White Elephant_" is the proudest -ensign of power claimed by the successors to the throne of Pegu. - -The _human_ figures, then, _of course_, cannot be intended for "_St. John_ -or the _Virgin Mary_." They represent _Budha's Virgin Mother_, along with -his _favourite disciple, Rama_. And thus does the testimony of -Artemidorus, who _flourished 104 years before Christ_, a native himself of -Ephesus, and _who did not himself understand_ the _mystery_ of that -_Virgin_ whom he historically records, receive _illustration_ from _my -proof_, while it gives _it confirmation_ in return. - -His words are--"Adjacent to Britain there stands an island, where _sacred -rites_ are performed to Ceres and the _Virgin_, similar to those in -Samothrace." - -Initiation in the principles of this Samothracian ceremonial was thought -so necessary an accomplishment for every hero and every prince, that no -aspirant to those distinctions ever ventured upon his destination, without -first paying a visit to that religious rendezvous. The solemnity, -attaching to the ritual there performed, was not greater than the -veneration paid to the place itself. All fugitives found shelter within -its privileged precincts, and the name of _sacred_ was assigned it, as the -ordinary characteristic of such sanctuaries.[347] - -"There are," says the Scholiast upon Aristophanes, "two orders of -mysteries celebrated in the course of the year, in honour of Ceres and -_the Virgin_--the lesser and the greater; the former being but a sort of -purification and holy preparation for the latter."[348] - -Who the Virgin was, however, none but the _initiated_ ever presumed to -investigate, the practice observed in respect to her, being the same as -that which influenced the other ordinances of antiquity: and which made -Strabo himself declare, that "_all that can be said concerning the gods -must be by the exposition of old opinions and fables; it being the custom -of the ancients to wrap up in enigma and allegory their thoughts and -discourses concerning nature, which are, therefore, not easily -explained_."[349] - -Proclus also says: "In all initiations and mysteries, the gods exhibit -themselves under many forms, and with a frequent change of shape; -sometimes as light defined to no particular figure; sometimes in a human -form; and sometimes in that of some other creature."[350] - -With the clue, however, already afforded, we need not be deterred from -approaching her fane. The allegorical name, under which they disguised -her, was that of _Proserpine_: whom they represent "so beautiful that _the -father of the gods himself became enamoured of her, and deceived her by -changing himself into a serpent, and folding her in his wreaths_."[351] - -This was the _Greek perversion_ of the narrative. They had received it -from the Pelasgi, under the garb of a _conception_, by _serpentine -insinuation, in a virgin womb_: and, the grossness of their intellects not -allowing them to comprehend the possibility of an _emanation_, yet giving -unqualified credence to the record, they degraded altogether the -_religiousness_ of the thought, and supposed that the Almighty, to -effectuate his design, had actually assumed the _cobra di capello_ form! - -So austere was the rule, by which those mysteries were protected, that -AEschylus but _barely escaped discerption within the theatre_, for an -imagined disrespect to their tendency. Nor was it but on the plea of -ignorance and _un_-initiation, that he did ultimately obtain pardon.[352] - -This insuperable barrier to the curiosity of the profane, engendered in -their conduct a corresponding reaction, and, as the _fox_ did to the -_grapes_, what they could not themselves compass, they strove all they -could to vituperate! - -"Virtue, however, is its own reward," and, as the authority of Cicero, -having been himself a priest, ought to have some weight in the discussion, -it is no small impetus to the cause of truth, to hear this pre-eminent man -assign to the efficacy of the precepts, inculcated in those -mysteries,--"the knowledge of the God of nature; the first, the supreme, -the intellectual; by which men had been reclaimed from rudeness and -barbarism, to elegance and refinement; and been taught, not only to live -with more comfort, but to die with better hopes."[353] - - "Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, - But looks through Nature up to Nature's God; - Pursues that chain which links the immense design, - Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine, - Sees that no being any bliss can know, - But touches some above, and some below; - Learns from this union of the rising whole, - The first, last purpose of the human soul; - And knows where faith, law, morals, all began, - All end in love of God and love of man."[354] - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - - -I would have my reader pause upon the substance of the terms with which -the last section concluded--"Not only to live with more comfort, but to -die with better hopes!" - -Have you read them? Have you digested them? And are you not ashamed of -your illiberality? - -From what pulpit in Christendom will you hear better or more orthodox -truths? Where will you find the Gospel more energetically enunciated? And, -with this _testimony_ staring you in the face--in defiance of inner -light--and imperiously subjugating the allegiance of rationality--will you -still persist in limiting the benevolence of your "Father?" and in -withholding every symptom of paternal regard from his own handiwork, until -the beginning of the last two thousand years? that is, as it were, till -yesterday? - -"I tell you, that if these should hold their peace, the _stones_ would -immediately cry out."[355] - -"On a bank near the shore," says Cordiner, in his _Antiquities of -Scotland_, "opposite to the ruins of a castellated house, called Sandwick -(in Ross-shire), and about three miles east from Ferns, a very splendid -obelisk is erected, surrounded at the base with large, well-cut flag -stones, formed like steps. Both sides of this column are elaborately -covered with various enrichments, in well-finished carved work. The one -face presents a sumptuous cross, with a figure of St. Andrew on each hand, -and some uncouth animals and flowerings underneath. The central division, -on the reverse, renders it a piece of antiquity well worthy of -preservation; there is exhibited on that such a variety of figures, birds, -and animals, as seemed what might prove a curious subject of -investigation; I have, therefore, given a distinct delineation of them at -the foot of the column, on a larger scale, that their shapes might be -distinctly ascertained, and the more probable conjectures formed of their -allusion." - -[Illustration] - -What, on earth, business would St. Andrew have in company with "uncouth -animals?" What have "birds," "figures," and "flowerings" to do with -Christianity? If this "obelisk" had not been erected here, in -commemorative deification, centuries upon centuries before the era of his -Saintship's birth, why should the "cross," which "one face presents," be -decorated with "enrichments" brought all the way from Egypt? - -Look at these hieroglyphics: and where will you find anything congenial to -them within the empire of the Romans? Here is the _Bulbul of Iran_,[356] -the _boar_ of Vishnu, the elk, the fox, the lamb, and the dancers. All the -other configurations, without going through them in detail, are not only, -in their nature and import, essentially eastern, but are actually the -_symbols of the various animal-forms under which they contemplated the -properties of the Godhead_. As the _cross_, however, is that to which we -are more immediately directed, I shall confine myself, for the present, to -the establishment of its antiquity. - -No one will question but that _Venus_ was antecedent to the days of _St. -Andrew_; and _she_ is represented with a _cross_ and a circle![357] -_Jupiter_ also, it will be admitted, was anterior to his time; and we find -him delineated with a _cross_ and a horn! _Saturn_ is said to have been -sire to the last-mentioned god, and, by the laws of primogeniture, must -have been senior to him; yet we find _him_ also pictured with a _cross_ -and horn! The monogram of Osiris is a _cross_! On a medal of one of the -Ptolemies is to be seen an eagle conveying a thunderbolt with the _cross_! -In short, all through the ancient world this symbol was to be encountered, -and wherever it presented itself, it was always the harbinger of sanctity -and of peace. - -Can we glean from their writings any confirmation to my development as to -the _origin_ of the rite? Plato asserts, that the form of the letter X was -imprinted upon the universe.[358] I know how this has been interpreted as -a reference to the Son of God, and the second power of the Divinity. I -will not make use of it in any such light, preferring to avoid everything -that may seem _equivocal_, yet am I well convinced that, under the -philosopher's ratiocination, may be seen the twinkling trace of a previous -incarnation of the [Greek: logos], and a crucifixion, likewise, as an -atonement for the sins of humanity. - -"Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did -esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. - -"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our -iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His -stripes we are healed."[359] - -This is all in the past tense; bearing reference, irrefutably, to a -_former_ occurrence, but including also, in the sequel, the idea of a -_future_ reappearance. And if you look back at the effigy, page 296, will -it not sensitively prove him to have been "a man of sorrows and acquainted -with grief?"[360] - -"The deity Hari," says an inscription at _Budda-gaya_, in India, "the lord -and possessor of all, appeared in this ocean of natural beings at the -close of the Devapara and beginning of the Cali Yug. He who is omnipresent -and everlastingly to be contemplated, the Supreme Being, the Eternal One, -the Divinity worthy of mankind, appeared here, with a portion of His -divine nature."[361] - -There is no term so vernacular in the Irish language as that of -_Budh-gaye_. It is familiar to the _ears_ of every smatterer in _letters_; -and is in the _mouth_ of every _cowherd_, from Cape Clear to the Giants' -Causeway. Neither class has, however, had so much as a _glimpse_ of what -it means: nor did they busy themselves much in the pursuit, but acquiesced -in that example of _commendable_ resignation once practised by -Strabo--when he failed to ascertain anything about the _Cabiri_--by -declaring that "the name was mysterious!" - -A great personage, however, who was not only in his habits _wise_, but was -in himself _wisdom_, has affirmed, that "there is nothing covered that -shall not be revealed; nor hid that shall not be known."[362] And as every -sentence recorded as emanating from _His_ lips has with me a value more -than what could serve to illustrate a momentary topic, I flatter myself -that the result of the confidence, thus humbly inspired, will be -additionally verified in the instance before us. - -_Budh-gaye_, then of the Irish, or _Budha-gaya_ of the Hindoos, means -_Phallus[363] telluris_, _i.e._ the _generativeness of the earth_, or _the -earth's prolific principle_. This I have before demonstrated to have been -the object of adoration to the ancients; and have furthermore shown, that -one of the individuals, in whom this idea was personified, had suffered -crucifixion as a mediator for sin. - -A new disclosure suggests itself from this. _Budh_ and _Phallus_ being -synonymous, if you add _Gaye_ to each, then _Budh-gaye_ and _Gaye-phallus_ -will be identical. But as the character who embodied the _abstract virtue_ -of the former had been crucified, his name came to stand, not only for -that _abstract virtue_, but also for a cross,[364] or a _crucified man_; -and of course, _Gaye-phallus_, its equivalent, represented the same ideas. - -Now, as well the _primary_ as _secondary_ meaning of those two words was -liable to misconstruction; and they were sure to obtain such from -ignorance and from depravity. The _pure_ and the _sublime emotions_, which -the religiousness of the _prolific principle_ had comprehended, were -perverted by malice into _sensuality_ and _debauchery_; while the idea of -a _man crucified_, however innocent of charge, could not be separated, by -grovelling and servile dispositions, from the ordinary accompaniments of -_contempt_ and of _crime_. - -Hence _Budh-gaye_ and _Gaye-phallus_, after a succession of ages, when -their _proper_ acceptation was forgotten, were remembered only in their -_perverted_ sense. And accordingly we observe, that, when a Roman Emperor -who had been brought up a priest in the East, assumed, on his being -appointed to the Roman sceptre, the title of _Helio-ga-balus_, and thereby -invested himself in all the attributes of _Gaye-phallus_, or _Budh-gaye_, -that is, in other words, as the _Vicegerent of the Sun_, the -licentiousness of his life, and the profligacy of his demeanour, having -rendered him obnoxious to his subjects, they amputated the _prefix_ of his -_Solar_ majesty, and branded him with the _scorn_ of _Ga-balus_. - -The _disdain_ intended in this latter abbreviation is now, therefore, -already solved. _Gaye-phallus_, for sound sake, having been made -_Ga-phallus_, this latter was still further--by reason of the -commutability of the letters _ph_ and _b_--reduced into _Ga-balus_. - -When the temple of Serapis, at Alexandria, was destroyed, we are told by -Sozomen, that the monogram of Christ was discovered beneath the -foundation. And, though neither party knew how to account for the sign, -yet was it pleaded alike by the Gentiles as by the Christians, in support -of the heavenliness of their respective religions. - -The early Roman _fathers_, very pious but very illiterate men, unable to -close their eyes against the proofs of the priority of the cross to the -era of the advent, did not scruple to assign it to the malicious -foreknowledge of the prince of the lower world.[365] - -But if this gentleman had been the author of the early cross, is it likely -that God would have embraced it as the signal of His protection when -dealing destruction to the objects of His divine vengeance? - -"And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the -midst of Jerusalem, and put a _mark_ upon the foreheads of the men that -sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst -thereof: - -"And to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye after him through the -city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. - -"Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women; -but _come not near any man upon whom is the mark_; and begin at My -sanctuary."[366] - -Now this "mark," in the ancient Hebrew original, was the _cross_ X. St. -Jerome, the most learned by far of those "_fathers_," has admitted the -circumstance. And if this had been the device of the enemy of man, would -the Author of all goodness so sanction _his_ imposture, as to adopt it as -the index of His saving love? - -"Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?"[367] - -But this was not the only _invention_ which they attributed to the devil. -Tertullian gravely assures us that he was the author of _buskins_ also! -And why, good reader, would you suppose?--in sooth, for no other reason -than because that our Saviour said, in His sermon upon the mountain, -"Which of you, by taking thought, can _add one cubit unto his -stature_?"[368] - -In him, also, did they find an adequate excuse for those _apertures_, -which I shall by and by notice, as excavated in rocks and mounds of clay, -calling them, with some compliment it must be admitted to his _gallantry_, -by the monopolising appellation of the Devil's _Yonies_.[369] - -But of all the _puerilities_ which sully their zeal, there is no one half -so calculated to injure _vital religion_, as the _low quibbles_ and -_dishonest quotations_ which Justin Martyr had recourse to, as _apologies_ -for the _cross_! - -Why, Sir, the greatest persecutor with which the Christians had ever been -cursed, namely, the Emperor Decius, had imprinted the _cross_ upon some of -his coins! - -[Illustration] - -Here, again, it is upon a medal found in the ruins of Citium, and proved -by Dr. Clarke in his _Travels_ to have been Phoenician! It exhibits the -_lamb_, the _cross_, and the rosary![370] - -When John the Baptist first saw Jesus beyond the Jordan, in Bethabara, he -exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the -world."[371] - -This he did not apply as a _novel_ designation; but as the familiar -epithet, and the recognised denomination of the Son of God, whose -prescribed office it was, in _all the changes of past worlds_, as it was -now in this present, to redress the broken-hearted by taking away sin. - -He adds: "This is He of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is -preferred before me; _for He was before me_,"[372] not only in eternity, -but on this earth. - -"And I knew Him not; but that _He should be made manifest to -Israel_,"[373] as He was before to other nations,--an event which was but -the fulfilment of a prophecy ushered in many years before in these -remarkable words-- - -"Behold, the former things are come to pass":[374] not that the -_predictions_ formerly delivered had taken place, but the _things_, the -_events_, the _occurrences_, which had been _enacted_ before, were now -_re_-enacted! that a _renovation_ of the world was at hand, which the -mouthpiece of the Lord commences by saying--"New things do I declare; -before they spring forth I tell you of them." - -On turning the leaf you will see another of those pillars which grace a -land of heroes, "where stones were raised on high to speak to future -times, with their grey heads of moss";[375] and whose story, though "lost -in the mist of years," may yet be deciphered from off themselves. - -[Illustration] - -This costly relic of religion, erected solely in honour of the cross, is -to be seen at Forres, in Scotland, and is thus described by Cordiner:-- - -"On the first division, under the Gothic ornaments at the top, are nine -horses with their riders, marching in order; in the next division is a -line of warriors on foot, brandishing their weapons, and appear to be -shouting for the battle. The import of the attitudes in the third division -very dubious, their expression indefinite. - -"The figures which form a square in the middle of the column are pretty -complex, but distinct; four serjeants, with their halberts, guard a -canopy, under which are placed several human heads, which have belonged to -the dead bodies piled up at the left of the division: one appears in the -character of executioner, severing the head from another body; behind him -are three trumpeters sounding their trumpets; and before him two pair of -combatants fighting with sword and target. - -"A troop of horse next appears, put to flight by infantry, whose first -line have bows and arrows; the three following, swords and targets. In the -lowermost division now visible, the horses seem to be seized by the -victorious party, their riders beheaded, and the head of their chief hung -in chains, or placed in a frame: the others being thrown together beside -the dead bodies, under an arched cover." - -With this compare the description given by Captain Head, of the devices -sculptured upon one of the Egyptian antiquities. - -"It would," says he, "far exceed the limits of this work, to attempt a -description of the ornaments of sculpture in this temple. The most -interesting are on the north wall, where there are battle-scenes, with -innumerable figures of military combatants, using their arms, consisting -of bows and arrows, spears and bucklers--of prostrate enemies, of -war-chariots and horses. The fiery action and elegant shape of the steeds -are remarkable. It would require a first-rate living genius to rival the -variety of position, the power of effect, and fidelity of execution, in -which men and horses are exhibited in the dismay of the flight, the agony -of the death-struggle, and the exultation of the triumph." - -Let us take a view, now, of the other side of this obelisk. "The greatest -part of it," says Cordiner, "is occupied by a _sumptuous_ cross, and -covered over with an uniform figure, elaborately raised, and interwoven -with great mathematical exactness; of this, on account of its singularity, -there is given a representation at the foot of the column. Under the cross -are two august personages with some attendants, much obliterated, but -evidently in an attitude of reconciliation; and if the monument was -erected in memory of the peace concluded between _Malcolm_ and _Canute_, -upon the final retreat of the _Danes_, these larger figures may represent -the reconciled monarchs. - -"On the edge, below the fretwork, are some rows of figures, joined -hand-in-hand, which may also imply the new degree of confidence and -security which took place, after the feuds were composed, which are -characterised on the front of the pillar. But to whatever particular -transaction it may allude, it can hardly be imagined, _that in so early an -age of the arts in Scotland as it must have been raised, so elaborate a -performance would have been undertaken but in consequence of an event of -the most general importance_: it is, therefore, surprising, that no -distincter traditions of it arrived at the era when letters were known." - -[Illustration] - -As to "the era when letters were known," I shall bestow upon that a -sentence or two by and by. For the present I confine myself to the -"surprise that no distincter traditions" of this _monolith_ temple[376] -has been handed down to us. - -It was erected by the _Tuath-de-danaans_ on their expulsion from Ireland. -The inscriptions upon it are the irresistible evidence of their emblematic -religion. After an interval of some centuries, the Picts poured in upon -their quietude; and the barbarous habits of those marauders, being averse -as much to the _ritual_ as to the _avocations_ of the Tuath-de-danaans, -they effaced every vestige of the dominion of that people, and made them -fly for shelter to the Highlands. - -In the days of _Malcolm_, therefore, and of _Canute_, the history of this -pyramid was as difficult of solution as it was in those of _Pennant_ and -of _Cordiner_. And there is no question but that the two _monarchs_ -looked, with as much wonder, upon the hieroglyphics along its sides, as -did the two _antiquarians_, who would fain associate them with them. - -It is to me marvellous, how persons, in the possession of common reason -could, _contrary to all the evidence of observation and history_, look -upon the Danish invasion as the epoch of all enlightenment! and the Danes, -themselves, as the heaven-sent importers of its blessings! Yet, whatever -may have been the case with _some hopeful_ scions of this order, Mr. -Cordiner, at all events, appears to have been honest, and if he missed the -direction of historical verity, it was less his fault than his misfortune. - -Who can say so much for Ledwich? - -The following extract will justify the tribute here paid to the -_sincerity_ of Mr. Cordiner's investigations "These monuments," says he, -"are all said to have been erected in memory of defeats of the Danes, but -there _does not appear any reference that the hieroglyphics on them can -have to such events_. That they have been raised on interesting occasions -there can be little doubt, perhaps in memory of the most renowned -chieftains and their exploits who first embraced Christianity." - -They who first "embraced Christianity" were no "chieftains"; or such as -were, had no "exploits" to record. But it was not so with the professors -of the _primeval_ "_cross_," in the revelation of Budhism, the -transmigrations of which were but typically pourtrayed on this enduring -column. And in confirmation hereof, Mr. Gordon affirms that he has -"distinguished upon it several figures of a _monstrous form_, resembling -_four-footed beasts_ with human heads!" - -Carnac, in Upper Egypt, retains a _monolith_ of the same symbolic -character. It is eighty feet high, composed of a single block of black -granite, presenting a beautifully polished surface on each of its four -sides. The hieroglyphics upon it represent the lifetime of _Thot_, or -_Budda_, until you at last see him enthroned in heaven, at the top. - -[Illustration] - -"He seems, indeed," says Hamilton, "to have been considered either by -himself, his subjects, or his successors, as a peculiar favourite of -heaven. He is frequently on his knees, receiving from Isis and Osiris, -together with their blessing, the insignia of royalty, and even of -divinity. The hawk is always flying about him. Two priests are performing -upon him the mysterious ceremony of pouring the _cruces ansatas_, or -_crosses with rings_, over his head; at which time he wears a common dress -and close cap. Hermes and Osiris are pointing out to him a particular line -in a graduated scale, allusive it may be to the periodical inundation of -the Nile, or the administration of strict justice: or (combined with the -preceding scene) to the ceremony of 'initiation into the religious -mysteries.'"[377] - -The number of feet in the pillar corresponds too, if I mistake not, with -that of the years of his recorded pilgrimage. - -Captain Head describes, in his splendid work, the avenue which leads to -the temple to which this belongs, in the following terms:--"Fragments of -sphinxes line the sides of the road at intervals of ten or twelve feet, -and usher the visitor to the magnificent granite propylon, or gateway, -whose grandeur for a time monopolises the attention, and makes him who -gazes on it at a loss to decide whether he shall remain adoring its fine -proportions, or advance and examine the carvings which embellish its -front. Is this 'the land made waste by the hand of strangers, who destroy -the walls, and cause the images to cease?' The fragments of desolation -that lie scattered around are identified with the predictions of the -inspired historians, by whom we are enabled to estimate the 'palmy state' -of this once mighty kingdom, whose gigantic monuments fully verify all -that has been said or sung of its pristine splendour." - -After what has been said above, then, along with what may be added by and -by, may I not safely proclaim that M'Pherson's prediction, that "the -history of Caledonia, before the Roman eagles were displayed beyond the -friths, must ever remain in impenetrable darkness,"[378] has now been -falsified? - - "What are _ages_ and the lapse of time, - Matched against _truths_ as lasting as sublime? - Can length of years on God Himself exact? - Or make that _fiction_ which was once a _fact_? - No--marble and recording brass decay, - And like the graver's _memory_ pass away: - The works of man inherit, as is just, - Their author's frailty, and return to dust; - _But truth divine for ever stands secure, - Its head is guarded, as its base is sure; - Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years, - The pillar of the eternal plan appears, - The raving storm and dashing wave defies, - Built by that Architect who built the skies_."[379] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - - -A very industrious contributor to the _Asiatic Researches_ has afforded -scope for some jests at his expense, because of the attempt which he has -made to identify the British islands with certain Western localities -commemorated in the writings of the Hindoos. Had he but known, however, -the coincidence of _our monuments_ with those _mysteries_ which the -Puranas record, how they mutually support and dovetail into each other, he -could not only have laughed to scorn the traducers of his services, but -fixed his fame upon a pinnacle of literary pride which no _undergrowl_ of -envy could have subverted. - -But as it is, unacquainted with the history of the places which he left -behind him, and wading, therefore, through an ocean in which he had no -compass for his guide, he has, in his puerile endeavours to wrest the text -of the Puranas to external prejudices, effected more himself towards the -disparagement of his reputation, than what the combined influence of -interest and of scepticism could otherwise accomplish. - -"There are," say the Puranas, "many manifestations and forms of Bhagavan, -O Muni, but the form which resides in the _White Island_ is the primitive -one. Vishnu," says the author, "recalling all his emanations into the -_White Island_, went into the womb, in the house of Vasu-devi; and on -this grand occasion he recalled all his emanations. Bama and Nrisinha are -complete forms, O Muni; but Crishna, the most powerful king of the _White -Island_, is the most perfect and complete of all Vishnu's forms. For this -purpose Vishnu, from Potola, rejoins the body of Radhiceswara, the lord of -Radha, he who dwells in the _White Island_ with the famous _snake_, a -portion of his essence. The gods sent there portions of their own essences -to be consolidated into the person of Crishna, who was going to be -incarnated at Gocula."[380] - -The gist of the foregoing, Mr. Wilford would neutralise by this following -extract, which he gives as the substance of another notice in the same -documents, and which he considers himself as incredible:-- - -"_Bali_, an antediluvian, and in the fifth generation from the creation, -is introduced, requesting the god of gods, or Vishnu, to allow him to die -by his hand, that he might go into his paradise in the _White Island_. -Vishnu told him it was a favour not easily obtained; that he would however -grant his request. But, says Vishnu, you cannot come into my paradise now; -but you must wait till I become incarnate in the shape of a _boar_, in -order to make the world undergo a total renovation, to establish and -secure it upon a most firm and permanent footing: and you must wait a -whole yuga till this takes place, and then you will accompany me into my -paradise." - -"Ganesa, who is identified with Vishnu, and has also an inferior paradise -in the _White Island_, and another in the Euxine, or Jeshu sea, thus says -to a king of Casi, or Benares, an antediluvian, and who, like Bali, wished -much to be admitted into his elysium, "you cannot now enter my paradise in -the _White Island_; you must wait 5000 years; but in the mean time you may -reside in my other paradise, in the Euxine Sea." - -Now, all these monstrosities, as they presented themselves to Mr. Wilford, -gauging them with the comparisons of dry rule and line on the application -of the true touchstone, vanish into ether. - -The most _mysterious_ and _religiously-occult_ name given to _Ireland_ in -the days of its pristine glory was _Muc-Inis_. - -This word has three interpretations--firstly, the _Boar Island_; secondly, -the _White Island_; and, thirdly, the _Sacred_, or rather the _Divine_, -and _Consecrated Island of God_.[381] - -Is it necessary that I should say one syllable more to authenticate the -Puranas, and identify this _hallowed_ spot with the _paradise_ of their -encomiums? No: I shall not affront your understanding by so supposing. The -explanation of this _single term_ has, more effectually than could a -_ship-load of folios_, set to flight the hobgoblins of ignorance and of -scepticism, and reared the castle of truth on the ruins of prostrated -error. - -I would by no means, however, be understood as intending an ungenerous -trophy over Mr. Wilford's mistakes. I respect the zeal with which he -embarked in his undertaking; and, to speak over-board, the lapses which he -has committed were to _him_ ethically unavoidable. - -The sting, therefore, of the above, if any it convey, must be directed -exclusively to the _romancers_ of my own country: a specimen of whom I -shall give you in the Rev. Dr. Keating, who, venturing to unveil the -mystery of the name _Muc-Inis_, and account for its origin, tells us, with -a serious face, that "when the Danaans found the Milesians attempted to -land, by their magical enchantments they threw a cloud on the island, by -which it appeared no bigger than a _hog's_ back!!!" - -But Ireland, thank God, is rescued from the drivelling of such dotards. It -will hold its place now amongst the nations of the earth; and the result -is inevitable, however tardy your compliance, but that the truth will be -_revived_ from one pole of the universe to the other, that, in the -primeval world, all sanctity and all happiness had here fixed their abode, -that heaven was here personified, and that the irradiating focus of all -moral enlightenment was here alone to be found.[382] - -Look, Sir, what do you see before you? The solution of that all-healing -_arrow_ which Abaris was said to have brought with him from the island of -the Hyperboreans, on his visit of religion to Greece! - -Should you ever chance to travel as far as the county of Galway, inquire -for the deserted village of Knockmoy. Though now dreary, inconsiderable, -and forgotten, it was once the theatre of soul-stirring impressions! - -[Illustration] - -There in the remnant of an ancient Tuath-de-danaan Temple, vaulted with -stone, and transformed, in after ages, to a Christian Abbey, you will -find, after a succession of, at least, three thousand revolving years, -this pathetic representation of the _youth Apollo slaying with his arrow -the serpent Python_[383]--in other words, _overthrowing, by -self-endurance, the dominion of sin! and, finally, by immolation upon a -tree_, to which you perceive him pinioned, _establishing ascendency over -the serpent and his wiles_, and pointing out the road to eternity beyond -the grave! - -[Illustration] - -In an upper range, on the same compartment, you can trace this other line, -consisting of three kings with their eastern _crowns_, their eastern -_costume_, and the _dove_ of amity entwining all of them as they -superintend the spectacle, while the solemnity of the whole is enhanced by -the composure with which a Brehon sits by, in his turban of state, after -reading from the _Bana_, or the Budhist gospel, the sentence of -condemnation and of mysterious expiation, in one and the same breath. - -"He was oppressed and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth: He is -brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before His shearers is -dumb, so He openeth not His mouth."[384] - -But this is not the only incident which this treasure of antiquity -pourtrays. Beside the three monarchs are skeleton delineations of the -_three_ other divinities, who, before this _fourth_, assumed the form of -humanity, and went through the same ordeal of atoning passion to reclaim -our species, through ages back in the distance![385] - -It will readily be believed, that descriptions so mysterious, relating to -events so momentous, must have attracted the observation of subsequent -years. Generation after generation gazed upon them with wonder! Generation -after generation spoke their ignorance in wonder! Mr. Ledwich, of course, -must have a snap at them: and it would make a _cat_ laugh, or Plutarch's -_boar_ dance a hornpipe, to hear the contortions of history, the -violations of nature, the perversions of fact, of date, and of -philosophy, which this _blot_ upon letters has strung together into a -melange, as if an exposition of the above hieroglyphics! - -And yet, this is he who boasts of his having been "_not sparing of -ridicule_" in those moments which he tells us, "he could steal from -_clerical_ and domestic avocations,"--to tell lies of his country! - -The speculation took, however, and he was fostered in his malice--riches -and honours were showered upon him! - -Well, he died--a monitory pause accompanies the sound--but the party must -have a successor! - -They "have found him" amongst themselves!--the author of the _Fine Arts in -Ireland_! - -This _fine_ gentleman has really exhibited some degree of _tact_, which -shows him not unworthy of his appointment. He begins by denouncing, hoof -and horn, every position of his predecessor! Calls him, as a salvo, "a -learned man!" but insists upon his being a "most unskilful antiquary"; and -though "dogmatic," "altogether a visionary." - -These, you would suppose, were great liberties to take with the -foster-child of patronage. They were so, in _appearance_, not _in -reality_, for - - "Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur"-- - -he is a _modern_,[386] and though of a different _school_, it suits their -purpose as well. - -But let us see how he would decipher "the writing upon the wall." - -"If we might venture a _conjecture_," he says, "it would be that the -living figures represent the most distinguished native princes, who warred -with the adventurers in defence of their country; and that those of the -deceased kings were the patriot monarchs of earlier times!" - -Pray, _what_ adventurers? _what_?--But the farce is too absurd to bestow -discussion upon it. - -Come, however, to the _crucifixion scene_, what would "P----" make of -this? - -"This _appears_," he says, "to represent the death of the young son of -Dermod MacMurrough, who was delivered up to Roderick O'Connor, as a -hostage for his father's fidelity, and who, according to Cambrensis, and, -we _believe_, to our own annalists, was abandoned by that inhuman and -ambitious parent to his fate!" - -After the flourish of trumpets, with which Mr. P---- had proclaimed -_independence_ of Dr. Ledwich, one would have expected a _new_ ascription, -or, at least, a _different_ one, from him. This, however, is but a -_servile transcript from his predecessor's work_, and that, too, without -having the candour to quote him as his authority! - - "But let us view those things with closer eyes." - -Had MacMurrough's son been put to death by O'Connor, in that awful manner -above delineated, with such external parade, and such mysterious pomp, -think you that Cambrensis, who never omitted _even the most trivial -feature_ of a narrative, would have been blind to a particular, which must -have interested all his readers? Yet, as to the reality of this--Mr. -P----'s insinuation notwithstanding--Cambrensis is silent and mute as the -grave! - -A fact which was thought worthy to be commemorated in _fresco_ must have -been equally eligible as a phenomenon in _writing_. The O'Connors, -therefore, whom Mr. P---- would install as the authors of this device, -must have retained some _documentary_ register thereof: and, though it is -well known, that there is not a family in the kingdom, who have preserved -the records of their house with such industry or minuteness as _they_ -have, yet is there not so much as the _semblance_ of an allusion to be -traced amongst them, to this _mysterious representation_! - -Nay, if O'Connor had put to death MacMurrough's son, with such -circumstances of torture and savage insensibility, is it probable that he -would himself be the person to immortalise his disgrace, by depicting it -upon such a chronicle? And if the virtue of the nation were not previously -outraged by the _hellishness_ of the crime itself, would it not now blaze -forth in holy indignation at the infatuated _vanity_ of the monster, who, -not satisfied with the murder of his innocent _victim_, must deluge his -_country_ also in gore, by associating it, to forthcoming ages, with this -outline of his barbarity? - -Yes, sir, if they were _silent_ as to the _crime_, they would be -_eloquent_ as to the _painting_! And it is not only that they would -_demolish_ the _structure_ within which it was _inscribed_, but every -_quill_ within the realm would become a _pen_, every _liquid_ be converted -into _ink_, and every _hand_ be made that of a _writer_ to rescue the -_island's_ fame from identity with the traitor's _cause_; and confine to -his own and his loathed head the withering execrations of posterity! - -Instead of which, however, not a syllable is uttered, on paper or on -parchment, allusive to the tragedy! Not a _presage_ is imparted by -mournful _banshee_! nor _elegy_ sung by familiar _mna-caointha_! No -_historian_ records the heart-rending _tale_! nor does _gipsy_ retail it -in itinerant _ditty_! But the _mystery_ of sorrow, and the _sanctity_ of -_truth_, that _hallowed the scene which this temple commemorates_, has, -still further, exerted its protecting instrumentality, and besides the -_moving evidences imprinted_ upon its _interior_, has added those also of -_exclusion from without_, and prevented the iniquity of _profane_ -appropriation, by the occurrence of any equivocal record! - -The devices upon places of worship are always of a religious kind. Would -the perpetration of a _faithless infanticide_ be considered an act of -religion? And, if not, why emblazon it within the tabernacle of prayer, -with all the circumstances of grace and of grandeur around it?--solemnised -by kings! superintended by gods! and executed by judges! - -Oh! sir, a dire plague of astringent benightment has lain brooding over -history! and spread, like the _upas_, its baleful emaciation over -everything of culture that fell within its shadow! But _truth_ is -_immortal_: and, however _momentarily suppressed_, will _ultimately_ -recover. - -"It is a pleasure," says Bacon, "to stand on the shore, and to see ships -tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to -see a battle, and the adventurers thereof below; _but no pleasure is -comparable to the standing on the vantage-ground of truth_ (a hill not to -be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), _and to see -the errors, and wanderings and mists and tempests, in the vale below; so -always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride_. -Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in charity, -rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of truth." - -The very dresses, which adorn these venerable delineations, are enough to -redeem them from the turpitude which Mr. P---- would impute to them. -O'Connor and MacMurrough were, neither of them, on this earth, for at -least _two thousand years after_ these were in vogue! neither are they by -any means the habits which P---- would persuade us that "laws were -subsequently enacted to abolish as barbarous!" - -Behold! I show you a mystery![387] - -[Illustration] - -What do you see here?[388] What do you make of this Mr. P----. Or do you -think that O'Connor went over into Nubia, and got the impress of his -enormity canonised there also, in the form of a cross, within the temples -and sanctuaries of the adoring Egyptians? - -I copy this image from a work of great value, lately published in Paris by -Monsieur Rifaud; which he designates by the title of _Voyage en Egypte et -en Nubie, et lieux circonvoisins_. The plate under notice is but part of a -larger one, which he describes as "Facade du petit temple de Kalabche (en -Nubie) et ses details interieurs," and of which I shall, by and by, treat -you to two more compartments, as the exact correspondents of the six -crowned figures at Knockmoy. - -Meanwhile, I beg leave to introduce to you on the next page, some of the -sculptures on the Tuath-de-danaan _cross_, at old Kilcullen, in the county -of Kildare, Ireland. Here you distinguish nine _Budhist_ priests in the -_Eastern_ uniform, with _bonnet_, _tunic_, and _trouser_--nay, with their -very _beards_ dressed after the Egyptian fashion. - -Other figures I shall leave to your own research to unfold. But let me -particularly _fasten_ upon your faculty of comparing, the _head-gear_ of -the standing figure, in the _second_ division, and that of the crucifixion -upon the Nubian temple. Are they not _critically_, _accurately_, and -_identically_ the same? - -Look next at the brute _animals_ that take part in this group! Mind the -_grotesqueness_ of their positions, and the _combination_ of their -character with that of _man_! then lay your hand upon your breast, and, -with the light now streaming in upon you, can you conscientiously believe -that the _cross_ which exhibits itself at the other side, was ever the -work of Christianity?[389] - -[Illustration] - -But as you cannot imagine that O'Connor had gone over to Nubia, in the -twelfth century of the Christian era, to get his murdered hostage -_deified_ in a pagan temple, built, perhaps, at the very lowest, three -thousand years before his time, so neither can you impose upon us, that -the Budhists stole a march upon our Christian _supineness_, and, while our -different sects were fighting for _who should have most_, and proclaiming -"I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ,"[390] -imprinted their complexity upon our boasted simplicity, and then suddenly -again vanished without having been once seen, felt, heard, discovered, or -understood!!! - -What entanglements will not people plunge themselves into when supporting -a bad cause! And how easy is the road which rectitude follows! - -The Hindoo Puranas corroborate, to an iota, this our Knockmoy -crucifixion.[391] _Sulivahana_ is the name which they give to the deity -there represented. The meaning of the word is _tree-born_, or, who -suffered death upon a tree. He was otherwise called _Dhanandhara_, that -is, the _sacred almoner_. And his fame, say the Puranas, reached even to -the _Sacred Island_, in the sea of _milk_, that is, of _Doghda_, which -signifies milk, and which was the title of the tutelar goddess of -Ireland.[392] - -Avaunt, then, evermore, to the humbug of _back-reckoning_, and the charge -of _imposture_ upon the Brahmins! I flatter myself, I have laid an -_extinguisher_, for ever, upon that pretext. - -As I have before presumed to offer a suggestion to the translators of -oriental _manuscripts_, I shall take the additional liberty of intimating, -which I do with profound submission and respect, to the decipherers of all -_hieroglyphics_, whether in Ireland or in the East, that those -_arrow-headed_ characters, to be met with at Persepolis, and resembling in -their formation our Irish Oghams, _bear reference, both of them, to this -mysterious crucifixion_! And that if Mr. Champollion, and other gentlemen -interested in the prosecution of those useful points, will attend to this -my advice, they will find it a more _certain key to the attainment of -their desired object, than all the labour and outlay of centuries -heretofore_! - - "Knowing that Nature never did betray - The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege, - Through all the years of this our life, to lead - From joy to joy: for _she can so inform - The heart that is within us, so impress - With quietness and beauty, and so feed - With lofty thoughts_, that neither evil tongues, - Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, - Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all - The dreary intercourse of daily life, - Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb - Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold - Is full of blessings."--WORDSWORTH. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - - -The regal figures, which I promised, as belonging to the _Nubian_ temple, -and corresponding to the _Knockmoy_ frescoes, are the following:-- - -[Illustration] - -You will, furthermore, observe how that they all wear the _philibeg_, like -our crucified effigy at p. 296, and our war-god, Phearagh, at p. 138. -Each of them, also, is adorned with the _cross_, as the passport of their -redemption: while the three _divinities_, delineated in the Irish scenes, -have these as their counterparts in the temple of Nubia. - -[Illustration] - -Abbe Pluche states, that "the figures of those gods brought from Egypt -into Phoenicia, wore on their heads leaves and branches, wings and globes, -which," he adds, "appeared ridiculous to those who did not comprehend the -signification of these symbols, as happened to Cambyses, King of Persia, -but these represented Isis, Osiris, and Horus." - -"In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for November, 1742, is an account," says -Vallancey, "of two silver images, found under the _ruins of an old tower_, -which had raised various conjectures and speculations amongst the -antiquaries; they were about three inches in height, representing men in -armour, with _very high helmets on their heads, ruffs round their necks_, -and standing on a pedestal of silver, holding a small golden spear in -their hands. The account is taken from the Dublin papers. The writer -refers to Merrick's translation of Tryphiodorus, an Egyptian, that -composed a Greek poem on the destruction of Troy, a sequel to Homer's -_Iliad_, to show that it was customary with the ancients, at the -foundation of a fort or city, to consecrate such images to some titular -guardians, and deposit them in a secret part of the building; where he -also inserts a judicious exposition of a difficult text of Scripture on -that subject." - -The above extract was indited long before the publication of those Nubian -antiquities; and, consequently, when neither the contributor to the -magazine, nor the quoter from its columns, had any knowledge of their -existence. Its production, therefore, must be valuable here, as showing -not only the connection of the _idols_ with the _Round Tower ceremonial_, -but also that the helmets of the _Nubian_ gods had been adopted in the -effigies of some of those amongst us. - -I terminate my proofs of the primeval _crucifixion_, by the _united_ -testimonies of the _Budhists_ and the _Free-Masons_. - -"Though the punishment of the cross," says the _Asiatic Researches_, "be -unknown to the Hindus, yet the followers of Buddha have some knowledge of -it, when they represent Deva _Thot_ (that is, the god _Thot_) crucified -upon an instrument resembling a cross, according to the accounts of some -travellers to Siam." - -"Christianity," says Oliver, "or the system of salvation through the -atonement of a crucified Mediator, was the main pillar of Freemasonry ever -since the fall." - -Let me point your notice now to some _consequences_ of that mysterious -fact. I begin by asking-- - -How happened it, that, of all places in the world, Ireland was that which -gave the readiest countenance, and the most cheering support, to the -Gospel of Christ, on its first promulgation? - -This question you will consider of no trivial tendency. It is, in itself, -worth a thousand other arguments. To solve it, I must premise that, -besides the many ancient appellatives, already given you, for this -country, there was one, which characterised it, as anticipating that -event? - -_Crioch-na-Fuineadhach_[393] was this name. Its meaning is, _the asylum of -the expectants_: or, _the retreat of those looking forward_. - -To what, you ask?--To the consummation, I reply, of that prophecy, which -was imparted to Israel through another source, saying, "The sceptre shall -not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until -_Shiloh_ come."[394] - -Numerous intimations have, from time to time, been conveyed to man as -harbingers of an event which was to crown their species with universal -blessings. In the Puranas, it was prophesied, that "after three thousand -and one hundred years of the Caliyuga are elapsed, will appear King -_Saca_, to remove wretchedness from the world."[395] - -I have given an abstract of the history of this remarkable personage at -pp. 293 and 294, and shortly after, at p. 296, I presented you with the -effigy of his crucifixion. As to the era of his appearance, as deducible -from the Yugas, I shall confine myself to the opinion advanced by Mr. -Davis, in the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 243, where he states: "It -may further with confidence be inferred, that _Mons. Anquetil du Perron's -conclusion, with respect to the late introduction of Yugas_, which are the -component parts of the Calpa, into the Hindu astronomy, _is unfounded; and -that the invention of those periods, and the application of them to -computations by the Hindus, must be referred to an antiquity which has not -yet been ascertained_." - -In another age was promised another Redeemer; and of him I copy what Mr. -Wilford transmits, as follows, viz.:-- - -"A thousand years before that event, the goddess Cali had foretold him -that he would reign, or rather his _posterity_, according to several -learned commentators in the Dokhin, as mentioned by Major Mackenzie, till -a _divine child_, born of a virgin, should put an end both to his life and -kingdom, or to his dynasty, nearly in the words of Jacob, in Genesis, -chap. xlix. ver. 10. The Hindu traditions concerning this wonderful child -are collected in a treatise called the _Vicrama Chastra; or, History of -Vicrama Ditya_. This I have not been able to procure, though many learned -pundits have repeated to me by heart whole pages from them. Yet I was -unwilling to make use of their traditions till I found them in the large -extracts made by the ingenious and indefatigable Major C. Mackenzie of the -Madras establishment, and by him communicated to the Asiatic Society." - -In truth, it was to the _certainty_ of this _manifestation_ that the first -couplet of an Arabic elegy, preserved by Mons. d'Herbelot in his account -of Ibnuzaidun, a celebrated Andalusian poet, refers. In Roman letters, the -lines run thus-- - - "Jekad hein tenagikom dharmairna - Jacdha alaina alassa laula tassina." - -That is, "The time will soon come when you will deliver us from all our -cares; the remedy is assured, provided we have a little patience." - -The learned President of the Society of Bengal, unaware of the _drift_ of -this beautiful stanza, and without ever having so much as _seen_ the -original whence it was quoted, offers to alter its import to the -following, viz.: "When our bosoms impart their secrets to you, anguish -would almost fix our doom, if we were not mutually to console ourselves!" -And the only reason he assigns for this novel interpretation is, that -_two_ individuals, _neither of whom, he himself admits, knew anything -about its meaning_, happened, or rather pretended, to put it for him -_differently_ into Arabic words! - -On the pillar at Buddal, this emanation of the godhead is thus -characterised: "He did not exult over the ignorant and ill-favoured: but -spent his riches among the needy: in short, he was the wonder of all good -men."[396] Isaiah's prophecy of the _future_ Messiah would appear a -_verbatim_, though more _poetical_ transcript of this inscription, viz.: -"He shall not cry, nor lift up; nor cause His voice to be heard in the -street; a bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He -not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth."[397] - -At p. 110 of this volume, I have promised to explain the origin of the -word _Eleusinian_, as applied to the celebration of certain religious -rites. I have very little doubt but that, when reading the declaration, -the reader looked upon its offer as, to say the least, -gratuitous--satisfied that the term could have no possible other meaning, -than as an adjective formed from the substantive _Eleusis_! - -Well, the rashness of that judgment I very freely forgive; and repay it -now by the verification of my contract. - -_Eleusis_, the _place_, and _Eleusinian_, as descriptive of the -_mysteries_ therein solemnised, were both denominated in honour of that -_Advent_, which all nations awaited; and the fulfilment of which, in the -person of one of the _Budhas_, made him to be recognised on one occasion -as the "source of the _faith_ of the three epochs of the world."[398] - -I have already redeemed the character of those ceremonies from the -sinister imputations which attached to their _secrecy_. An apprehension -that their publication would subvert the popular belief, or a supposed -indelicacy in their tenour, were the _mildest_ constructions which the -_uninitiated_ would afford them. Though secure in the sufficiency of my -former proofs, I cannot avoid taking support from an article in a very -talented publication of our day, in which the writer, _wholly -uninstructed, while he evidently is, as to the nature_ of those -celebrations, yet confirms the fact of their worth and their purity. - -"From the whole concurrent testimony of ancient history," says he, "we -must believe that the Eleusinian mysteries were used for good purposes, -for there is not an instance on record that the honour of an initiation -was ever obtained by a very bad man. The hierophants--the higher priests -of the order--were always exemplary in their morals, and became sanctified -in the eyes of the people. The high-priesthood of this order in Greece was -continued in one family, the Eumolpidae, for ages. In this they resembled -both the Egyptians and the Jews. - -"The Eleusinian mysteries in Rome took another form, and were called the -rites of Bona Dea; but she was the same Ceres that was worshipped in -Greece. All the distinguished Roman authors speak of these rites and in -terms of profound respect. Horace denounces the wretch who should attempt -to reveal the secrets of these rites; Virgil mentions these mysteries with -great respect; and Cicero alludes to them with a greater reverence than -either of the poets we have named. Both the Greeks and Romans punished any -insult offered to these mysteries with the most persevering -vindictiveness. Alcibiades was charged with insulting these religious -rites; and although the proof of his offence was quite doubtful, yet he -suffered for it for years in exile and misery; and it must be allowed that -he was the most popular man of his age."[399] - -Analogous to these were the solemnities at Carthage, designated by the -name of _Phiditia_; and the import of which, as well in term as in -substance, has been no less a riddle to antiquarians, than was the -sanctified commemoration which it disguises. During the interval of their -celebration, the youths received lessons from their elders of the state, -as to the regulation of their conduct in after life; and the lustre of -truth, and the comeliness of virtue, as they shone forth in _Budha_ -(_which solves the mystery of the name_), were the invariable _ethics_ -they propounded. - -Public feasts were the scene for the delivery of those discourses. They -found their way also to Rome, but the _spirituality of Redemption_ not -going hand-in-hand with its _doctrine_, or not duly comprehended, if -accompanying, the _joyousness_ of _hope_, was there sunk into the -_licentiousness_ of _enjoyment_, and the innocence of mirth and of moral -hilarity was superseded by the uproar of riot and of vice! _Such were the -Saturnalia._ - -How different was their celebration in our "Sacred Ireland!" The very -letters of the epithet, by which our forefathers had solemnised them, show -the spirituality of purpose which actuated their zeal. _Nullog_ was that -epithet--it is compounded of _nua_, _new_; and _log_ (for bullog), a -_belly_, meaning _regeneration_, or the putting aside of the old leaven of -sin, and the assumption of the new investiture of righteousness, by -justification. - -As everything, however, in their religious procedure was transacted by -symbols, so, in this instance, they did not content themselves with the -_inner consciousness_ of a _new birth_,[400] but the most go through the -outer form of it by typification; and for this end it was that they -excavated those _apertures_ in the bodies of rocks, which I have noticed -in page 314, as calling forth, from ignorance, the animadversion of the -_devil's yonies_, in order that, by _passing themselves through them, they -might represent the condition of one issuing, through the womb, to a new -scope of life_.[401] - -A nobler method of symbolisation, and confined solely to the _initiated_, -was that which characterised the construction of their subterranean -temples. Here the sublimity of their worship breaks out in all the -grandeur and the majesty of awe.[402] The narrowness of the entrance, -never larger than the girth of the ordinary human body, pourtrayed, as -well the _circular passage_ in their regenerating _type_,[403] as the -_circumvention_ of temptation by which the faithful are ever beset;[404] -while _the model_ of the _cross, which regulates their architecture -withinside, attests the mystery and the form of their master's death_. - -The Mithratic temple, at New Grange, is exactly so constructed. After -squeezing yourself, with much labour, through a long _emblematic_ gallery, -you arrive at a _circular room_, or rather an _irregular polygon or -octagon_;[405] whence, at measured intervals, three other apartments -diverge, forming, with the inleading gut, a perfect _cross_; and -presenting, altogether, to a susceptible mind, _the most solemn -combination of symbolical mysteries_![406] - -I wonder why do not our _moderns_ confer these _subterraneous cruciform_ -edifices upon the industry of the early Christians, as they have striven -to claim for them the _corresponding_ structures _above ground_! and -without half the probability of success! For if it may be stated, that the -_crucifixions_ upon the _towers_ were an _interpolation_, with a view to -_Christianise_ what before was devoted to _Paganism_, _no one_, at all -events, would maintain that the _monks_ had gone down into the bowels of -the earth, and after ejecting the inmates of old _Alma Mater_, converted -their tabernacles into a magical cross! - -Nay, a greater difficulty would still attach to this adventure. The -_Pagodas_[407] of Benares and Mathura, the two principal ones in all -India, are _cruciformly_ built! and, in order to make both worlds -harmonise, the _advocates_ for the monks, or rather their _beliers_, would -have to transport their mechanics to those regions also, and turn upside -down, and sideways, and every way, whatever was the shape of the original -structures, until they moulded them at last into this mysterious cross! - -Some blame, however, would seem attachable to the _superintendents_ of -this vision: and it is that, while imprinting this _mark_ over the head of -the principal figure in the cave, or Mithratic temple, at Elephanta,[408] -they neglected to demolish the _Lingam_, appertaining to the previous -worship; and which actually presents itself but a little from it in the -front! - -To be grave. There was nothing more _natural_ than that those different -symbols should be thus united. I have shown that in the various copies of -our annals, the _Round Towers_, or overground temples, are designated by -the name of _Fidh-nemead_, the meaning of which I have elucidated to be, -the _consecrated Lingams_: the _Mithratic caves_, or underground temples, -their _correspondents_, it was to be expected, should be known by a -_suitable_ denomination; and, accordingly, you will find this very one at -New Grange mentioned in the _Chronicon Scotorum_ by the title of _Fiodh -Aongusa_; that is, the _Mysterious Cavern_ of _Buddh_; while the -_crucifixions_ upon the _former_, and the _cruciform shape_ of the -_latter_, are the reverential memorials of his atoning dissolution. - -The mysteries celebrated within the recesses of those caverns were -precisely of that character which are called _Freemasonic_, or _Cabiric_. -The signification of this latter epithet is, as to written letters, a -desideratum. Selden has missed it; so has Origen and Sophocles. Strabo, -too, and Montfaucon, have been equally astray. Hyde was the only one who -had any _idea_ of its _composition_, when he declared "it was a _Persian -word_ somewhat altered from _Gabri_, or _Guebri_, and signifying -fire-worshippers." - -It is true that _Gabri_ now stands for _fire-worshippers_, but that is -only because that they assumed to themselves this title, which belonged to -another order of their ancestors. The word is derived from _gabh_, "a -smith," and _ir_, "sacred," meaning the _sacred smiths_; and _Cabiri_ -being only a perversion of it is, of course, in substance, of the very -same import. - -Mount _Caucasus_,[409] also, which still, in our language, retains its -original pronunciation, of _Gaba-casan_, or the Smith's Path, was named -from the same root; nor is the tradition of the _reason_ altogether -obliterated from those who dwell beside it, if we may judge from a -ceremony described by a recent traveller, as performed by them, as -follows:-- - -"The original founders of the Tartarian Mongolian Scythians, called Cajan -and Docos, got embarrassed amongst those mountains, then uninhabited. -After a sojourn there of 450 years, having become so numerous as to -require other settlements, they were at a loss to find a passage through -the mountains, when a _smith_, pointing out to them a place very rich in -iron ore, advised them to make great fires there, by which means the ore -melted, and a broad passage was opened for them. In commemoration of which -famous march, the Mongols to this day celebrate an annual feast, and -observe the ceremony of heating a piece of iron red hot, on which the -Ceann (that is, the chief) strikes one blow with a hammer, and all the -persons of quality do the same after him." - -I shall close this chapter by the description given of the destruction of -Cambyses's army in the Nubian desert, _after the insults offered by him to -the Cabiri priests_. - - "Gnomes, o'er the waste, you led your myriad powers, - Climb'd on the whirls, and aim'd the flinty showers; - Onward resistless rolls the infuriate surge, - Clouds follow clouds, and mountains mountains urge; - Wave over wave the driving desert swims, - Burst o'er their heads, inhumes their struggling limbs; - Man mounts on man, on camels camels rush, - Hosts march o'er hosts, and nations nations crush: - Wheeling in air, the winged islands fall-- - And one great sandy ocean covers all."[410] - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - - -On the east side of the river Shannon, about ten miles distant from -Athlone, in the barony of Garrycastle, and King's County, is situated the -_Sanctuary_ of Clonmacnoise. Within the narrow limits of two Irish acres, -are here condensed more _religious_ ruins, of antiquarian value, than are -to be found, perhaps, in a similar space in any other quarter of the -habitable world. - -Nine churches, built respectively by the individuals whose names they -bear, namely: (1) that of Macarthy More; (2) that of Melaghlin; (3) that -of MacDermott; (4) that of Hiorphan; (5) that of Kieran; (6) that of -Gawney; (7) that of O'Kelly; and (8) that of O'Connor;--independently of -the _cathedral_,--here moulder, in kindred mortality, with the ashes of -nobles, of princes, and of kings, entombed beneath their walls; and who, -at feud, mayhap, in life, are now content to sleep beside each other, -"their warfare o'er," in the levelling indistinction of death. - -Your curiosity is, no doubt, excited to know how so circumscribed a little -spot could have been chosen as the nucleus of such ecclesiastical -ambition? The answer is found in the circumstance of this having been one -of the strongholds of _Budhism_, in the days of its corruscations, which -made it now be singled out, in common with other places memorable for that -creed, as the appropriate locality for Christian superincumbency. - -Two Round Towers, _the chief object of emulation_, are, as you may have -supposed, here to be encountered: and _these are the very ones, which the -reader may recollect have been alluded to at_ p. 38, as ridiculously -claimed by Montmorency for _Christian_--because, forsooth, in the -vagueness of popular titles, they are _recently_ distinguished by the -names of _MacCarthy_ and _O'Rourke_! - -The _Eastern columns_, denominated after _Pompey_[411] and -_Cleopatra_,[412] have been equally productive of historical mistakes; -until, at last, it has appeared that those celebrated lovers have had no -more to do with such erections, than have had the _O'Rourkes_ or -_MacCarthys_ with our _Round Towers_! - -Here also are _three crosses_ belonging to the same religion, to _one_ of -which only shall I now direct your observation. It is fifteen feet high, -composed of a single stone, and sculptured with imagery of the most -elegant execution. - -The devices upon this sculpture are such as you would have expected from -the _authors of the Allegory of the Paradisiacal Fall_: and here, -accordingly, it presents itself, just as in _language_ they had clothed -it, in all the mysteriousness of the figurative _tree_. - -[Illustration] - -Immediately over the equestrian and chariot sports, which decorate the -pedestal, you see Adam and Eve conversing at each side of this _symbol_ of -their dearly-bought _knowledge_! Farther up are other emblems of -mythological allusion: while, in the centre above, you observe a _Cabir_ -priest, alias, a _Freemason_, holding the implements of his craft--a high -honour--in his hand;[413] and encompassed by a retinue of several more -persons, all in the glow of joy! - -The other sides, though less complex, are not less graceful, nor less -significant, than the two which I have introduced. In them, also, -everything bears reference to the _Budhist_ ceremonial. Nor are the -_mouldings_ and the _flowerings_, the _networks_, and other ornaments -which figure upon them, the _least essential_ constituent of that fruitful -code,[414]--while the personation of a _dog_,--an invariable -accompaniment, as it is also amongst the sculptures at Persepolis, and -other places in the East,--_would, in itself be sufficient to fix the -appropriation of those crosses_, as that animal can have no possible -relation to Christianity, whereas, by the Tuath-de-danaans, it was -accounted _sacred_, and its maintenance enjoined by the ordinances of the -state, as it is still in the Zend books, which remain after Zoroaster. - -To Clondalkin Tower, represented at p. 101, there belongs also a stone -cross, and bearing its own history upon its _Tuath-de-danaan_ countenance. -In Armagh is another. I cannot afford time to point out any more, but that -at _Finglas_ is too remarkable to be quite neglected. - -Every body is acquainted with the legendary tale of _St. Patrick having -banished all venomous reptiles from this_ island. Now, I am very willing, -as has been shown, to give this apostle all the credit which he deserves; -but I am a chronicler of _truth_, and from me he shall have no romances. -Solinus, who flourished A.D. 190, that is, above two centuries before St. -Patrick was born, has noticed the phenomenon of there being no vipers -here. Isidore has repeated it in the seventh century; as has Bede in the -eighth; and, in the ninth, Donatus, the famous bishop of Fesula. This -exemption, therefore, cannot be attributable to St. Patrick, whose honour -would be better consulted by his religious admirers in confining -themselves to _facts_, which are numerous enough, than in shocking -credibility by their _pious frauds_. - -As to the _local_ phenomenon, to which you perceive _he_ can have no -pretensions, I cannot resist bestowing upon it a passing observation. -Bede, I think, has gone so far as to say that not only are there no snakes -to be found in Ireland, but that they would not live, if imported: nay, -that, when brought within sight of the shore, they expire! I should like -to see this ascertained; if the fact be such, then the question is solved, -the air or the soil is the cause. - -But if the case be otherwise, then must we ascribe it to some _human_ -instrumentality; and, as there occur various texts in Scripture, allusive, -it would seem, to a very prevailing opinion in the _East_, as to the -manageableness of that species, by the power of charms,--such as, "I will -send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed" (Jer. -viii. 17); and "the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not -hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely" (Ps. lvii. 4, -5);--and as our Tuath-de-danaans, who were an Eastern people, are -recorded by all our early ecclesiastical writers, and with no view to -encomium, as so eminent for incantations, that the island seemed, during -their sway, to have been one continuation of enchantment, it is past -doubt, that, if practicable by man's efficacy at all, the merit of -extinction belongs solely to them. And it is well worth notice, that the -island of Crete, where a colony of them also had settled, is said to be -gifted with a similar exemption. "The professed snake-catchers in India," -says Johnson, "are a low caste of Hindoos, wonderfully clever in catching -snakes, as well as in practising the art of legerdemain; they pretend to -draw them from their holes by a song, _and by an instrument resembling an -Irish bagpipe, on which they play a plaintive tune_."[415] - -Every _legend_, however, is founded upon _reality_, and I will unfold to -you from what has Joceline concocted _this about St. Patrick_. All the -_crosses_ of the Tuath-de-danaans had _snakes_ engraved upon them. Look -back at that at Killcullen,[416] and you will see them there still, and -more plainly, by and by, upon that at Kells. These to the Irish were -objects of reverence, because of the _passions_ which they symbolised; and -accordingly the Saint, in order to obviate the recurrence of such -contemplations, effaced them, when practicable, from off the stones.[417] - -The same precisely was the course, but with a less hallowed intention, -which the Moslems had pursued in the dissemination of their creed. -"Whenever," says Archer, "these figures were introduced, the fanatic -Moslem had hammered away all those within his reach; and when this process -was too slow for the work of demolition, another mode of obliteration was -requisite. Whole compartments of sculpture were plastered over to hide the -profane imagery! In clearing away the rubbish, to bring these beautiful -remains to light, the engineer stumbled on a long frieze, part of which -had had the destroying mallet passed over it; but this method of despatch -was not active enough, and that portion which had escaped violence, had -been plastered over with a composition of the colour of the stone."[418] - -We read also in the Puranas, as an historical circumstance, that the whole -_serpent_ race had been destroyed by Janamijaya, the son of Parieshit, -which, in truth, only implies, as the talented professor of Sanscrit in -Oxford University has already remarked, "the subversion of the local and -original superstition, and the erection of the system of the Vedas upon -its ruins." - -St. Patrick, in like manner, having established Christianity _here_, in -supercedence of a religion, the most prominent symbols of which were -_snakes_, _cockatrices_, and _serpents_, may be truly said to have -_extirpated_ their race from the country, but, as you see, in an -acceptation heretofore unexplained. - -The _statement_ given by Major Archer of the _symbolic representations_ -upon one of the Indian temples, as well as the particulars of its _fate_, -are so perfectly in unison with what I have been describing, that I must -be excused if I give it a place here. - -"Reached Burwah-Saugor," says he. "Immediately on the right is a Hindoo -temple, which I think one of the rarest sights, on the score of -architecture and sculpture, which have gratified our curiosity. The work -of the chisel would have immortalised the artist had he lived in the -present day. I have never seen its execution rivalled, although tolerably -conversant with similar objects of art. The elegance of design--the -arrangement of the figures, which were too numerous to be computed--the -position of them--the sharp and bold relief--and the elaborate ornaments -of _foliage_ and _animals_, render it one of the _most remarkable -monuments_ of art it is possible to conceive. There are compartments on -the lintels of the doors and the entablature, four deep; _figures of the -subordinate deities in the voluminous code of Brahma_, _symbols of their -attributes_, _sacred utensils_, and _animals_. Two vases are on the -threshold, which, for shape and execution, would compete the palm of -excellence with Grecian art. _Wreaths of snakes_, and groups of _men_ and -_women_, are on the _columns_, which also have _their_ ornaments, and are -well proportioned. - -"I could not resist a second visit to this edifice, which, at the risk of -appearing opinionative, I can seriously aver, I never saw equalled for -richness and taste; but the hand of intolerant bigotry has marred the work -of fair proportion. The fanatical Moslems, who overran the country in the -time of Acbar, broke and defaced every image they saw; and, with few -exceptions, the head of every figure, of any size or importance, has been -demolished; and nothing remains but relics, which attest the advance of -the arts at the time the structure was reared." - -The effects of fanaticism are the same in all ages. It desecrates alike -human and divine laws. St. Patrick was no fanatic; and accordingly, in -_his_ course, what he could not himself comprehend, he was resolved, at -all events, to have respected. Those crosses, therefore, which had -previously been looked upon with an eye of veneration, _though the cause -had long ceased to be transmitted_, he literally _Christianised_, by -removing the sculpture; and thus were they made, in the ritual of the new -religion, as hallowedly expressive as they were ever before. - -Precisely similar was the system pursued by the missionaries in India. - -"The island of Salsette," says Captain Head, "abounds in mythological -antiquities and pagan temples--two gigantic figures of Buddha, near twenty -feet high, of complete preservation, which they owe to the zeal of the -Portuguese, who painted them red, and converted the place they ornamented -to a Catholic chapel." - -The Pantheon at Rome was new modelled in the same manner. In a word, as -Grotius has before affirmed, "infinite appropriations have been made." - -But, independently of this conversion, the conformity itself between the -Christian and the Budhist religion was so great that the Christians, who -rounded the Cape of Good Hope with Vasco de Gama, performed their -devotions in an Indian temple, on the shores of Hindustan! Nay, "in many -parts of the peninsula," say the _Asiatic Researches_, "Christians are -called, and considered as followers of Buddha, and their divine -legislator, whom they confound with the apostle of India, is declared to -be a form of Buddha, both by the followers of Brahma and those of Siva; -and the information I had received on that subject is confirmed by F. -Paulino." - -It was not so with those who made religion a trade, and only the auxiliary -password to their selfish aggrandisement! When the "abomination of -desolation"[419] swept over this country, and strewed the verdure of its -surface with the indiscriminate fragments of cathedrals, of castles, and -of towers, the crosses but as little escaped the scourge! - -Having had occasion to pass through Finglas, on their march to the siege -of Drogheda, and fancying the cross which stood there to have been -_necessarily_ the erection of obnoxious _Romanism_, they gave it an -_iconoclast_ blow, which broke its shaft into two! Thus decapitated, it -fell. But the citizens, wishing to avoid further profanation, soon as ever -the army evacuated the town, took the disjointed relic and buried it very -decorously within the confines of the churchyard! - -Here it remained, in consecrated interment, until the beginning of the -year 1816, when an old man of the parish, recounting anecdotes of bygone -times, mentioned amongst others, the particulars of this tradition, and -excited some curiosity by the narrative. - -[Illustration] - -The Rev. Robert Walsh was then curate of Finglas, and this mysterious -history having reached his ears, he determined forthwith to ascertain its -evidences. His first step was to see the chronicler himself.--This -personage's name was Jack White. Jack, who was himself well stricken in -years, told him that he had learned, a long while ago, from his father, -who was then himself rather elderly, that he had been shown by his still -older grandfather the identical spot where the cross had been concealed, -and could point it out now to anyone with certainty and preciseness. - -The proposal was accepted; workmen were employed; and, after considerable -perseverance, the cross was _exhumed_, its parts _reunited_ by iron -cramps, and _re-erected_, as opposite, within a short distance of the -scene of its subterranean slumbers, as if in renascent triumph over the -destroyer! - - "Let such approach this consecrated land - And pass in peace along the magic waste: - But spare its relics--let no busy hand - Deface the scene, already how defaced! - Not for such purpose were those altars placed: - Revere the remnants nations once revered; - So may our country's name be undisgraced, - So may'st thou prosper where thy youth was reared, - By every honest joy of love and life endeared."[420] - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - - -It will be borne in mind that everything hitherto advanced on the various -topics which we have been discussing, was the sheer result of internal -reasoning and of personal circumspection--that, wherever extrinsic aid was -brought forward in support of this unbeaten track, it was uniformly in the -shape of _conclusions_ deduced from the premises of reluctant witnesses. I -rejoice, with delight unspeakable, that I have it at last in my power to -range myself side by side with an author whose testimony in this matter -must be considered decisive, but which, however, by some strange -aberration of intellect, has never before been understood! - -Cormac,[421] the celebrated bishop of Cashel, and one of the first -scholars who ever flourished in any country, when defining the Round -Towers in his _Glossary of the Irish Language_, under the name of -_Gaill_[422] says, that they were "_Cartha cloacha is aire bearor gall -desucder Fo bith ro ceata suighedseat en Eire_,"--that is, stone-built -monuments within which noble judges used to enclose vases containing the -relics of Fo (_i.e._ Buddh), and of which they had erected hundreds -throughout Ireland! - -Knowing that the Ceylonese _Dagobs_, a name which literally signifies -_houses of relics_, were appurtenances of Budhism, I intreated of a very -intelligent native of that island, who attended the Vihara, at Exeter -Hall, some time ago, that he would favour me with a written outline of his -views of those structures. After a few days, he very civilly obliged me -with the following:-- - -"Travellers to the Eastern countries often have their notice attracted by -numerous buildings of a singular form and enormous sizes, both in ruins -and in preserved states, about the origin and objects of which many -inquiries have been made, and various conclusions drawn. These are -monuments raised in ancient times to the memory of deified persons, and -called _Chaityas_, to which places devotees used to resort for meditation, -especially those who had any particular veneration for the deceased, whose -relics are supposed to be deposited within, and on whose virtues they -quietly reflect, availing themselves of the solitude of such places; and -if in their own imaginations the personages are deified, they make -offerings of lamplight, etc. - -"In exploring the ruins of these pyramids, the inside of the globes are -found to contain loose earth, merely filled up after the arches had been -raised; in such loose earth are found ancient coins of various metals, -supposed to be thrown in, in token of respect or veneration, whilst -building; but in the very centre of the globe is always found a square -well, paved with bricks, and the mouths covered by hewn granite, borne on -granite supporters, standing in the four corners of the square (sometimes -triangular). In this well, if the monument of a king (and if not robbed -by ancient invaders), will be found the urn containing the relics of the -deceased, and treasure to a considerable worth. Sometimes there may be -discovered a piece of beaten gold, or other metal, with engravings, -mentioning the name and other circumstances of the deceased. If a Buddhist -king, idols of Buddha might be found in it--but in others, sometimes -earthen or metallic lamps, and heads of _cobra de capellas_. - -"In similar monuments, erected for the relics of Buddha, are three -different compartments or depositories; one in the bottom of the -foundation, one in the heart of the globe, and one at the top of the globe -within the column. This column always has its basis upon the granite -covering of the well. In monuments of this description are supposed to be -much buried treasure, especially in the foundations. The Paly book, -_Toopahwanse_, gives account of the distribution of the Buddha's relics to -the different parts of the world, and the erection of such monuments over -them. - -"Monuments of eminent Buddhist high priests are sometimes erected very -high, but no treasure is to be expected in them, excepting sometimes books -engraved on metal; but the tomb of the poorest prince is never without (at -least in models) a golden crown, a sword of the same metal, a pair of -metallic shoes, and a similar parasol. - -"Besides having learnt from tradition and ancient documents, the writer -has seen the discovery of the tomb of a prince, in which these articles -were found, with a plate of gold, stating the name of the prince, his age, -death, etc., which he had the pleasure to transcribe; the characters were -in a different form from those now used in the same language, and hardly -intelligible. - -"The writer had also the pleasure of exploring the ruins of a very lofty -Dagob that stood opposite to the establishment of the Church Missionaries -in Ceylon. It was found to have been the tomb of a monarch, and had the -appearance of having been robbed of the wealth it very likely contained, -upwards of a century ago, as the trees that were growing on it indicated. -A large quantity of ancient coins, and metal of different kinds, melted -into various shapes (perhaps with burning of the corpse), were, however, -collected. - -"Ceylon contains many ancient pyramids of the kind in a preserved state, -and protected by the people, which are supposed to contain much wealth, -but the superstitious do not dare to explore, and others fear the laws, -which will permit violence to no man's feelings."[423] - -Having before shown how that the religion of the ancients was interwoven -with their funeral observances, this ocular testimony was alone requisite -to gain credence for my proofs. I can still further adduce the authority -of Dr. Hurd,[424] to show that the Gaurs of India, to this day, make use -of the _Round Towers_[425] in their neighbourhood as places of burial, -lifting up the dead bodies to the elevated door by means of ladders and -pulleys. None of those three writers have attempted anything more than a -statement of the actualities, therefore will I be excused if, in addition -to what has been already detailed, I observe that, sublime and philosophic -as was the intent of the _phallic_ configuration of those edifices, -applied to _religion_, it was incomparably more so, considered in -reference to _sepulture_; for while, in the former, it merely typified the -progress of _generation_ and _vitality_, in the latter it suggested the -more ennobling hope of a future _renascence_ and a _resurrection_. - -That the reader, now aware of the "_secret_" which directed the form and -elevation of our Sabian Towers, should not be surprised at the affinity -which I have before pointed out between them and the two "pillars" which -stood at the door of Solomon's temple,[426] I shall tell him that the -whole internal construction of this latter edifice, as well as those outer -and partial ornaments, bore direct relation to the anatomical organism of -man himself. - -To instance only the most prominent of those analogies, you will find the -"holy" and the "most holy" bear the same relation to each other, as the -cerebrum and cerebellum of the human mechanism. Nor need this at all be -wondered at, seeing that, from the very faintest reflection, it must -suggest itself to the most indolent that the divine ingenuity most -prominently shines forth in the human anatomy; and that, therefore, from -the exalted sentiments which this is calculated to inspire of the Godhead, -"the noblest study of mankind is man."[427] - -Viewing it in this light, and coupling it with that piety which is known -to have animated the bosom of David's anointed son, I cannot pass on -without participating in that sublime exclamation, which bespoke at once -his gratitude and his humility, after the consummation of his mighty task. -"But will God," said he, "indeed dwell on earth! Behold! the heaven and -the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that I -have builded!"[428] - -Now to the _era_ for the erection of our Round Towers. "As they have -neither dates nor inscriptions," say Sir John Ware, "and as history is -silent on that head, it cannot be expected that I should point out the -time when they were erected in this country."[429] A very cheap way, -certainly, of getting over a difficulty! The same was the mode adopted by -him, and with equal candour, a few pages earlier, as to the development of -their _destination_, when he says: "I confess it is much easier to combat -and _overthrow_ everything that has been hitherto advanced by writers in -favour of the _Danish claim_ to these monuments of antiquity and the -_uses_ of them, than to _substitute anything solid and satisfactory in -their room_."[430] But inasmuch as the latter problem has been solved, one -is led to conclude that the obstacles to the former are but imaginary -also. - -To begin then. Camden, speaking of them, in the thirteenth century, says -he believes them to have been erected in the seventh, but does not know by -whom! But I put it to any rational thinker to say whether, if they had -been a creation of the seventh century, it would be possible for a writer -of the thirteenth to have been ignorant of their origin, and that too at a -time when _tradition_ was universal? and every father made it a point to -instil into his son the events and circumstances that happened in his own -day? This writer's testimony is sufficient, at all events, to show that -they existed in the seventh century. - -Bishop Cormac, we have seen before, has recorded them as objects of -antiquity in his own time; and this being, at the latest, within the ninth -century, they must have had existence before the seventh; else they could -not well be deemed _ancient_ two centuries after. - -The Ulster annals record the destruction of fifty-seven of them by an -earthquake, A.D. 448; they must, therefore, have existed before that -century also. But the Royal Irish Academy say _no_; because that tradition -connects a person called the _Goban Saer_, and "the historical notices -relative to whom have been collected into Mr. Petrie's essay ... with the -erection of this (the Antrim Tower), as well as others in the north of -Ireland!"[431] As every notice, therefore, respecting so important a -character must be eagerly sought after, I shall take leave to transcribe -what the same high authority tells us of him, in the following words, -namely:-- - -"_I have not learned the particular period at which he flourished_, but -tradition says that he was superior to all his contemporaries in the art -of building; even in that dark age when so little communication existed -between countries not so remotely situated, his fame extended to distant -lands. A British prince, whose possessions were very extensive, and who -felt ambitious of erecting a splendid palace to be his regal residence, -hearing of the high attainments of the Goban Saer in his sublime science, -invited him to court, and by princely gifts and magnificent promises -induced him to build a structure, the splendour of which excelled that of -all the palaces in the world. But the consummate skill of the artist had -nearly cost him his life, for the prince, struck with the matchless beauty -of the palace, was determined that it should stand unrivalled on the -earth, by putting the architect to death, who alone was capable of -constructing such another, after the moment the building received the -finishing touches of his skilful hand. - -"This celebrated individual had a son, who was grown up to man's estate; -and anxious that this only child should possess, in marriage, a young -woman of sound sense and ready wit, he cared little for the factitious -distinctions of birth or fortune, if he found her rich in the gifts of -heaven. Having killed a sheep, he sent the young man to sell the skin at -the next market town, with this singular injunction, that he should bring -home _the skin and its price_ at his return. The lad was always accustomed -to bow to his father's superior wisdom, and on this occasion did not stop -to question the good sense of his commands, but bent his way to town. In -these primitive times it was not unusual to see persons of the highest -rank engaged in menial employments, so the townsfolk were less surprised -to see the young Goban expose a sheep-skin for sale, than at the absurdity -of the term, '_the skin and the price of it_.' He could find no chapman, -or rather chapwoman (to coin a term), for it was women engaged in domestic -business that usually purchased such skins for the wool. A young woman at -last accosted him, and upon hearing the terms of sale, after pondering a -moment agreed to the bargain. She took him to her house, and having -stripped off all the wool, returned him the bare skin, and the price for -which the young man stipulated. Upon reaching home, he returned _the skin -and its value_ to his father, who learning that a young woman became the -purchaser, entertained so high an opinion of her talents, that in a few -days she became the wife of his son, and sole mistress of Rath Goban. - -"Some time after this marriage, and towards the period to which we before -referred, when the Goban Saer and his son were setting off, at the -invitation of the British prince, to erect his superb palace, this young -woman exhibited considerable abilities, and the keenness of her -expressions, and the brilliancy of her wit, far outdid, on many occasions, -the acumen of the Goban Saer himself; she now cautioned him, when his old -father, who did not, like modern architects, Bianconi it along macadamised -roads, got tired from the length of the journey, _to shorten the road_; -and, secondly, not to sleep a third night in any house without securing -the interest of _a domestic female friend_. The travellers pursued their -way, and after some weary walking over flinty roads, and through intricate -passages, the strength of the elder Goban yielded to the fatigue of the -journey. The dutiful son would gladly _shorten the road_ for the wayworn -senior, but felt himself unequal to the task. On acquainting his father -with the conjugal precept, the old man unravelled the mystery by bidding -him commence some strange legend of romance, whose delightful periods -would beguile fatigue and pain into charmed attention. Irishmen, I -believe, are the cleverest in Europe at '_throwing it over_' females in -foreign places, and it is pretty likely that the younger Goban did not -disobey the second precept of his beloved wife. On the second night of -their arrival at the king's court, he found in the person of a female of -very high rank (some say she was the king's daughter), a friend who gave -her confiding heart to all the dear delights that love and this Irish -experimentalist could bestow. As the building proceeded under the skilful -superintendence of the elder Goban, the son acquaints him with the -progress of his love, and the ardent attachment of the lady. The cautious -old man bade him beware of one capable of such violent passion, and take -care lest her jealousy or caprice might not be equally ungovernable, and -display more fearful effects. To discover her temper, the father ordered -him to sprinkle her face with water as he washed himself in the -morning--that if she received the aspersion with a smile, her love was -disinterested, and her temper mild; but if she frowned darkly, her love -was lust, and her anger formidable. The young man playfully sprinkled the -crystal drops on the face of his lover--she smiled gently--and the young -Goban rested calmly on that tender bosom, where true love and pitying -mildness bore equal sway. - -"The wisdom of the Goban Saer and his sapient daughter-in-law was soon -manifested; for, as the building approached its completion, his lady-love -communicated to the young man the fearful intelligence that the king was -resolved, by putting them to death when the work was concluded, that they -should erect no other such building, and, by that means, to enjoy the -unrivalled fame of possessing the most splendid palace in the world. These -tidings fell heavily on the ear of the Goban Saer, who saw the strong -necessity of circumventing this base treachery with all his skill. In an -interview with his majesty, he acquaints him that the building was being -completed; and that its beauty exceeded everything of the kind he had done -before, but that it could not be finished without a certain instrument -which he unfortunately left at home, and he requested his royal permission -to return for it. The king would by no means consent to the Goban Saer's -departure; but anxious to have the edifice completed, he was willing to -send a trusty messenger into Ireland for that instrument upon which the -finishing of the royal edifice depended. The other assured his majesty -that it was of so much importance that he would not entrust it into the -hands of the greatest of his majesty's subjects. It was finally arranged -that the king's eldest son should proceed to Rath Goban, and, upon -producing his credentials to the lady of the castle, receive the -instrument of which she had the keeping, and which the Goban Saer named -'_Cur-an-aigh-an-cuim_.' Upon his arrival in Ireland, the young prince -proceeded to fulfil his errand; but the knowing mistress of Rath Goban, -judging from the tenor of the message, and the ambiguous expressions -couched under the name of the pretended instrument, that her husband and -father-in-law were the victims of some deep treachery, she bad him -welcome, inquired closely after her absent friends, and told him he should -have the object of his mission when he had refreshed himself after the -fatigues of his long journey. Beguiled by the suavity of her manners and -the wisdom of her words, the prince complied with her invitation to remain -all night at Rath Goban. But in the midst of his security, the domestics, -faithful to the call of their mistress, had him bound in chains, and led -to the dungeon of the castle. Thus the wisdom of the Goban Saer and the -discrimination of his daughter completely baffled the wicked designs of -the king, who received intimation that his son's life would surely atone -for the blood of the architects. He dismissed them to their native country -laden with splendid presents; and, on their safe arrival at Rath Goban, -the prince was restored to liberty."[432] - -Gentlemen of England, where is your knowledge of history? which of your -famed monarchs was it that was going to play this scurvy trick upon our -_Goban_, and earn for himself the infamous notoriety of a second -_Laomedon_, by defrauding this _architect_, who no doubt was a _Hercules_, -of his stipulated salary? Ye shades of Alfred and of Ethelbert, I pause -for a reply? - -But this indignity, if offered to _Goban_, would be even greater than that -offered by Laomedon to Hercules; for in the latter case the crime was only -that of _dishonesty_--which is not uncommon in any age--superadded to a -spice of _impiety_, in cheating a god; but in the former case, over and -above all these, would weigh a consideration which our people would never -forget, namely, a violation of the laws of _gallantry_, this same Goban -"having been believed in this part of this country to have been a -_woman_!"[433] And yet the same vehicle that puts forth this trash has -told us, in the preceding extract, that he was a _father_ and a _husband_! -(I do not believe in hermaphrodites), and, to crown the climax of -absurdity, gives us the following specimen of the _heroism_ of his _wife_, -namely:-- - -"The Goban Saer having been barbarously murdered, together with his -journeymen, by twelve highwaymen, the murderers proceeded to his house, -and told the Goban's wife, with an air of triumph, that they had killed -her husband. She appearing nowise concerned, asked them to assist her in -drawing open the trunk of a tree, which the Goban had been cutting up into -planks. They put in their hands for the purpose, when, drawing out a -wedge, she left them literally in a cleft stick, and taking up an axe, cut -off all their heads at a blow"![434] - -But this is ludicrously trifling with the time of my readers. I am alive -to the fact, and I most submissively crave forgiveness, which I doubt not -I shall receive, when I state that my sole object was to expose the -_flimsiness_ of that subterfuge by which the Royal Irish Academy, or -rather their council! had hoped that they could blindfold the public as -well as they had succeeded in sequestrating my prize! - -I do not deny indeed but that there may have been in Ireland at one time -such a person as the Goban Saer: but if ever he did belong thereto, it -must have been at least _sixteen hundred_ years before the epoch which the -Academy sanction--and so sanction, be it observed, because that a -weak-minded poor monk, when writing the biography of _St. Abhan_, and -torturing his invention, in all quarters, for the purpose of conjuring up -miracles to lay to his score, thought the similarity of sound between -_Abhan_ and _Gobhan_ so inviting, that he must contrive an interview -between the parties; and so, with "one fell swoop," alias, _dash of the -pen_, cutting off the centuries of separation, he treats himself and his -pupils to the following burlesque:-- - -"_Quidam_ famossissimus in omni arte lignorum et lapidum _erat_ in -Hibernia nomine Gobbanus, cujus artis fama usque _in finem saeculi_ erit in -ea. Ipse jam postquam, aliis sanatis, in superflua artis suae mercede lumen -oculorum amisit, et erat caecus. Hic vocatus est ad S. Abbanum et dixit ei: -Volo aedificium in honorem Dei aedificare, et tu age illud. Et ille ait: -Quomodo possum agere cum sim caecus? dixit ei sanctus, Quamdiu illud -operaberis lumen oculorum habebis, sed tibi postea non promitto. Et ita -factum est, nam ille artifex apud sanctum Dei in lumine suo operatus est, -et cum esset illud perfectum lumen oculorum amisit"[435]--that is, in the -true spirit of what my countrymen call a _sceal Feeneechtha_, or -_Phoenician story_, _i.e._ an _entertaining lie_ (a proof, by the way, -that they claim no kindred with the Phoenicians, else they would not thus -confirm the well-known epithet of _Punica fides_); however to put this -_sceal Feeneechtha_ into English, it runs thus: "_Once upon a time_ there -lived in Erin a man most celebrated for his universal mastery over wood -and stone; and whose fame, accordingly, will live therein as long as -_grass shall grow_ or _purling streams flow in its enchanting scenery_. -This good man's name was _Gobhan_, who, wallowing in wealth from the -meritorious exertions of his abilities, yet incapacitated from enjoying it -by the deprivation of his sight, was summoned before _St. Abhan_, who had -already healed the rest of the world by his miraculous gifts, and who thus -addresses him: 'I wish to build a house to the honour of God; and set you -about it.' 'How can I,' says _Gobhan_, '_seeing_ that I am _blind_?' 'O -very well,' says _Abhan_, 'I will settle that; long as ever you are -engaged in the business, you shall have the use of your eyes; but I make -no promises afterwards!' And verily it was so, for long as ever he did -work with the saint he had the use of his sight, but soon as ever the work -was done he relapsed into his former blindness!" - -Well, you may laugh if you chose, in future, at the simplicity of the -_monks_; but here is one for you, who, in the very extravagance of his -simplicity, and that while bursting almost with risibility himself at the -speciousness of his conceit, has contrived to bamboozle a jury of -_umpires_ who pique themselves upon their contempt for everything -_monkish_, and who actually, in any other case, had they the _sworn_ -evidence of a monk, would go counter thereto; but here, where an old -doting friar is drawing upon his ingenuity, every syllable that escapes -him is taken for gospel! - -Now, _I_ as readily believe, as they would fain persuade me, that "long as -_Gobhan_ did work with _Abhan_ he had the use of his sight," and that -"soon as ever the work was done he relapsed into his former blindness." -And why? because the two men, living in different ages, never laid eyes -upon each other at all, and thus were they _both, morally and literally, -blind to each other_! - -The Scythians, who were masters of this country at the Christian era, and -for many centuries preceding, had a sovereign contempt for everything like -architecture. "They have no towns," says Herodotus, "no fortifications; -their habitations they always carry with them."[436] The principle which -actuated them, in this indifference to _houses_, was precisely that which -governed the Britons in a similar taste--they were a race of _warriors_, -and dreaded the imputation of _cowardice_ more than they did the -inclemency of the _weather_. It is not without reason, therefore, that we -find Hollingshed, who wrote his Chronicles in Queen Elizabeth's reign, -complaining that "three things were altered for the worse in England: the -multitude of chimneys lately erected, the great increase of lodgings, and -the exchange of treen platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver -and tin. Nothing but oak for building houses is now regarded: when houses -were built with willow, then had we oaken men; but now our houses are -come to be built of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a great -many altogether of straw."[437] - -St. Bernard, also, in reference to the Irish, having mentioned that -Malachy O'Morgan, archbishop of Armagh, was the first (of the Scythian -race) who had erected a stone house in the island, introduces a native -upbraiding him with it, in these terms: "What wonderful work is this? why -this innovation in our country? we are Scots, and not Gauls, what -necessity have we for such durable edifices?" - -_St. Abhan_, therefore, who belonged to the sixth century, at which time -the Scythians had here absolute sway, never once dreamt of erecting a -stone edifice, or of evoking from the grave the manes of _Gobhan_, who, if -he ever existed, must have been a member of the former dynasty. - -Those _pious_ fabrications which the biographers of early saints had -concocted, with a view to magnify the reverence due to their subjects, -remind me of one which was invented for the benefit (but in reality to the -detriment) of St. Patrick, and which, even at the risk of appearing -tedious, I must detail. - -"Whereas,"--you perceive the record begins with all the formalities of -office,--"in the year of the world 1525, Noah began to admonish the people -of vengeance to come by a generall deluge for the wickednesse and -detestable sinne of man, and continued his admonition for 120 years, -building an arke for the safeguard of himself and his family; one Caesarea -(say they), according unto others, Caisarea, a niece of Noah (when others -seemed to neglect this warning), rigging a navy, committed herself, with -her adherents, to the seas, to seeke adventures and leave the plagues that -were to befall. There arrived in Ireland with her three men, _Bithi_, -_Largria_, and _Fintan_, and fifty women. Within forty days after her -arrivall the universal flood came upon them, and those parts, as well as -upon the rest of the world, and drowned them all; in which perplexity of -mind and imminent danger, beholding the waves overflowing all things -before their eyes, _Fintan_ is said to have been _transformed into a -salmon_, and to have swoome all the time of the deluge about Ulster; and -after the fall of the water, recovering his former shape, to have lived -longer than _Adam_, and to have delivered strange things to posterity, so -that of him the common speech riseth, 'If I had lived Fintan's years I -could say much.'" - -Well, "to make a long story short," this same Fintan, who was converted -into a _salmon_, for the sole purpose of accounting for his appearance on -the same theatre with St. Patrick, is introduced to the saint, when, after -a very diverting episode upon his _submarine_ adventures, a miracle, of -course, is to be wrought; and, anon, we have the contemporary of _Noah_, -and of _Patrick_, at once a _salmon_, a _dolphin_, and a _man_, renouncing -his attachment to the _waters_ and to the _boat_, and devoutly embracing -Christianity!!! - -The anachronism committed in the instance of the _Goban Saer_ was -precisely of the same character! and the very name assigned him, which is -that of a _class_, not of an individual, exposes the counterfeit! - -_Gobhan Saer_ means the _Sacred Poet_, or the _Freemason Sage_, one of -the _Guabhres_, or _Cabiri_, such as you have seen him represented upon -the Tuath-de-danaan cross at Clonmacnoise. To this colony, therefore, must -he have belonged, and therefore the _Towers traditionally associated with -his erection_ must have been constructed anterior to the Scythian influx. - -But we are not left to such inferences to determine the point. A more -substantial ally, the imperishable landmarks of history stand forward as -my vouchers. - -To this hour the two localities,--whereon the Tuath-de-danaans had fought -their two decisive battles with the _Fir-Bolgs_, their immediate -predecessors in the occupation of this island,--one near Lough Mask, in -the county Galway, and the other near Lough Arran, in the county -Roscommon, are called by the name of _Moy-tura_, or more correctly, in -Irish, _Moye-tureadh_! - -The meaning of this compound, beyond the possibility of disputation, is -_The field of the Towers_! And when in both those places are still traced -the ruins of such edifices, are we not inevitably forced to connect, as -well their _erection_ as the imposition of the _name_, with the fortunes -or with the feelings of some side of the above combatants? - -You will say, then, that the _Fir-Bolgs_ were as likely to have originated -the name, and built those structures upon the site, in _reliance_ upon -_their_ divinities, as that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ should have been the -authors in _gratitude to theirs_? - -Our only mode, therefore, is to consider the vestiges of their respective -religions: and when we perceive that in the isles of Aran, whither the -Fir-Bolgs betook themselves after their _first_ defeat, for the period -intervening between those two battles, commemorated by the above name, -there appears not a _vestige_ of architectural masonry approaching in -character to a _Columnar temple_, while, on the contrary, they abound in -specimens of _Druidical_ veneration, is it not evident that they, at all -events, have no claim thereto? - -The worship, therefore, of the Fir-Bolgs differed altogether from that of -the Tuath-de-danaans, and so _they_ are excluded from those immortal -memorials. Indeed the avidity with which they hailed the approach of a new -conqueror, and tendered him their assistance for the reduction of the -island, arose not so much from any fondly-cherished hope of their being -themselves restored to the throne they had lost, or even allowed therein a -participation, as from an illiberal aversion to the emblematic ritual of -their temple-serving superiors, which their ignorant prejudices could not -allow them to appreciate! - -We are warranted, then, I presume, in assigning solely to the -Tuath-de-danaans the affixing of the name _Moy-tureadh_ to those _two -scenes of their success_. And did there even a _doubt_ remain on the mind -of the most incredulous as to the accuracy of the inference, or the -correctness of that reasoning, which would identify this people with the -erections _in general_ of those rotundities, it will hide its diminished -head, and vanish with self-abasement, when I bring forward the testimony -of Amergin, brother to Heremon and, Heber,--the immediate victors of this -religious order--in the following graphic and pictorial treasure, as still -religiously preserved in the Book of Leccan, viz.:-- - - "Aonoch righ Teambrach - Teamor _Tur Tuatach_ - Tuath Mac Miledh - Miledh Long Libearne." - -That is-- - - Noble is the King of Teamor, - Teamor the _Tuathan Tower_, - Tuaths were the sons of Miledh, - Miledh of the Libearn vessels. - -Here, then,--_a circumstance which I cannot imagine how it could have -escaped all before me!_--we have this disputed question at length settled, -and incontrovertibly adjudicated by the very head of _that body_ which -Montmorency had assured us never alluded to those edifices as a subject of -national boast--I mean the _Bards_. For, whether we admit this Amergin to -have been the person above described,[438] the actual contemporary and -successor of the Tuatha-de-danaans, or as the other of that name who -belongs to the Christian age, and the time of St. Patrick, the supposition -is equally valid, to prove the existence of those structures anterior to -_their_ respective eras! and the ascription in either case remains -unshaken and irrefragable, which in the word _Tuathan Tower_ unites the -_Tower_ erectors with the colony of the _Tuatha_! - -My opponents may now demolish, if they can, all my foregoing deductions, -as speedily as they please,--nay, did the destructiveness of fire, or -other untoward accident, deprive me of the deductions of my preceding -labours, to _this one stanza_ would I cling, as the palladium of my truth; -to this landmark would I adhere as my "ne plus ultra" against error, in -its encroachments upon history![439] - -In the whole catalogue of Irish deposits, there exists not one of more -intrinsic value to the lover of antiquities, so far as the right -settlement of history is concerned, than what those four lines present. -For, in the first place, we learn that the celebrity of Teamor[440] arose -not from any gorgeous suit of palaces of a castellated outline. Its renown -consisted in being the central convention for religious celebration to all -the distant provincials once in every year; who, after attending the games -in the adjoining district of _Tailtine_, now Telltown, adjourned, for -legislative deliberations, to the Hill of Tarah, where they propounded -their plans, not within the confined enclosures of any measured dome, but -under the open canopy of the expanded firmament. - -Teamor, then, was not a palace at all, but one of the Round Towers, or -Budhist Temples, belonging to the Tuath-de-danaans; and this is further -proved by the result of researches, made to explore the foundation of an -edifice, confirmatory of a regal mansion, having all ended in the most -confuting disappointment--no vestiges could be found save those of the -Round Tower! - -The importance which attaches to the _Tailtine_ games above noticed, makes -it necessary that I should bestow upon them something more than a cursory -glance. Let me, therefore, first state what other writers have said -respecting them. - -"We attribute," says Abbe Mac Geoghegan, "to Lugha Lamh Fada, one of their -ancient kings, the institution of military exercises at Tailton in Meath; -those exercises consisted in wrestling, the combats of gladiators, -tournaments, races on foot and on horseback, as we have seen them -instituted at Rome a long time after by Romulus, in honour of Mars, which -were called 'Equitia.' These games at Tailton, which Gratianus Lucius and -O'Flaherty call 'ludi Taltini,' were celebrated every year, during thirty -days, that is, fifteen days before, and fifteen days after, the first of -our month of August. On that account, the first of August has been, and is -still called in Ireland, 'Lah Lugh-Nasa,' which signifies a day in memory -of Lugha. These olympiads always continued amongst the Milesians until the -arrival of the English. We discover to this day some vestiges of them, -without any other change than that of time and place. Wrestling, which we -call in France 'le tour du Breton,' the exercises of gladiators, and races -on foot, are still on festival days their common diversion in various -districts of Ireland, and the conquerors generally receive a prize." - -"_Tailtean_," says Seward, "a place in the county of Meath, where the -Druids sacrificed in honour of the _sun_ and _moon_, and _heaven_ and -_earth_, on the first of August, being the fifth revolution of the moon -from the vernal equinox. At this time the states assembled, and young -people were given in marriage, according to the custom of the eastern -nations. Games were also instituted, resembling the Olympic games of the -Greeks, and held fifteen days before and fifteen days after the first of -August. This festival was frequently denominated Lughaid Naoislean, or the -Matrimonial Assembly." - -"This chapter," says Vallancey, "might have been lengthened many pages, -with the description and etymology of the various ornaments of female -dress, but enough has been said to convince the reader that the ancient -Irish brought with them the Asiatic dress and ornaments of their -ancestors, for they could not have borrowed these names of Spaniards, -Britons, Danes, or Norwegians. - -"Thus dressed and ornamented, the youthful females of Ireland appeared at -_Tailetan_, or the mysteries of the sun, on the first day of August in -each year, when the ceremony of the marriage of the sun and moon took -place, and the females were exposed to enamour the swains. The day still -retains the name of _Luc-nasa_, or the Anniversary of the Sun. And the -name of the month of August, in Sanscrit, is Lukie, whom they make the -wife of Veeshnu, the preserver and goddess of plenty. So the Irish poets -have made this festival, named Lucaid-lamh-fada, _i.e._ the Festival of -Love, the consecration of hands, to be the feast of Luigh-lamh-fada, or -Luigh-longumans, to whom they have given Tailte for wife, who, after his -death, was married to Duach." - -"The Taltenean sports," says Sir James Ware, "have been much celebrated by -the Irish historians. They were a sort of warlike exercises, something -resembling the Olympic games, consisting of racing, tilts, tournaments, -or something like them, and other exercises. They were held every year at -Talten, a mountain in Meath, for fifteen days before and fifteen days -after the first of August. Their first institution is ascribed to -Lugaid-lam-fadhe, the twelfth King of Ireland, who began his reign A.M. -2764, in gratitude to the memory of Tailte, the daughter of Magh Mor, a -prince of some part of Spain, who, having been married to Eochaid, King of -Ireland, took this Lugaidh under her protection, and had the care of his -education in his minority. From this lady both the sports and the place -where they were celebrated took their names. From King Lugaidh the first -of August was called Lugnasa, or the memory of Lugaidh, nasa signifying -memory in Irish." - -The truth is, that those games were called _Tailtine_ (whence the English -_Tilts_), and the place _Tailton_, from _Tailte, which, in our language, -signifies a wife_; and the sports, there exhibited, made but a -representation of the victory which Budha gained over _Mara_, the great -tempter, who had attacked him on the day of his attaining to perfection, -with an innumerable host of demons. The conflict is said to have lasted -for fifteen days, at the end of which Budha reduced them to submission, -and to the acknowledgment of his pretensions as the Son of God. - -The _battle-scenes_, therefore, with which the _Tuath_-de-danaan crosses -and obelisks are decorated, bear reference, all of them, to this religious -achievement: and to this hour you will find those identical games -celebrated in various parts of the east, and for the same number of days! -In Egypt, also, there was a place called Tailtal,[441] and named from the -same cause. Nay, the name of the Eleusinian mysteries was _Tailtine_! but -this the Greeks not comprehending, they bent it, as usual, to some -conformity to their own language, and made _Teletai_ of it! and then they -were at no loss in making a _reason_ for it in like manner, namely, that -no one could be _finished_ until _initiated_ therein! - -But it is not alone as assigning those edifices to their real proprietors -that this "stanza" is of value; but as giving us an insight into that -mysterious personage whom our modern chroniclers would fain represent as -the father of Heber and Heremon. A greater error, whether voluntary or -accidental, was never incurred. Heber and Heremon were the sons of -Gallamh, and invaded this island at the head of a Scythian colony,[442] -distinct in all respects, save that of language,[443] from their Tuathan -predecessors. - -These predecessors were headed by three brothers, Brien, Iuchordba, and -Iuchor, the sons of King Miledh, a Fo-morian, by a queen of the -Tuath-de-danaan race, agreeably to this record in the Book of Leccan, -viz.:-- - -"D'Hine fine _Fo-mora_ dosomh de shaorbh a athor, agus do _Tuathabh -Dadanann_ a mhathar"--that is, the father was of the race of the -Fo-morians, and the mother a Tuath-de-danaan. - -Again, in the Seabright Collection, this genealogy is prosecuted further, -and from it, General Vallancey translates some lines, which are by no -means irrelevant, as follows, viz.: "Cuill, Ceacht, and Grian, were the -children of little Touraine--and their descendants, Uar, Jurca, Jurcatha; -and from Uar was descended _Brian_, who was named Touran; and many others -not here enumerated." - -But the history of those events having been destroyed by time, the -degenerate _Pheeleas_, wishing to flatter the vanity of the existing -powers, did not hesitate to ascribe to the _Scythian_, or _modern_ Irish, -followers of Heber and Heremon, those brilliant features of primeval -immortality which appertained exclusively to the Irish of another day--the -Hyperborean or Iranian Irish! - -The Tuath-de-danaans having been proved the authors of the Round Towers, -my ambition in the investigation is already attained. But since we are -told, that this people had claimed possession of the island as inheritors -of an antecedent and preoccupying eastern colony, it may be worth while to -inquire whether we can discover any traces to connect those predecessors -with any of these edifices. Without bestowing upon it, however, more -consideration than what the exigency demands, I will briefly observe, that -we are likely to find such in the history of the _Fo-moraice_, who are -represented in our chronicles, _by the party who had ejected them_, under -the obnoxious character of _monsters_ and _giants_.[444] - -It is high time to give up those abuses in the import of words. -_Fo-moraic_ means literally the mariners of _Fo_, that is, of _Budh_: and -their _religion_ being thus identified with that of the -_Tuath-de-danaans_, what could be more natural than that they should have -erected _temples_ of the same shape with theirs? - -This deduction will appear the more credible from the unanimity of all our -historians, on the subject of this people having been perfect masters of -_masonry_, as well as from the universally credited report in the days of -Cambrensis, of some of the Towers being then visible beneath the -inundation of Lough Neagh.[445] - -I confess I am one of those persons who give faith to this tradition; for -even my experience of the vicissitudes of all things earthly has enabled -me to say, in the words of the philosophic poet, that-- - - "Where once was solid land seas have I seen, - And solid land where once deep seas have been, - Shells far from seas, like quarries in the ground, - As anchors have in mountain tops been found. - Torrents have made a valley of a plain, - High hills by floods transported to the main, - Deep standing lakes sucked dry by thirsty sand, - And on late thirsty earth now lakes do stand." - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - - -Having promised early in this volume to identify our island with the -Insula Hyperboreorum of antiquity, I shall, without further tarrying, -produce the extract referred to, from Diodorus; and, lest I may be -suspected of adapting it to my own peculiar views, it shall appear -minutely in Mr. Booth's translation, viz.:-- - -"Amongst them that have written old stories much like fables, Hecataeus and -some others say, that there is an island in the ocean, over against Gaul, -as big as Sicily, under the arctic pole, where the Hyperboreans inhabit, -so called because they lie beyond the breezes of the north wind. That the -soil here is very rich and very fruitful, and the climate temperate, -insomuch as there are two crops in the year. - -"They say that Latona was born here, and therefore that they worship -Apollo above all other gods; and because they are daily singing songs in -praise of this god, and ascribing to him the highest honours, they say -that these inhabitants demean themselves as if they were Apollo's priests, -who has here a stately grove and renowned temple of round form, beautified -with many rich gifts. That there is a city likewise consecrated to this -god, whose citizens are most of them harpers, who, playing on the harp, -chant sacred hymns to Apollo in the temple, setting forth his glorious -acts. The Hyperboreans use their own natural language, but, of _long_ and -ancient time, have had a special kindness for the Grecians; and more -especially for the Athenians and them of Delos; and that some of the -Grecians passed over to the Hyperboreans, and left behind them divers -presents[446] inscribed with Greek characters; and that Abaris formerly -travelled thence into Greece, and renewed the ancient league of friendship -with the Delians. - -"They say, moreover, that the moon in this island seems as if it were near -to the earth, and represents, on the face of it, excrescences like spots -on the earth; and that Apollo once in nineteen years comes into the -island; in which space of time the stars perform their courses and return -to the same point; and therefore the Greeks call the revolution of -nineteen years the Great Year. At this time of his appearance they say -that he plays upon the harp, and sings and dances all the night, from the -vernal equinox[447] to the rising of the Pleiades,[448] solacing himself -with the praises of his own successful adventures. The sovereignty of this -city and the care of the temple, they say, belong to the Boreades, the -posterity of Boreas, who hold the principality by descent in the direct -line from that ancestor." - -When copying this narrative from the writings of Hecataeus, it is evident -that Diodorus did not believe one single syllable it contained. He looked -upon it as a romance; and so far was he from identifying it with any -actual locality, that he threw over the whole an air of burlesque. We are, -therefore, not at all obliged for the services he has rendered--yet shall -we make his labours subservient to the elucidation of truth. Little did he -dream that Ireland, which he, by and by, expressly mentions by the name of -Irin, and which he calumniates as cannibal, was one and the same with that -isle of which he read such encomiums in the writings of former -antiquaries; and, most unquestionably, it did require no small portion of -research to reconcile the contradiction which the outline involves, and -which is now further enhanced by his scepticism. - -Unable to solve this difficulty, Mr. Dalton--wishing to retain, by all -means, the _Hyperborean isle_, which, indeed, he could not well discard, -yet not bring it in collision with the _Iranian libel_--does not hesitate -to throw at once overboard into the depth of the Atlantic the island of -Irin (alias _Ireland_), and affirm that it never was the place which the -historian had specified. "It is not quite certain," says he, "what place -Diodorus means by Iris;[449] from the turn of the expression it would -_rather appear to be a part of Britain_,--perhaps the Erne, for which Mr. -James M'Pherson contends in another place,--while the island which -Diodorus does mention in the remarkable pages cited above, and which so -completely agrees with Ireland, is never called Iris by him, nor does the -name occur again in all his work, nor is it by any other author applied to -Ireland."[450] - -Mind, now, reader, how easily I reconcile the conflicting fact of -Diodorus's incredulity with his positive defamation. - -At the period when he flourished as an accredited historian, the occupancy -of Ireland had passed into new hands. The Scythians were the persons then -possessed of the soil; and they being a warlike tribe, averse to letters, -to religion, and to refinement,[451]--but overwhelming in -numbers,--obliterated every vestige of that primeval renown in which the -island had once gloried, and which afforded theme and material to the -learned of all countries for eulogy and praise. - -Hecataeus was one of those who depicted in glowing colours the primitive -splendour and the ethereal happiness of Ireland's first inhabitants. He -belonged to an age which was well called antiquarian, even in the day in -which Diodorus wrote, viz. B.C. 44; and when, therefore, this latter, -looking over the pages of his venerable predecessor, saw them so replete -with incidents,--at variance with our condition in his own degenerate -day,--he did not only not dream of considering Ireland as the place -described, but looked upon the whole story as the fiction of a dotard. - -Let us, however, despite of Diodorus, establish the veracity of the -antiquarian Hecataeus. Then behold the situation of this island, just -opposite to France,--in size as large as Sicily,--at once corresponding to -the locality and size of Ireland, and subversive of the claims of those -who would fain make England, Anglesea, or one of the Hebrides, the island -specified. - -Considering further the prolificacy of its soil, and with that compare -what the old poet has affirmed,--and what we know to be true,--of our own -country, viz.:-- - - "Illic bis niveum tondetur vellus in anno - Bisque die referunt ubera tenta greges." - -Then bring its propinquity to the "arctic pole," and the high northern -latitude which Strabo[452] and other ancients have assigned to Ireland, -into juxtaposition with "Hyperborean," the name given to its inhabitants -from the very circumstance of their lying so far to the north, and the -identity of the isle with that in which each true Irishman exults is -infallibly complete when I quote from Marcianus Heracleotes--who wrote in -the third century, and who, as he himself avows, only drew up a compendium -from the voluminous works of Artemidorus, who flourished in the hundred -and sixty-ninth Olympiad, or 104 years before Christ--the following -description of this sacred island, viz. "Iuvernia, a British isle, is -bounded on the north (ad Boream) by the ocean called the Hyperborean; but -on the east by the ocean which is called the Hibernian; on the south by -the Virginian ocean. It has sixteen nations and eleven illustrious cities, -fifteen remarkable rivers, five remarkable promontories, and six -remarkable islands." - -Here the sea, encompassing Ireland on the north, is called the Hyperborean -Ocean;[453] and when we are told that the priests officiating at the round -temples of Apollo were called Boreades, we can readily understand the -origin of the name, as derived from _Boreas_, the deity who presided over -the north-east wind, to which they offered their vows,--just as we find -the Emperor Augustus erecting a temple at Rome, many centuries after, to -the wind called Circius. - -To this deification of the energies of nature, which, as before affirmed, -was but part and parcel of that form of worship called Sabaism, the author -of the Book of Enoch has alluded in the following mysterious episode:-- - -"Then another angel, who proceeded with me, spoke to me; and showed me the -first and last secrets in heaven above, and in the depths of the earth: in -the extremities of heaven, and in the foundations of it, and in the -receptacle of the winds. _He showed me_ how their Spirits were divided; -how they were balanced; and how both the springs and the winds were -numbered according to the force of the Spirit. _He showed me_ the power of -the moon's light, that its power is a just one; as well as the divisions -of the stars, according to their respective names; _that_ every division -is divided; that the lightning flashes; that _their Host_ immediately -obey; and that a cessation takes place during thunder, in the continuance -of its sound. Nor are the thunder and the lightning separated; neither do -both of them move with one Spirit; yet are they not separated. For when -the lightning lightens, the thunder sounds, and the Spirit, at a proper -period, pauses, making an equal division between them; for the receptacle -of their times is what sand is. Each of them at a proper season is -restrained with a bridle, and turned by the power of the Spirit; which -thus propels them according to the spacious extent of the earth." - -Yet beautiful as is the above, it is not much more so than an almost -inspired little poem, which appeared some time ago, in one of the public -prints, as emanating from the pen of an American lady, named Goold, -personifying this element, viz.:-- - - "We come! we come! and ye feel our might, - As we're hastening on in our boundless flight; - And over the mountains and over the deep, - Our broad invisible pinions sweep. - Like the Spirit of Liberty, wild and free! - And ye look on our works, and own 'tis we; - Ye call us the _winds_; but can ye tell - Whither we go, or where we dwell? - - Ye mark as we vary our forms of power, - And fell the forest or fan the flower, - When the hare-bell moves, and the rush is bent, - When the tower's o'erthrown and the oak is rent, - As we waft the bark o'er the slumbering wave, - Or hurry its crew to a watery grave: - And ye say it is we! but can ye trace - The wandering _winds_ to their secret place? - - And whether our breath be loud and high, - Or come in a soft and balmy sigh, - Our threat'nings fill the soul with fear, - As our gentle whisperings woo the ear - With music aerial, still 'tis we, - And ye list, and ye look; but what do ye see? - Can ye hush one sound of our voice to peace, - Or waken one note when our numbers cease? - - Our dwelling is in th' Almighty's hand, - We come and we go at His command; - Though joy or sorrow may mark our track, - His will is our guide, and we look not back; - And if, in our wrath, ye would turn us away, - Or win us in gentlest air to play, - Then lift up your hearts to Him who binds, - Or frees, as He will, the obedient _winds_!" - -And now, as to those "temples" themselves, "of round form," sacred to -Apollo, where will Borlasse in his championship for England, or Rowland in -his claims for the island of Anglesea, or Toland and Carte for the little -Hebrides isles, find a single vestige of a _rotund edifice_ of antiquated -consecration, appertaining to the age which Hecataeus described?--whereas, -in Ireland, of the two hundred and upwards, with which its surface was, at -one time, adorned, we have not only _vestiges_ of each and all to this -day; but, out of the sixty that _survive_,--after an interval of more than -three thousand years standing,--about twenty still display their Grynean -devotion and their Hyperborean tranquillity, and are likely so to do for -three thousand years more, should this world, or our portion of it, but -last so long! - -To give soul to the solemnisation of this religious pomp, the Irish have -ever cultivated the mysteries of music. The harp more particularly had -enlisted the energies of their devotional regard, and their eminence in -its management made Hecataeus well observe, that "the inhabitants were -almost exclusively harpers." This was a very suitable accompaniment to -their worship of Apollo, who was himself the reputed inventor of this -instrument; and accordingly we find that, even in the twelfth century, -broken down and obliterated as every vestige of the _real Irish_ then was, -by the ungenial amalgamation of the Scythian and Danish intruders, the -_harp_ was still preserved as the last remnant of their glory; while the -elegance of their compositions and performance upon it extorted this -reluctant acknowledgment from the prejudiced Cambrensis:-- - -"The attention," says he, "of this people to musical instruments, I find -worthy of commendation; their skill in which is, _beyond comparison, -superior_ to that of _any nation_ I have seen. For in these the modulation -is not slow and solemn, as in the instruments of Britain, to which we are -accustomed, but the sounds are rapid and precipitate, yet, at the same -time sweet and pleasing. It is wonderful how, in such precipitate rapidity -of the fingers, the musical proportions are observed, and, by their art, -faultless throughout. - -"In the midst of their complicated modulations and most intricate -arrangement of notes, by a rapidity so sweet, a regularity so irregular, a -concord so discordant, the melody is rendered harmonious and perfect, -whether the cords of the diatesseron or diapente are struck together. Yet -they always begin in a soft mood, and end in the same, that all may be -perfected in the sweetness of delicious sounds. They enter on, and again -leave, their modulations with so much subtlety, and the tricklings of the -small notes sport with so much freedom under the deep note of the bass; -they delight with so much delicacy, and soothe so softly, that the -excellency of their art seems to be in concealing it."[454] - -Clarsech and Cruit were both names which the Irish gave their harp, from -the musical board and the warbling of the strings respectively. But the -favourite designation was that of Orphean, an evident derivation from -Orpheus, the divine musician of the ancients, who is said to have stayed -the course of rivers, and lulled the listening woods,--to have moved the -stones into prescribed positions, and tamed the savage propensities of -man--all by the instrumentality of his speaking lyre! - -"As regards Orpheus himself," says the learned Barker, "he is stated by -some ancient authorities to have abstained from eating of flesh, and to -have had an abhorrence of eggs, considered as food, from a persuasion that -the egg was the principle of all being. Many other accounts are given of -him, which would seem to assimilate his character to that of the ancient -priests of India, or Brachmani. The ancients, however, unable to discover -any mode by which he could have obtained his knowledge from any other -source, pretended that he had visited Egypt, and had there been initiated -in the mysteries of Isis and Osiris. This appears, however, to be a -supposition purely gratuitous on the part of the ancient writers, since a -careful examination of the subject leads directly to the belief that -Orpheus was of Indian origin; that he was a member of one of those -_Sacerdotal Colonies, which professed the religion of Buddha_; and who -being driven from their home, in the northern parts of India, and in the -plains of Tartary, by the power of the rival sect of Brahma, moved -gradually onwards to the west, dispensing, in their progress, the benefits -of civilisation and the _mysterious tenets of their peculiar faith_." - -We know little or nothing at this remote day of the ancient music of the -Bardic order; that it was eminent, however, and transcendently superior to -that of all other countries, is evident from the fact of its having -maintained its character when all our other attributes had notoriously -vanished. Caradoc admits that his countrymen, the Welsh, borrowed all -their instruments, tunes, airs, and measures, from our favoured island. -Carr additionally says, that "although the Welsh have been for ages -celebrated for the boldness and sweetness of their music, yet it appears -that they were much indebted to the superior musical talents of their -neighbours, the Irish." Selden asserts "that the Welsh music, for the most -part, came out of Ireland with Gruffydh ap Tenan, Prince of North Wales, -who was cotemporary with King Stephen." I know not whether our brethren of -Scotland will be so ready to acknowledge the loan. But if anyone will -compare the spirit of their music with that which pervades the melodies of -our country, the identity will be as obvious as the inference is -irresistible. - -Fuller, in his account of the Crusade, conducted by Godfrey of Boulogne, -says, "Yea, we might well think that all the concerts of Christendom in -this war would have made no music if the _Irish harp_ had been wanting." - -And _this_ is the instrument which Ledwich asserts we borrowed from the -Ostmen! Insolent presumption! Neither Ostman nor Dane ever laid eyes upon -such, until they saw it in the _sunny_ valleys of the Emerald Island. And -had they the shadow of a claim either to it or to the Round Towers, to -which its services were consecrated, Cambrensis could not fail -ascertaining the fact from any of the stragglers of those uncouth -marauders, who--having survived the carnage inflicted upon their army, in -the plains of Clontarf, under the retributive auspices of the immortal -Brien--were allowed to cultivate their mercantile avocations in the -various maritime cities, where they would naturally be proud to perpetuate -every iota of demonstrative civilisation which they could pretend to have -imported. Alas! they _imparted_ none, but _exported_ a great deal; and, -what is more to be lamented, annihilated its evidences! - -But it is not alone of the _property_ of this national organ that the -_moderns_ would deprive us, but the very _existence_ of the instrument -they affirm to be of recent date! Why, sir, it is as old as the hills. -Open the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis, and you will find it there -recorded that "Jubal was the father of all such as handle the _harp_ and -organ." - -And now to the empirics of the "Fine Arts,"[455] and the deniers of their -antiquity, I shall quote the next verse, namely, "Zillah, she also bare a -son, Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron."[456] -And in Job xxviii. 2 it is said that "iron is taken out of the earth, and -brass is molten out of the stone." - -"In the _north of Europe_," says Herodotus, "there appears to be by far -the greatest abundance of gold; where it is found I cannot say, except -that _the Arimaspians, a race of men having only one eye_, are said to -purloin it from the griffins.[457] I do not, however, believe that there -exists any race of men born with only one eye!" - -Had this esteemed author known the allegorical import of the word -Arimaspians (from _arima_, one, and _spia_, an eye), such as it has been -explained at page 86, he would not have committed himself by the -observation with which the above extract has terminated. No doubt he -thought it extremely _philosophical_, because it is _sceptical_! but let -us see if another instance of his _scepticism_ will redound more to his -_philosophy_:--"I cannot help laughing," says he elsewhere, "at those who -pretend that the ocean flows round our continent: no proof can be given of -it.... I believe that Homer had taken what he believes about the ocean -from a work of antiquity, but it was without comprehending anything of the -matter, repeating what he had read, without well understanding what he had -read!"[458] - -Now, without disputing with Siberia the honour of possessing all this -_ancient_ gold, I will take the liberty of inserting an extract from one -of Mr. Hamilton's letters on the Antrim coast, which will show, at all -events, the antiquity of our mining. - -"About the year 1770," says he, "the miners, in pushing forward an adit -toward the bed of coal, at an unexplored part of the Ballycastle cliff, -unexpectedly broke through the rock into a narrow passage, so much -contracted and choked up with various drippings and deposits on its sides -and bottom, as rendered it impossible for any of the workmen to force -through, that they might examine it farther. Two lads were, therefore, -made to creep in with candles, for the purpose of exploring this -subterranean avenue. They accordingly pressed forward for a considerable -time, with much labour and difficulty, and at length entered into an -extensive labyrinth, branching off into numerous apartments, in the mazes -and windings of which they were completely bewildered and lost. After -various vain attempts to return, their lights were extinguished, their -voices became hoarse, and exhausted with frequent shouting; and, at -length, wearied and spiritless, they sat down together, in utter despair -of an escape from this miserable dungeon. In the meanwhile, the workmen in -the adit became alarmed for their safety, fresh hands were incessantly -employed, and, in the course of twenty-four hours, the passage was so -opened as to admit some of the most active among the miners; but the -situation of the two unhappy prisoners, who had sat down together in a -very distant chamber of the cavern, prevented them from hearing altogether -the noise and shouts of their friends, who thus laboured to assist them. - -"Fortunately, it occurred to one of the lads (after his voice had become -hoarse with shouting), that the noise of miners' hammers was often heard -at considerable distances through the coal works; in consequence of this -reflection, he took up a stone, which he frequently struck against the -sides of the cavern; the noise of this was at length heard by the workmen, -who, in their turn, adopted a similar artifice; by this means each party -was conducted towards the other, and the unfortunate adventurers -extricated time enough to behold the sun risen in full splendour, which -they had left the morning before just beginning to tinge the eastern -horizon. On examining this subterranean wonder, it was found to be a -complete gallery, which had been driven forward many hundred yards to the -bed of coal: that it branched off into numerous chambers, where miners had -carried on their different works: that these chambers were dressed in a -workmanlike manner: that pillars were left at proper intervals to support -the roof. In short, it was found to be an extensive mine, wrought by a set -of people at least as expert in the business as the present generation. -Some remains of the tools, and even of the baskets used in the works, were -discovered, but in such a decayed state, that on being touched, they -immediately crumbled to pieces. From the remains which were found, there -is reason to believe that the people who wrought these collieries -anciently, were acquainted with the use of iron, some small pieces of -which were found; it appeared as if some of their instruments had been -thinly shod with that metal." - -There is no question but that the era when those collieries were before -worked, was that in which the Tuath-de-danaans were masters of this -island. _Had it been at any later period, we could not fail having some -traditions relating thereto._ Iron, therefore, the last discovered of the -metals, as stated at page 115, must have been known to this people: and -the absence of any name for it in our vernacular language is accounted for -on the same principle as that by which those excavations themselves had -been so long concealed, namely, the distaste of their successors to such -applications, or the reluctance entertained to make them acquainted with -their worth. - -It is probable, however, that the little minikin fineries of life were not -then in fashion--that our loaves were not baked in tin shapes, as at -present, nor our carriages constructed in so many different varieties of -form, excluding altogether those worked by steam; that our gunlocks were -not prepared with percussion caps, nor our sofas furnished with air-blown -cushions; that the routine of etiquette was differently negotiated, and -that twenty, or more, several hands were not employed in the finish of a -common pin, before it could be dignified with the honour of acting a -useful part in adjusting the habiliments of a modern dandy:--but in all -the grand essentials of life--in all its solid refinements and elegant -utilities,--the scholar will confess that those who have gone before us -have been fully our equals; and traces, too, are not wanting to -countenance the belief that even those knick-knack frivolities on which we -so pique ourselves in the present day, have not been at some period -without a prototype,--so that the majority of those boasted patents for -what are considered _discoveries_ or inventions of something new, should -more properly be for _recoveries_, or unfoldings of something old, and -illustrative of the adage, as remarkable as it is correct, "that there is -nothing new under the sun."[459] - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII. - - -You ask me for the proofs of this early grandeur? I point you to the gold -crowns, the gold and silver ingots, the double-headed paterae or censers, -the anklets, lunettes, bracelets, fibulae, necklaces, etc., which have been -repeatedly found throughout all parts of Ireland, evidently the relics of -that "Sacred" colony who gave their name to this island, and who, to the -refined _taste_ which such possessions imply, united also the science -which appears in their workmanship.[460] - -But these are scanty and insufficient memorials? Pray, what greater can -you produce of ancient Egypt? Her Pyramids? Our Round Towers are as _old_; -are likely to be as _permanent_; and are really more _beautiful_. What are -the vestiges of ancient Etruria? of Assyria? Troy? Chaldea? nay, of -Babylon the Great, the queen of the world? A few consolidations of stone -and mortar--disjointed rubbish--and incrusted pottery. All these _we_ -retain, in addition to the thousand other evidences which crowd upon the -historian. And, while Britain can adduce no single vestige of the -Romans--who subjugated that country at their highest period of -civilisation--but what, in the words of my adversaries themselves, are -"only monuments of barbarism," I answer--_no wonder_--for the Romans were -never to be compared to the Iranian Budhists, who brought all the -splendour of the East to the concentrated locality of this Hyperborean -Island. - -"Infant colonies, forsooth, do not carry a knowledge of the 'Fine Arts' -along with them; they are only to be found where wealth, luxury, and power -have fixed their abode."[461] Most sapient remark! but unluckily out of -place; for the authors of our Round Towers were not "an infant colony" at -all; but the very _heads_ and _principals_ of the most polished and -refined people on the bosom of the habitable earth--the Budhists of Iran. -And, accordingly, in their train not only did "wealth, luxury, and power" -abound, but they seemed _exclusively_ to have taken up their abode amongst -them.[462] - -Analogous to the above was the rhodomontade of another pillar of the same -order. "I, nevertheless," says Montmorency, "am disinclined to believe -that those same persons, had they to choose a residence between Syria and -Ireland, would have taken the _wintry_ and _uncultivated wilds_ of -_Fidh-Inis_, in preference to the sunny plains which gave them -birth."[463] - -In both those cases, of which the former is but the _echo_, in all -opinions, of the latter, our eastern extraction is only objected to, -_considered as Phoenician_; and there, I admit that the Colonel and his -pupil may get an easy triumph over their adversaries. For had the -_Phoenicians_ been the erectors of those Round Towers, _what was to -prevent their raising similar structures in Cornwall_? where it is -indisputable that they had trafficked for tin. In Spain we are certain -that they had established _a home_; and _why does this appear as free from -every evidence of columnar architecture as does the former place_? The -same may be said of other countries whither this people resorted, Citium, -Crete, Cadiz, and all the islands in the Mediterranean. _In no one of them -is there to be found a single edifice approaching, either in design or -form, the idea of a Round Tower!_[464] - -The Phoenicians, therefore, can have no pretensions to the honour of those -memorials; nor, indeed, can their connection with Ireland be at all -recognised, further than that, as having been, at one time, masters of the -sea, _it is merely possible_ that the Tuath-de-danaans may have availed -themselves of their geographical information, and even consigned -themselves to their pilotage for a secure retreat, aloof from the -persecution of intolerance. - -But as we see from the stanza quoted at page 396, that the -Tuath-de-danaans were themselves possessed of a navy; and as it is -indisputable that, long before the Phoenicians, the dynasty of the -Persians had swept the ocean in its widest breadth, there is no need for -our giving the Phoenicians credit even _for this service_, which it now -appears could be dispensed with. - -An effort, however, has been advanced to identify their language with -ours, by the analysis of the fragment of a speech which occurs in one of -the plays of Plautus.[465] The idea was ingenious, but totally unfounded. -_Affinity_, undoubtedly, there does appear,--as there does between all the -ancient languages,--but nothing like _identity_; and the very circumstance -of its having a _distinct_ denomination assigned to it in Ireland, viz. -_Bearla-na-Fene_, or dialect of the Phoenicians (who traded here, it is -admitted), proves it to be different from our _local_ phraseology--the -Iranian _Pahlavi_, the polished elocution of the Tuath-de-danaans. - -The Phoenicians, besides being a mercantile people, never had any -monuments of literary value, whereas the Irish are known to have abounded -in such from the earliest era.[466] - -It is true that we have been denied the possession of alphabetic -characters before the time of St. Patrick: but by whom? By Bolandus; on a -false deduction from the writings of Ward, Colgan, Nennius, etc., who -state that this apostle was the first who gave the "abjectoria," or -alphabet to our nation. Who says otherwise? But what alphabet was here -meant? The Latin, certainly, and no other. Until then the Irish were -strangers to the _Roman_ letters;[467] but that they were not to _written -characters_, or the _cultivation of them in every variety of literature_, -is evident from the very fact of St. Patrick himself having committed to -the flames no less than one hundred and eighty volumes of our ancient -theology;[468] as well as from the recorded instance of his disciple, -Benignus,--his successor also in the See of Armagh,--having, according to -Ward, written a work on the virtues of the Saint, half Latin and half -Irish, and which Jocelyne afterwards availed himself of, when more fully -detailing his biography. - -It has been the custom in all ages with those who would pass as the -luminaries of their respective generations, to maintain that _letters_ and -their application were but a _recent_ discovery! Their antiquity, however, -is an historical fact, than which there can be no other better -authenticated. The Bible makes frequent allusion to the cultivation of -alphabetic cyphers--thus in Ex. xxiv. 4, it is said, "And Moses _wrote_ -all the words of the Lord"; and in Josh. xxiv. 26, "And Joshua _wrote_ -these words in the book of the law of God." - -Nor is it only to the _elementary_ part of literature, but to the very -highest and noblest department of literary research that we find the -ancients had arrived. In the history of Job, an acquaintance with -astronomy is quite apparent. The names of Arcturus, Orion, and the -Pleiades,[469] are distinctly notified in that elaborate composition.[470] -Could this have been without the aid of written characters? Could the -abstruse calculations involved in that pursuit be possibly carried on -without an intimate knowledge of notation and of numbers? Or, if superior -memory may effect it in a few cases, without such characters or legible -marks, how could the _results_ arrived at, and the steps by which they had -been attained, be for any length of time preserved, and their value handed -down to successive experimentalists, unless by the instrumentality of -expressive signs? - -We find, accordingly, in the same treatise,[471] the art of writing -expressly named: Thus, "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they -were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in -the rock for ever!" And that it was of long-continued usage is evident -from a preceding chapter,[472] where it is said, "_Enquire_, I pray thee, -of the _former age_, and prepare thyself for the _search_ of their -fathers!" - -The alphabet which we had here, before the Roman abjectorium, is still -preserved, and called _Beth-luis-nion_,[473] from the names of its first -three letters, just as the English is denominated _A B C_, from a similar -cause, and the Greek _Alpha-bet_ from a like consideration. - - Irish. Latin. English. - - 1 B [Letter] Beithe, Betulla, Birch. - 2 L [Letter] Luis, Ornus, Wild ash. - 3 N [Letter] Nion, Fraxinus, Ash. - 4 S [Letter] Suil, Salix, Willow. - 5 F [Letter] Fearn, Alnus, Alder. - 6 H [Letter] Huath, Oxiacanthus, White thorn. - 7 D [Letter] Duir, Ilex, Oak - 8 T [Letter] Timne, Genist. Spin. Furze. - 9 C [Letter] Coll, Corylus, Hazel. - 10 M [Letter] Muin, Vitis, Vine. - 11 G [Letter] Gort, Hedera, Ivy. - 12 P [Letter] Peth-bhog Beite, or B mollified, - 13 R [Letter] Ruis, Sambucus, Elder. - 14 A [Letter] Ailm, Abies, Fir tree. - 15 O [Letter] Onn, Genista, Broom. - 16 U [Letter] Ur, Erix, or Erica, Heath. - 17 E [Letter] Eghadh, Tremula, Aspen. - 18 I [Letter] Iodha, Taxus, Yew. - -This, you perceive, _falls short, by eight letters, of the number of the -Latin cyphers_, which could not have occurred if borrowed from that -people, and will therefore _stand_, independently and everlastingly, a -self-evident proof of the reverse. - -[Illustration] - -It is well known, that long prior to the arrival of Cadmus the Greeks were -in possession of alphabetic writing.[474] Diodorus states so, but adds -that a _deluge_ had swept all away. One thousand five hundred and fifty -before the era we count by, is agreed upon as the year in which Cadmus -visited Greece; and you have the authority of Pausanias, that he himself -had read an inscription upon a monument at Megara, the date of which was -1678 before our epoch, that is, one hundred and twenty-eight years before -Cadmus's time. - -Besides those ordinary letters of the _Beth-luis-nion_, the Irish made use -of various other _occult_ and secret forms of writing, which they called -_ogham_,[475] and of which I insert some specimens. - -Among these you perceive the _arrow-headed figures_ whereof I have already -advertised you; and the _mysterious import_ of which reminded the -_initiated_ of the _solemn purchase of salvation by the cross_. - -These are all peculiar and totally separate from any Phoenician alliance. -Instead, therefore, of my being _adverse_ to the _moderns_ as to the -Phoenician _bubble_, I am their _auxiliary_. But, Mr. Montmorency, are -there not other places in the East besides Phoenicia? And may not a people -leave the "sunny plains that gave them birth," from other motives than -those of "choice"? And may not "Fidh Inis," instead of being a name of -reproach, such as you affected, by associating it with "wintry and -uncultivated wilds," be one of distinction and of renown? And though to -you its _authors_, as well as the _mystery of its import_, were an -_impenetrable_ secret, may it not, notwithstanding _what you see verified_ -now, be made one of the engines exercised in the recovery of truth, to -prove the splendour and the refinement of our venerable ancestors? - -It is to be hoped, therefore, that after this explanation, we shall hear -no more sarcasms upon this _favoured_ spot. Nor would the anticipation be -too great, that the whole _infidel_ host, with the gallant colonel himself -at their head, _becoming_ alive to the injustice of their former -disbelief, would now slacken their virulence, and if they will not _join_ -in the acclamations of regenerated history, at least decently _withdraw_, -and let the lovers of truth, in security and happiness, celebrate its -triumph. - -"The appellation of Britain," says another _goodly_ (?) champion of this -_order_, "has been tortured for ages by the antiquarians, in order to -force a confession of origin and import for it. And erudition, running -wild in the mazes of folly, has eagerly deduced it from every word of a -similar sound, almost in every known language of the globe. But the Celtic -is obviously the only one that can lay any competent claim to it--and the -meaning of it may as easily be ascertained as its origin."--And so, -accordingly, he proceeds to show, that "Breatin, Brydain, or Britain," is -derived from a "Celtic word," which signifies "separation or -division!"[476] - -It is more than probable that I should have left Mr. Whittaker to his -vagaries, or rather his _clerical_ recreations, if he had not been -propelled by his all-illuminating reforms, to glance a ray upon us, here, -across St. George's Channel.--"This," says he, "has _equally_ given -denomination to the _tribes_ of _Ireland_, the nations of Caledonia, and -two or three islands on our coasts!" - -"The original world is still retained in the Welch, Britain; and the -Irish, Breact,--anything divided or striped; in the Irish Bricth, a -fraction; the Irish Brisead, a rupture; and the Welch brig, a breach. And -it was equally pronounced Brict, or Brit (as the Icitus of Caesar, or the -Itium of Strabo), Bris and Brig; and appears with this variety of -terminations, in the usual appellation of the islanders, Britanni, in the -present denomination of the Armorican Britons, and their language, Brez -and Brezonic, and in the name of Brigantes. Brit is enlarged into Briton, -or Brit-an in the plural, and Britan-ec in the relative adjective. And so -forms the appellation Britones, Britani, and Britanici; as Brig is either -changed into Briges, in the plural, and makes Allobroges, or Allo-broges, -the name of a tribe on the continent, and of all the Belgae in the island, -is altered into Brigan and Brigants, and forms the denomination of -Brigantes." And again, "the original word appears to have been equally -pronounced Brict, Brits, and Bricth, Breact, Breac, and Brig; and appears -to be derived from the Gallic Bresche, a rupture, the Irish Bris, to -break, and Brisead, a breach. And the word occurs with all this variety of -termination in the Irish Breattain or Breatin, Bretam, and in Breathnach, -Briotnach, and Breagnach, a Briton; in the Armorican names of Breton, -Breiz, and Brezonnec, for an individual, the country, and the language of -Armorica; in the Welch Brython and Brythoneg, the Britons and their -language; and in the ancient synonymous appellations of Brigantes and -Britanni." - -Doubtless the reader has been highly edified by this Britannic -dissertation! He is, I am sure, as thorough master of the subject, now, as -Mr. Whittaker himself!--can tell how many fractures, cross-lines, and -diagonals have been made upon _Britain_ ever since Noah's _flood_! And as -he cannot fail, in consequence, being in love with the Reverend Author, I -will indulge his fondness by another _spark_ of enlightenment. - -"At this period," he resumes (three hundred years before Christ), "many of -the natives relinquishing their ancient seats to the Belgae, found all the -central and northern parts of England already occupied, and transported -themselves into _the uninhabited isle_ of Ireland!" - -I will now be understood as to the promise made some while ago,[477] in -reference to a definition for the word _modern_. A _modern_ then, be it -known, _is a philosopher_ (?), who fancies that _until three hundred years -before Christ, the whole world was in darkness! physical as well as -metaphysical! that it was even in a great measure uninhabited! by other -than the brute creation!--but that suddenly when ever any mighty feat was -to be achieved_ (in other words, whenever a modern theory was to be -bolstered up) _innumerable myrmidons armed cap-a-pie! full accoutred, -booted and spurred! used to gush forth from some obscure corner of the -earth!_ A miracle of production, to which even _Cadmus's soldiers_ can -bear no parallel; for while the latter are located to a particular -_place_, and stated to have been generated by regular _seed_, even though -that was nothing more than a _tooth_ of a _dragon_,[478] the former burst -forward, nobody knows _whence_, nor will their _machiners_ condescend to -tell even so much as what may have been the _elements_ of their -composition! - -To whom, however, is Mr. Whittaker beholden for this intellectual idea? -Verily, to a half-senseless poor friar,[479] a few centuries deceased, who -was no more competent--and no blame to him from his resources--to analyse -this question, than he was to stop the revolutions of the celestial orbs! - -Yet _jejune_ and abortive as were Cirencester's cerebral conceptions, he -was not less dogmatic in the utterance of them than was his imitator. "_It -is most certain_," says he, "that the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes, Cangi, -and other nations, were descended from the Britons, and passed over -thither after Divitiacus, or Claudius, or Ostorius, or other victorious -generals had invaded their original countries. Lastly, the ancient -language, which resembles the old British and Gallic tongues, affords -another argument, as is well known to persons skilled in both languages." - -Now, by what authority, may I ask, is all this "most certain?" And by -authority I do not mean any quotation from previous historians. That I -waive, and should not here require it, if either _proof_ or _probability_ -were tendered of the _occurrence_. But as none such is vouchsafed--as all -is mere _assertion_--and as I can _prove the exact contrary to have been -the actual fact_, is not _dogmatism_ too _mild_ a name to apply to the -_scribbler_ who _propounds_ such nonsense? And is not _servility_ too -_dignified_ an epithet to brand upon the _copyist_, who takes such _ipse -dixit_ evidence upon so intricate a proposition as gospel truth? and that -too when he must have absolute _demonstration_, and canvas every other -statement, emanating from that fraternity, with _the very eye of a -Lynceus_! - -In the first place, then, the name _Damnii_ (to begin with the beginning) -is but a monkish Latinisation for _Danaans_; and _these I have established -to have been_ an eastern race, totally and universally distinct from -Britain, until upon their overthrow in Ireland they fled for shelter to -Scotland, whither on their way some straggling parties, reduced and -humiliated, took up their residence in the northern parts of England; -where, accordingly, to this hour we find evidences of their worship, such -as sculptured _crosses_,[480] and other _emblematic devices_, but _never a -Round Tower_, their impoverished circumstances not being now adequate to -such an expense. - -The Brigantes, again, is another Latin metamorphosis for the inhabitants -of _Breo-cean_, in Spain, where the Phoenicians had fixed a colony, and -whence they doubtless had brought some portion with them to work the mines -at Cornwall. This _Breo-cean_ the Romans, in conformity with the genius of -their language, changed into _Bri_-gantia, which, however, was a very -allowable commutation, the letters _c_ and _g_ being always convertible, -and _tia_ nothing more than an ordinary termination. - -Seneca well knew that the _Brigantes_ thus imported were a very different -extraction from the native _Britons_. - - "Illi _Britannos_ ultra noti littora ponti, - Et coeruleos _Scuto-Brigantes_ dare Romuleis," - -says he, in his satirical invective upon the death of Claudius. Here, you -will observe, that the _Britons_ and the _Brigantes_ are _opposed to one -another_, and marked out as _distinct_ races. And to specify still further -the origin of the Brigantes is the epithet _Scuto_[481] prefixed thereto, -from _Scuitte_, the ancient mode of spelling _Scythia_. - -Those Scoto-Brigantes were the persons who, having been driven from Spain -by the conquests of Sesostris, poured in with multitudinous inundation -upon the quietude of our _Tuath-de-danaans_, and wrested from them an -island which, during their blissful reign, had eclipsed in sanctity even -their _former_ Iran.[482] - -The language which they spoke differed in nothing from the -Tuath-de-danaan, but that it was not quite so refined; and this feature of -similarity silences at once the _conjectures_ of _Stillingfleet_, Innes, -and their followers, who would make those _Scythians_ to be -_Scandinavians_, merely because the letter S occurs as the _initial_ and -_final_ of either name! - -Why, sir, when the _Scandinavians_ did _really_ invade Ireland, which was -not until the early centuries of the Christian era, the great obstruction -to their progress was their _ignorance_ of our tongue; whereas, when the -_Scythians_ arrived here, many ages earlier, our legends, our traditions, -our histories, and our annals, _unanimously_ and _universally_ attest, -that they used the same conversable articulation with that of the -established dynasty.[483] - -Where is the wonder, then, that we should find all the ancient names in -the north of England, correspond to a nicety with those of the Irish? And -which made Lhuydh, the author of the _Archaeologia_, himself an Englishman, -declare, "_how necessary the Irish language is to those who shall -undertake to write of the antiquity of the isle of Britain_." - -But if Lhuydh was thus _candid_ in the avowal of his conviction, he was -not equally _successful_ in the discovery of the relationship. From want -of the true _touchstone_, he went on _hypothesising_! and came at last to -the _supposition_--"that the Irish must at one time have been in -possession of those English localities, and thence removed themselves into -Ireland"--_the exact opposite having been the fact_. - -To atone for my long digression from Mr. Whittaker, and his _breakages_, I -will supply to you the derivations, as well of Britain as of Brigantia. -The former is compounded of _Bruit_, _tin_; and _tan_, a country abounding -in that metal, and corresponding to _Cassiteris_, assigned to it by the -Greeks: and Brigantia, as before explained, being but a formative from -Breo-cean, is compounded of _Breo_, which signifies fire; and _cean_, a -head or promontory, meaning the _head-land of fires_; or that whereon such -used to have been lighted for the convenience of mariners lying out at -sea.[484] - -Neither the Scythians, therefore, nor the Celts, had connection -whatsoever, either of them, with the once-envied celebrity of this -"island."[485] The latter were the persons who, under the name of -Fir-Bolgs, erected all the cromleachs spread over the country, the -accomplishment of which bespeaks, it is true, an acquaintance with -_mechanics_, of which the present artisans are altogether ignorant. And as -the original of their denomination has never been elucidated, I embrace -this opportunity of supplying the omission. It comes from _bolog_, which, -in the Irish language signifies a _paunch_; and _fir_, a _man_; so that -Fir-Bolg means the _big-bellied man_, being an evident allusion to their -bodily configuration: and to this day Bolcaig is the epithet applied, -vernacularly, to individuals of large girth or corpulent robustness, -exactly corresponding to what we are told by Caesar, when describing the -tripartite division of Gaul, viz. that the Belgae, who, in fact, were of -the same stock as our Fir-Bolgs, were the _stoutest bodied_, and the -_bravest otherwise_ of all its inhabitants. - -The Scythian religion, which was Druidical, accorded with that of the -Fir-Bolgs, which was Celtic--not less as to modes of worship, than in -mutual aversion to that of the Iranians; and, accordingly, we find, that -when both conspired for the recovery of this country from the Iranians, -who had themselves wrested it from the Fir-Bolgs, antecedently, these -latter branching out into the septs of Cauci and Menapii, corresponding -to the kindred and cognominal tribes on the continent; and who, during the -occupancy of the Iranians--the interval of Ireland's Hyperborean -renown--had retired to Arran[486] and the northern isles, were restored to -a partnership in the possession of the island, in return for the -assistance they lent the Scythians for its conquest: and this accounts for -that diversity of races which Ptolemy records, but which antiquarian -luminaries, unable to comprehend, took upon them to reject as altogether a -chimera. - -As to the Iranians, the real Hibernians--the true Hyperborean -Tuath-de-danaans, or Magic-god Almoners--they were hurled from the throne, -their sanctified ceremonials trampled in the dust, their sacred harps, -which before used to swell to the praises of their Divinity, were now -desecrated for the inspiration of the Scythian warriors; and their divine -_Boreades_, who ere now composed canticles in adoration of Apollo, were -degraded to the secular and half-military occupation of Scythian _bards_. - -The name of the island itself, from "Irin," or the "Sacred island," was -changed into Scuitte, that is, Scotia or Scythia, or the land of the -_Scythians_. Nor was it until the eleventh century of the present era, -that, _to remove the ambiguity which arose from the circumstance of there -being another country also called by this name_, Ireland assumed its -former name, Irin, as its people did Irenses, instead of Scoti.[487] - -Yet in the general transmutation which so great a revolution bespeaks, we -behold the strictest regard paid to the literary fame and the mental -acquirements of those sages who had been ejected. They were retained as -the _instructors_ of the new establishment; and their refined precepts -tending gradually to soften the warlike propensities of this ferocious -group, the amalgamation became so complete, and the aristocracy of -intellect so recognised, that when religious dissensions were all -cancelled in the grave, many of them were able to trace their steps -backwards to the forfeited monarchy. - -Of this number was Connachar-mor-mac-Nessan, that is, Connor -the-great-son-of-Nessan, styled indifferently _Feidlimidh_ and _Ollamh -Fodlah_, i.e. the _erudite man_ (the _Budhist_) and the _Doctor of -Budland_; and Brien, who ascended the Irish throne, A.D. 1014; and who, -after a succession of two thousand two hundred years, was the lineal -descendant of Brien, head of the Tuath-de-danaans; and this very -extraction, in the confusion of the names, was the circumstance which -occasioned the popular belief, not yet exploded, of his having been the -founder, by magic creation, in one single night, of those Round Towers of -his inheritance! The mistake, however, is of value, as it is a collateral -evidence that those edifices have been attributed to their real authors; -and the anachronism will be excused, seeing that there is nothing more -common than to assign to one Hercules the exploits of another. - -Others of this colony, who could not brook the yoke, betook themselves on -their downfall to Scotland, and built there the two round temples of -Brechin and Abernethy, besides others that have disappeared; from thence, -however, they were again dislodged by the barbarous Picts, and obliged to -fly for shelter to the Highland fastnesses. These are they whom Macculloch -and others have misrepresented as Celts. During their sway in that -country, they called it also by the name of Iran or Eran, as the Scotch -language is, to this day, called Irish, or Erse. The name of Scoitte, -_i.e._ Scotia, was given it afterwards by the Picts, in compliment to -_this_ island, which had furnished them with wives, and otherwise joined -their fraternity.[488] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX. - - -"The Scoto-Milesians," says Dr. Hales,[489] "reckon twenty-three -generations from Feni an fear soid, 'the Phoenician wise man,' their -ancestor, to Heber and Heremon, who established the last settlement from -Spain, as observed before; which, at the usual computation of three mean -generations to a century, would give 766 years from Fenius to Heber. But -we learn from Coemhain, that the sons of _Milesius_ (this should have been -_Gallamh_)[490] were coeval with Solomon, and that the Gadelians[491] came -to Ireland in the middle of the reign of this illustrious prince," B.C. -1002, according to the Irish chronology. Counting backwards, therefore, -from this date, 766 years, we get the time of Fenius about B.C. 1768. And -this agrees with sacred and profane history; for Joshua, whose -administration began B.C. 1688, according to Hales's _Chronology_, notices -"the strong city of Tyre" (Josh. xix. 29); which maintained its -independence even in David's days (2 Sam. xxiv. 7); and in Solomon's (1 -Kings ix. 11-14). And Herodotus, that inquisitive traveller and -intelligent historian, who visited Tyre about B.C. 448, saw there the -temple of the Thasian Hercules; and another erected to him by the -Phoenicians at Thasus itself, an island on the coast of Thrace, while they -were engaged in search of Europa, the daughter of Agenor, King of Tyre, -who had been carried off by some Greeks; an event, says Herodotus, which -happened five generations before the Grecian Hercules, the son of -Amphitryon, B. ii. sec. 44; who flourished about 900 years before he -wrote, sec. 145, or about B.C. 1348, to which adding 166 years for the -five generations, we get the rape of Europa about B.C. 1514. - -"But the deification of the Thasian Hercules must have been after his -death, which may make him contemporary with Joshua, or even earlier. -Herodotus relates that the Tyrians themselves boasted of the remote -antiquity of their city, founded, as they said, 2300 years before (B. xi. -44), which would carry it higher than the deluge. The high antiquity, -however, of Sidon and her daughter Tyre, was acknowledged by Xerxes, king -of Persia, when he invaded Greece, B.C. 480; and in a council of his -officers allowed her ambassadors the honour of precedence" (sec. 11). - -He adds: "In order to determine the cardinal data of ancient Irish -history, it is necessary to premise a synopsis of Coemhain's System of -Chronology. - - Y. B.C. - - Creation 1656 3952 - Deluge 292 2296 - Abraham born 942 2004 - David, king 473 1062 - Babylonish Captivity 589 589 - ---- - Christian Era 3952 1 - -"In this table, the first column contains the years elapsed between the -succeeding events: thus, from the creation, 1656 years to the deluge; -from the deluge, 292 years to the birth of Abraham, etc.; and their -amount, 3952 years, gives the basis of the system, or the years elapsed -from the creation to the vulgar Christian era. The second column gives the -dates of these events before the Christian era. - -"David began to reign B.C. 1062; from which subducting 60 years for the -amount of his whole reign, 40 years, and 20 years, the half of Solomon's, -we get B.C. 1002, for the date of the expedition of Heber and Heremon to -Ireland. - -"This same number has been noticed by two earlier chronologers, Marcus -Anchoreta, A.D. 647; and Nennius, A.D. 858; who both date the arrival of -the Scoti in Ireland, '1002 years after the passage of the Red Sea by the -Israelites, in which the Egyptians were drowned' (O'Connor, _Proleg._ ii. -pp. 15-45). The identity of the number 1002 proves the mistake in the -reference to the exode of the Israelites, instead of to the Christian era, -which depresses the arrival of the Scoti five centuries too low. For -Coemhain reckons the exode 502 years after the birth of Abraham, or B.C. -1502; from which subtracting 1002 years, the arrival of the Scoti would be -reduced to B.C. 500; or, following Usher's date of the deluge, B.C. 1491. -O'Connor reduces it still lower, to B.C. 489 (_Proleg._ ii. p. 45). Upon -the superior authority of Coemhain, therefore, as a chronologer, we are -warranted to rectify this important error of Nennius and Marcus Anchoreta, -which even Dr. O'Connor has failed to correct; not adverting to the -foregoing inference from Coemhain. But he has happily furnished himself -the materials for proving the error. - -"He states, that one hundred and eighteen kings of the Scoti reigned, till -the arrival of St. Patrick, B.C. 489 + A.D. 435 = 921 years in all, which, -divided by 118, would give too short an average of reigns, only 7-9/11 -years a-piece; whereas the true interval, B.C. 1002 + A.D. 432 = 1434 -years, would give the average of reigns above twelve years a-piece; which -he justly represents as the standard, from Patrick to Malachy II., viz. -forty-eight reigns in 590 years (_Proleg._ ii. p. 45)."[492] - -The date of the Scythian invasion, then, being fixed as B.C. 1002, it is -agreed on all hands that that of the _Tuath-de-danaans_ was but two -hundred years anterior, or B.C. 1202;[493] with this _exactly corresponds -the time at which Marsden, Kaempfer, and Loubere date the arrival of the -Buddists at Siam_, viz. B.C. 1202. Among the Japanese also, they are -stated by Klaproth to have arrived not very distant from that era, or B.C. -1029. De Guignes and Remusat suppose 1029 as the epoch at which they -invaded China. B.C. 1000 is the epoch assigned by Symes for their descent -upon the Burman empire; and B.C. 1029 is that fixed by Ozeray for their -entrance into Ceylon; while the Mogul authors and the Bagwad Amrita (Sir -W. Jones) recognise their appearance respectively at B.C. 2044 and B.C. -2099. - -Now, the extreme concordance amongst the calculations of those various -countries, one with the other, and their almost universal coincidence, -nay, _in the Siamese authorities_, almost _miraculous identifications, -with our Irish registries_, as to the influx, amongst all, of this -singular people, and their extraordinary ritual, makes us associate the -phenomena with one common cause, and that was the _expulsion_ of the -Budhists from India, the Rajas having proclaimed, at the instigation of -the rival Brahmins, that "from the bridge of Rama, even to the snow-capped -Himala, no man should spare the Budhists, young or old, on pain of death" -(_Guigniaud's Creuzer_). - -As to the Mogul dates, and those of the Bagwad Amrita, they evidently bear -reference to former colonies; nor are _we_, in Ireland, without similar -chronicles of an antecedent arrival, and precisely answering to the time -of the _first departure_ of the Tuath-de-danaans from the borders of -Persia.[494] - -It was, indeed, the tradition of this early invasion, long mystified by -age, that we have seen so perverted at p. 385, for the sole purpose of -effecting a miracle! Nor is this the only fable that fastens upon that -narrative: we have that of Partholan and of Nemedius, and a thousand other -reminiscences, all directing towards the centre of a common nucleus. The -_East_ is the point whither they all aim, and the era they assign is -invariably that of the _deluge_! Is it not, therefore, inevitable, but -that the object recorded is our reception of the Tuath-de-danaans when -ejected by the arms of their Pish-de-danaan rivals?[495] - -Amongst the Easterns themselves we find corresponding traditions, wrapt -up, as usual, in allegory, of this primordial departure. The Phrygians, -who were one of the most ancient and considerable nations of Asia Minor, -complain of Apollo having wandered from them, in company with Cybele, to -the land of the Hyperboreans.[496] The costume of the archers upon our -Knockmoy frescoes is strictly Phrygian, and confirms their testimony -better than any written memorial! "Hercules," says Cedrenus, "first taught -philosophy in the _western_ parts of the world." This was our Ogham, which -the Gauls had borrowed from us, as you will see by note, p. 420. "In -Egypt," says Ausonius, "they called him Osiris, but in the _island_ of -Ogygia they gave him the name of Bacchus." If we will remember the form -under which _Osiris_ was worshipped, viz. that of our _Round Towers_,[497] -and then recollect that the name of _Bacchus_ is still found amongst our -ancient inscriptions;[498] and in addition to all these, bear in mind that -Plutarch[499] expressly designates _the island_, from its extreme -antiquity, as _Ogygia_, all qualms as to the situation alluded to by -Ausonius must for ever evaporate? - -Let us now glance at the institutions of this island, the personal -appearance of its inhabitants, and their popular customs, as compared with -ancient Persia. - -To begin with the _aspect_, which often proves decisive in more -_interesting_ applications, I refer you to our real figures at p. 330, as -a fair outline of Irish contour; with this, if you will compare what -Captain Head affirms, in reference to the settlers at Bombay, viz. that -"the _ancient_ inhabitants of Persia were superior, not inferior, in -looks, to the _present_, who belong to a hundred mixed races, which have -poured upon that kingdom since the overthrow of Yezdijerd," no disparity -will present itself, at least in that quarter. - -As to _institutions_, I will instance that of our ancient clans,[500] and -place by them in juxtaposition what Sir John Malcolm delivers on the -subject of Persia. "Jemsheed" (a prince of the Pish-de-danaan dynasty, -founder of Persepolis, called after him, Tucht-e-jemsheed, which, in -Irish, signifies the Couch-of-Jemsheed) "divided," says he, "according to -Persian authors, his subjects into four classes. The first was formed of -learned and pious men, devoted to the worship of God; and the duty -ascribed to them was to make known to others what was lawful and what -otherwise. The second were writers, whose employment was to keep the -records and accounts of the state. The third soldiers, who were directed -to occupy themselves in military exercises, that they might be fitted for -war. The fourth class were artificers, husbandmen, and tradesmen. The -authorities on which we give the history of Jemsheed make no mention of -Mah-abad; but, if we are to give credit to the Dabistan, _the institution -of Jemsheed can only be deemed a revival of that lawgiver_."[501] - -In respect to _religion_, Herodotus states that, "_from his own -knowledge_, the Persians had neither statues, temples, nor altars, but -offered on the tops of the highest mountains sacrifices to Jove, by which -they meant the deity of the air; that they adored the _sun, moon, earth, -fire, water, and the winds_, but that they sacrificed to these _only from -of old, according to ancient custom_, and that they gave the preference to -Trefoil, whereon they laid their offerings."[502] - -Now, two considerations are to be observed, as involved in this last -quotation: one is, that the historian attributes the usages of this nation -to two distinct periods of time. From ocular inspection, he avows that -they had no _temples, etc., because such were long exploded_. And _he knew -not what to make of the Round Towers_. Part, however, of the ceremonial -appertaining to those edifices still remained, such as the worship of the -sun, moon, earth, fire, water, and the winds; and "to these," he frankly -acknowledges, "they sacrificed _only from of old_," or in deference to the -practice of their predecessors--I will not say forefathers. - -Contemplate now the reverence shown to the herb _Trefoil_, our _national -shamrock_, and will you not see another link of that great concatenation -uniting the two Irans, and triumphing at once over _supposition_ and over -_scepticism_? I have already deplumed St. Patrick of the _serpent_ -expulsion; or, rather, I have done honour to his memory, by saving it from -the fabrications of _pious_ impostors. I now continue my course of -justice, by showing that he had as little to do with the veneration paid -to this plant. It was worshipped in the Emerald Island, and imported, you -perceive, by the Tuath-de-danaans, centuries upon centuries before the -apostle was born: and the cause of this devotion was, not alone that it -symbolised the _Trinity_, which was an article of Budhist doctrine, even -before the incarnation of Christ, but because that it _blended with_ it, -in mystery as well as in gratitude, the _Alibenistic cross_, the seal of -their redemption, and their passport to eternity! Here then are the -_shamrocks_, or _Free-masonic devices_, upon the crowns of our _Irish_ -kings explained; and those upon the _Persian_ crowns, by and by to be -inserted, are similarly expounded![503] - -Lastly, the _funerals_ of the Persians--after the soul's liberation from -its tenement of clay, at the summons of its God--are described by -Herodotus[504] with so striking a similtude, that you would imagine he had -witnessed, and expressly referred to, the like scenes in Ireland.[505] - -Oh! "if the human mind can ever flatter itself with having been successful -in discovering the truth, it is when many facts, and these facts of -different kinds unite in producing the same result."[506] - -In truth, the island was altogether an _Oriental Asylum_,[507] until, for -a moment broken in upon by the Fir-Bolgs, or Celts. Their usurpation, -however, was only that of a day, amounting, by all records, but to -fifty-six years;[508] after which, a new army of the Tuath-de-danaans, -driven now, not from Persia, but from India, by the Brahmins, laid claim -to the sceptre to which their brethren had invited them, and reinstated -themselves afresh in our kindred Iran. - -It is not, therefore, you perceive, our individual history alone that is -rectified by this investigation. It supplies a vacuum in the history of -the world: which could not be said to have been correct, _so long as there -was nothing known on the various topics now explained_.[509] - -Professor Mueller,[510] in a very elaborate treatise upon the _Antiquities -of the Dorians_, has been pleased to affect astonishment, through one of -his notes, that Hecataeus should have believed in the existence of the -Hyperboreans! It became him, unquestionably, so to do, because that the -proofs of their existence were beyond his own reach. But though their -_reality_, as well as _locality_, have been already put beyond -disputation, I will, to justify the exclusiveness here proclaimed, enter -again upon the subject, and, without following in detail, show, by the -reverse of his positions, that his whole system of mythology is equally -erroneous. - -In this determination I will of course be acquitted of any intentional -slight. Who could read Professor Mueller's work, and not be struck with the -labour and the ingenuity which distinguish its every page? I yield to no -man in my respect for his abilities, but I weep, from my soul, that his -classic care was not bequeathed upon some other subject, rather than be -split upon a rock by an _ignis fatuus_. I never saw such a waste of -letters as his book exhibits! I never saw such learned research so -miserably thrown away! And how could it be otherwise, his great object -having been to make everything square to the reveries of the -Grecians!--taking them as his clue, into a labyrinth of inextricability, -through one inch of which neither conductor nor traveller could see their -way! - -Sweet _pahlavi_ of the Hyperboreans, I will take _you_ as my guide! - - "------Nor be my thoughts - Presumptuous counted, if amid the calm - That soothes the vernal evening into smiles, - I steal impatient, from the sordid haunts - Of strife and low ambition, to attend - Thy sacred presence, in the sylvan shade, - By their malignant footstep ne'er profaned."--THOMSON. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX. - - -Before we descend to language, I shall collect the historical concordances -that bear upon this investigation. - -Beo, a poetess of Delphi, mentions in the fragment of a poem, quoted by -Pausanias, that three individuals, sons of Hyperboreans, and named _Olen_, -_Pagasus_, and _Agyeus_, had founded the oracle of Delphi. Will it be -credited that those three names are but representatives of three several -orders of our Irish priests, viz. Ollam, Pagoes, and Aghois?[511] - -At Delos the same tradition is to be encountered, with but a few local -alterations: such as that of Latona having arrived there from the -Hyperboreans, in the form of a _she-wolf_; Apollo and Diana, with the -virgins Arge and Opis, following afterwards. Two other virgins, viz. -Laodice and Hyperoche, succeeded, and with them five men, who were called -_peripherees_, or carriers, from their bringing with them offerings of -first-fruits, wrapt in bundles of wheaten straw. - -But is this embassy altogether a fiction? "There is not a fact in all -antiquity," says Carte, "that made a greater noise in the world, was more -universally known, or better attested by the gravest and most ancient -authors among the Greeks, than this of the sacred embassies of the -Hyperboreans to Delos, _in times preceding_, by an _interval of ages_, -the voyages of the Carthaginians to the north of the Straits of -Gibraltar." "No argument to the contrary," says Mueller, "can be drawn from -its not being mentioned either in the _Iliad_ or _Odyssey_, these poems -not affording an opportunity for its introduction: moreover, the -Hyperboreans were spoken of in the poem of the Epigoni, and by Hesiod.... -Stephanus quotes here a supposed oracle of a prophetess named _Asteria_, -that the inhabitants and priests of Delos came from the Hyperboreans." So -that we are by no means dependent, as implied before, upon Diodorus -Siculus, for the narrative. - -On this subject Herodotus says that "the suite of this Hyperborean embassy -having been ill-treated by the Greeks, they took afterwards another method -of sending their sacred presents to the temples of Apollo and Diana, -delivering them to the nation that lay nearest to them on the continent of -Europe, with a request that they might be forwarded to their next -neighbour: and thus they were transmitted from one people to another, -through the _western_ regions, till they came to the _Adriatic_, and -there, being put into the hands of the Dodoneans, the first of the Greeks -that received them, they were conveyed thence by the Melian Bay, Euboea, -Carystus, Andras, and Tenos, till at last they arrived at Delos." - -Could he, I ask, more geographically pourtray their route from Ireland? - -Alcaeus, in a hymn to Apollo, says that "Jupiter adorned the new-born god -with a golden fillet and lyre, and sent him in a chariot drawn by swans to -Delphi, in order to introduce justice and law among the Greeks. Apollo, -however, ordered the swans first to fly to the Hyperboreans. The -Delphians, missing the god, instituted a paean and song, ranged choruses of -young men around the tripod, and invoked him to come from the -Hyperboreans. The god remained an entire year with that nation, and, at -the appointed time, when the tripods of Delphi were destined to sound, he -ordered the swans to resume their flight. The return of Apollo takes place -exactly in the middle of summer; nightingales, swallows, and grasshoppers -sang in honour of the god; and even Castalia and Cephisus heave their -waves to salute him." - -Now Mr. Bryant assures us that-- - - "The Celtic sages a tradition hold, - That every drop of amber was a tear - Shed by Apollo, _when he fled from heaven_,-- - _For sorely did he weep_,--and _sorrowing passed - Through many a doleful region_, till he reached - The sacred Hyperboreans."[512] - -Words could not convey a more direct delineation of the first arrival of -the Tuath-de-danaans amongst us, with their mysterious worship, after -their ejectment from _Iran_, their paradise, or earthly _heaven_, for the -loss of which they "sorely wept," until at length they found a substitute -in _Irin_. The _lyre_ or _harp_ which they brought with them, and solely -for celebrating the praises of Apollo, continues still our national -emblem; and those swans which are said to have drawn his chariot formed so -essential a part of our ceremonial, that you shall be presented by and by -with one of his magic implements, to which they are still attached, as -they are similarly figured upon the painted vases, remaining after our -allied Etrurians in the south of Italy. - -As to the embassy of Abaris, the direct fact is so completely -authenticated by our ancient records, which narrate the circumstance, with -no view to decide an historical controversy, but with indifference -thereto, and as in ordinary course,--that it is inevitable but that, when -the Greeks say that this philosopher had gone to them from the -_Hyperboreans_,--and when we produce proofs to show that a man of the -_same name_ had repaired on the _errand_ alluded to, from _our_ country to -_Greece_, it is inevitable, I say, but that, when both statements so -perfectly tally, the island of the _Hyperboreans_ and that of the -_Hibernians_ must be one and the same. - -I shall now subjoin from General Vallancey's works, as he translates it -from an old Irish poem, the authentic narrative of this our Hyperborean -embassy. - - "The purport of the Tuath-de-danaans journey was in quest of knowledge, - And to seek a proper place where they should improve in Druidism. - These holy men soon sailed to Greece. The sons of Nirned, son of Adhnam, - Descendant of Baoth, from Boeotia sprung. Thence to the care of skilful - pilots, - This Boeotian clan, like warlike heroes, themselves committed, - And after a dangerous voyage, the ships brought them to Loch Luar. - Four cities of great fame, which bore great sway, - Received our clan, in which they completed their studies. - Spotless Taleas, Goreas, majestic Teneas and Mhuiras, - For sieges famed, were the names of the four cities. - Morfios and Earus-Ard, _Abhras_, and Lemas, well-skilled in magic, - Were the names of our Druids; they lived in the reign of Garman the - Happy. - Morfios was made Fele of Falias, Earus the poet in Gone dwelt, - Samias dwelt at Mhurias, but _Abhras_, the Tele-fionn, at Teneas." - -A quarrel, it would seem, ensued between them and the Fir-Bolgs on their -return: and the Seanneachees, in their incapacity to separate any two -events of a similar character from each other, confounded the differences -which arose herefrom with the battles fought _six hundred years before_, -between the ancestors of both parties, on the plains of _Moye-tureadh_! - -At page 67 I have stated that this event took place about B.C. 600. And -this very circumstance it was--I mean the lateness of the date--which -rendered the expedition at all needful. - -The Tuath-de-danaans having been for a long time humiliated, and allowed -but a mere nominal existence in a remote canton of the realm, their ritual -got merged into that of the Druids. A corresponding decay had vitiated -their taste for letters, while the Greeks, in proportion, rose in the -scale. - -Pythagoras had by this time returned from his tour to Egypt, and the fame -of his acquirements had reached the Tuath-de-danaans. Naturally solicitous -to court the acquaintance of an individual who had derived his information -from the kindred of their ancestors,[513] they had address enough to -obtain leave from the several States of the kingdom to repair to Greece, -on the alleged plea of returning the visit[514] of the _Argonauts_ to our -shores many ages previously,[515] but actually with a view to gratify -their predilections by philosophical inquiry. - -When the _meteors met_, it is difficult now to decide which orb it was -that emitted the greater light. But without being too much biassed by the -links of patriotism, I think we may very fairly aver that our countryman -communicated, _depressed even as was his order at that day_, as much -information as he had received.[516] - -Who then can any longer doubt but that this was the island of the -Hyperboreans? Even the _peculiarity_ of our language mingles in the chain -of proof; as Diodorus states that "the Hyperboreans use _their own_ -natural tongue." But were all other arguments wanting, I would undertake -to prove the identity by an admission from this transcriber himself. "The -sovereignty of this city," says he, "and the care of the temple belong to -the _Boreades_."[517] - -Now, nothing ever has puzzled etymologists so much to explore as the -origin of the Irish term _Bards_.[518] The _guesses_ which they have made -thereat are so exceedingly amusing, that I will take leave to _refresh_ -myself, exhausted and languid as I now wellnigh am, with the outline of a -few. - -First, Bochart would derive it from _parat_, to speak!!! Wilford from the -Sanscrit, _varta_!!! But "some learned friends of his are of opinion that -it comes from _bhardanan_, to burthen!!! because burthened with the -internal management of the royal household"!!! - -I shall spare my reader any more of those _caricatures_, and submit to his -own candour to adjudicate whether _Bards_ could, by possibility, be -anything else than the modern Englification for our ancient _Boreades_? - -Doubtless, Professor Mueller, your astonishment has now subsided as to -Hecataeus's credulity in the existence of the Hyperboreans. Diodorus -Siculus, who, though, as Granville Penn has affirmed, he "has transmitted -to us many _scattered_ and important truths," yet does the same judicious -commentator add, that it was in a condition "intermixed with much idle -fiction, _equivocation_, and anachronism,"[519] was herein your guide! But -the _manes_ of the Hyperboreans now speak from the tomb, and vindicate -their _existence_ as well as their _locality_! - -I come now to prove this by another mode. - -Plato, in his _Cratylus_, represents Hermogenes as proposing several terms -to Socrates for solution, when the following acknowledgment transpires:-- - -"I think," says the philosopher, "that the Greeks, especially such of them -as lived subject to the dominion of foreigners, adopted _many foreign -words_; so that, if anyone should endeavour to resolve those words by -reference to the _Greek language_, or to any other _than that from which -the word_ was received, he must needs be involved in error!" - -The _foreign_ extraction, then, of _many_ of the Greek words being -admitted, it devolves upon me to establish this extraction to be purely -_Irish_. - -To begin with Dodona--"In Eustathius and Steph. Byzantius," says -Vallancey, "we meet with three different conjectures in regard to the -derivation of the name Dodona, which, they say, owes its origin either to -a daughter of Jupiter and Europa, or one of the nymphs, the daughter of -Oceanus; or, lastly, to a river in Epirus, called Dodon. But, as Mr. -Potter observes, we find the Greek authors all differ, both as to the -etymology of the name and the site of this oracle. In my humble opinion, -Homer and Hesiod have not only agreed that it was not in Greece, but in -Ireland, or some island, at least, as far westward." - -The passages to which the General refers in those ancient poets are-- - - [Greek: "Seu ana Dodonaie Pelasgike telothi naion - Dodones medeon duscheimerou."][520] - -That is,-- - - Pelasgian Jove, who _far from Greece_ resid'st - In cold Dodona. - - [Greek: "Dodonen Phegon te Pelasgon edranon eken."][521] - -That is,-- - - To Dodona he came, and the hallowed oak, the seat of the Pelasgi. - -Valuable as are those authorities, the General needed not to have had -recourse to them at all, had he but been apprised of the origin of the -word _Dodona_. - -One of the religious names of Ireland, which I have purposely left -unexplained till now, was _Totdana_.[522] This it derived immediately from -the _Tuath-de-danaans_, as indeed it did all its ancient names, with the -exception of Scotia. _Tuath-de-danaans_ I have shown to mean the -_Magic-God-Almoners_,[523] and _Totdana_, by consequence, must denote the -_Magic-almonry_.[524] - -Now, the Greeks, having been initiated in all their religious mystery by -the Irish, did not only enrich their language with the vocabulary of our -ceremonial, but adopted the several epithets of our island as the -distinctive names for their various localities, so that our -_Muc-inis_[525] became their _Myc-ene_, our _Tot-dana_, their Do-dona, -etc. etc. And even the names of our lakes, with all their legends of -_hydras_ and _enchantments_, found their way to them also, so that from -our Lough-Erne was formed, by a crasis, their L-Erna. - -The change from _Tot-dana_ to _Do-dona_ is much more obvious than may seem -at first sight. _T_ and _D_ being commutable, _Tot_-dana was at once made -_Dot_-dana; the intermediate _t_ was then left out for sound's sake, -making it Do-dana; and, lastly, the penultimate _a_ was transformed into -_o_ for the "ore rotundo,"[526] completing the _Grecism_ of Do-dona. - -You see, therefore, from this that the origin of _Dodona_ was exclusively -Irish! that _Dodona_ and _Ireland_ were, in fact, one and the same!--a -circumstance of which Homer was perfectly well assured when he styled it -[Greek: Dodone duscheimeros], or the _Hyperborean Tot-dana_.[527] - -Neither was it in _name_ only, but in _sanctity_ also, that the Greek -_Myc-ene_ strove to imitate our _Muc-inis_. To this hour is to be found -one of the ancient Pelasgian temples, vulgarly termed the _Treasury of -Atreus_, from the mere circumstance, as Dr. Clarke well remarks, "of there -being found a few _brass nails_ within it, and evidently for the purpose -of fastening on _something_ wherewith the _interior surface was formerly -lined_, and that many a long year before Atreus or Agamemnon!" The -Doctor, however, was perfectly astray in supposing it a _sepulchre_! In -form it is a hollow cone, fifty feet in diameter, and as many in height, -composed of enormous masses of a very hard _breccia_, a sort of -pudding-stone, the very material whereof most of our Round Towers are -constructed, and the property of which is to indurate by time. The _Dune -of Dornadella_ in Scotland is _identically_ the _same kind of structure_, -built by our Tuath-de-danaans, and for the solemn purpose of _religion_ -alone. This is so accurately described in an article in the _Edinburgh -Magazine_, copied into _Pennant's Tour_, that I too will make free to -transcribe it. - -"It is," says the reviewer, "of a circular form, and now nearly resembling -the frustum of a cone: whether, when perfect, it terminated in a point, I -cannot pretend to guess; but it seems to have been higher, by the rubbish -which lies round it. It is built of stone, without cement, and I take it -to be between twenty and thirty feet still. The entrance is by a low and -narrow door, to pass through which one is obliged to stoop much; but -perhaps the ground may have been raised since the first erection. When one -is got in, and placed in the centre, it is open overhead. _All round the -sides of the walls are ranged stone shelves, one above another, like a -circular beaufait, reaching from near the bottom to the top._ The stones -which compose these shelves are supported chiefly by the stones which form -the walls, and which project all round, just in that place where the -shelves are, and in no others; each of the shelves is separated into -several divisions, as in a bookcase. There are some remains of an awkward -staircase. _What use the shelves could be applied to I cannot conceive._ -It could not be of any military use, from its situation at the bottom of -a sloping hill, which wholly commands it. The most learned amongst the -inhabitants, such as the gentry and clergy, who all speak the _Irish_ -language, could give no information or tradition concerning its use, or -the origin of its name." - -Now, our _Round Towers_ have similar _shelves_, or recesses in the wall, -and "reaching, like a circular beaufait, from near the bottom to the top"! -Wherever these do not appear, their place is supplied by _projecting -stones_, for the evident purpose of acting as supporters.[528] And as the -_Mycenian_, the _Caledonian_, and the _Hibernian_ edifices thus far -correspond, the only thing that remains is _to explain to what purpose -could those recesses_ serve. - -I thus solve the question--_They were as so many cupboards for containing -the idols of Budha_, as the structures themselves for _temples_ of his -worship, etc. Nor is this their use yet forgotten, in the buildings of the -like description in Upper India, as appears from the following statement -by Archer. "In the afternoon," says he, "I went to look at a _Jain -temple_. It was a neat building, with an upper storey. _The idol is -Boadh._ There is a lattice verandah of brick and mortar round the shrine, -and there are _small cupboards, in which numerous figures of the idol are -ranged on shelves_." - -Arguments crowd upon me to establish these particulars; the only -difficulty is in the compression. I shall, however, continue to prove this -from another source, even by showing that when Ezekiel declared, in -allusion to Tyre, that "the men of _Dedan_ were thy _merchants_,"[529] he -meant the men of _Ireland_. - -First let me refer you to page 4, by which you will be reminded of our -ancient possession of a _naval equipment_. Secondly, let me quote to you -an extract from Vallancey, when directing the result to a different -application. His words are: "Another proof of the ancient Irish being -skilled in the art of navigation, I draw from a fragment of the Brehon -laws in my possession, where the payment, or the reward, for the education -of children, whilst under the care of fosterers, is thus stipulated to be -paid to the ollamhs, or professors, distinguishing private tuition from -that of public schools. The law says: 'If youth be instructed in the -knowledge of cattle, the payment shall be three eneaclann and a seventh; -if in husbandry and farming, three eneaclann and three-sevenths; if in -milrach, _i.e._ _glais-argneadh as tear_, that is, _superior navigation_, -or the best kind of knowledge, the payment shall be five eneaclann and the -fifth of an eanmaide; if in _glais-argneadhistein_, that is, second, or -inferior (branch of) navigation, two eneaclann and a seventh.' And this -law is ordained because the pupils must have been previously instructed in -_letters_, which is the lowest education of all." - -Thus you see, at all events, that we were _qualified_ for the duties -required. Now, I will _demonstrate_, and that too by the aid, or rather at -the expense, of Mons. Heeren, that we were the actual persons pointed to -by the prophet. - -"Deden," says the professor, "is one of the Bahrein, or rather more -northerly one of Cathema. The proofs, which to detail here would be out of -place, may be found in Assemani, _Bib. Orient._ tom. ii. par. ii. pp. 160, -564, 604, and 744. Difficulties arise here, not merely from want of maps, -but also from the variation and confusion of names. _Daden_, or _Deden_, -is also frequently called _Dirin_; and it may be conjectured that from -hence arose the name of Dehroon, which is given to one of the Bahrein -islands in the map of Delisle. If that were the case, then Dedan would not -be Cathema, as Assemani asserts, but the island mentioned above; and this -is rendered probable by the _resemblance of names, which is a certain -guide_." - -If the "_resemblance_ of names" be "a certain guide," _identity_ of names -must be still more certain; and then must my _proofs_ already prevail, and -the professor's _conjectures_ fall to the ground! Surely he cannot say -that there is any even resemblance between _D-Irin_ and _Dehroon_! But he -admits that the place alluded to is called indifferently _Dedan_[530] and -_D-Irin_; and have I not shown that each of those names, identical and -unadulterated, belonged _properly_ to Ireland? Ireland, therefore, _alone_ -can be the country alluded to by the inspired penman. - -In denying, however, a _Dodona_ to the Greeks, and an oracle also, General -Vallancey was quite incorrect. What he should have maintained was, that -both _name_ and _oracle_ had their _prototypes_ in Ireland; but that, so -remote was the date at which the transfer occurred, all insight into the -mysteries had long since perished. - -Indeed, their priests very frankly acknowledged the fact to Herodotus, -when, in his thirst for information, he waited upon them at Dodona. "We do -not," said they, "know even the _names_ of the deities to whom we make our -offerings--we distinguish them, it is true, by titles and designations; -but these are all adventitious and modern in comparison of the worship, -which is of great antiquity." Upon which the historian very truly -concludes, "that their _nature_ and _origin had been always a secret_; and -that even the Pelasgi, who first introduced them and their rites, had been -equally unacquainted with their history." - -Like a true Greek, however, he must set about _coining_ an origin for -them; and so he tells us _a cock-and-a-bull_ story of two _pigeons_ -(Peleiai) having taken flight from Thebes in Upper Egypt, and never -stopped until they perched, one upon the top of Dodona, and the other God -knows where; and then he flatters himself he has the allegory solved, by -_imagining_ that those _pigeons_ were _priestesses_, or _old women_, -carried off by Phoenician pirates, and sold into the land of Greece! - -In this he has been followed by thousands of imitators, and quoted -miraculously at all the public schools. Nay, his disciples would fain even -_improve_ upon the _thing_; and Servius has gone so far as to say that the -_old woman's_ name was _Pelias_! - -Now, here is the whole mystery unravelled for you. - -When the Greeks established an oracle of _their_ Dodona, subordinate to -our master one, they adopted, at the same time, one of the orders of our -priesthood. This was that of the _Pheeleas_, the meaning of which being to -them an enigma, they _bent it_, as usual, to some similar sound in their -own language.[531] This was that of _Peleiai_, in the accusative -_Peleias_, which, in the dialect of Attica, signifies _pigeons_, and in -that of Epirus, _old women_; and so the whole metamorphosis was forthwith -adjusted! - -[Illustration] - -"The very extraordinary piece of antiquity, represented in the annexed -woodcut, was found," says Mr. Petrie, "in a bog at Ballymoney, county of -Antrim, and exhibited to the Royal Irish Academy, by the Lord Bishop of -Down, in March 1829. Its material is that description of _bronze_ of which -all the ancient Irish weapons, etc., are composed, and its actual size is -four times that of the representation. It is a tube, divided by joints at -A and B into three parts, which, on separating, were found to contain -brass wire, in a zigzag form, a piece of which is represented in _Fig._ G. -This wire appears to have been originally elastic, but when found was in a -state of considerable decomposition. At E and F are two holes, about -one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and seem intended for rivets or pins to -hold the instrument together. The birds move on loose pins, which pass -through the tube, and on the other end are rings. The material and style -of workmanship of this singular instrument leaves no doubt of its high -antiquity. But we _confess ourselves totally unable to form even a -rational conjecture as to its probable use_, and should feel obliged to -any antiquary who would throw light upon it."[532] - -Had the antiquarian _high-priest_ to this _magnanimous_ assemblage been -equally modest in former cases, and courted _instruction_, instead of -erecting _himself_ into a _Pheelea_, he would not cut the figure which he -now does. Ignorance is no fault: it is only its vagaries that are so -ridiculous! - -However, he has said--I beg pardon, he is in the _plural_ number--well, -then, _they_ have said, that they would feel obliged to any _antiquary_ -who would throw light upon the subject. - -To be sure, I am no _antiquary_. The Royal Irish Academy have made _that_ -as clear as the sun at noonday. Nay, they have even strove to make their -_brethren_ at this side of the water to think so also! But their brethren -at this side of the water are too _honest_ a people, and too _noble_ in -their purpose, to make history a trade, and to stifle _truth_ at the -unhallowed dictates of interest or partiality. - -No matter; I will tell all what this piece of antiquity was. _It was the -actual instrument through which the oracle of Dodona was announced!_ You -see upon it the _swans_ by which Apollo was brought to the Hyperboreans! -The _bulbul of Iran_ also attends in the train; and the affinity of this -latter bird to the species of _pigeons_, convinced the Greeks that they -had really hit off the interpretation of the word _Pheelea_! and that -_pigeons_ were, in truth, the _deliverers_ of the oracle. - -This was the block upon which Abbe Bannier was stumbling. Having learned -from some quarter, I believe from Aristotle, that there were some _brass_ -appendages contiguous to Dodona, he converts those appendages into -_kettles_--a worthy friend of mine would add, _of fish_--"which," says he, -"being lashed with a whip, clattered against one another until the oracle -fulminated"!!! - -As to those oracles themselves, with the registries of which antiquity is -so replete, I will here articulate my individual belief. No one who knows -me can suppose that I am superstitious; and, for those who know me not, -the sentiments herein delivered will scarcely foster the imputation. Yet -am I as thoroughly persuaded as I am of my personal consciousness, that -some prescience they did possess, conducted partly by human fraud, and -partly by spiritual co-operation. - -There is no question but that there must have been some _supernatural_ -agency in the business; for _human_ skill and human sagacity could never -penetrate the deep _intricacies_ of doubt, and the important _pregnancies_ -of time which they have _foreshown_.[533] - -Porphyry, in his book _De Daemonibus_, and Iamblichus in his _De -Mysteriis_, expressly mention that _demons_ were in every case the authors -of oracles. Without going all this length, we may readily allow that they -had perhaps a great share in them; neither will the ambiguity in which -their answers were sometimes couched detract anything from this admission, -because the spirits themselves, when ignorant of any contingency, would, -of course, try to screen their defect by the vagueness of conjectures, in -order that if the issue did not correspond with their advice, it may be -supposed owing to misinterpretation. The instance of Croesus and the -Delphian oracle was an interesting event. He sent to all the oracles on -the same day this question for solution, viz. "What is Croesus, the son -of Alyattes, King of Lydia, now doing?" That of Delphi answered thus: "I -know the number of the sand of Libya, the measure of the ocean--the -secrets of the silent and dumb lie open to me--_I smell the odour of a -lamb and tortoise boiling together in a brazen cauldron; brass is under -and brass above the flesh_." - -Having heard this reply, Croesus adored the god of Delphi, and owned the -oracle had spoken truth; for he was on that day employed in _boiling -together a lamb and a tortoise_ in a _cauldron of brass_, which had a -cover of the same metal. He next sent, enjoining his ambassadors to -inquire whether he should undertake a war against the Persians? The oracle -returned answer, "If Croesus passes the Halys, he will put an end to a -vast empire." - -Not failing to interpret this as favourable to his project, he again sent -to inquire, "If he should long enjoy the kingdom?" The answer was, "That -he should till a mule reigned over the Medes." Deeming this impossible, he -concluded that he and his posterity should hold the kingdom _for ever_. -But the oracle afterwards declared that by "a _mule_" was meant _Cyrus_, -whose parents were of different nations--his father a Persian, and mother -a Mede. By which _mule_, says a facetious writer, the good man Croesus was -thus made an _ass_! - -That the priests, however, used much deception in the business, and that -this deception did not escape the notice of the learned men of the time, -is evident from the charge which Demosthenes had brought against the -_Pythia_, of her being accustomed to _Philippise_, or conform her notes to -the tune of the Macedonian emperor. The knowledge of this circumstance -made the prudent at all times distrust their suggestions, whilst the -rabble, without gainsay, acquiesced as blindly in the belief of their -infallibility. - -But it was not only as to the meaning of the word _Pheelea_ that the -Greeks were unapprised, they knew not the import of their own name -_Pelargi_![534] It is compounded of this same term _pheelea_, an _augur_ -or a _diviner_; and _argh_, the symbolic _boat_, or yoni! And, mind you, -that this was the great difference between the Pelargi--which is but -another name for Pish-de-danaans--and the Tuath-de-danaans, that the -latter venerated the _male_ organ of energy, and the former the _female_; -therefore in no country occupied by the former do you meet with _Round -Towers_, though you invariably encounter those _traces_ of _art_, which -prove their descent from _one common origin_. - -As presiding over the _diviners_ of the _symbolical boat_, Jupiter was -called _Pelargicus_.[535] - -_Agyeus_ was another term in their religious vocabulary, as applied to -Apollo, of which the Greeks knew not the source. They could not, indeed, -well mistake, that it was derived immediately from [Greek: aguia], _via_; -but that did not expound the fact, and they were still in ignorance of its -proper import. It is merely a translation of our _Rudh-a-vohir_, that is, -_Apollo-of-the high-roads_, not, what the Greeks understood it, as -_stationary_ thereon, but, on the contrary, as _itinerant_; and to whom -_Venus the stranger_ corresponded on the other side; the especial province -of both being to ensure the comforts of _hospitality_, of _protection_, -and of _love_, to all emigrants and all travellers. - -_Grunie_ was another epithet applied to _Apollo_, as we may read in a hymn -composed by Orpheus, which they could not comprehend. It is derived from -_Grian_, one of our names for the _Sun_. - -But, beyond comparison, the most inexplicable of all the epithets applied -to this divinity is _Lycaeus_; which, though--as has been the case, you -perceive, in _every subject yet discussed_--it can be explained only in -the _Irish_!--yet, even _there_, it opposes some difficulties to -discourage, but not more than what give way to sagacity and to -perseverance. - -At Glendalough, in the county Wicklow, one of the proudest abodes of -Budhism, are found, amongst other sculptures, upon the dilapidated ruins, -those which you see opposite. - -The _wolf_ is the most frequent in the multitude of those hieroglyphics. -His character is exhibited in more attitudes than one--and all -mysteriously significant of natural designs. - -In one place you observe his tail gracefully interwoven with the long hair -of a young man's head. That represents the youth Apollo, controlling by -his efficacy--alias, the sun's genial rays--the most hardened hearts, and -so revolutionising the tendency of the inborn system, as from antipathy -often to produce affection and love! - -[Illustration] - -Of this illustration, the practical proof is afforded in _Bakewell's -Travels in the Tarentaise_, to the following purpose, viz.:-- - -"By way of enlivening the description of the structure of animals, he -(M. de Candolle, Lecturer on Natural History at Geneva), introduced many -interesting particulars respecting what he called _leur morale_, or their -natural dispositions, and the changes they underwent when under the -dominion of man. Among other instances of the affection which wolves had -sometimes shown to their masters, he mentioned one which took place in the -vicinity of Geneva. A lady, Madame M----, had a tame wolf, which seemed to -have as much attachment to its mistress as a spaniel. She had occasion to -leave home for some weeks; the wolf evinced the greatest distress after -her departure, and at first refused to take food. During the whole time -she was absent, he remained much dejected: on her return, as soon as the -animal heard her footsteps, he bounded into the room in an ecstasy of -delight; springing up, he placed one paw on each of her shoulders, but the -next moment he fell backwards and instantly expired." - -Elsewhere you discern two wolves unmercifully tearing at a human head! And -this is symbolical of a species of disease, of which there is published an -account in a work called _The Hospitall of Incurable Fooles_, translated -from the Italian by Todd, to the following effect, viz.:-- - -"Amongst these humours of Melancholy, the phisitions place a kinde of -madnes, by the Greeks called _Lycanthropia_, termed by the Latines -_Insania Lupina_, or _Wolves furie_: which bringeth a man to this point -(as Attomare affirmeth), that in Februarie he will goe out of the house in -the night _like a wolfe_, hunting about the graves of the dead with great -howling: _and plucke the dead men's bones out of the sepulchres, carrying -them about the streets_, to the great fear and astonishment of all them -that meete him: And the foresaide author affirmeth, that melancholike -persons of this kinde have pale faces, soaked and hollow eies, with a weak -sight, never shedding one tear to the view of the world," etc. - -And that this was epidemic amongst the Irish is proved by _Spenser's_ -testimony, when, drawing a parallel between the Scythians and the Irish of -his day, he says: "Also, the Scythians said, that they were once a year -turned into wolves; and so it is written of the Irish: though Martin -Camden, in a better sense, doth suppose it was a disease, called -lycanthropia, so named of the wolf: and yet some of the _Irish doe use to -make the wolf their gossip_." - -Thus it appears, that the Irish were not only acquainted with the _nature_ -of this _sickness_, but also with the knack of _taming_ that _animal_ of -which it bore the name. All this was connected with the worship of Apollo, -and with Eastern mythology. Nay, the very _dogs_, for which our country -was once famous,[536] and which were destined as protectors against the -ravages of the _wolf_, are clear, from Ctesias, to have had their -correspondents in India. - -The epithet _Lyceus_, I conceive, now elucidated; and so leave to yourself -to _penetrate_ the rest of those devices. But I shall not, at the same -time, take leave of the "_Valley of the Two Lakes_."[537] - -On one of the loose stones, which remain after this wreck of -magnificence, you will see a full delineation of "The history of -Dahamsonda, King of Baranes (_modern Benares_), who, as his name implies, -was a zealous lover of religious knowledge; and was _incarnated_, in order -to be tried between his _attachment to religion_ and his zeal for the -_salvation of the world_ on the one side, and his love to _his own life_, -and his _attachment to his kingdom_ and wealth, as well as his kindred and -friends, on the other; for which purpose the gods had gradually and -completely _withdrawn the light of religious knowledge_ from the world by -the time of his accession to the throne."[538] - -This king, in his anxiety to regain the _lost_ condition of mankind--to -recover their literature and their _ancient_ knowledge of religion, -instructs his courtiers to proclaim the offer of a casket of gold, "as a -reward to any person" who would instruct his majesty in the mysteries of -the _Bana_,[539] that is, the Budhist _Gospel_, with a view to its -salutary repropagation. - -The officers proceeded in quest of such a phenomenon; but, _in the extent -of their own realms, he was not to be found_! - -This excites the uneasiness of the king, who "having by degrees _increased -his offers_ to thousands and millions of money, high titles, possessions -of land and great privileges; and, at last, offering his own throne and -kingdom, but still finding no instructor, _leaves his court, resolved to -become private traveller, and not to rest till he has found one who could -communicate to him the desired knowledge_. Having _for a length of time -travelled_ through many _kingdoms_, towns, and villages, enduring -hardships, he is, at last, by providential interference, led through _a -delightful valley_ (which affords him subjects for consideration and -recreation of mind) into a dismal forest, the habitation of frightful -demons, _venomous reptiles_, and beasts of prey. - -"_Sekkraia_ having on the occasion come down from heaven, in the disguise -of a _Raksha_, meets _Bodhesat_ (the king) in the wilderness, who -fearlessly enters into conversation with him, and informs him of the -object of his wanderings. The disguised deity undertaking to satisfy the -king, if he will sacrifice to him his flesh and blood in exchange for the -sacred knowledge, _Bodhesat_ cheerfully ascends a steep rock, shown him by -the apparition, and throws himself headlong to the mouth of the _Raksha_. -The king's zeal being thus proved, _Sekkraia_, in his own heavenly form, -receives him in his arms, as he is precipitating himself from the rock," -and has him initiated in the desired information.[540] - -Now, waiving for a moment the latter part of this legend--every word of -which, however, is still chronicled in our country, though transferred by -the _moderns_ to _St. Kevin_ and the _monks_--I return to add, that, on -the above-mentioned stone, you will see a representation of the -_ambassadors offering this caske of riches to a professor of letters -seated in his "doctor's chair"_!!! - -This stone itself is engraved in _Ledwich's Antiquities_, where in his -ignorance of its meaning, as well as of everything else which formed the -subject of his libellous farrago, he perverts it into the _bribing_ of a -_Roman Catholic priest_!--as if the priests would so emblazon -themselves!--and quotes Chaucer to _prove_ the fact, when he says of one -them, that-- - - "He would suffer, for a quart of wine, - A good fellow to have his concubine"! - -How inconsistent is error! Elsewhere this Reverend Doctor has asserted, -and, accidentally, _with truth_, that there was no such thing at all to be -met with at this place, as "Christian symbols." I wonder was he one of -those who consider _Roman Catholics_ not to be _Christians_? - -However, again from _this_ he diverges! And, when called upon to decipher -the _hieroglyphics upon a stone-roofed Tuath-de-danaan chapel, of the same -character as that at Knockmoy_, and discovered here a few years ago, -beneath the Christian piles which the early missionaries had built over -it, by way of _supersedence_, he throws himself, in his embarrassment, -into the arms of _St. Kevin_! associates _him_ with the whole! and that, -too, after he had fatigued himself, _until half choked with spleen_, in -bellowing out the _ideality_ and utter _non-existence_ of such a -personage! - -On the front of the cathedral erected out of the fragments of the -Tuath-de-danaan dilapidations, you will find _Budha_ embracing the _sacred -tree_, known _in our registries_, by the name of _Aithair Faodha_, which -signifies literally the _tree_ of _Budha_.[541] - -The _pomegranate_ of _Astarte_--the medicinal apple of -_affection_[542]--presents itself, also, in the foliage! The _mouldings_ -upon the arch of the western window refer likewise to _her_. And, to -complete the union of Sabian symbolisation, the _serpent_ mingles in the -general tale! while the traditional story of the adjoining _lake_ having -been infested by the presence of that reptile, has a faithful parallel in -one of the lakes of Syria! - -Will it not be believed, therefore, that the _valley_ at which Dohamsonda -had alighted, _after he had traversed many realms far away from his own_, -was that of Glendalough? And where, I ask, would he be more likely to -obtain the object of his peregrination, viz. initiation into _gospel_ -truth, than in that country which, from its pre-eminent effulgence in its -beatitudes, was exclusively denominated the _Gospel-land_? - -This, sir, is no _rhetoric_,--no _declamatory exaggeration_. I will reduce -it for you, in its simple elements, to the perspicuity of vision. - -_Bana-ba_ is one of the names of our _sacred island_, which, like all the -rest of our _history_, has been heretofore a _mystery_ to literary -inquirers! - -The light bursts upon you!--does it not already? Need I proceed to -separate for you the constituent parts of this word? - -It is compounded, then, be it known, of _Bana_, which indicates good -tidings, or gospel, and _aba_, land--meaning, in the aggregate, the -_Gospel-land_! And accordingly the pilgrim, when he set out upon his -journey in quest of the _Bana_, very naturally betook himself to -_Bana-ba_, or the _land of the Bana_, where alone it was to be found! - -And you presume to say that _Christianity_ is a thing which only commenced -last week? - - "Great God! I'd rather be - A _Pagan_ suckled in a creed outworn; - So might I standing on this pleasant lea, - Have _glimpses_ that would make me _less forlorn_; - Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; - Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn." - WORDSWORTH. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI. - - -"They shall be astonished, and shall humble their countenances: and -trouble shall seize them, when they shall behold the Son of _Woman_ -sitting upon the throne of his glory. Then shall the kings, the princes, -and all who possess the earth glorify him who has dominion over all -things--him who was _concealed_: for, from the beginning, the Son of Man -existed _in secret_, whom the Most High preserved in the presence of his -power, and _revealed to the elect_."[543] - -So speaks one of the most extraordinary productions that has ever appeared -in England, in the shape of literature! And the commentary of its -translator[544] is as follows:-- - -"In both these passages," says he, "the _pre-existence_ of the Messiah is -asserted in language which admits not the slightest shade of -ambiguity--nor is it such a pre-existence as the philosophical cabalists -attributed to him, who believed the souls of all men, and, consequently, -that of the Messiah, to have been originally created together, when the -world itself was formed; but an _existence antecedent_ to all creation, an -existence previous to the formation of the luminaries of heaven; an -existence prior to all things visible and invisible, before everything -concealed.--It should likewise be remarked, that the pre-existence -ascribed to him is a divine pre-existence."[545] - -As to the _pre-existence_ of the Messiah, in the only way in which the -Archbishop affirms, I did not think that the doctrine was so obscure as to -require so much stress! Everybody acquiesces, who acquiesces in -Christianity--that its Founder had existence and dominion with His Father -before all worlds. And, therefore, when His Grace offers this as an -_illustration_ of our opening extract, he either _unconsciously -contradicts himself_, or, else, by dealing _in generalities, evades_ an -_exposition, which he was not at liberty to communicate_! - -I am quite ignorant as to whether or not Dr. Lawrence belongs to the order -of _Freemasons_, but I confess that when first I glanced at the above -remarks I fancied he did. The care with which the two words "_secret_" and -"_concealed_" were distinguished by him in _italics_, led me to this -conjecture. But the _indefinite unsubstantiality_ into which he afterwards -wandered, made the fact of his _initiation_ become, itself, a _secret_. - -Let me, however, prove the above _dilemma_. - -His Lordship has asserted, that the _uninspiration_ of "the author" will -admit of no dispute:[546] and yet that "author," whom the Archbishop -himself acknowledges to have written, at the very lowest, _antecedently_ -to the _Advent_, speaks of the _Messiah_ as the "_Son of Man_" and the -"Son of _Woman_."[547] - -Either, therefore, the author was _inspired_, speaking _prospectively_ of -an occurrence _not then consummated_! or else, _uninspired_, he -historically transmits the record of an _incarnation vouchsafed before his -time_. - -I feel perfectly indifferent as to which horn of this alternative you may -patronise. They both equally make for _me_. Nor do I want _either_, -otherwise than to show, that else the Archbishop is already of _my way of -thinking_, and _restrained_ from _avowing_ it, or _unwillingly_ involved -in a _contradictory nodus_, from a partial succumbing to education! - -With this I leave Enoch! I have hitherto done without him! I shall -continue still to do so! But while bidding _adieu_, I must disburthen -myself of the sentiments which his merits have inspired, and that after a -_very short personal familiarity_. - -Thou art, then, a GOODLY and a WISE book, Enoch, stored with _many_ and -_recondite truths_, but "_few_ they be who _find_" them. Better for thee -it were, however, that thou hadst slept a little longer in thy _tranquil_ -retirement, than obtrude thyself, _unappreciated_, upon an _ungenial_ -world--a cold, a calculating, an adamantine world--who fancy they know -_everything_, but who, in truth, know _nothing_--to meet with nothing but -their _scorn_! It is true, Enoch, that thy face hath been tarnished by -many a blemish! And that the hand of time hath dealt with thee, as it doth -with the other works of man! Yet, despite of the _curtailments_ thus -sustained, and the _exotics_ incorporated, thy magnificent ruin still -holds within it some _gleams_, which to the _initiated_ and the -_sympathetic_ afford delight and gratification. - - --------"Sweet as the _ecstatic_ bliss - Of _souls_ that by _intelligence_ converse!" - -Doubtless, reader, you are acquainted with the Gospel of St. John?--and -you have a heart?--and you have emotions?--and you have -sensibilities?--and you have intellect? Well, then, tell me frankly, have -not these all been brought into requisition, at the metaphysical -_sublimity_ and the oriental _pathos_ of the opening part of that -production? - -"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him; and the world _knew -Him not_. He came unto _His own_, and _His own_ received Him not."[548] - -You surely cannot suppose this said in reference to the _late -incarnation_! Were it so, why should the Evangelist deliver himself in -terms so pointedly allusive to _distant times_? The interval between -Christ's disappearance and St. John's registration was but as _yesterday_, -and therefore the latter, when inculcating the _divinity_ of the _former_, -upon the belief of his countrymen, who were all contemporaries, as well of -one as of the other, need not advertise them of an addition, of which they -were themselves cognisant. - -But to illustrate to you as _light_, that it was not the _recent_ -manifestation that was meant by the above text, he tells us in the sequel, -when expressly narrating _this_ latter fact, that "the _Logos_ was made -flesh and dwelt _among us_";[549] where you perceive that "_dwelling among -us_" is made a _distinct thing from_, and _posterior in eventuation to -"coming unto His own,"_ as before recorded![550] - -Indeed, in the delineation, it is not only the _order_ of _time_, but the -_precision_ of _words_, that we see most rigidly characteristic. The -_Jews_, it is certain, could not be called "_His own_," except by -_adoption_; and, I am free to allow, that from them, "as concerning the -_flesh_, Christ came"; but by "_His own_"[551] are meant His _real -relations!--emanations from the Godhead, such as He was Himself! beings -altogether separate from flesh and blood!_ and whose _mysteriousness_ was -perceptible most clearly to St. John, as you will perceive by the Greek -words from which this is rendered, viz. [Greek: ta idia], having been put -in the neuter gender! - -But suppose them, for an instant, to have been the Jews!--Then we are told -that, "to as many as received Him, gave He power to become sons of -God."[552] Now, the apostles were they who did _implicitly receive_ Him: -and why does not St. John refer to those, whether living or dead, as -admitted to the privilege of becoming "sons of God"? I will tell you:--it -was because that they did not answer to that order of beings "which were -born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, -but of God."[553] - -These were the persons to whom _Christ came before_--these were "His own," -because that, _like Him_, they also were _of God_.[554] These were they, -who having lapsed into sin,[555] and vitiated their nature, drew down the -vengeance of heaven upon them; and to the descendants of these it was that -"the elect" and "the concealed one," in mercy was made manifest, with -proposals of redemption to regain their lost state!!! - -"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how -unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable His ways!"[556] - -Seest thou not now, therefore, the propriety of St. John's expression, -when He says, "And I knew Him not, but that He should _be made manifest_ -to Israel";[557] for when, before "He was in the world," it was in -_secret_ and _concealed_--as _still and always represented_ in the -_mysteries_! The latter, he _asserts_, as a matter of _revelation_--for -the former he _appeals to the experience_ of his auditors, as a subject of -_history_: and _both epochs are confirmed_ by the "voice from heaven," -which replied to Christ's own prayer, as thus, "I have both glorified it," -viz. _at Thy former manifestation_--"and will glorify it again,"[558] _at -this Thy present_!!! - -I was myself twelve years of age before ever I saw a Testament in any -language. The first I was then introduced to was the Greek. Being in -favour with my tutor, he took an interest in my progress, and the -consequence was, to my gratitude and his praise, that no deviation from -the exactness of grammatical technicality could possibly escape my -observation. Soon as I arrived at the text wherein [Greek: ta idia] -occurs, its irregularity, at once, flashed across my mind. I sought for an -explanation, but it was in vain; my imagination set to work, but it was -equally abortive. At length, in despair, I relinquished the pursuit, and -never again troubled myself with it, or its solution, until recalled by -its connection with the present inquiry. - -But it was not alone the peculiarity of gender that excited my -circumspection, the phraseology, when translated, sounded so familiar to -my ear, as to appear an old acquaintance under a new form. For, though I -could then tolerably well express myself in English, the train of my -reflections always ran in Irish. From infancy I spoke that tongue: it was -to me vernacular. I thought in Irish, I understood in Irish, and I -compared in Irish. My sentiments and my conceptions were _filtrated_ -therein! - -As to dialectal idioms or lingual peculiarities, I had not, of course, the -most remote idea. Whether, therefore, the expression coming to "His own" -were properly a _Greek_ or an _English_ elocution, I did not, then, know -either sufficiently well to determine; but that it was _Irish_ I was -perfectly satisfied; my ear and my heart, at once, told me so. - -I now positively affirm that the _phrase is neither Hebrew_, _Greek_, nor -_English_! And if you are not disposed to admit the information which it -conveys,[559] to be an immediate communication from the Omnipotent, I have -another very adequate mode of accounting for St. John's having acquired -it, and expressed it too in a phraseology so _essentially Oriental_. - -[Illustration] - -The three wise men--who came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, "Where -is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the -east, and are come to worship Him"[560]--to a mortal certainty imparted to -him the intelligence! - -Here you see them with _crosses_ upon their crowns,[561] the religious -counterparts of our _Irish shamrocs_![562] And surely, as Jesus was then -but an infant, those mysterious devices were commemorative of His -crucifixion, when "He came to His own,"--and not to that which occurred -while He "dwelt among us," a catastrophe which had not yet taken place! - -Nor is it alone this single phrase ([Greek: ta idia]) that I claim as -Oriental--the five first verses of this Gospel, as at present arranged, -appertain also thereto. They speak the _doctrine_ alike of the _Budhists_ -and of the _Free-masons_; but in _diction_, and in _peculiarity_, in -_tone_, in _point_, and _essence_, they are irrefragably _Irish_.[563] - -That St. John never wrote them is beyond all question! but having found -them to his hand, existing after the circuit of centuries and ages, the -composition seemed so pure, and so consonant with Christianity, nay, its -very vitality and soul, he adopted it as the _preface_ to his _own -production_, which begins only at the sixth verse, opening with, "There -was a man sent from God whose name was John"! - -Having asserted that the preliminary part was inalienably _Irish_, I now -undertake to prove a _radical misconception_, nay, a _derogation_ from the -_majesty_ of the _Messiah_, to have crept into the text, in consequence -of its having been translated by persons unacquainted with that language! - -The term _logos_, which you render _word_, means to an iota the _spiritual -flame_--_log_, or _logh_, being the _original_ denomination. The Greeks, -who had borrowed all their religion from the Irish, adopted this also from -their vocabulary; but its form not being suited to the genius of their -language, they fashioned it thereto by adding the termination _os_, as -_loghos_; and thus did it become identified in sound with the common -_logos_, which they had before, and which merely expresses a _word_ or -_term_! - -But though thus confounded, their philosophers, for a long time, kept both -expressions distinct. The former they ever considered a _foreign -importation_, rendering it, as we did, by the _spiritual flame_; as is -evident from Zeno making use of the expression, [Greek: dia tou pantos -logos], that is, the spiritual _flame_, which is diffused through, and -vivifies everything. - -Pythagoras is so explicit upon this _spiritual flame_, that you would -swear he was paraphrasing the first five verses of St. John. - -"God," says he, "is neither the object of sense, nor subject to passion, -but invisible, only intelligible, and supremely intelligent. In His body, -He is like the _light_, and in His soul He resembles truth. He is the -universal _spirit_ that pervades and diffuseth itself over all nature. All -beings receive their _life_ from Him. There is but one only God, who is -not, as some are apt to imagine, seated above the world, beyond the orb of -the universe; but being Himself all in all, He sees all the beings that -fill His immensity, the only principle, the light of Heaven, the Father -of all. He _produces everything_, He orders and disposes _everything_; He -is the reason, the _life_, and the motion of all being." - -Even the Latins having borrowed the idea from the Greeks, steered clear of -the equivocation of the ridiculous _word_; and the immortal Maro, when -describing the quickening influence of this ethereal _logos_ through all -the branches of nature, interprets it as above, literally, by the -_spiritual flame_! - - "Principio coelum ac terras, camposque liquentes, - Lucentemque globum Lunae, Titaniaque Astra, - _Spiritus intus_ alit; totamque infusa per artus - Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. - Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitaeque volantum, - Et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus."[564] - -Am I, therefore, presumptuous in appealing to the _community_ to reject -this _word_ as applied to the _logos_? A meaning, it is true, has been -trumped up for this, as the _communicating vehicle_ between God and His -creatures! No doubt the Saviour is all that: but _logos does not express -it_; and the _duration_ of an abuse is no reason why it should be -perpetuated after its _exposure_. - -I have said that it degraded the dignity of the Godhead to render this -expression by the form of _word_. I do not retract the charge: on the -contrary, I _add_ that, independently altogether of the former arguments, -adduced to establish its _inaccuracy_, it would be _revolting to common -sense_, were it not even thus _incorrect_! - -For example--"In Him was _life_," says the text, "and the life was the -_light_ of men." - -Now, how could there be _life_ in a _word_? except by the most unnatural -straining of metaphor. Or, admitting that there was _life_, how could -there be _light_, except by the same? Whereas, by substituting the proper -term, then all is regular and easy; for what could be more natural, than -that there should be _life_ in _spirit_? and that _this life_ should give -_light_ to men? - -You will observe accordingly, that Jesus Himself, when describing His own -character, exactly states what I here rectify, saying, "I am the _light_ -of the world"--not the _word_ of the world--or any such nonsense. And He -continues the idea by noting further, that "he that followeth Me shall not -walk in _darkness_, but shall have the _light_ of life."[565] Thus keeping -up an _uninterrupted_ reference to _logos_, or the _spiritual flame_! - -I do, therefore, humbly, but strenuously, implore of the legislature that -they _restore_ this epithet to its _divine_ interpretation! I entreat of -the heads, as well of Church as of State, that they cancel the error; for -_error_ I unhesitatingly pronounce it to be,--a _derogation_ from the -Godhead, and a _perversion_ of the attributes of the Messiah! - -I will myself show the way--thus: "In the beginning was the _spiritual -flame_: and the _spiritual flame_ was with God, and the _spiritual flame_ -was God."[566] - -How beautiful! may I hope that it will never more be extinguished! - -Now, there is another text in the same chapter, which, though not -incorrectly translated, yet _loses half its beauty_ as at present -understood! It will startle you when I recite it! Yet here it comes. -"Behold the _Lamb_ of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!"[567] - -By _lamb_, no doubt, you mean a young sheep: but let me ask you, what -connection can you perceive between a _young sheep_ and the _taking away -of sin_? That of immolation, you answer, as typifying the _grand -offering_. Well, then, why add "of God"? Why say, the _young sheep of -God_, if it was an ordinary animal of the mere _ovine species_ that was -intended? - -No, sir; recollect the "_Lamb_ slain from the beginning of the world," -recorded in the Revelations, as quoted before.[568] - -A deep mystery is involved in this expression, which the ingenuity of man -could not evolve but through the Irish. In that language _lambh_ is a word -having _three_ significations. The first is a _hand_; the second a _young -sheep_; and the third a _cross_.[569] - -Let us now, in rendering the text, substitute this latter instead of the -intermediate; and it will be, "Behold the _cross_ of God, which taketh -away the sin of the world!" By which you perceive that when John the -Baptist, by inspiration, pointed out Jesus Christ as the universal Saviour -of the world, his _very words_ establish a previous _crucifixion_! - -You now see how it happened that ten, in numerals, came to be represented -by a cross X. _This_ being the _number_ of _fingers_ upon each person's -hands: and a _hand_ and a _cross_ being both prefigured in the _sacred_, -that is, in the _Irish_ language,[570] by the same term, _lambh_, it hence -occurred that in all reckoning and notation, a _new score_ should be -commenced therefrom--that its _sanctity_ should be still further enhanced -by the epithet of _diag_, or _perfection_, which characterises it as a -_submultiple_, and that the _mysteriousness_ of the _whole_ should be -additionally shrouded under the _comprehensive symbol_ of a _pyramid_ or -_triangle_ [Triangle][571] - -"Our Hibernian Druids," says Vallancey, "always wore a key, like the -doctors of law of the Jews, to _show they alone had the key of the -sciences_, that is, that they alone could communicate the knowledge of the -doctrine they preached. The name of this key was _kire_, or _cire_; and -_eo_, a peg or pin, being compounded with it, forms the modern _eo-cire_, -the key of a lock. The figure of this key resembled a _cross_; those of -the Lacedaemonians and Egyptians were of the same form." - -Estimable and revered Vallancey, it pains me to say anything against you! -but on those subjects you were quite _at bay_! _It was not_ to "show that -they alone had the key of the sciences," that "the doctors of law of the -Jews always wore _a key_," but because that _they had seen it in the -ceremonial of the Egyptians_, from whom, like the Lacedaemonians, they had -borrowed its use, without _either of them being able to penetrate its -import_![572] - -The origin, then, of this _badge_ appearing amongst the _habiliments_ of -our ancient priests, is developed by the _name_ which those priests -themselves bore, viz. _Luamh_, which, being but a direct formative from -_lambh_, a _cross_, _unlocks_ the _secret_ of their being its -_ministers_.[573] - -The _Idaei-Dactyli_, who superintended the mysteries of Ceres, obtained -their designation from the very same cause, and corresponded literally -with our _Luamhs_: for the _Iod_ of the Chaldeans being equivalent to the -_lambh_ or _hand_ of the Irish, the number of fingers thereon were made -religiously significant of the X, or _cross_! And,--what cannot fail to -excite astonishment, as to the _immutability_ of a nation's -_character_,--_to this very hour, the symbolical oath of the Irish peasant -is a transverse placing of the forefinger of one hand over that of the -other_, and then uttering the words, "_By the cross_"! - -Are not the opposers of my _truths_, then, as yet satisfied? or will they -still persist in saying that it was the _Pope_ that sent over our -Tuath-de-danaan crosses?[574] in the ship _Argho_! some thousands of years -before ever Pope was born. I wonder was it His Holiness that transported -emissaries also to that ancient city in America, lately discovered in -ruins, near Palenque; amongst the sculptures of which we discover a -_cross_! And the _priority_ of which to the times of _Christianity_ is -borne witness to by the gentleman who has published the "Description" of -those ruins,[575] though _glaringly ignorant as to what was commemorated -thereby_. - -"Upon one point, however," he says, "it is deemed essentially necessary to -lay a stress, which is the _representation of a Greek cross_, in the -largest plate illustrative of the present work, from whence the _casual_ -observer might be prompted to infer that the Palencian city flourished at -a period _subsequent_ to the Christian era; whereas it is _perfectly well -known to all those conversant_ with the mythology _of the ancients_, that -the figure of a _cross_ constituted the leading symbol of their religious -worship: for instance, the augural _staff_ or wand of the Romans was an -exact resemblance of a _cross_, being borne as the ensign of authority by -the community of the augurs of Rome, where they were held in such high -veneration that, although guilty of flagrant crimes, they could not be -deposed from their offices; and with the Egyptians the _staff_ of Bootes -or Osiris is similar to the _crosier_ of Catholic bishops, which -terminated at the top with a cross." - -But if the Pope had so great a taste for beautifying our valleys with -those costly specimens of art, whereof some are at least eighteen feet in -height, composed of a single stone, and chiselled into devices of the most -elaborate mysteries, is it not _marvellous_ that he has not, in the -plenitude of his piety, thought proper to adorn the neighbourhood of the -Holy See with any similar trophies? And why has he not preserved in the -archives of the Vatican any _record_ of the bequest, as he has taken care -to do in the case of the four _palls_? - -But, transcendently and lastly, why did he deem it necessary to depict -_centaurs_ upon those _crosses_, with snakes, serpents, dogs and other -animals, such as this following one exhibits, which is that at Kells, and -which has been alluded to, by promise, some pages backwards.[576] - -[Illustration] - -I have now done with the _appropriation_ of those columns; and shall just -_whisper_ into my adversaries' ears--_if they have but recovered from the -downcrash of their_ fabric--that so far from laying claim to the honour of -their erection, the Pope has actually excommunicated all such as revered -them! and has otherwise disowned all participation therein, by the -fulminating of bulls and of anathemas![577] - -Yet did the zealots of party, after the history of those crosses was -forgotten, associate them individually with some favourite saint! "This -notion," says Mosheim, referring to such _diversions_, "rendered it -necessary to multiply prodigiously their number, and to create daily new -ones. The clergy set their invention at work, and peopled at discretion -the invisible world with imaginary protectors; they invented the names and -histories of saints that never existed; many chose their own patrons, -either phantoms of their own creation or distracted fanatics whom they -sainted." - -Here, however, the historian is as _inaccurate_ as he is _severe_: for not -only did the majority of those _saints_, if not all of them, exist, but -the greater part also of those _exploits_ ascribed to them have actually -occurred! _The imposition consisted in making them the heroes of events -and legends belonging to former actors._[578] - -I shall now give you, from the Book of Ballymote, my proof for the -assertion before advanced as to the _Goban Saer_, whom they would fain -appropriate, having been a member of the Tuath-de-danaans, viz.: "Ro -gabsat sartain in Eirin Tuatha Dadann is deb ro badar na prem ealadhnaigh: -Luchtand saer credne ceard: Dian ceachd liargh etan dan a hingeinsidhe: -buime na filedh Goibneadh _Gobha lug_ Mac Eithe Occai; ro badar na huile -dana Daghadae in Righ: oghma brathair in Righ, is e ar arainic litri no -Scot." That is, The Tuath-de-danaans then ruled in Eirin. They were first -in all sciences. Credne Ceard was of this people; and his daughter _Dean_ -Ceachd, who presided over physic: she nursed the poet Gohne _Gobha_, the -Free-mason (_lug_ is the same as _Saer_), son of Occai Esthne. Daghdae the -king was skilled in all sciences: his brother Ogmus _taught the Scythians -the use of letters_. - -Thus you see that he could not, by possibility, be on the same theatre -with _St. Abham_; while the popular tradition is still substantially true -which connects his name with the erection of the Round Towers! - -The Church festivals themselves, in our Christian calendar, are but the -direct transfers from the Tuath-de-danaan ritual. Their very _names_ in -Irish are identically the same as those by which they were distinguished -by that earlier race. If therefore, surprise has heretofore been excited -at the conformity observable between our Church institutions and those of -the East, let it in future subside at the explicit announcement that -_Christianity_, with us, was but the _revival_ of a religion imported -amongst us, many ages before, by the Tuath-de-danaans from the East, and -not from any chimerical inundation of Greek missionaries--a _revival_ upon -which their hearts were longingly riveted, and which Fiech himself, the -pupil of St. Patrick, and bishop of Sletty, unconsciously registers in the -following couplet, viz.:-- - - "_Tuatha_ Heren, tarcaintais - Dos nicfead sith laithaith nua."[579] - -That is,-- - - The _Budhists_ of Irin prophesied - That _new_ times of _peace_ would come. - -What kind of _peace_, you ask? Is it of _deliverance_ from their -_Scythian_ oppressors? No, but that spiritual tranquillity, such as they -enjoyed before, and at which even the angels of heaven rejoiced, while -announcing the tidings to man[580]-- - - "And sweet, and with rapture o'erflowing, - Was the song from that multitude heard, - Who their heav'n for a season foregoing, - To second the Angel appear'd. - 'All glory,' the anthem resounding, - 'To God in the highest,' began; - And the chant was re-echoed, responding, - '_Peace_ on earth, loving-kindness to man.'"[581] - -You will remember that the Scriptures themselves record, how that the -_wise men of the East_ foresaw this epoch; and "Lo, the star which they -saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the -young child was."[582] - -Is it therefore to be wondered at that our Tuath-de-danaans, who were -their brethren, should equally anticipate it? - -Yes, from the commencement of time, and through all the changes of -humanity, God had always witnesses to the _truth_ in this nether world. - -"And Melchizedec, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was -the priest of the most high God. - -"And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, -possessor of heaven and earth: - -"And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies -into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all."[583] - -"Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham -gave the tenth of the spoils. - -"For this Melchizedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met -Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him: - -"To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all: first being, by -interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, -which is king of _peace_. - -"Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning -of days nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God--abideth a -_priest_ continually."[584] - -Thus does the apostle proceed, in a strain of the closest argumentation, -to point out the superiority of this king of _peace_, over Abraham and his -lineage: after which Mr. Brown, in his _Commentary_ upon the Bible, -expresses himself as follows, viz.:--"Who this Melchizedec was, this -priest of God among the Canaanites, greater than Abraham, the friend of -God, who were his parents or his successors, is on purpose concealed by -the Holy Ghost. And hence he is without father or mother, predecessor or -successor, in his historical account, in order that he might typify the -incomprehensible dignity, the amazing pedigree and unchangeable duration -of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest." - -Nobody can quarrel with the _piety_ of this commentator: but _piety_ is -not the only requisite for a commentator upon the Scriptures: the _absence -of stupidity_ is an essential condition. It is not, however, as applied to -_this particular passage_ that I thus express myself: were this the only -instance of _accommodating oversight_ it should draw forth no critique -from me. But the instances are _innumerable_, to verify the expression -that "some persons _see_, but _perceive_ not." - -Mr. Brown had no idea of an _emanation_! Mr. Brown did not comprehend the -_sons of God_! Mr. Brown did not know the connection which existed between -the _peace_ of Christ and that which was represented by Melchizedec.[585] - -"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth _good -tidings_, that publisheth _peace_; that bringeth _good tidings_ of good, -that publisheth _salvation_; that saith unto Zion, Thy _God_ -reigneth."[586] - -"These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have _peace_. In -the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome -the world."[587] - -"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day the things which -belong unto thy _peace_! but now they are hid from thine eyes."[588] - -"_Peace_ I leave with you; _My peace_ I give unto you: not as the world -giveth, give I unto you."[589] - -"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and -which entereth into that within the veil; - -"Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an _High -Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec_."[590] - - "From our fathers to us the good tidings descend, - From us to our children agen; - Unrestrain'd as the sun, and as lasting, they blend - All the nations and ages of men. - Good news of great joy to all people, they speak - At once to the learn'd and the rude, - To barbarian and Scythian, the Jew and the Greek, - Nor country nor person exclude. - - From the man who goes forth to his labour by day, - To the woman his help-meet at home; - From the child that delights in his infantine play, - To the old on the brink of the tomb; - From the bridal companions, the youth and the maid, - To the train on the death-pomp that wait; - From the rich in fine linen and purple array'd, - To the beggar that lies at his gate: - - To all is the ensign of blessedness shown, - To the dwellers in vale or on hill, - Alike to the monarch who sits on his throne, - And the bond-man who toils at the mill; - High and low, rich and poor, young and old, one and all, - Earth's sojourners, dead and alive, - Who perish'd by Adam, our forefather's fall, - Shall in Jesus the Saviour revive. - - Not an ear, that those tidings of welfare can meet, - But to _it_ doth that welfare belong: - Then those tidings with rapture what ear shall not greet, - What tongue shall not echo the song? - All hail to the Saviour! all hail to the Lord! - God and Man in one person combined! - The Father's Anointed! by Angels adored! - The Hope and Delight of mankind!"[591] - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII. - - "Yet once I was blind, and could not see the light, - And straight to Jeru-_salem_ I then took my flight; - They led me through a wilderness, with a multitude of care, - You may know me by the system, or badge I wear. - - Twelve dazzling lights I saw, which did me surprise; - I stood in amaze where I heard a great noise; - A _serpent_ came by me,--I fell unto the ground, - With joy, peace, and comfort the _secret_ I found."[592] - - -The _principle_ of all mysteries having been already elucidated, it only -remains, that in this concluding chapter, I point out a few more instances -of their practical application. - -In the Gospel, then, according to St. Matthew, I find the words, "_O -generation of vipers_, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to -come?"[593] And in that according to St. John, the following, "We be not -_born of fornication_; we have one Father, even God."[594] - -The juxtaposition of these texts, one with another, and the comparison of -them, mutually, with the explication of the _serpent_, given at p. 229, -will not only confirm the _truth_ of all the foregoing developments, but -satisfy you further, what I am very certain you did not before identify, -viz. that the phrases _generation of vipers_, and the being _born of -fornication_, are one and the same--the _viper_, or _serpent_, being the -symbol of _lustfulness_, making the former equivalent to _ye offspring of -concupiscence_; that is, in other words, ye _born of fornication_![595] -And the very stress laid upon this mode of _geniture_, implies not only -the _possibility_ of a different sort, but its _frequency_ also! - -"In the Purana prophecies concerning the expected Saviour," say the -_Asiatic Researches_, "it is said, that he was the son, or rather the -incarnation, of the great serpent: and his mother was also of that tribe, -and incarnate in the house of a pot-maker. She conceived, at the age of -one year and a half, the great serpent gliding over her while she was -asleep in the cradle: and his mother, accordingly, is represented as -saying to the child, once that she brought him to a place full of -serpents--'Go and play with them, _they are your relations_.'" - -Here it will be seen that, under the form of a serpent, is personified the -_Deity_, or the _generative power_. - -Nunez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapa, in Mexico, when describing Nagualism, -in his _Constitutions_, as observed in that country, says: "The Nagualists -practise it by superstitious calendars, wherein are inserted the proper -names of all the Naguals, of stars, the elements, birds, beasts, fishes, -and reptiles; with observations upon the months and days; in order that -the children, as soon as they are born, may be dedicated to that which, in -the calendar, corresponds with the day of their birth; this is preceded by -some frantic ceremonies, and the express consent of parents, which is an -explicit part between the infants and the Naguals that are to be given to -them. They then appoint the _melpa_, or place, where, after the completion -of seven years, they are brought into the presence of the Nagual to ratify -the engagement; for this purpose they make them renounce God and His -blessed Mother, instructing them beforehand not to be alarmed, or sign -themselves with the cross: they are afterwards to embrace the Nagual -affectionately, which, by _some diabolical art or another, appears very -tame, and fondly attached to them, although it may be a beast of a -ferocious nature, as a lion, a tiger, etc._ They persuade the children, by -their _infernal cunning_, that this Nagual is _an angel sent by God_ to -watch over their fortunes, to protect, assist, and accompany them; and -that it must be invoked upon all occasions, business, or occurrences, in -which they may require its aid!" - -It is very clear, that the _Nagualism_ above notified is but a degenerate -offshoot of that _serpent_ worship, which is coeval with the _fall_: yet, -degenerate as it is, it is equally indisputable, that this good man's zeal -outsteps far his judgment, the exaggerations of his fancy even committing -him so far, as to make him imperceptibly contradict himself! - -Surely, were it a principle of action with those unfortunate beings to -make their children, on their entrance upon active life, to _renounce -God_, they would not teach them, at the same time, to _reverence_ a brute -creature, merely as being a _subordinate servant of that God_! - -To reconcile the Bishop, therefore, to something like truth, I will -suppose him to mean by the word _God_, where it first occurs, _Christ_, -which is evident from the context, of "His blessed Mother": and then the -prohibition against the sign of "the cross," must be understood -exclusively as in reference to _him_; a conclusion which is confirmed by -an additional reference to that _oath_, which I have before mentioned, as -still prevalent amongst the Irish. - -_By the cross_ is the oath, accompanied by a transverse location of the -forefinger of one hand upon that of the other: and the addition alluded to -is _of Christ_, which is never volunteered except when equivocation is -suspected; and then it is exacted as a matter of _distinction_ between -_His_ cross and the _more antecedent_ one! - -But no further proof is requisite to prove the Bishop's want of candour -than his _withholding_ documents from the public eye, which would appear -to illustrate the subject.--"Although in these tracts and papers there -are," says he, "many other things touching primitive paganism, they are -not mentioned in this epitome, lest, in being brought into notice, they -should be the means of confirming more strongly an idolatrous -superstition." He should have had more confidence in his own cause, and -feel that--"If anything, in consequence of this scrutiny, totter and fall, -it can only be the _error_ which has attached itself to truth, encumbering -and deforming it. _Truth_ itself will remain _unshaken, unsullied, fair, -immortal_!" - -Now, in the description of the ancient city, near Palenque, quoted before, -I find some words, which prove an affinity between the worship of the -ancient inhabitants of America and those of Ireland, and which rescue both -from the imputations of bigotry. "I am _Culebra_," says _Votan_, one of -the early princes, I believe, of Mexico, who wrote an historical tract in -the Indian idiom, "because I am Chivim." - -The man's name, you perceive, was _Votan_, but his ambition was to be -considered _Culebra_, or the _snake_, that is, the deity so personified: -the mode whereby he sought to establish it is foreign from my inquiry. - -The _Gadelglas_ of the ancient Irish was precisely similar to this -_Culebra_ of the Americans: _gad_ signifying a snake, or tortuosity: _el_, -god; and _glas_, green--in all, the _green snake-god_! And conformably -with this import, we are assured by a man who knew very little as to the -_reason why_, but whose testimony is here valuable in a matter of -_record_, not of _opinion_; namely, that the "Milesians, from the time -they first conquered Ireland, down to the reign of Ollamh Fodhla, made use -of no other _arms of distinction in their banners_ than a _serpent twisted -round a rod_, after the example of their Gadelian ancestors."[596] - -You have now the _proof_ of "_who puts the snakes_ upon our _ancient -crosses_?" And, independently of such proof, the antiquity itself of all -the traditions associating the _serpent_ with the early memoirs of our -ancestors was so great as to appal even the _monks_! And as they could -not, in their system of _transferring_ our history, _bring down_ this -serpent to the era of the _saints_, they resolved, at all events, to have -him in their dispensation, and so made _Moses_ the hero! - -This they contrived by inventing the name of _Gadel_ for one of our -forefathers, and then transplanting him to the coast of the Red Sea, just -as the Legislator of the Jews was conducting them out of Egypt! They then -very unsacerdotally make a serpent bite him in some part of the heel, but -very graciously afterwards restore him to sanity by Moses's interposition! -with a stipulation, however, that the former _sore_ should ever appear -_glass_ or _green_! And thus was he called _Gadelglas_, or _Gadel the -Green_!!! - -In truth, it was from this _green_ snake-god, above explained, that the -island obtained the designation of _Emerald_; and not from the _verdure_ -of its soil, which is not greater than that of other countries. - -The Arabians have a tradition, that Enoch was the first who, after Enos, -son of Seth, son of Adam, wrote with a pen, in the use of which he -instructed his children, saying to them additionally, "O, my sons, know -that ye are _Sabians_!" - -Although the substance of the _religion_, couched under this designation, -has been already explained, yet the origin of the name itself remains yet -to be unfolded. - -Then be it known, that in the _sacred_, _i.e._ _Irish_ language, the word -_Sabh_,[597] has three significations--firstly, _voluptuousness_, or the -_yoni_; secondly, a _snake_, or sinuosity; and, thirdly, _death_ or life! -And in accordance with this triple import, if you roll back the leaves as -far as p. 229, you will find in the plate inserted there, and which has -been transcribed from the sculptures of the ancient Palencian city before -alluded to, those three symbols, viz. the _yoni_, the _serpent_, and -_death_, all united in design, and illustrating my development of that -mysterious scene wherein-- - - "Eve _tempting_ Adam by a _serpent_ was stung."[598] - -The sculpture itself is intended to pourtray the situation of those -progenitors of the human species in the Garden of Eden. And yet, striking -as it is, would its tendency remain ever a _secret_, were it not for the -instrumentality of the _Irish_ language! - -"That the society of free and accepted Masons possess a grand _secret_ -among themselves is an undoubted fact. What this grand secret is, or of -what unknown materials it consists, mankind in general, not dignified with -the order, have made the most ridiculous suppositions. The ignorant form -incoherencies, such as conferring with the devil, and many other -contemptible surmises, too tedious to mention, and too dull to laugh at. -While the better sort, and more polished part of mankind, puzzle -themselves with reflections more refined, though equally absurd. To dispel -the opinionative mist from the eye of general error is the author's -intention; and however rash the step may be thought, that he, a mere atom -in the grand system, should attempt so difficult, so nice a task, yet he -flatters himself that he shall not only get clear over it, but meet with -the united plaudits both of the public and of his brethren. And he must -beg leave to whisper to the ignorant, as well as the judicious, who thus -unwarrantably give their judgment, that the truth of this grand secret is -as delicately nice as the element of air; though the phenomenon -continually surrounds us, yet human sensation can never feelingly touch it -till constituted to the impression by the masonic art. The _principal_, -similar to the orb of light, universally warms and enlightens the -_principles_, the first of which, virtue, like the moon, is heavenly -chaste, attended by ten thousand star-bright qualifications. The masonic -system is perfectly the emblem of the astronomic; it springs from the -same God, partakes of the same originality, still flourishes in immortal -youth, and but with nature will expire."[599] - -The _contortions_ of the snake were easily transferred to the revolutions -of the heavenly bodies. "When the ancients," says Boulanger, "found out -the true cycle of the sun, they coined names by a _jeu de mots_, or words, -signifying its heat, or its course, that made up the number 365, as they -had done before to make up 360. The name Sabasins, that has so much -perplexed antiquaries and etymologists, is no more than a _numerical -name_, which was given to Jupiter and to Bacchus as _periodical_ deities. -When the suppliant was initiated into the mysteries of Sabasins, a -_serpent_, the symbol of revolution, was thrown upon his breast. [Greek: -To SABOE], which the Greeks repeated so often in the feasts of Bacchus -_without understanding the meaning of the words_, meant no more than the -cycle of the year, from the Chaldean _Sabb circuire vertere_, etc. The -ancient religion, which applied entirely to the motions of the heavens and -_periodical return_ of the stars, was for that reason named _Sabianism_, -all derived from the Chaldee _Seba_, a _revolution_"; and this, though -Boulanger knew it not, from the Irish Sabh, _serpent_, or _pith_. - -Sabaism, therefore, and Ophiolatreia were all one with Gadelianism; and -while, apparently, purporting to be the worship of the _serpent_ and the -_stars_, were in reality the worship of the _Sabh_ or _Yoni_--so that the -dialogue in Genesis between Eve and the _serpent_, was, in truth, a parley -between Eve and the _Yoni_: and the materials for the allegory were -afforded by the fact of _serpent_ and _yoni_ being both expressed in the -sacred, _i.e._ Irish language, by one and the same name, just as the -Lingam and the Tree of Knowledge have been before identified. - -The mystery, then, of our ancient escutcheon, viz. a _serpent_ twisted -_round a rod_, resolves itself into the _Yoni embracing_ the _Lingam_. - -Hence, too, it was that the portals of all the Egyptian temples were -decorated with the impress of the circle and the serpent. You see also, -why the _seasons_, at the equinoxes and solstices, should have been marked -upon the circle at p. 225; and you further see the mysterious tendency of -the Prophet's injunction to his children, when he said, "Remember that ye -are _Sabians_," to have been equivalent with--Keep constantly in view that -you are the offspring of _concupiscence_, and, by the suggestion of the -_serpent_, begotten in _sin_, the penalty of which, as a breach of the -Creator's commandments, is inevitable _death_, from which you are only -extricated through the promised Redeemer, emanating from the same source -which was before instrumental in entailing your sorrow! - -Every syllable of this is hieroglyphically expressed upon the plate -inserted at p. 223, where you observe the _cockatrice_, or snake-god, -placed at the bottom; over him the _crescent_, or mysterious _boot_, -_i.e._ _yoni_, the object seduced; and, finally, the _cross_ in triumph -over both, intimating emancipation by the vicarious passion of God's own -Son. - -This, then, is my answer to V. W.'s question at p. 225, where he asks, -"What relation had this with the Nehustan, or brazen serpent, to which the -Israelites paid divine honours in the time of Hezekiah?" - -From this _Sabaism_, or _serpent worship_, Ireland obtained the name of -_Tibholas_ or _Tivolas_; _S_ and _T_ being commutable letters, _Tibholas_ -is the same as _Sibholas_, and this being derived from _sibal_, a circle, -shows the name to have been equivalent with the _land of circles or -revolutions_, otherwise, both to the serpent and the planets. - -Those prophetic women of Etruria, designated _Sybils_, were named from the -same cause, being priestesses of the _serpent_, _i.e._ the _Sabh_ or -_Yoni_--allegorically represented as married to Apollo, and gifted with a -longevity of a thousand years. Here, again, the same conversion of letters -occurred, for the place which _they_ inhabited was called from themselves, -_Tivola_, corresponding to our Tivolas, the _S_ and _T_ being, as before -explained, commutable, and _b_ or _bh_ being equivalent to _v_. - -_Pythia_ is exactly synonymous with _Sybil_, meaning the priestess who -presided over the _Pith_, which, like Sabhus, means as well _serpent_ as -_yoni_: and the oracle which she attended was called _Delphi_, from _de_, -divine, and _phith_, yoni--it being but a _cave_ in the shape of that -symbol,[600] over the orifice of which the priestess used to take her seat -upon a sacred _tripod_, or the religiously emblematic pyramid,[601] while -the inspiring vapour issued from beneath through a tube similar to that -exhibited at p. 460, and one end of which, passing through the aperture, -held fast the tripod to which the priestess had been secured, so that she -should not, in her delirium, relinquish the position. - -The great Samian philosopher, known as Pythagoras, only assumed this name -in deference to those rites: for _Pyth-agoras_ means one who _expounds_ -the mysteries of the _pith_, viz. _death_ from its weakness, and -_redemption_ from its virtue. - -"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name -Immanuel,"[602] was the spiritual substance of those _expositions_: the -only difference being in that _Isaiah_ spoke prospectively towards a -lately verified issue, whereas the _initiated_ took the promise from the -moment of the _fall_: and of its _partial_ accomplishment prior to our -era, there can be no doubt, even from the writings of this prophet. - -On the opposite plate are three profile likenesses of Christ, as He -appeared upon earth in human form--the first is a facsimile from a _brass_ -medal, found at Brein Owyn, in the Isle of Anglesey, and published in -Rowland's _Mona Antiqua_. The inscription upon it has been translated as -meaning, "Jesus the Mighty, this is the Christ and the Man together." - -The second, likewise of brass, and found at Friar's Walk, near Cork, is -now in the possession of a Mr. Corlett.--Inscription upon one side, "The -Lord Jesus."--Upon the other, "Christ the King came in _peace_, and the -light from the heaven was made life." - -You will please observe here, that he does not say the _Word_ was made -life, but the _Light_ was made life. - -The third is of silver, and the inscription means, "Jesus of Nazareth, the -Christ--the Lord and the Man together." - -The originals of these inscriptions are all in Hebrew, and the -likenesses which accompany them, although on different metals, appear -almost copies one of another: whereas the cruciform figures herein already -inserted, have no one feature of correspondence whatsoever with them, but -prove themselves, on the contrary, in every particular, an antecedent -generation.[603] - -[Illustration] - -As everything else appertaining to the history of the Round Towers has -already been explained, I shall now account for the difference of -appropriation noticed at p. 6. Having been all erected in honour of the -_Budh_, they all partook of the phallic form; but as several enthusiasts -personified this abstract, which, in consequence of the _mysteries_ -involved in the thought and the impenetrable veil which shrouded it from -the vulgar, became synonymous with _wisdom_ or _wise man_, it was -necessary, of course, that the Towers constructed in honour of each should -portray the distinctive attributes of the individuals specified. Hence the -difference of apertures towards the praeputial apex, the crucifixions over -the doors, and the absence or presence of internal compartments.[604] - -Those venerable piles vary in their elevation from fifty to one hundred -and fifty feet. At some distance from the summit there springs out a sort -of covering, which--accompanied as it sometimes is with a cornice, richly -sculptured in foliage, in imitation, if you must have it, _praeputii -humani_, but such also was the pattern of the "nets of checker-work and -wreaths of chain-work," which graced "the chapiters which were upon the -top of the two pillars belonging to Solomon's temple"--terminates above in -a sort of sugar-loaf crown, concave on the inside and convex on the -outside. - -Their diameter at the base is generally about fourteen feet through, that -inside measuring about eight, which decreases gradually, but -imperceptibly, to the top, where it may be considered as about six feet in -the interior. - -The distance of the door from the level of the ground varies from four to -twenty-four feet. The higher the door the more irrefragable is the -evidence of the appropriation of the structure to the purposes specified. -The object was two-fold, at once to keep off profane curiosity and allow -the votaries the undisturbed exercise of their _devotions_; and to save -the _relics_ deposited underneath from the irreverent gaze of the casual -itinerant. - -Analogous to these would appear to have been the edifices which the Lord -had in view when He said, "Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine -altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon,"[605] which -additionally proves the antiquity of the Irish _philebeg_; for, as with -any other costume, such a prohibition would be needless, it follows that -the prevailing fashion, in the eastern habiliments, must have been diffuse -and open in the nether extremes. - -I beg the reader will now be pleased to look back at the Tuath-de-danaan -cross at p. 358, and he will at once see how it happened that the _Goban -Saer_, who is there represented, has been imposed upon the Royal Irish -Academy, or rather promulgated by them, as a _woman_! viz. from the -peculiarity of his _dress_! being the distinctive badge of his sacerdotal -order. - -Nor is it only the character of those sculptures, but the existence of any -sculptures upon those relics, as well crosses as towers, that proves them -to have been Tuath-de-danaan; for the reason why Jehovah forbade the -Israelites from using any _tools_ upon the stones used in their religious -edifices was, that other nations had loaded theirs with sculptured images -of different gods, which made Him say, "If thou wilt make Me an altar of -stone, thou shalt not build it of _hewn_ stone, for if thou _lift up thy -tool upon it_, thou hast polluted it." - -In their masonic construction there is nothing in the Irish Towers -appertaining to any of the four orders of architecture prescribed by the -moderns. It is so also with those in the East. They approach nearest, -however, to the Tuscan, and the reason of that similarity may be imagined -from what I have already stated as to the Etrurians. - -Prepared stone is the material of which they are generally composed, and -evidently, in some instances, brought from afar. Sometimes also they -appear constructed of an _artificial_ substance resembling a reddish -brick, squared, and corresponding to the composition of the Round Towers -of Mazunderan. Now if the monks possessed this secret, why were not the -monasteries, the more important edifices, according to our would-be -antiquarians, composed of the same elements? And is it not strange that -all _elegance_ and _extravagance_ should have been lavished upon the -_appendages_, while _uncouthness_, _inelegance_, want of durability, or -other architectural recommendation are the characteristics of what they -tell us were the principals? Yet neither in the monasteries, nor in any -other Christian building, do we meet with those materials above described, -either _generally_ or _partially_, except where the ruins of a -neighbouring Round Tower have made them available, which, in itself, is -sufficient to overthrow for ever the anachronisms of those who would deny -the existence of those temples anterior to the present era. - -But Christian edifices, they say, are generally found in their vicinity. -Yes, and as I have already explained the reason why,[606] I forbear now -rehearsing the fact. But even _this stronghold_ of the _moderns_ I cut -away from them, by stating that at the "Giant's Ring," in the county Down, -the indisputable scene of _primordial veneration_, we have an instance of -a Round Tower, _without any church hard by_! And while recalled by this -circumstance, I must observe that the vitrification manifest within the -walls of that structure arose from the _burning of the dead bodies_ -therein, and not from the indications of the _sacred fire_. - -With three exceptions, all have a row of apertures towards the top, just -under the projecting roof, made completely after the fashion of those -which Solomon had built, being windows of narrow lights.[607] In general -the number is four, and then they correspond to the cardinal points. In -three instances there is one aperture towards the summit, in one instance -there occur five, in one six, in one seven, in one eight. - -Inside they are perfectly empty from the door upwards, but most of them -divided, either by _rests_ or _projecting_ stones, into lofts or storeys, -varying in number from three to eight. In the temple of Solomon we find -the same, for "within, in the wall of the house, he made narrowed _rests -round about_, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the -house."[608] And the images which I have shown to have been cupboarded -upon these rests, were nothing more than what Solomon himself did, when -"he carved all the walls of the house _round about_ with carved figures of -cherubims, and palm-trees, and open flowers, within and without."[609] - -In a future publication I intend to show a more startling correspondence -between our Round Towers and some other parts of Solomon's temple. -Meanwhile I wish it to be borne in mind,--as in some degree accounting for -the correspondence,--that Solomon's architect was a Sidonian. - -A striking perfection observable in their construction is the inimitable -perpendicular invariably maintained. No architect of the present day, I -venture to affirm, could observe such regularity. Nelson's pillar itself -has been proved to vary somewhat from the perpendicular line; but the -keenest eye cannot trace a deviation, in a single instance, from amongst -the whole of those Sabian monuments. Even the tower of Kilmacdugh, one of -the largest in the kingdom, having from some accident, earthquake, or -other cause, been forced to lean terrifically to one side; yet, miraculous -to mention, retains its stability as firm as before; such was the accuracy -of its original elevation.[610] - -If asked how it was I conceive them to have been constructed, I should -answer, by a scaffolding raised gradually from within. The expense in this -case would be infinitely less, and the labour also. It would be very easy -to let fall a plumb-line at various intervals of height, by which at all -times the perpendicular may be ascertained, and the masonry carried on by -what may be called overhanding, while the cement employed in giving -solidity to the whole, and which is the direct counterpart of the Indian -chunan, bids defiance to the efforts of man to dissever, except by the -exertion of extraordinary power. - -That this was the mode in which their erection was effected, is evident in -the instance of Devenish Tower, which, from the elegance of its cut-stone -exterior, would seem to negative the idea of their being built from -within. But a judicious eye cannot but at once discern that near the top, -where it is probable that one or two of the artists may have come out, by -the help of some contrivance devised for the purpose, the execution and -finish which the workmanship displays is incomparably superior to that of -any of the lower parts. In other instances, where the ancient top having -been removed, a modern one has been substituted, the case is very -different indeed. - -The cohesiveness of all these columns will be best estimated by the fact -of the Round Tower at Clondalkin having firmly stood its ground when, in -the year 1786-87, the powder-mill explosion, which took place within -twenty-four feet of its base, shivered to annihilation every other -structure within its influence; nay, extended its violence so far as to -shatter the windows in some of the streets of Dublin. That at Maghera also -lay unbroken after its fall, exhibiting to the spectator the almost -appalling spectacle of a gigantic cannon! - -That both Indians and Irish performed circular _dances_ around them, -typical of the motions of the heavenly bodies, is highly probable, as we -have still the name of a particular movement, apparently that practised on -the occasion, still amongst us in common use, namely, _Rinke-teumpoil_, or -the temple dance: and that they otherwise honoured them by performing -_penances_ around them, is evident from the name of _Turrish_, which means -a _religious circuit round a tower_! applied afterwards by the Catholics -to any penitential _round_. And we have the authority of Sanchoniathon, -when talking of the Creation, for stating that "the next race consecrated -_pillars_--that they _prostrated themselves before them_, and made annual -libations to them"![611] - -These, I conceive, were the halcyon days of Ireland's legendary and -romantic greatness. In this sequestered isle, aloof from the tumults of a -bustling world, this Tuath-de-danaan colony, all of a religious race, and -all disposed to the pursuits of literature, united into a circle of -international love, and spread the fame of their sanctity throughout the -remotest regions of the universe. That its locality was familiar to the -Brahmins of India I make no earthly question; that it was that sacred -island which they eulogised so fondly, and spoke of with such raptures, I -am sanguinely satisfied; and equally convinced am I, that it was that -beautifying region, whose widespread holiness, and far-famed renown, made -such an impression on the minds of Orpheus and of Pindar, when those -divine bards, speaking of its Hyperborean inhabitants, thus enchantingly -sung-- - -"On sweet and fragrant herbs they feed, amid verdant and grassy pastures, -and drink ambrosial dew, divine potation: all resplendent alike in coeval -youth; a placid serenity for ever smiles on their brows and lightens in -their eyes; the consequence of a just temperament of mind and disposition, -both in the parents and in the sons, inclining them to do what is great, -and to speak what is wise. Neither disease nor wasting old age infest this -holy people, but without labour, without war, they continue to live happy, -and to escape the vengeance of the cruel Nemesis."[612] - -Though clothed in the cadence of measured phraseology, and decked in the -charms of an imaginative style, this is scarely more beautiful than the -simple summary of the Tuath-de-danaan moral code, as given you at page -112, and of which, in truth, this is but the paraphrase. For instance, -they fed, it is stated, "on sweet and fragrant herbs," because they were -prevented by their first commandment from eating "anything endowed with -life."[613] They drank "ambrosial dew," because their fifth commandment -forbade their touching "any intoxicating liquor." And the healthful -aspects they exhibited were but the natural result of temperate habits and -virtuous demeanour. - - "The simplest flow'ret of the vale, - The simplest note that swells the gale, - The common air, the earth, the skies, - To them were opening Paradise!" - -Five hundred years after the period of their dethronement, while the -influence of their example still continued to operate, we are told by the -Dinn Seanchas, that "The people deemed each other's voices sweeter than -the warblings of a melodious harp, such peace and concord reigned amongst -them, that no music could delight them more than the sound of each other's -voices." - -With these compare what Cambrensis, who was no friend, has said of this -island, about two thousand years after. "Of all climes," says he, "Ireland -is the most temperate; neither Cancer's violent heat is felt there in -summer, nor Capricorn's cold in winter; but in these particulars it is so -blessed, that it seems as if Nature looked upon this zephyric realm with -its most benignant eye. It is so temperate," he adds, "that neither -infectious fogs, nor pestilential winds, are felt there, so that the aid -of doctors is seldom looked for, and sickness rarely appears except among -the dying." - -The repose of this happy people being at length disturbed by the ungenial -inundation of the Scythian intruders, the ritual of the temple worship was -precipitated apace; and this, if I mistake not, "satisfactorily removes -the uncertainty in which the origin and uses of those ancient buildings -has been heretofore involved."[614] For the Scythians being warriors[615] -rather than students, and looking with distrust upon the emblematic images -of their temple-serving predecessors, which they considered to be -idolatry, did all in their power by legislative, as well as military -enactments, to efface every trace thereof; so that in a few years the -temple, or tower, worship became utterly extinct, and--more than -annihilated--forgotten. - -Instead thereof, they substituted the worship of _fire_,[616] which, -though their predecessors were far from recognising as a deity, yet they -always showed to it some reverential respect: and this approximation of -sentiment, on both parts, contributed to what may be called a passive -reconciliation; the victors assuming the mastery of the soil; and the -vanquished, in deference to their high literary repute, being continued as -superintendents of the national education, as well as the practical -followers of all trades and professions. - -It was so also at Rome, when Romulus dislodged the Pelasgi, who, we are -told by Festus, had themselves some time previously, under the name of -"Sacrani," that is, the religious caste, corresponding to "Irish," which -signifies the same thing, drove the Ligures and Siculi from Septimontio, -_i.e._ Rome. - -The only use now made of those Sabian edifices, after stifling the -religion for which they were designed, was, we may suppose, to promote the -study of astronomical science, for which they were admirably adapted, and -with which their _original_ destination was inseparably interwoven.[617] -But as the stimulus of religion was wanting for the prosecution of those -researches, we cannot be surprised that _this_ part of their purpose, too, -sharing the fate of its collateral helpmate, insensibly repined under the -altered aspect of the scene; for, to apply to it what has been said of the -great scheme of the creation itself, viz. that-- - - "if each system in gradation roll - Alike essential to the amazing whole, - The least confusion--but in one--not all, - That system only, but the whole must fall." - -The knowledge of this delightful study, however, did not yet completely -die away; it formed still an essential in the education of every Irish -youth; and the remnant of our language, at this very moment, shows how -piously attentive were its framers to that divine precept which told them, -that the "lights of the firmament of heaven were for signs and for -seasons, and for days and for years." - -The profligate degeneracy of the Druids, however, tended to bring _this_ -also into disesteem. - -This order of priests got so overbearing here, grasping at not only high -ecclesiastical power, but also intermeddling in secular transactions, -that they made themselves obnoxious to the great body of the people, and a -disregard both to the literature and the religion which they inculcated -was the inevitable result. To this I ascribe the plebeian war of Ireland, -A.D. 47, that deplorable state of a country, when faction and rage usurp -the place of counsel and discretion! when commerce stagnates! confidence -decays! when lust stalks abroad to desecrate everything holy! and all is -doubt, suspicion, melancholy, and death! - -How beautifully and how aptly, but yet, for himself, how unwisely, did the -philosophic Callisthenes apply the sentiment of Euripedes to Philip of -Macedon, at Alexander's Feast?--viz.:-- - - "When civil broils declining states surprise, - There the worst men to highest honours rise." - -Many virtuous persons, we are told, opposed themselves to the -encroachments of this degenerate hierarchy. When Conlah, in his retreat -from the glitter of life, betook himself to an humble cottage, and devoted -the faculties of his comprehensive mind to philosophical pursuits and the -improvement of his species, the greatest praise which the analyst, in -recording such worth, could bestow, was, "She do rinni an choin -bhliocht-ris inna Druwdh"; that is, It is he that disputed against the -Druids! - -The Books, however, of their predecessors, the Boreades, still remained, -and the knowledge of astronomy was kept alive by their perusal. But of -these we were despoiled, very shortly after, by that mistaken piety -elsewhere deplored. Some few treatises even then must have escaped, and -their effect was best illustrated, as shown before, by the unprecedented -success with which the gospel dispensation was hailed in this island. - -I have before shown the instance of Fergil or Virgil, who, in the eighth -century, maintained the rotund and true form of the earth, when the rest -of Europe were ignorant on the subject. "He was," says Sir James Ware, -"the author of a Discourse on the Antipodes, which he most truly held, -though against the received opinion of the ancients, who imagined the -earth to be a plain." - -In this sweeping ban upon the ancients, however, Sir James must not -include the ancient Irish, whose hereditary doctrine upon the subject it -is evident that Fergil did here only give utterance to; and dearly did he -suffer for it; his life, like that of Galileo, having been forfeited -thereby, at the hands of the same enlightened tribunal. This was enough to -put the _last_ extinguisher upon the cultivation, or at least avowal, of -the Irish notions of astronomy. It is astonishing, notwithstanding, what -an instinctive thirst still lurked in the Irish mind for the sublimities -of this pursuit.[618] Smith mentions an instance of a "poor man near -Blackstones, in the county Kerry, who had a tolerable notion of -calculating the epacts, golden number, dominical letter, the moon's -phases, and even eclipses, although he had never been taught to read -English." The author of this essay has known many such characters;--one in -particular who, from his great proficiency in the art, had obtained for -himself the honourable designation of the _Kerry Star_. - - - - -LIST OF IRISH ROUND TOWERS AND CROSSES.[619] - -_An asterisk (*) is prefixed to the names of the most remarkable._ - - -I. TOWERS. - -AGHABOE (Queen's Co.). - -AGHADOE (Kerry), only 12 or 15 feet left. Its masonry greatly superior to -that of the church near it (167). - -AGHAGOWER (Mayo), near Westport. Imperfect. - -AGHAVILLER (Kilkenny), six miles south of Thomastown. Imperfect. - -ANNADOWN (Galway), only 7 feet of a very fine base left. - -*ANTRIM (Antrim), one of the most perfect, but of the smaller class. - -ARANMORE (Galway), base only. - -ARDFERT (Kerry), site only. - -ARDKEEN, or ARDKYNE (Down). - -ARDMORE (Waterford), very perfect specimen, 97 feet high by 52 feet round -(_v._ p. 71). - -ARDPATRICK (Limerick), imperfect. - -ARDRAHAN (Galway), site interesting from having a subterranean passage. - -ARMAGHDOWN (Galway). - -ARMOY (Antrim), near Ballycastle, 40 feet only left. - -ASSYLIN (Roscommon), site only. - -BAAL, or BALLA (Mayo), only 40 feet left, but fine specimen. - -BALLYBEG (Cork), site only. - -BALLYCARBERY (Kerry), alluded to by O'Brien as a "Cathoir ghall" (p. 48). - -BALLYGADDY (Galway), near Kilbannon. - -BALLYVOURNEY (Cork), site only. - -BELTURBET (Cavan). - -BRIGOON (Cork), site only; tower blown down in 1704. - -CAILTREE ISLE, so mentioned by Vallancey; probably INISCALTRA (_q.v._). - -CASHEL (Tipperary), 90 feet high by 42 feet round. Sculptured doorway. - -CASTLE DERMOT (Kildare), imperfect, but with fine doorway. - -CLAREEN (King's Co.), see SIERG KIERAN. - -*CLONDALKIN (Dublin), complete, but renovated, specimen, nearly 80 feet -high by 45 feet round; curious projecting base 13 feet high (p. 101). - -CLONES (Monaghan), imperfect. - -*CLONMACNOISE (King's Co.), two fine, but renovated, specimens. - -CLOYNE (Cork), well preserved, but tampered with in rebuilding. Originally -92 feet high, which has been increased to 102 feet. - -CORK (near St. Finbar's), site only. - -DERRY (city), site only. - -*DEVENISH (Fermanagh), the most perfect and highly finished of all, 79 -feet high by 48 feet round (p. 38). - -DISART CARRIGEN, or DISERT ANGUS (Limerick), near Adare; about 60 feet -left; ornamented doorway. - -DONOUGHMORE (Meath), 79 feet left; fine, but imperfect, specimen. - -DROMCLIFFE (Clare), very imperfect remains of. - -DROMESKIN (Louth), a reconstruction; church now stands on original site. - -DRUMBOE (Down), only the base, with quadrangular doorway, remaining. - -DRUMCLIFFE (Sligo), only 40 feet left. - -DRUMLAHAN, or DRUMLANE (Cavan), only 20 feet of original left, with -"belfry" added. - -DUBLIN (city), site on left side of Ship Street, now built on. - -DURROW (King's Co.). - -DYSART ENOS (Queen's Co.), imperfect. - -DYSART O'DEA (Clare), near Ennis; 50 feet left, 61 feet in circumference. - -FERBANE (King's Co.), Vallancey mentions two specimens. - -FERNS (Wexford), evidently a modern structure made out of the old -materials. - -*FERTAGH (Kilkenny), one of the loftiest and most perfect. - -FINGLAS (Dublin), site only. - -GIANT'S RING (Down), a specimen "without any church hard by" (O'B.), p. -514. - -*GLENDALOUGH (Wicklow), locality most interesting; contains two specimens, -one 110 feet high by 50 feet round. - -INISCALTRA (Galway), probably the "Cailtree Isle" of Vallancey. - -INIS KEEN (Monaghan), 42 feet left standing. - -INIS MACNESSAIN (Ireland's Eye) (Dublin), site only. - -INIS-MOCHOE (Down), on shore of Lough Strangfal; imperfect. - -*INIS SCATTERY (Clare), more than 100 feet high, injudiciously repaired. - -IRELAND'S EYE (Dublin), materials of tower taken to build R.C. church. - -ISLE OF ARAN (Galway). - -KELLISTOWN (Carlow), site only. - -*KELLS (Meath), in very good preservation, though unroofed; quite -unaltered; 99 feet left. - -KILBANNON, or BALLYGADDY (Galway), 40 feet left. - -KILCOONA (Galway). - -KILCULLEN (Kildare), 40 feet remaining. - -*KILDARE, very fine, and elaborately ornamented; 105 feet high, but top -spurious. - -*KILKENNY, perfect, all but the top 108 feet high. Good specimen. - -KILLALA (Mayo), good specimen, judiciously repaired; 84 feet high by 50 -feet round. - -KILLASHEE (Kildare), also known as Killossy. Imperfect. - -KILLESHANDRA (Cavan). - -KILLESHIN (Queen's Co.), site only. - -*KILMACDUAGH (Galway), fine Cyclopean base; 120 feet high by 57 feet -round; 3 feet out of the perpendicular. - -KILMALLOCK (Limerick), very imperfect, and much altered. - -KILNABOY (Clare), 12 feet only standing. - -KILREA (Kilkenny), nearly perfect. - -KINNETH, pronounced KINNEIGH (Cork), remarkably fine hexagonal base, -underground passage, rock basins, etc. - -LORUM (Carlow), site only. - -LUSK (Dublin), fine Cyclopean doorway; much repaired; 100 feet high by 43 -feet round. - -MAGHERA (Down), only 20 feet left, rest blown down in 1704. - -MAGHTURREIDH (Sligo), doubtful. - -MAHEE ISLAND (Down), imperfect. - -MEELICK (Mayo), 72 feet left; in good condition. - -*MONASTERBOICE (Louth), characteristic doorway, top shattered by -lightning, otherwise perfect; 110 feet high by 50 feet round. - -ORAN (Roscommon), only 12 feet left, must have been one of the largest. - -OUGHTERARD (Kildare), scanty remains. - -RAM ISLAND (Antrim), scanty remains; said to have been used as a -sepulchre. - -RATH (Clare), site only. - -RATHMICHAEL (Dublin), stump only. - -*RATTOO (Kerry), very perfect; the loftiest and least injured by -renovation. - -ROSCOM (Galway), three miles east of Galway. Imperfect. - -ROSCREA (Tipperary), imperfect, curiously sculptured rounded doorway. - -ROSENALLIS (Meath?), site only; the subject of a bitter controversy (_v._ -Petrie, pp. 40-42). - -ROSSCARBERY (Cork), site only. - -*SCATTERY ISLAND (see INIS SCATTERY), 125 feet high by 52 feet round. The -only specimen having doorway level with the ground. - -SIERG KEIRAN or CLAREEN (King's Co.), site only. - -SLANE (Meath), very doubtful site. - -SWORDS (Dublin), almost entirely rebuilt; 73 feet high. - -TAMLAGHTFINLOGAN (Derry), scanty remains. - -TEGHADOE (Kildare), 60 feet left, in excellent preservation. - -TEMPLE FINGHIN (at Clonmacnoise). - -*TIMAHOE (Queen's Co.), 96 feet high by 60 feet round; beautiful specimen. - -TOMGRANEY (Clare), site only. - -TORY ISLAND (Donegal), imperfect. - -TRUMMERY (Antrim). - -TULLAGHERIN (Kilkenny). - -TULLOSHERIN (Waterford), near Dungarvan; mentioned by Vallancey. - -*TURLOUGH (Mayo), good specimen, but reconstructed in part. - -WEST CARBERY (?), so mentioned by Vallancey, but probably ROISCARBERY -(_q.v._). - -NOTE.--Round Towers, evidently imitations of the Irish R. T., exist at -Brechin and Abernethy in Scotland. There is, also, a rather doubtful -specimen at Peel (Isle of Man), and a still more doubtful one at Hythe -(Kent). - - -II. CROSSES. - -_Achath_, _Abhall_, or _Aghold_ (Wicklow), much weather-worn. - -*_Ardboe_, or _Arboe_ (Tyrone), about 20 feet high, with remarkable -sculpture. - -_Armagh_, imperfect; when complete, at least 26 feet high; sculptured. - -_Banagher_ (Derry), curious sculptured figure of man on horseback. - -_Cashel_ (Tipperary), much weather-worn. - -_Castle Dermot_ (Kildare), two specimens of some interest. - -_Clondalkin_ (Dublin), ancient granite specimen, 9 feet high. - -_Clones_ (Monaghan), handsomely sculptured, but weather-worn. - -_Clonfeacle_, (Armagh), without sculpture or inscription. - -*_Clonmacnoise_ (King's Co.), two fine specimens (_v._ p. 358). - -_Cong_ (Connemara), base only, with inscription in Erse. - -_Conwall_ (Donegal), only the socket remaining. - -_Donoughmore_ (Meath), imperfect, and much weather-worn. - -*_Drumcliffe_ (Sligo), handsomely sculptured. - -_Drumeskin_ (Louth), used as a headstone in burying-ground. - -_Duleck_ (Meath), handsomely sculptured. - -*_Durrow_ (King's Co.), very beautiful, but hard to find, being situated -among trees in an old burial-ground. - -*_Dysart_, or _Disert_, _O'Dea_ (Clare), now in ruins, once richly -sculptured. - -_Fassaroe_ (Wicklow), in private grounds. - -_Ferns_ (Wexford), remains of four specimens in different places. - -_Finglas_ (Dublin), well cut, but without ornament (_v._ p. 366). - -_Glanculmkill_ (Clare), base only. - -_Glen_ (Donegal). - -*_Glendalough_ (Wicklow), _v._ p. 466. - -*_Kells_ (Meath), three beautiful specimens (_v._ p. 491). - -_Kilclispeen_ (Tipperary), with very remarkable sculptured base. - -*_Kilcullen_ (Kildare), portions of two specimens (_v._ p. 338). - -*_Killkieran_ (Kilkenny), three specimens. - -*_Killamery_ (Kilkenny), beautiful specimen. - -_Kilmacduagh_ (Galway). - -_Kilnaboy_ (Clare), has been shifted from its original position. - -*_Kilnafora_ (Clare), remains of five out of seven. - -_Kilnafosse._ - -_Kilrea_ (Kilkenny). - -_Maheramore_, or _Banagher_ (Derry). See _Banagher_. - -*_Monasterboice_ (Louth), the most perfect in Ireland. - -*_Moone Abbey_, or _Timolin_ (Kildare), two specimens; one very -remarkable. - -_Moville_ (Donegal), ancient cross, with hole in top of shaft. - -_Nevinstown_ (Meath), in mutilated condition. - -_Old Leighlin_ (Carlow), only the base remaining. - -_Oughterard_ (Kildare), several specimens near the Round Tower. - -_Roscrea_ (Tipperary), broken, but with curious carving. - -_Rosstrevor_ (Down), fine specimen in burying-ground. - -_Temple Cronan_ (Clare). - -_Temple Kieran_ (Leitrim). - -*_Termon Fechin_ (Louth), fine specimen. - -_Timolin_, or _Moone Abbey_ (Kildare). - -_Tory Island_ (Donegal), several specimens. - -*_Tuam_ (Galway), "the finest monument of its class and age" (Petrie). - -_Tynan_ (Armagh). - - - - -INDEX. - -(_R. T. signifies Round Tower, or Towers._) - - - AARON, or Inaron, 149. - - ABAD (Persian dynasty), 246. - - ABARIS, the Boreadan; - his mission to Delos from the Insula Hyperboreorum, 53-56, 397, 448; - why he did not adopt the Scythian dress, 56; - meaning of the "arrow" which he bore with him to Delos, 328. - - ABERNETHY (R. T.), 10, 431. - - AGRICULTURE, an object of Sabaic worship, 111. - - AGNARUPI, a manifestation of the Deity (Brahminic), 288. - - AICHE BAAL-TINNE and AICHE-SHAMAIN, 199, 200. - - AITHAIR FOADHA, or the tree of Bhudda, explained, 472. - - ALPHABET (Irish), a "tree" code, 229, 418. - See ST. PATRICK. - - AMERGIN, the bard, brother of Heremon and Heber, 22, 387, 388. - - ANNALS of Ulster and of the Four Masters, cited against the theory that - R. T. were belfries, 364; - also to prove that they existed before the 5th century, 374. - - ANATTA, ANUZZA, and DOCHA, their respective meanings, 114. - - APIS, the Egyptian deity, what he represented, 159. - - APOLLO, meaning of the name, 61; - his alleged cyclic visits to the Insula Hyperboreorum (Ireland), 52, - 397; - Christnah, the Indian equivalent of, 218, 219; - sculptured with the Python at Knockmoy, 330; - meaning of the Python myth, 291; - the "great year" of the Greeks, 397; - his musical worship in Ireland, 403; - his supposed temple at Kilmalloch, 202; - Phrygian account of his visit to the Hyperboreans, 436; - _Grynaeus_ and _Lycaeus_ explained, 466. - See SUN-WORSHIP. - - APPLE, Eve and the, 227 _et seq._ - - ARABIC Sabaism, 503-506. - - ARCHITECTURE of the R. T., 513. - - ARD-MELCHAN, derivation of the name, 203. - - ARDMORE (R. T.), 71, 75; - meaning of the name, 75. - - ARGUES, its Sabaic import, 195. - - ARIMASPI, their connection with Cyclopean architecture and mining, 86, - 407. - - ARK of Scripture, what it means, 224-226, 267, 270 _et seq._ - - ARMAGH (R. T.), destruction of, by lightning, 50. - - ARON distinguished from TEBAH (both signifying "ark"), 270. - - ARRAN, meaning of the name, 429 _n._ - - ARROWHEAD character, 340. - - ARTEMIDORUS cited, 301, 302, 400. - - ARYANS, site of the ancient Aria or Artacoana, 183; - Aria and Ariana distinguished, 183, 184; - the latter equivalent to Iran or Eriene, 184; - Eriene corrupted into Ierne, 185; - Zendavast description of the Aryan country, 185 _et seq._; - change in its climate, 186, 187; - consequent Western migration of the Aryans, 187; - Jemshid and his times, 188; - policy of Zoroaster, 188; - laws of Ormuzd corrupted, 188; - two claimants for the name of Zoroaster, 189; - antiquity of the original Zoroaster, 189; - his predecessors, 189; - the Dabistan and its author, Moshan or Fani, 189; - religion of Hushang, 189, 190; - the Mahabadean dynasty, 190; - antiquity of the Iranian monarchy, 190. - - ASIA, the "cradle of the human race," 265, 266. - - ASTARTE, phallic worship of, 101, 102; - description of her temple at Hieropolis, 168; - known also by the name Rimmore, 102; - signification of the latter, 102; - perpetuation of this meaning in sculpture at Glendalough, 473; - traces of her worship (as the Moon) at Athlone, 204; - the Irish term of endearment, "Astore," derived from her name, 213; - Astarte distinguished from Militta, 213; - use of bells in her worship, 175. - - ASTORE. See ASTARTE. - - ASTRONOMY, proficiency of the ancient Irish in, 59, 60, 521-3; - R. T. used for purposes connected with, 61, 62, 521; - entered into the religion of the ancient Egyptians and Indians, 77-79; - connection of serpent-worship with, 515; - Fergil and the theory of the earth's rotundity, 523; - predilection of the Irish peasantry for, 523; - malign influence of the Druids on, 521. - - ATHLONE, 204. - - ATREUS, "treasury" of, its analogy to the Round Towers, 454, 458. - - AUGURS (Roman), symbolism of the cross connected with, 490. - - AVATARA and AVANTARA, incarnations (Brahminical) of the Deity, - distinguished, 288. - - AVENTINE (Roman), derivation of the name, 198 _n._ - - AVIENUS on the _Insula Sacra_, 28, 29, 117; - his opinion of Irish antiquities, 28; - applies the term "Hibernian" to the Irish, 28. - - - BAALS, plurality and divinity of, 29; - meaning of "Baal," 29, 65; - connection between them and the R. T., 29; - twofold signification of the word "Baal" in Scripture, 74; - Septuagint rendering of the expression "high place of Baal," 75; - the Irish _Bail-toir_ and _Aoi-Bail-toir_ distinguished, 75. - - BAAL-PHEARAGH, how connected with the _Baal-peor_ of Scripture, and with - the African _Belli-Paaro_, 111; - signification of the name, 103; - form of the R. T. attributable to his influence, 29. - See FARRAGH or PHEARAGH. - - BAAL-THINNE, or sacred fire of Baal, 88-90. - - BAALTIS, meaning of, 65. - - BABEL, tower of, its purpose, 63, 64; - meaning of "Babel," 65; - the Hebrew (scriptural) name for, indicative of its phallic character, - 283, 284. - - BABYLONIANS, proficient in astronomy, 64 _n._ - - BACCHUS, name of, found in ancient Irish inscriptions, 437; - only another name for one of the various Buddhas, 235 _n._; - the "Maypole" ceremony specially connected with his worship, 235; - significance of the name _Sabasins_, 505. - - BADHHA, worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaan women, 132. - - BAKU, description of fire-temple at, 72. - - BALLYCARBERY (R. T.), 48. - - BANAVAN (in Scotland), its connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 114 _n._ - - BARDS, nature of their office, 22, 23; - their high reputation, 23, 24; - their use of rhyme and verse, 25; - also of music, 25, 405, 406; - their decadence into prose after their conversion to Christianity, 25; - suppressed by the English, 26; - superiority of Irish bardic music, 405, 406; - origin of the name "Bards," 451; - the knowledge of astronomy preserved in their sacred books, 522. - - BASILISK, or COCKATRICE, its Sabaic and scriptural significance, 225, - 226. - - BAVANA and DANA, 113, 114. - - BEAUFORT (Miss), and the enactment of Tara (A.D. 79), 88-96. - - BELFRIES, the R. T. could not have been intended as, 5-13, 36, 37; - the names _Cloic-teacha_ and _Erdam_ applied to them in the Irish - Annals, as distinguished from _Fiadh-Nemeadh_, 50, 51. - - BELLI-PAARO, or _Baal-Peor_, and _Baal-Phearagh_, phallic nature of, 111. - - BELLS, origin of, 10, 11; - Irish CEOL and _Ceolan_ date from pagan times, 11; - the Sabian and Druidic use of, adopted by the Christian missionaries - to their own worship, 11, 170-175; - introduced into England from Ireland by Gildas, 11, 173, 174; - miraculous effects supposed to result from the tolling of, 35 _n._; - date of their introduction into churches, 174; - shape of the Irish _crotals_, or pagan bells, 175; - square bells, 175; - connection of bells with the worship of Astarte, 175; - St. Finnan's bell, 174 _n._; - references to bells in Scripture, 171; - traces of apparatus for ringing bells found in some of the R. T. - accounted for, 172, 173; - used for worship in Ceylon, Burmah, and China, 173, 174. - - BELUS, description of the tower of, by Herodotus, 283 _n._ - - BENARES, cruciform shape of pagodas at, 352; - sepulchral pyramids at, 75, 76. - - BETH (Irish alphabetical letter), significance of, 228, 229. - - BIRS-NIMROD, or tower of Nimrod, its Sabaic character, 65 _n._ - - _Bleain_, the Irish for year, its meaning and derivation, 58. - - BOAR-INCARNATION (of Vishnu) and the White Island, 326-328. - - BOAT (lunar), or crescent, 273. - - BOAZ and JACHIN (pillars of Solomon's temple), 372, 511-514. - - BOLATI, meaning of, 65. - - BONA DEA, Sabaic rites of, 348, 349. - - BOO and A-BOO, origin of the Irish expressions, 132, 133. - - BOREADES, or Tuath-de-danaan priests of Boreas, superseded by the - Scythian Druids, 56; - relics of their costume, 56, 57; - likewise priests of Apollo, 397-401; - origin of the name, 401; - Irish astronomy preserved in their sacred books, 522. - See BARDS and INSULA HYPERBOREORUM. - - BRAHMINISM, subsequent to and distinct from Buddhism, 108, 213-215; - its doctrine of multiple divine emanations, 287, 288. - See INDIA. - - BRAZEN SERPENT (of Scripture), or _Nehushtan_, its relation to the - basilisk, 225; - also to Sabaism generally, and to that of Ireland in particular, - 501-506. - See SERPENT-WORSHIP. - - BRECHIN (R. T.), 8, 10, 431; - description and explanation of its symbolic sculpture, 299-301. - - BRITAIN, inclusive of Ireland, in ancient writings, 58; - derivation of the name, 427; - Irish etymology of some English local names accounted for, 426, 427. - - BRONTES, Sabaic import of the name, 195. - - BROOCHES (Irish) of crescent form, their symbolism, 273, 274. - - BUDDHISM, speculations regarding nature of, 107; - antecedent to Brahminism, 108, 213, 214; - Buddhists expelled from India, 108, 109; - date of Buddha's ministry, 109; - abstract character of his teaching, 109, 110; - the Sun and Moon (_i.e._ generation and production) as objects of - primitive worship, 109, 110; - Buddhism preceded Buddha, 109, 110; - definition of Bhud and Buddhism, 112; - transmigration of souls, a tenet of, 112, 113; - abstract purity of, 112, 220; - moral code of Buddhists, 112, 220; - _Dana_, _Bavana_, _Anuzza_, _Docha_, and _Anatta_ explained, 113, 114; - forbids the taking of animal life, 113; - reverence of Buddhists for the elephant, 113 _n._; - _Budh-Nemph_, _Nemph-Thur_, and _Tor-Boileh_ equivalent, 114 _n._; - _Badha_, _Macha_, and _Moriagan_ worshipped by Tuath-de danaans, 131, - 132; - _Farragh_ or _Phearagh_ (Irish), identical with Bhud, 132; - origin of the Irish suffixes _Boo_ and _a-Boo_, 130, 132; - Tuath-de-danaan effigy of Buddha, 139, 141; - its Sabaistic and Phallic character, 213, 227, 311; - Colebrooke's charges against considered, 214, 215; - subterranean temples for practice of, 215, 216; - Buddha distinct from Paramon, 216; - _Dearg_, _darioga_, and _darag_ as epithets of Buddha, 216, 217; - meaning of _Magh_ and _Maghody_, 217; - CHRISTNAH, or the "Indian Apollo," 218, 219; - _Buddha_ stands for a series of incarnations, 220, 221; - _Budh_, the forbidden "apple" of Scripture, 227; - twofold meaning of _Budh_, or _Fiodh_, 228 _et seq._; - Eve, the first Buddhist, 230; - Cain, the first priest of Buddhism, 230; - Bacchus identical with Buddha, 235 _n._; - significance of the Ceylon "Maypole" festival, 238, 239; - the Palencian "tree"-symbolism, 229; - original seat of, 244, 264; - _Budh_ and its derivatives, _Fiodh_, _Fidhuis_, _Fides_, with Deus and - Hercules, 250; - _Tuath_ and _Suath_ identical with _Buddha_, 264; - birthplace and parentage of Buddha, 264; - corresponding Brahminic doctrine of multiple incarnation 287; - its doctrine of a virginal conception, 288; - its symbolism of the cross compared with that of Christianity, 293, - 294, 295; - _Budh_ synonymous with _Phallus_, 311; - also with the Egyptian _Thot_, 323; - Bhagavan, Crishna, the White Island, and snake-legend of the _Puranas_ - considered, 325-329; - connection of the "boar incarnation" with Ireland, 326-328; - Buddhist sculpture at Knockmoy, 328-336; - also on Cross at Old Kilcullen, 337, 338; - analogies between Buddhism and Christianity, 364, 365; - theory that Orpheus was a Buddhist, 405. - - BUDH (Irish), or FIODH, its signification, 103; - primary and secondary meaning of, 228, 229. - - BUDH-GAYE (Irish) and BUDDA-GAYA (Indian), their phallic meaning, - 310-312. - - BUD-NEMPH and NEMPH-THUR (birthplace of St. Patrick), also TOR BOILEH - (Indian local name), identical in meaning, 114 _n._ - - BUNS (I. for children), e.g. _Surage-buns_, or children of the sun; - cf. with _Hindu-Buns_ (E. I.), children of the moon, 74. - - BURWAH SANGOR, description of snake-sculpture on Hindu temple at, 363; - its mutilation by Mohammedans analogous to that of the similar - sculpture on Irish crosses by St. Patrick, 364. - - - CABIRI and CABIRIC, origin and meaning of the name, 354; - connected with Freemasonry, 354, 359. - - CAIN, the first priest of Buddhism, 230; - nature of his offence, 230; - and of the "sin-offering" prescribed for him, 230, 231; - also of the "mark" set upon him, 232; - computation of the time at which he lived, 234; - his predecessors, 241, 242; - his immediate progeny, 247. - - CAMADEVA (Hindu god of desire), origin and meaning of his name, 94; - other names for, 94; - his parentage, marriage, and friendships, 94, 95; - personal aspect of, 94, 95; - hymn to, 95, 96; - his connection with the phallic symbolism of the R. T., 91-101. - - CAMBRENSIS (Giraldus Cambrensis) on the R. T., 49, 83; - on the climate of Ireland, 529. - - CAMDEN on the R .T., 374. - - CANONISATION of local pagan objects of worship in Ireland, 43, 44. - - CARNAC, Buddhist symbolism at, 321-323. - - CASTLEREAGH, evidence of Sabaic worship at, 205, 206. - - CATHOIR-GHALL (as a name of R. T.), its meaning, 48, 61, 62, 103. - - CAUCASUS, origin and meaning of the name, 354, 355; - existence of buildings similar to the R. T. in, 74. - - CAVES. See MITHRATIC CAVES. - - CELESTIAL INDEXES, theory of the R. T. being, considered, 52. - - CELESTINE (pope), his commission _Ad Scotos_, 41. - - CELLS, theory of the R. T. being, 13, 14. - - CEOL and CEOLAN (bells), their pagan use, 11. - - CEYLON, bells used at the _Dagob_ temples in, 173 _n._; - the Maypole ceremony as observed in, 238; - Buddhist temple of _Calane_ in, resemblance between it and Brechin - R. T., 300; - meaning of the name _Dagobs_, 369; - description of a _Dagob_, 369-371; - sepulchral character of, 370, 371. - - CHAILDEES, or CULDEES, not connected with the Egyptian Cophtes, 40, 41; - the latter may, however, have derived their knowledge from the - Tuath-de-danaans, 155; - did not admit the papal supremacy, 46; - meaning of the name, 44. - - CHALDEANS, their connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 155. - - CHRISTIANITY, existed in Ireland before the time of Pelagius, or of St. - Patrick, 41; - early Irish Christians ostracised, 42; - St. Patrick's actual share in the diffusion of, 42, 43; - canonisation of objects of pagan worship by the apostles of, 44, 492; - to what its reception by the Irish pagans, is attributable, 344 _et - seq._; - prophecy in the Hindu Puranas of a coming redeemer of mankind, 345; - the "Yugas" to the same effect, 345, 346; - Hindu "History of Vicrama Ditya," 346; - Arabic poetic prediction to same effect, 346; - analogous inscription on pillar at Buddal, 346, 347; - theory that, in its leading essentials, it was introduced into Ireland - as a revival of an early Eastern religion by the Tuath-de-danaans, - 493; - the Greek term _logos_ considered with reference to this point, 478, - 479; - also the reference in St. John's gospel to Christ's coming to his - "own," 478; - the incident of the _Magi_, and the symbolism of the cross in its - sculptured representation, 482, 483; - meaning of the expression "Lamb of God," 486-489; - conformity between Buddhism and Christianity, 365; - the Church festivals derived from the Tuath-de-danaan ritual, 493. - - CHRISTNAH (the Indian Apollo), 218, 219; - the legend of his incarnation and his connection with the "White - Island" (Muc-Inis), 326, 327. - - CHRONOS, deification of, accounted for, 197. - - CHURCHES, arguments from their being found in the neighbourhood of Round - Towers, Cromleachs, and Mithratic caves against the pre-Christian - antiquity of the R. T. considered, 7, 8, 356, 357. - - CLEMENT (the Irish doctor), German testimony to his learning, 54 _n._ - - CLIMATE of Ireland praised by Geraldus Cambrensis, 529. - - CLOGAD, meaning of, 12; - the name accountable for a mistake as to the R. T., 12. - - CLOICTEACH, or belfrey, distinct from R. T., 36, 37. - - CLONDALKIN (R. T.), 101, 359. - - CLONMACNOISE, antiquity of its crosses, churches, and round towers - accounted for, 356, 357; - once a stronghold of Buddhism, 356, 357; - its sculptures unconnected with Christianity, 358, 359; - inferiority of the architecture of its churches to that of the other - remains, such as crosses and round towers, 163; - Abbot O'Brien and his "cell," 13, 14. - - COCKATRICE, or BASILISK, its symbolism, 225. - - COLEBROOKE'S statement regarding Buddhism refuted, 214. - - COLGAN on the R. T., 37, 51. - - COLZOUM (Egyptian monastery), supposed to resemble the R. T., 30-33. - - COPTIC, Hurd's description of the Ethiopian monks so-called, 45, 46; - such monastic orders not analogous to the Irish Culdees or Chaildees, - 45. - - CORMAC (bishop of Cashel), his allusions to fire-worship, 81, 82; - his description of the R. T., and opinion of their great antiquity, - 368, 394. - - CRESCENT-WORSHIP, its origin and significance, 261, 262, 273 _et seq._; - its symbolism preserved in the Irish crescent brooches, 273, 274; - crescent on the summits of R. T., 103; - the crescent of Sheva (Hindu), 103; - the crescent and the "ark," 224-226; - the Pish-de-danaan votaries of, 261, 262. - - CRIOCH-NA-FUINEADHACH, a name of Ireland, its meaning, 344. - - CROCODILES as objects of worship, 165, 166; - bearing of this on the question of sub-pyramidal (and R. T.) cavities, - 166. - - CROMLEACHS, their Buddhist origin, 2, 3; - that churches are found in their vicinity no disproof of this, 8; - possibly the work of Firbolgs or Scythians, 428. - - CROSS-WORSHIP, its antiquity and universality, 289-308; - Egyptian interpretation of the cross symbol, 289, 291; - Druidic cross worship, 289; - practised among all ancient Gothic peoples, 290; - the Egyptian _Taut_ symbol, 291; - Buddhist origin of cross-worship, 291; - Greek allegory of Apollo and the Python, 291, 292; - the Irish _Tuath_ cross, 291; - the cross a symbol of universal nature, 294; - Irish cross with _kilted_ figure thereon--of whom? 295-297; - crosses on obelisk at Sandwick (Ross-shire), 305-309; - crosses in cryptograms of heathen deities, 308; - Plato on the prevalence of the cross symbol, 308; - cross symbols found at the temple of Serapis, 312; - the forehead "mark" in Ezekiel, a cross, 313; - cross on the coinage of the Emperor Decius, 314; - also on Phoenician medals, 314, 315; - description of the great cross at Forres, 317-320; - the latter cross probably erected by Tuath-de-danaans, 320; - theory that such crosses are of Danish origin refuted, 321; - cross symbols on monolith at Carnac, 321, 322; - resemblance of sculpture on cross at Old Kilcullen to those on the - temple at Kalabche in Nubia, 337-342; - crucificial Buddhist effigy of Deva Thot, 343, 344; - freemasonry and the crucifixion, 344; - cruciform construction of Mithratic temple at New Grange, 350; - also of the so-called "Devil's Yonies," 314, 350, 351; - also of pagodas at Benares and Mathura, 352; - union of cross with lingam symbol at Elephanta, 353; - analogy between Irish and Eastern cross-symbolism, 353, 354; - snake-sculpture on Irish crosses, 502; - the crosses of Clonmacnoise, Clondalkin, Armagh, Finglas, etc., - 357-367; - cross-symbolism at Brechin and Donoghmore R. T., 8; - its connection with serpent-worship, Freemasonry, and Buddhism, - 358-367; - all ancient Irish crosses the work of Tuath-de-danaans, 359-361; - the dog-effigy on the cross at Clonmacnoise, 359; - demolition and restoration of cross at Finglas, 365-367; - cross-worship symbolised in the shamrock, 440; - meaning of the expression "Lamb of God," 486-489; - also of the emblem x for the number _ten_, 487, 488; - also of the Druidic "key" emblem, 488, 489; - also of the Irish cross (or "finger") oath, 489; - theory of crosses having been introduced into Ireland by the Pope, - 489-492; - the cross-symbolism of Palencia, 490; - the cross-staff of the Roman Augurs, 490; - pagan sculpture on the cross at Kells, 490, 491; - how Irish crosses became associated with Christianity, 492-494; - how the crosses over the doors of some of the round towers may be - accounted for, 511. - - CRUCIFIXION, sculpture of, at Knockmoy, explained, 328-345; - analogous sculpture on temple at Kalabche (Nubia), 337; - Hindu (Purana) legend of, 339; - testimony of Buddhists and of Freemasonry to the fact of a primeval - crucifixion, 343, 344. - - CUMMAN, the Irish astronomer, 59. - - CYCLE, of nineteen years--"the great year" of the Greeks, 52. - - CYCLOPEAN WALLS, their origin, and derivation of the name, 86; - found wherever the Pelasgi settled, 86. - - CYCLOPS, public origin of the name, 86; - its Sabaic import, 195, 196. - - - DAGOBS (Cingalese temples), analogous to the R. T., 369-372. - - DAHAMSOUDA (King of Baranes, or Benares) and the _Bana_, or Buddhist - gospel, sculpture of the legend at Glendalough, 470 _et seq._ - - DALTON on the date of the Scotch R. T., 10; - his theory that _Iris_ was not Ireland considered, 398. - - DANA, as the root of _Danaans_, its meaning, 113. - - DANCING, connected with Sabaic worship, 110; - circular dances performed round the R. T., 517; - _Rinke-teumpoil_ and _Turrish_ dances, 517. - - DANES, the R. T. could not have been constructed by, 9, 10; - nor have been intended as places of refuge from, 35, 36; - crosses not commemorative in any way of the, 321. - - DAVIES on the genealogy of the Irish language, 58. - - DEARG, DARAG, and DARIOGA, their origin and meaning, 206, 216, 217. - - DECIUS (Roman Emperor), the cross-emblem on his coinage, 314. - - DELOS, visit of Abaris to, 53-56, 397, 448; - why the fleet of Xerxes did not molest, 69; - Hyperborean embassies to, repulsed, 445, 446; - account of the subsequent transmission of Hyperborean offerings to the - shrines of Apollo and Diana there, 446. - - DELPHI, poetic account of the foundation of the oracle by Hyperboreans - representative of the Irish priesthood, 445; - similar tradition at Delos, 445; - hymn of Alcaeus commemorating the visit of Apollo to the Hyperboreans - on his way to, 446, 447; - derivation of the names _Delphi_, _Pythia_, and _Sybil_, 507; - whence the Pythia derived her inspiration, 507. - - DELUGE, scriptural narrative of, explained, 266 _et seq._; - number of the Noachidae, 269, 270; - distinction between _Aron_ and _Thebit_ (both signifying "ark"), 270; - meaning of the name _Noah_, and of the mandate, "Come thou and all thy - house into the ark," 272; - derivation of _Deucalion_, 275; - figurative character of the, 275, 276; - the argument from marine strata, 276-278; - signification of the _raven_, _dove_, and _olive branch_, 278; - Purana account of the, 279 _n._; - whence the Mosaic version may have been derived, 280, 281; - _Japhet_ and _Javan_ explained, 283 _n._; - coincidence between the diluvian period and that of the Tuath-de-danaan - migration from the East, 436; - legend of Fintan and Caisarea, niece of Noah, 385; - Moses and the Pish-de-danaans, 283. - - DENDERA, resemblance between the respective worships of ancient Egypt - and India exemplified by conduct of Sepoys at, 143, 144. - - DEUCALION, origin of the name, 275. - - DEUS and Hercules synonymous, 250; - meaning of Deus Fidhius, 250. - - DEVA THOT (Buddhist), represented as crucified, 343. - - DEVENISH (R. T.), 38, 71, 167. - - DEVIL'S YONIES, 314, 350, 351. - - DIODORUS SICULUS and _Iris_, or the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 120 _n._, - 397-399. - - DIONYSIUS OF SICILY, sense in which he uses _Iris_ and _Irin_, 120. - - DOCHA, included with _Anuzza_ and _Anatta_ in the _Bavana_, 114. - - DOG, personified in sculpture at Persepolis and Clonmacnoise, 359. - - DOGHDA (Milk), the title of the tutelar goddess of Ireland, 339. - - DONATUS (bishop of Etruria, 9th century), his description of _Scotia_, - or Ireland, 54. - - DONOGHMORE (R. T.), bas-relief of crucifix over door of, 8. - - DOVE, its signification in the Noachian allegory, 278. - - DOWNPATRICK, St Patrick's alleged "granary" near, 164. - - DRUIDS, superiority of the Irish, 57; - Caesar and Pomponius Mela on the, 57; - whence the Irish Druids derived their superiority, 57; - were fire-worshippers, 82; - significance of the golden "sickle" used by them in cutting mistletoe, - 200; - influence of their degeneracy on the study of astronomy in Ireland, - 521; - how that study was kept alive by the books of their predecessors, the - Boreades, 522. - - DUMBOE (R. T.), 81. - - DUNE OF DORNADELLA (Scotland), its resemblance to the R. T., 455; - the mystery of its stone shelves explained, 456. - - DUNGEONS, theory of the R. T. being, 16 _et seq._ - - - EGYPT, ancestral connection of Ireland with, 77; - Sabian character of its ancient worship, 77; - resemblance of the latter to that of India and China, 143; - remarkable confirmation of this in the conduct of Sepoys at Dendera, - 143; - its Ghizan pyramids popularly ascribed to Philitis (a _shepherd_), and - the evidence of Sanskrit records to the same effect, 144-146; - the _Uksi_, or shepherd kings, 146, 151; - derivation of the word "pyramid," 146-148; - the Coptic name and its signification, 148; - _Armaeus_, _Amosis_, and _Inaron_ (the supposed founders of the Ghezan - pyramids), who they were, 149; - sojourn of the Israelites in, 149; - did not take place until after the Uksi invasion, 151; - the dislike of the Egyptians to the Israelites accounted for, 151; - Manetho's account of Osarsiph or Moses, 151; - proximity of Goshen to Ghiza, 153; - date of the Exodus, 150; - civilisation and magic of the Egyptians borrowed from the Chaldeans, - 155; - connection of this circumstance with Irish history, 155; - the ancient Egyptians not idolaters, 268; - indebtedness of Moses to them, 281. - - ELEPHANTA (subterranean or Mithratic temples of), Buddhist sculptures - of, 215; - their defacement by the Brahmins, 215, 216; - cross-symbolism in, 353. - - ELEPHANTS, objects of reverence to Buddhists, 113 _n._ - - ELEUSINIAN _mysteries_, their nature, 110, 111, 347, 348; - kindred rites of _Bona Dea_ and _Phiditia_, 348, 349; - degradation of such rites into the _Saturnalia_, 349, 350; - the Irish _Nullog_, 350; - the typification of regeneration, or the _new birth_, 350. - - ELLORA (caves of), 215, 216. - - EMERALD ISLE, explanation of the name, 503. - - ENGLAND, traces of the Danaans in, 425. - - ENOCH (Book of), 401, 402, 475-478. - - ERDAM (Irish for belfry), contradistinguished from _Fidh-Nemead_, 50. - - ERIGENA, or SCOTUS (John or Shane), the Irish doctor, 54 _n._ - - ETRURIANS, their origin and connection with the Tuath-de-danaans, 85. - - EVE, the forbidden fruit and the serpent, 227-230, 285 _et seq._, 506, - 508. - - EXODUS. See EGYPT. - - - FARRAGH, or PHEARAGH, 56; - identical with Budh and Moriagan, 132, 141; - meaning of the name 132; - Spencer's theory as to his being Fergus, king of Scotland, 132; - his identity with _Peor_ and _Priapus_, 132 _n._; - his effigy in the Museum of T. C. D., 137, 138; - similar effigies found at Rampore (Himalayas), 139; - as to his being synonymous with Pharaoh, 142; - represented as wearing a kilt, or philabeg, 141, 341. - - FENIUS, or FENI, ancestor of the Scoto-Milesians, 432; - date of his era, 432. - - FERGIL, Irish astronomer, who in the 8th century taught the rotundity of - the earth, 523. - - FIDH-NEMEAD, or FIDH-NEMPHED, its meaning, 50, 105, 353; - Colgan's and O'Connor's errors respecting, 51. - - FINE ARTS, existed in remote antiquity, 407; - proficiency of the ancient Irish in, 411; - evidence of this proficiency, 412; - Oriental character of the Tuath-de-danaan fine art work, 412, 413. - - FINGER-OATH of the Irish peasantry, its connection with cross-worship, - 489, 501. - - FINGLAS, old cross at, 365-367. - - FIODH, or FIDHUIS, its derivation and meaning, 228, 250. - - FIRBOLGS, or Celtic inhabitants of Ireland before the Tuath-de-danaans, - 297; - assisted the Scythians to expel the latter, 297, 428; - their attire described, 297; - could not have built the R. T., 386, 387; - but probably constructed the Cromleachs, 428; - origin of the name, 428; - their religion akin to that of the Scythians, 428; - how the existence of two distinct races (Celtic and Scythian) in Arran - and the northern isles may be accounted for, 428, 429; - duration of their rule between the first Tuath-de-danaan emigration - (from Persia) and the second (from India), 442, 443; - confusion as to the battle of Moytura, which they fought with the - Tuath-de-danaans, 386, 387, 448, 449. - - FIRE-WORSHIP, alluded to in Scripture, 67, 68; - originated in "Ur of the Chaldees," 68; - spread thence to Persia, 69; - the Persian "Ur," 69; - the "Pyrea" noticed by Brisson, its nature, 69; - question as to whether the round towers were fire-temples, 70-75, - 80-82; - also as to whether the Ghebre or Parsee temples were exclusively - devoted to this worship, 71; - structural peculiarities of fire-temples, 71, 72; - the temples at Baku and Smerwick, 72; - Strabo's description of the "Pyratheia," 72; - fire-temple at Zezd, 72; - pagodas considered and described, 73; - derivation of the name "pagoda," 73, 352 _n._; - pagodas devoted to worship of the sun and moon, 73; - significance of their form, 73, 74; - fire-worship introduced into Italy by the Pelasgi, 86, 87, - and into Ireland by the Scythians, 520; - could not have been the exclusive purpose of round towers, 80-82; - Cormac's allusion to, 81, 82; - Druidic fire-worship, 82; - St. Bridget's fire-temple, 82, 83; - testimony of the Venerable Bede to its existence in Ireland, 83; - structural affinity of the Irish fire-temples to those of ancient - Greece and Rome, 85, 86; - the vestal fire, 87; - the _Baal-thinne_, Miss Beaufort's theory as to, 88-90. - - FOMORIANS, in what sense they may be regarded as builders of the R. T., - 394, 395; - their affinity to the Tuath-de-danaans, 393-395; - meaning of the name, 394, 395. - - FORBIDDEN FRUIT (of Scripture), its meaning, 227, 229 _n._ - - FOREHEAD-MARK (Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 6), a cross, 313. - - FORRES (Scotland), description of sculpture on cross at, 317-320. - - FOUR MASTERS. See ANNALS. - - FREEMASONRY, 20; - essentially Christian in principle, 344; - its Cabiric rites similar to those practised in the Fiodh Aongusa or - the Mithratic caves of Budh, 353, 354; - its connection with the R. T., 19, 20. - See MASONIC. - - FULLER, allusion in his writings to the Irish harp, 406. - - - GADELGLAS, origin of the name, 502, 503; - its connection with serpent-worship, 502. - - GADELIANS, ancestors of the Milesians, 432, 502. - - GAL AND NOUDABAL (Persian legend from Ferdosi), its meaning, 102 _n._ - - GALLAMH, father of Heber and Heremon, 393, 432. - - GAUR TOWERS of India, similar to the R. T., 371. - - GAYE-PHALLUS, twofold meaning of, 311, 312. - - "GENERATION OF VIPERS," meaning of the phrase, 498 _et seq._ - - GHEBRES, or PARSEES, their fire-temples, 71. - - GHIZEH and its pyramids, 144-153. - - GIANT'S RING (R. T.), an instance of a R. T. without a church near it, - 514. - - GILDAS, introduction of bells into England by, 11, 121, 173, 174. - - GIRALDUS. See CAMBRENSIS. - - GLENDALOUGH (R. T.), 167, 469, 474. - See SAINT KEVIN. - - GNOMONS, theory that the R. T. were. See CELESTIAL INDEXES. - - GOBAN SAER (the supposed architect of the R. T.), legendary account of, - 375-385; - not contemporary with St. Abhan, 383, 384, 493; - was a Tuath-de-danaan, 386, 492; - meaning of his name, 385, 386; - his individuality, 379, 385; - his effigy at Clonmacnoise, 358; - the sacerdotal character of its attire, 513. - - GOSHEN, significance of its situation, 153. - - GRANARD, derivation of the name, 208. - - GREECE, not the source of Irish religion or learning, 41, 453; - nature of Greek Sabaism, 194-197; - Herodotus on the Greek theogony, 196; - remarkable derivative analogy between Greek and Irish names, 453-470. - - GRIAN (Irish), as the root of _Grynaeus_ (epithet of Apollo), 208. - - GYAH, Buddhist subterranean temple, 215. - - GWALIOR (Hindu temple), its subterranean passage, 166. - - - HARP, cultivation of harp music in Ireland, 403-406. - - HEBER and HEREMON, 387; - their parentage, 393, 432; - headed the Scythian invasion of Ireland, 393; - their epoch according to Irish chronology, 432; - distinct, except in language, from the _Danaans_, 393. - - HEBREW, its affinity to Irish, 228. - - HECATAEUS on the mission of Abaris from the island of the Hyperboreans to - Delos, 53-55; - on the peculiar appearance of the moon as seen from the latter island, - 397; - on the cyclic visits of Apollo to the latter, 397; - on the prevalence of _harpers_ there, 403. - - HEEREN on the history, language, architecture, and institutions of - ancient Persia, 178-183. - - HELIOGABALUS, connection of the name with the perverted sense of - _Gaye-phallus_, 312. - - HERCULES, and his twelve labours, 195; - worshipped in Egypt, Phoenicia, and elsewhere, before his inclusion in - the Greek theogony, 195; - a personification of the sun, 195; - pronounced by Orpheus the father and destroyer of all things, and the - great deliverer of mankind, 195; - explanation of the Zodiac, 195, 196; - Hercules Astrokiton, 196; - worshipped by different nations under a diversity of names, 196; - Hercules Fidhius, 250; - Hercules and Deus synonymous terms, 250; - the founder of Western philosophy, 437; - worshipped as _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_, 437. - - HERODOTUS cited, 160, 161, 180, 196. - - HIBERNIA, meaning and derivation of the name, 28, 29, 115-126, 128, 129. - See IRAN, IRELAND, INSULA HYPERBOREORUM. - - HINDUS, their origin and the meaning of their name, 74. - See INDIA. - - HOLY and MOST HOLY (places mentioned in Scripture), anatomical - significance of, 373. - - HYPANIS (River), identity of the Egyptian and Indian religions, and of - the destination of their respective pyramids, suggested by - architectural remains found near, 76. - - HYPERBOREAN (an epithet of Ireland), its twofold meaning, 55. - See INSULA HYPERBOREORUM. - - - INARON. See AARON. - - INDEX theory of the R. T. See CELESTIAL INDEXES. - - INDIA, idea underlying the morphology of Brahminism, 77, 78; - purpose of the Indian cave-temples, 78; - devotion of Brahmins to astronomy, 78, 79; - ancient Hindu civilisation, 79, 80; - its decadence under Mohammedan rule, 80; - Sir W. Jones on the pantheistic idealism of, 94 _n._; - Buddhism, 107-114 (and see BUDDHISM); - identity of ancient Egyptian worship with Brahminism, 143; - Sepoys worshipping in Egyptian temples, 143; - reference in Sanskrit records to the Pyramids, 144; - Indian origin claimed for Orpheus, 405; - second migration of the Tuath-de-danaans to Ireland was from, 443; - sculpture at Glendalough explained by reference to the history of, - 469-474. - - INSULA HYPERBOREORUM, identity of Ireland with, 52, 396-403, 437, 445 - _et seq._; - twofold meaning of Hyperborean, 55; - description by Hecataeus of, distorted by Diodorus, 397, 398; - likewise by Dalton and Macpherson, 398; - incredulity of Diodorus accounted for, 398, 399; - known also as Ogygia, 437; - scepticism of Mueller respecting, 443, 444; - mission of Abaris from, 447, 448; - Greek evidence of its identity with Ireland, 451 _sq._ - - IONA, derivation of the name, 83 _n._; - its connection with St. Columbe Kille, 83 _n._ - - IRAN, the generic name of both Persia and Ireland, 127; - its specific form, _Irin_, appropriated to Ireland, 120-127; - meaning of both these names, 127; - origin of the diverse forms, _Ire_, _Eri_, _Ere_, _Erin_, 128; - how _Iran_ was metamorphosed into _Ierne_ and _Hibernia_, 128, 129; - its occupation by the Tuath-de-danaans, and their expulsion by the - Pish- (or Pith-) de-danaans, 252-259; - equivalent in meaning to _Paradise_, 285; - properly applicable to all India lying north-west of the Indus, 184; - changed by the Greeks into _Ariana_, 185; - Pahlavi _Erin_ and Zend _Eriene_ and Pelasgic _Ierne_, 185; - _Irad_ and _Iran_, 244; - _Iranians_ and _Turanians_, 123-126. - See PERSIA and IRELAND. - - IRELAND, its early repute for academic learning, 45, 46, 59 _n._; - its learning not borrowed from Greece or Rome, 45, 46; - the "Insula Hyperboreorum" of the Ancients, 52, 396-403, 445 _et seq._; - alleged cyclic visits of Apollo to, 52, 397; - description of, by Donatus (9th century), 54; - its identity with _Scotia_, 54 _n._; - why called the "Sacred" Island, 55, 117, 130; - persecution in Scotland of exiles from, 57 _n._; - included by the Ancients in the general term _Britain_, 58; - antiquity and astronomic character of the Irish language, 58, 250; - also of its alphabet, 416-418; - genealogy of the language according to Davies, 58; - Mosheim's testimony to the learning of the ancient Irish, 59 _n._; - also that of Henricus Antisiodrensis, 59 _n._; - description of Ireland by Artemidorus, 400; - its ancestral religious affinity with Egypt and India, 77-80; - resemblance of its early architecture to that of ancient Greece and - Rome, 86; - derivation and meaning of the name Hibernia, 115-126; - Tacitus on, 119; - _Iran_ and _Irin_ as names for, 120, 121-126; - _Irenses_, 121; - origin of the name _Ogygia_, 131; - also of the names _Fuodhla_, _Fudh_, _Inis_, and - _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_, 131; - its connection with Sabaism, 193-210; - Hebrew and Irish, branches of the same root-language, 228; - twofold signification of Irish letters and words, 228, 229; - the Irish alphabet a "tree" code, 229; - Irish (_i.e._ the language of Iran) an original and universal tongue, - 250; - Artemidorus on the ancient religion of, 301, 302; - mentioned in the _Puranas_ as "the white island" (_Muc-Inis_) 325-328; - significance of its readiness to accept Christianity, 344; - _Crioch-na-Fuineadhach_ as a name of, 344; - St. Patrick not the introducer of letters into, 416-419; - proof that the Irish is not derived from the Roman alphabet, 416-419; - the Ogham character, 340, 419, 420; - views of Montmorency and Whittaker refuted, 418-428; - ancient celebrity of, not due to the Celts or Scythians, 428; - resemblance of the Irish, as regards physique, manners, customs, - religious observances, etc., to the ancient Persians, 437-440; - in ancient times an "Oriental Asylum," 441; - twice invaded by the Tuath-de-danaans, 442, 443; - Firbolg occupation of, 442, 443; - meaning of _Bana-ba_ as a name of, 470-474; - also of its Sabaic name _Tibholas_, 507; - its existence known to the Greeks and Brahmins, 517, 518. - - IRIS and IRIN and IRAN, names of Ireland, 120, 121, 127, 398. - - ISIDORE of SEVILLE, on the identity of _Scotia_ with Ireland, 54 _n._ - - ISIS (Egyptian deity), phallic worship of, 105, 106; - what she personified, 106. - - ISRAELITES, sense in which the author uses the term, 11; - their use of bells, 11. - - - JAPHET (Noachian) and JAVAN (his son), derivation and meaning of the - names, 283 _n._ - - - KAIOMURS (king of Persia), 245-247; - identical with Noah, 272. - - KALABCHE (Nubian temple), resemblance of its sculptures to those at - Knockmoy and Old Kilcullen, 337-342. - - KELLS (R. T.), 83; - snake sculpture on cross at, 361, 490. - - KILL (in Irish names), its origin and signification, 43; - existence of a "Kill" evidence of previous existence of paganism, 43, - 44. - - KILCULLEN, or OLD KILCULLEN, remarkable Tuath-de-danaan cross at, 337; - its Buddhist character, 337, 338. - - KILLESHANDRA, phallic meaning of the name, 207. - - KILLMALLOCK (R. T.), 44, 167, 202; - derivation of the names, 201; - description of its tower as contrasted with the churches in its - vicinity, 202, 203. - - KILMACDUGH, remarkable leaning round tower at, 515. - - KILT, or PHILABEG, 138, 296; - originally a Tuath-de-danaan article of attire, not a Celtic, 297; - disappeared from Ireland before the introduction of Christianity, 298; - kilted figures of Budh, 138, 296; - antiquity of the Irish philabeg, 512. - - KNOCKMOY, description of supposed Buddhist sculptures at, 328-335; - refutation of theory that they depict the death of MacMurrough's son, - 333, 334; - representation of the kings, with doves, explained, 330; - similarity of the sculpture to that on temple of Kalabche (Nubia), - 337-341; - confirmatory Purana evidence, 339; - Phrygian attire of the subordinate figures, 329, 437. - - - LA-BEUIL-TINNE (first of May), or day of Baal's fire, 201. - - LAMBH and LUAMH, twofold meaning of, 487-489. - - LANIGAN on the theory that the round towers were repositories for - ecclesiastical treasure, 35. - - LEDWICH'S views regarding the round towers, 13-15; - on CUMMAN, 59. - - LINGAJAS (worshippers of the _Lingam_, or male nature), 102, 113, 228, - 259, 260, 282, 353; - their connection with Babel, 284. - - LOTOS, phallic significance of, 257 _n._; - Chinese legend of the, 257, 258. - - LOUGH DERG, meaning of its name, 206. - - LOUGH NEAGH, submerged round towers of, 50. - - LOUGH REA, and its connection with the worship of Astarte, 204, 205. - - LYCANTHROPY (or wolf-madness) in Ireland, 468, 469. - - - MACCARTHY MORES, reputed founders of round towers, 39, 40. - - MACHA, one of the three deities specially worshipped by Tuath-de-danaan - women, 132. - - MADURA, cruciform pagoda at, 352. - - MAGADHA (birthplace of Buddha), 264; - its bearing on the question, how the Tuath-de-danaans made their way - to Ireland? 265, 266 _n._ - - MAGH-ABADEAN (name of Persian dynasty), 190, 246; - another name for Tuath-de-danaan, 248; - its derivation, 247, 248. - - MAGH and MAGHODY, representing the _bounty_ of Providence, 217, 218. - - MAHADEVA (Hindu legend of), and the _Lingajas_ and _Yonijas_ or - _Yavanas_, 260, 261. - - MANETHO, his account of the invasion of Egypt by the _Uksi_, or shepherd - kings, 142; - also of the Israelites, 151. - - MANUSCRIPTS (ancient Irish), loss of, 54 _n._; - destruction of by St. Patrick, 135; - preservation and _habitat_ of the remainder, 136. - - MARINE STRATA, their bearing on the chronology of the Deluge, 276-278. - - MASONIC significance of the round towers, 19, 20; - meaning of Saer, 20 _n._ - - MAYA and RITTY (Hindu), parents of Camadeva, meaning of the legend, 94. - - MAYPOLE ceremony (Irish), its Eastern origin, 233; - its phallic and astronomic significance, 233, 234; - what it commemorated, 234; - corresponds to the Bacchic _Phallica_, _Donysia_, and _Orgia_, 235; - description of the Irish Maypole festivals, 237; - mode of celebration at Waterford, 238; - similar ceremony at Ceylon celebrated by women only, 238, 239. - - M'PHERSON'S theory of _Erne_ as the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 398. - - MEDAL effigies of Christ, 508-510. - - MELCHISEDEC, of what he was the type, 494-497. - - MILESIANS, 328, 432, 502; - date of their invasion of Ireland, 432-434. - See HEBER and HEREMON. - - MILNER on the "belfry" theory of the round towers, 12. - - MINING, Tuath-de-danaans proficient in, 408; - traces of their workings on the coast of Antrim, 408-410; - their acquaintance with iron, 115, 410; - the _Arimaspi_, or Cyclopean miners, 86, 407. - - MITHRATIC CAVES, Buddhist origin of, 2, 3, 353; - argument from the vicinity of churches to, 8; - also from Cromleachs being found near them, 17, 18; - as to their Phoenician origin, 18; - _Fiodh Aongusa_ as a designation of, 353; - Mithratic temple at New Grange, 351, 352; - their cruciform character, 353, 354; - cave of Elephanta, 353. - - MOLOCH, meaning of the name, 65, 201. - See KILLMALLOCK. - - MOLTEN SEA at Solomon's temple, 172. - - MONTMORENCY, his theories as to the round towers refuted, 16-19, 30, - 34-37, 413 _et seq._ - - MOON, prominences of, strikingly visible from the _Insula - Hyperboreorum_, 52, 53; - phallic worship of, 91, 92, 110; - generally an object of Sabaic worship, 111, 193-210; - worshipped as _Astarte_ and _Rimmon_, 102; - different names for, as a fructifying power, 91; - connected with the deification of the feminine principle, 211, 212; - different names expressive of this deification, 211; - dual sense of such epithets preserved in the primitive Irish tongue, - 212, 213; - _Militta_, ASTARTE, and the Irish derivative _Astore_, 213; - connection of the round towers with her worship, 74, 75, 112. - See ASTARTE, and 109, 112. - - MORIAGAN, a deity worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaans, 131, 132; - his military character, 132; - a personification of Budh under the name FARRAGH, 132; - meaning of the latter name, 132; - Spenser's theory that he was Fergus, king of Scotland, 132. - See FARRAGH. - - MOSES, his identity with _Amosis_ and _Osarsiph_, 149-152; - Manetho's account of, 151, 152. - See DELUGE. - - MOSHAN FANI, his account of ancient Persia, 189 _et seq._ - - MOSHEIM on the learning of the Irish schoolmen, 59 _n._ - - MOYTURA (battle), meaning of the name, 386; - first not to be confounded with another and subsequent battle, 448, - 449; - scenes of the respective battles, 386; - retreat of the Firbolgs to Arran after the first battle, 386, 387; - cause of the second battle, 448. - - MUC-INIS as a name of Ireland corresponding to the _White Island_ - mentioned in the _Puranas_, 325; - threefold meaning of the name, 327; - Dr. Keating's interpretation of it refuted, 328. - - MUeLLER'S scepticism as to the Hyperboreans, 443, 444. - - MUSIC, antiquity of Irish music, 403; - Hecataeus cited in evidence of its culture by the ancient Irish, 403; - Giraldus Cambrensis on the proficiency of the Irish harpers, 403, 404; - _Clarsech_, _Cruit_, and _Orphean_, as names for the harp, 404; - music of the Irish bards superior to that of their contemporaries, - 405, 406; - Fuller's eulogium on the Irish harp, 406; - a Danish origin falsely ascribed to the Irish harp, 406. - See APOLLO. - - - NAGUALISM, a Mexican form of Sabaism, described, 499 _et seq._ - - NAVIGATION, ancient Irish skilled in the art of, 457. - - NEW GRANGE, Mithratic temple at, cruciform character of, 351, 352. - - NIMROD, the inventor of Sun-Worship, 63; - builder of the tower of Babel, 63; - his object in building it, 63, 64; - why called _rebel_, 64; - _Birs Nimrod_, or _Mujellibah_, 65 _n._ - - NIRACARA (Brahminic), bodiless manifestations of the deity, as opposed - to _sacara_, or visible ones, which latter are, when in a human - form, the progeny of virginal conception, 288. - - NOAH and the NOACHIDAE, 269-273. - See DELUGE and ARK. - - NUBIA, resemblance of sculptures, found at temple of Kalabche in, to - certain sculptures at Old Kilcullen and Knockmoy, 337-343. - - NULLOG (Irish name for Sabaic rites), its derivation and meaning, 350. - - - OBELISK at Sandwick (Ross-shire), description of, 305-309. - - O'CONNOR on the _gnomon_ or _celestial-index_ theory of the round - towers, 51. - - OGG (Colonel), phallic sculpture presented by him to the H. E. I. C., - 229 _n._ - - OGHAM character, 419, 420, 437. - - OGYGIA, name of Ireland, or of the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 437. - - OLIVE BRANCH (Noachian), its significance, 278. - - OLLAMH FODLAH, or FEIDLIMIDH (king of Ireland), meaning of his name, 430; - date of his accession, 430; - his ancestry, 430; - reputed founder of the round towers, 430, 431; - and see 502. - - OPHIOLATREIA (a form of Sabaism), identical with _Gadelianism_, 505; - the specific object of its worship, 505. - See SERPENT-WORSHIP. - - ORDERICUS VITALIS, his use of the name _Irenses_ for the Irish, 121. - - O'RORKES, reputed founders of the round towers, 39, 40. - - OROSIUS (fifth century) on the _Scoti_ as being inhabitants of Ireland, - 54 _n._ - - ORPHEUS and ORPHEAN, 404. 405. - - OSARSIPH (name for Moses), 151. - - OSIRIS (Egyptian deity), the object of Sabaic and Phallic worship, 105, - 106; - the same as Apollo, 437; - his staff, 490. - See ISIS. - - - PADMA-DEVI (Brahminic), its meaning, 93; - connection with the Pyramids, 92. - - PAGODAS (Hindu), derivation of the name, 73, 352 _n._; - not fire-temples, but devoted to the worship of the sun and moon, 73; - significance of their form, 73, 74; - their phallic import, 103; - cruciform construction of those at Benares and Madura, 352. - - PALATINE (Hill), etymology of the name, 198 _n._ - - PALAVER (I.), identical with _Pahlavi_, the Persian court dialect, 122. - - PALENQUE, or PALENCIA, Sabaic and Phallic import of sculptures at, 229; - cross symbolism at, 489; - affinity of its religion to that of ancient Ireland, 501; - _votan_ and the _Culebra_, 501, 502; - its triple symbolism of _yoni_, the _serpent_, and _death_, 229, 503. - - PALI (Hindu), name for the _Uksos_, or shepherd kings, 142, 143, 146. - - PARADISE, another name for _Iran_, 285. - - PARAMON (apostate Buddhist), founder of Brahminism, derivation and - meaning of his name, 216, 217. - - PARSEES, or GHEBRES, disciples of Zoroaster, and fire-worshippers, 71. - - PARVATI, the regenerate name of _Sati_ (Hindu goddess), and the - _Yonijas_, 260, 261. - - PEIROM and PIROMIS (cf. Sanskrit _Birouma_), as the origin of the name - _Pyramid_, 147. - - PEIRUM (king of Formosa), Japanese legend of, 147, 148. - - PELASGI, sprang from the same stock as the Tuath-de-danaans, 55; - were in fact a branch of the latter, 85; - called also _Tyrseni_, 85; - the real builders of Cyclopean walls, 86; - correspondence of the Cyclopean architecture with that of certain - Irish remains, 86; - introduced fire-worship into Italy, 87. - - PENANCES (Turrish), performed round the round towers, 517. - - PERSEPOLIS, description of, 179. - - PERSIA, derivation of the name, 177; - the source of European civilisation, 177; - Heeren's account of the origin of the Persian empire, 178-183; - antiquity and grandeur of the remains of Persepolis, 179; - remarkable absence of ancient records of, 180; - erroneous views of Herodotus and Arrian respecting, 180; - Terceira on the ignorance by Persians of their own history, 181; - Heeren's classification of ancient eastern empires, 182, 183; - the _Zend_ and _Pehlivi_ languages of Persia, 182; - Irish the possible key to both, 183; - Lake Zevora and the _Aria Palus_, 183; - site of the ancient _Aria_, the latter distinct from _Ariana_, 183, - 184, 187; - description of ancient Aria (Eriene-Veedjo), 186; - disastrous change of its climate leading to its desertion by the - Arii, 186, 187; - subsequent immigration of the latter into, 187; - Zoroaster and his predecessors, 188-190; - the Mahabadean dynasty, 190, 245, 246; - meaning of the name, 247; - antiquity of the Iranian monarchy, 190; - Moshan Fani's account of the ancient Hushang religion, 188-193; - Sir J. Malcolm's description of the same, 193; - its Sabian character, 194; - its origin, 194 _n._; - its adoption by the early Greeks, 194; - original seat of Buddhism, 244; - evidence of the Dabistan, 245-247; - the pre-Zoastrian dynasty founded by Mahabad, 245, 246; - his _Abad_ successors, 246, 247; - decadence of the Mahabadean dynasty, 246, 247; - Iy-Affram and Iy-abad dynasties, 246, 247; - Shah Kisleer and Mahabool, 247; - the Yessan dynasty, 247; - _Kaiomurs_, or Gilshah, 247; - Cain's descendants Mahabadeans, 247; - distinct position among the Mahabadeans of the Tuath-de-danaans, 248; - rule of the Tuath-de-danaans in, how terminated, 252-259; - silence of Persian historians on this point accounted for, 252, 253; - Vallancey's error, 253-255; - the _Pith_- (or _Pish_-) _de-danaan_ dynasty, 252-259; - consequent respect for women in ancient Persia, 262, 263; - affinity of the Ogham character to the "arrow-heads" of Persepolis, - 340; - resemblance of the Irish and Persians in physique, customs, etc., - 437-444; - the trefoil reverenced in Persia as well as in Ireland, 439, 440; - only the _first_ Tuath-de-danaan invasion of Ireland was from Persia, - 443. - See FIRE-WORSHIP and IRAN. - - PHALLIC WORSHIP, connection of the round towers with, 61, 62, 91, 101, - 103, 371, 372, 511; - religious character of, 93, 105, 213; - as practised in India, 94; - fable of devotees beguiled by Sheeva and Prakeety, 97-101; - phallic form of round towers, 101, 248; - also of pillars at Solomon's temple, 101; - of Astarte or Rimmon, 101, 102; - meaning of _Toradh_, 102 _n._; - fable of Gal and Noudabah, 102 _n._; - the _lingam_ and its priesthood, 102, 112; - Indian and Irish pagodas, devoted to, 103; - meaning of _Budh_, 103, 228, 229; - also of _Baal Phearagh_, 103; - also of _Cathoir-ghall_ and _Teaumpal-na-greine_, 103; - crescent of Sheeva symbolised on round towers, 103; - phallic significance of _Fidh-Nemphed_, 105; - identity of Sabianism with, 105; - fable of _Isis_ and _Osiris_, 106; - of the sun and moon, 75, 109, 110; - extended to agriculture, 111; - Belli-Paaro, 111; - identity and antiquity of Buddhism, Phallism, and Sabaism, 213; - what the "forbidden fruit" of Scripture signified, 227; - Eve and the "tree of knowledge," 228, 285, 501, 506; - _Budh_, _Fiodh_, _Beth_, their common significance, 228, 229; - the _Maypole_ ceremonial, 233 _et seq._; - derivation and meaning of _lingam_ and _yoni_, 259, 260; - their secondary meaning, also that of _Tuath_ and _Pish_ or _Pith_, - 256, 257; - origin of _Lingajas_ and _Yonijas_, according to the Puranas, 260, 261; - Chinese legend of Puzza and the lotus, 257, 258; - significance of the sacred "crescent," 261; - introduction of crescent worship into Persia, 261, 262; - Hebrew name for tower of Babel, phallic import of, 283, 284; - significance of the triangle and the pyramid, 267-269; - Pythagorean _triangle of ten_, 267, 268; - phallic import of the name _Thebit_ for the "ark," 270, 271; - the "ark of bulrushes" and the doctrine of "virginal conception," 271; - "Come thou and all thy house into the ark" explained, 272; - derivation of the symbolic "crescent" or lunar "boat," 273; - the Irish "crescent" brooches, 273, 274; - Delphic and other personifications of _yoni_, 282 _n._; - the temple of Belus at Babylon, 283 _n._; - the Ogg sculpture in the British Museum, its phallic and Buddhistic - significance, 229 _n._; - Eve and the "Serpent," 285 _et seq._, 505; - origin of the two _Danaan_ sects, _i.e._ the _Tuaths_ and _Piths_, 286; - legend of Apollo and the python, 291, 292; - also of the Purana "_Snake_ giant," 292; - Proserpine and the "serpent," 303; - identity of _Budha-gaya_ and _Budh-gaye_, 310, 311; - their common and their secondary meaning, 311; - degradation of Phallicism, 311, 312; - how evinced in the title _Heliogabalus_, 312; - phallic character of the _Eleusinian_ mysteries, 349; - also of those of the _Bona Dea_ and _Phiditia_, 349; - _Phallus_ synonymous with _Budh_, also _Budh-gaye_ (Irish) with - _Budha-gaya_ (Hindu), meaning of both, 311; - phallic configuration of the round towers, 372, 511. - - PHARAOH, synonymous with Farragh and Phearagh, 142. - - PHEARAGH (Irish pagan deity). See FARRAGH. - - PHEELEA, its derivation, meaning, and use, 459-461; - Irish specimen found at Ballymony, 461; - also, as PHEELEAS, (an order of Irish priesthood), etymology of - connected with the Greek oracular _Peleiai_ of Dodona, 459; - oracular tube of this nature found at Ballymony, 460; - its uses and symbolism explained, 461, 462. - - PHIDITIA, a form of phallic worship practised at Carthage, 349. - - PHILABEG (a portion of ancient Irish costume). See KILT. - - PHOENICIANS, round towers not built by, 413, 414; - their sole connection with Ireland, 414, 420; - a mercantile, not a literary, people, 415; - not connected with Irish letters, 420. - - PHRYGIANS, their reference to the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 436; - traces of their costume in the sculptures at Knockmoy, 437. - - PICTS, persecution of Tuath-de-danaans by, 57 _n._, 326, 431. - - PIRE-MONC (Coptic name for pyramid), its meaning, 148. - - PIROMIS (Egyptian high priest) and PIROMIA, as the origin of _Pyramid_, - 147. - - PISH, or PITH, its signification, 255-257. - - PISH-DE-DANAANS, or PITH-DE-DANAANS, meaning of the name, 257; - how distinguished from the Tuath-de-danaans, 255-257, 282; - origin of the war between the two sects, 258; - victory of the Pish-de-danaans and consequent expulsion from Persia of - their rivals, 259; - Hindu version of a corresponding struggle between the _Lingajas_ and - _Yonijas_, 260, 261; - their political and moral code, and worship of the _Yoni_, or "sacred - crescent," 261, 262; - their subsequent expulsion from _Iran_, or Persia, and retreat to - Egypt, 281; - known there as the _Uksi_, or shepherd kings, 281; - builders of the pyramids, 282; - dwelt in _Shinar_ (Mesopotamia) pending their arrival in Egypt, 282; - communicated to Moses the legend of the Deluge, 283; - known also as _Yavanas_, 273, 283. - See TUATH-DE-DANAANS. - - POMEGRANATE ORNAMENT, mentioned in connection with bells in Scripture, - 171; - the name _Rimmon_ expressive of, 102, 172; - its significance, 102; - depicted in the mouldings of the round towers, 172. - - POMPONIUS MELA on Druidic learning, 57. - - POPE, as to the alleged papal origin of the ancient Irish crosses, - 489-492. - - PRAKEETY and SHEEVA, Hindu legend of, 97-101. - - PRATYA-SHA (Brahminical), visible emanations from the Deity, 288. - - PROSERPINE and the Serpent, allegory of, 303. - - PRUTANEION (Greek), its nature, derivation, and applied meaning, 198 _n._ - - PURANAS (Hindu sacred writings), cited, 260, 279 _n._, 325-329, 499. - - PUZZA and the LOTUS, Chinese legend of, 257, 258. - - PYRAMIDS, cost of building, 7; - purpose for which they were intended, 77, 145, 157, 158, 248; - whether used as sepulchres, 75, 76, 158, 159, 162; - Brahminic theory respecting, 92, 161; - origin of those at Ghiza, 144-156, 281, 282; - marble casing of, 144; - dimensions of the great pyramid, 145, 267; - peculiar construction of the smaller ones, 145; - derivation of the word "pyramid," 145-149; - images of the Pyromis, 147; - not intended as granaries, 145; - description of their general structure, 157; - their astronomical character, 158; - internal passage pointing to the polar star, 157; - whether intended to be metrical standards, 158; - or sepulchres, 158, 159, 162; - sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid, 159; - sarcophagus of Apis at Biban-el-Moluk, 159, 160; - theory of Herodotus regarding, 160, 161; - Brahminic theory from existence of wells under, 161, 162; - probability of corresponding excavations under the round towers, 162, - 163; - the Japanese _Peirum_, 147, 148; - Coptic name for, 148; - Indian origin of, 148; - whether the Israelites were employed in constructing, 148-156; - vicinity of Ghizeh to the land of Goshen, 153; - ignorance of the Egyptians respecting their origin accounted for, 154; - Buddhistic doctrine of their emblemism, 248; - coincidence between dimensions of the Great Pyramid and those of the - "ark," 267; - probably erected by the Uksos, or shepherd kings, _i.e._ by the - Pish-de-danaans, 281, 282. - - PYRATHEIA (fire-temples), Strabo's description of, opposed to the whole - character of the round towers, 72. - - PYREA, or fire-temples of the Chaldeans, Persians, etc., 69. - - PYTHAGORAS and the triangle of ten, 267, 268; - Tuath-de-danaan mission to, 449, 450; - meaning of his name, 507, 508. - - PYTHIA, derivation and meaning of, 507; - transmission to the oracle of the inspiring vapour through _pheeleas_, - 460, 507. - - PYTHON, allegory of Apollo and the, its origin and meaning, 291, 292, - 330; - its representation at Knockmoy, 330. - - - RAVEN (Noachian), sent forth from the ark, what it typified, 278. - - RIMMON (ASTARTE), its meaning and emblemism, 101, 102. - - RINKE-TEUMPOIL (temple dance), its connection with the round towers, 517. - - RITTY (wife of Camadeva), her place in the Hindu phallic mythology, 94. - - ROME, connection of the Irish _Chaildees_ with, 44; - Montmorency's theory on this point, 44, 45; - academies of Ireland superior to those of, 45; - nature and extent of the acknowledgment of Roman supremacy in Ireland, - 45; - Dr. Hurd on the relation of the _Chaildees_ to, 46; - Fenelon on the moral and religious status of, 46. - - ROUND TOWERS, to be regarded as _Sabian_ towers, 3, 4; - or primitive Buddhist temples, 4; - Buddhist origin claimed for them in common with Cromleachs and - Mithratic caves, 2, 3; - not designed for penitential or purgatorial purposes, 5; - not specially intended as beacons or belfries, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 36, - 37; - not limited to any special purpose, 6; - durability, costliness, and complexity of their structure, 6, 7; - inferior construction of churches in their vicinity, showing that the - latter date from a subsequent period, 7, 514; - instance of a R. T. without a church near it, 514; - not of Danish origin, 9, 10; - as to the alleged Christian origin of those at Brechin and Abernethy - in Scotland, 8, 10, 431; - how Scotch differ from Irish R. T., 10; - the "cell" theory, 13, 14; - the existence of R. T. in Scotland accounted for, 10; - their being termed _Cloghads_ no proof of their being merely belfries, - 10-12; - not intended as retreats or depositories in the case of a hostile - invasion, or as places of seclusion for anchorites, 13-15, 35, 36; - nor as "excubiae" (Stanihurst's theory), 14, 15; - their connection with freemasonry, 19, 20; - and with the _Bards_, 22, 23; - their antiquity, 27, 28; - erected by followers of _Baal Phearagh_, 29; - inference from the peculiar position of their doors, 33; - belfry at Slane not a R. T., 36, 37; - not meant as monastic fortresses, 37, 38; - that of Devenish, 38, 71; - allegation that they were founded by the O'Rorkes and M'Carthys, 39, - 40; - that of Ballycarberry, 48; - described by Giraldus Cambrensis, 49; - alleged to be submerged under Lough Neagh, 50; - the "celestial index" theory, 52; - twofold purpose of, 61, 62, 372; - phallic significance of, 61, 62, 91, 101, 103, 112, 178, 372, 511; - the "fire-temple" theory, 70, 71, 74, 82, 83, 91; - Ardmore and Devenish R. T. considered with regard to the latter - theory, 71; - Eastern buildings similar to the R. T., especially in the Caucasus and - Hindostan, 74, 75; - Eastern R. T. not necessarily fire-temples, 75, 191; - Drumboe R. T. and the "fire-temple" theory, 81; - structural difference between R. T. and "fire-temples," 83; - Miss Beaufort's arguments considered, 83-89; - not "provincial palaces" elected under the enactment of Tara, 90; - funeral and astronomic purposes of, 91, 92; - that of Clondalkin, 101; - the "crescent of Sheevah" sculpture on the latter, 103; - symbolic of the _Lingam_, 112; - possibility of subterranean passages under, 162-166; - confirmatory evidence of this at Downpatrick, 164; - comparative date of structures at Clonmacnoise, 163; - must have existed before St. Patrick's time, 164; - the round pillars of Aradus (Tripoli), 165; - the crocodile tanks of the Egyptian labyrinth, 166; - the "sepulchre" theory, 162-166; - subterranean passage of Hindu temple at Gwalior, 166; - argument from water in vicinity of, 167; - Lake of Astarte at Hieropolis, 168; - Solomon's "Molten Sea," 172; - confirmatory description by Lucian, 168; - mode of ascending the R. T., 168, 169, 176; - segregation of solitary worshippers on summit of R. T., 170; - use of bells in R. T., 169, 175; - corresponding usage in Indian and Jewish ceremonials, 169-175; - similar conformity in respect of sacrifices, 170-173; - pomegranate sculpture on, 171, 172; - traces of bell apparatus on accounted for, 172, 173; - corresponding bell usages in Ceylon, Burmah, and China, 173 _n._, 174 - _n._; - traces of steps used for ascending R. T., 176; - parallel instance at phallic temple of Serrowbee, 176; - R. T. of Kilmalloch, 201-203; - R. T. on Scattery Island, 206; - common phallic symbolism of R. T., obelisks and other _lithoi_, 217, - 229 _n._; - connection of the R. T. with the offence of Cain, 233; - form of the R. T. significative of Divine unity, 248; - reason why R. T. are seldom found in Persia, 253 _et seq._; - pseudo-Christian symbols on R. T. of Brechin, 299-301; - similar emblems on temple in Ceylon, 300; - _Fidh-nemead_ as a designation of, 343; - their analogy to certain _Nubian_ antiquities, 343; - R. T. of Clonmacnoise, their vicinity to the churches accounted for, - 356, 357; - Cormac's testimony to their antiquity and Buddhist origin, 74, 368; - their affinity to the Ceylonese _Dagobs_, 369-371; - also to the _Gaur_ towers of India, 371; - their twofold, _i.e._ phallic and sepulchral character, 372; - analogy between them and the pillars Jachin and Boaz of Solomon's - temple, 372, 373; - era of their construction, 373-395; - proof in the annals of Ulster that they existed before the fifth - century, 374; - legend of their supposed architect, _Goban Saer_, 375, 383, 513; - _St. Abhan_ could have had no share in their construction, 383, 384; - not of Scythian origin, 386, 387; - probability of their Tuath-de-danaan origin, 386-389, 513; - as to the possibility of their Fomorian origin, 394, 395; - Amergin's evidence as to their antiquity, 387, 388; - corresponding Boreadan temples of Apollo described by Hecataeus, 403; - could not have been of Phoenician origin, 413, 414; - why there are no R. T. in England, 425; - their existence in Scotland accounted for, 431; - not founded by _Ollamh Fodlah_, 430; - their connection with the worship of Osiris, 437; - their resemblance to the Treasury of Atreus (Greece), 455; - also to _Dune of Donadella_ (Scotland), 455; - certain projections from their surface accounted for, 456, 515; - difference of their appropriation accounted for, 512; - reason of their phallic shape, 511; - significance of their apertures, 511; - also of their crucificial emblems, 511; - also of the absence or presence of internal compartments, 511; - their varying height, 511; - shape and fashioning of the apex, 511; - also of their cornices, resembling those of Solomon's pillars, 511, - 514; - their tapering diameter, 511, 512; - their doors, reason of height from the ground, 512; - their exceptional architecture, 513-516; - their material, evidence of a pre-Christian origin, 513, 514; - similar evidence from their decorative character, 513, 514; - occasional vitrification of their interior accounted for, 514; - absence of floors in, how explicable, 514, 515; - correspondence of their general construction with that of Solomon's - temple, 514, 515; - their perpendicularity, 515; - probable mode of their construction, 516; - cohesiveness of their structure exemplified, 516; - performance of dances (_Rinke-teumpoil_) round them, 517; - peculiar penances (_Turrish_) observed in their vicinity, 517; - the prevalent uncertainty as to their origin and uses explained, 519, - 520; - their assignment to astronomical purposes after the Scythian conquest - of Ireland, 521. - - - SABAISM, 193-210, 503-510; - not idolatry, 194; - origin of, 194 _n._, 503; - its objects of worship, 194; - professed by the early Greeks, 194; - its identity with Phallicism, 105; - significance of Cyclops, _Sterope_, _Argues_, _Brontes_, _Hercules_, - 195, 196; - names under which Hercules or the Sun was worshipped, 196; - Herodotus on the old Greek theogony, 196; - whence Greece derived Sabaism, 196, 197; - how the latter degenerated into idolatry, 197; - its affinity with the ancient religion of Ireland, 197-210; - such affinity evident from Irish local names, 197-210; - Sabaic origin of the names _Palatine_, _Aventine_, _Prytaneia_, 198 - _n._; - _Aiche-Baal-tinne_ and _Aiche-Shamain_ explained, 199, 200; - Irish customs and expressions indicative of, 199; - existed among the Druids, 199, 200; - significance of the Druidic "golden sickle," its Indian equivalent, - 200; - adoption of its institutions by the early Christian missionaries, - 200-202; - _La-Beuil-tinne_ as a name for Christmas, 201; - signified in architectural remains at Kilmalloch, 201, 203; - Sabian origin of the names _Baltinglas_, _Athlone_, _Shannon_, _Lough - Rea_, _Castlereagh_, _Deargart_, and _Lough Derg_, etc., 203-209; - Scattery Island and its round tower, 206; - Killeshandra, 207; - Grian (the Sun), as a root name, 208, 209; - Sabian affinity of the Irish with the Algan Kinese of N. America, 209; - connection between Sabaism, Buddhism, and Phallism, 213; - deification of the energies of nature alluded to in the _Book of - Enoch_, 401, 402; - derivation and origin of the name _Sabian_, 503; - triple meaning of the Irish root, _Sabh_, 503; - Hindu equivalent of the latter, 503 _n._; - Sabaism indicated in Palencian remains, 503; - _Ophiolatreia_ and the _Gadelian_ varieties of, 505; - "know that ye are Sabians" (Arabic prophecy) explained, 503, 506; - meaning of [Greek: To SABOE] in Bacchic rites, 505; - Sabaic, or Phallic, import of _Sibyl_, _Delphi_, _Pythia_, and - _Tripod_, 507; - also of the name Pythagoras, 508; - the sacred name "Immanuel," and the medals of Christ, 503, 510; - Sabaic character of the round towers, 510 _et seq._ - - SABH, triple meaning of, 503; - identity with Hindu Seva, 503 _n._ - - SACARA (Brahminical), name for certain embodiments of the Deity, 288. - - SAER, triple meaning of, 20 _n._ - See GOBAN SAER. - - SAINT ABHAN, Montmorency's view as to his having been the founder of the - R. T. considered, 30, 383; - not contemporary with the Goban Saer, 383, 384; - and see GOBAN SAER. - - SAINT BRIDGET, originally a pagan vestal or fire-worshipper, 82; - date of her conversion to Christianity, 82; - how she continued to show a leaning to her former faith, 82; - description of her "fire-house" by Cambrensis, 82, 83; - unconnected with the R. T., 83. - - SAINT COLUMB, or COLUMB-KILL, and the isle of Hy, 37; - not the founder of Kells R. T., 83. - - SAINT KEVIN, nature of his connection with Glendalough, 471; - Ledwich's fallacy respecting, 472. - - SAINT PATRICK, introduction of Christianity into Ireland not due to him, - 41; - his share in the work of evangelisation, 42, 43, 364; - meaning of _Nemph-Thur_, the name of his birthplace, 114 _n._; - his holocaust of Irish literature, 135, 415, 416; - his alleged "granary" at Down, 164; - his pagan master, Milco Mac-Huanan, 203, 204; - the only sense in which he can be regarded as having extirpated snakes - from Ireland, 360-364; - analogous legend in the _Puranas_, 362, 363; - not the originator of the Irish alphabet, 416; - nor of the national veneration for the shamrock, 439, 440. - - SAINT PAUL, as to the possibility of Ireland having been evangelised by, - 41. - - SALSETTE, subterranean temple at, 215, 216. - - SAMONA, a title for the priests and images of Buddha, 141. - - SANDWICK (Ross-shire), description of symbolic sculpture on obelisk at, - 305-9. - - SATI, or PARVATI (Hindu), and Mahadeva, parents of the _Lingajas_ and - _Yonijas_, 260. - - SCAPEGOAT, corresponding observance connected with R. T., 170, 172; - similar observance in upper India, 172 _n._ - - SCATTERY ISLAND, its round tower and seven churches, 206. - - SCOTI and SCOTIA, the latter originally identical with _Scythia_, 54; - SCOTI, a name for the Irish, 54 _n._, 429; - the _Scoto-Brigantes_ and their invasion of Ireland, 426; - distinct from the Scandinavian invasion, 426; - connection of the Scoti with Spain, 426 _n._; - their amalgamation with the Firbolgs, 428; - change of the name _Irin_ into _Scotia_, 429; - date at which the former name was resumed, 429; - _Scotia Major_ and _Scotia Minor_, and substitution of the latter for - _Albania_ as the name of Scotland, 429 _n._; - retention of _Scoti_ as a name for the Irish, 429 _n._; - friendship between the Picts and Scots, and adoption by the former of - Scotia as a name for their country, 431; - rupture of this friendship, 431; - the _Scoto-Milesians_, 432. - - Scotland, exile of the Danaan Boreades to, 56; - persecution of the latter by the Picts, 57 _n._; - round towers in, 10, 431. - - SCOTUS (Johannes). See ERIGENA. - - SCRABALL (head-tax), as to its levy for the purpose of building palaces - at Tara, 89, 90. - - SCYTHIANS, date of their conquest of Ireland, 297, 435; - assisted by the Firbolgs to subjugate the Iranians (Tuath-de-danaans), - 297, 428; - superseded the usages and dress of the latter, 297, 298; - Strabo's description of the Scythian attire, 53; - why Abaris did not wear this dress, 56; - their policy towards the Boreades, 56; - their contempt for architecture, 383, 384; - O'Morgan (Archbishop of Armagh), the first Scythian who built a stone - house, 384; - St. Abhan could not have done so, 384; - _Goban Saer_ not a Scythian, 386; - could not have built the R. T., 386, 387; - spoke the language of the Tuath-de-danaans, 393; - their religion Druidical, 428; - name of Ireland changed to Scythia (_Scuitte_), 429; - their occupation of the country responsible for the decay of its - grandeur and piety, 520. - - SEANNEACBUS, mistake of, respecting the battle of Maytura, 448, 449. - - SEPOYS at Dendera, remarkable behaviour of, 143, 144. - - SEPULTURE, mystic significance of the form of the R. T. in reference to, - 372. - - SERAPIS, monogram of Christ found beneath foundation of temple to, 312. - - SERPENT-WORSHIP, general symbolism of the serpent, 221, 222; - Purana legend of the snake giant killed by Christnah, 221, 292; - antiquity of this worship and of its symbolism, 222, 223; - symbol of circle and serpent explained, 222, 223, 506; - ubiquity of serpent-worship and of its peculiar symbolism, 222, 223; - the Vindolana stone and its symbolism, 223; - identity of serpent, sun, and phallic worship, 223, 224; - symbol of cross, crescent, and cockatrice explained, 224-226, 506; - Egyptian notions regarding the basilisk, 225; - relation of the latter to the _brazen serpent_ of Scripture, 225, 506; - Eve and the serpent, 285 _et seq._, 505, 506; - Apollo and the Python, 291, 292, 330; - meaning of "Python," 330 _n._; - Proserpine and the serpent, 303; - snake-symbolism on Irish crosses, 357-367; - only sense in which St. Patrick can be allowed credit for the - extirpation of snakes from Ireland, 361-363; - scriptural allusions to snake-charming, 360; - why snake-sculpture on crosses was revered by the Irish, 361; - description of snake-sculpture on temple at Burwah Saugor, 363; - snake symbolism at Glendalough, 473; - the expression "generation of vipers" explained, 498-505; - Purana legend of Deity assuming form of serpent, 499; - Nagualism and its doctrines, 499 _et seq._; - the Palencian _Culebra_ and the Irish _Gadelglas_, 502; - serpent insignia of the Milesians, 502; - _Gadel_, _Gadelglas_, and the "_Emerald Isle_" explained, 502, 503; - Vishnu, the snake, and the White Island, 326. - - SERROWLEE (India), description of certain structures resembling R. T. - at, 176. - - SHAMROCK, Irish national reverence for, derived from ancient Persia, and - not introduced by Saint Patrick, 439, 440; - imported by the Tuath-de-danaans, 440; - reason for its veneration, 440; - shamrock devices in Freemasonry, and upon the crowns of Irish and - Persian kings, explained, 440. - - SHANNON, a Gangian name, 205, 206; - its divinity _Derg_ (Durga), 206. - - SHEEVA, or SEVA, the originator of phallic worship, 100, 101; - his "crescent" represented on the R. T., 103; - his name identical with the Irish _Sabh_, 503; - its Hindu signification, 503 _n._ - - SHINAR (in Mesopotamia), the site of the tower of Babel, and of the - origin of Sabaism, 64; - settlement of the Noachidae, 65; - its previous occupation by the _Pish-de-danaans_ before they went to - Egypt, 282. - - SIAMESE REGISTERS, their coincidence with the Irish as to the date of - the Tuath-de-danaan invasion, 435. - - SIBYLS, why so called, 507. - See PHEELEA and PYTHIA. - - SICKLE, as to the symbolism of the golden one used by the Druids, 200. - - SLANE, belfry at, not a R. T., 36, 37. - - SMERWICK, ancient fire-temple at, 72. - - SOLOMON'S TEMPLE, Phallic or Sabian pillars at, 101, 372, 511; - consequent affinity between them and the R. T., 372, 514; - anatomical significance in the construction of, 373; - correspondence of its windows to the apertures of R. T., 514. - See MOLTEN SEA. - - SPENSER, cited, 469. - - STANIHURST, his theory of the R. T. being "excubiae," 14, 15. - - STEROPES, Sabaic, import of the term, 195. - - STRABO on _Abaris_ and the _Insula Hyperboreorum_, 53-55; - his description of _Pyratheia_, showing that R. T. could not have - been the latter, 72. - - SUAD-DHA-DANA (father of Buddha), identical with Tuath-de-danaan, 264. - - SULLIVAN and O'SULLIVAN, connected with the Hindu name, _Sulivahana_, - 339; - peculiar reverence accorded to families bearing this name in Ireland, - 339 _n._ - - SUN-WORSHIP, Nimrod reputed to have introduced, 63, 64; - _Baal_, _Moloch_, and _Bolati_ as names of the Sun, 65; - its Sabian character, 64-66, 110; - why it originated, 66; - at first merely emblematical, 66; - not conducted originally in temples, 66; - its degeneration into _Materialism_, as fire-worship, 67; - allusions to both in Scripture, 67, 68, 109; - names for the Sun as representative of the _fructifying_ principle, 91; - description of a Mexican fire-temple, 156 _n._; - connection of the R. T. with, 75; - connection of Ophiolatry (serpent-worship) with, 223, 224. - See APOLLO and FIRE-WORSHIP. - - - TACITUS (Agricola), his comparison of Ireland with England, 119. - - TAILTINE GAMES, described, 390-392; - origin of the name, 392; - recorded in sculptures on Irish crosses and obelisks, 392; - corresponding observances in Egypt and Greece, 392, 393; - Buddhist significance of, 392; - analogy of _Tailtine_ with English _Tilt_, 392; - Telltown, 389. - - TARA, triennial assemblies at, 23; - pagan rites celebrated at in the time of St. Patrick, 42; - Miss Beaufort on the enactment of, A.D. 79, by Tuathal Teachmar, in - connection with the purpose of the R. T., 88, 89; - Psalter of Tara quoted in refutation of her theory, 89, 90; - a place for legislative deliberations, 389. - See TEAMOR. - - TAUT (Egyptian), triple-cross emblem of, 291; - its connection with Freemasonry, 291 _n._ - - TEAMOR (or TARA), not a palace, but a R. T., 90, 389. - - TEAUMPAL-NA-GREINE (temple of the Sun), a name for R. T., 103. - - TEN (the number) the Pythagorean triangle of, 267, 268; - its phallic significance, 268; - its connection with the pyramids, 268, 269; - how it came to be represented by a cross, 487-489; - its connection with the Irish "finger-oath," 489. - - TERCEIRA (Spanish historian of 16th cent.) on the decay of learning in - Persia, 181. - - THEBIT, or THEBITH (name for the "Ark"), its phallic import, 270, 271. - - TIBHOLAS, or TIVOLAS, as a name of Ireland, its Sabaic origin and - import, 507. - - TORADH (Irish), curious double meaning of, 102 _n._ - - TOR-BOILEH (Indian local name), corresponding to Irish _Nemph-Thur_ and - _Budh-Nemph_, 114 _n._ - - TOTDANA (a religious name of Ireland), explained, 453. - - TREE, how each letter of the Irish alphabet denotes some kind of, 229, - 418. - - TREE of KNOWLEDGE, (scriptural), what it signified, 227-230. - See EVE. - - TREFOIL. See SHAMROCK. - - TRIANGLE, sacred character and phallic import of its form, 267. - See TEN. - - TRIPOD (Delphic), analogous symbolism of shape between it and the - pyramid, 507. - - TUATH, corresponds to Buddhist _Suath_, and is resolvable with _Budh_, - 264; - device of the cross significant of, 291. - - TUATH-DE-DANAANS, origin and meaning of the name, 55, 248, 249, 257; - a sacerdotal caste of the Persian Magh-abadeans, 248, 249; - derivation of _Tuath_ and _Tuatha_, 249, 257; - of _de_ and _Danaans_, 249; - meaning of the whole name, 249; - distinct from the _Pish_- (or _Pith_)- de-danaans, 255-257; - origin of their separation from the latter, 258; - war of the two sects, and victory of the Pish-de-danaans, 259, 285; - consequent expulsion of the Tuath-de-danaans from Persia, 259; - discrepant Hindu account of the struggle, 260, 261; - their settlement in Ireland, and its consequences, 259, 264-266, 393; - their leaders, the sons of Miledh, the Fomorian, 393; - their existence in Persia recognised by Eastern historians, 264; - identical with _Suad-dha-dana_ (Buddhist), 264; - Kaiomurs, or Yavana (Noah), the founder of their dynasty, 272; - their garb described, 297; - contrasted with that of the Celts, 297; - their expulsion from Ireland, and persecution by the Picts in - Scotland, 320; - their battles with the Firbolgs, 386, 448, 449; - were a sea-going people, 414; - whether carried by the Phoenicians to their destination, 414; - date of their arrival in Ireland, 435, 436; - curious correspondence of same with that of expulsion of the - Buddhists, _ib._; - also with the diluvian period, 436; - effected two distinct settlements in Ireland, 436, 443, 448, 449; - their expulsion from India by the Brahmins, 443; - harassed by the Firbolgs, 441, 442; - their embassy to Greece, and contest with the Firbolgs on their - return; consequent battle, 448, 449; - their subsequent decadence both in religion and learning, 449; - merging of their ritual with that of the Druids, 449; - their practical introduction of the leading tenets of Christianity - into Ireland, 493; - Irish crosses, church festivals, and hagiology derived from, 492-494, - 513; - prosperity of Ireland in their time, 517; - effacement of their influence by the Scythian conquest, 520; - subsequent accommodation between victors and vanquished, 520; - analogous event in Roman history, 520, 521; - their connection with the round towers, 386-389, 513. - See BUDDHISM, ROUND TOWERS, PERSIA, IRELAND, etc. - - TURRISH, name for penitential gyration round the R. T., 517. - - - UKSI, or HUKSOS (shepherd kings), Manetho's account of, 142; - called _Pali_ in Vedas, 143; - their invasion of Egypt explains the dislike of the Egyptians to the - Israelites, 143, 151; - evidence of Herodotus, 143; - were probably the founders of the Pyramids, 144, 153; - the shepherd _Philitis_, 144, 146; - their general influence on civilisation and science in Egypt, 144-156; - were antecedent to the Israelites there, 151; - were derived from the same stock as the _Tuath-de-danaans_, 155. - - ULSTER (annals of), record the destruction of fifty-seven R. T. by an - earthquake in the 5th cent., 374. - See ANNALS. - - UR, meaning of, 68; - Chaldean and Persian cities of that name, the former the original seat - of fire-worship, 68, 69. - See NIMROD and FIRE-WORSHIP. - - - VALENTIA (Lord) on certain edifices in the Caucasus resembling R. T., 74 - - VALLANCEY, his theories as to the R. T., 13, 254, 255; - his confusion of the _Pish-de-danaans_ with the _Tuath-de-danaans_, - 253; - also of _Airgiodlamh_ with _Zerdust_ (Zoroaster), 254; - his merits and defects, 19, 254, 255. - - VASSANT (Hindu deity), companion of _Camadeva_, meaning of the name, 95, - 96. - - VEDAS (Sanskrit records), cited, 143. - - VENERABLE BEDE, evidence of, as to the existence of fire-temples in - Ireland, not conclusive as to the character of the R. T., 83. - - VESTAL-FIRE, of Oriental origin, 87. - - VINDOLANA, remarkable Sabaic sculpture on stone found at, 223-226. - - VIPERS, their place in Sabaism, 498-505; - import of the scriptural expression, "generation of vipers," 498, 499. - See SERPENT-WORSHIP. - - VIRGINAL CONCEPTION, a doctrine not confined to Christianity, 271, 288, - 291-304. - - VISHNU (Hindu deity), phallic worship of, identical with that of the - _Yonijas_, 260 _n._ - - - WARE (Sir John), 37; - on the chronology of the R. T., 373. - - WATERFORD and WEXFORD, argument from R. T. not being found there, 9. - - WELLS, existence of, under the pyramids, an argument against the theory - that they were royal mausoleums, 162. - - WHITAKER on the derivation of the name _Britain_, 421, 422; - on the Celtic origin of Irish, Scotch, and Welsh local names, 422; - on a Belgic colonisation of Ireland, 423; - his theories refuted, 423-428. - - WHITE ISLAND (_Muc-Inis_), a name of Ireland, 327; - also the name given in the Puranas to the kingdom of Crishna, and the - scene of Vishnu's incarnation and the abode of the legendary - snake-giant, 325-327; - triple meaning of the Irish name, _Muc Inis_, 327; - Keating's theory of its origin, 328; - its real meaning, 339. - - WOLF, representation on ancient Irish sculptures of the, 466, 467; - meaning of the symbolism, 466-468; - _Lycanthropy_, or wolf-madness, 468; - its prevalence among the ancient Irish, 469; - the Irish as wolf-tamers, 469; - Irish and Indian wolf-dogs, 469; - meaning of _Lyceus_, 469. - - WOMAN, the subject of deification in early times, 211, 212; - typified by the Moon, 211; - names under which she was worshipped, 211, 212; - dual import of the Irish term _Astore_, 212, 213; - nature of Eve's fatal curiosity, 228, 229, 285; - also how it led to Buddhism, 330; - exalted position of woman in ancient Persia, 262, 263; - the scriptural penalty imposed on Eve explains the nature of her - offence, 285; - the promise of virginal offspring to avert its consequences, 285, 286; - immorality resulting from the wish to anticipate this promise, 287; - Buddhist recognition of its fulfilment, 301; - Artemidorus on the pre-Christian worship of the virgin in Ireland, 301; - Greek perversion of the idea of virginal conception, 303; - meaning of the expression, "the son of woman" in the Book of Enoch, - 475-477. - - - YAVANA, its meaning, 259, 273; - another name for _Pish-de-danaans_, 283. - - YESSAN (Persian dynasty), 247. - - YONIJAS, worshippers of the Yoni, or sacred emblem of female nature, - 259, 260, 282 _n._ - See also DEVIL'S YONIES. - - - ZEZD (Persian), nature of fire-temple at, 72. - - ZOROASTER (or _Zerdust_), meaning of the name, 52; - period at which he lived, 189; - nature of his teaching, 188; - anticipated by Hushang, 189, 190. - - -NOTE.--This edition of O'Brien's work on the Round Towers being, as -regards the Author's text, a _facsimile_ of that published in 1834, the -above Index will serve for both. - - - PRINTED BY - MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] "Bryan O'Brien, of the county of Kerry, son of Teige, born 1740, -married, 17th November 1797, Ellen, daughter of Justin MacCarthy (by -Joanna Conway, his wife); and had: I. Richard, who died unmar. in Jan. -1861; II. Lucien, who also died unmar. in America, in Mar. 1865; III. -Turlogh Henry, author of _The Round Towers of Ireland_, who died unmar. -1835" (O'Hart's _Irish Pedigrees_, p. 168). At pp. 39, 40, _post_, O'Brien -alludes to his maternal grandfather as "the last of the MacCarthy Mores." - -[2] At pp. 480, 481, _post_: thus, by the way, refuting a statement (in -the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1835) which has been adopted in the -_Dictionary of National Biography_, that he was utterly ignorant of -Celtic. - -[3] It is not to be supposed that a University Professor of Greek would -have had any difficulty in explaining to the most ordinary intelligence an -idiom so frequently occurring in the New Testament as [Greek: eis ta -idia], which we meet with, not only in the passage referred to (John i. -11), but at xvi. 32 and xix. 37 of the same Gospel, and at xxi. 6 of the -Acts of the Apostles. Nor is it likely that the exegetic difficulty -connected with [Greek: ta idia] would have occurred to a boy of twelve. -Further, Mr. Boyton did not resign his connection with the University -until 1833, whereas, in the passage above cited, O'Brien evidently refers -to some time about 1820. - -[4] It is not even clear that he is identical with the "Henry O'Brien" -mentioned in the _Catalogue of the Graduates of the University of Dublin -from 1691 to 1868_, now in the British Museum. The entry is as -follows:--"Henry O'Brien, B.A. (_ad eundem, Cantab._), 1835." - -[5] This must have been the English Master of the Rolls, who at that time -was the Right Hon. Sir John Leach, a judge remarkable for the celerity of -his decisions, in marked contrast to those of his contemporary, Lord -Eldon, of whom it used to be said that he heard cases without determining -them, whereas Sir John Leach determined cases without hearing them. - -[6] _Edinburgh Review_, vol. lix. pp. 148, 149. - -[7] Mr. Marcus Keane, author of _The Temples and Round Towers of Ancient -Ireland_, states in his Preface to that work that he spent three years, -during which he had to travel more than five thousand miles, in the -performance of a task not much more exacting. - -[8] From "TO THE PUBLIC," a narrative prefixed to his translation of -Villanueva's "_Ibernia Phoenicia_," which preceded _The Round Towers_. - -[9] _Ibid._ p. xxxii. [Greek: "Eremo"] may, however, be an error of the -printer, and the fact that it was subsequently corrected lends colour to -this view. - -[10] It must be admitted that a letter alluded to at p. xix, _post_, -written by the Rev. Caesar Otway, a member of the Council, lends some -colour to this assertion. - -[11] P. xxiii of the introduction to _Phoenician Ireland_, inscribed "To -the Public." - -[12] This letter will be found at p. lxxi, _post_. - -[13] Vol. 59 of the _Edinburgh Review_ for 1834. - -[14] _Gentleman's Magazine_ for March 1834, p. 288; for Oct, 1834, p. 365 -f.; and for Nov. 1835, p. 553. At pp. 340 f. of the volume for 1833, pt. -ii., may be found a distinctly unfavourable review of O'Brien's -translation of _Ibernia Phoenicia_. - -[15] _Vide_ note 2, p. vii, _ante_. - -[16] It may be remarked here that an Act for the protection of ancient -monuments is much needed in Ireland. - -[17] At p. 4 of his work on the Round Towers (2nd ed.). - -[18] Amusing instances of this autocratic method pervade Dr. Petrie's work -on the Round Towers. Thus, at p. 109, he disposes of the Phallic Theory, -which had exercised so many noble minds, with the single remark: "It is, -happily, so absurd, and at the same time so utterly unsupported by -authority or evidence worthy of refutation, that I gladly pass it by -without further notice, even though it has found a zealous supporter in -the person of Sir "William Betham" (who, it may be observed, was not only -a member of the Academy, but one of the leading antiquarians of his day, -besides being Ulster-King-at Arms, etc. etc.) "since these pages were -originally written ... and _who was consequently not unacquainted with -their contents_." (The italics are ours.) No further reference to this -much-debated theory occurs in his book; but there are many denunciations -of Sir W. Betham for presuming to differ from him. His way of dealing with -the evidences and arguments in support of the pagan origin of the Round -Towers adduced by O'Brien and Sir W. Betham is simply this: "I have not -thought them deserving of notice" (p. 359). - -[19] At pp. 1, 2 of _The Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland_, by Marcus -Keane, M.R.I.A. (Dublin: Hodges, Smith & Co.); a very beautiful and -interesting volume. A still more formidable champion of the revolt against -Dr. Petrie's sway has since appeared, the Rev. Canon Bourke, M.R.I.A., -author of _Pre-Christian Ireland_ (Brown & Nolan, Dublin, 1887). - -[20] _The Migration of Symbols_: Archibald Constable & Co., Westminster, -1894. - -[21] Introduction, pp. ix-xv. - -[22] Preface, 3. - -[23] P. 12. - -[24] At p. 4 of his work on the Round Towers. - -[25] General Vallancey's literary remains are preserved in seven octavo -volumes, entitled _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, of which a complete -set is rather difficult to obtain. The portions specifically relating to -the round towers will be found in vols. ii., iii., and vii. As regards the -other source of plagiarism to which Moore refers in his article above -quoted,--"the remarkable work called _Nimrod_,"--it has been already -shown, without any attempt at contradiction, that the leading idea of -_Nimrod_ was that the round towers were _fire-altars_, and that (to quote -the writer's words) "O'Brien's theory is not to be found in any page of -it." - -[26] According to "Father Prout" ("Rogueries of Tom Moore"), it was -probably suggested to him by the study of Lucian. See p. 90 of Mr. Kent's -edition of "The Works of Father Prout." - -[27] Alluded to in the _Charmides_ of Plato. - -[28] This statement is subject to a qualification. Certain structures--one -at Peel in the Isle of Man, and another at Hythe in Kent--are supposed, on -grounds of which the validity is more or less questioned, to be round -towers. - -[29] _Vide_ p. 514. General Vallancey had made a similar remark: "Nor are -they always annexed to churches. There are many in the fields, where no -traces of the foundations of any other buildings can be discovered around -them" (_Collect._ iii. 492, cited at p. 17 of Dr. Petrie's work). Dr. -Lanigan avowed the same; but Dr. Petrie declares "they are, without a -single exception, found near old churches, or where churches are known to -have existed"; though, as Mr. Keane points out, he assumes buildings to be -"churches" which have no claim to that title. - -[30] _Fraser's Magazine_, November 1, 1833. - -[31] The _characteristic architectural peculiarities_ belonging to each of -the towers was the omission required to be supplied, and for this alone -three months were extended. During that time I wrote my entire Essay, and -of course did not omit this requisite. But as these could give no interest -to the general reader, I have omitted them in the present enlarged form. -If called for, however, I shall cheerfully supply them, as an Appendix to -another work which may soon appear. - -[32] _Dublin Penny Journal_, July 7, 1832. - -[33] "Kilmallock has been a place of some distinction from a very remote -period, and, like most of our ancient towns, is of ecclesiastical origin, -a _monastery_ having been founded here by St. Maloch in the sixth century, -_of which the original Round Tower_ still remains."--_Dublin Penny -Journal_, vol. i. p. 65. - -"These (the Ruins of Swords) consist of a fine and lofty Round Tower, -coeval with the foundation of the original monastery."--_Ibid._ vol. i. p. -177. - -[34] If this appear over-sanguine, I trust it will be attributed to its -only cause--a strong sense of injustice expressed in the moment of warmth, -and without ever expecting that this expression should see the light. - -[35] That this was not gratuitous I pledge myself to prove, even from -circumstances that have already transpired. - -[36] It is true Mr. Higgins has told me this, and I listened with polite -silence to what I had read "in print" a thousand times before. But our -chronicles call the name Macha, and I abide by them. Enough, however, has -occurred between the date of this letter and the present to quiet the most -ardent disposition as to the pursuit of earthly eclat. Its author is no -more! He has reached that "bourne whence no traveller returns." And the -warning, I confess, is to myself not a little pointed, from the -unremitting perseverance with which this inquiry has been prosecuted and -the vexatious opposition with which its truths have been met. - -[37] I wish the reader to keep this in mind; its effects will be -manifested by and by. - -[38] [Greek: Phone en te eremo.] - -[39] See Letter No. 3. - -[40] _Dublin Penny Journal_, August 3, 1833. - -[41] Gibbon's Memoirs. - -[42] The Budhist temples. - -[43] The Cromleachs. - -[44] The Mithratic Caves. - -[45] Job i. - -[46] I say _accidentally_, because he foundered as well upon the _actual -colony_ who erected those temples, as upon the _nature_ of the _rites_ for -which they were erected. - -[47] Colonel Montmorency. - -[48] Pliny, lib. lxvi. cap. 12. - -[49] This incomparably beautiful object, constructed of white marble, in -the days of Demosthenes, in the second year of the one hundred and -eleventh Olympiad, 335 years before Christ, and in the year 418 of Rome, -was erected in honour of some young men of the tribe of Archamantide, -victors at the public games, and dedicated, it is supposed, to Hercules. - -[50] The first name ever given to this body was _Saer_, which has three -significations--firstly, _free_; secondly, _mason_; and thirdly, _Son of -God_. In no language could those several imports be united but in the -original one, viz. the Irish. The Hebrews express only one branch of it by -_aliben_; while the English join together the other two. - -[51] Sallust, _Cat. Con._ - -[52] Lib. xi. epist. 11. - -[53] 2 Kings xvii. 29, 30. - -[54] Byron. - -[55] Vol. iii. p. 78, note. - -[56] The tolling of a bell was supposed to have had miraculous effects--to -keep the spirits of darkness from assaulting believers--to dispel thunder, -and prevent the devil from molesting either the church or congregation; -and hence they were always rung, in time of storm or other attack, to -paralyse the fiend, whether the elements or mortal man, by the hallowed -intonation. Each was dedicated to a particular saint,--duly baptized and -consecrated; and the inscriptions which still remain on the old ones that -have come down to us proclaim the virtue of their capabilities. The -following distich will be found to sum them up, viz.:-- - - "Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum, - Defunctos plero, _pestem fugo_, festa decoro." - -And the very syllables of this which follows form a sort of _tuneful_ -galloping, viz.:-- - - "Sabbata pango, funera plango, solemnia clango." - -[57] [Greek: nper ton Okeanon parelthein epi tas kaloumenas Bretanikas -nesous.] EUSEB. in _Praep. Ev._ 1. 3. - -Egyptum et Libyam sortitus est alius Apostolorum, extremas vero oceani -regiones, et _Insulas Britannicas_ alius obtinuit. NICEPHOR. l. 2, c. 40. - -[58] _Religious Rites and Ceremonies_, published under his name. - -[59] Milton. - -[60] This latter to be explained hereafter. - -[61] The ruins, to the height of ten feet, still remain. - -[62] Goldsmith. - -[63] _Top. Dist._ ii. c. 9, p. 720. - -[64] In the reign of Txiacha Labhruine, A.M. 3177; B.C. 827. - -[65] This mark (7), in the Irish language, is an abbreviation for _agus_, -i.e. _and_. - -[66] The _Annals of Inisfallen_, also, p. 148, call them by the same name -of _Fiadh-Nemeadh_. - -[67] _Rer. Hib. Scrip. Vet._ iii. p. 527. - -[68] _Fidh-Nemeadh_ certainly admits of this interpretation, but in a very -different sense from what its author had supposed. - -[69] A German writer, contemporary with the Emperor Charles the Great, -says of another Irishman named Clement, at a much later period, "That -through his instructions the French might vie with the Romans and the -Athenians. John Erigena, whose surname denoted his country (Eri or Erina -being the proper name of Ireland), became soon (in the ninth century) -after famous for his learning and good parts, both in England and France. -Thus did most of the lights which, in those times of thick darkness, cast -their beams over Europe, proceed out of Ireland. The loss of the -manuscripts is much bewailed by the Irish who treat of the history and -antiquities of their country, and which may well be deemed a misfortune, -not only to them, but to the whole learned world." - -[70] Isidore of Seville, in the seventh century, says: "Scotia eadem et -Hibernia," that is, Scotia and Ireland are one and the same--an identity, -however, of _locality_, not of _signification_. And Orosius of Tarracona, -still earlier in the fifth century, avers that, "In his own time, Ireland -was inhabited by the nations of the Scoti." And were further evidence -required as to the point, it would be found in the fact of one of our -Christian luminaries, whose name was Shane, _i.e._ John, being called by -the Latin historians indifferently by the epithets of Johannes Scotus and -Johannes Erigena--the former signifying John the Irishman and the latter, -John the Scotchman. - -[71] The Scots first drove them from Ireland to what is now called -Scotland, and the Picts afterwards chased them from the lowlands to the -highland fastnesses. - -[72] Henricus Antisiodrensis, writing to Charles the Bald, says: "Why need -I mention all Ireland, with her crowd of philosophers?" "The philosophy -and logic," says Mosheim, a German historian, "that were taught in the -European schools in the ninth century, scarcely deserved such honourable -titles, and were little better than an empty jargon. There were, however, -to be found in various places, _particularly among the Irish_, men of -acute parts and extensive knowledge, who were perfectly well entitled to -the appellation of philosophers." - -[73] _Antiq._ p. 108. - -[74] Milton. - -[75] I will show, however, that it was much older. - -[76] _De Orig. et Progress. Idolat._ ii. 61. - -[77] Gen. xi. 4. - -[78] Gen. vi. 5. - -[79] _On the top was an observatory, by the benefit of which_ it was that -the _Babylonians advanced their skill in astronomy so early_; when -Alexander took Babylon, Callisthenes the philosopher, who accompanied him -there, found they had _observations_ for 1903 years backward from that -time, which carries up the account as high as the hundred and fifteenth -year after the flood, _i.e._ within fifteen years after the tower of Babel -was built. - -[80] I stop not to inquire whether or not this may have been the same with -that which stood in the midst of the temple of Belus, afterwards built -around it by Nebuchadnezzar. The intent I conceive similar in all, whether -the scriptural _Tower_, Birs Nimrod, or Mujellibah; and the rather, as -Captain Mignan tells us of the last, that on its summit there are still -considerable traces of erect building, and that at the western end is a -_circular_ mass of solid brick-work _sloping towards the top_, and rising -from a confused heap of rubbish; while Niebuhr states that Birs Nimrod is -also surmounted by a turret. My object is to show that the same -_emblematic design_ mingled in all those ancient edifices, though not -identical in its details. - -[81] Hos. ii. 16. - -[82] St. Stephen, the first martyr who suffered death for Christ, said -before the Jewish Sanhedrim, "God dwelleth not in temples made with hands" -(Acts vii. 48). - -[83] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[84] It is most unaccountable how Hanway, after seeing this evidence of an -_actual_ fire-temple, should, notwithstanding, commit the egregious -blunder of calling the Round Towers--which differed from it as much as a -_maypole_ does from a rabbit-hole--fire-temples also. Yet has he been most -religiously followed by Vallancey, Beauford, Dalton, etc., who could not -open their eyes to the mistake. - -[85] Pottinger's _Belochistan_. - -[86] Num. xxii. 41. - -[87] Milton. - -[88] _Top. Dist._ ii. c. 34. - -[89] Had Bede even _asserted_ that the Round Towers were fire receptacles, -it would not obtain my assent, as they were as great an enigma in that -venerable writer's day as they have been ever since, until now that their -_secret_ is about to be unveiled. - -[90] The derivation of this word not being generally known, I may be -allowed to subjoin it. It is the Irish for _dove_, as _columba_ is the -Latin, and was assigned to the above place in honour of St. Columbe, who -was surnamed Kille, from the many churches which he had founded. - -[91] _Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad._ vol. xv. - -[92] This adjective is not here applied to our western _Irin_, _i.e._ -Ireland, but to the eastern Iran, _i.e._ Persia. - -[93] "Virginesque Vestae legit, Alba oriundum sacerdotium, et genti -conditoris haud alienum" (Livy, lib. i. cap. xx.). - -[94] Horace. - -[95] _Asiatic Researches_, Dissert. Up. Egypt and Nile. - -[96] Literally, "the goddess of the lotos." - -[97] Craufurd's _Sketches_. - -[98] Milton. - -[99] Maya also signifies _illusion_, of which as an operation of the -Deity, the following remark, extracted elsewhere from Sir William, may not -be unseasonable:--"The inextricable difficulties," says he, "attending the -_vulgar notion of material substances_, concerning which 'we know this -only, that we know nothing,' induced many of the wisest among the -ancients, and some of the most enlightened among the moderns, to believe -that the whole creation was rather an _energy_ than a work, by which the -Infinite Being who is present at all times and in all places, exhibits to -the minds of his creatures a set of perceptions, like a wonderful picture -or piece of music, always varied, yet always uniform; so that all bodies -and their qualities exist, indeed, to every wise and useful purpose, but -exist only as far as they are _perceived_--a theory no less pious than -sublime, and as different _from_ any principle of atheism, as the -brightest sunshine differs from the blackest midnight." - -[100] Nature. - -[101] The Hindoos never bathe nor perform their ablutions whilst the sun -is below the horizon. - -[102] Poojah is properly worship. - -[103] Krishen of Matra may be called the Apollo of the Hindoos. - -[104] Vassant, the spring. - -[105] Kama, the god of love. - -[106] Translated from the Persic, and read before the Oriental Society in -India. - -[107] The reason why the Egyptian Pyramids, though _comprehending_ the -same idea, did not _exhibit_ this form, will be assigned hereafter. - -[108] In his treatise, _De Dea Syria_. - -[109] - - "Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns, - To whose bright image nightly by the moon, - Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs."--MILTON. - -[110] "Les Indiens ont le Lingam qui ajoute encore quelque chose a -l'infamie du Phallus des Egyptiens et des Grecs: ils adorent le faux dieu -Isoir sous cette figure monstreuse, et qu'ils exposent en procession -insultant d'une maniere horrible a la pudeur et a la credulite de la -populace" (_La Croze_, p. 431). - -[111] We can now see how it happened that the Irish word _Toradh_, _i.e._ -"to go through the tower ceremony," should signify also "to be pregnant"; -and we can equally unravel the _mythos_ of that elegant little tale which -Sir John Malcolm tells us from Ferdosi, in his _History of Persia_. "It is -related," says he, "that Gal, when taking the amusement of the chase, came -to the foot of a _tower_, on one of the turrets of which he saw a young -_damsel_ of the most exquisite beauty. _They mutually gazed and loved_, -but there appeared no mode of ascending the battlement. After much -embarrassment, an _expedient_ occurred to the fair maiden. She loosened -her dark and beautiful _tresses_, which fell in ringlets to the _bottom_ -of the _tower_, and enabled the _enamoured_ prince to _ascend_. The lady -proved to be Noudabah, the daughter of Merab, king of Cabul, a prince of -the race of Zohauk." - -[112] Chap. iv. p. 48. - -[113] Syncellus accordingly spells Budh, even in the singular number, with -an _F_; and Josephus, from the Scriptures, additionally commutes the final -_d_ into _t_. We shall see more inflections anon. - -[Greek: "Phoud ex ou trorloditai."]--Syncellus, p. 47. - -"Fut was the founder of the nations in Libya (Africa), and the people were -from him called Futi" (Josephus, _Ant._ lib. i. c. 7). - -[114] _Vide_ Plutarch, _de Isi et Osiri_. - -[115] Eas, in Irish, also means the moon. - -[116] Literally the Son of the Sun, and should properly be written -O'Siris, like any of our Irish names, such as O'Brien--and meaning _sprung -from_. - -[117] These are the _indexes_ for which Mr. O'Connor could find no other -use than that of dials! - -[118] "Les mysteres de l'antiquite nous sont demeures presqu'interdicts; -les vestiges de ses monuments manquent le plus souvent de sens pour nous, -parceque, de siecle en siecle, les savants ont voulu leur attribuer un -sens" (DE SACY). - -[119] To this declaration of Mr. Heeren, as I cannot _now_ bestow upon it -a separate inquiry, I must be allowed briefly to intimate that if such be -all that he "knows with certainty" on the topic, he had better not know it -at all, for, with the exception of that part which avows the general -_ignorance_ concerning its rise and progress, as well as its expulsion by -the Brahmins from the East, _all the rest is inaccurate_. In the first -place it does not "_flourish_" at present in Ceylon. It has sunk and -degenerated there into an unmeaning tissue of hideous demonology, _if we -may judge by a reference to a large work published here some time ago_, by -Mr. Upham, which is as opposite from real _Budhism_ as truth is from -falsehood. In the second place its tenets were _not_ "in direct opposition -to those of the Brahmins," any more than those of the Catholics are from -the tenets of the Protestants; yet have the latter contrived to oust the -Catholics, their predecessors, as the Brahmins did the still more -antecedent Budhists. And this will be sufficient to neutralise that -insinuation which would imply that Budha was an _innovator_ and a -_sectarian_, until I show by and by that the reverse was the fact. - -[120] The Jews themselves, so early as the time of Moses, adopted the -practice as an act of _thanksgiving_. - -"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her -hand; and all the women went out after her, with timbrels, and with -dances. - -"And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for He hath triumphed -gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea" (Exod. -xv. 20, 21). - -[121] The origin of this word shall be explained hereafter. - -[122] "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a _corn_ of _wheat_ fall -into the ground and _die_, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth -forth much fruit" (John xii. 24). - -[123] We are told--says Sir John Malcolm, in a Persian work of celebrity, -the _Attash Kuddah_--that a person dreamt he saw Ferdosi composing, and an -angel was guiding his pen: he looked near, and discovered that he had just -written the above couplet, in which he so emphatically pleads for humanity -to the smallest insect of the creation. - -[124] _Another Almoner_ was an epithet they assigned to God, which even -the Brahmins retained after they had seceded from them, as may be seen in -Wilkins' translation of a Sanscrit inscription on a pillar near _Buddal_, -published in the first volume of the _Asiatic Researches_. This -inscription, I must observe, as it escaped that learned Orientalist to -perceive it, as it equally did the acumen of the president, his annotator, -is, with the column on which it appears, nothing else than a record of the -triumphs obtained by a hero of the Brahminical party in exterminating the -Budhists. The frequent allusion to the "lustful elephants,"--such as -"whose piles of rocks reek with the juice exuding from the heads of -intoxicated elephants,"--and "Although the prospect hidden by the dust -arising from the multitude of marching force was rendered clear from the -earth being watered by constant and abundant streams flowing from the -heads of lustful elephants of various breeds,"--and still more that -beautiful and pathetic sentiment which occurs in the original of the -preceding paper, omitted by Mr. Wilkins, but supplied by the president, -viz. "by whom having conquered the earth as far as the _ocean_, it was -left as being unprofitably seized--so he declared; and his _elephants -weeping_ saw again _in the forests their kindred whose eyes were full of -tears_,"--make this a demonstration: yet would the beauty of the image be -lost to some of my readers, were I not to explain that the Budhists -treated with a sort of deified reverence the tribe of _elephants_, which -now bewailed their extermination as above described. - -[125] From Bavana was named the village of Banaven, in Scotland, whither -some of the Tuath-de-danaans had repaired after their retreat from -Ireland--a very appropriate commemoration of their recent subversion; and -a particular locality within its district, where St. Patrick was born, was -called _Nemph-Thur_, that is, the _holy tower_, corresponding to -_Budh-Nemph_, _i.e._ the _holy Lingam_, from the circumstance of there -having been erected on it one of those temples which time has since -effaced. _Tor-Boileh_ upon the Indus, which means the _Tower of Baal_, is -in exact consonance with _Nemph-Thur_ and with _Budh-Nemph_; and there can -be no question but that _there_ also stood one of those edifices, as the -ruins even of a city are perceptible in the neighbourhood. Mr. Wilford, -however, would translate this last name, Tor-Boileh, by _Black Beilam_: -and, to keep this _colour_ in countenance, he invents a new name for a -place called Peleiam, "which," he says, "_appears_ to have been transposed -from Ac Beilam, or the _White Beilam_, sands or shores and now called -'Hazren.'" I am not surprised at the _discredit_ brought upon etymology. - -[126] And this, too, after he had admitted that "the name is certainly of -the pure Iberno-Celtic dialect, and must have had some meaning founded in -the nature of things in its original and radical formation." - -[127] All our ancient swords were made of brass. - -[128] Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 527, 4to, 1781. - -[129] _Histoire d'Irelande_, vol. i. cap. 7. - -[130] Avienus lived in the fourth century. - -[131] "Melius (Hiberniae quam Britanniae) aditus--portusque per commercia et -negociatores cogniti" (Tacit. _vit. Agricol._ 499). - -[132] "Plus in metum quan in spem." - -[133] [Greek: "hosper kai ton Brettanon tous oikontas ten onomazomenen -Irin."] _Diod Sic._ lib. v. - -[134] In proof of this, I aver that I could go through the whole range of -their language, and prove that in its fabrication, so punctilious was -their regard to _euphony_, they scrupled not to _cancel_ or otherwise -_obnebulate_ the _essential_ and _significant_ letters of the primitive -words; so that, in a few generations, their descendants were unable to -trace the true _roots_ of their compounds. Hence that lamentable -imperfection which pervades all our lexicons and dictionaries, and which -can never be rectified but by the revisal of the whole system, and that by -a _thorough adept_ in the language of the Irish. - -[135] I say strangled, because _Irin_ is a compound word embracing within -its compass _two distinct parts_, of which Iris could give but the spirit -of one. - -[136] "Iren perrexit ut et aliorum Doctorum sententias in philosophicis -atque divinis litteris investigator curiosus exquireret" (_Vita Gildae_, -cap. 6). - -[137] Lib. x. Anno 1098. - -[138] Modern writers upon Persia, who would _refine_ upon the matter, have -perverted this word to _Pehlivi_; but look you into the early numbers of -the _Asiatic Researches_, and there you will find it spelled as above. - -[139] Besides, to speak _accurately_, this is not a _western_ country at -all, or only so relatively to Britain, Gaul, and that particular line. - -[140] _Collect. de Reb. Hib._ vol. iv. - -[141] _Antiq. Research. Pers._ vol. i. p. 137. - -[142] If I have taken a wrong view of the professor's phraseology, I shall -feel most happy to be set right; but I submit to the critic whether I am -not justified in understanding him as I do. - -[143] To be met with at a place called Tauk-e-Bostan. Silvestre de Sacy, a -member of the Institute at Paris, had made the following translation of -it, which is divided into two parts. - -The first:--"This figure is that of a worshipper of Hormuzd, or God; the -excellent Shahpoor; king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial -germ of a heavenly race; the son of the adorer of God; the excellent -Hormuzd; a king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial germ of a -heavenly race; grandson of the excellent Narses; king of kings." - -The second:--"This figure is that of a worshipper of Hormuzd, or God; the -excellent Varaham; king of kings; king of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a -celestial germ of a heavenly race; son of the adorer of God; the excellent -Shapoor; king of kings; of _Iran_ and _An-Iran_; a celestial germ of a -heavenly race; grandson of the excellent Hormuzd; king of kings." - -[144] This _An_, the original name for _country_, was modified afterwards, -according to clime and dialect, into _tan_, as in Aqui-_tan_-ia, -Brit-_tan_-ia, Mauri-_tan_-ia, etc.; and into _stan_, as in Curdi-_stan_, -Fardi-_stan_, Hindu-_stan_, etc. - -[145] From this was formed the English word _tower_, the very idea -remaining unchanged. As was also the English word _bud_, meaning the -_first shoot of a plant_, a _germ_, from the Irish _budh_, _i.e._ the -_organ of male energy_. - -[146] The present bleak and sterile aspect of this region militates -nothing against this view, when we consider the thousand alterations which -it has undergone, under the thousand different tribes that have -consecutively possessed it. - -[147] From _Ir_ or _Eer_, sacred, and _an_, a _land_. - -[148] From _Ir_ or _Eer_, sacred, and _in_, an _island_. - -[149] Iran or Irin, _i.e._ Eeran or Eerin. - -[150] Each of these three preceding words means _religion_ or -_revelation_. And from them _Era_, denoting a _period of_ time,--which -with the ancients was a _sacred_ reckoning,--has been so denominated; as -well as _Eric_, which, in law phraseology, indicates a certain penalty -attachable to certain crimes, and equivalent to _Deodand_, or a _religious -restitution_--all Irish. - -[151] I mean the "_Graeci vetustissimi_," not the "_Graeculi esurientes_." - -[152] Namely, _Ivernia_:--_u_, _v_, and _b_ are commutable. - -[153] Should you hesitate as to this mode of accounting for the letter -_b_, I can show you that the Greeks spelled _Albion_ indifferently with or -without a _b_; as they indifferently used _b_ or _v_ in one of the above -names for Ireland; for instance-- - -[Greek: Ai Bretanides eisi duo nesoi, Ouernia kai Alouion, etoi Bernia kai -Albion.] Eustath. _ad Dion. Perieg._ - -[154] It is only the _date_, however, that I will share with any one. The -derivation of the word and its _true exposition_ are exclusively my own. - -[155] "Quod nomen ob beati solum ingenium, in quo _nullum animal venenosum -vitale_, facile assentior attributum" (_Ogyg._ pt. i. c. 21). So -gratifying, however, has this been to the obsequious wisdom of subsequent -_historians_ (?), as to be echoed from one to the other with the most -commendable fidelity. "_O imitatores, servum pecus!_" - -[156] Pronounced Fiodhvadh--copied _literally_ from the old manuscripts. - -[157] This corresponds to _Ir-an_, the Sacred _Land_. - -[158] This answers to _Ir-in_, the Sacred _Island_. - -[159] The reader will see that, in quoting Dr. Keating, I do so from no -respect for his discrimination or sagacity. Whenever he has attempted to -exert either, in the way of comment or _deduction_, he has _invariably_ -erred: fortunately he has offered none in this instance. Yet is his book a -most valuable compilation; and _I_ now cull out of it _those three names_, -as one would a casket of jewels from a lumber-room. - -[160] This _Farragh_, otherwise _Phearragh_, is the _Peor_ of the -Scriptures, and the _Priapus_ of the Greeks. - -[161] "Priapus, si _physice_ consideretur idem est ac _sol_; ejusque lux -primogenia unde _vis omnis seminatrix_" (_Diod. Sic._ lib. i.). See also -Num. xxv. 4, where you will see that "Peor" _remotely_ meant the sun. - -[162] I shall not trouble myself in reciting the absurd _attempts_ that -have been heretofore made to expound this word: it is enough to say that -_they were all wrong_. - -[163] The _motto_, also, of this family, viz., _Lamh laider a-Boo_, _i.e._ -"The strong arm from Boo," now changed to _Vigueur du dessus_, is in -keeping with the same idea. - -[164] This is the _mere utterance_ of an historical transaction without -reference to _sect_, _creed_, _party_, or _politics_. No feelings of -bitterness mingle therein. The author disclaims all such, as much as he -would depreciate them in others. - -[165] In the library of Trinity College, Dublin, are several such, -collected in the beginning of last century, by Lhuyd, author of the -_Archaeologia_, and restored by Sir John Seabright, at the instigation of -Edmund Burke. I am credibly informed also, that there have been lately -discovered in the Library at Copenhagen certain documents relating to our -antiquities, taken away by the Danes after their memorable defeat at -Clontarf, by King Brian, A.D. 1014. Lombard has already asserted the same; -and that the King of Denmark entreated Queen Elizabeth to send him some -Irishman, who could transcribe them; that Donatus O'Daly, a learned -antiquarian, was selected for the purpose, but that his appointment was -afterwards countermanded, for political reasons. - -There are, besides, in mostly all the public libraries of Europe--without -adverting to those which are detained in the Tower of London--divers Irish -manuscripts, presented by the various emigrants, who from time to time -have been obliged to fly their country, to seek among strangers that -shelter which they were denied at home; taking with them, as religious -heirlooms, those hereditary relics of their pedigree and race. - -One of the most beautiful and pathetic pieces of Irish poetry remaining, -written by Macleog, private secretary to Brian, after the demise of that -monarch, and beginning with this expression of his sorrow: "Oh! Cencoradh -(the name of his patron's favourite palace), where is Brian?" was picked -up in the Netherlands, in 1650, by Fergar O'Gara, an Augustinian friar, -who fled from Ireland in the iron days of Cromwell. - -[166] I rejoice to state, that the present administration, under the -benign direction of our patriot King, have resolved, so far as in them -lies, to atone for former depredators. There is now a vigorous revisal of -those documents going on, with a view, as I understand, to their immediate -publication. - -[167] The antiquarian luminaries of the _Royal Irish Academy_ would fain -make out that this was a _Christian warrior_. Their _high priest_ has -lately proclaimed the fact, in their "collective wisdom." It is -astonishing how fond they have _suddenly_ become for the memory of the -monks; they would now father everything like culture in the country upon -them. It used not to have been so! - -[168] This image was found under the root of a tree dug up in Roscommon. -It is about the size of the drawing; is made of brass, once gilt; the -gilding, however, now almost worn off; and may be seen in the Museum of -Trinity College, Dublin. - -[169] _Major Archer's Travels in Upper India_, vol. i. pp. 383, 384. Lond. -1833. - -[170] So the "collective wisdom," in the true spirit of Christian -restitution and penitential contrition, have lately pronounced him! It is -delightful to see this solicitous zeal with which, when it suits a private -purpose, they cherish the memory of the monks, being _no longer_ in the -way of their _secular_ perquisites: but if the poor monks could speak, or -send a voice from the tomb, it would be to say that they did not choose to -be encumbered with such meretricious flattery; and that, having laid no -claim to those _relics_, or to the _towers_ which they decorated, during -their _lifetime_, they now in _death_ must repudiate the ascription. -"Timeo Danaas et dona ferentes," would be their answer. - -[171] _Asiatic Researches_, vol. vi.; where it will be observed that the -Doctor was not writing for me. He did not even _suspect_ the existence of -this figure. It is, like the preceding one, of bronze. - -[172] The Egyptian sovereign assumed this _title_, as the highest that -_language_ and _imagination_ could bestow. It signifies literally the _act -of copulation_, of which it would represent him as _presiding genius_--the -source whence all pleasure and happiness can flow--and is but faintly -re-echoed in the Macedo-Syriac regal epithet of [Greek: Energetes], -"Benefactor," or even that by which we designate our king as the -_fountain_ of _goodness_. There being no such letter as _ph_ in the -ancient alphabets, all those words, viz. _Pheor_, _Pharaoh_, and -_Pharagh_, should properly be spelled _Feor_, _Faraoh_, and _Faragh_. - -[173] Gen. xlvi. 34. - -[174] "On the fifteenth day of the first month every year. Every person is -obliged, on the evening of that day, to set out a lantern before his door, -and these are of various sizes and prices, according to the different -circumstances of those to whom they belong. During this festival, they -have all sorts of entertainments, such as plays, balls, assemblies, music, -dancing, and the lanterns are filled with a vast number of wax candles, -and surrounded with bonfires." - -[175] Barker.--The same is mentioned by Captain Burr, in reference to the -Indian followers who had attended him to the temple of Isis. - -[176] Mr. Greaves's diagonal, in proportion to his base of 694 feet, is -991 feet nearly; the half of which is 495-1/2 feet, for the height of the -Pyramid; for as the radius is to the tangent of 45 deg., so is half the -diameter to half the diagonal, or 7 to 10, or 706 to 1000. Say, 7 : 10 :: -694 : 991/2 = 495-1/2.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._ - -[177] Schindl. - -[178] Gen. xlvii. - -[179] _Hist. Christ. des Indes_, p. 429. - -[180] Lib. ii. p. 4. - -[181] [Greek: pyr], generally rendered _fire_, is not so, however, in the -true import of the word, but the _Sun_; fire is only a secondary sense of -it. - -[182] Barker. - -[183] _Ibid._ - -[184] Gen. xlvi. 34. - -[185] Ex. vii. 11, etc., and 2 Tim. iii. 8. - -[186] America also has had her ancient pageantry. Antonio de Solis gives -the following description of the Mexican shrine:--"The site of that temple -devoted to the worship of the Sun, and its altar for human sacrifices, was -a large square environed by walls, cloisters, and gates; in the centre was -raised a high tower of a pyramidical form, broad at the base, and narrowed -towards the top, having four equal sides in a sloping direction; in one of -which was a flight of one hundred and fifty steps to the top, covered with -the finest marble, with a square marble pavement, guarded with a -balustrade: in the centre stood a large black stone, in manner of an -altar, placed near the idol. In the front of this tower, and at a -convenient distance from its base, stood a high altar of solid masonry, -ascended by thirty steps: in the middle of it was placed a large stone, on -which they slaughtered the numerous human victims devoted for sacrifice; -the outside being set with stakes and bars, on which were fixed human -sculls." - -[187] The regular pyramid is a section of the cube, whose altitude is -equal to half the diameter of the base, and is contained within a -semicircle. The great pyramid is not of this precise order; its height or -altitude being found more than half the diameter of its base. A second -order is that whose altitude is equal to half the diagonal of the base, -and is also bounded and contained within a semicircle; and consequently, -if the diagonal be given at 1000, the altitude will be 500: but the true -height of the Egyptian pyramid being determined at less than half its -diagonal, is therefore found to be not exactly of this order, but nearly -approaching to it, and probably aimed at in the original design, though -failing in the execution.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._ - -[188] Astronomy began very early to be cultivated among the Egyptians; and -to them is attributed the discovery of the magnitude of the solar year, -or, as it is distinguished, _the Egyptian year_ of 365 days; which -discovery appears to be noticeable, and memorialised in the construction -of their Great Pyramid. The ancient measure of length being the cubit, and -that measure being determined common with the Hebrews and Egyptians, as -nearly as Dr. Cumberland could determine it, and reduced to English -measure, a certain standard is obtained: but we find also another, called -the longer cubit, to have obtained, on which we may with equal propriety -calculate the measures of the Egyptian Pyramid, on which to infer the -number of days contained in the solar year; the measures of the base of -the Great Pyramid being found, if not exactly, yet nearly approximating to -it.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._ - -[189] I have not the least doubt but the ancient Egyptians measured by the -cubit, whatever it then was; that the number of cubits was designedly -fixed upon by them in laying the base of the Pyramid; and that if we -divide the ascertained sum of 752 feet by 2, the quotient will be 376, -which is a number exceeding 365 by 11: consequently, if we estimate their -ancient cubit at 2 feet 7/10 of an inch, that measure will be ascertained, -and found to approximate nearly to the longer Hebrew cubit; and so will -the measures of the Pyramid be found to agree with the number of days in -the solar year.--_Dissertation upon the Pyramids._ - -[190] Then Major Fitzclarence, March 2, 1818. - -[191] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[192] _Scientific Tourist through Ireland_, p. 33. - -[193] Usher's _Primord_, c. xvii. p. 846. - -[194] _Journal_, pp. 21, 23. - -[195] Neither can I, with him, restrict their object to _Tombs alone_; -their Phallic shape bespeaks another allusion; as does the style of -architecture indicate an _affinity_ of _descent_, though not an _identity_ -of _design_ with that of our _Towers_. - -[196] In his treatise, _De Dea Syria_. - -[197] Of this distant adoration we may still see traces in the practice of -the Irish peasantry, almost preferring to say their prayers outside the -precincts of the chapel, or mass-house, than within it, unconsciously -derived from this service of the Afrion, or benediction-house, _i.e._ the -Round Towers. - -[198] The Ghabres to this day chew a leaf of it in their mouths, while -performing their religious duties round the sacred fire. - -[199] Those are what Montmorency would fain make out to have been _roses_ -imported from the Vatican. - -[200] A similar sacrifice is described by Major Archer as still practised -in the mountains of Upper India, which he himself witnessed. "An -unfortunate goat," says he, "lean and emaciated, was brought as an -offering to the deities; but so poor in flesh was he that no crow would -have waited his death in hopes of a meal from his carcass." - -[201] "Round the _tie_ or umbrella at the top (of the Dagobs at Ceylon) -are suspended a number of small bells, which with these form _tees_ of a -great quantity of smaller pagodas that surround the quatine, being set in -motion by the wind, keep up a constant tinkling, but not unpleasing sound" -(COLEMAN). - -The temples of Budh in the Burmese empire are also pyramidical, the top -always crowned with a gilt umbrella of iron filagree, hung round with -bells.--"The _tie_ or _umbrella_ is to be seen on every sacred building -that is of a spiral form; the rising and consecration of this last and -indispensable appendage is an act of high religious solemnity, and a -season of festivity and relaxation. The present king bestowed the _tie_ -that covers Shoemadoo: it was made at the capital. Many of the principal -nobility came down from Ummerapoora to be present at the ceremony of its -elevation. The circumference of the tie is fifty-six feet; it rests on an -iron axis fixed in the building, and is further secured by large chains -strongly riveted to the spire. Round the lower rim of the tie are appended -a number of _bells_, which agitated by the wind make a continual jingling" -(SYMES). - -[202] "It is remarked that in China they have no pyramids, but pagodas -raised by galleries, one above another, to the top: the most celebrated of -these is that called the Porcelain Tower, in Nankin, said to be two -hundred feet high, and forty feet at the base, built in an octagonal form. -These pagodas seem to have been designed for altars of incense, raised to -their aerial deities, with which to appease them; and their hanging bells, -_with their tintillations to drive away the demons_ lest they should, by -noxious and malignant winds and tempests, disturb their serene atmosphere -and afflict their country" (_Dissertations upon the Pyramids_). - -[203] The reason of this will appear hereafter; while in the interim I -must observe that this new appropriation of them to Christian purposes was -what occasioned that error on the part of a writer some centuries after, -who _opined_ that it was _Sanctus Patricius_ who first presented one to -_Sancto Kierano_. I make no question of the _present_; but does -presentation imply invention? - -[204] Cambrensis tells rather a curious story about St. Finnan's -bell:--"There is," says he, "in the district of Mactalewi, in Leinster, a -certain bell which, unless it is adjured by its possessor every night in a -particular form of exorcism shaped for the purpose, and tied with a cord -(no matter how slight), it would be found in the morning at the church of -St. Finnan, at Clunarech, in Meath, from whence it was brought; and," adds -he, "this sometimes happened." - -[205] A communication from Mr. Hall himself, just imparted, assures me -that, _as far as he could judge_, the aperture was _coeval_ with the -instrument, and by no means accidental. - -[206] "This word is generally supposed to be derived from Fars or Pars, a -division of the empire of Iran, and applied by Europeans to the whole of -that kingdom. It is certainly a word unknown, in the sense we use it, to -the present natives of Iran, though some Arabic writers contend that Pars -formerly meant the whole kingdom. In proof of this assertion, a passage of -the Koran is quoted, in which one of Mohammed's companions who came from a -village near Isfahan is called Telman of Fars or Pars. We have also the -authority of the Scripture for the name of this kingdom being Paras or -Phars. The authors of the Universal History, on what authority I know not, -state that the word Iran is not a general name of Persia, but of a part of -the country. _This is certainly erroneous_: Iran has, from the most -ancient times to the present day, been the term by which the Persians call -their country; and it includes, in the sense they understand it, all the -provinces to the east of the Tigris; Assyria Proper, Media, Parthia, -Persia, and Hyrcania or Mazenderan" (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[207] These quotations from the professor's book are not given -_consecutively_ as he wrote them, but _brought together_ from detached -sections and chapters. - -[208] Pars is the Persian, Fars the Arabic, pronunciation of the word. - -[209] I should have observed, that Plato also, speaking of those modern -Persians, says: "They were originally a nation of shepherds and herdsmen, -occupying a rude country, such as naturally fosters a hardy race of -people, capable of supporting both cold and watching, and when needful, of -enduring the toils of war" (Plato, _De Leg._ iii. op. ii. p. 695). - -[210] [Greek: Epekteinetai de t' ounoma tes Arianes mechri tinos kai -Person kai Medon kai eti ton prosarkton Baktrion kai Sogdianon. eisi gar -pos kai homoglottoi para mikrom] (STRABO, p. 1094). - -[211] All the other variations are thus similarly accounted for; being but -offshoots of the same radix, such as I have already shown (p. 128) in -reference to Ireland--while the careful reader will of himself see that -the name of that lake in Persia, of which the Greeks and Romans conjointly -manufactured Aria Palus, corresponds to our Lough Erne, and must doubtless -have been so called in Persia also, for _palus_ is evidently but the -translation of lough. - -[212] Zendavesta, i. 14. - -[213] "And what would hardly appear possible, as we cannot discover what -purpose such a finished fable of idolatrous superstition would be meant to -answer" (Sir John Malcolm's _History of Persia_, vol. i. p. 191). - -[214] Yet in Hindoostan, also, as we learn from Major Archer, "an -_astrologer_ is a constituted authority in all the villages, and nothing -pertaining to life and its concerns is commenced without his sanction." - -[215] "Tout, dans le systeme primitif de la religion des Grecs, atteste la -transposition des traditions comme des principes; tout y est vague, sombre -et confus" (DE SACY). - -[216] "The Sabians themselves boasting the origin of their religion from -Seth, and pretending to have been denominated from a son of his called -Sabius, as also of having among them a book, which they called the _Book -of Seth_" (Prideaux, part i. book iii.). - -[217] This is only a corruption from the Irish word _Ercol_, the sun. - -[218] Wisdom of Solomon, xiv. 16, 17. - -[219] To this exactly corresponds, as well in import as in appropriation, -the name of one of the hills upon which Rome was built, that is -_Palatinus_, which--no doubt, to the amazement of etymological -empirics--is nothing less than a compound of _Baal_ and _tinne_; that is -_Baal's fire_--the initial _B_ and _P_ being always commutable. And -_Aven-tinus_, the epithet of another of the Seven Mounts, is derived from -_Avan_, a river; and _tinne_, fire, meaning the fire-hill, near the river. -And as the former was devoted to the _sun_, so the latter was to the -_moon_; in confirmation of which it got another name, namely, _Re-monius_, -of which the component parts are _Re_, the moon, and _moin_, an elevation. - -The _Pru-taneion_, also amongst the Greeks, was what? A _fire_-hill. -Startle not, it is a literal truth. But the dictionaries and lexicons say -nothing about these matters? nay, offer other _explanations_? -mystifications, Sir, if you please, whereby they implicate, as well -themselves as their readers, in absurdities; which could not be expected -to be otherwise uninstructed, _as their authors necessarily were_, in the -elements of that language whence all those words have diverged. - -_Pru-taneion_, then, is compounded of _Bri_, a mount, and _tinne_, fire; -the _B_, as before observed, being commutable with _P_, particularly -amongst the Greeks, who indifferently called Britain [Greek: Bretanike] -and [Greek: Pretanike] ([Greek: nesos] being understood). Every community -had, of old, one of those _Britennes_, or _fire mounts_, natural or -artificial. The guardian of the sacred element therein was called, -_Bri-ses_; and the dwelling assigned him, hard by, _Astu_. The number of -those latter Cecrops reduced, in Attica from one hundred and sixty, to -twelve. Of these, Theseus appointed the _principal station_ at _Cecropia_, -the name of which he changed, by _way of eminence_, to _Astu_; and hence -this latter word, which originally but represented the abode of the -_Sacerdos_, came ultimately to signify a _city_ at large; as _Prutaneion_ -did a Common Council Hall. - -[220] To this day, the most kindly wish, and ordinary salutation, of the -Irish peasant, continues to be _Bal dhia duit, Bal dhia ort_, that is the -god Baal to you, or the god Baal upon you. - -[221] The Irish mode of expressing it is _Slan fuar tu sin, agus slan -adfaga tu sin_. The Caffres who reside all round the Cape, pay their -adoration to the moon, by dancing to her honour when she changes, or when -she is at the full. They prostrate themselves on the ground, then rise up -again, and, gazing at her orb, with loud acclamations, make the following -address:--"We, thy servants, salute thee. Give us store of milk and honey; -increase our flocks and herds, and we will worship thee." - -[222] The word is more _mysterious_, as I shall explain elsewhere. - -[223] Hannah More. - -[224] Byron. - -[225] "One superstition of the pagans never fails to assert its influence -upon spots like this--the _genius_ loci is always ascendant" (DEANE). - -[226] _Ab-roch_ also, the official title of Joseph, when appointed regent -of Egypt, signifies father of the _king_. - -[227] "The Himalaya are the peculiar abodes of the gods of the Hindoos; -the rivers, issuing from the eternal snows, are goddesses, and are sacred -in the eyes of all. Shrines, of the most holy and awful sanctity, are at -the fountain-heads of the Ganges and Jumna; and on the summit of Kedar -Nauth, Cali, that goddess of bloody rites, is supposed to have taken up -her residence. One among the numerous proceedings of her votaries, is to -scramble as high up the mountain as they can attain, taking with them a -_goat_ for an offering: the animal is turned loose with a _knife_ tied -round his neck; the belief is, that the goddess will find the victim, and -immolate it with her own hand" (ARCHER). - -[228] This adjective I apply indiscriminately to Persia or to Ireland. - -[229] It lies in the district of _Ins-oin_, which means the _abode_ of -_Magicians_; corrupted now to _Inis_-owen, which would import Eugene's -_island_. An aggravated blunder--the place being in the _very centre_ of -the country, with which such an imaginary chevalier was never associated. - -[230] - - "His tibi _Grynaei_ nemoris dicatur origo, - Ne quis sit lucus, qua se plus jactet _Apollo_." - Virg. _Ecl._ 6. - -[231] "_Granem_ dixere priores."--OVID. - -Although those heaps are now but signals of accidental or violent death, -for which each passenger bespeaks his sorrow by _adding a small stone_, -yet we see that in their origin they were more religiously designed; and -while this _latter practice_ is observed also in India, it appears that -they have retained there more correctly the primitive idea, as may be -inferred from these words of Major Archer:--"On the right and left are -several cairns of stones, erected by parties of travellers as they cross, -in _acknowledgment to the deities or presiding spirits for their -protection_." - -[232] _Ogyg. seu Rer. Iber. Chron._ part i. p. 16. - -[233] One of the ancient names of Ireland is _Inis Algan_, that is, the -_Noble Island_. - -[234] "The children gathered the wood, the fathers kindled the fire, and -the women kneaded the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven" (Jer. -vii. 18). - -[235] _Lettres sur les Sciences_, p. 202. - -[236] _Hist. du Calendrier_, Pref. p. 14. - -[237] "Obeliscum Deo soli, speciali munere, dedicatum fuisse" (AMMIANUS). - -[238] "Chinenses et Indi, praeter imagines in pagodis et delubris, -praegrandes aliquando etiam _integras rupes_, presertim si natura in -_pyramidalem formam_ vergebant, in idola formari solebant" (HYDE). - -[239] Is it not pitiable, therefore, to hear Mr. Deane, in the last volume -of the _Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries_, London, ascribe the -erection of those obelisks which he met in Britanny, to the following -text? namely, "Behold Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear -stuck in the ground at his bolster" (1 Sam. xxvi. 7). - -When Captain Pyke landed in the island of Elephanta, near Bombay, he found -in the midst of a Gentoo temple a low altar, on which was placed a large -polished stone, of a _cylindrical_ form, standing on its base, the top -_rounded_, or convex: they called it _Mahody_,--that the name of the -inconceivable God was placed under it aloof from profanation. - -Launder, in his _Voyage to India_, p. 81, saw one _erected_ in a _tank_ of -water. Herodian tells us he saw a similar stone, round at the bottom, -diminishing towards the top in a conical form, at Emessa, in Phoenicia, -and that the name they gave it was Heliogabalus (VALLANCEY). - -[240] _I.e._ the _Good_-Baal-Peor. - -[241] Wilford, in like manner, after a more mature acquaintance with the -system, says, "I beg leave here to retract what I said in a former essay -on Egypt, concerning the followers of Buddha." - -[242] _Observations on Drakontia_, London, 1833. - -[243] The Mexican hierogram is formed by the intersecting of two great -serpents, which describe the circle with their bodies, and have each a -human head in its mouth. - -[244] Ovid. - -[245] Gen. xi. 31. - -[246] See pages 503-506 for the explication of the serpent and the rest of -the allegory. - -[247] The Betula, or Birch tree. - -[248] Were additional proof required that this is the true solution of the -Mosaic _myth_, respecting the forbidden _apple_, it is irresistibly -offered to anyone who will see that relic of Eastern idolatry, presented -by Lieutenant-Colonel Ogg to the Museum of the East India Company, London, -which consists of a tabular frame of white marble, furnished with a -fountain, and emblematically stored with religious devices; the most -extraordinary of which is a representation of the _Lingam_ and _Yoni_ in -_conjunction_, around the bottom of which, in symbolical suggestion, is -coiled a serpent; while the top of another Lingam, placed underneath, is -embossed towards the termination, which is _conical_ and _sunny_, with -four heads, facing the cardinal points, and _exactly corresponding with -those which grace the preputial apex_ of the Round _Tower_ of _Devenish_. -Those four heads represent the four gods of the Budhist theology, who have -appeared in the present world, and already obtained the perfect state of -Nirwana, viz. Charchasan, Gonagon, Gaspa, and Goutama. And the entire -coincidence between this Lingam and the characteristics of our Round -Towers is such as to convince the most obdurate sceptics, even had I not -put the question beyond dispute before, that they were _uniform_ in -design, and _identical_ in purpose. - -[249] Venus preferred a _cestus_, or a talisman of her own sex, as we are -told in the fourteenth book of the _Iliad_, where it is said, that - - "the Queen of Love - Obeyed the sister and the wife of Jove, - And from her fragrant breast the zone unbraced, - With various skill and high embroidery graced. - In this was every art, and every charm, - To win the wisest, and the coldest warm: - Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire, - The kind deceit, the still reviving fire, - Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, - Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes."--HOMER. - -[250] The offerings made at the present day are precisely of the same -kind. "Boiled rice, fruits, especially the cocoa-nut, flowers, natural, -and artificial, and a variety of curious figures made of paper, gold leaf, -and the cuttings of the cocoa-nut kernel, are the most common" (SYMES). - -[251] Gen. iv. 7. - -[252] Methinks I hear some wiseacre start up here and say this cannot be, -because man in an _uncivilised_ state occupies more space than when -restricted by social usages. Pray, sir, who told you that man was then -_uncivilised_? Then, in fact, it was that he may be called truly -civilised, as more recent from the converse of his Creator. - -[253] In fig. 1, plate 33, of Mr. Coleman's book, "is a four-headed Linga -of white marble, on a stand of the same, surrounded by Parvati, Durga, -Ganes, and the Bull Nandi, in adoration. The size of the stand or tablet -is about two feet square, and the whole is richly painted and gilt. On the -crown of the Linga is a refulgent sun." In fig. 2 of same "is a Panch -Muckti, or five-headed Linga, of basalt, of which the fifth head rises -above the other four, surmounted by the hooded snake. Each of the heads -has also a snake wreathed around it, as well as around the Argha. The Bull -Nandi is kneeling in adoration before the spout of the Yoni." - -[254] And _Bacchus_, in reality, was but another name for one of the -various _Budhas_. Even under the name of _Dionysos_ we find him, to this -hour, amongst ourselves. "On _Sliabh Grian_, or the _Hill_ of the _Sun_" -says Tighe, "otherwise called Tory Hill, in the county Kilkenny, is a -circular space, sixty-four yards in circumference, covered with stones. In -this stands a very large one, and on the east side another, reared on -three supporters, and containing an inscription, which in Roman letter -would exhibit "Beli Dinose." - -[255] "There are in India (also) public women, called _women of the idol_, -and the origin of this custom is this: when a woman has made a vow for the -purpose of having children, if she brings into the world a pretty -daughter, she carries it to Bod,--so they call the idol which they adore, -and leaves it with him" (Renaudot's _Anc. Rel._ p. 109). - -[256] "It is generally known, that the religion of Boudhou is the religion -of the people of _Ceylon_, but no one is acquainted with its forms and -precepts" (JOINVILLE). - -[257] Goldsmith. - -[258] That is, "_above_ reason." - -[259] Gen. vi. 2. - -[260] _Ibid._ iv. 26. - -[261] Job xxxviii. - -[262] "_In the beginning_ God created" (Gen. i. 1). - -[263] Gen. vi. 4. - -[264] Dr. Gill, very _innocently_, would account for it otherwise, viz. -"_either_ because they made their fear _fall_ upon men, _or_ men through -fear to _fall_ before them, because of their height and strength--or -rather because they fell and rushed on men with great violence, and -oppressed them in a cruel and tyrannical manner"!!! - -[265] Philosophers will ultimately repose in the belief that Asia has been -the principal foundry of the human kind; and _Iran_ or _Persia_ will be -considered as one of the cradles from which the species took their -departure to people the various regions of the earth (Dr. Barton, _Trans -Phil. Soc. Philad._ vi. p. 1). - -"It follows that Iran or Persia (I contend for the _meaning, not the -name_) was the central country which we sought" (Sir W. Jones, _Asiatic -Researches_). - -[266] An edifice of this kind, in which the _relics_ of Budha were kept, -near Benares, is described by Wilford as about _fifty feet high, of a -cylindrical form, with its top shaped like a dome_. - -[267] - - "Tuatha _Heren_ tarcaintais - Dos nicfead sith laitaith nua." - -That is, - - The _magicians_ of Ireland prophesied - That new times of peace would come. - -I would point your attention to this stanza, not only as confirmatory of -the solution above given for the word _Tuatha_, but as furnishing another -link in that great chain of analogy which I have traced between the names -of Ireland and ancient Persia. _Haran_, in Mesopotamia, is but the -prefixing of an aspirate to _Eran_, the Pahlavi variation for _Iran_, the -original name for that _Sacred Land_. - -[268] General Vallancey was equally ignorant as to the meaning of the -additional words _De-danaan_. - -[269] The Lotos was the most sacred plant of the ancients, and typified -the _two_ principles of the earth's fecundation combined--the germ -standing for the _Lingam_; the filaments and petals for the _Yoni_. - -[270] This _Puzza_ is nothing more than our Irish _Pish_: and, what is -miraculously _coincident_, the title of the enthusiast who annually kills -somebody in honour of her, under the name of the goddess _Manepa_, at -Tancput, is _Phut_, or Buth; that is, the Budh of the Irish! - -[271] "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall -cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh" (Gen. xi. 24). - -[272] "There is a sect of Hindus, by far the most numerous of any, who, -attempting to reconcile the two systems, tell us, in their allegorical -style, that Parvati and Mahadeva found their _concurrence_ essential to -the perfection of their offspring, and that Vishnu, at the request of the -goddess, effected a reconciliation between them; hence the _navel_ of -Vishnu, by which they mean the _os tincae_, is worshipped as one and the -same with the sacred _Yoni_." - -[273] She "made use of the same artifice the old woman, called Baubo, did -to put Ceres in good humour, and showed him the prototype of the _Lotos_. -Mahadeva smiled and relented; but on the condition that they should -instantly leave the country." - -[274] "But such is the confusion and uncertainty of the Hindu records, -that one is really afraid of forming any opinion whatever" (WILFORD). - -[275] Sir John Malcolm, vol. i. p. 270. - -[276] Thomson. - -[277] "When history fails in accounting for foreign extraction of any -people, or where it is manifestly mistaken, how can this extraction be -more rationally inferred and determined, or that mistake rectified, than -from the analogy of languages? And is not this at once sufficiently -conclusive, if nothing else was left them?" (_Eugene Aram_). - -[278] "The merchants of Magadha formed not only a particular class, but -also a particular tribe. It seems that they were bold, enterprising, and, -at the same time, cautious and circumspect; hence they are said to be -merchants by the fathers', and warriors by the mothers' side, according to -Mr. Colebrook's account of the Hindu classes" (_Asiat. Res._ ix. p. 79). - -[279] See _A Dissertation on the Antiquity, Origin, and Design of the -principal Pyramids of Egypt_, etc. etc. - -[280] Mersennus writes thus:--"I find that the cubit (upon which a learned -Jewish writer, which I received by the favour of the illustrious Hugenius, -Knight of the Order of St. Michael, supposes the dimensions of the temple -were formed) answers to 23-1/4 of our inches; so that it wants 3/4 of an -inch of two of our feet, and contains two Roman feet and two digits, and a -grain, which is 1/4 of a digit." The Paris foot, with which Mersennus -compared this cubit, is equal to 1-68/1000 of the English foot, according -to Mr. Greaves; and consequently is to the Roman foot as 1068 to 967. In -the same proportion, reciprocally, are 23-1/4 and 25-68/100. That cubit, -therefore, is equal to 25-68/100 _unciae_ of the Roman foot, and -consequently falls within the middle of the limits 25-57/100 and 79/100, -with which we have just circumscribed the sacred cubit: so that I suspect -this cubit was taken from some authentic model, preserved in a secret -manner from the knowledge of the Christians (SIR ISAAC NEWTON). - -[281] "And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, -behold a _hole_ in _the wall_. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now -in the wall; and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door: and he said -unto me, Go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I -went in, and saw; and, behold, every form of creeping things, and -abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed -upon the wall round about" (EZEKIEL). - -[282] "Inter omnes eos, non constat a quibus factae sint, justissimo casu -obliteratis tantae vanitatis authoribus" (PLIN). - -[283] [Hebrew] - -_Gen._ vi. 14. - -[284] Exod. ii. 3. - -[285] The Septuagint translators, not perceiving any difference, rendered -all, similarly, by the word [Greek: kibotos]! - -[286] As does also _Tha_, _To_, _Ti_, _Tho_, _Thu_, with their several -commutables, derivatives, formatives, etc. - -[287] And the _Valley of To-phith_, in which human victims were -sacrificed, thus discloses, in the _symbolic secret of its shape_, that -the propitiation of this _instrument_ was the grand object of the -sacrificers. - -[288] Virgil. - -[289] Gen. vi. 9. - -[290] Gen. vi. 12. - -[291] Rom. i. 20-24. - -[292] Gen. vi. 8. - -[293] _The-bith._ - -[294] Gen. ix. 1. - -[295] "This king is stated to have reclaimed his subjects from a _state_ -of the _most savage barbarity_. He was, we are told by our author, the son -of Yussan-Ajum, while others call him the grandson of Noah; _all agree in -acknowledging him as the founder of a dynasty, which are known in history -as that of the Paishdadian_" (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[296] The Irish name for a _boat_ is _baudh_, which is only a formative of -_pith_. - -[297] Gen. v. 29. - -[298] If the reader will now turn to p. 223, will he not think it probable -that the _symbol_ contained on the broken-off portion of the stone, there -represented, must have been the phallus? - -[299] Who can forget the fable in Ovid, _de jactibus lapidibus_? - -[300] "But as his descendants gave him his right as to the title of Deva, -and decreed divine honours to be paid to him, we shall henceforth call him -Deva-cala-_Yavana_; or, according to the vulgar mode of pronouncing this -compound word, Deo-cal-_Yun_, which sounds exactly like _Deucalion_ in -Greek" (WILFORD). - -[301] Fielding. - -[302] Isa. viii. 7, 8. - -[303] Gen. vii. 2. - -[304] Gen. viii. 10, 11. - -[305] The following is an abstract of the Hindoo version of this allegory, -as copied from their Puranas:--"Satyavrata, having built the _ark_, and -the flood increasing, it was made fast to the peak of Nau-baudha, with a -cable of a prodigious length. During the flood, Brahma, or the _creating -power_, was _asleep_ at the bottom of the abyss: the _generative powers of -nature_, both male and female, were reduced to their simplest elements, -the _Linga_ and the _Yoni_. The Yoni assumed the shape of the hull of a -_ship_, since typified by the Argha, whilst the Linga became the _mast_. -In this manner they were wafted over the deep, under the care and -protection of _Vishnu_. When the waters had retired, the _female power_ of -nature appeared immediately in the character of _Capoteswari_, or the -_dove_, and she was soon joined by her consort, in the shape of -_Capoteswara_." - -[306] See p. 63. - -[307] Acts vii. 22. - -[308] The _date_ of those Uksi was not the only misconception this -historian has committed. He was equally in the dark as to the _place_ -whence they came, and, for want of a better name, called them, at a -venture, Arabians! - -[309] See p. 64. - -[310] Most of the _oracles_ in the ancient world were but -_personifications_ of this influence--the _goddess_ invariably being the -sacred Yoni. And the priestesses so far prevailed upon the credulous -worshippers as to make them believe that _she_ actually spoke! The oracle -of _Delphi_, the most venerable in all Greece, obtained its name from the -_very thing_--the first syllable _De_, signifying _divine_ or _sacred_; -and the second _phi_, _i.e._ phith, _yoni_: the letter _l_ having been -inserted only for euphony. Even in the _Greek_ language this import is not -yet lost. - -[311] As _Noah_ was himself named from the _symbolical boat_, so was his -eldest son _Japheth_, from its sanctified _prototype_. _Ja-Phith_ -signifies _consecrated to Pith_, or the _Yoni_. And again, _his_ son's -name, _Ja-van_, means _consecrated to woman_. - -[312] "In the city of Babylon there is a temple with brazen gates, -consecrated to Jupiter Belus, being four square; and each side being two -furlongs in length. In the midst of this holy place there is a solid -tower, of the thickness and height of a furlong; upon which there is -another tower placed, and upon that another; and so on, one upon another, -insomuch that there are eight in all. On the outside of these there are -steps or stairs placed, by which men go up from one tower to another. In -the middle of these steps there are resting-places; and rooms were made -for the purpose, that they who go to the top may have conveniences to sit -down and rest themselves" (HERODOTUS). - -"'Tis a tower exactly round, in form of a cone, or round pyramid; the -diameter, or thickness at the base, being 81 feet; the circumference, or -way round, 254-1/2 feet; the height perpendicular likewise 81 feet, equal -to the diameter; the height likewise, oblique, 90-1/2 feet; and the angles -of the sides equal to those of the former design: the whole likewise a -mass of brick and bitumen work, amounting to 140,589 cubic feet, upon 5207 -square" (MARK GREGORY). - -[313] Gen. xi. 4. - -[314] Spenser's _Faerie Queene_. - -[315] _Shiloh_ is an _Irish_ word, literally meaning _seed_, and -additionally showing that it was in our _sacred_ language all those -occurrences were _originally named_. - -[316] Both words equally signify the _happy country_ or the _sacred land_. - -[317] Gen. iii. 15. - -[318] See chap. xvii. p. 229. - -[319] Gen. iii. 15. - -[320] Gen. xix. 31-34. - -[321] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[322] Job xix. 25. - -[323] John viii. 56. - -[324] Rev. xiii. 8. - -[325] _Appeal to Common Sense_, p. 45. - -[326] See chap. xvi. p. 224. - -[327] _De Morib. German._ xxiv. - -[328] _Western Islands_, vol. i. p. 184, etc. - -[329] _Highlands_, vol. iii. p. 236. - -[330] "I inquired," says Mr. Martin, "of the inhabitants, what tradition -they had concerning these stones; and they told me, it was a place -appointed for worship in the time of heathenism; and that the chief Druid -stood near the big stone in the centre, from whence he addressed himself -to the people that surrounded him." - -[331] United at the feet in this manner [Illustration]. The jewel in the -freemasons' royal arch is thus formed. Noah was a freemason; and being the -inventor of that _mysterious_ and _sacredly-religious ceremony_, called -the _Deluge_, we may be satisfied that all the _secrets_ of that body bear -reference to my developments. I look upon their institution as most -_solemn_ and _majestically sublime_. - -[332] In the accounts transmitted to us of the various _Buddhas_, no term -occurs more commonly as descriptive of their innocence and their meekness -than that of _lamb_. - -[333] Gen. iii. 15. - -[334] Luke iii. 39. - -[335] See p. 132. - -[336] _Indian Antiquities_, vol. ii. p. 361. - -[337] See chap. xvi. p. 221. - -[338] Matt. xxii. 29. - -[339] Vol. i. p. 308, on the article "Fine Arts." - -[340] The initial subscribed to the article. - -[341] See Appendix. - -[342] Like the two former effigies, at pp. 138 and 140, it is made of -_bronze_, and found in Ireland after the Tuath-de-danaans. Those found -after their brethren in the East are made of the same metal. "Sometimes," -says Archer, "the _images_ are of _wood_ or _stone_, but these, unless -possessing the rarity of some monkish legend, are not in such repute as -their brothers of _brass_." - -[343] This is the only _peculiar_ monogram of Jesus Christ--I. H. S. -belonging originally to Budha, though appropriated afterwards to _him_, -[Greek: U E S] was its proper form, and it comprehended a mysterious -number, as follows:-- - - [Greek: U] 400 - [Greek: E] 8 - [Greek: S] 200 - --- - 608 - -Another monogram of Budha was [Greek: Ph R E]. It composed the same -numerical enigma, viz.-- - - [Greek: Ph] 500 - [Greek: R] 100 - [Greek: E] 8 - --- - 608 - - Salvo vera Deum facies, vultusque paternae, - Octo et sexcentis numeris, cui litera trina - Conformet sacrum nomen, cognomen et omen. - MARTIANUS CAPELLA. - -[344] _Arch. Soc. Ant. Lond._ vol. ii. p. 83. - -[345] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[346] "He has a separate apartment, shrouded from vulgar eyes by a black -velvet curtain, richly embossed with gold, in a splendid palace at -Ummerapoor: and his whole residence is as dazzling and sumptuous as gold -and silver can make it. He is furnished with a silk bed, adorned with gold -tapestry, hangings, and jewellery, and has his gold appurtenances. Foreign -ministers are introduced to his sacred person, and he ranks before every -member of the royal court except the king" (SYMES). - -[347] It was only as an _epithet_ that the title _sacred_ could apply to -Samothrace: and as such, every other locality, wherein those mysteries -were commemorated, shared it in common. But in _this our island_, to which -Artemidorus above alludes, and where superior solemnity attended the -celebration, the name of _sacred_ was no adventitious clause, but, _par -excellence_, the _constituent essence_ of its _proper appellation_ (see -pp. 128, 129). - -[348] [Greek: Mysteria de duo teleitai tou eniautou; Demetoi Kore; ta -mikra kai ta megala; kai esti ta mikra osper prokatharsis kai pragneusis -ton megalon.] - -[349] Lib. x. p. 474. - -[350] [Greek: eis ten Polit. Plat.] p. 380. - -[351] See the article under her name in the _Classical Dictionary_, with -all the authorities there adduced. - -[352] _Clem. Alex. Strom._ ii. - -[353] Mihi cum multa eximia divinaque videntur Athenae tuae peperisse--tum -nihil melius illis mysteriis quibus agresti immanique vita exculti ad -humanitatem mitigati sumus: initiaque, ut appellantur, ita revera -principia vitae cognovimus: neque solum cum laetitia vivendi rationem -accepimus, sed etiam cum spe meliori moriendi (_De Legibus_, 1. i. c. 24). - -[354] Pope. - -[355] Luke xix. 20. - -[356] "The _Bulbul of Iran_ has a passion for the rose, and when he sees -any person pull a rose from the tree he laments and cries" ("Persian -Poem," quoted in Ouseley's _Oriental Collections_). - -[357] Basnage, bk. iii. ch. xix. s. xix. - -[358] That phenomenon in the heavens, called the "Southern Cross," appears -to me so associated with the _mystery_ of redemption, in all ages, that I -cannot forbear drawing attention to the sign. The following is Captain -Basil Hall's description of this curious constellation. - -"Of all the antarctic constellations, the celebrated _Southern Cross_ is -by far the most remarkable; and must in every age continue to arrest the -attention of all voyagers and travellers who are fortunate enough to see -it. I think it would strike the imagination even of a person who had never -heard of the Christian religion; but of this it is difficult to judge, -seeing how inextricably our own ideas are mingled up with associations -linking this sacred symbol with almost every thought, word, and deed of -our lives. - -"The three great stars which form the Cross, one at the top, one at the -left arm, and one, which is the chief star, called Alpha, at the foot, are -so placed as to suggest the idea of a crucifix, even without the help of a -small star, which completes the horizontal beam. When on the meridian, it -stands nearly upright; and as it sets, we observe it lean over to the -westward. I am not sure whether, upon the whole, this is not more striking -than its gradually becoming more and more erect, as it rises from the -east. In every position, however, it is beautiful to look at, and well -calculated, with a little prompting from the fancy, to stir up our -thoughts to solemn purposes. - -"I know not how others are affected by such things, but for myself I can -say with truth, that during the many nights I have watched the Southern -Cross, I remember on two occasions, when the spectacle interested me -exactly in the same way, nor any one upon which I did not discover the -result to be somewhat different, and always more impressive than what I -had looked for. This constellation, being about thirty degrees from the -South Pole, is seen in its whole revolution, and accordingly, when off the -Cape of Good Hope, I have observed it in every stage; from its triumphant -erect position, between sixty and seventy degrees above the horizon, to -that of complete immersion, with the top beneath, and almost touching the -water. This position, by the way, always reminded me of the death of St. -Peter, who is said to have deemed it too great an honour to be crucified -with his head upwards. In short, I defy the stupidest mortal that ever -lived, to watch these changes in the aspect of this splendid -constellation, and not to be, in some degree, struck by them" (_Fragments -of Voyages_). - -[359] Isa. liii. 4, 5. - -[360] Isa. liii. 3. - -[361] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[362] Matt. x. 26. - -[363] This will explain a text in Scripture never before understood, -namely, "Son of Man, when the land sinneth against Me by tresspassing -grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break _the -staff of the bread thereof_, and will send famine upon it, and cut off man -and beast from it" (Ezek. xiv. 13). _Fogh_ is another term equivalent to -this. - -[364] This will at once appear from Varro, who, in Nonus Marcellinus, is -made to say, "We are barbarians, because that we crucify (in gabalum -suffigimus) the innocent; are you not barbarians, when you acquit the -guilty?" Compare also Selden, _Syntagm._ ii. c. 1. - -[365] Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites suos (Tertullian, _de -Praescrip._ cap. xi.). - -[366] Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 6. - -[367] John iii. 10. The omission of this _cross_ from the text of our -translation may afford some handle to the enemies of religion. - -[368] Matt. vi. 27. - -[369] _Cunni_ Diaboli. - -[370] The _rosary_ was also anterior to Christianity. - -[371] John i. 29. - -[372] John i. 30. - -[373] John i. 31. - -[374] Isa. xlii. 9. - -[375] Temora. - -[376] "And this _stone_, which I have set for a _pillar_, shall be _God's -house_" (Gen. xxviii. 22). - -[377] It is fit I should advertise that Mr. Hamilton spoke of the -individual merely as a figure, without professing to identify him in name -or history either with _Thot_, _Budha_, or _anybody else_. - -[378] Introduction, p. xciii. - -[379] Cowper. - -[380] From the Brahma-vawartta, section of the Crishna-janma--c'hand'a. - -[381] Much, mugh, mughsaine tra ainm sain delias do dheadh (Cormac's -_Glossary_). - -[382] The _locale_ of that _boar_, as well as the _mystery_ of its -meaning, which Plutarch transmitted in his allegorical _war_ between -Osiris and Typhon, is now no longer ambiguous (see p. 327). - -[383] I have before explained that the _serpent Pyth-on_ means the -_seduction_ of sensuality--_Pith_ itself signifying _yoni_, the _boat_, or -_serpent_, the final _on_ being nothing but a Greek termination. - -[384] Isa. liii. 7. - -[385] "The gods," said the Budhist priest to the Catholic bishop before -alluded to, "who have appeared in the present world, and who have obtained -the perfect state, niebau, or _deliverance from all the evils of life_, -are four, Chanchasam, Gonagom, Gaspa, and Godama" (Syme's _Embassy to the -Court of Ava_). - -[386] I shall give you my _definition_ for this word by and by. - -[387] 1 Cor. xv. 51. - -[388] It will be perceived, that I do not mean this to be an exact _copy_ -of the Knockmoy Crucifixion--or _vice versa_.--The general idea is, what I -mean to substantiate, and the identity of design cannot well be gainsaid. -This remark applies also to the kings about to be introduced by and by. - -[389] "We saw," says Colonel Symes, alluding to the imperfect shell of a -_Budhist_ temple, in the Burman Empire, "several unfinished figures of -_animals_ and _men_ in _grotesque attitudes_, which were designed as -ornaments for different parts of the building" (_Embassy to the Court of -Ava_). - -[390] 1 Cor. i. 12. - -[391] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[392] The name of _Sulivan_ in Ireland, than which there is no one more -common, is unquestionably but the perpetuation of the above _Sulivahana_. -And I can give a proof of the fact, _independently of its derivation_, -which will scare ridicule into defiance. It is that a particular branch of -that family called the O'Sulivans, of Tomies, have been ever looked upon -with a feeling of _reverence_ by the natives, almost approaching to -veneration. I have in vain striven to ascertain from them the origin of -this indefinable sense of sanctity. It was like magic upon their minds: -they half-worshipped them, and knew not why. There were but _two -individuals_ of this stock remaining when I was a schoolboy, a few years -ago, at Killarney. - -[393] "That is," says Keating, "the neighbouring country"!!! as if a -country would call itself by such a name! Vallancey ridicules, but bungles -himself still more. And while reminded by this circumstance, I had best -note, that what this last-mentioned writer elsewhere translates as "the -_topographical_ names of Ireland" (_Ainim abberteach an n' Eirean_), -should have been "the _appellative_ names of Ireland": they are the -_titles_ of the _island_ itself, not _descriptions_ of the several -_localities_ within it. - -[394] Gen. xlix. 10. - -[395] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[396] _Asiatic Researches._ - -[397] Isa. xlii. 2, 3. - -[398] Retiring into a still more solitary place, _Gautama_ and his -disciples sustained triumphantly an argument with two of their bitterest -enemies. But a severer trial exhibited his righteousness in a yet clearer -light. Four young and beautiful sisters, burning with unholy love, -presented themselves naked before him, and besought him to comply with -their desires. "Who, O Gautame!" said they, in the rage of their -disappointment, "who is the lying witness who dares attest that the -virtues of all the former saints are concentrated in thee?" "Behold my -witness," said the sage, striking the ground with his hand, and at the -moment Okintongu, the tutelar genius of the earth, appeared, proclaiming, -with a loud voice, "It is I who am the witness of the truth!" The young -women then fell upon their faces and adored Gautama, saying, "O _pure_ and -_perfect countenance_, wisdom more precious than gold! majesty -impenetrable! honour and adoration to thee, _thou source of the faith of -the three epochs of the world_!" (Abridged from KLAPROTH). - -[399] _Chambers's Edinburgh Journal_, October 12, 1833. - -[400] This is the exact rendering of the name by which they called it: -viz. _nua vreith_, or _the being born anew_ by the operation of grace. - -[401] It is still practised in the East.--"For the purpose of regeneration -it is directed to make an image of pure gold of the _female_ power of -_nature_, in the shape either of a woman or of a cow. In this statue the -person to be regenerated is inclosed, and dragged out through the usual -channel. As a statue of pure gold, and of proper dimensions, would be too -expensive, it is sufficient to make an image of the sacred _Yoni_, through -which the person to be regenerated is to pass" (WILFORD). - -[402] See pp. 3-78 and 162. - -[403] Be it remembered, that it was in consequence of his ignorance of the -principle of regeneration that our Saviour addressed Nicodemus in these -cutting words, viz. "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these -things?" thereby recognising the existence of the doctrine before His own -manifestation to that people. - -[404] "Enter ye in at the _strait gate_: for _wide_ is the gate, and broad -is the way, that leadeth to _destruction_, and _many_ there be which go -_in_ thereat, because _strait_ is the _gate_, and narrow is the way, which -leadeth unto _life_, and _few_ there be that find it" (Matt. vii. 13, 14). - -[405] "The dome [of this, what he calls a cemetery] springs at various -unequal heights, from eight to nine and ten feet on different sides, -forming at first a coving of eight sides. At the height of fifteen or -sixteen feet, the north and south sides of this coving run to a point like -a gore, and the coving continues its spring with six sides; the east side -coming to a point next, it is reduced to five sides, the west next; and -the dome ends and closes with four sides; not tied with a key-stone, but -capped with a flag-stone of three feet ten inches, by three feet five. The -construction of this dome is not formed by key-stones, whose sides are the -radii of a circle, or of an ellipsis converging to a centre. It is -combined with great long flat stones, each of the upper stones projecting -a little beyond the end of that immediately beneath it; the part -projecting, and weight supported by it, bearing so small a proportion to -the weight which presses down the part supported; the greater the general -weight is which is laid upon such a cove, the firmer it is compacted in -all its parts" (POWNALL). - -[406] "The eight sides of this polygon are thus formed: the aperture which -forms the entrance, and the three niches, or tabernacles, make four sides, -and the four imposts the other four" (POWNALL). - -[407] This word I have already derived, after the example of other -writers, from _peutgeda_, or _house of idols_, so misnamed by Europeans. I -must state, however, that another explication is also assigned thereto, -and that is, a perversion of the term _bhaga-vati_, or _holy house_. But -with great respect to the gentlemen who incline to the latter opinion, I -have to observe that _bhaga-vati_, properly signifies the _sacred Yoni_; -and, therefore, that however applicable to a _subterraneous temple_, or -_cave_, it could by no means represent an _erect building_. - -[408] "The entrance into this temple, which is entirely hewn out of a -stone resembling porphyry, is by a spacious front supported by two massy -pillars and two pilasters forming three openings, under a thick and steep -rock, overhung by brushwood and wild shrubs. The long ranges of columns -that appear closing in perspective on every side; the flat roof of solid -rock that seems to be prevented from falling only by the massy pillars, -whose capitals are pressed down and flattened as if by the superincumbent -weight; the darkness that obscures the interior of the temple, which is -dimly lighted only by the entrances; and the gloomy appearance of the -gigantic stone figures ranged along the wall, and hewn, like the whole -temple, out of the living rock,--joined to the strange uncertainty that -hangs over the history of this place,--carry the mind back to distant -periods, and impress it with that kind of uncertain and religious awe with -which the grander works of ages of darkness are generally contemplated" -(ERSKINE). - -[409] "This appellation, Caucasus, at least in its present state, is not -Sanscrit; and as it is not of Grecian origin, it is probable that the -Greeks received it through their intercourse with the Persians" (WILFORD). - -[410] Darwin. - -[411] "If perfection in art consist in affording continued pleasure, its -achievements, when contemplating this column, must be deemed -insurpassable. A Corinthian capital of 10 feet is poised on a shaft of -67-1/2 feet, the latter resting on a base of 21-1/2 feet; the whole rises -to a height of nearly 100 feet" (HEAD). - -[412] "Or the obelisks, commonly called Cleopatra's Needles, one alone is -now standing; the other, lying down, measures seven feet square at the -base, and sixty-six feet in length. They are so well known, that it is not -necessary to give a very particular description of them" (CLARKE). - -[413] In confirmation of this, you will find at p. 14 of Seguin's -_Thessalonian Coins_, the impression of a man with a hammer, as above, in -one hand, and a key in the other, and the word _Cabeiros_ as the -inscription. - -[414] On all public occasions displays of this kind are still indulged in -the East. The _floralia_ of the Romans were adopted from the Easterns. -"Every person, male and female, had _festoons_ depending from the top of -the cap down one side of the head. These were composed of the flowers of -the _wild rose_ and hawthorn, and other beautiful kinds, which, while they -set off the headpiece of the lieges, literally perfumed the air wherever -they went" (ARCHER). - -[415] _Sketches of India Field Sports._ Dr. Shaw and Mr. Forbes are even -more conclusive. - -[416] P. 338. - -[417] If you examine the Tuath-de-danaan crosses with a minute eye, you -will find this exposition irrefutably verified. Though they all have the -traces of the Budhist sculpture, they have also the marks of -_obliteration_; and no one of them to a greater extent than this at -Finglas, where it is known that St. Patrick principally resided. Yet even -this retains indistinct evidence of snakes, etc. - -"The body of the snake is not only capable of flexion, but of close and -intimate application to every rugged inequality of a tree on the earth; -and this faculty is the result of its minute subdivisions. The body of the -snake is never bent in acute angles, but always in flowing easy curves or -circles. From each of those distant bones, so multitudinous in their -number, which form the vertebral column (and in one species of Pythra we -have counted 256, exclusive of those composing the tail), a rib arises -from each side, and both together form a great portion of a circle, so as -to embrace nearly the whole circumference of the body. These ribs are -restricted to the vertebrae of the body only; they do not arise from those -of the tail." - -[418] _Travels in Northern India._ - -[419] Oliver Cromwell with his army of locusts. - -[420] Byron. - -[421] Some say he belonged to the _fifth_ century. All agree that it was -not later than the _ninth_. - -[422] See p. 61. - -[423] July 1833.--This gentleman's name was Pareira. - -[424] _Religious Rites and Ceremonies._ - -[425] The Gaurs themselves did not build those towers, but finding them to -their hand, and knowing them to have been formerly reverenced, they -converted them to this purpose. - -[426] One called _Jachen_, that is, _he shall establish_; and the other -_Boaz_, or, _in it is strength_. This was all emblematical, which, without -giving Solomon any participation therein, may be accounted for on the -principle that the building was conducted under the superintendence of -Hiram, a Sidonian, who naturally had exercised the taste of his own -country in the discretion here allowed him. Nor will the circumstance of -those pillars having been made of _metal_ oppose any barrier--the _design_ -is the thing to be considered, not the _material_. And besides, we find -them of metal elsewhere also. - -"An iron pillar," says Archer, "stands in a sort of courtyard, having the -remains of cloisters on the four sides. Its history is _veiled in darkest -night_. There is an inscription on it, which nobody can decipher: nor is -there any account, historical or traditional, except we may refer to the -latter class, a prevalent idea of all people, that the pillar is on the -most sacred spot of the old city, which spot was also its centre. It is -also said that as long as the pillar stood, so long would Hindustan -flourish. This was the united dictum of the Brahmins and astrologers of -the day. The pillar is fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter." - -[427] [Greek: anthropos esti ton panton metron] (PROTAGORAS). - -[428] 1 Kings viii. 27. - -[429] _Antiquities of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 134. - -[430] _Antiquities of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 129. - -[431] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 20th July 1833. - -[432] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 10th June 1833. - -[433] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 20th July 1833. - -[434] _Ibid._ 5th October 1833. - -[435] Colgan. - -[436] _Melpomene_, ch. 46. - -[437] "Oppidum vocant Britanni cum silvas impeditas vallo atque fossa -munierunt. The Britons call a town an encumbered wood, fenced in with a -rampart and a ditch" (CAESAR'S _Comment._ lib. 5). - -[438] Of whom O'Flaherty gives this character from an Irish poem, writ by -one G. Comdeus O'Cormaic, which he thus translates into Latin:-- - - "Primus Amerginus genu candidus anthor Jern - Historicus, judex lege, poeta, sophus." - -That is,-- - - Fair-limbed Amergin, venerable sage, - First graced Ierne's old historic page; - Judge of the laws, for justice high approved, - And loving wisdom by the muse beloved. - -And he quotes this hemistich as another fragment of his poetry-- - - "Eagna la heagluis aidir - Agus feabtha la flaithibh." - -That is,-- - - Let those, who o'er the sacred rites preside, - Take wisdom for their guardian and their guide; - Let those, whose power the multitude obey, - Support by conduct their imperial sway. - -[439] The above stanza, I should observe, belongs to that species of -poetry called in Irish _con-a-clon_, wherein the final word of each line -is the initial one of the following. - -[440] Or "Tarah," says the _Dinn Seanchas_, compiled by Amergen Mac -Amalgaid in the year 544, "was so called from its celebrity for melody." - -[441] "Once occupied by a celebrated queen!" (_Asiatic Researches_). - -[442] "Heremon was the first of the _Scots_ who held the dominion over all -Ireland" (_Psalter of Narran_). - -[443] "For, in the first place, the general tradition of the old Irish -handed down to us by all our historians and other writers, imports that -when the Scots arrived in Ireland, they spoke the same language with that -of the Tuath-de-danaans" (Preface to _O'Brien's Irish Dictionary_). - -[444] The Egyptian epithets are not very dissimilar: "Besides these first -inhabitants of Sancha-dwipa, who are described by the mythologists, as -_elephants_, _demons_, and _snakes_, we find a race called Shand-ha-yana, -who are the real Troglodites; they were the descendants of Abri, before -named, whose history being closely connected with that of the _Sacred -Isles in the West_, deserves peculiar attention" (_Asiatic Researches_). - -[445] Nearly similar things, we find, have occurred in the East. "The -natives of the place (Mavalepuran, in Indian) declared to the writer of -this account, that the more aged people among them remembered to have seen -the tops of several pagodas far out in the sea; a statement which was -verified by the appearance of one on the brink of the sea, already nearly -swallowed up by that element" (_Asiatic Researches_). - -[446] [Greek: Anathemata],--things dedicated to the gods. - -[447] In March. - -[448] In September. - -[449] See p. 120. - -[450] _Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad._ vol. xvi. p. 166. - -[451] Procopius calls them [Greek: anekoi kai amelitetoi], that is, -heedless and indifferent to all culture. - -Bishop Cormac also says that he "cannot sufficiently express his -astonishment at the indifference which the Scottish nation evinced in his -day to literature." - -Strabo calls them, [Greek: Agrion teleos anthroton], while M'Pherson -asserts of their brethren, that "nothing is more certain than that the -British Scots were an illiterate people, and involved in barbarism, even -after the Patriarch's mission to the Scots of Ireland." - -[452] In fact this writer had no other reason for this _mistake_ which he -has committed, in describing it as "scarce habitable for cold," than his -knowledge of its Hyperborean situation. "The most remote navigation -northward from the Celtic coast in our days," says he, "is said to be into -Ireland (Ierne), which being situated beyond Britain, is scarce habitable -for cold, so that what lies beyond that island is thought to be not at all -habitable" (_Geog._ lib. 2, ex vers. Gul. Xylandri). - -[453] Orpheus also calls the sea dividing the north of Scotland from -Ireland, "Mare Cronium, idem quod mare saturninum et oceanus -septentrionalis" (VALLANCEY). - -[454] Gerald. _Cambr. Hist._ i. cap. 19. - -[455] A series of articles written under this head, in the columns of the -_Dublin Penny Journal_, by Mr. Pebrie, antiquarian high-priest to the -Royal Irish Academy! - -[456] This Tubal-Cain was evidently the person from whom the Greeks -manufactured their mythological Vul-can. - -[457] "The griffin," says Shaw, copying Ctesias, "is a quadruped of India, -having the claws of a lion, and wings upon his back. His fore parts are -red, his wings white, his neck blue, his head and his beak resemble those -of the eagle; he makes his nest among the mountains, and haunts the -deserts, where he conceals his gold." - -[458] "The ignorance of the European Greeks in geography was extreme in -all respects during many ages. They do not even appear to have known the -discoveries made in more ancient voyages, which were not absolutely -unknown to Homer" (Mr. Gouget, _Origin of Arts and Sciences_, tom. 7, b. -3). - -[459] "L'existence _de ce peuple anterieur_ est prouvee par le tableau qui -n'offre que des debris, astronomie oubliee, philosophie melee a des -absurdites, physique degeneree en fables, religion epuree, mais cachee -dans une idolatrie grossiere. Cet ancien peuple a eu des sciences -perfectionnees, une philosophie sublime et sage" (BAILLY). - -[460] Amongst our antiquities also are found _nose-rings_ (nasc-srion), -which, stronger than any other demonstration, shows the orientalism of our -Tuath-de-danaan ancestors. Their ear-rings, also, are thus defined in -Comrac's _Glossary_: "Arc nasc--vel, a-naisc, bid im cluas--aibh na -saoreland," _i.e._ a ring worn in the ears of our gentry. - -[461] _Dublin Penny Journal._ - -[462] "Si j'ai bien prouve que Butta, Thoth, et Mercure ne sont egalement -que le meme inventeur des sciences et des arts" (BAILLY). - -"The Buddhists insist that the religion of Buddha existed from the -beginning" (_Asiatic Researches_). - -[463] _Gentleman's Magazine_, Nov. 1822. - -[464] In the entire land of Phoenicia there was but one, and that -comparatively a modern one, erected no doubt after their intercourse with -the Tuath-de-danaans. - -[465] The play above alluded to is that of the Paenulus, or Carthaginian, -in which Haono is introduced in quest of his two daughters, who, with -their nurse, had been stolen by pirates, and conveyed to Calydon, in -AEtolia. Thither the father repairs on receiving intelligence of the fact, -and addresses a supplication to the presiding deity of the country, to -restore to him his children unstained by pollution. He is made to speak in -his vernacular tongue, just as natives of France are represented in our -drama by Shakespeare: and so _interesting_ is the whole--independently of -the curiosity attaching to so rare a production--that I shall subjoin a -portion of it for the reader. - - 1. - - "Nith al o nim, ua lonuth secorathessi ma com syth. - An iath al a nim, uaillonac socruidd se me com sit." - O mighty splendour of the land, renowned, powerful; let him quiet me - with repose. - - 2. - - "Chin lach chunyth mumys tyal myethii barii imi schi. - Cim laig cungan, muin is toil, mo iocd bearad iar mo sgil." - Help of the weary captive, instruct me according to thy will, to recover - my children after my fatigue. - -_N.B._--The first line in each of these triplets is Phoenician, the second -Irish, and the third, their import, in English. - -[466] "How comes it then that they are so unlearned--still, being so old -scholars? for learning (as the poet saith) _emollit mores_ nec sinit esse -feros; whence, then, I pray you, could they have those letters?" He -answers, "It is hard to say, for whether they at the first coming into the -land, or afterwards by trading with other nations, learned them of them, -or devised them amongst themselves, is very doubtful, _but that they had -letters anciently is nothing doubtful, for the Saxons of England are said -to have their letters and learning, and learned men, from the Irish_. And -that also appeareth from the likeness of the character, for the Saxon's -character is the same with the Irish" (SPENSER). - -[467] "Having been always free and independent of the empire of the -Romans, they were unacquainted with the Roman language and its characters: -there were, therefore, but two courses to adopt; either to translate the -holy books into the language of the country, and celebrate the divine -mysteries in it, which would have been contrary to the custom of the -Church, or to teach the characters of the Roman language to those who were -to instruct others; the holy apostle adopted the latter course" (ABBE MAC -GEOHIGAN). - -[468] Book of Cashel. - -[469] Job viii. 8, and xix. 23. - -[470] There is no Mohammedan of learning in Persia or India who is not an -astrologer: rare works upon that science are more valued than any other; -and it is remarkable that on the most trivial occasions, when calculating -nativities and foretelling events, they deem it essential to describe the -planets in terms _not unsuited to the account which the author of the -Dabistan has given of these deities_ (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[471] Job xix. 23, 24. - -[472] Job viii. 8. - -[473] Since I have commenced this work, a very ancient manuscript of the -abbey of Icolmkill has fallen into my hands; it was written by -Cairbre-Liffeachair, who lived _six generations before St. Patrick_, and -about the time of our Saviour; an exact account is given in it of Irish -kings, from whence I infer, that as the Irish had manuscripts at that -period, we must certainly have possessed them likewise. - -[474] AEschylus would seem to refer to this, when he makes Prometheus say, -"I invented for them the array of letters, and fixed the memory, the -mother of knowledge, and the soul of life" (_Bloomfield's edition_, v. -469). - -[475] [Greek: Ton Heraklea hoi Keltoi OGMION onomazousi phone epichorio.] -LUCIAN. - -[476] Whittaker's, Manchester. - -[477] See p. 332. - -[478] An allegory, by the way, which I could explain satisfactorily, were -it not that it would detain me. - -[479] O Richard of Cirencester, oh! what pleasure it affords me to see the -_moderns_ running after the chariot wheels of the _monks_, whenever they -can pick out amongst their lucubrations any stray sentences to support -their own fantasies! - -[480] "Near the road (at a place called Margan) is an _old cross_, bearing -an _inscription_, which has been doomed to serve as a bridge for foot -passengers over a little rivulet; and in the village are fragments of a -_most beautiful cross richly decorated with fretwork_."--CAMBRENSIS. - -[481] Some copies read _Scoto_, the meaning, however, is the same; the -only difference being that the latter partakes of the modern enunciations -of the word, as _Scots_, instead of _Scuits_ or _Scythians_. - -[482] In the anxiety with which my translation of "Phoenician Ireland" was -hurried through the press, it inadvertently escaped me that the Scythians -had only _touched at Spain_. The above will correct the oversight; to -which I shall add that, "as for entitling the _Spanish-Irish Scots_, there -wants no authority, the Irish authors having constantly called the Spanish -colony Kin-Scuit, or the Scottish nation."--LHUYDH. - -[483] "Every argument of the origin of emigrant nations must, after all, -be referred to language."--CAMDEN. - -[484] The derivation of those two terms is not exclusively mine. It is but -the repetition of the received interpretation of all men of letters. - -[485] "For it is to be thought, that the use of all England was in the -raigne of Henry the Second, when Ireland was planted with English, very -rude and barbarous, so as if the same should be now used in England by -any, it would seem worthy of sharpe correction, and of new lawes for -reformation, for it is but even the other day since England grew civill" -(SPENSER). - -[486] The name of _Arran_ was given to this island as expressive of _the -land of the unfaithful_, in opposition to our _Iran_, or _the land of the -faithful_: both corresponding to the _Iran_ and _An-Iran_ of the Persians. - -[487] This, however, did not happen at first; for the name of Ireland was -not yet generally used among strangers, as Adam de Breme, who lived in the -eleventh century, and Nubigensis, in the twelfth, were the first who -mentioned it: the name of Scotland was by degrees appropriated to Albania, -which was for some time called Little Scotland, "Scotia Minor," to -distinguish it from Ireland, which was called "Scotia Major," whose -inhabitants did not lose all of a sudden the name of Scots: they are so -called in the eleventh century by Herman, in the first book of his -chronicle; by Marianus Scotus, Florentius Wigorniensis, in his annals, in -which, having inserted the chronicle of Marianus, in mentioning the year -1028, he says, "In this year was born Marianus, probably a Scot from -Ireland, by whose care this excellent chronicle has been compiled from -several histories." We discover the same thing in a chronicle in the -Cottonian library (_Abbe Mac Geoghegan_). - -[488] The Picts, confiding in the happy omen of future friendship from the -Scots, obtained wives from them, and thereby contracted so close an -alliance, that they seemed to form but one people; so that the passage -between the two countries being free, a number of Scots came and settled -amongst the Picts, who received them with joy (BUCHANAN). - -Britannia post Britones et Pictos tertiam Scotorum nationem in Pictorum -parte, recepit, qui, duce Reuda, de Hibernia progressi, vel amicitia vel -ferro, sibimet inter eos sedes quas hactenus habent, vindicarunt, a quo -scilicet duce usque hodie Dalreundini vocantur (Beda, _Hist. Eccles._ lib. -i. cap. 1). - -Cambrensis says, that in the reign of Niall the Great in Ireland, the six -sons of Muredus, King of Ulster, with a considerable fleet, seized on the -northern part of Britain, and founded a nation, called Scotia (_Topog. -Hib._ dist. 3, cap. 16). - -"It is certain," says Camden, "that the Scots went from Ireland into -Britain. Orosius, Bede, and Eginard, bear indisputable testimony that -Ireland was inhabited by the Scots." Elsewhere he calls the Irish the -ancestors of the Scotch. "Hiberni Scotorum atavi." - -[489] Author of the _New Analysis of Chronology_, and late Fellow of -Trinity College, Dublin. - -[490] See p. 376. - -[491] This should have been Scythians. - -[492] "Origin and Purity of the Primitive Churches of the British Isles." - -[493] Various colonies of the Tuath-de-danaans had settled here: but I -talk now of the last one, immediately preceding the Scythians. - -[494] See pp. 259, 264, 265. - -[495] See pp. 385, 282, and 259. - -[496] _Euseb. Praepar. Evang._ 1. ii. 4. - -[497] [Greek: Pantachou de kai anthropomorphou Osiridos agalmadeiknyousin -exorthiazon to' aidoio, dia to gonimon kai to trophimon.]--_Plut. de Isid. -et Osirid._ - -[498] See p. 265. - -[499] De facie in orbe lunae. Slatyr, also, an English poet, in his "Pale -Albeone," calls our island Ogygia. Rhodoganus explains the propriety of -the word when he says, "Ogygium appellant poetae tanquam pervatis dixeres." - -[500] The original, in fact, of the _Feodal System_. - -[501] An act of daring impiety (not requiring to be added) disgusted -Jemsheed's subjects, and encouraged the Syrian prince, Zohauk, to invade -Persia. The unfortunate Jemsheed fled before a conqueror, who was deemed -by all, the instrument of divine vengeance. The wanderings of the exiled -monarch are wrought into a tale, which is among the most popular in -Persian romance. His first adventure was in the neighbouring province of -Seistan, where the only daughter of the ruling prince was led, by a -prophecy of her nurse, to fall in love with him, and to contract a secret -marriage; but the unfortunate Jemsheed was pursued through Seistan, India, -and China, by the agents of the implacable Zohauk, by whom he was at last -seized, and carried before his cruel enemy, like a common malefactor. Here -his miseries closed; for after enduring all that proud scorn could inflict -upon fallen greatness, he was placed between two boards, and sawn asunder -with a bone of a fish (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[502] _Clio_, chap. 130. - -[503] "Now these _heathens_ in India, believe that an _atonement_ has been -made for their sins," says Dr. Hurd, in his _Religious Rites and -Ceremonies_. Had the Doctor, or whoever he was that assumed his name, -known that this was their reliance upon the _expiation_ "of the Lamb slain -from the beginning of the world," he would have spared his _heathens_, and -spoken less irreverently. - -[504] _Clio_, chap. 193. - -[505] Cambrensis, in the twelfth century, says, the Irish then musically -expressed their griefs; that is, they applied the musical art, in which -they excelled all others, to the ordinary celebration of funeral -obsequies, by dividing the mourners into two bodies, each alternately -singing their part, and the whole, at times, joining in full chorus. - -"The body of the deceased, dressed in graveclothes, and ornamented with -flowers, was placed on a bier, or some elevated spot. The relations and -_keeners_ (singing mourners) then ranged themselves in two divisions, one -at the head, and the other at the foot of the corpse. The bards and -croteries had before prepared the funeral caoinan. The chief bard of the -head chorus began by singing the first stanza in a low doleful tone, which -was softly accompanied by the harp: at the conclusion, the foot semichorus -began the lamentation, or _ullaloo_, from the final note of the preceding -stanza, in which they were answered by the head semichorus; then both -united in one general chorus. The chorus of the first stanza being ended, -the chief bard of the foot semichorus began the second gol, or -lamentation, in which they were answered by that of the head, and, as -before, both united in the full chorus. Thus, alternately, were the song -and the choruses performed during the night. The genealogy, rank, -possessions, the virtues and vices of the dead were rehearsed, and a -number of interrogations were addressed to the deceased: as, Why did he -die? If married, whether his wife was faithful to him, his sons dutiful, -or good hunters or warriors? If a woman, whether her daughters were fair -or chaste? If a young man, whether he had been crossed in love? or if the -blue-eyed maids of Erin had treated him with scorn?" (_Transactions of the -Royal Irish Academy_, vol. iv. note 9). - -[506] Baillie. - -[507] A particular anecdote in the Persian history has such claims upon -the feelings, and is otherwise so interesting, _as being, in fact, the -elucidation of the origin and era of the Tyrrhenians, Etrurians, or -Tuscans, in Italy_, that I am forced to transcribe it here at full length. - -"Feridoon was the son of Ablen, an immediate descendant of Tahamurs. He -had escaped, in almost a miraculous manner, from Zohauk, when that prince -had seized and murdered his father. At the age of sixteen he joined Kawah, -who had collected a large body of his countrymen: these fought with -enthusiasm under the standard of the blacksmith's apron, which continually -reminded them of the just cause of their revolt; and the presence of their -young prince made them invincible. Zohauk, after numerous defeats, was -made prisoner, and put to a slow and painful death, as some punishment for -his great crimes. - -"Feridoon's first act was to convert the celebrated apron into the royal -standard of Persia. As such, it was richly ornamented with jewels, to -which every king, from Feridoon to the last of the Pehlivi monarchs added. -It was called the Derush-e-Kawanee, the Standard of Kawa, and continued to -be the royal standard of Persia, till the Mohammedan conquest, when it was -taken in battle by Saed-e-Wukass, and sent to the Caliph Omar. - -"A Persian poet, alluding to the victories which the youthful Feridoon -obtained over Zohauk, and to those enchantments by which the latter was -guarded, and the manner in which they were overcome by his virtuous -antagonist, beautifully exclaims, 'The happy Feridoon was not an angel; he -was not formed of musk or of amber; it was by his justice and mercy that -he gained good and great ends. Be then just and merciful, and thou shalt -be a Feridoon.' - -"The crimes of his elder sons, which embittered the latter years of -Feridoon, have given rise to one of the most affecting tales in Persian -romance; and it is, indeed, only in that form that there remains any trace -of these events. This virtuous monarch had, we are told, three sons, Selm, -Toor, and Erii. The two former were by one mother, the daughter of Zohauk; -the latter by a princess of Persia. All these three princes had been -united in marriage to three daughters of a king of Arabia. Feridoon -determined to divide his wide dominions among them. To Selm he gave the -countries comprehended in modern Turkey; to Toor, Tartary and part of -China; and to Erii, Persia. The princes departed for their respective -governments, but the two elder were displeased that Persia, the fairest of -lands, and the seat of royalty, should have been given to their junior, -and they combined to effect the ruin of their envied brother. They first -sent to their father to reproach him with his partiality and injustice, -and to demand a revision of his act, threatening an immediate attack if -their request was refused. The old king was greatly distressed; he -represented to them that his days were drawing to a close, and entreated -that he might be allowed to depart in peace. Erii discovered what was -passing, and resolved to go to his brothers and to lay his crown at their -feet, rather than continue to be the cause of a dissension that afflicted -his father. He prevailed upon the old king to consent to this measure, and -carried a letter from their common parent to Selm and Toor, the purport of -which was, that they should live together in peace. This appeal had no -effect, and the unfortunate Erii was slain by his brothers who had the -hardihood to embalm his head and send it to Feridoon. The old man is said -to have fainted at the sight. When he recovered, he seized with frantic -grief the head of his beloved son, and, holding it in his raised hands, he -called upon heaven to punish the base perpetrators of so unnatural and -cruel a deed. 'May they never more,' he exclaimed, 'enjoy one bright day! -May the demon remorse tear their savage bosoms, till they excite -compassion even in the wild beasts of the forest! As for me,' said the -afflicted old man, 'I only desire from the God that gave me life, that he -will continue it till a descendant shall arise from the race of Erii to -avenge his death: and then this head will repose with joy on any spot that -is appointed to receive it.' - -"The daughter of Erii was married to the nephew of Feridoon, and their -young son, Manucheher, proved the image of his grandfather; this child -becoming the cherished hope of the aged monarch; and when the young prince -attained manhood he made every preparation to enable him to revenge the -blood of Erii. Selm and Toor trembled as they saw the day of retribution -approach; they sent ambassadors with rich presents to their father, and -entreated that Manucheher might be sent to them, that they might stand in -his presence like slaves, and wash away the remembrance of their crimes by -tears of contrition. Feridoon returned their presents; and in his reply to -their message expressed his indignation in glowing terms. 'Tell the -merciless men,' he exclaimed, 'that they shall never see Manucheher, but -attended by armies, and clothed in steel.' - -"A war commenced; and in the very first battle Toor was slain by the lance -of Manucheher. Selm retired to a fortress, from whence he was drawn by a -challenge from the youthful hero, who was victorious in this combat, and -the war restored tranquillity to the empire" (SIR JOHN MALCOLM). - -[508] "Fifty-six years the Fir-Bolgs royal line were kings, and the -sceptre they resigned to the Tuath-de-danaans" (KEATING). - -[509] We have as yet no accounts of the persecution and expulsion of the -Budhists from India; and this circumstance of itself would allow us to -infer, with great probability, that those events must have taken place at -a very remote period of antiquity.--_Asiatic Researches._ - -[510] Goettingen University. - -[511] Vallancey, _Coll._ vol. iii. p. 163. - -[512] Bryant's _Anal._ vol. iii. 491-3. - -[513] "The first origin of the _Danavas_" says Wilford, talking of the -primeval inhabitants of Egypt, "is as little known as that of the tribe -last mentioned. But they came into Egypt from the west of India, and are -frequently mentioned in the Puranas, amongst the inhabitants near Cali." - -Is it not manifest that they were a colony of our Danaans? And is not this -still more undeniable from the circumstance of a part of Egypt--doubtless -that wherein the Danaans resided--having been called of old, as you will -find by the same authority, by the name of _Eria_? See p. 68 of present -volume. - -[514] This explains what Hecataeus records, as to the ancient attachment -between the Hyperboreans and the Grecians--"deducing their friendship from -remote times." And the offerings which the latter are said to have brought -to the former were precisely of that nature ([Greek: anthemata]) which -comports with the spirit of our Budhist pentalogue. See p. 112. - -[515] As to the actuality of the visit, it is past anything like doubt, -from Orpheus, or if you prefer Onomacretus' poem called "Argonautica"; and -his conviction of this it was which made Adrianus Junius, quoted by Sir -John Ware, to characterise Ireland as an "insula _Jasoniae_ puppis bene -cognita nautis." - -[516] "Abaris ex Hyperboreis, _ipse quoque theologus fuit; scripsit -oracula regionibus quas peragravit, quae hodie extant; praedixit is quoque -terrae motus, pestes, et similia ac caetera. Ferunt eum cum Spartam -advenisset, Lacones monuisse de sacris mala avertentibus, quibus peractis -nulla, postmodum Lacedaemone pestis fuerit_" (Apollonius, _Histor. -Mirab._). - - "They thought them gods and not of mortal race, - And gave them cities and adored their learning, - And begged them to communicate their art." - KEATING (from an old Irish poem). - -Turn back also to pp. 328, 67, and 66, and see what is there stated! - - "An hundred and ninety-seven years complete - The Tuath-de-danaans, a famous colony, - The Irish sceptre swayed." - -[517] "A spiritual supremacy of this kind prevailed in several cities of -Asia Minor, as, for instance, at Pessinus, in Phrygia. The origin of such -constitutions is uncertain; but, according to tradition, was of very -ancient date. The same cities were also great resorts of commerce, lying -on the highway from Armenia to Asia Minor. The bond between commerce and -religion was very intimate. The festivals of their worship were also those -of their great fairs, frequented by a multitude of foreigners; all of whom -(certain classes of females not excepted), as well as everything which had -a reference to trade, were considered as under the immediate protection of -the temple and the divinity. The same fact may be remarked here, which has -obtained in several parts of Central Africa, namely, that the union of -commerce with some particular mode of worship gave occasion at a very -early period to certain political associations, and introduced a -sacerdotal government" (Heeren, vol. i. p. 121). - -[518] "This word is of uncertain etymology--their early history is -uncertain. Diodorus (lib. v. 31) tells us that the Celts had bards who -sung to musical instruments; and Strabo (liv. iv.) testifies that they -were treated with respect approaching to veneration. The passage of -Tacitus (Germ. 7) is a doubtful reading" (_American Encyclopaedia_). - -[519] See Oriental Collections. - -[520] Homer's _Iliad_, [Greek: p]. v. 233. - -[521] Hesiod, _apud Strabo_, 1. 7. - -[522] See Miege's _Present State of Ireland_. - -[523] See p. 257. - -[524] On the pillar at Buddall, before alluded to, are these words, -namely, "He had a womb, but it obstinately bore him no fruit. One like him -can have no relish for the enjoyments of life. He never was blessed with -that giver of delight, by obtaining which a man goes to _another -Almoner_." Upon which the learned translator (Sir Charles Wiggins) very -correctly comments, that "he had no issue to perform _Sradh_ for the -release of his soul from the bonds of sin." See p. 113 of this work. By -_another Almoner_ is meant the _Deity_. - -[525] See p. 327. - -[526] "Graiis, ingenium Graiis: dedit _ore rotundo_" (HORACE). - -[527] This is still more evident by his making use of the word [Greek: -telothi], that is, _far off_, meaning _from_ Greece! And Hesiod applies -this identical topography to the _British Islands_, which he styles -_sacred_, describing them as [Greek: mala tele], an immeasurable distance -off, towards the northern point of the ancient continent! - -[528] See p. 71. - -[529] Chap. xvii. 15. - -[530] For _Dedan_, see last two pages; and for _D-Irin_, see p. 128. The -prefixing of _D_ to the last word arose from confounding it with the -former name; and thus it was embodied with it, as seen before in _L-Erne_. - -[531] Or as the Rev. Caesar Otway would say, in a similar -embarrassment,--"I will _give_ (_i.e._ invent) you a motto and a motive -for it." Ha, ha, ha! (see _Dublin Penny Journal_, July 8, 1832). - -[532] _Dublin Penny Journal_, April 6, 1833. - -[533] "Elementorum omnium spiritus, utpote perennium corporum motu semper, -et ubique vigens, ex his quae per disciplinas varias affectamus, participat -nobiscum munera divinandi, et substantiales potestates ritu diversa -placatae, velut ex perpetuis fontium venis vaticina mortalitati suppeditant -verba" (Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 21). - -"They then took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to -approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, -incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees" (Book of Enoch). - -"I have collected fifty words in the Irish language relating to augury and -divination: every one of them are oriental, expressing the mode of -producing these abominable arts; they are, in fact, the very identical -oriental words written in Irish characters" (VALLANCEY). - -[534] Danaus, the sire of fifty daughters, leaving those fruitful regions -watered by the Nile, came to Argos, and through Greece, ordained that -those who erst were called Pelasgi, should by the name of Danai be -distinguished (EURIPIDES). - -[535] You will find in Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller's writings, that -those boats are still called, in that country, _arghs_, as they were in -ours, and the people who man them are styled _Phut_, corresponding to our -_Fo-morians_. - -[536] "I thank you," says Symmachus to his brother Flavianus, "for the -present you made me of some _Irish dogs_ (_canes Scotici_), which were -there exhibited at the Circensian Games, to the great astonishment of the -people, who could not judge it possible to bring them to Rome otherwise -than in iron cages." - -[537] This is the meaning of the name _Glen-da-lough_, and a faithful -portraiture it is of the situation. - -[538] Miniature of Budhism. - -[539] "The _secret_, it was _lost_, but surely it was found" (_Freemason's -Song_). - -[540] This account is found in _Satdharmalankare_, a very popular Budhist -book, being a collection of histories, etc., from the writings of the -_Rahats_, in which the original _Paly_ (_Pahlavi_) texts are preserved -with the Singhalese (_Miniature of Budhism_). - -[541] _Buddu_, the god of souls, is represented by several little images -made of silver, brass, stone, or white clay, and these are set up in -almost every corner, even in caverns and on rocks, to all which piles the -devotees carry a variety of provisions, every new and full moon throughout -the year; but it is in March they celebrate the grand festival of _Buddu_, -at which time they imagine the new year begins. At this festival they go -to worship in two different places, which have been made famous by their -legendary stories concerning them. One of them is the highest mountain in -the island, and called by the Christians _Adam's Peak_; the other is in a -place where _Buddu_ reposed himself under a _tree_, which planted itself -there for the more commodious reception of the deity, who, _when he was on -earth, frequently amused himself under its agreeable shade_, and _under -that tree_ the pagans in Ceylon _adore_ their _Buddu_, whom they really -believe to be a god (DR. HURD). - -Bodhesat receives a few handfuls of grass presented to him by Soitha (a -Brahmin), which grass, when strewed on the ground under the _Bo tree_, -there arise from the earth miraculously a throne of diamond fourteen -cubits high, covered externally with grass; on which Bodhesat takes his -seat, reclining his back against the _tree_, in order to accomplish his -last act of meditations. Buddha having ascended into the air, and -displayed his glory to all the worlds in rays of six different colours, in -order to afford the gods a proof of his perfection, stands seven days with -his eyes fixed on the _Bo tree_, enjoying the _Dhyanes_ (_Miniature, -etc._). - -[542] - - "Yes, love indeed is light from heaven, - A spark of that immortal fire, - With angels shared, by Allah given, - To lift from earth our low desire. - Devotion wafts the mind above, - But heaven itself descends in love, - A feeling from the Godhead caught, - To wean from self each sordid thought."--BYRON. - -[543] Book of Enoch, lxi. 8-10. - -[544] Dr. Lawrence, present Archbishop of Cashel. - -[545] Preface to translation of the Book of Enoch. - -[546] "If this singular book be censured as abounding in some parts with -fable and fiction, still should we recollect that fable and fiction may, -occasionally, prove both amusing and instructive; and can then only be -deemed injurious when pressed into the service of vice and infidelity. Nor -should we forget that much, perhaps most, of what we censure, was grounded -upon rational tradition, the antiquity of which alone, independent of -other considerations, had rendered it respectable. _That the author was -uninspired will be scarcely now questioned._ But, although his production -was apocryphal, it ought not therefore to be necessarily stigmatised as -necessarily replete with error; although it be on that account incapable -of becoming a rule of faith, it may nevertheless contain much moral as -well as religious truth, and may be justly regarded as a correct standard -of the doctrine of the times in which it was composed. _Non omnia esse -concedenda antiquitati_ is, it is true, a maxim founded upon reason and -experience; but, in perusing the present relic of a remote age and -country, should the reader discover much to condemn, still, unless he be -too fastidious, he will find more to approve; if he sometimes frown, he -may oftener smile; nor seldom will he be disposed to admire the vivid -imagination of a writer who transports him far beyond the flaming -boundaries of the world-- - - ------'Extra - Processit longe flammantia moenia mundi'; - -displaying to him every secret of creation; the splendours of heaven, and -the terrors of hell; the mansions of departed souls, and the myriads of -the celestial hosts, the seraphim, cherubim, and ophanim, which surround -the blazing throne, and magnify the holy name of the great Lord of -Spirits, the Almighty Father of men and of angels" (ARCHBISHOP OF CASHEL). - -[547] See p. 475. - -[548] John i. 10, 11. - -[549] John i. 14. - -[550] P. 478. - -[551] But cf. Acts (Gr.) xxiv. 23, [Greek: ton idion]. - -[552] John i. 12. - -[553] John i. 13. - -[554] See p. 242. - -[555] See p. 243. - -[556] Rom. xi. 33. - -[557] John i. 31. - -[558] John xii. 28. - -[559] Namely, the _secret_ of an Antediluvian Incarnation. - -[560] Matt. ii. 1, 2. - -[561] This woodcut is copied from one of the early block-books. - -[562] See p. 440. - -[563] I need not repeat to the reader, that by _Irish_ I mean the -primitive _Persic_, indiscriminately common as well to _Iran_ as to -_Irin_. - -[564] Virgil's _AEneid_, vi. 724. - -[565] John viii. 12. - -[566] John i. 1. - -[567] John i. 29. See also p. 315 of this volume. - -[568] See p. 288. - -[569] In the Tartar language, which is a dialect of the Irish, it still -retains this latter import, as appears from the following:--"Ce qu'il y a -de remarquable, c'est que le grand pretre des Tartares port le nom de -_lama_, qui en langue Tartare signifie _la croix_; et les _Bogdoi_ qui -conquirent la Chine en 1644, et qui sont soumis au _delae-lama_ dans les -choses de la religion, ont toujours des _croix_ sur eux, qu'ils appellent -aussi _lamas_" (_Voyage de la Chine_, par Avril, lib. iii. p. 194). - -[570] The words _Irish_ and _sacred_ are synonymous. See p. 129. - -[571] See pp. 267, 268, 269. - -[572] "The peculiar office of the Irumarcalim it is difficult to find -out," says Lewis, "only it is agreed that they carried the keys of the -seven gates of the court, and one could not open them without the rest. -Some add that there were seven rooms at the seven gates, where the holy -vessels were kept, and these seven men kept the keys, and had the charge -of them" (_Origines Hebraeae_, vol. i. p. 97). - -[573] See p. 438, with the note thereon also. - -[574] See _Dublin Penny Journal_, Nov. 10, 1833. - -[575] Published by Berthoud, 65 Regent's Quadrant, Piccadilly. - -[576] See p. 361. At Monasterboice there are three very beautiful -specimens of those Tuath-de-danaan crosses still remaining, and covered, -as usual, with _hieroglyphic sculpture_. "The pillars in the Palencian -city," I find, "are also decorated with serpents, lizards, etc." - -[577] See Borlase, p. 162. - -[578] See p. 36. I must not omit to mention that the Tuath-de-danaan cross -at Armagh, noticed at p. 359, was pulled down some time back, to prevent -the _squabbles_ between the Catholics and the Orangemen, neither of whom -had any inheritance therein! - -[579] _Vita prima S. Patricii_, Ap. Colgan. - -[580] "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which -shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of -David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke ii. 10,11). - -[581] "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly -host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth -peace, good will towards men" (Luke ii. 13, 14). - -[582] Matt. ii. 9. - -[583] Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 20. - -[584] Heb. vii. 4, 1, 2, 3. "Rex idem hominum, Phoebique Sacerdos" -(VIRGIL). - -[585] "Holy _mysteries_ must be studied with this caution, that the mind -for its module be dilated to the amplitude of the _mysteries_, and not the -mysteries be straitened and girt into the narrow compass of the mind" -(BACON). - -[586] Isa. lii. 7. - -[587] John xvi. 33. - -[588] Luke xix. 42. - -[589] John xiv. 27. - -[590] Heb. vi. 19, 20. - -[591] _Christmas Carols._ - -[592] _Freemasons' Song._ - -[593] Matt. iii. 7. - -[594] John vii. 41. - -[595] See p. 229. - -[596] Keating's _History of Ireland_, folio, p. 143. - -[597] Pronounced _Sauv_. This was the Seva of the Hindoos, by which -although they understood, indeed, as well _generation_ as _destruction_ to -be symbolised; yet it is clear that they must have long lost the method of -accounting for the _reason why_, otherwise than saying, that _death_ and -_life_ meant the same thing; that is, that the cessation of existence in -one form was but the commencement of existence in another. - -[598] _Freemasons' Song._ - -[599] Ashe's _Masonic Manual_. - -[600] See p. 282, note. - -[601] See p. 268. - -[602] Isa. vii. 14. - -[603] "The countenance of Christ was placid, handsome, and ruddy, so -formed, however, as to inspire the beholders, not so much with love and -reverence as with terror; his locks were like the colour of a full ripe -filbert nut (auburn), straight, and entire down to the ears, from thence -somewhat curled down to the shoulders, but parted on the crown of the head -after the manner of the Nazarites; his forehead was smooth and shining, -his eyes blue and sparkling, his nose and mouth decorous, and absolutely -faultless; his beard, in colour like his locks, was forked, and not long" -(WASERUS, p. 63). - -"At this time appeared a man, who is still living, a man endowed with -great power, his name Jesus Christ. The people say that he is a mighty -prophet; his disciples call him the Son of God. He quickens the dead, and -heals the sick of all manner of diseases and disorders. He is a man of -tall stature, well proportioned, and the aspect of his countenance -engaging, with serenity, and full of expression, so as to induce the -beholders to love and then to fear him. The locks of his hair are of the -colour of a vine-leaf, without curl, and straight to the bottom of his -ears, but from thence, down to his shoulders, curled and glossy, and -hanging below his shoulders. His hair on the crown of the head disposed -after the manner of the Nazarites. His forehead smooth and fair. His face -without spot, and adorned with a certain tempered ruddiness. His aspect -ingenuous and agreeable. His nose and his mouth in no wise reprehensible. -His beard thick and forked, of the same colour as the locks of his head. -His eyes blue and extremely bright. In reprehending and improving, awful; -in teaching and exhorting, courteous and engaging; a wonderful grace and -gravity of countenance; none saw him laugh, even once, but rather weep. In -speaking, accurate and impressive, but sparing of speech. In countenance, -the fairest among the children of men" (Attributed to Lentulus, -predecessor of Pilate in the government of Judea, recorded by Fabricius in -his _Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti_). - -[604] The principal one I conceive to have been at the hill of _Tara_, -which means the hill of the _Saviour_, and synonymous with mount _Ida_, -which means the mount of the cross. See p. 453. - -"The predominant style and character of the Pillar Tower," says -Montmorency, "in a great measure discloses the _secret_ of its origin." It -is astonishing how, after this, he and his pupils of the academy should -labour to assimilate that secret to a dungeon. - -"L'obelisque que les Pheniciens dedierent au Soleil dont le _sommet -spherique_ et la matiere etoient fort differens des obelisques d'Egypte" -(AMMIAN. MARCEL.). - -[605] Ex. xx. 26. The word _altar_ does not mean what it is generally -taken to express, a _platform_, but a _high place_, or standing column, -what the Septuagint renders by the Greek word [Greek: stele], a pillar. -And this was what the Israelites were forbid erecting to Jehovah, lest -that their nakedness should be discovered while ascending by steps or -ladders to the entrance overhead. - -The Gaurs have _round towers_ erected of stone, and thither they carry -their dead on biers; within the tower is a staircase with deep steps made -in a winding form, and when the bearers are got within, the priests scale -the walls by the help of ladders; when they have dragged the corpse gently -up with ropes, they then let it slide down the staircase (Dr. Hurd's -_Rites and Ceremonies, etc._). - -[606] See pp. 7 and 8. - -[607] 1 Kings vi. 4. - -[608] 1 Kings vi. 6. - -[609] 1 Kings vi. 29. - -[610] The Tower of Pisa bears no comparison to this edifice. - -[611] The holy wells also, with the practice of hanging pieces of cloth -upon the branches of an overhanging tree, all belonged to the -Tuath-de-danaan ceremonial. The early Christians took possession each of -them of one of these wells, and are now, by prescription, recognised as -their patron saints, and even supposed to have been their founders? - -[612] [Greek: "Moisa d' oik apodamei tropois epi spheterosi, panta de -choroi parthenon luran te Boai kanachai t' anlon doneontai daphna te -chrusea komos anadesantes eilapina xoinin en phronos. nosoi d' onte geras -onlomenon kekrata hiera genea; ponon de kai machan ater oikeoisi phugontes -uperdikon Nemesin"] (Pyth x. 59). - -[613] Even among the vegetables, they abstained from _beans_, as did the -Pythagoreans after them, _ob similitudinem virilibus genitalibus_. - -[614] See conditions of advertisement in Preface. - -[615] "You may read in Lucian, in that sweet dialogue, which is entitled, -_Toxaris; or, of Friendship_, that the common oath of the Scythians was by -the _sword_, and by the _fire_, for that they accounted those two speciall -divine powers, which should worke vengeance on the perjurers. So doe the -Irish at this day, when they goe to battaile, say certaine prayers or -charmes to their swords, making a crosse therewith upon the earth, and -thrusting the points of their blades into the ground, thinking thereby to -have the better successe here in fight. Also they use commonly to swear by -their swords" (SPENSER). - -[616] See pp. 81, 82. - -[617] They were _afterwards_ degraded to every possible purpose they could -be made to subserve: but I speak above of the time _immediately_ after -their overthrow. - -[618] "I had not been a week landed in Ireland from Gibraltar, where I had -studied Hebrew and Chaldaic, under Jews of various countries and -denominations, when I heard a peasant girl say to a boor standing by her, -_Feach an maddin nag_ (Behold the morning star), pointing to the planet -Venus, the _maddin nag_ of the Chaldean. Shortly after, being benighted -with a party in the mountains of the western parts of the county of Cork, -we lost the path, when an aged cottager undertook to be our guide. It was -a fine starry night. In our way, the peasant pointing to the constellation -_Orion_, he said that was _Caomai_, or the armed king; and he described -the three upright stars to be his spear or sceptre, and the three -horizontal stars, he said, were his sword-belt. I could not doubt of this -being the _Cimah_ of Job, which the learned Costard asserts to be the -constellation _Orion_" (VALLANCEY). - -[619] At p. 305 of his work on the _Towers and Temples of Ancient -Ireland_, Mr. Keane observes: "Lists of Irish Round Towers have been made -to the number of one hundred and twenty; of these, the remains of about -sixty-six are traceable." The list given here includes some towers of -which the site alone remains, as being possibly of interest to explorers. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. - -The original text includes Greek characters that have been replaced with -transliterations in this text version. - -The original text includes Hebrew characters that are represented as -[Hebrew] in this text version. - -The original text includes a triangle symbol that is represented as -[Triangle] in this text version. - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Round Towers of Ireland, by Henry O'Brien - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND *** - -***** This file should be named 42538.txt or 42538.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/5/3/42538/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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