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ROUND TOWERS

I R ELAND;

THE HISTORY OF THE TUATH-DE-DANAANS

FOR THE FIRST TIME UNP'EILED.

BY HENKY O'BRIEN, ESQ., A.B.

Hie sacra, hie genus, hie majorum multa vestigia.' 1

ClCEf

" were of fame,
And had been glorious in another day."

BYRON.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:
PARBURY AND ALLEN, LEADENHALL-STREET;

DUBLIN:
J. GUMMING, LOWER ORMOND QUAY.

MDCCCXXXIV.

LONDON :

inled by WILLIAM CLOWBS,
Duke-street, Lambeth.

TO
THE MOST NOBLE

THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE,

8fC. 8fc. 8ft:

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.

2060756

DEDICATION.

It is to do honour to this clue, in the eyes of the Mec&nas
of hi? 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 sub-
scribe myself, with the most profound consideration and
respect,

MY IfORD MARQUIS,
Your Lordship's most devoted,

And most faithful, humble, Servant,

HENRY O'BRIEN.

London, September, 1834.

THE

ROUND TOWERS,

8,0.

CHAPTER I.

" A lively desire of knowing and recording our ancestors so generally
prevails, that it must depend on the influence of some common prin-
ciple 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 *."

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 sub-
limated 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

* Gibbon's Memoirs.

a THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 patria?," 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 substan-
tiate 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? " * What are those stu-

* The Budhist temples.

THE ROU.VD TOWERS. 3

pendous 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 * as well as in the bowels f 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 memo-
rials 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 dege-
nerate 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 understand-
ing, any thing like redemption, or feature of supe-
riority 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

* The Cromleachs. t The Mithratic Caves.

B 2

THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 * Towers, or, to speak more correctly, those
primitive Budhist Temples, which decorate our land-
scape 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 pur-
pose. All I require of my readers is a patient perusal
of my details ; and t deceive myself very much, and
overrate my powers of enunciation, else I shall esta-
blish 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 antici-
pated in my course, or definitively judged of by iso-
lated scraps, but that, as my notice for this competi-
tion 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 con-,
firmed by every new research, the merits of the pro-
duction may not be estimated by parcels, but by the
combined tendency of the parts all together.

To begin therefore. The origins I have heard

* Job i.

HIE KOIM) TOWEKS. a

assigned to those records of antiquity, however invi-
dious 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 purgato-
rial columns or penitential heights, to which criminals
should be elevated for the ablution of their enormi-
ties 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 appli-
cation equally contemptible with the others, is, not-
withstanding, 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 eleva-
tions or hills : for, air being the medium of sound,
the higher the sonorous body is placed, the more rare-
fied is that medium, and consequently the less proper
vehicle to convey the sound to a distance. The objec-
tion of situation, therefore, does not apply to this
theory ; and, accordingly, we shall find that the exer-

6 THE ROUND TOWERS.

cising 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 con-
struction, 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 spe-
culators.

But what must strike the most cursory as irresis-
tibly 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 diffi-
cult and the most costly.

Need I name the sum of money which Nelson's
monument has cost in modern times ? or that imper-
fect testimonial in the Phcenix Park which comme-
morates the glories of the hero of Waterloo ? No ;
but I will mention what Herodotus tells us was the

THE KOUXD TOWERS. 7

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 stu-
pendous 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 consi-
deration.

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 cathe-
drals 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

8 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 ascrip-
tion, associated with Christianity, which cave or crom-
leach could subserve ; and, thus, have the poor mission-
aries escaped the cumbrous imputation of having
those colossal pagan slabs, and those astounding gen-
tile excavations, affiliated upon them.

Not so fortunate the " Towers." After ransacking
the whole catalogue of available applications, apper-
taining to the order of monastic institutions, with
which to Slamise 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 !

THE HOUND TOWERS. 9

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 mag-
nificence 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 struc-
tures 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 edi-
fices !

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 de-
tested taskmasters.

But what renders it demonstrative that those pro-
fessional pirates had no manner of connexion 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

10 THE HOUND TOWERS.

there is not a solitary structure that could possibly
be ascribed to the class of those which we now dis-
cuss!

In Scotland alone, of all European countries be-
sides 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 com-
paratively recent period, by a colony from this coun-
try, " as if marking the fact," to use Dalton's acciden-
tally * appropriate phrase, " of that colonization hav-
ing 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 studioruni
quine difficile putetis ?

That some of them had been appropriated in latter
times, nay and still are, to this purpose, I very rea-
dily concede ; but, " toto coelo," I deny that such had
ever entered into the contemplation of their construc-
tors, 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 de-
scribed, 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 gar-

* I say accidentally, because he foundered as well upon the actual co-
lony, who erected those temples, as upon the nature of the rites for which
thev were erected.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 11

ments 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 particularize 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 illite-
rate 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 pos-
sible 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 cen-
tury 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

12 T1IL HOLND TOWERS.

also to such things as " Round Towers," to which 1
shall prove those implements properly and exclu-
sively belonged.

l< 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 enougji 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 acciden-
tally 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 confi-
dence 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, tor the aspersions of domestic
calumniators.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 13

Both parties are, however, now appreciated as they
ought; and though Vallancey, certainly, did not under-
stand 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 oppor-
tunity of tolling the death-knell of the belfry hypo-
thesis, I think I could not do better now than give
Ledwich, in return, a triumph, by demolishing the
symmetry of the anchorite vagary.

(e It must require a warm imagination," says this
writer, after quoting the account given by Evagrius,
of Simeon Stylite's pillar, upon which Richardson,
Harris, and Milner after them, had founded the an-
chorite 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 cir-
cular : the ascetic there was placed without on the
pillar ; with us inclosed in the tower. He adds,
these habitations of anchorites were called inclusoria,
or arcti indusorii ergastula, but these were very diffe-
rent 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

14 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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
inclosed.' It must have been the strangest perver-
sion 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 pas-
sages, 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 simi-
lar 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 c 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 15

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 be-
longed to them, do, many of them still firmly, main-
tain their post ; and as to the latter, the boldness with
which it has been put forward, by its author before
named,* requires a more lengthened examination than
its utter instability could otherwise justify.

* Colonel Montmorency.

CHAPTER II.

THIS chivalrous son of Mars, more conversant, I
should hope, with tactics than with literary disquisi-
tions, 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 obli-
vion the founders, names, dates, periods, and all
records relating to them*."

Surely, if they were intended for the despicable
dungeons, which the colonel would persuade us was
their origin, there existed neither " vanity " nor " pre-
sumption" 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 regis-
tration, 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 any thing 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

* Pliny, Lib. Ixvi. cap. 12.

1I1K HOUND TOWERS. 17

" the architects of those buildings were consummate
masters in masonic art," it follows, that " a people so
admirably skilled in masonry, never could have expe-
rienced any impediments in building substantial
dwellings, strong castles, palaces, or any other struc-
tures 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 ances-
tors, anterior to the reception of the Christian faith."

His third proposition is, that as " Strabo, Pompo-
nius 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 every-
thing 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 hap-

18 THE ROUND TOWERS.

pen 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 connexion 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 in-
stances 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 cer-
tain 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 *, called Demosthenes'

* 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.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 19

the edifice," he continues, " in that case, obtains its
appropriate shape, yet differing in plan, size, and ele-
vation, from the Irish Pillar Tower, to which it can-
not, 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 civilization, 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 Vallanceys
conjectures respecting the Pillar Tower, as recep-
tacles 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 grati-
tude; 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 archi-
tectural 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
* c 2

20 THE ROUND TOWERS.

religious mystery, of which there can be required
no greater possible corroboration than the circum-
stance of that ancient and mysterious society who
date the existence of their institution from Noah him-
self, 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 *."

The absence, therefore, of any vestiges of other
coeval structures, for private abode or public exhibi-
tion, 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 con-
venticles Verum illi delubra deorum pietate, domos
sua gloria decorabantf.

But though this my reply is triumphantly subver-
sive of the Colonel's first position, I shall dwell upon
it a little longer, to hold forth, with merited retalia-
tion, 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

* 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.

t Sallust, Cat. Con.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 21

Towers, and of which era, he admits, no other archi-
tectural 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 master-
pieces 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 vaunt-
ingly 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
imbedded 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 bat-
tery ; 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 ad-
duce, in its proper place, from the very head and
principal of the bardic order, no less a personage than

22 THE ROUND TOWEKS.

Amergin himself, its towering refutation ; as well as
the final, incontrovertible appropriation of those struc-
tures to their actual founders.

In the interim, I must not let the opportunity pass
of vindicating our ancient bards from the false im-
putations 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 na-
tional 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 emo-
tion, 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 recognized 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 preli-
minary study, and rigid exercise of all the mental
powers.

THE UOUND TOWERS. 23

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 :

lod na laimh lith gan ghuin,
lod na beorl gan ean neamhuib,
lod 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 de-
generacy in the bardic class ; or rather the innumer-
able pretenders to the assumption of the name, and
the " fescennine licentiousness " with which they vio-

24 THE ROUND TOWEKS.

lated 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 legisla-
tive 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.

" Fescennina per hunc invecta licentia morem,
Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit,

quin etiam lex

Poenaquelata malo quae mallet carmine quenquam,
Describi*."

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 de-
scribed, 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

* Lib. xi. Epist. 11.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 2-J

application and use, were not the least astonishing-
part of their arduous avocations, and leave the cata-
logue 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 extempo-
raneous 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 oar ancestors. Singing the glory of former
warriors, the combatant was himself inspired ; and
while the victim expired on the altar of immolation,
the priest sung 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 up-
holding the dogmas of the pagan creed, became now
the most distinguished in proclaiming the blessings
of the Christian dispensation. Fiech, Amergin,
Columba, Finan, &c., 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 announce-
ments. 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 in-
trepid acts of heroism inculcated by their example, if
not the actual cause of this national declension, pre-

26 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ponderated very largely amongst its component ingre-
dients.

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 dis-
pirited at the aspect of circumstances, and all but sub-
scribe 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 depreciating allu-
sions ; viz., <f That those rymors do, by their ditties
and rymes made to divers lords and gentlemen in
Ireland, in the commendacyon and high praise of ex-
tortion, 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 ex-
claim, in all the vehemence of the royal psalmist,

THE ROUND TOWERS. 27

" 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, re-
specting 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 sera 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 cele-
bration 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 in-
structors.

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.

28 THE ROUND TOWERS.

When they were lowly and obscure, and immersed in
the darkness of circumambient benightment, our high
careering name, synonymous with civilization, was
wafted by the four winds of heaven to all the quarters
of the world which that heaven irradiates. The com-
merce of the whole east pressed tumultuously to our
shores the courts of the polished universe (not in-
cluding Greece or Rome amongst the number) sent us
embassies of congratulation ; while the indomitable ar-
dour and public-spirited zeal of the " islanders" them-
selves 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 pro-
ductions of Nature herself; civilizing life with the
results of their discoveries, and garnishing their houses,
like so many museums, with the fruits of their re-
search, 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, avow-
edly, only compiled his treatise from other more
ancient authorities think you, I say, that his desig-
nation 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 dis-
coveries 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 com-

THF. HOI ND TOWERS. 29

ponent essence, and according to the nicest scrutiny of
etymological analysis, independently altogether of his-
torical corroboration an inhabitant of the sacred isle ;
and has nothing on earth to do with Heber or Here-
mon ; 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 classifica-
tions of Baal Shamaim, Baal Pheor or Phearagh, Baal
Meon, Baal Zephon, Baal Hemon, &c. ; 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 *."

In accordance with the different views under which
each people considered the bounties of those lumi-
naries, 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,

* '2 Kings xvii. 20, 30.

30 THE ROUND TOWEKS.

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, muni-
ficently 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 cen-
turies ;" 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 eager-
ness 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

THE ItOUN'D TOWEKs. 31

monks, a direct, immediate, and indubitable proto-
type.

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 of 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 apart-
ment, in their wonted hospitality, destined to the
reception of visiters.

" Within the central court-yard, 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 them-
selves 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, en-
veloped in a chafe or pluvial (a sort of church orna-
ment), 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.

32 THi! ROUXD TOWERS.

" 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," &c. &c.

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 in-
dignity 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 mili-
tary 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 con-
ventual 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 analo-
gies, 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 corpo-
rate 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 may-
poles of stone, within which to garrison their inexpres-
sible 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, prieslo, or

34 THE ROUND TOWERS.

" doubtless " right-about face, takes place a meta-
morphosis, from round to square ! the more miracu-
lous, 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 preponder-
ance of the feudal system, when every baronial castle
in Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, &c., 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 " barba-
rians ;" whereupon I shall merely observe with the
poet, that

" If people contradict themselves, can /
Help contradicting them * ?"

But, if intended as a place of shelter for either
person or property, why build them of such an alti-
tude ? 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 be-

* Bvron.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 35

longing to the community, and hurried away the un-
fortunate 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 " un-
fortunate " 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 con-
clude 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 *." 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 appertain-
ing 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 marau-
ders, they used to fly to the belfries, which from that
mistaken regard attached to these edifices, as the re-
ceptacles of those sonorous organs to which super-
stition has ever clung t they had hoped would prove

* Vol. iii. p. 78 Note.

t The tolling of a bell was supposed to have had miraculous effects
to keep the spirits of darkness from assaulting believers to dispel thun-
der, and prevent the devil from molesting either the church or congre-
gation ; and hence they were always rung, in time of storm or other

D 2

3G THE ROUXD TOWERS.

an asylum from their pursuits, but in vain neither
religion nor superstition opposed a barrier to the North-
men, 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 Ian do mhionnaibh 7 deghdh
aoninibh, im Chseinechair 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,

attack, to paralyze 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 huve come down to us proclaim the virtue of their capabi-
lities. 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 tunpfnl al-
loping, viz. :

" Sabbata pango, funera piaiijjo. solemnia clango."

THE ROUND TOWERS. 37

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 con-
flagration,, 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 light-
ning 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 characterized by their appropriate name of
Cloicteach, as exhibited before, and the latter under
the still more apposite denomination of Fidh-nemeadh,
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 ecclesi-
astics, and which Columb Kill himself evangelized at
the time when Montmorency was, in a dream, em-
ploying 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 de-
fences, the monks still continued to make it their
favourite abode ; of which we have but too cogent an

38 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 sacri-
lege of those savages by telescopic steeples of Baby-
lonish 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 ex-
cused if, to frustrate any efforts at impotent revivals,
I shall continue decapitating the hydra, until he dis-
appears in his own sinuosities.

He tells us, then, with all the calculation of an en-
gineer, 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 Christen-
dom 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.''

[To face page 38.

DEVENISH.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 39

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 notpdrifying, 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 pa-
ralysis, have forgotten to associate them with the
" Towers," as if stupified 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 deli-
rium 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
" Mac Carthy Mores !"

It so happens that the last of the Mac Carthy Mores
was my own maternal grandfather; and he, venerable
and venerated old gentleman, apt as he was, in the

40 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 men-
tion 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 enu-
merate a " Hound 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 adhe-
sive 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 " Hiber-
nians," when it answers his views ; and how vitu-
perative 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 hospi-
tality announce," he says, " the existence of one kind
of discipline, and of kindred religions, between the

THE ROUND TOWERS. 41

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 emissa-
ries 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*. 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

vri <ra; xa.Xovp.iva.; Basrav/xa; vr,T<iu;.

Euseb! in Prsep. Ev. 1. 3.
Egypt um et Libyam sortitus est alius Apostolorum, extremas vero
oceani regiones, et Insulas Britannicas alius obtinuit.

Nicephor., 1. 2, c. -10.

42 THE ROUND TOWERS.

old idolatries and the fascinations of their former
creed had so spell-bound the inhabitants, as a com-
munity that those who singled themselves out as
converts to the new faith were obliged, from persecu-
tion, 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 constitu-
tional 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 cap-
tivity 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 im-
perishable architecture, while the nation at large took
shelter within wattles and walls of clay? and that, too,
at a moment when Christianitv was considered a name

THE ROUND TOWERS. 43

of reproach, and its few solitary abettors constrained to
exile or to degradation !

No sooner, however, were the simplicities of Chris-
tianity expounded to the natives through the medium
of their native tongue, than the refined organism of
the Irish constitution, habituated by discipline to sub-
lime 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 asso-
ciation, which could tend to recall their fancies to the
religion which they relinquished. Accordingly from
the names of Juernis, Macollicon, Rhigia, Nagnata,
Rheba, &c , sprung up the names of Killkenny, Kill-
malloch, and the thousand other names, commencing
with " Kill," to be met with in every district and sub-
division 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 mi-
thratic 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

44 THE ROl'XD TOWERS.

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 appro-
priated, with the old favourite denominations of many
of the localities. For instance, St. Shannon assumed
that name from the river Shannon, which was an ob-
ject 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 Ki\\-malloch, the latter alone hav-
ing 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 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 con-
ceding any superiority, to the Roman connexion
agreeing in all the grand essentials of vital belief,
and differing only as to some minor points of eccle-
siastical 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 neo-

THE ROUND TOWERS. 4~j

phytes 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 edu-
cation 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 * 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

* Religious Rites and Ceremonies, published under his name.

46 THE ROUND TOWERS.

contempt for all worldly things, and look upon them-
selves 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 supre-
macy of the Pope. Here are the Doctor's words :
" They deny the papal supremacy, and, indeed, most
parts of the popish doctrine, particularly transubstan-
tiation, 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 civilized
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 reli-
gious obligations, they were no better than the savages
of America."

THE ROUND TOWERS. 47

I have been thus hurried on by the train of my
thoughts, without observing much of order or metho-
dical arrangement. As my object is, however, the
elucidation of truth, not idle display, or vain-glo-
rious 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 *.

* Milton.

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 atten-
tion 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* ;'')
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 f. 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 phe-
nomena would be preserved most pure, being aloof
from the influence of exotic refinements, and, thus

* This latter 1o be explained hereafter.
The ruins, to the height of ten feet, still remain.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 49

far, free from that maudlin scepticism and laboured
doubt which a " little learning" too frequently super-
induces.

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 *.

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 12th century by
Giraldus Cambrensis, who calls them " turres eccle-
siasticas, qua?, more patrise, arctas sunt et altae, nee non
et rotundas." 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 " eccle-
siasticas " their appropriation to a religious use; and
what can possibly be in stricter consonance with the
tenour of this idea than " Cathaoir ghall," or the
Temple of Brightness, which I have instanced above
as the vernacular appellation of one of those sanctu-
aries 1

Should it be asked, why did not Cambrensis, at
the time, enter more fully into the minutia? 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 de-

* Goldsmith.

50 THE HOUXD TOWERS.

generate race. The noble spirit of their heroic an-
cestors, 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 *, which had been occasioned
many ages before by the overflowing of a fountain t

Let us now turn to the annals of the " Four Mas-
ters," 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 tig/lib, 7 J 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 Aird-
maeha conafarcaibh Dertach, na Damliacc, na h Erdam,
na Fidh-Nemead ami cen loscadh .-" that is, Lightning
seized upon Armagh, to so violent a degree, as to
leave neither mansion, nor cathedral, nor belfry, nor
Fidh-Nemead, 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,

* Top. Dist. ii. c. 9, p. 720.

+ In the reign of Txiacha Labhruine, A.M. 3177 : B.C. 827.
J This mark (7), in the Irish language, is an abbreviation for agus,
i.e. and.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 01

the Fiadh-Nemeadh. Our business now is to investi-
gate 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," page 297, referring to
these words of the Four Masters, says, " Anno 995,
Ardmaeha cum Basilicis, Turribus, aliisque omnibus
edificiis, incendio ex fulmine generate, tota vastatur."

O'Connor also, wishing to wrest its import to his
favourite theory of their 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 mean-
ing, has ventured to promulgate, yet is it indis-
putable 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 *.

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

* The Annals of Inisfallen, also, page 148, call them by the same
name of Fiadh-Nemeadh.

E 2

52 THE ROUND TOWERS.

gives us an insight into their character more for-
tuitous than he had anticipated. Celestial indexes* !
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 moun-
tains 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 nine-
teen years is called, by the Greeks, the great year."

Who is it that collates this description with the
(( celestial indexes f " 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 "ccelorum
observator," that is star-gazer, or observer of the

* Rer. Hib. Scrip. Vet. iii. p. 527.

+ Fidh-Nemeadh certainly admits of this interpretation, but in a very
different sense from what its author had supposed.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 53

heavens, was given to Zerdust, the great patriarch
of the Magi, from his eminence and delight in astro-
nomical 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 cer-
tain 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, polite-
ness, 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 trowsers 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,

54 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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*."
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 is 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 Do-
natus, bishop of Etruria, in 802 ; and I have se-
lected it among a thousand other authorities of simi-
lar import, to show that Scotia or Scythia was one,
and the last, of the ancient names of this country f ;

* 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 sirname denoted his country, (Eri or
Erina being the proper name of Ireland,) became soon (in the ninth cen-
tury) 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."

( 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 55

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 irrele-
vant to the scope of this work, I could easily prove
that the amity, said by HecataBus to have been ce-
mented on the occasion of the visit above ^luded 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 initia-
tion. I am anticipated, of course, to have meant the
Pelasgi, who, under another name, belonged to the
same hive as the Indo-ScythaB, 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

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 Chris-
tian luminaries, whose name was Shane, i. e. John, being called by the
Latin historians indifferently by the epithels of Johannes Scotus and
Johannes Erigena the former signifying John the Irishman, and the
latter, John the Scotchman,

50 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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. Hi-
merius 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. .AJparis, 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 sub-
dued, about six hundred years before this event, by
the Scythians, whose dress, as well as manners, dif-
fered 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 infe-
rior 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 in-
struction ; 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, intro-
duce, and in the highlands of Scotland, where a rem-
nant of those Hyperborean or Danaan priests took
shelter from the ruthless Picts, resi^nin- to those

THE ROUND TOWERS. 57

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*.

Nor is it alone as accounting for the circum-
stance 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 supe-
riority 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 fra-
ternity of the accomplished Danaan Boreades, who,
in the revolution of affairs, were forced to communi-
cate 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.

Cresar, 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. Pom-
ponius Mela, also confirming the fact, says, " Hi
terras mundique magnitudinem ac formam, 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

* The Scots first drove them from Ireland to what is now called Scot-
land, and the Picts afterwards chased them from the lowlands to the
highland fastnesses.

58 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 lan-
guage so truly characterised as " more than three
thousand years old," would afford to the ingenuous
and disinterested inquirer the most convincing proof
of the ground which I have assumed. In that lan-
guage, and the writer of this essay ought to know
something of it, there is scarcely a single term apper-
taining 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 lapetidae, 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,

THE ROUND TOWERS. 59

or of those lapetidae 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 preachers of Christianity in this kingdom,
and whom Ledwich himself, reluctant as he was to
aiford ordinary justice to Irish merit, is obliged to
praise, were not more remarkable for the sanctified
zeal and enthusiastic devotion with which they pro-
pagated the Gospel, than they were for the diversified
range of their literary acquirements, and the moral
sublimity of their ideas and conceptions *. 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

* 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 per-
fectly well entitled to the appellation of philosophers."

60 THE ROUND TOWERS.

their construction and errors, required no mean abili-
ties : a large portion of Greek and Latin literature
was also necessary *."

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 conse-
quently 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 ccelo cadere." Again, in
744, they observe, " Hoc anno Stella? item de ccelo
frequentes deciderunt;" while it cannot be too dili-
gently 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

* Antiq., p. 108.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 61

time, have not only possessed, but excelled in, the
science of astronomy. How did they acquire it? is
the next question. " Ad ilia mihi pro se quisque
acriter intendat animum." In that passage of Dio-
dorus, 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 power-
ful 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 ex-
planation.

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 Hound Towers of Ire-
land were specifically constructed for the twofold purpose

62 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

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 *."

* Milton.

CHAPTER V.

NIMROD, the son of Gush, " the mighty hunter before
the Lord," was the first person *, according to Vos-
sius f, 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 J." 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, (i that
every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was
only evil continually ."

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 ?

* I will show, however, that it was much older.

t De Orig. et Progress. Idolat., ii. 61.
J Genesis xi. 4. Genesis vi. 5.

64 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 ima-
gined, for the purpose of scaling the celestial abodes,
and disputing with Jehovah the composure of his
sovereignty.

What, then, was it intended for?

Undoubtedly as an acknowledgment, however viti-
ated 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 fat.

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 astro-
nomy, 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 *.

* On the top was an observatory, by the benefit of which it was that
the Babylonians advanced their skitt in astronomy so early; when
Alexander took Babylon, Callisthenes the philosopher, who accompanied
him there, found they had observations for 1 903 years backward from
that time, which carries up the account as high as the hundred and
fifteenth year after the flood, t. e., within fifteen years after the tower of
Babel was built.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 05

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
Noachidaa 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 *.

The word " Baal," in itself an appellative, at first
served to denote the true God amongst those who
adhered to the pure 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
Baalif." Another name by which the Godhead was
recognized was Moloch. The latter, indeed, in accu-
racy of speech was the name assigned him by the
Ammonites and Moabites both terms, however, cor-
responded in sense, " Moloch" signifying king, and
" Baal" Lord, that is, of the heavens; whence trans-
ferring 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,

* 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.

t Hosea, ch. ii. v. 16.

66 THE ROUND TOWERS.

that globe of fire which illumines the firmament and
vivifies terrestrials, but, physically considered, nature ul
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 senti-
ments of gratitude and awe. We have every reason,
accordingly, to think, that solar worship at first was
only emblematical, recognizing, 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 *.

The degeneracy of man, however, became manifest
in the sequel, and, from the frequency of the act, the

* 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. G7

type was substituted in room of the thing typified.
" Solum in ccelis deum putabant solem," says Philo-
bibliensis, 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 iden-
tical, 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 signi-
fied, 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 at-
tention in the ordinary management of that useful
article. In Levit. 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 re-
mind 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,"
Exod. iii. 2, and in presence of the whole Israel-
itish host. Exod. xix. 18. " The Lord descended
upon Mount Sinai, as the smoke of a furnace ;'' while
in Exod. xiii. 21, it is declared that " the Lord went

F 2

68 THE ROUND TOWERS.

before them by clay in a pillar of a cloud, and by
night in a pillar of fire, to give them light." So ac-
cordingly 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 insti-
tuting a rivalship, and got thereby the more confirmed
in their original idolatry. Their bloody sacrifices
themselves originated, we may suppose, in some simi-
lar 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 be-
longed 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 immo-
lated ; 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 unde-
niable 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 impreg-

THE HOUND TOWERS. (JO

nated 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 Bris-
son but without the necessary adjunct of their being
an innovation.

Even the ordinary fire for culinary or social pur-
poses 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 con-
tact.

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 trans-
actions. 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
Eubcea, might easily have made himself master of the
island of Delos, he, however, passed it over un-
touched, in honour of that divinity before whom his
country had bowed, having been sacred to Apollo, or
the sun, and reputedly his birth-place.

70 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 con-
nected, not appropriated may, I think, be well al-
lowed ; 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 sup-
porters of that fashionable proposition, as including
fire-worship within the compass of my several views.
I put it, however, frankly, to the most ardent sup-
porter 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 in-
tervening floors, of which the GREATER PORTION re-
tain evident traces, would not only endanger the
conflagration of the whole edifice, as it is most pro-
bable 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 com-
partments, could offer no hinderance to the ascent of
the smoke, or its consequent discharge through the

[To face page 71.

AKDMURE.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 71

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 con-
clusion 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.

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*, " over sub-
terraneous fires.''

Whenever a deviation from this occurred, it was in
favour of a low stone-built structure, all over-arched,

Asiatic Researches.

72 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 *.

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 com-
prising also a large altar, whereon naphtha was kept
continually burning.

Now could anything possibly correspond more mi-
nutely 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 it-
self." And could anything possibly be more opposite
to our " Round Towers " than all these accounts ?

When, therefore, we are told "\~ that at the city of
Zezd, in Persia which is distinguished by the ap-
pellation 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 pro-
portion with one or other of the instances just now

* 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, &c., who
could not open their eyes to the mistake.

t Pottinger's Belochistan.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 73

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 for-
ward 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 fre-
quently 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 in-
vented by the Portuguese, from the Persian " Peut-
gheda," 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 es-
sence," and other attributes of the Godhead, which, I
believe, they in a great measure spiritually recog-
nized. 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, harmonizes most
aptly with the radial and hemispherical representa-

74 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

tions of the two celestial luminaries, as well as with
that organ of human procreation which we shall here-
after 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 lan-
guage, 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 in-
habitants, 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 an-
nually 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

THE ROUND TONVEHS. 75

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 pro-
creative causes of general fecundity, comprising in
certain instances, like them, also the additional and
blended purposes of funeral cemeteries and astro-
nomical observatories. The Septuagint interpreters
well understood their nature when rendering the
"high place of Baal*" by the Greek <rT?j?uj TOU
0aaX, or Pillar of Baal, that is, the pillar conse-
crated to the sun ; while the ancient Irish themselves,
following in the same train, designated those struc-
tures 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 with-
out 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

* Numbers, chap, xxii., ver. 41.

76 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 inscrip-
tion 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 desti-
nation 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 connexion 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 com-
bined purposes of religion and science. The depart-
ment 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 semed to pay to cro-
codiles, 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 sub-
ject, they will tell you that in the sagacity of the

78 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 mes-
sengers.

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 oifers the secret prayer of the
heart ; and if he neglects from inadvertence the ex-
ternal 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 Mi-
thratic 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 un-
instructed 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 sub-
limer 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 imme-
diate signal of the Deity, were their primary study,
and even to this day, depressed and humiliated as the

THE ROUND TOWERS. 79

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 Lon-
don, 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 civilization and the
arts, which sent forth its professors into the most
distant quarters of the world, and disseminated know-
ledge 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 abound-
ing in fair and opulent cities; magnificent temples
and palaces ; useful and ingenious artists employing
the precious stones and metals in curious workman-
ship ; 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 build-
ings were erected for him to repose in, a friendly

80 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Brahmin attended to supply his wants ; and hospitality
and the laws held out assistance and protection to all
alike, without prejudice or partiality \Ve after-
wards see the empire overrun by a fierce race of men,
who in the beginning of their furious conquests en-
deavoured, 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 sci-
ences, 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 connexion 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 mys-
tery t 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

THE ROUN'D TOWERS. 81

importance has been attached to the vitrified appear-
ance 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 appear-
ance 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 ex-
press more than a surmise that it was not the " sacred
fire," which, when religiously preserved, was not al-
lowed to break forth in those volcanos insinuated ;
but in a lambent, gentle fame, 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 *.

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 Cor-
mac, first bishop of Cashel, who after his conversion

* Milton.

82 THE ROUND TOWERS.

to Christianity, in the fifth century, by St. Patrick,
thus declares his faith :

" Aflhram do righ na duile
Do dagh bhar din ar n' daone
Leis 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.' 1

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 ex-
plain himself in another place : " dha teinne soin-
mech 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 im-
mense 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 solem-
nities 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 *, had
induced him to go and visit the spot, " to this day
they call the fire-house." It was a stone-roofed edi-

* Top. Dist. ii. c. 34.

nit: noi'Ni) TOWERS. 83

fice about twenty feet square, the ruins of which are
still visible, and recognized by all around as once the
preservative of the sacred element. When Cam-
brensis 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 connexion, 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 pagan-
ism,, still remaining in this island ! Admitted. But
does it necessarily follow that they were the Round
Towers*? 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, &c. &c.
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 archi-
tecture with that of the churches which this distin-
guished champion of the early Christian Irish church
had erected in lona f , whose ruins are still to be seen,
and bear no sort of analogy with those ancient re-
ceptacles. Struck, no doubt, with some apprehensions
like the foregoing, it is manifest that Miss Beaufort

* 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.

t 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.

G 2

84 THE ROU.VD TOWERS.

herself, while combating most strenuously for the
Round Towers as fire receptacles, had no small mis-
giving, 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
connexion 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*." 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,

* Trans. Rov. Ir. Acad. vol. xv.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 8-3

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 struc-
tures 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 cloaca? or vaults. This difficulty, how-
ever, I thus remove : no one in this enlightened age
can suppose that those stupendous specimens of
massive and costly workmanship, which we read of
as being constructed by the Romans in the very in-
fancy 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 civilization, 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 orTyrseni,
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 there-
fore styled, by Callimachus, as quoted in the Scholia
to the " Birds" of Aristophanes, " the Pclasgic Wall

86 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 fore-
heads, 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 *.
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 com-
mon 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 edi-
ficial remains than in the collateral evidences of lan-
guage 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.

* This adjective is not here applied to our western Irin, i.e., Ireland,
but to the eastern Iran, i.e., Persia.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 87

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 do-
minion.

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 *, in whose sanctuary was pre-
served 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 govern-
ment, 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 de-
served 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

* Virginesque Vestae legit, Alba oriundum sacerdotium, et genti con-
ditoris baud alienum. Livy, lib. i. cap. xx.

88 THE ROUND TOWERS.

respectfully await. But as my object is truth, di-
vested as much as possible of worldly considerations,
and unshackled by systems or literary codes, I con-
ceive that object will be more effectually attained by
setting inquiry on foot, than by tamely acquiescing
in dubious asseverations or abiding by verbal am-
biguities.

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 Csesar 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 mis-
taking 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 preserva-
tion 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 89

should be publicly exhibited from the stately tower of
Tlactga, in Munster, from whence all the other repo-
sitories of the Baal-thinne were to be re-kindled, 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 three-pence
per head on all adults, was imposed."

Well, for this is quoted " Psalter of Tara, by
Comerford," page 5 1 ; 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 con-
sume 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 three-pence every year, as an ac-
knowledgment to the king of Munster. The second
palace was in that of Connaught, where the inhabitants
assembled once a year, upon the first of May, to
offer sacrifices to the principal deity of the island
under the name of Beul, which was called the con-
vocation 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 de-

90 THE ROUND TOWERS.

manded 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 parlia-
mentary way."

I now leave the reader to decide whether the word
" palace" can be well used to represent an " eccle-
siastical 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 con-
veyed ; 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 mis-stated 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
Hound 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 farther, 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 conse-
crated to the most solemn and engrossing objects of
human pursuit, however errroneously 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. Squeam-
ishness 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*?"

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, c. &c. ; and from the moon,
under the epithet of Luna, Diana, Juno, Astarte,
Venus, Babia or Butsee, &c. &c. Astronomy was
inseparably interwoven with this planetary religion ;
while the religion itself was characterized by en-
forcing almost as strict a regard to the body after

* Horace.

92 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 under-
stood to have used the expression, when previously
declaring that our Sabian rotundities were erected
with the two-fold view of religious culture and the
practice of that science with which it was so amal-
gamated.

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 *. 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 \vhich
has been tarnished by forgery. I need no such
aid, as the sequel will show ; and yet were it requi-
site, 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 Hinclostan; but the explanation of this

* Asiatic Researches, Dissert. Up. Egypt and Nile.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 93

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 * means " the deity of desire"
as instrumental in that principle of universal gene-
rativeness 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, ori-
ginally from that paradisiacal precept which said,
" increase and multiply ;" while the strain of metaphor
under which it was couched, and the spiritual ten-
dency by which the ceremony was inculcated, pre-
vented 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 domi-
nant, 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.

* Literally, " the goddess of the lotos."

94 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

In India this fervor was particularly encouraged :
for " as the Hindoos depend on their children for per-
forming those ceremonies to their manes, 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 *." 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 oppo-
site 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 t.' 1

" According to the Hindu mythology, he was the
son of Maya, or the general attracting power J; that
he was married to Ritty, or Affection ; and that his

* Craufurd's Sketches. t Milton.

t Maya also signifies illtision, 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 be-
lieve 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."

THE ROUND TOWERS. 95

bosom friend is Vassant, or the Spring : that he is
represented as a beautiful youth, sometimes convers-
ing with his mother, or consort, in the midst of his
gardens and temples : sometimes riding by moon-
light 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 dis-
sertation 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.

96 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Thy consort mild, Affection, ever time,
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."

THE ROUXD TOM'ERS. 97

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 ex-
terior conduct. They affected poverty, but were at-
tached 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 dwell-
ings 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* to accompany him; and as-
sumed 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 ) and religious cere-
monies. 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 sacri-
fice. The devotees gazed on her with astonishment.
The sun appeared, but the purifications were for-
gotten ; the things of the Poojah J lay neglected ; nor

* Nature.

I- The Hindoos never bathe nor perform their ablutions whilst the
sun is below the horizon.

$ Poojah is properly worship.

98 THE UOrXD TOWERS.

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 ; for-
give 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 re-
sentment 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 for-
gotten, 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*. Some dropped their jewels without
turning to look for them ; others let fall their gar-
ments 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 scat-
tering them before him, said ' Askest thou alms !

* Krishen of Matra may be called the Apollo of the Hindoos.

THE ROUND TOM'ERS. 9 ( J

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* 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 Kainaf, 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 awhile in
silence, they arose, and went back to their houses
with slow and troubled steps. The devotees re-
turned 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 some-
times 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

* Vassant, the spring. ( Kama, the god of love.

H 2

100 ,THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 under-
standing being imperfect, instead of bowing the head
with humility, they were inflamed with anger; in-
stead 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 ap-
proaching 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,

[To face page 101.

CLONDALKIN.

THE ROUND TOWEK?. 101

incensed at this attempt, turned the fire with in-
dignation 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 *."

But what was the form under which this deity was
recognized? "Look on this picture and on that;"
and the answer presents itself f. The eastern vota-
ries, 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 me-
dium selected by God himself for human propaga-
tion and sexual prolificacy.

This was the Phallus, of which we read in
Lucian J, as existing in Syria of such extraordinary
height, and which, not less than the Egyptian Pyra-
mids, 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

* Translated from the Persic, and read before the Oriental Society in
India.

t The reason why the Egyptian Pyramids, though comprehending the
same idea, did not exhibit this form, will be assigned hereafter.

:j: In his treatise " De De;i Syria."

102 THE ROUND TOWERS.

the moon *, it was natural to suppose that the study
of the stars would essentially enter into the ceremo-
nial of her worship. Another name by which this
divinity was recognized, was Rimmon, which, signify-
ing as it does pomegranate, was a very happy emblem
of fecundity, as apples are known to be the most pro-
lific species of fruit.

Lingam is the name by which the Indians de-
signated this idol f. 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 bar-
ren, 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 J."

* Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns,
To whose bright image nightly by the moon,
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs." MILTON.
*! Les Indiens out le Lingam qui ajoute encore quelque chose a
rinfamie 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.

J 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 preg-
nant ;" 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 103

Such was the origin and design of the most ancient
Indian pagodas, which had no earthly connexion 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 the male
organ of procreative generativejiess, consecrated, ac-
cording 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, agree-
ably 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 struc-
tures by the name of Budh is a gratuitous assumption,
for which I have no authority other than what imagi-
nation 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

he saw a young damsel of the most exquisite beauty. They mutually
gazed and loved, but there appeared no mode of ascending the battle-
ment. 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."

104 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 in-
terest or isolated locality that is involved in its adjust-
ment, no, its bearings are as comprehensive as its
interest should be universal; the opinions of n anlcind
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 apologize 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 *. 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,

* Chapter IV. p. 48.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 105

i. e., Lingam; the initial F of the former being only
the aspirate of the initial B of the latter, and corn-
mutable with it * ; and Nemphed is an adjective, sig-
nifying 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 wor-
ship 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 geni-
tals 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,

* 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.

*owS &, ov rUfp.d%iTa,i. 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.

106 THE HOUND TOWERS.

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 I sis, and
she ordered that it should receive honours more solemn,
and at the same time more mysterious, than the other
members *."

Now as Isis f 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^"
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 em-
blematic sign ; and the name of that sign in both
languages signifying as well sig?i as thing signified,
gives a stamp to my proof which I defy ingenuity to
overthrow.

* Vide Plutarch, de Isi et Osiri.

t Eas, in Irish, also means the moon.

$ 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.

These are the indexes for which Mr. O'Connor could find no other
use than that of dials !

107

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 *.

" 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

* Les mysteres de 1'antiquite nous sont demeures presqu'interdicts ; les
vestiges de ses monuments manquent le plus souvent de sens pour nous,
parceque, de siccle en siccle, les savants ont voulu leur attribuer nn
sens. DE SACY.

108 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 re-
ligion 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, " concern-
ing 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 pre-
vailed 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 *."

* 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 gene-
ral ignorance concerning its rise and progress, as well as its expulsion'by
the Brahmins from the East, all the rest u inaccurate. In the first place
it does not "flourish " at present in Ceylon. It has sunk and degene-
rated 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," anymore than those of the Catholics are from
the tenets of the Protestants ? yet have the latter contrived to oust the Ca-

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 109

" The real time," say the Asiat. Res., viii. p. 505,
" at which Buddha 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 pre-
dominance in India, its rise in the first place, and more
especially its extirpation, are not merely events of stu-
pendous magnitude, but of impenetrable mystery."

It will soon appear, that however impenetrable here-
tofore, it is so no longer. Indeed a great deal of the
principle of their faith has been at all times under-
stood, 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 Jarecha
(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 encyclo-
pedia or depository of science for a definition of the
word Budhism, you will be told that " it is the doc-
trine 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

tholics, their predecessors, as the Brahmins did the still more antecedent
Budhists. And this will be sufficient to neutralize 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.

1 10 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 re-
ligious veneration to fallen man in the ancient world.
Each country assumed a suitable form to their pro-
pensities and peculiarities ; but all agreed in center-
ing the essence of their zeal upon those resplendent
orbs to whom they were indebted for so many com-
mon benefits. Those mysteries of faith to which the
" initiated " alone had access, and which were dis-
guised in the habiliments of symbols and of veils,
were neither more nor less than representative forms
of generation and production. These w r ere 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 semi-
circular rotations of those bright objects of their re-
gard *.

The Eleusinian f 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

* 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 tri-
umphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the
sea." Exod. xv. 20, 21.

t The origin of this word shall be explained hereafter.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. Ill

upon her no seed bringing forth fruit until, as the
Apostle has affirmed *, it first dies the representa-
tion 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 connexion between
the worship of the ancients and their sexual cor-
respondence, 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, how-
ever, is too apposite to be omitted here, and that is
the term by which they designated a certain cere-
mony 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

* " 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.

112 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

symbol of production which all other classes of idola-
tors 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 mid 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, indiscrimi-
nately, 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 Zarado-
beira, 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 any thing 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 113

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 re-
fining 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 irre-
verent 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.* "

The good works which they were additionally en-
joined 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 f. By " Bavana " was

* 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.

t 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 anno-
tator, is, with the column on which it appears, nothing else than a record
of the triumphs obtained by a hero of the Braminical party in exter-
minating the Budhists. The frequent allusion to the " lustful ele-

I i

1J4 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 *.

The exposition of the terms Tuath and de, as pre-
fixes to Danaa?is, forming with it the compound Tuath-
de-danaan, I shall reserve for a more befitting place.

phants," 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 heing 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.

* 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 sub-
version ; and a particular locality within its district, where St. Patrick
was born, was called Nemph- Th ur, that is, the holy tower, correspond-
ing to Btidh-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 edi-
fices, 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 115

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 Hiber-
nia. The great Bochart, the uncertain Valiancy, 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 Dic-
tionary 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 * 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 man-
kind has turned to profit, or even known to exist, while
with us it was an exotic until a very recent period.f

* 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.''

t All our ancient swords were made of brass.

i O

11G THE ROUND TOWERS.

But admitting that Eirin or Erin did signify the Land
of Iron, then its Greek formation lerne must convey
the same idea, and so must Hibernia, their Latin inflec-
tion ; 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 analyze
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 mis-
represent, I shall let him speak for himself: viz. " Ire-
land, from its luxuriant vegetation, obtained the epi-
thet Green, and has preserved, with a slight alteration,
the name Erin." *

So that a country which piques itself on its Irishry,
has remained ever without a cognomen, until the Eng-
lish language has been matured ; and then, in compli-
ment 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 dege-
nerate 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 disbe-
lief 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.

* Gibbon, vol.ii. p. 527. 4to. 1781.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 117

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," per-
haps, may laugh, but " the philosopher/' who has any
regard for the right thinking of society, and the im-
planting 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 1

How opposite has been the conduct of the learned
Abbe Mac Geoghegan as to the origin of this abstruse
word ! After reviewing, in his able work * f the opi-
nions 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, which
has been already referred to.

" Ast hinc, cluobus in Sacrum sic Insulam
Dixere prisci solibus cursus rati est ;
Hsec 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

* Histoire d'lrelande, vol. i. cap. 7.

118 THE HOUND TOWERS.

the men of old. A rich gleby soil distinguishes this
favourite of the waters ; and the race of the Hiber-
nians 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 con-
versant with letters, whether it was as a vernacular
epithet, or not rather in compliance with his hexame-
ters, and the rules of metrical versification, which
rendered inconvenient the exhibition of the name it-
self, 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 Arca-
dians, Arcadia ? Consequently, the land inhabited by
the people styled Hibernians must, by universal ana-
logy, 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 anti-
quity."

Himilco, be it remarked, flourished six hundred
years before the name of Christianity was mentioned
in the world; and when his acquaintance with this

THE ROUND TOWERS. 119

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*.

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 incen-
tive 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 over-
awe, than from any hopes of succeeding * ; 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 synonimous. It is not
by his authority that I mean to establish the fact ; for
even admitting his cognizance 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 fore-

* Melius (Hibernia) quam Britannise) aditus portusque per comraercia
ct negociatores cogniti. Tacit., vit. Agricol. 499.
t Plus in metum quan in spem.

120 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ground 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 excep-
tion 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*. Nor will the cir-
cumstance of his applying to it, in another place, the
variation Im, detract from this fact; as it is evi-
dent 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 (,
he gave birth to a conception which strangled the
original. J

* " uax-.o xxi rut BaiTrcctut rev; cmairct; rni otefiagaftiini If.

Diod. Sic. lib. v.

t 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.

I 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 121

In the " Life of Gildas," an early and eminent Eng-
lish ecclesiastic, we find it called Iren, when the bio-
grapher, 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.*

Ordericus Vitalis, in his " Ecclesiastical History f,"
having occasion to mention the Irish, calls them by the
name of Irenses, equivalent to Iranians, that is, inha-
bitants of Iran, Iren, or Inn, whichever of them you
happen to prefer. And as these are now established
as the basis of our general search, I shall address my-
self, without further digression, to their syllabic ana-
lysis.

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 whi-
ther 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 opera-
tive 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 mira-
culous, retains the same appellation, with literal pre-
cision, unimpaired, unadulterated, in both countries, up
to the moment in which I write.

* Iren perrexit ut et aliorum Dootorum sententias in philosophicis at-
quc divinis litteris investigator curiosus exquireret. Vita Gildac, cap. 6.
t Lib. x. Anno 10'J8.

122 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Palahm* 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 de-
nominated from lar, the West unless, indeed, they
can substitute East for West, and show that Persia was
denominated from lar also.'}" Entangled in this di-
lemma, the amiable old General Valiancy, without in-
timating, 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 ex-
ploded Western Will o' the Wisp exclaims, in a sen-
timent 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."

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

* 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.

t Besides, to speak accurately, this is not a western country at all, or
only so relatively to Britain, Gaul, and that particular line.

j Collect, dc Reb. Hib. vol. iv.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 123

quarter : one by Professor Heeren, of the Gottingen
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 in-
spection.

" 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*."

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 unac-
countable 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 re-
spectable 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

* Antiq. Research. Pcrs. vol.i. p. 137.

J24 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ancient epithet from the fixedness of that metal ; and
thus would one ex abundantid, and the other ex simi-
litudine, 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 repre-
sented first grew into use * !

" 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 t to Moullah Feroze, a
learned priest of the Parsees, at Bombay, and he
assured me that the translation of De Sacy was cor-
rect. Ferose 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 in-

* 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 J[ am
not justified in understanding him as I do.

t 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 excel-
lent Shapoor ; king of kings : of Iran and An-Iran ; a celestial germ of
a heavenly race ; grandson of the excellent Hormuzd ; king of kings. 11

THE ROUND TOWERS. 125

terpreted 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 ex-
press 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 interpre-
tation ; 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 before-
hand.

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, conse-
quently Eeran must believers alone, without any con-
sideration of the word country. And the same in-
consistency, 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

12G THE ROUND TOWERS.

misconception. Eeran is not a plural at all, but a
compound word : its constituents being Eer and An *,
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 in-
habited by " Nomad tribes," obtained not its name from
that circumstance, but from a widely different one.
Tur f means prolific, whether as regards population or
rural produce ; and An, as before, a territory the
whole betokening a prolific territory J. And he should
remember, what he is not at all unconscious of, that
eastern denominations are not varied by recent occu-
pants, but continue in uninterrupted succession, from
age to age, as imposed at the outset.

* This An, the original name for country, was modified afterwards,
according to clime and dialect, into tan, as in Aqui-fcm-ia, Brit-/an-ia,
Mauri-fan-ia, &c. ; and into stan, as in Curdi-s&m, Fardi-/aw, Hindu-
stan, &c.

t From this was formed the English word tower, the very idea re-
maining 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.

I 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 consecu-
tively possessed it.

127

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, sur-
rounded 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 fre-
quently 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 character-
istic ; whereas Persia, not being so circumstanced, is
mentioned only by the general form of Iran.

128 THE ROUND TOWERS.

To simplify this reasoning I must repeat that Iran *
signifies the SacredLand, and InVf, 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 J.

In/i, then, is the true, appropriate, characteristic and
specific denomination belonging to this island : and
the words Ire, Eri, EreJ, 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 mer-
chants, to the early Greek inhabitants ; and they,
by a very easy process, commuted Irin to le'rne, which
is but a translation of the word legos, signifying
sacred, and vyog an island.

Of this Greek form, lerne, there were again various
inflections and depraved assimilations, such as lernis,
luernia, Ouvernia, Vernia, &c. And from one || of
those, the Latins, without, perhaps, exactly knowing

* From Tr or Eer, sacred, and an a land.

From Ir or Eer, sacred, and in an island.

$ Iran or Irin, i. e., Eeran or Eerin.

$ 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.

I mean the " Greed vetustissimi" not the " Grceculi esurientes."

|| Namely, hernia :u, v, and b are commutable.

T H E II O U X n TOM" E RS. ] 2 9

what it meant, conjured up Hibernia, but which, how-
ever, with soul-stirring triumph, retains uninjured our
original root the initial H being nothing more than
the aspirate of the Greek Ispog, sacred; vr t os, island,
remaining unaltered ; and the letter b only interposed
for sound-sake *.

So that, whether we consider it as Irin, lerne, or
Hibernia, or under the multiplied variations which di-
verge, almost interminably, from those three originals,
in the several languages which they respectively re-
present, 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 asper-
sions 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 ddineatory name ; and have
proved, beyond the possibility of rational contradic-
tion, 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 gen-
tlemen to adopt, as cloaks to their 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 cir-

* 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 with-
out a b ; as they indifferently used b or v in one of the above names for
Ireland ; for instance

"A( 'RoifU.iihi; lift $vj ttfot, Qvift't* xi AZ.WIM, r,rai B-cv. KXI AXf-nuv.

EustatK ad Dion. Perieg.
K

J30 THE ROUND TOWERS.

cumstantial 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 lite-
rature 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 *, I pretend not to be unique ;
and, as I should not wish to deprive any brow of the

* 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 131

laurels which it has earned more especially, where
an undisputed enjoyment has amounted to prescrip-
tion, I shall register, in express words, my prede-
cessor's own expose, which is, that " the isle must
have been so named because of its nurturing no ve-
nomous reptile* " /// 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 occu-
pying proprietors ; and lest there should be any mis-
conception as to the species of worship whence that
" sanctity " had emanated, they gave this scene of its
exercise three other names, viz. Fuodhla, Fudh I?iis,
and Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh f which at once associate
the " worship" with the profession of the worshippers :
for f t or ph, being only the aspirate of b, and corn-
mutable with it, Fuodhla which is compounded of
Fuodh and ila, this latter signifying land becomes
Buodhla that is, Budhland J. Fudh Inis, by the
same rule, is reducible to Budh Inis, of which the
latter means island, that is, Budh-w/ad<; while Inis-
u&-Bhfiodhbhtidh 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 expres-
sion for the deities worshipped by the females of

* " Quod noraen ob beati solum ingenium, in quo nullam animal ve-
nenosum vitale, facile assentior attributum." Ogyg. part i. c. 21. So
gratifying, however, has this been to the obsequious wisdom of subse-
quent historians (?), as to be echoed from one to the other with the most
commendable fidelity. " O imitatores, servum pecus /''

t Pronounced Fiodhvadh copied literally from the old manuscripts.

$ This corresponds to Ir-an, the Sacred Land.

This answers to Ir-in, the Sacred Island.

K 2

132 THE ROUND TOWERS.

the Tuath-de-danaans, to have been Badhha, Macha,
and Moriagan.* Of these the first needs no exposition ;
the second I shall reserve for another place, but the
third I will here develope. He was the military deity
of this " sacred" colony, and a personification of
Budh, under the designation of Farraghf, i. e. Copu-
lation ; and, accordingly, the Scythians, who incor-
porated 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 J.

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 sun-
shine of their resplendent war-god, who, under an-
other and equivalent denomination namely Buodh,
abbreviated into Boo^, and thus with the prefix
a, implying to, or under the auspices of assumed
by the different septs as their distinctive watch-
words, branched out into the national and spirit-

T * 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 / now cull out of it those three names,
as one would a casket of jewels from a lumber-room.

t This Farragh, otherwise Phearragh, is the Peor of the Scriptures,
and the Priapus of the Greeks.

$ " Priapus, si physice consideretur idem est ac sol ; ej usque lux primo-
genia unde vis omnis seminatrix." Diod. Sic. lib. i. See also Numb. xxv.
ver. 4., where you will see that " Peor" remotely meant the sun.

$ 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.

THE HOUND TOWEUS. 133

stirring acclamations of O'Brien a-Boo * ! O'Neil
a-Boo ! &c. &c. ; which the early English settlers, who
would fain become Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores, after-
wards imitated : such as Butler a-Boo ; Shanet-a-
Boo ; Grasagh a-Boo ; Crom a-Boo, &c. ; the last
having been that adopted by Fitzgerald, duke of Lein-
ster, 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 Far-
ragh have made a very blunt conjecture." Ohpatria!
Oh mores ! how little is known of Ireland ! But I am
not surprised tit 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 com-
posed, 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 inca-
pable of separating the gold from the baser metal, in-
credulity 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 main-
tained in the old world a religious and incessant com-

* The motto, also, of this family, viz. Lamh laider a-Boo ; i. e. " The
strong arm from Boo," now changed to Vigueurdu dessus, is in keeping
with the same idea.

134 THE HOUND TOWERS.

munication 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 calumniators must, of itself, bring
dismay, with the whole train of confusion and dis-
honour, 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 his-
torians. They did as much as, under the circum-
stances, could be expected at their hands. Two suc-
cessive 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* the patriot had little more to guide him in
supplying the deficiencies thus created, than the rude
imaginings 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

* This is the mere utterance of an historical transaction, without refer-
ence to sect, creed, party, or politics. No feelings of bitterness mingle
therein. The author disclaims all such, as much as he would deprecate
them in others.

THE ROUND TOA\'RS. 135

individuals to prosecute an inquiry for additional me-
morials; and the result was, that they rose from the
pursuit, if not with a connected aggregate of demons tra-
tional evidence, at least with a conviction on their minds,
that those treasured visions of primeval lustre, here-
ditary 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 unge-
nerous 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 an-
tiquities ; 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 As-
trology. 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,

130 THE IlOLN'n TOWERS.

not only of insular, but, if properly handled, of almost
universal elucidation * : and of this Toland himself
was, in some measure, aware, when he said that " not-
withstanding 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 mytho-
logy 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 for-
tune of Ireland, hitherto, to meet with any historian
gifted with the widely comprehensive, philosophical

* In the Library of Trinity College, Dublin are several such, collected
in the beginning of last century, by Lhuyd, author of the " ArchsD-
ologia," 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 re-
lating to our antiquities, taken away by the Danes, after their memor-
able 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 pur-
pose, but that his appointment was afterwards countermanded, for poli-
tical reasons.

There are, besides, in mostly all the public libraries of Europe with-
out 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 then- 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 ! Cen-
coradh (the name of his patron's favourite palace), where is Brian ':" was
picked up in the Netherlands, in 1 650, by Fergar O'Gara, an Augustinian
friar, who lied from Ireland in the iron davs of Cromwell.

THE ROUND TOWERS. J37

views and suitable education calculated to do her jus-
tice : 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*.

I now beg leave to introduce this identical war-god,
in his military costume and hyperborean philebeg,
in which, as before observed, the Scythians never in-
vested themselves ; and hope the reader will enjoy a
hearty laugh at the expense of those blunderers, who,
in their preposterous, 1 had almost said repentant, de-
votion 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 ma-
gicians ; 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^."

* 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.

t 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 ever}' thing like culture in the country upon them. It
used not to have been so !

138

THE ROUND TOWERS.

"To this deity in particular they apply themselves
for success when they go out a hunting or faking, and
for the relief of all such as are indisposed * ! Miramba

* This image was found under the root of a tree dug up in Roscom-
naon. It is about the size of the drawing ; is made of brass, once gilt,
the gilding, however, now almost worn ofl'; and may be seen in the Museum
of Trinity College, Dublin.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 139

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 substan-
tial 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 cer-
tain occasions, and the ceremonies 'belonging to them
are performed twice a-day. Mahadeo is the great god
of the mountains *."

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 f ?" Ecclesiastic,
indeed ! Yes ; but reverenced and revered, by many a
beating heart, as the head of all ecclesiastics, for cen-
turies upon centuries, before the name of monachism,
as connected with Christianity, was ever articulated !

* Major Archer's Travels in Upper India, vol. i. pp. 383, 384. Lond. 1833.
( So the " collective wisdom," in the true spirit of Christian resti-
tution and penitential contrition, have lately pronounced him ! It is

140

THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 ferentcs," would be (heir answer.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 141

This, Sir, is no less a personage than Mr. Budha him-
self, 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 un-
courtly treatment he has received during the humi-
liating 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 for-
merly 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 neces-
sary 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 re-
presented, as he commonly is, in the priestly habit*".

* 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.

142

CHAPTER XL

PHARAOH * the titular appellation of the monarchs of
Egypt, being but the local modification of this our
Irish Phearagh, the mind is instinctively directed to-
wards 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 Ma-
netho, a priest of the country, thus transmits :

" We had formerly," says he, " a king named Ti-
maBUS, 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 oppo-
sition. Their behaviour to the natives was very bar-
barous ; 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

* The Egyptian sovereign assumed this title, as the highest that lan-
guage 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 Evipytns, " Benefactor,"
or even that by which we designate our king as the fountain of goodness.
There being no such letter &s ph in the ancient alphabets, all those words
viz. Pheor, Pharaoh, and Pharagh should properly be spelled Feor,
Faraoh, and Faragh.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 143

dialect, signifies a ' king,' as the latter, in the popular
language, signifies ' a shepherd.' These two com-
pounded together constitute the word Huksos. These
people are said to have been Arabians."

The Vedas, or Sanscrit records of Hindustan, fur-
thermore 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 *.

They did not go, however, without leaving behind
them other signs. The pages of Herodotus afford
ample evidence of the resemblance between the Egyp-
tian customs and those of the more remote East. By
his description of the rites and ceremonies, the mode
of life, &c., 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 f ; 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, pro-
strated themselves before the remains of the ancient
temples, and offered up adoration to them ; declaring,
upon being asked the reason of this strange conduct,

* Gen. xlvi. 34.

t " 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."

144 THE ROUND TOWERS.

that they saw sculptured before them the Gods of their
country *."

But the most stupendous and appalling memento of
their dominion and science was the three great pyra-
mids of Geeza, the erection of which, Herodotus
assures us, (B. ii. 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 ostenta-
tion, 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 down-
wards. 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 struc-
ture are very nearly the same with the largest Gezite

* Barker. The same is mentioned by Captain Burr, in reference to
the Indian followers who had attended him to the temple of Isis.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 1 4o

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 *. 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 ; coat-
ing, 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 unin-
terrupted range, for many miles in a southerly direc-
tion, 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

* Mr. Greaves's diagonal, in proportion to his base of 694 feet, is 991
feet nearly ; the half of which is 495J 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 as 7 to 10, or 706 to 1000. Say, 7 : 10 :: 694 : ^- = 4954,
Dissertation upon the Pyramids.

140 THE ROUND TOWERS.

7Tupo$, wheat, and ajuiaa> 3 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 Trug, fire ; as this
not only labours under the weakness of the former,
but betrays an ignorance of the correct idea of the
Greek word Trugyog, of which TTU^, fire, is the true
derivation, " quia flammaB instar in acutum tendit * ;"
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 f, 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 diiferent 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

* Sehindl. + Gen. xlvii.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 147

conjecture of Lacroze *, 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 f, that the priests of Egypt kept
in a spacious building large images of wood, repre-
senting 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 cele-
brated bishop of Gyrene, in his treatise " on Provi-
dence/' 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 be-
fore their kings were reckoned in a genealogical order
by Peirom after Peirom."

The Japanese celebrate an annual festival in honour
of one Peirun, who, they say, was many ages ago
king of Formosa, and who, being disgusted with the

* Hist. Christ, des Indes, p. 429.
I- Lib. ii. p. 4.

L 2

148 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 commemora-
tion.

The true Coptic name for those edifices, is Pire
monc which signifies a sunbeam * 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 Exod. ix. 8, 10, that they were en-
gaged in other servile offices ; as also from Psalm
Ixxxi. 6, where it is said, " I removed his shoulder

* *""? generally rendered fire, is not so, however, in the true import of
the word, but the Sun : fire is onlv a secondary sense of it.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 149

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 *.

This ascription receives further countenance from a
passage in Diodorus, i. 2, where, referring to those
immense piles, and the ideas of the Egyptians them-
selves respecting them, he adds, " they say the first
was erected by Armasus, 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 Armseus, why
it bears so evident an affinity with Aramaeus or Ara-
mean, that one cannot avoid connecting it with the
" Aramite ready to perish," the very name given to
Jacob, Deut. xxvi. 5 f. 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 na-
tions to employ captive foreigners on servile and labo-
rious 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

* Barker. t Ibid.

150 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 tyrannized 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 per-
formance 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 rea-
sons : 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 pro-
bable indeed, that the Israelites may have been occu-
pied 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 victo-
rious invaders would single out the inoffensive Israel-
ites as particular objects of their oppression, when

THE HOUND TO WE US. 151

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 chas-
tisement.

Besides this, that deadly animosity existing in the
Egyptian mind to the name and profession of shep-
herds, above alluded to, at once identifies their
character with that of the " Uksi," or " King-shep-
herds," 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 Egyp-
tians ; and accordingly he acquaints his brothers,
whose " trade also had been about cattle," that
" every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyp-
tians *."

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."

* Gen. xlvi. 3-1.

1-52 THE ROUND TOWEKS.

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 con-
sequent flight, he dropped this name to ensure conceal-
ment, 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 du-
bious character. The idea of interpolation I altoge-
ther_waive it is, at all times, a contemptible subter-
fuge. 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 indis-
tinctness, attaching a term of obloquy to those edifices,
without condescending to offer therefor any cause.
Here are his own words : " When time had oblite-
rated the benefits of Joseph, and the kingdom of
Egypt had passed into another family, they inhu-
manely 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,

THE ROUND TOWEUS. 153

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 ter-
ritory, that those immense edifices happen to be situ-
ated 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 (Exodus x. 19), Goshen, which we
find, by Genesis 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 prefecture, 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

154 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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, in-
deed, it is not at all improbable but that active legis-
lative 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 disquisi-
tions 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 con-
quest," and established therein the peculiar rites of
their religion, with the elements of literature and
social civilisation, yet is it probable that, during their
sojourn, which, we have seen, was a continued series
of warfare, they kept themselves aloof from all inter-
course 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

THE HOUND TOM'EUS. 155

Moses, and long after, their learning and accomplish-
ments 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 *, for any one to affect disbelief in them
without at the same time disbelieving the authenticity
of the Scriptures themselves. Yes, I implicitly sub-
scribe 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-ScythaB, or Cushite shepherds who, if
not all one and the same, were at least mixed and incor-

* Exod. vii. 11, &c., and 2 Tim. iii. 8.

156 THE ROUND TOWERS.

porated 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 *.

* 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 hy walls, cloisters, and gates ;
in the centre was raised a high tower of a pyramidical form, hroad at the
hase, 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."

157

CHAPTER XII.

I COME now, with the same view, to consider the
destination of their famous " Pyramids*." 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 aper-
tures 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 suffi-
ciently explored, there would be found, in some at
least, regular vistas to correspond with this de-
scription. 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

* 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.

158 THE ROUND TOWERS.

were solely intended for astronomical uses ; and cer-
tainly, if not altogether true, it bespeaks, at all events,
an intimate acquaintance with astronomical rules *,
as well as a due regard to the principles of geometry]'.
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 con-
tain 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

* 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 memorialized 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.

t I have not the least doubt but the ancient Egyptians measured by
the cubit, whatever it then was; that the number of cubits was de-
signedly 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 -^ 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 159

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 * 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 dis-
coveries 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 ex-
quisitely beautiful sarcophagus of alabaster, nine feet
five inches long, by three feet nine inches wide, and
two feet and an inch high, covered within and without
with hieroglyphics, and figures in intaglio, nearly in
a perfect state, sounding like a bell, and as transpa-
rent as glass : from the extraordinary magnificence of

* Then Major Fitzclarence, March 2nd, 1818.

160 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 re-
ferred, appears to throw some light on the intricate
subject which we are now pursuing. In lib. ii.
p. 124, &c. " 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 pyra-
ramids 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 characterized 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 al-
ready established, or else, from the ignorance superin-
duced 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

Till. UOl.Vn TOM'KRS. 161

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 any thing. 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 con-
ceded by every one, who has carefully perused the
arguments here set down, and who has not his judg-
ment 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*," 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 Calif Being answered that such com-
munication 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 J 55 feet, the three succes-
sive reservoirs. The principal oblique passage has,
since then, been traced by the very enterprising master
of a merchant vessel, Captain Caviglia, 200 feet far-

* Asiatic Researches.

1G2 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ther 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, 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
ctiamber, 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 con-
trivance, 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 oppor-
tunity 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 pyramid's were
sufficiently examined, there would not be wanting indi-
cations of subterraneous passages. I am the more
confirmed in this my belief from the appearances that

THE ROl'XI) TOWERS. ] C3

presented themselves on the demolition of that at
Downpatrick, in 1790, " to make room for the rebuild-
ing of that part of the old cathedral next which it
stood, and from which it was distant about 40 feet.
When the tower was thrown down," continues Dubour-
dieu, 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 con-
tinuation of the church wall, which, at some period
prior to the building of the tower, seemed to have ex-
tended considerably beyond it." With great defer-
ence, however, to the authority of so respectable a
writer, I hesitate not to proclaim that the second foun-
dation 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 Vihdr, 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.* "

Nor ought this relict of an ancient pagan edifice to
excite our surprise, when we are told that the temple

* Scientific Tourist through Ireland, p. 33.

M 2

1G4 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

of the " Syrian goddess," which existed in the days of
Lucian, was not that which was originally erected by
Deucalion, but one built maty ages after, on the same
site, by Attis, Bacchus, or Semiramis.

With the church, therefore, or other Christian edi-
fice, 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 Dal-
fiatachs, 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 con-
verted, 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*;" different, therefore, from that of
the cathedral, as was also its form : having been built
from north to south, at the solicitation of Dichu him-
self, agreeably to the plan of the former store-house.

This took place in 433-4 ; and though, for conces-
sion sake, I may admit, what yd 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 be-

* Usher's Primord. c. xvii. p. 846.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 165

neath, and connected with, our Round Towers, 1 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 cata-
combs 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 pro-
bably a place of sepulchre *."

With the opinion of this judicious traveller I alto-
gether concur, provided only, as said before, in refer-
ence 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 ho-
mage though only commemorative, as they will tell
you of the One Great Supreme f.

* Journal, pp. 21, 23.

t Neither can I, with him, restrict their object to Tombs alone ; their
Phallic shape bespeaks another allusion ; as does the style of archi-
tecture indicate an affinity of descent, though not an identity of design
with that of our Towers.

1G6 THE ROUND TOWERS.

This extension of the use will at once afford a
solution of the otherwise unaccountable and unneces-
sary 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 Hero-
dotus'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 1 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.

rut; KOUXD TO WEKS. |(!7

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 acci-
dental propinquity of this element ? Remember my
remark upon the article, before, in connexion 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 Mujelle-
bah," 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 al-
ready appeared, and the hollow sounds, or echoes,
which invariably accompany, the proposition does not

168 THE ROUND TOWERS.

come unwarranted, however singly put forth, or with-
out 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, were 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 nar-
rated, something similar to which our ancestors must
formerly have practised here.

" I have," says Lucian *, " 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 com-
memoration 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

* In his treatise " De Dea Syria."

THE ROUND TOWERS. 169

certain pegs, which stuck out of its sides for the pur-
pose, 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 necessaries in the way of food,
and withal prepared himself a seat, or rather nest
on his aerial tabernacle.

View him now mounted on his sacred tower,
He looks around with conscious sense of power.

On these occasions crowds used to come with offer-
ings, 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.

170 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 Exodus
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 judg-
ments; and all the people answered with one voice,
and said, ' All the words which the Lord hath said,
will we do*.' '

His staying there seven days corresponded with
Levit. 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 com-
manded to do, to make an atonement for you. There-

* 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 171

fore 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, Ezekiel 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 Exodus 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, Exodus
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 ap-
pearing 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. Mean-
while, 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.

172 THE ROUND TOM EUS.

It has already appeared that one of the names of the
Syrian goddess, in whose honour the Hieropolitan
Priaps were erected, was Rimmo?i. 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 *,
it must occasion you no surprise if, by and by, I dis-
cover it amongst the mouldings f of our consecrated
and venerable Round Towers.

As to their devotions at the lake, and the propin-
quity of the lake itself to the temple, it is in direct
similitude to the " molten sea," mentioned 1 Kings viii.
23, 24, 25, 26, u the brim whereof was wrought like
the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies," &c. ; while
the cruel and shocking sacrifice with which the whole
terminated, was the exact respondent of the Mosaical
scape-goat J.

Let it not be wondered at, therefore, if on the sum-
mit of one of our Round Towers are to be found
the traces of the apparatus for a bell. For indepen-
dently 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

* The Ghabres to this day chew a leaf of it in their mouths, while
performing their religious duties round the sacred fire.

t Those are what Montmorency would fain make out to have been
roses imported from the Vatican.

J A similar sacrifice is described by Major Archer as still practised in
the mountains of Upper India, which he himself witnessed. " An un-
fortunate 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."

THE ROUND TOWERS. 173

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 essen-
tially 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 Mahomedans, in their minarets, did so
likewise *.

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 accept-
ing of any remuneration for his labour, we find, in an

* " Round the tee 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 tee or umbrella is to be seen on every sacred building
that is of a spiral form ; the rising and consecration of this last and in-
dispensable appendage, is an act of high religious solemnity, and a
season of festivity and relaxation. The present king bestowed the tee
that covers Shoemadoo : it was made at the capital. Many of the prin-
cipal nobility came down from Ummerapoora to be present at the cere-
mony 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 rivetted to the spire. Round the lower rim of the
tee are appended a number of bells, which agitated by the wind make a
continual jingling." SYMES.

174 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ancient life of Cadoc, in the Tinmouth MS., Lam-
beth observe 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*.
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 f. 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 J.

The shape of the Irish pagan bells was precisely

* " 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 atmo-
sphere, and afflict their country." Dissertation upon the Pyramids.

t 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 Patridus who first presented one
to Sancto Kierano. I make no question of the present : but does pre-
sentation imply invention ?

$ 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 particu-
lar 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 has sometimes happened."

THE ROUND TOWERS. 175

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 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 wor-
ship 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 ty-
pifying 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 cor-
rosion, 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 as-
certained I cannot presume to determine; nor in-
deed does it value much *. With one thing, however,

* A communication from Mr. Hall himself, just imparted, assures
me that, as far as he could judge, the aperture was coeval with the in-
strument, and by no means accidental.

170 THE ROUND TOWERS.

1 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 Budhists, 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.

177

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 neces-
sary 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* 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

* " This word is generally supposed to be derived from Pars, 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 Mahomet'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 king-
dom 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 erro-
neous : 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 MaJ<-lin.

178 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 proper-
ties they typically symbolized 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 conscious-
ness 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*," 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,

* These quotations from the professor's book are not given consecu-
tively as he wrote them ; but brought together from detached sections
and chapters.

TllF. ROUXD TOWERS. 179

(the Arabians excepted,) from the Mediterranean to
the Indus and laxartes. 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 consi-
deration we must never lose sight of, when engaged
in the study of their history and institutions."

" Not only is Persia f Proper memorable on ac-
count 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 unob-
servant 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 ;

* Pars is the Persian, Pars the Arabic, pronunciation of the word.

N 2

180 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 com-
posed."

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 insensi-
bility 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, inhabit-
ing a hilly region*;" but those writers were as misin-
formed, as to all events and particulars relating to this

* 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. 69o.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 181

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 |?e seen how fragile a
substratum was that which the professor had adopted
for the erection of his materials. We read accord-
ingly, 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 ancie?it
inscriptions on them, I made inquiry after the mean-
ing 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
spead itself from east to west. All that is meant
to be asserted is, that the various races who succes-
sively 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 cele-
brated for their fertility, are at present barren and

182 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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, particu-
larly 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 belongs, in Persia, the Zend and Pehlivi, already
mentioned ; in Hindostan, 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, &c.) 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 183

defective to enable us to speak with any thing 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 Hindostan, should be
established, if the spirit of discovery, which charac-
terizes 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 illus-
trated 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 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 con-
siderable 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

184 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 an-
cient 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 (accord-
ing to Strabo) formed only a part, distinguished by its
superior fertility. Herodotus appears to have been
unacquainted with the term Aria ; he merely men-
tions 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 ex-
tended to the countries lying eastward, and as these
touched on Bactria, we cannot be surprised at the con-
formity which prevailed."

These latter quotations I have thought fit to intro-
duce 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 *, being

THE ROUND TOWERS. 185

called, in the Zend, Eriene, the Greeks, whose inter-
course with the East now for the first time began, with-
out 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 lerne, thereby evincing their knowledge of the
import of the term, and registering their subscription
in its sacred attributes *.

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 im-
portant particulars respecting their descent, their
ancient abodes, and their gradual dissemination
through the land of Iran. These traditions are pre-
served 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 two first chapters of this
work, entitled Fargards, contain the above traditions,

in rtn T^ffdoxrev Baxroiiuv xai 2ay3/awv. tin ya.^ -rus KO.I ofiuy\uTTi>i fa.^a. ftixgoy.
Strabo, p. 1094.

* All the other variations are thus similarly accounted for ; being but
offshoots of the same radix, such as I have already shown, page 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 evi-
dently but the translation of Lough.

186 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 ac-
quainted 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 at-
tested in the vicinity of the parent country of these
legends, by the remains of the elephant, the rhino-
ceros, and the mammoth, and other countries pro-
perly 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- Feed/0, 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 187

" 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 un-
satisfactory to any one 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 Orrnuzd 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 Pars 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 Bu-
charia, the chain of Mustag and Beloor-land, as far
as the Paropamisan range on the confines of Hindo-
stan, 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 reliques 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, Or-
muzd prepared for them other places of repose and
abundance, within the precincts of that territory
which has preserved io the present day the appellation

188 THE HOUND TOWEUS.

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 *.

" 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 prac-
tice of the East ; and the multifarious ceremonies he
prescribed had all reference to certain doctrines inti-
mately 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 per-
petually inculcates, as if he could not sufficiently im-
press 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 de-
lusive magia, the work of Deevs, had crept in, which

* Zcndavcsta, i. 14.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 189

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 Hermip-
pus and Eudoxus, which Pliny has preserved. The
second Zoroaster, supposed by Toucher to have flou-
rished 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 inde-
pendent monarchy, a period anterior to the very com-
mencement of the Median empire, as related by Hero-
dotus, ascending beyond the eighth century before the
Christian era. Whether we must refer him to a still
more undent 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) hun-
dred 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 reli-
gions," says Sir W. Jones, " entitled the Dabistan,
and composed by a Mahomedan 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 Zer adust (Zo-

190 THE ROUND TOWERS.

roaster), 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 Gabrs, 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, before 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 Dabis-
tan, 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 importa-
tion, it partook of the peculiarities of the soil and
climate ; while, even in Persia itself, a great dege-
neracy occurred ; and the deterioration and moral
laxity, thus superinduced, was what the virtuous
Zerdust so deplored, and what kindled his fervour
to new model the system.

But ei the introduction of the angel Gabriel^ lie

THE ROUND TOWERS. 191

says, " appears of itself enough to discredit the
whole work." Was Sir John sure that this render-
ing was literal ? He himself admits that he was
" following a Mahomedan 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 pre-
sent 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 satis-
factory 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 influ-
ence on Sir John's own scepticism, when he declares,
that " The doubtful authority of this work has

192 THE HOUND TOWERS.

received some support from the recent discovery of a
volume in the ancient Pehlivi, 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 plea-
sure 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 stereo-
typed 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 cor-
rupt transmission of original pure religion.

193

CHAPTER XV.

THE objections against the Dabistan being thus
superseded ; and the idea of its being an " inven-
tion *," having never crossed any one'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 f.
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

* " 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.

t 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."

194 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 misconcep-
tion, which the above may have produced.

That Sabaism meant idolatry in the way there insi-
nuated, I utterly and altogether repudiate. It was
the religion of the early Greeks before their degene-
rate mythology had loaded it with so many absurdi-
ties * ; and that it was so, is evident from the term
in their language, which expresses " to worship," viz.,
<reo[j.at, an evident derivation, from which is angli-
cised, Sabaism f. The object of this religion was the
host of heaven, meaning the sun, moon, and stars.
The names assigned to the reputed idols, vis., Ura-
nus, 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," incontro-
vertibly demonstrate the truth of this position.

* Tout, dans le systeme primitif de la religion des Grecs, atteste la
transposition des traditions comrae des principes; tout y est vague,
sombre et confus. DE SACY.

t 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
Booh of Seth. Prideaux, part i. book iii.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 195

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
o-rspoTry, lightning ; Argues, from a.pyys> quick-flash-
ing ; and Brontes, from fipovry, thunder. Even the
celebrated name of Hercules * 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 figura-
tive 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 like-
wise remarks, " The zodiac in which the sun per-
forms his annual course is the true career which
Hercules traverses in the fable of the twelve labours;

* This is only a corruption from the Irish word Ercot, the sun.

196 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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, (ao-roo;ymov,) 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 Arnmon, in
Libya Apis, at Memphis Saturn, in Arabia Ju-
piter, in Assyria Serapis, in Egypt Helios, among
the Babylonians Apollo, at Delphi JSsculapius,
throughout Greece," &c. &c.

Even the father of history himself, the great Co-
lossus of the Greeks, whilst claiming for his country-
men 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, de-
fined 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 197

in Egypt, and India was the medium which illumi-
nated the latter country ; nothing, therefore, pre-
vents our yielding to the stream of general authority
in ascribing the introduction to the Pelasgi. The
word %$ovo$ 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 revolu-
tions 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 appear-
ances ;" 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, be-
cause 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 *."

Let us now see how the religion of the ancient
Irish harmonizes with that of the Dabistan, as illus-

* Wisdom of Solomon, xiv. 1C, 17.

198 THE ROUND TOWERS.

trated in the composition of some of our ancient
names. Here Baal or Moloch, and Astarte are ob-
viously 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 *. This name of a town and mountain

* 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, Pala-
tinus, which no doubt, to the amazement of etymological empirics is
nothing less than a compound of Baal and tinne; that is, BaaTs fire
the initial B and P being always commutable. And Aven-tinus, the
epithet of another of the Seven Mounts, is derived from Avon, 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, viz., 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 y?re-hill.
Startle not, it is a literal truth. But the Dictionaries and Lexicons say
nothing about these matters ? nay, offer other explanations f mystifica-
tions, 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 BJITWII and n^Taiix* (ni<.-
being understood). Every community had, of old, one of those Bri-
tennes, 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 199

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 *. 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 *."

The new moon nearest to the winter solstice was

* To this day, the most kindly wish, and ordinary salutation, of the Irish
peasant, continues to be Bal dhia duit, Bal dhia art, that is the god Baal
to you, or the god Baal upon you.

i-The Irish mode of expressing it is Slanfuar tu sin,agus slanadfaga
tu sin. The Cafires 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 fol-
lowing address : " We, thy servants, salute thee. Give us store of milk
and honey : increase our flocks and herds, and we will worship thee."

200 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 Ro-
man 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 *.
The crescent itself is the favourite badge of Sheevah,
the matrimonial deity of the Indians, which he is re-
presented 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 cele-
bration of Easter at the vernal equinox, with an ac-
commodating policy, retained the Baal-tinne ceremo-
nial, only transferring it to the saints' days; thus
diverting their attention from their former devotion,
and fixing it upon those who, in their zealous propa-
gation of the gospel truths, may be considered as
Christian stars ; conformably to that gracious cha-
racter 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

* The word is more mysterious, as I shall explain elsewhere.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 20 1

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 regene-
rate."

The other pagan solemnities were similarly meta-
morphosed, and partook of similar transmutations.
The first of May alone retained the name and charac-
teristics of its original appropriation, being still called
" La-Beuil-tinne," that is, the day of Baal's fire, as
familiarly as the name of 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.*"

I next turn to Killmalloch, the ancient name of
which, as given by Ptolemy, was Macollicon, a me-
tathesis for Mallochicon ; and the final, icon, which is
only a Greek termination, being taken away, leaves
Malloch, that is, Moloch, the Apollo or great divi-
nity of the ancient universe.

To divert the natives from this misplaced enthu-
siasm, one of the early converts to Christianity as-

* Hannah More.

202 THE ROUND TOWERS.

sumed to himself the name of Maloch ; and then pre-
fixing 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 " perip-
teres," 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 sub-
scribe to that evidence which the very stones pro-
claim.

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, after-
wards, 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 dimen-
sions, 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

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 203

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*."

After this transformation, Kilmalloch assumed an
entirely Christian aspect ; and the monastic buildings
that crowded the town surpassed, in their style, any
thing 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 pre-occupancv, 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 dilapi-
dated mansions, applying the apposite and melan-
choly 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 indi-
vidual to whom St. Patrick had been sold during his
captivity in this island, viz., Mz/co-Mac-Huanan, that
is, Milco, the son-of-Huanan, originated in the cir-
cumstance of the family's devotion to the service of
this idol ; and if a doubt remained as to the justness

* Bvron.

204 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 per-
suaded, 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 broke out in his castle, and so was con-
sumed by that element which he had before wor-
shipped 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 com-
pounded 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 erstron'' of the inference deduced.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 205

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 fertilizing
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 gran-
deur 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'erfiowing full *."

Lough Rea is the name of the lake above referred
to, which, from its proximity to Athlone, gives con-
current sanction to the derivation above assigned.
For Rea, in Irish, corresponds to Malcoth, or Astarte,
t. 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 t-

I should further notice, that in the Barony of
Castle-rrag//, a name which, though prefaced by a

* One superstition of the Pagans never fails to assert its influence
upon spots like this the genius loci is always ascendant. DEANK.

t Ab-roch also, the official title of Joseph, when appointed regent of
Egypt, signifies father of the king.

206 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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
solemnized all through Hindoostan, should be repre-
sented by Derg, the supposed divinity of the Shan-
non, and should have its name still more perpe-
tuated 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
characterized with relics of primeval worship, cor-
responding, 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 pre-
cincts 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

TIIK ROUND TOWERS. 207

from that pious policy before explained, as well as
from the constancy of his abode in its vicinity not
vice versa *.

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 f, 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 where the Tuath-
de-danaan kings happened to be stationed upon the
first Scythian deluge ; the word " Kill " having been

* 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.

t This adjective I apply indiscriminately to Persia or to Ireland.

$ It lies in the district of Ins-oin, which means the abode of Ma-
gicians ; corrupted now to /ra's-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 as-
sociated.

208 THE ROUND TOWERS.

prefixed to it only upon the introduction of Chris-
tianity.

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,
Grynceus *, 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 Came,
also,, meaning a heap of stones, on which an inferior
order of clergy, thence called Carneach, used to offi-
ciate, belongs to the same root, as both Ovid and
Macrobius declare that it was called, by the ancients,
Grane "f .

As Lough Rea had been dedicated to the moon, so
was the other luminary also honoured with a lake,

* His tibi Gryncei nemoris dicatur origo,
Ne quis sit lucus, qua se plus jactet Apollo.

VIRG. Eel. 6.

t 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 de-
signed , and while this latter practice is observed also in India, it ap-
pears 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 j^rotection.''

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 209

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 ; coresponding 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*." 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 connexion
there existed between the two people whom he
affected, thus ridiculously, to associate ; and any one
who attends to the position which I subjoin, inde-
pendently of many others that could be brought in
support of it, will admit the happiness of this unin-
tional coincidence. The Algan Kinese are the most
influential and commanding people in the whole of
North America; their name in Irish indicates as
much, viz., Algan- Kine, or Kine Algan^, a noble com-
munity. The language of this people is the master
one of the whole country ; and, what is truly remark-
able, understood, as Baron de Humboldt asserts, by
all the Indian nations except two. What then are
we to infer from this obvious affinity ? Most

* Ogyg. seu Rer. Iber. Chron., part i. p. 16.

i- One of the ancient names of Ireland is Inis Algan, that is, the
Noble Island.

2JO THE ROUND TOWERS.

undoubtedly, that a colony of the same people who
first inhabited Ireland, and assigned to its several
localities those characteristic names, which so discon-
certed 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 ques-
tion 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 I sis of Egypt, were
considered by the ancient Irish as united in matri-
mony.

" 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." POP K.

TIIF, HOUND TOM'KHS. 211

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 belongedto a supe-
rior 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, Apjirodite, Derceto, Militta, Butsee,
Semiramis, Astarte,J.o, Luna, Rirnmon, Lucina, Geni-
talis, Ourania, Atargatis, &c., &c., were all but ficti-
tious 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 apti-
tude 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,

p 2

212 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 cli-
mates and languages, the import, intact and un-
damaged, is still preserved in the primitive Irish
tongue, and in that alone ; and with that fertility of con-
ception whereby it engendered all myths, and kept the
human intellect suspended by its verbal phantasma-
goria, 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 micro-
scopic, moral delineation ; but to the profane and the
many was an impenetrable night, producing submis-
sion 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 pro-
pensity which we all have to the depraved, into the
most reckless indulgence and the most profligate
licentiousness.

In the limits here prescribed for the developement
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 particu-
lars 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 illustra-
tion, I shall take any two of the aggregate of names

THE ROUND TOWERS. 213

there collected, and in them exemplify what has been
said.

Suppose them to be Militia 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 connexion,
as the season of her splendour is the most suitable
for its gratification.

From Astarte (A<rrapTij), the Greeks formed Aster
(A<mjp) 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 coun-
try so many commingling ideas of tender pathos,
and of exalted adventure, as this syllabic representa-
tion of the lunar deity *.

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 recognized
upon earth, it were needless, one would hope, to
enter into a comparison, in point of antiquity, between

* The children gathered the wood, the fathers kindled the fire, and
the women kneaded the dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven.
Jerern. vii. 18.

214 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 Bud-
hism, 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.

ft The mythology of the orthodox Hindus," says
this venerable and good man, " their present chrono-
logy, 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 un-
reasonable 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 flourish-
ing society, whereas the Budhists they represent as
an inconsiderable handful : therefore," &c.

To the first I shall oppose Dr. Buchanan's testi-
mony, 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,

THE KOi:XD TOM'ERS. 215

viz., that ritual multiplications are the growth of lon-
gevity, and that the retrenchment of their number is
what reformation aspires to.

I make a free-will offering, unrestricted and unim-
peded, of all the value that can belong to Grecian
historians the Greeks, whom their own country-
man, 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 in-
scriptions, 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

216 THE ROUND TOWERS.

" strange gods," it is evident that those, which they
have in common with the Budhists, are but cull-
ings 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 *." Monsieur Gebelin is more
explicit. " Pausanias nous dit, que Mercure, le meme
que Butta, ou Budda, un des fondateurs de la doc-
trines des Paramenes, ou Brames, est appelle Para-
mon t-''

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 cor-
responds with the Chaldean 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 in
as much as they were his epithets, the correct render-
ing being red, which, added to Budh, signifies the
Red Lingam, the Sardana-palus, the Eocad, the Penis

* Lettres sur les Sciences, p. 202.
t Hist, du Calendrier, pref. p. 14.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 217

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, con-
vertible, 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* also, and naturally erect stones f, 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 lit hoi,
by which the ancients represented the bounty of Pro-
vidence. 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 J. And
while reminded by the thought, perhaps I may be per-

* Obeliscum Deo soli, special! munere, dedicatum fuisse. AMMIANUS.

fr Chinenses et Indi, praetor imagines in pagodis et delubris, prse-
grandes aliquando etiam integras rupes, presertim si natura in pyrami-
dalemformam vergebant, in idola formari solebant. HYDE.

J 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? viz.," 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. YALLANCEY.

218 THE ROUND TOWERS.

mitted, with humble deference, to suggest to literary
gentlemen occupied in the translation of Eastern
manuscripts, that whenever they meet with any pro-
per name of the inconceivable Godhead, or of any
place or temple devoted to his use, and beginning
with the word Magh ; such as Mag/i-Balli-Pura*;
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 en-
titled Kitty of Coleraine ! "

I confess I do not understand the levity of tempe-
rament 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 com-
prehensions, 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. Chris-
tianity, beyond a question, does not inculcate such
intolerance. The true follower of that faith recog-

* i. e. the (7ood-Baal-Peor.

NIK KOI ND TOWERS, 219

nizes 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 is it no less true, that, when, super-
added 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 super-human quali-
fications 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 shep-
herds. 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
Brahmaus, 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. '

220 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 *."

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 enunci-
ating a principle of the Hindoo doctrine. " The Hin-
doos," rejoined the priest, " must surely be little ac-
quainted 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

* 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."

THE ROUND TOWERS. 221

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, u is a
chain of many links, which, descending from Para-
dise, reaches, in the energetic language of Homer,

Toffdov v9' ai'Sew, ouov oi^avoy <TT' aTro yxirif,

but conducts, on the other hand, upwards to the pro-
mise, 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, symbolized 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 *."

That " the oldest record of the legend must be that

* Observations on Drakontia. London, 1833.

222 THE ROUND TOWERS.

upon which they are all founded,'" no one can gainsay,
inasmuch as the parent is always senior to the off-
spring : 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 Ox-
ford, " 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
thoughout the whole of India, as, besides the nume-
rous 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 com-

THE KOU\ I)

223

mon 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 *."

How would Mr. Deane account for this commix-
ture ? " 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 com-
pound religion, whose god was named Apollo."

But, sir, the symbols are coeval, imprinted together
upon those edifices, at the very moment of their con-
struction ; and, therefore, " no process of time " was
required to amalgamate a religion whose god (it is
true) was Apollo, but which was already insepa-
rable, and, though compound, one.

I have before established the sameness of design

which belonged, indifferently, to solar worship and to

* 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.

224 THE ROUND TOWERS.

phallic. I shall, ere long, prove that the same cha-
racteristic 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 men-
tioned by Homer in his description of the Cave of the
Nymphs, and upon which there remains a commen-
tary 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 aspi-
rants 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 man-
sions of Elysium. The Cockatrice was the snake-
god. It was also the basilisk or cock-adder. ' Habet

THE HOUND TOWERS. 225

cauclem ut coluber, residuum vero corpus ut gallus."
The Egyptians considered the basilisk as the emblem
of eternal ages : 'esse quia vero videtur <o% xvpisvsiv
xou Qavdrov, ex auro conformatum capitibus deorum
appingebant ^Egyptii.' What relation had this with
the Nehustan or Brazen Serpent, to which the
Israelites paid divine honours in the time of Heze-
kiah ? 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 un-
riddle and explain the hidden tale of this combina-
tion of hieroglyphics. We know that the sea-goat
and the Pegasus on tablets and cente viral 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 sta-
tion 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
ayaAjoara of the Persian god, was opened at Borco-
vicus only about ten years since. These, therefore,
and other similar remains, found in the Roman sta-

226 THE ROUND TOWERS.

tions 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 establish-
ment that the Knights Templars had in this neighbour-
hood."

The modesty of " V. W." is not less than his dili-
gence ; 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 know-
ledge, 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 honour* d offspring drove :
High o'er the hollow clouds the coursers fly,
And lodge the hero in the starry sky *."

*Ovid.

227

CHAPTER XVII.

" CHILLY as the climate of the world is growing
artificial and systematic as it has become and un-
willing 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 th* 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 beauti-
fully 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 : what-

228 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ever 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*, is but a dis-
tant and imperfect branch, well, in this primordial
tongue, the nursery at once of science, of religion,
and of philosophy, all mysteries, also, have been ma-
tured : 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' downfal.

How, think you, was this accomplished? By
assigning to certain terms a two-fold 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, pri-
marily, 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 in-
ward 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

* Genesis xi. 31.

[To face page 229.

FROM THE RUINS OF THE PALENCIAN CITY.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 229

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 *.

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 t 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 J !

* See pages 503 45 G for the explication of the serpent and the
rest of the allegory.

f The Betula, or birch-tree.

% Were additional proof required that this is the true solution of the
Mosaic myth, respecting the forbidden apple, it is irresistibly offered to
any one who will see that relic of Eastern idolatry, presented by Lieu-
tenant Colonel Ogg to the Museum of the East India Company, Lon-
don, 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 Deve-
nish. 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 sceptic,
even had I not put the question beyond dispute before, that they were
uniform in design, and identical in purpose.

230 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Here then we have, at length, arrived at the foun-
tain head and source of the mystery of Budhism. Eve
herself, I emphatically affirm, was the very first Bud-
hist. 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 * !

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 recognizing 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 f.

" If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ?
And if thou doest not well, a sin offering lieth at the
door^" the means of propitiation are within your
immediate reach.

* 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.
f The offerings made at the present day are precisely of the same kind.
" Boiled rice, fruits, especially the cocoa-nut, flowers, natural and arti-
ficial, and a variety of curious figures made of paper, gold leaf, and the
cuttings of the cocoa-nut kernel, are the most common." SYMES.
% Genesis iv. 7.

THE ROUND TOWEKS. 231

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, Jeho-
vah refers to the defendant's own experience and
self-convincing consciousness.

Cain, therefore, was a priest under a former dis-
pensation; 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 fol-
lows, 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
some one meeting him.

Yes, in the paradisaical state, before " sin entered
into the world," the earth was as crowded with popu-
lation 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 *.

* 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.

232 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 instru-
mental 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 con-
trary, aggravate them, from its extraordinary aspect.
Besides, in the innumerable fantasies which com-
mentators 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 acces-
sible, by only translating the original as it should pro-
perly be, thus, viz., " And God gave Cain a sig?i 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 conse-
quence 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 accept-

THE KOUXD TOWERS. 233

anre, than an inducement to annoyance, God shows
to Cain, as much in derision as in anger, the substan-
tial image of that deity to which he had but just be-
fore 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 col-
lateral 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 first is the day on which
its orgies were celebrated ; nor is the custom, even
now, confined to the British isles alone, but as natu-
rally 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 cupi-
dinum," was the goddess in whose honour those fes-
tivities were raised.

Now as astronomy was connected with all the cere-
monies of the ancients, the. sun's entrance into Taurus,
which in itself bespeaks the vigour of reanimated
productiveness, at the vernal equinox, was the sym-
bol 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

234 THE ROUND TOWERS.

at present, it occurs at a season far more advanced
than it did at first.

Theory and observation both concur in establish-
ing, that 72 years is the period which the equinox
will take to precede one degree of the 360, into which
the heavens are divided 2160 years, thirty 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 first of May,
which must certainly have been the fact at the origin
of the institution, it will prove to have been about
the 4000th before the Christian era, which exactly cor-
responds with the time of Cain, and irrefutably con-
firms the origin, which I have assigned, to the wor-
ship 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 mo-
mentous 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 lite-
rature ; 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 commence-
ment of a new dispensation, consequent upon man's
defection *.

* 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 235

Lord, from the Shaster, quotes the following ab-
stract, marking the opinion of the Easterns themselves,
as to Adam and Eve having had many contempo-
raries. 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 be-
tween 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 some-
times applied to the mysteries of other deities, belongs
more particularly to those of Bacchus *, was cele-

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."

* 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,"
suys Tigho, " otherwise called Tory Hill, in the county Kilkenny, is a

236 THE ROUND TOWERS.

bratedj 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 occa-
sion," 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 amuse-
ment." 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 sea-
son, 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 respect-
able 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

circular space, sixty-four yards in circumference, covered with stories.
In this stands a very large one, and on the east Bide another, reared
on three supporters, and containing an inscription, which in Roman
letter would exhibit " Beli Dinose."

THE ROUND TOWERS. 237

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 Na-
tions," 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 extrava-
gant 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 Cydam-
baran. 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 Ptri-Mal is but an 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-

238 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 profa-
nation.

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 some-
times 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 car-
ried 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 con-
fined to " women alone *", who, as the editor of the
" Rites and Ceremonies," &c., informs us, " go from
door to door with the image of Buddu in their hands,
calling out as they pass, ' Pray, remember Buddu f.'
The meaning is, that will enable them to sacrifice to
the god. Some of the people give them money, others

* " 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.

t 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 pre-
cepts. JOINVILLE.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 230

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 occa-
sion, would appear to have been somewhat similarly
expended, having been fl 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 *.

* Goldsmith.

240 THE ROUND TOWERS.

CHAPTER XVIII.

WHEN I cast back my eye upon this narrative, through
the long perspective of ages which it involves, I con-
fess I feel incommoded by some misgivings of self-
distrust. When I consider the mighty individuals, of
transcendant 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 illu-
siveness 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"

THE ROUND TOWERS. 241

" 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 specifica-
tion of their subject-matter, I shall, without discon-
certing the order of the above division, endeavour,
only, to rescue the points to which I refer, from im-
mersion in the first class * ; or if allowed the lati-
tude 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 |."

What do you understand by the expression " sons
of God?"

His peculiar people, you reply ; such, for instance,
as called upon his name J ; or, perhaps, Seth's de-
scendants in opposition to those of Cain, the un-
righteous.

Turn, sir, to the beginning of the first and second
chapters of Job, and read what you are there in-
formed 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

* That is, " above reason."
t Genesis vi. 2. Ibid., iv. 26.

242 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 morn-
ing stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy*."

Here allusion is made to a period antecedent to
the existence of either Cain or Set/i. 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 him-
self ~\. 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 ft the sons of God ;" and accord-
ingly 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 J."

At the commencement of the verse, whence the last
extract has been taken, you will find the name of giant

* Job xxxviii.

t In the beginning God created, &c. Gen. 1. i.
$ Genesis vi. 4.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 243

mentioned; and instantly after, as if in juxta-position,
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 trans-
lated, signifies to fall : and what, do you suppose,
constituted this apostacy ? 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 *. 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 pen-
man 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 particu-
larly 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

* 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 ! ! ! "

R 2

244 THE ROUND TOWERS.

of religious truths, to transmit to future ages, is suf-
ficiently 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 fear-
ful 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 crown-
ing 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 *.

* 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 de-

THE ROUND TOWERS. 245

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
abridgement of it, therefore, cannot be suspected of
any colouring ; and, as I like the testimony of re-
luctant witnesses, I shall even make him the inter-
preter 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 com-
piled from works of the ancient Guebrs, or worship-
pers 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

parture 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.

246 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 fa-
mily ; 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 ly-Affram, a saint-like,
retired man, to assume the government. This holy
man, who had received the title of ly (pure), from his
pre-eminent virtues, refused to attend to their request,

THE ROUND TOWERS. 247

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 insti-
tutions of Mah-abad. ly-Affram founded a new
dynasty, which was called the ly-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 retire-
ment to assume the reins of government. His suc-
cessors 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 consum-
mate, 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 deriva-
tive dress. Magh, as before explained, is good ; and

248 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Abad, an unit ; that is, when combined, the Good
One, or Unit, the author of fruitfulness and produc-
tiveness in which light alone, as all-bountiful and
all-generous, was he recognised by this family.

This unity of the Godhead was what was reli-
giously 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*."

But if Magh-abadean was the name adopted by
them with this spiritual tendency, Tuath-de-danaan
was that which pictured them a sacerdotal institu-
tion. The last member of this compound I have
already expounded. It remains that I develope what
the two first parts conceal.

Tuath, then, is neither more nor less than a dia-
lectal modification for Budh, which, according to the
license 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 Ta-
mulic admitted a final syllable, which was but an
insignificant termination, namely, en, making Pood-
en 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,

* 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 249

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 pos-
sessors 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 sig-
nify divination and wisdom, Budha, its professor, did a
divine and wise man ; and Tuath, being only a modi-
fication of the former epithet, Tuatha is the corre-
sponding transmutation of the latter.

Tuatha, therefore, signifies magicians* ; and so we
have the first component of Tuath-de-danaans elu-
cidated. The second requires no (Edipus to solve it,
De being but the vernacular term whereby was ex-
pressed the Deity ; and as I have previously esta-
blished the import of Damans to have been Almoners,
it follows that the aggregate tenour of this religious-
compound-denomination is the Magician- god-almo-
ners, or the Almoner-magicians of the Deity.

* " Tuatha Her en 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.

250 THE ROUND TOWERS.

As from Bud/i was formed Fiodh, so from Fiodh
arose Fidhius ; and as I have before shewn that Her-
cules and Deus were synonymous terms, and both
personifications of the Sun, so, accordingly, we find
that this symbolical adjunct was reciprocally appro-
priated 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 were taught at school to consider
as appeals to the God of Truth, and the Hercules of
Honour. Most assuredly those virtues are compre-
hended under the radix of the great mysterious Ori-
ginal ; but the dictionaries and lexicons that gave us
those significations, knew no more of what that Ori-
ginal was, than they did of the connexion 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 them-
selves into the physical symbolization of the radical
Budh.

What inference, I ask my reader, would he draw
from the above facts? Unquestionably that at the

THE ROUND TOWERS. 251

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."

252

CHAPTER XIX.

THE Tuath-de-danaam, or Maliabadeans, 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 exist-
ence ? In the first place, I answer that they all have
mentioned them, however unconsciously by them-
selves, 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 con-
sulted, 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, long before, co-operated. A rival
dynasty, starting up from amongst themselves, suc-
ceeded, by the issue of a religious revolution, to effect
their expulsion ; and that once ascertained the doors

THE ROUND TOWERS. 253

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 par-
ticularly 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, be
sides, 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 Sassa-
nians, 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 pre-
tends to prove as follows : " First, then," says he,
" Tuath and Pish are synonimous in the Chaldee, and
both signify mystery, sorcery, prophets, &c. : 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 sprung from the Chesdim, or
Chaldeans."

Of a piece with this was his assertion that Nuag/ia

254 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Airgiodlamh of the Irish, was Zerdust of the Per-
sians ! And wherefore, think you, reader? Because,
forsooth, Airgiodlamh signifies M/uer-hand, and Zer-
dust, 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 incerti-
tude, in which that enterprizing etymologist had, un-
fortunately, 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 indefa-
tigable he was in the attempt, he had not, himself,
the power to penetrate.

The great praise, therefore, which I would award

THE ROUND TOWERS. 255

to this writer, is that, with one leg almost in the
grave, he sat down, in the enthusiasm of a youth-
ful 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 sur-
face 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 decla-
ration, with as much exactitude as any other that
could be adduced.

Tuath, then, and pish are by no means synony-
mous ; 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 cor-
relative *.

They are the distinctive denominations for the
genital organs of both sexes, respectively Tuath sig-
nifying Ldngam ; and Pish, Yoni.

I have already explained that Tuath is but a modi-
fication 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 Bwd-de-danaan
would not sound well ; it was, therefore, made Buth-

* General Vallancey was equally ignorant as to the meaning of the
additional words De-danaan.

256 THE ROUND TOWERS.

de-danaan ; and, the initials b and t being always
convertible, hence became TwotfA-de-danaan.

The case was exactly opposite with respect to
pish : 1 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 fol-
lowed 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 farther into sh ; there-
fore, instead of PzVA-de-danaan, we make it Pish-de-
danaan.

To screen those two ligaments of sexual familiarity
from the peril of profane and irreverent accepta-
tions, 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 exposi-
tion ; and, what more appropriate one could be
devised, than that of the influence which they exer-
cised? and of the veil with which they were guarded ?

Magic, therefore, and mystery, were the two se-
condary imports, in which both were united ; and the
ambiguity thus occasioned, was what cast Vallancey

THE ROUND TOWERS. 257

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 ; collate-
rally, magic; and by convention, mystery, prophets,
legislators, &c. Pish, in like manner, or Pith, de-
notes, literally, the Yoni ; collaterally, magic ; and
by convention, mystery, prophets, legislators, &c. 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
Tzm?/-de-danaans, and Pis/j-de-danaans ; the former
expressing, literally, .LtTigcrm-God-Almoners ; and the
latter, literally, Fom-God-Almoners ; and both equally,
by convention, Mflgtc-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 Lot os *
appeared on one of their garments, with its coral

* The Lotos was the most sacred plant of the ancients, and typified
the two principles of the earth's fecundation combined the germ stand-
ing for the Lingam ; the filaments and petals for the Yoni.

258 THE ROUND TOWERS.

fruit upon it. They were surprised to think whence
it could proceed ; and the nymph, upon whose gar-
ment it was, could not resist the temptation of in-
dulging 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 con-
queror and legislator, and the nymph was afterwards
worshipped under the name of Puzza *."

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 f. 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 re-
ligion ! 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 them-
selves under the banners of Pish, and those for the
male under the standard of Budh, while both equally

* 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 !

( Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall
cleave unto his wife ; and thev shall be one flesh. Genesis xi. 24.

THE ROUXD roM'ERS. 'I'M

appealed to heaven for adjudication of their suit, by
arrogating to themselves the adjunct of De-danaan?,
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 con-
sidered as decisive of the matter in dispute, one thing
at least is certain, viz., that the PwA-God-Almoners
obtained the victory; and the Bud h-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 ac-
companying refinement and polished civilization ; 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 .jhe
occurrence which he thus transcribes.

" Yoni, the female nature, is also," says Wilford,
" derived from the same root (j/u, 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 ;

s 2

260 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 re-united 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 agree-
ment, to create apart a new race of men *. 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 com-
plexions 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 Ldngqjas 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 f ; but he would spare

* " 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 god-
dess, effected a reconciliation between them; hence the navel of Vishnu,
by which they mean the os tincce, is worshipped as one and the same
with the sacred Yoni."

t She " made use of the same artifice the old woman, called Baubo,

THE ROUND TOWERS. 261

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 testi-
mony, adduced upon a different occasion, that in-
stances of such confusion were neither unfrequent
nor uncommon *. But even admitting it to be accu-
rate, 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 suc-
cess, one side being up to-day, and another upper-
most 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 mas-
ters 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

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."

* But such is the confusion and uncertainty of the Hindu records,
that one is really afraid of forming any opinion whatever. WILFORD.

262 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 ope-
rating, after a long interval of time, is what, the his-
torian 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 under-
stood and practised with an exception in favour of
the ancient Persians, whose duels, or combats (which
were frequent), were generally with the most distin-
guished 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 civilization. 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 country-
men, to have made any serious alterations in so im-
portant an 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 pre-
sence of their mothers. There can be no stronger

THE ROUND TOWERS. 263

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 *."

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 hist.

* Sir John Malcolm, vol. i. p. 270.
t Thomson.

264

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 connexion
with Persia; and yet unnoticed, the while, by them-
selves, 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-dka-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 de-
cline its solution, as not necessary for my design.
" A piece of sugar, or a morsel of pepper, in a neg-
lected corner of a village inn, would be a certain

THE ROUND TOWERS. 265

proof," says Heeren, " of the trade with either Indies,
even if we possessed no other evidences of the com-
merce of the Dutch and English with those countries."
And when I have already made the coincidences be-
tween 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 *.

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 terra-
queous 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 be-
hind, 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 embellish-
ments which promote society. Asia was the cradle
of the whole human race ; and thence, as its popu-

* 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.

266 THE ROUND TOWERS.

lation overflowed, migratory herds in different states
of civilization, and with different forms of religious
culture, poured in their successive colonies with multi-
tudinous inundation into the other continental lands ;
but, with more zeal, and with stronger preference,
into those compact little nests which have been sig-
nificantly denominated the " Isles of the Gentiles."

Vessels rode over the briny surges with as proud
a canvas as now receives the gale *. The model of
the ark would be lesson sufficient, to instruct an en-
terprising generation in the science of naval archi-
tecture : and we may well suppose that, of all pur-
suits cultivated by human art, this would have occu-
pied 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 possibi-
lity 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

* 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 267

congenial and correspondent to each other, in their
configuration and intention, and that fash and blood
were the elements of which they were both com-
posed.

For all that meets the bodily sense, I deem
Symbolical, one mighty alphabet
For infant minds

Could the coincidence of measure* between the
great Egyptian pyramid, at its base, and that of the
Noachic ark, in ancient cubits f , have been acciden-
tal, 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 dilata-
tion of the female symbol. Lucian, in his " Auc-
tion," 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.

* See " A Dissertation on the Antiquity, Origin, and Design of the
principal Pyramids of Egypt," &c. &c.

t 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 of our inches ; so that it
wants | of an inch of two of our feet, and contains two Roman feet
and two digits, and a grain, which is J of a digit." The Paris foot, with
which Mersennus compared this cubit, is equal to 1-j-jj-f-^ 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 and
25-j^Sg-. That cubit, therefore, is equal to 25 j^ uncice of the Roman
foot, and consequently falls within the middle of the limits 25^^. and
iW> w **h 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.

268 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Now, Pythagoras, though a Samian, was edu-
cated in Egypt; and the religious mysteries, with
which he had been there imbued, are what is so pro-
fanely ridiculed by this infidel scoffer.

It is not my province to justify the ceremonial of
the Egyptians, any further than as indicative of gra-
titude to the Godhead : but the reflection must sug-
gest 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 with-
out 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

constitute an equilateral triangle, and amount also, in
calculation, to ten. While the inward mystery,
couched under its figure, embraced all that was so-
lemn 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 pyra-
mid ; and is it not precisely that of the above tri-
angle ? Is there not, also, an aperture into it, about

THE ROUND TOWERS. 269

the middle as here * ? And when to all, we add the
notion of wells of water withinside, is not the demon-
stration 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 f ?

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 inter-
val, 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 corus-
cation of science, as no subsequent era has been
since able to eclipse ?

Indeed, the Scriptures themselves give us, else-
where, to understand that St. Peter did not correctly
interpret this history. " Come thou," says Genesis
vii. 1, " and all thy house, into the ark ! " This gra-

* 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. EZKKIEL.

t " Inter omnes eos, non constat a quibus factae sint, justissimo casu
obliteratis tantse vanitatis authoribus." PLIN.

270 THE ROUND TOWERS.

cious invitation, at so critical a. juncture, would
have been too welcome a proffer, to be lost sight of by
any one, who could make it available ; and must not
we suppose that the domestics to whom the extension
was addressed, with their several dependents 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 re-
corded in Hebrew by the word pitf aron : but the
" ark of Noah *," and Moses's " ark of bulrushes |"
are peculiarly designated, ro/1 Thebit, or ron tebah J.

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 pro-
per and true sound, and the mystery of its import I
thus unravel.

Its first syllable, The, signifies sacred or conse-

cwp "iso vy ran

mn ism jnnoi
rno ttfop nntf iron

anwan nDnn -p**

HD^ antfVttn narn

Gen. vi. 14.
t Exod. ii. 3.

J The Septuagint translators, not perceiving any difference, ren-
dered' all, similarly, by the word */S*Wf !

THE ROUND TOWERS. 271

crated * ; 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-\!

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 Lin-
gams, treeSj 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 incar-
nated, 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 t be-
tween 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 J,"

and connect these truths with the Twa^-de-danaans
and the PA-de-danaans.

* As does also Tha, To, Ti, Tho, Thu, with their several commu-
tables, derivatives, formatives, &c.

t And the Valley of To-phith, in which human victims were sacri-
ficed, thus discloses, in the symbolic secret of its shape, that the propitia-
tion of this instrument was the grand object of the sacrificers.

$ Virgil.

272 THE ROUND TOWERS.

" Noah was a just man," observes the scriptural
historian, " and perfect in his generations ; and Noah
walked with God*."

The name of this patriarch implies literally a
boat : the character assigned him is not so well un-
derstood.

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, ami* filled with violence ; for all
flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth f."

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 be-
tween themselves ."

But Noah did not participate in those unhallowed
abominations, and he, accordingly, " found grace in
the eyes of the Lord."

We now, therefore, see the propriety of the name
assigned to his ark\\ 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 ^[."

Noah, then, and Kaiomurs ** were one and the same
person, the reformer of the human species, and the

* Genesis vi. 9. t Genesis vi. 12. $ Romans i. 2024.

Genesis vi. 8. || The-bith. ^ Genesis ix. 1.

** 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 foundfsr of a dynasty, which are
known in history as that of the Paishdadian. SIR JOHN MALCOLM.

THE uorxn TOUT. us. 273

first monarch of the Pish-de-danaan dynasty. Ya-
vana 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 Yaoana 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 fcs the lunar boat *, or the
crescent, the concha Venerisfand the type of comfort f
that was veiled under the mystery of this ambiguous
device.

This fact once explained, you have the immediate

solution of those " semicircular implements" so uni-

* The Irish name for a boat is baudh, which is only a formative of
pith.

< Genesis v. 29.

274 THE ROUND TOWERS.

versal 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 Roman palla-
dium, 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, like-
wise, we have the following specimen*.

Yun is the usual mode of pronouncing Yavanna ;

* If the reader will now turn to page 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 ?

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 275

and as the veneration of posterity for the virtues
of this legislator, at a moment when vice had
threatened a general decay*, 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 f.

** 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 $."

The struggles for ascendancy 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 Scrip-
tures 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 cata-
strophe.

" 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

* Who can forget the fable in Ovid, dejactibus lapidibus f
t 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-Fuana; or, according to the vulgar mode of pronouncing
this compound word, Deo-cal-Fwn, which sounds exactly like Deu-calion
in Greek. WILFORD.
% Ficldinu.

T 2

27G THE ROUND TOWERS.

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*."

But how, you ask, account for the marine strata,
and other remains, found within the earth's re-
cesses ?

. I answer, they were there, imbedded and inani-
mate, 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 vivipa-
rous 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 dis-
cover the slightest trace of this class, excepting in
the formations which lie over the coarse limestone

* Isaiah viii. 7 8.

THE ROUND TOWKKS. 277

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 remark-
able succession in the appearance of the different
species.

" All the genera which are now unknown, as the
Palceotheria, AnapalaBOtheria, 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 be-
longing 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

278 THE ROUND TOWERS.

that still exist alive, are never found except in light
and alluvial depositions."

From all which, this philosopher draws the follow-
ing just conclusion, viz., " 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 in-
quiries 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 *."

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 indis-
pensable 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 pour-
trays 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 con-
sequence "I*.

Behold, then, the folly of those dreamers who
would make Thebilh so called, as if the ark had
rested upon it! Why, Sir, in the entire catalogue of

* Genesis vii. 2. t Genesis viii. 1011.

THE HOUND TOWERS. 271)

local names, there is no one half so common as that
of Thebith and Thebce ! 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 recognized, and of
which the Pith, Yoiii, or sacred Boat, was the conven-
tional sign : as the countries of Phut, that is, But,
and Buotan, were so designated, likewise, from their
adopting the opposite symbol, viz., the Bitdh, Phallus,
or sacred Li?igam !

Perplexed in this entanglement, arid 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 ! es
they did ; but not in the seme in which he under-
stood it *.

Another axiom of his is, that the deluge must have
really happened, because that the tradition of it is

* 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
Copnteswari, or the dove, and she was soon joined by her consort, in
the shape of Capotesicara." 1

280 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 Loth occurred, and was substan-
tively true, yet was the description of neither more than
a graceful allegory; while the salutary alarm im-
parted 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 *.

" Moses," says the Apostle, " was learned in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in
words and in deeds |."

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 Dio-
dorus ; 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
initiators 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

* Sec page 63. : Acts vii. 22.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 281

cas t 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 sanc-
tified, to be debased to the routine of a school-boy'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, im-
bibe 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 con-
veyed. 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 fold-
ings 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 invoked, that
we are indebted for a transmission, so essentially
Irish.

The Pw/i-de-danaan dynasty which rose upon the
ruins of the T?/a/i-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,

28!2' THE ROUND TOWERS.

they erected the Pyramids, in honour of Pith, or
Padma-devi, but at an age long anterior to what may
be presumed from Manetho *.

Previously, however, to their arrival in Egypt,
Shinaar in Mesopotamia afforded them an asylum.
Here it was that Nimrod broke in f : 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 Pzs/j-de-danaans and
those of their TaJA-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 pur-
poses 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, wor-
shipped the type of the others 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 J.

* 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 !

I- See page 64.

$ 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 / having been inserted only for euphony.
Even in the Greek language this import is not yet lost.

THE ROUND TOWEKS. 283

" Scd 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 Noa-
chidcB *, 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 Iff 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 Pu/j-de-danaans that Moses had
been taught the fact I shall place such before your
eyes, in all the eloquence of a self-interpreting dis-
syllable.

is the name by which the scriptural record

* 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.

t " In the city of Babylon there is a temple with brazen gates, con-
secrated 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 an-
other 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, 25 4^ feet; the height perpendicular likewise 81 feet, equal
to the diameter ; the height likewise, oblique, 90 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.

'284 THE KOrNL) TOWERS.

perpetuates this structure *. 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, Liiigam, 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 therehy ;

And when I gin to feel decay of might,
It strength to me supplies and cheers my dulled spright*.

* Genesis xi. 4.
t Spenser's Faerie Queene.

CHAPTER XXI.

I HAVE stated that it was from the P/v/t-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 *."

In truth, it was this very promise made to the
ancestors of those people in Paradise, which is but
another name for Iran f, that gave rise to the schism
between them and the TWM-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 J."

The nature of the crime is here clearly denoted by
the suitableness of the punishment . 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
a he also is flesh," condescended to promise that the

* Shiloh is an Irish word, literally meaning seed, and additionally
showing that it was in our sacred language all those occurrences were
originally named.

t Both words equally signify the happy country, or the sacred land.

% Genesis iii. 15.

$ See chap, xvii., page 229.

286 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 *."

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 correspond-
ingly unbounded ; and their enthusiasm, for the prin-
ciple of its strict verification, was what engendered
the thought, that, in the general procreating scheme,
the yoni was the vivifier.

The T?/a$-de-danaans, or Lingajas, on the other
hand, were not less satisfied in their security ; but
looking upon the terms with a more spiritual inter-
pretation, and led by the operation of ordinary phy-
sics, 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 frame-work 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 univer-
sality 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

* Genesis iii. 15.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 287

immediate superintendence, being informed of the
tenour of the Paradisaical hope, abused it more wan-
tonly than ever did the PM-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 apologize 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 * ; 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 etherial voice : when the voice pro-

* Genesis xix. 31, 32, 33, 34.

288 THE ROUXI) TOWERS.

ceecls from a meteor, or a flame, it is said to be agna-
rupi, or formed of fire ; but an aratara is a descent of
the Deity in the shape of a mortal ; and an avanlara
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
?iiracara, or bodyless, in which state they must be invi-
sible 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 *."

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 f."
Prophetically, you reply ; and you back the opinion
by our Saviour's own appeal, that " Abraham saw his
day and was glad ."

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 ."

It will be in vain for you to attempt to parry the
evidence of this startling text. No visionaryybre-
sight will accomplish its defeat : no ideal substitutions
will shake its validity.

* Asiatic Researches. t Job xix. 25.

J John viii. 56. $ Revelation xiii. 8.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 289

" 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 signifcatio?i of eternal life *."

" V. W." has asserted something similar f; 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
bark, in fair characters, the word Hesus : upon the
middle or upright stem, the word Taramis : upon the
left branch, Belejius : over this, above the going off of
the arms, they cut the name of God, Thau : under all,
the same repeated Thau J."

" 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, con-
taining, 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.

* Appeal to Common Sense, p. 45.
I- See Chap. xvi. p. 224.
De Morib. German, xxiv.

290 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 struc-
tures 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 specula-
tion to antiquaries, who, if they are sometimes ac-
cused 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*.". . . " 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 f."

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, not-
withstanding, to solve this difficulty with as much
precision as I have the others before it.

The existence of the " cross," and its worship, an-
terior to the Christian era, being no longer liable to
dispute, it remains only that we investigate the cause
which it commemorates J.

* Western Islands, vol. i. p. 184, &c.

t Highlands, voL iii. p. '236.

J " I inquired," says Mr. Martin, " of the inhabitants, what tradition
they had concerning these stones; and they told me, it was a place

HIE iiouxn TOWERS. 291

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 emblemized by
three crosses*. The Scandinavians represent their
Tentates 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 Bud/i : and as this
symbol of his worship is universally recognized, does
not the crucifixion thus implied, identify his fate with
that of the " Lamb slain from the beginning of the
world t?"

The Pythonic allegory which the Greeks have so
obscured, in reality originated in this religious trans-
action. 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 virgins womb that
is, an emanation of the Sun, or Budh overcame by his

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."

* United at the feet in this manner j_~r_] . The jewel in the free-
masons 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.

t In the accounts transmitted to us of the various Buddhas, no term
occurs more commonly as descriptive of their innocence and their meek-
ness than that of lamb.

u 2

292 THE KOUND TOWERS.

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 page 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 tiro countenances, was killed byChristnah."

The very name of this allegoric " giant " indicates
the mysterious snake his being in the form of a
snake is but the personification of semuality his hav-
ing 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 coun-
tenances 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 /*
oio?i 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 *."

" Ye search the Scriptures," says our Saviour, " for
in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are
they which testify of me f ."

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

* Gen. iii. 15. * Luke lit. 39.

THF. ROUND TOWERS. 293

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*, 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 canonization, 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 inter-
course and relation, the evidence in practice, upon
which botli equally insisted.

Sir pauolS-.'.

'294 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 ima-
gination, sounds replete with all delights, while the
latter is merely figured as exempt from all pasnfttlncts,
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 per-
sonal example and the doctrinal lessons of Macha and
Christ bore to one another, it was as nothing com-
pared to the almost incredible similitude of their
respective departures. They both died the inglo-
rious 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 preced-
ing 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 sculp-
tured images in the former country, and in the latter

THE ROUND TOWERS. 295

stamped its form upon the most majestic of the shrines
of their deities *."

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 pros-
terea nihil f / "

" You do err, not knowing the Scriptures J," 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 exhibit-
ing 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, La-
croze, and Andrada, have supposed, in their igno-
rance 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, whe-

* Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 3i51.
I- Sec chapter xvi. p. 221. 41 Matthew xxii. 29.

296 THE HOUND TOWERS.

ther 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 dis-

THE HOUND TOWEItS. 297

tinctly marked, and controverts the erroneous assertion
of Pinkerton, formerly noticed, that " it was always
quite unknown amongst the Welsh and Irish *."

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-com-
placency 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 obscurations as to

show, that leaving Pinkerton to P f 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 J, 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 alto-
gether, which, on the re-conquest 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 fur-
thermore 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 oblite-
rated every vestige of the obnoxious costume, and
cancelled every symptom of its characteristic cere-

* Vol. i. page 308, on the article " Fine Arts."

t The initial subscribed to the article.

J Sec Appendix.

298 THE ROUND TOWERS.

monial, except alone those Round Temples of ada-
mantine 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*, therefore, could
not have been intended for our Saviour, wanting, be-
sides, the I. N. R. 1. 1, and wearing the Iranian regal
crown, instead of the Jewish crown of thorns. There-
fore 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 identifi-
cation, over the monuments of his name over the
doors and lintels of the temples of his worship.

* Like the two former effigies, at pages 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. " Some-
times," 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."

t This is the only peculiar monogram of Jesus Christ I. H. S. be-
longing originally to Budha, though appropriated afterwards to him.
r H 2 was its proper form, and it comprehended a mysterious number,
as follows :

T ..... 400

H . . , . . 8

S 200

608

Another monogram of Budha was * P H. It composed the same
numerical enigma, viz.

* 500

P . . . . 100
H 8

608

Salve vera Deum facies, vultusque paternac,
Octo et sexcentis numeris, cui litera trina
Conibrmct sacrum nomen, cognomen etomcn.

MAKTIANUS CAPELLA.

THE HOUND TOM'EHS.

290

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

300 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 sup-
porters of the Scotch arms. Parallel with the crucifix
are two plain stones, which do not appear to have
had anything upon them *."

Captain Mackenzie, in his antiquities of the West
and South Coast of Ceylon, which still professes ad-
herence 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 fonn the ornament of a lampstead ....
A female figure of the natural size, decently and not
ungracefully arrayed in the same garb, was repre-
sented 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 f."

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 connexion, 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 hap-
pens it that we never see them enter into similar
combinations, in churches or chapels, or convents or
cathedrals t ?

* Arch. Soc. Ant. Loml. vol. ii. p. 83.
t Asiatic Researches.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 301

But if they belong not to the Christian ceremonial,
they do to something else. They are the grand, dis-
tinctive and indispensable adjuncts of Budhism ; being
the two animals into which, according to its doctrine of
metempsychosis, the soul ofBudha had entered after his
death.

This was the origin of the Egyptian Apis: and
who is not familiar with the honours lavished upon
the sabred bull ? To this day the elephant is wor-
shipped in the Burman empire*, where the genius
of Budism 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
favorite disciple, Rama. And thus does the testimony
of Artemidorus, itho flourished 104 years before Christ,
a native himself of Ephesus, and who did not him-
self 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 accomplish-

* " 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 appurte-
nances. Foreign ministers are introduced to his sacred person, and ho
ranks before every member of the royal court except the king."
SYMES.

302 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ment for every hero and every prince, that no aspi-
rant to those distinctions ever ventured upon his des-
tination, 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 *.

(f There are," says the Scholiast upon Aristo-
phanes, " 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 f."

Who this 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 cus-
tom of the ancients to wrap up in enigma and allegory
their thoughts and discourses concerning nature, which
are, therefore, not easily explained^"

Proclus also says, " In all initiations and myste-

* It was only as an epithet that the title sacred could apply to Samo-
thrace : 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 pages
128, 9.

} Mvfrr^ia Sj Suo TtXiiTai TOV iviaurev ; Avftnrgt xai Kajx ; TO. (tixoa, xai TO.

% Lib. x. p. 474.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 303

ries, 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 *."

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 him-
self into a serpent, and folding her in his wreaths f."

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 religious-
ness 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 ./Eschylus but barely escaped dis-
cerption within the theatre, for an imagined disrespect
to their tendency. Nor was it but on the plea of
ignorance and -initiation, that he did ultimately
obtain pardon \.

This insuperable barrier to the curiosity of the
profane, engendered in their conduct a correspond-

* us T IIoyUT. IU*T. p. 380.

\r See the article under her name in the Classical Dictionary, with all
the authorities there adduced.
J Clem. Alex. Strom, ii.

304 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ing re-action, 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 this discus-
sion, 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 *."

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 t.

* Mihi cum multa eximia divinaque videntur Athense tuse pepe-
risse turn nihil melius illis mysteriis quibus agresti immanique vita
exculti ad humanitatem mitigati sumus : initiaque, ut appellantur, ita
revera principia vitae cognovimus : neque solum cum Isetitia vivendi
rationem accepimus, sed etiam cum spe meliori moriendi. De Legibus,
\. i. c. 24.

t Pope.

305

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 subju-
gating 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 handywork, until the begin-
ning 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 *."

" 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 splen-
did obelisk is erected, surrounded at the base with

* Luke xix. 20.

30G

THE ROUND TOWERS.

THE ROUND TOWKKS. 307

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 exhi-
bited on that such a variety of figures, birds, and
animals, as seemed what might prove a curious sub-
ject of investigation ; I have, therefore, given a dis-
tinct delineation of them at the foot of the column,
on a larger scale, that their shapes might be dis-
tinctly ascertained, and the more probable conjectures
formed of their allusion."

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 " obe'lisk" 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*, 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 im-

* " 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.

308 THE ROUND TOWERS.

port, essentially eastern, but are actually the symbols
of the various animal-forms under which they con-
templated 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 antece-
dent to the days of St. Andrew ; and she is repre-
sented with a cross and a circle*! 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 confirma-
tion to my development as to the origin of the rite?
Plato asserts, that the form of the letter X was im-
printed upon the universe f. 1 know how this has
been interpreted as a reference to the Son of God,

* Basnage, b. iii. c. xix. s. xix.

t 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 309

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 in-
carnation of the Xo7/of, 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

judge, seeing how inextricably our own ideas are mingled up with asso-
ciations linking this sacred symbol with almost every thought, word, and
deed of our lives.

" The three great stars winch 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.

310 THE ROUND TOWERS.

our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we
are healed*."

This is all in the past tense ; bearing reference,
irrefutably, to a former occurrence, but including,
also, in the sequel, the idea of & 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 f?"

" The deity Hari," says an inscription at Budda-
gaya, in India, " the lord and possessor of all, ap-
peared 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 contem-
plated, the Supreme Being, the Eternal One, the
Divinity worthy of mankind, appeared here, with a
portion of his divine nature J."

There is no term so vernacular in the Irish lan-
guage 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 prac-
tised by Strabo when he failed to ascertain any-
thing 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 ."
And as every sentence recorded as emanating from

* Isaiah liii. 4, 5. Isaiah liii. 3.

t Asiatic Researches. $ Matthow x. 26.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 311

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 in-
spired, will be additionally verified in the instance
before us.

Budh-gaye, then of the Irish, or Budha-gaya of the
Hindoos, means Phallus* telluric, i. e., the generative-
ness 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 synonimous, if you add Gaye to
each, then Budh-gaye and Gaye-phallus will be iden-
tical. But, as the character, who embodied the ab-
stract virtue of the former, had been crucified, his
name came to stand, not only for that abstract virtue,
but also for a cross f, 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

* This will explain a text in Scripture never before understood, viz.,
" Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing
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 will cut
off man and beast from it." Ezekiel xiv. 13. Fogh is another term
equivalent to this.

t 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.

312 THE ROUND TOWERS.

comprehended, were perverted by malice into sen-
suality and debauchery ; while the idea of a man cru-
cified, 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 suc-
cession 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 ob-
noxious 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 Sozomon, that the mono-
gram of Christ was discovered beneath the founda-
tion. 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 illite-
rate men, unable to close their eyes against the proofs
of the priority of the cross to the era of the advent,

THE ROUND TOWERS. 3J3

did not scruple to assign it to the malicious fore-
knowledge of the prince of the lower world *.

But if this gentleman had been the author of the
early cross, is it likely that God would have em-
braced 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
eve 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 sanctuaryf ."

Now this " mark," in the ancient Hebrew original,
was the cross X. St. Jerom, 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 im-
posture, as to adopt it as the index of his saving love ?

" Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things J?"

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,

* Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites suos. Tertullian, de Prse-
scrip. cap. xi.

t Ezekiel ix. 4, 5, 6.

$ John iii. 10. The omission of this cross from the text of our trans-
lation may afford some handle to the enemies of religion.

314 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 * ?"

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 monopolizing appellation of the
Devil's Yonies t-

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 !

Here, again, it is upon a medal, found in the ruins of
Citium, and proved, by Dr. Clarke, in his " Travels,''

* Matthew vi. 27. * Cunni Diaboli.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 315

to have been Phoenician ! It exhibits the lamb, the
cross, and the rosary * !

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 (."

This he did not apply as a novel designation ; but
as the familiar epithet, and the recognised denomina-
tion 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 J," not only in eternity, but on this
earth.

" And I knew him not ; but that he should be made
manifest to Israel ," 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 ||:"
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 mouth-piece 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

* The rosary was also anterior to Christianity.
t John i. 29. :i: John i. 30.

>} John i. 31. II Isaiah xlii. !'.

316

THE ROUND TOWERS.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 317

pillars which grace a land of heroes, " where stones
were raised on high to speak to future times, with
their grey heads of moss*;" and whose story, though
" lost in the mist of years/' may yet be deciphered
from off themselves.

This costly relic of religion, erected solely in
honour of the cross, is to be seen at Forres, in Scot-
land, and is thus described by Cordiner :

" On the first division, under the Gothic ornaments
at the top, are nine horses with their riders, march-
ing 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 execu-
tioner, 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 lower-
most 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."

* Temora.

318 THE ROUND TOWERS.

With this compare the description given by Cap-
tain Head, of the devices sculptured upon one of the
Egyptian antiquities.

" It would," says he, lt 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 inter-
woven with great mathematical exactness ; of this,
on account of its singularity, there is given a repre-
sentation 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,

THE ROUND TOWERS.

319

320 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 ela-
borate a performance would have been undertaken
but in consequence of an event of the most general
importance: it is, therefore, surprising, that no dis-
tincter traditions of it arrived at the era when letters
were known."

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 *
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 reli-
gion. 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 High-
lands.

In the days of Malcolm, therefore, and of Canute,
the history of this pyramid was as difficult of solu-
tion, 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 posses-

* And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house.
Genesis xxviii. 22.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 321

sion of common reason could, contrary to all the, evi-
dence 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. Cor-
diner, 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 hierogly-
phics 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 re-
nowned chieftains and their exploits who first em-
braced 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 pour-
trayed on this enduring column. And in confirma-
tion hereof, Mr. Gordon affirms that he has " dis-
tinguished upon it several figures of a monstrous form,
resembling fourfooted 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, present-
ing a beautifully polished surface on each of its four
sides. The hieroglyphics upon it represent the life-

322

THE ROUND TOWERS.

U "p J.

Vw' -

THE ROUND TOWERS. 323

time of Thot, or Budda, until you at last see him
enthroned in heaven, at the top.

" 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
above him. Two priests are performing upon him
the mysterious ceremony of pouring the cruces amatas,
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 myste-
ries*.'"

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 visiter to the magni-
ficent granite propylon, or gateway, whose grandeur
for a time monopolizes 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

* 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 any body else.

Y 2

324 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 pro-
claim that M'Pherson's prediction, that " the history
of Caledonia, before the Roman eagles were dis-
played beyond the friths, must ever remain in im-
penetrable darkness *," 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 f
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 t.

* Introduction, page xciii.
t COWPER.

325

CHAPTER XXIII.

A VERY industrious contributor to the " Asiatic Re-
searches" 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 Hin-
doos. 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, there-
fore, 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 preju-
dices, effected more himself towards the disparage-
ment of his reputation, than what the combined
influence of interest and of scepticism could otherwise
accomplish.

" There are," say the Puranas, " many manifesta-
tions 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 Wliite Island, went into the womb,

326 THE ROUND TOWERS.

in the house of Vasu-devi ; and on this grand occa-
sion 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 Go-
cula*."

The gist of the foregoing, Mr. Wilford would neu-
tralize 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 ob-
tained ; 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

* From the Brahma-vawartta, section of the Crishna-janma c'hand'a.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 327

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, <c 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, gaging 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*.

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 effectu-
ally 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.

* Much, mugh, mughsaine tra ainra sain delias do dheadh. Cormac's
Glossary.

328 THE ROUND TOWERS.

The sting, therefore, of the above, if any it con-
vey, 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 un-
veil the mystery of the name Mm-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 dri-
velling 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 irra-
diating focus of all moral enlightenment was here
alone to be found *.

Look, Sir, what do you see before you ? The solu-
tion 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!

There, in the remnant of an ancient Tuath-de-da-
naan Temple, vaulted with stone, and transformed, in

* 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 page 327.

THE ROUND TOWERS.

329

330

THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 * in other
words, overthrowing, by self-endurance, the dominion of
sin t and, finally, by immolation upon a tree, to which
you perceive him pinioned, establishing ascendancy
over the serpent and his wiles, and pointing out the
road to eternity beyond the grave !

In an upper range, on the same compartment, you

can trace this other line, consisting of three kings with

* I have before explained that the serpent Pyth-on means the seduc-
tion of sensuality Pith itself signifying yoni, the boat, or serpent, the
final on being nothing but a Greek termination.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 331

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 con-
demnation 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 *."

But this is not the only incident which this trea-
sure of antiquity pourtrays. Beside the three mo-
narchs 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 -j* !

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,

* Isaiah liii. 7.

t " 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, Chanchasaiu, Gonatjom, Gaspa, and Godama." Syme's
Embassy to the Court of Ava.

332 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 fos-
tered 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 *, and though of a different school, it
suits their purpose as well.

But let us see how he would decypher " the writ-
ing 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

* I shall give you my definition for this word by and by.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 333

adventurers in defence of their country ; and that
those of the deceased kings were the patriot monarchs
of earlier times ! "

Pray, what adventurers 1 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 Mac Murrough, who was
delivered up to Roderick O'Connor, as a hostage for
his father's fidelity, and who, according to Cam-
brensis, 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.' 1

Had Mac Murrough '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 inte-
rested all his readers ? Yet, as to the reality of this
Mr. P 's insinuation notwithstanding Cam-
brensis is silent and mute as the grave !

A fact which was thought worthy to be commemo-
rated in fresco must have been equally eligible as a
phenomenon in writing. The O'Connors, therefore,

334 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 minute-
ness 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 Mac Mur-
rough's son, with such circumstances of torture and
savage insensibility, is it probable that he would him-
self be the person to immortalize his disgrace, by
depicting it upon such a chronicle? And if the vir-
tue 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 t and every hand be made that of a writer, to
rescue the island's fame from identity with the trai-
tor'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
bamhee! nor elegy sung by familiar mna-caointha !
No historian records the heart-rending tale ! nor does

THE HOUND TOWERS. 335

gipsy retail it in itinerant ditty ! But the mystery
of sorrow, and the sanctity of truth, that hallowed the
scene ivhich 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 \wofane appropriation, by the occur-
rence of any equivocal record !

The devices upon places of worship are always of
a religious kind. Would the perpetration of a faith-
less 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 ? solemnized by kings ! superin-
tended by gods ! and executed by judges !

Oh ! Sir, a dire plague of astringent benight-
ment has lain brooding over history ! and spread,
like the upas, its baneful 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 plea-
sure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a
battle, and the adventures thereof below; but no plea-
sure 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

336

THE ROUND TOWERS.

delineations, are enough to redeem them from the

turpitude which Mr. P would impute to them.

O'Connor and Mac Murrough 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 ! *

What do you see here t ? What do you make of

* 1 Corinthians xv. 51.

f It will be perceived, that I do not mean this to be an exact copy of
the Knockmoy Crucifixion or viceversd. The general idea is, what I
mean to substantiate, and the identity of design cannot well be gain-
said. This remark applies also to the kings about to be introduced by
and by.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 337

this Mr. P . Or do you think that O'Connor went

over into Nubia, and got the impress of his enormity
canonized 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 Killcullen, in the county of Kil-
dare, Ireland. Here you distinguish nine Budhist
priests in the Eastern uniform, with bonnet, tunic,
and trowser 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 cruci-
fixion upon the Nubian temple. Are they not criti-
cally, accurately, and identically the same?

Look next at the brute animals that take part in
this group ! Mind the grotesqueness of their posi-
tions, 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

338

THE ROUND TOWERS,.

itself at the other side, was ever the work of Chris-
tianity*?

r -wf*

p UV

& LI ^

n [( FI

But as you cannot imagine that O'Connor had gone
over to Ni ,ia, 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 thou-

* " We saw," says Colonel Symes, alluding to the imperfect shell of
a Budhi&t 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 huilding." Embassy to the Court of
Ara.

THE HOUND TOWKKS. 339

sand 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 proclaim-
ing, " I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Ce-
phas, and I of Christ *," 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 them-
selves 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 f . Sulivahana is the name
which they give to the deity there represented. The
meaning of the word is tree-borne, or, who suffered
death upon a tree. He was otherwise called Dhan-
andhara, 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 J.

A vaunt, then, evermore to the humbug of back-
reckoning, and the charge of imposture upon the

* 1 Corinthians i. 1 2.

I- Asiatic Researches.

X The name of Sulivan in Ireland, than which there is no one
more common, is unquestionably but the perpetuation of the above Suli-
vahana. And I can give a proof of the fact, independently of its deri-
vation, 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 strove 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.

z 2

340 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Brahmins ! I flatter myself, I have laid an extin-
guisher, 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 pro-
found submission and respect, to the decypherers 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:

You will, furthermore, observe, how that they all
wear the philibeg, like our crucified effigy at page
296, and our war-god, Phearagh, at page 138. Each

342 THE HOUND TOWERS.

of them, also, is adorned with the cross, as the pass-
port of their redemption : while the three divinities,
delineated in the Irish scenes, have these as their
counterparts in the temple of Nubia.

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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 343

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 gulden 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, conse-
quently, when neither the contributor to the Maga-
zine, nor the quoter from its columns, had any know-
ledge of their existence. Its production, therefore,
must be valuable here, as showing not only the con-
nexion 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," say 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
ThoC) crucified upon an instrument resembling a

344 THE ROUND TOWERS.

cross, according to the accounts of some travellers to
Siam."

" Christianity," says Oliver, " or the system of
salvation through the atonement of a crucified Medi-
ator, 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 counte-
nance, and the most cheering support, to the Gospel
of Christ, on its first promulgation ?

This question you will consider of no trivial ten-
dency. 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* was this name. Its mean-
ing 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 comef."

* ' 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, trans-
lates as "the topographical names of Ireland," (Ainim abberteach an '
Eiretm,) should have been " the appellative names of Ireland :" they
are the titles of the island itself.'not descriptions of the several localities
within it.

t Genesis xlix. 10.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 345

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 *."

I have given an abstract of the history of this
remarkable personage at pages 293 and 294 ; and,
shortly after, at page 296, I presented you with the
effigy of his crucifixion. As to the era of his appear-
ance as deducible from the Yugas, I shall confine
myself to the opinion advanced by Mr. Davis, in the
' Asiatic Researches," vol. ix. page 243, where he
states, " It may further with confidence be inferred,
that Mons. Anquetil du Perrons 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 computa-
tions 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 commenta-
tors in the Dokhin, as mentioned by Major Mac-
kenzie, 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,

* Asiatic Researches.

346 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 manifesta-
tion, that the first couplet of an Arabic elegy, pre-
served by Mons. d'Herbelot, in his account of Ibnu-
zaidun, a celebrated Andalusian poet, refers. In
Roman letters, the lines run thus

" Jekad hem 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, vis., " 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 interpreta-
tion is, that two individuals, neither of whom, he him-
self admits, knew any thing about its meaning, hap-
pened, or rather pretended, to put it for him, dif-
ferently, into Arabic words !

On the pillar at Buddal, this emanation of the
godhead is thus characterised " He did not exult

THE ROUND TOWERS. 347

over the ignorant and ill-favoured : but spent his
riches among the needy : in short, he was the wonder
of all good men*." Isaiah's prophecy of the future
Messiah would appear a verbatim, though more poeti-
cal 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 f."

At page 110 of this volume, I have promised to
explain the origin of the word Eleiisinian, as applied to
the celebration of certain religious rites. I have very
little doubt but that, when reading that 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 solemnized, were both denomi-
nated 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 J."

* Asiatic Researches.

I- Chapter xlii. verses 2, 3.

$ Retiring into a still more solitary place, Gautama and his disciples
sustained triumphantly an argument with two of their bitterest ene-
mies. But a severer trial exhibited his righteousness in a yet clearer
light. Four young and beautiful sisters, burning with unholy love, pre-
sented themselves naked before him, and besought him to comply with
their desires. " Who, O Gautame ! " said they, in the rage of their

348 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 unitiated 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 Eleusi-
nian 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-priest-
hood of this order in Greece was continued in one
family, the Eumolpidae, for ages. In this they re-
sembled 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.

disappointment, " who is the lying witness who dares attest that the
virtues of all the former saints are concentrated inthee?" " Behold
my witness," said the sage, striking the ground with his hand ; and at
the moment Okintongu, the tutelar genius of the earth, appeared, pro-
claiming 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, say-
ing, " 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 Klap-
roth.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 349

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 mys-
teries 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 *."

Analogous to these were the solemnities at Car-
thage, 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 the 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 wives 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 compre-
hended, if accompanying, ihejoyousness of hope, was
there sunk into the licentiousness of enjoyment, and
the innocence of mirth and of moral hilarity was

* Chambers' s Edinburgh Journal, October 12, 1833.

350 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 solemnized 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 rege-
neration, or the putting aside the old leaven of sin,
and the assumption of the new investiture of right-
eousness, by justification.

As everything, however, in their religious proce-
dure was transacted by symbols, so, in this instance,
they did not content themselves with the inner con-
sciousness of a new birth *, but they must 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 f .

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

* 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.

t 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 351

grandeur and the majesty of awe *. The narrowness
of the entrance, never larger than the girth of the
ordinary human body, portrayed, as well the circular
passage in their regenerating type t> as the circumven-
tion of temptation by which the faithful are ever
beset | ; while the model of the cross, which regulates
their architecture withimide, attests the mystery and the
form of their masters 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^; whence, at measured intervals, three other

* See page 378, and 162.

r 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, vie. " 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.

$ 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/etc there be that find it. Matthew vii. 13, 14.

" The dome (of this, what he calls a cemetery) springs at various
unequal heights, from eight to nine and ten feet on different sides, form-
ing at first a coving of eight sides. At the height of fifteen or six-
teen feet, the north and south sides of this coving runs 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 pro-
portion 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.

352 THE ROUND TOWERS.

apartments diverge, forming, with the in-leading gut,
a perfect cross ; and presenting, altogether, to a sus-
ceptible mind, the most solemn combination of symboli-
cal mysteries * !

I wonder why do not our moderns confer these
subterraneous cruciform edifices upon the industry of
the early Christians, as they have strove 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 t of Benares and Mathura,
the two principal ones in all India, are cruciform!)/
built ! and, in order to make both worlds harmonize,
the advocates for the monks, or rather their betters,
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 ori-

* " 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.

t 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-vali, 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.

TIIK HOUND TOWERS. 353

ginal 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 Ele-
phanta*, they neglected to demolish the Langam,
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 over-ground temples,
are designated by the name of Fidh-nemead, the
meaning of which I have elucidated to be, the conse-
crated Lingams : the Mithratic caces, or under-ground
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 Myste-

* " 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.

2 A

354 THE ROUND TOWERS.

rious Cavern of Budh ; 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 Free-masonic., or Cabiric. The significa-
tion of this latter epithet is, as to written letters, a de-
sideratum. 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 them-
selves 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*, 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 Munga-
lian Scythians, called Cajan and Docos, got embar-
rassed amongst those mountains, then uninhabited.

* " 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 355

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 moun-
tains, 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 commemo-
ration of which famous march, the Monguls, to this
day, celebrate an annual feast, and observe the cere-
mony 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*."

* Darwin.

2 A 2

356

CHAPTER XXV.

ON the east side of the river Shannon, about ten
miles distant from Athlone, in the barony of Garry-
castle, 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 habit-
able world.

Nine churches, built respectively by the indivi-
duals whose names they bear, viz., 1. that of Ma-
carthy More ; 2. that of Melaghlin ; 3. that of Mac
Dermott; 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 be-
neath 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 357

been one of the strongholds of Bmlhism, 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 super-
incumbency.

Two Round Towers, the chief object of emulation,
are, as you may have supposed, here to be encount-
ered : and these are the very ones, which the reader may
recollect have been alluded to at page 38, as ridicu-
lously claimed by Montmorency for Christian be-
cause, forsooth, in the vagueness of popular titles,
they are recently distinguished by the names of Mac
Carthy and O'Rourke !

The eastern columns, denominated after Pompey *
and Cleopatra f, have been equally productive of his-
torical 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'RourJces or Mac-
Carthys 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 Alle-

* " If perfection in art consist in affording continued pleasure, its
achievements, when contemplating this column, must be deemed insur-
passable. A Corinthian capital of 10 feet is poised on a shaft of 67
feet, the latter resting on a base of 21 ^ feet ; the whole rises to a height
of nearly 100 feet." HEAD.

t " Of the obelisks, commonly called Cleopatra's Needles, one alone is
now standing ; the other, lying down, measures seven feet square at the
base, and 66 feet in length. They are so well known, that it is not
necessary to give a very particular description of them." CLARKE.

358

THE ROUND TOWERS.

gory of the Paradisiacal Fall: and here, accord-
ingly, it presents itself, just as in language they had
clothed it, in all the mysteriousness of the figura-
tive tree.

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 Free-mason, hold-
ing the implements of his craft a high honour in

THE ROUND TOWERS. 359

his hand*; 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 Jlowcrings, the net-works, and other
ornaments which figure upon them, the least essential
constituent of that fruitful code ]', while the perso-
nation 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 ani-
mal 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 page 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

* In confirmation of this, you will find at page 14 of Seguin's " Thes-
salonian 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 in-
scription.

t On all public occasions displays of this kind are still indulged in
the east. Thefloralia of the Romans were adopted from the easterns.
" Every person, male and female, hudfestoons 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 oif the head-piece of the lieges, literally perfumed the air
wherever they went.'' ARCH KK.

360 THE ROUND TOWERS.

of Si. 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 pheno-
menon 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 confin-
ing themselves to facts, which are numerous enough,
than in shocking credibility by their jrious 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" (Jeremiah
viii. 17); and " the deaf adder that stoppeth her
ear, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,
charming never so wisely" (Psalm Ivii. 4, 5) ; and

THE ROUND TOWERS. 361

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 emi-
nent for incantations, that the island seemed, during
their sway, to have been one continuation of enchant-
ment, 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*"

Every legend, however, is founded upon reality,
and I will unfold to you from what has Joceline con-
cocted this about St. Patrick. All the crosses of the
Tuath-de-danaans had snakes engraved upon them.
Look back at that at Killcullenf, 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 symbo-
lized ; and accordingly the Saint, in order to obviate
the recurrence of such contemplations, effaced them,
when practicable, from off the stones J.

* Sketches of India Field-sports. Dr. Shaw and Mr. Forhes are even
more conclusive.

I- Page 338.

t If you examine the Tuath-de-danaan crosses with a minute eye,
you will find this exposition irrefutably verified. Though they all have
the truces of the Budhist sculpture, they have also the marks of oblite-
ration ; and no one of them to a greater extent than this at Finglas,

362 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 *."

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 supersti-

where it is known that St. Patrick principally resided. Yet even this
retains indistinct evidence of snakes, &c. &c. &c.

" 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 multitu-
dinous 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 vertebra) of the body only ; they do not
arise from those of the tail.''

* Travels in Northern India.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 363

tion, 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, cocka-
trices, and serpents, may be truly said to have extir-
pated their race from the country, but, as you see, in
an acceptation heretofore unexplained.

The statement given by Major Archer of the sym-
bolic 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. " Imme-
diately 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 conver-
sant 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 orna-
ments 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 Bra-
mah, 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,

364 THE ROUND TOWERS.

which also have their ornaments, and are well pro-
portioned.

" 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 over-ran 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 re-
mains 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. Pa-
trick 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 365

same manner. In a word, as Grotius has before
affirmed, " infinite appropriations have been made."

But, independently of this conversion, the con-
formity 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 Hindostan ! Nay, " in many parts
of the Peninsula," say the Asiatic Researches, " Chris-
tians 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 pass-word to their
selfish aggrandisement ! When the " abomination of
desolation* " 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 eva-
cuated the town, took the disjointed relic, and buried
it, very decorously, within the confines of the church-
yard !

Here it remained, in consecrated interment, until

* Oliver Cromwell with his army of locusts.

366 THE ROUND TOWERS.

the beginning of the year 1816, when an old man of
the parish, recounting anecdotes of by-gone times,
mentioned, amongst others, the particulars of this
tradition, and excited some curiosity by the narrative.
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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 367

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 any one with certainty and preciseness.

The proposal was accepted ; workmen were em-
ployed ; and, after considerable perseverance, the
cross was exhumed! its parts re-united 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 mayst thou prosper where thy youth was reared,

By every honest joy of love and life endeared*.

* Byron.

3G8

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 ex-
trinsic aid was brought forward in support of this
unbeaten track, it was uniformly in the shape of con-
clusions, deduced from the premises of reluctant wit-
nesses. 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*, 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^, 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 inclose vases containing the
relics of Fo (i. e. Budh), and of which they had erected
hundreds throughout Ireland !

* Some say he belonged to the fifth century. All agree that it was
not later than the ninth,
t See page 6 1 .

THE ROUND TOWERS. 369

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 of 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 lamp-
light, &c.

" 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

2 E

370 THE ROUND TOWERS.

ancient invaders,) will be found the urn, containing
the relics of the deceased, and treasure to a consider-
able 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 depo-
sitories ; 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 monu-
ments 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 en-
graved 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, &c., which he had the pleasure to

TflK ROUND TOWERS. 371

transcribe ; the characters were in a different form
from those now used in the same language, and
hardly intelligible.

" The writer also had 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 dif-
ferent 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*."

Having before shown how that the religion of
the ancients was interwoven with their funeral ob-
servances, this ocular testimony was alone requisite
to gain credence for my proofs. I can still further
adduce the authority of Dr. Kurd f, to show that
the Gaurs of India, to this day, make use of the
Round Towers J in their neighbourhood, as places of
burial, lifting up the dead bodies to the elevated door
by means of ladders and pullies. None of those
three writers have attempted anything more than a

* " July, 1833.'* This gentleman's name was Pareira.

t Religious Rites and Ceremonies.

$ 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.

2 I) 2

372 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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*, 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.

* 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 prin-
ciple, 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 court-yard, 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 Hindostan
flourish. This was the united dictum of the Bramins and astrologers of
the day. The pillar is fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter."

THE ROLXD TOWEHS.

To instance only the most prominent of those ana-
logies, 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*."

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? Be-
hold! the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee, how much less this house that I have
builded t '"

Now to the era for the erection of our Round
Towers. " As they have neither dates nor inscrip-
tions," says 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 J." 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

* utfyuiras urn TUV Tavruv fiif^tn. PROTAGUK.VS.

t 1 Kings viii. 27.
j. Antiquities of Ireland, vol. ii. p. \n.

374 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

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*." 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 thir-
teenth 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 centu-
ries 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 Golan
Saer } and " the historical notices relative to whom

* Antiquities of Ireland, vol.ii. p. 129.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 375

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*!" As every notice,
therefore, respecting so important a character, must
be eagerly sought after, I shall take leave to tran-
scribe what the same high authority tells us of him,
in the following words, viz.

1 ' 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 ambi-
tious of erecting a splendid palace to be his regal resi-
dence, 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 ex-
celled 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 fac-
titious distinctions of birth or fortune, if he found her

* Dublin Penny Journal, July 20, 1833.

376 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 en-
gaged in menial employments, so the town-folk 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 chap-
man, 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 reach-
ing 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,

THE ROUND TOAVERS. 377

when his old father, who did not, like modern archi-
tects, Bianconi it along Macadamized 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 way-worn
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 com-
mence some strange legend of romance, whose delight-
ful 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 be-
loved wife. On the second night at 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 daugh-
ter), 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

378 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 com-
municated 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 cer-
tain 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 edi-
fice completed, he was willing to send a trusty mes-
senger 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 ere-

THE ROUND TOWERS. 379

dentials to the lady of the castle, receive the instru-
ment of which she had the keeping, and which the
GobanSaer 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 trea-
chery, she bade 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 daugh-
ter, 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 *."

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 Laoinedon, by defrauding this architect, who
no doubt was a Hercules, of his stipulated salary ?

* Dublin Pennv Journal, June 10, 1833.

380 THK UOUXD TOWERS.

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 Her-
cules ; 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 forgive 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* \ "
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 absur-
dity, gives us the following specimen of the heroism of
his wife : viz.

" The Goban Saer having been barbarously mur-
dered, together with his journeymen, by twelve high-
waymen, 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 f !"

But this is ludicrously trifling with the time of my
readers. I am alive to the fact, and I most submis-

Dublin Penny Journal, July 20, 1833.
t Ibid. October 5, 1833.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 381

sively crave forgiveness, which I doubt not I shall
receive, when I state that my sole object was to ex-
pose the JKmsiness of that subterfuge, by which the
Roval 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 tor-
turing 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 bur-
lesque :

" Quidam famossissimus in omni arte lignorum et
lapidum erat in Hibernia nomine Gobbanus, cujus
artis fama usque infinem sceculi erit in ea. Ipse jam
postquam, aliis sanatis, in superflua artis sua? mercede
lumen oculorum amisit, et erat ca?cus. Hie vocatus
est ad S. Abbanum et dixit ei : Volo aedificium in
honorem Dei eedificare, et tu age illud. Et ille ait :
Quomodo possum agere cum sim caecus? dixit ei
sanctus, Quamdiu illud operaberis lumen oculorum
habebis, sed tibt postea non promitto. Et ita factum
est, nam ille artifex apud sanctum Dei in lumine suo
operatus est, et cum esset illud perfectum lumen ocu-

382 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

lorum amisit * " that is in the true spirit of what
my countrymen call a Scectl 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 seed Feensech-
tha into English, it runs thus : " Once upon a time,
there lived in Erin ; a man most celebrated for his uni-
versal mastery over wood and stone ; and whose fame,
accordingly, will live therein, as long as grass shall
grow or purling streams jlow in its enchanting scenery.
This good man's name was Gobhan, who, wallow-
ing 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 T ' 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 chuse, 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

* Colgan.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 383

upon their contempt for everything monkish, and who,
actually, in any other case, had they the sworn evi-
dence of a monk, would go counter thereto ; but here,
where an old doting friar is drawing upon his inge-
nuity, every syllable that escapes him is taken for
gospel !

Now, I as readily believe, as they would fain per-
suade me, that " long as Gobhan did work with Ab-
han 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 pre-
ceding, had a sovereign contempt for everything like
architecture. " They have no towns," says Herodo-
tus, " no fortifications ; their habitations they always
carry with them *. 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 multi-
tude 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

* Melpomene, ch. 46.

384 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 *."

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 abso-
lute sway, never once dreamt of erecting a stone edi-
fice, 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 con-
tinued his admonition for 120 years, building an arke
for the safeguard of himself and his family ; one
Cresarea (say they), according unto others, Caisarea, a

* 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 385

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 sub-
marine 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 Free-

2 c

386 THE ROUND TOWERS.

mason 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, there-
fore, 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 prede-
cessors 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 pos-
sibility 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 struc-
tures 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 in-

THE ROUND TOWERS. 387

tervening 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 memo-
rials. 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 pre-
judices 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 Tearabrach
Teamor Tur Tualach
Tuath Mac Miledh
Miledh Long Libearnc.''

2 c 2

388 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 incontro-
vertibly 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 *, the actual
contemporary and successor of the Tuatha-de-da-
naans, or as the other, of that name, who belongs to the
Christian age, and the time of St. Patrick, the sup-
position 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 !

* 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 lerne'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.

THE HOUND TOWERS. 389

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 pre-
ceding 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 * !

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'f 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 pro-
pounded their plans, not within the confined enclo-
sures 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 man-
sion, having all ended in the most confuting disap-

* 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.

t Or " Tarah," says the Dinn Seanchas, compiled by Araergen
Mac Amalgaid, in the year 544, " was so called from its celebrity for
melody."

390 THE ROUND TOWEKS.

pointment 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 Tail-
ton, 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 diver-
sion, 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 391

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 fre-
quently 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 fe-
males of Ireland appeared at Tailetan, or the mys-
teries 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.

392 THE ROUND TOWERS.

tilts, tournaments, or something like them, and other
exercises. They were held every year at Taken, a
mountain in Meath, for fifteen days before, and fifteen
days after, the first of August. Their first institu-
tion 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 hav-
ing 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 cele-
brated 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 Tail-
tine (whence the English Tilts), and the place Tail-
font 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 acknowledg-
ment of his pretensions as the Son of God.

The battle-scenes, therefore, with which the Tuath-de-
danaan crosses and obelisks are decorated, bear refer-
ence, 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 *, and named from the same cause. Nay, the

* Once occupied by a celebrated queen ! Asiatic Researches.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 393

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, viz., 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 *,
distinct in all respects, save that of language 'f, from
their Tuathan predecessors.

These predecessors were headed by three brothers,
Brien, luchordba, and luchor, the sons of King
Miledh, a Fo-morian, by a queen of the Tuath-de-da-
naan 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-rnorians, and the
mother a Tuath-de-danaan.

Again, in the Seabright Collection, this genealogy
is prosecuted farther, and from it, General Vallancey
translates some lines, which are by no means irrele-
vant, as follows, viz. : " Cuill, Ceacht, and Grian,

* Heremon was the first of the Scots who held the dominion over all
Ireland. Psalter of Narran.

t 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.

394 THE ROUND TOWERS.

were the children of little Touraine and their de-
scendants, 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 de-
stroyed by time, the degenerate Pheeleas, wishing to
flatter the vanity of the existing powers, did not hesi-
tate to ascribe to the Scythian, or modern Irish, fol-
lowers of Heber and Heremon, those brilliant fea-
tures of primeval immortality which appertained
exclusively to the Irish of another day the Hyper-
borean or Iranian Irish !

The Tuath-de-danaans having been proved the
authors of the Round Towers, my ambition in the inves-
tigation is already attained. But since we are told,
that this people had claimed possession of the island
as inheritors of an antecedent and pre-occupying
eastern colony, it may be worth while to inquire
whether we can discover any traces to connect
those predecessors with any of these edifices. With-
out bestowing upon it, however, more considera-
tion than what the exigency demands, I will briefly
observe, that we are likely to find such in the history
of the Fo-moraicc, who are represented in our chro-
nicles, by the party who had ejected them, under the
obnoxious character of monsters and giants * !

It is high time to give up those abuses in the im-
port of words. Fo-moraice means literally, the ma-

* 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 Re-
searches.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 395

riners of Fo, that is, of Budh : and their religion being
thus identified with that of the Tuath-de-danaam,
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 sub-
ject 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*.

I confess I am one of those persons who give faith
to this tradition ; for even my experience of the vicis-
situdes 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."

* Nearly similar things, we find, have occurred in the East. " The
natives of the place (Mavalepuran, in India) 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,

396

CHAPTER XXVII.

HAVING promised early in this volume to identify
our island with the Insula Hyperboreorum of anti-
quity, I shall, without further tarrying, produce the
extract referre dto, from Diodorus ; and, lest I may be
suspected of adapting it to my own peculiar views,
it shall appear minutely in Mr. Booth's transla-
tion viz.,

" Amongst them that have written old stories much
like fables, HecataBus 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 Hyper-
boreans 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 tempe-
rate, insomuch as there are two crops in the year.

" They say that Latona was born here, and there-
fore that they worship Apollo above all other gods ;
and because they are daily singing songs in praise of
this god, and ascribing to him t^e 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 like-
wise 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 397

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 Hyper-
boreans, and left behind them divers presents *, in-
scribed 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 f to the
rising of the Pleiades j, 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

* Ava0i)fiara, things dedicated to the gods,
t In March. J In September.

398 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

make his labours subservient to the elucidation oi
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 enco-
miums 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 Dio-
dorus means by Iris * ; from the turn of the expression
it would rather appear to be a part of Britain per-
haps 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 f-"

Mind, now, reader, how easily I reconcile the con-
flicting 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

* See page 120.
t Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad., vol. xvi. p. 166.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 399

hands. The Scythians were the persons then pos-
sessed of the soil ; and they being a warlike tribe,
averse to letters, to religion, and to refinement*, 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 hap-
piness 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 con-
sidering 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, Angle-
sea, or one of the Hebrides, the island specified.

Consider farther the prolificacy of its soil, and
with that compare what the old poet has affirmed,

* Procopius calls them vi*< *.a.> apaimroi, that is, heedless and indif-
ferent 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, Ayj^v n^ius u^auron, while Mac 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."

400 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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* 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 follow-
ing description of this sacred island, viz.: " luvernia,
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 f ; and when we are
told that the priests officiating at the round temples of

* 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 (lerne), 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.

t Orpheus, also, calls the sea dividing the north of Scotland from
Ireland, " Mare Cronium, idem quod mare saturninum et oceanus sep-
tentrionalis." VALLANCEY.

HIK ROUND TOWERS. 401

Apollo were called Boreades, we can readily under-
stand 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 mys-
terious episode :

" Then another angel, who proceeded with me,
spoke to me ; and shewed 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 shewed
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 their Spirit.
He shewed 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 places during thunder, in the continuance of its
sound. Nor are the thunder and the lightning sepa-
rated ; 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 be-
tween them ; for the receptacle of their times is what
sand is. Each of them at a proper season is re-
strained with a bridle, and turned by the power of

2 D

402 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 ema-
nating 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 /''

THE ROUND TOWERS. 403

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 ves-
tige of a rotund edifae of antiquated consecration, ap-
pertaining to the age which Hecatseus 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 solemnization 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 wor-
ship 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 un-
genial 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 t extorted this
reluctant acknowledgment from the prejudiced Cam-
brensis :

" The attention," says he, " of this people to

2 D 2

404

THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 instru-
ments 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 discord-
ant, the melody is rendered harmonious and perfect,
whether the chords 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 *."

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 fa-
vourite 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 instrumen-
tality of his speaking lyre !

* Gerald. Cambr., Hist. i. cap. 19.

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 405

et 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 Sacer-
dotal 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 gra-
dually onwards to the west, dispensing, in their pro-
gress, the benefits of civilization 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
havino- 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 " al-
though the Welsh have been for ages celebrated for

406 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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." Sel-
den 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 any one 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 irre-
sistible.

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 or 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 ascer-
taining the fact from any of the stragglers of those
uncouth marauders, who having survived the car-
nage inflicted upon their army, in the plains of Clon-
tarf, 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 civilization 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 !

THE ROUND TOWERS. 407

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 *," and
the deniers of their antiquity, I shall quote the next
verse, viz., " Zillah, she also bare a son, Tubal-Cain,
an instructor of every artificer in brass and ironf."
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 Arimas-
pianSj a race of men having only one eye, are said to
purloin it from the griffins^. I do not, however, be-
lieve 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 termi-

* 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 !

t This Tubal-Cain was evidently the person from whom the Greeks
manufactured their mythological Vul-can.

$ " The griffin," says Shaw, copying Ctesias, " is a quadrujjed 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."

408 THE ROUND TOWERS.

nated. No doubt, he thought it extremely philoso-
phical, 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 * ! "

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. Ha-
milton'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, unexpect-
edly 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

* " 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, torn. 7. b. 3.

THE HOUND TOWERS. 409

which they were completely bewildered and lost.
After various vain attempts to return, their lights were
extinguished, their voices became hoarse, and ex-
hausted with frequent shouting ; and, at length,
wearied and spiritless, they sat down together, in
utter despair of an escape from this miserable dun-
geon. 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 consi-
derable distances through the coal works ; in conse-
quence 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 subter-
ranean 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 work-

410 THE ROUND TOWERS.

manlike 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 gene-
ration. 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 latter 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 lan-
guage, is accounted for on the same principle as that,
by which those excavations themselves had been so
long concealed, viz., 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 differ-

THE ROUND TOWERS. 411

ently 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 disco-
veries 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

* " L'existence de ce peuple anterieur est prouvee par le tableau qui
n'offre quo des debris, astrbnoraie oubliee, philosophic melee a des absur-
dites, physique degener6e en fables, religion epuree, mais cachee dans
une idolatrie grossiere. Cet ancien peuple a eu des sciences perfec-
tionnees, une philosophic sublime et sage." BAILLY.

4J2

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, &c.,
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 work-
manship *.

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 rub-
bish 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

* Amongst our antiquities also are found nose-rings (nasc-sroin)
which, stronger than any other demonstration, shows the orientalism of
our Tuath-de-danaan ancestors. Their ear-rings, also, are thus denned
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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 413

that country at their highest period of civilization
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 Buddhists, who brought all the splendour
of the East to the concentrated locality of this Hyper-
borean Island.

" Infant colonies, forsooth, do not carry a know-
ledge of the ' Fine Arts ' along with them ; they are
only to be found where wealth, luxury, and power
have fixed their abode *." 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 Buddhists 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 f.

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 pre-
ference to the sunny plains which gave them birth J."

In both those cases, of which the former is but the
echo, in all opinions, of the latter, our eastern ex-
traction is only objected to, considered as Phoenician ;

* Dublin Penny Journal.

t 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.

t Gentleman's Magazine, Nov. 1822.

414 THF. ROUXD TOWERS.

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 archi-
tecture, 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 * !

The Phoenicians, therefore, can have no pretensions
to the honour of those memorials : nor, indeed, can their
connexion with Ireland be at all recognized, 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 persecu-
tion 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

* In the entire land of Phoenicia there was but one, and that com-
paratively a modern one, erected no doubt after their intercourse with the
Tuath-de-danaans.

THE ROUND TOWLRS. -1 1 ~ t

their language with ours, by the analysis of the
fragment of a speech which occurs in one of the plays
of Plautus *. 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-Fetie, or dialect of the Phoe-
nicians, (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 eraf.

* The play above alluded to is that of the Psenulus, or Carthaginian,
in which Hanno is introduced in quest of his two daughters, who, with
their nurse, had been stolen by pirates, and conveyed to Calydon, in
./Etolia. 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 Shakspeare : and so interesting is the whole indepen-
dently of the cuiiosity attaching to so rare a production that I shall sub-
join a portion of it for the reader.

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.

Chin lach chunyth mumys tyal mycthii barii imi schi.
Cim laig cungan, mum is toil, mo iocd bearad iar mo sgil.
Help of the weary captive, instruct me according to thy will, to re-
cover 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.

t " How comes it then that they are so unlearned still, being so old
scholars ? for learning (as the poet saith) emollit moret nee sinit ease

416 THE ROUND TOWERS.

It is true that we have been denied the possession
of alphabetic characters before the time of St. Pa-
trick : but by whom ? By Bolandus ; on a false de-
duction from the writings of Ward, Colgan, Nennius,
&c., 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 *;
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 hui
dred and eighty volumes of our ancient theology f ;
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

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.

* 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 cus-
tom 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.

t Book of Cashel.

THE ROUXD -TOWERS. 417

would pass as the luminaries of their respective
generations, to maintain that letters and their appli-
cation 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 Exodus xxiv. 4, it is said, " And
Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." And in
Joshua 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 ar-
rived. In the history of Job, an acquaintance with
astronomy is quite apparent. The names of Arcturus,
Orion, and the Pleiades*, are distinctly notified in
that elaborate composition -|\ 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 J, the art

* Job viii. 8, and xix. 23.

t " There is no Mahomedan 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 cal-
culating nativities and foretelling events, they deem it essential to de-
scribe the planets in terms not unsuited to the account which the author
of the Dabistan has given of these deities:' Sir JOHN MALCOLM.

1 Job xix. 23, 24.

2 E

418

THE ROUND TOWERS.

of writing expressly named, thus, " O that my words
were now written ! Oh ! that they were printed in a
book : that they were graven with an iron pen, and
laid in the rock for ever !" And that it was of long-
continued usage is evident from a preceding chapter*,
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, bef6re the Roman
abjectorium, is still preserved, and called Beth-luis-
nion f, from the names of its three first letters, just as
the English is denominated ABC, from a similar
cause; and the Greek Alpha-bet from a like considera-
tion.

Irish.

Latin.

English.

Beithe,

Betulla,

Birch.

Luis,

Ornus,

Wild ash.

Nion,

Fraxinus,

Ash.

Suil,

Salix,

Willow.

Fearn,

Alnus,

Alder.

Huath,

Oxiacanthus,

White thorn.

. 7*,'

Duir,

Ilex,

Oak.

Timne,

Genist. Spin.

Furze.

Coll,

Corylus,

Hazel.

Muin,

Vitis,

Vine.

Gort,

Hedera,

Ivy.

Peth-bhog,

Beite, or B mollified,

Ruis,

Sambucus,

Elder.

Ailm,

Abies,

Fir tree.

Onn,

Genista,

Broom.

Ur,

Erix, or Erica,

Heath.

Eghadh,.

Tremula,

Aspen.

lodha,

Taxus,

Yew.

* Job viii. 8.

t Since I have commenced this work, a very ancient manuscript of
the abbey of Icolm kill has fallen into my hands ; it was written by

THE ROUXD TOWERS. 419

. 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.

It is well known, that long prior to the arrival of
Cadmus, the Greeks were in possession of alphabetic
writing *. Diodorus states so ; but adds, that a
ddiige had swept all away. One thousand five hun-
dred and fifty, before the era we count by, is agreed

/ // lit* lltl

7 X

tttt ttrt T

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.

* ^Eschylus 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.

2 E 2

420 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

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 *, and of
which I insert some specimens.

Among these you perceive the arrow-headed figures
whereof I have already advertised you ; and the mys-
terious 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 Phoe-
nicia? 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, notwithstand-
ing 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 expla-

THE ROUND TOWERS. 421

nation, 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 accla-
mations of regenerated history, at least decently with-
draw, and let the lovers of truth, in security and hap-
piness, 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 " se-
paration or division* !"

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 word is still retained in the Welch,
Britain ; and the Irish, Breact, anything divided or

* \Yhittaker s Manchester.

422 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 Csesar, 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 Belgse in the island, is altered into Brigan
and Brigants, and forms the denomination of Bri-
gantes." 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 Armori-
can names of Breton, Breiz, and Brezonnec, for an
individual, the country, and the language of Armo-
rica ; in the Welch Brython and Brythoneg, the Bri-
tons and their language ; and in the ancient synony-
mous 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. Whit-
taker himself! can tell how many fractures, cross-
lines, and diagonals have been made upon Britain

THE ROUND TOWERS. 423

ever since Noah's food ! And as he cannot fail, in
consequence, being in love with the Reverend Author,
I will indulge his fondness by another spark of en-
lightment.

" At this period," he resumes, (three hundred
years before Christ,) " many of the natives, relin-
quishing their ancient seats to the Belgae, found all
the central and northern parts of England already
occupied, and transported themselves into the unin-
habited isle of Ireland !"

I will now be understood as to the promise made
some while ago *, in reference to a definition for the
word modern. A modern then, be it known, is a phi-
losopher(?), who fancies that unlil 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 crea-
tion! but that, suddenly, whenever any mighty feat
was to be achieved, (in other words, whenever a mo-
dern theory was to be bolstered up) innumerable myr-
midons, 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 the tooth
of a dragon f, the former burst forward, nobody
knows whence, nor will their machiners condescend
to tell even so much as what may have been the ele-
ments of their composition !

* See page 332.

< An allegory, by the way, which I could explain satisfactorily, were
it not that it would detain me.

424 THE ROUND TOWERS.

To whom, however, is Mr. Whittaker beholden for
this intellectual idea? Verily, to a half-senseless
poor friar*, 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 cere-
bral 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, Bri-
gantes, Cangi, and other nations, were descended
from the Britons, and passed over thither after Divi-
tiacus, 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

* Oh ! 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 sup-
port their own fantasies !

THE ROUND TOWERS. 425

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 *, and other
emblematic devices, but never a Round Tower, their im-
poverished circumstances not being now adequate to
such an expense.

The Brigantes, again, is another Latin metamor-
phosis 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-ceaji the Ro-
mans, in conformity with the genius of their language,
changed into Bn-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-Brigantcs dare Romuleis,"

* " 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 pas-
sengers over a little rivulet ; and in the village are fragments of a most
beautiful cross richly decorated with fretwork." CAMBRENSIS.

426 THE ROUND TOM EH S.

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* prefixed thereto, from Scuitte, the ancient mode
of spelling Scythia.

Those Seoto-Brigantes were the persons who, hav-
ing been driven from Spain by the conquests of Sesos-
tris, 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 Iranf.

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 Stilling fleet, 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
Scythiam arrived here, many ages earlier, our legends,
our traditions, our histories, and our annals, unani-

* 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.

+ In the anxiety with which ray 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 over-
sight; 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." LHTTYDH.

THE 110 L\ I) TOM'KRS. 427

mously and universally attest, that they used the same
conversable articulation with that of the established
dynasty *.

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 lan-
guage 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 dis-
covery 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. Whitta-
ker, and his breakages, I will supply to you the deri-
vations, 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 offres ; or that whereon such used to have
been lighted for the convenience of mariners lying-
out at sea .

* " Every argument of the origin of emigrant nations must, after all,
be referred to language." CAMDEN.

) The derivation of those two terms is not exclusively mine. It is but
the repetition of the received interpretation of all men of letters.

428 THE HOUND TOWERS.

Neither the Scythians, therefore, nor the Celts,
had connexion whatsoever, either of them, with the
once-envied celebrity of this " island *." 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 ori-
ginal of their denomination has never been eluci-
dated, 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 evi-
dent 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 Belgse, 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, ac-
corded 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 branch-
ing out into the septs of Cauci and Menapii, corre-

* " 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 Eng-
land by any, it would seem worthy of sharpe correction, and of ne\v
lawes for reformation, for it is but even the other day since England
grew civill." SPRNSER.

IHK KOUXD TOWEKS. 4'20

spending to the kindred and cognominal tribes on the
continent; and who, during the occupancy of the Ira-
nians, the interval of Ireland s Hyperborean renown,
had retired to Arran* 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 Almo-
ners they were hurled from the throne their sanc-
tified 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 erenow composed canticles in adoration of Apollo,
were degraded to the secular and half-military occu-
pation 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 cir-
cumstance of there being another country also called by
this name, Ireland resumed its former name, Irin, as
its people did Irenses, instead of Scoti f.

* 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
unfaithful : both corresponding to the Iran and An-Iran of the Persians.

f 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

430 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Yet in the general transmutation which so great a
revolution bespeaks, we behold the strictest regard
paid to the literary fame and the mental acquire-
ments of those sages who had been ejected. They
were retained as the instructors of the new esta-
blishment ; and their refined precepts tending gra-
dually to soften the warlike propensities of this fero-
cious 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 indif-
ferently 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 extrac-
tion, in the confusion of the names, was the circum-
stance 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,

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, Flbrentius Wigorniensis, in his
annals, in which, having inserted the chronicle of Marianus, in men-
tioning 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 chro-
nicle in the Cottonian library. Abbe Mac Geoghcgan.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 431

as it is a collateral evidence that those edifices have
been attributed to their real authors ; and the ana-
chronism 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 Scot-
land, 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 Mac-
culloch 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 lan-
guage 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 fur-
nished them with wives, and otherwise joined their
fraternity *.

* 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. BUCHAN'AX.

Britannia post Britones et Pictos tertiam Scotorum nationem in Pic-
torum 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."

432

CHAPTER XXIX.

" THE Scoto-Milesians," says Dr. Hales *, " reckon
twenty-three generations from Feni an fear sold, ' the
Phoenician wise man,' their ancestor, to Heber and
Heremon, who established the last settlement from
Spain, as observed before ; which, at the usual com-
putation 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 |) were coeval with
Solomon, and that the Gadelians \ 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 Solo-
mon's, 1 Kings ix. 11 14. And Herodotus, that in-
quisitive 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

* Author of the New Analysis of Chronology, and late fellow of
Trinity College, Dublin,
t See page 376.
$ This should have been Scythians.

THE ROUN 7 D TOWERS. 433

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. 44; who
flourished about 900 years before he wrote, 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 con-
temporary 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, how-
ever, of Sidon and her daughter Tyre, was acknow-
ledged 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."
(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 '! .I'/h-V^i 1656 3952

Deluge . | .;,! . 292 2296

Abraham born . -. 942 2004

David, king . . ''"'.' 473 1062

Babylonish Captivity . 589 589

Christian Era . . 3952 '_ I

" In this table, the first column contains the years
elapsed between the succeeding events : thus, from

2 F

434 THE ROUND TOWERS.

the creation, 1656 years to the deluge ; from the
deluge, 292 years to the birth of Abraham, &c. ; and
their amount, 3952 years, gives the basis of the sys-
tem, 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 jn Ireland, ' 1002 years after the passage
of the Red Sea by the Israelites, in which the Egyp-
tians 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 chro-
nologer, we are warranted to rectify this important
error of Nennius and Marcus Anchoreta, which
even Dr. O'Connor has failed to correct ; not ad-
verting to the foregoing inference from Coemhain.
But he has happily furnished himself the materials
for proving the error.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 435

" He states, that one hundred and eighteen kings
of the Scoti reigned, till the arrival of St. Patrick,
B.C. 489 + A. D. 432 = 921 years in all, which,
divided by 118, would give too short an average of
reigns, only 7^y 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. Pro/eg, ii. p. 45 *."

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 f, with this exactly cor-
responds the time at which Marsden, Kcempfer, 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 Re-
musat suppose J029 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 calcu-
lations 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,

* Origin and Purity of the Primitive Churches of the British Isles,
i- Various colonies of the Tuath-de-danaans had settled here : but I
talk now of the last one, immediately preceding the Scythians.

2 F2

436 THE ROUND TOWERS.

of this singular people, and their extraordinary ritual,
makes us associate the phenomena with one com-
mon cause, and that was the expulsion of the Bud-
hists 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 colo-
nies ; 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 *.

It was, indeed, the tradition of this early invasion,
long mystified by age, that we have seen so perverted
at page 385, for the sole purpose of effecting a mi-
racle ! 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 re-
corded is our reception of the Tuath-de-danaans when
ejected by the arms of their Pish-de-danaan rivals f ?
Amongst the Easterns themselves we find corre-
sponding 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

,* See pages 259, 264, 5.
J See pages 385, 282, and 259.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 437

the Hyperboreans*. 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, page 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^, and
then recollect that the name of Bacchus is still found
amongst our ancient inscriptions J ; and in addition
to all these, bear in mind that Plutarch expressly
designates this 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 de-
cisive in more interesting applications, I refer you to
our regal figures at page 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,

* Euseb. Prsepar. Evang. 1. ii. 4.

f" nvT;aw "Si xa,} uvfyairoftogQtt Offices a.ya.\(t.a. Siixtvat/ffiv, t%
3/a TO y'mpn xai TO Taipei. Plut. de Isid. et Osirid.

J See page 265.

De facie in orbe lunse. 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 poetse tanquara per-
vatis dixeres."

438 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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*, 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-jem-
sheed, which, in Irish, signifies the Couch-of-Jem-
sheed) divided," says he, " according to Persian
authors, his subjects into four classes. The first was
formed of learned and pious men, devoted to the wor-
ship of God ; and the duty ascribed to them was to
make known to others what was lawful and what other-
wise. 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 in-
stitution of Jemsheed can only be deemed a revival of that
latvgiver f ."
jj^ri ' *,jiij?fidjj'?fli V.wV-jui

* The original, in fact, of the Feodal System.

f An act of daring impiety (not requiring to be added) disgusted
Jemsheed's subjects, and encouraged the Syrian prince, Zohauk, to in-
vade Persia. The unfortunate Jemsheed fled before a conqueror, who
was deemed by all, the instrument of divine vengeance. The wander-
ings 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 pur-
sued through Seistan, India, and China, by the agents of the implacable

THE ROUND TOWERS. 439

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 an-
cient custom, and that they gave the preference to
Trefoil, whereon they laid their offerings*."

Now, two considerations are to be observed, as in-
volved 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, &c., because such were long
exploded. And he knew not what to make of the Round
Towers, Part, however, of the ceremonial appertain-
ing to those edifices still remained, such as the wor-
ship 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

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.
* Clio, chap. 130.

440 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 symbolized
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 grati-
tude, the Alibenistic cross, the seal of their redemp-
tion, 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 simi-
larly expounded* !

Lastly, ihefwierals of the Persians after the soul's
liberation from, its tenement of clay, at the summons
of its God are described by Herodotus f with so
striking a similitude, that you would imagine he had
witnessed, and expressly referred to, the like scenes
in Ireland J.

* " Now these heathens in India, believe that an atonement has been
made for their sins," says Dr. Hurd, in his " Religious Rites and Cere-
monies." 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.

+ Clio, chap. 193.

$ 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 grave clothes, and ornamented
with flowers, was placed on a bier, or some elevated spot. The relations
and keener* (singing mourners) then ranged themselves in two divisions,

THE ROUND TOWERS. 441

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*."

In truth, the island was altogether an Oriental
Asylum f, until, for a moment, broken in upon by the

one at the head, and the other at the foot of the corpse. The bards and
eroteries 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 duti-
ful, 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.

* Baillie.

t A particular anecdote in the Persian history has such claims upon
the feelings, and is otherwise so interesting, a* being, in fact, the eluci-
dation 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 Taha-
murs. 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 country-
men : these fought with enthusiasm under the standard of the black-
smith's apron, which continually reminded them of the just cause of
their revolt ; and the presence of their young prince made them invin-
cible. 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 Ma-

442 THE HOUND TOWERS.

Fir-Bolgs, or Celts. Their usurpation, however, was
only that of a day, amounting, by all records, but to

hometan conquest, when it was taken in battle by Saad-e-Wukass, and
sent to the Caliph Omar.

' A Persian poet, alluding to the victories which the youthful Feri-
doon 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 merci-
ful, 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 Tur-
key ; 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 intreated 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 then- 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 com-
mon parent to Selm and Toor, the purport of which was, that they
should live together in peace. This appeal had no effect, and the unfor-
tunate 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 443

fifty-six years*; 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 his-
tory 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 ex-
plained f.

Professor MiillerJ, in a very elaborate treatise
upon the Antiquities of the Dorians, has been pleased

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 d ay of retribution approach ; they sent ambassadors with rich pre-
sents to their father, and intreated 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.

* " Fifty-six years the Fir-Bolgs royal line were kings, and the sceptre
they resigned to the Tuath-de-danaans." KEATING.

f 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.

% Gottingen University.

444 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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, with-
out 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
Miiller'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.

445

CHAPTER XXX.

BEFORE we descend to language, I shall collect the
historical concordances that bear upon this investiga-
tion.

Beo, a poetess of Delphi, mentions in the frag-
ment of a poem, quoted by Pausanias, that three in-
dividuals, 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*?

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

^ Vallancey, Coll. vol.iii. p. 163.

44G THE ROUND TOWERS.

times preceding, by an interval of ages, the voyages of
the Carthaginians to the north of the Straits of Gib-
raltar." " No argument to the contrary," says Miiller,
" 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 de-
pendent, 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, Eubcea, Carystus, Andras, and Tenos,
till at last they arrived at Delos."

Could he, I ask, more geographically portray 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 447

to fly to the Hyperboreans. The Delphians, missing
the god, instituted a psean 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 *.

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 eject-
ment 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 cele-
brating 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

* Bryant's Anal. vol. iii. 4913.

448 THE ROUND TOWERS.

completely authenticated by our ancient records,
which narrate the circumstance, with no view to
decide an historical controversy, but with indiffer-
ence 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 know-
ledge,

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 BcBotian 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 should seem, ensued between them
and the Fir-Bolgs on their return : and the Sean-
neachees, in their incapacity to separate any two
events of a similar character from each other, con-

THE ROUND TOWERS. 449

founded 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 exist-
ence, 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 *, 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 f of

* " 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 men-
tioned. But they came into Egypt from the west of India, and are fre-
quently 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 f See
page 68 of present volume.

t This explains what Hecatseus records, as to the ancient attachment
between the Hyperboreans and the Grecians " deducing their friend-
ship from remote times." And the offerings which the latter are said to
have brought to the former were precisely of that nature (av^^ra) which
comports with the spirit of our Budhist pentalogue. See page 112.

450 THE ROUND TOWEHS.

the Argonauts to our shores many ages previously *,
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 pa-
triotism, 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 f .

Who then can any longer doubt but that this was
the island of the Hyperboreans? Even the pecu-
liarity 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 him-
self. " The sovereignty of this city," says he, " and
the care of the temple, belong to the Boreades^

* 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 characterize Ireland as an " insula Jasonics puppis bene
cognita nautis."

t Abaris ex Hyperboreis, ipse quoque theologus fuit ; scripsit oracula
regionibus quas peragravit, quce hodie extant ; prcedixit is quoque terrce
motus,pestes, et similia ac ccetera. Ferunt earn cum Spartam advenisset,
Lacones monuisse de sacris mala avertentibus, quibus peractis nulla
postmodum Lacedcemone pestisfuerit 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 page 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."

J A spiritual supremacy of this kind prevailed in several cities of Asia
Minor, as, for instance, at Pessinus, in Phrygia. The origin of such

THE ROUND TOWERS. 451

Now, nothing ever has puzzled etymologists so
much to explore as the origin of the Irish term
Bards*. 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 well
nigh 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 bur-
thened with the internal management of the royal
household! !!"

I shall spare my readers any more of those carica-
tures, and submit to his own candour to adjudicate,
whether Bards could, by possibility, be anything else
than the modern Englification for our ancient Bo-
reades ?

Doubtless, Professor Miiller, your astonishment has
now subsided, as to Hecatseus's credulity in the exist-
ence of the Hyperboreans. Diodorus Siculus, who,

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 foreign-
ers; 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. HEERKN, vol. i.
p. 121.

* This word is of uncertain etymology their early history is uncer-
tain. Diodorus (lib. v. 31), tells us, that the Celts had bards, who sung
to musical instruments ; and Strabo (lib. iv.) testifies, that they were
treated with respect, approaching to veneration. The passage of Tacitus
(Germ. 7.) is a doubtful reading. American Encyclopedia.

2 G 2

452 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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*,"
was herein your guide ! But the manes of the Hyper-
boreans 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 domi-
nion of foreigners, adopted many foreign words ; so
that, if any one 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 esta-
blish 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

* See Oriental Collections.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 453

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

Z*v

that is,

Pelasgian Jove, \\hofarfrom Greece resid'st
In cold Dodona.

Aabuvnv I'vyov n Td^.ayyui itoaiv* '/,x.-i f .

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 Tot-
dana \. 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 and Tot-
dana, by consequence, must denote the Magic-
almonry^.

Now, the Greeks, having been initiated in all their
religious mysteries by the Irish, did not only enrich
their language with the vocabulary of our ceremo-
nial, but adopted the several epithets of our island,

* Homer's Iliad, *. v. 233. t Hesiod, apud Strabo, 1. 7.

J See Miege's " Present State of Ireland." $ See page 257.

|| On the pillar at Buddall, before alluded to, are these words, viz.,
" 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." 1 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 page 113 of this
work.) By another Almoner is meant the Deity.

454 THE ROUND TOWERS.

as the distinctive names for their various localities,
so that our Muc-inis * became their Myc-ene, our Tot-
dana their Do-dona, &c. &c. 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, Tof-dana was at once
made Dof-dana ; the intermediate t was then left out
for sound sake, making it Do-dana ; and, lastly, the
penultimate a was transformed into o for the " ore
rotundo *f," completing the Grecism of Do-dona.

You see, therefore, from this, that the origin of
Dodona was exclusively Irish ! that Dodona and Ire-
land were, in fact, one and the same ! a circum-
stance of which Homer was perfectly well assured,
when he styled it Ao>8a>vvj Suo-^si/xegoj, or the Hyper-
borean Tot-dana\.

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
Atrens, 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

* See page 327.

f Grails, ingenium Gratis: dedit ore rotundo. HORACE.

; This is still more evident by his making use of the word >.&, that
is, far off, meaning from Greece ! And Hesiod applies this identical
topography to the British Islands, which he styles sacred, describing
them as ^axa -mXi, an immeasurable distance off, towards the northern
point of the ancient continent !

THE ROUND TOWERS. 455

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 mate-
rial whereof most of our Round Towers are con-
structed, and the property of which is to indurate by
time. The Dune of Dornadella in Scotland is identi-
cally 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 beau-
fait, 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 sepa-
rated 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

456 THE ROUND TOWERS.

at the bottom of a sloping hill, which wholly com-
mands 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 con-
cerning 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 !" Where-
ever these do not appear, their place is supplied
by projecting stones, for the evident purpose of act-
ing as supporters *. And as the Mycenian, the Cale-
donian, and the Hibernian edifices thus far correspond,
the only thing that remains is to explain to what pur-
pose 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, &c.
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 story.
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 par-
ticulars ; 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 f," he meant the men of Ireland.

First, let me refer you to page 4, by which you

* See ptJge 71. t Chapter xvii. 15.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 457

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 pos-
session, where the payment, or the reward, for the
education of children, whilst under the care of fos-
terers, 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 hus-
bandry and farming, three eneaclann and three-
sevenths ; if in milrach, i. e. glais-argneadh as tear,
that is, superior ?iavigation, 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 in-
structed 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., torn, ii.,
par. ii., p. 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,

458 THE ROUND TOWERS.

is also frequently called Dirin ; and it may be con-
jectured, 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 pro-
bable 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 * and D-Irin ;
and have I not shown that each of those names, iden-
tical and unadulterated, belonged properly to Ire-
land ? 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 incor-
rect. 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 informa-
tion, 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

* For Dedan see last two pages; arid for D-Irin, see page 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.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 459

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
coming 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 f

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*. This
was that of Peleiai, in the accusative Pdeias, which,
in the dialect of Attica, signifies pigeons, and in that

* Or as the Rev. Caesar Otway would say, in a similar embarrass-
ment, " I will give (i. e. invent) you a motto and a motive for it,"
Ha, ha, ha! See Dublin Penny Journal, July 8, 1832.

460

THE ROUND TOWERS.

of Epirus, old women ; and so the whole metamor-
phosis was forthwith adjusted !

THE ROUND TOWERS. 461

" The very extraordinary piece of antiquity, repre-
sented in the annexed wood-cut, 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, &c., 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 instru-
ment 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 leave 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*."

Had the antiquarian high-priest to this magnani-
mous 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

* Dublin Penny Journal, April 6, 1833.

462 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 noon-
day. 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 anti-
quity 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 frorn some quarter, I be-
lieve from Aristotle, that there were some brass ap-
pendages contiguous to Dodona, he converts those
appendages into kettles a worthy friend of mine
would add, offish " 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 sup-
pose 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 per-

THE ROUND TOWERS. 463

suaded as I am of my personal consciousness, that
some prescience they did possess, conducted partly
by human fraud, and partly by spiritual co-opera-
tion *.

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 preg-
nancies of time which they have foreshoivn f.

Porphyry, in his book " De Daemonibus " and
lamblichus in his " De Mysteriis," expressly men-
tion 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 skreen their defect by the vagueness of con-
jectures, in order that if the issue did not correspond
with their advice, it may be supposed owing to mis-
interpretation. The instance of Crcesus and the Del-
phian oracle was an interesting event. He sent to all
the oracles on the same day this question for solution,

* Elementorum omnium spiritus, utpote perennium corporum motu
semper, et ubique vigens, ex his quse per disciplinas varias affectamus,
participat nobiscum munera divinandi, et substantiates potestates ritu
diversa placatse, velut ex perpetuis fontium venis vaticina mort'alitati
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, in-
cantations, 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. VALLANCJSY.

464 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 odor of a lamb and tortoise
boiling together in a brazen cauldron ; brass is under
and brass above thefesh"

Having heard this reply, Crcesus 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 Crcesus 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 Crcesus
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 Philip-
pise, or conform her notes to the tune of the Mace-
donian emperor. The knowledge of this circumstance

THE ROUND TOWERS. 465

made the prudent at all times distrust their sugges-
tions, 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 unapprized, they knew
not the import of their own name Pelargi* ! It is
compounded of this same term phedea, an augur or a
diviner ; and argh, the symbolical 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 "[.

Agyeus was another term in their religious vocabu-
lary, as applied to Apollo, of which the Greeks knew
not the source. They could not, indeed, well mis-
take, that it was derived immediately from aywa, 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 Budh-a-vohir, that is, Apollo- of -the,
high-roads, not, what the Greeks understood it, as
stationary thereon, but, on the contrary, as itinerant ;

* 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 wfcre called Pelasgi, should by the name of Danai be
distinguished. EURIPIDES.

f 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.

2 H

466 piTHE ROUND TOWERS.

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.

Grume 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 "Lycceus ;
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 difficul-
ties 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 signi-
ficant of natural designs.

In one place you observe his tail gracefully inter-
woven 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!

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

THE ROUXD TOWERS.

467

Figl

2 H '2

468 THE ROUND TOWERS.

structure of animals, he (M. de Candolle, Lecturer
on Natural History at Geneva) introduced many inte-
resting 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. Dur-
ing 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 ecstacy
of delight ; springing up, he placed one paw on each
of her shoulders, but the next moment he fell back-
wards, 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 In-
curable Fooles," translated from the Italian by Todd,
to the following effect, viz. :

ff Amongst these humours of Melancholy, the phi-
sitions place a kinde of madnes, by the Greeks called
La/canthropia, 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 metis bones out of the sepulchres,
carrying them about the streets, to the great feare and

THE ROUND TOWERS. 469

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, &c."

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 *,
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 f."

On one of the loose stones, which remain after

* " I thank you,'' says Symmachus to his brother Flavianus, "/or 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.''

f This is the meaning of the name Glen-da-lough, and a faithful por-
raiture it is of the situation.

470 THE ROUND TOWERS.

this wreck of magnificence, you will see a full deli-
neation 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 *."

This king, in his anxiety to regain the lost condi-
tion 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 f> that is, the Budhist
Gospel, with a view to its salutary re-propagation.

The officers proceeded in quest of such a pheno-
menon ; but, in the extent of their own realms he was
not to be found !

This excites the uneasiness of the king, who " hav-
ing 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 a private traveller,
and not to rest till he has found one who could commu-
nicate to him the desired knowledge. Having/or a length
of time travelled through many kingdoms, towns, and vil-

* Miniature of Budhism.

t " The secret, it was lost, but surely it was found." freemason
song.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 471

lages, enduring hardships, he is, at last, by providen-
tial interference, led through a delightful valley (which
affords him subjects for consideration and recreation
of mind) into a dismal forest, the habitation of fright-
ful demons, venomous reptiles, and beasts of prey.

" Sekkraia having on the occasion come down
from heaven, in the disguise of a Raksha, meets Bod-
hesat (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, Sehkraia, in his own hea-
venly form, receives him in his arms, as he is preci-
pitating himself from the rock," and has him initiated
in the desired information *.

Now, waiving for a moment the latter part of this
legend, every word of which, however, is still chro-
nicled 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! ft"

This stone itself is engraved in " Ledwich's An-
tiquities," where in his ignorance of its meaning, as
well as of everything else which formed the subject

* This account is found in Satdharma<ankare, a very popular Bhud-
dist book, being a collection of histories, &c,, from the writings of the
Rahats, in which the original Paly (Pahlavf) texts are "preserved with
the Singhalese. Miniature of Budhism.

472 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 of them, that

" He would suffer, for a quart of wine,
A good fellow to have his concubine !"

How inconsistent is error ! Elsewhere this Re-
verend 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 mis-
sionaries had built over it, by way of supersedence, he
throws himself, in his embarrassment, into the arms of
St. Kevin! associates Awn 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 *.

* 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 473

The pomegranate of Astarte the medicinal apple
of affection* 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 symbolization, the serpent mingles in the
general tale ! while the traditional story of the adjoin-
ing 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 tra-
versed 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 peregri-
nation, viz., initiation into gospel truth, than in that
country which, from its pre-eminent effulgence in its

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. HITRD.

Bodhesat receives a few handfuls of grass presented to him by Soithia,
(a Brahmin,) which grass, when strewed on the ground under the Bo
tree, there arise from the earth miraculously a throne of diamond, four-
teen 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, &c.
* " Yes, love indeed is light from heaven,
A spark of that immortal fire,

With angels shared, by Alia 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.

474 THE ROUND TOWERS.

beatitudes, was exclusively denominated the Gospel-
land ?

This, Sir, is no rhetoric no declamatory exaggera-
tion. 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 here-
tofore 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.

475

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 con-
cealed: 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*."

So speaks one of the most extraordinary produc-
tions that has ever appeared in England, in the shape
of literature ! And the commentary of its translator f
is as follows :

" In both these passages," says he, " the pre-exist-
ence 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

* Book of Enoch, Ixi. 81 0.
< Dr. Lawrence, present Archbishop of Cashel.

476 THE ROUND TOWERS.

and invisible, before everything concealed. It should
likewise .be remarked, that the pre-existence ascribed
to him is a divine pre-existence *."

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 ! Every body acquiesces, who acquies-
ces 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 uncon-
sciously 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 Free-masons, but
I confess, that when first I glanced at^the above re-
marks, I fancied he did. The care with which the
two words " secret' and " concealed" were distin-
guished by him in italics, led me to this conjecture.
But the indefinite unsubstantially into which he after-
ward 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 f: and yet

* Preface to Translation of the Book of Enoch.

t " 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 a rational tradition, the antiquity of which alone, inde-
pendent 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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 477

that " author," whom the Archbishop himself acknow-
ledges 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*."

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

stigmatized as necessarily replete with error ; although it be on that
account incapable of becoming a rule of faith, it may nevertheless con-
tain 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 com-
posed. 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 con-
demn, 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 dis-
posed to admire the vivid imagination of a writer, who transports him far
beyond the flaming boundaries of the world

Extra

Processit longe flammantia rncenia 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.
* See page 475.

478 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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, unappre-
ciated, upon an ungenial world, a cold, a calculating,
an adamantine world who fancy they know every-
thing, 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 cur-
tailments 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 *."

You surely cannot suppose this said in reference to
the late incarnation! Were it so, why should the

* John i. 10-11.

THE ROIXD TOWERS. 479

Evangelist deliver himself in terms so pointedly allu-
sive 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 cotemporaries, 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
texts, he tells us in the sequel, when expressly nar-
rating this latter fact, that " the logos was made flesh
and dwelt among us*" 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 f !

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
jlesh, Christ came ;" but by " his own" are meant his
real relations I 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., TO.
jia, 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 J." Now, the apostles were they who did impli-

* John i. 14. t Page 478.

t John i. 12.

480 THE ROUND TOWERS.

citly 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 *."

These were the persons to whom Christ came before
these were " his own," because that, like him, they
also were of God "\. These were they, who having
lapsed into sin J, 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 !! !

Oh ! the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his
judgments, and how inscrutable his ways !

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 || ;" for when before " he was in the world," it
was in secret and concealed, as still and always repre-
sented 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 ^[," at this thy present !!!

I was myself twelve years of age before ever I

* John i. 13- t See page 242.

J See page 243. Romans xi. 33.

|| John i. 31. f Johnxii. 28.

THE ROUXD TOM'KRS. 481

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 gram-
matical technicality could possibly escape my obser-
vation. Soon as I arrived at the text wherein rot. i&iat.
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 connexion 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 deter-
mine ; 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 dis-

2 i

482

THE ROUND TOWERS.

posed to admit the information which it conveys*,
to be an immediate communication from the Omni-
potent, I have another very adequate mode of account-
ing for St. John's having acquired if, and expressed
it too in a phraseology so essentially oriental.

The three wise men who came from the East to

* Viz., the secret of an Antediluvian Incarnation.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 483

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 *" to a mortal certainty
imparted to him the intelligence !

Here you see them with crosses upon their crowns t,
the religious counterparts of our Irish shamrocs\ !
And surely, as Jesus was then but an infant, those
mysterious devices were commemorative of his cruci-
fixion, 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 (TO. *8*a) 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^.

That St. John never wrote them is beyond all
question ! but having found them to his hand, exist-
ing after the circuit of centuries and ages, the com-
position 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

* Matthew ii. 1, 2.

f This wood-cut is copied from one of the early block-books.
J See page 440.

I need not repeat to the reader, that by Irish I mean the primitive
Persic, indiscriminately common as well to Iran as to Irin.

2 i2

484 THE ROUND TOWERS.

the Messiah, to have crept into the text, in conse-
quence of its having been translated by persons unac-
quainted with that language !

The term, logos, which you render word, means to
an iota the spiritual fame log,' or [logh, being the
original denomination. The Greeks, who had bor-
rowed 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 fame ; as
is evident from Zeno making use of the expression,
$ia TOO :ravTO Xoyo, that is, the spiritual fame, which
is diffused through, and vivifies everything.

Pythagoras is so explicit upon this spiritual fame,
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

TMlL HOUND TOWERS. 485

all. He products 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 de-
scribing the quickening influence of this ethereal
logos through all the branches of nature, interprets it
as above, literally, by the spiritual fame !

Principio coelum ac terras, camposque liquentes,
Lucentemque globum Lunse, Titaniaque Astra,
Spiritus intus alit ; totamque infusa per artus
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpora miscet.
Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitseque volantum,
Et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub sequore pontiis*.

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 logon 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
it would be revolting to common seme, were it not
even thus incorrect !

For example " In him was life," says the text,
** and the life was the ligty of men."

Now, how could there be life in a word? except
by the most unnatural straining of metaphor. Or, ad-

* Virgil's /Encid, vi. 724.

486 THE ROUND TOWERS.

mitting 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, tf 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 *." Thus
keeping up an uninterrupted reference to logos, or the
spiritual fame !

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 dero-
gation 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 fame : and the spiritual
fame was with God, and the spiritual fame was God f ."

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 J !"

* John viii. 12. r John i. 1.

t John i. 29. See also page 315 of this volume.

THE ROUND TOWKUS. 487

By lamb, no doubt, you mean a young sheep.: but
let me ask you, what connexion 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 ordi-
nary animal of the mere ovine species that was in-
tended ?

No, Sir, recollect the " Lamb slain from the be-
ginning of the world," recorded in the Revelations, as
quoted before *.

A deep mystery is involved in this expression,
which the ingenuity of man could not evolve but
through the Irish, In that language, lanibh is a word
having three significations. The first is a hand ; the
second a young sheep ; and the third a cross |.

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 nume-
rals, came to be represented by a cross X. This being
the number of fingers upon each person's /lands : and a
hand and a cross being both prefigured in the sacred,

* See page 288.

J In the Tartar language, which is a dialect of the Irish, it still re-
tains this latter import, as appears from the following : " Ce qu'il y a
de remarquable, c'est que le grand prctre des Tartares port le nom de
lama, qui en langue Tartare signifie la croix ; et les Bogdoi qui con-
quirent 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.

488 THE ROUND TOAVERS.

that is, in the Irish language*, 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 characterizes
it as a submultiple, and that the mysteriousness of the
whole should be additionally shrouded under the com-
prehensive symbol of a pyramid or triangle A f.

" 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 com-
pounded with it, forms the modern eo-cire, the key of
a lock. The figure of this key resembled a cross ;
those of the Lacedemonians 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 hud seen it in the ceremonial of the Egyptians,
from whom, like the Lacedemonians, they had bor-
rowed its use, without either of them being able to
penetrate its import \ !

The origin, then, of this badge appearing amongst

* The words Irish and sacred are synonymous. See page 129.

t See pages 267, 268, and 269.

$ " 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 Hebrtcce, vol. i. p. 97.

THE HOUND TOWERS. 489

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 *.

The Idm-Dactyli, who superintended the mysteries
of Ceres, obtained their designation from the very same
cause, and corresponded literally with our Luamhs :
for the lod 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 astonish-
ment, as to the immutability of a nation's character, to
this very hour, the symbolical oath of the Irish peasant
is a tramverse placi?ig of the fore-finger 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 f? 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 gentle-
man who has published the " Description" of those
ruins J, though glaringly ignorant as to what was com-
memorated thereby.

" Upon one point, however," he says, " it is deemed
essentially necessary to lay a stress, which is the

* See page 438, with the note thereon also.

\r See Dublin Penny Journal, Nov. 10, 1833.

t Published by Berthoud, 65, Regent's Quadrant, Piccadilly.

490 THE ROUND TOWERS.

representation of a Greek cross, in the largest plate illus-
trative of the present work, from whence the casual
observer might be prompted to infer that the Palen-
cian 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 sym-
bol of their religious worship : for instance, the augu-
ral staff or wand of the Romans was an exact re-
semblance 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*.

* See page 361. At Monasterboice there are three very beautiful

THE ROUND TOWERS.

491

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 excommuni-
cated all such as revered them ! and has otherwise
disowned all participation therein, by the fulminating
of bulls and of anathemas * !

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, &c."
* See Borlase, p. 162.

492 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Yet did the zealots of party, after the history of
those crosses was forgotten, associate them individu-
ally 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 in-
vention at work, and peopled at discretion the in-
visible 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 *.

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, hav-
ing 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
cdard : Dian ceachd liargh etan dan a hingeinsidhe :
buime na filedh Goibneadh Gobha lug Mac Eithe Oc-
cai ; ro badar na huile dana Daghadae in High :
oghma brathair in High, 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

* See page 36. I must not omit to mention that the Tuath-de-danaan
cross at Armagh, noticed at page 359, was pulled down some time
back, to prevent the squabbles between the Catholics and the Orange-
men, neither of whom had any inheritance therein !

THE ROUND TOWERS. 493

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 po-
pular tradition is still substantially true which con-
nects 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 mimes in Irish are
identically the same as those by which they were
distinguished by that earlier race. If, therefore, sur-
prise 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 mission-
aries a revival upon which their hearts were long-
ingly riveted, and which Fiech himself, the pupil of
St. Patrick, and bishop of Sletty, unconsciously re-
gisters in the following couplet, viz.

" Tuatha Heren, tarcaintais
Dos nicfead sith laithaith nua*."

That is,

" The Budhists of Irin prophesied
That new times of peace would come."

What kind of peace, you ask ? Is it of deliverance

* Vita prima S. Patricii, Ap. Colgan.

494 THE ROUXD TOWERS.

from their Scythian oppressors ? No, but that spiri-
tual tranquillity, such as they enjoyed before, and at
which even the angels of heaven rejoiced, while an-
nouncing the tidings to man *.

" 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-K' "

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 J."

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 wit-
nesses 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

* " 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.

t " 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.

$ Matthew ii. 9.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 495

delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave
him tithes of all*.

" 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 con-
tinually f."

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 Ca-
naanites, 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 with-
out 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."

* Genesis xiv. 18,19, 20.

t Hebrews yii. 4, 1, 2, 3. Rex idem hominum, Phoebique Sacer-
dos. VIRGIL.

496 THE ROUND TOWERS.

Nobody can quarrel with the piety of this com-
mentator: 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 ex-
pression 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 re-
presented by Melchizedec *.

" 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 -f."

" 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 J."

" 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 ."

" Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto
you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you ||."

* 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.

t Isaiah Hi. 7. J. John xvi. 33.

$ Luke xix. 42. II John xiv. 27.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 497

" 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 *."

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 t !

* Hebrews vi. 19,20. t Christmas Carols.

2 K

498

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 *.

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, " generation of vipers, who hath
warned you to flee from the wrath to comet?" And
in that according to St. John, the following, " We be
not born of fornication ; we have one Father, even
GodJ."

The juxtaposition of these texts, one with another,
and the comparison of them, mutually, with the
explication of the serpent, given at page 229, will not
only confirm the truth of all the foregoing develop-
ments, but satisfy you farther, what I am very cer-
tain you did not before identify, viz., that the phrases
generation of vipers, and the being born of fornica-
tion, are one and the same the viper, or serpent,

* Freemasons' song,
t Matthew iii. 7. $ John vii. 41.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 4JJU

being the symbol of lustfulness, making- the former
equivalent to ye offspring of concupiscence ; that is, in
other words, ye born of fornication * ! And the very
stress laid upon this mode of genititre, implies not
only the possibility of a different sort, but its fre-
quency, also !

" In the Purana prophecies concerning the ex-
pected 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 repre-
sented 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, corre-
sponds 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

* See pajre 229.

2 K 2

500 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 engage-
ment ; for this purpose they make them renounce
God and his blessed Mother, instructing them before-
hand 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, al-
though it may be a beast of a ferocious nature, as a
lion, a tiger, &c. 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 co-eval 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 thpse
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

THE ROUND TOWERS. 501

be understood, exclusively, as in reference to him ; a
conclusion which is confirmed by an additional refer-
ence to that oath, which I have before mentioned, as
still prevalent amongst the Irish.

By the cross is the oath, accompanied by a trans-
verse location of the fore-finger 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 docu-
ments 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

502 THE HOUND TOWERS.

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 Cidebraof 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 ;
viz., that the " Milesians, from the time they first con-
quered Ireland, down to the reign of Ollamh Fodhla,
made use of no other arms of distinction in their ban-
ners than a serpent twisted round a rod, after the ex-
ample of their Gadelian ancestors*."

You have now the proof of " who put 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
Qadel for one of our forefathers, and then trans-
planting 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 ser-
pent bite him, in some part of the heel, but very gra-
ciously afterwards restore him to sanity by Moses's
interposition ! with a stipulation, however, that the

* Keatinr's History of Ireland, 'folio, p. 143.

THE HOUND TOWERS. 503

former yore should ever appear glass or green f 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 Sabiam /"

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 * has three significations
firstly, voluptuousness, or iheyo?ii; 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 page 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 illus-
trating my development of that mysterious scene
wherein

" Eve templing Adam by a serpent was stung f."

The sculpture itself is intended to portray the

* Pronounced Sauv. This was the Seva of the Hindoos, by which,
although they understood, indeed, as \ve\\generation as destruction to be
symbolised ; yet, is it 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.

Freemasons' song.

504 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 un-
doubted 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 inco-
herencies, 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 them-
selves 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 phe-
nomenon continually surrounds us, yet human sensa-
tion 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 ;

THE ROUND TOWERS. 505

it springs from the same God, partakes of the same
originality, still flourishes in immortal youth, and but
with nature will expire V

The contortions of the snake were easily trans-
ferred 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 antiqnaries 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. 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, &c. 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

* Ashe's Masonic Manual.

006 THE ROUND TOWERS.

fact of serpent and yoni being both expressed in the
$acred, 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 serpeni twisted .round a rod, resolves itself into the
Yoni embracing the Lingam.

Hence, too, it was that the portals of all the Egyp-
tian 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 page 225 ; and you further
see the mysterious tendency of the Prophet's injunc-
tion to his children, when he said, " Remember that
ye are Sabiam" to have been equivalent with Keep
constantly in view, that you are the offspring of con-
cupiscence, 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 pro-
mised 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 page 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 page 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 Heze-
kiah ?"

THE ROUND TOWERS. 507

From this Sabaiwi, or serpent worship, Ireland
obtained the name of Tibholas, or Tivolas ; S and T
being 1 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*, over the orifice of which the
priestess used to take her seat upon a sacred tripod,
or the religiously emblematic pyramid f, while the
inspiring vapour issued from beneath through a tube,
similar to that exhibited at page 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 Pyth-

* See page 282, note. t See page 268.

508 THE ROUND TOWERS.

agoras, 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 *," 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 fac-simile 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

* Isaiah vii. 14.

THE ROUND TOWERS.

509

510 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 correspond-
ence whatsoever with them, but prove themselves, on
the contrary, in every particular, an antecedent gene-
ration .

As everything else appertaining to the history
of the Round Towers -has already been explained, I

* " 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, page 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 rud-
diness. 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 reproving, 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.")

THE HOUND TOWERS. 511

shall now account for the difference of appropriation
noticed at page 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 praepu-
tial apex, the crucifixions over the doors, and the
absence or presence of internal compartments *.

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 cover-
ing, which, accompanied as it sometimes is with a cor-
nice, richly sculptured in foliage, in imitation, if you
must have it, prceputii 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 four-

* The principal one I conceive to have been at the hill of Tura, which
means the hill of the Saviour, and synonymous with mount Ida, which
means the mount of the cross. See page 453.

" The predominant style and character of the Pillar Tower," says
Montmoreney, " 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 an Soleil dont le sommet
spherique et la matiere etoient fort differens des obelisques d'Egypte."
AMMIAN. MAKCEL.

512 THE ROUND TOWERS.

teen 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 undis-
turbed 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 *," 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 page 358, and he

* Exodus 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 rrn^n, 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 \vinding 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 stair-
case. Dr. KURD'S Rites and Ceremonies, $c.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 513

will at once see how it happened that the GobanSaer,
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 for-
bade 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 1 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 con-
structed of an artificial substance, resembling a red-
dish brick, squared, and corresponding to the compo-
sition 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

2 L

514 THE ROUND TOWEHS.

appendages, while uncouthness, inelegance, want of du-
rability, or other architectural recommendation are
the characteristics of what they tell us were the prin-
cipals ? Yet neither in the monasteries, nor in any
other Christian building, do we meet with those ma-
terials 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 *, 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 re-
called by this circumstance, I must observe that the
vitrification manifest within the walls of that struc-
ture, 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 f. 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 occurs five, in one six, in one seven, in one
eight.

Inside they are perfectly empty from the door

* See pages 7 and 8. +1 Kings vi. 4.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 515

upwards, but most of them divided, either by rests or
projecting stones, into lofts or stories, varying in num-
ber 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 *." And the images which I have shown to
have been cupboarded upon these rests, were no-
thing 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 f."

In a future publication I intend to show a more
startling correspondence between our Round Towers
and some other parts of Solomon's temple. Mean-
while I wish it to be borne in mind, as in some
degree accounting for the correspondence that Solo-
mon's architect was a Sidonian.

A striking perfection observable in their construc-
tion is the inimitable perpendicular invariably main-
tained. 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 ele-

1 Kings vi. 6. * 1 Kings vi. -29.

The Tower of Pisa bears no comparison to this edifice.

516 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 inter-
vals 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 dis-
plays, 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 Clon-
dalkin having firmly stood its ground when, in the
year 1786-7, 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

THE IIOUXD TOWEKS. 517

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, viz., 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 ! ap-
plied 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*!"

These, I conceive, were the halcyon days of Ire-
land'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 reli-
gious race, and all disposed to the pursuits of litera-
ture, 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

* 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 founder; !

518 THE ROUND TOWERS.

convinced am I, that it was that beatifying region,
whose wide-spread 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*."

Though clothed in the cadence of measured phra-
seology, and decked in the charms of an imaginative
style, this is scarcely 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, tf on sweet and fragrant herbs," because they
were prevented by their first commandment from
eating " anything endowed with life f." They drank
" ambrosial dew," because their fifth commandment
forbade their touching " any intoxicating liquor." And

* Ji\n~ftt 5' alx. tx-rola.f4.il rgotroii vri ffQirigaffi, <xa.yra. Si %goi xa^tiwi >.vu. TI
Boat x.aia.^a.1 <r a>Xa/ SaTa< Sa^a Tt %vcict xofief ana&firarTis i\\u.ifiia. \nia i
foovui. tifv S'T{ ynsas ovX 4 u->v xjjt^ara /< -yttta- <roa Si *a/ f-a-^av crrie
oiitoiei Qnyonii vrtfiixov THipivn. Pyth. x. 59,

Even among the vegetables, they abstained from beans, as did the
Pythagoreans after them, ob similitudinem virilibus genitulibus.

THE ROUND TOWERS. 519

the healthful aspects they exhibited were but the
natural result of temperate habits and virtuous de-
meanour.

" 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 pre-
cipitated apace ; and this, if I mistake not, " satis-
factorily removes the uncertainty in which the origin
and uses of those ancient buildings has been hereto-

520 THE ROUND TOWERS.

fore involved*." For the Scythians being warriors t
rather than students, and looking with distrust upon
the emblematic images of their temple-serving prede-
cessors, 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 be-
came utterly extinct, and more than annihilated
forgotten.

Instead thereof, they substituted the worship of
fire J, 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 conti-
nued as superintendents of the national education, as
well as the practical followers of all trades and pro-
fessions.

It was so also at Rome, when Romulus dislodged
the Pelasgi, who, we are told by Festus, had them-
selves some time previously, under the name of
" Sacrani," that is, the religious caste, corresponding

* See conditions of advertisement in Preface.

f " 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
special! 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 com-
monly to swear by their swords." SPENSER.
1, 82.

THE ROUND TOWEKS. 521

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 de-
signed, was, we may suppose, to promote the study
of astronomical science, for which they were admi-
rably adapted, and with which their original destina-
tion was inseparably interwoven *. But as the sti-
mulus 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 col-
lateral 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, cijar.,
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 mo-
ment, 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

* 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.

2 M

522 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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 dis-
cretion ! when commerce stagnates ! confidence de-
cays ! when lust stalks abroad to desecrate every-
thing holy ! and all is doubt, suspicion, melancholy,
and death !

How beautifully and how aptly, but yet, for him-
self, how unwisely, did the philosophic Callisthenes
apply the sentiment of Euripedes to Philip of Ma-
cedon, 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 them-
selves to the encroachments of this degenerate hie-
rarchy. When Conlah, in his retreat from the glitter
of life, betook himself to an humble cottage, and de-
voted the faculties of his comprehensive mind to
philosophical pursuits and the improvement of his
species, the greatest praise which the annalist, in re-
cording 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 astro-
nomy was kept alive by their perusal. But of these
we were despoiled, very shortly after, by that mis-
taken piety elsewhere deplored. Some few treatises
even then must have escaped, and their effect was

THE ROUND TOWERS. 523

best illustrated, as shown before, by tlie unprece-
dented 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 An-
tipodes, 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, hav-
ing been forfeited thereby, at the hands of the same en-
lightened 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, not-
withstanding, what an instinctive thirst still lurked
in the Irish mind for the sublimities of this pursuit *.

* " 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, FJach an maddin nag, (Behold the morning star,) pointing to the
planet Venus, the maddina 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 point-
ing to the constellation Orion, he said that was Caomai, or the armed
king ; and he described the three upright stars to tie 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.

524 THE ROUND TOWERS.

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, do-
minical 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 cha-
racters ; one in particular who, from his great pro-
ficiency in the art, had obtained for himself the
honourable designation of the Kerry Star.

THE END.

\VII.MAM CLOWES, Printer, Piiku-strcet, Lambeth,

CRITICAL REVIEWS

OV THE

FIRST EDITION OF THIS WORK.

" Excessive ardour of temperament, proportionate confidence, and

great argumentative ingenuity detract but little from a book which

may be considered one of the most EXTRAORDINARY that has in our day
come from the press." Morning Herald.

" Astonishing talents, wonderful learning, powers of deep research
and mental scope." Metropolitan Magazine.

" A galaxy of discoveries the most interesting, and, were it not for the
irresistible arguments by which they are confirmed, the most incredible,
burst upon us at every page." People's Conservative.

" Marvellous analogies and discoveries Our wonder at the unpa-
ralleled variety of resources A rank from which it could not be deposed

by envy or by criticism." Atlas.

" Mr. O'Brien is extremely enthusiastic, and not only avails himself
of much ingenuity, eloquence, and research, to prove the correctness of
his own hypothesis, but turns these weapons against all who have
trodden in the same unfrequented path with himself." Freeman's
Journal.

" It is not without feelings akin to admiration that we have turned
over the huge accumulations of learning, northern, western, and oriental
with which his work overflows. He is evidently an enthusiast, but his
enthusiasm is of a generous and exalted kind. He has made a laborious
pilgrimage to the temple of Truth." Town.

" With a comprehensive grasp he has seized and resolved into
absurdity all that learned men have hitherto believed." Dublin Univer-
sity Magazine.

" The correctness of which he has, in our opinion, established by proofs
which his opponents may be loth to admit, but will find it difficult to
overthrow." Satirist.

" Proofs drawn from every possible branch of human learning." Spec-
tator.

" Every position in the book being directly in the teeth, or rather cor-
rective of the errors, of the old-school notions." Monthly Magazine.

" Warn him, if he should excite that attention which his genius
deserves, that he will draw upon himself the illimitable hate, and, per-
adventure, persecution of all the dunces, the old-school learned, and the
bigots that now arrogate to themselves the exclusive privilege of dic-
tating to the world its policy, its morals, and its forms of faith. Let him,
being thus friendly admonished, prepare." Metropolitan Magazine.

" His interpretations of the Mosaic revelations, and of other portions
of the Sacred Scriptures, particularly concerning the creation, the fall,
the deluge, and the coming of the Messiah, are not only ingenious, but,
in some respects, really startling." Irish Monthly Magazine.

" New light is thrown over the whole field of letters, as well profane
as religious, heretofore mysterious. Nay, difficulties which often pre-
sented themselves to us in the Sacred Volume itself, have, we admit, by
Mr. O'Brien's researches, entirely left our mind." The Conservative.

" Mr. O'Brien's Essay will afford a great treat, as much by what he
says collaterally, and the evident bearings of his facts and deductions, as
by his resolving the great question what was the origin and use of
these ' Round Towers?' -Globe.

CRITICAL REVIEWS.

" This gentleman has produced a theory of a very startling kind. He
argues that Iran, or Persia, according to the concurrent testimony ot
sacred and profane history, was the scene of early civilization and refine-
ment. The 7mA, he contends, are descended from Persian progeni-
tors ; and in the Irish language, accordingly, \ve may seek an exposition
of ancient creeds, of which the most ancient was that which shrouded,
under peculiar symbols, the downfall of our first parents particu-
larly Budhism and the Linga worship, of which the celebrated
' Round Towers' are demonstrated to be symbols." Asiatic Journal.

" To Henry O'Brien belongs the honour of deciding the question ot
their origin, antiquity, and purpose, with a power whose strength appals
us ; he has cast back upon the vast sea of time its destroying surge, and
from oblivion drawn the history of a people to whose name the literati of

Europe were almost strangers All brought to bear upon the point

with a patience and industry that enthusiasm would have shrunk from,
and which nothing but the pure and ardent love of truth could have

supported A chain of reasoning and research so profound, laborious,

and clear, that a new light is thrown upon the history of the world, and
the veil of ages withdrawn from the book of time." Freemason*
Quarterly Review.

"We have seen with regret an effort made to crush and annihilate the
young author of a book on the Round Towers of Ireland, with whom Ave
are not personally acquainted, but whose production gave earnest of an
ardent mind, bent on abstruse and recondite studies ; and who, leaving
the frivolous boudoir and the drawing-room coterie to lisp their ballads,
and retail their epicurean gossip unmolested, trod alone the craggy
steeps of venturous discovery in the regions of oriental learning; whence,
returning to the isle of the west, the ' IRAN of the fire-worshippers,' he
trimmed his lamp, well fed with the fragrant oil of these sunny lands,
and penned a work, which will one day rank amongst the extraordinary
of modern times. The Edinburgh Review attempted, long ago, to stifle
the unfledged muse of Byron ; the same Review undertook to cry down
Wordsworth and Coleridge ; they shouted their vulgar ' crucificatur'
against Southey, and seemed to have adopted the motto of the French
club of witlings

Nul n'aura de 1'esprit, que nous et nos amis.

But O'Brien may defy them. He may defy his own alma mater,
Trin. Coll. Dub.; he may defy the Royal Irish Academy, secure of
the applause which sterling merit challenges from every free-born
inhabitant of these islands

" It was unworthy of to turn (anonymously in its pages) upon

O'Brien, after the intimacy of private correspondence ; and if he was
inclined for battle, he might have found a seemlier foe, when there arc-
so many literary reptiles to tempt his beak. He has the ineffable impu-
dence to accuse O'Brien of plagiarism, and to state that this grand and
unparalleled discovery had been previously made by the author of Nim-
rod. O'Brien's theory is not to be found in any page of it having tin*
remotest reference to Ireland ! and we are astonished at the unfairness

of giving, as has done, a pretended quotation from that work,

without stating where it is to be met with in the volume !

" O'Brien's book can and will, no doubt, afford much matter for witti-
cism and merriment to the superficial, the unthinking-, and the profane .-

but to the eye of , it ought to have presented a page richly

fraught with wonderous research redolent with all the perfume* <>f
Hindostan ; its leaves, if they failed to convince, should, tike those of
the mysterious lotus, have inculcated silence ; and if the finger of medi-
tation did not pause on every period, the volume, at least, should not be
indicated to the vulgar by tlie finger of scorn." The " Prout Papers' in
Fruzer's Magazine.

Just published by the same Author, price 12*.

"PHOENICIAN IRELAND."

CRITICAL REVIEWS OF THE ABOVE.

" This is a translation, in one octavo volume, with elaborate Notes and
Illustrations, by HENRY O'BRIEN, Esq., Author of the Prize Essay upon
the Round Towers of Ireland. On the whole it is a work of great re-
search and antiquarian lore, displaying the ancient condition of Ireland,
and the Manners, Laws, Religion, and Customs of the inhabitants. To
the patriotic Irishman this book will be invaluable as a vindication of
the alleged high origin and early eminence of his countrymen. 1 ' Dis-
patch, June 16, 1833.

" To those who know the high literary character of VILLANUEVA, we
need hardly add that the work is written in pure and classical Latin
(from which it is now put into English,) and is only another proof of his
great erudition. We recommend it to all who are curious in such mat-
ters and to all who are not for its sale will be serviceable to one of
the most learned men in Europe, now eighty years old, who preferred
truth, and justice, and liberty to the highest dignities in the Spanish
church, and was content to leave home and country, and this world's
honour, for a grave among strangers, so he might die with a clear con-
science." A then ccum, Nov. 5, 1831.

" Phoenician Ireland is a work of great curiosity and extraordinary
learning, by Dr. VILHANUEVA. It is translated by Mr. O'BRIEN, the
author of a Prize Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland the most re-
markable antiquities in the world, if we regard the singularity of their
construction, the obscurity of their origin, and the difficulty of assigning
the object for which they were built. Mr. O'BRIEN has made some dis-
coveries respecting them, it would seem ; and traces the early civiliza-
tion of his well-beloved Iran to the Budhists of Persia. However this
may be, we have been so struck with the learning and plausibility of Dr.
VILLANUEVA'S work, that we shall be glad, if time and space permit us,
at some future but early day to enter upon a detailed examination of its
contents." Spectator, July 20, 1833.

Sold by LONGMAN and Co., London: and KEENE, TIMS, and
WAKEMAN, Dublin.

ERRORS AND OMISSIONS.

Page 28, Fourteen lines from bottom, insert " the fourth century of" be-
tween the words " before" and "the Christian light."
90, Three lines from bottom, instead of " Wells' ' read " Kells."
106, End of note J, instead of " and meaning sprung from" read

" O'meaning sprung from."

207, Sixteen lines from top, insert " among" between the words " the
jwrsons," for Herodotus gives the credit there alluded to, to
Melampus.

229, Eleven lines from top, instead of " its second" read " its first."
238, Nine lines from bottom, instead of " this day" read " Christmas day."
240, Eight lines from top, instead of "impregnable" read "impracticable."
252, Seven lines from top, instead of " inadvertently" read " inadvertedly."
297, Note J, erase " See Appendix."

406, Five lines from top, instead of " Tenan" read " Conan."
406, Four lines from bottom, instead of " demonstrative" read " demon-
strable."
418, Append the name " Mackenzie'' after note t.

LONDON, FEBRUARY 1839.

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