The Round Towers of Ireland

he whole compass of possible analogies, is there a single feature in which the two classes of edifices could be said to co

rthly victims of maceration were incapable of, either the masonic acme, or-at the era which Montmorency particularises-of the corporate influence and pecuniary or equivalent supplies indispensable for the erection of either "pyram

quare!-the more miraculous, in that the former round ones left behind them no vestiges! Upon which, again, a counter miracle is effected: "The square ones having subsequently fallen into disuse, the round tower, in after ages," he says, "appears to have acquired a degree of increased celebrity, especially in Europe, during the pr

ntradict them

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und 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 memb

er of their "community" unredeemed from so excruciating a degradation. And hence we may conclude with Dr. Lanigan, "What little credit is due to the stories of some hagiologists, who talk of great estates granted to our mo

ility of those virulent marauders, they used to fly to the belfries, which-from that mistaken regard attached to the edifices, as these receptacles of those sonorous organs to which superstition has ever clung[56]-they had hoped would prove a

f or crozier, adorned with precious stones, besides the principal bells, and Canecar the lecturer, with a multitude of other persons were burned in the flames. The Annals of the Four Masters, noticing the same event, use nearly similar words: "Cloicteach Slaine do loscadh can a lan do mhionnaibh 7 deghdh aoninibh, im C

e composed; whereas the Round Towers are made of stone, and cemented by a bond of such indurated tenacity, that nothing short of lightning or earthquake has been known to disturb them:-and even though other violence may succeed in their overthrow, yet could it not be said with any accuracy that they were reduced by fire to cinders. But, above all, those very Annals

mself evangelised at the time when Montmorency was-in a dream-employing him and his coadjutors at the erection of the Round Towers,-is it not strange, I say, that this little isle, the most def

have but too cogent an evidence in the record of the Four Masters, under the year 985, stating that the abbot and fifteen of hi

e infested than our own with both Northmen and Danes. Is it not astonishing, therefore, that the English co

lesome, and has contrived to blindfold some searchers after antiquarian truth, I may be excused if, to frustrate an

gle's beak, as he cuts his a?rial passage through the cloudy regions, or soars aloft into the empyreal of interminable space, would have a similar effect; but it would puzzle the shrewdest engineer in Christendom to place a ballast-man, with a big stone on his

ENI

ong 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

le had recovered from the delirium of their late trance, and began to look abroad for some "authors" on whom to father those

ary thought upon the alienation of the property of those columnar masonries. Often used he to mention the Castles of Palace and of Blarney: Castlemain and Glenflesk used still oftener to grace his talk; but oftener still, and with more apparent delectation, would he

iate amalgam of adhesive mortar! The thing is so absurd as to make the Colonel himself in his honesty to exclaim, "Is this simple process that mighty piece of necromancy which, according to some authors" (forgetting that he was one of tho

th 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 s

ddressed "ad Scotos in Christum credentes," to the Irish who believe in Christ,-prove the good seed had been laid in the soil before his pontificate. The nation, however, was yet too much immersed in its old idolatries-and the fascinations of their former creed had so spellbound the inhabitants as a community-that those who

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 conv

ring for it, on the hill of Tara. Can a nation be called Christian where the sovereign and court are pagan? Or will a few exceptions from the mass of the population be indulged with fortresses of imperishable architecture,

e tongue, than the refined organism of the Irish constitution, habituated by discipline to sublime pursuits, took fi

ndon the forms of their previous belief, and adopt the more pure one, if they did not obliterate every vestige of nominal association which could tend to recall their fancies to the religion which they relinquished. Accordingly, from t

of every spot which had before been the theatre of pagan adoration-whether as cromleachs, as Mithratic caves, or as Round Towers. These were the memorials of three distinct species of paganism, and were, therefore, now singled out as appropriate sites for the erect

instance, St. Shannon assumed that name from the river Shannon, which was an object of deification some time before; and St. Malloch adopted this name from the city of Malloch, that is, the Sun, or Apollo,-the supreme idol of pagan Ireland's adoration,-from which again, with the

ns associate of God. Having obtained the gospel from the see of Rome, they adhered implicitly-yet without conceding any superiority-to the R

ct of all our early neophytes betaking themselves, for perfection in the mysteries of revelation, to the Roman capital. On one of which occasions it was that Montmorency himself brough

lars 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, t

oint in which they may be compared, except their mutual poverty; which, however, Montmorency overlooks, or rather contradicts, making them both wealthy,

sort of gradation, made their way into Ethiopia. They profess the utmost contempt for all worldly things, and look upon themselve

the Pope. Here are the Doctor's words: "They deny the papal supremacy, and, indeed, most parts of the popish doctrine, particularly transubstantiation, purgato

of erudition it must be acknowledged that the Irish theologian, as history asserts, did not only excel the modern Greek and Egyptian, but his

ment? 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, "th

s, however, the elucidation of truth,-not idle display, or vainglorious exhibition,-I am sure my readers will scarce murmur at the

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