On the east side of the river Shannon, about ten miles distant from
Athlone, in the barony of Garrycastle, and King’s County, is situated the
_Sanctuary_ of Clonmacnoise. Within the narrow limits of two Irish acres,
are here condensed more _religious_ ruins, of antiquarian value, than are
to be found, perhaps, in a similar space in any other quarter of the
habitable world.
Nine churches, built respectively by the individuals whose names they
bear, namely: (1) that of Macarthy More; (2) that of Melaghlin; (3) that
of MacDermott; (4) that of Hiorphan; (5) that of Kieran; (6) that of
Gawney; (7) that of O’Kelly; and (8) that of O’Connor;--independently of
the _cathedral_,--here moulder, in kindred mortality, with the ashes of
nobles, of princes, and of kings, entombed beneath their walls; and who,
at feud, mayhap, in life, are now content to sleep beside each other,
“their warfare o’er,” in the levelling indistinction of death.
Your curiosity is, no doubt, excited to know how so circumscribed a little
spot could have been chosen as the nucleus of such ecclesiastical
ambition? The answer is found in the circumstance of this having been one
of the strongholds of _Budhism_, in the days of its corruscations, which
made it now be singled out, in common with other places memorable for that
creed, as the appropriate locality for Christian superincumbency.
Two Round Towers, _the chief object of emulation_, are, as you may have
supposed, here to be encountered: and _these are the very ones, which the
reader may recollect have been alluded to at_ p. 38, as ridiculously
claimed by Montmorency for _Christian_--because, forsooth, in the
vagueness of popular titles, they are _recently_ distinguished by the
names of _MacCarthy_ and _O’Rourke_!
The _Eastern columns_, denominated after _Pompey_[411] and
_Cleopatra_,[412] have been equally productive of historical mistakes;
until, at last, it has appeared that those celebrated lovers have had no
more to do with such erections, than have had the _O’Rourkes_ or
_MacCarthys_ with our _Round Towers_!
Here also are _three crosses_ belonging to the same religion, to _one_ of
which only shall I now direct your observation. It is fifteen feet high,
composed of a single stone, and sculptured with imagery of the most
elegant execution.
The devices upon this sculpture are such as you would have expected from
the _authors of the Allegory of the Paradisiacal Fall_: and here,
accordingly, it presents itself, just as in _language_ they had clothed
it, in all the mysteriousness of the figurative _tree_.
[Illustration]
Immediately over the equestrian and chariot sports, which decorate the
pedestal, you see Adam and Eve conversing at each side of this _symbol_ of
their dearly-bought _knowledge_! Farther up are other emblems of
mythological allusion: while, in the centre above, you observe a _Cabir_
priest, alias, a _Freemason_, holding the implements of his craft--a high
honour--in his hand;[413] and encompassed by a retinue of several more
persons, all in the glow of joy!
The other sides, though less complex, are not less graceful, nor less
significant, than the two which I have introduced. In them, also,
everything bears reference to the _Budhist_ ceremonial. Nor are the
_mouldings_ and the _flowerings_, the _networks_, and other ornaments
which figure upon them, the _least essential_ constituent of that fruitful
code,[414]--while the personation of a _dog_,--an invariable
accompaniment, as it is also amongst the sculptures at Persepolis, and
other places in the East,--_would, in itself be sufficient to fix the
appropriation of those crosses_, as that animal can have no possible
relation to Christianity, whereas, by the Tuath-de-danaans, it was
accounted _sacred_, and its maintenance enjoined by the ordinances of the
state, as it is still in the Zend books, which remain after Zoroaster.
To Clondalkin Tower, represented at p. 101, there belongs also a stone
cross, and bearing its own history upon its _Tuath-de-danaan_ countenance.
In Armagh is another. I cannot afford time to point out any more, but that
at _Finglas_ is too remarkable to be quite neglected.
Every body is acquainted with the legendary tale of _St. Patrick having
banished all venomous reptiles from this_ island. Now, I am very willing,
as has been shown, to give this apostle all the credit which he deserves;
but I am a chronicler of _truth_, and from me he shall have no romances.
Solinus, who flourished A.D. 190, that is, above two centuries before St.
Patrick was born, has noticed the phenomenon of there being no vipers
here. Isidore has repeated it in the seventh century; as has Bede in the
eighth; and, in the ninth, Donatus, the famous bishop of Fesula. This
exemption, therefore, cannot be attributable to St. Patrick, whose honour
would be better consulted by his religious admirers in confining
themselves to _facts_, which are numerous enough, than in shocking
credibility by their _pious frauds_.
As to the _local_ phenomenon, to which you perceive _he_ can have no
pretensions, I cannot resist bestowing upon it a passing observation.
Bede, I think, has gone so far as to say that not only are there no snakes
to be found in Ireland, but that they would not live, if imported: nay,
that, when brought within sight of the shore, they expire! I should like
to see this ascertained; if the fact be such, then the question is solved,
the air or the soil is the cause.
But if the case be otherwise, then must we ascribe it to some _human_
instrumentality; and, as there occur various texts in Scripture, allusive,
it would seem, to a very prevailing opinion in the _East_, as to the
manageableness of that species, by the power of charms,--such as, “I will
send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed” (Jer.
viii. 17); and “the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not
hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely” (Ps. lvii. 4,
5);--and as our Tuath-de-danaans, who were an Eastern people, are
recorded by all our early ecclesiastical writers, and with no view to
encomium, as so eminent for incantations, that the island seemed, during
their sway, to have been one continuation of enchantment, it is past
doubt, that, if practicable by man’s efficacy at all, the merit of
extinction belongs solely to them. And it is well worth notice, that the
island of Crete, where a colony of them also had settled, is said to be
gifted with a similar exemption. “The professed snake-catchers in India,”
says Johnson, “are a low caste of Hindoos, wonderfully clever in catching
snakes, as well as in practising the art of legerdemain; they pretend to
draw them from their holes by a song, _and by an instrument resembling an
Irish bagpipe, on which they play a plaintive tune_.”[415]
Every _legend_, however, is founded upon _reality_, and I will unfold to
you from what has Joceline concocted _this about St. Patrick_. All the
_crosses_ of the Tuath-de-danaans had _snakes_ engraved upon them. Look
back at that at Killcullen,[416] and you will see them there still, and
more plainly, by and by, upon that at Kells. These to the Irish were
objects of reverence, because of the _passions_ which they symbolised; and
accordingly the Saint, in order to obviate the recurrence of such
contemplations, effaced them, when practicable, from off the stones.[417]
The same precisely was the course, but with a less hallowed intention,
which the Moslems had pursued in the dissemination of their creed.
“Whenever,” says Archer, “these figures were introduced, the fanatic
Moslem had hammered away all those within his reach; and when this process
was too slow for the work of demolition, another mode of obliteration was
requisite. Whole compartments of sculpture were plastered over to hide the
profane imagery! In clearing away the rubbish, to bring these beautiful
remains to light, the engineer stumbled on a long frieze, part of which
had had the destroying mallet passed over it; but this method of despatch
was not active enough, and that portion which had escaped violence, had
been plastered over with a composition of the colour of the stone.”[418]
We read also in the Puranas, as an historical circumstance, that the whole
_serpent_ race had been destroyed by Janamijaya, the son of Parieshit,
which, in truth, only implies, as the talented professor of Sanscrit in
Oxford University has already remarked, “the subversion of the local and
original superstition, and the erection of the system of the Vedas upon
its ruins.”
St. Patrick, in like manner, having established Christianity _here_, in
supercedence of a religion, the most prominent symbols of which were
_snakes_, _cockatrices_, and _serpents_, may be truly said to have
_extirpated_ their race from the country, but, as you see, in an
acceptation heretofore unexplained.
The _statement_ given by Major Archer of the _symbolic representations_
upon one of the Indian temples, as well as the particulars of its _fate_,
are so perfectly in unison with what I have been describing, that I must
be excused if I give it a place here.
“Reached Burwah-Saugor,” says he. “Immediately on the right is a Hindoo
temple, which I think one of the rarest sights, on the score of
architecture and sculpture, which have gratified our curiosity. The work
of the chisel would have immortalised the artist had he lived in the
present day. I have never seen its execution rivalled, although tolerably
conversant with similar objects of art. The elegance of design--the
arrangement of the figures, which were too numerous to be computed--the
position of them--the sharp and bold relief--and the elaborate ornaments
of _foliage_ and _animals_, render it one of the _most remarkable
monuments_ of art it is possible to conceive. There are compartments on
the lintels of the doors and the entablature, four deep; _figures of the
subordinate deities in the voluminous code of Brahma_, _symbols of their
attributes_, _sacred utensils_, and _animals_. Two vases are on the
threshold, which, for shape and execution, would compete the palm of
excellence with Grecian art. _Wreaths of snakes_, and groups of _men_ and
_women_, are on the _columns_, which also have _their_ ornaments, and are
well proportioned.
“I could not resist a second visit to this edifice, which, at the risk of
appearing opinionative, I can seriously aver, I never saw equalled for
richness and taste; but the hand of intolerant bigotry has marred the work
of fair proportion. The fanatical Moslems, who overran the country in the
time of Acbar, broke and defaced every image they saw; and, with few
exceptions, the head of every figure, of any size or importance, has been
demolished; and nothing remains but relics, which attest the advance of
the arts at the time the structure was reared.”
The effects of fanaticism are the same in all ages. It desecrates alike
human and divine laws. St. Patrick was no fanatic; and accordingly, in
_his_ course, what he could not himself comprehend, he was resolved, at
all events, to have respected. Those crosses, therefore, which had
previously been looked upon with an eye of veneration, _though the cause
had long ceased to be transmitted_, he literally _Christianised_, by
removing the sculpture; and thus were they made, in the ritual of the new
religion, as hallowedly expressive as they were ever before.
Precisely similar was the system pursued by the missionaries in India.
“The island of Salsette,” says Captain Head, “abounds in mythological
antiquities and pagan temples--two gigantic figures of Buddha, near twenty
feet high, of complete preservation, which they owe to the zeal of the
Portuguese, who painted them red, and converted the place they ornamented
to a Catholic chapel.”
The Pantheon at Rome was new modelled in the same manner. In a word, as
Grotius has before affirmed, “infinite appropriations have been made.”
But, independently of this conversion, the conformity itself between the
Christian and the Budhist religion was so great that the Christians, who
rounded the Cape of Good Hope with Vasco de Gama, performed their
devotions in an Indian temple, on the shores of Hindustan! Nay, “in many
parts of the peninsula,” say the _Asiatic Researches_, “Christians are
called, and considered as followers of Buddha, and their divine
legislator, whom they confound with the apostle of India, is declared to
be a form of Buddha, both by the followers of Brahma and those of Siva;
and the information I had received on that subject is confirmed by F.
Paulino.”
It was not so with those who made religion a trade, and only the auxiliary
password to their selfish aggrandisement! When the “abomination of
desolation”[419] swept over this country, and strewed the verdure of its
surface with the indiscriminate fragments of cathedrals, of castles, and
of towers, the crosses but as little escaped the scourge!
Having had occasion to pass through Finglas, on their march to the siege
of Drogheda, and fancying the cross which stood there to have been
_necessarily_ the erection of obnoxious _Romanism_, they gave it an
_iconoclast_ blow, which broke its shaft into two! Thus decapitated, it
fell. But the citizens, wishing to avoid further profanation, soon as ever
the army evacuated the town, took the disjointed relic and buried it very
decorously within the confines of the churchyard!
Here it remained, in consecrated interment, until the beginning of the
year 1816, when an old man of the parish, recounting anecdotes of bygone
times, mentioned amongst others, the particulars of this tradition, and
excited some curiosity by the narrative.
[Illustration]
The Rev. Robert Walsh was then curate of Finglas, and this mysterious
history having reached his ears, he determined forthwith to ascertain its
evidences. His first step was to see the chronicler himself.--This
personage’s name was Jack White. Jack, who was himself well stricken in
years, told him that he had learned, a long while ago, from his father,
who was then himself rather elderly, that he had been shown by his still
older grandfather the identical spot where the cross had been concealed,
and could point it out now to anyone with certainty and preciseness.
The proposal was accepted; workmen were employed; and, after considerable
perseverance, the cross was _exhumed_, its parts _reunited_ by iron
cramps, and _re-erected_, as opposite, within a short distance of the
scene of its subterranean slumbers, as if in renascent triumph over the
destroyer!
“Let such approach this consecrated land
And pass in peace along the magic waste:
But spare its relics--let no busy hand
Deface the scene, already how defaced!
Not for such purpose were those altars placed:
Revere the remnants nations once revered;
So may our country’s name be undisgraced,
So may’st thou prosper where thy youth was reared,
By every honest joy of love and life endeared.”[420]