It will be borne in mind that everything hitherto advanced on the various
topics which we have been discussing, was the sheer result of internal
reasoning and of personal circumspection--that, wherever extrinsic aid was
brought forward in support of this unbeaten track, it was uniformly in the
shape of _conclusions_ deduced from the premises of reluctant witnesses. I
rejoice, with delight unspeakable, that I have it at last in my power to
range myself side by side with an author whose testimony in this matter
must be considered decisive, but which, however, by some strange
aberration of intellect, has never before been understood!
Cormac,[421] the celebrated bishop of Cashel, and one of the first
scholars who ever flourished in any country, when defining the Round
Towers in his _Glossary of the Irish Language_, under the name of
_Gaill_[422] says, that they were “_Cartha cloacha is aire bearor gall
desucder Fo bith ro ceata suighedseat en Eire_,”--that is, stone-built
monuments within which noble judges used to enclose vases containing the
relics of Fo (_i.e._ Buddh), and of which they had erected hundreds
throughout Ireland!
Knowing that the Ceylonese _Dagobs_, a name which literally signifies
_houses of relics_, were appurtenances of Budhism, I intreated of a very
intelligent native of that island, who attended the Vihara, at Exeter
Hall, some time ago, that he would favour me with a written outline of his
views of those structures. After a few days, he very civilly obliged me
with the following:--
“Travellers to the Eastern countries often have their notice attracted by
numerous buildings of a singular form and enormous sizes, both in ruins
and in preserved states, about the origin and objects of which many
inquiries have been made, and various conclusions drawn. These are
monuments raised in ancient times to the memory of deified persons, and
called _Chaityas_, to which places devotees used to resort for meditation,
especially those who had any particular veneration for the deceased, whose
relics are supposed to be deposited within, and on whose virtues they
quietly reflect, availing themselves of the solitude of such places; and
if in their own imaginations the personages are deified, they make
offerings of lamplight, etc.
“In exploring the ruins of these pyramids, the inside of the globes are
found to contain loose earth, merely filled up after the arches had been
raised; in such loose earth are found ancient coins of various metals,
supposed to be thrown in, in token of respect or veneration, whilst
building; but in the very centre of the globe is always found a square
well, paved with bricks, and the mouths covered by hewn granite, borne on
granite supporters, standing in the four corners of the square (sometimes
triangular). In this well, if the monument of a king (and if not robbed
by ancient invaders), will be found the urn containing the relics of the
deceased, and treasure to a considerable worth. Sometimes there may be
discovered a piece of beaten gold, or other metal, with engravings,
mentioning the name and other circumstances of the deceased. If a Buddhist
king, idols of Buddha might be found in it--but in others, sometimes
earthen or metallic lamps, and heads of _cobra de capellas_.
“In similar monuments, erected for the relics of Buddha, are three
different compartments or depositories; one in the bottom of the
foundation, one in the heart of the globe, and one at the top of the globe
within the column. This column always has its basis upon the granite
covering of the well. In monuments of this description are supposed to be
much buried treasure, especially in the foundations. The Paly book,
_Toopahwanse_, gives account of the distribution of the Buddha’s relics to
the different parts of the world, and the erection of such monuments over
them.
“Monuments of eminent Buddhist high priests are sometimes erected very
high, but no treasure is to be expected in them, excepting sometimes books
engraved on metal; but the tomb of the poorest prince is never without (at
least in models) a golden crown, a sword of the same metal, a pair of
metallic shoes, and a similar parasol.
“Besides having learnt from tradition and ancient documents, the writer
has seen the discovery of the tomb of a prince, in which these articles
were found, with a plate of gold, stating the name of the prince, his age,
death, etc., which he had the pleasure to transcribe; the characters were
in a different form from those now used in the same language, and hardly
intelligible.
“The writer had also the pleasure of exploring the ruins of a very lofty
Dagob that stood opposite to the establishment of the Church Missionaries
in Ceylon. It was found to have been the tomb of a monarch, and had the
appearance of having been robbed of the wealth it very likely contained,
upwards of a century ago, as the trees that were growing on it indicated.
A large quantity of ancient coins, and metal of different kinds, melted
into various shapes (perhaps with burning of the corpse), were, however,
collected.
“Ceylon contains many ancient pyramids of the kind in a preserved state,
and protected by the people, which are supposed to contain much wealth,
but the superstitious do not dare to explore, and others fear the laws,
which will permit violence to no man’s feelings.”[423]
Having before shown how that the religion of the ancients was interwoven
with their funeral observances, this ocular testimony was alone requisite
to gain credence for my proofs. I can still further adduce the authority
of Dr. Hurd,[424] to show that the Gaurs of India, to this day, make use
of the _Round Towers_[425] in their neighbourhood as places of burial,
lifting up the dead bodies to the elevated door by means of ladders and
pulleys. None of those three writers have attempted anything more than a
statement of the actualities, therefore will I be excused if, in addition
to what has been already detailed, I observe that, sublime and philosophic
as was the intent of the _phallic_ configuration of those edifices,
applied to _religion_, it was incomparably more so, considered in
reference to _sepulture_; for while, in the former, it merely typified the
progress of _generation_ and _vitality_, in the latter it suggested the
more ennobling hope of a future _renascence_ and a _resurrection_.
That the reader, now aware of the “_secret_” which directed the form and
elevation of our Sabian Towers, should not be surprised at the affinity
which I have before pointed out between them and the two “pillars” which
stood at the door of Solomon’s temple,[426] I shall tell him that the
whole internal construction of this latter edifice, as well as those outer
and partial ornaments, bore direct relation to the anatomical organism of
man himself.
To instance only the most prominent of those analogies, you will find the
“holy” and the “most holy” bear the same relation to each other, as the
cerebrum and cerebellum of the human mechanism. Nor need this at all be
wondered at, seeing that, from the very faintest reflection, it must
suggest itself to the most indolent that the divine ingenuity most
prominently shines forth in the human anatomy; and that, therefore, from
the exalted sentiments which this is calculated to inspire of the Godhead,
“the noblest study of mankind is man.”[427]
Viewing it in this light, and coupling it with that piety which is known
to have animated the bosom of David’s anointed son, I cannot pass on
without participating in that sublime exclamation, which bespoke at once
his gratitude and his humility, after the consummation of his mighty task.
“But will God,” said he, “indeed dwell on earth! Behold! the heaven and
the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that I
have builded!”[428]
Now to the _era_ for the erection of our Round Towers. “As they have
neither dates nor inscriptions,” say Sir John Ware, “and as history is
silent on that head, it cannot be expected that I should point out the
time when they were erected in this country.”[429] A very cheap way,
certainly, of getting over a difficulty! The same was the mode adopted by
him, and with equal candour, a few pages earlier, as to the development of
their _destination_, when he says: “I confess it is much easier to combat
and _overthrow_ everything that has been hitherto advanced by writers in
favour of the _Danish claim_ to these monuments of antiquity and the
_uses_ of them, than to _substitute anything solid and satisfactory in
their room_.”[430] But inasmuch as the latter problem has been solved, one
is led to conclude that the obstacles to the former are but imaginary
also.
To begin then. Camden, speaking of them, in the thirteenth century, says
he believes them to have been erected in the seventh, but does not know by
whom! But I put it to any rational thinker to say whether, if they had
been a creation of the seventh century, it would be possible for a writer
of the thirteenth to have been ignorant of their origin, and that too at a
time when _tradition_ was universal? and every father made it a point to
instil into his son the events and circumstances that happened in his own
day? This writer’s testimony is sufficient, at all events, to show that
they existed in the seventh century.
Bishop Cormac, we have seen before, has recorded them as objects of
antiquity in his own time; and this being, at the latest, within the ninth
century, they must have had existence before the seventh; else they could
not well be deemed _ancient_ two centuries after.
The Ulster annals record the destruction of fifty-seven of them by an
earthquake, A.D. 448; they must, therefore, have existed before that
century also. But the Royal Irish Academy say _no_; because that tradition
connects a person called the _Goban Saer_, and “the historical notices
relative to whom have been collected into Mr. Petrie’s essay ... with the
erection of this (the Antrim Tower), as well as others in the north of
Ireland!”[431] As every notice, therefore, respecting so important a
character must be eagerly sought after, I shall take leave to transcribe
what the same high authority tells us of him, in the following words,
namely:--
“_I have not learned the particular period at which he flourished_, but
tradition says that he was superior to all his contemporaries in the art
of building; even in that dark age when so little communication existed
between countries not so remotely situated, his fame extended to distant
lands. A British prince, whose possessions were very extensive, and who
felt ambitious of erecting a splendid palace to be his regal residence,
hearing of the high attainments of the Goban Saer in his sublime science,
invited him to court, and by princely gifts and magnificent promises
induced him to build a structure, the splendour of which excelled that of
all the palaces in the world. But the consummate skill of the artist had
nearly cost him his life, for the prince, struck with the matchless beauty
of the palace, was determined that it should stand unrivalled on the
earth, by putting the architect to death, who alone was capable of
constructing such another, after the moment the building received the
finishing touches of his skilful hand.
“This celebrated individual had a son, who was grown up to man’s estate;
and anxious that this only child should possess, in marriage, a young
woman of sound sense and ready wit, he cared little for the factitious
distinctions of birth or fortune, if he found her rich in the gifts of
heaven. Having killed a sheep, he sent the young man to sell the skin at
the next market town, with this singular injunction, that he should bring
home _the skin and its price_ at his return. The lad was always accustomed
to bow to his father’s superior wisdom, and on this occasion did not stop
to question the good sense of his commands, but bent his way to town. In
these primitive times it was not unusual to see persons of the highest
rank engaged in menial employments, so the townsfolk were less surprised
to see the young Goban expose a sheep-skin for sale, than at the absurdity
of the term, ‘_the skin and the price of it_.’ He could find no chapman,
or rather chapwoman (to coin a term), for it was women engaged in domestic
business that usually purchased such skins for the wool. A young woman at
last accosted him, and upon hearing the terms of sale, after pondering a
moment agreed to the bargain. She took him to her house, and having
stripped off all the wool, returned him the bare skin, and the price for
which the young man stipulated. Upon reaching home, he returned _the skin
and its value_ to his father, who learning that a young woman became the
purchaser, entertained so high an opinion of her talents, that in a few
days she became the wife of his son, and sole mistress of Rath Goban.
“Some time after this marriage, and towards the period to which we before
referred, when the Goban Saer and his son were setting off, at the
invitation of the British prince, to erect his superb palace, this young
woman exhibited considerable abilities, and the keenness of her
expressions, and the brilliancy of her wit, far outdid, on many occasions,
the acumen of the Goban Saer himself; she now cautioned him, when his old
father, who did not, like modern architects, Bianconi it along macadamised
roads, got tired from the length of the journey, _to shorten the road_;
and, secondly, not to sleep a third night in any house without securing
the interest of _a domestic female friend_. The travellers pursued their
way, and after some weary walking over flinty roads, and through intricate
passages, the strength of the elder Goban yielded to the fatigue of the
journey. The dutiful son would gladly _shorten the road_ for the wayworn
senior, but felt himself unequal to the task. On acquainting his father
with the conjugal precept, the old man unravelled the mystery by bidding
him commence some strange legend of romance, whose delightful periods
would beguile fatigue and pain into charmed attention. Irishmen, I
believe, are the cleverest in Europe at ‘_throwing it over_’ females in
foreign places, and it is pretty likely that the younger Goban did not
disobey the second precept of his beloved wife. On the second night of
their arrival at the king’s court, he found in the person of a female of
very high rank (some say she was the king’s daughter), a friend who gave
her confiding heart to all the dear delights that love and this Irish
experimentalist could bestow. As the building proceeded under the skilful
superintendence of the elder Goban, the son acquaints him with the
progress of his love, and the ardent attachment of the lady. The cautious
old man bade him beware of one capable of such violent passion, and take
care lest her jealousy or caprice might not be equally ungovernable, and
display more fearful effects. To discover her temper, the father ordered
him to sprinkle her face with water as he washed himself in the
morning--that if she received the aspersion with a smile, her love was
disinterested, and her temper mild; but if she frowned darkly, her love
was lust, and her anger formidable. The young man playfully sprinkled the
crystal drops on the face of his lover--she smiled gently--and the young
Goban rested calmly on that tender bosom, where true love and pitying
mildness bore equal sway.
“The wisdom of the Goban Saer and his sapient daughter-in-law was soon
manifested; for, as the building approached its completion, his lady-love
communicated to the young man the fearful intelligence that the king was
resolved, by putting them to death when the work was concluded, that they
should erect no other such building, and, by that means, to enjoy the
unrivalled fame of possessing the most splendid palace in the world. These
tidings fell heavily on the ear of the Goban Saer, who saw the strong
necessity of circumventing this base treachery with all his skill. In an
interview with his majesty, he acquaints him that the building was being
completed; and that its beauty exceeded everything of the kind he had done
before, but that it could not be finished without a certain instrument
which he unfortunately left at home, and he requested his royal permission
to return for it. The king would by no means consent to the Goban Saer’s
departure; but anxious to have the edifice completed, he was willing to
send a trusty messenger into Ireland for that instrument upon which the
finishing of the royal edifice depended. The other assured his majesty
that it was of so much importance that he would not entrust it into the
hands of the greatest of his majesty’s subjects. It was finally arranged
that the king’s eldest son should proceed to Rath Goban, and, upon
producing his credentials to the lady of the castle, receive the
instrument of which she had the keeping, and which the Goban Saer named
‘_Cur-an-aigh-an-cuim_.’ Upon his arrival in Ireland, the young prince
proceeded to fulfil his errand; but the knowing mistress of Rath Goban,
judging from the tenor of the message, and the ambiguous expressions
couched under the name of the pretended instrument, that her husband and
father-in-law were the victims of some deep treachery, she bad him
welcome, inquired closely after her absent friends, and told him he should
have the object of his mission when he had refreshed himself after the
fatigues of his long journey. Beguiled by the suavity of her manners and
the wisdom of her words, the prince complied with her invitation to remain
all night at Rath Goban. But in the midst of his security, the domestics,
faithful to the call of their mistress, had him bound in chains, and led
to the dungeon of the castle. Thus the wisdom of the Goban Saer and the
discrimination of his daughter completely baffled the wicked designs of
the king, who received intimation that his son’s life would surely atone
for the blood of the architects. He dismissed them to their native country
laden with splendid presents; and, on their safe arrival at Rath Goban,
the prince was restored to liberty.”[432]
Gentlemen of England, where is your knowledge of history? which of your
famed monarchs was it that was going to play this scurvy trick upon our
_Goban_, and earn for himself the infamous notoriety of a second
_Laomedon_, by defrauding this _architect_, who no doubt was a _Hercules_,
of his stipulated salary? Ye shades of Alfred and of Ethelbert, I pause
for a reply?
But this indignity, if offered to _Goban_, would be even greater than that
offered by Laomedon to Hercules; for in the latter case the crime was only
that of _dishonesty_--which is not uncommon in any age--superadded to a
spice of _impiety_, in cheating a god; but in the former case, over and
above all these, would weigh a consideration which our people would never
forget, namely, a violation of the laws of _gallantry_, this same Goban
“having been believed in this part of this country to have been a
_woman_!”[433] And yet the same vehicle that puts forth this trash has
told us, in the preceding extract, that he was a _father_ and a _husband_!
(I do not believe in hermaphrodites), and, to crown the climax of
absurdity, gives us the following specimen of the _heroism_ of his _wife_,
namely:--
“The Goban Saer having been barbarously murdered, together with his
journeymen, by twelve highwaymen, the murderers proceeded to his house,
and told the Goban’s wife, with an air of triumph, that they had killed
her husband. She appearing nowise concerned, asked them to assist her in
drawing open the trunk of a tree, which the Goban had been cutting up into
planks. They put in their hands for the purpose, when, drawing out a
wedge, she left them literally in a cleft stick, and taking up an axe, cut
off all their heads at a blow”![434]
But this is ludicrously trifling with the time of my readers. I am alive
to the fact, and I most submissively crave forgiveness, which I doubt not
I shall receive, when I state that my sole object was to expose the
_flimsiness_ of that subterfuge by which the Royal Irish Academy, or
rather their council! had hoped that they could blindfold the public as
well as they had succeeded in sequestrating my prize!
I do not deny indeed but that there may have been in Ireland at one time
such a person as the Goban Saer: but if ever he did belong thereto, it
must have been at least _sixteen hundred_ years before the epoch which the
Academy sanction--and so sanction, be it observed, because that a
weak-minded poor monk, when writing the biography of _St. Abhan_, and
torturing his invention, in all quarters, for the purpose of conjuring up
miracles to lay to his score, thought the similarity of sound between
_Abhan_ and _Gobhan_ so inviting, that he must contrive an interview
between the parties; and so, with “one fell swoop,” alias, _dash of the
pen_, cutting off the centuries of separation, he treats himself and his
pupils to the following burlesque:--
“_Quidam_ famossissimus in omni arte lignorum et lapidum _erat_ in
Hibernia nomine Gobbanus, cujus artis fama usque _in finem sæculi_ erit in
ea. Ipse jam postquam, aliis sanatis, in superflua artis suæ mercede lumen
oculorum amisit, et erat cæcus. Hic vocatus est ad S. Abbanum et dixit ei:
Volo ædificium in honorem Dei ædificare, et tu age illud. Et ille ait:
Quomodo possum agere cum sim cæcus? dixit ei sanctus, Quamdiu illud
operaberis lumen oculorum habebis, sed tibi postea non promitto. Et ita
factum est, nam ille artifex apud sanctum Dei in lumine suo operatus est,
et cum esset illud perfectum lumen oculorum amisit”[435]--that is, in the
true spirit of what my countrymen call a _sceal Feeneechtha_, or
_Phœnician story_, _i.e._ an _entertaining lie_ (a proof, by the way, that
they claim no kindred with the Phœnicians, else they would not thus
confirm the well-known epithet of _Punica fides_); however to put this
_sceal Feeneechtha_ into English, it runs thus: “_Once upon a time_ there
lived in Erin a man most celebrated for his universal mastery over wood
and stone; and whose fame, accordingly, will live therein as long as
_grass shall grow_ or _purling streams flow in its enchanting scenery_.
This good man’s name was _Gobhan_, who, wallowing in wealth from the
meritorious exertions of his abilities, yet incapacitated from enjoying it
by the deprivation of his sight, was summoned before _St. Abhan_, who had
already healed the rest of the world by his miraculous gifts, and who thus
addresses him: ‘I wish to build a house to the honour of God; and set you
about it.’ ‘How can I,’ says _Gobhan_, ‘_seeing_ that I am _blind_?’ ‘O
very well,’ says _Abhan_, ‘I will settle that; long as ever you are
engaged in the business, you shall have the use of your eyes; but I make
no promises afterwards!’ And verily it was so, for long as ever he did
work with the saint he had the use of his sight, but soon as ever the work
was done he relapsed into his former blindness!”
Well, you may laugh if you chose, in future, at the simplicity of the
_monks_; but here is one for you, who, in the very extravagance of his
simplicity, and that while bursting almost with risibility himself at the
speciousness of his conceit, has contrived to bamboozle a jury of
_umpires_ who pique themselves upon their contempt for everything
_monkish_, and who actually, in any other case, had they the _sworn_
evidence of a monk, would go counter thereto; but here, where an old
doting friar is drawing upon his ingenuity, every syllable that escapes
him is taken for gospel!
Now, _I_ as readily believe, as they would fain persuade me, that “long as
_Gobhan_ did work with _Abhan_ he had the use of his sight,” and that
“soon as ever the work was done he relapsed into his former blindness.”
And why? because the two men, living in different ages, never laid eyes
upon each other at all, and thus were they _both, morally and literally,
blind to each other_!
The Scythians, who were masters of this country at the Christian era, and
for many centuries preceding, had a sovereign contempt for everything like
architecture. “They have no towns,” says Herodotus, “no fortifications;
their habitations they always carry with them.”[436] The principle which
actuated them, in this indifference to _houses_, was precisely that which
governed the Britons in a similar taste--they were a race of _warriors_,
and dreaded the imputation of _cowardice_ more than they did the
inclemency of the _weather_. It is not without reason, therefore, that we
find Hollingshed, who wrote his Chronicles in Queen Elizabeth’s reign,
complaining that “three things were altered for the worse in England: the
multitude of chimneys lately erected, the great increase of lodgings, and
the exchange of treen platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver
and tin. Nothing but oak for building houses is now regarded: when houses
were built with willow, then had we oaken men; but now our houses are
come to be built of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a great
many altogether of straw.”[437]
St. Bernard, also, in reference to the Irish, having mentioned that
Malachy O’Morgan, archbishop of Armagh, was the first (of the Scythian
race) who had erected a stone house in the island, introduces a native
upbraiding him with it, in these terms: “What wonderful work is this? why
this innovation in our country? we are Scots, and not Gauls, what
necessity have we for such durable edifices?”
_St. Abhan_, therefore, who belonged to the sixth century, at which time
the Scythians had here absolute sway, never once dreamt of erecting a
stone edifice, or of evoking from the grave the manes of _Gobhan_, who, if
he ever existed, must have been a member of the former dynasty.
Those _pious_ fabrications which the biographers of early saints had
concocted, with a view to magnify the reverence due to their subjects,
remind me of one which was invented for the benefit (but in reality to the
detriment) of St. Patrick, and which, even at the risk of appearing
tedious, I must detail.
“Whereas,”--you perceive the record begins with all the formalities of
office,--“in the year of the world 1525, Noah began to admonish the people
of vengeance to come by a generall deluge for the wickednesse and
detestable sinne of man, and continued his admonition for 120 years,
building an arke for the safeguard of himself and his family; one Cæsarea
(say they), according unto others, Caisarea, a niece of Noah (when others
seemed to neglect this warning), rigging a navy, committed herself, with
her adherents, to the seas, to seeke adventures and leave the plagues that
were to befall. There arrived in Ireland with her three men, _Bithi_,
_Largria_, and _Fintan_, and fifty women. Within forty days after her
arrivall the universal flood came upon them, and those parts, as well as
upon the rest of the world, and drowned them all; in which perplexity of
mind and imminent danger, beholding the waves overflowing all things
before their eyes, _Fintan_ is said to have been _transformed into a
salmon_, and to have swoome all the time of the deluge about Ulster; and
after the fall of the water, recovering his former shape, to have lived
longer than _Adam_, and to have delivered strange things to posterity, so
that of him the common speech riseth, ‘If I had lived Fintan’s years I
could say much.’”
Well, “to make a long story short,” this same Fintan, who was converted
into a _salmon_, for the sole purpose of accounting for his appearance on
the same theatre with St. Patrick, is introduced to the saint, when, after
a very diverting episode upon his _submarine_ adventures, a miracle, of
course, is to be wrought; and, anon, we have the contemporary of _Noah_,
and of _Patrick_, at once a _salmon_, a _dolphin_, and a _man_, renouncing
his attachment to the _waters_ and to the _boat_, and devoutly embracing
Christianity!!!
The anachronism committed in the instance of the _Goban Saer_ was
precisely of the same character! and the very name assigned him, which is
that of a _class_, not of an individual, exposes the counterfeit!
_Gobhan Saer_ means the _Sacred Poet_, or the _Freemason Sage_, one of
the _Guabhres_, or _Cabiri_, such as you have seen him represented upon
the Tuath-de-danaan cross at Clonmacnoise. To this colony, therefore, must
he have belonged, and therefore the _Towers traditionally associated with
his erection_ must have been constructed anterior to the Scythian influx.
But we are not left to such inferences to determine the point. A more
substantial ally, the imperishable landmarks of history stand forward as
my vouchers.
To this hour the two localities,--whereon the Tuath-de-danaans had fought
their two decisive battles with the _Fir-Bolgs_, their immediate
predecessors in the occupation of this island,--one near Lough Mask, in
the county Galway, and the other near Lough Arran, in the county
Roscommon, are called by the name of _Moy-tura_, or more correctly, in
Irish, _Moye-tureadh_!
The meaning of this compound, beyond the possibility of disputation, is
_The field of the Towers_! And when in both those places are still traced
the ruins of such edifices, are we not inevitably forced to connect, as
well their _erection_ as the imposition of the _name_, with the fortunes
or with the feelings of some side of the above combatants?
You will say, then, that the _Fir-Bolgs_ were as likely to have originated
the name, and built those structures upon the site, in _reliance_ upon
_their_ divinities, as that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ should have been the
authors in _gratitude to theirs_?
Our only mode, therefore, is to consider the vestiges of their respective
religions: and when we perceive that in the isles of Aran, whither the
Fir-Bolgs betook themselves after their _first_ defeat, for the period
intervening between those two battles, commemorated by the above name,
there appears not a _vestige_ of architectural masonry approaching in
character to a _Columnar temple_, while, on the contrary, they abound in
specimens of _Druidical_ veneration, is it not evident that they, at all
events, have no claim thereto?
The worship, therefore, of the Fir-Bolgs differed altogether from that of
the Tuath-de-danaans, and so _they_ are excluded from those immortal
memorials. Indeed the avidity with which they hailed the approach of a new
conqueror, and tendered him their assistance for the reduction of the
island, arose not so much from any fondly-cherished hope of their being
themselves restored to the throne they had lost, or even allowed therein a
participation, as from an illiberal aversion to the emblematic ritual of
their temple-serving superiors, which their ignorant prejudices could not
allow them to appreciate!
We are warranted, then, I presume, in assigning solely to the
Tuath-de-danaans the affixing of the name _Moy-tureadh_ to those _two
scenes of their success_. And did there even a _doubt_ remain on the mind
of the most incredulous as to the accuracy of the inference, or the
correctness of that reasoning, which would identify this people with the
erections _in general_ of those rotundities, it will hide its diminished
head, and vanish with self-abasement, when I bring forward the testimony
of Amergin, brother to Heremon and, Heber,--the immediate victors of this
religious order--in the following graphic and pictorial treasure, as still
religiously preserved in the Book of Leccan, viz.:--
“Aonoch righ Teambrach
Teamor _Tur Tuatach_
Tuath Mac Miledh
Miledh Long Libearne.”
That is--
Noble is the King of Teamor,
Teamor the _Tuathan Tower_,
Tuaths were the sons of Miledh,
Miledh of the Libearn vessels.
Here, then,--_a circumstance which I cannot imagine how it could have
escaped all before me!_--we have this disputed question at length settled,
and incontrovertibly adjudicated by the very head of _that body_ which
Montmorency had assured us never alluded to those edifices as a subject of
national boast--I mean the _Bards_. For, whether we admit this Amergin to
have been the person above described,[438] the actual contemporary and
successor of the Tuatha-de-danaans, or as the other of that name who
belongs to the Christian age, and the time of St. Patrick, the supposition
is equally valid, to prove the existence of those structures anterior to
_their_ respective eras! and the ascription in either case remains
unshaken and irrefragable, which in the word _Tuathan Tower_ unites the
_Tower_ erectors with the colony of the _Tuatha_!
My opponents may now demolish, if they can, all my foregoing deductions,
as speedily as they please,--nay, did the destructiveness of fire, or
other untoward accident, deprive me of the deductions of my preceding
labours, to _this one stanza_ would I cling, as the palladium of my truth;
to this landmark would I adhere as my “ne plus ultra” against error, in
its encroachments upon history![439]
In the whole catalogue of Irish deposits, there exists not one of more
intrinsic value to the lover of antiquities, so far as the right
settlement of history is concerned, than what those four lines present.
For, in the first place, we learn that the celebrity of Teamor[440] arose
not from any gorgeous suit of palaces of a castellated outline. Its renown
consisted in being the central convention for religious celebration to all
the distant provincials once in every year; who, after attending the games
in the adjoining district of _Tailtine_, now Telltown, adjourned, for
legislative deliberations, to the Hill of Tarah, where they propounded
their plans, not within the confined enclosures of any measured dome, but
under the open canopy of the expanded firmament.
Teamor, then, was not a palace at all, but one of the Round Towers, or
Budhist Temples, belonging to the Tuath-de-danaans; and this is further
proved by the result of researches, made to explore the foundation of an
edifice, confirmatory of a regal mansion, having all ended in the most
confuting disappointment--no vestiges could be found save those of the
Round Tower!
The importance which attaches to the _Tailtine_ games above noticed, makes
it necessary that I should bestow upon them something more than a cursory
glance. Let me, therefore, first state what other writers have said
respecting them.
“We attribute,” says Abbé Mac Geoghegan, “to Lugha Lamh Fada, one of their
ancient kings, the institution of military exercises at Tailton in Meath;
those exercises consisted in wrestling, the combats of gladiators,
tournaments, races on foot and on horseback, as we have seen them
instituted at Rome a long time after by Romulus, in honour of Mars, which
were called ‘Equitia.’ These games at Tailton, which Gratianus Lucius and
O’Flaherty call ‘ludi Taltini,’ were celebrated every year, during thirty
days, that is, fifteen days before, and fifteen days after, the first of
our month of August. On that account, the first of August has been, and is
still called in Ireland, ‘Lah Lugh-Nasa,’ which signifies a day in memory
of Lugha. These olympiads always continued amongst the Milesians until the
arrival of the English. We discover to this day some vestiges of them,
without any other change than that of time and place. Wrestling, which we
call in France ‘le tour du Breton,’ the exercises of gladiators, and races
on foot, are still on festival days their common diversion in various
districts of Ireland, and the conquerors generally receive a prize.”
“_Tailtean_,” says Seward, “a place in the county of Meath, where the
Druids sacrificed in honour of the _sun_ and _moon_, and _heaven_ and
_earth_, on the first of August, being the fifth revolution of the moon
from the vernal equinox. At this time the states assembled, and young
people were given in marriage, according to the custom of the eastern
nations. Games were also instituted, resembling the Olympic games of the
Greeks, and held fifteen days before and fifteen days after the first of
August. This festival was frequently denominated Lughaid Naoislean, or the
Matrimonial Assembly.”
“This chapter,” says Vallancey, “might have been lengthened many pages,
with the description and etymology of the various ornaments of female
dress, but enough has been said to convince the reader that the ancient
Irish brought with them the Asiatic dress and ornaments of their
ancestors, for they could not have borrowed these names of Spaniards,
Britons, Danes, or Norwegians.
“Thus dressed and ornamented, the youthful females of Ireland appeared at
_Tailetan_, or the mysteries of the sun, on the first day of August in
each year, when the ceremony of the marriage of the sun and moon took
place, and the females were exposed to enamour the swains. The day still
retains the name of _Luc-nasa_, or the Anniversary of the Sun. And the
name of the month of August, in Sanscrit, is Lukie, whom they make the
wife of Veeshnu, the preserver and goddess of plenty. So the Irish poets
have made this festival, named Lucaid-lamh-fada, _i.e._ the Festival of
Love, the consecration of hands, to be the feast of Luigh-lamh-fada, or
Luigh-longumans, to whom they have given Tailte for wife, who, after his
death, was married to Duach.”
“The Taltenean sports,” says Sir James Ware, “have been much celebrated by
the Irish historians. They were a sort of warlike exercises, something
resembling the Olympic games, consisting of racing, tilts, tournaments,
or something like them, and other exercises. They were held every year at
Talten, a mountain in Meath, for fifteen days before and fifteen days
after the first of August. Their first institution is ascribed to
Lugaid-lam-fadhe, the twelfth King of Ireland, who began his reign A.M.
2764, in gratitude to the memory of Tailte, the daughter of Magh Mor, a
prince of some part of Spain, who, having been married to Eochaid, King of
Ireland, took this Lugaidh under her protection, and had the care of his
education in his minority. From this lady both the sports and the place
where they were celebrated took their names. From King Lugaidh the first
of August was called Lugnasa, or the memory of Lugaidh, nasa signifying
memory in Irish.”
The truth is, that those games were called _Tailtine_ (whence the English
_Tilts_), and the place _Tailton_, from _Tailte, which, in our language,
signifies a wife_; and the sports, there exhibited, made but a
representation of the victory which Budha gained over _Mara_, the great
tempter, who had attacked him on the day of his attaining to perfection,
with an innumerable host of demons. The conflict is said to have lasted
for fifteen days, at the end of which Budha reduced them to submission,
and to the acknowledgment of his pretensions as the Son of God.
The _battle-scenes_, therefore, with which the _Tuath_-de-danaan crosses
and obelisks are decorated, bear reference, all of them, to this religious
achievement: and to this hour you will find those identical games
celebrated in various parts of the east, and for the same number of days!
In Egypt, also, there was a place called Tailtal,[441] and named from the
same cause. Nay, the name of the Eleusinian mysteries was _Tailtine_! but
this the Greeks not comprehending, they bent it, as usual, to some
conformity to their own language, and made _Teletai_ of it! and then they
were at no loss in making a _reason_ for it in like manner, namely, that
no one could be _finished_ until _initiated_ therein!
But it is not alone as assigning those edifices to their real proprietors
that this “stanza” is of value; but as giving us an insight into that
mysterious personage whom our modern chroniclers would fain represent as
the father of Heber and Heremon. A greater error, whether voluntary or
accidental, was never incurred. Heber and Heremon were the sons of
Gallamh, and invaded this island at the head of a Scythian colony,[442]
distinct in all respects, save that of language,[443] from their Tuathan
predecessors.
These predecessors were headed by three brothers, Brien, Iuchordba, and
Iuchor, the sons of King Miledh, a Fo-morian, by a queen of the
Tuath-de-danaan race, agreeably to this record in the Book of Leccan,
viz.:--
“D’Hine fine _Fo-mora_ dosomh de shaorbh a athor, agus do _Tuathabh
Dadanann_ a mhathar”--that is, the father was of the race of the
Fo-morians, and the mother a Tuath-de-danaan.
Again, in the Seabright Collection, this genealogy is prosecuted further,
and from it, General Vallancey translates some lines, which are by no
means irrelevant, as follows, viz.: “Cuill, Ceacht, and Grian, were the
children of little Touraine--and their descendants, Uar, Jurca, Jurcatha;
and from Uar was descended _Brian_, who was named Touran; and many others
not here enumerated.”
But the history of those events having been destroyed by time, the
degenerate _Pheeleas_, wishing to flatter the vanity of the existing
powers, did not hesitate to ascribe to the _Scythian_, or _modern_ Irish,
followers of Heber and Heremon, those brilliant features of primeval
immortality which appertained exclusively to the Irish of another day--the
Hyperborean or Iranian Irish!
The Tuath-de-danaans having been proved the authors of the Round Towers,
my ambition in the investigation is already attained. But since we are
told, that this people had claimed possession of the island as inheritors
of an antecedent and preoccupying eastern colony, it may be worth while to
inquire whether we can discover any traces to connect those predecessors
with any of these edifices. Without bestowing upon it, however, more
consideration than what the exigency demands, I will briefly observe, that
we are likely to find such in the history of the _Fo-moraice_, who are
represented in our chronicles, _by the party who had ejected them_, under
the obnoxious character of _monsters_ and _giants_.[444]
It is high time to give up those abuses in the import of words.
_Fo-moraic_ means literally the mariners of _Fo_, that is, of _Budh_: and
their _religion_ being thus identified with that of the
_Tuath-de-danaans_, what could be more natural than that they should have
erected _temples_ of the same shape with theirs?
This deduction will appear the more credible from the unanimity of all our
historians, on the subject of this people having been perfect masters of
_masonry_, as well as from the universally credited report in the days of
Cambrensis, of some of the Towers being then visible beneath the
inundation of Lough Neagh.[445]
I confess I am one of those persons who give faith to this tradition; for
even my experience of the vicissitudes of all things earthly has enabled
me to say, in the words of the philosophic poet, that--
“Where once was solid land seas have I seen,
And solid land where once deep seas have been,
Shells far from seas, like quarries in the ground,
As anchors have in mountain tops been found.
Torrents have made a valley of a plain,
High hills by floods transported to the main,
Deep standing lakes sucked dry by thirsty sand,
And on late thirsty earth now lakes do stand.”