IRISH EXTRACTS. CONTAINING A CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL PLACES IN IRELAND; WITH THE ANTIQUITIES, CUSTOMS, CHARACTER, AND MANNERS OF THAT COUNTRY.

BY THOMAS STRINGER, M.D.

(Continued from page 35 )

ANTIQUITIES OF IRELAND.

Terected by the ancient inhabit.

THE pillars, and cromlechs,

ants of our island, most probably for religious purposes; of the same date are many of the tumuli and carneds dispersed over the face of the country, Many, because some are evidently military works of a much more modern date. The construction of stone temples and crom'e hs has generally been attributed to the Druids, but without any certainty of proof The former consisted of one or inore circles of rude stones set upright, surrounded by a ditch and rampart, the first being dug on the inside of the circle, by which peculiarity they are distinguished from military works, where the ditches are usually dug on the outside, as a guard against the enemy. See Abury in Wiltshire. Stonehenge, a work of greater art, and consequently of a much later era.

Next to the stone temples come that species of monument called Cromlech,

are very correct resemblances: they are said to be very numerous on and about the south foot of the Atlas mountains and berder of the Desert, where these were caught when young, and where they often attack both men and beasts,"

Vide Riley's Shipwreck and Captivity in the Great Desert, page 550, *Disciples of Seedy ben Isa, whose sanctuary is at Fas, and who possess the art of fascinating serpents.

derived from the British words Crwm, or Crom, bending, and llech, a stone that is flat and bends downwards. Their original destination has not been clearly known; some antiquaries having supposed them to have served as altars for sacrifices; and others to have been erected as sepulchral memorials. Of these several are dispersed through Ireland.

Though the subterraneous temple cannot be said to be exclusively peculiar to this country, yet the sister kingdom cannot boast of any one so large, or in such perfect preservation, as the one at New Grange, near Slane and Drogheda. (Described p. 34.)

On the lands of Ballymacscanlan, in the county of Louth, is a large rath, and on it a great stone, having in the centre a cross with four smaller ones. About thirty yards from the rath is an entrance into a cave running under the rath, but it has not been explored. Tradition calls this the tomb of Mac Scanlan.

pillars supporting a ponderous impost: At the same place are three great

this was the pensile monument of the Northerns. It is called the Giant's Load, being brought altogether from a neighbouring mountain by a giant, according to tradition.

At Templebrien, in the county of Cork, is a circle of nine upright stones placed round a tenth in the centre, and about twenty feet to the north-west stands an eleventh.

At Roscarbury are some of the Druids' caves; and there St. Fachnan very early founded a see and literary seminary.

At Lismore is a Druid Cave, and there was also a celebrated school and cathedral; and near the latter was the residence of an anchoret from the remotest time. He was the genuine successor of the Draidic Semnotheist.

Not far from the church at Templebrien is a stone circle with a central pyramidal pillar, and not far distant a third. A few paces from the last there is an artificial cave, probably, says Smith, a sepulchre, or the retreat of the Priest, or Druid, who belonged to the Pagan temple.

At Skirk, in the Queen's County, is a Pagan fane. It is situated on a lofty bill, which has an extensive range for the eye, as Ci Erk contracted into Skirk intimates. Its area is surrounded with a deep intrenchment, and within is

a pyramidal stone six feet high, with the stumps of others that made the temple. Towards the east is a cromlech, and to the north an high keep, or exploratory fort; and contiguous is the parochial church.

In the early ages of Christianity churches were not common; the bishop and clergy resided together in cathedra, which was the episcopal see, and where afterwards a cathedral church was constructed. This was founded on the ruins of some celebrated Pagan temple; as that of Kildare in a Druidic grove, that of Derry is the same, those of Roscarbury and Lismore near Druidic caves, and Cloghar in a Druidic stone circle. The case was the same with every ancient see in Ireland.

Stone roofed churches of the ancient Irish. Stone inclosures or closes, in the East, called Mandra. The word originally imported a sheep fold, and was applied to those monastic buildings wherein the archimandrite presided over his disciples, as the shepherd superintended the flock in his fold. There are many of these mandræ dispersed over this kingdom; one remarkable is Dun Aengus. This is in the greater isle of Arran, on the coast of Galway, situated on a high cliff over the sea, and is a circle of monstrous stone with out cement.

- Near the cathedral of Killaloe is a stone-roofed chapel; in it were probably deposited the relics of St. Flannan, though afterwards transferred to the cathedral. The first structures of the Ostmen in Ireland, and the first buildings with mortar, were stoneroofed chapels for relics.

The church of St. Doulach, situated about four miles to the east of Dublin, on the road to Malahide, is a curious structure. It is forty-eight feet long, by eighteen wide. There is a double roof, the external which covers the building, and that which divides the upper from the lower story. You enter this crypt through a small door to the south. Just as you enter, the tomb of St. Doulach presents itself. The tomb projects so far into the room, that, together with the stairs of the tower and legs of the arches, it can contain but few people. It seems designed for no other use but the separate admission of those who came to make their prayers and offerings to the saint. From this room, by stopping, you pass a narrow way, and enter the chapel,

This is twenty-two feet by twelve, and lighted by three windows, one at the east and two at the south; the arches pointed, and decorations Gothic: these, with the tower, are later additions. The roof is of stone, and carried up like a wedge. The stones which cover it are not large, but so well bedded in mortar, that after many centuries this roof transmits neither light nor water. There is a well in an octagon enclosure, with some emblematic fresco paintings, and a bath supplied from the well. The cryptical sepulchres and oratories in Gregory of Tours and Bede are the exact archetypes of ours. These were secured from vulgar approach by doors and chancels; the supplicant was permitted only to put his head into a little window, and there invoke the saint, and take with his fingers a pinch of the sacred dust.

Near the church of Portaferry stands a chapel; a coarse building of an odd contrivance, being a room thirty-seven feet in length, sixteen broad, and twenty high, covered with a coved arch stone, so close and firmly cemented, that it does not appear to admit any water. Adjoining is a similar structure, divided into two apartments.

There is a very ancient overground crypt in an island of the Shannon, not far from Killaloe.

Malachy O'Morgair, about 1135, erected at the Abbey of Saul two stoneroofed crypts, seven feet high, six long, and two and a half wide, with a small window at one side.

But that of the greatest magnitude and best architecture is Cormac's Chapel, at Cashel. This is certainly one of the most curious fabrics in the kingdom. It is a regular church, divided into nave and choir, the latter narrowing in breadth, and separated from the former by a wide arch. Under the altar, tradition places the bones of St. Cor

mac.

STONE CROSSES. We have in this island an infinite variety of crosses, many curious and well-preserved specimens, simple in design, yet rich in sculpture. Two perfect and one imperfect at Monasterboice (see p. 34). Two fragments at Kells (see Vol. LXXII. p. 33), and at Castle Kyran in that neighbourhood The shaft of a cross at Old Kilcullen, in the county of Kildare: the nine figures in three compartments similarly dressed are ecclesiastics. Another ornamented cross at

Clonmacnois. This stone is fifteen feet high, and stands near the western door of Teampull Mac Diarmuid. Over the northern door of Temple Mac Dermot, which is grand, are three figures: the middle St. Patrick in pontificalibus; the other two St. Francis and St. Dominic, in the habit of their order. It is difficult to fix the period of their construction; but I should imagine them coeval with the round tower, and the work of the ninth or tenth century.

ROUND TOWERS. Giraldus Cambrensis, about 1185, is the first who mentions our round towers. He calls them "Ecclesiastical towers, which in a style of fashion peculiar to the country, are narrow, high, and round." Though this passage has been frequently quoted, yet no one has observed, that from its grammatical construction we may fairly infer that Cambrensis saw the Irish in the very act of building these towers. It was a singular and striking spectacle for our author to behold so great a number of them dispersed over the country; all of the same figure and fashion, contiguous to wooden churches, and supporting bells to summon the vicinity to religious duties, or to warn them of approaching danger. Surely it Surely it must be esteemed a great perversion of common sense to extract from Cambrensis's plain account in words any

other meaning than that now given : he was fully competent to deliver a simple fact, nor did the objects he was describing require the microscopic eye of some modern Irish antiquarians.

Let it now be remarked, that the opinion of every author who has spoken of our round towers for the space of five hundred and forty-two years, that is, from Cambrensis to Molyneux, is uniform in pronouncing them Ostman or Danish works.

A very ingenious friend of mine remarks, that almost all our round towers are divided into stories of different heights: the floors supported in some by projecting stones, in others by joints put in the wall or building, and in many they were placed upon rests. The last are from four to six inches, carried round and taken off the thickness of the wall in the story above. And he very probably conjectures, these rests do not diminish the thickness of the wall as they asceud, because then it would not have been sufficiently strong to bear stones or support the conical cap. They seem, therefore, to be swellings in the wall, which rather add to its thickness upwards; aud this is confirmed by the round tower at Lusk, whose wall is three feet thick at top.

Kildare; Oughterard, Kildare; Roscrea, Tipperary; Swords, Dublin; Teghadoe, ditto; Timahoe, Queen's County; Turlogh, Sligo; Drumboe; Downpatrick, Down; Kilkenny; Drumisken; Ardmore; Castle Dermot, Kildare Monaghan, Mayo; Kenith; Glendalough, Wicklow; and others mentioned in different parts of this work.

ROUND TOWERS, I am inclined to think that these singular buildings were erected about the same time as the stoneroof chapels, and that they were the work of the Irish. While some authors have attributed these buildings to the Irish, and others to the Picts and Danes; a learned antiquary, General Vallancey, has sought out for them; and supposes them to have been erected by the Old Irish, or Aire Coti, the primitive inhabitants of Britain, who after the religion of the Brahims worshipped fire. These towers differ in their respective heights and dimensions, as well as in the number of their floors, and in the height of the door from the ground. They vary also in their distances from the church, but most usually bear a north-western position. They were divided into different stories, in which I saw evident marks in the projecting stone work, left for the support of the floor. Each of these floors had one window to light it, and the upper room had invariably four. If I am allowed to hazard a con}jecture about these singular buildings, I should suppose them to have been erected about the ninth century, and nearly at the same time with the stoneroof chapels, at which period Ireland abounded with holy men, and was much resorted to as a seminary for learning and religion.-Sir Richard Colt Hoare. The original destination of the round towers, notwithstanding the laboured and ingenious researches of the numerous antiquarians who have directed their attention to the subject, is still involved in considerable obscurity. It has been severally supposed that they were employed as beacons, or watchtowers; as places of punishment for those who had sinned against the ordinance of the early Christian church; as the habitation of anchorite monks; as stations from which the priest, by his voice, or the sound of some instrument, summoned the people to prayer; or, which is the opinion most generally received, as belfries. According to General Vallancey, for the display of

sacred fires in honour of the pagan deities.-Weld.

Coeval with the stone temple and the cromlech, are the Carnedds and the tumulus or barrow; the former sig nifying in the British language a heap of stones, the latter in the Latin tongue a heap or mound; the former piled up with stone, the latter with earth, each material being used indiscriminately, according to the nature of the soil sur rounding the place destined for the sepulchral memorial. From the ancient relics found in them, and deposited in them, there is little doubt of their being the places of interment of the most ancient inhabitants of our island.

(To be continued.)

T

PRIOR.

HOUGH the poets have spoken of it with a kind of enthusiastic rapture, yet few men are formed for absolute solitude: and such is the construction of human nature, that torpor and lassitude will invade the sublimest genius, if left to all the loneliness of a sequestered retreat. To render solitude tolerable, even to great minds, it must be qualified with several necessary adjuncts. To retire from the world with a proper motive, the motive of selfrecollection, and dedication to the Supremie, and in proper time, before age had benumbed the faculties, and absolutely rivetted the sentiments, is both useful and becoming, productive of the best consequences, and agreeable to the best reason. But lest disappointment should meet and distress men in this last scene, it is necessary that they be sup plied with such means as will conduce to render retirement satisfactory. Ere the resolution be resolutely fixed, a short time should be assigned to probation; in which, if they perceive themselves ill qualified for the privacy of perfect abstraction, they will do well to retain some proper connexion with business and life. If otherwise, let them pursue their resolution with activity, and apply to every proper method of improve ment.

As we suppose the retirement of life and the service of God the grand motive of retirement; in such a case, these important concerns must be imagined to Occupy the small portion of time, to which we may add the due attendance to proper and serious reading and meditation. But the mind will not bear a continued and intense application to these ; especially a mind unaccustomed to deep speculations. There is need, therefore, of some other attachments, which may amuse and give motion to the tardier sort of time. Among these, nothing seems to promise the retired greater contentment than the pleasing amusement of the garden, and the cultivation of his little fields. This is as rational as it is instructive. Health will be invigorated by the exercise, piety will be exalted by the reflections which every herb, fruit, and flower will inculcate. A taste for the delights of the garden should be brought into refirement with every man, or, by all means, be learned by him there. Happy the man in solitude who hath some knowledge, however superficial, of the politer arts, especially music and drawing: music in particular will dissipate many a drowsy idea, and calm many a desultory thought. Drawing or painting will innocently and gracefully employ many a vacant moment. And easily as a small knowledge with these is attained, one would marvel that any man should omit to attain them. No

man ever regretted the knowledge, many have much bewailed their iguo

rance of them,

ning brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.

from Mr. W. Tate, prescribing a mode of calculating interest at a given or any rate, as used at the " Finishing Academy, Cateaton-street."—With all due deference to that Gentleman's talents, I cannot see wherein he means it to

supersede the old, and, as I believe, very common mode of calculation.

Complex arithmetic is, doubtless, a very pleasing study for the scholar but the man of business, particularly the foreign merchant, who has so multifarious a business to attend to, all of which, more or less, consists in calculation, requires a simple and easy plan, which can always be uppermost in his head, and preclude the troublesome reference to books.

Having resided many years abroad, I subjoin the method I refer to, than which, I conceive, nothing can be more simple, or easy to be remembered; and having taken Mr. T.'s sum and time, in order to shew the difference in figures, should you deem it worth inserting in your valuable Miscellany, it is at your service; observing only, in further preference to this mode, that you obtain the amount of interest sought at once, to a fraction.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant, G. M. H.

Rule.

Multiply the principal by the number of days: to which either add, or from which subtract, as many fifths as the rate per centum may be pounds above or under 51. per cent.: the remainder divided by 365 will be the true inte

rest.

Chingford, Essex, Jan. 2, 1818.