Bourke Ulick J. Aryan Origin of the Gaelic Race and Language
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370
NESCIENCE
IS
NOT
DENIAL.
Dr.
Petrie
says,
in
reply,
that he
sees
every
reason
to
deny
that
they
did
exist
;
for,
says
he,
not
the
slightest
evidence
has
ever
been
adduced
to
prove
that
the Irish
were
acquainted
with
the art
of
building
with
lime
cement
before
they
received the
Christian faith
;
and the
architecture
of
the
Towers and
that
of
the
ancient
churches
erected
before
the
twelfth
century,
is the
same
in
every
respect.
Regarding
the
opinions
of
our
national
poet,
Thomas
Moore,
he
says,
(p. 67)
:
"
I
find little
but
a
repetition
embodied
in
more
graceful
language
and a
more
logical
form
of
the
evidences which I
have
already
examined."
And
Mr.
Windele,
of
Cork,
he
styles
the
"
ingenious
Mr.
Windele."
And
noticing
the
reasoning
of
Mr.
Moore,
he
says
:
"
I find
nothing
requiring
an
answer.
...
I
pass
on,"
p.p.
67, 70,
In
this
way
Dr. Petrie
handily,
though
not
logically,
sets aside all the
views
of Dr.
La-
nigan,
Windele, D'Alton,
Moore.
REPLY
: Not
to
be
able
to tell
precisely
what
year
this
event
or
that
other
happened,
is no
proof
that it
did not
happen
at all
;
if
so,
many
a
person
could
fairly
doubt
that
he
had ever
been
born.
Every person
knows the
number of
literary
contests
that have
taken
place
on the
subject
of
chronology.
Even
the exact time
of
the birth
of the
Saviour
of
men,
Our
LORD
JESUS
CHRIST,
has been
disputed.
Again,
not
to
be
able to tell
why,
or for
what
purpose
the
building
was
erected,
is
no
proof
against
the fact
that
there
was
a head
that
planned,
and
an architect
who
fashioned
it,
and
men
who carried out the
work
in detail.
Why
were the
Pyramids
built ? Who
can
correctly
and
truly
tell
?
Why
do
Highlanders
wear
kelts?
They
cannot well
tell.
They
say
it
was
the
primitive
dress
of
the
Gaels
j
but
it
SILENCE NOT
A
SUJIE
PROOF.
371
was
not
;
and
even
if
it had
been,
why
did
they adopt
that form
of dress
?
To
pass
the
rushing
torrent
safely
?
There
are torrents
in
Switzerland.
Why
are there a thousand
and
one
strange things
done
every
other
day
?
In
examining
the time
when the Bound
Towers
had been first
erected,
it is not
necessary
to
know
why
or for what
purpose they
were
planned
or
built.
(c)
"
No
mention is
made
by any
writer
in
any early
Irish record extant
that the Towers
had
been built in
pagan
times ?"
The
reply
to this
is,
that
it
is
not
in
every
respect
true.
Although
no
direct
allusion has been
made,
yet
indirect
reference has been
given
that there
were Eound
Towers
even
in the
early part
of the
first
century
in
Ireland.
Allusion has
been made to
those,
for
instance,
supposed
to
be
under the
waters
at
Lough Neagh.
The
tradition,
vague
as
it
was,
showed
that
the
notion
of
a
pagan
origin regarding
them
has been
very
ancient,
and had
its
rise
in
pagan
times. See
infra,
p.
386.
But
suppose,
secondly,
that it is true
that
no mention at
all
has been made of their
existence,
still
that
proves
nothing
either for Dr. Petrie's cause or
against
the
pagan
origin
;
it
hits
right against
his
own
theory,
for
there
is no
record to
show
that
the
Towers
were of Christian
origin.
Physicians
of
the
present
day
know well that before
William
Harvey
s
time,
two
centuries
and
a half
ago,
no
one
knew
anything
about
the circulation
of the
blood.
Did it
follow that
Harvey
was
wrong,
because
for
the
space
of
twice a
thousand
years
from
the
days
of
the
father
of
medicine,
Hippocrates,
to those
of
Harvey
the
doctrine
regarding
the
circulation
of
blood
had
been
utterly
unknown. Michael Servetus
hinted
at
it,
but
that
;
0,11.
The
same is true
of
the
action
of
Columbus,
of
'57^
MODERN
SCIENCES,
Copernicus,
o the
discovery
of the
electric
fluid,
even
of
Bentley
and
the
lost
P.
Silence
respecting
the
lost letter
was
no
proof
that
it had
never been
known.
Silence
re-
garding
men
and
events,
nay,
towns and
cities,
is
no
proof
that
they
did
not at
one
time
exist.
The
same
mode
of
reasoning
can
be
applied
to
things,
the
know-
ledge
of which
has been
lost,
and to
things newly
disco-
vered. Silence
in
the
past,
to
the
time
of
Vallancey,
concerning
the
pagan origin
of the
Round
Towers,
proves
nothing.
These
modern
sciences
were not
known two hundred
years ago.
The
ancient Irish
scholars,
from
the
eighth
century
to
the
eleventh,
had
enough
to
do to
keep
them-
selves safe
from the
incursions of
Danes
;
and
in
the
twelfth
century
to
attend
to
religion
and to the
transcrip-
tion of
ancient
manuscripts.
In later
times,
up
to
the
opening
of
the
present
century,
the
wonder
is,
how
a
native
Irish
scholar
could
have
lived
at
all. The
awakening
sciences
of
comparative
philology,
paleologj,
hermeneutics,
are
causing
men
to turn
their
attention to
those
ancient
departments
of
knowledge,
and
to
pro-
mote
enquiry.
If the
argument
avail
at
all,
however,
it
comes
quite
against
the views
of
Dr.
Petrie.
Suppose
for
a moment
that
the
Round Towers
are,
as he
thinks,
the work
of
Christian
hands,
how account for
the
fact,
that no men-
tion
is
made
in
any
ancient
record,
in the life of
any
Irish
saint
(the
writer has
read
hundreds of
them,)
in
any
work
relating
to
antiquities,
that
the Round Towers
had
been
built,
at
any
particular
time
or
place,
by
any
special
man
or
community
of men
?
In
fact,
no mention
of
Round
Towers
is
introduced at all in
annal,
history,
record,
life,
or
chance-writing
relating
to
Ireland
;
much
less,
is
it stated
that
a tower was
built at such
a
time
DIRECT
PROOF AGAINST
PBTRIE
?
S
OPINION. 373
and at such
a
place,
or
for
such
an
object.
How
account
for
this
omission,
if
the
Towers had been
the
work
of
Christian
hands,
especially
as the
name
of
every
saint
is
recorded,
of
every
king
and
chieftain,
and
of the works
done
by
them
?
Was
it not as
easy
to record
the
story
of
the
origin
of
the
Towers as
it
is to tell the
history
of
the
churches which
the saints
founded
?
The
leading
proposition
laid
down
by
Dr. Petrie
in
his
able
work,
and which
he
endeavours,
by
means
of the
different
proofs
furnished,
to
sustain,
has not
yet
in
these
pages
received
a
direct
refutation. The
following
is
the
proposition
:
"
That the
Round
Towers
were erected at
various
periods
between
the fifth and
thirteenth
cen-
turies."
The
writer
is of
opinion
that that
proposition
is untrue.
The reasons are
(1)
because he has shown
that
Dr.
Petrie's
proofs
in
support
of
the thesis have
no
convinc-
ing
force
;
and
(2)
because
in
reality,
it
was
simply
an
impossibility
that
such works
of
architectural
art
could
have been built;
by
the
Christian
population
of
Ireland,
from
the
years
A.D. 432
to
1172,
when
Henry
II.
landed
on the coast
of Wexford.
Dr.
Petrie
himself
tacitly
admits,
and the
writer
is
convinced,
that
towers
of
such
architectural
excellence
could
not have been
erected from
the
days
of
St.
Patrick
to
the time of
St.
Engus,
the
Culdee.
This
appears
true
(&)
both
on
account
of the
evidently imperfect buildings
erected
during
the first
century
and a-half after the conversion of
the
Irish
to
Christianity
;
and
(5)
because
the
best
stone
buildings
of
the
period,
still
extant
in
Aran,
in
the Isles
of
Bofin
and
Shark,
and
High
Island,
on the coast
of
Connemara,
are
in no
way
to
be
compared
in
size,
form,
in the nature
of
the
stone,
in
inherent structure
w
ith the
Pillar Towers
5
and
(c)
because
the
Irish
Christians
in
their
first
essay
at
374
IMPOSSIBLE,
architecture,
(and
on the
supposition
that
"before,
that
period
they
had not
known the art
of
building,)
could
never
have
erected,
in
a short
period, magnificent
structures
requir-
ing
so
much
skill,
and could
never have
furnished such
srfperb specimens
of
sculpture, grand
and
perfect
to a
rare
degree,
that
they challenge comparison
with the best
specimens
of
ecclesiastical edifices
of
the
present period
T
and excite
the
surprise
and
wonder
of
foreigners
who-
visit
our
shores.
It
was
impossible
for Irishmen
to
build the
Towers
from the first moment
an
Ostman
set
foot on
the Irish
soil,
or as
long
as
Danish
galleys
cruised
along
the Irish
coast.
Irishmen
were for over
two
hundred
years
in
daily
dread of the fierce
"
Lochnanaig,"
(lake-men)
from Den-
mark.
To erect
buildings
during
that
troublous time
was
plainly
impossible,
much
more so
to
erect such
splendid
superstructures
as the Pillar Towers
are,
and
so
many
of
them. That
they
were not built
between the
time
when
Brian
fought
and defeated the
Dane at
Clontarf
(A.D.
1014)
and
the
landing
of
Henry
II.
(A.D,
1172J
is
a
certainty
of
history.
Therefore,
to
the
thinking
of the
present
writer
it
was
quite impossible
that
Irish
Chris-
tians
could
have,
in the
circumstances,
erected
such
a
number of
magnificent
buildings
from the time of
St.
Patrick
to the
time
of
Henry
II.
Of
course,
Catholics of
the
period
performed
greater
works
than the
building
of
such
monuments
;
but
in
the
circumstances
of
those
times,
from
A.D.
432 to
A.D.
800,
and
again
from that
period
to
the
final
overthrow
of
Danish
power
in
Ireland,
it
was
impossible
that Irish
Christians
could,
in
Ireland,
have
built
such
elegant
structures.
Moreover,
it
is certain
from
the
words
of
Giraldus,
that
on
his
arrival
with
King John,
son
of
Henry,
Towers
had been in
Ireland,
not
only
at
that
period,
but before
the
Danes
had
set
foot
on
Irisfe
POSITIVE
PROOF.
375
soil,
that is
anterior to the ninth
century.
Giraldus de-
scribes
the Towers
as :
"
Turres
ecclesiasiicas,
quce
more
patrice
arctce
sunt
et
altce,
nee non
et
rotundce"
"
Towers
for church
purposes,
which
in
the
fashion of the
country
(that
is,
of
towers
like
those
in
Ireland)
are
narrow
and
high,
as
well as round."
They
were
standing,
then,
in
his
time,
nay,
they
were
in use
for
church
purposes,
therefore
they
had
been
manifestly
erected
long
before,
say
anterior
to
the
coming
of the
Ostmen to the
Irish
coast
;
for,
after
that
period.
Irishmen
had
quite
enough
to
do
to
live
and
fight.
Besides
the
testimony
of
Giraldus,
other
historic items
are to be
found
in
Irish
annals which
indirectly
corro-
borate
the force
of
these
remarks,
that
Eound
Towers
had
been
in
Ireland
before
the ninth
century.
A STRONG
POSITIVE PROOF.
That there were
ecclesias-
tical stone
buildings
erected
during
the
seventh
century
and the
eight,
no one
doubts. But
when the
primitive
architecture
of Ireland is
classed
with
English-Gorman
of
the
twelfth,
it
is
quite
another
thing.
In
all
the
Anglo-Norman
specimens
of
architecture there is found
one
feature
common and
uniform,
namely,
the
jambs
of
door-
ways
and windows
are
parallel
;
in
all
the
specimens
of
early
Irish architecture the
doorways
and
windows
are
wider
"
at
bottom
than at
top."
This
constitutes,
if no
other were
found,
an
essential difference between
the
two
styles
the
early
Irish and the
Anglo-Norman.
In
their
sculptured
ornaments, too,
the
Irish
Towers
and
early
buildings
are
quite
unlike the
Anglo-Norman
;
and
Irish
architecture
appears
like the art
of Illuminat-
ing,
quite
unique
completely
insular
and Keltic.
The
present
writer
has examined
some
ten or twelve
Round
Towers.
He
has found
that
the
Tower,
no
matter
how
nigh
to the
ecclesiastical
buildings,
is,
nevertheless,
com
376
ENDURING
CHARACTER
OP
THE
ROUND
TOWERS.
pletely apart
and
separate
from
the
adjacent
houses,
This
is
true of
all,
except
the Round
Tower of
Clonmac-
noise.
Secondly,
he
has seen
that
the
stones,
in their
composition,
are
not,
as
a
rule,
of
the
same
sort
and of the
same
stratification as
the
stones of
the
ecclesiastical
build-
ings
j
they
are
immensely larger,
more
massive,
better
prepared
for the
purpose
of
building,
not
laid in the
same
order,
knitted
together
like
huge
boulders,
but with
a
scientific
sureness
combining strength
and
cyclopic
mas-
siveness.
Thirdly
The stones of
the
Bound
Towers,
as at
Kilbannon,
Tuam,
must have been
brought
a
great way,
for
there are
not in the
neighbourhood
any
stones like
them.
It
appears
to the
writer
that the
stones of all
the
Kound
Towers
had
been all taken
from some
two
or
three
quarries,
just
as
in
Egypt,
the
stones which
went
to
the
erection of the
Pyramids
had
been all
dug
from the
same
quarries
in the
Lybian
mountains,
west of the
Nile.
Fourth The
cement or
grouting
of stone
used
in
the
erec-
tion of the
Bound
Towers
does
not
appear,
if
one
wish
to
analyze
it,
the
same
as
the
mortar
found in
the cir-
cumjacent
edifices.
ENDURING CHARACTER
OP THE
ROUND TOWERS.
The
shape
of the
Tower its
tapering
and
rotund
form
renders
it
firm and
at
the same
time
not liable to
be
injured
by
storm.
The
strongest gale acting against
it
can never
effect
its
firmness,
for the
wind
has no
level
surface
to
act
against
;
the
force of
the
strongest
storm
impinges
only
on one
line of
surface,
and,
like a
ball
hitting
a convex
body
at
a
sharp angle, passes
off in
a
tangent
line.
The
style
of
stone
made
use
of in the
erection
of the
Pillar
Towers
is found
suited
to the
Irish
climate,
and
is,
in
the
opinion
of
scientists,
admirably
calculated to witL-
stand
the
action
of the
weather.
THEY
ARE OF
PAGAN
ORIGIN.
377
Taking
into note
the
sloping shape,
securing
stability,
the
summit
pointed,
the
rotund
form
which is
of
all
the
very
best
in
resisting
the action
of external
force,
espe-
cially
that
of
storms,
the
sorb of
stone,
too,
made use
of
in
construction the
Pillar
Towers
have been
admirably
calculated
to
endure,
as
they
have done
for
ages.
Their
only
foes
in the
past
have
been
lightning
and
the
un-
checked
growth
of the
ivy
tree.
Lastly
It is
necessary
for the
advocates of
the
second
opinion
to
prove,
first,
that
the
early
Christian
Irish had
known
how
to
erect
edifices
of such
striking
architectural
excellence
as the
Round Towers
;
and
secondly,
to
show
by
positive proofs,
that
they
did,
de
facto,
build
them.
It
cannot
be
shewn
by
direct
proofs
that
from A.D. 432
to 900 A.D. the
Towers were
erected,
or that
men
of the
period
possessed
knowledge
required
to raise
such
pillar
piles.
THE
ROUND
TOWERS OF PAGAN
ORIGIN.
THIRD OPINION.
It is now
time
to
come
to
the
third
opinion
that the
Round
Towers
are of
pagan
origin.
The
advocates
of
this
opinion
are
General
Vallancey,
Mr.
Beauford,
Dr.
O'Conor,
Miss
Beaufort, Moore,
D'Alton, Windele, O'Brien,
Keane,
and
others,
amongst
whom
may
be classed
Giraldus.*
All those
agree
that the
Round
Towers
had
been built
in
the
pagan
period,
but all do not
agree
on
the time in
which
they
wero
built,
nor on the
special
object
for which
they
were erected.
The
learned
reader
will observe
that the
leading
ques-
*
Note
<c
Earum
antiquitatem
ethnicain
indicat
Giraldus,
Saeculo
XII, ubi,
inquit,
extitisse
eas
antequam
Lacus
Neach
erumperet
in
Ultonia.
Piscatores
Turres istas
quzs
more
patriaa
arctaa
sunt
et
altso
nee non
et
rotundas
sub
undis
manifesto,
sereni
tempore
conspiciunt.
Giraldi
Topogr.
Disk
(2,
c.
9,
p,
720.)
378
FLORENCE MCCARTHY.
tion
at
issue
regards
the time
of
their
erection,
not
the
object
for
which
they
were erected.
FOURTH
THEORY.
The
FOURTH
OPINION does
not,
as
regards
the
time of
the erection of the Pillar
Towers,
differ from
the
third.
It
states
that
the
Bound Towers
were
first built
in
the
early
pagan
period
by
those of the
Aryan
race who had
settled
in
this island
of
destiny,
but
that
after
the
Gospel
had
been
preached
in
Ireland,
St. Patrick turned
the
Bound
Towers,
as
he
did the
pagan
fountains,
to
the
service
of
Christian
rites,
and
hallowed them
by
Chris-
tian
practices
and
religious
associations.
Denis
Florence
M'Carthy
seems
to
give
expression
to
this
view
in his
famous
ballad,
"
The
Pillar
Towers
of
Ireland,"
for he
Writes
:
STH
STANZA.
"
Two favorites
hath
Time the
Pyramids
of
Nile,
And the
old
majestic temples
of our
own
dear
isle
;
As the breeze o'er the
seas,
where
the
halcyon
has
his
nest,
Thus time o'er
Egypt's
tombs
and the
Temples
of the
West
!
6.
The
names
of
their
founders have
vanished
in the
gloom,
Like the
dry
branch in
the
fire,
or
the
body
in
the
tomb
;
But
to-day,
in the
ray,
their
shadows still
they
cast
Those
temples
of
forgotten gods
these
relics
of
the
past!
8.
How
many
different
rites
have these
grey
old
Temples
known ?
To
the
mind what
dreams
are
written
in these chronicles
of
stone
!
What
terror
and
what
error,
what
gleams
of
love
and
truth
Have
flashed from
these
walls since
the
world
was
in its
youth
!
9.
Here
blazed
the sacred
fire,
and when
the
sun was
gone,
As
a star
from
afar,
to
fche
traveller
it shone
j
AUTHORITIES. 379
And
the warm blood
of the victim have these
grey
old
Temples
drunk,
And the
death
-song
of
the
Druid,
and the
matin
of
the Monk,
10.
Here
was
placed
the
holy
chalice
that held the sacred
wine*
And
the
gold
cross from
the
altar,
and the relics from
the
shrine.
And
the
mitre, shining
brighter
with its
diamonds,
than
the
East,
And
the
crozier
of the
Pontiff,
and
the
vestments of
the
Priest.
11.
Where blazed
the sacred
fire,
hung
out the
vesper
bell-
Where
the
fugitive
found
shelter,
became
the hermit's cell
;
And
hope hung
out its
symbol
to the
innocent and
good,
For the cross o'er the moss of
the
pointed
summit stood."
AUTHORITIES.
Dr.
Lanigan's
views
on
the
subject
of the
antiquity
of
the Pillar Towers are
expressed
in
the
following
passage
:
"
It
can
scarcely
be doubted that the
original
models,
according
to which
they
were
constructed,
belong
to
the
times of
paganism,
and that the
singular
style
of
archi-
tecture which we
observe
in them
was
brought
from the
East.' Ecd. Hist. vol.
iv,
p.
408.
Very
Rev. Dr.
Charles
O'Conor is of
opinion
that the
Round
Towers
have
come
to
us from
pagan
times. And
Dr.
Petrie
says
of the
Very
Rev.
Doctor,
"
that he is
a
writer
whose
opinions
on
every
matter
connected with
the
ancient
history
and
literary
antiquities
of Ireland are
justly
considered
of
great weight,
and
that
they
deserve,
certainly,
the
most
respectful
attention."
Now,
Dr.
O'Conor
is
of
opinion
that the Pillar
Towers are
"
from
time
immemorial"
"ab immemorabili
conditas
memorari,"
Index
vol.
3,
p.
207.
Thomas
Moore,
the national
poet
and
the
Irish Histo-
rian,
says
:
"
To
be
able to
invest,
even
with
plausibility
,