Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 195 



ecckstam illam fcetiicare oisponcnti fn sompnts apparuit Sr cum a proposito rcuocautt. 

 nccnon in stgnum quoli ipse toommus ecclcsiam ipsam prtus cum cimiterio fce&icarat : 

 manum episcopi Utgtto pcrforautt. & sic perforate multis ufocnttbus in crasttno apparuit. 

 postea uero t&em cpt'scoptts, fcomtno reuelante ac sanctorum numcro in ea&cm crescent* : 

 quen&am canctllum in orientali parte hut'c cccksie aiu'ccit Sc in ftonorc beate uirginis con* 

 sccraut't. GCuius altare inestimabtlt sapftiro in pfrpctuam hums rei mcmoriam insigniutt. 

 CBt ne locus aut quantitas prorsus [priorts] tcckste per tales augmcntaciones obliuioni 

 tratierctur : erigitur ftec columpna in linea per tiuos ortentales angulos eius&em ecclesie 

 uersus nicrftitem protracta Sr prctiictum canccllum ab ea abscinfocntc. CBt erat et'us longi- 

 tu&o ab ilia linea uersus occfoentem. \x. peUum. latttubo uero eius. xxfai. petium, bistancia 

 centri istius columpne a puncto metjto inter prefcictos angulos. xlbiif. pe&um. 



It is scarcely necessary to state, that it is no part of my purpose to express 

 an opinion respecting the degree of credibility, due to the account thus given 

 of the origin of the church of Glastonbury. I may, however, remark, that the 

 legend is at least of great antiquity; and that, in less sceptical times than the pre- 

 sent, it was undoubtingly received, is sufficiently shown by Ussher in the second 

 chapter of his Primordia. I do not, however, see any reason to doubt the tra- 

 dition, as far as regards the size of the church, its material, or its early anti- 

 quity ; nor will it perhaps be deemed wholly idle to suppose, that the general 

 adoption of this size originated either in reverence of this model, or of some simi- 

 lar one, derived from the primitive Christians before Christianity was adopted by 

 the emperors, and made the state religion in Greece and Rome. Be this, how- 

 ever, as it may, it is an interesting fact, that the earliest Christian church in 

 Britain, the erection of which was ascribed, in the legendary traditions of the 

 middle ages, to the very time of the apostles, should agree so exactly with those 

 first erected in Ireland ; and, moreover, that this church, which appears from the 

 whole current of the ecclesiastical history of the British Islands, to have been 

 the first erected in Britain, should have been at a place recognized as an 

 Irish ecclesiastical establishment, and in which, according not only to the Saxon 

 and English authorities, but to many Irish ones also, one of the first teachers of 

 Christianity in Ireland, a Saint Patrick, lies interred, and where his memory 

 was honoured as the patron of the place. 



Having now treated, as fully as seemed necessary, of the various charac- 



2 c 2 



