40 Mr. PETEIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



and afterwards sprinkled upon the People infected with the Plague, or upon cattle that have the 

 Murrain. And this they all say they find successful by Experience." Description of the Western 

 Islands of Scotland (second edition), p. 113. 



2. As authority for Miss Beaufort's second assertion, relative to the Tower 

 of Thlachtga, &c., we are referred to the " Psalter of Tara, by Comerford, p. 41, 

 cited in the Parochial Survey, Vol. III. p. 320."; and certainly in the latter work 

 we do find a passage in nearly the same words which Miss Beaufort uses. But 

 if the lady had herself referred to Comerford's little work, she would have dis- 

 covered, that the author of the article in the Parochial Survey had in reality 

 no authority for his assertions, and had attempted a gross imposition on the 

 credulity of his readers. The passage in Comerford is as follows : 



" A. D. 79- This prince [Tuathal Teachtmar], as soon as he was in quiet possession of the 

 throne, convened the general assembly of Tarah, where several wise regulations were made for the 

 better governing the state. It was by the authority of this assembly, that Tuathal separated a tract 

 of land from each province, and made the country of Meath, as it appears at this day ; he also 

 erected a stately palace in each of these proportions, viz. in that of Munster, the palace of Tlachtga, 

 where the fire of Tlachtga was ordained to be kindled, on the 3 1 of October, to summon the 

 priests and augurs to consume the sacrifices oiFered to their gods ; and it was also ordained, that 

 no other fire should be kindled in the kingdom that night \_P. of Tara, in margin], so that the fire 

 to be used in the country, was to derive from this fire, for which privilege the people were to pay a 

 scraball, which amounts to three-pence, every year, as an acknowledgment to the king of munster. 

 The second palace was in that of Connaught, where the inhabitants were assembled once a year 

 upon the first of May, to offer sacrifices to the principal deity of the island, under the name of 

 Beul, which was called the Convocation of Visneach ; and on account of this meeting, the King of 

 Connaught had, from every lord of a mannor or chieftain of lands, a horse and arms. The third was 

 at Tailtean, in the portion of Ulster, where the inhabitants of the kingdom brought their children, 

 when of age, and treated with one another about their marriage. From this custom the king of 

 Ulster demanded an ounce of silver from every couple married here. The fourth was the palace of 

 Teamhair or Tarah, which originally belong'd to the province of Leinster, and where the states of 

 the kingdom met in a parliamentary way." History of Ireland, pp. 49, 50 Second edit. pp. 41, 42. 



Where, in the above extract, do we find even the slightest mention of fire- 

 towers, or a word from which an inference could possibly be drawn that they 

 ever had an existence in Ireland? Palaces are spoken of, not towers; and 

 there is not even a vestige of a tower, or ancient stone building of any kind, now 

 to be found at any of the four places mentioned ; and it will further appear, by 

 a reference to my essay on the History and Antiquities of Tara, that no tower 

 of this kind was known to the most ancient authorities to have ever existed 



