Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 355 



they had owed their origin. Most certain, at all events, it is, that they came to 

 be regarded as sanctuaries the most inviolable, to which, as our annals show, 

 the people were accustomed to fly in the hope of safety, a hope, however, 

 which was not always realized. 



SUBSECTION III. 

 BELFRIES. 



THE class of buildings of which I have now to treat, and which gave origin 

 to this lengthened Inquiry, though only holding the places of accessories to the 

 principal clmrches in Ireland, have yet, from the peculiarity of their form, and 

 the wild theories which have been promulgated respecting their age and uses, 

 been regarded as objects of greater interest and importance than even the an- 

 cient churches themselves, or, indeed, than any other class of ancient monuments 

 remaining. The inconclusiveness of the arguments and evidences which have 

 been adduced to sustain the various theories assigning them a pagan origin, have 

 been amply discussed in the first Part of this Inquiry, and to those who have 

 accompanied me through that investigation, as well as through the preceding sec- 

 tions in this Part, I can hardly imagine that it will appear necessary to occupy 

 much space now with evidences to prove either their Christian origin, or the 

 uses to which, by Christians, they were applied. I, at least, am persuaded that 

 to any one having a tolerable acquaintance with medieval architecture, a sight 

 of a few of these remains, or of accurate detailed drawings of them, would be 

 alone sufficient to convince him, not only of their Christian date, but of the pri- 

 mary purposes for which they were constructed. But, as I have to write not 

 only for such persons, but for those also who are less instructed in such know- 

 ledge, and, as a consequence, are, for the most part, imbued with prejudices 

 difficult to be removed, it is necessary that I should present them with such 

 more direct evidences, on these points, as must necessarily lead their minds to 

 a conviction of the truth. 



Previously, however, to my entering on those evidences, I feel it necessary 

 to impress on the memories of those who may still cling with tenacity to the 

 theory of the pagan origin of these structures, a summary of the facts which, in 

 refutation of that theory, I conceive I have already established. 



1. That not even the shadow of an historical authority has been adduced to 



2 z 2 



