141 



he saw, as every one must see, that these " ecclesiasticse turres," were 

 for the uses of a reUgion pecuhar to Ireland, and that part of Scot- 

 land colonized from Ireland. If they were the erections of any other 

 faith, Druidic, Danish, or Christian, would they not appear in Mona, 

 in Scandinavia, or in the rest of Christendom ? Nor can the constant 

 occurrence of Christian places of worship near them operate against 

 the theory here advanced, as the early missionaries judiciously selected 

 the scenes of the heathen rites for their own purer uses, not only as it 

 were to exorcise them of paganism, but " that they might thereby 

 attract their new converts to worship the true God, in the very places 

 where they had been in the practice of worshipping the sun and 

 fire;"* and hence it happens that ancient ecclesiastical structures 

 always occur near the round towers, but not vice vers4. 



Connecting this part of the Essay with that on the religion of this 

 period, the reader will readily perceive that the round towers are 

 considered by the writer of these pages, to have been fire-houses for 

 the preservation of the sacred fire, at the time when the worship of 

 the sun was the prevalent creed ; that they were these singular tem- 

 ples of round form, (" templa insignia rotunda forma,") mentioned 

 by DiodoruSj-f and that such their shape as well as their purpose 

 are additional demonstrations of the premised oriental colonization. 

 Governor Pownal, sensible of this, considers that the Magi of Persia, 

 prompted by the same zeal which sent the Jesuits to Paraguay, 

 might have undertaken missions for religious purposes to Ireland, and 

 thus have introduced there the eastern creed and customs.;]: 



As the flame in the fire temples was always small, gentle, and 

 placed on altars, it would be ineffective, particularly in the climate of 



* Lanigan's Eccl. Hist. vol. 4. p. 408. * * * '^f !^ ^„^^^ p go, 

 J See Archaeologia. vol. 7. p. 165. 



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