176 



pice stands the aged priest, who is described to go through the 

 ceremonies with the most perfect coolness; his long white beard, 

 his simple dress, and the surrounding groups of devotees, altogether 

 presenting a patriarchal picture.* 



It is also wortliy of observation, that on the lofty Capharean pro- 

 montory of Mont Ocha, in the island of Euboea, there are the remains 

 of a low Greek temple, of the most ancient and peculiar construc- 

 tion, with battering sides, strongly resembling one of the an- 

 cient cairn temples in its front elevation, and, like them, roofed 

 with large flag stones. This temple, we gather from Pausanius, 

 was sacred to Neptune, and the favourite place of sacrifice to 

 him.-f- 



There is no tradition now existing in the Isles of Arran concern- 

 ing this curious antiquity, a circumstance much to be regretted, 

 since tradition discreetly employed may be looked upon as a hand- 

 maid to history, frequently pointing out the source whence truth 

 may be derived. 



It has been contended by some antiquarians that there were no 

 lime and stone buildings in Ireland before the period of the Anglo- 

 Norman invasion in 1169. Others founding their assertions on a 

 mistaken passage^ in St. Bernard's Life of Malachy O'Morgair, 

 Primate of Ireland, have said, that the first building with lime 

 cement was erected by Malachy in 1145, although he had re- 

 built the cathedral of Down ten years earlier. But neither of these 

 opinions can be correct, because Giraldus Cambrensis speaks of 

 lofty ecclesiastical towers as being the fashion of the country when 

 he landed in 1 1 70. To be distinguished as the fashion of a coun- 



* Christian Examiner, No. 13, p. 38. 

 f Walpole's Collect. II. p. 389. 

 % History of Armagh, p. 133. 



