M11 
noble bard of our day correctly associates the memory of the illus- 
trious of ancient Greece :— 
« The silent pillar, lone and grey, 
“ Claimed kindred with their sacred clay.°” 
In Ireland, the chief of these idol pillars was called crom-cruach, 
or crum-dubh. It stood, in the midst of twelve smaller pillars, on 
a hill in Breffiny, a district now united with the county of Cavan, 
but formerly with Leitrim. ‘This place of worship was called Magh- 
sleuct, “ the field of adoration,’+ and the circular stones are still 
partly to be traced. The annals of the Four Masters of Donegal 
call it, I believe with more propriety, “ the field of slaughter ;” be- 
cause there, according to all our annals, the monarch Tigermas, and 
a large portion of his subjects, were slain, while paying adoration 
to the Idol. I mention this circumstance, because it goes to show, 
together with many other evidences in our old records, that image- 
worship was an innovation, abhorrent to the early pagan Irish; and 
that the religion they imported was the pure Magian worship of 
Persia. We have still preserved the formula of their oaths, upon 
entering on any solemn public covenant: they swore by the sun, 
moon, and stars, ‘or by the wind and sun, the gods of the Pheni- 
cians. Were I not apprehensive of swelling this subject beyond my 
present limits, I would transcribe from the ancient annals, and in the 
vernacular tongue, this rath or oath; and prove, without any other 
aid than that of language, the intimate connection, in many respects, 
between the civil and religious practices of the Jews, Phoenicians, 
and pagan Irish. : 
The carn-nedh is common in Wales. In the parish of Ardfert 
VOL. XIY. R 
* Siege of Corinth. + Ogygia, p. 196. 
