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mount has, in Irish, the name of Rath, synonymous with Carn. 
Rath is also an oath, and Ratha is the quarterly course of the sun 
through the Zodiac. Magh-adhair, “ the field of adoration,” was 
the sacred hill, on which the kings of Thomond were inaugurated ; 
that of the kings of Conaught was Rath-cruach-an, “ the sacred 
hill of the circular heap;” that of the kings of Ulster was Rath- 
Emain-macha, “ the sacred hill of the plain of Emania;” that of 
the kings of Leinster was Rath-al-maine, “ the sacred hill of the 
stone of wealth ;” and that of the kings of Cashel was Rath-Cais- 
il, * the sacred hiil of the stone of tribute.’ So venerated to this 
day are these Raths by the peasantry, that they cannot be prevailed 
on to touch them with the spade or plough, fancying that they are in- 
habited by the spirits of the illustrious chiefs and sages of antiquity ; 
who, they say, are heard eternally grieving or rejoicing at the bad 
or good fortunes of Ireland. The Aranites, above all others, in- 
dulge in this harmless illusion, to a degree scarcely credible. 
With all these convincing proofs of the distinguished sway of 
Irish Druidism, Mr. Pinkerton, in his Inquiry into the History of 
Scotland, dogmatically asserts, that there was never a Druid in 
Ireland! This is not the only absurdity, into which that laborious 
antiquary had been led by his Gothic visions, and his invincible con_ 
tempt of Celtic history. 
It cannot be doubted, that the Irish Druids were a landed clergy ; 
so our annals testify ;—for instance, in the case of the Druid Mogruth, 
who had a large grant of lands about Fermoy, made to him and 
his posterity, in the third century, by the king of South Munster. 
I do not find, that the Druids of Ireland were exempt from mi- 
litary services, nor that their persons were always held sacred. The 
Druid Dadera was killed in battle by Eoghan, the son of Oliol, 
king of Munster. Mogruth was the bravest man in the wars of 
