Round Towers of Ireland. 335 
The traveller, who, moved by tender recol- 
lections, visits the stone coffin of the unfor- 
tunate Jutiet, at Verona, is offended by the 
suggestion that it is a water-trough ; and per- 
haps those, who have been accustomed to 
regard the Round Towers of Ireland as the 
proper objects of poetry and romance,—as the 
only records of an age, about which history 
is silent, and who have credited the strange 
reports, or indulged in the fanciful theories 
of their origin and application, will be as 
little pleased at our attempting to prove that 
they are Belfries. 
The love of truth ought, perhaps, to lead 
us thoroughly to sift the pretensions of every 
thing claiming our attention and regard; yet, 
where the object is in itself trivial, and des- 
titute of all interest except that derived from 
its connection with some history, delusion is 
no less harmless than agreeable, and may 
safely be indulged. But when the object is 
an important one, where it occupies a prin- 
cipal station in the antiquities of a country, 
and «f our own in particular, we must not 
wilfully allow ourselves to remain in a state 
of ignorance or uncertainty. Of such a na- 
ture are the Irish Round’Towers :—they stand 
foremost in the ranks of our antiquities, and 
