CHAP, x.] BRONZE-WORKING. 363 



working it in repousse. The two last processes were 

 probably introduced after the first was known, al- 

 though, when the first art had once been learnt, the 

 others would quickly follow. 



Dr. Kobinson laid before the Eoyal Irish Academy, 1 

 in 1848, an interesting discovery of bronze articles in 

 Dowris bog, near Parsonstown, King's County, Ireland. 

 They consisted of thirteen bronze trumpets, some cast, 

 and others with riveted seams, thirty-one celts, twenty- 

 nine spear-heads, three gouges, thirty-one bells, several 

 bronze vessels of large size, of which one in the possession 

 of Lord Rosse is composed of two pieces of bronze neatl}- 

 riveted together. Some of the objects were imperfectly 

 cast, others had been injured and broken up. There were 

 also small jets of metal which had overflowed from the 

 moulds, and pieces of sandstone used for polishing, all 

 of which showed that the accumulation of implements 

 and weapons formed the stock in trade of a bronze- 

 founder, similar to those met with in England, and still 

 more abundantly in France. The bells are small, hollow, 

 and pear-shaped, with rings at the top for suspension, 

 and a loose piece of metal inside. In general form they 

 resemble the bells attached to horses, and were probably 

 intended for that purpose. This collection of articles 

 belongs to the late Bronze age, and it proves that 

 bronze-smiths carried on their craft in Ireland as well as 

 England. Stone moulds found in Ireland have been 

 described by Sir W. Wilde. 



1 Proceed. R. I. Academy, iv. pp. 237, 423 ; Wilde, Cat., 603, Fig. 

 525. Kemble and Franks, Horce Ferales, p. 49. 



