164 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



been occupied by one of Cromwell's officers, was given to me by the 

 finder. The handle was dark, not black, oak ; the guard steel, with 

 brass or bronze pommel ; the blade a long cutting one, point broken 

 off. It did not widely differ from the swords of the Ironsides. It 

 is doubtful if it could be classed as a Celtic relic. 



Glass Ur7ts, Ornavients, Beads. — It can hardly be denied that 

 glass was known to the Pagan Irish at an early period. The mortu- 

 ary urns, the numerous enamelled beads and other ornaments, the 

 fusion of colors, the extraordinary skill displayed in blending them 

 so as to produce designs in relief, lead one to imagine, until he 

 examines carefully, that he is only admiring some very exquisite ancient 

 cameos of Etruria. 



It may be urged that the peculiar spiral decoration, exhibited 

 in many instances, is essentially a Celtic characteristic, and that it is 

 well displayed on the carved monumental slabs of our Irish pyra- 

 mids at New Grange and its vicinity. This inference points to a 

 pre-Milesian origin. We have no means of ascertaining whether 

 they were manufactured in Ireland or acquired by barter or plunder 

 from an unknown Eastern source. English writers allege that bottle 

 and window glass only were manufactured in Great Britain for the 

 first time in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,- and thai the latter was 

 only used, with {^^ exceptions, in palaces and churches. Surely, if 

 a knowledge of making colored glass existed in Ireland in early 

 Christian times, such a production could not well have escaped the 

 observation of the monkish scribes, whether Celtic or Saxon. An 

 Eastern people, and a highly civilized one too, were alone capable of 

 producing such perfect forms and beautiful designs. The stained 

 glass presented to the Academy by the Dean of Clanmacnoise 

 (Dr. Butler), from the primitive monastery of Trim, existing at the 

 close of the twelfth century, was imported probably from South 

 Europe, but the exquisite bead of white enamel, with the pale blue 

 spiral lines passing around it, discovered at same locality, with gold 

 and silver brooches, may be more ancient. 



Royal Purple and other Dyes. — Not a few clergymen, as well as 

 laymen, contend that the knowledge of dyeing textile material, which 

 the ancient Irish undoubtedly possessed, may have been acquired 

 with the lost arts from the scattered trib:s of Israel. The process 

 of colouring was known to them apparently before this separation 



