( xii ) 



universally found to exist in the works of various peoples in a cer- 

 tain state of civilization, when possessed of mental power and 

 energJ^ It will be said that our early histories all support 

 the theory of Greek colonization and the so called Pelasgic or 

 Cyclopean origin of our architecture, but when such writings are 

 sifted and examined, few students will be ready to accept them 

 as history. The traditions of these early builders are preserved in 

 the Book of Leinster, the compiler of which died in the year 1160, 

 in the Annals of MacFirbis, wlio died in 1279, and in a Tract, by 

 O'Clerj^, written in 1460. Even supposing the transcriptions thus made 

 in the thirteenth to the fifteenth century were of legends which had 

 been committed to writing so early as the sixth or seventh century, 

 they cannot be taken as authentic records of events occurring in the 

 first centuries of the Christian era, or before. These writers were 

 acquainted with classical history, and just in the same way as the 

 biographers of the early Irish saints, who were familiar with Holy 

 Scripture, attributed to them similar acts and miracles to those re- 

 corded of the Hebrew prophets, so did these authors of pre-Christian 

 legends in Ireland swerve from the truth to colour their narrative with 

 a glory borrowed from the heroic times of Greece. 



In all cases, before yielding to the guidance of such records, tradi- 

 tions, and legends, we cannot be too careful, while reverently preserv- 

 ing and regarding all such, yet not to confuse them with history. 

 Long and patient must be our watch before the dawn comes in which 

 such monuments may be seen in the full light of history. As yet they 

 stand ivitliout the province of scientific history, and by too rash and 

 ardent sti'iving to drag them into it, you do but drive them further 

 into darkness. In dealing with tradition remember that it may or 

 it may not be founded on fact, but fact cannot be founded on tradition. 

 Tradition may guide us to a locality, but the discovery of that locality 

 does not make that whole tradition true ; and if the locality is ever to 

 be a landmark in the history of our country, the investigation to which 

 we subject it must be carried on by minds un warped by any desire 

 merely to verify the tradition. Follow with child-like singleness of 

 purpose the light that tradition sheds over the past, and remember that 

 in archaeology we must ascend from the known to the unknown, and 

 not theorise in antiquarian matters until we can step upwards from 



