1 70 Proceedings of the Royal L'ish Academy. 



the Church (unlike its actions among the Scandinavians and Teutons) 1 passed 

 no sentence of death on its rival. It had won " by the Word, not by the 

 sword," and, itself thoroughly Irish in a generation, could afford to let the 

 SM faith die out. Christians gathered at the old sacred places for consulta- 

 tion 5 or pleasure; the pillar was marked with a cross or a holy name ; 3 the 

 bile trees were left to flourish till cut by some hostile tribe, or felled by storm 

 or by old age ;' the holy Bre was tended by nuns; the wells rededicated and 

 held in new honour; the old tales of the gods were told without offence 

 before priest and pious chief. So. wisely and without hurry, the old faith was 

 let die out, while, had other methods been adopted, the clue not only to Irish 

 but to British and Gaulish paganism bad been lust for ever. 



PART II. 



(F)— The Eabthwoi 



It is almost a relief t<> turn t" tangible field-work once more. I may 

 venture !•> tabulate the main types of tin' earthworks here. I have often 



opposed the con6dent statements "i tlmse who imagine they can tteteri e 



the period and object of an earthwork by mere external inspection. Such 



tl rizing (it rathei allegation) is mot us t'' ill Bound archaeology; 



so we must try i" avoid this great error. It is, perhaps, worse i" take any 



fashionable theory in vogu itside Ireland, ami apply it hastily to the 



antiquities of this country, playing th< Procrustes in forcing tacts to 



tit in it. In Ireland an error once in print in a journal fan never be finally 

 slain, for shallow beginners revive old theories and identifications, without 



L660 1078) dot from Dingwall Preabyti I cattle sacrifices at an 



mple, "■' Shonj ," the last for a - I seaweed 



crop (Pennant's "Tom in the Hebrides" : Mitchell, "The Pasl in the Present "j Squire, 

 • - .tic Church in relation to Paganism " (W. J. Watson, 



Celt Rev., \. p 28 



1 Elsewhere tin Cuucils (of Aries. i.n. 452, Tours, 567, Nantes, 668, and Toledo, 

 681) fiercely forbade reverence of trees, .stones, ami wells, and punished those who prac- 

 tised it ; of. 01 side against paganism in the lleimskringla and tho 

 vinous acts of Chnrlcina. 



i church was marked " in the name of the Lord of the Elements" at 

 'In ugh for the first lime in A.D 199 B ■- xii, p. 415). 



"Cul . .-. De Jubainville (Rev. Celt., x.wii, p. 31:5, and zxviii, p. L"JJ). 



1 " ' ' tach's -hunt at Clogher. I Stokes, pp. 186, l.s~. IS78. 



Plan, U. s<x-. Aim. Ir., xxxiv, : 320 Holy names on pillars (Tripart. Life, pp.90 n, 107). 



Some ogham stones have the god name after " Uaqi Mucoi " broken (1'roc. R. I. Acad., 



r pillar marked with Christian emblems in France, see Life of 



impson. Cross-scribed pillars are numerous in Brittany as in Ireland. 



' Re n lies Lind S. Rer. Celt., xv., pp. 419, 44 i ; xvi, p. 277, yews, ash trees, and 



u.iks. 



