ANCIENT IRISH PIPES. 153 



not scrupled to do battle for vulgar tradition ; and 

 have fought lustily for the Celtic and Danish origin of 

 tobacco-pipes ; and might, with equal consistency, have 

 asserted their superhuman origin, as the works of the 

 Irish Fairies. Why make possibility the limit for 

 ingenious speculation, which has outstripped all pro- 

 bability ? Once " out of bounds," the poetic tenden- 

 cies of some Irish antiquaries carried them to the 

 goal of their wishes with a wondrous, and to them, a 

 satisfactory rapidity. In 1784, a short pipe was 

 asserted to have been found sticking in the mouth of 

 the skull of an ancient Milesian, at Bannockstown in 

 Kildare. A learned paper at once appeared in the 

 Anthologia Hibernica, parading it as a relic proving 

 the use of tobacco ages before Ireland was invaded by 

 the Danes. Fortunately a representation of the pipe 

 has been preserved, and in structure it is identical 

 with the Elizabethan pipe. Only those persons who 

 are conversant with the singular idiosyncrasies of some 

 writers, can form an idea how far they allow their 

 imaginations to carry them awaj^. and fortify their 

 theories by a display of misplaced erudition which is 

 but a recluctio ad absurdum after all. It is precisely 

 thus, with the pipe theory .* There is no doubt that 

 tobacco-pipes have been found in connection with 

 early remains in England, Ireland, and Scotland; — 

 but so have many other things of undoubtedly recent 



Dr. Cleland dismisses the subject at once by saying "the absurdities 

 written about pipes found in Ireland need not be adverted to." 



