'PAGAN IRE L AND." *
A CURIOUS side-light is thrown upon those facts of national temperament which, together with certain economic facts, go far to account for what politicians call the Irish question, by the quasi-apologetic attitude adopted by the writer of this learned and interesting book. The ordinary English reader —and it is for the ordinary reader that the book is largely intended—might be inclined at first to think that Colonel Wood-Martin was laughing at him when he plainly intimates that even at this day considerable moral courage is required by an archa33logist who is prepared to avow scepticism with regard to Irish MS. claiming for prehistoric Ireland the credit of having possessed a highly developed civilisation. But clearly that would be a mistake. When he says that "in treating of the past of ancient Erin, a writer must neither care for, nor be influenced by, public opinion, and must be a thorough-going 'hunter after truth,' Colonel Wood- Martin evidently has in view a public opinion which is influenced not by science, but by sentiment, and which regards certain views as to the condition of Ireland, long before St. Patrick's arrival, as dictated by patriotic duty. The eminent Irish arebmllogist, O'Donovan, as our author recalls, "relates bow some of his former most intimate friends became his enemies on his expressing grave doubts regarding the authenticity of ancient Irish history," and Colonel Wood-Martin's tone suggests that he himself is by no means free from apprehension lest a like punishment should be inflicted on him for his commission of the same offence. Such an apprehension indicates the pre- valence of a mental condition hardly comprehensible by the
average Englishman. Our historians have had their quarrels, no doubt, and that recently enough ; but their accusations against one another have related to questions of method and of the right use of evidence, or have been connected with the character of personages and events of modern date, having some bearing on present-day controversies. It is inconceivable
• Pagan Ireland: an Arehasological Sketch. A Handbook of Irish Pre-Christian Antiquities. By W. G. Wood-Nadir. London: Loogmans end Co.
that personal estrangements should be brought about among English men of letters by the feeling that patriotism did not permit anything but a literal accettance of, say, the earliest written records of the giories cf the Round Table. We do not discuss here wnict is intrinsically the better attitude of mind. There is indeed something which even the most matter-of-fact Englishman can hardly fail to acknow- ledge as pathetic and attractive in the temper which looks upon the unverified narratives of far-away national glories as matters of faith too sacred to be subjected to the cold light of modern criticism. But he cannot for a moment share that temper, and in the difference thus illustrated, which goes right through the English and Irish characters, lies the explanation of much of the friction which besets the connec- tion between the two nations.
As to Colonel Wood-Martin, we can only hope that he will not suffer seriously for his candid application of scientific methods to the study of the modes of life of the dwellers in prehistoric Ireland. He has certainly paid them the compli- ment of bestowing immense pains, as well as a high degree of intelligence, on the examination of all the traces they have left of themselves. It should, moreover, be very distinctly understood that there is no question whatever of proving that the society of the forefathers of the Irish in the pre- historic period, would have been in the least more undesirable than that of our own forefathers at the same time. No such calumny is afoot, and if there were, it would receive no support from the researches of Colonel Wood-Martin. It is even quite possible that in the remote past the inhabitants of Erin were characterised by that natural grace of manner which Mr. Matthew Arnold so warmly and justly admired, and to which, as he pointed out, no counterpart is to be found in this country at the present day, except among the upper classes. Manner is an altogether different thing from manner, and still more so from customs; and it is in their manners and customs that Colonel Wood-Martin's personal investigations, and his very careful and elaborate collection of the results obtained by other investigators, tend to show that the prehistoric Irish were not in any marked degree superior to their contemporaries in other parts of Europe. The bulk of the work before us con- sists of a detailed and classified account of the various remains of the ancient inhabitants of Ireland, covering the whole range of their earthly existence,—their dwellings, their caldrons, lamps, and other household furniture, their fighting weapons and other tools, their musical instruments, their gold-work and other ornaments, their rock-sculpture, the decoration of their fictile ware, and their sepulchres. It is a singularly comprehensive survey of the existing state of knowledge bearing on the subject of his work which Colonel Wood-Martin presents to his readers ; and the illustrations with which the book abounds are remarkably helpful and instructive. To mention one or two examples, our author's treatment of the subject of prehistoric Irish architecture, as exhibited in the stone fortresses, or "cashels," the earthen works, or raths," and the lake-dwellings, or "crannogs," is full of information clearly and pleasantly set forth and effectively illustrated. Thus there are no fewer than four excellent illustrations of the great "cashel" on the island of Inismurruy, off the Sligo coast, showing the interior face of the wall, with the flights of steps provided for the convenience of the defenders, the low or " creep " entrances, which were so arranged that only one person could pass through them at a time, and that the first intruder being easily disabled or slain, the passage would become blocked ; and a per- fectly clear ground-plan of the whole fort. It id to be noted that in none of the pre-Christian buildings of Ireland are the stones held together by cement ; but there are a few examples of forts of which the walls have been vitrified into a solid impregnable mass by the application of fire, as to which it is suggested that observation of the effects of some accidental conflagration may have suggested this peculiar method of solidifying a " dry-built " structure. Colonel Wood-Martin's account of the " souterrains," con- structed as store-houses and as refuges in cases of extrem-.t. , under " cashels," and provided, like the " creep " entrances to the latter, with ingenious arrangements for the discomfiture of intruders, is very interesting. On lake-dwellings in Ireland he speaks with special authority, having published an elabo- rate work on that subject. It appears that the number of
lacustrine sites now known in Ireland reaches two hundred and fifty, and in our author's opinion these are a mere fraction of those which formerly existed. The Irish lake- dwellings were built on artificial islands, not, as was usual on the continent of Europe, on piles ; and convincing details are given in support of the statement that "considerable in- genuity was displayed in the formation of these island-homes, which were frequently constructed in a depth of from twelve to fourteen feet of water." One of them, at Lagore, County Meath, which had been founded in prehistoric times, was so strong that, in order to capture it, the Danes catried a vessel from Dublin overland, and launched it on the lake, which is now dried up, and burnt the dwelling down to the water's edge. Examination of the refuse-heaps or kitchen-middens of lake-dwellings have yielded most interesting results, showing that they were continuously inhabited from primitive ages down to times well within the realm of history. Thus in one midden traces of the megaceros, a long.extinct animal which was contemporary with the reindeer in Ireland, were discovereet and implements of flint, bone, bronze, or iron, have been found in the refuse-heap of one and the same "crannog."
Very considerable as is the ingenuity to which the con- struction of " cashels," " raths," and " crannogs " bears witness, we fear it must be acknowledged that Colonel Wood-Martin is in the right when he says that these architectural remains of the ancient Irish cannot be said to "exhibit traces of the high culture and civilisation claimed for them by many enthusiastic writers." A like acknowledg- ment must be made as be passes in review the decorative art of the prehistoric inhabitants of Erin as shown on fragments of pottery and insuribings on rocks in caverns, and on the stones of ancient monuments. Colonel Wood-Martin gives illustrations of a number of examples of ornamentation on pottery from the lake-dwellings of Central Europe, for com- parison with Irish rock-sculpturings, and contends with much plausibility, that at least a prima facie case is made out in favour of the view that "archaic ornamentation on the Continent and in Ireland, was executed by the same race, or by the same school of craftsmen." But however that may be, it certainly appears to be beyond dispute that, although for example the designs of some of the cinerary urns and of the numerous gold ornaments (for Ireland was rich in gold of her own) which have .been brought to light as belonging to the prehistoric ages in Erin, do illustrate a genuine, though somewhat elementary sense for beauty, there is really nothing in the way of material remains to support the assertions of the monkish chroniclers as to the glories of the Green Isle of the West when the first missionaries began to convert its people to Christianity. The fact is very far from detracting anything from the glory of St. Patrick's achieve- ment, or from the honour due to those generations of Irishmen who daveloped a beautiful form of sacred sculpture, and furnished missionaries for the re-evangelisation of Britain.
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