from regal authority, were continually engaged in sanguinary quarrels amongst themselves.* All the arts which embellish life were unavoidably disregarded, amidst such complicated scenes of tumult and rapine.

As a necessary precaution of government, in a country so illorganized as was Ireland in past ages, every grant of land was accompanied with the injunction of erecting a castle, down to so late a period as the colonizing of the six escheated counties of Ulster, in the year 1606. The defensible domestic buildings erected by the settlers on small portions of land, late in the sixteenth, and early in the seventeenth centuries, constitute the most numerous class of castles to be seen in Ireland, if such a name may be bestowed on these fortified houses, which are tall and rectangular towers, of moderate proportions, quite destitute of architectural interest, and imparting an air of unmitigated harshness to the scenery in which they occur. These gloomy fabrics will not fail to remind the examiner of the Castlet, or Peel, so frequent on the borders of England and Scotland, where a defence against acts of midnight aggression was the first object of care in the design of even an ordinary dwelling.

It appears to be satisfactorily ascertained, that the Irish were slow in adopting the mode of scientific fortification practised by the English settlers. The editor of the work on Irish Antiquities, published under the name of Grose, attempts to explain this defect of policy, by the following remarks: "The strong attachment of the Irish to Tanistry, Gavelkind, and their Brehon laws, creating a perpetual fluctuation of property and residence, prevented the erection of houses and castles, which the founders knew would never descend to their heirs. But when they surrendered their lands to the crown, and received a re-conveyance of them, to hold by

Spenser, writing in 1596, observes, on the authority of a complaint made by the citizens of Cork, that "the English Lords and Gentlemen, who then had great possessions in Ireland, began, through pride and insolency, to make private warres one against another, and, when either part was weak, they would wage and draw in the Irish to take their part."View of the State of Ireland, Dublin Edit. p. 106.

English tenures, one of which was the inheritance in the direct line, then they began to provide for posterity and the honour of their families, by building castles and improving their possessions. In 1584, Stanihurst names but O'Neil, O'Carrol, O'Rourke, O'More, and O'Conor, the most powerful Irish chiefs, who had castles."

From the history of military, or castellated, we descend to that of domestic architecture; and it is truly grateful to remark that there are still vestiges which denote the partial adoption, in the sixteenth century, of the character of structure usually denominated Elizabethan. The specimens of this style are few, and are chiefly united to castellated buildings, of strength and antiquity. Such is the spacious mansion at Carrick on Suir, belonging to the Earl of Ormonde, which clings, as if for protection, to the dismantled and decaying fortress that formerly constituted one of the principal seats of the noble family of Butler.

It is unquestionable that many buildings of the above, or a nearly similar description, fell before the firebrands of different infuriated factions, in the wars of the seventeenth century;* and the structures by which this loss was supplied have little claim to

In a Manuscript by the late W. Beauford, A. M. now in the possession of the present writer, is the following remark, which is of some value as proceeding from intelligence afforded by actual witnesses of the scene described: "On the establishment of tranquillity, after the stormy period of the Revolution, the architectural beauties of Ireland were low indeed. From the information of those of the middle of the last age who well remembered the state of the country, at the concluding periods of the seventeenth century, it appears, that not a castle or mansion throughout the island, but was either in ruins or deserted; the gentlemen, in general, residing in temporary cottages until more appropriate edifices could be erected." This notice of the miseries caused by a long course of warfare, may assist in accounting for the former want of eligible mansions in Ireland, as complained of by Mr. Young, who, "supposes," in the observations appended to his "Tour," that "there were not ten dwellings in the kingdom, thirty years ago, that were fit for an English pig to live in!" But no statement of causes leading to temporary national depression, can excuse the ungracious character of the tourist's language in that passage.. Mr. Young's Tour was commenced in the year 1776.

commendation. These were, in general, rectangular buildings, often of tall proportions, as if the designers were actuated by an observance of the isolated towers, already described as forming the habitations of grantees, or undertakers, settled on small allotments of land. In regard to internal arrangement, they were suited to a rude but abundant hospitality, rather than to the enjoyments of polished intercourse.*

The tasteless mode which pervaded these buildings remained in practice, with a few exceptions, for which the country was chiefly indebted to Mr. Bindon, of Limerick, until the latter part of the eighteenth century, when an attention to the models of Palladio was first introduced to the notice of the Irish. This improvement in civil architecture must be, in a great degree, attributed to the professional exertions of the late Mr. Cassels, who erected, amongst other noble structures, Leinster House, in the metropolis, now belonging to the Dublin Society.

The chaste and eligible style thus introduced, constituted the national fashion, in mansions of a superior class, until a date comparatively recent. It is now supplanted by a taste for that imposing species of design which prevails so generally in Britain, and is there often denominated the modern Gothic. It has ever been our opinion that buildings of this kind, when correctly designed, should be imitative of that character of structure which was invented by the English on the disuse of real castellation, and is noticed in a previous page under the name of castellated house. The licence permitted by this legitimate prototype, affords an ample scope for the indulgence of imagination, even in an architect of the boldest powers of mind. In a strict observance of rules, it is obvious that the whole exterior, in general design and in detail, should be allusive to military architecture, except one division,

* In mansions of this æra were retained the GUEST CHAMBERS, common in antient buildings where the necessity of defence precluded a liberality of accommodation. These consisted of two large apartments for occasional visiters, the one containing a number of beds for ladies, the other for gentlemen. These apartments were sometimes called BarrackBeauford's MSS. penes J. N. Brower.

rooms.

supposed to constitute the family chapel. We must persist in thinking that the inventors of this kind of fabric committed a great error, by intermingling in one façade, without a consideration of the palpable defect in presumed utility of appropriation, the windows and ornamental particulars of the ecclesiastical style with the towers and loops of the military. If Irish architects have sometimes fallen into this objectionable incongruity of manners, they are warranted by the practice of the English, with whom the "modern Gothic" mode of architecture originated.

This bold and harsh, but splendid species of design, is well adapted to the recluse parts of Ireland, where nature reigns in wild and mysterious majesty. The towers, the ramparts, and long irregular lines of military grandeur which characterize the castellated house, assimilate with the lofty mountains and wide-spread lakes of this romantic island. Such architectural creations impart a grateful air of antient baronial character to scenes averse from the delicate refinements of Palladio. Some extensive and costly structures, exhibiting much of what is termed by Sir Joshua Reynolds the picturesque of architecture, have been erected in different parts of Ireland; and we observe, with pleasure, that amongst the most estimable examples must be ranked the works of a native architect, Richard Morrison, Esq. The buildings erected after the designs of this gentleman are highly ornamental to the country, and evince an exemplary depth of research into the history and progressive variations of our antient architecture.

MISCELLANEOUS ANTIQUITIES.-Great numbers of those rude instruments termed Celts by British antiquaries are found in nearly every part of Ireland, and are usually composed, as in all other countries where they are discovered, of stone, flint, or brass. It may be readily supposed that those formed of stone and flint are the most antient, and are probably relics of the Celtic, or aboriginal tribes, whilst those of metal are of a date subsequent to the arrival of the Belga. It will be recollected that antiquaries entertain different opinions concerning the use for which these instruments were designed; but there can be little room for doubting that they formed weapons of offence, like the tomihawk of the

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North Americans. In the fourth volume of Gough's Edition of Camden, plate xvii. is the representation of a hook, double-edged and very sharp, which the editor describes as a small securis, or Irish scarr, to cut herbs, misletoe, &c." The same writer observes that the instruments termed Celts by the British, were "called, by the antient Irish, Tuagh snaighte, or chip-axes." Small spear, or arrow, heads, of stone, are found in nearly equal abundance; and are here, as in some parts of Britain, termed elfarrows by the common people, who preserve them as a charm against the malice of elfin visitants.

Many swords, and some other weapons, of considerable antiquity, found in various parts of Ireland, are of a metal usually termed brass, but which differs considerably from the metal properly so called. In a paper communicated by Governor Pownall to the Antiquarian Society of London, it is stated that, from an assay made by his majesty's assay-master, the metal of which the above antiquities are composed" appears to be chiefly copper, interspersed with particles of iron, and perhaps, some zink; but without containing either gold or silver. It seems probable that the metal was cast in its present state, and afterwards reduced to its proper figure by filing. The apparent palpable properties are, that it is of a texture which takes an exquisitely fine polish, and in its colour exhibits more of the colour of brass than of copper. It is of a temper which carries a sharp edge, and is, in a great degree, firm and elastic, and very heavy. It is, also, of a peculiar nature that resists rust." Mr Pownall truly adds, that "the use of this species of metal for weapons, and other military purposes, did not only exist prior to the invention of the use of iron, but, from the nature of the properties above noticed, continued in estimation for these purposes many ages after the use of iron was discovered, as appears from Homer, Hesiod, and all the Greek and Roman historians."

It is a curious fact that the swords of this metal found in Ireland bear a great resemblance to those discovered in the fields of Cannæ. On account of this similitude it has been conjectured that they were of Carthaginian manufacture; and Dr. Campbell