Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

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258 Old Irish Religions.
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a great assembly being held there 921 B.C., Dr. Petrle, the
eminent antiquary, is disposed to regard the place as
existing only between 200 and 300 years after Christ.
The high civilization at Tara has been a favourite
subject for Bards. The old lady guide at Tara told us
that only gold and silver vessels were used at the banquets.
Dr. Ledwich laughs at the yarns about its twenty-seven
kitchens, and its amazing bill of daily fare. He assures us
that the story of Tara rests only upon the fragment of a
fragment in the Seabright collection, that had neither the
name of its author nor a date. The earliest Romish
ecclesiastics, and mediaeval writers, knew nothing of early
Irish culture or wealth.
We must refer to the works of Dr. Petrie for a description
of the several halls, mounds, raths, cairns, and tombs still
to be traced, with distinguished appellations connected
with heroes and prophets of old. The Feis, or Irish Parliaments,
were wont to meet in the so-styled Banqueting
Hall. An ancient Celtic bard had this account of the
grave of the Queen that came from Spain
excelled all virgins !
" Tephi was her name !
Wretched for him who had to entomb her.
Sixty feet of correct measurement
Were marked as a sepulchre to enshrine her."
The Tara stone, or the Dalian, Stone of Destiny, referred
to by writers of the tenth century, is declared by Dr.
Petrie to be the cylindrical obelisk still seen six feet out
of the ground, with other so-called Druidical monuments.
The tourist is shown the spot where Lucad the Druid was
burned in the house, from which Benen, St. Patrick's
disciple, had escaped. The story, as told in Latin by
Maccuthenius, contains one of the traditions connected
with the reputed life of Ireland's apostle, and illustrates
the contest at Tara between the Saint and the Druids