Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Ancient Irish Litcratiu^e. 313
word from Ghuahn,—the guaim, or wisdom of birds.
One
of old styled it a cowboy's inscription. The Book of Ballymote
had an ogham tract.
In the Taiii-bo-Citailgne we read— "Cucullain cut an oak
before him there, and he wrote an ogham on its side."— " He
then made an Id (rod), and wrote an ogham in its side, and
twisted it round the head of the pillar stone. The Id was
put into the hands of Fergus Mac Roi, and he read the Id!'
O'Curry heard that in the third century there existed, at
Tara, a book of wooden tablets of great age. The museums
of Dublin, Edinburgh, and London have specimens of ogham
THE LTA FAIL,
OR THE STONE OF DESTINY.
Elsewhere, mention has been made of the Irish Iia Fail,
Stone of Fate, Fatal Stone, or Stone of Destiny, generally
believed to have been the Irish
Kings' Inauguration Stone,
afterwards used for Pictish and Scottish kings at Scone,
ultimately becoming the Coronation Stone in Westminster
Abbey.
Like other subjects connected with Irish histor}% this
point has been considerably discussed. As the present
work is mainly intended to give ordinary readers a citation
of opinions upon ancient Irish religious topics, it is unnecessary
to do more here than present various authorities upon
this mysterious stone.
There are two competitors for the honour of authenticity,
and both to be now seen ;
one, a dozen feet long, standing
erect, half out of the ground, on the Hill of Tara, in
Ireland ;
the other, twenty-si.k inches long, in the coronation
chair at Westminster Abbey.
A legend in the Scalacronica, dated 1355, declared it was
Simon Brec (a name of solar association) ''who brought
with him a stone on which the Kings of Spain were wont