Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/194



HE character of this work is already so well established that it is needless to recommend it to the attention of the members of the Institute. The object of the present notice is therefore to make its value and importance better known to those who have not had access to the original work; to examine the data upon which Mr. Petrie has ventured to differ from the opinions received among well informed antiquaries on some particular points in his essay; and to shew the light that has been thrown by his work upon the history of architecture.

The first hundred pages of Mr. Petrie's work are occupied with an examination of the erroneous theories of previous writers with respect to the origin and uses of the round towers. This examination is conducted with much tact and skill, and exhibits great learning and research. He is completely successful in the task he undertook of demolishing all previous theories, whether of the Danish, or Phœnician, or Eastern, or Pagan uses of the round towers, and he satisfactorily proves that whatever their exact ages may be, they are certainly Christian. To use his own words, he has fully established,

"1. That not even the shadow of an historical authority has been adduced to show that the Irish were acquainted with the art of constructing an arch, or with the use of lime cement, anterior to the introduction of Christianity into the country; and further, that though we have innumerable remains of buildings, of ages antecedent to that period, in no one of them has an arch, or lime cement, been found.

"2. That in no one building in Ireland assigned to pagan times, either by historical evidence or popular tradition, have been found either the form or features usual in the round towers, or characteristics that would indicate the possession of sufficient architectural skill in their builders to construct such edifices.