THE

LIATH MEISICITH.

PLATE II.

This very curious monument af antiquity, is the property of T. KAVENAGH, Efq; of Ballyborris, in the County of Carlow.

IT is a box, the fize of the drawing, and two inches deep, it is made of brafs cafed with filver: it contains a number of loofe fheets of vellum, on which are written extracts of the gofpel and prayers for the fick, in the Latin language, and in the Irish characThere are alfo, fome drawings in water colours of the apoftles, not ill executed: thefe are fuppofed to be the work of Saint Moling, the patron of that part of the country.

ter.

In the center of the lid is a large cryftal,* the fize of the drawing and one inch and a quarter thick;

* Criost-al in Irifh, fignifies a holy ftone; and is probably the true etymology of the word, and not from xp, frigus, for the Greeks could not be ignorant, that cryftal was the produce of hot countries as well as of cold,-the beft is found in the island of Madagascar :-the ftrongeft cryftallizations are formed by

heat.

thick; this is the Meificith: it was originally let through the cover, fo that the light could pafs through on the back of it, there is now a foil of tin, moveable, evidently the work of a modern day. At the right hand corner at top, is another crystal on a red foil; next to it a bead of a transfparent compofition: the ornament that ftood next is loft: thofe of the two left hand corners have been taken out, and the fockets filled with common glass on a red foil. At the right hand corner at bottom is an oblong piece of cryftal on a red foil; next it a transparent bead; and laftly, an amethiftdrop of a deep purple colour : there have been ornaments at the two ends of the Meificith, which are alfo loft.

The box reprefents the Roman Thuribulum, in which the incenfe burnt during the facrifice. Several drawings of thefe may be feen in Montfaucon.

I am favoured with drawings of feveral boxes of this kind, fabricated fince christianity, being ornamented with crucifixes: this has no marks of that kind, and appears to be the Druidical Liath Meificith or Liath Fail, in which they pretended to draw down the Logh, the effence or fpiritual fire, and prefence of Aefar, (God) whenever they confulted this Oracle.

Hence the xys, the articulate voice or fpeech in man, (in its kind or degree) what the Divine

yes, word, is to the effence, viz. the Irradiaion ad extrà of the mind or foul. The fame notion, therefore, the Heathens had of their God, the folar light, and called it accordingly, by the fame name byos. (Holloway's originals, v. i. p. 222.) With fubmif

fion

fion to this author, the word Logos was applied by John in oppofition to the Druidical Logh, for John wrote against Cerinthus, a converted Druid, and therefore very properly used this word; from Logh is derived the Irish and Coptic Lo, day, the light of the day.

How this fire was communicated, I cannot pretend to fay, but, as it is well known, that Cobalt ground up with oil, will lye an hour or more in that unctious ftate and then burst into an amazing blaze: it is probable that the Druids, who were fkilful chimyfts, (for their days) could not be ignorant of fo fimple an experiment. A fire lying fo long concealed, would afford them ample time for prayers and incantations.

Nothing could fo well fuit the purpose of the Druids as bringing fire from oil. Oil was the emblem, the facrament of that complex vertue, of wisdom, juftice and mercy, called Holiness. " Myftice fic intelligentibus, Oleum eft ipfe Dominus, a quo ad nos pervenit mifericordia." + Specimen quoddam divinatis in oleo præ omnibus terræ, atque arborum fructibus, veteres omnes agnoviffe quamdamque excellentiam divinitus quodammodo in eo oleo collocatam oftendunt. And thus pro‡ bably the facred fires were lighted. Juftus Lipfius, thinks this was done by an inftrument like a fun

nel

Experiment lately made in London, before Mr. Banks. (Letter to me).

+ Clem. Alex. p. 129.

Schac. Myroth. p. 224. ibid. p. 567. See also Eufeb.

Demonftr. Ev. 1. 3.

nel, collecting the rays of the fun in a point; a thing impracticable in this climate. The fire was facred, "nofter ignis, actionem divini ignis imitans quicquid materiale reperit in facrificio deftruit, & admota purificat, & a vinculis materiæ folvit, ac propter naturæ puritatem ad Deorum communionem idonea facit."

Christianity took its name from the emblematical inftitution of oil. The emblem was, oil; the action was anointing: the perfon anointed, was Mefuh: thofe who anointed or conftituted,

are

: The word conftantly used in this cafe, Mefliah, rendered anointed. Whence the Greek Merrias, Xpisos, the Meffias, Chrift.

is

Mr. ODonnell, of the Barony of Innifhower, informs me, there was in the hands of tre Rev. Mr. Barnard, of Fahan, a precious box, fet with ftones; called in Irifh, Meefhac, a word fuppofed to be Hebrew, and to fignify a Vow. This is ornamented with a crucifix and the twelve apoftles: Another is described by Sir Henry Piers, in his hiftory of Westmeath *, by the name of Corp nua, that is the new prefence, the new body: a name given by the first Christian miffionaries, in oppofition to the Druidical -Aefar, or Logh, the fpiritual light of the Godhead, they pretended to draw from Heaven..

The crystal stone in the center, is named Liath Meificith; or the Magical ftone of fpeculation.

Liath, i. e. Lith, i. e. Seod, i. e. Liath & Lith, fignify a gemm. (Vet. Gloff. Hib.)

* Cellectanea Vol I. We fhall give drawings of thefe, in the courfe of this work.

Meifi,