These were apparently the private images of the druid himself which are spoken of, but there certainly existed public idols in pagan Ireland before the evangelisation of the island. St. Patrick himself, in his "Confession," asserts that before his coming the Irish worshipped idols--_idola et immunda_--and we have preserved to us more than one account of the great gold-covered image which was set up in Moy Slaught[6] [_i.e._, the Plain of Adoration], believed to be in the present county of Cavan. It stood there surrounded by twelve lesser idols ornamented with brass, and may possibly have been regarded as a sun-god ruling over the twelve seasons. It was called the Crom Cruach or Cenn Cruach,[7] and certain Irish tribes considered it their special tutelary deity. The Dinnseanchas, or explanation of the name of Moy Slaught, calls it "the King Idol of Erin," "and around him were twelve idols made of stones, but he was of gold. Until Patrick's advent he was the god of every folk that colonised Ireland. To him they used to offer the firstlings of every issue and the chief scions of every clan;" and the ancient poem in the Book of Leinster declares that it was "a high idol with many fights, which was named the Cromm Cruaich."[8] The poem tells us that "the brave Gaels used to worship it, and would never ask from it satisfaction as to their portion of the hard world without paying it tribute." "He was their God,[9] The withered Cromm with many mists, The people whom he shook over every harbour, The everlasting kingdom they shall not have. To him without glory Would they kill their piteous wailing offspring, With much wailing and peril To pour their blood around Cromm Cruaich. Milk and corn They would ask from him speedily In return for one-third of their healthy issue, Great was the horror and scare of him. To him Noble Gaels would prostrate themselves, From the worship of him, with many manslaughters The Plain is called Moy Sleacht. * * * * * In their ranks (stood) Four times three stone idols To bitterly beguile the hosts, The figure of Cromm was made of gold. Since the rule Of Heremon,[10] the noble man of grace, There was worshipping of stones Until the coming of good Patrick of Macha [Ardmagh]." There is not the slightest reason to distrust this evidence as far as the existence of Crom Cruach goes. "This particular tradition," says Mr. Nutt, "like the majority of those contained in it [the Dinnseanchas] must be of pre-Christian origin. It would have been quite impossible for a Christian monk to have invented such a story, and we may accept it as a perfectly genuine bit of information respecting the ritual side of insular Celtic religion."[11]