How others may receive it I do not know; but for myself, I confess, I find it no easy matter to maintain the composure of my countenance at this affected _pomposity_ of censorial _magniloquence_. The _self-complacency_ of the _censor_ one could tolerate with ease, if the _assumption_ of the _historian_ had aught to support it. But alas! every position in the extract is the direct opposite of truth, with the exception of that which asserts another person’s error; and even this is beclouded with such egregious observations as to show, that leaving _Pinkerton_ to P----[340] would be consigning the blind to a blinder conductor. For, in the first place, the _philibeg_ was not a _Celtic_ costume at all, but belonged to the De-danaan, or Iranian colony,[341] who, on their overthrow here, took it with them to what is now called Scotland. The Firbolgs, who were Celts, and occupied this island before the Iranians, wore another style of dress altogether, which, on the reconquest of the country by the Scythian swarms, B.C. 1000, became again the national uniform. For the Firbolgs, having assisted the Scythians in dislodging the Iranians from the throne of the kingdom, and agreeing with them furthermore in point of worship and of garb, they did not only make _their own habits_, as well of _religion_ as of _dress_, universal throughout the realm, but obliterated every vestige of the _obnoxious_ costume, and cancelled every symptom of its characteristic ceremonial, except alone those Round Temples of adamantine strength, which defied the assailment of all violence and batteries. There was no remnant, therefore, of the kilt to be met with in Ireland, either in the _sixth_ century, or in the _twelfth_, or indeed for many centuries before the Christian era at all. This effigy,[342] therefore, _could not have been intended for our Saviour_, wanting, besides, the I. N. R. I.,[343] and wearing the _Iranian regal crown_ instead of the _Jewish crown of thorns_. Therefore are we justified in ascribing it to its owner, _Budha_, whom again we find imprinted in the same _crucified form_, but with more _irresistibility of identification_, over the monuments of his name--over the doors and lintels of the temples of his worship. [Illustration] Mr. Gough, describing this edifice, tells us that “On the west front of the tower (Brechin) are two arches, one within the other, in relief. On the point of the outermost is a _crucifix_, and between both, towards the middle, are figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John, the latter holding a cup with a lamb. The outer arch is adorned with knobs, and within both is a slit or loop. At bottom of the outer arch are _two beasts_ couchant. _If one of them, by his proboscis_, was not evidently _an elephant_, I should suppose them the supporters of the Scotch arms. Parallel with the crucifix are two plain stones, which do not appear to have had anything upon them.”[344]