“On the edge, below the fretwork, are some rows of figures, joined hand-in-hand, which may also imply the new degree of confidence and security which took place, after the feuds were composed, which are characterised on the front of the pillar. But to whatever particular transaction it may allude, it can hardly be imagined, _that in so early an age of the arts in Scotland as it must have been raised, so elaborate a performance would have been undertaken but in consequence of an event of the most general importance_: it is, therefore, surprising, that no distincter traditions of it arrived at the era when letters were known.” [Illustration] As to “the era when letters were known,” I shall bestow upon that a sentence or two by and by. For the present I confine myself to the “surprise that no distincter traditions” of this _monolith_ temple[376] has been handed down to us. It was erected by the _Tuath-de-danaans_ on their expulsion from Ireland. The inscriptions upon it are the irresistible evidence of their emblematic religion. After an interval of some centuries, the Picts poured in upon their quietude; and the barbarous habits of those marauders, being averse as much to the _ritual_ as to the _avocations_ of the Tuath-de-danaans, they effaced every vestige of the dominion of that people, and made them fly for shelter to the Highlands. In the days of _Malcolm_, therefore, and of _Canute_, the history of this pyramid was as difficult of solution as it was in those of _Pennant_ and of _Cordiner_. And there is no question but that the two _monarchs_ looked, with as much wonder, upon the hieroglyphics along its sides, as did the two _antiquarians_, who would fain associate them with them. It is to me marvellous, how persons, in the possession of common reason could, _contrary to all the evidence of observation and history_, look upon the Danish invasion as the epoch of all enlightenment! and the Danes, themselves, as the heaven-sent importers of its blessings! Yet, whatever may have been the case with _some hopeful_ scions of this order, Mr. Cordiner, at all events, appears to have been honest, and if he missed the direction of historical verity, it was less his fault than his misfortune. Who can say so much for Ledwich? The following extract will justify the tribute here paid to the _sincerity_ of Mr. Cordiner’s investigations “These monuments,” says he, “are all said to have been erected in memory of defeats of the Danes, but there _does not appear any reference that the hieroglyphics on them can have to such events_. That they have been raised on interesting occasions there can be little doubt, perhaps in memory of the most renowned chieftains and their exploits who first embraced Christianity.”