“Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; ’tis her privilege, Through all the years of this our life, to lead From joy to joy: for _she can so inform The heart that is within us, so impress With quietness and beauty, and so feed With lofty thoughts_, that neither evil tongues, Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all The dreary intercourse of daily life, Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold Is full of blessings.”--WORDSWORTH. CHAPTER XXIV. The regal figures, which I promised, as belonging to the _Nubian_ temple, and corresponding to the _Knockmoy_ frescoes, are the following:-- [Illustration] You will, furthermore, observe how that they all wear the _philibeg_, like our crucified effigy at p. 296, and our war-god, Phearagh, at p. 138. Each of them, also, is adorned with the _cross_, as the passport of their redemption: while the three _divinities_, delineated in the Irish scenes, have these as their counterparts in the temple of Nubia. [Illustration] Abbe Pluché states, that “the figures of those gods brought from Egypt into Phœnicia, wore on their heads leaves and branches, wings and globes, which,” he adds, “appeared ridiculous to those who did not comprehend the signification of these symbols, as happened to Cambyses, King of Persia, but these represented Isis, Osiris, and Horus.” “In the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for November, 1742, is an account,” says Vallancey, “of two silver images, found under the _ruins of an old tower_, which had raised various conjectures and speculations amongst the antiquaries; they were about three inches in height, representing men in armour, with _very high helmets on their heads, ruffs round their necks_, and standing on a pedestal of silver, holding a small golden spear in their hands. The account is taken from the Dublin papers. The writer refers to Merrick’s translation of Tryphiodorus, an Egyptian, that composed a Greek poem on the destruction of Troy, a sequel to Homer’s _Iliad_, to show that it was customary with the ancients, at the foundation of a fort or city, to consecrate such images to some titular guardians, and deposit them in a secret part of the building; where he also inserts a judicious exposition of a difficult text of Scripture on that subject.” The above extract was indited long before the publication of those Nubian antiquities; and, consequently, when neither the contributor to the magazine, nor the quoter from its columns, had any knowledge of their existence. Its production, therefore, must be valuable here, as showing not only the connection of the _idols_ with the _Round Tower ceremonial_, but also that the helmets of the _Nubian_ gods had been adopted in the effigies of some of those amongst us. I terminate my proofs of the primeval _crucifixion_, by the _united_ testimonies of the _Budhists_ and the _Free-Masons_.