Let me here again recall to the reader’s mind the name of _Cathaoir Ghall_, or _temple of brightness_, which I have before adduced, and when we compare _all_ with the _celestial indexes_ recorded in our annals, the conclusion is inevitable, _that the Round Towers of Ireland were specifically constructed for the two-fold purpose of worshipping the Sun and Moon_--as the authors of generation and vegetative heat--_and, from the nearer converse which their elevation afforded, of studying the revolutions and properties of the planetary orbs_. Let me, however, before elucidating the era of their actual erection, with their _Phallic_ form and their further use, revert to the Mosaic history for the _groundwork_ of my development. “And chiefly thou, O Spirit! that dost prefer Before all temples th’ upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know’st; thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast abyss, And mad’st it pregnant. What in me is dark, Illumine! what is low, raise and support! That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to man.”[74] CHAPTER V. Nimrod, the son of Cush, “the mighty hunter before the Lord,” was the first person,[75] according to Vossius,[76] who introduced the worship of the _sun_ as a deity. Disgusted with the roving character of his previous life, and tired of peregrination, he resolves to build himself a permanent abode, and persuades his followers to embark in the design, “lest they be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”[77] Mankind had already relapsed into the follies of their antediluvian ancestors. The awful lesson of the watery visitation was read to them in vain, and again they verified what God had before that memorable epoch with sorrow declared, “that every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.”[78] In Babel, the city thus agreed upon to be built, as the anchor of their stability and the basis of their renown,--we find a “_Tower_” mentioned, “whose top may _reach_,” says our version (but should it not rather be _point_?) _towards heaven_. What was the object of this architectural elevation? Not certainly, as some have supposed, as a place of refuge in apprehension of a second deluge; for in that case, it is probable, they would have built it on an eminence, rather than on a _plain_, _whereas_ the Bible expressly tells us they had selected the latter. Much less could it be, what the poets have imagined, for the purpose of scaling the celestial abodes, and disputing with Jehovah the composure of His sovereignty. What, then, was it intended for?