The exquisite skill of the ancient Irish brasiers is best proved by the articles they made, of which hundreds are preserved in our museums. The gracefully-shaped spear-heads, which, in point of artistic excellence, are fully equal to any of those found in Greece, Rome, or Egypt, were cast in moulds: and we have not only the spear-heads themselves but many of the moulds, usually of stone. In one glass case in the National Museum there are more than forty moulds for bronze axes, spear-heads, arrow-heads, etc.: some looking as fresh as if they had been in use yesterday. The old cairds were equally accomplished in making articles of hammered bronze, of which the most characteristic and important are the great trumpets (page 87 above) and the beautifully-formed caldrons (page 116)--many of admirable workmanship--made of a number of bronze plates, hammered into shape and riveted together. In old times in Ireland, blacksmiths were held in great estimation; and in the historical and legendary tales, we find smiths entertaining kings, princes, and chiefs, and entertained by them in turn. We know that Vulcan was a Grecian god; and the ancient Irish had their smith-god, Goibniu, the Dedannan, who figures in many of the old romances. The old Irish smith’s anvil was something like the anvil of the present day, but not quite so large and heavy: it had the usual long snout, and was fixed firmly on a block. There were sledges and hand-hammers, pincers or tongs, and a water-trough. The bellows was very different from the present smith’s bellows: it had two air-chambers of wood and leather lying side by side and communicating with the blowing-pipe. These were worked by a bellows-blower, who stood with his feet on the two upper boards, and pressed them down alternately, by which the two chambers were emptied in turn into the main pipe, so as to keep up a continuous blast. It should be remarked that in private houses they used a different sort of bellows, commonly called a ‘blower,’ which was held in the lap, and worked by turning a handle: this, by means of cog-wheels, caused a number of little fans in the inside to revolve rapidly, and thus to force a current through the pipe. The fuel used by metal-workers was wood-charcoal. The smith’s furnace was made of moist clay, specially prepared, a sort of fire-clay, which was renewed from time to time when needed. This furnace surrounded and confined the fire on four sides, otherwise the light charcoal would be scattered by the blast of the bellows. There was plenty to do for carpenters and other wood-workers, more indeed than for almost any other tradesmen, as the houses were then nearly all made of wood.