the stone and umbilicus
of Hibernia and, as if placed in the midst and middle of the land, 'medio
et meditullio'...." "Meath itself, where this Kilair navel stood, was
anciently the central one of the five divisions of Ireland and is called
Media by Giraldus Cambrensis, ... and connected with the words
medi-tullium and medi-tullus." The legend states that "the castrum of
Kilair and the stones around it were transported by Merlin to Stonehenge
and 'set up in the same order.' "(130) "At Mag Slecht was the chief idol
of Ireland, called Cenn Craich (Mound-chief) covered with gold and silver,
and twelve other idols about it, covered with brass" (O'Neil, p. 273).

"The five Irish kingdoms were again subdivided into several principalities
inhabited by distinct 'septs,' each ruled by its own carfinny or
chieftain. The obedience of these local rulers or toparchs to the
provincial sovereign was regulated, like his to the general monarch, by
the powers that he possessed for enforcing authority.... The succession to
every degree of sovereignty was regulated by the law of tanistry, which
limited heredity right to the family but not to the individual.... Each
district was deemed the common property of the entire sept; but the
distribution of the several shares was entrusted to the toparch.... The
lower orders were divided into freemen and hetages, or as they were called
by the Normans, villanis. The former had the privilege of choosing their
tribe; the latter were bound to the soil and transferred with it in any
grant or deed of sale."

Ruined groups of buildings, consisting of seven sanctuaries or churches,
situated around a round, high tower, usually with four windows near the
top, opening to the cardinal points, exist in various parts of Ireland,
the Seven Churches in County Wicklow being the most famous example. The
cosmical character of the round towers has been set forth by John O'Neil,
to whose work I refer the reader. According to my views the groups testify
to the establishment, at one time, of several septarchies in Ireland, the
geographical centres of which, as in Assyria and elsewhere, were marked in
this case by the cosmical round tower, figuring the axis or spindle,
around which each sept built its council house, for religious and
political assemblies.(131) In connection with such it is interesting to
read what Caesar says of the priests and judges of Gaul, which was
organized into seven provinces, as late as at the tim