les
in Ireland. Their walls are rarely found of greater thickness than those
of their contemporaneous churches, where such have remained; and in all
such cases the character of the masonry is identical. The cause which I
should rather assign for this greater longevity would be their
rotundity, and still more, their superior altitude. A church of moderate
size, and humble height, might be easily injured, or even destroyed, by
neighbouring or foreign assailants, but the destruction of a tower, or
even its injury, beyond the burning of its wooden floors and doorway,
would be a tedious and difficult labour, requiring ladders, with which
we are not to suppose the incendiaries came provided; and hence their
worst antagonist was found to be the flame from heaven.--P.]

[Footnote 127: Might not _oratory_ be a safer term than _habitation_?
Surely the clochans or monks' houses, called _stone pyramids_ by Martin,
in St. Kilda, and of which many are still perfect, are as old as
Christianity in the _north_ of Scotland, or as any similar buildings to
be found in Ireland.--P.]

ON THE CAT-STANE, KIRKLISTON.

The Mediaeval Archaeology of Scotland is confessedly sadly deficient in
_written_ documents. From the decline of Roman records and rule, onward
through the next six or eight centuries, we have very few, or almost no
written data to guide us in Scottish historical or antiquarian
inquiries. Nor have we any numismatic evidence whatever to appeal to. In
consequence of this literary dearth, the roughest lapidary inscriptions,
belonging to these dark periods of our history, come to be invested with
an interest much beyond their mere intrinsic value. The very want of
other contemporaneous lettered documents and data imparts importance to
the rudest legends cut on our ancient lettered stones. For even brief
and meagre tombstone inscriptions rise into matters of historical
significance, when all the other literary chronicles and annals of the
men and of the times to which these inscriptions belong have, in the
lapse of ages, been destroyed and lost.

It is needless to dwell here on the well-known fact, that in England and
Scotland there have been left by the Roman soldiers and colonists who
occupied our island during the first four centuries of the Christian
era, great numbers of inscribed stones. British antiquarian and
topographical works abound with descriptions and drawings of these Roman
lapidary writings. But of late year