penetrated into Ireland, it left England practically untouched in her
primitive barbarity.

Of gold work, for which Ireland is especially famous, the principal
feature in the bronze age was the lunula, a crescent-shaped flat gold
ornament generally decorated at the ends of the crescent. These
lunulae are found in profusion all over Ireland. A few have been
found in Cornwall and Brittany, and a few in Scotland and Denmark.
One has been found in Luxemburg and one in Hanover.

Gold collars are numerous in Ireland and also date from the bronze
age. The earliest form of collar is the "torc" of twisted gold.
Another type, later in date than the torc, is the gold ring-shaped
collar. Two splendid examples of this latter type were found at
Clonmacnois, the decoration of which, in _La Tene_, or trumpet,
pattern, shows the connection between the Irish and continental
designs.

A find of prehistoric gold ornaments in county Clare should be
mentioned. An immense number was there discovered in 1854 hidden
together in a cist, the value of the whole being estimated at over
L3,000.

After the bronze age comes the iron age. The introduction of iron
wrought a great change in metalworking, but, as iron is a metal very
subject to oxidization, comparatively few early iron remains are
found. There are some swords of an early pattern in the National
Museum at Dublin.

It has been shown that the pre-Christian metalwork of Ireland is well
worthy of attention, but it is to the early Christian metalworkers
that Ireland owes her pre-eminent fame in this field. In early
Christian Ireland metalworking was brought to a pitch rarely equalled
and never excelled. The remains found, such as the Tara Brooch, the
Cross of Cong, and the Ardagh Chalice, are among the most beautiful
metalwork in the world. The wonderful interlaced patterns, which are
typically Celtic, bewildering in their intricacy, and fascinating in
the freedom and boldness of their execution, lend themselves readily
to metal work.

The connecting link between the metalwork of the late pagan period
and that of early Christian times is chiefly exemplified by the
penannular brooches, of which great numbers have been found in
Ireland. Examples of this characteristically Celtic ornament may be
seen in all Celtic countries.

In its earliest form this brooch is simply a ring, with a gap in it,
to which a pin is loosely attached by a smaller ring. Gradually the
open ends of the ring, wh