[567] John i. 29. See also p. 315 of this volume.
[568] See p. 288.
[569] In the Tartar language, which is a dialect of the Irish, it still retains this latter import, as appears from the following:—“Ce qu’il y a de remarquable, c’est que le grand prêtre des Tartares port le nom de lama, qui en langue Tartare signifie la croix; et les Bogdoi qui conquirent la Chine en 1644, et qui sont soûmis au delae-lama dans les choses de la religion, ont toujours des croix sur eux, qu’ils appellent aussi lamas” (Voyage de la Chine, par Avril, lib. iii. p. 194).
[570] The words Irish and sacred are synonymous. See p. 129.
[571] See pp. 267, 268, 269.
[572] “The peculiar office of the Irumarcalim it is difficult to find out,” says Lewis, “only it is agreed that they carried the keys of the seven gates of the court, and one could not open them without the rest. Some add that there were seven rooms at the seven gates, where the holy vessels were kept, and these seven men kept the keys, and had the charge of them” (Origines Hebrææ, vol. i. p. 97).
[573] See p. 438, with the note thereon also.
[574] See Dublin Penny Journal, Nov. 10, 1833.
[575] Published by Berthoud, 65 Regent’s Quadrant, Piccadilly.
[576] See p. 361. At Monasterboice there are three very beautiful specimens of those Tuath-de-danaan crosses still remaining, and covered, as usual, with hieroglyphic sculpture. “The pillars in the Palencian city,” I find, “are also decorated with serpents, lizards, etc.”