disposed, others only at the top. Their situation with respect to the
churches also varies. Some in Ireland stand 25 to 125 feet from the west
end of the church. The tower at Brechin is included in the S.W. angle of
the ancient cathedral, to which it communicates by a door.

There have been numerous discussions respecting the purposes for which
these towers were built; they are generally adjoining to churches,
whence they seem to be of a religious nature. Mr. Vallencey considers
it as a settled point, that they were an appendage to the Druidical
religion, and were, in fact, _towers for the preservation of the
sacred fire[1] of the Druids or Magi_. To this Mr. Gough, in his
description of Brechin Tower,[2] raises an insuperable objection. But
they are certainly not belfries; and as no more probable conjecture has
been made on their original purpose, they are still known as _Fire
Towers._

For this curious relic we are indebted to Mr. Godfrey Higgins's erudite
quarto, entitled "The Celtic Druids," already alluded to at page 121 of
our present volume.


[1] Like the ancient Jews and Persians, the Druids had a sacred and
inextinguishable fire, which was preserved with the greatest
care. At Kildare it was guarded, from the most remote antiquity,
by an order of Druidesses, who were succeeded in later times by
an order of Christian Nuns. The fire was fed with peeled wood,
and never blown with the mouth, that it might not be polluted.

[2] "On the west front of the tower are two arches, one within the
other in relief. On the point of the outermost is a crucifix,