ARCITAEOLOGIA IIIBEllNICA. 211
the descriptions would have been all the more intelligible for being thus shortened. For instance, the description of Roslin chapel occupies thir- teen pages, in which it is described as an example of " INIiddlc-Pointed," built in 1466 ; and after wading through this long description we ask our- selves in vain what information we have gained, or can carry away from this elaborate description. If the new-fashioned nomenclatui'e is to be in- troduced and used in the manner exemplified in this work, the sooner all attempts at architectural description are suppressed, the better ; they can only tend to mislead or to make such utter confusion as to be worse than useless. AucH.uoLOGiA HiBERNicA. A Hand-book of Irish Antiquities, Pagan and Christian : especially of such as are easy of access from the Irish Metropolis. By William F. Wakeman. With numerous illustrations. Dublin, James M'Glashan, 21 D'Olier-street ; William S. Orr and Co. 147 Strand, London, 1848. The elaborate work of Mr. Petrie is necessarily confined to comparatively a small number of persons by its bulk and expense ; a " Hand-book of Irish Antiquities" for the people was therefore a desideratum which has been admirably supplied by the present volume ; nothing better could be de- sired, the work is well compiled and well arranged, the woodcuts are very numerous and beautifully executed, the printing excellent, and the price moderate. It offers quite an inducement for an English antiquary to visit Dublin for the sake of making use of this manual. The five first chapters treat of the pagan antiquities, cromlechs, pillar stones, sepulchral mounds, cairns, &c., raths or duns, and stone circles. These do not differ materially from the primeval antiquities of other countries, and as it is difficult to notice every thing in such a comprehensive treatise, we pass on at once to the early Christian antiquities ; the first are the oratories, a very re- markable class of structures, the remaining examples of which are almost confined to a particular district of the south-western part of Munster. " A fine and hitherto unnoticed example occurs upon the rock called Bishop's Island, near Kilkee, upon the coast of Clare : it measures in circumference 115 feet. The exterior face of the wall, at four different heights, recedes to the depth of about one foot, a peculiarity not found in any other struc- ture of the kind, and which was probably introduced with the view of lessening the weight of the dome-shaped roof, which was formed, not on the principle of the arch, but, as usual, by the gradual approximation of the stones as the wall ascended." The next chapter relates to the early Christian churches, with which the extracts from Mr. Petrie's work in our third volume have already made our readers familiar. The fourth chapter treats of crosses, &c., and as this affords a favourable and characteristic specimen of the work, a few extracts are necessary to give a fair idea of its value. " The graves of many of the
