hare, and thanked the goddess Andraste as soon as she saw the course taken by the frightened beast to be one of good omen: the address put into her mouth further represents her praying to Andraste[1] for victory, salvation and liberty. Nothing is otherwise known of this goddess; so that we are at liberty provisionally to regard her name as one of those borne by the associate of the Celtic Zeus as god of war and victory.
After this digression, I wish to return to the question of stone circles, and to call your attention to a Goidelic instance which shows a certain advance in point of art. In this, the rude stones give way to images, more or less richly adorned, of the gods they were supposed to represent. In the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, one reads as follows: "Thereafter went Patrick over the water to Mag Slecht, a place wherein was the chief idol of Ireland, to wit, Cenn Cruaich, covered with gold and silver, and twelve other idols about it, covered with brass. When Patrick saw the idol from the water whose name is Guth-ard (i.e. elevated its voice) and when he drew nigh unto the idol, he raised his hand to put Jesus' crozier upon it and did not reach [it], but it bowed westwards to turn on its right side, for its face was from the south, to wit, to Tara. And the trace of the crozier abides on its left side still, and yet the crozier moved not from Patrick's hand. And the earth swallowed the twelve other images as far as their heads, and they are
- ↑ On the difficulties of identifying this name with the modern Welsh Andras, pronounced Andros in Arvon and Anglesey, see the Rev. D. Silvan Evans's Dictionary of the Welsh Language, s. v. Andras and Anras.
