, date back
as far as this!] they refused to give him a spark, neither durst
any of his neighbours relieve him, nor might he himself procure
fire by any other means, so that he and his family were deprived
of it till he had discharged the uttermost of his debt."
The Druidical fires kindled in the _spring_ of the year, on the other
hand, would appear to be those in honour of _Ashtaroth_, or _Astarte_,
from whom the _British Christians_ may naturally enough have derived the
name of _Easter_ for their corresponding season. We might go even
further than this, and say that the young ladies who are reported still
to take the chief part in keeping up the Druidical festivities in
Cornwall, very happily represent the ancient _Estal_ (or _Vestal_)
virgins.
"In times of Paganism," says O'Halloran, "we find in _Ireland_
females devoted to celibacy. There was in Tara a royal
foundation of this kind, wherein none were admitted but virgins
of the noblest blood. It was called Cluain-Feart, or the place
of retirement till death," &c ... "The duty of these virgins was
to keep up the fires of Bel, or the sun, and of Sambain, or the
moon, which customs they borrowed from their Phoenician
ancestors. They both [i.e. the Irish and the Phoenicians] adored
Bel, or the sun, the moon, and the stars. The 'house of
_Rimmon_' which the Phoenicians worshipped in, like our temples
of Fleachta in Meath, was sacred to the _moon_.
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