course sufficient to shew that helmets were actually in use at this period.
Those remarkable objects designated Lures (Luren)[1], which were formed of molten bronze, must be regarded as war trumpets, with which the signal for attack was given. If they were stretched out to their full length they would in general be about six feet in length; when bent they are about three feet and a half long. In all probability the trumpet was borne by the player over the shoulder in such a manner that he held the mouth-piece with his right hand while with his left he grasped the broad disk; and therefore this disk being to be prominently shewn, was adorned with circular elevations and ring ornaments. In one single instance a long chain of metal was attached to the lure, being fastened to the mouth-piece and to the opposite end, an arrangement which must have proved eminently serviceable when the player wished to rest, or had to carry the instrument any great distance. Several of these lures are still in so good a state of preservation as to allow of being played upon, and their sound, which is something between the bugle and the trumpet, is not so dull as might be supposed.
Since their weapons and warlike implements were of such a kind, it cannot excite our wonder that these people possessed
- ↑ For an account of bronze trumpets found in Ireland, see Smith's Cork, vol. ii., and Gough's Camden, vol. iv. p. 231. The Dublin Penny Journal, vol. ii. pp. 27—30, contains a valuable Paper on the subject by Mr. Petrie, but in which no mention is made of a find of bronze trumpets near Dunmanway, in the county of Cork, which took place about twenty-five years ago, and of which two specimens are in the collection of Mr. Crofton Croker.—T.
