^ ■; r X^ c - ^ '^ c^%'-^'^^ c.^ > -o. ^;. ^^5^^,o^ \\i =» A^V _. ^ ^ -^ A O ''• , ^ ■• . O - " « X ts ^ 'c o^ ^-/. "t-- -■*' ■'/, y-^ \M// c*-^ '. ^ > ■-/. "■(■^ ^y n ^_^*° •r . * ^ /\ ^3 .^"^ i'' '" •^> v^' f m''. ■5 . 1876. •^ VVASM^* o,^^^ \ .# TO DANIEL O'CONNELL ESQ. M/ THE VIRTUOUS, ELOQUENT, AND INCORRUPTIBLE PATRIOT, WHOSE ILLUSTRIOUS AND MATCHLESS SERVICES, IN THE CAUSE OF IRELAND, HAVE IMMEASURABLY SURPASSED THE GREATEST EFFORTS OF HIS PREDECESSORS, OR CONTEMPORARIES : AND WHOSE SUBLIME AND ROMAN-LIKE INTEGRITY AND DEVOTION TO HIS BELOVED COUNTRY, SPURNED OFFERED HONORS AND EMOLUMENTS, THIS VOLUME OP THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY HIS GRATEFUL, AND ADMIRING COUNTRYMAN, GEORGE PEPPER. Boston, June 1, 1835. t- I ^ It has often been asked by foreigners, why a country justly boasting of her poets and orators, has not produced an able historian, who can be classed with a Voltaire, a Gibbon, or a Robertson ; and why the learning of an Usher, or the genius of a Swift, has left no his- torical monument to perpetuate the ancient glories of a nation, that in remote ages was styled, the ^'^ Isle of learning, and the school of the west ?" We confess our inability to answer the question satis- factorily. Perhaps the primary cause of the desideratum, in our ancient history, may be principally ascribed to the zeal of St. Pati'ick, who, to the eternal loss of Irish literature, caused more than 500 volumes of our records to be committed to the flames at Tara. McDermott, Lynch, and Flanagan, are of opinion that Ossian's autographs blazed in the conflagration kindled by the Christian Missionary. Another cause of the scantiness of historical materials, may be fairly traced to the vile assiduity of Danish and English invaders, to annihilate all memorials of our ancient greatness, power, and grandeur. Still it must be confessed, that the ancient chronology of all countries, as well as that of Ireland, is extremely erroneous and uncertain. What is the boasted alleged origin of the Greeks from, the gods, but the creation of poetical fancy, the chimerical mythology of Hesiod, Homer, and other Grecian fabulists 1 Even in holy writ, there are the most irreconcileable anachronisms. The Septuagint and many of the fathers of the church, fix the period intervening the creation, and the vocation of Abraham, at 3513 years, whilst the Hebrews and many Christian ecclesiastics compute it but 2023 ! Varro, the Roman historian, finding it impossible to grope his way through the dark mazes of chronology, declared that the dates and epochs of all the events, said to have occurred before the first Olympiad, (i. e. the year after the creation, 3232,) were but the imaginary computations of fiction. We find that the Greeks began to reckon their historical eras by the Olympiads, and the Romans IV distinguished theirs by the period that elapsed from the foundation of the " ETERNAL CITY." Hcnce we are not to wonder at the discre- pancy in the chronological order of ancient Irish events, particularly those that took place before the coming of our Melesian ancestors. The authenticity of the events enumerated in our annals, is at least as well established as that of the history of England, and the united testimony of foreign and native writers has fortified our pre- tension to remote antiquity, with evidence and arguments that cannot be impeached or subverted. The historic pillars that support the proud edifice of our illustrious origin, like those of Hercules, cannot be destroyed; they, (thanks to our ancient Monks,) escaped the rage of the Danes, the fury of the Henries, and the Richards ; the rapacity and perfidy of the myrmidons of the sanguinary Elizabeth, and the ruthless and diabolical fanaticism of Oliver Cromwell. Some English and Scottish writers, actuated by rancorous prejudice, regard the whole of our traditional, and even our written records of early times, with a fastidious degree of incredulity. This unwar- rantable scepticism, with which these writers are so incurably infected, may be justly imputed to their ignorance of the Irish language, and the consequent derision with which they treat of our historical events and circumstances; and the impotent attempt, which they make to give them a fabulous aspect. But some of their own historians have denominated Ireland, " f Ac venerable mother of Britain and Albany^ These sceptical writers seem to have adopted the maxim of Voltaire, in their opinions of Irish history — " that incredulity is the source of wisdom." The philosophic Lord Bolingbroke has indeed asserted, that it is an egregious folly to endeavor to establish universal pyrrhonism, in matters of historical investigation, because there are no histories without a mixture of facts and fictions. We think, however, that there is more truth in the opinion of the splendid moralist. Dr. Johnson, who steadily maintained that all the coloring of history was imparted by the pencil of fancy. How, then, can it excite surprise, if there are defects in the chronological arrangements of Irisli history, when even in the present age of literature and philosophic light, we cannot find any two accounts of the same event perfectly in accordance, in the detail of their minute circumstances and leading features 1 There is an anecdote related in the life of Sir Walter Raleigh, which throws a blaze of illustration on the subject. One morning, after his confinement in the Tower of London, by the order of the fanatic pedant, James I. while deeply engaged in reconciling the jarring and contrary accounts of \arious historians, respecting some noted transactions that had occurred in the early ages of the world, he was annoyed and disturbed by a fray which happened in the courtyard exactly under his window. He was not able to see the transactions with his own eyes, so that he was anxious to obtain a narrative of it, from the first person that came into his apartment, who gave a circumstantial account of it, which he asserted to be correct, as he had seen, he said, the entire- aflfair. In a few minutes after he had given his detail of the occur- rence, another friend, Paul Pry-like, dropped in, who gave a different version of the disturbance, and just as his relation was finished, a third person entered, who asserted he was an eye-witness of the fracas, and his recital of it was as opposite and as contradistinguished as Hght and darkness, from the narratives of the two preceding observers. Sir Walter, astonished at the amazing discrepancy in their stories, exclaimed,—" Good God ! how is it possible I can pretend to arrive at certainty, respecting events which happened 3000 years ago, when I cannot obtain a correct account of what happened under my window, only three hours since." — Every province in Ireland had its historian, who kept its records, and every chief had his laureate and antiquarian ; for so late as the usurpation of Cromwell, we find that the famous Poet, McDairy, was the Bard of the Earl of Thomond. In a country where there was much competition among poets and historians, we must be so candid as to admit, that it is probable that, in order to swell the panegyric of their chieftains and patrons, they often decked their fame and ex- ploits in the tinsel drapery of poetic imagination. "As a question becomes more complicated and involved," says the discriminating Doctor Hawkesworth, " and extends to a greater number of relations, disagreement of opinion will always be multiplied, not because we are irrational, but because we are finite beings, furnished with different kinds of knowledge, exerting different degrees of attention." But though a portion of fable has been infused into our early history, yet the credit that attaches to the events connected with the landing of the Milesian colony in A. M. 2736, and the transactions and circumstances of the subsequent ages, which intervened from that epoch, until the invasion of Henry II. are authenticated by historical evidence which cannot be impeached.* The first materials of history must have been collected from national traditions, public inscriptions, and other authorities of a similar complexion ; and though the accounts delivered through the * Vide Bede, Warner, Whitaker, Laing, Lloyde, Smith, Camden, Valiancy, «fec. VI medium of popular legends, should even escape the tinge and alloy of hyperbolical exaggeration, yet the person who first recorded them, flattered with the novelty of being the original historian of his country, is naturally induced to exalt their character by the embel- lishments of style, and the coloring of poetry, in order to cover the barren field of incident with the verdure of imagination, and people it with heroes and heroines that never had existence. Succeeding historians, finding it difficult to separate fi.ction from fact, or perhaps in some instances, rather obeying the impulse of their desires than the approbation of their judgment, recorded all the fabricated accounts which they received with historical fidelity. Though the ancient annals of Rome are replete with fiction, the Roman historians have drawn no line of distinction between the true and the fabulous part. Livy, the ablest and most candid of their historical writers, has admitted that it would be a kind of heresy against the dignity of a nation, to question the authenticity of its original records : he, therefore, omitted no fact, which he found sanc- tioned by antiquity. He seemed to be aware that truth was so blended and interwoven with invention, that it would be an endless, perhaps an insuperable task, to separate them : — but let us give his op'inion in his own words — " Qucb ante conditam condendamve urbem poeticis magisdecora fabidis, quam incorruptis rerum gestariim monu- mentis traduntur, ea nee affirmare nee refellere ; in animo est."* The Milesians commenced their own immediate history with Phaenius, their great progenitor, and continued it with wonderful accuracy and fidelity, through the ages that elapsed from his time, until his remote descendants, Heber and Heremon, after the expiration of twenty- three generations, invaded Ireland, A. M. 2736. But we are not, in this introduction, to elucidate the inaccuracies of our chronology, nor could we, if we were inclined, light a torch, like our great and gifted country-woman. Lady Morgan, to show the reader the remains of our ancient renown and glory, mouldering in the catacombs of the Irish annals. There is not now in existence, and we say it un- hesitatingly, any person who could write a better history of that country, of which she is the pride and the ornament, than her Lady- ship. The profundity of her research — the flowery luxuriance of her style — the fervour of her patriotism — the philosophy of her investigations — and, above all, the intimate acquaintance which she * It is not my intention to maintain, nor yet to deny those accounts that have been transmitted to us, prior to the foundation and building of the city, as they may probably be vested in the draperj' of poetic invention, rather than founded by truth on the basis of uncorrupted history, or arrayed in the modest garb of fact. Vll has with the language in which Ossian sung, and Brian Boroihme bade defiance to his foes, would enable her to reflect the concentrated rajs of these brilliant combinations, on a History of Ireland, that would wither the laurel wreaths, with which the historic Muse entwined the brows of a Gibbon, a Hume, and a Henry. It must surely have excited surprise in the minds of the inquisitive readers, that while we have numberless histories of England and Scotland, adapted to popular use, no successful attempt has been made, since the days of the Irish Livy, O'Halloran, to familiarize the reading world with the events of Irish history, by presenting its records in a commodious and economical form. Yet it will not be denied, that the occurrences which took place in Ireland, during the last two centuries, and especially since the accession of George HI. to the present time, demand the attention of the philosopher and the historian — furnishing, as they do, moral lessons, from which not only they, but the statesmen of the world, might derive wisdom, experience, and instruction ; for to form a just and impartial esti- mate of her present character, they must know something of her past greatness, and present degradation ; — ^her wrongs, persecutions, and injuries, which may be pronounced as flagitious, as ever the most wicked and tyrannic oppressors inflicted on a nation, to depress her spirit, sap her moral energies, and deteriorate her inherent and indigenous virtues. The picture presented by such mercenary Irish apostates, as Dr. Thomas Leland, the Rev. Mr. Gordon, Sir Richard Musgrave, Barlow, Taylor, and the late renegade. Dr. O'Connor,* (the degenerate grand-son of the celebrated and patriotic author of the ^^Dissertations on Jr/sA/Zestory,") who, like a parricide of his country's fame, sold all the manuscripts of his venerable grand- father, to the Duke of Buckingham, in whose sepulchral library, at Stowe, " they rot in state," is distorted in its outline by venality, and heightened in its coloring by exaggeration, so that it bears no resemblance to the original. While, however, Ave denounce these hired traducers of their native land, let us not withhold merited praise from the venerable Keating, the learned O'Halloran, the impartial Dr. Warner, (an Englishman) the acute O'Flaherty, the erudite Bishop Usher, the sympathetic and intelHgent Curry, the eloquent Lawless, the zealous TaafFe, the accomplished McDermott, the classic Dalton, and "though last not least," the elegant and efficient vindicator of the aspersed Irish, Mr. Plowden, whose history * See Plowden's historical letter to Col umbanus, and McDermott of Coolovin's statement in relation to these manuscripts. of Ireland, in all the great historical essentials, is superior to any similar production extant. All these historians have contributed materially to illuminate the antique darkness of our annals ; but their works do not embrace those topics, which the ample materials in our hands will enable us to introduce in our History. The American readers, who may honor this history with a perusal, will be astonished at the record of our discords and civil warfare in feudal times. But we must inform them that martial glory was the goal of the ancient Irish warrior's ambition : — for him the sweets of peace and domestic happiness, had no charms or allurements. The inspiring songs of the bards, and the siren voice of anticipated military fame, hurried him to the field of combat, where distinction and renown could only be obtained, and the laurels of celebrity gathered. The chieftain was sure of being branded with degrada- tion, who would loiter in the soft lap of luxury and inglorious pleasure. To be generously brave, is surely no proof of savage barbarity : and that such was the chivalric bravery of the Milesian Irish, will appear evident, when history assures us, that none of our monarchs ever survived the misfox'tune of a defeat in battle, except Malachy II. who fled from the glorious conflict of Clontarfe. Let us peruse the history of the Romans, and it will exhibit a scene of eternal warfare, in which dissension and civil broils are perpetually mingled with foreign conquests. The Grecian states carried the glory of arms to the highest pitch of ambition, at the same time that they termed all other nations barbarians. Athens and Sparta wasted their strength in destroying each other, and yet they were considered the most elegant and polished people in the Grecian Republics ; nor was the soul-moving Demosthenes deemed a barbarian, when he, by his animating harangues, excited his countrymen to arms, and with — " Piesistless eloquence, Wielded, at will, the fierce democracy ; Shook the arsenal, and fulminated over Greece — To Macedon — and Artaxerxes' throne ! " It is, therefore, evident, that wars and civil commotions are no proofs of a deficiency of refinement of manners, or enlightenment of civilization, and however derogatory they may be to the precepts of religion, and the injunctions of morality, they still exhibit a theatre where all the higher powers of the mind are called into action — where the victor is disarmed of his enmity, by the pleadings of compassion, and the fortunate conquerer laments over the fallen foe. But perhaps we have already extended this introduction to pro- lixity ; but we must of necessity carry it a little farther in order to define our plan. We are aware of the important task we have assigned ouiself, and of the difficulty that will attend the writing of a comprehensive History of Ireland. We have indeed an abundance of materials, which we hope by industzy and assiduity, to arrange with historical skill, and to combine information and instruction in our work, which will furnish a succinct narrative of all the memorable events that occurred in Ireland from the arrival of Partholanus, down to the present year. Nothing shall be omitted that deserves to be remembered. In relating the merits and de- merits of memorable actions, we shall endeavor to trace them to the motives from which they originated — to elevate such as were conse- crated by laudable intention, to their just eminence of moral celebrity, and to stamp such as sprang from the source of turpitude, Avith the stigma of reprobation. We will bring the cotemporary authority of English and Scottish writers to our aid, in dissipating the mists of prejudice, in which some of their countrymen obscui*ed our fair fame and character. We shall let Americans see what Erin once was, for what she is, alas ! is known to the world. She has been the victim of English calumny, and it is generally in that deceitful mirror of misrepresentation, that she is even now reflected in America. We shall do all we can to subvert the baseless system of English and Scottish defamation — and to defend the ancient historic structure of Ireland, which we contemplate with the inalien- able sympathies of hereditary aifection, from the assaults of prejudice and incredulity. We will give a fair, and we hope, an impartial history of Ireland; though candor obliges us to confess, that when we come to detail the wrongis and persecutions of our native land, we cannot help speaking with warmth ; for he that would merit the title of quite an impartial historian, should, like Imlac's Poet, divest himself of all the passions, feelings, and prejudices of his age and country. In our history we shall give a luminous review of the literature, manners, and customs of the Irish people, embracing an inquiry into the merits of their genius, eloquence, valor, and characteristics, as well as specimens of the forensic and senatorial displays of Grat- tan, Curran, Burke, Sheridan, Burgh, Flood, O'Connell, Plunket, Sheil and Phillips. 2 CHAPTER I. An Inquiry into the causes from whence Ireland derived the various names hy which she has been distinguished in ancient times ; the reason to tchich she owes the oiiginof her fresent appellation. The arrival of the first Colony in Ireland, under the command of Fartholanus, of Migdonia, in Greece. The Rivers and Lakes found, in the Island, by this Scythian Colony, with remarks on them. Name. In proceeding to give a History of Ireland, we think that we cannot take a preliminary step in our arduous undertaking, more conducive to facilitate our progress, than to give a compendious relation of the various names by which Ireland was distinguished in our ancient annals, and in the writings of Grecian and Roman poets and historians. The noblest purpose to which history can be applied, is to extend our acquaintance with the human character, and to give free exer- cise to our judgment on human affairs. In deducing the History of Ireland from its first colonization, and tracing the foundation of our nation back to its remote origin, it is necessary that we should adduce every historical evidence that can strengthen the basis on which the proud edifice of our high pretension to illustrious antiquity rears its elevated towers. There are few, in this age of light and literature, who will conform to David Hume's favorite doctrine, " that nations should not push their researches too far into the exploits and adven- tures of their ancestors," which he thinks, " should be suffered to remain in oblivion." Convinced, as we are, that the early period of our history presents traits of character, examples of valor and virtue, and monuments of genius, which the annals of Greece or Rome, in the most refined and enlightened ages of their triumph, can scarcely parallel, we shall expatiate with unwearied pleasure on the glory and grandeur that distinguished Ireland under her illustrious Monarchs, during those centuries of her greatness and renown, that preceded the disastrous epoch, which stands accursed in Erin's calendar, the INVASION of Henry II., in 1172. But let us proceed to enumerate the different names by which the land of Bards and Orators was known in the " olden time." The first name, according to Bishop Hutchinson and Raymond, bestowed upon Ireland, was '■'■ Inis Ealga,^^ in honor of Ealga, the wife of Partholan, the great founder of our nation. This was the appellation of Ireland until the country was invaded by the Tuatha de Dannns, whose chief called it Eire, after his lady ; hence Erin. The descendants of this colony, in process of time, changed the name of the country to Innisfail, from an enchanted stone, said to be part of Jacob's pillar, which they brought to Ireland. This continued to be the name of the nation until the Milesians subverted the dominion of the Danans, and gave Ireland the nomenclature of the Queen of Milesius — " Scotia." A great discrepancy of opinion prevails amongst our most learned writers, on the etymology of Hibernia. Bishop Usher and Raymond agree in deriving this name from the 12 river Iberius, in Spain, whence t!ie Milesians came to Ireland ; while Ledwich and Harris contend that the term is borrowed from a Greek compound word, which signities a 'lOtstcrn country. Doctor Keating seems inclined to impute the origin of the title Hibernia, to Heber, the son of Milesius, one of the first of our Milesian monarchs. The learned Bochart's conjecture on this disputed question as- sumes a great air of probability : " /i«6ern2«,"says he, plainly seems Phoenician ; for this term, by some called lerne, is no more than Ibernse, or, the furtherest habitation westward." Sir James Ware concurs in this hypothesis. CiEsar, Pliny, and Tacitus called Ire- land by the name of Hibernia, " which means," says Camden, " the most remote country of Europe, westward." Strabo talks of Hi- bernia, as a woody country in the Atlantic Ocean. But let us inquire whence the derivative of the present name of our country — Ireland. Camden cites Orpheus, the poet of Thrace, as an author who gives the most ancient and decisive testimony of the name of Ireland; he says, the son of Apollo calls it lerna, and our learned countryman, Bishop Usher, exultingly observes, that, " the Roman people were not able to produce so ancient a witness of their name." We think, with Dr. Keating, that the etymological origin of the term Ireland, may be traced back to Ir, one of the sons of Milesius, who was buried at Colp, near Drogheda : the place of his sepulture was called the land of Ir, from which, in process of time, the whole Island received the general name of Irlandia, signifying, in the Irish language, the country of Ire's grave. Sir William Temple is of opinion, that the name Ireland is derived from the river Jcnje. Plutarch calls Ireland Ogygia, which signifies ^'■tlie most ancient Isle.'''' Some of our ancient historians have marshalled a host of arguments, tending to prove that Ireland was the Isle of Calypso. Eminent Roman writers have called Ireland, Juverna. But it is time that we should conduct our readers out of the barren field of etymology and conjecture, into the spacious region of his- torical narrative. Arrival of Fartholanus. Although creditable annalists have asserted, that Ireland was first peopled by the nephews of Noah, immediately after the flood, our learned antiquarians discard the story as the fiction of the Bards. But all our historians have impressed the seal of authenticity on the following record of the first colonization of Ireland. According to the concurrent testimony of the annals of Erin, Paitholanus, the son of Seara, the son of Sru, the son of Easru, the son of Framant, the son of Fathocda, the son of Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah, was compelled to fly from his country, Migdonia, in Greece, to evade the punishment with which justice threatenedto visit him, for the murder of his parents, and his attempt to assassinate his brother, in order that he might reach the goal of his ambition, the supreme command. In his fliglit to the coast, where ships were prepared by his adlierents, to transport him from the scenes of his guilt, he was accompanied by his wife yl/^o or Elga, his three sons, Rughraidhe, Slaigne, and Laughline, with their three 13 wives, together with one thousand soldiers, who volunteered to share in his fortunes. Having been fortunate enough to surmount the perils of a long and tedious voyage, he at length reached the coasts of Ireland, wafted thither, more probably, by the caprice of winds, or the sport of tempests, than by any previous knowledge which he had of the geographical situation of the Island, or the skill of his mariners in navigation. Our annals tell us, that he effected a land- ing in Derry, which he and his followers then called Inbher Sceine. This memorable event, according to the '■^ Book of Invasions,'''* occurred in the year of the world 1956, three hundred years after the flood. Mr. O'FIaherty, in his Ogygia, fixes, on the authority of Clitan Mac Noisk, the date of the arrival of Partholanus, in 1969, a difference, however, of little consequence in matters of such remote antiquity. The most incredible story recorded by the Partholanians, is, that on their arrival there were but three lakes and nine rivers in Ireland ; but that before the death of Partholanus, a period of thirty years after his arrival, seven more new lakes bursted forth, and three rivers gushed from the mountains of Ulster.* Doctor O'Hal- loran conjectures that the lakes and rivers discovered by Partholanus, were those in that part of the country first occupied by the colony; but as the woods were cut down, and cultivation extended, the new lakes and rivers, which the people discovered in the forests, were recorded in the national annals at the precise time of their discovery. Be this as it inay, the accuracy with which they are mentioned, sufficiently evinces the scrupulous regard that our early writers paid to those minute circumstances which composed the detail of their simple story. There is no history extant, should be less alloyed with the dross of fiction than that of Ireland ; because it is a fact attested by writers of unquestionable veracity, that the national annals were always preserved in the archives of the state. O'Fla- herty. Lynch, and Colgan, agree in stating that the government employed the chief Bards of the nation, to correct the national records before the assembled states, at Tara, so that the stream of genuine history ixiight run down pure and pellucid to posterity. " The productions of the annalists," says the acute and erudite Warner, " were to undergo the solemn test and sanction of the great council of the nation, in a triennial parliament or convention, where such accounts only as were deemed worthy of credit, were * The following are the principal Gule, cc unty of Antrim. Lakes in Ireland. Inchiquin, Clare. Killarney, county of Kerry. Inny, Westmeath Allen, Lei trim." Kay, Leitrim. Allua, Cork. Lane, Westmeath Arrow, Sligo. Laughline, Westmeath Conn, Mayo. Macknean, Cavan. Corrib, Galway. Mask, Armagh & Down Derg, Donegal. Neagh, " Derry & Antrim Erne, Fermanagh. Ramor, Cavan. Derg, Tipperary. Salt, Donegal. Esk, Donegal. Seuddy & SliiUin, Westmeath Foyle, Derry. Shealing & Carr, Meath. Gara & Gill, Sligo. Strangford, a Down. Gougenabarra, Cork. Swilly, (f Donegal. 14 approved, and a memorial of them entered into the register of that high court. If any authors were found perverting the truth or imprudently prostituting it, in order to serve the purposes of a party ; misrepresenting unfortunate or defeated virtue, contracting or conceaUng undoubted facts, with the same perverse intention of prejudicing fallen patriots, who had no other than historical evidence for their vindication, in such cases the authors were degraded, and made liable to the penalties inflicted by a law against occasional and incendiary historians. Surely this ordinance of the ancient Irish legislatures, gives a great idea of the wisdom of this people, and an authenticity to their history, v/hich is to be given, I believe, to no other nation under the sun." That all the volumes of our ancient history, which St. Patrick, in the enthusiasm of his zeal for Chris- tianity, committed to the flames at Tara, A. D. 440, were the pure and unmixed essence of Truth, there can be no question. But it is time to return from this digression, to the Lakes of the Partholanians. Doctor Hutchinson, late Bishop of Down and Con- nor, in his defence of Irish historians, has taken much pains to defend this part of our history, and maintains with a strong bulwark, of argument and ingenious reasoning, the probable truth of the accounts transmitted to us of these lakes and rivers, "which are," he says, " so far from discrediting the authenticity of our annals, that they not only aftord strong proofs of the reality ot the facts, but that those who recorded them were wise men, who wrote them for the intruction of posterity, that they might know which way nature moved. The most eminent Geographers tell us of more and greater new lakes than these, which have covered the low lands in many other countries." The Doctor confirms this observation by many instances; and indeed it does not seem difficult to conceive that if even in our own times, the harmony of nature is often disturbed, and her laws interrupted, and this harmony must have been much more liable to tumultuary emotions, at so early a period after the flood, when the earth was convulsed to its very centre, and the equipoise of the Globe consequently vacillating. Partholanus, we are told, suspected the fidelity of his wife, who is represented, by some writers, to have been a woman of extreme beauty, which led him to confine her supposed gallant, (one of his officers,) in a cave. The reign of Partholanus is not represented to us marked by any memorable events. This is what might natu- rally be expected from the settlement of a few adventurers; and if our annals have thrown a shade of importance over it, they would have been more liable to suspicion. Indeed we find an account, not at all authenticated, in M'Dermott's history of Ireland, which states that, " An African Colony resided in the Island, previous to the arrival of Partholanus, who lived by fishing and hunting. They were under the command of Ciocal, the son of Nin,theson of Garbh, the son of Nadhmoiar. A desperate and decisive engagement is stated to have taken place between them and Partholanus, soon after his arrival, at a place called Bliiigh Jotha, where Ciocal, the son of Nin, and the greater part of his followers were destroyed. Doctor Warner and OTIalloran regard the story of the African Colony as the dream of poetic fiction. The Partholanians cut down all the woods, and extended tillage and pasturage over the whole Island. Fartholanns reigned thirty years, and at his death left his kingdom to four sons, who were born in Ireland, Er or Ire, Orba, Fearn, and Fergna ; the three sons whom he brought from Greece having died since his arrival. Slainge died in the thirteenth year of his reign, and was interred in the side of a mountain, in the county of Down, from him denominated Sliabh Slainge, or the mountain of Slainge. Two years after, Laughline died, and from the circumstance of his being buried in the vicinity of a Lake in West Meath it received the name of Loch-Laugliline. In the 25th year of his reign, Rugh- raidhe was drowned in a lake, in the County of Sligo. The scru- pulous attention which our annals have paid to the names of places, is a strong and conclusive testimony of their truth. The simplicity of such statements can never be reconciled to the spirit of romance and fiction. To describe so many men, observes Warner, "to point out their manners, to paint their persons, to relate their adventures, and make a circumstantial recital of their families, seems beyond the power of fiction." In the hyperbolical narrative of the imagination, nothing but the marvellous can please: nothing but great and perilous disasters, the revolutions of power, the ruin of empires ; the rapid strides of conquest ; the feats of chivalry, and the brilliant execution of the steel clad warrior; in a word, nothing but what is glorious in its design, and grand in its progress, like the splendid career of a Napoleon, can be admitted into the fanciful creation of the legendary romancer. In all the statements respecting the colony of Partholanus we perceive nothing but what is suited to real life, and to the origin of an infant Colony, totally unacquainted with civil and political transactions. There are no reports whatever, in these early records, that are belied by the circumstances of time and place. Human nature appears in her native dress, or more properly without any dress, such as she appears in countries secluded from the polish and adventitious modification of artificial society ; and yet an Innis, a Hume, a Mac Pherson, and our own apostate Ledioich, have had the unblushing effrontery to assert, that the accounts of Partholanus have been invented by our Bards and Monks, to gratify the '^pride of ancestry and national honor." Our history furnishes a " plain unvarnished tale," unadorned by that affectation o^ '■'■ national vanity and high horn ancestry," to which Innis, in his " critical essay, on the ancient Inhabitants of North Britain," ascribes our high pretensions to " illustrious antiquity." But when we carry this history to the age of Ossian, we will endeavor to answer t!ie objections of cavilling critics. The Monks, who are supposed to have fabricated our annals, would have found it extremely easy to exalt the character of Partho- lanus, the Romulus of Ireland, by uniting in his person all those conspicuous and ennobling qualities that emanate from heroism — from bravery, magnanimity, and God-like virtue ; all the varied excellencies of the son of Venus and Anchises might have been easily conferred upon him, and the national pride thus flattered by the high endowments of an imaginary hero. But instead of this we 16 find him described as an infamous parricide, a wretch, who not content with spilling the blood of his parents, attempted to deepen the enormity of his remorseless turpitude, by sacrificing his brother's life on the diabolical altar of Fratricide. Surely if the Monks coined this story, in the mint of invention, we are sorry, for the honor of our early ancestors, that it has obtained such historical currency. The sovereignty, as we have already observed, Avas transmitted, at the death of Partholanus, to his four sons— Ire ruled over the north east part of the kingdom ; his southern limits extended to Dublin, Orba's dominion comprehended the country from Dublin to the Isle of Barrymore in Munster ; Fearn had sway from Barry- more to Galway ; and Feargus' possessions included the range of territory that lies from thence to the northern extremity of Ulster. Partholanus had, also, ten legitimate daughters, to whom, on their marriage with distinguished chiefs, lands were appropriated. We had almost omitted to mention, that when Partliolanus landed in Ireland, he had, in his retinue, four learned men, one Poet Laureate, two Druids, and a sculptor. The Partholanians governed Ireland for three hundred years, at the end of which period a dreadful plague broke out which proved fatal to almost the entire of the colony. The Psalter of Cashel says that the contagion was pecu- liarly destructive at Ben-heder, (now Howth,) near Dublin, so much so that Howth was the burial place of some thousands of the Par- tholanians, who perished by the sweeping mortality, from which circumstance, says the book of conquests, it was ever after called Taimhleacht Muinter Phartholan, or the cemetery of the race of Partholan. In the sixth century, St. Fenton erected a church in Howth, dedicated to St. Mary, which was in good preservation until the reign of Elizabeth, when it was plundered and desti'oyed, by her sacrilegious and sanguinary myrmidons. Howth, though now stripped of trees, was, we are informed by history, formerly covered with venerable oaks, which shaded aDruidical temple, as the remains of such an edifice are still to be seen in one of its sequestered valleys. Before closing this chapter we should, perhaps observe, that some antiquarians have gravely asserted, that the Partholanians were not the first who discovered Ireland. This honor they gave to Adhna, the son of Beatha, a messenger sent by Nion the son of Pelus, to ascertain the quality of the Irish soil. On reaching the Island, he found it clothed with the most luxuriant verdure, and brought back to his master a bunch of the rank grass, which he had plucked, as a proof of its fertility. CHAPTER II. The arrival of a second colony from Greece, under the command of Nemedius, in Ireland. The Africans and infant Colony contend in several battles, for the dominion of the country; the JYcmedians are finally defeated, and compelled to retire to Greece. A. M. 2286. Keatfng and O'Flaherty concur in relating that all the Partholanians were annihihited by the destructive plague which we mentioned in tlie last chapter, and that in consequence, the country lay waste and desolate for thirty years, until it was visited by a horde of African pirates, who took up their residence in it, and erected fortifications along the coast to protect them from the descent of other predatory rovers. Nemedius, who, we are told, was descended from Adhla, an infant son, whom Partholanus left after him in Greece, prepared in the Euxine sea, a fleet with which he determined to follow the fortunes of his ancestors in Ireland. The motive that induced him to quit his native land, and fit out this expedition, is not recorded in our annals. This armament was very formidable; it consisted of thirty- four ships, each of which was manned by thirty marines. He landed on the coast of Ulster, (but where, we are not informed,) without opposition from the Africans. Besides his wife Macha, he brought to Ireland his four sons, Starn, larbhanel, the prophet Feargus, and Ainnin. Having established himself in the country without molestation from his African rivals, he selected a beautiful valley, where the city of Armagh now stands, in which he prepared to build two palaces* for himself and his retinue. Four African architects, who it seems had made a greater progress iji the arts than his Grecian followers, were employed in the erection of these palaces, which they finished with such exquisite skill and elegance as excited the admiration of Nemedius ; but whether from ignoble feelings of envy, caused by those artists having surpassed the Grecians, in genius and execution, or from the apprehension that these accomplished architects might raise other edifices, exceeding his in magnificence and style, he had the baseness to order them to be assassinated. Soon after the Court of Nemedius was removed to the new palaces, Macha, the wife of this Chief, died, and from the mound of earth that was raised, as a monument over her grave, Armagh derives its name ; Ardmacha, signifying in Irish, Macho's eminence. Nemedius, whde at peace with the Africans, made great improve- ments in Ireland ; several wilds were cultivated, and twelve forests were cut down. At this juncture, if we can credit Keating, four * These Palaces were, General Valiancy supposes, the first structures of stone erected in Ireland. The Palace of Tara was built by Heremon, the first of our Milesian Kings, in A. M. 2737. Its order of architecture was Ionic, and the marble of its colonnade was brought from Italy. The Palace of Emania, in the county of Armagh, the hereditary seat of the illustrious O'Neils, was the next structure in magnificence and beauty, to Tara. It was erected by Crombkaoth O'Neil, monarch of Ireland, A. M. 3539. 3 IS large lakes sprung up suddenly, and overflowed a great exteui of the country. The Africans looked with a jealous eye on the progress of the Nemedians, in their rapid acquisition of territory. A pretext for coming to an open rupture was soon seized upon by both paries. Hostilities were quickly commenced between them, and they engaged fiercely in three successive battles, in which the Africans were vanquished, and three of their principal leaders slain. The Nemedians, flushed with victory, resolved to drive the whole African race out of the Island. The Africans, aware of the reso- lution of their enemies, bravely determined to contend for the game of empire with desperate valour. Intrenching themselves in an advan- tageous position, they waited the attack of the Nemedians, to which they opposed a gallant resistance, that dismayed and deterred their assailants. Nemeditts, exasperated at this formidable front, put himself at the head of his best troops, made an impetuous assault on the enemy's centre, but without effect ; the Africans now rushed forward on their foes, who began to give ground, and the conflict became general ; the engagement lasted many hours, both parties fighting with desperation, but at length fortune favored the Africans. Nemedius was totally defeated, and his army almost annihilated. Two of his sons, Starn and Ainnin, fell in the sanguinary battle. The fatal result of this conflict broke the spirit and blasted the hopes of Nemedius, nor did he long survive the disaster, for exhausted with grief and disappointment, he died at Arda Neimhid, now the Isle of Barrymore, in the county of Cork. The Africans determined to avenge the different losses which they had sustained, on the shattered remains of the Nemedians, imposed a heavy tax on them, which was to be paid on the first of November, at a place called 31ag Gceidne or the plain of violence. But the chief of the Nemedians rendered indignant by tlie enormity of this exaction, conspired with others, to shake off" tlie odious yoke of despotism, and make one bold and vigorous effort to regain liberty and independence. The Chieftains of the Nemedians at this time, were Fathach, the son of Nemedius, his brother Peargus, and Beothach, their nephew, noble spirits, of daring, fortitude, and chivalric bravery. They soon marshalled a force, with which they attacked their oppressors, and the success that crowned their arms was such as might be expected from the union of resolution and courage, animating men that fought for victory or death. In this irresistible assault, Conning, the African General, two of his sons, and the greater part of his army fell by the edge of the sword, and many of his fortified garrisons surrendered to the conquerors. But scarcely had the Nemedians enjoyed a momentary triumph under the laurels of victory, ere new dangers darkened the transient brightness of their exultation. More, the son of Dal, a powerful naval commander, who was abroad on an expedition for some time, returned with his fleet, at the moment his countrymen were preparing to evacuate Ireland. When the Africans perceived tlie approach of the fleet, hope banished despair, while the Nemedians hastened to the shore of Tor IniSj to oppose the landing of More and his forces, conscious that 19 if they failed in obstructing the landing of this chief and his hostSj their dominion in Ireland was lost. More's ships not being able to corae near enough to the shore of Donegal, he caused his soldiers to descend into the waves in order to encounter the Neniedians, who boldly advanced through the water to attack their foes. The engage- ment was so fierce and obstinate, so prolonged and terrible, that both armies were unconscious of the swelling tide, that raised its waves to their middle, till they were borne away by the current, so that those who escaped the sword were drowned. In this conflict the entire army of the Nemedians, except thirty officers and three commanders, perished. The African chief, with a few soldiers regained his shipping, and then with the wreck of his forces, took possession of the country. The forlorn remains of the Nemedians were now reduced to the necessity of submitting to whatever terms their African masters thought proper to dictate, or to seek their fortune in other climes ; to the latter alternative they almost unanimously inclined. They prepared a fleet as soon as possible, and under the command of Simon Breac, the grand son of Nemedius, set sail for Greece, the country of their fathers, where, on their arrival, they met but a cold and unkind reception from their relatives, who, instead of alleviating their misfortunes, spurned them with contempt and scorn. Another grandson of Nemedius', Briotan Maol, with his followers, landed in the north of Scotland, and there settled, and his posterity, for many ages, were possessors of the country, as well as England, as far as Bristol. The Psalter of Cashel confers upon this Neraedian chief, the honor of giving name to Britain, which before was called the " Great Island." This etymology is sanctioned by a great number of our antiqua- rians, and is certainly entitled to more credit than the fable of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wished to derive the term Britain from Brutus, the Trojan, a claim so unfounded as to be rejected even by his own countrymen. The few Nemedians who remained in Ireland, were subjected to every hardship and privation, by their cruel task masters, the Africans, until the Fir-bolgs invaded the Island. The period of time that el'apsed, according to Keating and Lynch, from the colonization of Nemedius to the landing of the Belgae, was 217 years, though O'Flaherty, through mistake, assigns a rule of 216 years to the Nemedians, in Ireland. Dr. O'Halloran, with his usual penetration, satisfactorily proves the anachronism of the author of Ogygia. CHAPTER III. Arrival of the Belgae or Fir-holgs in Ireland. The reason why they were called by that appellation explained. Division of Ireland betivixt the five chiefs of the invaders. A. M. 2503. In the conclusion of the last chapter, we stated that the fugitive Nenriedians, under Simeon Breac, were treated as aliens by their relatives, in Greece, who suhjected them to the most intole- rable hardships, compelling them, like the captive Israelites, in Egypt, to hew wood and draw water. Their task masters exhausted ingenuity to devise the most toilsome and operose occupations for the strangers ; for they were obliged to sink pits, and carry clay from the valleys, in leathern bags, to the summits of rocks and mountains to form an artificial soil. From this circumstance they derived the name of ^^ Fir-bolgs," or bagmen. We should mention, however, that two of our antiquarians, Raymond and Smith, ascribe the appellation to a different etymology ; these writers say, that after the invasion of Ireland by the Fir-boigs, they took up their residence in caves, with which they burrowed the whole country ; hence these Troglodytes were called Firl-hogs, or creeping men.* * Among the innumerable Caves in Ireland, the following are celebrated for their structure and extent : — Bride Cave, about six miles from Cork, is remarkable for its structure, and various compartments. One chamber, in which are the remains of a Druidical altar, is very spacious. Its arched roof is supported by massy lime-stone pillars, so highly polished that they seem the work of art, though Grose and Ware allege that they are the formation of nature. In some places the entrance is very low, but after you descend, the arch suddenly rises to an elevation often feet, the con- cave of which is as smooth as if it had been the work of art. Con-a-Glour, near Cappoquin, in the county of Waterford, is a large open cave, into which you descend by stairs formed by the shelving declivities of rocks. The first chamber you enter is about thirty feet square, through which a subterraneous rivulet is seen running in a natural aqueduct, through the solid rock. This Irish Arethusa sinks under ground at Ballynacourty, and proceeding for a mile through this cave, rises again in a gushing fountain, at a place called Knockane. In some of the chambers the stalactical matter, descending from the roof, presents a variety of forms, both fantastic and picturesque. Bally Casshiy. This famous cavern is near Enniskillen, in the county of Fermanagh. The dome, covering the pillared portico of this cave, rises to the ele- vation of twenty-five feet; and the different chambers of the interior are spacious, and adorned with Tuscan columns of lime-stone. DuNLucE. This cave is situated under the Castle of Dunluce, near Bushmills, in the county of Anirim, of which we will speak in the course of our topography. Du^iMORE, near the city of Kilkenny, is a cavern that is daily visited by travel- lers. The passage into it, is down a square aperture, or rather precipice, upwards of sixty feet deep, by twelve feet wide ; at the bottom thereof is the mouth of the cave, which is but low, arched with rocks, seemingly dropping on the head, when from a number of petrifactions, like icicles, there falls a vast quantity of limpid drops of crystal. After you wander through this cavern for a quarter of a mile, you hear the hoarse murmuring of a subterraneous river which rolling over pon- derous stones, and falling down ledges of rocks, produces a strange kind of noise in the hollow cavities. Grange. This cavern which is in the vicinity of Drogheda, has been celebrated in the writings of several travellers. It is a vaulted cave in the form of a cross, with a gallery leading to it, eight feet long. On the first discovery of this cave in 21 In an edition of Dr. Francis Molloy's Irish Grammar, published in 1676, which has just been put into our hand, we find that Raymond and Smith have borrowed their ideas of the Fir-boigs from the illustrations of that learned divine, on the ogum of the Brehons. But we will not pursue any further, an inquiry which cannot lead to a result of any material importance. The Nemedians, groaning under the pressure of persecution and injustice, formed, after the lapse of years of sufferinoj and cruelty, the resolution of bursting the bonds of their slavery in Greece, and of quitting a country where they never were to enjoy the charms of ease or happiness. So well did they manage their conspiracy, that they collected 5000 followers, with whom they embarked on board of a large Grecian fleet, which they had seized, before their oppressors had the remotest suspicion of their intention. After a long and perilous voyage, the first division of the fleet, under the orders of Slainge, effected a landing in the bay of Wexford, which in honor of this chief was called by our annalists Inbher slainge; the second division, of which Gann and Seangann were Commanders, eflected a landing on the coast of Donegal ; and the third with the chieftains Geannann and Rughraidhe reached the shores of the county of Mayo, near Killala, in a destitute state. These five chiefs, after uniting their forces, agreed to parcel out the country into five divi- sions, among them. Slainge being the eldest brother, assumed the sovereignty of Ireland, though his portion of the division only com- prehended Leinster ; the two Munsters fell to the share of Gann and Seangann, and Ulster became the dominion of Rughraidhe, while the government of Connaught was assigned to Geannann. Slainge, to whom our historians give the title of the first monarch of Ireland, 1318, a gold coin of the Emperor Valentinian, was found in it, which General Valiancy and Dr. Llhwyd observe, might bespeak it to denote it a Druidical monument of the early ages. We think it was a place of interment of some ancient Irish chief. St. Patrick's Purgatory. This cavern is a narrow cell in one of the Islands in Lough Derg, in the county of Fermanagh, famous for being hewn by St. Patrick out of a solid rock, as a place of penance, and prayer, in which the holy man often confined himself. Skeheewrinky, in the counties of Cork and Tipperary, situated between Cahir and Mitchell's town, is one of the most magnificent caves in Ireland. The opening to it is a cleft of rock in a lime stone hill, so narrow that it is difficult to get into it. You descend by a ladder of thirty steps, and then reach a vaulted apartment of a hundred feet long, and si.xty high. A small aperture on the left leads from this, in a winding course of not less than half a mile exhibiting a variety of rocky altars, columns, spires and architectural ruins, resembling a fallen city. In some places the immense cavity of the rock is so extensive, that when well lighted by torches, it assumes the appearance of a vaulted cathedral divided into pillared aisles, and furnished with many altars. The walls, ceiling, and floor seem enriched with the finest embellishments of art, as the curious incrustations that adhere to them, appear as dazzling as if they were powdered with diamonds, and enamelled with crystal. The columns of spar are extremely brilliant and shaped into every order of architecture, and adorned with volutes, and fancy foliage of icicles, which possess ' a grace beyond the reach of art.' One branch of the cave extending in a northern direction, is in some places extremely narrow and low, but it widens abruptly into a large hall, in which the rocks form an amphitheatre, through whose area a stream meanders. We will have occasion to speak of this cave again. 22 was passionately fond of music, in which according to Molloj and Colgan, he was an eminent proficient, particularly on the harp. It was this Prince say O'Geohegan and O'Flaherty, that first bore the harp as the national emblem, on his royal banner. It appears that his short reign of one year was distinguished by no memorable event. Keating and I^ynch trace his genealogy up to Japhet. This Prince was succeeded by his brother Rughraidhe, who after a reign of two years was drowned in the Boyne near Drogheda; and having no issue his throne and sceptre devolved to Gann, who after a reign of two years, was succeeded by his brother Geannann, whom death soon plucked from his throne to make room for Seangann, who after a reign of five years, was murdered by his nephew and successor, Fiacha Cinnfionnan, or white-haired, the grand son of Rughraidhe. The usurper did not long enjoy his ill-gotten power, for he was assassinated by his cousin Radhnall, the son of Geannan, who was saluted as monarch. This monarch was scarcely seated on his throne, when his title was disputed by Fiodhhghean, the son of Seangann, whose standard was joined by numerous malecontents, with whom he marched to Craoibhe where the royal army was encamped. A fierce battle quickly took place, in which the king was slain, and his forces cut to pieces. The crown was not long suflfiered to remain on the brows of the victor, for Eochaidh, the heir of Radhnall, fomented a rebellion, the result of which was the death of Fiodhhghean and the total discomfiture of his army, at the engagement of Muirtheimnc* in the County of Louth. Our historians represent Eochaidh as a prince that united the matured wisdom of the statesman, to the heroic valor of the general, consequently his reign was more brilliant and fortunate than that of any of the Belgian monarchs. He was a friend to literature and the arts ; and the laws he enacted vi'ere fraught with a spirit of justice and equity which commanded at once reverence and obedience. We are told that he was married to Tailte, daughter of the king of Spain, the place of whose interment, in Leinster, still retains the name of Tailtcan. He fell in the tenth year of his reign, in an engagement with Vir- giodlamed, king of the Tuatha de Danans, at a place called Muige Tuirride. His death terminated the Belgian power in Ireland, which, according to the testimony of Keating and O'Halloran, lasted thirty-seven years. O'Flaherty however, who is certainly one of the most accurate of our chronologists, maintains with a strong force of argument, that the dominion of the Belgians existed eighty years, from their first invasion of the Island until its subversion by the Damnonii, whose history shall be the subject of the next chapter. * Now Mallacrew about five miles north of the town of Ardee. CHAPTER IV. I.iVdslon of Ireland hsj the Dumiunul, or Tuat/at, do Danatis. Their migration from Greece. History of the Liagh.-Fail, or stone of destiny. Of the reigns of Breas, JVuadh, Luigha, 6^-c. Objections of Ledwick, Mac Fhcrson, O'Connor, and Warmr, ansicered. A. M, 2541. EocHAiDH havinastity of their general's daughter, a virgin of the most exquisite beauty. But her father, and a man of the nicest feelings of honor, with a mind sensitively alive to the foul disgrace intended his darling child, resolved to save her from contamination, even at the risk of his own life. Making known the criminal designs of the king, to some of his friends, they felt so strong a sympathy in his cause, that they assisted him to despatch the libidinous tyrant in his own palace. As soon as this deed was accomplished, they fled the country to evade punishment. They travelled, we are told, through the dominions of several Princes until they reached France, whose king, on hearing the cause of their flight from their own country, took them into his service, and assigned them lands, on which they built a city, from thence called Pictavium, now Poictiers. The French Monarch, *■ Skreen, sometimes written Skryne, gives name to a Barony in the County of Meatli, and is now environed by as charming and magnificent scenery z,s can be found in Ireland. It was bestowed by Henry II. on one of his Knights called De Feipo, whose descendants possessed its Lordships until the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Adam De Feipo erected a strong castle here in the twelfth century, the ruius of which are still standing, as mementos of its past feudal glory. Sir J. Ware tells us, that Francis De Feipo erected a large and stately abbey here, for Augustin Hermit, early in the reign of Edward III. of England. Some of the architective relics of that religious edifice still exist to attest its pristine consequence. Skreen, distant about twenty miles from Dublin, can now only show the parish church, rebuilt in 1827, and a few humble houses, as indications of its former ecclesiastical and feudal importance. On every side of it are lordly mansions, and ornamented domains, beautified with all the embellishments that landscape gardening can bestow. 62 led, no doubt, by curiosity, paid a visit to the young damsel, whose captivating charms had the same eiFect on his heart as they produced on that of the Thracian king: but the chaste lady took an early opportunity of apprising her father of the passion of the French Monarch, conjuring him, at the same time, to remove her from the influence of that regal contagion which threatened death to her virtue. As soon as he heard this, he again formed the determination of flying from the danger that menaced his daughter's honor. Thus resolved, he and his friends seized upon a portion of the French fleet, with which they hastily put to sea, and succeeded, after a favorable voyage, in gaining the Irish coast. They landed at Wexford, but in their course thither lost the beauteous fair one, who was the sole cause of all their wanderings and solicitude. Her dread of dishonor, and the intense anxiety which perturbated her heart, preyed so much upon her spirits as to produce a rapid consumption, which hurried her to a watery grave, in the sixteenth year of her age. The Ficts being brave soldiers, enlisted themselves under the banner of Heremon, with whom, in conjunction with his own troops, he attacked a predatory expedition of British invaders, who had just landed in his dominions, and succeeded in totally defeating them at the battle of Ard-Leamhnachta, in Munster. The Picts were emboldened by the services which they rendered Here- mon on this occasion, to solicit, confidently, an asylum from him in his kingdom. But even at this early age, the Island was so thickly inhabited that the monarch, though willing, found himself unable to grant their request. The Picts, however, were determined to efiect by treachery what they could not obtain by entreaty. They con- spired, and entered into a collusion with the disgraced Daranonii, which was conducted with the utmost secrecy. But how seldom do those brooding schemes of treason, that are not generated by virtuous liberty, for the annihilation of despotism, terminate in success ? That coalition, which is founded on the basis of injustice and ingratitude, can never rise to the summit of honorable independence. Every member of such an unhallowed conspiracy as this, where ingratitude paralyzes courage and mars resolution, wishes to stand as high as his compeers in the dishonorable list that registers his disgrace ; and if he be disappointed in his expectations, it is justly to be apprehended that he will give publicity to those intrigues, and machinations, in which he could not be a leader. If he be destitute of principle and honor, he will satiate his revenge by the punishment of his associates ; and if he be actuated by the generous control of virtue and of religion, the ennobling impulse, which these salutary feelings awaken in the mind, will precipitate him from the flagrant faith of a league, whose secrecy is treason of the blackest dye, because the offspring of ingratitude, and convince him ere he proceeds too far in the iniquitous career, that to sacrifice the interest of a few, for the welfare of the many, is an imperative and sacred duty which he owes to his country, and the invoking behest of religious obligation. Our historians do not indeed distinctly inform 63 us how the intrigues of the Picts were first discovered : certain it is, hoAvever, that Ileremon received timely notice of their concerted designs to subvert his government, and took, accordingly, the promptest measures to crush the unorganized embryo of sedition. Baffled in their treasonable projects, and sensible of the danger to which they were exposed, the Picts quickly sued for peace in the most supplicating manner. Heicmon, whose magnanimity was equal to his valor, conquered his just resentment, and yielded to their entreaties. At their own urgent request he permitted them to go over to North Britain, where they proposed to make a settlement which should be ever after subject to the Irish crown. In process of time, as we shall relate in its proper place, this colony rose to such a warlike magnitude of power as became formidable, not only to the Britons, but even to the Romans. To attest the sincerity of their intentions, and to afford a guarantee for the faithful observance of their engagements, they solicited the monarch for permission to form matri- monial alliances with Irish women, pledging themselves that their children alone, should be only entitled to succeed to their inheritance. To this stipulation the king adhered, and from the period of its ratification, to the days of St. Colum-Kille, the Irish Apostle of Scotland, the Caledonians were tributary to Ireland. As soon as the king's consent was obtained, the temple of Hymen was crowded with votaries. All the chiefs and soldiers of the Picts married Irish females. Some modern writers are of opinion that the arrival of the Picts in Ireland must have been later than the epoch fixed by our historians. They imagine that population could not have increased to such a degree as to render it necessary to exclude the Picts from a settlement in the Island ; but if with our annalists we admit that the kingdom was inhabited 300 years after the flood, it must have received a great accumulation of inhabitants during a space of 790 years, especially when we consider that for a consid- erable time after the flood, the age of man was extended to 400 years, and that Shem the son of Noah, lived upwards of 200 years after the birth of Abraham, who was the tenth in descent from the builder of the ark. It is not, however, necessary to have recourse to the probability of the existence of an immense population, in order to account for the policy that dictated the exclusion of the Picts from our country. It is only reasonable to suppose that a great part of the Island was in those days covered with woods and morasses ; and we should not be surprised, if those portions which were reclaimed, and cultivated by tillage, probably with much difficulty, from the wild growth of ages, should be numerously inhabited. We are informed that the Brigantes, or Clana-Breogum, also obtained permission from Heremon to pass over to Britain, and that they settled in Cumberland, or the country of hills and valleys, from which they received, in common with the Welsh, the appellation of Cumeri. The authority of the venerable Bede bears out, triumph- antly, the accuracy of the truth of this emigration. For he asserts that the languages of South Britain, were the British and Saxon, irj 64 Lis own days, (the seventh century) and that the Irish was the common dialect of the Caledonians and Hibernians."* Heremon, who eminently uniied tlie skill of the general, the bravery of the hero, and the wisdom of the sage, to the profound knowledge of the statesman, was removed by death from the scene of his glory and usefulness, shortly after the departure of the Picts, He left his throne to his three sons, Muibiune, Luighnl, and Laishne, of whom we shall speak in the next chapter. Heremon possessed, in a high degree, all those virtues that give dignity to a monarch, and reflect lustre on the diadem of royalty. Of his talents as an accomplished general, we must form a respectable opinion from the invariable success that attended his arms. His reign was disturbed by the restless and ambitious views of his own commanders, whom gratitude should have made his firm and devoted friends. His brother Arahergin also made unjust pretensions, in the assertion of which he lost his life. He would have probably experienced serious disturbance from the Picts, also, if the efficient measures which he adopted to thwart their seditious designs on his life and kingdom, had been less prudent than his vigilance was active in discovering them. His moral character has almost as great a claim on our admiration as his military career ; for the splendor of his victories were never dimmed by cruelty or revenge. It is true he made war upon his brother ; but it was a war to which he was forced by necessity and self-defence, it was the dernier expedient resorted to for the protection of his life and dominions. We have seen that the access of power which he derived from victory was again transferred to the family from which it was wrested ; for actuated with that exalted spirit of generosity, which so eminently distinguished him, he bestowed the principalities of the two Munsters on the sons of his brother Heber. This magnanimous spirit, which soared above the impure atmosphere of revenge and the crawling littleness of petty oppression, seemed so have been transmigrated into the souls of his illustrious descendants, the chivalric Hy-Nials, * " Mr. Macplierson, (the only Ossian the Scots can now pretend to.) a& great a dreamer in etymologies as in history, affirms that Bede, and all our old writers on this subject, are mistaken, ana that the Picts spoke not only the same lan- guage with the Milesians, but were the same nation, under different appellations. But what authority has he for this.' His own, and his own only, against all the old accounts we ever had of the Pictic nation ! Eumenius, a writer of the third century, and Claudian a writer of the fourth century, make the Picts and Scots, (i. e. the ancient Irish) two different and distinct nations ; so do all ancient and modern antiquaries, from Nennius. who lived in the ninth century, to Primate Usher, who flourished in the seventeenth. But the second-sighted Mr. Macpherson deposes against them all on his own bare authority !" — Disskr. on Irish History. " The Irish is the only nation in Europe, which is not indebted to the Romans for language and letters. Indeed their GAnEiiLic or Celtic dialects approaches nearer the orirrinal languao-e of the Patriarchs, Gomer and Japeth, than any other spoken. There is no doubt but the Scotch and Welsh borrowed their language from the Irish when they were colonies of Ireland." — Lhuid's Origin of Languace. " The Irish language appears to have been familiar to the Gauls and Carthagi- nians, before the Cliristian era. Its idiom is soft and harmonious, so that like the Italian it is well adapted to give expression to grief and the gentler passions of our nature."' — Cambden. 65 or O'Niels, whose noble acliievements and heroic virtues, reflect glory on the annals, and renown of our country. NiAL, the celebrated hero of the nine hostages,* who compelled Scotland to renounce her ancient name of ^^ Albania" and assume tiiat of Scota minor, in the fifth century, was the sreat progenitor of this family, and the lineal representative descendant of Heremon, the son of Mdesius. In due time we shall give a genealogy of the northern and southern Hy-Nials. CHAPTER VIIT. 'The three sons of Heremon, Muimhne, Ltjighne, and Laishne, agree to stoay the sceptre of sovereignty alternately. The concord and fraternal affection which distinguished their reigns. Laishne is opposed by the sons of his uncle, Hehcr : the success of their revolt: they gain possession of the throne, frotn lohich they are soon expelled by Trial, the son of Heremon. The reign of Irial — his institu- tions and victories : — his successor, Eithrial, icho is dethroned. Conmaol, the son of Heber ascends the throne, of lohich he is in his turn dispossessed by TiGHERNMAS, of the Hcrcmonian line. The government of this Prince; his sumptuary laics, and regulations for the distinction of colour ; his encouragement of arts and manufactures ; his adoration of an idol. The origin and progress of the Irish Druids. A. M. 2750. The three sons of Heremon, Muimhne, Luighne, and Laishne, religiously obeying the dying injunctions of their royal father, and profiting by their experience of the disaster which civil dissension brouglit upon their house, unanimously agreed before their brother Irial, the arch-druid and prophet, to sway the sovereign authority successively a year each. This compact being solemnly confirmed and ratified, SIuimhne, the eldest brother, was invested with the royal insignia, and on the termination of his year, his next brother, Luighne, ascended the throne. During his year of administration, Muimhne died at his country palace, in Connaught, an event which was deeply lamented by his brothers, who loved and esteemed him for his valor, and the many amiable qualities that adorned his mind. As soon as the period of Laishne's turn to assume the preroga- tives and duties of royalty arrived, he mounted the throne ; but scarce had the ceremonies of his inauguration been ended, than his cousins, the sons of Heber, revolted, and raising their insurrection- ary standard, it was quickly joined by numerous adherents, at whose head the disaffected chiefs marched to the very gates of the royal palace. The monarch and his brother made formidable preparations to resist the assault of rebellion. An engagement soon ensued at Ard- Ladhran, in the county of Wexford, which ended in the death of ^ " He was called the " hero of the nine hostages," because he compelled nine nations to send him hostages. No Monarch carried the glory of the Irish arms farther than Nial. He drove the Romans out of Caledonia, and pursued them to the banks of the Loire in Gaul." — Hutchinson. 9 66 the monarch and his brother, as well as in the discomfiture of their army. The rays of fortune once more illuminated the clouded prospects of the house of Heber; but how seldom is the sunshine of that prosperity which is gained by unjust conquest, unobscured by the mists of vicissitude. The power which is wrested by ambition's physical force, is generally of an instable and precarious tenure. The victors enjoyed the kingdom but one year, or, according to some authorities, only three months, when they were attacked and defeated by Irial, the prophet who was appointed high priest by his father, Heremon, on the death of the arch-druid Ambergin. Our annals say nothing particular of the short and unfortunate reign of the sons of Heber. The victorious prophet mounted the throne by the general consent of the Irish people, who expected much from the prudence, wisdom and clemency, which were the distinguishing traits of his character. His administration proved that the national hopes were well founded. The abuses which corrupted the govern- ment of his predecessors, were removed by the salutary reform that he introduced ; and justice and impartiality swayed his councils, and produced in consequence the happiest results. His reign shed lustre on the nation. He raised several stately edifices, both mili- tary and religious, extended the commerce, and materially improved the agriculture of the country. After he had crushed internal sedi- tion, he was subsequently obliged to repel the attack of a numerous band of African invaders, who made a descent upon the southern coast. In his first battle with the invading foe, at Teanmhuighe* in Fingall, in the county of Dublin, he totally defeated them, and killed with his own hand their chief commander, Eeichtglie. After a glorious reign of ten years, he died, and was succeeded by his son EiTHRiAL, A. M. 2765. This young prince inherited the genius, and imbibed the principles of his royal father, whose djing entreaties, he religiously observed as the rules of his conduct and government. Our historians characterize him as a sage and a hero. Having no domestic, or foreign enemy to annoy him, he devoted the beginning of his reign to the cultivation of letters and the arts. Under his paternal government, the benign blessings of peace diff"used happi- ness and prosperity through Ireland. Eithrial wrote the history of his ancestors, from the great Phenius down to his own days. According to Colgan and Molloy, this work of our royal historian existed in the archives of Tara, until St. Patrick, in the too ardent glow of his Christian zeal, committed it to the flames with the rest of our antique works. O'Halloran conjectures that this prince sent an Hyperborean Scythian embassy, at the head of which was Albaris, to Athens : " That such an embassy," says our Livy, " arrived in Greece, cannot be doubted. It was a wise measure, to renew friendship, * Now called Skerries, a little fishing town, on the sea coast, in the barony of Balruddery, County of Dublin, at the distance of 17 miles, N. E. of the metropo- lis. The village itself is inconsiderable; but it deserves some importance from its harbor, and the beauty and grandeur of the domains in its vicinity. There is not much historic association connected with Skerries, exceptino- the invasion men- tioned in the text, and the landing of Sir Henry Sydney, Queen Elizabeth's Lord Deputy of Ireland, at this port, on the 12th September, 1575. 67 extend commerce, and the glory of his people, not only there, but in Asia ; and this will explain why the memory of these transactions were preserved even in Egypt, in the days of Solon."* Although Eithrial might be emphatically pronounced the father of his people ; but still, as virtue and generosity cannot avert the malice of treason, his cousin Conmaol, the youngest son of Heber, formed a conspira- cy against this good king, by which he lost his crown and life, in the twentieth year of his reign, in the battle of Rahonen, in Leinster. The fallen monarch having no issue, his conqueror found no im- pediments obstructing his way to the throne, and victory threw a lustre over the darkness of his ingratitude. He was solemnly in- augurated on the stone of destiny, by a full convocation of the Druids and the states of the kingdom. The Psalter of Cashel represents him in the most brilliant light of eulogium. The royal historian attributes to him all those virtues that give additional splendor to regal station. " He it was," says the venerable Cormac, " that killed with his own hand Eithrial, the son of Irial, the prophet, in revenge for the blood of his father. He it was that fought and won forty-five battles against the posterity of Heremon, he it was w bom victory followed as his shadow, and whose arras were always crown- ed with glory and conquest." We have no doubt but he was brave and intrepid, for he quelled several insurrections, vanquished the Erneans and Martineans, the remains of the ancient Beiges, in seve- ral engagements ; until at length his hour coming, he fell by the sword of Heber, in the battle of Aonach Macha, in Meath, after a reign of thirty years. "His burial place," says O'Halloran, " yet goes by the name of Feai'i- Conmaol,^' or the grave of the " Prince of Chiefs." His death again gave the reins of government into the hands of the Heremonian dynasty. Tighernmas, the son of Follam, the son of Eithrial, the son of Irial, the prophet, the son of Heremon, was saluted supreme monarch. As a warrior and a statesman, he early gave decisive proofs of his abilities. By his valor in the field, he defeated the insurrectionary armies of the Heberians in twenty- seven pitched battles ; and by his liberal and sagacious policy in the cabinet, he at once endeared himself to his friends, and extorted the respect of his enemies. He attained a higher eminence of popular- ity than any of his predecessors since the reign of Heremon. Finding himself thus too exalted to be disturbed by the intrigues of the partizans of the Heberian family, he devoted his whole attention to the promotion of national happiness. Literature, arts, and agri- culture, flourished under his fostering auspices, and a new spirit seemed to have animated the kingdom, while the genius of the sovereign manifested itself in the general prosperity which prevailed. * We should give some degree of belief and credit to the investigations of our antiquarians, which prove, that Jleria and Ogygia were given in common to Egypt and Ireland ; and to that other most ancient and universally allowed tradi- tion of our historians, of the marriage of Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh, with a predecessor of the Scots ; which evidently convinces us, that there had been a commerce, and an alliance of a very ancient date, carried on, and mutually main- tained between the Egyptians and our Iberian ancestors. — O'Flaherty. 68 The reign of this monarch is very much celebrated by our bards and historians, as the code of laws that were enacted in it have formed a conspicuous epoch of Irish history. His ordinances relative to THE COLOURS of the gjarraents worn by princes, nobles, bards, and peasants, deserve particular iUustration from the bi;