47 



(the Brigantes) are esteemed to be a colony from a people of the same 

 name in Yorkshire, and are said to have retired into Ireland upon the 

 invasion of the Romans in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, about 

 the year of Christ 76, and in the government of Petilius Cereaiis in 

 Britain; and they are said to have fled into Ireland, some for the sake 

 of ease and quietness ; others to keep their eyes untainted with the 

 Roman insolence; and others again, that they might not lose sight of 

 that liberty in their old age, which in their younger years they had 

 received pure and uncorrupted from nature." The opinion is strength- 

 ened by the correspondence of geographical notices, as we actually 

 iind the Brigantes marked in or about Yorkshire in Cellarius's Map, 

 and a people of the same name are set down by Ptolemy, as inhabit- 

 > ing about the Counties of Waterford, Tipperary, and Kilkenny. 



The refugees are increased by an additional tribe in the account 

 which "that valuable collector of ancient notices,"* Richard of 

 Cirencester, preserves, "A, M. 4052. About this time the Cangi and 

 Brigantes leaving Britain, emigrated into Ireland, and there fixed their 

 residence."')' The same writer yet more discloses the view of Roman 

 persecution, and how far Ireland was the retreat of its victims, when 

 he says, " It is most certain that the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes, 

 Cangi, and other nations, were originally from Britain, who passed 

 over thither (i. e. to Ireland) after Divitiacus, or Claudius, or Osto- 

 rius, or other victorious generals, excited disturbance in tlieir own 

 home."J And subsequently, where he speaks of the tribes that 

 occupied Ireland, he says, "I cannot but here impress that the 



• Whitaker's Gen. Hist. p. 58. 



f "A. M. 4052 Circa liaec tempora relicta Britannia Cangi et Brigantes in Hiberniam 

 commigrarant sedesque ibi posuerant." — De Sit. Britt. ad ann. 



X " Certissimum vero est Damnios Voluntios Brigantes Cangos aliasque nationes origine 

 fuisse Britanniae, quae eo postea trajecerunt; postquam vel Divitiacus vel Claudius velOstorius 

 vel duces alii victores illis domum tumultum fecerunt." — De Sit Biitt p. 42. 



