8 



at the sacrifice of truth, but to establish it by testimonies clear, im- 

 partial, and long accredited. 



There is perhaps a vanity in the writer's regretting that he is not 

 permitted in this Essay to travel beyond " the commencement of the 

 Christian era ;" its limits are usually considered as the boundaries of 

 credibility, the terminal pillars beyond which all is confusion or at 

 best conjecture, yet it is conceived, that from the operation of causes 

 peculiar to Ireland, much of even what is termed its Bardic history 

 not only exhibits all the internal evidence of veracity, but could be 

 still more confidently assured to the most sceptical by foreign tes- 

 timonies, oriental and rabbinical traditions, and even by the authority 

 of the Sacred Writings. The period, however, intended to be designed 

 by " the commencement of the Christian era" is open to discretion, 

 and in referring it not to the years when the Gospel was first preached 

 in Ireland, but to the birth of the Redeemer, and thus extending the 

 scope of the Essay within the penumbra of pagan Ireland, it is consi- 

 dered that not only are the words of the proposers met in their received 

 acceptation, but also their intention more adequately effectuated. 

 Although to accomplish this thoroughly it might be necessary to look 

 far back into the perspective of ages for events that, however long ante- 

 rior to the Christian era, nevertheless extended their influence consi- 

 derably beyond it ; and although it is only in these unexplored regions 

 that the true springs of national customs can be discovered, and the 

 progress of political advancement thence only traced, yet the compass 

 of an Essay will not admit even the appearance of digression, and only 

 the highest necessity induces the appropriation of some few of the fol- 

 lowing pages, to one, and but one, event in the annals of Ireland, per- 

 haps the most remote, yet certainly the most influential. 



It is not allowable to wander into that splendid era of Irish history, 

 when a prince, nearly the contemporary of Lycurgus, but assimilating 



