176 



William of Malmesbury relates the same event with much the 

 same feeling. (" Ecgfridus, Hybernense genus sane hominum innocens 

 genuina simplicitate, nil unquam mali moliens, vasta clade protrivit.")* 

 It was in consequence of this aggression, that the famous Abbot 

 Adamnan was subsequently sent on an embassy from the King of 

 Ireland to Ecgfrid, who thereupon made reparation for the damages 

 so committed by his army. 



In 753, a remarkable fish with three teeth that seemed of gold, 

 is stated in the annals of the Four Masters, (ad annum.) to have been 

 caught off the coast of Ulster, and to have excited such public atten- 

 tion, that the tradition of it even reached the days of Cambrensis, 

 who seems-f" to attach his belief to the "lusus naturae." This, and some 

 few similar circumstances should not be thought worth notice, but 

 for the more accredited authors whose recognitions accompany them. 

 In 794 (according to the Ulster annals,) or 795, (according to Bar- 

 tholinus,) the Danes made the prefatory incursion into Ireland, which 

 opened the course to their rapacious countrymen, and led to that fatal 

 settlement and dominion in the island, which shall be the subject of 



Anno post hunc proximo, idem Rex, cum temere exercitum ad vastandam Pictorum provin- 

 ciam duxisset, multum prohibentibus amicis, et maxima beatae memoriae Cuthberto, qui nuper 

 fuerat ordinatus Episcopus, ****** cmn maxima parte copiarum, quas secum 

 adduxerat, extinctus, anno aetatis 40, regni 15. Sed quomodo anno praecedente noluerat audire 

 reverendi&sum patrem Egbertum, ne Scotiam nil se laedentem impugnaret, datum est illi ex 

 paena peccati illius, ne nunc eos, qui ipsum ab interilu revocare cupiebant, audiret. Ex quo 

 tempore spes coepit Anglorum fluere." — Bede, Eccl. Hist. lib. 4. c. 26. 



* De Gest. Reg. Angl. lib. 1. c. 3. 



f " In Ultonid apud Carlingfordiam inventus est piscis, tarn quantitatis immensae quam 

 qualitatis inusitatse. Inter alia sui prodigia tres denies (ut fertur) aureos habens, quinquaginta 

 unciarum pondus continentes, quos aureos quidem exteriore quadam simililudine aurique 

 nitore, potius quam natura crediderim." — ^Top. Hib. Dist. 2. c. 10. 



