300 



Bartholomaeus Anglicus also says of Ireland, " In this land is much 

 plentie of corne fieldes, of wells and of rivers, of fair meads and woods, 

 of metal and of precious stones. * * * * * It is a good tem- 

 perate countrie, there is little or none passing heat or cold."* Hadri- 

 anus Junius makes Ireland thus speak for herself: 



" Ille ego sum Graiis glacialis Hibernia dicta, 

 Cui Deus et melior nascenfium origo 

 Jus commune dedit cum Creta altrice Tonantis, 

 J Angues ne nostris difTundant sibila in oris." 



Nor is Buchanan less liberal in his commendations of the climate. — 

 But enough of this subject, the civil history of the period demands 

 more immediate attention. 



The Danes, though unquestionably shaken from all dominion in 

 Ireland by the memorable battle of Clontarf, were not wholly dis- 

 lodged from their settlements in the seaports. They are admitted in 

 the Irish annals to be still resident in the great commercial cities 

 even beyond the time of the English invasion, and the charters of the 

 early English monarchs to those cities, reserving, as they prudently did, 

 the rights and privileges of those mercantile strangers, furnish the 

 best confirmation of their importance. The sojourners, however, were 

 principally traders or mechanics, and were, after the English obtained 

 a footing, restricted to particular quarters of these towns which they 

 were allowed to inhabit. Many also, who had intermarried with the 

 natives, were suffered to remain scattered over the island, and are the 

 stock of several of its ancient families, as the Cruises, Coppingers, 

 Dowdalls, Everards, Ferrises, Harolds, Plunkets, Revels, &c., remain 

 to testify .-f- 



* Property of Tilings, lib. 15. c. 80. 



•f- Many families in England trace their pedigrees to the same source, even the illustrious 



