105 



This view is remarkably supported by the circumstance that Sir 

 WilHam Temple, who wrote before Oriental learning had thrown 

 light on this subject, declared that there was no trace by which to 

 seek out the original of this language, for, that there was none on 

 the continent of Europe to which it had any affinity.* 



III. By the Arts. — As that of the manufacture of linen, which 

 was scarcely known in otiier parts of Europe at a time when it was 

 practised from one end of Ireland to the otlier ; and linen formed, 

 at that time, one of the principal articles of dress, composing a large 

 jmrt of the ample robe and the eastern turban of the Irish. So it is 

 described by Speed in his Itinerary, as still continuing in his day.-f- 

 And it is worthy of remark, that the early knowledge and practice 

 of this manufacture, is a strong evidence of the oriental origin of 

 the Irish, since the Colchian Scythians,;}: from whom they claim 



and shamrakh in Arabic) having been held sacred in Iran, and considered emblematical of the 

 Persian Triad. (Collect, v. 118.) 



This recalls the well known legend of St. Patrick's having illustrated the doctrine of the Holy 

 Trinity, by the three- lobed shamrock leaf. 



It is remarkable also, that in the Life of St. Patrick, in the Book of Armagh, a manuscript, 

 confessedly of great antiquity, Satrape and Magi, are the titles employed to designate the 

 king's courtiers. 



And that in the Collection of Tirechan, contained in the same ancient book, the word Side 

 (gods of the earth, or phantoms) is that used by the king's daughters in their address to Patrick 

 and his companion. (Betham's Antiq. Res. pp. 314', 368.) 



In India Sidha, expressed those who after death have become gods. ( Buchanan's Journey 

 in Mysore, v. III. p. 82.) 



In modern Irish the words Sigh and Sighidh, mean spirit, goblin. 



* Hutchinson's Defence, p. 40. 



t See also Spencer's View, p. 114, Hibernian Press Edit. Collect, de Rebus Hib. VI. 

 p. 70. 



f Among the Abassian and Tscherkessian tribes, the inhabitants of the Caucasian or Col- 

 chian region, there being no metallic currency, linen forms the medium of barter ; it is sized, 

 calendered, and made up in rolls, each containing the quantity requisite for a shirt : these rolls 

 are called Boccassines. See Klaproth's Travels in the Caucasus, p. SSI. ' 



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