88 Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 



not ignorant of the preceding one ; and the conclusion is therefore unavoidable 

 that he, as well as those other writers who were familiar with the Book of Lecan, 

 must have intentionally suppressed it from a perception that it would contradict 

 the received history of St. Patrick, as drawn up from his lives. The passage, 

 however, is of great importance, as tending to indicate that the acts of, at least, two 

 distinguished preachers of Christianity in Ireland may have been blended toge- 

 ther, and thus furnishing a sufficient explanation of the apparent chronological 

 and other contradictions in which the various lives of our saint abound, and 

 which, in consequence, may be regarded as the result of an anxiety to ascribe 

 the honour of the conversion of Ireland to a single individual. Should such a 

 conclusion be ever established, the following passage in the Tripartite Life of 

 St. Patrick, relative to the infidelity of King Lughaidh, and in which the dis- 

 pleasure of the Christian teacher is referred to the Patrick who preached in the 

 reign of Laoghalre, might illustrate the manner in which the writers of the 

 saint's lives constructed their legends for the purpose of transferring the acts of 

 one saint to another : 



" Facta tanta plaga in populo, accedit vir Dei ipsum Regem, eique minatur scelerum suorum 

 praesentem vindictam, subitamque mortem, nisi in Christum credat, desinatque veritati tot prodigiis 

 probata; amplius resistere. Loegarius timore et tremore perculsus, habita ad Proceres concione, 

 concludit praestare sibi credere, quS,m certam, praesentemque mortis subire sententiam. Rex igitur 

 flexis genibus petit veniam, promittit emendationem, et se monita, et doetrinam viri Dei amplexurura. 

 Ipse igitur, et hominum aliquot millia cum eo amplectuntur fidem Christi. Ciim autem vir sanctus 

 videret Regem jam tandem superatum, et in alium hominem mutatum, ait ad ipsum ; quandoquidem 

 meis monitis tandem obtemperaveris, et paratus sis in proposita veritatis via ambulare, nee sceptro 

 nee vita privaberis ; sed annis multis vives, et regnabis : quia tamen mihi et doctrinae caelesti tam 

 pertinaciter restitisti, et in via veritatis, tot signis monstratae, ambulare recusasti, regni sceptrum de 

 semine tuo in fratrum tuorum progeniem transferetur ; tuaque posteritas eorum inserviet posteritati. 

 Tunc Regina Angussa nomine, genua flectens humiliter virum Dei deprecatur, ut istius durae sen- 

 tentia; dignetur mitigare rigorem, et saltern ea non feriatur infans, quern ipsa tunc in utero gestabat. 

 Annuit vir sanctus ejus petitioni, dicens ; mea maledictio ei non nocebit, donee ipse propriis exigen- 

 tibus demeritis raereatur maledici, et mese maledictionis fulmine feriri. Et ita evenisse eventus 

 evidenter monstravit. Nam Lugadius filius, qui tunc in utero matris gestabatur, regnum postea 

 universse HiberniRe obtinuit, tenuitque usque dum quadam die iter agens, venit ad locum quendam 

 Achadh-farcha appellatum ; ubi conspiciens quandam Ecclesiam in coUe positam, ait ; nunquid ilia 

 est Ecclesia istius clerici, qui iniquo prophetiae spiritu, prajdixit nullum de Leogarii patris mei 

 semine Regem vel Principem proditurum ? Et statim ac haec protulit, fulminis e caelo missi, et in 

 Terticem ejus cadentis, ictu extinctus illico interiit. Unde et locus nomen abinde sortitus, Achadh- 

 farcha, i. e. coUis fulminis appellatur."^ — Lib. 1. e. LXVII. Trias Thaum. p. 128, col. I. 



