Mr. Petbie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 53 



hochc. lap in-beir oeic m-bliaona picec Nine Hostages, after having been thirty years in 



hi pije n-Gpenn do Caojaipe mac Neill the government of Ireland, died at the side of 



Naoi^iallai j ac bach I Dcaob Caippi eoip Caisse, between Ere and Alba, two hills, which 



Gpinn ajup Qlbain .1. x>a cnoc lao pein pilec are in Hy-Faolain. And the sun and the wind 



1 n-UiB Paolam, ajup^P'C" °5"r 5"^°'^ pof killed him because he had violated [his oath by] 



mapB porn, up po papaij laoconiD do pin ac them. Of that event the poet said : 

 bepc an pili — 



Qc bach Caojaipe mac Neill, Laoghaire, the son of Niall, died 



pop caoB Caippi, jlap a cip, On the side of Caissi, green its land. 



tJuile De ao paejaio pair, The elements of God, whose guarantee he had 



Cue pac oail m bdip popp cm pi 5. violated. 



Executed the doom of death upon the king. 



The preaching of Christianity in Ireland by Palladius and Patrick, and its 

 alleged establishment by the latter during the reign of this prince, invest that 

 reign with a degree of historical interest which does not appertain to any other 

 portion of Irish history, whether antecedent or subsequent. Yet, though it 

 might naturally be expected, from the importance of the events and the acknow- 

 ledged use of letters in Ireland at this period, that a clear and authentic record 

 of the preaching of the Gospel would be preserved, it must be confessed that 

 the fact is far otherwise. The acts of Patrick, or perhaps the Patricks, for there 

 appear strong grounds for presuming the existence of more than one preacher 

 of the name, are involved in obscurities and contradictions which even the 

 learning and judgment of Ussher and Lanigan, as well as of many others, have 

 failed to penetrate and explain. Still, however, the labour should not be aban- 

 doned as hopeless. Many ancient documents, unknown to, or beyond the reach 

 of former investigators, still exist ; and the examination of these holds out a 

 hope to those w^io may devote their time and learning to the subject, that their 

 exertions may be crowned with success. Such an examination, however, would 

 be as much beyond the limits as it would be foreign to the object of this memoir; 

 but as the preaching of Patrick at Tara is one of those facts on which all autho- 

 rities concur, and as this event is, moreover, connected with some of the remains 

 to be illustrated as still existing on the spot, it will be necessary to give some 

 account of it in this place ; and, for the sake of brevity, this will be given in 

 the condensed abstract furnished by Dr. Lanigan. 



After narrating the progress of St. Patrick, during the latter end of the 

 year 432 and part of 433, until the approach of Easter, when he determined on 



