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



At Temur to-day I Invoke the mighty power of the Trinity. I beheve in the Trinity under the 

 Unity of the God of the elements. 



Salvation is the Lord's, salvation is the Lord's, salvation is Christ's. May thy salvation, O Lord, 

 be alvtays with us. 



That this hymn is the real composition of St. Patrick it might be difficult 

 to prove satisfactorily ; but that it was considered as his in the seventh century, 

 and is at least a composition of the highest Christian antiquity, can perhaps be 

 proved in as satisfactory a manner as any question of this kind could admit of. 

 Of this early antiquity evidences have been already adduced, to which it may be 

 added that this hymn is distinctly alluded to in Tirechan's annotations on the 

 saint's life, written in the seventh century, and preserved in the Book of 

 Armagh, in which it is stated that his Irish Hymn ought to be sung for ever : 



" Patricius sanctus episcopus honorem quaterna [quaternum ?] et omnibus monasteriis et aecles- 

 siis per totam Hiberniam debet habere, id est. 



" L Sollempnitate dormitationis ejus honorari in medio veris per .iii. dies et .iii. noctes omni 

 bono cibo prseter carnem quasi Patricius veniisset in vita in hostium [hospitem PJ. 



" n. OfTertorium ejus proprium in eodem die immolari. 



" HL Ymnum ejus per totum tempus cantare. 



" IIIL Canticum ejus Scotticum semper canere." — Booh of Armagh, fol. 16, p. a, col. 1. 



But perhaps the strongest proofs of its antiquity are those derived from the 

 internal evidences furnished by the hymn itself, which is so tinged with pagan 

 allusions as to indicate a period for its composition antecedent to the full deve- 

 lopment of the Christian doctrine in the country. A Christian living after the 

 establishment of Christianity would hardly invoke the Deity to protect him from 

 the spells of women, smiths, and Druids ; and that part of the prayer in which 

 the saint places the natural properties of the Creator's works between himself and 

 the powers of evil can find no parallel in any later Christian authorities. Indeed, 

 on this account, and from a comparison of the hymn with those confessedly composed 

 in Ireland in the fifth century — for example, the one composed in praise of Patrick 

 by Secundinus — it may be questioned whether this production would be regarded 

 as orthodox in times subsequent to the assumed period of its composition ; and 

 hence perhaps the remarkable fact, that in all the more modern lives of St. 

 Patrick no allusion is made to it, but rather to the hymn of Secundinus, to the 

 repeating of which, though in Latin, and of considerable length, were annexed 

 the same blessings as those promised to such as should repeat the Hymn of 



