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It is equally an ' error to fuppofe that the Irifh chronicles de- 

 rive the blood of their whole nation from thofe Milefians ; for 

 none but their princes and the fpreading branches of their 

 pofterity pretend to trace their families from this honourable 

 fource. 



If genealogies had been preferved in England with the fame 

 attention as they were in Ireland, we fhould probably be afto- 

 nifhed to find as many of our felIow-fubje(Sls, now in poverty 

 and obfcurity, with royal blood flowing in their veins, in one 

 country as in the other. Whoever has read the fhort hiftory of 

 the line of Plantagenet, publijfhed towards the beginning of this 

 century, will be fenfible of the truth of this obfervation. But 

 the Irifh genealogical tables which are ftill extant carry intrinfic 

 proofs of their being genuine and authentic, by their chrono- 

 logical accuracy, and confiftency with each other through all the 

 lines collateral as well as diredl, a confiftency not to be accounted 

 for on the fuppofition of their being fabricated in a fubfequent age 

 of darknefs and ignorance, but eafily explained if we admit them 

 to have been drawn from the fource of real family records and 

 truth. So much of the Irifh hiftory as relates to the names and 

 fucceffion of their princes will certainly ftand againft every rea- 

 Ibnable objedion to its credibility, whatever fufpicion of error, 

 or even fidion, may lie againft other circumftances contained 

 in it. 



As to the high antiquity and long duration of the Milefian 



Dynafty in Ireland, I can difcern nothing incredible in the 



account of it. It is natural to fuppofe that at what time foever 



(D 2) this 



