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fea to fea (which pofTibly was no more thaii from the Clyde to 

 the Forth). And laftly, that they efiabhihed therafelves in Scot- 

 land about the year 396. 



Let us now fee how all this agrees with the Iriih hiflories 

 of thofe times. It appears by the Irith chronicles, now extant, that 

 Niall Niagallach, monarch of all Ireland, began his reign in 373, 

 and reigned twenty-fcven years. This prince is one of the 

 greateft heroes of the Irifh, and his exploits in Britain are parti- 

 cularly extolled ; in one of which expeditions the celebrated St. 

 Patrick is faid to have been carried prifoner into Ireland. He 

 was the firft (as they affert) that gave the name of Scotia to the 

 country poffeffed by the Irifli colonies in Britain. They name 

 alfo a general of the Dalriads who affifted him with his forces 

 at the latter end of his reign, but no king of that country is 

 mentioned 'till Fergus the fon of Earca ; who, according to 

 them, firft eftablillied the independent kingdom of the Scots. 

 Now the return of the Scots into Britain is placed by their own 

 writers anno 396, which was about four years before the death 

 of this monarch. So that thefe relations agree fufficiently with the 

 Irifh accounts to render both very admiffible ; and to mitigate the 

 ridicule which a late Scottifh antiquarian is pleafed to throw upon 

 the imaginary exploits of the redoubtable Niall : Since almoft the 

 whole of that period, wherein we read that the Romans, Britons, 

 Huns, Pi£ts, Scots and Irifh were engaged in a bloody war, was during 

 the reign of this prince ; during which, in the alliance of thefe bar- 

 barous nations againft the Romans and Britons, the Irifh feem to 

 have taken the lead, not only by affording an afylum to a diftrefTed 

 people after their defeat, but by affifting afterwards to reftore 



them 



