ir 



Mr. Ledwich remarks, gave rise to the opinion of Spanish emi- 

 grations, and induced the ancients to state the reports of igno- 

 rant traders as facts.^^- 



As a Scythian or Cantabric Heremon cannot be recognized 

 in Oir-mwnhan, the basis upon which the Milesian history is 

 founded is consequently destroyed; and the whole edifice is razed 

 by two facts ; viz. 



1. That the elements of literature were not known in Ireland, 

 probably, before the fourth century. 



2. That tradition cannot be depended upon beyond a cen- 

 tury. 



OF SCANDINAVIAN INVASION. 



The Rev. Mr. Ledwich, in order to maintain a favourite hy- 

 pothesis, has brought forward the assertions of early writers, in 

 opposition to a generally received opinion. 



He says ; ' it is supposed by many that the great noithern 

 swarm did not arrive here before the beginning of tjie ninth cen- 

 tury ; but from what has been already delivered from Roman 

 writers, domestic traditions, and the evidence of the Irish lan- 

 guage greatly corrupted by Teutonic and Gothic words, it seems 



VOL- XIII. D 



contra aquilonem ea brevior, ita in meridiem se trans illius fines plurimiin protendens, usque 

 contra Ilispcmia septentrionalia pervenit. 



Eccles. Hist. lib. 5. Vencrab. Beda;. 

 37. If the s.ituation of Ireland were in the first century unknown to Strabo, the first geo- 

 grapher of that age, and even in the eighth to the Venerable Bedc, how can it be supposed 

 that Milesiu! could have ascertained it in a much more remote a"e ! 



