59 



in ancieut Pelasgic letters, ""'• which, in Britain, were known only 

 to the Druids. We are hence instructed, that the sun, which was 

 here worshipped under the name of Beal or Greine, was there 

 also known by the appellation Diomisos ;'^'- a denomination like- 

 wise applied to Bacchus. 



It appears from Irish history, that the power of the Brigantes,* 

 who, unfortunately, were situated between Belgic tribes on the E. 

 and W., was considerably weakened by a rebellion of the lower 

 order, and defection of troops ; while that of the Belgte, on the other 

 hand, was strengthened by the accession of the disaffected Gaoill 

 and by extent of territory. Possessing, in the 2d century, nearly 

 the whole of the present counties of Cork, Kerry, and Limerick» 

 the Belgae afterward wrested a considerable part of the present 

 province of Munster, on the east, fi'om the Brigantes ; and crossing; 

 the Shannon, they seized upon the counties of Clare, Galway, part 

 of Roscommon, and Sligo, which belonged to the Cean-cangi, the 

 allies of the Brigantes and cotemporary settlers. And they finally 

 succeeded in fixing their head quarters in Ulster, whence they 

 occasionally sent foraging parties to spoil the S. of Ireland.^ 



Notwithstanding the numerous wars, which occurred between 

 them and the Gaoill, the history of the former is so intermixed 

 with fable and confused, that, without the light reflected from the 

 works of foreign writers, the historian could neither learn when, 



i2 



160. Quum in reliquis fere publieis privatisque rationibus, Graecis Uteris utaiitur. Coeg. 

 lib. 6. 1.".. The Pelasgic alphabet, which prevailed in Greece before the age of Deucalion, 1529 

 years before Christ, consisted of 16 letters. Origin and Prog, of writing, by T. Astle, p, 53. 



161. Camden, p. 306. 



* It was with this tribe that the Belgae had been chiefly engaged in war. 

 ^ See Keating's History of the Wars between Eibhear and Heremon. 



