63 



the same import with, a Phenician colony. Brazen swords, Hke 

 jhose at tlie battle of Cannae, which have been found in our bogs, 

 were only wanted to confirm the belief ; as if arms, made by foreign 

 artists, could not be imported into a martial island, through the 

 medium of commerce, and with the design of barter, without 

 bringing a colony to convey them ! 



Freed from fable, I consider those Feinne a race, probably of 

 Sclavonic extraction, propelled from the E. to the N. parts ctf 

 Prussia ; whence, in conseqvience of encroachment on their 

 W. dominions, or from the report of the discovery of Erin, or 

 from the promise of recompense, they were induced to accom- 

 pany the ISiordmans on an expedition to this mild and fertile isle- 

 As tribes distinct from those, they were allotted, either by the in- 

 vaders or natives, separate districts. And, in process of time, the 

 character of assailants was changed into that of champions in 

 the cause of Ireland, probably by peaceable demeanour and inter- 

 marriage ; at which time the natives and they seemed to con- 

 stitute but one people ; and they were called Fianna Eirionn, 

 perhaps to distinguish them from those of their own country. 



Some settled in Leinster,'*'*- some in the barony of Fermoy ;"'^- 

 and they were, as it appears from their former situation and 

 achievements, a hardy and valiant i-ace, "^''- Some striking 

 facts prove they were Fiiuilanders. Tacitus, for instance, calls 

 them Fenni ; the Irish Feinne. The former says they slept on the 

 ground, and prepared beds for their infants and old men amidst the 



le*. Trans, of the R. Irish Academy, v. 1. p. Si. 



165. Fearmoighe, Fernioy. Fir maighe Peine, i. e. viri campi Phoenlorum seu Phoenicum. 

 Ci'Brien's Diet, in voce- 



16G. Cluv. p. 173. Siepius a Russis obsidione frustra cir.cta. Sunt qui 100,000 Russos ab 

 cxigiia FiiiDorura acic fiisos tradunt. 



