67 



says, that Ireland, or the country of the Scots, was a barbarou? 

 island in the year 397 ;''°- and, in 429, he introduces Palladius as 

 the first bishop, prinms episcopus, who was sent hither by Pope 

 Celestine, to preach ' to those believing in Christ' :"'• but Probus, 

 in his life of St. Patrick, affirms, that those wild savages, immites Sf 

 feri homines, would not receive his doctrine ;'*'-• on which account, 

 after a short visit, Palladius passed over to the country of the Picts, 

 where he died. Jocelin gives a similar account. 



We may hence infer, that neither religion nor literature had 

 made any remarkable impression on the Irish before the con- 

 clusion of the 5th century:^""*- and, from the circumstance of the 

 Britons relapsing into Heattenism on the arrival of the Saxons, we 

 may draw a similar inference with regard to them ; arid believe, 

 with Mr. Astle, that writing was very little practised by the Britons 

 before the coming of St. Augustine, A. D. 596.'^''- ijiui 



The state of property, in those days, fluctuated between hopfe 

 and fear ; between strength and weakness ; and that of life seemed 

 equally insecure, insomuch that a certain eruic or tine was thought, 

 as I have before observed, a sufficient atonement for murder. Un- 



K 2 



180. Eaedem, p. 145. 



181. EcEdem, p. 173, el Epitome Annaliutn Cardinalis Baronii a Spoiidaiio, p. 625— cum 

 alioqui ipsam Sestiam jam a tempore Victoris papae &. martyris, evangelium ex parte accepisse 

 plerique consentiant.' 



182. Lloyd's Brit. & Ir. p. 57. 



183. This inference is supported by a curious ancient Irish document, the style and lan- 

 guage of which seem to announce it as authentic. From this we learn, that Laoghaire, the 

 son of Neill, having, in the year 457, been taken in a battle fought against the inhabitants 

 of Leinster, swore by the sun and wind, that, during his life, he would never again demand 

 the tribute for cows. The history continues to inform us, that this toparch, having violated 

 his oalh, was, in consequence, killed by the sun and wind. 



Annals of the Four Masters. 

 1 84-. Orig. & Prog, of writing, p. 96. 



