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sition of the far famed religion they commemorate, and of the of- 
fices and character of its ministers. All are aware, that the priests of 
Druidism were the great depositories of every branch of civil and 
ecclesiastical learning, such as had been cultivated in their times. 
Their history is intimately interwoven with the universal history of 
ancient Europe ; and, as such, it founds the grand basis of national 
history, in its most comprehensive view. It is not the detail of these 
human butcheries, called “ the conquests of empires ;” it is the 
pleasing and instructive narrative of the noblest progress of the 
human mind—of the arts, institutions, and useful discoveries of 
mankind. ‘The prejudices of modern education may be opposed 
to this inquiry ; but for many it will have attractions, as powerful, 
at least, as the unedifying and absurd mythology of Greece and 
Rome. 
There is another motive for introducing this interesting inquiry. 
Some have thought proper to deny the validity of the pagan history 
of Ireland, on the assumption, that the Irish were unacquainted 
with the use of letters, down to the period of their conversion to 
Christianity. A knowledge of the constitution of our pagan priest 
hood is, in itself, abundantly adequate to remove the strange de- 
ception, which some of our learned Druids of the present day, the 
Rev. Mr. Innes and Dr. Ledwich for instance, have happened to 
entertain, even to a degree of dogmatism. One doubt produces 
many: the Doctor has denied not only the learning of his Druidic 
predecessors, but he also denied the existence of St. Patrick! I 
am not disposed to impute wilful infidelity : indeed I-feel bound to 
ascribe this sceptic spirit to a total ignorance of the early and ge- 
nuine annals of the country, and of the language in which they 
are conveyed. ‘This prime defect, in the qualifications of a national 
historian, has been universally acknowledged by the unbelievers 
