147 
* tles and in foreign wars. It was he who first ordained a chief 
“ over every district and a Brughaidh (Brooee) over every town, 
« and all their services to the Monarch of Ireland. He was the 
“ first king by whom was held the Fes * of Tara, in the College 
“ of Professors in Tara, &c.”° 
The Monarch Ollav Folla ascended the throne of Ireland A. M. 
3236, and reigned forty years. By the above quotation we see, that 
he not only promulgated laws himself, but that one cause of his be- 
ing chosen by the people of Ireland to rule over them, was on ac- 
count of his great knowledge and learning by which he might 
« preserve the laws and regulations already established.” 
It would perhaps be unnecessary to produce further authorities 
from native Irish writers, to prove the existence of written laws in 
this country at an early period ; but on this subject it may not be 
improper to cite the authorities of Archbishop Usher, Edward 
Lhwyd, author of the Archelogia Britannica, Sir James Ware, and 
Doctor Nicholson, Bishop of Derry. The first of these, in his 
“ Discourse shewing when and how the imperial laws were received 
“ by the old Irish,” says, « The Irish never received the Imperial 
« Law, but used still their own Brehon Laws, which consisted 
“ partly of the ordinances enacted by their kings and chief gover- 
** nors, whereof THERE ARE LARGE VOLUMES STILL EXTANT IN THEIR 
** OWN LANGUAGE.” 
The learned Welsh antiquary, Edward Lhwyd, in a + letter to 
the Royal Society, informs that learned body, ‘‘ that he had pro- 
“ cured, in divers parts of Ireland, about twenty or thirty manu- 
“ scripts on parchment; and though he consulted O'Flaherty, au- 
*¥Fes, a parliament or assembly of the States of Ireland, held at the commencement of 
winter, in every third year. 
4, Published in Baddam’s abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions, vol. 5. p. 492. 
