490 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 86- 



known, with tlie exception of William Ogilvie, Pro- 

 fessor of Humanity in King's College, Old Aberdeen, 

 Author of a profound and original ' Essay on the 

 Right of Property in Land.'" 



The book itself is, in some respects at lenst, well 

 worthy of attention, and especially at the present 

 moment, when the subject it embraces presses itself 

 upon all men's consideration. On emigration, for 

 instance, Ogilvie has some anticipatory views : 

 thus he observes with truth : 



" To Increase the prosperity and the happiness of 

 the greater number, is the primary object of govern- 

 ment, and the increase of national happiness must be 

 the increase of national strength. Is it not then the 

 duty, and perhaps also the interest of every legislature 

 in the West of Europe to promote the emigration of 

 its less opulent subjects, until the condition of the 

 lower classes of men at home be rendered nearly as 

 comfortable as the condition of the same classes in the 

 new settlements of North America? " — Pp. 50, 51. 



Just now, when the Property Tax is to receive 



the mature consideration of the legislature, the 



following passage, which also anticipates the public 



j feeling as expressed lately by an iiilluential part 



of the press, deserves to be cited : 



" Without regard to the original value of the soil, 

 the gross amount of property in land is the fittest 

 subject of taxation ; and could it be made to support 

 the whole expense of the public, great advantages would 

 arise to all orders of men. What then, may it be said, 

 would not, in that case, the proprietors of stock in 

 trade, in manufactures, and arts, escape taxation, that 

 is, the proprietors of one-half of the national income? 

 They would indeed be so exempted ; and very justly, 

 and very profitably for the state; for it accords wit/i 

 ilte best interests of the conimunitij through successive gc- 

 7)erulions, that active progressive iNoasruv should be 



EXEMPTED, IF POSSIBLE, FROM EVEKV PUBLIC BURTHEN, 



and that the whole weight should be laid on that quiescent 

 stock, which has been formerly accunmlated, as the reward 

 of an industry which is now no longer exerted." — P. 207. 



In another work on political economy, Sir James 

 has also recorded his opinion, and indicated some 

 passages, which have been copied by Godwin. 

 The work is : Doiitex Proposes mix Plulosophcs 

 Economistes sur V Ordre Naturel et -Essentiel des 

 Societes Politiques, par M. VAbbe de Mabiy : a la 

 Haye, 1768, 8vo. 



" This book is a greater mixture of sense and non- 

 sense than any other I ever read. What he says 

 against the Political jargon of the Economists, their 

 evidence and their de^polisine legal, is perfectly well r.^a- 

 soned. His own system of ascribing all evils to the 

 Institution of Separate Property is too absurd for any 

 serious discussion." 



It is pleasant to have these recorded opinions 

 of such a man as Mackintosh on books the sub- 

 jects of which he had deeply meditated. Indeed, 

 to me there is a great charm in such private 

 memoranda of a distinguished and able man, giving 



the passing impression on his mind in the course 

 of his reading. S, W. Singer. 



Mickleham, June 7. 1851. 



NOTES ON IBELANS, NO. I. 

 Notes on Ireland's Freedom from Serpents. 



That Ireland was infested with venomous rep- 

 tiles before St. Patrick's time, that he banished 

 them, '■'■and that serpents cannot survive in Ireland," 

 is a well-known tradition, and one universally re- 

 ceived amongst the native Irish. In Christian 

 symbolism it was usual to designate sin or Pa- 

 ganism by a serpent or dragon, find saints who 

 converted heathen nations, or subdued the evil 

 promptings of their own nature, were represented 

 with a serpent or dragon beneath their feet. 

 Thus, St. Patrick, by preaching the doctrine of the 

 Cross, and uprooting Paganism, may be said to 

 have banished venomous serpents from Ireland. 

 In his case, however, the symbol may have had a 

 deeper meaning, if, as many (and with great pro- 

 bability) think, serpent wo?'sh>p formed part of 

 that Oriental heathenism which obtained in early 

 times in Ireland. 



Dr. GeofTry Keating, in his History of Ireland 

 (in the Irish language), which he completed about 

 the year 1625, says: "Saoilim gurab do an deamh- 

 naihh gairmithear naith^-eacha nimlie i m-beathaidh 

 Patraic" (" I think that by the serpents spoken 

 of in the life of St. Patrick were meant demons"). 

 Serpents figure among the carvings and hieroglj'- 

 phical ornaments on some of the remnants of 

 Irish antiquity which still puzzle our antiquaries. 

 On Cruach Padruig, in Mayo, there is a sort of 

 tarn which still bears the name of Loch na Pheiste, 

 or the Serpent's Lake ; and one of " the Two 

 Lakes," whence Gleandaloch derives its name, has 

 the same appellation. 



Solinus, who flourished at the close of the second 

 century, notices, I believe, the strange fact of 

 Ireland's having an immunity from reptiles; Isidore 

 and Bede, in the seventh and eighth centuries, 

 respectively repeat the assertion. iJonatus, Bishop 

 of Fesulcp, who flourished about the middle of the 

 ninth century, says, in a Latin poem on his native 

 country : 



" Nulla venena nocent ; nee Serpens scrpit in herba ; 

 Nee conquesta canit garrula liana lacu 

 In qua Scotorum gentes habitare merentur; 

 Inclyta gens bominum, milite, pace, fide." 



"Rana." A note on this word in Montgomery's 

 Poetry of Ireland declares : 



" However fabulous this may appear. It is certain 

 that Frogs were formerly unknown in this country : 

 they were first propagated here from spaw7i introduced 

 as an experiment by a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, 

 in 1(396." 



Joceline of Furnes, Sir James Ware, Fynes 



