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Roman coins might find their way to Ireland in the com- 

 mon intercourse of trade. They may have been brought by 

 the early Christian missionaries, or by men who fled hither, 

 as to an asylum, from persecution. It is universally admit- 

 ted, says Lanigan, that there were Christian congregations in 

 Ireland before the mission of Palladius in 43 1 , though it is 

 impossible to determine who first introduced Christianity. — 

 It is reasonably conjectm-ed, that during the persecution of 

 Diocletian and Maximian, the only one recorded as having 

 extended to Britain, some Christians, and particularly those 

 of the clerical order, sought refuge in Ireland ; and it is a fair 

 presumption that they would bring with them such articles as 

 were most precious and most easily carried, among which 

 coins and jewels are the chief. There is yet another mode of 

 accounting for these remains of antiquity, not less plausible. 

 The early Irish, like the neighbouring nations, were fond of 

 making predatory excursions. They often landed on the 

 shores of England and Wales, and carried off whatever spoil 

 fell into their hands. They also assisted their friends, the 

 Albanian Scots, whose country they colonized under Carbre 

 Riada, in their wars with the Romans, and may have 

 sometimes returned enriched with treasure, obtained by the 

 sword. 



Of the spoils, by which they were sometimes enriched, it 

 may suffice to mention an instance, extracted from O'Fla- 

 herty's Ogygia. Crimthan Nianair, the 111th Monarch of 

 Ireland, towards the end of the first century, returned 

 from a " foreign expedition, in which he obtained a very 

 rich booty; among which was a golden chariot ; a pair of 

 tables, studded with 300 brilliant gems ; a quilt, of va- 

 rious colours ; a cloak, interwoven with threads of gold ; a 

 sword, engraved with various figures of serpents, which were 

 of the purest gold ; a shield, embossed with refulgent silver 

 studs ; a spear, which always gave an incurable wound ; a 

 sling, so unerring, that it never missed ; two hounds coupled 



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