IRELAND. 



f nfpicion of any, carry his head-peece, his fkean or piftol if 

 lie pleafe, to be alwayes in readinefs." In like manner he 

 confiders the lon^ liaii- or glibbe as. fcrving tlic purpofe of 

 concealment. The Iii(h cry, or /mliiil/ as he calls it, which 

 tlie kerne or foldicry ufe at their firft encounter, he alfocon- 

 liders of Scythian origin ; and alfo the calling upon the name 

 of fome chieftain, as Ferragh fonullance, which he fuppofes 

 to be the name of a chief under whom they fought fuccefs- 

 fuUy againft the Africans. To this he adds their lamen- 

 tations at their burials, " with difpairful out-crycs and im- 

 moderate waylings," which favour greatly of the Scythian 

 barbarifin. Our ingenious author next proceeds to (hew 

 that the Irifh arms and weapons are Scythian, and the fame 

 alfo as thofe ufed by the old Scots, who were of the fame 

 ilock ;- that the Irifn refemblcd the Scythians in their con- 

 fufed kind of march without order or array ; and alfo in cer- 

 tain religious ceremonies. From all thefe circum (lances he 

 infers that the Irifh are anciently deduced from the Scytliians. 

 He afterwards adduces cuftoms derived from the Spaniards 

 and Gauls in proof of colonies of them having been ella- 

 bhlhcd in Ireland, but they are fewer in number and lefs re- 

 markable. The ufe of faffron (hirts, the giving the charge 

 of all houfhold affairs at home and abroad to their women, 

 the manner in which thefe fat on horfe-back, with a few 

 others, are ttated as of Spanifh origin ; whilft the ufe of 

 long darts and wicker fhields is mentioned as derived from 

 the Gauls. Such is Spenfer's opinion refpecting the origin 

 of the Irifh, founded, as may be feen, on conjcftures, for 

 the inferences drawn from cuiloms can fcarcely deferve any 

 other name. The colony from Spain, which he admits, 

 though he fpeaks doubtfully of the origin of the people, 

 and gives no particulars, is laid great ftrefs on by the ad- 

 vocates for the ancient glory of Ireland. " Not to fpeak of 

 the original fettlement by Partholan," fays Dr. Leland, "it 

 is maintained that about 500 years before the Chriftian era, a 

 colony of Scythians, immediately from Spain, fettled in 

 Ireland, and introduced the Phoenician language and letters 

 into this country ; and that however it might have been peo- 



Eled ftill earlier, yet Heber, Heremon, and Ith, the 

 )ns of Milefius, gave a race of kings to the Irifh, diilin- 

 guifhed from their days by the names of Gadelians and 

 Scuits or Scots. Hence their writers trace a gradual re- 

 finement of their country from a ftate of barbarous feuds, 

 faftions, ?nd competitions ; until the monarch, celebrated 

 in their annals by the name of OUam-Fodla, eftaWiOied a re- 

 gular form of government, ercdled a grand feminary of 

 learning, and intlituted the Fes, or triennial convention of 

 provincial kings, priefls, and pt^ets, at Teamor or Tarch, 

 in Meath, for the eilablifhment of laws and regulation of 

 government. Keating, the Irifh hifcorian, who tranfcribed 

 his accounts from poetical records, mentions little more of 

 this boafted affembly, than that its great objeft was to intro- 

 duce civility, and to guard againfl tliofe crim.es which pre- 

 dominate in days of rudenefs and violence. The magnificent 

 detail of its grandeur and fole.mnity, the fcrupulous atten- 

 tion paid by its members to the national hiftory, annals, and 

 genealogies, are nothing more (as I am afiincd) than the 

 interpolations of an ignorant and prciumptuous tranflator. 

 But whatever were the intUtutions of this monarch, it is 

 acknowledged that they foon proved too weak for the wil4- 

 nefsand dilorder of the time. To Kimba'ii, one of his fuc- 

 ceffors, the annalifls give the honour of reviving tliem ; bc- 

 fides that of regulating Ulller, his family province, and 

 adorning it by the (lately palace of Eamania, erefted near 

 Armagii." One of his fuccelTors, to fecure his power, di- 

 vided the ifland into twenty-live dynallies, inflead of live ; 

 but the pencarcbul government was rcltoreil about a century 



before the Chriftian era. Anarchy, fedition, and muni r 

 cpntinued prevalent, notwithftanding the wife laws oct 1- 

 lionally enaftcd ; and an Irifli chieftain is faid to have aJ- 

 dreffed himfclf to Agricola, and to have encouraged him 

 to make a defcent on Ireland. Thofe, however, wlro 

 warmly contend for the honour of Ireland, fay that fucli 

 defcent would not have been effeftua! ; and record with 

 triumph that t.he Irifli monarch of this time, inflead of 

 dreading an invafion of the Romans, failed to the afTillance 

 of the Pifts, led an irruption into the Roman province, and 

 returned in triumph laden with foreign fpoils. After this, 

 the old Firbolgs or Belgic inhabitants grew fo powerful 

 and turbulent as to ellabUfh a mo:iarch of their own race, 

 and to harai's the country by what was called the Atta- 

 cotic war. Tuathel, a Milelian prince, reflorcd the power 

 of his family ; and in the time of his grandfon, in the third 

 century, Finn, the fon of Comhal, better known by the 

 narne of Firgal, is faid to have lived, and to have been 

 general of his troops. The fucceflion of kings of the Mi- 

 lefian family, to the year 1198, is faid to have been 171. 



General Vallancey, who has paid very great attention to 

 the a:!tiquities of Ireland, and whofe great learning and per- 

 fonal refpcftability, as well as his exertions for tlie good of 

 fociety, fhould fecure him from petulant and wanton abufe, 

 has, in his " Vindication of the ancient Hiflory of Ireland,'' 

 maintained tire truth of the leading fafts mentioned by 

 Keating and others. The Scythians, by whom the country 

 was peopled, were, according to him, not the Northern, 

 but Southern Scythians, the fame people as the Phccnicians, 

 who are to be dillinguiihed from the Canaanites, and were 

 the navigators of the latter, acknowledged as fuhjcfts. but 

 never admitted to a (hare in the government, or to the rank 

 of nobleffe. They had the ufe of letters, a knowledge of 

 aflronomy, of marine aftronomy in particular, and of navi- 

 gation ; but had no knowledge of the fine arts, their reli- 

 gion forbidding it. Thefe Phcsnicians are fuppofed to have 

 been originally Perfians or Indians, proceeding from that 

 eaftern dillricl, the fuppofed fcurce of all civilization ; and 

 the late writers on Indian antiquities produce many circum- 

 ftances tending to eftablifli a knowledge of Ireland in that 

 oriental people, and an intercourfe with it at a very early 

 period. It would occupy more room than the nature of a 

 Cyclopaedia would allow, to enter upon the arguments ad- 

 duced by the learned general in fupport of his opinions. 

 Suffice it to fay, that they chiefly rell on the etymology of 

 nam.es, on a refemblance in certain words, and on a relcm- 

 blance alfo in certain religious ceremonies and old cufloms, 

 which are thought to have originated in fire-worfhip, which 

 is fuppofed to have been once prevalent throughout Ireland. 

 The Rev. Dr. Ledwich, author of an elaborate work on 

 the " Antiquities of Ireland," endeavours, with all the 

 eagernefs of a partfzan, to expofe and ridicule all preten- 

 fions to early civdization. He contends that Ireland was 

 firll peopled from Great Britain by the Celts, who were 

 wandering favages, of whom little is recorded, and that little 

 proclaims their ignorance and barbarifm. The Belga; and 

 other northern tribes afterwards fettled in it ; and it had at 

 no time arrived to a greater degree of improvement than 

 when vifited by the Enghfh under Henry 1 1. To be quali- 

 fied to form an opinion on the preceding fubjedl wou'd re- 

 quire a long courfe of ttudy, the acquilition of languages 

 of little ufe except to the antiquary, and the perufal of 

 many volumes in the higheft degree dry and uninterefling ; 

 and after all, fuch is the want of written documents of an 

 early date, that the mod we could arrive at would be pro- 

 bable conjefture. Afthe fame time, it does not appear 

 improbable, much lefs abfurd to fuppofe, that the Plia;ni- 

 4 Clang 



