IRELAND. 



X:ians miVht have coloi^izcd Ireland at an early period, and 

 introduced tlioir laws, cuftoms, and knowledge, with a 

 comparatively high (late of civilization ; and that thefe 

 ithight have been gradually loll amidlt the difturbances of 

 the country, and at Ja!l completely deftroycd by the irrup- 

 tions of the Oilmen, fo as to have reduced Ireland to a bar- 

 barous flatc, previous to the Englifli invafion. 



The converfion of Ireland to Ciuillianity is generally at- 

 ^ibuted to Patrick, who has been called the " tutelar faint 

 of Ireland." He is faid to have landrd ui Ireland A.D. 430. 

 The people were, however, prepared for his preaching by 

 the labours of fome former milTicnaries. Notwithllandiug 

 the introduction of Chrillianity, the petty princes and 

 people retained their ferocity of manners ; and the annals 

 abound in horrid inilauccs of revenge, and hideoijs effcdts of 

 avarice and ambition. " Yet Chrillianity, as then taught,"' 

 fays Dr. Leland, " although it could not eradicate, at lead 

 retrained the national vices. A numerous body of ecc'e- 

 fiaftics, fccular and regular, quickly fwarnied over the 

 whole country- ; frequently became umpires between con- 

 tending chieftains ; and when they could not confine them 

 vithin the bounds of reafon and religion, at 'eall terrified 

 them by denouncing vengeance againil their exceffes. An 

 ignorant people Hdened to their tales of pretended miracles 

 with a religious horror. In the midft of every provincial 

 conteft, and every domelHc ilrife, they were facred and in- 

 violate. They foon learned to derive their own emolua^ent 

 from the public veneration. The infant chiuxh was everv 

 where amply endowed, and the prayers of holy men repaid 

 by large donations. Seme of the oldeft remains of Iri(h 

 literature, as they have been explained to me, inform us, 

 that the people were taught to dedicate the firll-born of all 

 cattle to the church, as a matter of indifpenfible obligation. 

 But if the clergy thus acquired riches, they applied them to 

 the nobleft purpofes. The monks, fays Mr. O'Connor, 

 fixed their habitations in deferts, which they cultivated with 

 their own hands, and rendered the moft delightful fpots in 

 the kingdom. Thefe deferts became cities ; and it is re- 

 markable enough, that to the monks we owe fo ufeful an 

 inllitution in Ireland, as bringing great numbers together 

 into one civil community. In thefe cities the monks fet up 

 fchools, in which they educated the youth, not only of the 

 ifland, but of the neighbouring nations. The teftimony of 

 Eede is unqueftionable, that about the middle of the feventh 

 century, in the days of the venerable prelates Lininn and 

 Colman, many nobles and other orders of the Anglo-Saxons 

 retired from their own country into Ireland, either for in- 

 ftruftion, or for an opportunity of living in mGnafteries of 

 flrifter difcipline ; and that the'Scots (as he ftyles the Iriili) 

 maintained them, taught them, and furnilhed them with 

 books, without fee or reward: — a moll honourable teiii- 

 mony, fays the elegant lord I<yttelton, not only to the 

 learning, but likewife to the hofpitality and bounSy of that 

 nation ! A conflux of foreigners to a retired ifland, at a 

 time when Europe was in ignorance and confufion, gave pe- 

 culiar luftre to this feat of learning : nor is it improbable or 

 furprifing that feven thouf^nd (Indents ftudied at Armagh, 

 agreeably to the accounts of Irifli writers ; though the fe- 

 minary of Armagh was but one of thofe numerous colleges 

 erefted in Ireland. But the labours of the Irilh clergy were 

 not con.lned to their own country. Their millionancs were 

 Tent to the continent. They converted heathens ; they con- 

 firmed believers ; they eredled convents ; they ellablilhed 

 fchools of learning; they taught the ufe of letters to the 

 Saxons and Normans ; they converted the Pidls, by the 

 preaching of Columb-kill, one of their renowned eccle- 

 liailics. Burgundy, Germany, and ether countries received 



their inftruftions : and Europe with gratitude confefiTed the 

 fupcrior knowledge, the piety, the zeal, the purity of the 

 " Idand of Saints." Sucli are the events on which Irilh 

 writers dwell with an enthufiaftic delight. The firll Chrif- 

 tian niiflionaries feem to have induftrioully avoided all un- 

 necelFary violence to the ancient manners of the Irilh. Their 

 poets they favoured and protetled ; the remains of the 

 Druidical order were not perfecuted ; and although divine 

 vengeance was thundered againil the worfliippers of the fun,, 

 ftars, and winds, it is evident that fome Pagan fuperilitions 

 were overlooked with too great indulgence, for they fubfill 

 at this day in Ireland : fires are lighted up at particulate 

 times, and the more ignorant Irifli Hill drive their cattle 

 through thofe fires, as an efl"e(5lu-jl means of preferving them 

 from future accidents." Such is the ahftradl given by Le- 

 land, in his preliminary difcourfe of the introduction and: 

 ellabliihment of Chrillianity. Dr. Ledwich, however, not 

 only gives a different account of thefe, but even calls iu- 

 qi'.eftion the exiilence of St. Patrick, regarding him as aii' 

 ideal perfonage. He fuppofes, and with great appearance 

 of reafon, that Ciirillianity, which had been brought to 

 Gaul by Pothinus and Irena^us, difciples of Polycarp, who- 

 had been himfelf inllructed by John the Evangelill,, from 

 Gaul reached Britain, and from Britain was carried to Ire— 

 land, in the third or fourth century,., as early as the fup- 

 pofcd time of St. Patrick, or even earlier. It feems a 

 Ih-ong circumflance in favour of this opinion, that the Iridi 

 Chiilhans, or the Saxons converted by them, did not ac- 

 knowledge the Roman pontiff till long after the reft of the 

 Chrillian world ; which would not have been the cafe, had 

 their inflruttion proceeded from one fent in;;r.cc!iatt;ly from 

 Rome to convert them, as Patrick is fa, J '. .If 



fuch a perlbn as Patrick really preached l !,._>- 



land, it feems at lead to be certain that liv. .' .iLs 



affigncd to him are monkifli inventions, bii: iiiat his cpif— 

 copal dignity, and many other circumllances recorded, are- 

 without foundation. Cohmiha appears to have been the 

 founder of the Irifii monaluries ; and, like the Scotch, the 

 Culdee fedt was prevalent amongil them, and was not com-^ 

 pletely overthrown until pope Adrian, in the plenitude of 

 his prefumption, bellowed Ireland on Henry II. in 1155". 



See CULDEES. 



Ireland was divided into five feparate kingdoms,- and in 

 each of thefe were powerful and factious dynailies. All 

 indeed acknowledged one monarch, but his power was re- 

 markably weakened ; and if the people were not wretched, 

 it was becaufe the evils of their political conllitution vvere.- 

 in fome meal'ure correiled by the reverence paid to rcligicii 

 and learning. As the armies colledted by fuclv govern- 

 ments are temporary, they are ill calculated for refilling a . 

 foreign invafion ; and fuch was found to be the cafe in Ire- 

 land. Bede mentions, that, iu 6S4, the general of Egfrid,, 

 king of Northumberland, made a dcfcent on Ireland. But 

 inflead of mentionirg any gallant refillancc made by the 

 natives, he infinuates 1*1131 they trudcd more to prayers than 

 arms ; .and in the plaintive dyle of compafGon laments the 

 miferable havock of a people, inofTeniive, and ever molt 

 friendly to the Englidi. But Ireland experienced a dill 

 more formidable invafion, when the Danes, Norwegians, and 

 other Scandinavian adventurers began to rove in iearch of. 

 new fettlemcnts. Thefe were called Normans,, EUerlings, 

 or Oilmen, and alfo Galls or foreigners. Their piratical 

 expeditions commenced about the end of the eighth cen- 

 tury, and whillt they infeded England and France, Ireland 

 did not efcape. Their firfl invalions were made in fmalL 

 parties for the fake of plunder, and were frequently re- 

 puliied. By degrees the iiiv,-;sicri, cither by force or ti-caty,. 



obtained 



