83 



^"I herewith send you some rough drafts of several peices of Irish 

 antiquities. I could not keep them long enough to employ a proper per- 

 son to draw them, therefore was obliged to do it myself as best I could; 

 yet I hope they will convey an idea of what they are intended to re- 

 present. 



Fig. L 



* ' ' ^o. 1 is the draft of a very thin plate of gold in the possession of 

 his Excellency my Lord Chancellour : his Lordship thinks that it was 

 a breastplate, and told me that some of our Irish historians mention that 

 a king of Ireland ordered his nobles to wear a gold breastplate, to dis- 

 tinguish them from the common people. As his Lordship could not 

 remember who the author is, I cannot give you the quotation ; but my 



* See Keating's " History of Ireland," p. 1.B2. He says " that Mainhearahoin, Monarch 

 of Ireland, ordained that the gentlemen of Ireland should wear a chain about their necks, 

 to distinguish them from the populace ; he also commanded helmets to be made, with the 

 neck and forepieces of gold. These he designed as a reward for his soldiers, and bestowed 

 them upon the most deserving of his army. His son Alderogdh was the first prince 

 who introduced the wearing of gold rings in Ireland, which he bestowed upon persons of 

 merit, that exercised in the knowledge of the arts and sciences, or were any other way 

 particularly accomplished. — W. Norms, Sec, 1756." 



