ANTIQUITIES. 
•was acknowledged, yet his power was sel- 
dom efficient, and the constant dissensions 
of so many small tribes, rendered the island 
an easy prey. 5. In the year 1170, Hen- 
ry II. permitted Richard Strongbow, earl 
of Pembroke, to effect a settlement in Ire- 
land, which laid the foundation of the Eng- 
lish possessions in that country. There are 
however coins of Canute, king of England, 
struck at Dublin, perhaps in acknowledg- 
ment of his power, by the Danish settlers. 
After this period Ireland became, in some 
measure, a commercial country, and her 
history is to be looked for in that of Eng- 
land, with which it is interwoven. Upon a 
review of the more ancient of these histori- 
cal epochs, and of the monuments which 
may be considered as belonging to each, it 
must be considered that the edifices having 
been constructed of wood till the eleventh 
or twelfth century, it cannot be expected 
that any remains of them should exist. 
Stone was chiefly employed in the construc- 
tion of funeral erections of various kinds ; 
nor are barrows wanting in Ireland, being 
hillocks of earth, thrown up in commemo- 
ration of the illustrious dead. Other monu- 
ments, commonly stiled Druidic, may also be 
found in Ireland; such as single stones erect, 
circular temples or rather places of judg- 
ment, and tire like, which may more pro- 
perly be ascribed to the Belgic colony. 
The conversion of Ireland to Christianity 
was followed by the erection of a vast num- 
ber of churches and monasteries, the latter 
being computed to exceed one thousand in 
number ; but all these edifices were origi- 
nally small, and constructed of interwoven 
withs, or hewn wood; for St. Bernard, in 
the twelfth century, mentions a stone 
church as a singular novelty in Ireland: 
But the Scandinavian chiefs must before 
this period have intr oduced the use of stone 
into the castles, necessary for their own de- 
fence against a nation whom they oppress- 
ed ; and sometimes even subterraneous re- 
treats were deemed expedient, of which 
Ware and others have engraved specimens. 
To the Scandinavian period also belong 
what are called the Danes Raths, or circu- 
lar intrenchments ; and some chapels, such 
as those of Glendaloch, Portaferry, Killaloe, 
Saul Abbey, St. Doulach, and Cashel, if we 
may judge from the singularity of the orna- 
ments, which however only afford vague 
conjecture. But of the round castles, call- 
ed Duns in Scotland, and of the obelisks 
engraven with figures or ornaments, few or 
none exist in Ireland. Under the Scandi- 
navians the Irish coinage first dawns. Of 
the eleventh and twelfth centuries many 
monuments, castellated or religious, may 
probably exist in Ireland. Brian Boro, 
king of Munster, having been declared so- 
vereign of Ireland in the year 1002, he dis- 
tinguished himself by his virtues aud cou- 
rage; and Dermid III. A. D. 1041 — 1073, 
was also an excellent and powerful prince. 
Under these monarchs and their successors, 
Terdelvac and Moriertac, the power of the 
Scandinavians was considerably weakened. 
The native chiefs had been taught the ne- 
cessity of fortresses, and were generally de- 
voutly attached to religion ; it is therefore 
to be inferred, that many castles, churches, 
and monasteries now began to be partly 
constructed in stone, by architects invited 
from France and England ; but perhaps the 
round towers were erected by native 
builders. Among smaller reliques of anti- 
quity, the golden trinkets found in a bog 
near Cullen, in the south, deserve mention : 
as gold was found in Gaul, they are perhaps 
ornaments of the ancient chiefs, brought 
from that region. 
It remains now to mention the names of 
some of those authors who have written on 
the antiquities of our own country. Taci- 
tus was an eye-witness to the ceremonies of 
Druidism in England, as the Romans were 
in Wales. To him, to Caesar already refer- 
red to, and to Dio Cassius, we refer, as the 
chief authorities in regard to British history. 
To these may be added JElian, Diodorus Si- 
culus, Strabo, and Pliny. Cluverius, Pez- 
ron, and Pelloutier are more modern, but 
respectable writers on the same subject. 
Of the structures erected by the Britons, 
Abury and Stonhenge may be deemed the 
principal. Relics of a smaller kind are con- 
tinually discovered a few feet beneath the 
surface of the earth. On these Stukely and 
Rowland are the best authorities : the for- 
mer has written a volume on Abury, a tem- 
ple of the Druids, in which is a particular 
account of the first and patriarchal religion, 
and of the peopling of the British islands : 
besides his larger work, entitled “ Itinera- 
rium Curiosum,” being an account of the 
antiquities, &c, observed in travels through 
Great Britain, published in 1724. For the 
history of the Britons under the Roman Go- 
vernment, Horsley’s Brit. Rom. is a work 
that may be depended upon. With respect 
to the antiquities of the Saxons, the illumi- 
nated manuscripts are the best records of 
their manners in the different centuries, and 
the most interesting information respecting 
