Limerick.
What is it that makes one nation more antient than another? Is it any thing more than this, that the present race of inhabitants have been longer in possession of their country, than the others have been of theirs? And it cannot be argued that any nation is more antient than that which has so long occupied its present territory, that no time can be pointed out in which it was not in possession. In this predicament stands Ireland. No man can point out the period when the present race was not in possession.
The zealous champions of Ireland may perhaps think, that I pay her but an ill compliment in proving her antiquity, from her adherence to certain heathenish customs. Antiquities, however, of whatever sort, ought carefully to be gleaned up, especially where they are the chief materials for the history of the most early periods. There
The authority of tradition, according to Sir Isaac Newton, is not to be depended upon for above 100 years. At what time letters were first introduced here, cannot, I conceive, be ascertained. The learned Mr. O'Connor admits, that the writing upon vellum was not in use till the time of St. Patrick. All antecedent transactions were inscribed, in very aukward characters, upon tables of wood, called taible filea.
It does not add to the credit of the antient history of Ireland, that it dwells so circumstantially upon the migrations of the Gadelians, from Scythia, through Egypt, Greece, Spain, &c. and yet touches so lightly upon the events of the subsequent periods. The accounts of the times preceding the Irish apostle, are but copious genealogies, or, at best, meagre annals. They tell you, indeed, that a battle was fought in such a spot, and thousands slain; that such a prince, slew such a king, and reigned in his stead; and this is all the information
However, therefore, the indigenal antiquarians of Ireland may declaim on the refinement, politeness, and civilization of their ancestors, candour must make great abatements, upon the review of facts. When we read of the castles of their kings, and the number of Nobles and Knights they entertained in their halls, with their long suite of Bards, Genealogists, and Musicians, we are astonished with an idea of magnificence; but on a nearer approach, these castles — raised like those in romance — shrink into occasional structures of hurdles and scrolls.
It is true, that antiquity and stone buildings are not necessarily connected. Yet it is hard to conceive how written monuments could have been well preserved without them. The several Psalters, as they call them, which contain the most early
It is no disgrace to any country, that the early periods of its history are involved in obscurity; nor are the Irish singular in having discoloured theirs with fable. The French have forged their Francus, as the founder of their name and nation; the Danes their Danus, the Saxons their Saxo, and the Britons their Brutus. Olaus the father wrote two whole folios to prove that Scandinavia was the original globe, where the first men, and the golden apples of the Hesperian gardens grew, with guardian dragons26. Olaus the son has employed a good quarto, in shewing that the Lappish tongue may be traced up to the Hebrew; and that the country is, at this day, the most comfortable portion of the globe to live in, as producing honester men, and better strawberries, than the finest parts of Italy.
The historians of this country should follow the example of Livy, who fairly owns, that he can say nothing with certainty, of the origin of the Romans. By magnifying their antiquities, and by dwelling chiefly upon a millennium, at least, before the vulgar aera, they bring in question, narrations of a more modern date, with such as have neither time nor patience to discriminate truth from falsehood.
On the other hand, the readers of Irish history should not rashly involve it all under the same censure. There is truth in the histories of Arcadia and Attica, though the people of one country boasted of being earth-born, and of the other, that they were prior to the moon. We must not disbelieve that Calisthenes sent agronomical observations from Babylon of above nineteen hundred years standing, because the Chaldeans vaunted of having observed the stars for 47,300 years. Nor must we doubt that the Chinese are a very antient people, because they vainly reckon many thousand years before the Mosaic aera of creation. The degree of credit due to the traditional songs of the Bards, may be measured from the following story, told by Gibson, bishop of London, who translated Camden's
As the Irish had the use of letters, long before they wrote upon vellum, it is not to be doubted, that the reigns of their kings were exactly enough registered, before that improvement in the fifth century. The whole texture of their history shews the utmost attention to their genealogies; the Gavelkind, or Law of inheritance, absolutely requiring an exact knowledge of descents. An order of men, called Senachies were set apart for this study, and had certain lands assigned for their support. Camden enumerates several officers of each chief,
This is no ideal institution, for, long after the English got possession here, it was in full vigour; and several acts have been made, from time to time, to abolish the establishment, and thereby annihilate the influence of the Bards; who, by their songs, were supposed to stir the people up to rebellion. The following translation of an Irish poem, minutely describing the etiquette of the monarch's court at Teamor, may not be unworthy your perusal.
- Ten royal officers for use and state,
Attend the court, and on the monarch wait.
A nobleman, whose virtuous actions grace
His blood, and add new glories to his race.
A judge, to fix the meaning of the laws,
To save the poor, and right the injur'd cause.
A grave physician, by his skilful care,
To ease the sick, and weaken'd health repair
A poet, to applaud, or boldly blame.
And justly give, or infamy, or fame,
For without him, the freshest laurels fade.
And vice to dark oblivion is betray'd.
The next attendant, was an holy priest,
Prophetic fury roll'd within his breast:
Full of his God, he tells the distant doom,
Of kings unborn, and nations yet to come;
Daily he worships at the sacred shrine,
And pacifies the Gods with rites divine;
With constant care the sacrifice renews.
And anxiously the panting entrails views.
To touch the harp, the skill'd musician bends,
And o'er the strings his nimble hands extends.
The sweetest sounds flow from each trembling string,
Soft as the breezes of the breathing spring.
'Tis music's lot the passions to controul,
And tune the harsh discordance of the soul.
The antiquary, by his skill reveals,
The race of kings, and all their offspring tolls.
The spreading branches of the royal line,
Traced out by him, in lasting records shine.
Three officers in lower order stand.
Who, when he dines, attend the king's command.
The very texture of this poem shews it to have been written in the days of Paganism, for the priest therein described is a Druid. They fix the date of it in the reign of Cormic O'Conn, father-in-law to Finn, the son of Comhal, who re-established the Fes of Tarah, in the beginning of the third century.
There is yet another remnant of antient heathenism, which, belonging to the subject
Both the carns and tumuli were not only raised as Mausoleums, where the ashes of the
To the same custom it is, which Horace alludes in his ode to Archytas,
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- Quanquam festinas, non est mora longa, licebit
Injecto ter pulvere curras.
I mentioned to you that the tumuli were falsely ascribed to the Danes, and called Danes-mounts. There is another piece of
Adieu.