of the country, in which Hereman acquired sovereign authority, and reigned for a period of fourteen years.

In these early periods of Irish history very few incidents could have occurred worthy of our particular attention, or of much interest to the general reader, however profoundly antiquarians may dispute about them. It would be quite beyond the scope of this little work to dwell on such matters, or to interfere in such mysterious disputes; those who may wish to become acquainted with them, must seek for information in more cumbrous volumes. With respect to the government of the country, the monarchical form, adopted by Milesius, seems to have been maintained, without interruption, until the arrival of the English in the twelfth century; and Eochaidh IX., who reigned a thousand years later than Hereman, was the person who erected the petty provincial kingdoms, an impolitic and disastrous proceeding, which led to interminable intestine wars, feuds, and rivalships, and to that proverbial disunion and mistrust, which had no small share in eventually overturning the monarchy.

The provincial kings were originally intended to be the subjects of the supreme monarch, and

not independent dynasties, and to be tributaries to his crown; but enjoying, as they did, the important privilege of electing his successor, and administering justice in their own names, they gradually assumed a more independent position, and on some occasions declared war against him, or dethroned him. In order to guard against the fatal confusion which a contest for the crown would necessarily create, and perhaps to secure the influence of the reigning monarch in the nomination of his successor, it became customary to elect a successor in his lifetime, who was denominated Tainiste; and hence the law regulating the election of such successor was called the law of Tainistry. This law, as herein after mentioned, was wholly abolished, and the English law of primogeniture, whereby the heir at law, whether male or female, took all heritable property, substituted in its place.

The candidate for the crown should prove his descent from one of the three sons of Milesius, by the registry of his family, and the psalter of Tarah ; he should also be a knight of the golden chain, Niadh Niask, so called from

a golden chain worn on the neck. This was the only title known by the Milesians after the title of king, and was created by Munemon, 729 years before the birth of Christ, that is, after they had been some centuries in Ireland; from which it is manifest that the Milesians brought no titles of distinction, of any description, from Spain.*

The election of a Tainiste did not, however, always prove either satisfactory or decisive, nor was the Milesian succession unbroken. We are told that Carbre Cincait, of plebeian origin, obtained the crown of Ireland by one of the most barbarous and diabolical conspiracies recorded in the dark history of human perfidy. Three persons, named Carbre, Monarch, and Brien, formed a conspiracy to destroy the supreme monarch, provincial kings, and princes throughout Ireland, and to seize on the throne; for which purpose they prepared a magnificent feast at a place afterwards appropriately named Moy Cru, in the province of Connaught, to which they invited their intended victims: the feast continued for nine days, when, on a signal given, a band of hired assassins fell suddenly

"Histoire de l'Irelande," par M. l'Abbé McGeoghegan.

on the company, and slaughtered them without distinction of age or sex. The queen miraculously escaped and fled to Scotland, her native country, where she gave birth to a son, named Tuathal. Carbre Cincait usurped the throne of Ireland, and committed, as might be expected, numerous acts of spoliation and cruelty; he destroyed many important and valuable monuments of antiquity, and records, desiring thereby to efface the recollection of former times, but his unprosperous disloyalty failed to establish a new dynasty. The throne was afterwards restored to the Milesian line, in the person of Tuathal, the posthumous son of the monarch so treacherously murdered at the plebeian feast.

The foregoing massacre reminds us of the destruction of the people of Thessalonica, the metropolis of the Illyrian provinces, whom Theodosius, to avenge the murder of Botheric, blindly committed to the undistinguishing sword of the barbarians. The people were invited, in the name of their sovereign, to the games of the circus, and when assembled, the soldiers received the signal of a general massacre; the carnage continued for three hours, without discrimination, when, on the lowest

estimate, Gibbon assures us, seven thousand were slain.

A similarly treacherous massacre is related of the Spanish governor of Cuba, at Xaragua. He set out with a strong force, fully equipped for action, on the pretence of going to pay a friendly visit to Anacoana, the cacique of a remote district, and to make some arrangement for the payment of tribute, but in reality to overturn her authority, on a vague and groundless suspicion of her disaffection towards his government. Anacoana assembled her tributary caciques and provincial people, to receive Ovando with all the respect due to a Spanish governor, and went forth to meet him attended by a train of her most distinguished subjects, male and female, treating him with all possible distinction. For several days the Spaniards were entertained with all the luxuries of the province, and with songs, dances, and games for their amusement. Notwithstanding all the kindness thus displayed, and the uniform generosity and integrity of her conduct, Ovando persisted in his inhuman design: he invited the Indians to witness a tilting match in the public square, before the house in which he was quartered; the soldiers had received their in