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The precision with which the annalists have recorded events, and the general truth of these records when they speak of definite facts, is susceptible of strong confirmation. They state, for instance, that about the tenth hour of the third of May, 664, an eclipse of the sun occurred. Now, it is obvious that nothing but an observation of the fact could have enabled the annalist to make this record; for, even down to a late date, the knowledge of astronomy was so imperfect, that the precise hour of an eclipse so long passed could not have been determined. The Venerable Bede attempted to calculate the period of the same eclipse, and, led astray by his ignorance of a yet undetected error of the Dionysian cycle, by which the equations of the sun and moon were affected, declared that the annalist was mistaken. This circumstance, for a time, threw great distrust upon these records; but, at length, a more perfect knowledge of his science has enabled the astronomer to calculate past eclipses with certainty; and it is now found, by such calculations, that, during the year, the day, and the hour stated by the annalist, an eclipse of the sun actually occurred.

In addition to this evidence, I need but quote one authority, which will be sufficient to satisfy

"The

every mind, in relation to these annals. chronicles of Ireland," says Sir James Mackintosh, "written in the Irish language, from the second century to the landing of Henry Plantagenet, have been recently published, with the fullest evidences of their genuineness and exactness. The Irish nation, though they are robbed of many of their legends by this authentic publication, are yet by it enabled to boast that they possess genuine history several centuries more ancient than any other European nation possesses in its present spoken language. They have exchanged their legendary antiquity for historical fame. Indeed, no other nation possesses any monument of literature, in its present spoken language, which goes back within several centuries of the beginning of these chronicles."

It is my purpose, hereafter, to give an outline of the early authentic history of Ireland. I have yet been speaking only of that portion of it which precedes even the beginning of what has been regarded as the regular commencement of Irish history. But I wish now to present distinctly to the notice of the reader the antiquity of the Irish nation, in connection with another fact, that the Irish people are, at the

present day, a nation of Celts, and use as their mother tongue the language of those most ancient of all European settlers. I present to your consideration the circumstance, that here in this little island, and here alone, is a sample of that mighty outpouring of nations, which first broke across the Uralian Mountains nearly four thousand years ago, and continued for ages, like successive eruptions of volcanic lava, to overspread the north of Europe. I present to your consideration the fact, that, at the present day, you see in the Irish, as it were, a colony of those ancient Celts, transferred from antiquity into our immediate presence, with the same blood beating in their veins, with the same physical characteristics, and speaking essentially the same language, as those who existed even before the time of Solomon.

I know not how it may strike others, but to me this subject is full of interest. How is it to be accounted for, that, of all the numberless millions that must have passed from Asia into Europe, under the general name of Celts, every where but in Ireland they should have been supplanted by other tribes, their national existence obliterated, and their language forever blotted out? Can this problem be solved by the

geographical position of Ireland, by the course of political events, or by any or all of those circumstances which are commonly supposed to control the destiny of nations? These, doubtless, have had their influence; but I believe it would be impossible to solve the query I have suggested, but upon the supposition of a native vigor of character in the Irish, as well physical as moral, which perpetuates itself from age to age, resisting and overcoming the crumbling influences of time and change. And if this be true, does it not imply something of greatness in the native Irish stock; something distinct, peculiar, and worthy of our respect, in the Irish people? It may be chimerical, but I confess that, for myself, I cannot look upon even the rudest specimen of these people that we see among us, but as associated with these views. Ignorant and unlettered they certainly are; superstitious and degraded they may be; but I can never bring myself to look upon them either with indifference or contempt. I must ever regard them as allied to the memory of ancient days; as bringing antiquity, living and breathing, into our presence; and, above all, however shadowed by the degradation which is entailed by slavery, as

possessing, in common with their nation, the inherent elements of greatness.

The vanity of nations, as well as of individuals, leads them to set up pretences to high antiquity of origin. Thus the Chaldeans traced back their history for a space of four hundred and seventy thousand years; and the Egyptians were scarcely less moderate in their claims. It is a good evidence of the credulity which this species of pride inspires, that the faith of the latter people in their fabulous chronology was not disturbed by a chasm of eleven thousand three hundred and forty years, which occurs between two of their kings, Menes and Sethon.

If the bardic historians of Ireland have been a little less extravagant in their pretences, it is because their stories were fabricated at a later date, and after the Bible had been introduced among them. They therefore commence their story but a few weeks before the flood, when, agreeably to their legends, Cesara, a niece of Noah, arrived with a colony of antediluvians upon the Irish coast. These were, at different times, followed by other bands; and, in the fourth century after the flood, Ireland was invaded and taken possession of by Partholen, a descendant of Japhet.

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