talents of the highest order. A writer - himself a proof as eminent for refined taste and literary acumen, as he is for sound and enlightened philosophy, has collected the sentiments of several authors relative to the Irish character, and illumined the draught from the treasures of his own observation. In sketching the manners of this people, he proceeds to say:

"Its popular character and customs distinguish and disincline Ireland from England. Varieties have been sought in the national disposition, referable to the double origin of the Irish people, in vain: however differing in rank, party, or ancestry, they bear the indelible mark of a common nativity. Restless, yet indolent; shrewd, and indiscreet; impetuous, impatient, and improvident; instinctively brave, thoughtlessly generous; quick to resent and forgive offences, to form and renounce friendships; they will forgive injury rather than insult; their country's good they seldom, their own they carelessly, pursue; but the honour of both they eagerly vindicate. Oppression they have long borne, insolence never.

"With genius they are profusely gifted, with judgment sparingly; to acquire knowledge they find more easy than to arrange and employ it: inferior in vanity only to the French, and in wit superior, perhaps, even to the Italian, they are more able to give, and more ready to receive amusement than instruction: in raillery and adulation they freely indulge, but without malignity or baseness. It is the singular temper of this people, that they are prone equally to satirize and to praise, and patient alike of sarcasm and flattery.

"Inclining to exaggerate, but not intending to deceive, you will applaud them rather for sincerity than truth. Accuracy is not the merit, nor duplicity the failing of a

MANNERS.

lively but uncultivated people. Their passions lie on the surface, unsheltered from irritation or notice: and cautious England is too fond of recognizing the Irish character only by those inconsistencies and errors which her own novercal government has contributed to produce and perpetuate."

Regarding the manners of the peasantry, he further says: "In agricultural pursuits they are neither active nor expert; hereditary indolence would incline them to employ their lands in pasturage; and it is always more easy to induce them to take arms, than to cultivate the earth, and wait upon the seasons. Even at this day, the sons of the old inheritors are suspected of being more ready to regain their possessions by their blood, than their labour. Their very amusements are polemical; fighting is a pastime, which they seldom assemble without enjoying; not, indeed with iron weapons, but with light clubs, which they always carry, and frequently and skilfully use. When not driven by necessity to labour, they willingly consume whole days in sloth, or as willingly employ them in riot; strange diversity of nature, to love indolence and hate quiet—to be reduced to slavery, but not yet to obedience."

That this character applies generally at the present day there is little reason to dispute, but that it has been ever the same is more than doubtful. This might be determined by reference to the early history of colonization preserved in the annals of this ancient people; but as the scope of this inquiry will not admit of an extended investigation of a subject so curious, it may suffice to present a concise outline of its most prominent features.

There is not, perhaps, in the history of mankind a more remarkable phenomenon than the duration of the Irish language, which has existed, both oral and written, in primeval purity, during a period commencing many

ANCIENT LANGUAGE.

5

centuries previous to Christianity down to the present hour, a fact supported by authentic documents still surviving the revolutions of time. These documents consist of manuscript records on parchment, written with the utmost precision, and preserved with extreme care through successive generations. They are to be found in various parts of Europe, in good condition generally, and written for the most part in a very ancient character, remarkable for its beauty and simplicity.

These manuscripts repose, many in Trinity College, Dublin; also in the King's Library at Copenhagen; a great many in the Royal Library at Paris, and by far the greater number at Rome. There is, moreover, a valuable collection belonging to the Bodleian Library, besides the treasure which has been transferred to the Irish Library at Stowe, from the care of the late venerable Charles O'Conor, of Belanagare, and of which some are in progress of translation by his grandson, the reverend Dr. O'Conor, under the patronage of his Grace the Duke of Buckingham. Another portion of those precious remains of antiquity has recently appeared in an English dress, from the pen of Mr. Roger O'Connor, of Dangan, which are stated by that gentleman as having been recovered from the tomb, where they must have lain for a very great length of time. The latter, called the Chronicles of Eri, are preserved in the most ancient form, namely, the skins containing the record being stitched together by the ends, and fastened to a roller of wood.

These chronicles maintain, that the people who colonized Ireland in early times migrated originally from Scythia; assuming various denominations as they proceeded westward, they formed settlements in many parts of Asia, in Greece, Italy, along the shores of the Mediterranean, in

Spain, and finally in Ireland, which was named by them Erin, signifying the western land.

Were there no other evidence existing of their eastern origin than the lively turn of mind, excursive fancy, warm, figurative expression, habitual love of ease, and cheerful conversation, these traits alone might be deemed satisfactory proofs. But, besides a palpable identity of ancient customs, such as those described by Virgil, and which are familiar to every one acquainted with the living manners of the Irish peasantry, there still are to be seen numerous monuments* which are of considerable importance to in

* These monuments are so numerous, that an account of them would fill volumes. Many of them have been made the subject of dissertation by men of respectable literary research, such, for instance, as the Shiptemple, near Dundalk; the cave, said to be a temple of the sun, at Grange, near Drogheda; the Amphitheatre in Kerry discovered by JOHN LESLIE FOSTER, Esq.; the Sepulchral Barrows; lastly, perhaps, in point of antiquity, the Round Towers, which are as yet not satisfactorily described.

Other remains of antiquity claim particular attention, as affording still stronger light to various parts of Irish history, particularly that relative to the landing of the Iberian Gaël, or Milesians, in the island. Those annals, by many supposed “fabulous,” distinctly state, that one division of that colony coming from Spain, under the command of a chief named Heremon, landed at a river called Inbher Colpa, on the eastern side of the island; whilst others effected their debarkation at different places in the south, under the directions of another chieftain named Heber.

One of the chiefs of Heremon's expedition, named Colpa, is mentioned in the chronicles as having lost his life at the landing, and the river was named Inbher Colpa in honour of his memory. It is also worthy of note, that the Boyne still retains that name; the parish adjacent to the river's mouth is also called "the parish of Colp," pronounced Cope, being the same as the former term, softened by the favourite elision of the language. The history describes a battle fought between the Tuatha da Danaan and the people of Heremon, in which the landing was severely disputed. Here the antiquarian inquirer will doubtless be agreeably surprised to learn that testimonials of this event are in existence.

ANTIQUITIES.

quiry, and on consideration will be found to remove all doubt regarding the genuineness and accuracy of those ancient records.

In the year 1806, some labourers were employed by Mr. P. Maguire, planting potatoes in a field at Mayne, a neat farm belonging to that gentleman, contiguous to the Colpa, on the north shore; when several urns of rude pottery were turned up from a depth of about eighteen inches below the surface. These urns were placed with the mouth underneath, and were filled with calcined human bones, intermixed with bits of copper gilt; and some contained golden fibula. One of the urns so found was deposited at the time with the Royal Irish Academy,

The credit of this part of the Irish annals is supported by another extraordinary fact. Westward of the scene of action just mentioned, and about five miles beyond Collon, the residence of the Right Honourable JOHN FOSTER, late Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, is a high grassy hill, of artificial construction, upon an eminence which overlooks the adjacent country. This hill is called Carnach-Colp, or the grave of Colpa, the warrior already mentioned. Like the other monuments with which this part of the country abounds, this was unknown, except in its unregarded name, until chance obtained for it some attention.

A respectable farmer, James Healy, resident on the spot, was having a field ploughed in 1805, at the foot of the Carn, when a large flat stone was turned up by accident; and an entrance formed like that of Grange by upright stones capped by others at right angles, was disclosed. This passage led into the interior of the monument, where the body of the chieftain had been, perhaps, deposited. It is probable that this place still contains valuable evidence of ancient manners, as it has not been explored; it was allowed to remain uncovered only for a very short time, because the farmer had lost some sheep which had strayed into it and never returned, killed, most likely, by the azotic air within.

It may, perhaps, be not unacceptable to state another circumstance, serving to illustrate a particular portion of the history given by Dr. Keating. It is there asserted, that Cormac, a monarch of Ireland who reigned in the beginning of the third century, was interred at a place called Ros-na-Riogh, signifying, the repose of kings, on the bank of the river Boyne. This place is still known by that name, and is the residence of a gentleman named Coyle; it is about seven miles westward of Drogheda, on the right bank of the river. The house is beautifully situated on an eminence, and stands, it appears, on the very site of the royal