We are next to consider the antiquities of Ireland. The original population of this country passed from Gaul, and was afterwards increased by theirbrcthrenthe Guydil from England. About the time that the Belgx seized on thc south of England, it appears that kindred Gothic tribes passed to the south of Ireland. These are the Firbolg of the Irish tradi tions, and appear to have been the same people whom the Romans denominated Scoti, after they had emerged to their no tice, by not only extending their conquest to the north and east in Ireland, but had begun to make maritime excursions against the Roman provinces in Britain. But Ireland had been so much crowded with Celtic tribek expelled from the con tinent and Britain, by the progress of the German Goths, that the Belgx almost lost their native speech and distinct character; and from intermarriages, &c. became lit tle distinguishable from the original po pulation, except by superior ferocity, for which the Scoti, or those who affected a descent from the Gothic colonies, were re markable, while the original Gael seem to have been an innocent and harmlesspeo ple. The epochs in Ireland, to which its an tiquities are referrable, are the following: 1. The first historical epoch of Ireland is its original population by the Celtic Gauls, and the subsequent colonization by the 13elgx. 2. The maritime excursions of the Scoti against the Roman provinces in Britain. 3. The conversion of Ireland to Christianity in the fifth century which was followedby a singular effect; for while the mass ofthe people retained all the femcity of savage manners, the monastaries pro duced many men of such piety and learn ing, that Scotia or Ireland became celebra ed all over Christendom. 4. This lustre was diminished by the ravages of the Scandi navians, which began with the ninth cen tury, and can hardly be said to have cea.s ed when the English settlement commen .ccd. The island had been split into nume rous principalities, or kingdoms, as they were styled ; and though a chiefmonarch was ack nowledged, yet his power was sel dom efficient, and the constant disSensions of so many small tribes rendered the is land an easy prey. 5. In the y-ear 1170 Henry II. permitted Richard Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, to effect a settlement in Ireland, which laid the foundation of the English posscssions in that country.
There are however corns of Lanute, of England, struck at Dublin, perhaps in ack-nowledgement 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 England, with which it is interwoven. Upon a review of the more ancient of these historical epochs, and of the monuments which may be considered as belonging to each, it must be consider ed,that the edifices having been construct ed 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 construction of funeral erections of various kinds ; nor are barrows wanting in Ireland, being hil locks of earth thrown up in commemora tion of the illustrious dead. Other mo numents, commonly styled Druidic, may also be found in Ireland ; such as single stones erect, circular temples, or rather places of judgment, and the like, which may more properly be ascribed to thc Belgic colony. The conversion of Ire land to Christianity was followed by the erection of a vast number of churches and monasteries, the latter being comput ed to exceed one thousand in number ; but all these edifices were originally 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 pe riod have introduced the use of stone into the castles, necessary for their own de fence against a nation whom they op pres.sed ; and sometimes even subterra
neous retreats were deemed expedient, of which Ware and others have engraved specimens. To the Scandinavian period also belong what are called the Danes Baths, or circular intrenchments ; and some chapels, such as those of Glenda loch, Portaferry, Killaloe, Saul Abbey, St. Doulach, and Cashel, if we may judge from the singularity of the ornaments, which, however, only afford vag-ue conjec ture. But of the round castles, called Duns in Scotland, and of the obelisks engraven with figures or ornaments, few or none exist in Ireland. Under the Scandinavi ans the Irish coinage first dawns. Of the eleventh and twelfth centuries many mo numents castellated or religious, may probably exist in Ireland. Brian Boro, king of Munster, having been declared sovereign of Ireland in the year 1002, Ile distinguished himself by his virtues and courage ; and Dermid A. D. 1041— 1073, was also an excellent and powerful prince. Under these monarchs, and their successors, Terdalvac and Moriertac, the power of the Scandinavians was consider ably weakened. The native chiefs had been taught the necessity of fortresses, and were generally- devoutly attached to religion ; it. is therefore to be inferred, that many castles, churches, and monaste ries, now began to be partly constructed in stone, by architects invited from France and England; but perhaps the round towers were erected by native buildeis. Among smaller relics of- antiquity, the golden trinkets found in a bog near Cul len, in the south, deserve mention as gold was found in Gaul, they' are perhaps ornaments of the tuicient 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. 'radius was an eye-witness to the ceremo nies of Druidism in England, as the Ro mans were in Wales. To him, to Cxsar already' referred to, and to Dm Cassius, we refer, as the chief authorities in regard to British histoty. To these may be add ed -Elian, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and Pliny. Cluverius, Pezron, and Pelloutier, are more modern, but respectable, writers on the same subject Of the structures erected by the Britons, Abury and Stone henge may be deemed the principal. Relics of a smaller kind are continually dis covered a few feet beneath the surface of the earth. On these Stukely- and Row land are the best authorities: the former has written a volume on Abury, a temple of the Druids, in which is a particular ac count of the first and patriarchal religion, and of the peopling of the British islands: besides his larger work, entitled " Rine rarium Curiosum," being an account of the antiquities, &c. obsemed in travels through Great Britain, published in 1724. For the history of the Britons under the Roman Government,Horsley's Brit. Rom. is a work that may. be depended upon. With respect to the actiquities of thcSax ons, the illuminated manuscripts are the best records of their manners in the differ ent centuries, and the most interestingin formation respecting then, has been col lected by Turner and Stant. The best collection of Saxon coins is in the British Museum, and of manuscripts in the same place, and in the Bodleian Library-. Mr. King has treated of their military antiqui ties in his History of Castles ; and, inde pendently of our works on topography, which am numerous, and many of them of the hist respectability, and which throw considerable light on the antiquitie3 dale country, we may refer to Henry's I listory of England, where the subject iscliscussed systematically and in chronological order; and to the works of Camden, Sirutt, and Gough, to which may be added the whole series of the Gentleman's Magazine, and Pinkerton's Geography, to which we have been indebted for a part of this article.