'KITE materials for the history of Ireland, prior to the in vasion of t'lat country by the English, in the reign of Henry II. are so ill authenticated, so scanty and unconnected, and, in the very few instances where they are trot so, they are so barren of interest and importance, that we cannot deem ourselves justified in dwelling upon them at any length. Nevertheless it would be improper to pass them over en tirely ; we shall therefore notice them cursorily, so far as they seem to us supported by direct evidence, or great probability, and as they arc interesting and important from their connection with the more luminous portions of Irish history.
That the Celts either passed of their own accord, or were driven by the Goths, into Ireland, there is no reason to doubt ; but it is not clear at what period this event hap pened, nor which of the two branches of the Celts colo nized this island. It is also probable, that, after the Goths of England had driven the Celts into Ireland, some tribes or families of the former passed over also; at least the traditions of the Irish—the names they give to some of their ancient inhabitants and invaders, and the names of many of the tribes, who, according to Ptolemy, possessed Ireland in his time, evidently point to a Gothic populatiorl. The first authentic glimpse we possess of Irish is drawn from Tacitus ; according to him, an Irish prince, who had been obliged to leave his native country in conse quence of unsuccessful domestic war, endeavoured to persuade Agricola to invade Ireland, assuring him that a single legion of Roman soldiers could accomplish the subjugation of that country, or, more probably, of that part of it from which he came. The account of ()rosins, that, in the fifth century, a number of Scythims, who had been driven out of the north of Spain by the Emperor tine, landed in Ireland, and there met with a people o: the same origin and language with themselves, the Seyths or Scots, does not appear to rest on very good foundation, though there is undoubted evidence that Ireland, at least from the 4th century down to the 10th, was known under the- appellation of Scotia, and its inhabitants under the ap pellation of Scots.
The period and the circumstances of the first introduction of Christianity into Ireland, not withstanding the numerous, particular, and confident traditions of the Irish respecting St Patrick, are not well authenticated. It_has been sup posed, from some passages in St Jerome, that it was in troduced in the 4th century ; but if this was the case, its progress must have been very slow, and its hold on the minds of the inhabitants very feeble; for, in the 6th cen tury, there appear to have been scarcely any vestiges of it. Soon after this period, however, Christianity made rapid progress, and manifested its influence by effects much more decidedly advantageous to the interests of religion and learning than which it produced in the other Christian countries of Europe. The number of learned and holy men that sprung up in Ireland, and of monaste ries and academies that were founded in it, during the fifth and two following centuries, was so great, and so many were the missionaries who proceeded from it to propagate the Christian religion, that it was dignified with the title of Insole Sanctorum, or the island of Saints. Attracted by its justly acquired character, and by the and pros perity with .which Ireland was favoured, amidst the barba and warfare of the rest of Europe, men distinguished for their piety and learning took refuge here. According to Bede, in the year A. D. 646, many of the Anglo-Saxons, both noble and of the middling classes, left their own coun try, and took up their abode in Ireland, either to indulge their taste for reading, or to lead a life of stricter religious observance: all of these the Scots received and treated in the most hospitable manner, lending them books, and af fording them gratuitous instruction and sustenance.