in the miracle of their apostle, whose supereminence it was their sole aim to establish. Now, so far are the ancient annals from attributing this effect to the prayers or miracles of their Christian Apostle, that they trace the effect to a period at least 1700 years prior to the existence of St. Patrick. They inform us, that the son of Niul, who, as has been observed, was settled on the borders of the Red Sea, when Moses carried his people through it, was bitten in the neck whilst asleep by a snake; and that his father despairing of his son's recovery, applied to Moses, of whose miraculous powers in Egypt he had heard, to heal the wound, which he considered deadly from the poisonous quality of the serpent, that had bitten him. That Moses in consideration of his faith, and the good services he had rendered his people, by supplying them with provisions for their journey, prayed to God, and applying his wand to the young prince's neck, healed the wound; but there remained a green spot upon the place, where the bite had been; and Moses at the same time prophecied, that wherever the posterity of the young prince should inhabit, the country should never be infested with any venomous creatures*. That this prediction was fulfilled in the isle of Crete (Candia), where some of his descendants were still to be found, as well as in Ireland †. We know not whether this antipharmical quality be

* Hence the young prince was afterwards called Goadhal Glas, pronounced Gadelas, Glas meaning green, and Goadhal or Gadel being the proper name; and the Irish were thence called Clana Goadhal, i. e. posterity of Goadhal, or Gadelas.

+ Keat. p. 36.

The Liag
Fail or

Stone of
Destiny.

now, or ever were common to the two islands of Crete
and Jerna; but we venture to assert, that however
fabulous the incident may appear to a modern reader,
yet the fiction or invention of it originated not with
those, who studied to extoll the miraculous powers
of St. Patrick. But allowing, that this account is
reported (though in very high poetic colouring) in a
language, to which no precise origin or usage can be
affixed, the unbiassed mind naturally draws these ne-
cessary conclusions. That whenever this narrative was
first committed to writing, the traditions or belief of
the writer were, that such persons coexisted as Gadelas
and Moses; that they met on the borders of the Red
Sea; that serpents were to be found in that coun-
try;
and that their bite was venomous and mortal: that
the two islands (now called Ireland and Candia), were
then known; and that in neither of them did such ve-
nomous creatures then exist.

Upon the like principle are we to judge of what the Irish annalists relate of the Liag Fail*, the Stone of Destiny, or the Saxum Fatale, as Hector Boethius calls it, which was esteemed an enchanted stone, and was holden in the most superstitious veneration by the Irish. They relate, that it was brought into their country by the colony of Tuatha de Danans; and that the country was thence called Inis Fail: that it emitted a most thundering noise whenever any of the royal Scythian race sat upon it to be crowned, as was the custom immediately upon the decease of the former monarch; but

* Keat. p. 2

that it remained silent if the person elected were not of that royal stem. That this stone, like all the heathen oracles, became absolutely mute on the birth of Christ. It continued however in such veneration from its past qualities, that in the year of our Lord 518, Fergus (the first king of Scotland of the Scythian race,) desired his brother Mortough, then king of Ireland, to send this stone to Scotland, that he might be crowned king of that nation upon it, believing that the crown of Scotland would be the more permanent in his family, by reason of the innate virtue it contained. Fergus, as well as his posterity, was crowned upon it. It was kept with great care in the abbey of Schone in Scotland; until Edward I. brought it to Westminster Abbey, and it is now placed under the coronation chair *. We give as little credit to the supernatural qualities of this thundering stone," as to the whole narrative's being an invention of the monks of the middle ages. We believe, that the superstitious attributes were given to this stone by the heathenish minstrels, in compliment to their monarchs; and we believe, that the substantial truth of the fable was so far correct, that there

So prevalent was the conviction of some peculiar virtue in this stone, that the following verses have been for centuries current upon it, which from the Irish have been thus translated into latin : Ni fallat fatum, Scoti, quocunque locatum

Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem.

They were englished thus on the accession of the Stuarts to the throne of England, as James the First always boasted of being descended from the Milesian dynasty.

If fate dont fail, where'er you find this stone,
That country must a Scot for monarch own.

Traduction

of Ireland

ever coun

tenanced.

was a very ancient stone, upon which the Irish monarchs formerly sat to be crowned; that there was an Irish monarch of the name of Mortough, about the year 513; that his brother Fergus was crowned king of Scotland; that he was the first king of Scotland of that race; that at the abbey of Schone the Scotch monarchs were usually inaugurated upon this stone and that Edward I. removed it to Westminster Abbey, and it is there usually called Jacob's stone. Let the most prejudiced opposer of the antiquity of Irish history point out the interest, the views, the possible motives, which could have induced the Irish monks of the middle ages to forge or invent a syllable of this whole narrative? Let the most morose fastidious and eagle-eyed critic select one sentence of it, that bears the internal proof of monkish, (whatever it may of heathenish) ignorance and superstition?

We have referred to some of the more prominent fictions in the ancient history of the Irish, not for the purpose of defending or refuting them, but of furnishing evidence of the historical facts, upon which their annalists have engrafted them. Doctor Ledwich's confident boast of his internal and invincible proofs, that the apostle of Ireland (St. Patrick) and his history are equally fabulous*, would have escaped notice, did it not demonstrate an expectation, (perhaps a practical conviction,) that every depreciation and traduction of the Irish nation, however gross and unwarrantable, would meet countenance and reward, in lieu of merited disgrace and punishment.

Ledwich's Antiquities, p. 66.

honites de

istence of

This professed, modern and improved pyrrhonian The pyrschool, though few in number, Ledwich, Carr, and ny the exGordon, rest their whole system in mere negation. St. Patrick Some writers say they, in some of their works within 213 years after St. Patrick's existence, do not mention his name; therefore he never existed. They believe not the miracles recorded of him by his biographists, therefore, conclude they, he never existed. Dr. Ryves, a master in Chancery in 1618, had his doubts about the existence of St. Patrick. He presses them upon Usher and Cambden, the two great luminaries of British and Irish antiquities; they scout his doubts. Thus master Ryves, discountenanced by the oracular decisions of these eminent men, gave up the pursuit, although his learning enabled him, says Ledwich, to bring it to a fair conclusion. This triumph of hagiography over criticism and erudition, has continued to the present hour. Therefore, infers Ledwich, St. Patrick never existed. Such is the sum of the doctrine of these erudite antiquarians, delegated with a special mission in the 19th century, to negative the historical credit of the last 1400 years.

proofs

Patrick's

We undertake not the task of examining or verify- Sum of ing any one of the miracles reported to have been per- against St. formed by St. Patrick, but simply, whether or no such existence. a man as St. Patrick ever existed. Were it not for the boasted assurances of Dr. Ledwich, that he is a mere fictitious personage, we should have blushed at the idea of undertaking this redundant function of offering

Ledwich's Antiquities, p. 58.