ftant cuftom to beftow on our ancestors, fome epithet expreffive of their greatest talents, fo it is much more than probable, that they called this prince Cadmus, or the firft adviser or inftructer, from Cead, first, and Meas, advice, in commemoration of his having first advised, inftructed, and reformed these people. CHA P. VI. Hiftory of the Hyperborean island-Ireland the country alluded to-of Abaris the Hyperborean-great lights thrown on these relations-objections to them removed. AVING I flatter myfelf proved in as clear a manner, as HAV the nature of the enquiry will admit of, that our ancestors were the first reformers and improvers of Greece; and having from this investigation determined fome controverted points in Grecian chronology, as well as illuftrated fome fabulous and obscure parts of their hiftory, and alfo demonftrated, that this country was well known to their early poets; I fhall now fhew that their remote hiftorians were well acquainted with these facts, notwithstanding the hyperbole, of which these writers were fo fond. Aelian tells us *, that Hecateus of Abdera, a very ancient writer, compiled the hiftory of the Hyperboreans, which work is alfo cited by the Scholiaft upon Apollonius; and Diodorus Siculus †, from Hecateus, gives us the following defcription of that country." It is (fays he) a large ifland, little less than Sicily, "lying opposite the Celta, and inhabited by the Hyperboreans. Lib. iii. cap. 11. • De Nat. Anim. lib. ii. cap. 1. "The The country is fruitful and pleasant, dedicated to Apollo, and "most of the people priests or fongfters. In it is a large grove, "and in this a temple of a round form, to which the priests often "refort with their harps, to chaunt the praises of their god Apollo. They have a language peculiar to themselves; and "fome Greeks have been to vifit this country, and to present "valuable gifts to their temples, with Greek infcriptions. From "this famous island came Abaris to Greece, who was highly "honoured by the Delians. They can fhew the moon very near "them, and have difcovered in it large mountains, and the "priests and rulers which prefide over their facred temple, they "call Boreades." Critics and commentators have formed varieties of conjectures on the above passage, nor are they lefs agreed in opinion where to fix this Happy Ifland; and yet the defcription appears to me fo clear, that I only account for these diversities in opinions, from want of a well wrote history of Ireland. It being by Hecateus placed oppofite the Celta, makes it evidently in the Atlantic ocean, fince Europe was given as a poffeffion to the sons of Japhet, and that no other island can be found to answer its fize and description but Ireland; and this likewise evinces, what we have already obferved, i. e. that the Irish boaft their descent from the Scythians, fince we now fee clearly, that Hecateus placing these islanders oppofite the Celta, must be to fhew they were a different people from the Celtes; these being the defcendants of Gomer, but the Scythians of Magog. And here I will introduce fome other proofs of the early Greeks knowledge of this diftinction. Suidas, under the word Abaris, tells us very particularly, hat this famous prieft came from Scythia to Greece, and from thence to the Hyperborean Scythians. From this account it is very fingular, that he makes the Hyperboreans a Scythian colony; a diftinction which we have always made-"Scoti fumus, non Galli," VOL. I. L was was the answer of our ancestors, to fuch as attempted to make them and the Gauls one people! and here we muft-indeed with astonishment—remark, how wonderfully our history elucidates the above, otherwife feemingly obfcure paffages, which could not be poffibly made, but by a people, amongst whom a memory of our antiquities remained! We fee then by Hecateus, that this Hyperborean island, was fruitful and pleafant; and on account of its temperature, dedicated to Apollo; and this is confirmed by Pindar, who calls themΔᾶμον Ὑπερβορεῶν ̓ΑπολλωνΘ. Θέραπον]α— the fervants of the Delphic god", whofe country he affures us, was Χθονα Πνοιᾶς ἔπιθεν Βορέα—i. e. “ a land placed beyond the chilling "a "northern blafts." And Callimachus calls them 'Iegov révos, or the facred nation! Herodotus too, who is fometimes called the the Father and Prince of hiftorians, tells us, that on account of their humanity and goodness, they were held as facred by all their neighbours. How well Ireland, even at this day, anfwers thefe encomiums, notwithstanding the inexpreffible hardships which her ancient children have LONG groaned under, need not be told; how much better it did in days of JUSTICE and SOUND LEGISLATION, the following picture of it, drawn about 1400 years ago, by Donatus, bishop of Tiefoli, near Florence, will fhew. Finibus Occiduis, defcribitur optima tellus. Lib. iv. feu Melpomene.. Urforum ་ Urforum Rabies nulla eft ibi; facra leonum Nulla Venena nocent, nec Serpens ferpit in herbâ ; In quâ Scotorum Gentes, habitare merentur : Inclyta Gens Hominum, Milite, Pace, Fide! A great mistake has however rifen, from the name given by Hecateus to this ifland, it being fuppofed from it to imply a northern people; hence fome moderns have placed it under the arctic pole, and beyond the Riphæan mountains; yet though the later ancients feemed to confider the meaning of the word in this fenfe, it is nevertheless very curious that they ftill confidered Ireland as the country alluded to. Hence they have fuppofed it is called Hibernia, ab Hiberno Acre, from its coldness; and this will explain why Claudian in his panegyric on Stilichon, tells us, that, Scotorum Cumulus flevit Glacialis Ierne; and in an other line in the fame poem, where he mentions the numbers of Irish, who invaded Britain at that time Fregit Hyperboreas, remis Audacibus Undas! from which we may fafely affirm, that when even a knowledge of the nature of the climate was loft, ftill a remembrance of the people, alluded to under this title, was preserved. Indeed the analysis of the word will plainly prove, that Hecateus meant by it, a country peculiarly bleffed by nature-reg Bogeav-beyond the northern blafts, or out of their reach! Thus Orpheus called it 'légue, or the Holy Ifland; Homer, Ogygia, or the most Ancient Ifland; Solon, and Plato, Atlantis, or excelling all other islands in that immenfe ocean ; and Hecateus, Hyperborea, or the most temperate of islands! all poetical and figurative appellations, and all evidently alluding to the fame country. By the large grove in which they worshipped, and their temple being circular, we clearly fee the Druid rites pointed at, and the circular ftone pillars in these groves, of which many are yet to be seen, and some so near to Limerick as Bruff. He fays, moft of the people were priests or fongfters. That there were vaft numbers of the firft we may judge from the great number of religious here, in the dawn of Chriftianity; infomuch that then, and for many centuries after, they were more active in planting the new doctrine abroad, then all the reft of Europe combined.. As to their Bards, no nation in the world indulged them more than the Irish. Every family had one or more; every general. was attended in the field by his bard; every prince had a number; lands were allotted to them by the ftates. In all wars and diffenfions, their houses, their persons, and their effects were inviolate. They were exempt from public taxation, or any other hardship which might feem to clog or restrain their genius. These great privileges at length induced fo many idlers to enlift under. their banners, that, in one or two instances, the state wifely reduced their number, but never attempted fuppreffing the order. mufic, the ancient Irifh excelled all others in it. Cambrenfis himself bestows the greatest applause to their powers in harmony;; and as for the harp, need I fay more on it than this, that they became fo fond of it, as to make it the arms of Leinfter. As to the Greek inscriptions, many fuch, as well as Hebrew ones, Sir. James Ware acknowledges to have met, and numbers fill are dispersed through the kingdom. Their being able to bring the moon near to them, and fhew in it many mountains, plainly points out the use of the telescope, and highly illuftrates the ac count: |