upon the fea in a small boat, which was thrown up into the air, whirled round and round, and then ingulphed with all the unfortunate perfons that it had contained. On the top of the hill is a fine champaign country, a view of higher hills covered with fnow, and planted to their fummits, and a noble reach of Sicily, the fea, and faro of Meffina, which sweeps like an immenfe river between the two fhores. We were then near the spot where feven houfes were thrown down by an earthquake about two months before, and had a perspective view of the lake, which we were defirous of vifiting from Bagnara. The earth, for the space of two or three miles, feemed to be turned toply turvy, which, indeed, was literally the cafe; and we were told that a man at work, with his oxen, was moved two miles with out receiving any injury. Upon fome parts of this hill the ground founded hollow under our feet; a circumftance which was remarked in the streets of Meffina during the great earthquake in February, 1783, and at no other time" (p. 215). From Meflina our travellers proceed ed to Catania (where Mr. H, defcribes the Golden Lion as one of the best inns in all Sicily), Syracufe, and Mount Etna, and returned to Meflina, which they quitted March 9. Mr. Hili brings very good arguments in confutation of Mr. Brydone's opinion concerning the great antiquity of the eruption of Etna-if, indeed, fuch a wild hypothefis flood in need of any further confutation. Landing at Reggio, they proceeded to Bagnara, Palini, Monte Leone, Cofenza, Cafel Luce, Cafal Nuovo, Salerno, Evoli, Pefto. This laft he defcribes in two pages, and fays, that the feeing of it will not take more than two hours to "the most curious obferver" (p. 264). He laments," however, the little pro"grefs that is made in the discoveries at Pompeia, efpecially as there is an ab"folute certainty of immediately finding many curious and valuable pieces of antiquity, the fearch having been put "a ftop to when the workmen were employed in removing the afhes and rub"bih under which the city was buried "by the eruption of Vefuvius, out of a long wide ftreet, where the houfes and "fhops on each fide remained almost en"tire, the paintings on the walls quite fresh and beautiful, and the marks of "the carnage wheels which have worn ་་ the pavement as pertect and away "entire as in the time when the city was "full of inhabitants, and in its priftine "glory. A few men are, indeed, at "work near the entrance; but, alas! the "Neapolitan monarch has not fufficient "tafte for virtù and antiquities to prevail "with him to have the bufinefs fet about "with any degree of fpirit and vigour” (pp. 273, 274). The ceremonies of Paffion, or the Holy-week, having been by far more brilliant than ufual, on account of the Pope having been honoured by a vific from the King and Queen of Naples, and the Mesdames of France, a brief account of it is given, though by no means new: but we cannot deny ourfulves the plea fure of tranfcribing the defeription of the. celebrated cafcade at Tivoli : "The town of Tivoli, once a place of great note, but now inconfiderable, is beautifully fituated upon the fide of the Apennine hills. It is famous for one of the finest cafcades in Europe, different views of which have been taken by most of the landscape. painters in Italy. The Tiverone, called by Horace Anio, of which it is compofed, and which is about the fize of the Avon at Bath, fit takes one moderate leap about twenty feet, and thence, a few yards farther, precipitates itfelf under the arch of a bridge with great rapidity among broken rocks, which clofe by degrees, and conceal it from view, till it foams again into fight from under a great natural vault, called Neptune's Cave. It there finds a fmall fhelf, or ledge, from whence it falls again as high as the first time. The magnificence of the scenery is at this place increafed by a collateral stream, which tumbles from an high perpendicular rock. Thefe two currents, thus joined, fhortly fall again, and once more, after that, force their way through a vaft ftony mafs, which lies acrofs their channel. This little fequestered spot, amidst the roar of fo many cafcades, and fo clofely embraced by rocks and mountains, is furely the highest treat that a lover of romantic prospects can enjoy. There are indeed few large trees to ornament the scene, but a variety of fhrubs, and fome vineyards." On the top of one of the hills, in a court behind the inn, are the remains of the temple of the Sibyl, or of Veta. Another fmall temple was erected near it, but the remains are very trifling. In a vineyard near the town are the remains of Mecænas' villa, three rows of arches on the edge of a precipice, with a fine ftream running through them. pillar of a temple of Bacchus is fhewn near the entrance of the vineyard. Twɔ miles further is a fmaller calcade, and, a quarter of a mile on, four more. One "We cred the valley over an antient con"fular bridge; again afcended by an old "Roman road, and met our carriages at "a finall "a fmall round temple, dedicated to the "goddefs of Coughing. We next went "to Adrian's villa, an immenfe pile of ❝ ruins, of brick extra rdinarily mafly, "at the bottom of the hill, where moft "of the best antiquities preferved in the "different mufeums at Rome have been "difcovered" (p. 287). 137. Antiquities of Ireland. By Edward Ledwich, LL.B. M. R. I. A. and F. A. S. of London and Scotland. Dublin, 1790. 4to. THE fabulous origin of the Irish nation begins to vanish before the fyftem of illumined antiquaries. "To overth ow "the idle tales concerning Noah's grand"daughter, of Partholanus and Milefius, and their arrival here in very re"mote times, called not for the abilities "of a Stillingfleet, a Whitaker, or a "Pinkerton; to be condemned, they "need but to be read. Even the old "Irish themfelves, fo remarkable for "defending the fenfelefs figments of their mythologic hiftory with unremit"ting pertinacity, are at length afhamed "of their miflaken zeal, and confels the ❝ truth. As to Scota, the daughter of "Pharaoh, who they fuppofe gave the name of Scotia to Ireland, they allow "that the Irish, having embraced Chrif"tianity, and being, of courfe, conver"fant in facred writ, thought it glorious "to their country to have their ancestors "derived by a mother from the Egyp❝tian Pharoes, and have had tamiliar converfation with Mofes and the If ❝raelites. There are the fecond thoughts and candid acknowledgments of O'Flaherty, the best and most enlightened "native antiquary the Irish nation has "hitherto produced" (p. 1) "The real and true antiquities of Ireland are not "to be derived from any other fources "than our authentic annals, fuch as thofe "of Tigernach, of Innisfallen, the "Chronicon Scotorum, and a few o"thers, wherein are no fabulous ftories, fuch as thofe in the book called Leab"ber Gabbala, and others of that kind, "published in the tranflation of Keating's "History of Ireland, which he never in "tended for the publick, but for the "amufement of private families. Thus "fays Dr. O'Brian, late titular bishop "of Cloyne, in the preface to his Irish "Dictionary, p. 40. They who poflefs the happy infenfibility of fearing nei "ther the fneerer's laugh or critick's "fcourge, will fill continue to adorn their writings with flowers from their 66 66 "Leabher Gabhala, and those of Ballymote, Glendaloch, and Letan; but they "muft expect among the learned few "readers and fewer admirers" p. 2."When the reformation of religion, and "the revival of learning, had difpelled "the dark fhades of fuperftition and illiteracy, antiquarian difquifitions affum"ed a new form, and were composed of new materials. No longer delighted "with the fables of Brute and Gathelus, "writers drew their information from "the Greeks and Romans, and made the "fubftructure of their reputation a "thorough acquaintance will claffic au"thors. Thefe facts are authenticated "by the preface to Cambden's Britan "nia, published in 1590; and every page of that applauded work gives tef "timony of correct judgement and ad"mirable fcholarship" p. 2. "Spenfer, who published his View of "the State of Ireland twelve years at"ter Carnden published his Britannia, "frongly contends for a Gothic and "Teutonic colonization; but confounds "the Celts with the other people pof"felling Gaul" (p. 4). Four grand claffes of men poffeffed antient Europe: the Celtes, the Scythians, the Iberi, and the Sarmatæ. The identity of the Erle and Irish is complete evidence of Ireland being colonized from Sco.land. The Firbolgs were Belga, from the Northern parts of Gaul, and who occupied no inconfiderable portion of Britain long before the arrival of the Romans. The Pias feem to be the next frangers who fettled here, and occur much earlier in British and Irish annals than in Roman hiftorians. The Scots iffued from, and were, a tribe of the fame fruitful Scythian hive (p. 5-11). It feems more than probable that Scythian colonies came hither before the Incarnation; and not before the tenth century did they ceafe to harrafs this ifle (pp. 24, 25). Their history and invafions must be learned from the Icelandic Chronicles (p. 28); though the Icelandic as well as Irish Chronology is very incorrect (p. 30). "Such is the fcheme of colonization "which I have prefumed to lay before "the reader; a fcheme not founded on "hypothefis or etymology, but on the "furer bafis of written authorities, com"pared with and illuftrating each other: "a fcheme which, while it difpels the "obfcurities of, cafts a steady and bright "light on, every branch of Irish anti"quities" (p. 30) From the earliest ages Glendaloch feems to have been a favourite feat of fuperftition, which its dreary firuation, among mountains and lakes, favoured in the tribe of wild and ignorant favages who first fixed their abode there. The patron faint of the place is variously called-Coemgene, Koemen, Caymin, Kevin; but Mr. L. is of opinion that a mountain in the neighbourhood was perfonified, and that the legend is of later date than the 13th century. Here are remains of feven churches and oratories, a round tower, and croffes. In fettling the date of thefe buildings Mr. L. premises, that ftone buildings were firft introduced in Ireland when the reliques of Christian faints were introduced there in the 9th century; and he conceives the crypt dilcovered here by Mr. Hayes is the original tomb of the faint, the oldeft ftructure here, and an unique fpecimen of the early Darish style in this kingdom. We cannot flop to examine or combat our author's opinion on this fubject, of which, we are forry to fay, his explanation of the ornaments does not carry conviction with it. This fection concludes with a history of tranfactions at Glendaloch. The third fection is the Hiftory of the Irish Culdees, a celebrated monaftic order, which commenced in Ireland in the clofe of the 6th century, being founded by Columba, who retired to Hii, or Iona, one of the Hebrides, where he died and was buried, and which became the epifcopal fee of the Scots, as Abernethy was of the Pics. Columba was not canonized till 1741. Thefe Culdees held the purity of the Chriftian faith and practice till Adamnan, abbot of Hii, apofta. tized and drove them from that island in 717, and king Alexander obliged them to conform to the Roman ritual at St. Andrew's, in 1100. In Ireland they continued till the time of archbishop Ufher. One of their antient feats remains at Monaincha, antiently Inchimin, in the bog of Monila, a boggy ifle, or rather two ifles, about a mile South from the road leading from Borrolfin-Offory to Rofcria, and about three miles from the latter. From the style of building in the church, Mr. L. concludes that it was erected after the Culdees were ex- The next fection is a differtation on the Ogham characters, and alphabetic elements of the antient Irifh; in which the pretenfions of the Irish language and letters to a Phoenician origin is exploded, The inconfiftencies and contradictions of the writer on the Ogham infeription on Callan mountain (Archæol. VII. 276, Colle&anea Hibern. No XIV. Tranfactions of the Irish Academy, voi. I. fee our vol. LVIII. p. 529), as well as the five contradictory interpretations of the infcription, are properly expofed. Sup. pofing the Callan infcription genuine (which no one can believe, but that the whole is a fraud, and the contrivance of fome artful impofor, there is the strongeft ground to fufpect (469, 471), Mr. L. is of opinion that the Ogham charac. ters were a fort of fhort-hand, or of magical ufe, like the Northern Runes, and feveral others, of which he has given alphabets; and that the alphabetic elements, and, with them, the tra letur and Irish Ogum characters, were communicated from Ireland to Iceland, in the 8th or between the 6th and 9th centuries; and that, as the judicious and accurate Lihuyd obferves, the Irish had their letters from the Britons, who had theirs from the Romans, and the Saxons got theirs from the Britons and Irish. In difcufling the queftion of antient Irish coins, Mr. L. fuppofes that Tacitus, in remaking that Ireland was more frequented by merchants than Britain, inclines to think that hiftorian took up haftily Craffus' account of its good harbours, and the inference of its trade therefrom. He fhews there are no mines of filver or gold for coins of those me. tals. The original Celtic inhabitants had neither the ufe nor names for any metals; the Belgæ, or Fibolgs, had both, and communicated them to Ireland, where the first mints were let up, 66 in the 9th century, by the Oftmen, whofe coins are found there.-"In 1767 was published a Supplement to Simon, "confitting of two additional plates, "and one of antient coins found in Ire"land, and in the poffeffion of the late "Matthew Duane, Efq. They contain "fome curious and valuable things, and "fhould be inferted in a new edition of "Simon, which is much wanted, and "from which every coin not minted in Ireland, or not immediately con"nected with its hiftory and antiquities, fhould be excluded. The writer "of this work has an edition of Simon, on this plan, under confideration" (p. 132). Mr. L's conjectures on the coins in his plate are fanciful in many infances. It is not eafy to make two hands on fig. 3, or to admit the reafon of thofe on numbers 5, 7, and 8; they may as well be mintmarks as penal or amputated hands. The infcriptions on the reverfes of 7 and S are probably mintmafters' names, and place of coinage. No 8 is called the " earliest infcribed "coin that has yet occurred;" and yet 7, an inferibed coin, is put before it. No 9 fhould be read Ciothman: the NM at the end of Dyf. may be mifiead for 1 M; or Dyfl. may have that termination as in 11 M has NR and 15 MO; but it is not likely to be Nordinea. The Danish coins found in Ireland prove how great was the spoil in filver collected in their predatory excurfions during almost two centuries. Their Ora was current both in Ireland and Scotland (p. 111-132). The ruins of Athaffel, an Auguftinian priory, founded about 1200, are engrav ed and defcribed pp. 133, 134. A very rude figure, called a female one, from its ruins, is engraved pl. 6 of Mr. Walker's Efay on Irish Dress. In treating of Irish architecture Mr. L. obferves, that "from every evidence "fupplied by antiquity it is certain the "Irish had neither domeftic edifices nor "religious ftru&tures of lime and stone "antecedent to the great Northern in"vafion in the 9th century." "Four centuries had almoft elapfed before the dedication of altars, ftatues, or churches began in Ireland. In this interval the Gofpel was propagated in this ifle by Greek miffioners, or their difciples. It was in the 6th age churches were anointed with chrifin; and in 787 reliques were placed in them, and they affumed the name of fome faint or patron. Our altars were of wood in 1186, and incapable of chrifmation; for the councils of Adge, 506, and of Epaon, 517, forbad the holy oil to be applied but to ftructures of ftone. Here are proofs of our churches being generally of wood even in the 12th century; and that their confecration was folely by prayer, agreeably to the cuf tom of the pureft ages. The Britons, who Symbolized with the Irish in religious tenets, antient chapel at Glastonbury, preferved in had only wattled and wooden churches. The sted, in the county of Effex, exhibit fpeciSpelman's Concil. I. 11, and that of Gree[n] mens of the old Irish and British style. On the contrary, the Anglo-Saxon church, founded by an elève of Rome, early adopted the maffes, ftations, litanies, finging, reliques, pilgrimages, and other fuperftitious practices, flowing, in a full tide, from that imperial city, and with thefe that mode of building peculiar to them. Hence the Anglo-Saxon fabricks had under them crypts for reliques; they were fupported by arches and columns, adorned with the images of faints, and legendary ftories: their thape was crucifix; and they had cratories, and altars in the ailes, and they were capable of chrifmation, according to the canons before cited. The Irish Oftmen, being converted in the 9th century, embraced the faith of their countrymen in England. We find them, in fubfequent ages, correfponding with Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and fending to the metropolis of that fee their bishops for confecration. This predilection might naturally be expected among people iffuing from the fame country, and connected by affinity and language. Accordingly, the first structures of the Oftmen in Ireland, and the first buildings with mortar, were stone-roofed chapels for reliques +. I have defcribed already that moft curious one at Glendaloch, to inclofe the reliques of St. Kevin. Let the learned reader compare the fculptural ornaments of the undercroft at Canterbury with thofe of our chapel, and they will be convinced of the truth of what is here advanced" (p. 142—145). We confefs ourfelves not convinced by the comparison §. Mr. L. proceeds to mention another ftone-roofed chapel, near the cathedral of Killaloe, a double ftone-rooted church of St. Doulach, both *This is a fatal mistake in an antiquary; for every body knows that Greenfted church was built in the Anglo-Saxon times, as a refting-place for the body of St. Edmund; and that is a period long enough for it to have lafted, without going back to British times. The Ordo Romanus, compiled in the 9th century, directs the mortar ufed in inclofing reliques within an altar to be made with holy water. Archæol. V. 8. built over the bodies of faints; and to compare the cryptical fepulchres and oratories defcribed by Gregory of Tours and Bede with Wilfrid's needle under Ripon minfter. He adds a chapel near Portaferry church, an antient crypt in an ifland in the Shannon, not far from Kil. laloe, and, as of the greatest magnitude and beft archite&ture, Cormac's chapel at Cafhel. The chapels at Portaferry and Killaloe are fuppofed the oldeft; that at Glendaloch is referred to the 9th centurv, perhaps the 10th: the crenellated tower at Doulach, if not a later addition to the 11th century. The age of Cormac's chapel ftill remains to be afcertained. It is compared, for ornament, to St. Peter's at Oxford, faid to be built by Grymbald about the end of the 9th century. The church of Cafhel exifted in 1134. and was rebuilt in 1169, both times pofterior to the chapel, which, therefore, will have been erected before the introduction of the Norman and Gothic flyles, for in every refpect it is purely Saxon (p. 152). earthen forts and caffles made of lime and ftone, which formed the keeps of the first. These were the Ratbs, which ferved both as places of fecurity and of judicature. The name, as well as that of Mote, is of Teutonic or Gothic origin. Mota is the Icelandic Mot, a place of meeting. Dun, or as the We h call it, Dinas, is doubtful whether Celtic or Teutonic: but Daingean is Celtic, and the primitive fortification of that people. The Rath, Dun, and Daingean were the only forts among the Irish before the Norman invafion, 1169: the Cathain, Cabirs, or Caers, were a fence or incloture; and when cities came to be built, the name of Caer was applied to them. Bringbean and Brag is a corruption from the Teutonic Borg and Borgben, a fortified eminence. Stone fabricks feem to have been uncommon; for Gelafius, archbishop of Armagh, made a lime-kiln feven yards in diame ter, 1145, and Malachy, his fucceffor, erected at Bangor a one oratory, at which the natives grea.ly wondered. But on the arrival of Henry II. he or dered caftles to be built. The coloniza tion of this ifle by English fettlers was a fcheme steadily purfued for many centu ries, and particularly by the minifters of Elizabeth, who obliged every grantee to conftruct a castle, fort, or bawn, for the protection of his family and tenants. All the cattles, till the time of James í. were built by English mafons, and on English plans. Many of them, as in 1599, may be feen in Stafford's Pacata Hibernica, and most of them remain in ruins. The battlemented houfes and bawns have been leveled by increafing civilization. The common fmall fquare cafiles, by far the moft numerous, were the refidence of English undertakers. "All these are exiting monuments of "the infelicity of former ages, when "cruel and domeftic wars convulfed The originality of the Irish alphabet having been examined and rejected, and Dr. Campbell having very ably proved the Irish literature in the Pagan times to be ideal, Mr. L. proceeds to a review of Irish literature in the middle ages. He dates the introduction of literature at the invafion of England by the Anglo-Saxons, and the emigration of the British clergy in the 5th and 6th centuries (p. 160). He invalidates the ftory of St. Patric as a fiction invented long atter the time when he is faid to have lived, and critically examines the feveral works afcribed to him. "In the 9th century "the Muses began to defert their antient "feats, and feek protection, in foreign "climates, from the Oftman invafion" (p. 176). "In this century Greek was "commonly taught and well understood “in Ireland” (p. 178). “In the 10th, "11th, and 12th centuries Ireland ftill" and defolated the ifland, leaving little "preferved her literary reputation, though "the could not elcape the contagion and "infelicity of the times" (p. 180). A view and account of the Auguftinian monaftery at Devenish concludes this fection. The next fection concerns the antient forts and castles in Ireland, with the antiquities of Dunamafe and Ley caftle, in Queen's county. Mr. L. reters the earthworks on the tops of hills to the hoftilities between the Firbolgs and the antient inhabitants. Turgefius and his Oftmen formed that infinite number of "more than one million of wretched "miferable beings to occupy this beau *We may hence derive Moor-hall, a Gloucefterfhire word for a town-hall. ED. fuch |