“

magnates fuos juridicos, quos brenones vocant; fuos “historicos, qui res gestas describunt; medicos, poetas, (c quos bardos vocant; et citharœdos, et certæ et fingulæ "familiæ, fcilicet, brehoni unius ftirpis et nominis, histo❝rici alterius, et fic de cæteris. Qui fuos liberos five cog"natos in fua qualibet arte erudiunt, et femper fucceffores "habent, quibus fingulis fua prædia affignata funt."

HOWEVER Zealous the monarchs and great men of this kingdom, in general, were for promoting knowledge, there was one who far furpaffed the reft, in the wife measures he pursued towards the attainment of that, and every other wife purpose, for the good of the public. This was Ollamh Fodbla, the seventh in descent from Milefius, in a right line. He afcended the throne in the 308 2d year of the world, about 922 years before the birth of CHRIST, and is faid to have been a prince of the most exalted accomplishments, and extensive knowledge and virtue, in every respect which tends to the happiness of a people. His name was given him from his great wisdom, Ollamh having that fignification.

THIS monarch made many wholefome laws, and was the first that settled a proper diftinction between the nobility and other fubjects, and between the former in their several ranks. And in order the better to regulate the laws in being, and to add fuch new ones as the exigence of the times required, he affembled the principal men of the kingdom, together with the druids, poets and hiftorians, every third year. In this affembly he also proposed handing down to posterity the history of his great ancestors, and their voyages, travels, wars and atchievements, from

Feniusa

:

Feniufa Farfa, the Scythian king, to his own times; and in order to render these annals and records of past times the more perfect, they were read, or repeated, by the bards and hiftorians, before the affembly, who debated upon, and made fuch expurgations and corrections in them, as they thought neceffary. Perhaps the words, read and repeated, may not be understood without fome little explication : those historical poems, which were committed only to the memory, being the first and original manner in which the bards preferved and fung the actions of their heroes, were repeated in their turns; for it was their business to retain and teach them to thofe that ftudied under them; and it was matter of wonder, that they could retain fuch vast numbers of these traditional pieces: and those which were written, for they had the use of letters long before Ollamb's time, even up to Feniusa, were carefully read: And when they were maturely confidered and corrected, they were ordered to be tranfcribed; and thofe ancient records, not as yet committed to writing, to be added to them, and laid up, for the ufe of pofterity, in the king's palace.

THE collection thus made of the hiftorical facts, being reduced to a code, was called the Pfalter of Tara, this being the name of the palace where they held the trienial meeting; of which Dr. Keating has the following words: "This ancient record is an invaluable treasure, and at "most faithful collection of the Irish antiquities; and "whatever account is delivered in any other writings repugnant to this, is to be esteemed of no authority, and "a direct impofition upon pofterity."

THE

1

THE Pfalter of Tara appears, by this laft obfervation of the Doctor, to have been extant in his time, the authenticity of which, he is very ftrenuous in afferting; and, indeed, he has the teftimony of two very ancient poets to fupport him in this account he gives of it, which I shall transcribe here in the words of our author's tranflation:

"THE learn'd Ollamh Fodhla firft ordain'd

"The great affembly, where the nobles met,
"And priests and poets and philofophers,
"To make new laws and to correct the old,
"And to advance the honour of his country."

THE other quotation is a fuller description of the manner and business of the affembly, delivered in an admirable ftile, with a noble freedom, in difplaying the justice and morality of its refolutions, as follows:

"ONCE in three years the great convention fat,
"And for the public happiness debate ;
"The king was seated in a royal throne,
"And in his face majestic greatness shone.
"A monarch for heroic deeds defign'd,
"For noble acts become a noble mind:
"About him fummon'd, by his ftrict command,
"The peers, the priests and commons of the land,
"In princely state and folemn order stand.
"The poets likewife are indulg'd a place,
"And men of learning the affembly grace.
"Here every member dares the truth affert,
“He scorns the falfe and double-dealing part:
"For a true patriot's foul difdains the trimmer's art.

}

"Here

"Here love and union every look confefs'd,

"And joy and friendship beat in every breast. Justice, by nothing biafs'd or inclin'd, "Is deaf to pity, to temptation blind; "For here with ftern and fteady rule fhe fways, "And flagrant crimes with certain vengeance pays : "The monarch, ever jealous of his state,

Inflexibly decrees th' offender's fate; "Tho' juft, yet fo indulgently fevere,

"Like heaven, he pities those he cannot fpare."

THIS triennial convening of the great and learned men of the nation, being mentioned by feveral of the ancient poets and antiquaries of that kingdom, would certainly incline an unbiaffed reader to fuppofe, that the body of laws, pedigrees, hiftorical facts and heraldry, contained in this code of Tara, were the resolutions of a real national, and not of a fictitious, assembly; because there is not the least air or fhew of any thing fabulous through the whole of that manufcript. But the truth of the existence of this triennial assembly, is authenticated in a very particular manner by other records, and that it was continued in the reign of Laogair, king of Ireland; when Dubthach and Rofa, two eminent poets, intreated St. Patrick, who had converted the majority of the whole kingdom, by this time, to Christianity, to revise the records, chronicles and genealogies of the kingdom; but he would not alone undertake it, and defired the king would order an assembly, as ufual, to meet upon it, and that he would affift them; the chief clergy, hiftorians, antiquaries and poets were assembled, as well as many of the nobility,

and they chose a committee of nine to go through the examination, of which three were kings, three bishops, and three eminent antiquaries: as they are specified in the following extract from a very ancient poet, and translated by our author:

"THE learned authors of thofe choice records,

"Which, for their truth, are call'd the great antiquity, "Were nine, selected by the convocation,

"For wisdom and integrity renown'd.

"Three kings, three prelates and three antiquaries:
"The prelates were the most devout St. Patrick,
"The pious Binen and the wise Cairneach;
“The kings were Laogaire, the Irish monarch,
"A prince in heraldry exactly skill'd;

Join'd with him was the judicious Daire, "The warlike king of Ulfter; and the third, "A prince for letters and for martial acts "Was famous, his name was Core, the potent king "Of Munfter; three antiquaries next survey'd "These old records, and purg'd them by their skill: "The faithful Dubhthach, and the fage Feargus, "And Rosa, nicely vers'd in foreign tongues. "These nine perus'd the annals of their ancestors, "Eras'd the errors, the effects of frauds "Or ignorance, and by the teft of truth "Examin'd, they establish'd the records, "And every pedigree of noble blood; "And thus corrected, they defcend to us, Unworthy iffue of our brave progenitors."

THUS