These raths

were constructed on some rising ground, of earth and hurdles, and were surrounded by a rampart.

There are many caverns and subterranean passages, which it is supposed were once the habitations of men. Many of these are divided into apartments, and lined with large flag-stones, comprising the walls, roofs, and floors. I have been all through one of these, at a place called Kavanagh-Garva-Gap, near the Forkhill mountains.'

The regal palaces of Tara and Emania must have been of a different structure; but of their architectural merits little can be said in the oblivion which rests upon them.

The Irish wore a sort of petticoat called a fullin. Little, however, is known of their ancient habiliments; but numerous curious and costly ornaments, of the purest gold and silver, elaborately wrought, have been dug up in fields and bogs, where they must have lain for ages. Golden instruments, without alloy, have also been found, and are supposed to have been used in religious ceremonies.

Many swords and warlike weapons have been discovered, made of a mixed metal, chiefly copper, admitting of a very high polish, and of a temper to carry a sharp edge.

'What makes these brazen swords such a valuable remnant to the Irish antiquarian is, they serve to corroborate the opinion that the Phenicians once had

1 Ancient earthen works or mounds on the Curragh of Kildare. The larger rath might have been the dwelling-place of the chieftains, the smaller entrenchments their burial-place. In Ptolemy's Geography a number of ancient Irish cities are mentioned, some of them he calls illustrious.

footing in this kingdom.' Campbell's Philosoph. Survey of the South of Ireland.

'One circumstance as to the swords seems to be decisive: they are as exactly and as minutely, to every apparent mark, the same with the swords of Sir W. Hamilton's collection, now in the British Museum, as if they came out of the same armoury. The former found in the field of Cannæ are said to be Carthaginian; these, therefore, by parity of reasoning, may likewise be said to have been of the same people.' Governor Pownal's Account of some Irish Antiquities to the Society of Antiquarians, 1774.

'Those among them, who study ornament,' observes Solinus, in speaking of the warlike weapons of the ancient Irish, are in the habit of adorning the hilts of their swords with the teeth of sea animals, which they burnish to the whiteness of ivory; for the chief glory of these people lies in their arms.'

That Ireland was peopled by a colony of ancient Spaniards is a generally received opinion. There are many circumstances which corroborate the truth of the ancient records in this statement, and the Irish character still partakes of that which the Universal History gives of the ancient Spaniards. A brave, free, noble, and hospitable nation; possessed of all the virtues of the old Celts, and inheriting fewer of their vices than any other of their descendants.'

In Sir Isaac Newton's Chronology (Dublin edit.) a colony of Spaniards is mentioned, by the name of Scots or Scythians, settled in Ireland in the fourth age of the world.

In the accounts of the native Fileas, nearly the same record is transmitted to us.

The ancient philosophers or learned men of Ire

land were called Fileas. These men, in their several departments, took in all the subjects of poetry, and became not only the directors of the public taste, but also of manners. The Irish monarchs were ever attended by their Fileas, Bards, and Croteries,1 both in court and camp, from whom they received information, advice, and entertainment. A saying of one of these is transmitted to us. Teig Mac Darg, a Filea in the household of O'Brien of Thomond, reminded his patron of his own importance, or rather that of his profession: 'Though it be every man's duty to possess the ear of his sovereign with useful truths, yet it is more particularly the duty of the Filea, for to such alone it is that princes lend an ear.'

The account which these Fileas have left on record, of the earliest inhabitants of Ireland, is as follows:

1. The Iberian Scots, bordering originally on the Euxine sea, were expelled their country; and, after various adventures, settled ultimately in Spain.

2. Kinea Scuit (the Scots) and the posterity of Eber Scot (Iberian Scythians) were a colony of Spaniards, who settled in Ireland about a thousand years before Christ.' Vide Newton Chronol. Dublin Edit.

3. The ancient Iberian Scots learned the use of letters from a celebrated Phenius, from whom they took the name of Phenii, or Phenicians.' Strab. lib. 3. Univ. Hist. vol. xviii. p. 382.

4. Niul, Bile, Sru, Asru, Tat and Ogarnan, were mighty in Egypt, and several other countries.' Newton Chron. passim.

1 Musicians.

5. A great hero, famous in Egypt, obtained the name of Golamh and Nilea Espainne, i. e. the conqueror or hero of Spain.' Ibid.

6. Niul, Sru, Asru, &c. succeeded to Phenius, in teaching the use of arts and letters.'

7. The conquest of Spain, together with a great drought, forced the Iberian Scuits, or Scots, to fly into Ireland.'

With these accounts of the native Fileas, foreign testimonies agree.

Spain had the use of letters from the Greeks, and from the Phenicians, who occupied the seacoast.

Newton quotes unquestionable authorities, in his account, that soon after the dispersion of the Phenicians, into the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, the great Egyptian, Sesostris, began his conquests, subjected most part of the known earth, and Spain among the rest, which, according to Newton, was in the days of Solomon.

The arts, navigation, and letters, it is well known, were first introduced into Europe by the Phenicians; our ancient Irish bards celebrate Phenius as the instructor of their ancestors on the continent.

The Phenician alphabet is in part retained in the Irish Beth-luisnion.

The accounts of the Fileas, O'Connor extracted from Leaber Gabala, a writer of great antiquity.

The old political establishment of Ireland was divided amongst three classes.

1. The chiefs of the nobility, called kings.

2. Druids and Ollamhs.

3. Artificers and plebians.

In each class there were seven degrees or ranks,

each of them ordained by their respective obligations and immunities.

They had the power of electing their king out of a certain family, hence factions were formed; the prevalent party had carried it, and the losing party collected all their strength to set aside the newly-elected monarch, which was the reason why most of the princes died sword in hand.

One of their most famous kings, Tuathal the acceptable, after he had mounted the throne, established a new political constitution. He obtained a law for the exclusion of the other royal families from the throne, and engaged the nation, by solemn oath, to elect all their future monarchs out of his own race; and hoping to keep down the aristocratical spirit, he took tracts of land from each of the five-provinces, and formed a sixth province, now called Meath. In his newly-erected province, all affairs of national importance were transacted under his own inspection. Every matter relative to religion was regulated at Tlachtga, in the county of East Meath. The remains of this sanctuary may still be traced near Drogheda, being the tumulus at New Grange, an account of which you will find in Beaufort's Ancient Topography of Ireland.

S. M.