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selves in so desirable a country, they burned their

ships.

The Irish poet says of the first-mentioned inhabitants

'Fifty-six years the Firbolg's royal line

Were kings, and then the sceptre they resign
To the Tuatha de Danaus.'

Mention is made of one of the last of the Firbolgs, Lughaidh, (surnamed The Long-Handed,) King of Ireland, as having instituted the assembly of Tailtean, and appointed tilts and tournaments, resembling the old Olympic games, which were observed every year upon the first day of August, a day still distinguished by the name of Lughnansa, now called Lammas.

From the stone recorded in the foregoing lines, Ireland was called Inisfail.1 The stone itself received the name of Lia fail, from the city Falias, from whence the Tuatha de Danaus removed it to Ireland. It was also called the fatal stone, or stone of destiny. Hector Boetius, in his history of Scotland, calls it Saxum fatale. It was held in high veneration as an enchanted stone, and is spoken of by many historians.

Its peculiar property was that of making a terrific sound, resembling thunder, so loud as to be heard at a great distance, when any of the royal Scythian race was crowned upon it, but the stone was silent if the elect sovereign was not of that race.

Unless the fixed decrees of fate give way,
The Scots shall govern, and the sceptre sway,
Where'er this stone they find and its dread sound obey.'

1 'From this strange stone did Inisfail obtain
Its name, a tract surrounded by the main.'

All the different monarchs of Ireland, in succession, were crowned upon this stone, until the year of our Lord 513, in the reign of Mortough, (the son of Earca,) whose brother, Fergus the Great, having subdued the Scottish nation, and obtained the crown, sent to Ireland for the stone of destiny, that on it he might be crowned, and thus secure the succession to the Scythian race.. Upon so great a consideration, Mortough, willingly yielding to his brother's wishes, parted with this treasure; and although, as Keating observes, from the birth of the Redeemer,1 the stone lost its great charm of sending forth solemn sounds, still it was held in high veneration for some innate virtue it was supposed to possess.

6

You have no doubt seen the old chair in Westminster Abbey, in which is this famous stone. I searched for its history in Rapin's England, and found that in the year 1296, Edward the First, when he so easily obtained the title of Scotland's King, took possession of the stone on which the inauguration of their kings was performed. The people of Scotland had all along placed in that stone a kind of fatality. They fancied that whilst it should remain in their country, their state should be unshaken; but the moment it should be removed from thence, great revolutions would ensue. For this reason Edward had it conveyed from Scone, that he might make the Scots believe the time of the dissolution of their monarchy was come, and put them out of hopes of recovering their liberty.'

'Kenith, King of the Scots, having made a great slaughter of the Picts, near the monastery of Scone,

1 'All idols and diabolical charms lost their force and virtue upon the birth of our Saviour.'

placed a stone there, enclosed, in a wooden chair, for the inauguration of the kings. It had been brought out of Ireland into Argile, and King Edward caused it to be conveyed to Westminster. On it was engraven this distich :

'Ni fallat Fatum, Scoti quocumque locatum,

Inveniunt lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem.'-CAMB.

Keating remarks that in its present position, under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey, the prophecy concerning it seems to be accomplished, for the royal family of the Stuarts succeeded to the throne of England soon after the removal of this stone. This family being lineally descended from the Scythian race, from Maine Leamhna, son of Core, king of Munster, son of Luighdheach, son of Oilioll Floubeg, son of Fiacha Muilleathan, king of Munster, son of Eogan Mor, son of Oilioll Ollum, king of Munster, who descended lineally from Haberus Fionn, son of Milesius, king of Spain, every prince of which illustrious family successively received the crown upon this stone.

Fergus the Great, a descendant from Heremose, was the first king of Scotland of the Scythian or Gadelian race. He subdued the kingdom, and was the first absolute monarch of Scotland who acknowledged no foreign yoke. Some of the Picts had the title of kings of Scotland, yet they were no more than tributary princes to the kings of Ireland from the reign of Heremon, who drove them out of Ireland, and compelled them to settle in Scotland.

According to the testimony of the Irish antiquaries, 'the Irish kings, of the line of O'Donill, sat upon the summit of a hill, surrounded with the principal nobi

lity and gentry of their country; one of the chief of them, advancing towards him, presented him with a straight white wand, and upon the delivery of it he used this form-Receive, O king, the command of thine own country, and distribute justice impartially among thy subjects.'

The ceremony of the rod may appear trifling, but it contained an excellent moral; it was straight and white, to recommend uprightness in judgment, and to intimate that a prince should rule with clean hands, unstained with the blood of his people.'

I shall pass over the details of the enchantments and spells by which the Tuatha' de Danaus possessed themselves of the noble island. They are as absurd as Keating's confused account of the first invasion of Ireland before the flood. From mysterious and fabulous legends he must have taken them.

The next invaders and conquerors of Ireland, the Gadelians, seem to have been a branch of the same tribe, sprung from the same Scythian ancestor, Magog. Josephus observes, that the Grecians call the Scythians by the name of Magogi, because they were the descendants of Magog. Historians give them the character of a brave and generous people.

1 The word Tuatha signifies leader.

Review of Books.

EXTRACTS FROM HOLY WRIT, and various Authors, intended as Helps to Meditation and Prayer ; principally for Soldiers and Seamen. By Captain Sir N. J. Willoughby, C. B. K. C. H.

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It is impossible to read the sweetly simple 'Address' that prefaces this volume, without being moved to do two things especially desired by the pious veteran who writes it first responding to the request, At whatever time your heart is lifted up to heaven in prayer and praise, forget not to implore a continuance of every necessary mercy, grace, and blessing on' him and next taking every opportunity of circulating his book among those for whose spiritual welfare he is peculiarly solicitous. Sir Nesbit Willoughby is an officer of distinguished gallantry, who, at an advanced age, was brought to seek the things that belong unto his peace; and having found rest for his own soul in the gospel of Christ, hebut we will give it in his own words. My hourglass,' he says, ' had already run out its greatest por

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