ory of the
Church, because there the tendency to believe in them was much greater,
as well as the inducement to invent and adopt them." The "inventors" of
the pre-Christian history of Ireland, who accomplished their task "from
the tenth to the twelfth century," are certainly complimented at the
expense of the saints who Christianized Ireland. This writer seems to
doubt the existence of St. Patrick, and has "many doubts" as to the
authenticity of the life of St. Columba. We should not have noticed this
work had we not reason to know that it has circulated largely amongst
the middle and lower classes, who may be grievously misled by its very
insidious statements. It is obviously written for the sake of making a
book to sell; and the writer has the honesty to say plainly, that he
merely gives the early history of Ireland, pagan and Christian, because
he could not well write a history of Ireland and omit this portion of
it!

[41] _Pillars_.--The monuments ascribed to the Tuatha De Dananns are
principally situated in Meath, at Drogheda, Dowlet, Knowth, and New
Grange. There are others at Cnoc-Aine and Cnoc-Greine, co. Limerick, and
on the Pap Mountains, co. Kerry.

CHAPTER IV.

The Scythians Colonists--Testimony of Josephus--Magog and his
Colony--Statements of our Annals confirmed by a Jewish Writer--By
Herodotus--Nennius relates what is told by the "Most Learned of the
Scoti"--Phoenician Circumnavigation of Africa--Phoenician Colonization
of Spain--Iberus and Himerus--Traditions of Partholan--Early
Geographical Accounts of Ireland--Early Social Accounts of Ireland.

The writer of the article on Ireland, in Rees' Cyclopaedia, says: "It
does not appear improbable, much less absurd, to suppose that the
Phoenicians might have colonized Ireland at an early period, and
introduced their laws, customs, and knowledge, with a comparatively high
state of civilization; and that these might have been gradually lost
amidst the disturbances of the country, and, at last, completely
destroyed by the irruptions of the Ostmen." Of this assertion, which is
now scarcely doubted, there is abundant proof; and it is remarkable that
Josephus[42] attributes to the Phoenicians a special care in preserving
their annals above that of other civilized nations, and that this
feeling has existed, and still exists, more vividly in the Celtic race
than in any other European people.

The Irish annalists claim a descent from the Scythians, who, t