as early as the ninth year of it.
. . . We have no authority," continues Lanigan, "for his having visited
Gaul at any time until the period already given, and which is clearly
marked in Irish history. Our Saint's captivity may be assigned to 403,
and to a time not long prior to King Niall's death. Thus the date of
his birth and captivity, considering the circumstances now mentioned,
help to confirm each other, and, combined with his age at consecration,
authorizes his birth in 387" ("Eccl. Hist, of Ireland," vol. i., pp.
137, 138).

Contrary to what Dr. Lanigan has just stated, a close study of
Keating's "History" will prove that King Niall made two raids into
Armorica, the first in the ninth and the second in the twenty-seventh
year of his reign, and the account of the two expeditions is clear and
unmistakable. "There is an old manuscript in vellum, exceedingly
curious, entitled 'The Life of St. Patrick,' which treats likewise of
the lives of Muchuda Albain and other Saints, from which I," writes
Keating, "shall transcribe a citation that relates to St. Patrick.

"Patrick was a Briton born and descended from religious parents," and
in the same place is the following remark: "The Irish Scots, under
Niall the King, wasted and destroyed many provinces in Britain in
opposition to the power of the Romans. They attempted to possess
themselves of the northern part of Britain, and, at length, having
driven out the old inhabitants, these Irish seized upon the country and
settled in it." The same author (of the manuscript) upon this occasion
remarks that from henceforth Great Britain was divided into three
kingdoms, that were distinguished by the names of Scotia, Anglia, and
Britia.

This ancient writer likewise asserts that when Niall, the hero of the
Nine Hostages, undertook the expedition for settling the tribe of the
Dailraida in Scotland, the Irish fleet sailed to the place where St.
Patrick resided; "At this time the fleet out of Ireland plundered the
country in which St. Patrick then lived, and, according to the custom
of the Irish, many captives were carried away from thence, among whom
was St. Patrick, in the sixteenth year of his age, and his two sisters,
Lupida and Darerca; and St. Patrick was led captive into Ireland in the
_ninth_ year of the reign of Niall, King of Ireland, who was the mighty
monarch of the kingdom for seven-and-twenty years, and brought away
spoils out of England, Britain, and France."

"By t