t and won at Nevthur
in Clydesdale.

Besides the fact that no small stretch of imagination is required to
believe that Nevthur and Nemthur are one and the same, nearly all the
poems attributed to Taliessin are regarded as spurious by learned
critics, as Chamber's "Encyclopaedia," under the heading Welsh
Literature, evidently points out.

"Mr. Nash, the author of 'Taliessin and the Bards and Druids of Wales,'
enables us to form an independent judgment on this point, for he
translates some fifty of the poems, and we find that, instead of their
exhibiting an antique Welsh character, they abound in allusions to
mediaeval theology, and frequently employ mediaeval Latin terms. It is
certainly unfortunate for the reputation of the 'Chief of Bards' that
the specimens of his poems, which are considered genuine, possess
exceedingly small merit. The life of this famous but over-rated genius
is, of course, enveloped in legend." Lanigan's challenge, therefore,
still remains unanswered, and a town mamed Nemthur is not to be found
in any ancient history, geography, or map. The error, therefore, of the
Scholiast consisted in stating that Alcluid and Nemthur were identical,
but his statement that St. Patrick was captured in Armorica is
historically true.

THE "TREPARTITE LIFE" FALLS INTO THE SAME ERROR.

THE following account is given in the "Trepartite Life" concerning St.
Patrick's native town, and the country from which he was taken
captive:--

"Patrick, then, was of the Britons of Alcluid by origin. Calphurn was
his father's name. He was a noble priest. Potit was his grandfather's
name, whose title was a deacon. Conceis was his mother's name. She was
of the Franks, and a sister to St. Martin. In Nemthur, moreover, was
the man Patrick born. . . .

"The cause of Patrick's coming to Erin was as follows: 'The seven sons
of Fachmad, namely--the seven sons of the King of Britain--were on a
naval expedition, and they went to plunder Armoric Letha; and a number
of Britons of Strath-Cluaidh were on a visit with their kinsmen--the
Britons of Armoric Letha--and Calphurn, son of Potit, Patrick's father,
and her mother Conceis, daughter of Ocbas of the Gauls, that is of the
Franks, were killed in the slaughter in Armorica. Patrick and his two
sisters, viz. Lupait and Tigris, were taken prisoners, moreover, in
that slaughter. The seven sons of Fachmad went afterwards to sea,
having with them Patrick and his two sisters in captivity. T