A new edition of Toland's History of the druids: - Free History Ebooks

NOTES. 419time coming a triennial revision of the books of the antiquaries,by three Kings, three Druids, and three Antiquaries.But what V7ill place the number, as well as fhe antiquity, oCthe Irish manuscripts on an incontrovertible basis is, that St.Patrick, on his arrival, burnt 300 of them. This fact is as wellattested as the existence of the saint himself. We have, however,no reason to conclude that these were the whole of the Irishmanuscripts, but only such ascontained the mysteries and religiousrites of the Druids. Their historical manuscripts did notcome within this description. Indeed it is evident, from To-]and's quotations from these manuscripts, that even all those ofthe former description were not burnt, but that many of the formulariesof the Druids, and much of their mythology, is extantin manuscript. He has given us a list of a dozen Druids, whilstDr. Smith has not been able to condescend on one. Anothercircumstance, and that not the least important, is, that the onlyspecimen of the Celtic alphabet which has survived the wreck oftime, has been preserved by the Irish.I have already remarked, that it is impossible to treat the Irishmanuscripts with any degree of critical accuracy, so long as theylemain unpublished. In this case all that I could do is to statethe jarringopinions of those who have wriLten on the subject,which, to the inferior class of ray readers, could be of little service,and to those of a superior description, could convey no Informationof which they are not already possessed. As thesenotes have already extended to more than double the size originallyintended, I shall conclude with a few remarks oa theDuan Albanach^ and the much agitated question whether Irelandwas Scotland, or vice versa.The reader will Snd a copy of thisIrish poem in O'Connor's Dissertation, 0' Flaherty's Ogygia^or the Appendix to Pinkarton' s History of Scotland,The Duan, Albanach—i. e. the Scottish song, or rather, (h^ehistorical song of the Scots, is an Irish poem of great antiquity,and was certainly begun prior to the aera of St. Patrick. It isnot like the Chronicon Pktorwn, and other more raodera prc^ducticns, debased by monkish etymological nonsense.