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S6THE HISTORYthe alphabet of ogum, or the Irish alphabet, meanins:that he invented the first letters, in imitationof which the alphabets of those nations were made.Ogum is also taken in this sense by the best modernwriters:as William O'Donnell*, afterwardsarchbishop of Tuam, in his preftice to the IrishNew Testament, dedicated to King James the First,and printed at Dublin in the year 1602, speakingof one of his assistants, says, that he eujomd himio ivrite the other part according to the Ogum andjjropriety of the Irishtongue; where Ogum mustnecessarily signify the alphabet, orthography, andtrue manner of writing Irish. From all this it isclear, why among theGauls, of whom the Irishhad their language and religion, Hercules, as theprotector of learning, shou d be call'd Ogmius, thetennination alone being Greec. Nor is this all.Ogma w as not only a known proper name in Ireland,but also one of the most antient; since OgmaGrianann, the father of King Dalboetius f, was oneof the first of the Danannan race, many ages beforeLucian's time. He was a very learned man,raarry'd toEathna, a famous poetess, who bore,])esides the fore-mention d monarch, Cairbre, like-AYise a poet:insomuch that Ogma was deservedlysuniamed Grianann ;{:,which is to say Phebean,where you may observe learning stillattending* William O DomhnuilL i" Dealbhaoith.% Griun is the sun, and Grianann sun.like, or belonging tothe sun.