A General History of Ireland; In Its Antient and Modern State. on a New and Concise Plan. Collected by a Gentleman During His Travels Through the Principal Parts of This Kingdom. Revised, Corrected and Enlarged, with Many Important Additions, by John Angel (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 44 poetlcis mngis decora fabu'is, quam intof- ruptis rerttm geftafum momimentis tradun'- " fur, ea nee affimare, nee refe/lere, in ani- mo ejt. Datur hac venia antiquitati, ut ' mifcendo httmana divinis, primordia urbtum ' auguftiora facias." To the embellifh- ments of poetical fables, he imputes them, and not to the incorrupted monuments of affairs, from whence hiftory ought to be drawn and therefore he adds, that it was not his intention either to affirm or difprove fuch things, for that indulgence was due to antiquity, which by mixing divine and human things together, fought to render the original of cities more augvift and venerable. Whatever weight this apology might have, moft nations have fallen into the humour of obtruding mock princes on the world, from whence they have drawn their originals. Thus, fays Camden, in his Britannia, page 9, The Danes have their Danus?The Bra- banters their Brabo ? The Goths their Go- thus, and the Saxons their Saxo, as the founders of their feveral nations: and Geof- fry, Archdeacon of Monmouth, makes Brutus as the founder of the Britons; and Keating in his hiftory of Ireland, fays, Ireland was colonized at various times not to mention thofe of the remoteft antiquity. Camden, aflerts " The Irifh begin their " hiftories from the higheft antiquity, fo " that other nations are but modern and " in their infancy in comparifon to theirs." And if credit can be given to the accounts propagated by antient monks, they aflert with great plaufibility that Ireland had a fucceffion of kings, and flourifhed in all the arts and fciences, particularly thofe of government, before they were known in Egypt or Greece. Sir James Ware fpeaks of this kingdom as of no great repute before they were converted to chriftianity (as does alfo Strabo in his Hift. de ...