Norway, Denmark, Orkany, and the great "Eschavye." In Eschavye there dwelleth none but serpents and other foul beasts. And there saw Fulk serpents with horns; and the horns were very sharp; and they have four feet, and fly like birds. One of these serpents assailed Fulk, and struck him with his horn, which transfixed his shield in the middle. Fulk wondered much at the blow, and he was well aware that when the serpent had struck him on the shield, he could not readily withdraw his horn; and Fulk stabbed him through the heart with his sword. There saw Fulk a venomous beast, which had the head of a mastiff, a thick beard like a goat, and ears like a hare; and many other beasts which St. Patrick drove out of Ireland, and imprisoned them there by the virtue of God; for the good-man St. Patrick was in high credit with him. And thenceforth no venomous beast inhabits the land of Ireland, except lizards without tails.-MS. Reg. 12. c. xii. in the British Museum.

W.

Rothe, titular bishop of Ossory, in his "elucidations" observes respecting Jocelin's Life of St Patrick, that “it has been delivered to us by our ancestors, that St. Patrick possessed the power of expelling serpents; and this was the universal opinion, not only of the people, but of the wisest and most discreet men of our nation, that by the virtue and power of him, our island was freed from all venomous creatures. Thus do the Hymns, the Antiphones, and the offices sufficiently prove, the national annals record, the Latin writers declare. In this do foreigners and natives concur, in this do the moderns, one perchance or two excepted, confirm the testimony of the ancients. In this manner do the Greek writers Theodoretus and Euthymius understand the 90th Psalm, of the actual subjection of serpents and wild beasts, which therein is

promised unto the saints confiding in the Lord; Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet!'

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Certainly in those histories of the saints which are composed by classic and authentic writers, many are the relations of this subjection of serpents, and of wild beasts, as exhibited in many holy men; but most eminent and rare is the example which we read in the Acts of the Apostles of the viper that fastened on the hand of St. Paul while he collected twigs for the fire. And to this Tertullian, attending and discussing the power given from Christ, of treading on serpents and scorpions, haply insinuateth to us the prerogative communicated unto Paul, that the soil of Malta should through his merits be an antidote against all poisons, and that all venomous creatures when thither brought should forthwith lose their power of doing hurt. And very similar hereunto is the prerogative bestowed on Ireland through the merits of St. Patrick; with this difference, that while in Malta, serpents, scorpions, snakes, adders, and other venomous reptiles, retain their life and their motion, and lose only their poisonous power; in Ireland they can neither hurt nor exist, inasmuch as not only the soil, but the climate, and the atmosphere unto them are instant death. The spider is found among us, yet it is entirely harmless; the frog is sometimes, but rarely met; (and its extirpation is not remote), and a lizard of many feet and many colours, but in which is not any poison !"

"The most peculiar and eminent among these wonders," says Mr. Edmund L. Swift, in observations on Jocelin's Life of St. Patrick," is the exemption of Ireland from serpents by the merits of St. Patrick ;-while geologists, instead of ascribing it to the influence of the saint, impute this happy

privilege to natural causes, a little poetical and legendary amplification may perhaps account for his share in its real blessing. From the earliest time the Evil Spirit has been symbolized under the form of a serpent. By a serpent were the temptation of Eve, and the fall of man accomplished. Into serpents were the rods of the Magicians changed; and as a serpent did the rod of Aaron swallow them up. Under this form did the idolators of many ages and many nations worship

The Mischievous Power,' propitiate his protection or deprecate his enmity. Even to this day, as I am credibly informed, a brazen serpent (like that which was lifted up in the wilderness) has been preserved in the northern parts of Ireland, and handed down in one family through a series of ages. Their tradition records it as one of the original objects of the idolatrous worship in this island. It is curiously inscribed with Hieroglyphics, now unintelligible, but which doubtless once excited the fear or the devotion of the Pagan Irish; and though it has long ceased to be worshipped, it is still the object of their Christian superstition. Should any of the neighbourhood be suspected of theft, they are required to attest their innocence on this brazen serpent, on which alone can their purgation be obtained; and so long has this relic of ancient idolatry preserved its influence, that even now would no one dare to violate the still sacred oath.

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May I now venture the application? St. Patrick expelled the serpents from Ireland, and drove them before him into the sea. So says the legend; which divested of its allegory, and restored to the simple truth, tells that-St. Patrick's conversion of Ireland, and his extirpation of her serpents, are one and the same act; his introduction, or rather confirmation, of Christianity, and his expulsion from the

island of the Ophi-Sebia, or serpent-worship, which fled before his preaching. Thus may the imagination, the enthusiasm, and the devotion of our ancestors, which amplified a natural blessing into a spiritual miracle, be rationally explained. Thus, while we resign the legendary laurel from the brows of our saint, we secure to him a more permanent and honourable wreath; and thus, while we ascertain the truth of his existence, we confirm him in his well-deserved dignity-the legitimate apostle of Ireland."

Dr. Maginn, in a facetious catalogue of the miracles of Ireland's patron saint, thus accounts for the national dislike of Irishmen " to make beasts of themselves" by drinking water

"You've heard, I suppose, long ago

How the snakes in a manner most antic

He march'd to the County Mayo

And trundl'd them into th' Atlantic.

Hence not to use water for drink

The people of Ireland determine;

With mighty good reason, I think,

Since St. Patrick has filled it with vermin,
And vipers and such other stuff."

C.

XVIII.

LORD INCHIQUIN succeeded to his title during his minority, and 19th July, 1628, was granted in ward to Patrick Fitzmaurice, Esq. By indenture dated 5th February, 1632, the King demised, during Lord Inchiquin's minority, his estate, which was very large in the Counties of Limerick and Clare, to Sir William St. Leger, whose daughter Lord Inchiquin subsequently married. To study war he went into Italy, and served in the Spanish army until 1639, when he returned to Ireland. On the 2d April, 1640, he was constituted VicePresident of Munster under Sir William St. Leger, whom he accompanied on the 4th of December, 1641, against the Irish insurgents in the County of Waterford. In the early part of the following year he performed various services in the field against the Irish; and on the death of Sir William St. Leger, the Lords Justices conferred on him the entire military command of Munster, joining the Earl of Barrymore in commission with him for the civil government, upon whose death in a few months after, he became solely vested with the civil command.

On the 2nd September, 1642, Lord Inchiquin, with a very inferior force, defeated the Irish army under Lord Mountgarret, at Liscarrol, in the County of Cork, with considerable slaughter.