investigation pointed out. "We find the names, most probably fictitious, of Albe, Declan, Ibar, and Kieran, mentioned as precursors of Saint Patrick, who has been supposed the great Apostle of the Irish, to have come among them in the year 432, and to have effected the great work of their conversion." He then alleges, that the stories related of this Apostle are "legendary tales, or theological romances, fabricated four centuries after his imaginary existence. He is mentioned in no writing, of authentic date, anterior to the ninth century, a period replete with forged lives of saints; while beside the persuasive silence of other documents, he is quite unnoticed by Beda, Cogitosus, Adamnan, and Cumian, ecclesiastic writers of the intermediate time, who could not have omitted the name of so great a missioner, if it had ever reached them."* Now, these extraordinary passages seem to be merely the echo of Dr. Ledwich's absurd paradoxes. They certainly are not the result of any accurate research into the works of the authors, to whom they so confidently refer. Cumian, for instance, has not only spoken explicitly of Albe and Kieran, but deemed it necessary to inquire, most minutely, into the nature of their opinions, on certain subjects discussed in his far-famed and very learned treatise on the Paschal controversy. On this point, he says, he interrogated the fathers and the elders of the church, who, having assembled Rev. James Gordon's Hist, of Ireland, vol. 1, c. 3. p. 28, 29; Conclusion. together, gave him the information which he required. Cumian flourished about the year 650, and was abbot of Hy, according to Ussher, in 657. Here then we have the unquestionable testimony of one of the most learned and sagacious men in Europe, as to the existence of Albe and Kieran.* We have already seen that Adamnan, Cumian, Bede, and others, mention Saint Patrick. On what authority, then, has Mr. Gordon spoken of "the persuasive silence" of these authors? It is to be feared that he relied solely on the ipse dixit of Dr. Ledwich. Musgrave also, and various other writers seem to have been misled by this erring guide. It was, therefore, a duty incumbent upon us, to expose his egregious mistatements to the literary world, and to disentangle a highly important and interesting portion of our national history, from the ridiculous perplexities, in which it had been so industriously and so artfully involved. • See the Treatise itself in Usser. vet. epist. Hib. Syll. p. 24—33, 34. HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, &c. &c. CHAPTER I. From the birth of Saint Patrick, A. D. 373, till the death of Nial Caille. THE CITY OF ARMAGH is situated in latitude 54° 20′ 55′′ north, and longitude 6° 37" 57" west, from the meridian of the royal observatory, at Greenwich.* It is the capital of the county of +Armagh, in the province of Ulster, and the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland. The river Callan flows in its vicinity, and, in some parts of its meandering course, approaches within less than a quarter of a mile of the city. The surrounding country is highly cultivated, agreeably diversified with hill and dale, and rich with rural scenery, pleasing, picturesque and varied. The longitude and latitude given above, are those of the cathedral, as found by very accurate observations, made by the Reverend Robert Hogg, deputy astronomer to the Armagh observatory. The observatory itself is situated in latitude 54° 21′ 15′′ north, and longitude 6o 37, 30% west, from the meridian of the royal observatory at Greenwich, ↑ See Appendix, No. I. |