Henry Brooke - An Essay on the Antient and Modern State of Ireland

Those ancient Sophi and Literati enjoyed their Places with the greater Security, that they were uninvadable by the inferior Classes of Mankind; with the greater Content and Chearfulness, that much Esteem and Emolument were connected with them: The Priest and Advocate informed and directed the Conscience and Conduct; the Historian and Annalist recorded the Institutions; the Poet and Musician celebrated and sung the Exploits of their Kings and Leaders: No Wonder then this Kingdom should have been revered at Home, and admired Abroad; when Religion formed, Erudition nurtured, Philosophy strengthened, History preserved, Rhetorick adorned, Musick softened, and Poesy refined, the National Wisdom and Accomplishments; to all which was added, a thorough Knowledge of Tactics, and great Skill and Agility in all the athletick Arts, and bodily Exercises.

In the Versions of some original Codes exported by our Countryman, the learned and pious St. Fiechry , still extant in the Navarre Library at Paris , the Constitutional Wisdom of Ireland appears in a clear and happy Light: Persons, Things, Actions, and Expressions, were cautiously attended to, by the Laws; Persons , in their Minority, Youth, and Manhood, according to their different Ranks in the State, so as by Care, Education, and Discipline, to render them, some subservient, others useful, some beneficial, and others ornamental thereunto. Things , so carefully, as to prevent, by prohibatory Laws, Wastes of whatsoever Kind, and to ascertain to each Individual, as well as Society, their proper and distinct Rights. Actions , by directing those in general, and particular, to the Honour of the Deity and Welfare of the Community: Expression , by the penal Interdiction of prophane Cursing and Swearing, Obscenity, Scurrility, Calumny, and Detraction, yet with a full Indulgence of proper Satire against such as merited popular Reprehension, or Contempt; the Satirist's Pen in those Days being as much dreaded, or rather more so, than the Magistrate's Rod, and consequently as diligently avoided by a Demeanour absolutely irreproachable.

It appeareth that, under the antient Government of Ireland , the Education of the landed Gentry, when Luxury, with its wasteful Catalogue of Vices, had not rendered Property so mutable and wavering as in modern Ages, was provided for; whether by the immediate Care of Parents, or essential Attention of Guardians, by the Laws of the Land; in order that Gentlemen should, to the Antiquity of Birth and Possession, add the important Dignity of Learning, and social Refinement of Arts: Since a Man at the Head of an original Estate, who should want the necessary Cultivation of Letters, was considered only as a Peasant in Disguise, and not more respected than a Hewer of Wood, or Drawer of Water.

In these Writings of St. Fiechry , the legislative Wisdom of Olam-Fodla ; the philosophically-religious Capacity of Cormac-O Quin , who, from the pure Light of Nature, in a great Measure defeated the absurd Polytheism of the Druids ; the consummate Integrity and Impartiality of Federach the Just, and Moran his Chief Justice; the Magnanimity of Con-Ked-Cathagh ; the Conquests of Kineth Mac Alpin ; the long, glorious, and peaceful Reign of Conary the Great, coæval with the Birth of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ , (undoubtedly the happiest, brightest, and most blissful Period the World ever saw;) are all displayed in a copious masterly Style, yet with strict chronological Exactness.

This learned St. Fiechry was Founder of the University in Paris , in the Beginning of the 8th Century. The better to enable him to carry on that noble Work, he obtained of Charles the Great a Tax on all Wheel-Carriages, within the Barriers of that City: Whence, a Hackney-Coach is at this Day technically term'd Fiacre .

Charles the Great, in order to repair the cruel and truly lamentable literary Dilapidations of the ferocious North-men, invited Numbers of the learned and pious Irish to the Continent, where he established and entertained them with Dignity, Tenderness, and Respect. In a curious Manuscript of Nicholaus Gurtlerus , (now in the French King's Parisian Library) Author of the Origines Mundi , where he alludes to these Times, you find the following favourable, but true Account of Ireland . — Temporibus illis, barbaris Normannorum Cohortibus undequaque irrumpentibus, Religio, Fides, Philosophia, Virtus, Hospitalitas, Fortitudo, Castitas, necnon et Amœniores omnium generum Artes, Hibernia solummodò natali, veluti Solo, viguerunt ; little Wonder that Ireland should have been esteemed the Ierne , or sacred Isle of the Greeks , the Insula Sanctorum , or Island of Saints of the Romans . – Would to Heaven our Countrymen had, upon all considerable Occasions, recollected those deserved Encomiums, thereby to approve them worthy their applauded Origin, and native Soil!

We now proceed to consider Ireland in her happiest and brightest View, after the Admission and Propagation of Christianity. It is certain there were many Christians in Ireland , before the Arrival of Palladius in 431, or of St. Patrick the Year following: St. Kieran , St. Ailbe , St. Declan , and St. Ibar , whom Ussher calls the Precursors, or Forerunners of St. Patrick , are pregnant Proofs of this; they were of the Birth of Ireland , from whence they travelled to Rome , in Search of Education and Learning, where they lived some Years, were ordained, and returned Home about the Year 402.

It seems that those early Preachers confined their Labours to particular Places, in which they had considerable Success, but fell very short of converting the Body of the Nation: However, they sowed the Seed which St. Patrick came after to water: And it is certain that St. Patrick was so well satisfied with the Progress they made, in their particular Districts in Munster , that this was the last Province in Ireland he thought proper to visit. That there were many Christians in Ireland , at this Period, seems to be confirmed by Prosper , who, in giving an Account of the Mission of Palladius , says, that he was ordained by Pope Celestin , and sent the first Bishop to the Scots believing in Christ. This Passage can mean nothing else, but that Palladius , born in Britain, was sent to the Scots [i.e. the Irish ] who had already formed Churches under Kieran , Ailbe , Declan and Ibar ; and so the Bishop of St. Asaph expounds it. This then was the next Attempt that was made for the Conversion of the Irish : Palladius engaged in a more ample and extensive Design than his Predecessors, yet he failed in the Execution of it, stay'd but a short Time in Ireland , and did little worth remembring; he converted, however, a few, and is said to have founded three Churches; but he had neither Courage to withstand the Fierceness of the heathen Irish , nor Abilities, for Want of the Language, proper for the Work.

Nathi , the Son of Garcon , an Irish Prince, opposed his preaching; upon which Palladius left the Kingdom, and died in the Land of the Picts , on the 15th of December , 431. This glorious Work was reserved for St. Patrick , to whose holy Life, divine Mission, and extraordinary Success, I refer the Reader. This great Apostle of the Irish founded and built the Cathedral Church of Ardmagh , about the Year 444, or 45, which, from that early Period to this, hath continued the Metropolitan Church of all Ireland . So that 1194 Years passed away from the Founding of the City of Rome , to that of Ardmagh .