in the Bishop of Worcester, and as each Bishop is supposed to be capable of defining truth for his Diocese, then it follows of necessity, that what is true in Exeter need not be true, nay, may be false, in Worcester; and that so the faith must depend upon geographical divisions. Hence, too, as a second consequence, while an individual may incur the sin of heresy, a Bishop never can; for being complete in itself, the Diocese has its own faith, and that must depend on the opinions of its own diocesan. But we fancy that Nestorius was both a Bishop and a heretic. And a third consequence will be found to be that the same individual who is orthodox in one Diocese will be a heretic in another; and that the peer or member of Parliament, who for six months of the year holds the truth in London, may be a heretic during the other six at his country seat. We repeat, that this is identical in principle with the views of Independents, and that these are the consequences with which every system is fairly chargeable when it once gives up the great Catholic verity of one infallible centre of unity, with which it is necessary for every particular Church to be in communion: unless, perhaps, that system likes, at the same time, to give up the idea of any divine authority in its Episcopate, and to fall back upon the theory of Hobbes, that all spiritual jurisdiction flows from the secular power. In the sixteenth century, the two provinces of York and Canterbury determined that it was no longer necessary for them to communicate with the see of Rome; that it was lawful for them to act independently of the whole Church, and (as they professed,) to reform themselves apart from all the other Dioceses of the Christian world. And now that three centuries have passed away, mark the result: the English Church, as an undutiful child, has met_with its own reward. It threw off the parental sway of Rome to follow its own wayward will, and it seems now likely to reap the fruits of its ancient sin. For on what principle can she rise up in judgment on the Diocese of Exeter, if it shall choose to retire within itself, to reform what it considers to be existing abuses in the parent Establishment, as she herself "reformed" the so-called abuses of the Church of God three centuries ago, and finally to renounce all further connection with a body, which, in its own opinion, has become heretical?" Thus, whatever Anglicans may say, there is not a single argument

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on which the English Reformation can be defended, which will not equally defend the Bishop and Diocese of Exeter, in erecting itself (if it can effect its end,) into a separate body aloof from the rest of the Establishment; and there is no single argument which the English Church, as a body, can adduce in condemnation of the schismatical conduct of Dr. Philpotts, which will not equally pronounce sentence upon the principles and practice of the leaders of that unhappy schism which men call the English Reformation. Nay, we see not what can prevent each Archdeacon in his Archdeaconry, and each Rural Dean in his Deanery, through the length and breadth of Devon and Cornwall, from pressing on to its legitimate conclusion the suicidal principle which their own Diocesan has set forth; and perhaps, we may live to see the day when every separate parish in his Lordship's Diocese will rise and proclaim the self-same sentiments on its own account; when the Rector and Churchwardens, after their parish feast, will sit in judgment on their Bishop, pronounce him "a fautor of heretical tenets," declare the integrity of every parish in itself, affirm their own Catholicity, and disown all further communion with their excommunicated neighbours. If this should never come to pass, the English Church will only have to thank, under God, the illogical minds of Englishmen in general, and of her own members in particular: and if, in God's Providence, such a day should dawn upon them, the nation will be keen-sighted enough to lay the blame and scandal at the doors of Henry Philpotts, sometime Lord Bishop of Exeter.

ART. III.-Miscellany of the Celtic Society: the Genealogy of the Corcalaidhe; Poem on the Battle of Doun, by Gilla Brighde Mae Conmhide; Doucra's Tracts; several Poems, Pedigrees, Extracts. Edited by JOHN O'DONOVAN, ESQ., L. L. D., M. R. I. A. Dublin for the Celtic Society, 1849.

Printed

AVING, in two of our former numbers, explained the objects of the Celtic Society, and recommended it to the support of our readers, we deem it unnecessary in introducing to notice its third publication, to make any profession of the deep interest which we feel in its success. From the list of subscribers published in this volume, it appears that the four Archbishops, and more than half of the Bishops of Ireland, together with a large number of the most respectable priests, are subscribers; but it is to be regretted, that, with a few very cheering exceptions, the English supporters of similar literary societies, seem not to think the archæological researches of the Celtic Society, at least, entitled to their patronage. Yet there is nothing in the constitution or objects of the society to repel any supporter who wishes to see Irish history, such as it is, rescued from the hands of ignorant or narrow minded compilers. That is its sole end and aim-to supply the rough material to the historian, with notes and illustrations, free alike from the high flown exaggerations of national vanity and the bigotted or contemptuous misrepresentations of domestic or foreign revilers. A project so reasonable deserves the support of every historical student, who knows that Ireland, fallen though she be now, once had a great name among the Christian nations of Europe, and that even after all the unprecedented afflictions of the last few years, she still is a most important member of the British Empire.

It is useless to remind the reader of the value of an historical miscellany, a volume containing a number of detached and independent pieces, often not very important in themselves, but when collated with others, not less suggestive to the historian, than a fossil is to the geologist. Following the example of other associations, the Celtic Society resolved to collect the literary fragments scattered

through the ponderous pages of such Irish encyclopedias as the Books of Leacan and Ballymote; and in this volume we have a very favourable specimen which may please by its variety, many, who in those days of light learning, would willingly dispense with unity in an archæological theme.

The first tract in this miscellany is entitled "the Genealogy of the Corca Laidhe," a tribe descended according to bardic accounts, from Ith, one of the Spanish progenitors of the Irish people. Ith was paternal uncle of Milesius, whose three sons, Eremon, Eber, and Ir, were the reputed founders of the Milesian nobility in three provinces of the island, and a considerable part of the fourth. The descendants of Ith being, we are told, restricted to part of South Munster.

That the reader may form some notion of the bearing of the tract, it may be necessary to state very briefly the bardic story of Pagan Ireland, as it has been digested by O'Flaherty, the most patient and learned of all Irish seanachies.

The Irish, according to their own account, were not all of the same race, several colonies having successively invaded, and for a time held possession of the whole, or part of the island. To the primeval colonies of Partholanus and Nemethus, which went over not long after the deluge, we may apply the classic lines cited by O'Flaherty himself.

Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbras

Perque domos Ditis vacuas et inania rega.

These colonies are not honoured by a single notice from some bards of high authority; and by a rather suspicious coincidence, Partholanus, who landed A. M. 1970, has four sons, Er, Orba, Fergna, and Farran, the very heroes who figure more than a thousand years later, as the sons of the Milesian patriarah, Eber. The only circumstance worth attending to in the fable of these primitive colonies, is that according to the general opinion, they were of the same race as those that succeeded them, and all, it is said, spoke the same language.

The Firbolgs, under the leadership of Slainghe, invaded Ireland A. M. 2657, and divided it into five provinces, Leinster, Ulster, Connaught, North Munster, South Munster. They consisted of three tribes, called Firbolg

proper, Fir Gailian, Fir Domhain. They came, we are told, from Great Britain. After a dynasty of nine kings, whose reigns lasted about eighty years, they were subdued by the Tuatha Dea Danann, but continued for many centuries to hold some territory, especially in Connaught and Leinster. So late as last century, O'Flaherty could name, he says, families then existing, descended from the Firbolgs.

The Tuatha Dea Danann, the next invaders, A. M. 2737, came, we are told, from North Britain, after many peregrinations on the continent, too numerous to be particularized. Of the Danann, it is to be observed, that they disappear almost totally from bardic story, immediately after their subjection by the Milesians, A. M. 2935. No genealogies are traced to them, but the fame of their heroes, their learning and arts, the great fortresses they built, and the number of woods they felled, and plains they fertilized, are to this day a proverb in Ireland. Some traditions say that they spoke the Teutonic language.

The bardic story of the Milesian family is briefly told. They came from Spain, and having conquered the Tuatha Dea Danann, partitioned the island between them. Ir had Ulster; Eiber, North Munster; Ith, South Munster; but the bards are at a loss to decide what portion remained for Eremon, some assigning the north, others the south, others, more probably, Leinster and Connaught. What is historically certain is, that in the 3rd or 4th century of our era, clans calling themselves, then, or subsequently descendants of Ir, Eber, Ith, and Eremon, did occupy the parts of the island, assigned to them in this partition. From the four patriarchs sprung a line of kings, who ruled Ireland as monarchs, or ardrigh, for more than a thousand years before the Christian era; but about that period, the plebeian Irish, gathering spirit after a slavery of 40 generations, rose against their Milesian masters, and not having the dread of law before their eyes, did treasonably cut off nearly the whole of the royal race, and place one of their own plebeian blood on the throne. The seasons, however, conspired against the rebels; the pastures gave no grass, and of course, the cows no milk; the hazel trees no nuts, or the red earth no grain; so the repentant rebels were compelled to send a suppliant embassy to the few remaining scions of the royal stock, begging them graciously to