whence Ireland, and no other place, must have been their Suvarna-dwip, or happy island, in Irish Subharna-dib. The Elyfium of Pope's poor Indian was "fome happy island in the watry waste." It would be curious to investigate Pope's idea; whether incident or history produced this expreffion, which is fo exactly and literally your Suvarna-dwip. It is not to be fupposed, that in a didactic compofition mere incident should weigh with a poet, who wrote for pofterity: nay, rather a circumftance fo pofitively and minutely dwelt on by a fplendid genius, who devoted many years study to Afiatic literature, fhould in itself be fufficient proof, that the happy island was a popular idea, and even a traditional and religious tenet in the Eaft." (Mr. Mac Elligott, Letter to the Author). 5. Scotia. It appears to me, that Scuthæ derives from Coti, or Ceuti, shepherds, fynonimous to Palli; of which hereafter. 6. On the fummit of Cruacha-aigle, or Croagh-Patrick mountain, is a Pagan monument, said to have been one of St. Patrick's purgatories. In hujus montis de Cruacha aigle cacumine jejunare ac vigilare confuefcunt plurimi, opinantes fe pofteà nunquam intraturos portas inferni, quia hoc impetratum à Domino putant meritis & precibus S. Patricii. (Colgan vita Patr.) 7. Feftus Avienus, who lived in the fourth century, calls Ireland the facred ifle, infula facra. Quod quam ob caufam fecerit, nunc non fuccurit; nifi quod 'n legerit pro 1'ém (Holst. Steph. Byzant. de urb. p. 144.) Therefore Ireland could not have received the name of the facred island from St. Patrick, as fome have idly fuppofed, for Patrick did not arrive till the beginning of the fifth century. 8. St. Brandon looking for them in an island in the West. Ultra quam ad occafum nulla invenitur habitabilis terra, nifi miranda loca quæ vidit S. Brandanus in oceano. (Usher de Hibernia, p. 813.) The inhabitants of the county of Donegal think they frequently see this ifland emerging from the fea. 9. Dearg, Dirg, a cave. The famous cave of Lough Dirgh, in the county of Donegal, was long celebrated: it was of Pagan origin, as Sir J. Ware, I. Camertes, Father Meffingham, and others have proved. It is mentioned by Claudian : Eft locus extremum pandit qua Gallia litus Sanguine libato populum moviffe filentum, &c. &c. Et Dominus J. C. fanctum fuum in locum defertum eduxit, & quandam foveam rotundam, intrinfecus obfcuram, oftendit ei dicens, &c. &c. &c. Non multò autem pofteà, vivente adhuc in carne. carne ipfo S. Patricio, intrabant illud antrum plurimi zelo devotionis & pœnitentiæ pro peccatis ibi peragenda ftimulis commoti: qui reverfi teftabantur fe clarè confpexiffe multos in fide vacillantes ibi multis pænis affligi. (Colgan vita Patr.) Dearg, or Dirg, according to provincial pronunciation, a cave. The fame occurs in the Hebrew, as we are told by St. Jerom. "Nec refert utrum Salem aut Salim nominetur: cum vocalibus in medio literis perraro utantur Hebræi; et pro voluntate lectorum, ac varietate regionum, eadem verba diverfis fonis atque accentibus proferantur. The Erfe and the Irish differ in like manner in the vocal founds, yet they perfectly understand each other. Anacharfis Athenienfibus videbatur; huic contrà Athenienfes Baßag: & tamen utrique lingua fua diferti erant, & vel pueris ipfis intelligebantur. (P. Martinius, Gram. Hebr.) The waters of which were bitter. Eftque ea vis iftius aquæ (Lough Dirgh) quamvis ftagnantis, ut quantumvis ex ea te velis ingurgitare, nullum inde gravamen fentias, perinde ac fi ex vena metallica fluerit, quod de aqua ex fonticulo acido emanante perhibent, qui eam epotaverunt, abfque onere fuo vel ftomachi gravamine. (Colgan de modo & ritu Purg. Patr.) 10. Lough Dirg is fituated in Machara-ftan, the district of Machara or Mhachra (pronounced Wachara), which might be readily foftened by an Indian to Varaha. 11. Craccacha-efwara, king Craccacha. Tunc in illo concilio furrexit quidam, nomine Ri-Crach (king Crach), ut occideret Patricium, defcenditque ignis de cælo & illum magum coram omnibus combuffit. (Colgan vita Patr.) Efwara is the Irish Aofar, God, Lord, King; Bernier writes it Achar, Sir W. Jones Efwara, and quotes the Geeta. (See Aosar in the Dictionary.) 12. Chandra, or Vishnu, with the countenance of Lunus. Irish, Chann, the moon; Kill-fhandra, the place of worship of Chandra; name of a town and church in the north.* Mr. Maurice, quoting this extract from the Puranas, concerning the Palli, fays, "It unfolds to us various circumstances of great moment. In the first place, it introduces us to the ancestors of the Palli-bothri or Palli-putri, the most numerous, powerful, and, according to claffical and native writers, renowned tribe of Indians, (even till the days of Alexander,) whose dominion we fee extended from the Indus at least, we may affert, from the most easterly river These extracts, with the comments thereon, were offered to a learned Society in this country, for publication, but the reverend conductors of the prefs, not having thrown off their Icthyocolla-Scandinavian fpectacles, with which they have long pored over Fornandes and his officina gentium, rejected the effay in toto, and deemed thofe learned men, Jones, Burrow, Wilford, Hallis, and Co. fit objects for a mad-house. river of the Panjeb to the eastern limits of Bengal. In the fecond place, it informs us, that they were in religion Seevites, for which they were perfecuted and expelled; and imported the Seevite or Phallic doctrines, and fire worship into Egypt and Syria: failing from thence from Phanice, as we shall hereafter find, into Britain and the western world. (Maurice, Hist. of Hindostan, V. 2. p. 148.) In another place, this learned author fays, " The Phonicians, whose ancestors were educated in the fame original school with the Brahmins, fuffered not the ardour of Afiatic fuperftition to fubfide, but engrafted upon it the worship of the Tyrian Hercules, and the rites of that ancient nation." (Ind. Antiq. V. VI.) " Hercules," adds Mr. Maurice, "being the name or title generally affigned to that primitive chieftain, who led the first Afiatic colony by fea to Europe, through the ftraits of Gades, where a superb temple was erected to his honor, under the express denomination of the Phænician Hercules, whom we have proved to have been not different from the Affyrian; and fome important information, relative to the name and first peopling of the British ifles by an Indian race, having, through the unwearied industry of Mr. Wilford, in investigating the Sanfcreet records, been recently discovered, it will not, I trust, be confidered as an unpardonable deviation from the immediate concerns of the Indian empire, if I here prefent the reader with the result of his inquiry concerning that Indian colony, who transplanted into these islands the religious rites and civil customs of Afia, known to us under the name of DRUID. I had occafion, in the fixth volume of Indian Antiquities (p. 197), to remark, that one of the most curious and remarkable and mythologic feats of Hercules was his failing in a golden cup, which APOLLO, or the Sun, had given him, to the coafts of Spain, where he fet up the pillars that bear his name. On this paffage Macrobius remarks, Ego autem arbitror non POCULO Herculem maria tranfvectum, fed navigio cui SCYPHO nomen fuit. That Scythian and Cuthite are fynonimous terms, has been demonstrated by Mr. Bryant. The Scythian Hercules was still the Indian Belus, extending his conquefts northward. The fhepherds, who emigrated from Afia to Egypt, who conquered it, who, for above two centuries and a half, enjoyed its throne, and whom Mr. Bryant exprefsly denominates, the dynasty of Cuthite Shepherds, were, therefore, probably, only the Palli or shepherds, alluded to by Mr. Wilford; a wandering race, whofe hiftory has already been given at confiderable length, and whose progrefs has been traced through ARABIA and SYRIA to PHOENICE, on the coaft of the Mediterranean. On that coaft the greater part of them appear to have taken up their final abode, while others, more daring, with their leader Hercules, or Belus, or whatever name they might beftow upon him, launched into the vaft ocean, and reached the ftraits of Gades, whence they colonized colonized Spain, Gaul, and BRITAIN. The confonance on this fubject, of Indian and claffical writers, of ancient and modern authorities, removes every idea of suspicion, that might appear to shade the reality of this expedition." (Maurice, Hift. of Hindostan, V. 2. p. 165.) "Plufieurs favans dans ce fiecle, ont avancé que toutes les nations Européennes tiroient leur origine de l'Orient. Les preuves, fur lefquelles ils ont appuyé leurs fyftemes, font devenues claffiques pour l'histoire. Cet empire d'Iran, d'apres les derniers recherches, paroit être le berceau de toutes les nations Européennes, ignoré fi longtemps par les favans." (Millin. Magaz. Encyclop. V. An. T. V. p. 335.) In no history has this emigration been more minutely detailed than in the Irish: the language of the country has not been studied by the learned, confequently the history has been locked up from the knowledge of the world; for this reafon, an Epitome of the history is given, as a Preface to this Prospectus of a Dictionary of the Irish Language. Near a century ago, the learned writer of Efpana Primitiva agreed with the Irish documents, and Saxon Chronicle, as to the ancient colony of Spain. He fays, "Hercules was neither an Egyptian, Tyrian, or Grecian. The army he led to Africa, and thence to Spain, was composed of Dorians, Medes, Armenians, and Perfians, i. e. of Scythians,* as is well attested in history. The name of his ship was the SUN; the Greeks have wrapped this up so close in their mythological fables, it is almost impoffible to come at the truth. Athenæus tells us, that Pherecides, defcribing the ocean, fays, that Hercules penetrated that quarter, like an arrow shot from a bow. Sol ordered him to ftop; terrified, he obeys. Sol, pleased with his fubmiffion, gave him a patera, or cup, by which he steered his steeds, in the dark nights, through the ocean, to return again to Aurora. In that cup, or Scyphus, Hercules failed to Erythraa; but Oceanus, to vex him, and try his strength, dashed with all his might against the patera: Hercules bent his bow, and directed a dart at Oceanus, which obliged him to defift.-What does this mean, but that Hercules navigated to Spain, in a ship named the SUN; and, being forced into the ocean by a storm, he, by the help of the magnet, steered fafe into port: hence the North, or cardinal point, is ftill marked by a dart. Many authors have proved the ancients had the use of the compafs: the properties of the magnet were known to them, and, in honour of the discoverer, it was called the Heraclean stone, and the place abounding with it was named Heraclea. See Macrobius, Belonius, Salmuthus, Bononius, Caleius," &c. &c. &c. *The author means Indo-Scythæ, or Southern Scythians. "Hence "Hence from patera & poculum, i. e. fcyphus, we derive the word veffel (vaso), signifying a fhip, and from Scyphus the English word fhip. From the general conftruction of these veffels, of ribs of wood, covered with hides of animals, come the various names of bulls, rams, cows, given to fhips. Sunt Lybicæ naves, quas Arietes & Hircos appellant: tamen navem verifimile eft, et taurum fuiffe navem qui Europam transportavit." (Jul. Pollux). "Hence the cows of the fun, the horfes of Achilles; what were they but ships? The horfes of Hector, loaded with corn and wine, were no other than victualling fhips.* The Jeguas (mares) of Diomedes, which paffed from Thrace to Peloponefus, and ate human flesh, were armed pirates, as Euftathius has proved. The fame were the horses of Rhesus of Thrace, and the three thousand mares of Ericthonius, described by Homer. The celebrated horfe of Bellerophon, called Pegafus, was a fhip, as we learn from Palephatus. The fame, fays that author, were the horses of Pelops, which the Romans understood in a literal sense, and their poets worked into fables." "From this mixture of mythology, allegory, and theology, arise those abfurd fables of the Greeks; and without reading a number of authors, not admitted at this day in our schools, it is impoffible to understand the writings of HESIOD and of HOMER. Who but an Orientalist can tell, that the ship of Hercules, called by fome the Apollo, by others the Sun, is the fame named Leibte by Athenæus." (Efpana Primitiva.) The learned Gebelin, in like manner, afks, "why was Hercules faid to be of Thebes?" Because Thebes is an Oriental word, fignifying an arc, a veffel-but the Easterns made the Sun travel in a vessel, of which he was the pilot. The Sun, Hercules, was therefore, with reason, in this fenfe, called the Theban, that is, the navigator. Irish history, and Irish language, unravels all this allegory. One of his names in Irish is Ogham, and he is called Ogham-Griannach, or Ogham of the (fhip named) the SUN, from Grian, the Sun, the vulgar name of that planet at this day. Hence the Greek fable of carrying off Geryon's cows. Ogham is faid to be Mac Ealat, the fon of Ealat, i. e. in Arabic ilabut, the Sun; his wife's name it is faid was Aorth, that is, a raft or ship. The Greeks make Erythea to be the daughter of Geryon. Erythia infula Geryonis in Oceano, fic dicta ab Erythea Geryonis filia, ex qua et Mercurio Morax natus eft. (Stephanus). с * Hence his Phrygian name Ekatar, Dominus navis, from Eka, a fhip. (Ihre). Tranflator. + Jegua is from the Egyptian and Irish Uige, a fhip. (Tranfl.) Thefe Garanus vel Caranus verò ad verbum idem notat ac Belus; ut verò Belus & Solis & Regis, ita Garanus vel Caranus quoque utriufque fuerit nomen. (Voffius de Idol, L. 2.) Hence Leaba Graine, in Irish, the altar of Belus. |