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GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION.

The concurrent testimony of our native annalists confirms the opinion that Ireland, at a very remote period was divided into a pentarchy, composed of the kingdoms of Munster, Leinster, Connaught, Ulster, and Meath. The comparative extent of each has been thus stated.-Munster contained seventy cantreds of land-Leinster, thirty-one-Connaught, thirty-Ulster, thirty-five, and Meath eighteen.— Each cantred contained thirty town-lands, and every town-land eight plough-lands, which latter is generally supposed to have been such a quantity of land as could give employment to one plough through the year. Since the overthrow of the ancient government these kingdoms have been converted into provinces, with the exception of that of Meath, which has been added to the province of Leinster. It has been asserted, that the country was anciently sub-divided into twenty-five dynasties, but we have no authentic information on this subject previous to the division of the several provinces into counties by the English. Twelve of these counties were erected by King John, viz. seven in Leinster, namely, Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Uriel or Louth, Catherlogh (now Carlow,) Kilkenny and Wexford; and five in Munster, viz. Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Kerry and Tipperary. Of these, four counties only in Leinster, namely, Dublin, Meath, Kildare, and Louth, comprized what was called the English pale, and this portion of territory with some of the maritime

towns in other quarters, might be considered as the only part of the country in the actual possession of the English during the three first centuries after the Invasion. In the reign of Henry VIII. Meath was divided into the counties of Meath and Westmeath, under separate Sheriffs and Coroners. Under Philip and Mary, Leix and some other districts near the river Barrow, were erected into a county, which was called the Queen's County, and the territory of Offaley, on the opposite side of the same river, was denominated the King's County. An Act of Parliament was passed in the same reign to divide all waste grounds into counties and hundreds. In virtue of this act, Annaly was erected into the county of Longford in 1565, by Sir Henry Sidney, and Connaught was at the same time divided into the counties of

Clare, Galway, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon and Leitrim; but Clare was subsequently re-annexed to Munster. Ulster, now the most civilized of all the provinces, was the last brought into a semblance of subjection to the English institutions, as Monaghan, Tirone, Coleraine, (now Derry,) Donegall, Fermanagh, and Cavan were not formed into counties till the year 1584. Antrim and Down are supposed to have been reduced into shires by John de Courcey, as early as 1177. Wicklow, which was originally comprized in the county of Dublin, was not formed into a separate county till 1603.

With regard to the ancient government of Ireland, it appears undoubted that the same system of military

association and subordination which pervaded the greatest part of Europe for so long a period, prevailed also in this island. The dignity of Supreme Monarch was not hereditary by right of primogeniture, but elective from the Riog-Damna, or royal stock of the Milesian family, the person chosen being generally some near relative of the reigning prince. This mode of electing the Sovereign was denominated the law of Tanistry, whereby the oldest and most deserving of the family was supposed to be appointed to the chief government of the state. But whatever semblance of liberty and attention to the interests of the nation this plan may have possessed, the factions which it engendered proved most destructive to the peace and prosperity of the country; an opinion which is sufficiently confirmed by the acknowledged fact, that out of two hundred of the Irish kings, one hundred and seventy died violent or premature deaths.→ The subordinate chieftains were chosen in a similar manner, and their inauguration is stated to have been accompanied by the following significant ceremonies. The several estates having assembled on the top of a hill, one of the chief men arose, having in his hand a straight white wand without any knots. He then advanced to the newly elected king, and presented to him the wand with the following address: "Receive the auspicious ensign of your dignity, and remember to imitate in your life and government the whiteness, straightness, and evenness of this rod; to the end that no evil tongue may express

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the candour of your actions with blackness, no corruption pervert your justice, nor any ties of friendship make it partial. Take, therefore, upon you in a lucky hour the government of this people, and exercise the power given you hereby with all freedom and security." The Kings of Munster were proclaimed on a large stone placed on the ascent to the church at Cashel.

It is natural to suppose that the inauguration of the Supreme Monarch must have been accompanied by a ceremonial much more august, though respecting it, previous to the introduction of Christianity, no particulars are to be found in our authentic records; it has therefore, been a matter of dispute, whether unction was used upon that occasion. That the royal crown was worn at all solemnities, not only by the Supreme Monarch but by the provincial kings, is less questionable; and on this subject we have the following observations in Harris's Ware-Antiquities, page 65.—" It is said by Hector Boetius, that 'the Kings of Scotland, from the time of Fergus their first king, to the reign of Achaius, who died in 819, wore a plain crown of gold, Militaris Valli forma, in the form of a military palisade.' It is no improbable conjecture that in this practice they imitated their ancestors, the Irish Kings, Fergus being of that race. This conjecture receives some strength from the golden crown, which in the year 1692, was dug out of a bog on the top of a hill called Barnanely, or the Devil's-bit, in the county of Tipperary,

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which was supposed to have been a crown belonging to some provincial king. It weighed about five ounces, the border and the head were raised in chased work, and seemed to bear a resemblance to the close crown of the Eastern Empire, which was composed of the helmet and diadem." Mr. Harris conjectures that this crown belonged to some Irish king, before the planting of Christianity in Ireland, because it was destitute of the cross. It fell into the hands of a Mr. Joseph Comerford, who carried it into France, where it is probably still preserved. The Irish histories mention that the Queen of Cathoirmor, King of Ireland, had her golden Asion or crown stolen from her, A. D. 174, at the Convention of Tarah. At the celebrated battle of Clontarf, the Monarch, Brien Boiromhe, was discovered by the Danes in consequence of having the royal crown on his head, which is said to have been afterwards carried to Rome by his son Donogh, when he undertook a pilgrimage to that city.

It is impossible to ascertain the precise authority which the Supreme Monarch possessed; but if we are permitted to judge from facts, it must have been extremely circumscribed beyond the limits of his own immediate jurisdiction, and his feudatories seemed to feel no further obligation to him than to render the stipulated tribute. Each dynast exercised royal power in his own territory, and had under him as many petty kings, as there were heads of families or

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