of chaotic matter, they are now presented in a different form, and under
a more popular aspect. We cannot pretend to say that we have invariably
assigned to them their true origin, or that their real character and
position have been ascertained. Still, we would hope, that, as relics of
the past rescued from the oblivion to which they were inevitably
hastening, they are not either an uninteresting or inelegant addition to
the literature of our country.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] "They worshipped fire as the representative of the Deity,
which they kept continually burning on the tops of their highest
mountains."--_Foreign Quarterly Review_, No. XV.: Art. "Popular Poetry,"
p. 77.

[7] That Ireland has not always presented so degrading and uncivilised
an aspect as now exists in that unhappy country, there is abundant
testimony to convince the most incredulous. Camden, an author by no
means partial on this score, says:--"The Irish scholars of St. Patrick
profited so notably in Christianity that, in the succeeding age, Ireland
was termed '_Sanctorum Patria_.'" Their monks so excelled in learning
and piety, that they sent whole flocks of most holy men into all parts
of Europe, "who were founders of the most eminent monasteries both there
and in Britain."

"A residence in Ireland," says a learned British writer, "like a
residence now at an university, was considered as almost essential to
establish a literary character." By common consent, and as a mark of
pre-eminence, Ireland obtained the title of _Insula Sanctorum et
Doctorum_.