his ancestor and namesake; Nial, called "of the Hostages,"
was slain on a second or third expedition into Gaul (A.D.
405), while Dathy, nephew and successor to Nial, was
struck dead by lightning in the passage of the Alps (A.D.
428). It was in one of Nial's Gallic expeditions that
the illustrious captive was brought into Erin, for whom
Providence had reserved the glory of its conversion to
the Christian faith--an event which gives a unity and a
purpose to the history of that Nation, which must always
constitute its chief attraction to the Christian reader.




CHAPTER III.

CHRISTIANITY PREACHED AT TARA--THE RESULT.

The conversion of a Pagan people to Christianity must
always be a primary fact in their history. It is not
merely for the error it abolishes or the positive truth
it establishes that a national change of faith is
historically important, but for the complete revolution
it works in every public and private relation. The change
socially could not be greater if we were to see some
irresistible apostle of Paganism ariving from abroad in
Christian Ireland, who would abolish the churches,
convents, and Christian schools; decry and bring into
utter disuse the decalogue, the Scriptures and the
Sacraments; efface all trace of the existing belief in