[P. 74.]—Solar worship. Patrick, Confession, p. 374. Cormac’s Glossary, s.v. indelba. It has been suggested that a circle on an inscribed (ogam) stone, which seems to be oriented, at Drumlusk, near Kenmare, is connected with solar worship (Macalister, Studies in Irish Epigraphy, ii. 116-7). Cp. H. Gaidoz, “Le dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de la roue,” Rev. arch. 1884 and 1885.
[Ib.]—Pillar worship. Patrick, ib. p. 369. For the idol Cromm Cruach, see p. 306. Cp. the stone of worship (ail adrada) in Ancient laws, iv. 142.
[P. 76.]—For white dress of Druids, see Tírechán, p. 325-6. For their tonsure see [Appendix A, i. 4].
[P. 79.]—Muirchu, 273-4. “Adzehead” was evidently meant as a nickname for the tonsured monk. I have given the oracle as it is found in Muirchu’s Latin rendering. He must have known the prophecy in a different form from the Irish version which is preserved in the glosses on the Hymn Genair Patraicc (Liber Hymnorum, i. p. 100): “Adzehead will come, over the mad-crested sea, his cloak hole-head, his staff crook-head, his table in the west of his house; all his household will answer Amen, Amen.” See Atkinson, ib. ii. 181-2, and my article on the “Tradition of Muirchu’s Text,” p. 203 (in Hermathena, 28, 1902).
Chapter V
[P. 81.]—Patrick’s landing-place in Ireland. Muirchu, p. 275. Palladius had landed at the same place (Vit. Trip. p. 30; V₂, 24 and 25). Todd (St. Patrick, 338 sqq.) thought that the circumstances of the landing of Palladius were transferred to Patrick, it being unreasonable to suppose that both missionaries should have landed at the same place. This is a bad argument. For, in the first place, Inber Dee may have been the usual port for ships from South Britain; and, in the second place, nothing was more natural than that Patrick should first go to the region in which his predecessor had been active. And if this is admitted there is nothing unreasonable (Todd’s second objection) in supposing that the chieftain Nathi MacGarrchon, who (according to Vit. Trip. p. 30, V₂, 24) opposed Palladius, should also have opposed Patrick (V₂, 25). It is more to the purpose that Muirchu says nothing of Nathi, but it may be observed that his opposition might help to explain why both bishops remained such a short time in Wicklow.
[P. 83.]—Sea-journey from Wicklow to Ulidia. Dr. Gwynn suggests that Muirchu (who seems to have visited Ulidia, see [Appendix A, ii. 3]) made this journey himself. Patrick’s visit to Inis Patrick is also mentioned by Tírechán (p. 303), who seems almost to imply that it was the first place he visited in Ireland. According to Tírechán’s account he proceeded from the islands off Skerries directly to the plain of Breg (the visit to Ulidia is not mentioned). Here we have a Meath tradition, at variance with the Ulidian tradition reproduced by Muirchu. It is perhaps impossible to decide between them. There can be no doubt that Patrick was active both in Down and in Meath; the question at issue is only one of chronological order. Muirchu worked the Ulidian episode into a narrative which originated in Meath, but this proves nothing for the superior authenticity of either. And on the other hand, the motive which probably influenced Muirchu in accepting the Down tradition that Mag Inis in Ulidia was the first field of Patrick’s labours—namely the bishop’s desire to visit and convert his old master, and pay him the price of his freedom—cannot have very much weight, even if we accept the tradition that Patrick was a captive in north Dalaradia. In my narrative I have adopted Muirchu’s order, but without any decided opinion that it is right. If, as I think, Dalaradia was the destination of Palladius when he left Wicklow, there may have been a good reason for Patrick’s proceeding thither first. If the tradition that his first Easter in Ireland A.D. 433 was celebrated at Slane is accepted, very little time is left for his labours in Ulidia.
[P. 84.]—Patrick’s landing-place in Dalaradia. Muirchu, p. 275. The ostium Slain was identified by J.W. Hanna in a rare tract, An Enquiry into the True Landing-place of St. Patrick in Ulster, printed at Downpatrick in 1858. The river flows into the lake at Ringban, about two miles from Saul, dividing the townlands of Ringban and Ballintogher (see Ordnance Map). Mr. Hanna discovered that the name Slaney was still in use for the river, and this furnished him with the identification. Since he wrote, the name has been forgotten. The church of Ballintogher is called the church of Bally-bren in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas; offering the same word by which the mouth of Strangford Lough, fretum quod est Brene, was known to Muirchu (see further on the locality, O’Laverty, Diocese of Down and Connor, i. 216 sqq.).
[Ib.]—Dún Lethglasse. For the striking remains of the fort, also called Rathceltchair, see Mr. Westropp’s valuable study on the forts of Ireland in Transactions of R.I.A. vol. xxxi. p. 586, where it is cited as an instance of the mote type of fort. It has a platform separate from the central mound, and the mound is surrounded by three ramparts thirty feet wide.