they died immediately after. He continues:—
"We are sorry to record that the virtues of the good old times have passed away, as snakes are at this moment (June, 1834) free denizens of the County of Down, and gambolling in its shrubberies and plantings."
The particulars are as follows:
"In the summer of 1831, a gentleman, by way of experiment to ascertain whether snakes would survive in Ireland, brought from Scotland a few pair of what are usually called the common snake (Coluber natrix). These he put into a plantation at Milecross, near Newtownards, where they soon from their number gave evidence of becoming as fruitful as if they had been placed in South Carolina."
I have not heard how long the snakes continued at Milecross, but I believe they are not there now. The Marquis of W——d, I have heard, in a similar freak, endeavoured, but unsuccessfully, to propagate snakes on his property.
The usual Irish word for serpent is nathair; Welsh, gnadr; German, natter; Anglo-Saxon, nædre; Latin, natrix; English, adder. The epithet nimhe, poison, is often added, and a compound word made, nathair-neimhe.
Peist, a word I have before alluded to, is analogous with the Latin best-ia, and means a worm, a beast, as well as a serpent.
EIRIONNACH.
CANONS AND ARTICLES OF 1571.
Dearest Sir,