'Ncwoqs•'*^Extent.->— Qrigin#t
, j *' '
^ p H E large ami-fertile ifland o f Ireland, i j^ g i f l tu a t e ^ t o j t i 13 £ f
$>reat Britain, w.as probably dJfeevHj^edvby, tbm iP ^ iiic iinL a s i^ rly
as the filler ifland. On the firft dawn o f hjftjQr^^ and when^the^ N o jjh -
weft o f Europe was as obfeure. to th e -G/e.g^s,
North Eaft o f Siberia-were recently to; qS, it w p ijh fe em t h a J ^ r& d
conftittited-one ©f the Caffiterides. The :p ^ p i s f $ S iM to, }'6 r p h e iS e -
fe rt# h© credit, but it appears that the i^an*} was knp-wn tp ^ b ^ ^ & k s
the' tilnie o f jm m o a , about two centuries befbjjejthp jb i r t ^ / c A & j u
W h e riTM a r toade his expeditiori into Britain, h& dffcrjhes Jjite rn ia
as ’-Bring about h a lf the fizeiqf-the iflaad which heMd-expIpEqd,-; and
whiIethe B.omansf|BaiatainedtheiE conquers fa th e jla tf^ 5 ^ g ia ^ * y a p d
continued dTeotftffc to-be well known to them, an d Ptolemy has-given
a m a p 'o f the ifland w hich is.fuperior in accuracy-tg:that which r,epre-
fents^Scotland} Towards the decline o f th q W fiftern/p'ppire ?.
countr7 ^ ad become more, and more known, and..had been peopled
With various tribes, the Romans difcovered, that the ruling people in
Ireland were the S co ti; anel thenceforth th e . coun try■ began to be
termed Scotia, an appellation retained by the monaftic writers I S f l e
eleventh