, however well-educated in other
respects. If the treasures of ancient history which exist in Irish MSS.
existed in Sanscrit, or even in Greek or Latin, we should find scholars
devoting their lives and best intellectual energies to understand and
proclaim their value and importance, and warmly defending them against
all impugners of their authenticity.

[62] _Island_.--The axe figured above is a remarkable weapon. The copy
is taken, by permission, from the collection of the Royal Irish Academy.
Sir W. Wilde describes the original thus in the Catalogue: "It is 3-1/8
inches in its longest diameter, and at its thickest part measures about
half-an-inch. It has been chipped all over with great care, and has a
sharp edge all round. This peculiar style of tool or weapon reached
perfection in this specimen, which, whether used as a knife, arrow,
spike, or axe, was an implement of singular beauty of design, and
exhibits great skill in the manufacture."

[63] _Fotharta_.--Now the barony of Forth, in Wexford.

[64] _Bede.--Ecclesiastical History_, Bohn's edition, p. 6.

[65] _Honey_.--Honey was an important edible to the ancients, and,
therefore, likely to obtain special mention. Keating impugns the
veracity of Solinus, who stated that there were no bees in Ireland, on
the authority of Camden, who says: "Such is the quantity of bees, that
they are found not only in hives, but even in the trunks of trees, and
in holes in the ground." There is a curious legend anent the same useful
insect, that may interest apiarians as well as hagiologists. It is said
in the life of St. David, that when Modomnoc (or Dominic) was with St.
David at Menevia, in Wales, he was charged with the care of the
beehives, and that the bees became so attached to him that they followed
him to Ireland. However, the Rule of St. Albans, who lived in the time
of St. Patrick (in the early part of the fifth century), may be quoted
to prove that bees existed in Ireland at an earlier period, although the
saint may have been so devoted to his favourites as to have brought a
special colony by miracle or otherwise to Ireland. The Rule of St. Alban
says: "When they [the monks] sit down at table, let them be brought
[served] beets or roots, washed with water, in clean baskets, also
apples, beer, and honey from the hive." Certainly, habits of regularity
and cleanliness are here plainly indicated as well as the existence of
the bee.

[66] _Fish_.--It is to be presumed tha