relates, heroick Leaders, and steady Patriots.

The learned Author of the _Dissertations_ before-mentioned, charges this
Hero with a Violation of the Constitution of his Country: Yet the
Violation seems of far earlier Date, when the supreme Monarchy was, by the
_Hugonian_ Law, inalienably united to one Family, whose Sovereignty,
however founded originally, whether by Birth, or Election, was essential
to the public Welfare: For we must allow that the Preservation of the
People is the principal Law to which all others are subordinate. _Salus
Populi suprema Lex_; and equally, that not only the Necessities, but the
Safety also of the People, at that Time of Danger and Distraction, eagerly
called forth the Conduct and Valour, the protective and restorative
Abilities of that great and virtuous Man, of whom a faithful Historian, in
his Detail of the Battle of _Clontarf_, says; _Integra prius adept a
Victoria rebus humanis eodem Die excessit vir Bello ac Pace summus,
Justitiae, Religionis, Literarum, Cultor eximius, et cum Carolo Magno
utique comparandus_.

In the 239th Page of the _Dissertations_, the excellent Author expresseth
himself as follows:

"I now proceed to give some Account of the second Royal House of _Scots_,
the oldest of the _Milesian_ Race, and the Posterity of _Eber_." This Race
then being avowed the oldest, in Respect of Primogeniture, must, of
Course, have been prior in Point of Dignity and Sway, or at least, equally
entitled to the Election of the People to such Ranks; were not those by
violent Measures annexed to the _Heremonian_ Line: Yet, however this might
have been, certain it is, that no Houses that we read of, ancient or
modern, have produced a greater Number of truly heroick Princes, or of
longer Continuance, than those of the North and South _Hy-Nial_; from whom
also issued many noble Families of real Worth, and equal Renown. With
_Bryan_, the happy Genius of _Ireland_, in a great Measure, expired: For
the cruel _Danes_ had, for near 200 Years before, so wofully overturned
the Universities of _Ardmagh_, _Dondaleith-Glass_, _Mongret_, and
_Lismore_, with all other Seminaries of Piety and Learning, (the only
genuine Sources of national Greatness, Concord, good Discipline, and
Happiness) had obliged, in the 8th Century, so many learned Men to seek
that Shelter and Security on the Continent, which the barbarous
Hostilities, and impious Manners of those Northerns, denied them at Home;
had made such fr