The first inhabitation of Ireland, by whome it vvas instructed in the faith, with the seuerall inuasions of the same, &c.

The authors preface or introduction to the sequele of the historie.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 2 _ALthough (vndoutedlie) the originall of all nations for the more part is so vncerteine, that who soeuer shall enter into the search thereof, fur|ther than he findeth in the holie scriptures, may seeme as it were rather to talke with men that dreame, than to gather authorities sufficient where|vpon to ground anie warranted opinion: yet for as much as the authors (whom in this Irish historie we chieflie follow) haue set downe what they haue found in the Irish antiquities, concerning the first inhabitation of this countrie of Ireland, and be|cause the reader also may be peraduenture desirous to vnderstand the same, we haue thought good to recite what they haue written thereof, leauing the credit vn|to the due consideration of the circumspect reader; and where the errors are too grosse, giuing by the way some cautions, in like sort as our authors themselues haue doone. According therefore to the order of all other nations and people that seeke to aduance the glorie of their countries, in fetching their begin|ning with the furthest from some one of ancient antiquitie: so like|wise the Irishmen haue registred in their chronicles, that their countrie was first inhabited by one of Noahs neeces, after the man|ner following.

THE FIRST INHABI|tation of Ireland, &c.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 2 _IN the yeare of the world, 1525: the patriarch Noah began to admonish the people of ven|geance to fol|lowe for their wickednesse and detestable sins, to build his arke to foreshew his kinstolkes and friends of that vniuersall floud which was to come, wherewith the whole face of the earth should be couered with wa|ter; & that within few yeares, except they amended in time. This did he before the generall floud, one hundred & fiue and twentie yeares. But when euerie Cesara néece to Noah. man séemed to neglect this wholesome admonition, one Cesara that was néece to Noah, hearing hir vn|cles prophesie, doubted least the same should come to passe; and therefore determined with certeine hir ad|herents to séeke aduentures in some forren region, persuading hir selfe, that if she might find a countrie neuer yet inhabited, and so with sin vnspotted, the generall sentence of Gods wrath should not there take effect. Wherevpon rigging a nauie, she com|mitted hir selfe to the seas, sailing foorth, till at length she arriued in Ireland onelie with three men, & fif|tie women, hauing lost the residue of hir companie by misfortune of sundrie shipwracks made in that hir long & troublesome iourneie. The names of the men were these, Bithi, Laigria, and Fintan. The coast where she first set foot on land, and where also she lieth buried, is called Nauiculare littus, that is, the ship|ping riuage or shore. The stones wherein the me|morie here of was preserued from violence of wa|ters, haue béene seene of some (as they themselues An. mundi. 1556 haue reported) but how trulie I haue not to say: within fortie daies after hir comming on land there, the vniuersall floud came & ouerflowed all that coast as well as all other parts of the world. But where as this tale be wraieth it selfe too manifestlie to be a meere vntruth, if the time and other circumstances be throughlie examined, I will not stand longer a|bout the proofe or disproofe thereof; sauing that it is sufficient (as I thin [...]e) to bring it out of credit, to consider, how that the art of sailing was vnknowne to the world before the vniuersall floud; and no part inhabited except the continent of Syria, and there|abouts. But to [...] such a forged fable, with the Reb. Isaac in Gene. 5. record thereof grauen in a stone (a deuise borowed from Iosephus, as some thinke) it shall be sufficient for the glorie of the Irish antiquitie to grant that Ireland was discouered and peopled by some of No|ahs kinred, euen with the first Ilands of the world (if they will needs haue it so, as the likelihood is great) according to that which is set foorth in their An. mundi. 1557 After the best authors make 300 yeares, and not 100 betwéene Noahs floud and Babell. histories, when about thrée hundred yeares after the generall floud immediatlie vpon the confusion of toongs, Iaphet & his posteritie imboldened by Noahs example, aduentured to commit themselues by ship to passe the seas, & to search out the vnknowne cor|ners of the world, and so finding out diuerse Iles in these west parts of the world.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 There was (saie they) in that retinue one of Bartolenus, or Bastole|nus. Clem. lib. 4. Cambreid. lib. 3. the same progenie named Bartolenus or Bastole|nus, who incouraged with the late attempt and suc|cesse of Nimrod kinsman to Ninus (then newlie in|truded vpon the monarchie of Assyria) searched so far west, intending to atteine to some gouernement, where he might rule without anie partner in authori|tie, till at length fortune brought him and his people vpon the coast of Ireland. Here he settled himselfe with his three sonnes Languina, Salamis, and Ru|thurgus, right actiue and stout gentlemen, who sear|ching the land from side to side, and from end to end, left remembrances of their names in certeine nota|ble places named after them; as Languinie, Stra|gruus, and mount Salanga, since named saint Do|miniks hill, and Ruthurgus his poole. Little is re|membred Ruthurgi stag|num. of Bartolenus, sauing that in short space with manie hands working at once, he rid and made plaine a great part of the countrie ouergrowen with woods and thickets.