[172-1] _I.e._ enrolled in books under the name of Scotia. The natives always called it Erin.
[172-2] Ireland had mines of gold in old times; and silver was also found. Great numbers of Irish gold ornaments, found from time to time in the earth, are now preserved in Museums.
[172-3] Pearls were then found in many Irish rivers; as they are, sometimes, to this day.
[172-4] The Venerable Bede, a great English historian, writing in the eighth century, calls Ireland "a land flowing with milk and honey."
[172-5] Ireland was noted for the plenty and goodness of its wool.
[172-6] Ireland had great warriors, and many learned men and skilful artists (see pp. 20, 47, and 117).
[172-7] There are no venomous reptiles in Ireland. There were then no frogs: but these were afterwards introduced from England.
HOW IRELAND WAS INVADED BY DANES AND ANGLO-NORMANS.
From the time of the settlement of the Milesians, as described at page 3, Ireland was ruled by native kings, without any disturbance from outside, till the arrival of the invaders we are now about to speak of.
During all these centuries, though there were troubles enough from the quarrels of the kings and chiefs, learning and art, as we have seen, were successfully cultivated. But a change came--a woful change--once the Danes began to arrive. These were pirates, all pagans, from Denmark and other countries round the Baltic Sea, brave and daring, but very wicked and cruel, who for a long period kept, not only Ireland, but the whole of western Europe in terror. They appeared for the first time on the coast of Ireland in the year 795, when they plundered St. Columkille's monastery on Lambay Island near Dublin. After this, for more than two hundred years, the country was never free from them, and they plundered and burned and destroyed churches, monasteries, libraries, and homesteads, and killed all that fell in their way, men, women, and children. They were often attacked and routed by the native chiefs; but this did not much discourage them and they generally landed so suddenly, and marched through the country so swiftly, that in most cases they got clear off to their ships, with all their plunder, before the people could overtake them. They settled permanently in various towns on the coast, especially Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, which they held for a long time.