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Excerpt from The Coin Collector's Journal, 1878, Vol. 3: Illustrated The aggressive tendencies of the Irish were now diverted into a chan nel far more glorious than that of military enterprise. About the year 430 A. D. St. Patrick, a native of' the little town of old Kilpatrick, near Glasgow, crossed the Channel and commenced his work as a Christian missionary. After great labor and exposure to many dangers, he suc ceeded in turning the people from their heathenism, and leading them to embrace the doctrines he taught, though not until, perhaps, a century after his death was Christianity accepted by all the people. At this date Ireland seems to have been occupied by a number of clans, or tribes, ruled over by chiefs, or petty kings, all of whom were feudally subject to a supreme monarch living at Tara, in Meath. In fact, the form of government was almost a counterpart of our own, ex cept that the offices of the monarch and of the kings, which we may con sider as analogous to those Of our own President and State Governors, were hereditary and not elective, a circumstance that did not preclude an occasional deposing of a ruler or of his dynasty, if the tribesmen were dissatisfied. At this period the attainments of the Irish people in general civilization and culture were very considerable. Each kingdom, or state, had its local laws, while the legislation of the monarchy, or union, was provided for by the Bretons, or class of professional jurists, who were held in high honor, and whose writings are on many points still de servedly esteemed. Gold seems to have been exceedingly abundant, judging from the large quantity of ornaments made from that metal that have been found throughout the island. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct