The Religious Herald

The Venerable Bede's Account of Ireland.

The Irish are distinguished for wit, courage, generosity and eloquence. Surely they deserve a better fate than they have experienced, and sooner or later it must be theirs. Those who have visited many different countries, pay a warm tribute to the virtue of the Irish women; and we presume those who are familiar with the varied population of this city, could testify that it is not unmerited.

Upon the charms of the "Emerald Isle," every Irish-man, when excited by the thoughts of the friends he has left, can discourse in words that make one regret that he was not born there. A like enthusiasm impelled the venerable old historian Bede, when a thousand years ago he wrote the following sentences.

"No reptiles are found there, and no snake can live there; for though often carried thither out of Britain, as soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent of the air reaches them, they die.— On the contrary, almost all things in the island are good against poison. In short, we have known that when some persons have been bitten by serpents, the scraping of leaves of books that were brought out of Ireland, being put into water and given them to drink have immediately expelled the spreading poison and assuaged the swelling." -J. Com.