_Notes on Ireland's Freedom from Serpents._
That Ireland was infested with venomous reptiles before St. Patrick's
time, that he banished them, "_and that serpents cannot survive in
Ireland_," is a well-known tradition, and one universally received
amongst the native Irish. In Christian symbolism it was usual to
designate sin or Paganism by a serpent or dragon, and saints who
converted heathen nations, or subdued the evil promptings of their own
nature, were represented with a serpent or dragon beneath their feet.
Thus, St. Patrick, by preaching the doctrine of the Cross, and uprooting
Paganism, may be said to have banished venomous serpents from Ireland.
In his case, however, the symbol may have had a deeper meaning, if, as
many (and with great probability) think, _serpent worship_ formed part
of that Oriental heathenism which obtained in early times in Ireland.
Dr. Geoffry Keating, in his _History of Ireland_ (in the Irish
language), which he completed about the year 1625, says: "Saoilim gurab
do an _deamhnaibk_ gairmithear _naithreacha nimke_ i m-beathaidh
Patraic" ("I think that by the serpents spoken of in the life of St.
Patrick were meant _demons_"). _Serpents_ figure among the carvings and
hieroglyphical ornaments on some of the remnants of Irish antiquity
which still puzzle our antiquaries. On Cruach Padruig, in Mayo, there is
a sort of tarn which still bears the name of Loch na Pheiste, or the
Serpent's Lake; and one of "the Two Lakes," whence Gleandaloch derives
its name, has the same appellation.
Solinus, who flourished at the close of the second century, notices, I
believe, the strange fact of Ireland's having an immunity from reptiles;
Isidore and Bede, in the seventh and eighth centuries, respectively
repeat the assertion. Donatus, Bishop of Fesulæ, who flourished about
the middle of the ninth century, says, in a Latin poem on his native
country:
"Nulla venena nocent; nec Serpens serpit in herbâ;
Nec conquesta canit garrula Rana lacu
In qua Scotorum gentes habitare merentur;
Inclyta gens hominum, milite, pace, fide."
"Rana." A note on this word in Montgomery's _Poetry of Ireland_
declares:
"However fabulous this may appear, it is certain that _Frogs_ were
formerly unknown in this country: _they were first propagated here
from spawn introduced as an experiment by a Fellow of Trinity
College, Dublin, in 1696_."
Joceline of Furnes, Sir James Ware, Fynes Moryson, and several others,
notice the absence of serpents in Ireland.
A Belfast correspondent to the _Dublin Penny Journal_, June, 1834,
mentions some cases of _introducing reptiles_ into Ireland:
"About 1797, a gentleman is said to have imported from England
into Wexford, a number of vipers:"
they died immediately after. He continues:--
"We are sorry to record that the virtues of the good old times
have passed away, _as snakes are at this moment_ (June, 1834)
_free denizens of the County of Down, and gambolling in its
shrubberies and plantings_."
The particulars are as follows:
"In the summer of 1831, a gentleman, by way of experiment to
ascertain whether snakes would survive in Ireland, brought from
Scotland a few pair of what are usually called the common snake
(_Coluber natrix_). These he put into a plantation at Milecross,
near Newtownards, where they soon from their number gave evidence
of becoming as fruitful as if they had been placed in South
Carolina."
I have not heard how long the snakes continued at Milecross, but I
believe they are not there now. The Marquis of W----d, I have heard, in
a similar freak, endeavoured, but unsuccessfully, to propagate snakes on
his property.
The usual Irish word for _serpent_ is _nathair_; Welsh, _gnadr_; German,
_natter_; Anglo-Saxon, _nædre_; Latin, _natrix_; English, _adder_. The
epithet _nimhe_, poison, is often added, and a compound word made,
_nathair-neimhe_.
_Peist_, a word I have before alluded to, is analogous with the Latin
_best-ia_, and means a _worm_, a _beast_, as well as a _serpent_.