I have already told you that this curious hall is the _emporium_ of the antiquities of Inismore, which are arranged along its walls, and suspended from its pillars.--As much to draw the Prince from the gloomy reverie into which he seemed plunged, as to satisfy my own curiosity and yours, I requested his highness to explain some characters on a collar which hung from a pillar, and appeared to be plated with gold. Having explained the motto, he told me that this collar had belonged to an order of knighthood hereditary in his family--of an institution more ancient than any in England, by some centuries. “How,” said I, “was chivalry so early known in Ireland? and rather, did it ever exist here?” “Did it!” said the Prince, impatiently, “I believe, young gentleman, the origin of knighthood may be traced in Ireland upon surer ground than in any other country whatever.” * * Mr. O’Halloran, with a great deal of spirit and ingenuity, endeavours to prove that the German Knighthood (the earliest we read of in chivalry) was of Irish origin; with what success we leave it to the impartial reader to judge. It is, however, certain, that the German ritter or knight, bears a very close analogy to the Irish riddaire. In 1394, Richard II, in his tour through Ireland, offered to knight the four provincial kings who came to receive him in Dublin. But they excused themselves, as having received that honour from their parents at seven years old--that being the age in which the kings of Ireland knighted their eldest sons.--See Froissart. Long before the birth of Christ, we had an hereditary order of knighthood in Ulster, called the Knights of the _Red Branch_. They possessed, near the royal palace of Ulster, a seat, called the _Academy of the Red Branch_; and an adjoining hospital, expressively termed the _House of the Sorrowful Soldier_. “There was also an order of chivalry hereditary in the royal families of Munster, named the _Sons of Deagha_, from a celebrated hero of that name, probably their founder. The Connaught knights were called the _Guardians of Jorus_, and those of Leinster, _the Clan of Boisgna_. So famous, indeed, were the knights of Iceland, for the elegance, strength, and beauty of their forms, that they were distinguished, by way of pre-eminence, by the name of _the Heroes of the Western Isle_.